Scatterbrained

I've been wanting to sit down and blog for a few days now but I can't seem to figure what I want to focus my post on. So instead I think I'll do a bit of a point form look at so many things that are whirled around in my mind.

Basketball
-My Lakers have been in a stinky rut thanks to a bunch of injuries->Lamar Odom, Luke Walton, Kwame Brown and the dummy of all dummies Valdimir Radmanovic (hurt himself snowboarding during the season. Out 2 months).
-The two longest loosing streak of Phil Jackson's career, 6 games and then 7 games. Like I said STINKY!
-Lamar and Luke got back to work though and we've won two in a row.
-Kobe's going nuts this week-> 65 pts vs. Portland, 50 pts vs. Minnesota...I see a few more 50s in the next couple weeks. He's in the zone.

Church
-Being a part of a church plant can be a challenge but it's also so rewarding. It's a continual struggle for me to leave my mega-church upbringing on the shelf and look at things on a smaller more personal level. I'm learning that the grass roots church may not be as flashy and professionally put together but it has a certain amount of heart missing in the Wal-Mart churches of North America.
-I'm at a stage in my leadership where it's time to step up so I've offered to preach once a month. If you know me you know that I love being on stage. I've always got a rush from the interaction with a crowd and having the spotlight on me. This time it's a bit different though. It's less about me getting attention and more about me trying to use the gifts God has given me. Our pastor has been feeling overworked and a bit bummed out recently. He loves working with people and spending time with them. One of the things taking away his energy is preparing for sermons every week. That's another reason I've stepped up. I want to give him a little more time to concentrate on building relationship within our community. I've shyed (spelling?) away from preaching for a few years because my life was not always in line with what I was preaching about. I didn't feel right being a hippocrate. But lately I've been working harder to walk-the-walk. In no way do I have all my stuff together but I know that I'm trying and that's a big difference. This weekend I'll be preaching on Psalm 23 with the focus on Rest.
-I've been praying about my future in ministry and an exciting idea has come to the surface. My home church in Saskatoon is rich in resources and has a heart for the city but our location and demographic is very upscale. I would love to be a part of a Lakeview Church backed church plant in inner city Saskatoon or in another part of Saskatchewan. Maybe Lakeview needs to plant a church in P.A. or even further north. I guess we'll see what God has in store.

Gemma
-she's starting to sleep more...midnight to 9 am. Shorter naps in the day but a better sleep overall for Nevada and I.
-She's really learning things. It's so fun to watch her lately as she's able to grab things. She'll grab anything within her reach. And those objects will most often end up in her mouth.
-update: not sure what's wrong with her but she's been crying and screaming a lot for daddy in the last few days. I could use some prayer for patience and endurance.

Random thoughts
-Nevada's cousin Ashton is coming to visit us this week. He's been on a world backbacking adventure for awhile and decided to stop by. He's in Thailand right now but will be flying here tomorrow. Should be fun although he picked a busy week to visit...oh well, he can explore on his own which can sometimes be just as fun.
-I'm planning to get a new tattoo this summer. I'm so excited, it's been a few years since I've been poked by that needle. It's been fun to think of designs and styles. I even bought artsy supplies: sketch book, pencil, eraser, pencil crayons and markers. I'm not a big drawer but it is a neat oulet when one has a chance to sit and do it.
-It's the time of the year when we make our summer travel plans. We don't have our tickets booked yet but it looks like we'll be spending a lot of time at home this summer. It works out to about 8 or 9 weeks. We're so excited and I know some people at home are pretty excited to spend some time with Gemma. I'll be looking for some part-time jobs here and there so if you know of any work let me know.