Life Lately

Life lately has been well lived. It has been exciting, fun, a little challenging. You know, all the things that make life interesting.

The other day, I was thinking about the hubs and our first date. One of the things that has stuck with me through our years together (8 years for those who might be wondering) is our conversation about not wanting to live an ordinary or "boring" life. I guess God held us to that (probably with a little snicker - yes, I believe God has the ultimate sense of humor) because life hasn't been ordinary since that moment. You know what? I'm good with that. I wouldn't have it any other way. Life is infinitely more interesting than I imagined it might be. I'm glad God blessed me with such and amazing adventure.

Since I haven't posted in awhile, lets blow the cobwebs off this blog. Here's a rundown of our summer:


The hubs and I began hosting a radio show called IllumiNATION Radio on the Fishbowl Radio Network this summer. I can't begin to tell you how much fun I am having gabbing it up on the radio each week!






I was blessed with the awesome opportunity to officiate (yep! I'm an ordained minister) when my parents renewed their vows on their 33rd anniversary in June. Honestly, I was very honored and humbled for them to have asked me. It was a
wonderful celebration with family!




June was a busy month! Chas and the Dude both had birthdays!
The best part of C5's 7th birthday celebration was having 15 Cub Scouts do an ice cream eating contest WITH NO HANDS!
Yeah, I'm that mom. Don't worry, though. They got all cleaned up during a water balloon war of epic proportions.

Last, but certainly not least...X-Fest.   Our concert ministry, Ten Talents , produced and hosted  the 12-band Christian rock festival in August. This was our second year to  produce X-Fest. We doubled in size this year! Preparing for X-Fest kept us busy for most of the summer, but it was amazing event! We're looking forward to see what God does in 2013! 

Well that's some of the fun we had this summer. Bring on the Fall!

Midweek Confessions, Part Deux

Time to blow the dust off this ole' blog, and what better way to do that than some Midweek Confessions? Hey if that's the only thing that gets me blogging at the moment, then I'll take it. My philosophy in life is to appreciate the small victories... or try to. So for this week, writing a post instead of just reading other peoples' posts and wishing I was writing a post will have to do. I think I just confused myself.

Let the confessing commence! Here are my top 5 confessions of the week:

1. I have static cling in my skirt this morning. I'm pretty certain I walked through the entire office with more of my back side showing than the law allows. Good thing I was the only one there.

2. O laundry, how I loathe thee. I recently discovered that it is better for me to do a small load of laundry every couple of days than it is for me to wait an entire week to do laundry. If I wait the whole week to do laundry, then I will likely let it pile up for another week and another week and...you get the point. At this point, I've got at least a week's worth of laundry to catch up on. Ugh.

3. Last night my husband pointed out that I was listening to Incubus while reading an assigned reading for my the religion class that I'm auditing. Apparently, in his eyes anyways, listening to Incubus while studying the Torah is ironic.

4. The word nerd in me went to look up the correct use of the word "ironic" (see confession above). Apparently, my use of the word is not accurate. Did you know that many scholars consider the word "ironic"  to be the most abused word in the English language? Isn't that ironic? Don't you think? *Sing it with me, people.*

5. My office is currently a disaster. It's not like it isn't anything other than a disaster on a regular basis, it's just that I'm noticing what a terrible disaster it actually is today. Perhaps I should be cleaning instead of blogging. Nah!

Have a great week, friends!

Midweek Confessions

This is my first attempt at a Midweek Confessions blog post. I was recently introduced to the E,Myself,&I blog and have found it quite entertaining. I love the Midweek Confessions post that Elizabeth posts on Wednesdays. This week, I thought I would jump in on the fun. So here's my top 5 confessions:

1. Apparently, my desk is the collection point for all paper in the universe. It's like an endless pile. The more I clean, the more paper shows up. Where does it all come from?

2. I am a paper pack rat. See confession above. However, I am convinced that this could not possibly be all my paper.

3. I have this volunteer at work - we'll call her the "sleeping giant" (S.G. for short). S.G. is a very nice person, but due to medical reasons, she falls asleep and snores...really loudly. While she's very nice (did I emphasize that enough?) and volunteering in the office is very kind of her, I can't help but snicker when she snores.

4.I might have a small habit of comparing people to movie/cartoon characters. See confession above. For instance, I once nicknamed an office I worked in the Death Star and proceeded to give everyone Star Wars character names and refer to our staff meetings as the Imperial Senate.

5. The grocery chain Trader Joe's has finally made their may to Texas! I have heard so many great things about this store. As a family in ministry, we're not exactly raking in the dough, so we are always most of the time looking for ways to eat healthy healthier. The store is on the other side of town, so we're going to make a day of going down to check it out. Hopefully, our groceries will make it home before they melt in this crazy heat!

Blessings!

I Heart Mondays

Monday. The day of the week that most people could do without. But I <3 Mondays. Want to know why? Because I get to do my third favorite thing in the world every Monday evening from 7pm - 9pm CST. What's my third favorite thing in the whole wide world, you ask. It's hosting the IllumiNATION Radio show on the Fishbowl Radio Network!

The hubs and I have hosted 8 shows so far, and it's been a total blast! I love it. I especially love getting to work with my hubby, talk about Jesus and our ministry, and play some amazing rock music (of course). We have fun spotlighting other ministries and talking about topics relevant to faith and culture. 

This is a true blessing, something I truly enjoy (even in the stressful moments of show prep). In all that we do, my prayer is this from Ephesians 6:19 :

 "that whenever I speak, words may be given me so that I will fearlessly make known the mystery of the gospel..."

32

I recently turned 32. 32 is one of those ages that you never imagine reaching when you are a kid. It might as well have been 102 back in those days. The funny thing about being 32 is that I'm still young enough to look in the mirror and see a teenager staring back at me. Is that weird? In my mind, especially when I'm around my parents, I feel like I'm still 16 or 17 just enjoying life. Then my 7 year-old bursts in and that delusion is quickly gone, but I still don't feel 32.

I've been thinking a lot about life and what direction it is taking. We spend our youthful lives wondering what we are going to be when we grow up. At 32, I'm still wondering. I get glimmers of it here and there. To be honest, I'm doing things I never dreamed I'd be doing - being a wife and mom, ministry work, promoting concerts, hosting a radio show. It's already beyond my wildest dreams, and I dreamed up some pretty darn crazy stuff  back in the day.


I'm glad God saw fit to repair my brokenness, to move me out of my comfort zone on so many levels, and to make life more extraordinary than I could have imagined. If none of this had happened, I would probably still be waiting.

I guess the point of this little post, is that life is more about the journey than the destination. If you're waiting for something to happen, chances are you will be waiting a really long time. Time is a commodity that we can't afford to waste. It flashes in an instant and passes you by so quickly. You can't get back the moments that are wasted, you can only move forward to make new ones.

You know what else I'm learning about myself? I would much rather do a little bit of laundry every day, then have to do 150 loads of laundry at the end of the week...but that's for another post.

Blessings!

Love At First Sight

Today is a special day. The Dude turns 7. I can't believe it's been 7 years since he burst into our lives...Ok, he didn't burst so much as he took his sweet time (24 hours to the minute) to get here. In the end, it took a funny looking doctor and 2 pairs of ice cream scoops to coax him out. But it was all so worth it!

That's the funny thing about motherhood. No matter what pain you have gone through to get your bundle of joy out into the world, it all melts away the moment you see that little life for the very first time. Now I'm certain this is probably part of God's amazing human creation and how our momma  hormones work, but I'm also convinced that it is the ultimate love at first sight.

I fell in love the moment I knew this boy was in my belly, but I was head over heels when I got to hold him for the very first time.

He's not that little baby anymore. In fact he's gone from calling me mommy to calling me mom. He's learning and growing more each day. He's thinking about what kind of man he is going to grow up to be. I love him more with every new thing I learn about him. He's quirky and fun, sweet and lovely, stubborn and smart. He's full of adventure and wonder. He's all boy!

Happy Birthday, C5!

Once Upon A Time

Once upon a time in a land far away....
I...

Met this guy...

And we started on a great adventure together (yep, that's the courthouse)...

Along the way, we added someone fun to join us on this journey...

Our journey has taken us many places, but as long we're together...

That's what counts!

God has blessed me with some awesome guys! I love these guys, and can't imagine my life without them. They are a true blessing and make me want to grow each day to be a better person - woman - wife - mom.