10 Things I Love About Monday

Okay, actually I HATE monday - almost as much as I hate Tuesday actually but not quite as much. Monday is the worst day of the week.....Friday seems so far off. So I decided to make the glass half full for once.
This is what I like about Monday.....


1. Steve and I have no evening committments on Monday night so we can do whatever want
2. I always have a plethora (that's one of my favorite words) of clean clothes to choose from to wear
because normally I start doing all our laundry right after Steve leaves for work Monday morning (which would be at 5 am but we're focusing on the positive, right?)
3. Monday is the day that I start making my "to do" list for the week so I always feel more organized than I do on all the other days when I haven't done my "to do's" from the list that I started on Monday.
4. I'm always extra excited to come home from work on Monday and look forward to seeing Steve more than ever. I love spending lots of time with him on the weekends so once Monday rolls around I miss him more than normal and so the thoughts of coming home to him at the end of the days is extra nice.

Okay....so that's 4 and that's as far as I can go. I'm wracking my brain to think of more things I like about Monday but I just can't come up with anything. Most of these 4 reasons are actually good things that end up coming out of the fact that it's Monday and I hate it anway. Hey, I tried to be positive.....that should count for something!

PS.....Did I mention that I HATE Monday and think that congress should propose that we take it off all of the 2008 Calendars?

Sad News...

Thank you all for your prayers through this time. I have received lots of emails and calls from people that are concerned for the Rogers family.

Unfortunately as you've probably heard on the news little Loic Rogers body was found on Friday evening in a septic tank.
The family is heartbroken. I spoke with Sara on Saturday afternoon and all she said the family really wanted at this time was prayer so please continue to keep them in your prayers at this very difficult time.
Sara said she will probably be planning the funeral with Ariel's sister so please pray that this process will go smoothly. Everyone is obviously so devastated that it's at these times that emotions can overflow and add extra stress to an already stressful situation.

I love this family so much - Sara has been my best friend since we were in junior high and it is so hard for me to see them hurting like this after everything they've been through in the last few years.
I very much believe in the power of prayer - it's through these difficult times that prayer can sustain the most devastated heart.
Please, please, please continue to keep this family in your prayers!

Please Pray!

This morning I got a call from Sara. She was my best friend all through my childhood and we still have remained close even though we live on opposite ends of the country.

Her nephew (who is a toddler) has been missing since last night. This is the youngest son to her brother Mark. If any of you are the praying type please keep this family in your prayers!
They are obviously very worried.

They have gone through a lot these last few years. It was just 2 years ago that Sara's husband Sam was caught in an Avalanche with 3 of his friends. One of the friends ended up not making it - leaving a wife and son that was born just a few short weeks after his death. Sam had to get one of his legs amputated. Needless to say it's been a rough few years but this family constantly amazes me with their courage and faith.
Sam will actually be competing for cycling in the 2008 Paralympics held in Bejing. He's ranked #7 in the world in his category of cycling.

Please be in prayer for this toddler they would find him safely!
Thanks!

Woman takes potty break, falls in lake

I had to laugh when I read this story because it reminds me of something that would happen to me......or Nadia.

Check it out on Yahoo.

Why is it that bad luck just seems to follow some people? Better yet.....why pee standing right next to a freezing lake? At least hit the bushes! :)

Just thinking about the journey.....

We had some friends over last night that were recently married.
The wife was telling me how she had just started going back to school but is hesitant to really pursue getting a 4 year degree when they're planning on having kids in about 2 years and just how frustrating it is to not know exactly what our next steps should be in life.
I could so relate to everything she was saying.
I have been feeling the same way lately actually. I think when I first got married I had this magical idea that I would be so fulfilled with just being a wife to the love of my life that nothing else would really matter. To a degree I've found that to be true - but only to the healthy degree. I've found that the things that are important to Steve have now become equally as important to me.
At the same time I've realized though that I am my own person and just as I support him he wants to support me.
Sometimes I get so scared of the future, I want it all mapped out. I want to know exactly what I'm going to be doing 10 years from now. Yes, I admit it : I tend to be a planner and a control freak. I've realized though the process of life that if I new it all the joy would be taken out of the journey.
Most of the times it's what I learn through process of making decisions and major life changes that really change me the most. If there were no process the end result wouldn't really matter at all anyway.
So....as I continue to ponder "what do I want to be when I'm all grown up" I'm learning to just enjoy the ride and take each day at a time. I don't know my future but I believe that every little stepping stone along the way is what really creates the path to my destiny, and I'm trying to just be "ok" with that.

Politics

I tend to not post to much on my political views. Not because I'm afraid of what people think but more for a reason that I'm embarrassed to admit.....because I don't follow what's going on in the world most of the time.

I know I am a horrible US Citizen and as much as I joke about not
following the decisions that are being made in our country I truly am
ashamed for not being more involved. I know it's the people of America
standing up which brings about change. I pray for our country but I'm
just not so good about following what's happening.

All that to say....
Yesterday as Steve & I were getting ready for church we had the "NBC Today"
show on. I never even knew that the "Today" show came on during the
weekends. They were talking about some new law that they are trying to
pass in California and I was shocked!
I had to stop and ask Steve "are we becoming a communistic country now?"
They are trying to make it a misdemeanor
to spank your children in California if they are less than 4 years
old!
I cannot believe how ridiculous this is!
Don't get me wrong....I am NOT FOR child abuse. When I have children of my own, I
won't spank them until they are old enough to understand why they are
being spanked and if they can handle that. I see that most children
less that 18 months old probably should not be spanked...especially
beings that with a diaper on they won't even know that they're being
disciplined.
But not spanking a 4 year old? Come on people!
Don't they say that the first five years of a child's life is when they need to be disciplined the most?
Sometimes just taking a little time out won't do for the strong willed child in their terrible two's.
It's scary to me some of these type of laws that are going into effect
around our country - not simply because of what the specific issue
relates to, but more simply because it seems our country is getting to
a point where because of all thepsycho's out there we HAVE to have
extreme laws - but it's scary as well that our country is becoming so
policed that sometimes it no longer feels like "the land of the free"
anymore.

So there you have it - I'll get off my soap box now and let you get back to your day!

Pregnant Women

Is this day EVER going to end? That is the question on my mind this afternoon. I'm sitting in my office, waiting and watching the minutes on my clock tick by.
I HATE slow days. I'd rather be swamped with work than not have very much to do. Today is one of those days. Yesterday I finally got the closing from hell (that was supposed to happen back 06) finished with and now that the stress of that is over with I'm at a loss as to what to do with myself.
Maybe it's the weather, it's so cold outside that all I really want to do is curl up on the couch with Steve and watch TV.
When it gets cold out I get extremely lazy.

Anyway....enough of all my complaining. My thoughts of for the day are about pregnant people. Possibley because I have a lot of friends in my life right now who are either pregnant or just had a baby.
I have come to the conclusion that I am not looking forward to getting pregnant. It seems like every pregnant or new mom I know is going through a season of depression. Most of them are for the most part happy, fulfilled ladies that have not struggled with depression before.
What is it with all these hormones? Obviously I know it's a major change but I couldn't imagine just having a baby and experiencing all the emotions that has to go along with that WITHOUT the hormones being all messed up but on top of everything experiencing post pardum depression along with that.
I feel for these gals and hope that someday when Steve & I decide to start a family that the depression part won't hit me in my pregnant/new mom stage. It's gotta be rough.

We've been thinking and talking a lot lately about starting our family. First let me state that we still recognize that we are not ready and have no desire to start a family yet. Give us another 4 years or so ok?
But anyway.....gosh...I don't know how these moms do it. We had my best friend and her husband over the other day with their 6 week old and 20 month old girls and as much as I love these girls they are a handful. I really don't know how Missy does it. There has to be some kind of special grace or something that comes along with being a mom because when I just watch her with her children it confirms in me that I am DEFINATELY not ready to be that responsible and have little ones run around.

I guess I'm just selfish but I like my freedom, I like being able to go out on a friday night and stay out as late as I'd like not have to plan for a babysitter or anything like that. It just seems like such a hassle. I'm sure it's true that when you have little ones the joy of being a parent overshadows all the hassle that comes along with it but I sometimes find myself getting frustrated because we have to plan our day around being home at least every 8 hours to let the dog out to pee.

So these are my random ramblings for the day. Yes, they are boring and wordy and No, I don't care.

Grace

I'm just feeling blah today. Partly, probably because last night for the first time since who knows when I couldn't fall asleep.
I usually get up at 4 (yes, that's right A.M.) on Friday so I try to go to bed pretty early. Last night I tried to go to bed at 9 and was still just laying there awake well after midnight.
For some people this may seem normal but for me it's not. I sometimes think I'm practically a sleep-a-holic.
Anyway, So in the midst of my boredom as I was lying awake I began to think about grace.

Grace....that's a hard one for me to digest sometimes. It seems so easy talk about so hard to show. Usually for me it's dependent upon the person I'm showing it to. If it's someone that's burnt me in the past it's A LOT harder for me to show them grace.
I've always kind of lived by the motto "believe the best in someone until they give you a reason not to" well besides the "well, duh" factor there I think that's both a good statement and a bad one. It's great to believe the best in people, and of course to show wisdom after they have given you multiple reasons to not trust them but to just completely give up on them is hard one for me to reconcile. When exactly do you have a reason to not try and believe the best in someone? What if they're truly and honestly trying to change? This is where grace comes in and sometimes it's hard for me to show this. Especially if I've been constantly let down by someone. At what point do you cut them loose and stop giving them opportunities to mistreat you?

This is where it gets sticky for me. I'd like to say I'm a person who shows grace but I'm also the type of person that can easily become very cautious if someone has been flakey or betrayed me in the past. I'm having a hard time finding the justification between when to just kind of cut someone loose and when to continue on with this charade of believing the best and NOT questioning their motives and trusting that they really ARE trying to change.

I guess just as grace has been freely given to me I need to continue to give it others but the conclusion that I'm coming to is that along with that comes wisdom and there's a huge difference between showing grace and treating others with wisdom and respect.
Just because I need to offer a little more grace than I'd prefer to once in awhile doesn't mean that I have to open myself up to be taken advantage of.
Anyway....so those are my random thoughts for the day. That's all folks!

Feeling that change coming on.....

It's been awhile.
I don't know if I haven't blogged more because of the fact that I've just been lazy or just because my life has been boring therefore there's nothing to write about. Probably a bit of both though. Hmmmmm..
So anyway...I've been thinking a lot and have been feeling so restless. I'm not sure why. Maybe it's because I'm just bored with how mundane life has seemed to be lately or maybe it's because I sense that something is getting ready to change.
Either way I just haven't felt comfortable, I guess that's a good thing though. I don't like feeling comfortable.


I've beenthinking a lot lately about my life and just how weird I'm wired.
I've kind of come to realize a few things about myself and I've had to be okay with that.

Namely what I'm referring to is my need for change - I used to think that I hated change (still even with some things I think i hate change) but I'm come to realize that change is what I thrive on.
I've been really contemplating my career lately and I've started to question if Real Estate is something that I want to do for the rest of my life. It has it's pro and cons but I'm starting to feel like I need a change in my career.
One thing I've had to come to grips with is that it's just the way I am that I try a new career for awhile and then decide I want to move on to something else. I don't think it's even that I don't like what I'm doing but more that I feel the need to be constantly challenged and once I no longer feel challenged I feel the need to move on to something else. Not to say I'm a know it all either but sometimes I just feel bored.
I"m starting to realize that this is a pattern in my life and I'm SO glad that I never spent a lot of money mastering a degree.
When I went to school for graphic design I loved it and thought I could do that for the rest of my life, until I got laid off at that job and realized I was kind of burnt out on graphic design anyway. After that I decided to become a Realtor and have been doing that about 2 years now and am starting to feel restless again, Part of me is starting to realize that it's okay that I am a person that thrives off of change but the other part of me just feels so frustrated that I spend some much time, energy, and money focusing on my career only to get bored and decide it's time for a career change.

I guess the good part of all of this is that I will be a very well rounded person with experience in a lot of different areas, but still sometimes I feel like a teenager trying to figure out what they want to do with the rest of their after they graduate from high school.

It used to really bother me that I felt this way because I felt like such a flake, but now I'm just kind of accepted the fact that this is the way I am and probably the way I'll always be so I might as well be proud of me.
It does leave me often times feeling frustrated though.....
Like right now, I'm wishing and hoping for something new but don't really have the time nor resources to even figure out what that "new" thing might be. I guess I still haven't figured out what I want to be when I'm a grown up and it's kind of an unsettling feeling.
I guess for now I'll just focus on being the best I can be at what I'm doing until God moves me onto something else.

Christmas in Montana....

We had a great Christmas. It was fun seeing family and old friends and being "home". I"m not really sure what home is anymore.....is it supposed to be St.Louis or where I grew up and spent the first 19 years of my existence? Sometimes I miss Montana but I like St. Louis too. I'm settled here so I guess this is home. The occasional visit to Montana is always fun too though!
I just wish we could have the good coffee that everyone's roasts in Montana here in St. Louis. People are pretty coffee stupid here.
Anyway....here's some pics:

This is Steve and I at Starbucks - this may not be special to any of you but this Starbucks just opened up in my hometown of Kalispell, Montana. It's the first Starbucks to ever come to the little city where I grew up and I was SO excited to visit.
After visiting twice though I was very disappointed. The baristas were rude and couldn't make anything right and charged me wrong both times.
We spent the remained of our trip drinking from Montana Coffee Traders which I believe is some of the best coffee in the entire world. The websites a little cheezy but the great coffee makes up for it.

So we saw snow - something that wasn't new to me but new to my native born Californian husband. He didn't like the snow too much. Neither did I for that matter and it really wasn't all that bad when we were there either. I was expecting much more snow and a much lower temperature.
Until came......the sleigh ride

We froze our butts off here folks! Unfortunately for me I'm not speaking literally but if I ever was to freeze my butt off this would have been the time. My dad & stepmom had this brilliant idea that we should all go on a sleigh ride. I remember weeks before Christmas when my stepmom sent out an e-mail to myself and my brother in California telling us to bring our warm winter coats and boots. WHAT?!?!?! You're talking to southern California boy and Midwest girl here. We don't own any boots and they don't even make warm coats where we live! Needless to say because of how "unprepared" we were we did get a little frozen. Almost frosty the snowman like if you will.

As cold as we were we did have fun though.
What I really like is being home with my brother and his wife Mandie. I honestly can't remember the last time I was home at Christmas - let alone with my brother there so it was really special to be able to have my whole family together at the holidays.
It was cool being home and sharing my first Christmas as a wife with my family in the town (and even same house for that matter) where I grew up.
I really tried to treasure every second and didn't want to take a minute for granted. I'm sure it will be awhile until I'm ever home for Christmas again - let alone with my brother in town as well so for me the best Christmas gift ever was just being able to spend time with the people that I love.
Good times were had by all!