The Day the Music Died...Z2K

I woke up this morning to find that my Zune is dead. Oh, tragedy. It's a worldwide catastrophe that was reported early on Wednesday morning. Apparently there are hardware issues that will not let the Zune power on...as a result of the new year. I thought it was funny that people are calling it Z2K. I think it will be fixed, but it sure makes for a boring day doing chores. Oh, Zune, how long will you look like this?

We always knew Zune was the Steven Baldwin to Alec Baldwin (Ipod) when it comes to portable music devices, but did we have to make it so obvious?

This one's mostly for Liz

Hey Liz!

I thought of you a lot when I was planning this post in my head.

I got in the mood to clean tonight and get rid of stuff. (Consequently Luke will have the job of removing all these things from the house tomorrow.) But before I could let some things go I had to take pictures of them and talk about how clothing carries memories. I think most of my memories will be remembered by Liz too, so that's why I thought of her.

So...Remember this:

This first one is the first skirt I bought out of a catelog called "delias". I bought it specifically to wear the day that I graduated high school. I still love this skirt, I just haven't worn it in like six years and it doesn't fit quite the same, so it's time to go.

The next one isn't clothing, but I'm getting rid of it just the same. It's the wall -hanging I made in eighth grade home ec. I never know what to do with this thing. I'm just going to be rid of it once and for all.

Next one is a bridesmaid dress from my wedding. Not sure why I have this, but I think it's Liz's. Hope you don't want it back, Liz.

HA! Remember the next two? I loved getting new Easter dresses. These were two that I especially liked and really looked forward to wearing on Easter Sunday. However, both these dresses were worn by other people either on the same day, or soon after I wore mine. I was a little peeved when I saw Emily Smith wearing my dress on Easter morning. I got to wear the tan dress in college too. I loved this one the best! Charity Bossman/Lyon has this dress too...I wonder if she still wears it? She's got good taste.

The next picture is a picture of the coat Mom bought me for my birthday one year. I didn't wear it nearly enough, and now I have a new coat, plus this one has stuff on it.

Remember these sheets and curtains? I do. I'm getting rid of them. Sorry. Bet you still have yours, Liz, since you had an identical set for your twin bed. BTW I thought for a while that we had special beds just for twins when we were growing up. It was later that I realized that's just what they called that size of bed.

Next one is the bridesmaid dress from Liz's wedding. So pretty, I just haven't worn it since the wedding and I can't think of a time when I would need to wear such a dress again. Unless...do we sisters have any singing engagements coming up? Never mind, we usually go for a black theme.

Next one is my beautiful pink dress. Sorry Mom, I'm getting rid of it. It's gone people, let's not mourn it. I love this dress. However, I cannot foresee an occasion that would call for a pale pink prom dress, especially for a person my age. I did get to wear this once in college too, so that's good, right?

Next is my other prom dress. I'm proud to say this one was worn twice! Paige wore it too. I'm glad you liked it enough to wear it, Paige! Did you feel like you were dancing with Jesse Barnum when you wore it? Because that's who I went with. Nice.

Next one is the bridesmaid dress from Erica's wedding. Beautiful dress! I think I could probably still wear it....it's just that it's taking up space and I can't think of a time when I would need to dress up this much. Same story as the others... Anybody want a beautiful purple dress worn only once?

And now we come to a striped top I bought in college. I was at a stage when I could walk into a store, try anything on and it would look great! At least I thought it did. I wore this shirt to Tonya and Ryan Miller's wedding. Part of the reason I'm so fond of this shirt is because I have a lot of pictures from that wedding, with me in this shirt, and I like them all.

Well, there's more that I got rid of, but I think this is enough.

***Post update: I started this post a couple weeks ago, went home over Christmas and my mom convinced me to not get rid of my prom dresses. So, I'll be keeping them with the hope that someday there will be some time to wear them, or someone to play with them. Also, sorry about all the spacing issues with this post. They probably could have been fixed.

This provided a good laugh for me today

Putting up the tree

Couldn't help but notice an absence in our tree decorating tradition this year. One might think that since her presence was never really there to begin with, it shouldn't be that hard/different when decorating this year. However, there are tons of memories of Christmas last year. Not sure if I voiced this to anyone last year, but I was really looking forward to forming our own family traditions this year for Christmas. I remember last year thinking that this would be the last time Luke and I would decorate the tree as a family of two, the last time we would carelessly steal away to Marshalltown for almost a week with no thought of how that would affect anyone/anything else but our cats.



Well, as we decorated I thought of Grace. As I hung her ornament on the tree I remembered her and cried for her all over again. And then as I thought about the almost full year that has passed I thought about all that God has done in my heart. He has been faithful. I thank the Lord that He is patient with me and everyday He helps me. Not a day passes that I don't feel a little sad about it, but those days don't pass without a reminder of the Lord's care for my heart.





We will always remember you, Gracie. We are so thankful for those months of carrying you, and the hours we got to be with you and hold you.

Playing

I don't feel like a teacher today.
I feel like a little girl playing pretend.
Are they buying it?



I just like this picture.

Something to be thankful for

I've prayed off and on the last two weeks for something to be thankful for.
This morning our pastor gave a really great message on things we can be thankful for in the wow and the woe, since we know both things happen in life--the wow and the woe. Three things we can be thankful for no matter what life will bring:
1. God answers prayer
--It may not be fair, but it's excellent
2. God breaks down barriers
--See God, not the barriers. God will remove them if it furthers His mission
3. God's soverign plans are unstoppable
--The gospel is unstoppable

I'm praying for more things to be thankful for...that God would overwhelm me with the knowledge of the blessings I have in Christ.

Hear my prayer, Oh God

It's not that I don't know WHAT to pray, it's that I don't know HOW to pray.

When Liz went into labor and had Collin too early I prayed more fervently than I'd prayed since college.
When I went into labor and had Grace too early I prayed more fervently still.
Now that a best friend from highschool faces trouble with her baby only six months along I come before the Lord to pray, but I'm at a loss. I don't know how to do it.
"What do I have to say, Lord? How do I have to say it to get You to listen to me? What are the magic words that will change these circumstances, that will stop the contractions, that will miraculously change the issues that need fixing? What do you want from me??"

I'm at a loss.

I know what I want to have happen, but the stark truth is that God's plans are very often different.

I know the truth about prayer: that God does hear every prayer, He listens, He answers every prayer. What I'm not sure about quite honestly is if His answers would be different if my words displayed more faith. I constantly get different messages on this, so I'm just not sure. So, yesterday in my car I found myself wondering how to pray. "Lord, I know what I want for my friend, but I don't know what I have to say to show you that I'm serious about this." Funny thought. The Lord knows I'm serious. He's serious too. He's serious about caring for His children, and accomplishing His glory. It is my belief, hard as it is to say, that He's serious about His purposes even if that means suffering for His children.

Well, I'm not meaning to say there's no hope for my friend. There most assuredly is! I'm not with her and I don't know what the doctors are saying, but there's always hope.

In my car yesterday since I didn't know how to pray, I found myself repeating over and over again, "Yes, you can! Yes, you can!" Thanks to Barack Obama for that one. Jesus can heal, Jesus can stop contractions, Jesus can create new life and sustain it for 9 months in the womb and bring it to a healthy delivery--this is what we are praying for so many expectant mothers that I know of around the country, including my twin sister who is pregnant again, due in May. Praise the Lord! Jesus can make an infertile womb fertile again. Jesus can take an parts of a body that have trouble working correctly and make them whole and healthy. Praise the Lord!

But will He?

I don't know, and I need to keep learning how to be ok with the times He doesn't.