I'm moving...to a new Blog!

I know, I know...it's been 2 years. Austin has been great and obviously keeping me busy. I've decided to get back into blogging but for a different reason. After 9 years of ministry with InterVarsity I am taking a 6 month sabbatical! I'll be headed to Canada on April 12 to take a couple of summer classes at Regent College, bask in the beauty of Vancouver and spend lots of time with my amazing boyfriend Tim :)
Please join me as I attempt to capture my adventure through words and pictures at
http://verrill-in-vancouver.blogspot.com/

Enjoy!

Michelle

6 days and counting

Anyone who knows me knows that I like to keep my house in decent if not tip top shape. There is something about clutter that makes me feel slightly chaotic. But when you are packing up your life to move halfway across the country there isn't much you can do about clutter. Imagine for a moment a 650 sq ft house with boxes, lots and lots of boxes. haha!!! Nothing I can do. Oh Well...
I leave for Austin in 6 days. Can you beleive it? I am feeling excited and nervous...or maybe nervous and then excited. In anycase the time has come for me to say goodbye to the city I have known for the past 5 years and the state I have known for the past 29.
Part of me feels, Finally - Something new! The other part is such a homebody that I can't imagine leaving.
I had a "Good Bye Celebration" last week which was a blast. My friends did a acronym of my name Michelle Bernice Verrill. When they type it up I'll post it because it's hilarous.
Okay, back to packing. This was my 10 min break. I'll post pictures as soon as my camera battery charges. Wish Me Luck...

9 months have passed...dang!

Honestly I think I forgot that I even had a blog until a friend told me the other day that he came across it and found some of my entires rather amusing. It's telling of the busyness of my life lately. In the past 9 months I have been out of town for, collectively, 2 months, more if you count when I was just gone for the weekend to visit family or for a student conference. This is a record for me. I'm kinda having a love/hate relationship with all the traveling. I've gotten to connect with people and friends, which I love but it also means long hours in airports and planes and leaving behing people and friends whom I love. But the opportunites that I've had have been awesome...In the past 9 months I have:

• Emceed IV's Orientation for New Staff in Madison, WI


• Went to Chicago for vacation
• Went to Miami for Divisional Meeting


• Was invited to be a part of the planning committee for the Atlanta 2008 National Black Student Conference and was flown to Madison, WI for meetings


• Led 2 seminars at our Sonburst Conference (one on Being Bi-Racial which was awesome!


• Went to Chicago for mentoring and IV's National Women's Conference where I danced in front of 100 women (something I hadn't done for like, 13 years)


• Spoke at Perspective Staff Days conference in Austin, TX on God's Will for Your Life
• Went to the infamous Simpson Wood in ATL for Regional Staff Conference
• Celebrated my 29th Birthday with a great party - Why Wait till 30 when you can Celebrate 29!?!


• Went home for Christmas and for the first time in 3 years didn't have to fly out the day after


• Went to St. Louis, MO for National Staff Conference


• Was interviewed for an Assistant Area Director position in Austin, TX


• Accepted the position


• Flew out to Austin to see what I was really getting myself into, drove around with the GPS that I got for Christmas and still managed to get utterly lost
• Went to Gainesville for an AWESOME church confernece
• Went to Jax for another Divisional Conference...also very cool


• Directed and emceed our Spring Leadership Conference...fun, ligistical nightmare but had a student say "yes" to following Jesus which made it all worth it


• Been on monthly phone conference calls for Atlanta which feel like being out of town on a meeting


• Spoken at too many mission conferences to count


• and tomorrow I fly to Atlanta for our Black Staff Conference...

I think I might need a vacation. Oh, and in case you missed it, I am moving to Austin, TX. I know, crazy! But it is a God thing for sure and I could go into details about how all that came about but it would take hours so if you are really curious, let me know.

Well, that's a little update on my life lately. I tried adding more pictures but apparently blogger wasn't happy about that so above are a few from the summer and women's conference.

I can't make any promises that I'll be on here again soon, but i'll try....

Until then - Peace

Summer Slacker

It's been a while...again. Why don't I ever remember that I even have a blog at times. So sorry to all of you who have just been dying to read my latest rantings and ravings.
I feel like I bit of a slacker lately. Not just because I haven't been blogging but more because summer is here and I just want to lay around and soak up the sun. Most of my students have gone home for the summer, but there is still much to do. We are moving our office next week - I still need to go pack everything up, I am getting my house tented for termites next week - I still need to pack everything up, I am going out of town next weekend - I still need to decide what to pack. How is it that everything that I need to do seems to be next week and involves packing (which I loathe, but not as much as unpacking).
I did have a great time with my friend Camille 2 weeks ago. She came all the way from Philly and we went to Busch Gardens, the beach, out to dinner, swimming in a nice cold pool, etc. It was lovely!
Anyway, my brother has a shirt that says " Procrastinators Unite...Tomorrow" and that's what I FEEL like doing, but I am doing to overcome and go to the office, blast some fun music and get to packing.

Surfing Safari

Imagine 69 degrees, sunny with mild wind at Cocoa Beach with a surf board and no wetsuit. It was cold, but it was worth it. I had a blast last Saturday with 12 of my students as we drove over to Cocoa for Melissa's birthday. While she attended the Ron Jon's Surfing School, I attended the Sarah Schreiber's Surfing School for $10 with a rented board from a shack on the beach. Besides getting knocked in the head and swallowing a gallon of salt water I stood up once and that was worth it! I now understand the imporatnce of waxing your board!

Panera Musings

People fascinate me. I love to watch them. The ways they interact with one another, the ways they act when they think no one is watching. I've spent the past two days working at Panera. It's where I often come when I am preparing a talk.
As I sit in the worn leather brown chair in the corner I am in the perfect location for people watching. It's lunch time and my seat is near the door. Often I've kept my laughter under restraint as I glance unassumingly up from my computer screen to catch people's reactions to the long lines. Men in suits and ties, Women in skirts and heels. It's obvious that the majority of people are in the business world. Have you even tried to guess who works where? Have you ever noticed the way men check out women with out trying to make it obvious? This realization alone is about to set me on a rampage like none other. It doesn't seem to matter what we wear. A woman in a business suit gets her butt checked out just as quickly as the woman who walked in in the short tennis skirt.
A woman in line just made a comment about Panera being full of people from all walks of life. I think about it while I type away eating my made from home peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I love this place, free Internet, interesting people, but the cost of a sandwich? Come on $6.39 just seems a little crazy. Don't worry, I'll get a hot tea eventually, but for now I am okay with my free glass of water.

There Are Days...

There are days that I wonder why I do what I do. There are days that everything in me wants to give up, wants to quit, wants to just go home and do something else. But the thought only lasts a moment because I remember why I do what I do. That God has called me,that Jesus' sacrifice is what it means to suffer, not my frustration. That there are still students that need to know him, still people who want to see him. That the ministry isn't about how I think things should go, but about what God is doing and moving. It's about people connecting with the living God and having their hearts captured by him. I realize that it is an honor and priviledge to walk along God and build his kingdom, never a burden. It is amazing to get lost in who he is and what he is doing. I need to take the time to recognize that more.