Home again, home again, jiggidy jig

Tomorrow Ben and I are headed home to St. Louis... yaaaaaaaaay! I am ecstatic about this, as I have not seen my family in many months. The last time I was in St. Louis was in September with Heather, and neither my parents nor Ben's were in town!

Here are a few things I am looking forward to doing...

• Hanging out with Cara & talking about wedding stuff! Maybe while cross-stitching and watching X-Files, who knows?
• Ben gets to see Cody and Rob and they can have guitar talk and possible guitar shopping (this is their favorite thing to do together... seriously, they went guitar shopping the morning of our wedding).
• Seeing my grandpa
• Loving on my sister, who after the holidays is heading to Italy for a semester. Jealous!
• Houses full of doggies... Scruffy is coming home with us to stay at Ben's parents' house in the basement, to sniff noses through the gate at Monk and Zoe. And at my parents' house, along with Elmo and Ernie is my sister's dog Buckwheat. Crazy but delightful!
• Christmas Eve church service
• Christmas morning with my family around the tree
• Christmas day with Ben's family and nephew Logan
• Maybe possibly please oh please seeing some snow... it snowed there last weekend so maybe some has stuck around!
• French fries from Kriegers. Oh sweet sweetness.
• Re-watching LOST season 3.
• Playing Wii with my parents.
• Shopping at mom's scrapbooking store... I've been waiting!
• Eating whatever sort of delectable meat my dad has smoked.
• Giving presents... I love this part! I mean, don't get me wrong - I'm no saint, I love getting presents too. But I really love to pick out specific things for people and watching them open everything!
• Playing a real (albeit slightly out of tune) piano

I can't wait! Just one more day and we'll be on our way through "scenic" Southern Illinois, headed home to our families and friends and celebrating Christmas!

I hope wherever you are and whoever you're with that you are as excited for your Christmas plans as I am!

A Little Shaken Up

I usually like to keep this blog more upbeat, but every once in a while something happens that I just need to talk about... Today while I was driving to work I almost hit a man with my car, and it scared me horribly.

I was driving on a major road, and coming up to a large intersection (Nolensville and Old Hickory, for you Nashvillians). I moved to get into the right turn lane, which was wide open. The other two lanes in my direction were backed up waiting at the red light. I was zipping past them, totally within my boundaries, when from between two of the stopped cars darts a guy hustling across the street. He appeared and was almost instantly in my lane. I slammed on my brakes and screamed as my car screeched to a halt. This man literally had to jump out of my way and was so close my car must have brushed him; one step further and I would without a doubt have hit him, injured him, maybe even killed him.

I was shaking and crying so I pulled over after a few minutes to try and collect myself. I do NOT understand why someone would try to cross 6 lanes of traffic just a few yards from a busy intersection and not use the crosswalk! And he didn't even pause, didn't even look to see if there were cars coming down my lane. Even though if I had hit him I wouldn't have been at fault, realizing that I was so close to potentially seriously injuring or ending someone's life was terrifying. My mind was racing with the thought of what could have happened. What if I had glanced down to dig something out of my purse or change my CD? What is he had been jogging just a little faster? What if I had left my house 30 seconds earlier? What if what if what if...

But how good is our God, to place his hands in our lives, in the daily workings of our existence? To exist beyond and above our linear notions of time and our ideas about chance and fortitude. God is not playing a game of "what if." I believe that despite the seemingly incongruous ideas of His omniscience and our free will, God's plans are without flaw. I almost hit a man with my car today. Maybe I almost hit him so that the car behind me wouldn't actually hit him. Maybe I almost hit him so I'd be shaken up and more careful and deliberate about my driving habits. But I know there is a reason I didn't hit him, and at the same time a reason that I almost did. Thank you God, that today I didn't hit that man. I pray wherever he is that he is okay and that you have impressed upon his heart that it was more than just a chance occurance, just as you have revealed that to me.

On the Black Tights Bandwagon

Okay, I do not frequently jump on any particular fashion trend band-wagon. But when the black tights+black heels bus came by I was like, "Here's my bus pass, let me on." I don't know why I was attracted to this particular trend, except that maybe it is something I can actually wear... (unlike, say, the skinny jean or ankle boot. Shudder.)

Anyway, I became bound and determined to find the perfect pair of black, high-heel, patent leather, not-too-pointy, closed-toe shoes to complete my look. I finally found them at Payless... yay! And I wore the complete ensemble today and let me just say I LOVED it! It is not too often that I really love or even really care about "an outfit." But today was one of those days! I wore this dress from Target...

And black tights, and a shoe very similar to this:

And it was delightful! Of course I peeled it off immediately when I got home, because tights are one of the more uncomfortable things in the world, but still. It was great while it lasted!

I can die now.

Me. Garth Brooks. In the same room.

Where: Schermerhorn Symphony Hall, Nashville, TN
When: November 26, 2007, apx. 10:00 pm
What: Musicians Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony

And now I can die.

Okay, just kidding about the dying part, but NOT just kidding about what a momentous occasion it was for me. I have loved Garth Brooks and his music since I was a little girl growing up in Oklahoma. I literally used to cry when he would come to town and my parents wouldn't take me to see his concert because we couldn't afford it, and because it probably wasn't the ideal atmosphere for a 7 year old.

Much to my chagrin, by the time I was old enough to take myself to a Garth show, he wasn't exactly touring any more. At all. Ever. At some point he retired, really retired, from the biz and settled down with Miss Trisha Yearwood and lived on his farm in Yukon, OK and left fans like me with less than a glimmer of hope that we might ever see him again.

Just this past month Garth played eight sold-out nights of shows in Kansas City, the first time he'd been on stage in that sense in many years... and I missed that too. By the time I found out about it, tickets were being scalped on eBay for hundreds of dollars.

So today, when my friend Carolyn shot me an email and said she had some tickets to this random thing tonight and Garth was supposedly one of the presenters/performers and did I want to go, the answer was a resounding "Ef yes!"

The whole night ended up being an amazing experience of music and I want to write more on that later, but for now I'll just say that Garth was there, and he performed Elvis Presley's hit "Suspicious Minds" and it was fantabulous and I'll never forget it... how Carolyn and I clutched each others hands as we saw his trademark cowboy hat appear stage left, how he respectfully doffed said hat as the musicians he was honoring took the stage, how he grabbed Creed (yes, that Creed, from "The Office") and they sang gleefully into the mic together... seriously, it was so great!

Anyway, I want to write more later about the other wonderful musicians we saw (George freakin' Jones was also in the house, plus the bands that backed Elvis, Johnny Cash, Patsy Cline, and many more), but for now I'd just like to end with those thoughts on my first - but hopefully not last - encounter with my very favorite entertainer.

Thankful

Thanksgiving is great, no? Time off work, family, food, changing of seasons. This year I have been thinking a lot about how people say they are "thankful" for something... but thankful to whom? I know that in all things, for every blessing I have, for every small and seemingly insignificant breath I take, I am thankful to God. Not a god or some higher power, but THE God, Yahweh, I AM, who crafted the foundations of the earth and sent Christ to save me and love me, to accomplish the dual purpose of glorifying His mercy and justice.


I think most people could list the things they are thankful for, but how many of the same could articulate to whom their thanks is given? Gratitude is by nature directed at someone or something. We can certainly show gratitude to other people - I'm thankful to my parents for how they raised and loved me; I'm thankful to my husband for his caring and thoughtfulness. But what of the things I am thankful FOR? I am thankful FOR my husband... who am I thanking? His parents, for having him? Sure, I guess. But more than that, I am thankful that he is in my life, for the man he is and the man he is still becoming, for the father he will be and the home we'll have together. To whom can I send those thanks? I know who I am here to thank. I know to whom I answer for all the blessings poured out in abundance. I know that the cause of those things I am thankful for is not some cosmic force of karma or a result of my own good deeds.

Our gratitude is without much meaning unless we find that to which it deserves to be directed. I hope you know to whom you are giving thanks.

Shout for joy to the Lord, all the earth.
Worship the Lord with gladness;
Come before him with joyful songs
Know that the Lord is God.
It is he who made us, and we are his;
we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise;
give thanks to him and praise his name.
For the Lord is good and his love endures forever;
his faithfulness continues through all generations.

Psalm 100

Where's my face? Oh, that's right, it got rocked off.

Yep, Family Force 5 officially rocked my face off tonight! Ben and I caught their show at Rocketown, and it was just plain fun.

They are a great band I first discovered at GMA Music Week last year, playing one of the label lunches. I had heard of them but didn't think I would like their music, and I guess I was wrong! They are quite unlike anything else I listen to, but it is so stinkin' fun! Good clean music with silly lyrics about drama queens and dancing your booty off and being from the dirty (sorry, "durrrty") south. Excellent for driving fast and inner-car dancing.

If you haven't heard them, check it out at www.myspace.com/familyforce5. They're a little punk, a little rock, a little dance, a little rap, and a lot crazy. The show was so high energy... I was wearing earplugs so I couldn't really tell how loudly I was singing/screaming. I guess I must've been loud because I am a bit hoarse now. But well worth it... plus I think all the dancing and jumping I did counts as an aerobic workout.

RIGHT-of-way

Okay, this one has been a long time coming, and this morning as I sat at a stoplight and experienced this yet again, I decided I couldn't wait any more. So, I present to you this, the third in my series of blogs about driving. This one is about that mysterious circumstance, that elusive phrase... RIGHT-OF-WAY.

If you are one of the typical drivers I encounter on any given day, you have no idea what this phrase means. Or maybe you always thought people were saying "right away" or "write a way" or something else nonsensical. But no, the phrase is "Right-of-way" and it means pretty much what it sounds like - "right" gets the "way." Now this is not a slam on all my left-handed friends and family out there (what up Dad, Heather, Tim), but just a way of the world. Well, most of the world. Maybe in England they say "left-of-way?"

Understanding right-of-way comes in handy in many situations, but let's just reveal how it will help in two different scenarios, shall we?

SCENARIO ONE: Two Cars Arrive at a 4-way Stop-Sign at the Same Time

You pull up to a stop sign at the same time as another car... who goes first? Is it whoever can get their foot on the gas quickest? Or is it the person whose car cost more? Will this quickly disintegrate into a series of waves and points and confused halting? What if you both just sit there forever?

Have no fear! Right-of-way handily explains how to proceed. The person to the RIGHT gets the WAY! They go first, followed by the next person clockwise from there and so on and so forth. Unless all four cars arrived at the identical same time, or unless it is two cars facing, both of in which case someone just starts and it should proceed from there, right-of-way prevails.


SCENARIO TWO: A Green Light with No Arrow for Both Someone Turning Right and an Opposing Driver Turning Left

I can not TELL you how many people don't get this one. Okay. If you are driving, and you come to a stoplight, and it is green, and you need to turn right, guess what? YOU get to go! You are going RIGHT so you get the WAY. If you stop and look around frantically, this only encourages the other people in this scenario, the left turners.

And now I'm speaking to you, person turning left on green with no arrow. YOU are turning left, and as I've made clear, the term is RIGHT of WAY. So you must wait until there are no opposing cars turning right, or until you get an arrow.


POP QUIZ! In the following picture, all three cars arrived at the stop sign at the same time. Who goes first?

The answer is.... the YELLOW car! Followed by... the GREY car! Followed by the blue car! Does it matter if the blue car man is impatient and wants to go first? NO, because he doesn't have the right of way!

Questions? Confusions? Concerns you might be a violator of these rules? Leave 'em in the comments. Don't worry, I'll let you know.

Fun With Lists

Hey everyone, I started a "101 in 1001" list, and I'm tracking the progress I make at http://amys101in1001.blogspot.com. Check it out! For more on the idea, here is where it originated: http://www.triplux.com/dayzero/

As soon as I finish the lists, I'll also have a page for the 101 books to read and 101 movies to watch.

Oh no she didn't

This past Sunday, a lady honked at me because she didn't yield as she was turning onto the street where I was driving, and I had to swerve to keep from plowing into her. For reals!

Hey lady, wherever you are - if you are turning right at a light onto a street where the speed limit is 50 mph, you best be yielding or you will get a face full of my Toyota Highlander! Especially if the lane you are turning into is ending and those cars will be busy merging. It is not my job to drive for you, no matter how loud you honk! Now pipe down and review the rules of merging in my handy-dandy blog from a few weeks ago.

Also, apologies to my own gender, but even though I didn't see for sure that it was a woman, I'd bet money on it. Men do a lot of ignorant things while driving, to be sure, but the sense of entitlement with which this driver pulled into traffic and the indignant staccato of the honking which followed definitely had a female air about it.

The rest of my weekend was great!

Rock of Ages

I love having a new appreciation for something old. I feel excited that I am able to connect to something - a song, a poem, a work of art, an idea - that has great meaning to past peoples and generations. I experienced this recently with the hymn "Rock of Ages."

Chris Rice recently released a hymns project with all the songs done very simply, just vocals, acoustic guitar, and piano, and generally in a fairly traditional arrangement. I think the simplicity of his versions really helped reframe these songs I've heard a million times and made me more attentive to the words than ever before. As I listened to the song "Rock of Ages" - a song I haven't thought of in a rather long time - I was just moved to tears at how exquisitely the lyricist captured the truths of redemption and salvation.

Rock of Ages, cleft for me
Let me hide myself in Thee
Let the water and the blood
From Thy wounded side which flowed
Be of sin the double cure:
Save from wrath and make me pure

Not the labor of my hands
Can fulfill Thy laws demands
Could my zeal no respite know
Could my tears forever flow
These for sin could not atone
Thou must save, and Thou alone

Nothing in my hand I bring
Simply to the cross I cling
Naked come to Thee for dress
Helpless look to Thee for grace
Foul, I to the fountain fly
Wash me Savior or I die

While I draw this fleeting breath
When my eyes are closed in death
When I rise to worlds unknown
And behold Thee on Thy throne
Rock of Ages, cleft for me
Let me hide myself in Thee.

In the first verse, it speaks of Christ's death being the double cure. Chris (our pastor) spoke on this just last Sunday: we were saved not only from sin, but from God's wrath against that sin in us!

I also love the line that says, "Wash me Savior or I die." It is so stark and simple - outside of Christ there is only death.

Anyway, just wanted to share how that song had affected me recently. Hope you can see it in a new light, too!