Ghost Tours & Vacations

My parents & brother were in town last week and Brandon decided he wanted to go on a ghost tour at The Crescent Hotel, which is one of the most haunted hotels in the country. Ahem... Needless to say, I didn't see no ghosts but I got to hang out with my friend Gina & her husband Mike and my sweet boyfriend. Oh, and Brandon ;-) One thing I did learn is that I guess they aren't called ghosts anymore. Our tour guide referred to them as "out of bodies", so as to not make them mad at me, that is what I shall refer to them as from now on. And it appears you really do not want to make an out of body mad at you or they'll make your life very complicated by doing things such as throwing your laptop across the room or opening your hotel room door while you're taking a shower.

I was beginning to wonder if an out of body had taken over my body. That night when we got home I started running fever and thought I was going to wake up the next morning with the flu, but I was fine the next day, even went to see "Super Bad" with Jeff which is, no doubt, probably the worse movie I've seen in a really long time. As soon as Jeff & I left the theater he looked at me and said, "I owe you big time, huh?" Yep, he does. But anyway, it turns out that I have a nice sinus infection. I came home from work today after 1 hour and 40 minutes and slept most of the day and kinda feel okay now!

So, do you have any big plans for the long weekend coming up? Jeff & I are going to stay with Brandon in Dallas. I'm gonna show him around my neck of the woods. It should be fun... You know, he met daddy last weekend and passed his test. Now it's time for my test! His parents & brother are coming down this weekend... I'm a bit nervous to be honest, but hopefully everything will be great. I'm sure it will. Yeah, it will... :-)

I HAVE come a long way!

I just can't get over the fact that I was actually in the water! This is my cheesy, "I just swam in the water" shot that Gina took. Kinda like a first day of school thing... ;-)

My dear friend Anita posted a comment on my last post saying that I've come a long way and you know what? She's right :-) When I look back on my life before I moved here to Arkansas I can't help but shake my head and wonder what in the world I was waiting for to have a fun life. As I told Anita, I mourn the loss of that time, but look forward to my future of swimming and hiking and eating tomatoes. Oh, yeah. Did I tell you that? I will actually eat a tomato now. Well, I say I will... If it's on something I won't take it off, but I'm not going to ask for them... But still...

Can anyone tell me exactly what this Fantasy Football thing is that has taken over my boyfriend's life? I'm trying really hard to be supportive, but when he tells me that he'd rather do that than, oh MEET MY PARENTS there's a bit of a problem. He didn't really say that, btw... well, not in so many words... but we got it all worked out... well, I got it worked out... not quite so sure about him, but needless to say he'll be meeting my parents and not drafting... I'm such a mean girlfriend.

Speaking of, yes, my sweet boyfriend is meeting the parents this week. Well, he's actually already met my mom and passed her test with flying colors, so the next obstacle is daddy. Oh, and Brandon, who I think is going to be even harder to convince! He's quite protective of me! But I'm sure he'll have no problem. He's great. And I love him and that's pretty much all that matters. What makes me happy makes daddy happy :-)

And last Sunday pastor, after 8 months of silence announced to the church that I had a boyfriend. It went down like this... I was sitting in the congregation instead of the stage like normal and pastor couldn't find me and began to ask where I was. Well, everyone was pointing and he found me and said, "Oh, she's sitting with her sweet boyfriend. Let's talk about you guys... now how long have you been dating?" I was mortified, wondering the whole time, "I wonder who will be the first person to ask when I'm getting married?" and I'll be if someone didn't come up to me as soon as church was out to let me know that she's a wedding planner and when the big day comes she would love to help out in anyway that she could. She asked jokingly, "Can I go ahead and penci you in?"

"Um, no".

Conquering Fears

Those of you who know me well know that I have had a life long fear of water. I nearly drown when I was a kid and since then I've been so afraid of water that I would freak out inside when going over a bridge or feel like I was suffocating if I watched a movie where someone was under water. Like, have you seen "What Lies Beneath"? There's a scene where Harrison Ford gives Michelle Pfifer a pill that parlyzes her and puts her in the tub and turns the water on. I can't watch that scene. I couldn't breathe. I was so afraid for her I had to fast forward that scene.

But I can tell you my friends that I have taken the first step to conquering the biggest fear of my life. My dear friends Mike & Gina took me out on their boat today and "made" me get in the water. Granted, it took me a few minutes to let go of the ladder off the dock, and, granted, I certainly didn't take the life jacket off, but I did at least let go of the ladder and allowed myself to float away from the dock. And then I also got out of the boat in the middle of the lake. Yep. I actually did it. I'm still in shock.

Two years ago I would have probably not even gotten on a boat, much less gotten out of the boat in the middle of the lake. Oh, did I mention that I also wore a bathing suit. Don't ask Mike about it because he'll tell me that I looked like a grandma (which, granted, I kinda did... it was cute when it was dry... it had this little skirt thingie that when wet kinda went down nearly to my knees... guess I'll be getting a new one before my next trip to the lake...) God KNOWS I wouldn't have put a bathing suit on two years ago!

I guess the moral of my story is that I regret so bad letting fear cripple my life for so long. And it's so much more than the fear of water. I have let the fear of rejection keep me from falling in love. I have let the fear of failure keep me from doing so much. Even stupid little things like, oh, I don't know.... hiking... what if I wore the wrong shoes? What if I fall down? Well, I've been hiking and I wore the right shoes and I didn't fall. I was just fine! I've let myself fall in love and I haven't been rejected (and hopefully I won't!)

Is God happy with his children when they let fear control them? Think of all the things I could have accomplished if I had decided years ago to let go and know that it's okay to mess up. It's okay to fall down. What's important is that you get back up again. I have done more things that are not me the past couple of years. My mom sometimes says, "What have you done with my daughter?" I've put her away and replaced her with a confident woman who can't wait to conquer her next big thing!!! Wonder what I should do next????

I am a terrible blogger

Yes, I know. And I've had a lot to say lately, just no time to do it! Like, for example, I'm in love!!! :-) Oh, and my boyfriend is as well :-) I just thought I had been in love before. Nope. But I am now. And, well, I'm sad it took so long!

And it's still really hard for me to believe that someone wants to actually be with me. Like, for example, today is Thursday. Well, BF and I were talking earlier and I told him that I'm really glad tomorrow is Friday and he said that he's glad, too. Well, jokingly I said, "Yeah, you're just glad it's Friday so you can see me!" and he said, "Well, yeah!" He loves me. What can I say?

I was blessed to get to go to the National Worship Leader's Conference in Austin a couple of weeks ago. It was so great. It was such a relief to not have to worry about set lists, giving cues, making sure everyone is on the same page, making sure everyone has what they need in their monitor... Being a worship leader is NOT an easy job! But it was great to just be able to be in services and have the freedom to worship myself. I got to see a lot of great worship artists and rekindled my love for Phillips, Craig and Dean. I came away feeling so refreshed. Unfortunatley it was back to the same congregation on Sunday, but... :-) Maybe next year they can all go with me!