Obi Who?

Jewlery

I’m not really into advertising for people or stores but I wanted to make an exception. If you want unique jewelry go to Karisma by Kara to shop.

I know this doesn’t count as a realy update, but at the moment it will have to do. :)

I'm 30 Now

I’m 30 years old now. Whoa!

Wednesday was my birthday. It was an incredible day. It started with breakfast at Panera with April and Chrissie. This year they overdid the generosity with gifts. April gave me an old and way cool copy of The Call of the Wild. Chrissie gave me a tee shirt that says “Seriously? Seriously?” I didn’t realize how often I said that word until I got the shirt. They both gave me a new camera. I was and am still blown away by that gift.

Right away I started playing with it. It takes videos too. My first video victim...or rather my first model was April. She was thrilled that I was videoing her while she was eating. The second is Chris. I took this one while we were blowing time in Barnes and Noble after breakfast.

After breakfast and B&N, I went to the office. I had a decent time there. Mom and dad sent a beautiful arrangement of cut flowers. It had Gerber daisies and lilies. Both are among my favorites. After my office hours I quickly did my cleaning for the elementary hallway then sped to the book discussion that Heather and Suzanne and I do. After we were done talking about the assigned chapters we had a little celebration. Heather provided cake, Suz brought ice-cream. We had fun.

Thursday was a great day too. I watched Evie in the afternoon. She was really well behaved and she was actually awake for most of the time I was there. We played for quite a while. After that I did my cleaning at the school again.

Friday was another good day even though it was all work and no play. Saturday was great too. I started off at mom and dad’s house for breakfast. Breakfast ended up being really quick since I ended up not having as much time as I thought. I was planning on attending the Sarah Palin rally with Daniel, Jodi, their kids, and mom and dad. After I got to the parent’s house I discovered that we needed to leave about an hour and a half before I thought we would. I wanted to get my cleaning done for the Tarbell Company so I left before breakfast was ready.

When we got to Hyvee Hall for the rally we discovered that there weren’t any chairs. Standing for three hours was a bit painful, but it was worth it. As usual the kids were...active. Before the rally actually started Senator Chuck Grassley was walking through the crowd shaking hands. Of course I had my new camera with me so when Carson ran after the Senator to shake his hand I ran after him to take their picture. The Senator was gracious enough to stop for a photo, but since I wasn’t fully used to using the camera I didn’t get the lens zoomed out quickly enough and ended up getting a photo of the Grassley’s chest and Carson’s forehead. The Senator’s aid realized that I didn’t get a good picture so she chased him down and asked him to come back. Again he was gracious enough to pose. While posing he pointed out that the flash had gone off so he assumed that I had my picture. I explained that I had messed up the zoom and the people who had been watching all started laughing. It was hilarious.

After the rally the entire family, all 19 of us headed to the Machine Shed for dinner. I think the last time I was there was for my birthday a couple years earlier. The food there is way too good and way too unhealthy. I got a piece of birthday pie and only turned one shade of red while the servers sang to me. Then the family all headed back to mom and dad’s for cake and ice-cream. Almost a week later I’m still full.

20 something no more...

Today is my last day in my 20s. It is hard to believe that tomorrow I turn 30; I still feel like I should be 12. I almost feel like I need to offer advice to the youth of the world since I am joining the group of the more seasoned. So here is a bit of "wisdom" for all those youthful individuals who are remaining in their 20s while I press on into a new phase of life.

1. Don't wish for neices and nephews...once they start, your siblings may not stop having kids. This will change your financial status greatly. Christmas will no longer be a time of shopping for bargans to enhance your own wardrobe but will become a time of bargain hunting for the latest and greatest toys...which will all break the day after Christmas.

2. You thought that the early 20s were rough because of all the life changes...this doesn't stop once you hit 30 (or get really close to hitting 30). The changes are just accompanied by more physical aches and pains. Seriously...my feet kill and I still don't know what I want to be when I "grow up."

3. Parents really do age.

4. Friendships are harder to form, but the friendships are more rewarding.

5. Age really does make it harder to remember things.

6. Independence is great.

7. Independence is scary.

8. The memory goes down the drain.

9. Did I mention that my back hurts too?

10. Everything you thought you had figured out when you were 20, you should forget...you were probably wrong.

I May Need Help

So I haven’t done a very good job of keeping up with my chapter-a-week book review. I’ve been somewhat incapable of normality lately. Last week was filled with insanity. I managed to lock myself out of my house twice in a week. For the first five years of houseownership I was capable of leaving my house and bringing my keys with me. This summer I managed to, thanks to last week, get locked out five times. Nice. After the first time I was stuck outside last week I decided that since I had managed to set a new norm for ditziness I should have another spare key made and hidden. I have plenty of friends and family members with keys but I don’t want to keep asking them to drop everything and rescue me.

My lawn mower has been having problems. I have a great brother-in-law who has some skill at fixing small motors so I asked him to take a look at it. Naturally, in order to do so, he needed to get into my garage and since I now have a spare key I gave it to him so he could get in. He wasn’t able to figure out what the problem was but he has some friends at work who also have some skill at fixing small engines so he took the carburetor out of the mower so he could show them. That evening when I got home from work I didn’t notice the lawn mower sitting in the middle of the garage and ran into it with my car. Oops. The guys weren’t able to figure out what the problem was either so my b-i-l put the mower back together without doing anything to it. He said that he after it was reassembled it started up right away and ran with out any problem and that maybe taking the carburetor out shook something loose and let it pass. I may have helped with that process.

Thursday afternoon I was heading to work. As soon as I stepped out of the house I knew that I had locked my keys inside again. But I had a spare key nearby so no problem. Wait. Problem. My b-i-l still had it. Then I decided to call someone. I reached for my phone and realized it was locked in the house too. No problem. I live in a neighborhood with a bunch of older people and the neighbor across the street appeared to be home so I decided to trot over and ask to borrow his phone. I knocked and there wasn’t an answer so I knocked again. Still no answer. As I turned to run to another neighbor’s house he came to the door…in his tighty-whitey underwear. After recovering from my short-term blindness I was able to make a phone call for help and return to sitting outside my house and waiting to be rescued.

I got my spare key back later that day.

My Penguin

On Saturday night two of my nephews and one of my nieces spent the night. It was fun and they were really well behaved. Being well behaved was probably a huge contributing factor to the fun aspect of the evening. I kind of wish that more kids realized this.

We started our evening by getting Chinese food from Hyvee. We had intended to buy a take and bake pizza but the store we were at doesn’t carry them. After that we decided to rent some movies. The kids wanted to see Nim’s Island so we got that and the first of the six Star Wars movies. Chinese and movies are always a good mix. The youngest probably had the best fortune from the fortune cookies – “You are what you think about.” “Hey, I’m a penguin.” So I guess now I have seven nephews, two nieces, and a penguin. Thanks, Hyvee, for your words of wisdom.

It seems like whenever these particular kids come over things go wrong with my house or the minor problems I can live with are somehow amplified. Last December I was able to get a new furnace. One of my brothers-in-law installed it for me, but since he isn’t an actual “furnace and air conditioner person” he didn’t have access to the needed Freon to get the air up and working. I had asked someone I know to get it up and running, but he wasn’t able to get it done. Because of the heat and humidity the wood on my doors and windows tends to swell which causes problems opening and closing them. Over all my doors are OK…with the exception of the bathroom door. My oldest nephew managed to get stuck in the bathroom Saturday night and again Sunday morning. Imagine a ten year old boy trapped in the bathroom, banging on the door so someone will come and rescue him. Now imagine me, a seven year old girl and a five year old boy pushing on one side of the door and the ten year old pulling from the other; times two, since it happened twice. It was hilarious.

Book Review - Instruments in the Redeemer's Hands

I have decided that I need to focus on finishing a book I started reading a couple months ago. In attempts to encourage this endeavor I will attempt to write a brief and rather un-thorough summary of each chapter as I finish it. Just for fun I may even totally miss writing about the main the point of the chapter. But I will try to include some personal thoughts that the author so ingeniously inspired.

The book: Instruments in the Redeemer’s Hands: People in Need of Change Helping People in Need of Change
Author: Paul David Tripp

I am going to start my summary at chapter three. Why? I read chapters 1 & 2 a couple months ago and since my readership is really low I don’t feel the need to review for your benefit. If this offends you, feel free to leave a comment. But remember that I have the power of deletion.

Chapter 3: Do We Really Need Help?
The main point of this chapter (already I am going against my desire to totally miss the point of the chapter – stick with me and I'm sure I will accomplish this in a future post.) is that we do need help. He brings the reader back to the beginning of mankind. In Genesis 1 God creates Adam and Eve and then tells them what their life’s work is to be. This is unusual for the creation pattern: God created and then said what he had just created was good. After creating the first man and woman, rather than saying that the pinnacle of his creation was good, God spoke to them and told them what they were to do. God did this before sin came into the picture. This shows that we were created to be dependent on God. We were created to receive revelation and interpret that revelation. “We not only interpret situations and relationships, we interpret ourselves. We assign ourselves an identity and we live it out” (pp. 43). Our interpretations in turn shape our emotions, personal identity, views of others and the solution to our problems. It even impacts our ability to receive counsel.

In walks Satan. He knows that we need to and are created to listen to others for direction. He tells the truth to Eve, but twists the truth. He tempted Eve into attempting to find truth from a source outside of Christ. This wrong interpretation of Satan’s influenced Eve to redefine wisdom. This is something that we all do. We all affect other’s views of God, self and others. We influence others just by having a relationship with them; even if it isn’t one of great depth. “This is what sin does to us. It reduces us to fools who live in ways that deny both God and our own nature. We may not profess to be atheists, but in practice we live purely horizontal, godless lives” (pp. 49).

The author then brings Hebrews 3:12-13 to the reader’s attention. “See to it, brothers, that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be hardened by sin’s deceitfulness.” These two verses identify believers as a source of correction and instruction as a means of protection from the effects of sin. Sin leads to disbelief which leads to turning away from God which leads to a hardened heart. “The Hebrews passage clearly teaches that personal insight is the product of community. I need you in order to really see and know myself. Otherwise, I will listen to my own arguments, believe my own lies, and buy into my own delusions (pp 54).

This is the basic gist of the third chapter. I left out a ton of good insight, but if you are that interested in knowing the full story you can buy and read the book for yourself.

Greek and the Olympics

About a month and a half ago I and six other members of my church’s college/singles group, Journey, started learning Biblical Greek. We are being taught by the Journey's two teachers. It’s a lot of work, but also a lot of fun. My goal is to be able to read the New Testament in Greek and actually understand what I am reading. I’m behind in learning the vocab thanks to the Olympics being so addicting this year.

I know I shouldn’t blame the Olympics for my continued ignorance of Greek, but seriously, who could resist watching all the incredible volleyball or Michael Phelps or the gymnastics? I was disappointed that the USA women’s indoor volleyball team lost today in the gold medal match, but they still walked away with silver. That’s way better than anything I could do. I’m looking forward to watching the men’s US team play Brazil tomorrow evening. I was able to watch them win two of the games that are allowing them to play for the gold. It’s exciting.

Actually, now that I think about it, maybe it is appropriate that I am learning Greek and watching the Olympics at the same time. The Greeks were responsible for starting the Olympics in the first place.

Right now I am watching a niece and two of my nephews while my sister and brother-in-law go out for the evening. I’m giving them oral warnings counting down to bedtime. I learned to do this after a couple years of babysitting them. They deal with having to brush their teeth and getting on pjs much better when it comes upon them gradually.

School Started

School started yesterday. I almost miss being a school kid. Life was easier back then. But I guess that I still prefer being a “grown-up”. Life now is more complicated, but a lot better.

Somehow I got myself into a situation of cleaning at the school/church six days a week. Call me a softie, but I didn’t like the thought of the head maintenance guy having to clean the JH hallway everyday when he is already working more than enough hours. So I volunteered myself for Mondays and Thursdays. I wanted Mondays to be a really light work day since I am working six days a week even without the extra cleaning. Oh well. It isn’t the end of the world even though it will help me be more consistent in praying for the rapture.

I planned to go jogging this morning. When my alarm went off my brain decided to overthrow its earlier decision and stay in bed for an extra hour. The sleep was nice, but I really need to get back into the routine of jogging. It also would have been nice to have been awake for more than fifteen minutes before I needed to be at job number one for today.

Hours later and I’m still not fully awake.

Difficulties

Sometimes I think I make things a lot harder than they should be. It took me about 20 minutes to figure out how to remove my blog's previous site meter and add a new one. Yep. I’m smart, I know.

The blog for my sister-in-law is up to date. I think it looks nice. I added a link to Designs by Jodi to my sidebar. Check it out. It's buried under my Recent Reading. Can it really be considered recent if I read it over a year ago? Probably not. If you have a suggestion for a title change leave a comment and I will consider it. Hey, if I choose your idea I may even mention your name in my blog and you will be famous. Well, as famous as you can get from being mentioned in a blog with a readership of approximately two people.

I had been planning on going to the pool today since this is the last week that it is open on weekdays for the year. But since I am in Iowa and it is Tuesday it is rainy. Cancel those plans. Instead I am doing laundry…again. Someday I will get my own washer and dryer. Someday I will get internet at home so I won’t have to cart my computer everywhere to get an internet connection. You should see the loads I often carry to my parent’s house and back. Yes, there is a person under that moving pile of stuff.

Recently I was able to get in touch with an old friend from my days of Word of Life in good old SUNNY and WARM FL. Jen, my friend, was actually a student from the NY campus who came to FL to counsel at the summer camp there. We ended up counseling together a couple times and realized that we had a lot in common. We stayed in touch for a few years after graduation, but as it tends to happen, we got busy and sort of forgot about each other until I found her on Facebook. It has been nice to get to know her again. We still have a lot in common. It’s amazing that the lives of two people in Iowa and Virginia could parallel so closely.

I should probably get that laundry folded before it wrinkles.

Blogging and Free Advertisement

I started a new blog today. This one isn’t for myself but for my sister-in-law, Jody. She makes clothes for American Girl dolls and needs a free way to gain clientele. Last weekend Jody and I went to the American Girl returns and whateveritiscalled sale in Wisconsin. It was a lot of fun even though I don’t have any kids of my own to shop for. If you’ve never been to the annual AG sale let me tell you that it is an experience you won’t forget.

First, I should probably comment on the lack of men who dare to trod in the path of women who are hunting for the bargain of a lifetime. I think I saw two men the whole time. I applaud them. Second, if you are brave enough to go, bring enough bottled water to last the day. Third, bring your deodorant. Putting it on in the morning just isn’t enough.

Back to the new blog. If you are interested, the web address is http://designs-by-jodi.blogspot.com. Check it out.

Another closed door...for now.

On my last update, I said that I am thinking about grad school. Some things have changed and for now further education is going on the back burner's back burner. I have a friend who was going to join a convent and decided that she should wait. What does that have to do with grad school? She was going to give her car, payments and all, to another friend, who was going to give her car to me. At this point in my car’s life, I don’t think it could even get me to PA, let alone last long enough for me to get through school. I’m sure this is all for the best. Patches, my car, and I have been good friends for nine years now. I would hate to end such a great friendship. Today I did the math to see how Patches and I are doing for gas mileage. 25.6 mpg. Not the greatest, but not bad either. My friend’s car only gets about 22. I think that is primarily because of a crazy driving style, but who knows, maybe it is the car.

4th of July weekend was fun. Thursday I went to see fireworks with the usual crew in the usual place. Getting home was a bit of a challenge since for the first time in the four years we have been going to that particular place we were charged for parking. I don’t think that many people were expecting that one. We waited in line waiting to pay for about an hour. On Friday one of my sisters and her family and I went to my parent’s for dinner. Food was good. Company was good. 5 year old nephew’s haircut was good…for a Mohawk.

Quick update

I must lead a boring life since I can go about 2 months, not update the old blog and still not really have anything to say. Summer is great. I really like not having a full time job right now. The last summer that I had this much down time was after my junior year of high school. That was 12 years ago. Wow! I'm getting old. But I guess people begin to think that when 30 is staring them in the face. I only have 4 months left of being in my 20s. I need to live it up.

I'm playing with the idea of going to grad school at BBGS. I think I could get a year of the Counseling program done via DVD before I would have to move to PA. I would love to have that degree, but I don't know if I would have enough guts to up and move when the time came. I would also have to take out at least $20,000 in loans and I would still have to work full time (or at least bring in a full time income). I'm not sure if I could handle all that. I would be better situated to attempt it in about a year. I'm just not sure what God wants me to do.

A couple months ago a friend took my picture while I was sitting in my magnolia tree. That is my current profile picture. I really like that tree...and the friend who took the picture. She rocks too!

Spring is Here...for now

For a couple seconds there my latest post consisted of an unfinished title. My pinky slipped and I hit enter while typing. Smooth, I know.

I feel somewhat obligated to post the occasional update. This gets a bit complicated since things really aren't changing. I guess that may be a good thing. In an hour Star Trek: Voyager comes on so I have a bit of time to think up some interesting babble to share.

These last couple weeks I have been part of a study on Eschatology at my church. It is an interesting topic, although I don’t think that anyone can truly know what is going to happen until after the fact. For last Sunday the goal was to read the first five books of the Bible. For this week I’m attempting to read the historical books – Joshua through Esther. That’s a big chunk of Bible, but I think I can do it. One thing I find ironic so far is that it is being led by a dispensationalist who keeps using the word covenant. Hmmm…makes one think, doesn’t it? :)

I guess that another interesting bit of useless information about me and my life is that I think I can have my house paid off before I’m 40. That’s not bad for someone who will turn 30 six months from today. I guess that it doesn’t get anymore grownup than this.

After posting this and reading through it I decided that I should add a bit about the start of spring. I did mention it in my title so I guess I obligated myself to mentioning it. Spring is here. There. Now I'm done.

Thoughts

God is continually amazing me with his presence in my life. The God of the universe thinks of me without stopping and on an average day I hardly think of him at all. How backwards is that? He has infinite worth and is so vast that thinking about him nonstop from now until forever is past would hardly even scratch the surface of who he is. I am no one and a moment of thought from God is more than adequate for covering every second of my life. Yet he chooses to think of me anyway.

Spring

My life has been fairly uneventful lately. A couple weeks ago two friends and I went to Kansas City to attend a concert. It was a blast. It had been way too long since we had done anything like that and way too long since the last time I was able to get out of town. On the way back we had car trouble. It was frustrating and funny at the same time. Somehow we managed to get stuck on the wrong side of town. There was an older guy who insisted that we needed to have the car jumped. We knew that wasn't the problem, but he kept insisting so it seemed to be easier to let him try than it was to get him to leave. Eventually we made it home.

I died my hair red that weekend. I will have to get a picture soon so I can show the difference. The funny thing is that my new color looks more natural than my real color.

This week is spring break. I don't really get much of a break, but I do have a little more variety to my schedule. The main thing I appreciate is the warmer weather. This last week I have jogged more than I did all winter and that seriously isn't much. The only down side to warmer weather is that I now need to get out into my yard and clean it up. I didn't get all the leaves raked last fall and now I have a bunch of branches to add to the piles. Hopefully the ground will dry out soon so it won't be so muddy.

I'm currently reading What is Reformed Theology? by RC Sproll. I am discovering that I agree with most of what I understand. Theology is never an easy read. If it is, the book probably isn't worth reading in the first place. So it is possible that I disagree more than I realize, but I just don't quite understand what he is really saying due to my own lack rather than poor writing. The main thing that I disagree with is in regard to double predestination. Sproul seems to be saying that if one believes in predestination, then by default they should believe double predestination. After reading the section in the book on this, I still don't agree. I think that there is a difference between someone being actively condemned by God because God actively choses to condemn them and someone being condemned because they weren't chosen for salvation. Deep reading and deep thinking. Who can know God's thoughts?

Work

I thought I would give a quick update since I have my computer online and I have a couple extra minutes.

One of the job opportunities I mentioned Sunday has worked out. I will now be the individual cleaning the auditorium wing of the church's building every week. This should add at least six hours of work to my week. I know that this isn't really anything big but it is God's way of providing, so I am thankful.

I should hopefully have an interview soon for the other job opportunity I mentioned. I'll post more as I have more information.

Things are working out in God's timing and I'm really enjoying the work he has provided.

Bid Pt. 2

I ended up not getting the job I mentioned in my last entry. The homeowners didn't really want to pay someone to clean their house. It would have been about a four hour job and they only wanted to pay for two hours of work. But since then a couple different non-house cleaning opportunities have come up. I think that I will wait to share about that until after I know if anything works out.

I've decided that God really does know what he is doing. :) I'm a much more relaxed person since I'm not in the office for forty hours a week. I don't think that women were created for a typical office job. We were designed to handle chaos and variety.

In the end I'm thankful for all the years I was able to work there full-time and I am thankful that I am able to be there part-time now. It has been a growing experience.

Bid

I put in a bid on a house cleaning job last week. I’m not really sure if I want it. I think that the people have the tendency to be cheap. They don’t want to pay me the same amount that they paid the woman who cleaned for them a year ago. The lady of the house seemed to think that it would only take me about 2.5 hours to clean everything. The woman who used to clean said it took her 4 hours. Judging from the size of the house I would tend to think it would take close to 4 hours. UMMM…maybe the lady who lives there is capable of speed cleaning. I should know if I got the job later this week.

Possibilities

Lately God has been showing me different options, or possibilities, for the future. As usual, I don’t have time to share much right now. But I guess that since I haven’t made any decisions I don’t really have a lot to share anyway.

One quick update is that I am placing a bid on a cleaning job Thursday evening. At this point I am hoping that it works out. But as God has been showing me what I want and what is best isn’t always in agreement. If the situation isn’t one I should be in, I seriously hope that God spares me.

I have Upward cheerleading practice soon. This year has been the best yet. Maybe I will be able to post a picture of “my girls” soon. They seriously rock! They are a huge encouragement with their desire to learn and willingness to focus on the task at hand. Thanks girls!

An Overdue Update

OK so I didn’t follow through in adding pictures to the blog. In fact, not only have I not added pictures yet, but I haven’t even been writing. If I had internet access at home I would be more likely to update things more frequently. I can’t even remember the last time I had my computer online besides today. Maybe someday I can connect at home…

But until then I will have to try harder to update things more frequently, maybe once a month or so. Even that would be improvement at this point. Maybe this should be a late New Years' resolution.

I’ve experienced more life drama this last week or so. Because of what it is and who is involved, I really can’t share details. However, I think that God is continuing to use the more traumatic, or rather traumatic to me, things of life to help me get to the point of moving away from here.

An edited excerpt from my journal summarizes some of the more internal things that have been occurring in my life…

Recently I started re-reading the Christy Miller series. Ironically enough, it seems like the books for teen and pre-teen girls fit better to my life now than it did when I was younger. One thing that stood out in the first book was when one of the guys told Christy, the day after she accepted Christ, was that life is hard but that is how God brings us closer to himself and how he works out our spiritual growth. From the second book I got a verse. Deuteronomy 31:8. The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. I wish I would have found that verse a couple months ago.

God is before me, behind me, above me, below me, and beside me. I am encompassed in the shelter of his wings. Psalm 81.

Since I haven’t written since around Thanksgiving I should probably say that this last Christmas was the best Christmas I have had in a couple years.

Here are some highlights…and pictures.




I gave coffee to one of my nephews. He takes his coffee the same way his dad does. A little bit of coffee and a lot of extra flavoring. I think I added egg nog. He liked it.












I would add more pictures than this, but I can't find them on my computer. I haven't played with things enough to really know what I am doing. I also don't have a camera, so the selection is rather limited. Tonight my family is celebrating the birthday of one of my sisters. Perhaps this will be a good photo op.

I think I am setting a personal record for blog length today. I am loading cds to my computer so I can load them to my iPod. (Christmas was GREAT!) I currently have under 200 songs loaded and am loading more so I can have more variety.

I guess that an update on my job situation would be a good thing to include.

I'm currently OK. I'm still working at the church, as a book keeper for a man in the church, and I'm still cleaning my one house. I have also been baby-sitting in the mornings for a friend and teacher at the school I attended while growing up. It has really surprised me that I haven't gotten any more houses, but God has been providing.

My furnace was installed the week between Christmas and New Years thanks to my seriously cool b-i-l. He sacrificed about three days of his vacation for me. Hopefully his four sons turn out to be a lot like him.

Choir practice starts in about 20 minutes so I should probably stop playing.

Until next month...