Alert and Oriented (x4)

I was going to post about my beautiful 90 year old aunt and the wonderful birthday celebration we just had. Amy and I went to Dallas for the weekend, and it convinced me that I really don't use our pass privileges enough. But then, this came over the news....our beautiful Inlow is at risk and has been evacuated. All campers and counselors are accounted for and there are no injuries thus far, praise God! Please pray for the safety of the crews fighting the fire, for those living nearby and their homes (Especially the Samps--Inlow Caretakers), and for the camp itself. It was established in the 1930's and has been hallowed ground for many a teen (and adult) who has met Christ there for the first time. It holds many special memories for so many people. When we were at camp a week or so ago, the (Yellow Hat) Disaster Relief Teams from several states were also staying there while they were helping families who had been burned out in the recent Trigo fire that caused more than ...

Hello. My name is Pam and I am a mochaholic. Specifically, a Costco Mocha Latte Freeze . The bad news: 320 calories--and I have 2 or 3 every week these days. The good news....they have 13 grams of protein, which is 26% of my RDA....whee! We just won't look at the other numbers. When I wake up from the sugar-induced coma it will be a brand new week.... This is, of course all dependent upon whether Ted comes with me or not (he usually does) and flirts with the counter clerk to put in LOTS of extra Hershey's syrup (he usually succeeds). I guess if you've got to have a vice, this isn't the very worst. I live about 6 minutes away from my nearest Costco and have been known to stop there and buy my Mocha Latte Freeze and the proceed to Sam's Club to make my purchases...I am a sick woman. So what's your latest vice?

Each year when I go to youth camp, I come back changed. This year was no different. The way that God moved my kids (all 23 of them are "mine," regardless of parentage) is both humbling and inspiring to watch. Witnessing the brokenness that must happen before healing can begin is often painful, and fraught with messy, uncomfortable feelings that can either get in the way or pave the way for the work that God is accomplishing. We had more honesty and brutal transparency this year than ever before with these kids. Ranging in age from 11 to 17, we ran the gamut of wanting to know only when the snack bar would next open so we could get more nachos to those that clearly and deeply heard from God. The last day, while packing up, was when everything was brought into sharp focus for me. When I am physically tired, I tend to cry quite easily. Tears are independent of whatever emotion I'm experiencing...I can be glad, mad or just plain stressed. I averaged about 4-6 hours a night o...

I'm off to beautiful Inlow Camp tomorrow for a wonderful week with 24 spirited and incredibly bright, challenging teens and pre-teens (grades 6-12). I would covet your prayers this week that they would be able to keep their eyes on Jesus, to not be distracted from the focus He has for them and that they would come back ON FIRE and more in love with God than ever before. As for me, please pray that I would hear from Him in an unmistakable, clear as a bell way as well. And pray for Ted, who will be home alone all week, and missing us. I'm sure he'll be eating lots of Chick-fil-A while we're gone. I return the day before my 28th wedding anniversary. I'll be missing you all--especially my daily fixes....

We met Ted at a car repair shop on the way home, where he was dropping ghettotruck off (more on ghettotruck in a future post). Claire shivered a little bit, but her get acquainted meet and greet with Ted went well. I could tell he was holding his judgement in reserve because 1. She's a little dog. Little dogs are prone to yap and he hates yapping. 2. He hates dogs that do excited piddle. 3. She's been in jail and he doesn't know how she's going to behave after she gets over the grateful "thank you for rescuing me" honeymoon phase. The drive home was uneventful (except Tyler and Tanner called about 6 times wanting to know when we were coming home so they could finally meet her). We walked in the door and Claire wiggled all over with delight. Baggie the cat was sleeping on the couch. Claire wriggled up to say hi and Baggie hissed and instant Alpha-catness was established. Then she went outside (by now we'd had her for about 4 hours and she...