The One Where I Slowly Change My Name

Well, today I changed my last name at two banks (one is my bank and the other is camp's). I like taking that official step to make it more concrete, but it is weird to think about how I will no longer be signing the name I have used for the past 25 years.

Weird indeed.

The One Where I Whine

Bladder Infection.

Enough said, right?

Ugh.

Anyways, so my day off went back to being my day off (I was going to work today because tomorrow I'm hoping to head down to Rapid City to do a bunch of stuff - switch my soc. sec card, make a bunch of returns and go shopping) and now I'm putting off what I shouldn't be putting off. But I'll get to it! I just know I will! Homework, cleaning, organizing, bill paying and letter writing are all in the works for today. Along with drinking copious amounts of water and blueberry/pomengranate juice (I finished off all of my cran/raspberry last night) and peeing 4 times an hour.

On a positive note, the sky is a beautiful blue and the sun is spreading its rays of happiness.

It's going to be a great day here in SE Montana!

The One Where I Give You A Glimpse ....

The One Where I Participate In 10 On Tuesday!

Hello loves! Now that I settling into a routine, I am trying to get back into practice of blogging. Oddly enough it really helps me to have random questions to answer, because a lot of times I have random thoughts running around in my mind and I like to spout those, but have a hard time making a whole blogpost out of them. So, here you go!

Oh and don't forget to head over to Chelsea's to see more 10 on Tuesday!

1. What is your favorite travel destination spot?

       Hmmm .... I like traveling places I haven't been before. So of course I have all sorts of want-to-travel to spots, like Europe. But as for my favorite place I have already been? Ummm .. Playa del Carmen was amazing and so is Seattle. The beaches of SoCal are delightful as well. As is the Gulf of Mexico. So I'm just going to say head me towards an ocean and I'll be happy as a clam!
2. Cats vs. Dogs.
      Dogs. Dogs don't jump up on my counters and dogs smile at me. I am much more of a dog person and so is hubby, so it works out well. But, I must admit that I do like cats, especially cuddly, friendly baby ones. I just don't like it when they want to be all cuddly and friendly in the middle of the night. On my face. Just saying.
3. Do you believe in fate?
      I believe God ordains certain things that appear to be coincidences but aren't. So, no to fate, but yes to God!
4. Do you believe in karma?
      No. I believe there are consequences to your actions, but not karma.


5. Everyone has a unique laugh. Do you like yours?
    No. A lot of times I do the silent laugh, then suck in air really loudly and then laugh silently again. Ugh. Or if I find something funny and want someone to know it, then I laugh really loudly - like a machine gun. Ugh again. So, I just smile a lot :-)
6. Is love really all you need?
    What is love?

    (ok, is my brain the only one that pulled out "baby don't hurt me" as the answer to that question?)
   
    name that band.

     Anyways.

    Love of God? Yes!

    Love of man? No. it's very important! But I think behind all love is commitment and honor and respect and choice.
7. What’s your take on the whole 2012 scare?
     I think when God will come when God comes. We can't date it and predict it. It will be when it will be. As far as ancient Mayans predicting the end of the world.... well, according to our tour guide in Tulum, they would have even thought it as ridiculous. It just means that their calendar starts over.
8. If you won a million dollars and had to give it all away, who would you give it to? (Family and friends not included.)
    I would divide it between Trail's End Ranch, Compassion, Soles 4 Souls, Thrive Africa and Camp Joy. And anything else I felt led to give to.


9. Do you believe in God/religion/the power of prayer?
    With all my heart.


10. What New Year’s Resolution do you always make but never keep?
      I normally throw out the typical "I'm going to read my Bible everyday" and "I'm going to work out everyday" as goals for myself, but I never set them down as resolutions.

The One Where I Spout 7 Random Things

I first heard about 7 Quick Takes at Roots & Rings, the place where I find all cool things. But apparently it originates at Conversion Diary. Go check them both out!

1.

I am waiting for hubby to shower and get ready so we can go over to someone's house for supper. Since I always have so many random things flying around in  my head, I thought I would just post them.

2.

First example: many times I'll be at work, realize I have to go to the bathroom but don't do anything about it. Apparently I think that it is simply waaaaaayyyyy too much work to actually just go, because I sit there and fidget (I literally squirm in my seat like a first grader). Then I finally realize that the bathroom is only 10 feet away and so I go *ahem* take care of things and the world becomes a much happier place and I can concentrate on my work again instead of giving myself a thigh work-out worthy of Jillian.

3. 

Speaking of Jillian I am working on doing her 30 Day Shred. Day 1 and 2 were killers on my quads. I looked ridiculous as I went down stairs with straight legs! Not only that, but I made hubby rub them for me while I whined and whimpered. I might be dramatic. Maybe. But now it's better. I still want to quit every circuit, but at least I'm not in excruciating pain afterwards.

4.

Hubby is a rockstar and got ready to go under 10 minutes, so I am now writing this after a delightful evening spent with some great friends. We had awesome food, talked politics, played pool and watched Haiwaii 5-O. By some shot of luck, I ended up winning a game of cutthroat, which is funny because pretty sure the winning shot was the only ball I hit into the pocket all night.

5.

Tonight is the "Wolf" moon, which means it is the brightest moon we'll see all year. We did drive for awhile without our headlights, but only on camp property where there were no other drivers. Hubby finally turned them back on when we almost ran into the herd of horses. They broke out of the pasture they were supposed to be in and were making a dash towards freedom. Except, there is no freedom because they are fenced in everywhere. Bummer for them. However, they seemed to be enjoying the new scenery as they frisked away over the hills!

6.

Speaking of the moon, can I just say how beautiful moonlight is on pine trees that are dusted with snow and enshrouded with fog?

7.

The copious amount of caffeine I consumed today (one cup of regular coffee, 2 Excedrin pills, 2 cans of Dr Pepper and one cup of decaf coffee) is really messing with my head. Especially considering I normally only have my morning coffee and stop there. I go from exhuasted to wacky in 3.8 seconds. Quite fun for hubby I'm sure!!

The One Where I Share Some Thoughts

This morning as I was having my devotional time, I was struck by something and wanted to share with you.

(for my devotional times, I have decided to read through the Psalms, along with work through the devotional book Streams in the Desert. I started Streams last year and have really been blessed by its message, so I decided to keep going with it this year)

I started with Psalm 2 and read about the overwhelming power of God. One of God's "personas" is that of loving Father and I think that there definitely are times He benevolently smiles down on us as we make all these grandiose plans. However, in this particular chapter, God is not looking down with benevolence. The "kings of the earth take their stand and the rulers take counsel together against the Lord" and as a result, "He who sits in the heavens laughs, the Lord scoffs at them. Then He will speak to them in His anger and terrify them in His fury." We cannot think of God as a kind old man who sits on the Throne, stroking His beard as He kindly laughs at us. HE IS GOD. Are we working on our plans or His plans?

Then I read today's reading from Streams in the Desert. The verse for today was Acts 20:24, which says "I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me." Paul was speaking to the elders from Ephesus, with whom he lived and worked and preached for 3 years. He was telling them good-bye, because he was heading to Jerusalem and did not think that he would be back to Asia. As he talked with them, he reminded them that the news he shared with them was the Gospel of God and to be aware of those who would come in and try to destroy that truth, because they are coming.

Isn't that the truth? How many of us have seen this firsthand? How many times have we seen people who are preaching a version of the truth, but not the truth? How many of us have let naysayers steal our joy? Take our assurance from us? Let their doubts creep in and put fissures in our strong wall of faith?

So, are we going to let them? Are we going to give up and take the easy road? Or instead, will we stand up for what we believe?

To be honest, I have no idea what that really means. Oh sure, I am a missionary, but my life is not in danger. I am surrounded by people who love and support me in my work. Does the Devil still fight against me? Of course he does. I deal with insecurities, seasonal depression, envy, anger and doubt. But, really, where is my battle?

To be honest, I think my battle is in the everyday. I look for the magnificent and push aside the ordinary. I want to do extraordinary things today without faithfully working yesterday.

My battle is surrender. I have dreams and hopes and plans. Some of them are good and God will honor them. Others belong only to the world and not to Him. So, I battle it out. With myself. And I know only with the help of God will I succeed.

I walk every day, one foot in front of the other, on His path. There are days I get distracted and wander off the path. Other times I take a wrong turn, on purpose. But, no matter how I feel day by day, I KNOW that at the end I want to end up at His destination for me, not mine.

For to fight for what I believe in little things will add up to big things.

Yesterday I had to write a paper for my Media Theories class. I was to talk about my "locations", meaning I was to describe some things that define who I am and that influence my values and principles and worldview. I talked about my ethnicity (I am very proudly Norwegian-American), my gender/sexuality and, the most important one, my religion. We were to then take an issue that is impacting this world and talk about it through the lens of our worldview. The one that kept coming to me was abortion. I tried to just work it in and go a different direction, but I couldn't. So, while it is a small thing, only to be read by one professor, I stood up for what I believed. I used Bible verses in a paper for a secular college. I have no idea what my professor will say. But, it was what I had to do.

Yesterday, I did a itty bitty tiny thing. Maybe today I can something that is a little bit bigger.

But that isn't the point. The point is to take what I have and give it ALL to God. To walk on His path and keep focused on Him. There is an end goal here and we can't lose sight of that!

I will end with a quote from Streams:

Great is the easy conqueror; Yet the one who is wounded sore, Breathless, all covered o'er with blood and sweat, Sinks fainting, but fighting evermore – Is greater yet.

The One Where I Come Out Of Hiding

It appears I have some things to catch ya'll up on!

Especially considering everything that has taken place in the past 18 days.

Here's a brief list:

I got married (pictures and stories to come – I'm just waiting to get the disc from my photographer!), got my first stamp in my passport (hello Playa del Carmen, Mexico!), went snorkeling for the first time, got bit by the Caribbean reef, visited a Mayan ruin, went on a gigantic zipline system and rappelled off of a 70 ft tower and went snorkeling again (this time in an underground cave), got delayed in two different airports (but, I was with my hunky hubby, so no worries!), got the news that my dad had a heart attack (he's fine – two stints and another stay in the hospital for acid reflux and he's like new!), spent the second week of my married life staying with my parents so my husband could feed the cows for my dad (not really what I would recommend … but we made it through just fine), finally got home to MT after being gone for 3 weeks, semi-cleaned up my disastrous house (pictures to come!), opened our wedding presents, went back to work (only part-time though - loving that!), went back to school, and somewhat celebrated my husband's 25^th birthday (he was sick. big bummer!).

So, now, here I sit, on my couch. Today is my first full day of being a part-time, stay-at-home wife and I am rather enjoying myself! Of course I haven't done much the requires moving off of my couch, but hey, I did finally catch up on my Google Reader (after deleting a bunch of blogs I can just no longer commit to reading) and I read a chapter in THE MOST BORING TEXTBOOK EVER and am now preparing myself to write a short paper so I can submit it and spend the evening with my hubby, celebrating his birthday (cause he's feeling better!)

Some of you might be wondering what being a part-time, stay-at-home wife means for the whole missionary thing. Well, I am not sure yet. However, I can tell you that I am definitely still a missionary! Since both Luke and I work at the camp, obviously, it is a big part of my life and time and I still consider it my ministry.

However, it is the camp policy that wives only are required to work 10 hours a week. Since I am staying on as secretary until we leave or they find another one, I will be working about double that. Starting this week, I will be working two full days (Mondays and Fridays), two afternoons (Tuesdays and Thursdays) and taking one full day off (Wednesday). My hope is to be able to clean the house (it's pretty tiny, so it shouldn't be a big worry!) and get most of my schoolwork done in my hours off so that I can spend time with Luke at night and not have to worry about other things. Obviously I know I will have to do some things during the evening, I'm just hoping to accomplish most of them during the day. Especially since right now we are on a big ALIAS kick and have lot of TV on DVD to watch J

I'll be back soon with stories, pictures and glad tidings of great joy!