Melission

A conversation with a friend yesterday reminded me of my college days when I would note how many of my friends had decided to enter the mission field, whether temporarily for a trip or to plan to make it a lifestyle one day. I used to feel like doing a "mission trip" was something I had to do or should do some day, but I never really felt called to it.

Then I learned about finding my "gifts" .. those God-given traits you possess for the purpose of carrying out His plan through your life. I wondered what my gifts could be. I knew I had to find out one day because otherwise I'd feel like I'd be wasting my life without knowing what to do with it. The obvious one was something creative, but I never really found a way to use that to directly and personally connect with people in a spiritual way.

However in the past couple years as Jon and I have been leading the Financial Peace course, I believe I have found my "mission from God" *Blues Brothers voice*. Helping people learn about finances and how to change their life by it - I never thought I'd be into that. I'm not a numbers person! I'm still not incredibly a numbers person. But my faults don't matter. What matters to me (and I think what matters to God, through me) is communicating the truth (about the subject, and essentially about life itself) to people, and helping them realize that changing certain habits is what God wants for them. This is HARD sometimes to reveal to folks, and the hardest to reveal to folks who need it the most! But this is good for my mission. It keeps me having something to work on and be challenged by. Right now in the form of learning how to talk to people about it.

I'm not very comfortable being in front of a huge group of people by myself in a classroom setting, but I've realized that I can help people one on one quite well and quite naturally. I'm pretty excited about this.

It might seem weird helping people come to God through money. That's what it sounds like. But if you open the Book you'll find it's quite an important thing to achieve in life, in God's eyes. If you don't know God or don't want to, you at least have to recognize that being good with money is something desired in life. It's also about living right, communication and doing good for others too.

I've never been one for "Christianese" speak (ie using language that makes you sound like a Bible beater) because I was once (and still am!) quite annoyed by it. I hope that my choice to discuss things not in that manner is a means for me to connect to and help anyone and everyone willing to open their mind to the best things God has for them in life.

Onward, I say.

Snow Me Impressed

I am very, very sad to say that my hand was not involved in making any of these amazing creations.. however some folks over at Southern Adventist University (whose campus we live on the backside of) are incredibly creative and know how to make a stranger smile as they drive by.

I had to go over to the campus today to take some photos.

 Check out this HUGE snow man!! The base has to be 6 or 7 feet wide. It has melted down some since my first contact with it, as did the mini snow man to it's side. The juxtaposition of the 2 snowman sizes next to each other was pretty comical though.

I'm not sure exactly what the creative direction is on this one, but it looks like a cool curving road going up the side of a cliff where a small snowman resides on top, ha! The blocky shapes make it look like an odd modern sculpture of some sort.


And this next one is the coolest most awesome ever !! ...

Someone made an igloo!! A real-life, adult-can-fit-inside igloo!

Here's the doorway looking in and the floor of the inside.. perfectly carved out.. I can only imagine how long and how many folks this took to accomplish...

Here's the view of the inside from the doorway.. you can see the block structure they used, I couldn't quite tell if they used actual blocks or if they mounded the whole thing and carved out he inside and then reinforced the exterior with more snow. AMAZEING. It really is incredibly impressive. And it's big! It could probably sit 5-6 adults inside.

These works make me jealous that I didn't create them, but it makes me happy how it attracts strangers to come discover it, and leaves them driving away with a huge smile on their face like it did to me.
Truly inspiring.

Happy 2 Years!

The best kind of resolution is the one that lasts for more than a week, a month or a year... It's the kind that • changes your life • by consistent application. Here's to our second year of living on a PLAN, working together in commitment toward our goals and never giving up on the resolution we made 2 years ago to get there.

Happy New Year! and to my husband, I love you very much!

Bad Trends

I'm always observing social trends and the affects they have around us. Some trends are incredibly useful, while others... are definitely pointless.

Sometimes people my age do things that I'm not sure I understand. Some of these people are referred to as "hipsters". If you're not quite sure how to identify the hipster style, this chart can help:




Others who may not be hipsters also sometimes enjoy these styles because of their over-infusion into our culture I guess. As all teens and twenty-somethings tend to do, everyone wants a style that makes them stand out. However, partaking in fads makes you blend in! Oh the irony. Anyway, I've picked up on some faddy trends of late. The more I see them the more I wonder how much longer these things will be trends, such as...

Mustaches. Mustaches on everything: jewelry, tshirts, fingers under your nose. Why? I'm really not sure. I don't know that I could wear a mustache necklace and be taken seriously anywhere. It kinda says 'I want to look like I'm in a 1920s barber shop quartet'... and while those are cool, subconsciously mocking it isn't really as cool.

Skinny Jeans. Oh Lord. While these may look alright on rail thin women, they are questionable on men and everyone else... and most of the folks I've seen wearing them in public look like the two above. They can't be comfy! They certainly aren't flattering.

Ugg Boots. Ugg stands for ugly, it's in their name! Everyone and their brudder has a pair of these, typically worn over the bottoms of jeans. I'm not sure why they're so popular, but they do live up to their name.

Ugly Purses. If you glance by the handbag sections of most department stores, you'll find seas of bulky, ugly shoulder bags that look like filled diapers! They seem to be getting bigger and bigger too, and they're always shoulder bags and not slings, which would be killer on one shoulder if you fill it up as it intends.

Duck Face. This moronic expression can be seen ALL OVER Facebook. I'm not sure why this has become trend but it's rather ridiculous. Many people (girls and guys) apparently find that making this face makes them look better or more attractive somehow by pulling the cheeks together and adding an attempted innocence to their glance. It's pretty annoying. "Punch me."



There isn't really a good way to conclude this. Of the people I know who read this blog, none of these things really apply. So I guess it's useful to be aware of these stupid trends for some reason.

Blessings In Code

My boss here at ARS has been asking about Jon working his website coding abilities here every time she brings up needing more developers. I told him she wanted him again last week. They had a phone interview about working freelance, on his own schedule whenever he wants and she hired him over the PHONE! She must really like him. He is quite likable :•)

So he accepted! He may be working in my office or remotely, depending on the project. He starts this Thursday with a half day on a test project so she can assess his mad skills. I'm pretty excited. I think this will be good.

Dreams, Business & Stupid

I've been meaning to write some lately between the business of things. Holidays, finding a new car, etc. So here's a few topics of late...

Dreams, Oh My
Jon and I have had dreams about having children this week. We don't take that as a sign telling us it should happen soon.. I think it's just the whirlwind of almost every other one of our friends have started families lately. Like there's maybe 4 remaining childless married couples left that we know. Anyway, Jon's dream was very realistic, while mine was utterly frightening. Remember the "Chucky" movies? Ok - I had a newborn boy who had a look about him reminiscent of Chucky. And he was talking back to me! as a newborn! making fun of me and teasing me about having to breastfeed him, oh my God! Ok it is kinda funny, but at the same time the utter notion of "I am NOT doing this!" was freaky to me. I can't imagine the weirdo dreams I'll have when we actually have one on the way. Yikes!

I have to say honestly that being around everyone else having kids actually makes me want to wait even longer. Maybe it has to do with the fact that I've always been pretty against the bandwagon.

One Little Business
I like having my personal blog to talk about my business with some confidentiality. I share all my public ideas and projects on the •m• blog, but here I can be a little more open. I'm really excited about its possibilities though. I'm learning a lot about what it takes to have and to run my own business, and I really, really enjoy it - even while being aware of how much upkeep and focus and organization it requires. As far as.. well everything - notes, material and price tracking, customer info, finances for sure, the physical arrangement of my workspace, being aware of marketing trends and ways to connect with people. It's a lot. I tend to wonder how other folks doing similar endeavors manage their business things.

The invent of Facebook is incredible when it comes to small businesses. Some folks bash it's usefulness or ignore it altogether.. while others abuse it for their desire for attention - but my God, it's an incredibly useful tool for new & individually owned businesses! The same for Etsy I suppose (a community of people selling handmade & vintage items), but I find myself supporting Facebook marketing more than Etsy (plus I'd rather people visit my website and not my etsy page).

Currently Etsy has no way to push your message as much as Facebook does, although they are constantly improving their site. It's just such a big community. It's hard to stand out there in my opinion, especially if you make jewelry or hair clips. However, get yourself a unique idea and/or a unique style and you've got it made. If you're still wondering what you can do with your life that you actually really enjoy or if you're thinking of a way to generate steady side income, today's technology makes it incredibly easy to establish yourself and your ideas. Look into it, for serious. PS, and it's not just for twenty-somethings ;•)

Eventually I'd love to take one•little•m part time instead of managing it between my full time job as it is right now. 2011 will be an interesting new year for us. We're planning on doing some actual advertising (via facebook at first) so I'm curious to see what that does and if I'm able to keep up.

Stupid & Funny
So in our search for a new car to replace my totaled Civic thanks to Ms Not Paying Attention in Atlanta... we've been keeping an eye out on the roads for things we do and don't want. This lead to discussion about the body style changes among newer Civics and how I think the rear tail lights looks like a sad panda haha. So we came up with this Sad Panda character, who we quote every time we see one on the road, making a "mmuuuhh!" depressed sounding voice. (We will never deny our weirdness.) The best part is the realization of this character when we discovered that you can create unique characters on the Wii, for use as contestants on our new Wheel of Fortune game. Check this out!! hahahaha.. Search through all of them, it's so entertaining, if you're a Wii person that is. They each have instructions on how to build your own new characters too. Too fun.

Focus & Sacrifice Pay Off!

As of today I am officially student loan debt free!! The sweet taste of impending total debt freedom comes nearer and nearer.. We've been extremely focused on this task and it has paid off, literally! Over $16,000 in just 9 months! And now we move on to Jon's student loan.. with the optimistic goal of being completely debt free by July 2011.

Our progress chart that we keep on the fridge.. success!!