A Talent isn't a Talent Until Someone Says You're Good at It

My dad called and told me he was proud of my writing today.

I feel like I won the Olympics.
A talent isn't a talent until someone says you're good at it, at least for me it isn't, and people don't say it much, if at all.
Bear, you have no idea how much you encouraged me today.
Dad is great...
Dad is great...

Bring Out the Prodigal in You.

Alex, Zach, and I grew up with some of the greatest guys on earth.

From left: Jordan, Alex, and Jake in the sandbox under the 2 story fort my dad built for us. I think Jake was a little full of himself.

Jake and me on the first day of Kindergarten. My best friend in those days.

This isn't a great picture, but, from left: Me, Alex, Jordan, Jake. Friends for life.

Jordan and Jacob have 2 brothers who were adopted, Zach (or Zachwomble) and Paul. I still vaguely remember those first few days after they arrived. They were crazy and hilarious and full of the life God gave them when he rescued them and put them in the hands of some of the greatest parents on this earth. They came from some tough times into open arms full of love. There is so much more to both of their life stories, but this weekend, one of those precious boys was found unresponsive in his prison cell. His dad shared a letter with us that he had written just a week ago where his son urgently declared how the Lord had really gotten his attention in there, and how he planned to share his story when he got out. His letter was so full of love and thankfulness to his dad for providing the life he provided for him. It reminds me of the story Jesus tells in Luke 15, and since our friend won't be able to share his story to move the world, I thought I could have his story in mind as an example for the 7 people that read this blog.

But first, pray for our friends who are our family who lost their child.

Our friends provided abundantly for their son. They would have given him anything. They would have helped him in any way they could or would have done anything he asked if it would move his life in a positive direction. Opportunities were endless for him, but he drifted into the life he desired for himself. God provides for us abundantly. He gave his son's life to better our lives. With God, our opportunities are endless, and yet, we daily drift toward the life we desire instead of the life God desires to give us.

A skoach (shout out- Rhonda for word of the day) of background for ya. The Pharisees had been complaining about Jesus associating himself with sinners. They sort of thought why would a guy come in here and say he's the son of God, but socialize with the most despicable people. He tells 3 stories to explain, and the third is the parable of the prodigal son.

If you don't have time to read it, here's a summary. An elder man possessed a great estate full of money, land, and animals. One of his sons decided he wanted his portion of the estate early, so the dad gives him what is rightfully his at his urgent request. The son takes everything and leaves his family for what the Bible translates as wild living. I'm sure you can imagine what this guy spent his money on. Partying with new found friends, women, food...and all of the sudden, it was gone. He had blown it all. Isn't it funny how you find out who your friends are in the hardest ways? He no longer had the money or the women or the food banquets, and now, the friends were gone and he was alone. Alone in a pig pen feeding pigs and wishing he could eat what they were eating. The lowest of the low. He had lost everything of the world.

A light bulb comes on and the son decides he's going to go back to his dad, confess that he was wrong, and plead for forgiveness. Humility. It's a tough thing to have.

The son goes home and his dad, looking out the window, sees him from across his land and he runs. He sprints until he reaches his son and he embraces him whole-heartedly. When his son tries to confess, he interrupts and starts to order the best animals to be killed for a feast. This man is about to throw the party of a lifetime all because his son came home. The older brother who had stayed home gets jealous of all of the celebration. Tell me this didn't happen in your family. It would be my birthday and Zach would be crying that he didn't get a bike and he wanted a bike and why doesn't he have a bike?! To this, the dad exclaims, "My son was lost, but now he is found!"

The moral of the parable? If you come back, Jesus will welcome you with more love than your heart can handle. Where are you? Are you running? Are you living the life you want, full of the world, instead of the life God wants to give you?

Listen up.

It. is. never. too. late.

There is nothing you can do that will be detrimental to Him loving you.

He will never stop seeking you out. He will go out of His way to find you.

Our friend who passed this weekend...he got a party of a lifetime when he showed up at the gates early Sunday morning. It didn't matter that he was in jail. It didn't matter that he had messed up times a hundred just like we all do. It didn't matter that it took him however long to find the humility to be dealt with. Jesus ran to him just like he will run to you.


(Zach Wood on the left, Paul on the right)

Zach and Paul's Tea Party...ahem...picnic?

You are so missed, Paulie.

Partial Spoiler?

We walked to the theatre to see “UP” in 3D the other night at my request.  Devin is good to me. 

I’ll find someone to blame for not informing me that this seemingly emotionless cartoon has tragedy, loss, grief and heartbreak in it.  I just got done telling someone the other day that I used to cry when Heathcliff’s typewriter fell apart during the closing credits…yet I watched it after every single episode.

Pathetic, right?  Heathcliff isn’t even sad, but I still hurt for him.  Needless to say, I cried…a LOT…during “UP”, mostly thinking about that little old man’s broken heart and his drive to fulfill the desires of his wife’s bird-like ;) heart…and the fact that I know Devin would do the same. 

We might have 2 or 2000 days left together.  I am desperately thankful for every split second I get to spend with him, every time he touches me, and every kiss on my chubby-like-a-4-year-old cheeks.

Saying yes to him was the best decision I ever made.

Grub and Churchin’

We served at Star of Hope Women and Children’s center last night…

Played some ball with the chillrun…

And then had METROLive there with the residents. 

Good times.  I promise I was there too.

Be

I get these little blogish thingies e-mailed to me everyday, and while some days I skim them, I read this one over and over.
It hits home.

(click the picture)

Find out who you are and be that.
Don't be anyone else.
Don't lose who and what you are by being something for someone else.
...and don't just be.

Spoiled Rotten.

You guys!!!

My husband spoils me rotten…maybe not TOO rotten because this isn’t my scooter, but he definitely goes above and beyond to make sure I know he hears me.

Saturday, we went down to Galveston. It isn’t the prettiest beach in all the land, people, but we like having a getaway that only takes 45 minutes to get…away. It is also where we got engaged, so it has a sweet spot in my little heart. Dev had called a place called Scoots that was very affordable. We couldn’t believe this little place didn’t get more business for the prices they offered. If you’re in Galveston, check them out- they suffered a hard hit when Ike came to town last year.

Ok, so, we got there and Devin did all of the paperwork while Ms. Mabel took me out to the parking lot for a little lesson. Ms. Mabel wasn’t her real name but I totally wanted to call her that the whole time- sort of the Mama of the store, her white hair pulled up on top of her head, but you know she rides a mean scooter and has this poster on her wall…

Now that I think about it…why didn’t they take Devin out for a lesson?! Why was it assumed that I had never done this before? I could absolutely have 3 Harleys in my non existent garage for all they know. Ok, now I’m mad.

So, I aced my lesson of course because I am a motor head…or because driving a scooter isn’t all that hard. I pulled up to the front, and we were on our way! I was a smidge nervous only because Devin told me this may or may not be a test. The results could determine whether or not he would even begin to think about getting me a scooter. I let Devin have the orange one since he had won some MAJOR husband points in bringing me to do this. I also gave him the orange scooter to suck up. IgottadowhatIgottado.

We wore our bike helmets. Like heck we’re going to put on helmets that other people have sweat in that have been sprayed like bowling shoes. A no thanks.

BALLLER! KOBE! Seriously the need for one of these (although I like the older Hondas) is growing. Who thinks I need one of these someday?! Who thinks my head looks like a mushroom in my bike helmet?! Just me?

We rode down the sea wall past where Devin asked me to marry him.

Flashback!

I don’t think we actually saw the exact place, but we have a pretty good feeling that it is still there. We were worried Ike took our spot with him when he barged in and wore out his welcome.

We stopped at Ben and Jerry’s for some ice cream. By then, I was a master at stopping that little scooter. Frozen Yogurt from B&J…so good or no good? So. good.

Pay no attention to the fact that I look 13 years old in this picture.

We went over to the port on our scooters where a Carnival cruise ship (or funship- shout out OV06) was waiting to leave. I hope everyone on that boat had their luggage (side note: Devin and I went on a Carnival cruise for our honeymoon. Southwest Airlines lost my suitcase and the only things I had for the entire cruise of 8 days was a bag of shoes and a fancy black dress). There were a lot of boats to take pictures of and an oil rig museum (Bear, you would have loved it- no one was going to that museum, you could have had it all to yourself)

Someone tell me how this man looks so good in every bike helmet he puts on.

We rode over to the strand where we wandered through the Yaga store. Seriously, in elementary school, I would have FREAKED.OUT. if my mom took me into a Yaga store. These days, I just think, “Oh so and so had that shirt in 5th grade which meant they were cool but now they’re not that cool because being in jail isn’t cool”. Yaga, Mossimo, Girbaud…all brands that made you cool. All brands I didn’t have until Mossimo was sold to Target. All things you can’t take to heaven.

We went through a lot of the souvenirs shops, which all sell the same things, and I was craving more scooter, so, we rode for the remainder of our time. We turned our scooters in (sad times.) and did our ushe (abbreviation for usual?) when we go to Galveston: park for free, walk to the beach, play, walk back to the car, mooch off of a condo complex’s shower, change, go to dinner.

I had so much fun…Devin said every time he looked in the rearview at me, I was smiling like a big dork. But, in all seriousness, I was completely taken aback at how blessed I am to be married to someone who not only likes to get out and do things (I was thinking how sad I would be if he was a video game player…no offense to any if you Halo addicted people or whatever game is cool now), but he actually considers me and what I have said I like or want, and he wanted to make it happen. That was the best part of the day…to know how much I am loved.

What do you feed a duck?

A box of quackers!! Shout out to the older brother who told that joke probably 1300 times throughout my childhood.

How can you look at this and not love him? The duck loved him. He ate right out of his hand.

I love him madly.

I saw this today...

Just sayin...

One Fish, Two Fish…

Red fish, Blue fish! I wasn’t going to finish that, but that Dr. Seuss gets me every time with his rhyming.

We spent the 4th of July weekend at Devin’s parents’ lake house.

It was a really great place for us to get to relax, eat, hang out with Amy and Ricky and Devin’s parents, and play in the water. Devin drove me on the jet ski all the way over to my friend Karen’s lake house where she served us some delectable margaritas. It was really really great of him to take me over there given that fact that the waves were so miserably choppy. We could have easily driven over there, now that I think about it…

On the night of the 4th, all of the neighbors in the Carrolls’ little cove shot off fireworks. It was so great to sit on the dock and watch them; no driving and parking somewhere to watch, and the fireworks lasted forever. It was ideal. At this point are you wondering what the 1 fish, 2 fish thing is all about? I’ll get there.

Side story: Devin’s dad lit a Roman candle and it fell over and ended up being aimed right at Devin. Mowgli jumped right over that ball of fire as it shot out of the cardboard tube and flew into a boat house 3 doors down. That’s my boy. Also, this is the second year in a row Mike has done this. Someone stop this man from buying fireworks.

While we watched the homemade show and took turns shooting our own, we dropped some lines in the water to catch some massive human eating fish. Or, in Devin’s case, a 2 inch baby fish. Little did they know, I had been trained by the great Sherill Ann Ritter in the art of casting, hooking, and reeling. I threw my line in and bam! Bam! Bam! Every time! The fish just came to me…I could have reached in and grabbed them with my left hand (it’s my not-so-coordinated hand)!

This is us fishing right before Devin’s dad tried to take his legs off with the Roman Candle.

This is me with my second fish. I think I caught 5 total. It reminds me of the time I won a fishing trophy at Kingwood Country Club.

Devin actually doesn’t like to fish that much. I really like it. But, he told me he doesn’t have the patience for it. Also, as soon as he caught his one decent sized fish, he said, and I quote, “Ok, I’m done fishing”. I love him even if (no, because) he is my total opposite.

*Thanks to Patty for the pictures*

Bless Your Cotton Socks...

That is what they say in Australia when you sneeze (shout out- Chloe!). Ever since we got married, every morning, Devin wakes up sneezing uncontrollably. I have read and researched and done trial and error and, still, he wakes up having a sinus cavity freak out. From all of my reading, I am about 99% sure that the culprit, or culprits, are a whole bunch of these guys.

Sick, right?! As if the gnat problem wasn't enough, now we are dealing with these hairy, microscopic nasties.  I bought dust mite spray that I sprayed on the mattress and vacuumed, an air filter in case it was just the dust, and yesterday a cover for his pillow that is supposed to keep the mites from crawling all over his face.  Sick.  So, today I will go get a full out mattress allergy cover that will most likely sound like the mattress of the weird kid in 5th grade who was still wetting the bed at night.  No offense if that was you.  I have a feeling the mattress cover will keep Devin awake as well.  Other than constantly dusting and vacuuming, anyone have any ideas?  Anyone want to buy us a new bed to see if that works??  No?  Cool.

P.S. I dont think allergy meds are an option…he doesn’t like to take medicine.

Le Tour

When we got married, we didn't have TV at all. We watched some movies, but we're just not TV people. Then I started getting behind on the news and missing out on watching baseball (which I hardly have time to do even now) so, we decided to get cable. I asked around for some company recommendations and the day I went to sign up for a very simple cable package, Devin urgently asked, "Does it come with Versus??" It did not. We upgraded to a ridiculous cable package with over 200 channels that came with free DVR service. All of this for 2 people who really don't like to watch television.

The Tour de France started on Saturday and will run until the 26th of this month. We are excited that, for the month of July, we will feel like we are paying for cable for a reason.