Encouragement

Aaaaaah!!  How fantastic would it be to have this sitting on my very own bookshelf!?  (I played around with the Canva Design website this morning and it made me quite happy... soooo now all that's left is to actually FINISH WRITING THE BOOK. lolol)

#iamridiculous #somedaysoon #forreals

In present day news, I gotta say again that I am such a fan of Matt Chandler!!  Gracious, his sermon this week was ON POINT!  I could cry with how deeply I relate to his church background and quest, and I just feel incredibly hopeful and encouraged to be in alignment with him on these major issues - like I'm not out of place but right where God wants me.  And I feel inspired to stand firm in prioritizing Scripture as the solid foundation of truth while growing in the gifts and anointing and authority of the Holy Spirit!

"Southern Baptists believe firmly in the sufficiency of the Scriptures, which I have been unbelievably shaped by.  My whole Christian experience has been that nothing outweighs the Bible... the Word of God is what informs us and shapes us to understand God rightly and to interact with the world correctly."

I got so cracked up picturing this story, but I can relate to being surrounded by the crazies who are faking it and putting on a show for people's approval, and I love that he ends with "Reject that nonsense!" lol

"I'm in this little revival, and everyone's slain in the Spirit but me.  I mean, literally everyone is on the floor but me. And here's my thing: If the Ghost wants to slay me, I'm willing to be slain, but the old fellow in the suit ain't pushing me down!  So now I'm the primary focus of the room because it's a failure if the Ghost doesn't get me, so all these brothers are over me and they're praying in tongues and all that... 

Most of what I saw in the great quest of '98 and '99 was 'charismaniacs' who rejected the sufficiency of the Scriptures and believed that they were hearing revelation from God that superseded the text -- that's what I kept finding. And it was in that space that I learned to reject that nonsense...

Until like a miner in a dark, cold mine, I saw just this little thin thread of gold, and I started to follow it.  And I found this group of men and women that defined themselves as reformed charismatics... Scripturally serious robust doctrinal belief inflamed with the power of the Holy Spirit!"

He also talks about his cancer diagnosis (being given a 2-year life expectancy then being healed and in remission for several years now).  I LOVED what he had to say on the subject of faith and healing as well, as that's been one of the main areas of faith struggle and confusion for me in the past:

"You had this group over here that was like, 'Man, you just need to have faith, brother.  Just believe because if you don't have faith, the Lord is not gonna heal. The Lord honors faith and He blesses faith, so you've got to muster faith right now.'  And I just want you to know what kind of pastor you have -- I will NEVER visit you in the hospital and ask you to muster strength and blame you for your illness for not having enough faith!  That is TOXIC NONSENSE, and the preachers that preach that and espouse that are shysters and scoundrels.  And I couldn't use any more strong language for them right now because of our setting.  It's a lie.  What kind of crushing, horrific weight would you place on people??

Then there was another group who were just like 'May the will of God be done.'  Yes... but what do we do where the Bible tells us to pray that people be healed in the name of Jesus?  What do we do with James that says lay hands and ask Him with great expectancy to heal disease?  ...I think the place that the Bible would have us is to pray boldly, believing that God is able and willing, and then holding our hands open, knowing that the will of God will be done.  We want to pray for healing and expect it, and then trust that He's good.  And not everybody is gonna be healed - we see that in the Bible. That doesn't mean we don't pray..."

Yeeees and amen!!  So good, right!?

Mmkay, that's all I have for the blog today.  Now I need to practice a teensy bit before I leave work.  Hope you're having a lovely Friday!! ❤

Penny Lane

I loved every bit of this, so I thought I'd share it here on the blog, too! ❤

Paul is kind and down-to-earth and a brilliant musical talent.  James Corden is precious, and he's having the time of his life here - so excited and clearly a huge Beatles fan!  When he shared the post on YouTube, he commented, "brb crying forever." lolol

Seeing Paul give a tour of his childhood home was wonderful and special.  Then putting on a surprise concert at the little pub in Liverpool where he used to play... so fantastic!!  You can feel the crowd's excitement there and the full range of emotions you see James going through.  Hearing the story behind "Let It Be," my personal favorite Beatles song, was pretty awesome too.  I always love the "Carpool Karaoke" segments, and this was the best one yet!

*It's starting 11 minutes in for some annoying reason, so make sure you rewind to the beginning if you play this.*  Enjoy.  =)


"And when the night is cloudy, there is still a light that shines on me.  Shine on till tomorrow... let it be." ❤

Relaxi-Taxi Weekend

"And I came up with the name!" ~Rachel

"YOU DID NOT!" ~Phoebe

"What!???  Yes, I did!"  ~Rachel

"You came up with RelaxiCAB -- that's not good!  I changed it to Relaxi-Taxi!"  ~Phoebe

"Not RelaxiCAB... it's ReLAXi Cab, like Taxi Cab!!"  ~Rachel

"Oh.  Oooh, that is better."  ~Phoebe =)

Mmkay, so I had a really nice, relaxing weekend!

Friday night, I had dinner with Mom and Dad at the new Bricktown Brewery in Midwest City -- YUM!!  Great food and a good talk! ❤  That night, I watched Big Business, one of my favorite movies from the childhood days of renting movies at Blockbuster (about two sets of twins who were mixed up at birth) - so much fun! =)

Saturday, I slept in whilst Dad led his men's lifegroup.  (One of the men in his group was diagnosed with ALS last year, and it makes me happy that Dad is there to strengthen and encourage and help him and his family!)  

Then we had tasty croissant sandwiches for lunch!  Mom bought lots of food because David was planning to come stay with them, then he got sick and had to postpone his trip. Hopefully he can still come this week.

My Best Friend's Wedding was on TV... a definite blast from the past!! =)  "It's amazing the clarity that comes with psychotic jealousy!" lol

#isayalittleprayerforyou #yourenevergonnabejello #lowerthanpondscum 

This = Reagan being precious and trying to make sure I didn't get up from the bed, putting her paw over my fingers! lol ❤

Mom and I spent some time talking about redecorating a wall in my bedroom with a few of my favorite quotes... mine won't all be Dumbledore quotes, but this picture gave us a starting point in thinking about the idea, and made me marvel again at the awesomeness of JK Rowling. =)

The Parrish fam got back from their trip to Denton, Texas around 4:30, so I got to see them for a few minutes before I had to leave for Tulsa.  J&K were full of excitement and immediately telling us all the stories and showing us all their videos from the Urban Air Trampoline Park and the Exotic Animal Park in Wynnewood!  (The kids picked out and ordered some ear muffs recently and were excited that they'd come in. lol)

Hi, Rach! lol

Then I drove to Tulsa and met Tiffany and Sarah at Starworld Theater for Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom. Chris Pratt was the main thing I liked about the movie! Those movies get more and more ridiculous, and this one involved a lot of the meanest dinosaur targeting a child, which I definitely could've done without, and the ending was just painfully irritating.  We stopped by Andy's Frozen Custard after the movie and chatted for a while in my car. =)

'Twas a stormy, stormy night, but that helps me sleep sometimes. #sorelaxing

This morning was Woodlake Church then Schlotzsky's lunch with the gang - fun times, and it was windy and overcast and perfect weather for sitting outside!

I took a lovely Sunday nap at home then went to Sarah's for a fun girls night! 

She made taquitos and we had "tacos in a bag!" It was all really good! =)

We watched Peter Rabbit, which was completely precious... I ❤ bunnies and wanna hug them all!!  And I think James Corden is hilarious! =)

Then we played several rounds of Fibbage ...Sarah won 75% of them and Tiffany won the other 25%.  It was not my night on all the games. lol  I'll just choose to take it as a compliment that I'm not a great liar. ;-)

"They're so friendly. Don't you think daisies are the friendliest flower?" -Kathleen Kelly

We played three rounds of Bananagrams after that, all of which were won by Tiffany!  I was laughing about having the words "jail" and "fee" across from each other here! lol

Cookies and milk for dessert!  #noragrets (#deliberatemisspelling from We're the Millers)

And now I'm back home and ready for bed. Kinda sad I have to go to work tomorrow, but it's been a refreshing weekend full of family and friends and church and naps and great food and fun games and good movies!!! ❤

Photo Friday

Here's a video of J singing The Greatest Show.  They each got a turn to perform, but Kyndal wanted to be in her brother's video, too.  I don't love that he knees her in the face, but the classic sibling rivalry here -- (his extreme irritation and her fighting to push her way in) -- really cracks me up! =)

Google Photos also made this lovely gif to commemorate it. lol

They did do a duet performance after that. ❤

Facebook informs me that yesterday was "National Selfie Day."  What in the world!? 
...But since there will never be a more appropriate time to post this ridiculously vapid selfie-kaleidoscope pic, I'm going for it. lol These are from an app I downloaded several months ago that had a "Hollywood" filter... it gives the instant effect of smooth tanned skin, thick eyeliner, perfect eyebrows, thinner nose, whiter teeth, etc.  It's also likely to foster discontentment, so I made myself delete it after playing with it for a while that first day, but I still had this happy lil' collage saved on Google Photos...

In other news, Happy 5th Anniversary to Chet Lee and Karli Marie! ❤  In some ways, it's crazy that it's already been five years, yet when I look back at that group photo, it kinda feels like a lifetime ago.  #embracetheremix

Happy Friday!  TGIF!!

The Greatest Show

Since I'm taking a summer break from watching TV at home, I loaned the Parrishes my DVD of The Greatest Showman, which they tend to call "The Greatest Show."  (That one skyrocketed up the list of my favorite movies and especially musicals. Sound of Music still tops it, but nothing else comes close!) 

Anyway, T, C, J, & K LOVE it! They already had learned a lot of the soundtrack from Rach's phone, and now they're watching the movie whenever they're in the car.  Carter told me he's "in love with" Zendaya! lol  Triston said he "really liked it, but it sure had a lot of songs in it!" which cracked me up.  Kyndal Faith loves the Rewrite the Stars dance scene - Rach says she's totally mesmerized by it. Preshface!  And the Jaceman was super-excited about getting this hat from Mamaw today, and aspires to get the whole costume! lolol

All of this makes me really happy!! ❤

This pic of the Miss so proud of herself for catching a fish = awesomeness! lol

They all caught one that day!  (Then they threw them back in, which makes me happy too.)

I've spent a lot of time over the last few days listening to Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix again. It's probably my favorite book in the series, although 1, 3, and 7 are close competitors. I freaking love it!  JK is completely brilliant - I cannot even talk about it!!! I listened to the "you do care" scene tonight and it brought my mind back to this post from 2013.  (Also, I found that specific post by searching the word "lunascope," which made me laugh that I remember the quote so well.)

Shifting subjects again, someone posted this lately, and I thought it was good!  Trying to understand the cause beneath the surface is never a bad idea.

Words of Wisdom Wednesday... ❤❤

"It seems impossible to love people who hurt and disappoint us,

yet there are no other kinds of people." 

~Frank Andrews 

I'm working on a volunteer CR project this week transcribing the oral history interview of a Holocaust survivor.  It's been interesting, heartbreaking, and challenging (partly because of all the German and Polish words being used).  But I'm glad I signed up for it.  The quote above is from another Holocaust survivor, and it is poignant and true!

Anyway, that's all I've got for today. ❤

Weekend in Reverse

SUNDAY:

LifeChurch had a photo area set up in the lobby for Father's Day! =)

Parrish kids with Joshua Michael

We had lunch at Salt Grass Steakhouse, which always makes me think of Jeffrey. =)  Jace was complaining of his ears being cold, then tried this napkin solution and thought it was hilarious. lol

I drove back to Tulsa and went by the farmhouse to drop off this happy card for Chettles. (The original plan was to mail it, but Walgreens photo department was having major issues on Friday!)

SATURDAY:

Breakfast at First Watch in OKC with E-beth!! =)  Always fun times catching up with her, and her Rocky shirt made me really happy! lol

Biscuits and gravy for me... eggs benedict for her. I ❤ breakfast food!!

We chatted for a couple hours, then I went straight from there to Johnnie's for lunch with the fam to celebrate Grandad's Father's Day!!  ❤

The great-grandkids!

A photo by the Miss K =)

A preshface door-holder! lol

Babah's a funny one! lol  (She bought this hat for K-Faith.)

Rach and Grandad talking as we left

We were trying to get a pic of Kyndal in the hat, then J volunteered, saying, "Look at my hat!" lol

Hoverboards, dunking the basketball and hanging from the rim (with the assistance of a paint bucket to lift them up), and J being upset that he couldn't get a bait worm out of the boat to play with. lolol  It was quite the drama.

K finally tried on the hat at home. =)

FRIDAY:

I was so happy this came in a little ahead of schedule so I could give it to Tiffany on Friday afternoon! ❤

After dropping off the blanket, I went to Bixby for a party at April's!

It was the healthiest birthday dinner ever with kale salad, quinoa salad, corn on the cob, asparagus, and shish kabobs.  We did have peach cobbler and ice cream for dessert, so that was happy news! lol

It was the Fosters' connect group and a few people from the Woodlake worship team. I was having some weird deja vu moments with the eclectic, music-themed decor all over her house. The resemblance was already hard to ignore. I'm never sure exactly what God is up to in these moments, but I know He's working on my heart, and I'm along for the ride.

So that's my Father's Day weekend recap!

Thankful Thursday (84)

"Be my secure shelter and a strong fortress to protect me; You are my refuge and defense." ~Psalm 71:3

Since my last post was a bit of a venting complaint-fest, I wanted to counter it with some gratitude! lol

Today, I am thankful for...

1.  My sister and her family and all the joy my niece and nephews bring me!  

2.  My growing friendships with the Woodlake group!  The Fosters are two of the most faithful, faith-filled people I know. Audrey is genuine and compassionate. April is quiet but really funny. Neil and Amber are expecting their first child, and I know they'll be great parents!  It's just a fun group where we have game nights twice a month, and I'm starting to make some deeper connections, and I'm always thankful for that!

3.  The way God is slowly using that church and that group to bring healing and help me to trust again and be open to the true Holy Spirit after some super-crazy and semi-traumatic church experiences (with people who falsely believed they were operating in the Spirit) in my past!!! 

4.  My Grandad, who is one of the kindest and most genuine men I know!

5.  My job, where I have great work hours and get to work with my friends, where I have a unique skill set and I'm really good at what I do, and where I've become determined to put in the practice time to become better and pass the RMR and CRR tests and give myself a raise! lol  (Aaaaand where they've said they will bring me new ceiling tiles soon! lol) #yesplease

Waiting on a verdict in our trial last week! =)

6.  Summer and swimming and fresh cut flowers and how late it stays bright and sunny! I'm soaking it up and loving it right now!! ❤

7.  Baby bunnies!!  Because all the cuteness!  (This = a pic from Rach's phone that popped up in my Google Photos account and made me happy!) =)