Tree Blessings

This week's big news at my house has been the slow progression of tree cleanup. (Yes. Sometimes it really is that pathetic.)

In this BIG FAT MESS, I've found some blessings, and I wanted to share them with you today.

First of all - I had free cleanup. My Dad and his friend(s) came over and did all the cleanup work. Dad and Mom heat their house with wood, so even though he really probably shouldn't be doing stuff like this at his age, Dad still goes out all the time and cuts trees for people. He's a pro. And he and his buddies were glad to get in there and play with their chain saws. (That's really what it boils down to - boys and their power tools.)
In addition, I was so thankful that the city was willing to come by and pick up all the mess. They said if a tree company had come in to cut the tree, they wouldn't clean it up, but since it was a civilian job, we could just stack everything up and they'd get it. That saved a lot of trips to Mom and Dad's house with brush-piled trucks.

I never said they were INTELLIGENT about the cleanup process. Yes. He's standing on two separate limbs of the tree testing its strength. I stood by with the ER on speed dial.

He forgot a ladder. So he borrowed my kitchen step stool. I don't make this stuff up, people.

It occurred to me in this process, that while the whole thing is an inconvenience of gargantuan proportion, I'm so thankful the tree fell the way it did. If it had fallen a little more one way - it would have taken out my evergreen trees (which are in a nice even line that I didn't want to start over). If it had fallen another way, it would have taken out part of my house. If it had fallen yet another way, it could have taken out part of another neighbor's house, and I'm pretty sure some older people live there. So while it's a pain that I am dealing with someone else's mess at my "expense" - I'm glad it didn't go any of those other ways.

I'm also glad the boys with power tools didn't kill themselves. This particular shot includes somewhat connected bungee cords. I said I don't make this stuff up.

This is all the damage the fence sustained. Pretty amazing. Dad said what saved it was that the sturdy branches wedged into the ground and kept the weight of the trunk up off the fence.

So in all of this - I am grateful. God took good care of me - and my property!

What is this Airing Porch Craze??

Okay. Help me, people. Somebody has to know the answer to this conundrum.

I've been house hunting for lo these many weeks in preparation for moving to Ft. Wayne. And I've noticed an interesting trend in the older homes I've perused online.

A bunch of the houses have outside doors in upstairs bathrooms that lead to ABSOLUTELY NOWHERE.

Weirdest thing.

One of the houses I actually looked at in person...and I asked the realtor about the mysterious door. She didn't know the reason for it - other than perhaps it was an escape route in case of fire.
I tried googling, asking Jeeves, and every other option - and came up with NOTHING.

Today I looked at a house that had a door out of the bathroom that actually did lead to a little deck, and in the house description, they called it an "airing porch."So I googled "airing porch" and the best I could come up with was that older homes sometimes had airing porches.

Um. Not helpful.

So. Anyone? Anywhere? Why the bathroom doors????

Stormy Nights

I mentioned in the weekly recap that I had a little property damage Friday night. That was the same night the main stage at the Indiana State Fair collapsed just before the Sugarland concert. Clearly my little bit of drama is nothing in comparison to that event and those who lost their lives that night. But this was still a Bekahland mess.

My friends Bill and Kristin had stopped by to see me while they were in Marion that evening. We chatted away for a couple of hours, and the sun shone brightly the entire time. My parents were supposed to arrive about 8:00 to look at my car, which has been making a funny sound. They ran late, and while the three of us waited for them to get there, I got a text from my personal weather service: Phats. He said storms were headed my way.

I shrugged it off. We've had so many storms this year that I've just stopped paying attention. Dangerous.

Mom and Dad finally showed up about 8:40, and literally the moment they drove in the driveway, a wind like I've never seen blew up from absolutely nowhere. Mom looked like she was in a tornado scene in a movie trying to walk up the porch in that wind. I kept telling her to hurry, and I think she was trying but it was just THAT WINDY.

I told her to wave Dad on inside until the storm blew over, but she said he wanted to look at the car right then. (Seriously!!!??!) He needed my keys, so I retrieved them and walked toward the back door to take them outside to him. I stepped down off the back steps and started to walk toward him to hand him the keys when I paused to look over my shoulder at the little mum plants I'd just purchased. I was debating on wether or not to move them aside so they didn't blow away.

That's when I saw it.

The tree in my neighbor's yard was falling right toward me. And when I say tree, I do not mean sapling. I mean a good, mature, 80-100 year old massive maple tree that has scattered its leaves over into my yard more years than I care to count. I saw it falling, then I heard the trunk splitting.

Y'all, I totally screamed like a girl. I dont' recall ever hearing that particular sound emit from my being before. I had no idea where the trunk was, because all I could see were thousands of leaves headed my way. And I was completely frozen - unable to move. Dad reached me right as the tree reached the ground: via my fence AND my power cable.
Sparks flew everwhere, the house (and the rest of my block) went dark, and rain began to pelt us. Mom, Dad, Bill, Kristin and I navigated the house through the help of my flashlight and some overly scented candles that should never be used simultaneously.

You should know that the loss of coffee pots, internet, and air conditioning turn me into a person you'd probably rather not know, so I packed up and headed to Ronda's house. I tried to sleep, but my head was splitting with a headache caused by lack of water, lack of food and I don't know...maybe A TREE IN MY YARD?!?!?!? So at 1:30 in the morning, I sneaked out of her house and came home to the hotness that was Bekahland - and my poor cat, who in the last three weeks, has lost her brother, been stepped on by her mom, and lastly had a tree crash into her yard. It's a wonder she doens't need medication.

I opened the window and tried to sleep the rest of the night. I was awakened about 7 in the moning by the lovely sound of the electric trucks showing up. God bless them.
That was how the tree looked in the daylight. Lovely, isn't it?

The electric company guys dug under the tree to retrieve the line and began to reassemble it.

They even cut off a few more of my tree's branches. I was supremely happy about that. Less to rake, you know.

I had my power back in about an hour, so I got ready and went to church. When I came home, I dug through the rubble IN MY HEELS no less...and surveyed the fence damage. Surprisingly, for having a tree laying on top of it, it survived fairly well. A few split and missing boards, but overall - not bad!

Think I can add this as a selling point to my house?

Comes with a spare tree!!!

Lessons Learned from Marching Band

Nah, I never played in band. I couldn't walk and chew gum, much less play an instrument and walk in a specific formation. To be fair, I couldn't even play an instrument - except the piano, which is a bear to strap on and carry around a football field.

But last week, when I went for my walk/run, I discovered a marching band practicing on the athletic fields. It's not uncommon to find band camps there in the summer. And sometimes...bless their hearts...I think some of them can't walk and chew gum either. Some years I've heard the same...measure...of...music...for...a...solid...hour. Like I said. Bless their hearts.

This year's band was fantastic. I mean fantastic. They had mad skills, and while I wasn't sure whether or not to be saddened that their tunes disrupted my planned prayer time, I was highly impressed by what I heard.

As I walked right by them, I heard their director speaking about something he'd heard that apparently didn't sound right. (Sounded good to me!) I could tell by the reaction of the band members, they were on my side. But the director was just sure something was off.

Then I heard these words, right before he lifted his arms and they went on with the show: Play better.

I giggled inside because I was blown away by their talent, and yet their orders were to play better.

And while my planned prayer time did not happen, God used that moment to whisper this to me. That's what I'm trying to tell you. Play better. You may think you're sailing along pretty fantastically right now...and everyone around you may think the same thing, but you can play better. You can.

I'm not saying I'm doing everything wrong right now. Not at all. But when I'm in a good season of life (like I am right now) I am tempted to coast a bit. Savor it. And while there's nothing wrong with enjoying a blessing, a blessing is no license to stop playing better. I can try harder. I can.

Maybe the prayer time wasn't a bust after all.

Classic Bekah

My life is a never ending source of amusement. Moments that are classic Bekah happen...well...a little too frequently. But they make for great writing material.

So settle in, friends. I have a new one for you.

For the past...um....two months?...I've been intending to paint my front porch. I painted it a tasteful shade of red two summers ago, but two years of people walking on it, and two winters of shoveling made the boards begin to chip. It looked kind of tacky, so I knew it was time to paint it. If I didn't get to it, the realtor might have to address that with me. :)

First it was too rainy...then it was too hot...then I was too busy...so last Friday was the first chance I had to paint. I put on my grubby clothes and headed out front to work. I painted one side first...then the other...and left the center until the end so I could paint my way down onto the sidewalk. Not my first time painting, my friend.

I was working in the middle, so close to being done, when a car drove by very slowly, and a nasty old man (not trying to be mean...just trying to present the mental picture to you) yelled out the open window, "Hey Baby."

Seriously dude? This is your Friday night fun? Disgusting.

I worried he'd drive around the block and "Hey Baby" me again. I remembered the front door was locked, so I scurried around to the back of the house, came through the front, and unlocked the door, so I'd have a way to escape him, should he return. I finished my painting (just as I finished the paint in the can...how convenient!), stood back to survey my work, and said, "Rats. I just painted myself out of the house."

It's true. On my trip through the house to plan my escape route from Mr. Nasty, I had locked the back door behind me.

I so wish I had a video to show you of the next part. I went to the garage, got my mowing tennis shoes, put them on, hopscotched my way through the wet paint (there were a few parts I'd not painted over because they weren't chipped...so I tried to hit them) and smoothly (?) took off my shoes as I entered the house.

And I managed to NOT let Braeya out in the process.

In the end, the porch was painted, Mr. Nasty didn't come back, and I am sure I gave the neighborhood a great laugh with my hopscotch adventures.

Classic Bekah.

SSMT: Verse 16

I think I've said this before when talking about SSMT verses...but I've learned not to stress about it if I don't have a new verse in place until the last minute, because that's usually when God shows up with a new one. And this time was no exception.

I was sitting in church yesterday morning when our worship leader, Paula, talked about this verse:

But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands, so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him. - Jeremiah 18:4

I posted a few days ago a quote I'd read on Denise Hildreth Jones' website about not allowing Satan to steal more from us than he's already taken.

And as I've tried to make sense of what this means for my own life, I've struggled to understand how God could have a plan B.

That's why the words of this verse were such a balm when I heard them in the service yesterday.

But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands...

"Marred" means "destroyed," or "devastated." Yep. I know a thing or two about that! But look at that beautiful follow up phrase - in his hands. Even while my future was being shaped and subsequently devastated, I was never out of His hands. I get goose bumps just thinking about it.

...so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.

How thankful am I that He didn't throw that pot away? He started over. Gave it new purpose. Came up with a new plan and let that clay have new life.

And I'm counting on the fact that he's doing that for me too. He's forming my life into another pot. Shaping it in a new way that seems best to Him.

And that makes me both humbled and grateful.

It's the Weekly Recap!

* Sunday morning, Lori and Jeff were still here, so I got up and played hostess, serving pancakes and coffee before church. I really loved that. Don't have overnight guests very often, so being able to serve breakfast was a treat! They left for home after church, so I spent the afternoon immersed in scrapbooking and watching the I Love Lucy marathon on Hallmark. (I really do love Lucy!)

* Monday I got some mail at work:
I love my job. :) Monday evening I had an impromptu dinner date/hang out and talk time with my new friend Jill. She's Olivia's aunt that was also a bridesmaid in the wedding, and we struck up a friendship throughout the course of the wedding fun. I was so excited that she invited me for dinner and wanted to spend a couple hours talking. Great start to the week!

* Tuesday held more work fun! I got to make a recipe for Wednesday's show...check this out!
It's a good day when you get to cook for your job. This recipe, by the way, won $10,000 in a Midwest Living cooking contest, and the winner, Judy Reynolds, lives right here in Indiana! It's a spectacular recipe. You should make it. Multiple times. It's this delightful blend of sweet and salty in every bite. There aren't words. Really.

* Wednesday was a Monday in every way. I overslept, had hair we will not even dignify with a discussion, gouged my leg with the car door, spilled hot coffee on myself, was outsmarted by my computer, messed up the transition from our show to the next show, got caught in the hallway putting an enormous bite of the above treat in my mouth (so ladylike), forgot my lunchbox at work and had to go back for it...and those are just the things I can remember. :) Despite it, I participated in my first show where I engineered AND appeared on the air at the same time and some very kind people said it sounded good. Bless them.

*Thursday night I got to have dinner with Jamie and some of my other new work girls! Jamie is headed to the great state of California, and it was my last chance to see her before she heads west. Five of us converged upon McAllisters, and between conversation and sweet tea (oh mama...the sweet tea!) we had a great night! OH!! And when I came home...guess what was waiting on me? My latest Picaboo album! It's the album from my spring break trip to Florida. I finished it a while ago but just now ordered it.

*Friday afternoon I had my first lesson in recording promos at work. I sat with one of the engineers, and he coached me on what to do with my voice (which was mostly SLOW DOWN) and I recorded a promo! It sounded pretty cool when he put it together with the music and had all the editing finished. (Still weird to hear my own voice.) AND - I was so excited that afternoon when I opened the mail and saw a copy of Jody's new book The Doctor's Lady. It releases September 1 - and I'm so excited to get a sneak peek.
* Saturday morning, I slept in. Until 10:30. I haven't slept in for far too long and it was absolutely HEAVENLY. While I love everything about my new job and lifestyle, the commute and busyness of it all does wear me out, and when I'm not able to rest on the weekends, I feel it! So this was a massive blessing. Then I did a little Bekah-pampering (actually it was just a flat out necessity) and got a haircut and color. My roots were RIDICULOUS and I'd been avoiding haircuts until after Olivia's wedding, so it was a shapeless, thick MESS. But the real news of Saturday was when Bill and Kristin Hand came to visit for a while...and while they were there, the storm that took out the stage at the state fair...took out the tree in the yard next to mine. Right into my yard. Killed my power! (More on this story to come....)

Books I'm Reading: FINISHED Forever in Love with Jesus! The book. Not the act of doing so. :) Read in Jesus Calling and Sparkling Gems from the Greek. And...started Jody Hedlund's soon-to-be-released book The Doctor's Lady. Read the first half of it while I was getting my hair dyed.

Favorite God Moment of the Whole Week: While I'm trying to make sense of what God is doing in my life, I spent one morning praying for two specific requests people at work had shared with me. And when I got to work...they both received answers that day. Great faith booster.

Update on Last Week's Goals: Reading, scrapping, praying - check! So thankful for those times of rest this week!

Goals for the Coming Week: I need to take some steps regarding the house process...specifically moving toward the purchase of the home I found that I love so much. I can't actually buy it until mine sells, but I feel I need to start moving that way so if the door opens, I'm ready to walk through!

Distracted Driving

Yesterday's Mid-Morning show was called "Distracted Driving." When I talked to the guest the day before the show, I said, "Pretty sure you're going to be preaching right at me." In fact, when Jamie and I were putting together the monthly Mid-Morning newsletter, we needed a picture to accompany the preview for this program, so she took this one of me. :) Okay so I'm not THAT bad of a driver.

Usually.

Nevertheless, my toes were pretty sore by the end of the program...he stepped all over them with his (appropriate and good!) advice. When I went out at lunch to get a salad from McDonald's, I was acutely aware of my driving. Mission accomplished, I suppose!

So...confession time. Here are my bad habits behind the wheel:

* David Phelps and I crank out some SERIOUS duets most of the time. And by that, I mean the volume is c.r.a.n.k.e.d. Bad news - can't hear sirens or horns. But I can hear the daylights out of Nessun Dorma.

* I do tend to drive with my knees. Only when the car is on cruise. And I do use both knees. Just sayin'.

* I do NOT text while driving (and not just because it was declared illegal in our state. I had to stop once I got a smart phone because I couldn't text by feel anymore). I do, however, talk on the phone while driving.

* I do eat and drink (not THAT kind of drinking) while I drive.

* I do NOT put on makeup while driving. (I've seen it done.) I do sometimes apply my lipstick while behind the wheel - but only if I'm at a stoplight. I don't want to draw extra lips on my face.

* I do adjust the GPS and change CDs/radio stations while the car is in motion.

* I have been known to experience mild road annoyance (I like that word so much better than rage. I'm not Cruella Deville) - mostly when being cut off or tailed.

* And to anyone who might have heard the show and wondered if I was the person the trucker saw putting on pantyhose while driving, the answer is UH NO. I don't wear those. Shiver.

* Likewise, I also did not read a book, play on my laptop, or read the newspaper while behind the wheel. I do have my limits.

So. I've spilled my guts. How about you? What is your bad driving habit? Seriously. Tell me so I feel better about mine.

Things I Wish I Would Have Read Earlier!!

Last week I was doing some research online at work. (Doesn't that make me sound like I'm pursuing a PhD or something? HA! I was reading about authors. Now THAT, my friends, is how research at work should be done!)

Anyway. I was reading about Denise Hildreth Jones. She writes fiction. I've never read her books (yet) but I'm familiar with her because she'd been married (at one time) to a singer I liked. As I read down through her website, I came across this answer to an interview question:

In the summer of 07 I walked through the heartbreaking loss of my thirteen year marriage. It was painful in the deepest sense of the word. But I made some decisions in the very beginning of that journey. The first one was, the enemy may have stolen my marriage, but he wouldn’t rob another day from me through anger or bitterness. The other one was I found an amazing counselor who walked the journey out with me so well. When I first went in his office I said, “I want to do whatever I need to to get through this journey well, because I don’t want to be a year down the road still having to heal from bitter and broken places. So, I entered head first into my grief. I didn’t get to “free parking” and take a free ride back to “Go.” I stopped at every place, grieved it, yelled through it, laughed through it and experienced every part of it.

Oh how I wish I would have read those words a year ago.

I didn't lose a thirteen year marriage, but I did lose love and it did sideline me. But the minute I read that paragraph, I said to God in my heart, "That's it. The enemy may have stolen that relationship, but I'm not letting him have another day of hurt in my life. I want to run forward so that a year from now, I'm not still sitting around aching over what I lost."

Thanks, Denise, for powerful words. Thanks for letting God speak through your pain!

If You're Inclined to Pray...

I don't often bring prayer requests to you on my blog. It's not because I don't need prayer. Goodness. I need lots of that. :) I just try not to bombard you with requests. But today I'm interrupting my regularly scheduled blogging to ask for prayer.

As you know, God has orchestrated this job change of mine in unmistakable ways. My faith has grown so much in watching the way He didn't just open doors...but He threw them open so wide they probably broke when they hit the back wall.

Because I saw how He did that...especially in the middle of a job market slump...I know beyond a doubt that it's no problem for Him to sell my house in a housing slump and to find me the perfect home in Fort Wayne. I really do know that, and I'm honestly not worried about it.

The commute is an hour each way and the drive isn't bad. It's a straight shot and so far the weather has been nice and the semis have (mostly) stayed in their own lanes and I haven't had construction delays...so really I can't complain.

But winter's coming, and I'd dearly love to be moved closer to work before that happens. That stretch of interstate is n.a.s.t.y. in the winter and I know it. And as I get more involved in station extracurriculars (working concerts, etc.) it would be so nice to have a short drive home late at night rather than a whole hour.

In addition...last week, I found a home that I love with all my being. It's a perfect Bekah-house and I've expressed to the Lord how much I'd love it if it could be mine.

I can't move, though, until I sell my own home. So far it's only been shown twice, and that's okay. I know it only takes one person to have a buyer. :)

My prayer request to you (if you're so inclined to pray) is that God will bring the right buyer for my house. This house was a blessing to my grandparents when they lived here...it was a blessing to Melissa when she lived here...and it's been a blessing to me these last eleven years. I would love it to be a blessing to someone else too! While I could say to you "just pray that it sells fast" - and I really would love that too! - my deeper hope is that it will be a house of blessing.

And I would really, really, reallyreallyreally love it if the home I found last week could still be on the market when I'm ready to buy. I've driven past it and prayed over it...but I'm also keeping my heart open for another home if that's what God wants instead.

Thanks for praying with me...I think this part of the story is going to be just as exciting as the job part of it, so I can't wait to tell you how He answers!

God is Making All Things New

**NOTE: While I genuinely love all the Mid-Morning shows, I'm really excited about today's. We have a couple of people from an Extreme Makeover: Home Edition family (who also happen to be David Phelps fans!!), plus a recipe contest winner (and I got to make the recipe for the work crew to try in honor of the show today), and a Little House on the Prairie enthusiast on today. I get to join in the show as well, so hop online here to catch it at 10 or to catch it on the archives if you miss it live! **

This past weekend brought another one-year marker from my relationship with Isaac. It was a year ago that I traveled to visit him, and that weekend brought the beginning of the official end of our relationship. It was during that weekend, he told me he couldn't keep pursuing a future with me.

I remember that Sunday morning, watching him drive away to go to church, and then putting on my Easter dress I'd brought to wear to church...and walking in my flip flops to a shelter house nearby, falling flat on my face, and sobbing to the Lord. When he came home, I sat on the couch beside him, and gave to him the blue pottery the Lord had urged me to bring to wash his feet. And then I got in my car and drove away, looking back to see him standing alone, waving. That was the last time I ever saw him.

This past Saturday evening, I was eating dinner with my family, when my phone rang. It was a friend of mine, who managed to squeak out between her tears that her own relationship had just ended. I borrowed my parents' car and sped over to her house to sit with her, hand her tissues, pat her on the back, hug her, and nod. And while we sat there together and I listened to her cry and try to sort through her hurt, I remembered it had been a year.

A year since my own heart broke and I thought I could never breathe again.

While I never would wish that same hurt on her, I was honored she called. I was honored to be able to drop what I was doing and sit with her just as others sat with me.

Sunday morning, in our church service, we sang the song Jesus Saves. I mentioned it on here a few days ago and gave a link to Wes Hampton singing it. As I stood in my pew and sang the words "freedom's calling, chains are falling, hope is dawning bright and true...day is breaking, night is quaking...God is making all things new," I got tears in my eyes. That weekend a year ago, everything felt completely hopeless to me. And yet, in wonderfully mysterious ways, God has called me into freedom, brought the hope of a new dawn, and He's begun to heal my hurting heart.

I wanted to say this today, partly in praise to Him, and partly because maybe your today is like my last year. Maybe you feel like morning will never come. And while I don't know what your circumstances may be, I do know He sees them and wants to love you through them.

And morning will come. He will make all things new.

Final Resting Place

I think I mentioned this in Kaegan's "obituary" post, but I asked Dad to bury him at their house. Since I'm getting ready to move, I didn't want to bury him here and leave him behind. Plus I didn't want some weird neighborhood animal to come around and dig him up.

So...Dad took him home to where I grew up. He asked if I cared where he buried him, and I said no. We had cats all the years I lived at home, and there were a few casualties along the way, so I figured Kaegan would go to the pet cemetery behind the woods.

NOPE! He got a front row spot. Mom and Dad have a flower garden behind the big tree in the back yard, and Dad wanted Kaegan to be buried there. Digging a hole right now is hard work - we haven't had much rain and the ground is very hard. But Dad worked and worked to get a good, safe hole where he wouldn't be bothered.

Then a guy from their church, Gary, made a grave marker for Kaegan. I loved it. Thank you, Gary, for your hard work. (And thank you for the magnet too - I love it!)

When I went to Mom and Dad's Saturday night for dinner with the fam, I asked Dad if I could put the marker on Kaegan's grave.
Sleep well, little boy. I miss you.

Perfect.

Monday Misc.

I've acquired some pictures that have no particular running thread...but I still wanted to share them with you. So...today's post is just a little hodge podge. Hope you enjoy!

Ronda came to my sale for a while on Saturday and brought with her some pictures she'd taken at my baptism. She was standing in a different spot than Rachel, who took the bulk of the pictures. This one was my favorite.
My friends Lori and Marty ran sound at Olivia's wedding last week, and they took some pictures from their perch in the sound booth. This is the beginning of the wedding. I thought the decorations were just lovely. (I'm the very last bridesmaid on the left.)

Lori and Marty took this one too - of the vows.

My attempt at the Macarena. Fail.

Do you know about Penguin Point? (I've heard it's not a nation-wide thing, so if you don't have one, I'm so sorry.) They have some of the best tenderloins on earth. And they don't exist in Kansas. (Penguin Point OR tenderloins.) So whenever Lori and Jeff come to visit, a trip to the Point is always on the schedule. This time we went on Saturday after the garage sale closed. Julie even came up to go with us!

Brother-in-law extraordinaire. :)

The Pointer Sisters. (Their idea, not mine. I just took the picture.)

Objects in picture are taller than they appear. I'm the tallest sister. I must start remembering to wear SHOES in our pictures!!

I took this one mostly for my friend Lois, who used to work at IWU and now lives in the great state of California. IWU's newest demo project. Know what it is? Old College Church.

And there you have it! A little Monday miscellany!

It's the Weekly Recap!

* Sunday afternoon, I was exhausted - after all the wedding hoopla. I fell asleep and had a dream in which I first drove off the end of a pier and drowned...and then accidentally (?!?) disconnected my toilet and couldn't get it reconnected. Note to self. Don't eat so much garlic bread for lunch before napping! Sunday evening I went to Mr. James' birthday party. It's been two years since I watched him take his very first breaths! Love this guy!
* You would THINK that when my Sunday recap started out "I was exhausted," Monday's recap would include rest. Let me think. No. I pulled an all nighter Sunday night, finally calling it a night TWENTY EIGHT MINUTES before my alarm went off. That was one thing when I worked a block from home. Doing that before an hour commute is NOT SMART. I intended to rest when I came home, but I'd just gotten home when the realtor who listed my house called and said someone wanted to see it Tuesday morning. So I spent all of Monday evening madly rushing about the house, cleaning it up. And because I know you've missed him...it was a new month:
* Tuesday was so much fun at work! It's still very odd to me to be able to do fun, creative stuff...and have that same stuff count as work! Poor Lynne has her work cut out for her, getting that point across to me. I actually had to be retrieved at the end of the work day. I was completely caught up in a brainstorming fest and forgot it was quitting time.

* Wednesday my sister, Lori, arrived!! She came all the way out here from Kansas just to do my moving sale. Can you believe that? Anyway, she arrived right before the end of my work day, so I showed her around the station, and then we went house hunting with my Ft. Wane realtor. We saw four houses (one of which I had seen before, but she wanted to see it in person), and y'all, I found a house I absolutely adore with all my being. I've been very calm about this whole selling/buying thing, but Jesus and I had a discussion about that house. There aren't words to describe that house's precious-ness. After we hunted, I took her out to dinner at Cheddars. I so very VERY rarely get a sister date with either of my sisters, so that was just such a fun night for me. Loved it.

* Thursday, while I was at work all day, Lori transformed my garage into sale-central. What would have taken me weeks to do...took her a day. In a single day, she sorted through all the stuff, organized it, and priced it. She should work for a TV show. She had a plan for everything. And before the sale even started, I'd made over sixty bucks! Here was the "before" (sorted, but cramped up into the garage so the door would close). * Friday was garage sale, day one. So weird to be at work while a party went on at my house! That evening, we all went out to eat at Culvers. The lady who waited on me called me "Sir." Must have been a worse hair day than I thought. Seriously...SIR????? THIS is a sir!!! * Saturday was day two of my yard sale:
Exhausting work, I tell you. Exhausting. I had to get up at 6 in the morning to get ready to help Lori get it all set up. Wore me out. The rest of the day was fun...lunch at Penguin Point...shopping at Cato...dinner at the parentals'...

Books I'm Reading: I read Jesus Calling and Sparkling Gems from the Greek and finished the next to the last chapter in Entrusting Your Dreams to God.

Favorite God Moment of the Whole Week: I think my favorite moment was actually the hardest. Friday afternoon, as I drove home from work, I was in some intense heart-battle. Satan was after me, and I knew it. Scary thing to be flying down the interstate at 70 miles an hour while doing some warfare. But what a great thing to know God was right there with me...and to sense Him saying it would be okay...to fight through it.

Update on Last Week's Goals: I did begin to establish some new routines this week - with exercise, sleep, and journaling. And I have COMPLETELY enjoyed having Lori and Jeff here this weekend.

Goals for the Coming Week: After several weeks of running, running, running, my goals this week are to read...scrapbook...and spend some good time in prayer. I need all those things.

Snickerdoodles

Olivia's wedding reception was a dessert buffet, and she asked if I'd make snickerdoodles for her. I said SURE!! Then I realized I'd never made them before. Never fear...there had to be a good recipe on the internet somewhere...right?

I hunted one down, made it...and four-cookies-consumed-in-ten-minutes later, declared it a good find. In fact...I made another batch this last week and took them to work. Friday afternoon, I got an email from one of the guys at work. The subject line said "alert!" - and I thought....oh no...what did I do? I opened the email. "Just wanted you to know we're out of snickerdoodles." I giggled right there in my seat!

So apparently these ARE really good. Make a batch and ENJOY.

The Recipe:
1 cup shortening
1 1/2 cups white sugar
2 eggs
2 3/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons white sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a medium bowl, cream together the shortening and 1 1/2 cups sugar. Stir in the eggs. In a separate bowl, mix the flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, and salt; stir into the creamed mixture until well blended. In a small bowl, stir together the 2 tablespoons of sugar, and the cinnamon. Roll dough into walnut sized balls, then roll the balls in the cinnamon-sugar. Place them onto an ungreased cookie sheet, two inches apart. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes. Edges should be slightly brown. Remove from sheets to cool on wire racks.
I used the butter flavored Crisco shortening sticks. I dearly hate measuring shortening, so this makes it much easier. You'll also notice vanilla in this picture. There's no vanilla in the recipe. Guess I thought there should be! PAY ATTENTION, BEKAH!!

I cut up the shortening stick into small pieces and put it in the bowl with the sugar. (I sort of forgot to take a picture of it before I started beating it with the mixer...thrown off by the presence of the vanilla. Rough start. It got better.)
This is what it looks like after it's all mixed together. Kinda like scrambled eggs!

Added the eggs...

Then it started to resemble regular batter.

I put the rest of the dry ingredients in a separate bowl and and mixed it together.

I added the dry ingredients a little at a time.

I don't (yet) have a fancy pants KitchenAid mixer, so my little hand mixer only works in mixing the dry ingredients in for so long. It starts to look like this and then it gets too thick to use the beaters and I have to do the rest with a spoon.

This was the batter after all the flour was added...pretty thick.

I took a little bowl and put in the cinnamon and sugar.

Mixed them up.

Rolled the dough into small balls...you could make them bigger if you want big cookies.

They kind of look like doughnut holes after they're rolled in the cinnamon/sugar mixture.

Space them apart on the cookie sheet...

Bake and enjoy!

I'd recommend storing them with a slice of bread in the bag or dish with them...to keep them from getting crunchy. I forgot that the second time around. Woops! They really were so good!

30 Days of You and Me: Day Twenty-Three

I started to write this post about two weeks ago, but I kept putting it off...

...because it's a very uncomfortable one. I'd ten times rather tell you a super embarrassing story about myself than write this post.

But I'm too OCD to skip over number 23...so I will do it. Today's post: A Love Letter to Myself

Here goes!

Dear Bekah...

You demand a lot from yourself...too much, probably, sometimes. Okay, most of the time. But today you need to open wide some arms of grace and think about what you love about yourself.

...I love the way I've taken a house and made it a home. I love this place and the comfort it offers, even if it just offers it to Braeya and me. I love the warm colors, the comfy chairs, the cozy bed, the coffee candles...and the actual unlimited coffee itself.

...I love knowing that when this place sells and I have a new house, it can be home too. I love knowing I can transform that place and make it every bit the haven this one has been for the last eleven years.

...I love the way I write. Many classroom hours in college left me wishing I had the talent of this writer or that. I wanted to sound smarter or have more deeper thoughts, but now I'm very happy with my writing voice. It suits me.

...I love the way God has put in me a desire to love others. Sure, sometimes that brings its own brand of heartache, but most of the time it brings its own brand of joy.

...I love my quirks. Everyone else may roll their eyes at the things that bring me joy, but I don't care. I love the unique blend that is Bekah.

...I love this life. Many years ago, I never thought life could be good if lived alone, but I was wrong. I enjoy these days and the way I've been able to bring fun to this life. I love the way I learned to get up and make things happen rather than sitting back thinking I didn't deserve fun.

And that...is what I love about my life. On to more comfortable topics tomorrow!!

Bekah's Day as A Bridesmaid

I'm not quite to the place where I can star in 27 dresses. In fact, this was "just" my fifth time to be a bridesmaid. (One of the other bridesmaids in Olivia's wedding is in seven weddings this summer!) But I wanted to show you the day.

We had to be at the church at 8:00 for hair. That's eight IN THE MORNING. I post this picture because I either am more secure than I thought...or I'm really stupid. Could go either way. This is me mid-caffeination...pre-hair, pre-face. This is why I have to get up so long before I leave the house, y'all!
I was so thankful to have my friend Tiffany there doing hair that day. She took such good care of me. I told her "I want it up and out of my face...and anything you can do to hide the grays, please." And she did a MAGNIFICENT job.

Yesterday you saw my dress from the front...here it is from the back. (I stopped at Ronda's house on the way home so she could take the back picture. While I was there, I fed Silas his peas. That's why he's sitting on the table in this picture.)

Here's a closer view of the hair. It had so many bobby pins (53 to be exact) and so much hairspray - it was my Sunday look too! :)

After we all got ready, it was time for pictures! The wedding was inside (thank You, JESUS!) but we did quite a few of the pictures outside. So we were sweating like crazy when we got back in. Time to bathe in body spray and stand in front of fans!

This is Lyra, one of the bridesmaids. I didn't know her until this adventure, but I have to say she has one of the most beautiful spirits of anyone I've ever met. I just adored her.

And this is Jill. My word, she was fun. The two of us got in all sorts of trouble together. I mean...no we didn't. (PS our jewelry was made by my friend Rachel. We all had different designs - same pearls - and I thought they all turned out amazing.)

She had one ring bearer and three flower girls, and those flower girls were TOO CUTE. During the "please try to eat and calm down" hour before the wedding, they sorted all the petals by color.

This is Lisa, the matron of honor. Cool dress, isn't it? We did have one dress mishap prior to the wedding. One of the bridesmaids sat down and her skirt ripped. Fortunately the dress maker was almost to the church and she whipped it back into shape just in time for the wedding!

Obviously I have no pictures of the wedding yet. I elected to NOT carry my camera down the aisle. (Yes, that was hard for me.) But here are some things you should know about the ceremony.

* It was 2837482937489372983487239 degrees in the sanctuary. Approximately.

* I took off my shoes the minute I got to the front of the church (I stood on the floor by the front row the entire time) and left them off until the kiss.

* The kiss was plenty long enough for me to get back into my shoes even though my feet were swollen from the heat and it was hard to get them back on.

* It was one of the most meaningful ceremonies I've ever been to in my life. They'd thought through the symbolism of every detail and I loved it.

* No one played any tricks on them (losing the ring, etc) or anything, but after Lisa straightened Olivia's dress at one point, Tom's brother, who was the best man, reached over and straightened his coat. I thought that was hilarious.

* The kiss may actually still be going on. It really was that long. (And I hear, from other vantage points, quite fun to watch! I had a veil in my way.)

* I did not fall going out. I gave my groomsman strict instructions to be careful with me because my shoes were slick.

After the wedding, we had more pictures, and then it was time for the reception!! They were so nice to each other. :)

The reception was all dessert. Cake, cookies, brownies, pies, candies, a MILKSHAKE STATION, all sorts of SUGAR!!!!!!!

First dance as husband and wife. Loved it. I actually don't know how to dance. So after miserable failures at the electric slide and the Macarena and the hokey pokey, I sat down. The best man came over to me and asked where the nearest grocery store was, because he hadn't gotten the stuff to decorate the getaway car...I mean Tom's truck.

I tried to explain it to him and then I just said, "Do you want me to show you?" So I climbed (and I do mean CLIMBED...that thing was a beast!) into his massive pickup truck, in my bridesmaid dress and heels, and off we went to the grocery store.

On our way back to the church where the reception was being held, we may or may not have been pulled over by the state police. You can only imagine my joy at facing a cop. (I'm PETRIFIED of the police if you didn't know that about me.) Anyway, he let us go because we looked cute. (Sorry...but just callin' it like it was!) So then we picked up Tom's other brother, who was also a best man - and his wife, and we went over to decorate the truck. It was also 2983409238409283402384092834029842093 outside, so we smelled GOOD by the time we were done with that! Even so, blowing up balloons with sweat running from all sorts of places was preferable to dismal dancing attempts.

We went back to the reception site to deliver the truck for the bride and groom!
Doesn't she look lovely - even barefoot??

Tom and his cute wife...leaving the reception!!!

And that, my friends, was a wedding! :)

So very, very honored to have been part of their day. It was truly lovely in every way.