Jen's Rules for Being a Human Being

You are not allowed to eat canned tuna near me as I will gag.

You are not allowed to carry your cell phone in your cleavage.

You are not allowed to end a relationship via a text or email, single guys. You must break up with a woman in person. Be a man.

You are not allowed to give Paula Abdul a microphone and allow her to do a "comedy" sketch for approximately 6 minutes as it is awkward and painful.

You are not allowed to wear daisy dukes with Ugg boots.

You are not allowed to wear flip-flops if you have not pedicured your feet in over 1 year.

You are not allowed to say phrases like "took it for granite" or "he was unconscience".

You are not allowed to write a script for a hit television show that runs 2 hours long and involves every core member of the cast almost getting shot in a hospital.

You are not allowed to cancel "Chuck".

You are not allowed to ask me if I'm old enough to be married. I know I look young but let's not get insulting. I atleast look 18, right?!

You are not allowed to tell someone incredibly personal things when you have not spoken to that person since the 10th grade and you are standing in the mall outside of the Gap.

You are not allowed to be mad at everyone all the time. No one did anything to you.

You are not allowed to mock my love for broadway shows. I don't mock your love for Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings, nerd.

YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO MAKE OUT WITH YOUR BOYFRIEND IN CHURCH.

You are not allowed to curse at people when they have nothing to do with the reason you're so upset. Actually, you are not allowed to curse at people, period.

You are not allowed to write a facebook status about your period. Period.

You are not allowed to talk about your sex life at work.

You are not allowed to talk about your bathroom habits at work.

You are not allowed to cook smelly smelly foods in the microwave at work.

You are not allowed to eat things from the fridge at work that you did not put there.

I think that is all I have to say. For now. I think.

There Was a Leaky Faucet in Church Yesterday

And the leaky faucet was me.

Our dear Pastor Gregg did an entire sermon on the increasingly relevant topic of infertility.

He did a fantastic job. He came at it with a spirit of prayer, gentleness, empathy, truth, and sincerity.

I cried the entire time. I'll break my emotions down for you in 4 parts.

PART ONE

A couple from the congregation shared their testimony of their journey with infertility. Hearing their struggles and their victories is what initially brought tears to my eyes.

PART TWO

As Pastor Gregg began to preach, images and memories of some of my dearest friends and family members came to mind. Some of my dearest girlfriends and my sisters have fought this battle. Thinking of the children that have come from their struggles, the miscarriages that have taken place, and those that still have empty cradles were on my mind and in my heart. Tears started flowing a bit harder.

PART THREE

This is the part of the sermon where it got a bit personal. And this is the part of the blog where I am about to get a bit personal. You see, this is the part where Pastor Gregg started preaching some TRUTH over me. He said that A CHILD IS A GIFT, NOT A RIGHT. It cannot be an expectation that it will automatically happen for you.

This was very real to me as I have slowly come to grips with the fact that I may struggle with this very issue. Last year, I was diagnosed with something that may or may not affect my ability to conceive. Again, we could have no problem at all, but it is a very real possibility that we could have a problem. I try not to think about it too much as we are not yet ready to start our family and therefore can't spend too much time thinking about it. No use fretting over something that we aren't even sure is a problem yet.

But hearing those words, and knowing that it very well may be that God has chosen a different path for me and Grant overwhelmed me.

He then explained that even those who don't have children in their home need to know that they are complete. Their family is complete in Jesus and they are lacking nothing.

Heavy, heavy tears started here.

PART FOUR

At the end of the service, Pastor Gregg invited those that are struggling with infertility or those that would like to intercede on their behalf to come forward to the prayer rails. THERE WAS NO ROOM AT THE ALTAR. People flooded the front of the church. There simply was no more room. I wept as I saw couples walking to the altar together, most of them weeping themselves. Some were even pregnant. Others looked too old to conceive, and they seemed to cry the hardest.

Two girls sang "All of You is more than enough for all of me" as we as a congregation prayed over these couples. Gregg was on his knees asking the Lord to open the wombs of those that were gathered. All of my emotions were now combined and exploding and I was doing the "I CAN'T STOP CRYING" thing like women do.

It was one of the most touching and important services of my life. Even if I was a hot mess.

I invite you to listen to his sermon if this is something that you think you need to hear. I have a link to it here.

And now I am back to doing the ugly cry.

Thank You, Lord, for truth.

A List Format Post Cause I Am Oozing With Creativity

1. Today sooo should have been Friday. This work week has been 8 days long and I don't appreciate that.

2. However, today was extra awesome as I worked in the morning at the office and then watched "Ellen" and various Law & Order shows during the afternoon. Every few months, my boss has some home maintenance work done on his house and needs someone to be there to wait for the various repair men. I get to be that person. So, at lunch time, I headed over to his casa and watched TV while a very nice man named David fixed the A/C. It was a nice afternoon.

3. I went to Garden Ridge today and bought a wreath for my door cause I've been feeling like the front of my house needs some color. It's a (fake) wreath of blue hydrangea. Grant isn't home yet and he is going to get home and see the wreath and then he is going to walk in and give me crap about it but then I am going to announce that it was only $14.99 and then he will have to shut it. If he continues, I will walk into the closet and come out holding the 49 golf clubs he has bought in the last 3 months. I won't hit him with the golf clubs. I will just use them as Exhibit A in my winning argument.

4. Yes, Grant is not home yet and I am going semi-crazy as there is some important stuff happening tonight on the television. Not only is it finale night, but there is a shooting at Seattle Grace Hospital and I'm worried someone is going to get killed and I'm worried about who that person might be. Someone from Mercy West is the only person I will be even somewhat okay with. The Mercy Westers don't mesh well. My point is, Grant needs to get home ASAP. For right now I am walking down memory lane with Detectives Benson and Stabler. These 2004 episodes are a hoot. Olivia's hair is just a treasure.

5. I've been keeping the house really really clean lately. So clean, that last night Grant got home from work, looked around the house and then seriously said to me, "Okay, what's going on?". How sad.

6. This morning I was on the phone with my sister Jaclyn who informed me that her sweet little Dean is now saying "Mama". She put the phone up to him and tried to get him to do it for me but he was being shy about it. However, his big sister Grace was extremely proud of herself as she said "Mama" to me in the phone several times as she is very talented and has been saying "mama" for a long time now and doesn't really understand what the big deal is about Dean saying it and he doesn't even always say it on cue.

7. I've gone pretty much the entire season without saying much of anything about American Idol. However, as we are now down to the final two I have formed an opinion and that opinion is OH MY WORD I LOVE LEE.

8. Do any of my readers have a Roomba? I'm thinking about saving up and buying one as I genuinely hate cleaning floors. If you have one, is it worth it? Does your dog destroy it? Does it kinda freak you out? Did you name yours? Cause I think I would name mine. All robot things need a name.

9. I ate an obscene amount of Cool Ranch Doritos this afternoon while watching Oprah. Seriously, I couldn't stop myself. And you know what? It was oh-so-satisfying.

10. I'm going to share a weird fact about myself with you. This is the only weird thing about me. Everything else about me is totally normal. The weird fact is this: Every morning when I get ready for work, I daydream and imagine about what I'm going to wear to work on Friday. You see, we can wear jeans to work on Friday. So every morning as I'm putting on my dress pants, I think about which jeans I'm going to wear, what shirt I'll wear, and what shoes I'll wear. Monday thru Thursday I walk into my closet with no idea about what I'll walk out wearing. But ohhhh Friday morning. I have a plan.

I'm going to stop talking now and begin incessantly texting my husband till he comes home.

Love you bye.

Raising Our Expectations

I don't think we'll ever get to the point where we can fully comprehend the power of God. It is beyond our earthly capacity.

But are we even close?

I believe that we are profoundly underestimating what He can do and what He has done. We are told that we can approach the Throne of Grace with confidence, but are we really doing that? What are we confident of? What and WHO are we confident in?

My friend, let me tell you something. THERE IS NOTHING HE CANNOT DO. He is fully able to do the unthinkable, the unimaginable, the impossible, and the things you've given up on.

He can heal a medical issue that "can't" be healed.

He can mend a relationship that you thought could never be fixed.

He can change someone's mind.

He can change someone's heart.

He can fix you.

He can heal you.

He can help you.

Everything He does is for a purpose, it is intentional, it is for His will and His glory.

My friend Emily has a little boy with down syndrome. He has profound hearing loss. One ear was entirely deaf. But she prayed and she prayed and she prayed. She didn't pray that the Lord would give her guidance as she helped her little boy through a life without hearing. SHE PRAYED THAT THE LORD WOULD RESTORE IT. She didn't underestimate the Lord's power. And you know what?

She took that little boy to the doctor. And he passed his hearing test. IN BOTH EARS.

I have a person in my life who can be particularly difficult. A strong personality, if you will. And sometimes I would get so upset cause I thought that we could never make this work. But then I started praying, not that I would be patient with this person, but that God would CHANGE THE RELATIONSHIP. Fix it. Make it better. Make us friends.

Within weeks, something happened. And to this day, the relationship has transformed. A total 180. He changed personalities, y'all. He changed people's hearts.... a person who I thought could only be one way...... this person became another way.

He changed ME. He changed the way I operate, the way I do things, what triggers me. Character flaws that have been a part of me since childhood.... gone.

I say all this to make one point. We need to raise our expectations. We need to give Him credit where all the credit in the world is due. He is an Almighty God with an Almighty purpose and plan. He doesn't need us or our prayers to do His good and perfect will, but He does want to show His glory and have His name praised.

My friend, I ask you.... WHAT ARE YOU NOT ASKING HIM FOR?

"Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen" -Ephesians 4:20-21 (ESV)

"You are Able" by Christy Nockels

Jehovah, provider
The joy of man's desire, it's You.
Always, You.
Keeper of history, glorious mystery, It's You.
Always, You.

Fulfillment of every longing of man
It's You, our God, it's You!

You are able, higher is our God
than anything that comes our way
Come what may
You alone forever stay
You are able, higher is our God
than anything the comes our way
Come what may
You alone forever stay
You are able, You are able.

Abba, our Father
We run to our Protector, You.
Always, You.
Healer of all things,
we trust no other name but You
Only You.

Fulfillment of every longing of man
It's You, our God, it's You.


You are able, and higher is our God
than anything that comes our way
Come what may
You alone forever stay
You are able, higher is our God
than anything the comes our way
Come what may
You alone forever stay
You are able, You are able!

One of Those Taggin' Things

My dear friend Jessica tagged me in this fun little thing. Jessica is a red-head and she is irritatingly beautiful but she's just so sweet and precious that it is no longer irritating because you just like her so gosh-darn much. She's pretty awesome.

I rarely am tagged in the blogworld, and sometimes when I am tagged I don't do them because I'm all full of lazy. But this one in particular seemed kinda fun.

1. Who is your style icon?

I'm gonna go with Lady Gaga. Or, not. She is a spaz and a half. I normally don't like to trash talk on the blog, but I'm just gonna come out and say it. That woman is straight up cuckoo for cocoa puffs

For real though, I have a slight obsession with Ann Taylor. The store, not the person. I would say that 90% of my closet is Ann Taylor, Ann Taylor Loft, or Ann Taylor Factory Store. As a petite girl with especially short legs, the clothes fit me to a tee. I never have to get anything hemmed or altered. Everything is modest and feminine and is great for the work wardrobe as well.

I wore a dress very similar to this to a wedding shower today!

2. What is your favorite socialite lit book?

Well, I can answer this question in one of two ways. The first way I could answer it is I HAVE NO IDEA WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT. Apparently I'm not well read in socialite lit.

I will take this moment to admit to you that I have been a subscriber to People magazine since I was 18.

Moving on.

3. Your favorite party theme?

I would say the easiest is a Fiesta since all you really need is some fajitas and margaritas and you've got yourself a par-tay.

4. Your go-to Halloween costume?

Someone once gave her prom dress to me so that I could wear it when I grew up. When I got old enough to wear it, that particular style was no longer, well, in style. However, I sure did use it for Halloween costumes. All I needed was some high heels, alot of eye shadow and a hair crimper. It must be said that the original owner/wearer of this prom dress is a reader of this here blog. Thanks for the great dress, Kim. :)

It is a long story as to why I am in this dress in this picture as my beautiful friend Laura is not dressed up and I don't have time to explain all this out here but it was a special night and I only wore the dress for 10 minutes and then I got back into normal clothing :)

5. An extravagance you can't live without?

Pedicures. Pedicures. Pedicures. In fact, this weekend I decided not to get a pedicure even when I so badly needed one. I decided to save money because I spent $150 at Target and Grant about died when I told him because he doesn't understand how Target is so wonderful and so I thought "I won't get my toes done and it will make up for it" but I have been incredibly self-conscious and insecure about my toes all weekend. Even though I read "So Long Insecurity" and went to a whole seminar about it in Atlanta a few weeks back, I am insecure about my toes. I don't feel pretty unless my toes are done. Target or no Target, I am getting pedicures once a month from here on out. The end.

6. A living person you admire

I admire Lindsee. I can't even start to put it all into words now as I will start crying and I have to save something for all the speeches I will give at her rehearsal dinner someday but I just love her. I got to see her today and it is good for my soul. I love you, Lou.

7. Your greatest fear

I really don't want to get into all my real true life greatest fears as it is currently 10:30 at night and I will not be able to sleep if I write them all out. But some of my fears include car accidents, fire, and ceiling fans spinning out of control and flying in pieces all over the room.

Seriously.

8. Trait you deplore about yourself

Where do I begin? I talk too much. I am very lethargic. My handsome husband is currently doing the dishes while I'm laying in bed blogging. And sometimes I have one of those "insert foot in mouth" moments where I'm all "WOMAN WHAT IN THE WORLD DID YOU JUST SAY AND WHY IN THE SAM HILL DID YOU SAY IT OUT LOUD?!?"

9. Talent you wish you had

I wish I had the ability to decorate and organize a bit better. And clean a little better. And I wish I was an artist... I wish I could paint. I wish I had toned arms. I know that that's not really talent but while we were on the subject I thought I'd throw that in there. Toned arms.

10. Your greatest achievement

I have done alot of cool things that I'm proud of... my years in acting/theater/musicals and the awesome roles I got to play are definitely a time in my life that I wish I could revisit sometimes. And the work I've done with children's choirs is something I'm proud to speak of.

Also, I ate fettucine alfredo twice this week.

Achievement. And well on my way to those toned arms.

Okay... I am tagging 3 people!

Kelli over at Breathing His Joy

Ashley at Life Beyond the Pink

Allison at Collecting the Dots

My Blog Just Woke Up

Good Morning!

So let me confess a little something to you.

When I started this blog over 3 years ago, I totally had no plans for it to go 3 years. I had no plans for it to go 1 year. I just liked writing and it was a great way for me to stay in touch with friends and family while we were living in Louisiana.

And then, something happened.

I fell in love with blogging.

For this creative soul who works in a non-creative job, this blog was an outlet. I got to write about things I wanted to write about. At my own pace.

I could write about feeling sad. I could write about things that made me laugh.

And most importantly, I could be totally honest with you people. Because we have this veil in between us, this computer screen, I don't have to see your reactions when I say that I haven't done laundry in two weeks. I can say "I have consumed 196,000 calories today" and I don't have the task of seeing your jaw drop with a look of disgust. So I can say these things to you and I don't feel judged. Even if you are judging me, I would never know it. It's a beautiful thing.

I have met amazing people. People that are amazing... women that I can now call my "real life" friends. I truly believe that God uses blogs to bring people together that never would have met in any other circumstance.

In the last year or so... I have kinda felt that my blog was a little....well.... dormant, maybe? I had "readers" or whatever, (I feel weird saying that) but I felt that my readers were my mom and all my best friends and a few of the "originals" that have been reading it since the early days. I have the Site Meter down there that I can use to see how many people are on my blog and where they are located. I can also see referrals.... how you found me. Usually people find me from other people's blogs. But there has been no significant change in a long time.

But over the last few weeks, I've been so excited. People have been commenting... people that I don't know! People have been coming OUT OF THE WOOD WORK and saying hello! It has been so fun. I've been popping over to your blogs and reading your stories.... it has been so fun. Y'all have some fascinating stories. Y'all have some adorable dogs. Y'all have some ADORABLE CHILDREN. And y'all have been saying the nicest, most wonderful things... it is making me excited about blogging again and I feel like I am writing to a new group of people. I feel like there's "company" coming over and I need to spiff the place up a bit. :)

So, to all you newbies... I don't know how you got here, but WELCOME! I am so glad you're here. And if you're a newbie and you haven't said hello yet... please do!

Coffee Talk

I'm seriously about to write an entire post about coffee. Brace yourself for the most interesting edition of "Jen the Newlywed" ever. Or go ahead and click your way into someone else's blog. You probably got here and were like "A whole post about coffee? Wow, Jen. I'm gonna go read Big Mama" or something like that.

Go ahead. I understand. Heck, I'll even branch out and say that I forgive you. Have a great day.

For those of you who are still here.... I give you.... the coffee blog.

My relationship with coffee has developed slowly over the last 15 years or so. I've never absolutely loved coffee, but never hated it.

My first consistent coffee drink was the Starbuck's Caramel Macchiato. This was my highschool coffee of choice when we would all go to the Starbucks on 1960 by the mall and sit on that little grassy knoll.... all 100 of us.... and watch the cars go by.

Occasionally in college I would go to Starbucks but Diet Coke has always been my best friend so if I needed caffeine, Diet Coke was always there. I enjoyed coffee, but only socially. Once every few months I would get a coffee craving and go get something warm and sweet from Starbucks but I have never been a daily coffee drinker.

A few months ago, I betrayed Diet Coke. I was forced to quit due to something horrible called a stomach ulcer. I went an entire month without Diet Coke, and now I have only 1 or 2 a week. However, during the time of no Diet Coke, I really needed caffeine at work. So, I started drinking coffee here at the office.

We have this neat little machine called a Senseo and I love it. It makes one really good frothy cup of coffee and I just love it.

I also will soemtimes get a coffee from McDonald's on the way to work in the mornings. I usually get a medium non-fat latte with sugar-free vanilla, which is a heck-of-a-lot cheaper than the Starbucks Grande Skinny Vanilla Latte which is exactly the same thing.

Also, I am known to frequent the coffee section at Valero. Yes, I drink gas station coffee. But it is REALLY good and only a $1.19. Can't beat that!

I guess I can officially say that I am a daily coffee drinker. Atleast on work days.

So what do you drink? Where do you get it from?