Getting Kari'd Away

By now, many of you reading this probably know about my upcoming trip to Romania. If you don't, you can check it out here . So far the time leading up to this trip has been a learning experience for me. Many things lately have showed me how good this trip will be, not because of what I'll be doing but because of what I'll be experiencing and learning. Lately, my older son has been asking me why he has to go to school and why he needs to learn. It's funny to me to think that I'm not going to school, but I'm sure being taught a lot lately. I'm learning about my attitude, thoughts, inferences, purpose and more. This time three years ago, I was embarking on a big change. I was tying up loose ends and getting ready to resign as a music therapist. I was getting ready to say good bye to students I had for years. It was an uncertain time not knowing what lay ahead. A few months later I would find my self jobless and worried that nothing was going to happen. What...

       I've written this blog in my head over and over for a few days now, but am finally ready to put to 'paper' so to speak. So here it goes....        Change is inevitable. Change is usually good. It helps us grow, improve and learn. But change can also be scary and daunting. That's the change I'm dealing with right now. See, Friday was possibly one of the biggest days in my life in a long time. Seems like a such a strong statement but it was. I formally resigned from my music therapy position with the local school district. This is a job that I held for 11 years. It was my first real job. You know, aside from the working at The Limited, grocery store, or selling accidental death and dismemberment insurance over the phone type summer jobs I had throughout college and before.  And yes, I actually did sell D and D insurance and was pretty decent at it, but we'll leave that for another blog post...

       Most people think of service as helping others, or maybe as a type of utility one receives (like cable TV or water). But a few weeks ago I was challenged to think of service as love and love as service. See, I always thought that service was a scheduled event where I give of my time and talents and then am done. But I call myself a Christian and believe in Jesus, so the truth is that that is not how Jesus lived. I also felt that Jesus' servant hood was contextual, something that should be left in the time and place Jesus lived. But the truth is that we, if we claim to be Christians, are to be servants. And when the Bible tells us this it doesn't specify a time for serving and time to take a break from serving. If serving isn't just a physical act at a specified time then what is it? It's love. So, what does that really mean? Well, it doesn't mean picketing at a funeral, standing outside a clinic with horrific pictures or sc...

You ever get that feeling that, in the middle of stating your case, you are totally wrong?  But, for some silly (or just plain stupid) reason you continue to dig your heels in and state your case?  I can remember a few times where I could distinctly hear in the back of my head; 'Kari, chill out, it's not a big deal' I heard a story Jonah recently. You know, he was stuck in the belly of a whale for three days, then the whale spat him out, etc. And if your like me you instantly have some vision of the Veggie Tales movie or some version of the story in a children's Bible. I instantly see a sign for the boat Jonah gets on and it says 'Not Nineveh.' It makes me laugh. Anyway, I can relate to Jonah, cause sometimes I just want to run from what I know God is telling me. Either it's too hard or I'm too lazy, or a myriad of other reasons. But the thing that surprised me was the rest of the story. Yep, that's right there's more. See, not onl...

Years ago I worked for a very nice summer day camp. During camp we would have morning meetings and review important details for the day. At every meeting there were comment cards that were read. Parents or coworkers could anonymously fill one out and submit it for a camp employee. When an employee received 3 of these cards they would receive a special pin called a Bravo Zulu. The Bravo Zulu symbolized a job well done. They were put on your name tag and everyone saw it. I worked very hard my first summer and always hoped for a Bravo Zulu, but didn't get one. Not receiving the coveted Bravo Zulu that summer always bothered me. Recently it made me think of the story of the prodigal son. I always heard messages about that story but didn't get them. All I could hear was the brother of the prodigal son did all that hard work, made the right choices and didn't get one Bravo Zulu. I always felt like he got jipped, he got shafted. No parties for him,...

A while back, I put on a cute new shirt I received as a gift. I had to laugh because, this pretty shirt, with a large branch of sequins covering most of the shirt, only came with one little replacement sequin in the baggy attached to the tag. One, that's it! For the whole shirt!! That seemed so crazy to me that they wouldn't even give you two! A few days later in my small group we watched a video. The video we watched talked about rain and the times of our life that are like rain. Not just the pretty rain that ends with a lovely rainbow, but the rain that pounds down, changes your plans and just plain makes you wish rain didn't exist. That type of rain can be seen in many of our lives, at any given moment. You know those types of times. The times when you feel all alone, you just want to give in, you just want to quit or you need a break. The video painted a picture, that for me, as a parent, was easy to understand. If one of my sons fall and hurt him...

I wrote this last night and it is what has spurred on my desire to start a blog. I hope you like it. Just before 212 began I noticed something during part of my weekly drive.   A new building was going up along the road.   I continued to look each week as I drove by wondering what the building would become.   Until one day I found out; a storage facility. I was so disappointed, of all the possibilities, really, that’s what someone decided needed to be built! So I continue to pass the future storage units and now I have noticed they are everywhere !   I feel like I can’t go a mile or two without seeing one and I can even think of a few places where other new storage facilities have recently been built.   So I did some research. According to the Self Storage Association there are almost 46,500 storage facilities in the USA. The storage business brings $20+ billion in annual revenue to the USA.   I, personally, don’t have a storage unit I pay monthly to u...