Whoa, I'm sitting here in Church History class and I just realized that two weeks from this moment I'll be in surgery. That's nuts.

Oh my gosh, how good was Grey's tonight, seriously. I really like Dr. Hann. What's going to happen to Burk. I'm excited to see Christina and Burk apart for awhile. And, Addison and Alex, I wondered if that was going to happen. Is there a possibility that Addison is pregnant? I've heard that several places. Poor George. When is Izzy going to spend that money? And of course, I'm so happy to see Derek and Meredith together. I wonder how long it will last this time. It's not like they can go on forever without putting any McDrama into the DerMer plot line.

Anyways, I've had such a good Thanksgiving. Since this would be my last holiday meal (forever), my mom told me she would cook whatever I wanted. We ate with my aunt and uncle (Doris and Frank) and another family from church (the Starchers). We had such a good time. I really have so much to be thankful for. For this post I'll focus on one thing that I'm so thankful for this year. I have been blessed with so many good friends. This is a shout out to my three best girl friends. Allison, Lynsey, and Anne-Marie have been such a big part of my life. This year we were able to get together for a much needed reunion. It's funny, we acted just like we did in high school. Some things never change I guess. These are women of God who have definitely shaped who I am and I love them for that (even if they are the three least punctual people on the planet). So, thanks for being my friend. Here are some pictures from our reunion that I stole from Lynsey's myspace.

This one was taken in some booth-thingy at ChuckeeCheese. This shot was our fourth attempt to get a good picture. The little girl in the middle is Allison's, not just some random kid we picked up.

And this is a picture from our hotel room. Notice how Lynsey is molesting Anne-Marie. To be honest, she molested me a lot too. I had to sleep with one eye open, if you know what I'm talking about. I'm not sure what is going on there.

Well, after a very fast visit to Kansas City I am home for the holiday. I've noticed that my blog format doesn't look right on my parents' computer. It's supposed to be navy blue and pretty, not white and ugly. So, if it is ugly on your computer I'm sorry and I have no idea how to fix it.

I need a favor. A friend of mine from California has a friend who is trying to be the Big Lots elf for Christmas this year. He is running against a cute little girl and a little person, so the odds are stacked against him. So, go to http://biglots.com and click on the link to vote for the spokes elf and vote for Brian. Today is the last day to do this.

I hope you all have a super Thanksgiving eve.

Birth

Preaching is like giving birth. (Not that I know what birth is like, I'm just speculating)

School has been pretty hard lately. Yes, there's a lot of work to get done: papers, projects, sermons, reading. But that's not really what I'm talking about. I came into graduate school expecting to take a bunch of ministry courses so I could enter a church and know exactly what to do. However, I haven't really taken that many ministry courses and I have very few ministry to-do lists in my memory bank. The real work involved in this program is transformation. This seminary does not exist to simply fill minds with information. The point is to transform students into incarnational people who act as Christ acted, love as he loved, walk with people as he walked, and die and he died. It's easy to learn facts and do the right thing. We do it all the time. But I'm not called to do, I'm called to be. To be Christ in this world. This is infinitely harder.

HUGE BREAKING NEWS!

I just saw a commercial advertising the release of Beverly Hills 90210 on DVD. Man, life is good. 22 episodes of Brandon and Kelly and Dylan and Brenda and Steve and Donna and David and Andrea. Oh yeah baby!

Did anyone catch Desperate Housewives tonight? That was nuts!

I'm still a little high from yesterday. I preached for the first time in my preaching class. I feel really good about how it went. Honestly, I loved it. I have to wonder if I hadn't grown up in the churches of Christ where women were so squelched, would I have wanted to be a preacher when I grew up? I guess I'll never know.

Grey's was pretty good last night, I guess. It's starting to get a little predictable, isn't it? When I saw the previews I knew that woman was going to be Derek's sister. And it was pretty obvious that Alex was going to go join the gyny squad. I need some surprises. Honestly, I just don't like Callie. She's such a weird-o. I can't have any compassion for her because she's so weird. I loved the ham and eggs metaphor. How great is that. I keep liking Addison more and more. And I'm a little mad at Burk. Just tell the chief about your stupid hand. Don't put people's lives in danger. Come on. I hope Christina gets is good from Bailey. And oh Derek and Meredith, take your time, all the time you need, just as long as you get together in the end.

Has everyone been following the Madonna adoption story? Any thoughts??

So no one wants to talk about God huh.

How about some pop culture news. Reese Witherspoon and Ryan Phillippe announced their separation yesterday. How sad. I love Reese, and I thought they were such a cute couple. I know one thing, when I get married I am not moving to Hollywood. That's the place marriages go to die!

Here is a little video I found the other day. The song is called Red Rover by Rosie Thomas. She is probably my favorite musician right now. I just love her voice.

Time for an update, eh?

I just got home from Peet's coffee shop where I was writing a paper. It's a tough paper. The topic is God. Who is God? How do I answer that? It took a long time to wrap my head around this. The thought that kept coming to mind was: God is redemptive. In all of our sin and pain and filth, God is working hard to redeem us. So, I want to know who is God to you? Leave me a comment and let me know what you think.

By the way, thanks for all of the love and support following the post about my surgery. It means so much.

I've been missing my mama lately.

Whoa...

Yesterday I registered for my last semester of school. I will actually be graduating in May (as long as I don't fail). I can't believe how fast my time here is flying by.

The Diary of a Fat Woman

Well, I have an announcement to make. It's kind of a big deal in my life, so I'll give you the back story. The summer I worked at Camp Blue Haven ('02) I busted up my knee. I dealt with it for two years until I saw my doctor about it. He said that he needed to operate, which I was expecting. Then he said that I was in for more knee surgeries, ankle surgeries, hip problems, etc. unless I did something drastic about my weight problem. In his opinion, with my disease and medical history my only realistic option for losing the weight would be gastric bypass surgery. It came as a shock that my doctor would recommend something so drastic. At the time I didn't know anything about the surgery except what I'd seen on media reports. So, I started doing some research about the operation and decided that it was probably my best option. The timing didn't feel right though. I had just graduated from college and was looking for a job. I was also somewhat emotionally unhealthy at the time, so I decided to shelve the issue for a while. During the spring of this year I started thinking about the surgery again. I was/am doing so much better emotionally. I would like to have already had this surgery before I start my career. And, my school schedule would be good for this type of surgery because I have huge month long breaks for recovery time. So, I started looking around at doctors and even went to Dallas one weekend for a initial appointment with a surgeon who'd been recommended. The doctor I felt the most comfortable with was Dr. Syn who practices in Lubbock. He is very competent and has even operated on a patient with my disease. I trust him completely with my operation. The next big battle was with the insurance company. They initially denied my request for coverage, but I found out last Friday that they'd approved my second request. That is such a huge blessing. So, there you have it. On December 12th, I will be going in for a major surgery that is going to change me drastically. Honestly, I don't even know all of the ways this surgery is going to change me, but I'm as prepared as I can be for both the good and the bad. I would ask for your support and prayers as I enter this new phase of life.

By the way, Grey's was awesome tonight!!

Breaking Grey's News:
McSteamy (Mark) is joining the cast full time. He's super hot!

I have had such a great time with my Kansas kids this weekend. I guess I didn't realize how much I was missing them.


I'm sorry my posts are so boring. There just not a lot going on lately. I'll try to go out and make my life more exciting so reading this blog will be more entertaining. Have a great day everyone!

So, I think I may have broken my toe. What else is new.

I'm about to head off to my weekend class. These classes are tough. Thursday: 1:00-10:00, Friday: 8:00-5:00, and Saturday: 8:00-12:00. I'm always so tired when I get through. I don't want to be tired this weekend because some of my peeps from Kansas are coming for a visit! I'm so excited to see them.

I'm also excited about a new Grey's tonight! I guess that's all that is going on right now in my life: class and Grey's. Things could be worse :)

I know that many of you are concerned that I died since I didn't post immediately about Greys. So, let me just say, it was awesome. I loved the flashbacks. I loved the depiction of grief. McDreamy finally said I Love You!! What was the deal with Bailey? Addison was a little McPsycho. What a great show. Thanks ABC.

I went to the big Lubb this weekend. My sister Julie sells this clothing line called CAbi (Carol Anderson by invitation) and my mom was having a show. I love watching women get excited about clothes. It's hilarious. If you ever want to host a show just let me know and I'll get Julie right on it. Anyways, I got to spend the whole weekend playing with my niece Kaelan. She is 18 months old now, and definitely the cutest baby/little girl in the whole world. (I know a lot of moms read this blog, so I'm sorry to say this, but Kaelan really is the cutest, your child is not.)

Abilene has been treating me well these days. I think it's finally getting cooler- thank the Lord. ACU just finished (or almost finished) putting up a new sculpture of Jacob's dream from Genesis 28. It's pretty amazing. It's in the middle of a prayer/ meditation/stonehengey area with a fountain and baptismal pool. You definitely feel a little closer to the presence of God when you are there. Yay ACU for campus improvements.



I don't have much else to update about. School is pretty much kicking me in the butt. I am constantly feeling dumber and dumber. I think that's the point though. Graduate school definitely makes you humble or at least it makes me humble. If you're not in grad school, pray for me. If you are, I'll see you in the library.

Have a great week everyone!

I'm in the library and I'm hating it right now.

Grey's Anatomy Season Two is out today!!! I'm already watching it!

Matt 5:9 μακάριοι οἱ εἰρηνοποιοί, ὅτι αὐτοὶ υἱοὶ Θεοῦ κληθήσονται.

Everyone is pregnant!!!

Okay, who left a comment about my inability to park straight?? I blame my lack of parking ability on my disease. Hear me out on this one. Because of my disease, the state of Texas allows me to park in handicapped parking, so I'm used to having an extra three feet to fit the car into. After years of parking in huge spaces I have really lost my ability to park the car straightly. So, I'm sorry that I can't park.