Goin' Gospel!

Sunday in church I sang my first solo. The fact that I had a solo isn't necessarily significant...since it's only my first for this particular church. But, the road that I've traveled in the last 15 years to this point makes Sunday's singing ever so significant. It was for me a sign of healing...healing in the places that have been wounded by my time in music 'ministry'.
The song I sang is called "Something Happens" and it's totally a Gospel song! I got to ad lib and everything!! Our church is rather large and so there was a full choir and orchestra backing me up! Talk about an adrenaline rush! It was an awesome experience!!! I feel as if a part of me that had been missing has returned! It felt so good to minister through music again! Thank you, Jesus!!!

Twenty-Two

R. and I celebrated 22 months of marriage yesterday!! It's mind boggling to think that nearly two years have gone by already!!! I'm such a blessed woman! Last night was choir practice and I was totally surprised when the choir director said there was someone there celebrating 22 months of marriage! They sang to me and then he said that R. had e-mailed him to announce it at practice. My husband is so sweet to me! Afer I came home, we had Tres Leches Cake. It's the same kind we had at our wedding and so I picked some up for us. Yum.

Are you ready for some football?!?

R. and I went to a college football game on Saturday night. It was my first ever REAL football game! (The only other game I've ever been to was for a tiny, highschool team in Montana, in the dark and I couldn't see a thing...so I'm not counting that one.) It was fun to be there with the fans and actually see the players in real life. Much more exciting than on TV. And our team won which made it all the better!! I think I must be good luck 'cause our team isn't all that great normally. I guess I'll have to go again!!! Smile.

Well...time to STUDY! I begin my first Distance Ed. class this afternoon; the book of Isaiah!! Yay!

Chica the Fuzzy Hunter

This is R's new nickname for Chica. She'll eat absolutely anything and seems to find every piece of fuzz in the house!!

It's been awhile since I posted. The last two weeks have been crazy with adjustments and change, but for the most part it's been good. I'm enjoying my new job and love working part-time! Who new it could be so good!?! Four hours a day and then freedom! Smile. I'm finally getting a start in actually doing some of the work I was hired for, but it will probably be awhile before I get the hang of everything. The CON in working just part-time is that it takes that much longer to learn anything because I'm only there half the time. I think that is the one and only draw back!

Poor little Chewie is having a hard time adjusting to my absence. I've been reading some articles online and it is apparent that he is suffering from a serious case of separation anxiety. Poor little guy!! Hopefully he'll get over it soon and we can help him adjust through some training techniques I read about.

I have officially joined the choir at our church! It's been a long time in coming, but I think it's a good move. I'm also hoping it works out to join one of the rotating worship teams! It feels really good to sing again...though I still don't look forward to practice. But then I never liked to practice what I was supposed to practice!

Any day now my first correspondence course should arrive in the mail. After a lot of consideration and research and prayer, I really think the Lord is leading me to continue my studies through my original school in Canada and to change my major. I don't know how long it will take me to finish, but when all is said and done I will have a degree in Intercultural Studies. Yay!!! I'm really excited about this and what the Lord has for these studies!! My first course will be a study on the book of Isaiah. I've always wanted to go indepth into this book so I'm really looking forward to it!!

Lots going on these days. It's been a little hard to adjust to having the additional responsibilities, but I don't think it will take long to get used to it! God is faithful!!

Blessings to all of you dear friends and family!!

EMPLOYED!!!!!

I'm very happy to write that I've been hired at the Graduate School for a part-time Admin. position!!! It's EXACTLY the hours and schedule I was praying for!!! Yay for answered prayer!!! God is so good! I start on Monday! Yippy!!!!!

The Whirlwind We Call Life

Last week R. and I helped pack up our good friends and neighbors for their move to Minnesota. The W's lived in the complex before us and even helped us move in when all we knew of each other was their names. It didn't take long though before they became friends! It's just not the same around here without them, but we're super excited for all the good things God has in store for them in this new chapter of life.

On Friday I interviewed for a part-time job at the university. Now I'm waiting anxiously to here whether they will hire me or not. It's an ideal position, just 20 hours a week, and I would have June and July off every year! I'm hoping it works out! It would be just enough $$ to pay for my correspondence courses!!! God knows!



Over the weekend we got to see some good friends from out of town. We had dinner at our traditional place, Cheddar's, and then we came back to our place to introduce our doggies. I think they took to each other well!!! It's always wonderful to see friends and catch up!

This week? I'm exhausted! Smile. All this socializing has worn me out! Not to mention an overactive brain that's processing the changes just around the corner with the start of classes and possible employment. I love change because it keeps life interesting, but it seems that as the years go by it's harder to be flexible and adjust to it! Oh well. Life certainly isn't boring lately!!!!

Safely Home

Many of you have joined with us in prayer for little Hudson Taylor over the past year. After six months of cancer treatment, he was able to go home and be with his family for six healthy months. Last week he returned to the hospital for a checkup and doctors discovered that the cancer had returned and filled his little body. On Saturday he entered eternity and is safely home with Jesus. Please keep his family in prayer as they grieve the loss of his presence with them.

Austin City Limits

Last week R. attended a conference in Austin for his job and I got to go along and relax!! We stayed at a beautiful hotel, ate fabulous food, and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves! Here's a picture of the courtyard at our hotel! Think Spanish Villa! Oh yeah!

We tried out some local restaurants, including Whole Foods, the biggest organic grocery ever! I had roasted lamb and homemade macaroni and cheese! We visited a music store that carried every artist one could hope to find!! I found a couple CD's by artists I've been looking for everywhere, Rosie Thomas and Vienna Teng. Fabulous, fabulous!!!
Here's a picture of our resourcefulness! When I made the reservations, I think I must have gotten a little mixed up about double occupancy vs. double beds. Alas, we ended up with two double beds! So, we created the biggest King possible!!! Smile.

Driving to dinner one night we followed this woman on her moped. It's kind of hard to see, but if you look closely you'll notice that she's wearing high heels!!! Go figure! I would have changed I think, but it made for a good laugh for us!

We checked out the night life on our last night there. Club after club of every kind of music. We first ended up in this piano bar...and got out of there as quickly as possible!!!! Then we went to another place that looked like something out of a science fiction movie with the blacklights and disco ball. R. got a chance to show off his dancing skills and I got to enjoy dancing with such a great dancer.
Overall, it was great fun! A nice chance to get away!!

The Sound of Texas

It's funny how the little things are what make a place endearing. The rain has slowed down a bit and Summer has arrived here in the grand state of Texas. It goes without saying that it's HOT! Evenings are my favorite time of day. It cools down and there's usually a breeze that makes it pleasant to be outside. And the cicadas go crazy!!! That's one of the things I love about living here is the sound of the cicadas! Who would ever guess that such a loud noise could be made by a bug!!!! Random! But it totally makes me smile! And it takes me back to being a little girl in Iowa in the hot Summer and hearing the cicadas sing their song. It's a sound of home.

Running Out of Patience

We have this dilemma. Our cute, adorable, little doggies who are so angelic and wonderfully behaved during the day, turn into little monsters sometime after the stroke of midnight. Last night Chica started barking at howling around 1:30am and it was close to 4am before I could get back to sleep. If this was just a one time event it wouldn't be so bad, but it's been a rerun every night for a number of nights now. And, to top it all off, she pees in her kennel nearly every night as well.

I CAN'T TAKE IT ANYMORE!

If you have a dog that doesn't have these horrid habits, please tell me what you did!!!!!

The R & M Adventures

Smile. R. and I spent the 4th of July holiday visiting his family in E. Texas. If you've been watching the news, you know that Texas has been drowning in rain and there's been considerable flooding in the state. Thankfully we haven't had any trouble where we live. But, on our drive home yesterday we ran into heavy rain that caused us to pull over and wait until we could see to continue. That made for a good time to take a nap! However, when the rain slowed and we headed off down the road we encountered another water related difficulty. Apparently the highway decided to see what it would be like to be a lake instead. Crazy people were driving through it...and we couldn't help but wonder how their vehicles fared later on!!! We decided to be smart and wait it out or find an alternate route. The craziest things was that a couple hours later when we drove back to where the road was closed, it was open and the water was gone!!! Random! We're both glad to be home safe and sound.

The motto here is: "Turn around, don't drown!"

I finally have my cake and eat it too!

R. got me a computer program called CAKEWALK for our first married Christmas...in 2005. Initially we found out my computer didn't have enough space. So we got it some more. Then we realized that if I was going to record music and put it on a CD that I should have a burner. So we got it a burner. Then we realized it still didn't work...no sound would come out at all. For my birthday R. talked with a guy who uses this program and come to find out we had the wrong MIDI machine. So, R. got me a different one. But then I've been too intimidated to use it! Each time I'd open up the program to give it a try, I would see all of the buttons and options and simply close it out with frustration. Where to begin? But today I finally did it!!! I recorded one of my own songs using my keyboard and the computer!!!!! I still have a long way to go as far as figuring out how it all works and putting multiple tracks together, but I've jumped a huge hurdle in just sitting down to use it!!! I must say that I feel proud of myself! I actually did it!!!!

That's what I'm talkin' about!

I read this verse today that really spells out the contrast between the phony and genuine lovers of God that I mentioned in my last post. 2 Corinthians 2:17 (NRSV) says "For we are not peddlers of God's word like so many; but in Christ we speak as persons of sincerity, as persons sent from God and standing in His presence." That's it!! That's the person I want to be! One that speaks with sincerity as standing in the very presence of the Lord! To live from that place of fellowship with God. That's what I'm talkin' about!

In the past couple days God has really been faithful to answer prayer and to give me a heart to pray. After hearing a sermon a few weeks ago by the pastor who married us, I have been reminded of the role of the Holy Spirit in our lives as Christians. I had been completely neglecting the gifts He has given me and the power that comes from Him!!! In the sermon I mentioned he spoke on 1 Cor. 14. In this chapter Paul calls us to strive for spiritual gifts. He then goes on to write specifically about praying in the spirit and prophecy. Somewhere along the way I had forgotten about praying in the spirit and this sermon reminded me of how important that is and the priviledge we have to communicate with God in this way! This feels like a fresh start toward getting back to the place of love for the Lord that I've been missing.

All glory to Jesus for His indescribable gifts and His faithfulness...moment by moment.

First Love

How does one regain the passion and zeal for the Lord of years past? This has been my question lately as I have realized that my love for the Lord doesn't have the fervor it once did. I still love the Lord and desire to follow Him, but He feels incredibly distant and has for awhile.

One of the biggest dilemmas I find is that I dislike much of what the organized church has become and I don't want to associate myself with that image. As a result, I find myself in conflict over what is a true and a genuine representation of living for the Lord, and what is simply playing church. Church in general has become so cliche'. Jesus was real and genuine. Somewhere we've gotten off track. So how do we take hold of the truths of Scripture for all of their depth and power and truth, in spite of the fact that so many of these truths have been diminished by the flippant and off-handed use of them? I guess what it boils down to for me is separating the religion from my relationship with God. I hate religion and nothing seems more irrelevant to me and to the culture we live in than religion.

How do I take hold of the truth of Who God is, when so many that claim to speak for Him misrepresent Him? It's hard to make this separation! I want to be alive with passion for God and for His will!! But I want that to be more than saying the right things, going to church, singing in the choir, following a list of dos and don'ts! I don't want to be part of a club! I want a living and vibrant relationship with God!!! What does that look like and how do I get there?

Time for a Change

I've decided that I am a short hair kind of gal. Long hair is first of all way too much work. It is secondly far too hot for the state of Texas. And lastly, believe it or not, it's just too heavy to carry around on this long neck. So after being inspired by conversation with my sister, I decided to get my hair cut today. She did too, by the way! Smile!! Yippy!!! I feel cute again!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Grateful

Yesterday a good friend put up two ceiling fans in our apartment. I'm so incredibly grateful!!! Our place is already much more comfortable and last night we had the air-conditioning up 5 degrees warmer and we slept great! Thank goodness for people with talents different from mine who can do those things I can't!! Thank goodness for lower electric bills!!! I'm claiming it in advance!!!!!!

Domestic Goddess

It's been awhile since I wrote anything on this blog. A lot has been going on, but I think the reason I haven't written is that I didn't have anything ready to say. All sorts of thoughts have been swirling around in my head, but none were ready to come out.

Summer is here in the grand state of Texas and it's already pretty HOT! I think I notice it more this year for two reasons. One, I'm not freezing my butt of in a refrigerated office, and two, I'm out in the great outdoors more frequently to take the dogs out. Needless to say, it's HOT and it's great and I'm glad to be here.

The dogs are wonderful. I think R. and I have finally adjusted to having them. Now I'm less paranoid and more just enjoying their cute little personalities and their company. And we're so glad we got both of them! Chewie is my little shadow. He follows me every time I leave the room. Chica is our little princess and always has an ecstatic greeting whenever we come home. We're glad to be doggy parents...now that the initial transition is past! Smile.

Personally I think it's safe to say that I'm in limbo. Every time I think I know what's next I realize that I'm not really sure. I certainly know that I want to sing and to sing my own songs! I wrote a new song for R. for his birthday and have been working on another one the last couple weeks. It's all about baby steps and one at a time at that. I've decided to start participating in our church choir this summer. Because summers are so busy and so many people travel, they're not having choir practice so it's a good time for me to get my feet wet without having such a big time commitment. I'm still thinking about school. I'd like to finish my BA even if it's just for the sake of having a degree. And I'm leaning more and more away from music when it comes to my degree. I know I don't want to study any more classical music and for a BA that's all that's really offered around here. So...limbo...I'm not sure where that leaves me.

OH, about the Domestic Goddess. That's me! I have a new title!! It's been a bit of a quandry lately to know what to tell people I meet when they ask me what I do. So thanks to one of Robert's co-workers, I've stolen his phrase and am using it for myself. I think it will come in handy. Our culture is so obsessed with what we do that the question comes up frequently.

So, there's an update of sorts. Overall, life is good. There's a contentment and quietness to this time even in the face of the questions and the unknown. And it's summer. For the first time in a long time I get to experience summer vacation! Alright!!!

First Night

We brought our new pups home on Saturday. It was a bit of a traumatic experience for all of us!! But, we all are adjusting quite well.

Saturday morning found us up earlier than normal and on the way to pick them up. As we were driving to Fuzzy Friends we received a phone call from them. They said the dogs had been given their vaccinations and Chica had a reaction so they took her to the vet. That totally freaked us out as we wondered if she was going to be okay. We arrived right in the middle of their big open house so there were people EVERYWHERE! We got Chewie and hung around a bit until Chica came back. Come to find out it's not uncommon for a dog to react to a vaccine and we just had to give her Benadryl every four hours her first day home. Phew, that was a relief!

They've been really good and it's obvious they've lived in a house before and understand what 'no' means and that they should stay on their bed. Our first night was a little rough. They howled and barked all pickin' night long! Not much sleep to be had around here! But thankfully last night after the initial fussing, they slept soundly. We're not sure if they just figured it out, or if it was because we wore them out with a long walk!!!!

Overall I'm glad we got them, though I have to admit to moments when I wonder about our sanity!!! What were we thinking?!?!? But it's good for us and they needed a good home, so in the end we all win!!

Meet Our Fuzzy Friends

For my birthday R. decided to get me a puppy. We've been talking about it for awhile and now seemed a good time. So, we went to the Fuzzy Friends Animal Rescue last weekend to see if they had any small dogs. They did and we fell in love...with two of them!!! Surprise! So it's happy birthday to both of us since our birthdays are just four days apart! We get to pick them up this Saturday. Meet Chewie (the chocolate guy) and Chica!!!

An Overzealous Ticker

I went to the doctor last week for an earache. He said it was allergies and perscribed another allergy medicine in addition to the one I'm already taking. Well, starting Friday and then ever since, I've been having frequent heart palpitations. Monday found me back at the doctor to figure out what's going on. Thankfully my little heart performed its gymnastics and they were able to observe what's happening while I was hooked up to the EKG machine! I was concerned that it would be like going to the mechanic and your car simply won't act up for them to see the problem! But, they saw it.

Doc thinks it might just be overstimulated with my allergy meds in addition to drinking caffeine. So...I've been advised to quit all of those things. Needless to say, I'm a little on the sleepy side this week. I haven't had any caffeine today. Yesterday was half the caff. I'm really hoping that Doc is right and this is all it is. It's hard not to be anxious when it feels like my heart has done a flip in my chest!!! Please keep this is prayer! I don't want anything serious to be wrong with me!!!