A Friendly Holiday Reminder

Tonight I took my Christmas letter in to Kinkos to be printed. I knew when I headed into the store that this was going to be a rather pricy endeavor, since one side of the letter is a photo collage, which would need to be printed in color ink, not an inexpensive task when one is wanting to print about 90 copies of the thing! So I go in, quickly realize that the copy machines look a lot more intelligent than I am on the Saturday after finals, and go seek help from the man behind the counter. He's on the phone, so I wait patiently for him to finish and explain to him what I wanted done. He looked at me and just asked "do you know how much this is going to cost?" I smile and shrug and say "yeah, but I know that it will be worth it." (Besides, I'm not really Christmas shopping for anyone besides family this year, so I figure this could be my "Christmas fund.") So he goes back and says he'll do the copies for me. I wait patiently for the 10 minutes or so that it takes and then he goes to ring up my order. The total is less than half of what I am expecting to pay so I tell him that there must be a mistake, that figure was way too low. He winks (in a surprisingly non-creppy kind of way) and just says "I gave you a discount, thanks for being so nice." I just looked at him and say "wow, I've worked retail at Christmas before, and I know that December brings out the worst in people but you must have had an awful lot of rude and impatient customers this week." He just rolled his eyes in agreement and said "yeah pretty much everyone doing their Christmas shopping seems to have forgotten the meaning of Christmas joy."

The whole conversation instantly took me back to the year I worked at Aaron Brothers and I remember how many customers I gave "discounts" to--ok so I couldn't exactly figure out how to change the prices on the register, but I do remember cutting an awful lot of mats and glass for free for those who were incredibly patient and nice to us. I also remember almost leaving work in tears several days from having been completely chewed out by some angry customer who thought we were too slow, who didn't think his project was done right, who was upset because he couldn't find something on the shelves or whatever. (I say "he" because it was almost always the men who waited until the very last minute to do their shopping and then were angry at us because it was physically not possible for us to order their custom frame in 2 days--they apparently couldn't read the signs that say it takes 10 days to get anything custom ordered!)

So this Christmas, as everyone is out finishing up shopping, I think it would be wonderful if those of us who know what the real reason behind Christmas is all about could help spread some of that joy and patience when we interact with the customer service people? Looking them in the eye, asking them how their day is going, smiling, thanking them for their help, wishing them a Merry Christmas...things that aren't all that difficult or time consuming to do, but trust me, these are things that go a million miles to making a store clerk's day a little merrier! Happy shopping everyone!

Well I did ask for winter...

I just got off the phone with my mom, and she was telling me that I had better remember to wear my jacket ON the plane and not pack it in my suitcase next week....so I decided to check weather.com to see what exactly she meant by that. According to weather.com, when I leave Burbank on Tuesday, the weather should be a perfect 73 degrees, which I still think is a little ridiculous for being December, but I am starting to resign myself to the fact that this is just how life is here in LA. When I get off the plane in Minneapolis a mere 5 hours later, the HIGH will be 33 degrees. That's right, the HIGH will be 33. That is an insane temperature drop for my poor body to go through in 5 hours, but I do know that waiting on the other end will be a fire in the fire place, which is just the best part of Christmas in Minnesota anyways! My dad did recommend to me the last time I talked to him that I leave the flip flops in LA for break. Thanks for the tip, Dad, I'll have to keep that in mind when I pack!

Introducing Elizabeth Christine

Hi friends! Jean & Josh finally sent a few photos of their precious little one that I thought I'd share...most newborns aren't actually that beautiful, but this little one is an exception! (Which is not surprising seeing who her mother is!)

You Know It's Finals Week When....

Yup folks, it's finals week around here...and with that comes a few things that I have noticed around here that I find rather amusing which I thought I'd share with you....

You know it is finals week when you host a Presby social event and you have way more people show up than previous events....can we say procrastination??

You walk down the street and pass an individual who is pacing up and down the block proof reading his final paper out loud.

The library is FULL and you have to go hide in the basement to get anything done. The upstairs is full of people sighing, forcefully placing their books on the table, and whispering loudly to neighbors.

You pass a friend who is reciting the major players in American Church History out loud to himself as he prepares for his exam.

The line in the campus coffee shop is abnormally long.

The bookstore staff has switched this quarter's text books for next quarter, yet no one seems to be remotely interested in their next reading lists.

The number of people from Fuller signing up for myspace accounts has doubled this week.

I'm not sure I have ever checked my email this frequently in one day....(ok that may be because Jean is supposed to email baby pictures today & I am dying to see this little one!)

The word "exegesis" sends physical shudders through a person.

You are sick of the songs that you have on your ipod playlist of "study songs" because you have listened to them so much in one week.

You can't seem to remember what day it is, you only care that it is not Friday yet so that means you still have more time to work....

People who are finished with their work all of a sudden find themselves the most despised people on campus.

Happy Finals week everyone!

I LOVE 4 am phone calls...

No really! I do!! That's not sarcastic! My phone rang at 4 am last night and it was Jean calling to tell me that baby FINALLY came! AND, I have been right all along, it was a GIRL!! Elizabeth Christine showed up about 4 am New Jersey time and weighed in at 6 pounds 11 ounces. Both mommy and baby are doing great, and will be sent home from the hospital on Wednesday. She said that an email and photos will be going out to everyone then, so I am sure I will be posting those then, but I had to share my excitement! I was WIDE awake after I hung up the phone with her, so I lost a couple hours of sleep last night but it was totally worth it :) I'll be heading back to New Jersey to meet this new little "almost" niece of mine over Christmas, so I'm sure I'll have more pictures to share then, but for now, that is my exciting news of the day! What a fabulous way to start finals week! Ok, I'm off to the post office--months ago Jean asked me to mail something pink if it was indeed a girl because she wanted her little girl to have something pink right away, so baby isn't even 12 hours old but I've already paid Target's baby section a trip this morning...I'm going to go get this in the mail....praise God for healthy babies!!!

Photos for the Glory of Christmas

I thought I'd post some pictures to go along with my rambling rants that I posted about the Crystal Cathedral earlier this week....enjoy!

The Christmas Tree and the reflection

Camels!! The coolest part of the whole show--every time they appeared Sophie would hit me and say "the camels are coming!!"And the donkey...

Paige and Chris looking adorable in the gift shopSophie and I

My Sanity in the Midst of Chaos

One of the things that I had been praying for most of last year was a small group of women that would form a covenant group--a group of women that would be intentional with one another, would meet regularly, pray together, share stories, and be authentic with each other. I had two amazing friends last year (well they're still my friends this year!) who would do that, but I really wanted an intentional group, but wasn't really sure how to go about forming that. In September God finally started moving people into place and our covenant group formed. Thursday mornings have turned into the time of the week that I look forward to the most, as we gather in one of our apartments, share breakfast, share our weeks, and pray for one another. It's become a place where masks can come off as soon as we walk into the room and where we can be real--we can be crabby, frustrated, upset, joyful or stressed and we know that we are in a safe space. Here are the five women who have been an unbelievable gift to me this year!



Lisa, Rebecca, Christina, Jenn and I