Long Time...

So it's been a few days since I last wrote. I could name many excuses...I've been busy...I didn't have anything I really wanted to write about...my computer powercord was locked in my friends car in Nashville and I had to wait for the Fedex man to deliver it. Anyway I've been absent and if anyone has been distraught or upset over my lack of writing, I apologize.

My office has been closed the past couple days and I have taken the opportunity to get a little work done, and work on some stuff around the house. I bought a christmas tree...sure it's a fake one, but it's a christmas tree nonetheless. I also moved my furniture around a bit, which meant carrying a very large sitting chair downstairs all by myself. I am giving my living room a much more "conversational" feel.

Hmm...let's see...anything interesting...hmm...STL was fun. I enjoyed seeing the family, actually being on the winning team for Trivial Pursuit, and taking one very long bath.

I returned to SO.MO on Saturday for a wedding. That too was fun. I enjoyed the reception with some guys that would be a part of the GLBTSO club at Wash U if they were there (dad...I added that just for you to see if you are reading this!) They were fun to hang out with! Then on Sunday we built our float for the Christmas Parade. Also very fun.

Monday I had the chance to hang out with a youth that sometimes comes to my church. It really made me look more closely at my life. God has totally blessed me with sooo much. Anyway I've been all contemplative about stuff lately because of it. Sometimes I just want to take people and make their lives better, but I know that I can only do so much and that can be frustrating for me. I just have all this compassion that wells up and I want to wrap this kid up and take away all the pain that has been caused in their life and fill it up with good things. Maybe God has put me in her life to be a small part of his goodness to her. I just pray that she can learn to trust me.

Well...that's about all for now. I know this has been kind of scattered, but I guess that's how my brain has been lately. I hope all are well!

I'm back, but leaving...

Well I finally got back to good old MO yesterday afternoon. Man...the conference was crazy fun, but today I am exhausted and I am leaving again tonight...making the pilgrimage back to the mother land for thanksgiving. I am so excited to spend some time with Jake and Gretal and my parents, grandparents, and Aunt and Uncle...oh and the Heidster! YAY...my little German sister is coming home too. This should be fun.

The excitement about the upcoming days is really the only thing that will probably pull me through today. sheesh...there's so much to be done, so little time to do it, and so little energy to make it happen.

But I did make an apple pie for my staff today (yes it's home made, I cut up all the apples and everything!) I'm looking forward to eating that bad boy!

Jump

You know the feeling when your head is so full of information, and you know it’s a good thing, it’s just kind of hard to process through it all. That’s totally the place that I’m at right now. I just finished a great conference. I went into it with little or no expectations, except for the fact that I would get to hang out with some people who are encouraging to me in ministry and possibly learn a thing or two about youth ministry.

I heard some great speakers, and had some great conversations. I was given the opportunity to worship without distraction. I met new people and learned from their experiences in ministry. It was good.

I could write for forever about all the little tidbits of information that I picked up in the last 5 days. But to save some time, and to keep you from getting bored, I’ll just share what it is that I really feel like God was speaking to my heart during this time…a summation of it anyway.

I know I talked a couple days ago about slowing down and hearing God’s voice, and that’s a huge part of it, but what’s hitting home a little more for me right now is the idea of what it means to be called God’s Beloved, to be His child, and to live in that calling.

I talk all the time about my call to ministry, whether it’s in the area of outreach, youth, assimilation, encouragement…whatever the area is, I know that I have been called to ministry and I think I came to my conference this week looking for a prescription. I wanted someone to tell me how to map out Youth Group Activities. I wanted someone to tell me how to deal with people who are always negative towards me and the ministry God has given me. I wanted someone to tell me what to do when I was lonely. I wanted someone to tell me how to reach students who are growing up in a different world from me. I wanted someone to tell me how to handle being a woman in a leadership position in a church that is dominated by men in those places of leadership. I wanted someone to tell me how to not be afraid. I wanted someone to tell me how to be good at what I do.

There were opportunities for things like that, but the message just kept coming back to me…it’s not about all those little things. It’s about loving God and being who He created me to be. And that’s a good place to be. Being who God created us to be means that it’s not really about what we do, it’s about being open and willing for God to work through your life.

Will I stop worrying as a result of this conference…probably not. But I do hope to take with me a little bit of that encouragement from God and my brothers and sisters walking along side of me in this ministry. If you are reading this and you know what it’s like to be working in a church (full time, part time, or volunteer) let me send you a little bit of encouragement as well. God has already given us what we need to be serving him. No, we can’t do it on our own. It’s probably a good thing that we can’t do it on our own, because then we would start thinking that we don’t need God, and maybe you’ve learned like I have, that when you try to go it alone, more often than not you fall flat on your face.

The theme of our conference was Jump…so I guess what I’m going to try to do is jump into life and the things that God has in store for me, and I will trust that he’s going to catch me, and maybe, just maybe, I’ll have a pretty incredible ride along the way.

Oh and I just want to add that tonight had the non-traditional thanksgiving with the Jacob's Road Family...not only are these people a great band, but they are really fun to hang out with! What a great weekend!!!

Slow Down...Hear His Voice

Well I am officially on day three of my conference. I could tell you so many things...I still love Jars of Clay and when they play they totally rock my face off, David Crowder is quickly becomming my favorite worship leader, hanging out with Dani and Lindsey is so great, my godson Noah is ADORABLE, Daryl Howard still rocks my face off, seeing Mark and Carrie and meeting their daughter is so fun, camp people still make me smile...and the list could go on and on. I think the most important thing though that's been going through my mind, and hitting home with me is, Slow Down...Here His Voice. It seems like all the sessions I go to and all the conversations I'm having are centering around that theme.

I tend to be the person that goes peddle to the metal and hits the ground running. I don't like to sit around. I like to be busy, and sometimes that can get a little unhealthy. I lose focus. Last night Doug Fields was speaking and was likened it to a train wreck that didn't need to happen, but did because the train was going to fast. Going the regular speed the train accomplishes its purpose and helps people, but a train that is going to fast derails and can cause injury or even death. I was thinking about that...slowing down. God is not glorified in my business. God doesn't ask for our business, he asks for our faithfulness, and so often my business causes me to not be tuned into God's voice

Anyway that's just one of my thoughts...I wish I had time to write more right now but my godson is laying next to me and being really stinking cute...so I'm gonna go play with him! I'm sure I'll share more later!

Three Things...

#1. I paid someone to do my laundry today...it was beautiful.

#2. When I was home this afternoon I walked into my kitchen and the neighbor kid was peeking in my window...weird part was that he didn't move when he saw me. very odd.

#3. Why do we refuse to learn lessons the first time...my history teacher in high school always said, "Learn Your Lessons of History." And do I??? No...why must I always procrastinate. I know when things are coming, I know that I have to get them done, and do I prioritize and get it all done in a timely fashion...No. I always end up getting ready to go on some trip and having a list of tons of stuff to get done, but I never quite get it finished until the last second, and then I always end up packing my suitcase in a hurry, and then I am always "almost late" for my plane and then I get all anxious and wonder what will happen if I miss my plane. But then I make it at the last second and it's all ok and all the worrying was for nothing. Some day I will get my stuff in order!

Look our Nashville here I come!!!

Talent, Talent Everywhere...

Have you ever been in a group of people and just been in awe at how talented they are. Well in case any of you were wondering, Karaoke is WAY different in Branson than anywhere I have ever seen it before. I'll admit I do find some sick twisted joy in watching people who shouldn't be singing get up in front of a microphone and butcher songs, and I have been persuaded to watch many a karaoke showcase in my time. I have also been nudged from time to time to get up and partake in the festivities as well, but last night was different!

Our choir director at church is getting married and she invited me to a little shower/bachelorette party last night. I really wasn't all that in to going since I've been a little on the sick side lately, but I went anyway and I knew a lot of her friends were going to be there, and I was looking forward to meeting some more fun people in the area...so I went.

Well after the dinner and present opening the restaurant we were at had karaoke. So of course we went over to check out the happenings. I guess now is when I should mention that most of these people are entertainers. That's their job. Oh man...instead of sitting back and making fun of people, I spent most of my time with my mouth hanging open in awe. I couldn't have made my voice do those things if I tried. Seriously beautiful stuff. Yep, I just said that about Karaoke. There are some talented people up in these hills...that's for sure.

Back In The Saddle

Well here I am folks, broadcasting live from my office. I've finally made it into work today. Mostly because I have a conference call and gobs of work to get done in the next 48 hours. I'm feeling a bit better...still way tired and my ear is still WAY clogged but anyway. It's gotta get better soon..right???

It's funny (not in a ha ha way) how busy Christmas season is, and none of it is stuff that can be done last minute. My biggest cause of anxiety right now is the Sunday School Christmas program. A Tradition in our church...but the reality is that I have 11 kids to work with, most of whom are shy and would rather run over hot coals than get up and speak in front of people. It's definitely a lesson for me, because I don't even need a reason to get up in front of people and "perform" I'm pretty much a walking freak show...but I need to remember that all people are not as overly zealous for the stage as I am and I'm trying to find a way to present the message of Christmas in a relevant way to the congregation all while engaging the kids that we are using to tell the story...eesh...I'm bound to learn something on this journey.

We came up with a great idea last night. I just hope we can make it happen. It seems a bit out of my reach, but that's why God puts people in our lives that are good at different things...to help.

ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Most of you that know me, and if you're reading this chances are you know me pretty well, know that I hate just sitting around doing nothing. I'm working on my third day of nothing. I can't stand it. I hate it...There are so many things that I know I should be doing, and honestly want to be doing...but my body just won't let me. I don't feel good. All the medicine and illness is slowing me down. I'm not feeling better and having to lay around and not do anything is starting to frusrate me. I have a conference call tomorrow to help plan the Outreach Leadership Institute for this summer, and I wanted to be on top of my game, have great ideas, show everyone that I've come into my own as a DCO...I leave for a conference on Thursday, am I prepared for that...no.

I guess the good thing about being sick is that it forces you to slow down...let people worry about you for a change. I get to see that people can handle things without me...it's a good reality check.

so anyway...say a prayer that my antibiotics will start working and the pressure in my ear will go down before I get on a plane thursday morning. I'm really looking forward to this conference and spending time with Dani and Linds, and getting to see my adorable little godson and hanging with the Robeys...I really want to be better by then.

Your eardrum may rupture...

Dr: "Your eardrum may rupture."

Me: "Are you serious?"

Dr: "Yeah there's a ton of pressure in there and it's really bulging."

Me: "Ah...yeah..um...that sounds painful."

Dr: "Of it is, but the pain will go away immediatly then."

silence....

Me: "So if my eardrum ruptures..."

Dr: "Oh you'll know, it'll ooze a bunch of blood and stuff."

silence....

Me: "So if my eardrum ruptures, what should I do?"

Dr: "They usually heal on their own, but if it doesn't you'll have to go to a ear nose and throat doctor and they'll do surgery."

Me: "Oh."

That's pretty much how the conversation went between me and the dr. this morning. A few posts ago I mentioned that I was feeling better...I may have been a little premature on that. Last night my ear decided to start feeling all clogged up, but being me, I self diagnosed myself and decided if I just slept on the other side of my head the fluid would drain back to a normal spot. No such luck. I was up most of the night in tears with ear pain...seriously considered going to the ER, but I didn't want to spend a fortune so I just toughed it out. This morning though I felt like my whole head was going to explode. By the grace of God there was a Dr.'s office open and I walked in...head stuffy, ear hurting, eyes goopy, and I looked at the lady behind the desk and started to cry. Yep, my big girl 25 year old self cried to the receptionist at the Dr.'s office and told her that I needed to see a dr. because most of the parts of my body above my neck were not working correctly and I was supposed to be taking JR. Highers horseback riding and singing in a concert later that night. As I was blubbering like a fool to her, she was so kind, handed me a box of kleenex and told me not to worry. Then the doctor saw me...told me I had a horrible ear infection (in the previously stated conversation) and gave me three prescriptions.

Needless to say the horseback riding didn't happen, and there was no way I would be able to sing in a concert. Today did not go exactly as planned. Thank God for Steve, Kim, Aubrey, Dayna and Lauren who equipped me with a heating pad, good movies and every other medication that might help besides what the doctor gave me! They were definitely an answer to prayer today.

I'm currently on about 6 medications. My head hurts, my ear is killing me and the right side of my head feels like it's going to explode. Tomorrow is Sunday, and a busy one for me. There are about 500 things that I should have done right now that I haven't even begun. I don't know if I'll even make it to church...Tomorrow I'm supposed to read, sing, pass out bags for our food drive, hand out bottles for something for the lutheran children and family services, teach high school bible study, give lesson plans to my SS teachers for next week, make sure the teachers for Sunday School tomorrow are set up...give materials to the lady who runs the pre-k sunday school and find batteries for someone who left them in my office. oh and have the new church info brochure ready for proofreading. oye.

But instead of doing all that. I'm going to bed. The world will keep on spinning it those things don't get done. I hope.

Crash

Tonight I saw the movie. I've been wanting to see it since I was driving from North Carolina to MO listening to reviews of it on talk radio. And it didn't let me down. I thought this was a great film (if you can tolerate the f-bombs) As I was watching the movie with my friend we were talking about how strange it is that some people's lives really are like the lives in the movie.

Wow...it's so easy for us to live our lives and not even see the hurt in other parts of our towns, state and country, let alone the world.

It reminds me of a conversation I once had with Seth, when I was living in the ghetto house in Minnesota, probably shortly after my sweet action bike was stolen...I was saying how I would probably never get out of the ghetto...and he said that he was sure I would, and look at me now. The people in springfield call my town "Heaven's Waiting Room" because there are so many old people...I think they're overdoing it a bit, but still, I am safe, I don't ever feel like I have to worry about weird stuff happening. Sure, it could...but the odds are more in favor of me catching a stray bullet from a deer hunting excursion than a drug deal gone bad...

Anyway I guess I'm just saying it's good to be aware...aware of the world around us and Crash reminded me of a world outside of my safe little bubble that I sometimes live in. Enough about that...

I got to hang out with my godson Lucas tonight...and his parents : ) He's getting sooo big. I sang him the Rachel song tonight. I think he liked it!

The End of An Era...

If you're a St. Louis Cardinals fan (and seriously people, if you're not...you should be!) my mom send me this link to the commissioned photographer for the deomlition of Busch Stadium...check it out...

http://jgardnerphotography.com/index.html

The UPS Man...

The funny thing about the UPS man that delivers to our church (maybe I've blogged about him before) is that he talks ALOT...way more than me! It's like a scene from a movie when he comes in...both of us try to hide becasue if you dno't you'll be trapped in an unwanted conversation forever. So whenever he comes into the office the secretary and I try to keep him from talking to both of us...today I was on "listener" duty. Here is the information I gleaned from the one sided conversation today. He likes delivering packages, almost as much as I like getting them, and He's a storm chaser and very much looking forward to the storms that might be coming our way. hmm interesting... apparently he was also a tennis star in his former life.

Voters meeting went well last night. I didn't get to make my report until about the 3rd hour...so when I stood up I said, "I know right now you just want to go home, but if you can't get into what I'm saying, will you at least pretend like you're listening to me." or something of that sort. I think they did...listen that is.

And Currently I am sitting at the Panera freeloading on their hi speed internet...it's great. People watching is always fun. I'm too nosy.

WAAAHHHOOOOO!!!!!!

I am feeling so much better today. Not like 100% better but so much better. I actually slept last night. I couldn't say the same thing for the couple days before, I was walking around like a zombie with permanent medicine head. I couldn't get away from it. But today is better, granted my nose is as red as Rudolph's right now, but hopefully that will return to normal as well.

I love Thursdays. Since, in theory, Friday is my day off Thursday always holds the feal that Friday used to hold. So tonight I feel like I could stay up all night and read a book if I wanted too (although given the all nighters I've already pulled this week I doubt I will do it just for the fun of it.) I know that tomorrow I can sleep in the morning and enjoy the wonderfulness of waking up without an alarm clock. ahhh.

Today was a great day at work. So many cool things happened. Isn't it fun when cool things happen. I had a great meeting with the man down at the Christian Associates building...it's the local food pantry/thrift shop/advocate for poor peope/everything else someone needs them to me...and it was great! We talked about the possibilities for our church linking up with them...follow up type stuff.

When I got back to the office I went into the pastor's office and said, "I am just totally jazzed about my job this week." And he looked up from his desk and gave me a rather peculiar look (this isn't unusual...he usually gives me a peculiar look, which makes me wonder if he doesn't understand what I'm saying or if he just thinks I'm crazy...the latter is probably more like it.) Anyway he then asked me if being jazzed was a good thing...and then I realized I had just used a phrase that I had never used before. hmm...wonder where that came from.

Anyway I'm getting ready for a potluck and then a voter's meeting. Voter's meetings here are actually tolerable. Sometimes they're even fun, although tonight is the budget one, so we'll see what happens! If people are gonna fight, it's usually over money (and carpet here)

ha...as I'm writing I was thinking of a song that came to my mind the other night when I was out with aubrey and her fam...my post has brought it back to mind because of my overuse of punctuation (that usually is in the wrong spot! what can I say I'm a grammatical nightmare) Anyway the song goes like this...

I love you period
Do you love me question mark
Please, please exclamation point
I want to hold you in parenthesis

I wonder if I could find that on itunes...

Do You Ever Get Overwhelmed???

I do. I find it happening at the weirdest moments. Yesterday, even being sick and all, I had this feeling that I could do it all, that I could conquer the world, and even though some of the things in my path scared me, I knew I could face it and it would all be ok.

But then there's today. Wham. For some reason today I feel like there is so much, too much, to be done. There are so many ideas firing around in my brain but I don't know which ones to choose and what to do, or what direction to head in.

Maybe that's how it is when your job is kind of a grass roots efforts. We're starting from the very beginning with little bitty seeds...who knows what grass will sprout and who is actually going to be on my team to help me cultivate this thing we're trying to grow. One day I think I know who my players are going to be and the next day I think I might need to revise my list. Sometimes it's just overwhelming. I've always felt like God has big things in store for me. I remember talking to my friends in college and knowing that God was going to do big things through us. We were, ARE, passionate people and open to God's direction...but I've always had a little bit more issue knowing what that direction was. So that's where I'm at now. I'm just sitting at my desk, with post it notes all around, to do lists covering my space, and thinking, "I'm Overwhelmed!" Not in a, "I wanna pull my hair out and poke people with sharp things," way. But rather in a way that I just know that there is a huge potential for big things surrounding me. Maybe it's not one big thing...maybe it's a bunch of little things that pull together into one big thing, I don't know.

I do know that as I was sitting here trying to figure out what to do next I saw a book that Linds gave me for my birthday. It's called, Living Out Loud. It's all about living a creative life. It tells you to play. To be free and be who you are. This quote is at the beginning of the first chapter.

"The aim of life is to live, and to live meants to be aware, joyously, drunkenly, serenely, divinely aware." - Henry Miller

So today I will open my eyes to the blessings around me. I will be in the now. I will not worry about tomorrow. I will trust that God is working out my stuff for good!

Today...

Well today was definitely a weird day. I am sick. I know I have a cold or Flu or something. I spent the first part of the day trying to work through my Nyquil hangover...then the Dayquil kicked in. I'm on a vicious cycle...tonight I'll have to take nyquil to sleep. ick. Anyway I woke up feeling pretty lousy. I hate being sick. Seriously, I am the biggest baby when I'm sick, just ask my mom! But today I could just lay around on the sofa, for some reason I felt like I needed to get out of bed and come to work. So I showered (remembering all the times from my youth when mom would tell me I would feel better after I showered). Then I contemplated sucking salt water up through my nose. I know this sounds disgusting but my grandmother would swear by it, and this morning I almost did it (it's so nasty though) and strangely enough the thought made me miss my grandmother so much. I miss someone telling me to snort salt water up my nose.

Anyway I'm glad I came into work because I had a phone call and great conversation with my pastor about a possible mission plant. This stuff just gets me totally jazzed and was enough to pull me through the nyquil hangover. I really feel like some stuff might pull together, and that makes me excited but it also scares me because if this mission start is going to start, I am going to play a huge roll in it, and this is big stuff...and that makes me nervous...although my friend was saying just the other day that sometimes we get the big stuff so we see that we can't do it on our own, and I don't want to do it on my own, I want to do it with God's guidance and direction, so if you think about it...pray for me and this mission possibility!

Then I had dinner at the catholic church with some people from my church, that was all good. It kinda reminds me of what a small town I live in, I was running into people right and left! Now I am just wasting a little time before I go to choir practice. I don't feel much like singing. My throat hurts, and my head is all congested. And right now there is just one place I want to be...and it's kinda weird...but it's John and Kim's bed...yeah I told you it was weird, but earlier this year I got totally sick with the flu and it was just bad. I was up all night sick and the next day I was supposed to go to John and Kim's house to watch their boys. John came to pick me up and took one look at me and said, "you don't look so good." When I got to their house kim had made up the bed in their room with the softest sheets. and she had gingerail and sour candies and the remote control. I think I slept all day and the boys kept coming in to check on me. It was so nice. I really felt like I was home, at a time that I felt so far away from home, and those boys took such good care of me. I miss them. I've been missing old friends today...not that they're old friends, just that I haven't seen them in a while. (yes melissa...that includes you!)

well it's time for choir practice so I better get going!

What's Up With The Gallbladder Surgery???

My friends all seem to be having their gallbladders taken out...it's like an epidemic or something. I feel like I should go get mine checked out as well. Anyway this blog is a shout out to my homegirl Carrie who is recovering from her emergency gallbladder surgery! Hope you feel better soon...maybe looking at this Halloween Hottie picture of yourself will help! I love you girl!!!! Can't wait to hang with you again! Lindsey maybe you could post the Gallbladder song in the comments section and help a fellow gallbladderless friend out!!!

Thank You Jesus for Nyquil...

That's really all I wanted to say. That and, I hate not feeling well. I'm going to bed.

Return of the Snaggletooth

I'm not trying to be mean but...

So you may remember a post from about a month ago when a friend of mine and I had gone to the Ruby Tuesday for a late dinner, and our waiter was a little bit more than friendly. I may have referred to him as snaggletooth because he has a chip on one of his teeth that seems to captivate my attention when he speaks. (It's a big chip)

Anyway well yesterday I was haning out with the aforementioned friend and her parents...We had just finished a 4 mile walk on a beautiful trail and enjoyed the nice fall weather. The parentals decided they wanted Ruby Tuesdays for dinner...so of course we went along too. What are the odds of being in a restaurant on a two different days, at two completely different times, sitting in two completely different sections and having the same unwanted attention from the same annoying, overly attentive waiter...of course when I say overly attentive I don't mean that he filled up our water glasses too many times...no no no...(please remember at this point that this is the man who's best line was, "Where did you move here from? Did your boyfriend come with you?" sheesh) So he comes to the table (despite our trying to ignore the fact that we did indeed recognize him) and he says,

"You ladies look familiar to me." to which we responded with blank stares...then he says,

"Why do you look familiar?" (this is riveting stuff ladies and gentelmen) and I say,

"Well, we eat here sometimes." His response to this is,

"Yes I've waited on you before, you were celebrating four days until your birthday." and I gave a very unenthusiastic,

"Yeah that's right, maybe it was five days to my birthday though." And his answer this time was,

"No it was four days to your birhtday because your birhtday was on a Monday, I remember."

ummm...yeah this man waited on me once, now twice, and could have told you what day of the week my birthday was on...I couldn't even have told you without really thinking about it what day my birthday was on...and I love my birthday...yeah...he was loving the Rachel...who knows, maybe snaggletooth from Ruby Tuesday is the love of my life....or not...my father would have been proud of the Dad on Duty though, he did his part to embarass the waiter with the comment, "yeah he doesn't remember us though" (insert sarcastic eye roll here) after his wife said, "We eat here alot too."

Ah well...what woman doesn't have to put up with a weirdo waiter from time to time. But the events of last evening remind me of how in 8th grade we got to do a Last Will and Testament of what we were leaving to the people in 7th grade...and I think this is a great tradition that we should get at various times in our life...like right now...I Rachel, do hereby leave Aubrey my beloved Snaggletooth. It's official...he's no longer mine...I have given him away.

Why I may be different from most of the World's population...

So today I'm walking through Walmart, because it's the only place I really have to shop, and I run into a lady that I had had a conversation with at our community outreach event last week. I had sent a follow up letter to their family and invited her and her children to Sunday School. She told me that she was going to bring her family to church tomorrow and she was asking me about worship times and sunday school times. And then she looked at me and asked, "What do people wear, because I don't have any dresses." And I told her there was no need to wear a dress at all, in fact most sundays I come to church in pants. Then she asked me what kind of pants. If you know me at all, you will know that I love any opportunity to discuss wardrobing for any and every situation, so to ease her fears of coming underdressed, I asked her if she remembered the pants I had been wearing last Sunday (you know because I had worn them to church and thought they would be a good guide as to pretty middle of the road dress for our congregation) and to my surprise she didn't remember what I was wearing. Hmmm...I could tell you exactly what she was wearing, although I didn't say this to her because I thought she would think I was weird. I remember most things in life by what I, and/or, the people around me are wearing at the time. Is that weird? I kinda do a mental note of people's outfits, ya know...like in the magazines "Susan is wearing a blue top from Gap and faded lowrise flare leg jeans from Tommy Hilfiger, and her shoes don't match" That's me...paying attention to the clothes...not that I judge people...just that I notice.

It's Carpet People!!!

This has got to be a record or something, 2 posts in 30 minutes, but I had to vent and if you can't vent on a blog...where can you vent???

The church I work at got new carpet a couple months ago...these peopel are OBSESSED with this carpet...I mean I'm surpised some of the old ladies don't follow me around all day to make sure that I don't drop anything on it...

The other night after our huge halloween community event these people were mad that there was dirt on the carpet. Hello we just had 400 people from the community come through our doors...of course there's dirt, and that's a good thing...it means there have been people here!!! We want people here...

And now the president of my EVANGELISM committe came in and asked if we could not have kool-aid for kids anymore because it might stain the carpet...

sheesh.

So I said to her...well what if an old person with a shaky arm gets some coffee and spills it on the ground...are we going to take away coffee???

It's carpet...it gets dirty you clean it...I'm gong to go spill something purple on the ground and pretend like I didn't know who did it...that'll show them.

Krispy Kreme is Taking Over The World!!!

Am I the only one in the world that doesn't like Krispy Kreme??? Today as I walked into the local grocery store, my mind set on getting a little milk and cereal, I "happened" to walk by the bakery section. This is the only Bakery section in my area that still had fresh donuts. To my shock and disgust the bakery counter has been removed and instead of the smell of fresh delicious dounts and counters filled with goodness there was a new cart wheeled out to the middle of the floor with KRISPY KREME. I know that Krispy Kreme have been the downfall of many a men and women...but I don't really care for them, especially the ones that have been sitting in a box and were delivered to their destination 3 days ago.

I remember going to the donut shop with my grandmother every morning of the summer to eat a chocolate long john and listen to her and the other old folks go over the local gossip and read the death notices. Soon there will be children who have no idea what it's like to go to a real donut shop. They'll be Cookie-Cutter Children who only eat glazed donutes covered in sugar...no old fashioned, no cinnamon twist...NO LONG JOHN....

Ladies and Gentelmen...PLEASE support your local donut shop.

Another Month, Come and Gone

Yesterday as I dug my computer out from under all the stuff on my desk, I also happened to find my calendar...you know the ones that are big and sit on your desk. I love those things because I can always have my stuff that I need to do in front of me...AND I have a place to write notes if it becomes a necessity. Anyway, as I looked down on the Month of October I realized I had been really, REALLY, busy. There were meetings, practices, rehearsals, house visits, more meetings, Bible Studies, youth v-ball games, Birthdays (mine especially), Birthday celebrations (lots for me), a trip to St. Louis, A Trip to the Lake of the Ozarks, A Trip to Arkansas, Concerts, and a Huge Outreach Event at my church. It almost makes me tired to just write it all!

Anyway when I look back at those things I realize how blessed I am. God has put so many things into my life, and it's a life full of joy...I don't know if I would said I was full of joy 6 or 7 months ago. I don't know that I would have been able to look back on a busy month and have been thankful for everything that God put in front of me. But I am now. I realize that all of these things, even the meetings, are blessings, places for God to be glorified in my actions and in my words.

Now I just wonder what November has in store...