one year olds, anniversaries and packing...

Well, I'm a week and a day late, but last Monday was Mr. Levi Hall's 1st Birthday!! I was so sad that I had to miss his ball-themed birthday party (I was in Mississippi for my unexpected interviews), but I DID get to see him on his actual birthday :) We celebrated with some ice cream and ball-pit playing.

Levi in his cool 'Wonder Pets' ball pit!!

The birthday boy and me! (with chocolate ice cream on his chin) :)

I'm sure going to miss this special family once I move back to Mississippi. They know how to have fun! Plus, they're the first people that I met in Dallas that were genuinely just full of niceness (is that a word?) and God's love. Inviting me over to their 'supper club' after having known me for less than 5 hours. Speaking of which...Wednesday, September 23rd is 'our' 2 year anniversary! Two years ago on that date, I walked into Lake Highlands Baptist Church and met them! And we've been together ever since! :) The Halls, albeit, only a little bit ahead of me in years, have become my 'parents', siblings, best friends, etc. while being in Dallas. I go to them with questions about what to do (they've seen a lot in their life), just to hang out, or whatever. So...happy anniversary to us!!

Christy was eating ice cream and made a funny face, so I had her re-enact it. But...it didn't really work out :)

I've been packing up for the past week and I'm ALMOST there. The main thing left is the bedroom, which means, clothes. Can I just say that I do not like folding or hanging up clothes? I'll wash clothes, fold towels, whatever, but t-shirts and jeans and shorts and that sort of stuff? I hate it. I thought the kitchen packing was bad...I may have been kidding myself. I guess we'll see if the bedroom is worse. I've also discovered that you have to have good tunes to have playing while you're packing. My fave albums that have been on repeat are Switchfoot's 'Oh! Gravity.', Coldplay's 'Viva la Vida', Carrie Underwood's 'Carnival Ride', Nichole Nordeman's 'Woven and Spun', and the 'Across the Universe' Soundtrack.

Wow, that doesn't really look like a lot...but it is. What a pain!

Wish me luck with the rest of packing! The moving of stuff happens Thursday!

gratitude...

Have you ever been so thankful for something that you can't even say anything except thank you? Your mind searches and searches for the words that can aptly describe all the thankfulness you're feeling inside and nothing really comes out of your mouth? I've experienced that in the past week and everything I was thankful for came from the most giving of givers...God.

If you've read my blog before, you might know that I'm trying to move back to Mississippi. Have been since July. I had applied for a job and was playing the waiting game. You know the one - you wake up every day thinking, 'Is it going to happen today?' 'Will I finally get the chance I've been waiting for?' Well...I had kind of 'given up' on it. I was either going to get the call for an interview or not and me freaking out about staying in Texas wasn't going to help anything.

So...there I was...sitting at work last Thursday, I had received an email from mom asking me for my resume to pass along to a guy at a local firm in Tupelo earlier that morning. All of a sudden my office phone rang. (My office phone never rings...well...not never, but hardly ever). It turns out it was a lady at the hospital wanting to know if I could come to MS for an interview! I told her of course I could and immediately called about a bajillion people. Mother first (because that's usually who I call first, she's so sweet ;) ) and on and on. Well, Mom told the accounting guy that I was going to be in town that weekend for an interview if they could move that fast, but they couldn't so...yeah, I had an interview with the hospital (the job I had been hoping for) at 2 p.m. on Friday. Well, back in Mississippi, the accounting guy (his name is Ricky, I just didn't want to confuse the story with a bunch of names), told my Mom as he was leaving that he had a friend(Matt) that was trying to fill a controller position and had been for a little while and could he (Ricky) pass my resume along to Matt. My mom said yes, of course. And that was that.

Well, as I was driving home to Mississippi, my cell phone rings. It's Matt, the friend of Ricky's. He had seen my resume and wanted me to come in for an interview! Not 5 hours before he had received my resume and wanted me to come interview for a job I had never even applied for. I was flabbergasted (that's an understatement). I KNEW that the only way this would have happened was God working. So...that interview was set for Friday at 10 a.m. The entire way home I kept thinking, this can't be really happening. I have TWO job interviews when earlier that morning I had absolutely none. I just kept saying 'Thank you Lord. Thank you Lord.' Something had to happen from at least one of these interviews. I was going to be moving back to Mississippi, I knew it! I called one of the dearest people in the world, Ms. Michelle, who was at her teenage daughter's softball game, and she just kept saying, 'You aren't serious. You can't be serious'. You're kidding me! I tried telling her, no. I couldn't believe it either, but it was really happening. I will admit that after I had spoken with Matt about the position that afternoon, I didn't think I'd be that interested, much less, qualified. But, if he felt I was worth interviewing, I wasn't going to question him.

Thursday afternoon before I left Dallas I was so nervous. Ridiculously nervous. My stomach was all aflutter and I felt like I was going to be sick. I asked friends for prayers of peace. During both interviews Friday I felt nothing but peace. Nothing but comfortable. After leaving the first interview that had gone really well, I thought...I guess I was wrong about my doubts! I really really wanted that job! I had never seen myself in that kind of job or organization before, but it sounded like something I wanted to be a part of. I can't explain it. I just wanted it. After the second interview (the interview I had hoped to have for 2 months), I left feeling...wanting. I knew that I wanted the first job, the unexpected job. But I'd have to wait to see what God said about that. Matt said he would call me Monday.

Weekend comes and goes, I drive back to Texas (by the way, longest drive yet...9 hour and 15 minutes...thanks Mississippi Bridge construction traffic...and rain from Little Rock to Dallas), and go to work Monday morning. All Monday morning I just felt like I was going to, if I'm being honest, throw up. It was judgment day. The morning drags by. It hadn't helped that I had nasty greaseball hair (I had woken up 15 minutes before I had to leave for work). It's like I was trying to will my phone to ring just by looking at it. I kept reaching for it and making sure it was on vibrate every 5 minutes. Kind of like when you're expecting a call and you call someone else and tell them to call you to make sure your phone's working? Yeah...I had it bad.

About noon, my phone starts vibrating on the audit room table. I look down and see a 662 number I don't recognize (that's the area code in MS). I picked it up...'Oh Lord please let it be Matt with my job.'

"Are you ready to move to Tupelo?"

YES!

A resounding YES! was said (in my head). The job was mine if I wanted it! And, where I had been worried about pay...God provided. More than I ever thought. I won't go into details because this post is already way too long, but let's just say I called my mom and dad as I got in my car (I had a doctor's appointment across the Metroplex), there were tears flowing down my cheeks. I was moving home. My home home. The home that I'll always miss when I'm not there. All I could say was "Thank you." It's all that would come out. Tears and 'Thank You's." When I shared the story with people (with all the details...believe it or not, this is the abbreviated version), I could only say that GOD did this. I did nothing. I deserve no credit. He deserves everything. I get to see my family every day if I want to, because HE chose to bless me that way.

Not only am I moving home, but I'm moving back into my MawMaw and PawPaw's old house. The house that I've mentioned in a previous post. The house that I absolutely love. Where I spent the summer so many years ago and came back to Texas talking like the biggest hick. Where I got to get Little Debbies out of the snack drawer. Where we got to eat sugary cereal (my fave was Lucky Charms...Mom would never buy that!). Where I would sit on the porch swing with Mawmaw and watch as lightning bugs lit up the yard. Where the lightpole in the back would scare me at night and I thought I'd be kidnapped. Where my Mawmaw told me that if I did get kidnapped...they'd bring me back as soon as they got me under a streetlamp and saw how ugly I was. (She was only kidding...but it worked.) Where I'd play with (evidently) my Aunt Becky's Lite-Brite...the best toy in the world. Where I was paid $.25 cents per plastic grocery sack of purple hull peas I would shell. Where PawPaw would stoke his burn pile of leaves and other stuff.

Where I learned about life.

Do you get that I love this house?

And now, I get to live in it.

So...I'm packing my Dallas apartment up. Just an FYI...packing up a kitchen by yourself is NO FUN. Not that packing is fun. But, it is when you're moving somewhere you love.

My last day at PwC is August 25th (a week from today). It's crazy. I've been here two years and almost a month and these people have become my friends.

I'm heading to Mississippi, with Dallas fading in the rearview mirror on September 30th.

I start my new job as Controller at the Community Development Foundation (by the way, have I told you how excited I am about it?!?!? REALLY excited!) on October 5th.

All of this said...I can only say that I'm grateful. Grateful that God chose to bless me like He has. Grateful that I'll get to serve Him with a group of people that I love to death. Grateful for so many things.

Nichole Nordeman's song 'Gratitude' has been playing in my head all week. Below are some of the lyrics that just really stick out to me...

Oh the differences that often are between...

Everything we want.

And what we really need.

We'll give thanks to You

With gratitude

For lessons learned in how to trust in You

That we are blessed beyond what we could ever dream

In abundance or in need

Father, thank you for everything You are in my life. I don't deserve the love and blessings you so richly bestow on me, but yet, you give them to me, asking for nothing in return. I pray that I'll be a good steward of these blessings and that you'll allow me to bless others. I'm speechless and can only say...thank you.

low is a height...

I've recently (in the past 3 weeks) come to LOVE LOVE LOVE the television show 'Bones'. It's seriously one of the greatest tv shows I've ever watched. It's a crime-scene nerd show that's not depressing or scary like some of the other crime-scene dramas we've seen (the three Law & Orders, all the CSI's, you get the picture). Plus, it's funny! David Boreanaz plays FBI Special Agent Seeley Booth (btw, he's HOT) and Emily Deschanel plays Dr. Temperance 'Bones' Brennan, a forensic anthropologist who assists Booth in solving crimes using her team of people that all have distinct talents. The show has a great chemistry and the cast know how to interact and make it funny, but still tell a story that keeps you interested.

Anyway, so I basically spent all of Labor Day weekend watching Season 4 (the season that just ended May 2009) and I CANNOT wait until Season 5 premieres next week!! I'm interested to see what happens. Before I started watching Season 4, I had ordered all of Season 3 on Netflix and I finished those last Thursday and there's this one song in the episode called 'The Knight on the Grid' and I've just been listening to it over and over and over again. It's such a good, 'chill' song. You know? It's called 'Low is a Height' (<--that's the video) and it's by Great Northern.

If you're like me, you have a song that once you find it, you absolutely love it, and listen to it over and over again. The song just speaks to you in a way and you just...love it! I don't really 'get' what the song means. I'm not good with things like that. I've posted the lyrics below, and while I may not get it, I could just listen to it on repeat for a long time I'm sure. It's kind of melancholy, but I don't care. I wish I could express how much I like this song, is that point coming across? I really really like it!

So...I just felt like sharing this great song that I love love love! :)

"Low Is A Height"

Drink to the sun

We write to millions

You kill everyone

Around you

Save yourself from...

From the ground you break

And the lives you take

I lock the door

Spinning the dust...

In a room

Still like the sun

around you

Don't like the space of

All our space of

And you're just become a word...

I hope everyone had a great weekend!! I really did absolutely nothing besides watch Bones. I just cleaned the kitchen and living room up so at least I did something semi-productive. I need to start packing up...blah! I hate packing, but my lease ends in 3 weeks! Wish me luck!

Go listen to the song!! :)

from blue's clues to facebook...

You may have figured out by now that I absolutely love my family to pieces. Love. Them. To. Pieces. Even though sometimes we disagree, my family is always there for me in the end.

Today started out like any other Saturday. Went to bed late. Slept in. Checked facebook...that's where it all ends. You see, I had a friend request pending. I clicked on the button and saw that it was from my nephew...Scott. At first I thought, oh goodness, he went and created a facebook account on his own. His mother and I had a discussion a couple of months ago about why Scott didn't need a facebook. He'll be 13 in 3 months. That's right...13. In fact, the day after I turn 26. Maybe that's why we're so close. He was due on my birthday but arrived about 11 hours and 34 minutes too late. (Or something like that). Anyway, so you see I had this friend request and of course I accepted it, but the entire time I was thinking, "My nephew is old enough to have a facebook." Lord help us all.

There have been a lot of things lately that have reminded me that he's not the sweetest, cutest, smartest, funniest little 3 year old that I once knew (although, everything really still stands except for the age). Just the fact that he is about to be a teenager speaks volumes...I'm used to thinking of teenagers as kids that were teenagers when I first knew them, I don't like for people to grow up. Especially when they're younger than me and make me feel old. Anyway, so there's that.

He started junior high this fall. Junior high!!! He knows about fractions and all sorts of science stuff that I don't remember. He's learning it. He has to endure that world which I hated. All I want to do is be able to be there and not let him get bullied and for everyone else to see him as I see him. Which, won't happen, but isn't that what everyone wants? For people to love the people they (we) love as much as they (we) love them? (Does that make sense?) Don't we just want a better world/school/life for them than we had? I promise I'm not his mother.

He also attended SOAR this summer. A youth conference put on by the association of which their church is a part. It's for teenagers to grow closer to God and each other. But see, he was finally able to take part in something that had been 'mine' for 13 years. I remember the first time I went to SOAR and here was my nephew doing the same thing all those years later.

All these realizations really just shake my world. Make me realize life's not the same as it once was, nor will it ever be. Even when I move back to Mississippi, things won't be the same. I'm a different person (although not that much different) but I have encountered situations and people that have changed my life in Dallas in two short years. Don't you ever wish for those days back? When you were carefree and the extent of your worries was making sure that you got a red popsicle? (They ARE the best flavor after all).

People grow up. They change. Also the way we treat them has to change. I can't treat the soon to be 13 year old Scott the same way I treated the 3 year old Scott that watched Blues Clues. That and Barney, I think were some of his favorite shows. And I'm not ashamed to say that I watched them with him. When we'd get ready in the mornings I learned about pumpernickel bread. "Yum, yum, pumpernickel, pumpernickel bread." That's how the song went. And I STILL love the mail song from Blue's Clues. When I feel like having a laugh I'll sing it. I tried finding a good video of it but failed. They were either full of kids screaming along or 'remixes' that were quite scary.

Perhaps my most favorite picture ever of my nephew is of him when he's about 2 or 3 and he has on a striped green 'Steve' shirt, khaki pants, and is holding a stuffed Blue that made noises and stuff. Most absolute favorite picture ever.

He'll grow up, go to high school (Lord please help me on his first day of freshman year), go to college (oh no), and have a job and family of his own. But I'll never ever ever forget the little kid in that picture holding that stuffed animal dancing and smiling and laughing.

I just felt like reminiscing about my funny nephew. He really is the funniest 12 year old I know. So sharp. So cute. So loving. I'll leave you with some of my other favorite pictures of him :)

Second most favorite pic of him (then 10) and my sister (his mom - I won't say how old she was) :) Christmas picture at church.

Thanksgiving 2008

Maybe Thanksgiving or so 2005?

Around Christmas 2006 with Aunt Sarah

Me and him July 2009

Bushel and a peck. ;)