Alyssa’s Guide to Summer Success

The following is Alyssa’s list of 15 rules for living a non-embarrassing (yes, I know that’s not a word!) summer so that you still have family who loves you, friends that want to be with you…and yes, your dignity, when it’s over and fall rolls around again!

1. Don't light your grill if you think a raccoon has made it his winter home and is still in there...I'm just sayin'....

2. If your heels look like crumbling concrete, you owe it to society to get a pedicure. Do not wear sandals until you do!

3. Self-tanner can be a delicate thing, so proceed with extreme caution! If your legs come out the color of an orange Crayola, that is the signal that you've gone too far!

4. When choosing between Off and Channel No.5, one must go with the latter.

5. Sunscreen, sunscreen, sunscreen! It is the cheapest, easiest, and most effective key to being a hot chick in the nursing home instead of looking like that lady in There's Something About Mary. Seriously.

6. If you've birthed twins, a one-piece might be a better option than a bikini... (I, of all people, can say this!)

7. Nair doesn’t actually work that well.

8. We no longer call “flip-flops” “thongs”. If you’re not sure why, you’ll have to call me. Not printing it here! Just promise me you won't refer to them that way...

9. When attending a summer soiree, it’s best to sip the umbrella-clad drink slowly and to avoid the potato salad unless it has been on ice.

10. I beg of thee not to wear flesh-colored hose with shorts. N.o.t. g.o.o.d.!!!

11. If you have giant tattoos of past boyfriends’ names, you may want to think twice before wearing that cute little dress with spaghetti straps from Loft!

12. Really only Daisy Duke was born to wear “Daisy Dukes”! (Help me out here, people…)

13. It’s time to get outside and get active when the Lifetime Television movie schedule is cycling back through for a second run.

14. Pluck early and often! Whether they’re jet black or shiny white, chin hairs show up plain as day in the glistening sunlight of baseball games or girlfriend time around the pool!

15. To the list of “Things to Shave”, please do add “the big toes”. Come on now, someone has to say it!

Happy Summer, Friends!


Question: What other rules can YOU think of? Please feel free to leave them as comments!

Reminders of Hope and Promise

I've been fascinated by rainbows my whole life… From Kermit the Frog singing about the Rainbow Connection, which, I might add, I did a stunning rendition of (OK, maybe not so much!) in the Jefferson School Elementary talent show as a duet with Angie Overdorf & Dee Stahly on keyboard, to my love of Mork’s suspenders. My love of color runs deep.

On the way to school this morning I saw a gorgeous rainbow. Close to my house I could see the left side of it, but as I drove it disappeared for a few minutes. Once I was closer to school, I could see the arch and right side of it. Beautiful! It made me smile and gave me an enormous sense of peace.

Oh, I get the science behind it, and though that's not the point, I love that God thought up that when the sun's rays are refracted through raindrops the white light is separated into Roy G. Biv. How God delights me when He places that little gift in the sky!

And I also love that hundreds and hundreds of years later, God still sends us reminders of His covenant with us through that same way He did Noah:
Genesis 9:16 “Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth."

This morning as I drove (trying to keep my eyes on the road instead of in the sky) I wondered how many people missed it. I'm sure the people heading east couldn't see it. Older guy getting his Indy Star surely missed it...the line of pine trees by his mailbox blocked his view, but would he have seen it even if they hadn't? When I got to school I wondered how many people had grabbed their bags and their lattes and had not even looked up. How many people hurried on their way without looking? How many people were too engrossed in their own stuff to see the reminder?

Kind of a metaphor for life in a few ways, I guess:
1.) God wants us to be positive about life and to see all of the beauty in it! So stop looking down all the time. Keep your chin up, literally and figuratively and look around...it'll be worth it!
2.) There is plenty of evidence that God is alive and working in this world if we will open our eyes and look for Him. He can only do so much to show us...we have to meet Him half way by looking and accepting what He gives as that evidence, but the evidence is everywhere.
3.) Sometimes life feels hard, like trudging through mud, but God had not forgotten us. The politics of the world are scary, but God is watching and holding us close. Cancer, death, divorce…plenty of heavy things happen to people we know and love, but God is there to pick up the pieces. You are not forgotten.

My prayer for all of us: Dear God, help us see the multiple ways you show us evidence of your existence and your power each and every day. Let that evidence stamp out even the smallest doubts that you are working on our behalf. Amen.

When it feels like your own life is the modern-day version of exactly what happened in Genesis 8, “For forty days the flood kept coming on the earth” and “the waters flooded the earth for a hundred and fifty days” I encourage you to look up. When you feel like your “rain” will never end, know that it will. Just hang on a little longer.

God keeps his promises. Will you believe that He does whether or not you see the reminder?

Question: Do you believe that God keeps His promises? Do you believe that rainbows are still a relevant reminder of God’s covenant?