Happy Valentine’s Day. I don’t think there is anything wrong with Valentine’s Day. Any time people are encouraged to show their love for others, I am firmly supportive! However, something about the “holiday” is annoying to me. I personally don’t feel I need a particular day of the year to prompt me to show love to my husband or kids. Sure, it was nice to remember my kids and get them a chocolate bar. And they did feel special this morning when they realized I had thought of them. Timm even got me a card, which was very sweet. But, the whole Valentine’s Day thing still bugs me a little bit. It just seems like another consumer driven celebration. If you REALLY love the people in your life, you should BUY them something! Whatever. I don’t know why I am so cynical about it. Silly really. Just one of those things I guess.
Pretty exciting week around the Kelly casa. Timm and Alli are making final preparations to depart for India. They will travel from New York to Amsterdam to Mumbai (then within India to final destination). Many many hours of travel. My prayer is that neither of them gets run down and sick. I also pray that they are protected, that they find a way to demonstrate the spirit of God’s grace to others, and to receive it as well. Alli is excited, nervous and curious about the trip. She already knows she will have a hard time leaving the orphans in India. She warned me that if there was a way, she would bring as many children home as we could fit in our apartment! And she hasn’t even met them yet. Oh boy. I am so thrilled that she gets to have this experience with her Daddy and her pastors and a group of Jesus followers who believe in and exhibit the sacrificial love Jesus calls us to live out. If you haven't checked it out, here is the website with more info about what Alli and Timm are a part of www.impactindia360.org.
Olivia and I will be on our own little adventure. We are going to take a road trip to Michigan while Liv has the week off from school. Yay! We get to see everyone again and take a break from the day to day routine. We are also happy to be giving a ride to a friend of ours who recently moved from MI to NYC. She is 11 years old and she is going to drive with us and spend the week visiting her family and friends in MI as well.
What else is happening? Last weekend we had a Mardi Gras dance at Liv’s school. That was a lot of fun. Alli came and brought two of her middle school friends.
I have been particularly busy lately with PTA work at Liv’s school and PTSO work at Alli’s school. All great stuff. I’m excited to be able to impact the lives of kids in the schools. But, it is funny how busy I can be when I don’t “work”. Between fundraising, executive board meetings, grant writing, committee meetings, event planning, PTA meetings, shopping for event materials, PTSO meetings, setting up, running, and cleaning up events, School Leadership Team meetings, endlessly emailing contacts to follow up on all of the plans dreamt up at meetings, etc. etc etc. I know for a fact that I work way more hours than I did at previous jobs. I am NOT complaining. I don’t have any idea how women do it who DO go to work and have demanding work schedules. Many of them STILL find the time and energy to volunteer. CRAZY!
Our church family continues to ebb and flow. We seem to welcome new faces and say goodbye to others continually. It’s hard to say goodbye to so many people. But, we just try to be thankful for the time God allowed us to be in each others’ lives. NYC is a transient city. Sometimes we struggle wondering why our community seems to stay so small, but then we cherish the ability to go deep in relationships and discipleship because we truly are able to focus on each other.
We are doing a really cool series right now in our church. It is formatted from “The Story Formed Way”. We are taking 10 weeks to break down the overarching narrative of the entire bible and breaking it into 10 smaller stories. The idea is that the bible really does give us ONE BIG story. Many people may not realize that the bible, from Genesis to Revelation, tells the story that answers our deepest questions. “Why do I exist?” “What happens after I die?” “Does my life really matter, does it have meaning? To who?” I just LOVE this process. Each week we listen to a portion or “act” of the story told to us on Sunday during our gathering. Then we have time for Q&A and just to chew on the story. Then, we are following up with even more questions in our weekly community groups. I have been loving the dialogue and questions. It has even captured the attention of Alli, Liv and Natalie who are 9, 11, and 12. They are a dynamic part of the conversation during our group. Love it. You can always take a look at what we are up to on our website www.communitasnyc.org.
I’m excited to be one of the story tellers on a Sunday coming up in the series. I don’t really like being up in front of people, but I was asked if I wanted to do it, and I couldn't’t resist. I just LOVE to talk and tell stories, so why not?!
What else? **We are hosting a "music night at the PIT" using the space where we meet on Sundays and having a few people perform, raising money for Liv's school!! YAY! **Alli had her first volleyball game! **We planned a two day get-away to Newport Rhode Island (thanks for the Marriot reward points given to us as a gift from a friend who stayed here while we were out of town!), **Timm has some interesting prospects in regards to his employment (more details will follow depending on outcome), **Liv starts an after school drama club today, **Alli hosted a dance party at our place since she was bummed to be missing her school dance while away **I just had a turkey rueben with frnech fries and cannot remember when food made me so happy. Truly delicious. **Timm ran 10 miles (which was his new year’s resolution and he did it before January ended!), and I am more in love with my husband than I ever thought possible. I thank God daily for our marriage, our health, our family, our friends, and the life God has called us to live (in His plan, not our own).
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