I Made Jesus Face-Palm

Hi Friends,

I have a funny story to tell you. First let me start by saying that I am far from being a biblical scholar. There are certain stories of the Bible I know relatively well, some I know a little about, and some I know nothing at all about. That is why I chose to read the Bible for lent (and hopefully beyond as you will soon see).

I know who John the Baptist is. I remember learning about how Jesus was baptized by him and how they were cousins. I don't remember learning that he was imprisoned. When I read this, I was wondering when he was going to get out. I was reading along when I was stopped by this headline, "John the Baptist is Beheaded."

I cried to my mother who was sitting next to me, "They beheaded John the Baptist?! I didn't know they beheaded John the Baptist." I must have looked quite shocked because my mother told me, "Yes, they did but don't worry honey, it was a long time ago, he's okay with it now." That made me laugh and lightened my mood considerably. ;)

My mom then asked me how I'd missed learning about it and I honestly don't know. I semi-remember learning about someone being beheaded and served on a silver platter but I had no idea it was John the Baptist.

So there you have it. I'm pretty sure Jesus and John the Baptist face-palmed. Considering I went to church school from the age of 3 until I was 15 and then went to a Christian college, I'd say that they did (if any of my teachers are reading this, they probably are too).

I had thought I had read most of the New Testament but I guess I was wrong. :P You can tell I got through Biblical Literature in college by sheer luck. :P

I wasn't going to share this story (since it is embarrassing if you were brought up in the church) but then I thought it might help someone else in some way. Either simply to make them laugh or make them feel better about their biblical knowledge.

Here are the good things about Wednesday:
1. Found out about an answered prayer.
-There is a little boy, Ben, who is the nephew of a college classmate of mine. He has an aggressive brain tumor that in addition to being a threat to his life, causes terrible headaches. There is a whole community of people praying for Ben and his family. His mother posted a blog post about how he is doing and currently his headaches have been kept at bay by his medicine regimen. This is great to hear! On behalf of his family, I ask that you please pray for Ben and his family.
Here is the blog his mother writes if you are interested in checking it out:
http://bensauer.blogspot.com/

2. Having your mom make you laugh even when you feel like a fool. :)

3. Eating a really tasty dinner.
-Have you ever tomato sausage? It's awesome. Last night we had tomato sausage burgers and they were delicious. :)

Today's good things:
1. Found a really nice present for my niece's first communion.
-I went to a local thrift-shop today and there it was on the shelf, waiting for me to buy it and take it home. ;)

2. Eating another really tasty dinner.
-Today we had french bread pizzas for dinner. This is one of my favorite kinds of pizza. It was also delicious. ;)

Hope you are all doing well.

Thank you for reading.

Blessings,
Veronica

Wednesday's Good Things

Hi Friends,

The expected snow came in today leading to a pretty uneventful day so I'll get right to today's good things. :P

Here are today's good things:

1. Shoveling the driveway with Aaron and Benjamin.
-So my brothers didn't think it was important to make sure there was gasoline to put in the snow-blower and therefore we had to shovel the driveway. :P It sounds bad but it was actually kind of fun. It has been years since we have shoveled the driveway together and it was nice to spend time with them. :)

2. Cuddling with the kitties.
-My kitties are such good cuddlers. I love them. :)

Thanks for reading. :)

Blessings,

Veronica

The Sun Is Shining

Hi Friends,

Today was a good day. Went to the dentist, worked at the thrift store, went shopping, it was a productive day. :)

Here are today's good things:
1. Clean bill of health from the dentist.
-No cavities! I think I am just as happier, if not happier, as an adult when I go to the dentist and have no cavities. :P

2. The sun was shining and it was warm.
-A slight taste of spring before yet another snow storm but it was wonderful. :)

3. Had fun shopping with my niece and mom.
-We watched my niece, Amelia, while my sister worked today. Amelia was really well behaved for the most part and she was hilarious at the grocery store. She was talking up a storm, couldn't understand her toddler babble but it was cute. A lot of the other people at the store thought she was funny as well. :P

Hope you all are doing well! Be safe if you have to go out tomorrow!

Thanks for reading.

Blessings,
Veronica

Dear Winter, Go Away

Hey Friends,

Hope you all had a great weekend!

Hope that a bunch of you are in nicer climates than I am. I just looked at the weather and we are supposed to get 10-18" between 7am Wednesday and noon on Thursday so I'm slightly grouchy at the moment. :P So much for hoping spring would come early.

Saturday was a pretty good day. I ended up not having to work because the family I work for was sick and they didn't want me to get it, which I am very appreciative of. Instead I worked in my room for several hours (my room is a major disaster area and I was doing a lot of sorting). That evening I went to my brother's to watch his son so he and his significant other could go out.

Sunday was also pretty good for the most part. I had stayed at my brother's the night before so I didn't have to drive home half-asleep. My nephew, Gage, has a really early bedtime so I don't get to see him much when I get there. Therefore, I like spending the night when I baby-sit (and so do my brother and his s.o. I suspect) because I get up with the baby and let them sleep in.

My nephew, Gage, and I had a great time.

Look at Gage-Man! He's gotten so big.

Taken at an interesting moment :P 

I wanted to get a few pictures of Gage-Man playing but all he wanted to do was take away my camera. :P

Today was an okay day. Today is my other nephew Xander's birthday. He is 7 years old today. Kids' ages are a great gage of how much time has passed. I was a senior in high school when he was born. That feels like a lifetime ago. :P Happy Birthday Xander. :) 

Here are the good things about the last few days: 

Saturday: 

1. Having an unexpected day off of work. 

-I feel bad for the reason but it's still nice not to have to work sometimes. :) 

2. Having the family I work for not having me come to work.
-I know that they appreciate my help and they probably could have used it Saturday with them being sick but I really appreciate that they didn't have me come in. 

Sunday: 

1. Getting to play with my nephew, Gage. 

-Gage-Man is so fun. :) 

2. Getting to play with my nephew, Gage. 

-I don't get to see him very much so it counts double. :P

3. It was a bright and sunny day. :) 

Monday: 

1. Having your gift be appreciated. 

-My nephew was very appreciative of his gift. It's always nice when you are appreciated for what you do or give.  

2. Finishing a good book. 

-Always a good thing. :) 

Sorry for the long post. I will have to try to write on the weekends. 

Thanks for reading!

Blessings, 

Veronica

What a Fabulous Hat

Hey Friends,

Sorry for not writing a post yesterday. I was driving home for spring break. :)

I cannot believe it is already spring break. The semester is basically half-way over. It's crazy.

Here are the good things about yesterday:
1. I washed my collection of dirty dishes.
-I hate washing dishes, we've established this in the past. ;) No matter how much I tell myself it would be easier just to wash the dishes as I use them, I always end up with an accumulation of dirty dishes. : P

2. I made it home safe and sound.
-When it comes to driving home I am a person who can't make up their mind. :P Last night I kept bouncing back and forth of whether I wanted to drive home or not. At almost 10pm I decided that I was awake and I was going to take advantage of it. :P

Here are the good things about today. :)
1. Volunteering at the thrift store.
-Today, my mom, my older sister, and I volunteered at the local ministry's thrift store. I really like volunteering at the thrift store. It let's me embrace my inner organizer without the stress and anxiety that comes with organizing your own stuff. :P

2. Hanging out with my baby niece.
-Amelia is really smart and she is really fun. When she came in my room this morning, she immediately asked for a book since every time she comes in my room she gets to look at a book and/or read to. She was also very insistent I sat down and played with her with the ball toy I got for her. :P When we went down to the thrift store Amelia and I had some fun trying on hats:

"Aren't we fabulous?" 

"Of course we are." 

Hope you all have an awesome weekend!

Thank you for reading!

Blessings,

Veronica

Welcome to Lent

Hi Friends,
I know it's been awhile but I (along with everyone else I suspect) have been very busy.

Today is Ash Wednesday which means it's the start of Lent. I really like the entire Easter Season. Easter is the most important holiday in the whole of Christianity. Had Christ not died for us, Christmas would not matter because then Jesus just would have been a really great guy. The Easter Season represents a lot about who we are as Christians.

Instead of giving up something for Lent, I am going to resume my quest of posting at least 2 good things about each day. Not everyday seems that great but I know I am blessed and I find it helpful to do this. I am also going to begin reading at least one chapter of the New Testament everyday. I know it doesn't sound like much but I don't want to set the bar too high and fail as I have in the past and something is better than nothing (at least in my opinion).

So without further ado, here are the good things about today.
1. Did well on the test I had today.
-My professor already graded them and I am happy with my grade. :)

2. Worked out for the second day in a row.
-I've gotten out of the habit so this is an accomplishment. :P

3. Finishing the homework that is due tomorrow by 10:00pm.
-As I have been a major procrastinator lately, this is also a good accomplishment. :P

Sorry if this post is poorly written. I'm tired and it's been awhile. :P

Thank you for reading.

Blessings,
Veronica

Pain and Moving On

Hi Friends,

It's been awhile since I wrote. In case you are wondering, I did manage to survive all my classes. I actually did better than I was anticipating, it's good to know that  hard work can pay off. This is my last winter break ever so I've been celebrating by doing as little as possible and it's going quite well. :)

Going off the date alone, today is a pretty crappy day. It's been exactly one year since I got in my car accident. My plan was to stay off the roads entirely today but I had to get my mantoux read at the doctor's so I had to go out. I'm not normally superstitious but being it's winter and I have enough anxiety driving as it is, I wanted to avoid driving today.  My mom was nice enough to offer to drive me which was a major relief because the roads were still slick. I have a pretty great mom. :)

Today is also a pretty crappy day because today would have been Constance's 19th birthday. I miss her so much. I still think about her every day.

Sometimes when things happen we feel lost and abandoned by God. It's a completely natural thing to feel. The Bible is full of individuals who felt that way. The truth is though that he never leaves us. He is always there. Bad things happen, sometimes really, really bad things, and I can't tell you why because I don't understand. All I know is that God has a greater plan than any human can ever understand. I can see God in every aspect of my life and that is with my degree in biology. No one will convince me otherwise. Even when I don't want to believe, I still believe.

I hate the fact that God allowed my younger sister to feel the way she did, do what she did, and die but I still stand by my original belief that God's hand can be seen in that situation. It's still a struggle at times to move on without her and I wish the pain would leave but at least Constance is at peace now.

I'm going to share something that helps me on the days that are really bad and I hope it may help you.

There is a hymn titled "It is Well With My Soul." If you've never heard it, it is a very beautiful hymn written in the 1800's. From the title, you would think that everything in the author's life is going well but that is far from the case. The song was written by Horatio G. Spafford who was inspired to write it after losing his four daughters in a terrible tragedy. The entire story can be read here if you are interested:  http://voices.yahoo.com/horatio-g-spafford-story-behind-hymn-is-1620793.html

Spafford was a very faithful man who still had tragedy befall him. To sum it up he lost his first son to scarlet fever, he lost most of his investments in the Great Chicago Fire, his four daughters died in an accident, and his second son also died of scarlet fever. Through it all he still kept his faith.

I won't pretend to be anywhere near as faithful as Spafford but I look to his example. Like Job from the Bible, Spafford kept his faith despite the tragedies that befell him. He is a great example of a good and faithful servant. More importantly, Spafford's song and story give me reason to hope. When things are going bad and you feel like God has abandoned you or is punishing you, He's not. He's still there and He has a plan for us, you just have to have faith. Most importantly, the song reminds us of that plan and the peace that comes with knowing that God has a plan for us.

I hope I didn't scare you all away with my blog post today. I'm not sure if it even made sense. I hope it did. My faith is very important to me so please remember that this is my story. If you don't agree with my post, I respect your beliefs so please respect mine.

To keep with the theme of my blog, here are the good things about the last few weeks.

1. I survived the semester.
-Hallelujah! Worst semester ever but it is now over!

2. Reaching out for help.
-It's hard to admit you need help but I finally took the first step. :)

3. Finally getting time to truly relax.
-Thank goodness! :)

Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season! Thank you for reading.

Blessings,

Veronica

RIP Constance, Happy Birthday.