Chicago Drivers Ed

This weekend in Chicago I learned some driving lessons that I never had in driver's ed class.  For example, the lane lines are really just a suggestion.  You can really drive anywhere on the road that you feel is best.  Also the horn is a tool to be used in all situations, for anger, to say hello, if you are excited or frustrated, etc.  It was an experience all of its own.

Love from Liberty,
Peggy

Veggies

For family Thanksgiving this year my family was assigned veggies.  Not like a veggies platter but green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole and mashed potatoes.  This may sound like an easy task to some of you but I have never made a green bean casserole or a sweet potato casserole.  So when my mom asked me to find some recipes and make a grocery list, I immediately took out my new holiday cooking magazine and began searching for the perfect veggies to compliment the turkey my Grandma is making.  I found several that looked promising and made a list accordingly.  What I did not calculate into my plan was all the prep work that vegetables take.  There is so much peeling, chopping, and boiling.  We started cooking at 6 pm tonight and are just now finishing (10:45 pm).  And when I say finished I mean that I left my mom with all the clean up and one dish that still needs to be baked in the oven tomorrow.  All in all we made five dished, and not a single green bean casserole, or corn for that matter.  Now that hope is that they all reheat well tomorrow.  Happy turkey day everyone!  I hope that you all can count the many blessings that the Lord has bestowed and remember to have an attitude of gratitude not only tomorrow but every day.

Love from Liberty,
Peggy

P.S. I think for Christmas I will volunteer to make something fun and easy like cookies!

Last One For Today

Well since I am catching up on my blogging I might as well tell you that the phone interview went really well and I have been invited to an in-house interview with the firm in Chicago.  I will be traveling up there this weekend to start looking at apartments and to have some getaway time with my mom and then have the big interview on Monday morning.  If all goes well I should know soon and could be moving before Christmas!  So keeping my fingers crossed.

Love from Liberty,
Peggy

The Cheese Stands Alone

This comes from what a friend said to me last night as we were discussing all the newly engaged couples as of late.  I mean really it is to the point of ridiculousness recently.  Here is just a small list of the people I know who are getting married in the coming months.

• My friend Josie is marring her high school sweetheart Matt.
• Kaitlin is tying the not with Jim who she met online.
• Jess is marrying into the life of a solider with her love Conrad.
• Mandy found herself the country boy of her dreams in Jeremy.

On top of these four I am expecting three more in the near future, my sister and her boyfriend Matt, Leah and Sidney, and Leah and Matt.

I think it is going to be one packed summer full of road trips!

Love from Liberty,

Peggy

Love / Hate Relationship

I have a love / hate relationship with the internet.  I love the web but it hates me.  From the time we got wireless at my house this July we have had problems with it.  First it was a matter of getting it set up, then the router that we got wouldn't work.  After several hours of talking to tech support we have finally managed to have a steady connection for a while, until about a week and a half ago.  For some reason it just stopped working so after four days and several phone calls we finally got the issue resolved...well for some of us.  For two days my computer was working great, no problems and then for some reason it just stopped.  I tried everything I could think of.  I knew it had to be my computer because my sister's was working just fine.  After two days of destroying my settings and being completely frustrated I gave in and called the help line, yet again.  The lady was so nice and patient with me as I fumbled to do the things she asked.  She was able to remotely access my computer and change whatever was wrong and in about 30 min I was back up and running again.  This is great news since I am in the middle of an online class.  So thank you to cisco tech support, you were most helpful, yet again.

Love from Liberty,
Peggy

Blast From the Past

Last night I got to catch up with a good friend from high school, Sarah Springer.  Sarah is one of the funniest people I know.  She is so full of life and energy its some times hard to keep up.  Currently, Sarah is living in L.A. working on movie sets as part of the costuming crew.  She has worked with numerous stars including Orlando Bloom, Ryan Phillippe, Matthew McConaughey, and soon Katherine Heigl's new film.  I have to say that some times I am a little star struck by her.  Here she is a small town girl from Iowa doing exactly what she set out to do.  And to top it all off she is a genuinely nice and caring person.  It's always good to see a friendly face from the past.  And I think I will be needing to plan a little vacation to the west coast soon!

Love from Liberty,
Peggy

Oh How He Love Us

Tonight I was reminded of just how much the Lord loves us.  I helped plan and event for my women's Bible study called 3:12.  These women are amazing and have become such good friends to me.  I wanted to help do something special and so I took an idea of an event we did at Liberty University and scaled it down to fit our group.  Every year at Thanksgiving Liberty has a communion service.  It is a powerful, and very special time of remembering what the Lord has done for us and being thankful for his sacrifice.  Each year is a little bit different but always it is a time where we encounter the Lord.

For my event I took several things that Liberty has done and made them my one.  We started out by watching a scene from the Passion of Christ set to music.  This movie is always a powerful reminder of the true sacrifice that was made on our behalf.  It is heartbreaking to watch but then again seeing a perfect God beaten and killed for our sins should be heartbreaking.  After this we read some of the names of God and their meanings, reminding us of who he is.  1 Cor. talks about having a clean heart before taking communion so I had every one write down things that needed to be given over to the Lord and prepare their hearts.  These papers were then dipped in red paint symbolizing the blood of Christ covering our transgressions.  We then nailed the papers to a cross.  After this we cook communion and had a time of sharing.

One of the biggest things that struck me tonight was when one of the girls was sharing.  She said that she had forgotten the joy that she can have in Christ and that she missed God.  I feel like that sometimes, especially when I haven't spent the time with the Lord that I should.  I miss him and I forget how much I really do need him.  We say that he is enough, that he is satisfying, that we are complete in him, but why then do we "need" so many things.  We "need" to do this or that, we "need" to have such and such, we "need" so many things that sometimes we forget that we need Christ.  We think of him as an added bonus that we can pull out and use when ever it is convenient.  We think of him as a want and not a need and a want is not something that is a priority.  I am guilty probably more than most.  There are so many things in life that I refer to as needs that simply are not, and yet when it come to the Lord, a true need, sometimes I think of him as a want, something that is desirable but something that can wait to later.  I need to change this thinking.  Tonight I was reminded that I too miss the Lord and that I need him.  Not just for a free pass to heaven and salvation but everyday, every hour, every min. I need him.  And I will need him more tomorrow than I did today and even more the next day.  I need the Lord, he can not wait till later, he must be the priority right now.

Love from Liberty,
Peggy

Exciting News!

This will be very short but I thought it was important enough to post a quick note.  I have a telephone interview next Thursday with an ad agency in Chicago!  That is all the more detail I am going to put for now as it is just a phone interview and I don't want to get too excited but I would appreciate your prayers  on this.

Love from Liberty,
Peggy