Sunday, November 30, 2003  

I need to go to bed,

but,

did you ever type in www.addresses to see what comes up? Tonight, i typed in these two. They are weird!!! LOOK THEM UP!

http://frazzled.com

http://broken.com

   [ posted  @ 7:11 PM | ]

This may be a long post, and i may ramble.

I call everyone "jones" and i am going to call you jones.

OK, Jones, well first things first. It was really good to be back in church and i think i made Heather's week/month/ year for showing her some cool patterns on the bass. She was so excited. We were both just "there" for practice... as Steve was leading and Alex played bass today (for some reason... he's not part of the team so that kind of irritated me but whatever.) But Heather and i set up camp in the back of the room. She plugged her bass in and i played my acoustic and we just jammed along to the rest of the group. They do a very different version of "Nails in Your Hands" than i am used to. Theirs is cooler.

I got to see a lot of my peeps so that was good and got my registration in for Planet Wisdom i just have no idea who is going! I really wish i didn't have to leave right away. My next day off is Friday and i am really looking forward to it. This thanksgiving weekend was a mad rush at work and it sucked the happy life right out of me... GRRRR. And i'm getting it thrown in my face again that my boss's promotion rides on my shoulders blah blah and he's getting interviewed for the 4th time tomorrow for store manager's position and all this gobbledeegook and a part of me hopes he doesn't get it, and we get someone at our store who is less like me and more like a BRAIN who can fix stuff. Izzy and i are too much alike and it's not getting us anywhere. He is a hard worker, i'll say that.

I finished my xmas tree this wknd, put up strings of popcorn, which are looking a little ragged right now, and the tinsel. The popcorn was probably not such a great idea... i don't know. They are kind of falling and drooping and stuff. lol My tree ended up being shaped perfectly though, i must say. So i love to look at it. I didn't even put all my ornaments on it. That is the one thing i wish i would have done but i'm too lazy to go dig out the box from the garage and get it finished but whatever. :p

And then transition time again... my logistics manager is stepping down bc of this new baby and we got this new guy coming in from Burnsville and he's got a lot more experience. I think i may make a pitch to get rid of our early morning stocking hours and switch to a late night schedule. Supposedly we don't have the payroll for that but we can't afford to keep things the way they are... I would propose a 5pm-2am crew... bc that would give us almost 6 hours more time a day to get caught up on stuff. And it would sure beat having to get up so early all the time. I'll see what they think. It would require hiring more ppl though and getting rid of these losers we have now.

OK.

Just some more thoughts on work work work work. We have a leader's mtng tomorrow @ church. :)

   [ posted  @ 6:38 PM | ]

**______THANKS!______Glad you're back !!______**

To the rest of you, i'm going to go eat leftovers now. Work was bbbbboring and i felt like i got nothing done. YAY church is tomorrow. It has been TOO LONG since i didn't get to go last week. I want to go there now.

My mom sent a bunch of turkeydaypix and the kids look great and you should see my sister amy's house it is so cool and she is the cool one and that is why i call her the cool one. It should be pictured in some magazine ( a top selling mag. )

Love,
kt

   [ posted  @ 4:29 PM | ]

Hats OFF to everyone shopping at my store today. I was pleasantly suprised at most of the nice-ness, the Minnesota Nice-ness that is (if you don't live here, you won't understand that phrase, sorry.)

I got there at 5 a.m. with the rest of the management staff to make sure things were ready.

At around 6:30 a.m. (we open at 7 today) there was a mob of about 60 people gathered around our door. OMG. When Jim opened the doors i was stationed in the middle of the store where all our free-after-rebate JUNK CRAP is kept. And i witnessed something i have never seen before in my life. The look of SHEER TERROR on these people's faces... literally RUNNING into the store... almost trampling over each other... going this way and that looking for shortcuts to where i was standing. And i am not exaggerating when i say "sheer terror." These people were seriously after the best deals and were terrified of being the one who didn't get what they came for.

We had 60 leather manager's chairs which after rebates were $19.99. Those were gobbled up in the first hour. After the first 3 hour mark, we started to level off, but we had a goal of $50,000 today (normally we only do around 10 in a day) and when i left at 3, we were already close to 40. It is our biggest sale day EVER since we opened in Oct. 2000.

Anyways, as i reported above, i was very suprised, pleasantly suprised to meet so many kind and understanding people. I didn't have ONE person freak out on me or complain when they found out we started running out of things (actually at the time of my departure, we still had most everything in stock, or good substitutes available.) Truly, when they say MINNESOTA NICE they are not kidding. Everyone was for the most part friendly, upbeat, joking, it was cool. I can't say it was the best work day ever... but it worked.

And it was pay day.

And, i got a statement in the mail from Chrysler. It says,

"Dear Customer,
Thank you for sending us
the final payment on your account.
This letter acknowledges your account
has been paid in full
and we have released our security
interest in your vehicle. We thank you
for the opportunity to finance your purchase.
Sincerely, Chrysler Financial

It is official. My 1999 Dodge Neon, which i bought brand new right off the showroom floor is officially ALL PAID OFF and i have the paperwork now to prove it. WOW. That is crazy. To think i spent 14000 on a car that is now only worth about 2000. LOL It's been fairly relialbe though. No real hastles. Warranty is gone though. If i ever get another car some day, i probably will get one with a 10 year 100,000 mile warranty. Mine only had 3 year/ 30000 mile.

OK that's enough blogging for now.

   [ posted  @ 1:47 PM | ]

I'm off to the races... I am already irritated, without having seen them, at the throngs of people who line up outside of stupid stores like officemax to get their free-after-rebate junk. (And it is JUNK, let me tell you.) The store opens @7 and i know i will have tales to tell when i get home. What irritates me worse than all that is the fact that everyone we have on staff will be working today... which means they really didn't need me there... which means i could have gone home to see my family. But whatever.

P.S. I could understand waiting outside of Khols or something like that for a free ornament and to do holiday shopping... I GUESS. Still stupid, but more understandable than our stupid little store... grr.

   [ posted  @ 2:44 AM | ]

Happy Thanksgiving!

My fam called from Wisconsin and i talked to most of the grown ups... It was just as i was pulling my dinner out of the oven... Well; most of my dinner. The chicken was not quite done enough. So i finished baking that and will have to eat it tomorrow. I am so full of the squash i made (recipe will be later posted in this blog entry) and garlicredmashedpotatoes. I mashed that word together, because it was Mashed. I make SUCH GOOD FOOD.

I know, i have to brag about myself.

I have not purchased one thing for Christmas gifts yet. I may start my online hunt tonight... I need to get going @ it! Terri said she had my gift already and she said it's really cool! Maybe i should just make it an OfficeMax Christmas, and get everyone gift cards and be done w/ it. Actually, if EbenezerMax doesn't give me off for xmas, that is what is probably going to have to happen, bc even tho i love everyone, i am not going to pay to ship all their gifts home.

**Listening to Kutless**

APPLE STUFFED ACORN SQUASH

1 medium sized acorn squash
1 medium sized tart apple (i used granny smith)
2 tablespoons raisens
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnemon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt

Cut the squash in half. Gut out the seeds. Sprinkle salt on the the rest of the squash and put them in a baking dish. Cut up the apple into thin strips. Saute with the butter and raisens until the apples are tender. Add the rest of the spices. Mix well. Stuff the squash and bake in 350 oven for 45-55 minutes or until squash is all squishy.

NUMMY.

   [ posted  @ 4:11 PM | ]

AWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW! This post is for someone really awesome and special but who will not be reading it until SATURDAY and it's only for that one person and here's the message

**____________________** It's not just the ___[silence] i wonder about... it's what's between the **Stars** !

And then i start to wonder if it's not the **__________** but the //___________//. WHEN ARE YOU GOING TO POST CHAPTER SIX????????????????????????????

**I MISS YOU TOO**
love,
kt

   [ posted  @ 7:08 PM | ]

I love the song "Everyday" by Hillsongs. We do that at youth group and it rules.

   [ posted  @ 7:05 PM | ]

ok survivor is over for tonight-
jonny fair play sucks.

   [ posted  @ 5:57 PM | ]

Commercial break Survivor.

OK well anyways... Work went fine... I'm tightening the reigns on my crew and hoping to vote one of them off in the next elimination round if i win immunity. Oh, wrong game!

   [ posted  @ 5:18 PM | ]

I
worked
for
14 hours today...
and still was laughing
and cracking jokes the entire
time.

For that, i deserve either a nobel peace prize
or pulitzer or something shiney.

I showed up at 5 a.m. (why ???? i don't know! i knew loser pat would not be there!) and guess what. he wasn't there. I waited for 10 minutes and sped off to the sounds of Relient K. Came home, threw my jacket on the floor, took off my glasses, crashed on my couch. This time, i was intelligent and even waited to chew gum (why waste it) or drink coffee until i knew i would need to be awake. I took a nap for a half hour and then got up and went back in to work... and loser pat was there in his stupid truck. The one he brags about all the time. The red one. And so we get there and i'm like where were you at 5:00? and he said he couldn't get his truck to start.
I just laughed at him.

Then i told him he's skating on really thin ice. I asked him where he was the day before. He said he was puking. I said, well if you were puking then you must have known on monday night you weren't coming in. So why didn't you call so that i didn't have to get up early to be here? no answer.

I said, well i will just tell you right now you can go home if you're not up to the job today bc i am going to run you ragged and work you so hard and if you're not up to it you can turn right around and just go home. He took off and ran to the front of the store like i set his shoes on fire and started to work.

More to come, Survivor's on... and i want to watch it!

   [ posted  @ 5:06 PM | ]

I love fruity pebbles.

Now you know.

   [ posted  @ 2:34 AM | ]

When i was in college, i had this beanie kitty thing my sister Amy (the cool one) gave me for christmas one year. It sat on my back hatch back thing and my friend Susan and i called it SPAZ KITTY. Just thought i'd tell you that... i just remembered that.

Well, i went to rainbow (i hate cub i hate cub i hate cub i hate cub...) foods and had a fun time of it. This means driving to Savage (the next town over) but the store is layed out a lot nicer, and it's never that busy... so i didn't get a roasting chicken thing like i wanted... but i found these little stuffed chicken breast things in the meat dept. (which now that i think of it, why didn't i go to VonHansens for my meat???? oh well too late.) and it has no cooking instructions on it. I think i'll stick them in the oven for like ... ever... at 350 and see what happens. When they start turning dark brown and aren't pink inside maybe that means they are done.

Loser.

Sleepiness is quickly coming upon me. As i drove past the store on the way home ("the store" meaning the one where i work) i noticed the truck is STILL THERE and they are supposed to have it unloaded and put away before leaving tonight. YEAH RIGHT. They are going to want to leave at 11, i just know it. Oh well. All i have to say is that when Jim gets in tomorrow, after i've worked my 10 hours, i'm outta there.

And if RETARDED PAT (child of God, i know i know) doesn't show up tomorrow at 5 a.m. there is no telling what the WRATH OF THE ORACLE will do! Listen, i had everyone repeating after me today "do not incur the wrath of the oracle... do not incur the wrath of the oracle." HAHAHAHA. If Pat incurs my wrath, what a blog that will be.

By the way, i love everybuddy, but never hire a guy named pat. we have two of them at the store and they both suck. I'm sorry, if your name is Pat, and you're a boy, but that just plain sucks. Call yourself patrick. Or, lenny, or James, or Wentworth, or something cooler... even WolfGhang would work, but comeon!!! PAT??? It just SCREAMS ... wrath... wrath of the oracle.

ok, the oracle is going to go try to go be sleepy now.

   [ posted  @ 7:02 PM | ]

Thanksgiving.

A time for ... food.

I spent the last hour picking out recepies from cookbooks that i am sure to either wreck completely or make the best meal out of... i can not decide if i really want to go spend all that $$$ on one meal (which will be 3 or 4 meals by the time i'm done w/ it) plus i don't have a roaster so i'd have to buy that... which i know i would use a lot. But as i look over my list i know that by the time i am done with it i'll spend another 100$ and i just can't decide if that is such a good idea at this time of year. Plus, then, do i really want to spend all of thursday, my only day off, cooking?????

I am wildly great cook, but hey it's just me here. Who am i trying to impress?

I may just get one of those chicken things that are already seasoned and throw it on the little george foreman and whip up some potatoes and squash... i never made squash before but i found this great recipe that looks easy enough. My other dilema is that i don't really want to get dressed and go to the store right now (ok, part of me does...) and for gosh darn sure i don't want to go TOMORROW the day everyone and their grandma is going to be at any given grocery store... grabbing the last of the meat thermometers...

ok i just talked myself out of buying a bird.

i should just get papa murphys and a pumpkin pie and be done w/ it.

again,

loser.

   [ posted  @ 5:26 PM | ]

Despite the ultra negative tone of my last post, i must re-assure you that i am OK and today has actually been an OK day. I laughed a lot. Which is a good sign. Mike (my logistics manager) and his wife Andrea are going in to have their baby's labor induced tonight and little Tobiah Joseph will be welcomed to our world sometime who knows when... later tonight i think. Kid's going to be a looong baby bc both his parents are so tall. It's kind of like our store is having a baby!

OK no it's not.

   [ posted  @ 2:53 PM | ]

Thank God for snow.

So i showed up for work 10 minutes early. That would be at 4:50 a.m. And the retarded child of God that is supposed to be there so i can open the store and get stuff going for today doesn't show up. PAT H. I'M GOING TO FIND OUT WHERE YOU LIVE AND SLASH YOUR TIRES AND EGG YOUR STUPID TRUCK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr! so i sat in my car for an extra hour (and Pat you owe me a half tank of gas, loser.) and wrote up notes for the upcoming possible worship series i'll be teaching for Zones. If he pulls the same stunt tomorrow, when/if he calls in i have the go-ahead to tell him he's on my last nerve and next time he TICKS ME OFF i'm writing him up. I want that stupid punk's butt fired so bad. And i will MAKE it happen if i have to.

Grrr!

Boy isn't that the love of JESUS shining thru????

I work with 3 of the most loser lame retards on my morning crew. I am sorry i have nothing good to say about any of them.

OK so i worked a 12 hour day and really got nothing accomplished. And this stupid windows-based operating system we switched over to is slower than 1962 mainframes and it irritates me to no end.

Then i found out i was scheduled the weekend of Planet Wisdom... GRR! So i just said "it's going to be really hard for me to do price over-rides and close the store from St. Paul, because like it or not, that's where i'm going to be."

And he switched it.

I'm going to eat pizza, watch my soap and stare at my christmas tree lights. Something around here better cheer me up. Survivor is on tomorrow night. And then... ahhhh! The lonely day of thanksgiving just me, my angels and God here in the little apartment with my little villages and pumpkin pie...

Loser.

   [ posted  @ 2:44 PM | ]

Sometimes, when you are broken, and lay your heart before God and put some stuff on the altar for him to burn up, he takes them and makes them a sweet offering...

I've had to do that a lot lately... This year as a whole has been one big burnt offering. "Not my will but yours O God."

Thrill me to pieces. I got an email from pastor Aaron (sr. high pastor guy) and he said he and pastor Geoff (student ministries pastor) were discussing Zones and they have need of a teacher starting in January to teach 5-week sessions on WORSHIP. And they want me to consider it!!! Zone teachers rotate between groups and teach short sessions on topics, and then switch to another group and run the same thing again. Though i would desperately miss all the students in my zone, it's not like i will never see them... and i will probably end up coming back and teaching them because the senior class has already had this topic taught to them by someone else. So i wrote back right away and said absolutely i would be thrilled!

I asked him for more information, and told him more about our Prayer Solstice Idea.

It is going to be a great day. :)
(well, actually, all bets are off the minute i get to office max, but i can try my best.)

   [ posted  @ 9:58 AM | ]

Well it's monday!

The FALLEN ANGEL movie last night on CBS was very heartwarming. Nice movie. Glad i taped it. Normally i don't like movies that show things about homeless people but this was ok. It had a lot of snow in it!

I work from 1-close today... i am going to spend some time cleaning up around here. Never really finished yesterday. I gotta send in my planet wisdom registration to church since i was not there yesterday. That's the 1st wknd of December and i think for once they actually gave me off work for it. Should be fun. Last time i was at Roy Wilkin's Auditorium, we took a bunch of kids up there for Acquire the Fire ... (not a conference i would endorse anymore... very poorly run.)

Today i was thinking that this month is taking it's time to pass. For me it's really going by slooooooooowly!

   [ posted  @ 9:10 AM | ]

Update on the frames. They don't really fit but i hate returning stuff so i am going to trim things to make it work.

Boxes are back to the garage.

Tinsel and cards are not yet up. Maybe won't do that tonight.

Still snowing.

   [ posted  @ 4:41 PM | ]

This is the most blogs i know i ever did in a single day. I know it's retarded but i just get a kick out of myself... which must mean i'm healthy. OK.

Well i got my shoes on and went to Target (pronounced "Tahr-szhay") and they got crap for xmas there. Sorry. I should have braved the interstate and went the extra five miles to get me to walmart. I don't really like walmart for the whole busy-factor but their stuff is so much cheaper and easier to find. For example, i walked all over that stupid store and could not find plate hangers or a surge protector. My sister Amy (again, yes the cool one) got me these awesome plates last year for christmas and they are of these kids building a snow man. Each plate is different. All of 2003 i put off getting plate hangers for them and now i really want them and can't find them. I know i'm going to end up going to Pier One.

I bought 4 frames... two of them were for birthday cards that my sisters (amy, the cool one and terri the excited one!!) sent me for my birthday back in September. They are b&w and perfect for frames. I don't know if the ones i got will fit right. I didn't want to bring the cards with me because knowing clutzy me i'd drop them in the snow. I also bought a frame for a coke santa pic i got off ebay and another frame (this really cool rustic wood thing) for a pic my grampa took of a bobber making ripples in a pond. I don't know if that will fit either. My luck=it won't. I am writing this for a cliff hanger so i can tell you if they fit later. I know you are all dying to find out.

Target's selection of xmas cards was pathetic. I'll have to make a run to Hallmark. Also, i got christmas candy (don't ask me why i get that. I don't really eat candy... and it's not like i have tons of people, or any people over here to eat it. But if you really want to know, every year i buy the candy because i have two of the best little candy dishes that i like to put out. WHAT A LOSER.)

OK this loser is going to clean some more. Later i will be putting up the cards with the new scotch tape i bought, and watching some Hallmark Movie on CBS @ 7 pm.

   [ posted  @ 3:23 PM | ]

The tree is up... the tree is decorated. All that is left is the big lead-poison tinsel. I don't know if i am that ambitious. For some reason i am super tired today. Yes even after that nap.

I should just get up the energy and go to the store. I need some stuff to finish all of this up... scotch tape so i can hang my christmas cards. I save them from year to year and it makes what would appear to wall paper all over the the place. Usually i make it all the way around my door frames and around my big living room windows. By the time i am done with that, it is looking super cozy in here.

I am so glad it snowed. All day long i've been thinking about the quiz teams and how they are doing. I am SO ANXIOUS to hear how things went. I guess it's the first time in many moons that Crystal has hosted a quiz meet. Grr. Wish i could have been there. OK kt get over it.

Now playing: Christmas Eve on Seseme Street.

   [ posted  @ 1:37 PM | ]

I am tempted to put on my winter gear and hang lights on my porch. I have so many left over... I have never done that before... It would not be difficult to do... and i THINK there is a place to plug them in out there. Lots of blowing snow out there right now. I'd probably plug them in, and get electrocuted. BAM!

I'm watching Miracle on 34th St (black and white version.) That means so far today i've watched "House without a Christmas Tree," "I'll be Home for Christmas," "Rudolph," and the last half of "White Christmas."

And i still may make a trek out to Target to get some supplies... MAYBE.

   [ posted  @ 12:25 PM | ]

I took a two hour nap. Hmm. What does that meeeean?! I found a diner for my coca cola village that i forgot i had... tucked away in my kitchen closet. My tree is up. It is a pathetic excuse for a fake tree... I need to spend some more time shaping it and getting the big lights to stand up correctly. This one is really a very good looking tree when i take more time with it. It looks very real! But a lot of the lights are lying lazilly on their sides. I suspect i will have this all done today.

I have a mini tree that we used when i was in college which i normally do not put up. I may bring that one up here too! I have a lot of mini ornaments and left over lights that would make it look super cute.

As far as the snow... big time still snowing...! And the wind is really starting to pickup!

   [ posted  @ 11:23 AM | ]

Ahhhh the smell of pine (candles). It is turning into a virtual Christmas wonderland here in the apartment. I set up two villages already. My sister Amy (the cool one) had given me one of her old ones. It has a church, a house, and a gazebo thing with a ton of little people. That went on one of my bookshelves after i cleared off all the books. The coca cola one i bought is soooo cool. It has a gas station, department store, movie theater, train station, corner store, and pharmacy, plus a few cars. I could have got more pieces for that one but they are like 60 bucks a shot, and at the time i was collecting it i didn't have that kind of money! They came in the mail.

I got an email from Pastor Craig. He read my team notes from yesterday and is so excited. I was glad to hear from him because i needed a little encouragement from someone on staff that i'm headed in the right direction. I told him more about our prayer Solstice idea. I am sure he'll write more later.

The snow is starting to pick up, along with the WINDS. I am very thankful i made the choice to stay home.

   [ posted  @ 7:37 AM | ]

The snow is magnificent. I am going to try to let the fact that i'm stranded here today not wreck my day... I have spent the last 30 minutes hauling stuff up in the elevator. That was 3 trips full of stuff. If i can get an estimate of where i am putting everything then i can figure out what i need to get if i make a walmart or target run in a few hours. I wish wish wish wish i had a nice digital camera on a day like today because if you don't live here there is no way to describe a new snowfall. And i will never be able to figure out the people who don't like snow and cold. Never.

I know i will be blogging all day as i set up my xmas decs... sometimes i just need to SIT DOWN! One of my personal traditions is to have a christmas movie marathon while i do this. Typically by the time i get around to setting up my tree, i will be watching Preachers Wife and National Lampoons Christmas Vacation. Not sure what i am going to start off with this year. I keep looking out my window because I can't believe the snow and Christmas is finally here.
Wow!

   [ posted  @ 6:21 AM | ]

I am tempted to say that SNOW SUCKS but that is not true. This morning, I made it half way to church (i have a half hour drive) and my girly tires just could not hack it. I saw a car approach me really fast from behind... and then swerv (is that a word?) to the left and right, and stall and go into the ditch. I don't want to make my guardian angels work that hard... to protect me. I freaked out and turned around at the first intersection and headed home.

The roads are really bad because there is a nice layer of freezing drizzle on the bottom and they have not been plowed well yet, plus we are supposed to get 5-7 inches as the day goes on. I am soooooooooooo disappointed bc i have been promising these kids that i'd come watch them quiz for like 3 months and now i can't be there. We were only slated to do one song for jr. high so i don't care as much about that (besides, Steve L. wanted to lead really bad the last few weeks so he was a little excited to get my call which said i would not be able to make it in.)

I am sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo bumming right now. I mean i am going to use this day to set up my christmas stuff but i am super mega sad that i won't be able to see the quizzers. But as i was driving home part of me said maybe the thing will get cancelled anyways. I would not want to drive home in this later. It's bad enough i'm still shakey from watching that accident (and it only missing me by about 14 inches or so... whoa.) My little wimpy tires just can't hack this snow stuff. I'd rather watch the snow fall from the window of my apartment than from the window of my car as i'm stuck in some ditch. It would be kind of hard to blog from there.

BLOG: both a noun and a verb.

Can you think of some other words that are both a noun and a verb? Sure you can!

Anyways the snow is gorgeous. I just wish i was looking at it surrounded by the gang up at Crystal instead of stuck here.

   [ posted  @ 5:31 AM | ]

I want pumpkin pie and whip cream.

   [ posted  @ 6:29 PM | ]

Snow update. not really snowing. they said it is going to start later tonight... Kyle just called and said we need to set up the stage from scratch tomorrow morning because the cd release party that was held in the commons tonight really messed stuff up. And he needs to go home now and he's been working on putting it back together for an hour and a half by himself. That is a LOT of work. :)

   [ posted  @ 6:27 PM | ]

Don't know why i am posting this. Probably bc i want to. This is what i do!!!

11.22.3 EDGE SUNDAY WORSHIP TEAM MTNG

In Attendance: Steven L., Heather L., Bethany J., Adam P., Joanna M., Robby S., Kyle, Hannah S., Katie L.

1. Pray. Read Romans 12.

2. Read CEFC Student Ministry Core Purposes & Values
a. How does the above relate to what we are doing?
b. Each person share why you are here

3. What is a worship team? Answers: Team of worshippers who get together & love God. Have been given gifts, like the gift of leadership ability. Are willing to share their gifts. Lead people into God’s presence, so that people know God is in the room. Not there to be in the spotlight. They point the way to God. Not to show off ourselves. Called by God to help people come to a place of worship. Former leader Greg S. shared that he doesn’t like people looking up at him while he is on stage. He wanted people to be looking to Jesus.

a. Discussion about the fact that we are not the only ones shining the light… the entire congregation does this. There may be some in the “seats” that are leading worship as well. Differentiate between those God has gifted w/ leadership & those who are just really devoted worshippers.

b. Certain people have certain ministries because it is where they are gifted.

4. What is worship? How do we worship? Answers: Glorifying God. Bringing others to glorify God. Anything that lifts Jesus up. Worship in any situation. Katie shared Cyndi’s definition of “to glorify God” means to “give an accurate measure of” & how we know so little of God, that He is something we can’t really comprehend so it brings worship to a new sense of “awe.”

a. Discussion was given to the difference between styles of music being a ritual that we are comfortable “worshipping” in.

b. Katie drew a “not-equals to” math sign on a piece of paper and said to not equate worship with music. That music is only one of many tools we use to worship God.

c. Also, that worship, no matter in what form is a CHOICE we make… no matter what style or form the music may come in.

5. Tell me about Jr. High and leading worship for this jr. high church in worship? What is the spiritual “pulse” or “temperature” of the people we are ministering to? Answers: As a group, the girls seem closer to God. More girl leaders than guys. Guys are not stepping up to the plate. The group is “rigid” not “undignified.” Just not there yet. Many feel it is “uncool” to let loose. We want them to bust out of that. The guys play around too much and are just goofing off most of the time. Ideal situation would be to have only sr. high students lead worship. Katie shared that it would also help if the sr. high students who are not in the rotation that week to be “on stage” would lead worship from “the seats” instead, to encourage especially the guys to step up.

a. Discussion was centered on the fact that there is a MAJOR SHIFT/TRANSITION between the level of worship between 6th grade, and the leap to 7th grade. That it is a drastic and very uncomfortable switch… that the elementary church has in the past had really “baby” music and very simplistic songs, if any. Now that is being changed some, but it is still a huge leap. Geoff S. Jr. is helping make a change in this area by going and playing guitar for the younger kids so it is not such a huge jump when they get to jr. high.

b. Joanna talked about the Connections team that is used to integrate new students into the ministry as something that is developing.

6. What is the lift of a worship leader like? (Question skipped /saved for a future session.)

7. What are your expectations of this team/leadership? (Question also skipped & saved for a future discussion.)

8. Explain the rotation:

a. This is more than just showing up to “be amplified.” If you are not scheduled to be on stage that week, you are still expected to come to the team time and learn the music and contribute your ideas and partake in the devotions.

b. This is more than just being electronically “amplified.” It means that your heart is amplified to God and that your attitude is one of servanthood and that you will still lead worship from the seats if you are not on stage that week.

c. Discussion was given to taking your own spiritual pulse and sometimes it’s ok to have a week off to catch up on sleep, but if you are only making 2 of 5 practices, it is showing the rest of the team where your heart is at.

d. Discussion was also given as to your heart of worship, if you only want to come when you are scheduled to be on the stage, maybe you’re in this only to be a performer/ not a worship leader.

9. Explain recruitment for new members: There is no limit to the number of people we could have in rotation. Pastor Craig has final say and has to be involved in the selection process. Have to be willing to make practices. Kyle will make some of the final decisions on individual combo’s of voices so that we sound the best we can.

10. A few of Pastor Craig’s expectations of us as a team:

a. Music selection: familiar & upbeat songs

b. Involvement in leadership on and off stage – living a life of worship

c. This is not a “gig” but a ministry

11. Ideas for Sunday mornings

a. Play new songs in the time before Edge starts. This will bring familiarity to songs students may not have heard before we get to actually teach it to them.

b. Songs need to be picked a week in advance so we can work on them during the week.

c. Must be exuberant with our actions on stage; lead the clapping and motions to the songs.

d. Have announcements on the powerpoint and other scriptures to set the mood of worship before we begin.

12. We ended in prayer!!!

   [ posted  @ 6:25 PM | ]

"I have girl muscles."

I always try to use this excuse at work, because i don't like getting furniture or machines down from high places... but yesterday i had no boys in the store to rely on and it was on my list of things to do to make a bale (cardboard bale from the big huge compactor machine thing.) Anyways girl muscles don't quite suffice when it comes to opening the huge steel door that keeps the cardboard from popping out... There is a crank you have to pull, which is i guess a small wheel thing that you pull towards you and eventually it latches free and the door can swing open so you (me, in this case) can put the big bale wires around the thing and pop it out. (It is NOT that simple but i am just shortening the story bc i know none of you want to read how a bale is really made.)

Well when i got to work yesterday morning, the phone was ringing as i am pulling the gates up, and before i disarmed the alarm. It's one of my ppl calling in bc her mom's in the hospital (this happens @ least once a week; grr.) And when i get in the mgr's office, there is a note from my boss who closed the night before, apologizing for the "mess" that is in receiving. Well, when i get back there i find you can't even get to the back door because there is a sea of card board boxes all over the floor, and the gate is up like a sign you are supposed to make a bale. Well after i count in all the cash drawers and finish the regular morning checklist, it's about 7 a.m. (i got there at six bc my 5 a.m. guy doesn't work on Fridays anymore for some reason) and i have one hour to make a bale. So i turn on my boom box back there really loud to one of my mix cd's and put my rubber gloves on so i can try to pump up my girl muscles to open this stupid baler so i can get this done. Not usually a job you should do by yourself. But whatever.

Well i think i hurt my back bc between intermittent cuss words (sorry God) i could NOT get this thing open. I was on the verge of tears anyways, after an email i got from one of my students that morning before i left for work... she was going thru some rough stuff and i couldn't be there for her... and it was a stressful day already bc i knew were down two people already. I said "already" twice in that sentence. Oops.

Just when i was ready to burst, (emotionally, figuratively and literally with my girl muscles) i hear a male voice saying he brought me a present. It was my logistic's manager who has been gone for 3 weeks doing overnights at other stores. He was bringing me a special shelf for our telephones planogram... He came just in time to open the evil baler for me (though i hope he didn't hear me muttering bad words...) and then i whined and complained that i would never get the back cleaned up like i wanted it.

Anyways God sent someone right on time.

But, back to girl muscles... yeah as i was pulling and struggling with that stupid thing i definitely did something retarded to my back and my arms hurt. I know i am not in "shape" but this is worse. As this day goes on (Saturday) i am more and more sore. If i take a deep breath i'm like in pain! haha!

Workmans comp here i come. No, it's not that bad.

Snow update... not that much snow on the ground and it appears to have stopped snowing. The ground is mostly covered but it doesn't seem like it's really snowing anymore. Let me go run to the window and check. (How could you stop me?) Nope, it is calm out and no flakes are flying. Is that IT of the big storm???????????????

p.s. i really did end up getting Receiving cleaned up yesterday. I even swept and everything!! YAY! (Yay is a new word i am using...) Hint: ________silence/embedded-code-message______________. See YOU tomorrow!

   [ posted  @ 4:46 PM | ]

It is snowing finally!!! YAY!

I am very tired, despite expresso... The team gab session was a hit... though by the end some of the younger onez starting getting very restless. I keep forgetting to mix things up and get them on their feet sometimes. Oh well. I will remember for next time. Who was there: Steve, Adam (only for a few minutes), Kyle, Robby, Hannah, Bethany, Joanna, and Heather. We were missing a few... Jenna, Kirstin, Liz, Kenton...

I wish i had the energy to type out everything we talked about. I will post it when i am done typing out my notes for Pastor Craig, probably in a few hours. I need to write up some music sheets for tomorrow though so i should get at that now while i am still semi-awake. I will not be dragging up xmas dec.s, because i just don't feel like it. I would rather work on some music while it's fresh in my mind.

And did go to Cub (the one in Plymouth, not Shakopee*gag*) and got a few staples like pizza and cereal to tide me over for a few days. My roof is now WHITE (i can see it because i am way up high and can look out my window and see the other side of the apt. building which jets out and so that means i can see that it is covered) and a little tiny coating of snow has gathered on the grass. I see the weather forecasts that my family is getting rain today. Poor poor wisconsin cheese heads.

Did i mention that i was TIRED? I can't wait to get back to church tomorrow to see my peeps that i didn't get to see today: Alyssa, Kirstin, anyone in my zone or edge groups, Jenna, yeah yeah blah blah. Maybe i'll get stranded there. That would be interesting. Where would i STAY? I'd probably pick the millers bc they have like 600 kids and would not notice one extra set of lungs breathing.

HA!

OK i am off to get out my guitar.

   [ posted  @ 2:35 PM | ]

BRING ON THE SNOW!!! Minnesota is gearing up for a major winter storm. In the twin cities where i live, we're under a winter storm watch; north of the Cities is a winter storm warning. It is supposed to start snowing this afternoon and keep snowing thru Tuesday.

I am headed up to church in about 90 minutes to meet with my developing music team for jr. high -- i have no idea who is coming... It's too hard to make 50 phone calls rounding up people when most of the time they are not home anyways. And not all of them returned my e-mail. We are just going to meet for a gab session and get some ideas and standards down on the table... someone else is using the Commons where we originally planned on practicing, but i think this is much better because worship is a whole lot more than music.

So i have some teaching prepared.

Last night i cleaned off my desks... in prep for Christmas... that took a few hours. I started to set up my village with the view pieces i had up here. The rest is in my locker down in the parking garage. I am pretty sure after i go to church today i'll get some groceries and then start hauling that stuff up here. Today and tomorrow may be my best shot to get the decorations started. Besides, it will be snowing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Tomorrow Crystal is hosting a bible quiz meet. GO WHOPPERS! I will hang out and watch that as long as i can. Hopefully that long drive won't trip me up as far as the weather conditions. My drive is all on the free way so i'm not too concerned about it.

I got a lot of sleep between Thursday night and as long as i slept last night. Starting to feel better... though i need to make a Caribou run here in a little bit when i go do my fast food stint for the day... No food in my cupboards... Yuck. I am also out of CEREAL! How could i let this happen???! I think i have one can of veggie beef in there... and beyond that a few little apple sauce container things and not much else. I hate making food for myself!

Just looked out the windows again. Still no flakes falling. Soon, soon.

   [ posted  @ 8:37 AM | ]

THIS WEEK'S FRIDAY FIVE:

1. List five things you'd like to accomplish by the end of the year.

e. fix my return-to-vendor 's at work
d. put up my christmas decorations
c. get my hair trimmed
b. see a ton of snow
a. go home for Christmas

2. List five people you've lost contact with that you'd like to hear from again.

e. Christa Miles
d. Carmen Miles(Chase)
c. Justin Miles
b. that one guy i had a crush on LOL
a. Steph Hensen

3. List five things you'd like to learn how to do.

e. Control my tongue
d. Make cool web designs like most of the people in my blog column
c. Obey the first time
b. be more brave
a. get rich

4. List five things you'd do if you won the lottery (no limit).

e. get rich
d. duh
c. give $$ to missions
b. send my parents OUT OF THE HOUSE on some cool trip
a. get a dog, dvd recorder (teevo thing), new car with monster huge speakers, a little bigger house with rooms for my family to stay in so they'll come visit me, cheese curds, a personal trainer, Nintendo stuff, Taylor guitar (acoustic/electric) and other fun stuff

5. List five things you do that help you relax.

a. taco bell
b. watch tv
c. watch snow/Christmas-related anything
d. sleep
e. read

   [ posted  @ 1:24 PM | ]

O.K. Well it has been a loaded few days... So much on my mind. I can't really talk about it on here i guess (one of you who reads this i know will know what i am talking about...). But to that one person i just want to say... be careful not to attribute to satan that which is the actual work of God... I'm at a point in my life again where i'm going thru a correction phase and it seems like God has all sorts of hedges up around me... even the appearances we sometimes keep can get us into trouble. Yeah. Like at work... if i forget to double sign a cash bag, i get called in for it. If i get caught taking out the garbage alone, i get called in for it. If i put something out and don't label it, I get called in for it. I can't get away with anything, even when most of the time it was just me being stupid and not thinking about what i was doing...

I used to be a youth pastor at a supersmall church. All we had was three or four teens by the time i left, and i got really used to relational contact in small groups; even one-on-ones because sometimes that is the only person available to meet for bible study or the only one who showed up to an event. It wasn't the way we as a church WANTED IT, but sometimes you just have to "start somewhere." Well now i'm volunteering at a superbig church... extreme opposite from the church i went to, and i'm working with teens. But the habit i had developed of one-on-one talks and such is not tolerated (for very good reasons, which i support.) Pastor Geoff (the dude who oversees all the youth ministries) called me in on Wed. night and just talked about boundaries and how i need to protect myself from potential accusations and such... like me taking Kyle out to lunch on Sunday was a no-no because we were alone in the car... And stuff like that. It was a very quick conversation -- i totally appreciated it and thanked him for it and he made himself very clear. (It's not like i never had to deal with my lack of boundaries in the past... funny how those things come and go in a spiral). And i totally agree w/ him ... and won't let that happen again. I'd rather do stuff in groups anyways, it's just that my mind set is so "small" i forget to think of stuff like that anymore.

But the morning after that, since i've been reading thru Hebrews, it was my day to read ch. 12, and that chapter talks about the Lord disciplining those He loves... for our own benefit. I've been feeling really LOW and stupid and just kind of humiliated about the whole thing bc i totally would never want to put anyone in an awkward position... gee! Talk about getting knocked down a peg or two... Or ten. My friends in ministry who read this blog know that it is a sticky situation... a controversial subject; one that should be dealt with in every student ministry.

I walked a little softer today, ate a little less (feeling a little sick to my stomach) and talked a little quieter. Do you ever do something so stupid and kick yourself later for it? I would never want to jeapordize being able to work with these students because of some stupid thing like driving one of them home alone... or whatever. Keeping myself above suspicion... gee. Ahhhck.

On a lighter note... i got off of work just in time today. We are caught up putting away the truck finally and i asked if i could come back in tonight to fix up the returns, but they said no bc i've got too much overtime and they "don't want me to burn out." I laughed bc it stresses me out to think of all that is left undone... waiting for me next week! HA!

   [ posted  @ 1:10 PM | ]

Dude. Michael Jackson is a freak.

As much press as you are going to read in the next few weeks, i just guess all i can say is that instead of hating him, or throwing insults... i'll just pray for him. He needs the real Jesus to please stand up.

   [ posted  @ 2:26 PM | ]

I was so excited about Christmas a few weeks ago. I've totally lost it. No snow... very busy... hate my job... no ambition or energy to put up my tree. Grr. Doesn't seem like the season @ all.

I say that i hate my job. As i was stocking inkjetcartidges waaaaaay up high in our lock-up room today, the thought hit me that the more i say that i hate my job, the more i am totally spitting in God's face for the way He provided for me that at least i have a job. And even my "at least" is a slap in the face to him. I'd better start being thankful and changing my attitude or i already know this lesson in humility and brokenness is going to last a loooooooooooooong time.

"When you want to hear God laugh, just tell Him your plans."

"Humility is the one quality that once you 'know' you have it, you've lost it."

   [ posted  @ 1:43 PM | ]

True Lies came and did a great presentation at MediaZone for our student ministires last night. It was very thorough... in the short time he had, he gave a lot of info. It was interesting for a few reasons because according to our student surveys, the media choices made by most of these kids (unless the surveys were untruthful?) are for the most part very clean and PG-rated (this is for 7-12th grade.) Most music choices were Christian (with Switchfoot and Relient K being the top favorite bands!!) and the movie choices were family friendly. But anyways it was a youth/parent night to address the secular media and what it contains and stuff like That 70's Show, DMX, Brittney Spears, etc. and what it teaches.

I think it was really well done (except for quite a few media clips that didn't work...) and i'd recommend them to those of you who are looking to educate your churches about the media in an intense but christ-centered manner. And another thing he did a good job of was presenting a lot of alternatives like in music or whatever (stuff like if you like ____ you'll like ____ as an alternative.)

   [ posted  @ 1:13 PM | ]

Something happened two days ago that i forgot to report and this was a pivitoal life changing moment for me.

You must realize... I always hated math. Still do. Grew up and hated math. And when i had to take Algebra, i always swore as i was learning it (i guess swore meaning both ways of swearing!) that i would NEVER use any of that crap in real life. And when i got to college, i was so sucky at math that i had to take remedial algebra (041) which didn't even count for credit. But my professor ROCKED and i got an "A" for the first time ever in math. Anyways...

Two days ago i was working with a new trainee in receiving about inventory control. When dealing with corporate generated recalls, you do your best to find how ever many items of each SKU the system says you have. Let's say you're looking for 14 photo albums of one style but you can only find 12. Before you send it back, the inventory must be adjusted or you'll get residual dollars which will generate a bad report and all that stuff. Now if the system says you have 14 but you find 20, it also has to be adjusted. Anyways i was drawing out all these charts to try to explain how to do this for this girl from Guatamala, who really is having difficulty with numbers and stuff. And i was showing her how if you key an RTV without adjusting the inventory, you'll get negative inventory etc. Anyways, it required real time equations!! And i FREAKED OUT!

I started screaming because here i was using ALGEBRA! YUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK! Certain adjustments affect inventory for the + or - , and drawing charts and it was sickening. GRR.

HAHA~!!

   [ posted  @ 1:03 PM | ]

Well that huge crush i had on that one guy... the whole date thing... yeah. I've been relegated to his lengthy 'FWD' email list... Get emails from him only fwd's (which are funny but if you ONLY get that from a person... that says a whole lot.) and i'm just one of like 50 people it's fwd'd to... And a call last night which i didn't answer bc i was sleeping w/ him leaving no voicemail... ok i basically understand what's going on. Oh well. Life has other things to offer me and having a crush was fun for a little while anyways. KT is somewhat sad, but i'm over it. Really, i am.

Onto other news... how about them CHEESE CURDS??!!

Last night i spent some time organizing my worship songs... from the past 3 churches i've served in. That was a lot of music. Some i've completely forgot about and want to dig up again. Very cool.

Today at work RULED bc Alyssa (1 of my students) prayed for me and i know God did miracles... and here are some of those miracles. An additional manager showed up 10 minutes before the store was to open, which i had not known he was scheduled, so i got to get EVERYTHING done that i needed. Mind you, i did in 3 hours that which 3 people besides me had not been able to accomplish in THREE DAYS because they are so uneducated, so retarded, so lazy and so.... ok. "Untrained" would be the politically correct term to use, of assuming the responsibility as a supervisor, but i'll just call a spade a spade and say i work with mostly idiots in the morning. (Give me any of the night people who are in high school and they could get it done!) And i prayed our big 800 piece truck would not get there until after i left. And it was scheduled to arrive at 1:30 and as of 2:45 when i left, it was still not there. Another MIRACLE! Usually it is a few hours early.

I worked SOOOOOOO hard. My boss has had the last two days off but i told him all i told the crew about yesterday and he said the next thing is taking the formal action of writing Pat up. And he explained how to do that. And i am planning on doing that the next time he underperforms. I want that dork off my crew! And then Izzy (bossman) gave me another pep talk about how i am so ready to be a manager and i'm making great decisions and have grown SO MUCH since i was promoted (which Hector told me the same thing...) and i agree. I have really stepped up and taken a lot of leadership and am making big timey decisions.

Then, he said my attitude is getting better... for which i just let out a huge laugh... because i know it has never been worse. But he said in essence i am being promoted to Logistics Manager because Mike will be gone (and what he doesn't know is that Mike is planning to step down after he's back from baby-leave in January...) and i just laughed at him again. Oh well. More money, please.

Then, Kyle (prayer inspiration dude i mentioned a few days ago) reported to me yesterday that he has started the buzz talk at the E.C. about our prayer idea and so far Jamie and Pastor Craig love the idea!!! I knew it!

We have MediaZone tonight... which i'll tell you about tomorrow.

   [ posted  @ 1:52 PM | ]

Next week is Thanksgiving already. Many people have commented on this, but i can't believe how fast this year went. Especially these last few months. NEVER did i think i'd still be at office max at this time. Holy cow dot com. Grr.

Had a terrific night @ Lyss's last night. Did some girl talk and read the bible together and prayed and i got to meet her dad and he's super cool. whoo hoo

Before the store opened today i REAMED my 3 morning crew out so bad. I had to be a jerk... i wear the title well... and i know they all pretty much hate me... I almost made shannon cry but i don't care. I told them we are the worst performing crew in the whole store, and that they have got to step it up and start PICKING UP THEIR FEET and quit waiting for someone else to do their work... It's not fair to keep asking the night people to do our work. (I say "our" to try to lessen the blows but i mean "their" all the way.) I said i am sick of staying late to pick up their messes, and sick of making excuses for them. I read them the riot act in a big way. Doesn't make me feel one ounce better. And i could tell they performed worse after that. (I believe affirmation is a much better motivator, but as i told them, i can't think of anything good to say about them or to them!) I told them i'm so sick of it that i am going to come down so hard on them until they either crack and LEAVE or step it up and totally start to excell.

Whatever. I had to give the speech at least so i can tell my boss it's been done... it won't change a thing. Nothing changes bc nothing changes there. But change happens all the time and we are not keeping up with it.

OK on to other topics... maybe later.

   [ posted  @ 2:32 PM | ]

Yo PEEPS! This is kt.

Church yesterday ruled the universe. First of all... combined 4 or 5 choirs and Pastor Jeff's arrangement of Newboys HE REIGNS with string orchestra etc. was AMAZING! No way to describe it. The service i attended got a standing O, in the middle of the song... very amazing rendition. And the youth were smack dab in the middle. Just ELECTRIC! Combined w/ adult choir and two of the children's choirs... totally amazing!

Then we are experiencing a breakthru for jr. high... which is called E.D.G.E. (EveryDay God Experience). And what i do is do one song and then open the mic for testimonies of their "EDGE" stories... And then finish with 2 songs. The first couple of weeks it was kind of like pulling teeth, so i had to have some "plants" out there who i knew would talk. But Yesterday, 3 girls got up on their own. These little tiny-put-them-in-your-pocket jr. high 7th graders on their own came up to the mic and shared really deep stuff. Two of them about friends who had died and stuff. And how God shined thru for them. Just awesome. We're on a series regarding WORSHIP right now... and it's all cool.

Then i was actually on my way out the door. Jacket on, guitar in hand. Ready to head home w/ no intention of coming back last night bc i wanted to get my laundry done and go to bed early. But Pastor Craig called a meeting of me and two of the guys in the band so we could discuss how things are going for jr. high worship and such. So i loved to stay and we talked for about a half hour. Then, Kyle, my sound guy (he's in high school) came into the room and joined us, everyone was giving ideas and just excited about stuff. The other two guys had to leave and Kyle and i ended up talking about prayer and prayer services and when i drove him home, he was locked out so since the conversation was flowing, i took him out to lunch and we wrote up two country kitchen placemats full of ideas for this awesome thing we want to do for the whole youth ministry.

It all started by him sharing that his grandma, who when she was alive was 75 years old with bad arthritis and many diseases and how she would pray and read her bible on her knees for 2 hours every day. And how that stuck with him. And how he would come to visit her and watch her pray with tears streaking down her cheeks. And he'd say, "Grandma, who are you praying for?" And she'd day "Kyle i pray for you, and your brother, and your mom and dad..." and how cool is that??????!!!!!!! And he said "Why could she pray for 2 hours a day on her knees at 75 years old, with all these back problems, in major pain, and we can't even pray for 5 minutes without getting bored or distracted or wanting to go do something else?"

Then i told Kyle of a missionary that came to my church before who was from some African country where they have Friday night prayer meetings that are ALL NIGHT LONG where it's weeping and wailing and crying out to God NON STOP for hours on end... and How the American church has been so spoiled we don't do things like that. And i told him about how in high school, my youth group was 3 people. Me and the two pastor's kids. And how on Wednesday nights for a solid year we met in the dark in the youth room on our knees with my guitar and sat and prayed and worshipped for 2 and a half hours every Wed. night just praying for Revival. And that, it never happened while we were there, but that all 3 of us ended up in ministry! So that led to me asking him if the youth have ever had extended prayer services like that.

And thru us was started a total God-idea rant about a revolution that could happen here... As most of the students i would say are into God and are totally committed to him... just kind of spinning their wheels. What we could do is something i'm entitling "PRAYER SOLSTICE" or something like that with the word 'SOLSTICE.' Candle-light postmodern unstructured night of prayer. Come when you can stay as long as you want (i said i'd stay up all night if kids wanted to pray till breakfast, or longer! I said what if we start on a Friday night and are still there when church starts on Sunday??!!) Which made him freak out even more just at the thought of it.

And here's what we'd do.

Have the cross on the stage where the worship band usually is, illuminated. The colored canned lights on the walls -- candle light around the room in the commons (part of the PowerHouse), and couches, chairs and prayer stations set up around the room with bibles, devotions, prayer cards and stuff where kids could just come and meditate. And then since some people worship with their art, i said let's get canvas scraps and art materials, and set up tables with paints and crayons and newsprint paper and stuff like that and make a group mural (in silence) while we are praying if you get inspired just go draw or write a poem of your worship to God. And have the multimedia power point scroll on the screen of constant scripture and questions to meditate on like "Who is the holy spirit" or "What is God doing in your life?" or "How can God move a mountain for me?" And have those things flashing on the screens with soft worship music playing on the CD thru the speakers. OMG we were just FREAKING OUT all the ideas that were coming to us! Names and faces who would want to do it......................... just totally giddy! And this was a new experience for Kyle in general bc the Spirit never hit him like this with an idea before and he was so fired up about it, which got me fired up about it...

I love seeing the light CLICK on in an student's mind when they start thinking totally outside of the walls and outside of themselves... and i was saying how it could be such a catalyst for something amazing. So our next step is to pitch it to the youth pastors, and see what they think... which i can't imagine why they wouldn't love it. And when we were talking about it, i didn't have the definition of SOLSTICE. Only the word came to my head... So we were writing down all this stuff on these Country Kitchen placemats and i said "we have to get back to the E.C. (extended campus, where the youth facilities are for church) so i can look up this word in the dictionary, because i think it has real significance." All i could think of was that it might mean darkness, and i was thinking that the winter solstice is the longest night of the year... and how prayer takes us thru the darkest part of our lives. It was not a thought fully formed, but i couldn't wait to get back there. By now, it's 4:00 and Kyle had to be back to run sound for the sr. high band, and it was loooong past the time when i thought i'd be home by now.

So then i get back to the E.C. and we find a huge dictionary. And i thumb thru the pages till i get to the word SOLSTICE. And the first thing it says is "The Sun." and then it said something about "To stand, and stare." And i'm starting to super duper big time freak out and i'm screaming for Kyle to get in there and see it (he was talking to Pastor Aaron) and i couldn't even read the rest of the definition bc right away it was fitting. And another part of the definition was to stand still and just be still. And it also means the highest point, or culmination... the thing at which something culminates. IS THAT NOT PRAYER????????????????????????????? So right away we started getting total God-confirmation here that we are on the right track. How can anyone not believe in God???? That's what i want to know.

Now, it's 4:30 and i for sure thought i'd be resting at home by now. But Pastor Aaron asked me and Kyle to help take down the stage because he was just going to do a solo deal with worship leading, just him and his guitar. So we had to start taking down the drums and bongo drums and keyboards and umteen million mic stands and music stands all went back into this little room. And i realized since it was almost 5 (that's when SunZone starts on Sun. nights) i might as well stay... even though most of my peeps that i knew well were on that quizzing trip. I thought oh well, kt, stay and get to know more people. So i did.

Right off the bat (keeping in mind, we have shared nothing of what we wanted to do with anyone.) Pastor Geoff called everyone in and sat us down (well we sat ourselves) and the lights went down, canned colored lights went up, and he called a "family meeting" and said we are going to talk about some stuff tonight... and share our hurts and struggles. And he lit one candle on a pillar (exactly how me and Kyle were talking about doing it) and sat on a stool and just shared that it's time to come clean as a family unit with each other and confess our sins and stuff. And he started off, and then opened the floor and one by one, many of the students broke open and shared their closets with everyone, asking for forgiveness. And then after you shared, someone would pray for you! That went on for about 90 minutes then we had a time of acoustic worship; real simple... and i was sitting in the middle of this big croud of preppy sr. high students... all awesome kids so proud of them... so GLAD to be a part of a broken church... so HAPPY! Knowing we're on the right track.

Finally i did leave around 7 i think, taking a student over to the main campus so he could go to a FaithSearch session and then came home and crashed! What a day!!!

   [ posted  @ 1:51 PM | ]

Yo, peeps.

Stupid day at work. Let's not talk about that...

So, what else is there left? Getting songs ready for church tomorrow. I am so tired! Didn't get to sleep until after 2 and had to be back to work at 8... it was a busy day; just tired. Most of my students are on a bible quiz meet in Rockford, IL - so they are not around; and the rest except for a handful in the band are going to be singing as the youth choir tomorrow. I cannot wait to see them. They are SOOOOOOOOO Good! And there are a lot of other students i just don't know yet. But i am thinking about them and that is why i wrote this in here.

Also was thinking along a little darker thoughts today... got wind of some misbehavior of one of my teenage associates at work ... a girl who would appear on the outside as a straight-A smart, fun loving young lady... that she is messed up with illegal drugs and is into the whole cutting/ suicidal practices. Though i am her supervisor, I view my workplace as a mission field and ministry as well, and most of the kids i work with are teens, and i do take them under my wing to a certain extent... they put up with a lot of God-talk (today i was musing on the creator of the whole universe, born in a stable...) but i think they like it... Anyways this girl has a lot of issues i would not have known about and part of my morning was spent bumming and heavy-hearted after what i heard. (May just have been gossip but i think it was true.)

Then, that made me think WHAT IS THE DEALY,YO with all this teenage CUTTING stuff? It really bothers me. It's like this horrendous epidemic. I dealt with a student at River of Life who was on medication for that "disorder" and had her body just carved up with cuttings and scars and she'd pick at her scabs over and over just to bleed and feel and ... wow. Really disturbing. When did that start? I mean, i know it's been around for ages (people doing that) but it's kind of like a wave right now of the "in" thing or something. I can't really understand it at all. When that student was tight with Jesus, she did not cut, and she lived way more healthy. I have seen news reports about this problem, and i know a lot of it is just attention getting and a cry for help... Teenagers are going thru all this pain and trauma of growing up and want to let the pain out somehow... and want to feel reality... because everything around them is virtual... nothing is real. So is that why they would turn to cut themselves with a KNIFE just to feel something real and lasting? Man that is so messed up. Totally breaks my heart. There are a lot of spiritual applications there i guess but overall it just sickens me and makes me look around at people in a different light... so many hurting. So many lonely and so few Christians who give a CRAP to reach out and help any one of them. Hmph.

It is a cold wet rainy cloudy foggy day. Just the kind to feed these thoughts...

   [ posted  @ 3:13 PM | ]

We all knew they'd do it, but now that it's getting to be Thanksgiving time, this story takes on real significance... Isn't religious freedom one of the reasons our country was founded? And now they are taking it away. GRRRR!

Other sources have confirmed that no, it was not a dream, there really were snow flurries yesterday... So that is a great thing. Today it is boring and sunny and calm out. Yuck. I want snow!!!!!!!!!!!

AHHHHHH! A ton of my students are going away for the weekend to Rockford, IL for a Bible Quiz meet thingee and i am going to be bumming! I am freaking out bc i will miss them a lot. Not even getting to see them on Sunday. :( I found out two of our Zone guys wanted to switch to the other sophomore Zone group. I am sad about that bc they are COOL but also glad that they are not just dropping out all together. Last night was a lot of fun. We played "imaginif" and Carrie taught on Holiness. I got a ton of hugs which i needed and a lot of i-love-you's and such things girls go nuts over. We won't have Zone for two weeks now but there will still be stuff going on @ church.

Let's see what else is going on around here. I am trying to figure out when i will put up my xmas decs... i just have no idea. This weekend i'll be gone working or @ church and then the weekend after that is a lot of church stuff (i can't waiiiit!) and then it's turkey day already. That may actually be a good day for me to do it bc i'm stuck here alone! But it normally takes me two days or so.

Go eat some cheese curds!

   [ posted  @ 12:30 PM | ]

Some day, if i get rich (which is a very high likelihood working at OfficeMax, and all...) i want to get that moblogging svc which lets you blog from remote locations using your phone and you can put pix and sound up on your site. That way i could share all my music with you. I am sure you have to pay bookah for that and i don't care that much about it now. And also, it would be cool to have a really professional looking background... yeah a picture of ME! Just kidding. I love love love the Christmas theme. Jay rules.

Then again, if i was rich, i'd also get wireless internet so i could take my laptop in the bedroom and use this in bed so i would never have to get up... i'd sleep w/ my guitar and laptop and watch tv all day long!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OK i'm a loser. Goodbye.

   [ posted  @ 2:59 PM | ]

So i woke up around noon and looked out the window and there was a crazy blizzard going on. As far as i know, this was not a dream. Crazy windy and big monster flakes flying EVERYWHERE. Like a whiteout. Nothing was sticking on the ground. I turned on the news (as i was up to get a glass of water) and it said winter weather advisory and blizzard advisory for northern MN and i was freaking out but not enough to stay awake and i was all excited.

Then i got up at 3 (for good) saw that it's green and still outside. Talk about a let-down. Boringness.

I've been working on this new song that i am using a new chord Pastor Aaron showed me... it's an "E2" or "E/G#" which is very cool sounding but kind of tricky. You put your first finger on the 6th string, 4th fret and lay that over the 5th string just enough to mute it. Then fingers 2 & 3 are on the same fret but on the 4th and 3rd string. The rest is open. I alternate that with a "A/B" chord (open A) and it sounds really nifty. Plus i put it capo4 so it's a whole new key for me. I have learned so much guitar since going to Crystal. And i thought i knew pretty much all there is to know.

Then again, it's funny on Sunday mornings bc i am finding the holes in what THEY know because i use a lot of minor7th chords and these kids don't use those at all. So i had music in the key of F (so i can play in G with no capo bc i use "D-tuning") and when i had a Dm7 and a Gm, these kids had no idea what to do. So i do see some flaws in their own music theory but it's good bc we learn from each other. Lesson learned: you can't do every song in the key of E. But i never used to play in E and now i do all the time.

Anyways we were using that E/G# in a song called "You Alone" by the vineyard which has to have been out for at least 10 years but it's really cool. Fun to sing.

Jim (one of my boss-men) was giving me a subtle hard time bc i am not coming in to work tonight. But he wrote the schedule and only scheduled me around 30 hours and only 4 days. Very weird. He has scribbled on there that i should come in 8+ extra hours (which i did 7 of those last night) but i am taking this as a very much needed break and am just going to go in early tomorrow to make up for it and work like a 4-to-4 or something. As long as i get to eat, i'm ok to stay there as long as i want, but if i start to get hungry all bets are off. (I usually stop at Subway and get a sandwich to take w/ me.)

Speaking of Subway, have you tried the new Fiesta Turkey? Well it's not so new anymore but it comes w/ guacamole on it and crunched up tortilla chips. Super nummy. But eat it right away. That isn't going to "keep" in the fridge for long. [But one of the chix there told me that the sandwiches can be kept longer in the fridge like over night if you don't wrap them but leave them open faced in the fridge, which keeps them from getting too soggy. This works!]

This blog entry is meaningless and if you've read this far, that's nice of you. Tonight i'm going to finish my xmas list for my 'rents after Zone. Only 1 hour and 20 min. till i leave for Zone can't wait can't wait can't wait.

   [ posted  @ 2:49 PM | ]

I worked 13.25 hours on an overnight last night. The nights fly by so fast and i much prefer that to customer service anyday. We're in the middle of taking all the inkjet cartridges from lock-up to the shelves where customers can help themselves to it. Good idea. But that means that about 2/3 of our store is moving around and that's always fun. Bad time of year to do this. But we have ppl from other stores helping. I'm only scheduled to do two overnights this week. I thought it was the whole week but whatever. I won't complain.

So anyways, shannon gets there and she's this little weakling of a girl who is on all sorts of medication for trying to have a baby and such and she's a wuss to begin with. So after 1 hour of getting there she's panting and huffing and her face is all blotchy and she looks like she's ready to kick the can because she had to lift shelves ... something all of us have been doing all night with out a break. And she comes up to me and asks if it's ok after she moves this one last shelf if she could go outside to cool off. I just looked in her direction (no eye contact means less respect: oops.) and laughed and said you can do whatever you want. I don't care. I've been here 13 hours w/ out a break and i'm not the manager on duty and i could care less what you do... And then she started apologizing bc she knows if she couldn't stand it for one hour, how could i do it all night. And i just said well Shannon, God makes everyone special and some people are cut out for this and some are not. I come here with the attitude that we're going to work tremendously hard and get a lot done and then i suggested she try some energy drinks. And then i walked off.

God did make some people very "special" that's for sure.

OK so i have to get tired soon bc the sooner i go to sleep, the sooner i can get up and go to Zone tonight!!!!!!!!!! I miss my kids!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

   [ posted  @ 6:07 AM | ]

I finally got to take Alyssa out on a Caribou date tonight and that ruled my day... She's one of the students in my Wed. night Zone group. Kept her out a tad too long and her mom came looking for her. Gotta watch the clock when working with students. I didn't forget and knew better but it's hard bc i am enjoying getting to know her a lot and we were on a roll w/ the conversation. For some reason the drive up to Plymouth seems a lot shorter taking 494 instead of 169 to Rockford Road. I guess that won't help me in getting to church but it was cool no matter what.

   [ posted  @ 8:45 PM | ]

I like "Alieve."

Yesterday I got out of my car after church (the 1st of the 2 times i went) and stepped wrong w/ my right foot and totally like spaz twisted my ankle. OMG. I would have been more embarrassed as i totally tripped and almost fell down holding my stupid soda but i don't think anyone saw me as our parking garage is not a hotbed of activity with all the ELDERLY that live here. I think one old man very far may have seen me but i tried to right my step and then just chill for a second to get my bearings.

Anyways the ultimate pain began more as the night wore on. First of all, at sr. high sunzone, for some odd reason (well i can think of a few normal reasons) they don't use chairs. Kids worship moshpit style all crammed in the room and spread out or spread together or whatever, and then during the teaching part we sit on the floor. The only problem with that is that i like to sit amongst the kids and by my favorite buddies and stuff, not on chairs by the wall like the "adults" do, who don't seem to really interact at all but are just there. (Weird. Why come?) And so my circulation in my legs has never been a glorious thing to behold, so the whole time AC was teaching, i was pretty much in pain just bc my leg kept falling asleep (but Ashley told me her legs were asleep too and she's like only 15 so i didn't feel too ancient) and plus the ankel problem that i have already mentioned.

Then at night bedtime, i woke up in my 100x of waking up each night which is normal, but last night was the worst because i really thought maybe i should go get my ankle looked at bc i was just totally tremendously in pain could not sleep. Then on top of it i am back to having my bad dreams about people i love emotionally wounding me in a big way (quite a re-occuring theme when i am beginning new friendships, which right now i have a ton of bc of youth ministry) and by 4:00 a.m. i gave up, got up and took two Alieve pills and they did the trick. So after checking my email and just coming out in the living room to shake off the MEGARETARD dreams i was having, by the time i got back to sleep the pain was cleared.

So, two lessons learned: first, try not to spaz twist your own ankle bc you could really hurt yourself. (And, as i am now aging more and more everyday ...... bones get brittle and i could wind up in the hospital with some type of a broken hip which would suck bc i am uninsured.) And, 2nd, take Alieve. It works good.

Thank you.

   [ posted  @ 8:37 PM | ]

I actually have some things to blog about today...

First off, the Sarah McLachlan / Avril concert on Oxygen network last night was totally tape-worthy and i did just that and got up this morning and grabbed my guitar and played for awhile with the tape... so great! Sarah even did "push" and "ice cream" -- two of my faves. I did figure that she uses ultra-weird guitar tuning bc i couldn't figure out what she was playing, and where she put her capo is way different than anyone i've ever seen. Which is good. The more i learn, the less i stay the same. OK that was a stupid quote.

Then, i went to get my oil changed and tires rotated today and bc i am a stupid girl, i always end up paying over $100 for a routine oil change bc there is always some stupid injection thing they have to perform. Well whatever. I'm too scared not to get it done. But when i get ahead financially i'm going to get AAA so that i quit worrying. But anyways, it is amazing how a cross-section of America was sitting in that busy waiting room ...

The 2 angry business men who are in a hurry (never get an oil change when you're in a hurry. In fact, never do anything that depends on customer service when you're in a hurry.) and were grumpy and huffy. Then there's the talkative woman who must have had too much coffee talking to the guy next to her (did they come together? they left together...) and me who is generally in a good mood when i have to depend on customer service bc of my vocation, and i was reading Newsweek. One of the angry business men got up and stood at the counter waiting for someone to ring him out, and then he busted into the garage and yelled, "Is someone going to ring me up or do i just have to leave?" So someone ran in and helped him... but i was laughing inside bc what are you going to do? Jump in the car while it's getting fixed in the garage and drive off w/ it unfinished? Stupid.

Then, there's possibly the best (worst?) news yet... the Caribou across the street is now open and it has a drive thru. That means they are guanteed the very best business in town, even though there are maybe 7 other coffee joints. Drive thru... great idea. And that drive thru means 4 bucks a crack everytime i stop there. :)

   [ posted  @ 12:08 PM | ]

I witnessed an accident today... and didn't stop. Am i a criminal? I was watching in my rear view mirror and this car just totally jerked to the right, right off the interstate (169) right to the ditch and slammed into the hill! It was the craziest thing to see... i've never seen something like that before. Immediately, another car went the other direction to the left, and turned around. I was going to dial 911 but didn't even do that. It's one of those things you figure someone else will do and you don't want to get involved. Why are some people's reflexes like mine and keep driving and some will slam on their brakes and get out and try to help... hmm. Makes you think.

Church was incredibly amazing and i got lots of hugs and told everyone how much i love them and missed them and i am going back tonight so i should think about leaving in a little bit. I didn't hardly get to see any of my sr. high kidlings so i need to go see them. And i hope to be able to talk to Alyssa some tonight... since i didn't even see her @ all at all at all at all... Plus i need to fill up with gas and such. ok.

We had ---4---- singers today... all girls incl. me. That was a little much but it worked. Good time!!!!!!!!! And our new drummer RULES!

   [ posted  @ 1:27 PM | ]

Oh, by the way, MSU won 3-2 and the pep band played "Skater Boi" at one point... Go AVRIL!

   [ posted  @ 7:26 PM | ]

I went on a TRULY amazing date last night with Steve... not been saying a lot about him on here but we had such a terrific time... he even gave me FLOWERS!!!!!!!!

I drove down to Mankato after work and we walked to this little irish pub place (he had taco salad and i had garden salad) and we talked and talked and then we were not far from the stadium, so we walked over there and he took me to the MSU Mavericks hockey game... he has season tickets. It was my first hockey game and i think i am going to turn into a HUGE hockey fan. It's a sport with a lot of action and the element of possible danger which i like in sports!!! Lots of rage. Constant action is nice too (unlike baseball zzzz) !!!

His parents were there (they have season tickets too) but i didn't officially meet them, though we all smiled big at each other. They were about 10 rows up from us. Everyone seemed to know Steve... he's a deputy Sheriff for Nicollett County ... so ppl were saying "hi sheriff Hlavac..." makes a girl feel real safe!

Mavericks are purple/white uniforms and they were playing Alaska, who has green and gold uniforms like the Packers. So the whole time i was cracking jokes about the packers (he's a big Vikings fan, and i like the Pack) and i picked out #4 from MSU and his name started with the letter "F" (like Brett Favre) and i kept predicting #4 would make the goal and it was #14 twice in a row, which i said counted because 14 starts with the sound of "four." That kept us laughing!

Then we walked back to the parking ramp and he opened my door for me to his truck and reached in the back for something and whipped out the flowers and i was all excited and i was raving about them and stuff. Then we went back to Happy Chef where i had parked my car, and it was freeeeeeeezing cold out ... and as we were trying to say goodbye i said i didn't want to go (it was about 10:30 and Mankato is a good 50 min. drive for me) so we decided to go get hot chocolate at Perkins [we may have picked Happy Chef, but all his sheriff buddies were there on a break at that moment and he probably didn't want to have "that" confrontation!!!] and we sat there and talked till 1:30 and then i couldn't stay bc i was getting very tired (had been up since 3:30 a.m.).

For my family members who are all like "whaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat??!!" he's a lot like my brother in law Dan... personality wise, i think. And super cute. And he loves Christmas and winter and snow as much as me... plus he's already watched Rudolph this year which has me beat. And i think the story we'll tell people is that we met on a reality t.v. show !!! Just kidding. We didn't. There. That's all you need to know! But i was missing him the moment i left the parking lot so i think cupid's arrow has struck :) Shhhhhh!

On the way home i had to peeeeeeeee so bad!!! I made it though ... what if i would have had an "accident" haha on the way home. I was thinking about it bc the one gas station i tried to stop at was closed at that late hour. But i made it and came home and listened to my new Nichole Norderman song and then went to zzzzzzzzzzzzz and had to work at noon.

I have two days off now, and then have a week of overnights to look fwd to. I hope i make it OK.

Tomorrow is church and i am not quite ready to go yet with music so i should go finish that up. I am so tireD!!!!

   [ posted  @ 7:25 PM | ]

It has been a very hard work week. This morning before the store opened, i went into the office and burried my head in my arm hoping no one would disturb me... and i turned on KTIS to hear what was on. This song came on not long after... and i LOVE it. I hope you'll go out and buy Nichole Nordeman's cd... it's great stuff.

   [ posted  @ 3:34 PM | ]

When it rains, it pours. I have students coming out of the HILLS to help with jr. high praise band. I hope i am not going to end up disappointing kids... I am so glad Pastor Craig handed this off to me. I'm letting the word leak out thru exclusive channels and we'll have some announcements on the openings too... There are tons of kids who are so talented musically... so i am going to set up a rotation.

For some miraculous reason, I have 4 sundays off in a row... that is amazing, and i will spend those days really invested in the students more. I have my music all set to go for this Sunday, and have been getting emails all the time from my kiddies about what they want to do... I know Pastor Craig asked us to do only familiar faster songs... but one way I'm going to introduce new music is to start the power point scrolling with pictures and announcements at about 11:05 (service starts at 11:15) and then the band is going to start jamming intelligently (instead of me talking about cheese curds on the microphone and playing goofy stuff for noise...) with new songs i want them to learn. Then i'm having everyone who wants to be in the rotation come to practice every Sunday at 7:50 a.m. and for one or two bonus practices on Saturdays (when i don't have to work) we'll spend the afternoon playing and then go out for fun at night.

It is such a HIGH for me to be working again doing what i love.................... whew! and i don't have to work on the 23rd so i can go to their quiz meet!

   [ posted  @ 3:08 PM | ]

Working at 5 a.m.'s now has got me really tired. But next week i'm doing overnights all week so i don't have to worry about customers to weigh me down... man, i am not adjusting to management well... and i smell a promotion offer coming within the next couple of weeks bc i heard some juicy gossip @ work today... i'll tell you more about that if it happens.

Rebecca is this Guatamalan girl i work with... she supports her whole immigrant family, and she's just a girl of 19 years old. She had to go to the hospital for something yesterday. Anyways, i always talk to her about how i pray about what is going wrong at the store and how God fixes stuff for me all the time bc he knows I need a lot of help there. And i always ask her if she believes in God and she always says she does.

Today, it was the funniest thing...

I was flipping out over something and this aisle we were working on redoing the pens and markers, and there is this section that can't be planogrammed right because of this huge pole. And i stood staring at it for the longest time wondering how i was going to re-arrange it, and she put her arm around me and said, "KT just pray!" haha!!!!

That's the way it goes, i guess. :)

The irony is, i think i've redone that aisle 3 or 4x since i've worked there and every other time i always pass off that hard section on someone else and now it came back to me bc Rebecca doesn't have enough experience to figure it out yet. HAHAHA. Murphy's law. Right up there w/ the Bible.

If you have worked in business at all, you must read these Murphy laws. Sooooo true!

   [ posted  @ 2:06 PM | ]

Merry Christmas!!!! OK so it's not Christmas, but Christmas came early for me this year bc of a terrific brother of mine... his name is JAY HUFF and he maintains the Rambling Thoughts blog, and he made me this blogger template so i could be excited about Christmas with every post!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Didn't he do a cool jorb?!!! (Jorb, homestar runner joke.)

THANK YOU JAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


I really wanted a Christmas blog and now i have one!!! Don't you love the little candy canes in the background and the snowflakes on the menu bar???? How about the holly and ivy? Did you know that of all the leaves that are in the wood, the holly is the only one bearing a crown? (Well that's what the song says anyways.)

Don't you love the snowman dude?

YIPPPEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!

   [ posted  @ 12:34 PM | ]

I AM SO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!!! One of my youth ministry forumite buddies, Jay (Rambling Thoughts blog) is designing a really nifty Christmas blog background for me and he even promised to fix it in my own blog so it works!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! See???? See???????? OK, you don't see, but you will.

   [ posted  @ 12:56 PM | ]

What i am about to share has already been told in an email to one of my Zone students, Alyssa, but anyways i wanted to tell you all, bc this is a real miracle story!

ok so we have this thing called OrderMax
at work and it's where you order stuff for a
customer for delivery. delivery is free on
anything over 50$. anyways. dude ordered
a desk and hutch on the 26th and sarah did
the order and she's new. this guy (jeremy) calls
and i am the one who gets the call bc i get all
the hard stuff no one can figure out. and he's
all like "where's my desk... it was supposed to
be here 10-28" and thus and such and i 'm all
like well dude, i'll have to call you back bc
i have no idea. so i spent TWO HOURS looking
for this desk. called the delivery center... called
other stores... it was supposedly delivered to
my store last tuesday and guess who signed for
it at 3:15 p.m. ???? YES. mE. THE ORACLE.
I figured someone else screwed it up but if i
signed for it, i remember doing that... i was
like WHERE DID THEY PUT THE DESK????
(it comes in a box, duh, not already made, just
in case you didn't know.)

so...

can't find the desk. the hutch is on backorder.
and so i'm standing back in receving and i just
stopped pacing and stood still and started to
pray, "God you know where this desk is even
if i don't, and you can find it for me if it's your
will..." and i was just giving this over to him
as i do all day long... and i'm walking around
the store in a daze with this stupid order form
in my hands going "where is it???!" and we
are super short staffed so i have no one to help
me. plus i kept getting manager calls all day
like every 5 or 10 minutes. and i called this
jeremy guy and i asked him if he was SURE
no one came to pick it up ... and he said he was
sure because he's the only one. so not more than
a few minutes (literally) after i pray that prayer,
the officemax delivery truck pulls up to the
front door. I was helping justin at the register
bc these people were not taught to think for
themselves, and i said really loud to all the
customers "GOD IS SO GOOD. WHAT IF THAT
IS THE DESK I'VE BEEN LOOKING FOR ALL DAY?"

AND i waved my order form around and marched
over to the driver dude and saw the style number
on the box and i started FREAKING OUT bc IT
WAS THE RIGHT DESK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and i
told the guy that God answers prayer and that i had
just prayed not more than 3 minutes ago for this desk
to show up, and here it is!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and then i do my
usual walking around asking my co-workers if they
believe in God (i know justin doesn't but i always
rub my answer-to-prayer stories in his face bc this
happens to me all the time), and they just look at
me like i'm a lunatic anyways... and then i am so
happy bc here's my desk.

and then...

i pull out the packing slip and verify that it's jeremy's
desk and guess what. I was not specific enough with
God. This new desk was for someone named TODD.
hahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa so i called
todd and told him to come get his desk, and my sales
manager is going to apple valley to pick us up a desk
for Jeremy tomorrow. and i left jeremy a message to
that end.

God certainly has a sense of HUMOR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I Could tell you many stories of answers to prayer
like that and HE never ceases to amaze me... whew!

   [ posted  @ 3:31 PM | ]

Hello, cheese curds.

Didn't get enough sleep last night. Today was a horribly depressing day at work. I took one manager phone call after the other and was not really able to solve anything. We switched over to a "MS Windows" based operating system and all of it sucks so bad and none of it works and it is so slow... bring back DOS! Ha!

No more staying late for me. My sanity depends on it.

Aside from that, i'm able to spend some more time tonight getting stuff ready for the youth kidlings and working on music and such, which at least puts some renewal back in my thoughts.

   [ posted  @ 1:47 PM | ]

I just want you to really know something. Something important. I spent a good hour today blog script shopping and even tried to convert this little freebie site to something much more interseting looking and it did not work. I even found one w/ Avril in the back and that didn't work either. I wish i could find a christmas one that works. Nothing works. You get what you pay for. And this i already knew.

However, the awesome news is that we did get a very significant snowfall, and it stuck so that it's really white out and i am so excited!!! We had a terrific meeting tonight for our youth leadership and it helped keep everything in perspective for me. I signed up for some trips, which i am going to PRAY i'll get off of work for. Actually i'll just tell them they can write me up if they want to, but that i'll be out of town and they have to deal with it. I should have done that w/ christmas & Thanksgiving, and i asked for those off in JUNE and still didn't get it. (well i'm not sure about xmas yet.)

I have to be to work at 5 a.m. I am not tired. What ever shall i do? I always face this problem. Sometimes the day goes better if i get less sleep.

At any rate, singing "let it snow" really does work, and you should try it.

   [ posted  @ 7:59 PM | ]

It is.... still snowing.... my roof is completely white and there are little sprigs of green grass still sticking up, politicing their way thru the changing season, soon to lose their battle. It will snow all day, weather.com tells me, with two inches or more expected. HSN has a "nostalgic music system" for sale with a phonograph on it. I see this is coming back, which is timely for Christmas, because i still contend Christmas music sounds best played off a record player scratchy... sounding like a crackling fire in the background.

SNOOOOOOOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!

   [ posted  @ 9:13 AM | ]

IT IS SNOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOWWWWWW- WWWWWWWWINGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG-GGGGGGGGG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!- !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And it's supposed to snow all day long here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I just opened up my blinds and was going to be on my way to the grocery store and BA BAM!!!!!!!!! SNOW!!!!!!!!!!!! The most beautiful sight ever!!!!!!!!!!!

   [ posted  @ 6:21 AM | ]

Today, one of my students was shocked, horrified, and all-out flabberghasted that i was as old as i am... She thought i was only 20. HAHAHAHAH. Albeit, i do act like i'm less than 12 most of the time... and when i told her i was 28, she looked me up and down (the stare of hers to my hair gave me great pause WHAT DOES IT MEAAAAAAAAAN?) and with her jaw on my car's floor, just couldn't believe it. She said, maybe that i was 23. But that was tops. I think a lot of kids there heard that i'm an intern so they think that i'm still in school. (I get asked that a lot... where do you go to school. Then, i say that i'm out of school, and they squint.... and then no puzzle pieces fit so they give up.)

   [ posted  @ 6:50 PM | ]

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