Goodbye Nicole

This is a bittersweet week for those of us at Evidence. We celebrated the graduations of three of our own (Brittney, Janna, and Brina) this past weekend and said goodbye to Nicole at the same time. Nicole is an exchange student from Germany who has been with us for the past year. She goes home this week and has already left Illinois. We've learned so much from you Nicole about how a small portion of the world sees the United States and about how Germans see themselves. It's sad to lose your unique perspective on things, but most of all it's sad to lose you, our friend and sister. Don't forget practicing French with me (thank you), meeting at Cool Beans to pray and study the Bible together last summer, walking at Relay for Life and playing cards in the tent when it rained, playing keep away in Tommy's pool, and all the times you had to explain the differences between how things are in the United States to how they are in Germany. Please, don't forget us. We already miss you and will love you always.

Bye

Relay for Life 2009

We had a much smaller group this year than last (only 8 of us actually attended the event), but it was still a great time. As a whole Evidence raised $1,069 for the American Cancer Society. Thank you to all of our donors. There were the usual massages and themed laps, but the karekokee this year had a twist. It started to rain. So we danced...in the rain. We sang "Seasons of Love" together...in the rain. We walked...in the rain. Eventually we bailed to the tent, set up a table out of the pizza boxes and played cards. At 4:00 a.m. we finally decided it wasn't going to stop raining and we packed up and went home. Thanks again to all of you who went, to all of you who helped raise money, and to all of you who donated. We can make a difference.

Five W's and an H

I've been thinking a lot about life lately. About what it means to not just exist, but to live. Asking myself the big questions like "What is this all about?" "Why do I do the things I do?" "What happens to everything I've done, saved, created, etc when I die?" I've been watching some videos at Ted.Com about life. "Ted" is a conference where the greatest minds in the world come together and just share their ideas about life, business, art, marketing, and everything else you could think of. One particular video was of Rick Warren about worldviews and how we live.He talked about the in and out of life. Wake up, Work, Go Home, Watch T.V., Sleep, Rinse and Repeat. Then he said this isn't living, but simply existing. Then he said, how we live, whether we exist or live, is really just evidence of our worldviews and values.But, I'm sick of seeing videos of famous people, geniuses, and celebrities telling me what life is all about.So, I'm asking you, folks I HIGHLY respect and who's opinions matter dearly to me, what your personal values and what your worldview is. What defines your day to day living/existing? What gets you up in the morning? Why do you work where you work? What your goals? Things of that sort.When you have some free time, PLEASE, take a couple of minutes to answer the next couple of questions:

1. Where do you work? Why? How'd you decided that what you do for a living is what you're going to do?

2. What are three things you value most?

3. Who are three relationships you'd give your life for? (You don't have to be too specific, simple answers like: my kids, or my wife/husband, my dog, will suffice.)

4. When do you wake up in the morning? And why? (I'm having a hard time not sleeping in since I work at night mostly, and all my hobbies can be done really in the middle of the night)

5. How do you go about making big decisions?

Again, you're all wonderful, beautiful people and I'm excited to hear back from you.

All My Love,
Tommy

Grocery bags needed!

Hey all,

I've started a new project that I could use some help with. It's a different (and faster) way to collect food for the local food pantry and other things that people need (e.g. clothes, blankets, etc.). I leave a plastic grocery bag with a note on people's doors asking them to donate what they can. They leave it on their porch and I go pick it up a week later. Saves everyone some time and energy and the donations get to where they're needed most. I did a trial run last week on Old Mill Ln. It was fairly successful. The grand total was: 42 lbs. of food, 1 garbage full of lg. clothes, 1/2 a bag full of sm. and med. clothes, 4 old t-shirts that I can recycle into reusable grocery bags, and 3 pairs of shoes.

Thank you to those who donated. It's appreciated.

I want to keep doing this, but there's a problem...I'm out of grocery bags. This is where everyone else comes in. If you all could bring in you're old grocery bags instead of throwing them out it would help a lot. Thanks everybody.