Separating From Ed

     Last week I had a tonsillectomy. This was my third surgery, and my second in the surgery center. I had frequently been having problems with my throat over the past year, which I originally thought was due to working at a school with many sick students and staff. This may or not be the cause, and I am not sure if I will ever know what is the reason behind it.      I went to a PCP for the first time in September and mentioned having tonsil stones to him, to which he asked if I saw a dentist regularly and suggested that it was plaque build up. Of course, the next time I went to the dentist, I asked and the hygienist told me that what the doctor said was a bunch of crap and that lots of people claim that mouth wash will fix everything, however, she said she didn't think it was plaque.      In April, I went to an ENT for the first time regarding these issues. He informed me that tonsil stones are harmless, and as I had read on my own, are...

     Church of the small things.      Now you know that my favorite new author is Melanie Shankle, the author of "Sparkly Green Earrings," "The Antelope in the Living Room," "Nobody's Cuter than You," and of course, "Church of the Small Things," a Bible Study devotional that I recently went through with the ladies at my church. "Church of the Small Things" empathizes the divinity and power in small, seemingly inconsequential moments. The book revolves around seeing how God uses the things in our lives, like packing a lunch or helping someone, to make a difference in the Kingdom of God.      Since I liked Melanie so much from the "Church of the Small Things" companion book that I borrowed from the library, I decided to read her other books, too. "Nobody's Cuter than You" is a memoir on friendship in which Melanie describes all of the meaningful relationships that she's had in her lifetime, starting fro...

     In my last post , I opened with "Hey, y'all, " which in case you don't know, is totally out of character for me. I completely hate the word (should it really be considered a word?) " y'all " and have never liked it. In fact, I can probably count on one hand how many times I have actually said this in a real conversation (thanks to my three years as an RA and eventually getting bored of greetings such as "folks," "everyone," and "is anyone in here??").      So why the usage? My new favorite author, Melanie Shankle, better known as "Big Mama," using it quite a bit in the book "Church of the Small Things" which is the companion book to the Bible Study that I am doing right now at church. Trying to channel my inner-Melanie is why I used " y'all" and y'all  are just going to have to deal with it.      Melanie is from Texas (duh, seems like a no brainer) and thoroughly embracing all o...

     I wanted to share about my youth and student ministries event that I hosted at our church today. About a month and a half ago I reached out to our pastor to see if there was anything that I could do for our middle school and high school students who attend the church since our church does not have a youth group. We only have about 6 students who are in this age range so it doesn't make sense to have a group that meets on a regular basis because that would not be sustainable (I was in this situation growing up in one of my churches and it was not enjoyable as a participant, so I would not want to subject others to that!).      When Ryan told me that he had prayed just that week for our kids and how to reach them, we got excited that he was interested in entertaining the idea of creating something for these students. But I also got a little bit nervous since he said he wanted to meet with me! It went fine, though. I met with Ryan and our "equipping min...