Wednesday News

I'm making it a goal to write more this summer to make up for rarely writing over the past few months! So far so good :)

I'm not going for a list with this post, just a random smattering of thoughts! Let's see what I've done lately!

After I moved my clothes home, I made a quick realization that I had WAAAAAY too many clothes in my closet that I don't wear anymore. I've been trying to make an effort at least once a year to reduce my "inventory", so to speak by donating clothes to local thrift stores. It's easy way for me to give my ten percent since I don't really have an income to speak of, and honestly, it makes me feel good to give to people who could really use these things. Last week, I was able to donate four large boxes of clothing to the local battered women's shelter. It was an awesome feeling, and I encourage everyone to do this simple act of charity!! You won't regret it!

Another highlight of last week was my cousin Evan's graduation! By some miracle, we had a reprieve from our monsoon season, and they were able to have the graduation and his after party outside. The weather was absolutely perfect! Thankfully, Evan was one of the earlier graduates, so we left right before the ceremony ended so we could leave without fighting off traffic from every way and make it over to Joe & Vickie's house! They had an awesome, Pinterest-perfect party for Evan, complete with a s'mores and popcorn bar, which are his two favorite snacks. Even better, the weather was just cool enough that the fire used for roasting marshmallows was perfect! In a bit of a last minute, slightly insane, decision, Mom and I decided to make some cake pops for part of Evan's gift. You see, Gina and Emily were sweet enough to make some for my party, which is when we discovered Evan's love for them. Thus, at 9:30 the night before graduation, Mom and I started the process. By 5:30 the next evening, we had a finished product :) Rumor has it that he LOVED them, so it wasn't a fruitless effort! Now, he is all enrolled to start his first year or so at NOC before transferring to OSU to pursue a degree in Landscape Design! I'm beyond proud of my awesome cousin!

The next day, I woke up and began my whirlwind weekend by packing my bags to go to the TEC retreat. Thomas also decided to help with the retreat, so he drove up that day to pick me up and head on to Tulsa. This was my third TEC retreat to be a part of, and it was probably the best experience I've had yet, with the exception of parts of the first retreat. (Okay, not that impressive in saying it, but still...) The first time I attended, I was what they call a candidate, or an attendee. The retreat is tailored around the candidates, and consists of reflections given by members of the leadership (called Resource members) and various times for personal prayer, along with free time to mingle with other candidates and lots of other fun surprises. Everything is taken care of for the candidates over the weekend (i.e. meals, wake-up calls, sleeping arrangements, etc.). Last time I helped, my role was what they call a Wheatie (there is an underlying theme of wheat to the retreat centering around John 12:24), which is more of a serving role. Wheaties do all of the behind-the-scenes work that makes everything run smoothly. It is SUPER exhausting and self-sacrificial, but totally worth it to see the transformation that occurs in the candidates. This time, I was a Resource member, which meant that I, along with another Resource member, led a table of 5 Candidates in discussion and generally just invested our time in them over the weekend. It was awesome to see how everyone came together and our ragtag group turned into a family, of sorts, in the course of three days. It was beautiful and warmed my heart in every way possible! Moreover, it was awesome to see just how God used me to accomplish some part of His plan by being there for my table members and sharing my life with them. I also gave a talk, which went much better than I thought it would. I was able to share a bit of my experience over the last few years in my quest to find love and realize the great love God has for all of us in the process. Giving this talk really brought a lot of meaning to all of the pain I've experienced in my quest for a good loving relationship, and generally helped me to use those painful situations for a greater purpose! God is good :)

Thomas and I drove back on Monday evening, and he knew that it'd be in his best interest to at least wait until at least the next day to drive back to Dallas so he could rest up a little bit. Well, after sitting around for a while yesterday, he really welcomed just being able to stay in one place for a little while, so he decided to stay an extra night and really rest up before heading back this afternoon. Obviously, I was happy to keep him here for another day! After spending most of the day doing very little besides eat and play Jenga, we made an impromptu trip to Enid to buy groceries for Mom. Even if that was all we did, I still loved having him with me for a little trip to town and going through Enid stores. We capped off the trip by stopping at Braum's to buy milk, and we picked out a few cartons of ice cream for after dinner. Thankfully we headed home when we did, because a hailstorm was headed to Enid and we narrowly missed it! After supper, I happened to still have a sleeve of Thin Mints left over (they're Thomas's favorite) and we made thin mint sundaes :) Not long after finishing the sundaes, the storm was catching up to us, so we frantically moved his car into the shed in case hail came with it. Naturally when we made this decision, it was POURING rain outside! (This always happens...Murphy's Law of Hailstorms, I suppose?) After coming in and drying off, I found another cool thing we have in common...we both love watching storms :) (This just keeps getting better and better!) So, we sat in my room (more window space/a better view) and watched the lightning storm...it was awesome! I love being able to enjoy the little things in life with Thomas :) He's pretty neat!

Today I bought a few new songs, something I haven't done in months. It was almost cathartic, as crazy as that sounds. My current favorite song is "Loving You Easy" by the Zac Brown Band...if you think you don't like country music, you should listen to it anyway. It's short, sweet, and fun to listen to :) I'm not sure how they did it, but they managed to channel some 70's funk and Motown in it. I'm obsessed. I also finally bought another interesting song, "Riptide " by Vance Joy. It's not new, but I love it. It has a really cool beat/sound, you should give it a listen :)

Last interesting thing: I found an awesome new pork chop recipe tonight that rocked our socks off! It was super easy and WAY tasty/tender. We were all getting bored with our usual way of making pork chops that left them dry and/or bland...not the case with this recipe! Basically, you dredge the chops with a seasoned flour, pan-fry them, saute some onions in the drippings, and create a gravy using the remaining flour and some milk, then bake it for an hour. I love it. Here's the link to the recipe :)

Lots of random fun stuff from the past week! Now, I'm resting up and getting ready to make my train trip to Dallas next week :) Have a great week!!!