A Word to My Date

I want you to know… I truly wanted to take you to the Christmas party tonight because I thought it might be helpful in your quest to find another job. But if I’m being honest, I have to admit that I was really looking forward to spending time with you, regardless of the initial reason for extending the invitation. I was impressed with you before I ever really knew you. And I base that on the simple fact that I LOVE it that I see you at mass with your parents while I’m at mass with mine.

But in talking with you on the way to Bloomington and especially on the way home, I learned so much more about who you are. And I know that I can only work at being as good a Christian. I am SO impressed with the man you are. I find myself wanting to spend more time with you to learn more about how devout and true a man can be. But I feel like I’d be the only one benefiting from the encounter. (I imagine that's how people felt about Jesus.) I don’t ever want you to know all of my shortcomings. I don’t ever want to disappoint you. I just want to reflect your goodness...which of course comes from the light of Christ in your heart.

Maybe it’s because it’s late and I’m tired, but I am so emotionally overwhelmed by how much I fall short, how much I fail… even you… and you’re just a guy. (No offense.) It makes me wonder what GOD must think of me. You are the first person that has ever made me realize how much I must disappoint Him for not living up to my potential, His will for me. Whether you intended to or not, you spoke God's words to my heart tonight. And... I am ashamed. I thought I had come a long way on my spiritual journey. But God used you to help me realize that I still have a long way to go. I will begin that climb today.

And I thought I was doing YOU a favor. I love how God finds ways to speak to us. Thank you for the gift.

A Great Day for a Parade?

It's the first Sunday of December. And that means it's the day of our home-town parade. I'm not a big parade fan. But folks around here seem to enjoy them. Either they are part of the crowd that lines the streets to catch candy and watch for people they know. Or they are actually on one of the many floats, in one of the many vehicles, or walking the route with their group.

According to the National Weather Service, it's 57 degrees out there. But you'd hardly know it. The wind is blowing at about 14mph. And then there's the cold, constant drizzle. It's gray and dreary and just wet out there. Has been all day.

I don't know if they were planning for fewer entries in the parade today or if the floats that entered simply backed out due to weather. But it was pretty sparse. The band was there, in uniform, playing in the rain. (That can't possibly be good for an instrument.) Several churches were there; their poster board signs no longer readable. The Summer Fest and County Fair queens were there, in their crowns and convertibles. (That's definitely not good for the interior of a convertible!) There were a couple of men running for office, looking for votes or simply visibility amongst their potential constituents. And then it was mostly just big trucks or sexy cars doing their advertising. Oh, yeah, and every vehicle in the county with a siren... can't forget them. Boy, are they loud!

Personally, I stood on my porch where it was dry. I could keep one eye on the parade and one eye on the Colts game. The Colts are winning, but the Jags are doing everything they can to make it interesting. I had a couple of invites to join the parade already in progress, but I adamantly declined.

My house is very, VERY close to the beginning of the parade route. The parade only lasted about 20 minutes. And within a few minutes of coming inside after the tail-end passed my driveway, there was rolling thunder and much harder rain. Those unfortunate parade participants.

Yeah, I'm just not a big parade fan. And this year's event didn't do much to sway my opinion.

My Christmas Epiphany

While listening to the Christmas song “Welcome to our World” by Michael W. Smith, I was touched by the line

hope that you don’t mind our manger
how I wish we would have known
but long awaited holy stranger
make yourself at home

Even though it’s not stated specifically, it crossed my mind that our hearts are much like the manger all those many years ago. The manger was filthy and cold, unworthy of a King by any standard. It was offered to the Holy Family because there was no room at the Inn; there was no ‘decent’ place for Jesus.

I don’t know about you, but my heart is much like that manger. Sometimes cold. Sometimes filthy. Definitely no place for a King. Often I don’t make room for Him, keeping way too busy with other, less important things. Though I welcome Jesus in my heart, I really only think about Him when I need Him. I can definitely say that my heart is not always a ‘decent’ place for Him to dwell.

Thank God for Christmas, so I can refresh my heart and soul to welcome the Christ Child every year. Spring cleaning, if you will, for my spiritual home.

Take advantage of the Advent season so that your Christmas is filled with joy and peace.

I Make My Own Greeting Cards

I don't remember when I first started making my own greeting cards...a few years ago anyway. I make all of my own greeting cards. I couldn't tell you the last time I bought a card. I've been tempted to purchase one of those cards that sings. But I never have. I enjoy making them and I think people enjoy receiving them.

Today, as I was making a list of things that I had to do this evening, I included a list of cards I needed to make. All of them were sympathy cards or thinking of you cards for friends and family affected by cancer. Three deaths in the last ten days and another friend in the hospital with a very poor prognosis. It's not going to stop me from making the cards, but I quickly realized that there is NOTHING that a homemade greeting card can do to repair the damage of cancer on a family.




My favorite place for sending online greeting cards...

http://www.dayspring.com/

Today is Veterans' Day

Today is Veterans' Day. And I'm going to take the opportunity to recognize and thank the veterans in my family.

Grandpa Tim Strange, US Army
Uncle Tim Strange, US Army
Uncle David Strange, US Army
Uncle Tom Strange, US Air Force
Uncle Mickey Strange, US Navy
Uncle Ed Strange, US Air Force
Uncle Jim Norris, US Army
Uncle Jim Love, US Army
Uncle Leo Haag, US Navy
Cousin, Gary Love, US Army National Guard
Cousin, Patrick Todd, US Army National Guard
Uncle George Doyle, US Marines
Uncle Joe Doyle, US Army National Guard
Cousin, John Volz, US Army
Brother, Alan Doyle, US Air Force
Myself, Leslie Doyle, US Air Force
Sister, Jill Wheeley, US Air Force
Ex-husband, Mike Underwood, US Air Force
Brother-in-law, Troy Wheeley, US Air Force
Brother-in-law, Rich Opdenhoff, US Air Force

Day 9

I have been taking an antibiotic for nine days. I have faithfully taken my Augmentin twice a day every day for nine days in a row. Only one more day to go. And STILL, everything on my left side sounds like it's under water and I wake up every day with a sore throat. Not only have I been taking my antibiotic, but I've taken NyQuil nearly every night, DayQuil at least twice a day, and Sudafed three times a day. I don't feel as bad as I did the first day that I went in to the doctor. I don't even feel as bad as I did the SECOND time I went to the doctor this week. But I truly am tired of being sick. Literally and figuratively tired. I want to be able to hear again and sing again and wake up in the morning without slobbering all over myself because it hurts too much to swallow.

I started out the day running errands. I first stopped by the License Branch to renew my driver's license...which expired on my birthday last Saturday. The License Branch is closed due to the holiday. Funny...everyone else is closed Monday for the holiday. Why does the License Branch get to take off Saturday as well? So that working people have an even BIGGER challenge getting an expired license renewed? THEN I went to the local T-shirt shop to pick up an EVENT STAFF T-shirt. Another place that's only open when I'm at work. So today was my first opportunity to pick it up. The store opened 45 minutes before I needed to have the shirt on and be at the high school. I pre-ordered the shirt and was told that it would be ready for me to pick up. When I got there, the lady behind the counter said that they didn't have my size. I explained that I pre-ordered it and asked if it was possible that it was already made and stored behind the counter or something. She gave me a lecture about how they'd made like 900 T-shirts for this event and she KNOWS that mine isn't made AND again told me they didn't have my size. Great! Then she told me to hold tight and wait for the store's owner who would be there shortly. Finally, about ten minutes before I was supposed to be at the high school, the owner shows up, makes me a shirt in a size bigger than I wanted, charged me more for it because it was an extra large size, but I got to the school on time.

The event was the Indiana Association of Student Councils convention. Our high school only has a student body of about 350 students, yet over 1000 were invited to the convention. In order to house them all, some stayed in nearby towns. My role was to 'babysit' for one of the classrooms where sessions were held. Four sessions. The first and third sessions were conducted by two students that were warm and welcoming and did a wonderful job relating to their students. The second and fourth sessions were conducted by two students that were rude and unhelpful and just mean. I picture one of them 20 years down the road as a really arrogant boss that everyone hates. All in all, I had a good time though. I got to spend time with several of our Junior High students. We really have some good kids here. I enjoyed their company.

This evening, I went to an Emmaus After Glow. It's a reunion for everyone that went on one of the fall Walks to Emmaus. Good food. Good company. Good music. An absolutely beautiful night! We walked down to the pond to see the three crosses in the reflection. They weren't lighted so it was difficult to see them. While I was describing it to someone, the lights came on. It was BEAUTIFUL! And it was so amazing that it happened just as I was talking about it. Ask and you shall receive. God is so good!

Happy Birthday to Me!

Today is my birthday. I'm 37 years old. I've said it before and it's still true... I never feel old on my birthday; I feel old on my son's birthday. And he'll be 17 in less than three months! Holy cow! I'm old enough to have a 17-year-old! Worse...I don't have the experience necessary to raise a 17-year-old. But then again, who does?

Wait! It's my birthday! It's all about me today! We'll talk about what it takes to raise a 17-year-old some other day.

So, here's the deal. Lucky for me, my birthday happened on a Saturday this year. I didn't have to work on my birthday. That's pretty nice. Unfortunately, I've had this killer sore throat and ear infection since sometime Halloween night. I guess I got the Trick instead of the Treat. My throat is feeling much better, as I finally ate a meal today. But I still can't hear anything out of my left ear except this constant ringing sound. And everything is draining into my throat, giving me this nagging cough. Happy Birthday to me!

The best part of my day actually came first thing this morning. My son called to wish me a happy birthday. It was great to hear from him. He caught me up with everything going on in his neck of the woods. He also told me that he hoped I got to feeling better. Best birthday present I've had in years.