Virtual Coffee Date

It's a good day. The rain is falling, the wind is blowing, the fire is blazing, my coffee cup is full, the Christmas tree lights are dancing and I'm finishing up cleaning/decorating the house before two of my favorite girls get here.

Over said full cup of coffee, or hot chocolate, or eggnog, or cider,  I'd love to update you on my crazy life lately. In between my busy work life are really great moments of love, laughter, and family.

First and foremost, I would remind you that you MUST read this book. If you're in a relationship, plan on being in one at some point, are married, divorced...whatever you are it will change you. This book continues to change and grow our marriage every day. It blows me away how a few simple truths can have such an impact.

I'm thinking of doing something like my good friend Cindy did last year, and just buy this book for everyone I know, Christian or not. 

I would tell you about going home for Thanksgiving and staying with my in-laws for 5 days. I would tell you that I loved being back in our hometown, seeing our friends and family was great, but I was dying to be back home alone with Seth on Sunday. 

I would tell you that I'm getting excited about the Gilroy Handmade Boutique coming up, but that I'm starting to worry that I can't get the time off of work. I originally thought I would have that day off, but since my schedule has changed I no longer can be there...I'm praying that someone agrees to switch shifts with me. 

I would ask you to pray for my friends who are heading to the East Coast today to help victims of hurricane sandy. Many of those going are the same ones I got to serve with in Mississippi after Hurricane Katrina, I love their hearts to serve. 

I would tell you that I'm still enjoying work, a lot. I feel like I was meant to do this, meant to help people in this way, I feel really blessed to have this job and to be given this opportunity. Especially when I work with people that are twice my age and doing the same job, its a bit overwhelming! BUT, sometimes I come home and have a glass of wine or three because what I do is hard, it plays with your emotions and it tugs at your heartstrings all day long. 

I would tell you that I'm really excited to spend my first Christmas with Seth in our own home. I have truly been enjoying decorating, creating new traditions, and shopping! I would tell you that Seth and I wanted to buy a cat as a gift to each other this year, but that yesterday our kitty dreams were slashed. We thought that because our whole place was hard wood floors there would be no problems with getting a cat, but our landlord decided that we weren't allowed to have any animals. I'd be lying if I told you I didn't want to move because of that. 

Over said coffee, I might ask you how you're doing to.

Did you go shopping on Black Friday?

What was your favorite Thanksgiving dish?

I would ask you for Christmas shopping ideas, because I'm fresh out of good gift ideas.

What's your favorite part about the holidays?

Do you have any traditions?

We would probably laugh, sigh, be on the brink of tears, and talk for hours on this coffee date -- because that's what this season calls for. 

Then I'd have to sadly leave you.

Because I only have a couple hours to do a million things before work, like going to the post office to hopefully pick up the next Twilight movie from Netflix, obviously that's the most important errand of today. 

Until next time, 

Monday Morning Virtual Coffee Date

Good morning blog friends. It's a little foggy and dark down here in garlic land am I'm contemplating what to do with my day.

Maybe yoga?

Maybe gym?

Definitely cleaning, again.

Definitely grocery shopping.

Maybe some organizing.

The options are endless while I'm unemployed.

If we were out for a real time coffee date I would tell you about the huge transition my life seems to be in.

Newly married.

New town.

No local friends.

No job.

No church home, yet.

I would tell you about the countless jobs I've applied to in the past week, and how I'm trying not to sell myself short by applying at a job someone right out of high school could get. I would tell you that I'm not being patient, you see I'm not very good at this patience thing. I would tell you about my goal at the end of the week to have at least one interview. I would tell you that Seth and I are praying for direction for a job for me, but that I'm still not great at being patient, so to pray for that too.

I would tell you that going into event-planning is sounding really appealing right now. But maybe that's the wedding planning stuff still lingering. I would express my excitement after all of the positive feedback we got from our wedding, I had so many people tell me that I could plan weddings professionally, I just wish it wasn't such a hard industry to get in to.

I would tell you that current life seems to be dream-like. I keep waking up next to Seth and thinking we are on vacation, or that somehow this isn't all real. I would ask if it was the same for you when you got married. But then I would explain how waking up next to Seth every morning feels right, and that marriage is a great blessing that God has given us.

I would tell you that cooking has been interesting, especially when meal-planning and grocery shopping is totally foreign to me.  I would tell you of Seth's graciousness, or maybe his lack of pickiness. Last night he told me that dinner tasted like I'd been cooking for 50 years, I wonder if our dinner guests would say the same thing.

Speaking of dinner guests, I would ask if you wanted to come down to Gilroy for the evening.  We provide dinner, wine, games, and maybe hookah if you're interested.  We like having people over, we like entertaining...I think this will be a trend for our family. Speaking of family, I would ask why as soon as you're married people start asking about kids. I've been asked at least 4 times when we're going to start having kids!

I would tell you about the church we have now visited twice. It's in North San Jose, and it takes about 30 mins to get there from our place. Every time we mention that we live in Gilroy, people practically shriek and ask if it's too far for us to come. If I'm being honest, it doesn't make me feel great when people ask that so we are going to try another Acts 29 church soon that's closer to us. I would tell you that once we find a church home, I will feel more at home, and that the puzzle of our busy life will feel more complete.

There's a chance that you would ask about Seth and school, I would smile and tell you that he is really enjoying it.  Not only is he enjoying it, but he is excelling at it too! I might express my worry about the job market for A&P mechanics for when he is done, and that I constantly need to be reminded of God's sovereignty over that.  There's a lot of "What-If's" in our life right now, I would ask you to join me in prayer about the huge "What-If's".

You might ask about my Etsy shop and handmade crafty business. I would tell you that I have some ideas brewing, but until I have a job situation figured out I don't want to make any moves. I would tell you about our huge closet full of all the stuff that we don't have room for, and that includes crafts. But then I would tell you about how excited I am to get our wedding pictures back so I can start scrapbooking. Because, you can ALWAYS make time for scrapbooking your wedding!

After all of that information, you might be a little sick of me talking so I might let you update me on your life. I enjoy listening to other peoples life stories, I don't ever compare them to my own but smile at the complexity of everyone's story and the variety of it all.  I would encourage you to be totally present wherever you are, to enjoy it all, to drink it all in, and to find some way to record and remember it all.

I would now conclude our date. In this time I have decided to go to yoga, all the wedding stress made my muscles become super tense so I've got to find a way to let it out! I would give you a hug and send you on your way...

Have a great day!

Virtual Coffee: Let's Get Real about Sudan

What is virtual coffee? A chance to catch up on life with bloggy friends that you don't get to see every day. A little dose of real life in the midst of fancy blog posts and DIY projects. Well let's be real, I don't ever get that fancy but you know what I mean.

Funny that I choose to write this post having not had any coffee yet. And if you know me in real life, you know that this rarely happens. I mean, twice a year rarely. It's a rough morning without coffee. Especially when its not on purpose. Wednesday's are my early mornings at work, and by the time I got to the coffee pot it was empty and I had to be at work in 10 minutes. So if we were meeting for coffee in real life, I would tell you that my family needs to buy a bigger coffee pot, stat.

And then I would tell you that I can't wait to pull my new Keurig out of it's box to taste it's sweet variety of delicious coffee, but that I have to wait until we move which makes me sad. 

It won' be long my friend.

Then I would tell you that I got a call that my wedding dress is currently in route to my house. I would probably do my happy dance, and go back to trying to not talk about wedding stuff every time I see you. 

But then I would break my rule and tell you that yesterday I had my makeup run through for the wedding day, and that it was fabulous. I would tell you that Andrea, the makeup artist and friend, is amazing and listens so well. So well that she had our engagement photos out as she was shopping for makeup and then printed out the picture ideas she had. One was of Megan Fox, and when I left the salon, I kid you not I actually felt like Megan Fox. Then I'd make another promise to stop the wedding talk.

 I would tell you that I'm taking the whole month of August off of work so I could properly prepare for the you-know-what. I know, I know, wedding talk...but it was kind of un-related..right?

I would then tell you that this is going to be a fantastic two weeks of life. There is so much going on I don't even know where to start. But my friends from Washington who have never been here for my birthday, will actually be HERE. In the state of California, on my freaking birthday. How rad is that?

 Then we would have to get realer than real and talk about stuff that matters. Much more than the wedding, and coffee, and friends.

I would tell you about Sudan. And you might tune out, but I really hope you don't.  

There are hundreds of thousands of people starving to death in the Nuba mountains. It only costs $.06 per serving to feed them. With how much our coffee just cost, we could feed 67 people breakfast. 

 67 people.

A group of people, passionate about feeding and saving these people from real and spiritual hunger are ready to go. Ready to take immediate action, to mobilize this food, and to take it directly to those who haven't seen food in 8 months. 

The cost to mobilize this food is $25,000

In 5 weeks, the group will send a team of 2 or 3 men, to prepare for an ongoing Gospel centered relief effort in Sudan over the next several years.

People are dying every day. There earthly lives are perishing from lack of food, and there spiritual lives will parish because many of them have not heard the name of Jesus.

$25,000 is NOTHING to us here in the safety and comfort of the 1st world. Heck, I'll probably spend that on coffee over my lifetime.

 Would you consider praying, giving, even going to help relieve the Sudanese people?

You can donate through Hope Church of San Mateo towards raising this $25,000.
We will send it all to the Sudan, moving the food at ground level through a 4 stage well-planned mission. 

Read more about the plan and the mission here: hope4sudan.hopesanmateo.org

We are confident that the Lord will provide this money, the question is...will you be a part of this mission? 

Praying, giving, spreading the word?

Read about the people in the Nuba mountains. Read about the man who is causing all of this; he is far worse than Kony or Stalin. You will be astonished and burdened for these people. 

Samaritans Purse

Besieged in Sudan's Nuba Mountains

Conflict in the Nuba Mountains

So would you pray, give, go? 100% of all donations go directly to food mobilization. 100%

Thanks for staying all the way to the end, friends. Now, go get educated (while I get caffeinated)  about Sudan and find out what you can do today for these people.

"He has told you, O man, what is good;
and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
    and to walk humbly with your God?"

Micah 6:8