birds, bugs and chicken...

Satuday afternoon, driving home from the grocery store, Jerry and i had the strange experience of having a dove land right on our windshield! Yes, we were in the middle of a conversation, sitting a red light when we both jumped and screamed (well maybe i just screamed). This odd looking bird (here on out called Louie) was sitting right up on the windshield staring at us with it's beady little eyes and long neck. we just sat there for what felt like 10 mins looking all at each other before we realized we should take a picture. But the light turned green and we figured he'd fly off realizing his mistake. But no! Long neck Louie just plopped down and made himself comfortable for the ride! It was strange indeed. God is so funny that way! Quirky almost, don't you think!?

Saturday night we had fun going on a triple date with some Jerry's single guy friends that i've come to know and love. i told Jerry i felt like Meg Ryan and Goose out with these two Mavericks trying to get it together! we had a great time downing chips and salsa and laughing mostly about the guy's ridiculous college stories. We even survived a cricket attack.



Sunday night we went to Megan and Stephen's new home and had dinner with Mom, Dad and Scott. Megan cooked a great meal of King chicken casserole followed by key lime pie. Yum! We were eventually called outside to the front yard by the lightning bugs. i haven't seen them in forever but have gallons of child memories that include chasing, catching and sadly, even demolishing.

scott, me and megan

yes, that's a little one on my finger.

the underdog

Well one thing I though I’d never be caught doing alone, more or less bloging about, is watching a Rocky movie. I don’t know if my mom tossed me outside too much when I was little or what but I missed out on a bunch of the classic movies of the 80’s and thus never took to them. I always laughed at the Rocky series and refused to see them. But in defense of the 80’s I really have never liked “sports movies” in general. Don’t get me wrong I love sports but to me the movies always have the same boring plot and all too accurately timed one-liners.
But anyway, I found myself at home alone one night while Jer played in a volleyball game and decide out of boredom to pop in the latest Rocky and have my laughs at this poor old man trying to have another go at the same old plot. BUT let me tell you, I ate my words! There I was in the palm of the director’s hand shuddering at the gruesome training and rooting for the underdog! That Rocky, he’s pretty tough.
Like all inspirational movies this one got me thinking of my own life; about setting some goals and even longing for some grueling training myself. But that’s where I hit a problem: I seem to have a missing piece of the puzzle.
Ok, for example, I’ve noticed that Jerry and I are very different in these kinds of things (but we actually make a great team). Jerry has always been very confident in knowing what he wants and what his goals are but it’s less natural for him to stay the path and maintain focus.
I on the other hand can stay the monotonous path till there’s nothing left of me but have an extremely hard time figuring out what it is that I am trying to accomplish in the first place. I have in fact prayed many times that if God will just put me in the right lane and say, “On your marks, get set, go” then I would gladly run as hard as I could in the straightest path you’ve ever seen.
But alas, our all-knowing God figures as much about me and is trying to grow me by letting me find the starting point my self. And oh the analogies flow! What sport? Which race? How much does it cost? Do I have the right gear? Am I properly trained? Who will coach me? Will I be more annoying to them than a toothache? Would anyone want me on their team? Can I even figure out how to Mapquest the location in order to show up on time??!! And this is how my mind works. Before I even get going I’ve lost all steam.
And I am not even talking about the classic “who should I marry/what job do I take” questions. It’s deeper than that. It’s an overarching “how am I doing at life” question. In the past, I think I’ve taken to having goals in place cause they are somewhat of a distraction for the truth that I may not really know what I am doing at all! I know that my ultimate purpose is to bring glory to God but must admit that lots of the time I am not even really sure I know what that means.
Among all the confusion I do understand the word “complete.” I can only take hope that God, who more than understands my heart, will finish what he started and understands that I am but dust.
Dang, I kept hoping that this blog will end up something uplifting with the Rocky sound track playing behind it! My poor discipler! I have not found her yet but don’t think I am not praying her in!!

oh the rain..

here is another fun pic of an attempt at a pool party. we all had a moment of GroupThink and decided that just cause it was cloudy and the weather man predicted rain we'd probably be ok. so we fired up the grill, lathered on the sunscreen and headed out for a fun Memorial Day at the pool... only to be shooed back inside about 20 min later by a down poor that left everyone soaked to the core. it actually turned out to be a pretty memorable day! we ate soggy hamburgers, hot dogs with no buns, and Miss Lindsay Moffet's famous chocolate chip cookies. i am telling you, if you have not tasted these you are truly missing out my friend. just don't bother asking her for the recipe- it's top secret. but don't worry, i have plans that include her, me and a bottle of tequila till i get it out of her!

cinco de mayo/ house warming/we love our friends

well since i am just starting all this i have to get you up to speed. i am recently married to the love of my life JERRY WILLIAMS! we have had so much fun getting our apartment set up and learing to function like two married adults. Jerry keeps me laughing pretty much non stop- i could not ask for a more loving, understanding husband. pray for that boy! he has one complicated wife he's called to love! but he's doing pretty dang well! anyway here are two pics of our House Warming/Cinco de Mayo party. it was a ton of fun! since we've been engaged we have been praying for a house full of people to love on and have fun with and on this night that is what we got!

Clean slate

If you know me well at all you probably know that I have an aversion to all things computer (please don’t tell my employers… I need to uphold the guise of competence). Anyway, due to several unfortunate encounters, computers and I have agreed to disagree. Of course in spite of our differences we have come to some terms of agreement when it comes to emailing, checking the bank account and such. But for the most part we try and avoid each other.

Despite all this, starting a blog has been an on going desire for a while (partly so I could finally comment on all the other great blogs out there!) but I never really thought of actually creating one myself. Kind of like the way one thinks of other people that run marathons- not something I’d be good at or able to do. Kinda silly thinking but that is just the undercurrent of thought that I have.

But anyway, I've decided that i am going to overcome a sliver of my fears and take on this blogging thing! …Or at lease try it out for a little while. Really this is quite a leap for me you have no idea! In fact speaking of fears, this is hopefully going to be a new trend in my life- overcoming them I mean. I will keep you posted (no pun intended) on how all that is going. But for now I have wiped the slate clean and am starting afresh- Lauren: 1 Fears: 0