toe update

so, here's an update on the big toe....it hurts. in fact, i was talking to a friend of mine who is a physical therapist telling him how badly it hurts and he said to me, "yeah, i knew it was going to be really painful but i didn't tell you because i knew you were worried about it."

there you go. there's an update :) not exciting but it's what is going on. i would, however, like to give a shout out to all my friends who sent me cards and goodies. THANK YOU! i felt loved and cared for.

okay, i'm off to take more pain medicine.

until next time...hope your saturday night is more fun and fabulous than mine!

big toe

well, tomorrow is the day; the time has finally come and the doctor is going to fix my big toe. i gotta admit, i am not really looking forward to all that surgery entails but i am looking forward to my toe going back to normal (even if it is a new, non-bendable normal ;).

i have more i could write but i think i'm going to head to bed. i get to sleep late in the morning and then i'm off for a pedicure...not sure the next time i'll be able to get one of those (6 weeks, at least...such sadness).

so, here's to my big toe...thank goodness it can be fixed...because what would i do without my flip flops? ;)

He is in the middle of it all

you know what amazes me about living the Christian life and about the God we serve? He is in the middle of it all. His hand is in the middle of the joyful times, frustrating times, lonely times, sad times, chaotic times, calm times, ecstatic times...He's in the middle of all of it. i am so thankful that i have the opportunity to walk through this life knowing and loving Jesus; i am so thankful that while i don't always understand, i know i can trust. i can trust in Him...His attributes and His character. i can trust in who the Word says He is and i can trust in who i know Him to be.

we're smack in the middle of vbs week here at the grove and it's going well (praise the Lord!). my favorite part of vbs is our little worship rally we do with the preschoolers at the end of the night. it's so fun to watch them jump in and just sing their little hearts out and LOVE being silly and crazy. tonight, i'm gonna jump right in there with them and praise Him for who HE is.

i did it

okay, so, i did it. i stepped into the world that is mystic tan and it wasn't that bad. i will admit that i was a little afraid of looking like a giant tangerine but i don't think i look like a giant piece of fruit. there are definitely a few "problem areas" where there is some splotch but can be easily fixed, i do believe.

i felt quite lazy and worthless yesterday because i did absolutely nothing (but i'm also a big fan of those days because sometimes, i think i'm just too busy and need some time just to "be") but today should make up for all that nothingness. i get to work today (this week is vbs, you know) and then i have fun dinner plans. it should be a fun evening.

alright, this tanned girl is going to start her day. hope you have a good one! :)

fabulous...just fabulous

i'm so glad today is friday. since i work for a church, fridays are like my saturdays because i work on sundays. today is the best day to just hang out at home and relax...it's cool outside and cloudy. i don't have big plans today...other than finish some laundry, watch some movies, and possibly try out mystic tan.

i have to say, for this fair skinned girl who burns easily, the mystic tan is very tempting. i have, however, been witness to tan in the can and fake tan gone awry so i am a bit hesitant to step out in this new adventure and the world of fake tanning. we shall see...if you see me sunday or next week and i'm orange, don't say anything. just give me a hug :).

lots of fun stuff going on in my world this weekend. if you think of me, say a little prayer (email me or ask me on sunday for more details ;).

hope your friday is mucho fabulouso!

"i know whom i have believed"

this statement from scripture, "i know whom i have believed" (2 timothy 1) has stuck with me over the last several days. there are several situations and things going on in my life and in the lives of some people around me that, to be honest, have caused me worry, concern, and to question. it's easy to say (and i've said it recently), "i don't understand all this but God has a plan and so i will trust in Him." when i've said it, i've meant it but at the same time, it's easy to wonder. i am thankful that at the times i've wondered what on earth is going on and what in the world could God be up to, i've heard a still small voice remind me of 2 timothy 1," ...i know whom i have believed...."

one of the amazing things about walking with God is that while in our humanness we want answers, explainations, to see the big picture, etc. we can walk in complete trust because our God is faithful and true. what do we know about this God we have believed? wow. i stopped and made a list in my journal of all the things i know to be true about God and it is amazing; He is amazing. i can say with confidence that i DO "know whom i have believed" and for me, that's all i need to know.

ps--does anyone remember the old hymn, "for i know whom i have believed...?" it was one of my favorite hymns growing up and it's been the song in my heart recently. i wonder why ;).

ghetto fabulous

did you catch a glimpse of the little picture in the "today i'm feeling..." section that was there tuesday/wednesday? it said that i'm feeling afrolicious. that just cracks me up. i don't have an afro or anything but it just made me laugh everytime i opened my blog. in case you missed it, here it is:

i've had some definite experience with being ghetto fabulous with my friends andrea and cari...details of which i will never divulge ;). so, here's to being ghetto fabulous and not ashamed to admit it! (andrea and cari: i miss those days. we will have to have some ghetto fabulouso fun when i roll back into town...i can hear it now, "i'm lost and on some street named marcellas street." scary mary. it's the one place in dallas where you can drive 10 blocks and never leave the scene of a crime AND the one place in town you do not stop for red lights or stop signs---for fear of being robbed or at the very least, having all of your tires stolen from your car as you sit there ;).

i know, this is quite the random post but it made me smile and today, i needed to smile and laugh about something silly.

ode to mrs. elizabeth

this morning we were trying to round up as many carts as we could find for vbs next week (it is quite the accomplishment to find 12 unclaimed carts and successfully hide them until monday) and it made me think back to some good ole' days at prestonwood. our resource person at prestonwood was mrs. elizabeth...and to say that she was a bit quirky is an understatement. she, however, loves her job and more importantly, she loves the Lord. she and her husband served as missionaries for i don't know how many years but now they're settled in the dallas area and she works at prestonwood in the children's ministry.

the thing about mrs. elizabeth is that she always made my job an "adventure" ;). she would pack my cart for every Sunday so that my teachers had all the resources and supplies they would need to teach their lessons and every Sunday morning was an adventure for me as i sorted through all the resource room fabulousness she left for me on my cart. some days i might find random puzzle pieces, a child's umbrella (no clue to this day about that one), random toys that had nothing to do with my lesson...the list really could go on and on. i'm telling you, every sunday morning...an adventure, to say the least :).

one of my favorite mrs. elizabeth stories was not funny to me at the time but looking back, i laugh every time i think about it. let me also take a moment to say that if a supply you requested was not on sale but something that could "pass for it" was on sale, well then, you would get the cheaper item (and often times, you wouldn't be able to use it). for one of our lesson activies one sunday i requested alpha bits cereal because the kids were going to eat it for a snack AND also use the cereal letters to spell out "JESUS." i didn't really pay attention to everything that was on the cart (it was overflowing, to say the least) and didn't notice that a certain cereal that was not alpha bits had been distributed to my classes. one of my teachers approached me in the hall (seeming quite frustrated) and said, "amy, i'm confused. we're supposed to spell out JESUS but all we have are O's...we have cheerios instead of alpha bits. do you want us to gnaw the O's into other letter shapes?" (she, of course, was kidding about that...it makes me laugh now...then, not so much laughter was going on.) so, i had to punt and come up with another way they could use cheerios to accomplish the point of the activity. the best part of the whole story is that when i confronted mrs. elizabeth about the error, she said, "well, if i'd known you wanted alpha bits, that would have been better because they were on sale." (just for clarification: i HAD requested alpha bits...several times and using several forms of communication.)

mrs. elizabeth made me laugh and sometimes caused a tad bit of frustration for me but she truly is a godly woman who loved the Lord with all her heart...you could see it in her face. i'm thankful for people God has allowed me to serve with and learn from...crazy carts and all.

some of my favorite quotes

most of these quotes have been my email signatures at some point and i thought i'd put them all in one place :)

"a woman's heart should be so hidden in Christ that a man has to seek the Lord to find it."

"waiting times are growing times and learning times. as you quiet your heart, you enter His peace...as you sense your weakness, you receive His strength...as you lay down your will, you hear His calling."

"let every vein of your heart be full to the brim with the rich blood of desire, and struggle and wrestle and strive with God for it, using the promises and pleading the attributes of God, and see if God does not give you your heart's desire. believe Him to be more than He is." charles spurgeon

"after a while you learn the subtle difference between holding a hand and chaining a soul, and you learn that love doesn't mean leaning, and company doesn't always mean security. and you begin to learn that kisses aren't contracts and presents aren't promises, and you begin to accept your defeats with your head up and your eyes ahead, with the grace of woman, not the grief of a child, and you learn to build all your roads on today because tomorrow's ground is too uncertain for plans, and futures have a way of falling down in mid-flight. after a while you learn that even sunshine burns if you get too much, so you plant your own garden and decorate your own soul instead of waiting for someone to bring you flowers. and you learn that you really can endure, you really are strong, you really do have worth, and you learn, and you learn, with every goodbye, you learn..."

"the beauty of finding yourself at a milestone of any meaningful kind in life is not that the journey there was so pretty. or so successful. in many ways, the mysterious beauty of the whole thing is that the "getting there" was so awkward, wobbly, inconsistent, and even down-right messy that most of the time, you thought you'd never make it. what makes life on this frightful sod so exquisite is God's merciful propensity to perform divine tasks amid deeply flawed people. to paint intricate colors on a torn-up canvass. we can recognize a miracle when we see one because we know that, for God to use us, redeem us, or complete one thing of value in us, it would have taken nothing less.” ~beth moore

"oh, how we need the whole Christ! open our eyes to see the fullness of his excellence. remove the lopsided and distorted images of your Son that weaken our worship and lame our obedience. may the power of the Lion and the love of the Lamb make our faith in Christ unshakable. so deliver us from small dreams and timid ventures and halting plans. embolden us. strengthen us. make us love with fierce and humble love. and in it all, grant that all might see the glory of Christ and that you might be honored through him."~seeing and savoring Jesus Christ by john piper

"our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. it is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. we ask ourselves, who am i to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? actually, who are you not to be? you are a child of God. your playing small does not serve the world. there is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. we are all meant to shine, as children do. we were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. it's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. and as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. as we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others." marianne williamson

"...then the time came when the risk it took to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom..." ~ anais nin

"joy seems to me a step beyond happiness--happiness is a sort of atmosphere you can live in sometimes when you're lucky. joy is a light that fills you with hope, faith, and love." ~ adela rogers st. johns

"where the soul is full of peace and joy, outward surroundings and circumstances are of comparatively little account." ~hannah whitall smith

lift my eyes

random fact about amy: (the title of the blog is called, "random thoughts and reflections";) i am a huge bebo norman fan...HUGE fan. i've been one of the simpletons, seen him in concert anytime he is anywhere close to where i am, and had quite a few fun experiences with my friends along the way (usually on the way to or coming home from a bebo concert...and mostly with andrea...we seem to be a magnet for crazy, funny, and sometimes flat out scary mary circumstances).

anyway, back to bebo. i found one of my favorite bebo songs on youtube (which, by the way, i'm not sure i get the whole youtube concept or really buy into it, but the fact that i found the bebo song redeems it's purpose a little :). the thing i love about this song is that it's real and it's raw (in my opinion)....it's a great "cry out to God" song. it also reminds me that He is so much bigger than all the stuff going on in my world and i'm so thankful for that!

lessons learned

i was reflecting today about some lessons i've learned over the past year...partly because one of those "lessons" came full circle today. i'm not a very reflective person, usually, but occasionally i have reflective moments ;). but more than just reflecting, i think it's important to learn from these lessons God drops in our laps so that we, in turn, become more like Him.

• while i don't have control over the actions of others, i have control over my reactions to them. the golden rule is just that...it's golden. :)
• forgiveness, God's forgiveness, is radical; if you've experienced it, you'll never be the same. AND when you realize what God has rescued you from and what pit he's pulled you out of, you can't keep it in...you're ready to shout about it.
• MOST things just really aren't worth worrying or stressing about... "for I know whom I have believed..."
• once you have lived in the mercy and grace that God extends, you can't help but extend it to others. i had a "larger than life" experience with this exact lesson and i can just tell you that it turned my world upside down!
• sometimes you just need to laugh...throw your head back and laugh until your stomach hurts. laughter really is good medicine.
• you're not always going to make everyone happy...so, make choices and decisions based on integrity and what's right...not what's most popular. (hand in hand, you can't always worry about what people think...it's tough, i know.)
• when all else fails, just love people. most of the time, if they're irritable or grumpy, it's because they just need some lovin from somebody.
• sometimes, you just need to put a smile on your face and move on.

just random reflections by amy. i don't have all of these lessons mastered, in fact, if you know me, you probably can testify to that fact, but, i'm working on it. my goal and my desire is that everyday i become more like Jesus because it's Him i want people to see...not me.

trust in You

my heart has just been so heavy lately and it is still heavy this morning. my friend and awesome worship leader/songwriter, carl cartee, has an amazing song that has been my prayer this last week, trust in You (click here and then you can listen to the song on carl's page...how cool is that?!). sometimes i believe that the Lord calls us to trust Him and to wait...so, that's where i'm sitting this week. i have been reminded by a lot of instances that i don't have control over situations and quite frankly, i don't understand why some things happen the way they do, but, He doesn't call me to understand. He calls me to trust.

"to you, O LORD, i lift up my soul; in you i trust, o my God." psalm 25:1

memories of country lane

this is for all my texas friends...cari, andrea, ben...and everyone else...it's a fun/not so fun trip down memory lane, well, actually, country lane. :)

• the elvis impersonator in the dining room...food as well as entertainment ;)


• bingo...jason was determined to go and play with all the senior citizens


• myra locking me out of the apartment...almost a nightly event that entire summer
  
• the "stalker" who climbed into our vents and sprayed mace through the airconditioning system


• the late night 911 phone calls
• being accused of stealing her depends...
• the residents reserving their parking spaces by leaving their scooters in the spot
• myra's scooter breaking down, so she hitched a ride with another old man and his scooter
• august in texas + the heat set on 85 degrees = a not so pleasant morning experience

there were lots of other experiences but these are the ones i'll always remember :). my summer with myra was eventful, at times scary, and always provided a good laugh for the children's staff of pwood.

(if you've never heard about my adventures at country lane...ask me sometime. i promise you, you'll laugh.)

(ps--this is a blog i wrote about a week ago but never published...i haven't had time lately to finish out some half-written blogs, so several may appear at once! :)

crazy big toe

so, this post is a shout out to my crazy big toe. yes, that's right...my big toe on my right foot. in typical "amy fashion" i broke this toe back in august and now they're having to do surgery on it. seriously, who else has bizarro things happen to them? so, i'm staring down 6 weeks of summertime wonderfulness knowing that i'm gonna be sporting a clunky, no-so-cute boot on my right foot. if nothing else, knowing me can provide, at times, some great laughter :). oh, and i also have some plans to bedazzle my boot...this girl cannot go 6 weeks wearing an ugly, clunky shoe on her right foot. ;)