my provider

YOU ALONE CAN SATISFY
My bread of Life
You're my Provider
You fill my soul with living water
Beneath your wing
There is a shelter where I hide
You alone can satisfy

There's no fortune or pleasure
That this world can provide
They have failed and they always will
You alone can satisfy

You're the treasure that I've found
You're the meaning of life
You're my deepest desires fulfilled
You alone can satisfy

We sang this at church on Sunday and it just really spoke to me so I thought I'd share the words. It's a huge reminder to me that God and God alone is my provider and shelter as I face so many changes in the next few months (trying to sell our house, looking for a new house in Amarillo, job searching, leaving our dear Lubbock friends, re-uniting with Amarillo friends, Mark finishing up his second year and taking Step One...). Thank you Jesus for you are my treasure, the meaning of life and YOU alone can satisfy. Continue to teach me how to trust you, your timing and your will.

"The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him and I am healed." Psalm 28:7

Trip #8: Baton Rouge/New Orleans

March 22, 2009 - Mr. & Mrs. Joshua Brumbach

I was so blessed to be able to travel to Baton Rouge, Louisiana to visit my cousins, parents & my grandparents for my cousin Monique's Jewish wedding.

It was the most meaningful wedding I've ever attended. Every part of the evening had meaning and tradition that represents something from the Old Testament.

The Saturday before the wedding, I was honored to join Monique at her Bridal Tea at the beautiful and fancy Windsor Court Hotel in New Orleans for afternoon tea. It was so proper and dainty! We ate cucumber sandwiches, scones and yummy little desserts and drank tea with cream and sugar in fancy china. We had THE best time with all the women in our family there.

As Anne of Green Gables says, "After that, ordinary life will never be the same."

The wedding was on Sunday evening. Here are all the girl cousins (Anna. Monique, Aimee and I) before the wedding...

(this is all taken from the wedding program)

The first time Monique and Joshua saw each other was during the bedeken, or veiling of the bride. This ceremony is based on the biblical story of Jacob, who in not seeing his bride's face before his wedding was tricked into marrying his intended bride's sister, Leah. As a result, to this very day, Jewish grooms are required to confirm the identity of their bride before the marriage can proceed.

The huppah represents an intimate sanctified space, and serves as a visual reminder of God's covering, which bindes the couple together. It also represents the new home that Monique & Joshua will establish together, open on all sides to their guests. (Monique's father built the huppah for her)

Before Monique & Joshua ener the huppah, Monique will circle Joshua seven times, representing the seven wedding blessings and seven days of creation.

The sheva brachot, or "seven blessings," consist of praise for God, prayer for peace in Jerusalem, and biblical passages of joy and blessings for Joshua and Monique. Britta, their matchmaker and cantor, chanted the blessigns in Hebrew during the ceremony. It was beautiful!

At the conclusion of the huppah ceremony, Joshua broke a glass under his foot, commemorating the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem; which reminds us that sorrow is present even in the moments of our greatest joy. The breaking of the glass is the official signal to shout "Mazal Tov!" and begin celebrating.

We had a blast at the reception eating and dancing. What a fun time with family. We sure missed Mark and Eric though. Mazal Tov Monique & Joshua!

Trip #7: Palo Duro Canyon

My brother, Eric, and his girlfriend, Kaitlyn, who go to the University of Arkansas, came to visit us in Lubbock during their spring break!

We had such a blast having taco night, filling out our brackets, watching bball, playing Mario Cart on the Wii,

playing some weird balloon game haha, eating pizza, watching The Office, dying t-shirts,

playing tennis, eating at Raisin' Canes, staying up way too late, traveling to Palo Duro Canyon,

hiking a lot,

for real mountain climbing,

pulling porcupine quills out of Gunner's face,

grilling steaks and eating frozen custard.

It meant so much to us that they drove all the way here to hang out with us for three days. Can't wait to see yall again soon.

Trip #6: Kansas City

I'm sitting in the air port on my way back from Kansas City, very ready to get home. This was another work trip to the AWEA conference to represent the Texas Wind Energy Institute for work. The conference was ok.... once again I just sat at my booth and handed out brochures, pens and mini-hand held fans (what a hit! haha) but the real fun was that I got to spend time with my dear friend from birth, Conner Cooper. (the one mentioned in trip #4 post) I also got to see his cousins, Molly, Abby and Emmy and this morning Amanda Williams met me for coffee at the hotel during one of my breaks. It was so fun to, once again, catch up with friends, shop at Anthro, and eat yummy food paid for by work!

Now, I'm ready to get home and clean up before Eric (my brother) and his girlfriend, Kaitlyn, get there tonight! They're driving down to visit us during their spring break this week. I'm so excited to hang out with them and show them around Lubbock :) We're headed to Palo Duro Canyon on Friday to hike and hang out at Mark's aunt & uncle's cabin in the canyon. Yay.

Trip #5: Dallas

March 14, 2009 - Mr. and Mrs. Josh Black

We traveled to Dallas for Mark to stand as a groomsman in his good friend, and KOT grand-big, Josh Black's wedding. Josh was a junior when Mark was a freshman and he really took him under his wing. Josh is and always has been such an example and encourager for Mark. We had so much fun reuniting with our Baylor friends. I was glad to finally meet Libby, Josh's new bride, and Mark had the best time hanging out with all the KOTs for the weekend and especially at the reception. We sure miss them and cherish the times we get to be with them again. We also had a fun afternoon with with our friends Shelbi and Preston who moved from Lubbock to Dallas in December. Lubbock just isn't the same without them and it was such a blast to see them again!

with Josh and Libby at their beautiful reception at the Crescent

i love my hubbyour dear Baylor friends

Trip #4: Branson

March 7, 2009 - Mr. and Mrs. Richard Cole

From the moment I was born the Cooper family was my second family. Conner is six months older and Kristen is a year younger and they have been my very best friends from the beginning. I’m pretty sure I had they’re phone number memorized before I even knew my own. We would walk through the woods and meet each other half-way to go play at each others houses everyday. Literally every memory I have before college is with Conner and Kristen.Memories with Kristen:
- Pleading with the neighborhood boys to let us play in their fort
- Pretending to be Harriet the Spy and sneaking into the Morgan’s house one day to record all of our “clues”
- Both of us admitting our first crush- the boy from the Buttercream Gang in the jean shorts!
- Hundreds of gymnastics meets,
- Mother/daughter shopping sprees in Springfield
- Being drug all over the place to watch our brother's basketball and soccer games
- Tae Bo workouts with Sasha and Kara
- Listening to Odyessy tapes together
- Branson High School – oh man where to start….school dances, carpooling every day, track meets, football games, our matching toe rings, planning stunt together, crying a lot about Branson High, student council, being the 'bench girls' in Oklahoma the musical when Conner got a solo… and the list goes on forever.
I could not be more blessed by the friendship I have with my dear Kristen. She is my constant best friend and will be forever. She is my Diana Berry. Sadly, we don’t live in the same city and don’t get to see each other very often, but when we do it’s truly as if no time has past. She just gets me, like no one else does. This morning I was praying that 1) we will someday live closer to one another and 2) that my daughter with have a best friend in life as she is to me. I am so blessed to have a best friend who is real, who is honest, who is a woman after God’s heart, who accepts me for who I am, who will laugh with me and cry with me, who will always be there. I don’t know what I would do without her!!
It was so special to be there as she married the most wonderful man, Richard Cole. They are just the greatest couple and I am so so so excited for them to be a newlywed couple!! Maybe someday we'll get to live in the same city!

all the bridesmaids in the chapel:

Trip #3: Little Rock

Jeanie Beadle Staples Named 2009 LSU SEC GREAT

What a huge honor! My gradparents and Aunt traveled from Baton Rouge, Eric came from Fayetteville and Mark and I traveled all the way from Lubbock to be in Little Rock with my parents to see my mom be honored by the Southeast Conference as the 2009 Great from LSU. Wednesday night they had a fancy reception/presentation in the Clinton Library. It was really neat to get to be there and see my mom recognized as the incredible pioneer in women's sports that she was. It was fun to hear Granny and Papa and Aunt Holly's stories from back in the day about when they would travel all over the world for my mom's gymnastics meets. She was quite the star back then and it was so cool to get to recognize her even 30 years later! The Great's were also recognized at many of the games at the SEC women's basketball tournament and then even had an autograph signing time afterwards! We had a blast following our VIP around, getting special treatment at restaurants, staying at the famous Peabody Hotel. What a cool time. Way to go Mom!! We're so proud :) Click HERE to read the article!

Yay Mom :)

This is her famous photo (it was painted as a huge mural in the LSU gym!) She's the first woman to be elected into the LSU Hall of Fame and was a pioneer for LSU gymnastics. She was also the first gymnast to ever win a National Championship from LSU. We are so proud.

She's a legend!

She's so famous. Everyone wanted her autograph!

We were so spoiled and got to stay in the famous Peabody Hotel with the even more famous Peabody Ducks. They were awesome! haha. In case you haven't heard about them......

The Legend of the Peabody Ducks:

The famous Peabody ducks, led by their Duck Master, march down the red carpet every morning at 11 a.m. and into their fountain to play until 5 p.m. when they march out of the fountain, down the red carpet and get on the elevator to take them up to their palace in the sky. So cute!! Every day they have an honorary Duck Master and the one and only Jeanie Beadle Staples got to lead the ducks in a out. It was hilarious!!! (she's in the black shirt leading the ducks in this photo)
How did the tradition of the ducks in the Peabody fountain begin?

Back in the 1930's Frank Schutt, General Manager of The Peabody, and a friend, Chip Barwick, returned from a weekend hunting trip to Arkasas. The men had a little too much Tennessee sippin' whiskey and thought it would be funny to place some of their live decoy ducks (it was legal then for hunters to use live decoys) in the beautiful Peabody fountain.

Three small English call ducks were selected as "guinea pigs," and the reaction was nothing short of enthusiastic. THus began a Peabody tradition which was to become internationally famous.

Trip #2: Waco

I've been waiting for months for this Tri Delt Sing Chair 07 Reunion in Waco with my four favorite girls - Holly, Rebecca, Brittany and Johnna! Since February '06 (when we were first united as sing chairs) the five of us have been inseprable. We worked for 18 months to plan the greatest sing act in sing history - "It's a Small World." Here's a link to our sing act, just in case you haven't seen it. Whether we're driving, planning, dancing, watching sing dvds, mass texting or e-mailing.... it hasn't stopped for three years and I have no reason to believe it ever will.

This past weekend we all met in Waco to watch Sing '09 together, cheer on DDD and as always, perform our whole Bug sing act in Blums car with it blarring through her stereo! The weekend was a major success - in every way. Tri Delt even won 1st place again!!!! Whoo. We were so proud! They're act was produce isle and it was super cute! They did a GREAT job! Here's their act if you want to watch it too.

I don't know if I ever laugh harder than when I'm with my sing girls. We are and always will be the best team and best friends! Now that we're all back in our own cities: Chicago, San Antonio, Divine, Lubbock and Houston - the e-mails continue and I already can't wait for the Sing 2010 reunion. Love you girls!!! See you soon.

Here are some pics of the reunion:
miss you girls already. bugs forever!

Trip #1: Seattle

Last week I traveled to Seattle for work - to represent the Texas Wind Energy Institute. I do the marketing for the wind education program and somehow I got to be the sole rep from TTU to be the exhibitor for the AWEA conference in Seattle. Since I was staying in a big hotel in downtown Seattle, I got to walk around some and see the city during the breaks. I absolutely loved it. Yes, it rained most of the time but I just really loved how natural and outdoorsy everything was! Even the air just smelled cleaner!

I also loved walking the streets (like in NYC) and shopping at every store you could think of (like the flagship Nordstrom which was six floors i think). I also got to meet Jesse (a friend from Baylor) and her husband Bret and their precious daughter, Harper for dinner one night. We ate at a restaurant on the pier which was really fun. I ordered crab legs and it was by far the best crab I've ever eaten!! I hope I get to go back with Mark sometime soon and spend more time in Washington and Oregon! It was awesome!

This was at the Pike Place Market down on the pier. I walked there from my hotel and got to see all the vendors putting out their fresh fruit, veggies, fish, seafood and tons of flowers. It was so pretty. I wish I could go there for groceries every week.








All the vendors were giving away samples and one of the guys talked me into buying this super special kind of plum that is only grown in the shade and is only in season in February and lots of other special things I don't remember.... not sure if any of that was true, but it was most definitely an amazing tasting plum!







Freshest fish/seafood I've ever seen!!!

















Have you ever seen a lobster tail like that? and check out the shrimp on the far right..... amazing!












This is the original, first, flagship, number one Starbucks store in the country. It's the cutest little hole in the wall coffee shop! Of course, I had to buy a souvenir coffee mug that says First Starbucks on it.









I also went up to the top of the Space Needle over looking all of Seattle. It was beautiful! I loved all the boats in this harbor - there were lots of boats going around Puget's Sound and there was a huge Ferry which I would have loved to have been on!




















It was super windy out on the top of the Needle! Even more windy than Lubbock, if that's possible! :)



.........sorry about the spacing. not sure how to fix it..........