scattered thoughts

this morning, i drove down from madison to st. louis for the speaker's retreat.

after checking in the hotel, i made it to the airport just in time to pick up patrick fung, who will be sharing his story at urbana. at dinner he shared his journey of serving as both a missionary and doctor in different parts of the world. in 1979, he experienced God's call for him to serve in missions while he was in med school. 30 years later, he's serving as the general director for omf international, training and equipping missionaries all over asia.

throughout our conversation i kept on getting the feeling that his story is exactly the kind we need to hear more of. despite his success as a doctor and fruitful ministry as a missionary, the humility with which he shared was most striking.

he has now served 20 years in OMF...when i told him that i have a hard time even imagining myself committing to something for that long, he gently reminded me that living out your calling wasn't about giving God a timeline or signing a contract, but about offering your whole life. lordship. it was a good (necessary) reminder.

the retreat hasn't even started, but i'm pretty exhausted...though after hanging out with dr fung, i'm super excited to see how the speakers will bond and help develop the program content. :)

thoughts for 11am

6 months. wow, where has the time gone? :)

10 days till the urbana platform retreat.
some of the tasks that swirl around my head all day and keep me up at night are

• confirm f&b - final f&b menus due next tuesday. argh
• send updated rooming lists to the hotels
  
• submit check requests for travel reimbursements
• confirm meeting room setup and a/v needs
• e-mail speakers finalized registration info and book recommendation forms
• reserve rental cars
• prep contracts that need to be signed at the retreat
• borrow banners from 2100
• re-do schedule and send the changes to appropriate parties
• research and borrow equipment needed for the wii
• confirm ground transportation with local staff and the cvc
  
• somehow squeeze in fund development in the next week before leaving for st. louie and
• tie up loose ends for the worship cd recordings starting next week (yay urbana worship cd! this time we'll have the cd ready for sale at the conference. wooot)
  

but despite all the above that needs to get done (preferably by the end of today), i am thankful for

• the stl convention and visitors commission representative whom i have been working with over the past few months. she's managed to help with some of the ground transportation needs for the guests, secure an appetizer reception hosted by the renaissance grand, and have the cvc host a dinner for us. yay for free food!
• an email sent by the owner of a recording studio in chicago thanking me for the deposit check sent on wed. it's always nice to have people thanking you, even though you're just doing your job.
  

woke up today almost incapable of getting out of bed. the combination of the cool morning breeze wafting through the windows and the snuggly warm blanket tight around me was sooo perfect. i squeezed my eyes shut and prayed that the moment would somehow miraculously fast forward to saturday morning...nope, didn't happen. so now here i am in my 'bombdiggity' cube (as accurately described by joe), with a cup of heavily caffeinated tarrazu to my left and a stack of lists with more details than i could keep track of on my right, waiting for the day to end so that i can cuddle up in my bed again and dive back into the adventures of little women. oh, life.

for the record, i really do love my job.