I had an awesome day today. Very, very eventful with occasional moments of panic or worry--but overall awesome!

I woke up a half an hour late for work today. First time I've done that since I started working there in June. What's odd is somehow I knew that was going to happen... Very, very weird. You'd think I'd listen to myself and double-check my alarm clock. But I didn't. And it never went off. :P So at 9:30 I called Georgene and told her my alarm didn't go off, threw some clothes on, whacked a brush through my hair, speed-brushed my teeth, and went over. Georgene had to take a 10 AM funeral delivery, but the day was otherwise not busy, thank the LORD. I only had about 8 deliveries or so today. Niiiiiice.

Anyway, so Georgene was out delivering when I got to the shop, and I wasn't quite sure what to expect when she got back. But, praise God, she wasn't even the least upset. She had gotten slightly freaked out, but basically she was just hugely relieved that I was okay, and at the shop, and everything. We shared a lot of nervous, giggly, relieved laughter and she even hugged me. I LOVE my coworker! She is so amazing. :D

So the day was slow, like I said. I got to learn some new things, 'cause I had to answer the phone and take a couple orders while G was busy. The first time I did it wrong, but then she showed me what to do, and I did pretty durn well the second time. :D Coolness.

I was done delivering just before 1 PM, but when I got back, G was kind of freaking out. Okay, she was freaking out. She found out that the water heater had burst, like, a WEEK ago. And there was water ALL over the basement of the shop, which is where all the extra vases and baskets are kept. And there were about 6 boxes, cardboard boxes, full of vases and baskets on the ground where it got soaked. Somewhere around 40 baskets were totally ruined, covered in mold, because the water heater was leaking and soaking them all week long. Oy. :/ So I helped Georgene get all the vases and baskets out and determine which ones were salvageable and which weren't, and then helped her haul soggy, stinky cardboard up stairs and outside to the cardboard recycling bin. Not a very good end to G's day, sadly... I took it more lightheartedly, and I think that attitude encouraged her some, but I think she's afraid she is going to get the blame for not getting those baskets and vases unpacked sooner. I am going to pray she doesn't.

Anyway.... So after work, I came home and it was time to prepare for Darcey's coming over. YAY! I finished my delicious, delicious fruit pizza that G gave me the recipe for (it was AMAZING), and Stephen, bless his heart!, cooked Thai chicken curry for dinner. Oh yum! The dinner was started a bit late...Whoops, LOL... But that gave us a chance to chat with Darcey before eating, which I was actually really hoping for in the first place.

It went so successfully. What else could you expect when it was God's idea in the first place, LOL, but it was so great! So so great! Darcey was incredibly open with us about everything she's been through, and very trusting. She's really sweet and I am SO glad we answered God's call and did this. Seriously. It turned out so well. We even got to give her a book called The Reason for God, by Timothy Keller, which we've been trying to find somebody to receive it for EVER. And we did have some neat talks about God... Stephen talked about covenantal theology, and I think I learned some things, too! LOL.

Darcey is incredibly open to learning more about the Gospel, God, and this new faith she's found. More open than I am by far, and I'm not ashamed to say that, because her openness gives me a concrete example of what I need to reach for in my relationship with God, which is pretty awesome.

We got to explain our new understanding of the parable Jesus told about the two sons (Luke 15), and how it's not about the prodigal son in the story. It's about the father. It's about how neither son valued the relationship with their father, although both showed it in different ways--and one returned to his father, and one, we don't know. (We got all this from Timothy Keller's The Prodigal God; I highly recommend that book. It is incredibly convicting and amazing.)

Anyway, everything just all went over so, so well. It was awesome. I can't wait to tell Georgene about it on Tuesday, when we meet for coffee. I can't wait for Tuesday's meeting with her anyway, ha!, because she has that day off and doesn't really know what to do with herself, and I have a feeling either she or I will suggest doing something together more than just coffee. Wheee! :D

I am so glad we met with Darcey today. I am psyched to see her again. And Steve and I are going to invite her over for dinner again--maybe in a few weeks. I still don't know, again, what exactly that will look like, what God wants out of it, but I feel like we should.

Diary(land), I am afraid of people getting to know me. I am afraid to invite Darcey over again, because then she will get closer to me, and I'm afraid of that. Sometimes I feel so ugly inside. Like places of me were never meant to show, and I want to hide them as deeply and as securely as I can. And I know myself--I know I tend to trust people right off the bat, and tell them tons about myself, and I usually slip up and tell those dark, ugly places on accident, and then I worry that it's before they're "ready," whatever that means! But I wish God would change my heart so that I didn't fear that so much. Darcey certainly didn't today. I don't want to either. I want God to change that part of my heart.

Wow, that was really deep for a kind of afterthought... More stuff to share with G when the moment comes, LOL. I really, truly want to share stuff with her, but so often I find myself just listening to her talk and my brain goes absolutely blank, 'cause I'm so inundated with her life that I forget about mine. (Not always a bad thing, by the way!) One of these days my brain will start functioning again, LOL, and I'll say something really wise... But I think for now, she must just need somebody to listen.

I can definitely do that. :)

Love this life!!!

-Stephanie

P.S. Just reading over my entry I thought of this--it's a commitment thing. I'm afraid of commitment. (Obviously, I'm married, but that's not what I'm talking about.) The whole marriage ministry thing--I'm afraid of committing to that (but I'm doing it!). And new friends--I'm deathly afraid of committing to new friends. (With good reason, if you consider how I always feel like people leave me. ...Perhaps I need to get over that.) But I'm even afraid of committing to a restaurant. I know that sounds ridiculous. It's Panera I'm talking about. WIth bigger restaurants that have lots of workers, I don't worry about it so much, because I see different people every time. But I do NOT like to regularly go to Panera, even though I love their food--because I see the same people there all the time. There are two girls I've seen a lot of. Erin is one, and I think the other girl's name is Kayla.

Oh, ugh--really, God? Really? Oh, ugh. I think God just told me that I'm supposed to minister to Kayla...AGH. He would say something like that. Oh, fiddle, I can't get out of it now.

Good grief. Anyway....... Poor confused Dland readers.... What I mean is, we see those two girls a lot, and I know they recognize us. I'm afraid of that. Because I'm not really sure where the line is drawn between someone being just the person I order food from, and actually beginning a friendship of odd sorts. And what on earth does that even look like? How do you talk with "fast-food" cashiers?? Especially 'cause Panera is always so busy. Oy.

Kayla is the one I'm more afraid of, and as it hit me why just now, it hit me that God probably wants me to talk to her. Kayla strikes me as more "needy" than Erin. I feel like Erin is pretty solid and mature or something, but Kayla needs somebody. That's why I feel like God actually wants me to talk to her more than the other one.

Yeah, I know. Who seriously thinks about Panera workers this much. But Steve and I are seriously in there ALL the TIME and if you believe that God is directing your life.... Well, odd ideas do get placed in your head. *grin*

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