schMORGANsborg

last night. 

And I aint gonna lie…I gotta little skeered.  So I threw a bunch of stuff in the bathroom and sat on the phone with my dad till it passed. 
Apparently this is what I think it takes to survive a tornado.

I just spent the better part of the morning thinking I was Nancy Drew.  It all started when I went to this website.  Then I saw an article by Rob Bell….score…I’m a fan. 

Side note:  I actually clicked on it cause I thought it said "Rob Bell on Saving Christmas" and I had just been thinking about how I didn’t want to waste Christmas.  But then I realized it didn’t say Christmas…it said Christians.  If I had a dollar for every time I did that… 

Anyway, so I read the article and noticed something interesting.  Every so often a letter was in bold.  At first I thought it was a type-o, but then I thought "hmmm…maybe it’s a secret message!"  I’m not sure what it says about me that I thought that, but guess what?!  I was right!  It WAS a secret message!  The message said "email rob at nooma dot com".  So I did.  Then I got a response that was just railing on this group called the Citizens of Virtue.  Then the email said that there were 7 people inside this group that were trying to get out.  Rob said he couldn’t help them because he was afraid more harm would come to them!  Then he said if I went to his book’s website there would be more info on how to help them.  Ok, I’ll bite.  So I went to the website.  Then I clicked on the link that said "help the seven".  Nothing.  Just some page with boxes on it.  What the heck is going on here?!  So being Nancy Drew I googled Citizens of Virtue and found their website.  After a lot of reading I came to the conclusion that these people were wack-o’s!  But I still didn’t understand why Rob Bell was making it his job to speak out against these people.  That’s when I decided to enlist some help.  I went and told McCall all that I had found.  I think she thought I was crazy.  So I told her to go to the site and within five seconds she figured out that it wasn’t real.  It’s all just made up!  Can you believe that?!  I got hoodwinked!  (ps what does that word even mean?) 

The Citizens of Virtue are not a real group, but the people behind this new book have done an amazing job at creating an alternate world….and of making me want to read the book.  Well done marketing people…well done.  Mike always said I was sharp as a marble. 

So the moral of the story is Rob Bell has a new book coming out called Jesus Wants to Save Christians and he wants you to read it.  That and I’m a marble.

I’ve been tagged twice in the past few weeks and I’ve yet to fulfill my tag obligations…so here we go.  First up is Mickey.  

3 Random Facts:

1. I’m a T.U.L.I.P. girl.

2. I love cheese hotdogs.  Not a hotdog with cheese on it…the hotdogs that come with the cheese inside. (I feel like I’ve already told yall that…did yall already know that about me?) 

3. I enjoy blog stalking, facebook stalking and all other forms of stalking.  Minus the illegal kind where you sit outside of someone’s house.    

3 Current Obsessions:

1. Twitter.

2. Keeping my house clean.

3. Figuring out how to live Isaiah 58:10.

3 Goals:

1. To make some goals…I’ve never been very good at that.  (Mikeism: Failing to plan is planning to fail…crap!)

2. To sell my house.

3.  To use my abundance for every good deed and not on my every whim.  

3 Fears:

1. Mice in my bed.

2. Mice in my room.

3. Wasting my life…oh and mice.

3 Joys:

1. The Word.

2. Hanging out with my friends.

3. The fall…Georgia football, the fair, cool weather, Halloween…love it!

Now for Rebecca’s.  6 random things about myself.  Geez…I feel like all I do is tell yall random things about myself, but I’ll see if I can pull 6 more out.

1. I love diet cherry coke because I think it tastes the most like real coke…even though I’ve trained myself to drink diet cokes and now I really don’t even like the taste of real coke anymore.

2. I refuse to go up in my attic.  There’s just no telling what could be up there.

3. As a result of #2 all the closets in my house are slam full.  I refuse to store anything in the attic…decorations…camping gear…nothing. 

4. I have gum in my mouth at almost all times…and I pop it a lot.  Which is probably really annoying to the people around me.  Sorry about that.  Maybe that’s why someone started the I Hate Morgan club.  

5. I’m always thinking about the most efficient way to get from one place in the room to another.  For example if I’m sitting in my living room I’m thinking about whether it’s more effective to walk through the kitchen or the hallway.  Is there anything that I need to do in the kitchen on my way that would make that route more appealing?  I don’t like to back track and I like to do as many things as I can while on my chosen path.  If I forget something in the living room and I have to walk all the way back in there I get so mad at myself for wasting that time. 

6. I just put my house up for sale…anyone wanna move to fun-roe?! 

There ya go…more random facts that you never needed to know about me:)  

Katie gave me my belated bday gift this past weekend and guess what it was!  Homemade greeting cards with mikeisms on them!  I cracked up!  They are great…and just to be fair she said it was her mom’s idea:)  So thanks Katie and Mrs. McIver!

Mike loved them too!  Here we are relishing all his wise words like…"wish in one hand and crap in another and see which one fills up first" or "you know her…she used to come over to our house on Sunday and eat chicken" or the ever popular "if you start having diarrhea then you’ve taken too much".  That last one was originally made in reference to vitamin C, but we decided last night that it pretty much applies to all things.   

And just in case some of yall are unaware of what a mikeism is Mike came up with a mikeism to define a mikeism…you follow all that?

Mikeism: A thought stolen from a wise man and repeated often enough to claim as your own. 

So next time you’re looking for that perfect card to say Congratulations or Happy Birthday just let me know and I can get you a Mike’s Hard Card (I’m still working on the name).  After all, nothing says I love you like "you’re useless as tits on a boar hog."  

Can you hear ‘em?  Crickets.  This is what my Daddy calls the Song of the South.  I love this sound…it makes me smile.  I wonder if you can hear crickets in the city?  I don’t know if I could live somewhere without crickets.  I hate mice, but I love me some crickets.  

Haven’t had one of these in a while and since that story sucked all the creativity right out of me, I’ll give you one of these for the road.

"You’re useless as tits on a boar hog!" 

Happy Friday!

Ok, I’m going to attempt this post now….there was just so much that went on last week it’s hard to organize it all into one little post and for it to make sense.  So this is my best try at that.  Also, I seem to have caught the Guatemalan coughing disease….or just a cold…depending on how dramatic I’m being….therefore my thoughts are a little more loopy than usual…bear with me.

Sunday we met at the airport bright and early.  Mom and Dad dropped me off cause they’re awesome like that.  I had just found out a couple days before that the only person I knew on the trip (Russ) wasn’t going anymore.  Awesome:)  As I was unloading my bags out of the car some people I recognized walked by.  I smiled at them…they didn’t acknowledge my existence.  This was going to be a fun trip.

When I got into the airport there were already a good amount of people there…some I recognized…some I didn’t.  A couple people remembered me and said hey…that was nice.  There began my role as the awkward girl standing by herself that no one knows.

We made our way through the airport…had some chill time…which always sucks for awkward girl…but I was surviving.  I knew before I came that this was going to be uncomfortable for me…I knew I was going to have to put in 110% effort and really put myself out there.  I’m still not sure why I decided that putting myself in this situation was a good idea.  I mean at this point in my life I know my strengths and weaknesses pretty well…and thriving in a large group of people that I don’t know has never been one of my strengths.  Rebecca called it ballsy….I call it stupid:) 

Once we got on the plane I found my seat next to a really nice girl.  We talked a little throughout the flight and watched 27 dresses….cute movie ps.  After the plane ride we got on a school bus and rode 4 hours to San Pedro where we would spend the week. 

Once we arrived in San Pedro we ate dinner….hotdogs…welcome to Guatemala:)  Then we reviewed some information and I pretty much crashed as soon as I went in my room.

The next day we split up into two teams and went to our worksites to start building the houses.  It was kind of a hike up to our house and I was already sweating my ace off by the time we got there.  I quickly got over any notions of looking even half-way presentable.  We worked until lunch and then went back to the hotel to eat.  Then we went back and worked some more.  That was pretty much the routine everyday.  Work…eat…work some more….eat some more.  Each night we had a little group devotional and then we were free to do whatever we wanted to.  By the end of the second night I was done.  I was physically exhausted and I was emotionally worn out.  I had been trying so hard to be outgoing and to make friends but to no avail.  I just wanted to go home where people knew me…where they already loved me…where I didn’t have to try.  But as the Mikeism goes…wish in one hand and crap in the other and see which one fills up first.  I was in Guatemala and I was just going to have to deal with it.

We got a lot of work done that week….saw a lot of stuff…and believe it or not I actually started to make friends.  By the end of the week I felt that I had made some genuine friendships.  And then it was time to go.  What?!  All this hard work and I was actually getting somewhere and now we’re done…and I’ll probably never see those people again.  So it was kind of a weird trip for me.

I expected it to be all about the people of Guatemala….but instead it was more about the people I was with from America.  It’s always a weird feeling coming back from a mission trip…one that I can’t ever put into words.  This trip is no different.  I don’t think He is quite done teaching me from this trip.  I’ve always been a little slow so He gives me the lessons in pieces:)  I’ll let you know as they come. 

For now I can say that I truly had a good time.  We did a lot of earthly good for some people and I pray that they saw our Father in that.  I managed to make some friends even if I was the awkward girl most of the time:)  And I was once again reminded of the complete excess that I live in.

Thank you for all of your prays and support.  Sorry this story isn’t filled with profound, life-changing moments but hey…that’s life right:)       

Kristy told me to hurry up and post a new blog so here you go KQ. 

Friday night me and one of the two other single people I know went to go see 27 dresses.  You know the movie about the girl who has been a bridesmaid 27 times?  Needless to say that’s pretty much been the story of both of our lives:)  The movie was so good.  Very funny and very cute.  My favorite part was when one of the brides told her that the great part about her bridesmaid dress was that she could cut it off and wear it again.  Quality!  I’ve been in about 8 weddings…I think…I can’t really remember…and I’ve heard a version of that line each and every time.  I love every one of you girls with all my heart….but seriously…I’m never wearing those dresses again.  My fav version of that line was spoken by a bride that will go unnamed…you know who you are:)  She tried to convince all of us that we could wear the top part of our two piece dress with jeans and a blazer.  I don’t know who told her that but in the words of a famous Mikeism "you can peddle them lollypops somewhere else…cause I aint buyin’".  I don’t wear blazers.    

All of the people that I work with are sick as dogs.  Most of them have been out at some point this week.  When they are here they’re hacking up a lung.  So my mommy bought me my very own bottle of vitamin c and I’m dosing up.  Quick Mikeism in reference to the afore mentioned c…"when you start having diarrhea you’ve taken too much".  Thanks dad you’re so wise:)

Actually ol’ Mike won’t even get that message because he won’t read my blog anymore.  He said he doesn’t want me to censor myself because I’m afraid my daddy will read it.  Mike…did you see what I just wrote above…does it look like I censor myself:)   

sorry if I just grossed everyone out…I have the sense of humor of a 13 year old boy sometimes.

Do you ever think you’ve got things figured out…finally…and then all of a sudden something happens that knocks you on your butt? 

I thought I had finally figured out where I was supposed to be serving and then I ran into a major road block….bummer!  I guess it’s back to the drawing board. 

The more I learn; the more I figure out how much I don’t know….pretty sure there’s a mikeism somewhere in there. 

ok, so here’s the rundown…we went to my parent’s house for thanksgiving.  Darlene cooked everything cause she’s the bomb and I made desserts cause I’m a mini-bomb.  Pecan pie, chocolate peanut-butter cake and some kinda layer pumpkin pie…I didn’t love the punkin pie, but Darlene said it was wonderful…of course.  I told her I could have made her a turd pie and she would have loved it:)  not cause she eats turds, but because she thinks everything I do is great.  she’s going to be mad I said turd on the internet:) 

The day after Thanksgiving I did NOT go shopping….had a very bad experience with that last year that involved an old man throwing his hip out trying to help me and my parents having to come rescue me from the wal-mart parking lot at 5 in the morning. 

So instead me and the rents went and got our Christmas trees!  I love Christmas!  My daddy violated my tree so it won’t get too dry:) and he got it to quit leaning toward skilfriggy’s house…that’s a mikeism for "it’s crooked".  They helped me decorate all afternoon and then we gathered round the fire, drank cider and sang Christmas carols….sike!  we didn’t do that last part, but that would’ve been precious. 

Other then that coolness I pretty much just chilled all weekend.  Hope yall had a fun one too!   

Can I just say that I LOVE my friends?!  yall are such a blessing to me.  And I’m realizing more and more that I don’t just enjoy my friends, but I need them.  They keep me from losing my mind…most of the time anyway…it still gets away from me every now and again.

I used to think that I needed to be an independent woman…just like Kelly Clarkson.  I thought I needed to take care of my own crap and not rely on anyone else to help.  I think I was born with a good bit of that in me from the get go….just ask Darlene:)  I have been fighting for a while now to be completely independent from my parents…to no avail…cause guess what?  I still really need them too.  But I’m starting to learn that that’s ok.  It’s ok to rely on my parents…that’s what they’re there for.  And it’s ok to depend on my friends…I hope they can depend on me too.  Because the truth is we aren’t built to do this on our own.  That’s nothing new to most of you and I’ve heard it a million times myself…I guess this place in my life has just forced me to really hear it. 

So I’m going to continue to try to break outta this not so fun place that I’ve been in for what seems like forever.  Scratch that…Mike always said that trying is just a noisy way of not doing anything…I AM going to break outta this joint!  But I’m going to need some help.  Sorry if I lean too much sometimes…carry me just a little bit further.  I promise I’ll try to return the favor someday.