I'm movin' on........

So bowling night has officially moved back to it’s original night, Thursday. And I think I forgot to announce the big news. Last Thursday Kurt bowled a 298……..oh no, folks that was no typo, he really did bowl a 298! He got all strikes up till the 10th frame, he bowled once……STRIKE, bowled again, STRIKE (by this time the whole bowling alley is crowded around our table) and then on his very last bowl, he knocked down 8 pins! Oh so close. He was shakin’ like a leaf. Oh well, the dream will live on until the next bowling night. This Thursday however, Toby and Kurt had to work a Hockey game so Matt, Kristen, Justin and I went to Socio’s to have dinner and then back home to relax. I’ve been on call this week and it royally stinks. Phone ringing in the middle of the night, rude law enforcement yelling at me for someone else’s software not working, while I try my darndest to walk a nin-kum-put through computer lingo, not to mention that for the entire week I’m on lock down because if I dare to leave the house I’ll get an urgent call, which would be totally ok if the AirCard to the laptop WORKED! Oh but it doesn’t, which means that I have to run home and fix whatever problems arise. Justin is getting really tired of it. He wants me to quit, TODAY! But I’d really like to have another job lined up before I did that. I just feel bad to even think about quitting because we are so short staffed as it is. I wouldn't want to put Chrissy and Stan in that situation where it creates more work for them. It's not their fault, they have to go through this mess too. It’s very stressful to work 8-5 (plus the hour drive to and from work in horrific traffic) and then be on-call all night until you arrive at work once again at 8………………..for a WHOLE week. Sleep is most of the time not an option. It really isn’t worth it. I have things that I am committed to, things that are MUCH more important that work to me. I have to teach classes at church Sunday’s and Wednesdays, we have social get togethers with our friends on a regular basis, last night we went to the Rascal Flatts concert (I’ll write more about that later) and if it hadn’t been for Stan taking over the calls for me for a couple hours, I would have been sitting at home while everyone else was having fun! I’m not okay with planning my life around work. So, anyway, that is my soap box. I really would love to work from home, or even something part time. Justin got his company car, gas card and is going full commission in a few months……..all the signs are pointing to somewhere else for me.

I really don’t remember what we did Friday, but Saturday Justin and I ran some errands and looked for him a new truck at McKenzie that morning. Then He was off to help Kurt with some house stuff and Toby and I hit the town, shopping of course. We got lots of fun stuff and I am on a mission to make Toby become more of an impulse shopper (she’s too responsible) Hopefully my bad influence will rub off on her! Haha. Just Kiddin Tob! Afterwards we were all gonna take a trip to Folley and eat at Lambert’s but we were all SOOO tired that we just hung out at our house for a while and just basically sat there. Well, Kurt and Justin wrestled and Toby and I just laughed. Justin would be heartbroken if I didn’t mention that he tapped Kurt out with one of his little UFC moves………I’m so proud. Heh! Sunday was as usual, we had a good lesson and the service was great, well, from what I saw/heard of it. Like I said, I am on-call so I had to keep leaving the sanctuary to take calls……….ahhhhhhhhhhhh! We went to eat at Sonny’s and Kristen said she is gonna get me a job with Covenant hospice……….doing some kind of computer work, we’ll see??
Well, on a more peppy note, the Rascal Flatts concert was awesome. Charlie and Rachel got us tickets…thanks so much!!! Blake Shelton opened and that was Justin’s favorite………he is more of a COUNTRY country singer! Haha, if you know what I mean. When Rascal Flatts came on, their mikes were turned up WAY too loud, we couldn’t understand anything they were saying. But I think the sound team corrected that quickly because it got progressively better as the show went on. Everyone likes Joe the cute guitarist, and the lead singer of course but it was Jay the other guitarist (I guess bass or something) that impressed me. He was HILARIOUS! And he is oh so talented. He played like ten instruments and can sing really well. So that is my synopsis on the night. I forgot my camera so I had to take pictures with my camera phone. As you can see, it was hard to take picutres because the lights on the stage were soooo bright, and there is only so much a camera phone can do!

My God is freakin fabulous!

So last night was close to amazing. It was the last night of revival at our church. The house was packed and our speaker, Paul Negrut, from Romania spoke broken English, and still managed to get his point across to every countrified person in that room. He preached on the family and how to lead your family towards the next lifetime……like Noah did for his family. We went back and read in detail all the things that were going on in Noah’s time and they were horrible. People were so immoral. He went through all of the things that God listed in that time and EVERY one of them is in our world today. That is heartbreaking to me. This was a time in the world’s history where God was so fed up, so disappointed in his creation that he destroyed it! And only saved one family (Noah’s). I hate to think that we have brought ourselves back to that place again. We ache our Creator’s heart just as they did back then. That is so depressing. Then we looked at something I had failed to study before, Noah and his family. God found all of them pure and gave them a way to salvation (the Ark). But how?? How did Noah get his son’s and daughter-in-laws to be pure, to be faithful in his Lord with all this corruption going on. That gave me hope, because everytime I worry about how I will raise my children in this demoralized world and think that no matter how hard I try, this world will devour them…………..now I know that it can be done. Noah lived in the same times and did it! But still………….How?? Paul went on to give an example of Noah’s sons’ lives. He said, each of them would go off to school and see what was going on there and then come home and see the faithfulness, the determination or their father. They could come home and see the glory of the Ark (their way of salvation). Then they would go off to the clubs and see what was going on there and come back home and see the majesty, the awe inspiring Ark that their father worked diligently on. No matter where they went in their evil world, they always came home to see something bigger, something more amazing, something more inviting……….their father’s faith, and their salvation! If, as parents, you live a boring Christian life…….when your kids go out, they will be inspired by what they see………if, on the other hand, you are passionately living your faith, doing things unordinary, extraordinary……they will be inspired by you! So that is the secret, It’s you! If they see something amazing in you and your Jesus…….nothing in this world can be so marvelous. That sermon gave me so much hope for my children. It can be done! And although I won’t and can’t be perfect I will show them so passionately my love for Jesus and they WILL be captivated! That was just so awesome to feel the extreme relief inside of me.

After the service one of our youth boys came to Justin in tears and asked him to talk with him about Salvation. Justin took him up in the balcony and I watched as he spoke, prayed and cried with him. They stayed up there for over an hour, until they turned the lights out on us. This child is marvelous. He is the prime example in our youth group of Christ. He lives it, speaks it, he walks the walk, but Satan has given him doubts and he was heartbroken over it. I cannot tell you how miraculous this conversation was, I can’t begin to describe it. Let me just preface by pointing out the fingerprints of God all over this meeting. This boy is an awesome Christian in our youth group, he has an older brother who is supreme in his faith. This was the last day of the revival and the young brother came to one of the youth leaders (Justin) and bawled with unsureness of his salvation. This is where you get the chills. Justin was an awesome member of the youth group in high school, he walked the walk and talked the talk. He too had an older brother who was supreme in his faith. He too, on the last night of a revival approached a youth leader (Mr. Fields) and bawled his eyes out over unsureness of his faith! Justin soon even realized that they were sitting in the same seat in the sanctuary as they were when he went through this dilemma……………………you tell me that wasn’t my Jesus at work. This boy did not know all of this about Justin, he didn’t know that the leader he was approaching had gone through this very scenario……….God gives us gifts in such mysterious ways. Justin never knew that he would be able to use that experience to better God’s kingdom?!! Justin went on to tell me how he began to quote scripture (address and all), scripture that he KNOWS he had forgotten, God will always supply you with the tools you need to do the work he called you to do! I hope that the miraculous spirit of this encounter comes through in my description. My God is amazing, he really does give each one of us a testimony for such a time as this. Always have an answer for the hope that you have……………

Great song

You're only a rainbow away
and I'm sitting here soaking wet, waiting for you
You're only a rainbow, just a rainbow away
and I'm reaching out hoping that you see it too

But I'm telling you, that I'm no fool
Cuz I know what rainbows do
They fade away,
fade away,
fade away, away,
stormy day, found its way
and I wish I could hold you now

I'm only a rainbow away, my friend
And if you could see what others see
You wouldn't feel so bad

And I'm telling you
Cuz I've been there too,
that storms are like rainbows too
They fade away,
fade away,
fade away, away,
stormy days,
drift away,
and may someone be holding you now

~Fefe Dobson

Hair Do or Hair Don't?

My husband’s paranoia makes him mean. So, I go to get my hair done for the first time in FOREVER and I’m excited and nervous because I had an appointment with Maria, whom I do not know. Would Maria be some crazy little beauty school girl with blue highlights and teased bangs?? Who knew? Luckily, Maria turned out to be a cute Hispanic woman with marvelous auburn highlights in her brown hair…….I was happy about that. It’s scary letting someone do your hair who has bad hair themselves…….does that make sense?? Anyway, Maria was very good but a perfectionist to the 10th power. I sat in that chair for 3 hours! Which was no big deal except I only got a partial highlight, I’m gonna have to take off work for a full one! Things were compounded when my phone wouldn’t pick up in the salon. I went there straight from work and while sitting in that little chair realized that soon Justin would be calling and calling and calling and then inevitably freaking out because I wasn’t answering. Even though I specifically told him where I was going after work. But knowing him like I do, I was a bit worried the whole time. Sure enough three hours later when I finally walked out of the salon, I got the privilege of knowing that my paranoid husband had been calling the salon to check if I was still with Maria. The girls at the desk never told me he was calling they just kept coming to make sure I was still sitting there and would go back and tell him……haha, Justin now has new friends at the salon, what a goober. And whenever he gets scared that something is wrong with me…..he gets MEAN. Like it is my fault if I get kidnapped and thrown in the truck of my car…….he would still call me fussing, “Why haven’t you picked up the phone?!” What’s a girl supposed to do? Haha. He got over it quickly though, I’m glad he worries but we are gonna have to work on this paranoia = meanness thing. Anyway, I was tired and glad to finally get home.

The next day Justin and I were awakened to the sound of the doorbell…..it was Kurt. Apparently Justin had agreed to be at Kurt’s house at 7am to help him in his new yard. Well, the doorbell rang at 8 and we were still nestled in bed. Somehow, Justin with his charms convinced Kurt to stay at our house for a while and clean out our garage so I can now actually park in there. They also put up some elaborate shelving, it looks 110% better! I’m excited. Then it was Prissy’s turn to get a new hairdo. I took her to the groomer’s. Justin and I had decided that this time we would go short all over, to keep her from getting scraggly and to keep her hair out of her eyes……….now my doggie looks like a cancer patient. They cut her hair soooo short on top, and it is sooo silver up there that it looks like she is bald! Justin loves it…….and I think it will grow on me once it grows out a little bit……..we’ll see. After our trauma with the groomers Justin, Matt, Kristen, and I went over to Toby and Kurt’s where the boys grilled hamburgers for us all. It was reallllllll good.

Sunday morning was business as usual, our Sunday school attendance was back up so I was glad to see that. Worship was fabulous as usual. I just really appreciate Dr. Day. He is so good at what he does and so genuine. A lot of people are very cautious to get too attached to him because the great music ministers in Olive’s past have caused a few deep wounds to some. I can imagine how heartbreaking that would be, but it just goes to show you that even awesome, amazing, genuine men (and woman) falter sometimes. That doesn’t mean they don’t love Jesus just as much……..they struggle with their sins just the same as we struggle with ours, and while I might struggle with something seemingly small and their sins seem so large……..we have to remember that the way we measure sin doesn’t matter, God sees them all the same, all of them are disobedience to him, all of them hurt his heart equally, we are just as guilty as that adulterer or murderer……..I am just as guilty. So, I say, love on Leo for who he is, he has yet to disappoint you yet and granted, he may in the near future do something you can’t believe but, I still believe he loves my Jesus and I still believe he sings from his whole heart when he leads me in worship and for that I am thankful and will always be respectful of. (I know, freakish tangent I just went on….forgive me)

Sunday after church we all headed back over to Toby and Kurt’s new house where Toby cooked BBQ ribs (soooo good!) We were completely stuffed! So of course, Jus and I ran home to take our ritual nap and then did laundry like there was no tomorrow. After we cleaned a bit we headed over to Rachel and Charlie’s where she had prepared a pot roast to die for! Buddy finally gave Prissy the time of day. She is always so annoying to him, always getting right up on him and sniffing and barking and running circles around him, anything to get him to play with her. Well, last night he did……….have you ever heard the little kid’s song about Little bunny Fufu hopping through the forest, scooping up the field mice and bopping them on the head……..well, let’s just say that Buddy was little bunny Fufu and Prissy was a field mouse. He bopped her right on the head, TWICE! Haha. And it didn’t even phase her. She’s invincible.

So, now we are at today. I’m on call this week, pray that I don’t have a lot of calls! Please please please.

car for sale!

Okay so I have a major crisis. My company is cracking down on “unnecessary” internet usage and I, therefore, cannot surf the web to make my days pass quickly any longer. Really, who decides what is unnecessary and what is of absolute importance, because, in the case of my sanity………I see importance written all over this! Ahhhhhhh, anyway, so emails and lots of emails are welcome to help me pass the time. But the catch is……don’t send them to my gmail account, only my work email account.

Anyway, so what has been going on you ask? Well I can’t remember it all so I will recap what I can. So this last week (Sunday thru Thursday) Jus was gone to Virginia on a business trip. A trip that only the best of the best get invited to might I add, and my lil ‘ol Justin got an invite. He says it was brutal, they had to sit in these leadership classes from 7am to 7pm and then break only to have to get together with their assigned groups and work on a presentation until the wee hours every morning. It was insane and I only got to talk to him for short periods of time twice a day. It was no fun, I missed him a lot. But to ease my pain and help the time pass by, Tori came and spent the week with me. We thought we were gonna be sooo creative and productive and get ALL this wedding stuff done but……..nooooo, we just felt like being lazy so we did. Also, Mom Wow helped me practice my driving while Jus was away. I do a lot better with her than I do with Justin. Not that he isn’t a good teacher, I just get so nervous when he is with me. Anyway, I got a lot better and when Jus came home on Thursday he said he could tell! I’ll skip ahead to Friday, Justin’s little brother (from Big Brothers/Big Sisters) got to spend the night with us for the first time, you have to wait a certain number of months before he is allowed to stay the night and boy was he excited. His name is Joey and he is in 8th grade. He just adores Justin. Those two rascals stayed up and played PS2 and real live boxing until 5am………seriously, I was tired for them. Needless to say they both slept in and I got up and cleaned a bit. They both finally rolled out of bed and of course played a few more video games before Justin took Joey home. Justin’s cousin Wendy, her husband Bradley, and their little son William came to Pcola for the weekend from Hattiesburg. We met them for a friendly game of bowling, which Will just loves, well, that is until he proclaimed that he was quitting because the stupid thing kept buzzing at him………(it was the foul signal, he kept stepping over the line and it would buzz every time) hahaha. It was hilarious, he hated that thing. Justin let me drive to Avalon bowling alley……..my furthest attempt on a busy road. I did rather well I must say. Then we went to Ms. Joy’s house to sing Happy Bday to Wendy over the multi-colored cupcakes that Will made. After that is was time to go home. We just relaxed a while and soon it was time for dinner. Justin let me drive the car to Taco Bell by myself! Not that Taco Bell is more than 5 minutes from our house, but hey……it was the “by myself” part that counted. Sunday came so fast it seems, I love Sundays but for some reason it is forever known to me as “the day before I have to go back to work”, and that stinks. But they voted Leo Day in as our new minister of music. I am so glad, he is just the real deal and I love to worship with him. After church we went to Cock of the walk with Matt, Kristen, Toby, Kurt, Ms. Joy, Adam Elliot, Roger, and Pam. It was fun as usual but then Jus and I were off to my first downtown driving lesson. I drove all the way to my work and back. I will admit it was pretty rough at first…..it’s those Justin jitters that always get me. But the ride smoothed out toward the end and Justin agreed to let me drive by myself to work the next morning. Now don’t get me wrong he wasn’t thrilled about the idea, but he said I could honestly make the decision and he would let me do it if I felt like I was ready……..I really was ready. Then Charlie and Rachel stopped by to say Howdy. Rachel got to see my new car and Justin took her for a ride in it. We got to visit with them, and Prissy got to play with her paw paw pudge and Grandmama, who she missed sooo much. Charlie and Justin soon decided to let their testosterone get the best of them and put on the new boxing gear. I will say that Charlie gave Justin a run for his money, all he could do was sit on the couch with is gloves over his head and laugh histerically, but they were both about to pass out afterwards. So that brings us to this morning, I drove 45 minutes to work on the traffic-filled roads and didn’t so much as stutter…….yay, well I did accidentally put it in 2nd when trying to get to 4th one time, but I corrected that error quite quickly! But I got here, in one piece. I met Tori for lunch today and we drove around in it a bit. She just kept saying “you’re doing sooo good” haha, even when I was shifting pretty roughly………hahah, what a supportive friend. All I have is the drive home and I will basically be a pro! I think I am going to stop by Justin’s work and trade cars with him on the way home……..I need to seriously clean that Grand Am and since I have a little while before he gets home, I figured I’d do it then. Well, that is all I have to say for now………TA TA!

p.s. Seriously if anyone is interested in a great little Grand Am with on 35,000 miles on it, we’re looking to sell it $5500-$6000 obo.

Pink razor = Mmm Mmm Good!

I’m bored but I don’t have much to write. Friday night Justin and I went to the Little theatre to watch Regan and Ryan Bell in a wonderful Tate high school production. Justin really liked it. And I love those Bell boys. I’m trying to convince the girls in the youth group that they are gonna be so sorry they let those boys pass them by………they love Jesus with everything they are. Man, I just love them, I love their passion. I love that they are absolutely sold out to their God. It’s so awesome. I can’t encourage them enough and I seriously would be all over that if I was in high school again, just adorable I tell ya, adorable! Saturday we ran all over town and back getting all kinds of good stuff. Justin was getting ready for his business trip, packing and getting little odds and ends. And I went to Middleton’s with Ms. Joy and Joanna. Jo and I found the cutest little shower dresses there. We’re gonna swap dresses for the different showers..haha, think anyone will notice?? Oh yeah and then I got my newest prized possession…My hot pink Razor phone. Something about the color pink just gives me goosebumps, but what I am most excited about, and I am sure what Audrey will be most excited about is my new ringtone. Hahahaha, it is FLAVA FLAV! He says, “FLAVA FLAV, Yeaaaaah boyyyeeee, Pick up the phone!” hahaha. I seriously fall out laughing everytime someone calls me! Justin got a new free-standing punching bag with two sets of everything…..headgear, gloves, and foot pads (to kick harder with, great). After we finally got home Taylor came over to watch the UFC championship with Justin, oh and I am afraid to say it but yes, they were both bleeding from the mouth after the first 5 minutes. I eventually convinced them that they should watch the fight rather than re-enact it. The next morning Justin hurriedly got his things together and Ms. Joy came and took him to the airport while Taylor and I were off to church. It was a great service and Leo Day is being presented to be our full time music minister………..Hooray! I love him, shoot, everyone loves him! After church I took the longest nap possible…..well it was only like 2 hours or so, but it felt like forever, I needed it. Then I had another lesson on my car. Okay so I’m struggling with stop signs. It seems that I can start out of the driveway and get going without a hitch but there is some added stress where there are other people waiting on me to get out of their way. I stalled! Hahhaa, and the car behind me honked, they are probably thinking I’m some 16 year old who’s mommy and daddy spoiled by getting her a new sports car……….no, I’m not, I just drive like one! I’m getting better and I have 4 more days to brush up until I get to show Jus everything I learned while he was gone. He’s gonna be so proud. I can’t wait till he comes back, I miss him already. But Tori is going to stay with me this whole week and keep me company. We’ll do fun wedding stuff and what not!

Can I be a Bond girl now? - updated!

2/3/2006
Last night was my first lesson on the stick shift. Justin said I did suprisingly well. I can get going and get all they way up to third gear and back down. My only fear are hills and sudden stops.......I have to think too much at this point. I won't be able to drive on the busy road until it becomes second nature........which I hope I can accomplish over the weekend! haha, yeah right. I'd rather be safe than sorry though.
Tori came to my practice session to see the new car and i showed off what i learned for the night, she said i did really well too. After our lap was over Justin made me stop on account that I was "hot dogging"........come on, how much "hot dogging" can you do in the back of the church parking lot??? He's crazy. I think he's afraid I'm going to kill myself. haha.
2/2/2006
Ok so I HAVE to write more about my new car. For those of you who are completely over it, I’m sorry, I’m just so excited. I had to go to church last night with all my little kiddies without my new car…….it was somewhere in Destin having the time of it’s life with Justin and Kurt. Jus said that at stoplights people were asking him “Where did you get that car? What kind is it??.......yadda yadda” and he said he answered everytime “It’s my wife’s!” YAYYY. It’s really exciting to go from the girl who wanted to run and get in her car as fast as she could so that everyone around didn’t know it was me driving the gimpy car with the duct taped mirror (thanks Nancy W.). And now I get a car that I want people to see. I’m so proud of it. And I am even more proud of my husband. He is absolutely amazing. Not because he let me have this car with “our” money but because he bought me this car with “his” money. Money that he had before we were married. Money he set aside and gave up just to see me smile like I did at that gas station…heck like I’m smiling right now. That means more to me than the car (and seeing as how I love that car emensely……that’s a lot!) I love him. Thank you Jus! You’re my favorite. He is such a sacrificing husband and I’ll never be able to top his generousity, but I’m gonna spend my life trying!

After Jus got back from Destin he called me to come outside and I hopped in to take a ride around. We played with all the gadgets and buttons, then we pulled over at Winn-Dixie so he could teach me how to put the top down, and we rode around some more! I can’t wait till I get to drive it. Justin says he won’t be critical of me when I am learning, so I will allow him to be my teacher, but when he goes out of town next week, Tori is my backup. (If he thinks I’m gonna let that thing sit in the driveway while he’s gone, he better think again…..hahahah) If anyone has any tips for me, speak now or get rear ended in traffic =)

P.S. I charged my camera so don’t worry, pictures will be posted tonight or tomorrow morning!

Life magazine's sexiest car of the year!

I got my car! Oh yeah, I mean I physically can touch it, hug it, kiss it.........and i've done all repeatedly. Justin had me meet him at the gas station after work to "tell me what his CEO discussed with him today"............and I pulled up to him pumping gas in the most fabulous little ride you could imagine! I was speechless and then speechful! hahaha. I screamed and jumped up and down and ran laps around it before settling comfortably in the driver's seat. It's amazing..............oh my gosh. I tried to take pictures but my camera went dead, just my luck so I will post this one again cause mine looks just like it. I am sure I will have some soon of me laying on the hood! hahah. The bad news..........these cool little sports cars only come in a stick, so i have to learn before i can drive it. I'm scared but Tori assures me I can do it. Jus gets to drive it until I am a shifting guru. Pray for me to be a quick learner! In the meantime I have an awesome little Grand Am with just over 30,000 miles on it if anyone is looking! Well, Justin had a business dinner in Destin tonight, so guess where my little Debbie Pearl (that is what I named it) is............