have to balance out the productivity of this afternoon...

Hey there gang! Here's a quick update from the world of Jennifer. New job is still great, I'm learning a lot everyday. The owner/head doctor is a lot of fun and really brilliant. He's taught me and Ruth a lot about casting people's feet to make orthotics. I'm learning more about feet than I ever thought I would, lol. I see patients about 1/3 of the time (trimming back their nails and thinning/smoothing them), then the rest of the time I help Ruth with ordering orthotics and work on medical records, paperwork and computer stuff. The clinic administrator is smart as a whip too. She knows so much about feet/ankles as well as computer stuff. She wants to train me to be the IT person so her time's freed up for administrative duties. The rest of the staff is great, everyone works hard but has fun doing it. Most Fridays I have gotten off early too, to avoid overtime.
In baby news, Jennifer and Erik finally had their baby! Ben Samuel Murphy, born 7/11 @ 2:09am, 8 lbs 3 oz. He is so perfect! Andi, Amanda and I were at the hospital with her parents and sister and his parents when he was born, which made for a rough day the next day with only 2 hours sleep. It was so totally worth it though. Poor Jennifer, she had a ROUGH time. She went into full labor around noon on the 10th after being at the hospital since 2 am that morning when her water broke. She started pushing around 10pm and after 2 1/2 hours he hadn't come out, so they went in and got him via c-section. She was wiped, a whole day of no food and pretty much 2 days without sleep. She's amazing. I got to see them the next day and she was up and walking. I got to witness Erik dealing with a newborn, which was precious. I feel honored and privileged to be able to see his first moments as a father and see the look on his face as he gazed on his son in the first hours of his life. I look forward to seeing what great parents he and Jennifer will be and see how God grows them in this. I'm also super-ecstatic to be a part of this little man's family and see the man God's making him to be. He's already been at work for 9 1/2 months and I love what He's done so far!!

new job

Ok, this one's not as awe-inspiring or deep as my previous ones, more of an update. As the title suggests, I started a new job. It's at a podiatry (foot doctor) office in Durham. It's really been pretty great. I started on Monday. I'm primarily going to be nail tech at the two Durham branches and will help assist and work with the computer system when I don't have appointments. Everyone there seems really nice and easy to get along with. Everyone seems to really like each other and enjoy working there, it's so awesome! My bosses took me to lunch yesterday to get to know me more. There seems to be quite a few really strong Christians which is really encouraging. I think this is really going to work out so I'm pretty excited.
I also got Skype so feel free to hit me up if you see me on. I'm hoping to be able to Skype my family, especially my nieces. Mike tells me Michaela got put in the advanced gymnastics class for her age group, she's growing up so fast! Anyways, gotta hit the hay early since I got a big girl job that starts at 8 in Durham every weekday! :)
Enjoy the 4th and be safe!!!

pearl of great price

I'm still reading in the life of Jesus and I'm in the part with a lot of the parables. Let me tell you, they make me feel like I'm dense sometimes. I can totally see how the disciples needed them explained to them sometimes. I just finished reading about the "pearl of great price." It's short so I'll write the whole parable out:
"Again, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a pearl merchant on the lookout for choice pearls. When he discovered a pearl of great value, he sold everything he owned and bought it!"
I have two questions: huh? and what?
Why would this guy sell everything he owned to buy this pearl? If he had enough to buy the pearl, wasn't he pretty rich anyway? And once he got the pearl, wouldn't he need to just turn around and sell it again to buy food and things to live off of? And how exactly is this Kingdom of Heaven like this guy and his beloved pearl? I am muy confused.
In other news, I think I may try conversing more with my neighbor kids. They need to learn more English and I miss talking Spanish. It's a win-win.

Jesus and baptism

I'm reading in the gospel about the life of Jesus and came across some interesting and puzzling stuff. When talking about John and Jesus, Luke mentions that Jesus never baptized anyone, He left that to His disciples (Luke 4:2). That had me pondering "Why?" I mean, the first, obvious answer is He didn't want anyone getting a big head ("*I* was baptized by Jesus"). But, aren't all believers commanded to baptize? It's right there in the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19-20). I would appreciate any thoughts on the subject.
Another thought from the passages about Jesus and John: when Elizabeth was pregnant with John, Mary came to visit. When she was in the presence of Elizabeth and John, it says John "leaped" in his mother's womb and Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit (Luke 1:41). It made me think how the Holy Spirit is like Furbies. When two or more believers are gathered (Matthew 18:20), Christ is among them. The Holy Spirit just stirs inside them. So very cool!!

calm my anxious heart

I'm reading this book and this was something really good I thought I'd share:
In time of trouble, say, "First, He brought me here. It is by His will that I am in this strait place; in that I will rest." Next, "He will keep me here in His love, and give me grace in this trial to behave as His child." Then say, "He will make this trial a blessing, teaching me lessons He intends me to learn, and working in my the grave He means to bestow." And last, say, "In His good time, He can bring me out again. How and when, He knows." Therefore, say, "I am here 1) by God's appointment, 2) in His keeping, 3) under His training, 4) for His time."

Happy Easter

No, this is not a note to wish you all a Happy Easter (though I really hope you had one!). It's to tell you about my happy Easter weekend. We left Thursday to visit Andi's family in Mississippi. We flew down to Jackson and got there right before dinner time. Andi's aunt, Carr, and her two boys, Mason and Barrett met us at the airport along with Andi's grandmother, Grammy. We all went out to Japanese for dinner and then played with the boys before helping with bathtime and bedtime. Then we stayed up a bit chatting.
The next day, we met up with Carr's confirmand (a girl she's mentoring as she goes through Confirmation) and had some coffee at a local shop called Cups. Then it was pedicure time!! We had a blast taking over this nail shop and getting our nails did! Then we stopped for lunch at a Panera-esque place before heading by Walmart to buy some bubble supplies (including 2 bubble guns for Andi and I!!!) for the boys for Easter. Then we headed back to the house and Grammy headed to her home. Then Andi and I took over "mommy duty" (picking up the boys, dropping off prescriptions for Barrett and picking up dinner and the prescriptions) while Carr was super-productive at the house, getting it ready for having family over on Sunday.
Saturday, we got all fancied up and went to Vicksburg for Andi's cousin's graduation luncheon at an ante-bellum home called Anchuca. It was such a pretty house and I got some great pictures. Afterwards, we dropped Carr off at Grammy's to take a catnap and Andi and I drove around Vicksburg. We saw the bridge across the Mississippi river and crossed into Louisiana for a hot minute. Afterwards, Carr left and we spent some time with Andi's Grammy and Grampy and one of her uncles (and Grampy's mean Chihuahua, Beegee). Then Grammy took us out to eat for catfish at a place called Rowdy's. It was delicious! We had a relaxing evening, reading some of their Bible trivia book, which was very interesting. Andi woke up early the next day to go to sunrise service with her Grampy while Grammy and I were rank heathens and slept in. But not for too long, we went to a pancake breakfast at their church before Sunday school. Grampy taught their Sunday school class and Andi and I got to sit in and join the discussion. It was good times and I got some great shots of Grampy teaching (he was loving it!). At church, we sang some good ol' hymns which I was loving. Then we headed back to the house to change and get things ready to head to Carr's. Grampy tried to get me to give Beegee his meds while he held, but seeing as how he's protective of Grampy, I didn't think that was a good idea. We headed to pick up Grampy's brother Nunkey and headed over to Carr's. At Carr's, we had lunch with Carr's husband James' family (sister, mother, father and stepmother and their families). Then we played with the kids in their inflatable bouncer and the bubbles. The boys had a ball and were wiped out. Barrett fell asleep not 2 seconds after his bath. The next day, our last day, we packed up everything and then James drove us all to meet Carr for lunch before Carr drove us around to a few local shops to look around. Then we headed to the airport, only to find out that the plane that was supposed to leave from Atlanta to pick us up in Jackson and go back to Atlanta for our connecting flight, ended up having mechanical problems and we needed to be re-routed. Our final itinerary sent us to Dallas/Ft. Worth, then to Greensboro/PTI, they couldn't get us directly into RDU (holidays, you know). In our layover at DFWwe saw a famous actor coming out of the restroom (he probably thought we were a little creepy, but still, awesome!!). It was the guy who played Mahoney on "Prison Break." We were picked up by our friend Jennifer and got home around 1 am Tuesday morning (which made for an interesting first day back).
All in all, I had a terrific time and it felt like a real vacation. I had some great experiences. Thank you to everyone who made it possible, by either driving us to or from the airport, switching days off, watching the house and Ducky for us, and especially for hosting us and treating us well and showing us (well, me. Andi'd been there before) around Vicksburg and Jackson. Thank you!!!

Spring Break

Yes, I had a "spring break." I know you're thinking, "But Jennifer, you don't go to school." Well, I took time off of work for NCSU's spring break so I could go on a mission trip. It blows my mind that most people spend their entire spring break sleeping late and eat lots of food, or vacationing somewhere warm where they...sleep late and eats lots of food. It seems a little selfish, though I could see how people need to take a mental break after school and whatnot. Anyways, I thought I'd blog about our time there so everyone who couldn't come and everyone who was praying for us would know how it went.

We left late Saturday afternoon, most of us in the church van and those who were coming back early driving separate. We made pretty good time getting down there, despite a failed attempt at stopping for dinner at South of the Border (what place in this day and age doesn't accept credit cards?). At least people got to see this landmark. So, we got there late Saturday night, meeting at Rob and Jacob's house, two guys that are involved with the church down there (Rob is the pastor, Robbie McAlister's son). We found out where we would be staying (well, the girls did, the boys were all staying at Rob and Jacob's) and Miranda, Christine and I headed out to find an open grocery store so we could buy the groceries we would need for the few days we were down there (not an easy task at 10:30 at night). We ended up at walmart and spent easily the most money I've ever spent on groceries (we were buying for 20 people for 3-4 days) which was quite a feeling. Then we dropped the groceries off and went to our respective houses. I didn't get a good look at the house the first night since it was late and I went straight to bed, but let me tell you how gorgeous this house is. Rob and Jacob live on the outskirts of this historic area in Columbia. 2 of the 3 girls houses are in the historic district and are amazing. Our house was white with a beautiful etched glass door that had the palmetto symbol on it ("1!"...inside joke). The family that hosted us were super-nice. The wife is an artist and has a room that's her studio with a lot of her work in it. She homeschools their youngest daughter who was almost 15. Their oldest daughter is a USC alumna and the middle daughter is taking a break from CIU. They had a lot of artwork and pretty things in their house. The room we stayed in had a very comfortable bed and their porch was so pretty I just wanted to sit on it all day. They live on a tree-lined street which is just enthralling. I could totally see myself living in a house like that one day.

Sunday we had breakfast cooked by one of the Riverbend members and then we shared testimonies before heading all the way out to the church plant called River's Edge. They've started the church in a little community center in the gym. They had quite a few people though, and lots of kids. I actually only got to enjoy the first song of the church service because they needed people to help with the nursery. So, Bekah and I went to help them out. I got to go to the 3-6 year olds' class where we watched a video and then had a snack and played with play-doh and then colored. It was a blast! After church we went home to make lunch and then most headed to USC campus to have quiet times and then play ultimate. We got a few guys to join us at ultimate and it was a lot of fun. The other group went to a children's home to help out. Then we headed home and got ready for dinner and homegroup at one of the church family's house. We had awesome worship time led by Rob and Madison and then Robbie gave a talk on spiritual warfare. Then we headed home to rest up for the next day.

Monday, we had breakfast and then learned the rest of the bridge diagram (or all of it, for those who weren't in the outreach class) . Then we headed out to USC campus to do surveys and try to get into conversations with people about God. We saw 2 people saved, one being the very first person Loren shared the bridge with! It was such a God thing, He was leading us to the right people. Then we got back together to share and eat lunch before going out again in the afternoon. My partner was Jimmy and he did a great job acclimating to the survey and initializing with people. It was a strange experience being the "trainer" when I've just been learning the diagram myself this semester. Anyways, then we headed home to make dinner. After dinner, Emily, one of the girls who goes to Riverbend, invited us out dancing! She used to be a professional dancer and actually was in Dancing with Wolves when she went to school at NCSU. A group of us went to this bagel shop that they convert into a dance floor after hours on Mondays. We were a little intimidated at first because they were all doing dance moves most of us had never even seen before (the Lindy Hop and swinging) but they were very patient with us and taught us some new dance steps. One guy was just like Matthew Staples, so we called him Columbia Matthew. His name was actually Nate and he was a great lead and very nice to all of us beginner/novices. After we had danced a while, the SCers got us in a group and taught us the Big Apple, a dance that was started right there in Columbia! It was a lot of fun, we had a blast learning the different moves (it's a "call" circular dance). Then we went home and slept.

Tuesday, my last day, was more of the "same." We ate breakfast and then went out on campus again. Jimmy and I seemed to have less opportunities on Tuesday, but our last conversation was very encouraging. She seemed to understand and said she had already done what we had described. She also told us that she was learning about the tactic we use to get into conversations (surveying and then asking if we could do the diagram as a follow-up) in her psychology class. It's called "foot-in-the-door" tactic. So that was pretty cool. We met again for lunch, after which me and my carload had to head out. I drove Bekah, Anthony, and Peter back. Anthony and Peter slept most of the way back, and Bekah slept a lot of it. So it was peaceful and I could think on the recent events.

Thank you for all who prayed for us!! God surely blessed our trip. Our whole group seemed to really cement, even though most of us had never met or really spend a lot of time together. And the fruit we saw on campus really encouraged not only us who were sharing our faith, but I'm sure the church that is trying to start a campus ministry.