I'm learning about me!

The older I get, the more and more I am learning about myself. My recent revelation has been, I love adventure and challenge. I am definitely not a competitive person in any realm, but I guess I like self competition and the challenge of improving on what I am doing. It's not a perfectionism thing. I am definitely not good at some of the things that I am enjoying challenging myself on. My most recent adventure has been thinking about doing the Morgan's Triathlon in June. My goal is not to win, my goal is just to complete the event before the sun goes down and they want to close the event. As a part of this, I've been teaching myself to run. At this point its still a very awkward jog, but I still love the aspect of pushing myself just a little bit farther or getting a little bit better. I've noticed that about myself with my other "adventures." With hiking and backpacking, I may always be the last one down the trail and I probably won't ever be really coordinated, but the more I grow my skills the happier I am. I realized that was what my relationship with Jesus is like. I will never be all of what God designed me to be...that's the unfortunate thing about humanness, but the challenge becomes to get a little bit better with each adventure...or in my case each day!!!

it ain't survival of the fittest!!!

So, on Sunday I went to a survival type class and learned that I am not called to be a survivalist!! If I get stranded...let's hope I have a phone signal!! At this seminar I did learn some really cool stuff that I could use if I need to but my favorite thing was a quote made by the instructor. He said something to the effect of "those that survive are the ones that set their mind to survive and do everything possible to make it happen." What a great life lesson that is! That applies to so many facets of life. No matter what is going on in your world, if you set your mind to making it through it, you can survive anything! We have tools but attitude determines if we are going to utilize the tools. I love all the cliches that reinforce that, too! "Fake it until you make it," "Mind over matter" and so on. With God's help we can make it through anything, we just have to focus on being a survivor!!!

By golly, I think I've found it!!!

Guess what....I think I've stumbled on something really cool...the great outdoors. For those of you that have known that all along, feel free to laugh at my excitement of this "revelation!" Last weekend I went camping for the first time since I was in Girl Scouts...which was around 30 or so years ago! I absolutely loved the experience. I have never bonded with the outdoors during my adult years (actually I don't think I bonded with them in my childhood years either) and really didn't think I had the desire to, until a couple of years ago. I'm not sure what changed...some say I'm having a midlife crisis and if I am, all I can say is "COOL!!!"

All this came about as a result of some neat coincidences. I found out about some cool stuff that the Hamilton County Parks does with teaching people about the 'great outdoors' and started experimenting with outdoor stuff and I love it... A LOT!! Last weekend I tent camped and had the time of my life. Over the next few months I'm gonna attend some seminars about Wilderness Skills and Backpacking and in October I'm gonna go on my first Backpacking/Camping Trip. (on a side note, if you ever want to learn about any of this stuff, I highly recommend Hamilton County Parks, University of the Great Outdoors...here's the link: http://www.greatparks.org/edu/UGO.htm).

What's interesting is now I'm thinking about ways this can be used for outreach. One of my passions is working with at-risk kids and I know from first hand experience that at risk kids don't get many opportunities to do "outdoors stuff" which is such a shame because there are all kinds of studies that show how noncompetitive activities like hiking, backpacking and paddle sports help kids find their internal strength and build esteem value. I'm beginning to think having an outdoor recreation program for at risk kids would be a really cool thing. Not sure what I'm going to do with those thoughts or if God has an plans for using this or how He might put all this pieces together but I can't wait to find out!!

It's been a great summer

The summer of 2009 may go down as one of my favorite ever. It was fantastic, not because of specific event, but due to the convergence of so many cool things. First off, I had some great classes this summer. I had a class about Counseling Adolescents, a technology class, a curriculum development class and a grants writing class. They all had an element of "Providence" to them. It was funny b/c I was taking the curriculum development class and the technology class just because they are requirements for my Ed.D. but they ended up bringing such necessary information to me. The curriculum development class had a lot of info about how people learn and are engaged in the learning process and gave me such great resources for both of my jobs. At the tail end of my technology class I found out I'd be teaching an online class at CCU. Interestingly enough one of the elements we learned in that class was a Learning Management System called Moodle. The online class that I am teaching utilizes Moodle. How cool is that. The next cool element of my summer was CT09. It was so cool seeing the people of Mt. Carmel working together to impact our community. What an amazing experience! After that I got my pink kayak, which as everyone knows excites me to no end. I've also had great "outings" this summer. I've gotten to kayak, canoe, hike, zumba and hang out with amazing friends. I got to go on a vacation to Orlando and hang out with friends I've known for almost 30 years and do some really cool stuff with them (pictures posted on Facebook). Now as summer ends and I have all my happy memories, I am getting excited about the opportunities that the Fall is presenting. I'm going to be teaching 2 new classes that really interest me. One of them is the online class so that will be a whole new adventure. I get to do clinical supervision with another Practicum student which is just such a cool opportunity. At the church we have several new projects starting. I love to see God working through the people at MCCC. That is just amazing. I will be taking 3 classes, all of which really interest me. I'll be taking "Transformational Leadership," "Nonprofit Strategic Planning" and "Nonprofit Law." You know, the summer was great, but I'm thinking the Fall is going to be even greater! I look forward to the opportunities and experiences that this new season holds!!! Yay for God and his orchestrating such wonderful thinks in their perfectly right time!

The Pink Kayak!!!!

Yes, it's is true, I am now the proud owner of a pink, Old Town Vapor 10XT kayak. I LOVE it!! I am so beyond excited about it. It combines my passion for kayaking and my love of the color pink. Plus, it's different than most every other kayak I've seen!!! It was such a cool experience. For those of you that don't know the story, I couldn't find any outfitter locally to do a special order so I called "Old Town" and they arranged it so I could buy it through them. They were so helpful in the whole process. It is now sitting in the middle of my living room, which looks kinda funny but ok with me. I'm not the type of person that's been into formal decor so having a 10' kayak in the middle of my 10'x10' living room is quite "ok" with me! My cat, Kyra, has also become very attached to it. It's so cute. Today I went to the Ohio Dept of Natural Resources Watercraft Office at EastFork and got my registration for it. They were so helpful there, too. I've never registered a boat so they explained a lot of it to me. (They also told me that my inflatable kayak needed to be registered...glad to find that out before Nikki and I go out on EastFork Lake!!!). Who would have ever thought that I would not only own my own kayak but own a really cool pink one!!! YAY for the really neat things that God let's you have!!

The happy tired!

So CT09 is over and all that is left from the week are happy memories, pictures and some cases of back packs that will be used for our school year project. It was such a cool five days. On Wednesday watching people bring in more and more school supplies made me cry pretty much all day (in a good way!), watching Meggie Adamson and company lead worship and Chris Haun speak some very wise words was awesome and watching people put together back packs and purses, sign cards and sort and stamp books and give blood was so cool. One of my favorite things of the evening was watching people who don't normally hang out together get to know each other...very cool. Thursday was a hustle and bustle of serving and was amazing to see almost 200 people going out to serve Nursing Homes, Fire Stations, Police Stations and the Ronald McDonald house. Friday was the carnival at Piccadilly. It was great to see that we are beginning to build a reputation of trust with that community. What a great connection. Saturday was the street cleaning and clean and fixing at A Caring Place. How cool is it that people are willing to be here at 8am to serve. I think that is just incredible! Sunday was the church picnic and Pam Terrell and her team did an AWESOME job at making that such a fun event. CT09, come and gone. BUT...not over. Our community efforts will be continuing on through the year. Care Groups will be going to Ronald McDonald house to serve dinner to the residents and their families once a month, the Care Groups will also be partnering with local schools to provide some back packs through out the school year. The Children's Literacy Outreach begins this Wednesday and volunteers will be reading with children at Piccadilly on Wednesdays and Saturdays through out the summer. We are so going to be "in our world." I love it!!!!!

Life is good and God is GREAT!

I think it is so cool that God allows us to experience great pleasure from the simple things in life. Today I got to go to church, sing some great songs, hear a good sermon, go kayaking with friends, come home, play with my cats and watch the Tony Awards on TV. It has been an absolutely amazing day that was made up of all simple things. Church...amazing people doing amazing things; Kayaking...boat, water, wildlife, good conversation. How simple but how fun; hanging out with my cats...then snuggle, they purr, they communicate love...simple but wonderful; Watching the Tony Awards...remembering and connecting with my love of theatre, getting to cyber chat with fellow theatre friends and reminiscing about great experiences. I pray that God never stops letting me notice how incredible the simple experiences of life are and how much of a blessing they can be and that I always remember to appreciate those times and occurrences!

Expectations and observations...

Ok...so I was just reading my co-worker's blogs and I was impressed about how deep and meaningful their blogs were...I decided my blog needed a disclaimer...my blog will probably never be that deep or spiritual...I'm pretty sure I used up those brain cells...sometime during my 2nd Master's :-). If you want a little bit of a laugh or be amused at my life, then you'll be ok reading my blog...any other expectations and I'm guessing you are going to be disappointed.

I read another friends blog and she talked about how all blogs should have meaning and purpose. Once again, if you arrive at my blog with that expectation, you are going to be sorely disappointed. My blog has no big picture thing it wants to communicate. When the leadership first suggested the staff do blogs, they said it was so people could get to know us better and that's all I've got for you. If for some reason you want to know me better, that I've got. If you want to know something more deep and meaningful...I'm guessing you won't find it here!!

One way or the other, I hope you are having a great week and that you know that life is good and God is GREAT!

I'm being learned good!

So I just finished a week of class. The class was amazing. It was called "Counseling Adolescents." We talked a lot about how teens need a strong, consistent adult in their life. We watched a DVD series from FrontLine about two boys growing up in Poverty in an Appalachian community. One boy had adults who cared about him in his life, the other did not and it made an amazing difference. It reminded me so much of why I do what I do. It also encouraged me and infused me with new excitement about the path that God has me on. We also visited a place in Cleves called Bloc Ministries. They are an after school place for the kids in Cleves that was started by a husband and wife. They are impacting these kids and the community in amazing and incredible ways. Once again showing the impact that a caring adult can have in a kids life. Such cool stuff.

The other class I'm taking has me reading about the importance of lifelong learning and how we stagnate if we aren't involved in some type of active learning. I'm reading research how it is almost essential for survival for seniors. Interesting stuff.

I am so blessed by the learning opportunities that God has allowed me to participate in over the last few years. Cool stuff. Life is good and God is great!

The joys of nothingness

So school as a student is done and this is my first weekend of not having school assignments to work on. I was going to be responsible and clean my house and do laundry and all that silly practical stuff but I realized I just didn't have it in me. Instead, I went to Zumba, planted flowers in my front "yard" and some tomato, basil and bell pepper plants in my back "yard." It was so much fun. In addition I slept, did nothing, played with the cats and just hung out. It was so cool. I often forget how important it is in my world to do nothing. I love planting stuff, sitting on my back porch and staring at the sky and there's nothing wrong with that!!!

It is finished!

So as of Wednesday evening, Spring Semester 2009 is done from the student side. It's been a very interesting semester. I have learned a ton about myself and a ton about volunteerism and non profit management. Three of my four classes all dealt with that subject matter. It was a great experience. I had "Regional Stewardship," "Managing A Nonprofit," and "Volunteer Management." I can't begin to tell you how impressed I was with the Non Profit Mgmt program at NKU. The content of the classes was fantastic and the professors were great. I decided to work on my "Non Profit Mgmt" Certificate. I can use those classes as my electives for my Ed.D. Who would have ever thought that there were classes to teach about how non profits should run and the legalities and all that stuff. It's a way cool program. It was a great semester. I'm excited about my world slowing down a teensy bit. Sleep and summer recreation activities are high on my to-do list. I do have a couple summer classes but they should be fun and not overwhelming. I have a technology class, a curriculum writing class, a grants writing class and a counseling adolescents class. My first kayak trip is the first weekend in June and Zumba is back in full swing this weekend. Sometime in the next few weeks I'm going to dust off the bike and hit the trail. I'm also gonna hang out at my patio table under my new umbrella. I can't wait! I loved the semester but I'm glad it's done and that I get to enjoy some different stuff now!