One Year Ago

“The only thing standing between you and your goal is the bullshit story you keep telling yourself as to why you can't achieve it.” ~Jordan Belfort

One year ago today, I started my new job.  At the time, I told people I may have found my dream job.  Indeed, 365 days later, I think that I have.  Don't tell my employer this, but I might do this job even if they didn't pay me. 

During the last year I have been able to travel all over Texas.  I've talked with hundreds of ranchers, partaken in a lot of barbeque brisket, given over 50 presentations, seen lots of cows, eaten rice salad for the first time, spent a fortune on plane tickets, bought a new house, hopefully provided some useful information, planted a few flowers, learned more than I could have ever imagined, created an ag law blog that has over 400 subscribers and gets over 4400 hits a month (click here if you've not seen it!) and made some great friends along the way.

 

 

It was quite a leap for me to take this job.  I quit a great job, gave up the chance for some dollar signs to come my way, moved 9 hours from home, signed up to live in the hottest most humid place on earth (maybe not true but it feels like it!), and ended up with a boyfriend 9 hours away.  And I would make the same decision again!

So if you have a chance to chase a dream....do it.  Go.  Give it a whirl.  And hopefully a year later, you'll be able to look back and smile at the fact you were brave enough to leap.

Thank You For Being His Hands and Feet

“Christ has no body now but yours. No hands, no feet on earth but yours. Yours are the eyes through which he looks compassion on this world. Yours are the feet with which he walks to do good. Yours are the hands through which he blesses all the world. Yours are the hands, yours are the feet, yours are the eyes, you are his body. Christ has no body now on earth but yours.” ~St. Teresa of Avila

Last week on Facebook, I posted a status asking if anyone would help me with a card campaign for my friend who has been in jail since December.  He'll get out at the end of the month and I figured the last two weeks of his stay would go faster if he got a lot of mail each day.  I was hoping that a couple people would volunteer.

I was overwhelmed. I had 23 people offer to send cards. 23 people and not one of them had ever met my friend. People who I haven't even seen or heard from in years responded immediately.  People who I have met only a handful of times were willing to help.  They expected nothing in return but were willing to do what they could to help.  People who did not question or judge or condemn.

It's easy to get cynical about the state of the world.  We hear bad things every day.  People acting hateful, people being prejudice, people treating each other badly.  It's disheartening.

But I'm here to tell you that is not the only part of the story.  There are still good people out there.  Kind, caring, awesome people who will take the time to encourage another person in need.  I know that we're just talking about sending a little note here, but I can assure you that to my friend and to me it was so much more than that.

We're called to love.  We're called to be Jesus' hands and feet.  These people did just that.  For them, for their gesture, for their example, I am forever grateful.

Baby Hepburn's Big Day

"Graduation is only a concept. In real life every day you graduate. Graduation is a process that goes on until the last day of your life. If you can grasp that, you’ll make a difference."  ~Arie Pencovici

Today, this girl is graduating from high school.

I've known Baby Hepburn since she was born.  Literally, I remember that day.  I used to babysit her and help her with her homework every summer.  When she wasn't even in kindergarten yet.  The fact that she is not an adult officially deems me old.

I can't wait to see what her next chapter holds.  Because whatever it is, I know that it will be great.  This little girl is destined for big things. 

 

She's brilliant and beautiful and the sweetest person you'll ever meet.  And although I pray to one day have little football playing boy children, if I have a daughter, I sure hope that she turns out like Baby Hepburn.

Happy Graduation Day!

Waiting for Your George Clooney.

"People take different roads seeking fulfillment and happiness. Just because they're not on your road doesn't mean they've gotten lost." ~H. Jackson Brown

Everyone in pop culture land has been all yippy yappy about the fact that George Clooney is finally engaged.  It will shock no one that pop culture news is not much my style, but when I read this article, suddenly, I cared.

The woman that George is marrying?  Although I sort of figured her for some 20 year old super model, is actually 36 years old, a human rights attorney, author of a book on special tribunal practice, and she's fluent in three languages.

As the author points out, this lady went out, got an education, traveled the world, made a difference, lived her life, and her reward was a big ol' ring from George Freakin' Clooney.

Our society often gets it backwards, telling girls that they better hurry up and get married or else they will die alone.  I can't tell you how many times people have looked at me with pity because I'm 30 and still single.  I've heard it all.....you're not getting any younger, your eggs are dying, you'll definitely have to settle for a guy with a crazy ex wife, you should get a cat.....blah blah blah.  Screw that nonsense.  There is no timeline by which you have to find love.  And there is no requirement that you can't go out and be awesome while you're looking.

So this is a little note for the single girls out there....you dream big dreams and go get them without worrying that you will never find a husband.  If Prince Charming comes along when you are 20, great.  But if you get to wait a little longer, take heart.  Your George Clooney might be right around the corner.

This is a wholly unrelated picture of the Chihuly exhibit I saw
last year since I don't have a photo of George Clooney to share.

A Running Picture

Today I'm linking up with Ladie Okie for the monthly runner's link up.

When I saw that the theme for this month was "A Running Picture," I knew right away what photo I would be selecting.  There was really only one option.

Bay to Breakers 2010.  A day that will live in infamy.

Allow me to set the stage.  College Roomie and I wake up crazy early and ride the bus downtown.  You then stand in line with tens of thousands of people who are mostly dressed in crazy costumes and randomly throwing tortillas in the air.  Then when the gun goes off, you begin the 7.5 mile run from downtown San Francisco (the bay) to the ocean (the breakers).  Along the way there is a literal party in the streets.  People cheering and drinking at 7 am.  Folks hosting house parties and waiving from their balconies.  Many people doing multiple things that would be illegal on a normal Sunday morning.  But anything goes for Bay to Breakers.

Including nudity.

We were maybe a half mile into the race when it happened.  We saw our first naked person.  Old, hairy, yucky, naked person.  Who was ironically wearing a hat.  I screamed to College Roomie, "OMG, there's a naked person up ahead!"  She said, "Go, go get a picture, I will catch up."  At this point, I begin sprinting all out to get up close enough (but not too close because ewwww) to snap a photo.  And so I did.  I ran as fast as my little legs would carry me.

The photo itself is not blog appropriate.  But here is our reaction afterwards.

The best part of this whole scenario is that 7 miles later at the finish line, we had seen so many yucky naked people, that it just wasn't that exciting any more.  Turns out we didn't have to sprint off to catch that first guy because there would be many more just like him.  Old, hairy, yucky, naked people.  Fun fact for you:  It's never the guys you want to see naked that are running naked.

And so there you have it.  A race picture and a story.  And a recommendation that if you want to run what is absolutely, hands down, the most fun run of your life, sign up for Bay to Breakers 2015.  You won't regret it.  (To read my full blog on the event, click here.)

Big Hat and a Little Horse

I'm not a mom, so I don't know anything about raising kids, but I feel pretty sure that if more of them were raised this way, the world would be a better place.

Oh, and I also think there is a special place in Heaven for horses like Katie Elder.

Simon Says...

Ouch....this one makes me think.

My Answer to a Great Question

“As a matter of fact, it is not a question of God’s intentions towards us; but it is a question of whether we see Him through the crowds, whether or not we see Him and say, “If I may but only touch the hem of His garment...” And so it is not about our capacity for goodness; but it is about our being able to simply see His intentions of goodness for us.”  ~C. Joybell C.

Earlier in the week, I posed the following question and shared thoughts from many of those whose faith I strongly admire:  What is the one thing you have done/habit you have formed that has most impacted your faith?

For me, the answer is found in going to adoration.  For those of you who may not be familiar, adoration is where people go to a chapel to be in the presence of the Eucarist, which is the bread from the Lord's Supper celebrated at Mass.  The Catholic Church believes that during holy communion the bread literally becomes the body of Christ and,therefore, when you are in a chapel facing the bread (usually held in a golden statute looking thing called a monstrance), you are literally siting in the presence of Christ.  Everyone there just sits in pews silently praying or thinking or reading.

I first went to adoration when I lived in Albuquerque.  Our Lady of Fatima on Monday nights.  There were pink walls.  It was quiet, peaceful, calming.  There were always a handful of people.  A grandmother.  A nurse.  A guy about my age.  All there worshiping, experiencing, praising, praying.  There was just something about it.  It was here that I contemplated life during a period of significant change.  Deciding to take a new job and move away.  When I began dating The Boy from Texas.  While planning my trip to Eastern Europe.

When I moved to Texas, I found a church with a perpetual adoration chapel, meaning it is open 24/7.  And I go.  Often.  It is small, quiet.  I pray and read and just sit in the silence.  I usually go at night, my favorite time to be there is when it is dark and raining outside.  Having this perpetual adoration chapel and the ability to go anytime I want is one of my favorite parts of living here.

St. Thomas Aquinas Perpetual Adoration Chapel - 2014

I don't really know how to explain the impact that this has on my faith and my life, but it makes a difference.  A big one.  I am calmer, more aware of God's presence, more at peace.  I am not a person who has ever heard God literally speak, but somehow as I sit in the chapel, I feel His presence.  And I have no doubt that He is with me everywhere else as well, the fact is that if I can feel Him better in this one place, I know that I must keep returning.

As I said on Wednesday, I think that's the key.  Figure out where it is that you find Him and keep returning.  It's okay if it is different than someone else, it is okay if it doesn't necessarily make sense, it is okay if you can't really explain it.  Find Him and keep returning.  Maybe that's the answer.

Throwback Thursday #64: OSU Mock Trial Team

My senior year of college, I was on the mock trial team.  We weren't very good, but man alive did we have fun.  And made some great friendships with people who I otherwise might never have known at OSU!  After getting to see one of my teammates last week for the first time in about 8 years, I realized I had to share some pictures of our major mock trial trip!  We went to a tournament in Dallas in the spring of 2006.  We won a round or maybe two.  College Roomie won an award for being one of the best witnesses in the competition.  And I kick myself for not having a blog then to remember all of the funny stories.  It was a great experience with even better people!

The team at Regionals

We may not have been Olympic material...

Team Dinner

Little bit of a flat tire adventure.

We may have been better here than in the courtroom.

College Roomie and I

Girls and the skyline

College Roomie, Trey and I
 

Skating at the Galleria

 



So....what do we say kids?  Team reunion??

 




A Great Question

“God is here, right now, at our side. We can see him in this mist, in the ground we're walking on, even in my shoes. His angels keep watch while we sleep and help us in our work. In order to find God, you have only to look around.”  ~Paulo Coehlo

A few weeks ago, one of my friends posted the following question on Facebook:

What is the one thing you have done/habit you have formed that has most impacted your faith?

I thought it was a great question.  You'll hear my answer later this week.  But while mulling it over for myself, I decided that I should ask the question of some of the people in my life whose faith I greatly respect.

Charles River Bridge - Prague, Czech Republic - 2013

Some said that it was silence--a monastic retreat, sitting in the quiet, being still and knowing He is God.  For others, it was interactions with people, talking through questions, finding encouragement throughout their lives when God seemingly placed the right people there at the right time.

Some pointed to scripture reading.  Others to Christian books.  One to various podcasts of messages from the best preachers across the world.  Another to consistent, continual prayer on a daily basis.  One to miraculously surviving a car accident from which she should never have walked away.

For some it was intentional acts....setting quiet time, praying with a spouse.  For others, something wholly happenstance....stumbling upon a church, attending a retreat because their friend needed a roommate. 

One said fasting.  Another, knowing that his grandmother always prayed for him.  One to trying to continually be aware of His presence.  For another, asking challenging questions rather than just buying into whatever others believed.  One mentioned taking her young children to Mass (stressful as that may be!)  Another recalled a Bible verse read to her when she was only 9 years old and her father was killed in an accident.

So what should we take from all of this?  That all of us find God in different ways, in different places, doing different things.  I think the important thing is simply that we find Him.  That we experience Him.  That we love Him.  And that we share that with others.  No matter the form that may take.