All is well...

....with my soul and with Christmas. I only had one melt down...not bad. All four gatherings were a bunch of fun...all the pictures are cropped, de-red eyed and posted. The first was the Kinnibrugh's in Keller. The next was the Trainham Ice Christmas fish fry. No pics, but one big surprise! Kent's taking his peeps on a Western Caribbean cruise. The employees were estatic! Half of them took the bonus, but the other half took the vacation invitation. They deserve it...we had a great year. The third was the Lewis' in Wichita Falls. And lastly, the Trainhams' at Goree.

Luke 2:19 "...Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart."

I'm a grandma!!!

Meet our grandaughter, ZuZu. We will meet her for the first time this coming Friday. It's truly a miraculous story of how she and Shea found one another. Cannot wait to share! We are beaming!!

Shea, our daughter, adopted a sweet baby kitten!!!

From: Jordan

Seeee, Jordan is the bomb diddy!

Memory Maker

My dads' side of the family had Thankmas a few weeks ago. It was at my aunts' house in Keller and wonderful. She made some of Granny Peggy's recipes, etc. (God rest her soul). Jordan is Donna's son, my cousin, who feels like a nephew. Yes, this is the same Jordan from the 'Extra Mile' post. So, we catch ourselves doing aunt/nephew stuff rather than cousin stuff. Case in point, the kid has every gadget known to 'teen'dom. Leroy's mom has had the Grandmother/Bibleman connection with Jordan for decades. She's an awesome, cool, hip Christian lady. I think they even went to a Bibleman event at some point where Jt (Jordan Tyler) accepted Jesus as his Savior. That to say, Jordan and I have always had the Aunt/Toby Mac connection due to the fact that I gave him his first cd. He has loved that music ever since.

Soooo, Mr. Gadget is still tuff to buy for, right? Well, when I heard that Toby Mac was coming to town, you guessed it, I jumped at the chance to go with Jt for his Christmas present. The slide below begins with him opening his Christmas card from Kent and I which holds the golden tickets. Jt and I made a date of it. He took me out to eat at Outback and I took him to the concert. At dinner, we talked and shared. It was way cool, and no I'm not telling, then on to the concert.

We knew we were in the front section on Row J. I'm thinking to myself, A, B, C, D...it must be about the tenth row, not bad for a thirty-(almost forty)-something aunt. Huhummmm...it ended up being center stage, second row!!!!! Rock on! The opening bands were good, but stealing the show and my heart was Toby Mac. I know you probably don't think so, but I was in a spirit of praise. If Beth Moore can have her grandkids over for praise-dancin' with granny, then surely I can praise dance with Jt. The beat and decibels may vary, but same difference. (And, by the way, I couldn't even hear myself cough, fart, sing...lol ;) At certain intervals in the show, he took a stage dive and surfed the crowd in the mosh pit. Wow!

Ok, here's the interpretation:

• Crowd surfing describes the process in which a person is passed overhead from person to person during a concert, transferring the person from one part of the venue to another. The "crowd surfer" is passed above everyone's heads, with everyone's hands supporting the person's weight.
• Stage diving is the act of leaping from a concert stage onto the mosh pit or crowd below. Initially seen as confrontational and extreme, stage diving has become common at rock music performances. Many musicians have made stage diving a part of their stage act.
• Mosh: To knock against others intentionally while dancing at a rock concert; slam-dance.
• Mosh Pit: Slang. an area usually in front of a stage where people mosh at rock concerts.

We weren't in the pit nor do we ever care to be. But, now that you know the lingo and if you wanted to actually try it out, then check out 'how to survive the mosh pit'. Tell me how it turns out, k?

We were behind the pit on the second row of the stadium seating. Not that we did much sitting. The highlight of our night was when Toby Mac slipped down into the mosh pit and ran around the edge of it and over the rail into the audience. He sang for awhile two rows directly behind us, then he headed back to the stage. And, low 'n behold, he was coming right at us. Did I mention he was walking on top of the chairs? Jesus walked on water~he walked on chairs. Then all of a sudden, he stopped and sang some more and, you're not gonna believe this, he lit on top of the chair of Row J, Seat 2. Yes, Jt held the J2 ticket! Jordan and I just stood there with our mouths wide open hoping that Toby would shake our hand. But after a bit, he turned and kept going toward the stage, not without Jt and I patting him on the back as a 'thanks' or a 'you're too cool' gesture.

So, Toby Mac gets back to the front row and then dives into the mosh pit and body surfs back to the stage. Pinch me, surely that didn't just happen! I don't think I could have planned it better even if I'd had a preconcert, backstage opportunity to say, "Ya know Toby, it would be a very cool gift for Jt if you'd just stand on top of his chair, section 103/row J/seat 2, and sing one of his favorite songs."

I wish we could bottle the exhilaration that we felt that night and pull some out as needed for the doldrum days of life. We'd be rich! This video below is my last Christmas gift of '08 to Jt, love you man. Thanks for the fun ride!

The 'S' Words~

I just finished scrubbing my sink. You know the kind, the ones that the porcelain has worn off a bit and every knick from a pan leaves a scratch. And anything can stain it. I’ll never forget who taught me how to clean it. Misty Megee, one of the pastors’ wives in times past.

It was our turn to have home group. Everyone brought a dish and the time came for cleaning the kitchen. She had the gall to ask me if I had any Comet. I did and she proceeded to get every stain and scratch out of my sink. Blemishes that I had just learned to live with. Much, much later when my pride was finally wore off…I was thankful for her help. She is the same person that shared a book called “The Excellent Wife” with me.

To sum up this book, it taught me to always submit unless my husband asks me to sin. This book revealed blemishes that, quite frankly, I refused to deal with. At that time in my life, I’d rather be stained and scratched than submit. That was, in my opinion, a very dirty word. It’s been a process and ‘God isn’t finished with me yet’, but thank goodness I’m still trying to s____.

I struggle with trust issues, but I’ve learned when I cannot seem to bring myself to trust my husband, then I can trust the ONE that is over all and in all. Misty just might be the most pure woman I’ve ever known. I gained much from knowing her. She just sparkles and so does her sink.

I've kept this under wraps...

...but it is official. The book is being launched on Amazon.com today! I am especially interested in this book because she included three posts from this blog. Kacy Latham wrote a bio for me which was special sweet, but that's the kinda girl she is! Thanks Kace! Kent asked me what I wanted for Christmas...and I don't need a thing. BUT, a dream come true would be for WEEDS to somehow, some way find it's way into print. Who knows maybe it'll happen by design.