Family Night at the homeless shelter

Our family has started volunteering at the Union Gospel Mission once a month and tonight was our night. I've been looking forward to it all month. On one hand, it is a great bummer that there even has to be a Union Gospel Mission, but on the other, it is a great honor to be able to volunteer there. My friend, Susie, has been doing this for many years. The men love her and she loves them. Tonight she shared her testimony about how she used to despise homeless people and how God took her prideful heart and turned it into a heart full of love for the homeless. I've heard her tell that story many times. I've edited it in written form. I'm well acquainted with her story and for some reason tonight it moved me to tears. She also showed a small video of the Operation Care - Philippines project that ministered to 2,000 homeless children on July 5th. The homeless men of the Union Gospel Mission were crying as they watched the video and when she asked them to please pray for the children, a loud AMEN went up. These homeless men are praying for the homeless children of the Philippines. Amazing!

Goods of Conscience and Denim

I always find amazing things at Alabama Studio Style. Go read this blog. Read it. Read it. Read it.

Life lately and in the future

Last week, Monday through Thursday, was spent on a road trip with teenagers. Had a great time, especially at night when we were all asleep. I kid. It was a good time. Even when we had to move hotel rooms in the middle of the night due to a stopped up toilet. The girls were real troopers.

Thursday afternoon, after a fun lunch at Houston's Hard Rock, the French Chicks, Corinn, and I peeled off from the group and headed to Midland. Phil was kind enough to drive down a car and take my place in the middle school van. He didn't even use ear plugs!

We arrived in Midland around 3:30 a.m. due to the lovely traffic in Houston. Not fun, not fun. But, the hospitality tent at Rock The Desert was a blast. Everyone on that team is A+ and all the artists were very sweet. Not a snob or prima donna in the bunch. There was a difficult spouse, but their demands were overruled by the humble artist and peace reigned.

Last night the French Chicks and I went to a television taping for New York Summer, formerly known as Radial Angel. We were out with them until 1:30 a.m. Thank goodness for IHOP. We were all starving after the taping and then an acoustical set.

Tomorrow brings Hawk Nelson back to town. They were here weekend before last. The French Chicks, Corinn, and I will be running errands for them and helping Adam with merch. This will be my third weekend in a row working events with Hawk. Weird.

Callie gets picked up from camp on Saturday morning. I have a Operation Care Dallas Fundraiser meeting in the afternoon and that night is our family night at the Union Gospel Mission. Yea! I'm really excited to go back to the mission. I've been looking forward to it since last month.

My friend, Chloe, became a rock star today. She played bass for this band. YEA Chloe!

Did you know the male gymnasts use honey on their grips? YUCK!

I do not believe...

that God has called me to work with middle schoolers. They are a tad too black and white for me. And a tad too anxious to impress each other with their extreme knowledge.

I've discovered my water sport...

tubing down the Guadalupe River.

Climbing Into A Van With Middle Schoolers

Nothing will help you take your mind off sad things better than climbing into a van with middle schoolers at 6 a.m. They don’t ever let your mind go to a sad place. They keep your mind scrambled with unreal nonsense. They are keeping themselves entertained with silly games. And the music is great. Matt has a great cd collection. We’ve listened to Crowder, Passion, and Tenth Avenue North. Apparently in the other van they are having trouble finding a station they can agree on and since they are from the ipod generation they don’t have cds with them and they aren’t suppose to be listen to their ipods in the van to encourage interaction. It’s 9:30 a.m., just a couple of more hours on the road. For today.

Saying Goodbye to Phyllis

I didn’t know if I would make it through Phyllis’ funeral. I didn’t want to pack to go to Mabank. It made her death too real. If I didn’t pack, maybe it would just be a dream. If I get too still or too quiet, the pain becomes overwhelming. It helps to have a huge crazy extended family. We all loved Phyllis. In between all the tears was a lot of laughter. My dad and her son-in-law did a great job at the service. It was hard on both of them. Phyllis and my dad had a great connection. They liked to go riding together. Dad on one of his mules. Phyllis on whatever Dad stuck her on. Sometimes his choice for her steed didn’t go so well. She hit me at my shoulder and I’m 5’4”. She had short little legs. When she was at my house before Christmas she told me about Dad putting her on one of his really big mules and she was on it for 4 hours. She was not happy with him and, of course, the way she was relating the story made me laugh till I cried. Dad told his version of what happened at the funeral. It was pretty funny too, because he had totally not thought about how uncomfortable Phyllis would be on that wide animal. Mike shared about how whacked he thought it was when Phyllis announced she wanted Dreama and him to help her put her tombstone in place. She had found out that she could save $250 by setting it herself. She had a lot of fun that day posing with her tombstone. No one at that time realized how quickly it would be used to mark her body’s final resting place.

We’re a crazy family. Thursday night I told Dreama, Suzette, and Donna that this was enough. “No more cousins dying.” Suzette said, “I’ve already told Pat she’s next.”

Laughter and knowing that Phyllis is happier in heaven then a pig in the perfect mud hole keeps us going.