Mercy and Grace

I am reading Henry Blackaby's book CHOSEN TO BE GOD'S PROPHET: LESSONS FROM THE LIFE OF SAMUEL from his Biblical legacy series. I highly recommend it and though I am not even halfway through yet, it is just excellent. Perhaps it is just hitting me on some issues that I have been struggling with lately. I have marked up lots of passages so far but wanted to share one in particular.

"Many book have been written about grace, but preceding grace is mercy. God's nature, revealed to Moses, was - 'My name is mercy'." This is described in Exodus 34:6-7.
"Before God can give you what you do not deserve, He will have to withhold from your what you really deserve. God must first cancel your sin. When you cry out to God for mercy and plead with Him to extend His mercy to you, you do so because you have sinned grievously against a Holy God."

We all deserve everything but mercy. We do not have a full enough concept of our sin and how it disgraces the Lord God in front of the multitudes of saints. We think that what we do, we do in private. No so, says the Lord. That is really scary to think that all our sins will be exposed and we will have nowhere to run except to beg for the mercy of God. This is where we find our hiding place and safety. There can be no better place than in the arms of the Creator of the universe.

Crying out for mercy is the only hope we have. When is the last time you found yourself crying out for anything other than additional comforts for your life? When was the last time I did that? There is so much more that we need besides comfort and thankfully he is more concerned with our character rather than our comforts.

Father, we do cry out for an outpouring of your mercy and an overflowing of your grace. We are nothing without You.

A Walk in the Park

So, let's catch up on sweet little Vivi...

She is so adorable... when she is not urinating on the floor, throwing up in the den, or chewing my favorite socks. Absolutely precious, I say. The puppy is CLEARLY a sanguine puppy, kind of like her Aunt Christi. Playful, fun, short attention span... you get the picture. If not, go back and look at a few posts ago. It's right there.

Let's talk about our little outing today.

Yes. Today, we had a little aunt and puppy time together. We talked, she slept, I drove, we listened to Carrie Underwood. A great time was had by all. My friend, Sharon, and her mongrel, I mean, dog, went with us. I invited them because I LOVE Sharon and her dog needs some social skills in a major way. This dog has no friends and let me tell you, her last days will be lonely. I, in my own way, am trying to help that (rat dog) pet become all that she can be. And she is completely ungrateful and wants to bite me on the backside for even attempting to help her. She did lick me today for the first time. Sharon thinks it was primarily to determine if she needed A-1 or Heinz 57 when she finally took a bite out of crime. I can't say that I disagree with her. (Just for future reference, this lovely dog is named Georgia, but she has several nicknames.)

So, Vivi and I (and our "friends") decided to try out the dog park in East Nashville today. This was not going to be an all day affair, but something that lasted a couple of hours at most. My friend at work was hyping the dog park dynamic so I took the bait. Plus, I don't have to wear those stupid footies there so I said, "Vivi, git in the car - we're goin'!" After driving approximately 90 minutes for a 12-15 mile drive, I knew today was going to ROCK! Growling Gidget was scratching the steel from her cage bars in the back of the car and Vivi was chillin' in my lap. Sharon and I are discussing lots of things from both of us being poor map readers, both of us having a terrible sense of direction, and me having less than 1/16 of a tank of gas left. Fun times. Anyway, Chewbacca finally quit shredding the steel and we arrived at the dog park after becoming friends with 8 cops, 7 random walkers, 6 random passengers in cars, 5 dog walkers, 4 adolescents heading to the community center, 3 marathon finishers, 2 children in strollers and 1 security guard. This dog park was hard to find.

We get there and notice there are caterpillars everywhere. Gross! Not the inchworm-ish critters. These are the plump juicy fuzzy, yellow and black caterpillars that I am positive are poisonous and will NOT turn into butterflies. Everywhere. I get out and haul out Vivi's diaper bag. You think I am kidding. This puppy travels in style, Baby. She has her own travel bag, and in the bag, she has: food, food bowl, treats of many different flavors, regular leash, retractable leash, small towel (for when she sweats), bottled water and water dish, eye cream for when her eyes drain and we don't want them to stain, and "pet wipes" for ... well, the name speaks for themselves. I wish I was kidding about this, but alas, I am not. I will say, I have NEVER EVER used the "pet wipes". This girl has to have her standards and I am not doing that. Sorry. Call me a bad aunt. I am totally OK with that.

Vivi walks me over to the fenced area while I am carrying her bag and my bag (which carries my reading material and bottle of water - THAT IS ALL!). The Queen of Mean is growling the entire way over to the fenced area because she has to walk and wants to be carried exactly 4 ft, 6 inches above the level of other dogs and she ain't makin any bones about it... she's ticked. Vivi looks at her in a very friendly way, she snarls. Georgia's learning curve is a little steeper than other dogs her age in the area of social skills. I don't know what else to say about that.

We go in and meet the first pooch, a cairn terrier, whose owner keeps telling him to "SIC 'er" toward Vivi. Clearly, another dog who needs social skill training... perhaps the owner as well. Who does that? First rattle out of the bag, not even a "Hey, what's up, let me have a sniff." before "SIC' er!" Anyway, luckily there was another dog, Tiger. I liked him (and the single male owner) but alas, there was no love connection for Viv and Tig. Tiger was about 8 times Vivi's size anyway so I don't see that working out. I learned some things about Viv today. She has no fear and she runs really fast. She also shares very well and is very modest....all of which makes me very proud to be her aunt.

Move along to meet the other dogs: Let's see... we had, Tiger, Chester (the hound), Jake (the Weimariner), Stella (the brindle medium dog), and Bartlesby (the dalmatian mix). All very nice dogs, all much bigger than Vivi, all very into Vivi. It was SO MUCH like HIGH SCHOOL!!!! Vivi was clearly the cute cheerleader in high school and Jake was the star QB, Chester was the strong but silent Valedictorian, both fighting for the same girl and Stella was the jealous dance team member. I could not have seen this more clearly. Viv was the popular girl and the other guy dogs danced around her and acted cool but when she was about to leave their vicinity, everyone became very territorial with Vivi ... except for Stella who was whispering malicious lies to Georgia about Vivi for the ride home. Georgia heard every word and was clearly calculating her next move. Classic KHS!

Sharon and I are making friends with the owners and watching the dog soap opera play out when she and I felt something crawling up our legs. OH YEAH! The caterpillars were alive and well and scurrying up our legs and all I can say is that YOU WISH that you had been there to see it! Others present in the park DID see it and came over to make friends with the freaky girls dancing on the bench with poisonous caterpillars crawling up their shorts by now. Thrilling to say the least. After that show of emotion, Georgia was more than miffed that she had been disturbed and actually had to stand on the same ground as the other dogs and basically demanded that Vivi share her best treats with her. So, we got them out and then Georgia totally turned her nose up at them. Snooty Patootie! By this time, the entire population of thepark had migrated over to our little corner. People pulled up benches, the boy dogs were whispering about Viv's silky coat and gams (you know guys are visual), and Stella and Georgia were catty and cracked open a cold one to spike the water buckets. Typical.

But wait... where's Bartlesby? Remember, the good looking Dalmatian mix. Oh, here he is...

PEEING ON MY BAG!!!!!

And just like typical boys, Jake and Chester started laughing (they love bathroom humor). And don't think for a minute that Gnarly and Snarly didn't plan that! Oh, they acted like they were genuinely surprised but you could totally see the evil sneer. And then, they went behind the tree, high fived and drank the rest of the hooch. I have one thought for that: Vivi and I are Christians (she became one three days ago when she quit pottying on the carpet) and we will ignore this incident. They only serve "warm" beer where those kinds of girls will be going and it just won't be as fulfilling in the heat.

We left in a blaze of glory with yet more caterpillars crawling on us and honestly, we just got tired of all the tricks Jake and Chester were doing to get Viv's attention. It got a little embarrassing. Come on, guys! Keep it together! A little give and go - don't drown her in attention. I personally am pulling for Chester but as her aunt, I will support her decision. It's a girl's perrogative - just ask Britney. She knows.

We are certainly going back in the near future. Who knew the dog park could be so much fun?

Beware of Friends Wearing Slingshots

...Ok, so I am eating lunch with my good friend, Leah. Let me branch into how much this girl ROCKS! Love her! She is new to Vandy and such a breath of fresh air up there. We have decided that we need to be going to the main hospital cafeteria for lunch. The Starbucks, the Pesto Minestrone soup, the doctors and the time away from the clinic. What is not to love?! So we took a jaunt down to the courtyard cafe... Herein lies today's funny story...

So, here we are, hair brushed (perhaps stylishly mussed), nails polished, debit card in hand walking at a good little clip to be sure. We have a rule up at Vandy... no open toe shoes.

Yeah. That stinks, especially in the spring and summer with cute sandals. However, this is NOT the worst rule we have.

We MUST wear stockings or socks or the ugly little footies that "try" to hide under the leather of your shoe but let's be real. They are not foolin anybody. You can see those ugly footies eight people away and they are not pretty. IF you cannot tell about my opinion about this rule, let's spell it out...

T-o-t-a-l-l-y stupid rule! (Yeah, I said Stupid ... and I think it IS a stupid rule.)

Anyway, Leah and I are walking around, finding our food, rubbing elbows with lumbering eligible long lab coats and looking for a table. Long story short, Leah found a table as I was paying and I walked over to the table she picked across the way. As I walked over there, my little stupid footie slipped off the bottom of my heel in my shoe for the 847th time that day. SO ANNOYING! I sat down and unloaded my tray. We were chatting and trying to present our best angles in catch the best lighting, you understand. IN a flash of brilliance, I decided I would just casually reach down and fix the little booger in my shoe and try to be as inconspicuous about because really... who honestly wants to see that?

I reached down to pull the footie down over my heel and my shoe slips off...

... AND I SHOT THE UGLY, STUPID, LITTLE STINKY FOOTIE ACROSS THE MAIN HOSPITAL CAFETERIA!!!

OH YES, I DID!!!

It landed in the hot doctor's soup at the table beside us.

NO IT DIDN'T!!!!!

What kind of moron do you think I am? I have other ways of getting physician attention. I am not going to make him puke by shooting my sock in his lunch! Good grief! I have some couth!!

I became aware in this situation just what kind of friend I am. Seriously. This is what I thought...

Thought #1: "GOOD GRAVY TRAIN, I JUST SHOT THAT STUPID FOOTIE ACROSS THE DANG BLASTED CAFETERIA WITH ALL THESE BEAUTIFUL LAB COATS ALL AROUND!"

Thought #2: Fake it. IT DIDN'T HAPPEN! Admit NOTHING! That is somebody else's stupid footie. Quick, find your happy place. HAPPY PLACE. HAPPY PLACE. HAPPY PLACE.

Thought #3: Where in the cocoa puffs did it go? DON'T MAKE A SCENE, CHRISTI! Probably not too far away, I bet I can reach out with my foot (which is bare by the way, now) and pick it up like Jennifer Little used to do back in middle school with those amazing long toes.

Stinky footie spotted... walking distance away. OH yeah.

Here is where I feel ashamed, sorta...

Thought #4: It is kind of by Leah. Closer to Leah than to me. Maybe I could... NO! You can't! OR could you? Maybe I can leave it there and somebody will think it is hers and they won't notice my OTHER ugly stupid little footie hanging out from under my other shoe. Oh yeah. That's my play. (Enter GUILT, GUILT, GUILT...)

Holy Spirit's thought #1: Classy move, Hot stuff. IF you are going to shaft your friend, at least do it when you have used odor eaters. What you are doing is just WRONG! You are a skanky new friend." (I am a little fuzzy on the last phrase the Holy Spirit used. I cannot be sure if He said "skanky" or "stanky" friend. I actually have never heard either phrase used before by the Holy Spirit but let's face it.... that was poor performance in friendship 101.

Thought #5: Well Crap. I am going to have to go pick up that totally useless footie off the floor. So, then what? After it is in my hand, then what? Put it back on so we can have a repeat performance in 12.7 seconds? Dude, if it happens again, I am TOTALLY blaming Leah!!! Just go get the stupid sock.

I slipped on my shoe without the footie and walked over and picked it up off the floor and walked briskly back over to my table where Leah was transfixed on my face which by now had taken on SO many expressions including: annoyance, horror, fear, guilt, conviction, defeat and finally, the inhalation of humble pie. She, oh sweet friend, full of innocence and blissfully unaware...

Here is a question for you: What do you do with the sock now that you have picked it up and brought it back to the table with you? Put it back on the footie-less foot? Put it in your purse? Try again and aim higher so as to show your sense of humor to the only Dr who didn't see it the first time since the rest are snubbing their nose at you? What do you do?

You want to know what I did?

I sat on it.

Right under the left cheek. Just couldn't handle the whole situation so I just sat on it. I don't know what that solved, but it made me feel better and I just wanted it to go away. It became funny shortly after that and I eventually put the stupid footie back on.

It was truly a character building moment. Glad you could enjoy it with me.

Sorry Leah.

Say "Hello" to my Li'l Friend

Is this the cutest dog you have ever seen in your life? Seriously. This dog could take ALL of your dogs in the Miss Dog America pageant!

On Friday...

She will live with me!!!!!!

CAN. NOT. WAIT.

More pictures to come.

OMGosh! She is so cute!!!!!!

God's Goodness

I spent a good six hours yesterday reading, studying, journaling and praying. It was the best day of 2009 thus far. It was a beautiful day and I now have a porch overlooking some ready-to-bloom dogwood trees and some blossoming pear trees so I brewed a pot of tea and got all my books and a brand new journal and just sat in the gorgeousness of it all. The Lord is so evident on days like yesterday. The weather is perfect, the world is ready to burst forth with color, the daily pulls of things to do can be at least put off and at best forgotten for just a few hours of much needed time in the Word. God is so prevalent in settings like that.

How many of you had Saturdays like I had yesterday?

What? You didn't have 6 hours of uninterrupted time. To read. To pray. To journal what the Lord is doing. To study the Word with commentaries and other resources.

I am treading on very, VERY thin ice. I know. I can feel the death stares and the hear the grumbling under your breath. Actually, it is not quite under your breath, huh?

I know that there are MANY of you, probably MOST of you who don't have that kind of time to yourselves. I know not from experience but from personal reports from people like you and the rest of the world.

At this stage in my journey and where the Lord has me right now, I am blessed to have that much time to myself to do what I want to do. I say this not to brag or remind you of how much YOU need to get done before Monday rolls around. I say this for the benefit of myself and the recognition of blessing that I have during this season on singleness.

As a single women in her 30's, I struggle at times with being single this far into the journey of life. I am friends with women who are at many different stages of life. Some are just gathering their wits about them a few years after college/grad school. Some are settling into life as a newlywed. Some are "enjoying" the sleepless nights with young children and the strain that this economy is putting on the typical family of 4. There are some who are struggling, like I do, with protracted singleness. How does this translate into blessing for each of these stages?

Several truths:
1) God is always good: His provision, His timing, the circumstances He allows... He is always good,
2) He has storehouses of blessings for His children. These are not going to be bestowed upon us all at one time. They are called storehouses because they are for storing. They store up blessings for Him to distribute all along the journey we walk. If you are His child, you will have more blessings to come in the future.
3) God is going to receive the glory, no matter what. If there is something that you can manipulate and receive glory from, there will be a very short shelf life for that particular accolade, promotion, "jewel", etc.
He is the beginning and ending of all things. God promotes and God demotes at His leisure for our very best good and His glory. Take it to the bank!
4) God loves you and me! He is not looking for ways to trip us up. He is not looking for ways to ambush us. He is lovingly guiding us to Him and towards godliness. This is love. It doesn't look like the love we are used to here on earth given by man. It is altogether different. Those that are supposed to love us the best, do not compare to the love of God. They are in different leagues.

So before, you start throwing tomatoes at me for pointing out all the time that I have available to myself, I want you to think of all the good morning kisses you get, the love of a man/woman who chose you to spend the rest of your lives together with, the coos and giggles of little kids who love you beyond measure, the home full of love (and trials - I know), the teamwork , the help, the camaraderie...

See. There are so many blessings on either side of the coin. I think this is how God intended. He didn't want us to look across the yard and see all the flowers where "they" are and simply notice the weeds where we are. God is always ready to bless and knows exactly where we need to be at all times. If you needed to be single, you would be single. If I needed to be married, I would be.

This week, try to find things that demonstrate the goodness of God in your personal life. One thing for me is that today, I am able to make the time to update this blog. I know there are flourishing writers out there that do not have opportunities given their current status to do some writing. I am blessed and I am thankful for where I am today. God is good to me in all things. I know this to be true.

What about you? What are some things that demonstrate the goodness of God in your life today?

My Dad

I wanted to take a little post and say thank you to several of you who were praying for my Dad this past week. He is back home and back to his old tricks. Some of you know how he can be, huh? Back in the saddle as they say.

For those that don't know, my dad was hospitalized for a few days this week for some chest pains and some headaches. He is fine and the Lord gets the glory for his complete recovery. Amen! However, I find myself pondering a situation that thankfully, I haven't yet had to experience. The possible physical loss of a close friend or family member.

I don't want to be dramatic or anything, but when you receive a phone call with news on the other end saying there is someone that you love dearly is in an ambulance, I don't care if it is for a hang nail or dandruff, that is scary! Maybe it is scary for me because I live so far away from so many people I love or maybe it is because I haven't fully pondered what it would be like to lose someone that is that close to my heart and it comes as a shock. Now that things are fine, I have been thinking about my Dad and the things that he means to me.

My dad is like no man I have ever met.

I guess Dads are like that.

He is a distinct mix of hot and cold, of hard and soft, of weird and wonderful, all wrapped up in sacrifice and love. He's a talker and he's a thinker. He's a giver. He does everything with 110% passion and drive. He's a disciplinarian and a big softie. He's learning and he's an educator. He's an optimist and he's a realist. He has been given much and is required much of. He has high expectations for others, but higher expectations for himself. He's not funny when he tries to be and HILARIOUS when he doesn't mean to be.

He's my dad.

He is the one that our infinitely wise Almighty God hand-picked and groomed for me and my siblings.

- The one who would know the marketing scheme for both a snowcone man and an "up and coming" singer.

- The one who can teach his daughter how to shoot a pistol and go shop for another daughter's prom gown (without Mom no less).

- The one who can encourage us all on to greatness in spite of ourselves because he is a big picture person and yet in tune with the tiniest details.

- The one who is strong enough to stand up to anyone and soft enough to cry about it afterwards.

This man is not perfect. He is only a man. Just like you and just like me. He will never be perfect and is not expected to be perfect. But he is the perfect father for me. I thank God that in all His wisdom, He chose this man to be the one who lead our family and taught us God's Word. He chose this particular man to be the one who helped me with algebra and with teaching my first Bible Study. He chose this man to be the role model for who I will choose as a husband and how I will work steadily as unto the Lord. He chose this man to be my children's grandparent (if He so blesses me in that way) and to be the one who loves my mother infinitely more today than yesterday but less than he will tomorrow. He chose this man to show me what a man growing in godliness looks like and how to accept the discipline when we stumble and fall with grace.

Some call him names like philanthropist, deacon, leader, entrepreneur.

Some call him names like Jr., Hoops, Boss, or Doc.

Some might call him names that might be unmentionable here.

I just call him Dad because when I read that Father God sacrificed everything He had for those He loved the most...

... I saw the resemblance.

I love you, Dad!

Glad you are OK!

Wanted: Dietary HoHos and a Toothbrush for Jabba

I know, I know... It is either feast or famine with me, huh? Three posts in one night. The other two were ridiculous but this one is serious.

Serious as heart attack.

I have seen it.

The Force must be with me for I have seen it.

What, you may ask, have I seen?

If you were Yoda, you would know.

(Crickets...)

The CD.

I have seen it.

Soon, Luke, you will see it, too...

Until then, dress up like Princess Leia and don't eat as many HoHos as Jabba the Hut.

It's just not pretty.

"Man Looks at the Outward Appearance..."

NOW... THIS IS MORE LIKE IT!!!

First picture in the 8th file.

PROMISE!

What is this, you may ask?

I call it a Rat Bat.

I don't know what it is but a friend sent it to me to cheer me up one day and it scared me so bad when I opened it up that I screamed a little louder than I expected which then made me laugh. For quite a while actually. I think I needed to vent some pent up emotion and this did the trick.

Isn't this the UGLIEST creature God ever made?

It is HORRIBLE looking thing.

It probably secretes something that some ridiculously smart physician can make medication which will cure cancer or maybe it is what God has put in charge of eating all cockroaches. Both VERY good things. Ugly on the outside, beautiful on the inside. Kind of like coal with a diamond in the middle. Or a HoHo.

See, man looks at the outside but God looks at the heart. (1 Sam. 16:7 - paraphrased)

It must be a very GODLY creature.

(I do still think it is ugly, though... good heart or not.)

Fried Rice with Coconut

Ok... I know you are wondering why there is a coconut leading the entry. I was tagged with some very explicit instructions from Jenn at Always a Texas Girl (See blog list to the right). It said to post the FOURTH picture from the FOURTH file of where I kept my pictures. Unfortunately for all of you, the FOURTH file happens to be of a work presentation about Childhood Apraxia of Speech. For those that don't know what that is (which I fully expect will by 99% of you), that is, in layman's terms, a motor speech disorder in which the mouth, lips, cheeks, jaw, teeth and tongue (oral articulators) "don't move right" just to put it very bluntly and succinctly. The specifics of the definition don't matter (in this forum). How does the coconut come into play?

When I make presentations for work or spend time teaching on a variety of subject matter, my presentations will not be boring. They cannot be because if they are, there is a very strong possibility that I would seriously drift off to sleep during the presentation. Don't question me here. I have fallen asleep in the middle of therapy before. (Just kidding.... or am I???) If it is boring for me, why in the world would I think it wouldn't be boring for them? I have to have some visuals or some significant and overarching analogy or something. For this particular presentation, my colleague and I took the previously developed analogy of Fried Rice that we took from another SLP and all the different versions to be had and made visuals for this. I have pictures of chickens, onions, garlic, peas, pineapple, pigs, shrimp, and green pepper along with COCONUT as possible fried rice compliments in this folder. Hence, the coconut picture in my FOURTH file as the FOURTH picture.

Having a blog really shouldn't be used for nonsense like this, eh? I could have totally smoked it if I had fudged and used a different picture from different number file. In fact, let's play a little chicken with that. I will now change the rules. I can do that. It is my blog. I now say, choose the .... the 8th picture in the 1st file OR the 1st picture in the 8th file.

I tag:

Jenn L

Mandy B

Amy M

Jodi M

Laura R.

GO.

Can I ask a few questions?

Here's a few for the masses...

1) What, in the name of all that is shiny and bright, is "Woot!" ??
My vague understanding is like... slang for "Woo-hoo". Is this correct?
For those of you who use this ridiculous term, does "Woo-Hoo" use too much of your air or take too much time to say or what? And before you answer, most of you double up on the "woot" to make it "Woot! Woot!".
If you are a double mint "Woot-er", are you doubly happy? I hope so because you sound doubly ridiculous.

2) Who is watching the train wreck that is The Bachelor? Dear friends, I have seen my share of the bachelors over years and I have to proclaim that this season's show is, in particular, filled with complete nut jobs. I know.... editing. Right, right, right, right, right, right..... I'm just sayin' .... take it to the cleaners, even though we are in an economic recession, there are NO psychoanalysts losing their job over at ABC this year. In fact, they are putting in the overtime. I have never experienced the embarrassment in my own heart for these poor souls like I have this season. It is practically KILLING me but you better not be calling me on Monday night until after 9:00 because I just cannot help myself.

Also, on a side note, if you are a Bachelor watcher and you are not reading Lincee's recap blog, you are missing out on an incredible piece of work. Friends, this girl's blog gets thousands, THOUSANDS of hits each week just for that recap and ABC and host Chris Harrison are some of those reading each week. Here is the link: http://www.ihategreenbeans.com/

YOU HAVE TO READ IT!

OK, that was a short one with I guess, only two questions. Or at least, the only ones I asked out loud...

HAPPY NEW YEAR (plus two weeks)!

Welcome to 2009! Here we are in the last year of the decade and honestly, I'm glad because I have spent at least 9 years wondering what to call this decade. Are we in the 2000's? The 10's? Single digits? I am ready for some clarification on this. Does anyone really know what we call this decade?
I hope this past year was a year to remember for you as it was for me. In some ways, there were many things that I would love, and I mean, LOVE to forget. However, there were some really great things that the Lord was gracious in, not the least of which is good health and a still relatively intact sense of humor, though someone told me this week that I had no sense of humor. WHAT? This someone does not read this blog, I don't think. Clearly, I live a very funny life, even in the mundane things. But, like everyone else, sometimes it is truly a laugh or cry situation and I try to choose to laugh. Sometimes I laugh so hard that I cry, which is the best, if I may say.

I wanted to follow up on a few things that I left hanging in my last post. The CD is NOT completed as of yet. I know that sounds absolutely incomprehensible given the time frame we are looking at. This is one of those laugh or cry situations. I have cried (and cried a lot at times) over this, but I remember that God has ordained this project to release on a specific date and I trust that He has the days numbered until the day of release. I trust Him with that and know that He is working all things out for His glory and I will not argue with that. Even if it never comes out, which I have pondered several times, I will still praise Him for the experience and joy He has allowed me to have in the journey. I have seen Him move in very "mountainous" ways and I love Him for it.

The CD was printed albeit a day later than expected which led to a different printer completing the job. They were to be delivered on Christmas Eve, which would have been a terrific irony for me but alas, I received a phone call saying that the job had been refused because the printing was too dark. (However, in case anyone was wondering, I was told that I would "make a really cute Puerto Rican girl." So glad to know that because on the off chance that I wanted to go that route, at least I know the results would be favorable.) The CD was reprinted and expected to be delivered two weeks ago and then this past week. I received a phone call from my graphic designer who said that the CDs were not going to be ready because they were "not good". They had printed the lot and upon receipt, they were once again refused due to poor workmanship. So, I have told once again that it will be this week when they will be reprinted. I keep trusting that whatever the delay, the Lord will receive glory in this and He will be pleased with the final product and everything He will "Hear".

I am enjoying my new digs that I moved into in the fall. The Lord is good. We have had a few plumbing problems this morning but it appears to be an easy, albeit costly, fix. I am excited that He has me here and know that He will continue to move in our best interest and for the greater good.

May the L0rd bless you and your family in 2009. May He be the center of your world and demonstrate His great blessings which will draw you closer to Him.

Bless you.

Album Update - Pressing On

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The CD has gone to press!!!!!

I gave final approval today for the inside booklet, inside cover, back cover and disc art.

YIPPEEEEEEE!

God is good!

(I think I am going to sell tickets!!! -- The good ones, of course.)

There's a new drama in town...

... and I'm talking about tickets. Not the good kind of tickets ... you know, the tickets I got to the Travis Cottrell, Cindy Morgan, Shawn Groves concert on Thursday night are called the good kind of tickets. The Carrie Underwood tickets that I had on hold and forgot to purchase until I wanted to check my seats and realized my seats were now out in the parking lot of the Sommet Center on the night of the concert. Those would have been the good kind of tickets. The tickets to see Dorothy Hamill and her wedge haircut at the Ice Capades back in '77, those are good tickets (back in '77).

No, that's not the kind of tickets I am talking about.

You know...

Yeah.

Let me backtrack... as the two of you know who read this blog (or at least admit to reading this blog), I have moved in the last several weeks to some new diggs. They are great. I seriously am enjoying the roommate thing, the condo thing, even the downsizing thing. I am NOT digging the parking thing. And, because of the parking thing, I am not digging the neighbor thing either unfortunately.

I live in a three bedroom condo. There is one driveway and one car garage. It is not my condo and therefore, not my garage to park in which I am totally down with. Totally. I've never had a garage so this is normal to me. So, I park on the street. Along with MANY other people. The street is full of parked cars. I work late a lot and I got home around 8:30 a couple of weeks ago. Parked across the street fairly close to a stop sign but probably at least half a car length away from it. Maybe it was too close but the next morning, I get a piece of notebook paper on my car that says...

DO NOT PARK YOU CAR HERE.

YOU ARE BLOCKING THE EGRESS OF TRAFFIC!!

OK. Pretty much I've got two comments for that.

1) SO sorry for blocking the egress of traffic! Truly, I am.

2) What in the lulu is egress of traffic?

I know, I know... egress and ingress. I asked around. Anyway, so someone feels pretty solidly about the egress of traffic and I clearly am oblivious. For this, I am truly sorry and would love to apologize in person but, shockingly, they didn't leave their name on my sweet note.

So, I get home two nights ago and there were no places available in front of my condo. No biggie. I figure that the motto is "First Come, First Served" sorta like "Luby's Cafeteria" and I am also down with that. I go find another parking place and park about three doors dawn in the street. I get my things, walk to my condo and go upstairs to change. My roommate calls me after 3 minutes and says, "You have to go move your car."

"Why?"

"Because that girl just car down here and fussed about you having your car parked in front of her condo."

"Wait... what? She doesn't want me parking in front of her condo? It is a public street. Where am I supposed to park?"

I was told to go park in front of our driveway of which I was not going to do because of the pain it would cause in the morning. I did go move my car but I was scratching my head the whole time wondering how someone can actually expect on a public street for no one to park in front of their condo. Please help with this... seriously.

I come home last night at around 10:36. I used my good tickets and went with my good friend to see Travis, Cindy and Shawn who were really good! When I got back, of course, it was late on Thursday night. There was no place in front of my condo and I knew that I couldn't park in front of that lady's condo three doors down. So, I parked two doors down on the opposite side of the street.

I left my house this morning to go to work and when I got to my car, TWO pieces of paper. First paper said,

Please do not park you car here!

If you park here again, your car will be towed!

WHAT?!?!?!?!?!?!?! What is up with the peeps on my street? The street is lined with cars bumper to bumper and they will tow my car if I park in front of their condo? Totally don't get that.

Second piece of paper said,

PARKING CITATION

DOUBLE WHAT?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?! What in the world am I getting a parking ticket for? I can vaguely read the offense - "...car ... more than 12".... curb".

I immediately called the police station (No, not 911 - I know you are wondering given my history with the rat) and spoke with multiple cops (one who sounded VERY similar to a good "law enforcement" officer in Alabama). Basically, the Bama cop told me that if I got a ticket in a residential area, it was 99% probability that someone had called them out to the car and asked them to write a ticket because they RARELY write a ticket in residential areas for parking unless it is a blatant error.

But, I got one and my sweet neighbor decided it was not enough that he call the cops and have them write a ticket but he needed to write his little love note about towing my car next time as well. Thanks for the heads up, Buddy.

Anyway, it is only $10 so it is not a big deal really but just in case you haven't heard, we are in a recession and that is $10 I could put towards... well anything I want. It's the principle

I need comments, ideas, validation... Am I crazy or what? How do they have any leg to stand on? Can he really have my car towed? I am I supposed to park in Kentucky and walk in or what? There is no designated parking. No painted parking spots, assigned or otherwise. Everyone lines the streets. I don't know...

And another question... the cop was clearly tired or hadn't had his doughnut and coffee last night at 11:56 PM when he wrote the ticket because the date on the ticket was December 12, 2008. When I told the Lt. I talked to today on the phone the date on the ticket, he said, "So, I guess he was predicting that you will be breaking the law on December the 12 at 11:56 PM, huh?" Is this ticket even valid if the info is wrong?

Am I in some twilight universe where Thursdays are actually Tuesdays and "public" means "get off" and neighbors are not neighborly? I feel like a little frog who all of a sudden feels like my backside is starting to bubble.... and I can't feel my legs...

Seriously, Daron... I know you have thoughts on this if you still read this blog? Amy, ask Jim. Alicen, have Scott crunch numbers. Mandy, have Mark build me a carport with his new designer brinks please. Charles... get the phone.

P.S. Travis was fantastic last night. His "Jesus Saves" live was UNBELIEVABLE! Go see the concert if they come to your area. Just watch where you park. :)

The Toll of Beauty - Military Style

So let's talk about eyebrows, shall we?

I wish I could include a picture of today's subject of discussion but unfortunately for each of you, I am not fully "staffed" in the area of computer-graphic-to-blog manipulation. Therefore, you will have to channel me, my facial expressions, my tone of voice and my ridiculous antics to really get the feel of how this all went down. I welcome you to a little piece of my world.

So Saturday, I decide that I need a manicure. I don't need anything fancy. I just need my cuticles to quit overgrowing my fingernails. (Besides that, I read on Yahoo, society's foremost take on all things culturally appropriate and true, that hands are one of the four things that men notice on a woman. Now, I'm not going to say that this is bogus but let's just say that I have NEVER heard this (Hands) are even in the running for the top four things a man notices in a woman. EVER. I'm just sayin... However, let's assume that this is absolutely and completely, 100% true, I'm willing to do my part and help this train down the tracks. You just never know...)
So, I go to my buddy Robby over at the nail place. Maybe it's Bobby. Who can tell? Perhaps Robby to some, Bobby to others. To me, "Hand man" or "Nail guy".


**Side note** No offense intended by this but who here is highly suspicious of men who do nails... for a living? That's exactly what I thought. I just saw all your highly manicured hands go up. And your hands look good... why? Because many of you have had a man do your nails and men surprisingly do a very nice job. Not that I thought they couldn't do a nice job. However, I have tended toward lower expectations for men who paint nails for a living. I guess I'm sexist. I also think women are not as strong as men. So sue me. Back to the story...

Mr Hand man tells me to come over and he will do my nails and then, in this order, he begins to question me...

What's your name again?

"Christi"

What do you do?

"I'm a speech language pathologist. I work with kids at Vanderbilt."

"Do you know your nails look terrible?"

"Ummm... well, that is why I am here."

"You want your eyebrows done, too? Oooooo... have you been messing with your eyebrows?"

"Ummmm... no, I don't think so.

"I don't do much to them except pluck a few here and there as needed."

Have you met your soulmate?

(Yes, it was that abrupt, that personal and that weird! What am I supposed to say?

So, he heard...)

(crickets)

** PAUSE**

"Ummm... well I guess not." (That is also why I am here -Thanks Yahoo!)

"Well, what's wrong with him?"

In that one statement, he sold an eyebrow job, a lip job and a paraffin wax.

No joke.

Kind words will get you everywhere with me.

He finishes my nails and they look good but he doesn't want to touch my eyebrows because he is the "hand man" and not the "brow bro". I'm down with that. I think it is good that everyone realize their strengths and weaknesses. I've got weaknesses. My peeps have got 'em. "Hand man"'s got 'em and his are called eyebrows. However, he knows, and is married to, by the way, the "Brow Guru", the "Arch Angel", the "Great White Hope for Stray Hairs". That's right. In the same salon (And the same household it appears) cosmetic greatness has gathered together for some serious beautification of some women looking for soulmates. What are the chances that I, little ol' Christi, would happen upon such a place? One answer will suffice. God.

"Hand Man" sends me to his "Arch Angel" for her to work magic on my eyebrows which, to some, appear to have been messed with. She is friendly and happy and a busy little bee. Wearing a totally cute sweater - wanted to ask where she got it but after the soulmate question, I felt like we were treading on thin ice with regards to appropriate boundaries between a girl and her hoof and hair people and I for one, did not want to be the one to cross it.

She had me come over and sit down. I immediately said,

"I really don't want them too thin."

"Oh no, I not make them too thin."

"No, really. I really and truly don't want them too thin".

"No, no, no, no, no, I say I not make them too thin."

"Well, it's really important to me that they not be too thin."

"I know, you say not too thin. I not make them too thin."

Well, you know what happened....(Yeah, you THINK you do....)

I lean back and she starts putting wax above my eye brows. Ohhhh, she's one of THOSE Arch Angels. She's a top and bottomer. However, as she begins to slather the wax, she drags her popsicle stick down my hairline almost to my cheekbone. Immediately, I am thinking, I would prefer not to be snatched bald-headed in this eyebrow endeavor.

RRRRRRR..IIIIIIIIII...PPPPPPPPPP

Yeah. It hurts. We all have been there, ladies. AND, we all know it is NO WAY going to hurt as much as the lip rip so I can handle this and so can my hairline.

Left side, (strong side) sequence happens again. Top of the brow, drag to my cheekbone and take the first 1/2 inch of my hairline with it.

Now the fun is wearing off and I know it is going to get worse before it gets better. It just usually does in most cases. No exception here. Bottom of the brows and right side starts. She slathered the wax underneath my eyebrow and as she sticks the strip of paper on the wax, I raise my eyebrow just a hair (literally) and she says...

"NO, NO, NO, NO, NO! DON'T DO DAT!!!

DON'T MOVE YOU FACE WHEN I PUT DIS ON YOU EYE."

Ok, so I should have known better, but honestly, more than perfect eyebrows, I want to you, my little Arch Angel, to quit yelling at me with hot wax hanging over my face on a flimsy popsicle stick. I would prefer a little extension of grace while you are scalding the top layer of skin off my eye, which is known by so many of us to be one of a most sensitive place on your face. But, as we all know, it is not about me and what I want.

So, she moves to the other eyebrow, same scenario without the literally hair raising eyebrow. I'm a quick study. You don't have to tell me more than once (usually). So we are waxed on the top and bottom of the brows and then she says,

"Oh my geesh. You brows need a haircut."

She says this while I have my hands in paraffin wax covered with plastic bags and potholders and I have no way of stopping her as she is leaning over me in a reclining chair with hot wax on a popsicle stick and threatening to cut my brows. What do you do?

So she begins...

She brushes my eyebrow up and takes her scissors and begins to cut.

LADIES, do you remember when you were a little girl and your mom cut your bangs on Saturday night before church on Sunday? She told you to stay still and you believed her because she was cutting so dangerously close to your eyes that you thought she might cut your eye lashes off. And that sound of cutting - dull scissors on dry hair right near your eyes. Man, that must have made a pretty powerful impression because I had a full on hallucination of that time when I was 5 right there in the Arch Angel's chair.

Now, I want to make a distinction. When you go for a trim, the scissors snip your hair. When you go for a donation for locks of love haircut, they chop your hair. When you go in for an eyebrow wax, there should be no chopping. There should be AT MOST, snipping at the most minuscule level. "AA" cut those puppies and I do mean cut.

CUT, CUT, CUT, CUT, CUT, CUT, CUT.

I want you to go back and count the number of cuts she made.

Yeah. SEVEN.

ON ONE EYEBROW!

Friends, look at my picture on the right of this post. Does it truly look like I could afford SEVEN CUTS on ONE EYEBROW? I don't have a unibrow. I don't have eyebrows long enough to style. I now have no eyebrow.

The same thing happened on the left side to which I just began internally rocking back and forth hoping amongst hope that she hopefully has good taste in eyebrow grooming. I look at hers while she has me in a body hold, scissors in hand, wax dripping....

Three words...

NICE EYEBROW PENCIL!!

The event was traumatic and there's more to it but I just can't go further. I looked in the mirror after it was over and the one that I moved the hairs breadth on, was thinner than the other one. I mentioned it and she said, "Oh yeah. Well, that one already messed up."

Oh yes. She said it!

Anyway, I walked around all day and wondered why I was being saluted throughout the day. I got home and realized that I had a military brow cut. They are officially buzzed. Not buzzed off and for that I am grateful, but buzzed nonetheless. I woke up the next day and looked like a 7 year old little boy with a burr haircut who slept on it wrong and needed water to calm the cowlick (sp?) down. I seriously had to spend 6 minutes on my eyebrows yesterday morning to try and gain some semblance of regularity above my eyes.

My only hope is that, for as some of you know, hair growth is not a problem for me. I just have to hang on and soon and very soon we will have full on GIRLY eyebrows.

I just can't wait until they're long enough to braid.

Prayers: Answered and Unanswered

So, just to run down a few things of the recent past...

- Work is still extremely busy as usual, but with a few tweaks here and there, it is strikingly not taking as long to accomplish my daily goals and objectives. ** Answered prayer**

- I am finally getting somewhat settled in my new abode -clearly another example of the Lord's doing. I am enjoying the "lay of the land", so to speak, from general geographical area, to neighborhood, to actual condo floorplan. The provisions are more than I could have expected and generally more than I dared to hope. **Answered prayer**

- I have been feeling like the Lord is nudging me to start a bible study at work. Fear runs amuck honestly to imagine that undertaking. I prayed about it and asked the Lord to start opening doors if this is what He wants me to continue pursuing. Two days later, the new girl in my office and I have began talking and broached the subject of church and spirituality. It appears that she might be a believer! I immediately was reminded about my prayer about opening doors. Two days later, we continued discussing religion a little here and a little there and I got brave and mentioned that I was thinking about having a bible study at work during lunch one day a week. She said that she was totally on board with doing a bible study. I expect to start this in Early 2009. **Answered prayer**

- For some reason unknown to me, it appears that the Lord is financially supporting me in ways that I would have never suspected in many random ways. TOTALLY don't get that! SO HAPPY about that! I have praying for ways to save money recently and over the next several months. **Answered prayer**

- I am trusting that I have correct information in that THE ALBUM is actually on its last leg around the block. Seriously. I have received the final graphic and copy for my final approval before going to press. Seriously. I know. I didn't believe it either. I don't have it in my hand but I have been quoted that December is THE month! Just gotta get that proofing in before Thanksgiving. YAY!!!! **Answered prayer**

- I have two other major areas of concern right now as some of you know. However, I find myself being confident in Christ and Him exclusively through these issues. I find myself trusting and believing more with everyday that He has never left the throne of grace. In spite of me and not because of me, He is working and will glorify Himself and I am seeing the glorious riches of His grace. I don't always feel this to be the case, but I know this to be the case and because of this, I can rest securely in His sovereignty.

For He has done and all He is going to do...

Praise the Lord.