Saturday, August 28, 2010

DFW Trip - Part 3

As promised, here's the final piece about my trip to DFW - the Money Map Coaches' Meeting which was a real treat! I was able to be with just under 100 fellow coaches! I also had the privaledge of leading the Coaching Panel. Here's my panel praying before hand with Tim Ballog (Area Director for Fort Worth and a good friend). My panel was Julia Sizemore, Jim Johnson, and Reid.


Introducing my panel...


Here we are answering questions. We even had some fun with "What do you do with distractions during a coaching session such as a cell phone?" by having Julia answer her cell phone during that question. And, yes, we set her up. Tim, the Area Director, called her on that question!


Here I am with Doyle and Charlsey Greenlee who are in my department.


It was great to meet Bill Caldwell, one of our Online Coaches.


And Joan Neshem, also an Online Coach, and her husband Stan as well as a friend Dave.


After the meeting, we ate lunch at Hard Eight BBQ which is not only famous in the DFW area but DELICIOUS! I had BBQ Beef and loved it.


Brad Jack coordinated the meeting and treated us to lunch. It was great to get to spend some time with him once again.


The time in DFW was wonderful. :) Now, I'll have to tell about the Georgia Trip and my Birthday...then we'll be caught up on the highlights.

Thursday, August 26, 2010

DFW Trip - Part 2

My trip to DFW was truly the trip of a lifetime. I made so many WONDERFUL memories there...I'll definitely be going back at some point. But I'm home to stay for a while...enough traveling for this travel bug...until my Israel trip in November. :)

Julia had the neatest aquarium...

On Friday, we went down to the Fort Worth Stockyards for lunch and some shopping. I was able to get a few souvenirs to take home and some great pictures. The old timey train was really neat.


There were real cowboys there too! This one stopped and smiled when he realized I was taking pictures.

Here's Lindsey, Kristen, and I by the train.


We had lunch at Riscky's BBQ. I had a BBQ Beef Sandwich with fries. Charlie got jalapeno poppers (deep fried with a cheese filling) and Julia and I both got into them! Yes, this is from the girl who does NOT eat hot stuff!


On our way to the airport, we drove by and stopped at the Mustangs of Las Colinas which was really neat. Due to the location of the fountains, it looks like they were running through the water and actually kicking it up.

One last picture with my "extended family"...I truly feel like Charlie and Julia are family now!


It was a super special trip to Texas. And yes, I got a lot of work done...I just told all about the fun on here! I'll do one more post about the Money Map Coach Meeting that was held while I was in DFW.

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

DFW Trip - Part 1

Just 10 Days after returning home from Oklahoma, I flew out to Dallas Fort Forth for a few days for Crown related travel. I had the privilege of staying with Charlie and Julia Sizemore, friends of mine and Crown volunteers. They truly treated me like a princess. By the end, they were adopted family!

Here's my room and welcome basket...


Julia and I stopped at the Gaylord Hotel which was huge! It's a large tourist attraction in the DFW area.

I met with Professor Presslor who has the largest Stewardship Museum (even larger than the Library of Congress's collection on stewardship). Here we are in the museum.


The middle bank (round looking can) was the oldest bank in the museum dating from the 1500s.

Here is Larry Burkett's Giving Bank and an old version from the 1800s.


While I was in DFW, I had the privilege of being interview by Chuck Bentley on MoneyLife and sharing about Money Map Coaching. That program can be heard at http://www.crown.org/media/relatedcontent/080310.aspx.

I was also interviewed by Michael Moore on 1220 Hot Pepper for the DFW area on his radio program, Pastor's Corner.


Here I am with Michael after the interview.


And there's even more to come. One more post about my trip to DFW and more pictures coming soon!

Saturday, August 21, 2010

B'nai Shalom

Well, the last stop on my trip to Oklahoma was B'nai Shalom Congregation led by Monte Judah. We had been part of B'nai on the internet for about 3 years at this point, so I was very excited to finally get to be there in person. After having supper with Monte and Lin, Ann, Misty (another counselor who was with us), and I headed to B'nai.

I popped my head into the control room to see what that looked like at the beginning as I was so used to being on the receiving end. Here is Seth Greene running the computers for the broadcast. Ephraim Judah, Scott Porter, and Amy Porter are also watching from the control room. There were approximately 7 computers running everything in the control room.

Lorne Greene is running the PalTalk room from this computer. JocelinOhio said hello to everyone from B'nai.

Here is Monte Harris leading the B'nai Shalom Praise Team.

Due to the number of people there from camp, the dancing was done outside between the two Lion and Lamb buildings.

It was really neat to hear Monte teaching in person. It was just like online but much closer. :)


And Dr. Scotty led prayer time just like always.

Here I am with Monte and Lin. They are both so sweet. I enjoyed getting to know them better.

Here I am with Lorne and Jane Greene as well as Monte and Cindy Harris.


And couldn't miss getting a picture with Dr. Scotty and Alice Faye who are absolute sweethearts.


And my original Wall Watchman - Mark and Donna Smith. Mark and Donna were the ones who taught me the ropes of PalTalk and being an admin. I instantly recognized them. It was great to finally meet in person.


It was a wonderful time at B'nai. And being that I'm on PalTalk everyone knew who I was which was really neat. We headed back to Ann's around 11pm...three very tired ladies. The next morning, Ann took me to the airport, I got through security, and had a few minutes to relax before boarding the plane home to my waiting Momma and Daddy. It was a smooth flight from Oklahoma City to Memphis where I had about an hour layover. Then the last leg from Memphis to Columbus. It was so good to get home. Momma and Daddy were waiting just past security and even had a "Welcome Home. We Missed You." Balloon which was so sweet!

Sunday, August 15, 2010

Camp Yeshua - Part 3

Well, here's the last post about Camp Yeshua...although there will be one more about my trip to Oklahoma...still have to talk about the B'nai Services. I still can't believe what an amazing week it was.

I have to say I had the best dorm room! I had 8 girls in my room, and they were really sweet.
Left to Right: Bailey, Megan, Me, Delany, Caitesby, Christine, Nicole, Richeal, and Faith (in front).


Ephraim Judah was our camp director and great to work with. Here I am with him; his wife, Lauren, and their baby Isabelle.


Christine and I got to really know each other. She reminds me of myself when I was younger. Colorado is a long ways from Ohio, but hopefully, we'll at least see each other next year at camp.


Another one of the junior staffers, Chelsea, and I got along great. Here we are together on our last day of camp.


We had a special Mikvah service at camp. A Mikvah is a cleansing and dedication before Yahweh. This was a special time for me as I had never done a Mikvah before although I had been baptized in the Christian church shortly after being saved. Each one of us had a leader witnessing for us. Ephraim, Brent Avery, and Mason Clover were the three Mikvah leaders. It was special for me to have Ephraim witness mine as his dad, Monte Judah, had been my first Torah teacher.

Our last dinner at camp was our "Semi-Formal Dinner." That night we all dressed up in our nice clothes, and the guys served the girls. I called it "Camp Yeshua Makeover"! I couldn't believe how we transformed. Everyone really enjoyed the night. The food was delicious, and it was so much fun to watch the guys. Some really knew how to serve the ladies...and some, well... It was interesting to see how many of us ladies ended up with just lettuce in our salads (no tomatoes or croutons....just lettuce!), but the guys were good to go back and get toppings for us. My waitor was Daniel Clayton, and I got a really nice plate with my silverware and salad (some ladies had to wait for the guys to remember their silverware!). Thanks Mike and Kathy for raising Daniel to know how to have a servant's heart and how to serve the ladies right. :)

We were pleasantly surprised when Josh Matthews topped the night off with a toast to all the ladies. And we returned with a huge thank you to the guys.

The service that night was amazing. The Ruach HaKodesh fell on the entire camp, and you could feel His presence. Then we topped the night off with one last night of Starlight Dancing. Ann Judah explained the significance behind Dance With Me which was the song we closed our Starlight Dancing with each night. It is about the Messiah inviting us to Dance with Him! She and Ephraim demonstrated how that would look...

Our final morning, we had morning worship and devos. Then Rico closed us with the Aaronic blessing. This picture turned out amazing with Rico, Ephraim, and Little Rico.


I went home with Ann Judah from camp. We stopped by a Sonic and got fruit slushes...awwww...so yummy on a hot day like it was. We had a few hours to relax at her house, get showers, and then we went out to eat with Monte and Lin before Erev Shabbat Services at B'nai which I'll tell about in my next and last post about Oklahoma.

Friday, August 13, 2010

Camp Yeshua - Part 2

Time for more from Camp Yeshua! I still can't believe what an amazing week it was. My tribe was a great group of teens and co-leaders. Each of the students brought something unique to the table, and it was neat to have Daniel Clayton (Mike Clayton's son) in my tribe as we had already met by phone a few times and felt like we knew each other in some ways.

Here's my tribe - Reuven...

Laura, one of the Junior Staff, and I got to be good friends. Here we are on Bible Character Night. I was a modern Jewish girl. She was Rebekah.

We had flex time two of our days there, and I decided to try out the archery range. That was fun! I also practiced on the rifle range.

Each day, our tribe completed various games and activities. Here is our tribe completing the platform crossing on the low elements confidence course.

What I call the "Rico Sandwich" - Here I am with Little Rico and his dad "Big Rico" Cortes.

Camp was an absolutely life change experience...one more post coming about it. Then you'll have to hear about the trip to Dallas Fort Worth...plus Friends and Fellowship...and butchering chickens! :)

Tuesday, August 3, 2010

Camp Yeshua - Part 1

Well, it's time to catch up. I've had a busy three weeks...but a wonderful time...and certainly saw Yah was busy!

I'll start with Camp Yeshua. This year's theme was Con10uum - how we are part of the Continuum of Yah's plan. We had about 160 campers. When you add in the senior and junior staff, we had a total of 230.


I flew to Oklahoma City, OK on July 10. It was a beautiful flight...

My hostess was Ann Judah. She and I are very close in age and definitely enjoyed getting to better know each other.


Camp started Sunday evening with opening session. The Senior Counselors (of which I was one) had to be there at noon for a staff meeting, so Ann and I went out early for that as well as to get set in our dorms.


I was part of the tribe of Reuven and one of the co-leaders. Each time we gathered before meals, we had "role call." This time, we spelled out Con10uum our theme.

More to come...