Their hearts belong to ETHIOPIA

Today my sister and brother-in-law boarded a plane to Ethiopia to meet their son for the very first time. It has been such an amazing journey to see them seek the Lord and know that He ultimately had every aspect of their family in his hands! I can't quite figure out how to put into words the joy that they have as well as the joy that their son brings to their family. We all love him deeply though we have never met him. I can't wait for them to bring him home!!!

Prayers please - for their travel and the time they get to spend with their son during this week in Ethiopia.

RI has the best people!

So I am a little biased because RI is where Donna lives and I love her dearly, but I have to say that RI has the nicest people I have ever met. So this afternoon, I tried to order flowers from my trusty RI florist to find out that they are CLOSED! This in itself is extremely sad, as I feel like I know them personally from our conversations over the years but either way CLOSED...so I went on the hunt for another trusty florist and remembered their cousin store...I called them, they had great ideas for my flowers but sadly don't deliver. They asked if they could call me back and sweet Gigi called a few minutes later to tell me that she would deliver them herself. What a sweetheart! She then called me about 30 minutes later to tell me about her creation, that's new...and she's going to give me another call once she has delivered them safely. How nice can one person be, I love RI!

In case you ever need an amazing florist in RI - try Schartner Farms in Exeter, RI

http://www.schartnerfarms.com/

Triple Double

I am not a big dessert gal, I never have been. I love to bake anything from cookies to cheesecake, but when it comes time to devour those yummy treats I generally leave that to the crowd. That being said, the new Triple Double Oreo has peaked my interest. Now I know this is not the same as grandma's apple pie sitting on a window sill waiting to be snagged...but I am still curious. What must the Big Mac of Oreos taste like? How do you twist apart so many layers? What are the chances I could get two clean filling separating twists? Yes, I realize that I have strange Oreo eating habits but I'm sure we all do. I think I'll grab a glass of milk and give this one a try!

My Sweet Co-worker

God gave me a gift today, he does all the time, but this one was super awesome.

My co-worker and I were grumbling together. Yep, that is the correct description. We didn't come to any good conclusions and weren't even grumbling about work. Just wasting time grumbling. When we decided to stop grumbling and go back to work, I heard over my cube wall...Hey Camille, I just got this verse...Above all, keep loving one another earnestly, since love covers a multitude of sins. ⁹ Show hospitality to one another without grumbling. ~1Peter 4:8-9

It hit both of us on a few different levels. We resigned to stop grumbling about a multitude of things and both acknowledged together that God is awesome, and deserves much praise.

I love it when God hits me with verses like that, and when he provides such amazing people in my life! I mean how many places can you really work and read scripture with co-workers!!!

Big Fish

I was crazy convicted this week and if you don’t know me very well, you will soon learn that God convicts me frequently and sometimes I am a stubborn mule and sometimes I am flat on my face. I much prefer flat on my face, but sometimes I am just a mule.

Saturday night, I was with a group of friends studying Jonah, we were engaged in awesome conversation and God showed me a glimpse but it was not until late last night around 2am talking with my sweet friend Anna that it really clicked!

So please take a minute to read Jonah, it’s only 4 chapters long. Come back when you’re done, this will make little to no sense if you don’t.

What struck me so deeply was that Jonah turned from the Lord and was fleeing from him, sound at all familiar? We all do this from time to time. And it was decided that he was to be hurled into the sea and was then subsequently swallowed by a fish. On first blush, we look at this and think – dang Jonah, that really sucks! But when I continue to look, I can see God’s protection. I look at times in my life where I have turned my face from God, the 4 years I was in college for example. In those times there was great suffering, great trials and immense pain. BUT I look back and the crap that happened there, it was my big fish. It was horrible in the moment, but through the suffering God shaped my life. He took me from a place of rebellion, pursued me intensely, protected me and led me out. When I got to the point where I realized that I had been a huge mule, and came running back to Jesus, that is when my big fish vomited me onto dry land. Very similar to Jonah, when he pleads to God and called upon the Lord in praise and love, he too was saved. I love his prayer, especially these 2 verses, Jonah 2:8-9 Those who pay regard to vein idols forsake their hope of steadfast love. But I with the voice of thanksgiving will sacrifice for you; what I have vowed I will pay. Salvation belongs to the LORD!
I’m in no way saying any of this is easy, or that just because you cry out to the Lord you will be freed from suffering. It is that suffering that God uses to make us the women and men we were previously refusing to be. Sometimes we need to realize that what we see as our greatest suffering is in fact God’s protection and provision! How incredibly awesome is that!!! I can look back now on the suffering that took place and PRAISE the LORD for that! I had never been able to say that, I was surviving my suffering instead of praising God fully and completely in that suffering.

Praise the Lord what amazing freedom and peace!!!!

Questions for you: Where are you running from the Lord? Where are you refusing to be obedient? What is your big fish? I pray that the Lord would reveal these things to you as he has so graciously revealed them to me!

2LT Matthew S. Coutu

2Lt Matthew Scott Coutu - KIA 27June2005

I was blessed to have known him and miss him tremendously!!! I am a better person because of who he was in my life.

Always loved and never forgotten!!!

Team X-T.R.E.M.E.

I ran across some information on these guys today and it just blew my mind. They compete in endurance sports events while wearing gas masks to raise awareness for wounded warriors.

"They have chosen the gas mask to symbolize their initiative. Running in the mask is equivalent to 20 – 25% oxygen resistance. People often ask them how difficult it is to run long distance in a gas mask. Their reply, “not nearly as difficult as living with Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI), Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), learning to walk again with prosthetics, or living the rest of your life burned over 30% of your body.” They parallel the perception of temporary discomfort and difficulty associated with running in the mask to the challenges our wounded veterans will endure for the rest of their lives."

Pretty intense if you ask me, check them out...

http://www.teamxtremerunning.org/

Oh shipping...

I learned a few things today while trying to ship a very awkward oversized package for work...

1) FedEx doesn't really have much interest in making boxes that fit oversized packages...they'd rather just make copies and stare at you awkwardly. Don't dare ask for a creative solution, they DO NOT create boxes out of other boxes.

2) U Store It is a bit more creative and has a good grasp on the phrase, "time is money"

3) UPS is your 1 stop shipping wonderland!!! You bring in that oddly shaped extremely large chaos, they find a solution...remind you that shipping said package is not economical and then make it happen!!!! And then happily give you a discount, because well, it is oversized and a bit ridiculous. Oh and the added bonus, a small puppy was in the store for licks and nibbles!

Thumbs up UPS, thumbs down FedEx

But I love you Mr. Sun!

Every summer I have to relearn what I should already know. This year I'm going to write some of it down in hopes that I retain it next year.

1) Sand & water remove sunscreen very effectively from your feet.
2) My backpack also removes sunscreen with great ease.
3) Sunscreen in fact does expire! That one is new to me!

Overall take away, I love the SUN, it does not love me!

GOD is SOVEREIGN

I have spent the last 3 days in DC, with no understanding of how significant those days would be to our country. Or at least how significant our country would believe that those days were, and how worthy of celebration. I must say I have been living with a sick feeling in my stomach since the news of Osama Bin Laden’s death. He was a man that led an organization that orchestrated terror that destroyed lives. That is in no way in question, he was evil.


I know that God is sovereign and nothing that happened to Bin Laden or that Bin Laden ever orchestrated was outside of that sovereignty. From that understanding I can’t celebrate that a man is suffering in hell. I can’t sing and shout with the kids in front of the White House that another soul has been damned to hell, without the saving grace of the gospel. I refuse to believe what the newspapers say; this is not a point of closure. This does not bring back all of those lives that were lost on 9/11, it does not bring Matt back or any of the other soldiers that were killed in the wars that followed.


I also refuse to believe that we now live in a safer world. A world without Bin Laden is simply a world full of terrorists that he trained, and inspired seeking revenge. That being said, why don’t we turn our attention from Bin Laden to his victims? Turn our eyes to the ones that we loved and lost. Don’t give him any more attention. Give the attention to the men and women of the armed forces that fight for our freedom and safety from men like him. Celebrate the awesome power of our special forces. I would say take comfort that in every second of every day God is in control and we live under his protection. There is no greater comfort and joy than that. And my goodness, pray for all of the men that he trained, that the saving grace of the gospel would reach them and radically transform their lives. Imagine a world where Bin Laden knew Jesus, what a different world we would currently be living in! Imagine a world where everyone who was once a terrorist knew the saving grace of Jesus Christ! What awesome power Christ has, have faith that Christ can move mountains and the same way that He saved me from sin and death he can do for them!!!

You can’t make this stuff up…

I was flying to DC for work on Sunday and I was dragging my feet because it was beautiful in Chicago. So I arrived at the airport at 10:30 for my noon flight and should have been fine. I was driving through the parking garage and just as I arrived at the walkway to the terminal, my car turned off and I lost the ability to steer. My initial though, “Oh shoot, I’m going to hit that pole!” Next thought, “I’m going to miss my plane!” I tried to restart the car and while it would start it would not continue to run, it made a pathetic noise and shut off.

Call #1: Home – after all, it wasn’t actually my car, mine was in the shop. NO ANSWER
Call #2-5 : Dad’s Cell – He was either screening my calls or just doesn’t really answer his cell.
Call#6: Roadside…and here is how that went

Roadside: How tall is the garage?
Me: Ma’am all due respect I have no idea
Roadside: We need that information!!!
Me: Unfortunately that is not information I can provide. I’m going to tell you where the car is and I’m going to go catch my flight.
Roadside: You can’t do that!!!
Me: Really, I’ll call you back?

Next Convo: Me and Dad
Me: Dad, what am I going to do? I’m going to miss my flight and my meetings start when I land!
Dad: Leave the car, if someone steals it who cares
Me: Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, here comes the BOMB DOG!!!
Dad: I think I’d better let you go…

So here’s where it gets fun. I’m standing next to a car that has been sitting next to the entrance to the airport for about 30 minutes. I look seriously suspicious because I’ve been on my phone this whole time, and at this point I’m probably pacing. The airport dude, stopped over at one point, informed me my car probably wasn’t going to move, also informed me I was not allowed to leave it and went to find me a parking spot. I looked up while talking to my dad and saw the largest German Shepherd I have ever seen, complete with a metal muzzle and a cop dressed in all black carrying handcuffs. Seriously, could this really get worse? Next thing I know, the parking guy is sprinting through the garage hollering at the cop, “her car broke down, her car broke down!” Thank you parking guy, I love you! And by the time the cop got to me he was smiling and no longer looked like he was going to allow his dog to rip me limb from limb. He also could clearly see that I was frazzled, so jokingly, told me to put my hands on the hood. SWEET, I’m never going to make it to DC! After he allowed his dog to assess the situation he started brainstorming. The parking dude delivered his diagnosis of the vehicle and the cop decided that the best course of action was to push my car into a parking space. My heroes!!! So, A cop, a parking attendant and a bomb dog pushed my car quite a long ways to the first open parking space and that’s where the story ends. For those of you who are at all concerned about my flight, I got to the gate as the doors were closing and made it on by the skin of my teeth.

That was the most beautiful dog I think I’ve ever seen!

Just Listen...and breathe!!!

Like a wolf...no like a coyote!

On my drive to church on Sunday morning around 9am I ran across a furry creature I have yet to see in the city, a calm little coyote. While I am quite used to seeing a much larger version at my parents house in Lake Forest, almost daily, this was a new citing in the city. The coyote, who shall be named School, ran across the intersection of Hoyne and School and then ran down the street towards my car and right alongside my driver’s side. She seemed perfectly at home and not at all concerned with the people walking around on the sidewalks. She was beautiful, but what was she doing in the city? And yes I’ve decided she was a girl, just because!

So of course, I started looking into anything coyote related in Chicago and this is what I’ve found…
http://www.npr.org/blogs/krulwich/2010/12/08/131876027/60-wild-coyotes-patrol-chicago-and-occasionally-stop-at-convenience-stores

Lessons Learned from Traffic Safety School

In case you haven't had to go to traffic safety school recently...here are a few of the lessons they tried to teach me...some are actually quite funny!

You need to be conscious to drive
Sunglasses are a must have
Rolling stop signs is dangerous
This safety school is often contradictory
ooh I got a 96% on my pre test for traffic safety and a 100% on my assessment…I learned something!
What used to be a 2 second rule is now a 4 second rule – do you know how many cars are going to cut in there?!?
You CAN get a DUI for being tired – WAH?!?
Speeding may only save you a couple of minutes over the course of a trip, is that really worth it? YES You’ve learned that the risks of speeding outweigh the benefits! OH DID I?
Don't hit bicyclists
Use headlights when it is dark outside
Speed Kills, Click it or Ticket!
They want me to stay calm, if I really have to follow all of the rules in these 4 hours there is no chance I’ll stay calm. I don’t think God provided this many laws to Moses!
Avoid congestion, listen to relaxing music and remember driving is not a competition …unless you are Mario Andretti!!!

Love this...what Victory!

This song has been stuck in my head on replay. I wake up singing it and fall to sleep with it playing through my mind. It is such an amazing anthem of victory and brings me such joy. I hope that it does the same for you! It is such sweet truth to repeat, we no longer need to be held down by the weight of sin and this world. We are forgiven, made whole and saved by Christ alone – God has defeated death and lives! Why should we not rise and proclaim that victory daily!



(note: pause the blog music on the bottom right)

6 years ago today marks the last time I heard Matt's voice. He always made my birthday something special...always loved and never forgotten Matty!

2LT Matthew Scott Coutu
KIA Baghdad, Iraq 27 June 2005

Oh Mario...I love the way you drive!

This should probably be started off by saying that my family has a long history of attending traffic safety school, or high performance driving school as we like to call it. When I first attended I was 16 and I think I actually got into a debate with the instructor because he informed me that there were no small rear wheel drive cars….so not true! How could I trust him to teach me sound high performance driving skills if he believed this…I drive one! Well, I have landed myself back in high performance driving school, and have only avoided it so far by getting tickets in a plethora of other states…tee hee heee! So this time, it’s the online version for me, no instructor to fight with and no stinky classroom to suffer in for 8 hours.

But the real question is how did I get this way…I blame the man you see to the right Mario Andretti. That look in his eyes, it just screams, drive fast turn sharp ahhhh!!! And maybe my dad, I don’t “blame” my dad, I celebrate the way my dad taught me how to drive. I am aggressive yet in control…and I tend to ignore my speedometer, but who uses that thing anyway? He convinced me that it is at least 5 miles over and that has probably lead to a few tickets, because I then reasoned that if it was off by 5 miles at 30mph it was probably off by even more the faster you go. In reality I don’t think my speedometer is wrong at all, but I’ll use that excuse if anyone asks!!! What makes me kinda sad is that Mario isn’t teaching high performance driving school…

B is for Bonding & Blizzard

As the day started yesterday I gazed down at my street from my apartment…a street that was knee deep in snow and dotted with buried cars. I sat in my apartment longing for a snow plow to remove the 20 inches of snow that coated Hamilton Ave 2 days prior but alas…nothing. At around 1:00 I heard a great rumble jumped up with a bit of a shreak , saw a yellow caterpillar plow thingy and thought about dancing a jig! FREEDOM!

Krista and I had discussed digging out Tabitha’s car since she was out of town…but Krista’s back was really hurting from all of the shoveling the day before. So in my somewhat motherly ways, I forced her to stay on the couch and wandered outside to start the work…this went on for about 40 minutes and I had to jump on a call during this time I met Justin #1…almost every car had someone shoveling it was really a cool scene. In for a bit and then back out I went. Tab’s car was free and I met Justin #2, attempting to shovel a place to put his car. So I moved down the street to work on Krista’s car…there I saw Justin #1 again, we chatted about the fun, as he was digging out the car behind me. We made a plan and joined forces. The united forces were now enjoying the shoveling fun…next up his girlfriend Jamie’s car, poor thing had the flu so she was our overseer. On our way down the street, we met Sara, who was lounging making sure that Justin #2’s spot didn’t get stolen while he grabbed his car…once he was parked we all moved down the street to conquer Sara and Jamie’s cars. All the while laughing, joking and getting to know each other. We all live within a 2 house radius and this was the first time we had met…after those cars were free, another guy came out…whose name I missed…bagh! We worked on his car and then moved on to help Evan. At this point Krista realized she was missing the fun as the group of us wandered down the street from car to car digging our way free and she emerged…we helped, no name guy some more and decided to free up a vacant spot.

When all was said and done, I made 6 new friends and shoveled out 7 cars. And of course made plans to get together when the weather turned around! Who knew a blizzard could be so much fun and could bring together so many neighbors!

2011

Let a decree go out to all the nations...I have now officially signed up for the 2011 Chicago Marathon!

Disney Love!

Everyone always says that Disney fairy tales have messed with our view of dating, and what true romance should look like. So I figured after watching Sleeping Beauty last night I’d let you know what I learned.

-Witches suck! So glad they don’t exist in the real world…
-Those are 3 of the coolest fairies ever, if I ever have fairies I want them to be that spunky!
-I think this movie may be the reason most everyone hates crows, poor crows.

The power of true loves kiss…ahh Princess Aurora and Prince Philip what a perfect pair, they both believe this! But in all seriousness there are some good take aways here. Prince Philip’s horse changes colors, his horse is white for the “save the princess” stage of the movie and brown for the remainder of the movie, indicating that perhaps we all lose sight of reality just a bit when we are in love. He was also presented with tremendous obstacles in order to reach his princess to save her, but he didn’t lose heart, he fought through for their love. Now, I know most people are going to say, ugh unrealistic no man is going to fight that hard to get to a girl. BUT, I would argue that this is probably a more realistic portrayal of what real relationships will look like that we are willing to admit. They will not be easy, there will be obstacles both big and small, and if you’re not willing to fight for the one you love, then what does that say?

So before we all write off this story as a cute little fairy tale, remember these things and give Disney a break!

Wait, I thought I was at the Airport?

Sitting in Whole Foods greatly resembles sitting in an airport terminal waiting for your plane. You have the cute boy a few tables over who you can’t help but chatter about – because come on you’re not really going to see him again. And the couple sitting behind you that seems to be saying that long goodbye. And perhaps the best people watching there is to be had in the city of Chicago. The strangest conversations seem to take place in the North Ave Whole Foods, and without a doubt you will run into at least one person you know. The topper on this cake, someone will ask you to watch their stuff while they head downstairs, and of course you oblige…and when they’ve been gone for a half hour you start to ask yourself…is he ever coming back, would I recognize him if he did…this is prob why they tell you not to watch strangers things…oh wait that’s in the airport, we’re not at the airport!

Salt, meet wound!

Now I know there will be people out there that disagree but, this weekend was a horrible weekend for sports!!!

1. KU basketball received their first loss of the season to Texas. This would have been bad, but it was awful because a friend of mine who is always dressed in Texas gear and overflowing with pride felt the need to rub it in…salt, meet wound!
2. The Bears…need I say anything more? Really, I mean really? The rivalry, the game, the loss of the Super Bowl dream!!! Come on boys!!!
3. Finally, the Illini just couldn’t pull it off and cream #1 OSU. That alone could have fixed any sports sadness, but alas…just one more disappointment in a weekend of bad sports!!!