I think I am just a little too excited about the new season of television shows...

"God rarely shows you a problem so that you can tell someone else about it."

"We have defined holiness through what we separate ourselves from rather than what we give ourselves to. I am convinced the great tragedy is not the sins that we commit, but the life that we fail to live."

"God created you to do good. and doing this requires initiative."

"I am convinced that God longs to put His fingerprint in our lives, to act on our behalf and surprise us with His magnificence. I am equally convinced that most of the time we do not give God a context in which to do this. The mundane is not really the best context for a miracle. When we play it safe, we squeeze God out of the formula. If we go only where we know and do what we're certain will succeed, we remove our need for God."

and one more...

"The promise of Jesus that if we ask anything in His name, He will do it, is fueled not by how strongly we believe in something, but by how well we represent God's purpose and intention. If a prayer's ultimate intent is to fulfill God's will, we can move with confidence, even if God doesn't answer that prayer the way we expect. The more closely we reflect God's heart in our prayers, the more often our requests will match His response."

I could quote much more, but I will hold off for now.

The book: "Chasing Daylight" by Erwin McManus

So yeah, I enjoy getting up and going to work in the morning. Even if it is at 8:30am. I feel like a grown-up, at least a little bit... going into an office... wearing heels... putting food in an office fridge... I even bought a suit. I like the role I am playing for the Clubs... I want to be a strong support for the Unit Directors and their staff so they can be a support for the KIDS that are making the Boys & Girls Clubs their home away from home everyday. I think because I have been in the Directors' shoes, I understand what they are going through, and I understand what they need in order to make the biggest IMPACT on their kids that they possibly can. I get that the kids are the most important part of our work, and then come the staff that work with them daily. It's not the Area Commander or Executive Director or the DC who are most important to me. I work for those kids and their staff.

I have already gotten to know many kids by name from the other Clubs around Charlotte, and I have seen my Marsh Road kids several times a week since I started my new job away from them. And Kristy was right... it never gets old to see them stop what they are doing when I walk in the room and smother me in hugs as their suddenly innocent voices squeal, "Miss Stephanie! Miss Stephanie!" I was never completely sure about my move to a new position, but I am confident now that it is the right move for me at this point in my life, and that is a good feeling.

So anyways, I know there will be frustrating days ahead. I know that there will be days that I want to slam my office door and go home. But I am really excited about the possibilities that lie ahead... I am in awe of all the amazing kids in this city... kids who are just waiting to have someone tell them they are beautiful and talented and full of worth, and then continue to show them as well... kids who will change the way they think about themselves, their world, and the God who made them all because of their experience with the Boys & Girls Club.

Thank you God for the work you have put in my life. Thank you for the vision, experience, and passion you have given me. Allow me to do Your Work to the best of my ability... wrap Your arms around the Clubs, children, and schools here in Charlotte, and bless all we do. Amen.

I'm liking my new job...

:)

So I have really been wanting some cereal the past couple of days, but the milk we had in our refrigerator had gone bad several days ago (much like everything else in our fridge, I'm afraid). So finally we went to the grocery store to get some milk, and when we got home, I pulled down my box of Oh!'s (my favorite cereal, of course) from the pantry, and I poured all that was left in the box into my bowl. I tasted a couple of pieces before I poured my milk in to make sure that they too hadn't gone bad. Nope! They were still crunchy. So I poured on a good amount of sugar (because I love the sugary milk left in the bottom of the bowl when all the cereal is gone), and I then poured on our newly bought milk. As I was going to sit down on the couch to enjoy my cereal while watching some mindless tv, I took a bite of my delicious cereal. BLAUGH! It tasted disgusting! I couldn't even chew it up! I spit it out in the trashcan while Tilden stared at me, wondering what on earth was wrong. My immediate thought was that the milk we had just bought was bad, so I checked the date and smelled it. Nope. It was fine. Then I started to realize that the bite I had taken tasted more salty than rotten. Then I realized that all that sugar I had poured on my cereal was actually salt. Then Tilden started laughing at me. And then I started laughing at myself. And then I realized that I had used up all of my Oh!'s.

Oh well.

I have been enjoying a site called Pandora for a while now at work. They call it the music genome project. Basically, you just type in a few songs/artists/albums that you enjoy, and it creates a music station based on the music you requested. It plays other music that is the same style of the music you initially put in, so listening to the station is a good way to find new, good music, which is sometimes a difficult thing to do.

If you don't like a song that it chooses, you can just click the 'thumbs down,' and it goes to the next song. You can register for free, and then you can just log in anytime you want to hear the stations you create. I created one for myself to listen to when I am working, and one for the kids to listen to when they come into my office. Well, my old office...

I enjoy it... and think you should try it too.