Suggestions?? Someone? Anyone?!

Has anyone ever fallen asleep with their contacts in??????? Well, needless to say I did last night. I have done this before accidentally and it never affected me like this but let me tell ya, this time I feel MISERABLE. Last night, I started reading and fell asleep only to awake at around 2 in the morning with a terrible burning itching sensation in my eyeball. I got my contacts out as fast as I could even though trying to get them out was like trying to pull a strong suction cup off of a dry surface. After I got the contacts out, ,my eye was still burning sooo bad but I thought if I could get back to sleep, that it would be better in the morning. Boy, was I wrong! My eye felt so horrible this morning that I could not even open it....I just laid in bed while Chris was getting ready for work and continued to try to open it. Throughout the morning, I tried putting a wet cloth on my eyes, making myself cry, and blinking profusely so as to get my tear ducts working just for a little relief! I then called Chris, and had him pick up some Visine eye drops on his way home for lunch. I'm waiting to see if those work, but the directions on the bottle say only use 4 times daily, and I'm not feeling a difference yet. I am sick of this burning- I kind of would like to just rip my eye out. I'm wondering now if I should just get some plain ol' saline solution and just flood my eye until I can get some moisture back in it. If anyone would like to suggest anything, I'm open for it! 

A Thought for the Night

Well guys, I haven't written in a while because- well, honestly nothing has happened that has been worth writing about :).

Chris and I have just arrived home after a late night at a friends house. On the way home, Chris and I started talking about all the things that have happened since we were married in December, and I started thinking to myself how much my life has changed even in the last few years! Now, I imagined a lot of things since childhood but NEVER did I imagine that I'd be in Kansas- in a city I had never even heard of- and helping in a small country church. As I think of this, I look back on all of the ways God prepared me to be what I am today. Every little issue I faced as a pastor's kid (which by the way- even though not always appreciated- was the best childhood I could have imagined) , and every problem that I have run into has not been in vain. True, I am not very old, but the more steps I take in life, and the more I grow as a Christian, the little things like- taking piano, going to a Christian school, having parents in the ministry, and having siblings and grandparents that lived far away for most of my childhood- every bit of it has helped me to cope with where the Lord has me now. I am so excited to be here, with my husband doing exactly what the Lord has planned for us right now. I don't know what adventures lie ahead, but I know whatever they are that the Lord is preparing us right now for whatever he has planned for us in the future. I get so excited thinking about all the promises God has given his children and how He will lead us every step of the way!

Do I miss my family? More than anyone can possibly know. Do I run into hard things to deal with and wonder whether moving here was a good idea? Absolutely. But then I just think about all the ways that God led us here, all the ways he has blessed since we've been here, and all the things He has in store for us while we are here; and then suddenly, I have overwhelming peace that I am exactly where God wants me and doing exactly what God wants me to be doing. And that my friends is the perfect recipe for happiness and a good night's sleep........
God is so good.

The Importance of TODAY!

I just wanted to share a little story that my grandma once shared with me......

"Tucked away in our subconscious is an idyllic vision. We see ourselves on a long trip that spans the continent. We are traveling by train. Out the windows we drink in the passing scene of cars on nearby highways, of children waving at a crossing, of cattle grazing on a distant hillside, of smoke pouring from a power plant, of row upon row of corn and wheat, of flatlands and valleys, of mountains and rolling hillsides, of city skylines and village halls.

But uppermost in our minds is the final destination. Bands will be playing and flags waving. Once we get there our dreams will come true, and the pieces of our lives will fit together like a jigsaw puzzle. How restlessly we pace the aisles, damning the minutes for loitering - waiting, waiting, waiting for the station.

"When we reach the station, that will be it!" we cry.
"when I'm 18"
"when I buy a new 450sl Mercedes-Benz!"
"when I put the last kid through college"
"when I have paid off the mortgage!"
"when I get a promotion."
"when I reach the age of retirement,I shall live happily ever after!"

Sooner or later we realize there is no station, no one place to arrive at once and and for all. The true joy of life is the trip. The station is only a dream. It constantly outdistances us. "Relish the moment" is a good motto, especially when coupled with Psalm 118:24: "This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it." It isn't the burdens of today that drive men mad. It is the regrets over yesterday and the fear of tomorrow. Regret and fear are twin thieves who rob us of today.

So stop pacing the aisles and counting the miles. Instead climb more mountains, eat more ice cream, go barefoot more often, swim more rivers, watch more sunsets, laugh more, cry less. Life must be lived as we go along. The station will come soon enough."- Robert Hastings

This is such a good thought because we all are guilty of this. I know when I was in school, I just couldn't wait until I graduated, then when I graduated I couldn't wait to get to college. When in college, next thing was to get married, and now that I'm married there are many things that I'm anticipating. But, it is so important that we realize we never get the day we have right now back. This can be depressing for some, but to me it is a great opportunity to take every minute I have with Chris, with my church, and with our family and enjoy every minute of it. The Lord tells us to "number our days" and with His help I hope to do just that! 

The false Court Summons

Here I am, on my couch enjoying a little downtime on this Sunday afternoon. I am trying to choose what to write about and out of all the things that have happened in the last couple of day- I think I've decided......

Thursday afternoon, I was home by myself when I heard my screen door open quickly and then shut. Well, sometimes my imagination can take off in a million different directions until just a slight noise becomes a door opening or a creak or something about to jump out and get me!! Silly I know, but I HATE being home by myself, and usually I have the radio on or music playing to cover up all the random noises that a house makes that aren't usually noticeable until you're by yourself. Well, I stood on the stairs with Bella, deciding if I should open up the door or not. I thought it was really weird that whoever it was didn't knock or ring the doorbell. Well, after a few minutes I decided that I was going to overcome my overactive imagination and go look out the window. Sure enough, I saw nothing - only a piece of paper in between the screen door and the door. I grabbed the paper expecting a notification of an upcoming event or a subscription to something but when I looked my eyes zeroed in on the words, "Summons, Defendant, and 13th Judicial District Court." 

Okay- pause here for a moment if you please. Mind you, I had been in this town no more than a week and I was receiving a court summons??! Okay back to the story......

 

As I started reading this paper as fast as my eyes could go.....I realized that whoever this summons was for , they owed around 500 dollars to Susan B. Allen Memorial Hospital. At this point I knew it wasn't for me, so I called the phone number on the back of the paper which connected me to a very skeptical woman. I proceeded to tell the woman my name, address and the situation. I asked her what I could do to get this summons into the hands of the RIGHT person. She asked me several questions, including "Have you ever known this person?" or "Are you sure he doesn't live there?" By about the ninth or tenth question , I told her, "Look lady, I have no idea how to make you believe this but I'm not the guy you want nor have I ever heard of the guy you want." She then told me, " Well, we hardly ever get addresses wrong." After that, I asked her if there was someone else I could talk to and she told me to call the sheriff's department, and I thought to myself- "O boy, here we go again." She said if I didn't call them and inform them of this, then the day of the court hearing if the guy didn't show up, they'd show up at this address looking for him. Well, I didn't want that confusion so I just called the sheriff's department, told them about it and thankfully they were a WHOLE lot more understanding than the other lady.  They did ask me some questions, and assured me that I had nothing to worry about and that everything would be taken care of. 

 Needless to say, I've never gotten a court summons before but I guess there's a first time for everything. I guess I'd rather have the first time be when the summons isn't for me! :)

Moving In!!

Well, as most of you know we have just made a huge move from southern, beautiful Knoxville, Tennesssee to midwestern, flat Newton, Kansas. Packing up our small two-bedroom duplex was quite the first-time moving experience. To say the least, Chris and I are both MAJOR pack-rats so that made it interesting. We definitely had to exercise some self-control and get rid of some our "worthless treasures." 

We made the long trek from Tennessee to Kansas into a two day trip, stopping for the night near St. Louis. Ten hours later, after being in an hour and a half traffic jam, we finally arrived at our new home. Our friends, Adam and Tiffany, and Chris' mom, Ann helped us to empty the truck and at least get everything into the house and in some cases even got it into the right room!! 

After a good night's rest on our bed with no sheets (because I couldn't find the box), we got up early the next morning ready to get the moving done with. Again, Tiffany and Ann came over to help us get the majority of things done. Maybe I got ahead of myself and forgot to mention that our house has three bedrooms but one of them is upstairs and really what it is just a big open loft. It is the coolest thing!! My favorite feature of the upstairs is the skylight. So we made a unanimous decision that we wanted our bedroom to be upstairs. After three of us pushed our mattress up our narrow stairway, we realized that if it was this hard to get the mattress up the stairs, how impossible it would be to get the box springs upstairs especially since those are unbendable. Well, the logical thing to do at this point would be just to settle for less and make our bedroom in one of the rooms downstairs. But never fear my friends because the Stivers family will never settle for less! My husband's motto is "Where there is a will there is a way" and I guess that proves to be true because the next day I come back from being out with Tiffany, walk upstairs, and find my whole bed mind you- every bit of it put together and completely made!! Well the first thing that comes to my mind is the question, "how?" When I asked Christopher how he did it, he proceeded to tell me that one of our friends lent him a saws-all. He took me upstairs, lifted up the bedskirt and showed me the box springs. Yes, everyone you have guessed right, my husband cut our box springs in half, carried them upstairs, and then put the whole thing back together. As I stared at Chris while he was revealing all of this to me, inside my head I was thinking, "I have married my father." By the way, it's not that this was a bad idea, in fact it was a brilliant idea, it's the determination to do the impossible that continues to amaze me. Needless to say, our bed is as good as new and the bedroom is perfect. 

I am so thankful for my smart hubby and can't wait to see what his next challenge will be!!

A Rough Beginning

If you'll pardon me, this is the first attempt I have made at blogging, so it may take a few more posts to get the ball rolling. But first, I would like to share a few reasons why I decided to start blogging: 

1. Well, actually almost everyone I know has a blog and I sort of felt "out of the loop". 

2. My life is very slow these days, with the husband gone to work from 7-4 daily, so I decided I would like to share my days with others, so as hopefully not to feel completely closed in the house all day.

3. Occasionally, while here at the house, things will happen, or I will think of something that makes me laugh, or cry and I like the idea of sharing my thoughts. 

4. I want to be able to record things that I can look at in a few years and remember what my life was like in quiet Kansas in my little home at 226 E. Tenth before children, or other things God brings our way as we grow older.

 

:)

I am thrilled to start a blog and even if I don't get a post written everyday, I hope to share many memories, laughs, and special moments with family and friends. 

Welcome to the Stivers' Blog!