loving Jesus

when you love Jesus, you have to give things up. you have to change your perspective. you have to start loving people the way Jesus does. The problem with that as I am currently finding is that loving my clients, or even my co-workers seems like an impossibility.

i just read jeremy's blog (see link at right-my favorite fish!) and it is really beautiful. I think a lot of times, we look at our relationship with Jesus as something different than it is. Something more special, or pure. When in reality, to Jesus, i'm probably like my clients. Angry, grumpy...and blaming everyone for anything. I'm not nearly as poetic as Jeremy (which is why you should just take your Jesus lesson from him) and a lot of times, I blame my job for my stress which hinders my mood. Like I can't control how much i let my job effect me. And if i was really loving other people, thats how i would be reacting. Not in anger and frustration, but just love.

What would I do if i wasn't a social worker you ask? that is the recurring theme in my life as well? one thing keeps popping up. Only that thing is scary. and not nearly as reliable as being a social worker. I guess I must stay where I am until at least october, so at least i can be at the next level social worker...in case i wanted to go back. :)

alright, enough. i'm going to get soda.

woo-hoo

we're almost unpacked..its only been like 2 weeks since we closed ;)
anyway, i realize that when i started this, we were moving to kokomo. it was 2004, shrek 2 ws in theatres and i was working a bizillion hours a week at the theatre. since then--we're moved 4 times, and everything in our lives has changed, including the addition of our cat that summer of 2004. shrek 3 starts in 2 weeks, and i will again be working a bizillion hours...the good news is i don't have to rely on it.
scott and i both work days and like the jobs that we currently have. i still have a lot to do to finish getting unpacked...but right now, i want some doritos. so i think i will go to the gas station, and then do some unpacking until cold case at 8.
thats one thing that's changed...before we moved to kokomo..i was not a tv addict. now i totally am. thats ok though. as long as i've got time for it.

finals, and whatnot

im supposed ot be on my way to a home visit. im going ot be late because im putting up the pictures from finals. it was an amazing time, and i love the k3 hammers!

i have a lot to write about, since its been a month, but im not in the mood currently. oh yeah, and due to quizzer pressure, i know have a facebook. go me.

late march

if i didn't have stupid dial-up i would post more i promise (not that im not praising Jesus for the dial-up...its just...yeah).

right now, im at naomi's house and she and scott are watching a movie called Jesus camp--its pretty...strange. im not real sure. andy is in michigan.

we have teenage mutant ninja turtles at the meadowview..so its busy...and its super fun.

I've joined a Bible study with some girls from church...its been terrific. its relaxing to not have to be in charge and to be able to talk about Jesus. I've never really had a group of primarily christian friends. i mean, yes-i've had christian friends...and there was that time at olivet...but i mean in real life...its just kinda cool to see other people honestly trying to get closer to Jesus.

i worked at the paramount one week. WOW.

we put a bid in on another house...the other one had super termites and whatnot..so we decided to start over. so yeah. i'll keep you posted, one way or the other.

congrats to all the pregnant folks, engaged folks and otherwise.
congrats to naomi and myself for not being pregnant.

now the movie is over and we're having a deep discussion. by deep, i mean, they are discussing and i am interjecting with my random blog comments instead of talking about the actual movie. Personally--i got more out of Saved! but seriously--that mandy moore can act.

my job has been crazy stressful, but thats the nature of child welfare..i just wish i could get things back to a little calmer...ya know...and go to quiz practice instead of doing paperwork until 8 pm. i did get to have lunch with some of the lutheran folks on thursday when i had to attend a termination hearing in danville..which is part of why i was stressed...because i had so much to do this week.

Are you serious?

So I totally didn't post the ENTIRE month of January. The sadder part of that being that I don't have any excuse..except of course the dial-up. So here's whats happening in my life (if anyone in existence still reads blogs, as I refuse to put whole posts up on myspace because its a cluttery jumbly mess).

New Years Eve-went to Mel's for a bit, then andy and naomi's it was ok. pretty mellow way to welcome in 2007.

Rachel and joel arrived January...3rd I think. So that was some fun times. We almost bought this house in kankakee while they were here, but it didnt work out.

The district gameworks lock-in was Jan 5-6 and it was a pretty good time. I rode up and back with our youth pastor and the youth pastor at college church, and it was pretty good times...it was funny when they tried to include me :) Also, I became the district NYI secretary, primarily because i crave organization

Then we went to St. Louis (straight from the lock-in--which has been a trend!) and hung out with scotts family. it was good times. we went out for chinese on saturday, and then went to the mall with rachel and joel. we went to sunday school and church with scotts family, and then over to Erica and Chris' house for presents. It was fun. They had kittens, but we couldn't get them home to keep. Then we went to the old spaghetti factory for lunch, then to see Evan, Liz and Merideth...then home.

Rachel and Joel stayed until thursday, so there were other good times playing games and hanging out. i miss those kids.

Umm..then it was the district quiz...Lydia reynolds came, so that was good times-- but things were quite disorganized, which stressed me out early on...and the first time we ran a quiz without Bill there for support..but it got better (we had Barry after all!). then we went for chinese with college church, naperville, and danville and the ottingers too!

umm...then we had a weekend off--two in fact...but we were still busy with church (i was teaching 1st grade for january on wednesdays) and i had to work late quite a few days. and scott started playing frisbee in the mornings again.

THEN WE FOUND A HOUSE--a way better house than the one we found in early january. If I haven't told you that yet--you need to know. We're buying a house in Bradley--we're closing officially the 28th..and planning on moving March 11, so you should help us. we'll buy dinner. Thats really the biggest news.

Then this girl scott works with talked to her Bible study, and they're going to help me go to the womens retreat in shaumburg the weekend of my birthday. then my family will celebrate when i get home on sunday.

then the next weekend is girl weekend in OHIO...so that's good times too (but i'll probably be really anxious about not being at my new house getting it ready to move in).

Last weekend we helped Melanie move into her very own apartment which was fun and tiring all at the same time, primarily because everything happens at once for us.
Scott had gotten tickets to 12 angry men for christmas from my mom, and so we went to the city to see the play, did a little shopping, and then returned to melanies, had dinner with ryan, john, melanie and aidan, then back to melanies for more cleaning, unpacking and building ikea furniture. overall, it was a good time. sunday naomi and melanie went with me to the superbowl party at church, which was umm..kinda boring, but i think everyone had a pretty good time, and naomi and melanie got to talk a lot..and that made me happy :)

i think thats it. its a really long post, and i promise i'll try to do better!