That Good Old Baylor Line

"We'll march forever down the years,
As long as stars shall shine.
We'll fling our green and gold afar
To light the ways of time,
And guide us as we onward go;
That good old Baylor line!"

This is what I hear every time my mother answers her cell phone when I call her. 'Why' you ask? Because a couple of weeks ago, I helped her download downloaded her alma mater from Baylor University (in Wacko, Texas-as she says) as a ringtone to her phone. Oh how my mama loves her school. Can I tell you how many times she did their whole 'Sic 'em Bears' football bear claw during my childhood? So now, whenever she receives a call-from me anyway, she sings along with the ringtone and continues to sing even after she answers the call. It really is quite amusing. The extent of her joy at hearing that song every day really cannot be expressed in my feeble words on this blog. In fact, the day she got it, she called me and left the voicemail:

Hey, it's your mother. Just checking on you. Call me back when you get this-I want to hear my ringtone. I left my phone on all day just so I could hear it and nobody's called me all day long. So call me back. (Said in her best 'woe is me' voice.)

My little mama's a funny woman. We get at least one good chuckle during every chat and usually have pretty good conversations. She is so excited about the holidays I don't think she can contain herself. Minus having to work this week and panicking at having 8 of us in their 3 bedroom house, she LOVES this time of year. Take this conversation we had Saturday for example:

Me: What are you doing?
Mom: I'm at the Wal-Mart buying Thanksgiving decorations.
Me: You never decorate for Thanksgiving! What's up with that?
Mom: I've never had so many people coming for Thanksgiving!

And this conversation earlier in the day is a prime example of her secretly trying to contain her glee while going into "freak out" mode:

Me: When is JP (my little bro) coming?
Mom: He and Sydnee (his gf) are coming in either Tuesday night or Wednesday morning and leaving Thursday night. And your father and I are going to a hotel.
Me: What!?!?! Why?
Mom: Well, there's you & Zeb, Jonathan & Sydnee, Brian & Ali, me & your father. Where are we all going to sleep???

She's so funny sometimes. I love it! I can't wait to see that little woman and give her a big hug. And Dad too. He's looking for good leaf rakers this week. I told him I was bringing a good helper-Z. :) But truth be told, I'll find any excuse to hang out with the fam and just be around them. I'm so looking forward to it myself! I don't know who is more excited, me or my mama.

FYI: I LOVE PUMPKINS!

What am I not looking forward to? The 15 hour car ride. Granted, being with Z is always fun and he keeps me laughing but 15 hours in any car does not bode pleasant thoughts for me. It will be nice since we don't usually get to spend so much time together. And we have snacks and drinks and books and quizzes and music and blankets and magazines packed to keep us occupied so hopefully we'll be ok. Thank goodness he's so laid back and peaceful. He really is my balance. So even though it's a forever long drive, I am sure we'll have a good time together.

The thing I'm anticipating most about this holiday? No, it's not the actual Thanksgiving dinner food (although it probably should be as my mama is the best cook known to humankind). It's the time during and just after we eat where we all sit and talk and LAUGH. Those are my favorite memories of my family-our laughter. We are blessed enough that both of my brothers possess this insane ability to make anything funny. Whether it's front or cover, I'm not sure. But it is SO FUN! We typically laugh until Mom has to go 'check on the baby' (as they used to say) and my sides and cheeks hurt from laughing so much. It's by far the best part of ANY time that my whole family gets together. And this year will be fun with all 8 of us being there.

Can you tell I'm excited???

I have some other posts started that will have to wait. Z & I are leaving as soon as I get off work today and will be on the road through the night and into the morrow. (Sheesh, who ever thought I would use the word 'morrow' in my writing???) Say a prayer for us if you don't mind. And I'll be back with lots of great Turkey Day updates. My prayers are that each of us has a blessed holiday filled with thankfulness and gratitude to our great God who is the Giver of all that is good.

Happy Thanksgiving Y'all!

Blessings,
B
Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. James 1:17

What A Man, What A Man, What A Man, What A Mighty Good Man

Yes, he is y'all!

Ok, I know I talk about him quite often but I'd like to take a quick commercial break from our regularly scheduled blog to dote about my boyfriend, Z.

(Mom and Dad, sit down.)

I have never been more sure of anything in my life when I say that I know that Zebulon Albert Parker is the man God created for me. He exceeds all my expectations and is so much better than I ever dreamed a man could be. And is certainly 1,000 times better than what I deserve.

Why am I so head over heels for him? Well, let me just tell you about his latest romantic gesture. I had a bad day today. When I say bad, I mean one of Alexander's terrible, horrible, no good, very bad days. My emotions had been a roller coaster wreck all day and I had an extremely painful afternoon (for my heart, not physically). But I determined within myself (and with Z's help) to go to church and make the best of it. So as I'm sitting in service at approximately 6:40 or so, in walks Z who proceeds to sit down beside me on the pew as if such an act were absolutely normal. That would be normal except that he lives 2 hours away and had brought his mom with him. So after a couple passed notes during the sermon (sorry, Lord), he told me that he had come to make sure that I was ok and that his 'soulmate was hurting so he was hurting'.

Can I tell you how desperately I just wanted to grab ahold of him as tight as I possibly could and cry at that moment? But I didn't because he had also written [Don't cry.]. I'm telling you this man is amazing. So after church and a dinner with him and his mom, we came back to my house where we sat and chatted for a while. It felt so good to just sit and be myself as we laughed and talked together. After his mom went out to the car to give us a few minutes of privacy, he held me close and told me that he would always be there for me. And no matter what time it was or what he was doing, he'd always just be a 2 hour drive away.

There was lots more mushy stuff said but I'll spare you. I just basically wanted to share that I have the most amazing boyfriend in the world and no, you can't have him. I can't believe how blessed I am for God to have brought him to me and will never give him up.

Ok, so there's my nomination for the Best Boyfriend On The Face Of The Earth award. And in my eyes, he's already the winner!

I love you, Z!


Blessings,
Bethany
Delight yourselves in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart. Psalm 37:4

These Times They Are A-Changin'

CHANGE IS HARD.

Yeah, yeah. I know after such a long period of silence you probably want to read something a bit more revolutionary. But I'm sticking to what I know and I know change is hard.

There's a lot in my life that seems to be changing. Actually, the majority of what is changing is me. If you had asked me even just 3 months ago where I thought I'd be by Thanksgiving, I don't know exactly what I would have said but I certainly wouldn't have anticipated being here of all places.

Now, I know what you're thinking (Mom) and no, I'm not moving. This week anyway. My life just seems to have taken off on a spin of it's own, completely out of my control. Which, if you know me at all, is very unprecedented. I'm usually on top of things and have a plan for at least the next 7.2 weeks. But somehow, there is a plan that is being laid out before me that is not my own. And well, my only conclusion is that the other Person who is control of my life must be laying it out. And for once, I'm ok with that.

Don't get me wrong, I'm still as nervous as a long-tailed cat in a room full of rocking chairs and a wee bit skeert but overall, there's a calming Voice assuring me that 'This is how it's supposed to be.' So I just keep walking and trusting, my hand in His.

I read an article this morning, well, really a blog from Jeremi Richardson of the group Avalon. In his writing, Jeremi recounts reading Dr. Randy Pausch's book (author of The Last Lecture) and reconsidering all the 'brick walls' in his life. Over the past year, give or take a few months, I've made lots of plans only to meet, in many cases, a brick wall. So many times, I consider those brick walls a stopping point, concluding that if I meet such a wall, then what's on the other side must not be meant for me and my life. But Jeremi poses some good thoughts that he gleaned from Dr. Pausch's book about those walls, especially this one:

Brick walls are there for a reason, they let us prove how badly we want something.

So I'm left with questions. And driven to this prayer:

Lord,
Help me accept the brick walls that signify an end to my journey in that direction. Help me continue to persevere in the direction of those that signify simply an obstacle to prove my desire for what's on the other side. But most importantly Lord, give me the discernment to identify which is which and the wisdom to know the difference. I trust You.
Your daughter,
Bethany.

Here's hoping that you'll be able to pray a similar prayer soon.

Blessings,
Bethany

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven:
a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain,
a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8

GOTV

GET. OUT. THE. VOTE.

Before I begin the recounting of my anecdotal weekend, I thought I'd spread a little election season cheer and share the story of my second experience exercising my right as a resident of the U.S. to vote.

It hit me sometime in the middle of last week as I prepared for the coming days that I needed to make sure that I had everything in order for the upcoming election and the traveling that I will do for the holidays. So I checked my voter registration card and everything appeared to be ok until I turned it over and read the following:

"If you registered to vote by mail and this is your first time to vote in a Federal Election in Texas, you must present a form of identification. Please check www.suchandsuch.com to verify acceptable forms of identification."

So naturally I freak out and head to my local DL office to get my very 1st Texas Drivers' License. The problem(s) with this?

1. My current drivers' license from NC is expired so I have to take both the written and driving tests. (Seriously??? I'M 25!!! And have had no accidents or tickets EVER!)
2. The lady doing the driving tests was out until 2 and they don't schedule driving tests beyond 3:00pm. How ridiculous is that?!?!?!?

So I spent the better part of my lunch hour applying for my license and still didn't have it when I left. For the rest of the day and evening, I was worrying about 2 things.

1. What if the poll workers ask to see my driver's license?
2. What if the line is miles long and have to wait for hours to vote?

Well, let me calm your nerves now. Neither happened.

Hurriedly, I drove out to my polling location on my lunch break as I had seen on the morning news that there were lines HOURS long on the East coast. I figured if the line was too long now, I'd just come back after work when I had unlimited time. But, as I pulled into the parking lot of the church that my precinct was assigned to, much to my surprise, there were all of 3 cars in the parking lot. I then proceeded to enter the church into a small room (the size of my living room & kitchen) set up with a few tables, cardboard voting partitions, and numerous little old ladies. And I basically just walked right up to the check in table since there was NOBODY in line. As I checked in, the precious elderly lady who verified my name/address said to me, "You just look so put together with your blouse and your bracelet and your bag. You look so together."

And just when I thought all poll workers were stuffy and only concerned with politics. Luckily they're just 'poll' workers and not 'pole' workers. Ha!

So I cast my PAPER vote (ah, the joys of living in the country) and inserted it into the machine and left. Voting is so different here-I had a long wait in the 2004 election in Cleveland and I voted electronically so the whole paper thing was new to me. Rural Farm Town, Texas is quite a step back from Cleveland, Tennessee. But I'll take it for now.

This whole story may seem pointless to many of you but I write it to note that even though I've lived in Small Town, Texas for over a year now, I still haven't lost my 'big(ger) city' thinking. It takes lots of adjustment for this country living.

Blessings y'all,
(yeah, I'm city but not that city)

Bethany :)

I Am Convinced...

That bloggers do not have TVs.

I return home after work most days intent on writing a really great post and before I know it, it's 10:00. Where does the time go? Well, I usually enjoy 7th Heaven reruns during dinner and I'll get distracted talking on the phone or making the occasional run to Wal-Mart and when I look at the clock (or listen to the TV), it's 10 and Bill O'Reilly is on.

So my conclusion is that instead of turning on the tv every day, bloggers, serious ones anyway, turn on their computers. And just write. So maybe that's what I should start doing. :) I'd really like to avoid long stints of writing silence. Those are no fun for anyone. Ok, well at least not for me.

So I'll be back soon. And boy, do I have some stories to share.

Blessings,
B

Oh, and if you haven't already: GET OUT AND VOTE!