Processing/ Scripture Saturday

It's been one of those days.  A great day.  A busy day.  A day that I want to savor.  A day where the Lord has made me think.  A day where I can count my blessings.  A day that I kind of want to freeze in time.

I made a surprise trip to Arizona to see Dad, Amy, Daynah, Josh, and the boys in the house.  I booked my ticket two months ago and only told Amy (I really wanted to surprise everyone, but their schedules are so busy, I wanted to have a direct link to make sure that they would be here for the surprise.  Otherwise, it would have been a horrible surprise!).  Daynah figured out about a month ago that I was coming to Arizona, but did not know when I was coming.  Dad and Josh were clueless.  I was here at Christmas, and it was the hardest goodbye for me at the end of the trip.  Normally, I enjoy my time with family but I am ready to leave at the end of a trip.  That trip wasn't the case and I couldn't really tell you why.  In February, I was really missing my family and just wanted to book a ticket.  And I found a ticket pretty cheap and decided to go for it.  You only live once, and all that jazz.  So here I am.

This morning I woke up and spent some time in the Word.  I am coming to the end of the BSF Genesis study.  Then I went shopping with Amy and a couple of the boys.  They just got two new boys in their house, so it has been fun getting to know them.  On the way to the car, Whyatt asked me why I have gray in my hair.  Really, Lord, twice in one week?!  :)  I told him it was because I was old.  He told me I don't look old and guessed my age at 16.  Tyler guessed I was 20.  So the comment was redeemed! :)

Daynah and I took a trip to Chipotle for lunch and watched Gilmore Girls while we ate.

We went to see the movie "Camp" which I had never heard of but it was recommended to Dad and Amy during a staff meeting.  It is a Christian movie about a boy who goes into the foster system and ends up at summer camp for the week.  The counselor he is paired with is at the camp for the wrong reasons.  The movie is about both of their journeys to self-discovery and learning to like each other.  It was a little cheesy in parts, but overall a good message.  I cried, of course, which started the emotional portion of my day. :)

After the movie we headed to church. I really like the church they attend on Saturday evenings.  The message was about waiting on the Lord.  Here are some of the highlights.  Biblical waiting is not a passive waiting.  Waiting is not something we have to do until we get what we want.  Waiting is a part of the process of becoming what God wants us to be.  Waiting on the Lord is a confident, disciplined, expectant, active, sometimes painful clinging to God.  It is saying, "God, I will trust you and obey you, even though the circumstances of my life are not turning out the way I want them to and may never turn out the way I want them to.  I'm betting everything on you, God, and there is no Plan B."  Waiting on the Lord requires patient trust, confident humility (I am not in control! and I need to wait without worry), and teaches me to recognize His voice.  God's voice is never frantic.  When I hear desperate or panicky thoughts, that's not God's voice.  I cried, and continued the emotional portion of my day! :)

Now, I'm being summoned to play Euchre, so duty calls!  Happy Saturday everyone!

I need an intervention!

Apparently, every time I go to the store, I feel the need to buy two bottles of nail polish.  I love this brand, though.  $2 a bottle.  So, when I buy two, it's basically like buying one.  But still.  These last four colors have been bought within a week of each other.  But the first two I actually wore together.  Once coat of the light purple and one coat of the iridescent color. 

Oh my goodness...I just read the last few sentences and realize how much I really do need an intervention. I justified each sentence I wrote! :)

Making a list

Now, since I am waiting for NCIS: Los Angeles to start and I don't feel like being productive, I am going to tell you 900 things about me since I passed the 900th blog post...

Just kidding, when I reached 100, I did 100 things about myself and that was almost impossible!  You can read those here.  How about I just give you 9 things you might not know about me.

1.  Dishes are my favorite chore.  Give me a sponge and a pile of dishes and 99% of the time I will gladly do them.  Just don't tell me they HAVE to be done right now.  I don't often volunteer to do dishes, but it's often because I don't think about it.  We don't use the dishwasher in our apartment because I would rather just wash them by hand.  On the other hand, hand me a dish towel and ask me to dry the dishes and you will see me exit the room faster than you can get the dish towel out.  Just kidding, I'll usually do it, but only after I offer to wash and you dry. :)

2.  I really enjoy a good to-do list.  But I am notorious for putting things on my list that I've already done just so I can have something to scratch off the list right away.  I also will put several things on the list that I know I will do regardless of whether I have a list, again so that I can know I will have something to scratch off the list later.

3.  I love to read.  And I love to re-read.  I have some books that I've probably read over 10 times.  I have a horrible sense of detail, so even when I've read them that many times, I still couldn't tell you what was going to happen next, even if I know what happens at the end.

4.  I'd say about 90% of the time, I read the last few sentences of a book to see what happens at the end.  If it is a mystery, I try not to do this because I really don't want to ruin the whodunit, but half-way through the book I often cave.  Also, when I'm reading a book, I like to randomly flip pages and read a sentence or two on the page I flip to, just to give me a sneak peek of what is to come.  As an example, I read the last sentence of the Hunger Games trilogy while I was still in the first book, purposefully to find out whether Katniss ended up with Peeta or Gale.  And I enjoyed the series so much more because I had that knowledge and didn't need to stress about it.

5.  Growing up, I watched  a lot of wrestling.  And kind of liked it.  And attended an event live at the Civic Center in Georgia with my brother and Dad.

6.  I have a keen attention to detail.  Almost hyper-sensitive.  When it really drives me crazy is when people try to "help" me by putting things where I won't forget them.  I am more likely to remember them if they are in the random place I might have left them the last time I saw them.  Move them and I go crazy because they are not where I left them.  Also, there are some details that I would rather not remember, but I can't help it.

7.  I have a "fear" of riding a bike as an adult.  I learned as a child, but never rode very often because we didn't often live in places that were conducive to riding a bike.  I might have been 12 the last time I rode a bike.  Actually, I probably rode once or twice in high school.  I didn't have a bike of my own and would ride someone else's bike.  I think that my feet never really touched the ground very well and I was always afraid of stopping and balancing the bike without falling.  I kind of avoid bikes now.

8.  I often dream about tornadoes.  No one ever gets hurt in them and I sometimes just dig a hole in the ground to get away from them.  The last dream I had, I was in a car driving down the road with other people and we were pointing out the windows both ways as several tornadoes kept cropping up.  It was kind of like a windmill farm where we'd go "Oh, look at that one."  "There's another one!"  But we weren't afraid that any of them were going to hurt us.  Strange, I know.  If anyone knows a good dream interpreter, I'd love to know why I dream about tornadoes one a regular basis.

9. I can multi-task with the best of them.  Unless I'm watching television.  Unless I'm on the computer.  Then, make sure I'm paying attention before you say anything important to me.

Wow, even 9 things was hard for me to come up with.  Good thing I didn't try for 900.  But 9 gave me more of a chance to give a back story, which is one of my favorite things (oops, that might have been my 10th fact).

Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing

Sunday, we sang this hymn at church.  We sang a stanza that I had never heard before and I was very blessed by it, so I thought I would share it with you. It took me a while to track down the exact lyrics.  When I got home I looked in my hymnal but the stanza wasn't there.  So then I googled it (note to all kids reading this--I consulted a real source before going to google!)  Wickipedia had a similar stanza, but still not the one we had sung.  I texted/emailed a couple friends who might be able to get their hands on the words for me, and got an email back today.  Here is the stanza I had not known:

Oh that day when freed from sinning
I shall see Thy lovely face
Full arrayed in blood-washed linen
How I’ll sing Thy sovereign grace
Come, my Lord, no longer tarry
Bring Thy promises to pass
For I know Thy pow’r will keep me
Till I’m home with Thee at last
I can't wait until the day when I am freed from sinning!  And I've been studying so much lately about God's promises that the line about God bringing His promises to pass was just another affirmation of the work He does in our lives.

The whole hymn is such a great one.  One of my favorites.  Here are all the words:

VERSE 1Come, Thou Fount of every blessing
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace
Streams of mercy never ceasing
Call for songs of loudest praise
Teach me some melodious sonnet
Sung by flaming tongues above
Praise the name! I’m fixed upon it
Name of Thy redeeming love

VERSE 2Hitherto Thy love has blessed me
Thou hast brought me to this place
And I know Thy hand will bring me
Safely home by Thy good grace
Jesus sought me when a stranger
Wandering from the fold of God
He, to rescue me from danger
Interposed His precious blood

VERSE 3Oh to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’m constrained to be
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter
Bind my wandering heart to Thee
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it
Prone to leave the God I love
Here’s my heart, oh take and seal it
Seal it for Thy courts above

VERSE 4Oh that day when freed from sinning
I shall see Thy lovely face
Full arrayed in blood-washed linen
How I’ll sing Thy sovereign grace
Come, my Lord, no longer tarry
Bring Thy promises to pass
For I know Thy pow’r will keep me
Till I’m home with Thee at last

906

This is blog post #906.  Kind of crazy.  I usually highlight the big numbers, but forgot I was approaching 900.  Oops.  I've said this before, but it kind of amazes me that I am still doing this.  I've never been a big journaler and don't normally stick with journal-y type things.  But my blog continues to be fun.  Sometimes I neglect it, like last month when  I only posted 5 times.  Other times, I blog 2-3 times a day, like the past few weeks.  Whatever strikes my fancy, I will gladly ramble about it.

Ironically, 906 is also the name of one of the college ministries I was involved in.  It started at 9:06pm on Wednesday nights.  As an old fuddy-duddy, it amazes me that I ever went to something that started at that time of the evening!

Ladies Tea at Bethany

Last weekend I attended a Ladies Tea at church.  It was so much fun and a bigger blessing than I was anticipating.  That kind of sounds bad, but I'll admit that I didn't really want to go at first.  But that changed when I was specifically invited to join a table.  It turns out different ladies were hosting tables.  They decorated the tables for us and everything was at the table for us to eat.  Catered food from a local restaurant (the name is completely escaping me right now).  A great talk from Sandi Miller.  Wonderful fellowship with other ladies.  Here is our table:

We were in the back corner because of some technical snafus, but it turned out to be a blessing when we started taking pictures.

Here we are holding our birds that were our gifts from Jody.  We took several serious/smiling pictures but then Brittany wanted us to pose with our birds.  So we did.  If you look in the background, Kelly is speaking at the podium.  She had just started talking when we started grabbing our birds and we really wanted this picture, so we continued to pose while she introduced the next portion of the afternoon. We are such rebels for not sitting down right away! :)

I say it all the time, but I am so blessed by my church.  The women who put this event together did a FANTASTIC job and I am so glad I got over my initial hesitancy and decided to go.  Even though tea and fru-fru food is not my thing.  I enjoyed my lemonade.  And the fru-fru stuff was really good!

Tornado watch vs Tornado warning

I have always been confused by the difference between a tornado warning and a tornado watch.  I can argue the definitions both ways so I can never remember what they are. 

Tornado watch definition 1: Hey watch that tornado go by.
Tornado watch definition 2: You might want to watch just in case you might see a tornado today.

Tornado warning definition 1: Warning! Danger! Tornado!
Tornado warning definition 2: Just to warn you, there might be a tornado today.

See my dilemma? This is very concerning to me when I hear the radio announce one or the other because I can never remember what they mean.  Do I just keep driving or do I immediately run for cover?  Do I panic or just go about my day? 

April Showers addendum

Since my last post an hour ago, Emily and I have been hard at work. We decided to make things more difficult for maintenance to say,"We got what we could."(again, if you want the whole story about my conversations with maintenance, let me know). So, we moved Emily's mattress into the laundry room (except it sticks out--you can see it right by Emily's head in the picture below) and her box spring into the hallway along with various other items she owns. I had Emily pose with her earthly possessions, just because pictures are always a little bit better with people in them.

The good news is, the smell has decreased significantly.  The carpet is mostly dry.  Small blessings.

April Showers...

So, we were not immune to all the flooding this past week from all the rain. Emily got water in her bedroom. We think it came from the foundation, but are not really sure. Maintenance is "taking care of it." That's all I'll say about that.

The carpet is pulled back and they cut out some of the padding.  Because of all that, Emily has a new bedroom:

She's been sleeping in the living room because her room smells pretty bad, we've had the window open to help with the smell so it's cold, and the fans are pretty loud.  I am really bummed for her and hope that maintenance follows through with their statement that they will do whatever we want to remedy this.  But, in true Emily fashion, she has had a much better attitude about it than I would have had if it were me.

In other news, April also brings flip flop weather, so this is what I did yesterday:

Not a professional mani/pedi.  But I did get creative and use two new polishes I bought.  A lavender coat first and then a purple/iridescent coat on top.  I was going to take the picture in the little splash of sunshine on my floor because I'm still marvelling at the sun, but you couldn't really see the color if I did that, so I took it next to the patch of light instead.

Confidence in God/ Scripture Sunday

I don't know how many times I've said it in the past (not often enough, I know) but I am blessed beyond measure to attend a church where the pastors are faithful to preach God's Word with truth and power, even when it is difficult or "not popular."

We have been studying through the life of David for almost a year now, and we are drawing to the end of the study.  Today, Pastor Ritch spoke about David's last words, recorded in 2 Samuel 23:1-7.  He began his sermon by talking about all the tragedies that have struck our country this week--Boston; West, Texas; flooding in Central Illinois.  He then talked about how we can find answers to these tragedies, not in the media or from each other, but in these words of David. As David neared the end of his life, he was not focused on death, but on God's faithful promise to fulfill His covenant to David (made 30 years before).  David, at the end of his life, finds confidence in God.  And the message is clear--my confidence is not in how safe I feel every day, whether I am free from tragedy, whether I am getting everything I want.  But my confidence is in a faithful, promise-keeping, merciful God who loves me and wants HIS best for me. 

I've also been studying Hebrews this semester in Bible study, and Pastor Ritch mentioned a verse from Hebrews that went on my list of Scripture I want to memorize this year.  Hebrews 10:35-36 says, "So do not throw away your confidence; it will be richly rewarded.  You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what he has promised."

I can have confidence that "he who began a good work in me will carry it on to completion."  Death does not define my future (and because of that the tragedies from this week do not define my future), God's covenant through David to provide the promised seed (Jesus) is what defines my future.

And after all the rain we have had and the gloomy days, these verses also painted such a vivid word picture for me about what it will be like when Jesus comes back to reign on the earth, "he is like the light of morning at sunrise on a cloudless morning, like the brightness after rain that brings the grass from the earth."

A Little Bit Blessing...a Little Bit of Silliness

It's kind of like "A little bit Country...a little bit Rock n Roll." Isn't that how the saying goes? Anyway, I've got two random things but decided to put them in one post. That's all I'm really trying to get at in my title today.

First things first, I thought it was a good time to do an update on my blessings jar.  Here is a side view of the jar, so you can see the pile up of almost four months of blessings:

I have to admit that I had gotten into the bad habit of not filling out a card a day.  I would rely on memory, usually on Sunday evening, to fill out blessings from the week. I'm trying to remedy that because it was not quite the purpose of the jar and there would be days I would skip because I wasn't really sure what happened on that day.  So, this past week, I've tried to be good about thinking and writing my blessing at the end of the day.  It is still such an encouraging activity for me to participate in because some days I've had several blessings to add.  The Lord is at work in my life every day, I just have to recognize it.

Now for the silly...I will be the first to admit that I am not at all technological.  So, this story does not really surprise me at all.  I have had an iPod for about 5 years. Most of the time I keep it in my work bag because then if I'm at my desk doing paperwork, I can listen to music.  It helps when the office is too quiet and it helps when there are too many people in the office to easily distract me.  One of the most irritating things to me is when I charge it at night and go to use it in the morning and it has lost all its charge because it bumped something in my bag and played overnight.  This morning when I got in my car, I checked the charge because I knew I wanted to use it at work today and the battery was almost dead after I just charged it yesterday.  Grrr...  So I said to myself, "I wish there was some case I could put it in to keep this from happening.  Or a setting on it that would lock it.  How stupid that they didn't think of this."  As soon as I said the thought to myself, I thought, "Wait a minute..."  I've totally forgotten about the lock button at the top of the iPod all these years.  Oops...sorry Apple, for calling you stupid!  Maybe that can be my blessing for the day :)

Grandma

The weekend I was in the suburbs, I was able to spend some time with my grandma.  I don't often see her by myself, normally my mom is with me or my aunt or cousins are at the house.  The plan was for me, mom, Ann, and the boys to go to the house.  But then time got away from us and if I didn't go alone, chances were good that I wouldn't see Grandma at all.  I must admit, I was a little intimidated about going by myself.  What would we talk about?  How long should I stay?  Questions like these kept creeping in as I drove over to the house.  I don't get to see my grandma very often, and having lived in Georgia most of my life, I don't always feel as close to her as I would want to be.  But a lot of that is my fault for not taking the time when I was younger to really want to know her.  When I lived out of state grandma always sent letters to me.  You could always tell that she cared because she would cut articles out of newspapers that she thought you might like to read.  I always loved getting letter from her.  But I wasn't always great about writing back.  And if I did, I was kind of selfish in my writing and did not ask a lot of questions of her.  In the last several years, I have understood the importance of getting to know her.  And now, it seems, every time I see her, I learn something about her that I didn't know before.  Here are some facts I learned because I took time to listen and ask questions that I never thought to answer before.

1.  My grandma didn't really want a wedding.  It was my grandpa and his mother that wanted them to have a ceremony.  And so they planned the whole thing.  Grandma said she just went and bought a dress!  I can't help but think that this was not typical in those days.

2.  I always knew my grandma was from Missouri and Grandpa was from Chicago.  But it never occurred to me to ask how they met.  When it was time for Grandma to get a job, she said that she lived in a small town and it was impossible to find a job in her town.  So, Grandma, one of her sisters, and one of her friends moved to Chicago to look for work.  She said that back then you knew right away when you interviewed whether you got the job or not.  No waiting for phone calls because they would hire you right after the interview.  When they got to Chicago, they lived for a little while with a couple that had lived in their hometown but then they got an apartment together.  It was through that couple that Grandma and Grandpa met.

3.  When Grandma and Grandpa got married they lived for several years in the city in a three story house.  They lived in on the 3rd floor.  My great-grandpa and great-grandma lived on the first floor.  And one of my grandpa's brother's and his wife lived on the second floor.  Eventually, because my grandma didn't want to raise her kids in the city, they moved to the suburbs.  She told Grandpa she never wanted to move again.  And she has lived in the house since!

What a lesson it is for me to realize that when I slow down and listen, I learn so much about others.  But I have to stop thinking the world revolves around me and set aside my own agenda in order to really listen!

Cousins

The first weekend of April, I was able to get together with all the girl cousins for dinner and conversation!  I love these nights.  We formally arrange this about once a year.  This year, all the cousins who live in Illinois were able to make it.  A minor miracle with all of our busy schedules.

As some people were deciding that Facebook was stupid and they were going to delete their account, I was joining Facebook :).  Story of my life--I succumb to technology just as it is becoming uncool or there is something newer and better coming along.  Now, a few years later, there are times that I want to quit Facebook too.  If I made a list of the top 5 time suckers for me, Facebook would definitely be on it.  But I tell people all the time that it is totally worth it for me because it allows me to connect to these ladies in this picture in a way that I was never able to before Facebook.  I have become more a part of their every day lives than I was ever able to.  I may still only see them 1-3 times a year, but I get to daily see what is happening with them through pictures, status updates, and silly quotes that they find special or amusing.  I get to discover their interests and hobbies.  In some small way, I get to live life with them.  Because of this, Facebook will always be worth the hassle. 

But it is during these special times that I get to see them face to face.  To find out wedding dates, hear fun kid stories, have someone discover that they know the "perfect man for me" after a statement about cheese curds, see fun shoes live and in person, get hugs and smiles, feel a connection, and find out that some people might have a slight addiction to all things lip balm related.  And start an intervention.  And laugh.  And laugh.  And cry because I'm laughing so hard.

I love you girls and am thankful that you are part of that fun, crazy group I call Family!

A Blast from the Past

Watching John pull Michael around on a blanket reminded me of my own childhood. Being the younger sibling, I got pulled around by my brother. My memory tells me that it was a little bit more dangerous than watching Michael pulled by John! It cracked me up that Michael was practically hanging off the end.  When I tried to put him all the way on, he cried and I ruined his fun.  Until Ann started pulling them both around! :)

I love how John has the blanket all wrapped around himself.

I love the picture above because he's just chillin'.  No worries.

Riding the train.  John's saying "Choo! Choo!"

Michael prefers to ride face first!

Cosley Zoo

The trip to this little zoo was really fun. Here are some more pictures from the trip. And by "trip" I mean that it was less than 10 minutes from the house.

FREEDOM!!!!!  Michael loved being out of his stroller for a little while.

What's making John laugh so hard?

Duck butts of course! :)

A cute little lamb.  It's back leg is all wrapped because it had surgery to fix a dislocated hip.

Two turtle doves :)  But no partridge in a pear tree.

The peacock showed its full plumage.  So pretty!  We had a short lesson about how the male is the one with all the pretty feathers.  Autumn didn't want to believe me!

Autumn (my cousin Sara's daughter) and John with the bobcats in the background.

The best shot they could get with me and three children!  We were sitting on a turtle, course.

It was a fun trip.  A little cold and windy, and it sprinkled right at the end of the trip.  But it was fun, especially since my aunt Nancy and her grandaughter, Autumn were able to join us.

The cow says "Moo."

We went to a small zoo on Saturday, and we thought Michael would love the cows because it is the one animal sound he makes regularly on command.   Little did we know how much the cow was going to like Ann!  Ann was clueless that the cow was licking her arm as Michael watched!

And then he got her hair! :)  By the look on Michael's face, he may be saying, "Moo!"

And then she stared him down!  Gotta show that cow who's boss! 

The Cutest Nephews Ever!

I love these boys.  I mean, who wouldn't!  They are the cutest nephews ever!

But getting a good picture with them?  Not the easiest task in the world!

First he's making a bad face...

Then I'm making a funny face...

Then he's making a funny face...  and then you just have to give up until the next time!

And John was no better.  Really, he was just too busy to stop for a picture, even if his aunt insisted!

Pulling him back by the hood! :)

Making funny faces...

Even though it looks like he is cooperating, he is really about to make me fall backward because he was pushing back into me and still being silly!

Flexiblility

I love working in a job where I have a flexible schedule.  It means I can schedule doctor's appointments, hair appointment, etc. during the day without having to take vacation/sick time or go on my "lunch break" (what's a lunch break anyway?  often, in my world that equals driving through McDonald's between clients and eating in the car).  Last week was a very bad week for me.  Maybe one of the worst I've had in a couple of years.  I was ready by Tuesday to throw in the towel.  And the week got worse with personal stuff going on for me as well.  Luckily, it was a 4 day work week.  Originally I was going to do paperwork on Friday (even though I technically had the day off) but when Friday rolled around, I knew I needed an official day off--nothing related to work.  So, I was going to do my paperwork Saturday.  But I didn't actually leave my room until 12:30 and was meeting friends at 2, so that scrapped paperwork that day too.  At that point, I knew I was just going to get up early Monday morning to go into work.  So, I set my alarm clock for the super early (for me anyway), and proceeded to not fall asleep until after 1am.  But I got up and got to work a little after 7.  Then, my afternoon client called and said she was running late getting off of work.  So, what originally was going to be a long day turned into a REALLY long day.  I was supposed to get to her house at 3:30 and we didn't actually start our session until 5:10.  I didn't get home until about 7:30.  But because of my 12 hour day yesterday, and because of some cancellations today, I was able to get off work at 1:40.  And I didn't get to work until 9:00.  Flexibility.  I love it!

Before you think I'm complaining about yesterday, I'm not.  It was actually a really good day, just long and on little sleep.  I did really well until I walked into the house.  And then I was T.I.R.E.D.  I'm not usually a good multi-tasker when it comes to looking at Facebook and only half-listen when Emily is talking to me.  She knows this and knows if it is important to get my attention.  But yesterday, she was talking.  I heard her say, "I didn't get my sister anything for her birthday."  And then I realized a few minutes later that there was a long pause.  I looked up and could tell she was expecting a comment from me, which meant she had asked a question.  I cringed and said, Emily, I didn't hear anything after, 'I didn't get my sister anything for her birthday.'  Meaning, I don't think I even heard the sound of your voice."  She laughed and repeated her statement.  Then it happened a few minutes later and I had to have her repeat herself again.  I felt so bad.  I informed her that for the rest of the night, if she wanted to ensure I was listening, she needed to ask me to make eye contact with her.  Then, I was reading something on Facebook and it made me laugh so hard I was almost crying.  I showed it to Emily and she said, "That's cute." and walked away!  I haven't been that tired in years. :)  I am much better rested today and enjoying my afternoon off!