A Good Week and A Crazy Lady

Well it has been a great week despite some ugly drama with our mean neighbor upstairs.

Last Saturday I spent a day with the Lord at a retreat center called Well of Mercy. A beautiful place run by two of the coolest nuns you'll ever meet. Welcoming me with open arms, they provided me a sacred space to be in solitude and silence with the Lord.

I walked the trails, the labryinth, the creek, walking out many prayers, and God was rich with metaphors in his creation and in his word.

The richest metaphors for me came out of Psalm 32 which speaks of a God who is our refuge, deliverer, a God who guards, protects, and enfolds with his faithful love.
The theme for me was safety. The longer I am a woman, and the longer I work with women in ministry, the more I realize that one of the biggest core needs of a woman is safety and security. So much of my sin and junk comes out of a desperate desire to feel safe. God even showed me how I use food to feel safe.

He is my refuge and my safe haven, and realizing this is freedom.

So my little personal retreat was awesome, and then on Monday I saw my first client at my internship!!! This is huge, people. Although I counseled with another counselor, it was still a real live counseling session. And I didn't bomb. In fact, even more than ever, I am sure this is what I want to do. Yipee!

And I have been feeling absolutely awesome physically, because after God dealt with me regarding food on my retreat, I have switched to eating mostly organic foods, and have greatly reduced my sugar intake. People, I am a different person! In case you didn't know, sugar makes you crazy!

Tonight Russ and I had ostrich burgers, with endamame(soy beans), and sweet corn. Talk about healthy! I have so much energy I am bouncing off the walls. And God is strengthening me through all the sugar cravings. Thank you Jesus!

So it's a good thing I had a good week, it's a good thing I was of sound mind, it was a good thing I was filled with the Holy Spirit because I may not have been able to remain calm, I may not have been able to keep my cool, I may not have been able to keep myself from a beat down when the apt. office called us in to tell us our upstairs neighbor has repeatedly complained about our dogs making noise and we were in violation of our lease.

Okay, psycho neighbor wrote a three page paper detailing her complaints about our dogs. She says they cry through the night, and that we sleep through it. She says we repeatedly neglect the needs of our pets, and that we are gone for long hours Okay, I forgot she had a camera in our apt to know when we are sleeping, when we are home, and when we apparently forget to feed our dogs. Puh-lease.

Let me just say these claims are totally unsubstantiated. First of all, our neighbor NEVER leaves the apt., and she said in the letter that she stays in bed all day, and that our dogs are disturbing her lifestyle and that is why she keeps a notebook by her bed to record each bark, whine, cry and time of the offense. She apparently has lost sense of time and now believes 15 seconds is equivalent to 45 min.

The apt. office is pretty much on our side. No one else has ever complained and we have lived her for a year and a half. This lady has lived here for 3 months. They also understand that barking is what dogs do, and that our dogs don't incessantly bark. They are perfect little angels, crate-trained, and my precious babies, okay! . I say if you don't like pets, DON'T MOVE INTO A PET FRIENDLY APARTMENT COMMUNITY!!!!!


Once again, a people-pleasing lesson, because last week Russ and I spent the whole week walking on eggshells, whispering, and keeping our dogs completely quiet, and then on Friday at 11:36am, Isabel cried till 11:37am, and our lovely neighbor called the apt. office. Sometimes, there is NOTHING you can do to make people happy, so why make it your life's aim?

Other lesson: If you are sitting around doing nothing looking for something to complain or be upset about, you will find something!! Case in point: Our neighbor waiting in her bed, for our dogs to let out the slightest murmur.

What's that about loving your neighbor? Don't worry, we prayed at dinner, "Lord, bring salvation to this women, and help her to be nice to us, and forgive her for being so crazy!!"

Hey, it's the best we could muster.