Well the past few days have been fast and furious.

HA! Yeah, right.

The past few days have been absolutely wonderful. Texas and much of the southeast U.S. has (have?) been, according to the weather radar, covered with pink, green and white. It almost feels The Cat and the Hat-ish, original edition. The house has not been covered in pink stuff, but the outside has been covered in ice!! It's been crazy cold. Monday, Tuesday, and part of Wednesday, the temperature was not above 32 degrees. FREEEEZING!! Downright cold, I say!

Oh yeah, didn't I say it's been wonderful? Oh yes, that's right... Monday was MLK Jr Day, so we had a holiday. Tuesday, the roads were "icy" so school was cancelled! That's two days in a row!! Last night, the superintendent decided that we would not start school until 10am. Well that's a two hour delay! Whoop! Then tonight, again, he decided (out of the blue, I might add) that tomorrow we would delay the start of school! This week has basically been a big lounge fest!! SO LAZY!! But! .. I am NOT complaining.

I have been spending lots of time with good friends and making new ones! I have been cooking, (WHAT?!) laundry-ing, and nothing. Hahaha.. Good times have been had by all and almost everyone, scarily enough, is ready to go back to work and school.

This weekend the varsity has a tournament in Leander and we are all hoping for warmer temperatures and a decrease in the precip!!

Peace to you all!

"work it, girl . . . "

quotes from my fun, funny night....

"Work it, girl . . ." - Me

"Well I know you get compensation for that..." -Lauren B-DEV

"Lauren, are you a Centenary slut?" - Me

"No.. no... no...... Well, maybe just a little" - Lauren B-DEV AGAINNNN

Well, I was putting it off forever, but I will post :o)

Merry Christmas, y'all. I hope that your holiday is wonderful and perfect, just like our Savior.



For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David's throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness from that time on and forever. The zeal of the LORD Almighty will accomplish this. -Isaiah 9:6-7

A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. The Spirit of the LORD will rest on him— the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding, the Spirit of counsel and of power, the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD - and he will delight in the fear of the LORD. He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes, or decide by what he hears with his ears; but with righteousness he will judge the needy, with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth. He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth; with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked. Righteousness will be his belt and faithfulness the sash around his waist. The wolf will live with the lamb, the leopard will lie down with the goat, the calf and the lion and the yearling together; and a little child will lead them. The cow will feed with the bear, their young will lie down together, and the lion will eat straw like the ox. The infant will play near the hole of the cobra, and the young child put his hand into the viper's nest. They will neither harm nor destroy on all my holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea. In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his place of rest will be glorious. -Isaiah 11:1-10

And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. -Luke 2:8-11

in response to my last post...

So yes, I get to meet a Spur this Friday. I am so pumped!!!

See, I agreed to help drive the FFA to San Antonio for their annual Spurs game trip. In exchange for driving, I get a seat at the game, a drink, a hot dog, chips, a tshirt and a post game meet with a San Antonio Spur. Yes, a professional basketball player!!!!!

Earlier, I was surfing the Spurs' website and decided to rank which Spur I would want to meet the most. Here's a rough draft...

1. Tim Duncan
2. Manu Ginobili
3. Brent Barry
4. Tony Parker
5. Robert Horry
6. Beno Udrih
7. Bruce Bowen
8. Michael Finley
9. Fabricio Oberto
10. and five other guys I've never heard of... Williams, Vaughn, Elson, Butler, Bonner.

So there's my list. Who would be your top five?

GO SPURS GO!!!!

HOLY COW!!!

Next Friday, Dec 8th, I will get to meet him:

Well, now that's not entirely true. I'll get to meet A Spurs player. :-D

STILL!!!!

EXCITING!!!!!

AHHHH!!!!! If there were words to describe my excitement, they'd be here. Posted. For the world to see. :o)

Happy Thanksgiving!

I am thankful for:

• you!
• my family
• somewhere to sleep
• food to eat
• my health; physical, emotional, and mental
• my friends
• my faith
• my church
• my job
• opportunities
• freedom to vote and worship how I choose
• technological advances that allow communication around the globe
• grace and mercy from a loving and compassionate God
• floods
• my students
• Bodacious Half-Reville Satterwhite (our dog who passed away this week)
• trials and tribulations that force me to make think and make decisions

It's quite a bit, I guess. And there's so much more that I take for granted every second of every day. We are blessed!! And I am blessed by you!!

Happy Thanksgiving, wherever you are!!

(i know it says 40th, but it's got your name on it... it's a give-and-take deal)

Happy Birthday best friend!! :o)

I love you!!!

friday morning thoughts

First, an immediate prayer concern:

Request from Central Baptist

We have a young couple in our church, David and Christina Kristynik.
David is in Iraq and due to be sent back to the states in three weeks.
He called Christina this morning at 9:30 am (our time) to say goodbye to
her and their children (they have a 2 yr old and a ten month old). He
and his group will be leaving at 4 pm today (our time) on foot to go
into Baghdad no vehicles or tanks will be taken. Their mission will
last 2 or 3 days and the purpose is to go door to door and capture all
snipers in the city.
The commanders have told the men what a dangerous mission this is and it
is very likely that most will not come back to their base. Christina is
terrified and called on everyone in our church to pray. She said the
men are also fearful. They were all told to call their families before
they leave.

I'm asking each of you to pray for these men and women for the next 3
days. If your church has a prayer chain, PLEASE call and ask them to
pray.

Secondly:

This morning at FCA, our speaker spoke on these two passages:

This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. - 1 John 4:9-10

As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead. - James 2:26

What an amazing thought -- We are called to do good deeds to all around us because of our love for and faith in God. God did something for us -- He loved us, and he proved it even more by sacrificing his son. So we, too, are called to sacrifice for God to prove our faith to Him and to our neighbors.

It's really long . . .

Have you ever thought, actually thought, about the Second Continental Congress of 1776? I know it sounds silly, but it's an important question. Let me jog your memory:

The Second Continental Congress was a body of representatives appointed by the legislatures of several British North American colonies which met from May 10, 1775, to March 1, 1781. The First Continental Congress had sent entreaties to the British King to stop the Intolerable Acts and had created the Articles of Association to establish a coordinated protest of the Intolerable Acts; in particular, a boycott had been placed on British goods. That Congress had provided that the Second Continental Congress would meet on May 10, 1775, to plan further responses if the British government had not repealed or modified the Intolerable Acts.
-From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Tonight I watched the film adaptation of 1776, a musical based on the days and months leading up to the signing of the Declaration of Independence. Other than being 3 hours long, it was really, really good. A co-worker of mine, Jimmy, is a history teacher, and so of course when he told me that it was a really good flick, I brushed it off as one of those "history" movies that are either all Hollywood-ed up, or all boring. But I was very wrong. It was neither. It was a musical, which we all know I love, and it was extremely interesting. So interesting that I skipped dinner. I couldn't move away from the couch, I didn't want to miss any part of the plot.

It's been a long while since I had any kind of American, world or Texas history class. And of course, I don't necessarily miss them because they were pretty boring, but this show intrigued me.

I'll hit back on my first question: Have you ever really thought about the Second Continental Congress of 1776? I hadn't until tonight. John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson: all names that we civilians recognize from middle school history courses and science class. Common names that we remember, but brush aside. But these men, along with many others, stood up in that congressional session and stood their ground. They were unwavering in their beliefs that, as a new nation, a new breed, a new nationality, that the people of America had the right to be free men(and women). That King George could not rule them and could not take away rights of human beings that he didn't have the right to take away in the first place.

For months on end, the men who represented those 13 colonies fought and bickered and argued over and over again about the idea of independence. And the fact that independence was a new idea seemed to keep some delegates hung up on their vote.

I am so blessed, we are so blessed to have the independence over our lives that we have. In so many countries, cities, places all over this world, so many are without these rights. America is free to live however we want and yet we still lobby and argue and picket for more. Our freedom is staring us right in the face and we look right past it because we are so greedy.

Appropriately, as election day is tomorrow, let us remember the freedoms we have, the independence we have been blessed with, the rights that are upheld every day, and the life that God has given us to live.

a GOOD day

Today has been a good day!!

Church was good - Michael gave the sermon and I have always enjoyed his sermons, so that was really nice.

Then lunch with good friends and good times at the Potato SLOW Shack!!

Then changing old to new with window decals.

Then catching up with Wendy via cell phone. :o) MISS YOU!!!!

Softball game -- I hit really really really well !! Tonight I hit twice out in the outfield, like, the farthest I have EVER hit!! It was wonderful. Then we ended up winning the game in the last inning!!

I stuck around and filled in for the team we had just beat; they needed another female. I did alright; we won that game too.

Then, dinner and more phone time with friends. Now, I'm getting ready to hit the hay, and ready for another day full of blessings!!! :o)

Blessings and love to you, wherever you are!!

decorating for all hallow's eve . . .

my window sill

(and that's pronouned with a long "i", not an "ee" sound for those of you from east texas... or just texas)

hahaha

RIP Alero . . .

Yeah, the Alero has been deemed "totalled" by my insurance company. It's a sad day... It's really frustrating too, because I have had that car for over 4 years now. That's the longest I've ever driven a car. That's kind of sad, too. Haha...

So, I've been driving a rental car for this past weekend (and if I had the money, I'd buy it!). It's a Dodge Caliber. I've never driven a Dodge consistently. I really like it a lot. It's sporty and new!! And it accelerates a lot quicker than the Alero did. But, since I don't have a lot of money, I'll have to wait until my job becomes full time and I can afford to have a car payment along with all my other bills.

For now, Mom has decided that she wanted to buy a car anyways, so she has found herself a nice Buick Rainier, which is a midsize SUV, but it's really nice. So we'll go pick that up tomorrow and I'll be driving her Honda Accord as my car now.

I was talking to my mom earlier last week and I was telling her that I was trying to understand why God had allowed this to happen, what kind of lesson was I supposed to learn? She smartly replied that God's telling me to get a full time job so I can afford car payments. I scoffed and thought otherwise. One good thing from all this is that I have hung out with my mom a lot, so maybe it's been for that reason. And of course, I should learn when to move a car with rising waters and also know that possessions on earth are only temporary. That's a pretty big one.

Thank you for all your prayers and concern over my last week. Hopefully things will be back to "normal" soon. :o)

it's a double whammy!

Ah.. You might be wondering how I have been able to do TWO posts in one day. Well it's not like I really wanted to, but here are some pictures to how my day has gone so far. Basically, it's been raining since last night, almost non stop. Yeah. So here's my pictoral article this fine Monday.


Yeah, that's my car on the left.


See that champagne colored car? Yeah, that guy is stupid. He tried to move his car.


This is about 20 minutes later. The water definitely went IN the car.



You can't see it, but my floor mats are floating. And that is water pooling UP into my seats. Disgusting ...

So my day has stunk so far. I've made an insurance claim and hopefully the adjuster will call me soon so we can get this all worked out. I'm trying to be positive because I'm essentially getting today off, but really, I can't see anything positive about tomorrow yet. When you have a job that requires you to drive around the district, being without a car kind of makes the job difficult. So prayers are appreciated that things go smoothly, however they go.

Well, finally here's an update to NYWC weekend.


First off, I had a wonderful time. It was great to get away for a weekend and hang out with friends and just be around people, constantly in the presence of God and worshipping with a whole bunch of wonderful artists. Thank you B Smith for letting me go!!!


We left Friday morning real early for Austin so we could hit a few morning seminars. I was glad that we left early because it just felt like the weekend was more complete and we were really able to get the full effect of the convention. We started our afternoon with a worship service led by David Crowder and we heard from Buster .. somebody. He was a good speaker, I just don't remember his last name :o) Friday afternoon went well also. The seminars were really good this year and I just picked the right ones, it seems. They were what I needed to hear for my heart and for my many ministry areas. That night, we attended a dinner for Methodist youth workers. We didn't exactly get there in time for the great food, but the food we had was pretty good. That night after the worship session with DCB and speaker Mike Pilavachi (so funny!), we all headed to Katz' Deli/Diner on 6th Street and had an extremely late dinner/snack. I really love their grilled cheeses!! All the girls stayed up real late, of course, with girl talk and laughing and serious stories intermixed.



Saturday was excellent as well. I had really wanted to get up early for a seminar, but since we had stayed up so late the night before, I could barely open my eyelids so I skipped it and slept in until it was time for the first worship session of the day. David Crowder led yet another amazing set and our speaker was . . . hmm hahaha.. this old guy and I didn't really listen. We headed out for lunch to find a good little bar to watch the Aggies play and eat some lunch. I then headed back to the convention center and attended another seminar. This one was simply for your soul; not to try and give you 8 steps to whatever. It was just soothing and perfectly what I needed. That evening, we worshipped with Shane & Shane, listened to Donald Miller speak. He is a great speaker. I've never read any of his books, but I am definitely interested in what he has to say. That night, we headed back to the hotel for more girl time in the room. We ordered in room service, Traci Smith style! She ordered cheesecake and some other stuff.. I don't really remember because I didn't have any it was so late. We all hung out for a while and chatted and then fell asleep late again.




(picture of everyone being apathetic)

Sunday I woke up early, determined to go to an early seminar, which I did. It was good, about kids who "cut" or self injure. It was very interesting and extremely sad. But I'm glad I went. The next general session was led again by S&S (no good pics of S&S! :( ) and the speaker was Sharon Cohn. She spoke on social justice. It probably was interesting. But I wouldn't know. I fell asleep!! Ha... We went to lunch at Schlotsky's downtown.



After lunch we headed back for another seminar, this one was on developing youth leaders by Marcus Goodloe of Mosaic Church in LA. It was pretty good! That afternoon, our general session was led by Jeremy Camp and speaker Greg Stier. Greg did a great job. He is very energetic!!!





We had to leave soon after. I had to get back for work the next day, even though I would have loved to stay for the Kutless and Thousand Foot Krutch concert. We went to a Wendy's on our way out. Food was okay, service was poor. We met a Carrie, a homeless woman, and bought her some food and stayed and talked with her for a while. It kind of counterfeited our reason for not going to the concert, but I think it took us so long to get out of town just so we could meet her.




It was a wonderful weekend and am so glad that I went!!! :o)

a taste...

Since the demand was so high, I thought I'd give my audience a taste of what's to come . . .

These pics were taken near the end of the summer and they just make me laugh . . .

If you'll notice in this first one, the drink on the right hand page.

Now, that looks like quite the... flirty drink, no?

Take a look at this next picture and see why it's so funny...

Haha.. The Don..

driving home from the church, i started thinking about things i love

driving with the windows down, my fingers stinging from the cold
david crowder*band's "stars"
my friends, near and far
compliments from a four year old (cuz they're real!)
big bear hugs that say so much more than words
technology (but not as much as you, you see)
my job, my coworkers
wearing a long sleeve shirt and shorts
television
road trips (it's not funny when a road trips, you shouldn't laugh...)
mexican food
soccer
la familia

just a few... i'm so blessed!!! :o)

Ugh.. okay...

Well, after getting a taste of my own medicine, here I am.

Life has been good the past week. I'm staying with Paul M. this week while his parents are out of town, but tonight is my last night. Friday I'm leaving for San Antonio, and hopefully I'll have somewhere to stay for Friday night, because my dad kind of flaked on me and I'm out of shelter until Saturday night. I want to go Friday to San Marcos possibly so I can see some friends and shop and then go to Austin that night to see Andy play at some club that I have no idea where it is. Haha.. And possibly see Wendy and the Cali folk that night too! Then, Saturday morning, I'm heading for San An to eat breakfast with friends and wait for Dad and the brothers to get to town so I can hang with them. (this is alllll still in the planning stages.. one day before I leave.. of course) Saturday night is the aTm vs Army game at the Alamodome. Sunday morning, I'm going to Round Rock to go to church and then heading home! It's gonna be a really really fun weekend. But, I have to finish my work week first and then the fun starts.

I'm pretty sure I'm playing football tomorrow night? That's all I can divulge there ... maybe some pictures at a later date.

Well, it's 10:30 and I really want to get into bed and watch TV til I fall asleep .. so that's what I'm gonna do :o)

I hope you enjoyed this update! Y'all come back now, ya hear?

Happy Birthday Ginger :o)

Remeber I told you about a little boy I was helping this summer? He was learning how to walk?

Well, as it does for every student who starts back to school, it takes some time to remember how to do things. He came back to school and remembered quite well all the stuff he had learned over the summer at summer school. We had gotten him to take 2 or 3 steps on his own, without any assistance from a teacher and that was pretty big because he was unsure of himself, just needed some confidence and reassurance that we were there.

Fast forward to today. Our PT came into my office and affirmed that he is walking on his own! She told me that he (on more than one occasion) took 6-8 steps on his own without falling backwards for reassurance or falling period. How exciting!! This is huge for this little guy.

This is why I love this job. It's the little things that I take for granted all the time that my students struggle with and when they succeed, it's amazing and totally gratifying.

I AM making a difference in my job. I AM successful. I AM blessed!!