It was a very good year for small-town girls

Everyone’s doing it. Looking back at 2008. Giving it a warm hug before it moves on. Or maybe giving it an inappropriate gesture on its way out. Or maybe staring at it like it just slapped you in the face and wanting to mumble, “why?”

I’m joining in, mostly because I started writing a blog in 2008, and it makes it really easy to go back through the posts and remember what happened. So I’ll give you some highs, some lows and at the end my favorite blog posts of 2008.

Good year for books (+)

I read every Jane Austen novel in existence in 2008. It was stinkin’ awesome. I’m pretty sure nothing can make you feel girlier, smarter and stronger at the same time.

I also read Gone With the Wind, Scarlett and Rhett Butler’s People…good, good stuff ya’ll. I’m pretty sure you can’t call yourself a southerner if you haven’t read GWTW.

I’ve been neglecting my reading over the last few months… it makes me a little sad, but I always know it will be there. That…escape.


Mixed bag for work (+/-)

I had to host the early shift for SEVERAL weeks earlier this year. That was not the best.

I got moved from weekends to a weekday schedule. That WAS the best.

I had an awesome boss who challenged me and made me better every day, which was awesome. But he’s gone now (new job). That’s not awesome.


Good moving decision (+)

I moved in with Viv in 2008. Great living situation, great friend, great roomie, less lonely Steph… all good things. I've said it before and I'll say it again: until Viv, I didn't know a roommate situation could be a good thing. And it's been a GREAT thing so far.


Loss of kitty (- -)

2008 was a majorly traumatic year on the pet-front. Clara was diagnosed with cancer, was sick most of the year, and died in the fall. It was documented pretty well on this blog. Months later, I can tell you it still hurts every once in awhile... when something like "my cat used to do that" or "Clara used to LOVE that!" pops out of my mouth without thinking.


Working with the kids at church (+)

I never would have thought just sharing the same space with some children every other week would be one of the best things I've ever done. But it is. It's taught me about the beauty of childhood, the importance of caring adults in their lives and childlike adoration of God.

It's also where I happened to meet D (more on that later).


Earthquake (+)

That's right. I put a plus next to 'earthquake'. A few reasons: I don't get to feel earthquakes very much (okay, EVER) and no one was hurt. It was actually pretty cool to feel it. But, I'm done now.


St. Augustine Vacation (+)

Yeah, it's good to get away from work for awhile. Yeah, it's good (okay, GREAT) to sit by the beach and do nothing and read amazing literature. What was even better (amazingly special) about this trip is that I got to spend it with my parents, watching how much they love each other about so many years of marriage, seeing how much they love me (mooch-daughter who can't afford a vacation and crashed what could have been a vacation with just the two of them).

Really special. I'm glad we got that chance.


Heat stroke (-)

Steph learned the importance (read: absolute necessity) of electrolytes.


Temporary blindness (-)

The scary, frightening feeling of progressively and drastically losing vision isn't one I'd recommend for anyone in 2009. Maybe just rent a movie. It costs WAAY less.


Staycation!! (+)

Hey, there are some good things about not having any money! One of them is that you get to spend a week with one of your best friends galavanting around Louisville and doing only the super-funnest things you can think of! Staycation was well-documented here, but I'll wrap it up with saying (along a similar vein) 2008 was definitely a year of learning and growing in some amazing friendships with some of the most amazing women in the world.


Best Birthday Ever! (+)

I'm a big fan of my birthday. But this one was the best birthday ever. Surrounded by all my favorite people in the world... great weather... lake... awesome.


Windstorm Sleepover (+)

Leave it to my girls to make a crippling windstorm that left hundreds of thousand of people without electricity into a super-fun week.


Heidi died (-)

She was a major player in my life here in Louisville, it still doesn't even seem real she's gone.


D (++)

Duncan. I met him at church. We went on a few dates. We met each other's friends. And since then have practically been inseparable. I haven't put that much about him on the blog. I'm not really sure why. I think part of it is that I'm okay with putting stuff about me on the blog, but I feel weird making that decision for other people.

So I'll tell you what you need to know from my perspective: He is... confirmation that everything I thought a man could be (should be)...can be. He is... someone who challenges me to seek a closer relationship with God every day. He is... someone who believes in me. He is... someone who cherishes (cherishes!) almost everything I do and everything I say. He is... someone who searches for and wishes to live in God's will. He is... entirely too amazing to be dating me!

Most of you have met him by now, and for those of you who haven't, I'm sure you will :)


2008 Wrap

I was just saying to my mom the other day that I remember at the end of 2007 thinking, 'let's not do THAT again'. And I don't really know why. Nothing really happened. But that's kind of the point.

If you don't know anyone and don't have any close friends and don't put yourself out in the world, nothing happens. As you can see, 2008 was full of good things and not-so-good things, but at least it was FULL. And even during the not-so-good things, the good things usually find a way to shine through. When I had heat stroke, my friends took care of me. When Clara died, D rushed to me and comforted me. When I had to go to the eye doc a bunch and needed rides to the doc's office, Viv's boyfriend Vlad came through for me.

But, at the same time, this realization brings a bit of remorse as well. CHANGE is good, but not always fun at the time. Maybe the recent change in Bible study has me thinking about this. I just have this impending sense of HUGE CHANGE... maybe it's because Ann is talking about moving to Kansas (and I'm starting to think she's really serious about it!)... maybe it's because Crystal's started talking about going to grad school in Tennessee... maybe it's because people all over the universe have been asking me if I'm getting married soon...

Whatever it is, 2009 will surely not look like 2008. Part of me really wants it to. But the other part of me knows it can't, and even if it could, it wouldn't be as great.

So, raise your virtual champagne glasses with me and toast to 2008: true friends who add spice to life, a love that has opened my eyes to true (Godly) romance, family that never fails, and a Father whose promises are true today, tomorrow and forever.

Cheers, friends.

See you in 2009.

Favorite Blog Posts of 2008

The Universe to Steph: No Bubble Baths EVER
What a Little Packing Can Do For Ya...
I'm the Barney
Growin' Up Is Hard To Do...
If a Kitty Could Be An Angel...
It Doesn't Always Look The Way You Think It Should



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Immanuel!

(This is my 100th post. In a million years, I could never think of a better way to use it.)




Immanuel! God (is) with us!!


May you remember our Savior's humble beginnings... and experience the spirit of the Magi - who dropped everything, and traveled weeks (years?) just to kneel at His feet.


Just to kneel at His feet.


What amazing evangelists we'd all be if we lived that way.


Merry Christmas, friends and family.


Love,
Steph






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If you aren't sure, choose another word

The lack of understanding for a literary device as awesome as irony disturbs me. You may be familiar with the Alanis Morissette song, “Ironic”, in which she lists a bunch of situations she deems ironic. Alanis – they aren’t ironic. Most of them are just unfortunate.

A traffic jam when you’re already late. Not ironic. Frustrating.
A ‘no smoking’ sign on your cigarette break. Same.
Ten thousand spoons when all you need is a knife. You see a pattern?
Meeting the man of your dreams… then meeting his beautiful wife. Ye-ah.

NOT IRONIC.

This, obviously, has been an issue I’ve had for years. I’m not sure full attribution of the decline in general understanding of actual irony can be given to our friend Alanis. But it is dire, folks. Dire.

You may be wondering… if this has been such a beef of mine for so long, what caused me to write about it NOW? Great question.

This morning, on the radio, there was a quote from Condoleeza Rice…

“It’s kind of ironic. Thomas Jefferson came in worried about pirates. It looks like I’m going to leave worried about pirates.”

That’s not ironic, Condi!!! That’s a coincidence!

This one bothers me. A lot more than the other one. I’m okay with Alanis Morissette not being very smart. But Condi? Condi!?!?!? She freakin’ smart, man!

Plus, I’ve always felt a certain kinship with her. She’s like me. But a lot better. She’s a musician. She likes pro football. That’s like, TWO things we have in common! But not this irony thing, Condi, not this.

Let’s all go over what irony actually IS…

The use of works to convey a meaning that is the opposite of its literal meaning.
(literature)
a technique of indicating, as through character or plot development, an intention or attitude opposite to that which is actually or ostensibly stated.
a manner of organizing a work so as to give full expression to contradictory or complementary impulses, attitudes, etc., especially as a means of indicating detachment from a subject, theme, or emotion.

SO – if we were to take ol’ Alanis’s lyrics and ACTUALLY MAKE THEM IRONIC…they would go something like this:

A traffic jam when you’re already late…to receive an award from the Municipal Planning Board for reducing the city’s automobile congestion by 80%.

Meeting the man of your dreams and then meeting his beautiful wife…who happens to be the psychiatrist you recently hired in hopes of improving your luck with men.

Other examples:

A vegan opening a slaughterhouse.
All your Metro Council members are anarchists.

Get it?

::deep breath::

I feel much better now.

Yes, folks. I'm weird. I embrace it.


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It Doesn't Always Look The Way You Think It Should

My Bible study is calling it quits. Still, three days after we decided to do so, I feel extremely conflicted about it.

- It's been a long time. This Bible study has been part of my life for two and a half years. Not with these exact people (in fact, NONE of the people who were in it this semester were in it when we started), but it was always the same study. Teachers changed, locations changed (when I moved), attendees changed, but the study was the same.

- It's one of the Top Five Best Things I've Ever Done. This study made me feel at home at Southeast. This study has convicted me, expanded my thinking, and deepened my love for God and His Word. Through studies of Genesis, Jesus's teachings, Paul's letters from prison, Daniel, prophecy, and the atrributes of God... my trust in Him has grown exponentially. For the first time in my life, I was part of a small community of people who were praying for each other. Daily.

This study brought me into the lives of some of the best people I have ever (maybe will ever) known. Max. Sara. Nick. Nate. Viv. Ann. Crystal. These are the All-Stars, people. Life-changing.

- It was sort of... mine. From the beginning, it has always met at my house. And in that way, I sort of evolved as the Bible study 'mama'. Having enough seats, making sure it was warm enough (quite a challenge at the old place), making sure snacks were available, having materials and extra Bibles ready. I loved it. For some reason, when Max left as teacher and Nate left as teacher after that, teaching responsibilities fell to Nick and me.

As if I thought I couldn't be stretched, be pushed, to be better through this study, it happened again. I was scared to teach. I was scared to be THAT kind of leader. I prayed and prayed and prayed about it for a whole summer. And when it was time to teach, I was ready. Not because of any preparation of mine, mind you. It was completely God at work. Another time it didn't look exactly how I thought it should.

I won't say all my lessons were perfect, or even great, but I will say I think each person took SOMETHING away from each of them... something to think about, pray about, meditate on... and that's all I really ever wanted.

But I think this point is one of the reasons I'm having a hard time with the Bible study ending: in a really weird way, I feel like I've failed. Like I've let down Max, who started the study and left it in my hands.

I know this is ridiculous. No Bible study meets forever. Most Bible studies don't even meet longer than six months. And really, it's not healthy to keep meeting forever... we all have things to learn from other people in the world. But it doesn't change this weird, gut reaction I'm having to the change.


There are things I'm looking foward to about the change... not worrying every week about who to harass to bring snacks, not staying up til two in the morning working on a lesson, not wondering if anyone's noticed the pantyhose Buster drug under the couch that I didn't see until they were already here. I am looking forward to getting involved in a study in which I'm not a leader, maybe for a few weeks I can just blend into the background and no one will know I'm a type-A perfectionist, control freak who likes to be in charge (yeah, right).

I'm worried I won't find a Bible study that digs as deep as we did. I'm worried I won't find a study with people in my age group. I'm worried I won't be as challenged as I was, as emotionally tied-in as I was, as blessed or convicted or led or inspired or ________ as I was.

But, you know what? I might be MORE blessed, MORE inspired, MORE challenged with the new study. It might be the perfect group for whatever new phase I'm about to enter in life. Because (news flash!) THAT'S how God works.

It's not about me and what I think. What I think it should look like. How I think it should go.

No matter how well I think I've planned things. No matter how pretty I've made it look. No matter how I've always pictured it, if it's not God's, it's no good.

So let's take a deep breath... take that first step... give it a try... and see what He does.


Motto of 2008: Let. Go. Sanders. Let go.


Standby...



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I Will Sink Your Battleship

It’s True Because We Say It’s True

D and I went to the Creation Museum over the weekend. All you really need to know about the trip is that THIS is the ONLY thing I found worthy of taking a picture:

Pretty hilarious, huh?

In the whole museum, planetarium, live nativity town, petting zoo, etc. THAT was the thing I took a picture of. And that’s the only picture.

I DID like the planetarium. It was my first planetarium experience, so that’s pretty cool. But I’m pretty sure it could be a lot better because when I was all giddy and child-like with starstruck awe afterwards, D kept saying ‘we need to get you to a real planetarium’.

Also, I don’t know how you get a gig being the narrator of one of those shows, so I’m just going to try this:

Dear People Who Produce Shows for Planetariums:

I really dig stars. And I’m on the radio. I wouldn’t be a terrible choice for narrator on your next planetarium show production. Give me a buzz.

I guess the thing I found most disappointing is that I was looking forward to some time with D, doing something out of our normal routines, experiencing a little Christmas happiness… and it just wasn’t the best.

But the very next night…


Guard Your Battleships

Christmas cheer and genuine fun with friends was found. In a surprisingly familiar place. We made dinner at D’s house, his friend Lance was over, we played board games, we listened to D’s surprisingly awesome music collection, we laughed and made fun of the music we used to dance to at school parties… it was… really. awesome. And another lesson to me that the best memories are made because of the people with whom you make them. Not a trip. Not lots of glitter and technology. It’s the people. And really, I already knew that. But it’s nice to be reminded every once in awhile.

Also, we learned I do not suck at Battleship.

I haven’t played Battleship a lot or anything, but I know how to play. And, apparently, according to D and Lance, getting more hits than misses while demolishing your opponent doesn’t really happen that much.


Actually, D kept using the work ‘inhuman’. So I’ve apparently got mutant Battleship skills (they were tested over a total of TWO games). So, you better watch out, people. I will crush you at Battleship.

You should know, though, that D squashed me quite handily at a little game known as ‘Scrabble’. I’m told it takes superior vocabulary and strategizing skills, both of which I’m more than ready to admit D has in greater amounts than me. I used to be known in almost all of my circles as the girl with all the words. My vocab doesn’t suck. But I will tell you, people-who-know-me-but-not-D, he’s got WAAAYY more words than me. No one thinks of me as the girl with all the words anymore.

If you’d told me seven months ago I’d be dating someone with superior vocabulary and grammar skills, I’d believe you. But if you told me I’d REALLY LIKE IT, I wouldn’t have believed you. But I do. I really like that about him.


So I’ll let him have Scrabble. I’ll keep kicking his bootie at Battleship. That’s a good relationship, right? :)

One of the Most Amazing Things I've Ever Seen

You know I never do this (except with that awesome hedge), but watch these vids:








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Pause.

Life is getting pretty hectic. Work is weird hours, making sleep weird hours. Quality time with D, quality time with God, quality time studying for the next Bible study lesson I’m teaching. Then, you know, boring things like making sure clothes are clean and such. Sprinkle in some holiday festivities (even the ones you don’t want to go to, but have to), holiday cooking, holiday family-time-spending negotiations, holiday shopping and pretty soon you get a big ol’ bowl of HECTIC. Hectic soup with tired shavings on top and crazy crackers.

It’s easy to let things that are really important to me (example: time catching up with mom on the phone) slip. Easy to say I can do it tomorrow. Easy to say it isn’t as important to me as __(fill in the blank)___.

So it’s been easy for my group of girlfriends to fall into that. Dinner with me and Ann. Painting party with me, Ann and Crystal. Lunch with Crystal. Shopping with Viv. Movies with Ann and Viv. Bible study with Viv and Ann. Church will Crystal. Emails with Ann. Nightly catchups with Viv.

They’re all busy too. They’ve all got job issues, family issues, kitty issues, man issues… SLEEP issues.

But for one, beautiful night this weekend, we all hit PAUSE. We all found time (MADE time) to be… together. Nothing special. Just us. Some cookies. Some neon icing. Some cuddly blankets and Christmas cheer. And this… perfect…wonderful…luminescent…moment.

There were other, (cough) less magical moments this weekend. I’m going to partially blame it on lack of sleep (thank you, early shift). I went to a Christmas tea on Friday night. There were good parts: hanging with cool people, a BEAUTIFUL table (we clearly had the best hostess), yummy snacks, etc. But there were also terrible parts: interpretive dance (that was not actually interpretive dance, it was crappy middle-aged ballet), and a really not-funny comedian. I was so not-amused that Aimee (our awesome hostess with supreme decorating and baking skills) actually thought I was offended. I’m not really sure about what I could have been offended by, but I was clearly not laughing.

But there WERE huge jingle-bells…

And snacks…

And the Worship Carpenters. Okay, their name is actually Unveiled (or UNFAILED, we’re not really sure).

Also, Nannie gave me Papaw’s camera. Which is awesome for a few reasons: 1.) It’s a really great camera and 2.) it was Papaw’s. So now you get to enjoy to some pics of me playing with the new camera.

Ann: "There's a whole room full of costumes over here!!!" (is it possible to NOT have fun when she's around?)

Mom's cat Frankie. I'm pretty sure now we should have named him Rhett Butler. He's mischievous, mysterious, disappears for long periods of time, hurts sometimes, playful, handsome. Yeah. Rhett Butler.

Also, no this picture is not from 2006. I had just gained control of the camera. It's fixed now.

This is in My Top Five Favorite Pictures of Mom and Dad:

To wrap, here is my advice to you: say NO to Christmas Tea events, say YES to hand-me-downs that hold technological and personal awesomeness and take time to push PAUSE. Good things happen when the world stops rushing by.


Standby…


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