Introduction of "Between a Mom & Daughter"

Fellow readers, I am so incredibly excited to introduce something to you today.  Beginning today, on my 25th birthday (man, I feel old!), my mama and I will be co-blogging every Monday!  We feel as if the Lord is wanting us to minister to mothers and daughters of somewhat "unconventional means" through issues He has laid on our hearts.  So, this first post will be somewhat of an intro to our "series" if you will.  I encourage you to please check out my mama's post every Monday as well.  She will be approaching things from a mother's perspective, while I will be approaching them from a daughter's perspective.  

As some of you know, my precious, biological mother passed away of brain cancer two months before my 12th birthday in 1999, and my dad remarried to my fabulous, new mama the following January.  Many may tease how I refer to my mothers as either my "old" or "new" moms, and it makes us giggle when we can see that people are trying to understand how my mom looks so young to have 5 kids, but are too nervous to say anything about it.  Well, allow me to talk about the elephant in the room: My mom is only about 13 years older than me, and adopted my brother, sister and me shortly after she married my dad.  The two youngest of my siblings are from their marriage, but by no means do I EVER refer to them as half brother or sister.  I love all of my siblings equally and unconditionally.  

Mom approached me recently about beginning a ministry where we reach women & girls who might have been through, or dealt with situations, similar to the many we encountered (and maybe sometimes still do!).  We give glory to Him alone who has allowed our relationship to be special, necessary and a blessing!  Most of you readers are somewhat familiar with who I am, but for those who are new, allow me to give you a little synopsis of my life...

I live in Frisco, TX with my husband, Jeff (by far the craziest, hyper, and most expressive man you will ever meet!) who is the High School Pastor at Prestonwood Baptist Church's North Campus.  Jeff and I have been married a little over two years, and have a chocolate lab (Obi) and a cat (Zeek). We have a passion for youth, children and adoption.  We do ministry together, and I work two part-time jobs: one as preschool teacher and the other nannying a little boy.  I am loud, crazy, very talkative and never meet a stranger.  I am passionate about my Jesus, girls' and women's ministry, helping others and loving on people.  Tidbits about me include: an obsession with Chick-Fil-A sweet tea, anything vintage or shabby-chic, different food combinations, an adoration for my beautiful best friends, and reading a good book.  My life passage is 2 Corinthians 12:7-10.  

I am so excited to see what God has in store through this series, and again, please don't forget to check out la madre's first post of our series! Muah!

i've been remiss

Hello, readers! Sincere apologies to all of you for my lack of blog posts as of late.  I have been reading my usuals every day, and with each entry read I think, "I really need to post..." So here I am!  However, I cannot guarantee a satisfying post, I am doped up on painkillers and running a high fever due to a glorious tooth abscess!  If there are misspellings, inconsistencies, rambling, or a jumbling of words, I am so, so sorry.

Last Monday I woke up to SEVERE pain below two of my front teeth.  I thought this was due to wearing Crest white strips the few nights before (they definitely make your teeth more sensitive), but the pain continued to get worse and, by Tuesday, was unbearable.  I was able to get in to see our new dentist (first time ever!) that Tuesday, and after a round of x-rays, this is how we found the abscess.  He prescribed me painkillers and antibiotics, but let me tell you folks....I have never experienced that much pain in my mouth ever.  The pain was so awful, that by Friday morning, I called the dentist at his house and asked him to prescribe me a higher dosage of pain killers.  Him being the wonderful, God-sent man that he is, called in a prescription.  Thank goodness, because I had to help with a girls retreat for the next couple of days.  

Well, by Monday my pain was very manageable, but I struck a fever out of nowhere.  It went away on Tuesday during the day, came back that night.  Then appeared Tuesday night, went away Wednesday during the day.  Today, I did not go to work out of sheer exhaustion and, thankfully, was still able to get my root canals today...Yes, that's right, canals! They had to remove a previous root canal and replace it, and do a new one to the tooth beside it.  The procedure went very well, but because the infection is so severe, I have a temporary antibiotic filler and in three weeks will return to get the permanent filler.  Oh the joys of dental work!

Thank you, everyone, for your prayers, encouragement, and comfort.  It has meant the world to me!  I promise to be better about posting, and I will try not to babble about my mouth pain:) Love to you all! Muah!