The Pros and Cons of Being Tall

Standing at five feet and eleven and a half inches, I sometimes feel the envy of short people. When they look at me, they sigh and say, with a coveted tone, that's I'm so tall. Well, let me just tell you, being tall doesn't mean I have cleaner air up here thus making me smarter and better. Therefore, I've decided to make a list of the pros and cons of being tall. If you're short, listen and learn, and if you're tall, you know how it is.

Pros:

• People look up to me. They have to whether they like it or not.
• Models are tall. No, I won't ever become a model, but it's nice to know I could . . . maybe. 
• I can reach things; it doesn't really matter how high the shelf is.
• People natural think I'm athletic just because of my height.
• I can see over crowds, or, because I'm so big (in big I mean tall) people get out of my why when I'm weaving through a crowd.
• Growing up, people thought I was older then I really was (a kid's dream).

Cons:

• People always tell me I'm tall, as though it was some revolutionary knowledge I was unaware of.
• When people say I'm tall, I get the feeling they expect me to apologize for making them feel so short. (It's not my fault people!).
• Do you know how far the ground is from up here? Do you know how long and hard a fall is for me?
• Buying pants is a nightmare. Not that many women are my size, therefore when I find a pair of pants that are cozy; I wear them until there's more wholes then pants.
• Growing up, I thought all my friends were my age because we were the same height. Turns out, they were all older than me.
• Lastly, when God brings along a guy for me, I would prefer him to be taller than me. (Who ever heard of a girl kissing down to her big, strong man?) Since the average height for guys today is around 5' 9", I need to keep looking. 

Well, there you have it. I'd hate to be those professional basketball players; they have so much more trouble with their size. (Oh yeah, height doesn't mean you're good at basketball. I'm living proof of that.) 

If you're of average size, post what you think of your height. If you're tall, what are some issues you face? We all would love to hear!

Love as Gold

Ah, let the sea dance in the moon's eye

and let there be love between these firefly

And you and I, was a sweet, sweet kiss

as our hearts twist together tonight in bless

The violin's sad, calling song of love, of life

the waves hither and thither, stilling all strife

Your hand in mind, the sand between

and stars sparkeling skipping in the sceam

I feel like I could live forever

with the fireflies, moon together

Life has just begun

now that we are one

And I look to the horizon's light

seeing me a damsel, you my knight

The dragons will come and pray

on our unity some rainy day

But we shall survive

and keep alive

For our love is as iron and gold

never shifting under the weight of old

Love so strong like ours is wholy true

We shall live in light even when stormes brew

Happy 'V' Day!

Why is there one day out of three hundred and sixty-five we dedicate to love?
That's just, I don't know, wrong.

There's only a few people who benefit from V day anyways; the card stand workers, florists, candy shops keepers, little cute stuffed animal stores owners, and everyone in between. Think about it. The guy's freaking out because he wants to give his girl the perfect, romantic thing and has no clue what she wants and the girl don't get what she has in mind so she gets mad. So, why do we have this holiday again?

Since I don't have a Valentine, I've been thinking today of what I can do for the lovely people in my life. There's the usual flowers and chocolates and the cards that are cheesy and don't sound genuine, but none of that cuts it. I've brainstormed a few broad ideas, for both genders, and would like to hear what you have in mind. Hope this helps:

What guys can do for girls:

• What's her love language? Find out and act on it. (A love language is the specific way a person shows and feels love.) Don't know what the love languages are? There are five of them: words of kindness, acts of service, physical touch, gifts, and quality time. Want to learn more? Click here! 
• Look her in the eyes when she's talking. In every girl's opinion, if someones not looking at her, they're not listening. I know, I know, eyes have nothing to do with ears, but look at her. It's a way to connect (which is vital to girls).
• One rose = 1 point. 12 roses = 1 point. Just give her one rose. It's cheaper and she'll like it just the same.
•  Be yourself. She loves you for you, not some cooler, stronger, manlier Jo you think she wants you to be. She loves you because your you.

What girls can do for guys:

• Love languages apply to guys too. Find his love language and do it.
• Respect him. He loves you and would die for you. Treat him as the man he is.
• If you don't like what he dose for you today, don't be mad or belittling about it. He tried and that's more then others will do.
• Do something for him. I know he probably won't want a flower and a card, but you know him. You know what he likes so do something to make him smile.

What's some on your ideas? Please let me know and comment below. I pray you'll have a wonderful V day!

What to Expect when Living in a Shop in the Winter

My family and I are building a house and we are all very excited about it! We expected to be moved into our lovely new abode by Thanksgiving. Christmas at least! But (sigh) God had other plans. For reasons I will not bore you with, after six months the house has its walls and windows . . . that's all. During that entire time, we have been living in a well drilling shop in trailers. And it's winter. In Eastern Oregon. (Just to let you know, winters here are crazy. One week there's no snow and its a nice warm forty degrees and the next, there's black ice everywhere as it snows all day long and the nights are in the teens or single digits.)
Now, if you ever want to build a house during the winter and live in a shop, here are some things to expect:

• Driers let off hot air. In a shop, the air kicks up the dirt and smokes up the place. Solution: Put a tube from the hot air opening, under the shop door, and to the outside. Problem solved!
• One office bathroom means a lot of traffic. Become comfortable with each other. If the toilet area is not private, that's an easy fix! Set up a five foot tall, one inch wide cardboard box and just put it between the toilet user and the others in the bathroom.
• Have a nice, big coat to take with you everywhere. In a shop to big to heat, it's chilly between trailers, bathroom, and everywhere in between. Just slip on a coat wherever you go and you'll be just dandy!
• Expect water to taste like sulfur.
• Did you know trailers slowly move on their own? They do so don't put one close to a wall because, after a while, the once wide walkways becomes a narrow tunnel.
• Pipes freeze in the winter, so don't expect to use the trailer's sinks or toilet. You could, however, if a large pot is set under the trailer where items can drain. Be sure to empty it on a regular basis.
• Because the pipes are frozen, dishes become a problem. No worries! Simply buy a dishwasher on wheels to set up in the shop. Load up all the dishes from the trailer and take outside to the shop's sink. After a complete rinsing in thirty degree weather, load up the dishwasher. Then, wheel the dishwasher up to the sink, plug it into the wall, and hook the dishwasher's water system into the sink. Those dishes will be set!
• Expect the cold weather to freeze the ground and prevent any progress to be done on the house your building. 
• Your belongings will be lost in a chaotic maze of boxes, furniture, and random stuff. If you don't know where something small is, like a picture, a CD, or shoes, forget about it. Its in its box, somewhere amid all the other identical boxes. Don't stress though. You'll just find everything again when you move into the house . . . hopefully.
• Expect your neighbor's chickens to get into the shop. Oh, and if they have a donkey expect a lot of loud, sporadic heeeehawwwws!
• Get creative. If there's room on the pantry shelves, give the space a double purpose; half the shelves for food and the other half for shoes.
• Expect to view heat as gold, a stove as an oasis, a speaceheater as a lost treasure, and a pare of nice wool socks something never to negotiate.
• Above all, expect difficulty. My family is strong, yet, honestly, this is hard. Most days we're alright and others we'd love to burn the shop down. Expect to be mad at everything, but nothing in particular. Expect sadness and envy of people living in a house. But expect God's hand to come and comfort. Expect your character to grow in strength and trust in God. Expect to appreciate the small things in life. Expect to be humbled. Expect to let go and fall into God's strong arms. He is faithful and there's security in that. 
• Oh, yeah, one last thing. Expect to never want to go camping ever again!

Do you have a trailer/camping experience to share?    

Heart Checks

I needed a heart check. I hate those. They're always so uncomfortable and demanding and painful.
Have you ever had a heart check? It's when God puts you into a situation, that's horrible and awful, until your heart changes. They such. Big time. I recently had a heart check and, honestly, saw it a mile away but tried my very best to avoid it. God's good at being patient though.
My awful situation was ________. You can fill in whatever you want. Anyways, I kept praying for God to change what was going on around me; make them change, take me away from here, just change it all!
What's that God? Me? Why me? Why should I change, God? I go to church, I read the Bible, I'm a good person. Don't I deserve a little help here?
I just shook my head and knew He was just waiting. Waiting for me to let go and for Him to mold my heart how He saw fit. Well, I didn't want any of that. I just smiled, a fake smile, and said, "I knew something like that was coming." And that was the end of that conversation.
But there comes a time when pride and will just aren't strong enough anymore. When you're at your limits and don't want do fight the situation, yourself, and God any longer. This finally happened about a month after my realization that a heart check was coming. I remember stopping everything I was doing, looked up at the ceiling and thought, God, I hate this. I don't want this anymore! So, so just change my heart, I guess. That's what You want right? Me to change? Well, do it. Go ahead. He, again, didn't answer, but I knew He heard me. So, everyday, as my circumstance hit me in the face like a slug hammer, I thanked God for it and just talked to Him about all the good in it. This went on for about a half a month.
Suddenly, I saw I didn't hate my circumstance! Yeah, I was still it in. Yeah, nothing changed in the physical world. But I changed and that is, sometimes, all it takes. After a year and then some of hating every moment of _________, I now have peace. God's peace. And there's nothing sweeter, and more addictive, then the peace of God.
So, where do you need a heart check?