Photo A Day/Writing Assignment 1-27-13

01.27.13 SUN

Sun. Mister Sun. Sun. Mister Golden Sun. Please shine down on me. Where was the sun today? It was hiding most of the day, at least here in Okie land. I even went outside to look for him.

I know he was there, but he was hiding behind these grey skies. I don't think I have told you but I have a friend who guilted me in to signing up to run in the 5K Color Me Rad. Notice I said guilted me in to signing up to run...doesn't mean I will accomplish the real act of running.

I personally think running should have a purpose, like running to sales on Black Friday - or - running because there is a dog chasing you; but running for fun never crossed my mind. I love this picture because it pretty much sums up how I feel.

Today started week two of the 5K training program I am wondering what was I thinking? I am thinking I should have started at week zero. Then maybe repeat week one two times, before going in to week two. Here I am gasping for air and I am going to be running and people are going to be throwing colored corn starch at me? Plus I am old! Well, I paid so now I have to get ready so I am slowly trying to run. The app on my phone tells me when to run and when to walk. It's like I have my own personal Jillian, except my app is much nicer. It's a good thing, because if I had to try to remember how many times I have ran/walked, I would totally forget because it takes all my brain power just to keep me moving. The goal of the app is to be able to run 30 minutes straight. My goal is not to die doing it.

In case you want to join us, you can join up with us under the team name Isaiah 40:31 at http://www.colormerad.com/races/oklahomacity.html I'd love for you to come "suffer" with me because misery loves company.

I can do the elliptical fine, but running on a new knee is totally different, but I am determined. At the end of the run....Mister Sun still hiding, but I am grateful that when I can't see the sun, I know it is still there. This is my niece Katy. She did the Color Me Rad last year, isn't she colorfully beautiful?

After the run, I went home to get ready to go to church. Each Sunday evening I have the privilege of teaching young girls about purity using the book "And the Bride Wore White" by Dannah Gresh and of course, the Word of God. I am thankful for this time, for the girls who attend and encourage me by their eagerness to learn, their willingness to read, ask questions and participate. The Lord humbles me each time he allows me to speak on purity and on His behalf. Then on the way to church, guess who came out to shine? Mister Sun...peeking behind those clouds.

Sunshine...Shine Son Shine...in and through me.

May we be found faithful, giving glory to God in all that we do.

The sun will come up tomorrow...and one day.... "the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb." - Rev 21:23...One day!

January Photo A Day/Writing Assignment 1-26-13

01.26.13 TOGETHER

Together. So happy together.What an easy word for the day and a perfect day for togetherness. The first event was a visit for Senor Harjo from Malachi. To get the full effect of this heart warming new friendship you have to see the picture.

See, you can see the excitement Senor Harjo had a visitor, I am pretty sure Senor Harjo grew about 5 inches, I know you can't tell from this angle on the photo but I am pretty sure he was almost a foot tall!

The second event of togetherness was a bitter sweet saying of "so long, see ya soon, we're praying for you" to a neighborhood friend that we've grown to love over the past eight years. We were first introduced to Reginald "RJ" Orr when we first moved to this neighborhood and Darya came home  announced to us that she had made a new friend and his name was"Original". He is moving to Houston and stopped by to say good bye. What a great kid, his positive spirit and smile will be missed. We are praying for you RJ, find you a good youth group to get plugged in to and remember, "Houston...we have a problem."

The third and final event of togetherness of the day was the celebration of Jenn's 30th Birthday. This is Jenn. She is wearing glasses with a big 30 on them. I know you wouldn't have figured that out unless I told you. She is one of the sweetest people I know and would do anything for anyone. She is just that type of person and has a really BIG heart!

This is her hubby Servando.

He is....well let's say....this next picture describes him...

I know what you are thinking, "that's mean".... no it's not. I didn't mean "Oh No He Big" I meant "Oh No He Big to Jennifer" See, now don't you feel bad? This picture definitely speaks of "togetherness". When you can have Arkansas, Texas and OU fans at one table and can still smile...usually means it's time to eat!

Because Craig is always so thoughtful to let me get in a pic too, you get to see one more group photo. Basically the same one, except I am sitting by my hubby and Isabelle is sticking her tongue out at the photo. Lovely I know. You can tell she loves to take photos.

 

Then it was time to flame the candles and load up on sugar.

But not until Jenn opened her gifts. She got some jewelry, a cross, a cupcake candle, some smell good and a gift card to a tattoo parlor. Not really on that last one. I don't want to be responsible for spreading rumors, but it sounded fun.

Meet Nat. Nat thought it would be cool to shave at the table. Not really. Nat was playing "Game Time" announcer with this monster microphone...let's get ready to rumble!!

Up first on the Speed of Light is Yamarie and Amy, they were popping and locking - knocking down those lights as the lit up and at lightening speed!

It was anyone's game...but Yamarie pulled out to a big lead and even drew a crowd of fans! Amazing. They truly are!

The next game took a lot of effort, in that you had to push one button! I know it was a difficult task but Servando managed to win a lot of tickets off this one game. He is coo-coo like that.

Then it was time for a four-way game of air hockey. The Arkansas folk (Ivan and Ariel) beat the Texas folk and it was ultimately Ariel that was crowned Air Hockey Queen!

Go big or go home! Darryl and Servando played this ginormous Connect 4 game.

Thumbs up for an overall successful afternoon. We all gave Servando our tickets because he really wanted the big Chuck E Cheese stuffed animal, then we told him we weren't at Chuck E Cheese but at Dave & Busters, then he begin to weep. Well, not really, but he couldn't get over how small this Dave & Busters was compared to Texas.

Then reality hit....it was time to go home and be parents again.

It was our first time to Dave & Busters. We're done...we are officially corrupted. I really feel bad about it. I do. So we ended the night with the bond of friendship. Togetherness. Well, except I am not sure what happened to Ivan and Ariel, they like disappeared. Could it be that a day out in the arcade pushed them back to their college days when they first met? Thanks Jen for inviting us to your birthday party to celebrate THIRTY years of life, we love you!

January Photo A Day/Writing Assignment - 1/23-25/2013

01.23.13 ELECTRIC

 

 

 

Electric. Adjective - very tense, exciting, emotionally charged. I attended a presentation on Wednesday in Oklahoma City and discovered a very familiar face. It was Michelle! I met Michelle when I was working on my Masters degree in 1991! I went to work on the federal side and she works locally on the county side and twenty-one years later our paths crossed again! I was so excited to see her, I can't wait to meet up with her again to catch up on the past 21 years.

 

 

The presentation was webcasted around the state to about 38 sites. The large picture on the top left was at the Wes Watkins Vo-Tech Center and that is a co-worker standing in the red shirt. He asked what I thought was a very simple, clear question; but, it obviously stumped the doctor or she didn't want to answer it because she sure ignored and disregarded answering it. Quite interesting and comical in my opinion. Good job Scott!

 

01.24.13 STRIPES

 

 

Strips. Chevron strips on this girl's shirt who was auditioning for American Idol. I know I am pushing the envelope a bit, but hey it's stripes! She was the one that was in the room when the judges got in an argument and Nicki Minaji walked out. What an awkward moment for her I am sure. I am not really a fan of the new judges, but I love watching people who think they can sing and dance try!

 

01.25.13 LANDSCAPE

 

 

Landscape. a picture representing a view of natural inland scenery. I pretty much failed this day. I had dreams and hopes of going out at dusk and capturing a beautiful photograph of Oklahoma's great plains, then life happened. So instead Senor Harjo and I drove north to see a monument of him and some other famous people.

 

 

So I didn't totally fail, because I did snap this on the way home. I love my City. Big open skies. Tall skyscrapers. Bricktown. THUNDER. Theater. Olympic River Sports. Which reminds me did you see the video on YouTube of our Great City? If not, I have it here for you. Check it out! Sure, makes me proud to be an Okie!

 

 

January Photo A Day/Writing Assignment 1/20-22/2013

1.20.13 SOMETHING YOU SAW

Something you saw. Godly men humbling themselves before the Lord in prayer beginning our Sunday service off.

Something you saw. Brothers-in-Christ living life together and cooking us some MEAT!

Something you saw. An adult man (left of picture) playing a toddler iPhone game.

Something you saw. A teenage boy, possibly Nathanael, sitting under a fig tree. Well it probably isn't a fig tree, but I can dream.

Something you saw. My daughter looking like a fish.

Something you saw. Well I didn't see this, but I experienced it...fellowship with some young chicks!

Something you saw. Sisters-in-Christ and really good friends sharing a meal.

Something you saw. My life flash before my eyes!

Something you saw. Great friends and believers shining for Jesus.

Something you saw. My Senor Harjo betraying me for a younger chick!

Something you saw. That Taco Mayo loves my Jesus too! "My cup runneth over" Psalm 23:5 It's right there on the cup! January 20, 2013 was certainly a full day!

1.21.13 SOMETHING YOU DO

Something you do. Spending time in the Word and prayer with my husband. I love holidays, weekends, and days off because it means unhindered time together learning more about our Lord and Savior together.

1.22.13 CORNER

Corner. No, they aren't sitting in the corner because they are in trouble; but the opposite. They are sitting in the corner celebrating 11 years of marriage. They have persevered through the good, the bad and the ugly, as we have too, and tonight we celebrated this milestone and prayed for many more years together. Happy 11th Anniversary Servando and Jenn!

January Photo A Day/Writing Assignment 1/18-19/2013

01.18.13 SHADOW

Shadow. Senor casting the shadow of a Meerkat. I know we have a talented dog and we are really considering taking his show on the road. He told us, "When small dogs begin to cast big shadows, it means that the sun is about to set." Wise words right here on the blog.

01.19.13 DELICIOUS
 

Delicious. Gaye, Rebekah and I went out treasure hunting on Saturday. We didn't really find any great treasures; but we did visit the new Mexican Supermarket in Moore "Supermercado Morelos". We discoverd some fresh delicious sweet corn tamales placed strategically at the register and at an awesome price, add to that three hunger chicas and that equals SALE! Then we needed some sauce to go with it so we ordered some of this green tomatillo salsa that is to die for! Do you see that death look she is giving me? It was so good we bought some to go! The store has a bakery and a cafe in it too. I think we will be going back for lunch or dinner sometime!

January Photo A Day/Writing Assignment 1/13-17/2013

1.13.13 CIRCLE

Circle. Circle mug with fresh mint tea. Darryl and I had a rare Sunday afternoon without kids. When this happens we like to go eat so we can rub it in the kids face that we ate out and they didn't! Of course I am joking, well, half way. What we like to do is go to a new place. This Sunday we tried The Hummus Mediterranean Cafe in Moore. We had the Royal Platter, which is a combination of Kofta, Shish Tawook and Beef Kabab with rice, grilled onion and tomato and jalapeno hummus. We really liked the beef kabab. It was so flavorful. The chicken (shish tawook) was too dry for us and the kofta looked like it did not belong on a plate, but was good; our favorite by far was the beef kabob. They did have a hamburger on the menu if you don't like greek food.

1.14.13 SOMETHING YELLOW

Something yellow. A moderately painful yellow face. A visit to Tinker Pediatrics really kind of put me in the severely orange range simply because we had to wait an hour, saw the doctor for about 3 minutes to get a script for Jayden's eczema. Even more painful was the pharmacy no longer carried the medicine that works best on his eczema, which led us to an off-base pharmacy where we discovered that our co-pay had gone up 100%! Yes, that is correct 100% increase. Okay, now I am at the red face!

1.15.13 AN ORDINARY MOMENT

An ordinary moment. Ordinary meeting with ordinary folk planning to collaborate in meaningful ways to bring some extraordinary training to some ordinary people who provide exceptional service to ordinary people in our communities. Top left - Oklahoma Area Association of CHRs President Cyndi Gilks, top right Oklahoma State Department of Health Dr. David Lee, bottom left Kickapoo of Oklahoma Andi Ponce, LPN/CHR Supervisor and me! Training: Stanford University's Chronic Disease Self Management Education.

1.16.13 TWO THINGS

Two things. Two piles of clothes ready to go to Goodwill or a Clothes Closet. I was inspired to weed through my closet by a friend on Facebook. She actually is doing a Project 333 Experiments in Living with Less where every 3 months you select 33 items including clothing, accessories, jewelry, outerwear and shoes. What a woman! She posted a picture of her closet and what was remaining in there, trust me there was lots of empty hangers crying and empty space screaming, fill me up! Then she posted and said by the end of the week there would even be less! It was quite traumatizing. I was shamed out when I went in my closet, especially since I wear a uniform five out of seven days of the week. One would think it would be a relatively simple process, but I think I suffer from great depression mindset. While I didn't get anywhere down to 33 items, I did manage to get rid of two piles! It's a start.Why do I have to be competitive?

1.17.13 READY

Ready. Ready, set, go...what is this employee doing? Did she fall on the treadmill? Perhaps she was taking a nap on the treadmill? Possibly she has reverted back to toddlerhood and thinks she is hiding and nobody can see her? Actually, we had a fitness room meeting this week and were asked to begin cleaning the entire equipment and not just where we put our hands, so here is proof, look Admiral Meeks, Lindsey is cleaning the entire equipment. So this employee is actually cleaning!

January Photo A Day/Writing Assignment 1/11-12/2013

01.11.13 WATER

Water. Refreshing, cold water to splash on your face, to brush your teeth with or drink. I drink tap water, doesn't bother me a bit. In fact, as a child, I drank out of the water hose outside. Too bad the water picture didn't fall on Sunday, when we had a water baptism - perfect in my opinion - but instead you get a picture of my bathroom faucet pouring out water - quite practical.



01.12.13 SURPRISE

Surprise. Grandbaby visit on Friday. Which means pictures! Surprise, I know! Maddex loves to sit at the window and gaze outside, especially on windy days when he can watch the limbs and leaves blow on the tree and bushes. It is mesmerizing and perfect for a lazy morning in the neighborhood. The real surprise is that Maddex will finish the rest of today's post.

Life at NaNa's and PaPa's

As you can tell I am minding my own affairs, just gazing out the window intently thinking of apple juice, milk and bananas. Hey! No jokes about my ears and bananas! I know they are big and stick out, but that is how I was created and my family loves me just the way I was created.



Like I said I was taking in the scenery and having some infantile day dreams when someone else with bigger ears than mine showed up and joined me! It was my Fur Uncle Senor Harjo! He asked if I wanted to join him in a special duty. I said my mom says I do special doo-dee all the time! Count me in! He said, I had the ears and that was a very important physical feature to the job and not everyone has the right sized ears and they can't even acquire them if they wanted to, so I have been blessed!

Next he told me I had to have guts! I got those too! Then he said I had to have special abilities like being flexible with the ability to make moves like his very quickly and on command. He called this move "the duck". I am going to have to practice this one! 

The next skill he taught me was to cover the territory by watching in two directions. He looked one way and I looked the other. I think we covered this one pretty well.

There's a good reason why they've called spying "intelligence". You need to learn many skills and abilities, and fast! Each new operation calls for different skills, cover and legend, and you must be able to learn and internalize them in days. Na Na and Pa Pa say I have the best teacher in my Fur Uncle Senor Harjo because he is the President of the neighborhood watch program.



I can't tell you any more of our secrets because it would compromise the integrity of the neighborhood watch program. I hope I haven't told you too much already. I leave you with a good Word that "whatever I do, whether I eat bananas, drink apple juice, or serve in the special doo-dee forces, whatever I do, I need to do everything for the glory of God." Look it up yourselves, 1 Corinthians 10:31- well, it might not say bananas, apple juice and special doo-dee forces, but it does say whatever you do - do it for the glory of God!

Quiet time with Nana and Papa, I have my own Bible!