Great moment in my life...

I wish I had a way to even begin to tell you what a special moment and gift I received a few weeks ago. I had helped Brandon and Brian plan a trip to Washington D.C. for the series "Letters to the New President." I had mentioned to Brian that my father was buried in Arlington National Cemetery. Due to some family drama, my older brother and I have never gotten to see where our father is buried.

I was incredibly touched and honored when the guys came back from their incredibly busy trip and showed me some wonderful photos they took of my dad's grave. Poor Brandon, I had to literally run out of his office before I went into the ugly, squeaky cry. Seeing it, was so much more emotional that I had anticipated.

That following weekend, I was sitting in church, and watched the bumper for the series, and to my TOTAL shock, Brian (bless his heart) included my dad! My sister-in-law, Kylie, and my boys sitting with me, all looked at me and say, "That's it!" It was just such a full-circle God moment in my life. I cannot even begin to tell you the emotions that have swept over me...I feel that these leaders in my life, took care of me. I felt so touched that they loved me (in a sense) to give me a gift that is beyond description. I feel that God was saying to me, "I have you right where I want you. These leaders, this church, these people are your family."

The magnitude of what they gave to me I could never even begin to express. I have watched this video almost every single day since. My favorite part is after the grave is shown, the next clip is of two people, one who has their eyes covered. It chokes me up every time because it just seems so symbolic of my older brother and I.

**And just as a side-note, Kara Baggett (love her!) asked me the following weekend, if my Jimmy was named after my Dad, James.... I was so proud to say yes!

#6

Actually, to be honest...this post could actually be #1.  I questioned even if I should include this one in my lineup.  I will try and write this post as delicately as possible....and you will understand why after reading it.

Have you ever watch the movie "Father of the Bride?"  My all time favorite movie series EVER.  Love it.  Practically have the whole movie memorized!  If you are familiar with the movie, you know FRANK, who is the crazy wedding planner played by Martin Short.  Short adapts a funny accent which also consists of the intermixing of incorrect vowels pronunciation.  For instance:  Tap would be pronounced with a long a, so it sounds like "top."  Now that I have explained this, one with my humiliation...

Once again, I am in my wonderful office setting.  It is my boss's birthday, and as per office tradition, we always get birthday cake.  Of course, since I am the only female in the office, I thought I would serve the cake.  I make the announcement over the intercom for everyone to gather around the conference room table...as these engineers file in one by one, I decided to try and lighten the mood with my WONDERFUL sense of humor.  Great move on my part. (read: sarcasm at it's fullest.)  And on a little side note...the typical engineer does not appreciate my sense of humor either.  Anyway, I start serving the slices of cake, and decide on a whim to talk like Frank.  "Would you like some cake?" I say in my funny accent.  I notice the guys are getting quiet, and there is an odd sense of awkwardness in the room.  I look around to make sure my dress hasn't fallen or something like that (please see previous posts explanation of my paranoia.) but I see nothing...so I am good, RIGHT?!?

 "Cake for anyone else?" still being 'funny' with my accent.  In that moment, I had an epiphany of what was actually coming out of my mouth.  If you say CAKE with the pronunciation I mentioned in the forward, you will quickly understand what was REALLY coming out of my mouth in front of 30 male coworkers.   Go ahead...sound it out.  Cake with a long a.  *WARNING: do NOT sound this out loud!

Yep.  That's right.  THAT is what I was saying with such humor over and over again.  Cake with a long a.   

Me and my stupid mouth.

Just thankful...

I totally hit a brick wall of emotion yesterday.  Complete meltdown, no kidding.  

BUT:

Through out the day, I received random phone calls, emails and texts from my sweet friends.  One, especially from my buddy, Stephanie Minor, that just blew me away.  I am so glad and humbled that God has put such wonderful friends in my life that care about me, and are respond when God put me on their heart.  I needed all the encouragement that I could get yesterday...and I got more than what I thought I needed.

Love you all....and thanks.

#7

I had my husband's  (VERY conservative) Aunt and Uncle over to our house one night.  Of course I was in full-on-stepford mode...making dinner, trying (with every bit of who I am!) to keep the boys clean and clothed. (If you know my boys, you KNOW their desire to strip in the oddest of places and the worst of times.)  

With a pat on the head, I send Noah (5 at the time) off to brush his teeth before bed.  I begin to clear the dinner plates, and I see Noah come running from the bathroom, gagging.  (I feel the on-set of panic...)  I jump over to him to try and attempt to calm him before he frabs in front of everyone.  (Because THAT would be embarassing...as I say with the rolling of my eyes)  Before I reach him, he throws something across the room and says, "That toothpaste is GROSS!"

At that same moment, I hear an almost-inaudible, "oh, my."

I look to see what my husband's elderly aunt was looking at with horror:  Sitting at the base of the uncle's feet was the tube of 'toothpaste' my son had thrown....expecting to read Colgate, or Crest, I see the one word that made me share the feelings of horror:

MONISTAT. 

My therapist started charging me double soon after this...

#8

Grace is NOT at all something that I am known for...in fact, I think I would be described as quite the opposite!  

Case in point:  I was coming down the escalator in a mall (during busy Christmas days, of course).  A stroller, 3 and 5-year old are just not a good mix.  I know this...  I warn the boys the closer we get to the bottom to be careful...pay attention...DONT FALL.  So what do I do!?!?  I FALL!  And it was not a normal fall, my friends.  This was the mother of all falls...

...On my back (I have no clue how this even happened!) my legs fly up in the air (I saw my knees, just to let you know how bad it was) and the legs proceed to go OVER my head and touch the ground behind me.  Yes, that is right...just take a moment and get a visual  of the rude position I was in....I didn't know that I was that flexible!  It was so bad, that I think my brain went into slow motion, and I remember thinking, "hmmm...if I just keep with the motion, I can do a backwards somersault and shout 'ta-da' and maybe people will think I meant to do this."  

I really don't remember what happened next, except I guess someone helped my twist out of my craziness, and I think I made an attempt at a joke, but that fell just as flat as I did!  

As I scurry from the mall as fast as I could push the stroller and drag the kids...my precious kindergarten age, Noah says:

"Mommy made 'V' with her legs."