Ready for the weekend… May 9, 2008

I’m sitting in the recliner with my feet up. It’s going to be a LONG night for me I’m afraid since I just accidentally popped 3 excederin migraine pills. Oops! I went in there after Tylenol and wasn’t thinking apparently. Hopefully I’ll get some sleep tonight. And I hope the headache goes away.

We took off this afternoon and went shopping. I bought a super cute new pair of shoes (slipper?). They are a pair of brown plaid super-cute shoes! And they are really warm! I’m not sure they are something that I’d wear out and about, but they’ll be great for kicking around the house.

 Oh! Did I mention that they were only $8!!!

And while I’m all snuggled into my chair, I’m gear up to watch the Phil Wickham concert FREE on his blog via mogulus. Go check it out - http://philwickham.com/blog  He’s recording a live record tonight while he’s there and streaming it free online while it’s going on. I’m off to listen…

My top 100 things to do before I die… May 8, 2008

I’m going to make a list. A list of things that I want to do before I die. 100 things at least. I am *not* going to finish this list tonight. But my comment last night about Cirque Du Soliel and posts by her and her and probably a few others that I read made me decide that I should make my own list. I’m not sure how far I’ll get tonight, but there is no time to start by the present.

1. Finish this list!
2. See Cirque Du Soleil live.
3. Visit NYC.
4. Take my kids on a real vacation that doesn’t involve visiting family.
5. Go to Disney World.
6. Write a book.
7. Go on a safari in Africa.
8. Visit Australia and New Zealand.
9. Visit all of the MLB ballparks
10. Visit all 50 United States.
11. Eat authentic Italian food - in Italy!
12. Go to The Masters.
13. Have a book that I write published.
14. Shower in a waterfall.
15. Drive across America.
16. Spend Christmas somewhere tropical.
17. Lose 40 pounds.
18. Go for a hike in the woods.
19. Go geocaching.
20. Plant a tree.
21. Golf with my husband.
22. See a tornado (but hopefully not up close).
23. Fly a kite.
24. Reach 500 readers on my blog in one day.
25. Send a card to someone for no reason at all.
26. Make something new for dinner that we’ve never had before and is a bit outside the box.
27. Get my own domain name for my blog.
28. Host my own blog (more from wordpress.com to wordpress.org)
29. Learn to knit.
30. Have a regular date night with my husband - even if it’s at home after the kids are in bed.
31. Start a regular family night before my kids are too old to appreciate it.
32. Have an article or short story published.
33. Buy a GREAT pair of shoes. (this is harder than most people think).
34. Blog for 100 days straight.

Ok, I’m a third of the way done. That’s the easy part. The part that I can just jot off without thinking about too hard. The rest of it isn’t going to be quite so easy.

Weekend linkage… April 5, 2008

So, I’m sitting here today wandering my way around Facebook. It’s too nice outside and I’ve got a fierce case of spring fever and do not want to work. I figure I can work when the sun goes down and it gets cold again. Anyhoo, I’m wandering around the new “people you may know” feature on Facebook (which is really cool when two people you know don’t know each other know the same people) and did a search through my Gmail contact list. And found MY MOM! Which was just insanely weird to me. Because my mom was among the last people I expected to find on Facebook.

Why was she the last person I expected to find? Because she’s usually the one calling me asking me what’s new on the web and this is one I didn’t tell her about. She found it on her own! I’m impressed! Anyway, so I thought I’d share a few of the websites that I use to make my life a little easier online…

Facebook - it’s THE social networking. It’s the only one I use anymore. I can easily keep in touch with anyone I know on it and it’s easy to use. So easy even my mom can use it. And trust me (no offense mom), if my mom can figure it out, anyone can.

Twitter - follow your friends and get up to the minute updates on what’s going on in their lives. Or at least up to the update info. It’s a lot like the “Your Name is…” fill in the blank thing on facebook. And you can import it into facebook so everytime you twitter it updates your facebook too. Go sign up for an account and follow me!

Bloglines - when you’re as big of a blogaholic as I am, you have to have somewhere to keep all your blog reads in one place. That’s what bloglines does. Imports the RSS feed from the blogs onto one site. So instead of visiting 50 blogs, you visit one place and read them all there. And it takes out all of the backgrounds and music and such so it doesn’t slow your computer down. If you’re not using bloglines, you should be.

Delicious - It’s an online place to keep all of your favorites. A lot like your favorites dropdown menu on Internet Explorer. Only it’s online so if something happens to your computer or you find yourself on vacation and using someone else’s computer, you still have access to all your favorites.

Gmail - I’ve used tons of different email platforms over the years and Google’s is far superior to them all as far as I’m concerned. I’ve never had a problem with it. And I’m sure that I’m not tapping it’s full potential. Someday I’ll have the time to really look into it. And it’s compatible with my 2.0 on my phone, so I can check my email from my phone when I’m on vacation or on the road.

Google - do people really still use other search engines?

WordPress.com - the free blog software from WordPress is by far the best FREE platform I’ve found. And I’ve used them all. I’m still learning a lot of stuff, but it does everything that I want it to and if I ever decide that I *must* have things like ads on my blog, I can upgrade to a paid account (.net) or Typepad easily by their export feature. But that won’t happen until I buy my own domain name because I don’t want to change domains on y’all too many more times.

So, those are the big 6 that I use - the ones that make my favorites list on my phone - the ones I can’t live without. What are your “must haves” for your online experiences?

Craziness and a question… March 27, 2008

Remember two weeks when I was freaking out because my blog topped out somewhere just above 100? And then last week when I was geeking out because I surpassed the 150 mark?  The past two days, I’ve have more than 250 unique readers each day. Absolutely unbelievable! Welcome to my new readers - although I’m pretty sure that I’ll be back around the 50 mark tomorrow now that American Idol is over until next week.

However, it’s not the end of television on my blog. There are TWO weeks left until an all new The Office and I can’t wait! I’ve missed seeing the reruns on Thursday nights, so I’m thankful for the magic of the DVR. I think I’ve watched the 8 episodes from this season 4-5 times each already. I’m going to start recapping them tomorrow I think. I’ve got some favorite moments from this season - like when Dwight whacks Michael in the back of the head with his shoe in Survivor Man. Freaking hilarious!!!!  It makes me laugh out loud every time I see it. Which I’ve had to apologize to Chip for more than once since I usually watch while I’m laying in bed at night as he’s trying to sleep. Geesh, I’m laughing *now* as I watch it replay in my head.

It was a rather uneventful and gloomy day today. The weather pattern outside is dreary and my head has been telling me all day that a thunderstorm was on the way. The chirping weatherbug is finally telling me the same thing. I think maybe I should be a meterologist. I love weather, especially storms, and my head is much more reliable than the guys on the telly. Unfortunately, that would mean going back for years of school, and well, *that* I’m not very interested in.

Speaking of weather, I have a question. We’ve got this weatherbug thing on our computer that probably half of America does. It does this annoying chirping thing when there is an alert of some sort. And really, it kind of gets on my nerves. I mean, once I’ve seen it once, I don’t need to be reminded every 45 minutes.  My question is about those weather radio alert system thingamabobs. Does anyone know what kind of alert system they have? I’d like to get one for when we’re sleeping at night and such, but I dont’ want it going off every 45 minutes because I can guarantee that it would cause a storm if it kept waking me up all night. I guess I just want to make sure that I won’t be tempted to smash it to bits before I actually buy it. Anyone have one of these things?

Total eclipse of the moon… February 20, 2008

Every couple of years, the sun, moon and earth all line up and the result is a total lunar eclipse as they shadow of the earth covers the moon in an eerie red shadow.  Apparently it can only happen when there is a full moon and you can go your entire life without ever seeing one.

TONIGHT there is a lunar eclipse. And I’m excited! I’ve seen it before and it will never be anything less than amazing to me. That God hung the sun and the moon and the earth in the sky to give us this wonderful experience just blows my mind.

You should be able to see the lunar eclipse anywhere from North America as long as the skies are clear where you live.  The eclipse will start at about 7:43. And I’ve got my carema ready!

All times below are CST and are taken directly from the NASA website:

• 7:43pm - partial eclipse begins
• 9:01pm - total eclipse begins
• 9:26pm - mid-eclipse
• 9:51pm - total eclipse ends
• 11:09pm - partial eclipse ends

So, who else will be watching tonight?

Search engines… February 19, 2008

One of the nifty features of WordPress is that it will show me what people who stumble upon my blog via search engines are actually searching for when they come to my blog. Some of them are normal - like the names of people who are listed in my link list on the side. Some are even actually looking for me (I get that a bit now that I’ve left xanga - although there is still a link over there to send people here).

 But here are some of the more unique search engine hits I’ve gotten in the last week or so:

• scabulous online (not sure what SCABulous is, but I love scRabulous!)
• rainbrow brite scrub top at walmart (really????)
• theres a wocket in my pocket recipe (who are these people cooking wockets? And where did they find them. I’ve always wanted a wocket.)
• lyrics for “the pokey little puppy” (I had no idea this was a song. Loved the book as a kid.)
• pink fluffy becky (the only person who calls me “becky” is my gram - and she pronounces it “backy”)
• “texas auto direct” (this is the company we bought our van online with - and I have only good things to say about them)
• worship songs “audacity file” (it’s the program we use to do our editing for putting Chip’s sermons online)
• microwave socks (um - my suggestion is don’t do it. Socks will MELT or catch fire in the micro. Yes, I learned the hard way. Socks cannot be dried in the micro.)

Where would I be without Jesus? February 17, 2008

Our pastor asked that question this morning. Just happens that he’s the guy that I’m married to. I’ve often thought that I didn’t have much of a testimony because I can never remember a time that I didn’t know God. I’ve never been away from God. Sure, I had my times of rebellion (which most people would laugh at because I was so not the rebellious type).

But I remember being in college and having a real encounter with Jesus. One that wrecked me and made me see how wretched I would be without Him.

You see, I was raised in a fairly legalistic church. I remember being taught the rules and told to follow them and not ask any questions. If you broke the rules, you didn’t love God. And I loved God, so I tried my hardest to follow the rules. And I thought less of those who didn’t. There was no grace. There was no mercy. In a few words, I was self-righteous and stuck up. The me of yesteryear would not like the present me. And honestly, the present me, doesn’t like the me of yesteryear.

But in college, I was on my own. I didn’t have anyone to tell me the rules anymore. So, I started to question them. I figured that if I was going to believe something and have it stick, I better figure out what I believe and why. I can remember having long, theological debates with a friend name Justin who would interrupt my thoughts as I sat in the chapel in the skyway at North Central. I can remember him challenging my rational on why I believed what I believed.

But it was in those quiet moments in that chapel - sometimes with friends, sometimes without - that I had a real encounter with Jesus. One that led me to realize that I was a slave to legalism when what Jesus came and died for was to give me freedom in Christ.

Now that we’ve got some years under our belt in ministry, we’ve had all kind of encounters with people in the church. We have regular contact with pastors all over the country (it’s amazing how small the world wide web makes the world). And the horror stories we could share based on what we’ve heard or even experienced (though ours really do pale in comparison to most) would make your head spin. There are people in the church who are so filled with hate and judgement and anger and well… SIN, that they can’t even see the Cross. They cause pain. They inflict disease. They are the bane of the pastor’s existence. They are often referred to in the circles that we travel in as pastor killers. Some churches are full of them. Some have few or possibly just one.

This morning, in the quiet of the sermon, my husband asked, “Where would you be without Jesus?”

And I had a moment.

I had an encounter.

Because I knew in my heart, that while I had never been far from church or God even really, had I not had a real, life-changing encounter with Jesus, I would be one of those self-righteous, know-it-all, busybody, thorn-in-the-side, pastor killers. And that stark realization dropped my heart into my stomach and made me so thankful that God redeemed me. That Jesus died for MY freedom. That Jesus set me free from the law and let’s me walk in grace.

What a wonderful and powerful gift.

A day of reconnecting… February 11, 2008

WOW! Seems like my past has collided with my present in the last couple days!

In a bizarre maze of internet turns, I found myself logging into my MySpace account late last night for the first time in about a month. I login over there very couple months or so just to check things out or because someone I know posts their pictures there. It doesn’t happen often and I don’t waste much time over there (unlike on Facebook).

However, when I logged into my account last night, not only one, but TWO people that we had lost touch with over the years had contacted me with messages on there. Weirdness!  Both people from our wedding.

 One was a guy in our wedding. We were all pretty tight in college. But we’ve moved a lot and changed email addresses countless times on both parts and just fell out of communication. Funny story - I remember driving to the airport in Chicago to pick him up two days before our wedding. He was there a day earlier than anyone else and we took our time driving back from O’Hare.  We still talk about him from time to time when we drive home because on this particular day, with the clouds and such, Mike looked out the window and said, “I didn’t know Chicago was by the mountains!” I’ll admit that if you didn’t know what you were looking at, it did kind of look like mountains. But it was just billowing clouds up against the very flat Lake Michigan. It was good to reconnect with him!

The other person that found me was my best friend from high school. Seriously, we were almost like sisters we spent so much time together. Nothing in particular other than distance and time really separated us. We both made choices to go our separate ways - although now it doesn’t really make any sense to me at all. But there she was. Waiting in my myspace inbox. And living in the same town that we grew up in! I’m looking forward to reconnecting with her.

THEN…

I sent out two emails for birthdays this past week. One is a great friend who lives in WI now. She and her husband were very instrumental in getting Chip and I together. Ok, so more her being instrumental in getting me to notice him as anything more than a friend. I can remember it was “Battle of the Floors” and we were sitting in the hallway eating pizza one night and she said, “So, what do you think of Chip?” rofl! So funny to look back on now. I think you can grow up, but when it comes to dating, we’re all a little junior high!  Anyway, one of our very first dates was to her birthday party in an Applebeas. It was a surprise party and I remember that Chip lit the candles on the cake and they were entirely too close together and there was a real fear of setting off the sprinkler system and fire alarm! Ah, to be 20 again!

The other person is my college roomie! She and her husband and their little one are back from halfway around the world. They are missionaries in a sensitive country so I won’t say where. But, they are back for a small furlough because they are expecting baby #2! If I’m remembering correctly, #1 isn’t quite a year old yet!  So happy for them!

So, that’s what I’ve done today. On a day that my mantra was “I don’t want to…” I’ve found myself reliving some great memories and making plans to make some more for the future! It’s just been a good day!

Politics, schmolitics… January 10, 2008

Anyone else absolutely sick to death of all the campaigning yet? I’m sick of listening to the front runners talk for an hour only to walk away and realize that I have absolutely no idea where they stand on ANYTHING! The big thing this election season seems to be to see how much you can say without actually saying anything at all. I think Hilary Clinton put it best in her victory speech in New Hampshire when she said, “I listened to you and I found my own voice…” What she was really saying was she listened to the people and was willing to say anything that anyone wanted to hear in order to get elected. And I’m not just placing the fault on her - they are ALL doing it. Obama, Clinton, Huckabee, Mitt, McCain… Take your pick.

And because I’m still undecided and unsure who I’ll vote for in the primary, I’ve been looking for a website that will show me where the candidates stand on the issues. Because they sure aren’te giving clear cut answers in any of the debates. The best that I’ve found so far is Electoral Compass USA and does a pretty good job of asking the important questions and graphing it all out for you.

Anyone care to guess who I was closest to?

Get out and vote… January 4, 2008

Or vote right there from you computer!

My friend Becky has a son named Stephen. Stephen is a handsome little guy with the best smile! And he’s looking for your votes!  After a recent photography shoot, his picture was put up against others for best picture.

 Could y’all do me a favor and go vote for Stephen? He’s the blond cutie that you’ll see first - picture 1B…

The blog:
http://lisajuliaphotography.blogspot.com/