27

In honor of my birthday week......I thought that I would tell 27 things about me..I saw on this on someone else's blog..not that anyone reads this...but it will sharpen my thinking skills!

1. I once played basketball against Britney Spears and I got her autograph. She was not very friendly!
2. I saw the Red Sox and Yankees play at Fenway on Good Friday. So cool!
3. Matthew McCaunaughey greets my guests in my apartment. Seriously, I have a framed autograph of him, with my name on it!
3. I once sang at Hound Dog's Hot Dog stand on Music Row in Nashville. It's where Tim McGraw was discovered.
4. My first plane ride wasn't until I was 19.
5. I shook hands with President Bush- George Hebert Walker Bush.
6. I met Tipper Gore.
7. I love to read fitness magazines, although I'm not ahuge fan of exercise.
8. I was Prom Queen.
9. I nearly drowned once while white rafter rafting...seriously, I thought I was going to die!
10. I hate to be really organized. It seems like I have my own system and always can find things, but when I get organized, I can't find anything.
11. My mom and my aunts and I go shopping the day after thanksgiving every year!!
12. I was a summer missionary...twice.
13. I want to one day adopt a child.
14. I once walked down Bourbon street in pantyhose and high heels--not fun!
15. My senior year of college, I lived in a house with 6 other girls.
16. Peaches was my nickname in school...to this day I don't know where it came from.
17. Last year, I seriously considered moving to Kenya.
18. I want to visit the Holy Land before I die.
19. When sleeping, I have to lay on my stomach, facing the left side...always or I won't sleep!
20. I'm the only one in my family on both sides who has curly hair.
21. I love the smell of rain.
22. Scrapbooking is my therapy.
23. I love the Food Network, but don't do much cooking.
24. I've had the same best friend since I was 12.
25. I had an article published in Christian Single magazine.
26. If I weren't a social worker, I'd be a speaker or a writer.
27. My eyes are two different colors. The left one has brown at the top.

So there it is....all about me.

Mother's Day

Today is Mother's Day. I'm not able to spend today with mine, but will get to see her this week as we head to the beach! This morning's sermon talked about the making of a mother and how motherhood should be a top priority. Pastor Bill talked about the things that a mother should instill in her children. It got me to thinking about the things that my mom has instilled in me.

• A love for the Lord. Handsdown....
• A love for family
• A respect for tradition.
• Faith- even when things are difficult.
• Sense of humor.

I could go on and on...but these are just a few. Even though mom and I have our fair share of disagreements (and I still think she treats me like I'm 5!) we really do have a great relationship!

Then there are my spiritual moms. Linda has known me since birth. Her husband was my pastor until I was 20 years old. She has prayed for me through life, guys, school, and everything else that I faced. Her family has become a part of our family. She embodies the minister's wife. Even though I don't get to see her as often I would like to, we still talk and laugh together. Sheryl was my SS teacher at my church when i first moved. She became my 2nd mother! She's lead countless Bible studies and we have a regular lunch date when her husband is on call. She has spoken truth into my life when it wasnt exactly what I wanted to hear, but i needed it. She has encouraged me and loved on me.

Even though I'm not yet a mother in the physical sense, I am a spiritual mother. I have three special kiddos (who are growing up entirely way too fast! They're now almost 14, 10, and 6!) who play such a huge part of my life. I grew up in the same church with their mom and their dad was my youth minister my senior year of high school. When Deanna was born, she and I just bonded...it was so cute to see her hold out her arms for me to pick her up. I got to teach her SS class when she was two, she was and will be Nana's girl. Then Abram came along and stole my heart. Daniel tries to act tough but he loves his Nana too. I love these kids like they were my own. They are family. Abram asked me a while back, "Nana, are you family?" I said, "well, kind of." He replied, "Then how come you don't look like my mama??" I had to laugh...the whole family is blonde hair and blue eyed!

So on this day, I'm thankful!

Tired..........

Tired.....it pretty much sums up how I feel tonight and this week. I felt like I've run non stop this week, especially yesterday and today. Today, I was think in the office for maybe 2 hours. Tonight was banquet, which meant we got off early, but banquet day is hectic.I rushed home, changed clothes 20 times to get ready for church pictorial pics, go get my picture made, listen to the lady try to pressure me into buying pictures that I didn't even really like ( simply told her no) and then off to banquet. Then yesterday, one of my former kids had a baby and i went to the hospital to see her and then had to go back today to bring more baby stuff. That visit which was work related still, made me feel like I was the hospital social worker all over again. I had arranged for this family to get a baby bed but it would likely be the first of the week before they could get it, transportation issues, this might interfere with the discharge plan, etc, etc. I'm so thankful that our agency could help this family, but I only made the arrangements simply because there was a beautiful innocent baby involved. To be quite honest, i sometimes get tired of helping people who won't help themselves...always living with one hand out (or sometimes, both.)
Then work is making me tired. I'm tired of people acting like they are in junior high, refusing to take responsibility for their actions, and acting just plain dumb. But tonight reminded me of why I love what I do. (well most of the time, I love it.) Tonight was our awards banquet. It's a pretty big to do..the kids get all dressed up, teachers, church staff, board people come, we eat good food, honor the kids for their successes, see a slide show, etc. The kids also perform. Tonight ended with one of my favoritest little girls, I call her Little Bit, singing "He knows my name/Jesus Loves Me." Seeing her sing and hearing her..it made "to have faith like a child" all the more real at that moment. To think that despite everything that I go through, the times that I feel insignificant, that my job is pointless...He knows my name. He hears me when I call. I'm tired...but in a few days, I'll be on the beach!

I'm allergic to my work??!

Okay, so this post may not be filled with anything that insightful, but I'm feeling in the mood to blog so here I am. About the blog title...I really am allergic to my work, well sort of. For anyone that knows me, I've always had trouble with my sinuses and allergies...i'm sick year round (or at least it seems that way!) So I broke down and had allergy testing done yesterday. Come to find out, I'm allergic to both kinds of dust mites, seven different types of grass, ragweed, oak, and get this: Pecan trees! The problem here: my agency is located on 80 acres of pecan trees!!!!! That's right, 80! Since obviously I can't quit my job, allergy shots are next. I'm not looking forward to it at all, but hopefully, I'll start to feel better..in general. Being able to breathe would help! So tonight I'm home when i could be out with my friends, but I'm having side effects from the predisnone i have to take for 5 days...i'm all red faced, itchy and feel like I've been hit by a mac truck! But I had some comfort food tonight--Popeye's biscuit and mashed potatoes!

Lately, I've had so much fun with my friends. Last night, we celebrated Cinco De Mayo, at a restaurant which probably had the slowest service ever, but the food was good and the company greater. We just laughed and talked and laughed some more. I really want to be more intentional in having fun and just enjoying life. When you work in the field that I do, work is not often fun. It's very easy to bring work home with you, or just get bogged down with the pressures of trying to be all things to all people or to fix everything. I'm often the bad guy, having to say no or confront things about issues that they don't want to talk about or help people who refuse it (while I go out on a limb to help them!) But that's okay.

My 27th birthday is looming around the corner. Yikes! I've been doing a lot of thinking lately...i usually get this way as my birthday approaches. Life looks nothing like I thought it would at this point..nothing! Here was my plan for the way I wanted life to look at this point: done with school, gone to seminary, married, family on the way, working in ministry, in a house (or something that I don't pay rent on!) So here is how my life looks like 3 weeks away from 27: done with school, got my master's-but not from seminary, single, working in ministry, living 200 miles away from my family in an apartment. Now, it may seem like I'm complaining..i'm not. Just making an observation. I was talking to one of my mentors the other day and I was telling her about my reflective state of mind lately. Then I realized something: in a way, I'm thankful that my life hasn't turned out the way that I wanted to. Huh? Thankful? Yes, thankful. I've had some of the most incredible experiences in life so far, for me. I don't think that I would have gotten to experience them if life had gone according to Ashley. I probably wouldn't have the job that I have today, live where I live today, or met the friends that I have if life had gone my way. Shane's death was one of the most hardest things I've ever faced in my life, but I experienced God's love, His faithfulness, His sovereignity, and His healing in ways that I never thought were possible. Yes, it was difficult, but that experience helped me to own my faith- to find out what I believe and why. I experienced Him first hand....it wasn't my parent's experience, anything that my pastor or youth minister told me, it was mine.

Okay, I said that I didn't think this was going to be insightful, but maybe I lied. The words just flowed out Not that anyone reads this anyway, but like I said before, it's my therapy!

Saturday night in a small town

Tonight, I had probably one of the best Saturday nights I've had in a long time. No, it wasn't a date! Misty, Rebekah and I had plans to hear a concert at Kiroli..we thought it was just going to cost us the admission to get into the park...we get there only to find out it was $25 each! So that plan was scratched. We went to Mohawk to eat. Then we tried to decide what to do...this involved riding around most of the town with the top down, wind blowing our hair, singing at the top of our lungs, laughing our heads off! Then we pulled in to Mcdonald's to use the bathroom to find that they are having a car show, full of harley riders and all that stuff...i think some old man tried to hit on us too! Then we met up with some other friends and ate Eskamoes, then went to one of their houses to play Taboo. Now, not exactly what some people may think of as fun, but when you live in a small town, you make do. I haven't laughed that hard in so long..we said if only we could lose 20 pounds every time we laughed! But I'm so thankful for my friends....and the laughter!

My Uncommon Friend

I have been blessed tremendously with some incredible friendships in my life. I made some great friendships in college at the BCM and the memories with those people I still treasure today. A few of them I still keep in touch with, as much as we can..life gets in the way, work, marriage, babies. Then there are the friends that I've made while I've lived in North LA. God knew that I needed those people in my life: Sara, Brandi, Misty, Sheryl, Erin, just to name a few. But there is one friend that stands out in my mind and in my heart. Her birthday is next week and I thought that I would write this on her birthday, but since I'm home with double pink eye (yes, double!) and the words are flowing, so here it is.

Jess and I met when we were twelve years old and both landed on the Mariners softball team. We just clicked!!! The next few years were filled with games, practices, the Little League parades, McDonalds before the parades, the sleepovers (on the couch bed!) and lots of fun! Jess and I laugh to this day about how we ended up as friends: we went to different schools, different churches, had different circles of friends, we went to different colleges, our lives look totally different from each others! But God knew what He was doing when He put us on the same team years ago. She's the sister that I never had. We've been through everything together: boys, family stuff, grief, loss. She was the first person that I called when I got home after I found out about Shane, she's the first person that I call to talk about a potential date, she's been my sounding board. Now, she's brought Corey into her life (and now he's a part of mine too--even if he won't let her come visit! LOL) I remember when she called to tell me that she and Corey were engaged..I literally hung up on her and came right over! I ran across an article written by Beth Moore a few years ago, titled "Uncommon Friends". She wrote about her husband and his best friend. It talked about how they had a friendship that was God ordained and how they were so different from each other, yet they had such a strong friendship. I tore it out and sent it to Jess. It made me think of us. Even though we live 200 miles apart, we immediately catch up where we left off from before. I love that! She is my voice of wisdom, she keeps me sane...she gently tells me the truth in love that I so desperately need to hear, even though I may not want to hear it. I could go on and on. But I'm grateful for all of the friends in my life.....especially her.