Getting to Know You 5X5

This is a response to a post on another blog, that really looks like fun.
You answer these Questions, if you have a blog answer them there and Tagg five of your friends at the end, send them a note they have been tagged and they do the same thing. If you see this and do not have a blog, simply hit the comment at the bottom of this message and post your answers right here. It is like a first conversation with someone, wanting to really get to know them and what they have done, what they want to do.. Good stuff :)

You can copy and paste this information and then edit it. to make it easy. :)

1. What was I doing 10 years ago?
2. 5 things on my to do list
3. 5 snacks I enjoy
4. 5 Things I would do if I were a billionaire
5. 5 bad habits
6. 5 Places I've Lived
7. 5 Jobs I've had?

Then Tagg your friends:

My posting

What was I doing 10 years ago? (1998)
Living in Virgina in a 2 bedroom townhouse, with our bounce baby boy
Working full time at a Medical Billing company doing Medicare coding and account servicing.
Attending Church with my in-law
Enjoying my family, being daughter, and big sister to two brothers and a sister, and aunt to one nephew

5 Things on my to do list
Try not to talk- I have had laryngitis for 2 days, now I have no voice and a sore throat. :)
Prepare and Setup for teaching a Plants of the Bible study that starts today
Take my Son to Tutoring in Apex (an hour drive but very worth it)
Write some letters to people who do not do email (yes, they really do exist)
Cook something new for dinner

5 Snacks I enjoy
Any fruit
Yogurt
granola bars
celery (it burns calories eating it!!! sweet)
cheese

5 things I would do If I were a billionaire
Donate money to our church
Take my parents on a cruise
Pay off all our debt (Hubby would be so happy!!)
Buy a freezer and a greenhouse
Find people with visions and desires to help people and give them money to help

5 Bad habits
Talk too much..
Always running around-scrambling-unorganized (good intentions poor planning and execution)
Always explaining myself and apologizing for short comings
Get emotional (angry) easily
Always working, do not know how to have down time, and just Relax

5 Places I've Lived
Chesapeake, Virginia (with parents)
Virginia Beach, VA (1st place on my own)
Chesapeake, Virginia (Our first home as husband and wife)
Youngsville, NC (current home for 8 years)

5 Jobs I've Had
Medical Records clerk in doctor's office
Receptionist in Doctor's office
Billing Clerk/Collections Rep in Doctor's Office
Receptionist/office Manager in Doctor's Office
Patient Rep/ Assistant to Medical Assistant/ billing rep in Urgent Care Center

Tagging:
Jenifer http://www.byhisgraceministry.blogspot.com/

What a Visual!!!! What a Message and an encouragement

Last night I was at Bible Study and we had a visual aid to our discussion of how Christ forgives us, and it was powerful!

There were two jars, one taller than the other, the taller one was filled with water, the smaller one was empty. The tall one symbolizes us, (We tend to think we are Big and sometime think all of us won't fit in Christ or We will loose to much trying to cram in there) Sin was in a syringe, many sins are small, progressive acts like an injection, but once it entered into the water it made a significant difference, the more that was added, noticable changes were seen to the water. But once it was seen (acknowledged) that sin had entered in and changed the water and Christ was acknowledged as being there, ready to cleans the water and that offer was accepted. The big jar of dirty water was poured into the smaller jar, and all the water fit with room to spare. As the dirty water entered the jar, it became clean, as it filled up, it was full of clean water!!! When sin came, as it will, it entered in but was stopped from changing the cleaned water, it still needs to be acknowledged to Christ that we are aware we let something enter our jar that was not pure, but..
We are Cleansed once, We are purified!!! (not matter what the sin is, Christ cleans it and makes it crystal clear) and inside Christ we are protected, as long as we stay in that jar, and have him refill us each day, remember water evaporates, we need to sing the song and mean it, daily "Fill me up, til I runneth over, Lord....Take my cup (my life, my plans, my .......) and fill them with you, let me runneth over and that is what we give to others, the love, the acceptance, the peace that Christ brought to our dirty water. Now that is something to share... Seeing it and seeing yourself in that dirty water and remembering when you were poured into Christ and all that nastiness was cleansed away and you were new, pretty and clean...oh but wait, then life comes bariling along and drop, drop, krplunk, sin comes in and your tainted, but wait..... it is clean!!! your water in Christ is still clean, you are forever changed!!!! You are a new and beautiful creature for LIFE, and the life expectancy of a Christian is ETERNITY!!!! No makeup or fitness supplement can deliver that.

It is a priceless, life changing gift that Christ is offering, and there is no deadline, other than you have to do it before you die, as long as you know exactly when that will be, you have all the time you need to decided to be cleaned. And it is not a painful, long drawn out itemization of all your dirty deeds, you do not have to list them for Christ, He saw you do them, He knows, and You know all you have to say is CLEAN ME!!!! TAKE ME DIRTY AND BROKEN AND POUR ME IN TO YOU, CHRIST!! (That is the only requirement, you have to acknowledge CHRIST, the "man" who died on a cross, bleed to death, was buried and ROSE!!! again for this offer to be extended, There is only ONE way, and HIS NAME IS JESUS CHRIST) thats it, and with that, as He said, "It is finished" That sin and that dirtiness is gone and forgotten forever, you are no longer a (whatever you did) er, you are new and improved!!! And, if you we cleaned, but you thought you were ruined again by the sin, Well, you were wrong, you can act today and have him fill you up, your jar is still new and beautiful, it is just low, but that can change too. It is all up to you..

Email can be a good thing-- It can make a difference

Many people dispise email and especially the "forwards". I try to find good in things and see that someone took the time to send me something they enjoyed and I try to find the parts they saw value in. If I cannot see what they saw, I will write and ask them why that email touched them, sometimes the answers are really funny, but you learn alittle more about the person and may actually see the message as beneficial. Sometimes it just makes us stop for a minute and really think. Time spent on people, if genuine and with love, is never a waste of time. A few of the emails that get pasted around are not accurate or uplifting and when those come through I dump them. (If you do not stand against it, you stand with it, be careful what message you send.)

When I do send an email on, I put a personal note at the top, highlighting what I found inspiring or enjoyable about it, usually some little personal application and an encouraging word. I do not use a list when I send out emails, I purposefully click each name or type in new names, if I forget to add one and catch it when I am editting. Well, the mind is not as sharp as it once was, and I was editting a message and typed the address in wrong (but it was a good address, just not to the person I intended). A few days after I sent this email out, it was the message that goes around alot about the "unpopular" kid in high school who was being bulleyed and had all his books on a Friday which caught the attention of a classmate who went to help him... the message was a little long but the point at the end is you never know what is going on with someone, and how a simple act of kindness could really make a difference in someones life. Well as usual it had a personal message at the top listing why this one ment something to me and I included my favorite verse, Psalms 139:14, and said when you see someone who is hurting, but you just do not know what to say and don't want to quote cliche's, give them this verse. Well I received an email back from the mistaken address, they were very intrigued if this was just a fluke or if it was sent out on purpose, like a spam kind of random mailing. I assured them I simply mistyped the address and was very sorry. They wrote back they were not upset, they were just wanting to see if it was really just good or if it was really good luck, that message touched them too, and they needed that verse and it really made their day. She told me to add her address to my "do send". God knows what we need, and he knows the way we will be the most receptive. Email can be a great tool as long as we use it properly and with purpose and care. With all you do, do it with Love.

Because I never know how someone is going to receive my writing, I always pray for "protection" of the intent I had when I wrote something and for the reader to be able to understand what they are supposed to get out of the message. I take the opportunity to pray for each person on my email list and that they will see Christ in even the silly messages. I also make a point of reminding them that this email is encouraging and inspiring but it pales to the best message, that is personalized for us and comes with audio, the Scriptures which are from God. I think it is important to show that alot of these emails that we like so much are based on scripture, or they say something good, but God's word has the promise of eternity and the power to change things. We can make a difference if we pray and study the word so that we are ready when God shows us who to contact and how. If we share all the time and He makes the seeds grow, we may never know the impact we had on someone, that is not why we do it, We do it because someone, Christ, did it for us.

Let your light shine, Christ lit it, and He did not tell us to hide it or becareful not to show it too much or to be selective with it. If people do not like the light in their eyes, they can always look away. If enough lights are shining, eventually they will have no choice but look up!!!

The Eve of the Big Day!!! I will be 38 tomorrow

Oh, How the time flies... Some will be very confused when they read this because if I ever talk about my age, it is usually "I am not as old as you think or I am old enough to know better" or a few times I borrowed the line from the cosmetics commercial " I am only....29". But the truth always comes out and the truth is I am 38. But this is a new era in my life and I am okay with that, I have been (or tried to be) alot, seen alot, read a whole lot, and learned alot so it is all good. My 12 year old son, Charles, asked me the other day if I was going to tell people I was 29 anymore (we had a long talk about lying) and I told him I was not, because I am not. He told me he was glad that I was going to tell the truth, he said "I don't think people believed you anyway, they can do the math and 2008 minus 29 and you would have only been a baby in the 80's and babies do not listen to that kind of music" I had to giggle at him, at least he got a math lesson, and a little cultural history too. Kid's say the darndest things and keep us painfully honest. :) God bless them.

You know you are "mature" when you get a call about your Highschool Reunion and the dress code is not as "formal" anymore and "comfortable dressy" is now how we describe how to dress.

The scripture that I use most often when I think about the outward appearance or any comparison in worldly terms is: Psalms 139:14 And I Will Praise thee; for I am Fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works; and that my soul knoweth right well.