So how about a weekend wrap up?

You know what's fabulous? I'm getting back into the groove of blogging, and not just that, I even feel like blogging. Currently I have about four blog posts whirling around in this head of mine and I'm going to do my best to crank them all out this week. For the mere fact that half of those posts are about events that happened in July, I'd say that's a pretty fair goal especially since September is rapidly approaching. I mean seriously, are you kidding me? September? Sweet mercy.

Moving on.

You know what's even more fabulous? The fact that I had not one thing on my agenda this weekend. It was divine.

That doesn't mean I sat on my couch eating custard and watching re-runs of Alias, although that would have been just as delightful, but it does mean I had time to really enjoy being with and doing some low key activities with my friends and family.

We'll start with Friday. Who knew?

Let me just get straight to the point, I came home from work, took a nap, went out to Chinese food with my parents, came home and blogged about throwing up while they watched Did you hear about the Morgans?, and then I went to bed. I know you're envious of my Friday evening. I actually thoroughly enjoyed the slow pace.

Saturday I made plans to hang out with Claire and Mandy, my two old roommates. (That's so weird to say.) We went all out girly and had lunch at a Tea Room and were able to catch up. Since summer has ended and we're all moved out, we have to make it a point to see each other. It will be really weird when come this fall, I won't have my TV buddy. Who's going to stay up and watch Biggest Loser and The Bachelor with me? Occasionally Claire would stay up with us to watch, but I could always depend on Mandy for my late night DVR dates.

After lunch we marched ourselves right into a nail salon for pedicures. At this point my feet were thanking me because I've abandoned them in the worst way all summer. They needed some serious attention! It was bad, y'all. So bad. We waited longer than expected but the wait was then redeemed by the massage. Oh, the massage! It was truly the best pedicure of my life. I can now say I have happy feet.

Mandy, Claire and me at the Tea Room. For the record, we all ordered the exact same thing.

Pedi's!


We all went our separate ways after the pedicures, but it was so much fun. Mandy instigated the whole reunion, so I am thankful for her.

I headed straight from one group to the next! Michaela and I had the grand idea to get a group of peeps together from church that night and enjoy a night at The Dessert Gallery. It's a really fun dessert place because they have games there you can play while you eat. Neat, huh? Well, imagine my surprise when I walked in and there was not a game in sight. Huge bummer. I'm not sure when the game playing ceased, but my heart was mourning.

We then had the grand plan to get our dessert to go and eat it at the Water Wall, but that didn't pan out when upon driving past it, it was turned off. No water, no lights, no nothing. Stink! So what did we do, you ask? Well, we took our group straight to Barnes and Noble and spent the rest of our evening piddling around the store discussing different books we want to read and perusing the magazine aisle. Honestly? It was just as fun. I could spend hours there. Overall, it was a fun relaxing night and a great way to end a Saturday.

The cake was as big as my head!

This is me and Bethany. Also known as my future roommie. In fact, we're going apartment shopping tomorrow! Can you think of anything better? I went from past to future in one day.

"Let's have a target highly!" Yep, you read it right. That's exactly what Michaela's shirt says. We don't know.

Today after church we had a birthday lunch for our dear friend, Jessie. When Hurricane Katrina happened, which was 5 years ago already if you can believe that, a lot of people were bussed to the Astrodome here in Houston. Once they were forced to leave there, our church took in a lot of the refugees. It was the neatest thing watch the body band together and serve and love them like we'd known them forever. Jessie quickly attached herself to my mom and vice versa and the rest is history. After our church could no longer host them, Jessie and her son Floyd lived with us. Jessie and Floyd are the one pair from our church that didn't head back to New Orleans. Honestly, I don't think they will. She's found her niche here and Houston and loves it!

We celebrate her today after church at none other than her favorite seafood restaurant with a bunch of our church family that have grown to love her and sacrificially give to her these past five years. She's been an equal blessing to us! It was really great!


I took the quickest cat nap after lunch then headed to see The Other Guys with Michaela. Although it was funny, save yourself some cash and just rent it in Redbox.

Hope your weekend was spectacular! I guess I should be signing off if I want to be of any help for my big day of apartment shopping tomorrow.

Later, gator.

Emetophobia

I’m not sure I know anyone weirder than myself. Truly, if you really got to know me and my quirky personality, you’d think the same thing. In fact, I went to Fiesta Texas a few weeks ago with some friends and by the end of the day, one of my friends, who will remain anonymous but whose name rhymes with Ben, flat out said, you’re weird. I smiled, agreed and moved on with life. Or onto the next roller coaster, I should say.

Let me warn you by saying that this post is not the girliest post I’ve written either, if you have a weak stomach or happen to be reading this on your lunch hour, you may want to skip ahead and come back at a later time. Okay, well it's not that gross, just don’t say I didn’t warn you.

There are two specific things that make me weird. And for some odd reason, I feel like sharing them with you, my precious blog readers, on this lovely Friday afternoon. If you unsubscribe to my blog or stop following me after this, I completely understand and will 100% respect your decision. After all, you only see the prim and proper Lindsee on my little corner.

Confession number one, I find potty humor to be well, humorous. It’s true. Although I am one of the girliest girls you’ll meet, potty humor has a place in my heart that I assure you, will always be there. I attribute this affection to growing up in a home with two brothers, a dad and no sisters. Yes, I have a lovely mother, but she could easily beat your mom in a burping contest.

Take for instance the other day on facebook a conversation between me and my older brother. He was discussing on someone’s status his dislike for fast food, specifically Chick-Fil-A, (I know you may need to pause for a moment of silence while we all mourn his lack of appreciation for Christian chicken) and when a friend of his referred to fast food as “good food quickly” he responded back, “"Good food quickly equals bad poopie soon..." .

I laughed until I snorted. And then laughed some more.

I’m not sure why that got me so tickled, but it’s the truth. Maybe it’s because I know my brother so well and can hear what kind of voice and tone he said that in, or maybe, just maybe, I find potty humor to be entertaining. I find the latter to be the cause.

Let's face it, everybody poops. I find it funny sometimes. Did I really just write that on my blog? Yes, yes I did. I might as well seclude myself in Buffalo, Texas now since I'm certain no boy will ever want to date me after reading this post.

If you’re ever in my presence and this tends to be a trending topic, now you’ll know why.

Confession number two, and most importantly, I have a very legitimate fear.

What is that fear you ask?

Emetophobia, the fear of throwing up.

How is it that I can talk about every bodily function but the thought of a stomach virus makes me want to crawl in a hole and could potentially give me a full blown panic attack? It's very ironic, if you ask me.

After googling fear of throwing up last night, because yes, google is my source of all things medical, I convinced myself, because I also happen to consider myself a hypochondriac, that I had an anxiety disorder that was linked to this fear of mine. Can you believe that this fear is so paralyzing for some people that they won't even eat out for fear they will get sick and throw up? Y'all, that's serious. That thought has never even crossed my mind.

I'm not sure why this is such a fear for me. I think it's due to my lack of experience. I realize that that sounds awful, but it's true. Fact: I've thrown up a grand total of TWO times in my entire life.If I'm lyin', I'm dyin'.

Both times are memories forever etched in my mind that I'd love to forget, but I don't think I ever will. They scarred me for life and were both at the most inopportune times.

My first time was in 7th grade during a Saturday choir rehearsal. Since I was naive to this feeling, I didn't know what was happening to me and in the middle of a song lost my breakfast all over the place. Sunny Delight and donuts to be exact. Bless the hearts of those around me. Needless to say, Sunny Delight has forever been my arch enemy. I've forgiven the donuts.

The second time was on my way home from the dentist with my poor older brother after accidentally swallowing too much fluoride. It was awful!

Since then every time I've had that awful feeling, I've literally talked myself out of it. Isn't that pitiful? I just hate it and sweat at the thought of it. Every winter when that awful stomach bug invades itself into every home, I act insane doing everything I can to avoid it. That means I suffer from severe cracked and dry hand disease because hot water and soap become my best friends.

Now do you think I'm weird? I know y'all have some doozies, spill 'em. What are some weird fears you have? Confession time!

Weekend Excursions

Although I realize it's very late, I can't seem to fall asleep and I have the urge to blog, so I thought I'd take that desire and be productive in the blogging world. After all, I'm slim pickings these days. A weekend wrap-up is always a little less intimidating so I thought I'd start there.

I had a fabulous weekend packed with some mighty fun excursions.

I'm not sure how many of you know of or have heard the comedian Brian Regan, but he is a staple in our home. We love him! He's clean and yet absolutely knee-slapping hilarious. Months ago a few friends of mine saw that he was coming to Beaumont, Texas (about 2 hours from Houston) and they were dying to see him live so they bought tickets to go. I've already seen him multiple times live and didn't think I'd be in town, but plans changed and at the very last minute I purchased a ticket thanks to Ticket Master and had a super fun, hilarious night with them. Since it's been a while since I've seen him, pretty much everything was new. I loved that! Although I love hearing some of his old stuff, it's good to mix it up every now and then.

After our late night we headed home and I crashed in bed!

Bethany and I enjoying our backseat mini-van ride on the way to the show!

Shannon and Lindsey!

From where we were sitting it was really hard to get a good picture of him, but here he is in a classic Brian Regan pose. His expressions and movement alone are humorous. Please YouTube him if you've not had the pleasure of listening to him.

Our group after the show!

The girls!


There was a ton going on Saturday that I won't even go into detail about, but one of the many things was moving my little brother back to College Station for school. He's been busy being a camp counselor all summer so he had a ton to do on Saturday as well, that which included getting a bike for school.

Needless to say, I'm not sure I enjoyed his bike more than he did. Y'all, I truly love riding bikes! After I graduated from high school I used to ride one during the summer every day. I miss it! I loved "testing" his new bike. I predict it will be a fantastic mode of transportation around campus.

Don't be shocked if a bike is added to my wish list for Christmas.

A shaved head and Ray Bands. Yup, that's my brother!

Although his bike is a Schwinn, I kept referring to it as the Schwan.


Sunday was promotion Sunday at church which meant we had our "Fish Breakfast". No, we don't have fish for breakfast, we simply feed our freshman breakfast on their first Sunday as a high school student. It's always really fun and this year did not disappoint, although half the time I felt like a crazy lady running around like a chicken with my head cut off. I'm always so encouraged to see the new freshman and how excited they are. I pray they stay that involved and excited all four years! It was fun getting to hug my new girls!

After church I took my sweet self straight to Corsicana, Texas. What's there you ask? My BFF, Joanna, who currently lives in Montana with her hubby. Corsicana is clearly closer than Montana, so I wasn't going to miss my opportunity with her. Her parents live there now and while John has been at Air Force training, she's been visiting all her peeps in Texas. I always have Mondays off, and I went ahead and took Tuesday off which made it the perfect trip.

Need I even tell you the joy I had spending a lengthy amount of time with her? We did everything we do well together like laugh, shop, snort, sleep, talk, giggle, do our hair, put on our make-up while chatting to glory and so on and so forth. She even introduced me to Northpark Mall in Dallas, the mothership of all malls, which was a treasure. I'll have you know, however, that I walked out with one $15 purchase from Forever 21. I'd say that's a record in a mall like that. Self control, folks. Self control.

It was just so relaxing and I enjoyed the time off and am so grateful I got to spend it with her. It felt really funny that when everyone was going stir crazy on the first day of school, I was spending it at the mall. That's the interesting thing about youth ministry, summer is always the crazy, crazy time and then you have a few weeks of slowness before it picks back up again.

Before I left we had lunch at Collin Street Bakery with her maw-maw and that chicken salad sandwich was heavenly. As were the 7890 cookies I ate. It was a great trip to Corsicana. I love that family, they're like my own. Is that not the best, or how it should be? I'm so thankful for them. They love me so well.


Enjoying a very slow day at Northpark Mall in Dallas.

Jo's sweet mom! Love her.

Leaving Collin Street Bakery.


Although it's already Wednesday, I hope you all had a great weekend as well. And more importantly, I hope this first week of school has been a blessing. To say I've prayed for all the students, teachers, parents and everyone in that season has been an understatement. You can't forget that I was and Elementary Education major, so these weeks are always near and dear to my heart. Many hugs your way, friends.

I've got to get to sleep!

A Time for Everything

Every day I'm convinced more and more that life is just a cycle of seasons. Tough seasons, good seasons, sweet seasons, slow seasons and so on and so forth, you get the picture. There really is a time for everything. For those of you older and wiser than me you're probably agreeing whole heartily because you know this lesson far greater than I do. You've lived it longer than I have.

On our plane ride home from Belize I had a mini-meltdown. To be honest, I was on the brink of a meltdown most of the day. I kept swallowing that big ole' lump in my throat until I couldn't swallow it any longer. In all fairness, I warned those around me that one could very well happen so just in case they were unfortunate enough to see my splotchy face, they shouldn't be concerned or surprised.

Ironically enough, I was sitting in the same row as two of my senior girls. Two of my senior girls that are now no longer "my girls" (although to me they'll always be "my girls"), two of my senior girls knowing that this was my very last trip with them. My very last time to be their leader. Although my meltdown was caused by many things, mainly exhaustion, it also had to do with the fact that leading that group of girls was over. My season with them was coming to a very quick halt. The tears came freely. It was the kind of tears that even trying to stop them was next to impossible.

They've joked with me all year about crying when they left, but I always told them I wasn't that sad to see them go. Of course, I was always kidding but it finally hit me that those girls the Lord had allowed me to pour into for two years, were about to enter into a different season of their own. College.

In a way, I feel like a parent dropping their kids off at school wishing them the best and loving them from afar. Of course, I am clearly no parent and I don't know exactly how that feels, but I can imagine it's somewhat how I'm feeling letting these girls go on a very minuscule level.

It's so bittersweet because on one hand, I am thrilled to see how the Lord will grow and use them in college. College was such a turning point for me and my own relationship with the Lord. It was a time when my faith really became my own and I took that and ran with it! I know God wants the same for these girls and I'm jealous for them and their love for Jesus. I don't know what the next four years looks like for any of them, but I know if they follow hard after Jesus, they won't be disappointed. That alone excites me! I'm already looking forward to our reunions at Thanksgiving and Christmas when I get to hear every detail of what life is like for them. It makes my heart so happy. Of course I'll miss them, but on the other hand, I get a whole new group. A new, fresh start with a huge group of Freshman girls that, God willing, I'll get to serve, love and pour into for the next four years. That alone gets my nosy personality excited. Y'all, four years! That's a long time to get to watch them grow into young, Jesus-loving girls.

This is always a great anxiety to me, being entrusted with these girls, but I know the Lord has wired me to love and serve these girls the best I can so I trust Him that He knows what He's doing through me. And I pray I do it with excellence.

This past Sunday night the Lord gave us one more fun night at a hotel to just all be together. I'll be completely honest and tell you that no serious conversations took place, no tears, just a fun night of games, laughing, IHOP at 1:30 a.m. and just being together. It was fabulous! I was and am so drained from all the trips that it was good for not only me, but also for them to just relax one more night with familiar people before they move on!

Because I've done the whole college thing and left folks behind, I know there is a certain dynamic that will change in my relationship with these girls. I won't see them weekly. I won't get to nag them and ask them the hard questions every time I see them. I won't get to tease them about the boy they're currently dating or have a crush on. But at the same time, I know that my investment in them is far from over. I won't stop loving them. I won't stop praying for them. I won't stop caring for them and I most certainly won't stop asking them the hard questions.

More than anything, I'm looking forward to a new season with my new girls, and a new season in my relationship with my old girls. They'll grow. I'll grow. They'll change. I'll change. Life will happen, but Jesus will always be our focus.

I'm so proud of these girls. So proud of who they've become even in just the two short years I've had the privilege of serving them. Even at this moment we have an ongoing facebook message board where the girls are continuing to pour their hearts out and ask for prayer for hard things they're dealing with. They really want to honor Jesus in all they do and I couldn't ask for anything greater.

I love you girls dearly. Thank you for giving me huge glimpses into your lives. I can't wait to see what God-fearing woman you will become in these next few years at school. I know it will be greater than I can imagine.

I mean, come on, let's just be honest here! ;)

Sweet Shannon!

Mary loves me. Can you tell?!


We won't even chat about how far Loribeth is moving. ;)

JOY!

Kara, our in house ballet dancer.

Laura Lou!

Hannah banana!



Thank you, Marriott for providing us one last night of fun all together.

So this was supposed to be a sad face picture. Apparently, they're happy to be leaving us. As they should be. ;)


Sleeping picture fail.

LAUGHING!

Sweet Sara! I love you to bits. Even when you laugh at me as I slam on the accelerator as my car is in park. :)



"There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven." Ecclesiastes 3:1

Too Skinny?

I am sick.

Well, not really sick, but hang with me.

My friend, Tara, posted these pictures on her blog about this girl on the Tyra Banks show that has recently tried out to be on America's Next Top Model.

I wanted to puke when I saw them, for multiple reasons.





1) What is this showing our girls? What is this showing our woman? That we should strive to be this skinny? A skinny that isn't even healthy?

2) Although we know in our hearts this is not the weight we are to achieve, in our heads we desperately want to be the skinny, beautiful girl that we think gets all the attention and these pictures don't help.

3) How does it help our comparing issues? Ugh. I just hate it.

4) Also, would homegirl please eat a cookie? Some cookie dough? A bowl of ice cream? Something, please.

It rips me apart to hear so many girls I'm around degrade their own bodies and discuss how "fat" they are and how discontent they are with their bodies. Or just always comparing what size they wear to their best friends. I know some of it is attention, they want some sort of attention and they'll get the inevitable pretty comment if they say things like that. I also know this is a legitimate struggle that is far and wide among young girls all they way to ladies in their 70's. But it still makes my heart hurt.

I'm not saying I don't struggle with this, but if I let it consume me we all know the kind of ditch I'd be in. I'm saying let's strive to honor our bodies in a healthy way. Let's not neglect or go overboard, both are sin.

And in the meantime, join me in praying for our precious girls. The ones who are caught in a death trap. It breaks my heart.

And for the love of stars, please eat a piece of cake every once in a while.

Rebuilding Galveston

A little over three weeks ago, I piled a few middle school girls into my small SUV (all of whom sat in the back seat which I thought was hilarious) and we headed to Galveston for the week, along with 25 other students and adults. It was our middle school mission trip and although both David and I, our middle school pastor, were very hesitant because of the physical labor we'd be doing, the students honestly blew us away! They worked so hard all week and served the residents of Galveston like you wouldn't believe. I've never been more proud of them!

One of the girls tagged me in a note on Facebook about the week and instead of me writing a re-cap, I'm completely hijacking hers and using it. Not only did she do an phenomenal job, but it's neat to see the trip through the eyes of a student. I hope you are encouraged and inspired by how the Lord is working in a through this generation of students. Oh, how I pray their love for the Lord only grows more and more!

wow. all i can say is wow. its so amazing how just five days in a place in need can change your life forever. most people would think that being served and living in luxury for five days would be the perfect experience, but being in Galveston and serving the Lord along with his people was truly the best experience anyone could ever ask for.

(i know this note is long, but just bear with me.)

1. The Mission during the five days in Galveston our goal was not only to help rebuild the houses that had been destroyed by hurricane Ike, but also rebuild lives and the hope in the hearts of the people who lived there. During the week we would think about the people in need and reach out to them as best as we could. we found that the need to rebuild houses came in second to the need of prayer, lights of Jesus, hope, courage, and strength in that community.

2. The People when most people think of Galveston, they think of the beach and the pretty beach houses that stand, or stood, in that city. but once you get there and see the people that live there and have suffered from economic depression and the hurricane, the beach totally flees your mind. you see the people in poverty, the destroyed houses, the drug addicts and alcoholics and homeless people who seem to have forgotten all joy in life before it went in a downward spiral, and you get a feeling in your gut that there has to be some way you can help, you just have to.

3. The Conditions where we stayed was far from hotel status. there was two big rooms (one for girls, one for guys) with no air conditioning, no TV or computers, holes in the floors where creatures could crawl up, and bunks lining the walls. combined with another small youth group from Houston, the girl shared 5 showers and the boys shared 2. there were 29 of us from cypress bible only on the trip. the mosquitoes seemed to be starving to death 24/7. when we would walk from the rooms to the fellowship hall, or anywhere else for that matter, there would almost always be a trail of mosquitoes behind you eating you alive. we came back with what seemed like millions of bites on our legs. this is where "we're serving the Lord, we're serving the Lord" comes into play over and over in your mind.

4. The Work When the six78 students teamed up with EFCA and Galveston Bible Church, we were immediately told what our duties would be for the next few days that we stayed there. we would be non stop painting and mudding two houses that had been destroyed by hurricane Ike and were being rebuilt by several teams that were with EFCA for the rest of the week. we would also be part of the daily clean-up. when we heard this we had to constantly remind ourselves that we were doing this for God, and we had to put others needs behind our own. it was only through God that we were able to get through that week with cheerful hearts and attitudes, and a sane mind. our jobs were finished on time and we had reached our goal. thanks to the Lord, of course.

5. The Prayer when were on the verge of passing out from paint fumes and in desperate need of a break, multiple people at a time would go on what we call "prayer walks". this is where we would walk around the neighborhood and pray for what we saw. sometimes it would be prayer for a closed business or a vacant home that was wrecked, or a praise that a house would be standing or the smiles on kids and adults faces were still appearing. not only did we pray for our surroundings, but we would walk up to people on the streets, no matter who they were or what they were doing, offer them a cold water and ask them if they needed prayer for anything. sometimes we would get weird looks and the people would politely say "no thank you." other times we would be told "God knows what i need." our response to those words would be "well, God bless you." and we would be on our way, silently praying for them and whatever they were going through. but the times that were so close to our heart were the times that the person would look at us with shock and gratefulness in there eyes and nod their head with much enthusiasm. they would tell us their prayer request(s) and we would ask if they would like us to pray for them right then and there, or as we walked around the neighborhood. it was so special when they would ask us to pray for them right there. when we would finish praying, we would look at the person we were joining hands with. there were two reactions to our prayers most of the time. a) a huge ear-to-ear smile that showed a great joy that could lighten anyone's heart. or b) tears running down their faces and big hugs all around. every person. whether they declined or accepted the prayer, was close to our hearts. we also went to a bible club for kids where about ten kids were lead to Christ by our junior high student. we held a free hot dog cookout the last work night of the week and prayed for dozens of people there. it was absolutely incredible.

6. The Pleasures most of our time in Galveston was eat, sleep, work, and pray. but who says we couldn't have a little fun? we went to the strand, an oldies-looking shopping center with lots of stuff to see and buy, the movies, where we watched Despicable Me (so cute!), the beach, and of course the lovely fast food restaurants that had air conditioning (this is where we would say "praise the lord, we're not sweating!"). but the amazing thing is, although those things were fun and a great way to relax, the most joy i had all week was serving others. weird, huh?

7. The Overall Experience Galveston was overall the most amazing experience of my life. it wasn't luxurious or air conditioned, but it was a week filled with hope and total humbleness and surrender to God. i wouldn't have traded that trip for the world. i'm sure others would agree with me when i say it was spectacular.






Our living quarters. It was no San Luis, that's for sure!

That blue line? Yup, it's the hurricane IKE line. Crazy to think how much of La King's and the entire Strand was under water and severely damaged.

Some super adorable girls! They're about to be my new small group. I'm getting so excited! New freshman!

My bunk.




Down the hall to the bathroom...

Looking beautiful after painting one day!

Such a great group of students!