Karen's Blog

I can't believe this

2006-02-28T18:22:00.000-05:00

After such a long silence it's almost wrong to break it. You know my life is slowing down when I return to the blog world. Things have been so hectic the past few months (OK, maybe longer) that I have not even thought about posting. I did notice that Brit was back in so I think reading her hilarious entries this week re-inspired me. I have nothing funny to say today, but you can't expect too much right away. A quick re-cap for those who may not know, Erin is now gone for the next 5 1/2 months on deployment so I am setting up a plan of attack on how I will stay busy to distract myself. : ( I have all kinds of goals including more Bible study, guitar, scrapbooking and surfing so maybe blogging will have to join the list. I bet 5 1/2 months will be gone before I know it - time flies faster and faster the older I get. I do appreciate those who have patiently waited to see if I'd ever blog again. If you're reading this, drop me a line so I know what you're all up to!

where have I been?

2005-10-20T23:35:00.000-04:00

I have had a good excuse for not blogging lately. I know I'm not going to win the blogger of the year award or anything so it's OK, but wanted to give a quick update. This past week my boyfriend was in town visiting from CA and since I do not get to see him often I chose not to dedicate my time to blogging while he was here. We had a great time - my family came down to visit and some of his family came from CO to visit the next weekend. It was really really nice. The cool thing about it was he was being honored for an award that he received and the ceremony was in Myrtle Beach, SC of all places - they actually sent him out here to visit me! I won't say much more because I know he'd rather not have his life published on the internet : ) I will say that he is wonderful and God has really blessed me with re-uniting us (it's a good story if you haven't heard it).

On another note, my small group is AWESOME. We met again tonight and I have seen a lot of amazing things already in the past 4 weeks. It has strengthened my faith and encouraged me a lot as one of their leaders. I am very excited about our group project. This is what community is all about.

God is definitely working in major ways and I just want to praise Him and thank Him for what he is doing!

case of the Mondays

2005-10-04T00:15:00.000-04:00

Today started out rough - I woke up and was really sick from something I ate last night. I get to work and nothing seems to be going right. Everyone wants something working immediately and instead nothing is working at all. People are frustrated and it's FREEZING in our office (that's a given). All morning I thought about just walking out and going back home. To top it off, I had 5 messages from people telling me my voice mail message was out of date. Obviously I don't care - If they knew me they'd know I never even answer my phone at work. I had a bad case of the Mondays.

The good news is things started brightening up this afternoon. Issues started getting resolved, progress was made, went to lunch with Britt and Laura, I kept my lunch down, it rained (sometimes that makes me happy), our gynormous new conference table arrived, I ran errands successfully and came home to a beautifully clean house.....AND found out I could save 15% or more on car insurance. No, not really, but I did find out I could save money on cable and internet and that made me happy. I even made dinner and went through my small group lesson preparation for this week! Erin called and the good news is that he is coming here in 3 DAYS!!! Bad news is there is a slight hang up in the paperwork so pray that gets resolved tomorrow....I believe that it will.

Despite how our days progress or digress, whether trivial or life changing, it's good to know that no matter what the circumstances, we always have a reason for joy. It's hard not to let things get to me, but there is something very nice about being to step back, relax, and know that God is in control, and things will work out in the end.

surprise!

2005-10-01T16:36:00.000-04:00

I'm not really sure how I feel about surprises. I mean, everyone loves to GET surprises, but if you're the one giving the surprise, pulling it off and doing it well takes a LOT of planning. For those who don't have the gift of planning, trying to surprise someone with something can turn out to be a downright mess. Take, for example a surprise party. I mean, how many of us have tried to surprise someone and then had the person we were trying to surprise not really cooperate. You're suddenly forced to make up a story or scenario to trick them into doing what you want them to at the right time without flat out lying to them (which some of you opt for anyway). Since no one can say anything to the person about what is going on, they often feel sad and rejected the day of their special event when no one so much as speaks to them for fear of saying something that might give away the secret.

And what about the guests? You have to cover your tracks and over emphasize that what you're doing is a surprise so some loud mouth doesn't blab it to the wrong person and ruin everything you've been working on. Then you have to hope that your guests arrive on time and arrange for them to park in some discreet location (usually the neighbors aren't too excited about the cars in front of their houses instead of yours). Inevitably you have the person who strolls in late and is walking up at the same time the person you're surprising gets there. Then it's like "Oh hi! What are you doing here?"...and it's all ruined.

Man - what a lot of planning. And for what? For the look on their face the one split second from the time they open the door until everyone jumps out and shouts at them. Is it worth it? If you can pull it off without them suspecting anything and then see them get really scared and pee their pants in front of a large crowd....yes. If not, you may want to re-think your plans and just tell them what's going on so they can at least look forward to the joyous occasion with friends and family.

confessions of a skeptic

2005-09-30T00:48:00.000-04:00

Tonight was our first real small group and I am so psyched right now. The group was really fun and everyone seems to be on board and excited about this whole thing. I must admit, I was skeptical. The last group I led had been together forever and was fairly predictable. I knew this one was going to be much different. Sitting alone in my living room at 7:38 pm when the group starts at 7:30, I decided that no one was going to show up and I became very discouraged. Turns out traffic was bad and before I knew it the couches were full of people. We have a very eclectic group, to say the least, and we all come from different situations, beliefs, personalities and backgrounds. Most have never been in a small group before and have no idea what to expect, but everyone has come together and it already feels like a family. One girl, in the middle of something else chimed in and said "I just want to say that this is the first time I've felt at home since I've lived in Charleston and I've been here for a year." That's what it is all about. We need each other and we will benefit by coming together to help other people. We have so many ideas and plans to implement service projects that we might be able to pull off one a week. That's how excited they are about it and it's going to be amazing. Praise God for this!

customer service

2005-09-28T22:54:00.000-04:00

I think the motto used to be "the customer is always right" but lately it feels like most business operate on the theory "I've had a long day and I really don't care what you want." Well today I was surprised, shocked really, at the amazing customer service I received when I decided to get the oil changed in my car. I stopped in at the Auto Care Express in Mt Pleasant across from the Towne Center since they have a nice little combo where they'll change your oil, check all your fluids and wash and clean out your car all at once. I pulled up at 5:03 pm. What I didn't realize is that they closed at 5:00 pm. The manager was standing by the door and as I walked up I saw the times behind him. He asked if he could help me and I said I had hoped to get my oil changed, but I didn't realize they were closed and I could come back tomorrow. Normally this is where they say "Sorry, we're closed." Instead, he said "No problem - it's ok. We'll be happy to do that for you now." They had already stared closing up the shop, but immediately pulled my car in, changed the oil, added power steering fluid and then offered to wash and vacuum it. Not only that, but they did a very thorough job. They had to spend extra time changing the power steering fluid since it was apparently impossible to reach, asked me if I'd like a custom scent air freshener spray, hand vacuumed the insides (since their machines had already been shut down for the evening) and were extremely friendly and smiling the whole time. I was really in shock. At 5:40 pm (40 minutes AFTER they closed) they sent me on my way and the car looked great! To top it off, I was going to tip them well and before I even got to the car to hand them a tip, they had already gone inside, calling back to me to have a great evening and come again. Why thank you, I will. I would recommend it to anyone in the area. It's amazing how nice it is to get great service.

the newest blog

2005-09-27T22:16:00.000-04:00

Ok now I really have to keep on top of my posting because I have been slack on my blog and now I've started a 2nd blog! This one is a little different - it's for our small group that is going to start on Thursday night. My roommate Brittany and I (check out the link on the right to Britt's blog - she's hilarious) are leading a group at our house and we're excited about starting it. We weren't sure who, if anyone, would end up coming but we had a cookout last weekend and had about 12 people show up so that was encouraging! For anyone who cares, our small group blog is www.annexgroup.blogspot.com so feel free to check it out. The group should be extremely fun - Britt and I came up with some pretty random ideas last night of how to keep it fun and lively so I'll post them as we execute our secret plans : )

lessons from the wasabi peas

2005-09-21T23:29:00.000-04:00

My new found enthusiasm for wasabi peas is turning out to be more of a love/hate relatioship. I was so excited when I bought them from the grocery store that I decided to break them open in the car on the way home. I popped a few in my mouth as I was rounding the corner and almost ran off of the road. I guess you aren't supposed to breathe in with wasabi in your mouth because I was suddenly overcome with intense pain. My throat and nose were burning off and my eyes started watering like crazy (not good when you're driving). Lesson: only eat one pea at a time and be careful how you breathe when you do it.

I was still super excited and brought them along with my random assortment of lunch items to work the next day. (Shawn is convinced I am on a mission to find the weirdest things they sell in the grocery store). I open them up at work and start getting weird looks and questions. I wanted to be nice and offered some to Shawn, assuring him they were not that spicy. In my opinion, spicy is jalepeno, not wasabi. I would call it strong and painful burning, but not spicy. He begrudgingly took a few and instantly went for the trash can, spitting them out as fast as they went in. I guess he doesn't have a taste for them. Lesson: spicy is a matter of opinion, but if someone says "it's not that spicy" don't believe them.

At that point I saw an opportunity for some office entertainment and quickly made my way to Jessica's desk. Of course her and Mac were more than curious to try the new snack. They both had the same reaction with the trash can, but next thing you know, Mac is empting out his pockets and asks for a few more. Jessica gives him a funny look and says, "You aren't planning on putting them in your pocket are you?" To which he replies, "Well, I was going to take some home for my family to try." Hmmmm, I wonder how appealing lint covered wasabi peas are at the end of a long work day. He quickly realized that was not the best idea and wrapped them in a napkin. Lesson: it is never a good idea to store food in your pocket. Think about the tots.

I quickly realized my intrigue with the wasabi peas was not shared by others so I returned to my desk to snack on them alone. As I continued eating them I noticed I was starting to get really fired up about things and rather hyper. My body temperature started rising. I seriously think I had a fever. I decided that was a good sign to put the wasabi peas away for a while. Today I started noticing the skin is falling off of the inside of my mouth. My "fun little snack" is not so fun anymore. If it's doing that to my mouth, what is happening to the lining on my stomach!?! Lesson: stay away from wasabi peas. They can be damaging to your health.

For those of you who asked "What is wasabi anyway?" Read on...

on that note

2005-09-20T23:08:00.000-04:00

You know another thing that is under-rated? Handwritten letters....the kind you actually get in the mail that pass through the post office and take a stamp. Now I'm all for new media and communication seeing as how that's my job, but there's an anticipation and a value that came with getting a real card or letter from someone in the mail that you just don't get with your inbox or a text message. There is something cool about reading their words in their handwriting, on their paper. Maybe what we need is a program that creates personalized fonts that exactly match your handwriting. Do they have something like that? If not, they should. That would be cool.

will work for food

2005-09-19T23:52:00.000-04:00

We've been talking a lot about community lately (well not really but since I've been working on this 40 days stuff for the past 400 days it seems like it has been talked about a lot), but it really is a great little concept. It's too bad so much of it has been lost in how we live. We're taught to be self-sufficient and independent...that we don't need other people and we shouldn't need help. The thing is, there really is enough of everything to go around if we all did our part. I know that sounds a bit socialistic, but really it's about community. We all have things that we're better at or that we enjoy that other people could benefit from. It's the concept Greg talked about this past weekend of making known what you have to share.

I've experienced it already this week in a few ways and it just makes me think of how much more we could all do. For example, I enjoy working in my yard, but it has been really HOT here lately and mowing the grass is something that no one at my house has been excited about doing. I have, however been excited about cooking which is always more fun when there are people there to eat the food. Well, there you go - I have someone volunteer to mow the grass for some home cooked food and we have a match! They liked mowing the grass, I liked cooking the food and we're all happy. Simple, yes, but how well it works!

breaking the silence

2005-09-15T23:01:00.000-04:00

Obviously I have been slack about my blog lately. I can't say why exactly...I just got out of the daily ritual of checking all the blogs and posting. It was getting a little excessive to try and read every post every day and comment, etc. and then I figured no one is really reading this anyway. Thanks to those of you who assured me you are reading and let me know how lame it was that I hadn't posted in two weeks.

To sum it all up, life is good. It's not easy, but it's good.

disaster

2005-08-31T22:32:00.000-04:00

If I were to write about what is on my mind today it would have to be the hurricane disaster in Lousisiana and Mississippi. Of course it's all over the news and even the side effects of it are impacting everyone. The gas stations tonight were complete craziness. People are freaking out at the thought of running out of gasoline around here, but thank God that is the worst of our problems right now. The real problems are almost too much to comprehend. I haven't watched this much news since 9/11 and sadly, the stories seem all too similar, but these are even closer to home. If the hurricane hadn't taken the path that it did, that would be us. It's as simple as that. Many of these people had nice homes and jobs they went to every day. It seemed to be just another storm coming through the gulf and now....now they have nothing. They are wondering around on the streets with nothing. It has been 3 days now. 3 days with no food, no water, no clothing, no home. Some of us go 3 hours without food or water and we're irritable. They're at 3 days and are going into survival mode with no end in sight. At this point there is nothing they can do to even start getting back to normal. There's nothing for them to do but go crazy and wonder around in shock realizing that their world as they knew it has been washed away. They are probably just wondering how long they can survive without a miracle or even worse - if people they love did survive. It seems like right now we can't do much to help, but we can pray hard. I think we can pray that those whose bodies are weak or sick will be sustained until help can come their way. Pray that families that were separated and are now fearing the worst will be joyfully reunited. Pray for a glimmer of hope and order to the minds that are going crazy with despair and panic. Pray that doors will open up for us to give generously of our time and resources to help where we can. Most of all, pray for an opportunity for God's love to be poured out on those in need, especially as they realize there is no where else that they can turn.

online shopping

2005-08-29T22:50:00.000-04:00

It's so convenient. I love it.

On another note, is it just me or is there always an updated version of itunes that is exactly like the last version. If I ever actually see an updated feature I think I'll fall out of my chair.

Maria and Guadalupe

2005-08-26T20:02:00.000-04:00

I wanted to tell you guys a little more about my trip, so I will start with something near to my heart. Every year we go to a little barrio outside of Managua called Los Torres. A group of people went down there several years ago and realized there were hundreds of kids running around this horrible neighborhood with no clothes, no shoes, no food, no education and worst of all, no hope of anything different. Since that time, God has used many people to transform this area and help the people of Los Torres. A school/church has been built in the center of the neighborhood and it is called La Escuela de Dios (God's School). Everything has been done by donations of people who love God and care about these children. There are now over 500 kids who attend God's School every day. It costs $100 per year per child to provide a good Christian education, a uniform, shoes, school supplies and a hot meal every day. 100% of this money goes to help these kids. There are no overhead fees that go to some large organization....just money for them to go to school and get them off of the streets.

Anyway, the kids are amazing. They are everywhere and they LOVE people. I have had the privelege of going 4 years in a row and seeing some of the changes in their lives first hand. I have a couple of girls that I sponsor, Maria and Guadalupe. Maria is in 5th grade and Guadalupe is in 3rd. This year I had the chance to go by their "house" while I was there. They welcomed me in with excitement through the rusted tin propped up as a gate to the barbed wire fence. There was one room with a dirt floor that had a small cot (where their parents slept) and 2 sets of rusted metal bunk beds (for them and their 2 brothers.) The back wall had a cut out that went into another enclosed dirt area - their kitchen. That was it. That was their home. I know most of us realize that we are blessed and that a large population lives in less than ideal conditions, but when you form relationships with these people this fact becomes so real. These are my friends who are living like this.

It challenges me to think about how little it takes to help them and I think of the verse, Luke 12:48 "From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked." The best part about this is realizing God blesses us so that we can in turn bless others, which leaves us with the biggest blessing of all....helping those in need. The problem of poverty seems large and overwhelming, but we can make a difference. It starts by reaching out to a child and literally giving them a chance to make it.

If you would like to sponsor a child at God's school, please respond to this post and I will give you more information. There are still so many who need sponsored!

another rainy day

2005-08-26T19:52:00.000-04:00

I think it has rained every day since I've been back from my trip. I like the rain though - my little palmetto tree does too. It is finally showing signs of growth after several months of nothing. I spent today getting ready for a garage sale we're having in the morning. It's funny the stuff that you accumulate over time. I have been in this house only 2 years and I have so much stuff that I don't need. You know it's bad if you have stuff you look at and you don't even know what it is. Sometimes I catch myself thinking "Oh, I might need that for something" but if I don't know what it is, how am I going to know when I need to use it? Funny thing is though, I can sell it and someone else will think maybe it's something they need even though they probably don't need it either. If you think about it, every time we go to the store we come home with something and how often do we get rid of stuff or throw things away? It makes sense that after a while you just don't have any more room to put useless junk. After being in Nicaragua, you realize how little you actually need to survive. I think I need to do another sweep through the house with that in mind. We're selling everything tomorrow morning so those of you reading this that live close by, you should come.

Dios de Maravillas

2005-08-22T22:41:00.000-04:00

It's with mixed emotions that I am back to the blog world. There is something really nice about being away from everything we think we have to have here to survive. I've spent 10 days away from the cell phone, e-mail and blogging and I had plenty of time to see God work. It makes me think a little.....does God work more when we're out of our comfort zone and away from our own little "worlds" or are we just more in tune to what He's always doing? I'm pretty sure it's the latter. God is always wanting to do great things, but I think I often just can't hear Him or see Him over the noise in my life, even though most of it is "good" stuff. I have some great stories of lives that have been changed and things that happened while we were in Nicaragua, but right now I'm just thinking about how every day is a chance to see miracles. Every day someone in our lives needs to see God. As Rick Warren said, we are the plan to show that love to them. There is no other plan. Thanks SO much to those of you who were praying. I know the prayers were a huge part of what has happened the last 10 days. God is good and we had a flawless trip. MANY lives were changed and those stories are yet to come!

Voy a Nicaragua...

2005-08-09T00:17:00.000-04:00

This may be my last post for a while. I will leave here tomorrow night on a journey...not sure what all it will entail, but I know it will be amazing because God will be leading it! I am going with a team of 17 other people to the areas around Managua Nicaragua for 10 days of intense work. This will be my 4th year going! We will be doing medical clinics for thousands of people who desperately need care. These include things like minor surgery, pediatrics, dermatology, optometry, general consult, and much more. We also bring our own pharmacy along as well. My job while we’re there is to translate Spanish between the Nicaraguan people and the medical providers that are on our team. Of course we are hoping to meet their physical needs, but more importantly we want to meet their spiritual needs, knowing that God is the only one that can give them life that will last forever.

For those of you who read this regularly, please take that time instead these next 10 days to pray for us. This is a difficult trip in many ways, but also one of the biggest blessings in my life. Please pray for the people we will be seeing each day as well as our strength, emotionally, physically and spiritually as we serve them. Praise God for this opportunity! I'm sure I will have lots of good stories when I return!

10 signs you are addicted to blogging...

2005-08-05T23:00:00.000-04:00

I think we might see a new support group forming soon.....for blog addicts! If your family is feeling neglected, you spend more time blogging than sleeping, and the latest posts are the topic of all your conversations, you might need to take a step back and re-evaluate before you end up as the newest member of Bloggers Anonymous (not to be confused with the anonymous blogger). Here are some red flags...

You consider trading in your desktop for a laptop for more frequent and convenient posting.
You fall asleep at work because you are up all night blogging.....again.
Your first thought when anything happens is, "Oh, I can't wait to write about that in my blog."
Your mood for the day is determined by how many comments you received on your last post.
You actually pre-post so you will NEVER have to worry about not having a new entry.
You consider cancelling your vacation when you find out you won't have an internet connection and you don't yet have the ability to pre-post.
Your friends and family despise the word "blog"
You have blog "friends" who are people you've actually never met.
You start signing everything with your blog address instead of your name.
You've thought about legally changing your name to your blog address.

And yes, some of you reading this know you're the inspiration behind a few of these thoughts : )

2 things I could live without

2005-08-04T22:03:00.000-04:00

Computer viruses and immunization shots. Right now they are both causing me a lot of pain and discomfort. My computer is acting up and my arm is too....makes it hard to blog, but I'm dedicated so here it is.

shampoo is better...

2005-08-03T23:50:00.000-04:00

I am a sucker for new products. I guess I always hope to try something that claims to be wonderful thinking that maybe one time it really will be, but usually it's nothing special. I just have to say for all of you who think all shampoos are created equal, I would have to challenge that. I have tried a lot of shampoos in my day, but I have recently found one that's so wonderful it's blogworthy. Purology Hydrate. It makes me look forward to washing my hair now. It's truly everything a shampoo should be and more.

intention vs. action

2005-08-02T23:22:00.000-04:00

This is something I've been thinking of a lot this week since it was brought up in one of our discussions, but how many times do we THINK about doing something nice for someone and just never follow through? I do this all the time. I'm actually a nice person - in my head. I think about what other people would like and sometimes even come up with great plans on things I could do for them, but often that's as far as they get. I have every intention of being nice, but intentions don't say much....no one even knows they're there. When it comes to reaching out to people, it's NOT the thought that counts. It's taking the time to put it into action that shows we really do care.

inspiration

2005-08-01T23:00:00.000-04:00

Thanks to the few who participated in the personality test...we all came out pretty different which is no surprise. My question today is what inspires you? Not vague answers like God, family, country & stuff, but what do you do when you need some creative inspiration?
What do you read/watch, where do you go/what do you like to do, etc...?
What colors inspire you the most?
What smells, sounds?
I know most of you can be very creative so help me out on this!!

what's your type?

2005-07-30T10:35:00.000-04:00

In preparing for my upcoming trip to Nicaragua, we were talking about how hard it really is to be stuck with a random group of people for 10 days and spent every waking moment together, in less than ideal conditions and add to that a lot of heat, no air conditioning, little sleep and a lot of stress. We are all different and we have to learn to appreciate those differences in each other. These unique personalities make life interesting, but also challenging. I have taken the personality profile DISC tests before and I actually change a little each time I do it. This time it was a good reminder for me of some things I need to keep in check.

What I am: I am a "C" stronger than the other categories. This means I tend to be extremely analytical, logical, a perfectionist....overwhelmingly TASK oriented. This is so true. I love people, but for some reason my mind focuses first on the tasks at hand, secondly the people.
What I was reminded of: Relationships are what really matter when it's all said and done. God wired us up to be a community and we need that! Memories with people you care about are what you remember, not what you did that day or what you accomplished, but who was there with you. Life's too short to forget this, as some of us know all too well. Make a little more time for the people in your life this week.

If you guys haven't done your personality profile lately, I'd strongly recommend it. Here's a short free version you can take online now. Let me know what you find out!

authenticity

2005-07-28T22:18:00.000-04:00

This is a great article that sums up what I think we're really looking for - in people, in church, in life... http://deeper.typepad.com/deeper/2005/07/twentysomething.html

are we going BEYOND the box???

2005-07-28T10:43:00.000-04:00

OK, I have no idea who if anyone is really reading this, but creativity comes in lots of forms and I would love for contributions and thoughts on this. We are as guilty as anyone for going the route of using spoofs and rip-offs for our stuff. This is a controversial issue as some think it is very useful and others, as you can see in the article The Christian Imitation, are ademately opposed. I have always had a strong diversion to this as it's very difficult to handle copyright and as I would have to agree with this article, just NOT as creative. I'm sure there are a thousand reasons why we think this is cute or catchy, but I would love to see us go BEYOND the box and come up with some original stuff. Now let me clarify, as I've already had feedback on this. I do realize sometimes you can creatively use another idea and it can be a VERY effective, but I am not talking about that occasional spin off of current events or trends. I'm talking about using what's already been done as the idea or a crutch for not stretching ourselves to new territory. We need to be trend-setters, not trend-copiers! Any original thoughts on this??

mad skills

2005-07-27T23:43:00.000-04:00

This whole blogging phenomenon is uncovering some very interesting talent. Who knew my friends were such writers? I'd like to welcome Britt to the scene with her complete literary work thrown off the top of her head on her lunch break. Crazy. I think Jess inspired her with her "captivating" style and definitely want to point out that Ashley is going to get the writing projects from this point on....especially if we're looking for some good poetry. Ah yes, mad skills....

forgotton resolutions

2005-07-27T23:04:00.000-04:00

Am I the only one who tries to make resolutions of things that I want to accomplish during the upcoming year and conveniently never look at them again past January 2? It's frustrating, but when do you have time to do all this extra stuff? Recently I decided to finally make time and learn how to play the guitar (thanks to some inspiration from Karie) It's probably been on my "list" for about 8 years so it's a great feeling to just do it! Well, in this case I should say a great feeling. My fingers still get sore and I think I'm actually starting to lose feeling in them, but I hear that's normal. I will have to balance my time wisely though - I practiced so long last night I didn't have time to blog! You can actually teach yourself from the internet - there's a ton of stuff on ultimate-guitar.com. Anyone else have things they've always wanted to do and just haven't done yet?

confessions and shout-outs

2005-07-25T23:26:00.000-04:00

Just wanted to set the record straight on something here. I have failed to give proper credit where credit is due and although I did meet THE blog king this week, it pales in comparison with the influencial bloggers that are near and dear in my life. I must confess that it was the Seacoast blog king that did finally wear me down to the idea of blogging...thanks Shawn. Now it has infested the office at a horrific rate. I think blogging is going to have to be added to some people's job descriptions of the next go around with the maps. Anyway, just wanted to give a shout out now that I've finally found Shawn's blog! I'd also like to express my appreciation to my dear blogging friend Jessica who always makes me feel better by posting no matter how stupid the entry is (mine, not hers). We do know what it is to have way too much fun than it ever makes sense to be having!!

what a tangled web we weave

2005-07-24T22:57:00.000-04:00

So the blog world is growing and growing. What's funny is that there are so many blogs out there yet to be discovered. I was talking to Josh tonight and discovered his blog which then led to a few others I didn't know existed. How very fun this is. The problem I now have is how in the world in my already busy schedule do I possibly find the time to keep up with everyone's blogs? Even worse, why do I spend so much time posting to mine when no one is probably reading it anyway? Is there an arrogancy to blogging.....posting all your thoughts and finds out there thinking that other people are sitting around just dying to read them? Maybe so, but it's still kind of fun if no one does so I'll probably keep going until I am diverted by other things I actually have to do. Anyone else think this is strange?

for all those church designers out there

2005-07-24T02:01:00.000-04:00

I was perusing ChurchMarketingSucks.com (you should check it out if you haven't yet) and came across a good article. http://www.dognmoon.com/case_study.html It gives some good perspective on graphic design and client relations. I particularly love the part about how "clients" should know how they want a piece to feel, and not describe that by how they want it to look....if you already know how you want it to look, why bother with the designer?? This whole site is worth checking out. Pretty funny. Ah yes, good stuff...

God is not schizophrenic

2005-07-24T00:09:00.000-04:00

I'm still pondering the thousands of thoughts in my head from my time in Chicago, but one thing I touched on that is still so cool to remind myself of is that God is not schizophrenic. He carries out His work and when He has a message he wants us to get, He is consistent no matter where you go. He is telling people in Chicago the same thing that He is telling people in Charleston. He is changing lives in Nicaragua just as he is changing them in California. I love how at the right times, He moves us to where we need to be next. In the church, there has been a huge success at reaching out to those who need to hear and bring them in. There are several churches in America that have done that really well and now those same churches are at a point where He is telling us to step back. Take a step back and see what these people really need. Once they realize who God is, they need to be able to continue in that amazing journey and it's our job as a church to take them there. It's a journey, not a destination. We each play a part in that journey, but we MUST take the time to listen. We need to hear what God is telling us now and join Him in His work. That is where we catch a glimpse of eternity and a joy that cannot be explained.

my head is about to explode

2005-07-21T02:37:00.000-04:00

I have this awesome opportunity to be in Chicago for a few days spending time with some of the greatest church leaders in the country. It's so cool to see what God is doing all over the place...funny how He's so consistent. Too bad we often get in the way, but all I can say is that I'm super excited and my head is about to explode with all the stuff going through it. I will sort through these thoughts and save them for future blogs since I've been up for what seems like 49 hours straight (19 to be exact). We have another long day of brainstorming and networking ahead so I need to rest up. I will say though as a side note, we have been hanging out with the blog king himself so Shawn is going to be extremely jealous.

NOT SO fun in the sun

2005-07-18T01:40:00.000-04:00

I learned a few things this weekend...the hard way. I was having a nice relaxing Saturday at the beach. Jess and I got out there early and got some good sun, had a nice lunch (the best nachos of all time) and as I was heading in for the day, stopped by to say hi to some friends a little further down the beach. Now at this point I had done nothing out of the ordinary. I mean, I live in Charleston, Saturdays = the beach and you usually spend as much time there as you can until you get really burnt or really bored, whichever comes first. So I was borderline on both as I stopped in at 31st street for a few minutes. I wasn't feeling so great after a heavy lunch in the heat, but figured that's all it was and that I'd suck it up a little longer and be sociable. As I stood there talking to friends I felt worse and worse and realized I needed to just go ahead and leave. I started walking off the beach when another friend of mine was coming towards me with some friends of his. I knew I'd have to chat with them for a few minutes, but also knew something was really wrong. The nauseating feeling was getting worse and worse and I wanted to get out of there fast before I ended up losing my lunch. They came up to me and I tried to play off like I was fine before I manged to throw out a comment about how I wasn't feeling well and joked that if I passed out they'd need to catch me. Now I'm sure that's not what they expected me to say as I greeted them, but next thing I knew I started losing my vision and blacking out. The world started spinning and I fell right into the guy who was trying to introduce me to his friends who were visiting town. What an impression I made, I'm sure. "Hi, nice to meet you, I'm going to pass out, catch me....whoa......." Next thing I knew my friend was taking me to my car and driving me off the island, asking if I needed to go to the hospital. Problem was I thought maybe I did - it was an absolutely misearable about 20 minutes of my life where for a brief moment I really thought I might die. I decided that instead of a hospital I'd rather just go to the town center since in my dillusional state that seemed equivalent. Crazy enough with a lot of A/C and some water, I started coming back around and manged to stumble into Marble Slab and sit there until my body stopped convulsing. A few minutes later, things seemed like they were going to be OK.

Moral of the story: it's hotter out there than you think, drink more Gatorade.

After a day and a half of a splitting headache, nausea and very dry mouth, I've managed to take in an obsene amount of Gatorade and am now feeling much better. I never thought heat stroke would be something I'd have to worry about, but let this be a friendly reminder to all to be CAREFUL when having fun in the sun.

we will always remember

2005-07-17T02:29:00.000-04:00

A year ago today many of our lives were drastically changed forever. Most of us have tried to block out the tragic events of that day, but we will always remember Brandon and Aaron as the awesome, fun, hilarious guys that they were. I will never understand what happened the morning of July 16, 2004, but I know that is not for me to understand. I have always believed in God, but never have I seen Him work in as many ways as He did during that time. I have seen miracles. I know I'll see them again. To use Ashley's favorite quote from Blue Like Jazz,

"Sometimes you have to watch somebody love something before you can love it yourself." Brandon and Aaron loved life like I've never seen it loved before.

Their contagious enthusiasm and enduring smiles are forever burned into our souls. They both found something more in life, a passion and happiness that many never find. I thank God for that. We need to learn from them. Every moment is a gift and one of them will be our last. Brandon and Aaron truly lived every moment...even to the end. Their lives, as well as their deaths have made an unmeasurable impact on so many people. May we live with this reminder and make each day all that we can so that the same may be said of each of us. We love them and miss them. We thank God for the time that we had with them. We will never forget them.

sure beats a bike

2005-07-16T00:14:00.000-04:00

I quickly changed my mind about the peaceful freedom of being stuck at home with no transportation. It's a horrible thing. When I seriously considered riding my bike from my house to Coleman Blvd on Thursday I realized I needed to get a car - quick. I got one today....not anything I'd ever in my life think I'd be driving, but it's actually quite nice and I even think I like it. At this point, anything with wheels would be a blessing, but I'm now driving an 04 Pontiac Grand Prix....yes, a Grand Prix. It is currently for sale, so if anyone is in the market, let me know. It's actually a great car and a great deal. Isn't it cute?

life without transportation

2005-07-13T20:59:00.000-04:00

When I think of being stuck somewhere without a car I would think it's a bad thing but I have grown to have a new appreciation for being transportation-less. It forces you to slow down. I think maybe more of us should get stuck at home with no way to go anywhere. I'm having a rebellion against the hectic life. Probably because I just got back from an amazing week and a half vacation where I didn't have an agenda other than to have fun and relax. Don't you think there's a reason people like vacation so much? Why is it that we have to leave home and take time off of work to stop and catch our breath? We are TOO BUSY. Everyone in this crazy place is go go go, do do do all day long. Work is like a constant buzz of craziness. We mean well and we think we have stuff to do, but really we end up doing a bunch of nothingness all day because as soon as we start something it's interupted and bumped off the agenda for the next thing which leaves us with nothing to show at the end of the day but a huge headache and ill feelings for a lot of good people who are also just trying to "do their job." Then we come home long enough to throw our stuff on the foyer table, run in and change and speed off somewhere to run errands, or even worse, stress out because we're late to meet people to have fun. One word....OVERBOOKING. We just need to get stuck more often - it forces you to say "sorry, can't do it" Then you are suddenly finding time to sit, think, rest and enjoy yourself without rushing off to the next thing just to crash late at night and wake up frantically late the next morning. I think everyone need to just chill out and slow down. I think it would make me like people better.

why wash?

2005-07-12T22:42:00.000-04:00

One thing in life that I find highly overrated is washing your hair. Don't get me wrong, it's an important thing in it's time, but I think it is very unnecessary to have to do it every day. The more you wash your hair, the worse it gets anyway. It gets all dry and so you put a bunch of junk in it to grease it up and make it look nice and shiny. What's the point? Then it looks like you haven't washed your hair in the first place and you had to waste a lot of time doing it.

one more check off the things to see list

2005-07-10T02:37:00.000-04:00

So we all have them - lists in our mind of things we need to do or places we need to go in our lives. I don't know if most of us could even write them out, but we know what they are when we're faced with the opportunity to do them. I was in beautiful southern california and decided that one of the things I "had" to do while I was out there was take at trip to LA and go see Hollywood and Beverly Hills. I'm not really sure what I was expecting. Maybe a live play-out of US Weekly on the streets, celebrities everywhere, better than life things to see and do, etc., but what I saw was sort of......ordinary. Dont' get me wrong, Beverly Hills is way over the top, but it's not like you can actually see any of the ridiculously nice places there. They're all enclosed by 20 ft walls and 50 ft trees. It's funny how people imprison themselves intentionally. Anyway, Hollywood was less than desirable. It's just so dirty and average. Sure, you have stars pressed into the sidewalks and freaks on every corner to entertain you, but it's not the type of entertainment I'd expected. There's really not even much to do there. The best entertainment was taking funny pictures of ourselves and then laughing at them. Anyway, we went, we saw, we now checked it off our list and can move on to other things....

no offense to Nemo

2005-07-06T20:33:00.000-04:00

So I'm not really what I'd call the "outdoorsy" type, but I do love a nice weekend in the mountains. There's nothing like the cool, fresh air at altitudes that leave you winded walking up a flight of stairs. I really never thought of myself as someone who likes fishing either, but today I found a new appreciation. There's something great about just sitting there with people waiting to catch the "big one". I think Krista passed me up for the most fish hooked, but too bad she lost about 3 back to the lake : ) Sitting for hours on end wondering when the silly things would get hungry and go for the bait lead me to wonder.....just how smart are the fish? Do you think they wonder where the huge piece of food comes from that seemingly falls from the sky right in front of them? Do the other fish watch as one takes a bite and then flips out and gets pulled into shore? If so, don't they remember what happened 5 minutes later when they do it themselves? Just makes you think. Then you have the big strong ones that get caught and manage to get away right as they are pulled onto shore. Do they go and warn the other fish about what just happened to them? I guess the answer to all of this is probably a big fat NO. Fish are stupid which is why we get to eat them. Glad I'm not a fish.

the search is over

2005-07-02T19:32:00.000-04:00

I have officially found the BEST mexican food of all time. There are few things in life that make me happier than really good mexican food. Fortunately San Diego is a great place to be since Old Towne has a different authentic Mexican restaurant on every corner. So there is an awesome place there called Acapulco which is by far Erin's favorite, but since we went to that one last time we decided to try another one. We went to Casa de Bandini in the heart of Old Towne and I was far from disappointed. I have been on a chile rellano kick lately so I ordered a chile rellano and a cheese quesadilla. OH MY GOODNESS. The cheese quesadilla was by far the best thing that I have had in a long long time. It was made with the real stuff - the salty goat cheese that you find in Latin America and was smothered with a tangy green chile. SO good. So there you have it - my absolute favorite Mexican food now to date. Great stuff....

so cal weather

2005-06-30T21:31:00.000-04:00

So I'm off of work for a week and a half and out in sunny southern california. It's actually always cloudy here in the am, but the clouds burn off about noon, the sun shines bright and then it cools back off in the evening. It's about the perfect place to live as far as weather, I'm convinced. Of course I don't live here - I live in muggy Charleston which is like being in a sauna for most of the time...not exaggerating. You walk outside after taking a shower and getting ready for the day and you're instantly sticky and sweaty - the humidity is so high you can hardly breathe. But I guess as with anything you get used to it and you don't notice how bad it is until you leave and go somewhere they don't have that problem. I hate that I'm talking about the weather right now, but it's the biggest thing I notice when coming out here so that's the topic of the hour. Here is a picture of where I am in CA right now...

in-flight movies

2005-06-30T02:30:00.000-04:00

I must say my flights today were rather uneventful which in this case was a blessing. It's just so funny traveling. Have you ever noticed how insane people are in airports. Actually there are 2 kinds of people. Those moving around so fast they blur when they push by you and the others who are in a comotose stare sitting in the waiting area hour after hour. There aren't really normal in between people. The flights are the funny part though....you never know what you're gonna get.Last flight I ended up sitting next to a mother and her 5 year old daughter. It was all fine and good. I was into the in-flight movie and minding my own business when the last 5 minutes of the movie, the little girl next to me decided she wanted to be my friend. She pulls on my sleeve so naturally I had to remove my headphones and divert my attention from the movie. She had drawn me a "ninja cat" which was by far her favorite animal. I politely thanked her for the drawing, asked her a few questions about her life, her trip, etc.. then turned back to the movie that I had been into for the past 2 hours. I looked up to see the credits scrolling across the screen. NO!!! What timing. I still have no idea how the movie ends, but at least I have a good drawing of a ninja cat in case I ever come across one and need to be able to

finally enough time

2005-06-28T02:38:00.000-04:00

I have been getting crap from everyone at work for the longest time about how I need to start blogging. There were a few of us that were holding out, trying not to succomb to this latest fad, but alas, I have a few spare minutes in my day and what do I choose to do? This. Sad, really. I don't have time for this - there are so many other things I could be doing, but maybe some good will come of it. I like how you can upload photos. That will come in handy seeing as how I wanted to show off the work I have been doing in my front yard today. I spent 8 hours straight in the scorching heat (102 - that's HOT) and this is really all I have accomplished so far. Actually I did more than the photo shows - I took this before moving the big plant and putting some other things in so I really did make some progress. All I know is that I am going to be SORE tomorrow! Any comments or suggestions on landscaping will be much appreciated.