A.Dooorable.

I just had to share this. How adorable are my girls?! This weekend was prom at Clear Brook High School and these are my Young Life girls that are in my Bible study on Thursday nights. Brittany, Megan, Mandie, Lauren and Suzy. I have been with most of these girls since their freshmen year - I am kinda sad (but excited) they're all growed up now! Although there were 50+ people in their prom group, I am glad they took this picture of our little Thursday night/Panera Bible study group (that's where we meet). And don't worry, although I do emphasize the importance of prayer, I certainly do not encourage them to walk around in this stance on a normal basis. :)

It just depends what your definition of success is

I am literally exhausted to the point of loopy. My right leg is swollen and completely bruised ankle-to-knee resulting from a bench falling on it during our s'mores campfire. I am inspired from and challenged by an amazing speaker we had this weekend, as I am always surprised how as a leader I feel God blesses me as much as He does the students. My back has reached a new level of pain from all the walking, hiking, sitting and standing and "enjoying" a lovely and weak camp-like bunk bed for two nights. There is still a nice goopy consistency to my hair, since from experience I know it takes multiple washes to fully remove shaving cream from it after we played a rendition of shaving cream/silly string tag in the dark late last night (I was naive enough to think as a leader I might actually stay clean). All these things woven together.... simply prove it was a successful youth retreat! Although after months of details and planning and a long weekend... I am so glad its over. :) It was worth missing the NFL draft this weekend (oh man but it hurt so so bad to!)Fun lookin' bunch huh... and yes lots o boys. Now onto planning our trip to Panama City Beach, FL in July... uuuuuuuuh it never ends!

Should it be this easy to be tacky?

Last night was Bay Area Young Life's Annual Tacky Prom... probably my last one (whew!) and it 'ain't that hard for me to be tacky. Sadly. I mean, hello, I already own a hair crimper, tons of bright neon-colored makeup and jewelry, gallons of glitter… its almost like I am made to be tacky. What? Hmmm... maybe I should think about that last statement. Anywho, I did have to go shopping with one of my girls at a thrift store for a perfect outfit but I won’t lie – I hate going to thrift stores. They are so dirty and smelly. And have icky old clothes. Ugggggh. I am such a big girly baby but whatever that’s who I am. Yeah I don’t do vintage... only fake vintage… like the vintage clothes made freshly new from the factory but have been purposely faded or crinkled or whatever to look vintage but then put out on new clothes store shelves. Okay so I would wear real vintage Chanel couture or Tiffany & Co. jewelry but let’s be honest that’s not what we are referring to. That said, I did buy a dress - if you can call it that - from the thrift store and it was more like a silver metallic moo-moo spectaculousness. Serious moo-moo and dang tacky. Belt it with some bright gold and you got some ugly. I think I outdid myself this year. Like yes you’re supposed to be tacky… but I had kids and such looking at me with weird faces exclaiming “wow that’s tacky”. Yeah it is. Point. Hello! Ugly or not, I enjoyed hanging out and dancing with my kids and wearing bright purple makeup. Duh.

Cant always be bloggerific

Sorry kids. I know I haven't been extremely bloggerific lately. Sometimes I have oodles to gab about and other times... blank. Nada. So I feel like I should say something...? This is what I got.

First of all, God is continuing to show me fruit and blessing in both my youth group and my Young Life girls Bible study which is so exciting and humbling. Being in youth ministry can be hard on every level and its been a pretty rough last year or so in all of my youth ministry avenues. But to see Him working and working through me, along with the vision He has given me (which He continually changes), is making it all worthwhile. I am just exhausted all the time. :)

The movie, Stop-Loss, was deeeeepressing and the gorgeous eye candy known as Ryan Phillipe and Channing Tatum was not even enough to trump the somber-debbie-downer-ness of the movie. Don't recommend it. I should have just seen 21 again.

Oh and my eyelashes. Sigh. They are still falling out really bad and even a trip to the dermatologist did not help. Although he did was agree (thanks) and say we should test my thyroid. Well I already had my thyroid tested a few weeks ago and its fine, I said. That didn't matter - that's all he had for me. So I am going to have to take matters into my own hands. I have tried quality eyelash conditioners before with no real results... so I finally had to go for the Godfather - Revitalash. A doctor created it for his wife who had cancer and whose eyelashes were not growing back after chemotherapy (I thought that was sweet. Awww) and even though its pricey pricey, its supposed to do wonders for making your eyelashes grow. I found the cheapest one available online and am hoping and praying that in two months or so, my eyelashes will be back. I am sure if stress in my life would vanish that would help as well. But until then I am going to extreme measures... even stopping curling my eyelashes almost at all (which I love and rely on). So currently, I am sticking to using shu uemura Mascara Basic mascara because it curls your eyelashes and keeps that curl better than any mascara I have ever used... and no matter how many applications you put on, it barely ever clumps. So if you want to reduce have to constantly recurl and recurl your eyelashes, I would look into investing in this mascara.

I very excitingly just bought LORAC's Sparkle Pencil eyeliner (black eyeliner with silver sparkle - hello!) and I can't wait fo a dancing night out to use it. Don't worry even I don't wear glitter sparkle every day. I also nabbed Benefit's new Erase Paste that I have heard raved about and so far really like it. Its like a concealer with a highlighting twist. If you're looking for a new kind of concealer you might want to check this out. I bought the "medium" shade.

Celeb goss round-up : Beyonce and Jay-Z are getting married today... does that make her Beyonce-Z? I was tres disappointed in NKOTB's big announcement this morning - so anti-climatic. Blech. Did John Mayer and Perez Hilton really make out??? Hmmm. I guess? Nasteeee. And one more reason I do not want to vote for John McCain : Heidi Montag is. Seriously who cares? Why has every single celeb goss site covered this? I don't get it. And worst and probably most upsetting, our hot Bachelor Andy Baldwin is dating Marla Maples, Donald Trump's ex (check out pics here). Eeeeew. She's like eleven years older than him. What a cougar! Seriously Andy, give me a holla.

Just for kicks and giggles... I found this "prototype" over at Makeup and Beauty Blog and it just brought warmth to my heart. Three of my favorite things in an all-in-one combo? Definitely too good to be true. MAC Cosmetics, Sex and The City, and iPod. A MAC-Pod? Magnificentness.

Have a great weekend!

Blessed

Tonight during my Bible study with my Young Life senior girls, one of them said to me :
"I'm not really worried about you getting married someday. I just know that's not going to be a problem for you. It's just that this is our time with you. We needed you the past four years and God just wanted us to have you for a while. Once we graduate then you will be able to move on and God will have a husband all picked out and ready for you. He just knew we needed you right now."
How adorably precious is that? They all give me so much more than I give them. I love my girls.

Ice ice booty

I am sick and trying to rock that manly-flem voice right now. Its totally hot. Trust me. However I managed to crawl out of bed this morning and got my hair did - looks fine - not awful but not outstanding. Hey we can't all have Jessica Simpson hair. Tear. But I am hurting a bit this morning (back-wise) because I started pilates yesterday. Yes that is my new focus on trying to help my back. Dang girlfriend its expensive. Cha-ching. I joined a fancy pilates studio which is doctor supervised which is what I was looking for so I am glad I found one. I am hoping it will help but it will probably take some time (and money) before we can tell. We shall see! So as I type, while coughing mucus all over my laptop, I am laying on my bed on top of a bag of ice. My booty is numb. Its fun - I recommend it to all. Ice ice booty... na na nanana nanana... ice ice booty... Wow I'm retarded.

My Bible study last night with my Young Life girls... was so good. I still enjoy them so much and God seems to bless our time each week in spite of me. It is awesome to see Him working in their lives. I was sick yesterday and exhausted from youth group on Wednesday night so I felt so unprepared... but every week I feel I have not prepared enough for it, but God always shows up. Its amazing. Oh and they (five 17 year-old girls, mind you) have decided that I should have a baby. You see, I am the oldest person (outside of their parents) they know... they are 17... and they have decided they want "someone" to have a baby... so I won... and they think it would so cool for me to have a baby by in-vitro fertilization (?). Seriously they aren't kidding. Lol. The girls say they can all be my baby daddy and take care of it. They will take care of deciding who should be the donor for this little bundle of joy. Then there was something about a midget... hmmmm.... but I can't get into that because I am sure it was offensive. See the mature subject matter that I discuss with my youth on a regular basis? I am sure you want me hanging out with your kids. In vitro midget babies, hot boys, ANTM, tattoos, piercings... we cover it all. :)

Is melancholyness a word?

Its been a looooong week so far. A whole lot of appointments. Doctors, recruiters, therapists, you name it. Finished physical therapy. Went back to the orthopedic surgeon and have to get another MRI (you know how I feel about those - the old school tube one) next week. And I am so pissed there's no good television on right now to counteract my melancholyness. And there is not going to be any good new television programming any time soon. The Writer's Guild strike is now affecting my life. Lame! There's mad drama going on with my older sister right now. My bestie is now officially leaving me and moving to New York City and if thats not enough, Jamie Lynn Spears is now pregnant. I mean what is the world coming to? No one will go with me to see I Am Legend (I've heard mixed reviews by the by). I lost my new Chanel mascara. Just one of those weeks. The only redemption would have to be the latest Lord of the Rings prequels buzz and my lunch today at Cheesecake Factory. Sad? Well then that depends on what your week was like. And if you ordered the Chicken Madeira.

Bay Area Young Life did have their All-Area Redneck Christmas on Monday so here are a few photos to share... oh the joy of dressing up like a dork. And then running into friends from high school afterwards at a resaurant and trying to convince them this is not really how I dress as an adult... priceless.

Do you have a dream? Can I have it?

So what has been going on and in the mind of... me? Weeeeeeeell...

I realized how much I truly do despise Texas Tech. I flew up to Lubbock, TX (ugggggggh) on Friday to visit the campus with one of my youth group kids, Katie Beth. She wanted to visit and I didn't want her to go alone. I will have to start out by saying that the campus is prettier than I remembered. That said, so annoying! Red Raiders are SUCH wannabe Aggies it is NOT even funny. During their official visitors tour they kept going on and on about how their school is based on their traditions and at one point around this memorial they went on about how you are not supposed to walk on the grass. HELLO! Plus they kept poking fun of Aggies and went on to explain that this statue of some man on a horse was turned so that the butt of the horse literally faced College Station... so "Aggies are the butt of every joke... har har". Um excuse me mister red raider... we don't care about you! You're not important enough to make fun of! Whew. I feel better. I had to get that out. AND I did something to my foot after walking around campus all day in crappy flip flops. It was a long Friday.

Fall television season is about to start! Woot woot! I am mad excited and it is about freaking time. I might be the only one but, no, Big Brother does not hold me over for the summer (however Entourage helps). So even though we all have our personal favorites returning (mine: The Office, Friday Night Lights, Heroes, Grey's Anatomy, How I Met Your Mother, etc)... there's a lot of impressive newbies coming over the bend. Just to keep you in the loop, these are a few of the most buzzed about new shows that everyone (all my people) are collectively recommending: Pushing Daisies (7pm, Wed, ABC); Chuck (7pm, Mon, NBC - pictured left); Bionic Woman (8pm, Wed, NBC), Reaper (8pm, Tues, CW), and Gossip Girl (8pm, Wed, CW - pictured right) - most of these shows premiere next week. Gossip Girl (which is from the creators of The O.C. and Charlie's Angels) actually premieres this week but they have had the season premiere released on iTunes for free. So yes I've already seen it. Love it (and I lurve Penn Badgley). Its like The O.C. in Manhattan, richer and with an edge and an information age twist (its based around a blogger. So could be me). So if you are missing the cheesy yet wonderful OC drama, but don't want to admit you still watch shows like this even though I blog about them, then I recommend it. Ahhhhh what would we do without DVR....

Our "homeboy" OJ Simpson has got himself thrown in the klink again (for now). What a creep! I think its freaky that we all (my girls) just met him... and purposefully touched him. Eeeeew. I guess I should have let that "omygoodness there's a celebrity in San Antonio, TX" feeling pass before asking for a picture with him.

I just don't think I can handle one more amazing new fragrance coming out... or I will lose it. Hello perfume people! I don't have a paycheck. I can't do this right now. First Sarah Jessica Parker's Covet was amazing and you throw in Nina Ricci's new delectable Nina fragrance and that almost put me over the top.... but now... Daisy Marc Jacobs. Eeeek. What is a girl to do? Its magnificent I tell you. Just read the notes: "Strawberry, Violet Leaves, Ruby Red Grapefruit, Gardenia, Violet Petals, Jasmine Petals, Musk, Vanilla, White Woods". Might as well just read: "Made for Ruth". But... I can buy no more! If anything I need to be saving up for lip gloss replenishment. I am verklempt.

The Houston Texans are 2-0. Two. In a row! Unheard of (even though for my dear sweet love, David Carr's sake.. i would have been okay if Carolina beat us). It was a really good football weekend for me... college upsets (Utah, Kentucky, I love it - but even I felt a little bad for shut out Notre Dame)... Aggies did win (albeit to Louisiana Monroe) and the Aggies almost-loss last week to Fresno State's pain seemed somewhat lessened after Texas almost lost to Central Florida. =] I am not very mature what can I say?

The Emmy Awards sucked on Sunday night. Ryan Seacrest is a sad excuse for an entertainer with no real talent or humor at all. Just overall boring. There weren't even any interesting fashion or winners for that matter. Probably the only intersesting/deserved winners would be Jamie Pressley (supporting actress in a comedy) and Katherine Heigl (supporting actress in a drama), but Katherine was so tacky when she got all pissed that they pronounced her name wrong when she was presenting. Get a little humility girlfriend. Fashion-wise.... psh... not much to write home about. My only favorite looks were Debra Messing and Kristen Bell (fabulous hair).

Skanky Babies

I went with (what ended up being a small portion of) my youth group to Schlitterbahn Water Park in Galveston on Saturday. I have not been to the new Galveston water park, but being a longtime fan and participant of the New Braunfels one, I was excited to finally try it out. It was actually very crappy weather – mega cloudy (no one uses the word mega anymore – that’s a shame) and even rained in the afternoon - but since it’s been raining nonstop here for weeks now, I figured it was the best we were going to get (until yesterday of course when it decided to be sunny all day!). So needless to say I was disappointed I didn’t get any sun.

But the water park… how do I say this… it was so ghetto, people. And the thing that made it ghetto… was the people. Of course it is not as large or elaborate theme park-wise as the New Braunfels one, but there were enough rides, pools, and lazy river-ish stuff to make it a worthwhile water park… especially for Galveston, Texas. But man oh man was it filled with ghetto people. And skanky babies. Skanky people with skanky babies. What am I talking about? You got to see it to understand. Since Galveston (which actually is where I was born and lived until I was 10 years old – so I guess these are my “peeps”) is ghetto in and of itself, so I guess you could assume there would be a different sort of local crowd then in New Braunfels... BUT... it still freaking expensive enough ($35 a pop) to get in… you catch my drift without me having to be too tacky (yes I know its too late for that)… that I didn’t expect it to be quite this ghetto of a crowd.

Oh but it was. Let me paint a picture for you: the main part of the place is this lazy river… but specifically this one section of the river where it merges two rivers and there’s a big wave that propels you together. Imagine... hundreds of ghetto people on top of each other at this point. Some in tubes, some just floatin/swimming around. All up in your stuff. Feet in yo face. (Not good if you hate feet like moi). Now imagine if a large portion of these people were ghiznetto teenagers (literally teenagers) with their babies… which they are simply carrying in their arms… or they are sleeping on their stomachs as they lie in their tubes… while hundreds of people are being thrusted together. And once the large wave comes, everyone is propelled forward/to the side/etc and you are usually separated from your people. So now imagine tons of kids screaming for their parents as they have just been separated. Gah-reat. Skanky babies EV-REY-WHERE. I seriously don’t know how more people don’t die and drown at this point. I mean I was probably a better swimmer than everyone there and I had to be careful. I really felt for those life guards. Couldn't pay me to do that job. What do you do now? Of course you go in a circle and do it all over again.

Plus, I never thought I would be able to say this ever in my life… but I was actually able to be somewhere in public... in a swimsuit no less (probably because it was a tankini)… and feel decent about myself. Why is this, you say? Not because I looked good in it... it’s because there was so much skin and flesh flying around the place... I realized I had a lot less of it, comparatively. Yes. There were many a many a many a people that needed a whole lotta more fabric than they had on coverin’ their stuff. It was terrible. I mean I am all about the importance of having confidence in yourself and being comfortable with how you look and what you wear and not letting society determine what size you should be… but these people are… Way. Too. Comfortable. I seriously thought I needed to cover my eyes half the time… there was so much skin hanging out… ugh… makes me cringe just thinking about it. See? I’m scarred.

That said, overall we had a really fun time… the “sights” and “scenery” are what made the day really entertaining… but I definitely would consider driving the three hours to New Braunfels next time. They don’t have as many skanky babies at that one.

Disclaimer: I hope I didn't offend anyone with the "skanky baby" thing. I certainly love YOU and all YOUR children. Just not the skanky ones. =]

Inappropriate much?

On my youth group meetings on Wednesday nights, I am currently teaching a Bible study on the life of David. So last night’s lesson was on David and Goliath - story as old as time. Those are the hard ones to teach and discuss because everyone seems to tune out. Well, they don’t have to when they have Ruth as their leader who continues to say dumb, inappropriate things at the wrong times. You could say I keep them on their toes. So I was discussing the interaction between David and Goliath before Goliath was actually killed and the significance of their conversation. I then said something like “Goliath was talking dirty talk to him (David)”… yeah. So I didn’t mean dirty talk… I meant trash talk. But I said dirty talk. You can imagine that spurred on a whole lotta laughter, a blushing and apologetic Ruth, and a complete loss of focus for my study. I know! I am such a bad leader. Sadly, these kinds of things happen to me ALL the time - I am always saying inappropriate things by accident in the wrong place. This is not a good thing when you work in youth ministry! I talk so fast and dont go through things in my mind. I used to get ragged about it all the time when I was a Young Life leader… but that was YL. This is a church youth group. It is much worse. I think I need to cleanse my brain of all inappropriate content and verbiage so it won’t have the chance to “accidentally” slip out. Yeah not much chance that’s gonna happen!

Since I haven’t really blogged about it yet (I think I am still in denial), I might as well now. I am actually now on staff at a church. Crazy I know. I am now the Director of Youth and Family Ministries at Bay Area Presbyterian Church (PCA). It is part time staff so “luckily” I get to keep my accounting gig as well. I sorda have two full time positions at once (yes I am tired). BAPC is the church I grew up in and honestly this was a very hard decision to come to. I kept saying no no no… but once I started praying about it… God made it clear this is what He wanted me doing right now. So it was definitely not in my personal life plan - I was ready to sleep all summer! It has been a tough transition from Young Life, especially since it is a such a small youth group (junior and senior high) and I haven’t really figured out how to deal with that small of a group yet. I pray that God will give me a heart for these students and use me in their lives, and teach me how to minister to this group…because I certainly haven’t figured out how to yet. I also pray that He bless my obedience since this hasn’t been the easiest thing for me to commit too. However, I am very privileged and humbled by the huge responsibility that this represents, and most days I do realize I am not mature, wise, or creative enough to do it… without the Lord. Yep so that’s that. We are going to Schlitterbahn (in Galveston) on Saturday so it can’t be all bad! =p

So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, good night... Young Life

Monday night was my last Clear Brook-only Young Life club. So tremendously bittersweet! We do have our all-area pool party next Monday… but it was the last club with just MY kids. I actually had to give the talk which I was obviously SO nervous about. Most people are afraid to speak in public, but I trump that. I am absolutely petrified to. I was so nervous all weekend and all day Monday… I kept thinking how I would literally rather get back surgery again than have to give the talk. Seriously. Not that I don’t “want” to give the talk or that I don’t have anything to say, I just cant stand talking in front of people. Anywho I did it (in front of about 65 people -whoop!) and it went fine. Nothing great or flashy – I simply have a basic gospel presentation as a recap of the entire year… and honestly it wasn’t quite as bad as I thought it would be. Thank God for that.

So at the end of the talk, I decided to announce it was my last club and that I would no longer be doing YL. I felt bad doing this but I hate it when our leaders quit and no one tells the kids and we spend an entire semester being asked where they are! So as I announced this, I totally started crying even though I promised myself I wouldn’t… I mean I really do love these kids… and then every single girl started crying in tow. All the girls sorda attacked me up front with tears and hugs asking me why I am leaving them. I felt so awful. However, I have felt since the beginning of the year God telling me to stick it out one more year and I feel totally at peace that leaving is what I am supposed to be doing. I am not stopping youth ministry… I just believe that my vision can only be done (and God wants to use me) in a different capacity… like youth ministry in a church. Young Life has taught me SO much about youth and relational ministry… but I simply don’t agree with everything that it stands for or teaches. Believe me I am SO scared about what I am supposed to do now! But... it’s time to branch out. How sad am I that its over? SO SAD. I don't think it will hit me for awhile how sad I am and how MUCH I am going to miss it. Young Life… although time-consuming and hard work… is a blast. Plain and simple. Blast. I love my fellow leaders and kids more than words. They are like my best friends. I pray God has got something in my future that can replace this void.

Tacky comes way too easy

A few random pics of my gorgeous Young Life kids and I at Bay Area Young Life's Annual Tacky Prom. Although this might (or not) shock you, tacky ain't much of a stretch for me!

Retreat weekend

I went to a jr-sr high youth retreat this weekend with my old church, Bay Area Presbyterian. I have started helping out with their small youth program some since their youth director is leaving and the pastor has asked me to… well and they really need it. It was at a camp in Hunstville and we had amazingly gorgeous weather the entire time which was very refreshing. I will say it was frustrating how much I couldn't do because of my back, though...

We actually only had one girl (sweet Katie Beth… I now have a Carrie Beth and a Katie Beth in my life… very confusing) go and five boys go (I told you it was small) but we were with other PCA churches in the Houston area. I had a really good time hanging out with KB, but was very disappointed with how unfriendly the other groups were. None of the other kids talked to ours and none of the other leaders were at all sociable. I was hoping this would be a fun networking time for me to meet other youth directors in the Houston area… but nope. Tis was not that way. At least Young Life folk are friendlier! The speaker was okay – he had a lot of great funny stories, but I thought it was a tad watered down from what I expected from a PCA retreat… but then again it was junior and senior high so it’s hard to reach 12 year olds and 17 year olds at the same time! I am not sure in what capacity I am going to continue with this youth group yet – it’s a decision that’s stressing me out to the core – and I am leaving it up to God to lead me one way or the other. It’s definitely the last thing in the entire world I expected to be doing.

You gotta love Clarity

I had such an amazing weekend at the Cypress Bible Church youth retreat! My favorite part was the fact that the Student Life Conference, Clarity 07, challenged and encouraged me as much as it did the kids to get into God’s Word more. I am so much more impassioned to start studying the Bible inductively than ever! The speaker David Platt was phenomenal. Shae and I had such a great time leading together, along with meeting two amazing other college students, Claire and Amber, who led with us. Our high school girls were sweet and precious and very different than the Young Life kids I am used to working with, so it was a really nice change for me. One thing I also learned is that I need to work on sharing my testimony so I will be ready to share it at any time. The girls asked each of the leaders to share their testimony on Saturday night (it was a really remarkable time) and mine was choppy and full of rambling (huge surprise). I need to get it more together. Okay I will also admit our lip sync to “California Dreamin” was not exactly fantastic and we didn't win, but it was our first time and we had a crappy song to work with. Believe me next year I will be ready!!!

I also fell in love with Leeland who is a friggin awesome Christian band. Actually based out of Baytown, TX, the band is led by gifted song writer 18 year old Leeland Mooring whose music and very unique voice blew me away.

This weekend...

I am leading at a youth retreat with Cypress Bible Church with former and fellow T Bar M Hick Chick, Shae Connell. We are sadly way more excited than we should be. The theme of the weekend is Clarity (making God's Word more clear) and I am eager for it to start now and hear what the conference has to offer! You can be praying for Shae and I as we share God's Truth with these freshman girls this weekend. Also, we are doing a lip sync tomorrow night with our girls to “California Dreamin”. Yes I will admit it is an oh-so-crappy song to have to dance and perform to… but this is when I shine. It is going to be great… complete with sun and sheep props. Suns. Sheep. Get it?

However, I am sad that I am, once again, missing the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo Chili Cook Off this weekend. I swear I miss it every year for some reason. But ah well… maybe next year!

Grey's: Although I loooooooved the Denny-centric aspect of last night's Grey’s Anatomy… I was a tad disappointed. It was cheesy. Like Cheez Whiz cheesy. But I did cry at the end when Izzie and Denny almost "had their moment" together. Heartbreaking…. If you haven’t watched it yet, well… sorry. You were obviously the only one. Besides the post-Super Bowl episode last year, it was the most watched Grey’s episode ever (27.3 million viewers).

Ladies: If you have ever gotten your nails done, you have to watch this video. (courtesy of miss april) Its hilarious.

Reminder: The Oscars are on Sunday night. Yeah I know – I don’t really care either.

More important reminder: Please don’t forget to watch Rainn Wilson (Dwight Schrute) host SNL tomorrow night. I have a feeling its going to be one for the books. So in honor of this we have the...

Dwight Schrute Quote of the Day:
“I am always thinking one step ahead. Like a carpenter that makes stairs.”

Today I am loving

Today I am loving...

* My Young Life kids- As I have been very out of the past few months due to all my health drama, I have not had a chance to hang out with my kids very much at all as of late. I forgot how much I love and miss them! Monday night Club the last two weeks has been so much fun- topped off last night with my fellow leader Joel swallowing a live goldfish. Why? Who knows- he was “in character”. He can’t swallow pills or anything very well so he actually chewed it up. It was a bit gross… but glorious of course. I have also been with my kids to dinners and high school wrestling matches (which are more than a bit awkward seeing little high school boys in those tights outfits) this past week. It’s been great.

* The book (yes book!), Creative Bible Teaching by Gary Bredfelft and Larry Richards. This was recommended to me by my parents pastor at my old church- John G as we call him- to help me get a better grip on learning how to teach. I so badly want to be able to teach (on a small scale) and lead Bible Studies for youth and women my age... I just don’t have quite a knack for it yet. So I am really enjoying this book right now.

*30 Day Free Trials! I got a full month’s worth of Relastin Eye Silk (which is normally $75 plus the regular skin Relastin which is $80) for free and then I just cancel it before they start charging me for it monthly… I am way excited about trying it. I think being around high school kids makes me tres self-concious about looking old.

* Cold icky wet weather. I am being sarcastic about this one. It is so icky and wet outside. Not only does it ruin my hair, it took me an hour and 45 minutes to get to work this morning in the rain traffic. Someone shoot me in the head. No seriously. Do it.

* Tommy Nelson (pastor of Denton Bible Church). I am listening to his 1 Peter sermon series right now... oh how I love his sermons and the fact that he is also a five-point Calvinist and isn't afraid to say it makes me swoon. He totally brought it this morning on 1 Peter 1:22-25. Love it.

* Smokin' Aces. haha yeah. Just. Kidding. I havent seen it yet. No one will go with me!!!! Aaaah!

Pooped

I think I seem to have blogged myself out. And now I am absolutely poooooped from a hard weekend... on many levels. I tried to (sorda) go to Polar Bear (Young Life Retreat) on Saturday. I couldn't drive that far yet so my loving mother drove me to the camp ground in Livingston on Sat morning. Even though I obviously did not participate in any jumping, running, or dancing activities (which I can NOT tell you how hard not dancing was for me), walking around SO much all day, alot uphill, kiiiiiilled my back. It was just a little too much... too soon. On top of that, it was the absolute worst camp food I have EVER had (and I've had a lot) and it was emotionally taxing on me.. for reasons I wont share because I dont know who reads this. But dont worry I looked hot with my new dark hair. Its actually maroonish. Anywho, my backs a bit swollen and I am supposedly going to try to make a cameo at work tomorrow... the drive (without my woozy painkillers) alone should be fun. So if I dont blog again, you will know I have lost it. :) Just kidding i will be fine... just a tad melodramatic.

Owwwwww

I have not been the loveliest person to be around this weekend. Yesterday I ran out of my pain pills and for some reason my doctor didn't prescribe any refills... and we couldnt get a hold of his office yesterday... so yep. Bad news bears. Thankfully I have an appointment with my doctor to get my staples out tomorrow (yeah... ouch!) so I can get some more goodies tomorrow. I thought I was getting better... which I am... I just obviously still need some pain medicine because my back is throbbing. I am walking more and much better... but the main thing I can't do is sit... so standing up at Thanksgiving dinner was nice. And I am actually not supposed to sit for more than 20-30 minutes at a time for 6 more weeks... yeah that's going to be easy since I commute an hour and sit down all day at my job. I am not quite sure how this will all work out... but this means I probably wont be able to make it to Polar Bear (Young Life retreat) this weekend... which breaks my heart.

Boo!

Happy Halloween!!! We had our All-Area Young Life Halloween Dance Party last night... it was a doozy. I tried to pull out the "I've been sick and helpless" card and not really dress up… but my sister came up with the wig… so I had to go with it… if you don’t get it… I’m “confused”. Get it?! Like a demon and an angel? Yeah no one got it last night either. That’s what I get for trying to be funny. It was fun though… especially the dance part- duh! How I love the dancing. Anyone who knows me knows I have spent countless hours of my life embarrassing myself while on the dance floor… or table… or chair. It doesn’t really matter the surface or environment… there’s always a need for more dancing. That is… until I became a loser gimp with my back… and even though last night I was trying to be careful and not overexert myself… I woke up in oodles of pain this morning. Argh! So frustrating… so to answer the question- are my injections working? Uhhhh who knows. I guess they work as long as I don’t move. Or shake my booty. Which I am not okay with. So keep the prayers coming as I am not sure what to do next on my back front… Enjoy the pics of my hot girls…

Got a case of the Mundays?

.:. So on Saturday the Texas A&M football team beat Kansas. Whew! That was a close one. Way to close for comfort. Even though our special teams looked like they could have been drunk on Spring Break, we somehow pulled out the win in the end. I watched the whole game and it involved wincing, gasping, screaming, “are you kidding me?!?!”, a little relief, a little more relief, “thank goodness for Jovorskie Lane”, “I can't believe we actually got the 2 point conversion”, and “I wonder what it would be like to have a football team that didn’t give us heart attacks every week”. The end.


.:. I had this HOT date on Saturday night... haha yeah... I just wanted to make myself laugh. Really I went and saw a movie with a few of my Young Life girls on Saturday night... when I got to the theater about 15 more of my kids were there and so we all sat in the back rows cutting up the whole time. Yeah we were so those people. And yes I’m 26 and I was with 15 sixteen year olds. That’s one of the many things that I love about youth ministry- it’s a complete justification for acting way below your age. Hello! I am doing it in the name of Jesus! :) So we saw Employee of the Month (hello- once again… I am justified in seeing this!). It was actually a disappointment for me as I was kinda looking forward to seeing Dane Cook be all cute and funny… but he was just… ok. He wasn’t all “Dane Cook funny.” And Jessica Simpson was SO annoying… didn’t say much but when she did she was awful… and her boobies hung out the entire movie. Seriously hoochie. The only good thing about the movie was Dax Shepard- who I have thought was hilarious since the first season on Punk’d- was very funny. So my review is this is a thumbs down movie… don’t waste your time seeing it… and I know you’re like “I was NOT going to see that movie anyways, Ruth”… Liar. You know you were at least thinking about it.

“Delight yourself in the LORD and He will give you the desires of your heart.” Psalm 37:4
.:. I have never been a huge fan of this Bible verse for many reasons. For one thing, for a lot of people (believers and unbelievers) this is the only verse they know by memory. They take it out of context and use it to make God a “grandfather in the sky” of sorts who only wants to give you the desires of your heart and make you happy and bless you with health, wealth and prosperity. That is simply not at all true and not at all Biblical. I guess I have also not been a fan of it lately because of my own sin nature and my lack of faith in God’s desire to bless me and my family after the continual trials we are enduring. That said the Lord has really made this verse come alive for me in the past week. I heard it referred to in my Bible Study, the sermon series I am listening to on my morning commute right now keeps referring to it, and my pastor referred to it yesterday in his sermon at church. Ok Lord I am not that daft- I get the hint! (Don’t you just love the word “daft”?! So British.) One thing I heard this past week… “to delight is like passion on fire”. How awesome is that?! I think I have been looking at the word delight way too delicately and not vigorously enough. It doesn’t mean… “to like”… or “to appreciate”… or “pay attention to”… or even just “to want to get to know”… it means to have passion on fire! I just love that description of how I should look at my relationship with the Lord. This past week I have really been learning what it means to have passion on fire for Lord… that He wants me to want to know only Him so personally and intimately that it’s like passion on fire and to truly love and delight in that. I have always known that my only desire should be to want to know only Him… but I continue to pray that this truly be my desire… not just something that I know should be. Does that make sense? And from my delight in Him, He becomes the desire of my heart and I realize that everything He gives and takes away is from Him. Point made.

.:. This whole North Korea nuclear testing issue... how scary... please pray for our country's safety... the world's safety for that matter... and pray for wisdom for President Bush and our country's leaders that they have the knowledge and discernment to determine what should be done to keep our country safe. I personally have complete faith and trust in Dubya.