No Good Thing

A verse that has become very precious to me over the last few months is Psalm 84:11.

“For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the Lord bestows favor and honor. No good thing does he withhold from those who walk uprightly. O Lord of hosts, blessed is the one who trusts in you."

This verse has helped me through health struggles and other situations. I came across a song by Joe Zichterman that I hadn't sung since college. I'll share the lyrics with you. I hope they bless you as much as they have me.

No Good Thing
Verse 1
What a wondrous joy to know 'tis true
The Lord our God is good.
Everlasting blessing for His own
Is promised in His Word.

Chorus:
For the Lord our God is a sun and shield,
And He giveth grace and glory.
No good thing will He withhold from them who will walk uprightly,
What a God we serve!

Verse 2
What a comfort sweet to rest in this:
His love will never chage.
As we seek each day His perfect will,
Our steps He will arrange.

Chorus:
For the Lord our God is a sun and shield,
And He giveth grace and glory.
No good thing will He withhold from them who will walk uprightly,
What a God we serve!

Bridge:
For the Lord our God is a sun and shield,
Giving grace and glory.
Blessed is the man who trusts in Him.

Chorus:
For the Lord our God is a sun and shield,
And He giveth grace and glory.
No good thing will He withhold from them who will walk uprightly,
What a God we serve!

Hairspray the Musical

My friend Mary was given tickets to see Hairspray the Musical at the Civic Center in Des Moines last Friday. Guess who she took with her!!! If you guessed me, you are correct and you win a gold star. It was absolutely amazing and we had a fabulous time. We took a few pictures in the car on the way, but couldn't take pictures at the show. So I went out on the internet today and found some pictures for you to see. Mary and I both loved the movie so much that we were hoping we wouldn't be disappointed - we weren't! It was so much fun and I'm so glad she took me. Thank you, Mary!!!

Before we went to the show, we had dinner at my favorite restaurant, Olive Garden. I hadn't been there for two years, so it was great to have my favorite dish...Chicken Alfredo. Mmmm.

Just a side note: our wireless internet is down, so I haven't been posting. It's not as convenient to stay up in the office to post. Hope you miss me.

Just a Glimpse

I thought I would give you just a glimpse of what I do in the office. This following pictures are of a mailing to the churches. This mailing only goes out to 185. It included a letter, registration information, Counselor Training information, bulletin insert, Father & Son brochure, Deaf Camp brochure and Senior Retreat brochure. I design these brochures and print them in the office. I had a couple of the camp kids and Lynnae come help me fold since there were over 1,000. (Thank you!)

Here it is all organized and ready to start collating.

Do you like my rubber finger? It makes my finger sweat after awhile, but makes collating much easier.

Here it is all ready to go to the Post Office. They love us at the Post Office - we spend lots and lots of money there.

State Basketball

Well, we didn't pull off a win at state, but it was a great day. I'm so proud of our guys...they played their hearts out! Here are some pictures for you to enjoy.

Faces in the crowd:
Yes, that's Cody Huber with his face painted. Most of the other kids in this section are church kids as well.

Jeremy and Ryan...pumped up!

Stacey and I. She kept referring to things in football terms. Who knew I would be the one to give a basketball lesson! No, there are no fumbles in basketball!

Anna and I. We had a great time on the way to the game and enjoyed time together during the two games prior to ours.

Yes, Aaron deserves to have this picture posted. This is his dad beside him, Pastor Hart.

Some summer staff came to the game as well. You should recognize Keri from summer pictures. She was one of my secretaries this past summer and is joining me in the office again this coming summer. I already have work waiting for her in her inbox.

Proud Ventura moms. Too bad they can't spell "Vikings." The two rows ahead of them are church people or camp staff as well.

James has had this mohawk since sub state. The blue color is new though. The kids at church are jealous, but I heard a rumor it is coming off tomorrow. Such a cute kid! The vest is a tradition by the way. He has worn it to all the games for years. It's too small now, but he squeezes in.

James and JP are great buds and had a great time at the game together.

And here are our guys at work! It was fun to watch them play!

My Day with a Six Year Old

Let me introduce you to my favorite little six year old, Tabitha. She had a birthday recently and wanted me to go to her party. Since I couldn't go, I had her over for the day today to celebrate. She sat by me in church and then informed me that I wasn't to forget to pick her up after Sunday School.

After church we went to lunch and then headed to my apartment for our day of fun. We started off by making cookies where I learned my first lesson.

Lesson #1 - Do not ask a six year old to turn on the kitchen aid mixer. The result is below. We laughed so hard and then just cleaned up the mess. The cookies turned out great even with some missing ingredients. Tabitha, you are a great cookie helper!

Lesson #2 - Do not play games with a six year old unless you are prepared to lose every time. She was prepared and brought a bag of her favorite games. We started off with two rounds of Cootie and finished with Princess Crazy Eights. I only lost Crazy Eights by one point. Great job, Cheeto! (private nickname)

We watched Mulan next, but I didn't take pictures of that. We had a great time snuggling on the couch watching the movie. There is nothing like a little kid that just snuggles in.

Our next project was beauty. We did our nails and then decided to accessorize for church. She had never done someone else's nails before, so I was lucky to be the first. She did a great job and we looked spectacular for church.

We wanted to be twins, so I flipped out her hair and we tried to wear matching jewelry. Isn't she just adorable?

Tabitha, I hope you had a fun celebration. I know I had a great time with you and love you very much!!!!! I'm so glad we are friends, Cheeto.

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins

I made these recipes for our retreat this weekend. They are so good, so I thought I would share them with you.

Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins
1 1/2 cups mashed bananas
2/3 cup sunflower seed oil (I just used vegetable oil)
1 egg, beaten
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup white sugar
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Lightly grease a 12-cup muffin tin or line with muffin cups.

In a medium bowl blend the banana, oil, egg and vanilla together.

In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder and salt. Stir in the banana mixture until just blended. Fold in the chocolate chips. Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin tin, filling 3/4 full.

Bake in the preheated oven for 15 to 20 minutes. Remove muffins to a wire rack to cool completely.Maple Snack Mix
1/3 cup butter
1/2 cup pancake syrup
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
8 cups cinnamon Life Cereal
1 1/2 cups pecan halves

Heat oven to 300 degrees. Melt butter and syrup in 9 x 13 pan. Add brown sugar and vanilla. Stir till melted. Mix in cereal and nuts till coated. Bake 1 hour / stirring every 20 minutes. Spread on cookie sheet to cool. Store in air tight container.

I forgot to take a picture of the finished product and there were no leftovers. You will just have to trust me that this is yummy. It got this recipe from my college friend, Roxanna. Thanks for the great one, Roxi!

Refreshment

This weekend, our church ladies had our second annual retreat. It was such a special time. It's only the second time I've attended a retreat since working at camp and it was such a blessing to go. We had close to 50 ladies attend. Most only came for Friday night, but those of us that stayed the entire time were extra blessed.

One of the things that I learned this weekend is to take off my blinders. We see each other every week at church and greet one another, but I have been so oblivious to the needs in the lives of others. Church sometimes becomes this polite place instead of really digging into the lives of others. This weekend opened up many opportunities for the ladies to share and we have many that are hurting and going through difficult situations. We spent some good time in prayer and encouraging one another.

We also had so much fun. I have included some pictures to prove it! I would highly recommend a retreat for your church ladies. It really does a lot to help bond your group to one another and to our heavenly Father. Enjoy the pictures!

Here is a group shot. All of our sessions were done by our own church ladies. I even did a session this year. I gave a short testimony and some direction on prayer. God has really been so good and I'm glad I had the opportunity to share what He has been doing in my life.

We played the very fun "Reindeer Game." Yes, those are stockings on their head. We also played our traditional "I've Never" which is always a hoot. I think Kathy Taylor had the only injury this year. The rest of the time was spent in groups with board games.

Yes, this picture was posed, but Mary did a fantastic job leading our singing. She picked songs that were very appropriate for our theme and they fit right into the sessions and testimonies.

So here I am. The song needed a little help, so I volunteered to ham it up a bit. I'm sure the ladies will appreciate my not putting other pictures on here. Sometimes what happens at Ladies' Retreat needs to stay at Ladies' Retreat.

Fun T-Shirts

I had to put these pictures on from one of the district games. Four girls from the youth group made these t-shirts to cheer on our three church guys. The front says, "Baptist Boyz."

Just in case you can't read these, the one below says, "We believe in tithing, so show us the money."

This one says, "We believe in immersion so dunk it!"

Very creative bunch of girls we have. We are all very excited for Monday!

"Going to State"

Well, the Vikings pulled it off and are headed to the state tournaments on Monday!!!!! Way to go guys! I wasn't able to go to the game last night, but listened on the radio. It did my heart proud to hear them brag on our guys. They especially love Tyler Betz, the director's son.

Can't wait till Monday. I think it will probably be a holiday at the camp. :)

Tax Time

So usually my dad does my taxes for me. In fact there has only been one year my entire tax paying life, that he hasn't done them for me. Well this year is going to be the second year ever. So this morning, I drug out all my stuff from this last year and finally organized it so it's ready to go. Don't go thinking that this means I'm doing them myself. I have a coupon for H & R Block.

I realize this post really is of no importance, but I'm bored. I've been sick the last couple weeks and stayed home this weekend to rest/recuperate. So I'm bored and thought I would bore you my faithful few readers.

So let's take a poll. How many of you already have your taxes done? How many of you wait till April 15 to even start? I've always been right in the middle. Not in a hurry, but I don't like to wait till April.

Okay, I'm off to take a nap. Hopefully, I'll feel up to church tonight.

Oh, and thanks for doing my taxes all these years, Dad! I love you.