#41: Needing something different

 I rearranged my room. It was time. I know that it had only been set up like this for about a month or two,  but it was time for something new, something different.
I always get like this. I have this deep and overwhelming desire for something to change, and it takes everything I've got to push it back down in me. My first impulsive desire is to move. To just try something completely different- pack up, move away, find everything new. But these are unrealistic desires. That will never happen. So I must find change and newness in more subtle ways. I dye my hair, I start a new project, I join a new ministry or invest my time in something different. Or, I rearrange the house.
Last month I got a new job. Last week I dyed my hair. Today I rearranged the house. Change. I need it. I fear that if I don't do silly things, like rearranging the furniture (however small and insignificant it might seem), I will lose all contentment.
I don't understand why I function like this. I don't get why I can't just be. Why can't I be like other people and be satisfied with routine? Why does routine drive me so crazy?!
I haven't figured out the reasons yet, but I have figured out how to maintain my contentment to a certain degree. And that is by rearranging my room!

#40: It's not just food this time

So, oddly enough 10 of my pictures posts are about food. This one makes 11. Maybe I have some sort of food addiction, or maybe it's that I just really like to show people what I have eaten. Actually, it's probably just that nothing really ever goes on in my day to day life and I think that what I eat is probably the highlight most days. Pathetic, I know.

Well today was no different (although, maybe it is). I met my real life missionary friend in Lincoln and we spent the whole afternoon together. We reminisced about the good ol days at Lincoln Christian College, and how every semester I tried to transfer out of there. Somehow though, I always stayed. We talked about how college was by no means the best years of our lives, and quite frankly we dreaded the entire experience. Sure there were times that it was fun and lovely and great. But for the most part, college wasn't the greatest of experiences. And I'm just glad that I wasn't the only one.
We went to Big R's and sat in some lawn furniture and talked about what our future would (hopefully) look like. We shared our hearts and our dreams and our longings, most of which were being married and having kids. We just want to be wives and mothers, and it seems like todays society looks down on women who don't put their careers before their families. Well we are bucking the ways of society!
I told Jenna that we probably haven't found our dream jobs yet because we aren't meant to have dream jobs. We are meant to have families and raise our kids and teach them and grow them in the Lord.
And all of a sudden I felt so much better about being in a job that has no meaning and doing mundane tasks there. I felt like I had purpose once again, but that I will just have to wait awhile to see it come to fruition.

And we also ate at Jimmy Johns!

#39: Dinner with Phil

Today Phil came to the mall while I was on break and we had dinner together :-) We went to Gloria Jeans and he bought me some coffee to get through the night. And then we went to Subway and ate our sandwiches in the food court. How lovely! It was really nice to see him while I was at work. I could really get used to that!

#38: Healthy Breakfast....

I was hungry at work. And I had forgotten to bring food with me, so I improvised. I found a locker full of girls scout cookies and I...indulged!

I guess there goes my organic kick (which merely lasted the day I bought that stuff, by the way).

#37: Sick Cycle

I go through these cycles where I really want to go back to school and get a degree that I can actually use in this world. Sometimes I get so frustrated with where my life is going (or rather, not going), that I just feel the overwhelming desire to go back to school and change it.
It's really frustrating for me sometimes. I feel like I just keep ending up in these dead end jobs that have little or no meaning for me. Don't get me wrong, I do like the job I have right now. But that's just it- I only like it. There's no meaning in it. And quite frankly, it's beginning to frustrate me. I don't care about selling clothes to wealthy old ladies. I just don't! It sickens me that some of these ladies come in the store routinely and spend hundreds of dollars on CLOTHING! I've only been there a little over a month now and it's already starting to bother me.
I'm looking for something more out of  job. I'm looking for some kind of fulfillment, some sort of meaning. And I definitely cannot find that in a clothing store.
So....that's where the college catalog comes in. I keep thinking that if I go back to school, I can finally get that job I love. The only problem with that is, I still have no idea what that job is.

#36: A new look

I decided that what I really "needed" was to make my kindle look pretty. I do like that it's all black and sleek and nice, but honestly...it needed a little sprucing up. I found this awesome deal on ebay! I got a kindle skin and a case for only $20. Win!

Of course, buying things online does come with it's price. For me, it's my inability to distinguish colors. For whatever reason, I thought that the case was like a burnt orange. And tell me if I'm wrong, but doesn't the picture seem a little bit orange to you?
Anyway, it's not! It's brown. So, it doesn't really match as well as I thought it would. But, that's life isn't it!

#35: Locked Sim Card- The icing on the cake for a Bad day!

Today was a terrible day! But, it was also very funny. Let me just do a little recap:

I had to open the store today. No big deal, right? Well, that's what I thought. It's a Friday, so I needed to go to the bank and make a deposit as well as get a change order. The deposit was fine. It was the change order that I couldn't seem to figure out. Unfortunately for me, I didn't realize it until I was already at the bank.
In my mind it must have been a Monday, because I was making all kinds of silly mistakes.
I wrote that I needed $40's worth of $50's. Yeah, that makes no sense. I meant $5's, not $50's. I wrote that I needed $50 worth of those one dollar coins instead of one dollar bills. All of those mistakes were fixed by the poor teller. I also wrote on the change order that I needed $10 worth of nickels, when I really needed dimes. So, instead of getting 2 rolls of dimes, I got tons of rolls of nickels that I didn't even need. I decided to not tell her about that mistake because I already felt so stupid.

Anyway, I borrowed my brothers car today and I had totally forgotten about it's little quirks. One such quirk is that the window won't roll down all the way- only about a quarter of the way. So, I couldn't go through the drive thru (which ended up being a good thing since I made so many mistakes on the change order). But the window also doesn't roll back up once it's rolled down. And it was snowing! Eventually the window will roll back up, but it takes about 10 minutes. It's ridiculous!

I realized at the end of my shift that I had been wearing my sweater buttoned wrong all day. It was totally lopsided and I never even noticed.

And then the icing on the cake: I was trying to figure out the 4-digit password on my phone. Well apparently you only get 3 tries to get it right. After that the phone locks up- which is what happened. I could not do anything on my phone accept make SOS calls (emergency calls) until I put in the PUK code. And you only get 10 tries to put in the PUK code before your sim card becomes deactivated and you have to get a whole new one. I was smart enough not to try the PUK code.
But then I was left with no phone to call customer service. I waited until I got home, and then I texted my dad through my email. He called customer service for me and figured it all out! Wow!
It was one crazy day! It was all just so very funny and amusing to me :-) But quite a nuisance!

#34: Make up

I finally got some new make up. I've been needing some for quite awhile now, but I've always put it off. I just hate spending my money on it for some reason.

I had decided that I was going to go all out in my make up this time: I was going to get Bare Minerals. Well, obviously from the picture, you can tell that I didn't. I just couldn't do it! I know that that make up is awesome. Everyone raves about it. But I just couldn't make myself pay that much for it. Instead, this NYC brand cost me just under $3, and the Airspun was about $6. I feel much better about my purchase!

#33: Before and After (Going back to Blonde!)

I decided to go back to my natural blonde hair color. Okay, so maybe it's actually it little bit more blonde than I am naturally. I still love it!! I had been missing my long blonde hair! And now that it's finally getting longer again...I felt it was time to bring back the blonde!                                                                                    

#32: Pasta Soup?

This evening Jenna and Kristin came over for our weekly Bible Study (which we haven't done in several weeks). We decided to make one of the recipes out of the Ruth study we are doing.
Unfortunately for us, none of us were able to follow the directions. The obvious flaw in our direction reading was not reading the entire thing before cooking the food.
Here is what the directions say :
"While pasta is boiling, combine tomatoes and next 5 ingredients." We all assumed that that meant to combine the ingredients to the boiling water. How wrong we were. If we had kept reading before adding everything to the boiling noodles, we would have realized our mistake. Just a few lines down it says:
"Drain pasta, and place in a large bowl. Top with tomato mixture and sprinkle with olives and cheese."

But, the damage was already done! We couldn't very well take all of the ingredients out! Anyway, we had quite the laugh about our mistake. It was hilarious! And the even funnier thing is....it turned out FABULOUS anyway! All in all, we ended up with a brand new recipe: Pasta Soup!

#31: Going Organic

That's right! I'm going organic!

Okay, maybe not for real. But I REALLY REALLY want to! I want to eat healthy and I want to be healthy. I realized yesterday that I eat a lot of crap. Pizza and chips are my staple foods right now. I could eat a whole pizza a day. I crave the stuff!

And I wonder why I'm looking pregnant these days! haha!

But nevertheless, I am going to try and be much healthier than I have been lately. My poor body needs this change. 

(okay, I am drinking a cup of coffee full of sugar as I write this. So how healthy am I really being here.)

#30: Trying it the right way

I hope this isn't a little too personal or awkward. If so, I don't really care. It's difficult to come up with a picture each day!

Anyway...yes, today I started tracking my basal body temp. I actually bought this thermometer sometime last year, with every intention of charting my basal body temp every morning. That never happened.

But for whatever reason, I have decided that now is the time. I guess it's important. I mean, after all we (I use "we" lightly here) don't want to have a baby just yet and I'm not taking birth control pills anymore. So this is the way to go. 

Wish me luck in this endeavor! Day one: check!

#29: The Radical Question

I really couldn't think of anything exciting to take a picture of today. But I did read this book tonight after I got off of work. I'm not sure if this was just a really short book, or maybe I got a shortened version or something, but it took me about 15 minutes to read it. And I didn't skip any pages! Strange.

Anyway, it was a good enough read. Nothing that I have never heard or thought of myself. I mean, we get this sermon every couple of months. I think about this myself when I go on a mission trip. It just seems like common sense to me:

We need to give up everything to follow Christ- just like they did in the Bible, just like they do in other countries/cultures. We need to stop molding Jesus into this American Christian just because it feels comfortable to us. Yes, I get that. I know this. Thank you.

It wasn't, by any means, an eye opener for me. But it did urge me to pray for those in other countries who are being persecuted for their faith.

#28: Surprise!

I was surprised by this amazing gift when I got in my car to go to work this morning! My husband is so amazing! I can't even begin to explain how this totally made my day. Thanks Hubby, for being so awesome and wonderful! You are the best thing that has ever happened to me!

(I like how the card says "To Wife". haha)

#27: I don't play the Guitar

I do not play the guitar. I have every intention of learning and one day serenading all with my awesome abilities. But as of yet, I do no have those abilities. Not only do I not have the abilities, I do not even take the time or the energy to practice.

There was one time, long long ago, that I started to learn and practice. But that was a long time ago.

It's still my desire to learn to play the guitar. In fact, it's one of my goals for this year (probably not gonna make it). But the reality is that I never get around to it.

This thing just sits in the corner collecting dust.

I sure wish I could play though....

Moving Forward

Here is a copy of our support letter that I have sent to our friends and family. We are moving forward with the PBT trip to Dallas in June and also the India trip in October.

Story time:

We have been praying about whether or not we should go to India with Rochester Christian Church in October. Quite frankly, it comes down to money. As does most things in this world. People have been telling us to not let money keep us from going. But if the money isn't there...well then how can we possibly go?!

Anyway. That's been my prayer. The initial deposit was due on Sunday March 13th. On Saturday, the 12th, we had less than $200 in our checking out. The deposit was for $200. I was trying to figure out how to tell our leader that Phil and I wouldn't be able to go. I was pretty bummed about the whole ordeal.

That evening my dad asked to take us out to dinner for Phil's Birthday. That evening Phil got a total of $525 from various people for his birthday!! Isn't that just crazy!?!

So our trip to India is still on! Now we just need to find the money for the plan tickets...which is needed in a couple of weeks.

Please be praying with us about this journey, about the next steps we will be taking and also about the financial aspect of it.

Dear Family and Friends,

I hope this letter finds you well and blessed! My life has been richly blessed in a variety of ways, none more amazing than being married to my best friend! I can’t believe that Phil and I have been married for nearly a year (in May). What an adventure it has already been!

I am writing this letter to let you know about the new opportunities that have opened up for Phil and I. As most of you already know, I have spent the last several years preparing for and actively pursuing life on the Mission field. Getting married certainly didn’t cause me to lose my passion for Missions. In fact, it has only fueled it more because Phil is just as passionate as I am about advancing God’s Kingdom and bring hope and healing to the world.

Phillip and I were recently asked to partner with a missions organization, Pioneer Bible Translators. It came as quite a surprise, and the details surrounding the invitation are really quite amazing and God ordained. Phil and I recently joined the missions’ team at our local church and we were asked to attend the mission trip to Dallas this summer. We would be helping with childcare at PBT’s week-long missionary seminar (for those considering joining PBT in the near future). Shortly after we agreed to the trip, Phil received an email from someone he knew from Lincoln Christian- someone that just so happens to work at PBT- asking if he had ever considered using his Business degree for Missions.  Well, the shortened version of the incredible story is that, instead of helping out with the seminar, Phil and I will actually be attending it!

Phil and I have been praying for quite awhile now about where God wants us and what we are to do with the gifts He has given us. Joining PBT might just be the door that He has opened for us. Will you join us in praying for wisdom and guidance in determining what God has planned for us?

In addition to attending PBT’s seminar in June, we will also be going on a short term mission trip to India with Rochester Christian Church. On this trip we will be spending time with orphans/children from persecuted families, travelling to various churches that the missionaries have started, helping with a dental clinic and being an encouragement to the missionaries, Vivert and Neelam Lall, who have dedicated their lives to serving the people of India. Will you please partner with us as we prepare to serve with the Lall’s and others from RCC in India?

Join with us in Praying for:

*Prayer Warriors: We need people that will go to God on our behalf and pray about this opportunity with PBT, our preparation and travel to both Dallas (in June) and India (in October), and also for financial support for both of those trips.

*Wisdom and Guidance: We know that God has laid it on our hearts to serve Him and reach out to others beyond our own borders. Please join with us in praying for wisdom and guidance in where to go and what to do.

*Financial Support: We know that God is in control and that He always provides what we need when we need it. Whether it be a pay raise at work, income tax return money, or a generous donation, God always provides what we need when we need it. Please pray with us that the right amount of money will come in at just the right time. Our trip to Dallas will cost about $600 for both of us (not including gas), and $2500 a piece for the mission trip to India.

Thank you for your continued support as we enter this new chapter of our lives. We would love to hear from you! If you have any questions or would like more information/detail about this path we are pursuing, please do not hesitate to contact us. Phone: 217-801-5213   Email: sarahk1021@yahoo.com Blog: sarahk1021.blogspot.com

In Him,

Sarah and Phillip Kemp

#26: Keys

Keys! Okay, so here's my story with keys today. The first picture is of my keys for work. I finally got my official copy, which usually means that I'm now officially a manager and I can open/close by myself.

However, we didn't have a copy for the longest time (which was quite a hassle), so I just hadn't gotten them before today. I've actually been on my own for about a week now. Hooray!

Second key story of the day: I took Phil's keys with me to work today. I had NO IDEA! They were in my purse and I left the house this morning to go to work. Poor Phil had to walk to work. Luckily though, it was a really nice day out. Otherwise I would have felt even worse!

#26: Celebrating Phil's Birthday

This almost never happens, but today we were both off! So, we decided to celebrate Phil's birthday. We slept in...waaaay in! Until about 11:30. It was so nice! And then we went to Maya's downtown. It is a Mexican buffet. So good! After then we went to the museum that is a few blocks from our house. It is free, and somewhat lame. But it was kinda fun to just be silly there for awhile. After the museum we went back home and just chilled for awhile, and we even splurged on pizza! Finally we topped the evening off with a movie that Phil has been wanting to see: I am number Four. 

The movie was pretty good, I guess. Phil really seemed to enjoy it. I thought that it was a very make-fun-able movie.

All in all, it was a good day of celebrating Phil's birthday and just getting to spend some much needed time together!