we've had so many trick-or-treaters tonight (because it's halloween night and that's what you do on halloween night - :P chelley) that my dad had to go get more candy. after seeing so many costumes i started to feel left out. so i ran and changed. here's my costume:

and if you use your imagination you can pretend that my wrist braces for the computer are batting gloves. ;)

church this last sunday

I have been wanting to check out this church ever since it opened a year and a half ago. But, for various reasons (including work, being out of town, and being too chicken to go by myself), I hadn't visited it yet. I heard about it through the church I've been going to, where their pastor used to be a pastor. I always respected him when he spoke, and his wife sang in the choir and had so much joy in her that you couldn't help but enjoy GOD, too. So from the beginning I figured it must be a good church.

This week I finally went. My dear sweet Diana went with me, which was so very good of her. It's a very small church (held in a gym), but I figure that in a church that size you're more likely to meet people. When we got there I grabbed a bulletin, and was very disappointed to see that the pastor I went to hear was not preaching that day. But whatever, it was just good to be in church. The worship was fine (but that always varies so much from week to week, it could be better a different week), and then the other pastor got up. Wow. He was so good. I couldn't take notes fast enough. And it was all Bible. No illustrations like 'It's like when my daughter says to me...' or 'When I look at the relationship between me and my boss I see...' It was all Bible. He was preaching from Psalm 27. In it David is seeking after GOD, praying that GOD will show him HIS beauty. The pastor wrapped it up with some application, challenging us to do the same. "Seek HIS beauty to death, for in death you will see HIS beauty." That stuck with me.

After the service a couple women introduced themselves to us. And it wasn't just, 'Hi, my name is___. Nice to meet you." They actually talked and made us feel welcome.

I really liked the church and am planning on going back this week. (I made an arrangement at work so I can go.) Hopefully this time the head pastor will be there so I can hear him, but if he's not, this other pastor is great, too. The only downside I can see in this church is that it's so small there aren't really any people my age (or at least not my age and single - there seem to be a lot of young families). And I really need that fellowship. But then with the church being that small people actually noticed we were new and welcomed us, which was so nice. So I'm going to try there again, and pray, and we'll see what happens!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, CHELLEYBUTTON!

ugh! what's with me never getting to be on here long enough anymore? i want to tell all about the church i went to, but i now have to get off here to have supper, and i don't know that i'll get on again tonight. grr...

spoiler alert

this is a happy video. it almost makes me like this song. :)

(but it does tell 'the office' stuff, if you don't want to know. and i recommend, if you haven't seen 'the office,' to watch it in order. it doesn't matter as far as understanding the show goes, it just is more fun that way.)

http://youtube.com/watch?v=lU8URuqfzNk

i'm now off to get my taco :D

i love the men at the home

i went upstairs to wash the tables the other day, and carl was getting out of his wheelchair. i told him he should sit back down and he said, 'no, i'm fine.' i told him it was just that i didn't want him to fall, to which he replied, 'i won't fall. unless maybe for you.' :)

sorry i've been gone girls. thurs i babysat, fri was my g'ma's 85th bday, sat i was with my diana (who made doughnuts that were really yummy - i was the official taste-tester), and sun was church and my diana (cuz she came to church with me and then came over for lunch) and GOD time and the last game of the world series and chelleybutton calling me. so that's where i've been. i'm back now, except i'm going now cuz my mom and i are going out for supper and i don't think i'll get back on after that and i've forgotten the 42 things i was gonna say anyway.

Concert Review: The One in My Dream

Saturday night a bunch of friends of mine from Sweden and I went to a Cameron Diaz concert. It was in a gym, pretty casual, and people were coming and going as they pleased. Her opening act was Eric Clapton, then she came on singing a bunch of her favorite songs (mostly oldies and show tunes). She came out into the audience to get us to sing with her, and then as a kind of grand finale, Brendan Leonard's friend Ryan came into the crowd, too, to join her on 'Summer Nights.' It was quite a fun concert, it was just too bad that the mics weren't turned up loud enough.

but i can't post nothing, so here:

boromir is sexy. it's just too bad he's not real.

ohmigosh. it happened. i have nothing to post. pride goes before a fall, i guess.

i'm hungry

i just decided i want an apple, but i just put my wrist braces on. not that that takes a lot of work, but do i really want to take them off so i can eat an apple so i can put them back on? difficult decision.

Perspective

"If GOD deals in strict justice with us, we all perish. We ought to spend our lives in HIS service; we shall find true life in keeping HIS Word."

- Matthew Henry

i so need to go to bed now

autoemlinda and i just watched this one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EiET57GTc2c

it's very entertaining. especially when you're instant messaging. :)

(i like when we watch things together, or eat things together, or things like that. it's almost like being there together except not remotely. :) )

now that baseball season's over, the girls have gotten way into brendan leonard (what's with him not having a show anymore?). unfortunately, i live far away, so i can't get into it like they can (except when either i'm at their house or they bring a disc to mine). (i wish the show was on dvd. it would make an awesome Christmas present for me.) anyway, i've been having to get my fix on youtube. unfortunately i have dial-up, so it takes like a 1/2 hour to download a 3 minute clip, and sometimes it doesn't download past 15 seconds. but it's worth waiting for. anyway, just to give you a taste:

here's the first one i ever saw (from the actual show)

http://youtube.com/watch?v=sRz5RLjOvl0and here's the one i stumbled across today (from a webisode type deal he has occassionally on his family's website)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SdXyPpGVPJc&NR=1

and you wonder why we love him

eileen's favorite

the housekeeper (who's from morocco and has an accent that makes this story better, but obviously you can't hear that here) asked me today if i like cats. i said no - i don't mind them, but i don't really like them. so then she said 'what do you like? dogs?' 'no.' 'monkeys?' i laughed. 'men?' i laughed and said, 'yes! that's it! very much.' she laughed and said, 'that's every woman's favorite.' eileen was sitting across the room, so i went over to her and said, 'the housekeeper just asked me an interesting question. which do i like best - cats, dogs, or men? what would you say?' without hesitation: 'men! oh yes, men!'

i'm so tired it took me about 5 minutes to get out of the car after work. i think it's nap time.

drummers

so my aunt has been saying for months that i need to meet the drummer on their worship team.

last night they had a coffee house type thing (with 3 groups playing music) at their church and mrs. navy cousin asked me to go with her, so i went. this guy my aunt keeps pushing was the drummer in the first group. ok whatever. now, the drummer in the second group...if she wants to hook me up with him... ;)

a quote from a friend of a friend

"A woman's heart should be so hidden in Christ that a man must be seeking the Lord to find it."

august 22nd chapel

i don't know how to sum it up, but it hit me and i think i need to learn from it. it's about loneliness vs. solitude, and how alone time isn't a bad thing, but is "an invitation to be mindful of Him. I have so not arrived. It’s a difficult choice at times. But it’s neat because the quiet isn’t so scary. And occasionally, God will send me a phone call from a friend to encourage me. Even better than that, I get to meet the lover of my soul. God, who is in the business of healing the brokenhearted and making them whole wants to meet with me and tell me how much He cares for me!!!" yay!

how come when i get 6 hours of sleep from 11pm to 5am i'm dead tired, but when i get 6 hours of sleep from 3am to 9am i'm totally fine?

am i the only one who blogs anymore?

deep thought of the day

my diana said a deep thought tonight: 'sometimes GOD unlocks a door, but doesn't open it for us. sometimes we need to try the handle to see if it opens.'

what's with all the scheduled outages?

didder and i rock

like she said, sat and sun, we attacked the basement and got rid of tons of stuff. then yesterday and today we attacked the attic (i took the day off work so we could) and got rids of tons more stuff. all told we got rid of our trash can + two big bags at our house (that's all we're allowed to dump at a time), two big bags at navy cousin's, two cars-full of junk at didder's place, 2 big bags & i think 3 boxes at goodwill, 2 boxes at the library, 2 things of crushed boxes for recycling, 7 dozen cans of pop, and we still have a couple bags ready to go when the next garbage day comes around.

now all that's left to do (other than the rest of the basement, attic, and one day garage) is to clean up after ourselves by vacuuming and washing the kitchen floor, and then 3 loads of laundry from people constantly being here.

we kick bottom.

my week home alone (so far)

friday night my aunt&uncle (have we named these two yet, didder?), boofaunt&baby girl, & didder&the girls stayed here. then my parents & aunt&uncle left early early sat morning for their vacation, which meant that my week w/o my parents started. (yay!!!) sat and sun boofaunt&baby girl, didder, & the girls were here. monday night navy cousin (whom i named navy cousin but who isn't in the navy anymore - now he's in the army), his wife, and their two girls stayed here. (their chimney has been condemned and if they turn the heat on at their house they'll die of carbon monoxide, so they came to my drafty house instead.) then tues and wed didder, enrique, and the girls were here. and tonight i'm getting together with my diana. so it's been non-stop people.

so i was all happy for tomorrow cuz it's my one day off when they're gone, so i could totally relax. turns out someone called in sick so i'll be working half a shift (i refused to go in as early as i usually do, but still, that clouds the whole day). then it will be friday, and then i think my parents come home late saturday night.

that's my alone time.

dear good-looking maintenance guy,

my mom says you look like matthew fox. that is a good thing.

the end

i remembered!

last friday i had to sit through a 6 1/2 hour inservice on disaster training. it wasn't about fires and tornados, though. it was on bio-terrorism and the like. so pointless. like this training is going to do anything. if we were attacked, the circumstances would be so different, there's no way to prepare for them all. and then we had to do a practice excercise (which the presenter called an 'ekshersize') on how we would do a practice excercise.

it was the longest 6 1/2 hours ever. i was so seriously exhausted by the time it was all over. i told my boss to feel free to schedule me for 3 doubles in a row (my limit is 2 before i go insane) - just don't ever make me go to one of those again. brutal.

oh, and to make it worse, one of the presenters said 'um' 1,034 times. i counted.

august 11th chapel

"Those of us who trusted Christ as children sometimes (too often!) take the mercy and grace of God for granted. We've learned about the forgiveness of sin that we have in Him, and believe that our eternal standing is secured by Him, yet many never really experience the emotions that go along with receiving such totally unmerited favor and blessing. We treat it as something commonplace because we haven't "felt" the down-and-outness of being mired in sin and apart from God...The fact that I get to enjoy the riches of God's love and grace everyday WITHOUT the terror, pain, fear, guilt and scars of living without Him is unbelievable. Why me? Why did I get to hear the good news? Why did I get to be born into a family that loved God? Why was I allowed to study the Bible from the time I was little? Why did I not have to suffer through poverty, idolatry, abuse, fanaticism, or war? Amazing. It should color every thought and every word and every action and every decision of my life."

i hate when i have so many things to say and then by the time i get here i've forgotten them all (and then i remember about 5 minutes after i turn the computer off).

my mom doubts the wonderfulness of blog friends

i don't. i got two care packages in the last week! :D thanks, girls!

sorry mom

your birthday was two months ago. i stole your m&ms.

Movie Review: Sweet Home Alabama

I want to marry Jake Perry. Because, well, who wouldn't?

(Though if I had to settle for Andrew Hennings, I would, I guess.)

i was going to post something, but my typing was so atrocious i gave up.

i like psalm 119. it's all about loving GOD's Word. now i just need to not just love it, but to do it.

august 8, 2007 chapel

[this part is me talking] a couple years ago i was at work and before i ate my lunch i prayed. right before i closed my eyes, i saw the cook, which reminded me that i should be praying for him. so i prayed that there would be opportunities for me to share my faith with him. i then ate my lunch, we served the residents, and i left to take the food carts to the upstairs dining room. when i went back into the kitchen, the first thing the cook said to me was, 'do you believe GOD forgives every sin?' he just jumped on it out of the blue (well, not completely out of the blue - apparently he and ngomba had been talking about it, though i don't know just what was said). i was taken aback, but we talked about it for a few minutes.

i was excited, but so surprised. and ever since then, i have wondered why i was so surprised. it dawned on me later that night that here i had prayed for the opportunity, and GOD gave me the opportunity. did i doubt that HE would? how believingly do i pray? why don't i fully expect HIM to answer? just because i don't see results within an hour like i did that time?

[now from the chapel] Tim Cash says, “To believe and not doubt means not only believing in the existence of God, but also believing in His loving care. It includes relying on God and expecting that he will hear and answer when we pray. We must put away our critical attitude when we come to him, and have confidence that God will align our desires with his purposes. Our Father really knows what is best.”

[me again] amen!

going Home

about 2 weeks ago, as i was giving ethel a ride up the elevator to head to her room, she told me she wanted to go Home (and she didn't mean to her old house). she had been telling me this more and more frequently, actually. i told her i didn't know about that, but i could give her a ride to her room. she replied, 'you don't know which one it is.' i said, 'yes i do. it's the one with the sign that says 'be patient with me, GOD's not finished with me yet.'' she said, 'yes, that's true. HE's not.' to which i replied, 'no, HE keeps working on us until we're ready to join HIM.' she said, 'yes. HE does.'
a couple of days after that, she passed away. apparently HE had finished HIS work with her and she was ready to go Home. i'm so happy for her. :)

aug. 4th, 2007 chapel

“And let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more, as you see the day drawing near.” Hebrews 10:24-25

'So the way I want to encourage you today, to love and good deeds, is to challenge you that if you have not found a church this season, start looking. I realize that just finding a solid Bible teaching church can be hard... Also, be prepared for the battle! The enemy knows that you will grow in God’s power as you are committed to His Word and the resource of other believers. Don’t be surprised at the difficulty of this task. But remember that … “greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.” (1 John 4:4) God will help you obey His Word as you pray and commit you way to Him!'

i need to go church hunting.

nice smile for erma

oh yeah - but i was gonna start to get un-twinsy

so different nice smiles for me :D

nice smiles for me

nice smile for chelley

happy canadian thanksgiving!

thank you, canada!

eileen's moment of the week

a few days ago, she was on a mission. she wheeled down the hall, wheeled herself into my boss's tiny office, said 'i don't like you!' and slammed into her.

she then turned around and wheeled down the other hall.

'i just don't know what to do with myself. don't know just what to do with myself...'

baseball season's over! :( i was at an absolute loss after work yesterday. on sundays i'm supposed to rush home and watch the game. and i couldn't! :(( it was so sad!!!

thoughts brought on by Aug. 3, 2007 (though written in 2004, cuz the chapel cheats)

'When we choose joy, we bask in the glory of our Heavenly Father and enjoy an incomparable freedom.' And somewhere I have a quote from Chuck Swindoll that empahsizes the fact that joy is a choice. And other people say it, too. Because it's true. Happiness happens, but joy is a choice. And this is a good day to remind me of that. I was not joyful at work today (and then I had the nerve to tell Amanda about baseball chapel and the fact that it's convicting), and tomorrow is Sunday, and I'm notorious at work for being crabby on Sundays. (In fact if I start to get mad at work, my threat is 'Don't make me go Sunday at you.') So, seeing as tomorrow's Sunday, I probably need a kick in the bum to remember that it is my choice whether or not to be joyful. And I need to remember that whether or not I am is a reflection on CHRIST. How can I be a witness without showing that HE makes a difference in a life?

'My Fair Lady' on Broadway

Cast:

Eliza Doolittle - Melilot Brandybuck
Henry Higgins - Kevin Spacey
Colonel Pickering - Christopher Plummer

Alfred P. Doolittle - Davy Jones

Freddy Eynsford-Hill - Paolo Montalbon

and

Dame Julie Andrews as Mrs. Higgins

another thought on 'my fair lady'

but boys are dumb. don't they understand that girls swoon easily and sing things like 'i could've danced all night'? i watch 'the rain in spain' and think 'do you seriously not know what you're doing to her?' (and chelley, if you haven't seen it, i take no responsibility for spoilers cuz it's a classic and you should've seen it by now.)

Movie Review: 'My Fair Lady'

I love this movie, for several reasons:

1. it's a musical

2. it's (to an extent) about phonetics and language

3. it's romantic (not blatantly so - but if you know the characters [and people like them] you realize how sweet it is)

It's a little on the long side, but if you fast forward through Eliza's father's songs, it's just about right. (They aren't necessary and they just feel drawn out to me.) I love how not in touch with his feelings Henry is (he reminds me so much of my brother it's scary). The songs are fun and very sing-alongable (which is important in a musical, you know). So yes, I recommend it.

But the reason I watched this tonight was because one of my coworkers today said that something 'doesn't work good.' Eek! 'Why Can't the English Learn to Speak?' (No offense, person who said it. You're still a great person.) I want to be an 'expert dialectician and grammarian.' How does one get a job like that?

another reason to love boys (from the Justin Morneau chapter)

Justin has one brother (Geordie - great name, huh?). He's a year and a half older. They shared a room downstairs.

"Down in the basement...one of us would start busting on the other, and pretty soon we had a fight going. We were getting pretty big, but the floor was a concrete slab with a thin carpet, so we couldn't do too much damage. I guess we were really noisy, though. We knew Mom had had enough when she opened the door at the top of the stairs and started flicking the light switch on and off. When I was getting beat up, I prayed for the light to flick. Of course, Geordie and I could still see each other between flicks, so we just kept fighting. Mom would eventually get tired of it, so she would just leave the switch off, and that would usually end it."

child-rearing today

C.S. Lewis - "They have been treated with so much indulgence yet so little affection, with so much science and so little mother-wit."And so have no imagination. And so are unable to imagine the glories that are out there for those who love JESUS. The lack of imagination in today's children truly is a sad state of affairs.

i'm madly in love with jim halpert

thoughts for the day (from 'The Narnian,' by Alan Jacobs)

(Actually these first two are thoughts from George MacDonald, not Alan Jacobs or C.S. Lewis)

"The one principle of Hell is - 'I am my own.'"

and

"You will be dead so long as you refuse to die."

and

(As C.S. Lewis puts it) "Nothing that has not died will be resurrected."

(Sorry, these are thoughts that take some thinking.)

i got my first sunburn of the year today!

i was watching 'guys and dolls' with my father this evening (he never watches movies, but was enjoying this one immensely - until we were about 2 hours into it and it switched to 'my name is earl' - oops) (but it's on on sat so he told me i have to tape it again so he can see the last half hour), and anyway, can i just say, if young marlon brando invited me to havanna for the evening i would go with him.

'She Looks to the Sky' - (oops - looked at the wrong name on the cd cover) Sherri Youngwood

They say she is loved by the Greatest of all who have walked in the world

He lives far away, still she spends all her days content with only His Word

She often walks alone, but never is she lonely

You can offer her anything; her affections are all for Him only

Chorus:

All the day long she sings sweetly

She says He speaks to her mind

She's only rich with affliction

But a bitter word you won't find

She looks to the sky as if He is coming down through the clouds up above

Though no one has seen Him, you cannot deny she is drenched with His love

She often walks alone, but never is she lonely
You can offer her anything; her affections are all for Him only

Chorus

She lives with assurance He loves her too deeply to let such distance remain

She's brimming with longing for Him to come calling and sweep her away

She often walks alone, but never is she lonely
You can offer her anything; her affections are all for Him only

Chorus

They say she is loved by the Greatest of all who have walked in the world
He lives far away, still she spends all her days content with only His Word
She often walks alone, but never is she lonely
You can offer her anything; her affections are all for Him only

to all you other single ladies out there (don't bother commenting if you're married)

we're not alone. there are plenty of us out there, trying to figure out why we're still single, trying to be satisfied in GOD alone, and trying to not get discouraged when we look around at all our married (some with children) friends. it's annoying that the world (especially the Christian world) expects everyone to be with someone. we get it slammed in our faces so often that while we could ignore it and go on with our lives, we can't because we're constantly reminded of it. we're all dealing with this. don't think it's just you.

GOD has wonderful things planned for us. great things for us to do now, great things for our future. ooh - i just thought of a song i should post. and hey, I cor. 7 says that it's better to be single - we can concentrate on GOD alone. i need to remind myself of that (and actually do it). GOD is good, girls! nothing else matters.

baseball chapel cheated!

today's devo was the same as last october 1st's!

hobbitsister asked me a hard 'marry, date, or dump'

Joe Mauer

Justin Morneau

Johan Santana

(the rules are simple - once the question is out there you have to answer. so now you all have to answer. you have to decide before you look at everyone else's answers, though.)