Last Day

Today marked the end of my tenure on staff at Crossroads. I want to share some of the things God's given me over the last almost 3 years at Crossroads:

1. Some great friends
2. The art of proofreading (I could do this prior to Crossroads but my skills were ever challenged and sharpened)
3. How to look at everything through the lens of an unchurched person
4. Did I mention great friends?
5. Blogs, Twitter, Facebook, youtube... what can I say, I'm hooked
6. Connection to several hundred people coming to know Christ as Savior
7. The privilege of working with incredible volunteers
8. I learned more about myself, how I work, why I do things the way I do them
9. Mac vs. Windows - Mac wins
10. My passion is serving God with all my mind, heart, strength
11. Great friends!!!

I've been asked if Joe and I are leaving Crossroads. My answer: No! See you Sunday!

It Doesn't Get Much Better Than This

Today I turn another year older. Today at Crossroads we baptized 55 people!

I was struck by the variety of people who lined up to take the plunge. Children to teenagers and adults who enthusiastically answered, "Jesus!" when asked who they have placed their faith in. People thrust their fists in the air as they rose from the baptismal tank, thunderous applause from the crowd, and tears of joy from onlookers.

An amazing day, an amazing way to celebrate new life in Christ. I don't think I've ever had as incredible a birthday, ever.

Sleeping With The Pandas

Diego didn't sleep much Tuesday night. He was up wandering the house and sneaking snacks upstairs to his bedroom... all night. I had sent him back to bed several times and had threatened to take away the Wii, TV and movies, nothing seemed to get through to him.

Around 3 a.m. I heard my bedroom door creak and thought the wind had perhaps pushed it open. It went creak again and I heard a scraping sound. Now, what could that be? Diego. I found him lying on the floor trying to hide the Wii remotes which I had placed on my dresser for safe keeping. I swatted his bottom and sent him back to bed with the promise that if he didn't stay in bed he would be a very old man before he played the Wii again.

Fast forward to Wednesday evening. Joe, Diego and I were in the car headed for an ice cream. Diego decided to remind me that he was tired (I wonder why). He then said something that was absolutely priceless...

Diego said, "I was in your room last night, Mom. I saw Dad sleeping and I looked at him and looked at him for a long time. I saw him sleeping with a panda in his hands."

Joe. Sleeps with a panda?

Priceless.

I Gave In To Technology?

There is just a lot of talk these days about Twitter. Practically everyone I know is twittering, tweeting, or twitting...whatever it's called. Twitter is about the ONLY way I can keep track of my husband!
I caved (as Wendy would say) and signed up for a free Twitter account. Interesting how addicting it is. Beyond email, I don't know what else I check more often for updates.
If you're not on Twitter yet, check it out.

The other day someone said to me, "Hey Faythe, your husband just added me as a friend on his Facebook." What? Really? Facebook? Joe?
My nephew then sent an email asking if I had a Facebook page and if so, I could see photos of his family. I haven't seen his kids in over 3 years except for an occasional snail mail photo in a card.
I decided to check out his page and discovered that in order to view anyone's profile, you have to be added as a 'friend' and in order to be a 'friend' you have to have an account.
I caved (again) and created my Facebook page. Again, addicting. Especially when the network begins to discover your page and begins to send requests to be added as a friend on your page. I've received requests from people I haven't heard from in years! It's a lot of fun.

I am sure there is so much more technology that I don't have a clue about. I probably won't try to check too much more out in the near future after all, I've got to get all this other stuff figured out first!

Monty the Bug

Joe's assistant (St. Susan) sent a Turbo Bug Vacuum home to Diego last week. This thing looks like a squirt gun only it sucks bugs up into a tube which will trap the bug so it can be examined through the built in magnifying glass. It allows studying up close and personal (well, through the plastic tube) any bug you want to suck up into it.

Now, you have to know that Diego has been deathly afraid of bugs lately. Yet armed with this wonder bug sucker, he was ready for any insect that might come his way.

Diego decided to go outside (after dark even!) on Friday evening to hunt bugs and suck them up into the vacuum. He found a moth and brought it inside to show off. When I asked him what he had, Diego replied, "Monty." Hmmm, Monty? "The moth, mom!" Okay, we've named a moth, and it was a little one at that.

After complete examination of Monty, Joe convinced Diego to release Monty the Moth back into the great outdoors... no bugs were harmed in this experiment :)