Zee Tree, Zee Tree!!!

I think I can honestly say that this is the most fun job I've ever had. I absolutely LOVE working at these tree lots... I mean, who's in a bad mood when they're coming to buy a Christmas Tree??? The hours are definitely long, but it's worth it. Having a great time...

As you can see, we got our tree... Got it Monday and it's still not decorated... we'll get there... it's about 9 feet tall after all is said and done... loving it... just loving it...

Updates and such

Okay, so Adam's been updating this pretty well, but I haven't, so I'm just going to post some pictures of some things we've been up to. By the way, praise the LORD I got a job!!! I'm working for ONUG Communications. They are a Christian owned company that stands by it's principles to be governed by Christ. I'm an admin. asst. for a group that is contracted by AT&T. Our group works in an AT&T building close to downtown Raleigh. I have about a 40 minute commute. It's NOWHERE near as bad as it was in MD.

This is Josiah. I babysat him every Friday morning until I started working. He's my little Elmer Fudd...those eyebrows are so expressive.
This is the terminal opening of RDU. Mom & Dad were trying Chili from the new Carolina Ale House. By the way, a lot of the new restaurants are owned by the company I used to work for, HMSHost.This is my Mary Kay director, Audrey. I can't believe I've known her for almost 8 years now. She still looks the same. This product WORKS y'all. We were laughing so hard at Kathy, a newer consultant, who was standing on a chair promising to advance to Red Jacket by the next event, so she didn't have to sleep in the bunk beds. Then Lauren, my upline and mentor, was doing the "Solja Boy" We were in stitches!

Lauren doin "Solja Boy" and Kathy's announcement.

Adam surprised me and took me to see Rodney Atkins at the NC State Fair. It was so awesome. We had seats on the floor and I got to walk up to the stage to take pictures. I so wish we had our new camera then b/c the pictures would have been SO much better. We totally cheated on our diet that night and ate a lot of bad food. It was so good though.The last weekend in October, I drove 3 hrs. to Charlotte, NC to go to Corinna's baby shower. I was priviledged to make her cake, but I spelled Haiden's name wrong. Ooops, wish I'd known. Another friend of hers made the cupcakes. They were so cute and the stands she had displayed them so well.Last weekend, I participated in the Craft and Bake sale at Southeastern. They do this every year so that Seminary wives who have creative gifts can make a little Christmas money. I used the opportunity to try to sell some cards and to get names for potential Mary Kay customers. Well, I only sold one set of cards, but I got 45 names for makeovers. That was definitely worth it since I've decided to pursue my business more intensely.

Wow, I know that was a lot in one blog, but I wanted to at least update you on some of the things I've been doing since we've been here at Southeastern.

i was studying hebrew participles this morning and threw my head up in frustration for a second. take hebrew and you'll understand... think there's a lot of exceptions in english???... HA!... anyway, when i picked my head up this is what i saw... i must say that getting up at 430am every day doesn't pay off very often, but when it does... it pays out big time. today i hit the jackpot... this picture taken with my phone doesn't do this sunrise justice... or in hebrew.... it doesn't do it "tsadak"... this is my new favorite hebrew word...

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Excuses, excuses, excuses...

The degree that I'm currently pursuing is a Masters of Divinity.  There are several core classes that are required for the degree, but also a large number of electives.  While the seminary offers a wide variety of concentrations, the concentration that I'm currently enrolled in is that of "Christian Ministry."  Sounds kind of broad doesn't it?  Well, it's meant to because it's somewhat of a "make your own concentration" concentration.  There are 30 credits of electives built into it. 

 

I'm trying to get as many of the core classes out of the way as early as possible, because I figured that it would take me a while to decide which electives I'd like to take.  I think I've decided that I'm going to take as many classes on apologetics as possible.  These classes teach you how to argue for Christianity.  For instance, it would help me be able to answer the hard questions that we ALL know middle and high school students ask eventually.  It will give me a broader and deeper knowledge of different world religions and how to share the love our Prince of Peace with them.

 

I've been thinking about this for awhile, but something i saw today solidified it for me.  There is a local pastor here of a really big, really good church called The Summit Church.  The pastor's name is JD Greear and he has a blog that I like to keep up with.  One of the church's projects lately was to find out what non-Christians are saying about-- well... why they're not Christians.  I found myself silenced by their ponderings.  These are not quotes from people who are just too lazy to go to church.  Some of them are incredibly well thought out arguments, and some of them I would have nothing to say to without a lot of research.  I don't want to have to tell everyone I have a conversation with that "I'll have to get back to you on that after i do some research..."  That does not say to anyone that I'm serious about Jesus. 

 

So with all that said, this is my prayer today:  "Father, since you've seen it fit to put me in Wake Forest, NC for the next four or so years, I'm going to do my best to spend them preparing for the conversations I'm going to have for the rest of my life.  I want to share You with those I come in contact with.  I want others to know that You are really, really, real.  Give me wisdom, give me tact, and give me opportunities... all for Your glory and not for mine, through Your Son.  Amen."

 

Here's what some of those excuses were:

 

Moreover, I am appalled by many many things that are sanctioned in the bible. So even if I believed the Christian god did exist, I would not respect him/her enough to become a Christian.

…However, Christianity is fundamentally based on the Bible, which is supposedly the Word of God. This is where my problem comes in. Man is flawed, Man sins, Man is corruptible... Man wrote the Bible. Man has rewritten and changed the Bible to suit his own needs and the needs of the leading political faction of its respective eras. So you're not asking me to believe in Jesus or Christianity, you're asking me to have faith in mankind, and that my friends, believe it or not, is much harder than having faith in Christianity

…I believe that the bible and some other sources of Christian instruction have been heavily influenced by culture through out the centuries….

…I don't see any justice or any love in the Bible anywhere. Sending bears to tear children apart, condoning and sanctioning rape, encouraging the fanaticism that says it would be OK to sacrifice your own kid. EW! Not for me, thanks….

In short, the Bible doesn't make sense. It was written hundreds of years ago when people were searching for answers; why do people die? why are there floods? why did the star fall from the sky? Today we know these answers. There is no need to fall back to a book just because we are comfortable with it….

When I got older, I read the Bible and noticed how it conflicted with itself and proven science in many ways. This made it very difficult to take the rest at face value

Priorities

 

 

Sent to you by Adam via Google Reader:

 

 

Priorities

via the jester's pub by markhelsel on 10/3/08

"It's extraordinary to me that the United States can find $700 billion to save Wall Street and the entire G8 can't find $25 billion to save 25,000 children who die every day from preventable diseases."

-Bono

Lord help us!

 

 

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Why I Love My Boring Job...

You may have to click on the picture to see it better, but if you look closely, there are two deer in this picture.  I was making my "exterior rounds" at one of the plants that I haven't worked at yet, and before heading in, i was lucky enough to snap this pick with my phone.  It was taken about 3:10am.  Are deer nocturnal? 

 

Anyways, I got called a the last minute for this shift, but I'm grateful for any hours that they'll give me right now.  If that means pulling an all-nighter, then so be it.  We have Sunday School in the morning, then I'll be able to catch a few Z's before all the big games tomorrow!  All the games I wanted to see are being televised here!  Panthers at Minnesota, Steelers of course, and the Green Bay/Dallas game is sure to be a non-stop battle till the end.

 

After they're great start this year, I'm finding myself becoming a fair-weather Panthers fan.  Don't get me wrong, the Steelers are still No. 1 in my heart and always will be, but it's nice to be able to root for a hometown team.  I never could do that in Baltimore.  It's actually a bit difficult to find people interested in the NFL down here.  They're all about college ball here, and believe it or not, they could care less about UNC, Duke, or NC State.  They're all Georgia Bulldogs fans.  I made the mistake of asking one of our neighbors if he was a Green Bay Packers fan because the front of his SUV had a big "G" on the licence plate holder.  I was quickly corrected... and embarrassed.  Live and learn...

 

This is kind of random, but if you're a football fan of any sort and enjoy quick little novels by amazing authors, check this book out.  It won't disappoint.  If you want to borrow it, let me know and I'll send it out to you if you promise to send it back when you're done.  It will also make you want to go to Italy.

 

I've blabbed enough for one night.  OH!  One more plug... If it's playing anywhere near you, go see the new movie Fireproof.  Should be excellent. OK, I'm done now... TTFN...

 

I just love Hurricane season in the SOUTH...

So this is what our gas gauge looked like today...

And this is what the line at Sheetz looked like...

I just needed gas...these people probably filled up 2 days ago...oh did I mention that the Hess station was OUT OF GAS?!!!!!????!!!!????