Texas

I know I've been a bad blogger lately....I've seriously had lots of ideas for things to blog about, but I've been so busy, I just haven't had time. Here's something silly my grandaddy sent me to tide you over:
Forget Rednecks, here is what Jeff Foxworthy has to say about folks from Texas ...

• If someone in a Lowe's store offers you assistance and they don't workthere, you may live in Texas
• If you've worn shorts and a parka at the same time, you may live in Texas .
• If you've had a lengthy telephone conversation with someone who dialed awrong number, you may live in Texas .
• If "Vacation" means going anywhere south of Dallas for the weekend, you may live in Texas.
• If you measure distance in hours, you may live in Texas .
• If you know several people who have hit a deer more than once, you may livein Texas .
• If you install security lights on your house and garage, but leave both unlocked, you may live in Texas .
• If you carry jumper cables in your car and your wife knows how to use them,you may live in Texas .
• If the speed limit on the highway is 55 mph -- you're going 80 and everybodyʼs passing you, you may live in Texas .
• If you find 60 degrees "a little chilly", you may live in Texas .
• If you actually understand these jokes, and forward them to all your Texas friends & others, you definitely live in Texas .

Back from Vacation


I took some days off of work and went to Amarillo to visit my family. It was really nice to be away for awhile...after camp and VBS, I needed the time off!! Here are some pictures from my trip...

And here's my favorite pic from this week:

Grammy is still Aubrey's favorite person, but she actually wanted to be around me quite a bit on this trip. Aunt Nini really liked Aubrey following her around and wanting Nini to hold her or wanting to sit by Nini at lunch.

I just finished Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows about a half an hour ago...after reading straight for 3 hours...I'm exhausted, but it was so good! I loved it!!!

Something fun on a Monday...

If you go here, you can see what song was #1 on the Billboard charts the day you were born. "Call Me" by Blondie was number #1 when I was born. What about you?

Nothing to Laugh about today

So...Our church was broken into last night...and my laptop was stolen. (The one night I actually left it at work). I'm sitting at a secretary's desk doing my work...or trying to.

What is so upsetting is that I accidently left my Bible in my laptop case...I suppose I should think that maybe someone will read it and get saved or something...but all I can think about is that my personal Bible...the one I took notes in, recorded births (of my niece and nephews...of Miss Ivy Grace), the one I recorded my friends marriages in, the one that has a picture of me with Mrs. Roberts (who had me in the baby room) on her 100th birthday...is gone...

I just want to go somewhere and cry...

Nice idea...

A couple of Sundays ago we voted to call a new youth minister. We wait a week in between the candidate coming in view of a call and the vote, so he wasn't at the actual vote. He and his family live in the area, though, so once it was announced, the youth went over to his house and stuck cloth flowers all over their yard as a surprise.

As they were doing this, one of the youth girls (who helps me a lot in the children's area) told Meagan, "We should go toilet paper Miss Nissa's house!" When Meagan told me this later, it made me laugh out loud.

I live in an apartment...There is a shrub next to my door...that's about it!

I just almost had a heart attack!

Okay...so as some of you know, my friend Meagan and I are planning to move in together in the fall. We are both very excited about this move and are pretty much counting down the days until we can get on the list for the floor plan we want (we can put our names down no sooner than two months before).

I guess about a month ago, Meagan just randomly asked me what I thought about us getting a snake. I asked her what kind and how big. She held up her index fingers about a foot or so apart and said, "just a bull snake." I didn't say no, but said I would think about it. We've talked about it some since then, and I thought, "why not?

I decided to blog about this, and typed "bull snake" into google to get a picture...and this is what I found:

Along with a description that said it would get up to 5-7 feet long!!! Needless to say, I stopped breathing! I called Meg with a panicky message...

A few minutes later, I realized that Meagan had said King snake, not bull snake. I looked that up, and although it still can get up to 5 feet long...it just doesn't look as scary, although this quote from one of the sites made me shudder, "The most important point to emphasize is that kingsnakes and milk snakes, in fact all snakes, are amazing escape artists, and if there is even the slightest opportunity to escape, they will certainly find it."

Now...I think a king snake is a much prettier snake (there are lots of different kinds...this kind only gets about 20 inches long). I think I could handle having this snake in my place...

Although I'm betting this means that Luke will never visit me!! ;-)

Later Edit: Meagan called me back laughing at both of the messages I left her on the phone. She said that it was either a king snake or a corn snake that she wanted. She agreed that she didn't want anything that looked like it would kill her and eat her in her sleep! :-)

This is what a corn snake looks like...both are pretty...I could handle that... The other thing we agreed is that we have to give it a really girly name.

Day Four
Good morning! Only one more night to go!!

Last night we had 89 children, 99 Learners total (with special friends), and a total of 194 in all.

Day Three
Last night....
Children only: 80
Total with adults: 189

We also had 5 children who indicated that they are ready to trust Jesus as their Lord and Savior! What an exciting night! I went home with tears of joy in my eyes!

Pictures from A Few Good Men














Dinner at Chili's before.


















A picture after the show with our playbills


















Fighting over Jensen...I think I'm trying not to laugh!


















Kiss! Kiss!! I think I look more committed here!

Day Two of VBS
I'm discovering that I like having VBS at night. I'm also still overwhelmed at how well organized this VBS has been. I just have an amazing group of adults helping me out.

Day One attendance (corrected): 68 kids, 74 learners (kids + special needs adults class), 169 total learners and leaders.

Day Two attendance: 83 kids, 95 learners total, 185 total learners and leaders.

It's going great!!! We have lots of visitors which is fabulous!

Friday night
Okay...I finally have a few minutes to explain my last post! This past Friday night, my friend Meagan and I went to see A Few Good Men at Casa Manana in Ft. Worth. Because of their Texas roots, Lou Diamond Philips and Jenson Ackles played the starring roles (Philips played Col. Nathan R. Jessep and Jenson played Lt. Daniel Kaffee). It was very well done, and we had a great time!

What struck me right before the play started was that before Friday night, I had never really been in close proximity to a real celebrity...and we were about to see two of them. I honestly was quite starstruck (Meagan and both think that Jenson Ackles is quite good looking; he's not as well known as Lou Diamond Phillips, though. He's a regular on a TV show we both watch). We even waited around afterward hoping to have a chance to get autographs, but no such luck! :-) Jack Nicholson plays Col. Jessep in the movie and of course has the famous "You can't handle the truth!" line that everyone knows. I was worried as we approached that moment about how that would go. I was glad that Lou Diamond Philips didn't try to sound like Jack. He did it in his own way and was wonderful. Ackles did an excellent job in his role as well (the Tom Cruise role in the movie). He was quite charming and cocky at the same time. Not to mention that he looked nice in the different military uniforms he wore. ;-)

In other news, we had our first night of VBS last night. We had about 156 participants (84 children) which is a good number for this church. We had a lot of visitors, so I was pleased with that!! God has been at work already heading off potential glitches, and I can honestly say that this is the most efficient VBS I have ever been a part of! Lots of good ideas that I will take with me wherever I end up!

So this is what I did last night...and I was a little star struck...more on that to come...

Summer Reading
Well, I guess I've officially become an adult! It used to really puzzle me when I heard an adult say that they bought a book to read on vacation because they never have time to read at home. I love to read, so I pretty much read all year long. I also have no spouse or children to take care of when I come home from work. What I did have this semester was 9 hours of graduate work to complete during the week. I did practically no fun reading all semester.

I was clothes shopping the other day and discovered a Half-Price bookstore down the shopping center from the Cato's I was at. That may be a dangerous discovery for me! I just may have to make a rule that I can't buy a new book until I finish what I have in my library at home. And speaking of libraries, I really need to get library cards for the ones around here, so I don't spend all my money this summer on books.

Anyway, as I was looking at half-price books, I decided to buy several books that I've always wanted to read, but never have before. I reread a lot of really great books over and over again (LOTR trilogy, The Chronicles of Narnia, all my Jane Austen, Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, Little Women, The Anne of Green Gables series, etc.).

So I bought Gone With the Wind, The Count of Monte Cristo, Les Miserables & The Secret Garden (which i have read, but it's been forever). I also bought a little copy of Persuasion (one of my Jane Austen favorites) to keep in the car with my little copy of Pride & Prejudice (my very favorite Jane Austen). 5 books for only $15.

I also have some sets of Jane Austen novels that weren't completed and some Tolkien stuff to read (Simarillion, The History of Middle Earth, etc.). My friend Jay is reading though the LOTR trilogy for the first time right now, so it's been fun to discuss that with him (he's only seen the movies).

I've started Gone With the Wind and am loving it so far! I'll take a break from these books only when the new Harry Potter comes out. (I have to read through that immediately). I'm excited! If you have any suggestions of other books to add to my list (Luke, I'm sure you do), leave them in the comments area.

New Friends
One of the things that God has blessed me with the most is good friends. Sometimes I have to wait awhile before He brings them into my life, but when He does, it has always been worth the wait.

One of the only things that made me hesitant to leave Temple was because of the two friends that I ran around with there. My best friend and her family moved about the same time as I did, so I was going to be living in a different town than them anyway. But leaving Cindy and Andrea was going to be hard. We had just become friends the year before, so I was wondering why God would move me somewhere after I'd finally made some new single girlfriends! (Most of my college friends had married and/or moved away).

When I first moved here, I didn't really meet anyone around my age. I just worked and went to school and came home. I was busy, so it wasn't like I was bored, but I was getting a bit lonely. I was also in danger of becoming "hermit girl." At the end of January, I finally went to my pastor and told him how I was feeling. He told me that he was starting a life group for young singles in February and suggested that I try to get to know our youth intern. We started hanging out and soon she suggested that I come with her to watch Lost at this guy's house. The Wednesday before, I stayed after Life Group with Meg and these other two guys and then all of a sudden, one of them called me a dork...and we've all been friends ever since!

I've been quite the social butterfly these days...I do something with just Meg or with Meg and the guys several times a week...I've never felt so comfortable so quickly with a group of people.

God is amazing.

Josh's Graduation

This weekend I went to Austin to see my cousin Josh graduate from UT.

Happy Mother's Day
Of course, I called my mom to tell her Happy Mother's day today!

But my biggest surprise was that I got the news that my friends Adam and Brooke Moore welcomed their baby girl early this morning. I can hardly wait to meet her!! Happy Mother's Day Brooke!!

I went to see Wicked tonight with my cousin and a friend...It was amazing!!!!!! I had a great time! It's been such a long time since I've seen a show like this. Now that I'm living in the DFW area, I will have to do this more often!!

I can't believe they gave someone $25,000 for this!

TRY THIS
Take 60 seconds to do this, I guarantee you will show someone else, it's too funny not to.
1. Go to www.google.com
2. Click on "maps"
3. Click on "get directions"
4. Type " New York " in the first box (the "from" box) (Top of the Page)
5. Type " London " in the second box (the "to" box) (Top of the Page)
6. Click "Get Directions"
7. Scroll down to step #23