Some self-reflection the other day brought about the desire to better myself. So with that said here are my goals and a little blurb about how I'm going to achieve them in this new month.
1. Stay within our budget- track spending closely with MINT
2. Have fun in Hawaii- spend time with family, relax by the pool, and drink IN MODERATION.
3. Meditate daily- Before sleep and when I wake.
4. Spend less time on the computer- self explanatory.
5. Practice genuine hospitality- with Hope & Rob, and have Josh and Carolyn over more often.
6. Make a new friend. -Invite a coworker out for coffee.
7. Have patience with myself and with situations I find myself in.
8. Read daily- whether from a book or magazine, whether one page or fifty.
9. No library fines- read, return, and renew books in a timely fashion.
10. Think before speaking- don't vent unnecessarily.
11. Pray for friends and family often.
12. Show Jeff more acts of kindness- do at least 3 thoughtful things for him each day.
13. Volunteer my time- walk over to Russellville Retirement home and inquire about a volunteer program there.
14. Deep clean apartment- get ready for Hope and to make it nice for Jeff while I'm in Hawaii.
15. Keep our kitchen immaculate- no leaving the house with dirty dishes left in the sink.
16. Share with others- Give thirty items or more away this month.
17. Exercise more- Take a walk or Jog with Jeff at least 2 times per week.
18. Finish reading 4 books this month- Chopra, Kingsolver, the In-law book, and simplify your life.
19. Complain less about aches and pains.
20. Date Jeff- Do something new and different together each week.
21.Eat at healthy times- no later than one hour after I wake up.
22. Be mindful of what Jeff's and my future selves would like and act accordingly.
23. Try new recipes as long as they don't add extra expense to our budget.
24. Enjoy Jeff- talk with him and practice active listening.
25. Get enough sleep
Showing posts with label Theology. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Theology. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 1, 2010
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Life goes on
So, things have been going well for us in the past month... We celebrated out 7 1/2 month anniversary. (Jeff's dad's "Dutch Tradition".) We had cake and ice cream to celebrate. I finally got my bread machine working again- we replaced the bread pan- and was able to make a loaf of whole grain bread, we made more tortillas and burritos, and even experimented with left over Tillamook ice cream in our green smoothies. Also we've been eating out a lot more than we should be. Jeff has decided to remove refined sugars from his diet so I am trying my best to be supportive by joining him... although today we failed because it was FREE slurpee day at 7/11 and the 90+ degree weather was getting to us. Jeff is jogging again and I have been sleeping a ton. We went hiking last week and unfortunately 20 bug bites have joined my body. One of them is infected. It feels numb and really warm (to the touch and on its own) and is surrounded by a puffy patch of inflammation the size of a folded bill. My arm even feels nauseous at times if there is even such a sensation for a limb.
Jeff's maternal Grandma passed away on July 10th. We were able to see her one last time the day before. Her living room was packed with her family members. Josh and Jeff, their dad and I drove up together. When we arrived there were over 15 cars parked in her drive way and I'm sure many people walked. Her 5 children and tons of grandchildren and great grandchildren were there sitting by her side. The living room was so packed you had to literally step over people to get to her bed just to see her. We sang songs to her from the Old Apostolic Lutheran hymnal and you could feel the love in the room for her.
She was a sweet sweet woman. I remember meeting her for the first time and liking her right away. The funeral is on Tuesday July 13th at 1:00pm. Jeff was able to get off work and I will hopefully be able to sleep before and on the drive up to Washington.
My parents are visiting in 18 days! I am really looking forward to visiting with them. Jeff and I are trying to think of lots of fun things to do with them so that they will have to stay a long time! While they are here I have a cardiology appointment scheduled up at OHSU. No one at Kaiser wanted to take my case so they sent a referral for me to go else where. For now, this is neither good nor bad. All I know is I have an appointment at one of the finest Teaching Medical Institutions in the country and I am hopeful for a clean bill of health. We might even be able to take the ski-lift-like- tram-thingy up to OHSU which would be a really cool experience.
Jeff is up for another pay raise after working 2 more days. With his 40 hour per week schedule this past month he's been working really hard. I think he likes doing go backs because of the set schedule but it probably gets monotonous and is overwhelming because he never really sees any day to day progress as he goes in and starts the process all over again each day. I know I like his schedule because we are guaranteed to see each other at least 5 hours before I start getting ready for work and for a while our days off coordinated. He has been talking for some time now about transferring to Winco's Meat department as a meat clerk first and then become a meat cutter. This would be cool because he could potentially make more money as a meat cutter and its a line of work he might enjoy. But he might get less hours and probably won't have a set schedule. His brother is currently working as a meat packer so maybe instead of opening up a coffee shop when they retire, their parents could open up a meat shop called "The Dekker Brothers Carvery". :0)
Work for me is going fine. Its gotten easier and I'm getting quicker at checking people in and out. I'm continuing to learn a lot about myself and others, and the hotel business in general. I am enjoying working with the software they use and have developed a new breakfast inventory checklist and a new breakfast menu. I like that I get to work with the computer on things like that. This is my favorite part of the job.
Jeff's maternal Grandma passed away on July 10th. We were able to see her one last time the day before. Her living room was packed with her family members. Josh and Jeff, their dad and I drove up together. When we arrived there were over 15 cars parked in her drive way and I'm sure many people walked. Her 5 children and tons of grandchildren and great grandchildren were there sitting by her side. The living room was so packed you had to literally step over people to get to her bed just to see her. We sang songs to her from the Old Apostolic Lutheran hymnal and you could feel the love in the room for her.
She was a sweet sweet woman. I remember meeting her for the first time and liking her right away. The funeral is on Tuesday July 13th at 1:00pm. Jeff was able to get off work and I will hopefully be able to sleep before and on the drive up to Washington.
My parents are visiting in 18 days! I am really looking forward to visiting with them. Jeff and I are trying to think of lots of fun things to do with them so that they will have to stay a long time! While they are here I have a cardiology appointment scheduled up at OHSU. No one at Kaiser wanted to take my case so they sent a referral for me to go else where. For now, this is neither good nor bad. All I know is I have an appointment at one of the finest Teaching Medical Institutions in the country and I am hopeful for a clean bill of health. We might even be able to take the ski-lift-like- tram-thingy up to OHSU which would be a really cool experience.
Jeff is up for another pay raise after working 2 more days. With his 40 hour per week schedule this past month he's been working really hard. I think he likes doing go backs because of the set schedule but it probably gets monotonous and is overwhelming because he never really sees any day to day progress as he goes in and starts the process all over again each day. I know I like his schedule because we are guaranteed to see each other at least 5 hours before I start getting ready for work and for a while our days off coordinated. He has been talking for some time now about transferring to Winco's Meat department as a meat clerk first and then become a meat cutter. This would be cool because he could potentially make more money as a meat cutter and its a line of work he might enjoy. But he might get less hours and probably won't have a set schedule. His brother is currently working as a meat packer so maybe instead of opening up a coffee shop when they retire, their parents could open up a meat shop called "The Dekker Brothers Carvery". :0)
Work for me is going fine. Its gotten easier and I'm getting quicker at checking people in and out. I'm continuing to learn a lot about myself and others, and the hotel business in general. I am enjoying working with the software they use and have developed a new breakfast inventory checklist and a new breakfast menu. I like that I get to work with the computer on things like that. This is my favorite part of the job.
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Church
We may have found a church. This morning, Jeff and I visited a U.C.C. church in Portland! I was elated that he was willing to try out a non-CRC church! This had been weighing on my mind ever since before we arrived in Portland. He said that he would be willing to explore other churches but he really liked his family's church. He grew up in the CRC tradition thus he is partial to attending probably out of loyalty to his family and to the pastor. I have just been feeling like I won't be able to grow my gifts with his family (who are really involved in almost every aspect of church life) there too. I feel like Jeff and I need to find our own place where we can grow spiritually as a couple and find a community with people our age and who have kids etc. I feel like I can understand where Jeff is coming from though because I don't think I would be as willing to explore CRC churches in California if we lived there. The good thing though is that Jeff's family's church has evening services too. So we can go to the UCC church in the morning and the CRC church in the evening, granted this is if Jeff doesn't work on Sunday.
Its interesting to me because in my theological discussions with Jeff it seems to me that both of our theological perspectives align more with UCC than CRC (eventhough we met at a predominantly CRC College). That was one of the things I liked (and still do) about Jeff- he never pretended to have a corner on the religious truth. This morning the sermon was on Conversions... (the conversion stories of Paul and Ananias were mentioned) but of course the Pastor explained that the U.C.C. wasn't one to use the term "convert" into our conversations about Christianity-which in my opinion is a difference from most Christian reformed traditions. The members of this church were so compassionate with their prayer requests... On the whole, the experience was a good balance of praise God because he is good but we also were reminded about the shit that goes on in this world.
So, Jeff and I both agreed we could see ourselves attending the church regularly (especially when we have kids) and could see ourselves living in the cute little neighborhood that surrounds it. It was a small church (building wise and in attendance) but it felt homey and passionate more than small. We almost didn't go this morning... but I'm real glad we made the effort (however late we might have been...). When we arrived Jeff excitedly noticed that they choir was singing a rendition of "Proud Mary". Finding a new morning church is something to pray about... most definitely. Even if this isn't the church we end up at, I'm really glad we started the process of exploring our options.
Its interesting to me because in my theological discussions with Jeff it seems to me that both of our theological perspectives align more with UCC than CRC (eventhough we met at a predominantly CRC College). That was one of the things I liked (and still do) about Jeff- he never pretended to have a corner on the religious truth. This morning the sermon was on Conversions... (the conversion stories of Paul and Ananias were mentioned) but of course the Pastor explained that the U.C.C. wasn't one to use the term "convert" into our conversations about Christianity-which in my opinion is a difference from most Christian reformed traditions. The members of this church were so compassionate with their prayer requests... On the whole, the experience was a good balance of praise God because he is good but we also were reminded about the shit that goes on in this world.
So, Jeff and I both agreed we could see ourselves attending the church regularly (especially when we have kids) and could see ourselves living in the cute little neighborhood that surrounds it. It was a small church (building wise and in attendance) but it felt homey and passionate more than small. We almost didn't go this morning... but I'm real glad we made the effort (however late we might have been...). When we arrived Jeff excitedly noticed that they choir was singing a rendition of "Proud Mary". Finding a new morning church is something to pray about... most definitely. Even if this isn't the church we end up at, I'm really glad we started the process of exploring our options.
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