vacay and butta...

well this last week has been great. last saturday i got to hang out with some of my old pine cove buds. ashley and lydia and i met up at kerbey lane. i love these girls. we had some fun times when we worked at the towers back in the day. we caught up on life, played with ashley's adorable son hudson, and laughed about old times. i only wish my visits with them were more frequent.

i took some time off on monday and tuesday to recover from vbs, well more like recover from the week before vbs. i layed out by the pool, got a massage, played some softball, and hung out with my non working teacher roommates, rachel and cassie. rach and i took some of our favorite kiddos to see kung fu panda on tuesday. taking kids is always a great excuse to see a kid movie. it was good, but i expected nothing less from jack black.

on tuesday afternoon i got a very exciting call. i was told that the leadership at the church wanted us to rest and i was being forced to take the rest of the week off until next tuesday, including sunday!!! i didn't know what to do with myself. i was so excited. i did have to work a bit wednesday just to get things ready for my awesome volunteers who were covering for me on sunday.

thursday i headed down to houston for a good friend's wedding. casey and staci were coming too so we decided to make a girls weekend out of it. our weekend plans included laying out, eating, visiting cvs multiple times in order to have uv protection and sustenance, doing staci's bootcamp workout, and going to caleb and lindy jo's wedding. becki kuhl was also there with her oh so cute boy bryce!! bryce, hammin it up for the camera at lunch!! he is soooooo cute!!


just strikin a pose by the stairs. (from the left: casey, me, becki, staci)3 buds! we have been able to get together 3 times already this year. that is the best we have been able to do since college!

it was great to catch up and relax with my college buds and even reminisce on our flag football days. we won the regional championship in nebraska and placed in the national flag football tourney you know. look for oklahoma baptist under the women's collegiate division. we were ranked 3rd in the nation before the tournament. crazy huh. who knew there was such a thing. read more about it here if you want. life is butta dream.
right after we won in nebraska.
us with our regional champs shirts on. i think whit even got mvp of the tourney. okay back to reality...

anyway, this last week has been very relaxing and boy did i need it. i had no idea how tired i was, physically and spiritually. while i have been laying out, i have been reading, same kind of different as me by ron hall and denver moore. it is an incredible true story. it was incredibly challenging and convicting. i love stories of hwo God uses people to love on others and draw them unto himself. i also love the power of relationships. ron and denver's friendship is so deep. but more than that, i love the example that deborah sets. oh how i desire to be a woman like that!! so, if you have not read it you should.

vbs...

this week was vbs. it was awesome!! i loved it for so many reasons.

1) it reminded me of being at camp. we had about 260+ kids each day. i taught them some stand by cheers like "okay" and "announcements." We of course did the cheer flea and i taught them the soldiers dance from pine cove. it was really fun. Tyson (our minister to students) and i got to kind of play up our competition for the funniest. we had fun!!

2) i got to know so many more kids and families in the church. they also got to see me interact with the kids. i have never had so many preschool kids just come up and hug my legs. i left with many more friends and connections this week. it definitely felt good to know more of the people in our church, more of my church family.

3) it was so encouraging to watch the Lord bring people out of the wood work to serve. and they rocked it!! it was also cool to watch people step and lead, even though it may not have been comfortable.

4) i got to see and hear kids talk about serving others around them. lights were beginning to come on in many of these kids heads about who Jesus is.

5) i was referred to as the movie theater lady by a little girl.

bradley wrote some hilarious skits and we had a great crew to perform them. here is a video excerpt from the week. i may post some pics to follow if i feel adventurous.

summer nights...

i love summer nights. i have forgotten how relaxing they are, since i have not had many free summer nights the last 7 years, i am soaking these up. tonight as i drove home i opened my sunroof, rolled down my windows, and sang at the top of my lungs. it was so freeing, not to mention it made my hair look awesome. i just wanted to stay outside. i have had to read lots lately and my favorite new reading spot is my balcony. i just sit out there with a glass of tea and my fan and i could read for hours. there is an annoying bug that sounds like a locust, but i have become used to its noise. softball is also another one of my fun ventures outside these summer nights. we are not good, but vance refrigeration will rise to the top.

this week has been a crazy one as we prepare for vbs. next week is my first vbs with the stone and i am eagerly anticipating it!! i can't wait to get it started. hopefully i will have some pics and lots to blog about after this week.