BFFO

I realized today and got really excited that in less than 9 hours I will be in St. Louis, Mo for a few days to hang out with my BFFO, Kate, and her husband Shawn. I will note that while he is the more important Shawn in her life now, I was the 1st Shawn in her life – a little fact we don’t let him forget!

Okay so now some of you are completely curious what BFFO stands for…I am sure you are smart enough to figure out the BFF part, but in case not – Best Friends Forever. So what in the world does the O mean? Well, the O stands for Original, and while Kate and I like to think we can take credit for this – we can’t! It came from a Kanakuk Skit one day at Backwoods back when we were campers at K2, but Kate and I are the ones that have adopted it that summer over 12 years ago. The O of BFFO is the most important part b/c the O describes Kate and I completely – we are original to say the least, we are one of a kind. The first time we met – we had on the exact same shirt – out of all the shirts – really what are the chances of two girls from two different states wearing the same thing and actually looking kind of alike – blonde hair, same height, blue/green eyes – go figure. We were best friends from the moment we met and while we have had our ups and downs – we still remain best friends and even now that she is married we still haven’t really changed b/c we still get to see each other about twice a year and we talk on the phone almost daily. We are double the trouble when we are together, as Shawn her husband is bound to really witness first hand. I promise to come home from St. Louis with fun pictures and stories – who knows we might even go marching to celebrate the New Year!

A Look Back at 2008

So I know the end of 2008 is still a few days away, but I wanted to recap 2008. I will say this much about 2008 – it wasn’t the year I thought it would be. In a lot of ways it was better and in some ways it was just different than I thought it would be, but that is what I get for trying to tell God my plans for life. I grew in a lot of ways this year, but in some areas of my life I am still standing still. Overall 2008 will go down as a good year!

January

• The year started out with a trip to NYC for market – with really warm weather.
• I officially start leading my young adult’s community group without a co-leader – glad that drama is behind me.
• Winter Chill with my fun 6th grade girls & Stacy.
• I turned a quarter of a century old on the 22nd – fun to celebrate with friends at Mattido’s. Mom & Whitney even drove down to surprise me.
• I lost my boss and assistant within two days of each other due to a promotion, which left Sherri and I to fend for ourselves – crazy times.
  

February

• Jamie joined Sherri and I as a part of the crippled Traditional Career Team
• A crazy busy month with the launch of American Living and everything that came with it. I was back in NYC for AL market and the Red Carpet Launch party – I got to meet lots of fun famous people and feel like a star for the night. The month ended with the entire AL team being snowed in, so we had to spend an extra night in the city.
  

March

• I found out I wasn’t losing my job, but I was taking a demotion and moving to the retail side of things on 4/1. It really ended up being a promotion not a demotion, thankfully.
• DTown with my 6th grade girls, so much fun. And we had two new girls join our group – Katherine & Kristina. We now were up to 6 girls.
• The rest of the month was pretty much spent recovering from my gum surgery – definitely the most painful thing I have experienced this far in life. Not being able to eat solid foods for over two weeks – super tough.
  

April

• I moved upstairs to the career retail floor and started working for Dan as an assortment planner. Funny thing was neither of us knew what I was supposed to be doing – make work interesting.
• Mom’s mysterious health scare b/c of the weird things on her legs.
• I returned to Brazil for 10 days with another team from WM to love on the people in the Amazon jungle – what an amazing trip. I was privileged to be able to help lead the VBS team, but the team and kids in the villages taught me more than I could have ever taught them.
  

May

• Bridget and Chloe join the little girl’s small group – we now have 8 amazing girls.
• Whitney decides that she is transferring to the University of Arkansas starting next fall.
• Kate comes to Texas for the weekend, 1st time I have seen her since her wedding 11 months earlier.
• Madison (one of my little girls) & Stacy (my little girl’s co-leader) get baptized.
• Memorial Day was spent at the lake with Maryann and several of her friends – fun weekend out of town
• Cliffy graduates from Old High.
  

June

• Started off with a weekend of weddings – Vahista (one of my college roommates) on Saturday night in FW and Sherri (a co-worker) on Sunday in Rockwall.
• I graduated from CR – finally after a year & a half. I will admit now, I miss my Monday night friends.
• June also brings around ½ of my community groups birthday within like a week of each other – so we had lots of birthday celebrations and fun outings. We also finally started to really click as a community group and as friends!
• Dad (17th) & Jimmy (18th) celebrate their birthdays together again – I actually saw my dad on his birthday this year, yes that is a rare thing for those of you who don’t know that.
• The entire last week I spent living in a hotel room with my 6th graders as they attended connection and put on a vacation bible school for kids in West Dallas – so fun to see them reach out to others.
• Found out Poppi has liver cancer, and the outlook was not good.
• Said goodbye to Amanda (WM friend), as she was moving to Austin to start her new life their before she gets married.
  

July

• Moved to another new position at work – moved from Dan’s team to Lesa’s team. Still not sure what I am really doing.
• Maverick (my dog) turned 5 years old – hard to believe I’ve had him that long. I guess time flies when you’re having fun.
• The 4th of July celebrations started on the 3rd with Kaboom Town and lots of friends, and the 4th was spent being lazy in the pool with a few friends and the evening came to an end with lots of great fireworks.
• I said goodbye to Lynn (college roommate) as she packed up her life and headed to Lubbock for law school.
• Celebrated 1 year at JCP.
• The month ended with Poppi having surgery on his liver to try and remove the cancer. After several days of kidney failure – he amazingly bounced back to the surprise of even the doctors – he is one tough cookie.
  

August

• I had my second oral surgery – not as painful as the 1st one but still pretty painful.
• I decide it is time to run another ½ marathon – San Antonio in November
• Whitney moves to Arkansas for school
• Doctors tell Poppi – that it looks like they got all the cancer.
• Outside the Camp with WM student ministry leaders – lots of fun.
• Mom & I go to Arkansas to visit Whitney for Bid Day – mom is never again allowed to make the hotel reservations over the computer.
  

September

• Whitney pledges Pi Phi
• My little girls are now 7th graders – we lose one Becca, but we gain one Alexandra – we have 8 solid 7th graders.
• Several friends amuse me with a trip to the Plano Balloon Festival.
• The last weekend of the month starts my month of weddings/engagements – Amy (summer camp friend) got married.
  

October

• Nicole (sorority lil sis), Amanda (WM friend), and Beth (WM friend) all got married one right after the other – crazy times, but lots of fun. They were all beautiful brides.
• In the midst of the weddings I have to spend a whole week lying to my roommate about everything, in order to keep her engagement a secret. Congrats to SarahBeth & Jeremy!
• Sadly in the midst of all the great celebrations – one of my 7th grade girl’s dads was killed.
• So Stacy and I had to learn how to help 7th grade girls deal with such a thing and how to love their friend. Needless to say all 8 of my 7th grade girls had to grow up a little more quickly than we would have liked, but it was amazing to see how they loved their friend.
• Halloween was spent at Pine Cove with some of my 7th grade girls as Halloween fell on the Jr. High fall Pine Cove retreat – lots of fun to just hang out with my girls for a weekend.
  

November

• Was a crazy busy month I ended up being out of town every single weekend – which made the week nights really busy.
• Mom and I went to San Antonio for the ½ marathon. Finally my mom got to see my run a race since high school. She was such a great cheerleader, as she cheered Brooke, Julie, Amit, and I on during the race. Fun weekend.
• The Getaway – WM girl student ministry leaders retreat – ended up being fun and a weekend where I learned a lot – even though it took a small act of congress or just some really dedicated and great friends to get me there.
• I found out I get to go back to Brazil in May of 2009 – I really nice surprise and I am super excited about the whole thing.
• Thanksgiving I ran in the Turkey Trot with Brooke and Julie. I celebrated Thanksgiving with dad out at Mark’s house before heading to WF to see that side of my family for a few days.
• Black Friday – was just way too early but lots of fun and I even actually started Christmas shopping this year.
  

December

• As December always is busy, this year was no exception but it was a lot of fun with all the holiday parties and fun festivities that come along with the holidays.
• On the 8th my family said goodbye to Bobby, and while it was hard to say goodbye he was ready to go, so that made it a little easier.
• The White Rock Marathon was a lot of fun except spraining my ankle between mile 2 and 3 – I still finished in good time, even beating my San Antonio time.
• Christmas Eve was spent with dad & Marsha – with lunch at Jimmy’s and dinner and presents back at dad’s house that night.
• Christmas Day – after a great homemade breakfast – I headed to WF to celebrate Christmas with my mom and that side of the family.
• New Year’s Eve will be spent in St. Louis with Kate and Shawn
  

I am sure I missed highs and lows in my recap of 2008 but overall it was a good year. I am excited to see what 2009 has in store for me, I know it holds lots of changes but what those changes are exactly I am not sure yet. I hope everyone enjoys the last few days of 2008, and I hope everyone has an amazing 2009.

Merry Christmas

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas full of family and friends. Overall my Christmas was good a good one filled with family and friends, it was one of those times where I reminded myself to just take everything as it comes and just smile and laugh. My Christmas celebrations started on Christmas Eve with lunch at Uncle Jimmy's, which proved to be one of the moments where I just had to smile a lot, but I am glad we went over there and saw that side of my family since I don't really see them except for holidays b/c my dad is a little anti-family social at times. Dad, Marsha and I literally only ate lunch over there and left - we took our presents for that side of the family but we didn't stay to exchange them. After we left my uncle's I headed off to church without my dad and Marsha in toe, oh well there is always next year. But I actually didn't mind so much having to go to church without my family b/c SarahBeth, Jeremy, and I all ended up sitting together so we were our own little family. Since I have never been to a Christmas Eve service at Watermark, I wasn't exactly sure what to expect but I knew I would love it and I did - I honestly probably enjoyed it more than if I would have been in Wichita Falls. After church it was back to dad's house for me b/c he had cooked a really nice dinner for all of us including Maverick. After dinner we exchanged and opened presents. Once again my dad went overboard with his presents for me, but I excited about all of them and he was really creative with some of them this year.

On Christmas Day after a nice homemade breakfast by dad it was time to hit the road for Wichita Falls. For some of you this might seem weird that I travel on Christmas day but it is honestly the best way I have found to keep my parents happy and they both actually get to see me on Christmas. The drive really wasn't a bad one this year, and I am very thankful for that. I missed my mom and step dad by less than 10minutes at our house, so that meant I had to drive another thirty minutes out to my aunts (step dad's sister) where we were meeting to celebrate Christmas. As I arrived at my aunts house I notice something a little odd, my mom was sleeping in the chair and not sitting at the table - my mom had finally hit her exhaustion point of the past few days and literally couldn't keep her eyes open. While I completely understand how and why she got to that point it really made me sad that my mom slept most of the day on Christmas - so I actually only interacted with her for may-be two hours all day, but I promised myself I was just going to smile and take things in stride. I enjoyed the time at my aunts house because my older sister, her husband and my three nephews were all there, so it was nice to see all of them. One of my cousins and his wife were there with their son and then the new baby, which was just so much fun. Plus since they live out at the lake there is just so much for all the boys to do and lots of room for them to play - I think we all had a fun time playing. Christmas night it was back to my parents house for me to open my presents from that side of the family. Plus my favorite cousins all came over to celebrate Christmas and see me even though most of them had just been at my house the night before.

Overall it was a really good Christmas, while at times I did have to just smile. It was good for me because it taught me just to go with it, but more importantly in those moments where I just had to smile - I was able to remind myself of the true meaning of Christmas and the reason we celebrate it.

Happy Birthday Jesus! I hope it was a good one.

Where are you Christmas

On of the Christmas songs that I have found myself singing over the past few days is the Faith Hill "Where are you Christmas" from the movie How the Grinch Stole Christmas. Here are the lyrics to the song....

Where are you Christmas

Why can't I find you

Why have you gone away

Where is the laughter You used to bring me

Why can't I hear music play

My world is changing I'm rearranging

Does that mean Christmas changes too

Where are you Christmas

Do you remember The one you used to know

I'm not the same one See what the time's done

Is that why you have let me go

Christmas is here Everywhere, oh Christmas is here If you care, oh

If there is love in your heart and your mind

You will feel like Christmas all the time

I feel you Christmas

I know I've found you

You never fade away

The joy of Christmas

Stays here inside us

Fills each and every heart with love

Where are you Christmas

Fill your heart with love

I think part of the reason I have found myself singing this song so much over the past few days is because I have realized that Christmas isn't what it once was for me - don't get me wrong I still love it but I use to love it so much more. And I think a big part of the reason I am going back and forth as to whether I am excited about Christmas this year is because my family on both sides are so incredibly tense and it has been such a drama filled month that it has taken it's toll on everyone. When I am with my friends I am extremely excited and filled with the Christmas spirit and I am trying really hard to be the same way around my family it's just hard when they are all so tense - I hope they aren't my Grinch who steals Christmas. I am honestly excited to see my family and spend time with them over the holidays. I just hope and pray that everyone can find Christmas in time for Christmas.

A Christmas Story

So I realize most of you are quiet aware that Christmas is in just a few days - get excited. I wanted to take just a couple of minutes to remind everyone what the true reason of the season is, and that is Christ birth. Several weeks ago we showed this video to our Jr. High students at church, and I really liked it so I wanted to share.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-4y5mK_o9E

(Sorry I am not smart enough yet on this whole blog world to know how to post the video inside my blog)

Merry Christmas!

Holiday Fun

This past weekend was a weekend jam packed full of fun holiday events, and really put me in the holiday spirit. On Friday night my friend Julie organized a large group of people to go to the Gaylord Hotel to partake in the ICE exhibit. Needless to say this event alone was enough to put me in the holiday spirit - I was like a kid in a candy store, only because I have wanted to go see ICE for the past three years and for one reason or another haven't been able to go. For those of you who don't know what ICE is, it is a basically a "city" made of entirely of ICE. It really isn't a city, rather different rooms with different holiday scenes in them. It is minus 9 degrees in the entire exhibit so they give you big parkas to wear while you are inside ICE, needless to say we all looked like big football players. But we were all very thankful for the warmth of the parkas. It was a well worth the three year wait for me, and given the opportunity I will go back.
Hugging the ice ornaments Student Ministry leaders

In the gingerbread house

Roommate Picture

Saturday involved last minute Christmas shopping and lots of time spent wrapping Christmas presents - I can't show you the pictures of the wrapping mess because I don't want some people to see their unwrapped presents. Saturday night was the annual Maple Terrace Christmas party, and like the past two years it was one of my favorite Christmas parties of the year. There are always so many fun people that I don't get to see as often as I would like and it is in such a fun place. (Sadly I don't have any pictures of the night). Sunday was a pretty typical Sunday, but Sunday night after church a group of about 80 of us loaded up on three trailers and went for a hayride to go look at Christmas lights and sing Christmas carols for the WM elders Christmas party. I love looking at Christmas lights, but who doesn't? However I don't know to many people that get to do it with 80 other people or have a hayride in the city of Dallas.

Sasha and I

Kelly, Brooke and I

Trailer #1

Kelly and I

I Believe....

Yesterday I was asked the question by my 7th grade girls if I believed in Santa Claus – I was honestly able to answer them yes. I will say it I do believe in Santa Claus! So I understand that some of you might not believe in Santa Claus as the man in the red suit who comes down the chimney on Christmas Eve and brings presents, eats cookie, and fills your stockings. While I know Santa Claus is not the true reason we celebrate Christmas that would be Jesus birth. But have you ever stopped to watch the world at Christmas time? While even though people are usually stressed around the holidays, you tend to see people giving more, caring more, and just being joyful more. If you are to ask any kids about their visit to Santa Claus their eyes light up and sparkle, and they get so excited that they can hardly complete their thoughts. You see the innocence and pure joy of Christmas in them. While almost year around you can see the innocence and joy in kids, it is very rare that you can see it in adults too. However, if you are to ask any adult about Santa Claus they usually will make a strange face at first but then they usually smile and their eyes light up too as they remember a wonderful Christmas morning from their childhood. Santa Claus is more than just a “person”; he is a part of the spirit of Christmas, he is something that stands for goodness, peace, giving, and joy.

Christmas at 1424

SarahBeth and I have had the tree up since the Sunday after Thanksgiving, and I have been meaning to post pictures but I keep forgetting. So here is what our apartment looks like this year for Christmas.

Our door with the fun new ornament that my mom got us this year

Christmas tree all lit up - I love that you can see it from the street

Christmas tree close up

The apartment with all the decorations....I tried to not go to overboard this year

A Final Goodbye to Bobby Ray

So yesterday I was in Wichita Falls for the funeral of my great uncle, Bobby Ray Burross(http://www.timesrecordnews.com/news/2008/dec/09/bobby-ray-burross/). Anytime someone dies it is obviously sad, but for me this one was harder than I expected it to be because he was like a second grandfather to me. Bobby was Poppi’s (my grandfathers) older brother and since they were so close in age all of the kids and grandkids just grew up together – we were one big family.

Everyone in Wichita Falls knew Bobby, and he was loved by all – he never met a stranger. Bobby loved to talk, but he never liked to talk about himself – he always wanted to know what was going on in your life. I remember Bobby being a constant fixture on the sidelines of my younger sister’s soccer games – he was everyone’s biggest fan no matter what you were doing. You could count on him for anything and everything.

Anyone who knows the Burross family – you know how stubborn we can be and once we have made up our mind to do something we are going to do it. Bobby lived up to this Burross trait until the very end because all the nurses and doctors said he would probably die over the weekend and they were certain he wouldn’t make it past the day nurses shift at Hospice on Sunday. When he did it was apparent to the entire family that he would let go sometime early in the morning of December 8th because that was the day his wife died four years earlier, and sure enough he went to heaven within 30 minutes of the four year anniversary of Louis death.

The funeral itself was beyond fitting for someone like Bobby – while we all cried, we all laughed – it truly was a celebration of his life. The church was packed with people who all loved Bobby and all had found memories and stories to share. While the funeral was very bitter sweet, it was as we pulled up to the graveside that everyone lost it – I don’t think their was a dry eye in the crowd. To our surprise as we pulled into the cemetery there was a navy regiment (Bobby served in the navy during WWII) lining the road beside what was to be his grave, as the casket turned the corner the entire regiment stood at attention saluting the casket. The soldiers proceeded to help the Pallbearers unload the casket. After the pastor had prayed the final prayer the soldiers once again stood at attention while one of them played silver taps on the trumpet – I honestly felt like I was in a movie. The soldiers then removed and folded the flag that had been draped over the casket and presented it to Steve, his eldest son. This was such a special and fitting tribute to a very special man, who impacted so many people’s lives for the better.

The flowers, cards, food, prayers, and support for our family were amazing and I can’t thank you enough.

Bobby, BJ and Poppi

Solid as a Rock

Okay so I am fully aware this is a title of a Michael W. Smith song and I know it was also a Kanakuk summer theme in the 90's, but this post isn't about either of those things. God has recently been teaching me that I don't have to be solid as a rock all the time or be the rock that people (and myself) depend on - He has to be my one and only rock in every aspect of my life not just the parts I choose to let Him be my rock.

Recently, I have been very convicted of how I am the rock for not only myself, friends but also family. I use the term rock because a rock is something that is hard, firm, solid, and most of the time it doesn't break, and I am all of those things and more when something challenging, tough, or bad comes along. I am always the person who will make sure everyone is okay before seeing if I am okay, and while that isn't a bad trait I tend to take it to the extreme. A lot of times in a challenging, tough or bad situation I detach my emotions from the situation altogether, again not a bad trait but I don't usually ever allow my emotions to be - I just ignore them. So a lot of times in a challenging, tough or bad situation I will just be very matter of fact about it with no emotions whatsoever - this making me hard like a rock. God has shown me that I do this because I don't trust Him enough to be my rock in every aspect of my life, which is a very humbling thing to realize. But even harder to come to terms with and actually do something about it especially when you are a control freak.

The verse that has been stuck in my head all day long is Matthew 7:24-26
"Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand."

While this is a verse I have known of since elementary school when we sang a song based off of this verse, it is a verse that only recently have I come to understand it's true meaning. A large part of my life is honestly built on the rock foundation like the wise man house, in that it is built on Christ's truth and love for me. But there are parts of my life that I still continue to build on the sand. My sand comes in many different forms - trusting myself, finding my identity in what the world says about how I should look or act, friends, family, job, insecurity, having to be perfect, and control. It is a daily struggle to not build on the sand, but to build on my rock, Jesus, but I know in the end He has to be the rock not me.

Where are you building house? On the rock of Christ of in the sands of the world. Just like the verse says, "the rains came down, the stream rose, and the winds blew and beat up against the house; yet it did not fall"

My little ones

So I realized today as I was eating lunch with seven of my eight 7th grade girls that I haven't even written about them on here. So some of you would say that about two years ago this February I lost my mind because I realized that I was suppose to volunteer for a junior or high school ministry once again. I originally started just going on Sunday morning and helping out with a couple of friends groups at big events but nothing more. Well by the summer of 2007 I realized that God had not only called me to serve once again but also to lead a group of girls - this was a challenge I wasn't sure I was up for again so soon. After praying and talking with several good friends I decided it was best to just follow where God was leading me. So September of 2007 I partnered up with my co-leader Stacy (who at the time I didn't know, but she is probably the best co-leader one could ask for) and into our lives walked four Highland Park 6th grade girls.

I knew immediately that I was in fact suppose to lead these girls for the next seven years until they graduated high school, God willing of course, but I also knew that these girls were going to keep Stacy and I on our toes and challenge us to live a life completely above reproach at all times. (I know as Christians we are called to live above reproach at all times, but it is especially true when you are leading others.) By the end of 6th grade we had grown from four girls to nine girls.

It is hard to believe that Stacy and I have been leading these girls for a year and half now. It has been so much fun to watch them grow up, come to have their own personal relationship with the Lord - not just their parents, to watch them become friends with each other, to watch them be leaders in their schools, and to just watch them enjoy life every single day. Seventh grade has been a crazy year and at times trying year already, but it has been amazing at the same time. I am so thankful every single day for these girls and the opportunity to lead, encourage, and learn from them. I know I will write more about them in future post as they are such a big part of my life, but I just wanted to introduce you to my little ones.

Pine Cove last year - the original four girls - Delaney, Madison, Marielle & Becca

Jr. High Pine Cove Retreat over Halloween

7 of the 8 Girls Bridget, Katherine, Madison, Marielle, Chloe, Alexandra & Delaney

Stacy and I

Cookie Time

So today at work I got to relive one of my favorite college moments - Cookie Time. In college for special occasions my mom would send me cookie boutique's. Which if you have never had a cookie boutique then let me just pause and tell you I am so sorry you have been so mistreated all your life because they are in my top ten all time favorite list of things that make me happy.

Cookie Time would involve Lynn, Carin, Amy and I all breaking into the cookie boutique and all sharing one cookie (yes one cookie can easily be split between four people). We would eat the whole boutique over the course of a few days. We were also known for going and buying one cookie to split between us in order to cheer someone up or when we finished a rough week of school. While we were eating the cookie we would just sit in one of our two rooms and just talk and catch up on life. It was such a simple little thing but cookie time made the four of us so incredibly happy every time we had one

So today one of my co-workers received a cookie boutique from a vendor and the rule around the office with gifts from a vendor is that you have to share - so she gave my pod a whole cookie to share and we split it four ways just like I use to in college. I know it's silly but I don't think you can appreciate Cookie Time unless you are able to participate in it. So I say we all have a cookie?