Holly Days

Update Part 3 (and the final one)

2005-10-27T09:35:00.000-05:00

Last night we held our First ever FOCUS Wednesday at Fellowship Church Plano! It was a great night (I hear). I was in the preschool! My sweet hubby volunteered his time to put on an Imagination Theatre for the 4 and 5 year olds. The rest of the congregation gathered in our worship center to take part in some incredible worship with our band and to hear some of Mark's thoughts on FC Plano, where we have been and where we are going! I know that this night was a big deal around here. I'm excited to be a part of a church that is reaching out to the community around us and giving them a church experience like none other! One of the really neat parts of the night (and a totally unexpected part as well) was that one of my preschool parents came up to me and told me that she and her husband really liked the church, but were feeling scared to take that next step to join (due to some of their past church history) and she just felt like God's been tugging at her heart and leading her back to FC Plano. We had a great talk and I was able to find her some info from our Newcomer's class (that she had attended a few months earlier). I hope to see her get more involved in the church and to see her become totally sold out to God and what's He wants to do in her life!

Update Part 2

2005-10-27T09:32:00.000-05:00

The week after I returned from Belize, we held the 2nd Annual Childrens Conference at Fellowship Church. I may be biased when I say that ours was quite awesome! Even though I was part of the conference, I felt like I was able to walk away with a few tidbits of info to use in the preschool at Fellowship Church Plano! I can't wait to see what we put out next year!

Update Part 1

2005-10-27T09:12:00.000-05:00

It's been a long time since I've blogged, but I'm back today to do some quick updates...I went to Belize earlier this month. I was part of a group from Fellowship Church that went to hang out with our missionary friend, Paul and help out in some of his villages. He has a missions organization called International Servants. Paul is a great guy! He has such a heart for the people of Belize and is definitely interested in the eternal outcome of their lives. The kids were awesome! We had such a fun time playing with them, making salvation bracelets, and sharing the love of Christ with them!

The adults were neat as well. One lady in particular stood out to me. We were in a spanish speaking village and I was trying to get the kids to tell me the spanish name for animals (I was acting out the animals). This lady started to yell out the name of the animals in spanish. It was the funniest thing! There was also the day when we had a huge group of kids and we were all kicking this huge soccer ball around. I have never been so dirty in my life as I was after getting hit with that soccer ball, but it was so much fun! (it had been raining that morning and the ball was picking up a lot of mud).

One day we got to go to the river near where we were working and got to swim there. Paul told us to bring a bar of soap for a bath. We all thought that was funny so we did it! On our fun day, we go to snorkle with sharks and sting rays....so cool! And then we had this amazing beach BBQ with chicken, fish, and pork chops. The food there was amazing, too (even the gibnut - aka rat). And yes, I did eat it!! And yes, it does taste a little bit like chicken! A few of the other trip highlights were seeing the Howler monkeys and having them eat out of my hand, going to a banana farm, attending a worship service with some Belizians, and just the general experience of getting to know some really neat people from our church and from Belize. If you care the see the 400+ pictures of the trip, they are located at Belize pics.

Why I love my husband...

2005-09-22T10:03:00.000-05:00

I thought that I would begin listing a few of the many reasons why I love Ed...they may end up in a frame or something one day!

I love Ed because...

1. He sings Veggie Tales songs with the character voices included

2. He is going to go with me to get new paint for our wall because I don't like the color that it up there now.

3. He is going to dog sit the puppies this weekend while I'm out of town (Olive misbehaves more when I'm not around for some reason).

4. He is going to dog sit the puppies for a whole EIGHT days while I'm in Belize.

5. Every time I ask him why he loves me, he tells me it's because I'm cute (not because I'm good to him or anything like that...just because I'm cute...Hmmm!)

6. He loves Jesus more than he loves me.

7. He would pack up everything I wanted to take me in the event of an evacuation due to a coming natural disaster (and there's a lot of stuff that would take with me)

8. He gives me unconditional love - even when I'm being a pain.

9. He makes up silly songs to sing and then ends them with "Yeah!" (because that's how all good songs end).

10. He puts up with my picture taking obsession without too much complaining.

Rested and Relaxed

2005-09-19T09:40:00.000-05:00

Well, Ed and I just returned from a vacation to the San Antonio area. We spent a few nights in SA where we went to Sea World (Ed's first time there) and ate at my all time favorite SA restaurant - Casa Rio. I've been eating there since I was a child and it's still just as good as it was when I was 6. After our fun at Sea World, we went Northwest a little bit to stay at Holiday Lodge on Canyon Lake. We got to cook out in the evenings, feed and watch deer, and enjoy the outdoors. Oh yeah, we also got to see some truly AMAZING sunsets! It was a great time of fun and relaxation. Ed and I spent a lot of time just hanging out and enjoying each other's company and spending time in nature (where you are of course, closer to God). I'm excited to be back at work and feeling more refreshed! I was feeling pretty beat down before we left town and it feels good to be back to my normal energetic and excited self!

Top 5 things I do while saving gas

2005-08-25T14:22:00.000-05:00

I was listening to the DJ's on Power FM 89.7 discuss the horrendous gas prices and how we can save gas by driving at (GASP!!!) 60 mph on the freeway. They wanted people to write in and tell how they are saving gas...so here are my top five ways to save on gas.

5. Because I'm ONLY driving 60 mph, I can now count the little bumps between the lanes.

4. ...I can actually see that there is a PARTY CITY off of Parker that I didn't know was there (I needed to go by on yesterday that's why this is vital information)

3. ...I can get a really good look at the BACK of all the cars that are passing me to see if I really want to buy them someday.

2. ...I spend most of my drive home or to work wishing that I was going my usual speed along with all the other gas wasters on the freeway (this really does help make my time on the road go faster for some odd reason).

1. Because I'm ONLY driving 60 mph, I can count how many policemen I pass who I won't have to worry about because I was actually driving the speed limit!!!

What are you doing to save money on gas these days??

spammed?

2005-08-22T09:01:00.000-05:00

Anyone ever get spammed on their blog in the comments section? I just realized that I had some spam in the comment section of a previous post. Hmmmmm! Who knew that spam would follow you wherever you go!!

Busy Days

2005-08-22T08:49:00.000-05:00

Goodness...I just looked at the date of my last post and it's been A LONG TIME!!! There has been so much going on lately with work that there doesn't seem to be much time for anything else. I know that's not a good balance, but some of the changes have been very time and thought consuming. So what is new?

As an official member of the Fellowship Church Plano campus, I am not officing out of the Plano offices. This is a good thing because I get a lot more work done out here than I ever did at the Grapevine offices. Plus I really like my office here a lot better. It's brighter and there are actually people around. The plan is to spend one day at the Grapevine campus to have meetings and get things turned in. I'm excited about this change!

Another thing is that I'm going to go on a mission trip to Belize in October. While I'm very excited about this, there are many things that I need to do to get ready for the trip. I'm slowly figuring all of that out. It's somewhat difficult for someone like me who likes to know all the details in advance to plan a trip without knowing all the details of where we are going to be and what we will be able to do there. Anyway, that will be an awesome trip and I'm excited about it!

Friday night I had the opportunity to take my preschool leadership team out for dinner. We got the chance to connect and I was able to share the direction I want us to take the preschool! We are starting a one + one campaign where I ask everyone to bring in one new person by the end of the year. That way we are taking this one person at a time and I'm getting everyone involved. I want all the Plano Preschool to feel that they have some ownership stake in the preschool. I'm almost fully "staffed" with leaders now. I just lack 2 more people and then we are ready to fly!

I guess that's about it for now. I'm staying busy at home too. The dogs keep me on my toes, as does Ed! But we are truly enjoying the work that God has called us to do. It's a blessing to be a part of this amazing ministry while we are on the Earth!

Drowning

2005-07-31T16:08:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, a man drowned. And I was there when it happened.

Ed and I went to Burger's Lake in Forth Worth. It's a great little lake for anyone who is looking for a nice family environment. They check coolers on the way in for alcohol. That bumps them up like 10 billion points in my book. Anyway, we had my sister in law and her 3 kids with us and a couple of friends met us there. We had spent a nice fun day in the water and having lunch. Our friends had just left and I was playing with my niece when I think it all began to happen...I saw a man hit the high dive on his back, looked away, and when I looked back it was all over. I didn't see where he went or if he was okay. A little voice in my head told me to go tell someone what I saw. About 5 minutes later, the lifeguards were blowing their whistles like crazy and an announcement came for everyone to get out of the water. We all got out and they dragged a man to one of the beach areas where they began CPR. The park - that had been filled out sounds joy - was strangely quiet as many watched. There was a hush over the crowd of people who surrounded the perimeter of the lake. We decided to get the kids back to the picnic area and away from the lake because they were starting to ask some questions. We got everything packed up to go and waited for the announcement from the ownership letting us know that we could leave the park. Sirens came and went (giving us hope that he was still alive). The announcement came shortly after that they were closing for the rest of the day because the life guards were not in any condition to keep watch after what they had just been through.

We made it home and I waited anxiously until the news came on. There was a brief report giving very few details, but the reporter did say that the man was pronounced dead when he arrived at the hospital. I was devastated to hear that. My mind was racing to try and remember all the details of the man I saw hit the diving board. What color shorts was he wearing, what did he look like...In my mind it was the same person, but all I remember was seeing the yellow shorts of the man lying on the beach. I have wracked my brain until I'm nearly worn out trying to make sense of it all and to think if I could have done something. The details continue to blur even as I'm trying to bring them into focus. One of the things that upset me the most was that I got to go home with my husband yesterday afternoon. I got to have dinner with him last night. I got to wake up with him beside me this morning. That man's wife didn't get any of those things.

Ed found an article this afternoon giving some details about the event, but not much more than we already knew after the news report yesterday. A friend of ours said she heard he had a heart attack. The images are burned into my mind and they keep replaying over and over at a moments notice, but I can't figure it all out. I don't know if the man I saw on the diving board was the same man or if this was another man. All I know to do now is to pray for the family - that they will find peace and solace in the midst of their pain. I can share God's love with the people I meet. I can make sure my husband knows each and every day how much I love him.

Not done yet

2005-07-31T15:44:00.000-05:00

I saw this C.S. Lewis quote on a shirt in this bookstore this weekend...it really made an impression on me...I'm not finished yet....this is not my true form. I'm a work in progress. These are all things I should remember when I'm feeling back about myself or the things I'm not able to accomplish.

"Nothing is yet in its true form."
--Till We Have Faces

Bring on the Ice!

2005-07-14T15:12:00.000-05:00

I got some of the best news of my day today...Hockey season is on again!!! Here's the link for the MSN article:
Finally!
It's about time. I'm looking forward to snuggling up on the couch with Ed and watching those guys fight it out this year! The funny story is that when we first started dating, he thought that I was this mild mannered, proper, young lady...then he watched a hockey game with me. I wasn't paying much attention at first, but then a fight broke out and I was glued to the tv (for the duration of the fight anyway). He now calls me into the room to see all the fights. I love hockey and can't wait for that first Dallas Stars game! I'm glad that they have gotten it all worked out despite the Union (but that's a whole other topic for me...)

The mark we leave behind

2005-07-07T10:59:00.000-05:00

This is yet another one of those life lessons that I'm learning from my dog (these may turn into a book someday!)...

Last night I was out walking my dogs and was taking note of the difference between their walking styles. Olive is out for the hunt. She is looking for small animals upon which she can prey - birds, rabbits, squirrels - you name it, she's out to get it. Olive wants to chase down every rabbit that crosses her path. She misses a lot of the "little things" that my other dog notices. Scooter, on the other hand, is looking for scents. He stops at every mailbox, light pole, and grassy corner that we pass (which makes for a stop and go walk, but that's a whole other topic). Often times, he leaves his "mark" there as well, but from time to time, he just wants to sniff to see who was there before him.

So that got me to thinking last night about what we leave behind. Do the people who come behind me, see that I've left things in good order? Do they see that I made friends with the people around me? Did I leave a fragrant scent when I left because I got along with everyone (or at least tried to), or did I smell up the place with a bad attitude? What kind of mark have I left on the places I've gone? I even mean places like the grocery store. I hope that every time I interact with people, they get a whiff of Jesus through a good attitude after waiting in a really long line or that they get a taste of gentleness when things don't go my way and I have to choose to react with kindness rather than anger.

What kind of mark have you made? And what kind of mark do you want to make going forward?

Grand Finale

2005-07-05T22:33:00.000-05:00

Here I go with another one of my late night musings...Sunday night, Ed and I went to see fireworks with his brother and his family and their back yard neighbor. It's been a yearly tradition for 4 years (at least for me). Well, the thing I've noticed is that everyone seems to look forward to the grand finale more than anything else. My niece kept asking if it was grand finale yet. Well, it's quite obvious when the grand finale starts because all the fireworks blend together and then are mixed in with tons of smoke. I feel that the amount of fireworks released during the grand finale is the equivalent of the rest of the show. So you see, I feel that the grand finale is a waste of fireworks. Yes, I did say a WASTE of fireworks. I want to see each firework individually...and not all clumped together. At least in the rest of the show, the smoke has time to clear. Now, don't get me wrong, I love fireworks, but I want them one at a time and not all released one right after the other! Happy 4th of July (one day late)!

P.S. When I get my home computer back, I will load all the pics I took that evening and get one posted on here (sometimes I get one or two pics that actually come in clearly).

Late night musing with Holly

2005-06-29T22:38:00.000-05:00

Ok, quit laughing at me if you are one of those people who is just getting their FIRST wind of the evening at 10:30. I'm usually in bed at this time, but we had the Plano Volunteer Training for Adventure Week tonight...and I'm pumped! I really have caught the excitement of Adventure Week. It doesn't matter that I still need to get some stuff done or that I'm stressing over how Ed is going to ever get all his sets designed and printed or how we will make Plano look totally cool...it's happening. Tonight was the first emotional step I was able to take towards feeling GOOD about Adventure Week. We had a great turn out. There were a little over 100 people there and about 30 of them were for the Preschool!! The training went smoothly and it looks like Adventure Week will as well. It won't be without a few glitches here and there, but overall I think that we will have a good turn out. Now, bring on the kids!!

The Great Race

Check out the cool link where you can send an evite to your friends for Adventure Week! We are totally into this cool technology thing!!

Shakespeare in the Park

2005-06-17T12:29:00.000-05:00

4 years ago, Ed and I started a tradition that I hope will live long in our lives. We went to see Shakespeare in the Park. Sadly enough, that first year we got rained out, but in the following years, we have seen a number of very good productions. This year it was A Winter's Tale. It was a fun evening. Some friends of ours met us at the house and we headed out together. We also met up with some more friends at the park. We all brought food to share and just sat around chatting until the production started. All in all, it was a fun time of fellowship and the Bard. Now I'm already looking forward to next year...we have been hoping for Much Ado about Nothing or A Midsummer Night's Dream...I guess we'll find out in April next year! Until then...

This turned out a little dark...

I love the Internet!

2005-06-16T08:49:00.000-05:00

Lately when I come home from work I sit down at the computer for a good hour (even though I just left my work computer where I was sitting for hours). This is my time to decompress and get what Ed calls. "my internet candy." So the other night I found this cool site: TickerFactory (ah-ha....did you notice that I know how to do the cool "link on words" thing now??? Must go back and fix all the rest!)

Anyway, you can add tickers that count down to certain things like a vacation or something vitally important like a wedding! So I added a ticker down at the bottom of my page that is counting down the days until we can go back to our semi-sane lives...after Adventure Month is over! I love Adventure Week, it's just nice to be able to sit back and breathe a sigh of relief that it's over and that it's been done well! So we have ONE month and TWO weeks to go!

Morning exercise

2005-06-13T08:09:00.000-05:00

Ed and I got up at 5:15 am this morning to walk/run. Yea for us! It's always a lot harder to do that on Mondays after the weekend beats up on us a little bit. But we did it today and now I get to have a guilt free day!!! No worries about exercising when I get home tonight - just time to hang with the puppies and Ed!

Bittersweet

2005-06-13T08:04:00.000-05:00

Yesterday was my last Sunday at Uptown. It was almost like any other Sunday, strangely enough. I was thinking about how it was my last time there when I was driving in and when I was leaving and a few times throughout the day when people asked me about it. But it pretty much felt like any other normal day. I think my lack of distress over leaving was because I knew that the preschool would be in the very capable hands of my friend, Brian Holt. He was there yesterday to shadow me (and boy did he...I couldn't shake the feeling that someone was following my all day) and learn how the Uptown preschool runs. The awesome thing is that there are so many wonderful people there who make things happen.

I'm looking forward to going to Plano this coming weekend and getting settled in there. I've already met with Mark and Pam - the awesome couple who basically runs the preschool there - and they have lots of ideas of things we can accomplish during this transition. I'm excited about the new challenges I will face and the people I will meet! It should prove to be an awesome time there!

Obligatory Puppy Pics

2005-06-09T12:26:00.000-05:00

This is Scooter

This is Olive

Thanks to Collin...

2005-06-09T09:03:00.000-05:00

...I am now going to be able to learn some HTML!!! Thanks for putting the tools in my hands, Collin!!! I've already figured out how to add another category to my sidebar and more links to my blog friends!

Call me crazy

2005-06-07T15:04:00.000-05:00

So I get these things from time to time that Ed calls, "Holly's analogies" and I got one as we were out walking the dogs the other night...it may not make sense to anyone else...but it made sense to me (sort of). We rescued an adorable daschund beagle in February. Olive had been adopted 2x before we got her and she was a mess (psychologically). She had this haunted, lost look in her eyes and she wandered around the house all the time. She didn't come when called, jumped over baby gates, and let messes all over the house. Ed and I decided to put her through a training class at Petsmart. It was 7 weeks of awesome training and Olive did a great job.

The thing that occurred to me on our walk was that Olive did a great job in training because there was motivation (FOOD). She sat when asked, she watched me, and she even waited for her food when I put it in front of her. We would only feed her half of her dinner before we went so that she would be extra obedient! But as we were walking, Olive had a full belly and an insatiable appetite for all things of nature (squirrels, bunnies, leaves...). Even though I took some treats on the walk, she was not interested in them...

So when God asks us to do something, are we more likely to do it when we know that there is something in it for us (a la Olive in training)? Or are we willing to forgo rewards for the sheer delight of doing something for God? Am I like Olive when I'm "full" and satisfied with my life...content to do my own thing because I don't NEED anything else...or I am like Olive in training - constantly doing what I'm asked because I know there is a reward in the end? I'm going to have to ponder this for a little while and see where it leads me...

ETA: Olive is much better now (psychologically speaking). She is settled in the house and loves our other dog, Scooter. She has bonded with us now that she knows she's not going to be sent to live somewhere else!

Anti-blogs

2005-06-06T09:09:00.000-05:00

Let me preface this by saying that I LOVE my husband no matter what he does....but he WILL NOT read my blog...or any other blog for that matter. This is the guy who is open to anything - he will eat anything that is put in front of him, he will try new things, and he likes going new places. He reads "the headlines" every day, but he won't read my blog. Ed thinks that blogs are a waste of time and he's pretty vocal about his feelings on the matter. I would love to send him this entry in Mark Morgan's blog (Ed loves cartoons and can often be heard giggling while he's reading them) Mark's cartoon blog (so I don't know how to do that cool thing where you link a word and it goes to the site you want...someone will have to share that with me sometime). I think that I feel it's a personal rejection of my thoughts and ideas...although I know it's really not. I mean my parents and my brother read my blog (and comment on it sometimes). Why not my hubby? Maybe if I won some fake awards for it or something then he would read it.....

Holly? Holly? Are you there?

2005-06-01T13:43:00.000-05:00

So it's been awhile since I was here to write...okay just a week or so...but it seems like it's been forever. Maybe because of all the things going on since I was last here...anyway! Tonight is First Wednesday and I get to attend!! Yea! This is a big deal for those of us who are on staff at Fellowship (or at least the ones who are involved with children) because someone has to take care of the kids. I usually have a variety of jobs - running around organizing things, occasionally working in a classroom, and hosting Imagination Theatre (the corporate worship time for our 4-5 year olds). The last one is probably one of my favorite FW jobs because I get to hang with the kids and be silly (not me!). We sing a few songs and play whatever game is being played for our weekend series. It's a great time to just have fun and forget about the long to do list sitting on my desk. On the other hand, I also love to attend the First Wednesday service as it's a time to get re-energized with fellow believers. The thing is that Ed hasn't be able to attend with me the last few times I've been able to go, but he is going to be able to go with me this time! So I get to be re-energized along side my hubby! YEA!

ETA: FW was really cool last night! Ed and I got to attend with some friends (who had us over for a quick dinner beforehand). I'm always amazed at how I feel during communion. I don't know that I can even describe it, but it's a holy time. I love that we get to do that each month as a church!

Leaving Uptown...

2005-05-25T14:17:00.000-05:00

The official word was sent out today that I will be leaving the Uptown campus and going to the Plano campus (wonder if I can rename my blog??). My peer - Brian - at Plano will be going to Uptown. This is a bittersweet time in my life right now. I've felt such a loss at having to leave the campus that I have been so connected to since November. I've worked hard to recruit the volunteers for the preschool, to get the equipment ordered (and learned) for our setup, and made lots of incredible friends in the time I have been there. It will be a transition that is emotional for me (it already has been). There are so many amazing people who are at Uptown and they have each made an impact on my life. Will I miss the early morning set up? Yes, as a matter of fact, I will. I love the time that we spend laughing together and being picked on by Mary. There won't be anyone to order me out of the cafeteria when I try to change things around at Plano. I will miss the conversations that take place, the uplifting smiles, and the kids...no more Braedon to hang out in the hallway with, no more puppet shows from Jonah, no more laughing at the antics of all of them.

But I know that Plano will have a whole new set of challenges for me and a whole new group of people to meet and love. The kids at Plano will be awesome and so will the volunteers. But I know that I will always hold Uptown and the people there as very special to me since they were a part of my first campus at Fellowship Church. I love you guys!

More to come in this saga...

She's out of control...

2005-05-19T15:20:00.000-05:00

I figured out how to post pictures today (thank you, Steven!). Unfortunately I'm only hampered by the fact that I don't have a lot of pictures loaded on this computer...oh the things I will be able to do once I get home this weekend...so check back often because I'm a huge picture taker and will have lots to share (with my small yet very important following - soon to be large following). I love blogging!