There will be a day

"There will be a day with no more tears, no more pain, and no more fears
There will be a day when the burdens of this place, will be no more, we'll see Jesus face to face
But until that day, we'll hold on to you always"

Friday night's concert at our church was AWESOME. Jason Gray opened the evening with great acoustic guitar, singing, and comedy. Chasen took the stage after Jason (he suggested they merge and call themselves Chasen Gray, hehe!). You'd recognize a few of Chasen's songs: "On and On" and "Drown" are my favorites. I guess I never realized "Drown" was by them although I have no clue who I thought sung it. Continuing the evening, the Afters played a fairly long set. They are one of my favorite bands. I think we've seen them half a dozen times, but I could never get sick of them. They ended with one of my favorites: "Beautiful Love." This set of theirs had more worship songs than it did of their originals, but that was still enjoyable. Ending the evening off was the headliner-- Jeremy Camp. We've seen him 3 times now and his show is always MAGICAL. Jeremy's goal is to write music that speaks to Jesus rather than that speaks to his audience. In doing that, I think he really brings the audience closer to Jesus. It's really an amazing feeling. I can't describe the feeling I get worshiping the Lord through vocals (even if I'm absolutely horrible at it!). I'm so glad that I was able to sneak out of work for a few hours to make it to this show. We're hoping we can head down to the 'Springs for MercyMe's Rockin Worship Roadshow this spring, too. David Crowder*Band is joining them this year! Woot!

Prayers for Grandma

I just got word from my mom that my grandma is not doing well. She's been struggling with reoccurring issues with fluid around her lungs. The past few times they have been successful in removing the fluids and through dialysis and food have gotten her all-better. They are having a much more difficult time this go-around. The doctor had discussions with her about hospice care and my mom drove up to see her today and to bring in her pastor. They ran many tests and have concluded that she has congestive heart failure. They will try dialysis and a needle procedure tomorrow, but we must all pray for whatever is God's will.
I love my grandmother very much and wish that I could be there in person to help her fight through this. I know that she is in the best hand's because I know my God always comforts & protects. I pray that His strength will give her strength in the coming days and weeks.

Stressed for success

Well we are down to the final stretch for our major review at work and it shows! Folks are dressed in their best outfits for dress rehearsals, many are utilizing the cot in our area, and even more can no longer keep track of the number of meals they have missed. I came on pretty late in this whole process (I guess you could say I am lucky to only have to give up a resemblance of a life for a few weeks?) and as such, have little time to get a large amount of things working. I guess I also have had less practice and conditioning of my body to handle the 17 hour work nights with little or no sleep. My coworker posed a really interesting question today-- if you are so stressed with work that you can't sleep because you are constantly solving problems and running through issues in your head, shouldn't you get paid for that? A few questions I've been asking myself lately: Is it sad when you feel guilty for leaving work after a 13 hour day? Is it funny that people call leaving at dinner time a "half-day?" In any event, I look forward to next week as we are sure to leave our customer in awestruck-induced silence. Go us!

SQUIRREL!

I've been working insane hours recently and as such, I have been missing out on some pretty entertaining happenings in the Shoemaker household. Sidenote: when I say entertaining, you must place it through the livin-the-Shoemaker-suburban-life- filter. Saturday afternoon while I was at work, Dave and the girls were playing in the backyard. Along came Ephram the Squirrel. Ephram apparently did not enjoy the two unusually large sized Squirrels (ok, so a 50lb squirrel would be more than a little unusual) chasing him, so he did what he was taught best and "kept to the high branches." He climbed to the top of one of our trees and began to bawk at our girls. I've never heard of a squirrel making loud noises, so it's good that my husband captured video of the event or I may not have bought this story. I guess the girls were pretty amused as this whole charade continued for well over a half hour. Sequoia, smart as they come, decided to use her front legs to shake the tree hoping Mr. Squirrel would tumble.

As you can see, it gets pretty exciting around here. [Still bummed to be missing these fun times].

The Dog IQ Test

Tonight we were reading some pretty funny stories on a husky website our friend Charity sent us and came across the "Dog IQ Test." The test is simple: you show your dog a treat and then you lie it on the floor and place a washcloth over it. Dogs intelligence can then be judged by dogs reaction.

We decided to give it a try and needless to say, we were not at all surprised by their reactions.
Sequoia: Sniffs. Looks to Mom. Sniffs some more. Looks to Dad. Didn't hear the word "No;" proceeds to uncover treat with nose. Total elapsed time: 30 seconds.
Belle: Sniffs. Looks at Mom. Continues looking at mom becoming more and more dejected. Less than a minute later, lies down beside rag.
1 minute later: Dave releases Sequoia. She immediately runs for rag, pushes it aside and gobbles Belle's treat.
5 minutes later: Sequoia is sniffing under each of the dog beds, pillows, and blankets in the living room. Finds nothing; returns to washclothes-- finds nothing. Proceeds to sleep peacefully on bed knowing that she is not missing out an undiscovered treat.

Can't say we are at all surprised by the results, but absolutely hilarious nonetheless.