Advent Conspiracy

Six Degrees of Separation

First of all, let me start off by saying that I totally pulled this idea off of Amanda Moore's blog, but I thought it was too fun to pass up on. So here are some fun questions for you!

Do we know each other? If so, how?

Ex: We shared scissors with each other when we were in kindergarten.
Ex: We worked at Pine Cove together and still don't know each other's real names.

Maybe we don't know each other, but have we ever met?

Ex: Yes, we actually met in the bathroom of the MSC when we were students at A&M.
Ex: We met that one time running around White Rock Lake, but you were actually walking and looking a lot like death.

Do we have a mutual friend or acquaintance?

Ex: My sister dated your brother when they were in high school...and only during church camp that one summer.
Ex: I'm your old roommate's cousin.

If the answer is no to all three, do we have something in common?

Ex: We both wear a similar piece of jewelry on our right ring fingers. Whoop!
Ex: We both wish we were still in Junior High and therefore live vicariously through Junior High students at Watermark.
Ex: We were both in ASC at A&M and both dropped out a year into it.


In reality, this is just a way to get people to comment on my blog, but fun just the same!

The Birds and The Bees

Wait, no bees. Just birds. And the glorious little feathery friends are in my chimney driving Kristie and I crazy. Not to mention that I have a little bit of a fear of birds as well. In the past month that they have been nesting in my chimney, starting as one quiet little bird and then multiplying, we have been coming up with solutions to our birdie issue.

1. Light a fire and smoke the little suckers out. We decided that's not a good idea since the birds could either fly into our house or the house could get nice and smokey from the fire.

2. We could climb up onto the roof and throw those little popper things down the chimney that we all used to play with as kids. The bad thing about that idea is that Kristie and I would be the ones to fall off the roof and the birds would still be around.

3. Our final option...which we have taken a liking to...is to let Kristie's dog climb in the fireplace and bark. Nothing happens and the birds actually get louder, but it's still funny stuff.

So where does that leave us? Needing a BB gun to shoot the birds I guess. Or I could just call a chimney sweep. Do they even have those in Dallas?

Get Me Out!

It's sad to say, but I think I've hit a blogging funk. It's either that or I've been too busy with other stuff going on to actually sit down and write. So please allow me to catch you up!



June: Went to Brazil. All good stuff. You'll have to ask me about it though because there is far too much to write about, and here I am in July and still trying to process the trip.



Monday after I get back from Brazil, I quit my job...or at least tried to. Don't worry, it was planned months before leaving and not a result of the trip. Notice I did say "tried to quit." Apparently AXA loves me and can't live without me, and won't exactly let me go. This in and of itself has consumed much of my life up until now. We're still working on that issue, but what can I say...I'm irreplaceable.



End of June/Beginning of July: Road trip to San Antonio with some girls from Watermark. So fun! We went to see Wicked (officially can check that off my life list) and went floating down the Guadalupe (another thing to check off). I must say that floating down the river felt a lot like a floating frat party.



July continues on with my one year "house-iversary." I've officially lived in my house for one year, and haven't managed to burn it down as of yet. Lord knows I've come close!



And this past week I joined three of my girls in serving at the Jr. High Connection at Upendo Church. Connection is probably one of the highlights of the jr. high events done throughout the year. I'm pretty sure I love it so much because I'm seeing my girls serve others, and that just brings joy to my heart. Here's a picture of one of the sweet kids the students were serving this past week. In case you're wondering, that's not a puddle of water.



And that's all I've got for now!

In the Jungle

Are these not two of the most precious little girls you have ever seen? If they had fit in my carry on, I would've brought them both home with me from Brazil. They were so cute!

So I realize I've been a little bit behind in writing about my trip to the Amazon...so sorry! It's definitely not because I was at a loss for things to write about. It's quite the opposite actually! I'm pretty sure I could tell stories for days and days about what the Lord did during our time in Brazil...stories of people who now know Jesus...stories of life on a boat...and then ridiculous farkle stories of course (because it wouldn't be a Watermark mission trip without those). While I've been home for three weeks now, I'm still trying to process everything that happened while we were there. This time around it's been a little bit more difficult to process my trip, but I don't want to leave you hanging until I do.

So my story for today is this...it's the answer to the question that everyone asks and I love the most to share. Question: What is your favorite memory from the trip? Answer: Playing & dancing in the rain with a little boy who fell in the mud. On our second day of going to villages, the rain decided to follow the North Americans and the JJ Mesquita (our boat) into the village and stay for a while. Blowing bubbles, playing soccer and sharing life with the Brazilians continued on as usual, and the monsoon didn't stop a thing. After we had finished Vacation Bible School for the morning, we were all playing outside throwing footballs and beach balls around in the rain and this sweet little boy fell in the mud. While I'm pretty confident he normally wouldn't have cared that he was all muddy, the tears still started to flow and a distraction from Laura was needed asap. When it comes to tears, I'm more than happy to bring in the humor and play and dance in the mud to make an unhappy little boy laugh again. For the rest of the time until we were told to go back to the boat for lunch, we spun around in the rain and the mud with other little kids joining in. It was great! I LOVED every minute of it. Hands down one of my favorite moments on the trip.

I promise, more stories to come!

Brazil Bound!

That's right! That glorious day is almost here! Come Saturday a team of young adults from Watermark are headed into the Amazon to swim with piranhas, wrestle alligators and share Jesus with the locals. Okay the first two things aren't really on our list of things to do, but the third one is. It's hard to believe that we've been preparing for this for so many months and now it's finally here. There will be lots of updates to come once we get back, but in the meantime please feel free to check in on what we're up to on www.watermarkinbrazil.blogspot.com. As we head into the upcoming week, I do have a few prayer requests.

*The biggest one I can think of is that I'm fully there and not just present. I would hate for distractions at home to consume my mind while I'm there for purpose of sharing Christ and building relationships.

*Sweet community. I'm going with such a great group of people, and a week on a boat can be a great time to deepen those relationships.

*And last but certainly not least, that the Gospel would spread. That each man, woman and child we meet would see the love of Christ and what it looks like to have a relationship with our Savior.

I can't wait to get home to share pictures and stories! I'm excited!

Amazing Love

This morning I was reminded of the depth of the love that Christ has for us through a simple picture. One of the guys that I work with, Kyle, and his wife Julie just got back from San Francisco after picking up the little girl they adopted from Korea. One of the pictures is of Kyle and Julie standing at the terminal waiting for little Blake to be brought off the plane. The look on their faces is priceless and the love you can see just from the picture is indescribable. I’ve never actually had a picture bring tears to my eyes, but this one did it and I think it’s because it’s just a small glimpse of the love that Christ has for me. Whenever Kyle and Julie first got a picture of their baby, he was trying to describe what it feels like to instantly love someone you’ve never even met. All I could think of was that it was the perfect picture of unconditional love. The baby hadn’t done anything to earn their love. There were no strings attached and from the moment they saw her sweet face, they were in love. Holy cow! What a great picture of Christ’s love for me! He loved me from the moment I was formed in my mother’s womb. He knows everything about me…what brings me joy…what makes me cry…everything. No matter how much I screw up, I know that I’m still loved and cherished.

To see the pictures, go to www.tiffanyfongphotography.com and click on the link to her blog. The name of the post is "Oh Happy Day."

Joyous Laughter

About an hour ago Sharon and I had small group with our 7th grade girls. Always good fun! Tonight we were talking about being a light in the darkness and what characteristics of each could be. One of the choices was nervous laughter vs. joyous laughter. Our sweet Mary quickly spoke up and said "I think Sharon has nervous laughter, and Laura, well she lives in lollipop land." I don't know what that means and I'm not sure if I should see it as a compliment or not. Since she didn't clarify I'm going to assume that she meant that I had joyous laughter.

Love my girls!

Lessons Learned...

from Spencer Williams? Yes, it's true. The last 24 hours have been very educational for me. The day literally began with me learning how to drive a standard, and I must say that I'm pretty close to amazing at it. Every time I ask to drive his mini I always get a very quick no...you know, one of those that clearly was never even considered. So in normal fashion I asked again and to my shock and surprise he said "okay, let's go." After I pulled my jaw off the floor and realized he was ready to change seats, I of course jumped at the opportunity. It felt a lot like drivers ed with me first driving only by taking my foot off the brake and coasting in neutral, but it quickly progressed to changing gears and going around the parking garage. Just to keep the surprises coming, he even trusted me enough to drive around the block a few times. I don't think I even trusted myself that much, but yay Spencer for trusting me! It must have been because it was really, REALLY early in the morning and I only saw one car while we were out.

The second lesson learned really warms my heart. Today I learned that there is a Texadelphia in Dallas. I had no idea!! For some reason I thought the only one was in College Station, and that one closed my freshman year right after I fell in love with it for the first time. My life is truly better now for knowing that Texadelphia is only a few miles away from me.

The third and last lesson learned is somewhat profound. Tonight, after trying three different times to take the short cut, I learned that it really only takes longer to get things done well. I'll spare you the details on what we were working on, but it is with great humility that I must say that Spencer was right the whole time. Why didn't I listen the first time? I must be a slow learner. I do know for a fact that I don't have an ounce of the beaver personality type in me. I'm all Lion/Otter and there's nothing I can do about it!

Well, that's all you get in lessons learned tonight. Apparently three points is all you need to make a good Baptist sermon anyways. Ironically, I think that's true too.

Pity, Party of One

All I can say is that I'm guilty. I think I might be the queen of pity parties, especially when I feel like I'm suffering in some way. The past few weeks I've been going through Job with my community group, and I must say I'm surprised by the people I'm relating to in the first 14 chapters. On any given day I feel like I could say I relate to Job and him not understanding why God is allowing him to suffer...but the shock for me is coming from how I can relate to Job's friends and how quickly I get to that place. My heart can be so sinful and so ugly, and the sad part is that I don't realize it until I'm in the pit looking for a way out. I'm so guilty of looking at the people around me and either getting frustrated with the gifts God has given them and not me...or buying into the lie that only the wicked should suffer. I think that might only make sense in my head right now, but I just can't get over how quickly I can get to such a bad place without even realizing it. Tonight I was working through some of the questions at the end of the study and the last one asked what two questions I would ask God if I knew I would get an anwer. Right now I only have one, but I think I would ask God why He lets me suffer & why it's in the way that I do.

What would you ask?

Client Say What?

It's hard to believe, but come August I will have officially been in the financial planning industry for three years. Or if you want to go by how my VP does time in the business, half a decade. I can't wait until I hit year five so that I can say "the better part of a decade."

I must say that it's becoming increasingly more and more apparent that there can be some crazy clients out there. A few of the guys that I work with and I have been telling war/horror stories of what we've experienced thus far just from our short time in the business. There is some weird stuff! So I've decided to compile a list of the ridiculous/frustrating/hilarious moments that have already been encountered.

*One day I was calling to follow up with a client to see if they had signed the paperwork yet and the wife answered the phone. I explained who I was and why I was calling and she replied with "honey, he died!" After I call the life insurance company, I come to find out that he was murdered and she is a suspect. Awesome....never going out there by myself again.

*A guy that I work with came over from Edward Jones, and he literally had someone drive their car through his office front right into the lobby....twice. After the second time he of course asked for cement barriers to go in front. What were these people looking for...drive thru mutual funds? A literal one stop shop?

*On a trip to the middle of no where with one of my partners, I asked him what the weirdest thing that has ever happened to him in a meeting was. His answer was very short, but oh so funny. He said "Laura, last week I had a lady move from her seat over to the couch I was sitting on and put her head in my lap." If that's not awkward, I don't know what is.

There are so many other stories...but sadly the time has come for me to actually do some work and be what my parents call a "productive member of society." More stories to come I'm sure!

Taking Over the World

So my friends and my clients have started a tradition of sending me pictures of AXA signs whenever they travel out of the country. Most of them write back and tell me that I should move to wherever they saw the sign. I can't decide if my friends are trying to be subtle and hint for me to move far away, or if they're just really excited about seeing the place I work all over the world. I'm hoping it's the second option and not the first. If I move out of the country it's not going to be to become a financial advisor, that's for sure! Anywho, here's one from Versailles, France.

It's kind of hard to see the AXA sign, but it's the tiny blue box in the middle of the picture. Trust me, it says AXA.

Roll Call for the Absent

In many lands and climes this April day
Proud sons of Texas A&M unite.
Our loyalty to country, school, we pray,
and seal our pact with bond of common might.

We live again those happy days of yore
on campus, field, in classroom, dorm, at drill
Fond memory brings a sigh -- but nothing more;
Now we are men and life’s a greater thrill,

On Corregidor * years ago today
A band of gallant Aggies, led by Moore,
Held simple rites which led to us doth all to say:
The spirit shall prevail through cannon roar.

Before we part and go upon our way,
We pause to honor those we knew so well;
The old familiar faces we miss so much today
Left cherished recollections that time cannot dispel.

Softly call the Muster,
Let comrade answer, “Here!”
Their spirits hover ‘round us
As if to bring us cheer!

Mark them ‘present’ in our hearts.
We’ll meet some other day
There is no death, but life etern
For our old friends such as they!

by Dr. John Ashton ‘06

* The third stanza is original to the poem and had been deleted over the years. It was intended that each year, the number of years since Corregidor would be inserted.

What the craic?

So, if all you're seeing is "Bar, Restaurant and Nightclub," you're clearly looking at the wrong part of the picture. Shift your eyes over to the left and take note of the name. How cool is that?! My friend Spencer was in Ireland and he saw this while roaming the streets of Dublin. Oh, also ignore the fact that my last name is spelled wrong. But you still get the idea!

By the way, the title of the blog translates as "Any news?" or "Hello!" I promise it's not shady.

It Ain't Over!

Happy Easter!

Just a Fad...

...Or at least that's what the internet is at our house. My brother came to paint a few weeks ago and the day he left the internet mysteriously stopped working along with my computer. Coincidence? I think not. Personally, I think he did it on purpose because I told him I would help him apply for jobs in Dallas. Michael, if you don't want to live in the same city as me then just tell me. There's no need to break my computer and the internet. Anyways, all that to say that there was a reason for the hiatus from writing on the blog. I no longer have to depend on the iPhone for internet or for checking the email. So get ready for lots of reading material during your workday because I have some catching up to do!

My Story of Grace

I think it would be fair to say that I grew up in a family of churchgoers. My parents made sure my brother and I were at church every week and were involved in everything possible…youth group, church choir…you name it, we were in it. My family very much lived the life of “appearances were everything” and it was important for everyone to see that we had it all put together. For as long as I can remember I always wanted to make sure people were pleased with me and what I was doing. I guess you could say I was a people pleaser to the core. I was constantly trying to find my significance in how involved I was at church and school, my grades, in tennis, and then of course in how my parents, teachers and friends responded to me and praised my good work.

Even though I grew up in the church, I don’t remember being clearly presented the gospel until I was 11 years old. I was actually with my church youth group at a concert and I remember someone standing on stage and just sharing God’s truth with me. It was like I was the only there and he was talking directly to me. The thing that struck me immediately was the question he asked. He asked that if we were to die tonight, how sure are we that we would go to Heaven. My answer was “not very sure.” He then explained how we are all born sinners and in need of a Savior. He explained that because of sin we are forever separated from God because God is perfect. Then He shared the good news that I remember bringing me great relief. He explained how God sent His Son Jesus to live a perfect life, die on the cross for my sins and then conquered death so that one day I could have eternal life. I immediately jumped at the hope that he offered.

For about the next week or two that followed, I remember that all I wanted to do was spend time reading my Bible. I just couldn’t get enough. But after that week or two, my life quickly went back to normal. Once again I was wrapped up in what others thought of me and had a constant feeling of inadequacy. Junior High and High School could easily be characterized by people pleasing and having a relationship with God that was minimal at best. The most important thing to me was looking like I had it all put together. It wasn’t until college that I got to see what it looked like to have a real relationship with the Lord. I saw that it wasn’t easy and I wasn’t always going to have those happy, fluffy feelings. I found that I would go through periods of time where I wouldn’t even desire spending time with God, but in spite of that discipline was necessary. Even today I still struggle with wanting to please people and wanting to control what others think of me, but the Lord is consistently having to remind me that my adequacy is found in Him and no where else. 2 Corinthians 3:4-6 says “Such confidence we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God, who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” That’s the best news in the world to me! Because of Christ and what He did for me on the cross, God sees me as more than adequate and He loves me as His own.

Cheers!

In honor of my roommate's birth, I've decided to write her a small toast that will no doubt embarrass her later and cause her to deny being my roommate when it comes to public settings. I however choose to see this as practice for the day she gets married and I'm called upon to give a toast.

Here's to my dear roommate, Kiki, who 26 years ago today decided to grace the world with her presence. On that fateful day, her dear mother's uterus finally said "scram! get the heck out of here!" and Kristie complied and exited the womb. Twenty years later, a friendship was formed between Keeks and I that soon led to being roommates and creating the Trifecta of Trouble with Stephanie. Fraternity Row will never be the same again because of what ensued during those days. Reenacting the Roaming Gnome commercials in our living room...Stephanie and Kristie having GT time...and many other events too embarrassing to mention here all led to a bond that can never be severed. And here we are today, years later and roommates once again. All is right with world. Now our days are filled with "pammy whammys"...Alias...and getting into so much trouble that our parents wonder why they allowed us to live together once again without some type of supervision. And with that I say Happy Birthday Kristie Thornton! My life is better because of friends like you!

You Want Eyebrow?

Today after church Sarah Welch and I decided to go get manicures and pedicures. Being that Sarah's finally done with her CPA exams, she definitely deserves the reward of a pedicure. And well, I felt like I deserved a manicure just because. We decided to go to this place in Lake Highlands next to LA Fitness. It's actually run by all Asian people...which most nail establishments normally are. In honor of our hour of beauty I've decided compile a list of the awkward moments that happened in that time frame.

1. I arrived about 3 minutes before Sarah and asked if I could get a manicure in one of the chairs so that I could sit next to Sarah and talk. Little Asian lady says "No, sit!" Yes ma'am.

2. Little Asian lady goes to town on my cuticles never saying a word to me. The only time she looks up is to talk to one of her friends in another language. I swear she had to be talking about me and how horrible my nails looked.

3. My manicurist starts singing Mariah Carey and "I Swear" by All 4 One to me. Enough said.

4. After my manicurist dips my hands in hot paraffin wax she proceeds to start rubbing my shoulders...nothing awkward there. Oh wait! Then she puts her hands down my shirt and continues to rub...ugh! Is that considered assault or something?

5. Whenever the little Asian lady finally does look up at me, she just says "you want eyebrow?" I think my eyebrows look just fine, but from the look on her face I'm starting to question them.

Well, those will be the top five awkward moments. The worst part is that I couldn't share in these awkward moments with Sarah because she was clear across the room from me. Sad day.

Naked?

So...this weekend my roommate and I had kind of a weird conversation. While we were at The Cheesecake Factory we started discussing/arguing over how you say the word "naked." After much discussion, we still disagree...however while we were there I decided to write something about it on my facebook status. I must say I have received quite a bit of input from friends, but my friend Stephen made a comment this afternoon that is just too good to keep from the world. Here's what he had to say:

"I'm intrigued by this status and must share with you that I actually have developed my own personal philosophy on the pronunciation of this word. If one is unclothed, but at that time it is appropriate to be unclothed, it should be pronounced "naked." i.e. bathing. If however, one is unclothed and it is inappropriate at that time to be unclothed... Read More, it should be pronounced "nekkid" i.e. streaking. I'll now use both forms in one sentence to demonstrate the difference: "I would have stopped my nekkid neighbor from skinny dipping in my pool sooner, but I was in the shower naked and had to get dressed first." Also, I refer to these two forms as "proper" naked and "naughty" nekkid. p.s. awkward putting this at the end of this post, but haven't talked to you in while, fritzy, how are things?"

I can't decide which part is my favorite. Probably the last sentence when he asks me how I'm doing...just because it is quite the awkward place to ask that.

Thanks Stephen!