Day Zero Update (Day 160)

Just a breif update on my Day Zero List. I haven't been updating on my completed ones... which has made me not able to get back to my blog... so here goes.

14.Get a puppy
           I got a puppy! He is a chocolate miniature pinscher who was born on May 10th. I found him from a breeder in Orlando and brought him home on July 3rd. He has the best spunky personality, handsome green eyes and so much love to give!
15.Come up with a great name for my puppy
          I named my sweet little boy, Dallas. I went looking for a girl and had always planned on having a girl, but I jus fell in love with this little boy. I thought up a TON of girl names but knew if I got  boy it would have something to do with sports or one of my beloved teams. This is my little Dallas Rock Meyer.

16.Catch a fish
      In October, we went on a retreat with Crew in Duck Key. My friend David who is like a professional fisherman, took a few of us girls out on a boat and took us fishing. Not only did I catch a fish, but a shark!! A little lemon shark... it was pretty amazing. Pictures to come...

38.Volunteer at a Soup Kitchen
      In June, we had Mission 2010 for our high school youth group. In years past they have traveled to South Carolina in nice vans and stayed in dorm-style places to serve the community. This year we decided to surprise the kids and keep them local. We camped (see #53) at a local camp ground and on Thursday, July 1st, we served in the soup kitchen in Fort Myers. The crowd was rough, but we managed to make trays and trays of food for each individual to enjoy. It was an awesome experience for myself and the youth group kids that came along. 

42.Surprise someone with ice cream
     I brought my sister and bil ice cream from Coldstone after I went shopping with Sean for his birthday... they loved it!

47.Bake cookies from scratch
     I baked some great pumpkin spiced cookies for Crew two weeks ago, a few people even asked for my recipe and one guy knew they were from scratch!

53.Go camping
     As previously mentioned (see #38) I went camping with our youth group locally. It wasn't fun camping with friends where we fish and make chili and roast marshmellows in nice weather. It was rough. Not to mention, I was a leader- having to make sure my 6 girls were safe, quite, sleeping and not catching malaria. Did I mention it was June in Florida? Writing about the heat and the mosquitos won't do the experience any justice. Here is me before going to sleep the first night... see the smile still on my face?

54.Give to a friend for a mission trip
      My friend Jennifer left for Russia about a month ago. We went to Russia together to teach some business courses at an institute. I had the opportunity to give money toward her trip which was such a blessing! 

62.Go shopping with Sean
      My nephew Sean turned 13 on June 1st. So I had some birthday shopping to make up to him- this was my frst completed item on my Day Zero List. He bought some video game... he was thrilled. :)

65.Swim in the ocean in the dark
       This one is a funny story... Basically, on my way home from Sanibel one night I was telling my friend KJ about this item on the list. He told me to pull over... I'm talking, it was probably close to 1am and we spontaneously walked in the ocean just before the Causeway and went swimming. It was pretty fun! (Especially when we came to my friend Renee's soaked...)
66.Send someone a card with a hundred dollar bill just because
      A girl I have known for some time had mentioned on Facebook that she lost $80 or something like that... I thought it was the perfect opportunity for this one. I wrote down a scripture in a card, slid in a $100 bill put it at her door... I didn't sign my name or anything and the next day I saw her Facebook status say something about the little angel coming to confess. (I hope she doesn't read my blog) It felt good to do something nice without anyone (until now) knowing about it.
69.Have a garage sale
      We had a great garage sale at my sisters with 2 of our friends... I think I made around $60... it wasn't as good as they have been in the past... but I really need to purge my closet and do a serious garage sale!75.Buy the Milby's a date & babysit the kiddos
        Last week I volunteered to babysit for the Milby's... I got them a gift certificate to Outback and got to play a fun game with the kids. Their kids are so well behaved and have nicknamed me Awesome Alicia... so obviously, I love being around them.

77.Take Carter out for ice cream
       On my sisters birthday, we pawned off her youngest son to a friend and went shopping and got pedicures. We were running a bit late, so I had to pick up Carter from school and she went to get Jonah. This picture is after school, before I took him to Coldstone. He ordered cotton candy ice cream with gummy bears... when the gummy bears were gone, he was done with the ice cream. It was pretty funny. I love this little boy.

80.Visit the Liekweg's
       I finally got to see Renee and Chris in Wisconsin! I flew up there for about 5 days and it was absolutely amazing. It was such a nice recharge time for me... lots of relaxing, painting and just hanging out with my best friend. Renee and I had amazing talks and time with God. I was so appreciative of our time together.

82.Stargaze
        On our Crew retreat, David led our group to an isolated place (around mile marker 30 and then 20 miles of US1) that gave us an amazing view of the stars. It is so weird to me that the farther away from land you go, the better view of the stars you have. It is easy for me to have this finite view… I wonder what the stars look like from Heaven

97.Go to a Gator game
        My best and oldest friend, Libby came home from London to Gainesville for a game in October. It seems as though everyone from the time of her being in college was there that weekend. Somehow, our friends had a few extra tickets and I got to go to the game for free. We ended up losing to LSU, but it was still so much fun to go see the boys play!

Day One of Day Zero

The Challenge:
Complete 101 preset tasks in a period of 1001 days.

The Criteria:
Tasks must be specific (ie. no ambiguity in the wording) with a result that is either measurable or clearly defined. Tasks must also be realistic and stretching (ie. represent some amount of work on your part).

So my friend Suzy has inspired me to create my very own Day Zero Project. She created one a week or so ago and you can read all about it here. If you know me, you know I make lists... I consider it my own type of therapy. Making this list was fun and completing it will be challenging! Check out my list and follow along with me as I attempt to complete 101 tasks by February 28th, 2013.
 

1. Get scuba certified
2. Go skydiving
3. Visit Libby in London
4. Fast from solid food for 1 week
5. Go to a Dallas Cowboy game
6. Go to a Dallas Cowboy game at the new Dallas stadium
7. Spend a weekend alone on a retreat
8. Turn my cell phone off for a weekend
9. Go to church with my Mom
10. Run a 5k
11. Run a 5k in less than 23 minutes
12. Have a dinner party for more than 10 people
13. Get a new tattoo
14. Get a puppy
15. Come up with a great name for my puppy
16. Catch a fish
17. Do 20 consecutive push ups
18. Go to a wine tasting
19. Take an adult education class
20. Take 5 piano lessons
21. Write a letter for myself to read in 2020
22. Buy a plant
23. Keep a plant alive
24. Play a round of golf with my Dad
25. Go rock climbing
26. Visit AJ in college
27. Have a sleepover with Kyla
28. Get together with my step-sisters
29. Take the Glassford family to dinner
30. Run a mile in the sand
31. Detail my car myself
32. Send personalized Christmas cards
33. Go to yoga
34. Make dinner for my second family, the Casey's
35. Go to the beach with my Mom
36. Eat in a restaurant alone (without a laptop, book or phone)
37. Read an entire book in a day
38. Volunteer at a Soup Kitchen
39. Learn to change the oil in my car
40. Take Carter and Jonah to the zoo
41. Eat lunch with Kyla at her school
42. Surprise someone with ice cream
43. Blog about each completed task
44. Write a letter of forgiveness to someone from my past
45. Take a CPR class
46. Sponsor a child in Haiti
47. Bake cookies from scratch
48. Bake cookies for my neighbors
49. Go on a vacation with Maria (just the two of us)
50. Go kayaking
51. Re-do my website
52. Enter a writing contest
53. Go camping
54. Give to a friend for a mission trip
55. Buy new office furniture
56. Make new business cards
57. Get a massage, faciail, and mani/pedi in the same day
58. Visit the Farmer's market
59. Give up meat for a month
60. Read the Bible with a reading plan
61. Go on a hike with Kevin and listen to him tell me everything he knows
62. Go shopping with Sean
63. Finish Beth Moore's Living Beyond Yourself Study
64. Have a sleepover with my Crave small group
65. Swim in the ocean in the dark
66. Send someone a card with a hundred dollar bill just because
67. Try a new recipe
68. Purge my closet
69. Have a garage sale
70. Babysit for Layla & play every game she wants
71. Make a journal that is filled with people to pray for
72. Buy new shelves
73. Collect 10 antique books for new shelves
74. Do a craft project with Bethany Milby
75. Buy the Milby's a date & babysit the kiddos
76. Take Max & Emily out for the Cabrera's to have a stay-date
77. Take Carter out for ice cream
78. Memorize the book of James
79. Make a journal with prayers full of scripture
80. Visit the Liekweg's
81. Watch the sunrise and the sunset in the same day
82. Stargaze
83. Find my own outdoor sactuary
84. Install Russian Rosetta Stone
85. Donate to locks-for-love
86. Take a personal trainer lesson
87. Go to the Seminole Indian Casino with Dad & Maria
88. Host a tea party
89. Learn to tie a tie
90. Learn a song on the guitar
91. Dance in the rain
92. Identify 100 things that make me happy
93. Watch 10 "classic" movies picked out by the Henley's
94. Go Salsa Dancing
95. Find an intern for my business
96. Take a spontaneous road trip
97. Go to a Gator game
98. Buy myself flowers
99. Learn to drive a stick-shift
100. Host a foreign exchange student
101. Pay off my car

 

Craving Jesus

Tonight was my first night attended Crave. Crave is the high school youth group at Summit Church. For some time now, I have been trying to figure out what to do with my Tuesday nights. I was going to Crew so many times a week and realized I wasn't doing much to pour into others. I tried Ignite, I babysat a lot, considered Young Life... but didn't hear anything from God. I waited and waited... and didn't commit (which is strange for me). Finally, I was talking to April (my wonderfully young mentor) and complaining about wanting to give up BigEnuf and KidZone but that I felt like I wasn't doing anything else for others... she recommeded me to try Ignite or Crave and work with younger girls who would look up to me. I thought about Ignite, but honestly wasn't too pumped about serving there / didn't feel like I was 'qualified' enough. I started getting really excited about Crave after I emailed the youth pastor who told me there was a need for a 10th grade small group leader. A woman at the church, Desiree called me a few days later telling me a funny story about her daughter, Tessa, wanting me to be her small group leader awhile ago... which is pretty weird because I wasn't even thinking about it then! Tessa is an awesome girl and I am excited to get to know her and her friends better!
Tonight we learned about prayer and the importance of it. The small group discussion wasn't too organic...but I will pray that it gets easier and better with time. These girls are sharp too! One of them started asking me a question about the Old Testament and I totally didn't have the answer and Tessa spoke up and answered (I am pretty sure it went undetected). During the message I thought about where I was when I was their age in high school. Man, I was lost. I started to tear up thinking that some of these students are where I was. I went to church and youth group but I still chose to make horrible decisions.
Lord I pray that I can make a difference in the lives of these girls in my small group and others within Crave. I pray that you would use me to be an intentional part of their lives and that their hearts and eyes would be open to your love. Stir in the hearts of the students that don't know you and prepare the leaders that are pouring into the lives of those there. Take away my own will and my words, I pray that you would only allow me to speak your Truth and that you lead me all the way through.