Photo Friday!!

Thank God it's Friday! :)

Exciting news - I joined Planet Fitness last week, and I'm a big fan of them so far!!  =)  It's all brightly colored purple and yellow, which makes me think of Mom (her favorite colors).  They have a plethora of treadmills, ellipticals, bikes, stair climbers, arc trainers, etc.  Lots of cardio options and lots of TV choices. :)  Then they have a 12-minute abs circuit room, a 30-minute Curves-like circuit room, and lots of free weights and weight machines (that I actually know how to operate, thanks to Fitness Together).  It's all in the "Judgement Free Zone," and their motto is "You belong," which is cheesy but makes me happy.  They have a personal trainer on staff and his schedule is posted so you can set an appointment if you want, or not if you don't want -- it's included in the membership if you want it, but they never hound or pressure you about it, and I VERY MUCH appreciate that (quite the change from LifeTime in atmosphere and judgment and pressure to keep buying more)!!  They're one of the cheapest gym options around, nice and clean, open 24 hours a day, and my membership includes free tanning, HydroBed massage, chair massage, and Total Body Enhancement (red light therapy).  I've used all of that, and use both massage options every time I go.  A workout + 20 minute massage = awesomesauce.  The HydroBed is an aqua massage where you set the pressure and speed (max and max, always) then you can listen to your music whilst watching a 10-minute video of the waves on the beach or an ocean scuba dive. lol

...It's pretty epic!!

I remember that JEM and Chettles were not super excited when they looked into PF a while back, and I laugh whenever I think about it - I can definitely see how it would appeal more to girls than guys and more for cardio-ers than weight-lifters!!

...So I text this pic of my beach video massage to Chet with the caption "Gym time! lol Yaaaas!!" :)

In other photo news, here is an epic picture of the Peavler family (my aunt, uncle, four cousins, and their spouses and kids) having a Harry Potter party... it's so fantastic and their costumes are spot on!! :)

Here's a pic of my "last" (using that term somewhat loosely) non-grocery-store food purchase until Thanksgiving!  I'm trying to cook more, eat healthier, and spend far less on restaurants... so the goal is to only go out to eat when I'm home with the fam!  I'm excited about it so far, and being able to go to the gym when I'm bored and just wanting to drive somewhere and be around people helps!  ...Anyway, this was Marble Slab last weekend - a chocolate dipped waffle bowl with peanut butter fudge and chocolate ice cream mixed with marshmallows, reeses, and mini-M&Ms.  Mmmhmmm, it was awesome! =)  #noregrets

Sidenote:  I think of this guy from We're The Millers every time I say that phrase now...

"None!?  Not even a single letter?" lol

And ending on a slightly more serious note, I saw this on Facebook and thought about how true it is spiritually... when Satan comes at us from the outside with accusations and condemnation, etc., it's a brokenness that brings death and shame and hopelessness.  But when Jesus convicts and corrects us from the inside, it's a repentant brokenness that brings new life and joy and freedom!!

That's all I've got for now.  Happy Friday, friends!!

Memory Monday (Random)

I'm gonna start choosing 3 random pages from my old scrapbooks for Memory Monday posts! =)

This = when Rach and Josh were dating, pre-engagement, in 2010.  They brought Triston and Carter and came to see my house... we had lunch at Coney Island then went to the Jenks Aquarium!  (Josh and the boys actually stopped there again this past week, and we were telling T-man that they'd been there before a few years back, but he couldn't really remember it.)  Look how little and cute they are with their pacifiers! :)

I think all of this is 2010, and the pics are already captioned...

Aww, memories!! lol  Jeffrey Edward labeled this V-Day dinner the "Lonely Hearts Club" because we were all single at the time... we went to my house for dessert afterward.  It was fun!

The other 3 pics are when Jay was out of town and JEM invited us over for the first time and baked his now-famous Sopapilla Cheesecake (reading the recipe online in the bottom pic)... then we had a fun game night, and halfway through Balderdash, he noticed something crawling behind me and silently got up to take care of it... a giant cockroach that he swept off the wall right in my direction!! (This was before he knew me very well, but Chettles was watching the whole thing very amused and anticipating my epic freakout! lol)

The Strongest Possible Choice

Strength shows up in different ways, sometimes where you least expect it...

Working at the courthouse, a lot of what I hear every week is tedious and repetitive, but there are a few cases that stick with me.  Without going into too much detail, two recent examples made an impression because of the incredible strength shown by the victims:  

First was a man who was molested by his stepfather throughout his childhood (a crime that has become appallingly common these days).  More often than not, the victims who finally find the courage to testify will walk with their heads down, keeping their distance from the abuser, generally avoiding eye contact, and speaking softly with a sense of shame or fear.  Not this one.  He deliberately walked near the defendant, making and holding eye contact on his way to the witness stand... it was refreshing and intense and bold.  He spoke up, talking directly to both the defendant and the judge.  He was abundantly clear about what had happened and how it affected him, and that although he was powerless to stop the abuse as a young child, he would do everything in his power to protect his own children, and he wanted this man to remain in prison.

To see someone who endured years of abuse as a child speak with such confidence and conviction absolutely made me want to cheer for him.  He was deeply affected by that crime, but he was not ashamed of it because he was clear about who was at fault.  He found real inner strength, and he was using it to protect the helpless rather than feigning strength to take advantage of them.  It was rare, and it was strong!

.................

Then there was a mother whose daughter was killed by a repeat drunk driver.  (I'm not supposed to show emotion, but this was the closest I've ever come to crying in the courtroom).  She wanted to read a statement about how their family had been impacted by the crash and the resulting aftermath of losing their daughter.  She shared a bit about her daughter's life and love for the Lord, a faith that the family clearly shared.  She finished reading, and through tears, said that she wanted to share some of those details with us because her daughter's life mattered...  
Then she turned directly to the defendant and said, "But your life matters too."  She said that forgiveness is a process, but she is working toward it.  The family was clear that he needed to be held responsible for his actions, but also clear that they are praying for him and do not wish vengeance on him, which was so powerful.  

I'm honestly leaving out so much of this story for anonymity reasons, but needless to say, it was a rare and beautiful kind of strength that can only come from God, and it made me think long and hard about forgiveness.  Without being dishonest, they could have lashed out and said any number of sharp words, tearing down his character and demanding that he pay the highest possible punishment.  But it took so much more strength to say:  Your life matters; we're praying for you; and we'll forgive you for the pain you've caused us.

(*In the first case, the crime was planned and deliberate, and the defendant unremorseful.  In the second, it was more about selfish ignorance than malice, and the defendant was apologetic and broken by what had happened.  So the type of strength shown by each victim was appropriate for the situation, but still something we rarely see.)

God gives us the strength we need to obey Him, but it doesn't always feel strong when you're in it.  A lot of things about walking with God are counterintuitive.  I've heard Joyce Meyer's testimony several times, and the most difficult thing she's ever done was forgiving her father, who sexually abused her for years.  First, she had to work very hard to overcome the false guilt and shame and recognize that what happened was not her own fault, separating her own heart and identity from the perverse choices and actions of her father... then eventually, she obeyed God in total forgiveness... and she even led her father to Christ before he died.

For every legitimate victim -- people whose lives have been forever altered because of the selfish choices of someone who abused their power -- naturally, there is an intense desire to become tough and strong and never be the victim again.  Forgiveness, then, is a huge challenge because it requires an element of surrender and that feels very much like weakness.  But seeing it from the outside, forgiveness is clearly the strongest possible choice a person can make, and it sends the most powerful message about who God is and how He loves each one of us!!

Phoning It In!!

LifeChurch is in the middle of their annual At The Movies series right now, and this weekend = About Time.  

(When they showed the very first scene...)
Me:  "Oooooh, it's About Time."
Chet, thinking I was just really excited:  "Wait, what movie is this!?"
Me:  "No, that's actually the movie's name." lol

...I immediately remembered seeing it in theaters around 3 months after the email, and how much it affected me then (blog post HERE).  It's a great movie and a powerful reminder to be present and notice and appreciate the little things in life!!

So in that spirit, here are several iPhone pics of things I'm thankful for these days:  =)

Missy-K pulls off my flip-flops every time I'm in this chair so she can put them on and prance around -- love it! :)

Finished my 2014 Scrapbook and got it in the mail this week - yay!!

I also finally took the time to clean out my closet... (I think the oldest thing I threw out was from 2001 - yikes).

I filled eight trash bags with clothes to take to Goodwill!

Still a pretty full closet, oddly enough, but much better organized and containing only clothes I'll genuinely wear again!

This = a random picture text from Rach that made me pretty happy! lol  I heart George Costanza!!

I've been hanging out with K-Foster a lot more lately, and I'm thankful for that and for her friendship!!  We had lunch (with Jon) at Food Truck Wednesday then had a 3-hour chat at Foolish Things Coffee Co. this week... good times!

A text from Sarah that cracked me up (the bottom part)... she's learning about my irrational fear of bugs and my quirky food/drink rules!  (She was trying to decide what she wanted and asked if she could have a sip of my tea at McAlister's, and her reaction was funny as I was literally pulling my cup away from her as she said it. lol)

Sammers, who is excited about life 24/7, jumping up to take my spot on the couch! =)  If dogs have personality types, she's an expressive and Bellsy Bells is an amiable. lol

This = Sarah singing and dancing to Whitney Houston, then us being cute with our free tea...

We met for breakfast at First Watch after she got off work (she's a night shift Pediatric Intensive Care nurse - please note her awesome Hakuna Matata scrubs) then grabbed a free tea at McAlister's on our way out!

Celebrating Grandad's 86th birthday at Chuck E. Cheese yesterday... JoBug brought cupcakes and Kyndal Faith wanted a bite of Grandad's! lol  Babah was there and she's recovering really well - I'm fairly amazed and impressed by that... she also told me a couple really funny stories about what she remembers from the ambulance ride... but I'll save those for in person conversations. :)

I can't even... could she be any cuter!?  I think not.  Just hanging out with Mamaw, holding her parmesan cheese. lol  ...Jaceman loved that frog game, and K-Faith loved the slide!  Jace was also pretty psyched about the magnadoodle toy Emily brought him!

And here, we have Chettles wearing earplugs because the LifeChurch music is entirely too loud for him now. lol

(And yes, I made fun of him for that!)

We all really enjoyed the sermon, though.  Then we had dinner at Whataburger (pretty random, but it was good)... it was Chet, Karli, Jeff, Evan, Logan, and me.  Fun times!

This has been a good week and great weekend (I'm 100% caught up at work for the first time in a long while as of Tuesday, then Judge was at a judicial conference Wed-Fri so I had some much-appreciated time off).  I have another post I've been thinking about writing (I planned it out on my drive back to Tulsa - lol), so good night for now, and I'll probably see you tomorrow! ;)

"I just try to live every day as if I've deliberately come back to this one day to enjoy it, as if it was the full, final day of my extraordinary ordinary life." ~Tim, About Time

Marbled Memories

One of my favorite things about little kids is how quickly their emotions shift and how fully committed they are to every emotion.  They're endearingly honest and fully alive... and highly entertaining! ;)  

The other day, Rach was playing a game with Jace and Kyndal where they'd climb on her legs and she'd help them do a back flip... they both loved it, so of course, she told them they had to take turns.  Literally every time it was Kyndal's turn, she was elated and laughing all the way around, just having the best time in the world - so cute!  Then the second Rach would call Jace over, she was crushed, dramatically falling to the ground and crying like her adorable life was falling apart at the seams.  (We're talking 30 seconds or less between their turns, but this probably happened five times in a row before Rach called it quits.)  It was fascinating how fast she could switch back and forth, fully happy then fully upset!  

Our emotions get a bit more complex as we get older...

I read an article (HERE) this week about Disney Pixar's latest movie, Inside Out, and it made me think about how every emotion matters, and sometimes we unwittingly do more damage to ourselves by trying to silence grief or disconnect from feeling sadness.

The movie tells the story of an 11-year-old girl named Riley as her family moves to a new state.  Her mom is stressed with the move and her dad is struggling to adjust to the pressures of his new job, so seeing their daughter as the bright spot in their lives, Riley's mom tells her that they need her to be happy for the sake of the family...

"It’s a well-meaning gesture, spoken without malice and intended to help Riley be strong. Yet it is this conversation that sets off the trouble inside Riley’s head... Riley's problem is not that she is experiencing sadness as a result of the move; her real problem is that she is trying so hard not to experience sadness. Inside her head, Joy literally draws a circle around Sadness and tells her not to come out of it. That fateful decision cuts Riley off from the help that she needs, driving her into depression and isolation. In one of Pixar’s most poignant scenes, Joy ultimately lets Sadness have control, Riley’s tears finally flow, and she is able to find the emotional support that she needs."  ~Ken Roach

I saw the movie in theaters and thought it was well done, but I didn't have any sort of personal epiphany until I read the above paragraph.  Riley is adjusting to major changes in her friendships, classes, outside activities, and family dynamic... yet she feels guilty about being sad.  I'm very aware that that has been true for me sometimes... and that feeling guilty about feeling sadness just throws everything out of balance.  It creates a toxic internal pressure to project false joy that usually leads to feeling disconnected from yourself and everyone around you, which is the basic definition of depression.  

So allowing yourself to feel every emotion -- NOT to wallow in self-pity or let the emotions control you, but to simply acknowledge it when you feel sad without shame or worry that you will disappoint God or anyone else -- is healthy.  (And is the fastest road to genuine healing and joy).  God knows our hearts, and He wants "truth in our inmost being," so sometimes that means crying out to Him in the midst of pain and heartache.  

"The world can see through our plastic smiles, and it's a recipe for an emotional breakdown if we never allow ourselves to feel difficult emotions for fear that we will be a disappointment to God."  ~K. Roach

I'm almost done, I promise... One other thing I loved was how the movie depicted memories... every memory was in a glass ball that had a color based on the emotion Riley was feeling at the time.  In the beginning, her memories were mostly yellow (meaning JOY) ...with a few blue (SADNESS), purple (FEAR), green (DISGUST), and red (ANGER) thrown in.  (Watching Jace and Kyndal play the other day, that makes sense to me - they're all in with one emotion or the other!)

It was somewhat subtle, but toward the end of the movie, as "Joy" and "Sadness" learned to work together and saw the value in each other, a lot of Riley's memories became two-tone or multi-colored... like marbled blue-and-yellow.  So much of life can be bittersweet, and I appreciated the portrayal of joy and sadness coexisting... making things a little more complex, but also more beautiful.

God's joy is our strength, but that doesn't mean that sadness is the enemy or something He looks on with disapproval or condemnation.  God is amazing and wonderfully elaborate, and we are made in His image.  We are capable of experiencing both gratitude and loss at the same time... grief and joy mixed together... fear and courage... anger and love... brokenness and hope, etc.  For those who love Him, God is able to take every marbled memory and tangled emotion, all the  jagged edges and complicated pieces of our lives, and create something uniquely radiant that reflects His glory.

My life is full of "marbled" memories, and I am grateful for all of them. ❤

Quotables!

Jace:  Did we make it to heaven, Mama?
Rach:  Heav... what!?
Jace:  Is this heaven?  There's Jesus over there!
Awesome thoughts by the Jaceman upon seeing the life-size Jesus-on-the-cross statue in the Catholic church before Emily's wedding - in his defense, the architecture of that church was pretty amazing and beautiful :)

Jace:  Mamaw, when do we get to have the birthday cake!?
(Another pre-wedding comment, looking forward to the cake he'd been promised, in the room with all the bridal party! lol)

Jace (so happy):  What do you want me to do next!?
(Showing off his dance moves in the middle of the bridal party circle, not at all afraid to be the center of attention! lol)

Georgia:  So are you gonna go somewhere to watch the fireworks with your folks?
Me:  Oh sorry, were you talking to me? (oblivious, as usual)
Georgia:  Yeah... her folks are dead! 
(Meaning Charlene, who was sitting in the back with me. lol  So unexpected and funny!! This was when they were driving me back to Mom and Dad's after playing games at Nancy's on the 4th.)

(Waiting forever for the MWC fireworks to begin...)
Rach:  Okay, this is getting ridiculous.  I'm gonna go in and get your pajamas ready!
Jace:  Nooo.  Are you killing me, Mama!?
(So serious and irritated -- he meant "kidding," but his version caught us all off guard and was much funnier!)

NANC!! ~Jaceman imitating Gene (over and over) at the Peavler's house! lol

(In the car with her when she refuses to go to church...)
Let's pray for her... Lord, don't send Madea to hell...  Just give her a little house right outside the gates of heaven, so she can watch all of us go in!  Aaaamen.  ~Mr. Brown, Madea Goes to Jail
(Not sure why exactly, but I laughed at that for the longest time!)

What about Mondo's?  Is that place any good? ~Sarah, trying to figure out where to eat for her b-day
Yeah, it's great!!  ~Chet, not mentioning that he'd never been there, trying to help her decide quickly - lol
(Fortunately, it really turned out to be true!)

I understand how this might sound, as I'm talking about Lord of the Rings, but the second Lord of the Rings movie is unrealistic!  ~Chettles, cracking us up in the pool

You know, I really don't understand why people don't just stop smoking and eat more!?  ~Chet again :)

I'm telling you, their food is SO great! -Chet
I don't know that we can really trust your recommendations at this point. -Laura (after the Juwanna Mann experience)

Your wisdom and maturity are rarely seen any more.  ~part of Chet's note to Laura
(He meant that those qualities are rare in today's world, but it definitely made us all laugh!)

I've never understood why people would believe in a heaven where there are only 144,000 slots, but lately with all the political drama and everything, I've been thinking... maybe there are only 144,000!!  ~Chettles :)

Actually, my dating life was in its prime right then... but I really hated the smell! ~Sarah (on working at Arby's and always smelling like curly fries)
...I guess if I had to smell curly fries all the time without eating them, I wouldn't be too happy about that either! ~Kevin lol

The rest of these are Nick Miller quotes:  =)

• If we needed to talk about feelings, they would be called "talkings."
• Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? No, a summer’s day is not a bitch!(A bit of post break-up poetry - his delivery makes it even better! lol)
• I’ve never been an inspiration before… I don’t like this much responsibility.
• No, I don’t dance!  I’m from the town in Footloose.
• Do I regret it? Yes. Would I do it again? Probably.
• I have decided to give up on women and put all of that energy into tomatoes.
• I know this isn’t gonna end well, but the middle part is gonna be awesome.

Finally, not a quote, but a meme that cracked me up...

Someone please fix all the freaking potholes -- it's out of control!!

Chet's Party!

It was a really great time at Gary's place celebrating Chettles last night... 

although his b-day movie selection was NOT as great as he'd remembered it. lol

Raising Cane's chicken for dinner - yummers!  

*Sidenote:  It makes me happy when people start using my random phrases, and Chet texted us that he was running "a tiny minute" late! :)

"1, 2, 3, GO!"  -Chet before we sang him Happy Birthday! lol

(We had Italian Cream Cake made by Teresa!)

After watching Juwanna Mann in Gary's awesome theater room... two hours of our lives that we can never get back. ;-)

"Well, you're all welcome... for introducing you to the worst movie ever." -Chetley

Gary getting the "Spooky Ice Cream Bar 2.0" ready! =)

Mimicking their classic Chettles pose pose from last year!

Also copying our backyard stairs pose from last year - I love it!!

Laura's b-day card for Chet!

Gary was dissatisfied with his work, but Chet approved! lol

A thank you card for Gar-Bear, who is always an awesome party host and a great friend/mentor for Chettles!

Watching funny youtube videos (like this one).

Sarah Elizabeth and I trying to get a decent picture of the two of us... I still think we can do better, but this is pretty good for now! lol

Gary chatting with the guys!

Photobomb! lol

After "our judgment-free swim under the cover of darkness," this pic = Chet reading what he'd written about each person, thanking us for our friendship!
Very memorable and encouraging and awesome!!  :)

Then we held hands in a circle and Chet said a prayer... I love that, and I love our group!!

Happy Birthday, Chet Lee!!  =)