good points in today's message-parenting done right

this morning i decided that i should probably check out watermark. as much as i don't enjoy going to church alone, i really felt the need to go. it's easy to get lost in the crowd. so i found a spot and shortly after sitting down, the music began and the worship team was singing a song by need to breathe (which is one of my more recent obsessive listens). 

the message was on the 16 things your 25 year-old wishes that you would have taught them before they were 16. now. i don't have kids, but it was still a really good message. there were several things that spoke to me-mostly because it's good to constantly reinforce what you know to be Truth! and i am so thankful that my parents were able to instill so many of these in my life! here are some of the things that really stuck out to me:

1. God's word is life-giving & worth giving your life to. get wisdom and give your kids a hunger for his word.

2. Life is not about you. pride is the center of every vice...if you've been given any gift, the purpose is to use it to serve others and be useful to them (image of God-love people who do nothing for you)

3. next to who you follow, who you follow with is going to shape who you are. who are your heroes? be slow at choosing friends and quick to resolve conflict.

4. life is hard.

5. money is not a ticket to freedom and happiness. it's a tool, a test and a testimony. basically this boiled down to where are your passions? as a parent, if you you ask your child what you are passionate about, and you are most passionate about your lake house...your sports car...your exercise plan....your job...your football team...your whatever...if what you're most passionate about is anything other than serving God, you're teaching them that there is another god that is better to serve. (something to chew on-upon reflection, i am so thankful that the first thing that comes to mind when i ask that question about my parents is that they are definitely most passionate about God and serving him by serving others #grateful)

5. you can't be whatever you want to be when you grow up, but you CAN be who you were created to be. find out what you were designed to be to bring glory to God.

6. failure is not fatal, but failing to try can be.

7. convince them that you love them; parent, not a pal

and most importantly,

8. convince them that God is love. full of grace, love and goodness.

i went to the early service, so unfortunately i missed the opportunity to see nika (who i probably would've missed anyway-refer back to paragraph 1, sentence 3: text evidence). 

and then this afternoon, i got out for a little bit at vitruvian park to just practice throwing the frisbee golf discs...i found that this will require a bit of practice, because today they seemed to be veering to the left. surely a little time and practice will make it all come together! when i was going to get my gloves yesterday, i drove by one of the parks on josey, with a frisbee golf course, and there were several people out playing! with their little tripod camp chairs and professional carrying cases...it must have been a serious event! #hardcorefolk

anyhoo. here we go, time to get mentally prepared for another week! hope it's a good one!
julie

it's february! love is a battlefield...so is my mouth

today was a high anxiety day. i wasn't expecting it to be, and truly there is no reason it should have been. i need to just sit and make a priority list, because i am beginning to worry about the things i'm forgetting. this is a bad cycle to start! much of the day was spent trying to get materials together for tutoring-but it's ready, and now we move on to the next check on the list!

oh, and remember that one time when i was eating some peanuts from a most delicious trail mix, and i almost immediately knew that something was wrong when something clanked against me teeth...peanuts are not supposed to 'clank.' so as i walked into my office i spit the peanuts into my hand and began to sift through and found that half my tooth had cracked and lo and behold, there it was. nice. it took a minute to register, i was somewhat surprised, and to be clear, it was almost humorous if it wasn't going to cost so much. ouch. it doesn't hurt because of the way it broke, but it is annoying, and there is a hole that my tongue keeps being drawn to. ack. what hurts is the idea of any sort of tax refund going into that hole. mother of a biscuit.

pretty sure there is no biblical truth to be found in that, and it put me in a bad mood-hard to shake it off, so i set my appointment, and will have to go in tomorrow afternoon-after my off-site observation. 

and since we're speaking of the mouth being a battlefield, sometimes the things that come out of my mouth can be unintentionally hurtful. i try so hard to be aware of that and to control my words. i want my words to be seasoned with grace. i need to draw closer to God for this to happen, because let's face it, i am weak. but this i have decided,  i don't ever want to walk away from someone without leaving good last words. you know the ones i'm talking about. the ones that linger and make people feel special. the ones that actually let people know that you truly care, and don't leave them guessing. the ones that say, "you are so very special to me and i hope you never forget it!" you never know when your last words to someone might be, so i really want to leave positive last words. i need to remind myself of that. i want that to become a habit....that it would be strange if i didn't. 

i really should have planned better on the way home from work tonight. i had some errands to run and i really should have used the restroom before i left school, but i figured it'd be okay-bladder don't fail me now...well, had i been interviewed by a bladder analysis interviewer (no such thing, made it up, don't bother googling it), it would've sounded something like this:

BAI: so, on a scale of 1 to 10, how badly did you have to go to the bathroom by the time you got to your door on the third floor? 

me: umm..eighteen hundred thousand and ten!

BAI: well, then why didn't you go sooner? 

me: places to go, things to do-errands to run...derby hats to make........

BAI: well, in my opinion, you should make wiser choices, perhaps a 16 oz water instead of a 2 L bottle of water might be a good start.

point taken.

it was a long day and a rough conversation this evening...i don't like those, so...i just went to my gratitude jar a few minutes ago (which has been filling up steadily) and i poured them all out to read them. i need to be reminded of these things, these are the things that get us through. 

gratitude for the big things and the little things and the sometimes overlooked and under appreciated things

on the bright side, i did get these in the mail and hope to get some use out of them soon...hopefully i can twist my friend's arm to teach me how to play a show me some pointers-

seems like a good hobby to pick up-outdoors, exercise, relaxing

oh! so i would be remiss if i failed to mention that the best thing that happened today was early-when i got there in the morning and was working only to look up and see nicolette, who'd come to retrieve her keys! i didn't realize she'd be back, so it was genuinely a surprise...she was missed in the fifth grade arena, but on the other hand, for her own sake, it was probably better that she was not there! welcome back!

p.s. shea, do the have frisbee golf near you? if so, i will bring the discs!

may your gratitude jar be full,  

good night!

julie

once you're out...might as well get the most out of your day!

i finished my marathon with return of the king-always a great ending! and i got a text from nicolette, one of my dear friends here in dallas, simply asking if i wanted to go to half price books later. and then another text suggesting a time close to lunch, so that we could grab lunch. then it was pushed back a bit, and yet another suggestion to drop donations off at goodwill. so, knowing i had plenty of items i wanted to get out of my place, i was scurrying around, trying to get a bunch of it boxed up!

before i knew it, noon had arrived, so i drove over, and transferred my boxes to her car. then we took off for goodwill to drop it all off. after that, we made our way up belt line toward lunch. i am terrible at making the choices for dining...but i hadn't had fajitas in awhile, and it had also been a bit since i'd had steak, thus it was that as we got closer, we ended up at chuy's. because everyone loves chuy's, and she'd never tried it.

after eating the chips, salsa and guacamole, the fajitas were brought out, and i ate half of mine-i always go straight for the hot plate, meat and veggies. nicolette went for the beans and rice first, which was to my benefit, because by the time we were finished, she hadn't eaten much of the fajita portion, and she really doesn't do left-overs, so i pretty much brought home a full plate of fajitas. thanks nicolette! and then we were off to 1/2 price books-no particular plan in mind, except to get over to the children's books and find some books for her students. when i was in the classroom, i spent so much money at half-price books!! most of my mentor books for writing came from this one! unfortunately they did not have the hobbit movies, which upon second thought, i figured it would be better to purchase them new (no sense spending money on something that might skip, or be defective, right? especially if you are ready to watch them in the moment) i also had a couple of food items that i needed to purchase, so we stopped at sprouts, and purchased produce-then took the party to walmart, because there were a couple of items that made more sense to purchase there (including floss for me!)

we took our food-stuffs back to put it away, and then maybe chocolate shakes were calling, and one of the best places to get a good chocolate shake just happens to be twisted root. every time i go over there now, i look at the silos and think about climbing. i haven't yet, because this facility requires at least two, no auto/ self-belays. i'd txtd emmy earlier that morning about setting up some times to go climbing, because i know that's her thing! so once her husband is back from his trip, we may be able to get in a climbing date-perhaps a routine. so when we passed by, i mentioned it again to nicolette, because i love to share the things i love! hopefully the heights thing will be less daunting than imagined. one of the things they do at this wall is train for serious outdoor climbing, and they set up trips-so i have that in the back of my head brewing. but back to twisted root-the shakes-filling and always delicious!

climbing orientation inside 

on the way there, nicolette had mentioned that twisted root had a record shop connected to it, or right next door. i'd never noticed. so we walked around the corner to check it out...only there was NOTHING. not.a.thing. she swore up and down and was completely dumbfounded and mystified, because it was there earlier this summer...at that point, there was a need to look them up and find out if she was indeed crazy, or something had happened to the joint. well, i am happy to announce that we will not be having to commit her to a psych ward, dead wax records was indeed a record shop housed next to twisted root since 2014, and they have opted to not renew their lease, and are currently looking for a new spot to set up shop. you can find their page on facebook here.

upon finding that she was not crazy, we were able to move forward. next stop: the mall- time to look for hats for the tea party, unfortunately this is not the time of year for tea party hats. on the way there, i'd brought up the possibility that i could just get a full rabbit outfit and show up as the rabbit, with the clock...and that idea was pretty much shot down with a, "if you did that, no joke, i would pretend i didn't know you-for real." i take the threat seriously, because i will need to have someone there who will talk to me, sooo.... we stopped into a couple of different stores, where it made sense to look, and didn't find what we were looking for...keep looking. i may  have to look to amazon for some help...we stopped at trader joe's-the new one in addison, and it's a tiny box. the only thing i was really interested in finding was the beet hummus-found it, thanks to mel for sharing that it could be found there! as wonderful as it is, some people just can't get past the color-which to me is part of the intrigue!

 if i'd thought it out better, i would have worn appropriate attire-but dressed as i was, we ended up deciding to go check out some places around the area that she'd not seen yet-possible places to run/walk/play. i knew of one up on josey that i see every time i head up to the home depot, and if you remember the gentleman from lowe's who helped me with my plywood, had mentioned a trail nearby. the best part was when i mentioned the park i was familiar with, i asked if she'd played frisbee golf, and her response was unexpected, but a tad bit exciting: she laughed and said that frisbee golf was something that her family does, and she reached around into the back seat and retrieved three discs-LOVE IT!! i'd seen some people playing when i was in mo, but i haven't played since i worked at kanakuk, and we had a frisbee golf day with our volleyball group...only we didn't really play, it was more of a race and a lot of cheating, so i don't even know the rules or exactly what is involved. when it warms up a little, this could be a fun pass-time to partake in every once in awhile; a great boredom buster!

we continued on up and around carrolton where we found the aforementioned trail, and it really was a beautiful area-with a small lake/large pond...i don't know, what really is the difference? how big can a pond be/how small can a lake be before you call it something else?! anyhoo, as we went a bit further north, we passed by my 2nd family's neighborhood and a pang in my heart-i really need to get over to visit with the harmon's more often, because i absolutely adore them, and i have missed them. note: emmy, the gal i mentioned earlier in regards to climbing, is their daughter. funny how i still think of her back as a kamper and counselor...she has grown into an adult-mother and wife, and i am SO PROUD of her! wow, did we ever go through some interesting/fun/hard/entertaining times together!! #thekamplife. we passed by the nature preserve up that way, and about that point, nicolette said, "i want to see the stadium." i looked over at her and said, "the dallas cowboys stadium?" "yep" and so, off we went; as we were making our way south, there was a popeye's off to the left, and nicolette got a little excited and said to keep my eyes open, because if we saw another one, we would stop for biscuits! (good call), so from that moment on, i was pretty much distracted in my search for a popeye's! at this point, i should mention that i am not the best co-pilot...i feel that i have been better in the past, i need to continue to work on this...which means more drives, please...perhaps a road trip here or there-this would help me to hone my skills...just sayin'.

so we got there without much ado- passed the rangers stadium-which is beautiful; baseball season is coming! i think of tim every time i think of baseball, as he is one of the biggest baseball fans i know...um, right up there with heather, my softball-coaching-former roommate who was one of my kamp staples for the longest time! then we got around the building to the att stadium, and it is certainly huge! so check that off the list-now that i think about it, i don't think i'd been out here either since it's been in use. so as we left, i think we came to a highway we hadn't previously been on, and my phone was dying, so i got us back on the interstate, and when we got closer and were going past downtown, none of the buildings looked familiar. hmm..were we going around some back way that i was unfamiliar with? seriously, NONE of it looked familiar. and nicolette was saying, "yeah, none of this looks familiar, you sure?" nope. i didn't see any of the familiar landmarks, and then we saw the tcu and ft worth zoo signs...yep. i need to get to know my stars, and bring the astrolabe next time...had it been daytime, i would've been great because i would've been able to see the sun, and i would have know what direction we were going. night time is like being thrown into a swirling pool of water and not knowing which way is up! no worries, something new to see! we now know where the ft worth zoo is, and saw the tcu campus-in part..and the cutest little pancake house, which must be visited!

so, i was trying to use yelp on my phone to find popeye's, and it gave me an address-which was down the road that nicolette had already chosen, as most popeye's are located in "sketchy parts of town," so i hear. again, phone nearing end of battery life, i retried, and it gave me yet another address...we found the interstate again, and i had seconds to decide which way to go (again, enter astrolabe, star knowledge, or a phone that actually works) "julie, seriously, you have half a second, make a call!" "take this exit!" (which she'd pointed out earlier, i'm pretty sure i say it wrong. i should say take this on-ramp, or get on the interstate here) so we did, and i was hoping beyond hope that i'd made the right decision-nicolette had been so patient up to this point-and fortunately, yes, we were indeed headed in the right direction, AAAANNNND, there was a popeye's sign that caught nicolette's eye, which surprised me that she saw the sign before i did, as she was driving and all-so we exited and when we actually ordered it took forever long! and by forever long, i had time to get out of the car, go in and use the restroom, and get back into the car before we even pulled up to the window! typical. but totally worth it-got our fix-that should last for awhile. and then, of course, we ran into traffic coming back up i35...figures.

so why the play-by-play? because as you know, that's what i do-i love fun days. so..while running errands and driving around may not sound monumental, for me, it was a perfect day! when i have the opportunity to spend time with friends, i will take it every single time, because hanging out normally leads to conversation. conversation almost always leads to interesting stories and better understanding, and this was no exception. nicolette challenges me, and often makes me think about things through a different lens-and she probably doesn't even realize that she does. it's usually nothing major, but it's good for me.  i appreciate the friends i have chosen to surround myself with and those who have chosen to remain in contact, because as i think about each of those in my inner circle, and even my secondary circle, i believe they each play a role in helping develop who i am. relationships help shape us...that's why they are so important. that's why i will drop everything to invest in them when the opportunity arises.

no pics-sorry...i should've gotten some-at the stadium...at popeye's...at tcu...need to work on my pic-game.

hope your long weekend was fabulous-and relaxing!
julie