Sunday night mind purge

- This week was long, tiring, draining, and challenging. I'm not whining or complaining and I'm not saying it was bad - just saying it was difficult.

- I started out with waking up early to go to the airport and see off the Spain trip as they left that morning, then had physical therapy on Monday morning, then worked at the office for awhile before heading out to The Bagel Shop in the Northeast to work and then to Starbucks afterwards to read for awhile. I rushed home, changed into my workout clothes, went to the gym, rushed back home to shower up, then rushed over to the house of some friends, the Romos, to talk about me taking their son with me on my upcoming vacation at the end of the month. It was a looooong day.

- Sometimes I wonder if my days are in sync with what God is wanting me to do with them. I do a lot, and I'm not foolish enough to try to do them on my own but I beg God to lead and guide me ...but with all I do, I wonder yet if I'm just busy or if I'm actually being fruitful. Not productive because I know I am ...but fruitful, spiritually speaking.

- On Tuesday, I was at the office most of the day - which I usually am on Tuesdays because we have staff meeting. I spent most of Tuesday thinking about and revising my sermon for July 19th because I wasn't quite comfortable with what I had written the day before. I also worked on a couple of other projects and then in the evening, headed over to the Northeast for our GrowGroup out there. The previous week, only one other person came; this week, nobody showed up. I'm gonna try to re-launch the group this week.

- After another physical therapy appointment on Wednesday, I spent most of the day working with Nicki Sattelmeier, our Worship Director for the NE campus, getting her oriented since it was her first day on staff. I worked on a few other things but the bulk of the day was spent orienting her. I made a run to the gym, then went out to Fabens to talk with the Pryors about details of taking their son with me on vacation.

- Then on Thursday, I, and some other staff members, spent some more time working with Nicki to get her oriented. I also worked on a few projects and then left the office a bit early to go make a hospital visit, then went to Starbucks to read for awhile. In the evening, I met with Nicki again and with her husband Josh to go get some office supplies for their shared desk and afterwards we went to Corner Bakery Cafe to have dinner and just relax, enjoying each other. It was quite nice.

- Friday wasn't very restful, for a day of rest. I woke up early to see off the Slovakia team at the airport and then ran some errands. Somehow I've been ending up running errands on my day off because I haven't had time to do them during the week. That's not good. That means I don't have enough margin in my life, and that's probably part of why I'm wondering about whether I'm being fruitful. I need to re-evaluate my schedule. Anyway, add family drama on top of the busy-ness and that makes for one tired, frustrated Ariel.

- Ahh Saturday. The Fourth of July. Independence Day. My 3rd favorite holiday, after Easter and Christ-mas, respectively. I got in some good time at the gym, then worked on a personal project throughout the day, and then got a migraine. Thankfully it was a minor one, and after taking a quick nap in the darkness and silence and after having several people pray for me, I felt better. I went to the patriotic service at Abundant Living Faith Center, then went out to Cohen Stadium to meet some friends for the baseball game and fireworks display afterwards. The game was pretty good, the fireworks were GREAT, and the traffic afterwards was horrendous. It took 10 minutes just to get out of the parking lot and about a half hour total to get onto the main road. All in all, it was a good Independence Day.

- Then this morning, we had our weekend worship celebrations at Del Sol Church. It was interesting because about 5 minutes before we started the first worship celebration, I was told that I'd be doing the announcements this morning. It was cool to be up there doing them, and at the second worship celebration, everyone clapped for me after I gave the announcements. It was strange and funny at the same time.

- After we finished up for the morning, I went to the Firehouse to help them load up some stuff they had gotten ready for a cookout/water day at the park down the street. While I was doing that, I got hit with a few water balloons and got pretty wet so since I was already wet, I decided to go to the park after all. I wasn't planning on it, but I'm so glad I did. I had a blast and it was great to reconnect with some of the youth who I had missed so much. A few of us ended up staying 'til about 7 pm just talking and laughing and enjoying our time together.

- And now ...I'm gonna head off to bed.