Episode IV: A New Hope

Hallelujah (Your Love Is Amazing)Written by: Brenton Brown & Brian Doerksen

Your love is amazing, steady and unchanging
Your love is a mountain, firm beneath my feet
Your love is a mystery, how you gently lift me
When I am surrounded, your love carries me

Hallelujah, hallelujah
Hallelujah, your love makes me sing
Hallelujah, hallelujah
Hallelujah, your love makes me sing

Your love is surprising, I can feel it rising
All the joy that's growing deep inside of me
Every time I see you, all your goodness shines through
And I can feel this God song, rising up in me

© 2000 Vinyard Music
CCLI# 3091812

We have a senior pastor. Hallelujah! I just can't describe the sense of peace. That feeling of "it's all going to be okay now." You know how sometimes when things in your life are topsy-turvy, you think "once this is over, I can get on with my life." That's kinda how I feel about church now. We have a pastor, let's get on with things.

Today he preached on Jesus calming the storm. He asked "When life gets unpredictable, do you fall apart or do you show great stability?" I've done both. He broke it down like this: Just as the wind moves the waves, God uses the Holy Spirit to move us, to direct our paths. Even in the best of times, our faith can waiver. Does it matter how hight the waves get if Jesus is in the boat with us? When life gets unpredictable, do you look at the limitations or at the possibilities? God knows no limitations. To the disciples credit, at least they called on Jesus when times got rough.

This picture is from the reception this afternoon. Left to right is Tamma (the wife), Addison, (the daughter), and Thad (the pastor), Cary and Jennifer from the search committee. The bag Jennifer is holding has gift cards that the folks in the church got them as part of an anonymous and secret gift card shower. (I got one from Bath & Body Works - a girl's gotta have her body wash.)

Thad likes motorcycles, so the folks organizing the reception had some of the guys in the church with bikes bring them. Here they are over in the corner of the fellowship hall. Doesn't that beautiful arrangement of flowers look pretty behind them? At one point they fired them all up. It was really loud!

There was a yummy cake. Some of the icing was black. Here's what happens when a three-year-old eats it.I wasn't the only one taking pictures.

Silver, Shopping, Knitting, Silver, Church

Today is March 1st. Did you know it's Big Bonanza Silver Day? You do if you watch QVC.They call it Big Bonanza Silver Day because it was March 1st however many years ago that silver was first discovered in Nevada. I love sterling silver jewelry. If I didn't live paycheck to paycheck, I would have bought a lot of silver today. It's so pretty, and they have so much of it. I've been watching all day and looking at all the pretty jewelry. I haven't ordered anything, but it isn't midnight yet.

I had lunch with PMF today. Subway. Then I went to Bath & Body Works to use coupons. I had four coupons so I had to make four transactions to use them all. I got all this for about $35. I calculated the actual price if I didn't have the coupons and it was around $105 (that doesn't include the Fekkai sample). That always makes me feel better about spending, when I save so much! If you haven't tried the Dr. Patricia Wexler skin care, you should. It's amazing. Then I went to AC Moore and got this:

That's a size three circular needle. I need to get one more (once I have another coupon), so I can do socks on two circular needles. I'm just a little tired of dealing with the dpns.

Okay, it's midnight. It's now or never. I went to qvc.com and ordered these: Item number J14149. There are Guardian Angels on the earrings. Cute. Leverbacks. (I love a leverback earring!) On waitlist. Well, if it's meant to be, it'll happen. If not, then I know it wasn't meant to be.

Our new senior pastor starts tomorrow. I'm so excited. This is the most optimistic time I remember at church in a long time - more than 6 years ago IMHO. There's also a reception for his family tomorrow afternoon. I'll report on the day tomorrow night.

Photo Friday

A new feature at Yarn to Knit! I've decided that each Friday I will feature a photo from my extensive library of digital photos. I've got a lot of them. I love taking pictures. I have them pretty well organized on my PC and have decided to share them with you, my blog reading public.
This is Starr's Mill in Fayetteville, Georgia. I went to Fayetteville with my PMF last Labor Day. When you go to the big shopping center in Fayetteville, you pass by this place. PMF had always wanted to stop there and this was the day. It's a lovely little park. We enjoyed our stop there and got some great pictures. Then we went on for a big day of shopping at the Fayetteville Pavillion. Great place to shop. Every big box store you can imagine. Well, almost.

A Question to Ponder

Okay, I have a question for you: I'm considering starting a second blog. When I began Yarn to Knit last summer. I meant it to be a knitting blog. And often - well, sometimes, it is. But then life intervenes and I spend more time talking about work or church than knitting. Does this mean I need a second blog where I can discuss life issues, philosophical issues, that sort of thing? And just keep Yarn to Knit for mostly knitting content.

Where did all this come from, you ask? Well, over the weekend I was searching Google for something else entirely and one of the results was my old friend Brandi's blog. Brandi is such a rich and prolific writer. Her writing is beautiful and deep. It makes you think. It made me remember the fun times we had while she and Bob lived here. Those were such great times. I cried and mourned when they moved away five and a half years ago. I wasn't missing them much until I read her blog and now I miss them terribly. And I started thinking about the content of Brandi's blog and remembering that I've written some stuff like that. Not as beautifully as Brandi does, but I can be deep. So, then I started to think that maybe I wouldn't want to put that sort of thing on Yarn to Knit. Maybe I should have a second blog for deep thoughts. Anyway, opinions? Comments? Feel free to speak you mind.

Clean Up

We had a clean up day at church today. The new pastor starts Monday and they want everything spic & span for him . (Whatever spic & span means.) They got one of those big dumpsters they'll bring to your place. PMF had to work, so I went and cleaned out the closet in our Sunday School room. I neglected to take a before picture, but just imagine forty years worth of kids supplies crammed into a pantry sized cabinet. (Pause for dramatic effect.)

To start with, I brought in some cd's with me. I don't clean without music. People kept saying, you sound like you're having fun in here. Every now and then someone would come in to look at something - like the corner cabinets that need rebuilding, and I'd have to turn it down. Anyway, I pulled it all out and put it on the tables. There were crayons in all the bins. Kid scissors were everywhere. We've been teaching in that room for three years. There was stuff in there that I'd never seen before - aprons, kid safe rubber stamp pads, a candle lighter(!). It was insane. Look at all the stuff!

Here's the empty cabinet. I wiped out the shelves with Clorox wipes.

Some of the stuff I relocated to the Resource Room so other teachers can use it if they need it. Some if it went into that big dumpster. I sorted the bins so all the crayons were in one bin. All the scissors in one bin. The office supplies have a bin. There's two bins of craft supplies. A bin of paints. A bin of Play Dough. A bin of construction paper. And a bin of yarn!!! All cheap acrylic and much of it in a tangled mess. Some of that had to be tossed. Then everything went back into the cabinet leaving an entire shelf open. Whoo-Hoo!

I had lunch with PMF afterward. Then I came home and took a three hour nap. I was worn out. I feel like I accomplished something though. Why can't I clean my house like that?

Go Tigers!

Look what I got today! I'm so excited! I tried to get it last month when I had to renew my tag before my birthday. The folks at the tag office couldn't get the computer to let them issue the tag to me. They took my phone number and said they'd call me when they figured it out. A month later, I got a message saying they had it ready. I went downtown at lunchtime today and got it. Had to turn in my old tag. I had to take a wrench and remove my old tag on the street across from the office. When I went in, the security guy had to hold my wrench. I don't know what he thought I might do with it in the tag office, but he held it while I went and claimed my tag. So, they gave me my new Clemson tag and I went out, showed it to the security guys and got my wrench back. Then put it on the car right there on Second Avenue. I called my dad to tell him about it. He wasn't home. I left a message. I called Dawn because I knew she'd appreciate it - or at least appreciate my enthusiasm for it. I made everyone at work go look at it today. Especially the two guys who went to Carolina. Can't wait to show it off at church tomorrow! It's the only one in Columbus! When I got home I had my Clemson World Alumni magazine in the mailbox waiting on me. It was a very orange day! I even wore an orange shirt today.

Be very afraid: I'm sitting here with Magic Stripes yarn, size 3 needles, and a Cat Bordhi sock book.

Sinuses are the Pits

This is what I've been carrying around all week. Tissues, Vapor Rub, Ricola, and hot Tea. The Sinus Mist was an addition I made yesterday. I slept for about twelve hours last night. I actually felt little bit better when I woke up this morning. I went and had lunch with PMF today at Chic Fil-A. I had nuggets and discovered that the nuggets have 10 calories less than the grilled chicken sandwich. And the Sweet Tea has almost half as many calories as the lemonade. Who knew they put that much sugar in their lemonade?!? I feel much better about nuggets and sweet tea now.
So I've been sick this week with bad sinuses. I've pretty much just been to work this week. There were a couple runs to Publix for essentials, but no Knitting Monday night and no church on Wednesday. I've just taken it easy this week. I guess it paid off because I do feel a little better today. I don't think I've had to blow my little sore nose all day. Yea!
Anyway, I was under the weather and I'm now making my way back on top of it. Hope you are doing better.

Congestion

My dust and 409 disturbed sinuses have taken on a state of congestion they are now sharing with my throat and to some extent, my lungs. My PMF knew it was bad when he called yesterday morning on his way to work and I was drinking hot tea instead of coffee. He knew it was really bad when he called last night on his way home and I told him I wasn't going to my knitting group. I don't feel really bad, just kind of yucky. No fever or anything, just a little hoarse. My boss at work is sick, too. Today he was sneezing and I was coughing; but every now and then, I'd sneeze or he'd cough. This afternoon I made him take a good sniff of my Vicks Inhaler.He didn't sneeze so much after that!

I made heart shaped strawberry Jello Jigglers for my Sunday School Class Sunday. Two-Year-Olds are funny with Jigglers. Some dive right in, and are asking for more very quickly. Some have to be persuaded and embrace the Jiggler once they are convinced of its deliciousness. Some like the taste of the Jiggler, but do not care to touch it. They will, however, eat the Jiggler if it is fed to them. I've got the gizmo that let's you make Easter Egg shaped Jigglers. They are really fun, but lots of trouble. Whether the Easter Bunny will bring those March 23rd remains to be seen.

Happy Birthday, Daddy!

My dad is 81 today. He was supposed to get his Canyon Ridge vest (the one he was originally supposed to get for Christmas) today. But, alas, it's not ready yet. I feel bad. I felt bad telling him the other day that it wasn't ready and he was all "That's okay, Hon." Which really just made me feel worse. I've got to get that vest done!

Work has been draining lately. There's just so much to do. I like my job, I really do, but, man, they just expect so much of us. Yesterday my boss was off to go to a funeral out of town, and I had so much to do. I left about 7:10 last night. It was a long day. Oh, and Thursday, my boss got on a cleaning frenzy. He does this about once a year. I just follow him around and try to make sure he doesn't throw away anything we need. He went nuts with the 409. Between the dust and the 409, my sinuses haven't been the same since.

Tonight I'm babysitting for my boys, Jack and Grayson. Or as I call them Jack-a-roo and Gray-baby. They are 5 and 2 1/2 and lots of fun. The biggest battle is getting Jack to bed. Gray goes without a fight; Jack moves in slow mo once he starts upstairs. I wonder what movie we'll watch tonight. There's always dinner and a movie. It's like a date, only I get some knitting done after they go to sleep and I get paid at the end of the night. It'd be bad if I got paid after a date. Also illegal.

Okay, have a great weekend. I'll try to be a better blogger. Lacy has given me grief over my lack to blogging. I get online and get lost in email and ravelry. I'll be better.

Longing for Snow

So, the forecast called for snow. They had even issued a "Heavy Snow Alert" for the area. I was so excited. I was ready for it. Looking forward to it. Then about 10:30 this morning, they cancelled it. Bad sign. I watched the radar and the snow stayed north of Muscogee county all day. I was sad. I still am. Daddy didn't get any snow this time either. But the PMF got snow at his house, one county north.

This is what was there when he got home from work today. I love snow. I wish I had snow.

We had a very busy week at work this week. We are doing a new show and it took a lot of time. Long hours and lots of work. I think it's going to be a really good show, though. It's hard to tell because we're shooting it in segments and not as a whole. It's going to be even more work putting it all together.

I made 10 Bean Soup with Ham today. Ideal for the cold wet weather. A nice pan of cornbread was the perfect compliment. It was delicious.

Stay warm out there.