Liz's Letters

Our daughter, Rebecca, is the second best flute player in Lewisville (Texas) Independent School District. Wish her luck...regional's are next week! She will be playing in the district band...another musician in the family! Her friend, Akietha, made district band too! Congratulations to both girls!

Emotional roller coaster ....that is the best way to describe me. I have so many different things going on in my life, in my heart, and in my relationship with God, that the ride is coming close to giving me motion sickness! Some of what I am experiencing creates the feeling of being way on top of that first great big climb of the best roller coasters ...you know the ones....you start out slow, the coaster is clicking away as you climb to the top of a huge mountain. The anticipation is great while you climb, seeing nothing but the top where you are headed. Once at the top, there is usually a few seconds where you have time to take in the view. When I do this, I get a thrill. I love to look all around! I feel big and tall and excited! I feel this way about the cruise that I am getting ready to take. I feel this way about my marriage. I feel this way about the new friendships that I am making and expect to make. I feel this way about Adam's upcoming graduation, his new girlfri...

I have been married for over 25 years. My husband and I met in 1980 and I fell quickly in love with him. Through out our 27 years together we have gone through good times and some bad times. This past weekend, he and I had one of those serious conversations about where we have been and where we are going in our marriage. Sometimes these discussions can be difficult, but they are always necessary in order to build intimacy, health, and to grow. We didn't scream, cry, or yell during our talk which was a great mark of success. But what really was amazing was his closing statement to me. Out of respect, I will not quote him (I believe in honesty, yes, but will always protect) but what he said to me was loving, kind, encouraging, and true. He filled my world with hope for the future and I fell in love with my husband all over again.

Countdown Clocks at WishAFriend.com

This weekend I experienced something quite fun! I took one of my "new Texas friends" to an Open House at a new housing development. She likes to decorate so I thought she might be interested in looking around at the model homes as well as some of the other products available for viewing or purchase. It was a nice "Ladies Night Out" sort of thing. What made it even more interesting was the host of the Open House was a woman I went to Middle School and High School with. Also attending this Open House was her sister who had been one of my best friends in junior high! Keep in mind that I have not stayed in touch with either of these ladies until recently so we are coming up on 30 years since we laid eyes on one another. I asked my new friend, Ashley, along not only for something fun to do, but now you can see, for a little support. What if I didn't get along with these old friends of mine? What if I meet them again and can't wait to get out of there? I n...

Recently, I was asked what is my biggest pet peeve. In the past, I would have answered that dishonesty or lying is my pet peeve. And even though I really don't like people who are not honest, I recently have found a peeve that is intolerable for me...people who are so self focused that they can't see beyond thier own interests or problems to be aware of the interests of others. Pride. In recent months, meeting new people has been a major priority in my life. After relocating to Texas, my desire has been to build a network of friends here. This has allowed me opportunity to evaluate friends that I have held dear in the past, what made them a good friend, and even if they really are good friends. I have tried to take what I have learned from my conclusions and look for people who are good friends, healthy friends, and people who I think will be good for me and me for them. I have noticed how many people, women, especially, will talk on and on about themselves and never ask a ques...

I have little focus today. I spent so much time TRYING to focus at work, that since I got home, I have been bouncing off of walls like one of those little rubber balls you buy for a quarter in the gumball machine. Here are the random things going through my head. It is cold. I am not used to feeling cold. It makes my throat hurt. Well, that might be because after I got my flu shot, I thought I was going to die. I ended up with the pseudo-flu. That was a bummer. Maybe that's why my throat hurts. But I still don't like being cold. I guess I should be glad I am in Texas, where cold is not REALLY cold, like Minnesota. I lived there once. I think if one were to go "#1"outside in Minnesota, it would freeze! Thinking of being cold makes me think I want to be warm. And warm I hope to be in less than two weeks when I go on a 7 day cruise in the Western Caribbean. Woo hoo ! Grand Cayman's , Jamaica, and Cozumel ...here I come!!!! My son, Aaron's, girlfrien...

On April 3, 1997, my beautiful, then 3 year old, daughter drew a picture of me. It just so happened that she drew the picture in my Bible. I was a little disappointed to have the drawing of my 3 year old right in the middle of a page in my Bible, but I wasn't angry with her. I made a little note beside the drawing and this is what I wrote, "Rebecca: 4/3/97, "Mommy, I drew your face in your Bible!" That is what she said to me. She was so excited, she carried it to me and proudly displayed her work. How could I be angry? I never gave much thought to it after that. When I read across the scripture that she adorned, I simply read over it. It was a Psalm that she selected and one that I read, but had not zoned in on with the exception of the very last verse. This final verse in this Psalm has been my prayer many, many times. In fact the first date beside the final verse is October 1996 with the note, "Help me always do this." Recently, however, I noticed that th...

This past week I served as a juror. I must admit that when I received my jury summons, I was less than thrilled. My mind was immediately filled with visions of trials "as seen on t.v." And I had just returned from taking some time off for a retreat and to spend time with my mother during a recent surgery. The last thing that I wanted to do was take more time off of work. I opted to go ahead and take my chances, turn in my juror documentation instead of requesting the one "free" skip that I am allowed in the state of Texas. I filled out all the personal questions and sent my paperwork to the court, hoping that my chances of being selected were small. The day that I had to report, I was shocked! There were 294 of us crammed into one room. We were informed that 3 panels would be selected that day and there would be 123 of us going to the next selection process. As fate would have it, the juror selection software malfunctioned. They actually had to put all of o...

I am so blessed by God! I love life. I love Him. I think He must love me more than anyone in the world because He is so good to me. I just want to yell to the world at how wonderful He is!

Well, it is official...Adam now has a girlfriend! He has been interested in this young lady for several weeks now, but this past week they have agreed to use the titles "boyfriend" and "girlfriend"! He has spent most of his college days as a single man, mostly because his degree program is so demanding that he had little time for romance! Also, he never really found anyone that was interesting to him. But, that changed when he met Thien. How exciting! They are spending a good amount of time together. They are cooking with one another...I think she might be a little better at it than he is. :) And one of the best things is -she can make sushi...one of Adam's all time favorites! Along with spring rolls and dumplings. (Asian cuisine is one of his very, very favorites, so he is very excited about the food!) Now, all three of my kids are romantically involved! Is this the fun part of parenting? Or the hard part? I am not sure yet! Romance though...it is ...

Fridays have always been an interesting day to me. I don't know exactly why, but I have high expectations of Fridays. I am not sure if it started when I was in school and most Friday's were about slumber parties, then football games, or dates. But I almost always did something fun on Friday nights. When I got married and started having children, Friday's were still special. I did not work while our children were little so I was able to get all my housework and errands completed during the week. The reward was that on Friday, I would get together with another good friend of mine (also the mother of young children) and we would visit and have lunch while our children played together. We did this every Friday and I always looked forward to it. Often times, we would go our separate ways for the afternoon so our little ones could nap, then we would get together Friday evenings with our husbands and children and have dinner. We played board games or cards, while our kid...

I just returned home from a new Bible Study class at Fellowship church. It is called This is My Story and it is written by Lisa Whelchel (you might know her as Blair from the Facts of Life TV show). It is cool to have her personal input on a "class" that she developed. (she is a member of my church and she told her "story" tonight.) Now, I am a little excited and a little skeptical about this study. I am excited to record "my story" in a format that might be interesting to others. I want to leave a legacy of sorts for my children and other family members who might have interest in who I am, where I came from, and how my faith story has affected how I live. I am a little nervous because I have high expectations for the storybook that I will be putting together. I am also nervous because I am leading a group of women through the small group portion of the class and I am sort of anxious about it. (although it went fine tonight) The skeptism comes in because I...

My heart is in my throat! My stomach is turning around and around inside of me. I just dropped my daughter off at the football game. Now, this in itself is not enough to make me feel this way. After all, she has attended football games for the last two years. But, this football game is different! She is on her first date...with her first boyfriend! My emotions are bubbling with anxiety as I type that. She is on a group date....sort of. Her friend accompanied her (purposefully invited to ease the nervousness.) Her boyfriend also has a friend along. And his family is chaperoning. So, it is an appropriate date for eighth graders...but still, IT IS A DATE!!!! Rebecca and this young man have been friends since the sixth grade. They talk to each other quite a bit. He has asked her out twice in the past and she declined, mostly because they are such good friends. But, as they have matured (and now that he is taller than she is), the attraction has changed a little bit. And it i...