Food, Football, Addicting Games & Tornado Warnings

As I promised, I headed off to SonRise this morning for my second installment of the Relentless series. I'll tell ya what, when there's a message meant specifically for you, it's meant FOR you. This time it was all about maintaining relenting faith under pressure, under unfavorable odds and especially when we are called to step outside of our comfort zones.

 

I checked the church's website, but they've not yet uploaded the podcast of today's message. I did however, find the one that rocked Rob and I last week; it's never too late to share some good news. It's a little long [well, standard sermon length but timely for a blog entry], but it's good nonetheless.

 

Enjoy, and I'll try to get today's up here ASAP.

After work, I had two goals:
1. Retrieve my debit card from P.F. Chang's from last night, where I signed my bill and left my card in the little holder thing. [You can face palm that one, it's okay.]
2. Make it out to Brittany's house.

I accomplished the first, and the second greeted me with a welcoming surprise: they had cooked brunch and had it laid out pretty much in front of me when I walked in the door. It wouldn't be a complete experience without scrambled eggs, homemade hasbrowns, fresh fruit, bacon [not for this allergic kid, womp womp...] & of course, mimosas.

And then.. an afternoon cozied up watching the Bengals game.
It's about TIME...we whooped up on the Browns.

cozying up to some WHODEY action!

I noticed at one point during some replays that all four of my friends were curled around their cell phones playing CANDY CRUSH. I couldn't help but take a picture, for the sake of showing them the visible proof of their addictions. Joe even looks to be fist pumping a victory over a level. I'm not judging; honestly, I've never even thought to play it, but it's still fun watching and hearing other people do it.

candy crush-aholism.
brittany. joe [yesssss! #fistpump]. kalyn. keifer.

Keifer eventually headed out for work, and the daylight started to wear down. We started watching North Country, but were thwarted by all the tornado warnings and watches going on in the area. It was literally raining sideways across Brittany's backyard, and all over the news were pictures of damage here locally, but more seriously devastation in parts of Illinois and some other areas. My heart broke for the people caught in the path of this, and I am so thankful that, even though we ate dinner [delicious, thank you, Joe!] in the basement and had weather alerts as background music through it, that we and those all around us are safe, untouched by the storm.

little red riding pup!

^ Daisy, especially, seemed grateful for another night cozying up to everyone on the couch.. and now that her cone is gone, she's as happy as ever. So is little Maddie, creepin' there in the background.

I'm home now, glad to have the rain and wind gone.
It's another week to conquer, starting tomorrow.
I'm ready. (:

xo | cmd

FIASCO FRIDAY

I'm all about alliteration ;)

Anyway, HOLY CRUD I am glad to see this day come to an end. [hello, backdated entry]

Today was my first run at dropping Sydni off at Mindi's before work; I came all the way from Northside and it didn't take as long as I'd thought - a reassuring thought since I'll be over halfway closer when I finally move. It was an early start though after a restless night; I was running on empty today outside of my excitement for the weekend.

I got my work phone today, along with some more Express swag... I don't know why I'm still surprised at how much stuff my company actually prints with its logos, but I suppose it's that way everywhere and it's a sign of good faring if nothing else ;)


helloooooo, express... ;)
[[this is just a taste of it, too.. haha]]

I really had no complaints when it came to my day at work. We're starting to find some consistency to a routine and things are picking up. I did decide to get my oil changed in the middle of Norwood today, and aside from the boisterous gal on her cell phone for a half an hour next to me in the lobby, there was also this to keep me entertained:


only here......

Yeah. The day was progressing just fine until it came time to head out. I made my way to Milford at a snail's rate, partially due to traffic but moreso by my own choosing of a varied route that took much longer than I'd thought. I finally got Sydni, and together we started out on the road to Illinois.

There was no making this an easy trip:
1. Car fire on 275, blocking all but one lane.
2. Motorcycle/car accident on 75/74 interchange.
3. Sheets of RAIN in the dark as we headed into Illinois, realizing then that there were tornadoes touching down not more than an hour from us.
Long story short, the usual 5-ish hour trip to Illinois wound up lasting 15 minutes short of EIGHT HOURS, and when we got to Granite, the storm had knocked power out completely. Rob's entire neighborhood was pitch black, save for the flickering candles barely visible through some of the windows.

jackknifed fed ex ... :(

I realized tonight how thankful I am for Rob's Macgyver-like ability and problem-solving skills. Since the power was out, the pump in his basement stopped working, and the water started flooding up over the drains. If it were me, we likely would've been floating by morning. Rob on the other hand, had more than one solution, and had the room looking like Frankenstein's laboratory with wires, batteries, pipes, but more importantly without overflowing water. It was a lengthy process though, one that he didn't finish until about 3am :(.

Like I said, we made it safely [amen], but this day could not be over sooner.

Nothin' like a rocky start to a weekend. Here's to the rest of this weekend (:

xo | cmd

Back at ONE | [hello, cycle 2!]

Ahhhh..

Today starts Cycle TWO of this diet .. no no, training regimen I'm endeavoring to complete. Seventeen new days with some new food integrations. So far, so good with the first cycle. I've shed 12 lbs so far, which I'm not necessarily celebrating, because I'm fairly certain over half of that was excess water weight (lovely). No worries, though. I'm bound and determined to stick with this.

======================

Today also starts something a little more epic for me. I found out at the end of the week that the house in which Joe & I used to live, along with the rest of our neighborhood (Toney, AL), was flattened. That house had no basement, and I am fairly certain that our neighbors along that road also had neither basement nor storm cellar of any sort. I'm praying they reached safe shelter before the storms took their homes.

So, let me give you the quickest possible synopsis of how this far-fetched vision hatched:



tuscaloosa, al



At some point in the middle of a deep REM cycle last night, I found myself sitting in my living room watching the newsfeeds: image after image of debris-speckled housing developments, overturned cars, and people frozen in hopeless gaze at piled rubbish they once had called a safe place. An almost tangible sense of panic and empathy sprinted up my spine and I couldn't handle it any longer. I picked up my phone,  called the owner of Penske rental trucks (amazing whose numbers dream phones have, pre-progammed, ha). I told him I wanted a 26-foot truck to transport some daily necessities to Huntsville, AL. He said yes. I, along with a small army of my 'best friends' (people who, in real life, I've never met) picked up this truck. We loaded it with donated items at a pick-up spot in Cincinnati, then hit the open road to Louisville. We repeated mass pick-ups, accompanied by small speeches of gratitude in Louisville, KY, Bowling Green, KY and Nashville, TN. In Nashville, we'd somehow coordinated an appearance by a band resembling Casting Crowns (though not actually them), and their set was performed on top of the truck. The funds raised and the ministry set forth were overwhelming. We added the last of the donated goods to the truck and filled nearly every last inch with the hope that hundreds of people had funneled into four cities. We dropped everything off with volunteer mobile units at my old church (Wall Highway Baptist) in Huntsville, and, after watching the miracle of ministry outreach, headed back to Ohio. 



tuscaloosa, al | neighborhoods

 Sounds ridiculous, right?

Welp, sounds even nuttier that I'm attempting to bring the majority of this wacked-out dream to real-life fluition, but hey, I'm not really a conventional person, and as a believer in the healing potential with which God endows each of us, it'd be a waste to at least not try.

Declare my lunacy. I'm cool with that. :)

Sooooo.. when Monday hits, I'll be on the phone and engrossed in emails to see if and where this could materialize. If I can't jumpstart this effort, I will, if nothing else, join forces with a mobile volunteer unit that's already onsite aiding cleanup, recovery, and response efforts.

Please pray for the direction of this project.
I have no idea if and where this will lead, but I am confident that the God I serve already knows, and He'll have me on the right path if I just trust Him.

So yeah. How's that for a Saturday?

xo.
.: c :.