Against All Odds, It's A Go

Anyone who has spent maybe 15 minutes with me knows how much I love to go on vacation to new places and see things never captured with these greenies. I actually believe I NEED to do this. Intellectually I can tell myself that's not true but I can't seem to make myself believe it.

Our last vacation was March 2008 when we took "the girl" (also known as our beautiful niece Erica) to New York City for her 18th birthday / graduation gift. We do seriously call her "the girl"--well, mostly Steve because I call her Reeks. Anyway, I knew after that trip nothing would be in sight for quite some time and as this year rolled on, I began to despair at the thought of never having another vacation in my lifetime. Yes, I am also overly dramatic, just ask Steve.

We are making it every month and God is blessing us huge even though we make 50% of what we made in 2007. There just isn't a vacation fund anymore. A few weeks ago we were invited to go with some friends on a cruise for a remarkable price of $299 each. My heart began to pound, my palms got sweaty (at least I think so but we were in a pool so I can't be certain). I knew we had our final frequent flier miles available and I was giddy thinking about it. I proved to Steve in black and white that we could come up with the $800 for the cruise / hotel and we could use his plasma money for excursions. Of course that would mean he would have to start donating again. He said he wanted to think about it and pray about it to see if we should really be doing something else with that money. He also told me not to bug him while he did so. It was 3 days of agony as I waited. Finally, the day came and he said "I think it'd be alright if we went."

I made a beeline for the computer to check it out. I'm pretty sure I moved so fast the flames shot out from the bottom of my shoes. I soon discovered there were no available dates for award travel within 3 weeks of the bon voyage. Shoot. Not to be deterred, I looked at airfare just to see....$500 each to fly. Steve said no, it was too much. I was seriously shattered and yes, I know it was just a vacation but the idea of time off and away was too alluring. I texted my friend and said "thanks for the invite but airfare is a deal breaker for Steve so you two go and have fun. Maybe next time." She messaged back and said she'd keep watching airfare but I knew it was done. I was dejected.

Then came Pastor Appreciation month and a most generous gift. Inside the card it said "we'd like you to do something fun and relaxing with this." We didn't want to accept it. We tried not to but they stood their ground and said it wasn't from them but from the generous God we serve. We didn't want to insult them but it's hard to be a gracious receiver of such generosity. So we humbly accepted and are honoring their request to do something fun and relaxing.

Against all human odds, the cruise is on again. It has nothing to do with human will, desire or provision. It's all about the supernatural workings of the God who is concerned with every detail of my life and wants to give me not only what I need from day to day but also many of my desires. And I'm humbled at this as well as the gift that made it possible by people who were willing to listen and be obedient when God told them to do something. Oh, their blessings are coming. Of that I am certain.

My Poor Neglected Blog

I'm not sure how a person goes from doing nearly a post a day (at least 5 a week) early on and then all of a sudden POOF! it's like 5 a month.

It's certainly not lack of material. My life is a virtual goldmine for spiritual implications, lessons and the like. I also don't think it's lack of desire. To ponder and muse about things helps me process and occasionally helps a weary sojourner or two along the way. I love that.

I think it's just life. Never have I worked so little yet been so busy. When I think of working I'm referring to paid hours. I don't have too many of those. But work is so much more than that for me these days. 90% of my work time is unpaid, aka ministry opportunities. This is why it was so essential for me to quit my second job.

I've not mastered the balance yet I know I will have to weed some things out. Initially I quit my second job for a few reasons--to serve alongside Steve by supporting HIS ministry and to stay more on top of my home to name just two. There are more not worth the read (as if those were).

This is an interesting season. I'm learning so much which I know is preparing me for the next season, whatever that turns out to be. So while my blog is kind of neglected these days, my mind and body are anything but still and lazy.

One day, one day......

Opportunities for Relationship

This last week I had my second teeth cleaning and check up for the year. I do not like going to the dentist. I have no reason not to like it other than a fear based on absolutely nothing but what might be in the future. My dentist is nice guy, every hygienist I've had there has been nice and I've never had a cavity in my entire life. That's likely my problem. I am terrified that one day Dr. P will say "Julie, you have a cavity." I think it might kill me. Okay, okay...over dramatization but it will definitely bum me out and cause me great anxiety.

One of the things that has greatly annoyed me over the years is when the person cleaning my teeth continually tries to engage me in a conversation. Seriously, I cannot respond to a question when their hands are in my mouth! You think they would know this. It's one of those times when silence is really, truly alright. Oh, but no, they just chatter, chatter, chatter.

This time though I ended up with a totally different perspective on the entire thing.

So, "R" did the standard cleaning and x-rays, all the while talking to me. I responded as best I could with the usual annoyance settling in. I know a few things about R because he's cleaned my teeth for 2 years now (I always get the new people, probably because I'm fairly low maintenance). He's a super nice guy but I feel like an Amazon woman around him. He's 4 or 5 inches shorter than I am and I just tower over him. We discovered we went to the same high school about the same time. He's a few years older than me. I have also learned he's Roman Catholic. There are a few other tidbits I've learned about him over the years.

But then it happened. I finished the fluoride treatment and while we waited for the doctor to come do the 2 minute check up, R asked me if I came from a big family. I said yes because I think a family with 5 kids is big these days. So I told him I have 2 brothers and 2 sisters and then asked if he had a big family. He said "yeah, I have 9 sisters and 10 brothers." Real casual like too. I think my jaw dropped open and then I asked what I thought was the next logical question..."from the same parents?" He said "yes. My parents were married until the day my dad died." WOW. I was so flabbergasted. Who has 20 kids?

I asked him the age range and he thought for a second. With that many of course he would have to! He said the youngest is 40, the oldest 60. HOLY COW! Not only 20 kids but in 20 years? Yep, one a year for 20 years. His mother was essentially pregnant from 18 to 38. He then told me his mom is 78 and she does pretty well but does have osteoporosis. The doctors have told her it's because she had so many kids close together that it took too much calcium from her bones. Well, don't you imagine it did?

Then he shared how the previous weekend he'd helped her can tomatoes and they all have a love of gardening they got from their dad. They always had a huge garden because it helped feed the family. Of course it did. How else could a person afford that?

Then I asked the next logical question..."how many bathrooms were in your house?" He said, "oh, just one." ONE?!?! YIKES! Then he said, "well, we weren't all in the house at the same time. The most living there at one time was 14 plus my parents." Oh, you're right, that is so much better. Apparently they staggered their wake time to help with this. Can. Not. Imagine.

He further told me how his childhood home had burned to the ground and he has plans to buy the lot from his mom because it's been empty for years and he's going to put a house on it. And his mom makes the best homemade tortillas you've ever tasted. At least he thinks so. He's probably right too. Since Steve and I absolutely LOVE Mexican food, we talked about great Mexican restaurants in the area and not so great too. He's an expert of sorts, because he grew up on the authentic stuff made from Mexican parents.

It was at this point I realized that rather than be annoyed by the chatter while having my teeth cleaned, I should be delighted at the opportunity to develop a relationship with this man. Not a weird relationship mind you, just an avenue to get to know him and "give an answer to him who asks me to give the reason for the hope that I have" (1 Peter 3:15).

Opportunities all around me with people I interact with regularly and up to now I've largely missed it. "No more" is my prayer.

The Saga of the Spider

Let's be clear. I HATE SPIDERS. Hate. Them. Not to mention I'm afraid of them too. We seem to have a never ending supply at the Laurel Campus. One day while we were working I killed 4 of them and 2 millers (or moths for you non-Montanans). Actually there are a plethora of them everywhere this time of year but this year it seems particularly troublesome for me. Here's what happened today....

Well, before I get to today, I have to set it up with what happened last week. Steve went out to the church on Wednesday night and texted me this picture:

I sent him a text back saying "it's official. I need to find a new church." I so amused myself. I naturally assumed he killed it but felt the need to ask him. HE DID NOT! Can you believe that? I asked why on earth he'd let that thing live and he simply stated "it would have made too big of a mess and I didn't want to clean it up. Plus he's not frightened of them. He thinks they are friendly and valuable. My theory is this - when a critter crosses the threshold of a building, they must die. M-U-S-T.

So, today we went out to do some more painting and trim work. Steve was putting all the trim around the floor and window and it was my job to get the touch up pencil and fill in the air nail holes. I was moving along on my knees and I reached over to fill the corner holes. There it was. A spider so big I jumped up and screamed. I ran out of the room looking for Steve. He comes in and casually says "hey, that looks like the one I let live last week." "Not this time," I said. "KILL IT!"

He took a paint brush to budge it out of the corner and as it scurried away, he used the hammer in his other hand and squished that thing flat. There were spider guts everywhere. Steve was not kidding - that thing made a huge mess. There it was, running down the wall. I've never seen anything like it. Of course I'd never seen such a big, ugly spider either.

I wiped it off but was so disgusted and didn't hesitate to tell Steve so. Here's the ensuing few sentences:

S: Calm down Princess.

J: You say that like it's a bad thing.

S: I just didn't know I married a Princess, that's all.

Honestly, I don't know exactly when that happened either. But there it is. I realized it for the first time in August. And I'm okay with it. Then we left and he went directly to the landfill. Made me help unload too. I didn't hesitate to tell him that was not work for a princess but he wasn't so concerned. Actually, he didn't care a single itty bitty bit.

The Familiarity of Family

Labor Day Weekend has become one of my family's biggest get-together weekends. It wasn't always that way. Occasionally my dad would make one of his famous grilled bbq beef thingies (yes, that's the official name) but it wasn't every year.

All that changed in 2006. That's the year we lost dad and Jeff & Carolyn began coming up for the weekend. It still kind of weirds me out that Jeff , who is the age of my oldest sibling, could also be my dad's closest friend. Okay, so that was a sidebar. Anyway, we began that year getting together in honor of my dad and it seems that each year is more dear to my heart than the year before.

This year was no exception. I enjoyed each day but it was Sunday night as we played Taboo for hours that I looked around the table so grateful for family. Many of the clues started with "oh, this happened that time we..." Each time we got the answer. The heck with all the words we couldn't say, we had something better--history. There is a bond between us that few others can really penetrate. It comes from time spent together over the years. Jeff is one of those few that was able to make it from the outside in. This is no small feat given his 6' 8" frame!

It's all about familiarity. That's not to say we haven't developed deep friendships outside of the family because we definitely have. But in this circle of people we share something different and it's not about bloodline. Strangely enough as I thought about family, it dawned on me that the strongest chords holding us together aren't made of the good times. Sure, we've had plenty of those but it's the times of heartbreak that have tested the strength of our family ties.

I can't even believe I'm about to type this but I have fond memories and feelings of those days leading up to dad's funeral. All of us moved through the unbelievably thick fog together, not really knowing where we were going or how we were going to hold up but knowing whatever came at us, we'd handle it together. We didn't have to say a lot of words--most frequently it was just a look we all understood because of familiarity. We made it together because we're family.

Not that we're a perfect group. There is no such thing. But in spite of all our faults and flounderings over the years, we truly enjoy our time together. We drive each other crazy while at the same time love each other like mad.

I wouldn't trade it for anything. And with that I close this post because the overwhelming emotion of it is causing my eyes to brim with tears, making it incredibly difficult to see my screen.

My Blondie Turns 40

Today is the 40th birthday of my best friend and love of my life. I wanted to honor him with a

party but he asked that I not do that because he so hates being the center of attention. The complete opposite of yours truly. I've known Steve for 25 years, over half our lives. We met in youth group and given my affinity for blondies, I had an instant crush. It wasn't until 3 years later that I knew we'd get married one day.

Long before we said "I do" I watched my friend lose his mother and try to pick up the pieces of his life afterwards. He was 16. I cannot even imagine. He amazed me then and he amazes me now.

All life is a gift from God and I am in awe of the life of Steven Lortz. He is passionate about his relationship with Christ, his love of being a Marine, and yes, even his unpredictable wife. He never takes a single day for granted, probably because of the few short years he had with his mother. He lives life to the fullest, pursues his dreams, and never, ever looks back. He never wonders "what was", "what if", or "what could be". He simply lives today with what he's been given today.

I've learned so much from Steve about letting people off the hook, making decisions based on fact and not emotion, and having no regrets.

Steve is one of the true heroes of my life. I cannot fathom my life without him even when he drives me crazy!

Happy birthday Steven--I am crazy about you rather than just plain crazy:) You enrich my life and my family.

Pictures: Steve as a newborn (wasn't he HUGE?); Steve at 3 (don't you love the bowl haircut?); Steve training in 29 Palms about a month before he left for Iraq - 4 years ago but it seems like yesterday.

Fit For Complaining

Today I was at EBC Laurel Campus putting another coat of stain on a new door. Steve was doing some drywall work and helping Rick finish the siding (which looks FABULOUS by the way). So, I had put the stain on and had such a wave of nausea that I had to lie down for a minute.

Out came some ladies from their study. There is one woman who never has an interaction with Steve without complaining. N-E-V-E-R! From my perch I heard her say to him on her way out "you really stunk it up in here with that door". SERIOUSLY? How about "wow, that door is looking nice" or "things are moving along nicely". Nope. It stinks in here. I actually asked Steve if it is possible for her to interact with him without complaining. He said "oh, I suppose it's possible, just not likely." HA! He cracks me up.

Oh, but that wasn't enough. She comes back and says "Steve, the toilet seat in the smaller stall in the women's bathroom doesn't fit right. You need to look at it."

At this point it was all I could do not to jump up and tell her to go home and use her own toilet. Or how about this one - use the OTHER stall if it bothers you? Can you guess what spiritual gifts I do not possess?

People are dying and going to hell, we're working our tails off to get ready for the grand opening and all she can do is complain because the toilet seat isn't EXACTLY right? Are you kidding me?

I was about to explode so I had to call a friend who could calm me down so as not to give her a tongue lashing she'd not soon forget. It just hit me wrong. Is it asking too much for her to encourage her pastor a little bit? Cut him a little slack? Or better yet, grab a brush and start painting? Can she just serve someone else?

My friend said "Juls, some people are just fit for complaining. How boring would our lives be without these people?"

She's right but my answer is, I don't know how boring it would be but I'd like a shot at it.