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Sad, Sassy and Surprised in September

September 29, 2023 by Lauren 8 Comments

This month was a roller coaster.  And I’m not just talking about Baylor Football!  A wide range of emotions and experiences have both buoyed my spirits and challenged my joy. The good, the bad and the ugly – you might say.  I’ll just call it September. 

 

Sad in September

 

I’ll just go ahead and start with my aforementioned Baylor Bears.  My husband and I bought season tickets this year since our Baby Bear is a Freshman.  And the start to the season has been a train wreck.  I hate to say that since I bleed green and gold but we lost our first game when we were a 3-4 touchdown favorite.  We lost the 2nd game, but at least they were a ranked team.  We won the third, beating the Long Island University Sharks (who?), but not as handily as we should have.  And last week we gave away our last Big 12 match up with the University of Texas.  I’ll never give up my fan card, but it’s a little tough to proudly display at the moment.

 

The job market broke my heart again.  For the second time I was passed over for a job I really wanted.  A job in ministry, too.  I spent a few days grieving this one.  And now I’m back at it.  Giving my all at the job I have and continuing to look for what God has next.  I also attended a funeral for a young father killed in a terrible accident.  To cap it off, I turned 50 (boo) and everything hurts.

 

 

Sassy in September

 

Visiting my daughter and her college friends has been a fun side benefit to the season football tickets.  And we loved the extended visit of our overnight stay (even if it was in a Super 8) for Family Weekend.  Bringing our girl treats and taking her and her posse to lunch brought me so much joy.  And being on campus is just fun.

 

My best friend flew in from Alabama to go to one of the games with me and there is no one I’d rather spend time with.  Laughing, talking, eating, shopping and feeling disappointed in football.  (We watched the Dallas game against Arizona too.)  And Chuck and I – with two other couples who live in the neighborhood – have now firmly established our once a week supper club.  It’s a delight.  In my book, friend time = great time.  And teaching them Spicy Uno left me in stitches.

 

The hubs and I started watching a new (but old) TV show.  Suits.  It’s not without some language and innuendo, but a good legal drama puts me in mind of LA Law.  And I LOVED that show growing up!  We only saw one movie in a theater.  My Big Fat Greek Wedding 3.  I know, I know.  I should have learned my lesson with the 2nd one, but I loved the first so much that I had to try.  And it was still sweet, if not laugh-out-loud funny.

 

I read Woke Up Like This by Amy Lea and The Struggle for Love:  The Story of Leah by Marilyn T. Parker.  I enjoyed the first – a funny and very easy to read coming of age story.  The author of the second fictionalized the story of Leah from the bible with some interesting spins.  A great read.

 

Surprised in September

 

My husband treated me to the best thing to happen this month.  Upon returning from the Baylor/ Texas football game weekend with my best friend, I walked into a house full of family and friends who gathered to surprise me for the birthday that shall not be mentioned again after this.  I may not have liked the number, but celebrating it was so fun.  Chuck worked hard on all the details, including catering, Nothing Bundt Cakes, balloons and so many dear people.  He made everything beautiful and I haven’t stopped talking about it since.

 

That’s the gist of it.  I pray you have seen God’s hand in the good times and bad.  And I would love to hear what you’ve been up to.  As always, I love you, I thank you and I pray October treats you well.

 

Now for this week’s featured post from the link up!

 

Joanne Viola’s short but impactful piece on the term Opinion gave me a lot to think about.  Thanks, Joanne.

The Link Up

1. Share 1 or 2 of your most recent CHRISTIAN LIVING posts. (No DIY, crafts, recipes, or inappropriate articles.) All links are randomly sorted.

2. Comment on 1 or 2 other links. Grace & Truth linkup encourages community.

3. Every host features one entry from the previous week. To be featured, include this button or link back here on your post (mandatory to be featured, but not to participate).

Grace and Truth_Meet Hosts

We encourage you to follow our hosts on their blogs or social media.

MAREE DEE – Embracing the Unexpected
Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest

LAUREN SPARKS
Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest

LISA BURGESS – Lisa notes
Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest

TAMMY KENNINGTON – Restoring hope. Pursuing peace.
Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest

 Now Let’s Link Up!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

If you liked this post, do me the huge honor of using the buttons below to share it to your favorite social media accounts. And if you want to get these essays emailed to you once a week, subscribe!  Lastly, my posts may contain affiliate links and I earn from qualifying purchases. If you buy anything from one of these links, I will receive a few pennies to help offset the cost of this website at no additional charge to you. Thank you in advance for your help.

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All Over the Place in August

August 25, 2023 by Lauren 18 Comments

All over the place.  That describes my emotions this month.  It hasn’t taken much to bring tears.  Happy tears, sad tears, frustrated ones and wistful ones.  But it’s all good.  It’s only because we moved my baby to college.  She is officially a Baylor Bear – the 3rd generation.  And I think it’s safe to say the whole family is excited…and a little nervous about that.  But let me back it up a bit.

 

The first week of August was the 2nd week of grandparent camp (Camp LolliPop if you will).  I am Lolli and the hubs is Pop.  We had the first two of our four the week before.  And this week we hosted the younger two.  We went to Fossil Rim – a wildlife drive through park in Glen Rose, Texas with my mom and dad, we went swimming at our REC swimming pool a lot, had a water balloon fight, played Chicken Foot and had pizza and movie night.  To top it off, Chuck’s parents traveled up to see them and provide much additional entertainment while I worked a couple of days.  Allie went back to Camp Blessing to work one more week.  I think it’s safe to say that an exhausting time was had by all.

Preparing for What’s Next

 

Upon coming home, Allie spent most of the next week soaking up as much time with hometown friends as possible before they all started going their separate ways for the next life chapter.  We went wherever she lead worship to get our fill for a while.  We sure will miss that, but pray she finds a church home in her new city that will utilize her many gifts.

 

In our time with her we cooked her favorite meals, let her pick favorite restaurants and played Spicy Uno with her and friends.  If you don’t know this version of the popular card game, you can google the rules using the regular Uno deck.  We also bought her a pair of cowboy boots and worked with her on popular dances to get her ready for the country two-step scene in Waco.  We basically acted like we were never going to see her again even though she’s an hour and a half away and we bought season football tickets.  She will be wishing she missed us!

 

Movin’ On Up

 

Move2BU (as they call it) was very hot and tiring, but Baylor does right by their new freshmen.  When we pulled up in front of her dorm, a swarm of upperclassmen grabbed all of her things from our two cars and hauled it up to her room.  It was a gone in 60 seconds situation.  Being spared that part, we could go straight up to her room and start putting it all together.  And the room turned out so cute – thanks to the creativity and thoroughness of her roommate’s mom!  The day ended with a family picnic outside in 109 degrees.  Suffice it to say, we didn’t stay long and said our goodbyes outside in public.  Too hot to hug for too long, so I only teared up for a minute and then we were gone!  A great way to remove some of the emotion and send this Momma Bear off without a scene.

 

To reward ourselves for making it through all that, Chuck and I took ourselves to see Petra!  Anyone else grow up listening to them?  They are touring for their 50th anniversary and it was so fun.  Even more fun was watching the people in their 70’s rocking out as well as a father and son duo in front of us who were all in!

All Over the Place with Entertainment

 

I bought into the Barbenhiemer hype and went to the Barbie movie with my girl.  She even made me change into pink clothes!  It is fun and clean and deeper than you originally think.  I kind of want to see it again.  Chuck and I went to Oppenheimer on a date night and it did not disappoint.  I can’t call it clean since there is a sex scene and way too much of Florence Pugh’s skin, but the psychological drama kept me interested for the entire 3 hours.  It didn’t feel that long at all.

 

On TV, we got the most out of a free month of Apple TV+ by watching Still:  A Michael J. Fox Movie.  I loved him growing up and love documentaries so this hit a sweet spot.  Little Voice also delighted us on Apple with the story of a young singer/songwriter trying to make it in NYC.  The main character had a special needs brother that we so related with.  Untold:  Johnny Football on Netflix was so interesting, but in the end showed the lack of character of all involved.  Especially when there was a chance to make some money.  And we enjoyed binging So Help Me Todd.  I’m hoping there is a second season this fall.

 

New Chapter

 

When our grandkids were here, we dusted out the old Wii for some entertainment and the hubs and I decided to keep it out for ourselves.  Playing some active games together has been fun and kept us from turning into total couch potatoes in the evening.  As well as taking Shelby swimming or walking to get her some exercise too.  In my spare time I read Lynn Austin’s Chasing Shadows.  Not my favorite of her books. 

 

And now Allie is finishing up her first week of college classes and she is sending positive reports.  Getting texts about how much she loves her classes and the university in general make my day.  As well as an occasional “I love you” text.  Not bragging, just saying.  😉  Tonight we are having friends over for game night.  Going to teach them spicy uno.  And as always, I love you, I thank you and I hope September treats you well!

 

And now for this week’s featured post from the link up!

 

I love the thought of turning “why” questions into “what” questions with God as Linda Stoll does in Porch #105 Please Answer at Least One Question.

 

The Link Up

1. Share 1 or 2 of your most recent CHRISTIAN LIVING posts. (No DIY, crafts, recipes, or inappropriate articles.) All links are randomly sorted.

2. Comment on 1 or 2 other links. Grace & Truth linkup encourages community.

3. Every host features one entry from the previous week. To be featured, include this button or link back here on your post (mandatory to be featured, but not to participate).

Grace and Truth_Meet Hosts

We encourage you to follow our hosts on their blogs or social media.

MAREE DEE – Embracing the Unexpected
Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest

LAUREN SPARKS
Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest

LISA BURGESS – Lisa notes
Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest

TAMMY KENNINGTON – Restoring hope. Pursuing peace.
Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | Pinterest

 Now Let’s Link Up!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

If you liked this post, do me the huge honor of using the buttons below to share it to your favorite social media accounts. And if you want to get these essays emailed to you once a week, subscribe!  Lastly, my posts may contain affiliate links and I earn from qualifying purchases. If you buy anything from one of these links, I will receive a few pennies to help offset the cost of this website at no additional charge to you. Thank you in advance for your help.

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About Me

I love Jesus, my husband and caffeine. The order of these can change depending on how tired I am. When my two daughters, stepson, and 4 grandchildren get to be too much, I practice yoga. God graciously allows me to share our adventures, victories and flub-ups from my laptop. May He be glorified here.
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