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Baja Alabama 2009

A couple of weeks ago, I went on a vacation (from school anyway) to Auburn to help orgainze the mini baja race we had there.  For those who don’t know, I used to be on the mini baja team in college where we designed, built, and race one seated off-road race cars.  Now, I get to help put on a race to try to tear them up!  It was like we had a reunion of all my old friends, a great time was had by all!  Here’s some pictures from the race:

Need Job!

So, it’s been a while since I’ve published on the site.  Laura has done such a good job that I’ve just let her take care of it for a while, but now I’ve got something to say.  I’m looking for a full-time job.  With our finances being way off balance and still accruing debt in this crappy economy, our whole outlook on what we initially set out to do when we came up here has had to change.  As you know, Laura has had to step away from being a full-time student and got a full-time job,which has certainly helped, but we’re still accruing debt, and that’s not good.  So, if you could, please pray that the Lord will miraculously provide me with an engineering job.  I never persued this when I was looking before because it’s almost impossible to find a part-time engineering job.  However, now that I am looking, it would be greatly beneficial if we could find a job that I actually have a degree in.  However, the challenges I’m facing now is that I don’t have much experience and it’s been a while since I’ve been in school.  I’m sure there’s something out there I can do, I just haven’t found it yet.  The best possibility is getting a position in the engineering department at UPS, but nothing has come of that yet.  So, I would grealy covet your prayers as we try to figure this out.

And while you’re at it, please continue to pray for Laura.  Pain wise, she is much better than she was a year ago, however, she is still far from being healthy (sinuses headaches, hormone balance, TMJ – to name a few).  Thanks!

The Old Ball and Chain

Well, it’s been a few weeks, and I forgot to tell you guys… This past March 5 was mine and Garon’s four year anniversary.  It feels like we’ve been married FOREVER, but in a good way.  I can’t remember what it was like without him in my life.  It has pretty much become a tradition now, but we love to go to the Melting Pot for dinner.  We like things kind of  low key.  We enjoy hanging with friends and going to concerts and events, but there is nothing like just relaxing, having dinner, and maybe renting a movie.  He’s my comfort zone, where I can totally be myself.  Plus this year, we had a coupon for a free dessert, and it’s like a ten dollar value.  Can’t beat that!  This is not a place we would ever go to for anything else, but a fancy event.  So might as well enjoy it!  Dinner was excellent, the company even better,  and it’s kind of sad, but we never even fool with pics.  It feels great to have four years under our belt.  They haven’t always been easy, but it has definitely been worth it.  I can’t wait for our 50th anniversary with all of our adopted kids and their grandchildren.    Or maybe just our great nieces and nephews…whatever…He’s gonna be a handsome distinguished gentleman.

ABF Christmas Party #2 (Forgot to post this one too…)

A Pig’s Age

Well, it’s been a pig’s age since I have updated the blog.  I absolutely love my job.  It is such a nice career, on such a nice property.  I get to walk around the grounds, meet people, and do paperwork.  All of which I love.  I like working the weekends by myself, because I just take my little list and work at my own pace.  Plus the weekends are quite slow.  I haven’t spent much time on the computer lately, because in the evenings I crash.  It is tough getting used to a new schedule, but I like it very much.  I loved getting a paycheck this past week.  Woohoo!  Although it is already spent, and going to pay off some debts, it is still nice.  Garon is working hard, studying and working nights.  I have been prepping my dinners in the morning before I leave for work, so I can just relax when I get home.  I get up at 5:30 am to try to exercise, study my Bible, and prep dinner.  My husband gets home about 4 am.  So we don’t really sleep much together.  LOL!!!    TMI, I know.  hee hee  You know what I mean.  I am pretty busy with my bible studies (Tues. and Infertility).  Garon has one on Wednesday nights.  However, we get to spend a ton of time together, because we have every evening from 6 pm until 11:15 pm.  My boss is awesome, and a little blonde haired, blue eyed, Irish lady.  I can not wait until Easter.  We are closed, and one of my friends at Tues. night Bible Study and Sunday School is having a few of us over for dinner.  I’m taking homemade Mac and Cheese.  I am trying to be more frugal and disciplined.  Not only with our finances, but with my body and my time management.  I am not there yet, but I am working on it.  I want to cut out my sugar.  I am concerned about my sugar levels.  We’ll see how it goes.  My hormones are going well, I finally have a system going.  Yay!  It’s getting much better.    I am so thankful to have a great job, that allows me to pursue the Lord, my husband, and take care of my health.  God is soooooo GOOD!!!

Confessions of a Pastor’s Wife

From God’s Call to God’s Sanctification: It’s not easy being me.

It made no sense. I’d been born-again all of 8 months. I sat in an auditorium in Ridgecrest, North Carolina listening to Bertha Smith challenge us all to pray for the Lord to bring forth laborers for His harvest. That tiny gray-haired lady charged us to pray that people hear and heed the call to missions, to ministry, to evangelism. She exhorted us with Isaiah’s words: “Here am I, send me”.

I prayed for others. I asked God to call men to ministry. Then I heard a voice say, “You.” I’m hearing things. Bertha Smith must have said that. [For the rest of the call click on SelahV Today at the end of this post.]

I must confess. I was not even close to what I’d consider a mature Christian when I first became a pastor’s wife. There is so much I’d know today that I wish I’d known in our first pastorate. There are so many things I’d have done differently. But I did what I knew to do at the time.

Every minister’s wife carries an image of what her role is to be in her husband’s ministry. Each member of a church carries an image of what her role is suppose to be, also. I’d watched my minister’s wife and grew to believe she was the ultimate model of what a pastor’s wife could possibly be. I began to have severe doubts about myself and thought God must have an incredible sense of humor. I’d told her once in our conversations, “I could never be a preacher’s wife.”

God needed to prepare me to be the helpmate my husband would need as he abandoned himself to the Lord’s call upon his life. Minister’s wives are not like the plumber’s, the carpenter’s, or even a surgeon’s. No. People do not weigh her every action and place any demands upon her to fix the leaky faucet, repair a door-jam or perform an appendectomy. Other vocations do not require anything of a wife to accomplish a task. A wife is simply a wife. A minister’s wife is called along with her husband to minister. It’s a twenty-four-seven position. Our husbands truly need us to undergird, support and encourage.

We are called to be all things to all people at all times in order that we might win some. We are called to turn the other cheek; to be sober and exhibit gentle demeanors. Our attitude must never be guided by our emotions, a slight, a rejection, a burden or a criticism. We are to hold our heads high and smile at all times. We must shake every hand and pat every head and hear every complaint. We must always know where our husbands are, and be ever-ready to relay any message to him, and if he doesn’t act upon that message, we are accountable for his inaction. We’re expected to know exactly how each congregant feels because they shared details with our husbands in a counseling session. (Never mind that our husbands would not divulge such confidences with us-surely we should know anyway.)

Our children must sit in absolute silence like privates at Camp Lejune, North Carolina while listening attentively to every word our husbands say. They must be dressed in spic and span condition and exemplify all the fruit of the Spirit. We are to have a perfectly clean and organized house. We are to live on less than what our members live on but dress above our means and bring elaborate dishes to every potluck.

We must be in attendance at everything at all times to support the work of others in the Lord. We are to answer questions of “What do you think?” with non-answers that have nothing to do with what we think, but with neutrality. We are on call at any moment, at all hours of the night, to carry on without our spouses and we are to get absolutely giddy for the pleasure of not having his company. We are not to be sick or in need of our spouse’s attention. We are to have as much theological and doctrinal knowledge as any seminary graduate and have ready answers to any question posed. All the while our opinions and thoughts are not our own, but representative of our husband’s. And he is held accountable for all we think, say and do.

In other words we are called to be perfect, because our Lord was perfect.

Hmmmn. Do I believe all this? Of course not. Did I believe this? I sure did. When my husband took his first pastorate, I lived in a fishbowl of unreasonable and ludicrous thinking. As a minister’s wife, I tried to be what each and every person expected of me. I failed miserably. Seeking the approval of man rarely succeeds.

As God worked in me through the years, I came to the peaceful conclusion that my greatest calling was to be my husband’s soulmate. I learned that God had called my husband to pastor, to preach, to minister and He could do a much better job with him than I could. I was his cheerleader, his confidant, his greatest fan. I learned to submit to him in whatever way he considered best for me-even when I wanted to do something great for the Lord. I consulted him. It’s when I went against his advice I often found myself swimming upstream.

I learned far too late that my greater attention should have been towards my own children and not all the children of the world. I found that living “without” in contentment was far more wonderful than living “with” in discontentment. I learned to hold my piece when I wanted to give a piece of my mind.

I learned that hospitality didn’t mean a spotless home and fancy dinners, but open doors and empathetic ears. I discovered a cup of cold water and a box of tissues meant more than homemade cookies hot from the oven. I learned I cannot control what other people think of me, nor how they speak of me. I learned that what others think of me or speak of me neither determines my worth nor validates it as truth. I learned that holding grudges and bitterness hurt only me and my relationship with the Lord. I found that people are people and each person is growing in Christ on God’s timetable-not mine.

So many things God set me apart to be in my life: Daughter, wife, mother, pastor’s wife, employee, writer, friend. But the greatest relationship and role I’ve ever had is a child. His child. God used my mother and father to bring me into the world, but He, alone, is the creator of my life. He knew me before I was formed in my mother’s womb. He protected me from my own mother as she carried me in her womb. He knitted me together. What others counted as worthless, God counted as significant. He had a plan for me. He feeds me with His Word and lives within my heart. He abides in me and I in Him and He never lets me go. Every day God works out more of His plan with my life.

I am awed. After all these years, He still is interested in me.

To all ministers’ wives everywhere, I offer this: The best of oneself is all one can give and, at times, what we think is our best is the worst of us which must be surrendered to our Father’s merciful hands. If a pastor’s wife gives herself first to God, He will fill the role most needed in her for all. selahV

[copyrighted, 2008, SelahV Today, hariette petersen]

Job Schmob

Garon asked the other day if I had made an update on my job situation, and I realized that I have not.  Oops.  I truly thought I had let everyone know.  I am taking a break from school this semester to make some money, and to get some of our debt down.  I start my new job March 17th at Aspenwoods Apartments as a Leasing Consultant.  It is a very nice place to work, and has a great schedule.  However, I will be working three weekends a month, but that means I have a day off during the week.  The hours on the weekends are only 12 to 5, so that’s not bad.  I’m kind of glad that I’ll be working weekends, because it means I will have time to take care of my health and to make my doctor’s appointments, since I have to go pretty often.  (due to TMJ, migraines, and hormone issues)  I will be showing apartments and setting up leases, taking payments, and etc.  I was also glad to hear that it had a lot of down time, so that I can start back taking classes as soon as possible, and not have to quit working.  I am excited.  Please pray that it would be the right fit.  God is good.

ER Visit (all is well)

I had to write all is well after that title, didn’t want anyone to worry.  I must be a conossieur (sp?) of ERs.  Like a food critic, if you will.  I have had a virus for a week.  It is like the flu.  Garon calls it a cold, ha!  I believe there is a huge difference.  I have not been able to sleep this week, and have been sleeping literally every other day, when I am utterly exhausted.  The reason is, when I lie back I start choking, so I can’t lie down.  I went to the doctor as soon as I started getting sick, because I knew this was not just your regular cold.  The PA told me to just use a netti pot and over the counter medicine.  Well, I told her that the reason I had come in was because the over the couner meds weren’t working and I couldn’t stop choking.  She sent me home.  So I go to get in the car, and went back in, cause I was just too miserable.  I hadn’t slept in twenty four hours, Garon can’t sleep cause of my coughing.  It can’t be good for my throat to cough that much.  It was on fire.  I tell her that I am not trying to cause trouble, but I really thought I needed a cough syrup for the symptoms, so I could sleep and rest my voice.  She simpered, and I do mean simpered.  She giggled, got embarrassed and wouldn’t meet my eyes.  It was like she was a teenage girl, who could not deal with conflict.  So, she talks to the doc and gives me some phenargen.  I’m thinking, isn’t this for nausea, but whatever.  I go home take the cough syrup, and sleep a little due to exhaustion.  Three days later, I’m still not sleeping and am choking.  Garon insists on taking me to the ER, so we missed our concert last night.  I was so upset and disappointed.  Mainly because I did not have twenty dollars to just throw away.  So we go to the ER, meet an awesome PA.  I know I am digressing and regressing, and making this an extremely long story.  I LOVE this ER.  The people are awesome, we never have to wait more than an hour to an hour and a half.  We have visited two other ERs across the street, and have waited five hours before to see a doc.  This ER, is usually fairly empty, is clean, doesn’t smell bad, and the staff is awesome.  I want to say which hospital it is, but don’t want the secret out.  Is that not selfish?  I’ll tell all my friends, but can I deny others that need a good hospital?  OOOOHHH  I don’t want to make this decision.  Everyone was great, they immediately gave me some cough syrup, before they ran the tests, so I wouldn’t hack up a lung.  I had an Xray, to check my lungs, and then a flu test.  I had a strep test at the doctor’s office.  I just have a bad virus.  Then the PA, told me what to take to help my symptoms, and sent me home with a cough syrup that worked wonderfully.  I slept a full night and then some.  We were in and out of the ER in two hours.  That is the same amount of time I spent at the doctor’s office earlier in the week, and I had an appointment, and less tests.  The hospital is JEWISH.  I think everyone thinks you have to be Jewish to go there.  They are WONDERFUL.  They are extremely thorough.  I am feeling much better already.

I’m a Fan of Science

Praise the Lord for scientific advances.  I wanted to give an update on how I am feeling after my hysterectomy.  Words cannot describe how good I feel.  Oh, there are quite a few adjustments to make and symptoms to deal with, but overall it is amazing.  Ever since I was first diagnosed with endo, actually before that, since I was twenty three years old I felt just an overall heaviness.  I have been sluggish.  (Even when I was a lot smaller.)  It is hard to explain.  I have felt pain, pressure, and just like each day was a struggle.  Now I am not perfectly healthy right now, and I have hot flashes, my skin feels weird, mood swings, among other things… I even have a virus right now.  But…I feel alive.  It is crazy for me, not to feel any pain in my abdomen and lower back region.  I feel lighter.  I have soooo much energy now.  I’m not even talking about the nervous energy that comes when I’m too low on estrogen and testosterone.  I feel like my body felt when I was nineteen or twenty.  My body feels sleek and lean,   LOL, even though it is not.  I still have migraines, am struggling with a virus, but in awe that I am not in pain.  God is good, and I am thankful that he created man with a brain, and that we can have procedures that can give us relief.  So do I regret having a hysterectomy?  Even if it means I’ll have osteoperosis, maybe a shortened life, maybe a weak heart, we don’t know……  I do NOT regret it.  It was the Right decision for me.  I am THANKFUL for my hysterectomy.  Praise you Lord!

Valentine

Wouldn’t that be a pretty name for a girl?  I know it sounds cheesy, but I think it’s kind of neat.  Garon and I are not big into Valentine’s Day.  I am completely aware, it is just so retailers can get us to spend money.  However, sometimes I like to use it as an excuse to spend money.  I do not care to receive anything, but I would feel slighted, were I to be the only one whose husband ignored the holiday.  Isn’t that typical?  That said, we had fun for Valentine’s but spent it a little different.  There is a concert at the end of the month for a contemporary Christian group called Avalon.  They are older, but I still love them.  I have never seen them in concert, and it is only ten dollars a ticket for students.  So, I decided to ask Garon if we could go instead of celebrating Valentine’s.  He said, he was cool with it.  Then, my friend gave me some money for taking her to the airport, and my Mom gave me some money for a treat, so I bought a dress.  It was regularly a forty dollar dress, but it only cost me $9.  Since, I had received some monetary gifts, it cost me $0.  So that is my Valentine gift to myself.  Isn’t that fun?  It is lavendar silk.  Quite lovely really.  Garon made me a lovely card on the computer.  Then my former coworker Deanna was on her way to Michigan and needed a place to stay, so she came for a visit on Valentines.  I loved it.  What a special day!  She and her little boy, Gary Michael, who is a little over one, stayed the night, and we got to go out to eat at Old Chicago.  We had to wait quite a while, but it was more family oriented than other restaurants, so it wasn’t as bad.  Gary Michael was sooo good.  He had just ridden ten hours in a car, and then didn’t get to eat until nine o’clock at night.  Bless his heart, he didn’t start fussing until right before we left to come home.  He was so tired.  So we had a fabulous weekend, and Garon got some studying done.  God is good.

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