My Blood Runneth Orange

Today we went to Clemson for the Tommy Bowden Ladies Football Clinic and had SO much fun!! 500 women met in Jervey to meet all the coaches, some of the players, learn a few plays and tour the facilities. And yes, we even got to run down the hill. WOOO!!! GO TIGERS!

This lovely gentleman is Will Proctor, our starting QB for the 2006 season. :) Let's just say that while I'm always excited about Clemson football, this fall will be even more of a treat. GO TIGERS!!

I was tempted to put the helmet on my head... but thought against it as I saw another lady actually smell another player's. Um... I'm fine with just holding it, thanks!

This was just before we ran down the hill... and I didn't even fall! As you can see, the new West End Zone is done and it's gorgeous. Too bad I'll never be able to afford to actually sit in there during a game! So, if you know someone who's got tickets for it and they need someone to use an extra one they may have, I will be more than happy to help them out.

This was a GREAT way to start off the season. Just 34 more days until kickoff! GO TIGERS!!

Congrats to the Hofts!!

Allison and Wes got hitched this weekend and we were all present to witness it! The newly weds are honeymooning in Jamaica for the week (not that I'm jealous at all...) and will keep keepin' it real in Cola when they return!!



They came to the reception in the flippin' sweet car behind them! GO TIGERS!!

See... I told you we were all there! Jennifer, Brooke, Natalie, Allison, Megan, me, Leslie, Kristen and Jill.

Pictures from Mexico

Ok, here's the link to my pictures: Mexico pics. I will warn you that if you thought I was dangerous with film, I'm even more so with a digital. Especially when I have a memory card that will hold almost 400 pictures. but don't worry! There are only 232 on this site :) And no, my feelings will not be hurt if you don't look at every single one! Once you go to the kodakgallery.com site, below the main picture will be thumbnails of all the pics. Just scroll over them and click on some to view them at random.

I wish you could have experienced the joy of these kids and the love of the people who are down there. But, since most of you weren't able to go, I hope you're at least able to experience a little of what I was able to through these pictures. Enjoy!

Mexican Police

I don't know how I could have forgotten about this...

Just imagine a 15 passenger white rental van, plush, CD player, slightly tinted windows that could still be easily seen through from the outside with New Mexico plates. We're on our way to the next town over to attend the pastor's brother-in-law's wedding. All of a sudden, there are blue flashing lights behind us. We're being pulled over! We all frantically try to discreetly put our seatbelts on to make it look like there aren't too many people crammed in there while one cop walked up to the driver's window and the other two are hanging around the back of the van and looking in at us. Luckily the pastor is sitting in the passenger's seat and we're all deathly silent as we await the verict. Was Danny speeding? Were the tags expired??

Verdict: they saw a lot of people in the van and were curious as to what we were doing. Yep, you got that right. Just think about the irony for a second... It cracked us up and it still makes me laugh!

PS - I'm working on the pictures and hopefully will have the link up soon. Keep your eyes peeled!

Mexico

Before last week I had never ventured South of the Boarder... and no I'm not talking about the amazing place you pass on your way to Myrtle Beach :) I've travelled a lot in my day but had never made it to Mexico or Canada and now I've been to both.

Bellevue Baptist in Owensboro, KY took their anual trip to Juarez, Mexico to work with Pastor Amaya and his family. We conducted a Vacation Bible School in the mornings, enjoyed a siesta after lunch (which may have consisted of a nap, building a cement wall, trying to assemble a basketball goal, or driving around Juarez to find ice cream!) and then conducted an Upward Soccer Camp in the evenings. It was an amazing journey. Not only did I meet some cool people from Kentucky - who knew there were so many?? ;) - but fell in love with the Amayas and all the kids down there who soaked up all the love we could give them. I make many mistakes as I go along in life (MANY mistakes) and I am far from perfect, but Jesus has given me his perfect love and I try and share it as much as I can. But, even in doing that I fall short. However, I was able to see that same perfect love while I was in Mexico as other believers lived out their lives.

Some highlights: spending hours around the table with Pastor Amaya and Chela trying to communicate as they spoke Spanish and we spoke English; eating plenty of "real" mexican food and trying to avoid the really hot stuff but not always being successful; going to a Mexican wedding whose ceremony lasted for 2 hours in a tiny church that had 100 people crammed into it; going to the wedding reception to see the largest wedding cake known to man; hearing the kids try to immitate Billy Joe's Woody Woodpecker laugh!; singing Cha chacha cha chacha cha chacha cha chacha FIESTA! with somewhat unwilling 12 and older kids :); climbing to the top of a VERY high haystack at Jose and Betty's house after lunch; trying to bargain at the market and not always doing so well with it...; receiving more love from those kids and adults than I will ever be able to give in return.

Be on the lookout for more pictures... I'll probably put them online somewhere to make it easy to go look at them :)

The Thompsons

Finally! Here is one of their pictures from the other morning.

No idea what blogger's issue was yesterday, but here are the Thompsons!

Beach Weekend!

It was a much needed weekend away... as well as the beginning of my North American Summer Tour. I left early Saturday, picked up Sissi (Christen) in Columbia and then headed to the coast to stay with Will and Diana for the weekend! They are great friends and wonderful hosts (and it has nothing to do with the fact that they own a Chick-fil-a... ha!)!


Saturday we got there and went straight to the beach. Sunday morning we got up for breakfast and headed to church after which we went back to the beach with the girls and waited for the guys to join up later. That night we got a little dressed up and headed over to Broadway at the Beach (Diana, me and Sissi above) for a late dinner of wonderful seafood and then a quick stop for some dessert with my favorite men, Ben & Jerry :)

Monday morning, Diana had a riding lesson (she's still riding those horses!) and Will went to work while Sissi and I headed back to the beach. Hey... this was my vacation! What else do you expect me to do?? ;) That night Will grilled shrimp on skewers (no idea how to spell that...) that we ate with all the fixin's, after which we had grilled bananas drizzled in a honey/cinnamon/sugar mix with whip cream and chocolate sauce, listened to their friend Eric's crazy Army stories and finally went to bed with full bellys. Well, 3 of us did... Sissi, being the college student that she is stayed up until 5am watching movies!! Holy cow, I don't think I could do that anymore if I tried.

Anyway, THIS morning, Will, Diana and I got up because we were headed to the beach for me to take their family portraits. The one above is mine - haha! The one below is them. Well, it was going to be them, but now blogger isn't letting me put it up! So, you'll have to wait to see my work. haha!

HAPPY 4th of JULY!!!