So there are times...

in life when we as Christians choose to put others needs above our own. We give our time, money, wisdom, homes, resources or energy into something that's full purpose is to benefit others. We do this, hopefully, out of our love for the Father and our love and desire for others to know the Father they way we do! And yet it always seems to me that when we do this we end up more blessed and satisfied than the people we were hoping to bless. Our joy is increased and our love for the Father and His amazingness often grows deeper as we give of ourselves. As it says in Acts 20:35, "...remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He Himself said, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'"

I realize that sometimes things we do for the Lord go unnoticed by everyone except for the Lord, or sometimes our efforts just seem to fail miserably and we have to be able to have peace within our inner man that our intentions were right and that the Father saw our efforts. Other times though, it seems like the reward for giving of ourselves is so tangible that you can almost feel it!

All that to say this... House of Faith Family Camp 2010 was this weekend!!!!! Gunnar got to come to help and it was a weekend full of work, packing and unpacking, cooking, teasin', dish washing, serving, laughing, loving, family, FREEZING water and JESUS!! My good friend Michael's sister got saved so that of one MAJOR Hallelujah (as Bob would say) of the weekend!!

We had the Talledega del Frio Race and every family got to decorate a box to race Fred Flintstone style. Everyone got REALLY into it and it turned out to be a major hit of the weekend!! My family didn't get to decorate but acted as the paint and supplies managers! haha It actually was really fun and we didn't get paint on us at all ;)

Gunnar, Dad and I setting up. I was already covered in paint!

Trying to thicken up the paint

That little munchkin was a handful!! I caught him twice with about 15 coffee straws in his kool-aid , adding creamer to it! There was kool-aid all in the creamer and all over the bowl and not a parent in sight! haha

Now not all Family camp was work. We did get to get in the FREEZING water and jump off a cliff. Gunnar, Penny, Me and Alfonzo.

Fonzo went 1st!

I was second! Gunnar said I won major girlfriend points for being the kind of girl that would do thing kinda thing! Score!!

Penny was next!

And Gunnar went last!! The water was so cold it hurt, really bad, but it was so worth the memory!!Gunnar and I after our jump. We were both still shivering. It took me a LONG time to stop!! :)

Tara in costume for a semi pointless interruption!! Her and Eva were FANTASTIC and so so funny!!

Matt, Penny and some kids. The one on the end is Angel and she was my hiking buddy on the way down from the hike. She talked my ear off the whole time and she even made up a hiking song with me!! She was a pretty cool kid!!

Washing dishes, and more dishes and more dishes. Nothing like serving and working together to help get to know someone better!!

The ladies of the kitchen!!! These women were AMAZING and put in so many long hours cooking and preparing for all the 262 people at camp!! Props to them!!

So over all it was such a satisfying weekend!! There were families that will be changed forever after this weekend. There were relationships established that will give HOF staff and volunteers channels into family's lives that will cause families to change and to keep changing from now on! People saved, blessed, taught, and hopefully by just being out in creation away form technology, work and our daily lives these families got a new appreciation of just how big and good our God is and how time spent as a family and making memories like that is something that cannot be replaced.

Once upon a time...

...there was a girl who wrote blog posts about things she noticed about the world, events in her life, and other such happenings. Something happened to that girl... She went away... She stopped writing... she lost motivation...

Well I'm here to announce that that girl is back from wherever she went! I'm ready to write and share again. Nothing happened specifically to cause me to stop, I just slowly died out. I miss writing...I want to share my life and my thoughts, lessons learned, memories experienced, etc! I'm ready to write again!!

Be ready world!

I am back!!

Hangin' out in Aggieland!

So this weekend Wyatt, Sara and I headed off to Aggie land to visit our friend Gunnar! We had quite the time and really enjoyed seeing Gunnar and hanging out! We went to Midnight Yell, watched a very good ballgame (even though they lost :( bought some Aggie gear and finished off Saturday night with some dancing to a local Texas Country band! We went to church the next morning and had breakfast with my friend Jon and his dad who was in town for the game. Over all it was a fun filled, friend filled and joke filled weekend!

Here's some pics!

"Hey look! There's Kyle Field!"

Wyatt, Sara and Gunnar after the game.

Enjoying the game!

At Midnight Yell

This was our first attempt at a group pic haha

Nothin like the Fightin' Texas Aggie Band!!

SISTERS!!!

What a weekend!

This weekend was full and fun!! We hosted a meet at work which was super fun and exhausting! Our kids really made some improvement over their performances last week so that made me really excited not to mention I actually got to coach this one! There is just something about gymnastics that really gets me deep inside who I am! I hope that's a good thing haha

Our level 5's and 6's won the team competition and we had lots of winners and placing in the individuals too. My three 2nd year level 5's took 1st 2nd and 3rd in the all around in their age group!

Jillian, MaClay and Danielle (or as they are more often called... Gilligan, Carrot and Danny)

The 6's and 3's

Level 5's take 1st!

While it was very fun and enjoyable I have to confess that I skipped church and slept late Sunday morning (I know I know.... how could I?!) but I was up and ready for some paintball this afternoon! I had never played before so it took me a couple rounds to kinda get the hang of it but once I did I decided that I think it might be my new favorite thing to do!! Its what Jonathan wanted to do for his birthday and Jamin had a group of people out there playing so we all played together and I had a blast. I even have some lovely bruises to show for my bravery (HAHA)

Sometimes I really like being a Criner sister! :)

The whole gang

And then I watched the Cowboys game....poor Michael...

Great Day for a Ride...

So last night I asked Bob

"Want to take me on a motorcycle ride tomorrow?"

His answer...

"Well of course!"

This...

plus this...

equals FUN!

Goodbye vacation...

Ok so I know this isn't the most exciting thing to be blogging about but I really want to get back into blogging now that the summer chaos is behind us.

So school started Monday and I can officially announce that I have 24 hours left until I graduate so 12 this semester and 12 next semester and I'm done! As for what I'm doing after that well Im not sure yet. I have several ideas and things Im praying about though so I'll keep ya updated.

Work is still fun and exciting! Ive moved into taking a real leadership role as part of the competitive team coaching staff. I work with some awesome people and am still learning so much from them. I really love coaching, especially the team! I'll hopefully keep you updated with pictures as the competition season starts and progresses!

What I've learned from BJ...

I just read this in a book a friend let me borrow called I Would Die for You about a teenage kid named BJ who died from a disease he got while on a mission trip in Peru. Im only on the 4th chapter but was struck by a blog entry the book quotes that BJ wrote before he died.

"By the way...While even I often have to stop and figure out something that the Bible says that may have previously been contrary to my beliefs, you're looking at the Bible in the wrong way to say that when you find out about a portion of it you disagree with. Instead of only believing the Bible if it matches your own personal beliefs, make your beliefs match what the Bible says, because it has much more authority and relevance than our petty circumstances which bring about unsolid opinions. Many times my beliefs have changed due to finding a passage in the Bible that contradicted my old beliefs, but when this happens, do not assume that the Bible is wrong, assume that you are wrong. Because we are wrong a lot, but god is never wrong."

Now I realize that some of the writing is a little off but he wrote that when he was fourteen! It struck my spirit as a good reminder of how I want to be shaped BY the Word and how I want the Word to be the ultimate autority in my life and belief system.