My FAVORITE moment so far...

The best part is at the end. CAN'T. STOP. LAUGHING.

Rock, paper, scissors, lizard, Spock!

Mom has been telling me for years to watch this show and while most -HA!- I mean ALL of the science and math goes over my head, very few of the Geekdom references do.

Seriously one of the most quoteable shows ever.

"Yes... he 'tawt he taw' a Romulan."

CLASSIC!

Locks of Love

So, I decided in January of 2008 that I would grow out my hair for Locks of Love. Lots of "Please, PLEASE only trim what you have to!" conversations at Fantastic Sams, annoyance when my hair REALLY started getting in my way (it's a bit of a pain when you're trying to work out in a hip hop class), frustration with how much hair products I was using (I was going through shampoo and conditioner like it was going out of style- not to MENTION the styling products), and 11 inches later I made it through to the other side!

Here are some pictures of before and after:

Countdowns and Randomness

35- Days till Christmas
29- Days till my family goes to Disney World!
24- Days till Ross gets out of the Army. FOR GOOD!!!!! I am SO proud of him.
22- Days till the Chili Theater fundraiser with the Altamesa Teens! Come and support the ministry! Eat chili! Watch a fun show!
7- Days till Thanksgiving! This year I'm trying out the Pioneer Woman's recipe for acorn squash. Everyone pray.
4- Days till I go home. I know I just saw them, but BOY I miss my family.
26- HOURS till I'm on a plane headed to Atlanta, Georgia for the Youth Specialties conference!!! Mandy B, is it Friday yet?! ALMOST! I can't tell you how excited I am about this conference. I can't wait for worship with David Crowder, entertainment by the Skit Guys, and classes that make me want to sing with all the knowledge and encouragement they provide!
14- HOURS till I'm sitting with Mere and her boss watching New Moon. I'm so excited to do this with Mere. If it's bad, we'll just mock it mercilessly! Which is one of my most favorite things to do. :)

In other news, my car is falling apart. I took it in yesterday just to get it looked at and like 6 things are wrong with it. Please pray that the things that need to be fixed can be fixed SUPER cheaply. SUPER SUPER cheaply.

Also, I FINALLY bought a new camera. So far, I'm in love. So hopefully I'll post some pictures from GRG and our small group service project night soon!

Blessings,
Grags

and please don't fight these hands that are holding you...

Things have been very exciting and busy in my life lately. God has been teaching me important lessons and I (think) I've been open to the learning process.

Through the learning, I've been doing a lot of thinking. Here are just a few (some ridiculous, some not) thoughts/things I've had/done lately:

-What does it truly mean to give your life COMPLETELY over to God?

-Why do I ever STOP watching Seinfeld? I'll tell you why: because it's even FUNNIER when you come back to it after taking a couple months sabbatical from it.

-My family is so refreshing and slightly nuts. It makes visiting them delightful and exhausting at the same time. I wouldn't trade that crazy bunch for ANYTHING!

-I'm a better dancer than I give myself credit for. Even if I do turn hip-hop into a Broadway show.

-My sisters have both hit the age where they are MORTIFIED by their mothers, me,etc. So when I was home the last time I danced in the car while listening to "Party in the USA" just to mortify them. HILARIOUS results!

-Criticism can hurt, but it can help you grow. And isn't it all about growing?

-It sometimes scares me how comfortable I get and how quickly I get there. In order to grow sometimes we have to go through change and pain. In those moments we completely rely on God. Is constant change and pain worth the delight I receive when I know that God has complete control in my life?

-Where is the internet? (this will always plague me...)

-The Pioneer Woman and Centsational Girl make me so happy. I told Lauren A the other day (ha! that rhymed!) that I was a housewife minus the wife. I've gotten so much joy in creating lately. Creating food (crock-pot meals and baking!), creating scarves (see a picture of one of the scarves I'm working on, above), and just using the tools God gave me to make my lovely apartment a place of creation and beauty.

-I'm more excited about Star Trek coming out on DVD than I am Half-Blood Prince. Whoa. Is something wrong here?

-Mere and I are going to see midnight showing of New Moon. I know, Mags. I caved. I have to be on a plane the morning of the 20th and will be in Atlanta for several days. If I don't go at midnight, then I won't see it until probably AFTER Thanksgiving. And that just won't do.

-Why must we rush over Thanksgiving? Stop putting up Christmas stuff and let me enjoy the colors, sights, and smells of Autumn!

-God has been pulling on my heart to be a better steward of the gifts he's given me. How do I know? I've been doing monologues and singing 16 bars of songs for Phoebe in my apartment for a couple of months now. That means it's about time I auditioned for something. Next up: 1776 the Musical. Bliss!

-"How He Loves" is one of the greatest worship songs of all time. And I am moved to tears almost every time I hear it.

-Love is what it's all about. Am I truly loving the way Christ did? Will I ever be able to get out of my comfort zone and love more? How can I love the people who I find most unloveable? How can I show others the amazing God we serve and the amazing and infinite love that He has given to us? How do you illustrate that?

-Will I ever stop fighting the hands that are holding me? Will I?

So... what's up?

-I realize it's been like a month and a half since I've posted, but life gets busy and blogging falls to the back-burner. So, without further ado...

-I've been listening to a LOT of Les Mis lately. It's bringing back fabulous memories of high school. I had a ridiculous crush on Michael Ball (Marius). RIDICULOUS. His curly hair made my life SO happy! I've grown up a bit since then, and although I've still got a thing for curly hair, Michael Maguire's Enjolras' voice makes me swoon! And although I love the character of Cosette in every other version of Les Mis I've read/watched, I can't STAND her in the musical. I just don't like the way the music is written. She just sounds whiney. Blech.

-Do you have an igoogle page? If so, you TOTALLY have to get the "How-To Of the Day" gadget. It's the GREATEST thing invented. Except maybe indoor plumbing. Or air conditioning. Okay, so it isn't the GREATEST thing invented, but it's one of the greatest gadgets invented. It gives you 2 "How-To's" every day. And they're completely randomly selected. So it can be something incredibly useful (How to fix a clogged garbage disposal), or something CRAZY bizarre (How to draw a lizard in MS paint), or something that is bizarre and just a teeny bit dangerous (How to maintain an open fire in your home- which SOUNDS really dangerous and scary, but is really just fireplace safety). Every day is like a new surprise!

-I really like "Party in the USA". Pray for me.

-We've got a retreat in TWO WEEKS!!! I can't wait. We're going with Preston Road Church of Christ and it's going to be an amazing weekend!

-The BFF may or may not have put up one of the funniest movies that has ever been made up on her blog. Check it out for HORRIBLE videography and professionalism. SO FUNNY though. ;)

-I got a 24 Hour membership about two weeks ago and I love it. I took a Zumba class last week (where the lady kept encouraging us to swing our hips- something COMPLETELY foreign to a white, Church of Christ gal). My friend Ashley and I took a boot camp class today (I'm SORRY Ashley!!!) which completely kicked our bottoms and tomorrow we're going to take a hip-hop class. It's going to be AWESOME!

-I don't quite know HOW, but I've lost my camera. With LOTS of pictures on it. I don't have any clue where it is. So now I not only don't have pictures of the teens from the End of Summer Bash and Mere and I at the Botanical Gardens, I am going to HAVE to purchase a new camera soon. *sigh*

-Clinto and I took the teens to Six Flags yesterday and it was SO much fun! I haven't been to Six Flags since Bobby Moore was our youth minister in high school (WHOA!). The kids were shocked that I didn't grow up going, but we had Astroworld... why would we drive 4 and a half hours when we could drive 45 minutes? Anyways, I rode the Titan. I didn't really know what I was getting myself into until we were chugging up the GIGANTIC hill. I enjoy roller-coasters, so I figured it was just your regular old roller coaster. It was NOT. I actually blacked out at one point (didn't lose consciousness, just lost sight in my eyeballs). It was SO crazy and SO scary and COMPLETELY fun! We had a great time and I can't wait to go back!

-Crock-pot recipe of the week: Chicken and Rice (Ricky Ricardo's fav!)

-I'm still in awe of how blessed my life is! I pray I always recognize how God works in my life. What a mighty Lord we serve!

Summer 2009: In Pictures

I've had an amazing, beautiful, and BLESSED Summer. Enjoy some pictures from some of the amazing places I got to visit. What an AWESOME God we serve. He created it all!

Humble me, Lord

Gorgeous isn't it?

I just got back from Trek. This picture was taken while waiting to rappel.

This was my 5th time to go on Trek. I wasn't really excited about going this year. I wasn't in the greatest of shape, I was tired, I really just wanted to go home to Houston and sleep for like a week. But as I got closer and closer to it, I got more and more excited about it. Still not as excited as I've been in the past, but excited nonetheless. And my prayer through it all was that I would let God work in my life. That I would listen to Him and be open to His teachings.

I needed to be humbled.

See I get this idea fairly often that I can control my life. That I'm better at it than God is. That I can be His servant, but not give him full control. Which just isn't true. God truly humbled me this week.

It started on Saturday night (and I failed this test miserably). We were driving to Salida, Colorado and were about 4 miles away when we saw a HORRIBLE wreck in front of us. The road to Salida is only two lanes and there was no way to get around it. So we ended up sitting for about 6 hours waiting for the wreck to be cleared. I was tired; the kids were tired. We were all cranky and the LAST thing we wanted to do after sitting in the car for 15 hours was wait ANOTHER 6 hours in the car. I cried; the kids cried. It was awful. And I doubted. I just knew we were going to have to sleep in a car all night long the night before we started Trek which at the time sounded like the absolute LAST thing I wanted to do. Finally at about 2:30am we rolled into Salida. We were wiped out. And completely humbled.

A few days later, on our way to high camp, Hannah realized that her foot wasn't feeling well. After a few more steps, she realized that she wasn't able to continue. It was awful. We had to leave her on the side of the trail while we hiked ahead and our guide, David and Clinto stashed their packs so they could hike Hannah out. The girls and Elijah and I hiked down to say goodbye. We were all upset. And completely humbled.

Fast forward a couple more days. Summit day! The weather had been HORRIBLE all week and we were warned by David and Alex (our guides) that there was a possibility of not summiting. It rained all night long (literally). And when I woke up the next morning, it was bright out. Not a good sign since the guides get you up @ "Dark Thirty" on summit day (somewhere around 4am, I believe). Next thing I know, David is talking outside our tent telling us that there is another storm on it's way in. Nevertheless we weren't able to summit. We were all very bummed. And completely humbled.

God was in control the entire trip. Which was a lesson that I desperately needed to learn. That HE is always in control. I am not. I don't want to relinquish the tight hold that I have on my life into HIS much more able hands. It's a lesson I'm constantly learning. And something I'm constantly reminding myself during the course of any given day.

Thank you, Heavenly Father for an amazing week. A humbling week. And a week of learning. Please continue to guide me in Your ways. Help me to continue to learn that you are sovereign. You are in control. You are Lord.

Random (delirious) Musings!

-Just got back from Galveston Mission Trip!  It was amazing!  And I (kinda) learned how to sheet rock.  It was like one gigantic puzzle piece.  It was hard, frustrating, and fun work!  The teens rocked that sheet rockin'!  Plus, every night we went to the beach and even though the Galveston beach is pretty far down on my list of favorite places, it was still amazing.  And I totally flew a kite!

-We got home at like 1pm today and I literally dragged my stuff into my apartment, threw a load of laundry into the wash (EVERYTHING had sand in it!), and passed out on my couch with Phoebe in between my arms.  I took a glorious nap and then went and got a pedicure where I promptly fell asleep again.  In the pedicure chair.  With my favorite pedi lady (Tu!) massaging my feet.  I woke up when she started painting my toes.

-I leave for Mpulse on Sunday! 

-I started Star Trek: Next Generation and love it!  Next on my Geeky List is Firefly (for you, Moo-Moo!), Battlestar Galactica, and (maybe) Dr. Who (for Bekah).

-Watching sci-fi so reminds me of sitting by the river at Bandina.  I know, bear with me, I promise I'll connect the seemingly random dots.  Each year at Bandina (the camp I grew up at) we would all go down to the river and watch baptisms and sing until like 1am.  Well, the stars are really defined out there in the middle of no-where.  Certainly more defined than they are in Houston.  So I would sing and just stare at them all.  And I always felt like I was being called to the stars.  I even wrote in my diary one year that I felt like God was calling me to them.  So when I watch shows or movies where people are able to actually go visit all the unknown planets and stars and suns and moons of our galaxy it makes me almost ache with desire to see them.  Who knows... maybe God is calling me there.  Maybe that's what heaven is... 

-I am continuing to pray for Jon and Kate and family, but I won't watch the show anymore.  I've already watched my own family split apart, it will be horribly painful to watch that process again.

-I finally finished Half-Blood Prince!  I read Time Traveler's Wife while in Galveston and then started Deathly Hallows.  I had forgotten how heart-wrenching, humorous, and painful DH is.  I've only read it once (2 years ago!) and so it's like reading it for the first time again.  There was one part in particular that even as I type this out, just gives me horrible, scary chills and makes me just want to sob.  And I did (though fairly quietly) in front of several high school girls.

-HBP with Ash and Lauren in 12 days!  I can't wait to spend another HP event with Ash!  And my first HP event with Lauren!

-I turn 26 in 18 days.  Wow.

-That being said... I've realized that once again I've been getting too comfortable.  And when I get comfortable, that means that I'm usually not stepping out in faith.  So if I take you by surprise, know that I'm stepping out on a limb and trusting that God will either A) Provide more limbs or B) Catch me if I fall.  Either way, I need to constantly be reminded that my life is in my Creator's hands and not my own.  Please pray that I will be brave and will allow God full control of my life.

Prayers for Jon and Kate.

I realize that they have chosen a life in the spotlight and I am not denying that they have made poor choices in their lives (um, btw, haven't we all?).  But this article: RIGHT HERE angers me.  Like WHOA angers me.

Because I feel like marriage is becoming a joke.

And that's what this article is doing- making a joke of their marriage.  And that's not okay with me.  The last thing they need is for people to tell them to "cut bait."  Why?  Because things got hard?  Because our twisted world-views of life mean that everything revolves around ME and MY and I?

All I can do is pray.  Pray that there are Godly men and women in their lives that are there to support and love and do all the things that I pray daily people would do for me if my marriage was in trouble.  I pray for their children because I know first hand the pain that comes with divorce.  It's something that doesn't go away.  And it's something their children will deal with for the rest of their lives.  

So, media people, please stop poking fun of a true family that is hurting.  And instead pray.  Turn the harsh "jokes" and flames into words of encouragement.  Something I doubt the family is getting a lot of these days.