Fun Fact for the Day: My hubby actually went to Northeast on a tennis scholarship. Yes, I know. He's pretty great! I, on the other hand, played one sport: softball in fifth grade...in which I played right field every other inning and wore sliding shorts for a fashion statement. He married well, didn't he? Oh well!

One night a couple of weeks ago, Russ decided he wants to start playing tennis again. You see, I haven't made a very good tennis partner over these past five years seeing as how I make more home runs than anything else. Maybe if he liked to play baseball... I happily agreed to join him on the tennis courts. I'm trying to be a good wife and pretend to enjoy the things he enjoys. We asked Jenny and Jeff to join us for a little mixed doubles. Is that what it's called? I don't even know! We had a great time! I hit LOTS of home runs, as expected. But, Russ was patient and never asked for a new partner.

The Mansel crew minus Will - Seth and Grace were wonderful ball boy/girl!

The athletic couple! Ha! This is probably what Russ wanted to do during the whole game!

Us with Russ's big bucket of balls!

After a fun and HOT game of tennis, we wanted to get a good ole' Corinth snow cone. It was closed, so we settled for Sonic.

Seth, Jenny, Grace, and Jeff

Mmmmm.....

So...NO. I'm still not a pro. But, I do enjoy playing tennis with my family!

Tennis anyone?

MSU vs. Memphis

Well, the time is here! It's time for some FOOTBALL!!! Are you ready!? I absolutely LOVE this time of year! I feel like I say that at the beginning of every season throughout the year. Isn't it wonderful how God provided such beauty and enjoyment at the changing of the seasons? He knew our attention span was short and would need a change of scenery and feeling occasionally. He thought it through!

I love the beginning of winter because I begin to get in the Christmas spirit: lights, ornaments, trees, family, friends, parties, and of course a celebration of the birth of Christ! I love the beginning of Spring because of the beautiful colors, rebirth, green grass, warmer temps, sunshine! I love the beginning of summer because of the pool time, beach time, beautiful sunshine, longer days, and sweet summer nights! Now, it's beginning to change into the fall season! I love fall because of the beautiful colors of the leaves as they change, the cooler and comfortable temps, the smells of fall, and of course FOOTBALL - MSU football!

Saturday was the beginning of State's football season. My family has gone to Mississippi State football games for as long as I can remember. We used to tailgate when tailgating really was literally on the tailgate of your car! Ha! I guess you could say that I was born and raised to be a Bulldog! Tailgating for the Smith family is now a little more involved. You may have noticed this before in our previous football seasons here and here. This year was a bit different. We have always been able to park next to our tents. This makes it quite easy to put the TV and satellite up during game time to keep unwanted hands off of our equipment. (We had a bad experience with unwanted hands last year if you're wondering.) However, this year our parking has been rearranged to keep people from parking on the grass. This meant that we had to unload all our tailgating paraphernalia at the curb, and park our vehicle a ways down the road. Complicated, but doable.


The Holcombes were moved all the way to the Hump. But they made arrangements accordingly...a maroon wagon!

Once the tents, chairs, tables, food, TV, and radio were all set up...we all relaxed and enjoyed the afternoon. We arrived on campus around 11:00 that morning for the 6:00 game. So, we had all day to enjoy! There are four things I LOVE about Mississippi State ballgames....

1. All the friends, family, and visitors that stop by, eat, and visit throughout the day....

My baby brother

Dustin brought his dog, Brodie, for the afternoon.

Dustin's girlfriend, Mary

Kristin and Ally

Lee and Russ

The Holcombes

The Sleeper children enjoyed playing with Brodie. And, Caroline proved to be the "Dog Whisperer"...putting him straight to sleep.

Mama and Natalie

Mr. Bill and David Green

Rickey, Allison, and Mrs. Mary

Russ and me, of course!

And, good friends...Adam and Becca

Sorry if I didn't get a picture of you this time! Come back next time and I'll try to get you in.

2. The Dawg Walk...

Bully leading the football players and coaches through the Dawg Walk

3. Team Spirit...

We enjoyed watching a family friend of ours, Catelin, cheering for the dawgs!

Go State!

A "White Out" sold out crowd and our dawgs doing the Dawg Pound Rock!

Cowbells!
I actually rang my cowbell a little too hard or too much, I guess, because my dinger went flying out! Oops! Don't worry! We brought extras!

4. A WIN!

I am so glad our Dawgs had a great start to the season! It's always fun to win. But, I'm there...rain, sleet, snow, shine, win, or lose! And, believe me...we've had our share of it all!

Good luck Thursday, Bulldogs! I'll be there cheering you on!

Baby Bunco

I'm finally trying to play catch-up on all that has been going on here in my hometown! A couple of weeks ago, I joined in with my mom's bunco group again! This time I invited myself and they didn't need any subs! Ha! Good thing it was a baby shower and bunco rolled into one! They needed a photographer! Ha!

Lisa is due to have this baby very soon, and the group threw her a shower at their last meeting. She probably won't make it past another one. Isn't she the cutest pregnant woman?!

Teri hosted this month's bunco, and the food was delish! We had shrimp fettuccine, crunchy Romaine salad, and rolls. For dessert...baby shower cake AND strawberry shortcake layered type of thing! OMG! That's all I can say!

By the way, do you like the apron Teri is wearing? Yep. I made that! Aren't you proud of my sewing skills?!

We ate and ate and ate...and talked and talked...and laughed and laughed! This group always has a great time!

When it came time to play, the talking didn't stop!

There were engagement stories to tell and baby stories to tell and catching up to do! Now you see why I keep up with my score on a card! It's hard to stay focused with all this fun going on! Ha!

In fact, these ladies couldn't even remember what round they were on once the games started. So, I made myself useful! I held up the correct sign for the appropriate round!

"Here's your sign!"


Bunco is always a fun way to keep up with friends! I've never been to a bunco game night that was boring! There is always fun to be had! Whether it's talking and losing count, fighting over prizes, or screaming "BUNCO!"...there is fun all over the place!

Now...I wonder which bunco group I can crash next...

Bring Back that Feeling...

As we are going through our study, When Wallflowers Dance, we have talked about being "Un-woman." This term is referring to the numbing down and going away. Backing to the wall to blend in. Numb. There is a word that I might use to describe myself sometimes.

Tonight, in our study, we talked about passion. Women spoke of times they felt and acted passionately about things. What causes us to lose that passion? Rejection? Disappointment? Failures? Fear? I think that sometimes, as women, it is easier to just feel nothing than to be passionate. Or perhaps we don't even realize we have become that way.

You know, I think about my own life and when I became numb. When did I stop feeling? Why did I stop feeling?

I remember four years ago deciding that I wanted to be a mother. The time is now. At least that was my idea of good timing. Since that time, I have prayed and prayed and prayed. I have hoped and hoped and hoped. In the past three years, I have seen specialists, had surgery, taken medication, and injections. I have begged, pleaded, and delved into God's Word. I was thirsty to know Him, to see what His word had to say to me, and I was hopeful and optimistic about our future family. Sometime between all the prayers, hopes, scriptures, and specialists I became numb at times. I became numb out of survival.

At first, I became numb to the comments. I had to for my own sanity. When people told us "It's about time for you to have a little one" I needed to not hurt. When people told us, "You are still young. You have plenty of time. Don't rush it. Trust me!" I needed to be numb to the frustration to remain smiling. Then, I became numb to the disappointments. When disappointment came, I didn't want to cry. I was tired of crying. When friends became pregnant, I needed to feel numb to be happy. Again, I didn't want to cry during such a joyous time. How ridiculous, I thought. Finally, I even became numb to the hope. When treatments changed, I needed to be numb so I wouldn't get too excited. This way, the failure wouldn't be as bad. I wouldn't be so disappointed.

See? I was numb. Just existing. Going through the motions. I was just numb from trying, from hoping, from the poking, from the disappointment, and from the comments.

I think I have become numb spiritually at times as well. Have you ever felt that way? I mean, I had prayed so hard. Hoped so hard. Believed full well that God would provide in MY timing. Just as we often tend to step back after failures and trials to just get out of the way and avoid getting hurt, I did this with God. I somehow lost that passion that I once had. I had all these feelings I was working through, searching for His answers. Then, I had nothing. No feelings. Not terribly excited. Not sad. Not disappointed. Just standing against the wall. Waiting.

In this study, Angela quotes Gordon MacDonald:

Study the life of Christ, and you will discover that He was never on the verge of passionlessness.

God wants us to live full and passionate lives. In fact, John 10:10 says, "I came that you may have life - life in all its fullness." God has given me SO much! So much more than I could ever earn or deserve. Look back at all the riches of my salvation that I wrote about yesterday. What more do I need? God promises to bless those who love Him. He has a plan for my life. He doesn't want me standing against the wall blending in. Existing. He wants me out on the dance floor. Because of His promise to dance with us, we can dance in the midst of this chaos. We can dance through the disappointment. Why not? The blessings He has in store for us far outweigh what we could ever have imagined. Ephesians 3:20 tells us this..."God is able to do immeasurably more than we could ever ask or imagine."

I heard this song a while back, and I shared it with my bible study group last night. This song is a love song, but it also talks of our relationship with God. It talks about how God never promises life will be easy. But He did promise that He would dance with us. So, we can go "dancing in the minefields" because of His promise. Take a listen....

It's time for us to find that passion again. It's time to feel again. It's time for us to dance in these minefields! While I wait on His plan to unfold, I can dance and live this life He has given me to its fullest!

As the Righteous Brothers say, "bring back that lovin' feeling!" (Sorry! I couldn't help it. I've got songs on the brain this week! You should hear my latest version of "I Will Survive!" Ha!)

Dancing Wallflowers

Once again, it's been a while since I've posted. I promise I have a good reason. Big week. Busy week. More to come from that later...plus all the things from the week before that I never posted! Man, I'm getting behind. But, until then (and since I don't have pictures uploaded yet) I want to share a little about our women's bible study we started a couple of weeks ago during our Wednesday night church time.

This study has really taken off and has obviously hit a chord with the women in our church. The numbers keep growing each week. It was expected to be a smaller intimate group of women, and it has become two groups of about 20 women! God is working here. It is wonderful to see.

We have started a 7-week study of When Wallflowers Dance: Becoming a Woman of Righteous Confidence. The first week Jennifer, our facilitator, read off some definitions from the Urban Dictionary describing a wallflower: a type of loner, seemingly shy folks who no one really knows, often some of the most interesting people if one actually talks to them, someone who sees everything and knows everything but never says a word, cannot handle having someone pay attention to them even though they crave it as much as anyone else does, wallflowers are just phased in and fade into the background. Now, you would have to know this group of ladies in our group to appreciate the laughter and comments these descriptions brought up. I think only two of us raised our hands to actually admit we considered ourselves a wallflower! We have a fun, lively group of women in our bible study, and we all have much in store for us.

This study is about growing in spiritual maturity. Growing up! So many of us have been living a wallflower life....going through the motions, existing. But, God is a pursuing God as Angela Thomas says in this study. He drags us out of darkness and into His light. Through Angela's deeper maturity and truths of God's passion for her, the most beautiful picture she could paint was that of a wallflower being asked to dance. The main thread of this study is the fact that God didn't bring us to this place to stand against the wall and watch everyone else. He brought us, takes our hand, wraps us in His arms, and wants us to dance with Him.

I don't know about you, but I often feel tired, ready to give up, or to just simply go through the motions of the days and not really feel anything. Through this study, Angela encourages us to lay all of our feelings at the alter and surrender. Surrendering is the first step in "growing up." And, it is time for us wallflowers to grow up! 1 Peter 2:2-3 says:

Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow in your salvation, now that you have tasted that the Lord is good.

When you think about the things you crave, you may think about a coke, chocolate, or hibachi steak at the Japanese restaurant. Or at least I do! Ha! When I think of "spiritual milk" I think of nourishment. Something needed to grow. Like babies need milk to nourish their bodies. God is telling us here that we should CRAVE this nourishment. Now, really. Think to yourself. Do you really CRAVE God or His word like you crave, say, a coke, chocolate, or hibachi steak? If you were really honest, my guess is that we don't always have that CRAVING where we just have to have it or we will just die...or at least have a headache. But, what God is saying is that for us to grow in spiritual maturity...to fully be able to dance with Him...we need to crave His Word and being in His presence. Why should we have such a craving? Because we have tasted that the Lord is good! We know it is good. We have tasted it! Just like we have tasted chocolate and know of its goodness. Think about this for a minute. When have you actually tasted His goodness? We have all tasted His goodness, but we are bad to forget. One example of His goodness that I can honestly say was like literally a taste of His goodness was about a year ago. I wrote about it here. I was having a week of stress, pain, disappointment, and just frustration when I heard a song that spoke directly to my heart...reminding me that He knows. He is holding me. All I have to do is to hold on to Him. I turned the curve, tears filling my eyes, and saw a beautiful rainbow straight ahead. It was almost as if God was reminding me that He will make something beautiful out of that storm. Just hold on. It was such a moment. I tasted His goodness that day! I tasted His gentle mercies. It was good. See? I've tasted His goodness. I should CRAVE that! I want to crave that. It seems that forgetfulness, busyness, or distractions so often get in our way of that next step with God. Growing in Him must be intentional. It is a conscious decision we must make every day.

Think of all He has done for us. We have this unbelievable inheritance. Have you ever been given an inheritance? Think for a minute. Would you ever just take a beautiful leather treasure chest that has all the dimensions of your wealth inside and put it on your nightstand? Only looking at it occasionally and never explore what is inside? That is often what we do with our inheritance from God. We have been given this exquisite inheritance. The day we ask Jesus to be our Savior, we have received a treasure of salvation. It will always be ours. No one can take it away. There is just so much more for us to explore...

I love the way Angela states it..."Becoming a mature follower of Christ means that we open the treasure of our inheritance and explore the goodness and power that he has graciously given us. Maturity means that we not only know but we also live in the truths of God's love toward us."

That is what I pray for my weeks in this study. To grow to not only know Him more, but to LIVE His truths out in my day to day life. To dance with Him. Not standing on the wall.

We took a look at the riches of our salvation. This treasure. This inheritance from our Father. I love the picture of all the riches of our salvation here.

1. We have been reconciled by God. Once we ask Jesus to be our Savior, we are passed from spiritual death to a life everlasting. He is not mad at us. Our sins are no longer counted against us. We are in His family, and He wants to bless us!
2. We have been redeemed. None of us are worthy of His love. But, that's the thing about God. When we receive our salvation, He supernaturally makes us worthy of His love. "He has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption." Colossians 1:13-14
3. We are saved from condemnation. To me, condemnation is a judgment. Once we have received this treasure, we are no longer condemned. Since we are given no condemnation, we are expected to not give any condemnation either. I believe God lovingly disciplines us at times. But there is a difference. Loving discipline is meant to teach us a lesson that is for our good. To bless us. Or so we can be blessed more abundantly. I am so grateful for this. I feel loved no matter what, because my God loves me no matter what! He allows me to make mistakes and learn from them through his loving discipline. His love never changes.
4. We have been made children of God. When I think back to the characteristics of the average child, I think about the things they have taken care of for them: shelter, food and clothing, hugged, taken (driven or carried) places, taught right from wrong, disciplined, reminded over and over of the same things again and again. Isn't this how it is with God? He is our shelter in the storm. He feeds us His word for nourishment. He clothes us with His righteousness. He wraps his arms around us to "hug" us for comfort. He carries us from place to place in our lives. He teaches us right from wrong. He disciplines us. He reminds me over and over and over of His truths, His love, His mercies. I love this visual of how God cares for us like His children. Now, this is a picture I can see more easily than some, I'm sure, because I did grow up with loving parents who took care of me. I wonder how difficult this picture is for those children who have not had such loving parents or very good circumstances growing up? Feel free to share your thoughts on that.
5. We have been made objects. Teaching school, I teach that objects have things happen to them. Subjects do things. God has made us objects, or recipients, of so many things. We are objects of His love, His grace, His power, His faithfulness, His peace, His consolation, and His intercession.

Just look at all this that God has given us! Imagine what He dreamed for you and me. Are we the women He dreamed us to be? Now that we are exploring this treasure more, it is time to grow up!

"It's like we are wallflowers learning to dance."

Cousins

That is correct. Farley has a new cousin! A couple of weeks ago, Dustin and Mary came into town to introduce us to....

Brodie!

Isn't he just too cute!? Brodie is a baby chocolate lab puppy with the cutest green eyes ever! Of course, Daddy was immediately smitten with the babe. But, Farley would not let us forget that he was there too. I'm thinking we had a little jealousy going on here. Ha!


Brodie wanted to play so badly. He would pounce on Farley out of nowhere and try to play. Farley would turn around and growl. After a while, they both lightened up. Farley just wanted to make sure Brodie understood that this maltipoo may be small...but he was here first! Ha!

Dustin told us, however, that since Kristin and I used to eat peanuts and breath all over him just to see what would happen (he is highly allergic) when we were little, Brodie could bully Farley all he wanted.

Farley and Brodie raced and raced and raced all over that back yard. They both had a ball, and Farley was a little limp dishrag by the time we got him home! Ha! That's just what cousins do. They play and fight and wear each other out!

Welcome to the family, Brodie!

One HOT Bid Day!

Yes, I know. It's been a while since my last post! I apologize. Between working two jobs, sewing, and just having fun with our family and friends, I haven't had a good opportunity to blog this week. Tonight I am laying...or is it lying?....here watching Little Women and decided to blog a bit. So here goes...

Last week, I joined some family friends on a fun adventure. MSU Bid Day! One of the best days of a college freshman's life! Mary's grandaughter, Catelin, was going through "recruitment", aka "Rush". When it came down to the last day, Mary asked us if she should go. I immediately spouted out, "Yes. Of course! And I'll go with you!"

So begins our fun filled journey! Ha! We met Mary's brother, a professor on campus, at Barnes and Noble. He walked us through the clock museum while we waited. You just never know what you'll do when you are with us! Ha!

Then, it was time for the festivities! I encouraged Mary not to tell Catelin we were coming....to surprise her! She wanted so badly to call her as the time got closer. So, Jean and I took her phone away!

As the crowd gathered at the amphitheater, the sororities started piling in. Ready to receive their new members! I couldn't help but take a picture of my Chi O group while we waited. It's a loyalty thing I suppose.

The actives went wild as the new members lined the ampitheater ready to run to their new "sisters." When all the sororities were accounted for, the new members ran to their new home. There were girls EVERYWHERE!

Mary, Jean, and I made our way through the crowd of parents, friends, tons of guys sitting on trucks, and dogs until we found Catelin. She was so happy!

Catelin and Mary

Me, Jean, Catelin, and Catelin's cousin

Mary, Catelin, and Jean

While the new members met up with their sororities, we walked our way to the last house on the row....the Phi Mu house...to meet the girls when they ran to the houses. There was what looked like a parade route as all the girls walked through the streets lined with college students...mostly guys. So funny! When the girls finally made their way to the house, we took pictures and pictures and more pictures.

I'm pretty sure Dustin and his friends used us as an excuse to come over there. Ha!

Dustin and Kyle

We visited with Catelin for a little bit and met some of her new friends before letting her go enjoy the day as a new Phi Mu sista. Oh, the pink that was EVERYWHERE! It's a good thing I like her. That's all I have to say! Ha!

New friends

New sisters

New home

Another Corinth girl pledged Delta Gamma on Bid Day. Catelin and Allison are roommates. I know they will both be so happy and were so pleased with the outcome of rush. I hate we didn't get a picture of them together!

Allison

Alright, girls! The fun starts here! Take it all in and enjoy every minute of it!

Now, back to the three of us who stood in the HOT sun, walked all over campus, took pictures, and walked back all over campus! Let me just say that we needed a COLD drink for the road before we left!

Why?

See for yourself! Gross!

It was worth every drop of sweat though! A fun day! Brought back all the memories of my Bid Day!