Convicted and Conflicted

What do you do when every time you stop to pray for a sick child, the poor, oppressed children, the homeless and hungry, and you hear a voice posing this question: 

Yes, but what will you do about it?

That's one I've been hearing with regularity over the past few months. You see, I spent years apart from God. Oh, I believed, but I didn't put it into practice. I didn't study His Word. I wasn't worshiping with a church family. Or anyone else for that matter.

I wasn't making sure time was set apart during the day to talk with my child about how He related to her world. To give her the needed context to grow in His love.

Nope. I didn't give it a thought.

I was so wrapped up in myself and my life that I, honestly, didn't give much attention to anything or anyone else. Yes, I was a mom who loved her child more than life itself but our kids need more than our love.

They need Him.

As we all do.

So we've spent the last year and a half getting involved with our church, spending time together as a family and deciding what is truly important to us. From Sunday School and worship services to discipleship classes and independent studies, we've run the gamut.

Now what?

That's where I am right now. 

Now that I have more (but certainly not all - that's a lifelong process that will not be complete until we actually meet our Maker) knowledge and information about what is going on in the world, what will I do about it?

There are children living in cardboard homes in a trash dump in Guatemala while I stress out over making it to Parent Night on time.

There are parents who watch their children starve to death while I'm irritated if our dinner schedule is interrupted because the dog is sick.

There are young girls and boys who are sold into slavery each and every minute of every day while I can't decide which daycare should pick up my daughter after school.

I keep reminding myself of the blessings I have because it's unfathomable to me that we can have so much more than others and still spend so much time complaining. I don't deserve it, y'all. Not one bit but I am thankful. Oh, so very thankful. 

But I'm still left with the big question of the day - what will I actually DO about it?

I'm not completely sure...but I am pondering the question....

This week I have survived....

...the ever-frightening 4-day work week after a holiday.

...Parent Night in intermediate school, which means you have to follow your child's schedule but they don't give you snack.

...my 'tween's attitude.

...my man being in the bed with a mean case of bronchitis.

...concrete floors (please see previous note, which prevented my tile from being installed on Sunday).

...two male dogs marking my living room while staying indoors through a major rainstorm.

...Tropical Storm Hermine.

...every single plan I had being turned upside down and sideways.

And, at times like these, I praise God that He has been in control all along. And also for weekends that allow me to regroup.

I shall return on Monday with a number of additional pictures from the second Baylor home game.

Until then my brain cells will be recharging because they are currently fried, friends.

Number One

Hello, cyber friends - how are you this morning? We're wet here in Central Texas but, except for the massive flooding a little farther south, we needed the rain. Perhaps our garage door will decide to close on its own once the soil has a little moisture? :-)

I'll continue with our little foray into Bear Country last Saturday. To be fair, our football fun began on Friday evening at the Midway High School game. It was Friday Night Lights at its finest, y'all, and tickled me to no end. We got the "W"  and I learned that there is rhinestone jewelry to coordinate with the school t-shirt. Clearly it was a beautiful evening.

My man actually watched the game (instead of perusing jewelry) and had already scouted the team before we arrived. He promptly announced that he really wanted to "see Beau Blackshear play" and I looked at him all crooked because I had no idea who Beau was although I do remember from several years back that "Bo Knows."

Anyway, turns out that Beau is a nose tackle or guard or something on the defense and he's a Baylor commit - so three cheers for Mr. Blackshear, friends!

That's him in the red shirt on the sidelines at the game. On a side note, we also saw Beau on Monday morning as we enjoyed breakfast burritos at a local restaurant, Leal's. And although it does look as though we're stalking him since we show up everywhere he is, I can assure you that we are not.

Anyway, we enjoyed the newest Baylor tradition - March of the Bears - a great deal and it was fun to see the players a bit overwhelmed (in a good way) at the number of fans welcoming them to the stadium. 

As a former BUGWB'er (color guard) I always have to take a pic of the band and can I just say repenting over my coveting of their snazzy new polos was in order as my eyes were green for approximately 6.34 minutes.

Of course, there was so much excitement going on that I couldn't dwell on that because next thing I knew, Judge Ken Starr was leading the Baylor Line out onto the field. He jogged the entire way, friends, and this girl who does not run unless being chased was quite impressed.

Then it was time for the Class of 2014 to take the field and they most definitely did not disappoint. 

There are quite a few of them. You know, since they're the largest freshman class at Baylor EVER!

They raised their Bear paws while I took random photos and welcomed the team to the field. We also had the pleasure of hearing the debut of David Crowder's newest song, "Rise Up," which was inspired by the Baylor Bears. You know he's a BU alum, right? :-)

The song was amazing as was the return of Taylor's favorite football player - Robert Griffin III.

He was taken from us much too soon last season after suffering an ACL tear during a game played against a team from Louisiana. That entire scenario was almost more than my little heart could bear but he has shown amazing heart and love for the Lord during his recovery. I could learn a lot from him about how to handle adversity, to be quite honest.

There was a fair amount of scoring (by the home team) in this game so we got to yell, cheer and jump around quite a bit.

It was de-lightful.

The men's 2010 Elite Eight basketball team received their NCAA rings and that was an awesome moment. They had a phenomenal run last year and made us all very proud. Of course, that run also raised my blood pressure by approximately 72 points but it was worth it.

During the fourth quarter (when the game was well in hand and the younger players were getting a shot at Sam Houston State) I looked on the sideline and audibly gasped. Why, you ask?

Well, I spotted the guy above in the black shirt. That would be second overall pick from the 2009 NFL draft - Jason Smith!!!

He was back to cheer the team to victory and allow random women in their early 30s to take photos for their blog.

Then I looked down in our section and spotted Mamadou Diene - a former basketball phenom for the Bears. It was like I had won the lottery, friends, without even wasting a dollar.

Then something beautiful happened, y'all. I glanced at the sidelines once again and realized what I was actually witnessing was a trifecta of Baylor Legends because the fella in the gray shirt and white shorts is none other than J.D. Walton.

Walton may well go down in history as being the best center to ever play at Baylor. He's one of the newest members of the Denver Broncos and I've heard a rumor that he may be starting as the original starter seems to have torn up his knee.

And as if my heart needed anymore excitement before threatening to explode, I looked over and saw the cutest Bear ear model ever. She makes my heart sing...

It was a wonderful evening and, quite frankly, I believe that temps in the mid-80s for the season opener is God's way of letting us know that He's shining on our season and that we will not experience heartbreak comparable to last season's.

See that? That would be Judge Starr leading everyone in singing "That Good Ol' Baylor Line." Oh yes, friends, I believe there is some excitement brewing both on and off of the field for my alma mater and I could not be more excited to witness it.

Amen.

March of the Bears

I'm crazy busy this week at work but I wanted to share our pre-game photos from the Baylor v. SHSU game last weekend. It was fantastic and we had a great time. Sunday brought a sick Davey, a clinic visit and some other crazy stuff but Saturday was amazing...be back soon, y'all!

Gridiron Grind

We've made a bold decision for our family, y'all. This year we decided to purchase season tickets for both Midway High School (Tay's district) and Baylor University. We've held the ones at Baylor since I came back to work here and we absolutely love attending these games.

It's an opportunity to fling our green and gold afar, eat football food and claim there was "simply no healthy choice down there," and take lots of pictures for me to bore you with on this ol' blog. It is also the time each week that my blood pressure reaches new heights previously thought to be unattainable.

I'm an overachiever (and obviously rather competitive) like that...

At least that's what Tay and I do at the games. I may not have shared this before, friends, but my man is a serious football fan. Like, so serious that when his beloved Cowboys were making fools of themselves last week while claiming they were actually "playing," my husband's mood was affected to the point that I stopped speaking.

If you know me in real life, you understand what type of feat that must have been.

Not convinced? Let me present Exhibit B: last night he was watching the 'Boys again (who should clearly play their second team once the season is officially underway because they, well, actually PLAY FOOTBALL) and I was chattering away as usual when I realized something was awry. You see, I was getting no response. N-O-N-E

I looked at my man and sweetly asked, "What's wrong with you, Tonto?"

His response, "I'm watching football." And can I add that he did it with this look on his face that asked whether or not we had met before because if anyone would know that he puts his ENTIRE HEART into a football game, it would be his WIFE, right?

I'm a sanguine. What can I say? I have to relearn that little piece of info every year. And I can assure him this one won't be the last. I also have no doubt that fact makes his heart sing like a canary.

But I digress...

What I actually came here to lament about is the fact that we will now be attending high school games on Friday, college games on Saturday and watching professional football (can I get a WHO DAT?) on Sunday. Once time is found for Big Brother, the comedy sitcom lineup set to return in a few weeks and Grey's Anatomy, I'm just not sure the DVR and I can keep up.

But I'll try. Tay and I have new color coordinated t-shirts to wear to each occasion and, well, let's just pray I wear the correct one to the appropriate game. And here's the real question - how can one choose a proper hair color for the fall when half of her time will be spent wearing red/white/blue and the other half wearing green and gold. Not to mention the black and gold I'll need to don on Sunday afternoons.

It's a quandry of Texas size proportion, friends, but I'm banking on detracting from any clashing with an overabundance of rhinestones and lip gloss. Wish me luck!

And to you I wish a fantabulous Labor Day weekend! We'll be installing ceramic tile in our hallway because we know how to P-A-R-T-Y ;-)

Thursday...

...means it's almost Friday!

...that the girl will have volleyball practice for the second time...and she's still loving it!

...is Zumba day!

...is always a fun evening because I've fallen into the trap of Big Brother after resisting for years and someone gets voted off tonight. I'm sure it will be the most dramatic ceremony ever. Oh wait, wrong show...

...means tomorrow will bring Midway High School's first home football game. We are now the proud owners of season tickets.

...leaves us only a couple of days before the Baylor Bears host Sam Houston State. I feel confident it is also when they will put their first mark in the "W" column as well.

...is clearly the day of the week in which I have nothing very interesting to say.

...brought Tay's first trek to the bus stop in the rain. Thank heavens Davey was home and it was his turn to be the girl's company. :-)

...is the day where my husband realized that he will indeed be tiling our hallway this weekend, though I must admit he has done his best to change my mind. Unfortunately, the youngest member of the puppy posse shredded the carpet in said hallway last week while she had a spastic fit during a storm. We were not home, obviously, but that didn't stop her from trying to DIG UNDER OUR DOOR to get to her safe place (aka our bed).

...means that we got new mercies from Him this morning - this one was NOT the exception where that failed to happen. Praise the Lord!

Amen, The End

So our last morning in Galveston was bittersweet. I knew we would really miss watching the sun come up on the balcony every day and we had done our darndest to squeeze out every drop of fun out of this vacation but it was time to go...

We were also ready to see the girls, get back into a routine and prepare for the first day of school. So there was a lot waiting for us at home - including schedule pickup on that very day.

God blessed us with a truly spectacular display of His glory that morning, though, my friends. And it was certainly not lost on "she who needs him in order not to fall into a pit every single day."

In case you were wondering, I was referring to myself :-)

We packed up our last few things, Bo took one last stroll through the condo grounds and said goodbye to his many new friends...

...stopped at Sonic for breakfast...

...took it all in a few more times...

...complimented this cutie on her stylin' new hat and t-shirt...

...watched intently as she insisted that Bo model said hat...

...and drove back to the real world...

...where we will continuously relive the precious memories we made during this trip. It's amazing how one week can give you things to talk about for the entire year, isn't it?

I love it when Tay randomly looks at me and says, "remember when..." and brings up something about vacation. And, honestly, it's not usually about the big things. It's about a very small moment in time when we were just hanging out together without worrying about the every day things that bog 

down our time.

Or at least they bog me down.

And so I'm making a concerted effort to say "yes" more. To my daughter. To my husband. To my co-workers. To my church family. To the puppy posse. To my family and friends. To myself. 

To my Savior.

Because that's really what it's all about, isn't it?

We came here with nothing. We will leave here with nothing. But what will I do in the meantime?

That is the question....

Remain in me and I will remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me.

John 15:4