24 Hours! April 29, 2008

So I finally did it. I signed Peter and me up for a gym membership at 24 Hour Fitness. I’m sure that we could have found someplace cheaper, but this will be super convenient, as it is just on the other side of Alameda. Last night we picked up our iPod Shuffles (mine in purple, Peter’s in silver) and some appropriate work-out gear. This morning I made it official and signed up on-line. I am so excited to get started! Here is my new work-out schedule:

Monday at 6:30 PM Step class “Movements performed on and off a step platform with or without risers. This class consists of medium level movement patterns. Intensity level determined by speed, travel, and execution of movements.”

Or if I get there later I can do a 7:30 Yoga class.

Tuesday I will probably be on my own for some cardio on the treadmill or stair thing or the bike, we’ll see. If I can get there by 5:30 PM I’d love to take a kick boxing class. But for that Peter and I would have to get lockers because we’d have to come straight from work so we would need to bring our workout clothes with us and change at the gym.

Wednesday is almost always the roughest day of the week for me. I think that I’ll let myself take a work-out break on Wednesday.

Thursday may also have to be a work-out break day. Unless I can get up at 5 am to haul my butt over there for a 45 minute workout.

Friday is usually a date night for Peter and me, but I’d like to change that to a “get-up-early-and-work-out-morning-type-date”. Same as Thursday, but without the staying out late of Wednesday night behind it.

Saturday at 9 AM – Step class. I just got off the phone with Peter and he said that he might be willing to do that with me! I’d be so stoked if that was something we did together!

Sunday there is a 5:30 PM Yoga class that I think I’ll try to go to, but might interfere with previous engagements. So I’ll see about that one. The amazing thing about 24 Hour Fitness is that they are open 24 hours. I know that that is a bit obvious, but my point is I can go before church without it affecting any of my plans. I am so excited! I can’t wait to get started!

The reason I am posting this on my blog is that it is my hope that some of my good friends will read this and help to keep me accountable. I’d welcome, with open arms, any encouragement that you can offer.

Small Group 4/13/8 April 14, 2008

Last night, at the college small group, Aaron had us write down what we were thankful for and what God was teaching us. I think that was a great idea. I don’t think I’ll be able to keep track of the paper that I wrote everything down on, but I figured that I’ll probably have this blog up for a while and it will be a great way to be able to come back and read about what I was going through at this time in my life. So, here are a few things that I’m thankful for:

My husband and my great marriage. I had been thinking yesterday afternoon about how close I was to backing out of my wedding at the very last minute, and how grateful I was that I didn’t. I would be missing out on enjoying life with the most amazing man I’ve ever met. I had no way of comprehending what a great husband would be like at that time.

My job. I remember when I first started working for this company when I lived in Houston. Peter and I were at the end of our rope. We were planning on moving to San Antonio because we had nothing in Houston. A couple of friends that were far too busy to ever hang out with us, no church home, and crappy jobs that barely kept food on the table and a mildew-y roof over our heads. Then I got a call for a job interview. I had talked myself out of going because I was tired of the rejection that I had already faced at countless job interviews that I had put myself through, and we already had some of our stuff in storage down in San Antonio, and we were just waiting a couple of months until our lease ran up to put in our notice. But Peter said that I had the day off and that it wouldn’t hurt to go and see what they said. Yet another reason I’m so grateful that I married such a wonderful man of God. Because I stuck with this job, even though it was extremely difficult at first, Peter and I live here, in the most beautiful place that we’ve ever lived!

Catalyst. When Peter and I were approached and asked to be leaders in Catalyst, we had to think long and hard about it. We were at a good place in our lives, happy with our level of involvement going to a small group for young married couples, happy with how often we were attending church (once a week – twice if you count our small group twice a month), and happy keeping to ourselves. When we first moved up here, we had every intention of getting involved with the youth group but we got so caught up with the emotional and time demands of our jobs that we kinda just lost that vision. Even after we were asked to join the leadership, we didn’t know if we could handle the additional time demand in the middle of the work week. But we felt strongly that it was what God was calling us to do. So, we knew that it wouldn’t be easy, but we were going to be obedient. Since then, we’ve gotten to know a lot of kids, and we’ve been able to speak in the lives of people that we didn’t even set out to minister to. I can’t think of any other time in my life that I’ve been so convinced that I am exactly where God wants me to be.

What God is teaching me right now:

This is something that I felt very strongly about when we were making our decision to get involved in Catalyst. I thought that I had learned my lesson, but in my current circumstance, I guess I needed a refresher course. When God calls you to do something, it probably isn’t going to be easy. If it was easy it wouldn’t be a good sacrifice. I think about the time in the Old Testament, when King David had done something wrong, and God sent a plague through Israel. David caught up with where the plague was and asked God to be merciful and stop the plague. God, being the merciful God that He is, stopped the plague right there. David wanted to build an alter to God there and offered to purchase the land from the owner. The owner offered to give David the land for free. David told him that he wouldn’t give God something that had cost him nothing.

Also, I feel like God is calling me to a deeper relationship with Him that I’ve ever had before. Recently I’ve been noticing that I have been getting very strong impressions of stuff. It’s almost words of knowledge, but not in the way that I’ve always thought of them. But two of the strongest leadings that I’ve felt, I told God, “I don’t know if this is you or just something that I’ve come up with in my own imagination.” Both times that I told Him that, these leadings have been absolutely dead on. So, I think that I’m done testing God. I know that He wants to start moving in my life like He hasn’t done before. It’s up to me to start dedicating to spend time in His word and in His presence learning to separate out His voice from my own. Again, this isn’t going to be easy. I already get up every morning at 5:30, but I’m going to push myself to get up at 5. I’m going to pursue Him in a way that I haven’t before, and I know that He is going to move in me like never before.

Vacuum April 10, 2008

Bissell has a new vacuum out that is made especially for houses that just have pets. The only vacuum that I want more is a Dyson, and that is out of my price range. As many of you know, Peter’s dad is moving in with us until he can get back on his feet. We are going through our apartment rearranging things and cleaning out our spare room, which until now has been our dog’s room. Needless to say, we haven’t been keeping it very clean and there has to be at least an inch of dog fur (Foley has very pretty LONG hair!) woven into the carpet by now. We are doing the cleaning and rearranging in stages, and taking the office furniture out of the spare room as we go and our plan has been to leave the vacuuming of the spare room for last. On Sunday, we decided to forgo swing dancing with our friends (HUGE bummer) and work on getting our apartment ready. We started with the living room by completely switching it around to make room for a small bookcase and our small computer desk. We were able to take everything out and vacuum the entire area. We finished that by 8 pm, just in time to relax for a while before bed. Monday night we tackled the dinning room. In order to move our big bookcase and our other little bookcase into a corner to free up some room for another computer desk we had to empty out both bookcases and dust everything as we went. As Peter was vacuuming (he does the majority of vacuuming – yes, I know that he’s amazing) the vacuum that we’ve had for 3 years pretty much died. Dead. Sad, sad day.

So Tuesday our plan was to return a few high priced items that we’ve been meaning to return to Wal-Mart anyway and purchase the said Bissell vacuum. An hour and 2 Wal-Marts later, it’s decided that they don’t even carry this vacuum! Ugh! So now, we have to wait until this weekend to go vacuum shopping along with the gazillion other things that we have on our Saturday “to-do” list which is twice its normal length due to the eminent arrival of Peter’s dad on the same day. Hopefully Peter will be able to kick this cold or whatever it is that he is coming down with before then.

I realize that this blog may be kinda rambley. Sorry ‘bout that. I guess I’m just trying to work out my thoughts. If you’ve made it this far, thanx!

 

Thursday March 13, 2008 March 17, 2008

Here was a brief description of my exhausting day on Thursday March 13, 2008:

On Wednesday March 12, 2008, I started to leave my house to go back to work after my lunch break, I was doing a 3-point turn on my street when I heard a muffled pop. I just thought that maybe I ran over something, since there didn’t seem to be any difference in how the car was running. But while I was sitting at a stop light I noticed that the amount of pressure I usually put on the brake pedal wasn’t working to keep the car from rolling. At first I just thought that maybe I was putting my foot on a different spot on the pedal so it was sliding off, or maybe it had something to do with the shoes I was wearing (typical girl response, right?). But on my way home to walk Foley (my dog) before I picked Peter up from work, the brake light came on. Soooooo, I called Peter and told him what was going on, and he thought that maybe it was just the brake fluid. When I got to Peter’s work, he looked under the hood and saw that, yeah, the brake fluid was really low. He works right next to a mechanic, so he walked over to grab some fluid and filled up the reservoir. On our way to church I noticed that the brake light was still on and it would still take more pressure than usual to keep the truck from rolling once stopped. I thought that maybe it was just working out the air bubbles in the brake lines….that’s a real thing, right?

But in the morning I was out running errands for work, and about a block away from work when I could just barely stop. I realized that that wasn’t good. After I parked, I popped the hood, to see the brake fluid reservoir almost empty! I went into the office and saw 2 of the guys talking. I asked if one of them, a coworker/friend, could take me up to an auto parts store to help me pick out some brake fluid. Out of concern they asked if mine was leaking, so I explained the situation.  They both took a look at it and told me that it was more serious that a bottle of fluid. Peter and I had just had all of the brake pads and rotors changed back in October so I called the place that had done the work and asked if they could take a look at my truck. They said that I could just bring it by anytime, but I knew that I wouldn’t be able to stop if I didn’t get some brake fluid in there. So my friend took me to an auto parts store and when we got back to work, he even filled it up for me. Then he followed me over to the mechanics. Before I had left I talked to my boss and he said that I could use the work truck if I needed to. Fortunately for me the place is only about 2 miles from work so even though I had to use the E-brake when I was at stop lights, and I couldn’t get any closer than 2 car lengths to any vehicle in front of me, I made it!

So when I dropped the truck off, I had no idea what was causing the leak, how much it was going to cost to fix it, or even how long it would take. However, within 20 minutes of getting back to work, I got a call from the brake place. There was a crack in one of the hard lines (whatever that meant!). It was only going to cost about $10 for the part, about $45 for the labor, and $60 for them to bleed the brakes and flush the whole system. PLUS, it was going to be ready by 4! So total I ended up paying $120, and really it could have been much worse.

But God is so good! Here’s why: (1) I know I didn’t use the work truck, but it is pretty rare that it is even here, since we have been so busy at work lately the truck is usually gone on well-site, so the fact that it was available gave me a peace that Peter and I wouldn’t be completely stranded. (2) This happened one day before my payday. Not just any payday, but next month is Peter’s “magic month” so we will be getting an extra paycheck, which means that we have a little bit of extra spending money. (3) This happened on a beautiful spring-like day that had followed a week of spring-like weather. If all of this had happened on a day like today when it has been consistently snowing since last night and the roads are super slick, then I would not have been able to drive the truck over to the brake place. I would have had to have it towed, and that would have been tons of extra money. Even though the day was emotionally draining, I couldn’t help but praise God for being SOOO gracious to me!

Babies… December 21, 2007

I certainly don’t want to come across as rude, but I need to vent for a minute. Why is it that the minute that someone gets married the relationship has to revolve around the need to procreate? Oh, sure, there is the 6 month to 2 year newlywed time span that people (in general) will accept the laughed off response of, “Oh, we are just enjoying being married, right now!” But I just celebrated being married to an AMAZING man for 4 years. People are getting less and less accepting of that response. NOT that it is any of their business. For the most part people are polite, but what bothers me are the ones who feel that it is their duty or their mission in life to tell me what I am “missing.” So far, my favorite “reason” for having kids is the tax return! Ha! Don’t people realize that having kids changes EVERYTHING??? And this isn’t a temporary change…Kids are FOREVER!!! They change the relationship, the finances, not to mention all of the crazy ways that having kids totally jacks up the mother’s body! It is not a decision to be taken lightly. And to those of you that know us well know that Peter and I don’t make HUGE decisions quickly. When the time is right for us, it will be in God’s timing, not ours, and He will give us the peace and the grace that we need.

New Creation December 6, 2007

2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! I used to always think that this verse was only for unbelivers who gave their lives to God. It makes sense that way. Putting away the old worldly nature, and living in Christ. Most people who know me well, know that I recently got back from the AWESOME Catalyst retreat, Lost. God totally showed up! And even though I’ve grown up in the church, and on the surface I’ve been living my life as a Christian, God really showed me that I wasn’t living up to his standards in certain areas of my life. I wasn’t living as a new creation. Up at Estes Park at the retreat, I feel like God stripped me down, and showed me how “old” I had let myself become. Every quiet time that I’ve had since then I just feel like this verse has reverberated in my head and in my heart over and over.  I am a new creation.

I’m a Bandwagonner! December 4, 2007

So, as has become my custom in the past 4 years of married life, I tend to try whatever Peter tries. Sometimes I do whatever Peter does (except pee standing up – I like my way better). So here I am on Word Press with my very own blog. There is no guarantee that anything interesting will ever come of it, but just know, if you are my friend then I will base my entire self-worth on the type and frequency of your comments.