Five Years

It has been five years since I graduated from college! I can hardly believe it! At the age of twenty-two, I had big dreams for my life: marriage, children, enough money not to worry about it, a house, a great job at a church. Some dreams have been realized, and other dreams I mourn haven't yet come to pass. But I am so thankful for the things I've learned and the people I've met in the past five years! When I think about how I pictured my life being in 2010 and compare it to the reality that is 2010, I'm not sure I'd trade my current life for my dream life. I've learned so much and experienced more than I could have imagined back in 2005. Here are SOME things I am thankful for in these past five years:

- learning about rejection and love and how God must feel when we reject Him
- learned what paralegals are (and studied to be one)
- my awesome small group and extraordinary church
- worked in three amazing churches
- went to Ireland three times
- lived in an interestingly diverse area
- finally learned to water ski
- made this beautiful city my "home"
- kept Mali, the fish, alive for the past three years
- I'm healthy
- have a job at one of my favorite places
- took ice skating lessons
- acquired a small obsession with hockey : )
- got into graduate school
- met awesome people

I am looking forward to the next five years! : )

Ken Ken Puzzles

I've done Sudokus for a while. They are similar to crossword puzzles but with numbers instead of letters. You have to order the numbers so there are the digits 1-9 in each 3x3 square, each row, and each column. Sounds easy, but its rather complex. There are also Monster Sudokus that have digits 0-9 and add letters A-F. However, I've been more delighted with the Ken Ken puzzles. They not only have numbers (which I love) but also incorporate math skills (which I love). If you like math or simply enjoy puzzles, give them a try. This is the best selection I've found: You can do these on the computer or print them. Enjoy!

http://www.nytimes.com/ref/crosswords/kenken.html

Waiting and the End Results

I've been learning a little life lesson recently. I'll start with the metaphor: ice skating of course :-). In my ice skating lessons, I've been learning 3-turns. I'll admit, they should be easy, but for me, I'm feeling rather uncoordinated and having a hard time with them. The thing about 3-turns is you can't force them. To do a 3-turn, you skate forward on one foot, turn your body to face backwards and your foot will turn on a dime so you are now going backwards. The thing that gets me is focusing on the end result. I focus so much on turning my foot...I want to do a 3-turn. But my teacher constantly reminds me, I need to just let it happen. I need to turn my body first (my head, my arms, my shoulder, etc) until last-but-not-least my little foot just has to turn.

We heard a sermon at church this past weekend along the same lines. It was Bill Hybels' sermon on "Holy Discontent". He talks about how something might bug you, a pssion God has given you, and it bugs you and irritates you until you can't stand it anymore. You get so annoyed that you simply must do something. Many times people focus on the doing something part and do not consider the passions God has given them. They think they will just start volunteering somewhere or helping people, which isn't bad, but God maybe giving them an even bigger dream if they stop being busy for a moment and look to Him.

Just like doing 3-turns, there are so many things in life that are exciting and we want to be at the end results, but many times, its not just about the end results, its about waiting patiently and growing in the meantime, its about things God wants to teach us so that we may better enjoy and understand the end results.

Advice

I met my good friend for a walk the other day. While talking about life, we realized we both had been looking through "self-help" books and were rather disappointed with them. Leah, a new mom, had read in one book "rock your child to promote healthy bonding" while reading "do not rock your child". Another advised "interact with your child frequently" while another said a parent must simply observe their child playing from a distance. I lamented my own experience with books written for singles. One will say "get involved in children's ministry" while another will say "you'll never meet your spouse volunteering for children's ministry, there are too many women". One says "be involved with other singles" while another claims "you're single because you're selfish, you need to stop thinking about yourself and volunteer more without a spouse-ly motive". Sooooooo confusing!!! Sooooo discouraging!!!! My friend observed that her books were mostly written by nannies, not parents and I observed my books were written by women who had played their cards "right" and gotten married in their teens. What do these people know about being a parent or being single in your 20s and 30s? Yet, we buy their books. We search for advice. My good friend and I realized, if it was so important whether or not one rocked their child or if being single was selfish, wouldn't God have said it in the Bible? The Bible is the most important book of advice and on many topics, it is silent. Why? Well, on some topics, it may seem silent, but an underlying ethic is noted. But, let's face it, on some topics, such as rocking or what color to paint your living room, the Bible is silent because that is simply not important. There are more important things to life...like the fact that Jesus, a perfect person, died for us, imperfect people. The important thing is we should love one another because Jesus first loved us. Check out the Bible to see what is really important.

Asters and Bags and Cooking

ASTERS
The other day, my asters I have been growing from SEED! wilted in the scorching sun. I thought they were gonners, but today they perked up again and are about to bloom!!! Finally! I planted them eons ago!



And eons later, they look like this:



I'm thrilled!!! :-)

BAGS
I started ice skating lessons again last week and this week I start school. That keeps life pretty busy scrunched in between volleyball, work, small group, church, and other various activities. I don't have a spouse and children to tend to, so keeping organized is pretty simple. But I don't like packing and unpacking everything weekly, so here's how I organize. I am the bag lady. Each activity has a bag that is just the right size for all the needed items. I place the loaded bags by the door before bed so I remember what I'm doing when I crawl out the door in the morning. Below are: my school bag(with books, calculator, pen, pencil, and notebook...I usually shove a pain of jeans in there too to change into after work), ice skating bag (ice skates, guards, hair clips, comb, mittens...easy to forget in June!), my purse (everyday necessity), and my lunch bag (though I usually use a cotton green one so I can throw it in the wash more often...but its in the fridge at work). I also have some larger bags for less frequent travels and a sturdier backpack for road or airplane trips. This system saves me a lot of time and sanity!



COOKING
Ok, its probably more along the lines of baking, but I made these granola bars and brought them into work today. They were a huge hit! They're probably more cookie-ish than granola-ish, but its an easy recipe to tweak to your liking.

Lyrics of Life

I've been hearing a thought provoking song recently. Its Nickelback's "If Today Was Your Last Day". What a great song! Great lyrics. My favorite line is "live like you'll never live it twice". All questions...I like questions.


If Today Was Your Last Day - Nickelback

My best friend gave me the best advice
He said each day's a gift and not a given right
Leave no stone unturned, leave your fears behind
And try to take the path less traveled by
That first step you take is the longest stride

If today was your last day
And tomorrow was too late
Could you say goodbye to yesterday?
Would you live each moment like your last?
Leave old pictures in the past
Donate every dime you have?
If today was your last day

Against the grain should be a way of life
What's worth the prize is always worth the fight
Every second counts 'cause there's no second try
So live like you'll never live it twice
Don't take the free ride in your own life

If today was your last day
And tomorrow was too late
Could you say goodbye to yesterday?
Would you live each moment like your last?
Leave old pictures in the past
Donate every dime you have?
Would you call old friends you never see?
Reminisce old memories
Would you forgive your enemies?
Would you find that one you're dreamin' of?
Swear up and down to God above
That you finally fall in love
If today was your last day

If today was your last day
Would you make your mark by mending a broken heart?
You know it's never too late to shoot for the stars
Regardless of who you are
So do whatever it takes
'Cause you can't rewind a moment in this life
Let nothin' stand in your way
Cause the hands of time are never on your side

If today was your last day
And tomorrow was too late
Could you say goodbye to yesterday?

Would you live each moment like your last?
Leave old pictures in the past
Donate every dime you have?
Would you call old friends you never see?
Reminisce old memories
Would you forgive your enemies?
Would you find that one you're dreamin' of?
Swear up and down to God above
That you finally fall in love
If today was your last day

Research

Quick...where's San Jose, California? Is it by the ocean or the mountains? While the answer stays the same, the way we come to our conclusion has changed over time. A mere ten years ago, I would have gone to the bookshelf and grabbed an Atlas or Encyclopia. I would flip through the pages and find California or flip through the index and find San Jose. Five years ago I might have called a knowledgable friend or took a mental note to look it up in Encarta (remember Encarta? the digitization of an Encyclopia) when I got home. However, as we were eating dinner last night at a restaurant and the question arose, it was merely a question of who would look it up on their mobile. In less than five minutes (maximum) we had our answer complete with a visual, color map of San Jose and the surrounding area. (Its on the coast, by the way).

With all the information at our finger tips, is this good for us? We are learning how to access information at the speed of light (quite literally). However, I see reasoning, socializing, and logic getting thrown by the wayside. We are losing the tangents that reasoning and team research bring us. And really, how useful is the informaiton we are accessing anyways? Much of it is simply fluff that does not better our lives by any scope of the imagination. Consider our San Jose question: we looked it up quick and the question was quickly answered. However, if the technology had not been available, what else would we have learned? Would we have heard a story from someone who had been there? Would we have reasoned (as we did later) that their hockey team is the Sharks and why would that be a team from inland? Is my life better because I know where San Jose is? Will I even remember the answer next time the question comes up or simply turn to Google again? Would we have just let the question slide and used the five minutes for another discussion? Who knows.

Powerful Parables

Parables are interesting things. Jesus tells many of them in the Bible. These stories can be seen as merely stories, but are meant to be powerful tools Jesus uses to teach us about God. There are messages in these parables. Frequently, scholars agree on one or two messages one should deduce from these stories. Recently, I've been thinking about the ability of Parables to function as a rorschach test of sorts. God does not change. His love for us does not change. But our minds ability to think and comprehend changes, our life circumstances change, and our view of God changes. Some days I read the Parable of the Lost Son and I'm the brother who takes his inheritance and runs. Other days, though, I'm the brother who stays at home, angry when the father throws the disobedient brother a lavish party. Either way, God shows me something I need to learn right now. Parables are powerful because in the same message, they can teach different people different things at different times. Wow...God is so powerful.

A Great Book, Yes, I Read A Book!

A book I read a while ago (in 2007) and keep coming back to is Joseph Michelli's "The Starbucks Experience: 5 Principles for Turning Ordinary into Extraordinary". Apparently Michelli has come out with a new book analyzing the Ritz Carlson's 5 principles. When I read the Starbucks book, I was the Early Childhood Ministries Director for a church. I found this book to be very applicable! In it, Michelli talks about giving people that personally touch, even quoting customer Devin Page as saying "Starbucks could very well operate without even selling coffee." They are just that good at creating a welcoming, belonging experience. Whatever business you are in, this book is a must read!