100 things I'm thankful for:

1. Family
2. Friends
3. Flowers
4. Trees
5. Clouds
6. Stars
7. Fireflys
8. The Ocean
9. Rain
10. Autumn
11. Sunrise
12. Sunset
13. Children
14. Butterflys
15. Chocolate
16. Peanut Butter
17. Protein
18. My legs
19. My arms
20. My feet
21. My hands
22. My fingers
23. My toes
24. My eyes
25. My eyelids
26. My eyelashes
27. My belly button
28. The ability to hear
29. The ability to see
30. The ability to smell
31. God's word
32. The Father
33. The Son
34. The Holy Spirit
35. Soul Food
36. Italian Food
37. Accents
38. Culture!
39. The ability to think
40. The ability to process
41. The ability to speak
42. The ability to critique
43. Mistakes
44. Unanswered prayers
45. Answered prayer
46. Oatmeal
47. The ability to feel
48. The ability to touch
49. The ability to taste
50. Laughter
51. Tears
52. Pain
53. Joy
54. Morning
55. Mourning
56. Evening
57. Dusk
58. Dawn
59. Deer
60. Dew
61. Snow
62. Speech
63. Actions
64. Love
65. The rich
66. The poor
67. The middle class
68. electricity
69. Running water
70. Cell phones
71. the ability to read
72. Doc and Ms. Judy
73. Corrie ten Boon
74. Elisabeth Elliott
75. Dannah Gresh
76. Shannon Ethridge
77. The Mangan's
78. Marlena and Shawn Graves
79. Crossroads Bible College
80. Cedarvillle University
81. Eastern Nazarene College
82. Carmille Akande
83. Corey MacPherson
84. Jewel Johnson
85. Martin Luther King Jr. 
86. Frederick Douglas
87. Teeth
88. Tongue
89. Christmas!
90. Birthdays!
91. Caterpillars
92. Education
93. Donors
94. Grants
95. Scholorships
96. Roommates
97. Difficult people
98. Clean clothes
99. Chapstick
100. MUSIC!

All these things I am grateful for and so much more

Post 14

Why is New England known for being spiritually dead..........or is America in general becoming spiritually dead (I had church-searching problems in OH too...people weren't as odd though)?

You go to one church and they emphasize the importance of a personal relationship with Christ and why we need to take care of the body of Christ; yet the opportunity to shine the light of Christ to the neighborhood where the church is located in is not seized.

You go to another church and they emphasize the importance of being the hands and feet in the local community, yet nothing is done to nourish those that are within the church.

You go to another church where the people are sweeter than southern style sweet ice tea, yet there's really no meat to the service.

And you go to another church where worshiping God is emphasized yet there is no teaching involved.

And then you go to another service where they teach and preach deep truths of Christ, yet they're as cold as ice at the north pole.

So the question is; where do I go? Do I go to the "sweet" church or the community outreach church and try and find a Bible study elsewhere? Do I go to the cold  but solid church and try to find friends elsewhere (oh wait, one of the reasons I'm looking for a church is to have fellowship and find friends)?

And so my church journey continues. I've been told this process takes about a year. "Lord help me to be patient"

Post 13

One thing that I love about Monday's is that it's the beginning of a new week; a time to start afresh and begin a new. I'm not one to work out like there's no tomorrow but I don't mind exercising. SO this morning I got up a couple hours before work and walked alongside of the beach for about 45 minutes. AND...it was raining. Usually I'm not a fan of being outside in the rain but it was very refreshing this morning. This time enabled me to think on the goodness of the Lord, something I never do enough.

Things are getting busier at work. Students are beginning to move in early and want to talk about life. One thing that is SO valuable that I learned from my Youth Ministry minor is that so many young adults just want to be heard because they have no one to listen to them, no one to glean wisdom from, no one to wrestle through the serious issues of life. I think one of the greatest mistakes many parents make is not letting their children's voice be heard. Yes, a parent has the right to set guidelines and rules and standards and requirements but a child needs to have the freedom to respectfully express what's going on in their head without being cut off and thrown to the side like what they say isn't worth a penny, let a lone a dime. All that to say, I see my job as not only a job, but a ministry and I'm excited for what God's going to teach me and how he'll use me.

On a lighter note, my boss played a trick on me today by putting some flash drive in my computer to make the mouse go crazy and move about without me even touching it. SOOOOOOooooooo.....while he was at lunch I drenched his office in the scent of Amber Romance and then I even had a chance to spray his neck (and ear-but that was an accident). The funny thing about it, he didn't even smell anything until 3 hours after I sprayed everything down. Laughter is good for the soul. Until next time.

JGB

Post 12

Today I've been feeling a little down. I think it's partly because I'm exhausted (and it's only the beginning of August, what am I going to do when the students get here?).

I miss human touch (it's my 2nd love language). So I'm asking the Lord to wrap his arms around me. So I've decided to take myself out to dinner tomorrow.....and maybe I'll buy myself some flowers.

Well I'm going to go get some shut eye so I'm not in the same place around this time tomorrow. But before I go, I've been doing  some online shopping lately and you know how there's now a customer service rep. ready to "chat" with you help you with any of your questions? Well at the end of our little session I've begun to tell people about Jesus. Usually the rep. signs off rather quickly and doesn't respond to what I'm saying. But even though I haven't been receiving any responses I think I'm going to continue because if one person starts to search for the truth, it will be 100% worth it. Until next time! :)