GO HERE.

Thank you, Phil Wickham. Free live concert on your blog?

Don’t mind if I do.

And you do.

Update 12:09AM- Just got to my computer in time for “True Love” and this is awesome. Well done, Phil and Brody, well done.

Double update 12:11AM- He’s finishing. That’s sad for me. Hope you saw more than I did. Sue me, I was hanging out with a cooler Annie in Nashville. But he’s doing one more “Sailing on a Ship”- I love this one. Good choice. A+ on decision making today, Phil.

You vote your brains out.

And that is the plan for our good buddy [that we don't really know] Dave Barnes.

His new music video for “Until You” has the chance to be added to MTVU’s play rotation. Which is such a big deal I can’t even explain it. Actually, I’ll let Brad handle this one too. (He handled the Third Day thing in homerun fashion. He can now fully be trusted as an advisor of all things musical. And life-ical. That’s not a word.)

So GO HERE and vote. Then GO HERE again and vote. Because you can. That’s why. Before Friday. That means today. And tomorrow.

And someday, when you have a video on MTVU, I bet Dave will vote for you. Or if you are ever on Homecoming Court. He’d vote then too. Given the chance. I’m just sayin….

I’m tired.

Wanna see “Until You”? Ok, hang on, let me ask Dave…… He said it was cool with him.

They just don’t.

I left school today at 3:45pm and headed to Dang Nails. Yes, that’s the name. And we local yokels totally love Dang Nails.

Operation Improvement began at 4:15pm.

55 minutes of staring at Steve [which I'm pretty sure is not the name given to him by his mother in the Philippines]. Steve was in charge of improving my hands. Fake nails. Nice manicure. Because while you may not particularly care what my hands look like, they were sicking me out. I have what professionals call a “recurring bad habit”.

And I bite my nails.

Bah-dum! Ching!

Thank you. I’ll be here all night.

Sigh. I crack myself up.

Back to the story of how boys have no idea what it takes to look this good.

The next 45 or so minutes was spent on the lower quadrant- the toes. Pedicure, including a sanding and a fresh coat of paint.

Then the real joy.

HOT WAX. PLACED ON FACE. RIPPED OFF.

Nothing hurts like that. I’ve never had a baby, so I can’t compare. But I can say that I have felt no other pain LIKE the pain of having the mini-hairs above your eyes heated and then yanked out one by one. In fact, this one time, the girl got wax on my EYELASHES and I seriously almost lost them all in what would have become Lash Wax Massacre 06.

No matter how many times you get it done, it never gets easier. Especially above the lip, though I would have NO IDEA about that… I have only heard of mustachioed women.

Today, she was in a race to wax. It was speedy. Unfortunately, she took a little too much off the top. And the bottom. Too much tweezing. Way too much tweezing.

And because I have zero shame and because there really is no way of making this post complete without photos, I present before and after.

Before on the left- notice eye slice. This was last week. I was apparently making a seriously frowny face. With just cause. I had a cut on my eyeball.

After on the right- about 3 1/2 minutes ago.

So I now have two too skinny eyebrows, beautiful toenails and fingernails that can not be bitten to shreds.

And I left at 6:18pm.

Two full hours and some serious dollars later, Operation Improvement was a success. Yes, there was a slight mishap involving tweezers, but overall, well done.

What can I say? I am just a natural beauty…..

I was driving down the gravel driveway this evening and an older woman was picking up trash along our side of the road. And for an instant, I thought it was Ma. My grandmother. But Ma has been in a nursing home for years, so that is impossible. I see her often [ish] and I am grateful she is alive. But I missed her deeply in that moment. Because she used to work hard to keep the yard clean and it was a normal sight for her to be picking up trash or mowing the yard.

This weekend, at the yard sale, some family friends drove up. They had collected things from their grandparents’ house for us to sell. My other grandmother, Kath, was good friends with this grandmother before Kath died in 1999. As I opened the trunk and pulled out a box, the scent invaded my nose and I missed Kath terribly in that moment. It smelled just like her. Grandmotherly.

I think this is just how I work. The way my clock ticks. I don’t miss constantly, though I think it is fair to say that we all have miss-able [I made that up] things in our lives every day. But I miss in moments.

I won’t miss teaching everyday. I can promise you that. Some days, dealing with parents more than kids honestly, I think, “This is EXACTLY why it’s time for me to get out.”

But when a student emails me and says he misses me…….

or when school supplies fill every store in August……

or when my teacher friends send emails about hilarious happenings……

or worse, when I quit understanding the jokes……

or when I wonder the location of that certain book and my first response is “on my bookshelf at school” even though that doesn’t exist anymore…….

or when a hug from a student or a joke told in class would really make everything seem better….

or when it sounds like someone says, “Ms. Downs”…….

or when I don’t have anyone to go with me to get ice cream on Friday afternoons……

those are the moments.

I think moving is going to produce a lot of those moments. Those instances when I just need to walk with Haley and Molly, when I just want to sit on the couch with my parents, when I want to drive a different route and know how to get home, when something smells like Marietta Pizza Company, when I just want to be at a church where people know me, really know me.

They won’t be constant, or so I pray. But they will be present.

Dear life I know today,
I will miss you in moments.

Y’all. You’ve got to go over to THIRD DAY’s website and hear their new stuff from Revelation. It’s good. Real good.

Obviously, we Mariettans are a little biased since we have loved them long time. But even if Mac wasn’t paying me, I would say this. JUST KIDDING. Mark Lee pays me. JUST KIDDING AGAIN.

I think the amazing thing about this CD is that if you pre-order it, you can listen to it right now! Almost three months before it comes out. That’s awesome.

Let me say that I do like music, obviously, but I am not a music aficionado like Brad. I can’t hear a song and tell you what instruments were used or what level the mixing quality is. When Brad blogs about this CD, and I’m sure he will, he’ll tell you how rad the technical side of this CD is. I can’t. I would sound dumb trying.

But I can tell you when I hear a band or a musician who believes what they are singing and LIVES what they sing. I don’t steer you towards any and every new CD. I steer you towards CDs from artists whom I respect as PEOPLE as well as musicians and writers. The dudes (and families) in Third Day are at the top of that list. I love ‘em. I believe in the reality of their ministry. And I support them.

Here’s the video for the song, “Call My Name” off the new CD. I personally love the title song “Revelation” the most, but it fits my life today so that’s probably why. I like this one a lot too. Fine, I like them all. Sue me.

So go pre-order Revelation. Then come back and thank me like a polite person should do when given a gift of highest awesome proportions. You could write me a thank you note (LINDA!) or just comment. Both are acceptable in the South.

The eye. It’s okay. Nurse says no patch is necessary. Sorry to all those pirate crews that emailed me about joining up this summer. On second thought, I’ll still go, guys, I just won’t wear a patch. But I will wear a parrot. Nay, I insist.

I just finished Beth Moore’s newest Bible Study on the Psalms of Ascent and it was awesome. I highly recommend it to you.

A few thoughts to let you chew on. This woman does a lot well, including high quality quotes. Zingers, if you will. And I know you will.

“When the cloud of God’s presence for your life moves, you better move with it.”

“This is all about making God look good- the pilgrimage is about bringing Him fame.”

“You can not do a thousand things to the glory of God.”

“Know with certainty that the destination is worth the trip.”

Beth says it good, God says it better.

Psalm 84:5
Blessed are those whose strength is in You, who have set their hearts on pilgrimage.

Philippians 3:10
For my determined purpose is that I may know Him, that I may progressively become more deeply and intimately acquainted with Him, perceiving and recognizing and understanding the wonders of His Person more strongly and more clearly.

Amen.