She's Sun and Rain

This is my 2nd cookout at "my" house :) I invited my friends from Charlotte South and we had a cookout complete with hamburgers, hot dogs, turkey burgers, potato salad, baked beans, banana pudding, strawberry shortcake, cheerwine, and sweet tea! It was so much fun to have people over, definitely one of my favorite things to do! I love being a hostess :) DJ on the grill. Thanks boys :) Chris and Tom helping DJ cook. Rebecca, Christine, and I. A little closer. The condiments area...and some pretty flowers of course. Look at all those beans! Mama Rebecca and Christine hanging out with Colin. Little baby Colin! Casey and Melissa playing a little game of catch in the yard with Brad. Lots of fun times! This tradition is one that will continue on for sure :) Wherever I may be....there will be a party!

For Sam.

In life, you have different kind of conversations with different people. Let me explain. Shallow conversations get on my nerves. The ones that go "hi, how are you...good, how are you doing?...great, thanks for asking". Then there are others that are not quite as shallow as that, that are more like "How was your weekend, what's new in your life, got a boyfriend?...or, how's your family, Oh, my family, they're doing ok..." The kind I actually prefer are the real ones. I know this sounds simple, but, they are better conversations. I like deep thinkers. I like witty people. I like people who want to know how your brain works and want to tell you how theirs works and want to really get to the heart and soul of the matter. Even if there's not a matter. Maybe there's just a random thought. I have some people in my life, when you really get to talking about heart issues, freak out. My mom is one of them. She'll say "it is what it is"...or ...

Thank you Brad Saab for having a birthday so we could all be sitting at McAllister's when this showed up :)

Imagine you are rock climbing. To your left is a friend of yours, and her rope slips. She falls, and is paralized. Your rope is fine, but there is a chance it could slip. Someone offers you a ladder, to prevent you from falling and possibly being paralized. I am hoping you would take the ladder, and get down safely. God gives us rules, commands, and directions. He gives us examples of people who have made bad decisions and shows us their consequences, and yet humans still make the same decisions and suffer through the same consequences. It's an endless, stupid cycle. Why is it so hard to learn early off that if we obey God and follow his commands that we will be better off? Why do we rebel and think it's going to turn out okay? I'm trying to get my brain wrapped around this idea. It reminds me of the quote from Sweet Home Alabama "why do you southern girls have to make all the wrong choices before making the right one" Now comes the but.... I just got an email fro...

I wasn't kidding! Check out this thing. Emily and I really wanted to stop and take a picture with it when we were in Ohio last week but it was rainy and gross and we didn't come back that way from Cleveland to Columbus. It is the craziest thing. If you want to read about the church, just google "giant Jesus". Serious.

I've been in Ohio for 5 days. Today was the conference. It was fine. Then, tonight, I got ready...dressed, in my blue shirt and jeans, and trying to look cute...left for dinner at what I thought was Dave and Buster's. Come to find out, it wasn't. It was supposed to be this place called Gameworks which is right downtown on the river where the Reds Stadium is...and there was a game tonight. By the time I realized where I was going, realized there was zero parking because all the lots said "lot full"...I then turned around, headed back toward Kentucky, pulled into an outback, and had a peaceful dinner by myself. My phone then died, so I had no contact with any human being for 45 minutes other than my super nice waitress. It was wonderful. I enjoy being around people, really...but...I needed my downtime. I realized it when I was leaving downtown and felt like crying because I have been super out going all week lon gwith my happy cheerful, friendly face on. And I just...

On the road again... and up way too late. I'm in Ohio for work this week. One more day. Tomorrow is the Premier conference. I'm going to tell all the coaches that are owned by Premier why they should bring their teams to Cheersport competitions. Should be fun...or something haha. Then Saturday I get to come home and have a movie night with the girls. Very excited about that. I get to see 27 dresses...ironically because I just finished looking at possible bridesmaids dresses for Shae's wedding :) I saw a huge, and I mean huge statue of Jesus's head with hands all coming out of a lake on the side of the interstate on Tuesday. Wow...I wonder what pastor would recommend it. Let's put this in the budget...a ginormous statue from the road so everyone can think we are crazy to waste our money on this. Come on people. I drove 800 miles these past 4 days. From Cincinnati (or Northern kentucky really...where the airport is) to Dayton, Columbus, Canton, Akron, Cleveland...and ...

I have decided, in the spirit of ....randomness? Hmm. I have decided to do a 'I'm thankful for...' kind of thing. Today, I am thankful for Kristi Brooks :) She has been such a huge huge blessing to me the past year or so. Ever since we realized that we both put butter on pop-tarts. We met a while ago, probably fall or christmas maybe of 2006? Right when I started getting involved with the student ministry at CSF. She just took me in, and was really sweet and kind. I met her and Emily and they were both just so wonderful! Then in January of 07 I met Janet, and we became friends too. Over time I became good friends with Kristi and Janet. Kristi and I would go on a few double dates, and Janet and I would meet for lunch downtown at Phil's. Then last summer, I kindof faded out of student ministry, took a hiatus for a little while. Then in October, Janet died. And I got an email, telling me to pray for everyone about Janet. I picked up the phone and called Kristi...to find ou...

I decided to stay with Cheersport. After two days of contemplating and working things out with my friends while at the beach, they were such great listeners :), and weighing the pros and cons, I think it's best that I stay with Cheersport instead of switching over to CAC. And, on the plus side, I don't think I'll be recruiting to Alabama this year. So, it looks like, next week in Ohio, one week in Kentucky, and one week in Indiana, and then I'm done traveling for the summer! I love traveling, but I am a little exhausted of it, from working all the regional competitions, then nationals, then a few more regionals, and then right into recruiting/sales. I do love my job. I really enjoy the leg work that goes into planning an event, and watching it come to fruition. I love talking to coaches, especially the ones who really are in it to invest in children's lives. That was one reason I wanted to coach. I really think I connect well with students and kids. What a better...

To coach or not to coach. That is the question. Yesterday I was given an opportunity to stop working for Cheersport full time and go coach at Charlotte Allstars (next door, same company, same owners, same building, same pay, same benefits). But I'd be coaching full time instead of doing Cheersport office work and running competitions. What do I want to do? Or more importantly what does God want me to do? Totally on the fence with this one.