Purpose

Have you ever wondered why you are here? What is your purpose? I have wondered that alot since 1988. I was...well I am not going to tell you how old I was....just kidding...I was 19. I was home from college, I just started dating this really cute boy...you can guess who it was!

I had friends graduating from high school and joining me on the college bound road of life. I was headed one day to the Patriot Center for a friends high school graduation. I had spent the night with another friend and we were actually running on time for the graduation. I had borrowed her sister's dress...I didn't like any of mine, of course. I was feeling good and looking fine! My car was actually in the shop and my parents had these wonderful good samaratians for friends from church who lent us their car. Thank you Jerry and Lynn Belknap...It was old, no a/c, no radio but it ran. It was a brown volkswagen rabbit! So my friend and I were headed out the door, trying to leave before her younger sister could catch up with us and ride with us. If memory serves me correctly, she was annoying us. My friend's parents and sister would be coming to the graduation too.

So we headed out that beautiful June day. I don't remember much but the sun was out and it wasn't too hot. We got to the George Mason campus and we were wanting to get a good seat so I was going a little fast. We spotted a campus police officer in his car and I slowed down. It was then that we heard the LOUD crack. I put on the brakes and looked up. Just in time to see some leaves falling down on us.

When I woke up, the horn was blaring and I remember thinking "don't let the car roll, keep your foot on the brakes". As I look back, that is a little humorous due to the fact that I wasn't going to go anywhere. I didn't know that at the time. I tried to sit up because I realized that I was the one making the horn blare. I couldn't. My friend was next to me screaming. I grabbed her hand and told her I was ok. I couldn't see her. I was trapped. Something had me pinned between the roof of the car and the steering wheel. I was pinned looking out the driver side window. All I could see was leaves all around me. My nose started to bleed. I tried to move so that the blood would not get on my friend's sister's dress. Silly, I know but when you are in a crisis, it is weird how your brain works. I guess I was trying not to make the situation worse.

You see a rotted out oak tree, 9 ft. in circumference had fallen on us at just the moment we passed by. Weird huh? No one else was around us. Only one person heard and he came running. Bounding actually over the branches and limbs of the fallen tree. I think his name was Steve, a poli-sci major. He heard and came running. The paramedics came, the firemen came. They cut us out and took us by ambulance to the hospital. She gots lights and siren. I didn't...by the way, I was worse off than she was. She still got the lights and siren.

We were alright. We survived. My friend left the next day to go to Japan for the summer. All the paramedics and firemen said that we should not have survived. If anyone had been in the back seat they would have died instantly. The way the tree fell only the fork in the branches hit us and trapped us in the car. If the bulk of the trunk had...we would not be here.

From that day on, I wondered why I was spared. What did God want from me? Was I here to do something great? Would a lot of people know me and marvel at what I could do? I thought God has spared me so that I could be great and wonderful. Ha! I laugh now thinking at how naive I was to think that. I am spared because I asked God to be the Lord and Savior of my life. I gave my life to Him a long time ago. He uses me how He sees best. Most of the time, it is not what I pictured. God must smile while I try to figure out what His next move is. He probably sits there and shakes his head and thinks "be still girl, be still and trust me".

My purpose is to follow him. My purpose is to obey him. My purpose is to serve. As long as I am doing that, then I have my purpose. How I carry out my purpose may be different than you. We all have the same purpose. Follow, obey and serve. Don't wait for a tree to fall on you before you realize God wants you. He wants to have a real relationship with you. Shhh...listen..do you hear that?

Response to the comments

Ok Lindsey Erin Bynum--I happen to like the 30 minute chick....she has fun and I wanna be part of the fun! I will however, try to watch Good Eats and see what the appeal is. I have found some yummy good food though with the 30 minute chica. If you wanna come over and have a Gilmore Girl weekend then maybe you should be more supportive of me! ;) I mean I do the BEST I can!!! Come one! where is the love? I am sure Lauren would agree with me! Join the crowd. You know you wanna!

Shanna Michel Hennessy--thanks for your support! It is always nice to have an uplifting supporter (unlike some people we know...huh) Just Kidding Lindsey!

Not much else going on.. I made the BEST guac!!! I did it Rachel Ray style! I even sounded like her when made it! hee hee. I am getting good!

Good food, good times.

Cookin it up in the kitchen

I would tell you that one of my weakest areas is cooking. I don't enjoy it. It scares me. I am not confident in this area so I am afraid to fail. In fact after I cook, I tend to feel sick to my stomach! I don't know what that is about. So I try to avoid cooking!

I have friends who are excellent cooks and no matter how much I beg or bribe (yes, I have told my friends I would pay them to cook for me!) no one has taken me up on my offer. Yes, I know it is very sad. I mean my family is suffering! All these families get to enjoy and eat delicious food! My family spins a wheel and we either eat out, or order out or you are on your own! I know, I can't believe I am admitting this. I am not going to win any Mother of the year awards!!!


So a few weeks ago, a friend gave me a 3 ring binder with dividers and page protectors with RECIPES in it!!!! I couldn't believe it! At first I was like, "oh thank you! I can't wait to try these!" --notice the tongue in cheek! I mean has she not heard me....I DON'T COOK!!!!

Well then I crunched numbers....see our family is going on a Disney Cruise next year. We have to save ALOT of money to be able to afford this. Well I can save LOTS of money if I cook! GRRR....God has a sense of humor!

So I thought and prayed about my phobia of cooking. I self analyzed and thought..."I am not going down alone! I need people to help me" God provided the atmosphere.

At a ladies bible study we got to talking about cooking and people expressed interest in a recipe exchange. Then my friend gives me an organized and very efficient way to make cooking fun and easy! I love organizational things! I love to share! So I told my little posse of wanna be chefs about the 3 ring binder and organized 12 months of recipes groupings and BAM! I have recipes to cook and save money!

So once a month, I tell my recipe gals the subject of the month and they send me their tried and true recipes and I forward them to everyone else and BAM! we have 14 new recipes to try!!!! FUN!!!!

Then, as if that wasn't enough....I found this new thing! It is called The Food network!!! Now I don't like all the shows on there..in fact, I only like one! 30 Minute Meals with Rachel Ray! My kids watch it with me and WHAM! they tell me what they like and I write down the recipes and I go get the stuff for dinner the next night! It is GREAT!

I am soooo pumped about my new found hobby. My family is eating good...everything from Beef enchiladas to shrimp scampi to kabobs to fajitas to tortellini!!!

I wonder how long this will last?

Flyin

Well, tomorrow morning I leave for sunny California for the next 6 days. I get to leave bright and early to catch my 8:43 flight. I am going with my co-worker to the Purpose Driven Children's Ministry conference in Lake Forest, CA. I am excited about it but I also have some apprehension.

I really don't like to leave my family for so long and be so far away. I imagine all the horrible things that could happen to me or them while I am gone and there is nothing I can really do about it. Then it always hits me...there is nothing I can really do about it. You see, I am not in control. Oh, I like to think I am but really I am not.

I found myself praying today that even though it has been a while since God and I have "talked", I need him to keep all of us safe while I am away from my nest. I found myself trying to make deals with Him. Yeah, I know...you don't make deals with God. I mean He is GOD. He can cause a flood to cover the earth for 40 days, he can make lame men walk again, he can raise his only son from the dead after 3 days! There ain't nothin' He can't do! Still, I find myself just begging that he not let my plane crash or be taken hostage by terrorists, or that my kids get to school safely and home safely or that my husband doesn't get into a car accident on the way to and from work.

This all reminds me that when my mom flies, she always prays "into your hands, I commit my soul." WOW! Maybe she can say that because all of her kids are grown and have families of their own. But something makes me think that she has had that kind of faith for a very very long time. I find it very hard to have that kind of faith. I so badly want to commit fully my life into his hands but really, I want it my way. I want to have my cake and eat it too. I want God to have total control of my life but as long as He does it the way I want it.

That is not faith. That is control. God shows us everyday through may things that He is in control and yet we still over look it. Today a child died in a school bus accident. Did that mom pray this morning, "into Your hands, I commit my soul or my child's soul"? We are not in control. God is in control. I am not saying that God caused this child to die. I don't believe that at all. Satan is at work in this world. But that child's soul is in heaven. So God won the child. My prayer is that someone reaches out to that family, so that God can win that family in their crisis.

I don't want to die. I want to see my kids grow up and go to college and get married and get jobs and have kids of their own. I want to grow old with my husband and be there for our kids as they embark on their life's journey.

I am sharing with you that I just don't know how to have that kind of faith. No that is not exactly true. I do know how. I am scared to do it. But when it all comes down to it...I have no control anyway, so what else is there to do but "commit my soul into His hands".

Please pray for me and my family while I am gone. Pray that we all can have the kind of faith that relies fully on the Lord. Intelectually, I know He's got our back, but emotionally is another story. That is what plays with my mind. Maybe it's Satan, maybe it's just our human nature.

Just tryin' to keep it real.

Stuff

Ok so I am at work and I need to make a database for our new VBS and then queries to be able to have mailing labels and what not. Um, I am WAAAAAAAAAAY out of my league. I get some computer stuff but not a lot of it.

I mean think about it. Just in one small second you can send an IM or an email across the world! I don't get it! Where to all the letters that you type go? I mean how does the word "apple" get sent to china? Think about it. Gone are the days of the pony express and "regular" mail. No one takes the time to hand write a letter anymore...that is for another blog.

Then our FABULOUS IT people changed our webserver and email server and it took 24-36 hours for every server across the world to recieve that there was a change and make the change do that when a person in let's say Finland wants to know more about Fairfax Church of Christ, he can still google us! AMAZING!!!!

It actually hurts my head to think about it. So here I am having a lot of time on my hands because the big project I needed to work on can't be done right now. I sent an email to my FABULOUS IT people and they are working on the problem! LOVE them!

The internet..who thought of it? Who sat down and really came up wiht the idea.? I mean what a lot of FREE time that person had! WOW!!!

Oh and by the way my palm pilot died. He lived a good life. He was 4 years old....Let's take a moment to remember him in silence! "pause". May he live happily in the land of obsolete paraphanalia (sp?).

Friday thoughts

Not much to say today. It is kind of a yuck day. It is a little rainy and dreary but kind of warm. I went and got 2 fillings today. I have to get 2 more in a month. The dentist was good. He was quick and painless! He did have to give me 3 shots of novacaine on my right side however....it wouldn't get numb! But he was good! I didn't even know he was giving me the shots!!!

In a month I have to go back and get 2 more. One is in my wisdom tooth...apparently my wisdom has corroded and the other one is a filling that has broken off. That was lovely. I was chewing gum one day and WHAM! I was eating crunchy gum! I had silver speckeled gum....not good! But my tooth didn't hurt so I put it off until now to get it filled.

I think we are having steaks for dinner tonight. YUM!!! I am also going to grill shrimp! A little surf 'n turf for the SErgios!!!

I don't think anything is on tv tonight, so I think renting a video may be in order. I think until then I am going to curl up with a blanket and a good book and read! It is just that kind of day!

If anyone has a subject for me, I would love to hear it! I have to give a talk to young moms next month! I don't what to say to them. So I would love to hear the ideas!!!

Until next time....

This one is for Lindsey

So you see there are people in your life that bring color to it. Some people are comfortable like a great blanket that you can wrap up in on a cold day. Others are irritations like nails on a chalk board but because we are Christians we tend to tolerate them. Then there are those that are like a good pair of jeans. The are those who make you feel good and look good when you are around. NO I am not stealing from the book "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants" Which by the way is a GREAT book! It is a PG bordering a PG-13 book but nonetheless a good book! I have stolen the book from Chelsea and have started the 2nd book! Anyhoo...

Back to the good pair of jeans. I happen to have a special place in my heart for all these kind of people. Cause you need the friends that you count on for any reason(the blanket). You do need the annoying irritating people cause they annoy you and then you realize that they too are God's creations and you gotta love em! Then the people who are like the jeans, you need those too cause they are always positive and making you look good..which by the way good friends should do! Stick by you and be positive and make you look good even when you think you don't!

So Lindsey Erin Bynum. This one is dedicated to you! You bring smiles to my life and I love your sense of humor!!!!

Hmmm....

Well today is not such an interesting day in my life. I did get a package however but I was not here to receive it and so the mailman or person took it away to deliver it another day! Bummer! I think it might be my swatch watch that i won on ebay. Who knows.

Today is a wonderful spring day and I am in capris and flip flops. Need I reiterate my love for flip flops?! I think not.

So, being tired can make a person a really terrible person. Cause if you are tired it is like your body doesn't work right and it flips out! Things peopel say, you tend to take wrong and twist them in your mind. So all you people out there...GET ENOUGH SLEEP!!!! God made our bodies to rest. WE all have different ways we like to rest and wind down. Sleep is good! It is your friend. Embrass it. Own it!

Later

just another day in paradise

WHAT A B-E-AUUUUUUUUUTIFUL day!!!! I love the spring! I am wearing flip flops! I love those too! I have my niece over today! We are having a good time! She is playing the piano right now. Her own song. Nice! By the way, my niece is 2! She has the same b-day as I do. Several people that I know do...Ethan, Joan, Alia, Larry, Gilly...just to name a few! What a great day that is!

Well not much else to say. I better go and pick up around the house and get it in living condition! If your a mom you can relate. We work to pick up and clean up and nothing is ever finished! I hate that. I much prefer to clean other people's houses cause then when I am done...it is finished. Nothng is ever finished in my home. I have crown molding that needs to be painted and then I have crown molding that need to be finished being hung. I also need a new dryer. It takes 2 hours to dry a load of clothes...grrrr....

I guess I don't NEED a dryer but I would like a dryer. We are such an instant gratificational society. I am right in the middle. I like this now when I want them.

Not a very lady like quality I know but hey...I am working on it.
Later!

Just thinkin

Ok so I have been to NYC and Orlando Fl, since we last met. I just have a few thoughts. First of all...Orlando makes me very happy. Or should I say DisneyWorld! I just LOVE that place! Everyone is so nice and it is so magical! It just reminds me of being younger...yes I went to Disney Land when I was younger. Once my parents took me on the Haunted Mansion when I was four...very traumatic! I couldn't go back until I was 27 and still...it makes me feel weird and yucky to be on it. I know it is a stupid ride but still...not a good memory! Anyhoo...I love Disney!!! Ok NYC makes me happy because I love the energy there! Everything is pumping and going and moving and people are sooooo nice!

Ok I love Florida because you can wear flip flops all year round! I love that cause I love to get pedicures!!! French pedicure is now my new favorite! Showing off toes and wearing flip flops! Couldn't be better! I bought 4 pair of flip flops at Dillards in Florida! EEEK! Well it was my b-day! I derserve it! I will share with Chelsea though!

Alex and his best buddy spent 2 days in parks (Epcot/MGM and Universal) they had a great time. Then on Sunday we all went to Magic Kingdom! Can I just say....people look in a mirror before you leave the house! I mean really. Some people wear the WORST clothes...meaning that they wear clothes that don't fit or cover! Get my drift! Do they think they really look good?!

I am a modest person. I don't like to look at my fat. WHY would I want other people to look at it! I mean really!!!! Maybe they are just more confident than me! BUT still...I think some common sense needs to be added. Maybe I could have a magic wand and just wave it over the people who are showing too much body. Then the world would be a better place.

That's me...trying to make the world a better place! I do what I can!
Daughters of the King in Florida was awesome! We saw Crystal Green in concert! She is AWESOME!!! What a voice! She makes me cry! She sings with such passion and purity in her voice!!! WOW!!!!!! I don't like to listen to people sing songs that I don't know and I LOVED every minute of her concert! She is such a humble, God-respecting girl! AMAZING!!!

Ok well my dinner order should be ready and I am gonna go get it! 5 guys!!!! I think later this week I wanna go to a Japanese Steakhouse to have my b-day dinner...which was on the 2nd! Had a wonderful b-day BUT I wasn't with my hubby. He missed all the fun! Something about working and bring home the bacon and all! WHATEVER...I wish money wasn't an issue for everything! BUt alas that is another entry.

Later!

Baltimore

Went to Baltimore with the fam yesterday! Good times! Aquarium, fish, sharks, lunch at ESPN zone, playing games! Shopping! Getting caught in an anti-war protest! Goofs! Sang with the fudge guys! Got a caramel apple and fudge! A little starbucks! Watch some of the March MADNESS....Got a GREAT book on NYC and now I can't wait to go on Tuesday with the kids!!!! NYC here we come!!! Yeah baby!

It took 2 hours to get home! Was gonna go to Rev 5 but didn't get home in time. That kinda stunk.

Went to church today and came home and took a 3 hour nap! Apparantly I was a little tired! Ate 5 guys for dinner! YUM!!!!

Hey my b-day is in 11 days!!!! NO I will NOT tell you how old I am! I am not that old but still it is not polite to ask!

No deep thoughts for the day. Just chillin.

Check back with me later!

Don't know what i am doing

Hello! I am doing this to keep up with Megan! I have no idea what i will write or say. We just went out to eat and see amovie tonight. Ate at Coastal Flats. Not bad eatin. Then we went to see Robots. Cute movie.

Tomorrow we are going to Baltimore! See the fish, maybe eat some fish...no swimn w/ this fish though. Too cold.

Going to NYC!!! We leave Tuesday and will be back on Thursday! Can't wait. I am a city girl! I love NYC!!!!

Check back later to see what happened! I know you will be holding your breath with anticipation!