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Extra Hot Coffee, & Other Deep Thoughts
17
June
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I like my coffee hot, extra hot that is.  You might not know that you can order your specialty coffee extra hot, but you can.  Well you have to be in a decent coffee shop, I have tried it in places where they just look at me like I am crazy.  A normal temp for coffee is about 82 degrees, ordering it extra hot can go as high as 170.  I like mine extra hot so that the heat lasts longer at my perfect temp and is not gone with in seconds of me getting my coffee.

Recently, I was pondering my coffee temp deli ma.  When I get it in the drive through the first for the first few seconds or maybe a full minute I can not drink it.  Then it hits the perfect temp and I love it for 10-15 minutes however it then reaches a temp that does not excite me and at some soon coming point I wish I had a microwave in the back of my suburban, or in the dash board for that matter!  Back to my pondering.  As I was driving I started thinking wouldn’t it be great if they made a coffee tumbler with a built in thermometer and a heating device.  If one could set their travel tumbler to the perfect temp they enjoy and the tumbler did it’s magic my coffee would remain at my desired hotness!  Maybe they already have these, but I have not seen one yet so we will just pretend it is a somewhat original thought.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful for my coffee to be at the perfect temp all the time?  On second thought maybe it wouldn’t.  If my coffee was always at the perfect temp would that steal the joy?  Is there something about the process of getting to the perfect temp that makes it so perfect?  Isn’t that true in life as well?  It is summer time and usually that means people are taking vacations.  I know on our vacation we always have moments that are just perfect.  Being a family of six they are only moments instead of being the entire vacation, someone always has something going on or an attitude that needs to change.

Perfect moments come and go, and I think some of what makes them perfect is the contrast to the not so perfect and even the dreaded horrid moments.

If there is a travel tumbler out there with a built in heating device and thermometer, I don’t think I want it :)   I want my coffee to hit it’s perfection for only a short time, so that I can savor it all the more.  This summer I am going to savor every perfect moment that comes our families way, they will be a treasure I am sure and I just might have an extra hot no whip mocha to go with them!

Category: coffee, Family Life, Mandy, Starbucks  Leave a Comment
Tuesday’s Tunes
23
November
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One of the things that has been very powerful in my life through the years is music.  I think that is mostly universal for people, and we all resonate with certain types of music.  I love all types of music, but the words are important to the experience that I have as well as they style of music.

So here is a place that I want to share some of the songs that have impacted me through the years and currently.

This summer we loaded the family up in the suburban to take our long Oklahoma/Texas/Georgia tour, as we were leaving town we stopped at our traditional first stop, Starbucks!  Mandy went in to get the drinks and I stayed back with the kids…then this song struck me at the heart

I bought it on my iPhone right there while waiting on Mandy, and it quickly became one of those “our song” types of songs between Mandy and I.  His advice for making it in marriage is right on!  We could use this stuff in the premarital counseling we’ve done…

“Be a best friend,
tell the truth,
overuse ‘I love you’
go to work, do your best
don’t outsmart your common sense,
never let your prayin’ knees get lazy,
and love like CRAAAZY!”

“Always treat your woman like a lady,
never get to old to call her baby,
never let your prayin’ knees get lazy,
and love like CRAAAAZY!”

Now, That’ll Preach!
May the Lord grant us 58+ years together.

Category: Brian, coffee, Family Life, marriage, Music, Starbucks  Tags:  One Comment
Mandy’s Mondays – Learning about God on Black Friday
07
January
1
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This Thanksgiving Brian and I decided to join the masses of individuals and families who woke at drastic hours in the morning, the day after Thanksgiving, to head to the stores to spend money on those great deals that were suppose to be happening – and mostly were!  Brian and I are not big shoppers, it is not like we decide to head to the mall to look around and hang out whenever we have free time.  But there is just something about Black Friday that we enjoy :)

Our babysitter arrived at 5:00 am and we were out the door by 5:30 with coffee travel mugs full and lots of anticipation for getting our shopping done and having fun doing it.   We were out until lunch time and the morning was really enjoyable.   There was the crazy long line at Circuit City where people were just waiting to get IN the store – we decided to not stop there!  We shopped around Old Navy, Children’s Place, and Kohl’s finding all sorts of fun things.  We took a break for Cinnabon and Starbucks and went in a few stores that were beyond our spending desires, just to look around.  I saw a group of ladies wearing black T-shirts that had simple white letters on the front that said “Friday” obviously this Black Friday shopping is a tradition for them.   It was a great morning and I can’t wait to do it again next year!

So what was it that I learned about the Lord on Black Friday?  I got to experience what I think He must feel in giving gifts just for the fun of it to His children!  I found myself seeing things all over the place that my children would love, and many of them I wanted to buy just to see the joy on their faces.  We bought a Dora doll for Isabelle and I think this thrilled me the most.  We had already planned to buy the older girls American Girl Dolls  and were not sure what to do for Isabelle.  When I saw the Dora doll I knew we did not need to think about it any longer.  Isabelle loves Dora!  And she know loves her Dora doll.  So while I was out shopping I got to thinking about how none of these gifts I was getting for my kids were they truly needing or could they not go with out, however I desired to give them to them for the sheer pleasure of my kids delight.  Is that what God does for us?  Does He give us things in our life just to see us in delight?  Does He receive pleasure from my joy?  I think He does!!  Now how cool is that?  I think it is pretty amazing!!

Then my second thought was do I show God my delight?  Do I do a good job of thanking Him for the gifts He gives, especially the ones that are not truly needed.  On Christmas evening Addie said to me “Mom, I could just never tell you how much in my heart I am thankful for my doll.”  And that made it all worth it, having joy in her delight!

So I am striving to be actively thanking God for His gifts and delighting in Him!!

Category: Addie, christmas, Mandy, Mandy's Mondays, Starbucks  One Comment
“The Way I See It #248″
09
June
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twisi_cups.jpgI always like to go to Starbucks to get some good coffee, but I like it more to go with others and sit and talk about life, or read off some Cranium trivia cards. That’s what Starbucks has tried to do from the start, to be a “third place” where people go between work and home, experiencing and processing life together. Along those lines they started a, sometimes, controversial campaign of putting quotes on their cups from various people from all walks of life. In their words:

Sparking conversation In the tradition of coffee houses everywhere, Starbucks has always supported a good, healthy discussion. To get people talking, “The Way I See It” is a collection of thoughts, opinions and expressions provided by notable figures that now appear on our widely shared cups.

So maybe we can extend that…since I got this cup of coffee alone, I didn’t get to talk with anyone about the quote on the cup: The Way I See It #248:

“Imagine a world in which every single person on the planet is given free access to the sum of all human knowledge. Wikis give us a place where anyone who is kind, thoughtful, and intelligent can come and join us in building a better and more rational world.” – Jimmy Wales (founder of Wikipedia and Wikia.com)

What do you think about Jimmy’s thoughts on the power of human knowledge? What do you think about the project of Wikipedia?

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Category: Brian, coffee, Starbucks  Leave a Comment