Life is SWEET!

Last night, our youth group (Ignite) had a game night (cafe'), which was entirely built around the theme of chocolate. Hence, it was the first-ever Ignite Chocolate Cafe. It was awesome!!! We had a chocolate fondue fountain, very messy chocolate games (see picture below!), and a huge chocolate bunny as the grand prize o' the evening. (5 pounds of chocolate!!!!!) The best part, though, was the fact that Hill found these amazing costumes for us to wear...and I got to be a green M&M!

(Kim Sweet has a very sweet face, indeed, after playing "Diaper Delight!" Yes, people, that is a diaper...filled with chocolate pudding, out of which they had to eat Tootsie Rolls. Tasty!)

Bexx as Green M, Hill as Hershey's Kiss, and the Grand Prize chocolate bunny as herself.

(Please note that the M&M costume includes 4-fingered plastic hands...it felt so weird!)
For more pictures, click here.

The ultimate irony? Hillary gave up chocolate for Lent...Sorry, Hill! :(

Spring has sprung (Finally!)

The snow is almost entirely melted, except for a few patches in the shade!!!!!!!!! It was so wonderful to put away my winter coat this weekend...And to be able to eat my lunch outside once again...ah, warm sunshine, I have missed you!

As you might expect on a college campus, the coming of sunshine and warmer weather leads students to beg their teachers to hold class outside. And, more often than not, the teachers are craving sunshine, too, so it works! The only bad part about that is that I can't go join them...there's no way I can transplant my work station to the outdoors, 'cause I don't have a long enough extension cord for my computer and phone... :(

As time goes by...

So, apparently, it's been 3 weeks since my last post. And I just can't believe that 3 weeks have really gone by when I feel like Ash Wednesday was yesterday!!!! Ah, well...To sum up, here are some of the main things that have happened since then:

• After a long hiatus, I have started reading fiction again! That's right, I haven't read a book with a plot in MONTHS, mostly sticking to Scripture, devotionals, and theology, with some church history for good measure. But, without movies except on Sundays, I felt the need to tackle my bookshelves, which are filled with books I own but have not yet read! As I perused, I came across a book recommended to me by both Kat and Amy, so I knew it HAD to be a good read - and even if I didn't like it, at least there would be someone I could TALK to about it! :) So I started reading The River Why. And I am pleased to say that, so far, I really like it...David James Harris writes about fishing in this book like Joanne Harris writes about chocolate in Chocolat - painting word pictures I can almost see and hear and touch and smell. Granted, I don't know or love fishing nearly as much as I know and love chocolate! But, being a word-perfectionist myself, I can't help but drool over the way such authors can string words together, and perhaps reading them will help me learn how to do it, too...
• I, together with my church pals Hillary and Angela, sang the National Anthem at a hockey game a few weeks ago! They announced their need for singers over the PA system, and we were the first ones to make it over to the press box, so our 3-part-harmony-trio was hired right then & there. The best part was that they wanted us to do the Canadian National Anthem, too, so we had to learn it on-the-spot! It was hilarious. Sure, it was a benefit game in Olean, not a Sabres game in Buffalo (although one of the teams was comprised of Sabres alumni), and there were only a few hundred people there, not a few thousand...But it was still fantastically fun!
• I took a trip back to Middle School this Wednesday, as "Scary Spice." Some of our girls asked Hillary and I to join their act for our youth's group's version of "American Idol," and it was absolutely hilarious! I know, I know, you're probably thinking, The Spice Girls in church? Well, we "Christianized" the lyrics to Wannabe, and our moves (if you can call them that...) are really very tame. Most of all, we just want to make people laugh, and hopefully they will! :) (And, yes, I'll definitely see if I can get some video footage of it on here, or at least pictures - 'cause it was pretty amazing.)
  
• I have gotten packages, letters, phone calls, and e-mails from many of you wonderful people who I don't talk to nearly enough (Michelle, Kat, Rachel, Ben, Tegan...), and it made me very, very, very, very happy! I realize that this means that now it's my turn...so I'm working on it, one friend at a time. Cards, books, e-mails, and baked goods galore, all in the works! I promise! Just keep your eyes glued to your mailbox. :)
  
• I have spent some amazing times in silence with God, often in my car on the way to & from work, and I've also spent lots more time playing my guitar (since that falls under my only approved musical category - LIVE music!), which has been awesome. The car rides and jam sessions in my room have produced preliminary versions of my first 3 attempts at writing songs - and although I may never play them for anyone else because they're really a bit simplistic right now, it feels good to get started!
• I have been doing some serious thinking and praying about possibilities for next year, and while nothing has fallen into place yet, I have been doing a LOT of research, and it's been a good reminder of how much is really out there! Sometimes, my worldview and God-view and self-view get so limited to my current sphere, that I lose sight of the bigger picture - and I forget how many other places and ways there are in which God could use me to build His Kingdom, besides where I am now.
  

That's all for now, folks! More from me later. (And keep your eyes glued to your mailbox...hehehe)