Shaping Up

So, working at a church is proving to be very good for me. Yes, it's demanding, stressful, and at times confusing, but it's forcing me to shape up. Both physically and spiritually, I'm out of shape.

I've been in a lot of physical pain in my legs, hips, and thighs. I'm blaming inactivity. Before I got the job at the church, I had actually just started work at Lowes, but even before then I had started to get depressed because I couldn't find a job. I began spending a lot of my time in front of the tv or computer screen, sometimes at the same time. Well, after awhile of this, about 4 months, I started feeling sore, but didn't really know why. I thought maybe it was from sitting too much so I started to get up and move around and found out, the more I moved around, the less the pain.
At the beginning of May, I got the job at Lowes. I was on my feet all day. It was great. But still, any prolonged period of sitting and the pain would reemerge.
My husband and I started walking around our neighborhood park, but even that was off and on.
Around that time, I had applied for a job at our church. Preschool ministry assistant. Not exactly my cup of tea, but it was a job in the church. I also gave thought to the fact that I'd be sitting most of the day and nearly passed on the opportunity.
The opportunity passed me. Because I had just started at Lowes, it made it difficult to be available, even for just a phone call when the preschool minister would call to set up a phone interview. We played phone tag, I even emailed, but at that point it was too late. The unavailability was a turn off and I knew that.
It was then that a friend noticed the position for College Ministry Assistant.
I called, turned in my application and resume, interviewed over the phone, and then finally met and interviewed with my boss, George. A couple days later, I got the call! I was hired, and it had all gone so smoothly, that it must have been God.
Now, here I am 5 1/2 - 6 months later and I'm loving my job, but the sitting for long periods at a time is killing me. I can't sleep at night because I'm stiff and the constant throb leaves no comfortable position.
Again, my husband and I have taken up walking here and there. But just this week, I got a couple of my coworkers interested in getting in shape. We're taking two days of the week, Tuesday and Thursday, and walking around the church sanctuary. I'm not sure how far we walked today, but 7 times around is one mile, and I'm pretty sure we atleast did that. My husband and I walked yesterday too, so slowly and surely, I will get in physical shape. With the accountability of both my coworkers and husband, I'm sure of this.

Spiritually... I'm just not where I need to be. I miss God's Spirit, the all consuming presence of who he is and how he makes me feel, the burning desire to shout his name on the highest mountain.
We have weekly meetings as the college staff talk about the week before and the weeks to come. The time after the meeting, from Tuesday - Friday is spent in preparation for the College class, Freedom, on Sunday mornings.
Anyway, the time spent in our meetings is always beneficial, sometimes adventurous (check my Facebook status from 11/29), and always prayerful. It's in these prayers and spiritual discussions that I'm feeling quite inadequate. Discussions and prayers that used to come so easy are a struggle to find. Grasping the right words and saying the right thing, even knowing the right verse or Biblical reference for the discussion is difficult. I may know what I want to say, but where it comes from or how to say it are lost to me.
Granted, a prayer to God doesn't have to be eloquent, but I feel as if I've become complacent and in that, the words, the actions don't matter. But now that I'm working amongst people that are always studying, always in the word, I'm realizing just how stagnant I've become. I've gotten comfortable and I'm no longer growing as a child of God. Be hot or cold, one or the other; I feel like its worse to be in the middle, unmoving. As the saying goes, "a rolling stone gathers no moss." I don't want to gather dust or moss, I want to be that rolling stone, constantly moving toward something more. I want to kneel to pray and feel like I've reached the highest mountain top. I want to continue to move and grow up in Christ.

So to sum it all up, my physical and spiritual needs have not been met. I've spent so long looking out for everyone else and now I think it's time to look out for me. Time to grow myself and make sure I'm in good physical and spiritual shape. My husband is growing as well and I think we can grow together, alongside each other and prepare ourselves for the road ahead. So that we can help prepare our future children for the road ahead of them. And perhaps by example, show those around us and our families what it means to live a Godly life. What it means to be in shape.

Lord, help us to get in shape. Help us to be physically fit for the road ahead, but also to be spiritually fit and ready to grow your kingdom. Help us grow in you and know you more.
You are our salvation and our spring of life. Thank you for the life you've given, we are blessed beyond measure.
Amen.

New Life

And so new life begins. I always get so excited to see those first green sprouts poking their heads out into the sunshine. Their first little leaves reaching towards life giving sun. It's such a blessing to me to see these little sprouts begin their life. Soon they will be beautiful flowers, bringing joy and brightness in an otherwise gloomy spot. I've planted these flowers around our pitiful little tree in the front yard. I'm hoping the growth of the daisies, morning glory's, forget-me-nots, and wildflower assortment will bring a little life to the poor old tree. I'll start sprinkling plant food here soon, in hopes to get the biggest and prettiest blooms and hopefully a healthier looking tree. My favorite flowers, the daisies are around the base of the tree, with the morning glory's and forget-me-nots planted around them. So when they bloom, the tree will have a dress of white, purple, and blue stripes, with multi-colored spots throughout.

New clothes always perk me up!

Remember, it's okay to be "Wong" every now and again!

Drunk Mailbox

Last thursday our mailbox was, unfortunately, a victim of drunk driving. I regret that we did not get a picture of our slain mailbox but at the time we were so irritated that our mailbox had been knocked over we just didn't think about it.

We arrived home late thursday night to find one of our neighbors (a house full of college students), was having a party out on their driveway. They weren't being loud, so we didn't really care what they were doing. Though about an hour later we heard loud, thumping base for about 30 minutes then all was quiet again. The next morning, Micky left for work and called me telling me not to be alarmed but our mailbox had been knocked over. So of course I got up and immediately had to check out the state of our mailbox. I expected to see it in pieces all over the driveway and street, but it was just laying on its side, one corner crushed.

That weekend we were standing outside with our newest neighbors (a young couple with a 3 month old girl) discussing what had possibly happened to our mailbox. We knew that whomever did it, had been drunk due to the police reports that had been called in from around neighboring communities. Downed fences, busted electrical boxes, and our mailbox all victims of drunken driving.

The young college student's mother came out and apologized saying they were the ones at fault and would pay for our mailbox. She was terribly sorry and despite our anger at the whole situation, our minds were changed in an instant when we heard her side of the story. She had been called by the police at 5am to find out that her son's truck was found but her son was missing. I can only imagine what she went through at that moment. Her children had never had a brush with the law, never even had a traffic accident or ticket and for this to be the first incident would be crushing. She told all of this while trying not to cry. Our anger melted away and we were all just glad no one had been hurt. It could have been much worse. Her son, came out later to also apologize and say that he would indeed pay to have our mailbox fixed. We told him that would be nice but that we were also glad he was okay.

Today it is standing tall and we are so happy to have our mailbox back from the dead!

We've been having to go pick up our mail from the post office for the last week 1/2, which is no big deal but not quite as exciting as getting mail in your own personal box, sober box.

Don't be afraid to be "wong" every now and again!

New title, new look

So I'm starting my blog over from being just me to being my new family with my husband. For the time being it is just he and I and our house full of pets, 3 dogs and 1 cat. We do plan on having kids, just not any time soon! Possibly within 2-3 years. We want to get settled, have time with each other, and get a good foundation for our kids when the time comes!

The last post was all about me getting engaged and its been quite a while since I've posted and am obviously married to my best friend and wonderful husband, Micky! I'll post a few wedding pics later to start our new journey here on Blogspot. In 2 months we will have been married for 1 year and are really excited about that, but hope to gather a few followers as we go.

Hope you are all having a great weekend!

Don't be afraid to be "wong" every now and again!