Random Thoughts...

On the 19th, Joe and I celebrated our 1st anniversary. Can you believe that? A whole year has gone by! It's amazing how long a year sounds and how short it actually feels. We went to Santa Fe for a few days to celebrate and had a great time. We were greeted at the hotel with news we'd been upgraded to a suite, I had red calla lillies waiting by the bed from my hubbie (just like my wedding bouquet) and we spent 4 days eating awesome food, wandering thru art galleries, and relaxing. The most fun was going to a day spa for the morning to get massages and pedicures. I LOVE that stuff! We also got to see a pouring at the bronze foundry where they cast the ginormous bronze scupltures and watched a demonstration at a glass blowing gallery.
We even made it over to Albuquerque for the day and saw my brother and his new place. (He's been in ABQ for about 2 months now at a new youth ministry job.)

Random thought 2...can you believe it's christmas time already? I put up our tree on Friday (by myself) and had a ball looking at all my ornaments. My mom had the forsight, when we were little, to give us ornaments each year and we had our own box-full. So now as an adult, I have a ton of ornaments for my own tree. We also have a tradition in my family of collecting an ornament from every trip we go on. It's an easy souvenier that you won't lose or forget about, because it resurfaces, along with the memories of that trip, each year. I bought one for each town I saw in Europe, so I had fun looking thru those, and I already have 6 with my sweet husband, that have found a home right smack front and center on the tree.


Random thought 3...Joe and I are having a Biggest Loser contest with another married couple at church. We were due to have our first kick-off weigh-in tonight, but our pals had to cancel. So...a few more days before the crack-down on eating I guess. Joe and I both have a lot more to lose than our friends, but we're doing body weight percentage, so I guess it all evens out?? Altho I'm not looking forward to the months of hard work, I AM looking forward to losing the pounds and feeling better about my body. AND...I think competing adds enough pressure to give me the drive for it....let's hope. :)

Random thought 4...I told you about the curriculum writing job? Still no word. They keep delaying the hiring date. So I'll let you know IF I ever hear anything. :) In the meantime, I'm going to be trained in grant writing in March. I'm to be the grant writer for my school come '07-'08 school year. I'm excited about this because grant writing could be benefitial as a stay at home job, should I wish to do that later on when kids are in the picture. If I'm good at it, that is. We'll see!

No sleep for the weary

On Friday Joe called to tell me we were asked to chaperone a youth lock-in (of sorts). Apparently, every year our high school kids have a "camp" during the school year. It's a Wednesday-Saturday, they sleep at the building, do campish activities, etc. and still do homework and go to school. They just come back and forth from the church instead of home. (Odd, right?)Well, that's what we were asked to help with...to stay one night, overnight.

I initially said no, I mean, how much would work suck the next day? Yeah...REAL bad! After a 3rd call asking us to come, I reconsidered. I've missed NO days of school in 12 weeks. I can take one personal day if they need us that badly. Could be fun. I'm always up for revisiting my youth group days. So at 6:00 we showed up at the church last night. We ate dinner with the kids, got the schedule run-down and the "Talk" from the youth minister on our duties. No prob. Oh wait...there are teens involved...of course there's a problem!

I am not exaggerating when I say we did nothing. NOTHING. We were supposed to have a devo talk, worship time, and study time in the word, PLUS a short devo this morning before the kiddos headed to school. NOPE. None of the above. There was homework overload, teenage girl drama/boy manipulation, tears...need I go on??? Jonathon (the minister) assured us this has NEVER happened before and they actually do have "Spiritual Stuff" at camp. It was craziness. Then...it was so cold in the room I was sleeping, I couldn't go to sleep! Those of you who have lived with me know...I fall asleep as soon as I lay down. Not the case this time. It was FREEZING! Joe said he woke up and his teeth were chattering. So I put on a sweater and tried to sleep. Didn't work out so well. A very choppy night's rest. So this morning I also got left with 3 boys and 1 girl while the youth minister delivered others to school (as his wife and my husband had already left for their jobs.)So I held down the church by my lonesome and locked up at 7:40. Now I'm home, wondering why I agreed to do this strange task, and excited to have an empty day ahead of me.

the serial killer

So I was deep in sleep last night and this was what happened in my dream....
Joe and I are sitting on the couch, laughing about something when the phone rings. It's my Mom. She starts talking about this serial killer that the police can't find. (Like I know what she's talking about???) I say, "Mom, what?" She says, "You haven't seen this on the news? There's a serial killer in Albuquerque and they don't know where to even start looking for him!" I reply, "Well, Matt better get outta there!" "Well, that's why we called. Matt's gone on to a better place." "WHAT?!?!?!"

Yeah, I had a dream that my brother got killed by a serial killer and my Mom calmly called to tell me. What in the world? The longer the dream went on, the more I was thinking about what may have happened to him. Why him? Was he alone? Was it quick? Was he tortured first? Finally I woke up, relieved to find reality a different circumstance. I called Matt to tell him, and he just laughed.

Isn't it wild what your mind can do to you?

marriage...

I am quickly approaching a year of marriage. Can you believe that? I mean, this time last year, I was packing up my stuff to leave sweet Melanie, storing tons of boxes of gifts in our tiny little office, finalizing details and getting ready to trek to Lubbock. It's gone by so fast.

Of course looking back brings back the nostalgia and makes me start to remember conversations, letters and such that came my way. So today I was reflecting on a couple of comments I had directed at or about me shortly after my engagement.

#1. "Well, of course she's excited. It's her first marriage."
#2. "I'm sure you're happy, but if I could go back and do it again, I wouldn't."

Wow. It's still amazing to me that that was someone's actual response to my engagement. I know the reality is that marriages end in divorce sometimes. That people end up hating eachother or got married when they shouldn't have in the first place. I know that I am naive about many things, but it never occurred to me that MY ENGAGEMENT would be looked down upon by some. The other incident I remember vividly was a conversation at a lunch with some teachers from my school. 2 of these teachers knew me very well and had followed my courtship with Joe closely all the way. The other 2 teachers know very little about me...as evidenced by the conversation. They were shocked to hear that Joe and I were waiting till our wedding night. It's not just in the movies, I actually had the question asked of me, "How do you know you love him if you don't know how he is in bed?" It was one of those moments when time freezes and your mind is racing for an answer that isn't there. I didn't know what to tell her other than that is what I believe. That you wait for your husband and he waits for you. That it's what God intended to happen. Thankfully, this was a respected answer and I earned a lot of credibility with these ladies. (both of whom have been through divorces, yes...plural.) Mostly tho, it earned respect for Joe, who is a king among men apparently, for waiting so long for that right gal to come his way. (They could not believe I found a 27 year old guy who had waited.)

So why am I saying all this now? Good question. I don't know. I just really was thinking about it on the way home today. It makes me sad that there are people so soured on the godly intent of marriage. It has been such a blessing for me and it's sad to know that it hasn't been for everyone. So chalk this up as a rant from Rachel, a stream of conscience typing.

And to sum up....I'm glad I'm naive. I want to believe the best. And I want the best for myself, especially for my family both present and future.

Stop...Hammer Time

I was just driving home from Office Depot, groovin to the new station "MOVIN' 107.5" when I found myself singing along to something oddly familiar. "I've been around the world. From London to the Bay. It's Hammer, go Hammer. MC Hammer! Yo Hammer! and the rest can go and play...can't touch this. Oh! oh! oh! oh! oh! oh! Can't touch this. STOP... Hammer time!" Needless to say, this station plays the timeless classics. :) It's actually really fun to hear all these songs I used to ADORE! I felt so nostalgic I said "I MUST go home and blog this immediately!"

So what songs do you still love, but are ashamed to ever say you liked in the first place? I am not to big to admit that I own a Paula Abdul CD (with Opposites Attract and other musical gems), as well as a best of NKOTB (New Kids on the Block for those of you, like Mel, who shunned the greatest boy band EVER!) I found out yesterday that I can still rap the majority of "Men in Black" and "Ice Ice Baby." No matter how awful the music actually was, I loved it back in the day and therefor must love it always. Can't help what you feel with the 90s jams. :)