velvet elvis

I have been slowly reading Velvet Elvis, by Rob Bell, and it is truly an excellent book. I am amazed at how much this guy knows about what is really going on in the Bible. I would definitely recommend this to everyone.

This really impacted me tonight:

"This is why it is impossible for a Christian to have a secular job. If you follow Jesus and do what you are doing in his name, then it is no longer secular work; it's sacred. You are there; God is there. The difference is our awareness."

I work at Starbucks. I make coffees, serve pastries, and take cash from customers. It's not quite as fulfilling as taking a bunch of college kids to Brazil to hang out with orphaned kids, or seeing God transform a church in Japan just because of your team's presence. But this quote really hit it home. What I am doing is sacred and I have to begin seeing it that way. It's so hard to be doing the 9-5 thing (or in most cases, for me, the 4:30-8:30 thing, and yes, that's 4:30 in the morning). YWAM has pretty much been my entire life. And it's an environment that just breathes, lives and talks God. God is always talked about, sung about, prayed to, mentioned. Here, in Colorado, I'm at home, work or college, and there's not much talking about God in either of those places. I'm having to do my own talking, singing, praying without anybody else helping, and it's really hard. I'm learning how to do it, though it's taking a long time. It helps to think that everything I do is sacred, even the mundanity of making lattes, and cleaning the condiment bar! God is there, I just need to get it in my head that He is there.

arrested development

For all those who love TV, and haven't yet watched Arrested Development, you have to watch it. This show is by far the funniest thing that's ever been made (it's up there with Friends for sure!) Anyway, Netflix it, buy it, Blockbuster it, download it, however your boat floats, get this show and watch it. Sadly they only made three seasons and cut the last season in half. Get it, watch it, enjoy it! We just passed on Season 1 to some friends of ours on Tuesday night and they have already blown through the season in two days. I love passing on the Arrested Development love!

i love craig's list

We had some wonderful friends come visit this last weekend, friends from Taylor University, where John did his degree. They told us how much of their snowboarding gear they had gotten from craigslist. Yesterday, I decided to browse their "Sporting gear for sale" and found a posting about a pair of Vans Snowboard boots that were to small for the owner. She wanted to sell them for $20 or even do a boot exchange with someone who had bigger boots. Much as I love my boots, they have always been a bit too big, and I have to pull the laces really tight in order to lace up, which, if you've ever worn snowboard boots, is really hard to do. Especially with my old boots, the laces were like sandpaper, cutting up my fingers whenever I tied up my boots (or John's fingers, as more recently, he ties my boots up for me - I love him so much!) However, I digress...

I emailed this girl, who promptly replied, saying she would love to try my boots and would I like to give her a call tonight to arrange a potential switch. I knew from the pix that the boots were sweet, I just had to see whether they would fit. If mine didn't fit her, I could still buy hers for $20. She came over, the boots fit gorgeously both myself and her, and we made the exchange.

These boots are almost completely brand-new and have the amazing click lacing system, which means no more pulling on laces (John is jealous, even though he has sweet boots!). Laces are the bane of snowboarders! She gladly took my boots, even if they were almost 10 years old (still in great condition), as she would rather get "free" ones right now.

So, I now officially love Craig's List... Check out these gorgeous boots.

scooter

Yes, some of you may have heard, that John and I finally bought a Scooter after talking about it for ages and ages! It's basically brand new (only 450 miles on it), in excellent condition and really really nice! We bought it from a guy through Craig's List for an amazing price, and now all I have to do is wait for the weather to freaking warm up so I can ride it without freezing my butt off!

Here's a pic of what it looks like, colour and everything: (isn't it the perfect colour for me?)



On another note, I also last minute decided to apply to the local community college to try and get an Associates of Arts Degree. It would basically count as the first two years of American university, and then if I wanted to, I could choose a major and complete my degree at another university, say CSU (depending on how long we're here for...) I'm only taking 2 classes this semester, because financially it's still a lot, and I didn't have everything I needed to be able to pay resident fees (hopefully that will change this summer). And I'm going to try to get as many classes done through lots of CLEPing... (if that's a word). Anyway, it's all very exciting, and I started my first class today, which was Survey of British Literature, and we're starting with Pride & Prejudice, which I'm thoroughly enjoying, as it's the first time I've actually read it! My other class is Western Civilisation History, and it's tomorrow! Very exciting!

Well I think that's it from me for now...

long time no blog

Yes I know it's been positively ages since I last blogged - so much has been going on... Here's the lowdown:

11th Dec - I got approved for a Green Card (we returned from Christmas holiday to find it in th email). That was a nice load off our backs and amazingly the process only took 6 months!

16th Dec - John & I celebrated our one year anniversary, and we can't quite believe it's already been a year. Where has it gone? We celebrated first by a wonderful weekend in the mountains snowboarding, and on the day itself going to a lovely Italian restaurant.

21st Dec-1st Jan - we spent Christmas and New Year over with family in Chicago and Indiana. We had so much fun and are now quite sad because we miss everyone so much and our apartment is so quiet. We miss the little patter of our nieces' and nephews' feet!





3rd-6th Jan - I spent four days in L.A. hanging out with my dear friend Jeanette Peterson (we've known each other for 25 years - since 1985). John joined over the weekend for the wedding. She got married to a wonderful South African on Saturday 5th Jan. It was really special for John and I to be there.



7th January - John officially quit his job. After much prayer and listening to God, we both felt that John should quit his job. He doesn't have another one lined up, but we feel at peace and are trusting God for his provision for another and better job for him here in Fort Collins (please join us in prayer...)

Now we have the next few months of an interesting financial situation to look forward to, and fortunately no trips we have to make - we are tired after the last few weeks of travel. I am going to continue with Starbucks for this month and see if my hours increase (so far it looks things are better) and I'm continuing to look for another part-time job with flexible hours. I also am contemplating going to the local college, rather than my correspondence course with UNISA. It would be nice to have interaction with students and professors!

Well I think that's everything - this is obviously more of an update blog!