Tired of trying to cram her sparkly star-shaped self into society's beige square holes, she chose to embrace her sparkle and shine like the supernova God created her to be.
I have heard that when someone loses the ability to use one of their primary senses that the other senses step up their game and become heightened. For instance, if you lose your sight, your ability to hear becomes more significant, or your sense of smell is more perfected. I have no idea if that is true. I wonder if losing sight means you are forced to pay attention to your surroundings all the more. I wonder if not being able to see requires you to listen for clues around you and sniff out both dangerous and pleasurable surroundings.
A few months ago, had I been asked what I enjoy most about social media, I would have told you the pictures. I would have let you know that I was not worried by the arguing, nor did I feel a need to engage in rants. I would have said the marketing didn’t have much of an impact on me and that people who use it mainly to sell their wares don’t bother, neither do they tempt me.
However, having been on a social media break for a few weeks has shown me otherwise. I feel a lightness where the arguing used to be. I feel less anxiety because I’m not privy to anyone’s rants on the government or GMO’s or the weather. I’m less tempted to buy things I don’t need because I’m not watching the live videos about the flash sales or the latest version of the newest thing that I can’t live without.
Here’s what I miss: the pictures. The one thing I really enjoyed the most about social media is seeing pictures. I don’t miss seeing pictures of my friend’s dinner, but I do miss seeing that picture and knowing they went to a cool new restaurant. I miss seeing pictures of birthday parties and knowing that families from the church were celebrating their children. I miss finding out gender reveals and engagements and funerals.
I’m learning, or maybe I should say I am relearning, the value of personal interaction with friends. I’m relearning to pick up the phone and text or, get this, callpeople. The crazy thing is that social media is literally the only way some people communicate big news. Or any news. So I could see, if I never went back to social media, that there would be people I never hear from again. And truth be told, that might be okay.
In the absence of daily scrolling, I’m reading books I have wanted to read for a long time. I am watching movies I have always wanted to see. I’m noticing the birds in my back yard more. While waiting for my bathtub to fill last week, I watched a male and female cardinal share a white moth for dinner outside my window. Honestly, the way they fed each other was fascinating. I most likely would have missed that before. I would have been scrolling. I see the world around me with new eyes; eyes that aren’t as rushed and anxious. I hear music with fresh ears because I am focusing on the words and notes and not multi-tasking. I got a pedicure and shut my eyes during the leg massage, thanking God for the woman who was caring for my feet and legs so well — adding gratitude during this time that I used to scroll added immense pleasure to the entire experience. Taking away the scrolling has heightened all my senses.
I’m not sure how long this break will last but I am thoroughly enjoying the benefits. I know I will pick some aspects of social media back up; most likely before school starts because I don’t want to miss important information. But I am seriously considering my plan for when that day comes. I don’t want to be sucked back in to the daily, no, hourly temptation to numb the world around me with looking at various feeds. This awakening of my senses has been a delight for my creative soul and I am excited to see, hear, taste, smell, and touch what else God has in store for me.
Whether you are a fan of Friends or not, you’ve probably heard this phrase screamed by someone in jest. Rachel suggested she and Ross take a break from the intensity of their relationship, Ross thought it was a break-up. He slept with the girl from the copy shop, she found out. His defense?
WE WERE ON A BREAK!!!!!
A week ago I decided to take a break from social media. All of it. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, SnapChat, GroupMe…I deleted all of them from my phone. Notice I didn’t delete my accounts. I’m not breaking up with them; I’m simply taking a break from the intensity of it all.
And intense it has become. Not for all the reasons you might think. Just about everyone everywhere is tired of the political rants, the all-or-nothing arguments, the my-way-or-the-highway attitudes. And we’ve all heard of the comparison effect social media often has on people. There is some truth to the idea that the majority of people only put their best face forward. We all tend to share the very best of our weekends and vacations, the best lit shots from the beach or the amusement park. We tend not to share the words shared between family members who are hot and sweaty and said through gritted teeth. We share the most romantic and most adventurous dates. We rarely share stories about the piles of laundry or the smell coming from the bathroom.
But none of this is new to any of us. These are the things strong women know to guard their hearts against, right? Or do we?
I took an online blogging course several years ago and made quite a few friends from the bunch. We were all there for different reasons; learning the art of blogging together. We all had different hopes and dreams and we all came from different backgrounds, families, and lives. We were all going in different directions. But a funny thing happened when we were all released into the world; we all did exactly what we said we wanted to do. Everyone followed their dreams and the path set before them.
And I became wildly jealous. And ashamed of my jealousy. You see, I didn’t know what my dream was. I had no idea what I wanted to do. Not only did I not know my path, I didn’t know even know if I had a path.
So I watched everyone else. And then I started watching others who seemed to be going places and doing things. Everyone seemed to have purpose and direction and they all were doing it with the best filters – and sponsors! And in all this watching I forgot that comparison is the thief of joy and that I have a completely different than the people I was comparing myself to. My family is made up of different people, my job looks different, my path is different. Anytime you compare yourself to anyone else, it is like comparing apples to oranges. None of us are the same and none of us are intended to walk the same path.
All of a sudden, I realized I wasn’t using social media as I claimed I was, for fun. So I took some more courses in social media and writing and promotions…maybe I could figure out how to use it to find my path. Or maybe my path would find me. It started to take up too much time and way too much energy. And it started to interfere with daily living.
I decided to take a break. The thing is, I have believed for some time that God has a very specific plan for my life and that writing and teaching and speaking are tied to that plan directly. But I still don’t know the plan. And if I want to know the plan I need to spend time with the plan maker.
I’m not sure how long the break will be; I imagine much of the summer. And I’m not sure what I’ll do with all the extra time, but I have a few ideas. I joined a bible study and an online book club. I want to spend time reading God’s Word and reading authors with big ideas. I also bought a book of prayers from a great theologian. And I purchased some books on creativity. I’ve blocked out time from work and time from commitments and I’m praying God will help me to be open to whatever he has in mind for me.
I suppose I’ll keep writing here; reporting how it’s going. I am trusting God to reveal great big glorious things to me this summer and I promise to keep you posted along the way.
The end of the school year always brings a flurry of activity. Banquets, award ceremonies, concerts, school picnics, graduations, yearbooks…all of it full of excitement, anticipation, and cheers.
But for some kids (and parents), the end of year signals a huge sigh of relief. They don’t fly into June with flags waving but instead, they trip across the finish line with exhaustion. They aren’t the kids voted “Most Likely to Succeed,” although they are the exact picture of success. They aren’t voted “Most Popular” or “Most Outgoing,” because they sometimes shy away from the spotlight for fear of being shoved aside.
These kids don’t make it to the finish line along. They have caregivers – parents, grandparents, foster parents, nannies, youth leaders, counselors, tutors, and more- who have stood behind them, beside them, and walked hand in hand with them to get them where they are.
There have been late night tears, early morning frustrations, long days and sleepless nights to get them ahead. And it’s not like the kids who win all the awards don’t go through this, too, but these kids do it without recognition. Which means the caregivers do it without the recognition as well.
So consider this post a shout out to the ones who made it. You deserve a hug and a pat on the back. You deserve a ribbon or certificate or a page in the yearbook. You deserve a party with a cake with your face airbrushed across the top in icing. You did it! You made it to summer! Buy yourself a fun raft, a cool cup for a tropical drink, and head to the nearest pool or lake. Take some deep cleansing breaths and relax…because the next school year starts in two and a half months.
When Charlie Lexow and I were engaged, we had several wedding showers. Wedding showers are the BEST kind of party that anyone will ever throw for you. People are so excited that you are making this amazing and life long commitment that they buy you amazing gifts. They buy you gifts way better than they would ever buy for your birthday. And the best part is that you get to go to multiple stores, make a list of the things you want, and tell people about the lists. Wedding showers are way better than baby showers because no one buys you diapers for your wedding shower.
At one of our showers, we received a beautiful gift that wasn’t on any of our lists. It was a gorgeous pasta bowl set. It came with a huge serving bowl and 6 bowls to eat from. The bottom of each bowl said it was hand made and painted in Italy and we were in love with this set.
We treated this set like it was painted by angels and delivered to us on their wings. We used it only for guests we really liked and could trust to be gentle with the bowls. We weren’t taking chances on some clumsy fellow would drop or chip one.
And then one day we were strolling through Sam’s Club , walking up and down the aisles as we did in our early days and could not afford real dates. We walked down an aisle of house wares and stopped dead in our tracks. There on the shelf, priced at $24.99, was our precious pasta bowl set. We both stood there in shock and awe, looking at boxes and boxes of our bowls. There had to be a hundred sets sitting on the shelf before us. We turned to look at each other and fell out laughing.
We had treated this set like it was irreplaceable and in fact, went without using it many times, because we thought it was priceless.
I pulled these bowls out last week to serve my family my famous vodka pasta. And by famous, I mean famous in my house. It’s legendary, but I digress. As I plopped the bowls down on the counter I laughed a little to myself, thinking about how much I truly do love this set, and how I’m so glad I no longer am afraid to use it. This got me thinking about how many things in this life I hold onto like they are precious. I started thinking about ideas I’ve been afraid to share, words I’ve hesitated to write, dreams I’ve held tightly to my breast for fear of someone mistreating them.
I’ve lived so much of my life in fear of someone mistreating what I create, or worse, not believing what I have to offer is as precious as I believe it to be. And also, I’ve often convinced myself that if I share it and it’s not loved by anyone but me, my reserves might dry up. What if I never produce anything better?
Fortunately, I have learned that creativity doesn’t work that way. There isn’t a tiny Italian village in my head with a little old lady sitting at a table, slowly hand-crafting ideas by candlelight for me to put into the world. (That’s the story I made up in my head about the bowls.) No, thankfully, God gave me this brain and this heart that he created in his very own image. And because He’s a creator, I get to be a creator, too. I can toss ideas to and fro like glitter confetti…and I should! It doesn’t matter if other people like my ideas or if they even see them. What matters is that it brings me joy to be creative and I don’t have to hide one single bit of it.
When God gives us a gift or lights a fire in our heart, his intent is that we use it. He wants us to share what we make and then make more! His supply of what we need to create is greater than the back-stock at Sam’s Club. We don’t have to ask permission from anyone on this earth to use what God has deemed holy in our hearts. And friend, let me help you understand a little piece of truth that has taken me years to understand, if God put it in your heart, it’s holy.
So share what you’ve got. You like to bake? Bake. You like to write? Write. Are you a dancer at heart? Dance. Do you like to create space for people to share their lives? Make some phone calls! Invite some friends over! Do you write contracts that help businesses survive? Good for you! Are you a singer, a mathematician, and accountant who tallies numbers all day? Do your thing! God has created you to share what He’s given.
I’ve heard it said that it takes time to get a new habit started. Depending on who you ask it takes anywhere from 21 to 66 days. I don’t know which number is more accurate but I know it’ll never happen if you never start.
That’s why I’m challenging myself to start in May. And it’s why I am inviting you to join me. Why do I think you’ll want to join me? Because I’ve never met a person who speaks kindly to or about themselves 100% of the time. In face, most of my friends are like me and rarely have a single word of kindness about themselves.
Here’s how it’s going to work. For five days a week, we will say five kind words or phrases to ourselves. Out loud. In a mirror. And that’s it. For one month (the 5th month) we will focus on being kind and loving to ourselves for five days a week.
Imagine looking at your daughter, your mother, your best friend and saying, “You are such an idiot” or “You look disgusting” or “You’re a nobody.”
YOU WOULD NEVER DO THAT!!!!! And yet we say things like that to ourselves all the time. Maybe we don’t say it out loud but we think it and that’s just as bad. So I know that breaking this habit will take time. And I know it will feel awkward at first. And I know I have to do it out loud because if I just say the things in my head, I will quickly break out into an argument with myself. That’s the special crazy that lives in my head.
I’m going to be running this challenge over on Instagram so if you aren’t already following me there, run over quickly and give me a follow. We can hold each other accountable. I’ll offer scripture, videos, photos, and lots of words to inspire and encourage.
When my kids were little and would make something with their own hands, they would hand it to me with a face filled with delight. They were so excited to show me what they’d made, and they were so proud. It was like treasure and was so valuable. When God looks at me, he sees his creation, and he’s pleased as punch. He thinks I’m beautiful and helpful – I am his treasure! Now I have to start treating myself with that same kind of delight and love. And you do, too!
So race over to Instagram now and join me for the month of May. I think we will come out kinder, gentler, and more loving people.
I’m one of those people who picks a word of the year every year. Typically, I make a low-grade production of it early in January as a sort of milestone to help me look back, be aware, and ask God what he’s trying to teach me through this word. I always put some prayer behind picking my word because I want to make sure it’s something God wants me to work on and not just something I think is cool or would be fun or would make a popular Instagram post. Not that I’ve ever been guilty of that before or anything; you know, I hear some people might do that.
This year, I prayed and looked at lists and really struggled to settle on a word that made sense to me. Every other year I’ve done this, I felt one word jump out and flash in front of me in a way there was no mistaking it. This year I wrestled with a few words that didn’t hold up while one word kept peeking out from behind.
Why AWAKE? It didn’t make sense to me and didn’t resonate with me. I sort of thought I already was awake. I mean, I’ve been in recovery and therapy and all the self-aware places for a long time. For. A. Really. Long. Time. If I wasn’t awake by now was it ever really going to happen? I would slam my laptop closed and walk away. But every time I went back at it, there was that word again. AWAKE.
So I went with it. And I waited. I waited for something to make sense or jump out or speak to me. January turned to February and then March. Nothing. I began to think maybe I was being foolish and had picked the wrong word. But then, mid-March, some things started shifting. There were moments, instances, brief happenings when I felt like my eyes were being opened. And not like a gentle sun rising through the curtains sort of eye-opening. These moments felt like when a friend dumps a bucket of ice on the first kid to fall asleep at a sleepover. These were eyes wide open moments. I was awake.
There were things about my health, things about my parenting, things about my marriage, things I believed to be true and weren’t, and things I thought were lies but were true. I was waking up to lies I had told myself since childhood and truth I had ignored for years.
AWAKE.
When a person is working the 12-Steps in their life, they are supposed to take inventory of behaviors and not allow themselves to sit in denial of how these behaviors affect their life and the lives of the people around them. In a sense, stepping out of denial is like an awakening. I am very aware of certain behaviors I have a tendency to slip into. But I have been struggling to get to the root of one. Numbing my pain. I have become such a pro at numbing the pain of stress, anger, heartache, etc. that I had slipped into denial that I was doing it most of the time. I was numbing in so many ways that I didn’t even realize what I was doing.
Years ago I had a therapist tell me that the state of your desk at work and your closet at home is a good tell on the state of your mind. I don’t know that I buy into that as an absolute, but I can tell you that my desk and my closet are both out of control.
I’ve always felt like the state of my body is a better indicator of how I’m doing spiritually, emotionally, and physically. I can tell you in all honesty that I weigh more right now that I ever have in my entire life. All that numbing meant packing on layer upon layer to protect me. It meant mindless choices to eat and drink, drink and eat, all in hopes of feeling something, experiencing something other than what was in front of me.
This puts me in a quandary. It was only a year and a half ago that I made a fairly public proclamation that I was done treating my body so terribly. I announced to the world that I was tired of mistreating myself and ignoring my health and pretending I’m not a diabetic. I went on a KETO diet and told everyone. I did a 21 day fast from alcohol and grains and ate less than 20 carbohydrates a day. I started dropping weight like crazy and felt amazing. Then the holidays hit and I cheated a little here and a little there but always got back on track. Then the spring came and was full of celebrations and parties and I fudged some and it was harder to get on track. And then when summer arrived, I leaped off the wagon willingly and quickly. I said I didn’t need strict rules. I told myself I could manage myself, my weight and my health and my spirit, without the need of a diet. Diet was a 4-letter-word.
I was closing my eyes to the reality that I am an emotional eater. I was pretending I’m not a food addict. I was lying to myself that I could deal with my marriage and parenting and job just fine on my own and that having an extra serving at dinner or popping a few pieces of chocolate on a stressful day didn’t mean I was out of control. I told myself that everyone eats ice cream when they’re stressed or grabs a snack bag of chips to take the edge off. I laughed at people who couldn’t hole their wine because I was quickly becoming the lady who could hold my fair share and yours as well. And with all these choices, I was diving into the depths of denial. Denial is a warm and cozy place where I could curl up under a blanket and go to sleep, pretending the troubles of the world weren’t mine and that I didn’t need to deal with them anymore.
God wants me to wake up. He wants me to throw back the blanket and step into the sun. His Son came to live and die so that I could be freed from slavery to sin. He broke the chains of sin and death for me to live in the freedom he offers freely. I would love to tell you I got out of bed one morning and was wide awake to my issues and dropped them off at the side of the road. I’d love to be able to write that my mind was opened, my heart was healed, and I haven’t touched a carb since. But that is not the case.
Here’s what I’m doing. I am praying every single day for God to open my eyes to the moments, the triggers, the people, the instances, that make me reach for food or drink instead of Jesus. I am asking him to help me be present when I eat. This means engaging with the people at the table. Back up. This means sitting at a table and not eating on the run. It means putting the phone or tablet away and looking people in the eye. It means sitting down my fork and spoon and breathing between bites.
Being awake to this issue also means treating my body with love and respect because it’s a gift from God. I have strong legs that used to run very fast. I have hands that write, type, create, and love. My hands held my babies hands and still do when they let me. My eyes are not as strong as they used to be but they’ve seen beauty and ugly, joy and pain. They’ve read thousands of stories. They’ve looked into eyes of people who love me and people who don’t. My curves have grown and changed through my life – from giving birth, from having a hysterectomy, to entering menopause. My curves give my husband a place to hold me, to love me.
But I want to be healthy with both my body, my heart, my mind, and my soul. They’re all so connected that I can’t separate them…and I’ve been trying to do that for much of my adult life. So here I am, putting myself out here – AGAIN – saying I’m trying. I’m asking God to help me. This attempt to hand it all over to God has daunted me for years. I’ve given in, I’ve given up, and I’ve tried again. This habit of numbing has been the heaviest set of shackles I’ve ever worn and I’m ready to be free.
Charlie Lexow and I were painfully young when we got married. I was 21 and he was 22. He was 22 and 2 days to be exact. We were not rich, in fact, we were the opposite. We had zero dollars. We had no savings and our income was laughably small, as it should be when you are just starting out. We thought, of course, with our new careers, our new apartment, and ability to finally buy beer legally, that we could conquer the world.
There are a lot of things I’d like to go back and tell that young couple, but I would never tell them how hard life would be for them. I would never take away that belief that nothing would be able to knock them down. Because the truth is, nothing would be able to knock them down…permanently. There would be plenty to trip them up, roll them over, knock the wind out of them, and lay them flat on their backs. They were not invincible, but there were teachable. And that’s how I’d still describe us today.
We just celebrated our twentieth wedding anniversary; we’ve been together for twenty-two years all total. The familiar joke would say, “and almost all of them have been happy.” But it’s true. I always wonder about couples that are 40, 50, 60 years in and say they never fought. I always think they’re either lying or one of them has ground meat for a tongue from biting it for so many years. We’ve had more than our fair share of fights. We’ve had small and silly fights and we’ve had big and scary fights. We’ve had fights that ended in laughter and we’ve had fights that ended in tears. We’ve had fights that were healthy and appropriate conflict and we’ve had fights that were embarrassingly inappropriate. We’ve sought help and we’ve kept them private. But through it all, love has brought us back together.
We used to make it a priority to go on dates regularly and take at least one vacation without the kids every year. We never abandoned our dates, but in the last 5-6 years, the vacations fell to the wayside. As the kids got older, when it’s so much easier to leave them, we started having guilt about leaving them because we have started counting down the summers we have left before they go to college. And we moved to a new house. And there were job stresses. And…
This time of refueling, of reconnecting, of being alone together should never have been neglected. Sure, going on dates is essential and helps a married relationship stay fresh. But there is something about going away, disconnecting from work and kids and technology that is so valuable; it’s priceless. We are at a place in marriage and in life in general where we were able to save some money and do a big trip; a 9-day cruise in the Caribbean. But in the early days, the days when the kids were both in diapers, and we were paying for childcare, the trips were smaller and less expensive. Or we saved longer and did without more in the meantime. But we made sure those trips happened.
One of the promises we made when we got married was that we would always be Team Lexow. We both came from families with parental splits, with broken promises and hearts. We were determined to break the cycle and, whenever we had kids, never put them through that sort of heartache. That has been the hardest promise either of us have ever made and kept in our entire lives. We had no idea. We had no clue how deep the childhood hurts ran. We had no idea how the damage would show up in our own lives. We were clueless as to how we would react in certain situations, even when we thought for sure we knew what to do. While we thought our young love would tie us together as a team, we had no idea we were facing a war and not a game. We had no idea how the world would pressure us. We were clueless as to how hard balancing jobs and bills and kids and friends and dreams would be. We never knew that even though we had a great deal of love and respect for each other, we would need to be bound together like welded steel.
I’m so grateful for this trip we took together to celebrate our twentieth. I’m so thankful for the people who held the forts down for us while we were gone – at my job, at his job, and especially with our kids. I’m thankful for the people who prayed for us while we were gone – for our safety, for our health, and our connection. I’m grateful we decided to disconnect from technology on the majority of the days. We were able to connect when there was no phone, no laptop, no iPad to distract us. We relearned how to look into each other’s eyes and have a conversation. We learned to laugh again – to really laugh – at each and with each other. We remembered how good it feels to sit still together and have nowhere to be except in each other’s company. We learned it had been too long and that we shouldn’t wait to do this again.
So here’s to twenty years with the love of my life. And here’s to fighting the good fight and holding on tight and never giving up. Here’s to the days when we don’t know how we’ll ever make it and the days when we can’t imagine not. I thank God for the opportunity to learn about life and love, mercy and grace, forgiveness and joy with this man. I pray we have at least another seventy together and that we vacation together every one of those years.
Getting ready to board Royal Caribbean’s Harmony of the Seas after a day in Haiti.
I did a thing this year and I’m not completely sure I’m okay with it.
I didn’t order Christmas cards.
I know. It’s not that big of a deal but I always do Christmas cards. I’ve done them every year (I think) since we got married. Except one year when I declared simplicity over the entire holiday season and immediately jumped back to crazy holiday season the next year.
This has been a year. It’s been a year of recovery and rebuilding and questioning. It’s been a year to look at why we do the things we do and do the things really matter. I’m learning to ask, “In one year, will I care that I did this?” and “Will the fallout of me not doing this thing matter next week? Next month?”
Christmas cards were dropped in the process. They just felt like a really huge expense for something that most people will throw away. And the reality is that social media keeps us all so up to date on the people we care about, that I didn’t think anyone would miss it. Of course, there’s still the chance that I will be wrong and I’ll be flooded with complaints from people who missed the Lexow Family card. But I doubt it.
Instead, I decided to write a year in review and fill you in on the things you may or may not have known about in our lives. Here goes nothing…
January – We had snow in Texas. Most of you know that and if you don’t, it means you aren’t in Texas and are wondering why snow would make a year in review. We don’t get snow in Houston very often. It’s super rare. But we had ice, and then snow, and then a little more ice, and a little more snow.
Shelby was clearly very excited.
As Kingwood began to rebuild from Harvey, we started seeing signs of normalcy slowly enter in. Not really normal, because whether you flooded or not, you were changed. But it really helped when stores started to reopen.
One or two of us in this picture may or may not have shed a couple tears when we went in.
I died my hair purple early in the year. I had been letting the natural gray grow out and decided it made me sad. I had nice gray; not the yellow dingy kind. No, mine was gray and white and silver and it was lovely. But it still made me sad. So naturally, I went purple.
Charlie Lexow is a good man.
He’s loved me through a lot of color over the years.
I went to Waco in February with my friend, Denise. We stayed with our friend, Kathy, and went to see Kelly Minter. We also went to the Silos because JoAnna Gaines is life. It was a really amazing weekend. Denise had declared this year to be “The Year of Fun” and it looked like we were off to a good start.
We always take pictures of Denise standing next to things for size comparison later.
In March, we welcomed a group of kids from Penn State who had come down to help with Harvey recovery work. They were led by this giant I know. We had dinner with them, talked all things Penn State, and sent them into some rough parts of town to help with clean up.
WE ARE!
Sometime around Easter, we gave up life as we knew it and threw everything into overdrive. The days went faster and faster and all of a sudden we found ourselves doing “lasts” with Shelby.
She was confirmed, went to the 8th grade formal, and had her final middle school orchestra concert. The idea of sending this girl, who I swear was 5 about 3 days ago, to high school was swimmingly overwhelming.
Some of our dearest friends came to see us in May. Michelle gets only a handful of days with her husband each month due to his job travel. The fact that she shared some of those days with us proves that she is an amazingly generous friend; not that she needed to prove it. I already knew. She’s awesome.
We took them to Galveston to walk on the beach and see the blue water. It’s only blue after hurricanes come and suck the nasty out, so we all needed to see it. We are actually praying it’s never blue again if a hurricane is the only way for that to happen.
I’m not usually one to brag about my job but I’m about to do so. Vacation Bible School this year was just about the coolest thing ever. I think it’s safe for me to brag because I was probably the least cool thing about it. We had awesome families connecting with each other, family dinners each night, so much fun, and THE DELPINO BOYS ON SCOOTERS! It was so completely rad to see these brothers using their gifts for God’s Kingdom.
I snapped this shot while they were warming up. They did jumps and flips and drove the crowd wild!
We went to Illinois in July to see all of our Marion people. I don’t think I’m overstating it when I say it might have been the best visit ever. We can relax there like no where else. The sunsets are gorgeous, the friends are hilarious, and the laughter is from the deepest places in the belly. Good belly laughs make life worth living.
And then, in the spirit of Denise’s Year of Fun, we loaded up a 2010 Camry and drove to Oklahoma! Talk about a wild trip! We drove to Tulsa, spent the night with Denise’s Aunt Mimi, got up and drove to Pawhuska to eat lunch at The Pioneer Woman’s Mercantile, and then we drove home. On the way home we stopped just into Texas and noticed a Paula Deen restaurant next to our hotel. Of course we had to go!
Did we drive to Oklahoma to have lunch? Yes we did. Dinner was a bonus.
Do you have friends who make you pee a little when you laugh? I’m not willing to loan you mine so if you don’t, you should really find some.
Shelby and Seth went back to Camp Lonestar this year. It’s probably one of their favorite places in the whole world. They go with a group from our church every year. And every year they come home with stories of adventure, fun, and life changing moments with Jesus. It’s so good. It’s so, so good.
I spoke at the Renew Faith Conference in August. It was a giant room full of women who needed refreshment from God’s Spirit. I believe they got it. Not because of me; I was only a small part. No, God brought nourishment to all of us through music and speakers, worship and learning.
Lots of firsts hit us as fall approached. Seth had his first day of 7th grade, Shelby had her first day of high school, and I had my first day of school. Yep, I went back to school. I’m getting certified in children and family ministry. I’ve only been doing it in real life for about 18 years so I figured it was time to get a piece of paper that says I’m legit. You know, in case anyone starts nosing around.
Shelby went to her first high school homecoming, too. It almost made Charlie Lexow cry when he saw how gorgeous she looked. Y’all, I’m not just saying this because I grew her…she really is beautiful on the inside and the outside.
This was the 10th Annual Walk by Faith 5k and it was the 2nd year it was held at University of Houston.
We had more great visitors from the north come see us for Thanksgiving. The Lawrence Family decided to become travelers and made the trek to see us all the way from Illinois. We laughed and laughed and laughed some more while they were here. We ate too much, drank too much, and told a million old stories.
Can I just say, that if we have nothing else in this life, Charlie Lexow and I have some amazing friends.
We took them to see the San Jacinto Monument and gave them a quick Texas history lesson.
I think that mostly brings us up to date. The kids have finally grown taller than me, which we all knew was coming sooner or later. Charlie Lexow is in year 20 with Shell Oil. I’m about to complete year 18 at the church. Shelby is 15, Seth is 13, and Ron Burgundy is 2.
We are hoping for some restful days over Christmas and New Years, but we’d never turn down a visit from friends. So if you find yourself hankering for a drive, come on over. We’d love to have you!
I hope you have the merriest of Christmas’s and the most blessed New Year ever.
I printed off Thanksgiving planner pages today. Yes, I’m that girl. I have a paper planner, and I love it. I tried to go digital for a few years, and it just didn’t work for me. I’m a hand to paper to memory person. I don’t learn it unless I see it, hear it, write it down, and see it again. Learning about the way I learn has been of immense value to how I function in day to day life. My paper planner brings me some sense of calm. And it also plays to my creative side because I have assigned different colored pens to different family members and I use stickers like a second grader. The more stickers, the better the page. I’m here for all the stickers.
So I printed off five pages this morning to insert into my planner; pages designed to help me plan and coordinate our Thanksgiving meal. There’s a guest list, a menu page, a prep list, a recipe list, and a cooking schedule. I’m fully aware of my nerdiness when I explain the delight I had in laying these pages out in a way that felt efficient and sensical.
I immediately started running the numbers. Who’s coming, how much turkey do I allot to their kids, and what sides do I include? Which tasks do I pass off? What activities do I plan for the children? And what color pen do I use to keep track of all these plans????
I had to stop and laugh at myself for a minute. Am I really getting this excited over the planning of one day? Yes. Yes, I am. But really, it’s more than just the day. I am so thankful for all of the reasons I GET to plan this day.
I have a husband and children who love me. I have a family who loves me. I have friends traveling from far, far away because they love me. I have friends nearby who want to spend the day with us because of their love. I have a house with a roof and walls and two ovens to cook food for all of us. I have food to cook because my husband and I both work very hard at our jobs – jobs that pay us to do things we are good at and love to do. I have clothes to wear. I have both air conditioning and a heater, and because we live in Houston, we may use both of them on the same day.
I have the freedom to gather all these people in my home and feed them delicious food because so many brave men and women fought for that freedom. I have health. I have time. I have energy.
I recently took a turn for the better in my thought process. I came to some conclusions and saw some lies for what they were. I accepted some truths and made peace with some longings that will never be. I exhaled. I exhaled a stale and painful breath I had been holding for so many years, and when I did, I was able to inhale gratitude. I realized that I’m going to be okay with whatever the road looks like ahead of me. I may not like it but I’ll be okay. You see, God is bigger than the lies of my past. He’s bigger than the burdens I carried for so long. He is stronger than the biggest stronghold of my life. He’s higher than the pain, and he is more vibrant than the joys. He’s everything. And I am thankful.
Does God speak to his children? I believe he does. I know a lot of people out there think the idea of hearing God speak is just crazy talk; that the thought of sitting down and knowing what God is saying makes one certifiable. And yet I believe.
I’ve never walked a trail and encountered a burning bush that called my name. I’ve never seen the sky open and heard a voice call down to me. And I’ve never woken to an angel giving me a word of hope or encouragement. But I have felt my heart tremble at a song, and I’ve felt my skin jump up at the end of a prayer. And I’ve cried out to God from the depths of my sorrow when my heart was cracking in two, and I felt his answer seep into the crevice.
So for the last six months or so, you can imagine my despair, when I felt nothing. My prayers were met with stillness. My cries were followed by silence. I was frustrated and felt alone; abandoned. But in the days leading up to my recent trip to New York to teach at a women’s retreat, stories fell together, scriptures made sense, and holes in my work filled in miraculously. I knew that even though I wasn’t hearing God or feeling his comforting presence, he was there. He was there, and he was speaking and working in spite of me. I was praying over and over for him to speak through me; to use my words for good. I begged him to work miracles in the lives of the women I was flying to see because I wanted them to know his love and grace genuinely. So in spite of my inability to understand what he was doing, he did great things anyway.
I had made a terrible habit of avoiding God when I was sad or in pain. My head could tell you that he’s always there and that he would never abandon. My head would quote scripture to remind you of his faithfulness. My head would retell stories from my life when God carried me through the storms. But my heart, as of late, has been falling back into old habits of numbing my emotional pain. As I have battled depression, I have slipped back into a handful of chips here, a bowl of rice there, an extra glass of wine after dinner. I have bought things I didn’t need for myself or things my family didn’t need, but I knew they would love…all for the high of a smile, a thank you, a compliment.
In numbing my pain, I have been avoiding my Jesus, who is the healer of pain. I cut myself off from he who is capable of cuddling me in my sorrow. And somewhere, in my recovery schooled brain, I knew what I was doing. So I started pushing back the people in my life who are most likely to cause me the most profound pain. Who are the people who can hurt us the worst? Why, the people we love the most, of course. So, I have put certain people at arm’s length, making sure not to feel their intense love, thinking it would protect me from inevitable pain.
Until this weekend, I let my guard down, and I allowed myself feel. And I felt all the feels. I laughed so hard and so loud, and I felt melt-your-heart joy. I felt butterflies in my stomach and sappy love. And then I went to a movie with my husband. We went to see one I’ve been waiting for months to see. One that everyone under the sun is talking about because it stars one of Hollywood’s most handsome and talented men and one of the music industries brightest and most intriguing talents. The movie was about addiction and codependency, and I knew that going in. I had prepared my heart. What I hadn’t steeled myself for was a suicide. A suicide in a garage.
Listen, this movie is very well-written. And it’s a remake…well-written remakes don’t happen every day! The foreshadowing was there and in place, and I knew something awful was going to happen but I didn’t know suicide and I didn’t know in a garage. So as I sat in the movie theater, the tears starting flowing down my face hard and fast. The immediate flashbacks of finding my mom in the garage, even though her suicide method differed from the character in the move, were flashing across my mind in technicolor. Heat rose in my face, and I was terrified to breathe because I didn’t want to blubber out a sob in the theater full of viewers who were managing their tears with dignity and quietness. I could feel the collar of my t-shirt soaking the tears, and I knew I would be a total mess when the lights came on, which they did. And I did. My husband looked at me and said, “How did you not know it would be like that?” I was dumbstruck.
I had read so many reviews. I had read people talking about this movie on Facebook and Instagram and Twitter. And yet not one previous viewer share a spoiler. I didn’t know. I was slapped in the face with grief that was so misplaced. The sadness of the movie directly triggered the pain from my past and ripped it from the deepest places of my heart and smeared it all over my face and neck.
And then I got angry. I was so mad at myself for allowing my walls to come down this weekend. I had let myself feel other feelings and taken down so many blocks in my fortress of protection. And when I allowed myself to feel all of the feelings, sadness waltzed in like it was welcome. So I placed an order from my favorite local Mexican restaurant and opened a bottle of wine. Let the numbing commence and the bricks go back up!
But this morning, I had to show up for an online class I’m taking. I had to read about detachment styles, and I had to discuss (openly with a group) how to effectively listen for God’s voice. After the discussion, we took a break for journaling and prayer. I shut off my laptop camera to shut out my group, and I took a deep, cleansing breath. And then he spoke.
“My sweet girl, you live your whole life in fear of abandonment anymore. You carry around assumptions that the people you love the most will hurt you, or worse, leave you. You tell children God is always with them and loves them forever. You tell women that they have no secrets from God, no places he can’t love. Your head knows it to be true for you, but your heart is struggling to trust me. Won’t you make a habit of sitting quietly with me? Won’t you let me fill your aches with my love so you won’t feel the need to numb yourself? Please don’t distract yourself from your pain. Let me stroke your pain with my hand of gentleness until you know my healing in the deepest part of your soul. I long for our relationship to be filled with your trust.”
So, I guess the journey continues. I continue down the path of learning and listening. This life of following God isn’t easy. I wish I could bring you along with me with such a promise, but I can’t do that to you. I can’t lie. Turning over my hurts and habits have never been easy. Allowing God in to heal my places is not as simple as it sounds. But he will never force me back; he will never coerce me. He doesn’t want to put a leash on me and train me. No, my God loves me so much, and he has given me the free will to love him back. He wants me to want him. Sometimes I drift away, and he lets me. And when I drift, I feel the longing to be comforted and healed but I have spent so much of my life trying to fill that longing with other people and other things. They never satisfy. Never.
I hope that the spoilers and triggers of this weekend, the voice I heard from him this morning will draw me back into his arms. I want to lay in his lap and feel his arms around me. And I want you to know that he doesn’t just want this from me. He has placed the same holes and same desires in you. He calls for us both; us all.
Psalm 138:8
“The Lord will fulfill (his purpose) for me; Your love, O Lord, endures forever – You do not abandon the works of Your hands.”
me