Best Week Ever

Seriously this was the best week ever.

It all started last Sunday morning. I closed out our sermon series Confessions of a Leader. I told the story of how I started at CT and what made me scared and all of that (I will post it if I can't get the audio to rip, but something will happen with that). It was incredible. I talked about running (or more accurately how much I hate running, the physical kind). Just before I went up Ryan told me to knock 'em dead (I didn't cry). I made it through pretty well, apparently I talked a little fast at first, but slowed down and hit a rhythm. I got choked up, but managed to recover (though Chris got up to console me if needed, which would have made the crying absolutely worse!). Every word that I said I meant. I truly, honestly and completely love CrossTimbers with all of my heart. The things that God is doing through CT to further His kingdom truly amazes me every day. The communion song was Chris and Ryan playing my absolute favorite song in the entire world: Run by Collective Soul. I don't think this is the best video, but hopefully you get the idea of how incredible these two are.

I got big hugs afterwards and made a few people cry, which pretty much made me cry, but they were all good tears!

After worship was done it was time to start VBS! We started in on set up, which lasted until youth. Then we had potluck and more VBS set up. It was a really, really long day, but was absolutely INCREDIBLE.

I won't lie, it took me awhile to get geared up for VBS, but in the last few months (and all the realizations I've had during those months) I completely got on board, although I was happy to have a bit more of an administrative role this year than being directly with the kids! Sweet Becky went home and got her camera and took incredible photos throughout the week.

The adults pretty much ran on caffeine and cookies all week (thank you to Nikki for fabulous homemade ones!). The Fort was our sanctuary from the kids (and hiding spot for the cookies). I enjoyed kidnapping my sweet baby boys each night and throwing them around. I loved every moment of interacting with the big kids and the itty bitty kids and the amazing youth that helped us as well.

When I got home the facebooking started! We posted some photos from the evening (including a rather amusing photo of Pastor Chris) and everyone was commenting and posting statuses about how much fun we were having.

Tuesday and Wednesday were just as incredible. There were moments when I saw God's work so crystal clear. We had the kids do "God sightings" and the things that they saw and watching them see these things truly warmed my heart every single day. Watching them sing praise and dance and have fun did too. It was amazing to see that God wasn't just working in the kids' hearts, but in the adults as well. When I was going through the photos from the week the smiles on the adults faces were just as big as the ones plastered on the kids' faces. People's lives were changed this week, I have no doubt.

Thursday was my concern early in the VBS process: my birthday. I am generally a very giving person with my time, but I tend to be pretty darn selfish on my birthday and I didn't really want to share it! I'm SO glad that I did!

I can honestly say I cannot fathom a better birthday! It started out at 12:06 am when Chris and Jennifer called to be the first to wish me happy birthday! (I finished all CT work at 11:59, by the way). I got to sleep in! I had a serious God sighting with that: I put my phone on silent, but forgot to turn my alarm off (the alarm will sound even if the phone is on silent) and it either did not go off or did not wake me up...GO GOD! I got up and was kidnapped by my sweet Katie-friend for yummy sushi at a place I had never been and wrapped up with cheesecake!

She dropped me off at home and I got ready to head to CT after responding to all the incredible messages on facebook. It was nice to have a few moments of quiet at CT before the fun started again!

This was when I realized the AMAZING people I have chosen to surround myself with. As I was getting all the name tags ready my sweet friends flooded me with gifts and sweet cards. Some of the gifts were hilarious, as were the fabulous cards (especially the ones from the kiddos). I love that I have found an amazing church family where I can be exactly who I am without any fear of judgment. These are people who know me and love me for exactly who I am. All of the fears that I've had about church before are completely irrelevant at CT.

After an incredible time at VBS (and the totally awkward feeling of being the first to leave CT) we headed to the Mont for the traditional birthday dinner and drinks. I had incredible friends that came out. It was a wonderful time to relax and chat after such a long week at VBS.

Friday was a relatively slow day (since I was off work again). We had some stuff come up with a CT member or two and I was once again reminded how we come together if one of us is in trouble or has something happen. I was honestly sad that it was Friday and it was the last day of VBS. It was so incredible to see the lasting changes that have been made in the lives of the people of CT.

Saturday was filled with pool cleaning, Tucker Farley-kins' birthday party and then round two of my birthday. It ended up being wonderful, as I had a bunch of friends come over, but they came in shifts it seemed so I was able to focus on everyone and it didn't stress me out!

Today the best week ever came to an end, or so I thought! Pretty much this best week ever has so far carried into the next week. I stole my JJ who saw that I had cake and said "gimme cake" pretty much the cutest thing ever!

After that we tore down VBS, did some other CT stuff and it was time for youth, which was, as usual, amazing. I cried, but this time it was out of tears of laughter! Seriously best group of kids and leaders you can imagine.

I am on such a high of CT (I guess I've really been there for about seven months) and I just can't get enough. I am so in love with all the amazing things that we are able to do to further God's work here. I can't wait to see what He has in store for us next!

Insanity, Toxicity and Positivity

I kind of think I've been avoiding the blog for the past week. It's funny how life can change in a week, isn't it? Right at a week ago my wonderful best friend and I got a wild hair to take a road trip, which we didn't end up getting to go on, but it put some crazy ideas in my head.

That night through the power of youtube I'm pretty sure I totally lost my mind (if you follow me on twitter you'll understand, if not, oh well :)). Then I heard a song that quite possibly changed my entire life. I know it sounds insane that a song can change your life, but it did (well the combination of the song and a crazy, secret plan that we are working on).

I woke up Friday morning in the BEST mood. It was like a different person waking up. I had made the decision that all the negativity in the world was not going to get to me and everything in my life was going to be positive. I'm about to have a big birthday and the upcoming year is going to be amazing (more on that later). I was on fire that morning. That special song was what woke me up and I was good to go for the day.

I had run through McDonald's to grab some oatmeal and it happened: my car DIED. I mean, a sad, sad death, right at the pick up window. I had to be pushed out of the way. I ended up making it about five more blocks (trying to get to my office) and then it was done. I called Becky bawling. I was so frustrated. I had started the day so positively and was determined to come through on this plan (which is a long term one and something like this happening on day one was not ideal). She, her husband and boys came and rescued me. Daniel looked at the car, Becky calmed me down.

The diagnosis was a bad intake gasket (whatever that is). Becky called and had AutoZone put one on hold for me. We got the car moved to a safer spot. She called her brother to see if he could fix it for me. Overall I am fairly certain I found my guardian angel in Becky. I spent the rest of the afternoon with them.

That afternoon she dropped me off with Haley, where I proceeded to burst out crying again. It seemed like all the insecurity that I tend to harbor came out in a flood of tears. Haley, being as wonderful as she is, told me I was insane for everything I was saying even though I felt like I had plenty of evidence to back up every single thing I was saying.

Haley and I ended up going to the casino with her grandparents, which was a blast. I stayed at Haley's that night (which was already planned, as her roommates were all out of town) and we made CDs and watched Harry Potter 6 (okay we tried to watch it, but both fell asleep). We slept in the next morning and then watched HP6 for real. Then I introduced her to Genghis Grill and we watched another movie and dealt with a police officer over a parking "issue" (that's another story altogether).

She dropped me off at home and I vacuumed the very, very algaed pool (though I did learn that if you play fun music vacuuming the pool is immensely more entertaining and a lot less work). I had another algae issue and thought I would need Banish, so I threw in four bags of shock, and you know what? In two days all the algae was gone, maybe I do know what I'm doing.

I texted Chris that night to see if the youth were still going to swim on Sunday and about my lack of car issue. Again, I cried my eyes out and repeated all the insecurity from the previous day. Again, I was told that I was basically crazy.

The next day Chris picked me up for church. Michelle and the boys took me home. Becky and crew came over to swim and bring my car. Her brother came over and got it almost fixed, just a few more hours needed the next day. I called Haley and had her come get me to get food because I hadn't eaten since breakfast and had nothing in the house.

I had another "test" that night that I'm pretty sure I, again, passed with flying colors. I am still on total track as where I started on Friday morning. I got my car back at lunch on Monday, so I have wheels again.

What I learned from this weekend of tests is that I have the most amazing friends. They are there for me when I need them and sometimes entertain my delusions. They help me when I don't know how to ask for help. I can count at least 10 of these amazing friends. I think I'm lucky for that number. I don't think the rest of the world has that many. Real, honest, true friends that are really going to drop everything to help you when you need help, who will hand you a tissue as you are crying, who will tell you you're crazy when you don't think you're good enough, who will be family when you need one.

While I was thinking about this amazing group I couldn't help but think of another group of friends that I have: the toxic ones. The ones that do not bring out the best in me, the ones that are not there for me when I need them, the ones that I give and give and give to and yet they are not there when I need them and that would never think that they should be: the selfish friends that are more consumed with themselves than they would ever be with anyone else.

Now I said that I am about positivity now, and I am. That last paragraph was kind of negative. I think that it is important to isolate the negative so that it can be vanquished from our lives. I have a tendency to think very negatively, which is something I am consciously trying to change and I can't have negative forces pulling at me. I know there will always be negativity, but if I can intentionally eliminate what I can then that is my choice.

Starting July 21 I am trying my best to be positive and being the best me that I can be. The ways that I am going to accomplish that will come out in due time, but for now, just know if you are a negative force you better buck up and get happy or I have no time for you. :)

Lucky

Though my life is not where I expected it to be a few years back today was one of those days when you realize just exactly how lucky you are.

The day didn't start off perfectly. I was awoken to hammering coming from my neighbors to the north. Apparently today was the day they were getting their new room from the storm a few weeks ago. Perfect would have been sleeping in without the need for a dose of benedryl and a set of earplugs. Luckily that did the trick until my phone vibrated around noon. (Do NOT judge. I don't have kids and until I do I am banking as many hours of sleep as possible). I realized that Miss Haley had called and then texted (the texting is what vibrated the phone). I called her back and ended up heading to her house to get lunch and veg out.

We spent the afternoon chatting, eating Chipotle, drinking Sonic drinks and watching Harry Potter. It was a nice relaxing afternoon. After that I came home and wrapped Mr. JJ's birthday present, did a little reading in the pool and headed to the birthday party.

It was a nice little party in which the little man got spoiled ROTTEN! (As he should be!) When it was time for cake we sang Happy Birthday to him:

Then they tried the traditional first birthday smash cake routine and JJ was NOT having it:

Then it was time for some swimming (aka cleaning off!). That part he was much happier with:

He likes splashing! He played in the little pool for awhile and then got in the big pool with dad and then mom. Eventually they all got out and JJ was toddling around and then he got handed off to me. We sat and played with a cup with Christina for a little while and I was just sitting playing with his hair. Like most of the males in the world this completely relaxed him and the next thing I knew he was sound asleep. I got to sit with this adorable little guy crashed out on my lap for about an hour.

As I held JJ I just looked around at this party. His parents were there, Chris and Jennifer and their girls were there, Christina and Liberty were there, Michelle and (part of) her boys were there, Jason had been there. I was surrounded by all these people that I love more than anything.

Then I realized just how lucky I am.

I have amazing people that two short years ago I didn't know. I have all these kids in my life that I love more than the world and I am honored to be a part of their lives and will continue to be. There were some friends that weren't there, but I feel the same way about them.

I might not be where I wanted to be a few years ago, but I'm in a really good place. My time will come to have kids and when I do all of these people will be there. All of these little ones will be big brothers and big sisters to my kids. They will be the ones that watch out for my kids when they are little. They are the ones that will chase the boys off or teach the basics of makeup and current style if I have a daughter and the ones that will teach them to play sports and how to treat a girl if I have a son. They will be an extended family and the cousins that my kids would never have on my side of the family.

My time will come to be a mom. There are things that I need to do before I meet the man of my dreams, fall in love, get married and have a baby and I know that. In the mean time I am so lucky to have all the people I have in my life and I wouldn't trade them for anything. And I am loving every minute of being Aunt Wennie to a bunch of pretty awesome kids.

Chicken Dance=Chipotle?

Yes it does! :)

Yesterday was Homecoming at OU. I took my favorite guy: Sheldon Sechrist! Last week the poor little thing broke his elbow playing leap frog at Youth (not my youth group, I would like to mention), so he is in a soft cast for the time being. This kid LOVES his football, especially OU football. He was the natural choice to take to the Homecoming game. He was decked out in his OU finest, including sprayed red hair.

When we got to Campus Corner we were walking through and stopped at the Chipotle tent because they had a spinning wheel of prizes. He spun first and won chips and salsa. We were shooting for the "dinner for two" spot, so that we wouldn't have to pay for dinner that night. I spun and landed on "embarrassing dance". Well I thought that meant the guy on the other side of the table would dance for me...um, no. I was supposed to do an embarrassing dance: UGH! Then he told me what I would win if I did: dinner for four! This included burritos, drinks and chips and guac! Heck yeah! I did a nice (and very quick) version of the chicken dance!

We went to the parade and stood with my friend Mindy from work and her kiddos. My complaint on the parade is this: the entries are too far apart, so it got a little bit boring. The theme of Homecoming this year was Sooner Magic. The floats were great (though in no way, shape or form do I miss doing all the Homecoming stuff from undergrad). My favorite was "Sam Bradford's Journey to the Heisman" with a model of his famous touchdown somersault from Bedlam 2008. Mindy and I agreed that this pose should be his Heisman statue! Who knows if they will do that, but I know a lot of Sooner faithful that would love it.

We met up with Kara and Kris after the parade. Kara was almost on time for the parade and early for the game! Yay! We had our burrito (bowls) and headed through Campus Corner toward the stadium. The radio guys (I guess they were radio guys, they had mikes and were all set up) outside of Louie's were doing "celebrity look alikes". Sweet Sheldon got caught as Eminem. They asked how he hurt his arm and he told them the real story. They made him come up with a better one: "I got in a fight with Chuck Norris with a beebee gun!"

The game was great: 52-0, just the way I like it. It is for certain that we do not like our "coach" neighbor. He did not approve of Kris standing up for the game and proceeded to complain about how the team was playing again. Even better news of the day: Ohio State (1) and Nebraska (5?) both lost, meaning OU bumped up to number three in both polls today. Yay! BCS comes out soon, so we'll see. OSU won. Yay, I guess. I know that we need them to be ranked as high as possible when we play them in order to help our cause, but I really hate when they win!

After the game was over we went to PassionBerri on the Corner for some froyo (yes I said "froyo" I like saying "froyo" deal with it :)). We listened to the Sports Animal broadcast for a few minutes and really only heard them talking about their daughters and putting colored streaks in their hair. I ran into my elementary/middle/high school friend Drew and his dad and caught up for a bit. Drew played in The Pride (OU's band) and is now the band director at Pauls Valley High School. I went for Landon's game against PVHS last week and got to see Drew's band. They are awesome!

That's about all for the excitement that is OU Homecoming. :)

Glad to be Home!

Well today did NOT go how I planned!

This was the plan: dress cute at the end of the work day, a quick stop before I headed south, drive to Ardmore (stopping and getting a quick dinner on the way), watch Red, White and Tuna (the first show for Ardmore Little Theatre, and the beginning of my 17th consecutive season of perfect attendance), drive home, go to bed.

Simple enough?

WRONG!!!

The first part of this adventure started out how I planned. We are in the process of merging two of my offices into one, which is involving moving about 150 people around in two offices and lots of packing. I have dressed GRUNGY because of it. I was craving cute clothes and heels, so I put on a cute little black dress before I left work. I made a quick stop before heading south (in an attempt to look adorable), then headed towards Ardmore.

All was well, chatting on the phone with Michelle between the two exits in Purcell and suddenly the car started pulling funny; I thought maybe the wind was just blowing, oh no that would have been WAY to simple! (Sidebar: show starts at 7:00 I leave Norman about 5:00, the drive is between and hour and an hour and a half, depending on speed) I finally pull over, afraid I have a flat tire (Another sidebar: I had a flat August 14 on the rear, passenger side tire, took it to Hibdon's, had them fix it, all was well, BUT I also have a slow leak in the rear, driver side tire) on the rear, driver side. I get out of the car, on I35 southbound, in the previously mentioned cute little black dress and 4 inch pointy toed stilettos, much to my surprise the tires on the driver's side are fine, however the rear, passenger tire is FLAT. Flat really might be an understatement actually. I'm still on the phone with Michelle, who I put on standby to come rescue me, as I am NOT in "tire changing" clothes, plus I don't really have a clue how to change a tire, and have no jack and that X shaped thingy. I call my trusty insurance roadside assistance, who I was a little irritable with, they say they will call me back with the ETA. In the meantime it dawns on me that my wonderful friend Skylar lives in Purcell! I call her and see if her husband, Matt, can come rescue me. She calls him, then calls me back and I call him and we work out details, though he had to run home and get a jack and that X shaped thingy. In the meantime the stupid insurance calls back and says it will be AN HOUR! I kindly call the tow truck (who had no name and which the phone rings approximately 20 times, NOT an exaggeration) and cancel them. Matt and his son Nick show up, change the tire, I pay them in homemade cookies I happened to have in the car and head to the nearest gas station to air up the spare a bit. As I pull into the gas station 3 miles away the stupid insurance calls and says now it will be 20 minutes before the tow truck arrives! So glad that Matt and Nick came to my rescue.

Here is my poor spare that is getting WAY too much use lately!

I manage, without speeding too badly, to get to the show at 7:02 before the director did his intro even! The show was HILARIOUS! If you are in Ardmore this weekend go see it! Friday and Saturday at 7 and Sunday at 2:30 I think. At the close of the show I get stuff from my mom (there is always stuff that she accumulates between visits) including "Fifth Avenue, 5 A.M." by Sam Wasson, the story of Breakfast at Tiffany's: sooooo excited!

I leave Ardmore, praying that my trip home is better than my trip to Ardmore. Except I forget that I didn't get gas before I left Norman. My car gets HORRIBLE gas mileage and having driven about 100 miles before this little adventure I did not have enough gas to go to Ardmore and back to Norman. I realize this at about mile marker 98 on I35 North. If you know anything about I35 North you realize that there really isn't a gas station until exit 106 (Riverwind and Love's). Very soon after my realization that I'm really close to sitting on E my low fuel light comes on. I prayed the whole time that I could make it less than 10 miles to get the gas station. I really didn't want to have to call someone or call insurance and wait again. I managed to make it to Love's. Here is the verdict (Sidebar: my tank holds 18 gallons):

At round about 16 miles to the gallon I could have made it about another 13 miles! (Luckily I did not dare to test this theory!)

I came home to dump 8 bags worth of shock into my still cloudy and green pool. I'm praying that maybe tomorrow it will be less green, or heck not green at all. What I learned about this: don't open the bucket of concentrate chlorine and stick your nose in it to smell it...it hurts! What can I say, don't argue with blond being my natural hair color!

The positives of today came on the radio though (when I wasn't listening to Christmas music, and no I don't have an answer why I was doing this). My two favorite songs, of the moment, were played when I could hear them all the way through: Steve Azar "Sunshine" and Kenny Chesney "Boys of Fall". I dedicate the second to my favorite 10 year old football player, Baley Sechrist, who got hit at football practice tonight and had to have a cat scan and has a neck brace right now. :( Prayers for him please!

Overall not the worst day ever, but I'm sure glad to be home in my bed!

It's Football Time in Oklahoma!

That it is! As we sit I have currently attended 6 football games already:
2 5 year old games
1 10 year old game
1 7th grade game
1 Norman North game
1 OU game

The five year olds are just about the cutest thing ever:

Really...is that not the cutest thing EVER? I am thoroughly enjoying watching the boys play, however I fell in love with the ADORABLE little cheerleaders at Baley's game tonight! That is MY kind of football! Here are my precious boys, both of who's faces lit up when they saw I had been at their games:

For the Norman North/Norman High game. Well I didn't like the outcome, but more importantly I did not like the attire of the kids! I am an old fuddy-duddy apparently, but I would have grounded the vast majority of those children! I'm hoping this was just because it was the North/High game, but the girls all had on athletic striped shorts, knee high socks, and torn tshirts with some North slogan on them. A lot of them also had bandannas on their heads. I don't really have words on this.


Onto OU football! The game was not exactly, well, pretty. It was exciting to see the new video though!

They honored the 2000 National Championship team at halftime!

And for the fun part of the day. For those that have heard the drama that I shall not mention I ended up with four more tickets this season. I sold my original pair, with the REALLY annoying people surrounding me, leaving me with half of a foursome. The other half of the foursome was sold to my beautiful friend Kara and her brother.

The negative of the new tickets, or maybe the bonus, is that we are FORTUNATE enough to have a member of the coaching staff sitting right behind us! What are the odds? This IDIOT complained the entire game, loudly, with comments such as "Oklahoma sucks'" as well as complaining about every play, every player, and pretty much anything else that he could think of. We have a running pole between Kara, Kris and I about how many games it's going to take before one of us (more than likely me) turns around and tells him to shut up.

I guess I shouldn't complain, it was just one guy, which is a VAST improvement over the others that I used to sit around, plus I am bound to have allies! For this game my guest of the week was my wonderful, fun, college friend Adrienne. We tailgated, we drank, we planned to leave after halftime when we were blowing them out. Well, that didn't exactly happen. We went back up after the half, planning to stay through the third quarter, assuming we would finally start blowing them out. Needless to say, if you watched the game, we did not even discuss leaving.

Overall it was a really fun day. There were some frustrations earlier in the day that ended up with a really good surprise before the game! (Maybe more on that later, maybe not!) We ended the evening eating and drinking at Othello's. I won't lie I'm a little nervous about this Saturday and Florida State. Say a little prayer this week for the Sooners!

CrossTimbers Pot Luck, A New Recipe and Four Boys!

My dear friend Michelle had to go out of town this evening, so I offered to take her youngest four (out of eight!) boys to the CrossTimbers Pot Luck tonight. These boys are the best kids ever! And not just for boys. They are Sheldon, age 12, Baley, age 10, Ashton, age 5 and Brantley, age almost 2. They all have nicknames too:
Sheldon=Hoofie or Moose
Baley=Chunk
Ashton=Squirmworm or just Squirm
Brantley=Goobs
Tonight they got new nicknames from me: green, purple, blue and orange! Yes that would be the colors of their shirts! I really don't know how she does it, especially having more than just those four. I love those kids, but I'm just fairly certain I'm not a "boy mom"!

I took a new recipe to the pot luck as well. I think that is what started my fascination with blogs, as I found this recipe when I was randomly looking at blogs of friends of friends of friends!

Cream Cheese Chicken

4-6 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 Tbsp butter, melted
1 package Italian dressing mix
1 can 98% fat free condensed mushroom soup
8 oz. neufchatel cheese, softened (this is a lower calorie, lower fat cheese that tastes just like cream cheese)

Here's how hard this recipe is...brace yourself:

1. Insert chicken in slow cooker
2. Pour butter over chicken
3. Pour dressing mix over butter
4. Combine soup and neufchatel cheese until smooth
5. Pour soup mixture over chicken, DO NOT STIR
6. Turn on slow cooker to low and cook for 6 hours if chicken is thawed or 7-8 hours if it is frozen (yes people you can have frozen chicken!)
7. After it cooks remove the chicken and whisk the sauce
8. Serve with a starch: brown rice (healthier!), white rice, mashed potatoes, baked potatoes, etc.

SOOOOOO simple, SOOOOOO good!