Happy Columbus Day!

October 10, 2011

There was no school today, so I went to the beach!  It was sunny and warm at my house, so I decided some beach air was exactly what I needed.  But, once I got to the beach, it was cold and foggy!  I still had a great time, ocean air clears my head (and makes my hair frizzy...).  I ALWAYS enjoy the beach, no matter what the weather is like.  I left my camera and phone in the car, so the only picture I took was once I had walked back up to where I parked.

I also stopped and got a "no school" treat...

It was a great day off! (Even though I still have to go to Spanish class tonight.)

RMO Service/Last Day of Retreat

October 9, 2011

Today was our last day of retreat.  It went WAY TOO FAST!!  On Sunday morning at retreat we have a service and our RMO (Religious Missionary Order) induction, for staff who have gone through CAP (our hiring/interview process) and been with World Impact for at least a year, working on joining the RMO.  It is a great reminder of the vows we have taken as we answer the call to serve God in the inner city.  Today Steph and Jen joined the RMO and it was a great celebration of both of their callings and obedience to come serve in Los Angeles. 

Here's our staff (I don't think this is all of them), getting ready for the service to begin.

Here are Steph and Jen, joining the RMO!  Hooray for you both!!

Staff Retreat!

October 8, 2011

I am so incredibly thankful for the people I work with!  I could not ask for a better group of people to share my life with.  Today was a great day at staff retreat!  We had times of worship together, time to look back at the 40 years of World Impact's ministry in Los Angeles, and time to think about what the next 40 years (and beyond) will look like.  Our theme is Community and we are learning how community looked in the past, present and how we would like it to be in the future. 
Today we also had an afternoon of free time.  We kind of have a tradition for our free times, going out to sit on the field and watch the more ambitious members of staff play games, like soccer, ultimate Frisbee or football.  We LOVE our times of relaxing, chatting and laughing on the field. 

Another tradition at staff retreat is to stay up WAY too late playing games and eating the snacks everyone brings up to share.  It usually starts out with a pretty big group, and then slowly dwindles down to a few brave souls playing until all hours of the morning.  I'm not a huge game lover, but it is always fun to play at staff retreat!

This pictures shows a few groups playing games, the snack table (where all the people are gathered in the background) and the identity collages we all made on the wall.  Fun memories at retreat!!

Half Day

October 7, 2011

We had a half day at school today in order for all of the staff to get up to our World Impact Los Angeles staff retreat before there was too much traffic.  Our D-Groups had been working on posters of "Pictures of Jesus" from different verses we read about Him, and today at huddle they had to present their posters to the rest of the school.  I was so proud of my girls, one of them was absent, and the other two did a great job finishing up their poster and presenting it. 

Once school was done for the day, we headed out to The OAKS for our staff retreat.  After a few stops we ended up at Chik-Fil-A for dinner, yummmm!  I had such a great time going up to retreat with Steph, Tracy, Leah, Meredith and Mike! 

We also had a great first night of retreat!  We got to make identity collages, and everyone hung them up on the walls, so we were surrounded by visual reminders of our staff members personalities.  I loved it (although it was hard to do in a group where I was easily distracted and just wanting to talk to people the whole time!!).    Looking forward to the next two days of staff retreat!

It's the Small Things

October 6, 2011

Tonight Janice and I went on a little shopping adventure, going a little ways out of the city in order to have a bit more of a relaxed shopping experience (except for the traffic getting out of LA at 6:00PM!!!).  We spent about an hour walking around the store, and then decided we needed a treat!  Luckily we found some individual ice cream scoops on sale for 75 cents!!!  We were so excited, and they were the perfect size, not too much, but not just a bite either.  And they had a brownie bottom!  : )  It really is the small things that make my day!

Happy Birthday Corinna!!

October 5, 2011

Today is my big sister Corinna's birthday!!  She turned 40 today, and I never knew 40 could be so young!

She still has the exact same smile, and is always laughing and making others laugh too!

She is a great big sister!  Always there when you need to talk,

or when you need someone to make you smile!

She is a great mom!  Putting everything else aside to be there for her kids.

She did such a great job raising two beautiful kids!  What a better testimony of her good heart and love then two kids who love her and are doing great things with their own lives!

Happy Birthday to my sister Corinna, and many more amazing years to come!!

Thank You Ms. Aguilar

October 4, 2011

Today we had a going away/thank you party for Nivia.  She has worked at LACS for 10 years, but now she has decided to stay home and take care of her family full time.  She was the kindergarten aid and lunch supervisor for the kids.  But she did so much more around the school, and we all are missing her this year!  It was great to see her and hear about how she is doing and honor her for her many years at the school.

After food, cake and some sharing time about Nivia, a bunch of the mom's and staff members from the school gathered around Nivia to pray over her and send her off with our blessings!  It was a great time loving Nivia!!