Am I There, Yet?

I took another one of those church quizzes…here’s how I rate: 

You scored as Mystical Communion Model.

Your model of the church is Mystical Communion, which includes both People of God and Body of Christ. The church is essentially people in union with Christ and the Father through the Holy Spirit. Both lay people and clergy are drawn together in a family of faith. This model can exalt the church beyond what is appropriate, but can be supplemented with other models.

Mystical Communion Model • 78%

Servant Model • 67%

Sacrament Model • 56%

Herald Model • 56%

Institutional Model • 17%

I’m surprised that I had such a high percentage in the institutional model…You think I’m being sarcastic, but I’m serious.

I just found a great excuse for going on vacation.  It’s pastor appreciation month!  Let’s appreciate ourselves by giving ourselves a vacation!

When do we leave?

Main Entry: burn out
Function: verb
transitive senses
1 : to drive out or destroy the property of by fire
2 : to cause to fail, wear out, or become exhausted especially from overwork or overuse
intransitive senses : to suffer burnout

Main Entry: ¹stress
Pronunciation: ’stres
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English stresse stress, distress, short for destresse — more at DISTRESS
1 : constraining force or influence: as a : a force exerted when one body or body part presses on, pulls on, pushes against, or tends to compress or twist another body or body part; especially : the intensity of this mutual force commonly expressed in pounds per square inch b : the deformation caused in a body by such a force c : a physical, chemical, or emotional factor that causes bodily or mental tension and may be a factor in disease causation d : a state resulting from a stress; especially : one of bodily or mental tension resulting from factors that tend to alter an existent equilibrium e : STRAIN, PRESSURE stress to the point of collapse — Joseph Shoben>
2 : EMPHASIS, WEIGHT stress on a point>
3 archaic : intense effort or exertion
4 : intensity of utterance given to a speech sound, syllable, or word producing relative loudness
5 a : relative force or prominence of sound in verse b : a syllable having relative force or prominence

Main Entry: ¹ex·haust
Pronunciation: ig-’zost
Function: verb
Etymology: Latin exhaustus, past participle of exhaurire, from ex- + haurire to draw; akin to Middle High German [oe]sen to empty, Greek auein to take
transitive senses
1 a : to consume entirely : USE UP <exhausted our funds in a week> b : to tire extremely or completely <exhausted by overwork> c : to deprive of a valuable quality or constituent <exhaust a photographic developer> <exhaust a soil of fertility>
2 a : to draw off or let out completely b : to empty by drawing off the contents; specifically : to create a vacuum in
3 a : to develop (a subject) completely b : to try out the whole number of <exhausted all the possibilities>
intransitive senses : DISCHARGE, EMPTY exhausts through the muffler>
synonym see DEPLETE, TIRE

Main Entry: con·fu·sion
Pronunciation: k&n-’fyü-zh&n
Function: noun
1 : an act or instance of confusing
2 a : the quality or state of being confused b : a confused mass or mixture confusion of voices>
- con·fu·sion·al /-’fyüzh-n&l, -’fyü-zh&-n^&l/ adjective

Main Entry: ¹va·ca·tion
Pronunciation: vA-’kA-sh&n, v&-
Function: noun
Usage: often attributive
Etymology: Middle English vacacioun, from Middle French vacation, from Latin vacation-, vacatio freedom, exemption, from vacare
1 : a respite or a time of respite from something : INTERMISSION
2 a : a scheduled period during which activity (as of a court or school) is suspended b : a period of exemption from work granted to an employee for rest and relaxation
3 : a period spent away from home or business in travel or recreation vacation at the beach>
4 : an act or an instance of vacating

O.K.  Josh just walked me through the test (see previous post) verbally…I did much better the second time around.  I would still probably be sent away if I had to take the test.

I need to go study my history…

I took the US Citizenship Test (not the real one…just the one on blogthings) and I failed.  40%.  I feel completely inadequate.

Here are my results:

***You Failed the US Citizenship Test***

Oops, you only got 4 out of 10 right!

Could You Pass the US Citizenship Test?
http://www.blogthings.com/couldyoupasstheuscitizenshiptestquiz/

My inner activist is coming out again. 

Read this:  HotZone

Then check out this:  InvisibleChildren

We’ve gotta do something…wanna help?

Then, on the lighter side (but with a similar theme), check this out:  NationalGeographic Wildcam 

O.K.  I’ve gotta switch gears since yesterday’s whine fest. 

Gratitude time!

I’m grateful to have a thoughtful, romantic, giving husband who knows how to do dishes and laundry.  Who could ask for more?

I’m grateful for my kids and I’m grateful that I get to stay at home with them.  I love the ages they are at.  5 and 3 are so much easier than 2 ½ and 6 months.  I love their creativity and their innocence.  I love their smiles.  I love their laughter.

I’m grateful for my awesome friends.  I really have some great friends.  We don’t sit around and gossip about each other and we try to get together as often as possible.  We like to have fun and laugh together.  They know me well and, surprisingly, still love me.  J

I’m grateful that we live in a beautiful place on this planet.  I get breath taking views almost every day.  I get to live in a place where people come to vacation.  I love it!

I’m grateful that my parents live in town.  I’m so happy that my kids get to spend time with them while they are growing up.

I’m grateful for my health.  I could work on my diet and get rid of sugar forever, but for the most part…I feel great.

I’m grateful for my home.  I love living in a beautiful home where the kids have their own play room and I have a nice sized bathtub for those mini-retreats I take in the evening. 

I’m grateful for my family.  I love having wonderful people in my family.  People who love God and encourage us in our ministry and our walk with Christ.  I just wish everybody didn’t live so far away.  (Oops…that was a negative!  But, I don’t know how to turn that one around into a positive…)

I’m grateful for Mexican food and vacations.  I’m grateful for cars and washing machines that work.  I’m grateful for warm pajamas and cuddly blankets.

Most importantly, I’m grateful to God.  I can’t even begin to document everything He has done for me.  I think, most specifically, I’m grateful for everyday that I get to spend with Him.  I’m grateful that He listens to me.  I’m grateful for the ministry opportunities He gives to me and the willingness on His part to use me.  I still don’t understand why.  It’s extremely difficult at times, but I’m grateful for the endurance and reminders that He gives to me to keep up the pace.

O.K.  I think I’ve figured out why I’m so ticked off.  This is regarding my last post, so if you haven’t read that, go read it first before you read this one.  Otherwise, this will be a spoiler.

Here it is…are you ready? 

This is not about the party.

I consider these people my friends.  I expect my friends to be honest and real with me.  I take most people for face value and if they act like they are my friends, then I recognize them as being my friends.  Call me naïve, but I trust most people.  I feel like this particular group of girls is hiding something from me by not inviting me to their party.  It’s as if they are afraid of letting me see their true colors.  Why?  Why can’t they be real with me?  I try so hard to be real with people, why can’t they return the favor?  Do I come off as being judgmental?  Do I really seem like a shallow person who wouldn’t want to be somebody’s friend because of whatever it is that they do at these parties?

That leads me to the second part…do they think I’m not being real with them?  If they think I’m this shallow, judgmental person, then why do they even pretend to be my friend?  I think I’m being honest with myself that I don’t come off as being this way.  So, this tells me that they don’t take me at face value.

Sorry…I’ll probably delete these two posts soon…I just needed to vent.  Again, I’m feeling like a 13 year old, again.

Maybe I’m just overthinking this again.  Maybe they just forgot to send me the invite, again…

Can I vent for just a second? 

One thing that I hate about being a pastor’s wife is that I rarely get invited “out”.  I’m always finding out about this party or that girls-night-out after the fact.  Let me take that back.  I do have one group of friends that always include me and we try to get together every once in awhile (Thanks, Deb & Rikki!  I love you!)  They know I’m a normal (well, kinda) girl. 

We had some friends over tonight and one of them asked me if I was going to the pajama party this Friday night.  “Uh…no…not this time.”  I didn’t want to embarrass her by telling her that I wasn’t invited.  She said, “Oh, have you ever been?  They said they do this every year and it’s always a ton of fun.”  “Uh…no…I’ve never had that opportunity.”  Here’s the irritating thing…I was the one who introduced this friend to the group of girls who invited her to the party.  They’ve only known her for about 4 or 5 months and she was invited.  I was not. 

Can somebody please enlighten me?

Why do I recognize these feelings as feelings I had in Jr. High?  Have I not matured since then?

Is being a pastor’s wife an icky contagious disease?  Do they think I’m going to go in there and tell them that they are all sinners and going to hell because of whatever it is that they are doing?  Am I a party pooper?  Do they think I’m going to be running around, taking their drinks and dumping them down the sink and telling them the dangers of alcohol?  Do they think that I’ll make everybody pray before their snacks?  Do they think that I’ll try to get everybody to play a wild and crazy game of Bible trivia?  Do they think I’m going to try to witness to their non-Christian friends? 

And, what is it that they are they doing that they are afraid of inviting me?  I like to have fun just as much as anybody else does. 

Do I really come off as being “holier than thou”?  Because, there’s nothing that I hate worse than pious religious people and if people perceive me as being that…then I quit.

Why is it that my husband’s career choice makes me abnormal?  J never gets invited out either…unless it’s golf.  He’s never invited to the come-over-and-watch-the-game parties or the poker parties.  If he were a dentist or a banker, he’d be invited.

Why is this bugging me?

This news article was posted on an internet board that I frequent.  It’s pretty amazing.  It’s about a woman who just had her 16^th child…and…get this (are you sitting down?) she wouldn’t mind having more.  And, here’s another zinger…the oldest is 17.  Wow…kudos to her! 

Here’s something else about this family…not only do they have 16 kids, but all 16 of them have names that begin with the letter “J”.

Joshua, 17
John David, 15
Janna, 15
Jill, 14
Jessa, 12
Jinger, 11
Joseph, 10
Josiah, 9
Joy-Anna, 8
Jeremiah, 6
Jedidiah, 6
Jason, 5
James, 4
Justin, 2
Jackson Levi, 1
Johannah Faith, newborn

They could have a ton more kids with the J theme…Jaden, Jonah,
Jericho, Jacinta, Jordan, Julianna, Jacqueline, Joslyn, Josie…

It’s a good thing they didn’t name their first kid Xavier or Zachery.  That would limit the number of kids they could have.  Can you imagine?  “O.K., Honey.  We’ll name this one Xavier, this one Xena, this one Xanthus and that one Xylona.  After that, we’ve gotta use birth control or we’re gonna have to name the next one Xerxes.”

How do you think they keep all of those names straight?  It looks like only 5 of them are girls.  It’ll be hard to keep Joy-Anna and Johannah straight.

I’m fascinated by this whole scenario.

Do you think that Jinger is a boy or a girl?