A Wife Loved Like The Church

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Here’s my friend’s first draft. Any suggestions?

PROFESSIONAL OBJECTIVE
Sell my time for highest profit.

EDUCATION
UNIVERSITY OF IOWA, IOWA CITY
Bachelor of Liberal Arts GPA: Pending

EXPERIENCE
COFFEE SHOP, IOWA CITY, IA
Barrista May 2007 – Present
1. Serviced grumpy and occasionally unreasonable clients
a. Put up with unwarranted harassment
2. Can make an Espresso Shake
a. 5 scoops of anonymous shake base, 2 shots espresso, cocoa and milk blended on high for 18 seconds.
3. Know a lot about espresso
a. Perfect shot is 24 seconds
b. Crema is what makes shots good
c. Espresso is affected by air temp, humidity and light
d. Espresso is freaking annoying to work with
e. I don’t care if you’ve had it in Europe or not; it’s still annoying to work with

COMPUTER CONSULTING, CORALVILLE, IA
Installation Engineer August 2006 – May 2007
1. Serviced grumpy and occasionally unreasonable clients
2. Custom designed installations on site
a. Roof installs
b. Side of building installs
c. Remote (neither roof nor side of building) installs
3. Learned to solve problems I could not even understand

LANDSCAPING COMPANY, NEW ORLEANS, LA
Landscape Design Artist May 2006 – July 2006
1. Customers include
a. The rich
b. The wealthy
c. The affluent
2. Installed sprinkler systems and grass
a. 8 hours a day in the Louisiana summer
3. Pulled weeds
a. Out of gardens
b. While clients swam in their luxurious pools
c. Then it rained on me.

References available.

Last weekend Jonathan told me that he was going to cut his own hair. I started laughing so hard, I had to cross my legs to keep from peeing. Seriously, cut your own hair?! But, he was determined, saying that it couldn’t be that hard, he just needed the right tools. So we borrowed a clipper set from Leah and spent Saturday night cuttin’ hair. I must admit, he did a pretty good job, only needing my help for some blending and his neck line.

Today I went to have my hair cut and trimmed. My previous stylist is no longer at the cosmetology school where I go, so based on a recommendation I saw a different girl, who is actually pretty good.

I should preface this by saying I am really, really picky about my hair. However, I tend not to actually saying when I don’t like something, and when I do say anything, I am a little sheepish. I’m growing out of this and have, especially since I’m dealing with students, learned to voice my concerns and suggestions, but I’m still not all the way there.

Well, today, I told the girl that cut my hair, that while I wanted exactly what I had, only shorter, she should feel free to do as she pleased. So, she went shorter. She also went “choppier”, as this is the in style. As she was cutting my hair, I surveyed the room and saw that every one with short hair, had choppy hair. I could see where this was going. I’m not one for “choppy”. I like smooth, finely placed hair. I don’t want chop. I want smooth. But do I say a thing? Nope.

Since my hair wasn’t styled the way I usually do every day, I just figured all would be fine by the time I went home and did my thing. But alas, when I was fixing everything up, I realized that my hair just wasn’t doing what I was hoping for. While I think the choppy look is super cute on others, it just isn’t for me. I felt like things were all out of whack, even at the insistence of everyone telling me it was fine, just not exactly the same as before.

Around 5pm, I told Jonathan I needed to call the Salon and go back in to have the girl fix my hair. I just couldn’t keep it this way, as it would bother me. Jonathan asked if I really wanted to spend the time driving across town just to have my hair fixed to my “perfections”. Of course not. But at the same time, I didn’t want to wait another 4 weeks until my next appointment. Especially since we’re heading to Tennessee in less than two weeks. So, what do we agree upon? To have Jonathan fix it himself. Well, it’s only hair, right?. It’ll grow back, right? Cut it. Fix it up. Just don’t laugh when it’s all said and done.

Thus, we spent nearly two hours of our Saturday night cutting my hair. Go ahead, laugh.

I will admit, we aren’t pros. But one thing is for sure: it looks pretty good in my own opinion. Jonathan did a really good job. And if nothing else, we had a really fun time doing it.

“So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you have to endure many trials for a little while. These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies golf – though your faith is far more precious than mere gold. So when your faith remains stroung through many trials, it will bring you nuch praise and glory and honor on the day when Jesus Christ is revealed to the whole world.”

1 Peter 1:6-7, NLT

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“But – “When God our Savior revealed his kindness and love, he saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit. He generously poured out the Spirit upon us through Jesus Christ our Savior. Because of his grace he declared us righteous and gave us confidence that we will inherit eternal life.””

Titus 3:4-7 NLT

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Am loved more than I deserve.

You might remember my post on Southern Living versus Midwest Living and how I was lamenting the fact that I was switching.

Let me just say: God rocks.

Shortly after that post I cancelled my subscription.

Or so I thought.

Today I received a we-want-our-money letter from SL for this year’s issues. I called them to re-cancel. When the woman on the phone asked me why I was cancelling I told her it was getting too expensive (having gone from free – Thanks girls! – to $12 a year, to $36). Of course, she asked if I was interested in any of their other magazines, and replied, no, that I had just subscribed to Midwest Living (as I live in Iowa) and didn’t need Coastal Living.

Then a random turn of events.

She asked me how much I paid for this past year’s issues. I said that it had been the in ballpark of $12 for the year.

Know what she said?!

Ok, I can honor that same price for this year too, if you’d like.

If I’d like?! Oh you betcha I’d like!

I am now sittin’ pretty with one more year of Southern Living (do worries Jonathan, it was only $11.88!).

God totally answered the desire of my heart! I so wanted to keep my subscription and without even knowing it, He totally made that possible. Had everything been cancelled as I thought, I wouldn’t be able to rejoice in knowing just how much My God cares about the little things.

God rocks.

Not really, I tend to exaggerate sometimes. All the same, I haven’t had much time to write lately, so rather than trying to remember several ideas for different posts I’d just much rather write one.

My husband

Jonathan turns 30 in t-minus 4 hours. He is spending his last few moments as a “20-something” sleeping, since he was on Julia duty from 2-4 last night. Ah, what a way to ring in such a momentous birthday. In all seriousness, I just want to announce to the blogging world that Jonathan pretty much rocks. I fully understand that my love for him is different than anyone else’s, but still, in case you were wondering, I think he’s pretty much amazing. Happy birthday Jonny.*

Mexican Mamacita

I feel that I am fully on my way to becoming a bona fide mamacita. This is something that I have wanted to achieve for quite some time. While I have been able to piece together bits of mamacita likeness, I have not quite captured the mamacita cooking. However, spending the last two weeks with the Mamacita of all mamacitas (Jonathan’s grandma) has helped finally (in my opinion) push me over the edge. I’ve learned how to cook a gauntlet of dishes that would win me much praise among the Hispanics in Texas. My favorite of them has been, drum roll please, Tortillas! I now know how to make flour tortillas from scratch. Even made some tonight! I’m perfecting my technique, but once I feel satisfied with my performance I do promise to teach anyone who wants to learn.

Stuff that piggy

As always, we are still on the quest for helping Julia sleep through the night. Seeing as crying it out didn’t favor to well, we’re trying a sweeter, more hands on approach. We are stuffing her face like a piggy.

I’ve started to see a pattern in her morning naps. If she is well feed and has spent an adequate amount of time in the mei tai then she tends to sleep really well (like, say 2 1/2 hours that she did today). So we figured we’d try it out. I carried her for about an hour tonight, then we feed her all the oatmeal and prunes she could handle (1/4 cup dry oatmeal and a 4 oz jar of prunes – not sure how much that makes, as the oatmeal expands when it is wet). Here’s to hoping we found something that might work!

How to be green in an ungreen world

Let’s face it, Texans aren’t known for being green. Unless you live in Austin, your idea of green is… well I was going to say grass, but seeing as it’s August that doesn’t really exist anywhere in Texas. Needless to say, green isn’t the “thing” to do. But, since my sister, Shelly, has voiced her desire to be a little more green, I thought I’d share some ideas for going green in a covert way (like how I used covert, Shelly? That’s just for Jesse).

1. Change your cleaning products. No one will really notice this but you, so they can’t look at you all funny with their big Dallas hair and say “Well, hun, you sure has changed since you been gone” (said in the best Southern drawl I can manage).

2. Plant a garden. This would be a terrific way to teach Katie and Madeline about their food source and allow them to have a sense of pride when they eat their harvest. I know, I know, it seems like a lot of work, so do something easy. Do a tomato plant or two, and some peppers. Then when you harvest, you can make salsa!

3. Walk more often. In TEXAS?! Yeah, I remember how hot it is. But still, walking not only is a health benefit, it saves on gas. So walk as much as you can. You can even make it a family affair in the evenings after dinner, when it’s a bit cooler.

4. Plug your computer/tv into power strips that you turn off after every use. Even when electronics are “off” they stil use energy. However, if you essentially “unplug” them (reason for the strip) then they stop using up energy. This is also important for kitchen appliances, just maybe not your fridge.

5. Recycle and reuse. This might be a little more obvious, since the neighbors will see your recycling bin each week, but it’s a great idea. It teaches you to be more aware of the items in your house that are recyclable, it will allow the girls to use their imaginations to reuse items, and it will cut back on your trash every week.

So, those are my ideas for going green in Texas. Hope the neighbors don’t kick you out of the association!

*Here’s a little ditty for my honey:

Lyrics | Barry Louis Polisar – All I Want Is You lyrics