trick or treat
I wish I knew where each of you lived…
…so you could give me candy.
great expectations
So, I’m having some issues with a friend right now. There are a lot of emotions involved on all sides, but what this particular issue boils down to is unspoken expectations. Unspoken expectations is the one and only thing that I took away from my pre-marital counseling, but it has proven to be very valuable.
I believe that unspoken expectations are the #1 cause of conflict in my life. I won’t speak for the rest of the world, but I’ve found it to be true for myself that both unspoken expectations that I have of others and unspoken expectations that others have for me have caused many hurt feelings, moments of disappointment and the occasional angry outburst.
The key to avoiding and/or managing these unspoken expectations (let’s see how many times I can type this in one blog post) is of course, to head them off ahead of time. This is a practice that takes much thought and planning, and one to which I often fall short. However, it has been immensely helpful to me, in the moments where I’ve failed to have the foresight to examine expectations to diagnosis mid-conflict or post-conflict that the root of all of it boiled down to unspoken expectations.
The beauty and the curse of this type of conflict is that the one who holds the unspoken expectation must at some point take some – not all – responsibility for the conflict.
2 more hours…
This is my dad:
He and my mom:
are on their way to visit me (and Husband).
My dad is calling me every hour to tell me how many hours are left.
It is a 5 hour drive.
He is excited to see me.
I love my parents.
counting up
So, I have had a post brewing in my head for the last week or so titled due. It had something to do with the fact that this morning I took the last vitamin from the first ever bottle of prenatal vitamins that I bought last winter and it had something to do with the fact that once upon a time, today was circled on an invisible calendar as a date that I thought a certain blessing would be due me.
Instead of that post, I’m going to post the lyrics to an old hymn that was mentioned in church Saturday night. And I’m counting. Not counting down…40 weeks, …14 days, …9 months. I’m counting up. One by one.
When upon life’s billows you are tempest tossed,
When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost,
Count your many blessings, name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.Count your blessings, name them one by one,
Count your blessings, see what God hath done!
Count your blessings, name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.Are you ever burdened with a load of care?
Does the cross seem heavy you are called to bear?
Count your many blessings, every doubt will fly,
And you will keep singing as the days go by.Count your blessings, name them one by one,
Count your blessings, see what God hath done!
Count your blessings, name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.When you look at others with their lands and gold,
Think that Christ has promised you His wealth untold;
Count your many blessings. Wealth can never buy
Your reward in heaven, nor your home on high.Count your blessings, name them one by one,
Count your blessings, see what God hath done!
Count your blessings, name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.So, amid the conflict whether great or small,
Do not be disheartened, God is over all;
Count your many blessings, angels will attend,
Help and comfort give you to your journey’s end.Count your blessings, name them one by one,
Count your blessings, see what God hath done!
Count your blessings, name them one by one,
And it will surprise you what the Lord hath done.
geek to chic
In honor of Beauty & the Geek makeovers, I started thinking about lovable tv geeks that turned cool in their tenure on their respective series. Here are a few I came up with. I’m sure I’m missing someone obvious.
David Silver (Beverly Hills, 90210)- thanks for cutting your hair, dude. You got hot.
Steve Urkel (Family Matters) – he never truly bucked his geek image, but he had his handsome cousin (or something) Stephan to help his image out a little.
Dwayne Wayne (A Different World) and those crazy glasses. Oh my. In the end he and Whitley made a great match though, didn’t they? Check him out below – Denzel lips, anyone?
Who am I missing???
that which we call a rose, by any other name would smell as sweet
I had a brilliant idea yesterday. Yep. Me.
How about naming our children with middle names that will be useful to them. I mean really useful at some point in life. For example (this is not my real last name, fyi):
- Annabelle Chocolate Smith (Annabelle at age 16, receiving candies from a boyfriend: “Chocolate is my middle name!”)
- Noah Trouble Smith (Noah at age 7 to his school teacher: “But Mrs. Jones, I can’t help it. My middle name is Trouble.”)
- Jillian Obedience Smith (Mom to Jillian at any age: “Now Jillian, remember that Obedience is your middle name.”)
Husband and I actually went on for far too long coming up with just the right middle names. The sad part is that there is a part of me that would do it… just to be funny.
niece updated
Niece is coming home today. I am very happy! Husband and I will go meet her sometime this week. I’m trying to think of a way that I can make a dinner that will still be good after an hour and a half in the car. I am totally a crisis do-er. I mean if anyone has any kind of crisis, I want to buy them a gift, clean their house, fix them supper, anything that will keep me busy and make me feel like I’m helping. I never have good encouraging words to say, I like to do things. I’m thinking baked spaghetti…
niece
My new niece was born yesterday – a month early just like her big brother. She is having a little bit of trouble with her lungs, so they are transferring her to a hospital in a bigger city. Please keep them all in your prayers.
leave a comment