She's gonna listen to her heart, it's gonna tell her what to do

This is a longy...if you skip anything, skip the first part about Chicago. My devo readings are too good to miss!

First things first. Our anniversary trip to Chicago was AWESOME in some ways, and slightly lacking in a few ways, too. Allow me to explain...

We got to our hotel ten minutes before check-in time and thought, "What the heck? Let's give it a whirl." Well, after waiting in front of what seemed to be highly unorganized front desk, we were told it would be about fifteen minutes. Okay, whatever. Later, they call us up to the front counter, give us our key and send us on our way. We get to our room only to discover it's a queen room, not the king room we prepaid for. Ugh. Back downstairs. (Our swimming time is being dangerously eaten into at this point.) They tell us that the next available king room won't be cleaned for about twenty more minutes (3:30...half an hour after check-in). UGH. So we sit, wait and finally get our key. (At this point the kind Holiday Inn employee gives us two free breakfast tickets...that's right, no continental breakfast...it costs $13 "for our trouble." Heads up: don't ever pay $13 for breakfast at a hotel - it was no different that the free breakfasts most hotels offers.) ANYWAY, we get to our room and it was SO clean that my throat was almost burned by the ammonia smell...and then...the toilet doesn't flush. Awesome. So Dan goes to see if we can get another room/have it fixed while I wait for him in my bathing suit in the room. I heard a knock on the door and assumed it was Dan and he forgot his key. I open the door to find possibly one of the shortest Mexican men I've ever seen in my life, ready to fix our toilet...as I let him in while in bathing suit. Awkward, much?

After THAT whole fiasco, everything was great! We even got an extra 'lil treat. While we were in line to pick up our tickets at Will Call, we saw KENNETH from 30 Rock!!! I recognized him and thought it was just someone who looked strikingly like him, but then I saw him shake someone's hand and in his sweet, kind, slightly southern Kenneth voice he said, "Aw...well thank you!" It was HIM!

The concert was good. Not great like our last bout with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. He made the mistake of playing about five or six songs from his new album, right in a row...smack dab in the middle of the show. Tom...you've gotta realize by now. Your fans usually want to hear the classics. No offense, his new album (Mojo, if you're curious) is solid. But the people who pay $125 for a ticket wanna hear American Girl, Running Down a Dream, Mary Jane's Last Dance, etc., etc. I think he lost a good chunk of people with his material. This was demonstrated and solidified when Tom said, "We're gonna play a few tracks from our new album, Mojo" and the guy sitting behind us says, "Alright, I'm gonna go take a leak."

Drive-By Truckers were a real treat - a taste of home for me. Thank you, Mike Cooley and Patterson Hood for speaking to me, probably one of the few southern gals in the crowd. I love you.

I'm settling into my new work space as well as can be expected. I'm completely overwhelmed by moving responsibilities, on top of H.R. responsibilities, on top of Admin responsibilities...zoiks! My boss is going to hire me some help. I'm ready to relinquish some of this control...and that's saying a lot coming from me. I need help because I can't do it all!

Between travel, the office move, anticipating family time next week and suffering some emotional draining from Dan's unemployment, I've been a little bit of a wreck lately. That's why it's a GOOD thing I've had really applicable readings in my devos lately :) ...

In Word & In Deed

"What does a heart in pain do with an unfulfilled longing? Wallow in self-pity? Cry itself to sleep? There just aren't many options. An unfulfilled desire is one of the deepest pains we can know. It can challenge our identity and destroy our hope.

Do Christians struggle with unfulfilled longings? Of course we do. We like to think that God is truly the center of our lives at all times, and all desires pale in comparison to Him. But passionate hearts aren't so easily tamed. In our best moments, perhaps God reigns supreme and all desires pale. But we didn't lose our humanity when we were redeemed. And our humanity still often longs for what it can't have.

We rebuke ourselves, of course, and tell ourselves that we've gotten our focus off of God. We may be entirely right, but a rebuke doesn't usually satisfy us. If our dreams aren't still unfulfilled and our cravings intense, right answers won't help. Even when they're wrong cravings - and they often are - we can take them to God. There's no need to flee. He understands how the human heart longs.

All our longings lie open before God, even when we don't want them to. But it's best to let them lie honestly before Him, regardless of whether they are good or bad, right or wrong, godly or painfully human. The God who created our hearts understands them. He knows how they hurt. And He wants us to open them up before Him.

Do you long for the right spouse, a precious child, a meaningful career, a healed relationship, a different situation than you now find yourself in? Welcome to life as a human being. God may or may not fulfill that specific desire, although you can rest assured that He fully intends to fulfill the needs behind it. In the meantime, lay yourself bare before Him. Don't hide your sighs. Trust that the God who made you for Himself plans to fill you with Himself, with blessings beside. His timing isn't yours, but His love is. Open yourself to it, even when it hurts."

Streams in the Desert

Patience takes away all weakening. Instead of having the delaying time, a time of letting go, know that God is getting a larger supply ready and must get you ready too. Patience takes away all wobbling. "Make me stand upon my standing" (Dan. 8:18). God's foundations are steady; and when His patience is within, we are steady while we wait. Patience gives worship. A praiseful patience sometimes "longsuffering with joyfulness" (Col. 1:11) is the best part of it all. "Let [all these phases of] patience have her perfect work" (James 1:4), while you wait, and you will find enrichment.

I leave Friday to see my sists!

The Lovelies


Chicago airport - where A is RIGHT NOW, on her way to Charlotte!