50 Degrees!

There is only one thing to say when you are sitting in front of the fire in your flannel pjs and the thermostat is registering 50.

Burrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!  

What a sense of humor!

Well the last thing that I wrote yesterday was "looking forward to some good sleep this week ." Last night, when I got home, my upstairs was a little on the toasty side...about 80 degrees. So I turned the thermostat way down thinking that maybe it the heater had just gone on a mad run and was getting ready to go back off. I went downstairs and watched a movie and worked on the computer for a bit and then headed off to bed. Well now the upstairs was about 82 degrees. So I turned off the thermostat and went to bed. It was so hot!!!! I tossed and turned from about 10 pm to about 12:30 am and finally drifted off (or passed out from heat exhaustion...not sure :) ). At 3 am, my dog leaped from the bed acting like he was dying of thirst and headed downstairs. When I followed him into the hall, the thermostat was registering 90 degrees. Oh baby! Talk about a sauna! I headed downstairs and gave Cop some water and let him out in the cold to cool off and I got online to figure out how to fix the thermostat (as if...haha). When I got on the company's website, one of the only directions that I actually understood was "turn off the breaker." Wow! Why didn't I think of that? So that's what I did. By 9:30 am, we were still registering 65 degrees and Copper and I both looked like we had been through it! So here's the good part. After writing that blog yesterday, I laid in bed at 3:30 am this morning thinking. God, you got this! You can fix it! You can make it affordable! You can provide the funds! You can help me think of ways to cut back in other places! Whatever the solution, I'm just going to wait and not worry, because you are in control. You've got this! And pretty soon, I was fast to sleep. Granted the alarm went off 2 and a half hours later, but it was 2 and a half more hours than I would have gotten worrying. I would love to tell you the end of the story, but I don't know it yet. A heating guy came for a little over an hour today and said that he couldn't fix it because it was a mechanical problem and he is sending someone else tomorrow. So we'll see, but I know that no matter what 1. God is in control and 2. I am not going to make this wait about the wait. I am going to hear from God about what He is teaching me about trusting Him. And since the breaker is still shut off, it may be a little easier, because I won't have to listen over the sound of heat roaring through the house. :) Haha

Perfect Peace of Mind

Wow! Doesn't that sound incredible! A day with no worries, a night full of restful, sound sleep.... mmmmm! Isaiah 26:3 says, "You will keep in perfect peace the mind that is dependent on You for it is trusting in You." Between Greenhouse and the Truth Project I am being bombarded with this thought, "If I really believe that God is who He says He is, then why don't I trust Him with it all?" Maybe I don't believe as much as I say I do. Maybe if I really believed then I wouldn't worry so much. Maybe if I really believed I would not only accept the waits in life, but I would cherish them. And on top of all that, worrying doesn't help at all. In fact, it hinders the process, because it keeps our minds so cluttered that we can't hear clearly from God. So, what's the next step? Well, last week I started using my cellphone less. This week, I am going to stop and give God control every time that I begin to worry. That will probably be something that I have to do over and over and over, but this week, that is my goal. I am going to earnestly try living like God really is who He says that He is, because I know that that is truth! And I am not going to let the wait be about the wait. This week, anyway, I am going to listen harder than ever before and hear what God is saying during the wait. And boy oh boy am I looking forward to some good sleep this week!

Journaling

Everyone (don't you love that clear as mud indefinite pronoun) says that journaling is one of the greatest things that you can do for your spiritual walk. They (hee hee) are probably right. Journaling, however, is one of the hardest things for me to do! I always start well and then three or four days later fall short of my original goal. I either put it off, quit, or completely quit being honest and start writing as if my journal is going to be the next Diary of Anne Frank. Well, this session in Greenhouse I am teaching a class called What To Do With Your Wait. It is the best class that I have ever taught. I am really loving the material!!!! Except....the author of the study wants us to journal. So here we are a week into it and I, as the teacher, am still trying to figure out how to journal. And then it hit me. I should kill two birds with one stone. So for the next six weeks, my blog is going to become my journal...and I have all of you to keep me accountable. I am going to blog about what God is teaching me through this Greenhouse class. So here goes.....

This week I have really been thinking a lot about how God wants to use the "waiting room" of life to teach us things. There are things in life that I have been waiting for for a little while and things that I have been waiting for a lifetime and I am struggling to learn much in the process. I think I used to be better at it than I am now and I think I may know why.... TECHNOLOGY. I know that sounds really strange, but I think it is true. My cell phone allows me to check my email, text and call my friends, surf the internet (including my facebook page), play games, etc.... My DVR allows me to record all kinds of tv shows that I would normally miss due to work or sleep or life. My IPOD and XM radio allow me to hear the music or comedian or talk show or ball game that I want when I want it. So anytime that I have a spare minute to think or listen or hear, I can quickly find something in life to make noise and fill that space up. And unfortunately, that is what I find myself doing more often than not. When I get lonely, instead of asking God what He is trying to teach me in this "Single" stage in life, I catch myself checking my facebook and email a thousand times a day to see if anyone is planning anything fun. When I begin to think about my finances or my health or a habitual sin that God is convicting me of, I turn on the radio or the tv and drown out the hard lessons that God is trying to teach me. So I am working on not being a technology junkie and on taking time to just listen and hear. I was talking to Marshall about this this week and he reminded me of Psalm 46:10 where it says "Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth."

You know, now that I am doing it, I realize even journaling can be a way to think and hear what God is saying. I guess they really are right.

My new hobby

This year I got one of the best Christmas presents ever.... a KitchenAid Mixer!  Yay!  I love it!!!!  I have taken up a new hobby in the past month.  I really enjoy decorating cakes.  I'm not that good at it, but it is fun to try and be a little creative.  Matt seems to have gotten all of the creative juices in our family, so I like being able to do something a little artistic.  Haha.  I guess as long as they are as good as what you get by stopping by Bloom on the way to the party, my family will keep letting me make them.  Haha!  Maybe one day I will get good enough to sell them...but probably not...haha.  Anyway, I want to thank Mom and Dad and Ma and Papa for one of the greatest gifts ever!

Did you know that Willy Wonka lived in Detroit?

In September, several of us on staff went to Granger, IN for the Innovate Conference. On the way, we had a layover in Detroit. Of course, the gate where we landed and the gate where we needed to be for our next flight were on opposite sides of the airport. But this time....that was a great thing! Because had it not been for our trek across Michigan...I mean the Detroit airport...we would have never gotten to take the magical ride through the Willy Wonka factory. Did you ever see that movie? The original? That wondrous magical boat ride was pretty creepy stuff when you were a kid wasn't it? Well, if you are walking through a normal airport in the US and happen upon a tunnel, much like that in Wonka's factory, it can be kind of creepy as an adult. And then you just stand on the moving sidewalk and take it all in and it becomes kind of fun! Kudos to Marshall for going back and trying to capture it on tape...but really...you just have to be there. I'm pretty sure someone tried to lick the wallpaper on the way out!

PS-The video gets really good at 51 seconds!

Willy Wonka's Wonderous Boat Ride

In case you never saw the original