Who will you be waiting for?

Have you ever thought of who will be waiting for you when you get to Heaven?  Your family members?  Your friends?  Your mentors? 

I heard this phrase the other day, “who will YOU be waiting for”?  Who have you mentored in life or led to Christ that will one day be in Heaven?  Isn’t that a neat thought?  Can you just imagine that the people you have poured into will one day sing praise to Jesus with you in Heaven?

We always think about the people who have done so much for us but really, we need to think about what we can do for others.  It just gives me chills thinking about it.  Jesus had a life of servitude towards others and called us to do it too.  It shouldn’t be “what can you do for me” it SHOULD be “what can I do to help you”.

Even if someone goes to Heaven before you, wouldn’t it be cool to know that you played a hand in helping them get there?  I mean, they did the legwork (along with Jesus), but you played a part.  Who will you be rooting on from Heaven?  I want to be at those gates greeting people all the time!  I wonder if they have a bell or a paging service that when someone you knows is coming up, you greet them! 

When you get up there will you hear “Well done, good and faithful servant” or will you hear something else?  

Christmas Donations

Each year I try to donate a gift of some sort to a charity that helps people.  In the past it has been an angel tree, a box to the troops, animals, etc.  This year I am doing two different things (maybe three).  1.  I am giving two boxes filled with boxes to Samaritan’sPurse.  2.  Christmas gifts (several) to HFBC ChristmasStore.  3.  (maybe) A box of goodies for the troops serving in a foreign country such as Afghanistan.  

***I am showing you the boxes so you will know an example of what to put in them.  I am not trying to boast about what I am giving (which I personally think defeats the purpose of doing good).  I am donating other stuff, but I don't want anyone to think I am bragging about I am donating.  I honestly don't have much to give, but I want to share some resources for others to give.

 I used some boxes that I had at home.  Note that you won't get your boxes back.  Some drop off locations have boxes you can have.

Boys box includes:  Suckers (because what kid doesn't like suckers!), coloring book, crayons, socks, toothbrush, match box type cars.  They suggest starting off each box with a toy and adding other goodies-my toy was a set of cars.  There is enough of them that they can share with friends if they wanted to.

Girls box includes:  Suckers, coloring book, crayons, socks, tooth brush, hair bows, and a doll.  A note on the doll:  This is weird, but I didn't know what color of a doll to add. That sounded awful, let me explain.  When I was in Africa, a little girl started to cry because us white Americans came in and she hadn't ever seen a white person.  I know that the children will be appreciative of any doll they get, but I wanted them to have one that looks like them, so I chose a brown doll.  The pictures on the website all had darker skinned children.  I am REALLY hoping that this doesn't make me sound bad. LOL.

Want to donate yourself?  These are the places that I am sending my stuff to, but perhaps you have another place you like instead!  

1.  Samaritan's Purse

2.  Houston's First Baptist Church Christmas Store

3.  CAPS-Animal Shelter

4.  Any Solder

Just donate something!  Make it a yearly tradition, even if you don’t have much to give.  I know I personally don't have too much to give, but every little bit helps.  Honestly, it’s not your money, it’s God’s money.  You are just doing work for him through it.  Think about this story:

My friend (I'm not sure if she wants me to use her name) tells a story about how when she was little her mom was struggling and could not afford Christmas.  She got a Smurf doll donated and was so appreciative about it.  She still tells that story about how she wouldn't have gotten a Christmas, but one person donated something that gave her mom hope.  So sweet!  

Houston's First Celebration

This past Sunday I had the pleasure of going to Houston's First Baptist (my church) Celebration.  I bought two tickets and asked my Grandmother if she would like to come with me, she said yes!  I drove to Spring to pick her up, then we headed back to my side of town for dinner and the play. 

For the past 6 years Houston's First has had a Christmas play called Celebration.  I had never gone before, so I wasn't quite sure what to expect.  Let me tell you, it was amazing!  There was acrobatics, live animals, snow, music, lights, and more.  Spectacular!

I think the theme is changed each year, but this year it had a Christmas movie theme.  Famous Christmas movies like Elf, Polar Express, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Home Alone, etc were featured.  Kids and adults both were doing the musical numbers.  They said a total of 800 people were involved in making this production a success.  All in the name of telling the story of Jesus!  The more I get involved in Houston's First, the more I am beginning to love it.

There were acrobatical numbers with people doing flips on a tight rope thing, then people hanging from the ceiling Circ del la (spelling?) style and doing flips.  It was awesome!  My favorite I think was the Elf movie and the musical number from Polar Express, Hot Chocolate.   How the Grinch Stole Christmas, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, and Frosty the Snowman were hits too.  Oh and the kids from the Charlie Brown Christmas Story were so adorable!  OK, I can't choose a favorite.

Then there was a transition to the story of the birth of Christ.  The actors came from all over the sanctuary and angels were floating from the rafters (sky) above.  It was so magical!  There were live monkeys, a baby lion, a camel, and a zebra.  The story went from Jesus' birth to death to resurrection. The songs were wonderful!

Houston's First will be taking a break in 2015 in honor of the Sabbath (God rested on the 7th day), but they will be back in 2016!!  I cannot wait to go again.

Look who was mentioned in the program!  It's Into Abba's Arms, the children's home I went to in Kenya!

Mayan Madness

Today, according to the Mayan calendar, the world ceases to be in existence.  Hmmm.  Well, if Marty McFly can make it to 2015 in Back to the Future, then so can all of us.   

But, just in case the rapture happens, I have my last cup of Starbucks to enjoy my time here on Earth.  Haha.

According to the Bible, the Rapture will happen first and all the Christians will leave Earth and the world will be left with non believers.   The world will just not cease to exist one day until after the Rapture and all of the events foretold in the Bible happen.  Plus, the Bible says that no one except God will know when Jesus is coming back to Earth, and he will come back like a thief in the night.  If you live your life correctly and accept Jesus in your heart then you won’t have to worry about when Jesus comes, you will be ready. :)   (Note:  this link is an outline, but I would go to a local church and talk with a staff member about your decision so they can pray with you).

For more information about the Rapture and the end days I would read the Left Behind series Tim LaHaye and Jerry B. Jenkins.  These books were popular a few years ago when they came out and give the reader a popular culture view of what will happen.  Honestly, sometimes the Bible can be hard to understand (some versions are easier to read than others) and these books put the Biblical text in modern language and a story format with characters. 

Three gifts

Lately, since it's holiday frenzy time, I have been seeing lots of posts of Facebook about my friends stressing out that they can't find this gift for this person, or that they are worried if this person has enough gifts, etc.  It drives me insane that people are taking Christ out of Christmas and replacing it with X-Box, Legos, and Barbie's. 

Let me remind you that Jesus got THREE gifts, Gold, Frankincense, and Myrrh. Just three gifts and he is JESUS, the King of Kings!  I am sorry to be the one to tell you this, but your child is not better than Jesus and does not deserve anything better than him.

My (future) children will only get three gifts from me and my (future) husband.  No one will say they are deprived because they will absolutely not be just because they don't get every single thing on their wish list.  Besides that, they will get a mountain of other toys from your other family members.  Aunts, Uncles, Cousins, Grandparents, etc are all going to get little Suzy and Timmy something.  Don't stress, it's not what the holidays are about.

My friend said that she knows a woman that gets her children three gifts one educational, one spiritual, and one fun gift.  I love that idea!  Maybe I will adopt that idea too.

So, this year remember the reason for the season is JESUS.  

Passing

When I was 9 my Mom and my stepdad Keith got married. That day I gained a stepbrother (Brandon), a slew of aunts, uncles and cousins, and also two wonderful grandparents.

My grandparents, Grandmother and Grandfather, are two of the most special people you will ever meet.  They have been married for 55 years (in November) and are the most Christian people that you ever hope to come in contact with.  Everyone loves my grandparents and everyone knows who they are. 

On June 8^th my Mom texted me and said that my Grandfather was in the hospital getting some tests done on his heart, but I didn't think much of it since they were just tests.  Then she called to say that he was having open heart surgery the next Monday. Huh?  I thought it was just tests!

Grandfather had the same surgery 4 or 5 years ago but at the time he didn't have many veins to work with.  When he was in the Air Force he had varicose veins so they stripped them out.  When he went to have the surgery, they didn't have many veins so the surgery wasn't quite as successful as it needed to be. This time however they had flown in veins from Atlanta so they knew they would have some to work with.  Before the surgery we were all joking with him that he probably would be getting a rapper's veins and he would wake up wanting an Escalade and a grill. :) haha.

On Monday we all got to the hospital and waited to see how he was doing.  The surgery went well and we went to lunch for a break.  When I was coming in from running an errand my sister called to say that he had just had a heart attack and wasn't doing well.  I rushed inside and we waited. About 7:45 pm I decided to head home since he had become more stable.  Tuesday and Wednesday were up and down days but mostly stable and there was no need for me to leave work to come up there (but my work would have been 100% understanding for me to take off).  I thought he was on a road to recovery.

On Thursday morning at 4 am I got a call from my sister saying that he hospital called and that everyone needs to get to the hospital as soon as possible and that he had taken a turn for the worse.  My sister said she was on her way and that she would call me if I needed to drive over.  I decided I wanted to come anyway so I emailed my boss (I couldn't call since it was 4 am!) to let him know I wouldn't be in and got dressed.  On the way there I stopped and got breakfast tacos for everyone.  When I got there we all talked and waited for the doctor to come talk to us.  What had happened was that the pump that had been placed in him wasn't strong enough and they were going to switch out the pump for a larger one.  His blood pressure had also been going up and down and the medicine they had been using to stop it was not working.  The surgery went well and the doctor said that there was still hope.  Around lunch he was doing a bit better so my sister Laura and I went to get something to eat.

We were sitting in the Mexican food restaurant when my Mom called Laura to say that we needed to get back asap and that he wasn't doing well.  I was eating chicken soup with vegetables and got a weird feeling staring down at it.  I honestly don't think I will ever want chicken soup again. :/  We got our bill and drove back to the hospital.  We saw our little sister Tori crying downstairs (everyone was on the 4th floor) and asked what was wrong.  Apparently the larger pump stopped working and his heart couldn’t beat on its own.  Before he went in he had told Grandmother that he didn’t want to be hooked up to machines keeping him alive so they agreed to let him go.  Around 1:30 or 2 pm they decided that it was time to let him go on to Heaven.  We all got to say goodbye and it was heart wrenching.  This was the first grandparent that I have lost, and also the first person that was close to me that has gone.  It was a sad day.

(Obituary from the paper)

Afterwards we all went back to Grandmothers and just talked about our memories of him.  So many people brought dinner (I think I have gained 5 lbs this weekend) and came over to pay their condolences.  I went home that night and cried.  Jabba just laid at my feet by me at the end of the bed while I cried myself to sleep.  The next day I was going to get dressed for work, but I just couldn’t go in.  I went over to my other grandparent’s house and took my Maw-Maw to Hope Village to eat lunch (she had wanted to go ever since I had first wanted to go).

On Saturday I wanted to get out of the house so I called Brandon (my stepbrother) and we went resale shop shopping and to the zoo!  The zoo was fun…I saw FLAMINGOS (and some other animals).  The entire time we kept telling stories about Grandfather to each other.  It was a fun day.  When we were going home I got a call from my friend Debbie and she invited me to a play.  I had kept myself busy all weekend because I didn't want to be alone and think about losing someone I loved.

Sunday was Father’s Day so we took my Dad to Bingo (we didn’t win) and afterwards I went back over to Grandmothers to be with my family.  A few people had flown or drove in that I had never met, along with my Aunt Kay cousins Jonathan and Grace.  It was great seeing everyone.

Sunday night I went to stay at Laura’s house (my Mom’s house was full) and played with the boys (Cole loves peek-a-boo) and woke up the enxt morning ready to go to the memorial service.

I woke up around 6:30 to shower and get dressed.  Hunter wanted pancakes (and I wanted iced coffee) so I went and got everyone breakfast from McDonald’s then we headed to the funeral home.  They had the burial first, then the memorial service at Spring Baptist Church.  The memorial was packed with family and friends.  We sat up front closest to the stage, next to all of the flowers.  My work had sent a really pretty plant and there were about 15 other arrangements on the stage.  Keith’s (my stepdad) entire team (U.S. Marshall’s) came to support him, along with other police officers.  My Maw-Maw and Paw-Paw had come also and they sat next to me.

The service was beautiful and uplifting, just has Grandfather would have wanted it to be.  There were so many jokes and funny stories told about him.  Each son, daughter in law, and grandchild had written something about Grandfather and they read what we had written.  The service ended with an uplifting song and the family went out to the lobby, then everyone came up to us and hugged us.  Afterwards we had a huge lunch and ate tons of food!  I was still full from lunch at 9 pm.

I headed home around 7 pm and Jabba met me at the door.  I picked him up and hugged him (my friend Sarah had fed him on Sunday night and Monday morning while I was away…Thanks Sarah!) and he had lots of things to say to me.  This morning I went to work as usual to get back into my regular routine. 

At work today everyone came up to me like I was so fragile and like they didn’t want to upset me.  Honestly though, I am really ok.  It’s weird but I really ok.  I miss him and have cried a lot during this past week, but I sort of feel at peace.  He was 78 years old and had a great, fulfilling life, but he was ready to see his Mom and Dad again.  God wanted him in Heaven. 


I know that he heard "Well done good and faithful servant" when he entered the pearly gates. :)  In his prayers he always said “God please guide and protect our loved ones wherever they are” and I know that Grandfather is up in Heaven with God helping guide and protect me.  Thank you Grandfather for loving me and mentoring me, you will forever be missed.

Here are some memories/stories about him that I thought I would share.

Christmas-Every Christmas Eve we all went over to their house and Grandfather would read the story of Jesus’ birth to us.  He had a box with gold, frankincense, and myrrh and would show all of us (I remember thinking that was so cool when I was a kid).  Then Grandfather would pass out presents to each of us one at a time and say ‘Is Stephanie here, I haven’t seen her’ then we would say ‘I am right here’.  After everyone had gotten a present we would go around again.  “Is Stephanie still here, I think she must have left”  then we would say “I am right here!” and roll our eyes.  It went on for a while.  Even though I would roll my eyes, I loved it.

Gum-Grandfather always carried around Wrigley’s gum in his pocket.  Yellow, Red, White, Green, and Blue (not sure what all the flavors are).  Anytime we wanted some gum he would pull all of them out of his pocket and ask us which one we wanted (Me?  Green or blue please, not red-YUCK!). 

Coke-When my parents first got married I went to Grandmother and Grandfather’s house and they asked me what I wanted to drink and I wanted a cherry coke.  They didn’t have one, but the next time I came over they made sure they were stocked up with cherry coke (and have been for the last 21 years that my parents have been married).  It is sweet that they cared enough about me to get what I liked and keep it there for whenever I came over.

Laugh-Grandfather had the biggest laugh and it sort of sounded like Santa! I will remember that laugh.

Who let the dogs out-Grandfather heard “Who let the dogs out” and for YEARS he would go around the house singing “Who let the dogs out” then would (really loud) go Whoo Whoo Whooo. LOL.  It’s was really funny.



Jumping out of a perfectly good airplane

#9 on my 30 before 30 list is to skydive!  WOW!  Ummm, can I switch it for something else on my list?!  Haha.

Did I end up doing it?  YEP! Was I scared out of my mind? YEP!  Look at my hair!

I woke up at about 7:30 on Sunday morning to get ready for church.  Since moving to the West side of Houston I having been searching for a new church, I miss New Hope!  This weekend I tried Tallowood Baptist Church.  I liked the church and the pastor a lot, but I am really looking for a church with a bigger singles group where I can meet people. :/  I am going to try one more ( ) and then if I do not like that one, I will go back to Houston’s First Baptist (my fav so far).

Back to skydiving:

After church I headed home to wait for Laura and say bye to Jabba.  Jabba wasn’t interested in saying bye to me; I guess he figured I would be ok. Haha. BRAT!  I packed my bag also at this time with an extra change of clothes (just in case I pee’d in my pants! Haha).  I also ate a banana and a Clif bar (left over from my training) so I wouldn’t get sick during the jump.  Laura got dropped off right after 12 pm by Beau and my two favorite boys, Hunter and Cole.  Funny story:  I asked Hunter if he wanted to come watch me, but he said “No, if I go I will want to jump and I don’t want to today.”  Haha. He is so cute.  Cole was sleeping when they came so they put in for a nap in my bed, but of course he woke up.  Jabba was all about the visitors, soaking up every minute of ear scratching he could get. ;)  After Cole woke up he played in Jabba’s water fountain (and soaking the floor) for a while, they headed out and we were on our way to pick up Maw-Maw.  The three of us just chatted the whole way, the closer we got the more nervous I got.

We got to Skydive Spaceland in Rosharon, TX about 5-10 minutes before 2 pm and I checked in.  As I was signing my paperwork Laura said that she wished she could do it.  Eventually she said she would and got her paperwork together also.  Earlier, I had invited my Mom to see if she wanted to come watch she said she had no interest in watching her child jump out of an airplane so I called and told her that her chances of her child getting hurt by jumping just doubled and that Laura is now jumping.  “Great”, is what I heard on the other end of the phone.   Haha.  Laura called Beau and she told him she was jumping, he said something about he wishes she wouldn’t and they have two kids to think about. She went anyway. :/

Training

We were taken upstairs to hear someone tell us what to do (we were told again by our instructor later) watch a short video that included this guy.  What is going on with his beard?!  Doesn’t it make you want to braid it?

                                     

The Wait

We got there around two, but we didn’t jump til at least 3:30 or 4 pm.  I am not sure what time exactly we got into the plane, but it took awhile.  I think it might have been the wind or something.  While waiting we started talking to a guy that was doing his first solo jump. YIKES!  He was super sweet, and was a firefighter for Houston.  We talked to him for awhile and he ended up sitting with Maw-Maw and taking pictures for us while we jumped.  I didn’t get his name, but he was cute! J  I am a sucker for guys with arm muscles and he had them(no baseball cap though darnit)!  Haha.  No, I didn’t get his number (lost my nerve), but I should have!   After you watch the training video, you wait until your name is on the monitor to see what flight you are going up.  Our name was on the board already after we watched the video.   Originally I was supposed to go with a guy named Jay, but ended up being paired with an instructor named Boston.

The suit up

Laura’s guy found her first, then a while later Boston found me.  OMG!  Boston was HOTT!  I will be strapped to him any day. ;)  Swoon.

Boston showed me which suit to wear (blue) and helped me get into my harness.  I kept trying to ask him about how many times he jumped, but he kept saying two!  I seriously was hoping that he was joking, otherwise I would find another instructor pronto (cute or not!).   I told him how easily I get motion sickness and that I didn’t want to do tons of flips and turns.  He was glad I told him and gave me a plastic bag in case I got sick, and then he proceeded to tell me a few stories about people getting sick.  Luckily, I ended up not needing one.  Before we got on the plane I made sure to pray for our safety (mainly for me and Laura, but then I added everyone to be nice…thought they would appreciate it).

The plane ride

We were the second set to board the plane (the first goes last) and we sat down on the bench next to each other.  Laura and her instructor were on the other bench a few people down.  The entire way people kept joking about things and ‘being scared,’ me? I WAS TERRIFIED!  My sister said my pupils were huge and I think they then figured out I was really scared and not just acting like it.  They sort of calmed down with the joking after that.  Thank goodness! J  We were in the plane for a while, at least 5-7 minutes before we got to where we needed to be in the air.  At first it was really hot, but they opened some window or door and a breeze came in.  On the way up I prayed for everyone again!  At one point (between all my hyperventilating) they started to strap us to our instructor.  Let me tell you, you get REALLY up close and personal with your instructor.  Really close. Lucky for me Boston is a hottie so I was good. (That might sound weird, but I don’t care!).  All of the sudden the plane stalled (engine stopped) and the other door flew open (it was cold all of the sudden).  It’s weird how the plane just stops.  I tried to keep my head low (and not cry) and just focus on trying anything but jumping, but then Boston said look at the door, Laura is jumping.  I think I may of cried out a bit and reached out my hand when I saw her go.  Since we were the second pair to go inside the plane, we should have been second to last to jump, NOPE-we were the LAST!  We stood up and sort of did a crab walk thing since the ceiling in the plane was really low to the door of the plane.  We were at the door.

The jump

I tried not to look down to much I looked to the right like I was supposed to (and thought what the heck was I doing, but whatever) and Boston swayed us one way and then we were out! For probably like two seconds my stomach fell (like it does when you are on a roller coaster) and then it stopped. 

Freefalling

The free fall was loud and I was told to straighten my arms and do a ‘superman’.  The entire freefall I kept saying, “God keep me safe, God keep me safe, God keep me safe” I was too worried about myself to pray for anyone else! Haha. J  It was so cold up there and my googles were stuck to my face like they were afraid to fall too, they hurt!  Then I was tapped on the shoulder.  That is all I remember about the freefall, it was terrifying.

Parachuting

I was not paying attention to my watch and looked at it and we were at 6,000!  Oops, time to pull the cord.  I reached back and could not find the freakin’ thing.  You are supposed to pull towards you really hard, but I think I was pulling backwards.  I screamed for a second when I couldn’t pull it and sort of panicked (aren’t you proud of me, that’s the only time I screamed).  Boston realized that I wasn’t finding it and pulled it for me.  Thank goodness!  I know I can’t jump solo because I would panic.  The parachute opened (halleluiah!) and we were jerked back.  Instantly it got much quieter (freefalling is loud!  120 mph will do that). 

Once the parachute opened I instantly put my hands on the harness and held on (I did feel safe and secure in the belt, but I still wasn’t going to chance falling out).  Boston asked me how I felt and I said that my boobs hurt (sorry, TMI). The strap went right across my chest (I think a guy invented that!) and it hurt.  In air he loosened it and it felt much better.   I asked where my sister was and he looked around for her.  She was to our left and waving at us.  I looked but I was still holding on for dear life (my hands were getting tired at this point so honestly it wouldn’t have mattered) so I didn’t wave, I think Boston waved for the both of us.  Boston asked if I wanted to steer the parachute and I said no thank you, he said ok it was his favorite part so he didn’t mind.  He asked if I wanted to go through a cloud, yes please!  Clouds are awesome.  Parachuting was very relaxing (for the most part) and we just glided.  We were the last out of the plane so I got to see everyone else land.  Boston is an excellent parachute flyer and I knew I was in good hands.  He told me he was kidding earlier and that he had done around 7,000 jumps in 9 years, he had been jumping since he was 23.  Let’s all do the math…that’s 32…I am 30…he is hot… Good girls love bad boys…Boston needs to marry me.  . J (I am just kidding, if Boston ever reads this I will just DIE of embarrassment-forget jumping out of a plane!)

Laura was already on the ground and she loved it, she wants to go again.  She got to fly the parachute and do flips and turns.  This is her and her instructor afterwards (I am sad I didn’t get a picture with Boston).  When we got inside we both hugged Maw-Maw and texted my mom “finally” was all she texted back. Haha.  Laura called Beau and he was relived she was back on the ground.

I am sure there were some other technical things I didn’t mention about the jump, but I was too afraid to notice anything else.

The landing

The landing was super easy. Boston just said to lift my feet up and we would land.  We came in and people grabbed us and helped us down.  I <3 the ground.

(Laura and her instructor Dale)

After

When we landed Boston gave me a hug (double swoon) and told me to go inside and take off the suit.  I was shaking and he said it was from all of the adrenaline in my body after our jump.  Afterwards I thanked the hottie fireman for taking pictures and asked him about how Maw-Maw took us jumping.  He said she did well and only was mildly panicked when she noticed people dropping and then finally she saw parachutes opening.  He tried to find us while in air and he thought he saw me go through the cloud.  He was right, that was me!  He had been taking pictures the entire time.  Super sweet/cute fireman!

I went inside and hung up my suit on the rack and headed straight to the gift store and bought this sticker.

Afterwards I found Boston and he gave me a log book so I can record my jump in case I ever wanted to go again (NOPE!).  He even wrote Happy B’day on it. 

Final Thoughts.

Would I go again? No!  Would I recommend someone else do it? Heck yes!  It was a super fun experience, but I am not into doing things like that multiple times.  God kept me safe once; I am not going to press my luck again. J

Skydive Spaceland:  The center was really nice and professional. I felt very safe the entire time (overall, but how safe can you feel freefalling 7,000 feet?).  I would absolutely recommend going to Skydive Spaceland to anyone who wants to skydive and have an amazing time doing it.  The hanger is huge and even has a restaurant/snack bar at the top (I wouldn’t recommend eating right before going up).

My instructor Boston (aka the hottie):  Boston was super sweet and very knowledgeable; he tried to make the entire experience fun.  He has a great since of humor and I would feel safe jumping with him again (I’m not going to do it again, but if I did, I would ask for him).  THANK YOU BOSTON for keeping me safe! 

Get out the popcorn, it’s movie time!

#19 on my 30 under 30 list is to watch 5 classic movies I have never seen.  When I wrote this item on my list I didn’t know what movies I wanted to add, I just knew that people were always talking about this movie or that movie and I had no idea what they were talking about.  I knew pretty early on that I wanted Shawshank Redemption and Urban Cowboy, but the other three I wasn’t so sure about.  I enlisted the help of my Facebook friends and also a little guy named Google.  Between the two of them I came up with this list:

1.        Shawshank Redemption

2.        Urban Cowboy

3.        An Affair to Remember

4.        Saving Private Ryan

5.       The Passion of the Christ

I think it’s a pretty good list!  Some of you wouldn’t believe I haven’t seen some of these movies.  What? I live in Texas and I haven’t seen Urban Cowboy?! LOL, NOPE! 

Well, here is my review of these 5 movies.

Shawshank Redemption-5 stars!!!!!!!  Loved, loved, loved this movie.  I bought it in the $5 bin at Wal-mart, the rest I rented from Blockbuster.  The story is about a prison called Shawshank where a young banker goes after he is wrongly accused of murdering his wife and her lover.  You see his story has he is in prison for years and his trials and tribulations of what happens to him.  I don’t want to give away any details in case you haven’t seen it.  A few WOW and favorite moments: The part about his young friend and the warden (OMG I do not like it when people pretend to be ‘Christian’ and act like that).  The old guy when he was let go and what happened after!  The corruption!  The end of the movie! 

Please, please, please rent this movie!!!

Urban Cowboy-Ugh.  I really didn’t like this movie.  Well, it wasn’t BAD, but it wasn’t great.  I didn’t like John Trvolta’s character because he treated his wife like crap-granted, she was not the brightest and the best wife, but he didn’t have to treat her like that.  Urban Cowboy is a story that is based in Pasadena, TX (close to where I live now) and the bar in the story was called Gilley’s (which used to be a famous bar that I think burned down many years ago).  The main character moved to Pasadena to work at the plants and goes out dancing at Gilley’s one night. He meets a girl and they fall in ‘love’ and get married.  The rest of the story is about them fighting and him trying to win her back by being a great mechanical bull rider.  What is classic about this?  I’m not sure, but it wasn’t great.  I now can say that I have seen it though. :/ 

An Affair to Remember-Eh, this movie was just OK.  It was a sweet story, but it was sort of lame!  The story is about two people who are engaged to someone else, go on a cruise and fall in love with someone else.  They agree to meet at the top of the Empire State Building 6 months from that day.  They both tell their fiancés’ that they are leaving them, and get real jobs (neither had worked before).  They go to meet and XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX.  Did you REALLY think I was going to tell you what happened?!  The movie was old (I’m not really a fan of old movies) and the way they acted was annoying.  I like movies set in present day because I can relate to the characters.  I did love her clothes though!  Super cute outfits.

Saving Private Ryan-This movie was good!  I typically don’t like gory movies with lots of blood and death, but this one I didn’t mind because I  know that our veterans really did suffer like that many years ago (and many are still suffering today).  SPR is set in WWII and it follows a team of about 8 men who are on a mission to find 1 soldier that was dropped somewhere but they don’t know exactly where.  The soldier that they were looking for was being sent home based on the Sole Survivor Policy. He was the youngest of 4 boys and all 3 of his older brothers were drafted in the war and had died forcing him to be sent home.  There was a lot of drama in this film and a lot of death.  The first 30 minutes of the movie was a horrific battle scene where tons of men die trying to get on an island.

The Passion of the Christ-This moving was very interesting and I learned so much from it.  I knew the basic story of how Jesus was crucified, but now I know a lot more details!  I am so glad I watched this movie alone.  Why?  Well, #1 I cried!  Yes, you all know me very well and know that I cry at the drop of a hat anyway, but this movie hurt my heart a lot.  I had heard that he was nailed to the cross, and a cross of thorns placed on his head…but beat up like a dog?  NO!  They kept beating and beating and beating him.  I don’t understand how they could think that was fun?!  Jesus kept saying ‘Your will God, not Mine’ and each time he saw his mother his resolve got stronger and he was able to take everything they gave him.  I kept thinking how hard that must have been for Mary to see her son being beaten over and over and not being able to stop it. As a mother to Jabba it hurts my heart when he looks sad or scared, but if he was to ever be hurt I would go crazy!  Mary couldn’t hold Jesus and tell him it was ok, because she didn’t know if it would and she couldn’t get to him.  I cried for both of them.  #2.  I stopped the movie about 20 times!  I saw something and I googled it to read about who that was or what just happened.  I didn’t know Judas hung himself!  I didn’t know why Mary and Mary Magdalene wiped up Jesus’ blood.  I didn’t know one of Jesus’ disciples was his half brother. I didn’t know that the Governor of the city was told by his wife not to let anything happen to Jesus, but he turned his back on him, even when he knew that Jesus was innocent.  The list goes on and on, but I am glad I watched it alone because it would be annoying to someone else if I had kept pressing pause.

Christmas 2011

I must have been a VERY good girl this year because Santa brought me so much stuff for Christmas!  J  I posted several pictures below, but there are more pics on my SmugMug page.  Enjoy!

Jabba and I hope you had an awesome day/weekend/month celebrating the birth of Jesus!

Christmas Eve

On Christmas Eve afternoon I went to my church, New Hope for services at 5:30, then volunteered in the nursery during the next service.  All of the babies in their cute Christmas outfits were so cute.  I <3 babies!  During the service the preschool kids came up and sang a few Christmas songs and Pastor Tim challenged us that each time we see a manger in someone’s yard we should say out loud “Thank you God for sending Jesus to us”.  I am happy to report that I finished my homework assignment!  We also watched the Birth of Jesus-Facebook style.  (Google it on You Tube)

As I was leaving I watched a little boy getting baptized in the foyer.  He had told his dad that he wanted to be baptized by Pastor John.  His dad said they could probably arrange it, but why would it have to be a person named John? He said because Jesus was baptized by a John.  LOL.  Kids are so cute! 

After church I went over ot my Uncle Roger and Aunt Laura’s house for a Christmas Eve dinner.  We had appetizers and wine!  Plus my favorite deviled eggs and black olives!!!!  It’s not Christmas unless I eat both of those things.

I went home afterwards and played with Jabba.  Here he is all tucked in bed waiting for Santa Paws!

Christmas Morning

I woke up about 9 am on Christmas morning planning on doing some sort of exercise but that didn’t happen.  It was cold!  So instead Jabba and I opened his present!

What is it Mommy?

Jabba got some catnip treats, a laser pointer, a new feather toy, and a Furminator.  

Afterwards I made him put on his reindeer antlers!  So cute!  He was not happy with me.

Then I stopped at my Aunt Laura and Uncle Roger’s again to see my Grandparents (Maw-Maw and Paw-Paw) and my Uncle Wendall and Aunt Kay + their kids.  We had lunch over there and I got to eat deviled eggs again.  I brought the cake balls that I had attempted to make (tasted wonderful, but looked awful!) and they were a hit.

Then I made my way to Spring to see my parents.  First stop was my Mom’s where I saw two of my favorite little men, Hunter and Cole!

Look at my presents!  All for me! 

My stocking!  When Laura and I were little my Aunt had a fundraiser at her school (waaayyy long time ago) and they were selling Christmas stockings.  My Mom got Laura and I one and we have used it ever since.  Mine has a ‘S’ in it and Laura’s has a ‘L’.  When Tori was little she was always so jealous of our stockings!  Ha ha.  Aren’t they cute?!  Vintage.  My stocking had a martini mix, Starbucks gift card, pink fuzzy socks, a Lifesaver book, and candy!  Plus I also got some wine glass charms.

My parents bought me the running medal holder that I wanted, it says ‘Never Limit your Challenges, Challenge your limits”.

And a food processor! 

And a FLAMINGO wine stopper!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Thanks Mom and Keith.

My grandparents (Grandmother and Grandfather) came over also and they gave me a casserole dish and some Bath and Body works lotion (smells wonderful!).  I have officially come to the age that I am to old to show up to a party without bringing something. In the past, I have always been able to get away with saying that my mom will bring something.  Not so much anymore. L That’s ok though, because I asked for casserole dishes for Christmas!  Thanks G’Mother and G’Father.

I got Hunter and Cole both a shirt for Christmas (which Laura had given to them already without me being there. Boo), and a gift card (Hunter-Game Stop, Cole-Walmart).  

After leaving my Mom’s I headed over to my Dad and Pie’s house to celebrate with them.  We had lasagna and salad for dinner and opened gifts.  I got an In Styler for my hair!!  I had been wanting one of these for awhile now and I finally got one.  Thanks Dad and Pie.

After my sister left (she had to go to her mother in laws house) my younger siblings (my Dad’s three other kids) came over and I got to see baby Jeremiah for the first time since May.  He was so cute! 

I got home around 10 pm and said goodnight to Jabba shortly afterwards, I had to wake up super early to go shopping!