Thursday, February 28, 2013

Comfort Zone

The company that I'm interning for is really focused on leadership, both personal leadership and business leadership. The owner is a great, godly man who is dedicated to growing leaders, and he has done hundreds and thousands of webinars, seminars, speeches, blog posts, newsletters, emails, and more all about developing leaders and growing people. He's fabulous.

So my task this week has been to go through and create a catalog of all the videos we have, and -you guessed it- the vast majority of them are of our owner speaking about leadership.

So I ponder...

In my Business 101 class {waaaay back during freshman year}, I learned that there are basically three specialties of business people:


  1. People who start businesses {usually start, get it going, sell after a few years and move on to start something else}
  2. People who run businesses {these are the people who buy the existing business & run with it}
  3. People who rescue businesses from extinction 


My Business 101 class discussed this, and my teacher pointed out how rare it is for one person to have all three abilities, and that's what made Steve Jobs so amazing-he did all three.

I remember talking with my mom after that class and saying "You and Dad have told me I would own my own business, and I guess I always thought that meant I had to start it, but now I think that I would be good at running it without starting it!" Light bulb!

fast forward to now

The owner of this company is a true visionary. He has so many ideas, and he is always looking forward. He sees things way down the road and then sees where the end will end and then starts to make a new road. It is amazing.

It is not easy or natural for me to look that far down the road. Well, sometimes I try to convince God to let me plan out my whole life, but He just chuckles at me. But when I think about where I want to be in 20 years, I have a few ideas, but that's it. I think part of that is the learn-to-trust-God thing.
It feels like I see dots out in my future, but I don't know how they're all connected. There are many locations around the world that have my heart, and I don't know how God is going to use it all.

But let's get back to the business aspect. L and I have talked about this, and neither of us want to be THE person responsible for a whole organization. I would love to be in charge of something {can't help it- firstborn, administrator, management major}  but I want to answer to someone. I want someone else to tell me "This is the long term vision" and then I will say "Awesome. Here I go to do it."

But is that what God has called me to? Am I supposed to be THE person responsible for a whole organization?

These are a few things that I know and will hold fast to:

  • God made different personalities and there is nothing wrong with having one and not another
  • God has called me to do something and bit by bit, He's revealing it to me
  • What God calls me to might will probably be uncomfortable
  • God's grace is sufficient and His strength is made perfect in my weakness
just some thoughts...

Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Victory!

Alright friends, we’re gonna get real here.

I’ll be going home 4 weeks from yesterday. May I just point out that this is the going home to stay home for the first time in three years trip. Heck. Yes. But this is an aside. The point is that I’m going home.
The other point is that Grams’ favorite hobby is shopping. And related to this point is that I too have gone shopping {quality time-don’t be hatin’!} while living in the Frozen Tundra {ok, and there’s not a whole lot else to do. I said we were getting real.}.

These points lead to the point that I was really nervous about all my, ahem, stuff fitting into suitcases. P.S. I’m flying Southwest because a) they’re usually cheap and b) along with that cheap price, they let you check two bags included in the price of the ticket!!! Score for this gal moving across the country!

So even with these two suitcases, I was nervous. So what did my little OCD-self do? Yep. Packed tonight.
Not everything; just my clothes and half my shoes. I wanted to see how much space it all took, because I had a guess, but I wasn't sure. I’m a good packer, but didn't expect to be that good.

ALL my clothes fit into one of my checked bags, and half of my shoes {as in, 3 pairs of boots and 4 pairs of dress shoes} and my socks and undershirts fit into my carry-on suitcase. Bam. Victory.

There are probably those of you wondering why would she pack up all her clothes a month in advance? Why was she even thinking about packing?? Some of you are probably thinking she needs meds for this level of OCD. And still others of you are thinking Geez! How many pairs of shoes does this chick have!?!?

Well, dear readers, fear not: I shall answer your wonderings. I unpacked after I packed. {This may raise more questions, but let’s review how many times the term “OCD” has been used already in this post and just let it be.} As for the meds wondering, I do take meds…actually vitamins, not actual meds. And for you shoe haters or lusters out there, I will say that a) 2 pairs of boots are snow boots-one can never be too prepared in the Frozen Tundra! and b) yes I like shoes. I have feet. Duh.

So there. You are now a part of my victory. Congratulations.

And for those of you completely bored by this post, here is a picture that cracks my sister J and me up every time. Yay, “Big Bang Theory”! You’re welcome.



                                                                       source

Sunday, February 24, 2013

Good Thoughts on "Christian Dating"

This video is really good! I like his points. And his sense of humor. Check it out.

The video is here

Friday, February 22, 2013

Fantastic Friday

Well friends, I did it. I bought my ticket to Nicaragua! It was such a blessing from God, because 1) it is a direct flight from my home to the place where I’m joining the team and 2) it was $50 less than what I had prayed for and hoped to pay! Praise Jesus!!!

In other news, I’ve been on a crochet kick. Grammie took me over to her friend Ria’s  house, and boy can Ria crochet! She whipped out a beautiful scarf for Grammie in only a couple hours, and she taught me the pattern! It’s quite simple, and the effect is gorgeous. I took a picture of my attempt- aren’t you proud!?

IMG_20130221_205934

The pattern is as follows:
Chain 140 {she said 140, but you can make it however long you want} and then 3 more
Row 1: The three become your first stitch when you turn; double crochet all the way back Turn and chain 3
Row 2: stitch 2 double crochets in each stitch {so that’s 280 for you math nerds}
Repeat Row 2 until your desired width. Ria made Grammie’s 4 rows wide, but adjust according to your stitch height and preferences.

Also in the craftiness department, I did one of the dreaded “copy and paste this status” things for something called “Be Creative in 2013". The first 5 friends to comment get something made by me, but they also had to post the promise as their status. Which probably is directly related to the fact that only 4 friends commented on my status. Chickens.

anyway

I decided that this new scarf would go to one gal and that I should make something else for another. So I started it today. I’m making {or rather, attempting} this little beauty for E. And I really must be on a roll, because I took a picture of it too! It’s still in process, of course, but hey, Bek is taking pictures. Let’s not insult a good thing.

IMG_20130222_214959

It doesn’t look like my goal yet because a) it’s not done. obviously! and b) it’s hard to imagine that being fitted nicely on someone’s head, but believe me, it will be. My friend gave me her head measurements {yeah, that wasn’t an awkward text at ALL!} and I should be done tomorrow. Hopefully this streak of awesomeness will continue and I’ll remember to take a picture of the finished product. And if I don’t remember, then I’ll make E take a picture modeling it and will post that. So there.

Well, it’s past this girl’s bedtime. Peace out, y’all!

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Wacky {or Weed} Wednesday

My co-worker L is forever teasing me about being from a state that just legalized marijuana. Whenever I mention baking something, like the cake we made for her dad's birthday, she says something about brownies. You know. The "special" brownies.

Well today she was giving me crap about smoking weed, and I finally let out a sarcastic "I'm not a smoker...I'm a baker!" And that got her started again. Here's what she says I should say:

"Since my state legalized marijuana, I'm thinking that listing 'baking' as one of my hobbies is no longer a good idea."

What to do with this girl!?

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Tuesday’s Tidbits

Isn't "tidbits" a great word? I feel like I'm sharing something savory with you.

Sometimes my brain won't let go of thoughts until I spit them out onto the bloggy world...that does not sound very savory, though. Let's rephrase. Sometimes my brain wants me to share the glorious thoughts with the world. Isn't that nice of my brain?

Here are these glorious thoughts of late:
  • I don't believe there is actually a polite way to eat spaghetti. It is just too messy.
  • Sherlock has been posting pictures on Facebook...they're rebuilding the set! Cannot wait for Season 3!!!
  • oh yeah. this maybe should have gone first. I'M GOING TO NICARAGUA IN JULY!!!!!! Craziness! I'm going with my Other Home church family, and we're going to be working with this family who moved there earlier this year. They are my dear friends and I'm excited to see them again!
  • Kisses From Katie finally came in from the library this weekend. And then I borrowed a book from my friend. And I'm still not finished with Peter Pan. I feel torn- which book!?!??!
  • I got an email from Compassion International. Last month I started sponsoring a little boy! The email said that just recently “We had the joy of personally telling him that “someone has chosen to become your sponsor.” That’s when {this little boy} learned your name and that you believe he is very special." Isn’t that awesome???!! This gets me especially when I remember that this little boy had been waiting over a year for a sponsor, and then I click a button and he’s got one! How humbling.
    P.S. I don’t know what all I can share about this little boy, so I’m erring on the side of nothing. But I will do some research and see if I can share more with you, and believe me, I will if I can!
  • My nails have not been painted for almost three weeks, and I think tonight that needs to change.
  • I’m excited for next week, because it’s almost a friend’s birthday, which means I get to mail her a present. :)
Alright, these are all my tidbits right now. Weren't they savory? Hope you enjoyed.


Saturday, February 16, 2013

Musings and Amusings

First, here’s the belated Funny Friday tale.

Earlier this week, my friend and co-worker Laurie and I were having a grand old time at work. You know, things were getting done, we could pause and laugh at silly things we were encountering, and the sun was shining. It was a good Monday.

Now, you should know some things about our office. We are in Suite B; the suite directly across from us is Suite D. Suite D has a couch that L and I envy…the couch itself is nothing special, but Suite D has a couch and we do not, and so we joke about going over and making friends with Suite D so we can sit on his couch. {We refer to the gentlemen who work in Suite D as “Suite D” because it sounds like “sweetie” when you say it fast.}

Past our office is Suite A, and the couple of older men we've encountered there have been a little on the creepy side, so we often lock our office door just so no one can come in and be friendly/creepy. {We are perfectly safe, Mom!}

There is a Suite C, and the ladies in there are pretty nice, but we never run into them, so they aren't a part of our daily conversations.

So, getting back to this particular Monday, L and I are having a great time, and we had locked the door because 1) we were preventing Suite A visitors and 2) I believe that we had gone for a walk around the building. We took our lunch and watched Lizzie Bennett Diaries {if you have been living under a stupid rock and don’t know about LBD, you get your fanny on YouTube right now and start watching!} So we watched the video and ate our lunch and chatted, and then we needed to fill our Wat Bots and carry on with work.

So we went out into the hallway and filled our Wat Bots, and then I realized that the door to our office was still locked. And the keys were inside. And our cell phones were inside. We were locked in the hallway.
AUGH!!!!

not really.

Suite D was not there, so we went to Suite C and asked the nice lady there if we could make a phone call since we were locked out. Thankfully, we got a hold of our building’s owner and he came over shortly and let us in, so no harm done. It was amusing, and we laughed over it. We were able to get in without having to tell our boss, so we were sheepishly grateful for that.

For the rest of the day, one of us would go to the restroom & tell the other “The door is unlocked and I’m going to be right back!” Ha ha ha! Sometimes we are blonde.
Oh well.

musings…
Sometimes I wonder about all the different directions I feel pulled in, and I wonder how all these things will be accomplished, or if they will ever be fulfilled. I wonder about plans and hopes and dreams, and I wonder how they line up with Father’s.

I wonder if my life is truly radical, if I can even be radical. I question whether or not I can make a difference, whether or not my life will count for some cause greater than myself, and then I wonder what causes count, and how on earth things get done when we have “real life” to live. I know it’s a matter of priorities, but then there are also seasons of life, and I believe that I've got plenty of seasons left, but at the same time I don’t want to waste any season.

I look at young women serving in Washington DC at Bound4Life and they pray and intercede and write all day and night. I look at the people running Seattle Against Slavery and International Justice Mission and Not For Sale and Love146, and I wonder, can I do that? I look at CareNet and think that although I’m going to be volunteering there when I go home, it can’t be enough. There has to be more. Look at Katie Davis and read her book. Look at The Genesis Project and see what they’re doing.

Life has to be more than Facebook and a job that pays the bills and decorating your house and texting friends. Life has to be more than Lizzie Bennett Diaries and actors’ award and waiting for the next season of Sherlock.

I guess the questions I’m asking are questions about purpose. What’s the purpose of having a job? To earn an income. Why do we need that? So that we can advance the Kingdom of God!!! But how, if we’re working 40+ hours a week! I’m sorry, but we have to sleep sometime. So if we have 168 hours a week and we’re sleeping for an ideal 49 and working {+ commuting} for 42 of them, what do we do with the rest of our time? How do I make a difference in the world when life consists of working and watching movies with my grandma?

Part of why I’m asking these questions right now is because I’m going home in less than 6 weeks and I’m feeling antsy to start doing something. There’s not a whole lot to do out here in the Frozen Tundra, although I have gotten ahead on my reading. :) But my friends and my parents and I are making plans for when I get back, and it feels like I have nothing to do until then. slightly frustrating. but this is the season I’m in, and God is so faithful to encourage me and to teach me to appreciate this precious time with my maternal grandparents. So I wait and read and go shopping with Grams and blog out angst and read some more.

Something that always encourages me is this book by Ann Voskamp. Check out her blog about grace and learn with me.
thanks for listening reading.

Sunday, February 10, 2013

Danish Food, Crocheting, and Failed Pinterest Attempts

This weekend has been a blur! First of all, Laurie and I kicked off our weekend plans with a lunchtime trip to Chick-fil-A. If you have never been to one, you are missing out! So go there. Stat. I’m not paid to say anything about their company; this is called word-of-mouth/blog advertising and is how many companies are successful these days. So go.

Moving on. Laurie found out my birthday tradition of trying new ethnic foods, so she and her parents invited me out to The Farm to try Danish food. Their town was hosting a night of Aebleskivers and Frickadeller, so we went and partook. Now, for those of you non-Danes {I’m raising my hand, too-yay Scot-Irish!}, let me expound. The first non-English word you see there is basically a pancake batter cooked so that it more like a donut hole. It does taste like pancakes and you do pour syrup on it.
The second non-English word is like a meatloaf trying to be a meatball. That’s all. Both were very good, and it was a fun time.

Moving on to crochet adventures:

I don’t remember if I told you this yet, but Samara’s parents gave us the go-ahead to look for a place together! Woot! My BFF and I are going to be roomies!!! So exciting. So we’re totes plotting and scheming all the time, and I decided that I would attempt to make us some dishrags, pot-holders, and maybe even coasters, just for kicks. I’d been wanting to try a new stitch, so this was  a great reason! Here’s what I found and followed: double thick single stitch and it turned out great! The pattern was just a little hard to follow, but once I got onto the third row, it was fine.

I enjoyed that so much, and I was glad Mom had brought me my looooong hook, so I decided I would make a dishrag using the Afghan stitch. It looks like it was knit, but it was really crocheted {sneaky!}. Here’s the tutorial I used.

Then, I had just a bit of yarn left over, so I whipped out a little coaster just using double crochets. It’s only 5” in diameter, so not that big. Whatevs.

So since these crochet ideas were all turning out so nicely, I thought "I have that old shirt I’ve been meaning to re-purpose. Why don’t I do that today? So I looked on P.interest and found this:
Easy, right? Wrong. So very wrong.
Confession #1: I am physically unable to cut a straight line. And that’s with paper. Fabric? Just no.
Confession #2: I may or may not have been using the wrong kind of scissors. But that shouldn’t matter, right???
Confession #3: After realizing #s 1 & 2, I tried to instead use those tassel things to braid a headband together. But that instead brought about a renewed revelation of #1, so I only got 3 strips instead of the six I was going for in this tutorial, which basically meant it flopped.

So the moral of the story is, I rock at crocheting but not at anything involving scissors. Although technically crocheting involves scissors, but only at the end, and only one cut, so I’m fine there. So even though I don’t have a cool fringe scarf made from a shirt, I do have a freaking awesome pot-holder, dishrag, and coaster. Boom roasted.

Monday, February 4, 2013

Something Sweet

So I meant to post a sweet something on Saturday, thereby rocking the alliteration club, but alas. Here's what went down last week: mi madre arrived in the Frozen Tundra to help celebrate my grandmother's 80th birthday! The big party was Saturday and then Mom went home Sunday. So here we are at work on Monday.

The sweet something is two-fold. One will be posted about later {with a picture!} but for today, here's what you get:
On Friday, Mom and Grammie and I went to the mall and were in a jewelry store. The man being helped before us was picking out a ring...that he was going to propose with. :) It was so cute to see him grinning and to hear him say "I'm going to talk to her dad and then ask her to marry me." He was probably in his 40s or 50s, which made it even cuter.

Alright, that's your sweet something today!