Tidbits

Today is one of my more random days - hard to believe I would have any days more random than the normal ME, but I do...so here are some of the things going through my mind today:

~ I love 80's music - which goes without saying that I love listening to Sunny 101.5 with their totally 80's weekend!

~ Today has been great! I got up early to do some cleaning, then headed back to bed to just relax for a few hours. Definitely what I needed today!

~ There is nothing like a hot shower on dreary days, right after a workout, to take a cold chill off or right after the beach.

~ My favorite season is beginning - Flip flop season!!

~ I can actually see my natural hair color again. Too bad I'll probably be getting highlights in the next few months!

~ I'm attempting to once again grow my hair out - lets see how long I last!

~ I love classic 80's movies! There is nothing like channel surfing and coming across the ending to Footloose - can't help but stop and watch it!

~ Love my new cell phone, just still trying to learn some of the ins and outs of it - I tend to hang up on people while they are on speaker phone - sorry!

~ I love snail mail!

~ Over the last few weeks I have gotten addicted to having coffee in the morning - probably not the best habit to get in, but I have it none the less.

~ I'm sitting here typing and craving a Chai - hmmm...yum....

~ Hailey Bean is turning more into a little girl and less like a baby - she still can't say my name though :(

~ I'm going to be an aunt again! My brother and his wife are expecting another child - I am too excited for words!

~ I can't hardly wait for summer and road trips to the beach - we girls need to formulate a plan soon!

~ I miss my friends and family who aren't around here...

~ Rain rain go away....

The end and the journey

Have you ever asked God for a "sign"? A glimmer of the future? A "flashing neon sign"?

I used to think that if I just knew the "end" that the journey would somehow be easier. God totally proved me wrong. Recently I have heard God's voice on a few major issues in my life. For once I know what my future includes. He just wants me to be patient and obedient in the process. Sounds easy right? I mean, I know the end, so all should be hunky dory...

Not true. Not true at all.

The saying that it is not the end that is important, but the journey, has never been so glaringly true for me. You may see the flashing neon sign, but there is still a path to get there. And that path may not always be easy, or smooth going, or even logical, but the path needs to be traveled for a reason.

I have learned more about myself on this path than I ever have before. I look back on who I was last year and I see radical differences. My thought processes, my spiritual life, my relationships, and the healings that have come.

Beware of praying for a flashing neon sign...sometimes...you may just get one...

Song of many souls...

Recently one of my amazing girl friends introduced me to this song by Jon McLaughlin. It illustrates so perfectly what I think every woman goes through at some point in time. How a man was able to capture that so well, I may never know, but until then I had to share the words of the souls of so many women...


Beautiful Disaster

she loves her momma's lemonade
hates the sounds that goodbyes make
she prays one day she'll find someone to need her
she swears there's no difference between the lies and compliments
it's all the same if everybody leaves her

and all the magazines tells her she's not good enough
the pictures that she sees makes her cry

she would change everything, everything, just ask her
caught in the in between of beautiful disaster
she just needs someone to take her home

she's giving boys what they want
trying to act so nonchalant
afraid to see that she's lost her direction
she never stays the same for long
assuming that she'll get it wrong
perfect only in her imperfection

she's not a drama queen
she doesn't wanna feel this way
only 17 and tired, yeah

she would change everything for happy ever after
caught in the in between of beautiful disaster
she just needs someone to take her home

she's just the way she is
but no one's told her that's okay

she would change everything, everything, just ask her
caught in the in between of beautiful disaster

she would change everything for happy ever after
caught in the in between of beautiful disaster
she just needs someone to take her home
she just needs someone to take her home

Question of the day...

I have noticed that in America we all walk on the right side of hallways, sidewalks and even malls.

In other countries, especially those that drive on the opposite side of the road, do people walk on the left side??

List of Best Things Ever

So in recently reading a friends blog post of her best things ever, I decided to start my own...I'm thinking it may have to be a couple-parter, given that there are many things I love! This is just the icing on the cake (or the things I can think of at the time being...)

1 - A hot cup of Chai tea on a cold, dreary day! Nothing warms you to the core like Chai

2 - Good baby smell

3 - Road trips (especially in the summer) with good friends! You never know what might come out of them...for example random car dancing, chinese firedrills, top down jeep riding, deer incidents, laughing til you almost pee your pants, and of course, one cannot forget, the Speedo Incident of '05

4 - Homemade chocolate chip cookie dough

5 - The smell of charcoal and grills in the summer

6 - A lake house

7 - Classic movie scenes that never get old

8 - The hint of guy's cologne, when they aren't drenched in it, but enough to linger on you after they hug you

9 - Spending time with my dad building and fixing things

10 - The smell of sawdust (weird I know, but I can't help it!)

11 - Memories of my childhood

12 - Barefeet in white sand that never gets too hot

13 - The excitement in Hailey's eyes and face when she spots me and the pure joy that overflows from her

14 - Surprises...I love to be surprised, but I pick up on things so quickly that it is not an easy task to accomplish. Props to Laura for surprising me, not once, but twice with the same technique!

15 - The first warm day of Spring with the light breeze blowing through your hair, and the water flowing nearby and the sun warming your face

16 - The perfect pen that flows exactly to my taste

17 - Ice water after working out, spending time outside in the summer, or after a mission trip to India :)

18 - Produce fresh from a garden

19 - Getting on the scale, expecting to have gained weight, and finding you have lost 7 pounds!

20 - Girls nights with mom - filled with girl-talk, great food, laughter and Scrabble :)

21 - Loud, moving, powerful worship music with tons of people singing!

22 - Spending time with my favorite people - getting to know them better and having some insane crazy fun as well!

Starbucks and Old Friends...

Two things for today - neither of them having anything to do with the other...

I got free Starbucks today! They were having a special for two hours this morning - free coffee! You know I am tired and not feeling too hot when I have had two cups of coffee this morning and am still tired...

Yesterday would have been one of my friends birthday. He died almost 6 years ago. This year though it was different - I was okay. I wasn't sad all day. I still miss him at times, but this year I just though of him and smiled. It's nice to finally be at this place where I can celebrate the life he had, what an amazing guy he was, and remind myself of who it is that I want to become.

For those of you who knew Bob, you know what kind of a guy he was - and I am sure, just like me, you think of him and smile. If you didn't know Bob, I can't hardly describe in words how awesome he was - hilarious, fun loving, genuine, kind, completely random, and totally accepting all wrapped into one. He was one of a kind. Since I don't have a picture of him on my computer, here is a picture of one of his favorite things - Bob the Tomato. Same name. Same heart. "Hi, I'm Bob the tomato and I'm here to help you"

Perfect Day

Today has been my kind of day! (Well, besides having to work it has been my kind of day...)

I had my absolute favorite lunch - Subway from the best Subway I have yet to find! (If you are fairly new to my blog here's a little note to you - I love one particular Subway. No other can compete as far as I am concerned! They make amazing sandwiches, the people are sooo friendly, they have many kinds of baked chips to choose from, and they have Diet Coke if I am in need of a major Diet Coke fix!) Anyway - I had amazing Subway for lunch and then headed to the Riverwalk in Mishawaka. It was absolutely beautiful! The only thing missing was a little more "green" here and there, but the weather was perfect, the breeze wasn't too warm or too cold, the water was rushing - it was exactly what I needed after months of snow and cold.

While I know that more cold is supposedly still to come, today, and the last few days for that matter, were just what Jeanna needed to rejuvenate! Watch out world - I'm feeling great and feisty as ever!

Support

Recently I was listening to a classic Mark Beeson message on friends - about the four friends who carry their friend to Christ when he couldn't do it on his own. I once again started thinking about the relationships in my life...

Well, as I was processing those thoughts, I was also preparing myself to go on a job interview. I had sent out an email asking for prayer that the right person for this job would be found, whether that was me or not. I also needed prayer to relax and not freak out. I hadn't had a job interview in years! Through this process I came to once again realize that I have an amazing support system of friends and loved ones - and that I am truly blessed!

I can't tell you the number of text messages, emails, myspace messages, phone calls, facebook wall writings, and voicemails I had that day. I'm not gonna lie, I got choked up at the outpouring of prayer that was sent my way. I felt like I had many hands holding me up and holding me close. I had an amazing sense of peace.

God didn't make us to be alone. He made us to be in community.

And I hope everyone is lucky enough to one day find a community of people who will lift them up, hold them strong and love them deeply. I'm hear to tell you its more amazing than you could ever imagine...

Powerless to Powerful

My mind is always spinning.

Always turning.

Always questioning.

The problem is that sometimes the questioning isn't coming from me. Sometimes the questioning is coming from a power that is nothing more than a bully trying to push me down and knock me out. And often that "bully" keeps me from sharing what I am struggling with the most, with the people who mean the most to me.

Satan is a very real, very persuasive force to be dealt with. And lately, somehow, he slipped under my radar once again and made me start questioning that which I already know to be true. How, I don't know, but he did. And in the process he had convinced me to keep my thoughts and questions to myself - from the people I am closest to, and from God as well.

There have been many times in my life when I can hear God's voice - when I pray for an answer and actually get one. And ironically the things I found myself questioning, were things that I already knew the answer to. God had already filled me in on his plan - and somehow, slyly, satan managed to maneuver his way into my head. I knew somewhere inside of me that this was what was going on, but felt powerless to stop it. (Boy, when you get stronger in your faith, satan must get stronger in his pursuit...)

Thankfully God kept on trying to get through to me, and finally, yesterday, I emailed someone who I knew would spiritually fight for me. It was such a hard email to type - and now I know why. It was an email that would start the downward spiral of satan's hand in this. Later I sent the email on to a few others who knew the situation and that would fight for me as well. Not too long later, satan must have been grasping for straws because he tried to make me question other things in my life. This time though the thing he tried to make me question I was not going to waiver on. (When God smacks you upside the head with his answer to your prayer, multiple times, you learn to listen and obey!)

This morning satan's hold on me was gone. And looking back I can see God's hand in it all - from the sermons I had been listening to recently, to the urge to let people in, God was still in control. I just needed to step up and stand up for what I knew to be true.

And let me tell you - what they say is true...I am stronger for it.

Lions and Tigers and Dust Bunnies OH MY!

I am sure most of you have heard of the term “dust bunnies” before. Well I have come up with a term of my own – dust colonies.

I recently decided to undertake an extreme re-organization and cleaning project in my bedroom. I have a trundle bed – for those of you who are know questioning what the heck a trundle bed is, it is a bed with a second bed hidden underneath, to be pulled out when needed. It is something of a space saver. Unfortunately the combination of the size of my room with the amount of furniture and its arrangement have left me with a trundle bed that cannot trundle. Which normally would not bother me, except there is a problem: I cannot get underneath the back corner of my bed to vacuum. So in order to better my health I decided to move the alternate bed to the basement, leaving me with an applicable amount of space with which to clean, as well as extra storage space…much needed for me!!

I have today off from work so I was pumped to get started! In my excitement apparently I lost my common sense. As I was dragging the mattress across the floor and then attempting to angle it down the staircase, it kept occurring to me how stupid I was being to try to do this by myself. But me and my stubborn streak that tends to appear at the most inopportune moments pressed on. Midway through the mattress flying down the stairs with me running in my socks quickly along side it I realized how incredibly dumb I was being. First for trying this on my own, and second for trying to catch up to the mattress in socks, on linoleum stairs, when the mattress clearly would stop once it hit the bottom. I must say I did smarten up when it came to the metal frame the mattress sits on. I merely moved it out of my room to allow for the rest of the cleaning and organizing to begin, waiting for help later this evening. (I must admit though that I only came to this conclusion after realizing there was no physical way for me to get it downstairs by myself that would not result in serious injury or death)

Upon grabbing the long handled vacuum I got to work pulling everything out from under my bed that had over the years been pushed back or fallen around the sides. And what did I find. Dust colonies. Huge ones. Bigger than my head. Okay, not bigger than my head, but bigger than my hand! If I didn’t know better I would have jumped out of fright of the creatures that had been living under my bed.

So what have I learned today…hardwood floors, trundle beds and dust don’t mix.