Calling the Prayer Warriors

On Tuesday, Grant and I flew home from Orlando. I have many pictures to post and many stories to tell about our wonderful vacation. But before I spend time revisiting our trip to "The Happiest Place on Earth", I feel that I need to share with you some very unhappy news we received while there.

Monday morning I got a call from my sweet friend Katie. It's one of those phone calls you absolutely hate to receive: Mo's father took his own life Monday morning.

Words cannot describe the pain and sadness they are going through. Grant and I are devastated for them. We felt so sad that we weren't in Houston to help walk them through this. Tuesday morning they got on a plane and flew to St. Croix to be with his family.

We first became close friends with Mo & Katie when we were living in Louisiana. Then they moved to Houston in February. They have gotten very involved in our church and in a small group. Just last week, Katie and I were talking about how many friends she has made and what a community they have here in their new city. I am so very glad that that is the case, because when we were not able to be present for our friends in their time of tragedy, our small group swooped in and loved on them. I felt so much better knowing that people were taking care of our sweet friends. People were there to bring them dinner Monday night and pray with them. Today I am going to pick up their dogs from the kennel so they don't have to pay for weeks of boarding the dogs.

More than anything, they need prayer right now. They are sad, mad, confused, angry, devastated, and exhausted. Please pray that they would be able to sleep. Please pray that they would find comfort and peace in our Most High God. Pray for the members of the family who found him Monday morning. Pray for Mo's mom who has lost her husband. Pray for the kids and grandkids who have lost their father and grandfather. This family is hurting and needs our prayers.

Thank you for your prayers. Later this week I will get to the "happy stuff" but all I can think about right now is this family.

Love y'all...

Admitting That You Have a Problem is the First Step

I finally said it out loud this morning:

"Grant, we have a sleeping problem".

I don't know what has happened to us. We have always loved to sleep. Our bed is the most comfortable bed in all of creation, and we rather enjoy being in it. But we've always been able to pull ourselves out of it. We can get out of bed at a decent time, have our morning prayer, get ready for work, make a lunch, and get out the door in a non-rushed fashion. But something has happened over the last few months.

I guess it was around six months ago. We hit snooze. And then we hit snooze again. And maybe 3 times after that. So we started setting 2 alarms (one on a cellphone, the other on the actual alarm clock that sits on the nightstand) and it still is not working.

Pretty much every morning we give ourselves an hour to wake up and get out the door. And pretty much every morning we don't actually get out of bed until 15 minutes before it is time to leave.

Every morning is rushed! We forget things all the time and are driving like crazy people to get to work on time. We aren't eating breakfast and we are cranky and groggy still when we get to the office.

We tried going to bed earlier, and that doesn't really help. We simply cannot get out of bed!

We've never really admitted this though. We've never discussed it. It wasn't until this morning when I was frantically straightening my hair (with the chi!) that I said to my husband (who was still in bed) "Grant, we have a sleeping problem".

He took a deep breath. "I know".

"What are we going to do?"

"I don't know. I'm sleeping right now, can we talk about this later?"

So we are going to have a talk about how we can force ourselves to get out of bed. I believe that part of the problem is that we sorta egg each other on. If he is still sleeping, then I'm still sleeping, and vice versa.

Does anyone have any advice/suggestions about this? How do you get out of bed?

Seize the Day or Maybe Seize Tomorrow

Grant said something unintentionally the other day that kinda hurt my feelings. He said it and I bottled everything up and didn't say a word about it. But then we went to bed and I couldn't sleep. I was laying in bed and he was already asleep and I was really considering waking him up and listing out for him everything that I was feeling and when I started feeling it and what I think he should have said and what was he feeling and how does he feel about it now and what will he do in the future about my feelings and feelings feelings feelings FEELINGS!!!

Somewhere, deep down, I felt the Lord whisper, "Go to sleep, Jenny". Boo. That wasn't what I wanted to hear. "BUT I AM A LITTLE IRRITATED RIGHT NOW AND I THINK I SHOULD WAKE HIM UP AND SHARE THIS WITH HIM. YOU SAID WE SHOULDN'T GO TO SLEEP ANGRY!!" And that little voice came back and said "You aren't angry. You're annoyed. Telling him right now will do nothing. Go to sleep".

Well, fine.

So the next morning, when my husband was well rested and in a pretty good mood, I said "Hey, I need to tell you something". And it was then that I calmly, unemotionally told him that he had hurt my feelings. He was shocked to hear it and told me how sorry he was, and that sometimes he says things without realizing how it sounds and he asked for forgiveness. Then he kissed me and then I got all weak in the knees and then I thought "gosh, I love him" and then I realized that if I had woken him up in the middle of his REM cycle then that would not have played out like that.

Houston Project: Wrap it Up

Houston Project is over, and it was amazing. I am amazed at how many lives were touched and how receptive people were to hearing the Word of God. Not only were they receptive, they were desperate to hear it. Our evangelism team was out walking the streets when they said a car full of rather intimidating looking young men stopped and asked "Are you out here telling people about Jesus?". Our team said that they were and then the young man said "What do you have to do to get saved?". Ummmmm are you for real?! Two of the gentlemen in that car definitely seemed to want more answers. Their names were Rooster and Junebug. :) Keep praying for them!

After everything was all wrapped up, a big group of us went to Sonic. We were in need of some fruity fluids. We spent almost 2 hours there just talking about our weeks and getting to know each other more. It was a good 2 hours solid of belly laughs. Oh, it was fun. And then I didn't get to bed till 1:00am but it was so worth it.

This weekend is going to be crazy hectic but that's okay. We are attending a wedding in College Station tomorrow night and then driving back to Houston right afterwards. I'm exhausted just thinking about it. But we are so glad to be at this wedding. Grant worked with this couple while he was in college. They met at work and started dating there, all before Grant's very eyes. So he is glad to see this day finally come!

While at Sonic last night, one topic that came up was "guilty pleasure" television. People seem to be embarassed to admit that they watch certain shows. A few examples that came up in this conversation last night: Cops, The Real World, Real Housewives of Atlanta, The Bachelor, Wife Swap, Family Guy, The O.C. and Antiques Roadshow.

So let's hear it: What's your guilty pleasure show?!