Hmmm....

Forgive me if this ends up being rambly. I just got home from class, wired, not at all sleepy, and was all geeked up to sit downstairs in my jammies and watch the American Idol results show which I had faithfully set my VCR to record while I was out.

It did not record.

Apparently when the stupid thing tells you to "be sure to turn off the VCR after setting it to record," it means business. I did not turn it off. It did not record.

Maybe I need a Tivo more than I need an iPod.

Anyway, I am still wired and not at all sleepy and looking to kill some time before bed. So I thought I'd see about possibly updating this thing.

There hasn't been much to blog about lately. Well, that's not really true. There's been a ton going on, tons of exciting life things happening, but I guess I haven't wanted to bother with boiling it down and articulating it in blog language. But since I'm not sleepy and there's nothing else for me to do right now, maybe I'll try.....Our home church is splitting ("planting" is the favorable term, I think). Well, it's not exactly splitting...I think it's dangling. It's like a cell in that one stage of mitosis (the stage that looks like the floating boobs in the animation for our recent Biology book), where the two cells are still connected, but each has its own nucleus and it's just a matter of time. That's where we are right now. It's an awesome time. An exciting time. The home church model at Xenos (pronounced "ZEE-nahs") is designed with the intent to split--always with that intent--to make room for more growth. It's not a bad thing, not like a divorce or anything. It's an awesome thing, and it's kind of a big deal. It's especially a big deal in this case, because this split ("dangle," technically. We hope it will eventually be a full-fledged "split") does not follow the traditional model. Xenos is trying some new things, some more adventurous ministry things, and I guess you could call our group one of the pilots. Our new group will be much smaller than a traditional home church, and much of the planning that has gone into it has been much more outreach-focused than in the past. Not that its overall goal is any different, but I guess it's more focused in its makeup and demographic/geography. Anyway, that's it in a nutshell (ask me about it personally if you're confused/curious and want a more satisfying/detailed explanation).

So yeah, anyway, that's been on my mind and taking up some time and attention lately. Prayers are always appreciated, if you're a pray-er. Ministry is always an adventure, and right now I'm really trying to focus on keeping my relationship with God the main priority. I'm learning very quickly how easy it is to get swept up in all the busyness of ministry "stuff" and neglect that which is the beating heart and the life blood of all the work we do for God. Just being with Him and enjoying that relationship.

Bad mood

It's one of those days already. This is how I feel.

sweet music

Ditto to what Dena said about Charlie Dodrill. I just bought his album from iTunes and am listening to it now. He kind of reminds me of Jeremy Camp, with more of a folk-ish (and very subtle country-ish) twist.

Check him out on MySpace music. He's got four full songs on there. And for you Glencoe folks, I'll have him on my iTunes list Monday, if you want to listen :)

Curtains!

So I finally did it. I made curtains. I am a domestic goddess.

Junk Mail

So, while the husband's out of town, I have had to take over his job of sorting through the mail and sending bills out. I have a new appreciation for this dreadful task, especially the part that includes opening the junk mail and shredding the sensitive material. What a waste of time! And precious electricity to run the poor shredder! Today the shredder jammed, and I stood there for a good five minutes, cursing the credit card companies as I picked wads of shredded paper from between the blades. Ugh.

However, upon the advice of an email forward I received recently (one of the few I actually read. I was bored at work.), I found a way to make this tedious bit of drudgery a bit more fun.

You send them their crap back in their prepaid envelopes. Supposedly, since this costs them money, it will deter them from sending you crap. However, I wanted to keep the gifts anonymous, so I kept all the pieces containing any identifying information, which I'm sure will rob me of the hypothetical benefit of seeing a reduction in my junk mail. But it certainly did not rob me of the joy I experienced as I undertook this little chore-turned-delightful-game.

I was done before it occurred to me to shred the contents of their mailings before putting it back into the prepaid envelope. Imagine the surprise/shock/dismay/mess for whatever poor sap gets to open that particular little prize! Maybe next time. I can't wait for tomorrow's mail!

Community

Wow, maybe I'm PMS-ing or just emotional from some of the big changes that are going on in our church group, but I read this poem on Dena's blog and it struck a chord in me. How very much we need each other! A friend of mine posed the rhetorical question recently, "are relationships necessary?," and instinctually the depths of my gut scream out a resounding "YES!!"

Whether you're a chat-a-holic (as I once was) or just have a general hesitation when it comes to intimate friendships (as I think we ALL do), this sentiment probably sounds familiar:

Chat Room

Faceless bodies, voiceless words—
A cacophony of silent cries
Begging to be heard.

We bare our souls,
Reveling in anonymity,
And miss altogether what our
Nameless keystrokes preclude…

The warmth in a smile,
A brow furrowed in concern,
The touch of a friend—

The touch.

I am so very thankful for my friends :)

You know you're a blog/myspace addict when...

...you're on vacation and your husband takes a couple of silly, candid photos of you and you think, "That would be a fun profile pic!"

If I could only figure out how to get this image at the top of my blog template...

Stuff on my Cat(s)

Check out this Web site--what do you think? Could my kitties make it?

Dance Party!

Did YOU have this much fun watching the Oscars?

Status Reports

Okay, so I know that blogging specifically about work is supposed to be the big no-no, but I felt like such a corporate monkey today, it felt like a blog-able moment.

Filling out the weekly status report makes me feel like Peter in Office Space.

“Mmmmm….Erin…..what’s happening. Hey, did you get that email about the weekly status reports? Yeah, we’re supposed to be filling them out every Friday now….mmmm…yeah…no more waiting until Monday morning….”

“Yeah, I always do fill it out on Fridays, actually…Um, I’ll make sure I’m more careful about filling it out thoroughly, though….” 

“….So if you could just go ahead and do that before you leave today, that would be greeeeaaaaat….mmm kay? Thaaaanks….”

On top of getting those kinds of “reminders,” the other Office-Spacey thing is the fact that the status report document is more prone to error messages, technological difficulties, and computer-freezing mishaps than any other document I interact with on a regular basis. One of these error messages was so funny to me, it even made it on the department quote list:

“The document ‘Status Report 12-17-05–High School.doc’ caused a serious error the last time it was opened. Would you like to continue opening it?” – Microsoft Word

But anyway. It’s the weekend now, and I’m officially going home.

MySpace

Okay, so I’m becoming addicted to myspace. It’s getting ridiculous. Plus, I found out yesterday that Craig is going to San Antonio with work for two weeks.  He leaves Monday L.  I know it will be fine, but I’m not looking forward to it. Call me and make sure I’m not spending all my time on myspace while he’s gone J