Turner Times

Friday, October 16, 2009

Friendship

Just a short little post in honor of the first book club tomorrow.

"True friendship is a sacred, important thing, and it happens when we drop down into that deeper level of who we are, when we cross over into the broken, fragile parts of ourselves. We have to give something up in order to get friendship like that. We have to give up our need to be perceived as perfect. We have to give up our ability to control what people think of us. We have to overcome the fear that when they see the dephts of who we are, they'll leave. But for what we give up is noting in comparison to what this kind of friendship gives to us. Friendship is about risk. Love is about risk. If we can control it and manage it and manufacture it, then it's something else, but if it's really love, really friendship, it's a little scary around the edges....

Friendship is an opportunity to act on God's behalf in the lives of the people that we're close to, reminding each other who God is..."

-Shauna Niequest Cold Tangerines

I'm so thankful for the true, deep friendships that I have in my life. You know who you are & I hope to never take our friendship for granted. Thanks to all my friends out there that have taken the risk in showing me the not so perfect side of yourself and loved me in return when I've shown mine...

Thursday, October 15, 2009

Silence & Solitude

I'm wrapping up my time here in Little Rock, AR. It's been a good trip. This isn't one of my bigger territories so it requires more road time between doc. offices. I visited surround areas such as Jacksonville, Hot Springs & Russellville. They are all 45-90 minutes away so I found myself jamming out to the radio and taking in the beautiful scenery of changing leaves. I heart fall! Here is my top 10 moments in AR:

Eating Cracker Barrel's french toast breakfast for dinner...in the luxury of my king sized hotel bed.

Making the comment to one of the hotel workers that I love this weather, chilly enough to wear jeans and a sweatshirt with flip-flops. His response, "that's you style isn't it!" haha wow...I'm such a fashionista!

looking like a wet rat going into doc. offices b/c I was soaked all the way down to my unmentionables. ;)

speaking of rain...it was painful to buy an umbrella at Walgreens for a whopping $13. Seriously people...I could get one at the dollar store. I hate when convenience overrides bargains.

Being in AR makes me think of my roommate in college b/c she has family here! Shout out JM.

I knew it was a week of silence & solitude when I found myself wanting to ask the hotel workers if they wanted to hang out...I'm not good at alone.
I actually did have a little bonding time with my boy R today while we watched a 6 year old boy in a helium balloon fly 5,000 feet over CO on CNN. Ends up he just let the balloon go & was hiding in the attic afraid of what he had done. This really could be a blog in itself...did anyone see this? http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/10/15/colorado.boy.balloon/index.html

Listening to a 80 year old patient YELL at her doctor about how her arm itched so bad she would rather be dead...interesting conversation.

Stayed up late to watch an lifetime movie that was a huge disappointment. Lifetime usually doesn't let me down, but this one really did. I should have known since it featured Lindsay Lohan. I'd put any of Sally Field's Lifetime originals up to this little ditty any day.

I got a new phone from verizon right before I left, which now means I don't have to only talk to people on speakerphone! Yay for a free LV EnV touch!

Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Calling All Bookworms!

The truth of the matter is you don't have to be a bookworm at all...just female!

the story:
Katie & I were talking one day about her "bucket list" & all the things she wanted to do, which included starting or be involved in a book club. I also shared some of the things I really miss about Rochester & one of them was a book club I was involved in. My favorite thing about that club was that it brought together women of all ages. It was amazing to me how we would read the same exact book, but take away such different things from it. We all have different life experiences that color the glasses we see the world through & I LOVE to hear the way other people see the world...especially ladies older than I that have more experiences to share.

So...from that was born this book club.

What we want to create is is a Christian woman's book club designed to unite women of ALL ages through the faith and love of Christ. We know how important it is to learn from those around us & think this will be a unique opportunity to do just that! This club offers a biblical alternative to secular book clubs by suggesting reading materials that will stretch our faith and encourage all to become well-rounded modern-day Proverbs 31 women.

One read through Proverbs 31:10-31 and we see this is a well-rounded and wise woman of God. We want to challenge ourselves to read from a wide variety of subjects (including, but not limited to, Christian history, current events, Christian fiction novels, controversial matters in today's world) to increase our efforts in becoming well-rounded women of God. Though we are not of this world we need to be aware of how to best stand firm in our surroundings.

what's expected of me?

It's pretty simple. We would like read one book a month then meet one Saturday morning per month to discuss what was read.

Don't have time? This club doesn't demand a lot from you. In the evening when the house is still, can you see yourself cozying up to a good read? Can you commit to meet and learn from other women one Saturday morning per month? If so, let's do it!

book list:

October "Cold Tangerines" Shauna Niequist (short & easy read)

November "What's So Amazing About Grace?" by Philip Yancey

December OFF

January "The Hiding Place" by Corrie Tenboom

February "From Eternity to Here" by Frank Viola

March "Through Gates of Splendor" By Elizabeth Elliot

April "Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God" by Francis Chan

May "Same Kind of Different as Me: A Modern-Day Slave, an International Art Dealer, and the Unlikely Woman Who Bound Them Together" by Ron Hall & Denver Moore

June "With an Everlasting Love" by Kay Arthur

July OFF to take a break suggested reading is "Redeeming Love" by Francine Rivers, but we won’t meet to discuss it

August "Just Courage" by Gary A. Haugen (the founder of the International Justice Mission)

September "Love is an Orientation: Elevating the Conversation with the Gay Community" by Andrew Marin

October--time for a new list!

If there is a book on here that you have read before, no worries, we'd love for you to meet anyway to discuss or try to read it again...maybe there is something you'll see in it differently this time around!

Schedule (tentative):

Saturday, October 17, 9 a.m.- 10:30 a.m.

Saturday, November 14, 9 a.m.-10:30 a.m.

*NO MEETING FOR THE MONTH OF DECEMBER*

Saturday, January 9, 2010 9 a.m.-10:30 a.m.

Saturday, February 13, 9 a.m.-10:30 a.m.

Saturday, March 13, 9 a.m.-10:30 a.m.

Saturday, April 10, 9 a.m.-10:30 a.m.

Saturday, May 8, 9 a.m.-10:30 a.m.

Saturday, June 12, 9 a.m.-10:30 a.m.

*OFF FOR JULY*

Saturday, August 13, 9 a.m.-10:30 a.m.

Saturday, September 11, 9 a.m.-10:30 a.m.

October -FALL KICK-OFF & New reading schedule

Think it through and hopefully we'll see you soon!!!! If you want to be a part of the club, let me know (facebook, email or leave a comment) & I'll contact you with where we'll meet & how to get there. Also feel free to let your friends know. The more the merrier!

Monday, October 5, 2009

Weekend Recap

I've done an awful job of taking pictures lately! It's terribly & I apologize. These pictures I found are a cheap representation of this weekend, but it's better than nothing.

Friday night we had this...