My Mom

My mom is the greatest woman I have ever met.  She is the one woman I look to for guidance about how to be strong and independent, how to be reasonable and use logic, how to be serious and how to be taken seriously.  However, she is also the woman who taught me how to love and how to be loved.  She taught me how to laugh with others, but never at them.  She taught me how to be gentle, tender and compassionate.  She taught me to always be honest, integrous, and humble.  She has taught me that whatever is worth doing is worth doing right.  She has always said what needed to be said, but in a way that it would be gently received.  She has stood behind me and cheered me on in everything I have ever done.  She gives countless amounts of wise council, but never without first asking if I want it.  She has always worked very hard so that I could have opportunities that a lot of kids never had. 

One of the things I appreciate most about my mom is that she never held on too tight.  I always felt loved, but I also felt free.  She was the kind of mom that was willing to push you out of the nest so that you could see the world from up high.  She gave me wings, and I will never be able to express the depth of my gratitude. 

Happy Mother’s Day Mom.  I love you!

Picture taken by my cousin, dcampbellphotography.com.

 

Where I Belong

You know how baseball players have theme songs that are played as they are going to bat?  Well, I’ve always thought about what my song would be. 

There was a time when “Born to Fly” by Sarah Evans was my theme song.  The song was released in October of 2000.  I was a senior in high school.  I was ready to fly.  For five years I loved life, but I was still always waiting to fly.

That song played over and over in my car until after I graduated from college and another took its place. 

2005 is what I call “the dark year”.  When I think back to 2005 all I see is darkness.  I can’t remember much of that year, but in January 2006 I started coming out of the darkness.  I was bruised, but not broken.  I didn’t have much self-esteem left, but I did have enough to land a dream job for a 24 year old.  However, the boss had it in for me.  I was hired to do one thing, but expected to do another.  I never met expectations.  Every single day I arrived at work with a pit in my stomach and everyday I left that way.  At the time I owned a Rascal Flatts CD (Me and My Gang, released in April 2006).  All day long I would play this song over and over quietly on the computer in my office.  I also played it in my car on the way to and from work everyday.  It was my theme song for the short 4 months that I worked there, but it was more than that.  I was singing for the year of darkness I was coming out of, as well as the office of darkness I was facing everyday. 

When I finally quit that job I was free.  I soon started dating Jason seriously.  Although life is still hard sometimes, there has been nothing but light since the Fall of 2006.  I haven’t really had a theme song since then.  I’ve had several that have spoken to me, and that I have loved (they are under the “Songs That Speak to Me” tab), but none that have truly spoken to the core of who I am.  That was until this song came out.  I’m sure many people feel the same way I do, but this song resonates with who I have always been.  In fact, in high school my best friend, Mindy, would always get really mad at me because I constantly talked about how I couldn’t wait to die.  I wasn’t suicidal.  I was a happy, care-free teenager who loved life, but I knew that Heaven was my real home, and I couldn’t wait to get there.  This song by Building 429 sums up my entire life.  It is the one true theme song that envelopes all the other theme songs I’ve ever clung to.  This song speaks to who I am now, who I have always been, and who I will always be.

Sometimes it feels like I'm watching from the outside
Sometimes it feels like I'm breathing but am I alive
I will keep searching for answers that aren't here to find

All I know is I'm not home yet
This is not where I belong
Take this world and give me Jesus
This is not where I belong

So when the walls come falling down on me
And when I'm lost in the current of a raging sea
I have this blessed assurance holding me.

All I know is I'm not home yet
This is not where I belong

Take this world and give me Jesus
This is not where I belong

When the earth shakes I wanna be found in You
When the lights fade I wanna be found in You

All I know is I'm not home yet
This is not where I belong
Take this world and give me Jesus
This is not where I belong

All I know is I'm not home yet
This is not where I belong
Take this world and give me Jesus
This is not where I belong

Where I belong, where I belong
Where I belong, where I belong

Find More lyrics at www.sweetslyrics.com

A funny thing, I just went through my list of “Songs That Speak to Me” and I found this post - “Blessings”.  In the post I talk about how I rolled out of bed thanking God that this is not my home.  It’s always fun to find proof to the truth you speak about yourself.  =)

The Nature of God

It’s 2:30AM.  My alarm is going to go off in 5 hours, and I have a really long day  tomorrow.  To work by 9:30AM for meetings all day, then fly home at 7:30PM (central time). Arrive at the Ohio airport at 11PM and  then make the 2 hour drive home.  (I just wish I had put gas in my car before I got to the airport last week.)  So, the question remains, if my day is so crazy tomorrow why am I still up writing to you tonight? 

The answer: Because I can’t sleep.  This is the 5th or 6th day in a row that I haven’t been able to sleep.  I was up until 5:30AM this morning, took a nap before going the hangar to work on some things and here I am again, still not sleeping. 

For a little while now I haven’t been feeling myself.  I’ve been wrought with insecurity, which isn’t like me.  I’ve been unable to sleep, which isn’t like me.  I cry at the drop of a hat, which isn’t like me.  (I know what you are thinking right about now, and no I’m not pregnant.)  I’ve been eaten up with turmoil and insecurity about the future.  (The future part has to do with my job, and only my job.  Sorry, I can’t go into details.)

There have been very few times in my life when I have been truly unsure about things and when I can’t seem to find my footing.  However, I have had them and I am experiencing it again right now.  I went through some really hard times in college, but I clung to God with everything in me and He never let me down.  At the time there was a CD track that was being passed around.  It was given to me one day.  It was a blank CD, with nothing written on it, and it only had one twenty minute track on it of a guy talking.  I listened to that CD over and over and over and over and over and over again every single day for two years or so.  I burned it onto more CDs and gave it to every person who would take it.  It got me through some the darkest days of my life.

One day, I was talking to someone about it and I asked if he had any idea who the speaker was.  I don’t remember who I asked, but I do remember the person saying, “I’m not for sure, but I think the guy’s name is Graham Cooke.”  (This was around 2002.)  I searched the Internet high and low and couldn’t find anything.  (It might have been because I was spelling it “Cook”, but that’s neither here nor there.")

After a couple of years of gaining power from this word I stopped listening to it so often.  Soon, I stopped listening to it at all, and I didn’t listen to it again until tonight. 

Today was a really “bad day”.  I cried a few times, when no one was looking, and I even went and saw The Lucky One at the theater so that I would have a real excuse to cry.  (It did help.)  Then, I spent hours face-timing with Jason.  We watched the entire Thunder game together.  I had fun with him and the Thunder won, so that helped too.  But, the darkness started creeping back in as I was getting into bed.  It was 1:30AM and I wasn’t even a little bit tired.  The last thing I wanted to do was lay there with my eyes open while my mind reeled.  I started praying and the verse that was going over and over in my head was “For I know the plans I have for you…”  (I couldn’t remember the reference so I looked it up.  It’s Jeremiah 29:11.)  As I read the verses in Jeremiah that surround that verse the words from that CD that I had memorized so long ago started running through my head.  I grabbed my phone and check YouTube.  Praise God, there it was, just waiting for me to listen to it once again.  I listened to it 3 times before deciding that I needed to share it with you.  Since I’m still not even the least bit tired, here I am at 2:55AM sharing with you something that changed my life and sustained my relationship with God during so many dark days.

Because of the words spoken here I never used the words “bad” and “day” together until very recently.  You read about a bad day at the mall a couple of weeks ago and then this afternoon I heard myself telling Jason that I was having a really bad day.  It felt wrong coming out of my mouth, but I wasn’t sure why.  After that I think God decided it was time to remind me why, which is why He led me back to this place. 

This should all be on one track, so when you listen I hope you will give yourself 20 minutes and play the tracks back to back.  Please, please, please, please take the time to listen to this message, even if you have to mark you calendar and come back to it.  You won’t regret it. 

 

 

Now you can see why for almost 10 years I have kept from uttering the words, “bad day”.  “From this day on, for you there is no such thing as a good day or a bad day.  There is only a day of grace.  And some days the grace of God allows you to enjoy what is happening.  And some days the grace of God allows you to endure what is happening.”

“He is consistent, but He is also unpredictable.  You never what God is going to do next.  You always know what He is going to be like, but you never know what He is going to do next.” 

“He will never change His heart toward you no matter what you do.  He cannot be anything other than what He is.  He is a covenant-maker, and a covenant-keeper, and He is good!”

“God has not called you to do the things that you can do.  He has called you to do the things you will never be able to do in a million years.” 

“This great God that we serve will throw us into situations beyond us with no other thought than that His great heart will sustain us.”

“And that is what the desert is about.  It is about discovering the majesty of God.  Hosea 2:14-15 says, “I will captivate her heart and draw her into the wilderness to speak kindly to her.””

This word is part of why I am who I am today and why I see God the way that I do.  It is the reason I spent the summer of 2003 in Georgia, utterly alone, studying Hosea and what it meant to be in the wilderness and yet have God speak kindly to you.  

It was amazing tonight, as I was listening I started to say the words along with him and then before long I was saying all of the words before him.  I haven’t listened to this in 7 years or so, but the words are still burned on my heart.  They are the reason I left a fiancé in Oklahoma and moved to Denver to become a flight attendant.  They are the reason I cried everyday because I hated being away from Jason, but they are also the reason I trusted where I was.  I knew God had led me there and I knew He would sustain me there.  Everyday was a day of grace.  And now, once again, I am wrought with insecurity about my abilities and my place in the world, but I know that God has brought me here.  I understand that He is unpredictable, but that He is also consistent.  He never changed.  I choose to embrace where I am in life because I TRUST IN THE NATURE OF GOD. 

God is so amazing.  As my my eyes fill with tears once more, my eyelids are growing heavy.  Just as God has revealed His kindness to Graham Cooke.  He has revealed His presence to me.  He never leaves me, and I praise Him with everything in me. 

“Beloved, do not be distracted from your journey into the nature of God.  Don’t be distracted, because that is the source. It is the wellspring of all your joy, your peace, your rest, your revelation, your anointing, your power.  It is the nature of God.”

Goodnight,

 

(I know it seems like overkill to include the text version, but it’s for the people who are using the translate gadget.)

THE NATURE OF GOD

By Graham Cooke

How blessed are the people whose God is the Lord.  When you know, when you really know the sovereignty of God and His Lordship over all things – seen and unseen; when you’re able to confess Him as the Supreme Ruler over all things, and to confess that He is your Lord and you are His possession, then at that point, you are the happiest of people.  You could not get any happier.  Nothing could happen that could be so wonderful, that it could possibly be better than the happiness you have in the Lordship and Supremacy of Jesus Christ.  When you know that you are situated, that you are located in the heart of the happiest, most powerful Person ever to live, then you cannot be more happy than at that point.  When you are able to step back into His rest and live in the High Tower of His name, so that when the enemy come raging against you, he cannot find you – that’s joy!  That’s happiness! 

How blessed is he whose help is in the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord His God, the One who made Heaven and Earth; who made the sea and all that is in them; the One who keeps faith forever.  When all your confidence is in the One who made Heaven and Earth, when everything you need in life is utterly dependent on the goodness, the mercy, the kindness, the love, the grace, the power, of the One Person who is Supreme God above all gods.  When your present, and your future, and your health, and your destiny, and your life, depend totally on the God who works for weak, twisted and deceitful people, then you simply have to be the happiest people on the face of the Earth, because your happiness is built totally on the knowledge that the God who gives favor to weak, selfish people, He has given you an unshakable conviction and confidence in His ability to bring change and power to bear on your life.  Therefore, the most wonderful thing you will ever do with your life is to trust it to the nature of God - to put it into the hands of a God who totally loves you, and is deeply committed to you, and delights in helping you.  It is the most happiest feeling to totally trust the best, the most honorable, the most powerful, the most integrous, committed, and faithful covenant-maker who is also the most decent Person who ever lived – Jesus.  Being completely reliant on His character and integrity is the source of your great happiness! 

We rest in Your nature – for me, Father, You are the kindest Person I have ever known.  You are the happiest Person I know.  You are the most consistent Person we have ever dealt with.  You never change.  Everything comes down to us from this Father of Lights, in whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.  You say with absolute confidence, “I AM THE LORD.  I change not.  I AM the same yesterday, today, and forever.” 

And Beloved, we are learning to live in the paradox of God – to know that He is consistent, but He is also unpredictable.  He is consistent in His nature – you always know where you are with God, but you seldom know what He is going to do next.  But you always know where you are with God because He never changes.  When Moses said, “God, please show me Your glory,” maybe he was expecting some great light and display of power, but God just looked at him and smiled at him and said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass before you” because the glory of God is the nature of God – that God is good!  He is good!  He is unfailingly good!  He is good!  He is good!  God is good!  He’s good! He is good!  And He is never changes – He will always be good!  Yesterday He was good, today is good, tomorrow He will be good.  And it is your destiny to have the goodness of God pass before you.  He’ll never change.  You always know where you are with Him.  He never changes.  He is consistent – the most consistent Person ever.  He will never change His heart toward you no matter what you do.  He cannot be anything other than what He is.  He is a covenant-maker, and a covenant-keeper, and He is good!

Our God is consistent, but He is also unpredictable.  You never know what God is going to do next.  You always know what He is going to be like, but you never know what He is going to do next.  God has called you to see the invisible, and do the impossible.  God has not called you to do the things that you can do.  He has called you to do the things you will never be able to do in a million years.  You are not able to do what God has called you to do.  Only He can do it.  But He has called you to live in His faithfulness.  He has called you to live in His consistency.  And He will come and do all the things that need to be done.  So, Beloved, you cannot find security in what God is doing, because God commits you to the impossible.  He asks you to see the invisible.  He calls you to do the outrageous.  There is no security in that place.  There is no security in what God is doing.  There is only security in who God is.  This great God that we serve will throw us into situations beyond us with no other thought than that His great heart will sustain us.  And the answer of God to everything, to every excuse you want to make why you can’t do something – the answer is always the same.  When you look into His face and see the twinkle in His eye and the grin on His face, and He looks at you and He says, “Nevertheless, I will be with you.”  That’s all, that’s His only answer to human weakness.  “It’s okay.  I will be there.”  He is the great God who sends us out as lambs among wolves.  Why?  Because the Lion is padding by our side. 

See, what God has called us to is outrageous, impossible, and totally unpredictable.  And the only way that we will do it is because we are secure in the nature of God.  He is consistent, but He is unpredictable.  But the church, you know, is the opposite – we are inconsistent in relationships but oh so boringly predictable in everything that we do.  That’s the nature of the change that is coming, Beloved.  And the only way that we will come into that high place of anointing and power, to seize the moment, to advance the Kingdom, to swim against the tide, to go against the odds, to sail against the wind that is in the world, is if you and I are resting in the consistent nature of God.  That you and I have a testimony of what God is really like living in our hearts in such a powerful way that it drives everything.  It is that testimony that is the very essence of prophecy, the testimony of what Jesus is really, really like.  “I AM the Lord.  I never, ever change.  I will always be exactly like this.”  And we are discovering what the “exactly like this” is really all about.  Beloved, do not be distracted from your journey into the nature of God.  Don’t be distracted, because that is the source. It is the wellspring of all your joy, your peace, your rest, your revelation, your anointing, your power.  It is the nature of God.  And when you learn how to rest in the nature of God, when He comes walking within the impossible, you will be the one that gets out of the boat to join Him.  You won’t be one of those who were standing there wondering, or thinking about joining Him.  There will be this instinctive, intuitive NEED to put your leg over the side of the boat and start walking on a substance you have no business being on except that He is drawing you there. 

It is your destiny, Beloved, to walk in the nature of God and do greater things than He did.  It is your destiny.  But you’ll never get out there unless you learn how to live in here.  You’re perfect.  Beloved, you are perfect for God.  You’re perfect.  And He is going to make you perfect in His nature, stamping the image of Jesus on you. It is going to be great.  And that is what the desert is about.  It is about discovering the majesty of God.  Hosea 2:14-15 says, “I will captivate her heart and draw her into the wilderness to speak kindly to her.”  And out of that place of coming into a revelation of the nature of God for me - out of that place, God will give your vineyard of fruitfulness.  Guaranteed, hey!  See, He knows the plan He has for you, the things He wants you to accomplish.  But first, first I want you to see Me as I really, really am for you, as I am for you, as I am for you.  I want you to know Me as I am for you. 

Everyone of us needs a revelation of an aspect of the nature of God.  For me, it has always been the kindness of God.  God has been relentlessly kind to me over many, many, many years.  Kinder than I deserve.  Relentlessly  kind.  He has pursued me with kindness, to a point where every living day I expect to have an experience of the kindness of God.  I have an expectation when I wake up in the morning.  Even in my dreams, I expect the kindness of God to come.  I can’t remember a day when I was disappointed in the last, I don’t know, 10 years at least.  The thing is, I look for the kindness of God every day, because that is my joy – to see the hand of kindness coming toward me, the kind word, the blessing.  Even on the difficult days, there is always an act of kindness for me, because that is my revelation.  He is the kindest Person I have ever met in my entire life.  Beloved, He will not rest Himself until you have a revelation of what He is really, really like.  Then He has to back that revelation up with experience.  These are the things He so loves to do. 

He is faithful.  From this day on, for you there is no such thing as a good day or a bad day.  There is only a day of grace.  And some days the grace of God allows you to enjoy what is happening.  And some days the grace of God allows you to endure what is happening.  But don’t think about good and bad anymore – just enjoy the grace that is present.  And out of that grace will come an expectancy.  I know You are going to do something today.  I just want to be alive to You so that I can see it; wait for it; speak it out; live in it; experience it; worship You in it; glorify Your name in it.  There are no good days anymore; there are no bad days; just days of grace, hey.  It’s agreed, just days of grace.  And the grace of God is going to come and bring with it the nature of God, that you might know Him.  That you might know Him.  That you might know Him and rest in Him, move in Him, worship Him, represent Him.  Hey, God.

Transcribed by Elaine Mifflin

Memory Verse Monday–Week 25

“Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath: For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.”  James 1:19-20 (KJV)

“My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires.”  James 1:19-20 (NIV)

 

Review

1 Corinthians 3:16

Psalm 121:1-2

Hebrews 11:6

Romans 8:28

Food Safety

Below is an article I wrote for a corporate flight attendant website, but it is an article that can benefit everyone, so I thought I’d share it.  Although it is written for flight attendants it is important to use the basics at home, especially if you live with small children or elderly folks.  They are the most susceptible to getting foodborne illnesses and the most at risk of dying from them. 

~

One of the most important things to understand about food safety is that YOU are part of the chain that will lead to either the health or the harm of your passengers, crewmembers and yourself.  You never want to be in a situation where your passenger is taken from his/her business or vacation because of food that you served while they were on the airplane.  Not only that, but foodborne illness is a serious issue; not only will it make your passengers, crew members and yourself very sick, but it can be fatal. 

Since you are directly involved in the safety of your passengers’ food there are several things you can do to help protect your passengers, your crew members and yourself from foodborne illnesses. 

#1.  Always wear gloves, even if your company or passengers don’t require it. 

#2.  Never use food that smells or looks funny, even if it’s from a reputable caterer.

#3.  Always make sure food is heated to its proper temperature.  (The temperature is determined by how much heat is required to kill the pathogens that grow on that specific food.)  Most airline caterers cook food to 70% and then send the food to us to complete the cooking process on the airplane so that the food is not over cooked.  That is why this rule is crucial to the safety of those on board your aircraft.  Since caterers don’t cook the food to the required temperature it is imperative that you do.

USDA Recommended Safe Minimum Internal Temperatures

• Cook all raw beef, pork, lamb and veal steaks, chops, and roasts to a minimum internal temperature of 145 °F as measured with a food thermometer before removing meat from the heat source. For safety and quality, allow meat to rest for at least three minutes before carving or consuming. For reasons of personal preference, consumers may choose to cook meat to higher temperatures.
• Cook all raw ground beef, pork, lamb, and veal to an internal temperature of 160 °F as measured with a food thermometer.
• Cook all poultry to a safe minimum internal temperature of 165 °F as measured with a food thermometer.

It’s important to remember that when you are heating/cooking food that has different types of meat in it you must heat all the meat to the highest temperature required.  Also, if you are heating vegetables or sauces that have come into contact with uncooked meat (or meat that has not cooked to the proper temperature) you must heat the vegetable or sauce to the temp required for the meat it touched.

It’s recommended that you use a good quality digital thermometer for your food.  This is because the cheap thermometers with a dial have to be recalibrated often and for this reason they often misread temperatures.  This article explains which thermometers to purchase and how to use them.  It also has an in-depth chart of all the meats and seafood and their necessary internal temps. 

#4.  When storing uncooked food always store the food by putting the highest required temperature foods at the bottom.  For example, if I have raw vegetables, chicken and steak I would put the vegetables highest, then the beef, and then the chicken so that if one of the dishes drips onto another dish that dish will reach the required minimum temperature to kill any pathogens.  If I were to stack the chicken on top of the beef and chicken juice got into the beef dish, I would be serving unsafe food if I only heated the beef to the required one hundred forty-five degrees because the chicken juice needs to be heated to one hundred sixty-five degrees.

#5.  All food has what is called a “safe zone”.  Once heated to its proper temperature to kill any pathogens hot food must remain above one hundred forty degrees.  In the same way, any food served cold must remain below forty degrees.  However, the foods are only safe at this temperature for up to four hours.  After four hours anything not refrigerated must be thrown out.  This is why on an aircraft the food is generally only safe for a little while unless you put it on ice or use dry ice to keep your refrigerator cold.  I order three 3x5 pieces of dry ice with every catering order that I keep at the bottom of my refrigerator so that the air stays cool enough to keep the food safe.  If your flight is longer than four hours I would recommend adopting this practice. Let’s say you have a 10 hour red-eye and you plan to serve breakfast when your passengers wake up; if you have stored yogurt, eggs, bacon, etc. in your refrigerator, which only blows cool air, your food will have been unsafe for 6 to 7 hours before you serve it, depending on when you loaded the airplane. 

#6.   Know where your food is coming from.  If you are in a foreign country, make sure that you use safety precautions when ordering your food.  A good rule of thumb is if you are nervous about the water then you should also be nervous about the food.  If you can’t drink the water don’t order any fresh water fish.  Also, don’t eat any skin off fruits and vegetables and don’t eat peeled fruits and vegetables unless they have thick skins that don’t absorb water.  If you are unsure about the safety of the food, one option is to have your caterer from home freeze food and store it with dry ice to use while you are in other countries.  Just remember it will take time to thaw, so plan ahead for that.  Brochettes freeze well, as do most Italian dishes.  Talk to your caterer about foods they recommend for freezing and reheating.  Another thing to do is ask the caterers in foreign countries where they get their foods.  I was in a third world country one time and found out that the caterer imported his vegetables from reputable countries because he served so many aircraft from those countries.  As long as he was being honest, my passengers were safe to eat a salad from him.  

You can find more information for the countries you visit listed below.

http://safefoodinternational.org/regions.html

http://www.cspinet.org/new/pdf/global.pdf  (This I just found, but I am printing it out so that I can refer to it from now on.)

#7.  Make sure your food is properly refrigerated while it is being delivered.  Find out each caterers method for keeping your food cool during the delivery process.  If they don’t have a method, ask them to fill zip-top bags with ice and put it in the bottom of the delivery boxes.  Also, make sure you instruct the caterer, hotel or restaurant to chill the food to below forty degrees before delivery. 

 

I want to summarize by encouraging you to educate yourself in the area of food safety, but to not let yourself become scared to order and serve food.  If you are ever in doubt of a country’s produce then just order all hot food and cook it to one hundred sixty-five degrees.  If a food item scares you then throw it out and serve the boxed soup and the packaged rice that you carry on board for this very reason.  You can also carry powdered milk as a stand-by for a really bad day.  Your passenger will thank you for looking out for their safety and well-being.

 

Safe flying and safe food handling,

Memory Verse Monday–Week 24

“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are called according to His purpose.”  Romans 8:28 (KJV)

“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to his purpose.”  (NIV)

 

Review

1 Corinthians 1:18

John 1:1-2

Proverbs 3:5-6

1 Corinthians 3:16

Psalm 121:1-2

Hebrews 11:6

Feature Friday–Mindy Worley

This is fun Feature Friday for me because this is my best friend.  We have a LONG history that comes with a good story. 

Mindy and I have been together since 3 year old pre-school, but we were arch enemies until 10th grade.  I’m pretty sure I was the bigger brat, but there was definite mutual dislike.  We were in school together all but one year because I went to public school in 2nd grade and she came in 3rd grade.  We were also involved in all the same activities.  We were in the same youth group and we were both football and wrestling managers, so we were together ALL the time.  In 7th grade we had to share a hotel room for a youth group event and I can’t remember who spilled whose fingernail polish, but there was SCREAMING about it.  The other girls in the room had to get involved to get us to stop.  Finally, in 10th grade we were fighting after one of the football games, typical for us, and one of the coaches pulled us aside and told us that we needed to get over whatever was the problem because we were a lot alike and all we had was each other, which was true, as all of our friends were starting to party.  Somehow, whatever he said worked because we became fast friends and we were connected at the hip from that moment on.  We were still more like sisters than friends, but we loved each other.  Anytime we were roommates for more than a 3 days we got into HUGE fights, and we were roommates a lot.  But, we always got over it and moved on. 

We were part of a very special youth group.  We all hung out every weekend, all weekend; from 7th – 12th grade, from Friday night to Sunday night, we were always together.  Mindy and I both went to Oklahoma Baptist University our freshman year.  And again, I went to public school first.  I transferred to the University of Oklahoma our sophomore year and she came our junior year.  We were roommates again, this time for an entire year.  I’ll let your imagination decide how well we did with that…  Today, we are just as different as we have always been, but what we have in common runs deep. There is NO ONE who knows me like Mindy does.  Even times when we haven’t been as close she is still the only one who knows what a brat I was in 2nd grade, who were my first crushes and why, and all my success and failures since I was 3yrs old.  It’s fun to share that kind of history with someone.  It’s a lot of years of notes and secrets. 

        

This is our Kindergarten graduation.  I’m the girl on the right and Mindy is with her brother on the left.

 

This is a picture of some of the core people in our youth group.  Mindy is on the couch and I’m with my brother on the floor.

This is us, um, being us (9th grade)… (I’m at the bottom and Mindy is to the right.)

And, more present day…

Now that you know our history, I want to share more about Mindy and why I’m featuring her today.  She is an amazing person who loves ALL people unconditionally.  It’s a gift she has always had, but that I didn’t appreciate about her until I was older.  She is a total free-spirit, but is also extremely smart. 

Two years ago, she became mom to one of the cutest kids I’ve ever seen.  Being a mom has allowed her to blossom even more.  She is an INCREADIBLE mom, and I love watching her with her son. 

Recently she started a website.  One of her posts is about creating a digital home organization system.  I LOVED reading it.  I immediately went through and downloaded all of the apps she uses and I wanted to share it with you, but as goes with Feature Friday I wanted to interview her so that you can get to know her better.  (This was especially fun for me because Mindy let me pick all the pics to go with her answers.) 

I’m please to introduce Mindy!

1.  What is your full name and age?

Mindy Worley *newly* 30

2. Where did you grow up?

I grew up in Ponca City, OK. It's a medium sized town in Northern Oklahoma that kindof bores you and grows on you all at once. They don't have anywhere to buy sushi though, which is just heartbreaking and wrong.

3. What are a couple of your favorite childhood memories?

Some of my favorite childhood memories revolve around the skits my brother, and later my younger cousins and I would always cook up around the holidays. When I got older, we converted our skits to video and made mini movies with intricate characters, scripts, plot lines, and props. I have been re-watching some of them recently to put up on my website and even though I've seen them 1000 times they never fail to make me cry from laughing. I love that my brother, cousins and I have those memories together.

4. What is your son's name and age?

My son is Cash Beckett and he is two. He will tell you every time that he is three (with a mischievous look on his face) but don't buy it. I once picked him up from Sunday school and they tried to tell me I put him in the wrong class because they totally believed him.

5. What is your favorite thing about being a mom?

There are so many things I really love. I think one of my favorites is watching how he interprets the world with such a fresh perspective, and the excitement he generates over the smallest things. I washed his blankies the other night and when they were ready to pull out of the dryer I swear he almost wept for joy. Over a blanket. Its so fantastic. I also love how polite he is. It warms my heart every single time I'll do something simple like fix him a glass of milk and he tells me "Thanks mama" without any prompting.

6. What is fun about having a boy?

Cash is such a great combination of baby and rough & tough little boy right now. He's becoming so independent and wants to open the door for me and "fix" things with his little hammer, but he still comes running to me and puts his little head on my shoulder when he hurts himself. I won't mind a bit if he's always a little bit of a mama's boy.

7. What is the hardest part of being a mom?

When he was a baby, it was cutting his fingernails. No one tells you this, but it is the most traumatic thing you will have to do as a mother to a newborn. I cut him once and wouldn't touch them again. I only recently found out that my mom has been cutting them for him once a week ever since. Grandmothers are awesome!

The hardest thing now that he's a little sturdier is when I have to do something that I know is the best in the long run but really really stinks right now. I hated taking away his nighttime bottle, but I didn't want him to get cavities. Or putting him to bed when we are having a good time because I know he'll be miserable the next day. I feel like such a traitor because I can't explain to him that I'm actually doing what is best for him.

8. What advice do you have for new moms?

Don't stress out. Honestly, you can do a really great job using instinct (and google) alone. I was so nervous because I was all of a sudden going to be solely responsible for a very very tiny human being's every need. But in the end, everything comes to you. You know your kid, you know what he/she needs. I try and stay approximately one step ahead but that's it. Right now, I'm focusing on potty training, not how I'm going to discipline him as a teenager. And you're never going to be a perfect parent, but I think if you are in tune with your kid, you'll figure it out.

9. Do you have any advice for single mom's or mom's to be?

Being a single parent is tough, I'm not going to say it isn't. But focus on the positives. My son and I are very close because no one else is competing for my attention. I also love that if I want advice or help, I know where to go for it, but in the end I get to decide what I think is best for him.

10. You love to read. How many books do you read per year, including repeats?

I have actually wondered this for awhile, so this year, starting January 1st I decided to keep track for the first time. In four and half months I have read 20 books. So maybe between 50-60? And I'm a single mom with a full time job and somewhat of a social life....so don't anybody tell me you don't have time to read!

11. What is your favorite book and why?

This is absolutely impossible to answer. I read depending on mood. I have read some books so many times that they have become like old friends. There are several books that I read around once a year, and its a varied list. Off the top of my head, they include: Animal Dreams (Barbara Kingsolver), Where the Red Fern Grows (Wilson Rawls), The entire Divine Secrets of the YaYa Sisterhood series (Rebecca Wells), Anna Karenina (Leo Tolstoy), Straight Up and Dirty (Stephanie Klein), the Harry Potter series, Pretense (Lori Wick), Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand) and more recently I'm a huge fan of anything by Pat Conroy, the Hunger Games series and the Girl With a Dragon Tattoo series. Sorry I couldn't narrow it down any, and I'm sure I'm missing a few.

12. You are also a videographer. Do you have any advice for novices with a video camera?

When you are filming, don't be afraid to get close and get a good shot. Nothing is more boring than a really grainy wide shot with 6 people in the way of the action. Also, keep rolling. You never know when something exciting is going to happen. And the more you keep the camera on, the more people relax around it. That's when you get the good footage.

13. Who is your hero, fictitious or not, and why?

Nearly everyone I read about or meet has some quality that I admire. In the fictitious world, two women stand out in my mind. The first is Dagney Taggert, the main character in Atlas Shrugged. I realize this is a very controversial book, but I am always inspired by her incredible work ethic and how she is not willing to settle for anything but the best. The second is Lorelai Gilmore of the Gilmore Girls television show. I really admire her attitude and her parenting style. I love how she approaches life with creativity and doesn't apologize for not blending in to the norm.

(I personally think Mindy is Lorelai in the flesh.)

 

Here is the link to Mindy’s article about creating a digital home organization system.  I think you find it just as helpful as I did.  It really is a brilliant idea!

http://www.constantlytalking.com/2012/04/19/home-management-binder-gone-digital/