Change of plans

"And we know that for those who love God ALL things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose."

~Romans 8:28~

I can vividly remember this night 10 years ago. I was 17, a high school senior, and a band nerd who was super excited that I would get to miss early morning band practice to go to See You at the Pole at my school. My friends and I were pretty involved at my church and we were already looking forward to the following night's See You at the Pole Rally where we were gathering to celebrate and report on the day. I had plans to go with some friends and meet several others there. I was probably responsible for making sure my sister got there too. She was a freshman at the time and I'm guessing that I probably thought it was totally un-cool to have to take her with me. 

The morning came and went and after school I was helping my Dad set up our new computer (I've been a fan of technology for a while now). When my friend who was supposed to ride with me called to say that she had changed her mind about going to the rally I decided that I could take it or leave it and convinced my sister that we should just stay home. Less than an hour later we were standing in our living room listening to Channel 8 interrupt Wheel of Fortune to bring the breaking news that there had been a shooting at Wedgwood Baptist Church. Shock...confusion...disbelief...fear...you name it, we were experiencing it. Not really knowing what to do, we got in the car and drove up to the church. I remember seeing helicopters flying overhead and thinking that the glow of emergency lights could probably be seen for miles.

The rest of the night is a bit of a blur, but I do clearly remember my sister being certain that her good friend, Cassie, was one of the ones shot. She hadn't been told that by anyone, she just knew it somehow. We were first told that she had indeed been shot but she was one of the ones who was taken to the hospital. By the next morning we learned that was a mistake and she was one of the seven killed that night.

It was a very rough few days that followed. It was an out-of-body experience for sure. I struggled with the fact that I wasn't there that night for a really long time afterwards (backwards thinking I know), but God has used that experience to show me how deeply He knows me and how involved He is in my life, even down to the very tiniest of details. Once all the police investigations had concluded there were hundreds of examples of God's sovereignty.

I was able to go to Wedgwood last night for a special service to remember what happened 10 years ago. It was a neat experience to see so many people that I haven't seen in 10 years, to worship at the church I grew up at, to remember to take every day and make the most of it. Even when life is flat-out unexplainable, God is still God and He's got it all figured out.

Somewhere along the way my plans for that night changed, but I'm more confident than ever that God's didn't.

I still love RG3!

The day I have been looking forward to since last November has finally arrived! The college football season has officially begun and this afternoon my Baylor Bears did something no Baylor team has done in 2 years...they won on the road! A sad statistic for sure, but what a game.

I have been pumped for weeks because this game was being televised nationally on ABC. Imagine my disappointment to find out (last night) that the game was being trumped by the Oklahoma State game in our area. Fortunately, I did a little research and thanks to the "digital switch" I was still able to watch the game from the comfort of my couch! I find it kind of ironic that my fancy new U-Verse channels could not get me the game, but my trusty HD antenna did the trick.

Baylor led the entire game and was comfortably in the lead until the last 8 or 9 minutes when Wake Forest trailed by only 3 points. The defense stepped up big time and held on for the win. While it wasn't exactly his flashiest game, Robert Griffin III was still impressive and definitely gives us the confidence we need to win games.


I'm also going to officially predict that Baylor will win at least 7 games this year and make it to a bowl game for the first time since 1994!

Sic 'em Bears!!

How 'bout I just be a Bear??

Sometime last year the school district where I teach started encouraging this little saying...

Someone says, "Who are you?"

Everyone yells, "I'm a Brewer Bear!"

While I LOVE the attempt at building spirit amongst students, teachers, and the community I was having a hard time buying into the whole I'm a Brewer Bear thing. Reason #1, I am indeed not a Brewer Bear. I am proud to be a graduate of North Crowley High School which made me a Panther, not a Brewer Bear. Reason #2, I was having a hard time reconciling being any kind of bear other than a Baylor Bear! Silly reasons of course, but I'm kind of known for holding onto things even if it doesn't make sense.

All of that has started to change this school year. I've caught the bug and I'm buying in. It helps that my former students are now of the age where they are participating in Brewer athletics. However, the thing that really sealed the deal for me was getting to enjoy last night's first football game of the season in the VIP room at the new stadium. It was pretty cool. I totally stole these pictures from Kristy and Deneise:




I'm not quite ready for a sign in my yard or anything, but I am proud to be a part of a school district that is working hard to instill a sense of pride in our kids and community! Sic 'em Bears!! Ooops, wrong bears. Oh well, it works! :)

Technology...new and old!

Well, tomorrow is the big First Day of School 2009! I must say that I'm kind of in a weird state. I'm not really nervous which is kind of making me nervous! :) I'm sure it's going to be a great day though, it always goes by really fast.

Anyway, I've learned some new things about technology this week that have opened up my world to a ton of new possibilities. My good friend, Deneise, was showing me her parent letter and I was absolutely amazed at the finished product. It seriously looked like something that was professionally published. Imagine my surprise when I found out that she did using a clip art BOOK! I didn't even know such a thing existed! I'm guessing you make a copy of what you want to add to your document and then tape it on there or something?? This piece of "old" technology is definitely something I want to know more about!

I was also introduced to another amazing Apple product this week! iChat is a program that runs on Mac computers that allows you to instant message or video conference with other people. It's basically the same as using a webcam but it's so cool the way iChat works! I was talking to my friend Meagan the other night and it was so cool because even though she's a thousand miles away it seemed like she was sitting in my living room! I see many more iChats in my future.

Here are a couple screen shots from the other night...



Happy First Day of School everyone!! :)

Numbers

If you didn't already know, I'm a bit of a numbers geek! Here are some significant numbers from my week:

24.8 - The number of pounds my sweet little puppy weighs! She's not going to be little much longer. She has gained 8 pounds in three weeks!

16 - The number of days until Baylor Football begins! Enough said!

4 - The number of days until the 2009-2010 school year begins! Yikes!

212 - The number of degrees (Fahrenheit) needed to boil water. As part of our staff development this year our principal showed us this video. It has really stuck with me and challenged me to do everything with that extra degree of effort! That extra effort has the potential to do incredible things and make an incredible difference.

20 - The number of kids that are counting on me to give that extra degree.

Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men. 

~Colossians 3:23~

It was fun while it lasted...

Tomorrow is my last day of summer...bummer! It has been a wonderful summer and I can't quite admit to being ready to head back to school. Usually by this time I'm a little bit excited about it, but this year, not so much. Oh well, it's coming whether I like it or not.

Adding a puppy to my life definitely made the last few weeks very interesting. It's amazing what you learn about yourself when someone, or in my case, something, is dependent on you. For example, who knew you could survive on so little sleep? Baylor's definitely had some great nights but just to be safe I'm still getting up every 4 hours to let her outside. She's also kept me a little closer to home the last couple weeks and somehow that has led to more laundry and more dirty dishes. I haven't figured this out though because she doesn't wear clothes or use my dishes! She's learning to appreciate her "free" time inside the house and can usually be found at my feet. She's mastered "sit" and amazed our puppy class teacher tonight because she already knew the command. I'm also pretty sure she gained about 4 pounds last week! I think she's going to be a big dog!

I spent Monday night away from home which added up to about 24 hours away from Baylor. I was really surprised at how excited I was to see her when I got home. She seemed pretty happy too! :) I think I'm quite attached to the little fur ball, who just so happens to be sporting a green and gold collar for the first time tonight!

It's been one week since you looked at me...

I can't believe it's already been a week since I got Baylor! Wow, time is flying!

I promise I won't only blog about life with a puppy but that's pretty much all I've been doing this week. I must say, while it's been exhausting, it's been a great week. Baylor's still doing great and seems to have fallen into a bit of a routine. She's even sleeping all the way through the night!! Yay!

Baylor's also doing a great job learning some new words. Here are some of her favorites:

* No
* Sit
* Tile
* Outside
* Inside
* Eat
* Water

She's also been working on a couple tricks:

* Raising her paw when you say Sic 'em
* Growling when you say Aggie :)

We've got a big visit to the vet tomorrow morning which will include scheduling "the surgery" for Baylor. Hope everything checks out ok!