the countdown to africa has officially begun.

yes, i am a weather nerd. we had some awesome storms form tonight. so out of season but much welcomed by me! all of the weather guys are like, “this kind of system won’t happen again for years”. it is only february 28 so thunderstorms should not be forming right now… but i am happy! it is only 50 degrees. and it has been accumulating HAIL and it is supposed to snow in the morning. such random, but exciting weather!
here are some pictures i took of the thunderheads as the storm moved in earlier this evening. these were taken after work around 6pm. most were taken with my phone since my real camera’s battery died after just TWO pictures. anyway…. there’s a short video… enjoy!

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9NKEF22_WE0]

when i was in 3rd grade, i wrote a paper about JFK that was 10 pages, hand-written… cursive. i got an A.

up until about age 16, i wanted to go to college for Meteorology. too much math & science though.

i am a certified storm spotter with the national weather service.

i didn’t know i was a graphic designer/communication guru until i was asked to make a brochure. then it just evolved.

i was the youngest to ever be hired fulltime at my present employment. i was 19.

i got a 113% on my high school senior paper.

i am still waiting for my first date.

i almost failed my math class senior year. which would have resulted in going to summer school after graduation. but i passed with a D for the semester. thank God for extra credit.

i’ve never broken a bone.

i put too much emphasis on what i post about.

my 2 brothers idea of babysitting me when we were younger… was stuffing me in-between their bed mattress, sitting on me and playing nintendo.

i still sing in my bedroom in front of the mirror with a hairbrush.

high school included, the only book i have ever read cover to cover was “A Walk to Remember”… in high school i used cliff’s notes for everything and now i listen to audio books.

i laugh at my own jokes. actually, i crack myself up.

in 2004 i cut off 10 inches of my hair.

Jennifer Hudson. Heck yeah.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExGryoOeAkc]

but here’s something i found after i saw the news tonight following the oscars. apparently this guy is from kansas city. dang.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PW898PqcTTE]

eh, not really, but it got your attention, right? well, when i got to work thursday morning, the worship center was gray, smokey and stinky. the entire building was freezing. and smelled of burnt dust. so … there was a fire, of a sort. let me explain, well rather, i will have our facilities/security director jeff explain:

“Hello team! As many of you are aware, there were some complications with our HVAC (Heating system) which caused a great deal of smoke in the worship center. I was very glad to see that we had an immediate response from our local fire department and they were very thorough in their duties and went above and beyond in helping me air out the smoke so we were not plagued with smoke saturated seats. The firemen took a great deal of time in the bitter cold this morning on our roof, helping me to diagnose the HVAC problem and make sure the church was safe before their departure. God Bless them!

I believe the problem is solved, but for now you may still smell hints of something burning. That is normal at this time and should take a little while to air out. However, there should be no visible smoke left in the building. If there is, or if the burning smell appears to become stronger rather than stay the same or dissipate, please notify me.

I apologize for the inconvenience this morning, but it doesn’t appear to have affected too much. All of you are wonderful to work with and I thank you for your flexibility and understanding when you came in to a freezing, 20 degree building this morning, (NOT COOL!)

Have a great day!” – Jeff

eh-hem. did i fail to mention that our new building is all of 8 months old? that our worship center is 1200 seats? that the entire worship center was engulfed with smoke and ash? and oh and our building is worth more than i can comprehend? yea…. almost burned to the ground on thursday morning. any glitch in the smoke alarm system, delay in fire department response, anything… and our entire building would have caught fire throughout the entire ventilation system. oh and this all happened just days before one of the most important Sundays in our church… the launch of our 3 campus and our ONE LIFE series in collaboration of the launch of a 2-year “Come Together” campaign… to continue funding of our Extend the Borders initiative. For local and global missions… regional campuses… our building costs, etc.

please pray for the safety of our staff and church attenders this weekend as God begins to speak to the hearts of our church – speaks the reason why we do what we do. for those who work in ministry – you understand the importance of cheerful givers and what their gifts to the church do when used appropriately by us.

it’s a BIG weekend. so, no more fires please.

“You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.” Acts 1:8

PS. Jackson is home… and no longer in the hospital.. YAY! Oh and I am freaking out over tonight’s episode of Grey’s Anatomy. Without fail, I cried again while watching this stupid, stupid, BEST SHOW EVER! Oh and who are YOU 170 people a day not commenting at all… what do I have to do to get a little love? hehe.