It's Football Season, Baby!!!

Have a wonderful weekend.
War Eagle!

OOO! I Forgot To Tell You How It Ended!!!

Before you read this post, you have to read this one.

I'll wait for you to get back.

Take your time.

Ok. Done?

Well here's how it ended.

I left off with me sitting in the Continental Airlines President's Club room.

Time out: By the way. Continental Airlines was one big mess on Thursday. From the stories I heard over the weekend, they weren't much better on Friday. Example A. Shape up, Continental.

Time in: Anyway, my flight was scheduled to leave Houston for San Antonio at 9:20 pm. Remember, I landed at 3:45 pm. I was OVER being in the airport. Alone. Over it.

I got to my gate about 8:45. You know, making sure I was not IN ANY WAY even close to missing this flight. Then I noticed that the flight had been delayed till 10:15. People waiting were cranky, let me tell you. Most of us had been waiting all day for delayed flights, missed flights, cancelled flights...and this one was the last one of the day. So you can imagine the tension in the room.

There were also several small children on the flight. Who were tired and hungry and bored, thus leading to crying and wailing and screaming and whining. I actually saw a man bang his head against a wall. And I'm not even kidding.

It was NOT PRETTY.

Finally, they let us on the plane at 10:05. The plane was packed. People were tired. Not everyone smelled, um...fresh, because we had been sitting in airports all the live long day! We all sat down, buckled our seatbelts, settled in for our 35 minute flight, and a flight attendant came on the speaker.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, Thank you for flying Continental Airlines. At this time, we will be experiencing a slight delay as our pilots are on another flight and haven't landed yet."

No, no. Wait. It gets better.

"Also, we will be unable to turn on the air conditioner because the switch is located in the cockpit, and as we just said, we have no pilots to turn it on."

I can't make this stuff up. It was unreal. UNREAL, y'all.

So here we sit. Tired. Hot. Smelly. And for some unexplained reason, they decided to strap us all in our seats so we could breathe that stale, contaminated, shared air that I'm sure will give me some sort of illness in the near future. I seriously thought the Hispanic man behind me was going to storm the cockpit and find the air conditioner switch. I mean, come on. How hard could it be? Flying the plane = hard. I get that. Turning on the air conditioner = apparently, pretty dang hard, too.

Really?

And don't forget that it's August. And Texas. Nuff said.

At 11:00, the pilots arrive. The flight attendant announced enthusiastically, "Ladies and Gentlemen, The Pilots are HERE!" *chirp, chirp* Silence. Nothing. I think she expected us to applaud. We were WAY over that.

We finally take off at about 11:15.

I land in SA and find my friend, Erin, who has played a Guiness Book of World Record qualifying number of Word Jumbles that her mom kept giving her via phone from days and days of Jacksonville, FL newspapers. I find my bags, a taxi, and we head to the Marriott Rivercenter. At 12:30 AM. We order a room service omelette, marvel at the teeny bottle of Tabasco that came with it, and we crash. At 2:00 am.

Yeah, it wasn't the best day I've had in a while. But it did make for some good bloggy material. You know, because I'm a "glass is half full" kind of gal.

Yes, I'm Playing Fetch With My Daughter.

Don't judge.

Mary Emma is in school. Tait is in preschool this year - this is her 3rd day. Camille is home. With me. And no playmates.

Have mercy.

Today, we have taken Tait to school, gone to gymnastics, and gone to the grocery store. We've been home 5 minutes. She has already started the "Hold you, Mommy " routine (which is Camille-speak for "Hold me, Mommy") and has thrown herself in the floor out of sheer boredom. Twice.

So while I am putting up groceries, I grabbed a red mardi-gras necklace and tossed it. Either my wood floors are crazy clean, or there's a layer of dust on them (I'm not sure which...), but that sucker can slide all the way across the house. And Camille thinks it's hysterical. So she runs and gets it, brings it back to me, and the game starts all over again.

You know, the friendly game of fetch that people typically play with their dogs.

Funny thing is, every time I throw the necklace, Camille says "Don't throw it, Mommy." Yeah, ok. I'd rather go back to the whine and falling in the floor.

So I'm playing fetch with my kid.

I think I'll hold off writing that parenting book.

Check This Out!

This pic makes me happy. Happy is a good thing. Rock on.

PS - Props to Annie for introducing me to Picnik. You rock, my friend.

It's Long, But Hang With Me.

8/24/08
I am sitting on the plane returning from Living Proof Live in San Antonio. My mind is absolutely blown at the stuff that I’ve learned this weekend. Actually, I already knew it, but being the stubborn person that I am, I have ignored it, fought it, and flat out denied it.

Hang with me – I’m struggling to write sentences that make sense.

The theme of the weekend was Inheritance. We were taught that our inheritance always involves 3 things – Presence (the constant presence of God in our lives), People (God has blessed us with people and will continue to bless us when we are in Heaven), and Property (Beth cracked us up when she made a reference to Heaven not being a Ghost Town. We will not be see through. It’s a real, physical, actual place and we will be given a kingdom there – aka property).

Friday night was deep. There were lots of scriptures (anyone who has ever done a Beth Moore study understands her serious love of making you flip all over the Word to follow her – I have a sneaking suspicion that she watches her sessions on video and laughs at the Bible Drill that she inflicts on her audience) and it was pretty technical. The theology was fabulous and really made sense to me. Good music, check. Good worship, check check. Good teaching, check check check.

As I returned to my room Friday night, I prayed that Saturday’s message would be something that would be relevant and clear. I have been feeling the “tug” for about a year, sensing that God is wanting me to do something – having very little idea as to what it is, but really feeling unqualified and scared to branch out. I have prayed for clarity. I have prayed for answers. I have prayed to know that I am actually worth something.

Then came Saturday.

As I walked into the area Saturday morning, I had a sense that something was different. I was so eager to listen and continue what we had been learning about Friday night. Travis Cottrell and the Praise Team began the day with some awesome worship time and allowed me to focus, settle, and open my heart to what Beth was about to say.

Then she absolutely BROUGHT IT. I mean, seriously. That girl can teach. By point number one, I was a basket case of tears. I could hardly take notes because I was hysterical. Everything that I had been praying for over the past year was being clearly laid before me through Beth’s words. I felt like I was the only person in the room. She explained that not only was God my inheritance, but I WAS HIS. I am what He looks forward to. I am what He delights in. Me. He can’t wait to spend eternity with ME.

Now, I have always known that God loves me. I’ve never doubted that. I’ve wondered why some things have happened to me in the past. But I never doubted that God loved me. Now I clearly understand that not only does He love me, He CANNOT WAIT to hang with me in Heaven. He desperately desires to know me intimately every day.

That’s stinkin’ awesome.

You know what else? The same holds true for you. How incredibly cool is that? You are His inheritance. Ponder on that for a minute. It’s ok, I’ll wait.

I also learned that EVERYTHING in my life (good or bad) has been allowed by God for the sole purpose of glorifying Him. And if I don't use those life experiences (good and bad) to glorify Him, then they were all in vain. Think about that the next time you want to throw yourself a pity party.

So now, what do I do? I feel like the little “tug” that I felt earlier is more like a great big shout out. God is definitely calling me to work for Him. I am leaning more toward Bible teaching and writing, but seeing as how I am completely and totally unqualified for either, I feel like my main job right now is to get qualified. Get educated. Get smart. Also, there was one piece of advice Beth gave that was particularly poignant. When you are struggling trying to figure out what God wants from you, dive head first into the Word and you will have a head-on collision with it. It will be crystal clear. So that is my job. That is my prayer. That is what I need you to pray for me about.

Later Saturday, we had a chance to meet Beth. (She’s actually TALLER than I thought. Granted, she had on some fab wedges, but I thought she was way shorter than she is. Amanda and Melissa are much taller than I thought, too. In most people’s case, the camera adds 10 pounds. In Beth’s case, the camera shrinks her 6 inches. Weird.) We were divided into groups of about 50 and got to take a group picture with her. Then Beth, Melissa, and Amanda held a question/answer session with us. Let me tell you, too, Melissa is hilarious. She totally cracked me up. We could be BFF.

Sitting in the question/answer session was way cool. I love seeing the “real side” of people in the spotlight. I love knowing that they are normal people. That’s probably why I like to meet celebrities so much. Seeing them as real people, who are flawed, sometimes funny, sometimes a little too full of themselves, a lot of times more humble and shy that I would’ve imagined, allows me to keep it real. I have a tendency to get a little star struck, so meeting someone face to face curbs that a little. After seeing Beth in a comfortable, smaller, more intimate setting, I was able to replace in my mind the celebrity that I’ve watched on TV with the real person who was in front of me. I am no longer star struck because she is as normal as you and I are. I have an amazing amount of respect for her - as a person, as a mom, as a business woman, as a wife, and definitely as a Bible teacher. Her daughter, Melissa, called her a Spiritual Giant. How amazing would it be to have your own child call you that. That’s a goal that I am definitely striving for. Beth’s “Spiritual Giant-ness” has spilled out into her daughters – they are incredible people, too.

The Siesta Fiesta PJ Party was Saturday night. I didn’t have a good attitude about it before I got there. I mean, let’s be honest. 100 women in pajamas could get a little corny. I have to confess, it was probably the highlight of the weekend. I met AMAZING people like Jackie Sue, Wendy, Kathy - Actually, Kathy doesn't have a blog. She's a blog poser. She just hangs out with cool bloggy people because we are the coolest. Even people like me who tried to figure out where Isaacson, AL was, Annie (who is my long lost sister, for real), Emmy, Cindy, Crystal and her daughter Shaunessy, Linda, Lisa, and Melanie (aka BigMama). They were fantastic. I also got to see people who I already knew, but got to know them even more. People like Gayle and Sophie (aka BooMama). We laughed, we watched Erin breakdance-ish, We played games. We had a great time and I'm sad it's over.

I have waited a year for this trip. It did not disappoint. I had the time of my life and am so thankful for sweet hubs who kept the kids so I could go. I can't say that I'm back to my old life now, because my old life has a new purpose. Yes, I'm still a wife and mom and cook and chauffeur and maid and cheerleader. But now I'm also a woman who is desperately seeking the heart and will of God. I'd say that's a step in the right direction. Wouldn't you?

I'm Hom...zzzzz...

I'm home.

My flight home was waaaayyy less "eventful" than my flight out to San Antonio.

Thank the Good Lord.

I'll blog more tomorrow about the weekend. I'm so tired right now I need to take a long nap. Like the kind of nap where I don't wake up till tomorrow.

But let me tell you...

It

Was

Awesome.