Seize the Day!

Today some friends called to say they were coming to Pink Impact in April! Three of them (who now live in three separate cities) are getting together and making a girls road trip to come hear me speak! (Wish you would come too! If you want to check it out, visit www.pinkimpact.com or simply click on my title above and it will take you right to the web site.) I am so excited! Beth, Ashley and Betty are coming! It reminded me of a very sweet season in my life...

I have made some amazing friendships since moving to the Dallas area in 2006, but there is a small cluster of women from Abilene, Texas that knew me first! They knew me when my whole platform was the kitchen table and every "ministry moment" happened with four children at my feet. (It's still my favorite place to have a God conversation!)

They were a part of my life during such an amazing time of spiritual development - any of them that were a part know exactly what I mean. We spent a few precious years, or in some cases only months, God-chasing together. We were passionate and authentic and vulnerable - and God did something unexplainable in our hearts. We experienced a divine season.

Then He dispersed us. Some to other cities - some to other states - and even one was sent around the world.

Today we don't see each other often. (Thank goodness for facebook and tweets and blogs!) Yet despite the distance - I know in a moment of need they would stand with me. As a matter of fact, they have already proven that. I hope they know I would do the same for them.

Thanks to Amy, Jonya, Beth, Wendy, Wendi, Betty, Cheryl, Kerri, Cindy, Ashley S, Ashley B, Sherla, Maria, Becky, Dianne, Donna, Michelle, Martha, Karen, Latrice, Yvonne, Loyce - and all my other beautiful Abilene friends - I know I missed some - You are still a sweet cluster to me!

You never know how long a season will last. Tough ones seem to go too slow, but sweet ones fly by. Sometimes you are in a very sweet season and you don't even realize it until it's gone. We had no idea that our season would end so soon, that it was so unique, or that it would never come again.

Transition will come, my friends - so let us seize the day! Make the most of the relationships we have and grow deep together.

See to it, brothers, (and sisters) that none of you has a sinful, unbelieving heart that turns away from the living God. But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today...Hebrews 3:12-13

Weekend Trip to Abilene

Our home away from home.

This week I joined Mark and the boys on a trip to Abilene to visit the deer lease. We drove out on Saturday morning. Got to visit with our friends - the Schuman's - then picked up the RV and went straight to the state park to set up. The boys went hunting twice while I watched movies, slept late and got to catch up on some reading. In the afternoon on Sunday they did a little trout fishing and then we packed up and headed home. It was a lot of fun. Here are some pictures from the weekend.

Mark and I went out for Sunday lunch by ourselves to Perini Ranch. The food was good but the bread pudding was amazing! Love this picture of Mark...

Here's Matthew and Mark on the fishing dock. They had just stocked the pond with trout, but we didn't catch much. Wish we had, love pan fried trout!

Here's Luke! Looking cool for the camera.


This is my first time to spend the night in the RV since we lived in it for 6 months in Biloxi, Mississippi. Mark was deployed to the area immediately following Hurricane Katrina.

The first month we were in Biloxi was crazy. Mark was navigating the emotionally devastating landscape. I was managing the emotionally devastating life change. After a month or so we put our kids in a local private school and we began to settle down. Once we had some semblance of family life, I began to enjoy the lack of activity. It was just us and our kids. Things got really simple, really fast.

I used to get up in the morning – go outside the door – pull the boys school uniforms out of plastic tubs – come back inside and make a nutritious breakfast (cereal in paper bowls). Then we'd drive them to school, go the library to pay some bills or maybe stop at the grocery store. Come back to the trailer. Clean (30 minutes). Start a load of laundry (this included a walk with the dog and a couple of trips back and forth). Now what? Make a few phone calls for Mark, schedule a few appointments, and fill out a paper or two. When all of my household “chores” were done then the best part of the day would come – reading! I read a lot of books in Mississippi. The library was near by and free. Our life was quiet, uncluttered, and peaceful.

You didn’t complain in that season. After all, we owned a beautiful new trailer with 4 bunks and a slide. We picked it out ourselves, stocked it top to bottom and stored everything else we owned. We managed to find an RV park where the electricity and cable TV were restored. If we really wanted to – we could pack up and drive away.

Families all around us were staying in tiny trailers where the bed and the table were one and the same. They had no clothes except what they were given off the Wal-Mart parking lot. Their friends were scattered. Their schools were destroyed. Their jobs were lost. Yet, almost everyone we met was nice, helpful, smiling and in general uncomplaining. We learned to focus on them and not on ourselves.

Christmas that year was different. We bought an 18 inch Christmas tree with iridescent lights. Grammy mailed my birthday present to me – it was the willow tree Mary, Joseph and Baby Jesus. Her note said it was sent with a hope for a future home. We put the nativity (which was almost as big as the tree) on our little table and strung some multi-color lights from the awning outside. That was the extinct of our Christmas decor. We waited to buy gifts until the last minute because there was no place to hide anything or to store any wrapped gifts. It sounds pitiful, but really it was sweet.

Early in the month of December I began to tell God that I really wanted a home again - a house really. It has been almost six months since we pulled out of the city limits of Abilene. I really wanted to get out of the RV and into something with some more space. More than that, I was thirsting for friendship and community; a sense of belonging. I felt like I wanted to stretch out, do something, and make a transition. Finally, right before Christmas Mark was released. Within a few days we drove to the metroplex and began to day by day figure out what and where we were supposed to go next. The rest is history, so they say.

I was so glad to get out of this 32’ trailer that I find now I have forgotten some of its benefits. Things like simplicity and close family and quiet. As I sit here in the trailer, it’s the first time in months I feel like I’ve really been alone. I’ve been alone lots of times, of course, but there’s been a lot of static in my life lately. A lot of background noise and competition for my thought life. As I take a few minutes to record my memories, acknowledge some important lessons and appreciate the friends we made in Abilene, I am made grateful again. It seems that every season and every circumstance has a purpose in God’s master plan. Sometimes that purpose and plan can only be discerned from the rear view mirror.

Looking ahead to the New Year, I wonder what 2010 will hold. I’m almost afraid to ask Him, but then I remember that my word for 2009 has been a lifeline and an anchor for me, even if it did produce wariness when I first received it. Every time I am buffeted by the winds of change and struggle to hear in spite of the static, that word has resonanted in my spirit. I am confident that whatever 2010 holds all will be well. All is not lost, nor are we without hope. He who promised is faithful!