What Goes Around

This is our first Christmas in America many years.  It has been weird.  I can't believe how many presents people give and get.  And people seem to have gotten crazy with the yard decorations.  You can't say "Merry Christmas" without offending someone, and you can't not say "Merry Christmas" without offending someone else. I found myself sad this morning as I was thinking about how different this year was for my family.  We usually go to Christmas Eve service at our church and expect it to be a little odd at times.  That's what you get in a third world country.  The speaker system will do weird things or the electricity will blink on and off or the times we have to go through security checks to enter the service.  And then we usually would go out to dinner somewhere with some friends.  Finally we arrive home and move our mattresses out to the front room by the Christmas tree with the familiar ornaments and we watch Elf in our pajamas. ...

Sometimes you hear people tell stories of how God provided exactly what they wanted and they didn't even ask.  You know the stories, how someone won a car and it was the purple mustang that they had always dreamed of.  Well that isn't how God provided for us, but He still has provided what we need plus more. We were able to move to an apartment this week.  It is more expensive then we would like for a one bedroom and not in the exact location that I had hoped for, but it is our home now and I am thankful for it.  We already have it full of stuff too, which is surprising since six months ago we only had six suitcases worth of belongings.  But Steve's grandma is now in an assisted living place so she had to get rid of her stuff.  So we have all of grandma's stuff.  Not exactly my style, but again, I am very thankful for all of it. We have all the pots and pans and dinnerware and furniture and pictures for the wall.  We have a hair dryer, some j...

At work we now have to answer the phone, "Happy Holidays from BBB, this is Leslie, how can I help you."  Well yesterday when one of the employees answered the phone, the lady on the other end didn't like her saying "happy holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas" so she started complaining about it.  The employee was caught off guard and said, "What?"  The lady said, "You heard what I said.  Repeat back to me what I said."  The employee was still confused as to what was going on and what the lady wanted.  That of course didn't help the situation and the lady was mad.  She asked what time we closed and sadly the employee didn't know because each night is different now that it is the "holidays".  They lady said, "You should know.  Why don't you know?  Let me speak to a manager."  The employee was in tears at this point and transferred her to a manager.  The manager listened to the complaint and told the e...

"I can't eat that.  I'm gluten free." I started a gluten free diet on Saturday.  After a wonderful breakfast of pumpkin waffles followed by a two hour nap I decided that maybe I have a problem with gluten.  After eating pancakes or waffles I have to nap.  That seems ridiculous.  So I did some research and also looked in to hair loss associated with gluten and decided to give it a try. I am on day 6 now.  I wish I could say my hair has all grown back but it hasn't yet.  But I am hopeful still.  Some people say they notice a difference in just two weeks, others say two months.  I hope I am a two week person. Way back in January I noticed a bald spot on my head.  I've always had an itchy scalp and a time before I had a bald spot, so I wasn't too shocked.  But then I got another one and my hair started falling out more and more.  I was mostly just concerned about the spots until a few months ago.  I noticed how thin my ...

I've been wanting to do this for a few weeks and finally made myself do it today.  I bought a $1.49 balloon at the 99 cent store (ummmm, why was it $1.49?) and tied my message to the balloon.  My message was a statement about how I am releasing my desire for an apology.  Also that I can't make people do anything they don't want to do.  And that I give that desire over to God who knows exactly what I need.  My movement forward in healing isn't going to be tied to an apology I never got.  So I brought the balloon home and read my statement out loud and then released it.  It was a bit windy today so at first the balloon didn't seem to gain much height.  As I watched it race away it gradually climbed higher and higher towards the dark clouds in the sky.  I thought about the releasing and trusting that I was doing. My little nephew is watching Elmo right now.  I guess Elmo made his friend sad by saying that her pet rock, Rocco, was just a ...

I broke a tooth.  I was eating some delicious carmel corn and had decided to eat the whole bag of it.  I took a break half way through the bag and got back to it the next day.  And that is when it happened.  I was getting to the bottom of the bag where there were a few kernels mixed in.  I'm not sure of when exactly it happened, but when I was all done eating it (not quite all of it) I felt like I had some corn skins in my teeth.  As I ran my tongue around my teeth I felt the sharp, jagged edges on the back molar.  Sure enough, a piece of tooth was missing. Of course you only break a tooth on a Saturday, to give you extra time to feel the tooth.  I couldn't eat on that side and it hurt when the toothbrush hit it.  I had a nerve exposed. Luckily the dentist fit me in on Monday morning.  I told him to just pull it.  But he showed me how the tooth was important for chewing.  Two teeth met up with that molar to grind food up. ...

This will be our first Christmas in America in a long time.  I'm not looking forward to it.  I have a job in retail and just last night we set up the Christmas merchandise.  As I was unloading boxes of stuff I almost felt sick.  Who needs all this stuff? First I unpacked the stocking hooks.  These are different shaped items that sit on a shelf and have a hook to hang your stocking on.  There are ones shaped like trees, reindeer, and trains.  And then since we live near the ocean there are also ones shaped like lighthouses and anchors. Then I got to unpack the bathroom Christmas section.  And that is when I started to feel sick.  10 different shower curtains to choose from with all the collection of towels, soap dispensers, and even toilet lid covers.  Who spends a hundred bucks to decorate a bathroom? As I finished up and went home I thought through all the items and realized not a single one had anything to do with Jesus.  N...