I'm back!!!!

Just a quick update...I'm back in Illinois for the week until next Friday. I'm here mainly for work next week, but got to come in a little early and sneak in some family/friends time this weekend. I'm very excited to be back home...except that Bobby isn't with me...and I have NO IDEA how we went for 16 months of our relationship this way! It's so much more difficult to leave my wonderful man now! So...I'm missing my man for sure...but ready to have a great week!!!!

New Kids on the Block...Let's Rock!

Oh yeah, that's right...I went to the New Kids concert last Monday. It was awesome. I love their new CD...as well as the old stuff (of course!). They are still great performers after all these years...it really was a fun night. Natasha Bedingfield opened for them ("Unwritten", "Pocket Full of Sunshine", and that song that goes..."I love you, I love you, I love you!"), and she was awesome as well. Poor Bobby went with me (was supposed to be a friend of ours that went...she actually was the one that asked me to go...but then accidentally booked a trip back to her home state on top of the New Kids concert date, so she had to give up her ticket...she was totally bummed too - she was a MAJOR fan like me, back in the day!)....anyway, Bobby had a fun time...he may not admit that to anyone but me, but he did...trust me! =) The fans were crazy though....screaming screaming screaming! Just like 18 years ago when I went before - no lie! It was definitely a little hard to hear after we left because of all the fans yelling and screaming for two hours. The average age was around my age - 25. Ha...I kid, I kid. Average age was 30-35 and some of them had their old school New Kids t-shirts, buttons, jean jackets, etc. on...it was great...loved it all. Bobby even bought me one of those big New Kids buttons, like I had 18 years ago (girls, you remember - they were almost the size of your head with the New Kids picture on it!). It is now proudly positioned on the entertainment center shelf! For those that couldn't make it, I am uploading some pictures and video for you...because I know...secretly inside yourself...you're jealous you didn't get to go!

Oh...and disregard the singing in the background! It was so loud in there I didn't think you would be able to hear it on the video! Sorry!!!!!

Bobby and I - pre-concert

The boys

The final bow - Danny, Donnie, Jordan, Joey, and Jon! Woohoo! =)



You got the right stuff...baby.......

"Single" - one of their newest songs

Another new song...they appeared in the middle of the audience with a spinning platform with a piano!

Step by Step - oldie but goodie!

Your Eyes

I've been on a preaching kick lately....sorry, I hope it isn't interpreted as preaching, it's just thoughts that I have to get out of my head and onto "paper" so that I can think through them intentionally and fully. I've been reading through the Bible this whole year...and just finally got through the Old Testament since it is 3/4 of the entire Bible (dang...I wasn't sure if I would ever make it to the New Testament!)...and I am now into the New Testament just in the past week or so. Even though it took a good 9-10 months to get through...I learned so much from the Old Testament, and found a new love for those books that I never had before...and a new love for my Father as well. That said.....it is still refreshing to start the New Testament and read about Jesus' life and teachings. Therefore, that is where this new inspiration is coming from lately I think...change always brings new thoughts and ideas.

Anyway...today while I was reading, it is from Matthew 5-7, which are chapters of Jesus' teachings as he traveled around sharing his knowledge. This passage is great through and through....very insightful altogether. One piece of it stuck out at me - Matthew 6:22-23.

"The eye is the lamp of the body. If you eyes are good, your body will be full of light. But if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness."

Okay, so what first hits me is that Jesus is light. And darkness is not it's own entity....instead, it is just the absence of light. Therefore, the absence of Jesus. Also, our eyes here represent our attitude, perspective, interpretation of events in our life....and those eyes are directly influenced by the light (God/Jesus/Holy Spirit). So, if our eyes are good, they will be full of God's perspective, attitude, and interpretation of life. In other words, we will see each event we come across in life through God's eyes. How amazing is that perspective - to not knock down each other for the small stuff or the big stuff, to love even our enemies and treat them well, to see the good in each situation instead of the negative, to catch others doing good things for us instead of always finding what they are doing wrong......and the list could go on.

I find this verse extremely powerful. It directly connects to a program that I have managed and developed at work, which deals with the power of your mind, thoughts, attitude, etc. I have found verses like this one for the past couple of years that truly supports many of those concepts in the program. This one is no different. Mentally, whatever our attitude is at the moment, we each see situations differently. It's like we are all wearing different colored glasses that tint (or affect) what we see. For example, say an important announcement gets sent out at work via email to all employees. How many different interpretations or stories come from that email? Probably about as many as there are employees! Based on our current situation, we each filter each sentence differently. Certain parts to us stick out, and we may completely pass by other parts and not even absorb that information. In general, people with positive attitudes see positive things, even if there are many negatives to see. And of course the opposite is true....people with negative glasses on pick out the negative...even at times when there is only positive to see! I'm sure we have ran into or know someone like this - leave it to them to find the negative! Or...we recognize this in ourselves sometimes as well.

So, back to the verse and how this all relates. If your eyes are good (focused on God/Jesus/Holy Spirit), you will be full of light - see the good in the situation, as God would want you to. If your eyes are bad (not focused on God/Jesus/Holy Spirit), you will be filled with darkness (absence of light - absence of God). And Jesus even points out, not only just darkness, but great darkness. You can only imagine how negative great darkness would be.

The application here for me is everyday life. What am I seeing? Do I find myself always finding the bad in the situation? Judging others, knocking people down, getting irritated at the small things? The BIG DEAL here is that it is OUR CHOICE what we see. I choose which glasses I wear each day. I choose my attitude....I choose to see the good, EVEN IF there is a lot of negative in a situation. Some people may think that means I am being too idealistic/optimistic...not living down to earth....but I strongly disagree. My choice here is affecting my happiness. I don't deny there are negatives...but I do choose to deny them from affecting my viewpoint, skewing my thoughts, and tinting my glasses - therefore darkening my eyes. I want Jesus' eyes...I want to see just as He sees. Isn't that the point in this life anyway?

So...connecting what I wrote about yesterday (showing mercy), the next time a co-worker truly ticks you off, your kids are irritating the heck out of you, or your significant other is on their last straw with you....CHOOSE mercy - SEE the good - and then WATCH what happens after that. I think (just as I have been many times) we will all be amazed at the peace that comes after.

And for those that know what that peace feels like...there is literally nothing better on this earth than that!

Beatitude

I was just doing my Bible reading this morning and came across the Beatitudes...which is when Jesus is on a hill and speaking to his new appointed apostles. The one that really spoke to me was the one about mercy.

Matthew 5:7

Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.

Seems almost too simple. You can miss a lot if you don't really think through that verse. When is the last time that you were completely justified to be upset, angry, even revengeful with someone...and instead of going there...you just blankly forgave and let down the grudges that came with it instead. No residual resentment still building in your mind...just wiped the slate clean and showed mercy. Just think how different this world would be if we all just did this once a day....much less practiced mercy all the time.

There is Ultimate Mercy in Jesus, of course. He is completely justified to shove me away from his sight forever with the way I treat Him, and He doesn't. And there are no grudges either, just open arms.

I think I'm on a mercy mission.

It's been a LOOOOOONG time!

So, I know it's been FOREVER since I have posted anything...so I'll just do a review of the second half of September (can you believe it's already October?!).

First of all...Bobby and I got a note that Kyndall was getting a student of the month award at school...and we attended the assembly they had for the 7th and 8th grade awards. She ended up getting the student of the month for art, which is awesome...especially the first month of the school year! Here are a couple pics...didn't get the best shots though!

The next big deal in September was that my parents came out to Phoenix for a trip on September 19th. We, of course, had a great time together...a little pool time, a trip up north to Prescott (a cute little "midwestern" town that's just fun to explore and walk around), great food, and we celebrated both my Mom's and my birthdays that weekend. The pictures below are mostly from the Prescott trip, but we have a couple from my birthday as well.

A shot down the street of Prescott from the town square.

Courthouse in Prescott in the town square

Cuties!

Look at that hot man! =)

Megan and Mimi spending some quality time together

Mimi-lovin'

Dad and Bobby eating some AMAZING carmel corn!

Kyndall finding some interesting stuff in an antique shop

Bobby's b-day cake that he made for me....YUM!

The girls and I on my birthday