Overheard at the BGCT...

...

1. "I just got this in my spam folder, 'John Edwards just admits to fathering Clay Aiken's baby!' " Debbie Puett.

2. "Stephanie, I have been trying to find a picture to represent 'True Love Waits' for the Power Point slide, but we can't find any archived. Can I ... ya know ... take a picture of you with your True Love Waits ring. You could be posing, looking at your ring. Maybe I could get a picture of you or Doug signing a comittment card." (Yes, I have one from back in the day. And yes, I'm the office virgin.*) Again, Debbie Puett.

Both were good chuckles.

*And not ashamed to say so!

Put those white pants away - even if they say the rules have changed

...3:08 p.m. Friday before Labor Day...

August has flooooown by. I'll make no mistake about it: it's brought wonderful change!** Now that summer's over, I'm looking forward to Labor Day weekend and the promise of autumn lazily rolling around the corner.

Doug and I are going to Austin for the weekend and staying with Sarah and Lauren (Crim and Itz). He's pumped to show me around his alma mater's hometown, and I'm excited to let him! We're catching college game day (UT and Tech play simultaneously) and running in the Nike Human Race. After that, Ben Harper has a concert in front of the Capitol. Squeezed in between is "taking it easy" and spending time with college friends!

He writes the most entertaining e-mails and this is part of what today's said: They definitely put a smile on my face! It's basically an itinerary of our weekend.

Things that are exciting (get ready, this is a big list):

Our first road trip
Personality tests (my idea - I love these!)
3 hours of my ipod - or yours, maybe, if you're really nice to me ; )
Czech Stop
College football - Hook'em and Guns up (or do I say Wreck'em to make it more parallel to mine?)
10K
South Congress Cafe (You'll understand after this weekend)
A yet to be named indie coffee shop in Austin
We've now been dating for over a month
Ranger game in 1 week

So anyway, that's the scoop on Labor Day. 3:22 p.m. now and still counting the clock...

**Other awesome things:
Stephanie Clark (bffffff) moved back from Phoenix, just down the street from me
Got asked to serve on the Board of Directors for an up-and-coming non-profit, Champions of Hope (more to come on this later.)
Home Groups/Village Activities have started back up again
Graduated from 5Ks to 10Ks - and hopefully still moving up
Been studying the book of Daniel - good stuff.
God is so good. This fact trumps everything else.

Enchantment Under the Sea

Bonus for naming the movie in the title...

Let me paint a picture for you: 1989: a 6-year old red head little girl goes to see the latest Disney movie - The Little Mermaid - and is enchanted. I still remember being in the theater watching it for the first time. It quickly became my favorite movie. So much so that in the pool or in the bathtub (yep -haha!) I would sing the theme song and pretendI was a mermaid.

In first grade, my mom sewed an amazing Halloween costume and I was Ariel, and my brother was Flounder in the costume contest. We won first place.

High school rolls around and mom always has this dream of me working at Disney World for the summer. Basically, so she can come visit/stay with me out in Orlando all summer. Let me tell you: I have been to Disney World LOTS of times in my 24 years. Anyway, I decided she was right, and I wanted to star in a Disney parade or stage show. My dream was to be Ariel in a parade, I mean, how easy is that, she doesn't have legs! Ariel just sits on a clamshell and waves to the kids as she floats by. And if anyone could do it, I could, right?!?! I found out when the auditions were - one weekend at UNT campus - my dream was about to be realized. I would be Ariel! But the story ends tragically - they cancelled the audition and my Disney debut dream was killed.

Anyway, about a week or so ago (this is 24 year old Stephanie talking) I drive home to my apartment and gasp there's a gigantic billboard announcing the release of a new Ariel movie! It's called Ariel's Beginning and let's face it, I was excited.

I mentioned the movie to Doug offhandedly. Lo and behold he bought it for me on it's release day and brought it to me at work! WHAT a sweet boyfriend!!!! I haven't watched it yet, but I can't wait to.

Here's us:

A Matter of Perspective

I love this!! I got it from Cheryl Scrugg's blog ...

So....most of us see wounding as an awful thing. But it does not have to be. Let's look at it from a different perspective. I am reading an interesting book that addresses this topic. It says that "at the time wounding takes place it is very difficult but necessary to look at what happened in new and fresh ways. We must stop repeating to ourselves and others the details of the events or people that caused us the pain. The reason is not to deny the facts but to push ourselves out of the seduction of tunnel vision and into a broader landscape that could reveal to us incredible opportunities for growth. We must ask ourselves hard questions like are we in a cauldron of pain or smack dab in the middle of opportunity? Should I fret and whine or can I see this suffering as God's Hand pulling me into new story".....a new place He wants me to be? Love this quote: "Suffering cracks the boundaries of what we thought we could stand. And yet, through these cracks sprout seeds of healing and transformation."

Praise the Lord for healing and restoration. What a good reminder this morning!

Moratorium

I am currently on a blogging moratorium until I have something with your time reading. At times I battle with even maintaing a blog, because I think it's absolutely presumptious of me to assume I have ideas worth writing about.

Until that day comes, I'll leave you with a few things:

• "So You Think You Can Dance?" finale comes on tonight - my first and only reality tv show addiction
• Summer turned out to be awesome. As if there was any doubt!
• Texas Tech football is nicely ranked pre-season. http://sports.espn.go.com/ncf/rankings?pollId=2&seasonYear=2008
• I am running on a relay team that goes from San Antonio to Austin in October! Check it out: http://www.ragnarrelay.com/austin/index.php
• Umm ... there's some other status changes lately ... ask me!

Music of the Night

I am sitting on the couch watching Phantom of the Opera with my roommate. I think the chandelier is about to drop ... Gosh, this music just moves me! I remember when I was little, my mom had the soundtrack on cassette tape and we listened to it over and over in the car and learned the words.

This has been such a great weekend! Spending time with friends, hanging out with the roomie, working on some new challenges for work. And I did something I've never done before: get up at 6 am on Saturday to help shingle a roof. Who would have thought hammering would be so much fun!

Overall, there is something calming and peaceful the Lord has accomplished in my heart. "This then is how we know that we belong to the truth, and how we set our hearts at rest in his presence whenever our hearts condemn us. For God is greater than our hearts, and he knows everything." 1 John 3:19-20

God is greater than my heart. Think about it ...God is greater than our hearts!!!! Praise the Lord for that.

Someone gave me the greatest advice awhile back. She said, "Stephanie, quit praying for what you think you need, and ask the Lord to show you what it is you actually need. I think those 2 things are really different." Turns out, she's right. God has been faithful to answer these prayers in my life.

Think about it ... when we ask that our hearts align with His will, that is a prayer He will ALWAYS answer ... it no longer becomes about us and our ambitions and desires but only Him and His glory.

Where are my keys?

I'm back in Dallas for the rest of the summer!!! I am collectively cheering, breathing a sigh of relief, and also really sad, summer is kind of over now. This morning I set my alarm early to hit the gym and pay a visit to my favorite fitness instructor, Wes. I am ready for a little booty shapin, ya know! I got up, was completely ready and as I was heading out the door could not find my house key. It's not on my key ring, and I have NO IDEA where I set it yesterday. So .. I am stuck at home for the morning.

I am paying bills, catching up on other stuff. I've been gone 3 of the past 4 weeks, and it feels good to be back home.

Here are some of my favorite pics from Spain. Sorry for the unorganized-ness of them. I really am a terrible blogger. I don't have the patience to figure it out better. But here they are: