More Than Meets The Eye

yah, i watched Transformers twice today.  what of it?  ; ) 

well, i didn't really watch it the first time - i went to erin's after work (after picking up subway for dinner, YUM) & we chatted & chatted & ate & chatted & drank pepsi & chatted & then all of a sudden i heard the "wickwickwickwick" sound of transforming!  my head whipped around towards the television & and i bounced in my seat & clapped.  (i am a geek, i don't even care.)  : )  so we paused in our chatting & watched the first few minutes (Josh Dumahl, will you marry me?  oh, wait, married to fergie.  ohhh, i suppose i could be a sister-wife...).  then, back to chatting!  it was SO GOOD to see erin - hadn't hung out since my birthday party!  (seriously, erin, let me know what works for you in july or early august!)  that was much too long.  so many things happen in a person's life in 6 *ahem* 7 months!  i'm glad that we got to hang out. 

i'm glad, too, that the Lord has blessed me with the friendships He has.  every relationship is different, but similar.  the similarities are so subtle, tho, they're hard to explain!  i mean, of course there's the mutual respect and love we feel for each other.  there is our love of family.  there is our love of the Lord.  and God.  and the Holy Spirit. 

sidebar: i truly, truly love the Holy Spirit!  sometimes i think He gets the shaft in our worship, but He is God as well.  do you ever think about that?  we pray to God the Father.  we pray to Jesus.  do we ever pray to the Holy Spirit?  (do you call Him Holy Spirit or Holy Ghost?  and what's the difference in the moniker?  and what's the literal translation from Greek in Scripture??)  i don't know why it feels so weird to pray to the Holy Spirit, when He is equally as much of God as the Father and the Son.  think about when you pray (assuming you are a pray-er!), Who do you pray to?  think about in church (if you go/went to church) - did you ever hear a pastor pray to the Holy Spirit?  (perhaps you did, and it's just the church i grew up in that didn't (to my recollection)?) (are you tired of parenthesis yet?  i feel i'm overusing them, but they're like thought bubbles in the middle of my thoughts!) 

i just wonder why we as a Christian community don't think to pray to Him as well.  it's like we forget about the third person of the Trinity!  for myself, i've always thought of the Holy Spirit as my conscience.  and also the One who blesses us with our spiritual gifts.  but to pray to Him?  never crossed my mind.  idk why it has started to cross my mind a lot lately!  perhaps it's Him preparing me to read the book i borrowed from erin tonight.  ??  i guess we shall see!  if you have a thought on this and would like to weigh in, i would really love to hear what other ppl think!  (email me if you don't want to leave it in a comment, k? boberrie76@gmail.com *smile*) 

so, with all of that i sorta lost my train of thought on friends' similarities and differences, but that's okay!  ; ) 

along w/ the joy of visiting, tonight was awesome because i had some awesome mail!  i had a letter from my penpal bailey (postcrossing!) and two postcards (postcrossing!). 

from China

from wisconsin

i didn't scan bailey's card, but it's blue cardstock written w/ a sharpie.  : ) 

oh, also!  as mentioned previously, we had a tornado warning today & had to kick it in the saferooms for awhile.  as i was driving home (partly in a monsoon, nice!) God put on the most wonderful lightning display!  it crackled thru the air in streaks!!  sooooo beautiful!!

and now it's time... for... zzzzzzzzzzz!  have a sweet night and a fantabulous tomorrow!  i think we're going to the zoo, if the weather's nice.  woot!  *hugs*  night night!!   

What a crazy day so far!! I’m about to leave for the day, pick up subway for dinner & go to Erin’s to hang out for a bit. I haven’t seen her since my birthday party!! That’s too long. Heh.


So, today we had to spend 40 minutes in “shelter mode” because of a tornado warning for our county. Thank God there wasn’t actually one! Our shelter spots are conference rooms, the break rooms, and the hallways. The hallway usually turns into party central, as the UHC ppl come down there as well. However, it gets to feeling kinda claustrophobic for me, so I sat in the break room w/ the call center peeps. I’d seen Stacy in the break room & decided to try & get a little work done – we had a meeting scheduled for about 20 minutes after the alarm sounded. So, we tried to work, but we needed to check out some things in the computer, so we just hung out w/ the rest of the peeps & watched Days Of Our Lives. Then of course the weather broke in & we watched the radar as the bright red line of storms moved faster and faster toward us! I kept looking thru the thin door window across the room to the outside windows, too. It got darker & darker & then we heard thunder & rushing – but only briefly because the room was pretty well isolated and we were all being quite chatty!! *laugh* Finally, the skies cleared up, the radar cleared up and the all clear was given to go back to our desks! Heh. So, a nice little break since everything was fine! : )

They sent around a picture of my career advisor’s house & garage. OH my heck. They are so blessed to be alive! I didn’t realize the garage & house were connected like that. And apparently there was a problem with the water mane, so when the firefighters arrived, they couldn’t do anything but watch the house burn because there was no water to fight it with. : (

Anyway, I just wanted to give this brief little update before I left. Hope you’re having a blessed evening!!
TTFN! 

***********************

there's a strength in being weak

Last night I cried.  A lot.  Missing Daddy is something that is with me every day, but some days are harder than others.  Sometimes, tho, I feel like when I have a particularly cloudy day, it's preparing me.  For example, my friend Marty's mother-in-law experienced the death of two dear friends today, one who had been sick for awhile and one who just went into the hospital for surgery and didn't quite recover.  Add to that, her mother-in-law has a similar surgery scheduled for next week.  She's a little nervous now!  So, today in wanting to help Marty with her burden, I did a lot of listening and talking about death, funerals, gravesites (I don't visit the cemetary in that sense - that's not where he is, so I don't feel compelled to visit where his shell is buried.  But that's me - if it brings ppl comfort to visit the graves of their loved ones, then they should visit!)... I feel like if I hadn't had that cry yesterday, I could have broken down at any time at work today.  So, for that I'm grateful. 

another bombshell (forgive the pun) when i got to work - an email about my former career advisor.  apparently last night her house blew up.  yes, blew up!  thankfully, she and her husband made it out alive, but they lost everything but the clothes on their backs and her laptop, which happened to be right by the door when they ran out.  i'm grateful for their lives, and i'm sure they have excellent home owner's insurance, but please keep them in prayer just the same!  i can't even imagine the shock and the amount of rebuilding, emotionally, that is going to need to happen.  it made me think about what would i do in that situation?  i mean, what would i grab as i was running out the door?  Angel and my purse, i think.  and if i had to leave the purse, i'd be okay!  the things (aside from Angel) that are the most important to me are my pictures, and those are saved many places on the net!  (thank you, FB and photobucket!)  what do you think you would have to grab?  do you think  you'd have the presence of mind to grab anything, or would it have to be right by the door for you to get it? 

and because i was... hmmm, i was going to say "prepared" but that's not quite accurate.  whatever i was, because of last night, today was free to be a really great day.  : )  and i'm grateful for that, too! 

after work i headed straight to mom's.  leyton greeted me w/ a hug (aww) and anthony was a little too engrossed in his wrestling game to do more than say hi.  lol  mom was taking a nap on the couch, so of course leyton & anthony - who had likely been playing peacefully prior to my arrival - had to show off for aunt carrie.  heh. 

we left for dinner at riefe's after 20 minutes or so, and you can read about that adventure here.  i would have loved to use the flash to get some awesome pictures, but i did manage some cute ones anyway.  : ) 

when we got back to mom's, the boys & i played outside for about an hour.  GOOD TIMES!!!!!

leyton wasn't really happy about going back inside, as you can see.  and then there was the hair washing.  but he did pretty well, comparitively.  held my hand.  and when his hair was wet, it made a really cute faux hawk.  ; ) 

i am so grateful for mom, phil, and these two young boys who make my thursdays something spectacular.  God has truly blessed me, amen! 

(and i just realized that i started off capitalizing properly & reverted back to my normal style.  whoops!  sorry for any annoyance this causes!)

ttfn.  <3  <3  <3 

... and that is all.

i miss him.  i miss him.  i miss him.  i miss him.  i miss him.  i miss him.  i miss him!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

i dreamed of him last night.  and then tonight my friend kimmie wrote a little story about sitting on the bed with her dad, as he's sick with cancer and they talk and he comforts her saying everything will be fine. 

and the tears come.  and the heartache.  and it's been 3 1/2 years and i still think about him every day and i know i always will.  i want to hug him.  i want to hear his voice saying, "make it so, number 1."  i want him to call me and tell me to be ready to go on a road trip with him.  i want to watch the new harry potter movie with him.  i want leyton to know him. 

i want him back, and i know i can't have him back.  and i know i'll see him in Heaven.  and i know he's fine. 

but i miss him.  and that is all. 

Chasing Clouds

Today was a very nice day!  I didn't really want to get up, but once I did & got going, the Lord worked it out.  : )  I'm getting more entrenched in the timecard troubleshooting, and I really don't know how I get anything else done in a day!  *laugh*  The emails & phone calls fly on that subject alone!  It's fun, tho, and today I actually got thru a whole new scenario & fixed it all by myself!  Well, with the Lord's wisdom, of course, but it was cool. 

I had to visit the doctor for my annual BP review.  It actually went better than I'd thought it would.  Don't have to get labwork done til August, so that's a plus, too.  Nah, I actually don't mind giving blood as long as I don't have to fast, it's just the paying for it I don't like!  Anyway, after the doctor I got some chicken fries at BK & started a book I borrowed from Mom, Pendragon.  So far it's pretty interesting! 

Round about two o'clock, I decided that I wanted to do something yummy for dinner.  I didn't want expensive, but not Mickey D's.  I was lookin to spend about $10.  I texed Becca & she & Nate were up for Noodles & Company, so that's where I met 'em.  (Sidebar: I am soooooo grateful for the renewed friendship we've been able to cultivate, and all because of FB!  I know there are a lot of downsides to the whole social networking thing, but reconnecting and forming new friendships is worth it, for sure!)  We had some yummy food (which you can read about here if you're so inclined) and Nate was lots of fun.  : ) 

On my way home, the clouds were just too delectable to resist.  So I drove around for 1/2 an hour chasing the clouds.  It looked like it might storm at one point, but I don't think it did.  Might've rained, tho, once I got home... Anyway, the clouds were beautiful and I loved chasing after them!  I even stopped in some parking lots (WM, Lowes, Sonic) for some shots.  heh.  Oh, and speaking of - in the WM parking lot, all the way at the end, some ppl had set up camp.  Their RV was parked & they were sitting out in lawn chairs under the shade of a couple trees on an "island." They had a dog, too.  Just all sittin there enjoying the beautiful day.  It was really neat! 

I wanted to watch Army Wives & Drop Dead Diva & Last Comic Standing when I got home, but my computer had other ideas, so I popped in the last disc of season 1 of Walker & continued on my merry way.  Tomorrow's the only blank calendar day I've got this week, so hopefully I'll be able to watch everything when I get home then! 

I hope everyone had a really great Tuesday!  *hugs* & ttfn!  : ) 

Good Monday!

postponed chloe's oil change & window repair.  when i woke up at 7, it was all rainy & all i wanted to do was sleep.  so i called tony & went back to bed!  : )  had a very niiiiiice sleep, too!  til i was awakened by a dream that someone was tapping on my window - it was 10-ish & phil was knocking at the door.  he very kindly spent an hour or so fixing the innards of my toilet.  goooood brother!  : ) 

i tried the free sample shampoo from pantene this morning.  it was a very pleasant shampoo experience!  we'll see how it holds up upon regular use, but so far i'm giving it a thumbs up. 

i left around 11:30 & headed to the post office to pick up stamps.  got a roll of state flags, which are pretty neat!  also got my standard international stamps.  i meant to get a book of forever stamps, also, but forgot.  whoops!  ah well, i mailed off all my bills & letters & such went to hardee's for eats & headed in to work.  it was a pretty quick 4 hours.  : )  tons of email to sift through, which is always fun!  nothing too noteworthy, tho, just normal timecard & vacation stuff!  i actually was able to answer a lot of the timecard questions, only had to send a couple to dave!  woot!

there was a tornado warning as i left, but it was only in effect for 15 minutes more, and the skies didn't look bad.  and it wasn't storming, but i guess south east of us it was!  just so's the tornadoes stay away from me, it's good.  (really, i would like them to stay away from ppl completely.  there were some doozies in oklahoma recently & ppl were injured and killed!)

went to chick fil a for a grilled chicken sammich & some fruit.  mmmmm.  and 10% of all evening orders went to a local family... you know, i don't even know for what, but a friend of amy's mentioned it on fb last night & i'm always up for helping ppl while doing something i love!  i got to phil's about 6 & hung out w/ him & leyton for a couple hours.  amy joined us, too, and it was nice to meet her in person since we've been fb chatting lately!  : )  we had loooooots of fun!  leyton had a john cena punching bag ...

he also had some fun with anthony's video game chair (really, what happened to sitting on the floor or the couch?  we need a chair w/ special speakers to play video games now??), a really shiny watergun and most of all, his daddy.  : ) 

oh yeah, and this shellshocker thing anthony got one christmas.  it's LOUD but so much fun!

when i left i got many hugs & kisses & some secrets and i hated to leave but knew i had to!  stopped at kwik shop for a 50 cent fountain soda (happy 50th anniversary, kwik shop!) and came home to some fabulous post cards, People, Walker, and some blogs. 

from germany

all in all, a very happy day and night!  tomorrow i get to visit dr lensing in her blackmail for medication.  (i won't even go there, but it irritates me.)  tomorrow is also my cousin mandi's birthday (happy birthday, manda jo!!!).  and that's about it for me today!  heh. 

time to sleep!  : )  ttfn!

what does it mean to be "private"?

there was a debate on the cbs/fb site about private organizations being allowed to "discriminate." it really irritates me the amount of freedoms we as a people are just giving up in the name of being "politically correct." imo, a PRIVATE organization should be protected under... whatever laws/rights allow the KKK to operate. whatever laws allow scholarships and grants to be given exclusively to certain groups. the debate was about the boy scouts excluding gay men from their organization and receiving federal or local government funding for the rent on their meeting places. to me, there are two issues here. the boy scouts is a private organization and therefore should be able to say who can be a part of it. they should have the right to say - if you are gay, you can not be a member of our group. on the other hand of that, they should not be getting any governmental funding, because the government, the LAW, does not allow itself to be discriminatory. you can't refuse to hire someone because they're disabled, black, green, gay, muslim or christian. (oh wait, christians are one of those groups whose freedoms are being demolished left & right. *sad heh*) well, you can't refuse to hire them - or fire them - because of those things.


but if you are a private or religious organization, you can exclude black ppl and claim God is directing you to white supremecy. everyone will look at you as tho you are evil, but you are protected by the law to congregate. you can exclude white ppl and claim that you need a scholarship as a minority and everyone will think you're doing a great service. you can exclude women and suddenly have many political groups up in arms demanding that you allow them into your club or be labeled chauvanist pigs. you can exclude men and be lauded as heroines for feminism.

do you see the double standards there? do you see where our rights as americans are being chipped away under the guise of "fairness?"

my belief is that a private club is just that - private. if you don't like it, don't join. if you're mad that you can't join, start your own private club & invite whomever you wish! no one should be forced to accept someone or something they don't want to in those situations. PUBLIC organizations, however, ARE under an obligation to fairness, to equality, and to inclusion. that's why they're public, as in open to.

anyway, what do you think?