Lauren Sparks

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See Ya, September!

September 30, 2022 by Lauren 8 Comments

 

Boy it’s been a busy month!  From your comments I know many of you think all my months are busy, but this one takes the cake.  Especially for the teenager in the house.  So even though it’s my birthday month, I’m okay with saying, “See ya!” to September.

 

So far I can describe Allie’s senior year in two words.  Fast and Furious.  She is the President of her High School’s choir participating in two choirs herself.  Musical theater, PALs (Peer Assisted Leadership) and 4 Advanced Placement classes round out the rest of her school schedule.  She is also President of Students Standing Strong (a Christian club), in She’s the First (another club), involved in Spirit Sisters (a pep organization), Student Council, National Honor Society and leads worship at church.  Oh, she has a part time job too, and I’m pretty sure I’ve forgotten a school club or three.  I’m not sure how she keeps up with it all.

 

She does most of her homework after the hubs and I go to bed (I think), and we probably average seeing her 15 minutes a day.  I guess that will prepare us to see her 0 minutes a day next year when she’s in college.

 

What’s Taking Up Our Time?

 

Noises Off filled up the bulk of Allie’s September calendar.  She committed to practices 5 days a week and an extra day for tech to play the role of Brooke/ Vicki in the slapstick play.

 

Labor Day weekend took me down the highway to Waco, Texas with my sister for the funeral of an old friend’s mom.  In high school and college we spent many hours enjoying the hospitality of this dear lady.  We hung out at their house, swam in her pool and ate lots of her food.  It was bittersweet to get to say goodbye to her while also reuniting with friends who held important places in my life during my formative years.

 

Since we were in Waco on game day, my sister and I decided to take in some Baylor football.  The temperature was boiling, but we won and saw some more friends there.  The following Saturday, my Bears didn’t kick off until 9:15pm.  Almost my bed time!  But Chuck and I tortured ourselves by staying up until 1am to watch us lose in overtime.  And the next weekend, we went to see my parents and grandad to watch the game with them.  Baylor football is a festive occasion for me!

 

More Goings On

 

The city REC center where I work closed for their annual cleaning and maintenance week.  So instead of teaching yoga and working with seniors, yours truly ended up on her hands and knees polishing chrome in an elevator – among other things.  That’s a commitment to clean you definitely won’t see at my house!

 

In other news, I somehow talked my talented sister into taking Allie’s senior pics.  I feel so fortunate to have her on the job.  I watched the two of them work together with a heart full of joy.  Beauty in front and behind the camera.  Erin is still working on editing, but here is a sneak peak.  I can’t wait to see the rest!

 

My church life group started back to Bible study mid-month after a summer break.  Our teachers chose the book of Deuteronomy to go through together.  I learned about these Bible journals from them and am enjoying this resource as we dive in.

 

Chuck, Shelby and I got to go see my nephew play defensive tackle for his freshman football team and enjoyed a mild evening hanging out with sweet family.  Now that the evenings aren’t hotter than Satan’s pocket, I hope we can go watch him play again.

 

September’s Diversions

 

I read Dreams of Savannah by Roseanna M. White and am currently listening to the audiobook The Magnificent Lives of Margorie Post.  She was the Post cereal heiress.  I recommend both, especially if you enjoy a period piece.  For a non-fiction read, I have That Sounds Fun: The Joys of Being an Amateur, the Power of Falling in Love, and Why You Need a Hobby by Annie F. Downs going.  The author covers more serious ground than the title lets on.

 

My husband and I are currently being creeped out (in the most fascinating way) by Steve Carrell in The Patient on Hulu.  The Netflix documentary Untold:  The Girlfriend Who Didn’t Exist creeped us out on a whole different level.  Whether or not you already know the catfishing story of Manti Te’o, this deep dive is worth a look.  We also watched a special on Queen Elizabeth after her passing and are enjoying the She-Hulk series.

 

This last documentary needed a paragraph of its own.  I stumbled across The Jesus Music on Hulu or Amazon Prime and took a trip down musical memory lane.  The film documents how religious music moved out of the church and onto the airways and concert venues.  It chronicles the Jesus movement of the 70’s to Contemporary Christian Music of the 80’s and 90’s to the worship emphasis of today.  The clips of the music and artists of my growing years sent me down a weeks long rabbit trail of looking up and listening to Stephen Curtis Chapman, DC Talk, Amy Grant, Wayne Watson, Randy Stonehill and Michael W. Smith.  And I’m not to the bottom of this hole yet.  My Spotify algorithm is turned upside down.

 

And We Also Went Out

 

The new threesome (since Allie stays so busy) of my husband, Shelby and I ventured to the movies twice this month to support Christian film making.  Lifemark is a beautifully affirming true story of adoption.  In fact, the idea for the movie came from a documentary shot by the subject’s best friend called I Lived on Parker Avenue.  So of course I had to see this 30 minute short as well.  You can find it for free on Tubi.  And I recommend it.  We also stepped out for Running the Bases.  This one had some pretty unrealistic moments, but the message was great and since it was about baseball, it held my Shelby’s rapt attention.

 

On my birthday eve I traveled back to Waco with my husband and Shelby for my 30th high school reunion.  Some days I still feel like I’m in my 30’s and others I feel like I’m decaying by the day.  But catching up with some friends who knew me when was tons of fun.

 

And as this publishes I am on my way to pick my best friend up from the airport!  She is coming in for our annual girls weekend to celebrate our autumn birthdays.  She and I are going back to Waco (Yes.  The third time this month for me.) for some more Baylor football and quality time.  Any time I get to spend with Patsy is a good time.

 

On that note I leave you with this message:  I love you, I thank you and I pray October treats you well!

 

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

 

Grace and Truth’s own Tammy Kennington wrote so beautifully about the things she’s learning from her weariness caused by fibromyalgia.  Although I can’t relate to that specifically, I can relate to being sapped by chronic back pain.  Do you have a pain (physical, mental or emotional) that is wearing you out?  You will be encouraged by Powerful Truths About Weariness.

 

 

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
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LAUREN SPARKS
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LISA BURGESS – Lisa notes
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TAMMY KENNINGTON – Restoring hope. Pursuing peace.
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Farewell to February…and Grace and Truth Link Up

February 28, 2020 by Lauren 32 Comments

Photo by madeleine ragsdale on Unsplash

Our shortest month is one day longer this year, but it still flew by for me.  Some real stuff happened in the midst of the red and pink, the hearts and flowers.  We dabbled in a little of that.  I gave my beloved some candy and a card and he reciprocated with a card and some roses.  We didn’t do anything special, but even staying in is better when he’s with me.

 

I had an MRI of one foot to get a diagnosis of achilles tendonosis in both.  The doctor prescribed cushier shoes and heel lift inserts as well as changing my exercise to biking or swimming to stay off my feet as much as possible.  I’m trying to be very compliant as I pray for the best.  I tweaked my lower back as well, so I’m feeling about a hundred years old right now.  Soft violin music and prayers appreciated.

 

I had a day date with my younger sister to see Little Women.  If it’s long gone from your theater, make yourself a reminder to watch it at home as soon as it becomes available.  Seeing this beautiful adaptation of a sister story with my sister made it all the more perfect.  I also enjoyed a couple of lunch dates with girlfriends – always a treat.  And the socializing peaked with a trip to a gorgeous ranch in Round Top, Texas with two long time friends and one brand new!  We slept late, stayed in our pajamas, read, scrapbooked (Not me.  No talent for that here.  My kids will have to search through my Facebook account to piece together their childhood.), and watched movies.  I can’t remember a time when I’ve done so little.  And it was much needed.

 

In addition to my usual yoga classes, I got to teach a couple of indoor cycling classes this month.  I also attended a funeral after a family near and dear to us unexpectedly lost their husband and father.

 

Shelby won a gold medal in the State Special Olympics Bowling Tournament.  She loves to ramp bowl and due to a lack of volunteers, I got to assist her this year!  Then the very next day, she attended Tim Tebow’s Night to Shine special needs prom.  It makes me cry every year to see the lengths all these local churches go to so that my girl and others like her experience a special, magical night.  And it means all the more to me that my best friend and her whole family volunteered at the same event in Alabama.  We experience it together, but apart.

 

Thanks to a generous gift from her Nana and Papa, Allie started voice lessons.  Her instructor holds a doctoral degree in music and sang with the London opera before moving to Texas.  What a blessing for her to pour into Allie.  Our girl also keeps busy as a member of Hope Squad – an organization of students selected by their peers working to prevent teen suicide.  And now she has been invited to help build a student worship team at church.  Yay!

 

Two of my people celebrate birthdays in February.  Allie turned 15 on the 23rd.  She hosted a small sleepover with some girls from church and as this is published is still trying to get her school friends together for a “hang”.  Chuck turned…a little older than 15 on the 22nd, and for the past 15 years has been birthday overshadowed by a pretty blonde.  We did, however take him out to eat and I made a batch of his favorite cookies.

 

To entertain ourselves we tried two new network TV shows.  I would skip Indebted if I were you.  As a youth I loved The Nanny and Wings, so I wanted to see these stars, but the show is pretty dumb and poorly acted.  We will continue to watch Zooey’s Extraordinary Playlist, which is weird but fun.  And we finally started the Mandalorian and season 3 of The Crown.  We have finished neither but remain optimistic about both.

 

I would love to hear the highlights of your month.  And as always, I love you, I thank you, and I hope March treats you well.

 

And now for this week’s featured post!

Responding to Your Teenager’s Attitude by Angie Johnson of keepingthetiethatbinds.com.  

Although don’t necessarily think I have “earned” my children’s respect, God certainly demands it.  So I couldn’t resist piggy-backing on this post since I wrote about the same types of issues just last week with this post.  Hope over and give Angie’s take a once over.

 

Now for this week’s link-up! Let’s bless and encourage one another in our walk with the Lord.Grace & Truth : A Weekly Christian Link Up

Grace & Truth exists to point people to Jesus! We hope this link-up will be a source of encouragement every week. If you’re a blogger, we hope you’ll use this space as a way to meet new friends within the Christian blogging community. If you’re a reader, we hope that you’ll encounter new bloggers that love Jesus as much as you do! Most of all, we hope you’ll meet Jesus here.

Join us each Friday for the Grace and Truth Link-Up!

To receive a weekly reminder of when the link-up goes live subscribe to laurensparks.net in the right hand column of this page.

 

 

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Lauren Sparks

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Heather Hart & Valerie Riese

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1.)  Following your hosts via their blog and social media channels is not mandatory, but appreciated!

To receive a weekly reminder of when the link-up goes live subscribe to laurensparks.net in the right hand column of this page.

2.) Leave 1-2 of your most recent CHRISTIAN LIVING posts. Please do not link DIY, Crafts, Recipes, etc. We will delete these links. We also reserve the right to remove articles that don’t align with the theme or are deemed by the hostesses to be inappropriate.

3.) Visit 1-2 other links and leave a meaningful comment! We want to encourage community among us, so please don’t link and run!

4.) We sort all links randomly – feel free to link as early or as late as you’d like. The playing field is even!

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6.) Each host will choose one link to emphasize and promote via their social media channels next week.

Grab a Badge and Link Back to this Post.

 

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Sharing is caring! 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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