The warm weather makes me dreamy

So South Carolina has had a couple of days of amazing weather. The kind that immediately makes you start thinking about summer vacations, swimming pools, barbecues, and days on the beach. Here are some things that keep popping up in my mind now that the weather is warm.

Sitting on a back porch in rocking chairs.

Inviting friends over to grill steak and playing a board game.

Being in a canoe on a serene lake.

Making a picnic of sandwiches with the edges cut off and taking them to a grassy hill.

Picking random wild flowers and putting them in my hair.

Wearing a flowing white dress and laughing.

Sitting in the middle of nowhere at night looking up at the stars.

Trying to catch a lightning bug in my hands.

Hopefully, Wade and I can do some of these things soon.

Hope the summer weather has you dreaming of playing outside.

The sun stands still

I am still journeying through the Bible. Right now I am reading Joshua and starting John (following the Rabbi).
I just got to the part in Joshua where he asks God to let the sun stand still. I remember hearing about this when I was younger and thinking it was cool, but now looking at it I am totally amazed. In fact I am more than just amazed. If I wasn't a Christian and you told me this I would laugh in your face. Can you believe that Joshua was so close to God that he could ask for the sun to stand still for basically a whole day? There is even a verse that comes after it that says, "There has never been a day like it before or since, a day when the LORD listened to a man. Surely the LORD was fighting for Israel!"
I tend to ask God for small things. Things that I CAN comprehend. But what little faith that takes. Joshua needed the sun to stand still so he could continue the battle against his enemies. So when I am truly in need of something I need to remember that I am talking to an impossible God. He can take anything you think can never happen and then poof it just happened. However, it will take a lot of faith on your part. No doubting that our God can do it!

Ruby Tuesday on Devine

I had a lot of fun this weekend. One of my best friends from Belton (Alyson) came to visit me here in Columbia. We figured out it had been since my wedding since we last saw each other. I couldn't believe it had been that long. Then I felt like a horrible friend for not seeing her sooner. But anyway, she brought one of her friends along (Mandy) and we decided to go out to eat lunch. So me being the amazing host I am thought that they should eat at a truly Columbian restaurant. I make my drive to downtown talking about how we can go to Harpers or Yesterdays since they are the finest of Columbia, South Carolina dining. We eventually decide on Harpers. I start down Harden street and think how beautiful downtown is looking. They have all these gorgeous lamp posts with newly made sidewalks. It was really pretty. Maybe me and Wade will go eat somewhere there soon.
Then I look forward and there it is. The mob of the St. Patty's Day celebration in Five Points. How could I forget something like that? So I immediately had to change my course of action and eventually found our way to Ruby Tuesday...the restaurant chain that can be found in any city in the nation practically. What makes it worse is there is a Ruby Tuesday literally 3 minutes from my house while this one is probably 20. However, we did have a good time. I loved getting to see Alyson. And I have told myself I won't let it be 2 years before I see her or any of my friends again. So now I have to see Meagan and Amber sometime soon!
If there is someone you haven't seen in awhile and just need to pick up the phone and call or go see them this weekend then DO IT! I am so bad at keeping in touch with people and there really is no excuse. I have 365 days a year just like anyone else and I can rearrange my schedule to see my friends at least once a year and so can you!

Scooter ruins our house

It has been awhile since Scooter has done something incredibly weird, but he made up for lost time yesterday. Here is the story.

So I come home from working all day and will only be able to stay at the house for a few minutes before I need to get going for my small group. Wade is at the church because Wednesday are his longest days and he stays there from 8:45am-11:00pm. So Scooter has one of three options of where he stays at each day: his crate, outside, or our used-to-be guest room which has nothing in it (aka Scooter's room). Scooter has not been able to be outside lately because he just got neutered and being outside could make his wound dirty or infected. So yesterday, Scooter had the pleasure of being in his room. So I walk in around 5:00. And walk to Scooter's room to let him out. I open the door and see that Scooter has mutilated his bed and has taken a lot of the stuffing out. The stuffing is scattered all over the room in massive clumps. However, this isn't the first time he has done this and isn't incredibly weird. So as I am picking up all the stuffing and look up at the wall. I notice there are these weird markings along the wall. They are the height of Scooter and go around the entire room. There are hundreds of these little reddish brown marks. I think, "Could him throwing his toy around the room could do this." But that doesn't seem likely. Then I look at our stark white door. And I see it is blood. Then I freak out. What could have done this? Did Scooter kill some mouse or something? There isn't much blood on the floor though, just a little sprinkle. Could his mouth have bled on his toy and him flinging it around the room cause hundreds of blood splatters? Still doesn't seem likely. However, I couldn't figure it out. I put Scooter in his crate and go to church and tell Wade the story. When we get home we both inspect the room again. After thinking about it I realize it must be his tail. We check Scooter and sure enough the end of his tail has dried blood on it. Apparently Scooter has been chomping on his tail. He walked around in circles in his room wagging his tail like crazy and hit the wall hundreds of times. It took about an hour and 4 Mr. Clean erasers to get it off the wall. I checked it this morning and there is this weird dirty looking band around the room. So I am going to have to go back over with some more magic eraser. If that doesn't work it looks like we will have to paint that room so someone looking to buy our house won't think we are freaks. Scooter totally ruins our house. By the way he is fine. We put some antibiotic stuff on it and he was being crazy Scooter like always.

I remind you that he recently caused our laundry door to fall down and hit our wall which left a huge hole in the wall. Scooter apparently doesn't want us to sell the house.

10:30

Anyone who knows me or Wade knows that I love me some sleep. I usually start making a big deal about us having to go to bed at 10:00. So why am I writing a blog at 10:30? Because I am at the church for our Sunday morning praise band rehearsal. I have finished my MediaShout for all three services and am listening to the band practice "Grace Will Be My Song" by Steve Fee. Of course the band didn't get to start til 10:00 since our sound has been rewired and we are having some issues about whose cable is where kind of things. But the sound system will be freaking sweet when it is all fixed! So it looks like they have decided just now to call it quits and come at 7:30 on Sunday morning. So if you wanted an update of the praise band rehearsals then you have the scoop. I am glad Megan is singing again this week. She was great this past week. I saw her lifting her hands up to God like she was the only one in the sanctuary (even though she was standing on stage in front of 500 people)...it reminds me of just how amazing and personal our God is. Wade does this too, but it is a little harder for him since he is playing guitar and has a pick in his hand. I like seeing the band members really worshiping and being passionate about the song. I like seeing that they are proud to take us into a place of worship through the music. Anyway, the band is packing up and I have done enough rambling. Goodnight! Even though we have a 30 minute drive home! Got to love Wed. nights.

Being A Servant

Luke 22:24-27

24Also a dispute arose among them [the disciples] as to which of them was considered to be greatest. 25Jesus said to them, "The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who exercise authority over them call themselves Benefactors. 26But you are not to be like that. Instead, the greatest among you should be like the youngest, and the one who rules like the one who serves. 27For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is at the table? But I am among you as one who serves.

Wow. That is some teaching. In my couples small group we were having a discussion and I brought up this passage that I had just read in Luke that day. Today I came back to read it again and I am just amazed! I started thinking about am I striving to make it to the head of the table or am I focusing on serving others? Would I rather get praise and glory here on earth for some kind of design I have made or would I rather wash the feet of a homeless person. I mean I haven't even made an effort to help the homeless so I guess I know where my answer is. And I HATE that. It has to change.

Mt. Horeb has been doing a series on heaven and it has let me think about how much this life actually is of the big picture. We put an illustration on the screens about the significance in time of being on earth compared to our eternity.

In reality, that line will go on forever. So eventually that tiny dot would basically disappear. There are going to be some people who go to hell that will wish they could come back to their time on earth to change their decision about not accepting Christ. This life on earth does matter because you are going to make the decision of where you will be during that ongoing line. We will be rewarded in heaven for our deeds here on earth. So that takes me back to Luke. I have a desire to serve and I want to honor Christ by following his command. I want the world to think I am but a servant, but for Christ I will be a leader.

So, I want to go on the record and say that this year I want to be a servant. I am going to look at each of my days and see what I can do to better fit the role. I will no longer limit serving to just the church or to our teenagers. I want to take it the next step. I want to honor Christ and have something to tell him when I get to heaven.

A Birthday Wish

Today is the birthday celebration of my dear co-leader and friend Wendy Moody. And since I am weird and have photoshop skills, I decided to make sure Wendy had on some birthday gear!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY WENDY!

YOU ARE THE BEST.

Church Rules

How many of you have heard, "You need to wear your best clothes on Sunday morning?" I know growing up a Southern Baptist I heard that all the time. In fact, if I didn't wear a nice skirt on Sunday morning to church then I was pretty much out of place. Somehow though on Sunday and Wednesday nights I could wear jeans. I guess the rule only mattered for that Sunday morning.

But I wonder how that rules really came to be. I mean did we take God telling the Israelites to bring their best offering as today being wear your best clothes to church? In my Sunday school class back then I remember our youth pastor trying to hound into us to treat outsiders as family. He would use the illustration of a guy coming in with dirty overalls to church and ask us what we would do. The answer we always gave was to welcome that person in and that it shouldn't matter what he was wearing. But our Sunday morning dress code didn't say that at all.

While I was looking at some blogs, I saw Tim Stevens and this postcard thing they are doing with their church to let people share their story. You can check it out here.

But I happened upon something very interesting. I saw this postcard. And then I thought about my home church. What if a person like this pulled into the parking lot on a Sunday morning and made the statement, "God, if one person goes by with jeans on I'm going in." They sure would be waiting a long time cause I doubt anyone would have been wearing jeans.

I feel like my attitude has kind of changed about church over the years. Back in my youth days my thought was church is here to replenish me and other sound believers, but now it's also a place where a non-believer may happen to come in and will get his/her 1st impression of church and Christians. It is my thinking that nothing else really matters except bringing lost to Christ. What can we do to make non-believers know we won't judge them and to show them our only aim is about helping them find Jesus. Do we really want our dress code to be what holds them back? Or even if they came in with their jeans on, do we want them feeling self conscious about what they are wearing instead of instantly feeling loved and at home? I love how this person felt. He/She was a paper plate transformed into fine china. All because someone walked past the car with jeans on. Kind of crazy.

Look for Less

It has been awhile since I blogged. It has been crazy! However, even though it has been awhile since I have blogged I really don't have much in my head that I would want to write about. So, I decided to share with the ladies out there a few of my fave online fashion stores. Now, I haven't bought anything from any of these stores, but I sometimes gaze at their clothes imagining what I would buy if I had some spare clothing cash.

Here they are:

http://www.wetseal.com/

This is kind of teenager/early 20s. At least that is what I am calling it. I especially love their fashion tops and dresses. And it actually looks like they got some new things up since I last looked.

http://www.gojane.com/

Kind of weird, but cool. It seems like this site would have some interesting finds so people would comment that they love your style because it is different. It actually feels pretty 60's to me. I like the shoes area and the stuff area. Some of the shirts and dresses are cute. But the denim section looks weird to me.

http://www.oldnavy.com

This site is impressing me so much. I am so bad at picking out which things will look cute together and Old Navy has outfits that even include a purse, shoes and jewelry. You gotta love that.

http://www.forever21.com

This has the same feel as the top two, but has a men's section as well. We must be going into a 60s-70s era with our tops. Everything has this groovy vibe.

And what sent me to these sites? This did.

It's the Look for Less section on InStyle's webpage.

I actually like Christina's look here. I want to try to do some black with red accents.

The Blog World

Sometimes when I have a moment I go to Technorati and search things that I enjoy and see if someone blogs about it. Words I have searched in the past are: 24, church, modern furniture, graphic design, animals...you get the picture. And every now and then I see a really cool blog. Maybe someone who talks about the way they are decorating their house with some cool couch from Design Within Reach or a pastor talking about his recent series. I recently found this girl who was from Columbia that was the foster mom of Dazzler the dog that I would see at PetSmart and always wanted to take home. It is just weird. Like I should know her, but I only could only see her through her blog. I mean Technorati and Blogger give us ways to look at other blogs, actually encourage it, by posting the most popular/ interesting blogs. Do you do this? Do you look through random blogs?

Poor Scooter

The time has come for Scooter to become less of a man. He is scheduled to be neutered tomorrow. So I am going to have to leave work a little early to give him a bath and to get him food because he cannot have food or water after 6 in his preparation for surgery. I feel sorry for the little guy. He is so energetic and wild that it will probably be difficult for him to stay chill long enough so his wound heals. I came home yesterday and it seemed like he was a little more loving, showed a little more of the sad puppy face, and just a little better behaved. Of course, I am imagining all of that because I feel sad for him. But maybe it will lessen his desire to sniff other male dogs in a rather odd spot.