Refreshing weekend spent with friends

October 10th


My heart is so full  full of joy. I dont know where to begin, and what words to use to express this Heavenly joy, but I will attempt to do so.

First off, my weekend was absolutely phénoménal, as some of you may have read it on facebook. There aren't to many détails to go into other than the fact that I was ooverflowing with joy, laughter and happiness at the realization that I was finally, for the first time in months, with people who cared for me, knew me, accepted me, understood me, and loved me. I was myself. The Dorina most of you know, for the first time in so long. Oh what a feeling ! I even told Tiffany, my coworker  "wow you have never seen this side of me huh !? "

So Friday afternoon we arrived at Lysiane (my all time bff)'s place in Denver and after she attacked me with screams and excitement and I jumped on her, we decided to head straight to the mall. My good collège friend Lauren who lives in Colorado Springs met up with us at Park Meadows Mall (a mall which I used to go to a ton due to the fact that there was a train near my old house that led straight to it. This mall is one of the many reasons, I call myself broke till this day.) I didnt shop much however. I just got a sweater, which I needed lol.

After doing a lot of window shopping, Lauren, Lylie, and myself sat at the food court area eating and talking and at one point I wasnt even listening to either of them, I just had this huge grin on my face, and interrupted the conversation saying " Can I just tell you girls how happy I am right now ?? " They both laughed and Lylie replied " You didn't have to tell me, I saw that huge smile on your face and knew exactly what you were thinking ! "
So after a relaxing evening, the girls and I got ready to have a girls night out :) It was a lot of fun especially since I was able to see some of Lysiane's boyfriend's friends,towards the end of the night who'd become quite dear to my heart when I lived there!
This whole time, Tiffany had been relaxing at Lylie's apt due to fatigue from all the driving she'd done. (I'm still not allowed to drive until I am told I can by my bosses).

Saturday was a busy day. I wanted to see a ton of people, but we also had to head to Coloroado Springs sometime during the evening in order to meet up with Lauren who had gone back there in order to work.
God is so good and Tiffany was very patient with me that day. She was able to join the girls and I to see Lylies stepmom and fathers,  which was quite the blessing. I've considered this family mine for quite some time now. During collège, since I could never really go home for Christmas, I would always go to Denver and spend Christmas with the Ayites. Plus I've known Papa Alex (Lylies dad) since I was 11, and him and my father are so similar that I cannot help but see him as a father figure in my life. Patricia (Lylies stepmom) has been such a huge blessing, helping me surprise Lysiane as a Christmas gift one year, and always always welcoming me into her home with shelter and food year after year, also being an encouragement through my transitioning from Indiana to Colorado and my job as a nanny for two girls whom she taught at her preschool.
All of this to say, spending about 3 hours of our day there felt like home. We talked, had snacks, coffee and tea, I played twister with Lauren and Iyanla (lysianes little sister) while Tiff and Cinzia talked (Lysianes older sister).

Fun times at the Ayites

Brie and Josh :)

I was then able to meet up with a good friend of mine and her boyfriend for some coffee.(I had a lot of coffee that day!) I'd met Brie and Josh about a month before my leaving Colorodo through their brother, and they were just what I needed at the time because I was going through some rough times with the transition of leaving Colorado and also thirsting for some fellowship time and finding a Church family. Though it was only for a month, it was exactly what I needed at the time to get on the route I'm on with my spiritual growth.




So after spending a solid hour catching up with them both, I met one of my buddies for diner. We had a gréât time, laughed a lot and ate Pad Thai.

Will and I eating Pad Thai

Finally after being able to see the people I wanted to see in Denver, Tiffany and I met up and headed to the Springs for another night of funness with Lysiane and Lauren !

Waking up Sunday morning was rough. I hadnt been so active in so long. My body said no, but my mind said  "let's go !" haha. So we got ready and went to Laurens Church called St James.
Lauren had warned us about this Church. She said "You guys are more than welcome to come to Church with me, but I just need to warn you, its quite different, it's Ted Haggards' new Church !"
Ok...confession...I didn't even know who Ted Haggard was. I feel stupid about that now, but I guess that's what happens when you barely ever Watch tv or listen to the radio :/
So, after telling me a little bit about what had happened. And in case you are like me and have never heard of Ted Haggard, heres a quick recap. He was an extremely famous pastor in Colorado and all over the world for that matter, who started a Church in Colorado of 14,000 followers. His Church (now called New Life Church) started out in him and his wife Gayles bassement, and ended up being huge and famous known for its genuineness and desire to grow as a body of Christ and love God and others. Well one day, Ted got accused of having an affair with and buying drugs from a male escort. He got fired from his position and ended up having to go through a whole entire procès and wait a couple of years before being able to get back in front of a pulprit to preach the gospel.
Needless to say, his name today probably brings up a lot of contradiction. Since I didnt know any of this, I had no problem going. Even after being filled in on who he was, I still had no problem going, in fact I was kind of excited. It sounded like the service was quite different and there was no way to really explain it, so I was excited to experiment this « différence » for myself !
My oh My ! It sure was different ! Well for starters, it doenst have a set place, so we were in a middle school cafèteria(which reminded me of when my Church in Huntington Indiana had no place and we would bounce from building to building till we got our amazing 509 place !). Secondly, for a pastor who had started a Church  with 14, 000 followers, this new one was quite small. It was of about 150 people. Ted was not much different than the way Id imagined him to be. Very energetic, full of life, throwing jokes out left and right, and extremely engaging.
In order to tithe, everyone got up and during the meet and greet part of most Sunday « rituals, »  in this case, we are encouraged to give someone we feel led to some money. It could be $2, or $100. No one is forced to, but its definitely an option. It was interesting to Watch because normal, when we meet and greet, every body stays in their seats and turns around or looks at the person to the left right or in front to say a quick hello. At Saint James however, most everybody got up and walked around to the other side to really meet and greet. We were welcomed quite warmly.
Then, the offering part of the service consisted of whoever felt led to putting money in a bucket can put money in the bucket.as usual. What happens with this money however took me by surprise. Apparently, every Sunday a name gets drawn out of a basket filled with everybody in the congregations names. Whoevers name gets drawn, gets to take 50 % of the money (the other 50% is kept by the Church) and think/pray about who they want to give the money to.
For example, this past Sunday, at the very end of service, a 15 year old stoop up in front of the congrégation because her name had been drawn and she had to announce who she knew that could use this money more than anybody. She decided to give it to her grandfather, who had problems with his knees. Since this was a lot of money that wed gathered that Sunday, Ted suggested that he knew of two other people sitting with us that morning that could really use part of the money as well. The girl agreed to split it, and Ted called up one of thèse people whom he was talking about earlier. A lady in her 40s came up. I dont know how long shed been crying, but her tears affected everyone in the building (they affected me at least thats for sure).  She barely could tell us her story while sobbing. Many hearts went out to her as she explained how she hasnt been able to be with her husband in 5 years due to his job being so far away and them needing the money because both of their kids have serious health problems. Her son deals with dépression and has attempted to commit suicide, on top of physical health issues. Her daughter had  crohns disease and because the parents couldnt afford taking care of all of the health issues their kids have, the mother shared her pain with us as she handed her children over to another family who would be able to afford helping them out better.
What a story~ This family received $2000 that morning. Another man had been called by Ted earlier to share his story. An old Asian man shared how one day he lost everything he had (job, family, house, hope,) and out of desperation went to Teds Church. Apparently at the end of the sermon, this man stayed seated and sobbed all of his pain and sorrow out. Ted didnt even know him, but helf him. Though he had no money to offer him, Ted was able to offer him something more important, hope, and a desire to live again. This man is now a regular at St. James. He is still living out of his car, but finds hope in life again.

There were other touching testimonies and stories shared. The service was very interactive. As Ted would preach,  people would raise their hands and ask questions, or Ted would ask the congregation questions, and people would answer. Even Ted's wife got up at a one point to tell a story that Ted had attempted to tell but butchered instead.

So yes, Lauren telling me that the service would be different was quite an understatement ! We laughed, we cried, we shared, we asked, we learned, we gave, we took, we prayed, we sang, we did it all. It was so real, so génuine. The sermon was pretty good to. We read out of James, which is book i LOVE. I need to spend more time in it. Its so short but so rich and full !
After Church, I was able to meet with a father and daughter (Sam and Emily Voorhies) that I'd met through another family that is extremely close to mine (the Shanis). The Voorhies used to missionaries in many countries and thats how they met the Shanis. I had only met the Voorhies once and we instantly bonded. Actually Uncle Sam and I got along real well because he found utter joy and pleasure in teasing me, and well for me, it just made me stronger and tougher so we have a mutual bond through that haha. I met their daughter Jessica later on when her parents decided we would get along gréât and that we should meet. They were right, we immediately clicked on our coffee (well it ended up being subway for me) date. We talked for hours and exchanged numbers.

So this was my second time seeing them, and we had a gréât time. Lauren and Tiffany had joined and the 5 of us just had a good ol time chit chatting as if wed known each other for years.

To end my Sunday, Lauren took me to 2 goodwills, which we OWNED. Yup. We got so much stuff for NOTHING. Well barely anything at least. I got pretty well prepared for the winter thanks to goodwill. Lauren also went a lil crazy out there.
After some fellowship with Lauren and her parents, Tiff and I hit the road. Off to Alamosa, CO. A 3 hour trip on which I was knocked out for the most part. It felt grand.

YUP. FANTABULOUS WEEKEND!!!

(I'm in the process of blogging about the last 3 days here, so bare with me :))

His, DJO