Welcome to My World

So I've waited til now to post a list regarding MY new little life here in Midlothian because I wanted to be "substantive", per my previous blog entitled, "The Stuff of Substance." And after 4 months here in Midlothian, I think I have enough of that substance for some honest-to-goodness peace, love, and joy. I'm sure I'll leave something very important out, but here goes:

As I shared at CBC's ladies' retreat last week, the body of Christ is the body of Christ--no matter where you live, which I have found to be a very comforting truth. So I'm saying that I love my old church, but I love my new church, too. And here's a subset of reasons why:

• It's a place where freedom of worship is ok.
• Worship isn't a performance. It's just worship.
• It's a place where you can use your gifts in ministry. Thanks to JD, KL and BP who've already provided me with some unique opportunities. And when I figure out what God wants me to do on Sunday mornings in the fall, even better.
• Lots of smiles and hugs. I'm not even all that huggy a person, but it's nice because it's evident that all the peeps really do love each other.
• Wednesday Night Supper. Yes, at FBC, it does indeed seem to be a proper noun.
• New and Old Friends - this is where i hope i don't leave anything important out, but here it goes. *breakfasts with KP where we attempt to solve all the world's problems. *BP, whose transparency and honesty challenge me every Sunday morning. *TC and Wednesday night chats after dinner--love that. *S&LsS, who I'm pretty sure we'd love even if they weren't Aggies :-) *K&TL who are just so stinking nice and who have no idea how much we would have missed Easter lunch in Midland had they not invited us over to their own. *T&LDW who are also super nice, incredibly faithful and devoted to student ministry and who brought us pizza, coke, plates, cups, napkins, and even ice our first night here. *AB who has been dying for me to mention her on my blog because I think she loves blogging even more than I do. *CM, because y'all have no idea how much Abby loves Mrs. Sheldon (Midland teacher). That was so great of God to give her a teacher she loves here, too. *MM, who drove us all around back in November. and the same MM and RB who are going to be building us a very cool house in a very cool neighborhood.--(hopefully we'll get to talk about day 1 later this week!) *KR, my ping pong buddy, who keeps up with me here even on the weeks we don't get to visit at church *lots of youth who have made me feel welcome and stuff. Looking forward to lots of years of fun with them!

Here's some more general Midlothian-stuff that may be less than substantive, but that I think is worth mentioning anyway:

• I love the way the trees grow over the road and grab each other. It looked a little like something out of a horror flick in the winter time, but now that there are leaves, it's very pretty, even quaint.
• I love the way everybody has so much YARD here. And you don't even really have to do anything with it for it to be cool. And also there's still that neighborhood feel. Baseball practices at people's houses, for goodness sakes. Bonfires, 4-wheelers--can I go back to age 10 again, please?
• I love being close to the big city, but not actually in it. Kind of like growing up in The Woodlands, only different.
• I love that feel of community that is so obvious here. and it's small enough, but it's big enough, too. (although it would be nice if I didn't have to go the whole 10 miles or whatever to Cedar Hill or Waxahachie to eat at Chick-fil-A, because a chicken biscuit in the morning is just...well, my most favorite breakfast in the whole wide world.)

OK, so I think that's it for now. I think it's probably a good little exercise for everyone to list the things they love about their current life situation because God is all over the place. I'm glad our places have been together at some point along the way.