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.