holidays

so my parents mostly surprised me with a visit. they arrived last saturday and left again on Christmas day. we had a good time. glad they got to spend some time with the boys from the ranch. my parents make grand grandparents.

tonight is the mixed nuts party at the ranch.

went to bed before 9.30 last night. it was a beautiful thing to sleep until my alarm went off at 6.48 this morning. between my parents, denise's mom, and hanging out at the ranch - my body was worn out. (oh there may be some other factors, but we i'm not going into detail.)

looking forward to having 4 days off again. having Christmas and new year's day fall on tuesdays is working out to be a beautiful thing for me. looking forward to tonight and tomorrow and sunday and monday.

it.s been raining for most of the day.

Brrr

it was 22 degrees when i walked out the door this morning. i'm not a cold weather person. how people can enjoy cold weather?

had a great weekend. the behold the lamb concert was phenomenal! visited a satellite church of northpoint community on sunday. there was a soloist named Joy who's got some pipes. it was worth driving a ways just to be part of 'o holy night' with Joy. also i met some interesting people, and ate some great brownie type bars.

i'm currently watching 'biggest loser' finale. some guy lost 186 pounds. that is a whole lot of work. makes me wonder if any of these contestants become so obsessed with losing weight that they become anorexic.

again tonight i am having troubles with my internet... is it too much to ask for your internet and cable to work? just wondering.

international friends

oh the joys of being able to speak to people who represent different countries, and who speak differently than me. i love it! this morning i talked to some of my friends, 1 from switzerland, 2 from kenya, and 2 from tanzania. that's makes my day. earlier this week i called a frieind of mine (well, i guess she's really kimberly's friend, but i met here a couple of times so now she is my friend!) with the sole purpose of speaking to someone who had a foreign accent. frauke is from germany and has a great accent! my friends who are living in switzerland made fun of my funny american accent. i love it that we can all communicate - even if it is in english, with some swahili tossed into the mix. that's a beautiful thing!

you can check out denise's blog to find out what i will be doing today. she has been an interesting post regarding our day.

my cable and internet has been out for 3 days. the cable guy called this morning (saturday) about 9.45 and said he would be out to fix the problem. it's weird because i never scheduled an appointment because i was having scheduling issues because i cannot take any more time off of work this year. i had a call on thursday night that was confirming my appointment on friday morning for the cable guy to come and fix my issue. i cancelled the service call because i was not going to be home to sign my name on the ticket. i did not re-schedule because i needed to find someone to be out my house between 8-1 (which i mostly ridiculous!). yet, the cable guy came on saturday at a time when i was home. that is amazing to me. the Lord continues to amaze me at how He works. truly amazing.

Multiplication

i.m reminded of a time when i was learning how to multilply. most days i would get off the bus about 4.20p and start my homework. my parents both worked late, so i would be home alone with my brother until the time one of my parents got home. let's just say that my brother was not good at helping with my homework. i was really struggling to figure out how to multiply and just couldn.t get it. i was in tears when my dad finally arrived at 5.20. after some consoling, i remember him saying, 'tan, you will understand how to multiply, probably better than i know how. you are very smart and you will get this. it just may take a little time.' then he sat down with me and we figured it out.

even as kid, i had a hard time asking for help. i would need to be in tears before i would break down and ask someone to help me. but when i needed help, someone always was there for me. so thanks, dad, for your encouragement. that day i began to learn how to multiply; now look at me: i work in an accounting department.

(and i won't forget the day my dad came home from pamida with my skateboard! my mom nearly lost her cool, but i loved that skateboard!)

but that was the beginning of a long process of learning multiplication. Jesus when talking about seed and different types of soil, home the lesson when he said, 'It (the seed in the fertile soil) came up, grew and produced a crop, multiplying thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times.' [Mark 4.8] before i went to africa i sent out some letters, begging for support. most of you know about those letters because the people who read this blog are the ones who received those letters. it.s the dreaded, 'please-send-money-and-pray-for-me' letter. i discreetly put that first support letter in disguise - it was included in my Christmas letter. (watch out for this year's letter!) you and the good Lord came thru for me and everything i needed was taken care of. i was blessed with enough financial support to give generously to many africans who were in need. giving bibles to the kids in the youth group was pretty sweet. that.s just some examples of those seeds were being multiplied.

again this week i.ve experienced some seeds that were multiplied literally ten times. sacrificial giving... having something i need - then being prompted to give it away - going thru the struggle of not wanting to give it away - finally putting what i have in the offering plate - trusting God to really supply what i need - then being given more than i gave away. the Lord is gracious even until me.

so, Dad, i am still learning my lesson.

IM

[08:49] (friend): once again...it cracks me up how gmail can be such a good tool for conversations that would probably never happen in person
[08:49] me: yes, i completely agree.

Good ol' Louie

'Churches are hospitals and the gospel is the maternity ward.' go here and listen to 'New Life. New Genes.'

laminin. man - that's powerful...

been playing around with some graphic design things the last couple of nights. so far this is what i've managed to design... it can only get better from here. but i like designing. well, maybe i like the hunt to learn how to design about as much as i enjoy the designing. learning new ways to make those swirlly gigs was a challenge, but once i figured out that photoshop brushes can be imported into photo-paint, things began to take shape.

Christmas on the Brain

i.ve been asked if i am ready for Christmas about 6 times today. what does that questions mean? have i exceeded all my spending limits on 'meaningful' (a.k.a junk which no one really needs) gifts? am i ready to receive the Christ child into my life? am i ready for a day off from work so i can spend the day with someone else's family? i don't understand the question, and yet my answer always seems to be 'no'. very strange.

there are 2 americans who are thinking about going to do there dts at the kilimanjaro base. they are brave peeps, but they don't know it. jessica comes up with the great questions. matt hasn't asked me too much, but he's just ready to get there and start this journey. it will be great to follow their journeys... so please be praying for them as they prepare for their time in tanzania. (and say a little prayer for their families too!) i know for certain that your prayers and God's grace carried me thru those crazy days in TZ. (oh, i guess those two components continue to carry me thru my crazy life here in the States.)

so, i am thinking about making new year's resolutions... just so i can see at the end of 2008 how much i've accomplished. goals are not bad things... if i would've made a list for 2007, i wonder what would've been on it, since i knew i was going to TZ. i remember last year about this time... my heart and head were filled with thoughts of how TZ would be - how i would tell my boss and co-workers that i was leaving - planning a trip to sin city for shots - sending out letters, begging for support of every kind - emailing with charnelle from TZ and asking so many questions - seeing how God had arranged for that trip. it's just great to think about! i can't help but have a huge smile on my face when i recall all those moments... and how my co-workers continue to questions where i'm planning to go this year! i have GREAT co-workers. they are amazing!

speaking of co-workers - patsy (a.k.a. pantsy) came into my office and did a happy dance. i did the cabbage patch dance. all because a fellow co-worker filled out his credit card re-imbursement correctly. that's just how we roll around here.

Dork

i.m a dork cuz i love this blog.

Odd Happening

so patsy came into my office and said, 'i just had the strangest thing happen.' then she went on to show me a faxed page which she had received. it was a copy with two tiny footprints and some names written on it. the fax copy wasn.t very clear but after some investigating... this baby is the one who's footprints we have in our office. baby ellie. so now i am praying for baby ellie to grow up to be a passionate pursuer of Jesus Christ - that He empowers her to speak boldly, and to obey when Christ calls her to go into all the earth and make disciples of all people. who knew that some little feet could travel so far without leaving the comfort of her mom's arms?

Her Name

Khadijah's friend's name is Nelly. i found it written down in a notebook at my place.

going to sin city again in january for a scrapbooking retreat. any one wanna go with?

i.ve gotten into drinking coffee lately. well, mostly i should say i.ve gotten into drinking lattes because my coffee has to have milk and sugar.

when i wear my contacts i get compliments. it feels awkward to have married guys say i am beautiful.

lately i have been listening to shane and shane 'pages' cd over and over again.

Christmas is 22 days away.

i like Christmas songs which speak of Christ. all those others songs don.t do much for me - jingle bells, santa is coming to town - blah blah blah. country song that makes me laugh, but it shouldn't - Merry Christmas to the Family by Montgomery Gentry. i haven.t heard grandma got ran over my a reindeer yet either. i remember always giving my gramma t such a hard time about that song! my brother and i couldn.t help but kid her about it.

i am addicted to sudoku.

i have great friends.

looking forward to the upcoming events:

wednesday - presentation at Teasley Middle
friday - dinner at japanese steakhouse
sunday - dinner @ hickoms

i am thinking that Christmas is a time for getting together with all of my friend's family.