Chris Rice, Sunrises, Jamaica, NICU

Working at a Christian Radio station has its major advantages... When artists come thru to see us, I have the unique opportunity to meet them and at times enjoy private concerts. This past Tuesday, Chris Rice came thru b/c he was visiting friends and family in the area for Memorial Day Weekend and wanted to stop by to see us. He gave us a private concert in the student corum at Cornerstone University. Very cool, indeed. He was very good. He sang w/ just a guitar. No amps, no voice editing or processing. Just Chris. It was very cool. I also got to say hi and shake his hand :) He debuted one of his upcoming songs, Sneakin' Into Heaven, on his new record, What A Heart Is Beating For, due out July 17. He said he's never played it for anyone yet, so we were the first :D Good times. Good memories.

Has anyone been paying attention to the sunrises lately? Every morning that I go into work, they have been absolutely astounding. It makes it so worth getting up that early. There are times I just wanna cry for the beauty that God has placed before my eyes, but I usually hold back b/c I'm not a big crier unless I'm extremely upset or stressed out. Or I'm watching a DVD of a meeting for our mission trip to Jamaica and our contact is showing pics of the orphanages we are going to be going to and discussing how these orphans got there - they were abandoned by their parents on the streets. They were not dropped off at the orphanage. They were just abandoned. That breaks my heart to the point of tears. I wish we could spend much of our time in the orphanages. I think if they'd let me, I'd choose to stay there for at least half the day at least twice a week, but it doesn't look like our itinerary is going to allow that. So we'll see. They keep saying we need to be flexible, so maybe we will get more time there. I hope so.

Oh, hey!!! I get to manage the WaYfm blog for our mission trip while I'm in Jamaica! So be sure to check it out b/t June 10-20th -> www.WaY.fm. I will be posting pics on this blog as well, and my friend John Balyo will be posting video blogs. Plus, we will be doing broadcasts from Jamaica! Listen at 8:40am as we will be calling into the morning show giving Rick an update on what we've been doing and what we plan to do that day. Also listen from 10a-2p as John Balyo will also be broadcasting his entire show from Jamaica!! For those of you who live in the area tune into 88.3 or 89.9 WaYfm. For those of you who live outside this listening area, you can listen online!! Go to www.WaY.fm and click on the link on the upper left hand corner to listen online. Or for the best online listening, you can hear WaYfm in mp3 mode by clicking on this link... WaY.fm mp3 Player, then click on the WaYfm link here - second one down.

As you can tell I'm pretty excited to go. Just a li'l stressed as I'm working a full 12 hour shift at the hospital the day before we leave, and we are currently caring for around a hundred babies again - that is very stressful. Then the next morning, we leave at 4:30am for Detroit to fly out. Not looking forward to that b/c that means I have to be all packed by Friday night as I'll have no time on Saturday. Plus after working a 12+ hour shift the day before we leave, I'll be exhausted and probably won't sleep much at all that night as the adrenaline will be in full swing hoping I don't forget anything and anticipating having to get up at 2:30-3am to leave... Yikes... but God is in control. Please pray that all will go smoothly, that I'll be at peace with it all and that I'll be able to stay focused at work as I care for these li'l ones.