Neck Deep in Dreams

The waves lapped over my toes years ago, tickling my senses and awakening a calling. The genie was out of the bottle -- or the pantyhose out of the egg -- never to return.

I stood before a group of women, asked to do a "book review" for a group of young mothers at church. I had never in my life heard someone give a book review, nor knew what components should be in one. So I told how God had used the book to change aspects of my life -- a testimonial of sorts, I guess.

I can still picture the precious faces in front of me: eyes locked on mine, nodding and understanding. Souls connecting, each of us mothers simply trying to make it through this world to get to the foot of the Father's throne. Looking into the eyes filled with tears before me, I felt the refreshing knowledge of doing what I'm called to do -- as stepping into the cool ocean after a trek over the hot beach.

I stood there at the edge of the ocean, the waves barely tickling my toes for years, having no idea how to go any further. God blessed me when he sent me The Coffee Group -- a group of ladies who have traveled together speaking at retreats and ladies' events. I felt that I had waded knee deep into the ocean, speaking 3 or 4 times a year to groups of women. Every trip left me so honored to share God's story in my life, and so HUNGRY to tell it again... and again... and again.

I finally scraped together enough pennies in 2009 to attend She Speaks, but spent weeks agonizing over going as a writer or a speaker (why do some parts of my life feel like a week ago, and some parts feel like decades ago -- that was less than 2 years ago? Really? A lot has happened, I guess). That time, I chose writing. This time, I choose speaking.

I am also applying for a scholarship this year. You can, too, by going here. Because I am soon to be moving away and getting a fresh start in a fresh town, I am ready to move beyond knee deep in this thing. I long to be neck deep in my call, and I know She Speaks has the tools to get me there.

Last year being blind-sided by unemployment was tough. This year, living 200 miles from my husband waiting for a house to sell hasn't been a walk in the park, either. At the beginning of 2011 I claimed Joshua 3:5 for all of my family:

"Then Joshua told the people, "Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do amazing things among you."

AMAZING things. I'm claiming it. Our family has had a difficult desert season. We will soon be moving to a new town. I've got stories and testimonies of His faithfulness to proclaim. I hope to attend She Speaks to sharpen my tools and be among that godly group of encouraging women again.

I would love to have any of my bloggy friends join me at She Speaks. Anyone else thinking of going? Who's with me?

Immeasurably More

Well, I am back with not much fanfare. Okay, with no fanfare at all.

I did truly enjoy my bloggy break and it accomplished so much more than I ever thought it could. Did you know that it is much easier to listen when you aren't yak, yak, yakkity, yakking, talking all the time, or even worried about what you must say next?

I listened a lot. I listened to my family. I listened to my husband and children. I listened to my church family. I listened to my new co-workers -- have I even told you that I started a part-time job? If not, that will have to wait. Most of all, I listened to my Father. And I loved every precious word He had for me.

There were MANY times I did want to fill you in on my life, though. There were amazing God-stories, and sad times that needed praying over. Some of them I may eventually recount, some of them may be gone forever in my feeble brain.

Last weekend Coffee Group traveled for the first time in a while. We had one of the best trips I remember us having. We agree that we think we have finally found the balance of how much preparation we need to do, prayer we need to do, and trusting we need to do to allow God to work in an event.

One of the points I brought out in my talk was from Ephesians 3:20: "Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine..." As I prepared my talk and thought about the last few weeks, I began to realize: God isn't only ABLE to do immeasurably more than we can ask or imagine, He LONGS to do immeasurably more than we ask or imagine in our lives. It takes letting go, it takes giving up control and being in some scary and sometimes painful paths. But He will bring us to a point of immeasurably more.

I'm ready. I'm ready for immeasurably more. May I remember to let go of all that I think I am clinging to for safety and security and control, and be blessed -- immeasurably more than I can ask or imagine.

So -- how was YOUR February?? :-)

I shall henceforth simply refer to the college kids as 'enthusiastic drivers'. Love it.

And the Smileys? It seems most of us are left-to-right smilers, as well it should be. Jana, join us here in this millenium. We will all smile with you -- with our faces AND our keyboards. Nathaniel, THANK YOU for that link -- I had tried those Emojicons before, but couldn't find the current 'secret code'. How fun are those??? Too bad for you, non iPhone users... :-)

I believe I have decided that I am allergic to the ACU library. Sorry I didn't realize this while I was in college -- it would have provided me with all manner of excuses. The last two Wednesdays I have spent 1.5 to 2 hours in there working on a project, then spent the rest of Wednesday, and most of Thursday convinced I was sick with a cold. Now I'm guessing it's some form of book allergy. Seriously. What will I think of next?

I am doing many different little things that needed to be done -- lots of odds and ends that needed to be wrapped up. Coffee Group is traveling next week, so I am finishing up my talk. Helping Troy with a website for his business. Link when we get the website functional.


While you are helping with the mundane thoughts of this world, the folks over at A Better View need your help. As you may/may not know, we are doing a weekly podcast. A round-table type discussion with 3 women, kept on track (and professionally edited) by our producer, Steve. So Steve goes to introduce us, and always stumbles over... "Here are the... hosts? stars? of our show?" What are we? Talk goddesses?

What does one call the 3 women who sit and yak into their computers wondering if anyone other than the dog in the next room can hear it? Podcast divas? Give it your best shot. Would love a family-friendly name for us!

Happy New Week!

What an amazingly gorgeous weekend God blessed us with. And I confess I spent precious little of it outside, but I got a little rest, and more importantly, I got a new car.

Old news to those of you on facebook and Twitter, but, yes, we managed to get a new-to-us car before the Expedition completely dropped dead. I can now drive carpool without my stomach being in knots wondering if I will make it back to the house.

We got a Maxima. And, it's still 3 years old (Expedition was 9) but, hey, some things have changed in vehicles since 2000! It's bluetooth capable, so I can punch a button on my steering wheel, say, "call Troy office" and voila, I'm talkin' to Troy (or, more likely, his answering machine -- I can't ever catch him in the office). The seat moves out to let me out when I park, then back in when I start the engine -- like my own personal concierge!

Yes, I am country gone big city in my car! Driving around like Gomer Pyle saying, "Goooolllleee! What will they think of next?" Just craziness. And such a blessing.

Riley, my, um, petite-ish 11 year old is thrilled that the airbag will shut itself off when a petite-ish person is sitting in the front seat. At 80 pounds, his life's longing has been to sit in the front seat for a while. We already have a fight-reducing plan for that!

Part of my weekend was birthday-celebrating my friend Denise. Some of us from Coffee Group gathered for a brunch and laughed together. Donna pointed out how wonderful it was that we all knew -- Denise doesn't do cheese, I don't do coffee and my Diet Coke was chilling for me when I got there. I hope I never take for granted that I am blessed with a group of women that know. Not just my Diet Coke affinity (if you've been at the COTR for very long, you know that) but my history, my hurts, my peeves, my soapboxes, my laughter triggers. I am amazingly blessed in that group.

I also made a blog roll. Donna, it's quite tasty. Give it a try! I'm sure I've forgotten someone. Please leave a comment and let me know if you don't see you on there!

So here we are on Monday morning. Ever since I have been home with the kids when Ashley was born, I have LOVED Mondays. When the kids were little bitty, Sundays were SO hard, and Monday was a day to re-group, clean up, and relax. Even with the jobs I've had since the kids have been in school, I still generally love Mondays. It's a fairly unscheduled day, and it's kind of like every week's New Year's Day -- you get to start it all over, get a fresh start, try to get it right this time. Ever hopeful, I guess.

I think I'm looking forward to a little big easier schedule than I had last week. But I always am just a little lonely without my family that I enjoyed over the weekend -- it's never quite enough for me.

In July I will be joining my daughter and 19 other 7th and 8th graders on a mission trip to South Texas. Those of us going -- parents and youth alike -- are required to attend training time and part of that is scripture memory. So I am memorizing Ephesians 2:10 right now:

For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

God has prepared some good work for you to do today! You are His workmanship! May you find His strength and might to do the good works He has prepared for you.

Going Viral!

As I have shown time and time and time again, we have some creative geniuses (geni?) at the church where I worship.I thought I had posted this one here, but I evidently have not. And, since it has 'gone viral' (that's evidently a good thing on youtube -- who knew?), you have probably received it in your inbox at some point in time.

Well, the super-cool thing is that the story behind it is 'going viral', as well! Woo-hoo! Some big-wig NBC guys were out here this week, and this is the result of THAT:

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Preacher Phil did marvel a bit that they call our 1,800 member church 'small'. Me, too. It's not small to me! I think that it is very cool how God is using these guys, all of them.

And, if you didn't know, Rob -- the guy using the stethoscope, but not interviewed here -- is husband to my friend Tammy from Coffee Group. He's our drama dude at church -- you can see why! I love what Stephen (our communications/ video guy) said about Jesus using parables, and this is just a parable on video.

Coffee Group Defined

I am a blessed woman on SO many levels. One is the abundant riches I have in friendships. I have friends far and near that time has forged into sisters for me. One of those beautiful friends sent me a video this week that just "got it". Then another beautiful friend sent me the same video. I posted it on Coffee Group website because it really defines who we are and what we mean to each other in Coffee Group. I encourage you to take a few minutes, grab a Kleenex, and go check it out.

Random

I'm still thinking about being an heiress... and lots of other things. I wrote about it here.

We are in the middle of our happy lives over here: soccer this and that, we find out tomorrow which volleyball team we're on, new jobs being done, on and on. Very fun, very busy. PTA board meetings. Oy. I explained the phrase, "One bad apple..." to my family upon my return. One bad apple, indeed.

Okay, you know I am NOT a techno-wizard. I give you my blog button failure as an example (and we'll discuss my contest failure later, thankyouverymuch). But I've gotten some comments about linking, etc.

Kelly wanted to know how to include links -- I think she was talking about within a post. If you are using blogger (which Kelly is), it's SO simple (again, in your countrified voice, mocking the Nutri-System commercial). While you are composing your blog post (be on the 'compose' tab, not 'Edit HTML' tab) type whatever it is you want to make your link. You might write: "I give you my blog button failure as an example." and would like your link to be on 'blog button failure'. I, personally, now open a new tab for the internet and find the blog post or website or yada yada I want to link to. I copy the URL address box on that tab, then go back to my blog post. Highlight the phrase: 'blog button failure', then click on the chain (link) on the green dot (that may be a globe?) and this dialog box will pop up (it says 'hyperlink information'):

Paste the URL into that box and tell it 'ok'! Voila! You are linked! (Important: either delete the current 'http://' or paste over it, but if you've copied the original URL, you will need to remove the one that shows up there).

Tammy mentioned needing to learn how to link to specific blog posts. You need to link to the 'permalink'. The best explanation of finding that is here.

If Kelly was curious about linking within comments, I can do that, but don't currently have the energy to go into explaining it. I will tell you that this website also has an explanation of that: but it is wrong! So, can't really recommend that.

So, just a little blogging info. Not much to see around here. Moving along...

Places You Should Go Today

First, I have a recap of my weekend in San Antonio over at the Coffee Group blog. If you haven't checked that out in a few days, Denise and Tammy have also posted there. Donna posted on her own blog.

Also, I LOVE it when the blog community becomes true community. Stephanie, of NieNie Day, was in a plane crash with her husband and his flight instructor. The flight instructor has since passed away, and Stephanie and Christian have a LONG road of recovery ahead of them due to extensive burns. (THIS is a BEAUTIFUL post by Stephanie's sister).

So, Design Mom decided a fund-raising auction was in order. And, holy cow, we bloggers don't do anything half-way. If there is anything on the planet you would like, I think you can put a bid on it today! Check out the list!

And, of course, lift a prayer or thirty for all involved. If you are so inclined, click below to help with funds:

Day 4 of school -- I've already got a sick kid! So I'm home cruising blog sites today...

Good Things Out There

Without a doubt, this still gets my vote for the best thing out there EVER!! :-)

You know, I have had some crazy things happen to me at Wal-mart, and I really don't even shop there -- maybe 6 times a year. But I think Bob had an experience that takes the cake...

Are you keeping up with the Coffee Group? We're posting on the blog!

Trina has some excellent thoughts from a book she read recently. She's like me: her reading genre is in the 'juvenile' section. Trina tells me the good ones to read.

Another hilarious illustrative video from my congregation.

Fitness Friday Revisited

As summer continues to blaze, my fitness aspirations have dissolved to avoid sweating while being still. Sometimes I have to go lay down to succeed. That is pretty much the extent of my fitness plan for the summer. Between that, and my diet of : Sharky's burritos, sno-cones, and an occasional Dairy Queen blizzard, for some reason my clothes seem to be shrinking. Starting next Friday, August 1, I am going to re-instate Fitness Fridays here on the ol' blog to encourage us to get off our keesters and move. Or, just encourage ME to get off my keester while you sit on the couch with the chips. Next Friday, I will encourage us to move. This Friday, let's just take it easy.

While you're taking it easy, check out The Coffee Group's new look for our blog. Special thanks to Jen at blue yonder design for our awesome new look!

They're so FUNNY!

Riley has forsaken baseball this year to give soccer a try. And is LOVING it! I think he enjoys the pace of soccer over baseball, but the running hither and yon is still a bit difficult. The first game was a couple of weeks ago. The temperature was reasonably cool, but the wind was blowing, literally, about 30 mph leaving a wind chill in the lower 40's somewhere.

When we first got to the field and were waiting on the rest of his team to show up so that he could warm up, he was trying to coax Troy and me to stand a little closer together to form a sufficient wind block. In his best romantic radio-announcer voice, he said, "Come on, you two, don't you feel the love?" as he pushed us together. Troy tossed over his shoulder, "Careful, dude. That's how you came to be in the first place." Over Ashley's theatrical "Ewwwwww"s and covering her ears with her hands, Riley tossed back, in mock horror, "On a soccer field???" A little too wise for 10...

And today was THE day. The BIG day. Every student, 3rd-12th grade in Texas, has some sort of ginormous test today. It's the (cue horror music): TAKS test!!! (pronounced 'tax') Passages to read, problems to solve, bubbles to bubble. All very important stuff. Students have practiced ad nauseum. Teachers have sworn their life away (Ashley understands that if you get peanut butter on your test booklet it goes STRAIGHT to the oval office for George W. Bush to deal with!!) and parents are doing what little they can in putting the punkin's to bed on time (wonder if I should make mine take a shower now?) and feeding them some sort of glorious power breakfast. Oh, and us yahoos that teach non-TAKS grades simply do all we can to steer our babies around the moon and back before we allow them to walk within 50 feet of a door that has a 'TESTING' sign on it.

So, today I woke Riley up by sitting on the edge of his bed and whispering, "Do you know what today is?" Without opening his eyes he whispered back, "It's Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills day." Then he struggled to sit up, all the while asking, "Do they have MAKS in Mississippi? Did you have LAKS in Louisiana when you grew up? Do all of those 'W' states have WAKS?" I just shook my head repeating, "I don't know." I'm pretty sure he'll do okay -- at least on the vocabulary portion!

The coffee group is on the road again this week! If you're in the D/FW area, join us and some ladies from Alta Mesa for a rockin' good time!

Just What I Need

I traveled to College Station with my peeps, the Coffee Group, this weekend. We had an amazing time! So amazing, in fact, we decided to launch a new place for gals to respond to our time with them. I confess this is an idea that the Coffee Group -- the rest of them -- have been trying to get off the ground, and I wasn't going for it. I already have one blog I don't write on, why have another?

But another is what we have! Later we're going to 'pretty it up' but for now, we have a spot. Interestingly, names and URL's associated with 'coffee group' are used up so we are at espressohislove.blogspot.com. Check us out!

I'm still trying to recover, still feeling amazingly blessed in my day, and still chuckling about my friends.

Coffee Group Takes a Village

This weekend I had the privilege of traveling with my friends to go share God’s story, some of what He has done in my life, and share His word. I love it dearly. It is SO stinkin’ hard to get out of town, but it is always great to be around women who are happy to be filled with a little more of His word, His hope, His love. While I certainly don’t consider it a “glam” ministry, people seem to assign a certain amount of prestige to a speaker –way more than we are entitled to, since I pretty much consider myself ‘0’ on the prestigious scale! People are open to us and tell us their hurts and their victories, they ask us questions about scripture and life situations and expect us to have a coherent answer. God blesses us again and again with new relationships and glimpses into God’s healing and mighty works. Again and again I am brought to my knees in amazement of what He’s doing in lives. I can’t believe that I am so blessed to be able to be a witness to His work so many different places.

Before I left, and again on my way home, in my prayers for our trip, I began praying over the long list of people that were making it possible for me to go and do what I do. Our family had a typical weekend of 27 million things to do between sports, social, and church activities. Troy gladly took it on and got everyone where they were supposed to be. The kids happily adjusted and worked around a few inconveniences. Even Donna’s daughter, Megan, was on “stand-by” for my family to help with transportation for us. Interpreters at church stepped up and filled in holes when they hit snags. Kendra planned long ago to work several Fridays in a row so that I could leave town on Friday. In other families, husbands, grandparents, children, and in-laws all filled holes and made things work in our absence. Friends covered church responsibilities and ministry needs. I began tallying up the small village of workers whose service to the Lord for the weekend included going out of their way so that the four of us could get out of town. And again I was overwhelmed.

So to all the daddies, children, grandparents, and friends: thank you so much. You willingly gave up your time so that we could see God at work. You were a precious behind-the-scenes servant who blessed each of us by your service. I pray that He blesses each of you, and that you are able to see Him at work, as well.

Blessing, Privilege, Responsibility

When the Coffee Group speaks and tells God's story, inevitably a few people share with us struggles that they are in the midst of. Today I am overwhelmed with what an amazing blessing, privilege, and responsibility it is to be allowed into the broken and wounded places of another's soul. People hand us ever-so-fragile pieces of their hurting, sometimes shattered souls. I think the blessing is that, for the most part, they don't expect us to do anything about it -- except for agree to hand it to the Father for them when they are too broken or weary to do it for themselves. The privilege is to be able to do just that. And the responsibility is to keep from wounding that soul further.

The Jews would not willingly tread upon the smallest piece of paper in
their way, but took it up; for possibly, they say, the name of God may be on it.
Though there was a little superstition in this, yet truly there is nothing but
good religion in it, if we apply it to men. Trample not on any; there may be
some work of grace there, that thou knowest not of. The name of God may be
written upon that soul thou treadest on; it may be a soul that Christ thought so
much of, as to give His precious blood for it; therefore despise it not. -- S.
T. Coleridge

Coffee Group On the Road

I meant to include this in the last post, but I was horribly distracted between talk of new kitchen tile and getting the dance-off results from the kids while they observed the dinner at the hotel. So my coffee group gals hit the road this weekend. I'm going to claim being the youngest and most agile since they crammed me in the back little seat -- but I went the whole way saying (honestly) that I didn't mind and actually liked my little cubby! But what a fun trip. Oh, I am so blessed.

I do love to speak at ladies' things. Mainly, I guess, I just love to talk and I REALLY love to talk about what the Lord teaches me. Then, when I get to sit and visit with my friends and travel with them -- I'm just so blessed.

We spoke at Crossroads Retreat Center in Caldwell, Texas, which is pretty 'fur acrosst' Texas from Abilene! Beautiful, beautiful country, though! And I got to see old family -- my sisters from my congregation in Temple. What beautiful, beautiful souls they are. I am so blessed.

So, we talked and we laughed and we ate and we laughed some more. And sweet Judy drove and drove and drove some more. And we continued to laugh. All in all, a grand time was had by all.