Happy Father's Day

I know it's a bit late, but, ... I heard this song yesterday and immediately thought of my dear hubby. I found the song on You Tube so that I could listen to it while I was typing up this post. This conversation occurred at the table where I'm typing (my girls are working on 'art' today).

K1: We heard that song yesterday at the wedding.
K2: We also heard it at the restaurant before we saw Wall E
K1: No we didn't
Me: Yes we did
K2: Daddy said it made him want to cry
K2: Why doesn't Daddy ever want us to grow up?

That makes me want to cry! I just love the girls so much! I wonder why I've been so short of patience with them today.



I Loved Her First

Look at the two of you dancing that way
Lost in the moment and each others face
So much in love your alone in this place
Like there's nobody else in the world
I was enough for her not long ago
I was her number one
She told me so
And she still means the world to me
Just so you know
So be careful when you hold my girl
Time changes everything
Life must go on
And I'm not gonna stand in your way

But I loved her first and I held her first
And a place in my heart will always be hers
From the first breath she breathed
When she first smiled at me
I knew the love of a father runs deep
And I prayed that she'd find you someday
But it still hard to give her away
I loved her first

How could that beautiful women with you
Be the same freckle face kid that I knew
The one that I read all those fairy tales to
And tucked into bed all those nights
And I knew the first time I saw you with her
It was only a matter of time

But I loved her first and I held her first
And a place in my heart will always be hers
From the first breath she breathed
When she first smiled at me
I knew the love of a father runs deep
And I prayed that she'd find you someday
But its still hard to give her away
I loved her first

From the first breath she breathed
When she first smiled at me
I knew the love of a father runs deep
Someday you might know what I'm going through
When a miracle smiles up at you
I loved her first

Unanswered Prayer

I just came across this video. I don't listen to the radio much, and if I do, it's generally not country music. I really like this song though. I'd have liked a title more along the lines of, 'Sometimes God Says No' makes more sense, but what do I know. He's said No to me a bit lately but I'm praying it is more like, Yes but just not yet. I know in the end though, whatever His answer is, it will be what is best for me.

ISTJ

I've known I was an ISTJ on the Meyers Briggs scale for quite sometime. But everytime I come across a new version of the quiz on - line , I try it out to see if I have changed. I'm so high on the scale on each of my traits that I think it would take A LOT to move me over to one of the other traits. You can read more about it here.

Portrait of an ISTJ - Introverted Sensing Thinking Judging
(Introverted Sensing with Extraverted Thinking)

You can click here to take a super quick version of it.

ISTJ - "Trustee". Decisiveness in practical affairs. Guardian of time- honored institutions. Dependable. 11.6% of total population.

Free Jung Word Choice Test (similar to MBTI)
personality tests by similarminds.com

Clifton Strengths Finder 2.0

A good friend of mine recently recommended that I take this Strengths Finder. I read through the 34 themes and thought I knew what my top 5 strengths would be. I was VERY surprised to find out what my top strength was. Here is my summary:

As you may know, the Clifton Strengths Finder measures the 34 themes of talent determined by The Gallup Organization as those that most consistently predict outstanding performance. The greater the presence of a theme of talent within a person, the more likely that person is to spontaneously exhibit those talents in day-to-day behaviors.

Focusing on natural talents helps people build them into strengths and enjoy personal, academic, and career success through consistent, near-perfect performance.

How well do you think these themes describe me?

Harmony

You look for areas of agreement. In your view there is little to be gained from conflict and friction, so you seek to hold them to a minimum. When you know that the people around you hold differing views, you try to find the common ground. You try to steer them away from confrontation and toward harmony. In fact, harmony is one of your guiding values. You can't quite believe how much time is wasted by people trying to impose their views on others. Wouldn't we all be more productive if we kept our opinions in check and instead looked for consensus and support? You believe we would, and you live by that belief. When others are sounding off about their goals, their claims, and their fervently held opinions, you hold your peace. When others strike out in a direction, you will willingly, in the service of harmony, modify your own objectives to merge with theirs (as long as their basic values do not clash with yours). When others start to argue about their pet theory or concept, you steer clear of the debate, preferring to talk about practical, down-to-earth matters on which you can all agree. In your view we are all in the same boat, and we need this boat to get where we are going. It is a good boat. There is no need to rock it just to show that you can.

Discipline

Your world needs to be predictable. It needs to be ordered and planned. So you instinctively impose structure on your world. You set up routines. You focus on timelines and deadlines. You break long-term projects into a series of specific short-term plans, and you work through each plan diligently. You are not necessarily neat and clean, but you do need precision. Faced with the inherent messiness of life, you want to feel in control. The routines, the timelines, the structure, all of these help create this feeling of control. Lacking this theme of Discipline, others may sometimes resent your need for order, but there need not be conflict. You must understand that not everyone feels your urge for predictability; they have other ways of getting things done. Likewise, you can help them understand and even appreciate your need for structure. Your dislike of surprises, your impatience with errors, your routines, and your detail orientation don't need to be misinterpreted as controlling behaviors that box people in. Rather, these behaviors can be understood as your instinctive method for maintaining your progress and your productivity in the face of life's many distractions.

Focus

"Where am I headed?" you ask yourself. You ask this question every day. Guided by this theme of Focus, you need a clear destination. Lacking one, your life and your work can quickly become frustrating. And so each year, each month, and even each week you set goals. These goals then serve as your compass, helping you determine priorities and make the necessary corrections to get back on course. Your Focus is powerful because it forces you to filter; you instinctively evaluate whether or not a particular action will help you move toward your goal. Those that don't are ignored. In the end, then, your Focus forces you to be efficient. Naturally, the flip side of this is that it causes you to become impatient with delays, obstacles, and even tangents, no matter how intriguing they appear to be. This makes you an extremely valuable team member. When others start to wander down other avenues, you bring them back to the main road. Your Focus reminds everyone that if something is not helping you move toward your destination, then it is not important. And if it is not important, then it is not worth your time. You keep everyone on point.

Achiever

Your Achiever theme helps explain your drive. Achiever describes a constant need for achievement. You feel as if every day starts at zero. By the end of the day you must achieve something tangible in order to feel good about yourself. And by "every day" you mean every single day—workdays, weekends, vacations. No matter how much you may feel you deserve a day of rest, if the day passes without some form of achievement, no matter how small, you will feel dissatisfied. You have an internal fire burning inside you. It pushes you to do more, to achieve more. After each accomplishment is reached, the fire dwindles for a moment, but very soon it rekindles itself, forcing you toward the next accomplishment. Your relentless need for achievement might not be logical. It might not even be focused. But it will always be with you. As an Achiever you must learn to live with this whisper of discontent. It does have its benefits. It brings you the energy you need to work long hours without burning out. It is the jolt you can always count on to get you started on new tasks, new challenges. It is the power supply that causes you to set the pace and define the levels of productivity for your work group. It is the theme that keeps you moving.

Responsibility

Your Responsibility theme forces you to take psychological ownership for anything you commit to, and whether large or small, you feel emotionally bound to follow it through to completion. Your good name depends on it. If for some reason you cannot deliver, you automatically start to look for ways to make it up to the other person. Apologies are not enough. Excuses and rationalizations are totally unacceptable. You will not quite be able to live with yourself until you have made restitution. This conscientiousness, this near obsession for doing things right, and your impeccable ethics, combine to create your reputation: utterly dependable. When assigning new responsibilities, people will look to you first because they know it will get done. When people come to you for help—and they soon will—you must be selective. Your willingness to volunteer may sometimes lead you to take on more than you should.

Rocky Faith

I spent a lot of time over the past week speaking with people about what our future in NYC might look like or if it even will happen. I've been full of faith for them and their situations and even for mine own, until Friday. Honestly, it has been a roller coaster ride since August 2007. 10 months. I don't like roller coasters. I don't like any rides for that matter.

My man had a second phone interview on Wednesday. He said it went very well. I prayed and fasted all day. He sent a follow up email to the hiring Manager immediately after that. The company has been so quick to respond that I was sure he would hear something by Friday. Friday came and went and nothing. I began to get discouraged yet again over the week-end.

Then last night, I decided I wanted to watch a movie and just veg out. It had been a long week-end and I just didn't want to do much of anything. We rarely watch movies. My in-laws just bought a new 32" flat panel plasma TV that looked ripe for viewing a movie one. I heard awhile ago about the movie, Bella. I didn't know at all what it was about though, just that it was a good movie, so we rented it. Guess what, the movie happens in NYC. I know, no biggie, lots of movies do. We just happen to rarely watch one and the time that we do, it is based in NYC.

I just finished reading with K#2. Her story that she had to read to me today, was about kids playing in Central Park. Seriously.

Then I read my in-box. I'm pasting it here: Oh - and one more thing, my man just IMd me - he has a phone call this afternoon with the hiring manager.....

For the revelation awaits an appointed time; it speaks of the end and will not prove false. Though it linger, wait for it; it will certainly come and will not delay. Habakkuk 2:3 (NIV)

*** *** *** ***

If you ever find yourself in God’s waiting room – waiting for an answer, a change, or a miracle – you just need to stop and trust God. He’s never late or in a hurry, because his timing is perfect.

When I started Saddleback Church, I had no idea that it would take 15 years and 10,000 weekly attenders for us to have our own land and our own building. At Saddleback’s very first church service I said, “Someday we’re going to buy at least 50 acres. But we’re not going to do it for the first five years because we’re going to put all our money into people and programs.”

Seven years after that first worship service it looked like we were well on our way to having our own building. Our people had sacrificed to raise money for land – canceling vacations, working second jobs, selling diamond rings, and giving from their pensions.

We finally found the right piece of land but we needed another $1.2 million to close the deal. In the last 60 days of 1987, the people in this church gave the needed funds and the land was ours.

Two years later, though, we still were working out zoning details with the county supervisors and they decided to delay us indefinitely.

My wife, Kay, was upset with me – and with God. She prayed: “God, you have been unfair to us. We have tried to do this exactly the way you told us with faith, honesty, and integrity. God, I don’t know what game you’re playing, but let me in on it because I don’t get it!”

God responded: “Kay, what is it to you if I allow every church on the face of the earth to have a building and land and Saddleback never does? Will you still follow me?”

She answered, “Yes, Lord, I will.”

That experience helped me really know the truth of John 13:7, when Jesus said: “You do not realize now what I'm doing but later you will understand” (NIV).

That same truth is communicated in 2 Corinthians 1:9: “This happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead” (NIV).

So often it looks like God is delaying or denying us, but his timing is perfect. Next time you feel like you’re in God’s waiting room, trust that God is working in his own perfect time on his own perfect plan – which is so much better than anything we can plan or dream.

Bella (the Movie)

Last night my man and I had the pleasure of watching a movie together at home, almost in peace and quiet. After about the girls 17th trip out of their bedrooms, we were able to watch the last 3/4 of it in quiet. We RARELY watch any tv and if we do, it is generally a movie that we can watch in bed on my laptop. Last night was a special treat. We viewed Bella. It was SUPER! I loved it! I cried! I'd definitely watch it again. It is rated PG-13. I wouldn't allow my daughters to watch it. Normally that is my own guideline for watching a movie - if I'd allow them to watch it - then it must be OK to preview. I had heard so much hype about this movie that I was curious. Out of all the hyper I had heard, I hadn't heard the storyline. It was pleasant to watch the movie plot develop.

Plans to Prosper Me

I was doing my devotional reading this morning from Beth Moore's Praying God's Word Day by Day (A Year of Devotional Prayer) I would strongly suggest that if you are too busy to do anything else, to at least read a devotional type book first thing in the morning. It will be life changing. It will start your day off on the right front. As a busy mom to 3 little ones, if I don't get to anything else in my bible study, I at least read my devotional. This is the first thing that I read:

"I want to trust in You with all my heart and lean not on my own understanding; in all my ways I will acknowledge You, and You will make my paths straight (Prov. 3:5 - 6). For You know the plans You have for me, Lord. Plans to prosper me and not harm me, plans to give me a hope and a future (Jer. 29:11)"

That Proverbs verse has been given to me on almost a weekly basis for the past few months. I always seem to get it at just the right time : ) I found it was very interesting that that was the first thing I read today after my posting yesterday of my discouragement.

I pray to you Dear Lord that you will set me free to be everything that you have planned.

Discouraged Today

I've actually been discouraged many days over the past month. We have been living with Pete's parents for almost 4 months now. When we moved it, we said that it might be as long as 6 months since our goal move timeframe was August. In reality though I thought it would only be 2 months. At the most 3 months. Here we are at 4 months which means it will be at least 5 months before we make the move. It will take my Man at least one month to secure a job, give notice, find an apartment, and then move from the date of his first interview. He has just a few irons in the fire at the moment.

Last fall, I signed up to receive the Purpose Driven Life daily devotionals. I read about 50% of them. The days I do read them, they are very applicable to where I am. I received the following email FOUR times from them over the past week. I hadn't read it until just now. It is from Friday, the 13th. I probably should have read it earlier this week-end but I just didn't feel like it. I'm just getting very discouraged waiting on His perfect timing that I know will happen when it is time. But that is hard to remember at all times. I just wish there was something I could do but the fact is, there is nothing. It is all in HIS hands. Not mine. Which is a very hard place for someone like me to be in. I always have a plan and a timeframe for that to happen. I'm learning a lot through this process. I hope you find something meaningful in this email from Purpose Driven just like I did.

Resisting Discouragement
by Rick Warren

So don’t get tired of doing what is good. Don’t get discouraged and give up, for we will reap a harvest of blessing at the appropriate time. Galatians 6:9 (NLT)


*** *** *** ***
There are many things that work to keep us from completing our life-missions. Over the years, I’ve debated whether the worst enemy is procrastination or discouragement. If Satan can’t get us to put off our life missions, then he’ll try to get us to quit altogether. The apostle Paul teaches that we need to resist discouragement: “So don’t get tired of doing what is good. Don’t get discouraged and give up …” (Galatians 6:9 NLT).

Do you ever get tired of doing what’s right? I think we all do. Sometimes it seems easier to do the wrong thing than the right thing. When we’re discouraged, we become ineffective. When we’re discouraged, we work against our own faith.

When I’m discouraged, I’m saying, “It can’t be done.” That’s the exact opposite of saying, “I know God can do it because he said ….”

Ask yourself these questions:
· How do I handle failure?
· When things don’t go my way, do I get grumpy?
· When things don’t go my way, do I get frustrated?
· When things don’t go my way, do I start complaining?
· Do I finish what I start?
· How would I rate on persistence?

If you’re discouraged, don’t give up without a fight. Nothing worthwhile ever happens without endurance and energy.

When an artist starts to create a sculpture, he has to keep chipping away. He doesn’t hit the chisel with the hammer once, and suddenly all the excess stone falls away revealing a beautiful masterpiece. He keeps hitting it and hitting it, chipping away at the stone.

And that’s true of life, too: Nothing really worthwhile ever comes easy in life. You keep hitting it and going after it, and little-by-little your life becomes a masterpiece of God’s grace.

The fact is, great people are really just ordinary people with an extraordinary amount of determination. Great people don’t know how to quit.

Scrapbooking Retreat

Here I sit at my laptop, reading blogs, printing pictures for M, and scrapping. I am at the Scrap Palace in Romeo for 72 hours for scrapbooking retreat! Jesus is with M and I so this post is totally spirit filled : ) This is the very first time I have EVAR left the girls home alone with their daddy over-night. K#1 turns 8 in September so that is quite along time. With it being Father's Day on Sunday, I thought this was the perfect present for my honey. The girls and him have a week-end jammed packed with fun activities. Then when I arrive home on Sunday, we are going straight to my parents house to visit my Daddy. I think I'll be tired from all this scrapping this week-end so I'll still need to rest. Let him cook dinner!

Too Cute!

Our commissioning was this week-end. It was so exhausting! But so spirit filled at the same time. The members of Kensington Community Church are incredibly generous with their financial and spiritual support of Communitas.

Here is a picture of two cuties: My Man and his man T$:

Win $200 in Free Books

How Nerdy Are You?

My nerdiness score was:


Low Ranking Nerd. Definitely a nerd but low on the totem pole of nerds.

NYC Communitas Commissioning

This week-end is jammed packed with Communitas events.

Today at 3:30 pm we meet with the team for appetizers and an introduction to BJ Weber. BJ is from NYC and has been a tremendous influence on Pastor and his wife. Communitas is actually going to be renting office space (practically for free up against NYC rental prices) as well as renting part of one of the churches that BJ is from.

At 5:30 pm we have our first commissioning service. It will be video taped to be shown at the other 3 campuses tomorrow while we will be 'live' at the main campus in Troy.

Tomorrow we are up bright and early to be at church at 8:30 am for commissioning at the 9:00 am, 10:30 am, and 12:00 pm services. Following that we have a meeting with BJ from 2 - 4 pm to glean as much information off of him as we can in those two short hours. Following that, we head over to the Petherick's for a Going Away Party for the team from 4:30 - 7 pm. There is going to be well over 100 people there to say good-bye to the team. It might be the last time the team is together as a whole before we all get to NYC.

Then home. What a packed week-end it is turning out to be.

I'm Addicted

To the internet.

I've read that admission is the first step in the recovery process.

I'm over visiting with my parents. The first thing I did when I arrived was to go inside (they were sitting outside on their covered porch since it is so beautiful out) to get my Mom's laptop. In my defense, I did need to get some information off of it for my Mom. But here it is over an hour later, and I'm still on it.

I'm reading blogs. My Mom just came out and said "Sonyia, you are addicted!" Yes I am. I know it. I know what I need to do. But I just can't seem to do it. What is wrong with me?

Then I went back to blog reading. I can talk to my Mom and read at the same time. Not really but I attempt to do it. I am behind in my blog reading because I have attempted to set some limits on my PC time at home. So I justify that while my children are playing on the playground in the backyard, I can sit and watch them and read my blogs at the same time. Of course I just read Shannon's post at Rocks in My Dryer about her bloggy vacation. Maybe that is what I need.

Whose Phone Number is 111-111-1111

(Stealing this post from my Man)

Apparently it's the NY Times with whom I (my man) had an impromptu phone interview at lunch time. I don't know if it will result in anything, but the recruiter sounded pretty positive and liked my answers enough to submit me to the hiring manager. Nothing to be excited about yet, but I'm still pretty excited! ;)

I'm even more excited than him! I know God has it all worked out and He'll reveal it to us in His perfect timing. But .... it feels good to have some movement - even if it's not the job for him. Our move now hinges on his securing of a job. As much as I don't really want to move to NYC on some days - I'm getting anxious to get there and see what is in store for us.

Hidden Blessings

So on Sunday I was stressed that our AC went out on our house because the renters called and it would not turn on. We get home late that night only to realize that our home warranty expired on Sunday! Incredibly, Pete was able to renew that on-line and make a claim. I knew it was coming up for renewal but didn't remember when and thought that they'd call to remind us like in years past but DUH, they don't have our phone number anymore! I met the AC guy there today to find out that the blower motor was burnt out and that would have been a $500 job instead of the $75 service call that we had to pay via the warranty company. So the warranty has almost paid for itself already. YEAH God for the perfect timing on that one!