Cardboard Testimonies

My friend Kelly P. sent me an email today to a link for a awesome thing a church in Indiana did. It was truely beyond words. I know I could have some cardboard signs if our church did it. I love what she said about it.

"What an amazing way to introduce people to Gods character. Promises made and kept in the lives of real people who need him and admit their need. This is such an amazing testimony to the power of God in peoples lives, and what He is capable of."

Check it out.

http://www.yourchurch.com/cardboard-testimonies/

Fruit: Love
Song in my head: I wish - Point of Grace
Verse: Psalm 104: 30 When you send your Spirit, they are created, and you renew the face of the earth. 31 May the glory of the LORD endure forever; may the LORD rejoice in his works- 32 he who looks at the earth, and it trembles, who touches the mountains, and they smoke. 33 I will sing to the LORD all my life; I will sing praise to my God as long as I live.

Blog this and Blog that

I have several blogs I regularly read and two of my favorites had some great things today. One made me laugh and the other ... well touched me. So here is a blog of this and a blog of that.

A smile from her




Beautiful music blogged by him




Fruit: Love
Song in my head: Shine - Salvador
Verse: Hebrews 4:12 For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.

It's Coffee House Life

It's really amazing who you can meet when you go to a coffee house. There are so many types of coffee houses everywhere. There are so many different types of coffee drinkers. There is the perverbial Starbucks conasour who prefers the stylish savvy cookie cutter logo coffee on the go.

There is that person who is just looking for the free wi-fi sign in the window so they can pop off an email on their way someplace along with an ordinary cup of joe. There is also that coffee snob generation who insists on it being the finest of rare unique roasts in order for it to pass by their lips.

But my favorite are those that choose that hole in the wall funky little place that doesn't quite have the trend down but has that off-beat style of their own. They cater to those who really can't afford the fufu coffee we all pay to much for and most of the time arn't able to stay in business for long.

I miss my favorite place that used to be in downtown Olympia Washington called Artisians. It was a funny little place with exquiste coffee and balcony upstairs and free wi-fi to boot. It lasted for awhile but was never quite as busy as it needed to be. I remember some of the unique happenings I would run into when visiting there.

It had local bands come an play on occasion. On one occasion I remember walking in and finding it packed with deaf people signing. Several times I felt like I could visit there and it was a culture in that room where I was a bit like a foreigner visiting another country. I liked that feeling of being a bit out of my element.

For me it was the perfect fit of a unique coffee shop with free wi-fi and excellent coffee. The only exception for me was that the music they played was so off-beat that sometimes I had to reconcile my own preference to learn a bit about that unique culture.

Today my two favorite places are Batdrof & Bronson along with Cutters Point. They both have free wi-fi and most of the time excellent coffee. It's all good there except they both miss the music and unique flavor of the hole in the wall. Ahh life is such.

Fruit: Patience

Song in my Head: Dancing Queen - Abba

Verses: Pondering ... a few

Praying wishes come true

I am loving this new song by Point of Grace called "I wish". Here are the lyrics I finally found online today.

I wish I didn’t feel so helpless
I wish I didn’t act so selfish

I wish I didn’t wring my hands night and day

My hair was a little bit smoother

My jeans fit a little bit looser

And I always knew the right things to say

And I wish I wouldn’t hide what’s been going on inside

And I wish you wouldn’t get scared and run away

I wish I was doing better

With all the things that matter,

I guess I got some learning to do

I wish everyone had someone

To hold em and to love em

The way I’m always gonna love you

I wish wishes came true
I wish there was a cure for cancer

I wish somebody had an answer

And all God’s children, never got hurt

I wish Eve never bit that apple

You men never went to battle

And I didn’t get so mad at the world

I wish I was more like Jesus

And could pick up all the pieces

And make a better life for my baby girl

I wish I was doing better

With all the things that matter,

I guess I got some learning to do

I wish everyone had someone

To hold em and to love em

The way I’m always gonna love you

I wish wishes came true

For everything I am wishing

I know someone up there is listening

So, I say my prayers when I go to bed

Ahh, ahh, ahh Oh pray my wishes come true Oh

I wish I was doing better

With all the things that matter,

I guess I got some learning to do

I wish everyone had someone

To hold em and to love em

The way I’m always gonna love you

I wish wishes came true
I know wishes come true

I wish, I wish

Fruit: Patience
Song in my head: I wish - Point of Grace
Verses: John 15:1 "I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. 2He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. 3You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you. 4Remain in me, and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.... 7If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. 8This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.

5 Incredible blessings

Have you ever just woke up tired? This week having taken it's tole on my body in my fathers passing and traveling to Texas and back, just hit this morning. I woke up and before my feet touched the floor I had prayed "God just help me to get through this day". My muscles ached and my heart was heavy needing release.

I got in the car and the new song by Point of Grace came on. "I wish" made me smile and sing along thinking of what I wished for now.

I decided it was definitely a "NEED a latte" morning so I stopped in @4:07 am @ the only Starbucks open on my way to work. I ordered a Venti Sugar-free cinnamon dulce and looked at the one car in front of me. It was a cute little red sports car.

Just as I was thinking this I got my first blessing of the day. I pulled forward and the Starbucks gal handed me my drink and said "the woman in the car in front of you paid for your drink". I was shocked at first and wondered "how did she know?"

How did she know my father died last week and this was my first day back to work? How did she know how much I hurt for the loss of the time I never had with him? How did she know that I just needed to cry but couldn't really before now. My eyes filled and I was just thankful.

It's something that I have done for people but never had it done for me like this before. It made me realize how important the little things are that we do for people. That stranger paying for my latte in the drive through at Starbucks was just what I needed in that moment of weakness needing a bit of hope, feeling a bit lost in how I would get through the day.

My second blessing came in my review from my supervisor. She looked in my eyes and said I was consistently excellent in all areas of my job and that I had won another award for last month. She encouraged me and told me how well I was doing giving me confidence.

My third blessing came when I decided to go for it and apply to a internal Expedia temporary positon. It would give me a new skill which could be a huge blessing for me and a challenge as well. It became an easy decision for me to apply after and I found the courage to step past my own self doubts to just go for it.

My fourth blessing came in a some emails and a special voice mail left for me from a good friend whose care and love came through in words of hugs for me. It made me feel loved and cared for.

My fifth blessing came in the disappearance of my ache in my body after working out. I was still tired and feeling achy on my way home and I decided to stop on my way home and just go for it at the gym. It is amazing how awesome you can feel when having been under stress to make yourself do a challenging work out. It was all so good and so this evening I am counting my blessings and thanking God for strangers, supervisors and friends.

Fruit: Joy

Song in my head: Point of Grace "I wish"

Verse: Isaiah 40:31 but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint

Everythings Bigger in Texas

It’s amazing to me how unique each state’s culture is within the United States. I remember living in Southern California and the style and station of life there with the sun and sun loving people. There was a certain air of confidence and code of speech with quick, witty, savvy LA people.

Visiting here in Texas this week for my fathers funeral it’s been a culture shock of sorts for my brothers and I. The rate of speech is slow and the culture has its southern draw with a charm all it’s own to boot.

The people of Texas seem slower pace than my fast paced brothers are used. With my .com job and their owning their own businesses we are used to go go go and so it’s challenged us to slow down a bit to match and listen closely.

It was a peaceful blessing of a plane ride here. I got my own row on a non-stop Alaska Airlines flight with some great cushy leather seats. For those of you who don’t know I fractured a bone in my ankle the week prior to my father’s passing and so I had a medical boot thing on to help keep my ankle stable while traveling.

Having my own row made it so I could put up my foot the whole way there. The stewardesses on Alaska where so awesome, attentive and friendly. I plan on sending a thank you note to Alaska. They have always been my favorite Airline.

There has been a mountain of things to do since arriving and it’s kept me a bit from taking it in. The reality of how people you love live in another state when you don’t see them can be a shock when it is so different from your lifestyle.

I have never planned a memorial before and we are making it really simple like my father was. I have loved getting to spend time with my brothers and learning more about what’s going on in their lives that I ever would have gotten from just visiting for an occasion. When three kids live in three different states it makes it tough to know each other’s lives well.

I guess you could say we all three have different cultures from each other. Sean has his business www.lagunaprecast.com in California and Mexico importing. Mark has his business of an alarm system company in Nevada and I work as at a .com as a Travel agent of sorts in Washington state. We really all came from though this Texas where Mark and I were born.

I have heard the phrase “everything is bigger in Texas” before and I kind of agree with it from the time I have spent here thus far. The airport at DFW was quite large with several terminals spread out a bit. The mall we stopped at went on for a mile it seemed. The lay of the land seem to be a treeless wonder of flat land that went on forever.

A lot of the houses are on plots of land with spread out communities in place. The sunsets have been beautiful huge displays of colors stretched across the entire horizon. Even the hotel rooms seemed huge here. I have also seen several churches here with huge windows and steeples with lots of land around them.

I heard a joke a while back about God being closer in Texas than any other state. The punch line went something like when making a phone call to God in Texas there wasn’t any long distance charges and so it wouldn’t cost you much because here in Texas it was a local call.

I can see God here in the beauty of it but certainly not in the Mosquitos. They are definetly bigger here in Texas. Those skeeters are quite hungry for my sweet tasty Washington white girl legs.

Well… I am praying a lot here with it being a “local” call and all. I have a silly Texas song in my head to that made me smile a bit today. My brothers can also be goofy at times so it really helps to keep us positive in a tough situation. Wonder if my prayers coming from Texas might just be bigger coming in the mailbox in Heaven. I think God answers my knee-mail either way. :)

Fruit: Peace
Song in my head: All my Ex’s live in Texas
Verse: Isaiah 43:2 When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they will not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned; nor shall the flames scorch you