Bebo

Friday was one of those days that just cracked me up from start to finish. WAY too much for one blog post. So this week, I bring you a series that I lovingly call "Just Another Bekah Friday." This particular post is not actually where the day began, but I don't yet have the pictures for the first part...and to not have the pictures would kill the whole thing. So just know that I'd already had one "shut up!" moment before this one began.

As I mentioned in the weekly recap, Friday night, I was on the station work crew for the Mark Schultz, Bebo Norman, Point of Grace concert that took place in Fort Wayne. I was pretty excited because I love all those artists. (Side note: Throughout the post, I'll intersperse...like that word?...some of the pictures I took of Bebo at the concert. They don't directly relate to the story. They're just for your viewing pleasure.)

Friday afternoon I was workity work working away at my desk when Bebo and his right hand man Gabe the guitar guy came to the station to spend some time on the air with Ross. When their interview ended, they were waiting for their ride to pick them up and take them back to the church where the concert was held. There was a bit of a delay in the ride arriving, so I heard a knock on my door and these words, "Would you have time to run Bebo and Gabe to the church...in the station van?"
Here are the things that went thoughts that went through my head, in the order I comprehended them.

1.) Bebo NORMAN???
2.) Drive the VAN??????
3.) Where is my GPS?

Here is what came out of my mouth.

1.) Of course!
2.) Let me get my GPS.
3.) Where is my GPS??

I heard Ken say, "You don't know how to get to the church?" I rolled my eyes. "Do I know how to get anywhere in this town??" (This is the downside to the GPS. It makes you lazy in actually learning routes...because you don't have to.) He told me to just hop on the interstate, told me the exit number and said I'd be fine.
So, Bebo, Gabe the guitar guy, and I all headed toward the van. I bit my tongue from blurting out, "You should know I normally drive a compact car" and climbed in the driver's seat. I elected to not try to adjust the seat (which was apparently last inhabited by the Jolly Green Giant) because I wasn't sure where the lever was and I was sure that fumbling around would not increase the confidence of these two fine artists in their driver.

May I add that it's very tricky to see through the back window of a van that has a wrap covering it? I was trying to peek around Chris Tomlin's head to make sure I didn't completely demolish Marion's car behind me...and hearing no crunching...I proceeded to exit the parking lot, with Bebo and Gabe in tow.

They were busy working on their set list and I was busy praying I wouldn't have a wreck IN the station van WITH the artists.
When they finished their set list, we all started talking and they told me about their families and where they live and asked me how long I've lived in Ft. Wayne. That was when I accidentally blurted out that I don't actually live in the city and am (ha ha!) still learning the routes. I'm sure they felt pretty good about that. Great! They've set us loose with a girl who doesn't know the roads!

We talked some more and their manager called to see how far away from the church we were. Bebo said, "Do you know how far we are?" I mustered up some false confidence and said, "OHHHH you know...ten minutes or so."

It was right about then that I began to question that exit number Ken had given me. But there was no time because we'd all moved on to talking about travel.
Bebo asked if I'd traveled much and I said, "No...I really like to but that's new. Until very recently I haven't actually been a big fan of interstate driving."

Things NOT to say while driving someone down an interstate MIGHT include that you used to hate interstate driving.

Gabe piped up, "How are you feeling about the directions right now?" I was sweating it, but I didn't want him to know it so I said, "Well, you know...haven't seen the sign for Michigan fly by, so I think we're good."

Just then he said, "OH! There's the IHOP. We're almost there!" (Thank you Lord, for the IHOP!)

I exited and suddenly lost all grip on where I was. (I'd not ever gone to the church that way before.) Not knowing what else to do, I said out loud, "Did I take the wrong exit?"

Bebo said, "No, just turn here. The church is right there."

Super. The out-of-towner is telling me the directions. Proud moment indeed.

I safely delivered them and headed back to the station. Did that really just happen?? And indeed it did. Leave it to the newbie to make an utter fool of herself in front of Bebo Norman and Gabe the Guitar Guy Extraordinaire. Speaking of Gabe...here he is:
And in case you're not familiar with Bebo Norman, here is one of my faves of his. We sang this song often at church when I was in the desert, and it was a huge comfort to me:

It's the Weekly Recap!

* Last Sunday was the start of evil Daylight Savings, you know. But then you've already seen my thoughts on that (again). I survived the day after two naps, a coke, a caramel macchiato and two iced teas. :) Last Sunday would also have been Kaegan's golden birthday. Eleven on the eleventh. Miss my buddy.
* Monday I was so excited because we had our blogmania show where we interviewed 5 pretty amazing bloggers! I was SO NERVOUS for that show but loved the way it went. I spent the rest of the day rather sick...pretty sure I was just worn out from time change drama. (Laugh if you want, but I stick to my story.) And that evening I went to Lynne's house to spend the night. I was a total bum...starting with gobbling up this amazing dinner she cooked: * Tuesday was our first day of Share Wrap Up - trying to make up what we didn't raise back in January. I talked to some of the SWEETEST people...their stories gave me goose bumps! And it was a lot of fun to hang out in the phone room with my co-workers throughout the day. (Iced tea break!)


* Wednesday was day two of our Share Wrap it Up! day....and we not only met, but exceeded our goal for the year! That was a pretty amazing faith booster! After two days of working extra long hours, I was a little bit tired-ish, but it was so fun all at the same time.
* Thursday evening I went for a walk/run after work...and who EVER would have thought that on March 15th, choosing capris instead of shorts would have been the WRONG choice? I about died of a heat stroke, but I made it! Then I went to a jewelry party at my friend Lara's house. Faith (you remember Faith) started selling jewelry last fall and I've been invited to a ton of her parties but I've always been working or gone...so this was my first one! FUN!!
*Friday was THE BEST MADHOUSE OF A DAY. So good, in fact, that most of this coming week's blog posts were born of it. It all centered around the huge concert featuring Mark Schultz, Bebo Norman, and Point of Grace. What. A. (Beautiful). Day. Here's just a little picture to get you going.


* Saturday I went for a walk/run outside and it was SO beautiful out! Then I opened the grill for the season...inaugurating it with some lime chicken and...yes that is asparagus on my plate. Lynne Ford, what have you done to me??? I ate outside while listening to birds chirp and watching the sun go down. Love me some spring!


One Thousand Gifts. During the Share wrap up days, I had the privilege of talking with some listeners who had the most beautiful stories of what God was doing in their lives through the station. As I listened, I remembered something I'd prayed while still working at my old job. I prayed that God would take me somewhere that made a Kingdom difference. And that's what I heard coming through the phones...Kingdom difference. That's a gift.

Pinterest Inspiration. This week I went the route of the recipes...and I made this amazing strawberry smoothie: I will be making this again (and again and again) - and I think the only change I would make is to cut down on the sugar. Not that I don't love sugar...quite the contrary! I think it would just help make it healthier. Here is the original:

Source: allrecipes.com via Rebekah on Pinterest

Grace

So...Wednesday I overslept.

A lot.

To the tune of an hour and a half.

I like to wake up slowly. I like to hit snooze a couple of times...roll out of bed...sort of amble to the coffee pot...make a yogurt parfait....ingest all that while slowly doing my devos.

Here's another way to wake up: "WHAT! SIX THIRTY???? AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!!!!" And then proceed to fly around at rapid speeds. That was Wednesday morning.

I had a large number of things to accomplish in a very short amount of time. And in the flurry of getting ready and getting to work on time, I didn't get my devotions in before I left Lynne's house.

And. I. Was. A. Mess. The. Rest. Of. The. Day.

My co-workers were joking around and I took it personally and almost cried. (Dumb.)

I had to change my nail appointment to be able to work late for the fundraiser, and my nail lady didn't have another opening in over two weeks. That made me mad. (Shallow.)

The only two days scheduled to be rain-free were the days we worked late and I didn't get to walk outside. (Selfish.)

God did an AMAZING miracle in our world by raising the funds like He did...totally surpassing our request. How often do I get to sit in the middle of a financial miracle like that? Um...not often! And what did I do? I lamented my nail loss, my exercise loss, and grumbled about things like really bad hair.

Frankly, I would have shoved me onto a time-out chair and said, "Listen here, Missy. Twelve THOUSAND extra dollars. You know....like TWELVE leftover baskets of loaves and fish? Could you please file your nails, do some sit ups, wear a hat, and get over yourself??"

(Aren't you glad I'm not God?)

But when stinky attitude and I arrived home Wednesday evening, still inwardly grumbling about the weather and the nails, this is what I saw:
No lecture. No time out. No guilt trip.

Just a gorgeous bouquet of flowers to welcome me home after three days of absence.

Just a reminder of love. A divine embrace of sorts. An extension of grace. Something to say...Baby Girl, I know you haven't had the finest of days, but I still love you. So much.

That's some Abba love.

Share: REALLY Wrapping it Up!

We ended up not reaching our Share goal after our first "wrap it up" day on Tuesday, so we went for another day on Wednesday! Here's a tour-let of that day.

* DESPITE going to bed early every single night since Evil DST began, my internal clock is still messed up and that morning I totally turned off my alarm and went back to sleep, waking up promptly at 6:30 (5:30 body clock time) - which was a full hour and a half late.

* Flew around Lynne's house like a mad-woman, showering, getting ready (after losing my jeans and panicking that I forgot to pack them), making the bed (because HELLO! a good guest doesn't leave an unmade bed), and packing to leave. Managed to get out only 10 minutes later than planned, but sadly WITHOUT devotions under my belt...a decision which proved attitudinally fatal the rest of the day.

* Here's what THAT hair day looked like. The "save the hair" headphones were really quite pointless.
* The phone room was housed in the conference room which is in a far crevice of the building. That translates to no cell phone signal. Apparently my "audition for Lady Liberty" pose to try to get a signal caught on...

* Took a quick bathroom break and walked into the hallway to find Craig measuring it. Of course! I asked him why he was measuring the hall...which seemed a logical question. His answer? "Oh I was just intrigued." I think he really had a reason but that sounded more mysterious. So of course, I took a picture.

*Between phone calls, I opened the mail. Every day really is like Christmas in this job. It's true.

* Some of us on staff (half a dozen of us or so) have been doing arm and leg exercises. Takes about 3 minutes for each set, so during Wrap Up days, we did the arm exercises in the morning and the leg exercises in the afternoon. Let the record show I think I've done something unpleasant to my leg anyway, so after 3 minutes of burning torture...I mean toning...I gave my wellness report:

* The phones were crazy busy at the end of the day, so I was at the ready for a new call at every given moment!!

* As you might imagine, after reading through the same list of questions for two straight days, we're bound to get a little tongue-tied. (One staffer, for instance, asked a caller, "Do you spell Cheryl with a C or an H?" hee.hee.hee.) So for day two, they created a "top ten" list of great quotes. Everyone started giggling during one of my calls, and I looked up to see someone scribbling on the board. Here's what I said:

No respect, I tell you!

* We needed to raise $112,926 in the wrap up adventure to meet the 1.4 million dollar operating budget for the year. At the end of two days, God blessed us with $12,329 MORE than we needed to raise. Isn't that amazing???

* Two days, $1,452,329 pledged, many cups of coffee later....here was the aftermath of the phone room:

* And here is the aftermath of this producer's desk after she failed to SEE it for two days!!

* Loved this moment. All of us still in the building went to the studio where Scott, Ross, and Lynne were manning the airwaves, and we got to cheer and pray a prayer of praise for God's amazing miracle in this adventure. Goose bumps and tears!

* I got home at 7:30 Wednesday night and saw Braeya for the first time since 6:30 Monday morning. She greeted me with much gusto and then crawled into the fat chair and turned her back to me.

I deserved it.

Share: Wrap it Up!

Remember when we had our Share Fundraiser in January? We didn't quite reach our goal, so we spent a couple of days this week raising additional funds. Thought you might like a tour-let of a day in Share Wrap-Up.

* I spent the night at Lynne's and bless her precious heart, she doesn't own a coffee maker. (Yes. Collective gasp heard around the world.) So, armed with about 1/2 cup of (fabulous) berry smoothie, I exited her home and drove to work. I ran into Amy as I zombied my way to the kitchen, and she said, "Are you okay???" I said, "This is what I look like before coffee." She was frightened...and rightfully so, I might add. (There will be no photos of that. I want you to love me.)

* The phones were ringing like crazy when the coffee cup, donut and I arrived in the phone room. So I jumped right in and started taking pledges. I was so thankful some of my first calls were the SWEETEST people on the planet. Seriously! Loved what they shared.

* Then Ken found the stapler.
* Yep, that's what happens when office supplies are left unattended! My thoughts on the subject:

* During the Mid-Morning hour, I went back into the studio to hang out with Ross and Lynne. Took an engineering break, and just enjoyed the hour behind the mic, helping to read pledges. (Isn't Lynne lovely? And to think - she does that without coffee. Mind-boggling.)

* After I got off the air, I had lunch (Mexican - YUM!) and went back into the phone room, where I spent the rest of the day. The only sad thing about the whole day was that it was SO STINKIN' GORGEOUS OUTSIDE and our phone room has no window. Yeah, that's not a window behind Jim, there. Though I can see how you might think it's Fort Wayne. Easy mistake to make.

* Hanging out on phone duty with Phil, Jim, and Larry was HI-larious. Lesson learned: do not drink tea or attempt to eat while the three of them are in funny mode! (Aren't you impressed, though, how Jim zoned out of funny-land long enough to be serious?)

* Two cups of coffee - not enough. Must have iced tea!! So here was my iced tea break....

* During my break, someone found the stapler again....

* My little sign.

Craig is our (very funny) engineer and he called...to tell me he had my cat. HA! There's one way to raise money! Catnapping!

Gotta tell you....it was SO fun to spend the day hanging out with my co-workers. They make me laugh so hard. (Surely that burns a calorie SOMEWHERE, wouldn't you think?)

Just Sayin'

If you're a longtime reader of my blog, you know that one of my least favorite events each year is Daylight Savings. If you're new here, allow me to introduce you to my disdain for, as I call it, Evil DST. Proof positive:

I grew up in Indiana. We never changed times. One time. All the time. Beautiful. And then...the arrival of Evil DST. I know a great many of you are fans of the later hours in the summer. And I'm not going to lie...I am too. It's the switching back and forth that gets on my nerves. If you want the time we have right now...fine by me! But can we just stay that way all the time? Pretty please with sugar on top?

My uh...reputation seems to have gone before me. Saturday evening I received not one, but TWO texts from friends who thought of me while changing their clocks. (woops.)

I wasn't going to blog about the time change this year - especially after taking some flak after a Facebook comment on the subject. But this is my blog...and I wanna. So I'm gonna.

Read this article on Sunday...and I have just a smattering of comments to make. Just a smattering. Take a look-see.

1. Heart attack rates increase by 10%? SUPER!!!! Because I definitely have time for that. (I really didn't need to know this. I'm such a hypochondriac.)

2. Night owls who get less than seven hours of sleep a night may take up to a week to adjust? The fact that it takes me until the next time change to adjust should clue you in to the amount of sleep I get every night.

3. Start going to bed 15 minutes earlier a couple of nights before the time change? Helpful, when I read the article the day OF the time change.

4. Set your alarm 30 minutes earlier on Saturday and Sunday? Um, I'm sorry...Saturdays were not made for an alarm, and Sunday I got up AN HOUR EARLIER because, you know, the time changed.

5. Go outside early Saturday and Sunday morning? I did! I went out before noon on Saturday (11:45) and the equivalent of 8 a.m. on Sunday...body clock time.

6. Exercise outside but not after 4 pm? Ummmm so are employers supposed to give you time off during the day to account for this?

7. Refrain from napping over the weekend? So we'll pretend those two on Sunday NEVER HAPPENED.

I'm also going to guess the Coke, caramel macchiato, and 2 iced teas on Sunday may not have helped. Just a theory.

So there we go. I'm just hanging out hoping to be in the 90% of non heart-attacked, sleep-deprived, non-DST fans.

Please still love me.

VOTE!!

Yesterday I told you what I'm learning in my God-journey. Today I need help picking an Easter dress.

I know. It's kind of an about-face. But please help????

Saturday I had my first feeling-only-semi-fat day in a while, so I figured it was as good a time as any to go shopping for an Easter dress. Easter dress-shopping is always a drama. For a couple of my all time classic adventures, read this or this.

I headed to the mall...without a girlfriend in tow to give opinions. That's where you come in.

Please note: I do not make a habit of taking pictures of myself while trying on clothing. Therefore I was most unsure of whether or not I should smile. It seemed odd to smile while alone in a dressing room. But I looked mad when I didn't, so I did. Please also note: I do not plan to wear green and white athletic socks with my Easter dress. Although I do think it adds a little something...

I know I should just number the pictures and set you free, but I am going to tell you what I did and did not like about each one, just in case you need that information to make an informed decision. Please tell me what to get! (Or if I should keep trying. Oh mercy. Please no.)

Option #1. This was actually my most favorite dress of all of them. I loved the colors and I loved the style. The unfortunate thing about this dress was...I could not get it zipped for about the last inch at the top. And I think if I got the next size up, it would be not only emotionally depressing, but just flat out too big in other areas.
Option #2. I loved this dress very much, and it fit! But I was worried it might be a little too hoochie for church? (And don't tell me to add a sweater. I AM a sweater.)

Option #3. I adored the way this one fit, even though it had a collar kind of like a Lucy Ricardo laundry dress. It did have a big fabric belt that was supposed to tie as a bow in the front but much as no dress should ever have a butt bow, this girl does not need a gut bow. I have enough gut. Let's not put a bow on it, hmmm? So I just omitted the belt. I kind of feel like this print looks like a botanical garden threw up on me. So I wasn't sure...

Option #4. I had to purchase this one because they only had 4 on the rack...this was the only one in my size...and at this store there's never a guarantee that they'll get more. Yes, I know this one looks like a paintball gun threw up. But it's kinda fun funky. The belt is a leather wrapping/weaving mess that might be smarter than I am, but I liked the look and flowy feel of the dress. And it has pockets! I love pockets! And it was a size smaller than I normally wear, so it's emotionally appealing. :) One down side - if it's a windy Easter, then HELLO dress-up day!

Option #5. Also had to purchase this one - for the same reasons listed above. This one honestly feels like jammies. The most comfortable of any of them. It's a good Easter dinner dress - you could eat for days and just keep expanding. I'm not sure it's bright enough to suit my tastes.

K y'all. Help!

Silence

* Little Public Service Announcement...so excited about today's Mid-Morning show, because it's our blogmania show! If you like to read The Recipe Shoebox...The Mom Creative...Kelly's Korner...The Nesting Place...or Emily A. Clark, tune in here at 10 a.m. ET to hear them talk about their blogs! *

Remember my 30 day journey I took during the month of February? The one where God asked me to try living in an attitude of surrender rather than an attitude of personal assistance?

There were many great things about that journey, and I've blogged about some of them already. But one of my favorite things about that season was how frequently God spoke. My journal, which travels with me wherever I go, overflowed with quotes that littered Facebook, my Twitter feed, blogs I read, my daily devos, sermons I heard, Mid-Morning shows...you name it. I couldn't write fast enough some days. And while there were days I shook my head with the amazement of it all, I knew it shouldn't surprise me that He was so divinely loud in those days.

Then the season ended. And a new season began...the circle praying season. I've been praying and seeking...

...and hearing absolutely nothing.

My journal entries are short. Twitter and Facebook have been overtaken by thoughts on Daylight Savings, March Madness, and the early onset of spring. Bloggers seem consumed with Pinterest, recipes, and the happenings of their families. My devos are caught up in Lenten thoughts. Mid-Morning topics and sermons have been great, but the topics are far from what my heart encounters in this moment.

Most of my journal entries say, "Are You there?" (Repeat as needed.) (It's needed a lot.)

But as I alluded to yesterday in my recap, there has been something beautiful in this silence.

Don't get me wrong. I don't ADORE the silence. I'd rather have God sit down beside me in the fat chair and talk right out loud so I'm in no way mistaken about His desires for these prayers I'm encircling.

But though my journal says "Are You there..." I have no doubt in my heart the answer is YES.

Yes. He's here.

Silence does not mean absence.

He's not speaking because no words are truly needed. I may think they're needed, but they're not. When they are...He'll speak again.

Meanwhile...He's here. Silent but so present.

It's the Weekly Recap!

* Last Sunday I went to see my friend Jon Crandall's ordination service. It was one of the best services I've ever been in...so well-planned and extremely Spirit-filled. Brian Holland (who baptized me) spoke during part of it, and he did a great job. Julie sang a solo (I've missed her singing!) and after church, I stayed for the carry-in lunch. MAN can that church cook!! * Monday was my first day to run while using my new prayer sticks method. I could not believe how fast that workout went! I loved it! I came home and hunkered down to watch The Voice so I could see Anthony Evans sing. So bummed that he didn't get to move to the next round. :(


* After driving to work in SNOW on Monday - would you believe it was over 60 degrees on Tuesday? I love Indiana. So after work I put on my workout clothes and headed straight outside. Ran into my friend Rachel, who had the same idea, and we got to work out together, just like old times! We've had some great talks in our workouts, so we packed in another hour of catching up! Then I came home and played with Braeya and the laser. Her favorite game!
* Wednesday night I got together with Faith to celebrate her birthday! We met up at Starbucks and caught up on life. Embarrassingly enough, we haven't seen each other since our New Year's bash! Then I um...went shopping. We won't talk about that. (Yet.) Check out this picture, though. I get made fun of so much for being the station pack mule. I take such luggage everywhere I go. This grouping is EVERY DAY'S collection at work...and sometimes I have one or two more bags in addition...
* Thursday I added my newest purchase to the office: a very festive metal perpetual calendar! I found it on clearance at Kohl's for about $15 bucks and could NOT resist. It fits in perfectly and lets me keep an eye on what's coming up - in shows...in concerts...and in my own life, too. I love it, and so do my work buds!
* Friday night I got to have dinner with Lynette, the Financial Aid Secretary. We've only seen each other a couple of times since I left the office, and she wanted to celebrate her birthday with me...so we did! We had dinner at The Mill in Marion - and while this is one of Marion's nicer restaurants (complete with live dinner music) - here is proof that it really doesn't matter what kind of restaurant you take me to, all I really want is a sammich. * Saturday I met Phats and some of his friends for lunch - which meant I had to be out of bed before noon. HA! After lunch, we went to JuJuBerry (frozen yogurt), where I stayed a good girl and had coffee while they had.... Then I went shopping for an Easter dress...an activity nearly as charming as shopping for a swimsuit.

One Thousand Gifts: May sound weird...but my favorite gift this week was God's silence. Don't get me wrong. I'm not a huge fan of His silence - or anyone's silence, really - but I realized that for the first time, I didn't worry that silence meant absence. I knew He was there even though He wasn't very vocal. And for that, I was grateful!

Pinterest Inspiration: This one is SO CUTE!!! Here's the original:

Source: myblessedlife.net via Rebekah on Pinterest

In my county...they only sell the spring clothespins, so I got those instead, and then I decided I liked that plan better anyway, because I didn't have to mess with any glue!I just clipped them on a craft mirror and...
TA DA!!!! I'm going to hot glue some twine on the back to make a hanger and the project will be ready to hang over the washer and dryer!

Because Sometimes I Can't Think Outside the Box

In the rules of blog etiquette, I'm pretty sure you're not supposed to admit your moments of um...lack of brilliance.

But a slow news week trumps the rules of blog etiquette.

Do enjoy.

For twenty-some years, I was part of the Marion Easter Pageant. I've told you about that before. So many amazing memories from the Pageant! In my opinion, one of the best scenes (visually speaking) in the Pageant was this one:
The Last Supper. The curtain came up on this reenactment of the famous panting, and everyone stayed "frozen" for a while. Then they "came to life" and shared the dinner...Judas left...and they went back into the frozen position before the curtain came down. Powerful scene.

This past Sunday night, at our church, a group came in and did an hour long presentation called The Last Supper:

Look familiar? :) They took the "frozen" position and then one at a time, each disciple spoke about who he was and wondered if maybe he was the one who would betray Jesus. Really well-done and thought-provoking performance.

Except for one thing.

During Thomas' entire speech, I stared at him and thought But you're not Thomas. You're Judas.

I was sitting next to my friend Laurie and toward the end, she asked if I remembered which disciples hadn't spoken yet. I pointed to the two I thought and said quite confidently, "That one's Peter."

She looked at me a little funny...and right about that time, Peter stood up and said he was somebody else.

WHAT!!!

And only then did it occur to me...

...the painting didn't come with nametags, you know.

The actors in both performances look alike because they're based on the same painting, but they weren't appointed the same identities.

I'm so proud it took me until the eleventh disciple to figure that out.

11 Pieces of Randomness

You should be forewarned: I just took a nap. Not just any nap. One of those naps that when you awaken...you have no idea who you are or what state you live in or what year it might be. So this could be a really comical post. And by comical, of course, I mean incoherent.

One of my favorite blogs to read is My Life in Transition. I don't know Julia in real life. I found her on a blog hop, but her posts remind me, somewhat, of myself. (You know...if I were married with a toddler and a baby on the way...)

She just answered these 11 questions sent to her by someone else, and because my life is still running slow on news, I thought I'd answer them too!

1. Massage or facial? MASSAGE! Okay, truth be told, I've never had a facial. So it might not be a fair question. But words cannot express my deep adoration for massages. I become a greedy puddle of happiness when experiencing a massage. And who doesn't love being a greedy puddle of happiness?

2. The one facebook-ism that gets on your nerves (eg. cliche status updates, game requests, kissy face photos, etc). When people refer to their children by age, rather than name. "My 2.5 year old just ate vegetables." Is that what you call her? "Hey 2.5 year old! Eat your green beans!"

3. Be honest. What's your biggest insecurity? Ohhh boy. Well I've been told by multiple people that I need to not only read, but absorb Beth Moore's book So Long, Insecurity, so I'm not sure I can whittle this down to just one! Ummm...I'll stick to the physical scene and go with stomach. I HATE my stomach and am probably more self-conscious and insecure about it than anything else on me.

4. One word to describe your life AT THIS MOMENT. Limbo. That's where I'm living! Am I selling? Am I moving? Where am I moving? What church am I going to? Am I driving or flying to vacation? (You get the idea.)

5. Did you have any odd habits or preferences as a child? There isn't enough time in the day to answer that one. :) I don't remember this, but my parents said I used to fall asleep staring at the nightlight in the closet. I was (and still am) scared of the dark, so they put a tiny light bulb in the closet, and apparently they were worried I'd go blind just staring at it. They eventually put in a blue one just to help. Guess their fears were unfounded. Not only am I not blind - I'm the only person in my family who doesn't wear glasses or contacts.

6. On which side of the sink do your dishes pile up? Well in theory, none, because I have a dishwasher. But since I have the bad habit of not emptying it as soon as it's clean, they pile up on the left. That way I still have access to the garbage disposal on the right. (And by left, I mean left sink...left counter...the counter to the left of the left counter...) (Okay so it's not THAT bad. I'm not a slob, you know.)

7. What's the most embarrassing thing in your fridge right now? A pitcher of lemonade that is so old, um...I'm just going to pitch the pitcher. (HA! Pitch the pitcher.)

8. What websites and in what order do you visit them every morning? Well I start at my blog and re-read it for typos, then I read all the blog posts that are new since I went to bed. Then I check Facebook. Then Twitter. Then Pinterest. Then I start over until the last-chance minute when I have to get out of bed.

9. Did you (or do you) have a MySpace page? I did, before I joined Facebook. I wasn't on MySpace for a terribly long time and didn't have a ton of friends on there. It was my first time with social networking and truthfully it scared me.

10. Would you ever sky dive? I would love to say NEVER EVER IN A MILLION YEARS, but I've learned that I end up doing the things I swore I never would. (Like eating spinach.) So I will stick with "It's highly unlikely." A.K.A. "only for the love of a very handsome man who heavily sedated me."

11. Post the last thing you pinned on Pinterest. I was in a mood to welcome spring:

Source: bing.com via Rebekah on Pinterest