good days and bad days and good days!.... and bad days....

so, if you read on facebook you know that the skype law is no more, and t and i can talk on the phone again.  this is incredible.... it's funny how much you miss and value something if it is being taken away. skype was returned to us right in time for us to celebrate our one year anniversary with a phone call:)

you wanna know something funny though???  God's ways are a real kick in the head.....  it seems that he isn't finished teaching me to be full of joy in the middle of all circumstances.  because yesterday, i was driving my car, happy as a bird with a pretzel chip, when i happened to glance down at my engagement ring, (the one that T gave me that was his mom's?  with the real diamonds that we didn't know were real?  if you don't know the story go ahead and give me a call, its crazy) and that's not that unusual, right?  i glance at my ring all the time!  but this time when i glanced.... it was less sparkly than usual because this time when i glanced.... one of my side diamonds was missing.  i almost crashed the car i was so upset, i'm talking, screaming at the top of my lungs blue in the face crying cursing type of upset.

.....for about twenty minutes.

then i calmed down.  asked jesus, why?  what do you want me to know by allowing this to happen?  how on earth can my broken ring give you glory?

so i put on the christian radio, which i never do because i really can't stand casting crowns and ALL they play is casting crowns... and a beautiful rendition of "it is well with my soul" was on.  yeah.... i might have cried a little bit.  but i also cranked those jesus tunes up as loud as i could and sang praise the lord, praise the lord, oh my soul loud enough to be heard three cars in all directions on 495 south.

and the holy spirit just whispered to my spirit, hey.  honey, i'm sorry... i know this means a lot to you.  but guess what, i have news that will cheer you right up.  jesus is alive.  


that was all.... all he had to say.

and then i remembered.... hey.  it's just a rock, right?

in hope that God will bless all you who may stumble in here..... and remind you that even if your dog bites or if you're sick, or if the dishes never seem to get washed, or you're hungry or lost or angry or wounded.... jesus is alive.


and..... that should be enough.

bad things happen sometimes

don't be scared by the title of this post.  t and i are still engaged, we are still getting married in florida, everyone is fine, life is not falling apart, we both have wonderful jobs, and as a side note, i have a puppy now!

however, sometimes bad things do happen.  like timone says in the lion king, (on of my personal favorite african movies....) "sometimes bad things happen, and there's nothing you can do about it."  well, one of those uncontrollable-except-by-god things just happened.  and it happened in the form of the ethiopian government.  that's right folks.  heard anything new lately about what's going on across the pond?  apparently the ethiopian government doesn't like skype.  that's right, skype.  to restrict the communication flow in and out of the country, or to protect the ethiopian phone service, or to cause much pain and suffering to star-crossed lovers.... i don't know why but according to this:

"Users already face up to 15 years in jail if they use Skype or similar internet call services."  http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-18461292

and this:

"If you're heading to Ethiopia sometime soon, I'd like to offer you one small but crucial bit of advice: Don't get on Skype.

The Ethiopian government last month passed a law making it a crime for people to utilize audio or video communication using Voice-over-Internet-Protocol (VoIP) services, which include Google Voice, Skype and essentially any other video chat service available.

So what's the punishment? Well, the maximum penalty for breaking the law is 15 years in prison. That's right -- a decade and a half."
http://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-tn-skype-ethiopia-15-years-jail-20120615,0,6747631.story


and even this:


"Using VOIP services is now punishable by up to 15 years in prison. This law actually passed last month, but mostly went unnoticed outside of the country. Ethiopian authorities argue that they imposed these bans because of “national security concerns” and to protect the state's telecommunications monopoly. The country only has one ISP, the state-owned Ethio Telecom, and has been filtering its citizens' Internet access for quite some time now to suppress opposition blogs and other news outlets."
http://www.itweb.co.za/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=55941:ethiopia-criminalises-voip-use


the use of skype is now illegal.  and not just "slap you on the wrist bad boy" illegal, no 15 years in prison illegal.  not just the use of skype voice calling or video calling land you in jail for 15 years, but also any other video or voice over the internet service (such as facebook or gmail) will put you in jail for 3 to 8 years as well.  (i understand that the above sentence may have sounded a bit jumbled.... but bear with me.  i just lost out on phone privileges for the next year with my fiancé)  


t and i found out about the law a month after it was in place.  so i'm mostly furious, but also relieved that we found out before they carted him off to jail.  and 15 years is WAY more than 1 year.  


sometimes bad things happen.  and there's nothing you can do about it.


good thing we have a big God.  


t and i are trusting that God is in this... somehow, this is good.  this has to be for our good, and he is either teaching us something incredible from it, or doing something incredible with it, or showing his love in some incredible way.  he has to be.  because he is God.  and he is love.  and don't think i say that all light heartedly like, oh well!!!  i don't care because God is good and therefore this is awesome!!!  cause it's NOT.  and i feel sick to my stomach about it, and it's not fair and i wanna break something.  but (gritting teeth) God IS present in this stinky situation.  because of who he is and who he says we are.  


can you guys pray?  we..... are gonna need it.