The thing of fire

brrrr....it's a chilly 12 degrees outside. As I try to get my coal stove burning hot this morning, I've learned a few things about myself:

1) I enjoy a challenge. This morning, the challenge involved adding coal to my stove without smothering the fire, so my house would warm up quickly. Other challenges in life aren't always so straightforward or simple. (What about when I'm not connecting well relationally with someone and the challenge is to keep loving them? Do I enjoy it then? hmmmm...)

2) I have a tendency to get anxious. I want things and answers and solutions and progress and results and movement (and a warm house) without the waiting and hoping and working and struggling and trying and failing and hoping again. Working to get my fire going strong has finally produced results - my house is warming. (How easy has it become to focus on the struggles or the problems that seem to be unsolvable...in my Appalachian community or in my own life...)

3) I don't mind asking for help. I called my friend Lacy for his advice on making the fire burn hotter, and he gave me some great tips. He's the kind of friend who would help me out any time I needed it, no matter what. And he has, countless times. I can't imagine living in McDowell County without him. I think my self-sufficient tendencies are slowly changing. And this is a good thing.

4) I love celebrating. My house is warm - I think that's cause for a party (maybe a 'drink coffee and read a good book' party, but a party nonetheless). I need to celebrate the good, small things in life more. A warm house, a faithful friend, a good cup of coffee, a phone call to my sister, a day to relax...

A fresh look

A while back, I started painting my house. A big project indeed. It's finally finished. Enjoy what I get to see everyday... (and if you notice white paint on the black trim, it's because I simply decided to forget about painting the trim. You gotta have priorities when you paint your house by yourself...)

How's that for a red door?

I just realized that my friend Calli 'tagged' me on her blog...sorry it took so long for me to respond, Calli.

(by the way, I just learned that 'tagging' involves sharing 6 facts and then 'tagging' someone else in blog world. so here goes:)

1) My sister has triplets (Kate, Khloe, and Kelsea). This really isn't news - most of you know this. But what you may not know is that even though they're 2 years old, they change each other's diapers! My sister said that one day Kate walked into the living room after her nap with a clean diaper on. My sister asked her, "Who changed your diaper?" Kate said, "Kelsea." Then my sister watched as Kelsea changed Khloe's diaper too. Way to go, girls!

2) I really like re-runs. And not just of t.v. shows (although I will watch the same Office episode twice in the same week) but also movies or stories or sermons. Pretty much any auditory experience. If it's good, I like hearing it two or three times. I forget things easily, so I rely on repitition to remember. I really enjoy hearing a good story told twice (for real!)

3) I wanted to be a dentist when I was in grade school. My grandpa was a dentist and he was really excited about my plans, so he gave me his full set of fake teeth. Leslie, sorry that my dentist career never blossomed. I know those teeth could have come in handy for you.

4) I've never broken a bone in my body (well, I did crack my finger trying to catch a baseball when I was 9) but I don't really count that. Lots of years playing sports, and a sprained ankle is my worst injury. I'm very thankful.

5) I live in a community where I know adults who go by Boo, a woman called ButterBean, and a guy named Buckshot. For real.

6) I don't usually remember my dreams. But from what I do remember, I often fly. Almost always, actually. The other day I dreamt that I was stuck with a group of people that was taking a tour to India. Everybody else took a plane, but I didn't want to be with the group. I wanted to get there faster so I could do my own tour. So I flew myself (I also remember flying West instead of East to beat the plane.) I woke up before I got there.

There you go...

Amanda and Christian, I tag you. (And I finished painting my house too. Pics are coming.)

Relevant theology from the man outside the Family Dollar

Here's how the conversation went:

Older Man walking by my car in the parking lot: "Hey girl, why did you make it snow today?"

Me: (somewhat surprised) "Oh, you can't blame me for that. Plus, it's not a bad thing. There's always a winter before every spring."

Man: "Yeah, I was teasing you. I love the weather, I love the snow, I love rain, I love tornadoes, I love hurricanes. Why? I'll tell you why -cuz God makes snow, and hurricanes, and tornadoes. If He sent a wild tornado through here, I'd love it. Do you know that God causes hurricanes?

Me: (wondering if this conversation is heading towards a theological standpoint of God causing hurricanes to topple houses and destroy lives...so i decide to play it safe) "Well, I know God is in control."

Man: "Yes, that's right He is. (At this point, he walks towards me and stands about 8 inches from me for the rest of the conversation.) "Now, I don't know where you stand with the Lord, but I'm gonna tell you that He saved my wretched soul. Now, I was just a wretch. A plain wretch. Why people say, 'how could you be a wretch, a good man like you?' But they don't know that I sin every day. That's what I tell people, I sin every day. You know what will get you sent to Hell?

Me: (I'm feeling like I'm in for a sermon, so I decide to beat him to the punch) "Yourself, your own decisions."

Man: "Nope."

Me: "Sin."

Man: "Nope."

Me: "Yourself" (trying again to prove my point...and I'm also mentally guessing where he goes to church. I think it's the fundamental church at the top of the hill.)

Man: "It's the devil. He'll do everything He can to tempt you with something small....and you know how he tempts us - by whispering in our ear. And then we do it. And God says we've got to be forgiven. Even if we haven't done anything wrong that day. Now how can we be forgiven if we haven't done anything wrong?

Me: "Our sin nature."

Man: "Why do we need to be forgiven if we haven't done anything wrong?"

Me: "Sin"

Man: "Why do we need to be forgiven?"

Me: "Our hearts"

Man: "Nope. Your head. That's where the devil works...(and 15 minutes later, he's finishing up his conversation. I'm warming my hands in my pocket and eating a piece of candy I bought earlier...) and you know what I told that preacher? He ain't a preacher. Boy, he looked at me and started in on me, but I said 'the Word of God says Jesus lives in us and that Jesus is the preacher. He might preach for a living, but he's not the Preacher."

Me: "Yes."

Man: (as he's walking away) "You know you better believe everything I said, cuz it's the Word of God. That's how you know it's the truth."

Me: (smile)

AT adventures

I love the Appalachian Trail. I don't know if I'll through-hike it, but I love every mile that I've been on so far. This weekend, I trekked 20 miles near Pearisburg, Virginia. Here's my weekend in pictures...


I awoke on the second day to this amazing view...

The previous night, I ended up hiking late into the day. I was rewarded with this awe-inspiring sunset...

There are no words...

painting

Today was beautiful outside. 70 degrees. Sunny. Slightly breezy. Perfect, really.

I decided to paint the outside of my house today. I've been wanting to for a long time. A while back I tried to powerwash it clean and I ended up powerwashing some of the paint off. So...it needed a new paint job.

I think I'm in over my head.

I didn't even get a whole side finished. With the first coat.

At least now I know what I'll be doing every day after work in September...and October. (Today was extra slow cuz I had to wash the house off and try out sprayers and then I decided to paint with the ole brush and roller).

But, I do have to say - I love projects. Especially the ones involving hard work and manual labor. I love the satisfaction that awaits me when I ultimately finish this insanely big task. :)

Chocolate Slavery

So I realized yesterday that I can be quite the Christian consumer. And by that, I mean that I hear lots of songs and sermons that tell me truth, but then i often still go and do whatever it is I really want to do...in spite of the truth that I just listened to. I want to stop doing that. I want to hear and follow through with action.

There's this song 'Kingdom of Noise' from singer/songwriters juddandmaggie (check out http://www.noisetrade.com/ for a free download of their entire album - it's really good) that talks about how we are constantly bombarded with messages and talk and noise in our culture. We hear, but we don't really hear. And people speak, but they don't really say anything.

And then I heard this sermon by Steve Chalk (my friend melissa blogged about it too, check out her blog http://www.mhayward.blogspot.com/ for a much better description) that talked about the slave trade going on right now. More people have been sold into the flesh trade currently than the total people captured during the transatlantic slave trade. Wow.

And he also said that right now in the Ivory Coast, people of all ages are being bought, captured, and forced into slavery. They work in the fields, harvesting cocoa beans. For my chocolate bars. For my favorite cookies. For my sweet treat at the end of a long day. 43% of the world's chocolate comes from the Ivory Coast. And while we don't know exactly how much of that comes from slave-based farms, you can bet that most of the chocoate on our grocery shelves has at least a bit of slave labor in them.

And then I went into Walmart (after just hearing that sermon) and I bought a chocolate bar and didn't even think twice about it. Man, you talk about hearing, but hearing not - that's me. I got home and realized what I did. So I taped the chocolate bar to my fridge and wrote the word 'flesh' on it. One website I looked at interviewed a young person in slavery in the Ivory Coast. He said, "When you eat chocolate, you eat my flesh." I want to see that bar and be painfully reminded of my responsibility to end modern-day slavery. I want it to remind me that my actions matter. Life is at stake. And I can do something.

Google chocolate and slavery to find out for yourself. And take action.