High Five for Friday

Doing my first link up with Lauren at From My Grey Desk for High Five for Friday

1.  Yay for Friday Night Football.  First kickoff is tonight, woo-hoo!!

2.  My porch is finished.  When I walk outside I don't have to worry about anything falling on my head!

3.  I love pretty invites!  Yay for another wedding this year.

4.  How cute is this kid?

5.  I'm really enjoying my study of Proverbs, wisdom, oh wisdom...

Have a great weekend!!

Wait, you're talking to me???

So, lately I've kind of been in a funk with God.  That's extremely hard for me to admit.  It feels wrong, it feels a little like I should be struck by lightning and shot down.  Seriously, it kind of makes me want to throw up to write that out, but that's the truth.

If you could have seen me in Sunday school this week, you would have closed your eyes and prayed for me that I would quit making such a fool of myself.  Yes, it was that bad.  My rambling went to a whole new level.  And then mid-sentence, I couldn't finish what I wanted to say because 1) I couldn't come up with the right words and 2) it was kind of a questioning God sentence and I couldn't say in front of other people that I had doubts, because what if I caused questions for them.  Yeah, it was bad. 

So, then I stayed after class to try to explain to the teacher (also our preacher) what I was trying to say.  Then I start crying because I feel guilty because I'm questioning God.  People, it was terrible!!

So all week, I've rolled over Sunday in my mind, I've rolled over questions in my mind, I've rolled over all sorts of thoughts in my mind.  There's been a lot of mind rolling going on.

Today I read this post.  It spoke to me big time.  And then I did a little reflection on some other posts I've read this week, like this one and this one.  Both are blogs that I read often.  Both are Christian girls, but they don't talk about Jesus every day.  But both did this week. It took me blog post #3 of the week to figure out this wasn't just by chance.

So, I sent a message to the author of the first post that ended something like this...

It seems like I've read several posts this week in which the author has talked about having a spirit of thankfulness. Hmmmm, I don't think that's random. Thanks for being the post where God really slapped me upside the head and said "Hey Girl, I'm talking to you!!"

Thankfulness...  I've seen it in my life before, when thoughts get jumbled, when trials come, when doubts enter in, go back to thankfulness.  It put things in perspective, it reminds me of God's goodness and God's love for me.

I'm going to end with a few verses on thankfulness.  Happy Thursday.

James 1:17 ESV    
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

1 Thessalonians 5:18 ESV
Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

Hebrews 13:15 ESV    
Through him then let us continually offer up a sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of lips that acknowledge his name.

Psalm 118:28-29 ESV    
You are my God, and I will give thanks to you; you are my God; I will extol you. Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever!

Psalm 105:1 ESV    
Oh give thanks to the Lord; call upon his name; make known his deeds among the peoples!

 

Dinner Questions - Relationship Edition

I had dinner with a long time friend tonight.  It never fails the conversation always turns to relationships.  It was interesting as always.  Neither of us thought we would be 30 and single, but we are, fine with it, but relationship discussions always come up.  Here were some questions that were posed for tonight.

Is location a make or break kind of thing?  For me, no.  At one time it would have been, but my opinion on that has changed.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not itching to move, but for the right guy, I would go somewhere else.  I think for both he and I this is probably a bigger deal than for most just because we live in a small town, our parents both have farms, we have deep roots in this small town.

Would you date someone with kids?  Yes, I think I would.  It would definitely require a lot of communication before going into the marriage on LOTS of different things, but I wouldn't write someone off because he was a dad.

What's your age range?  I think it completely depends on the person, at least that's what I said.  And, really, I think for men, that's more true.  I think if he wants to date someone who's 23, that's completely fine.  She may be someone who's ready to settle down, and she may not, but it doesn't hurt going on a date.  All that being said, I can't really imagine dating someone that much younger than me. 

What is on your "list" that you wouldn't compromise on?  #1 a Christian, that's make or break from the get go

Are there any denominations that you wouldn't date?  Honestly, yes.  I want to go to church together as a couple, and there are some denominations that I just don't think I would feel comfortable with.  I don't think there is any perfect denomination or non-denomination, but I do think there are difference between lots of them.

So, probably some of this makes me sound very open minded.  Probably some makes me sound pretty close minded.  To tell you the truth, all of the questions above I never even make it to.  I find a problem with the guy's eyebrows, or the way he puts his napkin in his lap, or who his favorite QB is and I write him off (this is a tiny exaggeration, but not really, for the most part, I just refuse to date based on what someone tells me about the potential person they want to set me up with)

What do you think?  Thoughts on any of these questions.  My friend posed them all, it was interesting to talk thru them, to get his take, and think about what my own take was. 

Monday

I've really never promised you anything but random thoughts on this blog, so let the madness continue.

• For those of you who follow my running, I've had to take a little break.  I'm in week 2.5 of what I hope is no more than a 4 week break, so hopefully we'll be back on track then.
• I'm pretty sure I've stated this, but I'm doing a half marathon in November with some friends.  We are making a girls trip out of it.  I'm super excited.  So when this hiatus is up, it's time to jump right into training and one of the girls has already thrown out a big goal for us to hit!
• One of the girls I mentioned in yesterday's post where I'm asking all sorts of people to dinner has said yes.  Woo-hoo!  That makes 3 dinners this week.
• I've made some comments this week about looking for new friends.  Let me make clear I love all my current friends, but I had two good friends who know me well help me come to the realization (actually, this isn't the first time I've had this epiphany, but apparently I forgot it) that I'm a much happier person when I have people in my life.  My job is a lot of sitting behind the computer.  In my mind, I'm not a people person, but really I kind of am.  I like people.  I like talking.  I like hearing your story.  I like sharing mine.  I like sharing wisdom, burdens, lessons, joys, pains, successes, disappointments, all of it.  Lots of the friends of my youth are gone to new and exciting places.  We still get to catch up every now and again, but they aren't daily, weekly, or even monthly presences in my life.  So, I'm on the hunt for new friends, new stories, new wisdom, people to share time and life with. 
• (note to self)  Duh, Anna Catherine, I think you've mentioned on this blog 4 or 5 times that you think your love language is quality time.  You need people!  Don't forget this again
• My sister picked me up a new running skirt.  I tried it on last night.  I love it!!  Like big time.  It comes up high and covers up my love handles, Fred and Ethel.  It seems like the legs are pretty long and will stay down.  I can't wait to run in it!
• I read high school football message boards.  Yup, sure do.  But, I've only commented a couple times, and those were mainly when I was in college and I wanted to ask more about the games that I missed while at school.
• The Spice Girls were my favorite part of the closing ceremony.
• I know that it was time for the Olympics to be over, but I'm afraid I'm going to have a withdrawal period.
• Favorite Olympic moment - Keri and Misty May winning the third gold.  Misty, are you sure you don't want to come back for Rio?
• I really still want to document my 30th birthday and a couple other random events on the blog.  Is it bad to go back a year in time for posts?
• I'm pretty fired up about VP pick Paul Ryan.  I like a man who knows we can spend more than we bring in.  Seems so simple, doesn't it?
• I had a friend get me way closer than I thought was possible to thinking about running for Alderman of our city, but I mean that's a bad idea, right?
• High school kickoff is only 4 days away!!! It's a big, big game.

Ok, enough random for Monday.  Hope it was a good one for you. 

This Weekend

 

• Friday- had my hair washed and dried at the mall, who does that?  And it was fantastic.
• Almost kissed the lady at the Clinique counter who said there was no way I was 30, and yes, that will increase your sales.
• Had a lady at church tell me that she thought no one lived in my house - my reply, yes ma'am I'm never home and my yard is atrocious. Her reply- you could do something about that.... My thought- Why yes I could but obviously I've chosen against that.
• Told a new kind of random person we should go to dinner (remember when I said I was taking out a personal ad for additional friends?  Well, I've decided asking "we aren't really friends, but we've met and had a conversation before" people to dinner is little less drastic measure)
• Realized that when I locked myself out of my house the other night, all I really would have had to do was use my garage door opener.  Duh  Sorry, Daddy, didn't really have to bother you.
• Helped work beauty pageants. Shoot me now. Was told we must have rigged it because the little boy escort that won had his finger up his nose the whole time. Well, apparently the judges must have found booger picking cute becausec I went back over the score sheets, lady, and he blew the rest of the kids out of the water.
• Did some major rambling in Sunday school class because I couldn't make my mouth convey what my brain was thinking (often times a problem for me)
• Cried in front of the preacher after Sunday school class because there are some things I don't understand about God and it makes me feel horribly guilty to question things.
• Gave a fun shower for a friend and saw her receive some really cool stuff. So excited to see she an her fiancée ready to start their married life.
• Talked to another friend who has gone thru a heartbreak. That stinks no matter how you slice it.
• Accidentally hurt my mom's feelings over her lack of florist skills. Sorry. But I think there was a vast improvement made on Saturday. Pretty sure the flower shop will bring you in as extra help for Valentine's Day.
• Received an insurance claim thing that says I owe a doctor a LOT of money, I hope there is a glitch somewhere on that.
• Told another kind-of friend we should have dinner.  Then facebooked her about dinner within an hour after we left the face-to-face event.  (No, I'm not desperate and needy)
• I have a pad poured for my porch. Woo-hoo!!
• Then I accidentally poured coffee on the new poured bad.  Boo.
• Watched the USA men's basketball game even though I already knew the outcome, that's a sickness.
• Had a flashback as a soon to be college freshman talked about her fears of leaving home and her small town.
• Hung out with a friend I hadn't seen in a while.
• I had my first cup of my new Honduran coffee a friend at church picked up for me.  YUM!!
• Wrote said soon to be college freshman a long rambling letter that I tried to insert wisdom and encouragement in.  Now the question, does she really want to read about the freshman year of a person I'm sure she considers an old lady?  And is it full of wisdom and encouragement or just rambling
• Started with She Reads Truth, a blog/website that's kind of a giant online interactive devotional.  I'm not sure I'm completely techy enough to grasp the whole thing, but I'm enjoying reading thru Proverbs and the email devotional that comes along with it.
• Wrote a long rambling blog post about my weekend.

Hope you had a great one!

It's Ok...

It's Ok
   
...That I haven't posted in 3 weeks

...That I got called out by my favorite blogger today for my lack of posts.

...That I do a million blog posts in my head that never make it to the blog (yes, i hear the round of sighs that you are missing out on my random thoughts :)

...That yesterday I thought I was so funny all day.  Do you ever have those days, where you think everything you say and think is whittier and more clever than normal?  Pretty sure it wasn't, but I really found myself pretty laugh out loud hilarious all day!

...That I had to call my dad to come let me in my house last night, because I was locked out.

...That the one day my house was locked my hard working cousin really needed to stop by for a drink of water.  Sorry, Emily, I'm still feeling really bad about that.

... That I really love my nephews, but I will probably be especially nice and giving to them so they will make sure I make it into a nice nursing home when I'm old.

...That I hate paying for big things.  I'm getting a new porch, and while I'm excited about it, I'm also very bummed, because I hate putting out that kind of money.  I need to get my act together, because I'm being a little negative about the whole thing.

...That I hate taking showers.  I really only do it out of social obligation or not wanting to smell myself.  It's just such a time taker (I've never mastered quick showers), and then hair, yuck, I just don't have the patience

...That my house is cleaner and straighter than it's been in a while thanks in large part to my mom who helped me get it that way, and this verse I came across in the past week that has convicted me to put in the effort to keep in that way  "These older women must train the younger women to love their husbands and their children, ⁵ to live wisely and be pure, to work in their homes,^[b] to do good, and to be submissive to their husbands. Then they will not bring shame on the word of God." Titus 2:4-5 NLT (when I read that, I thought, seriously, the Bible tells me to keep my house clean?!?!?!)

...That I am still bummed over the closing of the full service gas station.  While I don't like to pay for big things, I will gladly pay and extra $1 for someone to pump my gas for me.  Lazy, maybe so, but I would.

...That I'm rediculously excited about high school football starting next week!!  Woo-hoo!!

...That this time of year makes me almost giddy, football, horse shows, county fair, I just love it!

....That I've seen almost every hour of the Olympics that NBC has aired.  Let me just say, this takes determination and no life, and a few days off work.  Luckily for me, that's what I've had in the past couple of weeks.  My sister and I were talking last night, and being determined to watch it all is almost exhausting.  Grant it, it only comes around every 4 years, but I'm about ready for it to be over.  That's the way I like to do things.  Saturate yourself until you are glad to see it end.

...To be thinking about putting out a personal ad for additional friends.

...To forget the night you signed up to take your new mom friend supper.  Yes, I need to actually use that calendar app on my phone or the nice planner that rides around in my car.

I'm really going to do better.