My First Share: Day Three

It is most unfortunate when I wake up on the grumpy side. (And honestly that very rarely happens anymore.) But Wednesday night I made the grave mistake of getting too much sleep. Pretty much five or less hours of sleep works...and anything between five and twelve makes me grumpy. And that night I got about eight. BAD IDEA.

So, this is me, somewhere around 8 a.m. (clutching coffee for dear life) with my best "tryin' to be happy" face. Meet more of my work friends! Jill is beside me and she's the one who worked the David Phelps concert with me! Then you remember Jeri from earlier this week...and Ken (who always pops in to see me and tries to scare me if he can...which usually works!) and Cindy, this week's birthday girl!
Guess who came back to see us yesterday!! SILAS!!!

...the coolest dog IN the world. Hee hee hee.

You just never know who might drop by the station...so it's always good to have a good hair day.

Jim Barron is one of our morning guys, but he's also quite the illusionist. He promised to do some magic tricks for us, and wouldn't you know, he picked the Mid-Morning hour to do that. WHAT!?!!? So between reading pledges....we watched the show from our monitor.

Giving a tour to Mac Powell....he's kinda tall.

And then George came by....goodness, it was a busy day. BUSY!

During the afternoon, I worked the phone room, and looked up to see this in the studio. I asked if it was the Holy Spirit's hour to anchor the show....

One of our phone volunteers brought these darling things. BUCKEYES!!!!

This is Craig. I wish you could all know Craig. He is one of the funniest guys I've ever met, and he can not only give me a run for my money in creative writing....he just flat out does it 100,000 times better than I do. He and I share a deep love of coffee and the smell of Sharpies.

There is no shortage of food during this fundraiser. (Read: I've gained 201 pounds. Roughly.) Cindy's husband brought some caramel corn. (Oh.My.Word.)

I promise, we really did work (and hard, too, I might add!) but during a break...Jim came back to do magic tricks, round two. I was his lovely assistant. Up first: a card trick. (This is my nervous look.)

Oops - this got out of order and I'm too lazy to change it. The second trick was this little loopy ring thing. I was TERRIBLE at it. Jim - amazing.

Okay back to the card trick. Jeri (holder of the camera) was supposed to "read my mind" to guess what card I'd picked. Please note the ginormous hint Jim's sending her way. Jeri just snapped the pictures and stared hard at my eyes and guessed....WRONG...TWICE!! LOL! It was the best trick ever.

This is me, checking the deck to see if my card is still in there...since Jeri didn't quite get it. LOL!

And...to round out the day...check this out! Lynne and I did the daily recap video. I think you'll agree that our acting skills are...well...LYNNE'S a good actress....

My First Share: Day Two

Yesterday was the second day of our fundraiser...and it was even more fun than day one! (Note to self for next year: boots are cute but they HURT after 12 hours of running around!)

Check out one of our first shift volunteers!! Isn't he precious? His name is Silas. I tried to figure out how to sneak him home without his owner noticing. Didn't come up with a solution on that one.

Miss Sheryl and I were twins!

Lynne gave me the actual "thumbs up" in the studio...

Proof that I really was there. (In my borrowed earrings. I completely forgot my earrings and Cindy let me borrow her spare pair. Good grief.)

Speaking of Cindy...SOMEONE had a birthday yesterday. Like a BIG birthday. One that starts with a five. But we won't give ages. We will, however, talk about these cupcakes. Oh.My.Word.

See that chocolate one there on the edge? MINE. It was so good. Ganache over frosting. Oh wow.

And here's the birthday girl with her husband in the background. He made her gift. Poor Cindy....

These two share an office. Amy, on the left, is (as you know) one of my lunch buddies. Doris, on the right, is the Mid-Morning mail guru. She so very lovingly sends out ALL our giveaways for us. It's a huge job and I really appreciate her hard work!

The birthday girl and me. :)

Jeri and Amy - my buddies!!!

* I'm starting to get the hang of the flow of how things work in the phone room, so it's more fun now.

* I've never seen so much food IN MY LIFE. I actually had to pass on the frozen yogurt yesterday. Broke my heart. I love yogurt!!

* Loving the chance to meet people in person!

* Can't wait to see what Day 3 brings! (Hopefully NOT the ice....)

My First Share: Day One

Thought you might like to see how my very first day of SHARE 2012 went!

* This is my typical look first thing in the morning. One with the coffee cup.
* These are two of my fabulous co-workers. Sheryl, on the left, is part of my lunch crew and Jeri, on the right, is my next door neighbor in the office. Both are long-suffering listeners and profound encouragers to my life!

* NOT your typical day at the office: the TV camera arrived to do a news story! This is the phone room...with volunteers taking pledges!

* More of my fabulous co-workers! You might recognize the lovely lady on the left: Mrs. Lynne Ford. (I always call her Miss Lynne, but she really is married.) And then - my good friend, Diane! She is our receptionist and in my (correct) opinion a master of station knowledge. When I cover for her breaks, I develop new appreciation for just how much she knows! I love laughing with her - and we do that about1283791273192873 times a day. Then we have 2/3 of the morning team, Larry and Jim. They are so much fun!

* Here's what life looked like in the studio...Ross is in the back there and then Jim and Phil of the morning team. That seat where Phil is planted (by the door) is where I sit during SHARE. Normally I'm in Jim's seat during Mid-Morning.

* Lynne and I were on air together during the Mid-Morning hour. She propped up her binder and I asked if that was so I wouldn't copy her work. (Hello second grade!!) She just laughed at me. (This happens a lot.)

* Like you thought I'd forget to report in on the food. Lunch was from McAlisters. YUM. Wraps...pickles...soup...and chocolate chip cookies (not pictured but definitely consumed).

* Sheryl trained the phone volunteers when new ones arrived, and I listened in so I could learn for when I had to start answering phones. (I got to wear the Life Alert operator headsets again!)

See? "Help is on the way!!"

* Dinner was an Italian delight - and you see that little brownie looking thing over to the right? It wasn't a brownie. It was some sort of truffly, moussey, cheesecakey delight that I deemed heaven on a plate. Oh. My. Word. All other desserts are now spoiled for me. Not kidding.

A couple of highlights from day one:

* I had just shoved a piece of chocolate chip cookie the size of Pennsylvania in my mouth when a man I'd never met stuck out his hand and said, "I don't believe we've met. I'm Brian." I said, "AhhhmBekah ahhhnd Ahhhhhm srrry ahhhh donnnn usually talkk wif my mouf full..." Amused, no doubt, at my increasingly red face, he said, "What do you do here?" "Ahhhhm the muhmorning pro...." (swallow) "ducer. Nice to meet you." Good grief. Was I born in a barn?

* At the end of the day, I got to meet our IT guy, Marion's, daughter. She's 4. Hilarious. I was waiting for phone calls and she hung out with me for a while. After talking to me about her dad, she said, "Do you KNOW my daddy?" I said, "Yes I sure do. I break things a lot and he fixes them." She said, "What do you break?" I said, "My computer." She said, "How do you break it?" I said, "Well, I wish I knew. He probably does too!"

New Adventures at Work!

Today begins a new adventure for me in the land of radio: the annual fundraiser begins today.

For years (crazy as it may sound) the sharathon (which we now call just plain SHARE) was one of my favorite things to listen to. All the programming was put aside for a couple of days, and some people might not know what to do with that, but I loved it. I loved hearing the staff talk on the air and the stories listeners called and wrote in to share with others. It was always a huge boost to my faith to hear what God was doing in the lives of others who listened to the same music and talk radio I heard every day.

I clearly remember last year's SHARE. I remember sitting at my desk, incredibly discouraged about the work I was doing, closing my door, and cranking up the speakers so I could hear the encouragement over the airwaves.

I remember sending in my pledge, which held significance for me as it gave God credit out loud for the work He'd done in my heart over the desert period.

Hard to believe this year, I'm on THIS side of the radio.
The building looks crazy different right now. The mailboxes have taken up residence in the office I share with Lynne. I call it "the way to get people to visit me regularly." I actually like the influx in office traffic.

Yesterday, Craig said he found communication central for us. A walkie talkie from the era of the ark. Yes, the antenna really is out the side of the picture.

Of course I said "You know, Craig, I HAVE to have my picture taken with that thing." So he patiently waited while I ran for the Bekahrazzi camera. I don't think he was expecting the monstrosity I returned with, but he graciously took my picture.

And so it begins! I have no idea what to expect - but I'm excited! Pray for us?

The Staff

The interview with Angie Smith may be over...but God is not done using her book to teach this girl some lessons.

When I walked the desert road, I found the two places (at home) where I heard God best were the rug at the end of my bed and my fat chair. Those were the two places I'd fall in the fetal position to strain to hear His whisper. Today the two places I hear Him best are the shower and in front of the fireplace. Some days I alternate between the two for hours. Shower until the hot water runs out...then to the fireplace to take away the chill...then back to the shower...back to the fireplace.

And so it was that yesterday, as I pressed in to the heat of the fireplace, He brought back something I'd read in the book. A powerful picture.

Angie wrote about Moses, who had a very real fear of public speaking, which just so happened to be the very thing God asked him to do. She talks about the staff God gave to Moses - to represent the power of the Lord he carried with him - to give him the strength to do some pretty difficult tasks.

Angie said "As I consider what God is calling me to do, despite my own misgivings, I need to remember the staff given to me. In the midst of my fear, He hands it to me as a reminder of His great power. I am blessed in using it in exactly the way He instructs, and held accountable for the times I try to claim it as my own. I did not create the staff, nor give it any power. I merely hold it, waiting for further instruction." (p. 74 - "What Women Fear)

If my yard weren't blanketed in snow right now, I would have pulled myself up off that living room floor and marched straight into the backyard to grab the biggest stick I could find and bring it into the house as an out-loud reminder of what is happening in my heart right now.

I know what He's asking. And much like Moses, I desperately want to argue. But He reminded me that what I hold is the staff of His strength. I not only can do this, but I must do this.

In church yesterday, my pastor asked us if we knew what step God was asking us to take next. I kind of wanted to see if he could ask another question instead...one more comfortable. But I do know. I know what He wants of me. And apparently...I do have the strength.

So...as was my daily, sometimes minute-ly prayer in the desert...find me faithful.

It's the Weekly Recap!

*Last Sunday I made a last-minute decision to head north to the church I'd visited a couple of weeks ago, and I enjoyed worshipping with them and spending more time with my new friends. They are sweet and welcoming! When I came home that evening, I made my first ever red velvet cake for Ross at work. (Any cake is possible with the assistance of the talented Duncan Hines. But let the record show the frosting was from scratchety scratch scratch.)
* Monday...well...what can you say? Stressed?

Okay I'm KIDDING! That's just me posing with all of Ross's birthday treats. I was so glad he had a birthday. :) My treat Monday evening was a haircut and color. Only about 6 weeks overdue. Goodness gracious. I'm lucky one of those have-pity-on-her makeover shows didn't pick me up! (And a side note...Monday was when I posted about sending cards, and guess what? I got one in the mail that day! Loved that timing!)

* Tuesday we had spring, fall, and winter weather all in one day! Good grief, Indiana! When I left for work, it was 53 degrees, and I came home in snow. And we had a thunderstorm! It really is true in this state...if you don't like the weather, wait five minutes and it will change. Oh - and look who took on the role of Dryer Inspector #1 during laundry that night?

* Wednesday I had another work related pinch me...is this really my life? moment when Lynne and I interviewed Angie Smith for an hour. I was crazy nervous but she was so much fun to talk to. My favorite part was when all three of us were giggling like third graders about life a-la-Anne-of-Green-Gables. We talked to her about her book What Women Fear, and it was powerful for me (chronic scaredy cat). Wednesday evening...I finally put all this away:
* Thursday I had the nicest little commute to work and literally the minute I got there, black ice hit and there were slide-offs all over the road I'd just been on. Because I'd not anticipated this...I did not have a suitcase packed in the car, so I had no choice but to drive home in it. It took me an hour and a half and one stretch of ten or so miles was solid ice, but I made it!


* Friday afternoon we had some visitors at the station! My friend Ben and his parents came by to re-meet Miss Lynne many years after meeting her for the first time. There's a very fascinating story behind this entire thing but I didn't ask if it was okay to post it, so I won't. But here's the official photo: And after that, we all hung out for dinner and a movie...fun evening! (And then I ended up in a hotel AGAIN because of weather!)

* Saturday was supposed to be a very productive day but once I made it home, I mostly laid on the floor in front of the fireplace exercising that whole "pray without ceasing" thing. I was very grateful that God prompted some good friends to call and pray with me. A sweet day, even if it wasn't what I planned.

One Thousand Gifts: I think my favorite gift this week was the night I drove home from work and God urged me to turn off my David Phelps duet and pray...specifically to praise Him. I was not feeling particularly thankful but I tried and before long I found myself in a sincere attitude of praise...a gift!


Organization Confessions: I caught up from the days I missed last week, but I got behind on this week's organizing. I will say, though, that when I put away all the Christmas things,I got rid of quite a few things I've not used. That's good!


Pinterest Inspiration: This week's Pinterest Inspiration came from this pin - a new way to tie a scarf. I tied as instructed, though you can't really tell in my picture, because my scarf has kind of a "busy" pattern to it. I did, though, add the clip and loved the way it dressed it up!

Caramel Surprise Brownies

When I was a litle girl, there were three things my Aunt B made that I could not possibly love more. Lasagna, cream puffs, and caramel surprise brownies. When the rest of the family asked for birthday lists every year, the only thing I wanted from her was one (or three) of those things. YUM.

I've never asked her for any of the recipes because I wasn't sure she shared them (signature pieces, you know), so alllllll these many years later, I've just savored any morsel of them she offered. Come to find out...the caramel surprise brownie recipe was in the church cookbook the whole time! Good grief.

Earlier last year I made a "almost" version of these brownies and it's good...but this real version is SO worth the effort. You will not be sorry.




The Recipe
1 German Chocolate Cake Mix


1 package of caramels UNWRAPPED (Important)
2/3 cups evaporated milk
1 cup chocolate chips
3/4 cups melted butter

Preheat oven to 350. Add 1/3 cup evaporated milk and melted butter to cake mix. Spread 1/2 of the batter in a greased 9x13 pan. Bake for 10 minutes at 350. Melt caramels with remaining 1/3 cup of evaporated milk. Pour on top of cake and sprinkle on chocolate chips. Add remainder of cake batter and bake for another 15 minutes.


I used milk chocolate chips in this just because I wanted it to be richer. (As if it isn't by itself.)
Cut the butter into chunks and melt in the microwave.

In case you don't know what melted butter looks like. :)

Add the butter and the evaporated milk (half of it) to the dry cake mix.

The batter will be very thick.

Unwrap the caramels. A tedious but important step.

Put them in a saucepan along with the rest of the evaporated milk.

Pat the batter into the bottom of the pan (just half of it).

Keep an eye on the caramel so it doesn't burn.

The batter spreads out as it bakes, so don't worry if in the pre-bake look, there are some holes. They will fill in!

Pour the melted caramel mixture over the baked cake half.

Sprinkle on the chocolate chips.

This is the trickiest part. The batter is thick enough to handle (like soft play-doh) so I just pulled chunks of it out of the bowl and made little pats of it.

And then I piece them together on top of the baked mix.

Bake!!! And ENJOY!!

I'll warn you...it's super rich! So pace yourself! Best when consumed with milk or coffee. Or both.

Names and Such

My mother loves my name. (As well she should. She picked it out. Or had input on it anyway.) "Tall letter, short letter, tall letter, short letter, tall letter, short letter, tall letter" she always says.

Well it may be an OCD girl's aesthetic dream but it's a nightmare to explain. "Hi, I'm Rebekah." Oh...Rebecca? "No. Rebekah. R-e-b-e-k-a-h." Interesting!

Interesting until you try to buy something personalized. And then it's NOT going to happen. Pair Rebekah with a last name like Freelan, which is always changed to either Freeman or Freeland and it's just a tough life for a kindergartener (through senior in high school).

A few days ago, I was talking to my friend Whitney about names (she has the best names for her kids...I love them!) and she told me about this name website, where you can look up all sorts of popularity stats.

So I just checked it out. If you can believe what you read on the internet, in 2010 there were 787 babies named Rebekah and 2250 named Rebecca. Sigh. We're so underpopulated...we Rebekahs.
In positive news, though, it's been half a dozen years since someone named her son Rebekah, whereas just a couple of years ago, five little boy Rebeccas entered the world. (Seriously??)

After the debacle of my tall letter/short letter name - I vowed with everything not in me to NOT do this to my kids, should I ever have them. I would not give them a name they couldn't find on a personalization kiosk.

So um...Braeya? Well, if you can believe what you read on the internet, and I quote, "No matches were found." Seriously? Since 1880 no one has thought of Braeya??

So if you need a little bit of a time waster this weekend...check out the site and find out all the stats on the popularity of your name. Fascinating info!

What a Difference a Year Makes

Okay, so I wasn't going to write about this because I feel kind of star-struck-annoying when I talk about some of the opportunities I get because of my job. But then...I remembered part of what I want to preserve on my blog is a running memory of what happened in my life, so I changed my mind and decided to write about it.

Yesterday, Lynne and I interviewed Angie Smith.

Shut. The. Front. Door.

There are a handful of women whose writing I so deeply admire - and were you to line them up and examine their writing styles, you'd give me a very puzzled look and say "They sound nothing alike. How can these all be your favorites?" Well, because. :)

What I love about Angie is that she is hilarious - and yet deeply profound. I alternate between giggling and underlining when I read her books. Another thing I love about Angie is that she's so Bekah. When she wrote about meeting Beth Moore....well....this is virtually the same reaction I had to speaking with her on the air.

Angie's first book, I Will Carry You told the story of her grief and joy as she prepared to give birth to the daughter she knew would die, and though my circumstances were different, the lessons and insights she shared in those pages carried me through my desert.

Her new book is called What Women Fear, but let me tell you: even if you're not a woman, you can benefit from this book. Powerful biblical principles in that book!

I sat at the board and stared at my notes in front of me, listening to her share about her debilitating life-long battle with fear and how the Lord was transforming and redeeming that struggle to bring glory to Him, and I closed my eyes to soak in the moment.

One year ago (per my blog post last year at this time) I'd spent the week fearing for my safety at work because of some angry words a parent of one of my students spewed at me over the phone. It was the first time I'd seriously wondered if the parent would get in the car, drive to campus and go on a shooting spree. I never would have dreamed that one year later I'd be sitting at an engineer board giggling with Angie Smith about junior high French braids and finding an Anne of Green Gables-esque buddy.

Who knew??

It proves my year's verse right: His ways are far beyond what I could imagine!

Dunes and Lighthouses

I've done a couple posts before about vacationlets I hope to someday take...one to Mackinac Island and one to Chicago.

Perhaps it was the springlike weather we had yesterday morning (hello 53 degrees in January!!) or perhaps it is that last year at this time I was planning an escape to Florida...but I have the itch to take a trip! And since that isn't on the horizon...I can dream, right?

So here's one of my little destination dreams. Kind of silly, maybe, but true.

I've never seen a lighthouse in real life.

You think I want to take a trip to a lighthouse because I want to have a ridiculous photo shoot, don't you?


Guilty as charged!


But it's not just that. I think they're beautiful - and I can only imagine the view from inside one. Oh yes. I think that should happen this year.


And...while I'm at it...never been to any sand dunes either. And though I have no good reason (other than photo shoots, which are a given) for wanting to go...I just want to.

So let's bring on the pretty days so I can road-trip my way to a couple of fulfilled dreamlets!

He Knew

Once upon a time, I thought I wanted to write fiction. I was wrong. (Watch...now that I've declared that, I'll be wrong again!)

I wrote fiction(ish) in college and was fairly decent in the craft, but I determined that juggling all the simultaneous story lines and full character development were just not my forte. My gifts were elsewhere.

My friends Jody and Sarah write fiction, and I've come in contact with many other fiction writers through work, and I have a newfound appreciation for how much labor goes into each piece they write.

The one thing I read frequently is how writers are surprised (sometimes) to see where the story lines go. They fully expected a character to go left, but when they sat to write...he totally veered to the right and surprised everyone, including them.

The other night I lay curled up in bed, sporting my fuzzy pink bathrobe and an equally fuzzy princess blanket...and a trail of mascara down both cheeks. I poured my heart out before the Lord and hoped my words were seeping through the ceiling, out the roof, and up to Heaven.

Late at night, my friend Bob called out of the blue (he never calls) - and as I shared my heart-confusion with him, he said many profound things, but the one in particular was this:

Bekah, your Daddy knows. When He was forming you...when He was shaping you inside your mama, He saw this night. He saw this hurt. This doesn't surprise Him. He knew it was coming. Your Daddy knows...and He knew it then.

Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. - Psalm 139:16

God is no fiction writer. My life's random twists and turns (and there have been many) haven't surprised Him. He knows. He always knew. He knew every giggle and every sob before they formed within me. He knows all the ones ahead.

I knew that somewhere in the core of me...you know, from second grade Sunday School or something...but there was something comforting and reassuring about hearing it it phrased just that way while beneath the pile of pink fuzzy and dried mascara trails.

So in case today is your day to have heart confusion, can I just tell you? He knows. He always knew. He knew THIS day. And He knows tomorrow. Your Daddy knows.

Encourage Each Other

Junior high is unkind to most and I didn't escape that. Big hair...bigger bangs...who-let-me-out-dressed-like-that clothing...and the ongoing struggle to outgrow my baby chub just didn't make for a fun time in life.

One week a boy who was as cursed by junior high as I was (except he didn't have big bangs) visited our Sunday School class. Mercifully I have forgotten the exact scenario and the words that accompanied it, but he said something to me in response to something I had said to the group....that was, well, jaw-dropping rude. No one had any idea how to handle it, because no one wanted to be rude to the visitor...but wow. It was OUT LOUD.

The next day I came home to a card in the mail - from my youth pastor's wife, the lovely Jody Hedlund. I still see it in my mind...cartoon drawn front, cut out in the shape of a heart, and inside, words that confirmed that I was special. Beneath the printed message, she wrote that she wanted me to know how wrong and how rude the visitor had been and that she didn't want me to doubt my beauty and worth in the eyes of the Lord.

Lo these many years later, I remember her card. I actually still have it.

I was in college when God called me to be an encourager...and I launched into it mainly through letter and card writing. Jody's card meant so much to me...and I wanted to pass that on to others.

After all, who doesn't love getting non-bill, non-junk mail that says Hey. You're special. I'm thinking about you!


For years, I made my own cards. Then I fell off the card-making bandwagon, first through the lack of initiative in the desert days and then through the busyness that is now my life.

But the time has come to send cards again. There are people surrounding me on all sides who just flat out hurt.

They need something that says they're loved.

For a while now, I've been reading Holley Gerth's blog posts and I come away saying, That's what I would have said if I'd have thought of it.

Holley also writes for Dayspring, and when I found out about their card link up posting day, I knew I wanted a pack of her cards, because she would say to my friends in need what I would say to them if I had the ability to be concise. (Which, you well know, I don't have...)

When they arrived, I ripped them open and read every one...and I had tears in my eyes because I needed those words myself.
"The Lord has given you all you need and made you all you need to be for victory."

"You're welcomed, held, cherished just as you are and encouraged to embrace all He has for you."

"And that thing that you're worried about? The One who made you is going to make it okay too."

So as much as I wish I could hang all these cards in my bathroom and look them over every day to be reminded of words of truth...

...I'm going to send them out. One by one...to friends who might feel like big-haired teenagers sitting across from mean-spirited boys with loud mouths. To people feeling like failures and losers.

Maybe you've been like me...too busy, too preoccupied...too whatever. But maybe someone needs a card? Check out Holley's line over at Dayspring and see what I mean!

** Dayspring provided my sample cards, but all the opinions are mine and are true! **