"To Worship You, I Live"

away, away from the noise
alone with You
away, away to hear Your voice
and meet with You
nothing else matters, my one desire is

to worship You, I live
to worship You, I live, I live to worship You
to worship You, I live
to worship You, I live, I live to worship You

away away, away away from the noise alone with You
away away, to hear Your voice and meet with You
it's been a while but hear my heart cry again

to worship You, I live, I live to worship You
to worship You, I live
to worship You, I live, I live to worship You
to worship You, I live
to worship You, I live, I live to worship You

~Israel

Thanks, Patch

On a random summer day during my high school years, I woke up one sunny morning around 11am as usual. The three sisters were all in one room: Jess, Jen and Patch, yep, the dog. Patch was definitely an inside dog, but was fond of her summer evenings stretched out in the backyard. The night before had been nothin' out of the ordinary - no lake trips, forest visits, or mingling with other animals. Or so we thought...

After realizing that it was much closer to pizza roll time than cereal time, I stumbled into the bathroom to tend to my face, teeth, and hair. Before my eyes had fully adjusted to the light, I felt something "funny" on my back. I reached back, expecting to simply scratch the area to relieve the sensation. Much to my surprise, I felt an actual "something!" Ew! What the? Did this come from innocent little Patch?! From my own backyard?! My natural instinct immediately kicked in, turning my fingers into a very tense, awkward, flicking motion to rid whatever was "hanging-out" on my skin. The full blown panick attack set in when I realized that my flicking was not even phasing this tiny creature on my spine. "Jeeeeeess!" I screamed in need of help. "Loooooook!" (yes, all my words were very loud and drawn out.) To sum up this part of the story: My sister and I had both learned that there was a very "sucky" tick on my back, and we were both violently afraid of unidentified, sucking creatures... namely, ticks.

We did what any other almost-adult-teenagers would do: Called our mom at work in complete hysterics. Mom worked her wonders of calming us down and proceeded to instruct us on "removing" the uninvited guest gettin' a free piggy-back ride. Something about lighting a match? The open flame didn't scare me at all... in fact, it was a relief from the feeling of claustrophobic-insect-fear that was gripping me. After too many failed attempts, burned skin, and a stubborn tick, we remained at square one. The three of us had limited knowledge of the intentions and actions of ticks, but we knew we weren't supposed to just pull him out.

Square two led us to jumping in the car and driving 10 minutes to mom's office. Without Mom having any time to yell at us for how late we slept in and little we had accomplished, she had a heart-to-heart with our little friend (or enemy). I knew my mom had no more answers when she typed our family doctor's number into her phone. "On lunch?!" she states in question, slamming the phone down. "Well girls, there is only one option left... I'm calling 911." I didn't think my eyes could grow ANY wider, but they did. I stood there frozen, envisioning an ambulance and stretcher... all for this tiny bug. "911, what's your emergency," Mom heard on the other end and replied with, "Yeah, hi, can you tell me how to get a tick off of my daughter's back?! Please? Quickly?" The nice lady on the other end of the phone probably secretly laughed and replied, "Oh, just grab some tweezers and yank him out!" (exactly what we thought you weren't supposed to do). After mom thanked the lady and assured her that we did not need a squad, I finally saw some light at the end of the tunnel.

The tweezers were applied, and that little sucky-villan came right out, head and all. SICK. With one flush of the toilet, we watched "Toby" swim out of our lives forever. Yep, mom had named him. After all the time and emotions spent on him, I guess he earned a name?

No, there is never a morning that I don't wake up and touch that spot on my back... just to be sure? Or because I have a complex? Oh well, either way.

Germy?

Some of you may not be able to relate with me, because I'm quite the opposite of a germ-a-phobe. In fact, you may want to take a moment to decide whether you are or aren't before you read any further.

I find so much humor in watching germ-a-phobes with their odd, "rituals" that somehow convince their body & mind that they have just claimed victory over a germ. Little do they know... they just breathed another swarm of them right after they put the disinfectant away.

To give a real-life example: I mean, these people are opening the bathroom doors with their elbows and/or knees to avoid a hand coming in contact with the handle! I can't help but stare at the awkward, uncoordinated, dance-like scene that this creates. Didn't God give us hands for these types of tasks?! AND, if you think about it, they go back to their offices/cubes, put their elbows directly on their desk, where there hands also touch within minutes. Now you have the "bathroom handle scum" on your hands after all just like the rest of us... and I had a MUCH quicker bathroom trip. Not really worth it to me?

You either meet up with the germ back at your desk, or you successfully avoid these common germs and fall ill much more often from lack of exposure. Personally, I'd rather just grab the handle and stay immunized while they all call in sick tomorrow.

Are you still a germ-a-phobe? If so, you might want to just let it go... the germs will always win. Take a deep breath, and go for that handle with your bare hand. It's immensely freeing.

Purina has been warned...

Still half asleep, I was observing my tall-little dog chow down her "mornin' dinners" (my sister's dog-talk-name for our pets breakfast meal), when suddenly Piper began making odd, choking faces. I wasn't convinced that she was choking, but was sure something was out of the ordinary since she was no longer bent over in a french-kiss position with her food bowl.

Quickly giving in to my motherly instincts, I stuck my finger in her mouth, trying to scoop out whatever was in her throat... only to come out with three teeth marks to my knuckle which began bleeding a few minutes later. Yep, I took one for the team. Willingly. My mind was flooded with images of performing the Heimlich on a small animal, but I shook it off knowing that she was still getting air. As I reached in much more cautiously the second time, I came out victorious. She hadn't exactly been choking yet, but a "ball" of food, about the size of a golfball, had somehow formed. At first, I thought the food-ball was a result of having too much food in her mouth, so it meshed into a giant, squishy mass... but no, I couldn't even BEGIN to break this ball apart. Piper still wanted every last bite of her meal, so I chipped away at it with my sluggish, morning-strength while she attacked each chip of food that broke free. I am still unsure of how it all happened, but I'm concluding that the ball came to us (from the bag of food) in that form. Could I have sued if she really choked? Consider this my warning, Purina.

Later in the morning, my also sleepy-eyed husband commented, "Piper's been kinda whiney while you've been getting ready." I responded, "Yeah, she kinda choked a little, or something..." not sure what to call it. In the end, I was thankful that the only result of the 3-minute, dramatic episode was nothing more than a few whines.

Appreciation!

It was 8:00am the morning of my 3rd wedding anniversary and my face already held a smile that I couldn't get rid of. God is so good and His blessings through marriage are beyond words...

My apologies to all of you who are anticipating what might follow this captivating opening sentence, but this entry happens to be about a parking lot.

As I parked my car in the faithful lot that daily awaits me, I was pleased with how spring-like the day already felt. My focus quickly shifted to a tent and balloons in the corner of the lot, smack dab in the middle of my path. Honestly, my first thought was that Nationwide must set up a tent in the lot of each employee to recognize their wedding anniversary... but I quickly shook my head back to reality as a man signaled for me to approach his "station."

While he proudly directed my attention to the free coffee, juice, water and doughnuts, I learned that this was a simple act in honor of "Customer Appreciation Day." These people wanted to give ME a treat for parking in THEIR parking lot. As if I don't pay a monthly free or something? Is it their way of attempting to justify the outrageous parking prices? Maybe... but I think they were just trying to be nice.

For some sinful reason, I wanted to shrug them off with a hushed "thank you" and go on my way since I already had hot tea (from home) in my hand. I noticed a couple other individuals say "Ah, thanks anyway, I gotta get to a meeting." The next guy stated, "I can't have a doughnut!" for whatever reason. One guy looked so shocked by the "free" starbucks coffee that he couldn't do anything else but head straight towards it for his portion, without saying a word. Besides the few voices I heard, I saw many re-direct their entire route to avoid this tent that was not expected in their morning routine. I'm not sure what to make of all this, but i know that people have trouble with free things and with changes in their schedule/expectaions. Although brief, it was an interesting "people study" to observe. To defy everything I love about a routine, I approached the tent, thanked the people repeatedly, made a giggly comment about the weather, complimented the convenience of their lot, said "Hi" to a few fellow parking neighbors, grabbed a bottle of water, filled up a cup of fresh, piping-hot coffee, and poured my tea out in the grass.

What a wonderful start to a day... an Anniversary day at that. A simple act of kindness can go a long way. I wish we had random "People Appreciation Days." Wouldn't there would be a few more smiles?

Oh, and although the flowers from my husband far outweighed the "smiley people tent"... the event was still worthy of a blog :)

Tall 'n Proud

I apologize for my lack of new posts... Apparently, I have been too busy taking pictures of Piper to write about her :) For now, as my words are few, I will leave you with her most recent head-shot...

'Til next time!

Office Rules

I have a theory that you tend to forget your pet peeves when people ask you what they are. However, when you experience them, they are quite gripping to your emotions. I'm actually attempting to capture a pet peeve while it's happening so that it won't slip my mind again.

Someone is eating breakfast at their desk that involves syrup. Probably the strongest smelling syrup ever produced. I mean, I'm generally ok with people eating at their desk, but there are a few foods surfacing my thoughts that should not be allowed in group-work areas: Indian/Chinese/Mexican food, tuna, or SYRUP!

I realize that when you eat these potent foods, you are unaware of the aroma your lunch is creating for everyone else. Strangely enough, I happen to like tuna, but despise when other people are eating it across the row/room. For my particular case today, this is worse because I don't like syrup in the first place. Nope, never have. What do I put on pancakes, you ask? Butter and powdered sugar!

Anyway, now the smell will linger throughout our row of cubes for the rest of the day and might possibly be detected early tomorrow morning. I will keep thinking there is a small child with sticky hands close by... and my sweater will exude maple sugary-ness even though I didn't come in contact with it.

Sidenote: Someone just brought McDonald's to their desk... we'll save that topic for another day.

Piper Z. Frabott

The "Z" in the middle stands for "Zoey" who is Piper's birth mom... and the stunning lady that gave her the beautiful carmel markings on her face ;) So far, the names we call her on a daily basis are: Piper, Pipey, Pipe, Peeps, Carmel, Chai, Little one, Long legs, Buddy, Good girl, and Phoebe (by accident).

Piper came to us from a loving home on December 21st at only 12 weeks old. Her birthday is September 26, 2007 which I intend to celebrate. In addition to her mother mentioned above, her dad "Rico" is a striking, white Chihuahua. Her brothers and sisters are now spread across many homes as adopted family pets (or "toys").

Stats: Piper is a full-bred Chihuahua with deer-like features. She proudly stands tall for her kind, weighing in at 8 lbs. Surprisingly, she has already been mistaken for a Jack Russel Terrier and on another occasion, a Mini-Greyhound. She is mostly white with "carmel" on her face and back-end. Eyes = black. Tongue = pink. Teeth = microscopic, but white. Ears = rising taller and straighter by the day. After a couple weeks of adjustment, she now willingly struts around showing off her Burberry-patterned "necklace." We haven't heard her voice much, but I do know that her "yark" sounds oddly similar to a human yawn. She also speaks this special "chi" language when she nests in her blanket before laying down. Her favorite noises are the plastic scoup digging into her food container and the sound of my cell phone ringing. Her favorite toys are my hair bands... but the heat escaping the vent comes in at a close second. She prefers to sleep curled up in a tight donut-like circle with her head buried in a blanket.

Her special tricks include the record-breaking height at which she jumps, followed by turning a complete 360 in the air while attempting to jump off the couch to catch a toy. She also swallows her food whole... with not one crunch, nope, not one. She sits and stays on command, with treat in hand, of course. The small "pee pad" in our garage smells enough like grass that she relieves herself the second her paws hit the soft, familiar surface. Ringing a bell that hangs from our door-knob is her current trick-in-training. When mastered, this will symbolize her need to potty. Tony is really the trick-trainer, while I just watch and take pictures.

I'm confident that I could write for days, because our new little addition is SO entertaining. I submit that this is only the beginning of posts starring Piper.