Old School Shout Out

This one goes out to S4J's BFF HisGirl.


Please ignore the video. Just listen to the song.

No Time!

Lordy! Busy day! I have only time to put up some pics from today. I will try to do more as we go, but geesh. I just don't know. Maybe Whimzie or Hisgirl will have a better story about today with more details...


These are what fun look like. What a wonderful day and I have made a stack of memories that will touch my heart and make me smile in the future.



I am blessed to know these women. And look how sweet they are to me....

No Good Title.

I have this friend. She loves me. Exactly me. In the world of understanding me, she is only second to God. ALL of me. And loving me. ALL of me. She doesn't ask me to put down who I am, or to stop being who I am or to change who I am (or any parts thereof) because she loves who I am and she loves to be with the me who is who I am. In her love, she joins me in my muck, but never lets me stay there. She points me to the Cross when I look to the flesh. She is that person who would drop her life upon one simple request to come to my side (and has), and she is THAT person that you would WANT to drop their life to come to your side because you know she will make things better for having been there rather than be another person you have to care for and she will never make you feel burdened or guilty for the great sacrifice it takes.

She is on her way here. I will have her full-time for a week. A week of merriment, MIRL's, festivities and a whole lot of being ME.

I heard an interesting theory about Paul the Apostle in Bible study yesterday...the basic point that I took away from it was that Paul was looking for just the right way to describe what he wanted to describe and had to keep trying different words because they didn't quite give the full depth of understanding that he was trying to convey. Hence - his writings are rather wordy.

That is what I will have to say here. There are no good words that can describe to you who HisGirl is to me. There is no good title.

Bestie Adventures ~ MySpace Style

Meet my very angelic BFF

I got the pleasure of an entire day with her. I present to you:
Bestie Adventures ~ MySpace Style


Okay. Just kidding. THIS is my very angelic BFF!

Got up in time to make it to second service at church. As is the tradition - everything was different than normal. Happens every.single.time I visit. Or, almost every.single.time.

Breakfast at Jack-In-The-Box. Cause ~hello~ I'm in California.

We stopped at Brandy's House. It's not really Brandy's house.
But we want it to be Brandy's house.

Lunch at PF Chang's. Be thankful we took our shot at this end of the horse. The other end is heart-shaped. Not making that up.

Here we found a reflective door and became obsessed with ourselves as one is wont to do when looking at such beauty.

Dinner at The Spaghetti Factory. It's not really a factory.

I took this picture especially for my sweet Mother-In-Law. This statue is for sale in the biggest indoor flea-market I've ever visited. See him holding his own pricetag? You're welcome.

Letters From War - Appreciation Edition

This letter came from my dear, dear friend. You can read the post in its entirety here. *sigh*


Dear Military Wife,

I wish there was something stronger, more sincere, more potent that I could use rather than words to express my gratefulness for what you do for our country, but in the absence of knowing what that something is, this will have to do.

Thank you. Thank you for the sacrifice you make. Thank you for sending your spouse into harm's way time and time again. I know you don't want to, ever. Yet, you provide something irreplaceable to our soldiers. Something to come home to. Something worth fighting for. A face to put to a cause. Thank You.

Thank you for enduring our whining about our husbands being gone overnight or for a couple of days without gouging our eyes out. Those of us whose husbands go on luxury airplanes to stay in cushy hotels to learn about the next trend in technology don't mean to be insensitive, we just don't always remember the thing you can't forget: the fact that your husband leaves for months, rarely comes home on schedule, and might not come home at all. Yet, you're patient with us most of the time. Thank you.

I see you, ladies. I notice you out there, learning how to get all that business attended to that those of us with husbands who come home every night take for granted. You mow the lawns, take out the trash, get the car fixed, kill scary spiders, and much more... all with a fever and a cough and a nagging worry about how close your husband is to the area they're showing on the news tonight. Thank You.

Often, I say stupid things. When you're moving for the umpteenth time, I say "I could never do that" or "I don't know how you do that" or "I could never make it as a military wife"- as if you have a choice. It's fight or flight... and you choose to fight. Thank you.

Often, Americans say stupid things. We want to show our support for our soldiers, but we're dumb. We blast the war for being pointless right in front of you. We call it senseless and say we should cut military spending when you're barely scraping enough money together to buy your kids the essentials. We forget that you are standing RIGHT THERE when we take the sacrifice for granted. Yet, you press on. Thank you.

You often endure crummy health care, undesirable locations, and long days of loneliness. You regularly leave behind friends, hairdressers, gardens, and lots of your favorite stuff that gets lost in the move. Your kids change schools, count down the days til Daddy comes home, and skip Father-Daughter dances. I know it's not all misery, yet the stuff that stinks, stinks a LOT. You put up with more than I even know. You endure these things because your husband has made a choice to stand up for my right and the rights of my children to live and play and worship and vote and dream how we choose. And he's able to do that because he has you, loving him, praying for him, waiting for him at home. Thank You.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places.
Ephesians 6:12

The Quick Turn Around

Isn't it ironic that my whole trip to see HisGirl took less time than it has taken for me to post about why it was so quick?! Okay so here's the deal....
I found out quite a while back that she was going to be heading closer to my world and we immediately started pondering whether it were even plausible for me to meet up with her. Seeing as how she was going to be in town for work and by in town I mean 6-7 hours of driving away. We had decided that through the magic of airplines and online booking, we would be able to meet up for one night in Houston(which is a mere 3 1/2 hours of driving for me). Then the news came.

There was a snafu with the tickets and she would not be able to go through Houston on her way to Dallas at all but would have to go straight there and have no rendezvous with the BFF of all BFF's. That was really disappointing!

Anyway, life was moving on. Appointments were getting scheduled. I kept wishing in the back of my mind that there was some way that I could see her but there was always, "It's too far. There's not enough time for that kind of trip. There's no extra money in the budget for that." and we came to about a week or two before her trip and I just started wishing out loud. My husband responded to my ponderings with, "You could probably do it." HUH? REAlly?? "Yeah. You could probably do it as long as you're back in time for my surgery." Well ya don't have to tell ME twice buddy!!

SO - HisGirl was flying into Dallas on Wednesday afternoon at 1:18pm. My husband had to be to the hospital for surgery on his torn meniscus on Thursday morning at 6:15am. I had to be present to drive him there, drive him home and care for him after surgery. I also could not leave before Tuesday because I had to be home on Monday to attend his pre-op appointments. So that left me Tuesday afternoon(gotta go to PWOC don't ya know) through Wednesday night to drive to Dallas, pick up HisGirl and Jtothe2nd at the airport on Wednesday, visit and drive all the way back home.

Crazy. Insane. Maniacal. Apparently that's me.

Here are some wonderful blessings in my life that helped me make that possible.

• My wonderful Mother-in-law and Father-in-law live a really reasonable distance from the Dallas area and they are always kind to share their home with me.
• They were holding for us a used-but-new-to-us television that we have been trying to figure out how we were going to get down here.
• My wonderful and gracious husband allowed the risk of me not being home for his surgery to spend just a wee bit of time with someone who means a great deal to me.
  
• So, I drove up on Tuesday night after PWOC and picking up my car from the shop and stayed the night with hubby's parents. I got a good night's rest and on Wednesday with the help of a crew we loaded up the tv into the van and I headed down to Dallas to pick up the girls at the airport.
  

Also - it was HisGirl's birthday. HELLO. Can there be a better birthday present. I think not.

So there you go. I'll fully inform you on my husband's ailments and what we have been doing to help him pass the time while on convalescent leave in the days to come.

PS - Hubby and I got the TV unloaded from the van when I got home in the middle of the night, but it sat on the wagon for several days until the kids and I figured out how to get it up onto the tv stand without the help of the strongest person in the house.

It's A Vlog!

WIW - Thursday Afternoon

11amMDT/12amCDT/10amPDT
ITZA bowl and a new cap!

1pm MDT/12pm CDT/10am PDT
Sitting on the plane toward my final destination watching Chicas of Faith worship videos!

2:15pm MDT
HisGirl!!!!

Jenn figured out that I was in Dallas today, and Gretchen figured out that I was also in Denver today! You super sleuths! But....
Where are we now??

WIW - Thursday

5am CDT/3am PDT
Somehow an expensive bed looks the same as any other after it has been slept in

7am CDT/5am PDT

A breakfast of Champions. This is DFW!

9am MDT/10am CDT/8am PST
Layover! This city has free wifi so I am broadcasting right from the airport!



I caught up with HisGirl's adventures here! She's been a busy bee today!

Nope. I Wasn't Kidding About The Game

Well ~ I can't get there from here! So, I have to hit the road....

Proof of mammogram(Notice that they think I am RADX2!!)

1pm CDT/11am PDT
I am starting late because the 'girls' went over-time with their 'outing'



3pm CDT/1pm PDT
FINALLY picked up my sleeping pill rx and can now be on my way

5pm CDt/3pm PDT
Had to stop for a potty break. Got some gum. Ate some. Saw this church...

7pm CDT/5pm PDT
Had another piece of gum
Took the cloud pic for Jenster...

This is supposed to be my 9pm CDT/7pm PDT pic, but - a huge debacle ensued and this is more like my 11pmCentral pic.

You can follow this link for more clues! I'll be putting more clues here tomorrow!

17 August 1991

17 years ago today, I was standing a few feet from my very best friend, being attacked by bees, as she said her vows. She wrote the BEST series ever that culminates today. You can read it here.
Happiest Anniversary Mr. and Mrs. HisGirl!