talitha cumi

it means, "little girl, get up."


Christ said it to jairus' daughter when He raised her from the dead.  i like to think of Him saying the same to me in times when i'm fearful or tired.


when life feels too overwhelming and i need that extra urging from my Savior to "get up."


a few weeks ago my parents had me over for dinner along with some of the guys who i'll be working with in zambia.  (for those of you who are not aware, i'm moving to zambia for a year on september 23rd!)


we talked a little about the ministry there and what i should expect.  then they asked what kinds of things tend to irritate me on a regular basis.  you know... my pet peeves.  not that i don't have any, because i certainly do, but being put on the spot i couldn't think of anything.  thankfully my dear sweet mother came to the rescue and informed them that i don't like it when people do things that i see as "stupid"


NOTE: she's probably not thrilled that i'm telling the world this... then again, i'm not thrilled that it's true.


you see, i have this tendency to get really impatient with people when they use (what in my mind is) absolutely no sense and then i get frustrated... and sometimes even (dare i say it?) mad!  but i know this about myself and am trying to learn how to respond better when things don't go exactly how i think they should.


so that night i was a little (actually a lot) troubled.  i couldn't sleep because i kept thinking "i'm going to be angry all the time... at everyone!" and "those poor kids are going to be afraid of me because i'll be really mean!" and "everyone's going to hate me and i'm going to hate everyone back!"


dramatic much?


the next morning i was in much need of truth (and sleep!) so i opened my Bible to daniel 10, where daniel tells about one of his visions.  in this particular vision an angel is speaking to him and he is so terrified he is unable to speak or move (boy could i relate!).  this is what happens:

while he was speaking to me, I looked down at the ground, unable to say a word.  then the one who looked like a man touched my lips, and i opened my mouth and began to speak.  i said to the one standing in front of me, 

"i am terrified by the vision i have seen, my lord, and i am very weak.  how can someone like me, your servant, talk to you, my lord?  my strength is gone, and i can hardly breathe." 

then the one who looked like a man touched me again, and i felt my strength returning. 

"don't be afraid," he said, "for you are deeply loved by God.  Be at peace; take heart and be strong!" 

when he spoke these words i suddenly felt stronger..."

man i love it when God does that!  He didn't have to, you know.  He could have let me stew over my own insufficiency... but instead He chose to reassure His child that she is "deeply loved" and encourage her to "take heart and be strong!"


so watch out zambia... this girl is getting up.  she is taking heart and being strong... and all to the credit of the deep and powerful love of her God.

i said i would NEVER do it again...

anyone else out there ever find it hard to stay focused? 

*NOTE* this picture has nothing to do with anything... 

which totally makes my point

if you ask my mother ( or my dad or sisters or friends or anyone who knows me, for that matter) you'll find that i specialize in this area of expertise... unless of course the thing i'm focused on is low priority and slightly ridiculous.


this would explain why last night i found myself setting my alarm clock for 12AM so i could take a quick nap before i braved those hours where night blurs into morning... all to finish a project for work that went out this morning.  yep... leslie does not like to focus until it is absolutely necessary.


the best part is that not 5 hours earlier i said with vigor and conviction to a friend who happened to be within earshot, "i will never pull an all-nighter for work again.  i don't care if i'm behind.  i won't do it." 


but the sad reality of the situation is that i did... and i will again.  we all know it.  why try to pretend otherwise.  i have been known to be called "the queen of procrastination" a time or two, but thought that as i grew up i'd mature a little.  nope.  it seems i'm only getting worse.


so the question is what can i do about it?  


scratch that... i don't want to know... truth be told if i open up the comment box and see a bunch of helpful tips on how to become responsible i might (will) end up slightly (totally) bothered (annoyed) and wonder why no one understands that this is just the way i am!  


oh boyza, i'm sounding more immature by the minute... oh well.  i guess it's just the way i am.

the gift of healing

this:

is "the last of a long line of" drano bottles used on 

this:

my sink.

are you on the edge of your seats yet?  well, let me start at the beginning ("a very good place to start"... wow, 2 random quotes and this story hasn't even started yet!)


about a month ago... actually over... february 1, to be precise, my dear and faithful kitchen sink developed a clog in the drain... a nasty clog indeed.


so what did i do?


i poured 1 bottle of drano down the drain... did it help?  nope.
i poured another bottle of drano down the drain... did it help?  nope.
i poured 3 and 4 and 5, yes 5, bottles of drano down the drain... did any of it help?  nope.


so what did i do?


i prayed.


and this was no ordinary prayer either... this was a desperate, laying on of hands, "Lord, please heal my sink" kind of prayer.  seriously.  i put my hands on that sink and i prayed a prayer that went something like this:

"Lord, i feel really stupid doing this, but i'm just gonna do it anyway.  so Lord, please heal my sink.  i NEED you to heal my sink!  i know You can do this.  i believe You can do this.  and if you don't that's okay, but PLEASE heal my sink.  i can't afford a plumber right now.  i can't afford to keep buying drano right now.  so in the name of Jesus, sink, you be healed!"

then i stood back, took a deep breath, and turned on the water.


no dice.


so what did i do?


i went to indiana for the weekend and forgot about it.  and when i came back it was still there.
then i went to tennessee for the next weekend and forgot about it.  and when i came back it was still there.
so i went to ukraine for 2 weeks and forgot about it.  and when i came back it was still there.


do you know how annoying it is to have your kitchen sink clogged for over a month?  i do.


but this wednesday, march 9th, something happened.  i was talking to my friend at my kitchen table.  the sink was full of water because i'd braved doing the dishes even thought draining the sink would take no less than 2 hours.


suddenly we heard this massive GULP come from my sink.  i went over to let the rest of the water out and to my astonishment the entire sink emptied beautifully.


"erica!!!! my sink just emptied!!!"


she didn't seem to grasp how amazing this was.  i turned on the water and let it run for a few minutes... no clog!!! it just kept flowing down that beautiful beautiful drain!!!


"erica!!!  God healed my sink!!!  He healed my sink!!!  He just waited a month, but He did it!!!"


i started jumping around my kitchen like a complete crazy and have been kind of giddy ever since.  


so if any of you have any appliances hanging around the house that need to be healed feel free to give me a call.  it might take a month, but i have this feeling that i've uncovered a gift here.


what do you think?
(ooh, maybe i shouldn't ask!)

spaseebo. ameen.

we were about to eat dinner and they asked me to pray.  this had happened before, and every time I had responded with, "you want me to?" to which denis would reply "yes, we let women pray here." which would then result in a heavy eye roll from yours truly.

of course, we still went through the same "pre-prayer" routine but this time when i opened my mouth to pray i decided to forgo the whole english thing...

"dorogoy Nyebyesnee Otets,

spaseebo.

ameen."

boy did that get a reaction.  i only said "dear Heavenly Father, thank You.  amen." but i like to tell myself they thought i was pretty cool from that point on... then again i was wearing sneakers in the middle of a harsh ukrainian winter... but that's another story for another time.

me n my homeboy

yesterday i flew home from ukraine.  1) i didn't have access to my car and 2) i really didn't want to think about cooking or buying groceries so... 


i called my sis to see if she could pick me up and let me hang out at their place for a while (aka for dinner).  then i fell asleep on her couch at 9 and have been here ever since.   do i sound lazy?  oh no.  i call it jet lagged.


about a half hour ago she had to run to pick the girls up from school so she gave Hudson the option of going with her or staying home with aunt leslie, to which he responded,


"i want to stay here with aunt leslie so she's not all alone"  aww.  how sweet.


so we passed the time playing with photo booth... a great hit, let me tell you.

oh hudsy boy.  i love you.

3 little fairies

so around a month ago i had a little conversation with my 7 year-old niece, paige.  it went something like this:


p: this year for halloween i want to be a rainbow fairy
me: that sounds cool
p: do you dress up for halloween?
me: i did last year... you want to know what i dressed up as?
p: what?
me: the burning bush
p: (uncertain grunt)
me: you know what that's from?
p: yeah, the Bible story... how'd you do that?
me: well i made it out of stuff.
p: you MADE it?  could you make mine?
me: (uuuuhhhh...) sure
p: (voice getting more excited) okay, so i want a LOT of colors, because it can't be plain, otherwise it wouldn't be a RAINBOW fairy and i WANT it to be REALLY colorful.
me: i think i can do that.
p's mom: you want to make them for her sisters' too?
me: (evil glare) sure


now, before my sister comes and slaps me with the truth stick, i have to admit... there was no evil glaring.  i was actually pretty excited... but no story is complete without a little conflict, right?  gotta love that artistic license.


anyway, a week goes by and i received this little number in the mail (fyi: my name is not spelled like that)

funny girl.  so, knowing the expectations where high i slaved and i sewed and i sewed and i slaved and i turned my nice clean upstairs into, well, a...

not so clean upstairs.


but the end result turned out to be worth the energy... plus raely kept saying "your the BEST, aunt leslie!" which is almost enough to get me to do it again.  



i love how the pictures totally show their personalities

the youngest fairy was sleeping during the other two's debut, but i was able to get this quick shot as she was awaiting the arrival of her cousins...

i am in love with a man...

...a man named, dan computer-fix-it-man (i don't know his last name, so "computer-fix-it-man" will have to suffice)


oh we had a rough start... our relationship was broken and fragile (at least my computer was)


for weeks he left me hanging... waiting by the phone with not so much as a "hello" to ease my mind.


but now... oh now things are good!  things are divine!


issues have been resolved, the brokenness is mended (plus he gave me FREE updates!!!)


oh dan, fear not.  all has been forgiven and restored.  it's time to look to the future, not dwell on the past...


(and hopefully that means i won't be gracing your doors for a very, very long time.)


here's to you, dan.