It's called an elipsis, the dot-dot-dot (...)at the end of a sentence. The elipsis serves to indicate a pause in speech, trailing off into silence, or an unfinished thought...
I feel like my life right now is a series of dot-dot-dot's. My life is an unfinished thought, an elipsis. I'm not in Nashville yet, but in my mind, I'm starting to close the doors in Idaho to open the ones in Nashville. I'm suppose to give my full attention to things here for the next few weeks, yet in the back of my mind, I know what's coming...
See, there it is again! Dot-dot-dot!
It's the dot-dot-dot's that I think about when I'm lying awake at night. It's the dot-dot-dot's that cloud my mind when I'm trying to focus on work. The dot-dot-dot's are the STUFF I have to accomplish in the next two weeks. Even worse are the dot-dot-dot's I shove down in my heart when I think about all the goodbye's that have to be said.
The dot-dot-dot's are why they say moving is one of the top ten most stressful events in life, along with starting a new job. Guitarman and I are doing both.... and we have a somewhat new baby, which also tops the list of life's most stressful events.
I'll be glad when all of this is over. The dot-dot-dot's are wearing me out.
Welcome to my life.
Tuesday, October 26, 2010
Saturday, October 23, 2010
On the Move
Snuggles is on the move! The best way I know to describe how he "crawls" is to say he looks like a cross between a caterpillar and a hermit crab. It works! Check him out.
Obviously it's time to babyproof the house.
He is into everything, so Grandma came over today to help keep him occupied while we work on cleaning out the garage and packing.
Obviously it's time to babyproof the house.
He is into everything, so Grandma came over today to help keep him occupied while we work on cleaning out the garage and packing.
Monday, October 18, 2010
Moving to Nashville
It's been two weeks since I last blogged, and the honest truth is I've been too busy to write. Seriously. After you read this blog, you'll believe me.
We're moving to Nashville next month.
Holy cow, I can't believe I just typed those words!
It all started in July. Guitarman received a call from Dwight Gunter, a friend of ours, asking if Guitarman would consider being the children's pastor at Trevecca Community Church of the Nazarene (TCC) in Nashville, Tennessee. We prayed about it, and we met with Dwight to discuss things. After prayerful consideration, we told Dwight "No" because the timing just didn't seem right.
Fast forward a few weeks. We were back into the swing of life, and things were going well. Although we were confident we had made the right decision, we couldn't seem to get TCC off our minds. That's when Dwight called us again. He said we were still on his heart. He just had a feeling we were the right fit for TCC. So we agreed to pray about it again.
Fast forward again. (I'm skipping over a lot of details here.) Dwight and Guitarman talked again, and Dwight asked if we would be more comfortable if I had a job. We admitted that my being without a job was a major concern given the state of the economy and the fact that we would likely have to continue paying our mortgage in Idaho. Dwight asked me to send him my resume, and said he would contact some folks at Trevecca Nazarene University (a sister school to Northwest Nazarene University - where I work now) to see what jobs might be available.
A few days later, I got a phone call from someone in leadership at TNU. He had received my resume, and was very interested in talking with me about a position that might be opening up in the near future. We discussed the position, he sent me the job description, and I was amazed at how well I seemed to fit the job requirements. Within days, I received another call from the TNU leader, verifying the job had become available.
We recognized God's hand at work, so Guitarman and I agreed to fly to Nashville (with Snuggles) to interview at TCC. While we were there, I planned to interview with various leaders at Trevecca for the job there.
The days in Nashville were a whirlwind of activity. It felt like we raced around at 100mph the entire time. We ate dinner with the pastoral team, we met with the children's leadership team (they call it something else), and we met with the church board. Guitarman interviewed with people. I interviewed with people. My parents drove down to meet us there, and helped us take care of Snuggles.
Although it was a whirlwind, we felt like we were breathing fresh air while we were in Nashville. We sensed God's grace, and we felt the peace only He provides. It became very clear over those days that the Lord was calling us to Nashville. The Lord confirmed His call when TCC's church board voted unanimously to call John as their children's pastor. The day after Guitarman accepted TCC's call, I received a call from Trevecca, offering me the job there.
During our interview with the church board, one of the board members asked us a really great question. She said something to the effect of, "It sounds like things are going really well for you in Idaho. If things are so great, why would you want to come here?" I answered the question with a one-word answer: God.
Why are we moving to Nashville? GOD is calling us there. Why would we willing to pack up our entire lives, including a baby and an elderly mother, and move 1,600 miles? Because when GOD calls, we answer.
Sometimes it's not logical to answer God's call. The cost of obedience doesn't always work out on paper. The numbers may not balance, but faith does.
For Guitarman and me, our greatest aspiration is to be faithful to God's call on our lives. Above all else, we want to be in the center of God's will. We want to be WHO He calls us to be. We're trusting GOD to provide everything we need to answer His call.
So, we're moving to Nashville in mid-November. Please join us in prayer that the Lord will direct our path, and pray also for College Church of the Nazarene in Nampa. We believe God is already working on a new children's pastor to minister with CCN.
We're moving to Nashville next month.
Holy cow, I can't believe I just typed those words!
It all started in July. Guitarman received a call from Dwight Gunter, a friend of ours, asking if Guitarman would consider being the children's pastor at Trevecca Community Church of the Nazarene (TCC) in Nashville, Tennessee. We prayed about it, and we met with Dwight to discuss things. After prayerful consideration, we told Dwight "No" because the timing just didn't seem right.
Fast forward a few weeks. We were back into the swing of life, and things were going well. Although we were confident we had made the right decision, we couldn't seem to get TCC off our minds. That's when Dwight called us again. He said we were still on his heart. He just had a feeling we were the right fit for TCC. So we agreed to pray about it again.
Fast forward again. (I'm skipping over a lot of details here.) Dwight and Guitarman talked again, and Dwight asked if we would be more comfortable if I had a job. We admitted that my being without a job was a major concern given the state of the economy and the fact that we would likely have to continue paying our mortgage in Idaho. Dwight asked me to send him my resume, and said he would contact some folks at Trevecca Nazarene University (a sister school to Northwest Nazarene University - where I work now) to see what jobs might be available.
A few days later, I got a phone call from someone in leadership at TNU. He had received my resume, and was very interested in talking with me about a position that might be opening up in the near future. We discussed the position, he sent me the job description, and I was amazed at how well I seemed to fit the job requirements. Within days, I received another call from the TNU leader, verifying the job had become available.
We recognized God's hand at work, so Guitarman and I agreed to fly to Nashville (with Snuggles) to interview at TCC. While we were there, I planned to interview with various leaders at Trevecca for the job there.
The days in Nashville were a whirlwind of activity. It felt like we raced around at 100mph the entire time. We ate dinner with the pastoral team, we met with the children's leadership team (they call it something else), and we met with the church board. Guitarman interviewed with people. I interviewed with people. My parents drove down to meet us there, and helped us take care of Snuggles.
Although it was a whirlwind, we felt like we were breathing fresh air while we were in Nashville. We sensed God's grace, and we felt the peace only He provides. It became very clear over those days that the Lord was calling us to Nashville. The Lord confirmed His call when TCC's church board voted unanimously to call John as their children's pastor. The day after Guitarman accepted TCC's call, I received a call from Trevecca, offering me the job there.
During our interview with the church board, one of the board members asked us a really great question. She said something to the effect of, "It sounds like things are going really well for you in Idaho. If things are so great, why would you want to come here?" I answered the question with a one-word answer: God.
Why are we moving to Nashville? GOD is calling us there. Why would we willing to pack up our entire lives, including a baby and an elderly mother, and move 1,600 miles? Because when GOD calls, we answer.
Sometimes it's not logical to answer God's call. The cost of obedience doesn't always work out on paper. The numbers may not balance, but faith does.
For Guitarman and me, our greatest aspiration is to be faithful to God's call on our lives. Above all else, we want to be in the center of God's will. We want to be WHO He calls us to be. We're trusting GOD to provide everything we need to answer His call.
So, we're moving to Nashville in mid-November. Please join us in prayer that the Lord will direct our path, and pray also for College Church of the Nazarene in Nampa. We believe God is already working on a new children's pastor to minister with CCN.
Monday, October 4, 2010
Just Another Saturday... or Not
Saturday started like most other Saturdays... I slept in as long as Snuggles would let me, which was about 9:15 a.m. I woke up to discover Guitarman had gone to the office to work on his day off. (Don't get me started.) So I got Snuggles up and fed him. We decided we didn't feel like getting dressed quite yet, so Snuggles and I enjoyed hangin' out in our pj's.
Guitarman came home around noon, and we decided to head to "Five Guys Burgers and Fries" for lunch on our way to run some errands. We needed to go to the mall to exchange some clothes for Snuggles, and I desperately needed a pedicure. Seriously. Dave Ramsey would have taken one look at my nasty feet and deemed the pedicure a "necessity".
We put Snuggles in his car seat, and loaded up the truck. I fed Snuggles the rest of his bottle on the way just to save some time. We made it about 10 minutes from our house when Snuggles had a coughing fit.
[Side note: Snuggles was very sick last week with a double ear infection and upper respiratory infection. He was so sick that we had to take him to the E.R. because he was having difficulty breathing. I was too busy dealing with his illness to blog about it. Maybe later...]
Anyway, back to the story.
As Snuggles succumbed to the coughing fit, it triggered his gag reflex, and Snuggles vomited.... We're talking major fountain of formula. I yelled for Guitarman to pull over by the side of the road. This was not one of those messes you can clean up with a few swipes of a baby wipe. This was a full blown Hazmat situation.
Guitarman pulled onto the side road, turned on the hazard lights (very fitting!), and we proceeded to clean up our first vomit-in-the-car disaster. I peeled off Snuggles' clothes (thank goodness I packed an extra outfit before we left the house) while Guitarman used every available napkin and wipe to clean up the vomit. Dis-gus-ting!
After a lot of.... errrr....exclamations, we got back on the road. When we got to "Five Guys," I unloaded Snuggles from the truck. Somehow during that process, a full jar of baby food slipped out of the diaper bag... *smash*...shattering on the pavement beside the truck.
At that point, any normal person probably would have given up hope of having an enjoyable day. I'll admit, part of me wanted to get back in the truck and go home while we were all intact... But the wonderful, greasy-good smell wafting across the parking lot was enough to coax us into "Five Guys". I unwrapped the shiny package that held my juicy-carnivorous-piece-of-burger-art, only to discover they had put mayonnaise on it! Of all the things to put on my burger... I would have let any other condiment go, but I just can't stomach mayo on a burger. So I took it back, and they made me a new juicy-carnivorous-piece-of-burger art... burger, cheese, lettuce, tomato, pickle, ketchup and mustard. No mayo.
Having had our fill of artery-clogging yumminess, we left "Five Guys" and headed for the salon where I get my feet doctored. On the way there, Guitarman and I joked about our "uneventful" day.
Guitarman and Snuggles window-shopped at a nearby department store while I enjoyed some much-needed pampering at the salon. (I'm pretty sure heaven will be an endless line of massaging chairs with tiny women giving foot rubs. Maybe in heaven I'll be able to understand what they're saying.)
As Guitarman loaded Snuggles into the truck, I turned to fold up the stroller... *Smack* The stroller tipped over backwards right in front of an unsuspecting passerby. I apologized profusely, and the nice lady helped me right the stroller. I realized when I pulled Snuggles out of the stroller, the weight of my purse and the diaper bag hanging from the handle caused it to tip over. I made a mental note not to do that again.
By now, Snuggles was way past time for his afternoon nap. He fell asleep in the car seat as we headed for the mall. We managed to get Snuggles loaded into the stroller without waking him, and we headed into the mall. The Children's Place exchanged Snuggles' clothes for a size smaller, and we even got a $10 credit! Things were looking up.
We have a tradition that whenever we go to the mall (which is rare), we always stop by Orange Julius so I can get a pina colada-flavored smoothie. It's my all-time favorite liquid treat. So off we went to Orange Julius, happy that we had the $10 refund from Children's Place to spend at Orange Julius. We happily sipped on our drinks as we headed back to the truck. Guitarman drank his quickly, but I savored my smoothie, planning to enjoy the tropical goodness all the way home.
When we got back to the parking lot, Guitarman sent me to throw away the empty Five Guys cups so we had space for the Orange Julius cups. I walked across the parking lot, tossed the empty cups into the trash can, and turned around....
Just in time to see Guitarman stomping around, shaking his head and fussing. Although I was too far away to hear him, I knew right away what had happened. Guitarman picked up Snuggles out of the stroller, and it tipped over like it had earlier, spilling my pina colada smoothie all over the asphalt.
"Nooooo!" (Think horror movie scream.)
I rushed to the truck, and found my suspicion was correct: An overturned stroller, a pina colada puddle and a very frustrated husband.
We both fussed and fumed for a minute, and then the hilarity of it all hit me... I started laughing. Guitarman wasn't amused. As we pulled out of the parking lot, he said, "I'm going back in to get another pina colada." I said, "No! You don't need to do that. Let's just go!" But Guitarman insisted.
I stayed in the car with Snuggles while my wonderful husband went back into the mall to get me another smoothie. When he returned, I saw the frustration on his face as he handed me the fresh pina colada. I was still giggling from the back seat, as the following conversation ensued.
Me: (*Slurp*) Ha ha ha! We're a mess!
Guitarman: (No response.)
Me: Ha ha ha! *Slurp* Ha ha ha!
Guitarman: (Trying not to smile... but relenting with a smurk.)
Me: This day is definitely blog-worthy. *Slurp*
Guitarman: (Sarcastically) Don't write the blog yet.... The day isn't over.
Then we both dissolved into laughter.
Guitarman came home around noon, and we decided to head to "Five Guys Burgers and Fries" for lunch on our way to run some errands. We needed to go to the mall to exchange some clothes for Snuggles, and I desperately needed a pedicure. Seriously. Dave Ramsey would have taken one look at my nasty feet and deemed the pedicure a "necessity".
We put Snuggles in his car seat, and loaded up the truck. I fed Snuggles the rest of his bottle on the way just to save some time. We made it about 10 minutes from our house when Snuggles had a coughing fit.
[Side note: Snuggles was very sick last week with a double ear infection and upper respiratory infection. He was so sick that we had to take him to the E.R. because he was having difficulty breathing. I was too busy dealing with his illness to blog about it. Maybe later...]
Anyway, back to the story.
As Snuggles succumbed to the coughing fit, it triggered his gag reflex, and Snuggles vomited.... We're talking major fountain of formula. I yelled for Guitarman to pull over by the side of the road. This was not one of those messes you can clean up with a few swipes of a baby wipe. This was a full blown Hazmat situation.
Guitarman pulled onto the side road, turned on the hazard lights (very fitting!), and we proceeded to clean up our first vomit-in-the-car disaster. I peeled off Snuggles' clothes (thank goodness I packed an extra outfit before we left the house) while Guitarman used every available napkin and wipe to clean up the vomit. Dis-gus-ting!
After a lot of.... errrr....exclamations, we got back on the road. When we got to "Five Guys," I unloaded Snuggles from the truck. Somehow during that process, a full jar of baby food slipped out of the diaper bag... *smash*...shattering on the pavement beside the truck.
At that point, any normal person probably would have given up hope of having an enjoyable day. I'll admit, part of me wanted to get back in the truck and go home while we were all intact... But the wonderful, greasy-good smell wafting across the parking lot was enough to coax us into "Five Guys". I unwrapped the shiny package that held my juicy-carnivorous-piece-of-burger-art, only to discover they had put mayonnaise on it! Of all the things to put on my burger... I would have let any other condiment go, but I just can't stomach mayo on a burger. So I took it back, and they made me a new juicy-carnivorous-piece-of-burger art... burger, cheese, lettuce, tomato, pickle, ketchup and mustard. No mayo.
Having had our fill of artery-clogging yumminess, we left "Five Guys" and headed for the salon where I get my feet doctored. On the way there, Guitarman and I joked about our "uneventful" day.
Guitarman and Snuggles window-shopped at a nearby department store while I enjoyed some much-needed pampering at the salon. (I'm pretty sure heaven will be an endless line of massaging chairs with tiny women giving foot rubs. Maybe in heaven I'll be able to understand what they're saying.)
As Guitarman loaded Snuggles into the truck, I turned to fold up the stroller... *Smack* The stroller tipped over backwards right in front of an unsuspecting passerby. I apologized profusely, and the nice lady helped me right the stroller. I realized when I pulled Snuggles out of the stroller, the weight of my purse and the diaper bag hanging from the handle caused it to tip over. I made a mental note not to do that again.
By now, Snuggles was way past time for his afternoon nap. He fell asleep in the car seat as we headed for the mall. We managed to get Snuggles loaded into the stroller without waking him, and we headed into the mall. The Children's Place exchanged Snuggles' clothes for a size smaller, and we even got a $10 credit! Things were looking up.
We have a tradition that whenever we go to the mall (which is rare), we always stop by Orange Julius so I can get a pina colada-flavored smoothie. It's my all-time favorite liquid treat. So off we went to Orange Julius, happy that we had the $10 refund from Children's Place to spend at Orange Julius. We happily sipped on our drinks as we headed back to the truck. Guitarman drank his quickly, but I savored my smoothie, planning to enjoy the tropical goodness all the way home.
When we got back to the parking lot, Guitarman sent me to throw away the empty Five Guys cups so we had space for the Orange Julius cups. I walked across the parking lot, tossed the empty cups into the trash can, and turned around....
Just in time to see Guitarman stomping around, shaking his head and fussing. Although I was too far away to hear him, I knew right away what had happened. Guitarman picked up Snuggles out of the stroller, and it tipped over like it had earlier, spilling my pina colada smoothie all over the asphalt.
"Nooooo!" (Think horror movie scream.)
I rushed to the truck, and found my suspicion was correct: An overturned stroller, a pina colada puddle and a very frustrated husband.
We both fussed and fumed for a minute, and then the hilarity of it all hit me... I started laughing. Guitarman wasn't amused. As we pulled out of the parking lot, he said, "I'm going back in to get another pina colada." I said, "No! You don't need to do that. Let's just go!" But Guitarman insisted.
I stayed in the car with Snuggles while my wonderful husband went back into the mall to get me another smoothie. When he returned, I saw the frustration on his face as he handed me the fresh pina colada. I was still giggling from the back seat, as the following conversation ensued.
Me: (*Slurp*) Ha ha ha! We're a mess!
Guitarman: (No response.)
Me: Ha ha ha! *Slurp* Ha ha ha!
Guitarman: (Trying not to smile... but relenting with a smurk.)
Me: This day is definitely blog-worthy. *Slurp*
Guitarman: (Sarcastically) Don't write the blog yet.... The day isn't over.
Then we both dissolved into laughter.
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