Best Friends...

I know lots of people really don't like Mondays and like to complain about them, but I think Mondays are alright. This week's Monday was actually fantastic! Why you may ask?? Well because I got to talk to two of my very best friends. I talked to my best friend from high school, (even if only over facebook IM), and she is absolutely hysterical! I'm not even sure she tries to make me laugh half the time, but she does and I love it! I get to see her in less than 3 weeks and I am pretty pumped about that! She is pretty much an adopted 13th member of the VeenKant siblings so naturally she will be going to my cousins wedding with us. Good times will be had by all. :o) My other best friend is from college and it's so good to talk to her because I didn't get to talk to her for practically 2 years when she was out of the country. We have talked a few times since she has been back and as an hour on the phone passes it feels like about 15 minutes to me. She is just such a great all around person and her laugh is one of the best I've heard :o) Not sure when I will see her next because we live across the country from one another, but I am plotting! Other than my pleasant conversations with my best friends I also had a good day at work, fun time hanging out with my kids (even though I managed to get a puncture wound on my hand in the process, don't ask), and made yummy cinnamon rolls. Tonight I read Philippians 1 & 2 and a few things stuck out to me: 1. 1:6 says, "And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns." I found this interesting because it lets us know that God has already begun working on us, but pretty much here on earth we will always be a work in progress because the process will not be finished until he returns. 2. 2:14 states "Do everything without complaining or arguing..." hmmm....yea, let's just say that's a tough one. I know I certaintly have things that set me off on my little complaining or arguing rampages and I really need to work on that. The unfortunate piece to that is that I honestly think I do it more at home....& I think the reason I do it at home is because I know that there isn't people judging me there...it's just my husband and although I know he doesn't like it, I know that he'll forgive me and look past it. But I shouldn't just continue knowing he'll see past it, I really need to change it because he does not deserve my little annoying complaint rampages :o) So let the progress begin.....NOW! I'll just call it one of my anniversary presents to him :o)....it is coming up this Friday!! That's all for tonight!
May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace.

Emotions.....they sure can be strange sometimes...

Well I know I didn't write Friday night because I was just kinda busy/taking time to relax and then Saturday I had time to write, but didn't feel inspired, but here I am Sunday and I think I am ready to write about something. Today I went to church just as I do every Sunday and I had one of those Sundays that I have every once in awhile....we were singing some amazing worship songs and I had an incredible urge to just burst into tears...like so much that I had to stop singing at certain parts and as much as I tried to fight it, a few little tears streaked out of my eyes. (Lucky for Floyd he wasn't at church with me today because he gets so embarassed if I ever cry in public and he just hates that I cry in general, he doesn't get the whole crying thing....I think it's another thing to add to the long list of cultural differences.) NEways....this whole urge to cry, it's not like a bad cry....it's a good one! It's hard to identify all that I am feeling at the time, but it's kind of like I'm feeling so happy that God chose me and is always with me and watching over me and guiding, providing, etc.  It also feels as if all the hurt I have had from various things in my life doesn't even matter anymore....it's just gone & I feel so lucky, so loved, and so at peace. It's like I am just bursting with all these positive emotions that I don't even know what to say, what to think, or how to act.....so apparently that makes me feel like I should cry my eyes out....haha! that makes no sense, but it's ok, it doesn't have to! During worship we sang two of my new favorite songs which I don't know the titles to, but the one is talking about how God never lets go of us and is with us through everything. I really like the song, not because I am so worried about Him staying with me through things now, but more so because I can't believe he stuck with me for so long until everything finally "clicked" and I got this whole relationship with Christ. I mean seriously, I was a preacher's kid, had great family influences and went to (in my opinion) the best Christian university out there, but still failed to 100% "get" the whole Christian thing. I guess I am just a really slow learner.....so I am glad that God loves us slow learners just as much as the rest. :o) The other song is one that talks about not wanting to live by just going through the motions. I am pretty sure I have been going through the motions a good majority of the time and it's just so great now to realize that I have the ability to live my life as more than that. So yea....I know this is all kind of random, but I am really trying to be open and share what I am going through.
OH &....I actually raised my hands a little while we were singing worship songs in church today....never really had anything against people who did that, just never felt the need to do it myself. Not sure what all is going on with me, but I know that I like it. :o) On a lighter note my weekend was splendid with a MOPS meeting with friends, a morning run & breakfast with another friend, pool time with the kids, relaxing with Floyd, and a nice little outting with the whole family. I should head to bed now though.
May God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace.

LONG lessons....

Do you ever feel like God teaches you a lesson through something and it seems to be a really, REALLY long one?? I am still in the middle of one of those right now and I am wondering when it will complete itself. I was sitting here and thinking to myself/sort of talking to God and thinking you know, I got this, I get the lesson, haven't I passed yet so I can stop suffering the consequences and move on!? But then I remembered, hmmm....who am I to tell God when I have learned the lesson He is trying to teach me? I didn't create the lesson, HE did. I may have learned a lesson, but maybe I haven't learned it fully or maybe there is more to it that I haven't gotten yet. So here I am, telling myself to be patient, and to be open to learning more, and to not worry about the suffering part because God won't give me more than I can handle and He will be there through it all. So am I the only one with the extended lessons or are there others right now in the middle of a big unit plan or something?? Let me know, it may make me feel better. :o) On a seperate note, I finally got a new pair of running shoes so I need to get back to pounding the pavement again cuz there is nothing better than that! My runs will undoubtedly (sp?) give me more randrom things to write about because I think a lot during my runs and my thoughts are always daisy-chaining. And I will end this with one of the verses that I read last night: "...for he chose us in advance, and he makes everything work out according to his plan." (Ephesians 1:11)
May the Lord our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ give you grace and peace.

Fall is on its way folks!

Don't let this 108 degree weather in Phoenix fool you, I am convinced that fall is on its way! Why you may ask?? Well, because I bought leggings and a long sleeve plaid shirt at Target tonight during my 2 hour shopping extravaganza with Jaylee. I think that God will honor my purchases and send cooler weather our way :o) That makes complete sense right? Well either way, I am at least going to wear them around my house in my air conditioning and pretend like there is fall weather. I actually looked for pumpkin last weekend to make pumpkin bread but I couldn't find any at the grocery store....what's up with that!? If nothing else, I go to Indiana & Michigan in about 3 1/2 weeks (I think), for a long weekend so I can get a dose of fall weather then. Oh man, I am going to have to get a hot chocolate too! Now I can't wait!! NEways... I road my new bike to school today and it was quite nice except for the part I anticipated....carrying it up the stairs when I got back home! I know you are probably thinking, wow Jodi with all those muscles you have I would have thought you carried it up with one pinky, but don't let those muscles fool you folks, it was quite the challenge. On probably the second stair I managed to hit my little shin pretty hard on the petal which ripped off a little skin and gave me a little goose egg THEN...about 3 steps from the top I started to lose my balance and nearly fell backwards, but I quickly through all of my weight forwards....phew! close call! Needless to say I think I will leave my bike at the bottom of the stairs for Floyd to bring up tomorow when he gets home. Well that's all for today, no deep thoughts, just a snapshot of pieces of my day.
Random verse I felt like adding:
"The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it." (John 1:5)

New Bikes & some random thoughts on the ride home...

So today was the day our bikes came in! Malaki got his first bicycle complete with training wheels. His bike is red, blue, and yellow and he and his Dad picked it out on the internet together. Prior to this bike he had only ridden a tricycle which allowed one to pedal backwards or forwards, so when Malaki found this bike could only go forwards he was sure it was broken and had Daddy bust out his tool set. After a little tinkering around he decided that his bike was ok. When Floyd ordered Malaki’s bike he also decided to secretly order one for me as well. (About 6 months ago my beloved beach cruiser was stolen and I have been without a bike since then.) The bike is a very light green, cream, and brown and I really like it! He also got me a new and better lock and a basket to put on front! Floyd thought I was crazy, but I road it home from the store….which is just about 4 ½ miles, but not the most normal area to ride your bike….oh well, I did it & I loved it. The bike ride was like my runs and I started on a string of thoughts stemmed from something an old friend wrote on his FB status. A few weeks back a friend of mine wrote something along these lines, “Look at your own sin with the same disgust you look at others sins.” Well ok, when I first read this I thought well of course I do. I was thinking more simply; for example, I am disgusted by someone stealing and I would be just as disgusted if I myself stole something. Then I thought deeper because obviously there had to be more by this statement….….I believe that it was hinting towards looking at all sins as being equal and not looking down on those who commit sins that are more obvious or disgusting to you then perhaps the sins you yourself commit. I have been taught and have believed for years that all sins are equal and as some say “a sin is a sin is a sin.” Even though I had been taught this and claimed to believe it my own thoughts were not following this. I started to realize that there are still some sins that others committed that I was holding against them. I need to realize that I am a sinner just like everyone else and I would hate for others to hold my sins against me because it was “obvious” or “disgusting” to them. I also began to think about how our culture and society molds our minds and how we feel about different sins. As a Christian I may be “different” than society as a whole, but society is still continually affecting the way I look at things whether I like it or not. The next time I find myself in the seat of judging someone else for their sins I plan to remind myself of what an old friend said and look at my own sin with the same disgust that I am looking at theirs. I believe this will lead me towards fixing my own sins and not focusing on others. I hope that makes at least a little bit of sense to at least one person who reads this.
I think I better go figure out how to hook up my basket on my new ride! Woop woop! :o) Yup, that's right, just picture that bad boy up above with a basket! I'm pretty gangster.
May the grace of the Lord Jesus be with you. My love to all of you in Christ Jesus.

To blog or not to blog??...That is the question.

So I have mixed feelings about the whole idea of blogging. Initially I thought blogging was the most ridiculous thing ever…..I mean, why on earth would anyone want to basically put their diary online for everyone to see??? It seemed much too revealing and therefore silly to me. After reading just a select few people’s I have begun to see some point in it depending on how one blogs. One particular blog that I read is of a young woman whom I believe inspires so many and has no idea. People are able to be inspired and also learn from her life experiences and the inner thoughts she shares with her blog followers because she is willing to put her whole self out there. Those that know me would probably agree that I am not a very shy person at all, but for some reason I still have a problem letting people know my inner thoughts. I am not sure why I feel this way….I guess maybe I have felt like people would make fun of the way I think and tell me it wasn’t right or something along those lines. In general, I have always felt that I didn’t quite look at things the same as others and had different thoughts than others……this was true UNTIL I had the pleasure of getting to know others more intimately through their blogs or just on a more personal level….turns out, I am not as weird or unique as I thought :o) I think many of us have “different” thoughts, but few are willing to share any of those thoughts that would portray us as less than perfect or that would make us stand apart from the norm. I applaud those who are willing to share their inner thoughts and struggles because I truly believe that it can help others with various situations in their own lives. At this moment I am still unsure how much of myself I am going to be able to reveal but I have decided that it is time to sort of “pay it forward”…..meaning others who have been willing to share their lives have made a difference in my life so maybe I ought to share my life so that (maybe) it can make a difference in someone else’s. How often will I blog? I have no idea, but all I can say is that I will try. What will I talk about? Whatever is upon my heart that I am able to put into words. And this concludes my first blog post! May the grace of the Lord Jesus be with you. My love to all of you in Christ Jesus.