It is 5:35 in the morning. I am very sleepy. And I decided that I should probably blog.

Let me tell you about another person who is awesome. You guys should seriously take notes and meet these people if you can.

Jamie Nance is a newer friend. I don’t have a picture of her, because I generally wait awhile after making friends to photograph them. It is a comfort thing. I will tell you what she looks like if you wish. She is shorter than me with longer, curly dark hair and she is constantly smiling. That is why I liked her immediately when I met her. She was smiling and it made me smile. At first, I was nervous, because when somebody walks up to you smiling like that, it either means they really like you, or they are nuts and are about to hit you with a crowbar. And usually, I get more of the latter.

So anyway, Jamie was a nice smiler, and now we are friends. She always greets me in church with a hug every single week. She found out I am getting laid off from my job and compiled a packet of employment information for me. She is always encouraging and positive. She reminds me what it was like to be young and single (says the 24 year old, rolling her eyes), only she does it much better than I did. She is very honest, she can be nice to anybody, and she appreciates my love of Slim-Jims. I don’t think it can get any better than that.

Anyway, Jamie has a blog. You should check it out, especially the latest post, because it is awesome. Here you go friends. You are welcome.

http://jamienance.wordpress.com/

So I am gonna do something for the next little bit. I would like to tell you about some awesome people, who I love, who are positive in my life. People who I am thankful for. But not people you would expect. Not like, my husband or my best friend. These are people that I don’t often tell, “Hey, I like you a lot and I am glad you are in my life.”

When I decided to do this, one person came to mind first. His name is Mike Monts de Oca. I met this kid in like, 2004, when my roommate (named Emily) decided that she was going to date him and fall in love with hi and marry him. She dragged me (and my now husband, Kyle, and two of our other friends) to the Publix where he worked, so she could point him out and get our opinion. He was wearing a hairnet.

I. Did. Not. Like. This. Boy. You know how it is. We had a tight-knit group of friends, we were all single, and this hair-net wearing boy comes in to take a member of our group away and he is instantly hated. I knew nothing about him. But I didn’t like him. He was nice. He didn’t hang around much. We were mean to him. You know the drill. But he hung around. He was still nice to us. He help my now husband move a king sized bed into a second floor apartment. He was great. We didn’t scare him away.

Over the next couple of years, I actually got to know him. And I realized something important that I had been missing. He loved my Emily. He married one of my closest friends. He cooks really well. He plays guitar in the church band. He played the music during my wedding. He makes me laugh everytime we hang out. He is nice to me, even though there was a time when I was a jerk to him. He is a great guy.

So let’s hear it for Mike. Oh, here is a link to him blog, because I don’t know how to make his name turn blue, so you can click it and go to his page.

http://campfireanthems.com/

When I was a kid, I didn’t eat Slim Jims very often. I didn’t really like them that much. I think that the last one I ate was when I was ten.

Well, sometime last week, I fell in love with Slim Jims again. They are fantastic and I love them. I actually want one right this very second, and pretty much every second that I am not eating one. They are sort of like crack, except they taste better.

So my reccommendation to you today is this: forget for one moment how terrible they are for you and go get yourself a Slim Jim. Grab one for me as well, while you’re at it.

Seriously, that is all I needed to say. Have an awesome day.

I was all set to write a blog about Day 60 of my Bible challenge and how I had an awesome weekend, full of good food, bad basketball, ball rolling and reading. But i changed my mind this morning.

This morning I got an email from a young lady who is in college. She has the same major I had. We have sort of become friend over the past year or so. I recently helped her out with some stuff and she sent me an email to thank me. She also wrote something very strange. She said I was a great person and she considered me a mentor and she hopes that she is like me someday.

Come again?

I am 24 years old. I have a degree in sociology. I work at a dead end job (an emphasis on the end part) where I get payed peanuts. I try things alot, and often fail. I do alot of things okay. I do nothing perfectly. I am not a perfect person. I am not a perfect wife. I am not a perfect Christian. I do not smile enough. I don’t always see the bright side. I laugh at inappropriate times. I am a terrible singer. I like to read, but I would much rather read Harry Potter than Charles Dickens. I don’t do things right all the time. Not even close. Yet this girl sees me as a mentor.

That’s so awesome. But here is what it makes me see. I need a mentor myself. I may not be all of those things myself, but I want to be, because I know this girl wants to be. I have never had a mentor before. I have had people I admire, but never a mentor. They have always seemed sort of like those weird “life coaches” to me. But if I am this girl’s mentor, then they can’t be all that bad, right?

So who is your mentor? Tell me about them. Also, I am totally taking applications for my mentor

i have to type in all small letters, because yesterday, i spilled beef gravy on my keyboard, and i had to take the old ghetto one that doesn’t do caps. anyway, it has been a ridiculous week. let me tell you about it.

-i am getting layed off. i need to find a new job. seems like it is getting more and more difficult to do.

-the suns played the night before last and got into a brawl. they won of course (though certain other people may disagree). it is hilarious to see steve nash, who is a tiny white guy, go after some seven foot tall black guy and have to be held back. they lost the game.

-i got to have dinner with the monts de oca’s on wednesday. they are fantastic and emily made a supper awesome dinner. puma is awesome cute. i made little pumpkin cheesecakes. she was supposed to bring the leftovers to church and share, but mike may have eaten them all.

-i am in love with fable 2. i have spent way too much time on quests with a dog. i am so lame.

-i have also re-fallen in love with jay-z. he is a master.

-anybody have the ability to take some pictures? i would pay you. not much, but i would. i have been speaking to relatives lately, and now that i am married, i have been told that i have to have a christmas picture taken and sent out this year. christmas picture? seriously? yes. apparently, it is a hallmark of adulthood. however, i would like to have some pictures of us and our dog.

-this last one is serious. bad things are happening in families. i have seen it first hand. cheating. lying. abuse. yelling. abandonment. none of these are good things, and none of them should be acceptable to do to people that you supposedly love the most. pray for families in general.

that’s it guys. have a great weekend.

…to be reminded that Jesus doesn’t make mistakes, doesn’t let us down, doesn’t make bad choices, and is never “out to get” us.

A couple of weeks ago, the bigwigs came into the office (read rental trailer) my small department shares with another small department. They told us that they were there to eliminate the other department, because they felt that it wasn’t needed anymore, but that out department was safe. I felt awful for those five ladies who depended on this job to raise their families, but on the inside, I was thinking, “I am so happy it wasn’t me.”

They came back yesterday, and just two weeks after telling us that our jobs were safe, announced that they would also be closing down our department. Not really closing down. Merely relocating. To Georgia. They will begin laying people off at the beginning of January. We will officially close at the end of January.

A bunch of thoughts flitted through my head during the course of 60 seconds. Including: at least it won’t be before Christmas, where will I find another job, how am I going to tell my in-laws that I am jobless once again, what will we do for money if I can’t find a job, at least we don’t have any kids, I have only worked there four months so no severance, do I qualify for unemployment benefits,and this really sucks.

After these guys left, one of the ladies spoke up and said, “Why would God let this happen to all of us?”

That changed my perspective quickly. If I could blame this on God, things would be much, much easier. If God really loved me, loved all of his children working in this tiny, disgusting trailer, why would he let this happen? That was when my Bible fell into my lap (literally) and pretty much told me to shut my damn mouth.

Bad things happen to good people. It’s part of life. Jesus was a good person, and something a bit bad happened to him, and I am no Jesus. Yes, it sucks to be unsure of the future, but there has never been a time in my life when God hasn’t taken care of me. I just need to step back and let him. Do I wish I could sit back and no mindless, easy work and bring home a secure paycheck every week with it? Of course, but maybe this is God’s way of opening up a new door to a more exciting job that I will love.

The point is, God is not going to let me down. He never has yet, and he never will. He will take care of me and my family if I just listen to what He asks me to do and then….DO IT.

On a related note, if any of you would like to hire me to do anything that is not gross and does not violate any ethical laws, please feel free to let me know. I can do pretty much anything. I tell good stories to small children on Sundays, though I do not know if that is a real employment qualification. I can’t juggle, but I could learn! Get with me folks.

Have an awesome day.

This Sunday, I hung out with a bunch of elementary aged kids and told them a story about a guy named Paul. I told them about how Paul worked and spread the work and words of Jesus. Then I got to the point of the whole story and told them about gratitude and how gracious Paul was. He said thank you to people who helped him. He said thank you in a big way. It was a pretty cool story.

The entire time Iw as up there, telling these kids to be gracious, I felt like a huge hypocrite. I don’t say thank you enough. I don’t say thank you to my husband for supporting me and doing a billion things for me always. I don’t say thank you to my mom for loving me and raising me and giving me recipes. I don’t say thank you to my friends for making me laugh and being there for me and loaning me their shoes. I don’t say thank you to my pastor for inspiring me every week. I don’t say thank you enough.

I am gonna change that. I am going to be more thankful. I am going to start right now. Here are some people who have done some nice things for me, or made me smile, or just been a good friend, or inspired me, whether they know it or not, that I would like to thank:

Kyle Grice, Emma Murrell, Emily Monts de Oca, Alecia Stanton, Ginny Kersey, Susan Bullock, Timm Collins, Kristen Thompson, Jamie Nance, Tyler Grice, Jay and Nick, Guin, Mike Monts de Oca, the makers of Fable II, the guys in the red car that let me out in front of him on my way out of Publix, and Rainn Wilson.

If your name is not on that list, it does not mean I am not thankful for you, it just means that my jumbled mind has forgotten all the nice things you have done for me before this weekend. Sorry. I will make a better effort in the future to be more thankful and to be better to you.

So I would like to challenge you to be more thankful. You don’t have to make a list on your blog like I did, maybe make a phone call to a friend. Maybe send a letter to somebody. Maybe be really grand and take somebody out to lunch. You will be glad you did, and so will they. And probably more likely to help you move, or paint your house, or give you a place to stay when you are in town again. Think about it.

Hey Guys. How’s it going? It’s noon and I am here at work, counting the minutes until it is officially the weekend. Let me tell you about my week so far…

B) I am feeling sleep deprived. I love sleep, and I miss it a lot. With the time change and the election stuff keeping me up until late, I may sleep all weekend.

4) I get to be the story teller in PowerUp this Sunday!! This is one of my favorite things to do. If there is anything better to standing up and spouting stuff to adults, it is standing up and spouting stuff to children. I mean, they dance and laugh at your lame jokes.

- Last night, I ordered pizza. I forgot to put the tip on my card, and I only had a fiver in cash. So, I had to tip the guy $5.00 for a $19.00 order. He took it and said, “God bless you. I really needed this.” It made my entire night better.

* I am making a conscious effort to eat better. Instead of Burger King for lunch everyday…I eat Healthy Choice. I have been buying those 100 calorie packs, instead of giant bags of chips.  Two pieces of pizza, instead of half a pizza. Drinking water instead of soda. Fat free yogurt for breakfast. Sugar free Jello instead of ice cream. Guess what? It sucks so hard.

L) I am counting down the days until November 16, so I can update you on my 30 days of Bible reading. Oh man!

$ My team is doing pretty great! The Suns have only lost a couple of games so far this season. Mind you, basketball season has only been on for a couple of weeks, but I am still hopeful. However, when your team is from the West coast, and they play most of their games at 7:30, and that is 3 hours behind you…it makes for a very late night. See above about the sleep thing.

+ I am looking around for a new job. My company just eliminated an entire department at our site, and I am worried. Please pray.

I think that’s it for now. Anyone have anything exciting happen this week/happening this weekend?

So in case you didn’t know, yesterday was election day. We have a new president.

I am not going to blog about who I voted for. I voted and I am proud of my decision, and that’s that. Here is what I want to write about. I have been hearing a lot of talk in my office and in Publix and in general about how Christianity must really be in trouble if America voted a Democrat into office. Now, I don’t know if it is Democrats in general or just this Democrat that gives people trouble, but what gives?

I have been thinking about it a lot recently, and I even wrote a small piece about this for a newspaper back home. When did being a Christian and being a Republican become synonymous? I am pretty sure voting Democrat does not make you a bad Christian anymore than I believe voting Republican makes you a good Christian. There are things that Democrats do, in general, that I am against. However, there are things that Republicans do, in general, that I am also against. Here’s the thing, there is no perfect candidate that does everything I would like done. There is certainly no perfect candidate that does everything the way God would want it to be done. If you can find that presidential candidate that make all of his decisions according to the Bible and has never made a mistake or a bad choice, please let me know. I will put his sticker on my car and go to his rallies.

John McCain and Barack Obama are both good men. Though I have never had the opportunity to discuss this in depth with either of them, as far as I can tell, they both go to church and love God. I honestly think either of them would have made a great president. But Obama is the one we got. He is the one that will be in the Oval Office, making decisions for our country for the next four years, at least. I think he will do a good job. I will pray for him everyday. I will pray that he prays and listens to the Lord, and uses his heart as well as his mind to lead our country. With the state that things are in now, he will need more than just my prayers, because he has a tough road ahead of him.

What I really want to leave you with is this. Don’t believe general stereotypes about religion and politics. It isn’t black and white, and people’s thoughts and feelings are much more complex than that. The election is over. It is time to move on. We cannot prejudge Obama. Let’s wait until his term has at least started to decide if he is a good president or a bad president. And please join me in praying for him!

That’s it.

So it has recently occured to me that I probably don’t know all of you very well. I mean, yeah, some of you I know because we go to church together or we knew each other in school or we work together or something. But I don’t really know you very well, and I can bet you don’t know me very well. That kind of makes me sad. I would like to know you. Especially those of you that I only know casually. I would like to know you better. I would like you to know me better. And besides, I could always use more new friends. Soooo….

In the spirit of getting to know some of you better, I would like to invite you over for dinner. Seriously. If you read my blog and think I seem pretty decent, and are somebody I have met casually and you are not a creep, I would like to invite you over for dinner sometime. Bring your spouse and your kids and your dog, if you think it can stand up to Tessie. I am a good cook. Come and eat and talk to us. Maybe we can get to know each other better. Just email me at emilyegrice@gmail.com and let me know a few days you are available, and we can work something out. All six of you that read my blog go to my church, or are friends of a friend, or know me from school, so I trust in general that you are not a creep. And besides, if you are, I have a giant husband and, I am not gonna lie, a gun or two.

So what do you think? Wanna get to know each other a bit better?