10 Reasons Why I've Been Missing

Linking up this morning with Tuesdays Unwrapped. 

Today I'm thankful for the gift of a full life, and of the chance to re-connect with friends.

Since my "arrival" into bloggie world last year, I started seeing experiences and things with bloggie vision, you know?  (Oh, I could tell this funny story from work today....That sunrise is incredible....It's weird how they have no-smoking signs all over the place in airplane bathrooms but also have an ashtray.....That sermon or passage really spoke to me....I've re-decorated my kitchen....You know what I mean, bloggie vision.)  Many days go by where I think of at least one thing I could blog about.

Why then, have I been absent for so long, and this time unintentionally?  Well, read on for my top ten reasons.... and catch up with me in the process!

10. The day after my school year ended for the summer, my best friend from college, Brooke, flew up from Texas for a two-week visit.  Her hubby was gone TDY and she had nothing else to do, so she came up.  I set up our guest room in the basement (we got a new mattress for our bedroom and had quite the experience getting the old one and box spring downstairs) and put all sorts of cute little toiletries in the guest bathroom.  She helped me do some of my after-the-chaos-of-the-school-year organization.  We ate good food (a lot of good food), some that we cooked, some that we bought.  We hiked, we went out for exercise.  We spent a lot of time laughing and talking and crying and praying and just being good friends.

9. My house has been a disaster.  The kitchen and dining room are now 99% put back together with just a few things left to do, but wow, have you ever noticed that when one thing is in disarray, everything else goes to pieces, too?  Our house has been disorganized and filthy for a while, so bit by bit, I have been working on cleaning and organizing and putting back and cleaning again.  That's on today's agenda, too.

8. VBX.  Vacation Bible Experience, formerly known as Vacation Bible School.  Many of us were accidentally saying VBS and then tacking the X on the end..... which became a running joke as you have to be careful when you say that.... Anyway, I spent a week leading games at our church's VBX, which was fantastic.  The weather was good, the kids were good, and we had a blast.  God did a lot of cool things, from what I hear, and we had some really great activities and stations and lessons the kids experienced.  Of course, I missed most of the "Jesus stuff" because I was outside running around and playing with water, obstacle courses, and parachutes!

7. Cowboy, my 28-year old horse, sort of controls my life.  A little over a month ago he impaled himself on a fence post, right through his flank. He spent the last two weeks of the school year at the vet clinic, and then came home for us to take care of.  Every day we have to stick a hose down into the wound and let it flush out and then put some medicine on it, and then take him for a walk.  The vet told us the other day that basically, if he survives (he still is at risk for infection until it completely closes up), it will be the worst injury he has ever seen a horse live through.  It's kind of a big deal.... we were out at a big farm and feed supply store a few weeks ago getting some stuff and one of the sales people there was telling me about this horse that had impaled himself on a fence post.... yup, one and the same.  Word travels fast.  Anyway, it's a miracle he's doing well, but it's pretty time consuming.

6.  Yesterday we bought a truck for Husband. It's pretty awesome..... but I can't show a picture right now because he drove it to work and I am at home.  We've been researching and praying about it and doing some price comparing.  We went out on a whim yesterday just to start getting a better idea of what was out there, and ended up getting a 2008 Dodge Ram that only had 32,000 miles on it (John's CR-V had 98,000) and will be paying the same monthly payment we already had.  It's black with a crew cab (gotta have that in case we ever have some kiddos), some sort of bed liner he was all excited about, and all the room for his tools he could ever want.  AND they gave us more money for our trade than we thought they would- in fact, they gave it to us for the price we were planning on selling it ourselves, as we expected dealers would rip us off.  Yeay!

5. I've been reading a lot.  Reading has always been therapeutic for me.  I've read several fun novels from the library and am currently reading Love and Respect, by Emerson Eggerich, because God really convicted me a few weeks ago about needing to respect my husband more.  It's been really good and has been changing my heart.... more on this later.

4. I've been spending time outdoors whenever I can.  As a school teacher, I feel like I am inside from August to May from dark to dark.   I've gone running and hiking, walked places I normally would drive, watched softball, and just sat outside.  I suppose I could blog while I'm just sitting outside, but really, I'm not interested in lugging my hot computer out on a hot day.

3. I've been drinking coffee.  Lots of coffee.  This morning I'm drinking a fantastic homemade cup of coffee (I haven't had good coffee in a week, see reason number 1) while I blog.  My mom and I have re-discovered that we love McDonald's Iced Hazelnut Coffee.... it's sooooooo good.  I'd take it over a Starbucks Iced Latte any day, and it's cheaper!  I've met several friends for coffee and sat and talked for hours.  Getting to enjoy coffee is on of my favorite things in life.

2. I've been working on getting fit.  I'm not doing great, but I have been more regular about getting some exercise and eating better for the last few weeks.  Husband and I are all motivated to really take charge in this area- we realize that it's a big part of how we feel about ourselves and that it's connected with how we are doing spiritually, too.  And, at LIFE (see reason 1), Husband got called old a few times and felt out of shape and I was with some super cute just-over-30 moms who inspired me..... so we're determined that when we hit 30, we'll be in good shape, too.

1. This last week we were in Kentucky at a big youth conference called LIFE.  Every three years our denomination (the Christian and Missionary Alliance) hosts this huge conference for teens.  For the last three ('04, '07, '10), Husband has gone as a youth sponsor with our youth group and I have gone to work with the VIPs as a sort of VIP Coordinator/Hospitality Person/Run-Around-a-Lot-er.  For the last three months, I've been in contact with our VIPs (speakers, musicians, magicians, comedians, missionaries) and taken care of details like hotels, transportation, itineraries, merchandise sales, and more.  This last week I did everything I could to make their lives easier, answered questions, took them around, and basically tried to serve them as they served the 6500 students attending.  It was exhausting.... five hours of sleep a night, non-stop walking and running around, but it was wonderful.  I got to work with, spend time with, and be blessed by people like Francis Chan, Derwin Gray, James Grout, the Logan Martin Band, Corban, Carlos Oscar, John Michael Hinton, Danny Ray, Trace Bundy and his super fun wife Becca, Proxy, David Thompson, Julia and Dusty Reynolds, Hawk Nelson, Kutless, Bradley Hathaway, and more.  Now, I know you know some of those people, and others you've never heard of, but they were all incredible and if you ever get the chance to hear them or see them or meet them, take it!  (And if you want to know who the "unknown" ones are, I'll be happy to tell you.)  

The best thing about LIFE was that God truly showed up.  Everyone's life was changed in some way, every heart was touched.  It was such a privilege to be there, although it was a lot of work getting ready for it and I have literally never been so tired at the end of a week.... which says a lot, for me.

Anyway, hopefully this post marks my more-frequent return to blogland, and I can't wait to start catching up with you all, too.  Truly, I am so thankful for a full life, because despite the tiredness, I know that I am living and being blessed.