Picking Flowers

Me and Rach on Christmas Eve... enhanced by Portrait Pro! #yesplease :)

(I was showing Mom how that program works, and we used this as our practice pic.)

So Triston's class read Charlotte's Web recently (I loved that book), then they did a project where they sent her spider babies to people in other cities/states, along with a page to journal about all her activites, and pictures were encouraged.  So here's some of my adventures with Aranea! lol  #weirdestprojectever #gladthegirlfranzdidn'teather

Missy McKay couldn't be any cuter if she tried. :)  I was gonna just get a candid pic of her drinking her bottle, but she pulled it to one side so she could say "cheese!" lol  The bottom corner pic is JaceMan hugging Reagan, who didn't appreciate the gesture as much as most of us do! lol  And the top right is Triston and Carter opening their B-day cards from me between soccer games on Saturday!! :)

By the by, kids sporting events are super entertaining!! =)  If it wasn't for some overly aggressive parents stressing me out (they're 7-year-olds having fun -- CALM YOURSELF and stop crushing their self-esteem), then I'd enjoy spending the whole day just watching them play!

Coach to Payton, who was far more worried about finishing his snack than being subbed in to play:  "You can eat your chip out there, buddy!" while literally pushing him onto the field! lol

Josh to David, their goalie: "Better stand up, David!"
Another dad, seeing him bending down cupping his hands:  "Is his hand hurt or something!?"
Josh:  "No, he was picking flowers!" hahahaha #awesomesauce

T-man standing back ready to play defense, turns to me and Mom:  "Whoa, there was a huge bee that just flew right by me!  And one earlier hit me right here in the head... it was like (demonstrating the bee flying around)..."
Me:  "Bees are the worst!" while casually pointing at all the other players running toward him! lol
I just love it that they don't really care yet.  Clearly, most of the parents care enough to make up for it.

After the game, Mom and I walked through their new house, which is coming along so much faster than I would've expected!  The golf course and pool as their backyard view is gonna be pretty great!!

I also got to have lunch at Cheddar's with my favorite cousin, which was definitely one of my favorite parts of the weekend!

This was last night... I bought a new welcome mat that was too thick for my front door, so I decided to just put it out back.  #badidea  Sammo and Bellsy-doodles were excited about their new chew toy!

An adorable K-Faith pic Rach texted me this morning! #babyboots

The tiny eggs have officially hatched, and three little birds are living in my Spring wreath now!  Me being me, I'm scared to get too close, but I did have to get at least one picture! :)

I'm 98% certain God is preparing me for a major change, and I'm feeling very okay with that. #remix

This = one of my favorite Gilmore Girls quotes, and today's "Words of Wisdom Wednesday" moment:

Not sure if it's my maternal instinct kicking in or what, but I bought this set of 10 classic children's books a couple months back, and have now read all of them + Little Pilgrim's Progress!  My predictable favorites were The Secret Garden and Anne of Green Gables.
#puresimplicity #picturebooks

Thanks for reading, and Happy Wednesday! =)

Battlefield of the Mind

"[Jesus] restores my soul (renews my strength; revives my life). He guides me along right paths, bringing honor to His name. Even when I walk through the darkest valley, I will not be afraid, for You are close beside me!" 
~Psalm 23:3-4

"Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God our Father, who loved us and gave us eternal comfort and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts and establish them in every good work and word."
~2 Thessalonians 2:16-17

"May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ."
~2 Thessalonians 3:5

How great are those verses?  A restored soul, eternal comfort, good hope through grace, a heart that is directed by God to focus on His love and the faithfulness of Christ!  I need and am praying for each of those things!  

People talk a lot about waves of grief, but sometimes I feel like I'm being hit with random "waves" of depression.  I haven't dealt with long-term depression for quite a while now, thankfully, but yesterday was one of those days when I just felt suddenly overwhelmed by stress and deep sadness... and there wasn't enough food, TV, and sleep in the world to make it better.  I could go into detail on my thought process on days like that, but I know it's not rational or healthy, and it's probably best to keep it contained in case it would be "contagious" to anyone else reading.  Saturday was a good day, so I'm not completely sure what triggered it.  And after praying, listening to a sermon, and reading the Bible for a while last night, I'm feeling much better and basically back to normal today.  I think I am gradually getting better at recognizing it and fighting through it, but some days, it's a much bigger effort than others.  And I guess that's okay.  May the Lord always redirect my heart back to God's love and the steadfastness of Christ!

On another subject, and a similar battlefield of the mind, I'm not sure if it's just me or it's an oldest child thing or what exactly, but in areas of life that legitimately should be about me (school, health, career, etc.), my mind's default setting seems to be pleasing others.  For example, I worked hard to make good grades and behaved well in school to please my teachers and parents... rather than seeing them as my support team and working hard because I genuinely wanted to learn and grow and develop.  It's subtle, but it's definitely there.  Right now, I'm supposed to start keeping a food journal to go over with my trainer at Fitness Together.  And I can feel myself wanting to omit certain things just to make it more pleasing to her, as if this is all about getting her approval.  It's the warped mindset that led to the binge/purge cycle five years ago in an effort to hide the truth and please my trainers.  It's hard/impossible to live a healthy life with an unhealthy mindset.  So I'm praying about that and working to correct my motivation... to view my trainer as someone who is on my team, supporting me and working with me, and to work hard and change my habits out of my own desire to become a healthier and stronger person!!! #workingonit #workinprogress

Finally, on the lighter side, here's an almost 10-minute slideshow I made for my nephews' birthday (Triston and Carter are both April b-days)... sadly, they were unable to play it at their party yesterday, so I'm sharing it here and on FB since I spent lots of time creating it. lol  Josh and Rach and Brooke and Chris loved it, so it was worth it if only for that!! :)

Happy Monday!  Hope your week is off to a good start!! :)

Updates & Anniversaries

Happy Sunday and 50th Anniversary of The Sound of Music (on my way to see it in theaters later today.) =)  Here's a random, fun, bright, summery pic of my nephews - I love it!

Update on the last week:  Lindsay and Jeff-Ed ran the Jenks Aquarium Half last Saturday and both did really great!!

Me and Kelly came to cheer for them and take pictures, then we all had breakfast at the "Jenks Restaurant."  (The food is a lot better than the name!)

  

That Sunday, I went to OKC and got to do lunch with the fam then take a long walk (in flip-flops, sadly) with Tara Lynn... coming toward this, we were very confused by this "playground," then finally saw the "Fit Stop" sign! lol  So we tried all of it out for a few minutes!

Then we came back to her place and sat out by the pond in her "backyard" for an hour or so just talking and catching up on life!  It was nice, and a surprisingly pleasant, bug-free day of nature!

Then I worked Monday-Thurdsay (that's become the norm for this entire month). Friday and Saturday was our annual court reporting seminar at the Norman Embassy Suites.  Better than others I've been to, but still mostly boring.  

It was a short stay (but felt long, thanks to my dogs waking us up at 3am both nights I was there).  I was impressed and excited to see how far they've come on Mom and Dad's new house!!

And it was nice to see Triston, Carter, Jace, and Kyndal Faith!!  

I got to help T&C build their lego city for a bit, and got to celebrate Carter's birthday with everyone, so that was awesome!

Missy is a big fan of my puppies... she had to come out and say bye to them when I was leaving!

Presh girlfriends!

Random weekend videos! :)

* * * * * * *

Today is also the 20th Anniversary of the OKC Bombing. Which is crazy because I remember the day so well.  Fifth grade at CHA, Mom took me out to lunch and told me all about what had happened, and Miss White explained it to the class later that day, then we watched the news coverage on TV most of that night.

Titanic Day

"You can be blase about some things, Rose, but not about Titanic!"

(Reposting this from 2012 - in memory of the ship sinking 103 years ago today.)

TITANIC... back in 1997, I was drawn in by the epic previews ("ICEBERG, right ahead!!"), but wondered whether it would live up to the hype or be another letdown.  We saw it on the opening day -- December 19, 1997 -- when I was in eighth grade.  I remember feeling in awe as I left the theater, and spending most of the following day thinking through different parts of the film and pondering the size of the ship.  Over the next several months, my Mom, Rach, and I (with different friends and cousins each time) saw it 12 more times in theaters.  Yes, I was one of those girls.

Now (100 years after the ship sank) it has been re-released in 3D.  I wondered whether it might lose some of it's grandeur and appeal... you know, now that I have it memorized, 15 years have passed, and I'm no longer so enthralled with Leo Dicaprio. 

Mom and I saw it yesterday (#14 for me)... and I can gladly say that the answer is no.  I found nothing about it cheesy or ridiculous.  I identified with Rose more than ever before, and cried more than once during the ending, which surprised me.  I don't know that I can put it all into words, but I LOVE everything about this movie. James Cameron = a brilliant director!

For starters, I so love that older Rose has a little white Pomeranian dog to keep her company. ;)  I love Mr. Andrews, Molly Brown, Fabrizio, and the captain.  I love the way it brings history to life and helps you understand what happened and why it mattered so much.  And it gets me every time that (in real life) the last words they all sang at their church service that last Sunday were: "Lord, hear us when we cry to Thee for those in peril on the sea."

Rose's entrance in this scene is so fantastic... I remember sketching this dress and hat during church one Sunday. lol  I love it, and really, I love every dress she wears throughout the movie -- I want the elegance, the hats, the long dresses, the gloves, and even the corsets to come back in, please!  Even the long cigarette holders seem classy.  I also want her long, red hair with natural curl, and to be that exact size!  Okay, moving on.....

She steps outside, desperately needing a break from her family, and Jack is smitten from the first moment he sees her.  I even love that.

Rose is engaged to a man she doesn't love and feels trapped in a world full of pretentious people who do not care to really know who she is or what she thinks about anything.  She describes herself as"standing in the middle of a crowded room, screaming at the top of my lungs, and no one even looks up."  In this scene, she is seriously contemplating suicide as a way to escape it all... enter Jack Dawson, who literally pulls her off the ledge.

Rose:  "You have a gift, Jack.  You do.  You see people..."

Jack:  "I see you."
Rose:  "And??"

Jack:  "You wouldn't have jumped!"

 In this conversation, I used to think Jack was mocking/teasing her.  I don't think so anymore.  When Rose says he "sees people," she is talking about him seeing through the external image and seeing the value in people society looks down on (obvious in their conversation about his sketches).  He says, "I see you."  And she immediately goes for the flirty, image-centered, "And?" clearly expecting him to hit on her or compliment her beauty.  His answer, "you wouldn't have jumped" is kinda perfect.  He sees past her shaky, emotional fragility to her inner strength and spirit (a familiar combo to me).  It's a compliment, not a jab, and the best part is that it's not at all shallow.

"They've got you trapped, Rose. And you're gonna die if you don't break free.  Maybe not right away, because you're strong, but sooner or later, that fire that I love about you, Rose... that fire is gonna burn out."

"It's not up to you to save me, Jack."

"You're right.  Only you can do that."

Brilliant, and again, making her heart central (something that never occurs to her arrogant fiance). 

The "Hello, Jack... I changed my mind" line was better than ever to me this last time!

I love this scene - where she finds the gumption to tell off her incredibly selfish mother and fiance... leaving them to go after the one person who truly cares about her, fully knowing she may never see them again.

And finally, there is the ending, which John Eldredge called "the secret of the film's success."  

It had never occurred to me before reading that, but I completely agree now.

You see the sunken and decaying ship, sitting in the darkness... and as the camera moves across it, it transforms to the grandness of the ship when it was just built, light shining through every window.  Every person you love from the film is there, and Jack is at the clock waiting for her ("Make it count.  Meet me at the clock" = the only note he ever wrote her.)

I. love. it.  (And again, love her hair and dress in this final scene.)  They kiss and the crowd applauds, then the camera moves up to show light shining through where the chandelier had been before, to me, implying that they're in heaven.

Either way, instead of leaving the theater with a feeling of loss, despair, and sadness... there is a quick glimpse of joy and restoration and awe.  

Epic.  

(And a fantastic metaphor for creation, the fall, and being restored to paradise with God.)

Rose says of Jack that "He saved me, in every way a person can be saved."

Jack, who pulled her off the ledge when she lost heart in the beginning, says these final words to her as they are both freezing and near death: "You must promise me that you'll survive.  That you won't give up, no matter what happens, no matter how hopeless... and never let go of that promise."

More than ever before, I love that!

Quotables

Kevin:  I mean, it's Facebook!  It's all pancakes and engagement photos and...
Laura:  Do you see a lot of pancakes on your newsfeed!?


Flipagram lets you use videos too now - this is big news!! This song made me laugh with it, mostly because of Jace's "dancing!" ;)

Me (watching The Kid):  Aww, Bruce Willis is just precious!
Laura:  You know, I doubt he gets that adjective much.

JEM:  I think I was more mature at 10 than I am at 34!
(Reminiscing about his childhood library. lol)

T-man:  Hey, Lindsey, can you see what that is under there?
Me:  Under where?
...cut to T&C cracking up because it was all a plot to make me say "underwear."  Haha, boys make me laugh!

(Text convo:) JEM:  My ex-man has two new girlfranz!!!
Me:  ??
JEM:  Shake it off lyrics I reswizzled
LOL!

"Sometimes God redeems your story by surrounding you with people who need to hear about your past so it doesn't become their future."  ~Jon Acuff

A "Family Fun" Magisto movie... I need to remember to video more often so I can do more of these!

(We were laughing at our own ridiculousness, so don't take this one too seriously:)
Sarah:  Now I'm depressed. We should just move up our euthanasia parties from 70 to 40.
Me:  Perfect.  That can be our backup plan instead of the typical marriage pact.
Sarah:  Or maybe we can just all move in together, like the Golden Girls.
Me:  And raise our adopted children!
Tiffany:  So it'd be more like Sister Wives, but with no husband.
Sarah:  I can work and you all can stay home and take care of the kids.
Me:  ...Livin' the dream! lol

(Avengers movie:)

Iron Man:  Of the people in this room, which one of us is: A) Wearing a spangly outfit?  And B) Not of use?

Captain America: Big man in a suit of armor - but take that off, and what are you?

Iron Man:  Genius billionaire playboy philanthropist!

#loveit #tonystark

Rach:  Hey, tell Lindsey what you tried yesterday!
Jace:  Oh (...trying so hard to remember it...) I tried, umm, green bean cookies!!!
Rach:  Whaaaat!?  No, you tried a cereal bar; remember?

Hahahaha no clue where he got that, but he managed to make cookies sound unappealing; right?

Goodbyes and Flashbacks

It's a little embarrassing to cry in an action movie, but wow, the Paul Walker montage at the end of Furious 7 got me tonight!  I doubt that I'm their target audience in any way, but I'm pretty sure I've seen all the Fast & Furious movies at some point, and Rach and I watched that first movie (released way back in 2001) about a hundred times on the Starz channels!  It's where my "Letty" nickname originated... you know, because I'm so hardcore. lol  I'll be honest - Rach and I made fun of Paul Walker saying "cuz" and "bruh" - but overall, we liked the movies even when they were cheesy and ridiculous.  We were kind of obsessed with Vin Diesel, and especially loved his intensity in the scene where he figures out that Brian is a cop! 

Since this one was (hopefully) the last movie in the series, they brought back a lot of things from the first one, so that was fun for me. (It was absolutely over-the-top action scenes and some gratuitous sleaziness, but that's pretty much what I expected. I have to say my favorite was the scene where The Rock flexes his arm to break the cast he's been wearing... hilarious, and so appropriately ridiculous for who he is. lol) I didn't expect to leave the theater in tears - not just tearing up, but full-on crying - thanks to the last five minutes or so where they did a montage of Paul scenes flashing back through the past 14 years and all seven movies, with Vin giving a speech about how they're a family in the background. After a movie full of unbreakable tough attitude, there was a scene near the end where they slowly panned across the main characters in the cast watching Paul play with his son at the beach, and each of them was tearing up, and it was real, and it was surprisingly emotional for me.  They're all hurting because they lost their friend. #iknowthefeeling Even the final song choice was well done (see bottom video below). The video of Vin talking about Paul is pretty great, too - raw and real in a way you don't often see in Hollywood - and the interviewer is more thoughtful than most.  Anyway, that's the end of my randomly emotional mini-tribute here. #forPaul  I'll probably feel kinda silly for posting it in the morning, but such is life. Good night!




"It's been a long day without you, my friend,
And I'll tell you all about it when I see you again."
#lovethatlyric

WWW + Randomness

Happy "Words of Wisdom Wednesday!" :)  It's been a while.

#sadbuttrue

#don'tquit

#YouversionImages

And now, a bit of randomness:

^^ These just made me laugh. ^^

^^T-man's 8th birthday was earlier this month! :)

This pic = him at CHA with his 1st Grade teacher, Mrs. Fowler, who was also MY 1st Grade teacher 25 years ago!!  ...Also, I want the corner pieces of this cookiecake! lol  #justsayno

^^Me and Kelly Marie at Whole Foods last Sunday - I like how angelic the sunlight makes us look! lol

^^A lovely group pic of the Diving Deeper Women's LG at Emily and Mandy's apartment during Beth's Children of the Day study!  (We've just started a new study by Kelly Minter called What Love Is over 1, 2, and 3rd John... last night, we talked about the importance of Christian fellowship... how we all come from such different backgrounds, but we are united through Christ... and it made me feel really thankful for having several imperfect-but-loving, Godly friends that I can pray and be real with!)

How fun is this video!?  I heart dancing, and this song always calls for it! lol


Song of the Week = What's Up (which should be titled WHAT'S GOIN' ON!?) by Kimberly Nichole on the Voice... the lyrics and the performance are so fantastic!! I recommend downloading the full song on iTunes!
*Also, just FYI, this is my new karaoke song of choice, if ever I get the chance! :)

Happy Wednesday!