..It's been a while (Part 1)

[I'd like to preface that since it has been a while, I am going to be all over the place and it's probably going to be pretty long.. Bear with me and try to follow. I actually might even break it up into two blogs]

 

"Express yourself with dance, it's more than words can say.  

No artist can capture it on canvas marble or clay.  

You can say so much by moving your body around.

You can say so much with out making a single sound.

Much work is put behind it, but in the end it shows. 

For when a person dances, her inner spirit grows."

I first heard that in 9th grade.. And I still remember it.  It's so true!  When I am dancing, I don't seem to have a care in the world.  When I am on that stage, it's like everything else stops.. Although, there are plenty of times where I have used personal experiences to add to the emotion or character of a dance.  But Sunday that was not the case.  Sunday, I just danced!  After the two weeks I had gone through before that, and hell just the night I had had before that would have been enough, and what I was going to after dance?  I needed it!  I felt like I was back in New York dancing and sweating up a storm!  My girlfriend of 10 years now is the owner of a dance studio in Carrollton (YAY, Thanks Jordan) and is letting me go up there to practice in one of her studios..  It was hot, I was sweating and I was going for about an hour and a half/ two hours.  The whole time I was there I forgot about work, about the stuff going on in my family, the sadness of stuff going on with my friends, my own stress, and my lack of sleep.  I needed that!  Funny because I am already taking 6 hours of dance class a week right now, but this was different.  This was me.  This was an escape.  (My AOL screen name used to be échappe, which means 'to escape' in French.  It is a ballet movement and it fit perfectly because dance was always my escape).

*video will be posted after this weekend

So on top of dancing, Sunday was an amazing day!  I needed it after some tears and realizations both Friday and Saturday night.  First up?  Sunday school with first graders.  I have been looking for where I could serve at my church, Watermark, and kids have always been a passion of mine!  It's great because I get to spent time with these cute little girls and when they start to get bored and reckless, I get to hand them right back to their mom and dad!  haha  Sunday School couldn't have been more rewarding!! During the first part when we are singing and watching a skit- we were in this room that I had been in just two weeks before for a dating class- and it was cold.  So some of the girls came and sat by me, and I put my arm around them to keep them warm.  Then, we broke up into our individual grades, and to even smaller groups after that.  I had a girl in my lap, and two girls on either side of me (: They were even putting name tags on me (with their names of course).  After ward, I was able to have some quiet time upstairs before I met some of my church buddies and headed into service.  On my way to meet my friends, two of the girls saw me and ran from different directions to come and give me a hug.  I was SOLD! Those little girls just melted my heart and really did a lot more for me in that one hour of Sunday School than I feel I could ever do for them.  Isn't it funny how much you can be rewarded when you are serving?

During church, John Cox who is our executive pastor, told us about an experiment he did.  In essence, it was to test how he is doing as a follower.  How other people around him see him. And then he challenged us as a congregation to surrender every morning to God, to listen to Him, write down what we hear and obey.  As part of that, I did the same experiment John did.  I sent out a mass email to random people in my address book and I asked them "What three words would you use to describe me? (Good or bad, as long as you are honest)".  That went out to people I haven't seen in years!!  People I haven't talked to even longer.  There are some people I would have never sent it to, and they responded anyway!  Some added a paragraph or two after and were very touching.. Others simply wrote three words.  I'm still getting replies today, but so far I have had 60 words from 38 people.  

The challenge was to see if the people around us saw us living our life for Christ.  Was Christ evident in our day to day lives?  John Cox said the only people who responded that he was faithful or Christian were his non-believer friends.  Although, I think that might be because it's just so obvious he lives his life for Christ, they just assumed that he knew that described him.  So what were my 60 words?  Here you go: 

Beautiful	10
Outgoing	7
Kind*	7
Driven	4
Passionate	4
Caring*	4
Honest*	4
Faithful	4
Sweet	4
Spiritual	3
Loyal*	3
Energetic	3
Genuine*	3
Trusting*	2
Fun	2
Confident	2
Bubbly	2
Ambitious	2
Compassionate*	2
Smart
Loving*
Fragile
Funny
Precious
Supportive*
Sincere*
Focused
Stubborn
Positive
Selfless*
Thoughtful
Trustworthy*
Faithful to God
Genuinely Good-Hearted*
Sparkling
Inquisitive
Bright
Joyous*
Dedicated
Others-focused*
Aggie
Articulate
Happy
Charismatic
Respectful*
Stunning
Smokin' Hot
Classy
Grounded
Joyful*
Friendly
Dependable
Christian
Naïve
Equally Caring*
Gorgeous
Vibrant
Strong in my Faith
Benevolent
Independent

I put in bold, the words that directly reflect others seeing Christ in my life, and me being a servant.   I put an asterisk next to words that I think are characteristic of a Christian, and are certainly characteristics that I show BECAUSE of Christ being in my life.  Ten people out of 38, directly commented on my faith in God- a measly 26%. But 36 of the 38 named off a word that Christians should exhibit- 95%.

One neat response came from the mother of one of my exes (talk about people you didn't mean to e-mail that to).  But it wasn't just any ex, if I ever had a relationship I regretted, it would be him.  I will change her name, and the other names in the e-mail, but you'll get the point.  (Leslie* is her step-daughter)

Lynne,
As a "wordy" person, three simple words were hard for me because I wanted to add more but these quickly came to mind. I have often described you as beautiful--on the INSIDE as well as the outside--the key to that being your Christian walk.

You touch lives and make positive impressions wherever you go and I am thankful for our connection. I have been wanting to write and let you know a very special contribution you have made.  Leslie*, Bill's* oldest daughter, will be having a baby girl probably Thursday or Friday of this week (she was due July 9th). When she asked us earlier what  we (grandparents) wanted to be called, after much thought and consideration I naturally said "Momma Karen*" which I use with much joy and think of you every time I hear it because you gave me that name first!  Bill's kids call us Dad and "Karen" so I felt it very natural for them to refer to me as "Momma Karen" with any future little ones. 

Thank you for making my new title an easy and very dear choice.
Hope you are having a wonderful day!! 

Love you,

And another from an old friend,

Lynne!

I'm sure you will get a lot of responses with more than just 3 words to describe you! This is tough! Although we don't talk as often as we should and our lives have taken us in different directions I still consider you one of my greatest friends and probably longest friend! So my three words would be...

Trustworthy
Faithful to God
Outgoing
Genuinely good hearted (I added a 4th, couldn't help myself)

You are a wonderful person and my 3 words (phrases) just don't give you justice!

Love ya! 

If that doesn't give someone a smile, I don't know what does (:  She is one of the NICEST ladies I have ever met and Loves the Lord SO much!  I'm really not sure when or why her son decided not to follow that same path, but I will be forever grateful that I had the chance to meet and know her.

So after church, I headed to Pei Wei (one of my faves) with the same group I sat at church with AND many of the people I was with Saturday night.  We were being goofy; laughing, joking, and enjoying fellowship!  I mean check out this picture!  lol  A big thanks to Chris for letting me play around with his new iPhone 4.  I think I need to start saving for that.  I mean my phone is being crazy any, might be checking the AT&T site to see when I am eligible for an upgrade and how much that will be.  Although I have other financial responsibilities I need to tend to first, like Launch!

Then I headed to dance and I couldn't think of a better way to end my Sunday then with Ritas, friends, and a lazy river for 3+ hours (even though I wish we were all getting together on different terms).  I was with two of some of the MOST BEAUTIFUL women in Texas- seriously, in 2008 one was Miss Texas and the other was her first runner up! So, like I said, two of the MOST beautiful women in Texas: inside and out, our fabulous friend, Ed and his two boys.

 (Faith, Ed, Me, and Becca in front)

 

 Combine all of that with great convo and much needed laughs, I couldn't ask for more!

Thank you Lord for Blessing me with great friends who pick me up when I need it, even when they don't know that I need it.  Thank you for giving me trials.. I know you are teaching me something and I know that the rewards will be greater than I could ever imagine..  And thank you for lessons learned through trials in the past, so that I can help reach out to my friends because of my experience.

“We must not become tired of doing good.” Galatians 6:9