Michael and I took a weekend trip to see some family friends of ours who live in Chicago! We went to the Packers preseason game and did some local stuff around town. It's been a great trip! Ron and Sue are the best!!!
Michael and I leaving Memphis Thursday morning
It was easily one of the most boring drives I've ever had. Just a bunch of corn and windmills. Maybe some wheat fields here and there...
More corn. There were like 8 other pictures of the corn I'll spare you from looking at.
We made it to Chicago around 3 and left to get some Chicago style pizza a few hours after getting back to the house.
Y'all. This pizza is crazy. Giordano's is the BEST!
I barely finished two pieces!
This is a horrible picture of Michael, but he said he was tired of taking pictures and didn't care what he looked like. I was too excited about heading to Green Bay to care that he didn't care. ;D
This car ride was long, but I wised up and bought a coloring book to keep myself busy on the way down there. (I'm basically an 11 year old. Don't judge me.)
A Wisconsin cheese factory
A way better picture of Michael. He's excited at this point since we're actually pretty close to Lambeau!
Made it to Green Bay! First stop? ShopKo!
AKA Packers Merch Paradise.
Next Stop? Old Chicago!
When I say these are the best nachos I've ever had in my entire life, I'm not exaggerating. They're called Italian Nachos, but Ron & Sue call them pizza nachos. It's basically won ton chips, melted mozzarella cheese, pepperoni, italian sausage, peppers, and a spicy tomato sauce. I was apprehensive at first, but they were SO good!
Main course? A 1lb pizza burger!
Yup. a 1lb burger sitting in between two personal pepperoni pizzas. Ron had high aspirations, but only had room for about half the burger. It was surprisingly tasty though! Michael, Sue, and I split up the other half into thirds and each tried a bit. I was impressed.
Even the fire hydrants were green and gold! Go Pack Go!!!!
My first Lambeau Field picture!
Our seats were INCREDIBLE!!!! 5th row at the 10 yard line!
Browns warming up.
Left the game and hit Starbucks :)
Saturday morning we woke up pretty late since we were out so late with the game the night before. We hit up downtown Napperville after lunch and while we were driving we realized we were trailing a Memphis Tigers fan!!
Decorated seat outside of the Barnes and Noble
Stopped at Starbucks again in downtown Napperville. The barista here was the nicest barista I've ever met. Seriously. He was awesome! He was telling us that his customers who travel the world, or customers from different parts of the world, bring him the "local mugs" from various locations for him to display. He types up each customer's story about where they're from or how they came across the mug on a piece of paper and displays that with the mug. I thought it was the coolest thing!
The weather was BEAUTIFUL! Napperville had a gorgeous park that we walked around in for a while.
On a regular day we probably would have gone up to the observation deck, but there was a wedding going on so it was closed.
They also have a giant public swimming pool called Centennial Beach that I thought was super neat.
Ron and Sue have two dogs and two cats that are the absolute sweetest. This is Logan.
This is Lilly!
This is Luke, and Lars was always running around and didn't sit still much so I didn't make it back with a picture of him.
Ron and Sue made this weekend the absolute BEST! I am so so thankful for them! Can't wait to visit again soon!
A few weeks ago I deleted Facebook from my iPhone so I wouldn't constantly be checking it and using the data on our phone plan. The first few days I was really nervous I would miss something important, and every night before I went to bed I would check my notifications from my laptop. After a few days I stopped stressing over the 'FOMO' (Fear of Missing Out) and used time I would normally be on social media to do more productive things like read or actually make small talk with people in line at Starbucks with me instead of avoiding eye contact and staring down at my phone. Today I made 50 something flashcards and posted a picture of them on my Snapchat story. Why? "To show others how proud I was of my hard work!" Nope!!! Let's be honest- I posted that picture and a caption about how hard I was studying for my PLT Exam because I wanted people to know I was studying on my day off. I wanted people to say "wow! She's go it together." Hurt my feelings a little bit to type that and throw that out there, but if I'm being honest then that's the truth. This morning I found myself doing the same thing on an Instagram account. I posted this picture of dinner I made for some friends last night. Now, part of me was just genuinely excited I cooked for others without poisoning anyone or burning anything but the other part of me selfishly just wanted to show off. I secretly wanted people to comment "Wow! Delicious!" or "Great job! It tasted great!" anything to affirm my actions.
I struggle with pride. I struggle with seeking approval of other people. I struggle with feeling utterly defeated when I don't receive the words of affirmation that I desperately and very selfishly want. If I don't feel like I'm portraying that I live this very perfect life I become very mean to myself and extremely discouraged.
So here's what I've decided to do about it this afternoon...
I'm deleting all forms of social media from my phone today. No more Snapchat. No more Instagram. (There are a few exceptions of apps that probably count as Social Media, but that I won't get rid of because I use them for work or for church: Pinterest, GroupMe, Youtube, and Remind.) At least for a little while. I'm logging out of Facebook soon and I'm not getting back on for a few weeks. (I'd say I'd entirely quit that too, but I keep up with a lot of family members and friends from out of town. And I would also say that I'm logging out today, but my parents are out of town and not in an area where they can be reached by phone for a few days, so the only way I can keep up with them is through my dad's Facebook posts and pictures.)
I've been really challenged about what to do about this for a while. I really struggle with the un-authentic universe that we create on social media sites and how I allow that to influence me. I've prayed about it, I've wrestled with it, I've justified how I spend my time, and every time I say I "won't do _____" or "I won't spend but _____ many hours a week on social media" I fail miserably. It's an addiction of sorts I guess you could say, and today I've just up and decided I won't support my bad habits any longer.
I read a book recently called A Year of Biblical Womanhood: How a Liberated Woman found Herself Sitting on Her Roof, Covering Her Head, and Calling Her Husband "Master" by Rachel Held Evans.* In short, the book is about the author's endeavors in going through a year of following rules and laws for women from biblical times as closely as possible. Each month she focused on a different attribute or rule and did everything she could to follow it in today's modern society. She covered her head while she prayed, hosted a Passover Seder, observed Levitical Purity laws during menstruation, rented a "Baby Think It Over," called her husband 'Master', served on an international mission trip to care for orphans, and countless other tasks. I was intrigued by the idea of it and was genuinely just curious about how she accomplished it, so I decided to read it while I was on vacation this summer. In the first chapter of the book, Evans talked about the importance of having a gentle and kind spirit, and the dangers of a "contentious" woman. The following is an excerpt from the book...
"When I told my friends that my goal for October was to cultivate a gentle and quiet spirit; a few of them laughed. Not in a mean way, but in a sympathetic, knowing sort of way. This was partly because they knew me, and partly because a lot of us church girls had the "gentle and quiet spirit" thing rubbed in our faces at early ages. It seems the apostle Pauls' first epistle to the Christians of Asia Minor serves as a handy deterrent for Christian girls whose pesky questions in Sunday school or enthusiasm on the kickball field made their mamas worry......In search of some direction, I looked to the book of Proverbs, a collection of wisdom sayings that gives us some of the most colorful quips, cracks, praises, and poetry about women found in Scripture. This preoccupation with the feminine should come as no surprise, considering the fact that King Solomon, the figure to whom the book is often attributed, had seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines.
Proverbs's cast of female characters includes the virtuous woman, the foolish woman, the excellent wife, the shaming wife, Lady Wisdom, and Lady Folly. Making multiple appearances is the so-called contentious woman, who seems to have the opposite of a gentle and quiet spirit.
"It is better to live in a dessert land than with a contentious and vexing woman." Prov. 21:19
"A foolish son is destruction to his father, and the contentions of a wife are a constant dripping." Prov. 19:13
"A constant dripping on a day of steady rain and a contentious woman are alike; he who would restrain her restrains the wind and grasps oil with his right hand." Prov. 27:15-16
"It is better live in a corner of the roof than in a house shared with a contentious woman." Prov. 21:9
The contentious woman gave me an idea for kicking some of my less-than-gentle habits. I decided to make a swearing jar of sort. Each time I caught myself in the act of contention, I'd put a penny (or nickel or dime, depending on the severity of the infraction) in the jar. Behaviors that qualified as contention included gossiping, nagging, complaining, exaggerating, and snark. The Bible includes no direct mention of snark, of course, but in a decision I would come to regret, I added this pervasive little vice of mine for good measure..."
I must have read this particular chapter three or four times. It scared me a little bit. Good grief, if I had to put a nickel into a swear jar every time I was jealous, gossiped, nagged, or complained I would be dead broke! This chapter of this book is what initially started my anti-social media plunge. I started paying attention to the things I complained about, noticing the things that made me jealous, realizing just how often I gossiped, and a lot of those things stemmed off of what I was consumed with by social media. I know that sounds silly, but I can't help that it's true.
Here's the bottom line: The bible says for women to cultivate a gentle and quiet spirit. (1 Peter 3:4) I don't think that means that I should only talk when I'm spoken to. I don't think that means I'm not allowed to have opinions on politics or sports. It doesn't mean I'm not allowed to go dancing with friends or sing loudly and VERY off key at a concert or in my car- although some of you would probably appreciate it if it did so you wouldn't be subjected to my lack of rhythm or the bridge in Seasons of Love where the girl hits that REALLLLY high note. This verse isn't in the bible to restrict me. It's there as a command from the Lord I should seek to be following, so that my actions and choices reflect the glory of who He is.
Cussing and flipping off the guy that cut me off in traffic? Not quiet and gentle.
Going off on somebody for being late or for ignoring a text message? Not quiet and gentle.
Bragging about things I've done and accomplished to make myself look good? Not quiet and gentle.
Sarcastically responding to someone who's trying to be genuine? Not quiet and gentle.
Rolling my eyes when someone asks me to do something? Not quiet and gentle.
Arguing just for the sake of arguing or arguing to try to make myself look smart and to belittle somebody else? Not quiet and gentle.
Gossiping about things I see on Facebook pictures or Tweets? Not quiet and gentle.
See what I'm saying? These aren't behaviors that point glory back to God. So why should I want to do them at all? When I do those things, and I am VERY guilty of doing those things, I cause people to question my belief in Christ. I become a catalyst for the question "What makes christians different than non-believers?"
James 1:22 says "Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says."
I've found a stumbling block in my life. I know of something, even if it's a seemingly small something, that's keeping me from following God as closely as I could. I'm not going to go as far as putting pennies into a swear jar every time I mess up, and at the end of the month pay penances in prayer on my rooftop (Prov. 21:9) but I can start by cutting off the thing in my life that's causing me to sin. Matthew 5:30 says "If your right hand causes you to sin, it's better to cut it off and lose one body part than for your whole body to be in hell." This is me cutting off the thing that causes me to stumble, and choosing to do what the Word says rather than just looking at words floating around on a page.
SO, if you need to contact me feel free to shoot me an email at melissa6395@bellsouth.net :) It may be a while before I respond to Facebook messages or DMs. For the sake of being held accountable, and for the sake of allowing family and friends that don't live near me or see me very often, I'll try to post something here every once in a while.
I'm committing to this for one month. On September 1st I'll make sure I post about how my own little experiment went and let you know if this tech-addicted girl could kick the bad habits and negativity in order to further her relationship with Christ. *Gulp!* Here goes nothing!
Screenshot of my phone as proof! :-O
*If anyone is looking for an interesting read, I really do recommend the book. It's challenged me in multiple ways on what it means to be a Christian woman, and Rachel Held Evans is really funny! Here's what the back cover says... "Strong-willed and independent, Rachel Held Evans couldn't sew a button on a blouse before she embarked on a radical life experiment-- a year of biblical womanhood. Intrigued by the traditionalist resurgence that led many of her friends to abandon their careers to assume traditional gender roles in the home, Evans decides to try it for herself, vowing to take all of the Bible;s instructions for women as literally as possible for a year. Evans learns the hard way that her quest for biblical womanhood requires more than a "gentle and quiet spirit" It means growing out her hair, making her own clothes, covering her head, obeying her husband, rising before dawn, abstaining from gossip, remaining silent in church, and even camping out in her front yard during her period. With just the right mixture of humor and insight, compassion and incredulity, A Year of Biblical Womanhood is an exercise in scriptural exploration and spiritual contemplation. What does God truly expect of women, and is there really a prescription for biblical womanhood? Come along with Evans as she looks for answers in the rich heritage of biblical heroines, models of grace, and all-around woman of valor."
The DMV. The Doctor's Office. The Pizza Delivery Man. They all have one thing
in common: waiting. We sit for hours on end in waiting rooms or wait with
a persistent "h-anger" for our food to arrive in thirty minutes
or less on a regular basis. We expect results, and in our world of "get it
now" culture, waiting is simply the worst.
Don't want to wait for a movie to come out on
DVD? Pay extra money and have it available to download to you the second it
comes out online.
Don't want to stay on hold with Apple
Support? Type in your name and number on their website under the customer
service tab and someone will call you within 10 minutes when
a representative is available.
Don't want to call the pizza guy? Don't want
to type in your order online? Use an emoji to order your large pepperoni with
extra cheese. AN EMOJI!
Don't want to dig through your wallet for
your mastercard? Is counting cash too time consuming? Use your smartphone and
scan your credit card at participating stores directly from your phone.
When we are forced to wait for something, it pushes feelings
of helplessness and ineffectiveness to the surface of our emotional boundaries
where we constantly question whether or not the thing that we wait for is worth
our precious time. I hate waiting. I avoid doctor's offices, DMVs, the bank,
the mechanic, and long lines at all costs. Don't believe me? I'm sitting in
Starbucks right now. I walked in and the line was all the way to the door. I
sat down, opened my computer, worked on finishing something up for school, and
ordered my drink from my phone. Seriously. Seven minutes later, as the guy that
would have been in front of me stepped up to place his order I was telling the
barista thank you with a smile on my face. (Is that cheating? I felt kind of
bad...)
As I sat down again and sipped my venti non-fat double shot on ice with 3 shots
of sugar free vanilla and 3 shots of sugar free caramel syrup instead of the
usual 6 shots of classic syrup (Sorry barista for my complicated order) I
overheard the conversation from the people sitting at the tables around me. At
the long table in the corner, two women in pants suits talked into their
bluetooth as one typed furiously on her laptop and another glanced over the
piles of plans laid out on the table, tapping incessantly with her
left hand while tapping her foot before rolling her eyes every few minutes
and announcing that she was still on hold. At the table in front of me, a
family of four and their grandmother sat on smartphones with pens and paper in
hand jotting down information about local schools that could be found in
whatever area they were moving to. The younger child was napping peacefully in
the stroller, and the older girl was fidgeting in the seat playing with the
straw that came with her now empty smoothie cup while her parents and
grandmother argued over the actual definition of a Montessori School. To my
right a middle aged man sat by himself at a table by the window, checking his
watch every few minutes, loosening and tightening his tie, and checking his hair
in the front facing camera on his phone. Just as I was taking a final sip of my
complicated order, a woman waltzed in the door, ran her fingers through her
hair before sitting down and leaning in to kiss the man's cheek. "I'm so
sorry I'm late! I hope you haven't been waiting too long."
I've only been here for forty-five minutes.
As a country we're waiting for the next scandalous or controversial
thing to come out of a politician's mouth. We're waiting on pins and
needles as we watch social and racial tensions rise on a daily basis. We're
anxiously waiting for the news blurb to come across our phone notifying us of
the most recent terrorist attack or mass causality shooting. We're
living in a world with such little hope, that we've forgot how to wait for the
hope that's coming back to save us.
We've stopped waiting for Christ's return.
We've stopped looking around for the "God Moments" where He reveals
himself and all we do is complain and question. All we do is curse and belittle
the Almighty and roll our eyes and assume He's given up on our fallen world.
We don't live like people who are striving to prepare for Christ's arrival. We
live like people who are trying to sweep life's messes under the rug in hopes
of being able to ignore them until they start to overflow at the corners.
We don't wait patiently for anything anymore. We pray for peace and restoration
for our world, and when it doesn't come immediately we betray our faith in God
and accuse Him of not caring anymore. I was encouraged recently by Psalm 13
when David is pleading with God and asking Him why he feels so lonely. He's
basically saying "You there, God? Hello? Why don't I feel you? Why can't I
see you? Why aren't you evident in my life? How long are these feelings going
to last? Am I going to feel lonely forever? Ok...fine. I trust you to work
everything out, you're pretty cool God." He's honest with God, pleading
with Him, questioning Him. But in the end of his prayer we see that David tells
God that he trusts Him and will praise Him even when David doesn't feel like
it.
We don't do that anymore as a nation. We pray for restoration, and then
impatiently wait for immediate results. We skip the part where we say "You
know what God? This is insane. Laws are being changed, people are being shot
over disagreements, women and children are being abducted, people are being
killed because of what they look like...but we trust that you're coming back,
We're clinging to that hope."
That hope.
That hope that entered humbly into this world as a perfect human infant. That
hope that lived perfectly so that we would not have to in order to enter into
the kingdom. That hope that has kept the world in a working order generation
after generation after generation. That hope that cares for the sparrows and knows
the numbers of hair on the top of our head or that can hold the world's oceans
in the palm of his hands.
That hope is Jesus, and sometimes it's helpful to remember that the battle has
already been won. Christ is bigger than gun control regulations. Christ is
bigger than ISIS. Christ is bigger than racial tension. Christ is bigger than
'lifestyle choice' controversies. Christ is bigger than all of those big
things, and he's bigger than the small things that continue to go on in
everyone's life while we watch the world deal with it's own issues. Christ is
bigger than student loan debt. Christ is bigger than PRAXIS scores or
scheduling issues. Christ is bigger than your difficult co-worker. Christ is
bigger than all of the things that we fill our mind with by worrying.
So today, as you go throughout your routines and lives, stop being impatient.
Stop questioning why and start trusting that even though it
doesn't feel like it, God is sovereign and in control. Cling to that hope. Draw
near to God and allow Him to draw near to you. Allow Him to use you to further
His kingdom. Look for ways to be encouraging to those who are hurting. Look for
ways to bless someone around you. Look for ways to serve and love and love and
love.
Love is the only thing that's going to start sticking stuff back together
again. Cling to hope that can only be found in love.
Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there! :) I hope today was as awesome as I bet you are ;) This is the post I made on Facebook earlier that generally sums up the sappy things I feel about my father...
We spent Father's Day at home this year. While that may not sound very exciting to you, having all four of us under the same roof for any extended amount of time is kind of a rarity these days. Everyone has different schedules, so it's not very common for all of us just to have a day where we are all four working on catching up on housework and things of the sort. It was very nice. :) Dad and Michael put together a bookshelf, mom caught up on some laundry, and I tackled the dreaded task of cleaning my bedroom...
I suppose I "cleaned" my room about a month ago. I threw away the trash, put up my clothes, made my bed, etc. But today I CLEANED my room. Dusting, organizing, filing old papers, organizing the closet, organizing drawers of clothes, cleaning out from under the desk and under the bed, washing the sheets, posting things to resale sites, etc. It's still not completely done (I need to vacuum tomorrow and find a home for a few odds and ends that have made appearances after a long hiatus...) but it's way way better than it has been for the last few weeks.
While I was cleaning I logged on to a website that our church is utilizing called RightNowMedia. It's best described as "the Netflix of bible studies." You log on, find a series you want to listen to or watch, and you watch the videos in that series that would usually accompany a video study you would do with a small group. I've watched several series, and have even taught on one recently in my sunday school class, and have really enjoyed using it. Today I decided to just pick one at random that looked pretty interesting and left it playing while I was cleaning and organizing. I was really surprised at how much I got out of it...
A couple of years ago I read a book called Not a Fan by Kyle Idleman. I remember really liking how it was written, and I was thinking about it the other day, so I looked up additional studies by Idleman. I thought this one looked pretty good so I gave it a shot.
This particular series was strange at first because it was set up as an actual film in some ways. Each video was like a 30 minute TV episode that followed the lives and characters of serveal interweaving storylines with Idleman's commentary strewn in throughout. It was different, but I liked it.
The series went through the story of the Prodigal Son. You know, the one where the son goes up to his dad and says "Yo, I wish you were dead. Give me all the money that I would get as my inheritance if you die so I can go live my life." The dad gives it to him, the son goes off and blows the money on whatever it was you did back in the first century to get turnt up, loses all the money, goes hungry, and then heads back to dad's house in hopes that his father will hire him on as help so he can earn enough money to buy food to eat. Unexpectedly the father meets him and gives him a huge hug and tells him how happy he is that he has returned home, and orders his servants to make a ton of food so they can have a feast to properly celebrate the homecoming of his lost son. (MJennings Translation. Actual story can be find in Luke 15: 11-32)
Idleman really breaks down what the story of the Prodigal Son is about. (I won't waste your time summarizing each session, give it a listen sometime if you have a chance.) As I listened to each part of the lesson I couldn't help but stand amazed and think about our Heavenly Father's love for His children...
There was a child who had everything he could possibly need, but he chose to flee and try to go against what his father wanted from him.
The son hit rock bottom and had nowhere else to go other than back to his father. He expected reprimand and heavy consequences at best, but instead received grace and complete joy upon arriving back home.
Jesus told this parable on purpose as a direct parallel to our spiritual lives. We are sons and daughters of the King who is the ultimate provider. He has given us all that we need, yet time and time again we choose to flee and go against His will in our lives. We inevitably hit rock bottom and we eventually make the choice to meander our way back to the straight and narrow path in which we pursue Christ and go to ask for His forgiveness, but we do so with the fear of rejection. We're afraid He won't take us back after we try to do things our own way. Yet every time we find ourselves at the feet of the cross, there He is with open arms and tears of joy as he exclaims "Welcome home my child!"
It's absolutely beautiful, and after really listening to what Idleman had to say and studying it a little bit on my own, I think I might go as far to say that this is my favorite story in the bible. It serves as yet another example of God's provision and unconditional love.
It's Father's Day and I have been able to celebrate not only my dad's 21st Father's Day here, but also celebrated my Heavenly Father today as well. And I got a lot cleaned up and organized so win-win-win. ;) Thankful to celebrate another Father's Day and I pray that even if your earthly father's day was harder than you thought it would be or if it's just a hard day in general that you cling to the hope we have in Christ and that you remember or even realize His unconditional love for you.
I think the coolest part about the story of the Prodigal Son is that the son just got up and decided to go back home. He didn't get up and say "Ok...I need to go get a new suit. I've got to look presentable before I go back home." or "Ok...I have to find a way to come up with half of the money I took to pay my dad back." or "I need to get it together first." He just got up and went. Likewise, God isn't waiting for us to get it together. He isn't waiting for us to graduate college or fix a marriage. He isn't waiting for us to get out of debt or defeat a battle with addiction. He isn't waiting for us to do better or be better or act differently. He isn't waiting for any of that. He's waiting for us to simply make the choice to step towards Him and make the decision to come home. He'll greet us with open arms and celebrate our arrival.
You don't have to do anything to earn this love. And if you think you've lost that love and that you could never get it back because it's too far gone, you're mistaken. He's there waiting for you to turnaround and head back home. He can't wait to celebrate with you.
