This Blog Post is Brought to You By....

This past Sunday, one of the greatest sporting events in the world occurred. Of course, I am talking about the Super Bowl. This year's Super Bowl brought the Pittsburgh Steelers together with the Green Bay Packers - each winning 6 and 3 Super Bowls, respectively. I love the Super Bowl. No matter who is playing, I always root for one of the teams, even if I'm not particularly a fan of either of them. This time, I was rooting for the Packers, and thankfully they beat the Steelers 31-25!
One thing I always notice in football games, is that sometimes when a player does something good - scores a touchdown, makes an important tackle, gets a stop on 3rd down, etc. - that player will point and/or look up towards the sky. Like this:

More often than not, the reason they are doing this is to give credit to God. While the crowd is busy cheering for the great play, it's their way of subtly acknowledging that God has helped them score that TD, or make that stop. I like it when players do this. It makes me smile every time. They might be in the middle of the most important game of their life, and they still take the time to give credit to God. (Of course there are some players who just do it to make a spectacle, and they don't actually intend to give any credit to God, but we won't get into that now).
The guy in the picture is, of course, Kurt Warner. Kurt, along with many other NFL players, is known to be a firm believer in Jesus Christ. In fact, he and his wife Brenda made a video series with Chip Ingram called "Marriage: Built to Last" to be used by church small groups. Kurt does a lot to demonstate his love for the Lord, from numerous volunteer activities, to adopting children of his own. Kurt is the real deal, and he doesn't try to hide it. It is for that reason, he is mine and Evan's favorite player (he's retired now, though).
But my point is not about Kurt Warner, my point is this: how often to we "give credit to God" when something good happens in our life? How often do we give credit to God no matter what is happening in our life? Most of us like to receive praise for doing something good. We like to be recognized for our good deeds. Some companies even have reward or incentive systems where you are publically recognized for something good that you have done. It's ok to get recognition for what we've done, but we can't forget that the only reason we did anything was because of God. The credit must go to Him and Him alone.
One of my favorite songs by the O.C Supertones is "Jury Duty." It talks about this horrible day that the lead singer had going to jury duty, getting stuck in traffic, forgetting people's birthdays, arguing with his wife, etc. But the chorus is what makes it great. He says this: "Every single moment whether sleeping or awake is your creation. What you made is good. I don't always thank you for the rough days and the hard times in my life, even though I should." (You can watch the music video here)
Now while it might look silly for us to point towards the sky every time we want to give props to God, just remember to give credit where credit is due. The truth is, every breath we take is from God, so we should always remember to thank him not just for the good things that happen, but the not-so-good things too.

Headin' to Texas Y'all!!

My sweet nephew Michael is turning 1-year-old this month, and to celebrate, Evan and I are flying down to Texas on Thursday to be with him, Christian and Kelly. (I wish you could "tag" people in a blog post, but alas....). We were supposed to leave on Wednesday, but due to some epic winter weather, our flight got cancelled :(

I am so excited to see them. We miss them a lot. This will be our first time in Texas, so we really don't know what to expect. My sister-in-law assures me that we will have a good time, so I trust that we will! I can't wait to see them and give Michael lots of hugs and kisses.

Plus, how can you not love this sweet face?

Gets me every time...

One of my favorite things about the Christmas season is all the Christmas specials that come on (Rudolph, The Grinch, Frosty, etc.) I do my best to catch all of them when they are on, and they bring back such good memories of my childhood, and nine times out of ten they always make me cry. Not because I'm sad, but nostalgia always gets to me.

But the one that gets me the most is "A Charlie Brown Christmas". It's my favorite of all the Christmas shows, and it makes me cry every time. Why? This right here:



It's the only Christmas special that tells the true meaning of Christmas, and that is Jesus Christ being born into the world. In fact, I read somewhere that when it was created back in 1965, it almost didn't air because producers were afraid of the controversy the message might cause. According to IMDb.com: "Bill Melendez tried to talk Charles M. Schulz out of using Biblical references (especially Linus's speech) in this special. Schulz reportedly won him over by saying, "If we don't do it, who will?" As it turned out, Linus' recitation was hailed as one of the most powerful moments in the highly acclaimed special."
And that, friends and family, is why the Charlie Brown Christmas special makes me cry...every year.

Merry Christmas!

Reflections on 2010

I think I probably say this every year, but this year absolutely flew by. I feel like I just took a deep breath, and just like that, the year is coming to an end in only a few short days. It just goes to show you that you have to make every moment count because before you know it, it's gone.
And so, that being said, I'd like to recap some of my favorite moments of the year 2010.

In no particular order, they are:
1) My nephew Michael being born.
My sister-in-law and brother-in-law went through a lot before they finally got pregnant with Michael. Heck, they were told they couldn't even get pregnant in the first place! When he finally came, the whole family was overjoyed. Kelly looked so radiant during her last month of pregancy, and I was so proud to finally be an aunt of possibly the cutest baby I have ever seen.

2) Becoming a First Responder.
My job offered me the opportunity to become a first responder at the office. Of course I accepted. Growing up with a mom who is a nurse - it's just naturally in my blood. The course was great. And even doubly so because I am able to use my skills in other places besides work. I even initiated a first aid/CPR course to be taught at my church for all the leaders in children and youth ministry! Luckily, I haven't yet seen anything to gross for me to handle, but at least I'll know what to do if that day ever comes.

3) Soup Suppers
This was the year I finally got to showcase my cream of turkey soup. (Want the recipe? Here you go.) People went crazy for it! They started begging me to make it week after week. Thankfully it's relatively easy and cheap to make!

4) 30 Hour Famine

I love the 30 Hour Famine. This year, I set out to make it my "baby." I let the other youth leaders know that I would take charge and organize everything. It was a total success, and the students loved it too. The Famine really puts things into perspective and really makes you appreciate simple things like food, water, and clothing. This year, we made it not only eye-opening as far as world hunger goes, but also on the spiritual level. We stepped it up a bit and made the worship very intentional, and even had a separate prayer room for those students who were interested. It was great, and I can't wait 'till next year's Famine!

5) Celebrating 5 years of marriage with Evan.
Words cannot express just how much I love Evan. He is my soulmate. Being married for five years has taught me so much, and I cannot think of anyone else I would have rather spent the rest of my life with.



6) Getting to actually meet Michael.

Like I said, I was so excited to finally be an aunt (I don't know why, but I've always wanted to be an aunt)! It was even better when I got to hold my nephew for the first time, and kiss him and hug him and love him! He was so cute, and I had the best time with Kelly and Christian. I miss them so much!

7) The 84th(?) Fleisher Family Reunion

It may surprise some of you to see this on the list, because most of the time, I dread the family reunion. Not because I don't enjoy seeing my family, but because if I don't go, I will hear about it from my aunt until the next one. This year's family party was at my aunt and uncle's house in Flemigton so it was nice and close. We had a really good time. They have a pool, so of course I had to go in. And the whole time, I was playing with my little cousin Savannah, and she kept calling me "best friend." It was great. I got to see relatives I haven't seen in ages, and it was just a great time all around. (Here's us chatting with Grandma Fleisher, Brad & Tina and my cousins).

8) Meeting the O.C. Supertones
For those of you who don't know the Supertones...what's wrong with you?? Just kidding. They are one of my favorite bands of all time, and this year at RevGen, they were playing, and I got to meet them. It was out of control. (The picture is a little blurry because there was a lot of dust in the air).

9) First Giant's game at the new stadium.
I always go to the Giants home opener at the start of football season. This year, we had a new home in the form of a huge new stadium. It was beautiful. Not only that, but we had different seats as well. In the old stadium, we were in section 306, up in the nosebleeds. Now, we are in section 126 (or something), which is field level. Right behind the end zone. Awesome.

10) Corn Maze trip at Etsch Farms

This was something I was looking forward to all year. We found this place online, and their corn maze was epic. It's shaped like Mount Rushmore, so you try to find your way through the president's heads. It was really cool. We didn't have a huge group of students, so it was nice for us considering the only two leaders were me and Karl! This was a lot of fun.

11) Thanksgiving

Duh. I made the biggest turkey I've ever made this year: 20 pounds (for 6 people!). Everything was delicious, and I really enjoyed having my family at our house for dinner. It's no wonder it's my favorite holiday!!

12) IEEE Holiday Party

I am on the party planning team where I work, and man oh man did we throw a spectacular party this year. We held it at a restaurant in Edison called "LouCas" (if you've never been, I highly recommend it). But, during the lunch, we also had a murder mystery team builder going on. We played a real-life game of Clue, and the actors we hired were amazing. They were so funny and we were literally crying with laughter. I didn't hear one complaint from anyone and everyone was smiling at the end. It was a great way to kick off the holiday season. I just don't know how we're going to top it next year!!

2010 has been a great year. I can't wait to see what 2011 has in store!!

Happy Belated Birthday to a Dear Friend

December 14th was my Uncle Walt's birthday. I say "was" because he passed away back in 2008. I also should clarify that he is not my actual uncle, but rather just a very good friend of our family (see this blog post about Aunt Gail - Uncle Walt's wife).
Uncle Walt was such an inspiration to me. He struggled much of his life with cancer. He would go back and forth between beating it, to it beating him, but always managed to keep a smile on his face throughout. He also gave the best hugs IN THE WORLD. If you were ever feeling down about anything, a hug from Uncle Walt would cure it in a second. But the real reason Uncle Walt was such an inspiration was his genuine and absolute love for the Lord. Even though he was battling cancer, and he was sick most of the time, he knew that God was in control, and that there was nothing he needed to worry about because ultimately he was in God's hands. Of course Aunt Gail went through many struggles herself caring for her husband. She was under a lot of stress, but she too kept God at the forefront and took comfort in the fact that Uncle Walt's illness was part of God's plan and that there was greater meaning in all of it.
Hanging in my cubicle, I have a Christmas card from Uncle Walt and Aunt Gail that on the front has a picture of them standing by their car around a license plate that says "LET US GO." This always made me laugh, until I found out why their license plate says that. On the inside of the card, there is a poem written by Aunt Gail that has a different word for "go" to represent each town that each of their family or friends live in.
Like this:
Announce it in Alloway
Bring it to Bellbrook
Carol it in Center Valley
Declare it in Dunellen
Extol it in Enon
Focus on it in Fort Pierce
Go, tell it on the mountain and in Galax
Honor it in Hampton
Inform everyone in Indianapolis
Justify it in Jacksonville
Know it in Kettering
Laud it in Lakewood
Manifest it in Middlesex
Notify everyone in Newark
Orate it in Omaha
Proclaim it in Piscataway
Quote it in Queens
Rejoice in it in Richmond
Share it in Stewartsville
Tell it in Tulsa
Understand it in Union City
Verify it in Vista
Welcome it in Washington
Xerox it in Xian
Yodel it in Yellow Springs
Zip it along in Zanesville
Then, she closes with "Wherever we are, whatever we are doing, let us go and tell the Good News of a great joy...for to you is born this day, in the city of David, a Savior, who is Christ the Lord." (Luke 2:10a,11)

I love that! They had a town for every letter of the alphabet.

I miss Uncle Walt a lot, and sometimes get all misty-eyed when I think about him. But he has made a lasting impression on my life in that he has made me appreciate God's power and love. No matter what our circumstance, God is in control, even if we may not like it. And if God decides to take us home, we don't have to be afraid because we are going to spend eternity with Him in heaven! So, happy belated birthday Uncle Walt. I love you and miss you, and look forward to seeing you again one day in heaven.