the lamest prayer ever!

last night as i was lying awake in bed, unable to sleep thinking about all the things in the previous post, i prayed one simple prayer...

"Daddy," i said,  "please just help me to do something i can be proud of."

...and this is when He winked at me as if to say, "and this is where we'll begin, leslie."

good grief.  if i've never really understood why that wise and faithful Father of mine hates pride i do now.  

so we're working on bringing my heart to a point of caring nothing of myself and only of His glory.  somehow i have this feeling that that's really what it's all about.

to the One who has the power to heal

do you ever feel completely overwhelmed by the evil in the world, and desperately want to do something to help?  ...the kidnapped children trained to be soldiers, the aborted babies with no voice to cry for help, the millions of orphaned children, the raped women who are treated as outcasts...the list goes on and on.

and then when you feel like your heart just can't take anymore, while sipping a chai tea latte in panera (i thought i'd throw in a little irony for you), you get pummeled with the reality that all of the hatred, the selfishness, the stupidity and jealousy and short sightedness that is at the root of all the pain in this world, is alive in...you!  it's a hard realization to come to.

Lord, it's so easy for me to want to heal the pain that plagues this world i live in.  but help me to see the wickedness in my own heart and let You, the only One who can heal, take over.  i can't help on my own.  all my efforts, all my good intentions, all my hard work would be completely useless if i don't let You do the fixing.  because the evil i see in the world, is in me too, so how do i expect to have any power over it on my own?  oh Daddy!  fill me with You so i can make some sort of difference in this heart-sick place called earth.

God bless the cold...but only when there's heat!

what do you think these things have in common?

-things you wear to play in the snow, you say? no, i don't think so

-great fashion statements? hmmm...not quite.

-how about what is completely necessary to cover yourself with when sitting on your couch or bed under four blankets drinking hot chocolate or hot coffee or hot tea or hot water for that matter...anything to shake the cold? by jove, i think we have a winner!

yes, i'm afraid it's true. this tuesday, after what seemed like years of 0 degree nights (tiny exaggeration) we finally received heat! but up until that moment we spent our evenings huddled under our covers with hats gloves and (callie)3 sweatshirts, yelling to each other from our rooms so we could have some sort of conversation without freezing to death!

when i called nicor to say, "we have no GAS!" they calmly sent me jumping through hoops, cut off my desperate please with robotic tones of "hold on ma'am, let me look at your account" and refused to send someone to help us until just this week when, of course, it's too warm too need heat. in the words of rebekah and her mother, "honest to pete!" (i like that saying. it's almost as good as 'holy monkeys')

i told callie we should take a picture of us in our pathetic state to remember it for always, and she replied with horror in her eyes, "i'm not taking a picture looking like this!" (fyi: cold apartments make for very tired, disheveled looking roommates)

maybe someday i'll talk her into striking a pose for old time's sake, though right now it may be too soon to bring up such a bitter memory. but if she ever yields, you can bet it'll be posted here for all to see!

in the spirit of the season, let's all be reminded to give thanks for the many blessing we have...like HEAT!

one way connie kendall is cooler than me...but only the one!

so, as much as i love 'adventures in odyssey' there's something about the beloved constance kendall (with all her great points) that can sometimes be, let's face it, just a little annoying.  

now i don't mean to offend any die hard odyssey fans out there, because trust me, i could take you all in the fanatical department, but let's be honest, here.  we're among friends.  we can all face the reality regarding our friend, connie...that from her 'over the top' emotions to her constant need to know everything, ms. kendall can be a little overbearing.  

however, the other night i was listening to an old episode(yes, i still listen to them...on a regular basis...and proud of it!) and i was struck with a profound and deeply troubling realization...at least in one way connie kendall is cooler than me!

boy, that takes humility to say!  whew.  reeling in that pride!

anyway, the episode was where connie mistakenly wins a date with a tv star, chad something, and the whole time he's trying to impress her and she's like good grief, stop trying to impress me and just be yourself!

hmmm....this is where i thought, she's way cooler than me.  let's take a look at how i act given a similar situation:

mates of state is my most beloved of all bands consisting of jason hammel(husband-drummer-vocals-daddy of 2) and kori gardner(wife-keyboards-organ-vocals-mommy of the same 2) ...i only stalk them a little 

...anyway, at one of their concerts i was able to talk to kori just a bit as she made her way out of the building (it was in a coffee house so pretty low key) and this is how it went...

(imagine me speaking kind of high and fast paced)

me: (tap tap on the shoulder)

her: yes?

me: hi, i'm leslie and i just wanted to quick meet you

her: hi, i'm kori (hehe, as if i didn't know that!)

me: i think you guys are awesome!

her: thanks (sweet and slightly awkward smile)

me: congratulations on your new baby! (their first kid was about 6 mo. at this time)

her: thanks, actually that's where i'm heading to now.

me: oh, yeah sure!  it was nice to meet you!

her: yeah, you to.

i think she probably remembers me...don't you?  i'm actually pretty convinced that we would be great friends if we ever hung out together...hmmm...

 

my dad's the coolest!

(i'm beautiful in this picture, i know, but it's all i had)

~

so, let's see, about a month ago my dad was on 'moneylife' (check here...he aired 9/18 and it's called 'blessings from brokeness') yeah, he's kind of famous. (emphasis on kind of) but i was able to listen to it online and and i have to admit, i was brought to tears, which is a rare occurance indeed...see here(#9) and here(5th paragraph) and here and here(#5)

~

while i was listening, i was struck with the overwhelming knowledge of how truly blessed i am...

~

1. for amazing Godly parents who seek Him daily

~

2. for a dad who is transparent enough to get emotional on live radio

~

3. for the opportunity to use all that my good ol' dad (and you too, mom) has taught me and hopefully be able to someday say i'm like him.

~

thanks, dad! i love you!

another 7

okay, so i've already done this (see here) but i guess, for the sake of my dear friend sarah, i'll submit myself to a little post. boy are you all lucky, because you don't get the privilege of learning just 7 weird facts about me, but 14. i know, pretty cool, eh?

ahem...

8. sometimes for dinner i eat an entire package of crackers...and that's all.

proof that i need to grocery shop more often than i do and take food to work...other than crackers.

9. (sarah this one's for you) big spiders scare me so badly they can make me cry

i feel really kind of stupid about that one, but what can you do? sometimes when i play 'jak and daxter' (since i'm assuming not many jr high boys are reading this, i'll expound...that's a video game) there's this on part called 'the spider cave' with really fake looking spiders and i can hardly handle it. oh, and the 'lord of the rings' video game is horrible because the spiders are actually lifelike! when i saw that movie and shelob (the spider monster) came i sat there with my knees pulled up to my chest, covered my tear filled eyes and chanted over and over, "i can't handle this!" yeah, it's that bad. it all started when i saw "arachnophobia" when i was around 5 years old. apparently it was effective!

10. i don't really enjoy chocolate...except for maybe once a month...(if i was a bashful person i'd be blushing right now)

actually, i really don't like plain m&m's but if i start eating them i seriously cannot stop... it's like i'm a masochist (that may be just a bit over dramatic)

11. i've always wanted to shave my head...just once

alas and alack it will never happen, because my mother would disown me. i'll just have to wait till she's either dead or delirious...but by then i'll probably (hopefully) be old enough that my hair will be falling out on its own, which isn't quite what i had in mind.

12. after attempting to learn russian for over 3 years now, i'm still not fluent enough have a conversation with anyone unless it's a very basic conversation about fruit or clothes

enough said about that...it's too depressing to talk about.

13. my best friends are mom and dad

yeah, i'm that freak kid that would rather spend any given evening with her parents than her friends.  mom actually had to force me to live away from home my jr. year of college.  i moved out to go to community college my first two years and then came back home when i transferred (i know it's usually the other way around) and i thought i was just going to move back in with mom and dad...but my mother didn't dig it.  good thing, too, because i probably would have become a recluse.

14. my body is wired to hawaii's time zone

i have always had major issues sleeping at night and getting up in the morning.  it's actually pretty frustrating sometimes, because i'll really try to get good sleep and go to bed at like 11:00, but as soon as my head hits that pillow i'm wired and then can't sleep till about 1:00 or 2:00.  but one time my family went to hawaii and i was totally blown away because every night i was dead tired at 10:00 and woke up naturally at 6:00!   it was easy as that.  that's when i realized...i was intended for a life in hawaii!  what can i say but, "Lord, where You send me i will go!"

as far as people to send to, i think i'm going to skip that part, because i don't read enough blogs and i think all the blogs i do read have already been hit...well most of them.

for your viewing pleasure

although my wounds have healed, thanks to my flare for drama, i present you with a pictorial demonstration of my past pains:

"oh the pain!"

  

"i need towels to stop the bleeding!"

"oh, it still hurts!"

 

"bitter woe!"

"there's only one thing that can help me now..."

"dora!"