Fridays with friends

Last Friday we made the next stop on our high school football tour.  The game of the week was Homecoming for the Spring Hill Panthers.  This game was a lot more exciting than the last one we watched.  The third quarter was one of the slowest and most uneventful I've seen, but they certainly made up for it in the fourth and then into OT.  The Panthers pulled out the 28-27 win in OT. 

We had some very interested, eager company this week.  Look at the intensity in their faces.  They loved having Will explain the plays and calls.  After meeting the punter at their school that day they were keeping a close eye on #9, "Spencer".  You would have thought he was their best friend.  It was really cute.

With no home games this week we took a break from our tour and went to dinner with some other friends from church.  We met up to eat at a restaurant downtown called the "Lil Thai House".  We've heard all about this place since moving here but had not yet had the opportunity to check it out ourselves.  Let me tell you, it lived up to everything we had heard about it.  From the one wok kitchen, to the shoebox of a dining area, to the long wait, to the great tasting food, it was exactly as I expected.  I had the cashew chicken with white rice, safe.  Will, on the other hand, had a Man v. Food style battle with the Wes Drunken Noodles with a 3 on the heat scale.  I think that is the spicest they make.  He drank about a gallon of water, dipped into my rice trying to get a break from the heat, and turned several shades of red, but in the end man won.  He said it was really good but he wouldn't get it that hot again...maybe a 1.5.  :)  Thanks Horne's for a fun night out.

Just keep swimming....

Just keep swimming.  Just keep swimming, swimming, swimming. 

I first posted this as my facebook status about three weeks ago.  Do you ever feel like you can barely keep your head above water?  Imagine how Dory and Nemo feel.  They can't keep there head out of water.  (I couldn't resist.)

I feel as though I have been riding waves the last couple of weeks.  They come in and they go out.  There are monster, white cap waves and slow, splashing waves.  Some days are great and others are major struggles.  Little annoyances and everyday "life" tasks that individually would not normally interrupt the course of things tend to compound and threaten to bring down the ship. 

Yesterday, following abnormally late nights out, an unusual schedule, and a lack of sleep, I found my ship being broken apart in the office of my insurance agent.  Yeah, I was the one falling to pieces over a billing issue, a very complicated, confusing one might I add. 

Thankfully though, the Lord provides people in our lives to throw out a lifeline and pull us in.  Come to find out, the lady, whose office I had just melted all over, goes to our church.  I was horrified that I had allowed myself to go to that place in front of her.  She, however, was completely understanding, loving, and forgiving.  In that moment I had to let her minister to me.  It was difficult but it was much needed. 
I also have an extremely supportive husband who will bear my burdens on top of all that he is already dealing with.  I am so thankful that I can blubber all over him, we can share with one another, we can take 1am trips to Whataburger for a coke, and drive around town in the quiet night singing choir songs.

One of the songs we sang says this...

Though your vessel be empty
He will supply
For his yoke is easy
He will supply
He will supply
He will supply
Oh, Jesus said that he will supply
...
So my friend don't you worry
He will supply
This is just temporary
He will supply
He will supply
He will supply
....


The things I am dealing with are so small in comparison to the struggles and burdens others find themselves facing today.  This very week in our own church a fourteen year old took his own life.  Even though I did not know him, I am pained by the despair he must have been in to do this.  My heart breaks for what the family is experiencing.

But, this I know...the devil is a liar and a joy stealer, and he has been defeated.  Praise the Lord, my Jesus is the victor.  He is able to do more than I could ever hope for or imagine and I have nothing to fear in Christ.  I am his and He is mine.


1 But now, this is what the LORD says—

he who created you, O Jacob,
he who formed you, O Israel:
"Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
I have summoned you by name; you are mine.


2 When you pass through the waters,
I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers,
they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire,
you will not be burned;
the flames will not set you ablaze.


3 For I am the LORD, your God,
the Holy One of Israel, your Savior;
I give Egypt for your ransom,
Cush [a] and Seba in your stead.

Isaiah 43: 1-3

Labor Day

I ran a couple of errands the other day, and based on what I saw I must be more behind than I thought.  I don't get out much and the days do often run together, but I really didn't think eight weeks had passed since my last post.  I really thought it had only been about three weeks.  But three weeks would put us mid-September, approximately six weeks from the next "holiday", the one that requires me to buy bags of mellowcreme pumpkins to fill up my pumpkin candy jar and anticipate little costumed visitors at my door.  And what's more, if it was mid-September, that joyous season filled with lights, ornaments, carols, and gifts, punctuated by the celebration of our Savior's birth, would still be nearly 100 days away.  But from the looks of things it must be late October.  Time is really flying by these days.

So before any more time is lost, here's the rundown of the last holiday's activities. 

The Friday of Labor Day weekend we went to our first high school football game of the season.  We live about a block away from a high school so we invited some great friends over for pizza and hot wings and then just walked over to the stadium.  Unfortunately the game was less than exciting, but the fellowship time with friends was nice. 

Monday we took an impromptu trip to a neighboring town to visit the zoo.  For being a small town, we were really impressed with the quality of the zoo.  It is on the smaller side, but a lot of the exhibits are "open air".  The animals aren't hidden behind wire cages.  We enjoyed the spontaneity of the trip, but the timing put a crimp in my photographic exploits.  My camera battery died after about 30 minutes.

Here are a couple pics I was able to get.



Beautiful Giraffe, I love the coloring.





Our feet inside the footprint of an African Elephant. 



Throughout our visit we were struck by the magnificence of God's creation.  All these creatures have little purpose, but to serve as examples of God's glory and to give us joy in life.  The array of colors, forms, sizes, and details displayed in each of the animals speaks to an imaginative, powerful, caring, loving God. 

How thankful I am for the Lord's mercy, love and care. 

Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet our heavenly Father feeds them.  Are you not much more valuable than they?

Matthew 6:26