In Over My Head

Generally speaking, I'm the kind of person that refuses to get in over the head. Fiji taught me that...among several things. I am however, currently in over my head.

I agreed to organize the move for YFC. Then they added changing internet companies on me. Now I have a friend coming in from out of town, a wedding next week, AND the girls Ministry to run. I think I'm stretched too far.

Now I have to learn to say no. So today (Hopefully) I'm going to let them know I can work on the move this week and thru Wednesday of next week and then after the new year. Does that sound good?

Day Job: I'm Seeking Feedback Please

Okay, so my day-job is this: Youth Guidance, Youth for Christ Grand Rapids. What does that mean? I get to hang out with at-risk girls all the time, the more the merrier. I love what I do. But I have one constant problem. I'm asking for your opinion.

I have a support base for which I cannot be thankful enough for. Without the people who write monthly checks to YFC on my behalf, I would not be able to do what I do. It is thru their sacrifice, that I am able not only to do what I love, but to share with them all these great things that God is doing. For some of them, it is the only way they will be able to tell someone else about Jesus. Here is my problem:

Ideally, I would love to send out a newsletter once a month telling everyone what is going on. For those who write monthly checks its a reminder...sort of like a nice bill that's personal and friendly and doesn't have late fees. For others, maybe the ones that this is how they tell others about Jesus, they see the fruit of their labor. But this presents a problem: $67+ dollars a month for postage not to mention the time it takes to stuff, label, and write these things (I will mention here that I love writing them, formating them, and being able to share with everyone all the cool things God is doing). ...It is however, impractical because of the time and expense.

YFC has also developed a Calendar of sending out newsletters rotating letters directly and only from the Executive Director (ED), general YFC Newsletter...which is news/highlights from all of our ministry sites (of which we are each limited to about 250-300 words), personal Newsletters (one newsletter from each ministry site), and no newsletter at all (only twice in the year). This leaves a lot of what goes on out of anyone's ears. From my point of view, this is simply bad PR...when you don't communicate effectively and thouroughly with your supporters who DO sacrifice to give.

So now, we are looking into doing e-newsletters. Several advantages arise from doing it this way: way less expensive, way less time consuming, can be as personal or organizational as desired, and this 'instant' communication also provides means of better two-way communication. These are some of the possibilities. Some disadvantages I currently see are some who have limited or no access to internet - do we send them a snail mail one?, the slightly less personal and more spam-like looking email in the inbox - will people ignore it or pass it off as something not involving them? Okay, those are the only ones I can think of.

In other news, quick a minute before I close: Its not really an official thing yet but I like the thought of it and I like the odds of its potential. I heard yesterday that I may have an opportunity to get my masters! Not in communication (which I have a BA in) but in Criminal Justice/Youth Ministry area. Its thru a university in St.Paul Minnesota: Bethel University. Its one of those short-term, highly intense days with months of follow up. The program is currently being developed I hear. Pray for it, it would be a huge help in understanding the kids I work with.

Again, I would like your feedback on the communication thing above. If you would take a minute and let me know your preferences. I want to communicate frequently not because I like or want to be annoying, but because I see a lot of joy and I see a lot of God working and I think its important for the sake of encouragement and so much more!

Nuts and Bolts

I realize that it has been a long time since I last wrote. Not much has been happening lately. Don finally got his license about a month ago which has relieved a lot of low-lying stress in my life. My girls are growing like weeds and its so exciting. Thanksgiving was last week...Happy belated Thanksgiving by the way. I got new shoes...two pairs...one is my first pair of stelleto heels. I'm looking forward to both the end of this year and the beginning of the new one.

I'm hoping to go to our midwinter conference in February. Its going to cost about $1050 to go. Right now I just can't part with that sort of money in my YFC account. If anyone has an extra grand (or part of an extra grand) layin' around...send me a check with 'Kelly's Midwinter Conference' on it and mail it to YFC: YFC; PO Box 2678; Grand Rapids MI 49501. I know, that's not the address you're used to BUT YFC is moving yet again...the building we're leasing is sold and we sought the Lord about staying (which is our legal right) or leaving (which would promote better community relations) and we foudn the Lord to lead us away from Lousma Dr. We're happy about it and God lead us to a good place.

Since it is after Thanksgiving, I give full permission to all for the installation of Christmas Decorations if they so desire. We have now looked upon ourselves, our lives, and the world around us and found things to be thankful for so we may now look ahead to the blessing that CHRISTmas affords: the birth of our Lord and Savior. You may now commence the putting up of fancy and colorful lights, the decorating of an evergreen, the silly little mistletoes because I know you can't live without them Nae, and the building of miniture cities because you like to have control Kelly. All of your presents can be wrapped and placed under that evergreen, please refrain from putting your stockings too close to the fire. Also, be mindful of overloading sockets as is a holiday tradition for many, this is a grave fire hazzard. Don't forget that Nativity set and place it in a good place as it does keep us grounded. And for the love of Christ...Don't stand for the shift to 'happy holidays' say it with pride: "MERRY CHRISTMAS!"

(*Sigh*)

I think that's all I have. Be safe, Be good, and if that can't happen, at lest don't get caught!

Attention SUB Clubbers!!

Well, its that time of our lives where we plan reunions. What is this....it will (I suppose) be our five year reunion from most of our graduations. This MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND we are planning a reunion (Josiah and I and whoever else wants to join in). The dates are May 23-26, 2008 so mark your calendars!! We're planning on Eastern Ohio because Jo has a place large enough that we wouldn't have to pay for housing. I can bring along two tents that both sleep 8 people each (let me know if I need to bring both). So much to be had...please plan to come!! Oh yeah, and tell Alan and Carol, I hear they don't blog. They live in Southern California so stop by their place and let them know if you live in the area.

More details to come

Well, I hope ya'll had a Happy Holloween and that all the candy was safe and all. I wish to wish you a Happy Reformation Day too! ...Just as important.

Not much is going on in my life. My car payments are fabulous! ...mostly because they drive better than my non-car payments and there is an assurance that I'll never have to deal with that body shop again.

We (YFC YG) have now sold just over 200 Yonkers Community Day coupon books. For $5 you get a $10 off coupon for any single item in the store over $10, 8- 20% off coupons on various items, one $30 off Clark shoes that don't ever go on sale, and one other bonus buy of a 3-tray entertainment buffet server for $49.97 instead of its normal price of $100. Good buy eh? I might stop in and shop too! Christmas shopping on saturday is on my list of things to do.

It is my goal this year, to be done shopping by Thanksgiving. I've never been a day-after-Thanskgiving-day shopper before but last year my husband and I went just so we (I) could see the craziness. AND it was crazy! we got a great deal on a badly needed winter coat for me and him too so it wasn't all bad. We got tons of shopping done and we saved tons of money and were back in bed within an hour and a half! I was proud. Never again. Gotta do somethings once right?

Well, I should go, work becons...

Something doesn't sound right coming from...

May God bless all the people from every walk of life who are now picking up ashes of the past several days in southern California.

But truly, when you see a celebrity come on Television and say, "...you can become a part and help us rebuild our lives..." it just doesn't sound the same as the people from New Orleans saying, "...you can become a part of this and help us rebuild our lives..." Same words but coming from a celebrity, who earns millions and millions of dollars on ABC's hit show 'Ugly Betty' just doesn't seem too needy. I wish celebrity's the best, I truly do, but they have bank accounts, insurance policies, investments and assets they can dig into and have spare afterward to help their neighbor.

I would like to see how the McDonald's worker plans on rebuilding their house, or where they're going to stay until there is an apartment complex they can afford and is ready for move in. I would like to know what is going to happen to those who work three part time jobs at the mall (that burned down) for a living, how are they going to rebuild their lives, send their kids to school, pay their car insurance, etc... How are these people, without fat insurance policies, assets and investments, and heafty bank accounts going to get up on their feet again? Why not put someone we all know doesn't have a hit TV show standing in front of their ashes saying, "...please be apart of this because I had just paid my car insurance two weeks ago and I have $153.27 in my bank account and we have no food. Help me and my neighbors rebuild our lives..."

The lesser of the two evils

So if you've been following this at all I would like to thank you for allowing me to release all of my anger and agression toward a certain place because of a certain stupid thing. I would like to also let you know that my car problems have now turned into car payments. Both Don and I are relieved and happy with this new lesser of two evils.

We are the proud owners (and both drivers - just as exciting) of a 2007 blue Ford Taurus, used, with less than 20,000 miles! We are truly thankful to Fox Ford, Steve Scheffler the sales man who is honest, trustworthy, and one who truly looks out for your best interest, and all others involved in this: the service guys, the insurance agent, and all of the fans who voted for us and watched our... Oh wait, that was my acceptance speech... But we are just, if not more, grateful!

The Final Saga of the Castle

As much as I like these little stories I create of all my neighbors to make my world more interesting, I must say, this is the final episode. Let me first explain. I was reading in my headlines about this website, I think it was called 'rottenneighbor.com' or something like that. The just of the website is that all these people write in and complain about their neighbors and how horrible they all are. As I read some of these profiles I realized that all the people writing were just as bad and that I was no better telling sorted stories about the people in my building. Tho all I say is true and I do not say anything in a demeaning way (tho it may come off that way) I still am no different than all the tattle-tale neighbors.

I do however want to tell you my new neighbors. They're from Sudan, they are part of the Lost Boys. They are good neighbors and Don and I look forward to continuing to get to know them better.

That is all.

Crop it all!

So this past weekend my mom, sister and I went to this cool little Bed and Breakfast called "Lasting Impressions" with a bunch of ladies that we know just to work on our photo albums. We all do Creative Memories. We cropped our tail ends off and I was crowned "Queen of Crop" (the annual award - as they do this every year - for the lady who does the most pages). I laid 95 pages. in three and a half days. I finished my wedding book (of which is actually two books and I need to purchase a second cover set), my honeymoon and all up to our first anniversary trip (I have four pages left til the trip is finished). I am beyond excited.

I'm a cropper for life too...as I finally committed myself to buying the cool things necessary to start doing it at home...well, the basics at least.

In other news, its been two weeks and one day since my last rear-ending and my neck is stiff a little...not enough to immobilize me in any way.

And one last tid-bit. Don passed his drivers test and we're going to the Secretary of State later this morning to get his license! I'm so proud of him!!

I'm searching for...a magnet

So back in March I did something really stupid. I was talking on my cell phone while driving and I rear-ended the guy in front of me. Hence the story about the Body Shop from Heck (which by the way, on trip number five, I retrieved my car that now has a whistle, my dad says its probably not anything to worry about). Exactly 10 weeks later a young lady rear-ended me while I was stopped at a green light. I ended up in the ER for a whiplash the next day. And yesterday, it happened again: I was stopped at a red light and the TAXI DRIVER (a lady) hit me! I couldn't believe it! How does something like that happen three times in six and a half months??? Yes my neck is a little soar...but since insurance is a nightmare and I continually have to pay on top of my co-pay/deductible for health insurance, I'm just going to ignore it and hope it goes away. If it doesn't go away, my insurance company will hear about it and WHY I didn't go in before.

Lord, help us all!

Culturally Relevant

I was walking into our castle this past Friday and low-and-behold someone was moving in. Actually, five or six someones into the same two bedroom (805 sq ft) apartment we own. These six someones have only been in the US for six and a half years (yes, they're legal) and hail from the great country of Sudan. They're very friendly, dark as night, guys that we hope to build a friendship with.

They offically moved the rest of their stuff Saturday. We stopped by mid-afternoon to bring them ice-cold water because it was so bloody hot outside (can you believe upper 80s in October?!).

What I don't understand is this: how do five or six people fit in that appartment? The two of us fill it perfectly...not to big, not too small. A third person would make it crowded and I would feel a bit congested. The space in the apartment isn't all that evened out. We have a generous master bedroom and good size walk-in closet. The living room is bigger than we would need too. The kitchen is on the small size but still very workable. The dining room is probably perfect for a four foot round table (but their long rectangular table over flows that). The only thing that is obsurdly out small is the second bedroom...seriously, its probably one and a half of of my cubical at work and my cub is a normal cub.

So how do they fit all of them there? Well, as I pondered this with my hubby and brought it up with my mom, we all reenforced each other's notion that its all culturally relevant. They come from Sudan where the houses are probably small, few rooms, and crowded with many bodies. They probably don't realize that to me, that would be crowded (afterall, less than a mile from our apartments are two bedroom, 1,000 sq ft for only $21 more a month).

Don and I were talking with the people who were helping them move. The wife said that when they finally arrived, they knew nothing, they had to be taught to work a light switch. So I obviously their living standards are a bit different than mine. I could relate too...as could Don...the difference living from country to country, especially contentant to contentant requires you to learn many things all over again.

Culturally Relevant.

A funny thing happened with the Sudanese in Apt 6...One came over Sunday night about 9pm, and kindly asked if we could watch his apartment while he went to work. It struck me as odd but then again, we were the only people they knew in the apartment AND it was very new to them.

And so goes the saga of our little Castle.

This is what I think...as if anyone cares...

One of my headlines reads, 'Bricklayers back Clinton for President'. Now I really haven't read up on my candidates yet so I'm not going to say anything about who I back becasue frankley and honestly, I don't know who I will vote for. It caught my eye because my dad is a bricklayer and I thought that there would be some industrial reason why they would single out bricklayers instead of saying 'construction workers' or 'manual laborers' or something like that. I found out tho that they back her because they believe she has the best chances of winning.

That is the dumbest thing I have ever heard! ...Much dumber than the UAW Strike (which is now settled, no metion in the settlement of job security which is their reasoning for striking, the settlement revolves around health care...again...big surprise...all that is full of sarcasm).

Why would you back a candidate, Democrat, Republican, Black, White, or Green, just because they have 'the best chances of winning'? What about 'I'm/we're backing this person because I/we believe he/she is the best candidate to lead our country'? Or what about, 'I/we believe that his/her views on ... can really move the country forward and its what we need'.

Now, I hate politics because I get so wound up. We all know, if Obama wins it will be the greatest racial achievement since the dawn of our country. If Clinton wins, it will be the greatest advancement for women's rights and the feminist movement. If a Republican male wins, it will be because thats the way its always been and Presidents of this country are neither female nor black.

BUT if Obama looses it will be because he's black. If Clinton looses it was because she was a woman up for man's job. If a Republican male looses it will be because Bush was apparently the worst president ever.

All of this will have nothing to do with health care, economics, foreign plans or the war in Iraq. It will have nothing to do with plans to educate the poor, feed the hungry, the UN issue, the floods in Africa, the Drought in most of the country, or global warming and going green. All of the reason they do or do not get elected will be based on the superficial: the color of their skin, their 'x' or 'y' genetics, their conservative nature, etc...

These candidates, Democrat, Republican, Black, White, or Green, will win or loose not on merit: what they have to offer those without health insurance, what they will offer to boost the housing market in Florida, California, Michigan and other such states, it will not be about whether or not they can educate the poorest, give jobs to hopeless, stand for those who cannot stand on their own. These candidates, Democrat, Republican, Black, White, or Green will win or loose based on the color of the skin, the 'x' or 'y' gene they have, or because they 'have the best chance to win'.

Why will it be this way? Because most Americans feel oppressed. We have created a culture in which we celebrate the victim and minority, not the best qualified. We reward those who do not work or contribute to a productive society, and tax the hell out of those who do in order to support those who don't. We don't help the poor but we keep them poor by giving them enough handouts where they are content with their poverty and dream and work for nothing better. We look at all of our problems and identify them, and yet do nothing to really help and solve the problem. Instead we put bandaids on fatal wounds and cover up the dead with a pretty garden because we're afraid of cutting out the fat and getting rid of the unnecessary. We aim to please everyone when in reality this is impossible.

After all, since the dawn of televised presidential races, that is the way it has been: all superficial, band-wagon, politically correct, insult-and-embarrass-your-opponent-publicly, presidential races.

Misery

So this morning I woke up with a slight head issue. My head was a little stuffy, my brain a little dizzy, my mind still quite co-hearant but I could tell that was about to go. Well, as the day went on, it just went from bad to worse, to...misery.

At one point, a co-worker of mine walked over to my cub and said, "Are you the one sneezing, and coughing, and choking, and dying?"

"Yes." He then gently spoke his lack of sympathy and ended with something like, "We perfer your germs stay at home."

Yay!! Sick day tomorrow!!

I feel like crap and the best part is, I haven't thought about that stupid UAW issue. I've canceled my after school plans and am going to go home in an hour and a half. Yay!

P.S. I'm on my second box of Kleenex

Go back to work UAW!

The UAW (United Auto Workers) have once again gone on strike.

Let me pre-empt what I'm about to say otherwise it will sound unmerciful and hoity-toity. Unions were definitely needed in the day they started. The working man needed to stand up for their rights and to do so they had to stand together. I believe that we wouldn't have sane and healthy working conditions we have today if it weren't for them. I believe that today we have greater balance in life and family because of them. But they have overstayed their welcome. To stay competetive, employers offer health care, paid vacation, set amounts of hours and overtime pay. We no longer need to all stand together and walk out of our work and stand in a picket line to get fair, humane, and decent treatment. We have balance, we have rights.

In Michigan's struggling economy, the UAW is not only shooting themselves in the foot but they're killing our state! They went on strike. I don't know why but this is the result: the people that supply them parts to put cars and engines together (or whatever they do with them) will now be laid off. These UAW have benefits that provide them money of some sort so they can stand on the sidewalk and hold their signs but the people who are laid off will now go home without that. If the UAW wins, the Automobile manufacturers will no longer be able to afford to make a car in the US and will have to outsource their work to foreign countries or the result will be cars too expensive for people to buy. Then the UAW people will no longer have a job to strike for, the laid off people will have no hope for employment, and the saddest part is probably the fact that these people are not college educated for the most part and they will be unable to find adequate work to feed their families, pay their morgages, and pay their bills.

Michigan's primary industry will be the cause of death for everyone. Once the Automakers leave, there will be much less people buying christmas presents at our malls, food at our grocery stores and eateries, trinkets at our tourist stops. People will move out of our dear state to find better work somewhere else. That means less revenue for the state through income taxes, sales tax, and traffic violations. So less people will be needed to file, bill, and work stores. So more people will leave to find work in other places.

You think it won't be that way? Let's see what's happened in recent years from lay-offs and plant closings: Michigan is #1 or #2 for the worst economy, the state budget for 2007 still has no resolution and 2008 is far from the books, our school system is in the bottom ten of the nation, and we are in the top five for home foreclosures in the nation. This is all aside from the fact that poverty, bad education, and crime are all on the rise.

I would think that with all the factory jobs that once kept our economy steaming forward, getting fewer and fewer these UAW people would feel grateful for the fact that they have jobs that are contracted and they have payouts if the contract falls through. I would think they would feel lucky to have a job at all, not to mention one that allows them to retire after 30 years of work with full health care, fat pensions, and other financial benefits. I would think they would be happy. I would think that they would be extremely grateful knowing that it would cost their company less than half to give someone else the same sort of lifestyle in another country.

The Unions gave us a lot in their day and without them I'm sure our working conditions would be vastly different but they have over stayed they're welcome and they need to go. UAW get off the picket lines and go back to work. You hold us all back.

Oh what to write...that is my only battle today

Yeah, I've been slacking. Apartment 9 now has new occupants. Apartment 11 must work third shift. Apartment 5 (which I think I've been wrong on the number...I think I've been calling it Apartment 8...its the guy with the flowers and who I think is gay). He never picked his peppers.

Okay, do you see how much is not happening in life right now?

So Don and I had a fight. I think it was something that had been lingering for a while...it would come up here and there. It was probably one of the best things that has happened to us in recent months! The root cause of all this tension was that I was saying one thing...thinking I was being beyond abudantly clear...and he totally missed what I was saying. It was so great because we finally broke thru all the confusion and it was my fault...I wasn't being clear enough. We got it sorted out and it lifted SO much pressure on us, on me, and now we're much better off!

I remember when we had our first major fight (the one over the laundry didn't really count). I remember a distinct moment just before I opened my mouth I thought, "If I don't get this out and start this fight, we are going to brush things under the rug always. I trust him to have this fight and I trust that it will move our relationship forward and not backwards." I was committed to that. And granted there have been times I have been more committed to that than other times but I am committed to the fact that conflict will bring our relationship and our marriage foward and not backward.

I think this doesn't happen in a lot of relationships and marriages because people are afraid of conflict. People think that conflict is always negative. Its just the opposite...much of the time. Conflict brings out problems and issues that need to be addressed and if you can work thru them and commit to something more and better than the problem then it can only move forward. The problem people have with conflict is that they engage without trusting all the people involved...including themselves. When there is conflict, everyone has to trust and commit to the better of everyone, of the team...not thru compromise but thru win-win solutions.

When this happens, when it happened with Don and I, it makes everything MUCH better. I trust him enough to fight with him and to know that he still loves me and that what we have is making what we will have better. Don't be afraid to fight, be afraid of brushing it under the rug.

Oh yeah, my car is finally getting fixed on Monday. HOPEFULLY the part will not spring another leak between now and then because I'll loose almost all my oil. So far so good and its been 11 days and I checked my oil yesterday and It's still got the exact same amount! PTL!!

Body Shop from Heck

So I told you about my recent car issues. I got a second opinion which is really rare that I do because I don't know anything about anything but I didn't really know the people who told me about that coolant and oil pan leak and there were a few things I was concerned about in connection with that: how does an oil pan cost $300-$400?

I got my second opinion from the guy who actually sold us the car. He's great. He told me it wasn't the oil pan but intead it was the Hydrolic Motor Head or something like that...the thing that helps you change gears or whatever. Anyway, he was completely confused as to why this particular part was falling apart. He said they rarely change them and if they do its usually on a car with exorborant amount of miles on a really old car. I drive a 2002 Ford Taurus with almost 109,000 so according to him, my car isn't near old enough and it doesn't have enough miles for this part to go out. He was pretty sure it was directly related to the accident.

That is yet another thing that the Body Shop I took my car to didn't catch. This is the story: I told the tow guy to take it to this body shop because back in High School I hit a deer and they were fabulous. That day I couldn't get ahold of either my mom or my dad so I figured I'd just take it there. I knew people that worked there so I thought it would be okay, I felt I could trust them. That was my only mistake. The insurance company deemed the car totaled. The Body Shop from Heck needed work and the secretary/receptionist talked them into fixing it. I've had to take it back to them...well, this is the forth time. I am bound and determined NOT to pay this bill. If Insurance doesn't pay for it (which I'm actually hoping for) then THEY will pay for it. They wanted to fix it...they can fix it (I just wish they wouldn't have to).

I've been thinking of presenting them with two options: fixing my car or giving me $6000 so I can use it as a trade in and tack on the $6000 to by the Ford Taurus I saw with only 47,000 miles on it. I hope that will happen because then I know I won't ever see the Body Shop from Heck again.

I have to have a dependable car. It's not just a to and from work car. I'm in ministry and I have kids in my car. It has to be safe. These kids come from families that think suing is their God-given right AND responsibility. It doesn't matter to them if it was truly an accident or something done out of neglegence (in which case this would actually the latter). And the thing is, this Body Shop isn't the one getting sued from these parents. I am. YFC is. There is no way around it. If something happens while they're in the car, its MY problem, not theirs.

Honestly, if my car needs a repair, it needs a repair and generally I don't hate them. I just hate it when someone convinces someone else to fix a person's car and then doesn't fix it. Thats just wrong. What desterbs me also, is the guy I know that works there, I've known all my life and he's not the one that works on cars but it still refects badly on him in my mind as much as I tell myself he had nothing to do with it.

Grrr

The number one fear of Americans is Public Speaking. The number two fear of Americans is the fear of death. Do you get that? People would rather be dead than speak. I on the other hand, have neither of these fears...in I embrace both of them as an opportunity to advance (in anything really, but mostly that is determined by what I would say).

I don't like paying for car repairs. At the beginning of the year in fact, I feared paying for car payments. At the time I thought it had to do with the fact that I didn't have money to pay for them. I have the money now, and it makes the fear considerably less, but I still fear it because I always wonder if I should sell it and upgrade. Well, I still have the car (cause I don't have car payments) but today I do have it in. I hate that.

I have an oil pan and coolant leak. Probably from a manhole cover I strattled in a construction zone. I wish I had proof of that cause I'd send my bill to the construction company and say, "this is your responsibility because you did not properly mark and/or warn by sign that there were obstructions in the road that could not be moved or otherwise avoided by drivers." After all, I do drive that road a lot...day and daylight and night and darkness a like.

Okay, so having said that, now I sound like those people who look for ways to sue people. I really do not have a lot of tolerance for those people too. I guess I just can't tolerate myself. But then again, I know I wouldn't actually follow thru on the fact that it happened, mostly because I don't have the time or energy (in many different facets) to do that.

But it still annoys me...those manhole covers. I'm not good at those sort of video games...dodging things...so what would make me good at it in real life? Especially in the dark...where black manhole covers are on a black half-tared street in the dark? Give US DRIVERS a break construction people! We pay double fines because of you!

Big exciting news!

Okay, I have a couple but first I have to go the WC for you Canadians eh (anyway, I think its a Canadian-ism).

...

I'm back. So I have big and exciting news! We are adding an addition to our family...our YFC family that is. I am working on a Needs Assessment survey for both Teen Parents and City Life. So I'm going to be going around to different organizations around the Grand Rapids Area checking out what they're doing for young parents and young men and women in the community. I'm pretty excited! Even tho it means tons more work and when I look at that daunting task I very overwhelmed. That doesn't stop my excitement!!

Another big addition we have is to our home...we have new furnature. Okay, its just a coffee table for the living room and a kitchen cart island thingie. Rita, you'd be so proud of me, both of those and a few small items are all from IKEA!! I see why you love the European wonderland!

The other big addition is that of new neighbors! Appartment 12, located right across the hall, has new occupants! We really don't know who they are but we offered them cold water and they called us nice neighbors. We like them already.

And for all of you who thought I was going to finish the first one with ...we're pregnant. You can hang out with me at that club...cause it ain't happening anytime soon.

When assembling Furnature, you must have the RIGHT tools.

I am finding out that there IS a difference between the right tools and the RIGHT tools.

The other day my mom and sister and I went to our local Ikea Store (2.5 hours away). I bought a cute little kitchen cart think as well as a coffe table. When assembling them yesterday, I decided to warm-up on the less complicated coffee table instead of the much more complex Kitchen cart. I decided I would tackle these projects because my hubby (God bless his soul) doesn't like to assemble furnature and since we've been married, he's assembled one computer desk and two bookshelves. I on the other hand, haven't assembled anything.

I have two screw drivers that fit these particluar screws...pretty much the same screws for both of these projects. They both fit and screwed in the screws fairly well so I was very content and happy that these were the right screw drivers. The only little (or so I thought) problem I had is the screw drivers slipped a little when trying to twist the screw into the wood (okay, the kitchen cart is REAL wood and the coffee table is that sort of real wood ply-board or a very good similar and stronger variation). Thats okay right? I have the right tool and it still screws in, it just takes a lot more effort. I know no different because I have assembled exactly zero things...well, when I was running into this as a growing problem, I had the coffee table done (with hubby's help) and had a good start on the cart...so I had one 'some assembly required' piece under my belt.

The screw driver thing turned into a real big problem. The metal the 'right' screw driver was made out of was not strong enough for all the stress and I ended up stripping both the head of the screw adn the screw driver. Now this 'right' tool is no longer usable.

I guess there is a difference between the right tool and the RIGHT tool. Now I'm off to the hardware store to find the RIGHT tool. And because I just figured there is a right tool and a RIGHT tool, you know this hardware store experience is going to be a little more difficult than the usual handiman.

...At least I have a cousin who is a die-hard about tools and taught me which brands are the strongest...he's the one that would have laughed and teased me about this and commented on how no tool should have painted flowers on the handle. I guess that should have been my first clue that these tools weren't strong enough.

Oh well, I'm off to the hardware store...

Apartment #11

So the grilling bachelor in Apt. 11 is natures way of telling me true summer is almost over. You know how seeing a Robin in spring is the first sign of spring? Well, the grilling bachelor is telling me summer is almost over...how? He grills every day now and there was something smoldering under his grill the other day.

We did our laundry on Saturday and while walking back up to our third floor apartment, there he stood, outside the door, helpless against its force like a stranger trying to get in. He forgot his key up in the apartment. Happens to everyone...even me once and a while! So I let him in. His outdoor activities included grilling and while waiting for his meat to cook, he was working on his car. Interesting combination of time-occupying activities.

One day last week, my husband and I came home and there he was, grilling or working on his car, and we walked out of our garage and there he was, with a business card sized promo thing for his church...asking us to come and visit this Sunday (I have already mentioned we're members of the church I grew up in and felt it unnecessary to repeat this information). Then he commented on how handy those little cards were.

They are...and what would happen to the world if it were truly that easy to ask someone to go to church? It acutally is. This church that he attends not only has those handy little cards, they also have custom water bottles they hand out to people. Its very non-confrontational I think and sometimes people go just because they've been asked. To tell you the truth, I would have gone to his church just becuase he asked me the first time...that is, if I didn't already have a church that I had been attending.

My challenge to you is this: Go with the weird guy in Apartment 11. He's got it right in so many different ways: He realizes that the temperature of the grill kills bacteria from cleaning his car. He finds a way to recline and put his feet up while being productive (the cheap reclining lawn chair next to his grill). He is persistant in getting people to find TRUE joy. He's willing to step out of the norm in order to make others feel welcome, respected, and noticed. What's wrong with a world when all of this is out of the norm?

Just one of those Blessed days...

Okay so obviously yesterday was one of those kind of days...you know where nothing goes right but by the time you go to bed, everything turned out better. If you read my blog, you know how my day started. This is how it finished:

I left the office shortly after 4 to meet one of my girls...the one who was "pissed off" about camping being canceled (which was the main reason I was so mad and angry). I was praying all day about this because I didn't want to come off angry, bitter, mad, etc... because I 'had to be the strong one...the adult' here. I also reminded myself that anger isn't sin, what you do with anger could be sin...which is also why I had to pray, I had to set a good example.

So I pick her up and she starts telling me about this dream she had. This was the sort of dream where you re live a real situation you go thru and then theres an alternative ending. Yeah...so it ended (in her dream-version of reality) by her telling people off for judging her about not being a Christian.

*Important info: she thinks being a christian is about doing AND believing to get saved.

She was telling them off for believing and not doing. When she was finished I just said, "Well, your wrong there..." and I went into this whole Gospel Presentation.

I droped her off an hour or so later with a devotional in her hand and drove off. God made me speechless! I couldn't believe what had just happened!! I had been waiting for the right time to have that conversation for so long and lately I've been sensing it getting closer and closer! I didn't present it as a decision thing, just as a truth thing...an FYI because I knew she wasn't going to make a decision to follow Christ and I never want to push anyone into that. She's a thinker. If she does, it won't be for a few weeks yet...at least!

It was just one of those blessed days...

Apartment 8

Oh yeah, so I showed my mom the flowers on the porch of Apt 8 and she was impressed. Her response was, "Kelly, you could have flowers like that too." Yeah right, I don't have that much time, money, or beer! ...And I would have to start with a cute little table more likely seen at her house:) with a matching chair.

Just one of those "Blessed" days...

This would appear on my other blog, but I try to make that one up-beat and not so much like today.

Its just one of those days I think the world and God are just against me. I feel like I fail all the time. All the things I've attempted to plan have fallen flat in the mud (quite literally because today is rainy). I am just hopefully hopeless.

Like, I know God is there and is faithful and he does things for a reason and all that...but see, today I have that 18 inch problem where I know it but if you asked me if I believed it I would have to pause for a long time.

The serve trip went down the toilet because no one on the other end ever replied to my emails.

The camping trip went down the toilet because God decided that this week would be the perfect opportunity for the 'one week of rain during summer'.

HHRM is no longer going because well, it changed so often that I couldn't depend on anything...going there was a constant state of "maybe".

That Bible Study? Yeah, three meetings later and it disbanded because one girl (half the group) moved.

Today I wish that I could have woken up on a perpetual state of Aug 10...the dawn of the weekend, full of pure unhindered anticipation, bright sunny days, and no problems or disappointments.

Today I no amount of anything could make it better.

Our Castle

As you can imagine in todays world, I don't know anyone who lives in the appartments around me. That doesn't stop me from having fun with them. In my head they all have interesting lives based on the frequency that I see them, what I see them doing, how they've decorated the outside of their appartment, and all the other odd facts I know about them. For instance...

Appartment 8 is a 30 something male (I always thought there were two people occupying that appartment but I think I'm going to change my mind). He casually sips his beer while reading the GR Press on his porch. His porch by the way, is beautifully decorated with an arrangement of potted plants and off the ledge there are three or four hanging plants. I think he's gay. Our porches are only 5 foot square or something like that and his has a cute little table, one I'd more likely see at my mom's house, and its quite cozy. His garage is always closed.

Appartment 1 has two little girls. They speak mostly spanish. They drive a small SUV so they're the typical 'American Family.' The Computer is constantly on in that appartment but that doesn't stop them from valuing the out doors. The advantage of being Apt 1-4 is that your slider doesn't open up to a porch, it opens up to the ground. They have a cute little picnic table and basketball hoop for their girls. They have been known to grill from the tail gate of their car parked outside. Dad, in this appartment is a family guy...he assembles furnature, keeps his kids in sight all the time, and grills.

Appartment 7 is friendly. I think there is more than one person in that one but I only ever see one. She's a 30 something female who I only ever see doing the laundry.

Appartment 4 is the with all the outgoing mail. We don't have a blue drop-box for out going mail so appartment 4 puts it in her inbox with a note. Interesting...

Then there is Appartment 10. Two people...married...fight occassionally...and when they fight, she gets loud. They must leave rediculously early in the morning because we only ever hear them at night. Most of the time its quiet. She's relatively irregular in her schedule but if you follower her closely, I'm sure there is a method to the maddness. The guy...he's a hottie.

I just recently met Appartment 11. Again, I thought he lived with someone, a wife or girlfriend or somethign like that, but I recently changed my mind on that...I think he's alone. He goes to church, Grand Rapids First. He also spends his time on his car (he drives a Ford Taurus). He - I think is the ultimate bachelor - He has a cheap reclining lawn chair in his garage and uses it only when he grills. He's got a great sound system in the Garage and has it rigged up with lights, and everything else. He spends a good amount of time in there. Nice guy, continually appologizes for making too much noise and according to his neighbors, they hardly hear him (tho in the beginning they heard a lot of banging...and he wasn't apologizing then). I figure he must be a new Christian cause he's all about making sure people go to Church and know the Lord. Not that old Chrsitians don't want that...old Christians are usually not as energetic.

Anyway, I must go.

Four pieces of white Chocolate and one dark Chocolate

So mom and dad took the family out to dinner Saturday night because my dad is going out of town tomorrow for the rest of the month. Don, my husband, said to me as we were walking out, "There wre two older ladies looking at us thru dinner." I told him that our family must be quite a sight to see. Granted there are a variety of minorities in the area, sometimes it's a little odd (not in a bad way necessarily) to see a mixed marriage...or in our case, four white fake-baked Dutchmen and one really baked non-Dutchman. I was interviewed a few months ago by a college student doing a paper or whatever on multi-cultural relationships...so thats what Prompts me today: multi-culturalism (-ism being my marriage).

What is it like to be in a multicultural marriage? As hard as I hate to admit it, Nicole Richie said something really profound when asked what it was like being the daughter of a rock star..."I don't really know, I mean I have nothing to compare it with so I don't know any different."

I don't know any different either. But what I do know is this: the most difference that is between us has nothing to do with our skin color or heritage/traditions, it has more to do with the fact that I as woman, and he as man, are created different. We think different. We behave different. We view things different. We are different.

I often forget that I am white, that I am Dutch, and that I grew up in America because nothinig in our relationship and/or marriage depends on this. It matters that I am a person, that I have thoughts, and that I have a personality. For Don too, he forgets that we are two different races. For him, I am his wife and he is my husband, that we share our lives together, that we have fun blaming things on the two fish and three gorillias in our appartment.

I love him. And I agree, seeing four white people and then one odd one sitting closely at a table built for six must be an odd sight and yes, old ladies look at us and watch us. But my grandma is over it...they should be too!

Don and I like to think of ourselves as sweet as chocolate: white chocolate or dark chocolate, its all chocolate and when you crave it, you don't think of its color.

I don't know if anyone wants to read this...

A few years ago I had a falling out with a friend...a good friend. And if I wrote a letter to her today, this is what I'd write...excluding the Salutation.



I've missed your laugh. It was so contagious and if you can believe it, I can still hear it. I've missed telling you stories and being happy for you and knowing whats gone on in your life these last few years. I've missed the bond of friendship and trust that we shared.



Things have been good with me. It's amazing to me because I think of you relatively often and I think you'd be proud of who I became as a result of all that's happened between us. I have changed so much, you have changed me so much. Of the people I've known, outside of my parents, there have only been a few people God has used in such a way. I praise the Lord for you in my life. It is true, what the Bible says in Proverbs (27:6) 'Wounds from a friend can be trusted, an enemy multiplies kisses.'



I wish we were friends because I want to learn so much from you...so much about your work, so much about your dreams, so much about everything because from the little I know and understand from when I knew you, our lives now have much in common.



You're in my prayers.

Kelly

Oh the Bliss of Change

So if you've been following my blogs, you've learned that I don't like change. Well, today I'm more than embracing it.

Last week sometime, our new ED, the wonderful man of change that he is, allowed my co-worker and I to redecorate the office. There were several 'secondary reasons' that he allowed us to do this...the one I remember clearly is that the sofa in the entry way of our building were ours and he believed they should be in our office and not so much for public use. So my co-worker and I started imagining all the grand possibilities.

I'm not that creative but my co-worker came up with a brilliant idea: walk through and condensed print-postage area in the middle of our office, separating the noise congestion so its not so distracting to everyone, opening up a reception area, adding room for addtional future staffers, getting us out of the office for lunch, adding a conference room, all of this, I believe will add productivity and reduce distractions and all that.

The best part, in my eyes, is what happened yesterday. After we presented this idea and drew up a little 'map' of our office, we presented it to all the other staffers that work in our office. One of them, who seems critical but is really just looking at it from every angle, asked why it was so necessary that we spend time doing it. Our wonderful ED said to him (in something like these words), "It just gives them the opportunity to 'destress' after all thats been going on in the office, its something fun for them to do, its a new start and I think it will be good." So really, it had nothing to do with productivity, adding addtional space and room for growth, altho some of the things were things he wanted to add (like the conference room, the added room for sofas, and getting rid of the break room and fridge), it was more about the fact that it was something my co-worker and I could do to just 'have fun, destress, and gain a new start' and possibly take a little ownership of this place.

Wow, who knew I'd be so impressed with all of this!

On a side note, those of you reading this know I'm pretty much terrified of lightning (but not thunder) and I just heard it thunder, in this building and over my radio...I'm so excited about that...as long as I'm not looking for the lightning. It has been so dry and now we're getting dumped on with rain...what a wonderful day! ...It almost makes up for the fact that it was still dark at 6:00am...

So much to say some days...but today is not one of them.

When I was in Fiji I realized why people sit and watch sunsets. When I would see it on the coast (which was like every day to tell you the truth) there is this flash of green RIGHT before the sun disappears for the day. Literally, if you blink, you'll miss it. I saw it only one time. What a shame! Its the most beautiful green you'll ever see and its so unexpected that you're taken back by the surprise...if you don't know its coming. Its such a brilliant light too. Oh my gosh, it is so amazing. Kinda like God. Just when you think know how its all going to end or work out or whatever the case may be, God just throws in a little unexpected beauty just to throw you off and surprise you. He fills you just that one more little bit. Thank you God!

Embracing the Change

Well, here goes...

Change is inevitable. No matter where you go or what you do. So I'll embrace it! Now that's a change from say four or five blogs ago right? Well, I was thinking about the whole change at YFC and all thats going on. I think I like it...wait, I know I like it. Its fresher. Happier. More invigorating! Its good. **Sigh of relief and satisfaction**

So this what I like: Its more structured. Its more acurate...like we're starting to use real numbers (I know, none of you will get this). Its more professional. And you know what? I'm working better. And you know how God blesses you when you change for the better...well, we had a $31,575 morning...and when I say morning, it wasn't barely squeeking in by noon, this was all done by 8:00am EDT. Can you even believe it?

So I'm liking change. I just hope that this fleeting moment in time will be enough to carry on to my next change...

I guess I should take my own advice. I often tell people who struggle with the reality of God to do this: think of a time you remember God to be so real in your life that there was no ounce of doubt...that you 'saw' God. Now make that like a mile-marker in your life and when you doubt, remember that moment and all that God was in that moment. Like capturing a mountian top view with a camera and looking at the picture...it may not convey breath-taking awe in and of itself but at least you'll remember that you were taken back! Well, this I'll have to mark as a milestone.

Change is good...change is inevitable...change ought to be embraced...change is what God uses to make us better!

Good-bye stale ole life...Hello Change!!

Soli Deo Gloria

My Ha ha Moment...go ahead, laugh...

So every couple of days I go thru my "long" list of bookmarked blog sites of my friends. Two of them in this list are mine...this one and my Ministry one...and what is so funny about this is that pass thru mine (as I go from top to bottom) and I usually have to tell myself that nothing has changed on mine because I always hope that they all have new entries. For some of my friends, new entries isn't a problem...for others, I think they have to re-learn how to work a computer.

Love always!
Soli Deo Gloria

Too much of a good thing...

This past Monday was the start of morning walking with a friend of mine. Bright and somewhat early, at 8:30 we went for a 2.5 mile walk. It wasn't as vigourus as my normal walk but it was still brisk enough because of the hills. It took 45 minutes.

Later that evening, I was still feeling energized so I decided that I would walk my normal route (one I had been walking for quite a long time). It too was 2.5 miles. I thought that I might not be able to finish but I figured I was fit enough to go thru with it so I went for it.

Boy was I wrong. Boy am I paying for my mistake. Boy does my butt ever hurt! Its Thursday, let me tell you how my week went. Granted I functioned quite normally for the most part, the week in general still left a lot to be desired. I'm usually perky in the morning. I get up at 5am (4:35 if I have to shower) and pop out of bed and get to my routine. I'm awake enough even to sit for 45 minutes or so for devotions. Then I head to work where I have peace and quiet til 8am (I get there about 6:30). You would think that I would be sleepy but most mornings I'm quite awake without the use of coffee.

Well, this week has been another story. I've been dragging myself out of bed for two days (this morning was a nice change from that). I've beend dreading my morning walk (usually I"m all for it). I've stopped in for a cup of coffee and threatened myself to drink the brew from the pot (since the dawn of foo-foo coffees I've slowly stopped doing that). Not really drastic I know but do you understand how hard it is to wake up for me? Good gravy!

Anyway, this morning I only dread my walk but know that it will be well-worth the stimulation and circulation so I guess I'm for it. Speaking of which, I'm running a tad late...

Soli Deo Gloria

Well, I've done it again

You would think that after starting and stopping myspace and being disgusted with it and then starting and stuttering at facebook and then finally being happy with blogspot that I would just be happy with that. Well, no. I've created yet another blog site. ha ha ha...

Okay, this one that I've created is located at www.kellysministrymoments.blogspot.com. Long, I know, but its easy to remember because its all about my highlights in Ministry and stories from around the office. I'm so excited about it because I'm being able to tell about God's goodness in the lives of these kids, YFC Staffers, and so much more. I hope you're encouraged about it.

Until later...

I think its normal Nae...

I just have to say one thing...I have to say this for my dear friend from College who I talked to this past weekend. My heart goes out to her for giving 110% to her family and still feeling like she hasn't done enough.

We are all normal. I used to think that I was abnormal...in so many different ways...and that no one could possibly understand me or anything like that. Then, as I grew older and got to know people on a deeper level, I realized that we really struggled with all of the same things.

I think its normal for girls to think about how they look.
I think its normal for high schoolers to wonder about what others think of them.
I think its normal to feel overwhelmed at the thought of final exams at any point in your life.
I think its normal be overwhelmed when you get the homework assignments your first day of college life ever.
I think its normal to be scared of sex your first time.
I think its normal to be weary of marriage even though beyond a doubt that the person you're going to marry is the ONE.
I think its normal to be scared that you're going to screw up any kids you're going to have.
I think its normal to be clueless about potty training your toddler.
I think its normal to be on the brink of insanity when you have an infant and a 2 year old.
I think its normal that day after day you run around the house after your kids and your crabby the next day.
I think that most of our experiences are normal but that we precieve them as abnormal because we've never actually experienced them before.
I think its very normal to want someone to tell you that its normal.

Now how we deal with this feeling of abnormality is another story...I think we just need to take five seconds and look around with all practicality and realize that others go thru the same thing we have...our parents, our friends, our grandparents, our neighbors. Hopefully this will get us thru to the end of today.

Caffine Overload

So how is everyone today? I'm doing well. This is my new niece!

Every once and a while I treat myself to a Mocha Mocha care of Beaner's Gourmet Coffee. Okay its two or three times a week. My co-worker introduced me to an alternative route to work with one along the way. It's exactly the same mileage as my regular route to work too. That is just too much of a coincidence to actually avoid. It's almost like God telling me to buy coffee.

Yesterday Kregel told us that because of YFC's funds, we all must try as hard as we can to spend a full 8 hours fundraising. So, with my brain already focused on doing such a thing today (actually, I did three yesterday and so I needed five today) I paused my morning and asked the Manager at Beaner's a simple question of curiosity: "Do you by any chance, support community organizations?"

And yes they do! Wow! It's like God using my little coffee break this morning! ...Because usually I get coffee for only one reason: because I'm barely awake to drive. For instance, one day last week I was so tired and my brain was so in need of coffee that when I got to the window of the drive thru, I didn't even realize that part of this process is paying for the coffee. Hello!

Anyway, this morning he said yes and I was off to the office to write them a formal request and mail it in. Until my co-worker arrived. Then, out of my great excitement, I told her what I did this morning and asked her to proof the letter. I suggested that we both sign it and both send it in and thats exactly what we did. Well, we didn't send it, we delivered it! My co-worker has been visiting that same manager for three years (and that is the study that proves coffee is addictive...she knows exactly what three stores are owned by the same guy because over the course of these three years, she's seen the same people).

Within an hour this manager of Beaners said that he would donate coffee and possibly cookies for our next Point of Entry Event and also send himself or request his District Manager (two managers above him) go to our little humble event. Wow...I'm so glad God gave us coffee...for yet another reason!

So I'm not obligated to write what I'm about to write but I do want to do it out of their generosity. Beaner's Gourmet Coffee on 28th Street across from Studio 28 in Wyoming, Michigan is honesty, the best coffee shop I have ever been here. Maybe not for their variety of scones (even tho they do have delightful baked goods) but for their committment to not only their coffee but also to their community! Thank you Louis!

Grrr...

This is my lovely better half. He keeps me sane and grounded. He's a part of Fiji for me and I'm a part of America for him. We live in a collection of cultures, times, places, and people that walk this earth in all forms and colors. Our family is rich!

Today's adventure is looking on to tomorrow. You know the passage in the Bible that talks about not worring about tomorrow cause it has enough worries of its own (well, after you get past the logic of that statement...)

Tomorrow's adventure actually begins last week. I was doing my hair (for all those who were like Jo, shocked beyond belief, yes, that does include both a hair dryer and a curling iron along with three bottles of product...no joke!) and it dawned on me...I had had it with a lady that runs a ministry we partner with. I had actually had it with her for a while. And altho that sounds very harsh, I had consoled others with my issues and they could see plainly where I was coming from. So I sent her an email tellling her about the struggles I was facing with her and that it was putting a strain on the relationship. I had chosen email because I had been to the point of bringing it up with her in person when she would go off on something and not let me get a word in edgewise.

On the phone with her a couple of days later she let me hear it about she didn't want to discuss it on the phone or on email and how disappointed she was in me for choosing email (even after I had told her why I chose email and agreeing with her email wasn't the choice for me either). She went on...discussing the issue for 20 minutes before she let me get a word in. And all that was left in me after the tears I had shed during that 20 minutes was, "Okay..." I barely got to finish my sentence.

So that 'Okay' was in a statement of agreement that tomorrow we meet, in the presence of two others discussing the issue that she already told me about.

What's the point? I ask myself that question often because I've known people like her, serveral. They're people that have things all figured out in their head before hand. I know, I used be one. I still am in many respects (mostly cause I don't like change and I don't like things to go not my way but I am changing...despite the fact I don't like change...ironically, I'm finding I like this change).

I also know a couple of other things: 1) we were not meant to agree with everyone. Yes, we're called to love everyone and live in harmony with everyone but we're not always going to agree. The fact that God made us all different means that we're not going to agree with everyone. Its okay! 2) Sometimes relationships end. God has people in our lives for three different lengths of time: for a reason, a season or a lifetime. That means that when the reason is accomplished or the season over, the friend is meant to go away and the relationship needs to end. As for the lifetime, this is reserved for a few special people: spouses, children, parents...the like.

"Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity." 1 Timothy 4:12

Testing...Testing...1...2...3...Testing...

Okay, its been a few days since I started this and it seems like I'm keeping up and going to continue with this blogging blog so I think I'm going to start telling people about it. Yeah, thats they way my world is.

For example...

When I was in college, my second year, I spent two or three weeks thinking about a hair cut without telling anyone. How short...what style...what I would do with it...people's reaction...how it might possibly look if it went well...how it would possibly look if it went bad...and on and on. I finally decided to do it. A friend of mine lived about four doors down in the same dorm building on campus and after deliberating about it I just decided to go for it...just like a snap of the fingers. It was 5:00pm and at the time I was watching 'The Simipsons' with my roommate. All I said to her was, "I'll be right back and then we can go to dinner."

So I walked down and said to my friend, "I would like a hair cut...cut it in half." It went down to an inch and a half long (talk about drastic)!

Then we went to dinner. One of my other roommates (at dinner) started introducing herself to me and asking my name. Everyone cracked up because she was the only one who didn't recognize me. "I'm Kelly, I sleep in the bed under yours."

Yeah...the story of my life...

Not all Change is Necessary

I'm trying to convince myself of that. We got a new ED here at YFC and it seems like every week he's changing one or two things. Its frankly driving me up the wall. I can understand some change and it is good. But my newletter at the moment looks like we accidently printed it on letterhead. In the middle of our 'being professional' it has come out like a mistake.

So these are the changes he's made (and yes, its mostly him and not a joint/board decision):

• new cell phones
• Logos must go out on ALL documents
• there's an offical 'line up' of who answers the phone
• blah
• blah
• blah...

Really people, is all change necessary? I know its not all bad. I think society changes sometimes because there hasn't been a change in a while. Like that whole i-phone thing. Really, we already have computers, hand held palms, laptops and cell phones that get the internet and email. Everyone who wants an i-pod has one or is getting one. Why do we really need to have an i-phone when we already can do what it does? Good gravy! If we get it, while having say, a laptop, palm, and cell phone with internet capabilities (and sometimes even a desk top) and lets just say that together these gadgets cost $3000 - give or take - now we're spending $500 or $600 on one thing that will eliminate the need of those $3000 gadgets. Which means, these $3000 worth of gadgets that are prly no more than 18 months old have just gone to waste because resale on those, exists but probably similar to buying a car. hum...lets think of practicality people. We screen our calls, postphone returning emails, and play games on our cell phones, i-pods, hand helds, and laptops so really, we're prly just wasting all of that money.

Note to self...be careful what you buy, money comes and goes until retirement...then it just goes. Spend wisely.

Black Mustangs

The other day, I was driving down the road a little ahead of me in the lane next to me was a black Ford Mustang driven by a young "man" who had to be between the ages of 18 and 20. He was drifting into my lane and since I was driving a bit faster than he was, I gently tapped my horn to make him aware that he was drifting. I had figured that he probably did not realizing he was drifting. So he moved over and I proceeded to pass him...almost to my mistake. As I was next to him he decided that he would 'drift' again into my lane this time, very obviously on purpose (as he proceeded to go on as if he was telling me off for tapping my horn).

At that very second, split second actually, the sin inside me welled up almost over the breaking point. I had nearly had enough! In my mind (and only in my mind) I had proceeded to 'drift' into his lane at the same time resulting in an accident. I thought about the practicality of this as I was really tempted to do it. It didn't seem too practical as I couldn't garantee that the accident that would proceed would be his fault cause his car was in my lane at the time of collision and I couldn't really afford to have my car gone.

Oh what joy it would be to be able to afford to teach people road rage lessons! Where's a cop when ya need one?

Blogging Blobs

Lately, with these website blogging places I've been trying to find my groove. I'm not tech savy, sometimes I feel more like a complete idiot when it comes to blogging and websites and that whole deal. I decided that my myspace is just a loss because I'm just confused. I went to the 'help' option thing and all it said (this is literally), "ask someone, they'll tell you." When I read that these two thoughts came to my mind: "They're completely clueless, they don't really care, and this sucks." So the door closed on that space.

Next I tried facebook. Its alright...much better than myspace. The huge downside for me was that it had way too many comments on who's friend is who's and what someone is doing and all that. I went to edit that part and well, it just got irritating. I want to know about my friends. Not my friend's friend and who joined their network! Who is Amy Wood anyway?

I liked my friend's Blog website. It only had her info on it. You could leave a comment or not. You could read comments or not. You could click directly to it and there it was. It seemed simple. So I got a link and tried it. Perfect! It took less than two minutes to set up and figure out and there are exactly three easy to understand options. I'm not five. I'm 26 and I have a job and a life and I need to keep updated with people. I don't have five months to learn every option on myspace, I don't have time to read about people I don't know (sorry Amy Wood who's now friends with everyone in the world), I need to write what I'm doing so I can pass it along to others. Thank you Bloggspot!

Soli Deo Gloria
Kel