"It is time for your restoration..."

Wednesday night was my girls group with Lindsay, Alyssa, Talhia, and Linda.  I'm really enjoying that group and opening up with them more and more!  We met for dinner at McAlister's and Lindsay had us all laughing so hard we cried!!  She is definitely the funniest woman I know!  :)  

Eventually, the conversation got more serious, and Lindsay gave an example from her own life about how a quick venting session led to an overwhelmingly heavy sense of sadness and despair about where her life was headed.  We talked about the POWER our words have over our emotions and the need to focus on God's truth over the enemy's lies - (something Kelly's group has also been talking about lately).  On a similar note, Matt Chandler has taught recently about how grumbling and complaining is our natural tendency when little things don't go our way, but we fail to recognize that God views ALL of our grumbling as complaining against Him.  In other words, it is always personal to Him because it shows a lack of trust in His provision and plan and love for us.  

That really convicted me.

Shifting gears a bit.... with my doctor's approval, I've tapered down slowly and have been off of antidepressants for a few weeks now.  I'm very thankful for that, but I'm also feeling some fear and internal pressure.  It's become difficult for me to interpret certain emotions -- is it depression or spiritual warfare or just normal emotion over a specific circumstance (or movie)?  I need more discernment on that, so please pray for that.

With my personality, I am much more likely to vent and complain and get emotionally worked up via writing than I am in talks with people.  And I know that writing about "hurting," "struggling," "feeling stressed," "being fragile," "feeling overwhelmed," etc. is NOT helping matters or strengthening my self-worth.  I really enjoy blogging and I want to write with transparency, straight from the heart.  But when my heart is not rightly centered on Christ and on truth, my words will do more harm than good, for me and for others who read this.  So in this setting, I would rather produce no fruit for a bit than bad fruit.  So I am taking a break (for reals this time) with the focus on becoming more deeply purified and rooted in God's love.

Exciting news:  I will be attending the Ransomed Heart Captivating Retreat in Colorado next month (YAY!!), and I'm already expecting God to do a great work in my life there!  I'm planning to use this month to pray and prepare for it as much as possible, so pray with and for me when you think of it, because the last thing I want is for these painful, confusing seasons I've been through to be a waste.  I want redemption and healing and a life that gives others hope and points them to Christ!!  

And the first tiny step in that direction is using more self-control in what I say and what I write.  I'll probably be back here in a month-and-a-half or two, but for me, that will count as a significant break.  I just need to rest, get out of my own head for a bit, renounce the lies, and refocus my heart on truth!!

Let us turn now to Him, indeed!

"It's a good life, Hazel Grace!"

Every bullet point here could be its own separate blog post, but for the sake of time, I'm throwing them all into what may be the longest Photo Friday update ever!!

(*This post has nothing to do with The Fault in Our Stars, but it's chock full of randomness, so I thought a random quote would be an appropriate title.  And I'm trying to complain less and focus more on being thankful... so it fits with that theme!)   

• So first off, let's talk about the intrusive Google notifications on my iPhone 5.  It began with always letting me know how long it would take to drive home from wherever I was.  And lately, in the mornings, it also lets me know how long it will take me to make it to work.  Then the other day, I got a Google alert that my event was in one hour, and that I needed to leave by 9:37 to make it on time.  (I never prompted any of this.  Never set my home or work address anywhere and never put that event into my calendar - but I had received an email from the company about the date and location, and Google knows all.)  So it's been helpful, yes... but also kinda creepy!!

• Quick puppy story:  My fluffy Sammich (Sam) brought me another present the other day: a dead bird.  So disturbing!!  As I was trying to look and see what she'd laid on the porch, she picked it up and darted right into my computer room.  My overwhelmed reaction (a long, loud "Noooooooooo!") was so dramatic and intense that she set it down, looked at me and tilted her fluffy head, picked it up again, and carried it right back outside! lol  So that was actually mildly cute, even though she's a tiny bird killer. :/  I couldn't look at her the same for a bit.  (With Chet's encouragement, I manned up and swept the bird into a dustpan and threw it into a field where the puppies couldn't keep feasting on it... then promptly threw away that dust pan and blocked it all out of my mind. lol)
• In other puppy news, this is their 3rd bed they've chewed up!!  This mess happened in the ONE HOUR between me feeding them breakfast and finally getting up for work.  What on earth!?  To that I say, "This is why we can't have nice things!" lol  Two tiny diva puppies will have to live without luxury comfort bedding for a bit.  (Bottom pic = them on the way back from the groomers. Presh!!)

• Thanks to Lindsay being in charge of volunteers, our women's LG manned the water stop by the praying hands at the Walk to End Alzheimer's!  I'm always glad to have a praying hands photo op!  Our theme was supposed to be '80s, but obviously, half of us didn't participate - I really have nothing that fits that theme.  (This event also included a very memorable encounter with our unexpected water-stop-helper, "Alpha Omega"  .....I can tell you more about that one in person.)

• They had a "centennial celebration" last month for the courthouse - crazy that it's been around 100 years - there was a time capsule from 1914 and we put a new one in for 2114!  It's funny to me that they waited 'til the week before the ceremony to finally build the pretty new fountain, but I love it! :)  It was a ridiculously hot August day, but Lauralai had her trusty fan with her and we were able to sit down rather than stand through it all. :)

• Bill and Jill had us over recently and Dad pointed out this picture in their kitchen...  Bill Wallace had given it to them at their 11-11-11 Vegas wedding, then my parents had offered to take it (and a few other gifts and the top layer of their cake) home with them in the car (so the Lemieuxs wouldn't have to worry about it on the plane) .  The broken glass is from Mom and Dad's wreck, and Bill decided not to change it... and for reasons I'm not sure I can put into words, I found that really meaningful.

• I'm serving at LifeKids for the first time.  I was nervous after a rough night in the two-year-old room the first week (chain reaction screaming and crying + diaper changes), but as Kelly had promised, the four-year-olds were a totally different story!! :)  The girls just gathered right around and were eager to tell me all about their families and how they'll all be having a Frozen party or an "Elsa Party" for their next birthday. lol  Cuteness!! =)

• Brooklyn 99 = my new favorite show!  (I never expected to like Andy Samberg, but this show is really funny and well cast and surprisingly clean.)  Season 2 premier Sept. 28th - get excited!! :)
  
  
• Last weekend (Labor Day weekend), Mom came to Tulsa to help me with transcripts... and house cleaning and baking and getting ready to host LifeGroup. lol  We got 51 transcripts done and were able to take Monday off, which was pretty impressive!! :)  Saturday morning, I went to la Madeleine for breakfast with the gang.  My quiche was awesome, and everything looked good!  Then we went to the Cherry Street Farmer's Market (I only went for a tiny minute) and got a few cute pictures. =)

• I was excited to capture this # with a picture, and I like that people are reading my blog! :)

• I had lunch with Morgan Elizabeth on Wednesday at Red Robin.  She and Brian are leaving today to move to England and work as volunteer youth pastors for the next two years!  I was so glad I got to see her one last time.  We've become prayer partners -- checking in and praying for and encouraging each other at least once a week -- and I love that!!  *Random Sidenote:  They'll have been married exactly 100 days when they land in England tomorrow.  She's big on dates and numbers too! :)
• I'm headed to OSU first home game with Tiffany tomorrow!  (After the LifeChurch Sisters event.  Should be a good day all around!)
• In hopes of having an easy but healthy option for dinner, I impulsively ordered an Amazon deal of 28 lunches and dinners from Personal Trainer Foods... the box was massive and my freezer is now ridicu-full!  Two puppies were pretty angry about the box.  Haha, I love when they notice something new and immediately start barking. lol

• Another great song by Phillip Phillips, and I love the clips from Spiderman 2!  Andrew Garfield - yes, please!  He is so so precious!!

• Still not sure exactly what's ahead for me, but a new option has been added to the mix, and I'm feeling pretty hopeful about it. :)

• Quick explanation -- my FB break is mostly for my own peace, and it has nothing to do with anyone I'm actually friends with (or no longer friends with).  I got weirdly upset over mean comments about Kelly Clarkson's weight gain (in her icebucketchallenge video), then I was strangely annoyed by the Noah movie debate that was reignited by Jon Acuff, and I realized, hey, I need a break! :)
• In another stellar move by State Farm's ad execs, they've hired Rob Schneider for their new commercials.  Whyyyyyyy would anyone do that!?? lol  If Dad wasn't an awesome agent with them, I'd have switched to Geico or AllState long ago for the great commercials alone.
• Laura found this little treat and showed it to me - (the back of a defense attorney's business card - lol):

• For a myriad of reasons, I'm excited that fall is approaching.  However, I hate this season for all the scary movie previews.  I get it that choosing holiness in entertainment is incredibly difficult, but I don't even understand the temptation toward scary movies or how that's ever enjoyable for anyone.  Yikes.
• I freaking love this song.  And on a random note, I like that I tend to be sensitive and feel things deeply!  That scene in He's Just Not That Into You when Gigi stops herself from feeling crazy or beating herself up for being too hopeful, and instead says to the cynic, "I'd rather be like that than be like you."  Yeah!

• This Friends episode has been playing in the background as I'm writing this... I never realized before that it was six years - how appropriate.
• Chandler: And you're upset because you didn't make your best friend cry?
  Monica: I mean, all I'm asking for is a little emotion!  Is that too much to ask after six years? ...I mean, don't I deserve a few tears!?
  .....Monica:  But still, it's a big change. The end of an era, you might say.  Rachel: Are you okay? You're not blinking.  Monica: I'm fine. I'm just thinking about how it's the end of an era!  Rachel: Oh, all right. But I gotta say, I don't think six years counts as an era.  Monica: An era is defined as 'a significant period of time.' It was significant to me; maybe it wasn't significant to you!!  Rachel: ...What's the matter with you?  Monica: What is the matter with YOU!? lol
• A few final quotables:
• "Isn't he like 6'5"!?"  ~Evan
  "Yeah, he's a good guy!"  ~JEM, spoken really quickly as if the two were obviously related! lol
• "Now I'm trying to remember, were you doing cancer then?"  ~Chet Lee  "Wow, I can't get past the question!"  ~Mindi, cracking up
• "Well, you're better off!  He was a slow train to nowhere."  ~Comforting Chettles - lol

Mmmmkay, congrats on reading all this!!
That's all, folks. ;-)

You've - Got - Something - I - NEED!!

Favorite. =)

My awesome and generous friend, JEM, bought tickets a while back to the OneRepublic concert for himself, me, and Chet Lee!  ("Mockey and the boys" as he put it. lol)  Hearing about the tickets was a great surprise (and I found out just in time to stop me from buying one ticket by myself)!  The concert was one week ago today, and it was a fantastic performance and such a fun, memorable night!!  =)  

The three of us met at Andolini's for dinner and shared the Demarco Pizza - yum!  (Sidenote:  I love that I have to do so little (like try a pizza that has any topping besides cheese) to be considered adventurous and impress my friends. lol)

After dinner, we went to Yolotti for dessert - Jeff bought the concert tickets and our dinner then Chet bought our ice cream, so it was a pretty cheap night for me. :)  Then we drove around and looked at houses in midtown, including lots of entertaining banter and bickering from Jeff and Chet, who had distinct but differing opinions about every visible feature on each house we passed!  lol  We all agreed that this was exciting, though. ;)

Finally, we headed to BOK for the concert.  We ran into K-Fost and Jon in the lobby and reminisced about her ORU classes with Ryan Tedder back in the day. :)  So that was fun!  Oddly enough, we were seated in the same section with the Fosters, just a few rows down.  

We sat down for about two seconds, then decided we didn't care about the opening act (Christina Perri) so we went back to the lobby and sat down to talk and people watch out there.  I like that memory... and pretty much everything you do with JeffEd and Chettles involves a lot of laughter. :)  When Christina was done, we all got snocones (because we obviously hadn't had enough food that night - lol), then we settled in to watch our fourth and favorite OneRepublic concert performance!!  (Ryan Tedder was amazing, and they sang my song, and even made a big deal of the crowd singing along on it - it was awesome!)  Chet sat in the middle and his running commentary was cracking me up the entire time, as per usual.  So without further ado, enjoy the quotes...

Pre-Concert Quotables:

"Seriously?  I just think that's so pretentious!"  ~Chet, laughing about JEM's phone being on military time
"Okay, well what happened is I set it that way on accident and now I can't figure out how to change it back."  ~JEM
"Really?  Because last time we talked about it, you seemed pretty fine with it."  ~Chet
"Well... I have pride!"  ~JEM lol

"Any place that has to put a Z in the name -- I don't trust it!"  ~JeffEd, looking at the Coming Soon sign for Hot Bunz! lol

"I am not moving to midtown until they pave the road in front of Woodward Park!  ...I'm taking a stand, right there!"  ~Chet Lee

JEM:  "I got you something.  Actually, I have a skit.  Mockey, you'll like this...
"Say, 'Hey Jeff, what did you get me from London?'"
Chet:  "Hey Jeff, what did you get me from London!?"
JEM:  "I got you some orrrrrange marmalaaaade."  (Singing it to the tune of Lady Marmalade - lol)

...Then we all sang along to that song in the car. lol  And may I just say, I'm really hoping the guys follow through on their idea to perform that at the lip sync battle! :)  "Yeeeess-aah!"

"Okay, I'm gonna say it out loud:  Brookside's going down!"  ~Dramatic Chettles, lol

"Were they expensive?"  ~Chet
"I think it was about 300 Swiss Francs."  ~Jeff
"Okaaaay, we're gonna stop that right now!"  ~Chet :)

"Oh, they're Mr. and Mr. Forgiveness over there."  ~Chet, on Jeff and Evan
"And you're Mr. One-and-Done."  ~JEM
"Yep.  'You just slashed my tires?  Aww.  You wanna come over and have some pizza?  I'll buy!'"  ~Chet imitating JEM lol

"I am the encourager!"  ~Chet, randomly debating Jeff on who had the more encouraging personality type
"He'll encourage you to change your ways or get new friends."  ~Jeff lol

"That quote better not be on the blog - let that be the one that gets away.  ...Snocones! One Republic!! Mockey!!!"  ~JEM (asking then trying to distract me from remembering it - lol - and look, it's not here) :)

"Maybe we'll just have to remember this one without a photo!"  ~Chet, when I was trying to maneuver the drippy snocone so I could get a pic of us all with them lol

"I'm having fun!"  ~JEM's text to Chet from the bathroom  - lol
"Oh.  I just meant I'm having fun here in general, at this concert."  ~Jeff, when he got back and we were laughing :)

"Oooh, you know what we should do is rate haircuts!"  ~Chet, while we were sitting in the hallway/lobby and people watching

"I mean, that's just sad.  Whoever was with her when she bought that ...really was not a friend." ~Chet  lol

"Theeeeeere's an awful lot of interesting going on right now. Like this. What is that!?"  ~Chet again, people watching lol

"Wow.  So is judging a part of your DISC personality?"  ~JEM, after the above commentary :)
"Maybe!  Or I'm hoping to influence her to get new shorts."  ~Chet (who is an Influencer on the DISC Assessment) lol

Concert Commentary by Chettles:

In the middle of a long, amazing high note by Ryan Tedder, he turns to me dramatically and in all seriousness says, "I'm really not sure about his haircut!  It looks like a mushroom." :)

"Lawd Jesus, get that boy to church!! ...That's just talent!" ~during another amazing ending note by Ryan - lol

"He has the potential for nodes if he keeps that up!" =) (possibly my favorite comment of the night - lol)

"You know, I'm surprised K-Fost is staying up this late!!"

"Great tribute. Remember where yo' roots at!!"  ~Chettles, after their Tulsa-themed video in their Come Home song
"Oh, I think he still lives here.  Like 21st and Yale area."  ~JEM being sarcastic, although I think it's true that Ryan would be a midtown-er.  Mushroom haircut and all. :)

Awesome night with awesome friends - "Mockey and the boys and One Republic!  
.......and pizza before!"  ;-)