The Letter "M"

Here are my 10 things I love that start with the letter M as given me by Rachel!

Marriage: I can't say enough about how I love the symbolism of earthly marriage and our relationship with the Lord. I love my husband so so so so so so so so so....and so on, much! We LOVE being married-it's fantastic.

Music: I have been blessed abundantly with a natural love and gift in the musical arena. And I LOVE using it for the Lord. I could go on forever, but will not.

Mango's: They are a delicious fruit, you should try one sometime.

Movies: I think few things are as relaxing as sticking a movie in when you are tired.

Microwaves: Seriously, where would I be without this invention. I mean, hello, the Hot Pocket?

Memories: I love remembering how good the Lord has been---so so faithful. I love remembering fun family memories from when I was a child, and memories of silly things I did in college (like trying to re-arrange my room a zillion times..."it'll fit in the hallway!") And remembering when Jared and I first fell in love.

Mercy: I would not be here if not for great mercy shown upon me from Christ. I am learning more and more to be more merciful.

Mountains: Everytime I look at a mountain, I am reminded of the hugeness of God (don't know if that's a word, but I made it one)

My mom: She is giving and forgiving, serving, loving, and so many other things. Probably about the best mom ever.

Mark, Mary, Micah, Mariah, McKoona---they are like family. I think about them so much and pray for them so much-they are so important to me. This is a fabulous family who treats us like their own. The let us sneak our way into their lives, and then we ended up living at their house. Plus we all got food poisoning together--how much closer can you be then that?

Of course there are many other things I love that don't start with the letter M, but that's my M list. (of course my dad, bro, sis, nephews, niece, and many others are on the list too, so don't feel left out!)

~Angela M.

Sometimes You Just Have to Talk to the Right Person


I'm sure I am not the only person to experience this situation. It has occured many times in my life, but recently it seems to be happening more often. Here is the set-up: You call someone...you have a problem/question that needs to be resolved...the person on the other end of the phone has absolutely no imagination whatsoever, thus leaving you feeling more frustrated then you were when you made the call in the first place. Here is my story:

Yesterday I called the Dr. to get in to resolve some weird health issues I'm having. I am a new patient, so I understand that I do not have first priority among patients...recap of the convo:

Me: "Hello, I'm wondering if Dr. ______ is accepting new patients."
Receptionist "Oh yes she is."
Me: "Great! When is the soonest I could get in, I would like to get in as soon as possible. Do you have any upcoming cancellations?"
Receptionist "(laughing) oh, well since you are a new patient, you can't just get right in-you have to come in for a consultation...and why are you calling right now, it's the lunch hour? Can you call back later or do you just want to leave a message?"
Me: "(silence)...umm...I guess I'll just call later."

Seriously. If she couldn't help me, why did she even pick up the phone??
Sometimes you just need to talk to the right person...here's what happened just a few minutes ago. Same Dr.'s office, new receptionist:

Me "Hello I'm wondering if Dr. _______ is accepting new patients."
Receptionist "Oh yes she is"
Me "Great I'm hoping to set up an appointment as soon as possible"
Receptionist "Great, let me start a file for you! (takes info over the phone)
Receptionist "Well it looks like we have a cancellation tomorrow unless that's too soon"
Me "It's perfect!"

I'm sure as you read this story, you can think of a conversation of your own where all you needed was someone with a little creativity and a lot of grace. I am soooo thankful for those people who go out of their way to be the right person to talk to!

~Angela M.

Memories

A few picture memories I thought I'd share with you:

One of my favorite pics of Jared and I snowboarding at Mammoth

One of Megan and Andrea and I headed to "stupid class" as we referred to it as...ah the memories...

~Angela M.

The Lovebirds Snowboarding


As you may recall, over Christmas break Jared and I were going to stop at Mt. Hood for a snowboarding excursion as our Christmas gift to each other. Those plans obviously did not work out since we could not even drive down in the massive blizzard we were experiencing at the time.

This last weekend, we decided to take advantage of the fact that we did not have to work and headed up to Schweitzer for a few days! We had an absolutely fantastic time just the two of us-here are a few pics of the weekend. For once there are pictures of me, which is odd since I'm usually the picture taker:)

~Angela M.

Expressive Worship

Worshipping the Lord is what you could say is one of my all time favorite activities. Whether it be singing, praying, dancing, with others or by myself, I just can't seem to get enough of it. I love it so much in fact that a few years ago I decided to go to school to get my Master's in it! Who knew you could do that???
A friend of mine (the lovely Jessica) came up to me the other day after church and commented on how she just wanted to dance during our worship time at church, but didn't feel comfortable doing it because our church isn't exactly "charismatic".
Most of my church experience has been at places that are not charismatic other then my 2 years spent at Light and Life Christian Fellowship in Long Beach CA. It was during this time while I was studying Worship at Azusa Pacific University and serving at Light and Life, when my own expression of worship became stretched and grew to new heights.

When I sing songs to the Lord I imagine myself physically in His presence, and I just can't contain myself. Usually there is a song that is sung during the course of a worship set that reminds me of how much the Lord has saved me from and how much He loves me, and I just can't get over it! I don't want to get over Him! It's not about the music, the song, or the singing itself. The Lord has blessed me so much with being really drawn close to Him during times of singing-it is one of my connections to the heart of the Father. I don't know if other people feel like they will explode while they are Worshipping, but I do! I suppose that's kind of how David felt when he danced in the middle of the street!

I consider myself to be an amateur worshipper, but I decided a long time ago to be an completely obsessed student of it-knowing someday in heaven I will finally reach the professional worshipper title.

So to my dear friend Jessica...dance...don't hold back before the Lord...just dance...

~Angela M.

The Update

One of my 2009 list of 100 things I am going to do is to update my blog more often. So here's my update! Plus, I love when I see my fellow blogging friends have updated theirs. I'm just trying to give everyone some good entertainment for their day.

Today is Friday. A day I have been looking forward to for a while now because today is:
1) Prayer service at the church at 7:00
2) Psych Season 3 starts tonight

Now you may look at number 1 and say "Of course she's looking forward to a prayer service at church. Good times spent with God and people and Holy Spirit presence going on.
But those of you who are unfamiliar with number 2, the show Psych should highly consider watching tonights episode. Jared and I were first introduced to the show Psych when we were living with our dear friends the Crydo's. We just happened to stumble across an episode and laughed so stinkin hard that we became addicated. The show is about Shawn a detective who claims to be psychic so he can be hired by the Santa Barbara PD to solve different cases. He's really just super observant, but manages to fool just about everyone. It is very funny-we love it. I bought Season 2 for Jared for Christmas--can't wait for the next season to start!

~Angela M.

Recent Snowboarding Pics...

We are sooo blessed to have been able to snowboard up at Sweitzer Mountain with the students from Timberview! Of course the boarding itself was only secondary to the fabulous time spent with God and the students---we loooooove students and sharing life with them! Such a cool thing that 2 of our favorite things to do were combined in one weekend!

*that's me in the middle picture in the middle of the picture-meeting up with Jared as he is much faster and better then me and I'm always trying to catch up to him!


~Angela M.

100 Things to do in 2009...


I got the idea from Chris Sloan to make a list of 100 things I'd like to do in 2009. Some are silly, others are a little more serious. It was a fun challenge to think of 100 things that's for sure! Here are a few of my favorites:

-Run in at least 2 races
-Write several worship songs
-Go to Florida with Crydo's
-Try a new vegetable
-Go ice skating
-Watch the new Harry Potter movie in the theater
-Go to 4 new campsites
-Do the Daniel Fast for 28 days
-Read through Proverbs each month
-Memorize 30 new Bible verses
-Find a Tim Horton's and go to it

~Angela M.