I was really struck by my four year-old Lauren’s prayers when she first starting praying awhile ago (and the pattern continues even now.) Her whole prayer consists of “Thank you for flowers, thank you for Adam (her cousin and best friend), thank you for dying on the cross, etc., etc.” Talk about being convicted!! My prayers consist of “can I have . . ., please give my friend. . ., please heal . . .” There sure aren’t too many “thank you’s” mixed up in there.

I wonder if that is one of reasons Jesus said that we needed to be like little children in our faith, that the kingdom of heaven belonged to “such as these.”

I met Marianne at the Women’s Retreat last year when she was still pregnant. Since then this 33-year-old new mom, and her husband Eric, have had a daughter named Julia Grace. Marianne’s been at UPC since 2001 and she grew up in Tampa.

Do you have any pets? 2 Himalayan cats - Otis and Georgie

Dogs or cats? Cats, although I like dogs too!

Daisies or roses? Pink gerber daisies

Vanilla or chocolate? It’s hard to say. I actually prefer them together.

What are your hobbies and interests? I like to do home improvement projects. I also like to read cookbooks. I don’t always make anything but I like to read about it. (I think this could also be filed under “What’s a weird thing about you”)

What’s your favorite dessert? Cheesecake

What’s your favorite vacation spot (real or imagined)? North Carolina (real), San Francisco (imagined)

What’s a weird thing about you? Repetitive noises. For example, excessive bag crinkling in a movie theater. (So you don’t like repetitive noises?)

If you were stuck on an island for a week alone and allowed to bring your Bible and one other book what would it be? Pride and Prejudice

If you could have one super power what would it be? I don’t know if this qualifies as a “super power” but I have always thought it would be great to have a real life “undo” button. I find that it is a great tool in many programs when I make a mistake. I just wish I had it in real life.

What’s your job? I just recently resigned my position as an interior designer. I still will be doing some freelance work, but my main job now is stay at home mom.

What’s your favorite TV show? I have a few: Project Runway, Lost, and Grey’s Anatomy

Where can we find you at UPC (i.e. ministry involvement)? I am currently contributing to the Barnabas Ministry. In the past, Erik and I have taught summer Sunday school, 1st and 2nd graders, and 2-3 year olds.

What’s the happiest memory from your childhood? Fishing off of my grandparent’s dock at holidays and get togethers.

Can you think of a time when your faith was stretched or put in to action? It took Erik and I a little longer than we would have liked (18 months) to conceive a child. I found this time to be extremely difficult and challenging. Through prayer and fellowship I was at peace with the fact that everything is in God’s good timing.

Do you have any Bible passage that’s special to you?
While there are many Bible verses that I love, there is one that is especially dear to me. I didn’t become a Christian until I was 26. I was not always open to Christianity, but fortunately God had a plan for me. Through a series of events, I ended up going to a women’s Bible study where they were studying the book of Romans. God had already been working on my heart on the day that we studied chapter 10. In particular, it was verse 9 that really led to my acceptance of salvation. “That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord”, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” I am so glad that God is in control and I am not.

Once again, we had to decide where to go for Holidays this year.

We thought we had it figured out. You see, a couple of years ago we decided that we wanted to be home (our house) for Christmas. That way we could begin to develop our own traditions. I am a big, traditional Christmas girl. Not that I grew up that way, because that was certainly not the case in our family. But, probably as a result of not having that growing up, I so desire that for our family!

So, we had planned to go to Jason’s family (in Atlanta) for a Big family Christmas party the week prior and be back here for Christmas. Well, a few weeks ago, we were informed that the party was now the 23rd. Yikes! What to do? We love being at the Big party, but yet it conflicted with our desire to be here for Christmas.

Well, as I was sitting in church last week and singing the Worship songs, I had this strong sense come over me. This is where I want to be for Christmas! This is my home! This is my church! This is where I feel like I will really be able to meet with Christ and truly experience the Real Meaning of Christmas!

Therefore, we decided to go to Jason’s family for Thanksgiving and be here for Christmas.

So, how do you decide where to go for the Holidays?

What do the Holidays mean to you?

And how do you celebrate?

If you think all we had to worry about here in Florida is alligators, think again. On the other hand, if anyone wants ham for Thanksgiving this year, you’re set! I think the pictures pretty much speak for themselves, but I’ve attached the story behind them below .

“The fellow in the pictures is Larry Earley, He lives about 30 miles from Orlando, in the very rural community of Okahumpka, just off the Florida turnpike in Lake County, Florida. He has 20 acres of land and on it, a few cows and horses. Mostly it’s pasture land that is fenced with woods surrounding him.

He is neighbored by a larger cattle ranch. His neighbor has complained for several years that wild hogs had been raiding his cattle feeders and salt licks.

Last month he saw what he though was a cow in his pond and went to see if it was stuck in the mud and would have to be pulled out. When he got close enough to realize it was hog, the thing made a charge at him. He had driven his truck down to the pond and carries a pistol in it (as any Florida redneck would, and I say that with genuine affection). He got his handgun and when it came at him again, he shot it twice and killed it.

Wild hogs in Florida usually run from 100-400 pounds with a 400 pounder being a monster. Because this one had been feasting on grain for several years it had grown to mamoth size. When Larry took it to the processor it weighed in at over 1100 pounds!

The meat has no wild taste, as it was grain feed and the Larry is quite the hero. He has fed may fireman and provided the homeless shelter in downtown Orlando with a couple of meals.”

I found this on an online myth-buster site, called Snopes.

I was reading through my usual routine of blogs this morning, when I got to my beloved sister’s, The Johnson Hut. The post itself wasn’t necessarily written to provoke deep thought. As a matter of fact, it was about her desire to not have her baby on Thanksgiving, and be forced to miss all the fun and festivities. But something she said stopped me where I was and made me think. What stopped me momentarily, and has continued to pester my heart and brain the rest of the day, was her final statement:

“So, I guess I have to leave this baby-being-born decision in the hands of God. Wow! What a novel and unsettling place to be.”

How true a statement is that? It is unsettling to leave the all of life’s twists and turns in God’s hands. At least this is true of me.

Why is it so hard for us to trust that the Creator of everything knows what He’s doing?

This is actually something that has been on my mind for quite a while. Over the last few months, and then especially in the last few weeks, I’ve felt like my life has gotten out of control. Now the fact I’m having to face is that it never was in my control.

I’ve come to start thinking of my life as being like a snow globe. Most of the time I sit on the shelf in my sheltered little world, with everything all settled and comfortable around me, like fake snow. But then right when I start to get too comfortable and lackadaisical, God picks me up and gives my world a good shake, making sure the snow is swirling around my head in a sufficiently dizzying fashion. He then gently sets me down on the shelf again and watches carefully as the snow falls around me.

In a non-metaphorical snow globe the flakes of snow would fall where ever it pleases. But in a God controlled snow globe, He isn’t satisfied to just let it fall. God actually places every single little flake where it is supposed to go. Sometimes in an entirely different place than it was before.

My only job is to just be still and let it snow. Unfortunately, my tendency is to run around like a crazed person, trying to catch all the snowflakes and put them back the way they were.

Does anyone else see a problem with that? I do. It’s impossible. I will never be able to put ever single flake back the way it was. Instead I just wear myself out, accomplish nothing, but gain a deep sense of frustration.

If only I could be still and wait for God, I wouldn’t be nearly so exhausted.  I could just dwell in the peace of knowing that soon things will settle down and the world will be beautiful with freshly fallen snow again.