Summer 2009

I haven't blogged in awhile - but with good reason. This summer was packed with 3 moves, a job change, time with family, and a month in China. It is impossible to put into a tiny blog how much God taught me in China, so I will talk just a little bit:) I am sure you will understand that I cannot put all that I wish to due to sensitivity issues so just ask me if you want to know specifics. We had the amazing opportunity to teach university students for 4 weeks. Although we were their teachers, we were also their peers. Having that dual role allowed us to communicate in and out of the classroom using various mediums;) Sammi and Helen were both students that I was able to build a strong relationship with and share some of my beliefs. In a very real way we were able to see what Paul meant in 1 Cor. 3 when he said, "I planted, Apollos watered, but GOD gave the increase." We are simply instruments fulfilling one part of God's plan. The thought is both humbling and encouraging.

I miss China and I think about it everyday. If God allows the opportunity to go back, I'm there.

Eyebrow Threading

I got my eyebrows threaded yesterday. At first, I wasn't quite sure why I did it, but after an extended analysis, here is my conclusion: curiosity, convenience, and to save 8 dollars.
Eyebrow threading is where the threader (whose eyebrows were atrociously overgrown)uses cotton thread and masterfully and forcefully rips your hair out. The benefit of threading is that it is allegedly more precise and apparently, eyebrow roots go all the way to your brain stem and ripping them out this way slows their regrowth.

Let me recreate the scene.
You've seen people giving massages in the mall, right? Who would want to sit on a chair and have a strange person touch you while others walk by gawking at you. Well, threading is very similar. You sit in a chair made for someone who is 4'9" so your neck is unsupported and you feel like you are about to get beheaded.
Initially, the conversation went like this, "What do you do?" Her English was pretty good. I hesitated to answer because when I go to the salon and they say, "what do you do?" It is usually referring to occupation. Then she said, "you wax?" I was appreciative of her clarification. I said yes closed my eyes, ready to take a little nap. Then the lady said "go like this". She wanted me to cover my own closed eye with one hand and use my other hand to pull my forehead back toward my spine. So here I am in the middle of the mall, flopped on a chair with my elbows up in the air. How attractive.

Since I usually wax my eyebrows, I thought this would be relaxing. WRONG. Apparently, threading is a nice way of saying, "sit in this chair and we will make you feel like we are slitting through all three layers of skin to reveal your skull."

I thought she may've needed some feedback about what I was feeling in case pain was abnormal. My eye was watering, but she couldn't see this since it was blocked by my hands...
So I made a noise of discomfort. It may have sounded moan-like...I am not quite sure.
She didn't respond so I tried contorting my face so she could see my pain. No luck.
I finally resorted to sighing. Well, sort of sighing. It was more like gasping. Still no luck.
When she was finally finished with my public torture session, I paid and thought, "What was I thinking?!" Well, now I know what threading is...and you do too.

Is life always Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows?

So lately I have been reading "The Cry of the Soul" by Dan Allender and Tremper Longman. It is a book that uses the Psalms to show how our emotions reveal our relationship with God. I don't let people see me cry and I sorta take pride in that. As a matter of fact, only my family and very few of my close friends have seen me shed a tear. I am a toughie...or so I thought. Basically, what I realized was that the reason I do not show what is considered "negative" emotion is because I refuse to acknowledge it until I absolutely must. Therefore, if I can remove myself from the situation, I don't have to feel any pain. I tend to let all my joy seep out of my entire being and suppress any anger, sadness, or bitterness because I don’t want to feel it. I learned that not allowing myself to feel the pain or process it properly is saying that I don’t trust God to protect, comfort, and heal me.

This is not the way Christ was and it isn't the way the many in the Bible were. In fact, Psalm 88 (the entire thing) shows despair, sadness, and desperation. Contrast that with Psalm 42 which starts out with confusion and tears and ends triumphantly! Refusing to acknowledge emotions other than "frustrated" or "happy" has made me realize one thing: I don't trust God enough. I figured that I could handle everything because I was afraid if I let my self "feel" then he would never take away the pain. So I would internalize it.
I guess my point is that Christ wants us to feel. Fundamentalism today seems to place such a low (or non-existent) priority on emotions and feelings whereas the Bible recognizes them as a mode of grieving, praising, mourning, etc. Understandably, emotions need not be overemphasized, but they do play a role in our spiritual growth. I tend to forget that Christ, in his perfection, has emotions just like me. He gave us emotions for a reason. No, I am not going all crazy on you and think that we need to "follow our feelings" and "emotions rule the heart" or anything like that. However, I do agree with the following statement by the authors, “Every emotion, though horizontally provoked, nevertheless reveals something about the vertical dimension: our relationship with God.”

Who thought, "Hmmm, let's shove some heated round plastic into our hair and see what it does?"

Today I re-discovered why God has not called me to be a hairdresser...I will get to that in a moment. First, I am going to re-visit some early hair memories:
1. Mom told me I could not go away to camp until I could do my own hair. "Doing my own hair" meant brushing it and putting in into a ponytail. (Just in case anyone was wondering, I was a slow learner...I think I went away to camp in 3rd grade?? Maybe
4th?)
2. Dawn taught me how to do "hair exercises" when I was in 2nd grade. This is where you flip your head upside down and flop your hair from side to side and up and down. It is like singing "Inright, outright, upright, downright" and doing the motions with your hair instead of your hands. Dawn, do you think you could re-enact this and put it on youtube?
3. 4th grade. Bangs. Need I say more?
4. 7th and 8th grade I wore a messy bun every day. Mom about had a coronary.
5. All through high school I attempted to cut my own hair. Bad idea.
6. 12th grade. Christmas day. New curling iron that was too hot = completely singed bangs.
7. On my senior trip my best friend and I got "Hair Painting kits" to highlight our hair. When you use that type of a kit, it is best to use a cap so you don't end up "painting" inconsistently...we didn't use a cap. Can you say SPOTS?
8. I once tried giving Amanda a hair cut right before she left for camp. It was absolutely hideous (can you say "bob in the front, middle of the back in the back"? It was like a morphed mullet. Even mom was horrified. I lied to Amanda and told her it looked awesome. The poor girl had to leave for camp the next morning and I didn't want her to feel insecure the whole time.

It seemed like every Sunday afternoon in high school was spent messing with my hair. I tried using hot rollers several times with no luck. I even had these cool hot pink ones that bent and twisted...those ended up knotted in my hair. Mom always said it would just take practice and I always thought it was my lack of fine motor skills.

Well, today I tried using hot rollers again.
And had more right angles than curls.
I can't blame it on practice. I tried putting the same curler in 19 times. It definitely is a gift or maybe a creative gene that I just do not have.
As for my next hair event, I will be testing Rogaine. I got it free from CVS and could use some hair-replacement therapy due to my recent hot roller escapade.

Robby-Wobby-Bob-Rob-Robert

I am close with all of my siblings and share a different type of bond with each. Robby and I are close because we grew up together - literally and figuratively. We went through the same phases of life at nearly the same time: our parents divorce and remarriage, our love for talk radio, college, first apartments, and careers. Robby is one of my best friends. I call him for spiritual advice, ideas,opportunities, reminiscing, singing, quoting movies, ranting, crying, laughing and pranks.
Bob got married this past Saturday and I couldn't be more excited for him. Although our relationship will change, I know it won't be a bad change and I am thankful that he has an amazing wife to share his life with!
Bob, I love you and I am extremely thankful for you! Mandy, welcome to our family! You are perfect for Bob:)
Here are some of my favorite memories growing up with Bob:
1. "Abby, get off the wall!"
2. "Patricia, DOWNSTAIRS!"
3. jello
4. that time we were at grandma and pap Shaffer's and played cards for like 8 hours per day.
5. Getting the lovesac
6. The case of the missing peanut butter
7. Scotland
8. Prank calls where we would just read the labels off of random items
9. Vacations
10. Running out of toilet paper in the apartment
11. When you told your friends that we shared the same bed in the apartment...and they believed you. hahahahahahaha.
12. Karaoke:)
13. The first month of school where I called you like every day.
14. Prob and stats when we used every single skip and late...then got stuck in the driveway!
15. "giggle giggle giggle, laugh laugh laugh laugh, chuckle chuckle chuckle"

Love you!

Frozen

Lately is has been super cold. I know, I know. This is just the beginning, right? Anyway, this morning I got in my car and wondered why I had bird poop all over my back and side window. (Isn't it a little cold for this stuff?) As I look closer, I realize that bird poop would have been nice. Instead it was exploded Mt. Dew. Nice. Way to go, Jen. So I drive (quite erratically...and with the heat OFF so I don't melt the frozen dew) to the nearest working vacuum and Katie and I try to rid my car of the acid. I think we were successful.
I will find out in the spring when WI thaws out.

China:)

I am going to China for four weeks this summer and need to raise $2,000 by April 15th. I am not going to beat around the bush...I need your help. If you can contribute to this ministry by prayer support or monetarily, PLEASE contact me. I would love to tell you more about this unique opportunity but cannot go into detail right now:) If you do not have access to my email and would like to know more, please leave a comment and I will contact you. Thank you in advance!