Everyone Loves Raymond

Have you ever watched the TV show, Everyone Loves Raymond? It’s hilarious. Tom and I have been watching the show in the afternoons. Tom is not a big comedy guy so he never watched it before. I would have it on while I cooked and laugh out loud and thus pulled him into my comedy net.

One of the funny aspects of the show is Raymond himself. He usually does stupid man things every episode. This makes Tom look very good. The other day he pushed his wife too far and she said, “Do you know how close you are to death right now?” If you want to know how to be a good in-law or spouse watch this show and do the opposite of what you see.

As hard as it is to believe sometimes Tom pulls a “Raymond.” For instance today I bumped my head really hard on the refrigerator. He asked if I was okay and I replied, “Yes, but it hurts.” His response, “Is the refrigerator okay?” Yes, he was being funny.

I love my husband. I think Tom is the best man God could have ever given me to be my best friend and the father to my children. He’s a good man and I love him to pieces. I think he’s handsome and just looking at him makes me smile.

I love you honey even when you pull a “Raymond.”

© Nadine Zawacki 2009

How Well Do You Handle Correction?

Correction is never an easy thing. I have not met one person in my 47 years of life that loved or welcomed correction.

When I was a child, I didn’t deal with correction well. It wasn’t easy for me to take correction because I saw it as being rejected. I would shut down emotionally. If that was a problem still then editing my book would have been torture. I learned so much during that process and believe it or not it was a pleasant experience.

I’m grateful that God helped me to learn that this was part of life. If I want to be a writer then rejection is in my future. One of my favorite authors, besides Ted Dekker, is Frank Peretti. His first novel was rejected 17 times before a publisher took a chance on him. I’m so glad he didn’t give up.

Correction is hard to take, but I do believe I handle it much better now. After I stick my head in the sand and realize it’s hard to breathe down there, I brush myself off and forge ahead. Whenever I do this, my reward comes quickly. I’ve grown as a person. There is satisfaction in not quitting and completing a task.

Dealing with correction gets easier, but still it’s not fun. Don’t give up. Don’t quit. Forge ahead to the end of the rainbow.

© Nadine Zawacki 2009

Not Quite Myself

I haven't been around much lately and I'm sorry. I've been busy and I'm having trouble with my knees, especially at night. Sometimes it's difficult to walk or stand for long periods of time. I'm trying not to let it get to me and still do what I need to do. I'm seeing a doctor next week and hope to find out what is going on. I'm not worried, I trust that God will take of me.

I just didn't want you all to think I disappeared and forgotten about you. I'll try to visit but my energy and creativity levels are at a low. I'm doing okay, just a bit tired at time.

On a totally separate subject, Tom's uncle sent him this link and I thought it was really neat. Tom always says, "Life's a musical." This proves it.

Home Again

One of the things about being back in NY is visiting places we use to go and live. We went to dinner at a friend’s house and found ourselves in our old neighborhood in Queens Village. We drove by our old house (pictured above) and it’s changed. There was a chain linked fence that that wasn’t there before and a new door.

We also passed by this little bodega we would go to a block away (pictured below). I remember my daughter wanting to be a big girl and walk to the store for milk for me by herself. After she kept begging for so long, I let her, but what she didn’t know was that I followed her. Seriously, it’s NY. I hid behind the trees and cars and watched her the whole way.

The neighborhood was changing when we lived there and I was feeling unsafe. I always felt like our block was in a protective bubble. There wasn’t any trouble on our block. My next door neighbor was a retired policeman.

A crack house popped up two doors down but was quickly closed. What were they thinking – operating a crack house next to a policeman’s home? I guess they would have liked to know that information before moving in.

I remember going to Jamaica Ave. (which was only 3 blocks away) for something one day and saw a lone prostitute walking the streets. I begged God to take me somewhere safer for my kids.

We knew we were moving to West Virginia at that time, but didn’t know the exact timing of the move. It wasn’t long before we moved. Our time in West Virginia was challenging for us. We learned a lot about the ministry there. We did have the opportunity to touch the lives and be touched by some awesome people. It was really great to see some of them on our way back to NY.

We live on Long Island now and our neighborhood is nice. The neighbors are friendly and the church is not very far away. I’m very excited about this new phase in our lives. It seems like we have come full circle. We are not the same people who left 16 years ago. We have grown and matured. At least I would like to think so.

We are reconnecting with friends we had 16 years ago and it feels like no time has passed when we get together. Tom and I are grateful for the wonderful church family we have now and are honored that God would choose us to be a part of their lives. We’ve only been here about 7 weeks, but it feels in so many ways we have been here all our lives. I guess you can go home again.

© Nadine Zawacki 2009

iphone 3GS

This morning I was up at 5 am. Why so early? The idea was to leave by six and be one of the first people online for the iphone. I got up and made coffee for Tom and I. We ate cereal and we were ready to start our day.

Tom started the car . . . click, click, click. That can’t be good. He tried again . . . click, click, click. Hmmmm. Wait! Was that smoke coming from under the hood! Yikes! I saw Tom trying to blow flames out with his mouth and I knew this wasn’t good. (It’s okay to laugh at that visual, its funny now.) I went and got some water, but the water took its sweet time coming out of the faucet. Tom put out the fire. Poor guy has been waiting for the new iphone for so long. When we left WA in October the church gave us a parting gift for two new iphones. Tom waited because of the rumors of a new one on the horizon.

What to do?

Logic states we need a car and not just to get our new phones. Enterprise came to pick us up so we can rent a car for the weekend. Hey when your car goes on fire, it’s usually not a good sign that you will have a vehicle for the weekend. I called the mechanic and a tow truck. The car is in his hands now. Hopefully this will end well.

After picking up our rental we were on our way. Would it be that easy? No . . . why? Because we hit one of the biggest potholes I’ve seen. There was a car in front of us and we didn’t see it until we ran right over it. It cracked the hubcap. When renting a car I never, ever take the extra insurance. We have good car insurance and that usually covers your rental. I never had a problem with a rental car but somehow I knew this morning that it would be a good idea for the weekend to take the extra insurance. Good thing too because Enterprise will take of it and they gave us a new car to drive around. Thank you God for speaking to me.

iphone anyone?

We make it to the Apple store and the line wasn’t as bad as I had imagined. We had preordered the phones and our names were on a list. So now we have our phones – sweet! Tom has a blue cover and I got the red one. So now I’m off to play with my new phone.

If anyone out there has an iphone and has a favorite app or two, please let me know what it is and why you love it.

© Nadine Zawacki 2009

How He Love Us

Tom used this song at the end of his message on Sunday. It's beautifully sung by Kim Walker from Jesus Culture. I hope it blesses you as much as it blessed me.

Tripping

Tripping as defined by Merriam Webster: to catch the foot against something so as to stumble or to make a mistake or false step.

I have trouble with tripping. I’m not talking about the 60’s kind of tripping. I trip all the time - weekly and sometimes daily. I think it’s because my feet are smaller than the rest of me. Anyway, this past week was one of my best “trips” ever.

I don’t know what I was thinking, but picture this: I was walking in my apartment and trying to drink at the same time. I have a large cup in my hand and my elbow is sticking out because I’m holding a cup to my lips. My elbow bangs (hard) against the door as my cup bangs into my mouth, causing me to bite my lip and spill the contents of my cup onto my shirt.

I stood there for a moment looking down at my shirt, rubbing my elbow and licking my sore lip. I could cry or laugh but instead I just stood there in stun disbelief.

Tom and I are teaching a class at our church called the Art of Hearing God. Even though it’s a class designed to help people hear God better, it focuses on character over gifting. I taught on the Dark Night of the Soul which is about when you find yourself in the wilderness and feel like God is far from you. In reality He is helping you draw closer to Him and seek Him out.

When I’m in a dark place I could “trip” and give up on my way to my destination. I could cry, laugh or just be paralyzed in stun disbelief when it happens. What I need to remind myself is if I “trip” it’s just a false step and I need to continue in the direction I am heading. If I stay the course, even if I “trip” He gets me to the other side.

© Nadine Zawacki 2009