you never know...

So much has transpired in the last 6-8 hours that I can't even wrap my brain around it anymore! I got up for work simply thinking that today would be like any other day (minus the fact that I can't breathe out of my right nostril, and my hubby was leaving for the lodge/cabin/farm).  I merge onto the interstate headed for lab #2 to meet several patients when lo and behold my car just decides that it is going to decelerate at a rapid pace and just not function at all.  My heart stops for a brief second because all I can see is about 7 18-wheelers in single file right behind me.  I'm trapped in the left lane slowly coming to a complete stop and I can't operate my car at all.  Finally, I'm able to change lanes and pull over on the side of the interstate (mind you, RUSHING cars going by).  I panic (honestly, panic is a mild word...I was way past panic).  I call hubby in tears and try not to freak him out.  I keep telling him I'm fine, but I don't really know if I am....and I don't know whether to get out of the car or not.  [I have a VERY imaginative mind and all I kept seeing was my car blowing up...a little extreme, I know].  Finally, hubby gets there after "what seemed like" 40 minutes of panic time.  I look a wreck, and he comes to the rescue! Knight in Shining Armor at your service!!!! :) I get on the phone with my work in the meantime, because (of course) all I can think of right now is that I am going to be late for my patients and that just SIMPLY WILL NOT work.  After getting that taken care of, we finally arrive at the conclusion to take the car to an Auto place that my dad likes to use.  We get there and the really nice lady tells us that she can't touch the car since it is still under warranty...we would need to bring it to the dealer in order for the warranty to still be effective.  (FYI: the dealership is another good 30 minutes away).  Awesome. We then drive all the way to the dealership to get me another "temporary car" complete with a cassette player for my throwback cassette collection. Holla. So now, I'm back at work...wishing I could just lie down (I'm so freakin exhausted!!!)

FYI: my car is new too.... haha

anyway.... I have found the GREATEST man ever.....because he NEVER complained the entire while he was helping me with all this car stuff (he was supposed to be headed to the lodge/cabin/farm)...sweet sweet man!!!

Joel 2

"Even now," declares the Lord, "return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning."  Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relects from sending calamity.  Who knows? He may turn and have pity and leave behind a blessing--grain and offerings and drink offerings for the Lord your God.  Blow the trumpet in Zion, declare a holy fast, call a sacred assembly.  Gather the people, consecrate the assembly; bring together the elders, gather the children, those nursing at the breast.  Let the bridegroom leave his room and the bride her chamber.  Let the priests, who minister before the Lord, weep between the temple porch and the altar.  Let them say, "Spare your people, O Lord, Do not make your inheritance an object of scorn, a byword among the nations.  Why should they say among the peoples, 'Where is their God?' "

Then the Lord will be jealous for his land and take pity on his poeple.  The Lord will reply to them:  "I am sending you grain, new wine, and oil, enough to satisfy you fully; never again will I make you an object or scorn to the nations.  I will drive the northern army far from you, pushing it into a parched and barren land, with its front columns going into the eastern sea and those in the rear into the western sea.  And its stench will go up; its smell will rise."  Surely he has done great things.  Be not afraid, O land; be glad and rejoice.  Surely the Lord has done great things.  Be not afraid, O wild animals, for the open pastures are becoming green.  The trees are bearing their fruit; the fig tree and the vine yield their riches.  Be glad, O people of Zion, rejoice in the Lord your God, for he has give you the autumn rains in righteousness.  He sends you abundant showers, both autumn and spring rains, as before.  The threshing floors will be filled with grain; the vats will overflow with new wine and oil. 

"I will repay you for the years the locusts have eaten--the great locus and the young locust, the other locusts and the locust swarm--my great army that I sent among you.  You will have plenty to eat, until you are full, and you will praise the name of the Lord your God, who has worked wonders for you; never again will my people be shamed.  Then you will know that I am in Israel, that I am the Lord your God, and that there is no other; never again will my poeple be shamed.  And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people.  Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions.  Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days.  I will show wonders in the heavens and on the earth, blood and fire and billows of smoke. The sun will be turned to darkness and the moon to blood before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.  And everyone who calls on teh name of the Lord will be saved; for on Mount Sion and in Jerusalem htere will be deliverance, as the Lord has said, among the survivors who the Lord calls.

It's refreshing to read something that you haven't really read in awhile....and to really get something out of it.

top ten list for "one of those days"

I could probably [most definitely] come up with a stellar list about what to do when you're stressed or what could really help you relax after a VERY LONG AND INVOLVED DAY... 
Well, I guess I'll just give it to you...cliff-notes style:

1.  Write/Type it all out; start a blog :)
2.  Drink more water...it keeps you hydrated and less likely to faint
3.  Go for a run...if you are confined to a cubicle/generic office space try standing and doing some leg lifts.  It will get your mind off of things for a second...and tone your butt at the same time :)
4.  Possibly buy some music on iTunes...if your husband or significant other has put you on a budget, then....I guess your stuck to searching for oldies but goodies in your current iTunes library (could be pretty interesting)
5.  Walk outside on a mission....then take a deep breath and walk back in.
6.  Offer to take the trash out....it will at least get your mind off of the fact that you are stuck inside until 5 or 6 or 7.
7.  Just start talking to random ppl in the office....make someone laugh
8.  Make a grocery list
9.  Play on Facebook for 5-10 minutes...if your corporate IT guy has blocked FB for "company focus", then well....play on google.
10.  NEVER complain! It only makes things worse!!!!!

Hope this helps...

good--perfect--complete--beautiful

I took some time last night to do something that I haven't done in a very long time....I decided to read the Bible until something caused me to stop, and then just let that verse sink in.  Well, as usual, I didn't get very far in Philippians chapter 1.  I made it verse 6 actually....and then I just absolutely could not move from that verse:

"being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ." 

It was already highlighted, underlined, circled...you name it...so all I COULD do was to just sit and let the Holy Spirit speak to me.  I started crying at one point because for some reason, I could not get past the word "good".  Thankful for my "study" Bible--with all the nifty addons and extras--I was able to just follow the asterisk to the definition and translation of "good" in this particular verse.  It proceeded to tell me that "good" is meaning "perfect, complete, beautiful, a characteristic where people are drawn to you".... It blessed my heart just knowing that God isn't finished with me yet.  There is a reason for everything...and He isn't just going to leave me in a position with work or whatever where I will be alone and confused.  It made me happy...and actually able to sleep for the majority of the night not worrying about waking up for the work week.  :)

So with that, I hope that someone will be blessed and have a newfound understanding of the "good work" that Christ is doing inside of them.

Happy Monday.



jingle bells ji-jingle bells

Despite the fact that today is going to be pretty jam packed with work work work....I am really enjoying every minute of it.  I have Christmas music shuffling on my playlist, candles burning, coffee right next to me.....and my calendar opened to just color code everything :) Oh----and its COLD OUTSIDE!!! I'm sooo happy! I absolutely love the cold weather! I can't wait to put on a turtle neck, boots, skinny jeans and a peacoat!!!!! AHHHH LOVE IT!

Now down to serious business.  Christmas presents.  I'm usually the person who has all the gifts months and months before the 25th....but this year I'm kinda slacking. I like to be "the gift that everyone has absolutely no idea what it is but is anticipating the unveiling of it"....but I'm just running out of "good-gift-giving-juice".  I probably need to just do what I do best....browse.  I know that once I see it...I'll know.  And the reason that I love giving gifts to my family (and to people in general) is that they don't really expect it.  I know that my fam really would be totally okay with just being together....playing rock band christmas morning in our pj's and eating sausage-cheese balls and pigs in a blanket... that's why opening presents is sooo much fun! We laugh and laugh just watching everyone's face. (I think I'll put Griffin under the tree with a big bow on his head.  He is definitely the BEST Christmas present this year!!! Plus, it would just be funny to see Griffin under a tree with a big bow on his head...haha)

Well, this week, Griffin and I got our first Christmas tree...real Christmas tree.  Aaannnnddd...we got ripped off. We paid way more than we wanted to (even though we thought we were getting a great deal), and the stand was nailed into the tree...creating a hole in the "water holding part of the stand", so now we can't put water in the tree.  Yes, it might go up in flames....but at least we had our first Christmas tree :)  It will definitely make for some great stories later on in life.

With all this said...I really hope everyone truly enjoys this season to the best of their ability.  Cherish those around you and use this time as a springboard into a new season of life for you....

merry christmas :)