The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Families

I listened to this audio tape during my trip to and from Chattanooga. It's a great book and I recommend it. But in case you don't have the time, I wanted to share three of the examples Stephen Covey shared that really stuck out in my mind.

· You can climb the ladder of success only to get to the top and realize you had placed your ladder against the wrong wall. Choose what are the most important things in your life and than work toward success in these areas.

· Having a successful family is like managing a flight plan on an airplane. You set your end point and that move towards that goal. Sometimes you will get off course, but the flight plan will keep readjusting you to get to the goal.

· Relationships are much like bank accounts. You make deposits and withdrawals. Deposits are things like affirming words and keeping promises. They are also whatever the other person in the relationship considers to be deposits. You must find out what is important to them. If the bank account is full, an occasional withdrawal will not affect the overall account. But if the account is empty, the smallest withdrawal can send it into overdraft.

About me

Val inspired me with her list of 100 things about Val and Eli so I decided to try a list of 25 about me.

1. I'm from Chattanooga, TN. Yes, I know I don't have the accent.
2. I play the violin and the piano.
   
3. I spent a school year in France. It was an amazing experience, though difficult at times.
4. I'm solar powered.
5. Seattle, Washington is one of the worst places I could imagine moving in the U.S. See number 4.
6. I wish I were perfect.
7. But I'm not.
8. I like English Breakfast tea and Dr. Pepper.
9. I like to snowski and waterski
10. I miss living near good hiking.
11. I used to own a horse.
12. Sometimes people think that Heather and I are twins. I think it must be the hair.
13. I consider myself outdoorsy more than athletic.
14. I miss having Christmas, Spring, Fall, and Summer break.
15. For the most part I like my job.
16. I don't like to wake up before 8:00 in the morning.
17. I wear a lot of blue and pink colors.
18. I once took a night train to Italy by myself. One the way I actually heard people speaking in a weird sounding clicking language.
19. I am an affectionate person with people I care about.
20. I don't like scary movies
21. My Great Grandmother had her Masters degree and worked at Madison Academy in Nashville.
22. I get excited when I find good deals shopping. I feel much better about a purchase if it was a good deal.
23. I have moved 4 times in the last 3 years.
    
24. I like to eat at Mexican restaurants
25. Relationships are important to me.
    

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas! Here are some of the pictures from this weekend.

Home for Christmas

For various reasons I decided to drive home for Christmas this year. It's a long drive! But happily I was able to break it up a little by driving to Valdasta last night and then the rest of the way today. Which was a really good thing because the weather today was horrible. I passed around 6 accidents on the way home! It was rainy and nasty and there was a lot of traffic on certain parts of the road. I'm very thankful for the angels that were around my car! At least twice I could have been part of the accident count so I'm very glad to be home safe and sound.

Happy Sabbath!

Glad to be going home

Today is my last day in Las Vegas! I'm glad. I've enjoyed some of the things here, but I'm ready to go home. I'm happy to report that I did not finance the building of this city by gambling! Although I did contribute to the entertaintment and food income! I will say that the food here is very good. From plantains to crepes, they really have a lot of options. Speaking of crepes, I LOVE the Paris hotel. That's probably my favorite thing here. They have a mini Effle Tower and cute little shops and streets. AND they make great French food. I walked in the bakery and it actually smelled like France! The tartes were good, the crepes were good..... :) Vive la cuisine francaise!

I Saw the Shuttle Take Off!

It was so cool. A group of us drove out to a park 7 miles from the launch site with a perfect view across the lake. The shuttle took off at exactly 8:47 and it was really cool. It was like a bright light going up the sky. It made a wide light path across the lake. The boom didn't come until the shuttle was almost out of sight! I'm really glad we were able to see it!

Friday Evening

So, tonight being the relaxing Friday night that it is, I decided to take a bath. I had the salts and the music and the candles. It was all very nice. However, Bisous decided to get closer to the action and climbed up to where my vanilla candle jar was and practially sat on it! Not good. I saw smoke. I quickly pulled it away and dabbed some water on my cat, which she loved, and no harm was done. Note to self. Keep Bisous away from candles!

Fun in the Hay

Today our social committee at Deeper planned an outing to the Corn Maize in Zellwood. (On a side note Val and I got some of the corn there and it's REALLY good!!) But we also wondered around in the fields for a good hour and a half learning about history and enjoying being outside. Here are some pictures.


And the answer to clue number 5 is...Davy Crockett! Great. Now how does that get us out of the maize?!
Shawn got a little scared, being lost and all, and started waiving the "help us" flag. ;) Okay fine, it was just for the picture.

Quote

Nikki brought the following quote to our staff meeting this morning and I thought I would share it.

"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn't serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We are born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us, it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."

-Marianne Williamson

Lessons from Narnia

I read "The Last Battle" a while ago and a section from the book has been coming to mind recently. I thought I would share the text and let you come to your own conclusions about the message.

This is near the end of the book when one of the characters discovered that he had been worshiping the wrong god all of his life. Here is his encounter with Aslan.

"So I went over much grass and many flowers and among all kinds of wholesome and delectable trees till lo! in a narrow place between two rocks there came to meet me a great Lion. The speed of him was like the ostrich, and his size was an elephant's; his hair was like pure gold and the brightness of his eyes like gold that is liquid in the furnace. He was more terrible than the Flaming Mountain of Lagour, and in beauty he surpassed all that is in the world even as the rose in bloom surpasses the dust of the desert. Then I fell at his feet and thought, Surely this is the hour of death for the Lion (who is worthy of all honor) will know that I have served Tash all my days and not him. Nevertheless, it is better to see the Lion and die than to be Tisroe of the world and live and not to have seen him. But the Glorious One bent down his golden head and touched my forehead with his tongue and said "Son, thou art welcome. But I said, Alas, Lord, I am no son of thine but the servant of Tash. He answered, Child, all the service thou has done to Tash, I account as service done to me.

Then by reasons of my great desire for wisdom and understanding, I overcame my fear and questioned the Glorious One and said, Lord, is it then true, as the Ape said, that thou and Tash are one? The Lion growled so that the earth shook (but his wrath was not against me) and said, It is false. Not because he and I are one, but because we are opposites, I take to me the services which thou has done to him. For I and he are of such different kinds that no service which is vile can be done to me, and none which is not vile can be done to him. Therefore if any man swear by Tash and keep his oath for the oath’s sake, it is by me that he has truly sworn, though he know it not, and it is I who reward him. And if any man do a cruelty in my name, then, though he say the name Aslan, it is Tash whom he serves and by Tash his deed is accepted. Dost thou understand, Child? I said, Lord, thou knowest how much I understand. But I said also (for the truth constrained me), Yet I have been seeking Tash all my days. Beloved, said the Glorious One, unless thy desire had been for me thou wouldst not have sought so long and so truly. For all find what they truly seek."

Pet Peeve

So I've discovered that one of the things that really makes me angry is men who obsess over their weight, or even worse, MY weight (or any other female.) Don't get me wrong here. I think it's very important to be healthy and to eat good foods and stay active. However, there is a line. And it's a line that people really shouldn't be crossing when they don't know you all that well. Someone I know said outloud today that he thinks his wife should lose weight. And he tells her this. Now, I'm all for open communication. And sometimes the people you love do have to tell you when you are doing unhealthy things. But still, tact is important. Noone should feel like less of a person or unattractive just because they don't meet society's image of what a woman or a man for that matter should look like. Again, it's important to be healthy. But it's also important to be loving and to treat each other with respect. And commenting on someone's weight and what they should and shouldn't eat is more often than not, very hurtful. If I want to make popcorn with lots of butter, let me. If my friend wants to have an afternoon snack of ice cream, let her. Unless you are genuinely speaking out of concern for a very close friend or loved one, another person's eating habits is none of your business. Okay, getting of my soapbox now...

Weekend activities

Heather and I went to Hilton Head this weekend. It was lots of fun. :)

Hanging out at the aiport

So, the bad news is that my flight is delayed and I'm stuck at the airport. The good news is that I'm connecting to a signal somewhere and I can get online! Apparently there is some kind of bad weather in Baltimore right now, and we have to go through there to get to New York. From which we will drive to Vermont. I think I'm going to be getting to bed late tonight...

Anyways. I'm excited about seeing the tree colors in Vermont. I hope we are able to do some hiking on Sabbath. I love the sunshine in Florida, but I do miss hiking in the mountains. Hopefully I'll get to do a little of that this weekend!

Walking along

Today was a blah day. Work was boring and seemed to take too long. And then I finally moved the rest of my things out of the apartment. That was tiring and my back hurts. But I'm glad it is done. Also, sometimes I really confuse myself. There is something I have really believed in for a long time now that I just don't understand. It really doesn't make sense right now. I can't seem to shut the door, but every time I try to walk through it, I end up outside again. I don't know why it's so complicated. But I guess that's where faith comes in. If life had only open and closed doors, we wouldn't have to rely on God to lead us. We would easily know where to go. I just hope that I'm doing everything I can to truly hear his leading.

Congratulations Nikki and Mike

We had a very nice shower for my friend Nikki today at an adorable tea place. She's geting married in less than two weeks. Congratulations you guys! :)

What happens when Val and I leave for work...

What should we do today Bisous?













The same thing we do every day Oreo!

Watch some TV. Catch up on Grey's Anatomy. Make some popcorn. Check myspace.
And make sure to look nice and innocent by the time our mom's get home!

Thoughts

Recently I've been thinking about what it means to say that I am a Christian. I was raised knowing why I believed that Sabbath was the day God blessed and that the dead in Christ will rise when He comes again, ect. And while I still believe these things, lately I've been feeling more conviction of the things that I hold in common with many other Christians. Being a Christian means that you are a follower of Christ. That you have accepted Him as your Savior and seek Him in your life. And you want to spend forever with Him in Heaven. And while I think it is important to seek truth and read the Bible, I think it is so much more important to seek Jesus. One of my closest spiritual friends is not an Adventist. But I know she loves God so much and is truly a follower of Him. And because of that, I don't feel the need to tell her about the verses I know about that show the differences in our religion. If she asks, I'm happy to. But I trust that God will convict her of what He sees fit. And for us, we have so many great spiritual discissions about God and how He leads in our lives, that it usually doesn't feel necessary to talk about the things we see differently.

Anyways. I don't want to come across like I'm doubting our beliefs or anything. I believe in our message. But I do think it is important to focus on the big picture more than the little things. And how I see it, the big picture is all about Him.

Sick Day

So today I stayed home sick. Which was rather frustrating seeing as I have no sick days! But I felt terrible all night, and when I got up to take a shower I got really tired and started having cold chills. So, I figured if a shower wears me out, I have no business going to work!

I pretty much slept on and off all afternoon. I feel a little better now so hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to go to work and eat some food. I'm running on saltine crackers and Powerade!

So, you want to work with people...

Bill Cosby spoke at a convention I attended a year or so ago. He made us all laugh with his comments on HR. One in particular stands out right now. He said, 'So you decided when you were in college that you wanted to work with people. Then you graduated and MET the people...."

Today I feel like I 'met the people.' I like my job. I really do. But today was a really grumpy day. I won't go into detail, but let's just say I ever so briefly considered a job that was NOT working with people. Long-term, I would hate that. But today, it would have been nice.

Pride

Last night I watched the movie "Save the Last Dance." There is an interesting scene towards the end where one of the main characters is trying to convince his friend not to do something stupid. The friend responds by saying, look I don't have med school waiting for me. All I have is my dignity. And that's what I have to protect.

Okay so that's part one. Part two:
I ended up reading parts of Jonah as my devotional. It struck me that pride was also what he was struggling with. He had told the town that they would all die, and now, thanks to God's mercy and their repentance, they were going to live. He felt like he looked stupid. And because of it he just wanted to sit out in the heat and die.

It's funny how our pride affects us. It can cause us to do stupid things, or to be upset about really good things.

I think pride is one of the most difficult things to overcome. It forces us to admit weakness and be vunerable. But think how much frustration and trouble could be avoided if more people where strong enough to be humble.