No Gas

For those of you living in the southeast that have been affected by this "NO GAS" situation, how has it affected you most?

For me personally I have become more aware of the errands I run and where I am going. There is only one thing that is non-negotiable that I have to do each day and use gas to get done, taking my daughter to school. But I have also found that there are a lot of other things that I do, just because I can and not necessarily because I should, that I have been able to eliminate from my daily routine.

I've found that there have been several good things that have come out of this situation too.

One has been the savings. Because I'm not going out as much, I'm also not spending as much. I am getting more creative with what I am cooking at home and using up things that I have had in the pantry for a while that probably should have been used long before now. No, they haven't gone bad, they've just been sitting there waiting to be used.

Something else good that has happened is that I am getting a lot of unfinished projects done. I'm also spending more time with my daughter. Because I am home more during the day I get more done while she is at school. This enables me to spend more time with her after school and in the evening, instead of having to do all the chores I would normally have to do in the evening.

And most of all, it has made me more dependent on God. I realize there is nothing I can do to fix this problem. And complaining about it doesn't do anyone any good either. So I have to trust that He will provide for me when I have the need. He orchestrates my steps and knows the plan He has laid out for me. I just have to be quiet, listen and follow His lead.

So how about you? How has this affected you, your routine, your relationships?

Teaching our kids

It's a sad reflection on our society today if a teacher doesn't have confidence that a parent is going to actively be involved in a child's education.

I recently had a parent/teacher conference and I must say this is the first time I have been disappointed with one of my child's teachers. Don't get me wrong, she seems to be a good teacher and Amy really likes her. But I have some reservations.

I've known for some time now that I have a smart kid. I know most parents think their kids are smart, but mine is one of those really smart ones. I'm going to have to go back to school to keep up with her at this rate. She has blown the top off of the CRCT standardized tests that they give here in school. She's reading at a 5th grade level and that's when she's not really trying. Her math skills are incredible too. I don't know any other third graders working on square roots. I don't even remember what grade I learned that in. I know it wasn't elementary school.

So when I went to this conference one of my concerns was that she wasn't allowed to pick more challenging books from the library. The reason I was given: "well if she reads all the higher level books now she won't have anything to read when she gets to 5th grade." Is it just me or is there something really wrong with that statement? She went on to say that in 5th grade we would have to go to the public library to get books for her to read and we wouldn't know which ones were AR books and it would be a lot more work. Ummm... I'm at a loss for words here. Why wouldn't I do that? If I want what's best for my child, then I will do whatever it takes.

Are there really that many parents out there who don't care about their kids education? That is the only thing I can glean from that comment. Has school just become a place where kids are babysat between the hours of 7:30 am and 3:30 pm? And if that's the case, what are these kids going to do when they grow up?

I know there are some teachers out there reading this blog. Please comment and tell me what you think. Personally, I will continue to work with my daughter, take her to the library, book store, museums, etc. in an effort to continue to challenge her. But if this is what I have to look forward to for the next 9 years, I may have to re-evaluate what we're doing about schooling.

Taxes, China and A Life Change

This is the story of how working for a tax software company made me a mom.

I used to work for a tax software company. We created an on-line personal tax preparation software program that turned out to be quite successful. For those of you not familiar with the behind the scenes of a software development company, I'll give you the brief description. Long hours (any where from 8 to 20 hour days, depending on the season). Junk food (take out, pizza, fast food. You name it, we ate it). Good pay (thank God for stock options). No life outside of work and the friends we had there. That pretty much sums up the life that I (and my husband) were living.

Because of the success of the program we created, we were approached by a "bigger" software company, offered lots of money, and eventually bought out and dismantled. While it was sad to see people lose their jobs, see all our hard work just shut down, it turned out to be a turning point in my life.

Thanks to the stock options, I was immediately able to pay off all the debt that my husband and I had accumulated. And it was substantial to say the least. (That's a story for another post another day).

I also realized that working for a software company was not what I really wanted to do for the rest of my life. It was a great place to be for a season, but it wasn't what I was passionate about.

One day my husband said to me "I think I hear my biological clock ticking." I looked at him a bit puzzled and said "isn't that supposed to be my line?" By this time we had been married almost 10 years and intentionally didn't have children. But he reminded me of a program we had seen some years earlier about all the abandoned girls in China. He said "I think that's something maybe we should consider now."

Before you could say international adoption, we were contacting adoption agencies, figuring costs, looking at different countries, and were one step closer to changing our lives forever.

Well after much paperwork (you think buying a house is a lot of paperwork), several meetings with a social worker, trips to the INS, the jail to be fingerprinted (for the county, state and feds), biographies written and all documentation notarized by the local, state and Chinese governments, we were finally ready to wait. Yes I said wait. Once we had done all this work we had to wait. And wait. And wait some more. Referral times were running around 10 to 11 months. Longer than any pregnancy I had ever heard of.

And then the call came. Work ceased, and the wait for the FedEx guy started. Little did he know the package he was delivering would change not just one life, but three lives forever. After more paperwork, flying for 13+ hours (I called that my labor) one bad meal, one mystery meal, and an exhausting walk on the Great Wall of China we me the most beautiful, precious gift ever given to us and started a new chapter in our lives.

Fast forward 7 1/2 years - and here we are in 2008. Parents of an incredible 8 1/2 year old. Yes, that's her in the picture above, a few years ago in Leavenworth, Washington. And I could go on, but I will save more of the story for another post.

But this is my positive post for a Tuesday and also my way of sharing something that God did in my life that has changed me forever. What's God done for you lately?

Welcome To Our Church

We've been showing this video the past few weeks at church. It really represents who we are and what we're about. If you are in the Acworth, Georgia area come check us out on Sunday. 10 am at Russom Elementary. Or go to www.jcacworth.com for directions and more information.

This Week

What has God done in your life this week?

As part of LifeShare, we have been challenged to share our spaces (blog, MySpace, FaceBook, Twitter, etc) to share what God has done and is continuing to do in our lives. It's been an amazing experience already and we're only 2 days into the 7 days. Check out LifeShare if you want to join too. It's not too late.


So what has God done in my life this week...
My prayer this week has been for God to use my words to reach people that I wouldn't normally have the opportunity to meet otherwise. Well He is a God who answers prayer. In this week alone I have have seen a huge increase in readers of this blog. A few have commented, most haven't (don't hold back I love to hear from all of you). And some have e-mailed me directly. And it has been amazing, encouraging and confirming for me too. Thank you.

Thanks for stopping by and keep coming back. You never know what I'll share next.

Peace.

Generosity in Action

I saw this video on Tim Stevens blog this morning (http://www.leadingsmart.com/leadingsmart/) and thought it so relates to the LifeShare project I'm participating in this week and I wanted to share it with all of you.

This is just another example of sharing your life and making an impact on the community around you. It doesn't take much. Even just a smile. Go do a random act of kindness today.

LifeShare

LifeChurch.tv and Ragamuffin Soul are joining together for the next 7 days for this LifeShare project. In short, over the next 7 days you share your life on line and in person, share what God has done in your life and you use your space to share all this.

There are a bunch of different ways you can get involved with this project too. Check out http://tinyurl.com/4646tg for all the details.

I'm in. How about you? Get involved. Share your life with someone and make a difference.

Say what you mean...

And mean what you say. A rule that we should all live by. So why do the marketing types feel that they have to come up with some "fluffy" message to make me feel better about parting with my hard earned money. Wal-Mart's new slogan "Save Money. Live Better. Wal-Mart" is a perfect example. I went there yesterday. I did not save money, and I certainly didn't live better. (I could go off on a tangent here and this could become a rant about Wal-Mart, but I'll leave that for another day.) I did however leave there yesterday extremely frustrated, and have reached the point now where I won't go back there to buy anything. They didn't deliver on their message that they are constantly preaching to me.

I work as part of a creative team for a church. We are responsible for the image, branding, illustrating, marketing, production, etc. of this church. We have a powerful message we want to convey to people. But if we come up with some silly statement that doesn't represent our true message or tell people what they are really going to get, will people get fed up with us too and not return?

Whether it's saving souls or saving money, make sure that what you say really does represent what you are delivering. Be direct and give the people what you are promising. Otherwise they won't be back.

Random thoughts for Friday

Just some things rattling around in my head...

• Menopause and puberty... don't mix
• Why does it take an anniversary of something tragic to bring people together? Why can't we experience that kind of peace everyday?
  
• Snarky is the word for the week. (Thanks Tori - I've been thinking about that ever since your post at: http://www.babybloomr.com)
• God definitely has a sense of humor (see menopause and puberty)
• Do we ever realize how many lives we touch (directly and indirectly) on a daily basis?
• I miss being up north during this time of year. It's going to be 90 degrees here today. That's just not right for the middle of September.
• Turning 42 has been harder than turning 40. But it's getting better.
• I miss my Oma. She passed away 10 years ago. There are many days I wish I could call and ask her advice or just chat about nothing in particular.
  
• My daughter asked what a mid life crisis is. When I tried to explain it, her next question was "Does that mean you are only going to live to be 84?"
  
• I get to work with some of the most amazing people. We work hard, but we have fun and love what we get to do. They have become my family.
• Someone needs to invent a waterproof computer. I seem to have some of my best ideas in the shower and have no where to write them down before I forget.
• Smile at someone today. It may be what makes a difference in their day.

How not to be intimidated

I have learned over the years that first and foremost, we are all just human. Regardless of who we are, what status or position we hold, celebrity or everyday person, we are all the same. That is not to say we are clones of one another or that we should be. We all have different talents, experiences and lives that make us unique.

But just because someone is "famous" doesn't mean that they are any better or more special than you. They simply have a talent that has been recognized by many and has become elevated to a different level.

I learned this lesson one day by sticking my foot in my mouth, up to my knee if you will. When I was younger, I worked in the bar/band scene for a few years. One evening I was out with some friends and was engaged in a conversation with some people I knew and one that I didn't. I was introduced to this person, Steve. He seemed like a nice enough guy, just your average joe. We were talking about a concert that I had been to that evening and during the conversation I expressed an opinion in regards to the line up of artists and how I thought it was unbalanced. Not much was said about it at the time, didn't really seem like anything earth shattering either.

Well after a few minutes I excused myself, only to be approached by one of my friends there who asked me if I realized who I was speaking to. I rattled off the names of the people at the table, including Steve, not really giving it much thought. My friend said to me, "Steve (long pause), Stevie (another long pause), Stevie Ray..." at that moment I realized that I had been sitting there talking to Stevie Ray Vaughn. The guy who I had just seen in concert that night and had made the comment about. You can imagine how small I felt at that moment. But I decided at that moment to take the opportunity to learn something about life.

I went back to the table, laughing (mostly at myself) and apologized - sort of. I told everyone sitting there that I stood behind what I said, but that I was sorry for not realizing sooner who it was I was talking to. Fortunately for me, Stevie Ray turned out to be a very gracious person, and said he respected my opinion. For me that was a turning point. I realized that no matter the person, as long as you are honest and are speaking from the heart, then you can not be intimidated just because they are "famous".

So regardless of someones position, whether it be a "famous" person or someone you encounter on a daily basis, realize that they are just like you, human first, just with a different talent. And they are doing what they know best to do with that talent. It's nothing to be intimidated by.

A meme

Queen B started this today and it tied in with a post I was starting about why do you blog. So I thought I would throw this out and see what kind of response it generates.

For those of you who don't know what a "meme" is - here is a definition from Blogging Basics 101: A meme is a pre-set group of questions, similar, in many ways, to a chain letter.

So here are the rules:

1. Write about 5 specific ways blogging has affected you, either positively or negatively.
2. link back to the person who tagged you
3. link back to this parent post
4. tag a few friends or five, or none at all
5. post these rules— or just have fun breaking them

My 5 reasons for blogging and how it's affected me

1. Friends - I started blogging as part of the leadership of a church plant. It started out as a way for the people that we were trying to reach to get to know all of the leaders. Now it has become a way for me to connect with people all over the world. (I know you are lurking out there, even though I haven't seen many comments.) I have started getting to know people I would have never otherwise had any contact with. You all have become friends to me.

2. Creativity - while I am naturally a creative person, (I sew, bead, craft, produce video, etc...) blogging has challenged my creativity in ways that I haven't been challenged in years. It challenges me to look at the world around me in a different way. And all experiences are now fair game for blog posts.

3. Self confidence - I think we all have some self esteem issues in our lives at various times and this blog has given me more confidence in who I am and what I have to contribute to the world.

4. A cathartic release - A great way to express emotions and realize that there are others out there who really are going through or have gone through the same things that you are experiencing.

5. Fun - This goes back to the friends part.

So now I need to tag some people. Hmmm... who will it be?

Amy @ http://livinglocurto.wordpress.com/

Dre @ http://drefillmore.typepad.com/

Mark @ http://markhilliard.blogspot.com/

Katrina @ http://katrinahilliard.blogspot.com/ (who hasn't blogged in quite some time I might add - I know you've been busy, but I love to read what you have to say)

Josh @ http://joshuamullen.blogspot.com/ (another one who hasn't blogged in a while but has a powerful message when he does share)

And anyone else reading this who wants to chime in, please do. De-lurk, comment and post a link. I'd love to meet you too.

Technology... Ain't it grand

How dependent are you on technology? Do you know? Do you Facebook? MySpace? YouTube? Twitter? How often?

I realize you are reading this blog on a computer, so there is that. But what about cell phones, iPods, video games, book readers, televisions (cable and satellite tv too), dvr's, the list could go on.

I admit, it a guilty of being a technology junkie. When my husband and I got married, 18 1/2 years ago, he built our first computer - a 286 with 2 megabytes of RAM and are you ready for this, a 40 megabyte hard drive. I won't even tell you how much it cost, except to say you could go on a nice vacation for what it was. But today, that computer is obsolete. Now I have an iMac, just about a year old, and I love it. And probably in another year or two from now, it will be old news too.

My latest thing that I'm looking at... the Flip video camera. I saw a video created with this and thought "Wow! That's so cool. And tiny too. Pretty amazing quality for something so small." - Now I come from a video production background (went to school for it and actually worked at a tv station for some years) and still do some editing and other production work. And I'm thinking of all the cool things I could do with this new little toy. And then I thought, okay, but will I really use it long term? Or do I want it just because it's the newest thing.

So what does that say about us? About our society? We have become a gotta have it, instant pudding, microwave society who can't wait any longer. Our attention span seems to be that of a gnat. We have 24 hour weather channels and news channels, we have text, voice mails and e-mails. Have we lost the human connection? How long can we live in this bubble?

I don't have the answers to these questions, and I put it out there for you to think about. In the mean time I'm going to go watch the speeches that I recorded last night on the dvr, because it was just too late for me to stay up. Yeah, technology. Ain't it grand.

Creative Slump

Okay, all you other bloggers and creative people out there - what do you do to spark your creativity?

Personally, I am in a creative slump today. I have a half finished quilt on the design wall that every time I walk into the room reminds me that I haven't finished it yet. I have a bunch of randomly written down notes, each which could be the beginnings of a post, but none seem to "speak" to me today. I'm listening to music that usually inspires me, I've even read a few exercises in "Caffeine For The Creative Mind". And still... nothing.

So what do you do to get that creative spark going?