After snowing many inches...I left Minnesota today in all its winterland beauty!!

Merry Christmas!!

"For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." ~Isaiah 9:6

I had a wonderful Christmas with family and Santa Claus was very generous yet again!!

Here is a picture of the large spread at my Aunt Debi's house this afternoon with almost everyone from my mom's side of the family.

We are ending the night by watching the Vikings game, which is basically the perfect way to end the day. Here is a picture of my cousin Luke demonstrating a Vikings snap. It looks like he has a future in the purple and gold!!

I am now a homeowner

As of 5:30pm EST on Thursday, Dec. 22 I am now a homeowner. It was probably the most stressful few weeks of my life preparing to do this, but the closing that afternoon went really smooth. I left with a handful of nice gifts from my realtor, lender, and even the seller, who gave me some perfume samples. He apparently sells perfume part time at a kiosk in Lenox mall over the holidays. I am very blessed to be able to own such a place!! I won't be moving in for a few more months probably, but I'm looking forward to painting, putting in new carpet and fixing it up in the meantime.

I've also been toying with the possibility of getting a cat. I love cats and have always had them growing up. In the house we have now we're not allowed to have them, so I haven't had one in a while. My main reason for not doing it would just be the cost of having one. But I found one online that I like so if it's not adopted over the next few months I might adopt him. He's super cute, large, and a long-haired cat which I've heard has less allergines then short-haired cats. His name is Fletcher.

The Minnesota winter isn't so bad when you're enjoying it from a hot tub

Here's Matt, Shannon and I enjoying a dip in Matt's newly acquired hot tub

Addendum to the previous cousins post

Here is one of my favorite cousins pictures- from L to R: Jeremy, Matt (my brother), Rochelle, and me. Rochelle and Jeremy and their familes are my cousins I talk about that live in Kennesaw now. This picture was taken probably in 1984 at Jeremy and Rochelle's house in Waite Park, MN.

Definition of Endurance

"Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart." ~Hebrews 12:1-3

I was thinking about this yesterday as a way of encouragement to press through these next few days. I am anxiously awaiting the closing of the house on Thursday afternoon and the walk through on Wednesday afternoon. This has been a good test of patience and endurance to get through all the steps of getting this far, and the steps that lie ahead of making the house my own!

Serenity prayer revised

On one of the last days of my Ethics class, my professor told us about one of the worse experiences of his professional career. At the end of the story he began reading from an article that he wrote to the Journal of Psychology and Christianity about what he learned through this experience. It basically was the turning point for him to become an expert in ethics, in light of being wrongfully sued for following ethicial procedures. Here is an excerpt from this article:

"It is in looking back that I now can see the answers to my prayers. My experience of myself and my observations of others have taught me that when we pray to better understand forgiveness, we don't pray for the trials that teach us to forgive. We pray for wisdom, but we don't pray for the mistakes that make us wise. We pray for courage, but we don't pray for the challenges that make us strong. We pray for serenity, but we don't pray for the experiences that give us peace. We pray for faith, but we don't pray for doubt that is faith turned inside out.

In my own version of the Serenity Prayer, I often find myself praying for serenity, even if it means facing conflicts that ultimately bring peace:
God,
Grant me serenity,
Give me hardships that bring me peace.

Grant me courage,
Give me the tasks that make me strong.

Grant me wisdom,
And the trials that make me wise."

~Dr. Doverspike, Psychological Studies Institute, published Fall 2005

Ode to Ken and good times

I was deleting some old emails today and came across Ken's account of a July 2002 ill-faited outing of fellow Intown singles groupees....*

Tucker, Ga. (AP) --- Ami Franklin looked heavenward, to a slate gray sky and not a small multitude of raindrops, splashing, splashing, splashing against a convenience store parking lot in Stone Mountain, Ga.

"$#!*ing rain," she quietly muttered.

Franklin, a transplanted Californian in the New South and a woman given to helping refugee families and also to repeatedly reciting the amusement park calamities of people like Dave Glenn, was trapped, trapped like someone who went with friends to see a revisionist laser show that was threatened by a torrential downpour.
Ironically, that happened to be her precise predicament.

Franklin lowered her gaze, to a neighboring barbecue stand in a shack that looked like it might topple in a light breeze.

"Hey," she said, brightening, "barbecue. Me likey barbecue."

And so went an evening in which the vectors of heavy rain, Stone Mountain lasers and the imagined kin of rock and roll's king intersected. It resulted in fun and excitement for ages 4-to-adult.

The hopes of viewing Stone Mountain's laser show and its redneck spectators dashed, Franklin and her coterie returned to her Tucker home, hair and spirits slightly dampened.

"I swear, it's going to lighten up," promised Dave McNay, struggling to be heard over the furious back-and-forth lashing of Glenn's windshield wipers.

Instead, they repaired to Franklin's basement _ they being, of course, Franklin and her cabal, not the windshield wipers _ for an indoor picnic of deli sandwiches, potato chips and roughly 12 dozen deviled eggs, courtesy of the hostess.

According to one observer, Glenn consumed about half of them, including three swallowed whole.

It was at this point that John Robinson, D.D.M., passed around a bag of Hershey's Miniatures in a transparent attempt to build his customer base.

"Excellent," said Robinson in a sinister whisper, drumming his fingers together.

The meal was followed by a game of Spoons, a card game which doesn't require much in the way of skill or savvy, and yet one in which Frank Hull managed to disgrace himself anyway.

"Oh, I lost again," Hull said more than once.

The evening was completed with two rounds of the parlor game Psychiatrist, in which players pretend to suffer from the same psychological disorder that must be diagnosed, through a series of yes-or-no questions, by the appointed "psychiatrists."

"Actually, it should be called 'Psychologist,'"
pointed out the ever-nerdy Hull, who in the process unwittingly designated himself the future victim of a wedgie, and possibly a swirlie.

Franklin and McNay, the first two psychiatrists, quickly diagnosed the first condition, that each player believed himself or herself to be the player seated to his or her right.

Glenn and Jamie Van Houten were chosen as the next psychiatrists, for whom a diabolical delusion was hatched, that each person believed that he or she had been sired by none other than Elvis Presley.

Glenn soon tired of the game, his mind fried and his stomach ailing from deviled eggs. Meanwhile, Debbie Wilcox told anyone who would listen how much she looked like Michael Jackson.

Van Houten soldiered on, gamely reaching her diagnosis after what seemed like an hour.

"Finally," sighed a visibly relieved Glenn, reaching for the plastic container of deviled eggs.

With the evening's revelry at a peak, guests began to gather belongings and head for home, but not before Robinson put an appropriate finish to the night.

In the driveway, under the cover of night, Robinson pulled down his pants and mooned the Franklin home, shouting for all to hear, "I got yer lasers right here!"

*Parts of this story may have been embelleshed or are untrue

House

Here's a picture of the house!! Lord willing I can close on Dec. 22.

New cousins!

My cousin Kristy had her second child last week, Brayden Ross:
Born: 12-08-2005
Birth Time: 11:59 pm
Weight: 10 lbs 4 oz (his mom is my height and dad is like 6'6'')
Length: 24 in.

Congrats to her and her husband Chad and big brother Gavin!! Brayden is my 10th 2nd cousin to be born to my generation of cousins (both sides included).

My uncle Andy and aunt Tanya are also having their baby this week, so hopefully soon I can post their update!! Their new baby girl, Isabella, will be my 46th first cousin (both sides included).

I always grew up getting to play with so many cousins all the time, so it is a blessing to welcome these new ones in, who will hopefully have many happy memories as well of doing the same!

Shameless plug

I wanted to do a shameless plug for these people who have been the greatest help to me along the way. For those of you who live in Atlanta and are thinking about buying a home, I can't imagine a better lender or reatlor then these folks:

Realtor:
Kay Mazur- Century 21 Across Atlanta
http://kmazur.century21acrossatlanta.com/

Mortgage Lender:
Jeffrey Pinkerton- Hillside Lending, LLC
http://www.hillsidelending.com

Stoked beyond stoked

Yesterday I was really hopped up because I had the home inspection during the afternoon and my last final for the semester later on that night. I have to admit, by about 11:00am my anxiousness was taking over! But of course, the inspection went pretty well and it looks like the seller will fix the problems before closing (Dec. 22), and I got a 98% on my final.

In light of this this verse came to mind last night as I was reading my Tabletalk devotion: "But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble." Matthew 6:33-34.

House update???

Well, there basically is no house update. We've been trying to get the seller to fill out this last addendum page, and once that is done then we are in a binding contract. I think this guy is really busy and he works two jobs, so trying to get a hold of him is not very possible. Luckily my realtor is the most proactive person in the world and doesn't mind staying after him. If anyone is looking for a realtor in Atlanta ask me about her because I am probably her biggest fan at this point!

We are scheduled for the appraiser and home inspector to come out this week as long as we get that last page faxed back by tomorrow. So if you're reading this please say a prayer that these last details go well. And say a prayer for my sanity. I'm trying to balance this and take my last final on Tuesday. If everything goes as planned I will get at least an A- on my final and we will close on the house December 22.

Too much adult conversation?

I often hear this from stay at home moms and elementary school teachers: "It would be nice to have more adult conversation!"

My world consists almost entirely of adult conversationn. Sometimes that is a bad thing. Being in an adult world does sometimes consist of unmet expectations, hurt feelings, frustration, being overwhelmed and overloaded, etc.

Last night I babysat for my 15 month old honorary nephew, Quin. It was the first time I baby sat him since he's been able to walk. All I did was play with him and watch him. As we were building blocks-Quin building them and me knocking them down- I realized how nice it was to hang out with Quin. He has no expectations of me. He loved everything I did as long as all my attention was on him. He didn't complain about any of our activities. He laughed when I swung him around. He was so easy to please.

My purpose in writing this blog is not so that I get more calls to baby-sit. But, it was a nice night of me getting what I needed-time with a toddler- and the parents getting what they needed- time to themselves. I have the opportunity to get to do this again on Sunday for my other honorary nephew and niece- Evan and Julia. It should be fun and another nice break. Maybe all people need is a little more kid time.

Advent Devotional: Incarnate Grace

I just got done reading through the MTW advent devotionals that are up on this link. They are really good. I am actually trying to wipe away a tear from reading one! Anyway, in this season of celebrating the coming of our Savior, I invite you to read these (there's a new one each day until Christmas) and share in the joy! There are also ones up there currently by Bruce T and Scott S, for those of you who know them, and..mine is supposed to show up next week =).

New Pantene Product

I needed some conditioner so last night I drove to Target to get some. I haven't really been happy with my latest conditioner choices so I decided to try something new. This Pantene product caught my eye that said it was "intensive moisterizing" or something like that, and I thought, "Yes! That's exactly what I want!" So I grabbed a couple of bottles and threw them in my basket. When I got home I went to put the new bottle in the shower and realized the bottle also says it's for "women of color".

But, my hair is pretty curly and dry so I kept it and used it this morning. It was great. Probably the best conditioner I've ever had. My brush also swiftly combed right through my hair. Awesome!

A Minnesota Story

All of his life Ole had heard stories of an amazing family tradition. It
seems that his father, grandfather and great-grandfather had all been able
to walk on water on their 21st birthday.

On that day, they'd walk across the lake to the boat club for their first
legal drink.

So when Ole's 21st birthday came around, he and his pal Corky took a boat
out to the middle of the lake. Ole stepped out of the boat and nearly
drowned! Corky just managed to pull him to safety.

Furious and confused, Ole went to see his grandmother. "Grandma, it's my
21st birthday, so why can't I walk across the lake like my father, his
father, and his father before him?"

Granny looked into Ole's eyes and said, "Because, you dumb a**, your
father, grandfather and great grandfather were born in January, you were
born in July."

A Minnesota story

By 7 o'clock tomorrow..

My realtor and I have made an offer on the original townhouse I liked. The owners have until 7 o'clock tomorrow (according to the contract) to counter offer.

I am realizing more and more that the term "buying a house" doesn't really sum up this process. It's more like "sweating, panicking, praying, hoping, looking, analyzing, frustrating, rejoicing a house"

Baseballs

I have these two little soft baseballs that I keep at my desk at work to toss at others whenever they least expect it. I just accidentially hit the guy in the head who has had brain surgery. Mark has deadly accurrate aim too..and now he has the baseball..

The World of Real Estate

Over the past couple of weeks I have been exploring the world of real estate to see if the next move for me should be to move into my own house. My focus has mainly been in a townhouse complex called Spring Harbor, located in a great area of Atlanta that is close to most places I need to go. I have a phenominal realtor and mortgage broker that have been a ton of help, not to mention great family and friends who have been so kind to lend their listening ears and gently advise me. This picture is of a potential house prospect. The house is actually a pretty light blue color but for some reason it's showing up gray here. It's 2 bedroom, 2 1/2 bath with a good amount of space for me an a roommate. There's lots of other things I could tell you about it but if you want to know, post a comment and I'll respond that way.

When you read this, please say a prayer for me that I would be wise about the decisions I will need to make and I would know the direction that God has for me.

Thanks!

For the food service workers

In honor of Matt, Shannon, me, Shannon's brother Jordan, and everyone else who has had the pleasure of working at a place like Perkins- here is today's Survival Tip:

How to Survive if Trapped in a Walk-in Freezer
1. Tap several times on the door to get someone's attention.
2. Check the door and lock area.
By law, all walk-in freezers must have an emergency release switch on the interior.
3. Locate a power switch.
Some units may have an accessible on/off switch. Turn off the cooling element.
4. Locate boxes.
Tear carboard boxes apart and spread them on the floor.
5. Look for insulating materials.
Lie down on the cardboard and cover yourself with paper, foam, or straw to preserve body heat.
6. Tap on door every 15 minutes until help arrives.

The Counselor's Verses

A couple of months ago I took a class that required the students to spend some time in solitude and silence. It was during that time that I stumbled upon the following verses, which I hope will be a theme I can come back to as I continue my counseling degree. I decided to include these verses in a paper I have to write this week, so that reminded me again to meditate on these. My prayer is for an instructed tongue and opened ears:

Isaiah 50: 4-7
4 The Sovereign LORD has given me an instructed tongue,
to know the word that sustains the weary.
He wakens me morning by morning,
wakens my ear to listen like one being taught.

5 The Sovereign LORD has opened my ears,
and I have not been rebellious;
I have not drawn back.

6 I offered my back to those who beat me,
my cheeks to those who pulled out my beard;
I did not hide my face
from mocking and spitting.

7 Because the Sovereign LORD helps me,
I will not be disgraced.
Therefore have I set my face like flint,
and I know I will not be put to shame.

The best holiday of the year

I am about to have my fourth straight meal of turkey and carbs. It's heavenly. Thanksgiving by far is my most favorite holiday. Besides the cooking frenzy, it's fairly stress free. You don't have to worry about what to get somebody, if they're going to like it, or if it's a good deal. You don't have to decorate much (or at all) and it usually involves family, fun, fellowship, food and football- the 5 F's of a guaranteed good time!!

This year I was able to spend Thanksgiving in Kennesaw with my cousin's families, my cousin Andy from Nebraska, and Rochelle's mother-in-law at Rochelle and Stephen's house. We had no less then one dish per person on the table. It was packed. We had probably the best food ever. I believe I am now partial to fried turkey. You can see Stephen and Jeremy wrangling it out of the frier which took 3 1/2 gallons of peanut oil. But wow was it worth it. Stephen is the grill-masta!!

As always I have a ton to be thankful for. I won't overwhelm this blog with all of those things. But I am certainly most of all grateful for my relationship with God, and how each and every day is a blessing from Him.

Good luck to all who are out braving the crowds this morning!!

What your birthday says about you

This just in from my aunt Mary...what does your birthday say about you?

I am 3.7 years old in doggie years

My birthstone is Sapphire-though not meant to replace traditional medical treatment, Sapphire is used for clear thinking. Some lists consider these stones to be your birthstone. (Birthstone lists come from Jewelers, Tibet, Ayurvedic Indian medicine, and other sources)

Your birth tree is the Lime Tree, the Doubt-accepts what life dishes out in a composed way, hates fighting, stress and labour, tends to laziness and idleness, soft and relenting, makes sacrifices for friends, many talents but not tenacious enough to make them blossom, often wailing and complaining, very jealous, loyal.

Graceland

For the past three and a half years I have had the huge privilege of living with four great gals in our rented mansion on Briarlake Road that we have called "Graceland". We have had numerous Christmas, birthday, and average-day parties there not to mention TV, movie, sports and other entertainment-related events. It's been the place for great conversations, lots of fun, and even one wedding proposal. Seemingly soon though we may be leaving Graceland for different (and hopefully greener) pastures.

Every fall my roommates and I discuss what to do with our living situation for the next year, as our lease runs out each spring. In the spring of 2006 we will have lived there for 4 years, which is an unprecidented amount of time for post-college roommates to live together. But we have experienced our share of problems with the house, and because it's so large, our utilities are also pretty darn expensive.

And now entering into this equation, I have gotten new info from two friends about some townhouses in the Spring Harbor subdivision in Atlanta. It's off of Pleasantdale Rd in a nice neighborhood, so it would be close to where I currently live, work, and go to church. The townhouses are a good size and are really affordable. My friends who live there now have taken me through their houses and I've gotten to look at two others for sale. I've been really excited by what I've seen so far.

It's hard though to see a potential end to the Graceland area. But there's still a lot of details to work out and I know I need to take things one step at a time. Hopefully whatever happens though the Graceland gals can still get together often- at least for Grey's Anatomy on Sunday nights.

Cooking Adventures

Seemingly every time I try to cook something it turns into some kind of adventurous escapade. I can safely make things like turkey burgers, oatmeal, macaroni and cheese, and the like. But beyond that, even with slice and bake cookies, there has been some serious disasterage.

This week I volunteered to have our monthly dinner for six group over at my house. I found a new receipe from Julie for "Chunky Beef Texas Chili" which I figured I could cook in the crockpot while I was at work. The night before, I bought all of the ingredients, drove home from the grocery store and got everything out the bags. So far all was well. The adventure occured when I realized I had to slice up all 8 pounds of meat I bought into 1/2 inch slices. It took me about an hour. I stored all of the pieces in two generic-brand gallon-sized baggies (click here for pic). Therein did the second mistake lie. I found out that those bags do not withstand the gentle arm-swinging that comes with trying to freak your roommate out by aiming the bulging bags of meat at her face.

My next adventure will be to make this corn casserole for Sunday's Thanksgiving lunch that we're having after church. I got the receipe from my Uncle Andy and I've made it once before so I'm pretty hopeful it will turn out. It's one of those mix-the-stuff-together-and-bake sort of deals. I also was "informed" at work today that this receipe should be called Northern corn bread. If you're going to be there Sunday I'll let you be the judge.

My Advent Devotional Entry

This past summer I wrote a small devotional to be considered for the MTW Advent Devotional, and I found out yesterday that it will be included! It's going to be an online devotional only, which you can find by going to MTW's website www.mtw.org at the end of this month. Many other office staff and missionaries made selections too so it should be great. I'm excited to see what we can all learn from each other's insights!

Doors

It's interesting how some doors open and not others.

As I sat in class this weekend, I was thinking about how I will be able to better financially support myself once I graduate and will be out in the world with this degree, hopefully employed. For some reason this had never occurred to me before. That it's possible I could be making some money. I thought that was kind of cool.

Ever since graduating from undergrad, I've thought a lot about what I want to do as far as a career. For me it took working for a few years and being in the "real world" to decide on my next step.

Working at MTW has definitely been a wide open door to many possibilities for me. I've learned so much about missions and the process of going overseas as a missionary. It was through my experiences there mainly that I started to consider a counseling degree.

As I look around me it doesn't take too long to notice that for many my age the open door has been marriage and the changes that come with that. For me that door is still not open, however much I would like it to be. God still seems to have other plans.

Although I have never really considered myself to be a career-orientated person, I can see God developing in me a desire to do well and succeed in this program. I am genuinely excited to see what else comes with this new path. I am also excited to see how this will work with a previous goal of mine which was to spend some time overseas as a missionary. That desire is definitely still alive.

I had the opportunity to recently attend a conference on counseling in the disater relief setting. MTW regularly sends teams when disaster strikes that include medical personnel, construction folks, and counselors (even without degrees). It is a dangerous and emotionally taxing ministry. But I think my personality, gifts, and current single status may be a good fit for that kind of work. It's an open door worth exploring.

What will be next?

My new favorite song I found while studying this week

"Doubting Thomas" by Nickel Creek

What will be left when I've drawn my last breath
Besides the folks I've met and the folks who've known me
Will I discover a soul-saving love
Or just the dirt above and below me

I'm a doubting Thomas
I took a promise
But I do not feel safe
Oh me of little faith

Sometimes I pray for a slap in the face
Then I beg to be spared cause I'm a coward
If there's a master of death
I bet he's holding his breath
As I show the blind and tell the deaf about his power

I'm a doubting Thomas
I can't keep my promises
Cause I don't know what's safe
Oh me of little faith

Can I be used to help others find truth
When I'm scared I'll find proof that it's a lie
Can I be led down a trail dropping bread crumbs
That prove I'm not ready to die

Please give me time to decipher the signs
Please forgive me for time that I've wasted

I'm a doubting Thomas
I'll take your promise
Though I know nothing to say
Oh me of little faith

Did you know that blogging can change the world?

Article about first-ever God Blog Convention

The God Blog Site

No way

Well I did something that I never thought I would do again- buy a membership to a gym. And I literally did it because everyone is doing it.

I have a good friend Magdalena who had a free one week pass to LA Fitness which is a gym here in Atlanta that is taking over the city. So we went and used the fun allyptical machines and the pool and the hot tub...it was awesome. They had a sweet two for one deal and so we took it, even though we were prepared to use her MBA skills to wheel and deal if needed.

So I've been a full-fledged member for about 5 days and I've already used it a bunch. I think we're going to try out the free racquetball too that was included; I've never played. I found out that I think almost every one of my friends have either joined or seriously thought about it, so it should be pretty easy to keep up the motivation to go. Not to mention the $34.99 a month.

It is interesting though when you're on the cardio machines and you look around and watch everyone doing the same things. Sometimes I wish we could go back to the days where physical labor was a part of work, or to move to a city where everyone walks. That would be much cheaper. But for now I will stick to doing my stationary 30 minutes of cardio and soaking in the hot tub and doing the occasionally weight training crunches.

If you're reading this and you're just dying to try out LA Fitness too, you can click here for the free one-week pass. As a new member I also received a nice waterbottle and a packet of free passes to the Toco Hills gym, if anyone wants to go there and needs some incentive.

My bio

I was asked to write a personal bio at work today that will be going into one of our training notebooks. Here's what I wrote:

Jessica Rings: Assistant to the Director (Internship-Europe and Sub-saharan Africa coach)

Jessica was born on a fishing boat off the coast of Anchorage, Alaska. Learning to fish from an early age, she is an expert in different spears and hooking methods. After turning 18, she decided to become a fisher of men and moved to warmer waters in Vanuatu to minister among the tribal peoples there. Her efforts among the mothers and children there not only contributed to their conversion to Christianity but also gave them new ways to hunt sharks which are quite prevalent there. After suffering a debilitating sunburn, she knew that it was time for a change of pace. Jessica has enjoyed the privilege of working indoors at the MTW office of the past four years.

True?

"You never know how much you really believe anything until its truth or falsehood becomes a matter of life and death to you." ~C.S. Lewis, as quoted in Philip Yancey's book Where is God When it Hurts?

Prayer request

I wanted to lift up this prayer request because many of you know my cousin Rochelle and her husband, Stephen. Their family has suffered many trials lately, the worst being the one that came today in an email I received from her: "Our family is enduring a terrible tragedy with the death our nephew AJ. He was just 6 months old and became tangled in his sheets while sleeping. Stephen's brother James (AJ's father) walked in to check on him and discovered what had happened. Please be in prayer for James, Stephen's brother and Lynn, Stephen's mom and the whole family."

If you could, please lift them up in prayer, especially Stephen's family and for Rochelle as they are all headed to Mississippi where Stephen's family is from.

Flashback to Minnesota winters

During one particularly cold winter in Minnesota, the block of townhouses whereI lived lost power. I remember that it was late in the evening, so we had to round up some clothes and pillows and sleep at a neighbors house, leaving our cat and beta fish to fend for itself. Luckily the power came on the next day so we were able to have heat and the fish miraculously did not freeze in its tank. Widda the cat was just fine and actually he is 17 now and living with my brother.

Last night I had a flashback to this incident as we are trying to hold off turning our heat on in our house until the last possible second. Living in Georgia typically means that we don't even need heat until later in November, but we have been hit with a cold spell of 40 degree nights this week that began last night. Throughout the weekend, as the local forecasters were warning us, I was the biggest proponent of leaving the heat off. I reminded my roommates that I have lived in Minnesota and I am never cold and actually like sleeping when it's colder. My room is in the basement and is very very drafty because I have a door to the outside in my room. If you put your hand up to the door you can actually feel the wind pushing through it.

So I was definitely eating my words as I laid in my bed with all of my covers on and was still shivering! Finally I got up and put on some socks and got my T-shirt quilt out of the basket in the den and put that on top of my comforter. Four layers of covers seemed to do the trick as the warmth seeped in to my bed slowly but surely. It reminded me of the book "Peace Like A River" too which is set in Minnesota and all the kids used to sleep like that in the wintertime.

But we are refusing to secede to the Georgia Gas company just yet. I'm buying a space heater tonight.

And I'm buying my airline tickets to go to Minnesota December 23-30. It is the love of family and not the love of weather that keep bringing me back for the holidays.

What are you?

For the love of coffee....

I am a Black Coffee

At your best, you are: low maintenance, friendly, and adaptable

At your worst, you are: cheap and angsty

You drink coffee when: you can get your hands on it

Your caffeine addiction level: high

Name that Department

We've been holding a contest to see who could come up with the best name for our newly combined department. MTW is infamous for using crazy acronyms so we did not vere from the norm. Here's some of the entries discussed at today's staff meeting:

Gina's:
STEP- Short Term Equipping and Preparing

Julie's:
City - Combined (or Co-working) Internship and Two Year

Daniel's:
ACTS-Ambassadors of Christ Through Service

Bill's (he's the super-spiritual one using all the Biblical names. Yes, he even used Ecclesiastes):

SAUL – Servants Acting Under Love

SAMUEL – Servants and Missionaries Under Eternal License

OBADIAH – Only the Best (with) Actual Devotion in Action and Helps

PSALMS – Priestly Service And Loving Ministry Staff

AMOS – Action Midst Our Service

ECCLESIASTES – Evangelical Cross-Cultural Living (and) Ecumenical Servanthood Inside A State (of) Theological and Eschatological Supplication

And if the Acronyms won’t work, how about these?

ACOLYTES – Carrying the light of the Gospel forward…

NUMBERS – Its not really about number of units, is it…?

RAPTURERS – Aren’t we living for and working towards that moment?

Two important links today

Are you Southern?

Berry College (my alma mater!) Professor in World Magazine

Retreat with my new team!

A couple of weeks ago my new team at work had a retreat at Jack's family's lake house in South Carolina. Jack is my new boss. He used to be just the director of Julie, Carrell, Bill and Jamie, but now he is also over Gina, Daniel and I (see below pics) because our two departments combined. David, my former boss, is now the director of another department at MTW.

We had this retreat so we could set goals and norms for our new department. It was also great just to kick back, relax, and enjoy getting to know each other better. Amazingly enough, we are on the same page on a lot of things and we came up with great ideas for the future.

I also learned that South Carolina had lakes, which I was not aware of before.

Although this retreat was so awesome, all of these changes have definitely been an adjustment. I really liked David, and he was the only boss I've ever had since being out in the real world. I'm glad he's still around so I can see him from time to time. It will be neat to see how God continues to guide us and shape us through this time of transition for us.

Gina and I in the hammock relaxing
Posted by: jessrings.

Daniel the grill master
Posted by: jessrings.

Julie, Jack, Jamie, Gina, me, Carrell, Bill
Posted by: jessrings.

My family on top of Stone Mountain

My family on top of Stone Mountain
Posted by: jessrings on Buzznet

My family came to visit this past weekend and we had such a blast together. First of all, I have to thank my dad and brother for putting together my birthday present which was purchased from IKEA- a new desk and chair. They had some serious "bonding time" trying to figure out some pretty ambiguous directions. I am now using my computer at my new desk and sitting on my new chair, and it is awesome. We also got to visit some sites around Atlanta including Stone Mountain, which is where this picture was taken. This picture above, from left to right, is my brother's girlfriend Shannon (who will hopefully be my sister-in-law in the nearer future), my brother Matt, me, and my dad Pete. It is my "new" family as my mom is not pictured. But it is my family. I am blessed to have such outstanding people as these in my life. Shannon, I am grateful for you wanting to hang out with me on Sunday and explore the stores of Viriginia Highlands so we could escape the massive amounts of sports-watching that Matt was set on doing. Matt, I can't believe how awesome my new music is on my ipod. I love it. Papa, thank you for your generosity and serving me with all your hard work this weekend!

Revelation

This week I've really been questioning this choice of going back to school. I think these feelings are rather normal, because whenever you make a big, life-altering decision you're going to go through times of doubt. My friends have been encouraging, and God has been reassuring me that this is still His plan.

Last night I was driving home from class and in my mind I asked myself why I was getting a counseling degree. I think this stemmed not only from my doubt-infestive thoughts, but from my professor who always asks us a question, then waits for our answer, then says "why do you think that?" so you immediately regret giving an answer. So I was doing it to myself. Why? Why this degree? To what end am I pursuing this?

I came up with three answers (it's a 30 min drive from my school to home):
1. I love missions.
2. I love Mission to the World.
3. I love missionary care.

Getting a counseling degree will give me a specific skill that will fit into my calling and gifts, and allow me to reach out to missionaries and do ministry even better.

I don't know how this is going to look yet-if it will be overseas, in the states, or a mixture a both. But I am forging ahead, taking it one day at a time.

Only three more years to go...

Lost

Last night my roommate Jamie and I watched an unprecidented five episodes of LOST. Because of our work retreat in rural South Carolina last week we were unable to watch last Wednesday's episode. And about 10 of us at work here went in together to buy the LOST season 1 DVD's and we're going to loan them out like the library. Mitch is the official librarian and he has an excel spreadsheet and everything to keep it all nice. It's so much fun. Jamie and I were unable to regularly watch it last season, so we're catching up now. I was the first person nominated to be able to borrow the DVD's and I brought them home last night. We would watch one episode and then turn to each other and say "another"? It was nice to splurge on this and have a break from the studying!

For you LOST fanatics (I know I'm not alone), there's all kinds of theories out about what the numbers mean and some of the other symbolic events. Here is a synopsis from an email we recevied yesterday from a guy who's been researching this stuff:

--a page that shows a map w/ 'the numbers' as latitude/longitude coordinates:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/sh/47743274/

--an article about a scientist named john desmond bernal who worked on developing 'space colony' simulators (the theory is that the 'hatch' is one of these; the man in the hatch identified himself as 'desmond'):

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-types-of-space-colonies-have-been-proposed.htm

--it has been observed that the symbol on desmond's uniform and the walls of the hatch is a variation on the 'i ching' symbology, which is a taoist method for predicting the future. below is a link that explains how it might be connected to 'lost':

http://www.egoplex.com/

--a few other details mentioned include the possibility that walt's mother might have been working for the corporation connected to the logo on desmond's costume and on the walls of the hatch, which may be some sort of 'illuminati'-type secret-world-domination conglomerate. this might explain a) why she was so determined to have michael sign away his paternal rights (because she was going to allow walt to be used in experiments that might have led to him developing whatever spooky powers he has), b) why she was moving around the world to so many places (so walt could be studied/experimented on by various international super-genius scientists in the employ of the corporation), and c) why she died so suddenly (perhaps from the same plague that killed everyone from rousseau's team?), and why her ex was so eager to ditch walt. also, some have suggested that walt's mother's lead attorney bears a strong resemblance to the female 'other' who fire-bombed the raft . . .

Mix these for a dangerous reaction

I was having an ok weekend until I decided to sit down with my good college buddies Gates and Melissa to watch the Vikings vs. Falcons game. I was actually pretty excited about it. I made my special Turkey burgers and we roared up the George Forman and had our own tailgating party in the den. We had a great time hanging out, but with the score at 24-0 in favor of the Dirty birds at halftime the mood quickly turned sour. Fortunately I had to take a mid-game break to go to a special service at church and my friends had to go. For some reason (I'm a gutton for punishment I guess) I decided to tape the rest of it. Here's where the dangerous reaction came in.

On my way home from church I was thinking that I should try to be productive while watching the rest of the game. So I got out one of my schoolbooks so I could make some flashcards for an upcoming test. I learned never to watch the Vikings and study. They were losing 27-3 when I turned it off and suddenly my desire to study was pretty slim. Plus I had this depressed/angry feeling. I don't know when the Vikes will make a turnaround but it's looking pretty disturbing right now.

Test results

I got the results back today of my very first test of graduate school. I got a 92% which is an A-. I am soooo happy with that!! And it was in my ethics class so hopefully that means I will be ethical and not get sued.....very often!!

Making a difference one bumper sticker at a time

Equal_Rights
Posted by: jessrings on Buzznet

Last October, about a month before the presidential election, I woke up on a beautiful Saturday morning and drove to the local Publix to get some bagels. As I pulled into the parking spot, I noticed another car swinging into the spot next to me. I also got a glimpse of the driver, and boy did she look mad. I immediately thought maybe I cut her off accidentally or something, but I soon found out that it wasn't my driving that made her so aggravated, it was my bumper sticker (see below). We both got out of the car at the same time. As I was opening my door I saw her lean into my passenger side window, and say "George Bush is an arrogant --- hole". I was caught totally off guard. My response was "well I'm sorry you feel that way, m'am" which I think completely caught her off guard, because she cocked her head in a funny way and hurried into the store muttering to herself.

Ever since I was in college, I've been drawn to put controversial bumper stickers on my car. As you can see I also have this one (above) which demonstrates my passion for the pro-life movement. About two weeks ago as I was stopped at a stoplight in the left turn lane (Lavista and Clairmont), a car pulled up to my right and I could see the driver out of the corner of my eye moving her hands around. I reluctantly looked over and her, and the driver was flashing me a huge grin and giving me a thumbs up. She looked so joyful and eager to talk I decided to roll the window down. She told me how much this bumper sticker meant to her and how glad she was that there were people out there who believed the unborn's right to life. She also went on to say that she liked all of my bumper stickers. I was just eating this up of course. I said to her "I'm just trying to make a difference" and in response she said "OH you are, you are." I told her "you know, I've actually gotten some hostile comments from people for these bumper stickers" and she replied with "you know, it probably is the people who appreciate them the most that never say anything, so I'm glad for this light which allowed me to stop and commend you."

It's amazing what insights a few bumper stickers can drum up from my fellow Atlantans. And they sure do give me some great stories to share!

Center of controversy- October 2004

Center of controversy- October 2004
Posted by: jessrings.

Quote of the week

O how I long to live and do my ministry more and more with a view to the Lord's reward alone and not to man's. ~ John Piper

Today's survival tip from my worst-case senario calendar

How to Foil a UFO Abduction

1. Control your thoughts.
Do not think of anything violent or upsetting-the extraterrestrial biological entity (EBE) may have the ability to read your mind.

2. Resist verbally.
Firmly tell the EBE to leave you alone.

3. Resist mentally.
Picture yourself enveloped in a protective shield of white light, or in a safe place. Telepathic EBE's may get the message.

4. As a last resort, go for the EBE's eyes-you will not know what its other more sensitive areas are.

So encouraging

I had a couple of rough days at work last week, mostly involving a couple of missionaries that I work with that felt like I was in fault for this particular mistake that happened. Although my boss and I have worked hard to apoligize and fairly rectify this situation, I don't think the offended parties are satisfied. It's so hard when you've inadvertently hurt someone, and your efforts to work through it seemingly are completely pointless. I know I have to let the situation go and just pray that the Lord works in all of our hearts through it. But unfortunately it's still on my mind.

But I just got a phone call from a girl named Courtney who I've been working with since the spring. My role is to guide her through the support raising process on her journey to becoming a missionary in England. She's had a tough road, and I've had to do a lot of encouraging, listening, and praying with her to keep perservering and remembering God's truth. She's supposed to leave for England on Wednesday. She called today for a separate reason, but ended the conversation by saying "I just wanted to thank you for all the hard work you've done. I couldn't have done this without you walking by my side and encouraging me. I've been so humbled by all of the people who have helped me through this process and you're one of those people!" It was the breath of fresh air I needed. She also asked me if there was anything she could be praying for me about, and I told her that my first graduate school test is tomorrow so she could pray for that. Anyone is also welcome to join her in that prayer as well!

Thoughts on desire

Here is an excerpt from one of my school books called called "An Invitation to Solitude and Silence" by Ruth Barton. It's about the importance of having a time of solitute and silence to further your relationship with God. Anyway, I liked this section because it talks about desires, which is a topic that I think about quite often. What do we do with the desires we have for good things that aren't sin, but may not be the will of God? How do we give the desire over to God and not dwell on having it fullfilled? I read this section in the book and then went on a walk (where I always end up doing a lot of thinking) and I was listening to a Caedmon's Call song that was saying "I walk with grace, my feet and faith, my eyes" and suddenly it hit me. When I think about something that I desire, I can pray about it right then, that I would desire God more then this thing, and I would be fine with God's will no matter if the desire is fullfilled. Then I can have a God-centered perspective on the desire, plus I am asking often for my desire for God to be greater. Can't be a bad thing.

Here is the quote from the book:
"But the truth is that desire is the life-blood surging through the heart of the spiritual life. You may not realize it, but your desire for God is the truest and most essential thing about you...your desire for God and your capcity to connect with God as a human soul is the essence of who you are. But there is an even greater truth: before you were even aware of your desire for God, God desired you..we love God because He first loved us."

National Memorial for the Unborn

This past weekend I had a class at my school's campus in Chattanooga. One of the ways the school cuts down on costs for students who have to travel for the class is to offer up a hospitality list, which consists of students who volunteer to take other students into their home for these weekend classes. My new friend Lauren, who's another first year in the program, and I drove together and stayed with Linda, a Chattanooga first year and her husband Richard. Now when you use the hospitality list for the most part you have no idea who these people are. Of course at the bare minimum they are A) a Christian and B) pursuing a counseling degree so what do you have to lose?

Lauren and I really did luck out by ending up with Richard and Linda. They were the most amazing couple. We got to spend a lot of time with Linda especially who had Friday night free and hung out with us once our class was over. Linda is 51 and had the most incredible life story. She told us so many cool things about what God has done in her life. One of the other things that was so neat too was that all three of us had worked at a crisis pregnancy center at some time. Once we all figured that out, Linda was estastic to tell us that the National Memorial for the Unborn is in Chattanooga of all places, so she offered to take us there before dinner.

Words can't describe what an incredible place of healing it was, but also what a incredible place of sadness. It was erected on the same place where an abortion clinic was for many years. I think back in the early 90's the abortion clinic closed down and a Christian crisis pregnancy center opened. Next door to this center is the Memorial. Where there are plaques that say things like:

"1/1/80
To my baby boy-
I'm so sorry
I will hold you in heaven
Love, Mommy"

was the very place abotions were performed that took the lives of babies like this. There were hundreds of plaques from mothers, fathers, grandparents, brothers, sisters, other relatives from all over the country that were affected somehow by an abortion. Others had placed poems, flowers, teddy bears, and other things on the ledge below the plaques.

Ultimately, this memorial is now a place of peace and healing. Thank the Lord for His never ending care, comfort and love of people of all walks of life, including those who have chosen abortion, and those who were never able to take their first breath of life.

Also, not only did Richard and Linda offer us their beautiful home, engaging conversation, and incredible example of how to live as the light of Christ, they also.......... were black =).

Planning your next trip?

http://www.mapsofworld.com/wonders-of-world/top-100.html

Post-vacation depression

I'm not sure if I'll ever get to study this phenomenon in my grad school classes, but I think everyone today was suffering from a severe bout of this, including me. I had such a fantastic Labor Day weekend in Destin, FL with about 16 of us from my church. There's a group that goes every year and rents a condo near Destin over Labor Day weekend. I've never been before mostly because I have an adversion to the beach that I think is a result of growing up around freshwater my whole life. My first prolonged beach exposure took place in June of 1998 when I spend an entire summer in Panama City Beach as a part of a summer ministry training program. Yeah, I learned this weekend that PCB is not the way to gauge what a beach experience should be like. But what really made it so fun was the people I was with. I am so blessed to have the friends I have, that's for sure!!

I also wanted to share something I did before going to Destin that was very un-Jessica like. I purchased some huge sunglasses and am wearing them regularly. They're huge. Like the ones Paris Hilton wears. Jamie and I went to Target the night before I left and I was trying them on as a joke, but I sort of...liked them. I am affectionately calling them my "Paris Hilton's"- not to be confused with calling them my "Twila Paris's" which did happen once. I'll try to post a picture so you can get the full effect.

Update on my cousin-in-law's family

I wanted to post an email I got from my cousin Rochelle. Her husband Stephen is from Columbia, MS which was hit hard by the hurricane. Stephen is currently in Columbia armed with supplies for his family and friends, who seem to be doing ok. Here's an update:

Thanks to an unbelievable effort by so many people, Stephen is now on his way to his home town in our expedition pulling a U-Haul with enough supplies to help several families weather the rough conditions there for a good while. I just wanted to write down everything that happened over the past 29 hours since we first heard from Lynn, Stephen’s mom, after the storm. I want it to be clear how God used so many people in so many different ways to bless small group of people they have never met in city 6 hours away in a different state. I also want to have this record to give to the people that are getting the donations so they can see how God worked and who He used to help them.



Before I get into the story I wanted to let everyone know that I talked with my mother-in-law tonight after Stephen left for Mississippi and she was just giddy with excitement over what everyone did for them and over what they would soon be receiving. Last night she sounded rather gloomy, but she was extremely cheerful this evening. She Thank you SOOO much for everything you did and with such cheerful hearts!! What a blessing!! Since most of you won’t be interested in reading all of the details in this email, I also want to first ask for prayer for safety for Stephen as he drives into an area with thousands of dollars worth of food and supplies and equipment that nearly everyone there could use. I have faith that God has sent his angels before him to protect his journey. Stephen’s mom’s home is going to be the distribution point, so please pray for safety for her and her home as well.



After 2 VERY long days of silence we finally heard from Lynn yesterday about 5:00pm. She said she was doing fine, but that there was no running water or electricity and she didn’t have much eatable food and they were not sure when they would have access to any of these things. Stephen had already decided to make a trip with supplies for his friends and family if they needed them, and as soon as we found out that they were in need we got to work. Yesterday evening I went to my church and ask around for some help. You would not believe how many people God used. Several people walked up and gave me money to help pay for supplies. Several others made lists of things they could buy to bring by my house the next day. I was at church to attend a bible study and most of the women in the class made a commitment to help and either gave money or got supplies to me today.



One woman came up to me and told me that she had done a side job that she had just gotten paid for. She said that God had told her that there would be a need for that money at church that evening. As soon as she told me that she stuck a wad of cash into my hand. After a very stressful week of watching the news and not being able to hear from our family, I broke down crying in the hallway over how good God is to us to bring people like that into our lives.



After church I sent out an email to my Sunday school class to update them on what was going on and asked for help. I had a general list that I sent them consisting of basic supplies like ice, water, generators, gas, food, coolers, gas cans, etc. I also called Kathy Carl who is the wife of a past Sunday school teacher of ours and she sent out an email to that class telling them to meet me at the church at 4:00 this afternoon to pick up anything they wanted to bring.



That night on the phone with my mother-in-law she gave Stephen and I lists from a few different families who also were in great need of some basic things. Then my brother, Jeremy came over at 11:00 at night to sit with my children so I could run out to Wal-Mart for supplies, food and water. Like everyone else I was so incredibly antsy to finally be able do something to help that I had the best time one person could have at Wal-Mart at midnight with 50 gallons of water and a cart of food. You should have seen the looks I got. Not something you see everyday, I guess. That is the first great big thanks to my brother for being willing to come over so late on a work night.



This morning I woke up to an incredible response from those who got the emails. I got email after email and phone call after phone call. From people who wanted to know more of what to bring. They agreed to bring things on the lists from the different families and they set out to work. We realized early on that if we couldn’t get a lot of gas the whole thing would be called off. There was no way for Stephen to get gas once he got down to where they are. He would need gas to refill his truck and they needed gas for the generators. OH YEAH! Generators! Where on earth were we going to get generators? Stephen called Home Depot and Lowes from Houston where he was working this week and they said they were sold out of generators in the entire state of GA. On top of that there was a ridiculous gas shortage scare yesterday that turned out to not be true so everyone had run out and bought up all the gas cans. I called probably 20 stores and could not find anyone with a single gas can. I finally found one store that sold me 16 one gallon cans and one 2 gallon can. Combine that with a few cans that some other people had around their house and we had a way to transport 30 gallons of gas, but that wasn’t going to be enough. We needed several 5 gallon gas cans.



Tae Gam from my Sunday school class volunteered to watch the kids while I ran around town. That was such a huge blessing. Let me tell you that God is in all the details. Julia won’t take a bottle, but I didn’t have time to run back and forth to Tae’s house to feed Julia while I ran around. I fed her and left and then she fell asleep and didn’t need to eat for 5 more hours so that I had time to get most of my errands done. It was such a huge answer to prayer.



Anyway, in the mean time and through the help of lots of people making phone calls and giving me suggestions While running errands I would have to run home here and there and the phone at home would always ring with someone else who wanted to help. God would time their calls just right. I was finally able to find a place that had just received a shipment of 250 generators about an hour earlier and was able to put 3 of them on hold. That was such a miracle because by the time I got there with the U-Haul they had sold out of all 250 generators.



During all of that we were also frantically trying to get our hands on Gas cans. Stephen called a friend of his in Birmingham who asked his wife to start calling around and seeing if they had gas cans there that he could pick up on the way through to MS. This woman who doesn’t know any of us got on the phone and called stores and was able to collect 10 5 gallon gas tanks. Another blessing in that is that Gas is much cheaper in Birmingham than it is here. Stephen’s friend Pat is meeting Stephen in Birmingham this evening with some of his friends to help Stephen fill gas cans. He has also said they would help by filling all 6 or 7 coolers we are bringing with ice so that that was one less thing for me to have to worry about. Praise God for them, who don’t know any of us but are willing to help. What an answer to prayer.



When I got to church at 4:00 I was inundated with food and diapers and supplies and everything you can think of. Everyone was so excited to help. It was incredibly moving. Several people also came by the house and unloaded more things to bring. My house was an ant hill of activity from about 5:00 until 6:30 when we left for the airport. My brother and a friend of ours named Erik came over to help pull everything out of the U-haul and the truck and organize it with the stuff that was already at the house and load it all back up. John Edwards also showed up to help with several different things. It is no small miracle that we were able to fit everything in the space we had.



After feeding the baby again Jeremy, Erik and I were on the road to the airport to bring everything to Stephen. He was flying in from Houston and was leaving straight from the airport to MS. John and Melissa Edwards stayed with the kids since there wasn’t a single speck of room left in the truck for anyone other than the driver. Praise God for the Edwards because they not only did a great job with two exhausted kids, but they also cleaned my house while I was out as it was also hit by a hurricane; Hurricane Tynes. I had been so crazy the last couple of days that my house was a wreck.



Praise the Living God who is in ALL of the details, even though I am sure I left many of them out.



THANK YOU SOOOO MUCH FOR EVERYTHING!!!! We could not be more grateful!! You will be greatly blessed for all you did.



In HIS service,

Rochelle Tynes

I'm not panicking yet

Check out this story and picture. It shows a gas station in Stockbridge, GA (just south of Atlanta) that had gas prices for $6.00/gallon yesterday: check out the article here..
Last night Jamie and I went to Kroger to get groceries and we drove by a gas station that had regular gas for $3.99/gallon. Down the road, the most popular gas station was selling it for $3.09 but they kept closing it down with yellow caution tape to refill the pumps and to kept the tanks from running out.

Jamie is driving my carpool to work this week so I wasn't sure how much gas was left in my car. I was super glad to find out I still have a half a tank which should last me until next week.

On another note, as we were leaving Kroger I realized that there is such an advantage to being single when you go grocery shopping. It takes me a whopping 30 minutes to get my stuff, get through the line and get out the door. Hey, there's got to be some advantage, since seemingly this is the Lord's will for me right now.

Govenor asks Georgians to remain calm

Because of Hurricane Katrina, gas supplies to the state of Georgia have been limited, and prices are expected to grow up to $4 a gallon. Not good news

To fill up the 12 gallon tank in my Nissan, it will now cost around $40.00.

Govenor Perdue says "relax and spend time with the children": http://www.11alive.com/news/news_article.aspx?storyid=68579

My coworker Gina just tried to go get gas. She went to 8 gas stations and the lines were completely out of control. Someone also just tried to go to the Quik Trip down the road from our building and it was completely out of gas. To quote my new boss Jack, who managed to get gas earlier this afternoon: "I was just trying to save a few pennies. I didn't even know there was a panic." He just left with all of his gas. I told him he might need to siphon some off for the rest of us. Obviously this story took a turn for the worse in a mere 3 hours.

On a more serious note, please also pray for my cousin-in-law Stephen's family who live in Columbia, MS. It seems like Stephen's mom is fine but many of his friends and family have greatly damaged homes as a result of the hurricane.

It's official

Well I am working on my first official effort to procratinate from reading my school books. I am sitting upstairs in our living room (a.k.a. jessrings' new office) with my books stacked nicely next to me. Closed. Unread. Looking too new.

After playing a hardy game of kickball this afternoon, I'm really bushed. So I told myself that it would be a good thing to take a shower and relax for a moment before jumping into some serious mental exercise. That was about 1 1/2 ago. I really do want to read and I will do it, but it's been harder then I thought to work up the motivation, especially on a Saturday night when my roommate is watching a movie.

Ok. I really do need to read. Especially my ethics book because the chapters are about 50 pages long and I have that class every week. Did I mention in my previous blog that my professor (minor-ly) swore three times in class? I think he's just a very straight up, say it like it is kind of guy. It was sort of funny. He also said "I'm sorry guys. But isn't it great to know that your ethics professor is just a big sinner." Honesty. That's awesome.

Ok seriously. I'm reading now.

Two other cool things

1. My friend Ami who lives in Germany with her husband, announced to the world today that they are expecting their first child in March of 2006. She was totally surprised when she found out was pregnant, and they were fully prepared to adopt kids at some point because she thought she couldn't have kids. So far she's 13 weeks along and it all looks great. Isn't the Lord cool how he works miracles?

2. I've been trying to exercise more, and today I ran for 7 minutes straight! Woo-hoo!

Juror number 0396

Oh yes, I got my first ever jury summons yesterday. After being a faithful resident and voter of Dekalb County for three years, it is finally my turn to step up and become a part of our great justice system.

Fortunately, many have gone before me. Three out of my four roommates have made the trek to the courthouse in historic downtown Decatur at some point during our tenure in this county.

The plan is for me to call the day before and check to see if I even have to go. Then more then likely I'll go down to the courthouse and wait for my number to be called. My jury summons slip has labeled me #0396, which means that 0395 people will probably be called before me. This will all take place on October 4.

In light of this, I have created a top ten list of why I am excited to get a chance to be a juror:

10. Possible opportunities to each lunch and listen to karaoke at "My Friends Place" which is right behind the courthouse. Yes, it's a sandwich shop with random days of open mike nights and karaoke.
9. Wow will I get a lot of studying done while I wait.
8. Seeing people from my church on a Monday.
7. Declaring before everyone that yes, I have indeed had a run in with the law (but it was Gina's fault).
6. Convincing everyone else in the courtroom that "if the glove doesn't fit you must acquit"
5. Potential for free food and/or free movie watching.
4. Coming in contact with the same types of folks that my brother has to deal with every day.
3. Meeting all the other interesting people from Dekalb County.
2. Getting to use all my lay jury experience from watching Law & Order reruns.
1. The amazing $15+ paycheck.

Back to school!!

Today was "back to school" day as Adam Sandler says in Billy Madison. I had my first class which is on Tuesday nights from 5-7:50. It's a class on Ethics of the counselor and my professor has had a ton of experience in this. So he had a ton of examples, which was great but also gave me a lot to think about. I'm pretty tired right now! But overall it went pretty well. My biggest worry was actually getting there on time because Atlanta traffic is so unpredictable. It only took me an hour to get there so I counted myself lucky. I also found out a girl I was friends with in college is in my class and she sat right behind me! It's such a small world.

Some folks have asked recently what degree I'm getting. I will hopefully be graduating sometime in 2008 with a masters degree in professional counseling. I am also hoping to get a leadership and coaching emphasis if it works out. After that I will go through whatever I need to do to get licensed, and use it in overseas ministry or with MTW somehow.

As I get into this program more I'll have to type out some of the questions that come up in these Ethics class. Man, there's some doooozies!!!

Ropes Course Diversity

Yesterday I went with a group of students from my new school, PSI, and drove to my alma mater, Berry College to tackle the Winshape ropes course. One of the Phys Ed classes I took at Berry was on the ropes course, and it freaked me out pretty bad. I mean, you're suspended about 50 feet in the air by a rope attached to a guy you just met that day who's the same age as you except he's now reassuring you of your safety. Hmmmm. I wasn't convinced. I did enjoy it by the end of the class, especially getting to do the zip line which was tremendously fun. This time we didn't do the zip line, but knowing what to expect really helped me to relax. I had such a good time getting to know some of the folks at my school as we went through some of the activities. I made some new friends, two of which live just a few miles away from me which will be great. I know I mentioned this in my last blog, but I think what I'm most excited about at this point is the diversity of the student body. Although we're all Christians, I haven't met a single person who goes to a church in the same denomination as me, and most everyone I met come from a variety of church backgrounds. I even met a girl yesterday who's mom got her MDiv degree and is now a minister. I haven't met anyone like that in a while. I think I'm going to learn a lot from these folks and I hope they learn some things from me. Everyone was so welcoming and friendly too.

Whenever you do ropes course and team building activities, your facilitor always debriefs each activity with the group so you can start thinking right away about how to apply what you learned. I think for me I learned a lot about how I can be afraid of setting goals for myself because what if I don't attain them? I'd rather just work hard and "try my best" but for me that means I won't always challenge myself to reach my potential academically. And I think I can do really well academically. Like getting an A- average, which would be a 3.7 GPA. That's going to be my goal. Holy crap. But I know I can do it.

On the way home I was listening to Queen in my ipod and I thought I would share my favorite line from my favorite song: "I don't believe in Peter Pan, Frankenstein or Superman. All I want to do is bicycle."

My new boss

I was just thinking last night that I've been lacking in good revelations to put on my blog, but then today I found out I'm getting a new boss and I had my new student orientation for school. So it was a day of mixed feelings and plenty of blog material. I LOVE the boss I've had, which in some ways is the only boss I've known since I'm in the same job I've had since college and he's worked there basically the whole time. I attribute many of my personal developments in character, career goals, and overall life experience to his patient leadership. But he's staying with MTW and will be working in a different leadership role that he'll be great at. And the new boss I'm getting is a fantastic guy. It's the current director of a dept that will in many ways be merged with mine. One of my roommates works in that dept and we know them well. But change is always hard. We'll have till Sept 1 to work through the transition, and then after that the change will be complete. I just found out this morning so it's still a shock.

My orientation though was super fun. I met a couple of new people that will be in my classes, and I got a ton of much needed information. It also was a confirmation that PSI (www.psy.edu) is the place for me at this time in my life. It's going to be a fantastic program. However, I was again faced with the realization that graduate school is going to be a ton of work. But I think I'm ready! I know this sounds funny, but I'm so excited too because one of the people that I really got to know today is black. I really don't have any friends that are black. PSI is pretty diverse, so I'm stoked about meeting folks outside of my normal bubble. And my new friend and I should have quite a few classes together on a consistent basis. Sweet!

Good gifts

Last night I had a great time hanging out with friends and going to see an awesome IMAX at Fernbank called "The Greatest Places." For anyone who enjoys learning about other places and cultures, it is a must see. When I got home it was time for bed. I find that when I am lying in bed, either at night or when I first wake up, is when I do a lot of thinking. Last night my thoughts led me to these two verses: "How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are!" from 1 John 3, and "If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!" from Matthew 7. It struck me how hard it is for me to believe that God is good, and does give us good things. I am the kind of person who relies very much on how past experiences have shaped you as the person you are today. I guess that's part of the reason I want to be a couselor. But sometimes I look at my past and see only pain- totally skipping over the fact that God has blessed me time and time again. And if I was honest about how much God is doing for me each day just by loving me alone, it would be painfully obvious that the good He has done for me greatly outweighs the bad things that have happened. Coming off a week that was hard emotionally, it was comforting to see what I do have in being a child of God, and to think on all of the good gifts he has given me.

Our family

Our family
Posted by: jessrings.

This is a family Photo taken I think during my second year of college and Matt's third year of high school.

Today is...

Today is the third anniversary of when my mom passed away. I don't have much to say other than that. I am going to my friends' Gates and Melissa's house tonight for dinner, which I am excited about. They invited me over. I have gotten a nice card and email as well. It's one of those weird things that sort of just sneaks up on me, and it's hard for anyone to know what to do or how to help. Tonight I may try to find a picture of her, but I don't know if I have any available on my computer. I think the only ones I do have are in frames in my room.

I have been thinking about this verse a lot today, which I was referred to me from Allie's blog: "Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid." ~John 14:27.

Also, the prayer found on page 11 in the Valley of Vision book was great too as I read on that this morning. It's a fantastic book from prayers the Puritans prayed many years ago.

Great quotes about radical repentence from Sunday School today

From "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader" by C.S. Lewis when Eustace gets "un-dragoned:"

"So I scratched and tore again and this under-skin peeled off beautifully and out I stepped and left it lying beside the other one and went down to the well for my bath. Well exactly the same thing happened again. And I thought to myself, oh dear, how ever many skins have I got to take off? For I was longing to bathe my leg. So I scratched away for the third time and got off a third skin, just like the two others, and stepped out of it. But as soon as I looked at myself in the water I knew it had been no good. Then the lion said- but I don't know if it spoke- 'You will have to let me undress you.' I was afraid of his claws, I can tell you, but I was pretty nearly desperate now. So I just lay flat down on my back to let him do it. The very first tear he made was so deep that I thought it had gone right into my heart. And when he began pulling the skin off, it hurt worse than anything I've ever felt. The only thing that made me able to to bear it was the pleasure of feeling the stuff peel off...Well, he peeled the beastly stuff right off- just as I thought I'd done it myself the other three times, only they hadn't hurt- and there it was lying on the grass: only ever so much thicker, and darker, and more knobbly-looking than the others had been. And there was I as smooth and soft as a peeled switch and smaller than I had been."

Excerpt from Psalm 51:

"Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin..create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me"

The joy of family

The joy of family
Posted by: jessrings.

Here are some great pictures of my honorary niece and nephews. They are my cousins's kids and they are my only relatives that live in Atlanta. I just got to see them yesterday for the first time in over a month! It's amazing how much the kids change. But it was super fun getting to see Rochelle and Natalie. They are some of my closest friends. This picture above was taken by Rochelle. Apparently she found Quin and Evan laying on the bed together like that and then she layed Julia next to them for a great pic of all three. From left to right: Quin (10 1/2 mons), Evan (21 1/2 mons), Julia (3 1/2 months). There are three pics total so make sure to scroll down.

7_21_05QuinMohawk

7_21_05QuinMohawk
Posted by: jessrings.

Evan7_4_05

Evan7_4_05
Posted by: jessrings.

Rock, paper, scissors....fire??

Last weekend a friend of mine told me that you can also use "fire" to conquer opponents when playing rock, paper, scissors. But get this..you can only use it ONCE IN YOUR WHOLE LIFE. Pretty big deal. Has anyone used theirs??? And for what reasons?? I think it would be hard to decide when to use it. I mean, normally that game is played to make very mundane decisions that you can't come to a consenus on otherwise. Maybe if you were haggling with someone, like a used car dealer for a price, and you used your fire to trump his price and get a free car?? Yeah, that would be a valid reason. Any others?

Missions Camp

Last night I drove to Elijay, GA which is in the North Georgia mountains to speak at Missions Camp at Camp Highland. This camp holds normal one week camps for kids during the summer. But if kids sign up for "missions camp" they come during a particular week when my organization, MTW, sends speakers up and helps in other ways to make the week have a particular missions emphasis. This year they asked me to be one of the speakers. Honestly I wasn't too excited about it. Elijay is two hours away at least and my night was on a Thursday. So I knew it was going to be a long day. I left work early and waded my way through traffic and a thunderstorm and still managed to get there an hour early. God was definitely with me because I was really worried I wouldn't find it. It was in the middle of NOWHERE. But my talk went really well, and of course, it ended up encouraging beyond my expectations. It was particularly neat going to missions camp about two weeks after going to Sweden. When I went to church the Sunday that I was in Sweden, the youngest person at the service was probably about 60 years old. Young people there just don't go to church anymore. So to be surrounded at this camp by 35 attentive 12-14 year olds who excited about Christianity and excited about what God had in store was definitely cool, and a unique thing I think. I do have a friend who is 12 1/2 years old named Claire, and she is great and is excited too about her relationship with God. But normally she is my only exposure to kids of that age. So I'm glad to get a little glimpse too of what that age group is like!

Alan, Ruth, summer interns, and me

Alan, Ruth, summer interns, and me
Posted by: jessrings.

Alan Boal is the pastor of Abbey Presbyterian Church, and Ruth is his wife. They are supervising these five wonderful interns this summer for five weeks. The interns help with art, radio, music, children, and youth projects for the church, all in hopes to build relationships with the Irish people.

Abbey Presbyterian Church-Dublin, Ireland

Abbey Presbyterian Church-Dublin, Ireland
Posted by: jessrings.

Beautiful flowers were everywhere in Sweden!

Beautiful flowers were everywhere in Sweden!
Posted by: jessrings.

Stoeryd church- Tranas, Sweden

Stroeyd church- Tranas, Sweden
Posted by: jessrings.

Sweden and American team at the church in Tranas

Sweden and American team at the church in Tranas
Posted by: jessrings.

Partly sunny, High of 95 degrees

Bev and I enjoying a typical overcast day
Posted by: jessrings.

Unbelieveably, that was today's weather forecast in Atlanta. It was sweltering hot. From the time I was young, I really got into enjoying the weather and weather changes. I think this partly comes from living in the Midwest, and living amongst the Ringsmuth family. Us Ringsmuth's really seem to get into reporting weather-related events and of course, most of us record every new event with massive amounts of digital photography. The Midwest region of the US is known for things like huge thunderstorms, tornadoes, hot summers, and cold winters.

Bev and I (see above picture) talked a lot about the weather when I visited her in Scotland. I think it is a common thought amongst most of northern Europe. I believe the forecast in Scotland is typical also across this region of Europe: generally cold, overcast, and slight chance of showers. I can't report on the temp because it's in celcius and my American mind can't compute that well.

I think having sun to Scots is like the fish who is obsessed with finding bubbles in the aquarium treasure chest in the movie "Finding Nemo". Without warning the chest will open and bubbles will poor out for a brief moment. This particular fish will then dart over to the chest and yell "BUBBLES!!! Bubblesbubblesbubblesbubbles. MY bubbles," and slams the lid of the chest down to protect what little bubbles are left. The sun doesn't come out much, so when it does you take advantage and make the most of it.

The weather definitely plays a role also in ministry. You know how it feels when you wake up in the morning and the sky is overcast and it looks like rain. You want to stay in bed with the covers over your head. It can be the same there. Of course they have to force themselves to still get up and do things, but it can be hard. Especially in the winter when the nights are long and the days are short. I believe they only get about 5-6 hours of daylight in the wintertime.

Weather is just one of the challenges that faces Christian workers in those regions of Europe. Postmodernism, atheistism, spiritual apathy, and decomposing families are all barriers to people experiencing a real relationship with Jesus Christ. The workers there that I was able to fellowship with offered great insight to these challenges.

On the plane ride home I tried to digest my experience as much as possible. Surprisingly, I found myself feeling thrilled to think of the prospect of someday getting to live and work among these seasoned laborers. One of the things I am the most passionate about is that Jesus Christ is relevant to all of us in our daily lives. He is real. His love is real. His forgiveness is real. His desire to have a relationship with all of us is real. I think that in Europe, that is what is lacking. A real experience with our Creator and Father. When I get there I'll just have to remember to dress warm and bring an umbrella.

I signed up for classes today at PSI. I'll be taking "personal and spiritual life of the psychotherapist", "ethical, legal and professional standards", and "methods and models of integration." I'm nervous but really excited too. Especially about being able to walk on this new path, and experiencing what God ultimately has in store for all of this.

Ireland was great too!

Posted by: jessrings on Buzznet

Christopher Meloni
Well I wanted to give an update about Ireland as well! I was only able to spend about 2 1/2 days there and only in Dublin, but I really enjoyed getting to know the Irish pastor and his wife that MTW is partnering with, and the 5 summer interns that we have there. It was interesting getting to participate in some of their outreach programs, and learning more about the historical conflicts between the protestant and catholic church. The church that we are working with is called Abbey Presbyterian, and it's located in a building that's over 100 years old and it attraches a lot of visitors from Dublin and elsewhere. The interns are able to great the people at the door, hand out brochures about the church, serve tea, and answer any questions. I was able to participate in this as well, which is called "open abbey". It was a ton of fun getting to meet people all over the world! It was interesting hearing some of the visitor's questions, especially the ones that came from the Irish people. They would ask things about what it meant to be a presbyterian, a christian, or would make statements about how they had never been in the church before because it used to be that catholics weren't allowed in protestant churches and vice versa. I learned a lot about the conflicts that occurred between these churches. I think now most churches in Dublin I'm sure are looking towards the future for healing.

I also randomly met Christopher Meloni in a cafe while I was there! He plays Sgt. Elliot Stabler on the TV show Law & Order SVU. I am a huge Law & Order fan and I've seen the SVU one a bunch of times, so I immediately spotted him when we went into that cafe, located right next to the church, for lunch one day. Of course when you see someone you think is famous, you have to discuss it over with your friends to confirm that it's really who you think it is, then you have to go over to the person and talk to them to make sure. That person was me. I think he saw us talking about him, because when I walked up to him and said "are you...." before I could finish he said "yup". He was in Dublin doing a play, and it he looked and acted just like he did on TV! It was great. We chatted for a few minutes before his food came and then he left.

Last Sweden update

Hey everyone! I think this may be my last time to use
the email, so I thought I would make the best of it!!

Today I got to take two of the interns, Alicia and
Susannah, to Linksöping which is south of Tranås,
which is where the MTW team is. We got to ride a train
there and check out the city, which may be a future
place for an MTW church plant. We got to sample some
awesome chocolate (don't worry, I'm bringing some
back) and walk around the old part of the city which
was built in the 1800's. So that was cool.

Yesterday was probably one of my best days here so
far. I got to each lunch with David and Stacy Bergmark
and their three year old daughter Miriam. The
Bergmark's have lived in Sweden as missionaries for
about 5 years. David is Swedish himself. So they
offered great perspective on the team dynamic here and
also just the Swedish culture in general. It was
great. It was at their house that I found out that
Sweden has Heinz Ketchup just like we do. Also,
yesterday, I was able to have the truly Swedish
experience of biking a long distance while it was
raining. Like I was saying before everyone bikes here
(my thighs are getting quite rock solid) and somehow
yesterday I managed to misplace my rain jacket, just
as it started to rain and we all needed to bike home.
We were leaving from visiting a youth group that's a
conglomeration of youth from several churches in the
Tranäs area. I'll have to tell you more about that
when I get back. It was fun yet very interesting. And
it is indeed sort of strange to leave from a place
like that, late at night, and bike real hard to get
home, in the rain, and then go straight to bed. I was
like on an exercise high, and then wet and sweaty
laying in my bed, with the sun finally going down at
like 11:00pm. That was sort of a gross mental picture
I'm sure, but I wanted you to get the full effect.

Anyway, tomorrow I will get to experience the church
service here, and Monday I am going to Stockholm and
then Monday night headed out to Scotland for a day.
Thanks again for all your prayers. I can definitely
tell that the Lord is using this trip in a mighty way.