It's all about Shortcake

Speechless is something I am usually not very often, so when it happens it is kind of a big deal and usually there is a pretty good reason. Well last Friday morning was one of those few times where I just have no words whatsoever. If I would have known how Friday was going to turn out I would have just stayed in bed or at least called in sick to work - I really don't think I am being dramatic on this one at all because I am still pretty speechless but I am trying best to explain at least why I am so completely speechless. Anyways Friday morning my boss got a phone call for an unexpected meeting with her new boss, and when she returned to our team she called me into the sample room - which usually means either you screwed something up so royally that she isn't going to yell at you in front of the team or you forgot to do something and she is going to tell you about it and doesn't want witnesses around or the third option is your being moved. The first words out of her mouth where, "Shawn, you're being moved!" okay so while part of me was momentarily excited because that meant that she would no longer be my boss after 14 very long months I was breaking free - a feat few accomplish. But then it hit me I hadn't interviewed for the promotion that I was up for yet so that this move wasn't a promotion. My boss went on to explain to me that I was moving to the contemporary area of career but that I would be taking on seven brands plus item planner trackers - YIKES! Enters I am completely speechless because I currently really only work on one brand and have spent a good portion of the last 14 months being completely swamped most of the time - so how in the world am I going to manage seven brands that I know nothing about. YIKES! No I didn't get anymore money, not that it would help in this situation but at least it might have lessen the blow a little. And to add to the shock value this change would take affect on Tuesday as in yesterday. My boss made sure to make it super clear that she expected me to completely the plans I was on before I moved to my new area - why am I not surprised she is crazy and has unrealistic expectations one final time.

Basically, I am completely overwhelmed and not sure how I can get it all done. All I can say is YIKES! I honestly feel like I am being set up for failure but who knows I have been able to pull off some pretty crazy things before in my life - so I guess it is time to dust off the old Super Shawn cape and tie it around my neck like I use too. I wish there were such a thing - even if it didn't really work it might at least make me feel a little better. The only thing I am able to cling to right now is a verse that a sweet friend actually had shared with me earlier in the week - Psalms 73:26. "My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever." So at least I am clinging to the one thing I can cling to but I am still really scared and overwhelmed about what the next few weeks and months will look like for me. I am not sure if I am suppose to rise above all of this and somehow be able to manage seven brands by myself or if this is just a swift kick in the rear towards something bigger and better that God has in store for me down the road - who knows only time prayer, wisdom and discernment will tell. But in the mean time I am just going to try and take baby steps and figure it out and just cling to truth.

So once again I am afraid to say I learned a lesson the hard way - this one I will definately remember to say the least. I wish I could say that this was the last lesson I will ever learn the hard way but truth be told it wont be for lot's of reasons but mainly because I am very stubborn (I am a Burross and a McClure I come by it naturally) and two because I don't think it will happen to me lots of time. Well this is one of those times where I knew better but still didn't do it anyways. What in the world am I talking about? I am talking about packing up things on the computer. One would think after watching SarahBeth lose everything on her computer when it crashed would teach me a lesson - wrong it didn't. So you probably guesses it. My personal laptop that I had used since my junior year of college crashed and everything is gone very sadly. I hate to say it but all those pictures, memories, projects, information and everything else I had on there that I can't even think of right now is gone. Yes I know that at times you can recover information from a crashed hard drive - however this isn't one of those situations. Gone really means gone this time. Needless to say I am slightly in shock right now that it is all gone, and all I can say to myself is I have no one to blame by myself - I knew better but I still refused to back things up. Moral of the story back up your computer or else you will eventually lose it all and don't be like me and think it wont happen to you - I promise it eventually will.

By the way if you happen to have pictures of me or events that I was at from the last several years or other things that you think I might want or need please feel free to email me.

Finally after 22 weeks this past Friday I was able to move out of my dad and step mom's house. While there are defiantly going to be things I will miss about living at home like not having to go grocery shopping, not paying rent, have Maverick around all the time. I am so thankful to be gone and not have to go searching for my stuff, whether I will be locked out of the house, or what kind of mood the step mom is in. Needless to say the past 22 weeks have been filled with many highs and lows of all sorts. My move couldn't have come at a better time because I almost hit my complete breaking point with the step mom this week, but I am also extremely thankful for that because it just reaffirmed my decision to move out and move in with Erin. Not that I was ever really truly second guessing myself but I was just a little nervous since I don't know Erin that well.

Most of the week flew by in a blur because I had something basically every night of the week - restaurant week dinner with work girls at Jasper's, catch up dinner's with two good friends, to just packing up things in order to be able to move. Somehow Friday, which was moving day, was here before I knew it. Thankfully, the movers did a great job and I was all moved in by 5pm on Friday - now that doesn't mean that I am unpacked, organized or decorated yet but I am living there. Somehow thanks to my mom my room was some what presentable on Saturday night when Erin and I had a "few" people over to the house.

Needless to say I am excited to be living with Erin, now I am just ready to be unpacked, organized and decorated. I just have to keep reminding myself that it is okay that it isn't all done yet - hopefully it will come together this weekend when I am finally in town without any crazy plans.

Kind of sadly this is the last weekly update you will be getting since I no longer have living at the rents updates, but I am sure I kind find other things to write about. (I promise I will post pictures of the new place soon)

So in my quest over the past 10 days or so to get consistently back into the word on a daily basis for more than just a breeze over the Journey and calling it a quiet time. I am not saying there is anything wrong with the Journey and I still read them and usually get a lot out of them every morning when I get to my desk at work as part of my daily emails – I just needed something more and more time in the word than I was getting. To no one’s fault but my own laziness and lack of discipline over the past two months I have just kind of settled for less than my best – I can give you a ton of good excuses and reasons and some are even very valid but they are still just excuses! So about 10 days ago God really started to convict me of how little quality time I had spent with him lately. So in an effort to change this I decided I was going to pick up my Believing God book by Beth Moore that I had actually purchased early last spring when my community group was trying to decide what Beth Moore study we wanted to do. All this to say I have spent the last few days diving into this study which I am loving by the way and learning lots about old things that I have always known.

Okay sorry I felt like there was a little background knowledge/where I am right now that was needed there before I get to the real point of this blog. So in my quiet time there was a lot of time spent in Psalms 103. This Psalm has a lot of really special meaning to me and has been a Psalm I have spent a ton of time camped out in ever since I was in high school and was told to memorize it – while sadly I have forgotten parts of it over the years so that my exact memory isn’t word perfect anymore – I still love it.

Each time I read it something else stands out to me and the part that stood out to me today the most was verses 1-5 and all the amazing things God does for us and just how much He truly loves us in spite of ourselves. To just be completely honest the part that really hit home with me is verse 4 “who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion” – I haven’t been in a pit lately but I have been in a hole/funk lately. A lot of factors have played into this from being in a boot for 3 months, job issues, to finding my identity in the world, and some tough stuff with my family. It was really good to be reminded this morning that once again God is in control and can pull me out of the hole when He chooses – it isn’t up to me to pull myself out of the hole but I do have to be someone who is willing to be pulled out. Thankfully God is changing/softening my heart lately not only to Himself but also just to where I am in life right now and I am exactly were I am suppose to be. That doesn’t mean I will be in this exact spot in 3 months even but for today I am where I am suppose to be.

While I could continue to go on about Psalms 103 and everything I have learned from just this one Psalm over the past several years – I will spare you the details. But I do want to encourage you to read it if you haven’t read it in a while or if you have never read it.

Psalms 103

1 Praise the LORD, O my soul;
all my inmost being, praise his holy name.
2 Praise the LORD, O my soul,
and forget not all his benefits-
3 who forgives all your sins
and heals all your diseases,
4 who redeems your life from the pit
and crowns you with love and compassion,
5 who satisfies your desires with good things
so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.
6 The LORD works righteousness
and justice for all the oppressed.
7 He made known his ways to Moses,
his deeds to the people of Israel:
8 The LORD is compassionate and gracious,
slow to anger, abounding in love.
9 He will not always accuse,
nor will he harbor his anger forever;
10 he does not treat us as our sins deserve
or repay us according to our iniquities.
11 For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his love for those who fear him;
12 as far as the east is from the west,
so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
13 As a father has compassion on his children,
so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him;
14 for he knows how we are formed,
he remembers that we are dust.
15 As for man, his days are like grass,
he flourishes like a flower of the field;
16 the wind blows over it and it is gone,
and its place remembers it no more.
17 But from everlasting to everlasting
the LORD's love is with those who fear him,
and his righteousness with their children's children-
18 with those who keep his covenant
and remember to obey his precepts.

My second to last week of living with the dad and Marsha was pretty uneventful considering they were out of town all week long - so I had the house to myself which was pretty quiet. All the exciting things of the week got their own post except for Outside the Camp. So this post will be devoted to Outside the Camp.

Outside the Camp is probably one of my favorite Watermark Student Ministry events because it is a time to reconnect with other leaders, relax hang out, get in the word, and just get out of Dallas before the craziness of another semester begins. This year we headed out to lake Bob Sandlin, which is outside of Pittsburg, Texas. It is really nice lake and the weather was amazing - thankfully. I loved being able to hang out with other leaders who I hadn't seen in some time, the amazing down time that we were able to spend just diving into the Word, the time on the lake and of course all the crazy games.

Me, Sarah J., Jen, and Sarah F.

All the leaders at OTC

3 months ago today I fell and broke my right foot and partially tore a ligament while in Brazil, and today for the first time in 3 months I finally can put a shoe on my right foot. I spent the last 2 and half months in a walking big black boot - not so much fun, but I survived. Today was the moment of truth at my doctors appointment because I was either getting to come out of the boot or I was getting a pink hard cast. Thankfully, I am able to come out of the boot. It feels really weird to wear a shoe again and to walk around without my boot but it also feels amazing! While I am still not released to run yet - one thing at a time and being able to wear two shoes again is a huge step in the right direction. Yay for two shoes!

So I have a slight confession to make – I have finally caved/given in to the Twilight craziness. I honestly was not planning on reading it at all because it just did not seem to catch my attention. However, last week my boss brought in her copies of all the books and gave them to one of my co-workers with the instructions that as she finished them she was to give them to me to read. My boss then looked at me and told me that I had to at least read the first book before I could honestly form an opinion one way of the other, so I have accepted her challenge and started reading the first book over the weekend. I have to admit it is not that bad but I am definitely not sucked in like some people I know. Stay tuned and I will let you know once I finish the first book if I will embark on the Twilight journey or not.

On a side note it is kind of cool because I do understand where they are talking about in some of the book thanks to mine and Brooke’s little Seattle/Canada adventure earlier this summer.

“Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your request to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:6-7

This is a verse I have had to repeat to myself over and over again in life and I find myself having to repeat it again right now. Over the past couple of days I have realized that I have become extremely anxious about some upcoming events/situations in life. While thankfully I have a peace and know that God has a plan for each of the events/situations when I look at them on an individual level but when I look at them as the bigger picture apart of my life I am extremely anxious. I think this has a lot to do with several of these events/situations are out of my control – meaning there is nothing I can do to affect the outcome, whatever is suppose to happen is going to happen. Which if you know me at all you know I am a person who likes to be in control.

Once I realized this I had to laugh at myself but then I was also frustrated with myself. I laughed at myself b/c how can I have a peace and know that God has a plan for these events/situations on an individual level as to how they will affect my life but not on the bigger level – that makes no sense whatsoever. I am frustrated because while I am trusting God on the individual level, I am most definitely not trusting Him and that he has a plan for how all of this is going to play out. I know He has a plan, and I have learned that His plan is so much better than my plan ever will be, but just because I can’t see His plan I am having a hard time believing that right now.

So right now I am just going to try enjoy riding in the passenger seat of the car, while God drives since I know this is the best option, even though I am struggling to keep my hands in my lap and off the steering wheel.

So this is my 3rd to last week living with the parents since the official moving date has been set and in reality for two of the last three weeks I am not even really living with them as much as I am living at their house since they are out of town for two weeks. Kind of sad that I am not getting to hang out with Maverick and Dad the last three weeks but not so sad that I want to stay.

Since they were out of town my life at home was pretty uneventful thankfully when it comes to drama – I really enjoyed being able to cook and just have some down time. The week started off celebrating two good friends engagement – congrats Kaity and Brandon! I can’t think of a better way to start off a week then being able to celebrate with two amazing people. The rest of the week was pretty normal – thankfully Lesa was out of the office until Thursday, so we all were able to just get caught up at work and just have a normal week – a rare thing I know. Thursday night I had the chance to cook dinner for Anne and just hang out and catch up with her – such a sweet time of catching up and great conversation. It was definitely needed by both of us.

I will say the weekend was probably the highlight of my week because several of the girls from my Brazil team and I headed out to my families lake house for part of the weekend. Even though this week wasn’t crazy for me the past several weeks had been crazy, so I was in need of some good get away relax chill time and having some amazing girls along with me was a huge plus. I love these girls and I love being able to hang out with them and all the amazing fun conversations we have when we are together. Thanks for such a sweet time of hanging out girls.

So I have a slight confession to make yesterday was one of those days where I woke up feeling crummy and really probably should have put on my big girl pants and gone to work but I just couldn't seem to put on my big girl pants and do it. So I didn't! So I only sort of played hookie. But I have to admit that it was one of the better decisions I have made in a long time. I ended up sleeping until around 9:30am - which in and of itself proves I didn't feel well because I am not someone to sleep past 9am ever. After I slept in I ended up waking up feeling almost like normal. I spent most of the morning being lazy, reading, journaling and just enjoying my quiet time. Around noon I ventured out to meet a friend for lunch (which was actually already scheduled) who I hadn't seen in quite some time, so it was really nice to be able to have catch up time and not to have to constantly being looking at my watch to rush back to the office. After a nice catch up time with my friend - I ended up heading back to the house to do laundry and even take a nap - something I rarely allow myself to do. I spent the rest of the afternoon reading, uploading some pictures, returning some emails, and just enjoying not having to be anywhere or do anything. While I know I can't play hookie nearly as often as I would like to do - just to have a break from the real world or at least the real world of my job. I must say that it really allowed me some much needed down time to just process life over the past few weeks. I also must add that I actually did do some work yesterday from home since I had my laptop, so I guess I didn't completely play hookie altogether. While I can't encourage you to play hookie from work - I will encourage you to just take an unplanned day of just downtime, you might just be surprised how good it will be for you.

So I am sure some of you are wondering what the heck by the title. Well one of my 8th graders, Becca, and her brother and sisters have set out on a journey around the world in a years time. If you read the Dallas Morning News you probably saw the story on the front page yesterday (Sunday 8/2). It is kind of crazy but a really cool idea - they are going to learn a lot and see some amazing things in the next year, and I know that none of them will come home the same kids that they left as. They are going to visit 6 of the 7 continents and a total of about 35 countries (if I can count correctly). Please be praying for Becca, her siblings, and her mom as they just started their journey a few days ago.



If you want to follow their journey or just read more about it - their website is...

http://www.ourworldschool.com/

This week was completely crazy but not all bad craziness. Work was just really busy with Stephanie (allocator) and Keisha (planner) both moving off the team this week and Mark (new planner) and Kathryn (new allocator) moving on to the team. I am sad to see both of them gone but excited for them as they move on to the next step in their careers - both good moves for them and they will do great. On top of that we had Line Review for Holiday and surprisingly for the 1st time in 6 Line Reviews on this team someone actually thought about looking at all the paperwork that I did for the meeting - it made me so very happy. Friday was our Season Kickoff Meeting for Summer/Transition 2010 - yes I am aware that we are just finishing up Summer 2009 but that is how far out I have to work - so if you wonder why I get confused on the dates sometimes that is why. As if I didn't have enough to do at work these days, I am co-captain for my entity for the United Way Campaign at work. JCPenney is one of the biggest supporters of the United Way in the DFW area so it is a huge job and a lot of added work - I don't mind doing it. In fact I actually enjoy the change of pace from my normal everyday job and it means I get to interact with people more not inside my company but outside as well. If you know of any good places that I should hit up to donate gift cards or prizes to the cause let me know.

Besides work this week the most exciting news I have already written about which is that I am moving out of the parents house on Aug 22nd. While I have a few mixed emotions about moving out - I am really very excited about the whole thing. I am sad to be leaving my dad b/c he spoils me rotten and treats me like a Princess - there is just something about coming home to a meal that you didn't pay for or cook and then Saturday morning waking up to breakfast. He does tons of other things for me along the way that I will miss but that will be a blog in and of itself before the move. I will of course probably miss Maverick the most - I have enjoyed having my dog again - I don't think dad is going to let Maverick make the move but oh well. I will still have to stop by and see him on a weekly basis and have dad bring him to see me like we use to. Oh the one super low point of the week was that I had to be an adult and spend a ton of money on my cars "Goldie's" breaks. Granted this was the first real expense she has caused me in the four years I have had her so I am thankful to her for that, but it really stinks to be an adult and have to spend money on my car.

The week came to an end with a house warming celebration for Jessi, Abby & Ginger - their house is so cute and it was fun to hang out with everyone. Saturday night was a birthday celebration for Brooke - Happy Birthday Brooke! That is pretty much the past week in a nut shell - nothing to earth shattering, thankfully I am glad my life seems to look like it might be getting back to normal soon. Although I am not sure it was really normal to begin with so may-be normal for me.

So it is official I am moving out of the Parents house – I made the final decision yesterday once I figured out how long it will actually take me to get to my office in the mornings. Thanks to Erin’s great idea I spent the night over there and then made the actual drive to work, so that I helped ease my fears about a really long commute to the office. Thankfully the drive only took 30 minutes and for most of the test drive I actually drove the speed limit – I know that is a shocker in and of itself.

This week was a pretty typical week, except that I am pretty sure I have found a place to live. More to come on that soon once it is 100% official. Which is really exciting considering I just completed my 18th week of living at home. It hasn't been to terrible but I am so ready to have my own space again.

The week started with mom being in town on Sunday night - so I got to hang out with her for a little while which is always fun and good since I hadn't seen her since the family lake weekend in June. The only other fun thing I got to do this week was celebrate Mindy & Tara's birthday on Monday night - which was a lot of fun to hang out with them and other friends at Knox Street. The rest of the week was all about work b/c this coming week we have our holiday line review and season kickoff meeting for summer 2010. I know that doesn't really mean anything to any of you but just know that it means a ton of work for me and most of which no one even looks at all the paper work and analysis that I have to do for these meetings. Not that I really mind doing the work I just wish that the work wasn't completely useless or a waste of time especially since I didn't get to leave work before 8pm most of the week. Not to mention it is weeks like this that stresses my entire team out more than normal and makes it really hard for all of us. Thankfully line review is Wednesday of this coming week and then we wont have another one until October I think and hopefully by then I will doing something different b/c I am not sure I can survive another line review on my current team. Okay enough complaining/venting about work b/c I am know I am just suppose to be thankful to have a job right now and please don't get me wrong I am so thankful to have a job especially when I know that there are a ton of people who need jobs.

Friday afternoon I headed to the lake to meet up with my family - I was really excited b/c Whitney and Rob (Whitney's boyfriend) drove down from Arkansas for the weekend. It was a fun little surprise especially since I didn't expect to see Whitney until the first weekend in October. Even though the lake was to low to get the boat or the jet ski's out we all still just had fun hanging out around the house and in the pool. It was a great way to end the a crazy week with a relaxing weekend at the lake with family.

So as week 17 comes to an end it is a little hard to believe that I moved in with the rents 17 weeks ago – kind of crazy. This week wasn’t too bad, so that is something to be really thankful because sometimes after they are gone for a week their first week back in the house is rough on all of us. I think the fact that I lost my mind and agreed to go to the midnight showing of Harry Potter on Tuesday night had a lot to do with it. The movie was really good and I am glad I saw it even at the midnight showing – it was actually kind of fun to be out in the ciaos of North Park mall. The movie wasn’t over until after 3am – yikes that meant that I only managed to get around 2 hours of sleep before I had a full day of work with a couple of big meetings. Thankfully I survived the meetings and stayed awake but by the end of the afternoon I was crashing – so I got about a 40min nap before I have community group and a student ministry dinner which ended with my first snow cone of the season. I love snow cones – there really should be more snow cones around here – hints another good thing about living up in the suburbs. Besides the power randomly going off on Thursday night for a couple of hours on our entire block – nothing else really exciting happened. Sorry this week was so boring of an update.

"This is the song that never ends, it goes on and on my friends, some people started singing not knowing what it was and they'll continue singing it forever just because it is the song that never ends..."

Okay now that I have you all singing the song that never ends let me explain. This song randomly popped into my head this afternoon and as I started thinking about it I realized that it kind of describes my life right now in a humorous sort of way. I have found myself continuing to learn the same lessons over and over probably because I continue to make the same decisions/mistakes over and over - each time I really do learn the lesson for a short while but then I quickly forget - I think you get the picture. I think most weeks God looks at me and has to laugh at how dense/stubborn I really am when it comes to living my life. I know on more than one occasion God has given me plenty of warning signs and better options but yet I still insist on living life on my terms. Very thankfully I do get it on the big things in life and I realize that God's plan is so much better than my plan but it is the little daily things that I get caught up in doing it my way. I have recently been really convicted about how I am not being completely obedient because I am still trying to live my life on my terms on a daily basis with the "little daily things" and not God's terms. The verse in Matt 6:23-25 has been something that has been running in my head lately "No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, of he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money." While money isn't my issue and something I thankfully don't struggle with being in control and lack of trust is. I know that in order to stop living a life that is like the "song that never ends" I must be someone who is willing to change and someone who will submit and be obedient to God even in the little daily things of life and I know that in order to do this I need to first yield to myself and my ways for my life - much easier said that done for me. But it is something I am working on and each day it does get a little easier. So hopefully I will soon live a life that doesn't represent the song that never ends because of the daily decisions and choices I make.

My question to you is, do you have any area of your life big or small that you are singing the song that never ends? And if so are you sick of being on repeat yet?

This week was pretty uneventful compared to the past few weeks which were full of lots of fun traveling. Dad and Marsha left to go out of town on Monday and I didn't get back in town until really early in the morning on Monday - so since I had the big house all to myself it made for a super quiet week (especially since as I type this I hear my dad and Marsha going back and forth at each other over something being out of place). I have to say though that I did enjoy just having my own space and not having to worry about whose space I was invading or what I was doing wrong. I also enjoyed being able to cook - who knew I missed cooking so much - crazy I know. Work overall was a pretty typical week - Lesa wasn't to crazy and we all managed to survive the week without making her to mad at any of us. The definite low point of the week was my doctors appointment where I was informed that I had four more weeks in my boot and if it isn't healed after that then I get a hard cast for at least 3 weeks. Needless to say I was really bummed out because I had in my mind that I was only in the boot for a week or two more - wrong! The high point of the week was having some down time and being able to connect with several friends that I hadn't seen in a while, which is always fun and much needed. The week came to a close by heading out to Marisa's moms lake house with several other girls - granted it meant another weekend out of Dallas but so much fun. Sorry week 16 was a pretty boring update - maybe week 17 (wow I have I been with the rents for 17 weeks) will be a little more exciting.

It is such the little things in life that me happy, most of the time anyways. One of my simple little joys in life right now is being able to cook. Okay so I realize some of you are laughing at me but I use to be able to cook dinner every night of the week if I wanted – now that is not the case I am lucky if I am able to cook one night a month. One of the downsides of living at home is that even though there is an amazing kitchen I am not allowed to use it and for that matter no one is allowed to use it and if you do have to use it you better watch out b/c you are going to hear about it for weeks on end from my step mother. So since they are out of town this week I have enjoyed cooking in the kitchen. I didn’t make anything to fancy or to messy – the most fun thing I made was fruit salsa and homemade cinnamon tortilla chips for breakfast club at work. I know it is sad that this brings me so much joy but it really does.

So only 47 hours of this past week was actually spent on the ground in Dallas and the 47 hours are from wheels down to wheels up. Brooke and I landed at Love Field a little after 4:30pm on Tuesday from Seattle and we took off a little before 3:30pm on Thursday for Colorado. The 47 hours that were actually spent on the ground are a complete blur to say the least between working, laundry, unpacking, repacking, community group or a counseling session as we all ended up calling it – nothing bad just some big life changing decisions to process. So a great 47 hours just not a lot of time for sleep in there – oh well I can sleep when I am dead.

On Thursday afternoon after mine and Brooke’s quick 47 hour stop over in Dallas we were off to Colorado with 17 of our friends for the long 4th of July weekend. We left Love Field a little before 3:30pm and had a stop over in OKC for what we thought was only 30mins – well let’s just say that 30mins turned into around 3 hours of hanging out in the OKC airport thanks to bad weather in Denver, a fuel leak on our plane that they couldn’t find, and a strange package left in the Denver airport that closed the airport. Thankfully Brooke and I all took this in stride – as did our friends even poor Kelly who was waiting for us to arrive in hanging out in the Denver airport. Mind you Brooke and I are texting Kelly and Emily (who is having her own plane issues in Dallas) the exact same thing at the exact same time while we are sitting next to each other on the plane – we didn’t think. Once we finally made it to Denver we didn’t have any problems and we were all delirious at this point – I am sure Luke, Chris, and Jason all thought Brooke, Emily, and I were a little crazy as we took pictures of each person that arrived for our car. We finally all joined the rest of our group a little after 1am at our house in Breckenridge and pretty much all fell right asleep – sort of. Friday was a full day of hiking (yes the boot is 4 wheel drive approved – sort of) in the Royal Gorge, white water rafting (yes I fell out of the boat and floated in the river for a little while – the one thing I wasn’t suppose to do), relaxing in the hot tub, a yummy homemade dinner (thanks Jessi), and lots of late night laughs with the girls. Saturday the actual 4th of July was a really relaxing day – we slept in, hung out on our amazing front porch, went into Breckenridge to shop, had a cookout, and watched some amazing fireworks. Sunday we were up early b/c we wanted to attend Watermark Denver’s 1st Sunday morning service so that meant we had to drive back to Denver. I am so glad that we were able to attend their 1st Sunday morning service though – so worth it and so fun to be reminded of where we started out as Watermark. Sunday afternoon was spent at a Rockies game and then off to the airport to hurry up and wait for most everyone’s flights to be delayed. Thankfully, mine, Erin, Brooke, and Chris flight were all only delayed about an hour b/c everyone else didn’t end up getting home until around 4am. It was amazing trip, with amazing people, and great weather – can’t wait to go back.

This past Friday I had the chance to head up to Seattle with three good friends, Brooke, Amit & Allen. I have to admit this trip was a little bitter sweet by the time the trip came around b/c I was suppose to go to run a 1/2 marathon, but God had other plans for me that meant I was only to be an encourager and cheerleader on this trip. We all headed up on Friday morning to Seattle - we had a great time exploring the cities famous Pike's Market and the Space Needle before meeting up with my cousin Kylie, her husband John and their son Will for an amazing dinner. Needless to say Will (who is almost 2 yrs old) provided entertainment for all of us and kept us all laughing for the entire meal.

Saturday morning started way early - 4:45am in order to get Amit & Brooke to the starting line in time for the start of their half marathon. Thankfully God had definitely changed my heart b/c while I was really sad about not running alongside them - I was also excited about my role on the sidelines and being able to cheer/encourage them on while they were running the streets of Seattle. Allen and I had a lot of fun racing around the city that neither of us knew trying to find Brooke and Amit while they were running. Amit and Brooke both did an amazing job! After the race was over Allen stayed in Seattle to hang out with his friend Tom, while I took Amit and Brooke back to rest and shower before we headed back to explore Seattle more. After everyone was somewhat rested we took the ferry back over into Seattle where we went on an Underground Tour of the city. Who knew that Seattle was a city of some much history where the city is actually built on top of the old city but yet the old city still exists just on the 1st level. I have to say it was actually a really neat tour and I learned a lot about the city of Seattle. Saturday night came to an end with dinner at a famous seafood resturant called Ivans - it was really good.

Sunday morning was another early morning as the four of us decided to head to Mars Hill Church in Seattle (a church similar to Watermark only in Seattle). Even though we had to get up really early b/c we had to take a ferry in order to get church, none of us seemed to care though b/c how often do you have to take a ferry to get to church? They really do live a completely different life up there, they are more laid back, not in so much of a hurry to get from one place to another, and not near as stressed as people in Dallas. After church we ate lunch with the guys for the last time before we went our seperate ways as Allen had to catch a late afternoon flight back to Dallas and Amit was taking him to the airport. Brooke and I caught the ferry back to Port Orchard (where my cousin's live) and met up with them for a trip to the beach. While the beach had sand it wasn't your typical beach b/c it is surrounded by mountains and the water is less than 50 degrees most of the year, but the beach was still really beautiful and we had a lot of fun and really relaxing. Will learned to fly a kite, which was so cute to watch.

Monday was another early morning as Brooke and I headed up to Victoria Canada via another ferry. I had been to Victoria about 12 years earlier with my dad but was really excited to go back. Victoria is a beautiful city where the people are really nice. Brooke and I spent most of the morning just walking around and exploring the city - mainly just relaxing and enjoying the beautiful city. We spent the afternoon on a whale watching trip - which was probably the most amazing thing I have ever done or at least in the top 5 for syre. The trip will get it's own blog to come later.

That is the Seattle trip in a nutshell - needless to say it was an amazing trip with great friends.

So I find myself slacking once again on this whole blogging thing – sorry about that I promise to try and get back into. I wish I had some good excuse for not doing it lately but I just haven’t gotten around to it – in fact I think I have actually avoided it b/c that would mean that I would have to actually stop and think about life the past few weeks. Not that anything major good or bad has happened in life but I have kind of just stopped processing life right now – not good I know!

Anyways, let’s get to the important stuff the weekly updates.

Week 13 was a great week b/c the bear as I refer to her but my boss was on vacation in Maui. Granted she was on the crack berry 24/7 but at least she wasn’t in the office. Since she wasn’t in the office my whole entire team was in great spirits all week and we actually got to have lunch away from our desks. This week I also got the privilege to celebrate to great guy’s birthdays – my dad’s birthday was on Wednesday the 17th and his brother my Uncle Jimmy’s birthday was on Thursday the 18th. Happy Birthday Guys! The only low point in the week was that the monster felt the need to rearrange my dresser draws – really not that big of a deal just more annoying and invasion of my personal space yet again. The week definitely ended on a high note as I headed to Granbury to my family lake house on my mom’s side. We had a great time just hanging out as a family and just being in the sun.

“Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” Psalms 46:10

This is one of the many verses I have been clinging to lately in life as I have been forced to slow down literally with the boot and all on my foot. I wish I could say that I have embraced this time in my life, but I have fought it the whole way and probably in some ways still am. However, I have to admit that I am very thankful for this time in my life – okay you can all pick yourself up off the floor now. While I would much rather not be in a boot and being forced to slow down right now – last night threw the course of a couple of amazing conversations and a friends CR inventory I realized that if I hadn’t been forced to slow down I probably wouldn’t have realized how much I’ve changed and grown for the better in the past two years. I know I defiantly needed to see that right now in order to continue to grow because I have felt a lot lately like I am still struggling with the same temptations and stuck in the same old patterns that I can never seem to get out of, which is so frustrating! While I still have the same old insecurities – it has been neat to have the time to be able to reflect on how I am not that same person anymore. Now I realize I still am a “work in progress” it was neat to be able to see how God has really changed my heart and how He is still continuing to change my heart even today. Needless to say I am learning a lot right now – I am interested to see what the rest of my slowed down time while in my boot has in store for me. I think I might try and stop fighting having to slow down so hard and just go along for the ride and see what is in store, since I don't really have a choice anyways.

This week was pretty uneventful as far as life with the rents go b/c they went out of town on Tuesday morning, which made for a nice stress free week for me. Now granted I was left with a list of chores I was suppose to complete every day – needless to say that didn’t happen – more so b/c my dad told me just to ignore the list that Marsha left for me.

I did happen to receive my new “fashion” accessory this week though – the boot. So now I am sporting a black boot in hopes that it will allow my foot/ankle to heal correctly and quickly. I have to admit the boot isn’t that bad, it could be much worse. I think the biggest challenge with the boot was just learning to walk in it – silly I know but true and trying to find things I can wear with the boot – so far I have just managed to be able to sport dresses and skirts b/c I don’t have any pants that will go over the boot. Oh well looks like a good excuse to get a few cute new dresses.

My dad’s house did manage to loose power on Thursday morning early during the storms, so I had to get ready for work without power – let me tell you that made for an interesting morning but somehow I managed to make it to work, thanks to Stephanie who picked me up for work since no power means my car was stuck in the garage. Sadly my dad’s house was one of the many houses that didn’t get power again until over the weekend. Thankfully I have great friends who let me crash at their place – Hotel Vistadale as I am calling it these days. I actually really enjoyed getting to hang out with Laura and Kristie and just being able to catch up not to mention it was nice just to have people around b/c even though I enjoy it when dad and Marsha travel the big house does get pretty lonely.

The week ended with a fun trip out to Marisa’s uncle’s lake house with the girls and a Rangers game on Saturday night. I am excited that summer fun is finally here, even though I can’t participate in all the normal summer fun, thanks to the boot – I am not going to allow the boot to keep me down.

Here are a few fun pics from the weekend…

So I realize I have been really bad about blogging lately especially about my weekly updates on living with the rents. So I am going to try and recap the past few weeks in one post and then jump back into regular post this week.

Week 8 was easy when it comes to living with the rents b/c I was in Brazil - which was a completely amazing week. Brazil will get it's own post sometime soon as I am still processing the trip.

Week 9 was a harder week. As if coming back to the US - Dallas from Brazil isn't hard enough on it's own. I decided that 5 days after returning to the US I needed to get on another flight to head to Las Vegas to meet up with my family to celebrate my younger sister, Whitney's, 21st birthday. Not to mention I was doing all of this on crutches - did I tell you I don't like crutches? I have to admit though Vegas ended up being fun after I blocked out all the craziness that is Vegas it was a good time to just hang out and be around my family, even in Vegas. I also was able to get to see Whitney and Rob, her boyfriend, interact more - which was fun to see and get to know him a little better. Somehow I was even able to cook one meal this week - I think it had a lot to do with the fact that my dad felt sorry for me b/c I was on crutches and he could tell I missed Brazil terribly even if he didn't understand why I missed it - so he made Marsha leave me alone when I came home one day and said I just wanted to cook a meal. I can say that I would not have made it threw this week had it not been for all the people I went to Brazil with - just our little conversations really helped make this week bearable.

Week 10 - WOW! If I thought week 9 was tough I hadn't really understood tough and hard until I survived this week - I did survive somehow, it wasn't on my own strength that is for sure. Monday was super easy - I really just slept a lot and laid by the pool. However, Tuesday morning I woke up with this feeling that I just didn't want to go to work but thankfully a couple of friends told me that I had to go - I now know when I have those feeling there is usually a reason and may-be I should just stay home. By 9am I was so frustrated with my boss and just our systems and my job that I thought I would lose it - I probably would have quit if Tim hadn't given our Brazil team the stupid two week rule. Short version of the week was that everything that I had done for the past 2-3months was going to be erased b/c of a system issue and needed to be redone in lesson than a week - seriously yikes!!! On top of work drama the monster showed her face again this week - in stupid little ways that I did my best to ignore. I think the final blow for this week came on Thursday when I went to physical therapy where they told me that something was seriously wrong with my foot/ankle and that I had to get an MRI ASAP! I think up until this point I had held a hope that I might actually be able to run Seattle at the end of the month - needless to say I was wrong. God really humbled me in that moment in lots of ways - 1st being I realized I had once again put running ahead of Him and 2ndly I was being super prideful. All in all a super tough, convicting week, but probably a week I will look back at some point and be thankful for all the lessons I learned.

Week 11 started off great b/c I got to hang out with my 7th grade girls and celebrate their completion of 7th grade with a pool party - oh so much fun. And then I was able to reunite with my Brazil team and Brazil team 2 over dinner and just laugh and hang out and even farkle a little bit. Poor Ricky lost the farkle and had to "kiss" Larissa's dog. Unfortunately some of week 10's work drama spilled over into week 11 but there wasn't much I could do about it - somehow I managed to pull of a small miracle and get almost everything reset up in the system before the deadline - I didn't get it all done but I got enough done. The other random high and low lights from week 11 are not having an air conditioner - the air went out upstairs at the house - seriously right as it gets into the upper 90's the air goes out, so I didn't have AC for a good part of the week. Thankfully Laura let me stay at Hotel Vistadale for a night to help get me out of my misery. I also was finally able to get an MRI this week and get the results, which showed a hairline fracture in my foot. So it was a good news bad news sort of deal....I finally knew what exactly was wrong with my foot but it wasn't the best news but considering the fall I took it could have been so much worse - so I am learning to take it and use whatever good comes from it.

Sorry for such a long post....but I will work on being more consistent.

Some of you have had the privilege of meeting my puppy aka my pride and joy - Maverick and for those of you who haven't well this is Maverick. He was born in Germany but he got to Texas as soon as he could and has lived here for the past five years. While he is actually really big, he thinks he is a lap puppy and he is scared of his own tail - actually really funny to watch. The first summer we had Maverick I was eating Blue Bell Ice Cream (for all you none Texas people, Blue Bell is a Texas Ice Cream that is amazing - if you ever come to Texas you have to try it) and he was just being his typical nosey self, so I decided to let him lick the bowl and have a little taste of ice cream. It was love at first taste for him, needless to say he was hooked. He soon learned that if he waited patiently he could have a little taste of Blue Bell. Once we realized he loved it so much we started giving it to him on his birthday and for Christmas - basically we put a little extra in our bowls and allowed him to eat it out of the bowl. Well, somewhere along the way he became a smart puppy and learned that any time a certain type of bowl came out of the cabinet that it meant someone was going to be having Blue Bell, so he would sit around, watch and wait for his turn because he knew no one would refuse him. So I have to admit I created a monster with one little simple taste of Blue Bell. However, I must admit he has even gotten worse. My dad bought the first thing of Blue Bell for the summer over Memorial Day weekend and Maverick was laying in the other room and heard the tub of Blue Bell come out of the freezer and came running from clear across the house - he immediately sat right beside the counter and just stared wondering if this would be the time that some might actually give him his own entire bowl.....I will let the pictures speak for themselves. Needless to say I have a Blue Bell Monster on my hands.

Okay so I promised a post about Brazil and this one is semi related to Brazil, so it will have to do for now. As I think many of you are aware I fell in Brazil from the second level of the boat in Brazil down the to the 1st level – basically I just slipped and missed an entire flight of stairs except that the right side of my body hit every step on the way down – needless to say I looked like I had lost a pretty bad fight and I did just with the boat. It could have been tons worse so with the exception of many bruises and scratches and a hurt foot/ankle I am okay. Most of the bruises and scratches have healed since the fall so I don’t look so beat up anymore – thankfully. But the foot/ankle is taking its sweet little time to heal – if you know me at all you know this is very hard for me, but God is teaching me a lot thru this for starters how to be humble and how to allow people to serve me. Thankfully due to a pretty high pain tolerance and good meds the injury didn’t slow me down to much in Brazil – I even perfected a nice little hop step so that I could get around because I can put some weight on the front part of my toes but defiantly not on the back of my foot without a sharp shooting pain. Once I returned from Brazil I went to the doctor where thankfully there was nothing broken but I was still put on crutches for a week. Getting around on crutches is not fun at all – here is where the love hate part of the story actually comes into play. Every where I went people could hear me coming, not to mention just getting around on crutches makes you really tired and your arms really sore, actually adding a few new bruises to my body. Going to work was really tough b/c in case you aren’t aware my office building is huge and there isn’t a door anywhere close to my desk so it took every ounce of me just to get from my car to my desk on a daily basis. Have you ever tried to carry something when you are on crutches – let me save you the time don’t! Just go back to high school and carry everything in your backpack b/c that is the only way you can carry anything – trust me I tried. My boss didn’t seem to care if we had a meeting clear across the building I got to suck it up and hop all the way over there and back – needless to say I was pretty much exhausted at the end of every single day. I can’t work out – mind you that I have a race in a month from today (I am still determined to try and run it thought). Not to mention I am one of those crazy people that actually loves to workout .All that to say being injured STINKS and so does being on crutches!

Okay so now for the love part of this story – trust me this was totally a God thing b/c I wouldn’t have been able to have a positive attitude about this any other way. A ton of people have asked me in the last week what happened to my foot/ankle, which has allowed me to tell them that I fell on a boat in Brazil. Which has led to the question what was I doing in Brazil, so I have been able to tell them that I was on a mission trip to Brazil. For some people that has put an end the conversation right there, with well I hope your foot/ankle gets better, which is fine. However, more often than not I have been able to share small parts of the trip with complete strangers and share parts of my testimony and the gospel which as been really cool. It hit me last night that over the past 10 days I have been able at least once or twice a day share with complete strangers about Brazil – I realize some of you are saying that there are strangers that know more about my trip than you do but your stories will come. Please don’t get me wrong I am not thankful to be hurt by any means but I am thankful that God has been able to use me even in spite of me to share small glimpse of Himself with complete strangers. It has been a nice and even more humbling reminder of how God can use me on a daily basis in the lives of those around me. And I don’t even have the be hurt to be used either – although I don’t think I would have seen it as clearly if it has been under different circumstances. My question for you today is how can God use you today in the lives of those people around you?

Okay so 1st off sorry I haven't posted any fun Brazil stories or anything about Brazil yet but I am still processing it - I promise to try and post at least a couple of fun stories after Vegas this weekend.

Now on to the main reason for this post - today is Middle People Day! I know you are all like what the heck is middle people day or you're thinking I've lost my mind. Middle People Day is a day to celebrate all of us middle people in the working world.....there is Bosses Day, there is Administrative Professionals Day but there isn't a day for the rest of us. So one of my teammates at work decided that we needed to change that - so we decided that today is our day - we are celebrating us and all our hard work! We did all the things for each other that we do on Bosses Day and Admin's Day. So if you are a middle person in the working world I invite you to celebrate you and all the other middle people around you. And if you aren't a middle person then I invite you to celebrate all the middle people you work with - I promise you they will greatly appreciate it. So have fun celebrating all the middle people out there!

Click here to view these pictures larger

Its crazy think that tomorrow morning I am leaving on a plane for the Amazon Jungle with 17 other people who I am now proud to call my friends. We will all be in the jungle for about a week and I am so excited to return to Brazil, as this will be my third trip, but I am even more excited to be able to watch my new friends experience all of this for the very first time. I know God has amazing things in store for all of us, and I promise to share all the stories once I return – actually I am sure you will be telling me to stop talking about Brazil.

I ask that you please keep me and the entire team in your prayers over the next couple of weeks. Here is a prayer calendar, so that you can know how to specifically be praying for us each day of the trip.


There is also blog that will be updated daily with updated about how the trip is going, so feel free to follow along. http://www.watermarkinbrazil.blogspot.com/

Oh one more thing pray that my team at work doesn't kill Bailey the Beta - while I am in Brazil. All they have to do is feed him and I even posted it to their calendar's daily

This week has been crazy – not so much because of living with the rents but more just because there has been a lot of stuff to get done for Brazil. I think the most stressful part of the week for me was that I couldn’t start packing for Brazil until Thursday night b/c heaven forbid the house be shown and my Brazil stuff is in neat stacks in my room with a note saying leaving the country sorry for the stacks of clothes – whatever! The house ended up not being shown this week since Monday night so I could have started packing on Tuesday but I just obeyed the orders I was given and needless to say packing stresses me out anyways but packing for Brazil even more so. I know it will come together b/c as I type this I am still not ready to get on a plane to leave. Nothing super exciting to report this week – you can be praying for my dad while I am in Brazil b/c he is less than thrilled that I am returning to the Amazon jungle. I know part of it is just his over protective nature, but the bigger issue at hand is he doesn’t understand why in the world I want to go down there since he is not a believer. In the past 24hrs he has expressed many times that he is less than thrilled about my trip, so just pray for him and that his negative attitude won’t get me down. Sorry for the short entry about this week – I know there was more that happened than just packing for Brazil, but that is honestly all I can think about now. I promise to make up for the short entry in the coming weeks as I will be sharing my Brazil stories.

This past weekends was one of those weekends that I was actually more stressed when the clock said 5pm on Friday afternoon because I knew it meant that it was time for the crazy times to begin. Friday after work I ran a few errands to get stuff done for Brazil and after that I went to dinner with three of my girlfriends (Amy, Mindy, & Tara) at the Porch. We had a great dinner followed by drinks - it was nice to just get to hang out and chill with some good friends who I haven't spent a lot of time with lately. I will be the first to admit that I stayed out a little to late on Friday night especially since I knew my alarm clock was going off at 6:30am on a Saturday. I had to pack for my quick surprise trip to Wichita Falls and meet Brooke for a 5 miles run at 7:30am. Mine and Brooke's run was one of the better ones we have had in a while - granted it was extremely humid but it was really fun and we both felt really good the whole time we were running - it's a step in the right direction considering the past couple of runs hadn't been good ones. I finished my run with Brooke just in time to make it to event number two of my jam packed morning - donation shopping at Target with some Brazil people for VBS supplies. We had a good time and it was nice to feel like we had most everything we needed for VBS once we left Target. My third event of the morning was suppose to be my Saturday morning weights class with Emily - which I sadly skipped out on but I need to get Whitney's birthday present and finish packing for WF and get on the road before the weather got bad. As if this weekend wasn't busy enough with it being the weekend before I leave for Brazil - I decided to fit in a quick trip to WF in on Saturday for Natalie's debutante ball and to see my family before I leave for Brazil next weekend. Natalie was a beautiful debutante, and I was really glad I got to be there. My old next door neighbor from growing up, Payton - even made the royal court which was a fun surprise too. After the debutante presentation mom and I found out that Meredith's dog Millie, had gone missing - so we went to help look for her in our nice clothes, needless to say I am sure we looked really funny walking around yelling for Millie. (thankfully they finally found her late Sunday night) After our nice dinner - we were all really tired so we just opted to go home and watch a movie - needless to say it is well after midnight at this point, so it had been a really long day. Sunday was just as crazy with breakfast with Mammaw & Poppi before I headed back to Dallas for our last Brazil training meeting. All afternoon I had my Brazil training meeting, which wrapped up just in time for me to review over my little girls bible study lesson. The lesson was over "Salt & Light" and had lead to some great discussions in the past couple weeks - it is really neat to see how much they have grown in the last few months. Stacy and I received two new additions to our group this week, but one of them wont be joining us until the fall since she is a transfer to from another group. We are really excited to have Liza and Morgan - our group has more than doubled since we have started it is kind of crazy but lots of fun! Tonight my little girls served me in a huge way by making bracelets for my Brazil trip - they made over 100 bracelets in just an hour. This weekend was not the weekend I had planned for it to be on Friday morning because I had planned to start packing and gearing up for Brazil, but it ended up being a great weekend even if I am exhausted and not any closer to being ready for Brazil, but I know it will all come together - it always does even if it means a little less sleep. But I am thankful for every minute of this weekend especially getting to spend time with family and friends before Brazil.

So it is really hard to believe that I have lived at home for six weeks. It is even more impressive that all four of us (me, dad, Maverick, and Marsha) have lived together for six weeks and no one has been seriously hurt.

Week six wasn't actually that bad I think because I really wasn't home at all and when I was home Marsha was in their bedroom so the interaction between us was really limited. They had three house showings this week, so that meant I had to search for pretty much everything in my room and my bed was remade every day. She even added a new blanket and pillows, so I have to try and remember a new way of making it - I really just want my bed and stuff to be left alone and then we wouldn't have near as many issues but I am trying to just continually bite my tongue but I am afraid one day I am just going to snap. I just try to continually remind myself that my mother taught me that if I don't have something nice to say then I am not to say anything at all - I am trying to live by that rule, especially when it comes to Marsha.

I had a nice surprise this week - I got to go to dinner with just dad and hang out. We didn't go anywhere special but it was nice just to have dad time because I feel like since I have moved in - I don't get dad time as much anymore. Not sure why that is but I realized I really do miss it so I am going to try and make an effort to have more dad time like I did before I moved.

This week was one of the off weeks at boot camp, which meant no super early mornings for me - so sleeping in was really nice! I love boot camp but it is defiantly a love hate relationship. I love the work out and I love the feeling after it is over but I hate getting up at 5am and I hate the butt kicking while it is going on.

Week six wasn't really that exciting, except for the things I have already written about in the other post. No new leads on the living situation - hopefully something will come up soon.

Okay so I am not sure my life actually has come full circle today but it has come pretty close at least in respect to my careet at JCP. Today was just one of those crazy days where I am not sure why but I woke up with a weird feeling - note to myself for the future when I have those feelings just role over and go back to bed. Anyways on with the story. During my 1st meeting of the day I overheard bits and piece of a conversation between my boss and my big boss which just made my head start to spin, not in a bad way just kind of in a crazy I am not sure what I think type of way. Needless to say I overheard them talking about how they were promoting Sandra, my associate buyer. Congrats Sandra! But this meant a lot of added stress and work to my plate since I am the only other person who works closely with Sandra on woven tops. I am actually really excited about the opportunity and exposure but I am also very overwhelmed by it all too. Okay so I know you are wondering how my life has actually come full circle. Well the person that they have moved into Sandra's old position, is none other than my old boss Emily. Who I worked for when I first started at JCP. While Emily will not be my boss that is Lesa, I am having a really hard time wrapping my head around working with Emily but not working for Emily. I liked Emily well enough when she was my boss and so I am sure working with her will be great, but it is just going to take some time to adjust to all of this. Not to mention I think it is slightly weird that I am now working with someone as teammates who used to be my boss. Needless to say I am really going to miss Sandra and am a little scared about all the changes because oh yea they also promoted one of my team's allocators, so our old allocator is coming back to our team. It is just weird all the changes that are taking place within my team, but I guess that is what happens when you work on a top performing team. I am honestly not sure how these next few months are going to play out but they promise to be intersting to say the least. I just hope my head stops spinning from all of this soon, so that I can begin to process all the change that took place in less than an hour today.

Okay so I thought I would share something that is good about living in the suburbs for the time being. They have Market Street – so I realize most of you probably don’t have a clue what Market Street is but it is a great grocery store that is like Central Market but with Tom Thumb/Kroger pricing. Not to mention everyone who works there is extremely friendly and willing to help – they actually insist that they push your groceries to your car even if you only have a couple of bags. It is really clean and easy to find things in the store which just makes me so happy. What makes it even better is that it is only a couple blocks away from my dad’s house. Now if I could only do some real grocery shopping there then I could be in some real trouble or just have lots of fun depending on how you look at it – may-be the next time they go out of town and I am allowed to actually use the kitchen again I will actually go shopping and cook. But I would defiantly say that Market Street is one of my new loves for the moment and definitely a highlight of living in the suburbs.

This past week was really tough – I think because the week before Dad and Marsha were out of town so I had the entire house to myself and was able to settle into my own routine and not have to worry about being locked out of the house (yes I was locked out of the house again!). As if having them back in town and having to adjust to Marsha and her weird quirky requirements for me and my room wasn’t enough – the past week at the office was completely nuts. Anytime I have a line review life at the office is a little crazy but to add to this line review I didn’t receive my new dollars in the system until the day before line review which basically meant that even though my paperwork was complete it had to be completely redone the day before line review which is completely crazy since the paperwork takes at least four hours to complete without tweaks and changes. To make the week a little more challenging it was my week to be on Lesa’s short list – meaning no matter what I did it was wrong and she was going to let me know about it. Needless to say by Tuesday of last week I was completely beat down and exhausted, which is never a good thing when you aren’t half way through the week. Thankfully, I am apart of an amazing team and we all look out for each other and so they helped me out in whatever way possible – even if it was just giving me Parmesan Cheese to throw (inside joke) or bring me a Diet Coke for no reason at all. If it wasn’t for them keeping me calm and reminding me that our boss is just a bear at times I probably wouldn’t have a job this week, so I am very thankful for them.

As if that wasn’t enough to make it a tough week – yes there was more. I should have been a little more prepared for this next part since last week was just under three weeks away from Brazil I know that is when Satan starts to attack and needless to say He did and I wasn’t prepared. I think on top of having dad and Marsha back in town and a tough week at the office it was just enough to distract me and keep me busy so that my time in the word wasn’t what it should have been and I let Satan get a hold of me in the area’s of life where I am most vulnerable. Needless to say last week was a week where I felt completely alone in Dallas and had to question if this is where I am suppose to be – I think a big part of this has to do with that I am so far removed from everyone just by living up North and people don’t think I will drive South and they don’t want to drive North. For the record I will drive South I am not asking anyone to drive North – I know that isn’t far – so please don’t forget about me. The final blow for me came Thursday night when I found out something about a really close friend that shattered my trust. On a positive note I have since talked with this person and have forgiven them and am taking steps to start rebuilding the broken trust.

I am hoping this next week will not be as crazy or eventful, but only time will tell.