Jen's Rules for Being a Human Being

You are not allowed to eat canned tuna near me as I will gag.

You are not allowed to carry your cell phone in your cleavage.

You are not allowed to end a relationship via a text or email, single guys. You must break up with a woman in person. Be a man.

You are not allowed to give Paula Abdul a microphone and allow her to do a "comedy" sketch for approximately 6 minutes as it is awkward and painful.

You are not allowed to wear daisy dukes with Ugg boots.

You are not allowed to wear flip-flops if you have not pedicured your feet in over 1 year.

You are not allowed to say phrases like "took it for granite" or "he was unconscience".

You are not allowed to write a script for a hit television show that runs 2 hours long and involves every core member of the cast almost getting shot in a hospital.

You are not allowed to cancel "Chuck".

You are not allowed to ask me if I'm old enough to be married. I know I look young but let's not get insulting. I atleast look 18, right?!

You are not allowed to tell someone incredibly personal things when you have not spoken to that person since the 10th grade and you are standing in the mall outside of the Gap.

You are not allowed to be mad at everyone all the time. No one did anything to you.

You are not allowed to mock my love for broadway shows. I don't mock your love for Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings, nerd.

YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO MAKE OUT WITH YOUR BOYFRIEND IN CHURCH.

You are not allowed to curse at people when they have nothing to do with the reason you're so upset. Actually, you are not allowed to curse at people, period.

You are not allowed to write a facebook status about your period. Period.

You are not allowed to talk about your sex life at work.

You are not allowed to talk about your bathroom habits at work.

You are not allowed to cook smelly smelly foods in the microwave at work.

You are not allowed to eat things from the fridge at work that you did not put there.

I think that is all I have to say. For now. I think.

There Was a Leaky Faucet in Church Yesterday

And the leaky faucet was me.

Our dear Pastor Gregg did an entire sermon on the increasingly relevant topic of infertility.

He did a fantastic job. He came at it with a spirit of prayer, gentleness, empathy, truth, and sincerity.

I cried the entire time. I'll break my emotions down for you in 4 parts.

PART ONE

A couple from the congregation shared their testimony of their journey with infertility. Hearing their struggles and their victories is what initially brought tears to my eyes.

PART TWO

As Pastor Gregg began to preach, images and memories of some of my dearest friends and family members came to mind. Some of my dearest girlfriends and my sisters have fought this battle. Thinking of the children that have come from their struggles, the miscarriages that have taken place, and those that still have empty cradles were on my mind and in my heart. Tears started flowing a bit harder.

PART THREE

This is the part of the sermon where it got a bit personal. And this is the part of the blog where I am about to get a bit personal. You see, this is the part where Pastor Gregg started preaching some TRUTH over me. He said that A CHILD IS A GIFT, NOT A RIGHT. It cannot be an expectation that it will automatically happen for you.

This was very real to me as I have slowly come to grips with the fact that I may struggle with this very issue. Last year, I was diagnosed with something that may or may not affect my ability to conceive. Again, we could have no problem at all, but it is a very real possibility that we could have a problem. I try not to think about it too much as we are not yet ready to start our family and therefore can't spend too much time thinking about it. No use fretting over something that we aren't even sure is a problem yet.

But hearing those words, and knowing that it very well may be that God has chosen a different path for me and Grant overwhelmed me.

He then explained that even those who don't have children in their home need to know that they are complete. Their family is complete in Jesus and they are lacking nothing.

Heavy, heavy tears started here.

PART FOUR

At the end of the service, Pastor Gregg invited those that are struggling with infertility or those that would like to intercede on their behalf to come forward to the prayer rails. THERE WAS NO ROOM AT THE ALTAR. People flooded the front of the church. There simply was no more room. I wept as I saw couples walking to the altar together, most of them weeping themselves. Some were even pregnant. Others looked too old to conceive, and they seemed to cry the hardest.

Two girls sang "All of You is more than enough for all of me" as we as a congregation prayed over these couples. Gregg was on his knees asking the Lord to open the wombs of those that were gathered. All of my emotions were now combined and exploding and I was doing the "I CAN'T STOP CRYING" thing like women do.

It was one of the most touching and important services of my life. Even if I was a hot mess.

I invite you to listen to his sermon if this is something that you think you need to hear. I have a link to it here.

And now I am back to doing the ugly cry.

Thank You, Lord, for truth.

A List Format Post Cause I Am Oozing With Creativity

1. Today sooo should have been Friday. This work week has been 8 days long and I don't appreciate that.

2. However, today was extra awesome as I worked in the morning at the office and then watched "Ellen" and various Law & Order shows during the afternoon. Every few months, my boss has some home maintenance work done on his house and needs someone to be there to wait for the various repair men. I get to be that person. So, at lunch time, I headed over to his casa and watched TV while a very nice man named David fixed the A/C. It was a nice afternoon.

3. I went to Garden Ridge today and bought a wreath for my door cause I've been feeling like the front of my house needs some color. It's a (fake) wreath of blue hydrangea. Grant isn't home yet and he is going to get home and see the wreath and then he is going to walk in and give me crap about it but then I am going to announce that it was only $14.99 and then he will have to shut it. If he continues, I will walk into the closet and come out holding the 49 golf clubs he has bought in the last 3 months. I won't hit him with the golf clubs. I will just use them as Exhibit A in my winning argument.

4. Yes, Grant is not home yet and I am going semi-crazy as there is some important stuff happening tonight on the television. Not only is it finale night, but there is a shooting at Seattle Grace Hospital and I'm worried someone is going to get killed and I'm worried about who that person might be. Someone from Mercy West is the only person I will be even somewhat okay with. The Mercy Westers don't mesh well. My point is, Grant needs to get home ASAP. For right now I am walking down memory lane with Detectives Benson and Stabler. These 2004 episodes are a hoot. Olivia's hair is just a treasure.

5. I've been keeping the house really really clean lately. So clean, that last night Grant got home from work, looked around the house and then seriously said to me, "Okay, what's going on?". How sad.

6. This morning I was on the phone with my sister Jaclyn who informed me that her sweet little Dean is now saying "Mama". She put the phone up to him and tried to get him to do it for me but he was being shy about it. However, his big sister Grace was extremely proud of herself as she said "Mama" to me in the phone several times as she is very talented and has been saying "mama" for a long time now and doesn't really understand what the big deal is about Dean saying it and he doesn't even always say it on cue.

7. I've gone pretty much the entire season without saying much of anything about American Idol. However, as we are now down to the final two I have formed an opinion and that opinion is OH MY WORD I LOVE LEE.

8. Do any of my readers have a Roomba? I'm thinking about saving up and buying one as I genuinely hate cleaning floors. If you have one, is it worth it? Does your dog destroy it? Does it kinda freak you out? Did you name yours? Cause I think I would name mine. All robot things need a name.

9. I ate an obscene amount of Cool Ranch Doritos this afternoon while watching Oprah. Seriously, I couldn't stop myself. And you know what? It was oh-so-satisfying.

10. I'm going to share a weird fact about myself with you. This is the only weird thing about me. Everything else about me is totally normal. The weird fact is this: Every morning when I get ready for work, I daydream and imagine about what I'm going to wear to work on Friday. You see, we can wear jeans to work on Friday. So every morning as I'm putting on my dress pants, I think about which jeans I'm going to wear, what shirt I'll wear, and what shoes I'll wear. Monday thru Thursday I walk into my closet with no idea about what I'll walk out wearing. But ohhhh Friday morning. I have a plan.

I'm going to stop talking now and begin incessantly texting my husband till he comes home.

Love you bye.

Raising Our Expectations

I don't think we'll ever get to the point where we can fully comprehend the power of God. It is beyond our earthly capacity.

But are we even close?

I believe that we are profoundly underestimating what He can do and what He has done. We are told that we can approach the Throne of Grace with confidence, but are we really doing that? What are we confident of? What and WHO are we confident in?

My friend, let me tell you something. THERE IS NOTHING HE CANNOT DO. He is fully able to do the unthinkable, the unimaginable, the impossible, and the things you've given up on.

He can heal a medical issue that "can't" be healed.

He can mend a relationship that you thought could never be fixed.

He can change someone's mind.

He can change someone's heart.

He can fix you.

He can heal you.

He can help you.

Everything He does is for a purpose, it is intentional, it is for His will and His glory.

My friend Emily has a little boy with down syndrome. He has profound hearing loss. One ear was entirely deaf. But she prayed and she prayed and she prayed. She didn't pray that the Lord would give her guidance as she helped her little boy through a life without hearing. SHE PRAYED THAT THE LORD WOULD RESTORE IT. She didn't underestimate the Lord's power. And you know what?

She took that little boy to the doctor. And he passed his hearing test. IN BOTH EARS.

I have a person in my life who can be particularly difficult. A strong personality, if you will. And sometimes I would get so upset cause I thought that we could never make this work. But then I started praying, not that I would be patient with this person, but that God would CHANGE THE RELATIONSHIP. Fix it. Make it better. Make us friends.

Within weeks, something happened. And to this day, the relationship has transformed. A total 180. He changed personalities, y'all. He changed people's hearts.... a person who I thought could only be one way...... this person became another way.

He changed ME. He changed the way I operate, the way I do things, what triggers me. Character flaws that have been a part of me since childhood.... gone.

I say all this to make one point. We need to raise our expectations. We need to give Him credit where all the credit in the world is due. He is an Almighty God with an Almighty purpose and plan. He doesn't need us or our prayers to do His good and perfect will, but He does want to show His glory and have His name praised.

My friend, I ask you.... WHAT ARE YOU NOT ASKING HIM FOR?

"Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen" -Ephesians 4:20-21 (ESV)

"You are Able" by Christy Nockels

Jehovah, provider
The joy of man's desire, it's You.
Always, You.
Keeper of history, glorious mystery, It's You.
Always, You.

Fulfillment of every longing of man
It's You, our God, it's You!

You are able, higher is our God
than anything that comes our way
Come what may
You alone forever stay
You are able, higher is our God
than anything the comes our way
Come what may
You alone forever stay
You are able, You are able.

Abba, our Father
We run to our Protector, You.
Always, You.
Healer of all things,
we trust no other name but You
Only You.

Fulfillment of every longing of man
It's You, our God, it's You.


You are able, and higher is our God
than anything that comes our way
Come what may
You alone forever stay
You are able, higher is our God
than anything the comes our way
Come what may
You alone forever stay
You are able, You are able!