Christmas Break

Currently listening to Jars of Clay-Christmas Songs

Dan Rather: "So when you pray to God, what do you say?"
Mother Theresa: "I listen."
Dan Rather: "And what does He say to you?"
Mother Theresa: "He listens."

CBS interview, 1986

little true story

A couple of weeks ago I was introduced to a guy at church that I had regularly seen for over a year but had never really met.
Then I ran into this new friend at the grocery store a few days later.

Me: big smile "Hi! How are you?"
Him: gives me a weird look "Hi...."

Then he walked away.
*Social rejection*

Oh well. I supposed in his book we were not really friends. Maybe I'm too cheerful late at night in the grocery store.
Then last night this same guy showed up at Carrie's house.
And brought along his identical twin brother.
Ha!

it's a wonderful house

Herein lies a picture tale of what happened

when I returned home from a day full of

studying, finals, snow, and ice:

A perfectly trimmed tree sat in a perfectly clean living room

And plate of perfectly decorated christmas cookies sat in a perfectly clean kitchen. And I thought this could only be because of one person: Sharon Jones. So, to show my love, admiration, and appreciation, I decided to write her a song that started like this:

And ended like that.

And then I felt clever in my kitchen.

And then we all lived happily ever after.

Guess what:

I'm going to Ethiopia.
To spend some time with these good people.
In March.
I'm so excited.

le job

I have to brag on my work just a little bit. Or a lot.
I love my job.
Actually, that’s not accurate. I don’t care for the actual technicality of making food and selling it any more than I care about brussel sprouts. It’s alright.
What I really love is the people I work with, the people I work for, and the purpose behind what we do together.
I get to work in an environment where there is more laughter, positivity, and fun than I experience on my time off. I get challenged every single day to be a better person and help others become better. I get to be a mentor to young people who let me into their lives and want my input. Sometimes it’s more personal fulfillment than I can handle.
I have worked for the same boss for 5 years, and I have never, ever felt that he didn’t trust me.
Most of the time, I think he trusts me too much.
The other leaders with me at work are my best friends. We care deeply about each other, and we submit to each other in all things.

I work for a company that cares more about me as a person than what I can do for them.
This makes me care more about my people than what they can do for me.

I love getting to know a person at work and helping them figure out their strengths so I can help them hone in on what they are best at doing and then let them do it and gain confidence in their abilities.

I really, really love awkward teenagers who have no idea how cool they really are; because when they start working with us, they’re about to figure it out.

It hasn’t always been like this. I’ve wanted to quit more than once for sure, but there are seasons to everything, especially work. I think I am currently in the best one yet.

I am abundantly blessed with my job.

script my life

I haven't felt very blog prolific recently. As you can tell.
It's just that I've been thinking about super deep life stuff recently and, believe me, you don't want in on this well.

So.
I'm sitting in a new coffeeshop. Me likey. Especially because they're petting my current banana phase with a monkey mocha.

Finals are next week. Hence the blogcrastination. I was suddenly hit with the realization that I only publish my thoughts to the world when I'm supposed to be studying.

Speaking of school, next semester I'm cutting it down to 12 hours of school and thirty hours of work per week. It sounds like heaven. By my own calcuation, I can do two 12 hour semesters and a 6 hour summer and graduate next December as planned, and if the counselor disagrees next week and says I need more, I'm still doing it. Life is just not okay when I only get 12 hours of home-and-not-sleeping time per week. I've figured out that my way of doing life these last few months is extremely a little unbalanced and makes me psychotic slightly crazy.

And since I'm done with my communications and gen-ed requirements, I get to take whatever I want! This is good and bad at the same time cause I'm getting carried away with all the goodness available for me to learn. I've kind of been thinking about it nonstop for the last two weeks. Check it out:

• Religion in America
• Medieval Jewish History
• Modern Jewish History
• History of Christianity from the Middle Ages to Present
• Special Topics in Religious Studies: Reformation
• Anthropology of Religion
• Urban Anthropologie
• The Silver Screen and the American Dream
• Film Theory and Criticism
• Colloquium in Interpersonal Dynamics
• Foundations of Logic

Oh I'm so excited. But I can't decide! I have to pick only four of those, and if I want a manageable life back, they have to be Tuesday-Thursday classes at times that are close together. See how hard this is?!!

I just realized that I miss-spelled the word 'anthropology' up there but I'm leaving it to be able to tie in this next bit:
A mother-daughter friendship duo came to visit me these last two days. They're from home. I'm so excited they stayed with me and I got to have dinner with them and show them around my town a little bit. It reminded me that there are really wonderful people in Venice who are running after God's heart with a vengeance. I realized that I have been in this mindset that Kansas City is the only place where the Holy Spirit rests and I have to stay here to keep growing in the Lord and that's just not true.
Oh, the tie-in: thanks Mimi and Darlene for leaving me that amazing soap from Anthropologie!

Here's a Thanksgiving funny to end this and thank you for reading through an arduously long life and mind update. I'm pretty sure only my sweet mother made it this far:

Bethany and her friend Brianna cooked a thanksgiving feast for 16 friends. Bless their hearts. But then a routine basting check on the turkey filled the house with smoke. Disaster and hilarity ensued. Yes, I took pictures of them in their distress. It sounds heartless but we were all laughing so hard I had to record it. As soon as I set down the camera I helped them fix the problem.

Too funny. They had overfilled the turkey pan with broth and it was spilling onto the bottom of the oven and smoking like a chimney. I think at this moment, Bethany was praying in tongues that it would end and the turkey and our lungs would be saved. Not that I could understand.

I might have peed my pants.