Turkey for me, turkey for you...

Thanksgiving in Dallas was a beautiful thing...for the most part. Of course, there were the awkward moments between my dad/step-mom and brother, but other than that it was a wonderful time. All I know what to do is pray over the whole situation, otherwise I just stay out of it all together. I got to see one of my cousins I hadn't seen in about 3 years so that was great. I think she and I are the only girl cousins who aren't married with children, well aside from the 9 and 10 year old. Although it's been awhile since I've seen them...anyways, my sis-in-law is expecting Hernandez #2. She will be due in July. I'm really, really excited. Little Mariah is such an amazing little rugrat. I adore her.

As always in Texas, I watch a lot of movies because that's what my family does, that's how we bond. My mom and I drive 7 hours to watch movies with my brother and Sarah. The list of movies/television shows viewed are as follows:

The Lake House
November
The Proposition
Love Actually
Nacho Libre
Seinfeld
Southpark
The Simpsons
Newsroom

I'm sure there were more, but those are the only ones coming to mind at the moment. I also watched a lot of football. The only time of the year I don't mind watching it, other than my normal following of the UT Longhorns. Which by the way get to go to a crappy Bowl game this year. Stupid, stupid A & M. Well, that's about it. I loved seeing little Nater for a little bit. I'm only sorry I didn't get to see you more, you little trash. Only a few weeks, though, and I'll get to see you again.

Okay that's really all for now.

Something I heard...

I just wanted to share something I heard a child say in Sam's yesterday. When you walk in, there are these giant televisions, and by the giant televisions there was a toy horse. The toy horse went up to my hips and it could move it's head and kinda shake or something. Well, I saw this little girl, roughly age 9, eyeing the horse. She went up to it and then she sat on it. The horse started raising it's head and shaking, and by all accounts it looked like she was having a great time. Her mother came and stood next to her and the little girl looks up with her pleading eyes and says to her mother, "I think we should buy this. Can we buy this horse?" Her mother says, "No." The little girl then tries again, "But I think we should buy this horse." The mother looks at the little girl and says, "You already have a real horse." What happened next made me laugh out loud...the little girl says to her mother, "But I want a toy horse!" It's not enough that you have a real, live, actual horse that you can freaking ride around on and feed it crap, you want a pretend horse that moves its head and shakes. We as humans will never be satisfied with what we have, we only want more. Oh, little selfish girl...ride around on your actual horse and be grateful. There are plenty of kids in this world who would kill to have actual horse...plenty of those kids are starving and they would actually kill that horse to eat it. So, unless you want those other children to kill your horse and eat it, shut up and be happy with what you have!

"What's Good" in the Hood...


This weekend was definitely a great one. I got to know more of the girls involved in the ministry and I was made aware of a few things.

We stayed at a "new" place this year; "new" meaning new to us. It used to be an old catholic church/school/convent. It was super sweet and super spooky. We went exploring a lot over the weekend. When we arrived we were informed that we were not only in the most dangerous city in the country, but we were in the most dangerous part of the most dangerous city in the U.S. We were also informed not to be alarmed if we heard gunshots in the middle of the night, it happens everynight. CCH is awesome! I didn't hear so many gunshots, but I did hear sirens every 3 min. or so.

I helped Mama Joyce out in the kitchen most of Saturday because I'm still a little gimpy and it's hard for me to carry a bunch of stuff and go up and down stairs. It was fun to be in the kitchen, but at the same time I was hoping to do a little more, however who can complain when they get to hang out with one of the most awesomest ladies in the world. Later that day, the kitchen crew plus Dave-oh stole away to Target. I grabbed some DP and a little mattress to help out my back from sleeping on the floor. I forgot about that little part of road trips, floors suck to sleep on. I can use the mattress on our other trips, so it was a smart purchase. That night we headed out to the Thies Farm to have our chili cookout, bonfire, hayride extravaganza. I led worship around the fire for a little bit and it was mighty cold. It was cool to hang out with Erin's parents. Her dad always makes me laugh.

Sunday we worshipped together with the little congregation of about 15 or so. With all of us there, the congregation's numbers grew to about 70. After church some of us hung out and played with the kids for a while before lunch. The church is predominantly African-American so I got to hear all kinds of new slang. One thing I was made aware of this weekend is that I'm no better at dodgeball now than I was at age 11. I was taken down hard twice. The kids showed no mercy. After that I switched to frisbee. It was a little safer. The ladies of the church held a potluck for us and the food was amazing! It was a buffet for all the ages. Two of the girls from the church sat at our table with us and we had a great time talking with them. They couldn't have been more than 14 years old. A boy from the church came up to one of the girls and said this, and I quote: "My friend Ryan, axed me, to ax you...what's good?" She then said: "Tell him...I'll let him know." The CCH'ers at the table just kind of stared a minute in silence not really knowing what this foreign exchange was all about. The girl let us know the term "what's good?" means would you like to hangout/go out with someone. So, add that to your everyday vocabulary.

All in all, it was a great trip. I had fun hanging out with the CCH crew and the kids from the church. Keep them in your prayers. I don't know how they live day in and day out with so much violence around them. Later.