...it was a beautiful day!

I haven't been able to enjoy it yet, but it is picture perfect through our 3rd story picture window.

Last night we stayed up waaaay too late- almost 4 am. Actually it wasn't our fault. It was soley the fault of George Lucas... and Anakin and Obi One... yeah we went to the Star Wars midnight showing. It was really good!

I think I already mentioned that Matthew and I are youth leaders at our church. Last night at youth, Jon, the youth pastor focused on the message behind Star Wars. He talked about the consequences of the choices we make.

Yoda warns Luke in the Return of the Jedi; "Beware of anger, fear, and aggression, the dark side are they... Once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your future."

Amazing how easy it was for Anakin to fall to the dark side, after a life of letting small anger issues seem normal. He bottled it all up until he was faced with the choice of choose the dark side and save his one true love (by gaining power and saving her himself), or loosen his grip on her future and possibly lose her forever. He chose wrong and headed down the dark path, not realizing how destructive it was. It didn't even dawn on him how much he'd changed for the worst, even as he was trying to kill Padmir, the one he was trying so hard to save!

In the movie, one of the Jedis leaned over to Anakin and said, "The most powerful thing you possess is your power of choice... the choices you make will determine your destiny."

I wonder where I would be now if I had made different choices in my life. I am not in the place to say I haven't made bad decisions at times, but I am so thankful for where I have landed thus far. The Lord has looked after me and spoke words of wisdom into my heart when I didn't know which way to turn. He has blessed me for my willingness to surrender my life to His calling... and that is the greatest adventure I could ever know!

"Fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge. Only fools despise wisdom and discipline." Prov.1:7

...happy birthday to meeeeee!

Today I am 27 years old!
How could anyone not love their birthday. It's like all day it's Cristina Day. It doesn't matter that most people don't know about it. It's my own little secret. Unless someone asks me why I have this stupid grin on my face and keep humming happy birthday.
I got the most wonderful present today! My friend Kristin called me from the middle east! She is working with Christian Peacemaker Teams for a few years, living right in the middle of all the quarreling between the Israelis and Palestinians. It's a dangerous place to be, but that is where her heart is. (Kristin, if you read this sometime, I miss you to bits! ) It makes me smile to know that you are my friend. I couldn't have wished for a better way to spend the first part of my day, especially since you got me out of a bad dream (don't feel bad- it was like 10:45 am!)
Dream sequence...
So these people are walking down the sidewalk with a small child holding their hands. Out of nowhere comes this HUGE snake- we're talking 5 feet long and a lot of muscle on it. The snake is trying to get the child, so they are holding her up by her arms- but to no avail. Suddely the snake is in my apartment and I am battling the snake. It's bit my dog already and I have my hand clamped over it's mouth. I called 911 but, like every bad dream, my voice is suddenly gone. She sort of made out what I was saying, and who did she send to help me? My ex boyfriend and my next door neighbor . They killed the snake and acted like it was no big deal- that I shouldn't have been scared, and carried the snake away in a laundry basket.
I'm glad that's over. My dreams are always a bit off the wall.
So I'm off to have my birthday. I'm working from 12-5 with the evening off thankfully. I'm looking forward to seeing what Matthew has planned for tonight. He is great with birthdays. Last birthday he even got me a birthday outfit that he gave me the night before so I could feel all special in my new duds! I love him so much.

...more like packrat city!

I am a packrat of the worst sort. Having a creative mind, I can't look at something without thinking, "Wow, I could hang that on the wall in our living room!" or "I can't throw that away- I'm sure we're going to need it 20 years down the road" Doesn't matter what it is. Perhaps I need therapy.
Tonight Matthew and I found ourselves in a bit of a strange situation. Two months ago my mentor, Marian, passed away- no relatives here whatsoever, but lots of people who loved her just the same. A woman from our church, Gail, who is like a mom to me (since mine doesn't live here) is settling her estate after Marian left everything to the church. Matthew and I inherited her sweet sofa- we're talking light green crushed velvet, 2 piece sectional. So tonight Gail tells us to go over to Marian's house to see if there is anything else we would like to take before it's all donated to the church garage sale.
So there we are, sitting in Marian's house, weird as that is to be in someone's house that was so dear to me, that isn't there anymore, rummaging through her belongings. Weird. It was hard not to pack up everything there into the back of our pickup. I kept thinking, "Someone is going to buy this for 25 cents and not have the slightest clue that the most amazing woman owned this. We're talking about a woman who, with her husband was a missionary to Bangladesh for more years than I've been alive! She took many of us young women in the church under her wing, praying for us and encouraging us to live our lives to the fullest and to find happiness in God's blessings. She was amazing.
Thankfully Matthew was there. He's good at limiting me and grounding my emotional side. He actually picked out some pretty weird things too. He walked out of there with some sort of reel to reel recording device, a hand held blender thing, and some cuff links. I picked out some antique gloves, a few little dishes, a scarf and some other little things. Gail came over after awhile, so we sat around and gabbed- it was nice to have a mother on Mother's Day... especially since I couldn't seem to get ahold of mine.
I felt so at peace at Marian's house. Whoever moves into her house will, I'm certain, feel the presence of God there. After many months of brain tumors, she never had any pain, though her memory failed. Her prayers were constant and powerful to the end. She counted down the days till she would get to go to Heaven.
So here we are, left contemplating life and death, trying to make it to the end of another day, and packratting all the while.

...there was a salesgirl on the brink of insanity.

I worked a long day today at the furniture store. This is the only job I've had, where I can learn my schedule by watching tv. My schedule doesn't vary much, so I don't check it often while I'm at work.
So I'm sitting there, relaxing on a Friday night and here comes the millionth commercial for my store... "Ultimate One Day Sale!"... or the dreaded "12 Hour Sale!", when I think I'm only working 8 hours.
Argh.
Perhaps I shouldn't have watched tv last night. I really could have skipped today altogether and been much better off. It started with the Saturday 'pep talk'. It's funny how bosses think they are helping their employees do a better job when they use threats.. and yelling. It's funny to me that my boss actually thinks I'm going to sell more furniture just because he says I have to. Then tells me that I no longer get my 1 weekend off per month if I don't sell a certain amount (somehow not quite as funny). Customers can tell if a salesperson is under that sort of stress- they get that green eyed monster look in their eye when they ask you, "Can I help you find something?" More like, "BUY SOMETHING! ANYTHING!"
Typically my job is not so bad- I meet a lot of people, get a good discount on furniture, it's decent pay, and I usually get Thursdays and Fridays off.
Today, though, I think my customers could tell I was a salesgirl under stress after that meeting. It did not go well. The low point of the day was a particular couple that I helped in the mattress area. They immediately sized me up, all 5'4", 105 lbs of me with my baby face. I may as well have been sucking my thumb because to them I was 2. They had an argument for everything I told them, even though they knew very little about mattresses. It didn't matter to them how much I wanted to help them. They were flat out rude.
But in the end, they ended up letting me into their circle (about 3"). They asked for help- and they got a great bed.
Then my wonderful husband came with lunch and it was heaven. We just got this new sub shop in town, Erbert and Gerbert's. Boney Billy is the bomb diggity! Who would've thought that sprouts would be that tasty?

It felt good to let off that bit of steam. I apologize for the long version- but not for letting it out. Transparency feels good.

Tonight is relaxation night in the Cherry household. Perhaps Phantom of the Opera will be at the movie store. (I still haven't seen it, Melanie!)

Until next time, keep on keepin on.

...there was a new blogger, clueless as she blogged.

Wow, this is very strange.
I have my very own blog to outlet the nonsense sloshing around in my head.

I've sort of been putting this off- journaling of any sort- for quite awhile. It's hard to not sit here, hitting the delete key after everything I type, for fear that it will sound stupid to whoever should stumble on my page. It's good for the soul, though. Being a fairly introverted person, I find it important not to let myself always crawl into a shell when I get home. It's way too easy and comfortable to do that. I will not always live in this little 20,000 person bubble (this world is much too big to get comfortable here).... and I don't want to live like it.

Believe it or not, I have met MANY people here who have never set foot outside of Minnesota. They look at me with this glazed over expression when I tell them about traveling, learning new cultures, eating mystery meals... and those are just stories about visiting Oregon!

Willmar, Minnesota has a culture of its own. I'm on my way to a ritual called Grand March tonight. You could call it highschool prom on steroids. Girls buy dresses that cost hundreds of dollars, guys rent tuxes, then the fun part starts. The girl goes with the guy to make sure his vest matches her dress, then they go to the florist to pick out a bouquet of flowers that matches also. On prom night, after tanning beds and hairstylists, the two jump into the most expensive or bazare vehicle they can rent or borrow (limo, coach bus, jag, etc) and head to grand march. They show up in their vehicle and parade in front of thousands of people after they are announced; what car they came in and where they ate beforehand is also usually included in the announcement. Then they close the doors and prom begins. Pretty elaborate pre-prom event... and I've been sucked in. There are several girls in our youth group that are in it this weekend (each school is a different week) so we're going to ooh and ahh for them as youth leaders.

I'm out for now. My dog, Bertie, is begging me to take her outside. She keeps doing the extended grunt and sigh. Yes, yes, that'll do doggie.