Learning Stuff

Hi.

I haven't been very productive today. Since this is sort of a Sabbath week of reflection and prayer, by "productive" I mean that I barely cracked a book and although I did make it into the prayer room, I fell asleep thirty minutes in. I wonder if there is such a thing as "sleeping in the spirit."

I did play Pretty Pretty Princess with Sadie, though and I helped her practice the play she's performing tomorrow [Goldilocks and the Three Bears [She's Mama Bear [which, I think, is very fitting]]]. I don't suppose it gets much more productive than that.

Just now, I was pleasantly surprised by a sudden surge of bloggerific motivation. That is all fine and good. But sadly my husband just arrived and is now forced to play Rock Band all by his lonesome whilst I get this stuff out of my head.

What have I done today? I'm embarrassed. Food and Facebook. I started a weight loss group.

Yes, that's right folks, I'm at it again. I have to be. I'm quite unhappy with the weight I've allowed myself to put on since I got married. I always swore I would never be one of those wives's [sp? wives'? wive's? wife's?] who let herself go. I don't feel good about my body. So I'm doing something about it [this may have also been inspired by the fact the my 10 year reunion is in like 5 months [wow, I feel so old]].

There are 5 members in the group so far. (: I'm quite giddy about it.

Alright, back to the prayerful essentials. I was pondering earlier today that I may have learned some things from this week. I thought it would be fun to make an impromptu list and see what comes up [I realize that this may not necessarily fit your definition of fun - I'm a bit of a nerd [but I'm okay with that]].

Here goes nothing.

This week I have learned:

• Sleeping on thincarpet-covered concrete is not as bad as one would think if you're laying beside the man you love
• Less is more [when it comes to decorating the prayer room] and if I follow that principle in my own home there may be hope for my chaos yet
• I am blessed with a daughter and a husband that don't complain at all when it comes to sleeping on concrete [sadly, the same cannot be said for their mom/wife]

• I love it when people cry [after they leave the prayer room [I'm not a brute [can you use the term "brute" to describe a woman?]]]
• Praying for an hour a day [at least in this context] is wonderfully easy to do
• I eat too much when I'm by myself and have a lot of time on my hands [ahem, well, I suppose I already knew that]
• I am capable of keeping someplace [in this case, the church] fairly clean from day to day [of course, my to-do list is extremely minimal]
• Stouffer's lasagna takes 2 1/2 bloody hours to cook
• People are much more accepting of a dog living at a church for a week than one might think
• I love to pray while Jermaine plays guitar
• I need to learn balance [especially when it comes to money and food]
• This week I experienced God making a specific crooked path I was meandering on straight [and it felt so good]
• What's been on my heart [like the fact that I would really like to experience pure joy from God [and though I think I might have before I can't recall it clearly]]
• Sometimes it's just really good to forget about your to-do list and sit and talk with your Creator
• People that I thought would be all over this haven't been and those whom I never would have guessed are diving in and finding God
• I need to pray more about the little things, like my desire to write [and be published], Jermaine and his band, Sadie, and all the other day to day stuff [I put in on my do to list and stress out about it but never actually get around to talking to God]
• Our galaxy is ridiculously huge [at 35,000 miles per hour it would take us 10,000 years to reach the end of it] and it's one of many!
• That last bit of information doesn't make me feel as small as I believe it should
  

Surprise, surprise [for me anyway]. That is all for now. Have a grand old evening.

2:11 AM

Sigh. I promised you a blog a day and here it is Wednesday and I should be on my fourth blog. Instead, I am only on my second. Well, actually this is my third, but my second one wasn't very good so I threw it away.

Okay, technically it's Thursday morning at 2:11am but I started this on Wednesday and I haven't gone to bed yet so it still counts.

Lots of good God things are happening. But I can't seem to satisfactorily report or record them. It's very difficult to do this project justice with only letters, words, and the occasional donut hole.

I do know one thing: I want to savor this experience, to cherish it. I want to make a memory like that one sister did in The Parent Trap when she went about sniffing her dad's cologne [only this will be less weird]. There is so much calm. Everyone who has entered the prayer room seems to have been blessed. And my job consists of welcoming people and praying. It's truly beautiful. I'm learning a lot about myself. And I think I'm beginning to hear God [I'll delve into that later [and bonus - you'll get the concise written version and not have to listen to me stutter and ramble aimlessly for 30 minutes trying to dig out the main point [which I have undoubtedly forgotten by the fifth time I apologize for stuttering and rambling] like some of my dear friends had to do today]].

Though I suppose you could make a very good point that I am rambling a bit right now. I apologize. But at least I can't stutter online.

I would love to go on and on [and on]. It's late, though, and sleep is good.

So, good night. I will try really really hard to blog more tomorrow.

I did get a picture up! More of those to come tomorrow for sure. (:

Wild Blue Wonder

We did it.

We launched our prayer room. Last night, with butterflies in my stomach, I thanked God for the wonderful frame of mind our Creator had so graciouly allowed me to be in.

Then, this morning, as I hit the snooze button for the fourth time, I wondered how I was ever going to make it through this week.

My husband, my daughter, our friend Dwayne, our dog Sebastian, and I will be staying at our church for the entire week. We'll sleep, eat, pray and play here [perhaps not in that order]. The pews will be our beds. It will be interesting to say the least.

I do not usually fair well outside my comfort-zone. And I LOVE my bed [that may be an understatement]. But experiencing the prayer room today was like a little taste of heaven. And so, though it's too hot in this part of the church and too cold in the sanctuary, though our dog has been made nervous by this seemingly nonsensical change of scenery, though pews are lumpy and I forgot to bring an extra blanket, I cannot contain my joy and gratitude for this opportunity.

I promise pictures soon. God has blessed the prayer room and I am eager to share. But it's late, and that sort of thing can wait until the light of day [I realize that this is in fact currently the light of day [sorry - this was written around 1am]].

One of my New Year's resolutions is to write daily. I shall start with this little blog. And make one more promise [though I am usually wholeheartedly against promises of any kind for fear that I will disappoint] to blog every day from now until we end next Sunday.

Thank you for reading my blog.