Our dog is weird

In one week- THIS is my life!

It's been two years since the last Mann Fam Cruise and in one week we reunite to do it all over again!

Reunited and it feels so good!

Deanna is back in the country for Christmas. Praise the Lord! Today (pic on left) this terrific trio reunited. Ahhh- food for the soul! It was amazing being back together with the 2 girls that redefined my idea of what it meant to have close, godly, fun friends. These two were a gift from above when I moved back to Salem from Seattle hurting, confused, and wounded. They stuck with me and allowed me to slowly come out of my shell and learn to trust and be authentic. Together we experienced community and intimacy in the way He intended us to experience it.


A year and a half ago (see posts from August 2006) Deanna moved to Canada so her husband, Ben, could go to grad school. That was a tough transition for all of us. However, even with the distance we always pick up right where we left off when she comes down to see us. Mary and I anxiously await these trips for months! Right now we are looking forward to March! Mary is due to have her second baby (we think it's a boy) March 3rd and this means that hopefully Deanna can trek back down for the welcoming of the newest Romey! We also just found out that Deanna's sister is engaged and is planning a wedding in August! Yes! More times together to look forward to. Today we spent a few hours chatting about marriage and babies over coffee before heading to a movie. Hurray for fantastic friendships and meaningful reunions.

Shaunananana

This morning I woke up bright and early to meet my long lost friend Shauna for coffee. Not many people have friendships like this. Shauna and I have been friends for over 20 years. She taught me how to tie my shoes. We got perms together. We both loved (and still love) Amy Grant music. We have hilarious memories of high school Spanish and being punks to substitutes. We both adore anything Seattle. We pretty much start laughing at the exact same things. Heck, we can even finish each other's sentences!

Shauna was one of my bridesmaids in my wedding 2 and a half years ago and I've loved how much she's been the epitome of what it means to be a bridesmaid. She truly cares about my marriage and how it's going and how it's improving and what I've been learning about being a better wife. That is so valuable! Over the years our friendship has deepened to something amazing. Shauna is so safe. I can tell her anything. We truly connect in a way that only occurs after 20 years together. Shauna graduated from APU and is now teaching Spanish (imagine that!) at an inner city high school in Cali. Lucky for me, her family still lives in Salem so she has an excuse to come up and see me every once and a while. We always talk for like 3 hours each time. And we could probably talk for at least double that!

I'm so thankful for Shauna in my life. I thank God for giving me a friend like her. Even in middle and high school when we had separate groups of friends, we never lost our bond and we always had each other backs. I love looking back and seeing the ways our lives have intersected and the rich relationship that has evolved. The older we get the better our conversation, the higher the level of trust and the more we laugh and explore what it means to be a 20 something Christian woman in this crazy world. I'm already looking forward to next Christmas! :-)

Catching Up Over Christmas Break

This evening I had the chance to catch up with some of my favorite people. First, I met my BFF, Mary, for a long overdue coffee break! She gave me some amazing homemade Friendship bread (She kinda Amish like that :-)), a Starbucks mug from Hawaii, and some yummy Hawaiian macadamia chocolates!I gave her a handmade journal. Spending quality time with Mar always leaves feeling like a million bucks! She's a God send. That's for sure. From there, I drove over to Red Robin to meet my former high school small group girls for dinner. The girls are all grown up and blossoming into pretty impressive young women. Shelly (far right) is now at Boise State, Audra (second from the left)is at UPS, and Julia (smack in the middle) is here in town but looking forward to attending Crown College (woot! woot!) or Multnomah in the fall. Molly Nelson (far right) is the lone Senior, still in high school. She will attend OSU next year. Katie is the final group member but she already took the plunge to study abroad in England! This is an amazing group of young ladies that I had the pleasure of leading for 3 years! However, these girls have been together since their awkward middle school days. Since most of the group was back in town for Christmas Break we decided to reunite over dinner. (Weird....I JUST now noticed the stupid Red Robin mascot in the background for the first time!).
Me and Smolls! The coolest thing happened with Smolls. It used to just be me leading her but last year she joined me in leading some middle school girls! It's so amazing to see a high school student see the value of serving and taking the challenge to lead an energetic group of 6th graders. The girls love Molly and she loves them. I'm proud of her and it's amazing to see a busy high schooler make the move to start being a leader to young girls who need it most. I love, love, love serving at CRASH with Molly! We are always laughing at our crazy now 7th graders. Cheers to serving Christ in fun ways!

Listen. To. This.

Just another day at the office??

What in the Sam Hill? Ya. This, my friends, is a squirrel that the boys found in one the rooms at the church. Can you believe it? Here's Steve- blowing kisses as this rabid creature. Smooth move.
I'm not gonna lie. I was screaming while taking this photo. The squirrel was hissing!
But then we fed it some Peanut Brittle and it was happy...for a little while.
Just another day at the office.

Me and Jenner

Awwwwwww :) . Photo compliments of Steve Fowler. Kind of weird that I look like a blonde Asian. Hmmm. Oh well.

What are your strengths?

This is a great book and wonderful resource for teams of all kinds. I took the Strengths Finder survey this summer with my team at Salem Alliance. We wanted to see how we were different and how we were similar and our how differences could make strong partnerships with each other. At the end of the survey, you can print out a perfectly tailored work plan that looks at not just the individual strengths but at your 5 specific strengths. They write out definitions of the strengths based on what your other strengths are and they give you a list of other people who have this strength. On our team we found that we are wonderfully balanced. My boss, Steve, and I have 3 strengths in common. I think that's cool since I am really trying to learn from him and grow to be a better leader, like he is! We also discovered that some of the strengths Scott had complimented Steve perfectly! Jennie's strengths further prove she is in the perfect role because it utilizes her strengths beautifully.

In October all of the Ministry Assistant and Administrative Assistants at the church took the test and discussed their results (some hate it, some love it). Josh's team is going to take it (in fact, he's in the other room taking the test right now). The Pastoral Management Team has taken it, worship and children's ministries are in process. I think within a year each team at church will have taken this survey and discussed what they've found. It's really genius. At first, I was a bit nervous at first because although I like tests and surveys and all that jazz that tell me more about myself, I don't really like being defined or put in a "box". I like knowing more about myself but I guess I don't really like others knowing too much. I get afraid of being classified or stereotyped or pigeon- holed.

However, for this, I got over it. I bit the bullet took the survey and felt my results clearly nailed me on the head. It's a pretty straight forward process: buy the book, read Part 1, then enter in your code at the website and you're on your way. It takes about 25 minutes to complete it. They have two spectrums and then you have to place yourself somewhere in between. Sometimes, the things they are asking you seem almost exactly the same or at least not even related. For example, they ask you to place yourself somewhere on this scale: " I am content with my life" and "I am a competent person". It's like...um..yes...both? They just don't seem very black and white. Worst of all, it's timed! You only get like 30 seconds per question. But they are forcing you to choose, to go with your gut. When you do this they take you down a trail, asking you something else to further clarify or refine what they are discovering. It's cool, but it's mind- blowing!

My Strengths:

1. Individualization

2. Strategic

3. Futuristic

4. Activator

5. Empathy

Josh's Strengths:

1. Learner

2. Futuristic

3. Adaptability

4. Ideation

5. Belief

Day After Christmas Errands

Yikes. Running errands the day after Christmas turned out to be quite the headache. I should have known. Traffic and pedestrians not to mention snow and tons of rain! I had to go to Ross, Target, Nordstrom, The UPS Store, Wal-mart, Winco, Life Source, TJ Maxx and Starbucks. Okay, I didn't exactly have to stop by Starbucks for a decaf, tall, free poured, extra hot, vanilla latte, but for the sake of my sanity I deemed it a worthwhile errand. :-)

Christmas morning at mom and dad's

Josh bought Liz her absolute favorite movie of the year....She's so weird.Ah, the perfect gift for a college student!
Nathan has a thing for penguins!
Ties for Padre!

Tradition

Watching Christmas Vacation on Christmas Eve!

Merry Christmas from the Manns!

Josh and I watching FC Barcelona vs. the local Beijing team this summer during our vacation!

Christmas Eve with the Fam

The siblings, plus my hubby and Scout (she even looked at the camera!)Me and Little Lizzy Lou

On the way to church!

Bates/ Dangaran/ Mann Christmas Part 2

Aren't Tay (21) and Liz (19) just the cutest?!

A picture of the "kids" We are missing the Dangaran daughter- Kelsey
Ya....This is the fine creation Josh picked in the gift exchange...wow...not going up in our home!
And a picture of the adults. Nice, Josh and I get to be in both. :-) We're in between!

Well that pretty much wraps up another year of this tradition! Next year we are going caroling....that should be interesting. Stay tuned. :-)

It's a Bates/ Dangaran/ Mann Christmas!

It's a 9 year tradition and it's going strong! This year our families met for dinner, dessert, a fun game and white elephant gifts at the Dangaran house! We normally do this dinner on Christmas eve before church, but this year the Dangarans will be out of town. All year long our families anticipate this annual get together! Above are the boys; The white boys are Tay, Na, and Josh and the darker boys are Ryan and Jon Marc!
Ohhhhh, the parents! Janet and Steve and my mom and dad, Mike and Debbie!

Here's what my dad got for his White Elephant gift....Yikes!
Liz got a handmade stationary kit from Janet....and no, Janet didn't make it!

Couple Friends

A couple of weeks ago we celebrated our friend Patrick's 25th birthday at one of our favorite restaurants, Boon's. Patrick and his wife Maria are our good couple friends in Salem. Patrick works on the Student Ministries team with Josh as the Director of College Age Ministries. Maria is finishing her Masters degree in education. They are a great couple and we really value having at least one couple in Salem that we can get together with!

The Evil Eye

Outreach Team Christmas Party

I'm really tired! Tonight was our Outreach Team Christmas party. Our whole team, plus spouses went over to our boss' house for a wonderful dinner and fun white elephant gift exchange. I walked away with a hideous old Christmas sweater, complete with shoulder pads, and some lottery tickets...no, I didn't win any money! Josh got a panini maker! Yum! Other white elephant gifts included The notebook and candy, The Sex and the City trivia game (we brought that), beans and toilet paper, a pooping Santa, and an assortment of adult beverages!

Steve gave all of our spouses Starbucks gift cards and told them how thankful he was for all they do to support us in ministry. Steve and Trina also hand picked perfect gifts for each of us on the team. I received beautiful white gold earrings. I'll keep them forever. He went around the room and just told us how much he loves us and chose us and loves working with us. It's completely mutual- we all adore Steve. I cannot stress enough what an incredible boss he is. He has given me a great opportunity and he believes in me so much. He's a great leader and he is invested in developing the leadership qualities in each of us.

CRASH Crew Christmas Video

Family Time Ya'll

Tonight Josh and I trekked to the far away land of South Salem to watch my youngest bro, Nathan, play for the Sprague Olympian JV basketball team. I love my brother and I love basketball but tonight was a disappointing night in the Bates b-ball world. They have a coach who is less than stellar. He is either steaming mad or completely silent and sulky. Nathan had him last year as well. He really changes of the mood of the team and the whole game with his attitude. The coach is constantly yelling about fouls, which means he gets T'ed about every 3rd game. It's really too bad because he could be teaching these young men important lessons that would serve them well when they arrive at the varsity level.

Besides the coaching though, the team isn't too strong. We are short and somewhat uncoordinated. I'm really proud of Nathan this year because he made a goal at the beginning of the season to not get mad. Last year the coaching really got to him and made him really negative and skeptical. He's actively trying to do something different this year. That's impressive.

Nathan took a hard blow tonight. The coach only played him a couple of minutes in the second half because he threw a bad pass early on. The coach benched him for the rest of the game. We thought maybe the coach was saving him for varsity, but no, in the locker room the coach told Nathan in front of all his teammates he wouldn't need to worrying about varsity tonight, he wouldn't see any game time. Ouch. That's a hard hit and especially humiliating in front of his peers.

Nathan took it in stride though and sat through the first half of the varsity game with his friends on the student side. Josh and I decided to do what any good sister and brother would do: suggest ditching the game and going for food! Duh! It was just the thing he needed. We grabbed my other brother Tay and my parents too and went for a bite to eat. We had a great time telling stories and kindly making fun of one another, as well as being supportive of Nathan, but without babying him. Nathan is the youngest of us four kids and the three older kids all live outside my parents' house now. I think he really missed us and get lonely. There is only so much that MySpace and Guitar Hero can really do for you. Family is what means to most to Nathan.

After dinner went went to my parents house and watched some random Larry King Live show about these people who had survived crazy things like being struck by lightening, being rescued off a sinking cruise ship in Antarctica, and being shot 5 times in close range by an angry client. Liz came home early from Zoo Lights in Portland because she has to work early tomorrow. She showed me some new clothes she bought and I stole a couple dresses, a pair of heels, and a warm sweater, plus a North Face from her. I'd say it was a pretty even trade. ;-)

Finally, we headed home. I'm tired! What a great day. I love seeing my family and spending time watching them in their element and then being there for them when things don't go quite right. Josh is so good with my bro, too. He asks thoughtful questions and never belittles where Nathan is coming from. I'm a blessed woman. I still don't have my camera (it's in the mail), but I will post a few older pics of my family!

Funniest thing you will EVER see!!

What is going on?

Briney Spears' 16 year old sister, Jamie Lynn, confirmed today that she is 12 weeks pregnant. Seriously. Their poor mother. 3 years ago who would have thought this would be the Spears' Saga? Wow.