Quote of the Day (courtesy of self)

After a somewhat grueling 2 and a half hour ordeal of going over an assessment with some people who were none to happy to take my take on them, I finally got a glimmer of hope when the man replied, "Well, you're kindda growing on me."
To which I probably responded with a less than therapeutic reply by quipping, "Growing...kindda like a fungus, huh?"
Both laughed...tension somewhat relieved until the woman started complaining about something else and crying.
Oh well, just another day in fungusland =)

Log List

Per request, here's the log list for sinful thought patterns taken from Wayne Mack.

Constant pessimism and negativism
Envy
A critical, condemnatory, accusatory, judgmental attitude
Bitterness
Resentment
Impulsiveness
Vain Regrets (looking to the past in such a way that it keeps you from living biblically, responsibly, productively in the present)
Brooding
Fretting
Jumping to hasty and unfounded conclusions
Daydreaming (because they are primarily self focused)
Self-pity
Wicked, immoral imaginations
Thinking others are talking about me behind my back
Assuming others are out to trap me
Watching for the mistakes of others
Being glad when others fail
Not listening to both sides of the story
Focusing on another's bad qualities
Assuming others are wrong
Exaggerating my problems or successes
Exaggerating my faults and mistakes of others
Wishing I was someone else or that I was someplace else
Not seeing any sense in trying to chage or improve
Thinking about how others don't appreciate me
Thinking about how others have abused or mistreated me
Thinking about how much better off others are

Spider Saga

Lest you stare at the green bowl in wonder any longer, let me clarify how said green bowl appeared in my living room on Saturday. Well, I was ironing some curtains (which by the way, does anyone know why some things really are so difficult to iron?) as I now have an office again to hang them in, and I opened my bedroom door to head downstairs.
Echoing from Jonell's room was a resounding, stop you in your tracks tone, querying, "Are you going downstairs?"
Thinking to myself, "Ummm...I feel like I should answer no as it sounds like I'll be committing to something I don't want to commit too."
But reminding myself, "Can't say no because then I'd have one more item to add to the growing log I'm keeping."
I finally responded, cautiously with, "Yeeeeessss..."
Jonell, racing from her room at rocket speed, "Okay. Good. I need to show you something."
We arrived downstairs to stare at my green container resting.
Abby: "What is that? Is there something under there?"
Jonell, insuring she was at least 5 feet away at all times, exclaimed, "A cricket!"
Abby: "Okay. And you used my bowl?"
Jonell: "It had a lip. I could get it down into the carpet."
Abby, laughing, "You have now contaminated my bowl."
I proceeded into the pantry.
Jonell asking, "What are you going to do? Kill it? I thought it'd get in the carpet."
I returned with lid to said green bowl.
Jonell, "Are you going to let it out? It's going to get out! It's in the middle of the bowl."
Abby, lifting bowl and sliding lid underneath: "No. it's on the edge."
Abby, managing to successfully slide lid under cricket, picked up bowl and headed to front door.
Jonell opened door.
Jonell, screaming and jumping up on chair, "It's on the floor. It's in the corner!!!"
Abby, dripping lid from bowl and assuming cricket was dropped, then realized another critter in the form of a spider had emerged to lodge himself in the corner.
Abby resumed Operation Free Cricket by putting him back on the lid and out the front door.
Abby then undertook Mission: Spider Elimination and was initially unsuccessful in getting spider out of the corner spot. Green lid to the rescue! Green lid's tiny lip did not successfully complete mission.
Abby proceeded to secure tiny twig and convince spider to hop on. He also landed out the door.
Note: Background noise was roommate still on chair with high-pitched vocals.
Jonell, getting down after little foot dance, "I think there's another one over here." Pointing to lions, "Is it dead?"
Abby, "I don't know."
Abby, putting green lid and bowl in dishwasher, "Well, this is getting washed! I'm not eating off this until it's sanitized. Notice you didn't use your bowl."
Abby, returning to pantry to vacuum up dead spider remains in curled heap.
And so, the Spider saga ends....at least for a day. There's alot of those little suckers this year!

Two Thumbs Up...Way Up

I attended Fireproof, the little movie produced by a church with big heart who is also famous from Facing the Giants and Flywheel. Having not seen either of the two previous films, I had no idea what I was in for. It was Goooood! No...GREAT!!!
I had never been to see a film more than once in a theater and I would totally go again.

It was poignant, interesting, dramatic, funny, and serious. The story was well-written and did I mention funny? We were laughing throughout the film! Yes, Christians laughing. I know we broke the stereotype sitting over at Eastside 9.

Some of my favorite parts were....
"You're my brother from another mother."
The bathroom boogie (you'll know what I'm talking about when you see it)
Wrath of God in a bottle
"Is it too late to ask you to grow old with me?" (Followed by a 70+ yo gentleman laughing in the audience while looking at his wife)
2 Third Day songs
A great song about Waiting on God and serving Him in the meantime
"Mr. Randolph." "Caleb"
Smashing of the garbage can
Supergluing the salt and pepper shakers
"Loving a wife is like a rose. You can tend to it and it blooms or leave it alone and it will wilt." "Where'd you learn that from?" "A counselor"
"mmmmhmmmm" (by nurses in hospital)
The hose stretcher

Themes of value included...
Marriage...a covenant not a contract
Love...not a feeling but action
Fighting for a wife despite outside attacks
Forgiveness...displayed multiple times
Saving a life regardless of who it is
Sacrifice
Getting rid of the idols (pornography, $, possessions)

Please go see this film and if you need a seat filler, invite me along. :)

Hard Homework (and I'm not even in grad school anymore)

Amy Baker was the guest speaker in yesterday's FCI class that I am taking and the theme of the night was "It will be hard work." And she did not fail to send us away with a hard homework assignment amidst promises of certain fruitful blessings if diligently completed. The topic was "Controlling your Thinking." So the assignment is to log all your sinful thoughts, specifically pertaining to a list of typical pits we human creatures fall into.
Having arrived home from the coffe house, I began my log after catching myself complaining about the thought of writing all my thoughts down. I then responded to a question from Jonell with, "I would advise you this way, but I do not want one more thing to add to my list so here's what my answer is." Before curling up in bed, I had already accumulated 13 items on my list. Arghhhh! I haven't been so relieved to go to sleep in quite some time.
However, I am extremely grateful that today was filled with work to keep me busy on pleasing thoughts hopefully putting others first more often than not. I've decided though that I can't wait to see what patterns my sinful thoughts fall into. Perhaps I will glean an insight into something I was unaware of to assist me in letting the Lord change my thinking.
While I am quite excited to analyze this rapidly compiling data, I am also quite mortified at the extent of this list. I am seriously debating firing up the grill again and torching it once the two weeks are up so no one will ever see it...regardless of the HOA policies.
Some days heaven could not come soon enough. Good thing God grants us grace in the meantime.
If anyone else decides to do this hard homework too, let's talk! It's be exciting to share how God uses this.

Order in the Court

FYI...Juvenile Court now offers night court! I hope to never ever see any of your partaking in this latest commodity of the court system. Now, I'm sure many families appreciate having a hearing after their work hours (for me, it simply means my work hours on Tuesday just got longer).
So as I say yesterday amidst of fairly positive hearing, let me tell you just why the title to this blog is so aptly named. I'm sitting with my colleague in the jury box, our usual domain. We successfully navigated the pre-hearing tension between separate parents, DCS, and attorneys. The client was sitting quietly which is no small feat given they can say the darndest things which never goes over well with the judge. DCS recommended Homebuilders stay in place as things have gone very well with reunification occuring early. Judge Graham was just settling into her best "I'm proud of you" speech and encouraging the client to ask for help prior to relapse next time.
And then, floating through the air, comes the cheery tune in the form of a whistle. Thinking it was a passerby janitor in the hallway, I attempted to dimiss the high-pitched notes and comment on what the case still needed to be stable. However, the cheery tune continued. The baliff looked toward the hallway between the court chambers and inner office rooms, I glanced around the courtroom, but nothing appeared to be the source of the whistling wonder that continued.
After a few minutes of this intermittent song, Judge Graham stopped, looked puzzled at myself and the baliff and asked, "What is that?"
Well, do you just tell the judge, "Whistling, you honor?" It seemed absurd to respond with the obvious. Thankfully, the baliff did not have these qualms and shrugging his shoulders reported, "Whistling."
I thought surely he will go explore this mysterious whistling and silent the apparently overly cheerly janitor that must be lurking in the next room, but no. He did not move.
Judge Graham looked around still with the puzzled expression and said, "Whistling?"
DCS jumped in and said, "It's a cell phone ring your honor. I only know because I have a coworker that has the same annoying ringtone."
Judge, "Oh" and then she carried on as if there was no tune that the rest of us had to concentrate on tuning out.
Now, mind you, this ringtone coninued and it began to border on the absurd. Absurdedly humorous that is. How in the world do you not laugh at the thought of sitting in a CHINS hearing with whistling in the middle of it? I'll tell you how. You seriously yell inside your head at yourself to STOP THINKING ABOUT IT. Then you focus on clenching your teeth really, really tight to try and eliminate the smile that threatens to give way to laughter. Then you remind yourself that you are the program coordinator and you CANNOT be put in contempt of court of laughing during a legal proceeding especially while training new staff. You will NEVER LIVE IT DOWN.
Thankfully, this court hearing was wrapping up. A lady from the office walked in and smiled as she went around the jury box to one of the back rooms to apparently silence the ringing phone.
I walked over to DCS at the close of the hearing and she reported that her coworker's ring is the exact same and that's the only way she would've known what it was. She also told me she has threatened to smash the phone of said coworker as apparently the whistling ringtone is a pet peeve of hers.
Smiling freely now since decorum was no longer required, I retorted, "Thanks for the heads up on the violence over at your building. I'll be sure to steer clear. Also, I love knowing how I can drive you crazy if you ever send a bad referral my way."
And thus, another episode of Tuesday night court was concluded.

Arizona Here I Come

This year's Arizona trip is going to be sooooo great I can hardly wait! While the rest of America is shoveling turkey and dressing into their mouths before watching football, I'll be flying my way to sunny, warm Arizona for 11 days of work-free bliss. And this year, we're road tripping in AZ!!! WooHoo! We're going north to visit the Painted Desert and Petrified Forest. I hope to blog the trip like last year's so each of you can enjoy the beauty from afar. I've posted some anticipated shots to wet your appetite.

Sizzling Smell in the Air

I admit I am a bit of a thrify person. I could not bring myself to pay extra to have yard waste carted off this year; yet, I had a growing mound of branches and clippings from all summer. I grew up in the country and country folk...well, we burn it. I probably violated numerous Crossing codes today, but I no longer have my mound of burnables. I cleverly decided what good is a grill if you can't grill up more than a little chicken once in awhile? Jonell arrived home to find me flaming between the pine trees. The neighborhood biker gang, and by "biker gang" I mean slew of kids on bikes, went speeding down the alley screaming, "The grill is on fire! The grill is on fire!" I was sure somebody was about to come over and put my brilliant plan on hold, but I was able to finish. I should share that I did discover you can accidently burn away patches of your lawn in the process so be careful if you try my silliness yourself. I also saw the neighbor's house appears to have been finished and they've got it listed again. Any takers? You could enjoy a pyromaniac for a neighbor?

Anybody for a FL roadtrip?

It's in the works...roadtrip to Pensacola area of Florida from Jan 1st to somewhere around the 6th. Tentatively staying with Amy so main expense is gas. I hope to do some beach hiking in surrounding areas.
Fellow roadtrippers welcome. Let's chat soon and make some plans =)

Character Contemplations

Have I mentioned how much I love the FCI options? It's quite the dilemma to choose. It's like picking between chocolate and ice cream...both deliciously yummy. Well, I decided on the ultimate girly option (hoping to counter workplace pressures to become "more" that female). Now, mind you, week one was a fascinating time of observation. Following brief introduction, several women noted this was their second, third, or perhaps more repetitive times for taking the class.
Puzzlement was surely plastered on my face at this fact. Why are all these women taking the same class again and again? I brushed it off thinking they must not have done the homework (and there is some serious homework to be done) and clearly were deliquent in their duties to absorb it all the first time around.
Now it's been three weeks...I will atest that I may very well end up in the take it once, twice, and three times group...easily. Ummmm...I may have discovered an area that I never knew I was ignorant to...or at least the extent of ignorance compounded by complete ineptitude in the area of womanly qualities.
But, do not fear eager reader...God is forevermore the unchangeable, fortitude that can mold us clay blobs into something, well, anything other than presumptive clay blobs. So... take heart!
I just thought...other clay blobs like myself may be interested in considering some concepts put forth...Therefore consider this a teaser/promotional for Women of Character. (Did I mention it is fabulously convicting and encouraging all in one?)

"If my goal is God's glory, I will glory in His design."

"Submission is the fruit of character."

"My security is in Christ, not me; therefore, I don't have to be afraid to face sin."

"My job is to help you handle the sin in your life, not pretend it's not there."

"Do I only love people who do lovely things?"

"When we live with a focus on self, we are settling for less...way less."

"Humility is not thinking highly or badly about self. It is simply thinking less of self."

"My needs are met by God...so how can I help you?"

Fall is coming...

I've been enjoying the cooler weather (not the new allergens floating in the air but there must be a rub to the cooler bliss) driving around town. It's somewhat bittersweet to imagine the end of summer, but fall compensates for the loss of warmer, longer days. The corn is at it's peak in height. The mist has been enveloping the fields in early morning. Ahhh....lovely. And then today, I saw it! The true sign that fall is just around the corner. Wiggly. Wooley. Yes...indeed. A wooley worm writhing it's way as quickly as possible across the hot asphalt. They remind me of the Atari version of salmon run (did anybody else play that as a kid?) just trying against all odds to reach the otherside of the road while dodging scurrying vehicles. They say the color and multitude of wooley worms predicts the type of winter we will have. To me, it's the sure sign that leaves will soon fall, bonfires will abound, and winterizing should be considered.
So, race on little wooley ones! We welcome you...
p.s. I'll try my best to dodge you on the roadways!