an attempt at what is new...

I feel like most people update their blogs with new things going on in their lives. At least those are the blogs I love the most. I am not real into the "send a deep philosophical question out into the vast internet world", though I think for some they are great. But the blogs that I go back to everyday hoping to see an update, are just the everyday blogs. Why am I so enamored with what peoples lives are like? I have no idea, but anthropology and sociology were my majors (so obviously I like observing human life for some strange reason).

All that to say, I want to attempt to be the type of blogger I love so much. But when I try to think of whats going on in life it always seems so normal and 'same o same o'. I will give it my best.

Lately, Justin and I's lives consists of alot of work. Justin now has three jobs: youth pastor at Smiths Grove Baptist, Starbucks, and a Special Ed Assistant at North Warren Elementary. He is a busy busy man. I only have one job, the BCM, but sometimes it can feel like 10 jobs! hehe! The funny thing is in the midst of what should be the busiest season in our lives thus far, we have really gotten into a schedule of sorts! I think this is bc we have to in order to see each other maybe?

So mostly here is my weekly night life (please dont get too bored on me): mondays we eat dinner at home with dustin, watch some sort of tv or play the wii and just enjoy each other, tuesdays justin works at starbucks till close and i have 180, wednesdays we go to dustins for dinner then church then i lead a dgroup, thursdays are varied but usually we have some sort of date night, and the weekends are filled with starbucks, BCM or church events, family and friends.

there are the basics...

a rant...

well where have i been for the past two months basically?

i have been doing life. you know, buying a house, working, cooking, cleaning, seeing family and friends, going crazy! hehe! and i am totally wondering- how do people keep up with this whole blogging thing??

so lately i have been wanting more than ever to save save save money. but kinda in a good way, and kinda not in a good way. see i have started following this one blog that is called moneysavingmom.com. and its a good blog. but its like a whole new subculture.

you see the blog is all about finding the best deals around, you know being frugal. and i think thats a great aspiration. especially with today's economy. but you see, if you look at who posts on this blog, its like there are a million of these blogs! and they are all centered around being a mom and being thrifty. interesting.

so anyhow- yesterday someone posted on there how they save money by not having cable. now anyone who knows me knows i dont have cable or Internet and i do save quite a bit of money by this choice. however, someday i do hope to have them- i like them. i dont think its a crime (although i am not that well versed on the new code of good Christians in the 2000s...).

but then all this "i am super religious because i dont have cable" fluff followed. all these people posted about how they were making the best choice ever- that they were focused on their family and saving money and being productive and being pure etc etc etc.

this totally angers me!! i mean i am not like a huge tv advocate or anything at all... but why have we become the pharisees all over again?? did Paul not say that we are free??

"7But not everyone knows this. Some people are still so accustomed to idols that when they eat such food they think of it as having been sacrificed to an idol, and since their conscience is weak, it is defiled. 8But food does not bring us near to God; we are no worse if we do not eat, and no better if we do." 1 Corinthians 8:7-8

"3This is my defense to those who sit in judgment on me. 4Don't we have the right to food and drink?" 1 Corinthians 9:3-4

Basically I am trying to say that God desires for us to be free indeed! and that He desires for us to live in the time and culture that He created us for. If I delight in resting by weeping with those who weep in some sappy show, my Father in heaven does not look down on me for not checking ten other things off my to do list. He rejoices that I can love people like He designed me to.

Now I get that there is filth on TV. I do. And I am not saying go watch a bunch of gross junk. I am not condoning the people that sit all day and waste their brains away. But i am saying that when Christians get on a religious soap box about being holier than thou by not watching tv we sound an awful lot like the pharisees that spent so much time trying to trick Jesus into thinking they were perfect.

let us live as children of God... children who are free indeed... children that delight in the Fathers love- not trying to earn it.

the house trap...

so i will admit i have been a little stressed out lately...

ok maybe alot!

life has been crazy this year and i think it has been easy to focus on the earthly individual situations and not the heavenly big picture.

however, the biggest source of stress right now is the new house. moving. packing. decorating. wanting to update. mortgaging. ughhh!

and i find it so annoying. a house should be a place of rest and renewal. edith schaeffer once compared it to a hospital- people should be healed by being in your home. thats a pretty lofty goal. and i so desire to have a home that people feel the Holy Spirit ministering in. i want to be renewed by walking in the door, and i want others too as well.

and yet too often my home is my biggest source of frustration. my biggest idol. my biggest distraction. i try to live up to unachievable perfection when it comes to cleaning my house and decorating and organizing my house. my intention is good- i start out wanting it to be clutter free and inviting. however when i end, it has not become a place of renewal- it is a place i (and prob my husband) want to run from!

so with the new house, i am finding it so hard to slow down and simply desire for it to be welcoming and relaxing. i am constantly thinking of how to update it, make it look better, make it worth more money, make it look super cute etc. it is such a worldly trap!!! ugh! it is enough to make a person want to just move overseas with some tribe that lives in huts! goodness!

(did i mention i am not even moved in this house yet?)

so if you think about it today, send a prayer up for me and my home. pray that my mind will be captive to the things of Christ only, and that my home will be a place of ministry, not of worldly show.

tired thoughts... with no point really

this year has been very full of tiredness.

i started the year tired from surgery. i had a tired voice and complete lack of motivation. i was also tired of my husband being jobless and us being churchless. just tired.

then i was tired from a lack of sufficient thyroid hormone. literally tired. it took months to get my dose right, and quite frankly we are still working on that.

and now i am just tired. i am so tired of constantly running running running. there are practically no margins in our lives. we run from thing to thing to thing. and it is not just the busyness, anyone who knows me knows i have been busy my whole life. i was born busy i think.

but there is something different about this busy, something that is leaving me feeling awfully cynical and negative.

i dont have a wise lesson to be learned here- i have something i am needing to learn i think. basically i am tired, and fighting negativity so hard, and i havent the slightest clue why. but if you are reading this- please pray for clarity and joy.

oh, and calmness hehe!

someone hit fast forward!

where did summer go?


suddenly we only have a few more weeks and I am wondering how on earth time went by so quickly! in the last month I have gone to New York on a family vacation, and Louisville on a youth mission trip. but the biggest news is...


we are buying a house!

yes in the process of helping Dustin (Justin's twin brother) buy a house, we ran out of reasons to continue renting and started our own house search! we found a house that is just so "us" and are now under contract. the whole thing si super fast and crazy! here is a listing if you are interested!

http://legacyrealestategroup.point2agent.com/Bowling_Green/Kentucky/Homes/Bowling_Green_North/Agent/Listing_1768599.html