Praise God!....But not like that.

Since when have Christians become so objective about the way other Christians worship? If I want to hold out my hands, then I should be able to do so without thinking, "Gee, I hope the guy behind me doesn't think I look stupid." If one wants to jump around while playing in the church worship band, then so be it. How dare anybody tell you to do otherwise. 

I've been learning about this concept of "genuine worship." Basically, however you choose to worship God, you should mean it. It should be genuine. You shouldn't lift up your hands so the guy behind you thinks, "Wow, she must really love God!" You should lift up your hands because that's the way you want to worship the Lord. 

Last time I checked, this was a free country, and I'm pretty sure that the bible is explicit on the different ways to worship. (Here's where I direct you to Psalm 150 for some examples.) Nowhere in the bible does it say, "Praise God with a stiff upper lip. Praise Him with hardly any excitement. And, rebuke those who do otherwise." 

This is GOD we are talking about. You know, He sent His only son to die for the sins of the world. And, if we ask Him into our hearts, we are free from sin and death! Why wouldn't you want to jump up and down and clap and dance and sing loud??? And why should anyone feel so inclined to try and hinder you from that kind of worship? I agree that everyone has their own "style" of worship, but it is not within anyone's rights to tell others how they should worship. 

And that's my soapbox for the day.

Got my haircut...

It was time. On the plane home from St. Louis, I noticed that I had lots and lots of split ends in my hair. I am trying to grow it out, which is taking forever, and now will take even longer because I cut my hair. I had a picture for reference so that my hairdresser had no excuse.

I will admit that I am a stickler for a bargain, especially when it comes to something like a haircut. So, yes, I go to Great Clips. Can't beat $12 for a haircut!

Now, the question boggling my mind is this: Why is it so awkward to get your haircut? They put that cape over you and you feel like you've been tied to the chair. They always snap that thing around your neck just tight enough so that you're not choking to death. You tell them what you want to look like, and suddenly your life is in their hands (or scissors for that matter). If they screw up even a little bit, you are doomed to wear a hat or some ugly hair clip for the next two weeks until it grows back.
And why can you never think of anything to say to the hairdresser other than how great the weather's been? Granted, there are people out there who are like friends with their hairdresser (or barber) so you always have plenty to say. But otherwise, it is nearly impossible to come up with a discussion topic. My conversation with my hairdresser this time began with her asking me, "Do you have any plans?" How do I answer that? Of course I have plans! I have plans for tonight, plans for the weekend, plans for the future? Whadya wanna know honey? So I rebutted, "What, for tonight?" She answered, "Yeah, sure." I proceeded to tell her that I had minimal plans for the evening due to the fact that my husband was away at school for the night. Then we continued with menial small talk, and somewhere in there she called me "girlfriend" for some reason.
And why is it that once you get home from the haircutters, you can NEVER style it the way they did, and it will never look as good as you want it to again. Are they some kind of hair-wizards or something?

All in all she did a good job on my hair. It looked pretty close to the picture I had showed her. Once I got past the awkwardness, it was a pretty enjoyable experience. We'll see how my hair looks tomorrow once I get done with it.

How Awesome God is

Back in July, Evan and I along with 11 of our friends from church were given the great opportunity to go on a mission trip to Tijuana, Mexico. We were sent down to build a house for a family with less-than-adequate accommodations for themselves. We're not talkin' mansions here, just a simple 11X22 one-room house. But to our Mexican family, it was more than they will ever have. The experience was something I will never forget. (If you want to hear all about it, you will just have to contact me!)
When I got back to the U.S., I was reluctant to go back to "the old grind" because I knew that God designed us for so much more. How can I carry out God's work sitting in a cubicle all day? Much to my chagrin, I headed back to work. I began to feel a bit forlorn, but I knew that God had brought me to my job for a reason, and maybe I just needed to listen better to find out what that was.
A month of two went by, I got back into the normal routine, and had almost forgotten about Mexico. I was in the middle of some busy-work when my phone rang. My desk phone rarely rings, so I was a bit surprised. I was even more surprised when I heard my boss's boss Donna on the other line. Am I in trouble? Does she sound mad? What is this about? Well, here's how the conversation went down:
Donna: Hi Aubrey, how are you?
Me (nervous): Fine Donna! How are you?
Donna: OK, I just had a quick question for you.
Me: Ok, what's up?
Donna: As you know, we are having our department All Hands meeting in October.
Me: Yep.
Donna: Do you remember last year, how Samantha from facilities did a presentation on her trip to New Orleans with Habitat for Humanity?
Me: Oh yeah, I do remember!
Donna: Well, Dick (our department head) likes to feature IEEE employees that have done volunteer work, and he was asking about you and your trip to Mexico. (Pause) Would you be interested in doing a presentation for the meeting about your trip?
Me (Nearly squealing): Really? Oh wow, I would be honored!
The conversation continued with more detail, but you get the idea by now.

This was it, this was why God brought me to IEEE! I do my presentation on October 2nd, purely by the grace of God. It's great to be able to relive the Mexico experience even months after it happened. God is making an impact everywhere - keep your eyes open!!
God is good, all the time. And all the time, God is good.

The Spirit of St. Louis!!!

What a perfect way to end the summer. I have been known to follow my favorite football team, the NY Giants - of course, all the way to Europe. But this time, we stayed state-side and followed them to the great city of St. Louis - home of the 1999 Superbowl Champions, the Rams. My hubby Evan is a Rams fan, so we thought this would be a perfect "mini-vacation" and we both get to see our favorite teams play each other.

Before the game, we were able to sight-see a little bit in St. Louis. Once we landed after a VERY bumpy flight, we settled in and headed to the famous Gateway Arch, which overlooks the city and provides a "gateway" to the west. Hence then name. The Arch doesn't look that big from far away, but once you get up close, that thing is HUGE!! We bought tickets to go to the top - yep, you can go up! They put you in these little pods th
at only seat 5 people and the ride to the top is about 4 minutes. I became quickly aware that even if I wanted to, I couldn't get out. Thankfully it was a short ride. There isn't much at the top because it's only about 10 feet wide. You basically look out the windows, take some pictures, if you're into that, and then get down. They also make you lean over this ledge to see out the windows, so it's a bit unnerving. When we got back down to earth, we visited the museum and the gift shops.
We had dinner at Landry's Seafood house - waaaay overpriced for what they were offering.

The next day, Evan and I visited the St. Louis zoo. I was excited because the weather forecast said rain, but it turned out to be a beautiful sunny day! We saw lots of great animals and we had a great time. Lots of walking though. I think the penguins were my favorite. They're just so much fun - although the penguin building was really cold!

That night we had dinner at supposedly the best Italian place in town - Lombardo's. It was mediocre, at best - although the fried ravioli was good.

Game day was finally upon us. Hurricaine Ike greeted us in the morning, but nothing was going to stop us from seeing those Giants! We rode to the game with Otis Anderson and got dropped off to our "tailgate party." We went into this big private room where they had tons of food for us to eat and free drinks. We had our fill and then went to find our seats. Rams' stadium is nice! We had club level seats, so they were a little more "upscale" than the rest of the stadium. Great seats too. We were about the middle of the stadium in the corner end-zone.
At first it was a little awkward being Giants fans in the midst of so many Rams fans, but the tables quickly turned as I realized that the fans know their team stinks. So the Giants fans were cheering their team, while the Rams fans were booing theirs. The Giants went on to beat the Rams 41 to 13. That's 2-0 for the G-Men!

This was the perfect little getaway for me and my hubby. Just what I needed to refresh my energy and get back into the swing of things.

Pictures coming soon!

Opening Day!!

My favorite time of the year - football season has begun. As season ticket holders for the NY Giants (2007 season Superbowl Champs!), I always go to the home opener. This year they were playing the Washington Redskins. The Giants were pretty much guaranteed the win.

I love the first game of the season. I took my best friend Karl to this game since it was his birthday. I don't love parking at the stadium because even with a pre-paid parking pass, we still had to park in east bumble-dorf. But I just love the smell of tailgate parties and the fans all pumped up, ready for game-time. I love getting into the stadium, and walking through the concourse to get to our seats. My favorite part is when we reach our section, and you come out of the little tunnel and you can finally see the field. The grass is nice and green, untouched yet by any cleats or a pile of defensive linemen trying to sack the QB. The players are usually warming up on the field and there is usually some crappy rap song echoing through the stadium. And then we finally get to our seats. Section 306, seats 24 + 25. 

It may be the upper deck, but we get a pretty good view from up there. I take it all in. My seat welcomes me back from a long summer. Little by little, everyone shuffles in, already sauced of course (not me!). Fans trying desperately to defend their manhood hollering "LET'S GO GIANTS!!!" as they climb the stairs to the top of the stadium. Recognizable faces join me in the section surrounding our seats. Like a happy, drunken reunion. 

This game was special, not only because it was opening day, but because these were the defending SUPERBOWL CHAMPS!!! They brought in a big float shaped like the Lombardi Trophy, and they let off some pyrotechnics while out popped Michael Strahan from inside the float holding the real Lombardi Trophy. He gave a short, yet impressive pre-game speech mentioning how NY fans are "by far the best fans in the NFL!" Finishing with a resounding "Now let's STOMP 'EM OUT!!" 

Here we go, kickoff. Giants win the coin toss, they will receive. Duh. Redskins kickoff, Giants bring the ball back. Took a few drives, but finally - TOUCHDOWN! It has officially begun. 

Giants played a good first quarter, a lousy rest of the game, but go on to win it 16-7. 

LET'S GO GIANTS!!! See you guys next week in St. Louis!

I love this game....

Here I Am!

Ok, I finally caved and started a blog. Having grown weary of the whole "MySpace" craze, I decided it was time to move on to bigger and better things. I'm not sure if starting a blog falls into bigger and better, but here we go.

I guess it would be appropriate to give you a little taste of what to expect here on my blog. You will notice that the title of my website is called "Life in this small town." I currently live in Middlesex, NJ, but I tell everyone that I live in Dunellen. Mostly because I grew up there, and now I spend most of my time there. Anyway, Middlesex is a relatively small town, but Dunellen is even smaller at only 1 square mile. That being said, I will be writing, musing, ranting, etc. about my life in this small town that we call home. 

So, allow me to tell you a little bit about myself. My name is Aubrey, and I am a 25 year old female who has been married for over 3 years. My husband's name is Evan - he's so dreamy! We live in Middlesex, as I said, and we live with Evan's mom in the upstairs part of the house. It's cozy and we kind of have our own little apartment up here. We have two cats, Josie and Slinky. I will be talking more about them another time. Evan's mom, Barbara, has two dogs, Max and Wilford. They are dumb...'nuff said. Evan and I attend the First Presbyterian Church of Dunellen where we have been members for over 2 years. I am also involved in the handbell choir, the nominating committee, the "Tech Team", the youth program, and the board of Deacons. I also play bass in our praise band from time to time - more on that some other time. If you couldn't tell, I am also a Christian. I am not a Presbyterian, I am not a Baptist, I am not catholic. I am a Christian - a follower of Christ. It's not always easy, but Jesus died for me, the least I can do is read His book and do what he tells me to do. On Mondays, Evan and I go to a weekly bible study started by our friends. We call it Plasma, though to this day, we're still not sure why. 

I work at IEEE - The Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers - where I am an Automated Data Management Specialist/Product Analyst. What exactly do I do? Log on to ieee.org and click "Shop." Start clicking around until you see some products that you can buy. I set up and maintain all that information for the products. Well, a lot of it anyway. What does it mean? I don't really know, but it pays the bills. 

I love to cook, I love to eat, and I love to travel. I will include some travel stories at a later date. 

So, that's about it in a nutshell. A very large nutshell, but a nutshell nonetheless. 

Stay tuned, there's lots more fun on the way!!!