Random stopping-Chicago Part I

Have you ever watched icarly? It's a Nick show about 3 kids who produce a web show. I watch it because the kids watch it. But, I'm not gonna lie to you, if I didn't have kids and I knew about the show, I'd still watch it. It cracks me up! (Hang with me, there's a point.)

So, very early last Saturday morning, I picked up Janae, and we drove to Chicago to visit my friend Gina. Gina had a precious baby girl 5 weeks ago and I had to go meet her. And, I wanted Janae and Gina to meet because they both hear about each other all the time.

Want to hear about my trip? Well, you're going to whether you want to or not.

Sooo... we set out on our long drive. Two hours into our trip, Janae grew very concerned about herself. She feared she was getting old because she kept reading billboards out loud. Apparently, Janae is a student of the elderly and she has frequently observed this behavior in them. I don't know...I'm just saying....

Since she was reading all these billboards, I decided we should incorporate a little icarly into our trip. One of my favorite things on icarly is when this deep voice comes on and announces, "Random dancing!!!!!!!!!!!" Carly and her best friend, Sam break into random dancing. I laugh every single time. So, I decided every time we take a road trip we should incorporate, "Random stopping!!!!!!!." I mean certainly one of the signs she reads is going to appeal to us.

Our first random stop: an Amish furniture store/antique barn. I think we really wanted to head to the antique part of the stop, but instead we found ourselves surrounded by a bunch of old Amish men. They seemed very desperate to sell something. I mean they were nice and all

BUT add furniture salesmen to the list of things that get on my last nerve. "For crying out loud, if I want something, I'll come find you!!" As a matter of fact, when furniture people start following me around, it makes me not want to buy anything.

We were walking around looking at bedroom furniture and this little old man, started talking all quiet under his breath and lead us over to a set that was on special. Who said we were buying bedroom furniture?? Then, Janae found the bed of her dreams and got into this conversation about Frank Lloyd Wright with an Amish man! I think the bed had something to do with this guy. I don't know. It doesn't seem that the worlds of some architect named Frank Lloyd Wright and the Amish should ever collide, but what do I know? I am not even sure I have ever heard of this Wright guy and Janae's having a conversation about touring some of his houses in Oak Park, Illinois.

So, we escaped the Amish without the purchase of any beds or desks or any other furniture and headed back to the antique barn behind the Amish furniture store... which is where we really wanted to go in the first place. Once inside the doors, we headed straight for the bathroom. It just so happened that this little antique store was having an Open House.

And, now that I think about it....if you were a business having an Open House, don't you think you should tell people when they walk in the door?

"Hello!! Welcome to our Open House! If you take a left and head down that hall we have coffee and refreshments!" (I can't believe that I even just wrote the word refreshments. I hate that word more than about any other word in the world. Why? Because I am quirky, that's why.)

The point is... no one told us. So, we walked into this little room that housed the bathroom and it was laden with store bought pastries, cookies, cakes, etc... and really, there is no point in telling you all this except to say: 1) Gross! It was way too connected to the bathroom for me. 2) What in the world is fruitcake? I think it is melted plastic... for real. 3) In the sulfur smelling bathroom, there was a cleaning product called Fabulouso. Can't people come up with better names? I wouldn't buy it because I hated the name... even if it was the best cleaning product ever invented. 4) Janae was pretending to eat the fruitcake when I came out of the bathroom. Totally fell for it.

We walked around the antique store while Janae picked up all this fancy pottery sort of stuff. She knew the name of it and everything. So, basically, I left that exit 215 in Indiana feeling.... well, I am not really sure. Uncultured? Frank Lloyd Wright. Antique pottery. I mean... I got nothin'.

The best I could come up with in the car as we left was, "Hey! Want to listen to some Taylor Swift?"

Stay tuned.... oh, it gets better!:-)

It's OSU Michigan Week

GO BUCKS!

What have YOU done this week to beat Michigan?

I don't even know what that means; I just know Paul asks me that every day during Ohio State Michigan game week.

Sometimes when he asks me that, I'll just raise my eyebrows and ask in a very uncertain tone... something like..."Brushed my teeth???"

That seems to be an acceptable answer which makes the whole thing that much more confusing to me. What in the world could I possibly do to beat Michigan this week? And, how in the world is something like "returned my library books on time???" an acceptable answer?

Please! I don't want to hear how girls aren't easy to understand.

So, what have you done this week to beat Michigan?

Starbucks

Ok, so.... I know this is going to shock you.... but, sometimes I read other blogs. I mean sometimes I like to read my own blog. Sometimes I make myself laugh really hard. I am not sure what that says about me. But I do have a list of other blogs that I scan through. Sometimes. Daily.

So one day, I was reading this blog and this lady was talking about a drink at Starbucks that I had never heard of. Not that I have heard of everything... but I do have a really weird mind that functions as a steel trap for all sorts of useless information... and I am positive if I had heard of this drink or even read it on their menu, I would have remembered it.

Ready?

Salted carmel hot chocolate.

I can't decide if this makes me want to hurl or run to Starbucks RIGHT NOW and try it.

I am going on a road trip this weekend (no husband, no kids) and I could not be more excited. MAYBE... I'll get really crazy and try one. I'll let you know when I get back. OR, you can let me know if you've ever had one.

I'm a Sucker!

Here's my friend, Janae, at the Zumbathon we went to.

Yeah, it was for Halloween. People were supposed to dress up.

(I know she's not going to be too happy about the picture, but she owes me from this past Monday. Please... read on!)

In case you don't remember, I took up Zumba. I very much have a love/hate relationship with this latin- inspired dance-fitness... workout... exercise... madness... whatever. I love that I am soaking wet when I leave. BUT, I hate, hate, hate some of the moves!! Some of them, I just refuse to do. I'm so weird! Plus, my hips... they just don't move like that.

Anyway, that's really neither here nor there. I don't want to talk about the ways in which my body will or will not move. Let's just say....it's not pretty. What I do want to do is talk about is how my friend, Janae, has turned an exercise class into a ministry.

She teaches this amazing exercise class. I knew the first time I took the class she was amazing... the best. It was confirmed at that Zumbathon we went to. Hands down... she's the best. Anyway, she always has some worship music somewhere in her selection of songs for the evening. And, when the hour long sweatfest is over, any one who wants can stay and hear someone give a talk about God's word.

Do you remember this summer when Janae was really sick? (She's doing great by the way! BUT, you can still pray that her heart makes a full-recovery, that she gets a definitive diagnosis, that the right treatment plan is prescribed, that she wouldn't need to keep taking steriods and that the doctor's would continue to be amazed by her recovery and God would receive all the glory! Yay God!)

ANYWAY...

When she was so sick, I felt sorry for her. I hardly knew her but something possessed me to go up to her and volunteer to do the devotion. It didn't seem fair for someone so sick to try to teach an exercise class for a ministry.... and then also prepare and deliver a devotion. Even though I hardly knew her, I sensed her sadness on one occasion when she couldn't hold that part of the class.

I HATE SPEAKING IN FRONT OF PEOPLE!! But, if you walk with God, you KNOW when he tells you to do something. He's taught me so much and I knew I could stand up ONE TIME and talk about Him and His amazing Word.

Soooo... that was way back in July when I did what I thought would be the first and only one. Apparently, God or Janae or both have other plans for me. And since I am kind of a sucker for both, I thought I'd share with you the second one I did last Monday. (Nov 4). I won't even tell you that this past Monday morning at 8 am I received an email from Janae asking me if I could have another prepared by 6 pm THAT NIGHT. (Um... this would be #3 ... if your counting. I thought I'd agreed to one??) All of a sudden she thinks I am Beth Moore or Joyce Meyer.

Please!

I'm going to have to come up with a speaking fee.

Well, here was the second one:

How to Fight.... God's Way

I always feel an urgency to share with people what I am going to share tonight. So, if you are close to me, I apologize for you having to hear this again. It’s a lesson I learned the hard way and I hope someone else might learn from my mistakes. I also always feel an urgency to share this because in all my years “in church”, I was never really taught how to fight my way through things that had a strong hold on me.

Since I was 19 years old, I have been fighting a battle. That’s half my life. It has not been a physical fight, although, sometimes I wonder if that wouldn’t be easier. Instead, this battle has taken place on the battlefield that is my mind.

Way back in 1990, our family experienced a string of tra and deaths, which for me resulted in anxiety attacks. The attacks acted themselves out with physical symptoms such as a racing heart. This is turn made me so nervous I couldn’t relax. I’d often feel like I was going to have a heart attack or like I was losing my mind. This panic disorder lead eventually to depression and a vicious cycle of one playing off of the other began. Medicine greatly helped but even with the medication, I felt like it was always lurking around the corner trying to rear it’s ugly head. I have never been completely disabled by it, but it has no doubt played a major role in the way I functioned from time to time.

I know that without my relationship with Jesus I would not be standing here today. There would have been no reason to fight through such an awful war. God has been so faithful even when I thought for sure he had fallen off the throne. For the last 19 years and especially the last 6 years, I have been educated in the power of God and His Word through this field trip of my own failure, weakness and bondage.

So, I am going to try to sum up in 5 points what has taken me almost 2 decades to learn.

Think About it and Power Verses:
1. It’s important to understand that we are all in battle. Ephesians 6:12 says, “ For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.” This battle is not one we can see but that doesn’t make it any less real. In fact, not seeing it, makes it even worse.

2. In the battles we fight, Satan’s main line of offense comes by setting up strongholds. A stronghold is anything that exalts itself in our minds, “pretending” to be bigger or more powerful than our God. It steals much of our focus and causes us to feel overpowered. Controlled. Mastered. Whether the stronghold is an addiction, unforgiveness toward a person who has hurt us, or despair over a loss, it is something that consumes so much of our emotional and mental energy that abundant life is strangled- our callings remain largely unfulfilled and our believing lives are virtually ineffective. Exactly what Satan wants.
3. We are instructed to fight these battles and we have only been given two weapons. One is a sword, Ephesians 6:17 “.........the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.” Then the next verse, verse 18 says, “And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests.” Our two weapons are prayer and the Word of God.

4. We have to use our weapons. . The most common way today that a modern “fortress” is demolished is by strategically placing dynamite in the building and then detonating it. Imagine the demolition crew showing up at the building with sticks and stones. They could holler at that building with all their might and throw sticks and stones until they fainted from exhaustion and it would still be standing. No one would doubt they had tried, They simply had the wrong tools. What they needed was dynamite. You and I are about as effective as the crew with loud mouths, sticks and stones when we try to break down our strongholds with carnal weapons like pure determination, secular psychology, and denial. A stronghold has to be demolished. God has handed us two sticks of dynamite: prayer and The Word. What is more powerful than two sticks of dynamite placed in separate locations? Two strapped together. We need to take our two sticks of dynamite- prayer and the Word- strap them together and ignite them with faith in what God says he can do. In other words, I believe we have to find scripture about whatever we are dealing with and pray that scripture over our lives.
5. I think the scripture needs to be confessed out loud. The enemy can’t read our thoughts. Besides, Jesus fought Satan in the wilderness by quoting scripture when he was being tempted. What makes us think we can silently pray a quick prayer in our minds and defeat the enemy. Here are some verses that I believe reinforces speaking aloud. Rev 2:16. “...I will soon come to you and will fight against them with the sword of my mouth.” Hebrews 4:12, “For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword...” Psalm 103:20, “Bless (affectionately, gratefully praise) the Lord, you His angels, you mighty ones who do His commandments, hearkening to the voice of His word.”

Apply it:
Speak God’s word over your problem areas. Scripture should be applied like medication. If we are bleeding, we don’t run and take an aspirin. We apply pressure and bandage the wound. Scripture is to be used the same way. I use two books that lists scripture for things like anger, anxiety, control, forgiveness, insecurity, power, prayer, trust, wisdom and worship. These two books are the very things God has used in setting me free... albeit one link at a time.
Praying God’s Word by Beth Moore
The Secret Power of Speaking God’s Word by Joyce Meyer


You can’t defeat Goliath with your mouth shut. I Samuel 17:42-48 tells us that when David was preparing to do battle with the giant Goliath, he ran toward him confessing out loud what he believed the end result of the battle would be.

Then said David to the Philistine, You come to me with a sword, a spear, and a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the ranks of Israel, Whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand, and I will smite you and cut off your head. And I will give the corpses of the army of the Philistines this day to the birds of the air and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.

David’s example shows us how we should approach the enemies we face in our own lives. We must open our mouth and speak the word of God.

God, I pray for each person who reads this blog. I pray that you would show each them how powerful, alive and active your word is. I ask that you teach us how to use your word to fight whatever Goliath we are facing in our own lives. Thank you for giving us your word- because only your word has the power to transform lives. May this week bring some kind of transformation for every person because we have applied your word.

Thank you Lord! In the life-changing power of your name, AMEN!!

Last nerve

Things that get on my ever-lovin' LAST nerve:

IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER:

1. Fruit flies- They apparently have nothing else to do but breed BECAUSE I can NOT get rid of them. And, lest you forget, I am the Queen of Google so... yep, I've tried it!

2. Cleaning out containers of old food in the frig- I'd rather have a barbed-wire enema. It's so disgusting! Don't tell, but someone brought a dip to my house on Oct 9.... and I just cleaned the container out today. And, the part that makes no sense is, the longer it sets in the frig... the worse it smells. I have smelled that nasty dip all day!

3. Dust pans- The crumbs... they never all make it in. I go through all the trouble and get my vacuum cleaner out just so I don't have to use a dust pan. Or, I sweep it in the corner and wait for Paul.

4. People who talk to me when I am trying to write..."SILENCE! I kill you!"

5. Trying to drink a smoothie and ice gets stuck in the straw. I have had a protein smoothie every day for the last... who knows how many days. I put in skim milk, banana, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries and spinach. Paul swears I puree all my food these days.

6. People who call me one their way from point A to point B.... but only do it to kill time. If you've got something to say... that's fine... but don't call just because you've got nothing else to do.

7. Paul picking off his fingernails and leaving them... well... Let's just put it this way. Right before we left the college we had worked at for 4 years, I decided to have someone clean our couch. The couch has been up against the same wall for 3 years. When the lady went to move the couch to clean behind it, the wall was lined with a pile of fingernails Paul had picked off his fingers and dropped behind the couch. I was mortified.

8. Feeding Emme. It's such a chore. She doesn't want to eat and I have to fight her off the liquids the whole time.

9. People who get mad because you don't call... but they don't call you either

10. When I can't see someone talking on their cell phone because it's CONNECTED to their ear... and they are standing by me in a store and I am the only one around SO I am SURE they are talking to me or they are cracking up

11. When you can't get off the phone with someone. And, about 21 times, they act like they are going to let you get off... "Well listen, I gotta go... did I tell you about Bertha's cousin?"

12. Socks -where do they go? For real?

13. When people try to talk to me before I've had coffee in the morning.

14. ANY repetitive noise. Makes me want to run through a glass window.

Sadly, there are more. I just can't think of them right now. What gets on your last nerve??

TrIcK oR TrEaT.... yum!

I haven't been trick or treating with a friend in a long time. Paul and I just usually take the kids out by ourselves. But, this year, Paul was out of town FOR THE THIRD WEEKEND in October! What?! (I'm not bitter.) (I just leaving next weekend and going to Chicago to visit my friend, Gina and meet her new baby, Lucy.) (And, then.... I may or I may not come back?)

So, the kids and I went over to my friend, Janae's to trick or treat. They grilled out some hamburgers and hotdogs. We got the kids dressed up. Janae's husband, Michael, and I walked around with the kids begging for candy. Then we went back, the kids ate who knows how much candy... while we adults sat out by a bonfire and talked. It was so fun!! Here are some pics:

Michael thought Emme should have gone as a Chinese take out container... so he gave her one. VERY soon we are going to have to stop the silly jokes because she's going to start understanding... but, until then...
Michael, eating the contents of the box. I think he was going to try to stuff Emme in it, but her forgot.
Emme and her best buddy. I hate that this picture is blurry. Why, oh why, do I have so many camera issues? At least I remembered my camera, batteries and the camera card. Nothing short of a miracle.
Emme LOVED wearing her costume. I have had to put it back on her several times this week.

Janae making her youngest into Sharpay from High School Musical.
Jackson.... Clearly, the mask wasn't working out so well for him. I feel like in every picture he is holding his head at an odd angle.
A skeleton, a 50's girl, a doctor and a bee... interesting combination.

Throw in a jockey and Sharpay!

This is my favorite picture. Michael in the background trying to get Janae's grandpa to come to the door.

Some lady saw Emme in the road waiting in the wagon... so she comes running out of her house, "Is that a baby??? I've got stuff for a baby!!" She gave her Goldfish, Teddy Grams, Applesauce and peaches. That should do Emme for... a good week. Emme was very content sitting all smug in her wagon.

This guy in the orange barrel cracked me up. I want that costume!

Soo... it was a great night BUT because it's my story... there always has to be some drama. I mean .. what would one of my stories be like without the weird drama?

I pulled in the driveway. The kids were tired and cranky. I'm tired from being a single mom... blah, blah, blah! I push the button to get the garage door up, it goes up about 6 inches and comes back down. I did it about 261 more times because... well, you just never know what the magic number might be. About that time, it occurred to me that I didn't have a key to my own house. I called my neighbor. We had given them a key to hold for us in the past, but we needed it once and never gave it back. Surprise!

Our neighbor came over anyway with a bag of keys and low and behold, one worked!! THe Hallelujah chorus started playing in the background! 20 minutes after pulling in the driveway, we were in the house.

We found out yesterday that our garage door needs a new $200 coil. It's a good thing my Father (in heaven) owns the cattle on a thousand hills cause he's gonna have to sell a few and give out of his glorious riches to his kids down here. We're not setting the financial world on fire right now!

Which one is Chinese?

Seriously, why does Shelby look more Chinese than my Chinese daughter?

See all those leaves? For who knows what reason, Jackson had my keys Sunday. Between Sunday night and Monday afternoon, I spent 8 hours looking for them. Finally, my neighbor came over and started raking the leaves looking for them. After, mind you, I had torn my house apart trying to find them. She found them.

I guess I should just be thankful, huh?

Nobody better EVER ask me what I do all day!!