I Danced Salsa!!

I went to the Rumba Room this weekend. SSOOO much fun! They have an incredible restaurant that turns into a dance floor at 11 (they remove the tables as diners finish eating, and you're surrounded by dancing.)

A must if you come to Chicago. It's quite the hot spot. The best part is that it wasn't really a meat market - just filled with people that love to Salsa.

Strep Throat, Allergies and a Bloody Nose

That's the story of my week. Last Friday I get a call from my sister, six hours away, telling me she has strep throat. On Sunday, I wake up with the same thing. I finally went to the Dr on Tuesday. My sister obviously has nothing to do with my strep - I just find it odd that we both have it at the same time. I told her she jinxed me. ;)

On Wed, my allergies kicked in high gear, congesting me and making things horrible.

This morning, I wake up to a bloody nose. But I am going back to work. =)

Starbucks Iced Coffee

A barista gave me the recipe the other day, when it was about the fifth day in a row that I had popped in for iced coffee.

Fill the pot halfway with water and dump into the coffeemaker.
Use enough grounds for an entire pot of coffee (so you're making it double strength.)

While the coffee is brewing, fill a pitcher with ice. When coffee is done, dump it over the ice. Voila. It will melt the ice, making it the right strength. It's yummy and tastes just like Starbucks.

Why Have I never experienced this before?

Only 100 calories, and oh-so-good.

My Big Event

Reload is a one-day conference for urban youth workers. This is our fourth year hosting it in Chicago, and it's what I spend the most time on each year. It is by far my favorite event, and my favorite part of my job. I work with several youth workers throughout Chicago to put it on. This year we had over 500 people.



I love this photo. I appreciate how artistic our photographer was.
I hate how I look in this photo, but it's so cute. That's Phil, our MC and one of my favorite people. My office works with him on a lot of projects. He's an amazing youth worker, and even more amazing person.
These are just a few of the unbelievable volunteers I had that day. We had 40 altogether, and these are part of a 15 student group from Masters Commission (a discipleship program) who had just returned from the Dominican Republic on a mission trip, the DAY before! I also had a lot of my students involved, as well as a few others.

More Yummy Restaurants

I just had such a fun lunch with some co-workers, at Pauline's Breakfast. I had French Toast Etoufee, which was bread pudding with dried cranberries and almonds that was then dipped in the french toast mix and fried into 'french toast' like sticks. SSOO yummy, but ridiculously rich. I could only eat a little bit of it. It's really more like dessert than a real meal. =)

This Weekend's gonna be busy!!

I have a big event on Saturday for work. It's a youth ministry training day for urban youth workers. I work with ministries all over Chicagoland to put it on. We have general sessions and workshops that our attendees can go through.

This year we've had some significant hurdles thrown in our way. We've had to work to fight through those battles, and really pray against spiritual warfare. I just received a call that we have almost 400 folks pre-registered for the event. (We normally have 100 something pre-registered, and then an additional 250 walk in.) We are likely to break 500. I planned for 500.

While my bosses went into "will we have enough..." mode, I began smiling and praising God. My first reaction was, "You're not winning, Satan!"

I ask for your prayer for the rest of the week for our event, our speakers, our worship team, our volunteers, our participants and those that are leading the team. Pray against spiritual warfare, and that we're not going to let him win and keep this group from growing the Kingdom!!!