The great trash dig

A few weeks ago I noticed that one of the earrings in a new pair of gold swirly earrings that I'd bought was missing. I was really upset because I hadn't bought jewelry in such a long time, and now one of my new earrings was missing. I have this bad habit of removing earrings and laying them on the nightstand, and it must have fallen off the stand onto the carpet. Jon assured me that I'd probably vacuumed it up, so we would sort through the icky vacuum compartment to find it.

Yesterday I was on a cleaning frenzy to remove any allergens that might have caused Jon to have a really bad allergic reaction (turns out it was pink-eye and my efforts to not catch it were futile). I started with the carpet and thought, "Hey, I'll look through the icky vacuum thing and see if I can find that earring." Sure enough, it was sparkling and I could see it through the plastic container. I was so close! I dug and dug and junk was flying everywhere. I was determined to get that earring! When I started getting grossed out I put on the dish gloves, dumped it, and kept looking.

Then it was gone. I looked and looked and couldn't find it.

I didn't find that earring, but I do have a renewed understanding for the mess that God helps me sort through in my life. When things really started getting nasty, I chanted a mantra to myself: "It's just our crap. It's just our crap." Because at least I knew whose dust it was. But the gunk that wasn't even God's, He willingly took on so that I could be free.

At least He found the proverbial earring, though... I'm still earring-less. Darn.

Celebrating the New

It seems like the older I get, the more I have to be thankful for. I guess it makes sense, because God has more time to show me his mercies and grace.

We recently have had to say goodbye to the Cross Connection community; fortunately, we don't necessarily have to say goodbye to the family there. We are so blessed to not be leaving because of church family issues. Instead, God is calling us to be active parts of in molding a new community of faith in our region. Well, actually, God didn't necessarily just now call us to do this... it's just that now we're obeying! More exciting news to follow, including the all-important NAME!

So I am thankful that God's work is like a thread. It weaves in and out of me and ties me to others He desires me to be tied to in different seasons. Gratitude wells within me for the family of friends that I have here in Macon. We are all being molded and shaped by one another in such encouraging ways. The Artist is the same, I suppose. I just can't wait to see what happens in this season and in the coming year.

Presentations...

So today I had to face one of my fears: presentations! I've found that presentations given to college professors are much more enjoyable than the type of presentation I gave tonight. We gave an informational presentation to our parents at the clinic about Therapeutic Listening, and the parents seemed very receptive. Minus a few technical glitches (as always), the presentation was a success.

Therapeutic Listening is a sensory-integration based, research-backed treatment technique that uses modulated music to affect multiple outcomes-- not just auditory goals. It's my new favorite specialty, mainly because of my longstanding passion for music and its therapeutic qualities. We've been using it at our clinic for 2 weeks since I've been certified, and I've seen remarkable outcomes already. Kids that used to fear movement are seeking it out, non-verbal kids imitating sounds... pretty cool stuff.

Check out www.vitallinks.com for more info!

Defector

So I've made the executive decision to switch back to blogspot. It's just so much easier for me to use than livejournal. Stay tuned! May be we'll actually update.