bad timing

the system is down. (strongbad? anyone?) i've been sitting at my computer for almost three hours now, and i haven't gotten a lick of work done. well, i've updated and printed a document that my boss needed, but that's it. BOO on the "system box" being down. hooray for the tech guys "working on it". BOO on them for taking so long!!!!


in other news, i am, again, in love with "heart to heart" oat and honey cereal. i loved it a while back. and i love it again. you should definitely try it!





in more other news, the window right beside my desk in my office leaks cold air like a...well, like a leaky window with no insulation or sealants. it's windy today and especially cold (currently 25 degrees) and, as usual in the wintertime, i have my little space heater going strong. so my morning has consisted of feeling frigidly cold wind mixed with a steady waft of warm air. my body tempterature is confused.


in more news again, ask me what we did this weekend. go ahead, ask me. my answer is we went to church. all weekend! saturday from 10 to 2, we were at northshore. the speaker was, to say the least, incredible! we learned a bit about local ministries and how we can be involved (basically what chris and i have been praying for since we've been married!) but mostly richard pratt preached. DANG. he talked about the Kingdom - how it's not in heaven but already here on earth - how heaven isn't the GOAL, but the STANDARD by which things should be done on earth ("your will be done on earth like it's done in heaven" not your will be done in heaven, oh and on earth also) - how we like to camp out in the last half of the Lord's prayer and generally breeze over the first part where we acknowledge God's holiness (our Father in heaven, hallowed ["sacred"] is your name!) - how we get in little christian huddles and forget about people who don't know Jesus - how christians and non-christians, for the most part, would respond the same way to "what is a life worth living?" because we've lost sight of what really matters and don't have Kingdom vision. i could go on and on. anyway, so then sunday morning we were at northshore for sunday school and church (i was in the nursery - precious children!). then from 145 to 545 that afternoon we were at smpc for the big vote (see post before this) - yes, it took that long, and yes, the majority voted YES. and then we high-tailed it back to northshore for a service of prayer and repentance that the pastors called after dr. pratt's teaching. THAT was a good service. a really sweet time to meet some people we never had and pray and confess. good stuff. it was a busy weekend!


the system is still down. i should go file. bleh.

a whole new world

raise your hand if you're a Christian. (lyndsay raises her hand) i'm learning lately that just saying that i'm a Christian isn't enough. i mean, just to say that Jesus is the son of God is to do what the demons do ("...and they shudder..."). i must claim Him as my Lord and Savior and follow His teachings - really follow His teachings and know His word - the Bible! why do i not take Him seriously?! have you ever really thought about the fact that we can pray any time we want to? i mean honestly - the God of the universe has invited us to an open conversation at any moment of any given time. i'm learning that the fact that i know His Good News and saving grace and mercy, it is my duty and privilege to share it with others. not only by praying for others to know Him and His grace and love, but by showing others grace and mercy. the guy that asks for money at the corner? offer to take him to lunch with a smile and a handshake. yeah, maybe food isn't what he's really after, but when was the last time someone said anything other than "i don't have any money!" or "here..." and mindlessly shoved a few cents into his palm. i'm not preaching to you...i'm preaching to me. i go around on this earth so terrified (truly) that i'm going to do something wrong, make the wrong decision, say something that offends someone else, that i forget to live this life God has given me. why is it that i haven't talked to anyone about Jesus that didn't already know about Him? i might argue that i haven't been in that situation. well, why don't i put myself in that situation?! why do i not talk to anyone about Him at work or when we're out with friends? because i don't want or let anyone know me - i don't really talk about anything, really.

i'm just bummed (that is such a dumb and insufficient word...) that the church - THE THING that God has given the world to spread His love and Good News - is so lazy and cold to all that's going on in the world around them. Jesus wasn't like that! Jesus was out and all up in people's business! Jesus wouldn't have had pot luck dinners with all of His followers every single week. once in a while, sure. but when most of our time is spent huddled together in our comfortable and warm little congregations, i wonder what He would say if He were to walk in the room.

the church i grew up in is going through a major historical change this weekend. it's pcusa, and the session/elders are unanimous in calling for a congregational vote to leave the pcusa and join the epc (evangelical pres). the fact that the session was unanimous is in itself a miracle! i have one word: FINALLY!! the pcusa has been blatantly and directly going against the teachings of the Bible for a LONG time now. for a while, our church was called to stand as a light in a dark world, but now the denomination has just gone too far (they claim that Jesus isn't the only way to heaven, that the Bible is fallible, praying to other gods and goddesses is okay and even encouraged, etc...) we desperately need to get out. if you are offended by reading this, i really am sorry and mean you no harm. but honestly, if you're going to claim to be a follower of Jesus' teachings, why would you ever follow "some" and not "all" of His teachings?! (read revelation lately?) i feel like a lot of "Christians" of today pick and choose which commands and teachings they want to follow. for example, a friend at work said to me that he wasn't sure if he was going to go back to church b/c he has some "weird beliefs". when i asked him what they were, he said "i don't think you're going to go to hell for having sex before you're married," and then smiled really big, "because i like having sex before i'm married!" translated: Jesus' teachings are okay, but i'm going to ignore the ones that interfere with my personal life and make me change or go against what my natural desires lead me to do. (ie, i don't want to stop sinning) dude. COME ON!!!! if you had a kid and he was like "um, nah. i don't think i'll obey you this time." no matter what it was - cleaning up their room or not running in the street - you better discipline the crap out of him b/c he's too young to understand what's best for him, right? i see no difference in us (children of God) obeying His commands.

that does not mean that's it's always going to be easy or fun to do. i was not put on this earth to judge you or anyone else, so please don't take this post that way. i am no where close to perfect or together. but i'm sick and tired of the church making excuses for their sin. why don't they just fess up, call it sin, confess it, and repent?! seriously. that word has gotten just a bad rap because of the people that march around and shout "repent! the end is near!" and get written off as a crazy person. all it means is to turn away from the bad stuff and turn TO Jesus. (turning from one bad thing to another bad thing isn't repentance...)

man. i rambled. i just needed to get it out.

so if you think about it, please pray for our pastor and church, especially this coming sunday, jan 28.

730 days

it has been two years since i've worked here!! (not at the place of employment in the picture shown, nor as an actress with dolly parton or jane fonda. just here. you know, where i work...it's just a visual, people!)

be amazed. be very amazed. (this is my ninth job after being graduated from college for 5.5 years....)

mountain cabin update

check it out! check it out! check it out!!

and the final decision is....it shall be RED!! this color red with a tin roof. WAHOO!!!

mountain cabin

look at the amazing progress!! (compare the entry a few below this) i have more pictures, but haven't had a chance to load them...

newest star wars fanatic

i'm 27 years old, and i have taken great pride my whole life in responding to any discussion about star wars with "i've never seen it" just to see the reaction on people's faces. the only time i had ever seen any part of star wars was while i was working at summer camp. i came in the room in the middle of one of them (i think it was the empire strikes back...) and all i could do was laugh at the giant walking machines and make fun of yoda's voice. (yes, i have repented now...) they kicked me out! well, in a state of delirium a few weeks ago, i finally agreed to watch the first episode. well, technically the fourth episode, but you know what i mean. i liked it alright. then a couple weeks later at our new years party, we watched "the empire strikes back". i liked it better! hey, these star wars movies aren't too bad! well, over the weekend we watched "return of the jedi", and i am now obsessed. seriously!

(don't read this paragraph if you've never seen it...) and the amazing part was that i knew darth vader was luke's father and all b/c of all the jokes about it (has anyone ever noticed that he doesn't actually say "luuuuke, i am your father!!!" he just says "i am your father"...) but last night when luke was being tortured and killed by the emperor and vader would look from luke to the emperor, from luke to the emperor, and luke was crying out "father!! please!!!" and i flashed back to all the times when vader kept saying "you don't understand the power of the dark side!!!" and i finally realized that he was about to stop the torture and kill the emperor and go back to the good side, i lost it. what vader didn't understand was the power of a father's love! i couldn't believe it!!! i was absolutely floored!!! i had NO IDEA that happened. i mean, everyone knew that luke was going to kill vader b/c yoda even SAID that he had to finish him to become a true jedi knight!!! who would have known that he would have finished him by bring anakin back to life!!! BAH!!! WHAT A GREAT STORY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! shoot. i've got tears in my eyes thinking about it...shut up, chris. ;) i told chris that if he had just told me that vader turned back to the good side in the end, that i would have watched them in a heartbeat!!! and i think i might be in love with chewbacca....he's the greatest!!!! the best part in all three movies is when the giant walking machine (sorry i don't know their actual name...) comes up to leia and han when they're trying to break into the empire's station to deactivate the death star sheild and they're all surrendering and stuff and then the hatch opens and chewy is like "BBBAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!"

so you should see them if you haven't. seriously. they're really, really good.

in other news, i keep injuring myself. i have a horrible burn on my arm, a ridiculously painful scrap/bruise on my knuckle from when mclean slammed the toilet seat cover down on it, a cut on another knuckle from ramming it into the corner of a poster frame this morning while making the bed, a bruise on my foot that makes me limp. amazing.

when we find the cord for the camera, i shall post pictures from this past weekend when chris and i babysat the burke kiddos in montreat north carolina. AMAZING weekend. i'm overflowing with blessings. :)

SEVEN

it's been seven months since...


















WAHOOOOOO!!!

year of newness

well, everyone else is blogging about the new year, so i figured i better get busy. christmas was amazing. celebrating the birth of Jesus is always hard with all the commercialism around, but it's still stinking awesome that God came to earth in the form of a human so we could understand Him better. wow! splitting time with two families was actually easier than expected. christmas eve-eve was spent with the walkers eating dinner at the slatens' house for the FIRST TIME EVER. after five years of dating and six months of marriage, it's a shame that this was the first time ever, but it was indeed amazingly fun and delicious. and afterward we spent some good time down in the basement with the kids playing darts and pinball and the grownups discussing the mountain cottage plans. all in all, it was a really, really fun night.

we spent christmas eve, night and morning with the slatens, christmas afternoon and evening with the walkers and beenes. there were WAY too many gifts for me and chris, but we are grateful for all everyone did for us. experiencing a slaten christmas morning was a bit of a let-down when we realized that colin was already downstairs fully dressed. we were all supposed to wait in anticipation at the top of the steps in our pjs!! i guess we're too old...*sniff* i was buried in gifts from them! the highlight of the morning was the gloriously soft and warm llbean "wicked good clogs". (i'm wearing them right now!) FINALLY! after three years of asking santa for them!!! i had concluded that i would just buy them myself if i didn't get them!!! thank you m.i.l.!! and the next highlight of the morning was when i started to open the gift from christopher (we opened one together, one at the slatens and one at the walkers) and he and his dad yelling "STOP!" in unison and bolting out of the room leaving gaye, colin and i in utter bewilderment...but mostly me. the mister came back in with the video camera, and i knew something was about to happen. christopher appeared in the doorway from behind the wall with a goofy smile on his face and i shouted, "IT'S A PONY!!" not quite. it was a drum!! chris got me a djembe!!!!!! we have played around with the idea of me learning percussion the past few months, and i had mentioned getting one, but i had no idea he would actually do it! i'm SO excited. we've had a few "jam sessions" already, and he claims that it sounds good...i have no choice but to believe him! :) then we rushed out the door to have brunch with the walkers - stacey and laura included. (my older sisters...if you didn't know i had sisters, now you do!!) we ate the BEST food, opened awesome gifts, laughed forever, and played "apples to apples" forever. it was SO much fun. they headed out and we headed to the beenes for dinner.

we had SO much fun spending time with and playing games with the walker/beene clan. the people i came from continue to amaze me in their humor and creativity. i had a few minutes to sit down with my girl cousins, and it truly made me miss them. we've always been close, but i've never really spent quality time with any of them. this, i regret. i got to spend some good time with their daughters, which was absolutely the best! little mae mae had me read about seven books while sitting in my lap, and i was in heaven. lila kept asking for "li-seeee?" which made me smile for weeks. alice and i carried on true adult conversations about investing and the state of the economy...not really, but she sure is mature at six!! and i finally got to spend time around tiny two year old liza, the girl i basically haven't seen since she was in-arms. she. is. hilarious. and talk about looking like her DAD! it's crazy!! the girls in bed, the adults played "apples to apples" until about 10:30. emily kept winning, but we just kept playing. it was fabulous!!!

so that was christmas...

for new years, the slatens wound up going up to the cottage (see above pic) for some stuff (it's WAY further along now - the whole frame is up!) so we were on housesitting duty. NEW YEARS PARTY!!! their house is the BEST place to have a party. i don't have any pictures yet b/c we don't know where the camera-to-computer cord is...we shall find it soon...hopefully. we wound up with about 20-ish people there, WAY THE HECK too much food, and lots of fun. we ate beefy-cheese dip, played games, ate meatballs, watched michel gondry videos, ate ham rolls, played more games, ate m&ms, handed out all the OLD new year paraphernalia, drank sparkling grape juice and champagne (we finally opened the bottle from our honeymoon!), went INSANELY CRAZY for about a half hour after the ball dropped including a parade outside with my djembe - it's all on video somewhere..., ate some cookie cake, watched "finding nemo", cleaned up, talked, ate oatmeal cookies and some cheese ball. some people left, a lot spent the night. we went to bed around 4am. FOUR AM!!! i can't believe i stayed up that late. then around 10:30 the next morning, people started stirring, i put in the cinnamon rolls to bake, people ate cereal and cinnamon rolls, we watched a bit of "the game" (can't even remember who was playing...tennessee and someone...sorry josh!!) and then once it was just nathan, jency, chris and me, we watch "the empire strikes back"!! (i have finally broken and have agreed to see "star wars" for the first time. we watched the first one a few weeks ago, and must watch the final one before monday b/c that's when it's due back!) (oh, and they say that watching "the new ones" is a waste of time...hm.)

so there it is. now i'm back at work and am literally BURIED under paperwork and processing. OH BOY! it's a race to honors weekend!!!

i'm amazed if you've read this far....

*edit* WHY OH WHY do my pictures always turn out SO ENORMOUS????
**edit** I FIGURED IT OUT!!!!