Hotels aren't all they're cracked up to be...

As nice as my hotel room is, it is not home...but IS great to be taken care of!

I have definitely learned a lot about the people I work with...and how being around them 24/7 does not make them the greatest companions! And I am pretty open and talkative, and that's bitten me in the rear end a couple times already. My boss has the ability to completely flabbergast me...one minute she acts like my best friend, and then she uses whatever she knows against me! And as much as she might think otherwise...I AM NOT LIKE HER!

but enough complaining! Life could be much worse. My bed gets made every day, I get free food in the concierge lounge for breakfast and dinner, money for most meals... :o)

I was reading an article about Thanksgiving meals, and I was thinking about the great Thanksgivings I've had lately. Two years ago, Laura's dad paid for me to go to Phoenix and have Thanksgiving with Laura and Wes. We surprised her the night before Thanksgiving and Laura and I spent most of the night planning an extravagant dinner for everyone. She was so thrilled to see me (and I was so excited to get a free ride to see my friend!) and we had a lot of fun that weekend. Then last year, I got to spend Thanksgiving with my dad, who I hadn't seen in a while...2001, maybe? We had definitely grown apart and didn't talk very often, and I really felt like we cleared the air between us that weekend.
And my little sister! Completely cool. Connie is so great and a lot of fun...I don't talk to her as much as I should, but it seems that we can pick up where we left off every time we do talk.

Just a bit of reminiscing! Talk to y'all later!

ligers and more

We're training for "emergencies" today - that means anything that CAN happen, though we pray to the Good Lord above that nothing happens. One of the higher-ups in the company that's here to help us told us about a situation that happened a few years ago in another city. She said that all 8 buses of students got stuck on the George Washington Bridge because a tiger got loose from the zoo. I'm not sure there's a way to prepare for emergencies like that.

Why were the students late to their next activity? Oh, a tiger got loose at the zoo...

that ranks right up there with "my dog ate my homework" Who's gonna believe THAT? But, as I have now learned, it can happen!

Expect the unexpected, right?

I'm trying my best

I try to get to my blog and write occasionally, but I don't get it done as often as I would like. Thanks all of you who continue to read my blog!

We have begun training here at the hotel, and I'm hard at work! There are good days and bad days...today's definitely a good day! It was the first day of training and everybody was really nice and I got in touch with some speakers that we weren't sure would be able to speak (but they can!) And I'm done before 10 p.m.! I am in the office right now, with a little personal time to burn. Here's hoping I get some resumes out tonight!..or should I say, here's hoping some of the resumes I send out actually get me a job!

I was pretty discouraged yesterday because I don't deal with confrontation well and my boss was pretty mad at me for going to church (and working) that morning. It's not the whole "freedom of religion" thing, it was because I work there, and I am supposed to be working for her from now until August. It's just a matter that we have a different set of employees. I saw I had a couple hours that I wasn't necessarily needed in the office, so I headed out to church, when (I can admit now) I should have stayed at the hotel. Since training started today, Sunday was a pretty big day, which I didn't see beforehand. AND I don't know how helpful I was at church since my stomach was churning from the stress of dealing with it all!

My pastor Ken prayed over me and by the time I got back to the hotel I had calmed down. I get so incredibly dramatic - I really need to stop that! I make a big deal of small things, or just overanalyze so freakin' much!

ANYWAY...that's my life right now. Nothing very interesting, but very busy! Hopefully I will have some good stories to share in a week or so, when all the students arrive!

The lap of luxury

Here I am, at the Renaissance Hotel! I will be here until the end of July and I have settled into my room already. For those of you who don't know, my well-paying job is working for a company called National Youth Leadership Forum, and in Houston, they do conferences for high school students interested in the medical field. In July, we're holding 2 10-day conferences and I just moved in to prepare. My room is on the 19th floor (top floor of guest rooms, no less!), right next door to the concierge lounge. When I got to my room yesterday, I found a big fruit basket with fresh and dried fruit drizzled in chocolate, and a fancy metal bucket filled with ice and bottles of Evian water. I'm living the hard life aren't I?

This job is a real wake-up call to the way that the rest of the world operates. I have always worked for Christians, if not in a church setting, at least in a very ethical workplace. Here, we deal with a lot of temporary staff, so it's harder to find people who take their job seriously and do the best job they can do. It's amazing how lazy people can be! It's always been obvious to me that I need to do my best no matter where I am, but that's not how most people think, I guess. And no one is willing to relinquish control, which means that there are at least three people who are all trying to take control, while I am just trying to understand what I need to do! No, I'm not perfect, and their bad moods usually rub off on me, but I am continually flabbergasted by the quality of work that I see around here. I promise, THAT won't rub off on me!

More from me later - I don't have my own computer, but I have access to one almost all the time. I will try to keep in touch while I'm here!

a new day, a new perspective

Isn't it interesting what a couple hours and a good night's sleep can do for one's attitude? I was so frustrated when I wrote yesterday's blog, but after I had a few hours to myself (during which I got everything back in order), I was a much nicer person.

Yesterday, I was trying SO hard not to say anything about the situation because I knew I would be mean, angry and not fair. I told Sam - my boss (and worship pastor) at Faithbridge - enough for him to understand the problem (and he's pretty observant...it was clear things were not going smoothly) and he said, "why don't we debrief about this tomorrow? You gather your thoughts and figure out what we can do and we'll talk about it later."

First of all, we really didn't have time to talk anyway. But also, I would have said a whole lot of stuff that I didn't need to and I wouldn't have had the time to reflect on the whole situation. Talking about it today gave me time to write down exactly what was missing and what I needed and to cool down so I wasn't so dramatic. (can you imagine...me? dramatic?)

I am going to miss Faithbridge so much in July - my other job requires that I stay at the Renaissance Hotel downtown for the entire month (such is life!) and I won't be back at the church until August. No matter the difference in pay, I would rather stay at the church than earn a bunch of bucks.

@#$%$@#!

I just have to say: Arrrrrrrrggggggggghhhhhhhhhh!

Thank you.

This has been a stressful day and I have a million things on my mind and I cannot seem to get even one thing completed. AND NO ONE LISTENS TO ME (even when they really should)!

Only 29 shopping days left!

In case you have forgotten, my birthday is soon approaching! I expect: a pony, a new laptop computer (preferably like the one I use at the church!), a large stack of $50s and a steak dinner. I don't think that's too much to ask, do you?

I will understand if I don't get the pony...I'm not sure I have a place for him to live anyway.

P.S. happy flag day. When I was 4, I looked at the calendar wrong and thought my birthday was on flag day. I was VERY excited about there being a national holiday on the day of my birth...for about 5 minutes until I realized my mistake (or my sister told me how ridiculous I was - take your pick).

Instead, I get Bastille Day! Yeah for me!

Content to linger

I have said several times lately that I feel like I am the only one who doesn't have their stuff together. When Katie got married, I was like, at least everyone knows who they'll spend the rest of their life with! When Laura & Wes left for boot camp, I was like, at least everyone knows what they want to do! Oh, how I wish I was writing to say that I now can count myself a member of both of these groups!

I AM writing to say how incredibly self-centered those comments were. Katie & Josh got married...but they're trying hard to find out where and how to make a living - especially doing something they LIKE and would gladly spend the rest of their lives doing. Laura & Wes joined the Army...but the Army gives them a whole other set of problems, not the least of which is where they will be stationed and if they will be together. Missa & Joel have made a life in Germany...but they are trying to decide what the next step is - stay in the military or focus on Missa's career (and where should she do THAT?). Rachel has started her new life in Indianapolis...but moving means that she has to find friends, a church, where to spend her free time, and new places to shop! :o)

See? How silly of me to think I am the only one with questions about the future! And the more I think about it, the more I feel that God is just telling me to wait...He has great things in store. I was telling a friend just today about how incredibly God answers prayer. I prayed for years for reconciliation with someone close to me, especially because I had no hope of it happening. When God provided, He astounded me with His manner of doing so. And how bad things in life always bring about the good - isn't that totally awesome?

Have any of you read "In His Steps" by Charles Sheldon? One of his relatives later wrote "What Would Jesus Do?" which was a modern telling of the same story that led to the WWJD fad in the 90s. Anyway, "In His Steps" doesn't ask what Jesus would do...it asks: what would Jesus have ME do? To me, that's a completely different question. How does Jesus want me to live my life? The book is about several people who answer that question and write down several things about their lives they would change if they let that question guide their lives. I want to live like that. I want to live for God's glory...

"God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him" - John Piper. Isaiah 26:8! My thoughts come full-circle. When I depend on God, when I wait on Him for the "best" instead of doing the "good", I am more satisfied...AND He is more glorified in me!

"We're in no hurry, Lord. We're content to linger in the path sign-posted with your decisions. Who you are and what you've done are all we'll ever want."

Thanks for traveling this thought process with me today, my friends. I had planned to be light-hearted today because my last post was serious, but my thoughts couldn't wait to get on paper...well, in print. I promise more levity in the future!

The 268 Generation, revised

My best friend Laura leaves on Thursday for Army boot camp. While I am so proud of her, I'm sad that she's leaving and that we won't even be able to talk to each other for a while. And though this isn't about me, I'm still frustrated that I don't know what I'm doing in August, while Laura knows what she's doing for the next three years and 20 weeks. Or at least that whatever she's doing, that she'll be doing it for the Army, earning good money and serving her country.

So does that mean I want to join the military? I haven't decided. Maybe. But we can all agree that I need to lose weight before I do that, and I honestly don't know if they would take me anyway. The screw in my foot makes it questionable...if I can't get in, I can always take it out, but there is no guarantee that will work either. Also, I have carpal tunnel, and I don't think it just goes away on its own. Laura and I were doing pushups last night, and honestly, as hard as it was to do full-body pushups, it would have been a lot easier if my wrists and forearms didn't hurt while I did it.

So enough about how my body is already falling apart...When I got home last night after hanging out with Laura for one of our last nights, I started praying about the whole thing. My lack of direction, my desire to do the right thing and be in the right place, that Laura can survive basic and being away from Wes...and then I opened my Bible. I just got a new version of the Message and read Jeremiah 29:10-14. Part of it says: "When you get serious about finding me and want it more than anything else, I'll make sure you won't be disappointed--GOD's Decree." Just hearing the same thing in a different way was very reassuring.

But what really made the difference in my attitude was Isaiah 26:8. This is one of my very favorite verses because it succintly sums up how we should leave and what we live for. In the NIV, it opens with "Yes, Lord." Louie Giglio (creator of Passion, oneday, etc.) says that should be our answer, no matter what the question. In the Message, it says, "We're in no hurry, GOD. We're content to linger in the path sign-posted with your decisions. Who you are and what you've done are all we'll ever want." Am I content to linger right now? No way. But the Bible says I should be...content to wait for God to show me what's coming next. And I know it will be exciting, though I still feel somewhat impatient.

And that doesn't mean I can just sit back and wait. Of course, I need to be searching for a job. Wherever. Doing whatever. And the military? That might be an option. And if I want to consider it, I have to get in shape...physically AND spiritually. So, guys, pray for me! I have major decisions coming and I want to be ready.

My first-ever blog!

Hey there, the few people who will actually read this! I feel like getting on the bandwagon, so here is my first blogspot...I've never been good at keeping a journal, but I am hoping I can update this semi-frequently. I know several friends who do, and it's a good way to keep in touch without continuing to ask "did you know this happened? I know I told someone..." Now I can say, you are SO behind the times! Just read my blog and it will tell you everything!

So...THAT was ultimate cheeze. Can you tell I'm a little unsure of what to write? :o)

Today, I saw "Madagascar" with three of my nephews. Their dad gave me money to take them to the movies while he took care of something...He gave me $40 and I spent $60! As they will tell you: "We had ICEEs, and popcorn, and M&Ms, and Sour Patch Kids, and bubble gum...then we had chocolate ice cream with chocolate toppings...and THEN we had pizza!" It's not cheap to indulge kids, especially 12-year-old with endless stomachs!

Aside: Madagascar was funny...not really big-screen, pay-a-lot-of-money-at-the-theater funny in my opinion, but good. I love David Schwimmer, and he did a great job as the hypochondriac giraffe. And the lemur king and his sidekick (Cedric the Entertainer) are great, as are the psychotic penguins.

I love my nephews (and niece!) - they are so much fun, even when they are pumped up on sugar and acting goofy. One of my favorite things to do with them is to just lay down on the floor, couch or bed and let them pile on top of me. We pass the time by seeing who can make everyone under them groan in pain the loudest. Or how long we can go without resorting to tickling, licking, biting or pinching to get the others off the pile. Yes, I AM mature.
Today, my mom got mad at us for being too rowdy. I don't know what the problem was - all we were doing was piling on the couch, near a glass coffee table with one of our dogs trying to join us! My newest favorite word: buzzkill...and that's what Mom was this evening. (You would have to remember the series from MTV to really understand where I got this.)

I also have a LoveSac that amuses us by the hour. For those of you not familiar with this, the LoveSac is a souped-up beanbag full of super-shredded foam pieces that makes for a good chair, bed...or landing spot for flying leaps. To reassure you, one of the boxes my LoveSac came in said "LoveSac.com is NOT a dirty website." It's really cool and I don't regret purchasing such a strange object to sit in - the dogs love it, the kids love it, I love it... You can visit my photo site to see some of the fun - just click on "Craig's fun on the LoveSac" for pictures of the flips they do from the bed to the sac.

Bethany