Tired!

I want to the midnight movie of Batman last night!  Not sure how that happened, if you know me you know that I like to be in bed early!  Our friend, Chuck loves Batman and talked us into going to the movie last night.  We met at Dexter’s for appetizers (I think they know that I needed to get out so I would not fall asleep).  Dexter’s was a happening place … who know that about Thursday nights!  We stood in line for an hour  - we really wanted 5 seats together!  It is amazing how many people tried to cut in line and then looked shocked when the movie attendant made them move.  I have to say that the movie was great!  It was engaging, funny and Batmanish!  It was not too hard to stay connected for the entire 2hours plus! 

I went to bed at 3am (shocking ;o).  So, I still have to get up today and gets lots done!  I am getting ready for our last big conference of the summer season.  I work tomorrow - Thursday at the conference.  That is why I am still tired! 

Tonight, we are taking it easy!  Bryan and I had crab legs and shrimp for dinner, we are going to watch a movie he rented and have some Publix chocolate chip oatmeal cookie  ice cream!  Fun!

A few things …

I have a few things on my mind…

1. I have a yucky stomach today!  I was in a meeting and had the worst pains ever … thank God that I know the person I was meeting with very well … we took a break and walked around until the pain went away.  But, I still have a yucky stomach.
2. Romance … romance is always an interesting topic because each person has their own idea of what it means.  I was watching a tv show this week and I heard a husband say … Life done properly is romantic. 
3. I have a strange irritation under my eyes.  It started about 4 days ago and is noticeable.  It is a surface level irritation under each eye - close to the nose - it kind of looks like a burn (but is not) and is peeling.  It is tender and sensitive!  Not sure where that came from.  I have not changed any of my products or routines.  I am hoping it goes away soon. 
4. Questions to ponder … I have been enjoying reading all the blogs about Sunday morning’s sermon at C3 - Hey Jude.   The sermon and blogs have left me pondering and reflecting.  I have specifically been pondering these two questions - What were you born to do?  and How are you going to identify yourself?  I will be sure to blog once I am done pondering.

Sweet!

I found a great new place today … Sweet! By Good Golly Miss Holly 

Some of you know that I am a big fan of cupcakes … I love them, I search them out and I know the good ones when I see one!

Today I discovered Sweet!  This is a new store at the Waterford Lakes Town Center.  It has breakfast cupcakes, daily cupcakes and cupcake specials!  The cupcakes are gigantic and delicious and the decor of the place is yummy!  The people that were working were so helpful and friendly!   They also have tart yogurt and custard! 

Go and try Sweet!  By Good Golly Miss Holly if you are a big fan of cupcakes! 

www.sweetbyholly.com

The last couple of days …

Bryan and I have been making time to spend with friends and get some things done.  Since we were traveling and our schedule was crazy, we had put a lot of things off until the last couple of days.

Thursday - We got to have dinner with our good friends, Susan and Bill.  We met at Dexter’s - a favorite of ours.  We had great food and even better conversation.  I love spending time with them - they are only a few years older but seem to be so much wiser.  We truly respect the knowledge that they have and the conversations that we engage in.  We enjoyed the conversation so much that we continued it for several hours at their house for the remainder of the night.  When we left their house at 11pm, Bry and I both really wanted ice cream - we went to three places and could not find anything that satisfied our cravings - we went home without dessert!

Friday - We met Chuck, Tricia and Janet at Amura’s (another favorite).  We really missed seeing the three of them and were so excited to get to spend quality time with them.  We wanted to get together before Chuck and Tricia go on their well deserved honeymoon in a few days.  We had lots of laughs as always, Tricia spilled tons of soy sauce, we tried each others food, and Bryan decided to be funny at the wrong time!  We went to Cold Stone - which is what you do after you go to Amura.  Bryan and I were too full at the time to eat.  We bought tickets for the midnight showing of the new Batmanand called it a night.  It was an early night for this crew - we are starting to show our ages.  Bryan and I decided to go to Blockbuster and to Publix.  We watched the Great Debaters- awesome, must see.  We also got Publix Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookie Ice Cream - amazing!

Saturday -We went to Faith’s 6th birthday party - she is the daughter of the teacher that Bry team-teachers with.  Then we quickly showered and headed to the Mall of Millenia to checkout the end-of-season sales.  We stopped at Shane Co. first - my favorite jewelry store.  We both looked at rings - we found some amazing items to put on our wish list and we got our jewelry cleaned - they do an amazing job.  Awesome selection - I would highly recommend.  We separated at the mall - I did not find as many amazing things as I wanted but I did get a great jacket for 50% off!  We met up with Andrea - Bry and I both love our products.  I was in amazement as Andrea did a fantastic job on my make-up (as always).  It is the most relaxing thing to do - have her do my make-up.  I love the great conversation that we get to have and being able to tell all the customers how much I love her and YSL.  Then we met Dan, Shana and Sadie for dinner!  We really wanted to go to PF Changs but the wait was out of control - so we settled for the Elephant Bar.  We had a great time with them and got to spend quality time with Sadie. 

Sunday - C3 is the most amazing church!  The people are God loving, beautiful and so thoughtful!  What a message!  Hey Jude - I am so excited about the journey into Jude.  I am also still processing all that Byron had to say this morning.  I am also excited to see what additional thoughts are posted at http://c3reality.wordpress.com/2008/07/08/hey-jude/  this week.  Bryan and I had a nice lunch and afternoon together.  I also got to complete my end-of-season shopping with getting great shoes and pants at great prices.

What a great couple of days!  It is so nice to be refreshed by the good friends in our lives.  It is so nice to get some things done.  It is so nice to take advantage of the end-of-season sales.

Trusting in God’s Plan

Trusting in God’s Plan
Thursday, July 10th, 2008

This was a devotion that a friend of mine email to me today (thank you, Jason).  It was a perfect match to the blog that I wrote on Tuesday …http://ginazugelder.wordpress.com/2008/07/08/things-to-pray-about/

As I read the devotion, I highlighted the key phrases that I need to remember and focus on as Bryan and I sit and wait for God to move in His way.   I want to truly realize that He knows what is best for us and strive to discover the pat that He has laid out of us.  That can be really difficult at times - as humans, we get excited, we want to start planning, we want what we want at the time we want it. 

My prayer for Bryan and I is that we strive to discover God’s plan for our lives - that we wait and allow him to work - that we are excited about the possibilities that He has in store for us.  …

‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’ -Jeremiah 29:11 (NIV)

Someone once said that if you want to see the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain. In other words, we have to live through the hard times in order to find blessings. And it is primarily during those rainy days that we become stronger individuals. For God does not want to leave us stranded. He teaches us lessons and prepares us for every step of the journey. As humans, we are blinded by our desire for perfection, and we overlook God’s hidden purposes. We need to constantly believe that God knows what is best all the time, every time. Although we should be forming goals and preparing ourselves for the future, ultimately we must let God be in charge. Rather than worrying about forming our own path in life, we should strive to discover the path that God has already laid out for us. By trusting in His plan we can experience the comfort of dependence on God and feel His hand that gently directs us over hills and around unexpected turns—the plan that leads us to our future with Him.

Things to pray about …

It is so hard to sit and wait to see what God is going to do in our lives!  It is so hard to give up the control -the planning - the pushing.  It is so hard to know what the right course of action is.

Bryan and I are asking God for guidance, direction and opportunity.  There has been a subtle “pulling of the heart” over the past few years to make a move.  A move to S. Fl (Lauderdale by the Sea/Ft Lauderdale to be specific).  This would be a huge life change for us.  It would be challenging to live in a new city. It would be challenging to start fresh within the field of education.  I would be challenging living closer to my family. It would be challenging to find a new life for ourselves.  But, the pulling has remained.  We are not sure why - we are not sure how - but we are sure that there is never the “perfect” time for a move and that there is a reason the “pulling at our hearts” persists.

Bryan and I truly want to remain in God’s will and continue to live His plan for our lives.  Please pray.  Pray for us to “dream big” and allow God to move in a big way.  Pray that all the impossible would happen - Bryan gets a fantastic job before the school year starts, I get an opportunity to transfer, we sell our villa, we get to buy a wonderful new place ( the prices are prime right now for buying - we have our eye on several that are in our price range and one that is very much out of our price range but perfect in many ways ;o)  Pray that we rest in God and allow Him to do all the work.

It is exciting and it is scary!  Those two emotions seem right for this situation!  I cannot wait to see what God has in store of us!

We are back!

We are back!  We had a fantastic time away in Ft Lauderdale with my family.

The family.  It was crazy times.  We were a minimum of 17 people and a high of 30 people throughout the weekend.  Everyday we got up early and stayed up date.  We loved the time with the girls - nothing is better than a almost 3 year old, almost 6 year old and 10 year old - you have to enjoy that.

The beach.  We were excited to have good beach days.  Even though it rained each day, we were still able to enjoy the beach, get some color, play in the pool and bbq.

The food.  As always, the food was amazing.  My mom is a nut about making great meals for everyone when we are together.  My cousin, who is a chef, assisted - the homemade mac and cheese was amazing.  It was yummy!  My mom spent hours at Cosco and everday at Publix (she certainly helps the economy ;o)

The holiday.  The 4th of July is a fun holiday for my family.  We always have it at the beach and we are always a big crowd.  It was nice to be together and enjoy.  The fireworks were not great - it rained so we had to go inside.  We did get to watch them from the condo but they were not the best we have seen.

Up way too early…

I woke up way too early for how exhausted I am!  I cannot stop my mind from working once it starts in the morning - I think I will blame it on the little bird that was chirping outside my window early this morning.  I am excited for the holiday weekend.  I am excited to get in a kettlebell workout this morning - even though my feel really hurt.  I am always excited to get up and get on the computer and get all my emails, accounts, facebook, wordpress checked and read.  I am excited to get the day started - our good friend, Lena is coming to visit us today.  I am excited to get on the road to see my family.  All this excitement got me out of bed way too early.  All this excitement is making me exhausted!  I have to be honest - I am not feeling that great!   My head feels very stuffy!  I know I have already mentioned this but my feet really hurt too - too much walking in fancy shoes this week.

I pray that I can get some good rest and relaxation time in this week!

On another note - Shopping … have you been to the mall recently - everything is on sale.  All the stores that I frequent are having amazing “end of season”/the economy is bad sales.  You should check them out!  I discovered two new stores.  Coldwater Creek just opened in the Seminole Towne Center.  It scared me at first because it seemed too stuff/maybe a little too old.  But there are some great items in the store - I got two jackets for work at $20.  I also discovered Kohls - I had been before but it scared me!  I tried the one in Sanford last week and I really liked it - I especially like the value of the clothes and shoes.  My all time favorite, New York and Company is not only having great sales but they are sending me coupons that I cannot refuse!  Check out some of the stores this holiday weekend - my be surprising the values you can get.

Conference is over!

Our big conference of the year is over! 5,000 educators, one hotel, four breakout sessions a day for two days, an institute, meetings, and lots and lots of conversation exhausts me!

It was a very successful conference.  I had the honor of presenting with four of the schools that I work with.  I was so proud of my co-presenters - they did a fabulous job sharing what they do to help the students that they work with.  Each has a challenging population and each is equally dedicated to providing the best educaiton possible for their students.

I had the opportunity to see many many many people that I get to run into during conference time!  It is nice to have casual converations, catch-up on news, hear stories or about exciting happening, or just smile and hug each other. 

I had the opportunity to interact with my colleagues.  It is interesting because I have numerous collegues but because we all work in the field it is rare that we have time to see each other and engage in good converation.

I had the opportunity to walk and walk  and walk!  it was many steps each day - my shins actually hurt me today.

I am glad that the conference was a big success.  I am equally as glad that the conference is over.

We are heading south to spend the holiday weekend with my family!  Happy 4th!  Looking forward to two weeks of stability at home!

Held by the Grip of God

A friend sent me this …

June 28, 2008
Held by the Grip of God
 
I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me —Philippians 3:12
 
Never choose to be a worker for God, but once God has placed His call on you, woe be to you if you ‘turn aside to the right hand or to the left’ ( Deuteronomy 5:32 ). We are not here to work for God because we have chosen to do so, but because God has ‘laid hold of’ us. And once He has done so, we never have this thought, ‘Well, I’m really not suited for this.’
 
What you are to preach is also determined by God, not by your own natural leanings or desires. Keep your soul steadfastly related to God, and remember that you are called not simply to convey your testimony but also to preach the gospel. Every Christian must testify to the truth of God, but when it comes to the call to preach, there must be the agonizing grip of God’s hand on you— your life is in the grip of God for that very purpose. How many of us are held like that?
 
Never water down the Word of God, but preach it in its undiluted sternness. There must be unflinching faithfulness to the Word of God, but when you come to personal dealings with others, remember who you are— you are not some special being created in heaven, but a sinner saved by grace.
 
‘Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do. . . I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus’ ( Philippians 3:13-14  ).