Quick Slow Slow

" This you know, my beloved brethren. But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger" James 1:19.

I need to remind myself (daily) to do this. I have learned this past week that I am not a very good listener, I speak without thinking first, and I get angry fast. It's a recipe for disaster and I have come to realize how it especially affects my relationship with Caleb. The prepare enrich course we are taking has brought up some issues we need to work on...more work on communication and better conflict resolution skills. I have a lot of work to do in this relationship than I thought. I always thought I did a pretty good job of being a listener, but it is clear that I am not doing that good of a job at all! I am quickly defensive, easily sensitive, I interrupt Caleb when I disagree with what he is saying, and I usually don't understand what he's saying to me. What I am excited about is how much we will both grow from all that we are doing in this relationship course. Like he said, I need to stop fitting this "class" and the homework into our relationship, and instead, let the class work around our schedule and our relationship. From now on, we will first have quality time talking on the phone before we do any of the assignments or exercises from the class. If we don't have time to include it in our schedule, then we will simply do it the next day! That takes a lot of pressure off fitting everything in one little frame of time that we have to talk in a day.

This week, we are learning how to resolve ongoing and future conflicts, learning how to take a time-out (the right way), and how to forgive. I'm excited to see how this will help us grow and overcome the difficulties we have... I'm really blessed because although we DO have our areas of weakness, we have a lot more strengths and are very compatible in many areas...so I look forward to improving and perfecting our relationshp to the best it can be. =)

My parents are leaving tomorrow to Indonesia. They will get there Wednesday night (in Jakarta) and will be in Makassar on Thursday. I'll be leaving work earlier at 4pm to say goodbye to them. I'll miss them so much, but I think this will be a good opportunity for me to be more independent. I'll actually have to cook and clean and take care of the house while they are gone. The one thing that I am NOT looking forward to is being by myself at night. I have terrible issues with being home alone (especially at night)...I need to remind myself that I am God's child and that there is nothing to fear because He is in control of everything and that "perfect love casts out fear" 1 John 4:18.

I got a haircut yesterday and am still adjusting to how short it is! He cut about 3 inches from the bottom and everything else is a lot shorter. I'm having a hard time styling it the way I want it to look, so hopefully it gets better...SOON!

There's so many things on my heart to pray for:
-Haiti
-my parent's trip to Indonesia (safety there and back)
-my aunt's hip
-my relationship with Caleb (understand, love, forgive, and help each other more)
-Caleb's deployment (the timing)
-Caleb's safety and protection when he is deployed
-Caleb's MOS school and his move to Cherry Point
-my trip to see him in February
-my sister's relationship with Brandon
-my cousin's marriage

Well, I have to do some last minute things before I go to lunch. It's miserable outside...cold, bleak, rainy, gloomy...I turned up the heater in my office so it's at least nice and toasty where I am. I have to go straight to women's ministry right after work...I am SO excited to play for worship tonight. We are doing a medley of worship songs that my sister and I worked on and it sounds FABULOUS and it's ALL for the Lord! I hope God will use us in a great way tonight. It's our LAST study for the season. We will do a recipe exchange next week so I need start thinking of a recipe that I can do and be proud of sharing (caleb? any ideas?)....=)

Okay, that is it for now.

Salamat Jalan.
(indonesian)


"i see you."
tfm.