Married Life @ MCA

Yesterday, in one single day, I was able to cut both of my thumbs doing normal daily activities!  And only one of the cuts involved a knife.  I’m not sure if I am talented or just have bad luck! 

Today I got to have lunch with one of my best friends!  Sarah and her husband, Daryl, are newly appointed missionaries!  I am so excited for them!  Congratulations guys!

It was a terrific celebration on Sunday, as our own beloved Pastor Carlson announced his retirement for July 6, 2008!  We will certainly miss this dear member of our staff.  Join us for his retirement celebration on July 4-6!

And yes!  I was the one who helped to coordinate the wonderful surprise of bringing to town Pastor Carlson’s granddaughter (and daughter) for the announcement!  What fun!  Pastor Carlson could barely contain his excitement!

Want a novel that is filled with action, drama, touching moments, anger, pride, destruction, natural disasters, conquerers, battles, manipulation, and intimacy?  Ta da!  You have the Bible!  Our church is reading the Bible cover to cover in 90 days.  It is quite exciting.  I got into Exodus today.  What I love most about the Bible is that everyone in it is like me–not perfect.  God has this big story spanning thousands of years to fulfill his plan, but he uses ordinary people to get it done. Amazing!  If you are interested, you can find more information at www.biblein90days.com.

I want to highlight a wonderful ministry that is in both Alaska and worldwide…Life Skills.  This is an amazing program that results in transformational inner healing.  I would recommend it to anyone who is struggling inside.  Here are some of the topics covered in the class:

• Anger Management
• The 15 Types of Emotional Abuse
• Breaking the Cycle of Abuse
• Love and Family Bonding
• Managing Stress
• Breaking the Bonds of Shame
• Developing Trust
• Establishing Roots for a Healthy Family
• Respecting Self and Others
• Defining Domestic Violence
• Taking Responsibility
• Communications
• Male/Female Differences
• Awareness and Processing of Feelings
• Learning to Forgive
• Accepting Responsibility
• Building Lasting Relationships

Are you interested in good documentaries, human rights, and controversial subjects?  Then this is for you!  I recently came accross a movie trailer for Expelled.  It is a documentary about how the general science community has rejected the idea of Intelligent Design and has come against those who believe in it or who might question neo-darwinism.  It is very controversial and simply asks for first amendment rights to give Intelligent Design the same rights and platforms that Evolution gets.  I don’t know if it is coming to Anchorage yet, but if it is, I want to buy the first tickets!  Check out the movie’s website at http://www.expelledthemovie.com. 

Whew!  I had quite a weekend!  After my church duties on Sunday morning I dashed out to Eagle River for a bridal shower.  Due to not reading the directions as well as I should have, I ended up at the bottom of a long, steep driveway along with another car with two gals going to the same bridal shower.  The problem was that we could not get back up due to the recent snow dump!  It was too steep and slick! 

We immediately started calling various people and proposing many senerios, several which required us to leave our cars there.  I decided that was not an option I liked, so I looked to see what resources I had in my trunk.  Fortunately I had a trusty yellow rope.  After a little thinking, I wrapped one of my tires with the rope for traction then, risking looking foolish, I tried backing up the driveway.  It worked!  I made it up all the way going backwards!  After that success I headed back down the hill myself with the rope to help the other girls out.  With only one slick spot that took about a minute to get around, I managed to drive the other girl’s car up backward too!  We were only one hour late to the party.

Thank you Jesus for helping me be resourcful and getting me out, and thank you MacGyver for inspiration to be creative! 

HGHF is just around the corner!  Now is the time to jump in if you can help out in any way.  We still need cast members, altar workers, follow up help, and many more positions.  If you are interested, call the church office and we will help you find a place to serve.

Two weekends ago, 21 couples in Anchorage participated in Alaska’s first A/G Marriage Encounter.  It was an intense weekend of working exclusively with your spouse on communicating and dialoging.  I was amazed at the candidness of the leading couples and heard lots of praise reports at the end.  Watch for Marriage Encounter to come back this fall!