A January to remember

Hello Blogger friends!

     Signing on to do some updates and take a much needed break from adult responsibilities like keeping the house clean, taking care of all our pets, and keeping our vehicles safe to drive! Being a grown up is hard work!

Also, why do they call it "Settling down" when everything just gets more hectic and crazy than ever?! I didn't see the warning signs......

All kidding aside I absolutely love the life that I have and wouldn't want it any other way. 

     Since I posted last lots of things have happened. If you read Michelle's previous post you know that we went to visit the natural history museum. It was pretty cool and there were so many things to see. For me it was kind of like sensory overload a little bit, and if you've spent any amount of time with me you know I don't have the longest attention span. Also it was hard for me to really get into because pretty much everything there was explained as evolution. Look at this rock its 9.6 TRILLION YEARS OLD!!!!! I'm sorry but you don't know that the world is even as old as some of the stuff they are claiming. All in all it was a fun experience. 

    We spur of the moment decided to give our guest room a makeover. Michelle has been in need of a craft space and that room leaves plenty of room for activities and imaginations to run wild :) 

Marley was a big help

    

We tore up the carpet, painted the walls, and put up some swanky looking shelves...

Marley was really happy with the finished product. I'll post a picture of it sometime. (Probly not)

On monday we went to "snowdays" at Jacob's Field (I know thats technically not it's name, but you're not a true clevelander if you call it "The P"). 

It was really really fun......If I was five. (: I'm kidding. We went with our good friends Phil and Katie and it was fun doing something new and spending time with friends. They had a tubing hill about the size of your average sledding hill, but there were chutes that you stayed in like a toboggan and you weren't allowed to even spin around or anything. So that was kinda boring. Then they had "The frozen mile" which was an ice skating circle path that was pretty fun. And that's pretty much it! It would be fun to take our kids to someday.   






















Just yesterday we decided to go on a spur of the moment adventure to Columbus to visit The Scheutzow Ranch!!! We had a great time hanging out with family and seeing my nephew, he's my favorite little dude. The drive down was horrendous and a semi truck jackknifed on the highway and was blocking both lanes. It was totally worth it though. We don't need expensive, well thought out trips. As long as we're together, exploring God's great earth. We drove back this afternoon and took a nap :) Ahhh the simple things in life. 

The result of a fun couple of days

  












Until next time, let the Lord bless you and surround you in all things.

Something to think about before you go out to eat again...

I work at a restaurant, I serve tables, and most of the time people are generally not very nice to servers. 

I say most of the time because honestly there are really nice people who come into where I work, and I also say not very nice by this I also mean down right mean and awful.

Before I worked in a restaurant, I was nice to people but things I didn't know were like how a restaurant is run?, how much does a server make? when my food takes forever, or I have a problem, etc whose fault is that? Should I complain?

And now that I work in a restaurant, granted I'm not like some of the 20+ year veterans, I know some of the ins and outs. I even think to myself, I thought this was common sense!? When maybe it's really not, I had a close friend ask me about it. And so I figured no question is dumb, and if one person asks how many people are out there that just don't ever ask, therefore they never know...

• When you go out to eat be nice to your server! Treat them like a real person! Ask them how there day was, or was it busy that day? Christians, I know you're going to pray before the meal, ask your server what you can pray for them about! By doing that you are possibly opening the door for more conversations, you can be laying a seed.

• Servers in general make minimum wage for a tipped employee, do you wanna know how much that is? Right now that mean $3.70 and hour. And that means that on our paycheck, most or all of that money is taken for taxes. For real, my paychecks every two weeks are most often $0.00

• So where the heck do they get money from? So unlike many working people who get their money from their paycheck every two weeks Server depend on TIPS, that means how much money you give them. We rely solely on other people(not our boss or company) for our income.

• What should you take into consideration when deciding on the tip? First, the cost of your bill. You should try to at least give 18% but really 20% of the total cost. How long have you been at the restaurant? Because if you've been here talking to you girl friend for the past 4 hours, you seriously need to think about that. how many other tables could I have had in that time? You should give the person more, or maybe think about going to Starbucks to sit and chat.And even if you're out with friends and you didn't get anything but water, or you checks only 1.99  leave a few bucks. My rule of thumb is if I can't tip $5 then I shouldn't be going out to eat. And how did the server do? When your drink was full did they ask if you needed a refill or how busy were they? Were they running their butt off? Just think about it, I'm not trying to say all servers are perfect or to guilt you into tipping above and beyond. But from my experience people don't really think about these things

• What if your food is taking along time? Honestly that most likely not your servers fault! They're not a cook! Ask to speak to a manager if its bad, or ask your server about it. They are most likely aware of what is going on, probably more than the manager on duty. Most places will comp your meal if you complain, or maybe give you free dessert or appetizer. 

• If you have an awesome server, by all means tell the manager! Or how about maybe the whole experience was great, go to the website and leave some feedback! Do you know that most of the feedback we get is negative? Or maybe your didn't like the food, and your server forgot about you(hopefully this never happens!) Don't leave angry, ask to talk with a manager right then, if you leave then go on our website and complain and send it to corporate. That's really not helping anyone, you should really address the problem where and when it happened. 

• Treat your server with respect, we are all human. We all have bad days, the kitchen can screw up, most likely we'll have other people yelling at us, we can't read your mind. Just be nice, that will be more than enough!

Now, just take these as reference! If something is really wrong, by all means say something but if you sat for a minute without your diet coke is it really the end of the world? Just be understanding. Most of all be nice, talk to them like they're your friend or neighbor or cousin. And remember we really depend on you to pay our bills, and to buy groceries, don't leave a crappy tip period...

Daniel Fast

Over the past few weeks, we have slowly began preparing to do a Daniel Fast for three weeks in January. I have really debated on whether or not I wanted to write about it on here. A fast is something intimate between you and God a time you are cleansing your body of worldly wants and praying. When it came down to it I started this blog to hold myself more accountable, because if I write it down for me it seems more real than if I just think it, also for something I can look back on and remember what we were doing or how we felt. This blog, though others can read it is mostly for me and I want to be real, this is something that I will be doing and I wouldn't be genuine if I left it out.
 So what is a Daniel Fast and why are we doing it?

"Please test your servants for ten days: Give us nothing but vegetables to eat and water to drink"    Daniel 1:12

"At that time I, Daniel, mourned for three weeks, I ate no choice food; no meat or wine touched my lips; and I used no lotions at all until the three weeks were over." Daniel 10:2-3

During this fast us, and everyone in our church will be eating fruits (which would have been called vegetables during that time) and vegetables and drinking water. We won't be eating any added sugars, caffeine, meats, bread or pastas etc.

Fasting really is not about the rules you follow it's about prayer and seeking after God and his Kingdom. Prayer is the key to fasting. We are fasting as a covenant commitment to God.

"Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:

to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke,

to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?

Is it not to share your food with the hungry

And to provide the poor wanderer with shelter-

when you see the naked, to clothe him,

and not turn away from your own flesh and blood?

Then you light with break forth like the dawn,

and your healing will quickly appear; then the righteousness will go before you, 

and the glory of the Lord your rear guard.

Then you will call, and the Lord will answer;

you will cry for help, and he will say:

Here am I...

The Lord will guide you always;

he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land  

and will strengthen your frame.

You will be like a well watered garden, 

like a spring whose water never fail.

Isaiah 58: 6-11

I love that, you will call and He will answer. You will cry for help and He is there! Thanks God.

So, we started fasting on sunday, and truthfully I really love doing this every year, it's something I really forward to. But I was feeling really anxious about Monday morning, waking up again at 5:30, after not having to wake up that early for two weeks and not having any caffeine. 

It's Tuesday, and I had a little headache yesterday but I feel good. God is great, and showing me how to be patient. Also how to be fully reliant on Him, everything should be for His glory. 

So far, because of money and time I haven't really made any new recipes. I have been eating lots of apples, grapes, strawberries and other fruits. Then for dinner/lunch I've had potatoes with carrots, mushrooms, onions and garlic. I love potatoes, I could probably eat them everyday. A struggle for me so far has been one, work because I see alot of delicious food that I'm not eating, but I need to remind myself why am I fasting? Why am I not eating those foods. and also, being at practicum I'm not in a restaurant setting but there are always goodies up for grabs there. And every friday we eat at a little restaurant there and so I haven't really come to a decision of what I'm going to do Friday. Is it rude to bring my own food? Should I just have a salad? I'm not sure, I'm still working through it.