BSM halloween party

here is a group picture from our BSM halloween party this week.

by the way, in the previous post... our staff dressed up as the "black-eyed peas."

staff bonding...

here's a picture of our staff at our BSM halloween party. can you figure out who we are?

packing, painting and preparing for the move...

today was a very productive prep day for me. I completed the following:

• decided on a homeowners insurance policy
• lined up utilities for the new house (got out of a $150 deposit!)
• canceled utilities on the rent house
• transfered internet/tv account to the new house - and saved money!
• bought a refrigerator
• finished going through the rest of the boxes in the garage

also, meagan and hollye came over and packed up my kitchen and movies tonight while i continued to work on the furniture and boxes in the garage. they not only helped me be very productive, they kept me very entertained... which was a nice change to working at the house on my own.

tomorrow i do the walk-thru. my mom came up and susan is leaving work early to help me spot all the things that need to be fixed... and i'm very thankful for their willingness to help.

i close on thursday, move on friday... and melanie comes friday evening to help me start the "settling" process.

creatively thrifty

the money required to buy and furnish a house astounds me, which means that i must try to be creatively thrifty. so when my realtor, pam, asked if i'd like to have a daybed that they were trying to give away... i gladly accepted.

it's a nice daybed... but the color wasn't going to go with the rest of the house... so i'm in the middle of a project to make it match. here are pictures of the process:

the original white:

primed:

painted and pretty:

look... sod!

irrigation...

sprinklers!!!

a glimpse at what God's doing...

here is a video that we put together to show at our UNT BSM alumni reception today.

some house pictures

the appliances have been put in... the bathrooms are finished... the house is getting cleaned. we're 16 days away from my move-in date. here are some pictures i took with my phone tonight. more will come soon.

master bathroom:

here's the mirror in the guest bathroom:

pictures from the weekend...

here are some pictures from my weekend in nashville.

rachel and erin and their pregnant bellies:

erin and her son liam.

normal

i am writing this post from an airplane... about 30,000 feet in the air. this astounds me. and while this is anything but normal, this fact is not what this post is about. just wanted to fill you in on the random coolness i'm experiencing right now. i'm a techie... stuff like this makes me smile. it's totally worth the $10 fee to be able to say i checked my email and blogged from the sky! now if i could only get the guy in front of me to leave his seat-back in the upright position, all would be grand! (i've got long legs and a laptop in my lap... his consistent seat adjustments are getting annoying.)

i'm heading home from a great weekend in nashville visiting my college roommates and their families: erin & jeremy and rachel & brian.

this trip provided an opportunity to meet erin & jeremy's 10 month old son, liam, for the first time. it also allowed me to see erin & rachel's pregnant bellies.

it's amazing how much has changed since our belmont days. in the midst of marriages (theirs) and children (their's as well)... it was amazing how "normal" it was to be with them again. it had been over 4 years since i'd seen rachel and a few years since i'd seen erin, and yet we could pick up where we left off.

(the guy in front of me is still adjusting his seat. he can't make up his mind.)

it was fun to reminisce and talk about life and all that's going on. erin and i lived together for 4 years and we lived with rachel for 2 of those years, so you don't have to explain anything... there's something comforting about being around people who truly know you.

"normal' hasn't been a part of my vocabulary lately... so this weekend was refreshing and a nice break from all that i have going on right now.

i'll post pictures from my weekend when i have the chance to move them from my phone to the computer. ok, i'm going to sign off... we're encountering some turbulence and we should be starting our descent pretty soon.

i love technology!

Fall Preview... a "TRUE"tt blessing.

i took a few students to visit truett seminary in waco this week. it's extremely exciting when i have students who are pursuing a call in ministry and i get the opportunity to walk with them as they seek the Lord. while they were visiting classes, talking with professors and mixing with other prospective students... i worked on BSM stuff and had the opportunity to visit with some good friends. i spent time with 2 friends (katie and emily) who served as BSM interns at the same time i did.

coffee with katie lasted a couple hours and provided an opportunity for us both to catch up and unpack all that's been going on in life. i am so thankful for her friendship and i wish that denton and waco were a little closer together so we could sit face to face more often. she's such a blessing.

after lunch, emily and i went to the parking garage starbucks (yes, they have a starbucks and a chili's too in their parking garage) to catch up. i so enjoyed hearing about all she's learning in her 1st semester in seminary... and was reminded how glad i am that i'm finished with school! (well, at least for a while).

i thank God for community and an chance to talk with girls who understand my life and ministry. such a blessing.

does God exist?

an unplanned break.

on sept. 28, 2009 @ 11:40 pm, i tweeted: "tonight, i attempted to write for the 1st time since july. finally felt like i had something to say. the piano felt like home again."

if you've spent any amount of time reading the things i write here, you know (at least) the following things about me: i'm analytical. i'm in ministry. i've had a rough few years.

one thing i'm not - is emotional. i journal, but not in ways that i think most people do. my analytical nature takes over there too... and rarely do emotion and feelings ever grace the page.

my emotions get sorted out through music. when i write, i wrestle with my heart... and my head is not invited.

in the midst of the mess that i found myself in this past year, i've realized that i've been afraid to let myself work through the feelings i've had. it's been easier to ignore them. in fact, until this past thursday, my guitar hadn't made it out of it's case since july.

in the midst of neglecting my emotions and feelings, a favorite part of my life was left collecting dust in my living room.

finally this past week. i felt like i was ready to step on the field and tackle what's been going on. i knew there were things that needed to be said... and i finally allowed myself to say them.

on monday night, i wrote for the first time since july. while it was hard. the result was real, raw and revealing. maybe one day i'll share it here, but i doubt it. i write to work through life and to worship my God... and that's all the audience i need.

i try to be open and honest here, but as i wrote in a recent post... i believe that boundaries are a healthy part of life, and this online revealing of learned lessons needs to be filtered as well.

thank you for reading. i pray that through writing about what i'm learning, i always point you to the cross of Jesus. it's through his grace and mercy alone that i have something worth writing and sharing.

aloft

here are some pictures from my time at the aloft hotel a few weekends ago. i have some hospitality management students and they made me promise to take pictures of the hotel. (sorry that the pictures aren't the best quality. they are the product of the camera phone.)