A Pet Peeve

Why is it that when you are in a store or other place of business, customers calling on the phone take precedence over you - the live customer, wallet in hand, standing a mere two or three fee from the clerk. This has happened to me several times. The Radio Shack on Bowman Road in Little Rock was especially bad about this. Yesterday, on my way home, I stopped by a Chinese take-out restaurant to pick up an order that James had phoned in. I walk up to the counter, then clerk is on the phone and does not acknowledge me. . .a head nod saying" yes, I see there" would have helped. Another employee walks up to the counter from the food prep area. . .he makes eye contact with me, and I think I'm about to be waited on. But no, the other phone is now ringing, and so he answers it. I wait for the 1st clerk to get off the phone and she finally waits on me.

Now, I worked in retail long enough to know that it is important to answer the phone in a timely manner, but I always felt more compelled to wait on the customer who was standing before me before I got to the phone call. Why doesn't the rest of the retail work think like that?

Election Day

I went to vote after I got off work this morning at 5 am, and there were already about 100 people in line. It was cold, and of course, I didn't have a jacket. The line moved along OK once they opened the doors at 6 am. Once I got to the counter to get my ballot, I had to wait some more. My name was not in the registrar's book. I had my registration card, and a young man got on the phone with a person at the registrar's office. The office confirmed that I was registered to vote, but they didn't know "what color ballot" to give me because I didn't have a voting history in MO. Well, of course I don't have a voting history in this state because I moved here 6 months ago, and there has not been anything noteworthy to vote on. I don't know why the ballots are colored. You don't register with a party in MO, and this was not a primary anyway, so party couldn't have been the reason for the different colors. Maybe it had to do with what school district you lived in, and thus which school district measures you could vote on. . .but couldn't they ascertain that from your address?? I finally got a "green ballot" whatever that means. James had the same trouble when he went to vote this afternoon.

This election has been a matter for prayer. I don't like either mainstream candidate, and I'm concerned about the direction that either man will take this country. The matter has been in God's hands from the start, and I'm thankful that we serve a Sovereign, Holy God who already knows how the story ends. I am also thankful that this world is not my final destination. Do not loose heart, Christians, we are aliens in this world, citizens of the New Jerusalem.

Do not put your trust in princes, in mortal men, who cannot save. Ps. 146:3

It is God who places our elected officials in power.
Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God. Romans 13:1

Pray for the next President. Pray for God to give him wisdom and pray that God would act in his heart and open his eyes to His truth.
I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone— for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. I Timothy 2:1-2

Some words of wisdom from one of my favorite pastors, John Piper:

Halloween '08

This Halloween was the first time we booth dressed up for it since we met - 10 years ago. Lily was scared of James. After he put his costume on, she ran under our bed and would not some out. Almost every on out street and their yard decorated, and at about 5 pm, some of our neighbors blocked out our road so no cars could drive down. In front of our house, their were tables with buckets of candy for the kids, grilled hot dogs for everyone, and snacks and punch. I think we gave out about 200 hot dogs. There was music, and some had a skeleton that danced to "Super Freak."

James had fun as the grim reaper. There is a weeping willow tree at the beginning of our street, and he would hide behind its branches and come out when people walked by.


This is a pirate ship that one of our neighbors puts together every year for Halloween. It has moving parts and Christmas lights on it. He hooks it up to his truck and gets a generator to run lights and motors and drives in around the neighborhood.



This was the scene in front of our house. We didn't have a lot of decorations, so we went to the nearest Halloween store and bought some things on clearance to use for next year. I have more pictures posted here.

Way too early

I was at JC Penney's last Friday (10/17) to get some clothes, and was a little depressed and overwhelmed to see all the Christmas paraphernalia out. I enjoy Christmas, but it was much more fun as a kid. As a working adult with my family in one state and my husband's in another, I just don't have the time to spend with everyone that I'd like to have. Every year we have to decide when are we going to see who, when can I get off work, what does everyone want, when are James and I going to exchange gifts with each other, what are we going to do with the dogs while we're traveling. It gets stressful.

Some of my favorite memories of Christmas lately have nothing to do with gifts or traveling or shopping. Some include: walking around the AR state capital with James and Daisy on Christmas Eve - it had snowed, and Daisy loved being out in it - and seeing the life size wooden nativity. . .and singing with the BCRL choir at Tucker prison - and the Christmas concerts at BCLR - what a piece of heaven they always were. . . .and our annual trips to hear Handel's Messiah performed. . . hearing the Christmas story read from Luke before we open gifts at James' grandparent's house. Instead of the crazy-dancing-Santa-blinking-lights-madness that it has become for society, Christmas should be a time to contemplate the God-Man, the brevity of your sin, and the abundance of His forgiveness.

My 2 cents on politics

Well, I'm not excited about this upcoming presidential election at all. I don't want to vote for either main candidate. If McCain wins, (which seems doubtful), I'm afraid we're going to be in Iraq for for more years - and be paying taxes on our health care benefits?? Please explain to me how taxing our health care benefits that we receive from our employers is going to solve the health care situation in the US. And what about Sarah Palin? A heartbeat away from the presidency. Do you really want her to be running the free world if she had to? It makes me kinda nervous to be honest. If Obama wins, I think we'll be paying higher taxes, but we might get out of Iraq. Obama is really liberal, and people are hypnotized by his promises of change. I think you better be careful what kind of change you wish for - because he might really change the face of this nation. After 4 years of an Obama administration we might not think that FDR was much of a socialist after all.

So much talk of change, but there's only one man that has the power to change this country. Christ, and the life changing power of the gospel. The bible tells us that it is God who appoints the leaders of the world. HE is ultimately in control of this world. Do not loss heart, for this election is in the grasp of HIS hand.

I think I'm going to be voting for a 3rd party candidate. I know, I know, throwing my vote away. I just cannot vote for either mainstream candidate with a clear conscience. Here is a list of who else is running if you are also disappointed with your choices this year:

Charles Baldwin (Constitution Party)
Ralph Nader (Independent)
Robert Barr (Libertarian)

Get out and vote, but more importantly pray for God to bestow His wisdom on the man who will be our next president.

Home Renovations part 2

Above is a picture of the vanity in the master bathroom, and below is a closer picture of the old sink. Notice that the drain stopper is missing. Every sink in house except for one, was missing the drain stopper.


After shot:

Home Renovations

None of the cabinets in our house had hardware. After 13 years of hands touching them, they were starting to show some wear. I ordered the new hardware online, which was about $120 cheaper than buying it a Lowe's. It's nice too - I was a bit leery of ordering it without being able to see it in person, but we're really pleased. James and I spent a Saturday installing the hardware.

Below is a picture of our old kitchen sink. We had all the faucets in house replaced today. I was glad to see this go. The sink was rather shallow, and the faucet was short, which made it difficult to wash large pots and pans.


Our new sink. It is 2 inches deeper than the old one. The faucet is from Delta and the sink is from Kohler. The plumber spent about 2 1/2 hours installing the two.


New curtains for the living room. The previous owners didn't leave much in the way of window treatments, so I've been making curtains. I am really thankful for my Mom's help with these.