Quite Charming

For Christmas I was given a beautiful charm bracelet from Kyle’s grandmother.  It is from Brighton and she started my bracelet with a stiletto with a rhinestone on it, proof that everyone knows I love shoes and sparkles!  It got me thinking about the charm bracelet I had growing up and how life is very cyclical.  When I was little I used to lovingly admire the one my mom and grandma had.  We would sit on their beds and they would tell me the story of each charm and I would listen entranced.  Each was just a tiny piece of silver but it represented something so much more significant.  My mom decided to buy me one so I start my own when I was in middle school.  At first I cherished it and wore it everywhere.  Each charm was a gift was someone I loved and represented something that meant a great deal to me, it was like a wearable scrapbook.  Then you hit those high school years and it is all about being cool and trendy and we often cast our family treasures to the side. 

Then time passes and our childhood favorites wait patiently as we grow up.  Then one day we come across them and we pick up right where we left off and love them all over again.  Here are the charm bracelets from my childhood.  The first is my Grandma Lynn’s, the second my Mom’s, and the third one is mine.  

PEAK

I am really excited about winning this award!  PEAK is T-Mobile’s ultimate form of recognition and is awarded to top performers who deliver great results for the company while living the values.  I was fortunate enough to be selected as one of the winners for this year.  This means that T-Mobile will be sending Kyle and I on all expense paid trip to Maui from January 19^th through January 25^th.  This year has been a whirlwind at work; I started in management in February which was shortly followed by the acquisition announcement in late March.  We have been operating under business as unusual and I feel truly honored to have received this award.  I am truly thankful that I have such a strong team and I could not have won without them.  I will definitely be bringing them something back from Hawaii as a thank you for their support and hard work; I just wish I could take them all with us.  I promise to post pictures from the trip once we get back!

Enough

In Ignition last week we talked about the concept of enough.  Here is the formal definition:

Enough: occurring in such quantity, quality, or scope as to fully meet demands, needs, or expectations (enough food for everyone)

The point of the message was questioning how we decide when we have enough of something.  The challenge issued to everyone listening was to lower the bar in our lives regarding what we consider to be enough for us as individuals.  If we lower our expectations about what is enough then we increase our odds of finding peace and joy. 

One of the key thoughts it brought to mind was how differently I define enough based on the situation.  The example is when we donate to charities we often set enough very low.  I gave one jacket to goodwill or three pairs of shoes and I think with pride that I helped do my part and that it is enough.  Yet when I go to Old Navy I see a new jacket and I think to myself well I only have 3 jackets at home so I could use one more.   I think we all are a little off balance on our definitions of enough in at least one area of our lives.  I don’t have a black and white answer here but I can guarantee that it is worth thinking about.  I know I will struggle this but I am hoping to raise my enough bar when it comes to giving to others and lower the enough bar that I have set for myself.

Merry Christmas to All!

We have some seriously awesome friends; here is a video montage of the photo booth pictures from our annual Christmas party!  Alex Gibbs, thanks for all your help in making the photo booth so awesome!

Christmas Party from Alex Gibbs on Vimeo.

Paper Camera

I had a blast downloading a ton of the 10 cent apps as part of the Google celebration last week!  One of my favorites was a silly app called Paper Camera.  Now I would never have paid $5 for it but at 10 cents this app is pretty sweet.  It uses the camera on your phone to turn pictures into a variety of paper formats.  You can choose from lots of options but my two favorites are one that makes everything look like a comic book and the one that makes the image look like something out of a sketch book.  I haven’t played with it much since last week but I see potential for this app.  Here are a few samples:

The Power of Words

This summer I attended Big Stuf camps as I mentioned in a previous blog entry.  Each day at camp the leaders had a chance to meet for an hour with speakers from the Orange Leaders group.  We watched a video that really struck a note with me.  Those of you who know me know that I cry pretty easily but this video really touched my heart.  In a very subtle way it hints at the issues with have in communicating both in life and in ministry.  This video is less than 2 minutes long but manages to sum up the fact that the words that we choose to use are so significant.  I think we get so focused on getting our point across with other people that we often forget that the words we choose matter.  If our message is not delivered in a meaningful way then the impact will be much smaller, if we carefully choose our words we can have a much stronger impact. 

I think the other key is that the first sign was focused on the blind man and most of the people walking by couldn’t relate to being blind and therefore they could easily turn their back on this man.  When the girl changed it to terms that helped people understand how much harder life was for this man then people were compelled to help.  I think words have the power to change the world and we should all choose our words carefully to increase our impact and improve our communications with others.

 

Happy Feet

Sometimes in life it is the little things that can add a splash of cheer to an otherwise dreary day.  I have a well known affinity for rhinestones and this simple purchase of rhinestone flats has helped keep a bounce in my step all day even after a trying week at work.  

I'm back

After a very long hiatus from my blog, I'm back!