Unexpected joys

I was hoping I'd be in Haiti by now.

The day after the earthquake, I volunteered to go down there with the Air Force, but was told that because of the category of Reservist I am, it's harder to deploy me, but they'd keep me in mind. It's true, I learned last year when working for the Inauguration Committee that the steps of paperwork to get me deployed wrap around the alphabet and go into double letters. They tried to be helpful and send me a powerpoint that explains the process. I thought it was a joke at first.

That's only the first slide. I wish I was making that up. Sigh...

Anyway, word got out that I was looking to help with Haiti, so they asked me to go help at the Air Force press operations office (aka "press desk") for 30 days. I thought about it, at first not wanting to because that's where I worked the last year I was on Active Duty (06-07). But, I prayed about it and decided I could use the money to do something more in Haiti later, so I called them to accept. But then, they just needed me for about 10 days including both weekends. Oops, I already have plans those weekends. Didn't really want to ditch my plans to work night shift at the Pentagon, know what I mean? So, they decide they don't need me that badly after all. Then, later that afternoon, another division wants to know if I can come help them write some award packages. They only need me for 3 days.

It's a far cry from helping the desperately needy in Haiti, but it's better than nothing. That started today.

Enter the weekend plans. My husband is a amateur (ham) radio operator. It's an incredibly nerdy technical and expensive investment-heavy hobby, but don't laugh. If the bomb drops, he'll still be able to talk to people in New Zealand. This weekend is a ham radio contest, where all the hams test out their equipment and try to talk to as many people in as many different places as possible in a 24-hour period. We were going to go out to the Shenandoah to a cabin in the mountains with some of our best friends. The guys were going to do radio/car stuff while we ladies were going to cook, eat, read, relax, whatever.

 

Then the cabin people told John the road to the cabin was impassible because of the deep ruts caused by all the rain. We could park a mile away and hike in. Eeehhh... maybe not. It's supposed to be high in the 20s this weekend with possible snow, not exactly the dream hiking-with-3-days-worth-of-gear type of weather.

Today, while I worked on the award package at the Pentagon, it seemed our weekend plans were unraveling. 

I really was enjoying the award package writing though, so I guess I'm as nerdy smart as John is. It starts with a 3-inch binder full of research and documentation which has already been boiled down to six pages and then four, then two. Now my job is to make sure the two pages reflect the whole of the binder and fit the requirements for award submission. 

It wasn't even close!

But this is the kindof thing I love. Looking at someone else's work, taking it apart and making it better. Throw in guidelines and a deadline, it's almost better than chocolate. I said almost.

Well, as I'm doing that, and our weekend plans are dissolving, one of the other wives' dad came through with another place near the mountains we can go to. And it sounds even better than the first cabin with real bedrooms and real beds. And the best part is we can bring Mocha. The owner who lives elsewhere on the property has a few labs she can play with. Win-win!

So, I'm not in Haiti, but life is good.

I'm going to unplug from the blog for the last few days of January. Join me Feb 1 as I log back into Facebook and see what a month away has wrought.

What are you doing this weekend?

A little BM for you

And of course by BM, I mean Beth Moore. What were you thinking? This is not that kind of blog, ewww.

I've been going through Beth Moore's The Patriarchs study with some good friends and really enjoying her in-depth study of the narrative that the lives of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob (with a little bit of Judah and Joseph thrown in) provide. If you've ever done a Beth Moore study, you know she has you do homework for five days, then you get together in your group and discuss it, then watch a video of her teaching.

The past two days I've brought my study guide downstairs to the computer so I could share this with some people, but not being able to exactly narrow down who I should share it with naturally led me to wanting to blog about it.

{side note- I think I have used up all my good grammar on my writing sample, because all of these seem like uncharacteristically long run-on sentences!}

Right now, we're studying Joseph as he's hanging out in the prison after he interprets the butler and the baker's dreams. And here Beth (we're totally on a first-name basis) points out something that so eloquently states what I've been trying to express about what I'm learning (and then learning again) through my 3+ years of waiting for a baby. So here it is. I hope it gets to the person it's for:

"Let's recall what we were told in Genesis 39:21 when Joseph was thrown into prison: 'The LORD was with him; he showed him kindness and granted him favor.' Sometimes we can be so busy looking for what is missing in our lives that we miss Who is busily present in our lives. We're looking for God to do us future favors when He's trying to open our eyes to present ones. Remember, God purposes to use every second of a divinely-ordained wait to build us into the individuals our future demands we be. One of the most peculiar and exquisite experience of the faith is realizing that while you haven't seen answers or the way you should take, you've learned how to see the light of God Himself. Right there in the blindness of your circumstances." (emphasis mine)

Choose.OK.Upload.Submit---Check!

Such a short list, but it took me more than 3 months to accomplish. This is my to-do list for applying for a PhD in Communication at the University of Maryland. I intended for it to be done by the deadline, Dec 1, but you remember that post about the organized me being trapped? Yeah, so I got it done by the absolute cut-off, Feb 1.

Today I made that top check mark. I read my writing sample for the billionth time, did more edits, hit save for the last time and quickly uploaded it to UMD's online application site before I could change my mind.

If I get accepted, I'll post the "whole story" of how this came to be, but for now, I'm just sighing in relief that this part is done and hoping I will have a rest of the story to tell.

My hope is ultimately in this being part of God's plan for my life, but I've placed alot of weight on the writing sample. My GRE scores were good, but not even close to the average UMD said their applicants for last year had. I think my recommendation letters were good and will speak well to my academic capabilities. Even my statement of purpose was a good piece that should show them my personality and my resume is a reflection of what I've done so far. But all things considered, I think my writing sample will best show the committee my potential as a scholar, which is why I spent so much time working on it.

I actually started this paper more than 10 years ago! It was a paper on the Dixie Chicks that I submitted for a rhetoric class in grad school. My professor then loved it and gave it an A-, only because I turned it in late (go figure). Since the program I'm applying for is Rhetoric and Political Culture, I thought a paper on rhetoric would be appropriate. But all my references were outdated and the paper was written before the Dixie Chicks' "anti-war" statement, so I had to strip it down to the core and re-research and rewrite it to consider the whole scope of the Dixie Chicks' career. Then I had the good fortune of having someone with a PhD in English and someone else who is ABD (all but dissertation) in communication annihilate it, so I re-rewrote it. (One of my favorite professors in college, Laura Holland, always told us "The Holy Spirit is in the rewrite!" Hallelujah to that.)

That I actually enjoyed the process confirmed for me that I do want to go back to school. Now just to have patience to find out if I am accepted and grace to deal with a "no." If "yes," then, many, many, many more steps to go. Thanks a rhetorical ton to those of you who have helped me and cheered me on so far!

PS: My sister tattle-told on you. Those of you who have been commenting over on Facebook. Here I've been thinking only 2 or 3 people are reading my blog, and she said several people are leaving comments on Facebook, despite my clear and well-written requests that you come over to my actual blog to comment since I'm off Facebook until Feb 1. (sigh) I still love you. Just don't do it again, ok? :-)

What a moment!

Mark it down.

Write it in your journal.

Call your mamma.

You can even write your own blog about it.

Because this is a moment you'll never want to forget.

Ok, maybe I'm being just a little dramatic, but I will tell you why.

I just watched my first football game by myself. Because I wanted to. Because I cared!

This NFL season has sucked me in more than any other. I used to be a fair weather Cowboys fan, and ok, whenever this game is over, then we can watch one of my shows. Then we had these 3 teams with a perfect record. Then one by one they fell. Then it comes down to a come-back quarterback who looks like he aged 10 years over the course of the game against a Cinderella team on their home turf in a come-back city. Oh, the drama of it all!

I may not understand every call or play or rule of the game, but I get the story. It had a story arc that could rival most Oscar-winning screen-plays with heart-pounding action and breath-taking surprises. The characters were believable as they took turns playing hero and nemesis. I know the story isn't even over, but I can't wait to see how it plays out.

I'm obviously not going to start a sports blog, but it was a pretty exciting moment.

Oh, another unforgettable moment you get to be a part of- this blog is about to get its 1,000th visitor! So, I'm gonna try to do the prize thing. If you scroll down to the bottom and the counter says 1,000, take a screen shot or a picture and send it to me, and I'll send you a prize. (If you don't have my e-mail, just leave me a comment and I'll e-mail you.) I'm not sure what it will be yet, but it'll be good!

Organized Me Temporarily Escapes!

Some people say they are a young person trapped in an old person's body (or vice versa). Some people say they are a skinny person trapped in a not-so-skinny person's body.

Me? I think I'm an organized person trapped in a lazy person's body.

Which makes days like today SO gratifying.

I locked the dog out of the kitchen with a bar stool and organized my dish cabinet.

Here's the before:

Here's the after:

I don't think the pictures convey the sheer impressiveness of this, but you'll just have to take my word for it. It's much better now.

Did you notice the magazines kindof folded up and shoved off to the side in the before picture? Those are issues of Cooking Light that mysteriously started showing up to my house in the name of the last owner, but 3 years after they moved. She said I could keep them, so I did and enjoyed using them, but didn't know what to do with them. Then, I got an idea.....

I cut out all the recipes I had used or think I'll use and put them in sheet protectors, and voila!

 My own cookbook!

Ahhhh... now the organized Anna can go back into hiding for a few more years, while the lazy Anna trips over the barstool blocking the kitchen.

Have you done any organizing projects you're proud of lately? Please, inspire us!

For you, my friend, I give you good price

I keep thinking of all these awesome things I want to blog about, but then it gets really late and all my creative juices slow down. So tonight, I'm just going to pass on this awesome deal I learned about on Angie Smith's blog. She's the wife of Todd Smith, the singer from Selah, who I blogged about here.

The deal is a free 8x10 photo on canvas or $55 off any other size at http://www.canvaspeople.com/.

So that's pretty cool, huh? Maybe make up for the fact you're not getting anything original from me tonight?

Oh, ok, while we're on it, another good site with great deals is www.bradsdeals.com. I just got some cool North Face booties for $38 (originally $80) from FinishLine by going through this site.

I also always get great deals on restaurant.com gift certificates through this site. Most of the time, if you go straight to restaurant.com, you can get a $25 gift certificate for $10, which is a good deal. But they have these sales, like 70 or 80% off, so you only pay $2 for a $25 gift certificate, which is awesome. BradsDeals.com gives you the coupon codes for tons of sales like this.

Anywho, enjoy.

"Stay!"

I was supposed to write this blog yesterday, but I talked John into going to see The Book of Eli instead. It was a good movie, but if you don't like the Bible, you might not like it.

So, let's just pretend it's Monday, because for alot of people it was like their Monday, and let's pretend you have another day off. That would've been better context for this topic, but I think it will still work.

I promised you I'd have some life lessons to learn from my dog, Mocha, and here's the first one I think is blog-worthy.

We have been trying to teach her "Stay." She is really well-behaved and loves everyone she meets, and for the most part, she wants to be within drooling distance of me or John at all times. For instance, this is where she is right now as I'm typing this:

If I'm at my desk, she's usually at my feet, breathing heavily every once in a while, just to let me know she's still there if I want to play. As sweet and loving as she is, she is a little rusty on basic commands, such as Come and Stay.

See, she follows me everywhere. We were tempted to name her Shadow, but it didn't stick. My desk is about 5 feet from the bathroom, but she has to get up and follow me there. I used to have to get up to throw something in the trash, which was about 3 feet away (I'm not a good shot, ok), and she'd get up and follow me there. I put the trashcan under my desk to save her the effort. When I'm in the kitchen, she is at my heels from the sink to the fridge to the pantry, which are all not very far from each other. I'm sure there's a spot that she could just sit in to watch the whole thing, but she chooses to be a participant.

I imagine her doggy thoughts are somewhere along the line of "Whatcha doing? Is that glass of water for me? Is that vitamin for me? Do you need my help unloading the dishwasher? Why are you putting that in the trash, you know I'll eat it? Can I look in the fridge with you? Is this where you keep my carrots? Hey look, we're passing my food bowl, and there's the container with the food. I like food!"

There's probably a lesson there for us being super close to the one we love, not being content to just sit there. But this is a blog about the importance of rest.

I'd like for her to be able to be in the same room with me, but let me get up and move around without investigating every little thing I do. If she could trust that I'm not going to leave her, and that I'm going to give her everything she needs, then maybe she could enjoy being 5 feet away from me for 5 minutes until she can physically feel me again.

But since she's a dog, she probably can't trust the way people do. So, we're trying to teach her to obey. We've heard that some dogs actually do this.

But as people, we can trust AND we can obey. Both are decisions we make. (PS- if you don't like the Bible, you probably won't like this part either) God's ability to take care of us isn't changed by our believing it or not. But our ability to receive from Him is absolutely tied to what we believe about God. And though, yes, sometimes He calls us to get up, get busy, run, work, etc..., He also commands us to Rest.

In fact, a place to lie down is the first thing mentioned in Psalm 23 that God provides for us. He told Moses in Gen 33 that along with His presence, He would give His people rest, as a sign of His favor. He gave us a whole day to Rest, actually built it into the whole Covenant thing (Gen 34).

It's not an either/or type of deal. I believe in order for us to do the work God has called us to, we must also do the rest He has called us to.

And that might mean staying when He's up to something we can't see, trusting that He'll be close again soon, and He will give us carrots when the time is right. (Oh wait, maybe that last one was just for me and Mocha!)

Is there a command you feel God is trying to teach you lately? Care to share?
(Remember to come over to my actual blog http://annasjoyblog.blogspot.com instead of commenting on Facebook. Thanks!)