Anxiety and Consolation

Hey girls,

It has been a really long and busy week. And just a bit stressful. C'est la vie! But that doesn't make the anxiety in my life any more right! Which is stressful!

At any rate, I did get some stuff done. For example:
*a couple Bible studies
*one skit re-written to a 5th grade level
*four VBS skit rough drafts scripted out
*A few emergency children's ministry meetings
*An all day track meet ( by 1:00 we were betting on and cheering for various random kids who were competing and who we had no clue who they were but there was nothing else to do).
*A pedicure along with my book club girls (which was pretty tough but I gutted it out...ministry, you know).
*A cook out (not so bad a thing all by itself, but I had to clean the house before they got here).
*And driving 2 hours a day because my son's carpool was out of town all week. (Gas prices are enough to stress anyone out!)
Plus the normal list...laundry, etc. And there was so, so, so much more I had on my to-do list!!!! Like putting the laundry actually in the drawers. Like blogging. Like reading your blogs. And it was stressful to not check everything off the list. I didn't even have a written list, which I obviously love, but had to do mentally which is stressful in and of itself!

I had the luxury of a few moments tonight and so I decided to catch up with you via internet. It was good to just sit and read and catch up with my sisters in Christ. Having a few moments to be quiet and alone reminds me that this stress thing just doesn't work. It is going to be another busy week. Stressing and anxiety won't change any of that. It doesn't really help me accomplish anything extra. And there is certainly no joy in it.

"When anxiety was great within me, Your consolation brought joy to my soul." Psalm 94:19

I am going to run to His consolation this week when that busy, stressy feeling approaches my heart. I am committing to that!

Will let you know how that goes! (: Have a good week!

meh

Home Sweet Home

I had a fabulous weekend with Kellie over at La Vida Dulce. You spoiled me shamelessly, my sweet friend!!



















Sunday we did "church" in the desert, hiking up the side of a mountain and occasionally tiptoeing through icy water. The desert was incredibly beautiful and the weather was so, so nice!!










I think that morning might have been the highlight of the weekend!
































Or maybe it was eating authentic mex!!



















Or maybe it was reconnecting with her family. Oh, who am I kidding, the whole weekend was a highlight!

It was hard to say goodbye to my friend Monday morning, bright and early. But God knew all this and that is why He invented airports. Enough said! And when I finally saw my honey at baggage claim, and was wrapped up in his big arms, it was all good!! Home sweet home and still biding my time!!

Warmth!!!

On a happy note, it is snowing right now. Yes, I am ok with that because it only adds to my delight that I will be flying south for the weekend to experience a little dessert warmth in the midst of this winter! I can't wait to feel the physical warmth of sunshine on the skin (through the spf 30 of course) and the emotional heart warmth of fun with a dear friend!

The Christmas Mystery Game

The mystery game ended up being so much fun! So I will give you the low down on it in case you need an idea for your parties.

By not telling anyone exactly what the game was and making it mysterious, I had the whole anticipation thing and the surprise factor of it. And the fact that they didn't have to shop but donated a couple bucks at the door was a positive too. I bought and re-gifted a variety of small and cheap gifts (can of wd40, pens, etc) with some bigger, more expensive, funny gifts (huge pink bra with a roll of toilet paper, Christmas boxers). There were more presents then people. I wrapped all of them in plain brown paper. Each person had been given monopoly money ($11) at the door in an envelope with their name on it. Throughout the night, people could win different amounts for different things to add to their original amount. For instance, the first people to arrive and the last people to arrive received $5. The tallest elf and the shortest elf received $1 each, and so on.

After mingling and eating for awhile we circled up and we explained that the mystery game actually was an auction for the gifts which would take place after we gave the chance for a few more people to earn some more money. We then voted on the most merry outfit and least Christmasy outfit, the worst Christmas gift story, the most romantic gift, etc. And to top it off we played a guys vs. girls Catch Phrase with the winning team each getting $5. We pulled out the pile of gifts and put them in the middle of the floor and Big D served as our auctioneer (he and I didn't participate in the bidding since we knew what we had). He played it up and described the gifts but wouldn't let them touch them. When a gift was finally bought, that person had to open it and show it off. At any time in the game, anyone could make an offer on that opened gift. Sometimes the offers were lower and other times higher so the original winner of the gift had potential to "make" money on it. And you could offer on as many gifts as you had money for, so potentially people could leave without a gift or with several.

Just one word of warning...be prepared for pranks. Our neighborhood now see's us in a whole different way. We found our bush in the above state of dress after church on Sunday. It had been snowing so hard when I left that I had not even noticed it.

Wrapping Presents

I love choosing presents for the people I love. Come to think of it, I enjoy buying for those who just fall in the category of duty purchases. But anyways, I like buying presents. I strongly dislike wrapping said presents. I am good at buying fun wrapping paper with coordinating ribbons. I am terrible at folding and taping and tying. And what have I been doing for the last week? Yep...wrapping presents for work related people. The work party was last night and was alot of fun as usual, but I am glad it is over. ( Does that make any sense to you?)

I have 18 more presents to do up tonight. The ones tonight are for my party tomorrow night with my mom's group (and spouses) at my home with a brand new mystery game. I took a poll and we all decided that we would have horribly fattening appetizers and desserts and do anything but white elephant. So I took the time to research all the Christmas games I could find and settled on The Present Auction. I have never done it before and so I will let you know how it goes. To a certain degree, it is already a success because everyone is wondering what "the mystery game" is. And they are all terribly grateful they don't have to dig up a white elephant present to bring because I have done all the shopping for the presents as part of the game and they are just donating a couple dollars each.

So I am off to wrap presents and I will let you know how the mystery game goes.

Big Truck

I have a big black Labrador named Truck. He was part of the Three Ring Circus I blogged about not too long ago. He is quite big...oh wait, I already said that. But he is NOT fat, and I am not just saying that to make him feel better about himself. He is big boned. Seriously! Just ask my vet!

Anyways, Truck loves food! He loves cheap dog food, he loves expensive dog food, he loves cat food which he steals from Hidey, and he loves rawhide bones which he devours in about 30 minutes. He would love human food but we do not give him any table scraps at all. We are very strict about it!

Monday morning Truck was let out and fed by my son at his normal time of 6:00 AM. At around 6:30 I am jerked from sleep by frantic barking in the front yard. Deer, I think wearily to myself. He will get over it. Sure enough, the barking ceased but 5 minutes later I hear a pounding on the front door. Neighbors, I think in horror to myself. They are coming over to complain about Truck barking at the deer! It is my birthday and I can't even sleep in!! I leap from bed ready to calmly but coolly annihilate whatever person happens to be at my front door only to find nothing but a basket full of bagels and pastries and fruit.

About now I am feeling, well, stupid! So I grab the basket and bring it in all the while wondering where on earth Truck is and thinking how fortunate that he wasn't around or the basket would be empty. Last year for my birthday, my sister mailed me a package which he had chewed up but fortunately (for him) the earrings were inside a metal box and were ok.

I got the scoop yesterday from my friend who left the basket for me. The barking was initiated by her and her daughter taunting Truck just out of reach of his radio collar in an effort to get us to let him in the house. They are both very nervous around big dogs. When that didn't work, she had to turn to bribery. When I opened the door she was actually hiding behind my car in the driveway, shoeless, hanging onto Truck's collar while he gobbled down goodies from the basket! Apparently, she had knocked on our door, grabbed pastries from the basket, grabbed his collar and had drug him through the flower bed, losing her shoes on the way just in time before I opened the door.

So Truck is feeling like a very fortunate dog, having had breakfast from Panera for once in his life. I personally am feeling fortunate my friend is still talking to me.