Grandparents

Been thinking and reading alot about the gift that it is to be with people and I have realized how important it is to spend time with our grandparents.  I feel very blessed with mine, so I thought I would introduce them to you.

 "Gran"
Known as Eleanor Metrejean to the rest of the world... Was born in the 30's and grew up in New WorLeeAns in a shotgun with her 2 aunts and 10 brothers & sisters.  She didn't like my Gramps when she first got set up with him, she liked his friend. But she eventually fell for him :)  While they were dating Gramps went to pick up Gran from the train station and Gran asked where his car was.  He had sold his precious car "Lulabelle" to buy her a watch.  Hearing stories about Gramps are my favorite.

We've gotten to hang out more recently, whether its visiting at each others houses or going out to do something.  We always have fun and I'd love to make it a regular thing. She told her friends at church last Saturday that she had a date :)  They freaked out.  My Gran's heart has and will always be for my Gramps.  We went to Judice Inn for a burger and then to the movies to see the Kings Speech.  At dinner we talked.  I love hearing from her about nostalgic things and just what life was like and then I tell her about my life.  She's so interested in whats going on with me. I know she cares about me and is sensitive to my feelings, even though I may not always be :)  She loved that the movie was from that era and it was cool cause she remembered when that stuff happend.  I love her to death, and am so thankful that I have her in my life <3

"Pawp"

Also known as Edward C. Lamb is my mom's dad.  I have the great pleasure of getting to work with this guy. He's kinda my boss. Pawp gets up everyday at age 74 and comes to work and thinks better than I do.  He also uses a computer and has a cell phone, but he doesn't turn that on unless he has to make a call.  He can't spell to save his life. He's constantly yelling through the office "how do you spell ____?", I tell him and he yells back "Yep, that got rid of the squiggly line."  And I'm pretty sure he is one of the funniest people I know. 

I recognize what a blessing it is to get you see him almost everyday for the passed 2 1/2 years.  I've learned so much about who he was.  He played football in highschool and was married to my mom's mother when he was 17!  During college, he had 2 kids and still managed to graduate in engineering.  He owned several oilfield companies and was credited as helping to design the Lamb tong, which is still used today.  He did lots of traveling all around the world and had lots of crazy experiences. Some of which I wish I never knew!

But it's cool to have spiritual conversations with him now and see how far he has come.  I love the devotionals he forwards to me and the lunches that we get to spend together.  I have learned what "Not so fast Jones," means.  My mom used to always say it and I never knew why.  Here's the joke:  A guy, Jones, is in the army and they are trying to figure out a way to tell him that both of his parents died. They line all the guys up and say "if both of your parents are living, please step forward."..... Then comes the line.    :)  It's funny if you hear it right.

***Big thanks to Jason Cohen who actually took both of these pictures!  Grans was from Val & Ty's wedding and the one of Pawp was for a photo shoot for a grandparents project he is working on.

I Will Follow You

Where to start...
It seems a lot has been going on in my heart and mind over the last few months.

About a year ago, I heard the song by Mike's Chair called "Let the Waters Rise".  These are the lyrics.

Don't know where to begin
Its like my world's caving in
And I try but I can't control my fear
Where do I go from here?
sometimes its so hard to pray,
When You feel so far away
But I am willing to go
Where you want me to
God, I trust You

There's a raging sea
Right in front of me
Wants to pull me in
Bring me to my knees
So let the waters rise
If You want them to
I will follow You
I will follow You
I will follow You

I will swim in the deep
'Cuz You'll be next to me
You're in the eye of the storm
And the calm of the sea
You're never out of reach
God, You know where I've been
You were there with me then
You were faithful before
You'll be faithful again
I'm holding Your hand

There's a raging sea
Right in front of me
Wants to pull me in
Bring me to my knees
So let the waters rise
If You want them to
I will follow You
I will follow You
I will follow You

I would cry everytime I heard it. It was like a prayer of my heart and I was telling God that He was my focus, my reason for life, and no matter what circumstances he chose for my life I would follow Him. There was no fear there.
I see now that it prepared my heart to come to place where I was completely surrendered with his plan for my life and nothing else mattered.

I began praying for God to give me a passion for his people and a desire to serve and to just forget about myself for a little while :) 
He did just that. In the words of Kay Warren in her book Dangerous Surrender, he has "gloriously ruined" me.  It's like he has opened my eyes to a needy world and I'm not longer satisfied or content with the way thing are going.

Figuring out my place in that needy world and what I'm meant to do with the gifts and resources I have is pretty much where I'm at.

So.... That said, I just decided to go to El Salvador with our youth in April.  And I am soo excited about this trip and other opportunities it could lead to!  In addition to getting to go and serve, it is with 3 of my sweet high school girls and one of my best friends :) We are going to serve deaf children.  It's kind of funny because I made a "List of Goals" (not resolutions) for 2011 and one of them was to brush up on my Spanish, but the thing with this trip is that there is a double language barrier!  So I am planning to learn a little of both, sign language and spanish. 

The one thing that terrifies me about missions, short and long term is asking for financial support.  I love getting letter from and supporting others, but I have a hard time with asking for help for myself.  But I've learned that there are those that "go" and those that "send". By not asking, I am keeping the opportunity for someone to be able to partner in the ministry. So, I won't be sending letters out, but I figured that I'd mention it and if you feel called to support my trip then let me know!

Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!
Pray for us as we prepare for the trip and for all the hearts of the people we encounter.

P.S. After re-reading this I realize how random and all over the place this is. Forgive me :)

Life Intentions

I read a blog recently called Make Under My Life that really had me thinking about stuff.  She talks about the this concept of "Designing your Life" based on a few of your life's intentions.  By naming those goals or aspects of life that are important to you,  it helps to do daily activities that actually line up with what your say you want.  Far too often what I do does not refect where I want to be.  Its neat too, because you see other peoples and although everyone's "Life Intentions" are good, they may not be your own.  So you see the difference in the convictions that God places on peoples hearts.

Here are a few of mine.  This is not at all inclusive, but these are just the ones that I feel that God has burdened me with recently.

I have loved traveling ever since my first mission trip to Peru in highschool.  Whether it was 2 months in Panama City or 2 weeks in Ukraine I never ever seemed to get homesick.  I can sleep anywhere and my personality type is laid back.  My old boss used to joke that I was "too calm" in a stressful situation and she wished I would freak out a little.  :)   I also love to meet people who aren't like me.  Do you know the feeling that you are just "on"? Like that is your element?  I feel more comfortable with and love getting to know different people.  Sometimes I feel like God "built" me to travel. I'm not sure what this will look like, but I know that it will be a part of my life.  

Living Simply, for me, would mean everything from an uncluttered home to an uncluttered schedule.  Getting rid of things that are "just things" and activities that are just things to do, so that I am not maxing out my time, space, or money.  I want to be more deliberate and intentional with the resources I have.  Coincidentally, this morning I was reading in The Good and Beautiful God and He named this concept your margin.   

"Margin restores balance and restores the soul, thus increasing our capacity for joy."

Giving selflessly for me would include a few things.  One would be specifically the time and energy I give to my high school girls group.  They are juniors now, so I only have another year and half with them (I've been with them since 6th grade!).  Sometimes I feel like I'm not giving them all that they need and I'd like to change that.  Another specific burden I have is for the hungry. My mom told me about people in Haiti who eat mud pie's just to fill their stomach with something. It's not only made me consider my spending more, on food in particular, but I feel like I want to do something about it. How or what to do I have no idea, but it's another one of those things that I'll be praying about. 

The most important one :)  There are days where I am WAY more aware of the fact that nothing really matters in the whole world besides loving God and loving his people, then there are days where it seems like other things are more important.  This is the foremost intention for my life.

The Eden

Over Labor Day we had a bachelorette beach trip for Valerie and we had so much!!!!!!!! We acted silly, got to relax and had good talks :)

And with so many beautiful girls, we definitely attracted a lot of attention! Luckily we were on a part of the beach that was occupied by granparent-type folks.  Although, one mom did ask us to wave to her son while she video taped it.... we were thinking he was a little kid, but then realized he probably wasn't....
My favorite nite was the nite we went to watch the sunset on the beach.  We talked out there for hours and the married ladies got to share advice on marriage and we laughed a lot. :)  

Next is your typical "elite" triage of pics.  One of us fake laughing, one cutesy smiling one, and one of our "clearisil" face (we started mocking the cheesiness of the Clearisil faces years ago and have yet to stop!).  The formula works for us.... Now, please do not go look through all of our pics, because it would be embarassing for you to see how rigid we are.

And yet another group is "inspired" (read: enraged with jealousy) by the elite so far as to name themselves.  (A previous one being, Jenny's highschool friends naming themselves the Flaming (?) Aces).  It somehow solidifies a group and forces everyone to stay friends... kinda :)   Fab 4 comes from Tiffany screaming "Fabulous!" in a Thereasa Guidice voice everytime we tried to take a pic.  The cute thing about the pic to the left is that we took one just like this about a year and a half ago at this same spot during Tiff's bachelorette weekend!

That was it... no wild crazy stories to tell, just a wonderful, relaxing trip with a bunch of great girls. Let's do it again next year :)   

5 Things About Sicily

Ok, so I have been MIA for a month, but with good reason.  It was Val's wedding month!  Now while I get together all the pics and stuff to blog about her wedding festivities, here are a few things about my other favorite girl :)

This is quirky stuff about my dog that I never realized was weird until someone said something.

1.  Sicily will not eat if no one is around.  If I have been gone all day and she is hungry, she will wait till I get home, tell me "hi", then run to go eat.  She also take one piece of food out at a time and carrys it someplace else to eat.

2. She WILL NOT take a treat from your hand.  She loves them and will do ANYTHING for a treat, but she waits for me to drop it on the ground.

3. She does this thing my aunt calls "framing". It's a sudden burst of energy that she gets and has to release. She usually does it at night or early in the morning and it makes me literally laugh out loud everytime. She will run figure eights around tables and she especially likes to run from carpet to carpet. 

4. Sicily loves to go for walks, but will not go on a leash. I've tried tons of times. She literally sits down and won't go.  So we go without a leash, but thats ok because she is a good listener and would never walk more than 10 feet from me :)

5.  She loves to sleep under tons of covers. Not sure how she breathes, but I'll freak out cause I don't know where she is and then find her at the bottom of the bed.

Five Things About Me

I loooved Jenny's post today and really learned a lot about her... even though I thought I knew everything :) So I'm going to give this a shot and think you should too!

1. Journey - I looove Journey. They remind me of the beach trips we took as kids. We would ride in my Dad's truck and thats what he listened to... along with Boston, .38 special, etc.  I can put that on and instantly smile.   

2. M&Ms -  A while back I got a pack of M&Ms after lunch. I got them the next then, the next... and now I think I'm addicted. I feel like Dwight after the computer restarts and he puts his hand out for mints.

3. Missions - I have been on 6 mission trips in the past (2x Peru, Greece, Haiti, Ukraine, Honduras) and  have thought about becoming a full time missionary from time to time...

4. Birthdays - I am not the best at remembering birthdays... yeah, this is not a shocker.  But I realized that the reason for this might be that we have 4 of 5 family members birthdays within 5 days. It's actually called "Birthday Week of Hell" in our family :)  Anyways,  they never seemed to be a big deal to me.  Now that I have made the realization though, I want to make more effort to remember peoples birthdays and do special things for them.  And when I have kids, I think it would be fun to have birthday weeks or even months!

5. Cleaning -  I used to be the biggest slob!!!! After having a house, I make my bed every morning, never leave dishes in the sink, and love pulling weeds. Never thought that would happen.

Roomie for the Last Time

Guess who just moved in for a month till the wedding???
This girl!!!!!

We are both sooo excited and have already had fun last nite and this morning.  But here is a quick look over our history of living together. Enjoy  :







So we shall see how this next month will play out :) I'm definitely looking forward it, but it will be crazy! We have me, Val, Cam, and Mom's birthdays, Sending Cameron off to college, Val's Bridal Shower that I have been planning, Beach Trip for the girls and finally the wedding!!!!!