Here I am

Yes.
I know.
But in real life I am known for my season's of reclusiveness and lapses into introvercy. It's something I would change about myself, for sure....... And I'm gettin better at it as my youth stretches thin. By the time I'm a grandma, I'll be as consistent as Texas humidity, perhaps....

So, here's a little "Lately" over in the new house. It's been some good "lately", that's for sure :)

 Strong families are built on tickle torture. It just makes good glue.

 We're neighborhood people now and just love havin our own space. 

 My kids often have pants on their head and it's somethin I should be embarrassed about. But I'm not. And they're the only littles on the block so they're very much loved and appreciated :)

 Got to spend a lil time at Sarah's school.

 Couldn't help but notice that my baby's desk is far removed from the rest of the class. It was really disheartening and daddy did talk to teacher to see what's up. Seems Sarah's much like her momma in more than just looks..... I love that little girl and fiercely I will commit to instilling every good thing I can in her. With her daddy and I's love for her, the odds are in her favor. <3

 Of course, Delena's been a constant fixture. We need someone to teach these girl's eyebrow groomin, Lord knows I am found inadequate in that area. Especially after my long social sabbatical! I could do a whole post on these caterpillars.....

 Reverted back to a King size bed. That Queen wasn't pullin it's weight with all the traffic we have in our bed. When you come to Jerome and Laura's, everybody's welcome to hop in and have a slice of pizza with our movie :)

 It's becoming obvious that Sarah's a future cosplay friend.....

Feels right bein back :) 

Lator Gator...........

The world's greatest find

It's been a good bit since I contributed anything to the blogosphere, yeah I know. Life's just been swirlin around doin it's own thing with quite a bit of flair, lately. It's like my life woke up one day in mid January and said "How bout we wear those red, sequined thigh high boots down to the grocery store and stir up a fuss, let's break up this monotony"...... 

Within the month of February and year 2013 I experienced two of  the greatest most fulfilling weekends of my life to date. I'll just tell ya about last weekend for now......

 In January I was asked to lead a youth retreat for Save Our Streets Ministries. I was born again and sheltered in the women's home of this ministry so forever my heart cries "YES!" when ANY way to serve them arises. I would clean toilets for this ministry if I lived there still. I would work in the nursery for life for this ministry (and all the Christians said "WHAAA??") 

So to be given the honor and privilege of teaching for these young ladies was greater to me than winning a multi-million dollar jackpot.

 Yep, we slept all in one big room. Turns out 27 young girls=475 adult women.

And 30 year old back on crappy air mattress=78 year old body pains

Add those two sums together to = No sleep

But look.... Here I am sleepin next to the woman who poured into my life when I was just a new baby Christian. The woman who gave me a room in her home without knowin much about me. The woman who believed in me and spoke life and dreams into a heart that quit dreamin around the age of 8.  It was an honor to sleep on the floor with this woman who admitted that she had never slept on an air mattress before on the retreats (about 15 years of em). Never considered bringin one, just slept on the floor with the girls....I need to toughen up, ya'll! It took two girls to pin Carmen in a wrestlin match.....

The first night I shared my testimony, the story of my heart's journey from a new lil baby with a clean slate to the hardening of it through rejection and abandonment from my dad, a scattering of sexual abuse, the subsequent promiscuity and heavily numbing drug use. Basically just the death of many parts of my heart when a pain was too much. And lettin my heart die to the possibility of love made it an open house for anger, bitterness and unforgiveness to squat in. I shook my fist at a God who I perceived as cruel and indifferent to the many tough breaks I had received as a kid. And I set my heart as stone against the one who was called "loving".....well, basically I told my story of redemption and of being "washed clean". 

There wasn't a dry eye in that room. And not because of any flowing speech I was givin. Those little girls have been through a personal hell that a lot of us can't even begin to relate to.  There was a lot of justifiable anger and bitterness there. I wouldn't fault one of them for bein angry or closed off. 

But God came to restore. He came to make all things new. 

And the tears that began as raw, awakened pain ended as tears of release and surrender for many.

The next day I taught about forgiveness. I shared with them how my bitterness towards my transgressors locked them away in my own personal prison. My hatred was their due punishment, I believed.
Truth is, you can't just hate someone and move on. As long as you bear unforgiveness, that prison you put them in just holds you, too. Stuck right there in the cell with em.

We talked about Love and Lust. How love's aim is to give you something to better you, even at it's own expense. And how lust seeks to take something from you, at your own expense. You'd think these were common sense notions but I know from experience, as a kid if no one tells you these things you really won't know when you're being exploited or used.
So here's this weekends treasure finds...

Many girls shared stories of rape and sexual abuse with me in the beginning stages of our weekend. And the very girls who said "I can't never forgive, Miss Laura"  tearfully released their aggressors by Saturday night. And opened the door of their own prisons....those little girls can fly now.

Being a part of such healing is so beyond anything that could be bought or earned. You could search the world out, experience the most exotic or finest it has to offer and never taste it's satisfaction.
I can not say it enough. People are treasure.

Since beginning this post has taken me 2 weeks to write. I have not given His redemptive love justice in what I have managed to say. And these girl's stories have not been fully told in respect for their privacy but I guarantee you, the details of their lives would leave you wondering what more you could do for girls like them. And a solid empty pit would sit in your heart until you just did anything.
I hope to have a life full of "anythings" for His cause.

My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. 
~Jesus

Wanna catch up?

Soooo much awesomeness has transpired in my life since I last hit up these keys. I missed some blogular moments, I sure did. But I got no qualms with a little rewind action. You guys up for some old news?

 My bestest buddy had a birthday and I got her everything she "needed".

 My granny came to spend a week with me!!! She doesn't drive much anymore and lives far away so this was HUGE. I was in hog heaven....

 Her and my mom had been stoppin at estate sales on the trip here from San Antonio. They made quite the haul.....

 Ironically I had been cruisin around on ebay and etsy lookin for vintage Sesame Street sheets that very afternoon! I saw this exact sheet for $16 for just the flat sheet. My granny picked my son up the whole set for a buck fifty. I tell you, I get that second hand annointing from my granny.....By the way, doesn't my mom look like somethin out of a creepy movie?

 This boy LOVES his granny Sally.

A girl after my own heart

My little chickies are ill and we are stayin in for Texas Christmas (Superbowl). Not that I give a hoot about the game, it's really all about the food table for me ;)

Well, I was just sittin around doin a whole bunch of nothin when Sarah pops up in an interesting look. She' a self dresser, much like I was, and I didn't think much about it. But when she said "Look, mom. I'm the Goblin King" I took a closer look......

 The mega fan in me had to do a quick scan of her outfit's "accuracy". And for a little girl with limited medieval fantasy land inspired garb in her dress up collection, I'd say she did an ace job. 

Boy, did my heart swell with sheer pride!

 She even ran off to get somethin and came back with a clear ball with bracelets in it. Then she began to say "I have a gift for you Sarah." HA HA! She totally was reenacting a scene from the movie! 

 (Who noticed the superfluous shoulder pads layin around? Ha ha!)

 I love this girl. I don't know what device you read my blog on and if you can see the background for it. If you can then you know that I have a definite affinity for this movie. And it may or may not be a coincidence that I named my daughter, Sarah.

 And of course, she had to steal a baby just like Jareth. Sorry Gabe. You'll have to do....

It's not a problem if they're consenting

Today started off kinda forlorn for me. It's been seepin to the surface lately, how isolated I spend most of my life. I got the kids, and a great husband and of course my bestest buddy, Delena but outside of Sunday mornin church I rarely associate with people who know me personally. I wouldn't call it lonely, it's more like daydreamin about havin fun with friends (I'm ridiculous). I was watchin a movie last night (Your Sister's Sister) and at the opening scene there's a group of older folks hangin out and havin a nice time (even though it turns out to be a "hipster" memorial service for their friend) Well, anyway I looked at Jerome and said "How come we don't have any friends we can just hang out with like that? No one wants to just hang out and have some laughs for Pete's sake. I bet if we were like,"hey guys wanna come over and get all drunk at our house" we'd have a huge crowd! ...People, I have no intention of havin a kegger, it was pure sarcasm.....
Maybe it was the frustration of not even bein able to pull together a decent crowd for a housewarming party. Maybe it was the fact that the last 2 weekends we've been cancelled on by the same friends. Maybe I'm just a big crybaby (yeah, I hear your thoughts over there, Delena). 

Breathe......

Okay, so on to what made the day awesome. And probably only because I have no blood and bone crowd.

First, the computers were down at the gas station and I had to use my only $10 cash. Right when the drawer shut with my money in it, the clerk says "Oh, hey they're back on". I told him "Man, I needed that cash. That sux."  So as I turned to leave a guy hands me a $10 bill. He said "Here, I been there. It always comes back around." I aint no spring chicken to the laws of giving and receiving. I firmly believe that it does come back, so I just took it without hesitation and said "Thanks, man. What's your name? Are you a Christian?" And he was and we chatted for a bit. His name was Chris and he just moved here from Nashville! I told him, that's so cool cuz I've sent some blessings out to Nashville and even put a lil somethin in the mail that way this very mornin (I can just see some gals grinnin up there after readin that ;)

And here's the next cool thing....

 After the other day's score with that hippo I knew there'd be more vintage toys. They just take a little while to trickle outta that back room. And boy were my instincts correct!

 A huge $2 Raggedy Andy and this little pink lady. I have a red one that's identical so I bet it was a little pattern that was popular back in the day.

 This face is just killin me, folks! I cannot believe this one came home with me :)

 I think I blogged about a Donny and Marie Osmond doll set I liked back when I was livin out at my parents. Anyhow, this masculine stud was 50 cents.

 We needed one more horse for the local rodeo's stick horse races for the youngster's. Half a dollar for a need well met :)

 Okay, they had one up at the front behind the counter that was a tad larger and the sign said it was full of clothes and a barbie for $100. I was like "Pffttt. Yeah, right KCM." 

I found this one in the toy section and when I asked at the register how much, the lady looked it over and said "I dunno, 50 cents?" Well, that sounded fair to me ;)

 And this was marked $10 but she looked, shook her head in disgust and said "1 dollar, ma'am".

I was only gonna spring for it because the other stuff was so dang cheap.

So, here I am surroundin myself with the hipsters of the toy crowd. They're always game.

And I guess I'll never be asked for loans or babysittin from these guys so this may be alright.

Peace and love, guys :)