As my mom says, I'm procrastinator-extraordinaire. It's just the truth. It's 12:30 on Monday afternoon and I should be moving stuff... but what am I doing? Yes, updating my blog. Be thankful that I care that you know what I've been up to. :0)

Okay - so this past week has been fun. Wendy came in town last Tuesday night. And it's been non-stop hangin out grouped with work, soccer and the moving process. So here's what we've been up to ...

Tuesday: Wendy, Julie, Kellie and I went and saw RENT. So good :)
Wednesday: I had to go to work that morning, but left early and came home and tried to pack some stuff up. Wendy and I went out to dinner at Wings then came back and watched tv and talked.
Thursday: I had work. Then Wen and I got some stuff moved from the house to the apt - probably the most productive I have been so far in this move, went to Freebirds for lunch, moved some more, I had soccer practice, then dinner at home with Mom and Wendy, followed by more tv time.
Friday: Last day of school for the semester, Faculty luncheon, moved some, went to On The Border with Kat and Wendy, watched a movie
Saturday: Went to IKEA with Mom and spent wayyyy too much money, put together some furniture, went to dinner with Wendy, Kat and Andy at TGIFriday's, W,K & I went around town taking goofy goofy pictures, stayed up til 3am
Sunday: Church, lunch at Cotton Patch with Wendy, Kat and the Don, nap, Tim's memorial, drove to Round Rock for church, ate dinner with Wendy and Andy at Pok-E-Jo's BBQ, drove home, hung out with those awesome kids (Colleen, Kyle, Val, Denise, Will and Ben) along with Kat, Wendy and the Don, stayed up til 2am

And now it's Monday... and I'm being so anti-productive on this moving thing it's not even funny. I gotta get some shoes on and turn off the computer. Only a few more days until Christmas!! We leave Saturday morning for Midland and we will return Tuesday.

Merry Christmas everyone !! I love you all !!

So.. I've been moving. That's why the lack of updates. Also, soccer takes a lot out of me so when I come home I do next to nothing. If I get the chance, I'll take pics of the new apt and post them on here.
Wendy came in town earlier this week, so that's another reason for not posting - we've been hangin out and having fun and whatnot. She's been a big help to both Kat and I during this move. I know that I'm nowhere near done so it's going to take a few more days. There's also the possibility that we won't have internet or cable until next Thursday. Seems kind of silly.. I guess I should be able to do without both, but when all of my friends are gone, most of my entertainment is gone too. It will be a good time to watch some movies, hang out with my mom and/or dad and get the apartment into a settled state. Oh yeah, and get ready for Christmas packing, etc.
It's kind of odd that I only have 2 weeks off for Christmas this year. I'm so used to having 3 weeks at least. It's all good though.
Sorry if this post is lacking in energy - I'm sorta tired and just trying to get the info out :o)
Ginger gets home next week!!! This is something I'm pumped about. It's been weird not seeing her at all for the past ... 4 months. Only 4 months?? Yikes... Ah well, I'll have all my friends in one state for at least .... (it's too late to be figuring out this math..) 5 days is a good round guess. I'm sure it's more than that.
I'm off to dream land! Mom and I are going to Houston tomorrow for a short period of time so I can get some furniture for the new apt :o) Yay!

This was my away message for Saturday night ... it pretty much explains a lot .. :o)

apt 67.
scandalous photos.
dreaming of weddings.
taking skank kat's pants off.
shakira.
julie's truck.
ashley's 20th.
dirty dirty music.
christmas lights.
dancing with walmart santa.
saran wrap.
tortillas.
great friends.

THIS IS WHAT FUN (since i'm not in college..) IS ALL ABOUT!!

Here's a flyer that I was asked to make in memory of Tim. There are also a few pictures down of him earlier this semester. They're of him and his buddy Tanner.. (Tim's on the left)

an update to earlier:

Well, today was a very interesting day. Our class today was super low-key. A bit of tension this morning with kids coming in, emotions being shed, a general state of shock. There were random people there, counselors to offer an ear, distraught kids, shocked teachers. We didn't do a whole lot; watched tv, watched a movie, had lunch in the classroom, made Christmas ornaments for their parents and looked at pictures of Tim.

This blog is slow going because I don't want to face it. I don't want to face the fact that my student, my friend, my homie Tim Pratt is never coming to school again. I don't want to think about how he died, I don't want to think about the things people say or said, I don't want to think about the way this has affected our school and I don't want to think about how this is going to affect me. I have no clue. I think this is the first time I've cried all day. I am really good at putting up a front, but get me alone with my thoughts and I become a teary eyed, sniffling ... person.

I don't remember the last thing he said to me, or the last thing I said to him. I don't even know if I told him goodbye yesterday. But I remember how he was yesterday. Yesterday was a good day. He didn't get in trouble, he earned his Pepsi. In weightlifting, he was goofy Tim who just wanted to make faces at himself in the mirror. He bench pressed his max yesterday, 45 lbs. He worked hard yesterday and made me smile.

Y'all please pray for the Pratt family. If you could only begin to understand their life... if I could only begin to understand...

Jennifer is in guarded condition in ICU, the other survivor Courtney is out of ICU in stable condition. Our school is in shock, and grieving. Pray for us!

I love you guys.

Please pray for our school. Last night, one of the students in my class died in a car accident. His sister is in critical condition; please pray for her. Another Consol student died and two other girls were also involved in the accident. This is the extent of my knowledge. But please be in prayer for Consol, for the students, for our class, for our teachers, for me. I don't know what is going to happen today, but I know that the rest of this week is going to be hard; the rest of the semester is going to be hard as our students slowly come to understand the "circle of life."

Lord, I don't know what to think right now. I don't know what to feel. But Lord, even if I can't understand, help me to be strong for others. Help me to do what I do well and be there for them to listen, to cry on. Lord, take care of him - "Now I know only in part, but then I will know fully."

Hahah... Wendy is hilarious. She puts one word, "procrastination" into such eloquent wordage!

Well, this week has been insane. Not necessarily a bad insane, but insane nonetheless. Soccer tryouts started this week and that was fun but hard. It has been wearing me out physically and giving me some stress, but I'll get used to it. :)

Today, Dec 1, is World AIDS Day. There are statistics everywhere telling us about how this disease is running rampant. And it frustrates us because we feel so overwhelmed by the sheer numbers and widespread devastation of it all. But, unfortunately for me, as I listened to Oprah tonight on the Late Show, she said something that made a lot of sense to me. (And for the record, I was watching David Letterman, not the Oprah Show...) She said that the world is not doing its part. The world could make a huge difference if every person just did what they could. Not what they feel like, but what they can.

Like the body of the church, we are called to use our gifts according to the grace given us. (Romans 12:4-8) This includes so much!! Paul says to give according to our faith, whether it is baby faith or mature faith, as long as we are sharing the Word of God, nothing is lost! (Philippians 1:18) Paul says serve, teach, and encourage. He says to do all of this generously, diligently and cheerfully!!

So if we do what we can, whether that be through vigilant prayer, traveling to give a personal hand and smile, or to give monetarily, do what you can. But do it generously, diligently and cheerfully. Give to the orphans and widows in their distress -- our world, and through your serving in love and kindness, you will serve God! (James 1:27)

Have a wonderful weekend!! Happy Holidays!

Brother Ross and The Don are my heroes!

Yesterday they went out and replaced the battery in my car! It got me home! Unfortunately, this morning, it wouldn't start. BUT the problem was that (last night) as they were tightening a bolt, it punctured the battery, forcing a leak in the battery, and so the bolt was basically sitting in battery acid all night long. Earlier today I saw the bolt and it was insane how much it had been eaten away. So Ross replaced it again for me. It's good to have little brothers and good friends!

Anywho, I'm super tired right now. I'm pretty sure I could fall asleep before 11 tonight for sure. Today was good - soccer tryouts have begun! It's gonna be fun and interesting to say the least! I think I started a bad thing when I called Katie "Jockstrap" and Stephanie "Booger" .... let's hope it goes no further. As for me, I'm Coach Satellite. Since they gave me that nickname, I might be entitled to call a few of them "jockstrap" and "booger" among others as they come to me. ... I still don't think "jockstrap" is appropriate, but it is funny. :o)

Tomorrow is more tryouts. I'll be sure to have more layers for tomorrow because apparently, and this is news to me, it gets colder outside as the sun sets. Who knew? Did I miss the memo? haha.. Tomorrow is also Gilmore Girls. I doubt I'll make girls' basketball. We'll see. I'm pretty wiped as it is. Chalk it up to me staying up last night til close to 1:30am.... I'll live.

So I came up with a little list for Thanksgiving... So in no particular order:

• God's grace, forgiveness and love
• family
• a roof for free (to me)
• something to eat
• friends who really do care
• friends who night not care
• a job that pays enough
• a job that I can't stop talking about
• cellphones and phone cards
• airplanes
• time
• cameras that capture memories
• my health
• computers that connect the world
• co-workers and students
• emotions
• laughter
• tears
• political freedoms that I wish the rest of the world could share
• the little things in life

Happy Thanksgiving everyone, near and far.

what a stinkin awesome weekend.. seeing one friend, hearing another and making new ones.. :o) rock, rock on.

more to come later ...

Happy Birthday Wendy!!

YOU ARE 24 YEARS OLD TODAY! haha.. you're old... hehehe...

I love you!

It's goin alright! No huge complaints, just continually learning that I need to trust God more than I do.

Tonight, we had a softball tournament and in the second game, I hit a ball the farthest I have ever hit one!!! I was so pumped that I didn't even care that the left fielder totally caught it and got me out. :o) Oh well!! It was fun. My shoulder is sore... hmm .. now that I think about it, it's probably from me diving and tumbling for the ball (which I missed) in the first game. haha.. yeah.. that is probably it. hmph. Oh well again!! It was worth it.

There are 6 days until Thanksgiving holidays and I'm getting pumped! This weekend is gonna be interesting. Not a lot of plans... And if I don't blog before then, Happy Birthday Wendy :o)

Wow.. check that out.. It's been almost a year that I have been blogging! Wow!! Has it really gone by so quickly?? Has it really been almost a year before I started student teaching? Wow.. Crazy how time flies. I'll reminisce no more, I'm afraid of what I'll start to do (aka cry).. and I'm at school right now so we'll just not go there.
Have a great day and I'll blog more as cool things happen.. haha.. Actually I'm going to go for a run this afternoon and then go hang out with Kat in the tent. So weird that she is camping out for u.t. tickets. Gosh.. insane. LATA!!

December is going to ROCK

The days just fly by and they all run together!! Work is going well. I am doing a lot of physical stuff because of my current rotation, but I like it a lot! Over the past week and a half or so I've been doing a lot of looking into the future. I am pretty sure that I will be taking my special ed certification test in February. And I'm currently looking for an apartment for me and Kat for next semester. And then I have to look for a job for next year.. and in addition to all this, I'm working on my summer plans already! I really really want to go to Camp Barnabas for an extended period of time. So there's a lot on my mind, but it's all positive!! And hey, there's only 2 weeks and 2 days until Thanksgiving break!! YAY!! (GASP!) And then soccer starts!!!!!! AH! I totally forgot!! WOO HOO!!!! And THENNNNN Wendy comes home!!! AND THENNNNNNN Ginger comes home!! AND THENNNNN Kathrin and David get married!!! December is going to be a GREAT month! I can't wait!

What an awesome image.. David Crowder on keytar.. :o) How wonderful.

This concert was simply amazing. It was fun just going with all my friends and having a good time. Shane and Shane were awesome.. as always.. David Crowder just rocked my socks off.. again... There's no way to even start telling you about the concert. It's just one of those things you have to experience.

The trip home was QUITE the experience... I was so tired and I only made it home by the grace of God and Menges talking to me the whole way. We did however, meet up with another group of our friends who were on the side of the road ... You can't really see what's happening.. but there are two police officers there.. and Laura's booty is kind of blocking the reason they're out. It's a flat tire.. big time flatness.. Menges and I stopped to take photos and check up on them. They were good to go - no major problems other than being stranded on the side of the road with a flat tire and no idea how to get it off of the vehicle. :o) (I directed them in that part..kind of)

Overall it was a fun, fun night! It made the rest of the week seem very long, but if I had to do it all over again... I would!!

I know I haven't posted in a week, but I am waiting to get my pictures from the DCB Concert off my dad's digital camera. So be patient.. an update is coming soon!!

Yay! Today was Astroworld! Got up this morning, running late of course and headed to Houston. Had to sit in traffic for almost an hour just to make a u-turn and then get parked. We walked to the front of the park, got in and headed immediately for Dungeon Drop. We had to wait in line for probably 50 minutes, maybe a little less, but it was fun! Then we walked around to XLR8 and I rode that backwards for the first time ever. I gotta say, I don't really like going backwards.. That line was close to an hour wait as well. Then we went to Greased Lightnin' and waited for .. yup, you guessed it, an hour. Headed for Batman's escape and waited in line there for an hour and a half! Insane, I tell you ... On our way to the other side of the park, we stopped and grabbed a funnel cake with powdered sugar only and ate it in front of the next ride, Serial Thriller. Our wait on this ride was close to an hour and 15 minutes. At this point, it was 6:30pm and we were trying to make a dinner date with Steph, but it didn't happen unfortunately. We were just too far away from her and wouldn't have made it to her house before she had to leave for a par-tay. So we drove home and then I got to play with Jackie's cousins for a little while.

I think the lines were so long because of 2 reasons. #1: It's the second to last weekend that Astroworld will be open, so people were taking advantage of that fact (myself included) #2: There was a company picnic being held today, so that's just even more people. I also remembered what I love and hate about amusement parks... a couple of things I love are the social time and the thrill of the rides. A couple of things I hate... waiting in line for one hour only to be on the ride itself for no more than 1 minute, 30 sec... also.. a vast majority of people who go to amusement parks are really trashy and rude and have no care or concern for your personal space or your hearing. Example.. as we were waiting in line for Serial Thriller, there were a few girls, roughly 13 yrs old, who were behind us. Granted, they are 13.. but they did not know how to stand still and stop bumping into us and were screaming a good portion of the time we were in line. Oh well.. it's not a big deal - not worth worrying about. Overall it was a fun day and I enjoyed getting to hang out with Jackie since we never see each other anymore.
I am/was somewhat bummed because there were a few rides we didn't get to go on becuase we simply didn't have time. We didn't get to ride the Viper, our favorite ride, or the Cyclone, which is really not scary, but it's just one of those that you have to go on every time. We also didn't get to ride the Looping Starship because it was closed or the Ultra Twister. Um.. I almost always ride the Serpent, (which is a kiddie ride, but it's fun anyway) but we didn't have time. It was really almost sad to walk around and see stuff shut down. There were lots of concession stands not open, and a few rides that were not being operated. Yeah, sad is a good word to use. But.. I'm sure some company will open up a new amusement park in the Houston area. It just is a good money maker.
Tomorrow I am going to watch A&M soccer beat the hell out of Texas Tech. And I've also got to clean my area of the house since we are having company next weekend (yay Whitney!). Monday is the David Crowder Band, Shane & Shane concert and I am so pumped about this!! I can't wait! David Crowder in concert is just .. energizing and awesome. I'm so ready Freddie.. :o)

Stolen from Kaylie's info .. "Love without rules."

This has always been something that I have strived (striven?) for in my life. It's not easy, by any means, but we are called by Jesus to "love without rules." He tells us in the gospel to love our enemies; obviously we cannot have rules or guidelines to our love if we are told to love our enemies. This is just a thought from my mind at midnight ... It's a cool statement and since the author is unknown, I'll be using it frequently. :o)

Be sure to look for me on Friday at school .. I'll be the stud with the super cool jersey .. thank you Kat Stock!

I know I haven't posted in well over a week, but I just haven't had the energy or the time and there really hasn't been a whole heck of a lot to tell you about. Just keep me in your prayers as I try to get a glimpse of the future - like the summer and the spring. :o) Love ya!

It's been a long week for some reason. So today's verse of the day according to BibleGateway.com is "O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water." Psalm 63:1 I've been so tired lately and I can't tell what the deal is. It's a mixture of new allergies (because of the cold front) and of medicine and of crazy days at school. The past two days have been different schedules because of circumstances so that makes the day hard too. So please continue to keep me in your prayers as I am adjusting to day to day living. I'm looking forward to the weekend because of Shella's wedding and seeing Kappa Phi girls! Also I get to see Kat Farr from UMArmy because she has a soccer game this weekend in town. So it's gonna be a good, but busy, weekend!

REQUEST(S) !!


I am going to Breakaway on Tuesday and I'd love to have anybody join me! Holler back.

AND.. I really really really want to go to Astroworld on October 22nd!!!!! It's the weekend before it closes and I WANNA GO!! So if you want to come with me that'd be awesome because I don't want to go alone!! Holler back on this as well :)


I had a great weekend in Midland, wish I wasn't so darn quiet around my family, but oh well. Got the cousin married and now I have a new cousin(in-law)!!! She's a fun one! However, I did drive all the way home (without trading drivers, thank you) and I have to be at the school tomorrow morning at 7:45 because I have a job and I have to go to work tomorrow. haha.
Softball game tomorrow night :o)

Peace!

Some Aggie funny ..

Some thoughts before we start a new day ...

This is actually what I was thinking about during Jerry's somewhat good sermon (actually preached solely on scripture!!) last Sunday...
Here's part of the scripture: "So they called to the blind man, "Cheer up! On your feet! He's calling you." Throwing his cloak aside, he jumped to his feet and came to Jesus." Mark 10:49b-50
In the version I read, it said take heart. But either way, this kept repeating through me head all throughout his sermon ... take heart, get up! He is calling you. He's calling ME. He's calling YOU. How awesome and how great is it to know that we are being called by CHRIST.. we're being called. This is not some junk spam email that we're getting, nothing impersonal. This is not a telemarkter just doing their job, wanting to entice you to sign up for a credit card or donate money. This is CHRIST .. calling YOU and ME. These are intimate, planned, personal phone calls. These are the calls that last a lifetime, when you talk about everything and nothing for hours and hours. This is the call that you don't ever want to end early or screen with your caller id. Pick up the phone! It's worth more than a missed tv program, it's worth more than an instant message conversation, it's worth more ... so much more.


Tonight as I was finishing up my bible study in preparation for tomorrow, the last question I had to answer was "What are you living for?" At first, I didn't want to even think about it - our questions in this study tend to get us to focus on the negative in our lives. I chose to go for the positive tonight. This is a "personal response" question, so consider yourself blessed to be reading this...
I live to glorify Christ! I live to survive in this world. I live to bring joy to others. I live to be a good friend, listening ear and helping hand. I live to love, to give to recieve an everlasting life.

What are YOU living for?

Totally random thought ...

Does Delaware still exist?? Seriously! All through grade school you have to know that the capital of Delaware is Dover and that George Washington crossed the Delaware in Battle of Valley Forge.. but then, after all the history classes are over and real life takes over most of your life, we never hear about Delaware. Does anyone know a person who currently lives in Delaware? I am wondering if the government took over this state way back when as a place to test their secret weapons or maybe it broke off and is floating in the Atlantic somewhere....

Looking for feedback..

So over the past 24-36 hrs, I have been in close to constant communication with Wendy. She's been pretty worried (and rightfully so) about her town and her home. And she's made me worried too... But that's okay because it helps me realize how important she and her family are to me. So we've been talking a lot about pictures we've seen and trading web links and stuff. Finally I found this radio website that has been streaming information about the Golden Triangle and the damage there. People can call in with inquiries about their neighborhood's damage and also with information they have received. So I gave this link to Wendy and we were talking about it. Here are just some of her comments about one of her hometown radio stations.. They're pretty funny if you know anything about the area..

wendy: man you've got to love the way people talk

wendy: now there is a news report about vidor
wendy: i can honestly say that no one cares if vidor is still there or not


Ah. Them southeast texas folks is funnyier than 'coons in a kiddie pool .... whoa, yeah i made that up. scary huh?

Well, she's comin. Rita is on her way, and they are predicting that she's headed straight for Matagorda Bay, which is south of Houston, North of Corpus Christi. They've set a mandatory evacuation for Galveston and they have suggested evacuation from Houston, and surrounding low-lying areas. Here in CS, the Aggies and Tigers have moved up their games to Thursday night, both at 7:30pm. School is still on for now, hopefully we won't have a need to cancel it. Mom made me go out and buy some water holders and I bought some Gatorade and juice. I've never been through a hurricane, so I don't really know what to expect, but I'm not super worried.. yet. I think it will all depend on how hard and how close it hits Houston, but CS is in the crappy part of the storm, the northwest quadrant. So even if the eye doesn't go over us, it might still seem like it.
We'll see what this storm brings. We just have to remember that no matter the size of the storm, our God is so much bigger!! Please be praying for those who are evacuating and those who can't or won't.

okay so i was thinkin ... you know, there's been horrible devastation with Hurricane Katrina, and all these statistics and it all just boggles my mind. 6 major hurricanes in 13 months? Charley, Frances, Ivan, Jeanne (all in 2004), Dennis, and Katrina (in 2005). And recently Ophelia (which I'm not sure was "major") and, coming soon to an evacuation route near you, Rita. What is going on?! Seriously! I dunno.. It's so weird. Rita is headed straight for the Texas coast, where so many New Orleans residents are currently living. It seems that this storm is headed right for the area that has been giving so much relief and so much care to those displaced peoples. I have heard some comments about how God used Katrina to "cleanse" New Orleans, when funnily enough, the French Quarter which is a pretty dirty place seems to be the least affected by the storm. It's open and partially functioning while some homes are still under water and are uninhabitable. So I've kind of blown that assumption or excuse off. And you know, some people say that this is God's wrath being poured out on these people because of their lifestyles and I'm not so sure I agree with that either. I believe that God is love and that He has sent His Son to pay for our sins and that He has given us free will. I believe that God's wrath and anger ended with the new covenant. I don't know if any of that has biblical base, but it's what I think.

So now, with Rita headed our way, I think this is partially Satan, wanting to get to us. Because we've poured so much caring and love into these people, Satan is wanting us to feel down and kind of .. punish us? for helping out. I dunno.. these are just thoughts.

Also, there have been all these benefits and concerts to help out the relief efforts in the wake of Katrina. And I'm all for that don't get me wrong. If I had the financial ability to give money then I'd do it. But what, not irks, but .. challenges me to think is that all these benefits have names that include the word hope. And I don't really know why. I mean, yeah, it's because they want to let the people of New Orleans and Louisiana that there is hope after the chaos. But I wish that they would use the word love.

SCORE !

Wayne is singin' !!

Love, Love HEY!!










Well, I got one on here... my internet connection is still being wacky ... but! I'm still pumped that I got this up for all of you who live far(ther) away. IT'S WAYNE KERR!!!!!! :o)

I'm gonna try and get the others put up, but no promises!!

OKAY!

So here's what happened on Sunday SUNDAY SUNDAY .. Sunday was CRASH (into me..) Haha.. sorry for all this weirdness, I'm a little tired at the moment. Anywhos -- We started setting up for CRASH around 2:30pm and B Smith asked me at one point if I was staying the whole night. And I said, yeah of course. And he replied with, "Good, cause you're going to want to be there through the end." So that kind of got me thinking....

So CRASH started and everyone was having a good ol time. I was waving cars into the parking lot, being a greeter and whatnot. Then I went over and grabbed a pizza roll and a drink, socialized for maybe 3 minutes tops, and started walking around to the games. I got to the boxing ring and got pulled over to take over for Mark Hollis. I think he was just tired of standing there. And for good reason too! I stood there for the rest of the evening and I was a little tired from just standing on this big bouncy thing, having to constantly regain my balance and use my entire body as a shock absorber. But it was all good because then we went inside for the Wayne Kerr concert.

We were all really pumped up. I knew it was gonna rock, so I headed to the front to claim a spot for the concert. It was honestly one of the better Wayne Kerr concerts I had been to in the past few years. I was just in a really good mood or something. So we sang for a good long time and then at the end, I started getting this nervous feeling because I knew the end of CRASH was coming.

So Brian got up on stage and started saying something and then called me up on stage!! (For those of you who have not been around me when I'm at a Wayne Kerr concert, I always request that Wayne play one of his first songs, "Love Love Hey" simply because it's fun and it's one of the first songs I ever heard him play way back when in 7th grade.) So I go up there and Brian says some more things and about how Wayne was going to play a special song for me. And then I didn't hear anything else Brian said. I honestly don't remember! So Wayne gets to the microphone and starts playing a little .. and then he was telling the audience that he really never plays this song, but that it was an old song and that he was gonna play it just for me. By this time, I KNEW that he was doin Love Love Hey. Unfortunately, he honestly doesn't remember the song and so he only sang the chorus, but it was so much fun!

(I was going to put some pictures up, but the internet is so jacked up here at the house, so that will be in my next post.)

Sunday was my last official night as a youth counselor. I think I am going to miss it, but this very second, I'm okay with not being there anymore. I still talk to all the kids and I still hang out with most of the counselors, so not a lot has changed other than I won't be going on Sunday nights to the church anymore. We'll see how I really feel once Sunday comes around. For now, I'm good to go. God's opening a lot of doors and windows right now for me and I'm excited about what God's got in the future for me.

And for right now, I'm goin to bed. Tomorrow's Friday!! YAY! Weekend sleep in, here I come!!

One short entry cuz it's late ... more to come about today, I swear it.

The night at Taco C w/ Menges and Kat at about oh, 11:30ish..

Laura: Okay so I have this stat professor who is the devil.. His name is Dr. Wang and...(he's this little Chinese man) (Kat and Randi laugh, not hearing the little Chinese man part) .. how old are you Randi? Okay, and so he is always bragging about himself.. (more loud racous laughter from Kat and Randi) And he's only like, 4 feet tall ..(large burst of laughter from Kat and Randi)

Kat: Thank you Randi, for joining me in the gutter..

Laura finishes her story which is still somewhat funny, but the set up was the best part.




Oh, and happy birthday, the Don. :o) (Sept 12)

Happy Birthday Steph Stock!! :) You're a quarter of a century today! Wowsas!

Happy Birthday Brian Smith! I'll leave your age to the imaginations of many...

I have been a blogging maniac the past few days, no? Here's the latest ...

Reed To Remain Open To Evacuees For At Least Another Week

Texas A&M University’s Reed Arena will remain available to Hurricane Katrina evacuees there for at least another week or so beyond the originally planned Friday (Sept. 9) closing, University President Robert M. Gates announced today (Thursday, Sept. 8). In light of the extension, students, faculty, staff and community volunteers are encouraged to continue to donate their time, “with which they have been so generous ever since Reed Arena opened to provide additional assistance to those in need,” Gates said. Hundreds of students have assisted in the effort to house and otherwise assist the evacuees, along with scores of faculty and staff, most notably Lt. Gen. John Van Alstyne and his staff in the Office of the Commandant of Corps of Cadets, the staff of Reed Arena and the University Police Department. “I continue to marvel at the outpouring of compassion and support that is allowing our evacuees to transition to some sense of normalcy, both in our community and the state,” Gates added. “In fact, we have enrolled children in College Station schools, and many people have found jobs and others have been reunited with family in other areas.” More than 200 evacuees were accommodated at Reed Arena earlier in the week, but the number has now dropped below 150.

Attention! Due to unwanted junk comments, I've turned on this word verification thing. Sorry to those of you who like leaving messages, but I get tired of having to erase stupid comments about Canada immigration and other such stupid trash.

Have a wonderful day. :o)

Happy 26th Birthday Ginger!! I love you !!!

I am not very happy right now. I talked a friend earlier this evening and she mentioned that the evacuees who are staying at Reed Arena in College Station are basically being kicked out and must be out of the shelter there by Friday. THIS Friday. I about flipped out when I heard this. So when I got home, I asked my mom to please dispel a rumor.. So I told her what I had heard, and she told me it was true. That's when I blew my lid. I said words in front of my mom I've never said before. I am so mad. The, basically, only reason that these people have to be out of the arena by Friday is for one event. . . First Yell.

That pisses me off SO bad. GARRR Why can't the location be changed ?! Or postponed!!?? Honestly! These evacuees have probably been here less than a week, and now we're saying, okay, find a place to live cause you can't stay here no more! So frustrating!! The past week or so, there have been countless articles in the Battalion about how the Aggie Family is doing such a great thing and how we're taking these people in and helping in so many ways, and then Bob Gates turns around and says they're out. Screw him! (sorry) All he cares about is the business side of the university. Is he going to offer his home to those who can't find one? Or is he just going to let them go out and live on the street? Honestly!? These people have next to nothing - their homes possibly destroyed, living in a different state with the clothes in their suitcases and their family. It's not a lot if you're looking at it from the materialistic side, which I am right now. These people can't afford to live in hotels, so how the heck are they going to be able to afford living in an apartment? They probably don't have jobs especially since they've only been here a little over a week.. They have no furniture .. It just aggravates me that no one can do anything to change Mr. Gates' mind (i'm not calling him the president of my university. any man who kicks people out with next to nothing so he can host a fundraiser for yell leaders is not my president.)

I'm sorry if I have upset you or made you angry. And I'm even more sorry that we can't do anything about it right now. But my mom told me that this is going to come back to haunt Gates. And the more stupid stuff he does, the better the university is in my opinion. Cause he'll be gone faster, Lord willing.

Other than that piece of information, my day has been okay. My head hurts a little right now from sinus pressure, but I felt pretty good during the day. My bible study went well, but it was a little chaotic. I think we'll be okay. Please be praying for me with that. I am going to be facilitating a group of women who are all older than I and that makes me nervous, but I know that God has put me in there for a really good reason. And I can't wait to find out why. And please please be in prayer for the evacuees who are having to leave Reed. I just wish there was some big way I could help. . . Pray that they either provide another place to stay or that they all find adequate housing.

Happy Birthday Mama Cooper!!

And by that I mean, Mrs. Cooper, not Ginger ... Ginger gets one tomorrow...

Also, I forgot to add that I got a hair cut today for any of you out there who read this but can't see my face. It's nothing drastic, just a cut. If I ever garner up the guts to get low lights or something, I'll find a digital camera and post pics.

Well it's Tuesday night .. haha woo hoo...

Nothing exciting to report really.. I am sick/under the influence of allergies. I'm hoping it's just allergies bc I'd rather deal w/ allergies than a cold. How ironic.. oh well, it's the story of my life.

Had a not so good day yesterday. My car wouldn't start and that always bugs the crap out of me because it always happens when I have something to do or somewhere to be!!!! So it got towed to the shop last night and it got all fixed today, along with some extra charges because it "had been three years since my last maintenance" accorinding to the shop. Mularky .. but we got it done anyways because I've owned the car for three years and never had any of that stuff done.. So there may have been some truth behind that but they just wanted me to spend my money. Oh well. It was a split w/ mom, but it's still money spent.

Um.. what else to divulge .. nothing really .. I just felt like updating

Continue to be in prayer for Wendy and Ginger!! Send them letters and emails and love!!!

I love you guys!

God's love truly does abound!!

I have seen this in action for the past week, I guess, since we have had new residents in our church and since most of the evacuees have come to the Greater Houston area. It's just simply amazing to see God's love being shown through the volunteers, the people who prepare the food, the businesses who are offering free services, and especially through some of our residents.

I'm doing great - I have been talking to Wendy a lot and just because she's not here doesn't mean that she's not my friend and that we're not going to talk like every day like we used to. Every other day will have to do. :o) I realized through a few people that I do still have friends here to hang out with. They might not be my bosom buddies, but they are still my friends and they love me and vice versa. They have been so good to me especially over the past few days. I dunno.. I guess it sounds weird, but it means a lot to me.

Work is going well still. When I was probably a sophomore in college, I asked my advisor about getting my certification in special ed and she suggested that I get certified by emergency certification after I graduated. Well, I've graduated and now that I work in a special ed setting, I consider it more and more. Probably should be something I look into!!

I get more and more excited and impatient for soccer season to get here ... COME ON!!! haha

Next week I'll start attending a new bible study at my church for women. We're going to study three New Testament books; Galatians, Ephesians, and Philippians. I've always wanted to study Galatians and Ephesians (already have Philippians), and I think that being in this study is going to be really beneficial to me simply because I'll be learning a lot and meeting and getting to know a lot of the women at my church whom I may not know very well. (psh.. like i don't know everyone... haha jk)

Well I gotta go to church this morning! I'm going to go to the 9:30 service just to hear the sermon and then to the Journey cause I love it. I love you guys!!

Well, I know that my last post was pretty discouraging. But I'm doing really well. I talked to Wendy today on the phone (duh) and she said that everything is going well so far. She and Andy got her shelves put together along with her bed/couch. So that is actually big progress becuase I know it takes a long time to take that futon apart, so putting it together is quite the task as well. And she said she got all of the stuff out of her, which was a LOT. I'm happy she's there. I really do feel better, too.

School is going great. Umm.. not a whole lot to add there ..haha..

Well, this was just an update. It's getting late and I have a few things I still need to do before I hit the hay. Have a great Thursday everyone!!

Current Favorite CD: Caedmon's Call 40 Acres

"boo you whore" ...
quote of the evening, thanks to Michael .. sheesh.. I wish My Chemical Romance would have won something tonight at the VMAs just so he wouldn't be in such a sour mood.

So the weekend has been okay. I've been staying with the Wolfe boys. They're fun but exhausting - Ginger you're a top notch woman to keep up with these two. I can barely begin to fill your shoes in this position!!!

Tonight has been weird. Today has been Wendy's last day, technically, in College Station. I have been dreading it for a long time. I mean, it hasn't been horribly hard because it's been like two weeks since she first left. So it really feels like I've been saying goodbye for two weeks. I didn't even cry tonight when I gave her a hug and actually said good-bye. I did earlier and I can feel the water works starting up again .. ugh. I know that you read this Wendy, and I'm going to be selfish for a little bit. It sucks that she's leaving. How do you say goodbye to a best friend? I mean seriously.. I don't know. Like, I've said this before, but I never had true best friends in highschool, probably because most everything is fake in highschool. So now that I'm really having to say good-bye to another best friend (ginger too), life stinks. I mean, I know, truly know down deep that both of these women is going to a new and wonderful place. But I think it blows that I'm not going to see them for like 4 months at least. (and i love the fact that michael won't friggin go to bed..) Wendy's only a phone call or 3 hour plane ride away, and Ginger is only an email or blog away, but there's something that comes with "face time" as I like to call it. It's the animation in their faces, the tones and looks that I get, their hugs. I know it sounds all jacked up, but I don't know.. it's that face time I guess. It's watching Gilmore Girls on Tuesday nights, and Refuge on Thursdays, church on Sundays, going to eat at Wings and Double Daves - none of these will be the same.

I'm sorry that this is so depressing but it's how I feel and it's my blog, so I'll write what I want. . .

As I survey the ground for ants
Looking for a place to sit and read
I'm reminded of the streets of my hometown
And how they're much like this concrete
That's warm beneath my feet
And how I'm all wrapped up in my mother's face
With a touch of my father just around the eyes
And the sound of my brother's laugh
But more wrapped up in what binds our ever distant lives

But if I must go
Things I trust will be better off without me
But if I don't want to know
Life is better off a mystery

So keep 'em coming, these lines on the road
And keep me responsible, be it a light or heavy load
Keep me guessing with these blessings in disguise
And I'll walk with grace my feet and faith my eyes

Hometown weather is on TV
And I imagine thelives of the people living there
And I'm curious if they imagine me
They just want to leave
I wish that I could stay
But I get turned around
And I mistake my happiness for blessing
And I'm blessed with the poor
Still I judge success by how I'm dressing

So keep 'em coming, these lines on the road
And keep me responsible, be it a light or heavy load
Keep me guessing with these blessings in disguise
And I'll walk with grace my feet and faith my eyes

So I'll sing a song of my hometown
Breathe the air and walk the streets
Maybe find a place to sit and read
But the ants are welcomed company

So keep 'em coming, these lines on the road
And keep me responsible, be it a light or heavy load
Keep me guessing with these blessings in disguise
And I'll walk with grace my feet and faith my eyes

And I'll walk with grace my feet and faith my eyes
I'll walk with grace my feet and faith my eyes

Hey Hey Hey! Tomorrow is FRIDAY!! You know what that means... JEANS! hahaha

Well, this week has not been so bad at all. It's actually been pretty good. No big complaints. The students have been great for the most part and I'm learning a lot and making some headway with a lot of them.

Michael Wolfe is standing over my shoulder as I type this ... Haha..

This weekend I am staying with the Wolfe boys while their parents are out of town. We have some big plans .. hehe.. Tomorrow night we're gonna hang out and have a FEW friends over. This is not a party however. Just a movie night :o)

Then Saturday --- PAY ATTENTION TO THIS --- We're going out to dinner to celebrate Wendy! YAY! So 8pm at Koppe Bridge on Harvey. So if you're interested, please leave a comment. We're just meeting out there and then hanging there for a little while. But it's just a time to hang out with Wendy before she leaves. So please come out and hang with us!

So please continue to pray for Ginger and for Wendy as they are living and preparing to live in their new homes!

And pray a little for me too - still goin through some weird times, but I'm doing a lot better.

Love ya!

Wow - Good post Lauren - I really identify with this :

Is it possible for everything to really be going okay, but for some reason you just still feel all empty inside? thats what I have been kinda going through, and it is soo hard to explain, because...nothing is really "going wrong" but, I just dont feel complete...

You put it into words at near perfection.

I also used this phrase ... came up with it on my own..

How can my world be falling apart when things are just falling into place?

Just some thoughts from the bottom of the chili bowl

Gag. Kassie says I should update.. but really the only stuff I have to say is that things are goin okay. No complaints about the job other than trying to figure out what I have to wear everyday. . . I guess when there's more to say, I'll blog it.

Wow! Is it only Thursday?! It has been a great week! And tomorrow is Friday which means I get to wear JEANS!! Haha.. I never thought I'd be so excited to wear jeans... they're only my favorite piece of clothing next to t-shirts.

School has been good! The kids in our class are great. The first three weeks are going to be interesting simply because it's a different schedule than what it's going to be for the rest of the year because most of our kids are in work programs that haven't started yet. But it's all good. I did have one of our guys hit on me and is constantly asking me to be his girlfriend... It's so funny because I have a guy with a mental disability asking me out but I don't have any guys with a normal mental capability even considering me. .. Haha.. OH WELL .... I'll get over it.

Last night Kat and I went and helped Wendy do some packing which was fun and I'm glad we got to help her simply because she has so many clothes! It was good just to hang out and then we went to Shake's afterwards... instead of getting a shake I got ants in my pants :0) But it's all good.

Okay well, my lunch break is over!! I have to get back to work ... lol ....

“ For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. ”-Philippians 1:21

So the good news just keeps coming! I found out earlier in the week that I will get to do the coaching thing!! (reference an earlier post..) What an amazing blessing. It comes with a lot of boundaries but it's part of the job I guess.
All this week I've been doing inservice stuff at the school. It's been pretty good but I'm totally wore out athe end of the day. And yet somehow, I've been given the strength to hang out with friends. It's totally worth being dead tired the next day. I'm actually just dead tired now. Haha... I don't have a lot to add here today. School starts next week and I guess I'll be ready when I get there! Who knows what tomorrow brings...

Hebrews 6:15 "And so after waiting patiently, Abraham received what was promised." (bold mine)

Good and bad

Hey so if you haven't heard, I got a job!! Whoop! Yeah! I'm gonna be working in the Lifeskills room at the highschool in College Station. Basically, I'll be an aide, but I'm okay with that. I am just happy to have a job and to have some income coming in soon. I don't know if I was totally up front and honest with myself, because it is less than what I could have, but because I didn't work hard enough early on in the game, I am here. And I'm not going to look at it as being stuck here, but more as an opportunity to grow and learn. I'm looking forward to being in this environment and to get into the groove of how districts and schools actually work. Student teaching doesn't really show you that part.

... ... ...

I just thought of something really really sad. Wow. Ginger is leaving tomorrow. Gosh, that does not make me happy. I absolutely hate saying goodbye. We had breakfast yesterday morning (on Monday) and I couldn't say bye. I just had to say see you later... I mean, how do you say goodbye to a best friend? I've never understood that. I didn't feel this way at highschool graduation... probably because I didn't have close friends like Ginger and Wendy and Kat. It's one of the worst feelings ever.. How stinky.

I am going to miss you, Ginger, SO MUCH!! You bring me smiles all the time and even though I roll my eyes when you crack corny jokes or bust out in song, I envy your joy. Thank you for being so good and nice to me. Thank you for being an older sister to me and for caring so much and wanting so much for me. You are a true friend and you have such a caring heart. I will miss you so so much and I will definitely miss your quirks and fun habits that made me roll my eyes on the outside, but made my heart smile all the time.

Things just keep getting better tonight .. off to bed.

Wow. So everyone's blog is really sad. . . Ginger's is inspiring though. I guess it is a time of saying goodbye... But as Ginger mentioned, it's a time to start new. It's like going to college again, but this time, you don't have to take tests :) whoop for that. I dunno. I don't have a lot of words right now but know that this is hard for me too. It just hasn't hit me yet I guess...

Wow. So I was really pissed yesterday when I wrote all that. Apparently. Wow. I apologize for that! I am probably that pissed, but uh .. who knows.

Today was good fun. I went to lunch with Kat and Sara then headed out to the Smith house to get PAID and then over to the church. We worked so hard this afternoon/evening!! It was great fun just getting to work with people. Hung out with Will for a little while after that, then came home. Hey yall please pray for my mom, she is so stressed out this week, and I don't know why because I haven't been home at all. But she's super stressed, so please pray for her.

I am going tomorrow to Kemah with the youth group and then also to Galveston this weekend for my last youth trip. It's bittersweet! But I'm looking forward to a great time and LOTS of sunscreen!!

Keep praying for my job hunt!!

ugh . Gag me with a bowling ball.. I hate life right now .. not really life, just my life. Have you ever had the feeling of .. not having a purpose? Like, right now, living in CS, I have no purpose. I don't have any reason for being here. Or so it seems... That's how it always is, until 2 years later when you look back and see that, "hey i was there because this" ..... Like I'm just not doing anything. I hate that feeling. School doesn't start for me soon cause I'm not in school. And cause I don't have a job. So I don't have a job, so I don't have work to go to. And I'm almost done being a youth counselor because my time has come to an end there. (I know it's stinky, but it had to happen, so it is. Lauren, if you really want to know, you know..)
I hate that my friends are moving away. Not all of them, but quite a few. All but two of my college friends have moved. I have a few friends here and family. That's it. That is all that is tying me to this place. I have no other reason to be here which makes me want to leave so much more. I'm sorry if this is hard for you to hear, but it's harder for me to say.
Life is rough. Get some good shocks.

It's a long one!!

Well, that was a fun trip! :) It was, that's not sarcasm...
Got back last night from Cali and went straight to the girls' night function for youth! Whew.. I was tired this mornin, but it was worth it.
Here's a quick run down of what Wendy and I did over the past few days...

Tuesday:
Got up at the butt crack of dawn.. actually it was more like the lower back of dawn because the sun wasn't even up when we left CS. So we left super early and got to the airport at a reasonably good time! We made it all the way to the airport in an hour and a half! Yeah, that's good time.
Anywho so we got all boarded and stuff then took off into the wild blue yonder. The in flight movie was Beautyshop with Queen Latifah.. I'm really glad they have headsets for that stuff because I really didn't want to have to watch that, much less, listen to it all the way to CA. It wasn't necessarily a long trip, but it seemed like it took forever I think because you can't really see where you are. You know when you're in a car, you can see what towns and states you are riding through. But on a plane, you can't see state lines and stuff.. all you see is dirt or mini mountains or squares of land. A nice flight nonetheless. We landed and Wendy saw Kat Osterman in the women's bathroom! I don't know what she looks like so I completely missed her.
We got our rent car and headed out onto the highways of California. We took an exit and were going to go look at the USC campus, but ended up driving downtown to the big buildings of LA and seeing tons of cool stuff. We drove all the way through downtown and eventually somehow decided to get onto Santa Monica Blvd and see what we could see. We didn't see much.. haha. No actually we saw some fun stuff! We drove through Hollywood and Beverly Hills and saw lots of nice cars. We didn't recognize any person of fame while driving, but it was fun all the same just to be driving!! At one point, we were driving down a different road and Wendy said something like, "No, I think that's back in Hollywood, we're in Beverly Hills." She then proceeded to say, "This is not real." Haha! Seriously though, who thought we'd be driving through Beverly Hills ???
So anywho, then we drove over to Pasadena, where Wendy's school is. As we drove in, we saw lots of just shops and stuff and just tried to figure out where the heck we were. We saw parts of the college and even drove past Wendy's new apartment! (more on that later) We checked into the hotel and then got ready for an "Evening Visit at Fuller." Basically it's a night thing to let people know what Fuller is like and if they want to come, it's informational and stuff. It was pretty cool actually. We sat at a table with other students who were interested in the school of psychology. They were pretty cool people. We had dinner which was salad and some breads. Welcome to California! Haha.. no, it was really good actually. After dinner, there were some formal stuff that we did, like hear a short speech from one of the deans of the school and watched a video of alumni testimonies. (I think that was my favorite) We went and listened to a mini-lecture from one of the professors of the psych school and had a little Q&A time there. The lecture was Wendy's favorite part, and it was a highlight for me simply because I could see the interest that she held for the subject and also because I understood what he was talking about!!
After the function, we went back to the hotel and went to bed cuz we was wiped out. :)

Wednesday!
We got up, had breakfast, got ready and headed out! Wendy wanted to drive around Pasadena a little bit and see what we could see. There are SO many shops!! I was in heaven.. all my favorite shops! But we stayed in the car and pressed on. We drove around Pasadena for probably an hour, just seeing what streets did and exploring.
Then we headed out onto the highways again. I wanted to put my toes in the ocean, just to say I had, so we headed for the coast. We were going to take a very direct way there, but instead hit Sunset Blvd because it goes all the way to the coast. So we drove down Sunset and saw a bunch of stuff. It's kind of like Santa Monica Blvd, but I think there's more. We drove through Beverly Hills again and saw the Beverly Hills Hotel :) And then we drove through Bel Air !! Whoo hoo! Fresh Prince! hehe.. Then we drove through Brentwood, which as Wendy informed me, is where OJ lived. tsk tsk.
We hit the Pacific Coast Highway and went South to Venice Beach. It was sooo cold !! The atmosphere, not the water! It must have been like 75 with no sun and a breeze. We had lunch at this little Mexican food restaurant, it was really yummy!! We walked to the beach and saw the muscle men, and I stuck my toes in the cold water for all of two seconds! It was just too cold ... We left Venice and went back to Pasadena .. I think. .. What did we do after that.. ? OH!
Yeah.. We headed back to Pasadena because that afternoon, we were going to see Wendy's apartment!! So we went and met Irwin, her floor director at the bookstore and walked to the community where she would be living. It's called Koinonia, which I absolutely love because I love the idea of Koinonia and everything it stands for. Yay! So we walked around the community and found out where the laundry facilities and everything is and then went upstairs to see her place! Wow.. can we say small? It's wow, small. But I think it's totally liveable for one person. Her bathroom is bigger than mine right now!! But like I said, it is totally do-able for two years.
After that, we went and got ready for Hollywood Blvd!! We were going to meet Lindsay and Aaron and his parents for dinner out in Hollywood. It was fun!! We drove down Hollywood Blvd for quite a while and saw Grauman's Chinese Theater and also the Kodak Theatre where they have done the Oscar's for at least two years now.. It was cool (and dorky) to think that we were walking on the same ground that celebrities have walked on before! We ate at Mel's Diner, a little place off the blvd that serves burgers and all sorts of stuff. I got a BLT with avocado.. so yummy! And it totally hit the spot .. We walked around for a while after dinner, up and down the blvd there are the stars in the sidewalks. You know when you hear about so and so getting their star on Hollywood Boulevard? Well, that's what we saw! There are so many of them!! It was hard to walk and also read the sidewalk at the same time. But fun all the same. And in front of Grauman's are all the concrete slabs with people's handprints and footprints! It was cool - Lindsay saw Shirley Temple's and I saw Tom Cruise's and even R2D2's ! haha.. It was cool.

Thursday:
Wow. Today we were so tired waking up!! But it was all good. We got ready for the day and then checked out of the hotel and got back on the highways! We drove to Burbank, which is not far from Pasadena. Wendy wanted to check it out. We drove down Burbank Blvd, but there was like, nothing there. Bummer! We headed to the airport to return our car and eat. We got the car returned and then ate our most expensive meal of the whole trip... a hot dog, fries and a drink for $9.50 !! Holy mackeral. That's what we get for eating in the airport I guess. We boarded our flight and made it back home!!
It was a great trip and I gotta say I'm so lucky for Wendy letting me go with her!

Be praying for the Cooper family as they follow God's voice to different points of the earth!!

Ugh. I'm so mad at me. It's like 12:30 on Monday night (Tuesday morning) and I'm still awake. It's just pissing me off cuz I got into bed at like 11 and even took some Tylenol to help me sleep a little. I'm leaving in the morning at 5:30 w/ Wendy so that means getting up around 4:45 to take a shower and get to the church. Argh it's just so frustrating because I want to sleep but I can't. My mind is just going like 80 miles a minute. No reason... I should have taken Advil .. it helps me sleep better.. I never take Tylenol.. and it hasn't been long enough to take Advil anyway ... frustration!! Well, if anyone reads this, please be praying for our trip. It's gonna be fun, but it's a new environment for both of us. I love you all!!

It's been a fun evening! Dancing at Maggie's, hangin w/ Andrew and Pest at Water-Burger with our Whata-Picante Sauce .. and an okay game of softball ... It's nights like these that I wish would never end ...

So rehab isn't working ...

I think I'm getting cured... I only had to watch my favorite part in My Big Fat Greek Wedding three times to be satisfied .... hehe.. there she goes again !!! BAH!!! HAHAHAH ... Okay ... four times. Why can't I stop laughing???! Oh.. there are the tears ... good times, Steph, good times. :)

And I'm back !

Okay so last night I had written all this stuff but I got tired, so I left it up so I could publish it this morning. I got up this morning and wrote like two more sentences and went to publish it. Well, it all got erased... so here's what I pretty much had...
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm back from UMArmy! This week was super fun and we all had a great time. I am too lazy/tired to write everything out, so if you really want to see what happened this last week, you're gonna have to read Lauren's blog and just ignore all the gooshy stuff that she had. ;) We were on the same work team, if that explains anything.

Our group was awesome - we didn't always get along, and I got fired at least twice during the week, only to get rehired at the end of the day. But I tell you what, we worked hard and we never gave up. We touched some lives and planted some seeds in Galveston. Let's see.. who was in the most awesome group of GREEN N ... Well there was Lauren, the most excellent encourager and my go-to girl when I needed to vent or basically who I could go to whenever cuz she's just that awesome. There was Steph, a young woman who is learning so much about herself and about building. She has a beautiful heart and I only wish I could have gotten to know her better. Andrew, who we could always count on for a laugh and who is an awesome servant of the Lord. John, who introduced us to new phrases and made me love him even more. And Hugh, who hated my music selection, but was always willing to help out in any way he could. And an adopted Gwen, our fearless color group leader who made sure we were doing okay and joined us for lunch everyday. OH! AND WILSON .. Our adopted crew member, whom without we could not have finished our project. He is a wonderful teacher and is so awesomely patient with the students, it's just amazing.

Our week was fun at the least!! We had some trying times, but who doesn't?? One of our projects, the door, was the most frustrating thing ever. (Can't you see the storm clouds??) But we learned tons of great lessons this week while on the worksite. Like: 1) You can still hammer pretty darn good while hanging upside-down. 2) Stay out of the bushes unless you want to get cut up. 3) Don't ever look through an old man's stuff... ever. 4) Always always always measure and re measure and re measure because you never know. 5) You should trim the door, not the door jamb.

I personally learned some good stuff this week as well. I guess I kind of re-learned it... * I can't worry, because worry is the opposite of faith. * It's not about me. * God's plan is perfect and is perfectly timed. My prayer this week was that God would put me where He wants me, when He wants me. I have to get onto His timeline, and jump off of mine because mine is super flawed.

I'm so grateful for all the encouragement I received this week and for all the support I received from friends, new and old. I am truly blessed.

That's it for now! More to come as I think about it.

Off to UMArmy! So I won't be here for a while .. not like I've been here much in the past few days anyway. Please be praying for me and my group! I don't know who they are yet, but you can be praying all the same.

And please be praying for me. I have not found a job yet, and I know that I have to be patient, but it's really trying my faith.

So yeah, yeah. Okay. Have a great week and I'll fill you in when I get back !

OH YEAH.. pray for next Saturday too.. Kelly & Charles are getting married !! :) Yay!

For more links on G8 stuff, see the G8 links on the sidebar over there ------>

Oh and here's some of my friend, Danny's, photography. This is one of my favorites. If you want to see more of his photography, go to this website.

I named this photo, "Peek-A-Boo." I don't know what Danny named it. :)




(Photo by Danny Boyle)

As I was watching The Sandlot tonight, I saw my favorite part where they play ball under the night sky, lit by fireworks. To go along with yesterday's post, here's a quote from that scene.

"There was only one night game a year. On the fourth of July the whole sky would brighten up with fireworks, giving us just enough light for a game. We played our best that night, because I guess we all felt like the "big leaguers" under the lights of some great stadium. Benny felt like that all the time. We all knew he was gonna go on to bigger and better games, because every time we stopped to watch the sky on those nights, like regular kids, he was there to call us back. Ya see, for us, baseball was a game. But for Benjamin Franklin Rodriguez, baseball was life."

You know, there's just something about standing in an open field with thousands of people around you, and staring into the sky in awe of the fire balls that are exploding, creating a beautiful array of color and sound.

Standing in the middle of Zilker Park in Austin last night, I felt like I should be standing in the middle of the Sandlot. I honestly felt like a 12 year old again. It was so cool. My eyes were just glued to the sky.

It was awesome to think about how the Chinese invented fireworks so long ago and today we're using them to celebrate our freedom. I love fireworks. There's just something about lighting a little string and watching the light travel into a tube that holds this ball of gunpowder and other chemical powders, then watching it explode in the sky. What is it?! I don't know but it's fun.

Last night was truly fun. We spent the afternoon at the park, just chillin, eating, playing catch and enjoying the outdoors. It was hot, I won't lie, but I think it was all worth the sweat and the dirt and the tiny little ants.

Yesterday felt like a true 4th of July. Playing outside in the hot sun with best friends, eating watermelon and sandwiches and drinking ice tea and lemonade, listening to patriotic music as the sun set, and finally watching fireworks light up the sky. It was great. :o)

Happy Independence Day, America. You're one lucky son-of-a-gun.

Reach One More . . .

My thoughts:
Now, I didn't know a lot about this whole G8 thing until extremely recently. I'm talkin' last Thursday here. And from what I've learned, seen on TV, heard, etc, this is a huge deal. I mean, I've always known that that there has been poverty in Africa and that AIDS is a big deal over there that is very much out of hand. But I've never had the desire or concern about it until now. Maybe it's because Ginger is going over there, she's taking a present action. But knowing that there has been stuff our nation has been able to do for so long, but we haven't is really frustrating. I mean, if we gave only 1% of our government budget to Africa to help with poverty and AIDS, that's a really large amount of money!! My question is why have we waited? What's the deal? I mean, yeah, it was important to free the Iraqians from tyranny and to help with the tsunami and we wanted revenge on Bin Laden, so that's why we chased him... but Africa has been in poverty for hundreds of years!!!!! Ugh.. Let's just keep praying that our President and the rest of the leaders involved in the G8 make some good decisions that will help the entire continent of Africa and the millions (or billions?) of people who live there.

Some facts: (these just kill me)
- Around the world, 104 million children do not go to school because of poverty.
- Each day more than 8,000 people die of AIDS.
- 15 million children have already lost one or both parents to AIDS. Unless more is done, there will be 25 million of these children around the world by 2010.
- ONE person in seven goes to bed hungry each night.
- ONE person in seven lacks access to clean water for drinking, cooking or washing.
- ONE in five people has to survive on less than $1 a day

If we gave an additional ONE percent of our national budget to fight world poverty and AIDS, we can help: (**This is what we want Pres Bush to pull for!**)
Prevent 10 million children from becoming AIDS orphans
Send 104 million children to grade school
Provide clean water to almost 900 million people around the globe
Save almost 6.5 million children under 5 from dying of diseases that could be prevented with low-cost measures like vaccinations or a well for clean water

(All facts from www.worldvision.org)

This is what else the ONE Campaign (www.one.org) is calling for:
*Trade Justice: Reform trade rules so poor countries can earn sustainable incomes.
*Drop the Debt: Cancel 100 percent of the debts owed by the poorest countries.
*More and Better Aid: Help the poorest people of the world fight poverty, AIDS and hunger at a cost equal to just ONE percent more of the U.S. budget, on a clear timetable.

And here are a few things of what GOD says about what we should be doing...

Proverbs 31:8 "Speak up for those who cannot speak for themselves, for the rights of all who are destitute."

Luke 3:11 "John answered, 'the man with two tunics should share with him who has none, and the one who has food should do the same.'"

James 1:27 "Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world."

If you want to know what you can pray for specifically, click on the following link (PDF)
http://worldvision.sitestream.com/ONE/prayerpoints.pdf