Sweet

Alyssa won't let me get a dog, but maybe if she saw this...convincing much?

Happy Leftovers

I am thankful for Thanksgiving...and for finally having food in our fridge again...that bottle of sangria, box of coconut milk and a few odds and ends were pretty much the only contents before tonight (we're not home that often). And there's a chocolate caramel pie in the freezer. Our Dutch/Egyptian dinner was splendid. Friends, when you come over, come hungry. yes and amen.

turkey, biscuits, stuffing, eggnog, pumpkin pie, baklava, chocolate covered pretzels, cabbage rolls, green bean casserole and baked mac and cheese. Glory.

Early Christmas

About two months ago I was asking Alyssa if Smith Wigglesworth had any books, because he's crazy and I would love to read more some of his stuff. I had never been lucky enough in finding anything in the used book stores that I frequent, so I asked her, as she knows a lot more about authors and theological books than I do. She said she had no idea. Great. Fast forward to last Sunday when Alyssa and I went on an emergency thrift store therapy session. I was looking through the small selection that they had to offer at St. Vincents, it is small because books go like hot cakes, they're 5 for 99 cents. I had found 3, Alyssa found 1 so I decided to do a quick once over just in case I missed anything. Well there is this one shelf that is wedged in the corner with another overlapping it, which hides books from view. There was a thick book on the bottom shelf all the way in the back, hidden behind everything else, that caught my eye and curiosity got the best of me and I moved all the offending books out of the way to see what this beauty was. All I could say was, "SHUT UP!!!"

Glory

So of course I get it...it's only like 17.5 cents. Yesterday the twin and I were reading and I picked it up and said, "It even has a bookmark" when I open it up...well, let's just say that this proves that the Lord has a sense of humor:

Very funny.

 Well, Happy Christmas to me from Jesus. Sank you. I love it...not the freebie though. :) 

Other treasures from our shopping trip:

so creepy

why?

What does one have to the other?

A Lesson From...Well, Somebody

I frequent Don Miller's blog and this was the post from a few days ago. So good. None of the following words are mine.

Eisenhower "believed the world needed him — that if he didn’t exist, things would fall apart. He believed he was called to be a great man. I wondered, as I read, where he got this confidence.
I found the reason for Eisenhower’s confidence early on in the book, in a chapter in which he discussed his childhood. Dwight Eisenhower said that from the beginning, his mother and father operated on an assumption that set the course for his life: that the world could be fixed of its problems if every child understood the necessity of their existence. Eisenhower’s parents assumed, and taught their children, that if their children weren’t alive, their family couldn’t function.
If you think about it, it isn’t just kids without fathers who don’t usually feel important; it’s most of us. I mean, can you imagine growing up believing that if you didn’t exist, your family would fall apart? Can you imagine how different the world would be if all children were taught this idea?"


Right? :)

The Weekend Is So Near

Today I will be going to a Pre Thanksgiving Dinner party. I am super excited, but also nervous as there will be 26 people there and I only know the person that invited me. You might be surprised when I say this (or maybe you won't depending on how well you know me) since I am very loud and mostly out there, but I don’t do well with new people. Making friends is kind of a painful experience for me. Most of my friends have been relationships that are at least 6 years old. I think I lost that communication skill when I was a slave at Arby’s for two years and I had no outside communication except for the people coming to my drive thru window. I don’t consider asking people what kind of sauce they need aiding in my communication skills. I just never know what to say. Also, I really don’t like small talk. That’s torture for me.  I’m still really excited for tonight. Thanksgiving dinner is my favorite dinner of the whole year, and I get it twice this year. J

A VERY pregnant woman just came into the office and dropped off a very glittery purple basket full of pens, sticky pads (which are very cute and I will be taking home), hand sanitizer and most importantly CHOCOLATE. This is what I like most about working here. Yes, I have a great time laughing with my boss and I get free chiropractic care, but the best perk is all the free chocolate that I get because lawyers offices and x-ray centers drop off goodie baskets ALL THE TIME, seriously at least once a week, and Doc doesn’t have any use for the contents of all these baskets and won’t eat chocolate (we have dubbed him the food Nazi) so I gain from his loss.

My weekend’s going to be crazy, but I love being busy. Tomorrow I have to meet my sister at day care at 8am to get the car seats. I have to be at work by 9am and work until 1:45. Then I get to skype my best amigo Luke. There’s been so many great things happening at Bethel and with him, it’s always good to talk with him. Can’t wait for Christmas break when he’s home for a month. YAY! So then I have to pick the kids up from day care, because I’m a soccer mom with a mini van fully equipped with automatic sliding doors at the push of a button. Then I have to make the kiddos dinner and when my sister gets home from work I have to speed to the church office because they’re having a guest speaker who I really am excited to hear. Saturday and Sunday are even crazier I just know tomorrows schedule because I had to review it this morning.

My twin is taking me to see Bon Iver for my Christmas present. I am so stoked! I’ve been listening to Christmas music for the last 1.5 weeks now. That’s not that bad though, my coworker’s son has had his room set up like Santa’s Village for well over a month now. She says, “I gave birth to an elf.” I think it’s fantastic. This morning before work I stopped at Starbucks for my poison and saw a cop walking around the parking lot and inspecting tags on cars and he ended up writing a ticket for some lazy soul. I couldn’t help but chuckle; some people have all the luck? My boss’s wife has been driving on expired tags for well over a year now and has never been caught and this persons tag just expired last month. Hopefully I never get pulled over.  I’m too broke to afford car insurance this month: “Rachyl Auto, driving illegal for free.” It’s my new slogan. I think I’m going to make up a business card and hand it to the police officer. Alyssa said I would probably get away with it because the cop would think I’m cute and funny. Let’s just hope it’s not a woman, they’re mean. J

Money has been tight this whole year since I’ve only been working one part time job, now I’m working two part time jobs, but I have the added expense of a car so there goes all the money from Charming Charlie. I’ve been wracking my brain trying to come up with ways to make more money and even trying to convince The Lord that he wanted me to have a full time job and more money. Yesterday during my quiet time  He reminded me of a prayer that I prayed a few years back basically saying that I never wanted more then I needed and that I wanted to always have to rely on Him, not myself. Isn’t it nice how He answers our prayers? Yes. I realized that my mentality of always having to provide for myself equates to nothing more then I do not trust the only one who could truly provide for me. This was a tough pill to swallow. Even though I have made less then 10K this year, I have always had food to eat, a roof over my head and transportation to work. For this I am thankful. All I can do is trust; it’s the simplest, yet hardest thing to do.

Conversations With My Twin

Proverbs 31:6 Give strong drink [as medicine] to him who is ready to pass away, and wine to him in bitter distress of heart.

and have very odd conversations with your friends...

While thrift shopping for skirts:
Me: "Lisa, what do you think?"
Alyss: "I think you need to get a boyfriend!"

Alyss: "you had drunkeed, dranked, drunkend? something?"
Me: "alyssa, you can't drunkend something!"

Tonight:
Me: "Alyssa, you're a prophet, prophecy over me."
Alyss: "That's not how it works."
Me: "Yes, it does."
Alyss: "Okay. I saw..."
Me: "cool."
Alyss: "And I saw a little kitten with a ball of yarn..."
Me: "ARHHHHHHHHH. THAT IS NOT FROM THE LORD!"
Alyss: "haha."
Me: "The devil is a liar"

O man. haha.

Prophecy

Earlier this year my best friend and I embarked on a journey that took us to the west coast to visit Redding, CA where we met so many great people and made tons of new friends (and my newest penpal!) The night before our departure a group of about 14? people all got together at our friends house and decided to prophecy over us. I was reading all of them to a friend the other day because I wanted additional insight and his interpretation, as he is very gifted in the prophetic and in interpretation. There were four reoccuring themes or points: grace, rest, prophetic giftings, trees. These are the words that I received about me being like a tree, or root system or anything to do with trees. I love trees.

"I saw the earth and there was this tree on the top of it and as you grew you were reaching your branches out to uphold those around you and intertwining your branches with theirs.  I saw this time in your life when you were in need of rest and the Lord told you to just take a deep breathe and just release and because of that intertwining you’d done you were able to just rest. Those around you are going to now be able to uphold you and help you in YOUR time of rest and need.  The lord was saying that at no point when you were reaching out to those around you was he not reaching out to you. At no point when you were helping those around you understand the depths of God were your roots not also going deeper.  At no point when you were helping those around you reach up to grasp their dreams were your branches not also becoming closer to the things you’ve dreamt and the things on your heart.  This is a time for you to just release and be held up.  It’s YOUR time."

"The picture that she described and I know you didn’t go to the redwoods and they are these really long trees and they don’t have the best root systems but their branches reach out.  Their root systems knot up with those around them and the reason they last so long is because they have intertwined.  You will be able to hold on and withstand the strongest storms because of who you’ve connected with those."

"I see family over you and you have a grace and a love that creates family around you personally.  You have a grace and a knack for it. People that you know here as the middle-man you create this intertwining family.  I don’t know how your family was growing up but you will create peace and love that isn’t found in normal families and a comfort for everything to love one another and be themselves and you create connection.  With the tree thing you create the connections that bind each other together and strengthen each other and in the end you all last because of it."

"There have been a few words about staying rooted in people and I feel like the strength of the family and the rootedness and its not all there yet and at times you stand alone because you know you can stand under anything but I really feel like god is going to surround you with the right people and the right groups and networks of people and that you’ll be able to grown even taller and stronger with the stronger surroundings.  It doesn’t mean you have to leave behind the weaker things around you because they’ll be strengthened as you become strengthened.  You getting strong with strong people and will strengthen those around you who now have your strength."



mmm...amen. 

Thanks CJ

My friend CJ was kind enough to share this video with me today...this poor kid.

nice moves.

Story Of My Current Life

I just finished reading "The Normal Christian Life" by Watchman Nee and it took me until the end to find anything that I would want to revisit in the future, but when I read the following quotes I was like, "O JESUS!"

“Am I afraid of the will of God? The dear saint whom I have already mentioned as having had such an influence upon the course of my life, many times asked me the question: “Do you like the will of God?” It is a tremendous question. She did not ask, “Do you do the will of God?” She always asked, “Do you like the will of God?” That question goes deeper than anything else. I remember once she was having a controversy with the Lord over a certain matter. She knew what the Lord wanted, and in her heart she wanted it too. But it was difficult, and I heard her pray like this: “Lord I confess I don’t like it, but please do not give in to me. Just wait, Lord—and I will give in to thee.” She did not want the Lord to yield to her and to reduce his demands upon her. She wanted nothing but to please Him.”

“Let me again make this quite clear if we want to be spiritual people, there is no need for us to amputate our hands or feet: we can still have our body. In the same way we can have our soul, with the full use of its faculties; and yet the soul is not now our life-spring. We are no longer living in it, we are no longer drawing from it and living by it; we use it. What the body becomes our life we live like beasts. When the soul becomes our life we live as rebels and fugitives from God—gifted, cultured, educated, no doubt, but alienated from the life of God. But when we come to live our life in the Spirit and by the Spirit, though we still use our soul faculties just as we do our physical faculties, they are now the servants of the Spirit; and when we have reached the point God can really use us. But the difficulty with many of us is that dark night. The Lord graciously laid me side once in my life for a number of months and put me, spiritually, into utter darkness. It was almost as though he had forsaken me, almost as though nothing was going on and I had really come to the end of everything. And then by degrees he brought things back again. The temptation is always to try to help God by taking things back ourselves; but remember, there must be a full night in the sanctuary—a full night in darkness. It cannot be hurried; he knows what he is doing. We would like to have death and resurrection put together within one hour of each other. We cannot face the thought that God will keep us aside for so long a time; we cannot bear to wait. And of course I cannot tell you how long he will take, but in principle I think it is quite safe to say this, that there will be a definite period when he will keep you there. It will seem as though nothing is happening; as though everything you valued is slipping from your grasp. There confronts you a blank wall with no door in it. Seemingly everyone else is being blessed and used, while you yourself have been passed by and are losing out. Lie quiet. All is in darkness, but it is only for a night. It must indeed be a full night, but that is all. Afterwords you will find that everything is given back to you in glorious resurrection; and nothing can measure the difference between what was before and what now is!”

"Dressing up, but not to celebrate Halloween or anything, just because..."

So these are a few snap shots from the lifegroup's dress up, but not Halloween party this last Sunday. Also, a couple of random things thrown in from my last two days. P.S. It is November 2nd and it was 67 degrees outside today, I feel like this is the biggest practical yoke ever. I'm enjoying it though, thanks God...or global warming?

finished product

making his photosynthesis man costume.

one of my patients made me this...cute.

we're the powerpuff girls...duh

saints, superheroes and a bumble bee

waiting to skype with Karin this morning.

from my walk with a friend yesterday.

Flat

Sank You Huzz and MoMo

My sister and her boyfriend have been very kind and decided that after almost 2 years of giving up my weekends to watch their children they would gift me with a flat screen television. Alyssa and I decided to celebrate by watching Planet Earth, and it's still playing. I'm writing this and yet am still engrossed with what is happening before me, but I'm sad. Why? Because animals are dying. I know, the circle of life, animals have to eat, shoot even I eat them, but watching a wolf chase a deer down for three minutes and watch the deer just surrender and the wolf chomp down just makes my stomach turn. My aunt always says, "my meat comes from trees," she's ridiculous, but whatever helps her sleep at night. I think the biggest thing that bothers me is that deers and other animals of the sort are fast and wild...cows are fat and slow, so I don't feel bad about that or maybe I just really like deer and it has nothing to do with a the most horrible death of being eaten alive. Well...sorry about my post about nothing, but whatever. Great, now they're showing volcanoes, not much harm can happen there. toodles. 

Side Note:

This is how I dressed the Queen today :)