This Hard Week

This week has been hard.  And I've  not even been lecturing... but I think I'd much rather be lecturing than playing phone tag and working on tasks that just lead to more tasks.  The start of the semester and getting everything up and running is always hard; having a new book and new policies have made it a little more difficult.

I think it's been hard for everyone.  Our students are tired, and everyone I met on campus seemed worn out.  Maybe its the anticipation of a three day weekend... sometimes I think knowing that a change in the routine is coming actually is tiring in and of itself.

I've not been exercising and I've just been in one of those moods... but today I convinced myself it was going to be a good day and for the most part, it was.  I got a lot accomplished, and am telling myself that the growing to do list can be tackled tomorrow, and the next day, and the next week... after all, tomorrow is a Friday with just lab time, so nothing is "due" tomorrow. I met with a lot of my students today and talked with them... that always puts my mood into perspective.  So many of them are battling uphill, being mommy and daddy and working and going to school and running to little league games and helping care of sick parents and family members... juggliing it all.  What do I have to complain about, really?

Caleb and I went out to eat tonight and he is just so daggone funny. He always puts a smile on my face.  I came home and promptly went to sleep on the couch, got up and took a bath, and am headed to bed.  I am DETERMINED to get out of this funk I'm in.  After all, tomorrow is Friday night football and there will be corndogs at the Honey Festival and I get an extra day off to worry about cleaning the house.  Life is good, and even if it wasn't, I'm too blessed not to think that it is.  =)

What I'm Reading

So, I'm still reading War and Peace.  It was my goal to read it all this summer... but somehow that didn't happen.  It's a book that you have to think about as you read, and to be honest, I just haven't been up to that. 

So I read other books.  And I'm still reading other books.  I recently started Janet Evanovich's Ten Big Ones.  I started reading the series at the beginning of the year and took a break from them.  I also am reading Skylight Confessions by Alice Monroe.  On my Kindle, I'm reading Eye of the God, which was a free book.  It's about gem thieves trying to pull off a heist at the Smithsonian.  I'm really liking it.  Sometimes the free books are a bust... but this one I'd probably pay for. I'm reading in the book of 1 Peter for a Bible study, and also reading a book called Life is a Verb, all about living life to the fullest.

My favorite that I am reading right now, though, would have to be Life of Pi.  A co-worker brought it to me at the end of the summer and told me he thought I'd like it.  I had looked at it several times when it was first published but to be honest, it just didn't look like something I'd like... but I do.  It's well-written, and reads well.  I'm not too far into it yet, but maybe with a three day weekend???

So now you know what my plans are for Labor Day.. grade some assessments and care plans, work on lecture notes, eat a few corndogs, watch the Bobcats win the Honey Bowl, watch the parade, eat some more corndogs...and read.  Maybe I'll even get 25% into War and Peace =) And dare I say I will read it all by the end of the year =)

The Simple LIfe

As Christians, we sometimes make things harder than they have to be.  We place a lot of pressure on ourselves when really we don't have to. The good thing is that Jesus recognized that we'd be a big ol' mess and loved us anyway. 

We were left with several commandments to help us live our day to day lives. It is easy at times to get legalistic about church and religion, but that wasn't God's intention.  His intention was for us to love Him, love others, and seek Him first. 

"Show proper respect to everyone, love the family of believers, fear God, honor the emperor."- 1 Peter 2:17... a surefire way to be in God's Will and to live a functional life.  Respect others. Treat them as you'd want to be treated.  Listen to them.  Seek their opinion.  Love the family of believers... even those we may not agree with.  Love them hard and long and regardless of what they did to you.  And while you're loving, love the world... not the behaviors, but the people.  Be Jesus to someone.  Love your enemies and pray for them... that's right, kill them with kindness.  Fear God.  Honor Him above all else.  Go to Him first and last and all the times in between.  Listen to His Word... internalize it so it is second nature... or first nature, overcoming the flesh.  Honor the emperor, or in our case, the government.  Don't steal or cheat on your taxes.  Drive the speed limit (am I having some conviction here?) Don't murder anyone. 

Simple instructions that can impact us for sure.  I'm so glad that God makes it simple...

Praying

On nights like tonight, I really don't feel like I have anything to write about.  Today's been a good day, especially for a Monday.  I'm ready for tomorrow, and ready for bed right now... so on days like today, I can't help but be thankful...

Thankful for a job to go to, for care plans to grade (I'll get a boatload of them tomorrow.  And no, I don't really like grading them, but I enjoy my job.) I'm thankful that my Grandma is doing better and that Caleb got to go make her evening. I'm thankful that Jennifer got Holly's wedding pictures posted because they made me so stinkin' happy to look at.  I'm thankful for a bus ride with loud girls on the way to Morgan County, and for a close game...losing isn't always a bad thing if it makes you grow.  I'm thankful for health and for the hope that I can get up and do all of this again tomorrow.

So many sick people, hurting people... how can I help but be thankful?  Sending up prayers for all of those who got bad or not so good news today... we may not know all of their names, but God does.  Won't you join me... first, fill His ears with praise, because He is good.  He is God, and there is no other.  Then, whisper up for the sick and broken-hearted.  You never know when it just might be you needing that prayer...

The Soundtrack of My Life

As I've mentioned before, I like all different kinds of music.  What's great about music is that you can hear a song and you're immediately transported back to that timeframe in your life.  We associate memories and feelings with certain songs, and no matter how many times we've heard it or how long it's been, those word pictures form...

Like when Janet Jackson comes on the radio, I'm immediately transported to lip syncing with a hairbrush, my hair in a spiral perm, losing myself in "Nasty" and "What Have You Done for Me Lately?".  Or when I hear Whitney Houston, I'm in my leg warmers and leotard, or sitting at my Aunt Lisa Eldridge's watching The Bodyguard.  "Islands in the Stream" find me as a three or four year old, with a wooden microphone, singing "I Love Industry". 

How can I forget music videos to "Another Brick in the Wall" and pom-pom routines to "Shout" and flashlight routines to Steppenwolf's "Magic Carpet Ride" (I like to dream... on... and 5-6-7-and 8).  "I Got Friends in Low Places" as Livi and I convinced our sixth grade friends to participate in our real-life soap opera.  Poison and Bon Jovi bring back memories of late night videos as we gossiped about our latest crushes...

"Summer Lovin'" as I watched Grease at least 50 times the summer between my Junior and Senior year with Candace and Jenine... "Low Rider", "Brown-Eyed Girl", and the Stevie Miller Band's
"The Joker" as I rode around with Jennifer... laps around and around McDonalds and Breathitt High School's parking lot. "Killing Me Softly" by the Fugees blaring as my teenaged self sang along, windows rolled down in my '86 Camaro...

"Better Man" by Pearl Jam brings a smile to my face because Wallace actually thought it was a romantic song... as in, she can't find any guy that is any better.  He's still not convinced that his version isn't right.  "Save Tonight" by Eagle Eye Cherry, though probably not a well-known song, always makes me a little love-sick because I remember listening to it on Sundays as Wallace got ready to head back to Ohio for a week away.  Pachabeli's Cannon in D was played at our wedding and it still chokes me up...

and then there are songs like "Mayberry" by Rascal Flatts because it was on the charts when Caleb was born, and we listened to it on the way home.  "Barbara Ann" because Caleb loved to listen to it...

I could go on, and on... and tonight as I took my walk I did just that.  I had my Ipod on Shuffle, as always, and every song that played I couldn't help but think about not just the song, and the memories, and the feelings that went with it... some good, some bad. 

And then I came in and read this, tonight, in a story in Guideposts magazine.  Robin Roberts said, "We sing the melody to our life's song, but the people who touch us provide the harmony. And underneath it all, guiding us and supporting us, is the rhythm of our faith." See, all those songs I listed above only brought about memories because of the people that were in my life at the time.  And the beauty in the music, if you really listen?  It's in the harmony... because everyone can make their own melody.  Only special people have an ear for harmony... thank You, God, for the harmony in my life.  May I add some special notes to someone else's...

The Right Calls?

I've been watching football games all my life... seriously.  When I was four years old, I was in a beauty pageant.  I won over the judges by leading a cheer... the pageant was on a Friday night.  I knew I was supposed to be in a stadium.

I've seen my share of bad calls and I've also seen my share of calls that maybe gave us an advantage.  No game is perfect because let's be honest, it involves a bunch of testosterone driven teenagers.  Most of the coaches and refs are guys who played and just hate giving up on the game.  And that's ok... because that's one of the reasons I like watching games so much, I'm a cheerleader who never grew up.

I've watched this group of kids grow up. I cheer loud when they run or catch or make a killer tackle.  I get mad at them and mumble under my breath when they do something stupid.  I've got their back even though a lot of them have no idea who I am.  But I'll admit, I have my favorites. Kids I really have known all their life. and then there's Brayton.

Brayton has been a sight since he was born.  He was always mischievous. You never knew what to expect with him.  Even as a little boy, he looked for meanness to get into, and you knew he was doing it because of his sneaky smile.  He got his nickname, T.O., because of his bad attitude during a two hand touch family football game one Thanksgiving... he was mad because Jordan wouldn't get him the ball, threatened to quit, and Walace told him to stop acting like Terrell Owens. The nickname stuck.  The attitude can still be found, sometimes.  But the kid loves football.  And he's good at it.  He makes me smile to watch him burst through the line to get at the quarterback of the other team.  I'm not able to hear what he says, but I'm pretty sure he's a good trash talker.  And that's ok, too...

There can't be any louder cheers than when Brayt busts loose for a touchdown.  Last week, he had two. Tonight, he burst through that line and broke free.  As he crossed the line into the endzone, one of the members of the other team had his foot.  Brayton shook  his foot loose... that's all he did.  Shook the other kid off.  He then got kicked out of the game. 

To be honest, I'm amazed... I've seen Brayton act much worse.  Just a few plays earlier, a member of the other team drilled one of our players out of bounds, a flagrant personal foul, and he didn't get kicked out of the game.  I'm thinking the refs got this one wrong.  They proceeded to get things wrong. The first quarter took 40 minutes to play.  They threw flags right and left. 

There has to be a balance between letting kids play and being ridiculous. Tonight, I'm one disgruntled fan.  I wouldn't have a refs job for any amount of money, but I think if they are taking the responsibility, they should make every effort to get it right.  I just don't think that happened tonight. 

So Brayt, I'm still proud of you.  You've got a group of family crazy about you.  And you can bet we were yelling at the refs the rest of the game... because they need to call it both ways.  That's my say, for what it's worth.  Thanks for letting me vent =)

Eye Troubles

I've been going to the eye doctor for a long time.  30 years, to be exact.  I got my first pair of glasses in June of 1982, so I'm pretty accustomed to the eye doctor.  And I've gone to the same eye doctor the whole time.  When I  was little, they used to buy me coloring books.  The guy who makes my glasses knows all my family and even gave me free contacts when I got married...

Lately, I've been having trouble reading.  I know it's probably because I read so much, on the computer and in textbooks and then just for fun.  I've noticed things are blurry and sometimes it takes a lot for my eyes to adjust.  So to Lexington I go for an eye visit.

As I sat there with my pupils dilating, unable to see much of anything, I thought a lot about how our Christian lives are kind of like that.  There's something going on that blurs our vision, making us lose focus of what is really important.  If we're patient, it will fade like the drops that caused my pupils to be dilated.  If not, we get up and stumble around and end up hurting ourselves (no, I've never done this, because I know better.  But I do have to say that when I leave the doctor's office, I'm usually holding on to the person who is my "driver"). 

It's easy to lose focus.  I'm glad I've got God to keep me looking in the right direction.  And while I'm talking about eye doctors, can I just say that I HATE the refractory test?  Surely I'm not the only one who can't tell the difference between 1... and 2... and this is 2... and which is better, 3, or 4?  I'm worn out just thinking about it.