Don't Mess...

The title told us not to. We just didn't listen. We thought we knew better. I mean, we like the actor. It seemed like a funny idea. The previews didn't really look so terrible. Oh, but it was. Now, I'm pretty easily entertained. I'll watch a movie all the way through just to give it the benefit of the doubt. And I did that this time, too, but there was no reason to have given it any benefit of any doubt. It didn't deserve it. The first thing out of my mouth when it was over - besides a big yawn - were the words "that's two hours of our lives that we'll never get back." Ugh.
What? You want to know the name of the movie? Ok, it was "You Don't Mess With the Zohan." Just for the record, we strongly don't recommend this movie. Yes, Rick felt exactly the same way about it.
Anyhoo, not that anyone asked for my opinion, but there it is anyway. You can thank me later, unless of course you've already seen it, in which case I expect you know exactly what I'm talking about.
Reader response question:
What's the worst movie you've ever seen?

November

Well, tomorrow is December. I set out this month to write every day. I didn't make it. But I wrote quite a lot. Counting today, I've written 18 out of the 30 days this month. I say that's not too shabby.
I'll try to blog more often than I did before NaNoWriMo started, but it probably won't be quite as often as this month.
Some day I think I'd like to do a lot more with writing. Like I said when I started out on this crazy adventure, I think I'm pretty decent at it. I don't, however, think that I've done my best work this month. What I've done is I've made myself write. And that's something. Write? I mean, right? Lol. But yes, I would like to do more eventually. Maybe I'll follow in my dad's footsteps and write short stories and articles to send off and get published. I think I could see that for me more easily than a novel.
Speaking of novels, though... My mom is the one who inspired me to do this month of writing. I think I said at the beginning of the challenge that this is at least her third year joining in Nanowrimo. Well, this year she reached the goal! Actually, she exceeded it! The goal is 50,000 words toward a novel. Mom wrote 50,051 words. You can see some of them on her blog. You can link to it by clicking on the link off to the side here.
Well, thank you all for your support in my writing endeavors. As I said, I'm not done writing, but am definitely up for a break from it.

Later...

AMBER

Holiday Shopping

Black Friday. Why do they call it that? I don't remember hearing that term until a couple of years ago, but it could be that I just wasn't listening. I've kind of wondered how that term came to be. I started hypothesizing... Maybe it's because of how crazy it is out in the stores on that day. Maybe it's because, like yesterday, it can be so crazy that someone could get killed by the out-of-control crowds. Maybe...
And so, being me, I looked up the history of the name. It didn't say how long ago it was named that, but here's a little bit of why we call it Black Friday.
Apparently, employees of retail stores have called it that for quite some time because of how hectic the day is. Businesses then began using the name to refer to the profit earned on that particular day. We're all familiar with the terms "in the red" or "in the black." Those are used because businesses used to record losses in red ink and gains in black ink. This continues in modern day softward record-keeping. Obviously the day after Thanksgiving is going to show only black. Hence the name Black Friday.
Cool, huh? A little history lesson for you. Later I'll write about our Black Friday shopping experience this year.

the 1st Thanksgiving

Tonight in youth group, we talked about "the first Thanksgiving." Typically when someone uses that term, we refer to the whole pilgrim and Indian deal back in the early days of our country. As we were trying to find what sort of lesson to do, however, we ran across a study on the internet. Why do all the work if it's already been done for us, right? And so, we discussed Cain and Abel's offerings as the first Thanksgiving. Quite interesting. And applicable.

Normally when we think of Thanksgiving, we think of turkey, pilgrims, indians, stuffing, and pumpkin pie. And normally when we think of Cain and Abel, we think of two brothers, jealousy, and murder.

Look at it in a different way.

From the short passage in the Bible about Cain and Abel's offerings (Gen. 4:3-6), we can learn about an attitude of gratitude. Sure, it's catchy, but it's also so important and, ironically, so very easy to forget about during the hustle and bustle of the holidays. When God asked Cain and Abel
to bring an offering, He ended up being pleased with Abel's, but not with Cain's. What we got from that was that Cain basically put God after the other stuff he had going on. I think he gave God his leftovers from his crops. But Abel gave the fat part of the firstborn of his flock. No putting God second there. His attitude said, let me put God first and I know that He'll take care of me. Back to Thanksgiving, sure, we slow down on Thanksgiving day for about 5 minutes right before we pass the gravy to say what we're thankful for, but with what attitude, or with what mind-set do we give thanks? Is it with Cain's attitude of "I'll bring what's most convenient, let's just get this over with, I'm starving, so glad to have a couple of days off of work, please pass the turkey?" Or is it with Abel's attitude of "I am so thankful to God for everything that He has blessed me with so I'm bringing my best possible offering, let's really look at how much He has done for us, so what if the green bean casserole has to be re-heated, I want to give everything I have and everything I am to God?" Do you follow?

So, maybe the real first Thanksgiving, where we can learn about the attitude of Thanksgiving was thousands of years ago with Cain and Able, not hundreds of years ago with the Pilgrims and Indians.

I hope that God accepts my offering of thanks-giving.

Tradition

Tonight Rick and I each ate a piece of the top tier of our wedding cake. But it's not our first anniversary! Oh no! Well, the cake had been moved around a little and ended up in my Dad's freezer, so I picked it up when I was there this past weekend. We figured, since it had been frozen already once - and we weren't even sure if it would still be good after that - why risk re-freezing it only to wait 8 more months before we eat it. It would take up room in the freezer and then maybe not even be good.

So, we ate it.

It was actually really good. Rick even started to eat a second piece. Started - then he realized just how full he already was.

I've always wondered why we eat that cake on our first anniversary, so, being who I am, I looked it up. It turns out that back in the day, around the time of the first anniversary many couples would be getting ready to welcome a new baby into their home. Rather than bake another elaborate cake for the christening celebration, people would just bake a huge cake for the wedding, and save a portion of it for the christening. So, even though now the expectation of a new baby that soon after marriage is no longer held to, the tradition of saving a piece of the cake lives on.

Interesting, huh?

I thought so. I love looking into things like that, and I figured maybe my readers would find that interesting, too.

Another one I learned last summer, while visiting Monticello is about gifts for the bridesmaids. A lady in a shop there showed us a pewter hand-held flower holder and said that they used to be used as bridesmaid gifts. But that was before they put flowers in them. Originally, people would put some sort of good-smelling herbs in them and kind of hold them in front of their mouths when they talked. Reason? Bad breath. They didn't brush their teeth regularly and bad breath was apparently something they planned for. So, I guess brides would buy a nice one of these contraptions for their bridesmaids to put their herbs in and it turned into a tradition.

Do you know of any reasons for traditions that we do simply because they are traditions? Do tell...

Woot Woot

Let me see if I can set the scene for you... Over 7,000 girls in their teens and tweens. Friday night and Saturday all day. Screaming at the top of their lungs. Loud music. No, I mean LOUD!!! Wow!

These are some of the artists and one of the speakers we enjoyed this past weekend at the Revolve Tour in Portland. It was so much fun!

I have to admit that some of you might not have recognized me this weekend. I figure, hey, I'm here, I might as well enjoy myself. And I did. I was in there screaming as much as the girls at some points. Funny thing: my dad had arranged for me to sing on Sunday morning at his church and I honestly thought about calling him on Friday night after we got out of the opening part of the event and telling him that I didn't think I'd have much of a voice when I got there and that I might not be able to sing. But Saturday I started out in a kind of funk, so there wasn't as much screaming that day. I found my way out of the funk eventually, though, and had a great time still. And no, I didn't lose my voice. I was able to sing on Sunday morning.

Speaking of singing, I was talking with the girls on the way home - in between our dance parties in the car when we were jammin' to our new CDs we had bought at Revolve - and I brought up what we were going to do next week in church. You see, last year when we came home, we gave a sort of report to the church about what we saw at Revolve. I think it was important for both the church and the girls to do this, because it let the church see that there are things going on out there and that the girls are maturing, and it allowed the girls to let the church know some of the things that are important to them. Anyhoo.... so I started asking them about what they liked the most and what they learned and all that, and then I asked them if they'd like to sing in church with me when we do our sharing time. They didn't even hesitate - they said yes! They've got pretty good voices, so we've heard them do a couple of specials in church recently. We're going to sing "In Better Hands" by Natalie Grant - an artist we saw both this year and last at Revolve.

I appreciate all of your prayers. Everything went really well - the roads were super clear except for some fog on the way back, the girls were receptive to what was being done and said, I was patient most of the time :-) The only one that I won't really see is how their dad reacts to them and all they have to say about this weekend.

I apologize if this blog is a little disjointed. I'm pretty tired still. Ugh. But I did want to give my faithful readers an update on how the weekend had gone.

I'm going to bed. Zzzzzz...

Youth Group

It was a success!

Everything went pretty well last night at our first youth group meeting. Yea! We had 5 girls show up and we really think they all enjoyed the gathering. We played Guitar Hero for a little while before getting started, then had some goodies to munch on, played a game, talked about what "youth group" really means, played another game, and then had a lesson. I think the snack might have been a little too much sugar for some of them (as evidenced by their fidgeting during out talk) but other than that, everything went really smoothly.

I can see how this might not seem like such a big deal for many of you, but look at it from my perspective. I started attending this church 14 years ago, my freshman year of college. Since that time, I cannot remember any activities - ever - for teens. There have never been classes, mid-week bible studies, anything, for this age group. For me, as a middle and high school teacher for the past 9 years (can you believe it's been that long?), I have such a heart for these kids that it kills me to see them either going to children's church or falling away from the church.

So, for those of you who prayed, thank you. Keep praying. We plan to do this every Wednesday evening. In addition to praying for the youth group meetings, also remember that tomorrow is the day that I leave with two of these girls to go to Portland for the Revolve Tour. Should be fun! It looks like I also get to see both of my parents on this trip, which will be nice, especially since I haven't seen them since I got married. Looking forward to it!

Tonight begins the Vida Nueva Church of the Nazarene youth group meetings in our house!

For about a year and a half now, I’ve been the NYI pres at our church and for at least half of that time, I’ve felt an urging from God to start some sort of mid-week bible study with these kids. I’ve tried a couple of things, but things never quite worked out. Either no one showed up, or those who showed up left early, or the parents didn’t quite support the activity. I’ve run into a few pretty big stumbling blocks and have been quite frustrated at times. Now I have Rick working with me to make this happen. I’ve always felt led toward ministry for this age, but I would say that he is more than led in that direction. I’d say he has a passion for it. He sees the need for it, hears me talk about it, and he makes it happen. No more just sitting around waiting for something to happen.

I think one of the obstacles to this happening so far has been the unique culture of our church. As most of you know, Rick and I attend a Spanish-language church. This means that we have a very diverse Anglo and Hispanic mix in the congregation. Not only does everyone speak slightly different Spanish, but we also come from different cultures. There are some of us who grew up in the church in the US, where youth group was a normal part of our church-going experience. There are others who come from various parts of Latin America, where if a youth group existed at their church, it included “youth” from 11 years to about 30 years of age.

We don’t have a lot of youth at our church, but that doesn’t matter. Those who are there need something. Actually, if everyone were to show up at the same time, we would have 10. But they never show up all at the same time. I would say that we regularly have 5 kids who range between middle and high school ages, from 6th to 12th grades. That’s a big range to do something all together, but we’re going to try.

And tonight is the big kick off. I have talked with a few of the kids, and we’re expecting at least 6 girls to be there. That is 4 of our regulars, plus 2 friends. I’m really excited!

Tonight we’re using a Past, Present, Future idea. Rick’s going to give his testimony using that theme, and then we’ll talk about where each of us has been, where we are now, and where we’d like to see ourselves in the future. Once we get going, we’d like to do studies that involve media – movies and music. We’ve found studies on “The Passion” and “Narnia” just to name a couple. Plus we’d like to use some studies on newer Christian music, possibly through YLO (Youth Leaders Only).

We’ve straightened up. I still need to vacuum, so they don’t get covered in dog hair. And I’m planning to make a little food to snack on.

So, the lesson is ready. Rick is ready. I’m ready. The kids are ready. The church is ready. The house is almost ready. And the food will be ready. I hope that the families are ready. I especially hope that the parents are ready.

Please pray. Pray that we will let God use us to tell those kids what He wants them to hear. Pray that their hearts will be receptive to God’s message for them. Pray that the friends will feel comfortable coming to a church function. Pray that the parents will reinforce ideas at home that we share tonight.

Work it, work it

As if we didn't already have enough stuff in our house, we decided to add more. This wasn't just adding stuff to have more stuff, though. It was more of an investment in our future. I have been working out pretty faithfully for the past year and needed a change of pace on my workout habits. Not that it hasn't been a good workout for me, it just hasn't given me the results I've been hoping for. And I workout hard, eat 90% right, and even just did another body boot camp (remember last year?). Soooo... we bought some workout equipment. In the middle pic you can see both pieces. On the left is an elliptical machine, and on the right is a Cross Bow (similar to a BowFlex). We got the elliptical for about 1/3 of the original price at a store for used sports things called "Play it Again Sports." And Rick found the Cross Bow online, on Craigslist. I think that one we got for maybe 1/5 of the new price, and the lady even delivered it from Boise. Nice.

And so, we have the equipment set up in our spare room / office / guest room / home gym. Lol. It fits pretty nicely in there, even if it makes it a little tight for a guest. Oh, but the blow up mattress still fits - Jeremy stayed there last weekend when he was here for our 10 year NNU reunion (can you believe it's been 10 years since we graduated?!?!).

We've had the new fixtures for about 3 weeks now. The first and second week we did really well, using it almost every day. This past week it only got used once, but we'll get back on it. We're both really dedicated to getting healthy. We're also eating fairly healthy, and just generally trying to stay active. Hopefully this can be a lifestyle change for us. I think it will be, as we both are aware of our mortality and are wanting to have a family and be healthy enough to enjoy life.

A new blogger

This one's for Lisa.

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Today, I was awakened when my people came into my room reeeally early in the morning. I'm pretty sure it was earlier than they should have been up on a Saturday. It was definitely still dark outside. But I needed to pee, so I got up and the one with the longer hair let me out.

She's my main person. I've had her the longest, anyway. About six and a half years I've had her. She's been pretty good, although she doesn't always do what I want her to. But I think I've got her fairly well trained. When I stand in a certain place, she gets my food for me. And when I stand in another place she opens my door for me. I just wish she wouldn't be so loud sometimes. When I'm cleaning myself, for example. I just want some peace and quiet, and to be left alone to take care of business. But that is not to be, not if she's in the room. She makes loud noises at me. I have no idea what she's saying, but it doesn't sound nice. And then sometimes she actually has the nerve to make me stop scratching or cleaning or whatever it is that I'm doing. How rude! Maybe I should just do that stuff when she's not in the room. But then, that would be letting her be in charge, and that is really not the way things should be.

My other person has shorter hair and a much lower voice than my main person. He hasn't been living here very long. He used to come over a lot, but now I'm pretty sure he's here to stay. I like it when he's here. It might just be the novelty of having a new person around, but boy do I get excited when he comes home. I'm not really sure why I get so excited, though, because he really doesn't pay a lot of attention to me. I think one of the main reasons I like him so much is because he makes my main person so happy. It's nice to see her happy. She's had some rough times since I got her.

I really can't complain about how my people treat me. The only thing I would wish for is maybe something new every once in a while in the food department. About every month and a half there's a very slight change in the flavors, but it's basically the same. What ever happened to creative cooking? Oh well. It's not that bad. I mean, I can stomach it. Oh, but sometimes she puts this yummy oil on the food. It kind of tastes like chocolate - yum! That's a nice treat, since I really shouldn't eat chocolate. I hope she's not trying to trick me with that oil. Hmm... come to think of it, when I eat that I don't itch quite as much. That sneaky lady.

Anyway, so I went outside this morning - you know, to take care of business. Well, sometimes I like to mess with my people, so when she called me a while later, I hid! Lol. I could see her from where I was hiding, but she had no clue where I was. Oh - last week I did this too and then while she wasn't looking, I snuck in the door behind her. I think it kind of freaked her out because she really didn't know where I had come from. You should have seen the look on her face when she saw me standing behind her all of a sudden with a totally innocent look on my face. Priceless.

Well, I better get back to bed. It was an early morning and I do love to sleep. That's usually what I do for most of the day. It's been nice being able to get some of my thoughts and feelings out here. Thanks for reading. Maybe, if there is any interest, I can write some more later.

Oh, by the way, my name is Daisy.

This is me:

Nothing

There have been times when I've assigned a class to do a free write. Sometimes I'd give them a specific topic. Usually it would be pretty broad to allow for creativity. Inevitably I would have a student who either didn't want to write about that topic, or just didn't know what to write about it. Or there would be someone who said they didn't have anything to write about. So, I would tell them to write about nothing. So, I thought I'd see if I could write about nothing. For example, let's say the given topic was "What I did this weekend," from the viewpoint of a high school student.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Nothing

When I got out of school on Friday, I was hoping for an exciting weekend. Normally the weekends are pretty fun, and I keep pretty busy with things like work and hanging out with friends. Well, this weekend I did absolutely nothing! On Saturday morning, when I woke up and tried to think of something to do, I couldn't. All of my friends were gone all weekend, so I couldn't go to their houses or go to the movies with them or even call them and talk on the phone. And I usually work on the weekends, but my boss gave me this weekend off. You would think that with all that free time, I would watch tv or a movie, play video games, or maybe actually read a book. But no. The tv is broken and I read enough during the week, so I didn't feel like it. Instead I did nothing! That's right, I sat on the couch and stared at the black tv screen, ocasionally getting up to eat something or go to the bathroom. Fun weekend, huh?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

That's hard. I always figured that if they started writing about how they did nothing all weekend, they would realize that there was at least a blip of activity in their life over the past couple of days. Anyway, there's my strange experiment of writing about nothing. I didn't have anything pressing on my mind and found myself thinking that I had nothing to write about. And so I did.

More lessons

I think the boy is about 8 years old. I see him from time to time in the coffee shop with his mom. At that age, that would have been a really fun activity for me - to get to spend some grown up time with Mom, probably drink a hot chocolate, and not have to be around my brothers for a couple of hours. Well, it doesn't look that way for this boy. I don't see a drink for him. He always has a paper in front of him - it looks like school work, no matter what time of day it is. Sometimes I see them there during school hours. Is he home schooled and this is where they do their work some days? It doesn't seem like it.

I don't think I've ever seen the mom say a kind, patient, or loving word to him. It's not that she's particularly mean to him, but it seems that she doesn't understand him or is trying too hard to put him into a box with a label on it based on just a few of his behaviors. I think I overheard her talking on the phone one time about him and how he just wouldn't concentrate on one thing for very long. Now granted, she lives with the boy and I've only observed him for a couple hours at a time, at the most. And that hasn't been serious observation, but being looking around when I'm supposed to be getting my work done. Everything I heard her saying, though, sounded like she was trying to shove him into a box labeled "A.D.D." Watching the boy, I would label him "BOY." He's 8, for crying out loud. Do any 8-year-olds concentrate for very long on anything? I don't have a lot of experience with kids, but I think the answer is no.

She just looks fed up with him. It makes me sad.

Today there was another mom and another kid sitting at the table with them. The moms smiled when they talked to each other, but were so stern with the kids. Very impatient. Very sarcastic and cynical.

Seeing things like this makes me stop and think. What will I be like as a parent. Will I have a good balance of patience and discipline? Will I be too far one way or the other? Will I remember these thoughts I've had as I've watched this mother and child and use them to make myself a better parent?

I sure hope so.

The saddest thing is that I don't think I've ever seen him smile. He's too young not to have anything to smile about.

Helping...

I think many people choose their career with the same thought in mind: I want to help people. But because we all have different gifts and interests, we see many different ways to help people. Think about it. Almost any career or job can be someone's way of helping people. Teaching, preaching, and any of the health care positions (from doctor to technician to in-home health care) are some of the more obvious careers in which we are helping people. But think about a person in customer service or retail, a musician, designer, or even a dog groomer. Those are all jobs that help people too, if in a less obvious way.

We would have a lop-sided world if we all wanted to help people in the same way.

I started thinking about this tonight because I was working at BSU, helping to guide about 30 adult students through the process to begin or continue their education in English. I was thinking what a wonderful opportunity this is for them and how honored I feel to be able to be a part of it. They are all just so eager to learn. One of the questions we ask as we are assigning them to a class is if they want to come on Monday and Wednesday or on Tuesday and Thursday. The majority of them will have such a long pause after that question that we will fill in the silence with the third option: or all four nights? And so many of them choose that, it really surprises me. I think it's because the bulk of my teaching experience has been with students who are in class more out of obligation than out of a real desire to learn.

In Spanish there is a phrase tener ganas, which means something like to have a desire to do something. I haven't been able to find any phrase in English that conveys it quite as well. I use that phrase quite often as I am registering students for these adult English classes. I say, "or you could come all four nights if you really have the ganas to learn it." It conveys a deeper feeling in one's being than simply "desire."

I really just wanted to talk about how we each help people through our work. On the one hand, it makes us feel like we are really accomplishing something in our day to day activities at work. On the other hand, I believe this is how God uses us. So many people think that serving God can only be done in a church building or by preaching or teaching Sunday School or going on mission trips.
Not so, my friends.
Serving God is done by letting Him use us every day in our normal activities, whether they be at work or at home or out in the community. The way I talk to people I work with speaks volumes for who I am and Who I answer to. The same goes for people I only have breif encounters with, such as waiters and waitresses, bank tellers, cashiers, gas station attendants, even tele-marketers. I pray that after an exchange with me, those people have a good feeling - something that makes them want all of their encounters that day to go as well. That doesn't mean that I always have to be super-smiley or that I can never complain about getting the wrong order. It means that I allow the gentleness, the self-control, and the grace of God to shine through me and to speak through me as I go throughout my day.

Just some thoughts...

All Access

The teen girls conference I talked about in my last blog is fast approaching and it's on my mind and heart pretty storngly. As I said, we went last year and the girls had a great experience. Not only did they have a blast, but they also seemed to learn a great deal. On the way home we talked about different issues that had been presented. Then I asked them if they would be comfortable/willing to share with the congregation a couple of things they had learned. They were very comfortable and surprisingly willing to do this. The hardest part of this task was narrowing down what they were going to talk about. It was great! And it was very valuable for the congregation to hear about their experience. Now I know that a lot of churches do things like this all the time - both sending people to a conference and hearing reports on what its church members have been doing - but not ours. This was a pretty big deal. In addition to those things being something new for the church, the idea of there being something especially for youth is also new. I think that made it even more special.
So, all of that being said, I am super excited to go for the second year in a row to this conference. This year, the church members even helped out by providing fund-raising opportunities for those going to the conference. I was thinking through it this afternoon, and I believe that besides the $50 we are requiring each girl to pay, the rest has been raised by good old-fashioned hard work. But I've already discussed that, so I'll spare you from a repeat.
Last year's theme for the Revolve Tour was "Inside Out." And this year is "All Access." The themes are kind of hard to understand, but it gives them something to run with for the weekend. I guess I'm expecting this year to be about giving God all access to our lives. Anyway, what they do is use music, drama, personal stories, videos and other creative avenues to address issues relevant to teenage girls today, including relationships with friends and family, body image and self esteem, relationships with guys, and faith in God. It's pretty cool. Those of you who have been to an event like Promise Keepers or Women of Faith can understand what this is like. It's that - but WAAAAY louder. Imagine thousands upon thousands of teenage girls screaming at the top of their lungs in response to the musicians and speakers. Yikes!
Here's the line-up for this year's weekend of noise and fun:
hawk nelson
natalie grant
chad eastham
group 1 crew
krystal meyers
danielle kimmey
jenna lucado
courtney clark cleveland
drama team
praise band

Well, the last thing I have to say about this tonight is pray. Please pray for these girls, not just mine, but all of the girls that have attended or plan to attend these events around the country this year. Pray for their parents. Pray for safe travel (we'll be driving over on Friday the 21st and back on Sunday the 23rd). Pray understanding. Pray for the musicians and speakers.
You know what? Here's a list from the Revolve website with specifics to pray for. I know that some of you are great prayer warriors, and I know this will help you know how to pray.

* That travel to the arena will go smoothly and that everyone involved willarrive safely
• That a sense of God’s presence and a spirit of joy and salvation will be
present at the arena
• That the process of registration and picking up registrations at Will Call will
go smoothly
• That each speaker, musician, volunteer, and Revolve Tour staff member will
have every need met and be protected physically, emotionally, mentally,
and spiritually throughout the weekend
• That each speaker and musician will be able to communicate clearly
• That traffic, parking, lunch distribution, and technology (sound, lights, etc.)
will go smoothly
• That each girl attending will be open and responsive to God’s message for
her this weekend
• For families and loved ones at home

Thank you in advance for your prayers!

FUNdraising Lessons.

In a couple of weeks, I'm taking a trip to Portland with two girls from my church. We're going to Revolve Tour, which is an all teen girls event, a sort of little sister event to the Women of Faith. I took two girls last year, as well, and they had an amazing experience. So, this year one of the same girls is going, plus her younger sister.
The girls are in 6th and 8th grades, and they are honestly two of my favorite people at our church. They have another sister, in 4th or 5th grade, and they all live with their dad, who has sole custody of them. For the past three years that I've been attending the Spanish Nazarene church in Nampa, these girls and I have become quite close, and two of them were even able to make the trip over to attend our wedding. The only thing that held the other one back was that she was on crutches at the time.
So, we're doing fundraising for this Revolve Tour trip so their dad doesn't have to pay the whole $200 plus for each one. I announced to our congregation that these girls were up for hire to do work at their houses. We've now raked more leaves than I believe either of those girls had ever seen before. It's good for them, though. At the risk of sounding old-fogey... so many kids these days just don't know what hard work is. Or what honest work is. These girls are really good kids and their dad has done a good job with them, but it's been interesting for me to watch them these past three days as one of them tries to get the other to do her work, as they work almost against each other instead of with each other at times, and as they look to me to give them guidance. I'm trying, but I don't understand some of the things that kids need.
I'm also learing how to do fundraisers right. Even though the girls are young, I know that I need to loosen the strings a little and let them learn. For these couple of jobs we've done so far, I've stayed with them instead of dropping them off and letting them do it on their own. My justification is that I think they (and the person they're working for) need someone there because the girls are so young and they're sisters and they sometimes seem to bicker more than they work.
But I'm learning.
Hopefully so are they.

Promises

A few years ago, I was a part of a ladies' Bible study that has had some really lasting effects on me. Over the course of the two years I was in this particular group, we used a few different books relating to women and the Bible. I wish I could tell you the titles of all of them, but those of you who know me well know that my memory isn't what it should be for a 32 year old. Oh well. the two titles I do remember are Bad Girls of the Bible and A Woman After God's Own Heart.

The study that stands out most in my mind, however, was one based on Titus 2:3-5
3) Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. 4) Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, 5) to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God.

At that time, not being married, some of the Bible studies that used passages like this with certain lessons focusing on marriage, family, home, etc., were kind of hard. Not that it was hard to talk about being married just because I wasn't, but it was hard to know where to store what I was learning until I would need it in the future - now.

Well, always before I had thought of myself as the typical "independant woman" and figured I would always have my career and that I would not be a stay-at-home wife or mom. Not that there's anything wrong with being a stay-at-home, I just didn't see it as where I would ever want to be. I think it's because I had heard of some men who basically mandate that their wife stays at home and I am too strong willed for a man to tell me that I would stay home.

Back to the Bible study... One particular lesson talked about making a home for our husband. I'm assuming it was touching on either verse 4 "to love their husbands and children" or verse 5 "to be busy at home." Come to think of it, it was probably verse 5. The author explored different ways to be busy at home and to love our family by making a good home for them - keeping it clean, keeping them healthy with food and such, and by making our home a place where others felt comfortable. I know that it is very possible to do this while working outside the home as well, but the book explored the idea with the woman staying at home full time. I don't know how to explain it, but somehow it just completely changed my mind about that idea. I left there thinking "Wow. I actually want to stay home someday so I can make that good home for my family."

And now that I'm married, here I am. At home. Very happy with being at home for such a large part of the day. I haven't perfected the whole home-making thing yet, but I'm working on it. I try to keep it fairly tidy. I've cooked since I was at home, but I'm exploring with that now, and my husband told me this afternoon that I have yet to make anything that he doesn't like. Yea! That was after tasting my banana bread :-)

I didn't plan to be staying home right off the bat when we got married, but my job situation is such that I can. God knew it was one of the desires of my heart and he gave it to me. "Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart." (Ps. 37:4)

How reassuring to actually be able to see God fulfilling His promises in my very own life.

Fire!

I was laying awake last night. I had taken too long of a nap during the day, so when it was time to sleep, my mind would not stop! So, I'm laying there, running ideas for writing through my mind, thinking about the events of the day, wondering if I should get up and be productive or stay there in bed, when I heard a clicking sound.
Click, click, click...
I've lived in this house long enough to be familiar with its sounds and I recognized that particular sound as the heater-furnace in the living room. It was trying to click on.
Click, click, click...
Again I wondered if I should get up and do something, possibly turn the heat down, but maybe something more productive like blog (since I missed again yesterday).
Click, click, click...
And then my imagination clicked on.
Click, click, click...
I started thinking: That sound is just the slightest bit different from the previous clicks I've heard coming from that heater. What if something's wrong? What if it were to click that terrible click that leads to not just heat, but something that's not supposed to happen. A spark. A flame. A fire. Disaster.
What would I do?
As I lay there in bed, I wondered what I would grab if there were flames engulfing the house and I had to run out of the house. Pants. Definitely pants - it's cold outside - maybe a sweatshirt, too. I knew right where both of those things were. Good. What else? My purse. I would need my ID and all that other stuff in my wallet, right? Or would I? I don't know. Oh well, it was on the way to the door, it wouldn't be a problem. What else? I think maybe the laptop. I mean, we just bought it and it has the wedding pictures on it, plus I do a lot of my work on the computer.
That was as far as I got.
I don't think the heater ever did click on.
I stayed snug in my bed without the laptop, my purse, or my warm clothes. My mind clicked off and I was out.

What would you take on your way out the door?

Online buying & selling

Whoops! I promised myself that I was going to write every day and I already missed a day. Oh well. I won't beat myself up for it because that won't help anything, right? Right. So, I'll keep going.

I'm having a hard time concentrating because I'm watching today's Oprah. Hello! Whoa! Did you see it? Ok, I'm going to spare everyone the juicy details - and I do mean juicy - and I'll write about something more appropriate.

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I've never been too much into e-bay. I think I've bought a couple things off of there, but I wouldn't call myself an e-bay junkie. There is a certain member of our household, however, who would not be mis-labled if he were called that. I think the word obsession may have been used once or twice in reference to his involvement in this activity, as well. Not to say that there haven't been some great purchases. There have. Or that a whole lot of money hasn't been saved. It has. But I just wonder sometimes how looking at page after page after page of virtually the same item can be interesting enough to hold one's interest for such a long time. And I do mean long.

Let's start with what I've bought. I believe I've bought a couple of CDs and movies off e-bay. And boy were they cheap. I'm pretty sure they were actually from half.com, which is like a companion site to e-bay. Things are usually cheaper there, in my experience.

Mr. E-Bay Junkie, as I'll call him for now, actually hasn't bought many more items, but they are much bigger: games for his PS3 and a lot of golf equipment. So really we're probably about even in the number of purchases.

The one purchase we made together was our wedding rings. Wedding rings on e-bay? That's right. I got the idea from one of my faithful readers here who told me that she had bought a ring for her husband on e-bay when he lost his previous wedding band. We found a great set of matching wedding bands with a celtic knot design on it. You can see Rick's in this picture, and I wear mine on my right hand because my engagement ring is way too fabulous all by itself. Actually, they just don't fit on my finger together. This is basically what they look like - the design is slightly different, but not drastically.

While I'm on a kick about buying things online, I should also mention craigslist, right? Craigslist is better because you can find things that are local, but worse because there are no pictures shown as you browse. So I have an even worse time looking for things to buy there. But I did buy tickets to the Revolve Tour last year from craigslist. And we just bought a Cross Bow, which is like a BowFlex, last week. We haven't used it yet, but we got it all set up over the weekend in our office, exercise room, guest room, extra storage room. You all know what room I'm talking about, right? Everyone has one in their house, don't they?

Because of the convenience of craigslist, we have even sold a couple of things on there. The first one was my old Honda. We listed it and within less than an hour, I had received 6 phone calls inquiring if I still had it. If I still had it? The words had barely left my fingers. Of course I still had it. It sold within a week. And Rick sold his Rock Band this past weekend.

So, all in all, I guess I shouldn't be too down on the whole deal. I guess it's just the process of finding what you're looking for that I don't like. It's not that I'm impatient. Am I? No. The bottom line is that I don't see how it can be sufficiently fascinating to the point that a person will spend hours looking for an item, just to see how much it is, even if they're not really planning on buying. I guess we all have ways that we want to spend our time right? He probably doesn't see why writing is so interesting for me. Lol.

NaNoWriMo

Have you heard of it? Na-No-Wri-Mo. I heard about it from my Mom. It stands for National Novel Writing Month. So the idea is to set aside a month - this month, November - to write, write, write, with the idea of working toward writing a novel.

I don't know... I love to write... I think I'm pretty good at it... I've even contemplated writing a book before (it was going to be about my first year as a teacher - what an insane year that was!)... but the task of writing a novel sounds a bit daunting. And yet, I keep thinking about joining the thousands (millions?) of people doing this. I think what's holding me back might be that I just don't know what to write about. I know, you should write about what you know. It's just that I know so much that I couldn't possibly choose where to start. LOL! Just kidding!

So, one of my thoughts was that since I really do want to write, but am not sure I'm serious enough about it to do NaNoWriMo, maybe I could at least blog every day. That would be a good start, right? Oh, and the goal for NaNoWriMo is to write 1,667 words per day, for a total of 50,000 for the month - I think that's right. I don't really know right off hand how much that is, but I'm just going to write, and if I get close to that, great! If not, hey, at least I'm writing. Who knows where it'll lead.

I guess this is my first blog, then, for NaNoWriMo. I'd love to have you check back throughout the month and see how I'm doing, what I'm writing, and of course give me feedback.

Bye for now...

Left or Right?

By the way, in the Corn Maize I talked about in my previous post, we went through both sides. You just pay once and get to stay in there as long as you like. So we went through McCain's head first - lol - and then through Obama's. It was pretty funny to "inside their heads." Oh, if only we had been able to get the information we all would want from being inside their heads, huh? But alas, there were no political secrets to be found - only a bunch of confusion and a big mess. Big surprise there, huh?

CORN MAiZE!

Rick and I have established a weekly date night to help us keep connected. We try to do all kinds of different things, searching out the seasonal specials. This past week was really fun. We went to a corn "maize." In fact, it's billed as "Idaho's original Corn Maize." Lol. So, for those of you who haven't experienced this phenomenon, it's a corn field, which has been designed into a maze. This particular maze is in its 12th year, and always has a really cool, original design. This year, being election year, they did a "Left or Right" idea, featuring the faces of the two presidential hopefuls.

For this coming weekend, we have tickets to "Harmony by the River," which is a Barbershop Quartet contest. I won the tickets online. The funny thing is that I won tickets on the radio just last week for a movie. I think I'll go buy a lottery ticket soon, since my luck seems to be going pretty well.

So, in addition to the biggest change happening for me this summer - getting married - I'm also changing my work situation. Looks like I'm going higher-ed. I've been teaching at BSU - Boise State University - in the evenings for the past 3 years. Now, I'll also be teaching at NNU - Northwest Nazarene University. I secured an adjunct position teaching first year Spanish for this coming school year. I know they're not official professor positions, but I'm pretty proud of myself for having the skills to have both BSU and NNU on my resumé.

I resigned from Marsing. I taught there for 5 years, and I feel good about that. It was a growing experience. I had a great principal my first 4 years there who really helped me come into my own as a teacher by his confidence in me as well as his direction.

The rest of my work situation is a little bit up in the air, still. I'll meet with my BSU supervisor this afternoon to discuss further work opportunities in the ABE (adult basic educ.) department there. I also have a phone interview scheduled for tomorrow morning with an online school to teach Spanish online. I'm not really sure how it works teaching a foreign language online, but I'm willing to try anything once.

So, that's that for me. I'll let you know how it all turns out.

Plus, check back and I'll post pics of our new furniture that will be delivered on Wednesday!

Big Announcement!

Hi everyone! I'm getting married! I figured I'd put it on here in addition to having let many of you know by e-mail already. So, this is Rick and me. He's a great guy. I hope many of you can make it to the wedding so you can meet the guy who's stolen my heart. We're getting married in Corvallis, Oregon, on Sunday, August 3.