Goodbye January!

Since today is the last day of the month (how did this happen?) I thought I would look back over these past thirty days, which have been very good. I made a number of adjustments to my life and schedule, but I'm so excited to see what the next eleven months will bring after seeing what happened in the first one!

* A Proverbs Run-Through. One of my commitments this year is to read through the book of Proverbs every month by reading one chapter per day. In January, I chose to read just the verses...no commentary, no study notes, no other influence. Just the text. I began to notice the themes that run throughout the bits of wisdom, and I definitely found myself under conviction more times than I would have liked!

* Forty-One Cent Stamps. What happened to letter writing? Oh, I know. The development of e-mail and the price of postage. This year (this decade, actually) I've committed to writing a letter every week...and it was so much fun this month to hear back from some of the people who received a letter. I don't do it to receive a reaction, but it is really fun to hear their surprise and excitement when they get something in the mail that does NOT require sending money.

* Loving Less. Another commitment for this year is to read one book every month on how to improve some type of relationship. My first book (because it came alphabetically first on the shelf) was Stephen Arterburn's book When You Love Too Much. I'd heard him interviewed on the radio about this book and decided to see for myself if it could offer advice on how to avoid repeating the dysfunction of past relationships. The book was tough to read - no girl likes uncovering all her faults and weaknesses. But by the end I had a lot of hope that through significant work (and probably an equal amount of tears) I can someday find myself in a relationship that is healthy.

* Learning About Mornings. I started doing part of my devotions in the morning, and while I'm still not a fan of pre-noon hours, I'm already seeing a difference in my heart after spending even five or ten minutes studying Scripture before beginning the day in earnest.

* Fully Alive. The good old "Fully Alive in the Spirit" chorus is my theme song for this year, and I've tried to relax a bit this month to allow myself to live out its words. Long naps if I'm tired, sleeping in if I had a late night, disciplining myself to exercise, walking away from the TV in favor of reading, hanging out with my newfound buddies at the ballgames, cooking up a storm, squeezing in a little shopping, writing for fun, renting movies, impromptu trip-lets (that would be miniature trips, not 3 children), choosing to sit for ten minutes if Braeya feels like snuggling up...all this is not very Bekah-like, but I'm truly having a blast!

No to the Snow

I heard this morning that we could get some nasty weather soon. Of course you know how weather predictions go; it could end up being nothing at all.

Even so, here's what I hope we do NOT get. I found these pictures Sunday evening when I was sorting.

This is Dad, and buried somewhere in that coat is me, with my dog. A chihuahua. Her name was Lassie. Stop laughing. This was the snow Dad had shoveled (by hand...snow blowers were not around then) in our driveway. I'm guessing it was a snow day.


But even worse than what he had to shovel was the drift that showed up of its own accord. Yes, that is the roof line in the top of the picture. As in...right above the drift. Looks like I was pretty excited about the snow. Clearly I didn't have to help with said shoveling.

And Lassie just looks like she wants to get away.


Lassie was the epitome of "man's best friend." I first met her when she was just a few days old and she was the sweetest little dog. My Mom did not permit animals in the house, but Lassie got more than her share of exceptions. Dad trained her to recognize the edges of this bathroom rug as her boundary. Whenever we'd bring her inside, she'd go right to the edge and peer over, but she would not even dare to put one paw on the carpet. Her best trick was howling. I would sing (a sound similar to howling) and Lassie would howl right alongside me. She was literally the best dog ever - even Mom said so. We had her for about a year before she simply disappeared. Dad still says that he had a harder time with losing her than even I did - and I was absolutely devastated. I remember that day when he had to tell me she was gone. He couldn't even offer me a good reason because he just didn't know.
If I were to ever get another dog, I would want one just like Lassie.

Bits for Sunday, January 27, 2008

I just woke up from one of the longest naps I’ve taken in a while. It was such a long nap that I even dreamed my parents stopped by to see me and while I was aware that they had arrived, I couldn’t figure out how to get off the couch and to the door to let them inside. Fortunately that was just a dream. However, literally five seconds after I did roll off the couch, my doorbell rang. Some college students were walking through the neighborhood asking how they could pray for people. As I stood there with a rumpled skirt, bedhead, and one half of my face probably imprinted with a selection of letters from the “Princess” pillow, I doubt I needed to offer any verbal request.

But my need for a long winter’s nap had little to do with winter and more to do with a reward for surviving the solo teaching experience of junior high Sunday School this morning. (Brian, this whole week is just for you.)

I think I’ve told you this part before, but as a refresher…last fall? Early winter? Somewhere in there, anyway, Pastor Brian asked if I wanted to help him teach the next round of junior high Sunday School. I wasn’t too sure about it, because in general, I’m petrified of teenagers. I remember being one, and I didn’t care for it. I remember having them for peers, and I didn’t care for that either. I wasn’t sure if I could handle being tossed back into the midst of this age group…but I agreed. And really, the class we have is full of great guys and girls who have surprised me with their knowledge of random Bible facts, their vocabulary, and their ability to eat more donuts in one hour than I thought humanly possible. (Never underestimate the power of growing boys.)

I’m learning so much about life in the junior high hallways (which has subsequently made me grateful that I walked those halls years ago when I did, and not today), PS2/X Box 360 (and a host of other game ensembles that have more acronyms than I encounter in my acronym-laden job), and just a tiny bit about football, but not too much, because any time a group of guys converges to talk sports, it becomes a talk-over-each-other match that tops anything a group of girls could do.

And in the middle of all that, Brian and I are trying to figure out what junior high students do and do not know about God and the Bible. He and I had this conversation (via email) a few weeks ago and decided perhaps we’ve been assuming too much. I assume that because I learned to look up Bible verses in second grade Sunday School (thanks, June!), all kids know how to look up verses by the time they enter third grade. When I shared that theory with Jon and Julie last weekend during my visit to their new home and church, Julie told me that not only can the third graders not look up verses, they’ve learned that people in their late twenties start every verse look-up in the table of contents. That blew my mind. I told Brian that I assume these kids know that there are 66 books in the Bible – 39 in the old and 27 in the new (thanks, Corrine!) and how to at least sing all 66 books if they can’t recite them otherwise (thanks, Chuck!). These are all things I learned in opening exercises in Sunday School.

But wait. We don’t have opening exercises anymore. As we discussed that, Brian realized that his kids haven’t ever been in a church that still does opening exercises. I think at that point, our email conversation became more about “the good old days” than how to move this forward with the kids we have.

So this morning I drove to church, knowing Brian wouldn’t be there, and not knowing what to do with my handful of junior high kids that may or may not know what I assume they know.

I took food. I was at least smart enough to know that my chances of not being tomorrow’s cafeteria talk were greater if I presented an edible offering to the hungry boys. I prayed that at least one girl would show up, knowing I would be far less nervous if I had one shred of fellow estrogen in the room. (Thanks, Lauren, for saving me!)

While the boys devoured the cinnamon rolls (a couple of the rolls were kidnapped by the high school class next door who came over under the guise of “checking to make sure a teacher showed up”) I asked how the week went. This was met with the signature shoulder shrug and accompanying, “Okay, I guess. I don’t remember.” I walked right into that one.

I began with a quiz (I so should have been a real life teacher. I would be the cafeteria talk) over what we learned last week. I found the quiz online and took it myself. I missed one. I was pretty proud when the one I missed wasn’t even a source of contention for them. I guess they listened better than I thought. So the quiz went over pretty well…and that was when we discovered the chocolate milk in the refrigerator had frozen.

(In case you’re not aware, semi-frozen chocolate milk being squeezed out into a plastic cup is quite hilarious and must be given its moment before continuing.)

So once the humor of the milk had gone by the wayside, we launched into our discussion of Moses killing the Egyptian for beating the Hebrew. Let me tell you how much a group of four junior high boys loves such a story. When I asked how this guy might have died, one offered me a full acting demonstration complete with staggering, choking, and multiple sound effects. He was pretty good at it!

I tried to ask why Moses didn’t try to reason with him first…why he just went ahead and killed the guy, and they looked at me like I was slightly crazy. They said “He did! But the guy didn’t listen, so that’s why he pushed him off the scaffolding.” Apparently instead of renting My Big Fat Greek Wedding Friday night, I should have rented The Prince of Egypt. What was I thinking? I tried to submit that perhaps it may not have happened just as the movie said, but I’m not sure I was very convincing. Incidentally, when I asked how Moses knew he was a Hebrew and knew that he belonged to the people being oppressed, one of the guys told me that it was because when he walked among them, he heard his sister singing the song his mother used to sing when he was a baby. (Good work, Prince of Egypt writers. Wouldn’t have thought of that angle.)

So anyway, we got through that part of the story, the milk thawed, the cinnamon rolls AND the donuts that came in later were eaten, we found a couple of prayer requests, and someone did pray.

And I…took a nap.

Miss America, Raspberry Pie, and Goal Tending

Three things that have nothing in common once you leave this blog post. :)

I'm taking a break from watching Miss America. Yes, I admit, I'm a sucker for beauty pageants. I've been watching bits and pieces of the Miss America reality show on TLC this month, so I already had some favorites before the pageant even aired. In case you're not aware, "they're" (who is "they," anyway?) trying to reinvent the image of the pageant, because it has been declining in popularity in recent years. So these ladies have been in training for the last month trying to "de-pageant" the pageant and make it more modern. I'm impressed with a lot of the changes, but the talent round just ended and I sincerely felt like I'd just left a snippet of Miss Congeniality. (Complete with opera, out of control tutus, and baton twirling.) I'm interested to see how it ends though. Miss Indiana is still in the running, so that's exciting.

In other news today, I made my first ever raspberry pie. I love to cook, but my mother is kind of the resident pie making champion for the greater tri-county area. (Not as in REALLY a champion...it's just that she's really really good at it, so why should I learn to make pies?) But tonight I just decided I wanted pie. Real pie. Not a deli pie made last week or a frozen pie crust with a can of filling. A real honest-to-goodness, from scratch pie. And I did it! A small puddle of the filling took up residence on the bottom of the oven (woops!) but the pie tastes so good. I'm not quite the crust-maker that my Mom is, but it sure wasn't bad for a first attempt!

And finally, proving that I can take in knowledge on the weekends, I learned new things at the basketball game today. I've been going to ball games this season and am gradually learning to cheer on my own and not as a response to the cheering of those around me. I came into the season knowing little more than how to recognize a free throw and the proper stance to take during the national anthem (which is more than I can say for a significant majority of the student body...but I digress) and each game, I learn a little bit more. Today I learned (thanks Ronda, for teaching me this one!) about goal tending. My day is a success.

Agitating Agitators and Other Life Adventures

Remember that one day when my sheets were eaten up by the agitator in the washing machine? Well today it was my best work pants. What is it with my washer? I threw in a load of laundry tonight, including my one and only power suit for work. When I went to move the clothes into the dryer, the pants were firmly entwined under the agitator. I was rather unamused, as you might expect. This time, though, I didn't push or pull. I just left them and called my Dad. Thank goodness he hasn't moved on to his next surgery yet and is available for washer emergencies!

This evening has been a comedy of God making a point to me, I think. I was so excited to have a night at home and I planned to write the night away, take in a little American Idol, and go to bed early to ward off the cold that is threatening to invade me. As I was driving home, my friend Faith called to see if she could stop by and pick up some stamps. Well, sure! So she stopped by with her two kiddos (Braeya shot me a look when she saw a 2 year old ambling up the front steps) and we chatted for a few moments. I walked her back to her truck and she stuck the key in the ignition to warm it up...dead. So we unpacked the kids, brought them back in the house, and hung out while we waited for her husband to come over and fix the problem. When he walked back outside after getting the keys from her, Hannah (the two year old) shouted behind him, "Hey Daddy! Mommy needs the battery fixed on the truck!" We were cracking up.

So Faith and I had a great time catching up - something we've had little time to do since baby number two arrived before Christmas - but I didn't get my writing done. When I sat down to do the part that absolutely had to be done tonight, I noticed the verse I would be writing about was "Many are the plans in a man's heart, but it is the Lord's purpose that prevails." Point taken, God. It was really refreshing to catch up over scrapbooks and watch Hannah chase the "killy" (that would be the ever uncooperative Braeya). That was a better plan than the writing - which will still be here tomorrow.

But speaking of scrapbooks...just had to share this with you. I went to visit my friends Jon and Julie last weekend. They used to be my neighbors just around the corner, but Jon took a job as the youth pastor of a church about an hour away, so now I don't get to see them every week. :( I went to see their new digs and the church where Jon works...and Julie had found a little gift for me. These are magnets:
Does this girl know me or WHAT?!?!?

Here is Jon outside his office in the church. "Pastor of Youth." Apparently "pastors of youth" make their living as grown up teenagers...drinking pop from sour candy straws.


And here's me with little Julie - we were so tired by this time! I rewarded myself for driving home (in the dark, without directions) without getting lost...by stopping at Starbucks!

Bits for Sunday, January 20, 2008

Those who know me well know that change is not necessarily my best friend. I’ve written about it before…the combination of baby steps and big steps I’ve taken away from my comfort zone and into something different.

I don’t mind change so much when it’s my idea. Proof positive of that would be found in my house…where I’m forever repainting, changing the furniture, or at the very least, dreaming up the next big plan. Mind you, the plan is probably only going to take place when I win Publishers Clearing House (which I don’t play) or get married (which currently is about as likely as winning PCH). But at least I have a plan ready. When I have time to think about things and ease into something new, I dearly love it. But when it’s tossed to me…well, that’s when I start to scream “Mama!”

For example…I walked into church this morning and the sanctuary had been rearranged. (Now there’s a sentence you never used to be able to say!) A few months ago, we replaced our pews with chairs (an idea I had enough warning on to embrace nicely). When the chairs arrived, the new seating pattern moved from being two sections with a center aisle to three sections with two aisles. That took some adjustment. But I had comfortably settled in…and this morning we were back to two sections with a center aisle. I think Pastor Brian had some fun watching me just stand at the back and stare, wondering where I’d find a new seat for the day.

Another example…at work, we’re moving toward becoming a paperless society. I don’t think anyone can truly understand how much I love paper. I love paper. I love books, I love scrapbooks. I love files. I love binders. I love card stock. I love paper. In fact, I told a couple people at work last week that when the paperless plan goes through, I intend to move a stack of paper to the end of my desk just so I can look at it if I so desire. They all know that this is about as appealing to me as removing my own spleen. Fortunately I have a kind office, and they’re willing to slowly encourage me toward this new and frightening world of dual monitors and on-screen sticky notes.

But for all my hesitation…resistance…firm opposition…whatever you want to call it…here’s the bottom line. Progress exhausts me.
A few years ago, I wrote a little article about the modern office – and how things had changed so much in the few short years I had worked in the real world. I stumbled upon that the other day and found myself longing for the simplicity of that modern office. I gotta tell you that the progress we’ve made since then has absolutely worn me out. Let me just give you an example of that.

This past week, I simply tried to get into a website to discover some information. Once upon a time, that was the extent of the exercise. Want to know something? Get online and find it. Then with the ever-increasing security risks, you had to remember to check for the little lock icon in the screen before entering too much personal information…and I accepted that extra measure with gratitude. Now I have to check for a picture to make sure it appears as I selected it to appear. I also have to hunt down a secure phrase (also of my own choosing) and if it does not appear or does not appear in conjunction with the chosen picture, then I must not pass go, not collect two hundred dollars, and probably not ever be able to use the website again. In addition, I have to answer a revolving security question, which sometimes has trick questions and is always case sensitive…therefore causing me to panic each time that I’ll answer it wrong and be turned in to the authorities for simply trying to be…myself. Once I pass that test, then I must remember my ID and password.

Another site I use requires that I change my password every so many days (which feels like five) and never at any point in time from now until the nursing home, can I use any form of the previous password in the new password. I don’t even know that many words, let alone have the capability of remembering them on the shifting basis.

My favorite one came at work this week, when I logged in (incorrectly, because I forgot I had just changed my password to something it has never before been and can never be again) and had to pass the “are you a human?” test by retyping the mystery phrase. The combination of letters, spaces, and numbers was so distorted that…you guessed it…I typed it in wrong and had to try again. Once I finally copied the hieroglyphic wannabe correctly, it let me in, only to tell me I needed a combination of information about the student…and of course I didn’t have that. I got into the screen I wanted just in time to remember that because of heightened security measures, I couldn’t access everything from that screen…so I went jumping from screen to screen writing down the information as I gathered it (gasp! The use of paper!) so I could find what I wanted.

The problem?

By the time I got there, I forgot what I wanted to know.

So there I sat, irritated, forgetful, and exhausted.

And amid it all, I had a piece of paper that required shredding at the conclusion of the matter.

And change is good????

You Know You Spend Too Much Time At The Photo Lab When...

You're not the first person in line, but the photo lab lady digs out your order and brings it to you anyway.

I am working on my scrapbooks today and braved the frigid temps to have some prints made at Wal-Mart. When I returned a few hours later to pick them up, I was the second person back in line, but I got my pictures first. Guess it pays to be recognized as a frequent customer?

Here are a couple of the pictures I picked up today. They're not new, but I had them printed in black and white to frame and hang in my bedroom as the final touch before taking the "after" pictures of the makeover. (A makeover which started a year and a half ago, you understand.)

I was pretty impressed that I managed to take both of them myself...no timer...AND the cats cooperated. That is rare.

Kaegan

Braeya

It's Baaaaaaack!

Well my small consolation in the TV world of no writers is that American Idol is back...and my stomach hurts from laughing.

This particular picture was taken two years ago at the little party I hosted for the opening night. I was mid-coffee-drink when a less than stellar singer tried to go up the down escalator...in a dress, no less...and I nearly spit coffee on my guests. This time it was tea that just about went flying, but the general idea is the same.

Oh goodness. I just have no words for so many of them. I can't even remember their names...but there have been some scary ones. The guy who wrote the stalker song for Paula both amused me (as Kristin said, "Who knew that much rhymed with stalk her?") and scared me to death! I felt bad for the girl who even softened Simon's heart...and it was very nice of him to walk her out to her parents and break the bad news to them. I liked the girl at the very end - the nanny who hasn't watched an R-rated movie. I thought she had a good voice and she seemed to be just a good person.

Tonight's crowning moment was saved until the end - with that never ending brotherly love song. Good grief. I don't think the singers who got through today (most of them anyway) were as good as yesterday's. A couple of them got through on sheer luck. How did that happen?

Anyway, it brought a bit of laughter to my day...so welcome back, American Idol!

Bits for Sunday, January 13, 2008

This week I’ve been thinking quite a bit about discipline.

Not because I particularly enjoy it, you understand, but it just seems to be popping up everywhere. Conversations. Devotions. Books. When something doesn’t go away, I usually figure God’s trying to get something through my head. So…I’ve been giving it some thought.

It started when I went to my friend Jaye’s birthday party and she and I talked about last year and all the commitments I made. She asked if I’d given in and had a taste of the coveted pop yet…which I haven’t. That led to an entire discussion about the discipline of doing the things I committed to do and which ones I kept and which ones I let go…and so it began in my mind.

One of my commitments for this year is to read Proverbs through every month. There are 31 chapters in Proverbs and also that many days in nearly each month…so if I read a chapter a day, I can read all of Proverbs in a month. At the end of the year, I’ll have read Proverbs through twelve times. Right now I’m in the chapters that are the Proverbs attributed to King Solomon, and each is a little couplet – not necessarily relating to the topic of the one before it or the one after it. I’m learning that there are definite themes in his wise sayings, though, and one of them is discipline. I keep making notes in my journal about what he says regarding discipline…and another month I’ll have to do a study just on that topic.

And then came the book. Another of my commitments this year is to read one book each month…on the topic of some sort of relationship. The one that I’m reading this month is a tough one – because it forces me to take a hard look at how I operate. I’m learning I’ve got a little more work to do than I thought. And many evenings I just sit with the book and shake my head wondering how I can be so incredibly disciplined in some areas (like flossing) and in other areas I can be so disorderly!

One evening this week, as I walked on the track, I thought about what Jaye said…I thought about what Proverbs said…and I thought about what I didn’t want to learn about myself while reading that book. I thought about being carbonated-beverage-free and exercising and flossing and all the other successes of last year and wondered how in the world I could tie all of this together and turn it into something beneficial.

Then I thought about something I told my friend Kari last week, when I reported in about my new list of commitments. I told her I felt frazzled and unsure of how to make this new schedule work…but then again I remembered feeling that way last year when I started my big list. And yet in time, I began to remember the things I needed to do on a daily basis without consulting the master list. I began to instinctively fine tune my schedule to allow for the commitments and not scramble every Saturday night to finish the things that I hadn’t done yet.

And now, a year later, I see that those things are just part of who I am. I disciplined myself right into desiring those things to be part of my life. Do I love them? Not all of them. I don’t skip to the gym with joy. Many days I still force myself to change into the grubbies and go. But I know the lifestyle change is something I desire enough that I choose to continue the discipline.

And so it will be with some of these new things. So I haven’t always done a great job in the past in some areas. That doesn’t mean I’m a complete failure for it. It just means now is the time to create new disciplines that will help me improve. And while right now that hurts and makes me tired…eventually it will become a desire in my heart.

So that’s what I’ve learned about discipline this week. I need to exercise it. I’m not perfect at it. And most people probably think I’m crazy for it. But if I ever want to desire the better things, I’ve got to start (or continue) training myself in that direction.

And so, Jaye, to better complete the conversation we started at your party…I guess that’s the basics of how and why I do what I do. I don’t like it. But after a while I definitely want it. And when the desire kicks in, it’s a whole lot easier.

The Table

Here it is! The table I assembled myself! There really is a fourth chair...I just hadn't put it together yet when I took this picture. I love my new table and actually have not eaten dinner on the couch one time since I got this! I sit at the table like a big girl and eat my food.

Last night I also discovered that it works GREAT for scrapping. I prefer to stand and scrap because I seem to work better that way...but I get really bad backaches from bending over the table. That isn't an issue anymore!

Wouldn't THIS Just Be My Luck

I suppose it could be worse.

I found this story on Yahoo's news list today. I suppose there are worse things than not finding the man of your dreams.

Full Work Weeks

Just like I don't understand why it only takes me two days to get my days and nights mixed up...and then two weeks to get them straightened out again, I don't understand why I can so easily adapt to shortened work weeks and can't figure out how to get used to the five day routine again. The shortened weeks I'd had lately were no less busy than a full week...so I had to cram a whole lotta work into a very short work frame. You'd think I'd be grateful to have more time to accomplish it. But instead...I think this has been the longest week EVER.

It's not been a bad week. I haven't been reduced to tears by any irate person. I've been able to rest and watch TV and exercise and do all my fun things I like to do. But it has been a lonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnng week. And it didn't help that a couple of days, I thought it was already the next day. Boy was that a disappointment when I figured out the truth!

I guess I don't have any monumental news except that I hear tonight is the last Grey's until the strike ends...so I'm telling myself tonight is the last Grey's of the season. Very sad. But American Idol picks up soon so I can chatter about that!

One more day...and then a full work week is ACCOMPLISHED!

Leftover Christmas

Ahhh...a few sweet minutes at home to make cards and eat dinner and watch TV and sort through the ads from the Sunday paper. That is the very sort of night I've been craving, and tonight I got it!

While I was at it, I had a chance to add a few pictures that Mom gave me from Christmas day:

Lori, I guess this proves that even a digital camera doesn't prevent her from beheading a subject. In my heart, I'd like to think she was so focused on her grandcat that she wasn't even worried about me...but I have a feeling she just missed. I was trying to show Braeya the cat food, but she was much more interested in the catnip on the other side of that stocking.


Posing with my stocking and my "consolation prize for lack of husband."


This was my "gift from Christmas past" - and no, it did not come with a ghost. This was a platter that Mom and Dad received for their 25th wedding anniversary. I think I might use it at my next entertainment extravaganza. Hey Kari - see the candles you gave me up on the table? they fit in so perfectly with that little ensemble!

Oh look. Imagine that. Me being goofy! I believe this was a gift of an "IOU."

Mom found coffee magnets for my refrigerator. Perfect!
Well I'd love to write some more but it's time to gather up the trash and get busy on other stuff, so I'll go for now.

Bits for Sunday, January 6, 2008

WHEW. I'm exhausted.

This new year brought about a pretty significant change in my daily routine – one that I’m enjoying so far, but the actual shift in schedule is tiring right at this moment. I’ve made a commitment to do part of my daily devotions in the morning…so I am allowed no more than one snooze per morning alarm. That’s a big change from the hour and a half I used to spend hitting that little button.

By the third day, I was already quite sure I didn’t care for the change, but I knew it was a good thing and I needed to stick with it. I’m learning that to make a commitment means to make somewhat uncomfortable sacrifices, but the rewards are worth it.

So here I am, still trying to get the hang of when I need to officially end the day in order to complete all of the new night routine – and exactly how much time is required in the morning to make any sort of sense of this hair. I’m hoping to have it all figured out just in time for the time to change. (Let’s not get started on that, though, okay?)

In other “new routine” news – I made a somewhat annoying observation this week. I’m technically allowed to drink pop again because I didn’t renew the “no carbonated beverage” commitment…but I can’t bring myself to do it. Friday I went to Subway with some friends and I stared long and hard at that drink machine before rolling my eyes and filling up with fruit punch. The day will come when I’ll break down and have a good old Coke or Pepsi, but for now, I just can’t. And now that I can have it…I don’t crave it like I did for the 365 days of last year. Isn’t that just how it always goes!

To take a break from the elliptical routine this week, I did tae bo for a couple of days. I can’t turn right. Something in my neck must have pulled or popped or snapped or gone on strike or something. It makes for an interesting time in backing out of the driveway. If you find a huge chunk of my house missing, you’ll know how that happened.

I purchased a new table and chairs this week to replace the temporary table and folding chairs I’ve been using for a few months. I fully assembled the table AND the chairs all by myself and so far, everything appears to be properly placed and quite sturdy! Oh – and did I mention I did it without power tools? Thankyouvermuch. Even my dad seemed impressed. Who am I kidding…even I am impressed! I’ve come a long way from the days of college when my roommate, Christi, and I put together a tower that leaned quite significantly to the left and was missing a large chunk of finish on the right-hand side. (Went a little crazy with the hammer.)

So that’s the way 2008 has started for me. The first week was busy and I felt like I constantly ran from morning until night…so it’s okay with me if it slows down a little. But I am enjoying the changes…the new routine…the trying new things…maybe not so much the furniture assembly.

Channel Surfing

This evening I spend my time doing some quality furniture assembly, so while I wore out my fingertips with non-power-tools, I got caught up in a little channel surfing. Landed on Wife Swap. Though I've seen the show before, I'm not a devoted viewer. But this evening, as I sailed past in my surf, I heard them say one of the wives was a Quaker pastor, so I stopped to see what she was all about. Having grown up Quaker, I try to check in on my roots now and then.

Well, if she were to serve as the denomination's spokeswoman (as I'm sure she'd take high offense to being called a "spokesperson"), then I'd just as soon not even be associated with the denomination at all. I was extremely disappointed.

At the beginning of the show, as they introduced the families, they did show her behind the pulpit. That was where any reference to the Lord seemed to stop. I went on the show's website just now and read the first part of her manual (each wife has to write a manual for the wife coming in to her household...and the manual includes a general synopsis of the family as well as an idea of their weekly routine and household rules) - and other than the reference to her occupation, I never would have known she knew anything about God at all.

She's very into the feminist movement and insists that her daughters understand they are not "defenceless" people. She doesn't approve of women being treated as a piece of "meet." Oh - and did I mention she homeschools? (Maybe her husband teaches the spelling part.)

Speaking of the homeschooling - I found it interesting that her manual indicated she (and her husband) did not want the kids "trapped in a patriarchal educational system surrounded by mindless social drones," but yet her husband (the patriarch) is a high school special education teacher. Hmmmm.

The other thing that really baffled me was what seemed to be missing from her weekly schedule. HER JOB. I didn't read that part word for word yet, because of time, but as I skimmed through it...I found the sleeping in and the watching public television and the schooling and the QT with the empowered women in training and the family outings...but other than preaching on Sunday morning, I didn't find much about her work with her church. Goodness, my pastor is at the church most every day of the week...and he visits people...and counsels people...and goes to the hospital...and pitches in on almost any kind of need a congregation member could have...and THEN he preaches a sermon he's worked hard to prepare.

The inconsistencies were disturbing, but even more disturbing and disappointing (she would like that last word - it's a big part of her method of discipline according to the manual) was just the lack of shining any sort of light for God. What better avenue could she have been given to leave a positive impression than an hour in primetime TV? And yet even the wife she swapped with made a comment about "And you're a preacher?" It made me sad, but I had to agree.

The Passion Promise: Living a Life Only God Can Imagine

Remember the list your English teacher handed you in high school? One hundred books you needed to read before you died?

At this rate, I need to live to be about 200 years old to squeeze in all the books. With all due respect to the great authors whose books comprised that list...most of the titles just don't interest me. So I decided that over the course of the next ten years, I would make my own list. Not that I think I can do any better than the master list of 100 great books...just that I think there are other books out there that deserve a chance too.

So the list that I'm making is a compilation of books I would recommend that my kids read (if I ever have kids, you understand) as they move into adulthood and start foraging a way for themselves. The way I've figured it...if I introduce a new book roughly every two and a half months, I'll have a list of fifty books at the end of the decade.

With that being said, I bring to you my first book of choice for this list:


The book is The Passion Promise: Living a Life Only God Can Imagine, and it's written by John Avant. I received this book as a gift from my friend Marie back in June, 2005. She told me the author had spoken at her church and moved her so deeply as he spoke on this subject that she went to the bookstore and ordered a number of copies of The Passion Promise to distribute to her friends.

The Passion Promise was the first book I ever remember crying over as I read. I cry all the time at movies, commercials, TV programs, testimonies in church, you name it, but books don't often make me cry. John wrote with such fervor, though, that he stirred up all sorts of God-planted desires in my heart - some that I hadn't felt in years. And that brought on the tears.

In his introduction, he says, "Deep in your heart, you know you were made for more than the daily grind. Like Paul, you were created for a passionate life designed by God. Even now the Lord is calling you to that life! Calling you to trade rusty religion for radical risk. Guaranteed safety for lifelong significance. Worthless ambition for wild adventure" (p. 11). That phrase received the first of many underlinings as I read through his book.

To write a book about "how to live" can be a perilous thing for an author. Some fall on the opposite side of a dangerous line that leaves people relying on the authority of a man (or woman) over the authority of God's Word. John states early in his book "The treasure is not in this book. It's in His book" (p. 20). In fact, he pulls the entire premise for his book straight from Ephesians 3:20-21, which says, "Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen!"

Starting with "Now" and concluding with the "Amen!" John spends ten chapters dissecting these two verses, sharing from his personal experience as a husband, father, pastor, teacher, Christian, and human being. He brings in bits of study from the Bible's original languages, and he frequently backs his own words with the Word of God. He challenges anyone reading to take specific action to begin living a passionate life.

I've read this book more than once and I still find new things to underline and star. I love the practical wisdom he offers, and I think it's a very appropriate book to read at the start of anything new...a new year, a new ministry, a new marriage, a new baby, a new day, a new trial...anything.

John's words and his conclusions of Scripture have inspired me to dig even harder for the passion God has placed within me. I reread this book again just before the start of the new year, and it gave me the extra push I needed to begin my new lineup of commitments with renewed enthusiasm!