turkeys, poker and pumpkins

Well its Turkey Day time of year again and that means alot of things. It means of course alot to be thankful for; great friends, incredible family, wonderful God, you name it. It means miles and miles of asphalt as we travel the distances to the people we love. It means turkey comas, pumpkin pie bellies, and weeks and weeks of turkey sandwiches, turkey casserole, turkey soup, turkey whatever. It means family Texas Hold' em round the Johnsons' humble abode, where we all get rowdy and competitive. It means Grandma's homemade pumpkin pie, and lots of it. Mmmmmmm... Pie... It means good times and great memories.

We leave tonight for good ol' Moab, Utah for Thanksgiving with the Johnson half. It'll be the first holiday adaptation for Shelli and I and I am sure it will come with its own share of... fun and learning. I am excited. It will be a very fun and new experience for the both of us.

Have a great Thanksgiving, I pray you have plenty to be thankful for and may you get the chance to enjoy it all.

soundtracks

Not much to update here. Its been all work and a little play in the Johnson household lately. Shelli has been studying like crazy for her tests and applying to colleges across the nation. Worker bees relax more than her. We do have a fun (not really) little project to look forward to: They are coming in to repipe our apartment over the next couple of weeks, so our tiny apartment just got even smaller, can't even begin to express just how excited I am about that. I am a bit of a organizational freak. I like things to look clean. Organized. Well, I get the slight hunch that I am going to have to let that OCD quality fly out the window over the next couple of weeks. If the next time you see me you notice some weird nervous twitch, thats probably why.

Sometimes I stumble across interesting little things to share. This time its the Life Soundtrack. Basically, you make a list of movie scenes for your life and you create a soundtrack to those scenes. Simply put, you are creating a somewhat of a story of your life, something that reveals a little bit about you and gives us a taste of what music is playing in your life. Keep them simple and general. Then go back and fill in each scene with a song that would correspond with that event/scene. So for example, what would be your fight scene song? Or your love song? What about your break-up song? (They aren't necessarily songs that correspond with specific events as they are songs that would fit into scenes of you life, that would tell a story about who you are, what you have done, and where you been.)

Well, needless to say I thought I would give it a shot, you should to, post a reply and let us know how your soundtrack would play out. Pay attention to the mood of the song, the lyrics, and the title. And remember, there is a 20 song max, you usually cant fit more than that on a CD anyways, so pick wisely.

Kelly's Life Soundtrack:

Opening titles (intro to my life…): ‘The Young and The Hopeless’ – Good Charlotte
Introduction/Waking Up (the song that introduces me…): ‘Boondocks’ – Little Big Town
This is Me Scene (this one is hard, this is most closely linked as my theme song…): ‘Nobody Loves Me’ – Derek Webb
Break-up Scene (for those break-up moments…): ‘Scars’ – Papa Roach
Lonely Nights (for those post break-up moments…): ‘Where Have You Been?’ – Reel Big Fish
Turning Point/Discovery (the song for those crazy-turning-point-life-realization moments…): ‘Surely, We Can Change’ – David Crowder Band, ‘Meant to Live’ - Switchfoot
Friends (the theme song for friends…): ‘Waldorf/Worldwide’ – Good Charlotte
Falling in Love (different from the love song…): ‘Before Its Too Late’ – The Goo Goo Dolls
Love Scene (now this is the love song…): ‘You and Me’ - Lifehouse
Happily Ever After (this is the song for the wedding…): ‘Beyond Measure’ – Jeremy Camp
There for Each Other Scene (this is the song for my wife…): ‘Bring it on Home’ – Little Big Town
Mental Breakdown (for those mental breakdown moments…): ‘What I’ve Done’ – Linkin Park
Fight Scene (the everyday life battle song…): ‘Ole!’ – Bouncing Souls
Final Battle (the song I would play in the ‘end-all’ battles of my life…): ‘Its My Life’ – Bon Jovi
Death Scene (the end song…): ‘Where the Streets Have No Name’ – U2
End Credits (the song that could best sum it all up, or that just has personal meaning…): ‘Country Roads’ – John Denver, ‘Deliverance’ – Bubba Sparxxx

Well, there you go, 18 tracks to soundtrack my life. Some songs are all about the title, other its all about personal connection, still others pay close attention to the lyrics. All in all, I think I would bore you with explanation, but you can always ask. 'til next post...

sports and faith

As many of you know I am a small bit of a sports fan. My Red Sox won the series this year so I am particularly happy about that, and being a Celtics fan as well (don't worry Utah, I dig the Jazz, too) their resurgence is exciting. However, I am not a Detroit Lions fan. Nothing against 'em, just not my team. However, this article from ESPN.com I find particularly interesting. Not because its sports, it really has only a little bit to do with sports. Its actually about standing and being bold in your beliefs, not afraid to be ridiculed, and how living what you believe, and not judging others can change the world around you. My point is our faith should alter the world around us for Christ, the world should not alter us from Christ, no matter where we are in life. And maybe just as importantly, our faith should not have zero impact on the world around us either. In the case of this article, this place could likely be one of the most self-serving, egotistical environments in America, which to me makes the outcome even more impressive that such a thing would garner so much attention.

business and busyness

More often than not my life can be defined by the business that runs it, often translating to busyness. In short, a lot of business = busyness. If Shelli and I have had anything to tend with lately it has certainly been business and busyness. Shelli, in school (and not easy classes mind you: physiology and chemistry), working at Primary (not exactly and easy load emotionally, either), helping with Youth and balancing headaches and her goofy pain-in-the-rear husband. I, with work (overly demanding in and of itself) and Youth Ministry (I really have been involved in a part-time job), and just the day-to-day tasks of making dinner and managing the little stuff, such as finances, etc. Both of us have been doing a little bit of job searching, looking for better fits for our lives, and both of us have been helping to keep everything else caught up, such as the cleaning, cooking, etc. We even manage to get a little time together in the mix of all of that, though not a lot. Busy, busy, busy.

My discovery: It doesn't translate both ways. Busyness doesn't have to equal business. Don't get me wrong i think almost everybody I know is busy, they all have something going on. Most of you reading this are busier than myself. But many of you aren't just caught up in the business of life. Just the busyness of it, which isn't necessarily bad.

I caught up with a couple good friends this weekend and I discovered something, in each distinct conversation we talked about a lot of things, but what kept coming up were the details about all the things we had going on in our lives and how busy we were, and that quickly lead to 'whats it all worth'. Is our busyness worth while? Is it meaningful? Or is it taking away from the things that matter most? Often times the answer is a little of both. But sometimes, we drift to far and the answer is not good.

These next few months (through January) are the busiest of our year. Shelli and I have Thanksgiving in Moab, Chirstmas in SLC, seven birthdays between our friends and family, New Years', Youth Shoppin' and Shootin' All day Dec 8th, a New years' Youth Lock-in, my work Christmas Party (quite the production) and my annual guys' trip at the end of November. But I like the way our busyness is shifting. All this busyness will bring some business with it, but I like what its about. Lately we have been getting so caught up in the business that it has distracted from the most important in life. We need more busy with friends and family. More busy with each other. The next few months bring us more time with family. More time with friends. Time investing in the youth. That kind of busyness is worth it. I'll take that kind of busyness any day of the week.

All that business, should really be about being busy with what matters most, but often times we forget that, and its just about the business. It takes away from the important that you started doing it for. All that stuff you do, whats it for? All those things your taking care of, they're not keeping you from he things you care about most, are they? Or maybe, even hopefully, all that business your taking care is so you can be busy with those who you should be busy with. Of all the people I talk to, most have these things on their mind. Some wind up disappointed when they ask the question, others content, and still others wondering. If we don't set time for those that matter, like we set time for our business, then we have missed everything.

I miss a lot sometimes. Always want to change it. Sometimes do, many times don't. I take a long time getting to a point, I apologize. Just sharing my thoughts. I look forward to seeing you soon over the next little while, still busy, but maybe, just maybe, with what matters.