The Mark of the Beast

I've been studying with Diane since September of last year. She wrote in for Bible studies after having found a GLOW tract at her dad's door. Over the last few months, we've become good friends and she has grown alot. She has been a dream Bible study contact in a lot of ways. Because of my busy schedule, I didn't know how thing were going to work until she mentioned that she could only meet every other week, since she would spend a week at home and a week with her dad at his home. This gave me plenty of time between studies to prepare. She is always on time and always has her studies filled out. She is also a retired CPA, and has been filling me in on tips and encouragement as I'm undertaking the daunting task myself. But there are two things that have made this one of the more challenging things I've done in a while.
First, Diane is really struggling with her mother's recent passing. I'm not a counselor, and I haven't experienced grief to any kind of extent. I've mostly just tried to be there for her, but feeling a little inadequate in the process. Sometimes I wonder though, if she would be open to studying had her mother not passed away and was looking for something to meet her hearts need.
Secondly, she's Catholic. And her mother was Catholic. She was basically raised by nuns, went to see the pope when he came to LA a few years ago, and even has a picture of the pope in the flyleaf of her Bible. I knew this topic would be a major hurdle. Sure enough, when she studied our lesson on the Mark of the Beast, our usual email correspondence throughout the week went quiet. I expected the worst. Then her following email really got me worried. "There's too much Catholic bashing in this study. You're going to have to share something positive with me in the next study, because I stopped studying since I did the last lesson."
This past Friday morning, even though it's one of my three days in the week to sleep in, I got up early. I was nervous, not sure if I was going to blow it. This topic has got to be the hardest, scariest Bible study to give to a devout Catholic. I kept trying to stay encouraged, thinking to myself, "if we put ourselves out there, God makes himself responsible for our success right?"
Diane arrived on time as usual. Our study started at 10am and we weren't done until 2:30pm. Diane had so many questions and shed some tears in the process. But she didn't storm out, or throw something at me, or get completely confused which is what I was worried about. And the beautiful thing is, not only is she still open to studying and learning more, I have a clearer understanding of the topic myself, and it doesn't seem as scary anymore!
There's one more challenge I'm praying God works out. Diane needs a church home. Because of Teddy's work, we are constantly on the move each weekend. Today we are in San Diego, next weekend we'll be back in Riverside, but who knows about the following week? This is especially a busy time of the year with recruiting. And once the summer starts, we may be alternating churches in San Diego, Orange county and Loma Linda depending on where the teams are staying. Somehow, I need to integrate Diane into a loving church family that will embrace her, because I think she's ready.

On account of my new job...

I am extremely excited! It's official today: I will be leaving my job as Regional Sales Manager at Color Press and will be embarking on my new career path in two weeks! I was just hired as an accountant at the conference (Southeastern California Conference) and am just thrilled! Yesterday I saw this quote and I really felt like it summed up what I was feeling at the time:


"If you don't go after what you want, you'll never have it. If you don't ask, the answer is always no. If you don't step forward, you're always in the same place."
-Nora Roberts


Lately we've had alot to celebrate about. My husband (I'm so proud of him!) recently finished his degree and was promoted to Assistant Department Director on the spot. He's worked hard and it was gratifying to see him rewarded, not only for his degree but his contributions to the Evangelism Department as a whole.


Around the same time, we also found out of many applicants, I had made it on the short list for consideration in the Treasury department at the conference. Today it's official; I'm in! And I'm humbled and honored. Although I will be relinquishing my flexible, at-home work and schedule, I am looking forward to establishing my accounting career as I head towards fulfilling my dream of becoming a CPA. Those tests begin this summer, and I know they will be the hardest thing I've ever attempted, but for now I'm basking in the warmth of answered prayer and new opportunities. Thank you Jesus!

On this side of 2010...

more worries have worked themselves out, more dreams have been realized, more goals achieved, more direction felt, more love shared, more love received, more good times with friends were had, more memories made, more money spent (ugh), more ups than downs, more good times than bad times where experienced, more places visited, than I could have imagined this same time last year. Praise the Lord for another amazing year of life. When you really have no complaints, what do you do? You just gotta sit still and praise Him. I've had that kind of a year.
Now, don't get me wrong. There's always something to gripe about right? ;-) Haha. Am I such a pessimist or what. Well, you have to admit being sick for the last 6 days of the year, first with the stomach flu then with strep throat, had to have been a bummer way to say farewell to a good year, wouldn't you say? In the last 2 weeks I've lost 8 pounds, since for 4 days I couldn't hold any food down, and the next week or so I was confined to soups and teas when I had strep. Unfortunately, I have a sneaking suspicion I managed to hold on to most of the fat and just lost muscle. Now why would the body do that? No fair. I need to get back to my P90X workouts ASAP. I feel like a pile of jelly. (except for my abs, they're feeling pretty good from the combined throwing up/coughing exercises they've been doing for the past couple weeks)
Well this year I'm doing something a little different. No New Years resolutions. Except, that is, of making an extra effort to making each and every day count, and treating every day as a new opportunity to start my life over again. 2011 watch out. Here I come. Here's to an amazing new year!!!

So...

yes it was torture, especially seeing the 7 year old and the 70 year old pass you...but we're hooked! Half marathon is coming up in February, and this time if we do it we're actually going to train for it!

As you can tell by our faces, it wasn't all a walk in the park literally. BUT after having a few days to think about it, it was totally worth it, and as I mentioned above we're actually thinking of going for the half.
On other news, life has been so busy I'm really looking forward to Thanksgiving. The only downer is, I'm not going to be 'home' to enjoy it with my sweet family. But I'll be in TN for Sara's graduation coming up in mid-December!!! Can you believe my little sister is a Nurse now!!! I'm am so proud of her. She has succeeded in breezing through nursing school without as much as shedding one drop of blood, sweat or tears. What can I say, we can't all be Sara's. =) Love you sis!

It's official!

We're running a 10k this Sunday!!!!!! 6.2 miles woohoo! Without working up to it, (we've been doing P90X, playing tennis, etc. but doing very little running) will we die or just nearly die? We shall soon see.

P90X

He believes that man's finest hour, the hour he holds most true and dear to heart, is the moment where he lies on the battlefield of life, exhausted, victorious.
-Vince Lombardi

St. Lucia, Niagara Falls, Cancun

The second leg of our trip couldn't have started any more different than our Aruba trip. While it seemed like everything went our way in Aruba, even just getting on our plane was a hassle on our way to St. Lucia. Unfortunately, our string of bad luck seemed to last well into the first couple days of our vacation in that tiny Island. If it wasn't almost missing our flight to NYC, even after having gotten there 2 hours before our flight (a Jet Blue mix-up) or getting security called on us because I started video-taping an encounter with a Jet Blue associate (long story), or arriving there and finding out that bums offering you drugs or asking you for a 'tip' where a dime a dozen, it was pretty disappointing. Finally, we went to church on Sabbath and there we met an amazing guy named John. Instantly our trip turned around.

This guy had the inside scoop on everything and everyone in St. Lucia! He drove us around later that afternoon and the following day, showing us the best places to snorkle, i.e. Jade Mountain resort hint: where the Bachelor filmed in St. Lucia (he also happens to be neighbors with the owners) get mud baths, hot springs, see caves, the botanical gardens, hike, get the best views, and relax. He also took us to a couple of mineral baths (one in particular) that many consider to be THE fountain of youth.

You instantly become 10-15 years younger, and lose as many pounds as you walk out of there. Hmmm...let's just say we're still waiting for the full effects. BUT it did leave our skin feeling amazing! St. Lucia will forever hold a warm place in our hearts.


From St. Lucia we took a short flight to NYC to catch our connecting flight to Rochester, NY. We spent the night there and enjoyed a full day the next day exploring Niagara Falls.


The Canadian side, it turns out, really does have the best view of the falls. In fact, don't even go there unless you can go to the Canadian side, from our experience. Thankfully we had our passports, which enabled us to do that. The falls are simply breathtaking! You can't help thinking about the guy who tight-roped walked/biked it. What in the world was he thinking??
Our trip just kept getting better and better. Cancun very well could have been the best part of our whole trip.

Our hotel was right on the strip, and every night turtles would swim in from the ocean, dig a nest, and lay their eggs.

It was late in the season for them to be doing that, so other eggs where starting to hatch while we were there too. We were able to see the baby turtle migration to sea several times.

Since we had a rental car, we were able to drive to different places while we were there. One of our favorite things was just driving to a small, authentic little town away from the tourist traps and grab a bite to eat-for cheap. We felt pretty safe for the most part, especially since we had two other guys traveling with us most places. Playa del Carmen was amazing, looking back we would probably just stay there next time since it is more authentic.

On Sunday we drove to a couple ruins, Chichen Itza and Tulum.


It was fascinating to hear all about the ancient Mayan civilization. In Chichen Itza, we pretty much had the whole park to ourselves, which was a real treat. As many as 4,000 tourists can pass through there on any given day.
From beginning to end, with just some minor hiccups in between, our vacation this year was one of our favorite of all!