Merry Christmas

last night was our company Christmas party. we had a good time, and i'm really glad that Troy was able to make the party. with his job, i never know if/when he'll be around, so we just kinda roll with it. he was driving from lousville, ky, to jacksonville, fl - with a stop at bahama breeze in kennesaw, ga. good times. this is the first year which our company has invited spouses to the party, so that makes it ever sweeter that Troy was able to make the party. from the gift exchange, i ended up with some boxer shorts and some fireworks. that explains the type of people i work with.

 

i'm looking forward to having a few days off from work during the holidays. and i'm looking forward to spending some time with our kids too. for Christmas, michael wants fishing and hunting stuff, and alex wants legos and a gerbil. they are all boy - through and through!

 

looking forward to cheryl gapp getting into town this afternoon. tomorrow we have another party - the mixed nuts party at denise and steven's house. i'm thinking our company party should have been called 'mixed nuts' but instead it was just a Christmas fandango. you may need to talk to troy about any extra-curricular happenings at the party last night. i'm not telling.

 

i work with some really great people. our boss has chosen amazing people to work for him. we all get along great, which is a rarity with a company our size. and i can't say enough about how much i respect and appreciate our boss, Ron. he and his wife, Cathy, are top notch.

busyness and randomness*

life has just flown by the last couple of weeks. not sure where the time has gone, but it's definitely the holiday season. even the cold weather indicates the holidays are near.

random thoughts crossing my head:

*if i could change the color of my office, what would i want to change it to? i'm thinking i like the color of my clothes today. olive green shoes with aqua piping, black long sleeve t-shirt under a burgundy t-shirt. i'm thinking i would find something with those four colors. guess you could say i definitely pipe to my own bagpipe.

troy has gone to miami again. i say again because this is about his fifth trip down there in three weeks. that's a ton of driving. i was able to ride with him last friday. let's just say that i couldn't stay up that long. about 5 am i shut down, climb into the sleeper and click off like a light. next thing i knew it was 10 am and the trailer was unloaded. good times. i like my normal schedule of waking up at 6.48 am.

Christmas, Basketball, and Racing

what's the deal with people putting up their Christmas decorations so early? some neighbors in our apartment complex have had their tree on the balcony for over 2 weeks now. can't we just be thankful for a while before we get all wrapped up in gifts, trees, etc.? yet i can't deny that i've been buying a few gifts here and there. thinking of what i can make some people for Christmas. might need to get my nose outta my books for a few days and get creative. had i mentioned that i married mr. creativity?

 

last tuesday night i went to a college basketball game at reinhardt college. it brought back so many memories of when i played b-ball. the school i went to, Nebraska Christian College, was smaller than reinhardt. i was majoring in missiology. my heart was set on being a missionary i listened to people when the told me that i needed to be educated in order to be an effective missionary. it’s a lie. i wish i would’ve jumped right into a program like YWAM instead of wasting time. when i look back now, i see that God had other plans for me, or He altered his original plans because i didn’t follow what He had intended for me. not sure how that all works.

 

it’s crazy to look back on life, and see where i’ve come from. i can honestly say that my thirties have been the best days of my life. started out raising support for my six month adventure in Tanzania. financial support started coming instantly and i was completely overwhelmed by the response. then february came around and it was off Kilimanjaro. that six months in Tanzania  resounds through my life everyday. in my mind, i still translate words into swahili. my emphasis on ‘stuff’ is nearly non-existent. Troy talks about wanting this and that, and i don’t have the same wants. (this is something we are working together.) troy and i met because of our interest in missions. he had been on a mission trip to Brazil, and i had this blog about my adventures in Tanzania. that was the basis for our first discussion in an email. i can hardly believe that it’s been nearly a year since he first emailed me. now we are over six months into our beautiful marriage.

 

last weekend we were in miami for the final nascar race of the season. had a great time cherishing the time away from the normal routine, sleeping in hotels, staying with friends, enjoying good company, and watching some racing. its was great to have the break. i have to admit that i love showing troy off. he’s like a wonderful prize that i love to introduce to my friends. it’s great. troy got along with florida friends just lovely. then again, how can you not love troy?

 

 

 

Non Half Anniversary

yesterday i told all my friends from the office that today was my 6 month anniversary. i truly was convinced that it was. so i'm talking to troy last night as he's driving home, and asked him what he had planned for our 1/2 anniversary. he mentioned, 'how about on the 10th we order pizza?' i asked, 'on the 10th?' his reply, 'our anniversary is the 10th. we got married on the 10th of may'. then it hit me that today is the 6th. so i may have lost the wife of the year award over not knowing the exact date of our anniversary. guess when troy forgets my b-day, valentine's day, or an anniversary, i really don't have any right to be upset.

so i get to the car this morning and troy had bought flowers. guess he didn't want for me to be disappointed on our non half anniversary.


so this is me enjoying a piece of chocolate cake and my purple daisies on our non half anniversary.

Learning

i'm starting off with this statement: Troy and i are in the middle of a discussion.

 

we are not fighting, simply discussing. we keep re-visiting the discussion. i think he wants me to tell more of what i really feel about this conversation, but i've held back some in order to not hurt his feelings. yesterday was a different story. there are days when i get chatty, and spew whatever is on my heart. guess i was having one of those days yesterday. hoping it will benefit both of us.

 

this is one of our first discussions which requires both of us to make some changes. i see a need for change; Troy is getting there. yet i realize that in order for things to thrive, both parties need to move together in a forward direction in order to progress. so i've spent much time in prayer about this, and i'm continuing to pray for us to see eye to eye (which isn't that hard since we are the same height.)

 

tomorrow is our six month anniversary.

 

our marriage has been a breeze; i honestly can't recall any days when it's been a tornado.

 

i just looked over at my wall of pictures and saw the photo of Troy and me on our wedding day.  memories of that day fill my mind - i married the right man (truly Troy is more than i have ever prayed for). then my mind jumps to Lacey helping with planning, Casey the great wedding singer, Shottie, Denise and Laura with all their support, Valerie bailing us out with the photographer, my family stepping up to help with the food, some relatives driving all night from wisconsin to make the wedding, my beautiful Grandma give me her blessing, the moments of getting the flowers in the buckets with my dad, grocery shopping with my mom, taking a stroll around the falls, getting a good night sleep before the wedding, getting to the church on wedding day and people already hustling to make everything look great, taking a ride to Carole and LeRoy's new house, all the guests who attended our wedding in the rain, having all our family together for the first time, meeting my brother's girlfriend and my niece, introducing Troy to everyone, etc.

 

what an amazing blessing. my heart deeply overflows with gratitude to our Maker for matching us up. Troy and i make a great team. i love having kids who are 8 and 11, and Flora is just about 11. it's like having 2 boys and a girl. then there are all my wonderful in-laws. i married into a really welcoming and wonderful family. I have 3 great moms, 2 wonderful dads, and the list goes on from there. my life feels full right now, but never forgot i long for Africa.

 

i see there is great celebration in Kenya today over the election results. my friend, Dex, is in kenya - in the northern region of Lodwar. she's traveling with a group who is deliver food, compassion, and love. i can't wait to return to tanzania. it's been a year and 3 months since i returned from Africa. i think i'm currently going thru a second round of culture shock. i miss that life - the simplicity, low cost life. i try to explain to Troy how i feel about it, but my words fail me. my heart breaks for my friends who are struggling to survive. i wish i could be there for Flora's b-day on the 29th of this month. i see her picture sitting on my desk - i see the desire and potential in her eyes. i miss that kid, even more so now than every before. i long to wrap her in my arms again.

 

guess i'm all over today.

 

 

 

®@ÑÐØm

there is so much random stuff on the internet. i was surfing today, came across a website to make ransom notes. how bizarre. yet, it was very interesting and cool how it works.

been reading some murder mystery books by james patterson. finised two books so far. need to get back to the library tonight so i can get another. they are the types which hold your attention to the last page. love that type of book.


love this photo of my guys.

had a fun weekend surprising my in-laws with their trick or treating grandkids. then drove down to the lake to spend a couple of nights with deanna.

andy had a traumatic weekend.

I'm on a role today

last night as i was laying in bed, desperately attempting to turn off my brain while failing miserablymy mind tried to grasp the different season of life. i’m only thirty-two, but i’ve had my share of highs and lows, joys and failures, bursts of happiness followed by spells of fear and loneliness, etc.  as the song goes, ‘i’m no stranger to the road.’

 

for me, the pendulum swings from feeling fulfilled to unfulfilled. those are basically my two seasons – satisfied or unsatisfied. unsatisfied often times fall under the catergory of ‘i have a bad case of the ‘can’t-help-me’s’’. you know those times? it’s the times when you’re sitting around the house – bored but knowing you have plenty to do. your heart is not satisfied in the doing – but in the expectation of something to change – especially when nothing seems to change. (i realize that’s a terrible run-on sentense with horrible grammar!) boredom and complacency go hand-in-hand with a bad case of the ‘can’t-help-me’s’. (yet i’ve been around long enough to know that each of us has power to change the complacent lives we live. we all have opportunity to spice up the normalcy and get into the unknown. but then again, too often we allow fear to hold us back.)

 

then there are those times when life seems to be sailing along beautifully. we breathe in the sunsets and feel the warmth of the sun. we look into the eyes of our kids and see joy and happiness and futures filled with passion, hope and expectation. each new day brings on a whole new opportunity to change a life, feed a hungry soul, enjoy a conversation with a friend, experience the tranformation of a stranger becoming a friend, etc.

 

right now i feel i’m at the point where the pendulum is directly at the lowest point –where it is exactly between the up and down swings. kinda like a plumbline that has found the balance of center. it’s an ok place to be. but there is an anticipation rumbling in the depths of my being. there’s a feeling of change coming – a change of my soul to seek Christ’s leading and expect some amazing break-throughs. do you feel it? what’s your soul telling you? where is your pendulum? what are you seeking?

 

what keeps me up at night? now that i’ve gotten used to sleeping next to troy, i miss him laying next to me when he’s working. my friend, Dex, who’s currently roving around Kenya for the cause of Christ. my parents are seeking new employment. a need to pray for our boys to grow up to be men of integrity and faithful followers of Jesus Christ. a beckoning to search the scriptures to know the Truth. areas in my life where i need to submit to my husband and Jesus. a realization that i’m controlling. begging God to help me overcome my tendecies to criticize. thinking about things i love about troy. concerned for some friends in tanzania. missing my life in tanzania. missing struggling with swahili/english. thinking about some bible verses. wondering how flora is doing. wanting to call troy, again. thinking about jeannie and her impact on michael and alex. wishing somehow jeannie and i could be more pliable with one another. wishing it weren’t so dramatic to pickup the kids. thinking about the episode of nanny 911, and how the nanny defused certain arguments by simply remaining calm. amazed how negative energy radiates in certain families. thinking about the verse of allowing the peace of Christ to dwell in me.  pondering how lindsay boxer will solve this mystery.

 

those are some of my thoughts before i went to bed last night.

a couple of things

a friend, michael, is doing an experiment. he’s trying to blog for 30 days in a row. check out his blog to see the changes going in it his life.

i gave troy a new gift. he’s been wanting one of these since i met him. you need to go to his blog to see what i got him. new blog i married an amazing man who is a little off with his passions. just kidding, i’m thinking this traveling andy will be good for troy. can’t wait to see where it leads.

i was little upset that the phillies won the world series last night.

Nascar Truck Race

last saturday Troy and i were given tickets to the nascar truck race at the atlanta motor speedway. here are some photos:

Troy standing near Tony Stewart's USAC (a.k.a sprint car) race car.

Ryan Newman burning out after his win.

we have a contest when it comes to racing. we each get to choose a vehicle - the one we think is going to win. i have a tendency to pick ones that crap out. this truck race was no different for me. the truck i choose, #7, not sure who the driver was, pitted to the infield after the first lap. good thing i'm not a betting person.

overall the race was quite boring, only a couple of driver cutting the grass, not major wrecks. it's not secret that i watch racing for the wrecks. we had a good time walking through the driver trailers.

highlight of the day: having dinner with my mom-in-law, sister-in-law, and niece-in-law at la parrilla.

SMHG

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