Last week i woke up feeling sick but i knew i couldn’t be pregnant (good thing, we can barely afford ourselves right now!) so i called in to work and went to the doc (on Nathaniel’s urging, not my idea). She prescribed me medicine, gave me fact sheets, and told me to go on a acid-reflux diet for two weeks. At first it didn’t sound so bad, but MAN i didn’t realize how necessary some foods are, and how attached to others i am. Or just how long two weeks really is.

I can’t have anything acidic, caffeinated, chocolate, fatty, or greasy. Also not most dairies. That pretty much left me with rice and bread. What made it worse was that we had just done a big grocery shopping two days prior. With coupons in one hand, Target gift cards in the other, and a sharp eye, we packed the cart with great deals. For food that included Candy Cane holiday milk (oh, peppermint is also out), Chocolate Mint Truffle (which i just realized i didn’t use a coupon for grrr) creamer, Chocolate Truffle (see a pattern?) Folgers (we’re not Folgers fans, but it was on sale, so we’ll give this line a try) Gourmet Selections coffee, shredded cheddar cheese, pasta sauce, chocolate (is it real chocolate, though?) cereal, and other stuff i can’t (don’t want to) remember.

One day last week my coworker brought doughnuts. They were surprised i didn’t eat any. Hey, even though i didn’t do well in school, i do stick to things. It wasn’t easy with them sitting out in the open with that sweet smell wafting up at me when i walk by, but i am rather proud of myself in resisting the temptation. What was even harder was a wedding that i went to Saturday. The pre-dinner snack was coffee, lemonade, chips, and salsa. The last three of which i could tell was homemade. People kept raving about them. I only had one chip but i wonder if i could’ve had more. I mean, i’m pretty sure they were baked. I hated having to ask the servers what everything was, and then later picking through my food with my husband sitting next to me eating like i wanted to. Then the cake was chocolate and many people at the table got coffee as it started cooling down. ::sigh:: Not as bad was agape feast on Sunday. We had lunch before church and weren’t going to go, but i ended up staying. I was still full from lunch so i didn’t even have to bother picking out what i can and cannot eat.

Speaking of lunch, i had a soup and salad (and bread-corn, even though the garlic looked soooo good) combo. I thought that would be easy, until the waitress asked me what type of dressing i wanted. Oops, can’t have Ranch. I opted for the French. I didn’t know what’s in it, but figured it to be lower-fat than the others, all of which i know i couldn’t have (or want, in the case of honey dijon). It was actually pretty good, and it was at that moment i realized i should look at the bright side of this diet: a chance to try something new. I’m not stubborn or too picky, but if i know what i like, i’m not going to try something else. Same with milk. I am somewhat lactose-intolerant and also vie for the 2%. I swear against whole, 1%, non-fat, and soy. Nathaniel thought it would be a good idea to get me Silk Very Vanilla Soymilk for my cereal, and he was right! She likes it! Hey Becky!

Still, don’t think i’m going to give up coffee, salsa, or chocolate anytime soon. Tuesday, i’m having Mint Chocolate Truffle Chocolate Truffle coffee, chocolate cereal, tuna (oh yeah, that’s out too) salad, and pasta. I’m starting to grow weary of my consumption of apples, applesauce, and apple juice, the one (three) thing on my safe list that i like-like and not just not dislike. Maybe after that i’ll try to keep it easy, because it’s not like keeping away from certain foods will make my body like them any better. I’ll just stop ignoring it as much from now on.

I am not a fan.  Well, i’m a fan of sales, but today has been a crazy day, i finished my shopping before 9a.  I did all my shopping on Amazon.com 

and i wish i could go into more detail on the great deals i snagged, but i can’t for obvious reasons.  Although, i wish i had added more to my cart last night.  I did a lot of browsing and figuring out and only added something when i knew that’s what i wanted.  However, i found that the selection had drastacly dropped.  For example, last night it says that thousands of DVDs were on sale starting at $4.99.  This morning it said hundreds.  Now it’s over 200 starting at $4.99 and 122 available starting at $8.49.  I am happy with the selection though.  Besides the site being a little buggy, it was an overable enjoyable experience and i was happy to avoid the crowds…or so i thought.

I had actually already encountered crowds the night before.  We were out of milk so i stopped at Albertson’s on my way home from work.  I had a hard time finding a spot, which should’ve been a red flag to go home.  I go inside and there are people everywhere, and i was looking for an ad and didn’t find one (there was a coupon in it that if you buy four Kellog’s cereal, you get a free gallon of milk).  So i go home and we just had ramen for dinner.  I couldn’t deal with it.  I found the ad we got in the mail under my desk, where i placed it for “safe keeping.”  Sure enough, i found the coupon in it, but it had expired yesterday.  We still need milk.  Today i stopped at Target on my way home from a bridal shower (i’ll get back to this) and in the middle of shopping, Nathaniel calls and asks where i am (he’s at work) because our landlord was at our place in response to a complaint about the hard water (nasty deposits on everything but they don’t want to buy a water softener).  He asks if i even have a Target gift card…oops.  I put the milk back and left the cart.  I was parked pretty far away and had to go back through the mall.  I knew i should’ve put off Target until after i got home.  So that’s twice i had to fight crowds for no reason.

Make that thrice.  Or two and a half times?  I stopped at Macy’s this morning in between getting my hair cut and the bridal shower.  I was later getting to the salon than i had intended, but i got out at 11a so i was still making good time.  If i already had a gift, i would’ve been on time.  But i had put it off, so i stopped at Macy’s in Fashion Island and all that took an hour just for a muffin pan.  The thing is, we have a Macy’s right by us.  It’s what i parked by when i went to Target.  I need to not put off things.  I was worried about money and was going to try to find something at Target that was similar to something on the registry, but all of a sudden it was today and i was without a gift.  So i ended up getting there 90min late.  I only stayed an hour because there were only two other girls i knew, so i left when they did.  I’m not good with people, be it large crowds or a roomful of women.

Yesterday we did snag some good deals though.  If you aren’t familiar with CVS, they sometimes have deals where you get cash back on your store card for future purchases.  These are called Extra Care Bucks (ECB).  So bear with me as i be weird and post my purchases.  There is a point.  Oh and check out how long the receipt was!

$1.00 Hershey’s Cookies ‘N’ Cream

$2.99 Aussie spray gel

$7.99 Schick Quattro

$2.99 Colgate Total Advance

$6.99 L’oreal lipgloss

$3.79 Sally Hansen Max Growth nail polish

$3.79 Sally Hansen Max Growth nail polish

$3.99 5hr Extra (energy) shot 2pk

$5.99 Covergirl Smoother 

$1.49 Gatorade 20oz

$0.05 Bottle Deposit

Below is the testimony I gave a few weeks ago as part of the membership process at my church.

..~<@>~..

One day a couple decided to get their daughter a puppy. They took her to the pound, pointed to an adorable mutt lying in a cage and asked her if she liked that puppy. The girl answered positively and her eyes shined with delight as she gazed upon her soon-to-be pet, now standing and wagging its tail, staring back at her with equal excitement. With that, the parents took the girl back home, leaving the puppy behind. They dug out an old doghouse from the back of the garage and scrubbed it of the dust that accumulated over the years. They bought new food and water dishes and chewtoys for the puppy. Sometimes they would buy treats for the puppy as well. When asked if she had a pet, the girl would tell people about her puppy at home. She loved to spend time shaking a chewtoy or grabbing the leash for a walk. There was just one problem; through all this, the puppy was still at the pound. The dogfood spilled over the wet ground around as it was filled more and more but with no dog to eat it or drink the water. The girl must’ve been quite a sight, waving a squeaky rubber newspaper in the air, and dragging an empty leash around the neighborhood. When people came to visit, they wondered where the famous puppy was, but didn’t inquire about it. If the family said it was there, it must be around somewhere out of site, perhaps sleeping peacefully in a bright corner of the yard. They would know if they had a puppy, and who was anyone to question that? Of course, this poses a major problem. The little girl liked owning a dog, but -in reality not owning one- never experienced the pleasure that comes from from actually owning a dog. And as time went on, she has a false sense of security, relying on her non-existent guard dog to protect her as she took the leash on a walk or left the house empty. Her family and friends truly believed she had a dog, so the girl never for one minute doubted her ownership of that puppy at the pound.

This was me for most of my life, if you can compare faith to an animal. At four I said the prayer and at five I was dunked in the Pacific by a Calvary Chapel South Bay pastor. I thought I was set. One time at AWANA, which I was a part of from 2nd grade through junior high, we had to give our testimonies. My mom told me that I had what was called a boring testimony: I was a good Christian all of my life. I never understood what so many people had against God and Christianity, or why there was so much controversy surrounding religion. I didn’t get why they wouldn’t just say the prayer. It only took a minute! They could carry on with their strange customs if they just accept Jesus into their heart, and it would all be good. My family stopped going to church when I was 12, just when I was old enough to go to the secondary school class. We continued with AWANA, but I stopped going when I got to high school, because no churches in the area offered a varsity program. I didn’t want to join a youth group because I was basically just in AWANA for the verse memorization and games (ie, competition). Fellowshiping and spiritual growth was not my goal. Eventually, I started going to church again at 19. I had been feeling guilty that I didn’t go. I couldn’t state a reason to do so, but I just felt like I should.

I didn’t get the gospel. I didn’t even know what it meant. Even though the church I attended when I said the sinner’s prayer seems to believe that you can be saved without hearing the gospel, that’s not the case. I understood the term as a music genre and what the first four books of the new testament are called, but that was about it. You can forget about atonement. I thought that Jesus offered himself up as a hostage exchange for a group of Jews that had been captured by the Romans. I figured they considered that an even trade because, well, he’s JESUS. I believed in free will and thought God created the world because He was bored and needed company. I had never heard words such as Fall, Atonement, Sanctification, etc. I thought Grace was just a characteristic or nice girl’s name. I was familiar with Christian songs (contemporary and traditional), but didn’t pay much mind to them or saw beyond a superficial meaning or nice beat. Church meant pasting cotton balls to sheep shapes. I didn’t get why religion was so controversial or why people didn’t want to rather be safe than sorry and take a couple minutes to accept Jesus in their heart so they can go to Heaven and watch the angels play harps all day long too.

I can’t give a specific date when I became saved. I can pinpoint it sometime while I was reading Desiring God by John Piper, which did take me a while because there’s a lot in there and I didn’t always find time to sit down and read. I just know that who I was before and after reading it was entirely two different people. I don’t attribute it to the book, of course. It was purely the work of the Holy Spirit. As far as the means used, attending Monday night apologetics tore down my worldview and wrong conceptions about religion and life, while Desiring God built it up to the right focus (that’s not to say Faith Defenders wasn’t edifying). I, like many people, had wrestled with the meaning of life. I didn’t believe true happiness existed, that we were only sometimes blissful for a while. The only thing I knew my whole life was that God must’ve had to put us here for a reason, and we’d have to deal with it. I found out that life is so much more than just dealing. We have meaning and purpose, the basic core of which is to glorify God. I was a new person, and found myself “happy” even when I had every reason to be sad. There was now a firm foundation where there was just sand or pixie dust or something before. I saw a deeper beauty to everything. Most importantly, I had a strong confidence and hope that Jesus paid for my sins, and I was determined to show my respect and appreciation, what little I could give.

Maybe it’s a little silly to compare one’s faith to an animal, but it’s even sillier to think that a little prayer could save someone. Thankfully, by God’s grace and providence, I was saved from a meaningless life of guilt and humanism, and brought to a new life of continuous joy and gratitude towards our gracious Creator, ever-loving Savior, and vitalizing Comforter. I am glad to have found a church that follows the Bible and look forward to being a part of Faith Community Church, to edify and be edified.