Wonder House Costume Party 5.0

A pirate family ...

An escaped convict and a rockstar backup singer ...

The not-so-cowardly lion ...

A peacock, a go-rilla ballerina, and an ugly betty ...

Eat More Chikin! ...

Melissa and her super cute pumpkin rice krispy treats

The Ref, a Jeannie, and a rhinestone cowgirl ...

Eye Candy ...

Sarah Palin kissing Barack Obama???

Worrying About Nothing

"Be anxious for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God, and the peace of God which passes all understanding will guard your heart and your mind in Christ Jesus." Philippians 4:6-7

I have the nothing but's. I worry about nothing but ... my family, my finances, things at work, my friends, things at church, national crises, and the future. You know, just the big things. I mean, that's okay, right? Everyone does it.

A couple of weeks ago, driving to work, I wasn't praying or petitioning or giving thanks, I was anxiously telling the Lord about all my worries when Philippians 4:6 came to mind. Several years ago I memorized that verse from The Message just because it was distilled into two simple phrases, "Worry about nothing; pray about everything." Nothing? NOTHING? Are you kidding me? Nothing but the big things right? Nothing but the things with life-altering potential, of course, right, Lord? Nothing. How? How? HOW????

Pray about everything ... with THANKSGIVING. Oh.

Last night I read this in Francis Chan's book, Crazy Love:

Both worry and stress reek of arrogance. They declare our tendency to forget that we've been forgiven, that our lives here are brief, that we are headed to a place where we won't be lonely, afraid, or hurt ever again, and that in the context of God's strength, our problems are small, indeed.

If you can't say "amen," you better say, "ouch" with me. :-\

It Ain't Braggin If You Can Do It

A little over two months ago, my dad called me one day at work. He wanted to sign up for a triathlon, but before he did so, he was making sure it wasn't going to interfere with my birthday plans. A Sunday morning triathlon? Five days after Yom Horton? I didn't seen any conflicts. After I hung up the phone, I got to thinking about my dad and his triathlons. He completed his first one three years ago, and this one would be his third for this year. I was just thinkin ... I called him back and asked what was involved in a sprint triathlon. 300 yard indoor swim, 13.5 mile bike ride, and a 3.1 mile run. It sounded challenging, but ... I was just thinkin. I asked to see his training schedule, so he sent it over. By the end of the day, my mom called talking about how excited Daddy was that I was gonna do this with him and how proud she was of me for being up to the challenge. Yeah, I was in deep. Thankfully, my roommate was up for the fun, too, so I had an in-town training partner. With just 10 weeks to go, we began following Big Dave's training plan. Running, biking, or swimming almost daily, and occassionally linking one to another to get a feel for the big event. Let me just say, I'm not sure anything really prepares you fully for Race Day, but I was as ready as I was gonna be by this weekend. And Big Dave was wound up! :-)

Here we are on our way to the staging area where we'd put our bikes while we swam and lay out our shoes and socks.

There were over 500 racers for this inagural event!

We swam first. The first person gets in the pool at the start time, then they put racers in every 10 seconds. You're lined up based on the swim time you turned in. Since I had no idea what my swim time was when I signed up, I told them 15 minutes to be sure I didn't get caught up with a buch of serious competitors (my goal, after all was just to finish!). Turns out, I'm not a bad swimmer. I finished in 8 minutes flat, 2 minutes faster than Daddy's time! I actually passed several people who got in the water ahead of me. :-)

Here I am about to mount my bike for the ride -- notice the beauty of my Wal-Mart special. Before I attempt this again, I will be shopping for a racing bike.

Here's Daddy hopping on his bike and taking off for the ride.

I need to say that my Mom was a TROOPER during this entire event. She cheered and encouraged and documented with photography all morning long. At this point, however,I was less than a mile from finishing the ride, coming up a slope, just ahead of dead last, and not feeling like much of a champion. She cheered for me like I was in first place, and I believe I told her to "shh!" Sorry, Mom, I really did appreciate it!

Finally, the moment you've all been waiting for. Jaclyn says I don't have ot tell you that I came in 3rd from last, but I'm really not ashamed. I had several nightmares a few weeks ago that I was dead last and that the whole place was cleared out and my "fans" were standing there with folded arms, annoyed yelling, barely even acknowledging my finish. This was not the case at all. They began yelling as soon as they could see me coming toward the finish, and they clapped, cheered, held up signs, and took pictures till I made it all the way across both mats. And, I finished nearly 10 minutes under my personal goal. I was thrilled -- and exhausted! I don't know that I'm a triathlete, not sure I wanna do this again or not, but I'm so glad that I did it at all. It felt amazing to set a goal like that, to struggle hard to achieve it, and have an incredible group of family and friends celebrate it with me in the end.

We did it!

We collected close to 50 pair of shoes for the Cornerstone Christian Women's Job Corps Career Boutique from 30 individual contributors! And, we had a blast doing so!
Thank You:
D'Ann
Melissa
Sarah
Caedmon
Joanna
Gayla
Karen
Caleb
Dunn-Dunn
Tina
LaMo
Meghann
Maribeth
Kimbo
Beckie
Erika
Gabi
Wanda
Allison
Dave
Dana
Suzanne
Cody
Dia
Jim
Ann
Daddy
Mama
Ashleigh

Thirty for 30!: Beautiful News in Beautiful Shoes

It's time to reveal the "project" for the actual day. We're almost to October 14. I have just five days left in my 20's. The Thirty for 30! project for October 14 is a shoe drive. Cornerstone Christian Women's Job Corps has a beautiful Career Wear Boutique that was originally set up by some wonderful volunteers from Fort Worth Presbyterian Church. All of our graduates and many other women from our community find gorgeous clothing to wear on business interviews, and when they land a job, they get to come pick out office appropriate attire for an entire week! My favorite day of Life Skills and Job Readiness Training is during the last week of class when volunteers come and meet with our ladies to offer hair cuts, styling, makeup tips, and shopping advice in the boutique. There's a transformation that comes over these women when they find an outfit that makes them feel confident and beautiful all at the same time. It's like everything they've been learning on the inside comes shining through. In collecting clothing for the boutique, we've gathered a few shoes and handbags here and there, but not really enough variety to really be sure all of our patrons take home the complete package. So, the Thirty for 30! project for October 14 is a CCWJC Shoe Drive with a goal of collecting 30 pair of women's dress shoes to put in the CCWJC Career Boutique! I've already collected 3 pair from sweet friends who can't join us during the drive, but wanted to participate.

Thirty for 30!: Record History

I was privileged to have a great-grandmother that lived to be 97 years old. We shared a close relationship right up to the end. I learned so much from listening to her talk about life. One of the best things I have ever been a part of happened a few years before her death. My other cousins and I asked Grandmother and her sister (Aunt Bea) to sit down and let us video tape an interview with them. We began by asking questions about their childhood, their family, their memoreies of dating and courtship, what it was like to be a young wife/mother during the Great Depression, what they remembered about various historical events, and what they perceived to be the greatest inventions of their lifetime. It was wonderful. We laughed so hard listening to them tell stories on each other of childhood adventures. We connected with them as we listened to them talk about their teenage years. We marveled at the things they endured and wondered over all the changed they'd seen.
I've been thinking about a Thirty for 30! post about nursing homes and visiting the elderly. Our culture is not known for valuing it's senior citizens. I thought about suggesting a sing-a-long or making time to go paint the female residents finger nails. But, if you want to plan a ministry event at a nursing home or senior citizens center that might have as much impact on you as it does on them, schedule some interviews! Google "grandparent interview" and you'll be amazed at the resources available. I really like this very comprehensive list from The Legacy Project. It generally only takes a few questions to get the ball rolling before you have more information than you could dream. Be sure you bring a video camera!

Thirty for 30!: Give Blood

Check out Carter BloodCare’s 56 Fascinating Blood Facts!
1. Anyone in good health, at least 17 years old, and at least 110 pounds may donate whole blood every 56 days.
2. 4.5 million American lives are saved each year by blood transfusions.
3. 32,000 pints of donated blood are used each day in the United States.
4. Someone needs blood every three seconds.
5. One out of ten hospital patients needs blood.
6. Three lives are saved by one pint of donated blood.
7. Ten pints of blood are in the body of an average adult.
8. One unit of blood is roughly the equivalent of one pint.
9. Blood makes up about 7% of your body's weight.
10. A newborn baby has about one cup of blood in his body.
11. An average red blood cell transfusion uses 3.4 pints.
12. Blood fights infection and helps heal wounds.
13. A, B, AB and O are the four main types of blood types. AB is the universal recipient, O negative is the universal donor.
14. Blood centers often run short of types O and B blood.
15. Shortages of all blood types happen during the summer and winter holidays.
16. If all blood donors gave two to four times a year, it would help prevent blood shortages.
17. You could donate 48 gallons of blood if you began at 17 years old and donate every 56 days until you reach 76 years old.
18. Three gallons of blood is used every minute in the United States.
19. There are four steps to donating blood: medical history, quick physical, donation and snacks.
20. The actual blood donation usually takes less than ten minutes. The entire process from the time you sign in to the time you
leave takes about an hour.
21. Giving blood will not decrease your strength.
22. You cannot get AIDS or any other infectious disease by donating blood.
23. 14 tests (11 for infectious diseases) are performed on each unit of donated blood.
24. Any company, community organization, place of worship or individual may contact their local community blood center
to host a blood drive.
25. People donate blood out of a sense of duty and community spirit, not to make money. They are not paid for their donation.
26. Much of today's medical care depends on a steady supply of blood from healthy donors.
27. One unit of blood can be separated into red blood cells, white blood cells, plasma, platelets and cryoprecipitate.
28. Red blood cells carry oxygen to the body's organs and tissue.
29. There are one billion red blood cells in two to three drops of blood.
30. Red blood cells live about 120 days in the circulatory system.
31. Platelets support blood clotting and give those with leukemia and other cancers a chance to live.
32. Apheresis (ay-fur-ee-sis) is a special kind of blood donation that allows a donor to give specific blood components, such as platelets.
33. The shelf life of donated red blood cells is 42 days.
34. The shelf life of donated platelets is five days.
35. The shelf life of frozen plasma is one year.
36. Plasma is a pale yellow mixture of water, proteins and salts.
37. Plasma, which is 90% water, constitutes 55% of blood volume.
38. Healthy bone marrow makes a constant supply of red cells, plasma and platelets.
39. Car accident and blood loss victims can need transfusions of 50 pints or more of red blood cells.
40. Bone marrow transplant patients need platelet donations from about 120 people and red blood cells from about 20 people.
41. Severe burn victims can need 20 units of platelets during their treatment.
42. Children being treated for cancer, premature infants and children having heart surgery need blood and platelets from donors of all types.
43. Anemic patients need blood transfusions to increase their iron levels.
44. Cancer, transplant and trauma patients, and patients undergoing open-heart surgery require platelet transfusions to survive.
45. Sickle cell disease is an inherited disease that affects more than 80,000 people in the United States, 98% of whom are of African descent.
Some patients with complications from severe sickle cell disease receive blood transfusions every month -- up to four pints at a time.
46. 500,000 Americans donated blood in the days following the September 11 attacks.
47. Females receive 53% of blood transfusions; males receive 47%.
48. 94% of blood donors are registered voters.
49. 60% of the U.S. population is eligible to donate blood — only 5% do.
50. 17% of non-donors cite "never thought about it" as the main reason for not giving, while 15% say they're too busy. The #1 reason donors
say they give is because they "want to help others."
51. After donating blood, you replace these red blood cells within four weeks. It takes eight weeks to restore the iron lost after donating.
52. Granulocytes, a type of white blood cell, roll along blood vessel walls in search of bacteria to eat.
53. White cells are the body's primary defense against infection.
54. There is no substitute for human blood.
55. Since a pint is a pound, you lose a pound every time you donate blood.
56. Blood donation. It's about an hour of your time. It's About Life.

Thirty for 30!: Go to Prison

Some of you who've been keeping up will remember that this whole "Thirty for 30!" began after I attended a simulcast of the Willow Creek Leadership Summit in August. One of the most challenging and inspiring speakers there was a young woman (I can say that cause she's only a couple of years my senior) named Catherine Rohr from Prison Entrepreneurship Program. PEP recruits business professionals and MBA students to visit prisons and teach business courses to inmates preparing for life after parole. "PEP constructively redirects inmates' talents by equipping them with values-based entrepreneurial training enabling them to productively re-enter society." I think what I found so exciting about this program was the passion of the founder herself. Catherine was a relatively new Christ follower when she first became aware of the problems and needs within the Texas prison system, but she didn't turn her back on them. She faced them head on, actively engaged herself with the issues, and radically changed her personal life course in order to eternally impact the lives of countless others.

Thirty for 30!: Shop Smart

Are you a smart shopper? Are you aware of what you and your family consume? Do you do what you can to spend your resources wisely? Take this quiz to find out just how much you know and learn ways to do better!

Thirty for 30!: It Only Takes a Spark

Spark Ministry is one of the most exciting projects I've heard about in recent months. This is a ministry that helps women in the church serve other women around the nation. Spark sponsors short term mission trips for women where they get to bless other women in difficult situations. I haven't been on a Spark trip yet, but I have had the privilege of praying for them and helping scholarship one of their participants. Check out their website for more information!

We Interrupt Our Regularly Scheduled Broadcast ...

To bring you tears.
I'm not an overly emotional person. I generally let reason rule. And, I like it that way. I am not frequently moved to tears. I'm just not.
Yesterday, I cried. I've been doing that a little more lately. There's a situation going on with someone very near and dear to me that makes that happen. I can't seem to help it. Trust me, I would if I could. But, I can't.
This morning, I was thinking about tears. What are they for? What's the point? What am I supposed to do with all the icky feelings and emotions that cause them? Wouldn't it be better for all involved if I didn't cry so much right now?
Lately, I've noticed that if I let someone in on my tears, let them hear or see me cry, they try to fix it. They tell me that it's all going to be okay. They remind me that God's in control, that He is good, and that He will work all things together for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. And, everything inside me wants to just scream, "I KNOW! I. KNOW."
My tears are not evidence of doubt. They are not disbelief. That's why the frustrate me so often. If I know it's all going to be fine in the end, why must I cry about it today?
This morning, as I was contemplating all of these things a very simple verse came to mind. "Jesus wept." Everyone knows it's the shortest verse in the bible. It's in the midst of the story of Lazarus, the friend of Jesus who was ill and died. Jesus shows up four days "late" and Lazarus' sisters are distraught with grief and disappointment. And, Jesus wept.
Why did Jesus weep? Did he weep because He didn't know God was in control? Did He weep because He wasn't sure how it was all going to work out for their good? Did He weep because He was helpless to do anything about it? Of course not!
Maybe Jesus wept because someone very near and dear to him was suffering. Maybe he wept because he knew the suffering was completely necessary, God-ordained pain that would ultimately be for their good and the Father's glory, but it was still suffering. Maybe he wept because there was no better way to demonstrate his compassion for his beloved friends.
I can't say definitively why Jesus wept, but realizing that it wasn't because he doubted God or was weak in faith has helped me accept my own tears for now.

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin. ~ Hebrews 4:15

Thirty for 30!: Be a Fairy Godmother

Bippity Boppity Boo!
All of us who grew up dreaming of Cinderella wished for a fairy godmother to come along and wave a magic wand and help us feel beautiful at one time or another. The Glass Slipper Project is doing just that for young women in the Chicago area by taking donated formal dresses and setting up a boutique where moms and daughters can shop for prom dresses they'd never be able to afford otherwise. Women with a flair for style and fashion are finding a unique way to give back to their communities. Check out The Prom Shop Project which operates in Dallas and Austin, too!

Thirty for 30!: Be a Man

In July, I attended some work training hosted by Texas Baptist Men, and I absolutely fell in love with their ministry. This is a group of men who find out about a need and figure out a way to help meet it. They travel all over the WORLD helping out in disaster relief zones and providing clean drinking water in villages that have had none. The average age on their staff is about 74 years old, and no, I'm not kidding. They are awesome. Their motto is Anytime. Anyway. Anywhere. Love it!

If you're looking for a way to contribute to disaster relief efforts following this season's devastating hurricanes, if you're passionate about getting clean drinking water to remote areas, or if you just want the next generation of boys to grow up with a heart for fulfilling God's mission around the world, spend some time learning about Texas Baptist Men and find a way to support their work!

Thirty for 30!: Make Spaghetti

Earlier this year, my friends and I were presented with an opportunity to help a friend of a friend. We'd heard that Nina had been called to go on a mission trip but was struggling to come up with funds. It didn't take us long to decide that our weekly dinner together could easily become a fundraiser. By splitting up the cost of purchasing a few ingredients and getting creative with some advertising, we pulled together a happy little opportunity to bless someone we didn't know, believing that God would multiply our efforts. Did He ever! We raised significantly more than we would have believed we could, and while on her trip, our new friend sensed the call of God on her life to further mission endeavors. And, we had a blast making it happen! Never underestimate the power of spaghetti!