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Showing posts from June, 2018

Banned from the office, I finally got my hoard in order

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After working into the wee hours of Friday night/Saturday morning, I decided I was going to ban myself from the office for the weekend. My goal: to not even set foot up there for two days.  I knew I had put in a lot of hours for the month, but it wasn't until I looked at my time sheet that  I realized how many. Not knowing what to expect, in the job transition, I probably over committed for a time and am working toward adjustments. I'm so very thankful for the work. I'm not complaining about that at all. However, I know what it is to be a workaholic, and I'm trying not to get myself into that pattern. It's a bad habit, and I can't fall into that pattern, especially with fall quickly approaching when I need to and want to be available late into the nights to work on craft projects.  I have to give myself down time.  It's all going to work out. Now that I've overcome most of my technology problems, I have to work on my focus. It will all wor

Peter faced his fear

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This week I am posting videos from last week's Vacation Bible School. Our theme was about super heroes and how they often have to overcome a weakness in order to be a hero. The Bible tells of heroes too. Our final night took a look at Peter and how he let his fear get the better of him.  

God wouldn't let Moses keep making excuses

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This week I am posting videos from last week's Vacation Bible School. Our theme was about super heroes and how they often have to overcome a weakness in order to be a hero. The Bible tells of heroes too. Moses made excuses for why he couldn't lead God's people. God didn't let him get away with that though.

Job conquered doubt

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This week I am posting videos from last week's Vacation Bible School. Our theme was about super heroes and how they often have to overcome a weakness in order to be a hero. The Bible tells of heroes too. This was from our second night, featuring Job's story.

Joseph overcame being mistreated

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This week I am posting videos from last week's Vacation Bible School. Our theme was about super heroes and how they often have to overcome a weakness in order to be a hero. The Bible tells of heroes too. This first video was my night to teach about Joseph. His challenge to overcome was being mistreated. 

The time has come to cut the drama on #thebachelorette

It's 10:30 PM, and I should really just go to bed. Yet, I'm full of angst and about to start The Bachelorette. It's not that I had a bad day. Even if after I quit for the day I found out I need to reschedule two interviews and cancel another because someone (not me this time) wasn't paying attention. My moments of most annoyance (and I had a few) weren't work related today (even though I had to re-enter Excel data because of a bad save unlike anything I've ever had happen in Excel before). I even had an encouraging time talking to someone I had not spoken to in quite some time. Yet, when I walked in the door late, I was bombarded by a call from someone angsty at me for no reason. I called back to say I checked something and explained why I wasn't thinking along a line for some reason, and let's just say that call ended in a hang up (not me this time). So, I may not finish all this post tonight. I may have to revisit it tomorrow, but we'll see how

As the Deer

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I think the look I got in that freeze frame is the look I got all night long from him! ;) I didn't have the words for "As the Deer" saved like I thought I did, but they are easy to find if you don't know the song. 

Why I hate summer

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I dread summer every year. My office gets so very hot. I finally decided I needed to come downstairs and be DONE for the day when I looked at the thermostat with the upstairs A/C going and it was 89 degrees up there.  It isn't an air conditioner problem. It's a insulation problem. I can tolerate it pretty warm. I turn the A/C way down at night and it cools off. When I go upstairs in the morning, it's a normal temp. Slowly, like turning up the heat on the water pot with the frog inside, I don't notice it being hot until it finally gets upper 80s. Fed up with it being hot, I finally decided to give in and buy a room air conditioner.  This shiny new unit is the very loud new addition to my office. Because of the window to vent it is up so high, it has to sit on a table instead of the floor, but it least it was easier than mounting a traditional window unit. I have to open the blinds partially that allows the sun in. I usually have them closed with the ther

It's all a big blur

Today's post is just a boring little update. I am getting definitively old. My weeks are blurring one into another, especially since I have been trying to catch up on some work. My still learning the right balance. I looked at my Instagram account and realized I had one share in like two weeks. What happened to my grand plans to post daily? I post daily for my clients. Posting daily photos of my office would get old, I suppose. I haven't been creating in the studio lately, but I need to soon. I feel that I NEEEEED to. Spending a few hours in the studio tonight marking books to be cut does not count. Speaking of which, I have more and more piles of books. One box of 50 though arrived with 22 books missing. (Replacements are on the way.) Somewhere between Wichita, Kansas and here, there's a stack of Reader's Digest Condensed books. You'd think when they started falling out of a box all ripped up they would have figured out where they came from. The box had to be

More photos from Vacation Bible School

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Since I only taught on Monday night at Westhill 's VBS, I took pictures the other nights for the Facebook Page . I also videoed one of the class/skit sessions every night. I do promise to get those uploaded to share.  These shots are from the craft room, the intro skits in the auditorium and the Job, Moses and Peter lessons.

I want to see

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I Want to See By Marlo Schalesky Excerpted from Reaching for Wonder  by Marlo Schalesky ©2018 by Abingdon Press, used with permission.   Bartimaeus may just be my favorite character in the Bible. There’s something about his tenacity, his audacity, and his fierce vivacity that inspires me. He lived in darkness, and yet he saw more clearly than any of his seeing contemporaries. He saw more clearly than I. A blind beggar sitting in the dirt alongside the road to Jerusalem knew what he wanted, and he couldn’t be dissuaded from it. What if I had his vision? What if, in my own darkness, I had his tenacity, audacity, and vivacity? What if all I wanted was to see? Even as I write these words, I’m filled with a crazy hope, a wild wonder. What if , when I am sitting in the dirt, in the dark, in my life, I let none of it stop me from calling out to Jesus? What if I don’t care what others think but instead cry out all the louder? What if I believe that Jesus is who he says he is? Wh

Poor, mistreated Joseph

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This week is VBS at Westhill , and last night was my night to teach. Our theme was superheroes overcoming certain challenges, and my lessons centered on Joseph overcoming mistreatment. I usually don't have a big cast because depending on actors makes me nervous, but these guys did a great job. I only had 7 of Joseph's 11 brothers, but no one actually pointed that out. I kept talking about the 10 mean older brothers.  If I had my script together more than a week ahead - because I run behind on absolutely everything - I probably could have found a few more.  All the lessons were videoed, so I'm going to try to get them uploaded to share. I have to do it when I'm not trying to work because they will take FOREVER, and I can't function while videos are uploading.  Here's my cast with a kid hiding in middle for a picture. Keep scrolling for the picture of the brothers throwing Joseph into the well one more time, just for the fun of it. Between rehearsals

Jordan's ego is too big for his golden britches on #thebachelorette

I don't think I've gotten to start and stay on track with the live airing of The Bachelorette once this season. I tried once. Tonight, I taught VBS, came home, ate dinner, started some photo uploads, and at 10 PM am just getting started. Seems to be the time I get going every time.  So, we were at the cocktail party when the episode ended last week. Clay went home with a broken wrist, and that's where we left it. Tonight, Becca is still talking to some guys. She and Blake talk about how many children they want to have and what they want to name their daughters. All the men sit around seriously discussion the severity of David's fall from the bunk bed. Jordan has an odd camera interview where he says he talks to God daily and some people that go against him wind up hurt. I guess he is alluding to having God smite David. Jordan's ego is too big for his britches.   Speaking of Jordan and britches, when he gets time alone with Becca, she gives him a pair

Sanctuary

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I love having a big group! I snagged this video on our Unity Sunday where all the Churches of Christ in town come together for worship. These are actually all our kids, but most everyone was sure to be there that morning. Sanctuary By John W. Thompson; © Kruger Organisation Used by permission. CCLI # 1132191 (girls echo) Oh Lord prepare me, to be a sanctuary Pure and holy, tried and true. With thanksgiving, I’ll be a living Sanctuary for You. It was you Lord, who sent the Savior Heart and soul Lord, to every man. It is you Lord, who knows my weakness, You refine me with Your own hand. Lead me on Lord, through my temptations You refine me from within Fill our hearts with the Holy Spirit, And take all our sins away. Lord teach Your children, t o stop the fighting, And start uniting, all as one. Let’s get together, loving forever Sanctuary, for You. And when He comes with shouts of glory And our work on earth is done O, how I

The struggle is so very real

I've ranted about my technology issues for weeks here on the blog. In addition to locking myself out of the Mac earlier in the week, I have had numerous problems on other computers. After calling AT&T more times than I could count over a two week period, I finally had someone come out to test the lines this morning. There were times where the internet was so slow, I couldn't function. There was something with the line, they needed to back me down to a slower package because of capabilities, and then my laptop was drawing more data than it should have been. Something there was holding things up. At the same time, I couldn't get Photoshop to save an image as a jpg to save my life. Then, it wouldn't open That's a bit problematic. So, instead of being productive, I decide to go back to restore points on both computers to see if I could go back to before the latest Windows updates to see if that would help because things have been getting progressively worse.

Rachel Dylan's Breach of Trust cover reveal

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This week, Rachel Dylan revealed the cover of the third book in her Atlanta Justice Series, Breach of Trust , coming in February 2019 from Bethany House Publishers .  If you haven't read any of the books in the series, you should. Both  Deadly Proof  and  Lone Witness  have been on best sellers' lists. Learn more on her website and make sure you are following her on social media too! www.racheldylan.com www.facebook.com/RachelDylanAuthor/  https://twitter.com/dylan_rachel www.instagram.com/racheldylanauthor/

The Good Things God Wants for You

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The Good Things God Wants for You By Katie Bennett Excerpted from Heavenly Minded Mom by Katie Bennett ©2018 by Abingdon Press, used with permission .   He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all— how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? —Romans 8:32 Today on the radio I heard a voice clip from a well-known Bible teacher. She said that God is good—He wants good things for His people—so we should believe that He will give us good things. The voice clip was just brief enough that I couldn’t determine whether I agreed with her or not. She certainly spoke truth. God is undeniably, exceedingly, and completely good. He does want good things for His people, and He gives us many good things. Yet perhaps sometimes our definition of good is something far less than what God has in mind. Perhaps our finite, limited view leads us to define good things in terms of health, popularity, and material abundance. And thus, we settle. However,

I lack the ability to take decent selfies

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I know you have read my complaints about the lighting in my house before. I have a really hard time taking good pictures because of the lighting. There's not tons of natural lighting in the house, and as far as light fixtures are concerned, it's still not well let. Then, there is fluorescent lighting. Bad, bad, bad. That and my phone takes horrible pictures. Horrible, horrible pictures.  Here are two terrible examples of selfies. Before and after getting my hair cut yesterday. First of all, this is a picture trying to show how long my hair had gotten. The back was or seemed longer than it shows here. This is me trying to get the shot in my very small, oddly shaped half-bath upstairs lit with a twirly bulb. Plenty of light. Just hard to tell it here. The rest of the upstairs is very dark, especially with the heat shield curtains closed and the bulbs needing changed in the fan. The second one just went out. I always change them at the same time.  Anyway, my hair was

Really good news and stupid bad luck

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I have some really good news... in addition to good things I have going on with "Audra Jennings PR" as I call it, I'm joining the team at New Growth Press  as Publicity and Social Media Manager!  I have worked with the team on various projects for I can't tell you how many years! (I think probably 14... something like that.) I worked on publicity for the first book they released. I am excited about the new adventure. It's the first time I've worked on staff for a publisher, so even though I get to do a lot of what I have done before, I'll get to venture into some new areas too. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ After lunch with the owner today, I ventured home to set up a new computer. I haven't worked on a Mac in forever, but shouldn't be a big deal. Shouldn't be... I set up a new Apple ID at the same time I set up the computer password. Then, I did updates that restarted the computer before getting the validation email on the ac

Even more odd things going down on #thebachelorette

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Urg. I had watch the last ten minutes online.  Here I go back posting this week’s episode of The Bachelorette again. I was going to work on it after getting back from Peyton’s softball game, but my parents’ air conditioner went out and they needed to come over here to sleep, so it wasn’t a good time to start work on it. Of course, here I actually am on Tuesday after long day. Terrific in that there’s a good job announcement to make (more on that tomorrow’s post), but also maddening in how I ended up on the phone with tech support for two hours. (This time not with AT&T, but had to be on chat with them yesterday, and I’m waiting for another new router. Because my internet keeps spacing in and out, I am having to type this as a word doc to paste into the blog.) Anyway… 10 PM Tuesday hoping to get this in before I fall asleep typing from the chair in my living room. This week’s episode starts on a rainy day where David is complaining about Jordan, especially his roami