It Has Been Too Long

I am not sure where the last THREE weeks went, so I thought I would start back with an update.  Since we talked last:

• I attended two different trainings, for work, which I was “out of town” for (read:  It was just far enough away to warrant staying at a hotel to avoid Los Angeles traffic).  The first was all about people on the autism spectrum. It was about understanding things from their point of view and how to provide them effective services.  By the end I had increased empathy for people with Autism.  I may have some autistic tendencies myself, not the least of these being my deep desire to set and stick to a schedule.  I also. tend to take other people more literally then I should, it makes me very gullible.    Perhaps you don’t know anything about this disability and you don’t see how my tendencies relate.  Here is a scenario from a parent:  A mom drove by a large sign outside a building which read, “SELF STORAGE,”  Her son with autism asked, “why would you want to store yourself?”  You see, literal. 
• The second training was about starting small businesses for people with disabilities.  It was fascinating and I learned  A LOT about the world of small businesses, including money, business planning, and marketing.  It got me brainstorming about how I can put some of my skills to work to bring in a little extra cash.  I’ll keep you posted, if anything comes of that.
• We had a volunteer appreciation party at the Oasis and got all dressed up.  See facebook for pictures. 

 

• Dave and I attended a couples game night at our friends Nathan and Chyler’s house.  We wore homemade t-shirts which read, “G-Force” (look for pictures at a later date).  We won, of course, because that’s just how we roll.  The prize you ask?  A double date at the Saddlepeak Lodge, inluding their last bottle of Halo wine from ‘92, which they have been holding just for Nathan, and top the whole thing off with a limo ride their and back!  I know, Nathan and Chyler don’t mess around. 
• After the games they facilitated a “he said/she said” open forum on navigating the ups and downs of relationships.  We were able to ask couples, who have been married longer then us, how they maintain a happy and growing marriage.   The questions that came up were about fighting fair, different styles of conflict resolution, and pursuing God individually and together.
• Dave paid someone to style his hair!  He looks great!  You’ll just have to take my word for it right now. I’ll blog about it later with pictures.
• Our friend Daniel started working with Dave.  They work together really well and together they are getting things organized.  I’ll have to let Dave tell you more details about that, if he wants  I can say he is deffinitely lessed stressed about the production team and getting their many projects done for church and Godchicks.
• We have both been preparing for the first Godchicks unplugged, this Saturday, February 7th.  Dave has been making sure all the production needs are met through his team and will be running camera and I will be dancing.  This is a one night event of worship and teaching.  There will be one or two more before the Godchicks conference June 25th-27th.  See link on the left panel for more information.

We are excited about 2009 and feel like January has gotten us off to a great start!

Just Kidding

Apparently, I was just kidding when I wrote that blog about winter(?) in LA.  The weather is like this:

72°F

Current: Clear
Wind: W at 0 mph
Humidity: 45%

Wed

85°F | 47°F

Thu

83°F | 49°F

Fri

81°F | 47°F

Sat

81°F | 47°F

 

 

 

and it has been since the end of last week.  Sunny and 80 degrees.  Where I com from we call that summer.  Here it’s called life, AND I LOVE IT!

Seriously though, it is not supposed to be this way, not even is So Cal.  In the desert we don’t have four seasons, we have two,  rainy and dry.  This should be the rainy season.  And with the rain we should have cooler weather.  Since it is not raining, but rather HOT and windy, they have issued a red flag warning, which means we’re prime for fires.  Ugh.

Just last October I started working at my current office.  The second week I was here I was off for three days because the fires were so close to our office.  Growing up in New York, I had snow days, and when I lived in Alabama they talked about hurricane days, but fire days is a new one for me.

I’m off to enjoy the sun, but I’ll be wishing for rain.  Besides, I really was getting excited about my sweaters!

An LA Experience

We joined a gym. 

Last Tuesday night, around 7:30pm, we went for the first time.  Now I had visited once before, with a friend, for a hip-hop class.  Dave, being the trusting husband that he is, took my good advice that this would be a great place for us to work out.  “Sweety, I can work on my hip-hop (which could use some work) and a lot of our friends go there!”  ::wink:: 

Side-note:   I like to take hip-hop classes and focus on cardio and Dave likes to lift big heavy weights, in repetition ::ugh::.  We need very different things from our gym.   Besides that, I am more socially focused (in terms of making decisions), whereas Dave is, well, a more task focused guy.   So, the fact that a lot of friends go there, probably should not have been my selling point, but it worked so moving on. 

It first hit me Dave might not like the gym when we couldn’t find parking, ANYWHERE!   This gym is in an outdoor mall, of sorts, so there is restaurants, shops, and, I think, a satellite for a college.  Meaning: the parking garage has many people to fill it.  As we drove around in circles, I could feel the tension rising in Dave and thought, “what have I gotten him into.”  Side-note 2: Dave ESPECIALLY hates having to search for parking.

Once we finally found parking, it was, ironically, directly next to the elevator,  FAVOR!   In my head: “Maybe God really wants us to go to this gym.”   

It was a slight hike from the elevator to the escalator and then we still had to get  up to the second floor for the gym entrance.  Despite how much Dave likes hiking, this did not help him get rid of his angst from the parking ordeal.  So far, 2 strikes against gym.

Once we got inside, well, all I can say is…ZOO.  The 30 treadmills, and 20 eliptical machines were ALL taken and there was a man on the loudspeaker saying, “please remember the 20 minute limit on cardio machines.”  The weights area was equally as overwhelming (3rd strike against gym), yikes!  I thought maybe we were done.

But wait.    What’s this?  A dowstairs that has everything the upstairs has, only fewer.  Hurray!  For a fleeting moment, we were saved.  Until, as we walked down the stairs, we found all 12 treadmills were, in fact, taken and from our angle it seemed all the weights were too.  We spent sometime wandering (my incredible husband, though tense, hanging in there).  Miraculously (and probably just in time) we found an open bench to do some weights. 

Once we found this home amidst the chaos, everything went better.  We had a bench (1 point gym), They had a gank of free weights (2 points gym), and once we figured out where stuff was, it wasn’t AS crowded as it seemed (3 points gym).  We’re back even! 

We went back Thursday, but earlier in the evening, and we’re both already used to it.  There were still a bunch of people, just not QUITE as many. 

This is what you do when you live in LA.   You get overwhelmed and then you adjust.   It’s the LA experience and we are most deffinitely living it.

Duvets; The Give and Take of It All

I got a new duvet cover!

And, I am really excited about it. I don’t know if you can appreciate what a big deal this is, but I am going to try and explain. It all started on New Year’s Day when we went to Ikea to check out their “winter sale.” (At this point I should tell you that Dave and I do not fight about much, but decorating and organizing have proven to be a challenge in our marriage.) Our bedroom to this day is not decorated. It was such a triumph to complete the living room we needed to take a break, a year long break!

After a whole year of marriage (and a few months), we are back at it, and I have to say it is going so much better. At Ikea, we decided pretty quickly that we would purchase a filing cabinet and (unfortunately) put some time and energy to get our desk area in order. Then we decided to tempt fate. We decided to just walk by the bedroom sets, and see if we (by some miracle) could be mutually inspired on how to decorate our room.

That is when it all turned around. Dave said, “You can pick WHATEVER duvet cover you want, and we will use it to decorate the rest of the room.” As you can imagine, my heart leapt in my chest. I don’t know if Dave has ever looked so attractive to me! After some searching, and a little discussion I chose this…

Isn’t it beautiful!

I realize Dave is really the one who gave in for the sake of peace in our household.  But, I want you to know I have done some things for him too!  

Seriously, I helped with the insanely tedious and tiring task of re-organizing our files (which he was much more passionate about then I),

I thought this picture turned out cool!

I also reorganized my jewelery.  It has been living on top of my dresser for about two months, overflowing out of a tackle box.  For all the ladies out there, you can find an awesome hanging earing holder thingy at Target.com (no they are not paying me to say this, unfortunately.)  And, for my necklaces, I used a men’s neck tie hanger.

Brilliant!

So, here’s to a new year.  Trying new things, keeping organized, and working WITH my husband!

A Beautiful Winter?

This is a tree in our courtyard.  I just took these pictures today… 

 

Nothing like a beautiful winters day; the air is getting cooler, the leaves are changing colors, and I can finally bust out my sweaters!

Just Something

Check out this Times article , about an atheist who declares  Africa NEEDS missionaries!

Together

Dave and I, along with a group of friends, were asked to write a poem on Acts 2:42-47.  This passage of scripture is about living the Christian life together.  All of us who wrote a poem, well, we live life together and we’re trying to do it better, everyday.  Being there for each other, challenging each other, and living out the Lords word, together. 

So, here’s my take on together (Acts 2:42-47)…

And so we say together is better

But what does that really mean?

 

Prayer, sacrifice, selflessness

His will over mine

 

I decrease and He increases

We becomes more important then me

 

More united, of one mind

As He reveals His plan for us

 

For without we the gospel is not alive

But it is. 

 

We are alive, and here, one for each other

Remembering our savior with praise

 

Thank you Lord for abundant life

Thank you Lord for together 

I Love Being Married!

Dave and I celebrated one year of marriage yesterday.  I cannot believe it has already been a year.  It went by so fast.  At the same time, so much has happened.  We spent sometime talking about what has happened this year and how we have changed. 

It’s funny, Dave is so positive about our marriage.  If you ask me, I say it has been a tough year.  If you ask Dave, he struggles to remember what was hard about it.  After some discussion, we realized we are both coming to the same conclusion, we just process things so differently.  I say that it has been hard because we had difficult living arrangements when we first moved out here, we struggled financially in the 4 months it took me to get a job, we had totally opposite schedules the first six months,  we officially had the worst Christmas of our lives (they can only get better), and then there are the normal newly married things like figuring out how to communicate etc…

The thing is, we are in such a good place together, I wouldn’t take back any bit of the past year.  And that is where Dave and I are on the same page.  He does not regret anything we’ve been through this year and I guess he concludes, it was all good.  I say it was not all good, but still I would go through it all again to be where we are right now.  It is the same conclusion, just different language and a different way of processing it.  That is what I love about my husband.  He is much faster to focus on the positive.  Though he drives me crazy sometimes, he is so good for me. 

We do have highlights from the year, and they are really good ones!  Dave started working for the Oasis, which has been challenging, rewarding, and overall, such a blessing.  We have both had promotion at work.  We have an amazing family of believers around us to live life with here in LA.  We have been able to pay every bill, on time, even though sometimes we shouldn’t have.   We have both learned so much about ourselves and each other and especially the Lord. 

 We are, officially, blessed!

Check me out on Asbury’s homepage!

An article just came out today on Asbury’s homepage featuring my work with Generosity Water. 

On my last visit to Asbury for my friend Phil’s wedding, I caught up with our good friends Paul and Kelly Stephens. I shared with them some of the projects I’m working on through Oasis, and I believe Paul shot an idea over to Asbury’s PR. I can’t tell you how rewarding it is to be a part of the Generosity Water initiative being spread to an even wider audience. Hopefully it’ll get even more people on board working to end the water crisis. 

I’ll give you all a bonus update on my work with the organization. Kelly Montgomery and Jordan Wagner just returned from a two week trip to Africa. Their sole purpose was to document areas where wells are being built as well as those areas who are still in dire need of clean water. Because of their hard work, we are better equipped to make even more PSAs and mini-docs to get the word out about how dire of a problem this is. Check out our latest videos here.
 

On step 1 of a life long journey for freedom…

We are attending a Bondage Breakers class at church.  The first session was last night and we’ll go again next Tuesday to rap up.  I decided to take the class because of some specific things in my heart, I believe, the Lord wants me to live in freedom from. 

It is no secret I have had a difficult year, with a lot of changes.  If you don’t know what I’m talking about, I’ll sum it up; newly married, moved across the country, started a new job, started another new job, and finally, lots and lots of intense and awful family drama.  Sometimes external circumstances can get ideas in our head.  Or bring back old ideas we used to believe.  For me, it has been things like, “Maybe I’m not fulfilling God’s purpose for my life.”  “What if I am going crazy?”  “Maybe I’m not the Christian other people think I am.”  ”What if I never live as I see other Christians living, in freedom?”  “What if that isn’t possible for me?”

Not a single one of those statements is true! I could go through each of them and quote specific scripture that contradicts it.  But, these maybes and what ifs all have one thing in common, they contradict who God says I am.  

The Bondage Breakers process is an opportunity to take responsibility for sins I’ve committed, acknowledge garbage that has happened to me (and take ownership of how I respond.), and move forward living in full realization of who I am in Christ.  That is, who God says I am.  It could, in some ways, be described as a spiritual cleanse.  I, for one, am most definitely in need.

This morning we went through step 1 of 7 in preparation for the big event next Tuesday night.  Already, I am believing, and claiming, that the Lord has something big to do in my life through this process.  I’ll leave you with a passage that especially spoke to me this morning.  It directly addresses these thoughts that run through my head and, at times, paralyze me from freedom in Christ.

“Thoughts…have no power over you unless you believe them.  They are just thoughts and it doesn’t make any difference if they originate from yourself, an external source or from Satan and his demons.  Such thoughts will be resolved when you have fully repented.”  -The Steps to Freedom in Christ by Neil T. Anderson (p.4)