Think About It...

I have my sister to thank for finding this little nugget.

I was shocked, confused, bewildered
as I entered Heaven's door
Not by the beauty of it all
nor by the lights or its decor.

But it was the folks in Heaven
that made me sputter and gasp-
the thieves, the liars, the sinners,
the alcoholics, the trash

There stood the kid from seventh grade
who swiped my lunch money twice.
Next to him was my old neighbor
who never said anything nice.

Herb, who I always thought
was rotting away in hell,
was sitting pretty on cloud nine,
looking incredibly well.

I nudged Jesus, "What's the deal?
I'd love to hear Your take.
How'd these sinners get up here?
God must've made a mistake"

"And why's everyone so quiet,
so somber? Give me a clue."
"Hush, child," said He "they're all in shock.
No one thought they'd be seeing you."

Getting Jacked...

You want to know who's getting jacked (and doesn't have a lot of say in the matter), ME that's who. Well, me and the almost entire state of Utah.

We Utahans have sat by in the last couple of weeks and watched while gas prices all across the country have steadily dropped. The problem (and you can probably guess where I'm going) is that our gas prices have stayed about the same (maybe they've dropped about $.05 but that's all).

The Utah state Govnenor is at present investigating price gouging that might be occurring. Earlier this week the Govenor did some informal investigations and came up and with and I quote, "Utahans are getting shafted!" That's right!!! While the rest of the country has an average gas price of $2.44 the state average for Utah is about $.40 higher (NOT FAIR).

I'm not a conspiracy theorist by any stretch, but I have a theory now as to why are prices are still high in Utah. It's all Bush's doing!!!

See I was reading yesterday about how President Bush's approval rating is rising as the gas prices are dropping. Well the way I figure it what does Bush care about the gas prices of little ol' Utah I mean we're going to vote republican hell or high water. With the republican vote securely in the politians pockets for Utah it's not a large concern about appeasing us with lower gas prices. They're probably even subsidizing the nation's lowered gas prices with the higher prices that Utahans are paying.

So, I might not have any hard facts to back any of these raging allegations up with. I guess that's why it's only my theory (and probably not an even clever theory), but it works for me.

What do you think? I'd like to hear your explanations.

What Don't We Need...

I recently read where someone went onto www.google.com and started typing their name followed by the word "needs"

example:
Jenn needs

Then what came up first they would write it down and pass it along. Well, I was a little bored today and to kill some time between work obligations I searched the needs of some of my friends. Now if you're one of my good friends and don't see your name listed, don't get your underthings all in a bunch its just because your "needs" on google were pretty boring.

Jenn needs theological studies [hmmm...isn't that interesting i've been praying about that for months now]
Emily needs to be told, "NO, there are certain things that just are NOT allowed."
Brendan needs the undivided attention of his mother or father every minute that he is awake.
Stephanie needs some help Look at those pants!
Jake needs to Jack It Up.
Brent needs a date for our trip to Las Vegas.
Lana needs a boy her own age.
Jesse needs your help!
Lisa needs braces.
Mike needs a date!
John needs to get his patootie back here Chit Chat.
Joel needs to live with a family until he is old enough to look after himself.
Tommy needs your help to keep his mouth shut.
Josh needs a holiday or just a cuddle.
Dustin needs to hit the weights...his arms have always been skinny for his size.
Nate needs as many game situation kicks as possible in my opinion.
Kyle needs a strong male presence.

Well, that's all for now folks. I hope you enjoyed my little name show.

Family...

People are continually amazed when I tell them that I left all my family and friends back in Virginia and moved 2,000 miles across country to live in Utah. These same people usually ask the standard questions, "You mean to tell me you don't have any family out here in Utah?" or "Why would you move where you don't have any family or friends?"

I can understand where those questions are coming from, for I can't say that I haven't asked myself those questions a time or two. There have certainly been moments when I've been lonely for my family or the long standing friendships I have back in Virginia. There have been family events (like my Grandmother's 80th birthday party yesterday) that I've missed and felt lonesome for. I admit all this because I don't want you to think that my family is any less important to me for what I'm about to say.

You see, what I would tell all these people that think I'm some courageous young woman who gave up all her family and friends to move out west, is that I never really gave up anything. I drove across country and settled in Utah to find more of my family. And now that I've thoroughly confused you with my talk of not having family in Utah and then coming to find more of my family let me take a moment to explain.

The family I've found here in Utah is blood of my blood through the blood of Christ. Each and everyone of us in this family of ours has had lives saved by the blood of our savior Jesus Christ. Each of us (wherever we found ourselves - in any circumstance or age) said to God I know you sent your son Jesus to earth, that he lived a life without sin, that he went to the cross with all my sin, and he overcame death to live again - that is when the blood of Jesus covered us and we joined the family of God with other "blood relatives".

Wherever I am, whether it's Virginia, Utah, Africa or Antartica when I meet someone who has accepted the gift of Jesus' saving blood, it is there that I found my family.

To share with you the special blessing that I've found in this family, I'm going to tell you about my day yesterday. On the whole yesterday was no different from any other day. I started my morning like any other Sunday and went around with a smile on my face. Though on the inside I was hurting; just sad and grieving. I couldn't help but think of a friend I lost two years ago to suicide. His death was a tragic loss of life, and made even more so by the knowledge that this young man not only didn't acknowledge Jesus as his savior but even turned his anger and bitterness towards God.

It was yesterday during church service when I was touched by memories of this friend and his death. I began crying uncontrollably during the service when we shared communion (a symbolic reminder of Christ's body and blood that was broken in death) together. See, for me communion is a bittersweet reminder of the life that Christ gave that I might have a life of my own. Jesus died that I might live, and I willing accept His gift and want Jesus (very much alive now) to be part of my life. Yet, as I shared communion with my family of believers I couldn't help but think of my friend now lost to us, that never really understood Christ's love or gift of life.

Now before you start thinking that this blog entry is going to be all "preachy" I'll get back to the idea of family. Atleast though you now have the context of how I was feeling and my need for comfort. That's what is so wonderful about the family of Christ, I had all sorts of wonderful comfort from a loving and caring family.

Even when I was crying at church there was a friend there to put their arm around me and let me know that they cared. After church services I had the wonderful distraction of going ice skating with five year old Savannah (her parents are friends of mine from church) who had never been ice skating before. After spending the afternoon with Savannah I was able to call a sister of mine from church, Becky, and she invited me to her home so I wouldn't be feeling sad and alone. Becky and her two sons took me out biking riding and then we had dinner together. After dinner when Becky's sons went to bed, Becky and I were able to talk and she even prayed for me as I was feeling loss over my friend's suicide.

I guess what I'm saying with all this is that even though I'm away from my immediate family in Virginia, who would usually be there with a comforting hug or a shoulder to cry on, I still have all those wonderful blessings from the family I found here in Utah. How thankful I am to God for providing a family that loves and cares for me when I need it most.

Nine Months...

I think I understand now the feeling I hear from most pregnant women as they approach their delivery date. No, I'm not pregnant. I'm not gaining empathy from that personal of an experience. My experience is a little less related, but somehow my mind made the correlation.

My experience revolves around a key chain that I've now owned for nine months (aha, correlation). You see I like this key chain, it was given to me by a good friend and reminds me to think of this person whenever I notice it. The problem with this key chain is its attachment. It simply doesn't want to stay attached to my key ring. Everyday I have to screw it on a little tighter for it to stay attached (atleast three times a day).

Whenever I pick up my keys I have to check my key chain and if I don't the key chain simply falls off. And I don't want to lose this key chain (again it reminds me of my good friend).

There's more to this correlation between pregnancy and my key chain than just nine months. I think it has to do with feelings and a need to be done. See, I've had this key chain for nine months now and as much as I like the key chain I'm ready to be done with it. It's something about the magic of nine months. You can put up with about anything annoying for about nine months, but when you hit that magic mark you can't take it any more.

Well, I simply can't take the loose key chain anymore. I'm thinking of giving it a special place in retirement.

Good friend out there don't be offended. You're special key chain is going to hold a place of honor in my home...I'm thinking refrigerator!!!

In On the News...

Okay, between receiving the Deseret Morning News (newspaper) at my home and watching the morning news on t.v. while preparing for work each morning, I'm fairly in the know. And all I have to say on the matter is how depressing. I know that's what everyone always says about the news, that it's mostly just bad news, but here of late that's been quite true (well at least in Utah).

For starters, here's the story of a five year old girl that was starved almost to death by her mother's boyfriend. The mother had been deployed to Iraq and left her daughter in the custody of her boyfriend (whom she trusted from their two year relationship). The boyfriend was also given access to the mother's checking account to help the cost of taking care of her daughter. The checking account was bled dry for a drug habit and the daughter was starved. On t.v. they're showing pictures of this little girl's body and it's like seeing holocaust victims all over again.

So this next story doesn't take place in Utah and it's not as horrifying as a five year old being starved to death, but the news clip (on t.v.) did catch my eye. A reporter in San Diego uncovered a real estate scam and was interviewing one of the victims, when the alledged perpetrators arrived on the scene. If you could see this video clip you'd realize why it caught my attention, it was an absolute circus. The reporter was a professional in the face of all the abuse, but those bringing about the beating were ridiculous (acting like little children throwing a tantrum).

Of course Warren Jeffs (the leader of the Fundalmentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Days Saints) has been in the news. Since May, Jeffs has been on the FBI's most wanted list and recently he was arrested about five miles outside of Las Vegas during a routine traffic stop. Jeffs is being charged with the unlawful marriages of teenage girls (subsequently resulting in rape). At this time Jeffs is in solitary confinment at Purgatory (the name of the prison located in Hurricane, Utah). Now with Jeffs imprisoned the government is stepping in to make reforms in the finances of the FLDS organization, which holds about 100 million in assests (and yet relies on welfare to support their children).

I could go on and on about the depressing news I've been hearing, but I think I'll leave you on the positive note of Warren Jeffs incarceration : )

Personalizing Work Space...

Yippee...I actually have work space to personalize now. That's right I have a job now with my own desk. This might not seem like quite an accomplishment to anyone, but I've never had this. Sure I had my own work space before, but it was always a more communal area. Now I actually have my own desk.

I also plan to make the most of this desk. Already I have a drawer where I keep my little snack bars and other mid-afternoon treats. On Monday I plan to come to work with one of my favorite pictures in a frame, so that I might have something enjoyable to look at while working (at this point my desk faces a blank wall - i definitely need something to look at). And of course what desk (a girl's desk atleast) would be complete without a scented candle to light each day.

What can I say, how about this, "AHHHH...life is good."