Choose NOW

For as long as I can remember church has been an intrigal part of my life. However finding a church is a challenge, especially one where you connect with people. I'll admit I haven't found that traveling yet but its a goal for my next assignment. While I've been here in Louisville I've done some searching. Which has been an experience in and of itself.

I've ended up at Southeast Christian Church and well its a little bigger than I'm used to. Like 20,000 people a weekend bigger. Its pretty much like going to church in a stadium or a huge theater. Honestly it makes taking the switch from Whitestone (300 members) to FMBC (800-1200 people a weekend) look fairly insignificant. Although it doesn't really feel that different from First. Maybe its like going from 2 to 3 kids, so chaotic you don't notice the difference.

Recently the teaching pastor has been doing a sermon series on what happens after you die. Sunday's activity was to think about who you want to make reservations to hang out with in Heaven.

I'm going to have coffee (or hot chocolate) with my big sister, go for a ride on a dinosaur with my friend Conner, take a long walk with Randy, spend an afternoon with Mother Theresa and ask Queen Ester what is was like to be her and know that she was made for just a time as this.

Tonight I spent a snowy evening at church for an event, Gods at War. Apparently it will soon be available on webcast and I highly recommend it. Didn't hurt that for King and Country was there doing the music. Good Music, great enviornment and some really great questions.

Gods at War, is a book written by the teaching pastor at Southeast, Kyle Idleman. I haven't read any of his stuff yet but I love listening to him preach. The book (and the evening) is about identifying the idols in our lives and how we fight them.  Here's some of the questions he asked. Hope they catch you as off guard as they caught me... go with your first response.

1. I am most disappointed with...
2. What do I complain about the most?
3. I would do anything for...
4. I'm worried that one day...
5. To feel better I...
6. It makes me mad when...
7. When I need direction I go to?
8. I'm really passionate about...

Those things... those are most likely the place that you put your hope and trust... those are idols. Kyle makes a point to point out that these aren't neccessarily bad things but if we put them ahead of God... well you get the idea. 

So here's the challenge we got and I'm passing it on to you. Decide who you're going to follow, decide NOW and then tomorrow when you get blindsided by life decide again, and the day after that, and the day after that.

Sugar Rush

     I have to admit. Traveling isn't exactly like I expected it to be. I expected it too feel like more of a vacation. You know like I was only gone for a short period of time and then I'd be home hanging out with friends and family. Well it turns out that 3 months is long enough for a place to start feeling familiar and for you to feel like you're starting a new life. Which, for those of you who have moved before know, isn't always the easiest thing to do.
   Of course it didn't help that one of my main goals while traveling is to take a huge bite out of debts and therefore I had regulated myself down to a small spending budget, significantly effecting my exploring. However after a great talk with my parents about balancing experience and getting out of debt I went on an adventure today... to Indiana... More specifically the 22nd Annual Sugarbush Maple Syrup Festival...

Compared to the frozen tundra of Kansas the weather in Kentucky is
gorgeous. Gorgeous equals about 40 by the way. :) Welcome to the
Sugarbush Maple Syrup Festival where the air smells like smoke and sugar.



I've always been facinated by the way
things work (I blame it on my dad). This is
the evaporator that transforms sap to syrup.
100% powered by wood burning heat.

Finished syrup waiting for packaging.

For you Aunt Louise... apparently Canadians are the
leading authority in all things maple syrup including
evaporators.

Food... the best part of any festival. This would be
waffles covered in pure maple syrup, strawberries,
whipped cream and chocolate chips.



Pure Sugar... kinda my thing

A Little Out of Shape

Its no secret that i'm a little out of shape. Strenuous excercise has never been my priority. Last night at work I decided to run the stairs. (They're the longest flights of stairs I've found yet) I only made it to the fourth floor before my legs decided they were done. However when I realized I was eating peanut butter M&Ms while I was doing it I decided I shouldn't really be suprised.

Last weekend however I got some real exercise when I went hiking at a local state park with some friends from work. There's not a lot of great scenery in the middle of february but we had a great time.

I'm back

Well after a few technical difficulties and a little procrastination I have finally reset the blog... apparently blogs can get hacked just like email accounts. Who knew.

Back in January I took advantage of a 4 day weekend and drove the 7 (or 11 depending on the weather) hours to Harrisonburg and took advantage of the close(r) proximity. I was so looking forward to a relaxing weekend, apparently God had a few other ideas to go along with it.

Finances have never been my forte. This time the problem was that I started spending my traveling checks before I actually earned them. Unfortunatly I didn't realize how low my funding had gotten until I tried to get cash in West Virginia and couldn't...

Stressor #2 came in the form of an unexpected snow storm right in the middle of the West Virginia mountains... Suddenly a 7 hour trip became 11. Don't get me wrong it made for some stunning scenery but I don't recommend front wheel drive, moutain roads and 8 inches of snow in 2 hours.

20 minutes before I took this picture I had looked down and realized that
I had VERY LITTLE gas left. The roads were terrible, and I had no idea
where the nearest gas station was. So I pulled off and got stuck. God was
ready for that one too. How blessed am I that at the top o the off ramp was
a rescue crew that was cleaning up from a wreck, got me unstuck and pointed
me to the nearest station.

  

At that point I had a decision to make. I could either try to find (and make it
to) a hotel or try to keep going. I told myself if I could get back up the
on ramp I'd keep going... I did. And then sat behind a wreck for 1 1/2 hours!

Its interesting to see how God moves when you don't expect it. If I hadn't
pulled off the road when I did and gotten stuck I would have run out of gas
in the middle of a snow storm without cell service and maybe been in the
wreck I just had to wait out.

My family and friends knew that I was coming with the exception of my Grandmother. The look on her face made all the stress of the trip worth it. That and the fact that Charlotte and her sister Binti got to spend the weekend together for the first time since they were puppies.

Four dogs in the house at the same time...

 

Grandma and Keto's version of tug-of-war.

 



After her workout the day before Keto needed
some doggy massage and PT...

They say that things happen for a reason. Well I'm going out on a limb and saying God used this trip to get my attention. After a good conversation with my family about finances (after my paycheck deposited) Jonathan cut my credit card in half. Apparently freezing them in a block of ice wasn't as effective as it needed to be. So far the new budget is going good. 

Waterwalk

The weather was beautiful today and Charlotte needed excercise in the worst way possible so we combined the two and had a little fun.

Our first stop was the Dog park. Where we made a new
friend. This is Lola the great dane, they ran and ran and ran

Dog Parks in Louisville are run by a private group and you
have to get a key to get in and the paper work is a pain
but after seeing her sleep all evening it was well worth it.

We've had rain all week and so theres a lot of mud... and
thats where she laid when she got the chance.

The Ohio river creates the northern boarder of Kentucky.
Which means theres lots of waterfront to explore. 

Lets be honest I don't know why there
was so much fog on the river but it was
SO awesome and made for some great pictures.

Unlike home where there isn't enough water to float anything
the Ohio is a shipping waterway... can't swim here either.

Charlotte had a ball meeting lots of different people

Downtown Louisville... yes that is the KFC Yum Center... thats
what its called.. the yum center. :)



Because everyone in the south needs
a porch swing these are all along the
riverwalk... anyone want to come share
one with me.?

 



My GPS is trying to kill me

Don’t get me wrong. I love to travel. I love the feeling of being anonymous in a new city. I love discovering the little family restaurants and the parks tucked away in areas of town. However there are days I HATE the driving.

Now it might have something to do with the fact that I had driven 11 hours by myself with only a dog and the radio to keep me sane. But Friday when we got to Louisville I struggled… A LOT. All I wanted was dinner.

If only it were that simple

Normally I would say that a GPS is one of the greatest inventions ever. However Simon (the GPS) has been trying to kill me since we got to Louisville. When I plugged in the address to the restaurant I immediately noticed an unusual route appeared. Instead of taking me down the street and turning left across traffic at a light and directly to the restaurant. Simon had me touring the side streets. But what do I know? Maybe you can’t turn there and maybe the restaurant is tucked away somewhere…  

It’s not.

After I finally made my turn onto the side street I got the feeling something was wrong… I was literally going in a circle and the only thing around me were car dealerships. But what do I know I’d never been to the restaurant before so I kept going only to find myself in the wrong lane with no hope of getting into the correct one. So instead of causing trouble I turned right onto the main road figuring it would be easy enough to turn around at a light.

If only it were that simple.

The problem is that this area of town has four lanes of bumper to bumper traffic on a Friday night. After finally maneuvering my way in to the left lane (2 miles later) I turned at a light into the Olive Garden parking lot and turning around I promptly got stuck. It would have been easy if I had just needed to get back on the road in the right lane… but I didn’t.  I needed in the middle. Because the only option from the right lane was to get back interstate 64 heading toward Kansas. 

Long LONG story short… I blocked the intersection. Witnessed a few ‘what is this idiot doing’ looks and after sitting in a long line of cars, in the middle of the intersection, at the LONGEST RED LIGHT EVER finally got to pull forward and 10 minutes later into the restaurant.

Welcome to Louisville.

On a lighter note, if you ever find yourself in Louisville at US 64 and Hurstborne Parkway craving really good Indian Food, check out Shalimar…   

Goodbyes

I know... this is long overdue. Somehow that stress of getting ready for the move got to me. So much to catch up on! Lots has happened in the last 3 weeks.

First I had to say goodbye. And after 5 years in Wichita there were A LOT of goodbyes. And I think that I cried every single time.

December 27th was my last day at Wesley. After 5 years at the hospital and 3 1/2 in the Peds ER it was definitally bittersweet. If you know me at all you know it was time for a change and I am so excited about the new opportunities in traveling nursing. However you never think about the emotional cost of change. And I find that you also tend to greatly underestimate how deeply you grow to care about people. These are just a few of my favorite people from work. They're amazing...

For my going away celebration Misty (who doesn't cook) made
this amazing mix of white chocolate and honeycombs.



What you can't see is that instead of coating it and laying
it out on wax paper to dry she poured it all into the bowl....
 

So we let Shelly break it apart... with a pie server.

It helped... kind of. :)


 

And if I thought it was hard to say good bye to my work family, it was really hard to say good bye to my family and friends. However I'm seriously thinking that I need to leave more often, its amazing how loved you feel when so many people you care about come to hang out with you and the drop of a hat.

Bright and early Thursday morning (ok it was closer to afternoon) after a breakfast date with two my favorite people in the world we hit the road... thankfully it was an uneventful trip. For those of you concerned Charlotte did great in the car and in the hotel... she only woke me up once during the night (at 5am!). We made it in to Louisville around 3pm eastern time on Friday without any major problems.

Ask Jori or I about the ham servings
in a breakfast at the Beacon.

Of course I hit traffic the instant I
pulled out of riverside. Dumb Geese

Snow and Trees in Illinois... two
things we don't have a lot of in Kansas

Charlotte in her TINY space in the car

It seemed like a horrible waste
to leave my basil plant to die
in my house... but then I left it in the
car over night and killed it anyway

Welcome to Kentucky

Welcome to Louisville! (this is literally 20
seconds after you cross the bridge)

Of course that's not where the story ends... I've only been here for 3 days and there's plenty to tell.. but more on that later.