Peru, parte dos

We are on our plane in Atlanta getting ready to take off for Peru! Please pray for a safe trip and a good time of VBS and construction!


-- Post From My iPhone

Honk if you love Jesus...

I knew it!

Just read this in the doctor's office. I am glad that I have one more excuse for my daily catnaps!!

Benefits of a 20 minute nap:
- helps alertness
- increases motor learning skills like typing, playing piano
- better than caffeine
- reduces stress
- decreases risk of heart disease

Benefits of a 30-60 minute nap
- boosts memory
- enhances creativity
- good for decision making skills
- helps you remember things you have recently studied (ie: vocabulary, directions)





-- Post From My iPhone

13. Fix my bike

Yay! I can cross the first item off my Thirty while Thirty List: Fix my bike!

My friend Jessica and I celebrated with a little road trip to one of my favorite coffee places, Smelly Cat in NoDa. It was fun riding the bike home after dark and enjoying the sounds and smells of summer. Looking forward to many more trips on this little bike. May the adventures begin... Tally Ho!

Yum!

Here is an interesting website called "Scanwiches" featuring my favorite food!

Three-Oh!

Ha! I just opened birthday e-card from my Memaw. It said, "You might as well face it! You're 30." The card makes me laugh! Is that a nice way of saying, "You're not a spring chicken any more"? (Thanks, Memaw!)

What is it about those milestone birthdays of 30 and after that make some of us little uneasy?

Perhaps it is just a little reminder that time keeps moving forward and that none of us are left unaffected. Maybe it is because our culture worships youthfulness and is embarrassed by age and wrinkles. Or, maybe it is that we are not quite where our twenty year old selves pictured we would be when they imagined what the next ten years would bring....

But I trust in you, O LORD; I say, "You are my God." My times are in your hands. - Psalm 31.14-15

LORD, you have assigned me my portion and my cup; you have made my lot secure. The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance. - Psalm 16.5-6

To celebrate 30 years of life, I have made a list of 30 things to do this year. Here they are in no particular order:
1. Visit a new state
2. Break 25 minutes for 5k
3. Break 2:00 for half marathon
4. Finish 42 books
5. Take guitar lessons
6. Write 12 songs
7. Save money
8. Create/Put on a Spanish Summer camp for kids
9. Grow out fingernails and get a manicure
10. Make a budget
11. Train Maggie the Dog
12. Create a missionary prayer calendar
13. Fix my bike
14. Cook a recipe from a cookbook once a month
15. Learn how to cook Tilapia
16. Decide what Masters program to do and apply for it
17. Try to write a kid’s book
18. Have my niece over for a weekend
19. Have my nephew over for a weekend
20. Visit Grandmom Wertz in VA
21. Visit Memaw in FL
22. Build a Patio in the backyard
23. Do a Triathlon
24. Take dance lessons (salsa, shag, or other)
25. Pressure wash the house and paint the shutters
26. Paint the extra bedroom and the laundry room
27. Make a birthday calendar of friends and family
28. Learn how to make salsa with the tomatoes in my garden
29. Memorize 12 Psalms
30. Weekend getaway with Mom

Past Half Way!

24 books down, only 18 more to go. I still have 202 days, which comes out to about 1 book every 11 days. But, I have to confess: I have been throwing in some fluff books so that there is at least the feeling of making some progress.

Book # 24 was Who Moved My Cheese? It only took one plane flight to finish....lame! (Funny little book, by the way. Moral of the story: If your cheese is no longer available, move along and find some new cheese instead of sitting around moping that you have no cheese.)

I think it is about time to jump into the harder stuff I have been avoiding so far (CS Lewis, Chesterton, and Piper). Some how in the process these guys have become bigger and more intimidating than I imagined. Reading their books has the feeling of homework you know you have to do, but don't really want to because you know it will take a while once you start.

I guess it is time....

Book # 18: Quaker Prayer

"When I am struggling to trust I find an old Quaker means of prayer especially helpful, because it is so concrete. Sitting with hands open in your lap, the prayer is simply, 'What you put in my hands, Lord, I will receive from you.' Then turn your palms over. 'Whatever you take out of my hands, Lord, I will let go.'"
- Paula Rinehart, Strong Women, Soft Hearts

End of the Year!

My key chain is a little lighter now. The "fobulous" school fob and my classroom key are turned in, all the classroom walls are bare, the hallways are empty, the kids are gone. Summer is here! Soooo...what's next?!

"How to Care for your Introvert"

Dearest introverted friend,

Do you feel overwhelmed and misunderstood by your extroverted friends? Consider forwarding them this online article written by by Jonathan Rauch.

INTROVERTS OF THE EARTH, UNITE!