the gift of Gab

Woo Hoo!!! I have turned in all of the parts of my application for Wolrd Venture that I have any sort of control over! What a relief! It appears that most of my references have also been turned in. Tomorrow night I will be attending the Elder Board meeting at church (just for a few minutes) so they can check off on the approval sheet.

Things are really coming together. Once I've been officially invited, I'll travel to Littleton, Colorado in June for 11 days of assignment, orientation and training.

Well, I've negleted the house keeping for a month...I'd better hop to it.

Thanks for all of your continued prayers everyone!

Posted by Gabi at 07:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

So tonight I got my hair done. Ladies, we should really look into that. Having something done always takes a lot of time, effort, and money! I don't think that's sunk in for us yet. Ask a man if he got his hair done, and he'll say, "Yep, I got it cut," never done.

I had just spent 10 minutes discussing with the hair dresser what I wanted my hair to look like and do in the end. It seems that conversation is usually an excersice of fantasy and fiction. As I was sitting in the chair, getting the aluminum foils put in my hair, a man sat down in the next chair.

His conversation with his hairdresser went something like this:
Hair Dresser: So how do you normally get your hair cut?
Customer: Use a number 2 on the sides and back, and then trim the top. (It took me a minute, but I realized the #2 was the size of the guard used on the electric shaver.)

As my hairdresser was putting the last of the aluminum foils in my hair (looking very much like I was waiting for the mother ship), the man at the next seat got up with his completed hair cut (looking quite good, I might add). 15 minutes and $20 bucks.

An hour and a half and $95 later, my hair was done too, looking fabulous.

But maybe next time I'll say, "Beam me up, Scottie. I need a hair cut!"

Posted by Gabi at 08:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

So I'm finally done with my personal doctrinal beliefs statement. On Wednesday at 2:30 PM I'll be meeting with my pastor to review it.

Now I've only got my autobiography to write. The good thing is I know that material by heart. Don't have to look up quite as much as I did on this last one. ;-)

Thanks for praying. I really appreciate it.

Posted by Gabi at 02:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

So I'm nearly done working on my application for World Venture. God keeps encouraging me in the process and confirming for me that I'm moving in the right direction.

However, I've run into a snag. I seem to be stuck on writing the papers regarding my doctrinal statement and my autobiography. I have some incredible writers block.

Do you see the great irony here? For over eight years, I was an English/writing teacher! I should be able to whip these suckers out without any trouble. I'm only about half way done with my doctrinal statement. I know what I believe and I can typically back it up. Just can't seem to get it on paper right now. So I'm taking Tuesday off to finish up that paper.

The doctrinal statement needs to be reviewed with my pastor on Wednesday afternoon. I told him I would e-mail it to him on Tuesday night after I was done. The bio is due no later than Sunday.

Please pray that I will find the focus I need to complete these assignments and the appropriate words to actually say what I mean.

Posted by Gabi at 09:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

We recently had a wind storm here. I've discovered that my fence blew over. The wind was strong, my fence wasn't. Now people can see into my backyard from the street. Maybe someone will go in there and pick the weeds?

I should be so lucky!

Posted by Gabi at 08:46 PM | Permalink

Today my co-worker Cindy and I went out for lunch to a near-by Mediterranean restaurant. I think I have a new favorite spice: sumac

It's beautiful stuff!

A little cinnamon-y, a little nutty. I had it on my lamb schawarma. Yum!!

Posted by Gabi at 03:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Mom forwarded me some quotes today. I thought these were great.

God has called us to shine, just as much as Daniel was sent into Babylon to shine. Let no one say that he cannot shine because he has not so much influence as some others may have. What God wants you to do is to use the influence you have. Daniel probably did not have much influence down in Babylon at first, but God soon gave him more because he was faithful and used what he had." -- Dwight L. Moody

Our prayers may be awkward. Our attempts may be feeble. But since the power of prayer is in the one who hears it and not the one who says it, our prayers do make a difference. --Max Lucado

Posted by Gabi at 10:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

On the news the other day, the weather man was talking about the fact that we should have 2.8" of rain by now. We've only had 0.39". Obviously, we are still in a drought.

So how is it that I have weeds growing in my front yard? How can they possibly be growing?

I'm certainly not out there watering anything!! And why is nothing else growing? Just the weeds!!!

Posted by Gabi at 11:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Ever have those days where just focusing on the task at hand seems an outrageous chore?

Me too. Today, as a matter of fact. :-(

Posted by Gabi at 07:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Today is Easter! It is a great day to reflect on the wonderful gift of perfect salvation that God has given us through his son Jesus Christ.

Throughout the service today, I was moved to tears thinking about the incredible sacrifice that God made for me. Me! Because he loves me - and every person on the planet. He is creator of the universe, but he cares about me. How awesome is that!!!!

Some days I take that for granted, and other days I am overwhelmed by the depth of His love and cannot fathom the reason for it. But ultimately, I know that I am His and I am redeemed in and to Him. Thank you God!!

I hadn't really planned on doing anything special after church today. But at the last minute, I invited a mom and her two children (girl-11 and boy-15), as well as an 82-year-old couple I have known since I was a baby.

My house certainly hadn't been cleaned for company, and I dind't even have food to serve them. So I ran through Wal-Mart on the way home. We all worked together to throw things together for lunch. Of course, my propane tank ran out while the last steaks were on the grill. Medium rare, anyone? We all sat on the patio and sang a beautiful round as our dinner blessing.

We had such a delightful time together. The kids wanted their mom and me to hide 2 1/2 dozen easter eggs in my back yard, which we did. They found all but one of the eggs. Nikki was disappointed that they had not had a chance to dye any of their Easter eggs this year. I told her she was getting nothing but the best - the very rare and highly prized albino eggs. She was good with that. We played games for a while. Ronnie hung my hammock between two trees at the back of my yard. Aaaah. More on that later this summer. :-)

After Randy and Anna left, the kids and Laura and I continued to play games. I really enjoy her kids and I am so thrilled that they enjoy spending time with me too.

Sundays are the best. And today - today was just exceptional!!

Posted by Gabi at 08:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Today is the 17th anniversary of my becoming an American.

It was my senior year of high school and I was 18. (for the mathmatically challened, that makes me 35)

We didn't really celebrate the event. My brother was born in Alaska and is thereby a US citizen from birth, and my parents are not citizens of the US.

So I think that next year, I am going to have a huge party to commemorate it. Next year, I'll be able to say that for literally half of my life I have been an American.

Posted by Gabi at 05:18 PM | Permalink

...and I am a junkie.

An NPR and PBS junkie to be exact.

I can already see you running around with your hands waving in the air. "Gabriele's a leftist, pinko commie! Gabriele's a leftist, pinko commie!" Not to worry.

Keep in mind that I am a Bible-believing Christian. I am not easily swayed by liberal talk. And I weigh all things by Biblical standards.

Keeping that in mind, however, NPR does provide more in-depth (and generally less-slanted) stories on most subjects than many other news providers in my area. I like hearing both sides of an issue or more detail on a story. Because there are no commercials on NPR or PBS, the stations don't have to pander to advertisers. They can spend more time on an issue. NPR goes into much detail on a variety of subjects (many of which help me play Trivial Pursuit!) from current events in national and internation news to Science Fridays to Music History and everything in between.

But this entry isn't so much about my addiction to in-depth news as it is about terrorists and the death penalty.

Lately, I've been hearing a lot about Zacarias Moussaoui's death-penalty trial. The question is no longer whether he was an accomplice, he's admitted that. The jury has determined that he is, in fact, eligible for the death penalty.

Many people would like to see Moussaoui put to death for his involvement in the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. I understand their pain at having lost their loved ones, and their desire for closure, and even revenge.

However, Moussaoui has stated from the very beginning that he was involved and wishes, even craves, to be put to death for his actions. He sees himself as a martyr for Allah and the cause.

My suggestion then: keep him alive.

Put him in solitary confinement for the rest of his life. No chance of parole, no contact with other inmates who might wish to kill him.

Keep him alive.

Keep him alive so that he can reflect, for the rest of his life, on the fact that he failed in his mission to kill thousands of innocent people. Keep him alive so he can reflect on the fact that Allah will not reward him for his actions and that he will never get a second chance to try. Keep him alive so that he can reflect on the fact that he is not a martyr, but a killer-wannabe.

And then pray. Pray for his repentance and salvation and foregiveness. And pray for the families of those who lost their loved ones.

Posted by Gabi at 09:05 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

The other night I was in the grocery check out line behind a blond lady who obviously believed EVERYTHING was about her. She kept running around at this frenetic pace, trying to make sure all of her stuff was on the check out track. Then she couldn't find her checkbook, and the credit card she kept trying to use wouldn't work. She kept telling us random stories too. It was actually kind of entertaining for the rest of us in line behind her.

When I got back out to my car, I realized that the blond woman had parked directly next to me. As I was moving her cart out from behind my car, she started telling me about the car parked next to her at Bally's that day.

Someone had parked so close to her car that she was unable to get in on the drivers side. So she had to climb in over the passenger seat. She got stuck on the gear shift for a minute. Duh.

Out of spite, she keyed the guys car.

Are you kidding me!?!? For a minute or two of inconvenience she did hundreds of dollars worth of damage to this guy's car?

Since I tend to be a weirdo magnet, I was afraid of what she might do to me or my car if I stuck around any longer. She was still talking as I drove away.

Posted by Gabi at 01:49 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

My boss, Jonathan, has a fabulous plan for marketing/schmoozing. He buys four season tickets to events that he and his wife enjoy attending together. Whenever they attend, Jonathan invites along one of his clients and their date. That way he never has to spend time away from his wife while entertaining his clients.

Over the past two and a half years some of the clients have had to cancel last minute. That has made me the beneficiary of some of those tickets. Hockey games, opera, musicals, theater, baseball. It's been great!

On Thursday, Jonathan gave me four tickets to see the Diamond Backs play the Yankees at Chase Field in Phoenix. So my friends Jessica and Martha and I drove on up there for the game on Saturday afternoon. The drive up was extremely slow because of multiple accidents along the way. But that's ok, because we chatted and Jessica read to us much of the way up. She reads very well out loud so it was quite enjoyable.

Because we had one more ticket, we took along the 11-year-old daughter of one of my Phoenix co-workers. Brianna turned out to be delightful young lady. (I think she was quite brave for going out with three women she had never met before.) At first she thought we were just strange - not so far off the mark, actually. By the end of the afternoon though, she thought she'd be able to tell her mom that we were OK and that she'd had a good afternoon with us.

It was a beautiful day! About 85 degrees and sunny. The beauty of Chase Field is the retractable roof. In the spring the roof is open. In the summer, when it get to be a thousand degrees, the roof is closed and the A/C kicks in. So we were able to sit and soak up the sun. Jessica even got sunburned - the weenie. :-D

I'm not what you'd call a die-hard baseball fan. I think going to the ball park is great because you get to hang out with your friends and enjoy the wonderful Arizona weather. And this turned out ot be a very relaxing time. Our seats were great! We sat two rows behind the pool - yep, the pool. This ball park, being in the desert, has a swimming pool in it.
You can rent it for parties, etc. The row directly behind the pool is reserved for those in the pool. Of course, none of them ever actually sit there. So those of us in the second row have an entirely unobstructed view of the field. We kept hoping the pool goers would splash some water on us, but they were far too polite. Bummer.

I suppose someone will want to know the final score: 3-3. It was a pre-season exhibition game, so there was no overtime. Everyone went home happy.

After we dropped Brianna off, we made th obligatory stop at IKEA (Scandavian Furniture mega-store). We always find something fun there to pretty up the house. This time some glass tea-light globes to hang from my patio ceiling - 69 cents each!

Jessica read to us on the way home again - a much shorter drive this time. All in all, a fantastic way to spend day!

Fun, Friends, and Sunshine! It really was a good thing.

Posted by Gabi at 07:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)