Catching up

Hey everyone!  I seem to have gotten a little behind on my blogging.  My mind has been preoccupied on many things lately.  

Obviously we made it back from Dallas.  On Saturday our gang went to Grapevine Mills and shopped til we dropped-and I mean literally.  I think we spent 5 1/2 hours at the mall!  That was some serious shopping!  We decided that we would head off to Six Flags later that day.  I think it was somewhere around 180 degrees that afternoon.  Give or take a little!  Despite the ungodly heat, we suffered through Six Flags.  We had so much fun.  I haven't ridden some of those roller coasters in quite some time!  I can't wait to go back again!  On Sunday we went to the Bass Pro Shop before our exit back home.  

Monday was a big day for me.  One chapter of my life was closed and a new chapter opened.  I had to appear in court at 9:00 that morning.  God has completely blessed me with the most amazing friends in all of the world.  Kelly chose to take the whole day off and spend it with me.  So she picked me up and drove me to the courthouse.  I met my attorney there and signed all the papers I needed to sign.  Once the judge arrived, we went into his chambers.  After being sworn in, I was asked a series of questions and with one strike of his gavel, my divorce was final.  Over.  Many of you called and checked on me that day.  I greatly appreciate all of your thoughts and prayers over me and my girls.  This has been the most horrific experience I have ever been through.  However, God has been my rock and my salvation.  He has been my help in times of trouble.  It's a very surreal feeling actually.  It's hard for me to even imagine what life was like 5 months ago.  I can't even recall it.  I can tell that God has protected my heart from Satan's evil reminders of what happened.  I am ready for a new beginning.  Anyway, after court Kelly and I went by Angie's house.  We visited for a while and then the 3 of us went to eat lunch at Chili's.  After lunch we went to the mall for some perfume testing-Kelly is a pro by the way!  We had an appointment to get pedicures that afternoon.  After our feet got pampered, we went home, freshened up a bit and went to eat supper at Abuelo's.  Belinda and Sonya met us for dinner.  After we ate supper we sat out on the patio, listened to live music, and visited about the possibilities of my future.  No Kelly and Angie-don't sign me up for match.com just yet!!!!  Over all, I had a good day.  I was very thankful to be able to spend the day with my "posse!"  Only one thing would have made it better-if you had been there Deanna!  You were the only missing thing!

God has shown me a lot.  I have learned a lot about Him, a lot about myself, and a lot about other people during this journey.  I have praised God in this storm, and I have lifted my hands to Him.  I made a pact with God-that dreadful day when I still had 4 hours in the car left with Rodney after he told me he was leaving us-that I would not turn away from Him.  I promised Him that day that I would not be angry with Him and that I would give Him glory no matter what.  So--- "I will give thanks to you, O Lord my God, with all my heart and will glorify Your name forever.  For Your lovingkindness toward me is great, and You have delivered my soul from the depths of Sheol."  Psalm 86:12-13.

I love you all dearly.  Stayed tuned for details of my new beginning!  Who knows what's around the corner!  Lots of love!

Jen

Water Day

As I sit writing this blog tonight, I still feel like I am in the wave pool.  Who in the heck thought that would be a cool invention?  95,000 people floating uncontrollably in one pool.  I can't tell you how many people I got acquainted with real well just because we would bump into each other or touch each other in an inappropriate manner!  And to make things worse, we were in the wave pool about 78 times today.  Seriously! 

We spent the day at this water park called NRH2O.  It was really a great place.  We packed a cooler full of drinks and food and spent the entire day out there.  The kids had a great time too!  Going to places like that makes for good people watching.  It was very entertaining.  Of course the sun just drains you so we are exhausted tonight.  We are ready for another full day tomorrow.  I think we are going shopping most of the day and then mid-afternoon/early evening we are going to Six Flags.  Thinking about you all!  Lots of love!

 

Jen  

Dallas Day 1

We made it!  The more important thing is that we arrived with the same number of children that we left Lubbock with.  Every child survived the road trip!  That's a feat in itself.   Actually, the kiddos were very good.  Of course you had the expected "how much longer? and what town are we in?"  But we made it without any problems.  We checked into the hotel, got settled, and then off to the Rangers game.  The game was fairly uneventful.  The Rangers had their chance for a comeback, but pretty much blew it.  I did get a picture of Josh Hamilton hitting a double.  Every since the All Star game, he is definitely the hero on the Rangers team.  I've included some pictures of the game.  I have also included a picture from our hotel pool.  We are right across the street from Six Flags.  The girls love that you can watch the roller coasters while you swim in the pool. 

The most important thing I want to write about has nothing to do with our day's events.

I completely believe in predestination.  My God tells me in His word that He has a plan for me.  He knows the paths that I will take.  So I do not believe in coincidence or things happening by chance.  I look at the bigger picture and know that God ordained me to be a part of everything I encounter.  So, here is my story.  We took a trolley from our hotel to the game-saved us from parking at the ball park!  When the game was over, we walked to the trolley pick-up area.  There was this massive line waiting for the next trolley.  Belinda and I knew that it would be a while before we were picked up.  So we waited patiently.  We were the last people in line.  Around the corner came the next trolley.  It stopped in front of our line to pick everyone up.  However, there were a lot of people in line!  One by one they filed onto the trolley.  It was packed, so we decided to take another trolley.  The trolley driver tried to convince us to pack like sardines on his trolley, but we kindly declined.  He said it would be a while until we were picked up.  We were fine with this decision.  So off he drove.  No one was left to ride the trolley except for us.  Everyone else got on.  About 3 minutes later another trolley came.  It stopped in front of us and asked if we were going to the Fairfield Inn.  How she knew this-I don't know except that God told her.  We told her yes and she told us to get on this trolley.  Once again, we were the only ones in line.  So we got on her trolley.  My first observation was this:  nothing melts my heart more than seeing a guy be a gentleman.  Belinda was carrying Bryce and he was asleep.  There was this guy and he was sitting down, but gave up his seat so that Belinda could sit down.  That's a very big deal to me!  So I was very excited that God reminded me that there are still decent guys out there!  My next observation was what spawned this blog.  We were driving down the road, and there were probably 70 people on this trolley.  Out of nowhere this group begins to sing.  They are singing this song that I hadn't heard before.  The jist of the song was about how men can't destroy me because God is so just.  These young singers were belting out this song about my God being so powerful that I shouldn't fear what man can do to me.  I needed this reminder.  I feel like "man" has really tried to destroy me lately.  But God is so faithful to remind me just when I need reminded that He is all powerful and my strong tower.  He is my place of refuge in times of trouble.  Thank you God for loving me so much that you would place me on a trolley that I wasn't even supposed to be on just so you could talk to me through others.  It was such a blessing!  

Once again, nothing happens by chance.  I have met people that I know have been directed to me by God.  I have made connections with people that I know aren't coincidental.  So when I say I am excited to see what God's plan is for me, it's because I have faith that God is going to direct my path.  He promised me good things, so why not be excited?  Love you all very much and can't wait to see what God shows me tomorrow!  

Jen 

Fun Times

First, I have to forward to this blog a response that I got from my last post.  The person who commented will go unmentioned, but I have to say it brought a smile to my face this morning.  Cracked me up!!!  Loved it.  

"dont have a DVR, haven't had coke in probably 30 years, am coming around to dark chocolate although I don't keep it in the house, and only eat sugar free cupcakes.  It is a wonder we even speak to each other.  There's no need for a DVR because every show is re-run at least 10 times and the promos tell everything of importance.  Diet Coke can be slugged down with no real guilt attached.  Dark chocolate can be construed to be healthy, so when you eat it, you can always say it is in the vitamin family.  And sugar free cupcakes are usually on sale for half price at Market Street.  So now I have changed your life and made you see the errors of your ways.  There is a recipe for tofu in the paper today, so I expect you will now realize that you can come up with new addictions that will cause people to stop and stare."

Thanks for that response!!  It made my day!

Secondly, I need to address the fact that I am completely aware that the current time is 1:29 am.  Yes Kelly-I know you checked!

I had a great day today.  Tonight (or for Kelly's sake last night) our church group went to Joyland Amusement park.  We had such a great time.  I've got to tell you-I'm a pretty cool mom.  I didn't see many other parents ride the baby roller coaster and scream with their hands up in the air.  But I rode it over and over again with Abby at the end of the night.  Even the operator was laughing at me.  I was hooting and hollering.  Abby got a kick out of it!  Then I decided to be "cool" and ride the Dare Devil Drop.  This is similar to the Superman ride at Six Flags, but on the scale of Joyland.  I must tell you it was much higher than you think just looking up at it.  When we were going up, I questioned exactly what I was trying to prove.  And then I never thought we would stop dropping!  All the other adults who were too chicken to ride it were laughing as we got off.  Apparently our faces gave away the terror that we were trying to hide inside!!  I had a great time with my girls and all of our friends.  It was definitely a warm up to Six Flags, which we will be visiting in a few days!  We leave for Dallas tomorrow and I am very excited to get away.  Hopefully our hotel has WiFi so I can keep you posted on our days' events.  Lots of love to you all!

Jen

Random addictions

So for my first blog with this new address, I decided to be random.  I'm pretty good at that!

Why in the world would anyone not have a DVR??  Yes Kelly-I'm talking about you!  Most of you know it's one of my addictions.  I love the person who created this!  I can search for all of my fav. shows or movies and never have to miss an episode!  Brilliant.  I am no longer held captive by my TV.  I can live a normal life.  I can do normal things at 7:00 on Mondays when the Bachelor is on.  All with the peace of knowing "He" awaits me when I get home.  It's okay Kelly-I'll hold your hand while I order one for you!!

My other addiction--Those of you who know me well can guess it right off.  COKE.  Fully loaded, straight up, on the rocks, Coke.  Once again-I'm secretly in love with Mr. Coca-Cola.  It's an injustice for those of you who drink diet.  Not only will you get dementia when you get older (threw that one in for you Angie!!) but you are missing the whole point of drinking Coke!  It's really my vice.  I can't live without it.  Don't even desire to live without it.  I will give up eating all together before I give up Coke.  Good thing I'm not Catholic!  Couldn't give up Coke for Lent.

There are always cupcakes and chocolate.  Not dark chocolate.  Not even sure that should be considered real chocolate.  But pure milk chocolate.  I can eat it in my house, I can eat it with a mouse.  I can eat it when I'm sad and eat it when I'm glad!  Pretty much-like coke-it's my drug of choice.  There really isn't any situation that chocolate can't smooth over.  And cupcakes-doesn't even matter what kind.  I love them all.  The more icing-the better.  Love cupcakes!

So-now you know a little more about my random addictions.  It really is the little things in life that make a difference.  Lots of love to you all!

Jen