Travel Highlights

It's been a bit. I need to give the highlights of my two recent trips in the States. :) My quick trip to Kansas to meet my new niece, Isabelle Ruby Stucky was quite the adventure back at the end of January. If I went into all the fun little hiccups along the way, this blog entry would be epically long. Thus, I will go against my nature and describe my two trips in bullet points. The second trip I went on was to Dallas in the middle of February for a Leadership Conference in conjunction with my church. Do enJoy this digression in my writing style. Trip to Kansas to meet the 2nd Stucky daughter. :)

• Woke up unexpectedly at 5:30am on Tuesday, January 25th to see texts from my parents, "Rachel is in labor!"


• Booked my flight to Kansas from BWI, left the house at 6am.


• Made it into Philly, and then finally MCI, rented a car and drove 3.5 hours to finally arrive at the hospital at 8pm the day Isabelle came to be. Rachel (my older sister) was stunned to SEE my face in Kansas the very day that Isabelle arrived!


• Isabelle Ruby Stucky (nickname, "Izzy Ru" or just "Izzy") came at 5:33am, weighing 8lbs, 12 oz.!


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• There she is - the beautiful Isabelle Ruby! :) After spending 14 hours to meet her and see my beautiful older sister, Rachel (her momma), it was definitely worth it to hold my second niece in my arms and see her look sweetly up at her Auntie Tina. :)


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• This is a pic of her & I on her day of birth! January 25, 2011 at the hospital in McPherson. What a precious time. It's a beautiful thing to be present when a new life in the family is born. I was soo proud of my sis - her labor was short (only 6 hours!) and she looked great!


• Here's a photo of the four ladies on day 2 in Kansas - Wednesday, January 26th.


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• It's pretty blurry - but you can make out my Mom (Patty), Isabelle Ruby or (Izze Rue), Elaina, and my sis Rachel.


• On that Wednesday morning, we had a wonderful time playing, holding the new baby girl, and just spending time together. :) Elaina had the joy of opening a gift from mom & dad (a magnadoodle) and then she opened a present from Auntie Tina. While in the airport, this man showed me a demonstration of these sweet markers. One set of 9 used together creates a different color on top of another, and then the second set when you use the "magic" white maker, it erases the color. So, it's a fun drawing set of makers for her to use. Elaina did well as the big sister.


• After lunch, I had to head back to KC to catch my flight...and little Elaina did NOT want Auntie Tina to go.


• - "Auntie Tina, where are you going?" - Elaina


• - "I'm going to drive in my rental car to the airport and fly home. Auntie Tina has to get back to work, Elaina. But I love you!" - Auntie Tina


• - "I don't want you to fly! Can't you stay and play with me?!" - Elaina


• - "Auntie Tina wants to, but I have to go back home. We can see each other on skype and play and I'll read you books and we can sing songs together. Okay?" - A. T.


• - "Okay, but not now!" - Elaina

- She was precious! Thus I started my 3 1/2 hour drive back to KC. Meanwhile, there was a storm a brewing back on the East Coast. I made it to KC and they were still letting flights head to NC (my connecting flight) and then to Baltimore. - When I landed in NC, my flight into DCA was cancelled due to the snow storm. My roommate texted me to let me know that our power back home had gone out and that we were also out of firewood. :( - I called a friend and figured out what I was going to do. All the hotels nearby the airport were booked, as many flights were cancelled...so it was looking like I was going to spend the night in the airport. Great. - As I made my way to the food court and ordered a burger at the last place open, I overheard a couple of older gentleman talking about hotels. I went up to them and asked if they found one with available rooms. The oldest one (prolly in his 60's) says, "Yes, there's a hotel about 20 minutes away that has lots of open rooms. I just rented a car and this gentleman and I are headed that way. Would you like to join us?" Wow. What an answer to prayer?! Well, I asked if they had the number because I was going to call and make a reservation. The middle-aged man said he had called and they wouldn't let him make a reservation because there were so many open rooms! Imagine that.

- Concerned about the price, I asked...and they said a number over $100. That was too much for me, and I expressed such. The older man (we'll call him Sam), said well, we're going to a Holiday Inn Express and I work for Holiday Inn and I can get us a good rate. You won't pay over $100. Okay, then! I'm in! :)

- We had a nice conversation on our way to the hotel and once we got there Sam asked for the good rate, and boy, howdy did she give it to us! I enJOyed a SHOWER and nice, King size bed that ensured a few hours of good sleep all for under $50! Incredible.

- The next morning, we made our way back to the airport - bright & early. I got on the standby list right away, and they called my name for the first flight out to DCA at 7:30am. By 9:15, I was back in DC on Thursday morning. Praise God!

- Remember that my house has no power? And no fireword? Yeah. So, I hop on the metro and make my way to Dunn-Loring. From there I catch a bus, and am determined to go home with heat (firewood). So, I go down the busy road in my town, and make my way to the Supermarket, and it's closed due to power outages.

:( Great. I'm in knee-deep ice cold water, my suitcase fell apart in the airport - so it's staying together with one of my scarves...ugh. There's SO much snow! Well, I make my way to a beauty parlor nearby the store, and they are open. I have something done there, and by the time I'm finished, I check back at the store and it's OPEN! Horray.

- Thankfully, I DID have that suitcase, b/c the firewood box was heavy. I was able to put it on top of my carry on and wheel all my stuff around that way. So, I make my way to the bus stop. Well, there's a HUGE embankment of snow between me and the street. Ugh. When the bus pulls up - she's like, "Honey, how are you going to get on here?!" I shrug my shoulders, determined to get home! A nice hispanic man hops over the snow, grabs my bag and firewood and then I do this silly jump, hop thing and land on the bus! :)

- Guess what? This bus isn't going down into my subdivision because of all the snow! Great. How am I going to get home? Well, when we are at the corner close to the area that starts the neighborhood that I live in, I get off. So does another nice hispanic man who carries my firewood (it kept falling off and into the snow. :( ) On the street...I put my thumb out and this nice woman picks me up and drives me to my townhouse. Praise the Lord! By about noon on Thursday I am finally home! Oh, it felt SO good to finally be home!!

- We still didn't have power, but now we had heat! Yay. I spent the rest of the day at home. So good. And in one day, I flew to Kansas, met my beautiful neice and spent some precious, quality time with my family. Love it.

Trip 2 - Dallas!

This trip I made to Dallas for a GLI Conferene - a Leadership conference for professionals that is connected to my church. :) It was SO good to see people that I love and know through GLI that came from all over the US. :) Good times for sure. I shared a hotel room with Gail (from Virginia), Jerusha (from my community in DC), and a gal I didn't know yet, Danyelle (she's from Canada). We had a great time.

The conference was very rich in resource and teaching. Definitely a lot to unpack still. One small tidbit that I'll share...and that spoke to me is how much our actions DO affect one another's process. Each and everyday the lives that we build directly impact our brother and sister's process and in turn change the nature of what WE as the body of Christ build in the unseen realm. The way that we structure and live our lives is vital to the health of the Body & the Kingdom. Thus, it's REALLY important to live a conscious life each and every day.

The other thing that really stuck out to me is the importance of being actively engaged at work each day. What type of life, heart are you building in your workplace? Does it mandate WHO you are? Or are you so in tune with the Holy Spirit, that you are consciously aware of God's design for your workplace; how you fit into that "big" picture; that God is ultimately in control, and we just have to listen and faithfully serve Him. We spend what was it, like 70% of our work week at WORK?! Yeah, that's A LOT of time. Definitely not the time to "check out" of life. Build well, my friends. These are dark times, thus it is VITAL for us to be that bright light in whatever spheres of influence we find ourselves. And remember to DREAM. Dream big. Ask God what His dreams are and live them out! :)

I went to Dallas the weekend of Feb. 11-13th. It was fabulous! And now the next trip will be to see my dearest cousin Monica and meet her lovely little newborn, Jacob Storm. :) Hopefully, that will be at the end of this month.

There you have it! FinAlLy - an update! :) Look for another sometime this month. enJoy Spring, dear friends.

Reflections of living a Full LIFE

Well, last week was definitely adventurous! I'm considering composing a short story about the journey to Kansas on Tuesday and the attempt home on Wednesday from seeing my beautiful, brand new niece, Isabelle Ruby Stucky. She arrived on Tuesday, January 25, 2011 at 5:33 am at the big size of 8 lbs. 12 oz. and 22 inches long! She's almost 2 feet long! And that wonderful creation of a girl was inside my sister's tummy!!! God is incredible!

Look for my next post that will give a summary of my adventures last week. For now, I want to reflect. Have you ever considered how every thought, action, and behavior that we do in this physical, earthly realm truly impacts the heavenly realm?

We are building our lives every moment of every day. If you look at a day - it is an accumulation of small, little choices. Let me paint a picture.

You awaken to your alarm in the morning. Thoughts burst into your head...whether it's "Ugh. Is it time to wake up already?" or "Okay, it's time to get up!". In that small moment you set the tone for your day without even being consciously aware of it at the moment of cognizance. The first one sets you in a slump to start the day, and in order to be cheerful, you now have to fight that feeling of not wanting to be awake yet. If you take the second one, your mood is set to eagerly face the day - it is hopeful. Maybe not "happy", but at least optimistic about the potential of your new day.

As you continue to get ready in the morning each small little choice builds your attitude and perspective for the day. Do you choose to nourish your body from the start and eat a bite of breakfast? Fuel for the brain and to interact with people is necessary. :) For me, I start with drinking zija and some water. Once I arrive at work, I usually eat some greek yogurt mid morning.

Anywho, all I am saying, is let's be conscious about the people we are becoming. Because every day, we are molding our thoughts, perceptions, ideas, values, and belief systems. WHO do you make up? Have you ever taken time out to consider what it IS that makes up your being?

How do you approach interacting with a stranger? With an eager curiosity on what they have to offer through a simple conversation? Or a feeling of, "Oh, dear - must I speak to them? What will they think of me?" When that is probably the last thing on their mind. A very wise woman once told me, "What other people are thinking is none of your business."

Wow. Read that again - What other people think is NONE of your business! Isn't that freeing?
It definitely is to me. Now, why worry what they are thinking about - because it's none of your business to start. It takes ALL the guesswork out. And, it takes the focus of me. Off of you. Life is not about us - it's about the Kingdom, it's about agape love, relationships, seeing the Light, joining together in this beautiful journey to build something that will last the fire of the end.

When we start to live our lives in such a way that nothing - physically or spiritually can tear it down, then we've found true life. What exists in your heart that can stand the test of the fire? If we build our lives through the leading of the Spirit, it will not pass away. How remarkable? I need to find the Scripture that correlates to that statement...but think of the parable in the gospels where Christ talks the man who builds his house on the sand and the one who builds his house on the Rock. I believe that is what the Lord means.

I recognize this is out of the box - it's a different way of looking at living life and interacting with people. Think of how many people you see in one day who look hopeless? They are desiring something real. The beauty of life in the Spirit is more real than I can even describe.

Let's start living!