The Gated Community

Hey there, everyone...(yea right...ummmm....like ME!),
Here I am....it's been a few days, but I just don't have terribly much time to blog. But, I thought I'd write a quick one now before I go to bed.

Yesterday I had the opportunity to go to Houston to a really cool event; hence, the title "The Gated Community" because it happened to be in one of them! I chuckle myself everytime I say/write/think that, because there is a really funny little Veggie Tales Silly Song called "The Gated Community" (on the "Do the Moo-Shoo" DVD, for any Veggie fans!) and it cracks me up. Larry the Cucumber is a little boy with a ball that lands in a tree, and when his ball falls out of the tree, it lands in "The Gated Community" where it is "free of debris" and the little wealthy-golf-playing Veggies live in their "Gated Unity." It's just funny! The Veggies in the gated community are all dressed up in golf gear and have their little (as a friend of mine put it the other day) "horseshoe head" baldness with the hair on the sides and the back and they are just too, too funny....while Little Larry the Cucumber sits and wants his ball. Anyhow....enough diversion for now:

The event I got to go to was "An Evening with Dr. Chap Clark" who is a professor of Youth, Family, and Culture at Fuller Seminary, which is where I am working (very, very slowly mind you...but still working nontheless) on my Masters. It was at the Royal Oaks Country Club in Houston...like really--RIGHT IN Houston. It was a pretty fancy schmancy affair with beautiful food and tables and lots of people dressed up pretty cool and just a super nice place this was. Of course, I had lots of trouble finding just the right gate to actually get into the gated community, but once I finally found it, was quite impressed with the inside. It was truly cool. I saw a sign on the way in that said homes were from the 400,000's to over 3-million...which for our real estate market, is super pricey!! Anyhow, I met some really very, very nice people--some who actually live in the Gated Community! And though I felt very out of my element, it was still a really neat thing to go to. It wasn't what I thought it would be--a night about understanding the kids I minister to more; it was more of a rah-rah event for Fuller in Houston, but that's okay....it was exciting to feel like you are a part of something like that, so it was all good. Dr. Clark talked about John 4 and the Woman at the Well. He talked about how Jesus honored the woman...somehow, he honored her enough that she was willing to tell everyone all about him. It was a familiar passage, but he brought out some things I really hadn't thought about before, which is always refreshing...and as out of sorts as I was in that beautiful room with all the beautiful people and all--it is Christ Who died for each of us, and that lives for and within each of us. Thanks be to God for loving us, no matter who we are, and making us all the recipients of the greatest inheritance ever! What a cool thing! He honors us...and what a challenge that we would honor others in order to bring them to know Him.

In other news....well, there's lots of other stuff, but since I have to work at 6 am, I'll keep it brief. The weight is holding steady. Of course, that could have something to do with my insatiability for chocolate right now! Don't know what the deal is, and I haven't gone crazy, but I do need to reign myself in a bit. I did a pilates class at the gym today. That was cool...well, sort of! It's really not for fat people, I've decided! The instructor kept talking about "imagine you have a beach ball" like right in your belly area....ummm, excuse me....I don't have to imagine! There's a whole lot of me right there in the way of trying to do those crazy contortions she had us doing! I have to giggle when I do some of that stuff at how ridiculous this fat girl looks doing them! But, the instructor came up and talked to me some after the class and told me how impressed she was with how strong I am, because I was able to do a lot of stuff that people aren't normally able to do at their first class. That made me feel good. After that, I did 20 minutes on the elliptical, so it was a good workout day.

I work tomorrow the day shift and then I need to work on my sermon for next Sunday the 20th. I'm excited to get to preach....challenged, but that's part of the excitement. I better get some sleep now. Just wanted to catch up some! Gonna lay down my head in my non-gated community home now! Heehee!

Super Silly since '72!

Well, here I am, writing my birthday blog...albeit a few days late! On Saturday, March 29, I turned 36 years old. That sounds so different than 35 did, but not too awfully daunting, I guess. I have been meaning to write for a few days, as birthdays are a good time to sort of take inventory and to ask yourself, in the words of Switchfoot: "This is your life...are you who you want to be?" Hmmm....well, I don't know exactly how to answer that. I think maybe I am closer than I was a few months ago, but still worlds away from where I'd like to be, in so many ways. I am so glad I am working on getting healthier. I have had a hard time staying "good" with my eating, especially with my birthday and also with Lent being over...(ie, chocolate!) But, I am still slowly working my way down on the scale. I haven't really gained, so that's a plus. I am still hovering between like 217 and 222, around a 27-ish pound weight loss since the first of the year. I would much love to be farther along, but you have to live too, so at least I am still pretty much making forward progress....however slow it may be!

I am happy to be making progress financially...we have worked really hard and have made great progress in paying off and down debt...though we still have a heck of a long way to go...it feels good to be making progress.

I feel like I have the most wonderful kids in the world, and a girl couldn't ask for better friends--or job(s) for that matter! (especially the church job, but there are some pretty wonderful friends at the lab, so I can't dismiss that one out of hand!)

Marriage...eeeehhhh....lets not get into that one. Definitely one area where I'd check "need for improvement." Sleep? That one could be better too...I haven't been sleeping nearly enough lately, and I can tell.

My walk with Christ...I hunger and thirst for that to be more disciplined. Praise God for His faithfulness, even when we fall so short!

So, overall.....not too too bad, I guess!

My birthday itself was quite wonderful, if I do say so myself! I got a good night of sleep the night before and my first call of the day was a great conversation with my mom, who is super cool. We had a good visit, which I always enjoy. Then, we got the boys' bunk beds out of the garage and up to their room, cleaned up, set up and the rest of the room cleaned and set up. A big hit, and it made a lot more room too! Then, we took the kids to Chick-Fil-A, ,which was fun, especially with Sweet Potato the Clown! (who they are still talking about, by the way!) Then, I had a hard nap and my sweet friends Julie and John came over to watch the little ones for us so we could go out to eat....Cafe Annice, which was wonderful as always! And they met us at my SURPRISE PARTY at the church...well....I should say, as soon as we were out the door, they were hard at work to make this party happen....(especially since I wasn't exactly cooperating, unbeknowst to me!) which was a total surprise and shock...and which I happened to be quite late to, due to taking my own sweet time visiting and hanging out beforehand! It was absolutely beautiful and so much fun, just to hang out with so many of my friends...there is nothing I'd rather do, so it was truly a blessing!

I got my little Nike+ipod thingy for my birthday, which is SOOOO COOL! I'm hooked already, and can't wait to do more runs to try it out! I found out the San Antonio Marathon got bought out by the Rock-n-Roll marathon people, so I am seriously thinking of training for it! I had so much fun when I ran San Diego, I really think it'd be a good challenge to work toward. I also got asked to do a Sprint Triathlon in Austin in June....I think I"m going to try, ,although I'm a big weenie about the swim part!

Well, I better get some sleep now....this is my last chance to sleep really til Friday night, since I"ll be working the rest of the week! As the Veggie Tales would so...."Toodle Do!"