Deny thyself…take up your diaper bag
The past couple of months have been so fun, busy and new. My interests are changing everyday – I’m literally evolving into a new creature – A MOMMY…
This transformation is bringing a new “denial of self” that the new testament talks about so often. No longer am I making decisions based on my selfish desires (well…sometimes I do), but now, each decision is made in light of the tiny life inside of me. What to eat, when to sleep, what to spend (or not spend) money on…
If I can change my behaviors and lay down my own desires for this child I don’t even really know yet, how much more should I abandon my fleshly desires in light of the SAVIOR OF THE UNIVERSE that lives inside of me?
I wonder what else this little child will teach me about my savior, my salvation, and my calling.
4 comments April 30, 2009
Adventures in Pregnancy – 1
A thousand new thoughts go through my head every day (I’m conviced this is the reason why I forget so much “regular” stuff). Thoughts like: how can I get up as little as possible today? Wow, my wedding ring feels tighter! Whoa…look at my ankles! Is that rumbling in my stomach the taco salad or little June kicking around?
Every part of me wants to be brave and act like I’m feeling and doing great. The truth is…I’m terrified. What if my baby won’t sleep through the night, what if she has colic, should I use a pacifier? It seems everyone has an opinion about these things (a very strong opinion) and there’s so much judgement in motherhood. My friend can’t get the hang of breast feeding and she gets treated like she threw her baby down a well. The pressure is already mounting up!
As I ponder these things, I will continue to waddle around, put my feet up, and eat popsicles…
4 comments April 16, 2009
Inspired by Greatness
I had the very rare opportunity to sit in a room with 150 brilliant CEOs – incredibly accomplished individuals to say the least. They had all gathered to hear the CEO of my company give a presentation about “The Politics of International Business”…sounds so boring…right? What they got instead was a sincere message from an incredible man about his family, faith and business.
He spoke about the explosive growth our company experienced in the past 10 years, and he also detailed the anguish of watching the company stock go from $70 to $2 within 6 weeks. I was completely captivated by his personal story and journey of the past six months. Above all, I was completely shocked and inspiried with his transparency about his faith. He didn’t hold back in this very initimidating room. He let everyone know that “with God, all things are possible” and when he was asked how he managed his way through it all, he simply said, “I have to be honest…I pray alot. And through prayer, I gain the wisdom and strengh I need to do my job.”
He described his job as CEO of a Fortune 500 company as a ministry.
Maybe you’ll never be in “full time church ministry”, but you can inspire and change people right where you are. My CEO changed my life…and he’s not even a pastor.
3 comments April 9, 2009
Not Easily Offended
One of the best, most-usable skills to have in the universe:
TO NOT BE EASILY OFFENDED
Learn it. Use it. You can thank me later.
3 comments April 1, 2009
I’m not a dead link or a mom blog!
My mind and emotions have been swimming in the deep end lately. I can’t believe I haven’t posted in 2 weeks. That’s the longest I’ve ever gone without spilling my guts for the world to read.
I think it’s time for some spillage, but I can’t seem to get my thoughts in order. Tomorrow, I will have a good post. I promise. I’m not a dead link. And I’m not a mom blog (even though I can hardly keep my mind of my precious little baby girl, June). Here’s what happened in the past 2 weeks:
- We felt June kick on the outside of my tummy for the first time – magical.
- We had house guests from Missouri.
- We are welcoming Joshua White into our home tonight. This will be our first “face-to-face” with anyone from the internets.
- My face has gotten fatter – I’m fairly sure of this even though my friends swear it’s not true.
- French fries make my feet swell up, but I can’t seem to stay away from them.
- I started watching the HBO series, Big Love. It’s just wrong.
- We had a snow storm and 2 snow days.
- God taught me some lessons.
- I miss my blog friends.
7 comments March 30, 2009
Reasonable Fear
Is there such a thing as reasonable fear with the Lord?
I hear statements like, “Every good parent worries for their child.” and I can’t help but wonder if it’s true. Fear is the opposite of faith…so are we just comforting ourselves and making excuses for our fear?
I want to live FREE of fear and the promises in the Word tell me I can. Right???!?!?!?!?!
8 comments March 17, 2009
Resume Writing Tips
The economy sucks…and I can’t do anything about it.
BUT –
I have a knack for writing, editing and formatting resumes for my friends, family, and even former co-workers. If you need some help with your resume, I really want to help you. Here’s some quick tips, but feel free to leave a comment and I’ll email you if you need additional help:
- Customize your email for the job you are applying for. Each job requirement is different – so should your resume!
- Keep it to one page if at all possible.
- Keep it clean and SPELL CHECK!!!!
- Focus on your skills and strengths – not your daily tasks and duties.
- You are marketing yourself so be creative and make your experience jump off of the page.
- Reach out to placement agencies and head hunters. They have trusted relationships with tons of companies. Many companies won’t hire anyone unless it’s through a placement agency or head hunter.
- Convert your resume to PDF before sending. MS Word formatting doesn’t always “keep”.
- For examples, templates and more tips, visit Resume Resource.
In addition to helping with your resume, I’ll pray that you find a job – a GREAT job!
Start Writing!
3 comments March 12, 2009
Hey…it’s OK! – Pregnancy Edition
It’s OK to:
- Not blog for a week
- Watch TV all night long with your hubby and neglect the dishes, laundry and dirty bathrooms
- Admit that some parts of pregnancy suck
- Avoid the person that makes comments about certain body parts getting bigger
- To be nervous that you won’t get to buy yourself new clothes because you’ll be buying new clothes for the baby
- To be hungry at 8 am, 11 am, 12:30 pm, 3 pm, 6 pm, and 9 pm
- To ask your hubby get you water, your special pillow, your laptop, a snack and the remote (in the course of 10 minutes)
Anything you need to remind yourself not to feel guilty about???
6 comments March 10, 2009
Note To Self:
Since I’m so forgetful lately, I’ve made a list of things I continually try to remind myself of…unfortunately, my reminder usually comes too late:
- Going to work in yesterday’s makeup is NEVER a good idea.
- You like peas now that you’re pregnant.
- You don’t like onions now.
- When you have to pee in the middle of the night, it’s not as easy to “roll” out of bed.
- You put your keys in your jacket pocket last night instead of in your purse.
- Go ahead and get the size Medium in maternity clothes instead of the XXL in regular clothes, you’ll feel better about yourself.
- When you feel tired on Wednesday and you call Mark to tell him you’re not coming to church, you will regret it.
5 comments March 2, 2009
Ballet Slippers it is!
Ok, I gave Mark every opportunity to blog this first, but many of you are asking so…
We are going to have a beautiful, healthy, baby
GIRL!!!
The ultrasound went perfectly and I think she is even beautiful in her very first picture:
25 comments February 27, 2009
Baby on the Brain
It’s been a little quiet around my blog lately…it’s because I can’t think of anything else than my BIG ultrasound tomorrow morning where we find out if it’s a girl or boy. We would be excited for a boy or girl, but I’m more nervous about finding out if the baby is healthy. I’m so preocupied with thoughts of the appointment – I can hardly get work done, I can’t sleep and I’m just a nervous wreck. I have glimses of peace and then my mind starts wandering again. Please pray for me!
As proof of this “baby brain” as I like to call it, I accidentally posted my Social Security Number on Twitter this morning (thanks to everyone who responded to let me know!).
I can’t think of a worse thing to accidentally do on a social network. Can you?
7 comments February 25, 2009
Sin No More.
As I continue to experience more and more intimacy with the Lord, I also experience more and more times where I feel far away from Him, dirty and sinful. I allow fear to creep into my life and – POOF – I’m like a fatherless child with no where to run when only days before that I was resting comfortably in His arms.
When I feel far from God, I feel like I’m no closer to God than the meth addict in the back alley. Is that true? Has my sin made me as destitute as the liar or thief who has never accepted Jesus? Am I hopelessly searching for a close relationship with God when all I’ll find is a shameful girl and a distant father?
In searching for these answers, I realized I was asking the wrong question. The question isn’t if I’m guilty, dirty and far from God. The question is: Why can’t I accept my righteousness in Christ? Because there is no more sin. I’ll say it again – THERE IS NO MORE SIN!!!
2 Corinthians 5:21 – God made the one who knew no sin to be sin for us, so that in him we would become the righteousness of God.
Did you hear that? I’m the righteousness of God. I’m the righteousness of God. I’M THE RIGHTEOUSNESS OF GOD…
and I refuse to believe otherwise!
6 comments February 24, 2009
The Sound of Our Love
These are the 5 songs I could listen to forever:
- Bad – U2
- Romeo & Juliet- Dire Straights
- Danny’s Song – Loggins and Messina
- It’s Your Love – Mark Thomas
- Pony Man – Gordon Lightfoot
The reason I love these songs is because they are the soundtrack to my love affair with my husband:
- Bad – U2 – This song was playing during our first kiss.
- Romeo & Juliet- Dire Straights – We used to slow dance and sing this song while we were dating.
- Danny’s Song – Loggins and Messina – We played this song at our wedding and Mark still sings it to me
- It’s Your Love – Mark Thomas – Mark wrote this song after we had a miscarriage last year. It healed my soul.
- Pony Man – Gordon Lightfoot – Mark sings this song to the baby at night.
What songs could you listen to forever????
6 comments February 20, 2009
My Tearful Adventures
Mark hinted to me that I might be a tad bit hormonal lately. Of course, I completely denied it until these things happened last week:
- I sat down in my bosses office to let him know I wasn’t satisfied with my review. Before I could say two words, I was sobbing like a baby and couldn’t catch my breath. The poor man didn’t know what to do. I’m pretty sure I didn’t make any sense and made a complete fool out of myself. I haven’t cried at work in the 4 years I’ve been here. It was humiliating.
- During our lovely Valentine’s date, I yelled at the sweet movie attendant about the parking situation before bursting into tears and demanding our money back. Again, humiliated. Good thing Mark saved the night by getting me calm and taking me home for a movie.
- I have been craving doughnut holes for weeks. This morning, I finally went to the quaint, local doughnut shop by our house to indulge myself only to be sold STORE BOUGHT, STALE doughnut holes – Winchell’s, I will cut you. As soon as I got in my car, I cried.
I admit…I think I would have cried about the doughnuts – hormones or not!
14 comments February 17, 2009
I-Need-A-Vacation!!!!
I’m so swamped with work that don’t have time to check blogs, twitter, or write a post. I NEED A VACATION!!!
The best vacation I ever went on was to Cancun with Markie on our honeymoon. Margaritas and french fries on the beach are delightful combination. We wanna go back before the baby comes (sans the margaritas).
What’s the best vacation you’ve ever had??? OR Where’s your dream vacation???
11 comments February 10, 2009
