You may not be able to see the scoreboard, but that right there is a 30-point Vanderbilt lead. Yes, I'll be honest and say I am "that girl" who always has hopes that "this is the year." But y'all: this IS the year. And this touching article just makes me want to give Coach James Franklin a big bear hug and shed a tear of pride for the Black & Gold.
So way to go, 'Dores. On your 30-7 win in your first SEC game of the season. For being three and oh. And for warming our hearts.
Most heartfelt alma mater yet - aside from when we beat Auburn to go 5-0 in 2008
I have been giddy to see photos of Amy's classroom posted every day this week on Facebook. Praise the Lord for Blackberrys and her ease of posting photos. She's posting more from her real camera this weekend, but I'm too excited to wait, so here are the mobile phone-quality photos.
Friday, September 9
Monday, September 13
Wednesday, September 14
Thursday, September 15
Amazing progress! Keep praying for completion, excitement in the community and among the colleagues, and joy in Amy's heart. I am so immensely proud of Amy for taking on this project and faithfully continuing even when the road ahead has seemed impassable. It's so challenging to take a vision and hope you have for something and see it through - especially in a developing country, especially when you don't have much support there.
"Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men." (col. 3:23)
Last night, I went to the grocery store. Guess what I did in the frozen veggies aisle? Cried. Yep, that's right. I still get overwhelmed at the grocery store...nearly every time. An unimaginable combination of negative forces: too much selection, lack of appetite, inability to make decisions...
And to think - the grocery store used to be my favorite place. Let's be serious: what's more fun than trying to beat the system and be as frugal as possible? My goal is to save enough that one day, the grocery store will be the one payingme.
This Is America...where grocery shopping can be a very, very overwhelming experience.
Oh happy day! This post may be later than many of my wedding posts, but dear friends Lauren Kinzer & Matt Bigger tied the knot on September 3! Y'all, they've been married for 9 days. That blows my mind!
Let me tell you a little about this couple. Lauren was another one of my suitemates from senior year of college - aptly named "The Kissing Booth," in case you forgot. She is sweet, secretly messy, musically talented, and an aspiring morning person. My favorite Lauren Moment from our year of cohabitation took place during Waffle Wednesday with the boys next door. These were low-key weekly events that consisted of a bunch of bleary-eyed twentysomethings making and eating waffles at 8am while gulping down coffee. For the non-morning people, this was a struggle. But one morning, Lauren waltzed in bright-eyed and bushy-tailed and announced (with her arms in the air), "I am a morning person!" We were overjoyed, but certainly not surprised when two hours later, she came back to the suite, collapsed on the couch, and groaned, "I am not a morning person." Readers: this girl is lovable.
Matt Bigger spent a great amount of time in the Kissing Booth as well, as I'm sure you could guess. He, too, is musically talented, loves the Lord, is really tall, and always laughs at my abundant enthusiasm. I've known him since our very first education classes together freshman year. As I told Lauren shortly before the wedding, my first impression of Matt was him being from Atlanta and wearing a cowboy hat in his Facebook profile picture, thus causing me - a gal from Chicago who had never been to the South - to assume he was the most southern man ever. Pretty sure I've never told Matt that tidbit, but there you go, blogging world. Now, Matt is beginning his tenure with Memphis Teacher Residency and is changing the world, one kid at a time.
These two were knit together by God are so in love. I was over the moon with joy when I received an email in Namibia with all the details of their engagement. So blessed to be in their lives.
Their wedding was so Nashville. From the wedding invitations to the venues. It was perfect. They were wed at the cute white church on 12 South and celebrated at the Factory in Franklin. Told you so - so Nashville.
The bride-to-be at her bachelorette party. See? Still Nashville-themed: mason jars.
The Ceremony
Some of the ladies of the Kissing Booth. Lots of laughter with these gals.
5/6 of the Kissing Booth. 2/6 of us are married now. Missing #6 who's living in Melbourne, Australia!
Matt & Lauren Bigger's first dance
Gabe Dixon played "My Favorite" as their first dance. So Nashville.
And for a friend update:
Mallory & Tyler are still happily married and attending weddings 2 months later
And we convinced sweet new friend Lia and her Vandy alum husband Sean to move to Nashville and let me dogsit their future (but currently non-existant) goldendoodle. You should read their fun blog, too.
Three cheers for marriage, friends, and a great last wedding of the 2011 season. Hip hip hooray!
I was in 8th grade at Springman Middle School. As we were putting things in our lockers, a friend said that a plane had hit the World Trade Center. What's that? I had no context for the situation and pictured this building as a vast, but not very tall building. An announcement was made that teachers were not to talk about the events and were definitely not allowed to turn on the TVs. But that's not my clearest memory. The part I will never forget is leaving school that day. Walking out into the bright, warm September afternoon. Feeling increased pressure in my chest as I saw mothers crying into their children's shoulders and people hanging their heads. Hearing my mom explain the events on the short ride home. Sitting glued to the TV for the rest of the evening.
We were so impressionable at that age.
This morning, I crawled out of bed and snuggled on our cat-pee-scented couch to watch the memorial begin on TV. I didn't expect the uncontrollable sobs and intense heartache to come surging back. I didn't expect it to still matter so much.
I was so proud of our President for reading Psalm 46. A psalm that has meant so much to me over the years. A psalm that brought me to my knees this morning.
"God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.
Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,
though its waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging.
There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
Since we moved into our house two weeks ago, we've experienced approximately one hour of precipitation. While I won't complain about sunshine, I was understandably excited to finally feel rain this weekend. With rain came fall-like temperatures - going from highs over 100 on Saturday to highs in the 60s on Monday - and a break from my 9-month summer.
I spent approximately 5 hours on Monday sitting on my front porch enjoying the rain. With a new sweater & new jeans, I wrapped myself in a blanket and thought, prayed, watched the rain fall and the spiders crawl, and read all day long. I'm currently immersed in Madeleine L'Engle's "Walking on Water." She wrote the "Wrinkle in Time" books we all know, and also wrote a whole body of nonfiction, kind of a la C.S. Lewis. I love it. I am my mother's daughter. "Water" + rain...perfect.
I have cultivated an affinity for rain in recent years. Rain gets a bad rep most days. It can be inconvenient, cold, dreary, and, frankly, wet. I especially dreaded rain during college when I knew I had to walk around campus all day and often never got a long enough break for my jeans to dry out.
But I have loved meditating on the cleansing power of rain in recent years. And the general power of rain - in floods, in hurricanes, in its colder form: blizzards. Rain is refreshing and God-sent and always good.
Since this is a TIA post, let's talk about rain in America. I'm abundantly blessed to have a car to drive in the rain, a sturdy umbrella, rainboots, and a warm roof over my head. I know I'm not invincible to rain - I certainly learned that during Nashville Floods 2010 - but I'm able to comfortably enjoy it. In Namibia, I eventually didn't even bother with the umbrella. You would just suck it up and walk through the rain and deal with it. Sure, you'd be wet all day. Sure, you'd walk through knee-deep flood waters. It was "survival mode" all the way.
Like many things these days, I'm deeply appreciative of renewed perspective and gratefulness for the ordinary things like rain. And cool weather. Is fall almost here?!
Today, I am channeling Earth, Wind, and Fire and attempting to grasp the reality that September is upon us. I know we say it every month, but where did August go?! Really.
The thought of September is making me giddy. It's been summer in my world for 248 days and counting. Let's not even talk about the forecasted high of 100 degrees on Saturday. I can't say I haven't enjoyed it at times. It's given me permission to wear Chacos for approximately 246 of those 248 days, minus two weddings when I had to wear real shoes. And I haven't had to worry about the Africa Pounds because I can just wear summer dresses, skirts, or Nike shorts every day.
But fall is my jam. I love raking. I love eating pumpkin-flavored things. I love hot tea and hot chocolate. I love scarves. I love chunky sweaters. I love the crunch of footsteps on the fallen leaves. I love the perfect pair of jeans. I love the multicolored rolling hills of Tennessee. I love fall festivals. I love curling up in a blanket on the porch. I love college football games. I love autumn.
And though autumn means the dreary winter days will soon be upon us, I can't help but feel imbued with a deep sense of joy that autumn is here. So let's go baaa deee ahhh dancing in September.
