List 2

Dave Ramsey's status yesterday was "Tell us your favorite Dave Ramsey quote! You can leave it in the comments below." So, I read through the comments, trying to decide which was my favorite. But I couldn't, surprise surprise.

Don't try to keep up with the Jones'. Because the Jones' are broke.
We buy things we don't need with money we don't have to impress people we don't even like... The difference between a dream and a goal is a PLAN. Act your wage Live Like No Else, So Later You Can Live Like No One Else! If broke people are making fun of your financial plan, you’re on track. You think you deserve it because you breathe air.

One of my dreams for somewhere down the line, when we're back from the field or perhaps not, is to be a financial counselor. Maybe Someday. :)

List 1

Some peopel have Thankful Thursdays, Five Something Fridays, and other things they post about weekly on their blogs. Well, I like lists. So, every week I'm going to give you a list of something. Whether it be my long to do list, a movie list, or a peek at my grocery list. It might be cool to see what different lists I have five years from now. Whoa - did I just commit to this for five years? Probably not. But...well, let's just get on with the lists.

Movies viewed in the past week.

Dinner with Schmucks
The Switch
The Back Up Plan
Australia
Lord of the Rings Triology

Apparently, I've enjoyed movies as of late. Do not despair, I'm a multi-tasker and was accomplishing other goals simultaneously.

Oh - about the lists - I'm not 'together enough' to remember to do this the same day every week, so I'm not even going to try. :)

Bottled Up

I hate the feeling of being bottled up. Of having to suppress emotions because people won't understand, I won't communicate myself clearly, and everything gets all blown out of proportion. I want to be able to express frustrations and other people to react honestly, without defensiveness. There are times, now for example, when I'm not able to say whats on my mind because its not my place or in dread of retaliation. Can people not take constructive criticism? Can people not just play by the rules in the first place? Can't we all just get along.

I desire unity. Realness. Honesty. Vulnerability. Community. Living life together. Not living life in the general vicinity of one another and calling that community. But actually together. As a team, as a unit. Being real in that. The ability to communicate openly with one another, understand that each person is different, unique, with value to offer. Not always thinking in terms of right and wrong, but with open ideas and examination. I dream of a world where I can give someone advice and their only thought is that I do it to help them in some way, not because I think I'm right and they're wrong. This world is so accusatory, defensive, independent. Can we not live in fellowship with one another? People are different. Different gifts, qualities, talents, opinions.

Construction

There's a mortar machine running right outside our office. Seriously, its about eight feet from my desk chair. And I'm highly considering one of three options: hitting it with a sledgehammer, shooting it with a shotgun, or severly injuring myself to the point where I cannot be at work. Youtube cannot drown this out. My iPod is also insufficient. Podcasts aren't even making a dent. Josh is seeming to have better luck.

Grind, grind, grind. Screech. Oh, now something is backing up with that great beeping signal. Beep. Beep. Beep. On top of that, let's see how many times we can turn this construction vehicle thing on and off in a 20 minute window. Grind, grind, grind. Somethings wrong, squeak, squeak, squeak, grind some more. Clang, bang, clang, clomp. Let's drop some steel crap on more steel crap and make as much noise as possible. You know what make this day more productive? Hammering. Lots of 'pingy' hammering. It also seems that an electric saw has been found. Really, is it necessary to use all these tools in one day? Oo - it stopped. Oh nevermind, we're playing that game again: on, off, on, off. Because that way one sound doesn't fade into the background. There it is again, louder this time! I REALLY might loose my mind. Whmrrrrrrrrrrr.

My patience and motivation to accomplish work are suffering. Now its squeaking. Seriously?! Let me just bang my head against the wall some more. I may scream. Loudly.

Thank goodness I have a doctor's appointment tomorrow and will only be subjected to this noise for four hours.

Running

Maybe someday I'll be a runner.

I'm on day 12 of half marathon training, and its going pretty well. So far, I'm on track to run my race in January. The first two day were brutal, every muscle in my body hurt and walking up the stairs was a fight. Those first two days, my mind kept wondering if I'd actually make it to the race. Honestly, I'm a little surprised I've made it to day 12. I haven't missed any of my run days, and I think I can contribute this to following my training schedule and resting on the Rest days. (In previous attempts at being a runner, I would run every day for five days straight.) In the next couple of weeks I'm hoping to pick up a yoga DVD and do that on my Rest days. But that will have to wait until September. Patience.

I'm just excited to be running. Hopefully I'll begin to see some visible benefits.

Thursday Afternoon Thoughts

Being effortlessly cute would be nice. Cute style and outfits and accessories. I'm just not this person, not very fashionably inclined. But it would be so nice if I was. (All the girls at team training are so stinking cute, its almost nauseating. In a good way.)

Maybe tonight I'll finally set up my new MacBook. Its burning a whole in the guest bedroom, I fear it feels neglected.

I found a promo code for 101 free prints from Shutterfly today. Score! Wedding prints, I think so!

I've been incredibly unmotivated today.

Dinner tonight with my MIL and Josh - yay! Except that Eat, Pray, Love isn't playing at the AMC. Dinner and a movie is now just dinner. Bummer. (But, yay for food.)

Ice Cream is on sale at Target. This does not go with Half Marathon training. I wonder if I have time to buy a few bags of chips at HyVee?

This time of year I get an itch to buy new organizational 'stuff.' File folders, labels, dividers, tabs... School shopping was my favorite.

Fifteen minutes of Lord of the Rings over my break was just not enough.

Just Calm Down

I need to calm down. Seriously, I'm not a very calm person. I'm a little dramatic, somewhat exciteable. I have strong emotions and opinions and I'm a little high strung. So...in the words of Jordan, I need to calm down. I wish I could tape record her voice saying that, because its great. Just calm down. (Really, you have to hear it.)

Perhaps this high strung nature of mine contributes to stressful situations and a lack of relaxation. Realated? I think so. Poor Josh, at dinner he just listened to be talk on and on about the newest thing that had first annoyed me and than got me all worked up. I think I used 20,000 words during dinner alone. I'm surprised I had time to eat anything.

Aghhhhh. Calm. Just be calm Meghan. Breathe.

I'm off to light some candles, find a good movie to play in the background, and read my book.

i just love

Last week I was thinking about relaxation - and realizing I needed some. I needed something that I could DO that was relaxing for me. A big part of me wanted to get all my scrapbooking stuff out and dig into that. Creating and documenting our life is so important to me, yet I accomplish so little of that. Despite wanting to get out all my papers and photos, I couldn't bring myself to take over our living room. At least not until I get some other areas of our home under control. Right now the living room is the most 'together' place. (Actually, right now our guest bedroom is probably neater, even since we had our guest a couple weeks ago. But who wants to go in there.)

I picked up the single volume edition of Lord of the Rings from Barnes & Noble on Sunday. I own several copies of the trilogy already, but haven't seen them since before college. So who knows where those books are. Its been nice to read, to distract myself for a bit. I just love reading. Now I'm very much in the mood to spend an entire day watching all three movies - extended editions of course.

I'm also wanting to read Eat, Pray, Love since it seems to be the book right now. However, I'm seeing the movie with my MIL on Thursday, and it'll just have to wait until I finish LOTR. You can never read that book too many times. Perhaps Eat, Pray, Love will be a good read over my vacation? Hmmm, I wonder if I"ll finish Lord of the Rings by then?

And there it is, relaxation and I are friends again. At least this week. (Pretty soon the novel will become intense, and I'll likely start stressing over that!)

Intensity

If you know me, you've probably heard me say "Dave Ramsey says..." at least once. I'm a big fan. We live by a budget, we use cash for many items, and live below our means as best we can. I do the best I can to stay on top of our budget and make sure we have control over our needs and wants. We don't always get to do whatever we want in the moment, but we also never fight about money. How blessed am I, to never fight with my husband about money? So very thankful.

Lately I've been trying to come up with ways to increase our income/decrease our spending. We're raising support right now, and Josh's job is support based. (This means that he's on a decreasing pay scale, every quarter more of his salary comes out of our monthly support and less directly from Avant. Does that makes sense?) Looking ahead, I know that our income will be less, thus I'm trying to find ways to counter act that event. I started couponing last week, and so far am really loving it. We were able to save a lot out of our grocery budget this month, and I'm using the savings to stock up on some things we consume a lot of (i.e. soda, chips, salsa).

Josh and I are also on the lookout for alternate housing. Our lease is up in November, and though we absolutely love our home, we're hopeful a move could save us some dough. Plus, if we moved, it would motivate me to sell some things and start saving for the move to Italy. Right now I'm finding myself emotionally attached to every piece of furniture we own just because I can be attached for a little while. There will come a time, in the not too distant future, when I will find all my possessions packed in plastic tubs that fit on an airport cart. But if we were moving, that might give me a little incentive, and grant some realness to the impending date of the plastic tubs.

This is just whats on my mind today...how intense I've been lately about finding ways to save money. The coupons have helped a lot and been a little fun.

If you're so inclined, please lift Josh and I in your prayers. Support raising is hard. Trusting God is so easy one day and the next can be so very hard. Its emotional. We know that God will supply all our needs, and he'll bring us ministry partners. But pray for our spirits, that we may be encouraged.

Hmmm....

I had a great idea for a blog post last night...and now its gone. Hmmmm, I have all sorts of great ideas, that just somehow get lost. Well, maybe someday my great blog post idea will be seen here.

For now, just a few words that have been plaguing my mind this week:

Inadequate
Nervous
Busy
Pressure
Unsure
Life
Faith
Blessed
Misunderstood
Trust

Its been a rough week.

Relaxation, Can't We Be Friends

My husband tells me he doesn't think I know how to relax. Hmmm. So many implications to that statement. Its true, I do enjoy being busy, and there are times when I find it hard to sit still because there are so many things that need to be done. It comes down to me committing to taking a break from all the obligations, and RELAX. Now all I have to do is figure out what relaxes me. Hmmm. I can think of a few things, but I'm taking suggestions!

Its so important to relax. This I know. And our life is kind of crazy/stressful/full of unknowns right now. We're raising support for Italy, we're living on our Recruitment support, we're both starting classes again in a couple of weeks, we're attempting to sell a piece of real estate, we're active in ministry, and all around we're trying to prepare for ministry and life in Italy ..... So, admist all of this, I must relax.

Btw, if anyone would like to buy me a massage, I'll gladly accept. ;)

People Change Our Lives

I've been thinking a lot lately of all the people in my life who make a difference. There are so many who've touched my life in such a way that I was never the same. Rob & Linda Wanless are one example, I wouldn't be a missionary if it wasn't for them. Then there are people who, with one simple action, remind me of the path God has me on. Brett prayed over our deputation last night. Nikki is in deputation too, and she's a gift from God because we're at the same life stage and going through so many of the same things. Renee is someone that I can encourage, because six months ago I was right where she is now. Jordan and Virginia are two amazing women who caught the vision of what we're doing. All the people in our small group who listen to our rants about deputation week after week, who pray for us and encourage us.

Whether big or small, each one of these people and countless others, have blessed my life in this week alone. Relationships are so important. They're vital to our very existence. To the work we do to change the world. I'm so thankful, because all of these people have been directly placed in my life by God, and I in theirs. We're to love each other, minister to each other, pray, encourage, and build up one another. People change our lives. And we have the ability to change theirs.

Operation Christmas Child

If you are considering participating in Operation Christmas Child this fall, check out the testimony of a former shoe box recipient here.

Why does an area such as Rome need missionaries?

Actually the need for missionaries in Rome has nothing to do with the church of Rome, which sadly less than 2% even attend, they are considered an unchurched, no faith, post Christian area, where Pagan Priest outnumber Roman Catholic Priest by a margin of 3 to1.. they are in need of missionaries to reach the lost with the Gospel of Christ... that has nothing to do with what religion you ascribe to, because sadly this part of the world doesn't profess to have any faith in God... (Renee Johnson, Team Italy)