Here I am again...

I was recently reprimanded about not updating my blog often enough. Totally true! I apologize for the fifth or sixth time.

Over the last couple of weeks I have thought of many things to blog about, but I can hardly remember any of them now, so I'll just stick to my original idea, a list of things I love about my church.

• Okay, one of my most favorite things about my church is that they don't hesitate to fill up the baptistry and dunk people. At a lot of other churches I've been to, you had to add your name to a list. I understand that water costs money, but come on, Church!  If people want to be baptized they want to do it now!  Why tell them that they have to wait a month, or until they have enough people to make it worth while.  Why run them through like a herd of cattle?  These are people. Isn't one person enough?  I say it is.  Apparently my church agrees, because when people ask to be baptized, they are dunked the next Sunday.  Love that!

• Another thing that I love about my church is that if you're willing to serve, they will find an opportunity for you.  I've been in situations where churches almost looked at an eagerness to serve as an attempt to run everything.  How wrong!  If God burdens a person's heart to serve, who are we to tell them they can't?

• Kids, kids, kids!  I know I've said this before, but I love the fact that there are kids running out our ears.  We are a young and growing church, and I love the fact that there are so many children around all the time.  These aren't only children who attend with their parents, these are children who are coming from foster care and stuff.  There are 2 reasons that this excites me.  First, I think it's absolutely fantastic that they are coming.  I'm glad they feel comfortable, and I'm glad that we have an opportunity to minister to them.  Second, I think that it adds a whole different dimension to the way we treat church.  Children can add so much to things without even knowing it.  That's one of the things that I love about teaching Cubbies.  Some of the things they say really make you go, "Huh...".  It's really incredible.

That's all I have time for, but hopefully I will be able to update this soon. I'm going to be off all next week, so I should have some time. I'm going to Europe! But that's for another post on a different day.

Anna

Just Stuff

I don't have that much to write about, but it's been a while since I posted.

I recently started a new job.  I'm working at Dillard's in the home department, and it is a lot of fun.  Training was not fun, but the actual job is.  In training I watched 14 videos. It was probably one the most boring 2 days of my life.  The thing about videos is that I do better with hands on, not just visual training.

I had a hard time on the floor at first, but after a couple of days I started to get the hang of it.  Now all I have to do is learn my department, which could take a while.  My goodness!  There is so much stuff in it!  We have everything from crystal to luggage.  We have bath linens, bathroom accessories, baking and cooking pans and utensils, bed linens, kitchen appliances, table linens, dishes and... (drum roll please,) a SINGING EGG!  I know you all need one.

This beautiful piece of... um, junk is a wonderful gift for that mother-in-law who has everything (guarantee you she doesn't have one of these!) or simply as a dust catcher on your own coffee table! It is a cute(?) little gold and silver egg that you can wind up to hear one of your favorite songs, complete with a little heart thingy to put a picture of a loved one in.  Just wind it up and look at little Suzie while listening to 'You Are My Sunshine'.  Come and get yours today all for the tiny price of...  Well, actually I don't know how much it is, but it's probably an audacious sum of money for such an ugly little knick knack.  The really cheesy thing is that it doesn't even open up by itself.  You have to do it yourself.

Okay, so now that I have told you about the singing egg, the most embarrassing thing in my whole department, I will move on to better subjects.

I'm really super excited because I called an acquaintance this week about getting involved in a college study group.  I'm pretty stoked.  It's been so long since I've actually been involved in a Bible study.  I have missed it so much.  I miss being able to watch people growing beside me.

The last thing that I have to say is that I was totally grossed out by the Rolling Stones Superbowl halftime show!  Who wants to watch an old guy wearing girls clothes jumping around and shaking his butt?  And you gotta love those happy arms.  Sorry, Mick.  Sick.

Anna

The Prayer

The other day while I was at work this table of 6 came in, and the other servers most graciously decided to give it to me.  (Thanks, guys.)  Well, it was supposed to be 6, but it ended up being a lot more than that.

It all started out with like, 2 old ladies.  I cannot tell you how much I dislike waiting on tables of old ladies.  They are very picky, and downright impossible sometimes.

They don't actually look at the menu, they just order whatever the heck they want.   "Yes honey, I want 2 pancakes, 1 egg scrambled hard, (and honey, I mean hard,) and 1 piece of bacon.  Oh, and make that bacon extra crispy."  Okay, well, we don't really have anything with one egg and one piece of bacon.  I'll have to put everything under sides, okay?  "Okay, honey. That's fine."  They all get almost the same thing, and then when you take it to their table they can't remember what they ordered.

Here I come with the hot plates...  Okay.  Who ordered Harvest Grain and Nut pancakes? "Well, I had some pancakes, sweetie."  Were they Harvest Grain and Nut? "Well, I guess. I don't remember. Just set them here."  I set them down and she tears into them.  Now some lady across the table who was so busy gossiping that she didn't even know I was at the table looks over and says, "Harvest Grain and Nut! Those are mine!"  Um, well, your friend here who doesn't know what she ordered has already poured boysenberry syrup all over your pancakes.  "Well, go get me some.  I don't care if I have to wait 20 minutes.  I want my Harvest Grain and Nut pancakes!"  Turns out that this lady does care if she had to wait 20 minutes, and the one who ordered her bacon extra crispy is suing IHOP for the cost of her ruined dentures.  Well, that may be a slight exaggeration, but it really is difficult!

Anyhow, it started with 2 old ladies and ended up being about 9.  Woohoo!  They weren't that bad, as far as The Clovis Widows Club type tables are concerned.

I had sort of picked up that these were a bunch of church ladies, and they were having a fabulous time sharing prayer concerns and all the details on their most recent surgeries.  Their most recent surgeries, and also the surgeries of their husbands, friends, family members, their roommates in the hospitals, and their pet poodles.


Their food comes out, and I get it all ready to go.  This time I was prepared.  I had everything written down and pulled it exactly how it would be set on the table, that way we wouldn't have any Harvest Grain and Nut or egg mix ups.

I had put about half of the food down and about 5 plates in my hands when one of the ladies has a very bright idea.  "Well now, why don't we say a blessing?"  Whoosh!  They all join hands and bow their heads.  Okay... Here I am holding plates.  I thought, surely they'll remember I'm standing here.  They'll make it short.  My, my.  I was so wrong.

"Dear Heavenly Father, I thank you for this wonderful opportunity for all of my friends to come out to breakfast on this beautiful morning.  I thank you for the cold weather, and I also thank you for the beautiful sunshine."  Cool. Maybe she's almost done.   "And Heavenly Father, I thank you for Ruby.  We are so glad to have her with us today, and Lord, I also thank you for Alma.  I'm so blessed to have her in my circle.  You know what a wonderful friend she is, Father."  She proceeded to thank God for every person at the table.  "And dear Lord, I thank you for Leona. You know that she can't get out much anymore, but I just thank you that she could be with us today.  You know what a blessing it is.  And Father, I thank you for her daughter, Linda.  Thank you so much for her servant heart and for her kindness to her mother, Father..."  Then she started going over all of the prayers that the ladies named while they were ordering.

Finally, she started to wind down a little.  I thought, Whew!  Finally she's going to end it!  I almost died laughing when she continued, "And Heavenly Father, my heart is heavy because we didn't reach our Lottie Moon Christmas offering this year.  I just pray Father, that you would instill a desire, a generousity in everyones hearts that they will give, and that Jesus, we would be able to reach our goal."  On and on!  It was the funniest thing!

Anyway, I did eventually survive the table.  They were really a sweet bunch of old ladies.

May you always reach your Lottie Moon Christmas Offering goal, and may your Annie Armstrong Easter Offering be successful, also.
Anna