The Call-Houston, Texas

Yesterday was great! Geoff and I along with a few other friends participated in a march and prayer stand in Houston. I was pretty impressed with the amount of people that came out to attend; families with their children, dads in suits who had taken a lunch break to participate, college students, elderly couples and youth groups. A variety of people came together for the same purpose: to pray for our nation and the city of Houston. You see, there is a massive 78,000 square foot abortion clinic being built, the second largest clinic in the world and THE largest in the U.S. in Houston, Tx. They are calling it "The Abortion Super Center."

Geoff and I joined the march Monday morning as thousands gathered for outdoor worship at the Catholic Charismatic Center. Gathering there, at a Catholic Charismatic church was interesting enough in and of itself. But even more interesting and wonderful was the fact that so many had come to march, too many in fact (a good problem to have) that the leaders of the march had to reorganize the whole event to accommodate the mass amount of people. So, rather than all of us marching to the same place, several marches, or mini marches, were arranged to head out and pray silently over neighborhoods around the clinic. The first group comprised of Hispanics and African Americans from that area in Houston who walked towards neighborhoods consisting of primarily Hispanics and African Americans; which I thought that was pretty neat, for them to have the opportunity to pray for their own neighborhoods.

More and more groups were sent out to various neighborhoods, but the group Geoff and I were in headed towards a high school. We walked through the neighborhoods surrounding the high school, but we also walked around the perimeter of the school's campus. You could see the Abortion Super Center from where we were. So, we paused for 15 minutes and just prayed for the center and those who are and who may someday be involved with it. We prayed for the neighbors, for mothers and fathers-to-be who may look toward abortion to resolve their unexpected and unplanned pregnancies. But we also prayed for those without a voice; the unborn children. We prayed for an increase in the number of families willing and interested in adopting the unwanted children in our nation and for more families who could become foster parents. We asked God to open the eyes of those seeking abortion as the only answer and we boldly pleaded before the Father to turn that abortion clinic into an adoption agency!!!

Due to the amount of people who came to participate, our group was unable to see the nationwide press conference Lou Engle spoke at, on site, at the Abortion Super Center. But we prayed for those at the press conference as well; that simple words of TRUTH would pierce the hearts of anyone who would listen.

It was a pretty incredible journey. I am so glad that we attended. A little bummed that we didn't get to see the press-conference live. But, after it was all said and done, our group decided to hop in the car and head towards the Abortion Super Center, just so we could see if for ourselves. All I can say is as we drove closer, the heaviness and sadness was greater than it was earlier that morning.

If you are interested in more info, go to www.thecall.com and click on Houston. Or, go on youtube and look up bound4life.

Please be in prayer for the city of Houston.

So, the day is almost over and what have I accomplished?

10:30 a.m. - I finally woke up. Sleeping-in is awesome!

11:00 a.m. - Ate cinnamon toast crunch for brunch and then watched "What a Girl Wants" on TV. Good movie; and yes, I teared up at the end when Lord Dashwood had decided to withdraw from his candidacy and fly to New York to tell his long lost daughter, Daphne (Amanda Bynes), that he loves her. And Daphne finally got the father/daughter dance she had always wanted.

Anyways, after the movie was over, I piddled around the house a bit, procrastinating; denying the obvious list of chores I had made for myself this past Thursday night, when I was actually looking forward to an open Saturday that would allow me the time I needed to really clean the house. Yea, I ignored that list on my nightstand until about 2:30 p.m.

2:35-6:00 p.m. - I cleaned and I cleaned and then I cleaned some more: all the baseboards, trim, moldings, blinds and ceiling fans were dusted. All wooded surfaces gleamed with Lemon Pledge. Smudges and fingerprints were erased from both bathroom mirrors. The claw-foot tub, shower, bathroom countertops and yes, even the loo, glistened after Clorox Scrubbing Bubbles had done its job...There are no dishes in the sink right now, because they are all in the dishwasher. And that's nice; I hope I never take my dishwasher for granted....Our Frigidaire was even purged today of any item that had passed it's expiration date...or smelled funny. Side note: all said and done, I went through 9 trash bags today. While on that topic, every trash can, including the trash compactor, received a new liner. My rugs have all been vacuumed and those tiny little stickers that Geoff and I often step on, OUCH, are gone; at least until one of us goes outside and tracks them back in. I swept every square inch of our little casa; underneath beds, couches, behind and under chairs, night stands, tables etc. And then, I brought out the Orange Glo so my hardwood floors would shine once again.

6:00 p.m. - I took a brief pause from the cleaning to have a small bowl of chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream; I had truly lost track of time. I hadn't even realized it was time for supper. So, yes, I had dessert before dinner (I never do that; in fact I rarely have dessert. But I considered it a reward, a "sweet break.") Then I decided to make my husband Taco Ring for supper. It was yummy; and to add to our Saturday night dinner for two, we watched a DVR recording of Community we had forgotten about. It was hilarious.

7:00 - Cleaned up dinner, loaded the dishwasher, washed dishes that could not fit in the dishwasher and wiped down my kitchen countertops and stove top with Fantastic!

Sometime after all of that, I started laundry. But my wonderful husband said he would finish it. I love him!!! Then I picked up all Izzie's toys and put them away, started another grocery list, took some tubs/items out to the garage (which desperately needs to be organized; another job for another, warmer, weekend) and all nine trash bags were taken out to the dumpster.

I don't think I had officially stopped until about 9:00 p.m. Then the thought occurred to me: "What have I really accomplished today?" All of this to say, yes I'm so glad my house is really, really cleaned; it needed it! But at the same time, I think "Where did my day go?" I kind of feel like I wasted it a bit. Maybe I was too thorough and thats why the majority of my day was devoted to cleaning rather than hanging out with friends, shopping, reading or going to see my family today. Instead, I didn't make time for any of that this Saturday; regretfully. At least there's Sunday...and MLK day. And I'm very excited about Sunday and MLK day because on Sunday, we are leaving for Houston to visit our good friends down there and to participate in The Call on MLK day. (For more info, go to www.thecall.com and click on Houston.) I think it's going to be an amazing experience and I hope the event makes an impact. Please pray that the eyes of Houston and our nation will be opened.

So, back to today. About 9:45/10:00, I decided to sit down and blog about my day. It's almost 10:45 (I've been interrupted a few times)...but now my thoughts are on my nice, clean, crisp new sheets Geoff and I put on the bed. I love clean sheets and I'm ready to smell the fresh scent of our fabric softener again. Time for sleep! But wait...Izzie needs a bath!

Well, I've been wanting to start a blog now for quite some time and I've finally done it. Well partially. I mean this is my first post; does it really count? Maybe not. But here it goes...

Blogging is part of my "new year's resolution" or at least a version of what we know of as a new year's resolution. The idea definitely didn't originate from the light bulb idea that is a "new year's resolution" that lasts all of about one week for most Americans; so sad. Side note: Where is the self-discipline in this country? No, instead I consider blogging a creative outlet. I love to write. I haven't really written for the fun of it since high school. Yea, in college I had to. I mean, it was paper after paper after paper...but this is for me. My thoughts, memories, ideas and dreams I'd like to share with anyone who may read my blogs.

So here I am.

I've noticed that some people blog about cooking (I'm pretty clutzy in the kitchen, although I love to cook), some blog about their kids (don't have any, but I have a dog), politics (I don't keep up with it enough to really have a strong enough opinion, like my husband does; sad but true), sports (...please, ask anyone...I'm still trying to figure out the rules of football...I don't understand it, but I am getting better; thank you Geoffrey and Kimberly) and the list goes on. I have yet to really figure out what exactly I will be writing about. So this may just a be compilation of a various topics.

Today I want to talk about color. What is my favorite color?

I love color! If you were to ask me my favorite color right now it would be green, not hunter green or lime green, but Philpott florist green. If you are wondering what color that is, drive down North 1st street in Abilene. As you drive toward downtown Abilene, on the left you will notice a lovely greenish building. I used to work there in high school; Philpott Florist. I loved that job for the whole three and a half weeks I worked there. (They only needed me for Mother's Day.) Anyways, it was one of those childhood aspirations I had when I was a little girl. I wanted to grow up and be a florist. My grandmother used to keep me and my little sister at her house after school and during the summer. I used to pretend to play "florist" with all her fake floral arrangements. I would take them apart, all over her house, and make new arrangements to sell in my make-believe floral shop. Maybe that's why I love so many colors. I have never seen a flower I did not think was beautiful. And I have never come across a flower color that I didn't love. Back to the subject, however; what is my favorite color? I don't know. Because if Philpott green was my favorite color today and you asked me the same question tomorrow, I may say Pottery Barn blue or Christmas red, the color of ivory pearls or that pretty lavender we see at Target once Easter rolls around. But honestly, I don't think I actually have one favorite color. I like them all.