Productivity

Lets put it this way, with how fast the morning has been going, I can't spend much time telling you how my small stacks of work seem to take an ever increasingly large amount of time.

Makes me think of a quote from Greg Kemerer after a recent conversation: "People can handle the big things, even a a number of big things happening in their lives at one time, but its the little things that will get you. A whole bunch of little things will overwhelm a person quicker than lots of big things."

Point: Stay focused, take care of things as they come, ask for help, and do your best not to let things stack up on your to do list.

Fallen of the face of the earth

I feel as though I had dropped out of contact with the world. I spent my days at Mclennan and my nights at REI. When I wasn't doing either of those my time still seemed to fill up. Thankfully I have a wonderful fiance whom takes good care of me. Our small group is started up on the book of Psalms. Its been a really interesting study so far. It just allows us as a group and as individuals to learn how to pray what we really feel and what we really need. Its good to get into the nitty gritty.

Both Jobs are going well. Its budget time at McLennan which means lots of time number crunching and doing things in excel. Thankfully I like doing it and I am basically the resident excel expert at the office. I have officially been here for over a year now, and will be looking forward seeing how this winter goes. REI is same old stuff. Lots of training getting us ready for the winter season with all sorts of new gear from snowboard and skiis to the 100's of types of wax for them.

Emilie has left Mortons and has an awsome possibility with a company that she used to work for. We will see how that works out. Pray for guidance, trust, and discernment for what will be best for her and us in the long run.

Well thats all for now. I will get back soon.

Join In!!!

Forty Days of prayer for the children!! See what can happen


Pray for change

definite ramblings.

So it's been a while since the last post and I am not sure I have even thought much of what top put in this one. I miss people from college, I miss Brandon, Jon, Dame, Danny, Pablo, Mike, Kyle, Ryan, Abigail, Webb, Holly and many more. I miss seeing Emilie's friends from school, and all of those who moved to Seattle. I miss having my brother and Em's around during the week and getting to hang out. I am amazed how easily I can live life without these people whom I did daily life with for so many years of my life. How can I continue to be part of that life while being so far separated? I know the phone works well, e-mail is ok and facebook is a like a last ditch effort but i want more. I think we need to remember to talk, write and pray more for those who are not around us. I need to be intentional in all my relationships. I think I have always taken for granted the ease of having people close to me. All my life a large portion of my family, friends and cousins were all within 15 miles of me. Now with family and friends spreading around the country I must be more active. I often believe that I can pick up a friendship right where it was left without having talked with a person for months. In some cases I think that might be true but I also think that it is a cold way to look at friends. Everyone wants to be needed, loved, cared about and asked how they are doing, and really mean it. I want to do better at this.

Lots of ramblings. Whats my excuse for my actions? I would say its because I am busy, and lazy. It takes a lot of effort to maintain a relationship. How can I approach any friendship with the expectation that it doesn't require effort? I think my actions, my schedule, my business is my choice, and until i choose something better life will continue like this. I must choose to make some things important and other things less important. This however is where our generation gets a lot of slack from older people. I think we are accurately described as an entitlement generation. Good or bad, i think its at least partly true. However I also think that older people look at our generation and see people who don't care about their jobs, or work, and prioritize things they want to do and the people they want to be around. There is a lot of good to making sure that work or your job is not an ends but a means to another end that is much more valuable than a 50 hour week and a promotion. It is here where we have decided whats important to us that I think we have excelled.



after rereading this post, i think i am a little crazy. Maybe this is just a cathartic activity of writing whats on my mind, but however it breaks down, I still want to be with family and friends more. Its sad that I have this Saturday morning unfilled because i didn't know what to do with it. It's not sad because its empty but because i felt like i needed to fill it with activity rather than enjoy time to relax.

Maybe the only thing I didn't see in Africa

Pretty cool video of a "battle" at kruger national park in south africa.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LU8DDYz68kM

Time

I need to ruthlessly get rid of business in my schedule. After reading through Chapter 5 of the life you've always wanted by John Ortberg, i know that my life is way to busy. I wake up and am going from 730 in the morning to close to 10pm at night some nights. Others days do have some free time , but then they are filled with things I couldn't do the rest of the week like go bike riding, running errands or flying with my boss. How do I go about changing this?
The problem is that I squeeze in things i don't need to do and squeeze out the things I do need to do. Here is where i find disappointment in my daily and weekly routine. Today, Wednesday may be the first time I see my dad since Saturday afternoon. We live in the same house, but I still don't see him. Some of this is by choice, because I choose to do certain things after I get done with prior commitments that i don't get to see them. Other times it is just a conflicting schedule, but I want it to be better.

I recognize that I am not as happy or joyful when I am as busy as I have been. I love to be with people and to hang out, talk and be on the go, but that I also go until I have nothing left and I end up being overwhelmed and unhappy about how things or going or the stress and lack of time in my life.

My biggest disappointment may come from God's constant nudging that I am not spending time with Him. I haven't prayed or spent time int he Word. When i feel His nudges I often just want to not do anything rather than fall asleep while praying or be thinking of something else when I want to be spending time with God. I feel somewhat like I am stuck in the movie "groundhog day" and my day keeps repeating itself. I am not finding joy in what i do, my purpose has escaped me and it is staying that way. I want out of this repetitive cycle. I need to free myself of my business disease. I need to spend time with those I love, eliminate everything that is not necessary, focus on what God has put before me and worship Him for His unending pursuit of me.

I am really not sure who even reads this blog, but i am open for advice. Who else is busy and needs this change? How have others done this? Who has experienced this change?

and a quick apology to those who have gotten the short end of my business, i will do better.

DC Again

So I am back out in Washington DC again. This time it's with my parents and Emilie. Its been an awesome trip so far. Emilie and I left on Thursday at 6am to come out here. We spent some time in Great Falls National Park hiking around on Thursday and then relaxed and hung out with Mike and Mere. Its been wonderful to relax and not think about work and just enjoy family and the beautiful area around us. The weather has been great and the landscape really is something to desire over Chicago. (but I still love the windy city) Friday my parents showed up and we went into downtown DC and saw the national botanic gardens and the US supreme court. It was fun but still very very hot out. Its been in the low 90's the whole time. Friday night we headed out to Meres brothers Kevin and hung out. We cooked out and then went to a concert in the park. Saturday we had a great trip out on the Chesapeake Bay on Meres Moms Finace. Craig, Nancy's fiance took us out for along boat ride and then a clam and lobster bake afterwards. It was fun and exhausting day. Today was church which was really good. It was a new series called myth busters. The Myth we were looking at revolved around God's desire for us to have a happy life. It was intersting to say the least. Tomorrow we have our last day to relax and not think about work. Well I can fill in more later, Wathcing a movie now. Talk to you all soon.

Small Group

So a really quick post. God has been really good to the young adult ministry that Will and Amber Medel Started. Emilie and I have been attending for over a year and it has been really awesome for our lives and built some really amazing relationships. This past Sunday was our last meeting as a full group. We are multiplying out because we have gotten so big. We are going to be holding 2 groups One led by Bill Lyod at his place in Park Ridge on Sunday nights and then the one Em and I are going to be leading at her house in Glenview on Wed evenings. We are both going to be covering the book " the life you've always wanted" by john ortberg. Its a book on spiritual disciplines and should be really cool. Let me know if you want to come check out either of these night.
Quick prayer requests: for more quality out of my quite times and having a Godly world view.

Feel free to shoot me any requests you all have

Faithfulness

Its been a long past few weeks for me. My parents were gone in Florida helping out my grandma with her house and its possible sale, I am working a bunch and Emilie was in Paris for 10 days. In that time and before that Gods incredible grace and love have surrounded Emilie and I. It is more apparent to me than I have ever experienced before. I am humbled daily when I think about the love that God has given me, that he allows me experience and to be able to give. A lot of this just comes around the fact that I feel that it is so crucially important for people, Christians to have someone that they can talk to about anything.
I have been digging through some of my past that has been very painful and God has really been there for me. I have experienced His grace for my life, and understand how He will use all things for our good. It is very difficult to understand the Love that God has for each of us until we see it at work in your own life or someone close to you. Back to my original thought, finding someone who you trust, who is a God fearing person, whom you can talk with anything about. God says that we are forgiven when we confess sins to Him, but also that we must go and confess our sins to the people that they have hurt. God has pushed me to do this and I already see a difference in my life. Telling someone you deepest secrets, things you never wanted to tell another sole because of embarrassment, or shame or whatever the case is, is a freeing experience. Now its not always going to be good, I will still have to be held responsible for my sin and things I have done. Nor is it going to be easy, but I see God working in me, and opening doors that I shut because I didn't feel I was "good enough" to take hold of what God wanted for my life. I can only express that I know God will honor your commitments to Him as he has already honored mine.
Our faith is something is something that we must act out in community and individually. When it comes to sin though its something best done in community. There is support, and love available when things are done in this manner. Look to the early church in Acts as an example of how we as Christians should be striving to live out our lives.

Thanks for everyones prayers!

Make sure you are checking out my cousin Patrick's bog about his time in Swaziland and how the support raising is going for him so he can return to Africa for 2 more years.

Once again Check out Susan Rodgers Blog posting "hungry" . She always has such awesome tid bits about her time in Swaziland

bicycles, traveling, and job(s)

So the last month of my life has been one of the more challenging ones, actually the most challenging one ever. Lots of different things going with my 2 jobs, bible study and making it day to day. Recently God has been working in me and Emilie a lot. There has been a lot of things going on that we have needed to really pull ourselves close to God on. Its been really good but at the same time what has pushed us to need Gods Mercy so much is painful and taking a toll on us emotionally and physically.
I gave in and finally bought a bike that I have been wanting since my first week at REI. It is a Novara Divano.











Its fun! I took it out a few times already for some rides of 15 and 30 miles respectively this weekend. I enjoy it so much and it gives me time to think, and to be physically active; something that has been lack recently. If anyone needs a road riding parter up here let me know.
The two jobs thing has worn on me a little but there has been relief on some weekends. It is nice to relax on Saturdays but unfortunately Sundays are becoming part of the weekly grind. With Church, often work, and bible study on Sundays its almost like just another day. Thankfully our Bible study group is amazing and they provide great friends, relationships and a good time.

On the topic of the Bible study Emilie and I will be taking over bible study. We have grown enough that we need to multiply out ( which is awesome an sad) and we will be leading now on Wed nights. We are excited to see God bring new people and all the people our age that used to come around but have no place they fit in at our church. Our group is going to try to fit that niche.

Oh traveling, the other fun part of my life. Emilie and I are hoping to go visit my Brother and sister in law out in DC for memorial Day. We want to be able to hang out with them, relax and just be with them. Its very different having them be so far away after years of them living in Chicago and I really miss having them close. Not my traveling but fun none the less: Emilie leaves for Paris on Wednesday evening for 9 days to visit her host family from her study abroad and to meet up with a friend in Paris for the week and just enjoy life out there again for a little while. Needless to say I wish I could go with, but somebody has to work around here :)

Well lots of ramblings. Back to work and maybe some lunch soon.

Gods Work

So here is a link to Susan Rodgers Blog site. http://susanrodgers.blogspot.com/ What an awesome reminder of Gods touch and work in our lives.

Its been a long and trying past few weeks. A lot at work, and a lot of stuff going on at home. REI is moving to Northbrook so thats making things a little nuttier at that job. My "real" job is keeping me plenty busy. I am trying to schedule time to go down to Carbondale to visit friends, and to DC to see mike and mere.

Ahh, back to work. will try to do m ore of an update later on.

Psalm 63

O God, you are my Good, Earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you my body longs for you in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
I have seen you in the sanctuary and behold your power and your glory.
Because your love is better than like, my lips will glorify you.
I will praise you as long as I love and in your name I will lift up my hands.
My soul will be satisfied as with the richest of foods. with singing lips my mouth will praise you
On my bed I remember you,; I think of you through the watches of the night.
Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings.
My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me.
They who seek my life will be destroyed; they will go down to the depths of the earth.
They will be given over to the sword and become food for jackals.
But the king will rejoice in God;
all who swear by God's name will praise him, while the mouths of liars will be silenced.

Planning

Wedding planning is exhausting stuff. After quite a few visits to different halls and country clubs and over 100 phone calls we found a place to have our wedding. Oct 7th is the date. But thats all I am going to say for now. Planning is moving forward and we were able to ask our attendants to stand up for us (they all said yes). Photographer is done, invitations and save the dates are in the works. So for though I think the hardest part is getting a honeymoon picked out. There are so many warm places with white sand and blue water that its hard to choose. If you have a favorite let me know!! Hope everyone is doing well.
The cold snap finally broke the other day and 25 degrees feels down right balmy!
Snowing today and tomorrow making everything beautiful.
Work is going really well.
Wishing I could visit mike and mere in VA.
Wanting to drive down to Carbondale to see friends.

Superbowl

THE CHICAGO BEARS ARE GOING TO THE SUPER BOWL!!!! After 20 years since our last appearance, its good to be back. We are looking to run right over the colts and bring that world championship back to Chicago.

Busy

So, planning a wedding isn't all the fun and games. Theres a lot of driving, driving, talking, phone calls, and lots more phone calls. We obviously we are keeping busy. With Em and my schedules almost opposites it's making planning and visiting sights difficult but were narrowing it down quickly. We would like to have a date by February and a place selected for the reception. I might accidentally leak that we would like to do it the weekend of oct 6/7 but nothing is guaranteed! Work is picking up speed and i have slashed my hours at REI to give me some more time to plan and attempt to find time to myself and time for Emilie and I.

Nothing Overly exciting to report though, I did pass the national and state wide sales person licensing exam (allowing me to sell real estate) however i will use it just for my position as a property manager.

Ohh this is exciting, I got my "new" car. I bought my Uncle Bruce's 2004 Volvo S60 T5. I love it and i think it suits me well. Emilie enjoys making fun of me when i make calls using my blue tooth and driving with my cool driving gloves on. So i may be a little bit of a dork but I am enjoying it.

Well thats all for now, theres a good picture of emilie and I on Christmas day.