Any More Ideas out there?

I have noticed that no one has posted for awhile. I myself am one who does not anymore. We obviously are all very busy or have found new internet sites to keep us occupied. But I just felt like saying something cause our poor blog must feel lonely.

The New Year

I wonder how many people are posting on newly formed blogs today with hopes of continuing to do so every day for the rest of the year. I keep reading articles and blog updates from Gretchen Rubin, author of The Happiness Project. She's really got some great ideas for the new year. By the way, if you haven't read her book yet, you must do so ASAP.

Anyway, I have a couple ideas for New Year's Resolutions, but none seem outstandingly life-changing like I feel they should. When searching the internet for some ideas, resolutions like losing weight, giving up smoking, and spending more time with family were listed as some of the top ideas. Unfortunately and fortunately, none of those options seem particularly suited to where I'm at right now in my life. And in reality, I feel like I've got a pretty good handle on my life. I brush my teeth twice a day, my room is spectacularly tidy, I am decently fit, I get along with my family as much as would be expected, I don't swear, and I read as often as possible.

I think what bothers me, then, is the same thing that bothered GR so much before the start of her project. I simply do not enjoy life as much as I should. I don't laugh at myself enough; I get too worked up about little things; I turn everything I love into a chore; I am constantly counting down the days till something else. Additionally, I am unable to start a new task unless it's at the turn of the hour. It's really quite a handicap.

Here we go again

Hey! I don't really think there's anyone fervently checking this anymore, but this is the reason I now post. There is a group of malicious poachers settled in the savannas of Africa that have a main purpose in life to take advantage of innocent giraffes who are very cute and large. The poachers see value in animals with long necks because they assume a relationship between the giraffe's long neck and large profits, though this is entirely illogical. In order to maximize their profits and not get caught by police enforcement, coppers, or po-po, they have brought into utilization a machine so vile, so terrible, so technologically advanced and somewhat shiny (depending on what model you get because the more luster the machine has the greater it's potential wealth and possibility of crows feeling the need to thieve it, although that's aside the point), so immensely mad that they brought it into utilization. The machine emits a wave with a special frequency and amplitude that exactly taps into the brains of innocent humans who were once thinking about giraffes to make them... stop thinking about giraffes. I post this so that we can once again bring giraffes into existence. Bring them from that undefined realm of not being thought of and therefore poached to the more so defined realm of being thought of and not poached. Save their lives and their valuable tusks that would otherwise be sold for ivory. I post this for one cause and one cause alone (not counting the other causes I post this, of course). Emancipate Two Giraffes.

to all don's customers

Dear Don's customers,

-I'm sorry but I don't remember that you have been in 3 times already. I have 100+ customers a day and unless you did something memorable I won't remember when you were in last.

-The peanuts are just around the corner there.

-Yes we do sell newspapers, please don't just grab one and leave the money on the pile, we don't pay attention and see it all the time.

-Don't get in line unless you have your money with you. Check before I start ringing up your stuff.

-It's OK to leave stuff in the front if you tell us you are coming back for it.

-We are looking for the PLU number not the name of the fruit when we look for the sticker

- If its not the exact same kind of fruit don't put it in the same bag even if it is the same price

- Just because the night staff is generally teenagers it does not mean we are incompetent idiots (though sometimes we do fit in that category) give us a chance to answer your question before talking to us in your baby voice

- I'm required to ask if you have rewards card, just answer me straightly instead of sighing, giving me an annoyed look, and saying no i don't have on and i don't want one either.

-When I explain the jackpot you should listen so you know whats happening instead of asking me to explain again for you

- I'm sorry if we aren't always the cheeriest bunch, we have school, homework, tests, extra-curricular, drama, and a job. we try to put that aside when we come to work but it doesn't always work.

- When you talk to us like we are normal people it is a good thing. although we will only see each other for a few min. a small conversation is a good thing. We try but after the 50Th person in our line it gets a bit repetitive.

- If you know you cashier somehow its OK to acknowledge that. Even if you are a teacher.

- If you are buying cigarettes instead of just telling us which ones you want watch us go get them and tell us if we have the wrong ones. Most of us can't legally smoke and have no idea what you are talking about when you say Doral menthol light 100's hard pack. we are better if you give us a color to look for :)

- If you are from out of town you don't need to tell us, we probably already know if your not a regular.

- Balloons are fun but if you have a big order please don't stand and watch us blow them up it makes us self-conscience and go slower

- Don't complain if we can't use your coupon, if you read the fine print you would know why and wouldn't have tried it.

- No, we can't return it if you don't have a receipt

- We know where stuff is, if you ask we will help you find it.

- If you don't want something give to someone at the front instead of setting it in a random aisle, we get in trouble for that.

- Don't let your kids throw stuff on the ground, push everything back in the shelves and run wild around the store, this is a job for us, we have stuff to do instead of babysitting your children.

- If your kids don't ask for candy they might not get any, but have them ask nicely. We don't appreciate rudeness from someone we are about to give free candy to.

- Accounts are a great thing, don't abuse them or let your kids abuse them.

- When it's busy don't go get another item from the shelf, if its not go for it!

- If we have seen you wallet, rewards card, credit card or other identifiable object we would have called you, if we haven't called you but you think you have left it then ask for it don't demand it. we work shifts and not every bit of knowledge is passed from shift to shift, we will look for it.

- We have this awesome thing called a rain check, if its on sale and we are out we will give you one and you will get the item for the sale price, it will be OK!

- The bread we have sitting on pallets on the carts and the last register are saved for someone, they pre-ordered. Don't take their, call for your own please!

- We get trucks every Mon and Thurs. shop then if you want something that is on sale or new.

- We get Casey's stuff every morning at 6ish, the stuff on the shelf is only 1-2 days old if not from that morning, we put out everything we have, no we don't have anything fresher

- If our prices bother you don't complain to the cashier or stocker, we can't do anything about it talk to Don or Betty, they are reasonable people and you can probably work something out.

- Please don't come in with 5 min left and start your weekly grocery shopping. We don't want to stay after 10 we have been there for hours before.

- We will help you reach things if you ask nicely and not demand, we will even look in the back for you

- This is an after school job for most of us, we are tired not lazy

- Call us by name is makes us want to help you, that is why we wear name tags, and if you do chances are we will try to remember you name and call you by it too.

Sincerely

A girl who likes her job and wished people could read her mind and be civil

P.S. didn't mean to rant but I felt the need to vent! feel free to comment if you need to vent about whatever kind of work you do too! :)

Moving On

Tomorrow (as you all know) I will be leaving for college. Now this is the goal of all students to get through those long, long days of classroom lectures and billions of worksheets and fun classmate groups. And yeah I will admit that I am super duper excited for college and all the new opportunities, but I never thought I would ever question going. I know gasp! Now, and this is the part where anyone reading this will feel loved, I only question going because I won't have anyone I got to know with me. Sure I will meet plenty of new people, but it will never ever be the same. And yes I get to come back every 4 months. Which means I am only gone about 2/3 of the year, but nonetheless you all have made it harder for me to want to leave. I am so angry at you guys for being this amazing!!!! But actually, I will be fine, and I love you all. Continue to post, so I can somewhat stay connected. Have a great year, and you will hear from me!

Haiti

i just got back from haiti! i was there for 2 weeks and fell in love with the people there! they have soo little but they are so joyful because they have God in their lives. i saw so many horrible things there. people living on dirt floors with thatched roofs and still so happy. children that are bloated with red hair because of malnutrition and still so happy. people who own one shirt and one pair of pants and mismatched shoes and still so happy. the kids during kids camped just wanted to be loved on and thats all they needed. the youth during youth camp getting up at 4 in the morning to sing praises. everyone dancing because they are so filled with the holy spirit. i also saw and heard things that you can't really imagine in the states. saw voodoo alters, heard from a former witch doctor, saw a girl get a demon cast out of her. all so real but also impossible to imagine in sioux county let alone orange city. about 50 people came to know Christ during the 2 weeks i was there and many more recommitted their lives.

i saw mountains and valleys and caves and trees and animals that are all so beautiful that i don't know how you can't believe in God. a language barrier that seemed almost none existant at times. so many little things that God did that could only be God things as well as some big! kristies mom died while we were there. the beginning of the second week. so she and her family and vali and wreni left and so it was our youth group and the local haitian youth group and the translators led the youth conference. with little to no planning and a language barrier that was very obvious at that time. so many awesome things happened there with 40 people giving their lives to christ in just that 4-5 day time. so many things that could have gone wrong went right.

planning in haiti is impossible that is something we were told from the beginning. that only became a reality that second week when jean jean and kristie and family left. there were suppost to be crafts and games with the youth and it really turned more into a free time to try and hang out with them even though there was a language barrier. there were culteral differences that didn't make much sense to us americans.

through all of these differences you don't have to try to see God working. during my devo times in the morning i couldn't help but wonder why i couldn't see God working in the states. sure there are those obvious times of God things but never as much as in Haiti. during one of my devos times i found a ton of awesome verses that just kept telling my that i need to ask God and be intentional about seeing his works. then i looked at my usual quiet time at home with God. generally it consisted of 15-20 min of reading scripture in the morning with maybe 5 min in prayer and thats if i even remembered to have a quiet time. compared to the devo time we set aside in haiti. from 6:00 to 7:00ish or till breakfast was ready (on haitian time that usually meant closer to 7:30 or 8) most of that time spent in prayer for the people i was around and the place i was in. No wonder i felt closer to God. i was being so much more intentional and was really enjoying my devo time.

the day after that hit me was the day that one girl had a demon in her and cast it out during the youth conference. that was a big struggle for me bc i realized that satan and demons were real but i didn't like to picture them in orange city. our youth group had a great talk about what happened that night and how powerful satan really is and how in orange city we don't like to think about him, we like to imagine that he isn't real at all and has no effect on us, how we act, and the people around us.

a few days after this we talked with Price who is a former witch doctor. voodoo is basically devil worship, witch doctors are kind of like our pastors. they pray to the demons and bring curses upon people when they are paid for it. the first week i was there we had talked to him too but it hadn't really hit me that it was a real religion. after the demon being cast out i paid atttention when he talked. he said explained what he did as a witch doctor and how he lived his life. people would come to him to put curses on people, or have demons come into people. he also talked about they made people into "zombies" it was all very creepy and strange but also very real. the most amazing thing he told us was that whenever he came in contact with a true christian not a fake christian he couldn't do anything in worshiping the devil anymore. he couldn't call demons. the demons that were there had no power and that he couldn't curse or touch with any sort of voodoo a true christian. that was so cool! my mind kept wandering to the last bible study we had about demons an the devil and what leah had said about cj saying at some point in your life you will have some sort of demonic experience and it made me so excited to realize that bc i'm a true christian not a fake the devil can't touch me without Gods approval and God cares for me and won't let any harm come to me!

What a great trip! i may never be able to go back (though i would really love to) but i won't ever forget thoses lessons i learned during my 2 weeks there

History Lessons

Saint Basil’s Cathedral

            Today I went to Google to Google something as normal and I say that there was a different design on the website today. Today Google is honoring Saint Basil’s Cathedral. It is the 450^th birthday of the cathedral. I of course clicked on the picture to see what it was all about. And I started to read some interesting thins about this historic building. So I have decided to share it with you!

            Saint Basil’s Cathedral was constructed in 1561. It was hugely different from the architecture of the day. This Cathedral has 9 different domes that are all very brightly colored. It also has 2 spires. The inspiration for this church is unknown, but many guesses have been made. One such guess is that the architect’s inspiration came form the book of Revelation. There is a description of Heaven in the book that uses bright colors and this where the various colors came from.

“

And he that sat was to look upon like a jasper and a sardine stone: and there was a rainbow round about the throne, in sight like unto an emerald. And round about the throne were four and twenty seats: and upon the seats I saw four and twenty elders sitting, clothed in white raiment; and they had on their heads crowns of gold.

”

      

This building is a very unique building. If you ever find yourself in the Red Square in Moscow, Russia make sure to check it out! Enjoy the colors and its wonderful rich history!

 Nancy