It's my birthday!

I'm 21 today!! It's the first birthday that I've ever had to work (my birthday's during Christmas break so I've never had school or work) so I feel like a real adult now. :)

Even though I have to work I'm still having a great birthday! Haley took me out for breakfast, the people in the office are ordering lunch for us all and I'm having Chinese food with my parents and Caitlin tonight!! Lots of food and friends! :)

Updates on life ...

Since I haven't posted on here in about 6 months I figured I should update everyone on what's been going on ...

My dad's eye healed, but it took all Summer. He was finally going to church and driving again when he fell in the house one night right before we were all going to bed. His back was hurting, but he was convinced he would be fine. Eleven days later when my mom finally convinced him to go to the doctor we found out that he had broken his lower back and that it's been in a constant state of spasm (OUCH!). Nothing can be done for a broken back except for rest and prayer. He's been sitting and sleeping in his recliner since this happened (I think it was in late October or early November) because it's where he's most comfortable. When he feels a little better his doctor is going to test him for osteoporosis and also send a nurse to the house to do physical therapy with him until he feels well enough to drive to the physical therapy place himself.

Because of all of this (and some other health related reasons) my dad has officially retired from his pastorate at Leominster Assembly. But he's far from retired from ministry. :)

My mom is now working more hours at the church to help make up of the loss of my dad's income (he's on Social Security, but they don't give you much). She's also singing on the Sunday morning worship team, leading the Wednesday night worship team and in the Christmas choir. Besides all that, she has taken on almost the role of caregiver to my dad since he can't do much for himself because it hurts too much and we're all afraid that he'll fall again. She's been stressed out and needs lots of prayer so she can feel at peace as she becomes the strong one in her marriage at this time.

We're selling our house. Because my dad isn't working anymore we can't afford the payments, so we're selling. It's been on the market for a while now, but we're trusting that God will sell it in His time. This has made us all a little stressed out since the house has to be ready to be shown at all times, but it has been nice to have a completely clean house. :) When we sell we may not stay in the area. My dad has been looking at houses in North Carolina and other warm states because he doesn't want to live through another New England winter and because it's cheaper to live in NC.

I'm in school and working. This past semester has been crazy, but absolutely awesome!! I love my early ed classes and can't wait to graduate and get working. Which may be as soon as May!! If everything works out (I have to get an independent study approved) I will be walking in graduation in May of 2009 and getting my diploma in July of '09 when my class is done. I'm so excited!!!

Those are the headlines of life in the Salliby house as of now. I'll let you know when things start to change.

Finally back

Hi everyone!!
I'm finally back. :) I had been having a problem because I was still using my old e-mail account as my username and I forgot the password I had been using for that account. I've figured it out now though so I'm finally able to get back to this. Sorry it's been so long.

Peacemaker

Being a peacemaker is hard work. Downplaying others faults and really looking at your own, not getting defensive, doing what's best for the other person. I know it's worth it in the end, but this is really hard.

My dad ... the pirate?

For over a week now my dad has been seeing double, which makes him nauseous and gives him a really bad headache. The doctor said that he has what is called "Fourth Nerve Paralysis" which means that the coating of the fourth nerve that goes to his eye has unraveled. It will ravel itself back up and he'll be fine in 6 - 8 weeks, but until then there's nothing they can do about it. To help with the double vision my dad has been wearing a patch over his right eye (thus the pirate reference in the title). The patch seems to be helping, but he's still in a lot of pain and can't move around too much without feeling sick to his stomach.

Foving Murniture

That's right - Foving Murniture. It's what we've been doing at my house for awhile now ... rearranging and cleaning out the basement. It's been interesting to get rid of stuff that has been sitting in the basement of whatever house we lived in since I was a little girl (which is why we're getting rid of it - some of it hadn't been used in over 20 years!), but it's been really good. My mom and I have had some great laughs and lots of almost accidents!

PS. foving murniture in my household is the equivalent to moving furniture in anyone else's house. We just don't like using normal terms. :)

Slacking blogger ...

As you can probably tell ... I enjoy decorating my blog more than I enjoy writing in it. I have to admit that I just don't make the time to blog. And when time to blog falls into my lap I'm rarely in the mood to use it. It's sad really, a place on the internet where I can freely (meaning without having to worry about being persecuted and also not having to spend money) express myself and talk about my life and my observations and I don't even utilize it.

Hacked

My e-mail and facebook were hacked into a few days ago. I don't know who did it or how, I just know that my passwords were changed and the messages in my facebook inbox were read. I got rid of both accounts and made new ones. My new e-mail address is chrissiefaith@live.com and my new facebook account says Christine FAITH Salliby. The old facebook account is still up (they say it will take some time for it to be completely gone) so look for the account with my middle name - that's the correct one. Thanks.

a moment

I had one of those moments on Wednesday night when everything felt right. I was sitting in the youth chapel listening to Nicole read aloud a verse in Ephesians. The air was slightly chilly from the air conditioner, but still somehow comfortable. The sun was just setting outside. And for some reason I felt at peace, as if everything was exactly how it should be. It was a really great moment.

Small Groups

For the last four weeks Pastor Darryl has been breaking us up into small groups on Wednesday nights. We've been working on the Beattitudes and every week he gives us verses to read and questions to answer as a group. It's a great way to learn!! It keeps everyone involved and gives us all a chance to get to know each other better. Plus, it gets people to open their Bibles.

Look! People reading their Bibles!!

Introducing Pastor Darryl and Bobbie-Jo Riehle ...

Our official new youth pastors!!

It was so bittersweet to have Pastor Darryl and Bobbie-Jo announce themselves officially two Wednesdays ago. Sweet because it's so great to have them and it's so obvious that they are striving to do what God wants for the church and youth. Bitter because they are a reminder of what used to be and the people that we all still miss terribly.

Having a new youth pastor is like saying that the era of Jake and Amy is over. We've moved on. But that's not really true - we haven't fully moved on and the Marshall family will always have a special place in our hearts because of all the times we spent with them. But it is time to start fresh. To have a new family to get to know and love and cherish. To once again have a godly couple giving us instruction and guidance. God is going to work mightily through Pastor Darryl and Bobbie-Jo and I can't wait to see what He has in store.

So thank you Amy for all the work you put into us and all of the love that you continue to shower on us. I love you so much and I pray that we will always remain in contact and be part of each others lives. And welcome Pastor Darryl and Bobbie-Jo. We're so grateful to have you! Please forgive us for the many times we say, "That's how Jake did it. " and "Well, Amy did it this way." We're just trying to help. :)

Sorry ...

Clearly I haven't posted in a long time. Don't worry. I've got lots of things to talk about now. :)

District Fine Arts Festival

This past Saturday was the SNED Fine Arts Festival. 7 LAOG students had been invited to and participated in the District level this year: James DeFilippo, Lauren Jackson, Teddi Lappas, Joe Lustig, Matt Maguy, Mack Rogers and Phil Thibodeau. James and Joe did keyboard solos, Phil did a percussion solo, Lauren did a visual art piece and Teddi, Joe, Matt, Mack and Phil did a human video. I was so proud of all of them!!!

The instrumental solos that Joe, James and Phil did were all impressive. It was so interesting to watch them play and to see their passion for their instrument. I didn't get to see Lauren's visual art, but I heard it was really good. I hope to be able to see it sometime soon. The human video was really, really good. They used the song "Here I Go Again" by Casting Crowns to portray a man that is trying to tell his friend the truth about Christ but is held back by fear and distraction. Mack Rogers wrote it and the team helped him change a few things around - it was a very powerful drama. It was so good to see the students step up and put themselves out there in an effort to better their ministry for the glory of God.

Fine Arts has always been a big part of my life and this Saturday brought back a lot of memories. Districts has been held at the same church for awhile now and as I watched the performances I remembered performing in those exact same spots. I remembered walking through those halls and sitting in that sanctuary. I remembered when the fireplace room and the lighthouse chapel were difficult to find. But mostly I remembered the people that I shared those days with. People that have helped make me who I am today. Though the memories are bittersweet in many ways, they are all treasured and I wouldn't trade them for anything.

P.S. James, Phil and Lauren were invited to Nationals. Congrats guys!!

How Could I Forget?

About a month ago I did something everyone has been bugging me about for at least a year. I got a cell phone!!! Now that I have it I have no idea how I lived without it. It's so convenient! The only problem I have now is that I think I may be getting addicted to texting. oops. That's what I get for dishing out the extra money for an unlimited texting plan. ... It's still worth it. :)

Happy to see a bug?

I was waiting at a red light today with my sunglasses on and my windows down when a tiny little bug landed on my windshield. I watched the bug for a few seconds before realizing that I was more fascinated by it than I should be because I haven't seen a bug on my windshield in months. It's finally Spring!!!

Highlights from my old blog

Hi everyone! I finally got rid of my "Diary" blog because I barely keep up with this one and I was stressing about keeping up with two. Here are some of the pictures highlights that I had posted in the other blog:

2 Boston trips in the cold

December: Christmas, my birthday and New Year's Eve

Pastor Jared and Rachel's visit

Visiting Caitlin for her birthday

Children's Easter Play

Question for you more experienced bloggers:

How do you delete an entire blog? I have two blogs and I would rather just update this one instead of trying to update two. Does anyone know how I can get rid of my other one?

Masks

Most of us have masks. Masks that we wear to hide who we truly are. Maybe you wear a happy mask or a peaceful mask, but really you are sad and fearful on the inside. Or maybe you have many masks - one for this group of people, a different one for that group of people. We're afraid that people won't accept us if they find out who we really are.

I wonder what people would really think if we took off our masks? More importantly - what would God think?

Maybe it's time to take them off ...

Boundaries and Side Hugs

Something that has been coming up in a lot of my conversations lately is boundaries. What are they, where are they and who do they apply to? I know that I have erased and moved the boundary lines that are around me to not offend someone or simply because I don't think of them or that they don't apply to a certain circumstance. Why is that? Why are some things ok for some people and not for others?

As Christians we should be very careful how we act around members of the opposite sex. Full body hugs and constantly hanging on each other are NOT good ideas. Why do we act like we're all just one big dating couple? I know that we all love each other and touch is one of the ways we show it, but we have to be more careful.

We all see each other as siblings, but we're not actually related (shocking - I know). We are young men and women of God and we should be protecting each other from temptation and slander or rumors. Other people see us and how we act. We need to set a good example for the unsaved as well as the saved, especially the children of our church.

So, I apologize for the boundary lines I have crossed and the ones that I have completely erased. I don't have this whole boundary thing figured out yet, but I'm working on it and I hope that we can all be more careful. We don't want the Devil to have any foothold in our lives.

PS: I say we bring back side hugs - it's still showing the love, and it doesn't cross that boundary.

Advice from my mom

"Aim for improvement, not perfection."

My amazing mother said this to me this morning when I was complaining that I had planned on getting up an hour early this morning (in order to read my Bible and exercise) and hit snooze so many times that I was only up 15 minutes earlier than normal.

When our aim is to be perfect we will always miss the mark. We can't be perfect - that's God's job. Because of this improvement is always possible (if you're not perfect then you must be able to improve right?). If you aim for perfection and then miss the mark you feel discouraged and usually you eventually give up. But if you aim for improvement then every small step is a victory. Getting up 15 minutes early is still getting up early and though I plan to wake up the full hour earlier tomorrow, I don't have to kill myself over not doing it today.

Wednesday night in the main sanctuary

Last Wednesday night the youth group was asked at the last minute (there was some miscommunication before hand) to go into the sanctuary for service. Pastor Wes Daughenbaugh had been with the church for the week and Pastor Mark wanted everyone (except for the younger children) to be able to hear his message. Some of the youth left and many of those that stayed grumbled about the switch and having to listen to a guest speaker. They were challenged to look past the man and hear what God had to say to them and when they did that they were mightily blessed. Pastor Wes' sermon was on the infilling of the Holy Spirit and many were filled or renewed in their love for the Spirit and the blessing of speaking in tongues. We stayed at the altar for over an hour. Youth were praying for each other as well as for adults and children. We were all together as one church and it was beautiful. My hope is that this is the start of something new - I know God's got big plans and I'm getting impatient to see them unfold.

This week we're again asked to be in the main sanctuary for another guest speaker. I pray that this night turns out just as great and that those that left last week will stay and be blessed this time around.

Playing with blocks

Last weekend Jessica DeFilippo and I were waiting on someone and decided to entertain ourselves by building with the blocks in the nursery. This is the result (I'm very proud of it):

Every plastic animal and person and almost every block we could find in the nursery was used in building this city. If you have facebook you can see all 49 pictures of the city and it's inhabitants along with descriptions of what everything is. In case you don't have facebook, here's a picture of my favorite citizen:

Seriously, is this not the cutest plastic elephant you've ever seen?

Blogging ...

A few months ago I came up with this great idea - not an original idea mind you, but a great one - I'm going to blog. So I started not one, but two blogs. This one for my thoughts and another one to write about my day. Since then I find myself thinking about what I want to write about during the day and how I want to write it. So far so good right? Here's where my problem comes in - almost everytime I sit down at the computer to actually write about my thoughts and life I have complete writer's block. I can't think of a thing to say or how to say it. It's like I used up all of my creativity during the day and now I have no resources in order to write.

I guess this is a mixture of a complaint and an apology. If you read these blogs (does anyone read these blogs?) there are going to be big periods of time between postings, but I will put more of an effort into trying to get my creative juices flowing. So bear with me and hopefully I'll get this blogging thing eventually.