Tag Archives: God

Changes. Challenges.

Door challenge

I absolutely won’t be trying this #doorchallenge anytime soon….my aching back just watching these girls get into this position and then reverse and then again. But they did it. And grammed it. Challenge: complete.

My own challenge comes in form of a new job. Sort of. What? Yup. After a decade with the same company and my degree just sitting on its haunches, I happened into a position with the competition (also a far larger organization). While, the initial position is essentially a lateral move, the potential for growth is better and with a large, well-run organization there are countless other benefits.

I can’t explain it, but there is a tremendous sense of peace in this decision both with myself and with the Hubs. The peace, I am certain, lies in the job itself opening to a Full-time position when I wasn’t even looking. Good friends, old friends, who unknown to me at the time, were background cheerleaders to the powers that be before and after my interview. The timing is quick, with little time to second-guess and drag it out. Basically, knock, open, go in. God is in control. Fully. With no doubt. And I’ve been here before, when He opened the door to our house. Sometimes, those prayers of “Please….God….I am dense and thick and need you to make this clear as day”, really DO get answered. Not always right away, not always the way I think I want them to be answered, but it does happen. And it’s just WOW. Really. Wow.

I mean, I know NO one at this office. It’s brand new, Opening day is September 8. My 7 minute drive and 5 mile world just opened up to about a 30-ish minute commute and a 20-something mile world. What. The. Heck. It’s all good though and clearly I’ll have more time for phone calls and podcasts with additional time in the car.

It will be an interesting year ahead and I’m excited to see what lies ahead. It’s time. And I’m up for the challenge! So, here’s hoping I’m hopping from the fire to the pan and not vice versa!

Icing on the cake

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Last weekend we celebrated our 20th Anniversary with a vow renewal and gathering afterward…you can see more about that here, but the thing I loved the most was being surrounded by our family and friends. Now. There are some of you reading this that might be sad because you missed it (and it WAS great), BUT this is NOT a slight or rant on you missing it. It was our fortune to be married in June. Who knew that 20 years later June would be the month of finishing school, graduations and the general crazy busy that ends school and begins summer? Who? Not my 24-year-old bride self, that’s for sure. Anyhoo…….as much as we would have LOVED to have each and every one of our family and friends present, it’s just not a reality. Life and all that. That said……

The people who were supposed to be there were. It was a neat gathering. ALL of our kids (and with our 16 yo’s recent crisis of faith–that says a lot). Many of Hubby’s AA friends came, and that is a diverse group of pretty cool people. Truly. We had friends come from church, and for the few friends we have there….that was a nice feeling. Hubby’s parents were there. Probably one of the very few times my father in law made it to church. A continued grace in healing of a strained relationship. My grandparents were there, right up front with us and my grandmother kept her claustrophobia at bay so that they could be on the front lines where they have always been. Fraternity brothers, to which I can never say enough good about this group of guys. Friends from our old city who drove 4 hours for a date weekend; this was an extra special because of the time we were able to spend with them the night before catching up.

My fear of getting up in front of the ENTIRE. 9 A.M. MASS. to renew our vows was real. When Hubs started getting emotional prior to Mass, he almost brought me over the edge (so I had to threaten him with bodily harm and eggplant…he doesn’t like eggplant). During the ceremony, I remembered our priest’s advice and just kept my eyes on Hubs, and the priest. It worked. Thankfully I followed those instructions because toward the end I snuck a peek at the parishioners and holy cow! The looks of love and sweet smiles on their faces. NOW I know why our church opts for this manner of vow renewal. Talk about a witness. I would never have made it had I looked out. Also, the fact that our only response was “I do” rather than repeat the entire wedding vows was a HUGE help. Death by publicly speaking heart-felt vows and all.

The graces were real. The love was real. The friends are real. The icing on the cake.

Now hopefully life will get real and get our friends here throughout the summer for some visitin’!!!

Good, bad, ugly and a conference!!

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I’ve been MIA and so very hit or miss lately….life, ya know? Sorry. I’m preaching to the choir, I know.

It looks like our weekends are slowing down a leeeeeeetle bit here to a more manageable busy-ness which is good and gives me hope to recharge and reboot and refresh and all that because I needs me some down-time, people! Wahhhhh, cry me a river, I know. We are all busy. So. I am done complaining about that.

Here’s a few things my mind is juggling lately, good bad and ugly. Ok. NOT the really ugly, because I’ve already sent THAT email to a few people and I’m just not ready to go live with that. Yet. It is brewing though. It will probably be a total **it-storm when it happens, I’ll say that. Intrigued? Well, guess you’ll have to keep checking back in. wink-wink-wink

Goodnesssssss……all over the place. The busy-ness has been good stuff. Kids music stuff, going to All-county for two kiddos 2 weekends in a row. A certain almost-12 year old birthday coming up and a trip to Plato’s closet to feed her shopping desires and birthday gift!! Last minute visit from an old friend from Tally in town with her daughter’s volleyball tourney. (I didn’t get to visit with her but Hubby did and it does a soul good to have some quality friend time!) A coming visit from Hubby’s Alaskan cousin this weekend for the night. A total nut and very fun!! A great AA dinner party meeting Hubby’s AA friends. Always nice to put names with faces. Even nicer to hear the inspirational stories coming out of these people. My dear friend may (HOPEFULLY) be doing Apologetics classes for middle and high schoolers. Y’all she is DANGEROUSLY on fire and the most AMAZING teacher EVERRRRRR. I am completely committed to bugging her to YouTube the classes because this is something the Church needs…this area is so lacking. So offer up a prayer for her would ya? This cookie dough pie made by our 16 yo. Oh. MY. Deliciousness. **one special note: USE the blender/food processor for the beans. Makes allllllllll the difference in the world. Hubby and I are planning on renewing our vows this year. The big 2-0! Point of contention: our audience. Our church generally does this in front of the general Mass. All several HUNDREDS of people. Hubby is in favor of this venue. This gives me absolute palpitations and anxiety I cannot describe. I’m all for the quiet chapel route. Also, I know I will be bawling and this is not a good look for me. Let’s face it, half of our marriage was the “for worse” part and having come through that……..Phew! Good stuff, but man, oh, man……what a ride!!!

Badness: (I know, not a word, but in keeping with the theme)…..I didn’t get a job I applied for. Again. I DO have promises of other positions in the next few months, so we shall see….but disappointment, I’m really over you. Really. 16 yo broke his foot skateboarding. Not super bad, but definitely waylaid the skating for a while. Good stuff is coming out of that, though…..the ole stepping back and getting a bird’s eye view of friends, new likes and maturing. Colds. Several have blown through this house. 5 of 6 of us have had the flu shot, so holding steady there…… lastly, a friend of mine (son’s 5th grade teacher and the best EVER! and not just because she reads my blog) is suffering mightily these past couple years with a recurrence in her ovarian cancer. The past few months have been tremendously brutal. It’s heartbreaking and I’m so sad for her suffering and for her family and mad. Mad that the prayers I pray for her don’t fix anything. Mad that the dinner I’ll take her family won’t fix anything. Mad that God allows this. Mad. Mad. Mad. And this is so definitely going on my list of conversations God and I will have in heaven. Because I just don’t see the purpose of it. At all.

And on that total bummer note: let me offer up some fun times for you….There is going to be a little conference in Austin, TX this summer. A weekend of Catholic gal fun!! All the deets are here…… my pocketbook can’t swing this, but maybe yours can and I think it would absolutely be worth every second!!!!

Go on and have a super day. Providing you aren’t snowed in for the umpteenth time this winter. We’ll be scooting through the day in the humid 80s here….. tough. tough life it is.

Blessings!!

Saint Nick was Olive

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snatched the image from HERE

There’s a big debate on a newscaster who said that Santa Claus is white….yes, you can merely imagine the uproar over that one, because I’m suuuuuuuuure she had no idea that making a statement like that would start ANY racist discussions at all. I’m certain. Right? Besides, she said she was making a joke and people should lighten up, however…..the comment sure lit up the interwebz.

I am about to make a statement, however, that IS most likely true: Saint Nicholas was most probably olive, not so white. Born in the region of the southern coast of Turkey, he would most likely be olive-skinned. Logistically and realistically speaking. You can read more about him HERE. Since Santa Claus’ origin is often tied to St.Nick, it’s odd he’d be “white”, however….SC=fictional, St. Nicholas=real, feel free to make your own judgement.

Also, here’s another newsbreaker: Jesus Christ was of Middle Eastern descent, which would make him mocha/brown. Gasp. All we have to do is look at people born in the Middle East, typically they aren’t Nordic looking. Ammiright? Again, another odd idea that he’d be the only white man in a sea of not so white people.

While we are on the subject, let’s explore a few other characters:

Easter Bunny: unknown color of fur, would it change the basket of chocolate if we knew?

Tooth Fairy: unknown color of wings/outfit/hair, etc, does it change the reward per tooth if we had a color scheme?

Great Pumpkin: we can only assume orange, but in light of all these odd suggestions, I just don’t know.

In summary, does color REALLY matter? It shouldn’t. If it does, maybe we are focused on the wrong things. As for me, when I pray, I’m praying to the PERSON, not to the color. His promises surpass race, shouldn’t our responses to Him do likewise?

As for all the fictional folk everyone’s worried about, let’s remember; they aren’t real. This fighting over skin color of someone who is fictional? Well, that’s just weird.

Jeremiah 29:11 “For I know the plans I have for you”, says the Lord, “They are plans for good and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.”

making the trek

Trekking through life: Faith, family, friends and a whole lot of coffee!