Good thing I'm not God...

If I were in control of everything, there would be things about my life that would be different, but I predict that if I always got my way, my life would be one huge mess! I would make more money so that I would never understand what it means to live paycheck by paycheck, for one thing. If that were the case, I wouldn't learn lessons about trusting God's provision. A friend would not have rejected me recently, either. But then I might not have a poignant reminder that God desires a relationship with me that I have often found too easy to ignore. There are a lot of other things that would be different in my life if I were in control, but with almost every change I can see that I am better of where I am because God teaches me and makes me grow by putting me here. Sometimes it takes a long time for me to get the lessons and sometimes I would just rather not learn them, but He who began a good work in me will be faithful to complete it until the day of Christ Jesus. God is much wiser than I am and knows what I need more than I do, and I am going to trust Him to do what is best for me. He has been in the business of doing what is best for His people since the beginning. He is the same God to whom the Psalmist cried out in pain and the God that he still praised in the midst of the pain. My trials are nothing compared to what many of God's children have gone through, and He sustained and blessed them. I am so blessed that my trials have been relatively mild to this point. I would have done away with them altogether if I had my way. God's ways are not my ways, to which I say, "Hallelujah!" God is not like man, and I am so grateful that He isn't!

The weekend is here

My weekend started out with me pampering myself with a bubble bath last night and then sleeping for 10 hours. I've been tired and was getting a little bit cranky by the end of my work week, so I thought it would be a good idea to wind down a bit, and it felt nice. I have to run a few errands today and will do a little bit of cooking (surprise, surprise) and maybe some laundry, but I plan to take it easy in general. Today is really my only day off since I agreed to work some overtime tomorrow night. I like overtime when my paycheck comes. I had 9 hours in the check I got yesterday, and it makes a real difference. It's a trade-off, for sure, but one I am willing to make right now.

Someone "tagged" me for a blog thing on MySpace the other day, and I think I'll post over here what I wrote over there. I had to come up with 10 things about myself. I think most of my readers will already know half of this stuff, but I tried to make it somewhat interesting ;).
1. I subscribe to Biblical Archaeology Review
2. I don't like pie crust
3. I aspire to be such a great cook that if I have sons someday they will never be satisfied with their wives' cooking ;)
4. I sometimes wish I had a less sensitive musical ear so I could enjoy special music at church more than I do
5. I am happy about turning 26 next month :D
6. I will be an aunt for the first time in August
7. My next planned big purchase will be a dog, and as soon as I figure out how much I can afford to set aside for it I am going to start saving money to buy one - I want a Bichon Frise, and they aren't cheap
8. I love intellectually stimulating conversations and find them extremely hard to come by where I am right now
9. I know exactly what I want my next career move to be and am starting to network and learn to make it a more easily attainable goal
10. I think I am more that just a little bit nerdy/geeky
So, there you have it. :) I really resisted the temptation to leave the 10th thing blank in homage to Because of Winn Dixie. ;) And I also really wonder how many of my readers will even know what I'm talking about right now...

Reclaiming ME

I spent my day off on Friday cooking and baking. I made bread. Who does that these days? I do! I also updated my Amazon.com wishlist to include cookbooks. I want to become a really good cook. I enjoy the cooking and baking and enjoy the fruit of my labor. I am embracing that interest as part of who I am and I am going to develop those skills, even if I am the only one who will ever really know just how well I have learned my kitchen skills.

I also got my first issue of Biblical Archaeology Review in the mail yesterday. I used to subscribe to it when I was just out of college, but I stopped reading it faithfully. Now I realized that I can do something about the lack of intellectual stimulation in my life and reclaim one of my interests, so I subscribed again. It's not the first magazine to fly off of the shelves, but it's one of the first that I would choose to read, so I am going to read it and enjoy it. This is one part of ME that I will not allow "life" to get in the way of right now as it did in the past.

This could be, um, fun...

Forecast for tonight is 6-10 inches of snow. Forecast for tomorrow is 10-15 inches of snow. I know this is less than what they got not too far from here, but it is more snow than I have ever experienced as it's falling. Technically because the cable company provides phone service we're considered an essential service, so I'll get to travel through this. I think I'll give myself a long time to get to work tomorrow just in case. It shouldn't be too bad when I leave work tonight. We'll see what happens. I find this all rather amusing since there is a local car dealer offering $5000 to their customers if it snows more than 6 inches tomorrow. That commerical has been running for a couple of weeks, so they didn't know that this storm was supposed to come through. Like I said, I am amused. ;) Have to find a bright spot in the storm!

Update :)

1. Girls' Night Out was on Friday night...dinner out with a group of ladies then dessert back at the church. It was a good night. The woman who shared her testimony when we all gathered together was a real encouragement. God is faithful and good!

2. I have officially pre-ordered my copy of the last book in the Harry Potter series. It's going to be released in July, just after the 5th movie is released into theaters.

3. I have decided that I want a dog. I cannot afford one right now, especially since I have rather expensive taste, but I am going to start saving up some money for one. The goal is to have enough money to cover the cost of a puppy from a reputable breeder, supplies (crate, bed, leash, harness, car seat, shampoo, bowls, etc.), veterinarian bills for the first 6 months and any unexpected expenses that may come up for a few months after purchase. It's going to be pricey, so it will probably take me more than a year to save up the money, but I want to make sure I can afford to properly take care of a dog before I buy one. I know what kind I want, so I have a goal in mind. I think I need to save up $1500 before I am ready to buy. Like I said, expensive taste!

4. I have also decided what I want my next position to be within the company I work for. I have received encouragement from more than one person in that group to apply if a position opens. At least one of them told me that of all the people doing my job, I have a rare quality and am probably the best candidate. That's always nice to hear. A position opening, however, means someone has to leave, and I can't apply for anything for another 6 weeks anyway (have to be there for 6 months first), so it's a waiting game, but it allows me to ask a lot of questions about what I need to know and learn more so I am an even better candidate.

5. I'm turning 26 next month. It reminds me that I do not bemoan my advancing age. ;) I do not mind getting older. I think I gained some of that mentality from my mother, who has never tried to hide age or complained about passing years. God gives us time on this earth. We might as well celebrate it! Now for my younger friends who tell me, "If I am still single when I get to be your age, I'll be very depressed," let me tell you that it's not all that bad. I have not turned desperate yet! I am FAR too young for that sort of thing! ;)

Spilling the beans...

I just booked a flight to go home to CA for a week at the end of September and beginning of October. That will be 17 months after the last time I was home. It's still quite some time from now, but I have great comfort in knowing that I got the vacation time approved at work and have the flight booked. It will really happen, and I need it! I am going for a friend's wedding, but there is another reason that I am excited about the timing of the trip. Not sure if I am really supposed to do this yet, but I've been holding it in for quite some time now. My sister is pregnant! She's due in August, so the baby will be around 6 weeks old or so when I go. It matters little to me that she's 8 hours away from my parents...that's a LOT closer than she is to me now and a navigable distance. I really hope that she and her husband and the baby can come down so we can get the whole family together. Selfishly it means that I won't have to take a couple of days out of my week home to drive up and back. I would rather not do that, but if it was the only way to see my new niece or nephew I would definitely go! So I let it out. I said it. I'm going to be an auntie!

Brrrrr!

It has been rather cold of late. When winter came it really came! I am just grateful that we have not had the snowfall that other areas have gotten recently. I am watching The Weather Channel and seeing that the areas closer to the lakes are really getting a lot of snow. I think our maximum snowfall was on Friday when we got a few inches. We'll get a big storm or two, I am sure, before winter ends. Meanwhile I am looking forward to this weekend because the lows are supposed to be in the double digits! The lows of late have been so close to zero (if not below) that the "feels like" temperature has been rather consistently around -10 to -20. That's cold! (For the metric folks out there, right now the temperature is 5 F/-15 C, with a "feels like" of -11 F/-24 C.) I feel bad for our friends in Canada right now, since they've got even colder weather than we do! They were just talking about people plugging in their cars to keep the battery alive. That's not something that people out here could really do because there's no real historical need. I don't envy that! Even so, I think it's cold outside. I actually put on my gloves yesterday...