Do You Need A Second Chance?

Ahhh, Jonah. You know him. You love him. The whole "stuck in a whale belly for three days" gig. Who doesn't know the story of Jonah? Well just in case you don't, here's the scoop. In Jonah 1:2-3, God told Jonah,

2 “Go to the great city of Nineveh and preach against it, because its wickedness has come up before me.”3 But Jonah ran away from the Lord and headed for Tarshish. He went down to Joppa, where he found a ship bound for that port. After paying the fare, he went aboard and sailed for Tarshish to flee from the Lord.

Calming Your Anxious Heart's To Do List

Does anyone else get anxious when you realize you are entering the "last part" of your daily planner for the year?  As in, that moment when you realize that you only have this small fraction of an inch left to accomplish the goals you set for yourself in January?

For me, it's the part to the right of the orange divider. Everything to the left is the year-to-date.Yes, it makes me anxious. It makes me want a bigger to-do-list. Subconsciously, I begin calculating how many hours I need to cut out of my sleep each night to make the rest of the year count. My throat swells up and literally, my brain starts racing with thoughts of what to do and when.

{Blessed are the anxious for they shall inherit many grey hairs... }

Even worse, I start thinking about what's undone. 

You know,  what I "should have" accomplished by now. 

When You Can't Hear God

Sometimes I call out to my kids in another room and there is no answer. Deafening silence. Surely, there's a great reason for completely ignoring the angelic voice of their mother, right? As I traipse off the their rooms to find the reason they're ignoring my calls, I see right away what the problem is. They've got these giant headphones strapped onto their noggins, the volume of whichs drowns out the voice of the one who birthed them. 

As soon as they take off the headphones, they can hear me loud and clear.

On Being A Shoe Noticer...

My heart is sad over the loss of Robin Williams this morning. For my friends in other countries who may not recognize the name, he was an American actor and comedian who recently committed suicide. The nation was shocked because he played roles that were funny. He was known for playing family roles, heartwarming roles, and roles that were both. No one could understand why or how this happened, since he has had a successful long-standing career and even had four future films that are already complete waiting for the world to see them. Without an enemy in the world, you'd think he'd have it all, yet here was this icon who was battling depression. What did he have to be depressed about?

Yes, You Can Weather The Storm You're In Right Now

This week I felt like melting into a puddle of tears and... well, tears. The straw that broke the proverbial camel's back was when the landlord for our current home told me he has on file that our contract is a year longer than I have on file. A stinking YEAR! Pile that on to existing stress of living in two households (and desiring to be in one, just to clarify), PAYING for two households, hearing my children ask "but why can't you come to parent night at VBS, mommy? Do you think you could drive home for the night?" Which is an adorably endearing request but in reality looks like this: get off at 3:30, drive 3.5 hours home to be two hours late for a program, watch the last 20 minutes, give kisses and hugs, and turn back around to make the 3.5 hour trip back to my temporary home, get in at midnight, sleep 5 hours, get up for work, work 8 hours, and drive back home 3.5 hours for the weekend. 

God, Out Of The Box.

I finally figured it out. I have been in a funk for the past week, but couldn't quite put my finger on why.

There's a guy at work, I'll call him Mr. W. He told me about a book that he read where the author was a pastor of a certain denominational congregation, and he converted from his existing congregation to join this new church. His book encourages others to do the same, and he's very good at persuasion - so much so that my friend at work is now prompting me to purchase this book and join the movement.  To be fair, I listened to him tell the story of why this book was fabulous. I probably shouldn't have listened or nodded as much as I did, but I listened.

Waiting on God's Plan For You... STILL?

My kids LOVE baking cookies. Yes, I know you can make them from scratch, and every Christmas season we get out the mixing bowls, chocolate chips, and end up covered in flour from head to toe. But for normal everyday life, we go for the good ol’ roll of cookie dough that comes from the grocery store. We’ve got a plan: cookie sheets, cookies, spatula, and a pre-set oven. We slice some dough off the roll (sometimes sneaking a nibble from one or two) and lay the chunks neatly in rows on the cookie sheet. Into the oven they go, with expectant eyes peering through the glass on the oven door.

Dance Like Nobody's Watching... Part 2

Dress rehearsals. They're the final run-through before the big show. If you don't have it by then you're probably not gonna get er done. Unless...

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ACT I: The Arrival

Friday afternoon, I left work early and drove the 3.5 miles home with all intentions of arriving at the rehearsal early. After stopping at the dance supply store to get a last-minute item, I headed over to the concert hall, changed clothes and had about 20 minutes to spare. I am not normally the one who gets ANYWHERE early, so to intentionally leave early with the intent of arriving early is crazy in and of itself. 

ACT II: The Rehearsal

Dance Like Nobody's Watching...

Last year, I must have gone absolutely crazy because I did something I've never done before. I signed up for an adult dance class, and danced in my first recital. My daughter dances there, and our studio offers several classes for moms. Mind you, I dance in the kitchen with the broom, or around the living room with the kids, but I'd never put on a ballet slipper. Ever.

Well last year, I did. And I loved it. This year, I decided to be brave and sign up for two. Why not, right? So I picked jazz (not the best idea for someone who is as uncoordinated as I am) and lyrical (it looked pretty, why not?)... at least, that was my logic at the time.

Fast forward 9 months.

Just-In-Case Faith

Have you ever truly examined your faith? No matter what it is, whether moving across the country, starting a new business, applying to college, or even looking for God to provide daily needs, it all needs faith.

This week has been immensely stressful. First I was on the island, then booted off the island. We keep searching for houses in our new town, even though we've already found the one we love. Why?

Just. In. Case.

Just in case... what? Hubs asked me why I was still looking when I'd already found one I loved. Well,

The Post-Christmas Tree

I am a bit sad today. You see, here it is January 29th, and the hubs sent me a picture of a barren corner of the living room today.

Barren, as in, no Christmas tree, because he took it down.

Now I know what you're thinking. "Karen, it's almost February!" But we're a whole MONTH ahead of schedule compared to last year.