Adversity/Stress

In our home church on Sunday nights, we are doing a study on stress that is based on the book of Philippians and Paul's letters that were written during his time of adversity. Even when things went wrong for Paul, he still continued to praise God in every situation.

From our discussion tonight, one thing really stuck out to me. Your perspective is really what determines your stress level. If you react to every situation like it is the end of the world, your stress level is probably going to be high.

So my thoughts for the coming weeks are as follows: If something in my life seems out of control or like bad things are continually happening I will ask the following question: Has anybody died?

If no one has died, then the situation, while serious, does not merit me having a panic attack about it. If no one has died, situations can be dealt with and we will persevere no matter what life throws at us. Satan will not distract me with petty arguments or critical comments from others. I will not waste time passing the blame on to others or trying to be defensive about anything.

I will live my life by having faith in God and constant prayer and by not worrying about things that I cannot control in my life or in the lives of others.

Tradition: Saturday Morning Breakfast

We have company this weekend and I am waiting for everyone to get out of bed. As I sit here writing, I can smell the fresh blueberry muffins that are sitting on the counter as well as the smell of fresh coffee. I hope they all get up soon... these smells are making me hungry.

While I am sitting here, one of my friends wrote on my wall saying that he was eating chocolate chip muffins for breakfast this morning and that his wife has made chocolate chip muffins every Saturday morning for the past 7 or 8 years. That reminded me of growing up and my own family's Saturday morning breakfast tradition.

Every Saturday, my Mom and Dad would be in the kitchen making breakfast long before me and my sister and brother woke up. We always got up and had waffles or pancakes as a family. I believe that my Dad did the Saturday morning breakfast cooking, but I know that the two of them were always in the kitchen together on Saturday's getting ready for the day.

Those are precious memories - waking up to breakfast smells and then spending my first awake moments on Saturdays with my family.

Voting

Today as I was driving, I noticed a sign that said "Stop the Trains. Vote to Repeal." This got me to thinking. I can honestly say that I do not pay enough attention to local news to know that this sign is really talking about. I barely pay attention to National or World news. Don't get me wrong, I am not completely ignorant. I just choose what things I want to know about.

As my thoughts continued to wander around in my brain I began thinking about the dissonance in our culture when it comes to voting. We are a fast food culture. We want things now. We don't give most things the time of day if they are not presented quickly and in an interesting manner. We skip commercials. We TiVo our shows. We barely listen to radio. There are some of us whose only source of news may come from blogs or the limited amount of websits that we have patience for. The process of voting seems stuck in the past, world's away from our current world.

We are busier than ever. Who has time to run somewhere to vote? I am relatively young, so my experiences in voting are rather limited. But they haven't been good experiences. In order to vote, I most likely have to take off from work. I have to figure out where I am supposed to vote. I have to wait in long lines. And then I am supposed to vote for people and issues I may have limited knowledge about.

Sure I should be a good citizen and do the research myself so I am knowlegdable enough to vote. But this seems so counterintuitive to the rest of my life. Voting should be easier (maybe it is and I just am uninformed). Why can't we vote online or via text message? Why can't we have a website where ALL of the issues and candidates are spelled out for us. It should be easier for the general public and it should fit into our current culture.

Am I just totally off base? What are your thoughts?

Haven't written in a few days...

I know, some of you were probably worried... what happened to Cheree and her addiction to FB and writing all of the notes... Mostly there has not been a whole lot to write about.

It is so hard, to be waiting. Day in and day out. Not knowing what the future holds. You keep hoping and praying and doing your best to make things happen and they don't. Eventually it all works out and you are ecstatic and thankful that you held in there, even when you really wanted to give up.

Anyways, that is what I have been doing lately... waiting. Yesterday I got a call about an interview for Friday. I am really excited about this one, but will continue to wait and pray and hope that it works out. Interviews are exciting and terrifying all at once. A strange place to be.

We had a really good visit with Daniel's mom and grandmother last weekend. We have had a lot of weekend distractions lately... distractions in a good way. It is always good to reconnect and take the time for people. This weekend our friends, Marshall & Hillary, are coming to visit (sans their baby), so we are excited about that as well. Minus the fact that the house is not getting finished, but we will live and eventually it will be finished.

The tree is finally gone! I am thrilled and the best part is that I didn't have to help haul it to the curb. Daniel worked with our neighbor on Monday night and got it taken care of - D on the chainsaw and neighbor hauling limbs... I am so thankful that is done with and I will pray that no more trees fall on our property.

We need rain. We are making a record right now for lack of rain - it has been too long... Everything is dried up. The rivers and lakes are down significantly. Charlotte is on water restrictions... no watering yards. I am ready for a hard rain... you know, the kind that feels soul cleansing. I think that when it rains I will just go stand in the yard and let the water pour over me.

Affectionate Cat

Last night Daniel and I took Daniel's mom & grandmother to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner. I think we have taken almost all of our visiting friends and family to try the fabulous cheesecake there. If you have visited us and we have not gone there, I apologize. You will just have to come and visit again and we will take you.

Anyways we had a good meal and then split a slice of Adams Peanut Butter Fudge Ripple Cheesecake - one of our favorites. You cannot go wrong with Peanut Butter, Fudge and Cheesecake!

After dinner we wandered through SouthPark Mall and found our way to our favorite book store: Joseph Beth's where we spent some time browsing.

When we came home, one of the neighborhood cats was in our yard. This is not that odd as there are about 5 cats that seem to believe that our front porch is their personal domain. They are quite territorial and will scare off other cats at times.

Anyways, this particular cat has not been around as often and she actually had a collar and name tag. She came up and rubbed on our legs and I made the mistake of petting her. Then we all went inside. This poor cat tried to follow us in, which we promptly shooed her out. Then as we sat in our living room, talking, we could hear this pitiful meowing that lasted for well over an hour. At one point, Daniel went outside to see what her collar said so that he could call someone about her. However when we opened the door he thought she was acting strange so he shut the door again.

Daniel then brought up his concern that there have been 7 cases of rabies reported in Charlotte since July and he was concerned that this cat was acting too weird - she wanted to be petted, she wanted to come in, and she wouldn't quit whining outside of our door. I don't know, maybe she was just starved for attention.

I Googled rabies symptoms for cats and one form was that they act really aggressive and mean and another form they act overly affectionate and needy... so I have no idea. Maybe there is a rabid cat wondering our neighborhood. I do know that we got home around 8:30 and the poor cat was still meowing on our porch after 11 p.m. when I went to bed!

Be With Me, Lord

This one of my favorite hymns
(words by T.O. Chisholm, (c) 1963 by L.O. Sanderson):

Be with me, Lord--I cannot live without Thee,
I dare not try to take one step alone,
I cannot bear the loads of life unaided,
I need Thy strength to lean myself upon.

Be with me, Lord, and then if dangers threaten,
If storms of trial burst above my head,
If lashing seas leap everywhere about me,
They cannot harm, or make my heart afraid.

Be with me, Lord! No other gift or blessing
Thou couldst bestow could with this one compare--
A constant sense of Thy abiding presence,
Where e'er I am, to feel that Thou art near.

Be with me, Lord, when lonliness o'er takes me,
When I must weep amid the fires of pain,
And when shall come the hour of my departure
For worlds unknown, O Lord, be with me then.

Power Outage

Yesterday around 4:30 p.m. the power in our neighborhood went out. I gave Daniel a call and he called Duke Power and they told him it would be out until 7:30 p.m.

So we decided we would have to eat out for dinner... Daniel came home to pick me up and we headed for Brixx where we shared our favorite pizza: Chicken Florentine. The weather was perfect so we enjoyed sitting outside.

I think that 90% of the people eating dinner there were families with children under the age of 4. It was quite a zoo. The little kids were funny to watch. It made me remember how easily kids make friends with other kids that they don't know. Why is it so hard for adults to make friends like that? Anyways, we enjoyed eating out unexpectedly!

Inspiring Stories

This weekend I read two books that I found to be very inspiring. I am a sucker for stories where people overcome insurmountable odds.

The first book I read was Lifting Our Eyes by Beth J. Lueders. This story gives an account of the Virginia Tech tragedy and more specifically is about the life and death of Lauren McCain. It is a heartbreaking story with firsthand accounts of what the victims went through. It tells the stories of those who lived through the ordeal as well as those who died. It was a gut wrenching, but also compelling account. I am so sad for what that campus must have gone through on that terrible day.

 

The second book I read was Keep Climbing by Sean Swarner with Rusty Fischer. This book is Sean Swarner's account about how he survived two forms of cancer as a teenager and went on to become the first cancer survivor to summit Mt Everest. His account entails how he was told at the age of 13 that he had Hodgekins disease and would only live for 3 months. He went on to beat it and then was diagnosed several years later with Askin's sarcoma and only 2 weeks to live - this disease has a 6% survival rate. He had part of a lung removed and went on to live. He aspired to climb Everest in attempt to share hope with other cancer patients that it is possible to not only survive but to achieve your goals - even if they seem insurmountable. The book is a true story of survival and hope.

OBX

 

We had a wonderful weekend at the Outer Banks (OBX). We relaxed, did some sight seeing and just enjoyed being together. Last September we went to OBX with Daniel's dad (Wesley) & grandma and enjoyed climbing to the top of the Hatteras Lighthouse and going to the Wright Brothers Museum and monument to learn how the Wright Brothers became the first to fly. We also drove the full length of the southern portion of islands from Kill Devil Hills to Ocracoke and then took 2 ferries to get home. It was a lot of fun.

 

 

This year, it was just Wesley and us. As we were driving on the island to our hotel, we kept seeing these signs that said "Bear Crossing, Next 15 Miles" - who knew that bears liked the beach??? Apparently this is a sanctuary for wild animals, including bears. It is also has one of the largest bear populations in the east!

 

 

We decided to stay in the same hotel, Colony by the Sea. Wesley had an ocean view with a balcony that was nice to sit on at night. We spent our Saturday driving north and discovering the towns of Duck, Corolla and Currituck Village. We actually drove until the road ended and the sand began - you can drive 4-wheel drive vehicles on the beach here! Daniel and I are so coming back in the Pathfinder to drive and camp on the beach!!!

  

Anyways, we climbed to the top of the Currituck lighthouse and had a good view of the ocean and the sound. We visited a wildlife center to learn more about the area. We also saw the Whalebone Club - a spectacular club that was built for wealthy hunters. That afternoon we drove back to Nags Head where we stopped and visited some art galleries and then went to Jockey's Ridge State Park where we climbed sand dunes and flew a kite.

 

 

The kite flying was a lot of fun - this was the highest natural point of the island and there was lots of wind. Daniel and Wesley were much better at kite flying than I was - whenever I controlled the kite, it always seemed to do a nose dive to the ground! We were there for about an hour and as we were leaving, the wind whipped up and yanked the kite out of Daniel's hands. He went chasing after it but it ended up stuck in a tree over some power lines. Oh well - it was a lot of fun while it lasted!

 

The crowds were gone from OBX and we enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere. The water was still warm and the waves were pretty big. It was nice to sit on the beach in the sun and even better to sit on Wesley's balcony at night to watch the pounding waves and see the vast sky full of stars. The temperature was perfect - warm in the day, but on the cool side in the mornings and evenings.

 

We are all looking forward to another trip to OBX next year - there is still so much to explore. There are wild ponies to find and beaches to drive on and waters to kayak on...

Jeremiah 29:11

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

Online Family

So people give me a hard time about ALWAYS being on facebook, but I just checked and the following people were all online simultaneously, so it is not just me!!! Mark, Bem, Daniel, Becky and Dad!

Wednesday

Daniel got up early this morning, before work, to do some last minute sanding in our guest room. We are trying to get the room painted and trim installed before Daniel's dad gets here tomorrow.

I got up and skipped my morning work out so that I could finish painting the guest bedroom. Afterwards, I took a quick shower and then headed out to meet a friend for lunch.

This afternoon I painted all of the door casing and basecap so that we will be ready to install the trim tonight when Daniel gets home from work. Thankfully today is not as hot as it has been AND as much as we need the rain, I am thankful that it did not rain while I was outside painting the trim. So hopefully we will get all of the door casings and baseboard installed tonight so that I can spend all day tomorrow cleaning before Daniel's dad gets here.

Still no word on job stuff... this is disappointing, but I am hanging in there. Only time will tell what God has in store for me.

September 11

I was at a Ladies Bible Class this morning and someone mentioned that they heard on the radio people complaining about having to listen to Sept 11 stuff. I find that extremely sad. I understand that you might feel like you want to move on with your life, but there are thousands of people who are still alive who lost loved ones and it is sad that there are people out there that just don't care. I think that when we start forgetting about past events, we get into trouble. It is so easy to have the mentality that "it will never happen to me." I am sure that on Sept 11 and in daily life, things happen to people that they would never have dreamed about. Tragedy occurs and it is really self-centered of us to live our lives not caring about other people. Thank God another terrorist attack of that magnitude has not happened since. However terrorism still exists in our world and there are people all over the world who are affected daily by it. I hope that we never forget what it felt like to view the news that day. When we let our guard down, bad things will happen.

Painting

I spent the afternoon cleaning and painting. It looks like we will be able to install baseboard and door casings over the next couple of days! I probably need to get out of the house for a little while since I have been smelling paint all day.

40 out of the last 42 days in Charlotte have been above 90! I am ready for a cool down. We are still in a drought and there are water restrictions on watering your yard (we don't water our yard b/c then we would have to cut the grass lol).

Acts 17:16-34

Yesterday we had the privilege of hearing Randy Harris speak. Randy spoke at the Men’s Retreat and then came to Providence Road on Sunday to share with the rest of the congregation.

In recent weeks the focus of Jeff Walling’s sermons have been on the topic of evangelism and Randy continued on this topic by speaking on Acts 17:16-34. Randy’s points included the following regarding Paul and his stop in Athens.

We need to BE THERE. While Paul was waiting in Athens, he did not just sit around at a friend’s house waiting. He went out into the streets, to the market places and looked for pagans. He did not stay where it was safe, hiding in his Christian bubble. Instead he went out and faced the world head on.

We need to BE RELEVANT. While Paul was in the city, he noticed that there were many idols and that there was even one that was for an “unknown god.” Paul used his knowledge of current philosophies and talked to the people who were there about how he knew this unknown god. An interesting comment that Randy made was that Paul did not use scripture at all in his discussion. He did not door knock or go out bible-banging. He was relevant in his knowledge of the culture and meeting the people where they were at.

We need to BE REAL. When we consider the Christmas story or nativity scenes, we generally think about a cute, cuddly baby wrapped up and sitting in a clean manger. Mary is radiant and beautiful. The wise men and shepherds and animals are all watching and the angels are singing. In truth Jesus was born in scandal (an angel visited Joseph to say that the baby was God’s but no one else had an angel to tell them that Mary hadn’t been promiscuous). He was born in the midst of poverty – in a stable. He was born in the midst of violence – King Herod had all babies under the age of 2 killed when he heard that a king had been born. Randy spoke about how we forget how real Jesus was – that everything wasn’t perfect for him when he came into this world, just like it is not perfect for many of us.

We need to BE FAITHFUL. At the end of the chapter, Paul talks about the resurrection of the body. At this point he starts to lose some of his audience. He is laughed at and people begin to leave. But a key point is that a few followed him and he may have planted seeds for others as well.

For the invitation, Randy made a statement that all of us needed to be reminded of. He reminded us all that this was a safe place and whether you are an old member or a visitor, this is a place that you should know is safe – safe to come and lay your burdens at the cross; a place where we are all sinners and we will not ridicule you. At a discussion last night, we discussed how there is a need for that reminder that the church should be a safe place and not a place for gossip or a place where we look down on others.

Under the Weather

Daniel has felt a little under the weather all weekend. We had big plans to finish some of painting projects and get baseboard and crown molding installed this weekend, but Daniel spent most of the weekend laying on the couch or in bed. He doesn't get sick that often and it really drives him nuts to have to lay down for so long due to a lack of energy. He seems to be on the mend. His symptoms have been limited to a general lack of energy and a runny nose... nothing spectacular.

We are trying to make some headway on projects as the next 3 weekends we have back-to-back plans. Next weekend we are off to the Outer Banks with Daniel's dad. The following weekend, Daniel's mom and grandmother will be here for a visit. And the weekend after that, some friends from Nashville will be visiting us.

Hopefully we can still do a push during the week to get some of these projects tied up. Most importantly I hope that Daniel will start feeling like his usual self again.

Nothing Special

Today was a generic Friday. Daniel slept in because he hasn't been feeling that great. I accidentally grabbed his phone when I left for the Y this morning so we had the wrong phones all day.

He came home around lunch time and we just chilled all day. We ran out to catch the $1 Theater matinee of Live Free or Die Hard (the Bruce Willis movie). It was typical Die Hard movie, but we enjoyed the action... esp Daniel.

After the movie we grabbed dinner and then a stop at Lowe's - what week would be complete for us without a trip to Lowe's???

Intruder In the Night

Last night I woke up to a noise and noticed that Daniel was awake so I asked him what he was doing.

"I think I heard something," was his reply. So I asked him what he had heard.

"Two things: I think I heard someone laughing and I heard water running and then being turned off." At this point he also let me know he was looking for his handgun and flash light.

Great. We live in a safe neighborhood and it is not a good feeling to wake up and be afraid. I did some quick thinking and remembered that I had set the dishwasher to the delayed cycle so that it would run in the middle of the night while we were asleep. It had woken me up an hour before Daniel woke up so I told him that the running water was probably the end of the dishwasher cycle and that he probably dreamed that someone was laughing.

We both lay awake and still for the next 30 minutes listening in the dark. There were no more noises and we both agreed that the dishwasher must have been the "intruder." After a little while Daniel decided to get up and investigate just to be sure.

I don't know if you have ever heard a handgun being cocked in the dark, but it is a LOUD noise. He made his way through the house and turned on all of the lights. After he was sure it was just us in the house, we finally went back to sleep.

So there was no intruder... just a noisy dishwasher. I will probably refrain from running it on delay in the middle of the night in the future.

The Most Boring Job...

Today I was in the lobby of a large corporation waiting to start my meeting and I realized what the most boring job in the world is.

As I sat there I noticed the receptionist repeatedly answering the phone and saying, "Hi you've reached _________, this is Wendy. How may I help you?"

Over and over and over again. The same line. The whole time I waited, she kept repeating the EXACT same phrase over and over. I think I would go insane if I had to do that.

The Word "Trusty"

Daniel just informed me that I use the word "trusty" entirely too much in my notes. So I will try to be more creative in my use of words in the future.

Frustration Over A Tree

Our neighbors have not yet done anything about their tree that has fallen into our yard. So Daniel has been doing some research and apparently a tree that falls into your yard from an act of God is your responsibility to clean up.

This makes me want to cry. In the last 12 months we have already had 3 trees fall on our property and now we have another one to deal with. This means that it will eat into our time to work on the house and it is just plain hard work to cut up and haul a tree to the street for take away.

Also, in his research, he discovered that if someone hurts themselves on your property you are liable - even if it is their equipment and they inadequacy - YOU are responsible. The only way around this is to hired someone who is licensed to remove trees which will cost more and there is no way we are spending a ton of money on tree removal OR that Daniel will let anyone onto the property with a chainsaw who is not licensed.

Chasing the Recycling Truck

This morning we slept in so I was up trying to help Daniel get out the door when I heard the rumble of a truck go by. My first thought was "Crap... It is Tuesday which means Garbage/Recycling Day and we didn't take anything to the curb yet."

I opened the door to see where the truck was. It was the recycling truck and it had just passed our house. I contemplated what to do and here is what happened:

1) I considered running down the road with our recycling bin in the hopes that they would take it.
2) I look across the street and notice that they haven't picked up on the other side of the street.
3) I see the truck turning around at the cul-de-sac down the road and coming back down the other side of the street.
4) I grab the recycling bin, run across the street and sit it next to the neighbor's bin that is completely full of beer cans.
5) The truck made the pick up and moved on and I crossed the street again to reclaim our recycling bin from the neighbors yard.

Mission accomplished. I really couldn't afford to miss that pick up b/c we fill our recycling bin to above capacity every week and I really need to go get a second bin to use.

I need to be challenged more.

I just got back from my interview with ECMS Worldwide. It seemed to go well and I should know something by the end of the week.

The creative director who interviewed me was from either Australia or Britain (I think Britain). During the course of our meeting, he kept making long pauses and I had to try really hard not to fill those pauses with my incessant talking. He seemed to like me, so I will just have to see if it pans out.

He is one of the few people in my life who has pointed out that he thinks that I need to be challenged more in my work. It is refreshing for someone besides me to realize that.

Lowe's Mega Shopping Trip

We completed our mega shopping trip to Lowe's in just under 3 hours - this includes time to shop, go through the check out and load all of our goods into 2 trucks (we borrowed a truck from a friend and took our trusty Pathfinder).

To prepare for such large expenditures of money (especially if you are married to Daniel Moore) we had to do a lot of recon work - we probably spent at least 10 hours scoping out what we needed to buy, taking inventory of what we currently own and doing a lot of measuring of rooms in our house to make sure we had the right amounts of base board and crown molding.

Though I HATE spending extra time in Lowe's than I perceive to be necessary, it does make our actual shopping trip well organized and uneventful. This is our second large trip like this and we always get lots of curious stares - after all we had 3 huge Lowe's carts for the 2 of us to lug around...

Anyways, thanks to our 10% OFF coupon, we saved roughly $200. We have made a pretty sizable investment into our house in the last 2 years (at least sizable to us). We are always blown away when we read magazine articles or books that state approximate costs of renovations - since we are doing all of the work ourselves, our budgets are always WAY LOWER than anything we have read regarding budget estimates.

The hardest part of these shopping trips is the loading and unloading. We got off easy this time as a Lowe's employee helped the 2 of us load everything. Let me tell you drywall and cement board are not light items and we had 10 of each! Unloading at home was even more difficult b/c we had to find places for everything which involved some reorganizing of our basement.

Overall it was a successful trip and we have everything we need to finish installing baseboard and crown molding in the entire main level of our house as well as everything for the master bathroom renovation.

75% Discount At Lowe's

First of all I am annoyed b/c I just wrote my whole note and I lost it!!! So here goes again...

Daniel and I have been finalzing our mega shopping list for Lowe's. We have a 10% off coupon and if you use your Lowe's card for purchases this weekend you get 0% interest for 12 months. I know that this is not the Dave Ramsey way, however we are pumping equity into our house and since we are doing all of the work ourselves we will eventually recoup the investment.

Anyways on to the story of the evening... tonight we were on our way to Barnes & Noble and decided to make a stop at a Lowe's that we normally do not go to b/c we wanted to make sure we were both happy with the tile selection for the master bathroom. While there, we swung by the bathroom section and noticed that they had the vanity and mirror we had been eyeing on sale marked down from $148 to $42!!!

We were really excited about this and decided to go ahead and make the purchase tonight instead of waiting until tomorrow b/c our normal Lowe's was selling the same thing for $84. We were soon disappointed to find out that this store did not have any of our vanities in stock, but another store across town did.

So we hightailed it across town and found both the vanity and the mirror. However they had different prices and would cost $84 and $50 instead of $42 and $25. We decided the price was still good, but Daniel stopped by customer service just to see if they would give us a deal.

The customer service guy was emphatic that all of the stores were different and that he couldnt give us the cheaper price but he agreed to call Lowe's corporate HQ just to see. After being on hold for some time, he got of the phone and incredulously told us that someone at HQ must be smoking crack b/c even though several stores had the item on back order, they said to go ahead and give us the discounted prices! So instead of paying the original price of $250 for both items, we only paid $84!!!

We only had one small problem... we were in the Altima instead of the Pathfinder b/c we were not planning on making any big purchases tonight. The box that the vanity was in would not fit in our car. We had to take everything out of the box and put the vanity bottom in the front seat, the vanity drawer in the back seat with me and the granite counter top and the mirror in the trunk! Daniel broke down the box with his pocket knife and shoved it into the back seat with me! This kind of reminded me of when I was in college and me and my siblings bought my parents a TV for Christmas one year. It would not fit in the car so we had to take it out of the box in the parking lot. It still would not fit into my car so I had to call Daniel to come pick it up in my parents mini van!!!

We need to just start driving our Pathfinder any time we have the inkling to go to Lowe's or Home Depot!