I'm counting down...

...to the beach!! YAY!! We leave on the 5th to go to Pensacola, and we'll be back on Sunday, the 8th. This will be our first vacation by ourselves since we've been married, and although it will keep us tight on money for a minute, it'll be TOTALLY worth it. We're staying in a bed & breakfast in one of the historic districts down there...I'm so pumped. I promise...we don't travel anywhere near as much as we want to, so if it seems that way, it's not. :) I'm just ready to be with just my husband for a little while - a chance to relax and do NOTHING. We've committed to starting our 10 hours of prayer while we're there...I figure it's a good place to start. (For those who have no idea what I'm talking about, we're having a Month of Prayer at Safe Harbor Church during July. We've committed to praying for 10 hours throughout the month. For more info, click here.)


Needless to say, we need to get our butts in gear spiritually. Ever have those times in life where nothing seems right? I mean, my marriage is fine (no worries), and we love church, but other than that...it just seems...eh, I don't know....complacent, for lack of a better term. Paul and I were talking last night, and we both realized that we're selfish. Now, trust me, this is not a new epiphany for either one of us, but it did hit us rather hard. I realized that I miss Jesus. I miss Him because I haven't invited him to be with me lately. I haven't asked Him what He wants me to do with my life. I guess when you feel purposeless so often, it's hard to remember to do that. And it's not that I don't have a purpose...I just haven't been asking God about it as of late. Being in the South has aided me in thinking this way because you're in the Bible belt and everyone around you claims to be a Christian, so life is good...you don't need to change, you don't need to challenge yourself, you don't need the Bible or discipline...which, I've learned the hard way, is wrong. I know this. But I want to experience it, if for the millionth time. Does that make sense?


I love Luke & Shana (our pastor and his wife). They challenge us in so many ways, and that's one of the main reasons we know we're supposed to be at Safe Harbor right now. We're committed (even if we're not going to be there on the 8th...boo...) because we know, if nothing else, that this is where we belong for now. Paul and I are called to do something, we just don't know what yet. Having a place to call home for the time being is GREAT. I want God to challenge me again, to rid me of this selfishness, but not yet. I'm scared. I'm tempted. I'm not clean. And I know that it's in this particular state, that He gently (not forcefully) calls me back to Him.


Oh God..."my heart and flesh may fail, you're my everpresent help"...be my tower of strength right now...

50 Random Facts About Me

1. My favorite movie is Remember the Titans.
2. My second favorite is Stranger than Fiction.
3. I have really wide feet.
4. My hair has been almost every color, except for fully bleached and black.
5. I’ve worn glasses since 1st grade.
6. I’ve loved Pepsi all of my life, but I now like Diet Coke a little better...
7. I knew I was going to marry Paul the day we went out to lunch at Applebee’s in Bessemer.
8. My dad is the third dad I’ve had.
9. I got married exactly 7 months after my 22nd birthday. To the day.
10. I’m going to Florida in a week.
11. I will have my second Bed & Breakfast experience in Florida next week.
12. I have family in at least 7 states (that I can think of).
13. My favorite number is 7.
14. I miss eating fettuccine alfredo.
15. If you include Canada, I’ve been to 11 countries other than the U.S.
16. I’ve had two surgeries in my life thus far – I’ve had both my wisdom teeth and my gallbladder removed.
17. My favorite color is Kelly green.
18. I bite my nails.
19. I’ve never been turned down at a job I’ve interviewed at.
20. I never carry cash with me. If I do, it’s extremely rare.
21. I have flown more times than I can count.
22. I was barefoot in my wedding.
23. I was born in Oak Lawn, IL.
24. I’ve moved 9 times.
25. If I had gone to college, I would have majored in either English or Psychology.
26. My husband is on the 10-year plan, and is now studying Psychology. We were meant to be.
27. I’ve lost almost 22 lbs since February.
28. I love seafood and meat – any kind, just about.
29. Ranch is my favorite salad dressing.
30. I love Harry Potter (books and movies, but books more). I can’t wait for the new movie to come out – July 11th!!!
31. I miss the North (or Midwest…however you want to look at it).
32. I personally know someone whose name starts with every letter of the alphabet except for Q, U, V, X & Z.
33. My favorite fiction book (thus far) is Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers.
34. One of my favorite non-fiction books is Messy Spirituality by Mike Yaconelli.
35. My house has 9 different colors painted on the walls.
36. I’ve sang in two weddings in my lifetime, and played my French horn in one.
37. I played French horn for 8 years.
38. We named our family dog Taffy because she was born in October (taffy-covered apples).
39. I want to live in Portland someday.
40. I could very easily eat pizza every day.
41. My top three favorite cereals are Cinnamon Life, Cocoa Krispies and Frosted Mini Wheats.
42. My favorite band (currently) is Anberlin.
43. My favorite singer/songwriter is Derek Webb.
44. I hate clowns.
45. I hate bugs.
46. We want to adopt kids someday.
47. I can’t wait to get a mini-van.
48. I can wait to have kids. For a while.
49. I love musicals, but I never have enough money to see the ones I want.
50. I love hoodies and flip-flops.

Thank Melissa...

Things I observed during our 4 hours at Midway Airport:

• Eating smelly food + sitting by strangers (us, to be exact) = GROSS
• Being delayed over and over again seriously decreases your faith in Southwest Airlines
• Crazy ladies in white cut off shorts cussing into cell phones for over 30 minutes should NOT have kids. And this one did - two boys - they don't stand a chance.
• I heart Ben & Jerry's, hot wings and Amaretto Sours.
• Preppy families awaiting their flight to Providence are charming (read ridiculous, and with a Connecticut accent). But the daughter had cute, red shoes. The son, on the other hand, was dumb. And the cuteness of the shoes wore off after crazy, cut off shorts lady complimented them. So sad.
• Have you ever experienced the very end of existence - or at least the end of the terminal at the end of a wing at Midway airport? Wow...you feel as if you're going to fall off the face of the earth...or you already have...
• Having to walk barefoot through security is disturbing on so many levels.
• Paul refused to get an "I heart Chicago" t-shirt...he hates it here. Now I don't have a chance.
• An Ipod and a laptop would have come in handy during this time.
• Boob jobs on girls that are a size zero are ridiculous. They look as if they're going to capsize.
• I desperately appreciate well-mannered kids sitting still and staying quiet in airports. We only saw two of them...maybe there's still hope for our kids...
• Camouflage anything should be burned, unless you're hunting. And even then, it's ugly.
• If you speak another language, that's awesome. Just don't go screaming it into a cell phone while next to me. Thanks.
• Plaids and stripes DO NOT go together. I repeat - DO NOT.
• Airport food is expensive. Boo...
• Note to self - never accept a free alcoholic drink on an airplane, and especially not at 10:30 pm. Not a good combo.
• And finally, to the weirdo flirting with the flight attendants and watching Garbage Pail Kids - The Movie...no one wants to hear you. I promise. Especially not when there's a screaming baby behind me, and two strangers talking it up on the other side of me. Get a clue - too much talky talky.

Needless to say, I'm glad I wasn't sitting in this predicament by myself. Paul was truly a sanity-saver...and I think we actually had some fun while sitting there. We didn't get home till 12:00ish last night (or this morning, rather) so sorry for the delay. Thanks for reading!

Day Four/Five

Yesterday was an adventure, to say the least. Mini-golf happened, but little did we know that "Fineland" was going to be like a scene from a horror movie. All the games were broken down, the clown's face on the cotton candy machine completely distorted (and I HATE clowns), the skee-ball machine ate my quarter, and the mini golf was...rough. The greens were all torn up, the water in the "fountains" was mucky and brown, and the racing boats were afloat in the nastiest water I have ever seen. But man, such an exciting 18! Boo... Note to self - don't settle for the nearest mini golf course you find on the Internet. Research, research, research. Needless to say, we were all thankful that we attempted this place in the day light, because otherwise, we were awaiting a masked villain holding a chain saw or something...

Now, one of the best parts of the day was the fact that my brother had his boxers all over the lodge. This may sound strange, but this caused my future sister-in-law to post a huge note on the front door for when he returned from their game of real golf. A note that everyone saw. And laughed at. It just made me laugh because when he did come home, his first question to me was, "How do I deal with my future wife when she acts like my mom?" I had to say that he'll have to deal with it because it's part of our nature, and Paul had to throw in that most times, he gets stubborn and doesn't do what I ask because he doesn't want to be told what to do. At least he's honest...

Later that afternoon, Paul and I hit up the pool, while everyone went into town in waves. Now, I'm most definitely a fan of shopping in little shops for stuff you will NEVER need, but I just wasn't in the mood for it yesterday. We then proceeded to the restaurant of the almost-fainting host. He was better this time around, and had the knowhow to set us all up in one room. However, there was another family sitting at one of the four tables we needed, so like good grandchildren, we all piled into the room and took over one of the sets of tables already set up. We ran them out with our loud, Yankee talk, and fake arguments over sweet vs. sweetened tea. It was great. I think it took about 7 minutes total. We had a great dinner, the waitresses at least pretended to like our loud, obnoxious group, and the entire restaurant knew who we were when all of the grandchildren gathered together to YELL thank you to our grandparents in true, 5-year old fashion. Awesome.

The night ended with an excrutiating walk to a light house (thank you, cheap-a Pay-less shoes...we're still friends, it's ok...), another family photo at the light house, ice cream (again), and another set of sweaty, sticky badminton games. Yes, that's the proper spelling. In case you were wondering.

Today, however, is our last day here. I'm in the middle of immensely enjoying a homemade omelet, compliments of my Uncle Dave, and we'll continue on to clean up our stuff, and head out around 12:00 (11:00 our time) with Kari, the mom-like future sister-in-law. But Paul gets to drive the Acura. Our flight goes out tonight, and we return to our boring lives in AL. As quirky as our family is, I love and miss them a lot most of the time. It'll be hard to leave.

Day Three

Yesterday consisted of eating, having "Bible time" with most of the family, hot tubbing, swimming, falling asleep on a pool chair, more eating, seeing my other set of grandparents, eating, the bean bag tourney (we were out in the second round - Mandy - thanks for being interested), eating, and a crazy, intense three games of badmitton - boys vs. girls. We lost all three. It made me sad. But we played for 90 mins - awesome activity points. Then we had to deal with my almost deaf grandfather watching Pirates of the Carribean (the first one) at top volume, even though people were sleeping. Boo...

I had some good conversations, napping, and activity. I just shouldn't work and move up here. Geez...

I think today we're facing possible mini-golf, shopping, and dinner as a whole family tonight at a restaurant in town. We attempted to make a reservation for 21 and a high chair on Saturday, and the host almost passed out. Gotta love big, family vacations.

Vacation, Day two

So now I get to be on my cousin's MacBook Pro...and wow. I want this thing. Anyway, yesterday pretty much consisted of preparing for and taking family pictures. Super fun. Can you tell by the immense amount of happy in my typing?? 23 people (including all age groups between a newborn and my 70-something year old grandfather) taking pictures throughout the lodge we're staying at, and then being forced to go to the beach to take an immediate family shot. Too many pictures, in my opinion. And we all had to be in a similar color palette as far as clothing goes. Yeah...awesome. So I'm sweating my arse off and having to smile AND keep my eyes open in the sun...too much for a fat girl to handle, lemme tell ya.

But the photographer was the dad in the family I stayed with during my first year of Master's Commission in Hammond, IN. It was so great to see him and his family - they have four kids now, but only had two when I lived with them. It's so strange to see and hear about people growing up and multiplying (like, getting married, etc.)

Later in the afternoon, we went canoeing. Yeah. So, canoeing might not be the best thing for our marriage...we'll leave it at that. But it gave me 4 activity points with WW, so I that's all that mattered to me. Add some "strolling" with my mother (read "power-walking" while being in flip flops...ugh), and a couple minutes in the hot tub...and I was READY for ice cream. And I got it. Well, I got frozen yogurt, but it was still good. I then wasted 30 minutes of my life watching the end of War of the Worlds, and ventured off to bed. By the way, futons do NOT do it for me, no matter how how "comfortable" they may seem...it's all lies...

Paul has already commented on the fact that I'm getting addicted to this fine machine...and that was before he started to read this blog...

I woke up this morning to my grandfather shoving a bowl in my face full of tiny, folded pieces of paper, adamantly proclaiming that I HAVE to pick a number...NOW...before anything else. So, come to find out, these numbers are the pairings for an all-family bean bag tournament taking place today, and I'm paired with one of my uncles. Welcome to my family...

We're here!

So, we got to Chicago after a longer flight than what we're used to, and we had to wait at the airport for a minute because Southwest updated my dad incorrectly - they told him we wouldn't get in until 9:20ish, but we ended up landing at 8:55. Oh well. My 16 year old brother was driving, so that made the trip home even more interesting. Of course, the usual banter ensues - "How's your job?" (I hate my job, I'm ready to slit my wrist) "Paul, how is the shop?" (He was ready to get away as well...) "You ready for this huge family picture?" (Oh yeah...good times). I love my family, but they're weird at times...

So after an excursion to check out bridesmaid's dresses at Ann Taylor with my future sister in law yesterday (the dresses are "watermelon"...woo hoo), we drove to Michigan. I find out while driving the three hours (or so) that my little brother is drinking, my other brother's youth group is giving him shiny, sequined dresses to wear (long story) and some of their single MILFs are hitting on him (um...yeah, there's no extra comments to make about that), and my mother is now drinking wine (my parents are committed to not drinking during their Bible Study, which meets during the school year, but apparently, the summer is ok to be a lush...) - wow. Super great trip. Super great.

Then we get to this Lodge. My entire mom's side of the family is staying in the same house. It's not as bad as it sounds at all, but since there are 6 married couples and only 5 bedrooms, Paul and I get the boot almost automatically because we're the youngest. Now, this sounds pretty crappy, and it is, for the most part. You have to understand that I'm the oldest grandchild, and I'm married. It's weird for everyone. So, needless to say, we get to sleep in a HUGE room with my two brothers, my future sis-in-law, and all of my cousins. Party room...excellent...

The lodge has wireless internet, though, so thanks to my Uncle Alan for allowing me to partake of his computer right now.

I'll continue to update...don't worry. This weekend is already proving to be something worthy of many blogs...

By the way...

I hate money, and the banks that handle it. Because a lot of times, they don't handle it - they screw everything up. Grrr....

On a lighter note, we are leaving today to go to Chicago/Michigan until Tuesday for my grandparent's 50th wedding anniversary. I hope we make it to 50 years...dang. We're taking a big group photo - should prove to be interesting, to say the least. Our entire family is staying in one big cottage for the weekend/week (we're not staying that long). I love my family, and most times, I miss them tremendously...but mostly, I think I miss the North. I would move back up there somewhere in a heartbeat...

Did you notice I use "..." a lot? Anyway, I hope everyone is well - for the like, 5 readers of this blog thus far.

"You can't hold yourself together...

...why should I hold you now?" (a line from "Never Take Friendship Personal" by Anberlin)

Disclaimer: I've had to say this in other blogs I've written - I appreciate anyone's feedback, but if you're going to give me a Sunday School answer (i.e. "pray about it", "God is always there", etc.), you can hold off for now. Thanks.

Sometimes, this is how I feel people see me. They think I'm super strong, can stand up to anyone or anything, and never have problems. Or, they think I'm extremely negative and sarcastic, so if I get out of control, helping me wouldn't be worth it. Well, to be totally honest, I don't like me. I don't like who I've let myself become. I don't like being negative - I promise, I wasn't always. I'm not sure if it's my attitude affecting everything else, or everything else affecting my attitude...probably some of both. But either way, it sucks. I have a great life - I'm 24 years old, I've lost 21 lbs. over the last 4 months so I'm feeling better than ever, I have an amazing husband, I own a house, my church has it's hang ups just like every other church, but God is moving an changing things, and Luke is a great pastor....but I still feel like the things my life revolves around aren't worth it. Does this make sense to anyone? I complain - I bitch, even - constantly. That's not good. At all. I can't hold myself together...I can't. But what to do? I cry out to Jesus for help, but either He's being really quiet right now, or I can't hear Him.

Blah.

So, why the name?

Well, I came to Birmingham through a ministry program I was in called Master's Commission. Most of my family still remains somewhere in the Midwestern/Northern area of the country, and they all thought I was crazy. CRAZY. "Why Birmingham?!" Well, I try to do what God tells me to do, so...almost 6 years later, I'm still here. However, I continue to consider myself "transplanted" and many people here will still call me a yankee (and yes, they will still use the other part of that term)...hence the name.

Hi, I'm Lynn.

Nice to meet you. I'm still in the process of figuring this Blogspot thing out, so keep coming back as this place is under contruction.

My church dragged me into this. :)