a plethora of enlightening info.

on last night's 24 - that's why it's not called "6"

on church yesterday- did i mention we were packed? and that's even before the big Midlothian Mirror spread hits every home later this week

on the Seahawks using "the 12th man" - why didn't we take care of the rights on that long ago?

on writing - down to the final 3 sessions on the ANSE (assignment that never seems to end)

on January - is it just me, or has this been the longest month in history? When was Christmas, 6 months ago?

on ladies' Bible study - starts tomorrow night. Ephesians. writing it myself this time. we'll see how that goes.

on Brandon getting knocked hard to the floor in a basketball game - ever heard the phrase, "playing mad"? well, he does it quite well. got up and played like a lad possessed.

on Abby and citizenship - landed her first "citizen of the 6 weeks" honor. a proud moment for a girl whose social goals match her academic ones.

on me wasting time this morning - that was fun.

the beginning and the end

so we had our first Sunday service in our brand-spanking new building today and it was so much fun! even way more exciting than moving into our own house, methinks. and just in case you Midland-folk were wondering....yes, it is, indeed, quite the large chore to move an entire church. so you have THAT to look forward to, but don't worry; it's well worth it in the end.

i told clay that this has been without a doubt our busiest season of marriage to date. and kinda weird, too, because our busy-ness is mostly independent of each other. yet, at the same time, so very similar---does that make sense? But now he's mostly moved in and has facilitated the coming-together of one very cool youth room. And as for me, I have come to the final four sessions of the Big One, that is, the assignment that has seemed to have no end. It's true--I just might break out into song.... :-0

in excess

Well the "Reveal" is done and I suppose that KDW's perhaps-greatest-moment-of-fame to date and perhaps-greatest-selfless-act-on-behalf-of-someone-he-didn't-know have now come to a finish. In the pictures on the website, I saw his forehead in one picture and his backside in the distance in another. I don't know why he couldn't have been more central to the publicity. sheesh.

If you spent some time praying for me today, thanks. I'm quite certain that God multiplied my time. As many of you know, I've been somewhat stressed here in the home stretch of my adult-curriculum assignment. I have to say that I really do love the study it requires--kinda like what i imagine seminary to be. But with all the stuff I've agreed to write in the last 6 months, I should probably have changed the blog to "because i can't". That's the glaring truth that I've taken from it all....not that i ever really thought it was me doing it before, it's just that now I've learned the lesson up close and personal.

Is it just me or do they play that Sawyer Brown song every time YOU get in the car to go somewhere, too? no offense to any of you who are excited about its excessive airtime.

brushes with greatness

don't go blaming me b/c hours 3 and 4 were a little rough. ok, they were A LOT rough, but now the crisis has temporarily resolved (thanks to Sean Astin) and we can all get on with our lives again until next Monday. whew.

I don't know all the details, yet, but my little bro is the project manager (i think that's the right title) for a house that Royce Builders was chosen to build in Houston for Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. The show is going to be aired sometime in mid-February. They just announced it to the people they're building it for this morning. So now I'm probably just going to be known as "Kendall's sister" since I'm pretty sure this is way more famous than anything I've ever done before. But at least I can say, "oh yeah, that guy...he used to comment on my blog..."

I'll keep you up-to-date because it's SO EXCITING and my brother's going to be on tv and everything, unless they cut him out and act like Ty Pennington is more important or something. See what I mean? We don't even know if Ty P. HAS a sister, much less what her name is. Anyway, way to go KDW--i always knew you were destined for greatness!

EDIT: ok, so now i have the skinny, the down-low, the nizzle on the hizzle bizzle. KDW is one of 8 guys that Royce Bldrs. put on the project. it normally takes 90+ days to build a house; they're doing it in 4.5 (between tomorrow when they tear down the existing home and Tuesday). He's on it 24/7 until it's finished. Here's the website in case you're interested: http://www.extremeroycebuilders.com/

Seven

Happy Bday to AEH. She's 7 today, you know. And that makes me feel a little bit old. And a little bit sad b/c my baby isn't a baby anymore. 7 is like....full-blown kid or something. i can even remember my own 7. So i guess that means that from here on out, joys and hurts and everything will be forever etched on her heart and mind. And that's pretty big stuff, 7.

But bigger than all of that is the wonder of getting to watch her become and the overwhelming knowledge that He's even more involved in that than I am. When i think about it that way, 7 is pretty exciting. In fact, i've already thanked Him for 7 today - and if you have any love at all for AEH, how 'bout you do that, too?

Jack's Back

Looks like we have several encouragers who frequent my blog. Either that, or no one uses the "make photo much bigger so you can see the many imperfections in the shirt design" feature. (You need to click on the picture.) Anyway, 5 of the little things have already fallen off. But don't worry...we're way too far into this to give up now.

I wish that I was computer savvy enough to put a little countdown thingy on here in honor of the season premier of 24. That's right...one week til the 4-hour premiere next Sunday and Monday nights. It's all very exciting.

P.S. Went and saw a Sneak Preview (my first sneak preview EVER) of Glory Road last night with L&SA. Much fun and GREAT flick. And I even got teary a couple of times...(which also happened last week while watching Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants) --don't know what's happening to me in my mid-thirties. Anyway, you should definitely go see it.

LOVE

If you see my little girl wearing this shirt, do her a favor and pretend that you think it's the greatest thing ever. You see, she got a little t-shirt maker thingy for Christmas from my crafty sister-in-law. A, of course, loves it and couldn't wait to create her own t-shirt. The only problem is that it required my help, and instruction #1 said, "Use steady hands." This is impossible for me, the one who has a tremor which sometimes causes cashiers to wonder what drugs I'm on as they try to place change in my shaky hand. So it's understandable that it took an hour and a half to finish this beautiful shirt with wavy letters. Come to think of it, maybe I should have intentionally made the letters wavy; that way, you'd be none the wiser. But too late. It's done and so I'm just saying the crooked letters and little holes give it character. And this is what A said to me after I exclaimed, "AAARRRGGHHH!" for about the tenth time: "It looks great, mom. You are doing your best and not everyone can do it the same as others. I think it's beautiful because you made it." And now we know her spiritual gift~encouragement. She wants to wear it tomorrow. I love that girl.

blogger's block

So, yes, we did have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I can't believe that it's 2006, though. That's just weird. Time keeps on tickin', tickin', tickin'......into the future. doo doo doo-do.