Ramblings

So... I know I need to post and seeing that I hate it when blogs I read go untouched for long periods of time, it's not fair for me to do that! I'm sure we have done so many things I could blog about since I last posted, but I'm not sure what to say. So I'll say this:

My heart is full and overflowing with joy right now because I have seen God at work. And I believe I have seen the results of prayer. My prayer life has been one thing that I have always not been happy with and I am trying to change that. Not so much a get down on my knees and pray, but more like an attitude of prayer throughout the day. I hope that I can continue to do this and grow even more in this area of my life.

Through the Beth Moore Bible study we're doing at church, I have been learning a lot. A couple of weeks ago we learned about the story of Zacharias and Elisabeth in Luke 1. They desperately wanted and prayed for a child but they were old and God had not bestowed that blessing upon them. Luke says "they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinance of the Lord blameless". They were doing everything they should be, and still didn't have a child. Well Zacharias was a priest and he had to leave his wife and go to the tabernacle to fulfill his priestly duty. While in the holy place, the angel Gabriel appeared to him and told him that his prayers were heard and his wife would bear a child. After years and years of waiting and longing, they would have a son!

So Beth Moore went on to make the point that sometimes, things don't come easily to us and we don't know why. We might even feel like God is "picking" on us. These things seem to come easy to those around you, but no matter how blameless you are before the Lord, he hasn't granted you the thing you want the most. It is through these times of trial and struggle that we learn more about God and see things that those other people never get to experience. He is not "picking on us"; he has "picked" us to see his work in a way that others don't. That was just the most incredible concept to me.

I have to admit that sometimes, in the past, I have felt resentful toward some people, even my own friends, who seemingly have perfect lives. I hear these people complain about something and I want to invite them to walk a day in my shoes. My teenage sister was pregnant. My mom had breast cancer. My dad walked out on his family. All of this within 2 years. But now I know. I know that if I hadn't had to experience the heartache of having a teenage pregnancy in my family, I would have never seen the way God can use a tiny little girl. He can work through anyone. Had my mom not faced and overcome breast cancer, we might never have known how brave and strong we were and what a source of strength and comfort the Lord is to us. Had my dad not left, I would have never known the reality of Psalm 27:10 - When my father... forsake me, then the Lord will take me up. I wouldn't have known the provision of God at the level I do. And I know there is still more to come in this chapter of my life.

All this to say, I have a new appreciation for the life God has chosen to give me. No, it's not easy, but yes, it is right and it is good. Were these things not completely necessary for the completion of God's plan, he would not have given them to me. And he does not give me more than I can handle. God is so good.

iPod... err... windows media fun...

INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Put your iPod on shuffle (or windows media... I don't have an ipod!)
2. Press forward for each question
3. Use the song title as the answer to each question even if it doesn't make sense. No Cheating!

How do you feel today? Bless the Broken Road by Rascal Flatts

What's your outlook on life? Praise to the Lord, the Almighty by Christy Nockels, Passion Worship Band

What does your family think of you? The Future Freaks Me Out by Motion City Soundtrack

What do your friends think of you? Here's to the Night by Eve 6 (how appropriate... this was Amanda and my song! we would get sad listening to it and thinking about how we would miss our time together as roommates)

What do your exes think of you? Let's Do It Again by TLC (hahahaha, what are the chances of that song coming up!?)

How's your love life? Everybody's Free (to Wear Sunscreen) by Baz Luhrmann

How will your love life be in the future? We Three Kings by Michael W. Smith (haha, whatever that means)

Will you get married? Pretty Piece of Flesh by One Inch Punch from Romeo & Juliet Soundtrack

Are you good at school? Don't Know Why by Norah Jones

Will you be successful? Only the Good Die Young by Billy Joel

What song should they play on your birthday? Song for a Winter's Night by Sarah McLachlan

What song should they play at your graduation? Split Screen Sadness by John Mayer

The Soundtrack of your life? We're Gonna Hold On by George Jones & Tammy Wynette

You and your best friends are? I Believe in a Hill Called Mount Calvary by Gaither Vocal Band

Happy times: Let's Stay Together by Al Green

Sad times: Revolution by Jars of Clay (that doesn't fit)

Every day: My Immortal by Evanescence

For tomorrow: It's Gonna Be Me by NSync

For you: You and Me Song by the Wannadies

What does next year have in store for you? D-I-V-O-R-C-E by Tammy Wynette (lol, this is too funny, it most certainly does not!)

What do you say when life gets too hard? For the Beauty of the Earth by Chris Rice

What song did you dance to at your wedding? Sumthin' Wicked This Way Comes by TLC

What do you want as your career? Closer to You by Brandi Carlile

Your favorite saying: Crazy for You by Madonna


Well, that was a good laugh!

Short Update

Well... I haven't updated in a while... this seems to be a trend. But Amanda told me I needed to update, so here's a small one.

Two weekends ago, I went to Lynchburg on Saturday for Amanda's shower. We had a wonderful time and it was so great to be with all my girls again. I miss the days when we all lived right there together and were together every day! It's so fun to catch up and just talk about our lives. We had the shower at Meghan's house, which is so beautiful by the way! Thank for hosting it Meghan! Then I got to go to Ren and Garrett's apartment and hang out there for a while. I have pictures from the day but I'm too lazy to go to the other computer to post them right now! Haha. Anyways, what a fun day! I need an excuse to get all the girls together at my house sometime!

This coming weekend Anthony's parents and maybe (hopefully) Jeremy are coming to visit. We haven't seen them since the summer so we're looking forward to that. I think we'll probably go to Skyline Drive and/or the pumpkin patch so that should be fun. I can't wait till Thanksgiving comes so we can finally get to VA Beach for a visit. It's been so long since we have seen everyone! I took the Friday after Thanksgiving off, so we'll be there from Wednesday to Sunday so it will be a nice break for us.

In other news, (haha, I sound like a news reporter) there are only about 4 1/2 weeks till Matt & Amanda's baby is here! I am so excited and cannot wait to see and hold her. It has been so long since I've held a brand new baby! And I'll finally be allowed to know her name! I have a guess but I'm not telling... ;).

Well, I better be off to bed. The Red Sox are playing right now, but it's not looking too good and I never make it for the whole game anyways. I hope they pull it out so they can make it to the World Series! Go Red Sox!

New Post

Just wanted to give a quick update... I am procrastinating on cleaning.

Ashley found a new job! She is the receptionist at the spa at Wintergreen now. She gets free services there (sweet) and she can make commission from selling the products. So sounds like it could be a fun and good job.

We had our food show at Expo this week. It was completely hot and I was sweating bullets the whole day. But it was good other than that. We had Star Wars impersonators there since it was a Hollywood theme. We had Darth Vader and a Star Trooper. The customers could get pictures taken with them and it was my job to take the pictures. It ended up being a lot of fun really. Hopefully I can get my hands on some of those pictures and put them up. The guys who did it were really nice and they do it for charity so it's really cool of them.

Fred, my buddy from Shelburne, came to visit me on Friday afternoon at work, so that was nice. He said I need to update more often, so this is for you Fred. I miss those guys up on the hill!

Well, I need to go watch our video for our Sunday School lesson, and I suppose I can procrastinate no longer. The bathroom's not going to clean itself......

Random Thought

So in between the shows Anthony was watching, we flipped to this show on TLC about these parents who adopted all these down's syndrome children. I think they must have had 24 children altogether, all of them not living at home anymore, obviously. But just during the few seconds I saw the show, all of the 6 or so kids I saw, all had down's syndrome. I was just thinking the other day how devastating it would be to find out your child had down's syndrome, but here this couple is wanting and taking in those children. What amazing people they must be! That must be how we are to God.... we have things that hinder us from doing what we should, sometimes we even fight it. Even still, God seeks after us, he wants us to be his children. What an awesome God we serve!

Delayed Thursday Thirteen

I had wanted to do the Thursday Thirteen yesterday, and I thought of a good topic, but I didn't get around to doing it. So here it is, better late than never.

Thirteen of My Favorite TV Shows

*Suvivor - the show that sparked this topic, because the new season started yesterday - I have been watching ever since the second season

*Lost - I love the complexity and the fact that I am no where near understanding what is totally going on - I love shows or movies that make you think

*Desperate Housewives - this show is my guilty pleasure

*Extreme Makeover: Home Edition - makes me cry nearly everytime - I like this one because I think it brings out the best in people - one of Anthony's cousins almost made it on this upcoming season!

*House - everybody needs a doctor show - he's mean and nasty, but it's just addictive

*Law and Order: SVU - I don't normally watch the new episodes, but I like watching the reruns on USA

*Amazing Race - looks like so much fun... if I had to pick a reality show to be on, it might be this one

*24 - Anthony got me into this one, it's so intense!

*American Idol - who doesn't love this? I think my favorite part is the idiots who think they can sing

*Friends - reruns obviously, we watch it a lot while we are eating dinner - it's been fun watching it with Anthony and see him get into it with me

*Iron Chef America - "a la cuisine!" - Anthony got me into this one too

*Alias - not on anymore.... sad... but worth mentioning because it was so great.... Amanda and I were so obsessed that we made spy names... mine was Savannah Bentley... same initials as Sydney Bristow.... how I miss those days!

*House Hunters - I love to guess which house they will pick


So there are my shows....

I played Bunco tonight and won the last Bunco. I got a $10 gift certificate to the Milmont Greenhouse, so I may go and see if I can find something there tomorrow. Pretty much same plan tomorrow as all Saturdays.... clean, work on shed, grocery shopping, maybe go out to eat. Yay for weekends!

Weekend

The weekend has been good so far. I went to lunch with Ashley yesterday, that was nice. I cleaned today, in record time I think. Started on my accounting homework. I also got a haircut and went shopping today. I like the haircut, I got it at High Tech, which is an uppity-up type place. I've never been to a place like this before. It cost $27 big ones. I am waiting to see how it is tomorrow after I've "done" my hair myself and see if it's actually any better than when I get it cut at Wal-Mart. I'm feeling my next hair cut will be at Wal-Mart. I'm not one to spend $27 on a haircut. (That's before the tip, mind you.) I got a couple of tank tops on sale at JC Penney, and a pair of Khaki pants at Maurices. They have big girl clothes there now... yay! The funny thing is they label some of the "big girl" clothes with sizes 1, 2, and 3. I guess it makes you feel better than buying clothes sized 16, 18, 20, etc, etc. "Yeah, I wear a size 1".... haha. Anyways, so I bought these khaki pants because I have none that fit me and I need a pair to wear at our food show on the 26th. So I had to force myself to pay full price for something just for the necessity of needing it by next week. It was nice to have a little shopping time though.

Anthony got a good amount done on the shed today. He got the drip edge up on the back, reinforced the roof with some more nails, and put the tar paper on the roof. So he made good progress today. I helped cut the tar paper, so I did my part. :) I absolutely can not wait until it is done. I am unbelievably proud of him for doing this entire thing by himself.

We opened the windows for the first time this weekend. I LOVE having the windows open. One of my favorite things is hearing the crickets and various bugs "singing" at night. That's something I remember from when I was little, so it's nice to hear it now.

One last random story before I go prepare for our SS lesson tomorrow. Last Sunday Mom, Ashley, Zoe, and I went to the mall. Well while Ashley and I were finishing up shopping (or lack thereof) Mom took Zoe to the little play thing in the mall. When Ash and I were done we went and sat with Mom. Well, Zoe was just running around at 100 miles a minute and having a grand old time. Every now and then she would run up and hug the 3 of us, one at a time. One time, she ran up and did the hug routine, and then she stopped and stood there and said "I so happy!". It was hillarious and SO cute. She was just so elated to be playing there. A good reminder to let the little things in life bring you joy.