a day at a time

I've made it. I am actually sitting down. Breathing normally. At Starbucks instead of a meeting... The sun in shining, and I feel like a load is off my shoulders.

You see, two and a half weeks ago, my best friend, Julia, came to visit! This is just where all the craziness starts; she had nothing to do with any of it other than the fact that she was my stress and comic relief at the end of every day. Let me just give you a run down of what I've been doing since that day... not so long ago. ...

Tuesday, February 16th:
8:30am- Staff Meeting
10:30am- Lecture
12:30pm- Lunch/One-on-one with Lukas
2pm- Pick up Julia!!
4:30pm- Meeting

Hang out with Julia.

Wednesday we hung out and joined the DTS for worship that night.

Thursday, Febraury 18th:
7:30am- Staff meeting
8:30am- Base Intercession
10:30am- Haircut with Cary (she's a YWAMer on the base, and gives great deals! It's awesome!!)
12:30pm- Lunch/One-on-one with Chelsea
4:30pm- Meeting
6pm- Mexican for dinner!!

Night Off.

Friday and Saturday we had the chance to go to Kauai and visit the team of people that have just moved over there to pioneer a new YWAM Base. It was an amazing couple days... and I only did work that could be done over the phone, which meant I had a half vacation. It was SO nice!!

Sunday we hung out with another friend visiting from Oregon and then said goodbye to her.

Monday, Febraury 22nd- Sunday, February 28th is litterally blank in my planner. I was SO busy, I didn't even have time to write stuff down. Haha. But stuff was definitely happening.
Tuesday marked the first day of outreach teams from the September DTS returning. The Nepal and Thailand teams came back. We took the outreach leaders out to coffee and someone else brought the students and their luggage back to the base. After two months in another country, leading students who ask questions none stop, complain about not always knowing stuff, and always thinking their leaders are keeping secrets from them, are among the many reasons we give the leaders an escape from being with their students. It may seem mean... but you come and staff a DTS and then you'll understand.
The two other teams from the September DTS were scheduled to arrive, flying from Fiji, on Friday morning bright and early. Thursday night, around 8pm, I get a phone call from a frantic leader from the Fiji team. Buna informs me that the re-entry letters we (YWAM Honolulu) have written for all the Canadians and Europeans have the wrong entry date on them, and they will not be able to leave without getting that changed. Well, let me just tell you... that is a lot easier said than done! So, from 8pm until a little after midnight I, along with a couple helpers, worked on rewriting each letter with the correct date, trying to fax them to the airport in Fiji, and after many failed attempts, having to email them there instead. What makes this even worse, is ten minutes before the teams are supposed to be boarding, I get another call from them. One of the students from Norway does not have proof that she will be leaving Honolulu to go back to Norway after so many days. Which is a big no, no. Even though there are some questions as to how and why they did this, because of that, the airline would not allow the student to even check in. Therefore, she missed her flight and had to watch as her whole team, and the other team, left for Honolulu... without her. She was able to catch the Sunday flight out, but still... I felt SO bad for her!
We had debriefing for the returning school on Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday.
And yes, we still had jobs to do and things to get done amidst the craziness of a Tsunami warning! Staffing DTS really is a 24/7 job.

Sunday, February 28th:
10am- Church
5:30pm- September 2009 DTS Graduation!!! (WOO HOO!)

Monday, March 1st- Wednesday, March 3rd (the day Julia left ) all the students left one by one.

Yesterday I debriefed the returning outreach staff. It was really great to see them and spend time hearing about all the things they learned from leading the teams. How the Lord used them, and worked in them. Those parts of my job are what I love the most.

So, here I am. Still at Starbucks. I kind of feel like a normal person, who lives a normal life. But, then again, we're not called to live a "normal" life, are we?

Lord, thank you for everything you do in my life. Even the crazy parts of my job... May your name be glorified at the end of all my days. No matter what!

Here's me... being normal... in Starbucks. :)