home, sweet, wait, where?

I'm home...
.... uh,....
............
Yay? well, yay... nope... lets go back... Can i go back?

I am home. I would love to go back to Minnesota for another few days, weeks, months, pretty much until November, the end of Nov, after birthdays have come and gone, and then i would come home till it got warm again. Yep, that's about right. If i could bring my girls and my church with me, i'd be back up there today. yep... oh, and Kirsti and Sonya too... and all the media team, of course, i said church and all of DR, geezzzeee... can i just uproot all my peeps in the city? you'd all LOVE Minneapolis/St. Paul area!! i promise!!!


yay... :l


lets go back! :) i'll tell you the whole story...


i met someone new. and i know you all are going to think i'm crazy... but i did... i met a male. he's got a very dark shade to his hair. He's got the CUTEST most handsome face i've ever seen... he's not as tall as most, but he definitely can pull off what he does have. I call him 'G-dawg' but most of you would not. b/c he doesn't like just anyone...


of course he does... look at his cute little puppy dog face!!! :) he's my new running buddy... Let me introduce you all to Guinness. He's from Memphis, so i feel it's appropriate for me to call him G-dog, G-Money, Hom-e-G... whatever southen slang slur i can come up with at the time. He's a great dog tho. but i'm a little partial i think, he snuggled with me a lot! :)


So... I'm not ready to have come home. but i am not sure i ever would be ready. I can tell you i sure did not expect to love it so much there. I mean, i hear about the sub zero temps, i know all about the 100 ft of snow you get in 1 hr there, (maybe that's a slight exadderation) but i can't explain how amazing it was for me... I met some really, REALLY fun people, and i genuinely did like them all... (like i wouldn't have tho??) but i really did have tons of fun with them. and!! man, the cities, and i mean, the 100 cities all rolled into one big metropolitian area, are all CLEAN! beautiful! and so full of culture and class and charisma... not to mention... why i went in the first place... speechless. there's just not words for it yet. I should have taken much more advantage of my time, but i was very well taken care of instead... I honestly do not know how i would want to leave, with a time had as we did. No words.

I have tho THUROUGHLY enjoyed my time with my babies tonight. Oh, i did miss them so much. and they missed me! and we had a great time tonight, eating pizza. yeah, really nutritious, i know! :) but it was great!



OH AND GUESS WHAT!! i'm gonna be a cousin-aunt! :) my cousin (who's 2 yrs younger and is the only sister i've known) is gonna have a baby!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! YAY!!!! (that's a real YAY!) Congrats, Jen! i love you!!!! can't wait to talk to you!!!!

Hey there, from Minneapolis!

I've been here for 5 days. it's been a GREAT trip, some much needed down time. I stayed with a friend in a basement... and as weird as that sounds, it's very common here for ppl to live in basements. :) and for me, was awesome, as i slept till i wanted every day, have done nothing, unless I wanted to and i've been able to detatch from everything, except those things and ppl which i chose to contact. :) it's really been the best thing ever for me. just... rest... aaahhhh, the joys!!!! :) I have been able to actually LOOK at some of the pics i've taken over the last couple of weeks... slowing posting on flickr www.flickr.com/photos/onlyaubs/ as i go.


Here's some pictures. of course... would you expect anything else from me? :) flying home today. i wish i had just 5 more days....


I get my girls back this week too! :) woohoo!!!

return from the infirmary

Hello from the near dead...

I spent the last two weeks getting close to the beyond with a sickness that was beyond words. I didn't go to the doctor, but i think i caught whatever cold was going around the church. And I caught it at the worst time too, right before Sonya came into town and then, also, right before our BIG WEEKEND of the Make Room conference. I felt so bad, so i drugged myself up on 4 pills every 4 hours, plus "Emergen-C" as well (which is REALLY GREAT by the way) and i got about 12 hrs sleep from Friday to Monday. it was a rather crazy, but awesome weekend. We found out tonight that over 150 lives were impacted for God last weekend from our services. i mean, wow... that is FABULOUS!!!!! I got a great night's sleep Monday night and i felt like a brand new person, the meds kept me going i think, but the sleep (and prayer) made all the difference in the world.

I did find out this week that we lost a great friend and co-worker last weekend. it's been a rather difficult time for our whole department. This fella, who was from Europe, was in my role just a couple of years ago. He was so talented, such a great resource and someone i respected dearly and enjoyed working with. we will miss him dearly... and wish his family all the best and send all our love. Barnabas, you will be missed...

I had another busy weekend again... but i got to do a photoshoot with some photography friends!!! yay!!!!!!!! had such a great time!!!!!!!!!! Here's one of the pictures... my kids are so awesome!!!! they did so good, we shot them for a while, and man... did 2 hrs FLY BY or what!!?? it was crazy!!! it seemed like we just got there and then it was over. but the kiddos posed for us perfectly. then we got some great family shots! i haven't had pics taken of us since Emma was 6 months old! can ya'll believe that !!??? They're total hams! and I LOVE THEM!!! (Tim Harris, yes, odd, huh? Took the pic on the left, i took the one on right)

Had another awesome weekend during Wide Open! Tonight was GREAT! and now i must get rest before i leave on Thursday, for me to go to Minneapolis! :) i am mega excited!!!!!!!!!! WOOHOO!! Oh, i did talk to Sonya Saturday. She had a great week, just a lot of work. Lets pray for a May Graduation for her! :) i can't wait for her to come home!!!!!!!!!!

Road trip!

So... tomorrow, i get to pick up Sonya. and i didn't realize that you may not know who she is... Sonya and i have been "BFF's" for about 2 years. She worked for the Church and for Go Global and both of us have huge hearts for God, for building God's house, for Missions and for just... living and loving life while we Serve. Anyhoo... I am going to pick her up and i will get to see her all weekend! :) it's like... it's like going to see my family. Even though i do have a COUSIN in DALLAS that i could see... Seeing Sonya is very similar. She was there for me thru 2 mission trips and man... we just have the best times together. :) and i get to pick her up tomorrow! YAY! I'm so excited!

The girls LOVE her too! they call her Ms. Sonya. and they know she loves them too. We all miss her, but we know her life is growing by leaps and bounds and changing, and man, it's awesome to hear what amazing things God is doing in her life. it gives me hope that I am not forgotten, lost, left behind, even when i feel like at times, my life is rushing around me and i'm just watching it all go by around me. But then, but then i get surprise calls from old friends who have moved away and i stop... i stop for just the few brief moments, or so it feels, to take in what is happening. and i realize that there's still so much of my life that is yet to come. and i feel alive again, excited about what God has ahead in my future. and i get inspired yet once again... it's a lovely cycle that i know God uses to keep us moving.

There really is so much to look forward to. :) life is awesome. I need to stop long enough to publish more pics that i've taken! :S hopefully soon... very very soon! More blogs to come after Make Room Conference! just such a busy time now! OH btw... my team got some MAJOR kudo's after this past month end... we have a lot of work still ahead of us, but they were happy, very happy, with the strides that we made so far! this is HUGELY AWESOME!!!

(and so is the tribute to my cousin! LOVE YOU!) ------>