Random Thoughts Thursday

Things have been a little crazy with us lately!

Summer is in full swing and has been keeping both of us really busy. 

That's how its supposed to be though, and its how we like it.

Since I have alot to share, but not enough for a worthy post, I thought I would bring back the Random Thoughts Thursday.

1) I finally started hanging decorations up in our house.

Michael has been begging me to put things on the wall, but for some reason, I just had no motivation.

I think part of it is that my creativity for arranging wall decor has been used up these past few years.

It came back to me on Tuesday though and our house is starting to look like we live in it.

 Here is the living room. Still boring, but at least its something.

 And here is the guest room.

2) Summer School is really cramping my style.

First of all, its at night.

Night is when everything happens.

I can't cook dinner at home.

I can't eat dinner at other people's homes.

Second of all, its summer!

I'll be glad when I get the class finished and out of the way, but I just want to relax and not write papers right now.

3) I am really excited about the next few weeks because so many people are coming to Houston to visit!!

Michael's sister Krista and her family just left today.

They were just going to stop by for lunch on Tuesday, but decided to spend the night, so we got LOTS of sweet niece time!

Next week, Kelsey is coming with her youth group for a mission trip and she is going to stay with me one night.

And the next week, Carrie will be here for a whole week visiting her parents and I will (hopefully) get to spend lots of time with her.

4) This week brought he first overnight youth trip that I have ever had to miss.

Michael had a Prayer Journey on Monday and Tuesday, and because of my summer class (refer to #2) I had to miss it.

Since I was always employed with Memorial while he worked there, I went on everything with him.

If he went, I went.

If he didn't go, I didn't go.

It was a little weird to be the one at home, reading everyone's facebook statuses/check-ins so that I could know what was going on!

I better get used to it though because he is going on Wilderness Trek soon and will be in Colorado for a week without me!

5) Since Michael will be gone for a whole week, I have lots of crafts and DIY stuff planned.

So, look forward to those posts in the next couple of weeks!

6) These built-ins are leaving me baffled.

What do you even do with these things?

I have no idea what to put on them, or how to arrange it.

Tips, suggestions, or comments are well appreciated!

7) Tomorrow is Date Night!!

Or Date Day actually.

Michael and I both have the day off so we are going to the neighborhood pool, to one of the new restaurants in our area, and to Home Goods! 

I am really excited about Home Goods! 

And spending time with my man ALL day!

8) If you live in the Edmond/OKC area, then I've got the dentist for you!

My cousin (well married to my cousin, but I will call him my cousin) Dr. Sam Ward will be opening his very own dental practice THIS FRIDAY!

Call him, make an appointment, and tell your friends!

I wish I lived there, because my teeth are divas and need lots of attention (and fillings).

Congrats to Dr Ward on this huge accomplishment!

Well that's all the thoughts I can think of, and even those were difficult.

I think I need a second cup of coffee.

Special Deliveries

The past few days have brought some of the best things my way.

On Monday I got my new passport in the mail! 

It wasn't supposed to be here until mid to late July, which was really making me nervous with our trip being so soon after.

But all is well and I got that baby yesterday.

And, I got my old one back too.

Which might have ranked a little higher than the new one on my importance scale.

And tomorrow, these little girls are coming to my house!!!

Words cannot explain how happy Michael and I are!

Josh and Krista are finishing up a quick trip to Sea World in San Antonio and are going to stop by here on their way home!

This is wonderful for many reasons:

1 - We haven't seen them since Christmas!

Way. To. Long.

2 - After their visit, everyone in our immediate families will have been to Houston to visit us since we moved here 2 years ago!

So special!

Its always special when family comes to visit, but even more special when you are 8 plus hours from all of your family! 

3 - We get to love on Ashley and Emily!! I'm so excited to hug those precious girls!

Here are some more pictures of our sweet nieces:

This has just turned into a GREAT week! 

I hope you all are having a great week too!

Girls Retreat

 This past weekend I got to help with the JV Youth Girl's Retreat.

One of our college girls, Haley, put it together and we all had such a great time!

We did each others' hair.

 

We played Capture the Flag.

We danced.

 Alot.

 We had a water balloon/silly string fight.

  We made Survival Kits for our Ministers, Elders, and Secretary

And most importantly, we learned more about training ourselves for Christ.

We talked about the importance of not conforming to the world and pressing on through tough times.

We learned that nothing can ever destroy us if God is on our side.

And we realized the importance of surrounding ourselves with Christian friends that will be there to help us through at all times.

It was a tiring, but fun and inspiring weekend spent with the girls! 

A big thank you to Haley for putting it all together for us!

Some More What?

I hope all of you have seen the movie "The Sandlot".

If not, go to Blockbuster right now and rent it...you won't regret it.
I can't think of smores and not think of that movie.
"How can I have some more when I haven't had any yet?"

Anyways, tonight is the girl's retreat at Jersey Village.
One of our college girls did all the planning and organizing, so the least I can do is bring snacks!
I found this recipe on Pinterest, like there is anywhere else to find something amazing these days.
And I thought they would make a great youth group snack.
Its Smores Chocolate Chip Cookies.
And they are E-ASY!

The original recipe is from this website.
I modified it just a little bit.
All you need is graham crackers, a few Hershey bars, marshmallows, and I chose to use Pillsbury Break and Bakes for the cookies
(She makes hers from scratch - I was feeling lazy though)

Step one: Line your cookie sheet with parchment paper.
I didn't have parchment paper so I used foil.
It doesn't work nearly as well.
And you need it to work because these babies are STICKY!

Step 2: Cover the pan with graham crackers.Step 3: Mix the marshmallows into the dough, and place one dough ball on each graham.
Step 4: Bake at 350 degrees for 6 minutes.

Step 5: Take cookies out and set a Hershey square on each cookie.Step 6: Bake for approximately 7 more minutes.Step 7: Remove to cooling rack
Step 8: ENJOY!

Happy Weeekend!
And HAPPY WEDDING WEEKEND to AMBER GRUBB AND COREY PLESS!!

Making an Impact

This week we have been so blessed to be able to serve at the Impact Church of Christ.

After living in Houston for 2 years, I have only been to Impact twice.
Once to pick up my best friend Kelsey and take her to Chili's,
and again to do Bible Hour on a Sunday morning.
Both were amazing days in my life, but they did not prepare me for how huge Impact VBS was going to be!

There are SO MANY KIDS!!

(This isn't even all of them!)
The Impact staff told us there is usually around 300 kids!
Wow!
That's alot!
In the mornings we go on bus routes to pick up the kids.
The buses go all over town and the kids run into the building with huge smiles on their faces, so excited to be at VBS.
Then we sing some songs with them, which they LOVE!
Here are a couple our our guys leading the morning singing.

The rest of the day is spent in reading class, lunch time, VBS, or a field trip.
The entire time we are going through these activities, we just get to love on these kids.
And they are so easy to love!
The are so adorable, polite, honest, and just precious.
The JV kids absolutely love them.
The Impact kids love our JV Youth group too!
It has been so special to watch our youth kids open up to these little kids in VBS.
The first day they were a little unsure at times, but today they were letting kids crawl all over them, chasing them around the building, and playing games with them all day.
Its going to be hard to say goodbye to these sweet kids!

We have been blessed even more this week because not only is the Jersey Village group working at Impact this week, but so are Memorial, Northwest, and Spring Creek!
So we get to hang out with these guys all week too!
It has been so great to work alongside these other churches.
Catching up with old friends.
Meeting new friends.
And all working together for the glory of God, and to show the love of Christ to these kids.
Thank you Impact Church of Christ for inviting us to take part in this incredible mission effort in our hometown.
I can definitely say that these kids have blessed us so more than we have them, and they don't even know it!
Great job Jersey Village Youth for your week of hard work and service for our Lord!

Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." - Matthew 19:14

Swamp People

Thanks to Netflix, Michael and I have found a new show to keep up with!

Swamp People.For those of you who've never heard of it, its a show about life in the Louisiana swamp.
It follows Cajun alligator hunters during the 30-day hunting season.
It makes us laugh.
It stresses me out.
It even makes me gag sometimes.
Whats not to love, right?If you do decide to watch this show, which you should, here is some advice:

- Don't watch it while you are eating.
I was serious about the gagging thing.
Between the spoiled meat, the dying gators, and the shirtless Cajun men, there's enough to make anyone lose their appetite.

- Don't watch it while multitasking.
You would think you would be able to understand them since they are speaking English.
But you can't.
Trust me, you need the captions!

- Have your dentist's phone number on hand.
You will want to call and schedule an appointment after only 5 minutes of watching the show.

Michael put up a status about the show after the first night we watched and I thought it was hilarious, so I will post it on here.
"Watching 'Swamp People'. I understand how they would lose an arm, but where are their teeth?"
Haha!
Hope you watch it and enjoy it!

On the Road

I used to think that driving from my parents' house into town (Enid) was a long drive.

It was usually between 15-20 minutes to get where I needed to go.
Then we moved to Houston.
Now, if something is 15 to 20 minutes away - I could not be happier to go there.

When we lived in the Tabor house my drive to school was 45 minutes on a good day, and an hour on a bad day.
I look back on the days I complained and laugh at myself.
If only I could have that drive back!

Last week it took me 2 hours to get to my summer class.
That's right, 2 hours!
This is because I am driving to the exact other side of Houston at the time that everyone else is leaving town.
Boo to U of H for this awful planning on their part!

This is the route I took last week. Straight through the middle of Houston.
50 miles. Travel time 2 hours in traffic.
YUCK!
See, I wasn't kidding about the other side of town!

Today I will try this route.
The ole reach around, hopefully missing all the traffic.
I'll let you know how it goes!

And I might print these maps and use them as wall decorations!

Daddy's Girl

Since its Father's Day this weekend (and I'm a bad daughter that still hasn't mailed the card!)
I thought I would dedicate this post to my Daddy.
I have always been a Daddy's Girl.
Except when prom dress shopping came around - He just didn't understand! ;)
But really, my Dad has always been there for me.
He has taught me so many important lessons, and has pushed me to do my best in everything.
I love him and am so thankful for him every day!
Here's a few picture of my ole Dad.

I don't know why I have this picture, but it is of my dad, his siblings, and their good family friends, the Herrons...I think

He's the tall one on the left.

Here we are on wedding day.

He drove our U-haul down to Houston when we moved...

and laughed at us as we figured out our new home!

He is so smart - about everything!
He teaches Michael something new every time he visits.
Like how to put Christmas lights up in the most efficient way.He also shared his love of the Sooners with me!

He is completely okay with looking crazy in photos.Not pictured:
- He taught me how to slow-pitch and was my softball coach most of my life.
- He let me believe that he didn't realize what time it was whenever I wasn't home by curfew.
- He was GREAT at scaring every boy I ever dated!
- He was at every single one of my basketball and softball games, track meets (always on the field, cheering for me as I ran past him), cheerleading competitions, and even band competitions.
- He went on long road trips with me to watch dumb football games...
- He allowed me make my own mistakes. (See above)
And most importantly, he showed me how to trust in God during the good times, and the really bad times.

There's about 10 billion more things I could list, but I'll just say...
I LOVE YOU DAD!!
Happy Father's Day!

Happy Johns

VBS week is here at Jersey Village!
VBS is one of my favorite parts of the summer.
I haven't been directly involved with a VBS that wasn't part of a mission trip in a long time, and I forgot how different it is.
This year, I am teaching the 5th/6th Graders and they are so wonderful!
At least 10 of the kids in my group are the ones that just entered the youth group.
They are so sweet.

Here I am with some of the girls from my class before the start of VBS.

And here is Michael, doing his thing in VBS...
Acting crazy and getting the kids excited.
(He's also in charge of "Pyramid Games")

I don't really know how it happened, but Michael is "Mr. Happy Johns" for the week.
I would say that pretty much describes him.
The lady in charge of VBS even made us Mr. and Mrs. Happy Johns shirts!
So great!

If you live in Houston - bring your kids to VBS!
The Happy Johns will be here all week!

Geography

I never liked Geography in school.

And by never liked, I mean I hated it.
It could be that I didn't like memorizing capitals of states, or putting them in alphabetical order.
It could be that I didn't know the difference between East and West on a map until the 11th grade (I know it now - Never Eat Shredded Wheat)
It could be that my teacher spent more time talking about "taking little trips" and John Wayne than he did actually talking about geography.
Who knows.
I hated it - end of story.

Then, I went to college and started traveling.
Somewhere in there a light bulb came on and I started to love geography.
I love finding new places, and then finding my way to those places.
I love that I can look at a map and I will be able to find my way - or find a train going my way.
I love it all.
More specifically though, I love maps.

If you've been reading my blog lately, you know that I have been taken captive by Pinterest.
I'm addicted.
Here are some things I have pinned that have to do with geography.

Maps of where you have lived or traveled
Maps as matting with a picture from that cityBeautiful! I don't only love maps. I love globes too! And I would LOVE this collection!Tell me you're not going to go decorate your entire home with maps now.
At least a room?
I know I am!!

Speaking of geography - My summer class starts tomorrow. Yuck! I would rather be ANYWHERE but here!