A Great First Week & Prayers for Austin

Lexi had a great first week of Kindergarten! She says her favorite parts are: art, P.E, and recess. LOL! Please continue to pray that all goes well!

And please be in prayer for Austin this week as he starts going to daycare on Tuesday. Mom and I are SO going to miss him, but we know it's time for him to be with other kids his own age. He'll do fine....Not sure about Mom or myself! We won't know what to do with a quiet house! LOL!

Thanks for the continued prayers for the loves of my life! :)

Just A Thought

I worry all the time if I'm getting on people's nerves, if I'm one of those people who you can only take in small doses, if I comment on Facebook too much. I know I care entirely too much what other people think about me. Then this thought came to me the other day...

We wouldn't care near as much what others thought about us, if we realized just how little people think about us.

Call it negative, call it "glass half empty" thinking, but really, it's probably true. The people I worry most about probably don't think anything of me during the day so WHY am I so concerned with what people think?

Do you think this is true? Give me your thoughts!

Quote of the Week

The conversation at lunch today with my two year old nephew, Austin:

My Mom: "Who is this?" (patting Austin's chest)

Austin: "Aw-din"

My Mom: "What does Mommy call you?"

Austin: "Aw-din"

My Mom: "What does Daddy call you?"

Austin: "No no no"

Off to Kindergarten!

Please keep my little Ladybug, Alexis in your prayers tomorrow (Monday) as she begins Kindergarten! She met her teacher, Mrs. Grey last week and is REALLY excited! It's the rest of us that may fall apart LOL!

Thanks in advance for praying for my precious niece tomorrow and in the weeks ahead!

Three Truths

Three truths to share tonight....

Truth #1: I have lousy timing.
Truth #2: God has PERFECT timing.
Truth #3 God knows the desires of my heart.

When I add those three truths up, I find that truths two and three cancel out truth number one. So...I will continue waiting, praying, breathing and believing. All the while clinging to and claiming these two verses:

Romans 8:25: "But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently."

Psalm 5:3: "In the morning, O LORD, you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation."

God has a plan and a reason for everything...I believe it!

The Big 2-8 (B-Day Blog)

As of 2:10 pm this afternoon, I was 28 years old!

My day was great! My aunt called before 8 this morning and because I was still asleep, I let my voicemail get it. She left me the sweetest voicemail talking about how 28 yrs ago I had everyone in a tizzy and how my entrance in to the world was exciting to say the least... (I was born two and a half months early....Exciting is an understatement! LOL).

My parents both sang to me as I entered the living room which was humorous and sweet at the same time. A big dinner out was planned for later in the evening but Mom said she'd take me by somewhere to grab a bite for lunch (Dad was going to mow). I chose Taco Bell. We got there and I ordered my two tacos, mom orders her food and we get it and pull into a space in the parking lot to eat. I start handing out food and find that I only have one taco. Mom offers to go back through and get me another, but I have an order of cinnamon twists as well so I just eat what I have. I then open my straw and find that it's only opened at one end! I look at Mom and tell her I hope this isn't a sign for how my year is going to go! LOL!!

Dad had a meeting late this afternoon so instead of feeling rushed to eat, I opted for us to go eat after his meeting so we made plans to meet my sister and her family at the restaurant at 7:30. That gave us most of the afternoon to just do our own thing.

Dinner was fun! Mom and I got there before my dad (who was on his way back from his meeting) and my sister's family so we went ahead and ordered our drinks and chips and salsa while we waited. Kimberly and the rest of the crew arrived and I was greeted with the SWEETEST hugs from both Alexis and Austin! Lexi said, "You're FINALLY 28 Nat-Nat!!!" LOL! And of course, they both wanted to sit next to me (normally, it's my Mom they want...Tonight, it was me). I was in Heaven...Lexi would lean over and kiss me and then Austin would follow. It was so sweet!

After dinner we all headed back to our house and I opened my gifts...I got two books I'd asked for: "Marked for Life" about one of the students who survived the Columbine shootings and how it changed and deepened her faith. And "Always Looking Up" by Michael J. Fox which is a follow up to his first book "Lucky Man" Looking forward to reading those, but it will be AFTER I finish my current read which is "The Art of Racing in the Rain" that a friend sent me for my birthday. I think it might be my new favorite....I can't get enough of it and I can totally understand why one of my friends said she read it in one sitting...It's THAT good!

I also got the first season of "Designing Women" (Kimberly and I LOVED that show growing up) the third season of Friday Night Lights, and the first two seasons of "E.R." (I'm going to start trying to get all of those seasons now). I got a beautiful rod iron picture frame holder from Kimberly and her family with "FAITH" in the middle of it and you put different pictures in the different frames around the word. I LOVE it! It'll go perfect in my room! And Justin and Lexi made me some homemade chocolate chip cookies last night and brought me some of those too...YUM! And Tazzie even got me a card! Love my Tazzie Mae! :)

After gifts we went into the kitchen...Mom had made my favorite honeybun cake! I'm really surprised I like it as much as I do because it's really sweet and I'm not much of a sweet eater. But this is my favorite....Tastes just like a honeybun! We put three candles on the cake (one for Lexi to blow out, one for Austin to blow out, and one for me) They sang, I made my wish, and then we all had cake! Once the kids were hyped up on sugar (LOL!) they went home.

No, there wasn't any Dempsey Dream breakthrough...I won't lie and say I'm not disappointed, but someone else needed that miracle tonight more than I did. I know God's timing is perfect and I have to keep believing that my day will come...I do think I'm a lot closer now BECAUSE of the prayers I've prayed asking for a miracle then I would be if I HADN'T prayed them, so who knows....Hopefully soon I'll be blogging all about how my dream finally came true...

It was a great birthday! I'm SO blessed to have the incredible family that I do and the most amazing friends. Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU for all of the Facebook messages, texts, phone calls, and e-mails!!

I look forward to sharing the next year with you through this blog...Love you all!

How to Pray for A Miracle....

Anybody got any ideas on how to pray for a miracle? Maybe a "breakthrough" is a better way of putting it, but even getting THAT would be a miracle in itself!

Saturday is my 28th birthday and I keep thinking how incredible it would be to get a breakthrough....SOME type of SOMETHING on my Dempsey Dream. So, I've been praying....For a miracle!

And it just seems like I keep repeating the same things over and over as I pray because I don't know where exactly things stand as far as my dream is concerned so I don't really know HOW to pray for it or WHAT to pray for except for what I've been praying.

Sooo....I keep praying. Believing that because He IS a God of miracles....That I WILL get a birthday breakthrough.

Care to pray with me in this?

Get Real!

If any of you read my Facebook status this past Wednesday night, then you know I was having a really difficult time. I was TOTALLY fed up! I had gone on twitter and saw several people talking about how they were going to a race of Patrick Dempsey's in Utah in September...How they were going to get to meet him and talk to him, and it all just got to be too much for me. I logged off twitter and cried for about 10 minutes. I'm THRILLED that they're going to get to meet him, but my own heart was breaking for the fact that I've wanted to do the same thing for so long and seem no closer to it happening then I was two years ago. After a few minutes I had to pull myself together and go help with dinner.

Once dinner was over I remember standing in the kitchen looking out the kitchen window as I scrubbed a dish before putting it in the dishwasher. And as I stood there, I got angrier and angrier as I scrubbed the dish as hard as I could not really paying attention but looking out the window into the pitch darkness of the night. I remember just basically yelling at God inside my head going, "If you're not going to make this dream come to pass, FINE! But quit throwing other people that my dream IS happening to in my face because I'm telling you God, they seem to be everywhere I turn lately! And if I were physically able, I would be able to GO to a race and see him too!"

I was MAD! The "If only's...." were out in full force and in those moments I HATED the feeling that my CP was the thing keeping me from my dream. I HATED my CP and I HATED that in so many ways, it forced my dependence on others. Thus, my facebook status that night. And let me tell ya, my friends circled the wagons and encouraged me and raised me up in a way that blew me away.

I was asked to swap days at the church office this week so I worked the next day. I was listening to KSBJ online (Yes, they're BACK ONLINE!) at my desk when Liz Jordan started her shift.

I feel I should stop here and tell you a little about Liz... I've mentioned her before. She's incredible! If you ever listen to her on KSBJ then you know...She's incredibly transparent and one of the most genuine people I know. She is the real deal. We have yet to meet in person but I really do consider her a friend...She's not just a DJ to me...We've talked. We've corresponded a lot! She's....She's one of those people that when God was creating her I have to wonder if *I* was on His mind. THAT'S how much God has used Liz in my life. And I can only think of a few people in my life where I've actually paused and had that thought about. Liz really is a "sister in Christ" to me. I just love her! And while I enjoy listening to KSBJ any time, I try and make a special effort to listen during Liz's shift. And with online listening being unavailable for awhile, I haven't really been able to listen as much so I was thrilled to be able to listen once again at work.

Anyway, I was listening when Liz started her shift and she always starts it off with prayer. As she prayed over the city of Houston, she said, "Lord, we just need to come before you and we need to tell you what we need and what is on our hearts...." That, right there, struck me. I didn't hear the rest of the prayer (Sorry, Liz).

It occurred to me that for SO long I think I've just been telling God what I thought He wanted to hear.... How He was so good and thanking Him for this and for that. And that's all great...We SHOULD do that, please don't get me wrong....PRAISE is GOOD! However, there were some things that I hadn't really brought before Him and just said, "Look Lord, this is how I REALLY feel about some stuff going on in my life....I don't like it!" Some things, up until the night BEFORE this prayer, I don't even think I really KNEW they were bothering me as much as they were until I just said, "I'm SO fed up!!" I think somewhere along the way I got this idea that God is God so we have no right to get angry at Him...And I learned this: He's big enough. He can handle it!

So, that night when I got home, God and I had a REAL heart to heart. I got real with what was on my heart, my desires, my wants, how I felt about a lot of things. Tears were shed, but let me tell ya...When all was said and done, I felt A LOT better! Now it feels like a whole new realm of conversation has open between God and myself because I've gotten real.

It's like for so long God and I have been talking, and He's been listening, of course, with careful attention. But He's God, He knows. So, while I've been talking He's been saying, "That's great and everything but how do you REALLY feel? TALK to me. Be honest. It's okay, I know already, just tell me....I'm going to adore you just as much...I promise!" And when I FINALLY did... He's saying to me.... "Now, doesn't that feel better?" Maybe THAT'S why I had to get SO angry the previous night...Where I basically threw my hands up and said shouted at God, He probably said, "NOW we're getting somewhere!"

While it's true God DOES know our wants and needs even before we say anything, He WANTS us to ask Him! (James 4:2). He LONGS to hear from us! Isn't that awesome?! That the Creator of the universe actually WANTS to talk...to US?! I understand that now in a fresh way and it makes me feel SO loved and safe! He will never tire of hearing our voice, we will never get on His nerves, and He's ALWAYS ready and willing to listen!

It didn't magically fix everything...I'm still irritated with my Dempsey Dream. I still feel like no matter how much I want it, I'm always two steps behind everyone else in terms of ever meeting him because of my physical limitations, BUT I'm no longer pretending it doesn't bother me when I talk with God...I may never tell anyone else how fed up I am, but I'll tell God...And hopefully I'll do so BEFORE I get quite as frustrated next time. ;)

So, the moral of the story: Be real with God. It's okay to be upset sometimes....Take it to God, unload your heart. He can handle it. And when you've gotten everything that you've held back out in the open, you will STILL be precious to Him. He will STILL love you like no other!

Colorado Trip 2009

We're back! We returned from Durango late Friday evening....And had a wonderful time!

The trip to Durango was long...Especially from Ft. Worth to Amarillo. The room was stayed in was SUPER nice. Except for the bathtub...Whoever designed that was CLEARLY NOT disabled! I have no clue how ANY disabled person bathed in that. It was a nightmare!

Once we got into the New Mexico area, we began seeing mountains and the scenery got a lot more interesting and pretty. we pulled over and had a lunch of sandwiches and chips and water (yes, water). I was trying to get ahead of any altitude sickness that might await.

We finally arrived in Colorado Sunday afternoon at 2:41 Texas time and rain, thunder, and lightning was there to welcome us. Our hotel room was nice...The living area was where I stayed. It had a television, and the couch made into a bed. Then you went down a small hallway and that was my parents area with a king sized bed and a television. It was great, because I had my own space and could close the door to be able to get dressed or watch t.v. after my parents had gone to sleep.

Monday was the train ride. It was a three and a half hour ride to Silverton. We shared a train car with four other people. They were all traveling together and one guy was also in a wheelchair. They were so nice and fun to travel with! They made several trips through the train and everyone decided that our train car was the best one because it was the least crowded and we all liked each other! The ride up was beautiful going way up into the mountains...AMAZING scenery! I was so glad we were in an enclosed car and not one that was uncovered. Those people were covered in black soot from the coal blowing back on them from the front of the train. We were told that a bear and her cubs had been seen by some people in the back, but we had missed it...Dad was CRUSHED. He has longed to see a bear in Colorado for as long as I can remember. I felt SO bad for him.

We got to Silverton and mom, dad, and I had lunch at a little restaurant where we ate outside on the back porch. It was SO NICE....Eating lunch outside with mountains surrounding us, 73 degrees with NO humidity! Once we finished lunch, we shopped around for awhile at the little shops there and each had a dish of ice cream (chocolate chip cookie dough for me). Once that was over, it was about time to board the train for another 3 and a half hour trip BACK to Durango!

This was a LONG trip back. The highlight was when Dad FINALLY saw his bear! A cinnamon colored bear walking back into the mountains after getting a drink from the river....I think that made Dad's ENTIRE trip! It was AWESOME! His eyes were GLUED to the mountain from the second we pulled out of Silverton so I was so thrilled it payed off!

Once we got off the train, 3 and a half LONG hours later, we were WORN OUT! Don't get me wrong, we really enjoyed it, but the trip back was not near as fun because it was the same territory we saw coming. I think everyone in our car took a nap on the way back. Once we got back to our car we were hungry for pizza so we searched and searched and SEARCHED...We were about to give up (Dad was looking for a place to turn around) when I finally spotted a Pizza Hut! So we ate and went back to our hotel room and showered and I think we were all in bed with lights out by 10:30.


Tuesday was our dinner theatre night. We had breakfast at this adorable little cafe...Some of the best french toast and hash browns I've ever had! We enjoyed it so much, that's where we had breakfast for the remainder of our trip! We spent most of the day just taking in the sights. We headed up to go see the ruins but when we got to the entry point we were told it would take at least 2-3 hours to see everything. We didn't have that kind of time so we turned around. We ended up going back to the hotel and just relaxing before changing for the dinner theatre.

Our dinner was served in a very fancy restaurant. We were given a menu with three different choices for our first course, three choices for our second course and the choices for our dessert course. I kid you not, most of these things I couldn't even pronounce! So, I just ordered exactly what Mom did...Let's just say that dinner was the worst part of the trip. We were SO glad when it was over.

The theatre part of the evening took place right across the hall from where we ate. It was a tiny theatre but very intimate. Tables were set up with a small menu on each where you could order popcorn and other snacks and drinks. The play we saw "Dames At Sea" was SO cute!!! Definitely made up for the awful dinner! The cast was a small group of AMAZINGLY talented college students. It was a musical/comedy with a bit of romance mixed in! I loved it!!!! Made my heart swell for the entertainment industry once again! And in one of the songs the lyrics included the line, "He may not be Dempsey, but she loves him anyway!" My mouth fell open and I almost fell out of my chair! LOL! The play was great though....We left feeling good!


Wednesday Dad played golf so Mom and I had the afternoon to shop. It was a perfect day to shop....78 degrees and breezy. We walked into a candy shop to get suckers for Lexi and Austin and my beloved Jelly Belly Cotton Candy jelly beans were there!!! I was SO excited! I can't find them anywhere near us! So...I bought a ridiculous amount! They're SO good...I've missed them! We had dinner at a little Mexican restaurant, and then I grabbed a mocha at the Starbucks there.

After we picked Dad up from golf and went back to the hotel for a few minutes, we had planned to go to a BBQ dinner that had a live band. However, we couldn't find it! So, we eventually decided to turn around and have dinner at an Italian place we had seen. It was...Interesting in the fact that spaghetti and meatballs was NOT on the menu. So Mom and I split fettuccine Alfredo. It was pretty good! After that, it was back to the hotel to shower and pack so that we could begin the return trip the next morning.

Thursday morning after breakfast at our favorite cafe we hit the road but decided to come back another more scenic way than we came! And scenic it was! Coming down some of those mountains was downright scary! There came a point where mom and I stopped commenting on how beautiful the view was because it was so nerve wracking. TONS of twists and turns. We stopped at one point at a little station for a bathroom break and our brakes were smoking...And they stunk! Dad said he didn't realize he was riding them so hard. We eased up after that and it just seemed more tense because I had a fear of the brakes going out. I've never been so relieved to get DOWN those mountains! And then Dad said that Monarch Pass was going to be worse!

I can say that Monarch Pass was indeed high (over 11 thousand feet) and the view going up was INCREDIBLE! We stopped at the very top for a bathroom break and to stretch at a little gift shop that sold shirts that said things like "I Made It To The Top...."

Going down Monarch Pass was NOTHING compared to our earlier adventure. I think I actually breathed some going down this time! Dad admitted that night that he had been REALLY nervous.

We found a hotel room in New Mexico Thursday night. It was NOTHING like any of our other rooms (not even handicapped accessible), but it gave us a place to sleep. We were up by 5:30 Friday morning and had made a breakfast stop at the McDonald's drive through and were on the road to Texas by 6:09. It was a LONG LONG LONG ride home! We stopped at a Cracker Barrel in Wichita Falls for lunch. It felt like Heaven to get out and stretch! Then we stopped at a Taco Bell in Fairfield and Dad ordered our food while Mom and I took a bathroom break and we ate Taco Bell on the road. We pulled into our driveway around 9:15 that night! Tazzie, who had been dropped off a few hours earlier by Kimberly greeted us at the door! She didn't know who to go to first so she just ran back and forth between the three of us!

It was a really great trip! There are more mobile pictures on my Facebook page if you are interested! Thank you all SO much for your prayers for our safety and wellness. I drank a ton of water so I never experienced any altitude sickness. Lexi and Austin had a BLAST with Landon and we were told that Tazzie just made herself right at home with no problems.

We had such a great time but are SO glad to be back home with everyone and be able to sleep in our own beds! Going away is fun, but the old saying is true...There's no place like home!