Fatty's Surprise Wedding

My sister was married yesterday on the beach.
The new husband and wife duo played in the water just after the hitchin'.
Also present was my parents' granddog, Higgins.

The Greatest Commandment

This is my last post for a while. I'm sad. So knowing this is my last chance to talk to you through this, I've been trying to think if I could give you anything of substance. I'd planned on talking about Leanne and Louis, but in all my excitement of the last post I told their story.

So if I could write a fortune cookie for you, I would tell you to LOVE. Love. And not the o, ain't that cute kind of love. I'm talking about the full on, there's no way you can misunderstand me because its written all over me kind of love. The kind of love that even when you botch things, get mad, win, lose, pout, or smile, its still there.

God has that kind of love for me. When I'm spittin' mad at Him for taking FOREVER to do things, when I giggle because I can feel Him smiling at me, when I'm so heartbroken it hurts to breathe, He's still right there, loving me.

Proverbs is my favorite book of the Bible. It just calms my soul to have His words pour into my heart. A lot of the book is about wisdom, but love is mentioned as well. In Proverbs 27:5 it says, "Better is open rebuke than hidden love." Wow. Let that soak in for a sec. Hidden Love. I'd much rather you yell at me than never let me know I'm loved.

You are loved by this short Texan, and I hope you know it. Because you are. Physical contact makes me nauseous, but it doesn't mean I don't love you any less. I'm following my heart by loving you. Besides, God has told me the same thing He's told you. Love. It wasn't a suggestion. Or a polite it-would-be-cool-if-you-loved-others kind of thing. You and I are COMMANDED to love.

And don't just love the people that are easy to love. Love the quiet ones. The loud ones. The ones who are stressed out, and the ones who can take every punch life throws their way and still have a smile on their face. Love the ones who irritate you. Love the ones who you don't even know how God brought them into your life because you are so different. Love them.

Because when you love them, you're actually loving Him too.

This Too Shall Pass

I can't go on talking forever. Take this blog for example, this is my 199th post. My 200th post will be my last. Every story needs an ending. And I do love happy endings so that's how I'll end my blog!

I'm ending it with a marriage! Not mine. I'm terrified of being close to someone. One day someone will save me from myself. In the meantime, I'll continue loving on the ones God has placed in my life and bask in the afterglow of my sister. She's getting married soon! Just thinking about her as a wife brings a smile to my face.

Munch and Fatty met over five years ago. He was a businessman from Florida, she was a model in Houston. The first time they met he asked for her number. She said no but gave him her mailing address and said he could write. Do you know what he did? He wrote! For months, something came from Florida to Texas at least once a week. Flowers, a card, a letter. Persistence won out. At the end of six months she gave him her number. The rest is history. June 25th they leave for Instanbul on their honeymoon!

Knight Rider

Today I helped Courtney move. I'm not the strongest person out there, but I've got two hands, a vehicle and I'm fiercely devoted to my friends, especially ones who need help. So a few of us were helping her make the move this morning.

David, one of the guys helping, rode with me on a few of the trips. He'd not been in my car before so he was asking me questions and whatnot about it. On one of the trips, I asked him if he wanted to drive. Truth be told I like just riding around in my car, especially if people want to drive it. I've got no problem being chauffeured.

As he was driving he turned my automatic car into a manual stickshift. Yep, I typed that right. It's electric, but you can still use the shifter to shift into different gears. No clutch either! Plus I can't burn up the motor because if the RPMs go too high the car automatically shifts into the gear it needs to be. Now, I learned how to drive a stickshift on a backhoe and that was years ago. I'm not driving a backhoe anymore, I'm driving the car that I will one day, far far away from now, own. So I just stick with what I'm comfortable, so it usually stays on automatic. But for those of you who like manuals, and you wanna take a turn in my car, you're welcome to.

I knew the car was smart, I'm just waiting for it to start talking to me...

Why Don't You Have Kids?

Tonight my evening was full of curly-headed girls. I went over to play with Courtney and the two year old she's babysitting. This little girl is the epitome of cute. She's a little red-head with curls and talks a mile a minute. Her room is a bubble gum pink with white polka dots and princess things everywhere. She's cute as a button. Seriously.

We were sitting on the couch all three of us. Courtney, Me and her. She's just gotten out of the bathtub and is drinking her milk before going to bed. She is talking to Courtney and I about how all three of us have curly hair. She tells us the colors of our hair, black, brown, and red, respectively.

After the hair conversation, she asks me if I'm sleeping over. I tell her no and she asks me the question every little kid is a huge fan of. "Why?" So I tell her my jammies and my bed are at my house so I'm going to sleep there. "Ok, where are your kids?" I don't have any. "Is Palmer your kid?" No, he's just a friend of mine. (Palmer is also two and I've hung out with him a few times when Courtney has babysat him. I helped him swim on Memorial day a few weeks back. He's quiet, but he likes me.)

The conversation continued between us girls. "Are you a mom?" No. "Why?" Uh. At this point I look at Courtney with a what am I supposed to tell her look on my face. Courtney laughs then says to me in a whisper, Twist the knife, huh? My response, also whispered back, Seriously. And from the corner of the couch, the two year old sprite with red curls parrots back, "Seriously."

Man, those little kids can hear a lot better than I thought they could! They're like little versions of people. Who knew?!

Beauty and the Beast

Last night, as I'm typing ferociously about what I'm like as a girl, my roommate started screaming. Let me take a moment to describe the scream. It wasn't a scream of Oh boy, that's hilarious, nor was it the scream of someone broke in. It was somewhere in the middle, definitely high pitched and loud.

Now, I'm just in a t-shirt, so I can't run into her room to see whats the matter because her boyfriend is there. (I'm comfortable in my own skin but that doesn't mean everyone else needs to be.) So I grab whatever is closest and run to her room, heart pounding because I'm not sure what has happened. Let me take a moment to describe the scene I walk in on. My roommate is standing close to her bed looking shaken and her boyfriend is barefoot but armed with a shoe leaning into the bathroom. I ask "What happened?" "A roach! I was brushing my teeth and a roach ran across the sink!" Now, my roommate is really freaked out by roaches and apparently so is her boyfriend. Which I find quite amusing. Her boyfriend is not short and little. He's a regular joe. Tall, funny, and if by appearance I had to lay odds on a fight between him and a roach, I'd put my money on him. And apparently I'd lose. He also is afraid of roaches. Roaches don't really bother me. I'm small, but I'm still bigger than a roach, therefore, the intimidation factor really isn't there for me.

So I start opening up cabinets looking for the roach. I'm barefoot and not armed with a shoe like he is. He's standing by the bathtub gingerly moving things, just hoping he doesn't find it. As I'm pulling stuff out looking for the offending beast, he informs me if I find it he's probably going to cuss. Which I start laughing at because its funny to be that this man, whom I love and adore, will get so riled up by a bug.

Well, we didn't find it. I looked everywhere, even making him actually move stuff in the bathroom instead of faking like he was moving things to find the roach. But no luck, the little bug got away. Much to the angst of my roommate and her boyfriend.

Ribbons and Curls

Today a friend of mine told me, "But you're not a boy." We were talking about how I was going to have dinner with one of my cg girls and I said I heart her. He asked what "heart" meant and I said its less girly of me to say heart instead of love. Hence the boy comment.

It's true I'm not a boy. But I hang out with a lot of them. I hang out with the girls as well, but when I'm with my guy friends I put the expectation on myself to be one of them. I'm not sure how I started that. I think it started in college, because all of my close friends were guys. So I just kept those expectations as I've gotten older. Well, no more I say! I'm throwing my expectations out the window.

I'm a girl. I like soft fabrics against my skin. I'm not opposed to pink, occasionally I like a romance movie and right now I'm not ashamed to admit it. Nine times out of ten my heart will be perched on my sleeve, and wearing a dress and heels makes me feel pretty. Last but not least, its much more of a priority to me for my beauty to be on the inside than my lipstick shade or the amount of warpaint I layer on.

Okey Dokey. Now I'm stepping off my soapbox, wearing my heels of course...

6.6.06

This morning I read an article about Satan. It was on MSNBC.com. It was talking about various enterprises capitalizing on Satan and his 666 date. Most of the article is just a piece of fluff but one line caught my eye in particular.

"Because as of June 6, 2006, Satan is officially lame, ruined by advertising."

Now, it doesn't bother me that Satan is a topic among mass media. He practically runs it anyway, so its only fair he should get a little press coverage out of it. What does get my spider senses tingling is the way a secular world portrays him.

He's mentioned in movies, books, rock bands, cartoons, and every other venue he can get his crafty little fingers into. He's portrayed as a likeable kind of guy. A cute little guy tempting you with cutsy wootsy "little" sins as he sits on your shoulder. Or there's the time he was portrayed as a beautiful woman clad in skimpy outfits and granting every one of your seven wishes.

He's a common household name. And common everyday things loose some of their intimidation the more you use them. Take bleach for example. As a little girl I couldn't touch it. Don't grab the bottle, don't even think about opening it. Nowadays, I use it to clean everything in my house. What happened? How did I go from "don't even think about it" to using it on a regular basis? The answer? I got used to it. I used it in little doses as I got older till using it became second nature.

Here's my point. Satan is DANGEROUS. There's a reason God kicked him out of heaven. He is brilliant, cunning, evil, and absolutely determined to make my life a living hell. Especially if I'm bucking his system and living a life to glorify my God. I don't take Satan lightly. He's my enemy. And he'd ruin my life if God would let him. But the thing is, God LETS him do things. For all the power he seems to have in this world, his power is granted from the God I love and adore. It kind of puts things into perspective for me when he's trying to make things difficult in my life. But I just don't think he is a threat that we as a society should be taking so lightly.

Out of the Mouths of Babes

Tonight I did something I've never done before. I thanked a child for praying for me. His name is Brennan. He's been praying for me for about nine weeks. Which is the length of time I've been job hunting here in BR. When his mother told him that I'd gotten a job, he did an arm pump and a "Yyyyyyeeeesssss."

Brennan, although young, can pray employment into your life. He's prayed for quite a few people in his cg to find jobs, and they have. He prayed for me to find a job, and one found me. I'm certainly not saying that Brennan is all-powerful. But I recognize child-like faith when I see it. Especially in a child. Its humbling to have such a young heart lift me up in prayer and expect great things from the heart of God for me. Its also very encouraging for me to see God loving on him by showing Brennan what He can do.

Nine and a half weeks. That's how long Brennan, among others, were praying for me. And apparently its the amount of time it takes for me to give my job hunt over to Him. Ah, trust-building exercises. I have a love-hate attitude for them. I love the results, hate the amount of time it takes for me to stop being a control freak and start thanking Him for when the rain falls in my life.

However, that being said, wow God rocks. I mean really. I'm trying to get into the discipline of thanking Him for the crap in my life instead of whining and wanting Him to fix it. And believe me, its a discipline for me. It doesn't come naturally for me to praise Him in the middle of my struggles. Others, heck yes, because I know He's going to do something great, but for me I have to actively tell myself to give it over to Him. Give every piece of it over then thank Him for it, and really mean it instead of just giving Him lip service.

Sometimes I treat God like a microwave. I expect a piping hot miracle in 30 seconds or less. Well, God, luckily for me, doesn't work on my timetable. And the thing I've noticed about this whole job hunt thing is that when I was thanking Him for not getting me a job yet, and really meaning it, the big intimidating issue of not having a job became less intimidating and not really an issue at all. There was that still small part of my heart that knew He was going to do something great. And He did. All I needed to do was give, trust, rely, thank, and glorify. Gosh I hope I've grown a bit through this. I want to be who He's calling me to be, and once again, He's not doing it on my schedule. But He's shaping me nonetheless and definitely keeps my life interesting.

As long as He's my focus, I'm sure everything is going to be right as rain. Even when a few raindrops fall...

'Tis the Season

'Tis the Season! Wedding season that is. Quite a few folks I know are getting hitched in the next few months. And I'm excited about all of them. Love really is something, ya know?

The hitchin' I'm most excited about is that of my sister, Fatty. She called me today to tell me that they've finalized their plans for their honeymoon. They're going to Istanbul. She's very excited and wanted to buy a new dress for the occasion, so she'd frantically called me so I could find a computer with internet access so I could see the dress she wanted. Of course its beautiful and she'll look perfectly lovely in it.

She's marrying a man named Munchie. Ok, that's not his name, but he's a good man. Young, funny, handsome, smart as a whip, and wants to spend the next 50 or some odd years with my little sis. She, on the other hand, is a perfect compliment to him. Beautiful, young, lights up a room by walking into it, and could sell ice to an Eskimo. The thing is that they both love to make the other smile.

Love really does make me smile, no matter what age...

Well Wishers and Wedding Bells

Have you ever heard of a wedding book? Yeah, me neither. Apparently its a book chock full of pictures from magazines, newspaper clippings, little tidbits, etc. Basically, things girls have seen and dreamed up for their own weddings. A lot of women have them. I, however, do not. This is not a criticism of those who have, its just an observation of one who has not.

I went to a wedding tonight with a friend of mine. It was a bit of a whirlwind, but we made it in time to White Oak Plantation. The ceremony was beautiful, the bride was beaming, and the groom was blushing. It was very nice. When we left, Misty and I walked down the aisle. It was kind of fun. White Oak was lit up behind us and there was music playing from the ballroom. I think walking down an aisle automatically turns you into a little girl wondering about her wedding day.

I don't have big plans for my wedding. I figure I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. Which might suck all of the romance out of it, but right now, I'm ok with my "eh, whatever" attitude. I'm sure it'll change when I'm planning my own wedding. In the meantime, as I go to more and more weddings, I've come to find there are things I won't have:

No open flame. (There will be too many people with too many hair products. Too risky.)

No children. (No part of my wedding is going to rely on a three year old.)

No dancing for me. (All of you can cut a rug, I will be sitting by his side, smiling at all of you enjoying yourself on the dance floor.)

No corny pastor. (Tonight the Rev. said, "You should have heard the conversation at the unity candle. She turned to him and said, You light it dummy." At the reception I had the opportunity to ask the bride, whom I've never met before tonight, did you really say that? Nope, she didn't.)

No unity candle. (Open flame...)

No outside wedding. (I live in Louisiana. We have humidity, we have bugs. Both I don't want at my wedding.)

No plantation. (I want to be married in a church.)

No strapless dress. (I don't like showing my bare shoulders in church. I'm a bit of a prude.)

No long ceremony. (No one wants to hear a twenty minute dissertation on why I'm marrying this man. It'll be written all over my face.)

And that's my list so far. I've never written it down before. I don't know, I guess when it comes down to it, I'm more of a plain kinda gal than one who wants all sorts of hootenanny. I want lots of good food, lots of great music and lots of smiles. That's it for my "have to have" list.

However, I say this as a single female who's not twitterpated. Who knows what will happen if I get bit by the love bug.

When God Shows Off

Yesterday around ten o'clock I was jumping up and down in my room and frantically text messaging you. Why am I jumping up and down like a jumping bean? Because I got offered a new job!

Yesterday I was called back for a 2nd interview because the head administrator said I "seemed so sweet" at my first interview. They'd interviewed a couple other people but it didn't work out. So I went back yesterday on the fly and interviewed with the head project engineer. We chatted about what I'd be doing, etc.

After I talked with her I went and sat with the owner of the company and the head administrator. We were sitting there talking and he mentioned that a few years ago he gave his company over to God. I asked him what God had done with it and they've grown beyond what he ever thought they would do. Then I had the opportunity to talk about how I love when I completely give everything over to God He totally shows off in my life. (I could hardly believe it, being able to talk about my relationship with Christ in the middle of an interview!)

And last night they sent me an offer. Its comparable salary wise to what I make now, but as with anything will take some transitioning. So now I'm a going to be a technical assistant doing HMI (human machine integration) for an engineering firm. Which means I'll be building programs that line operators will be running at chemical plants. I find it positively fascinating. That I'll be helping to build a program that will run a chemical process at a plant sounds, well, fun. Gosh, that doesn't make me cool at all, but I'm still really excited about it.

And its ten minutes from my house, I won't be traveling all over this the place, and I can nab people for lunch once in a while because its just a few blocks up to Parkview.

All in all, its great and I'm really thankful to all of you for enduring my whining, moaning, giving it over to Him, then boasting in Him and the kick a way He worked in my life to get me this job.