A Beautiful Gift

Growing up, we moved around quite a bit. My dad was climbing the career ladder and that meant frequent relocations, and mostly in pretty small towns. One such small town was Coldspring. There was nothing of note about this town (that I can remember, anyway) - it was just your ordinary East Texas small town. In fact, the only memories I have of our time there involve one family: The Gingles.

Mr. Gingles would mow a big field near the houses into a baseball field for us. We'd round up neighborhood kids and get a game going. He was also the Post Master and I remember on at least one occasion checking the mail and his hand bursting through the mail box as I opened it. Mrs. Gingles was always so kind and caring, making sure that we were all taken care of while at her house. I remember her walking me back to my house after a traumatizing go-carting incident that left me with a broken and bleeding finger. They had two kids at that time - Dallas and Dana. The three of us spent many hours together playing and pretending as children that age do. I remember those years as very happy years, but eventually, my dad got another job and we made another stop on our relo list. After my mom passed away, we lost touch with the Gingles. I'd thought of them often over the last 19 years and wondered how they were and what they were all doing.

Over 4th of July weekend this past summer, I got a beautiful surprise. I received a Facebook message from a familiar name asking if I was the Mandy from Coldspring. It was Mrs. Gingles! What fun it was to reconnect and hear all that has happened in their lives over all of these years! Most of the people in my life now didn't know my mom so there isn't a lot of opportunity to talk about her or reminisce about her, but Mrs. Gingles and Dana both had some fun things they remembered about my mom. Mrs. Gingles remembered them talking through her kitchen window for an hour because she didn't have time to come inside (Mom loved to talk), and Dana remembered my mom's usage of rollers and Aquanet (hey, it was the 80's - don't judge!). So sweet to know that my mom was loved by these two.

While chatting online one night, Dana shared with me that her mom had always kept a journal and that she'd found one recently that mentioned my mom. She offered to share the pages that mentioned my mom with me if I was interested. I was excited to say the least. So many things about my mom are a bit of a mystery to me - memories have faded over the years, and well, at 11 you don't really know a lot about your parents. Not things that will matter later on in life, anyway. So, I was looking forward to reading the pages, but really had no idea what to expect. The email arrived one Friday night and actually answered a few questions I'd had but had never asked.

Since becoming a believer a few years ago, I had begun to wonder about my mom's salvation. When she was alive, we never went to church consistently (just Easter, really), never talked about God, or prayed. My mom was a "good person," but I was afraid that she may not have had a relationship with the Lord. There in the journal pages Dana sent, and Mrs. Gingles wrote, was my answer. In the month leading up to my mom's death, the Gingles had come for a visit. On the last day of their visit, Mrs. Gingles shared the Gospel with my mom and through a conversation she had with another family friend at the funeral, she learned that they, to quote the journal, "weren't worried about Pat's (my mom) salvation."

What a beautiful gift from the Lord - He knew that the words Mrs. Gingles wrote on April 15, 1991, the day after my mom's funeral, would bless me beyond measure in 2010. I'm so grateful for these friends, and now sisters in Christ, who were willing to share with me. Words can't express what it has meant to me.

My Momma



Me about to hit my mom with what appears to be the empty gift wrapping tube

Random Reminders

When I was kid, my mom was an elementary school teacher. She loved to decorate as festively as possible for the start of the school year (and throughout - no holiday was ever missed) and I, being my mother's little shadow, always tagged along to help her decorate. My favorite? The bulletin board! I don't know why, but I loved helping out with the bulletin board...picking out the colors and the border and all the other fun things to staple up to the board. I mean, you couldn't just staple things to the wall at home, you know?

This past weekend, some friends in my home group and I participated in Transform which is an annual event with our church. We didn't know what our specific assignment would be for the day when we showed up, but ended up assembling back packs for students at this particular elementary school. Once we were finished with that, we got to spend the rest of the morning in Ms. Lewis' room helping her arrange desks, organize the room, and decorate her bulletin boards! It was lots of fun and great reminder of my mom.


A couple of other reminders of my mom popped up over the last week at work. My mom was a "doodler" - she loved talking on the phone and never sat down to chat without a pen and paper in front of her to doodle on. Seriously. Those were the days before cell phones and anything wireless, so for her hour long conversations with friends and family stuck in one spot, she would doodle. I was rummaging through the stock room the other day looking for my typical legal pad and couldn't find one. But I did find a steno pad...my mom's usual go to for doodling. Not really that random, but a fun reminder.

The pen pictured was the most random office find. My mom loved ducks/geese. I have no idea why and no one has really ever been able to explain where that came from or why that was, but she did. They were all over the house as decorations. So, I was standing at the copier the other day and happened to glance over to a cup full of pens nearby and saw this one. A goose wearing a little blue bandanna. My mother would have loved this pen.

The Baptist Hymnal

I spent a good chunk of my teenage years going to church. More often than not, I was there because I was forced to be or to see friends, really - it had nothing to do with worshipping the Lord at that point in life. Even so, I always looked forward to the part of service where we got to sing - I loved the old hymns. I'd sing along for the three songs we sang each service and would promptly stop listening and start doodling on the program once the pastor started talking.

At some point in my high school career, one of my favorite teachers had assigned a much dreaded poetry project (I liked poetry, I just wasn't fond of the project part). As we were going through books and talking about where we could find some good poems, she pointed out that song lyrics were basically poetry, just put to music. I'm not sure why such a simple and obvious point impacted my love for music so much, but it did. Music can be so powerful - it can motivate our worship, sway our emotions, and make us recall certain events/feelings quicker than almost anything.

Now, when I've only got time for a quick read, or I'm just in the mood for something short, there are usually one of two things I reach for - The Valley of Vision or the Baptist Hymnal. I love reading the lyrics, or poems, if you will.

Here are some of my favorites:

Come, Ye Sinners, Poor and Needy

Come, ye weary, heavy-laden Lost and ruined by the fall;
If you tarry till you're better, you will never come at all.

Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing

Come, Thou Fount of every blessing, Tune my heart to sing Thy grace;
Streams of mercy, never ceasing, Call for songs of loudest praise.
O to grace how great a debtor Daily I'm constrained to be!
Let Thy grace, Lord, like a fetter, bind my wand'ring heart to Thee.

Grace Greater than Our Sin

Grace, grace, God's grace, Grace that will pardon and cleanse within;

Grace, grace, God's grace, Grace that is greater than all our sin.

Jesus Paid It All

I hear the Savior say, "Thy strength indeed is small,
Child of weakness, watch and pray, Find in Me thine all in all."

It Is Well with My Soul

My sin - oh, the bliss of this glorious tho't: My sin not in part, but the whole
Is nailed to the cross and I bear it no more, Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!

Feeling Bloggy

I've felt quite bloggy lately, but haven't had much success in getting thoughts to the blogosphere. Perhaps later this week...

My Favorite Booth

Over the weekend, some friends and I went to Manny's to celebrate my best friend's birthday. It used to be our favorite restaurant - we were there at least once a week. The waiters knew us and greeted us as soon as we walked through the door in a very Cheers-esque way with our "usuals." And then an unfortunate combination of a take-out order and a nasty stomach flu (that I'm convinced tried to take my life, by the way) happened and Manny's was basically ruined for me. Add to that the fact that I moved to a different part of town, and I haven't been back in almost a year.

But, I took this opportunity back in the restaurant to snap a quick picture of my favorite booth. Not only is it randomly placed in the middle of the restaurant all by itself, but it is the booth I was sitting in the day that grace finally made sense to me (as much as grace can make sense to us, anyway). I like this booth.

Muzak and Mimi

This last week completed my fourth week at my new job. Things have gone well...there has been a steep learning curve, but I'm starting to figure things out and put all the pieces together, if you will. One of the biggest adjustments has oddly enough been the music, or Muzak, played in the office. It's really not my favorite. It's unbeliveably bad. In my old office, I could listen to whatever and would listen to music, talk radio, or sermons. Now there is no choice - its Muzak all day, every day. What's muzak you might be wondering? It's elevator music...you know, those instrumental versions of popular songs (not to be confused with classical music - that I enjoy).

But, all has not been lost in my Muzak filled days because they often make me think of Mimi. Mimi was my grandmother - my mom's mom. When I think of my childhood, more often than not, memories that pop into my head involve my mom's family and Mimi. I'd go spend the night with her and the mornings were the same every time. I'd sleep late, of course, and when I'd wake up I'd go into the living room (which was open to the kitchen in Mimi's house) and there would be Mimi sitting at her round kitchen table, cigarette in one hand, romance novel in the other, a cup of coffee nearby, and "elevator music" supplying the back ground noise. We often teased Mimi about her elevator music....it did not last long once I entered the room. She'd always let me turn it off and watch TV instead. She'd keep reading her novel, smoking her cigarette, and enjoying her coffee.

Aside from the fun memories of Mimi, I've begun to try to pick my favorite Muzak song of the day (and maybe even sing along if its an appropriate time) to try to make the best of this sad situation. Some of my favorites so far have been "Take a Look at me Now," "Mrs. Robinson," and "Lucille." Yes, Kenny Rogers Muzak exists. Don't be jealous that I heard it and you didn't.

30 on 30

Thirty random thoughts and reflections on my thirtieth. No rhyme or reason.

1. This idea is 100% unoriginal.

2. I've lived in 13 different town/cities, 2 states and have moved a total of 18 times. At some point I've called the following places home: Jacksonville, Baytown, Wells, Coldspring, Hawkins, Sinton, College Station, Corpus Christi, Dallas, Lewisville, Garland, Sunnyvale, Las Cruces, NM.

3. I attended 7 different schools before finally graduating from UNT.

4. I do not like onions, coconut, or even numbers.

5. I love sports - particularly basketball and football. I think baseball is a bit ridiculous with all of the steroid nonsense. And, I think America must have been pretty bored when it was labeled "America's Pastime." I tend to be more of a fan of players and less a fan of particular teams. I follow Dallas teams because I live in Dallas - if I ever move, I can't say with certainty I'd remain loyal. NASCAR is not a sport. They're driving in circles. The Olympics are great, as well. I wish we didn't have to wait two years between the winter and summer games. My favorite athletes are Brett Favre, Lance Armstrong, Dirk Nowitski, Michael Jordan, and Steffi Graf.

6. I think people in general are pretty fascinating. We tend to do strange things.

7. Mexican food is my favorite. I miss Taqueria Acapulco in Corpus Christi. The one on Weber, not the one on Staples. There's a difference.

8. I love music. Listening to it, playing it, just being around it. I played trombone in band for three years and I quit so I could spend more time playing basketball. I played bass guitar in a band in my youth group. My goal for this year is to learn the acoustic guitar.

9. I'm going to play my nerd card - I love learning. My favorite subject in school was history. I've been known to watch the History Channel. I was always intrigued by the Civil War and the American Revolution.

10. I hate talking on the phone. Hate it. I'd much rather send and email or text and decide when we can meet in person.

11. I'm kind of a loner by nature and I don't like that. It has been pretty fun over the last couple of years to discover that I like being around people and getting to know them.

12. One of my favorite things to do is have dinner with friends.

13. My favorite TV show ever is Friends and I still watch it all the time. At some point during its run, each character was my favorite except for Joey. I named my dog after Phoebe. Other favorites are Alias, Brothers and Sisters, Arrested Development, Law and Order, Cheers and Night Court (that's old school).

14. I was on the first ever girls softball team at my high school. I played third base and feared for my life during almost every game. I just knew I was going to get taken out by a line drive.

15. I lived and breathed basketball when I was growing up. My dad was a coach for a while, so I started very early. I played it and watched it at every opportunity given.

16. I love reading, but rarely make time for it. The first book I ever remember loving was To Kill a Mockingbird. I was truly sad when it was over.

17. My biggest pet peeve is tardiness.

18. I love to go to the movies. I've been known to take a day off of work just to go to the movies.

19. When I was 19, I went backpacking with one of my cousins in England, Ireland and Scotland. Looking back, it was probably not the wisest decision, but we had a great time and came back with some fun stories.

20. I like long drives as long as there is good music to crank up and sing along to. I tend to do my best thinking and processing while I'm driving. I miss Shoreline/Ocean Drive in Corpus. It was my favorite place to just drive after a long day.

21. I really enjoy sleeping and can sleep in fairly strange places. The strangest so far is probably the Staten Island Ferry.

22. I love to decorate for Christmas. My favorites are lights and snowmen decorations. To be clear, snowmen are winter decorations, not specific to Christmas and get to stay out longer than the actual Christmas decorations. I feel pretty strongly about that. I don't like solid red or solid blue light strands. There's nothing joyful about either.

23. I love to have pictures of friends and family around at home and in my office.

24. Saying the words "be creative" to me literally makes my mind go blank.

25. I didn't know until a couple of years ago that Campbell's soup (chicken noodle and chicken and rice) was supposed to be uncondensed. I never make it that way. It's much better still condensed.

26. I love music and movies, but not musical movies (with a few exceptions). I've never seen a live musical, but would like to give it a shot sometime.

27. At 27, I started to attend The Village Church. I heard Matt Chandler preach the gospel like I'd never heard it before and I got involved in a home group for the first time. The Lord graciously put men and women in my life that who modeled well what it was like to live a life for Christ.

28. Twenty-eight was a big year - I truly began to love the Lord and seek after Him for the first time. I'm grateful for friends during this season of my life who were patient and willing to spend time unpacking the gospel with me. I have fond memories of enchiladas and Ephesians at Manny's and late night chats after home group meetings just digging in deeper. I also got baptized.

29. Twenty nine was a fun travel year - I went to New York, Boston and Guatemala - all for the first time. I also went to IHOP in Kansas City for the first time. I learned more about the power of the Holy Spirit in my weekend there than I have at any other period of my life. It was amazing.

30. I'm truly grateful for the friends and family in my life. I'm looking forward to the next year with you guys and seeing what the Lord has in store.