Aloooooooha!

OK, I've fallen off the blogging wagon. I promise to do better. So, here's a few pics from my trip to the islands. I got really lucky and a family from Oakcrest needed some help watching their little ones while they were on vacation, so I got to go to help out. They ended up only really needed me a few hours a day. It was the most relaxing, wonderful week that I've had in a long time. I read more than I have since college. Finished my first Edith Wharton novel, re-read Persuasion by Jane Austen and countless other magazines and newspapers. It's a lot more fun to read when you're lying on the beach.

The Hawaiian people at our resort were fantastic. A lot of days I was on my own for most of the day, so I enjoyed getting to know some of them. The shuttle driver, the resort security, Starbucks employees, etc. They were curious about Oklahoma. Wanted to know what my teepee looked like. Only kidding. Sort of. One of them even got us free tickets to a glass bottom boat ride. It was really cool and perfect for the kids since they couldn't go snorkeling with their big brother and sister. We also went to a luau and had roasted pig, the whole shebang. It was great fun. But most importantly, Hawaii is GORGEOUS!

It was a great week off, but now it's back to work. Two weeks until state testing. Oh my. So much to do.

One more pic of the weekend. Moo-Moo, Nikki, Tekira, and Daqavious came over Saturday night. We went to see Monsters Vs. Aliens at the Warren. It was so cute. The little ones didn't know what to expect with 3-D and they were a little freaked out at first, but then loved it.
Tekira, Moo-Moo, Daqavious, and Nikki waiting in line for the movie

Top 10

I did a lot of driving today and had lots of time to think in the car. However, my brain is so fried from jet lag and work that all I could think about was what CD to listen to in the car to keep myself awake. (I think I changed CD's 10 times in the 20 minute drive this morning) My deep thoughts have now inspired me to list my top 10 songs of all time. Here they are in no particular order:

1. I've Been Loving You Too Long, Otis Redding
If you have never listened to Otis Redding, hurry up. This particular song is heartwrenching and Otis sang it with a passion that gives me goosebumps every time I hear it.
2. London Calling, The Clash
Classic Strummer. Perfection.
3. I Fall To Pieces, Patsy Cline
Never again will there be a voice like hers. You feel her pain every time she sings a note and you love every minute of it.
4. Pictures of You, The Cure
Nobody does a break up song like Robert Smith. Get out the black eyeliner kids, this song is love and loss at its best.

5. Fresh Feeling, The Eels
I fell in love with this song about a year ago. It's light and fluffy and so much fun to listen to.
6. Ol' 55, Tom Waits
This was my first introduction to Tom Waits. He's definitely an acquired taste, but if you give him a chance he'll wow you with his ability to pull on your heartstrings with a song about a car.
7. Same Auld Lang Syne, Dan Fogelberg
Not really a feel good Christmas song, yet that's the only time you hear it on the radio. I love me some Fogelberg. Who else could convey such heartbreak at meeting an ex-girlfriend on Christmas Eve and knowing that things could have turned out differently?
8. I Wanna Be Sedated, The Ramones
Favorite punk song. About the craziness of touring and wanting to just stop and go home.
9. For the Widows in Paradise, For the Fatherless in Ypsilanti, Sufjan Stevens
I love this guy. A indie rocker who is a Christian and is fantastic. This song is about women that he met in Paradise, MI who were widows, but were happy and loving life. Beautiful melody.
10. Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, *N Sync
I know that I deserve relentless mocking here, but this song will always be on my list for many reasons. It will always remind me of the Roggies, Christmas trips to the Chickasha lights with Maricarmen and Angela, and it was one of the first songs that Annie knew all the words to (she still requests it in the car starting in like October and going until February). It's more sentimental than anything, but I will always love this song.

Hawaii post tomorrow...must sleep now.

Back from Hawaii!

I'm back! The trip was awesome. I'll write more about it later this week, but for now here are some pictures of beautiful Hawaii.

It looked like this on Maui when we got there, so we decided to fly over to the Big Island. We stayed in Kona where it looked like this all week...
...fabulous. Don't worry, it wasn't all fun and games. I have a second degree sunburn that made my trip home just delightful.

Vacay!!!

I'm off to Hawaii for the week. I'll try to blog, but I'll be a little busy enjoying the sun and surf. I won't wear socks with my sandals, but Amy, you better believe I packed my shorts to swim in! Have a great week!

Leighton

I've been having a hard time lately and blogging seems to be fairly therapeutic, so I'm gonna write it out. This sweet baby was Leighton Smith. Leighton was one of the sweetest and most mischievous children that I've ever known.

He loved to play and be active. Even more than that he loved to be silly. He got into lots of trouble, but when he got caught he would always burst into a fit of giggles and hug you and say, "Sorry!" I first met Leighton when he was 4 years old and his family started coming to Capitol Hill. His mother and siblings are incredible. They have not had an easy road, but they are always positive and seeking the Lord instead of doubting His purpose. Pretty soon after they started coming to church, Leighton's oldest brother was hit by a car and had to go through some pretty extensive rehabilitation. His family also had to deal with an apartment fire, job struggles, and other health issues that year. Their love and devotion for the Lord never faltered during those times though. Last winter, Leighton had to be admitted to the hospital for pneumonia. No one thought that it was serious. He was seven years old and just had some breathing problems that were thought to be treatable. On February 1st, Leighton began to suffer severe breathing problems to the point that he had to be intubated. It was all just too much for his little body to take. He passed away just after midnight.

Over the past year I've grappled with a lot of different emotions. Sadness that we don't get to see him grow up. Anger that his family has to hurt so much. Heartache when I see his brother and sister and wonder where he is, then remember all over again. Relief that he didn't have to deal with the struggles of this world. Happiness that he is with the Father. We were working on sight words right up until about a month before he died. He was struggling with the difference between want and went. It all seems so silly now. Who cares about want and went? But, it was times spent together that I will never forget. Little successes when he was so proud of himself and wanted to tell everyone what he had just done. Laughing about the silly stories we made up together.

I know that God has a purpose for all of this and honestly, many days I still struggle to see what it is. My heart aches because I miss him so much, but Leighton is fine. In fact, he's more than fine. He's with God in heaven and that's what makes everything OK.

Friday picture post

It's Friday (almost), time to post pictures! These are some of my favorites from the last 6 months or so.

These two pictures were taken literally a minute apart. I was driving and talking to him and I looked in the mirror and he was out. He was awake and talking again about 2 minutes later. Talk about a power nap! (Don't worry, Takiea was taking the pictures!)

Miss Nina. She makes this face a lot. Yes, she's better than you. Cuter too. And she knows it.
Daisy and Max. Yes, he was having a staring contest with the dog. Oh, Max.
I love, love, love these girls. Daval cracks me up... ...like in this picture. We were watching Hannah Montana in 3-D. Hannah asked the crowd before one song, "How many girls are out there tonight?" Without missing a beat Daval shouted back, "Twenty-eight!" (There were only 4 of us at my house) That's Daval in a nutshell. She's a hoot.

Healthy Living

I'm starting fresh. I'm cleaning house and anything that is not beneficial has to go. First up...

...Chick-fil-A. You started off so well. So new and shiny with cops directing traffic in the parking lot. But, we've been having some issues lately. You've been a little clingy, always right there around the corner tempting me with your sweet tea and waffle fries. I just can't take it anymore. You and I and all of your cows are through. I'm moving on to bigger and better things. Salads and water. I know, it sounds like an excuse, but believe me, I'll be so much better off without you (especially when I go to the gym). So, goodbye Chick-fil-A. It was nice knowing you, but our time together is done.

I can't sleep, so I'll blog instead...

How is it that I'm always more tired after a weekend? This weekend was pretty jam packed. I caught up on cleaning and school work, shopped for the Lighthouse/Capitol Hill, shopped for my Hawaii trip, and went to Spring Sing!!! Oh, Spring Sing. Someone made the comment when we were there, "Do you remember what it was like when this show was your whole life?" Wow. I hadn't really stopped to think about all the things that I miss about college. I just kind of hit the road and didn't look back. So get ready, I've got a top 10 list! Here are the top 10 things I miss about college:

1. Waking up every day after the sun has come up.

2. Having almost all of your close friends within walking distance.

3. Laughing with said friends until your cheeks and stomach hurt.

4. Spring Sing. Yep, I loved it. I loved the lock-ins, the glitter, working the crowd. It was awesome. And yes, Gamma won AGAIN this year! Let's go GAMMA RHO!

5. The Axis and the Nemesis Nine. If you know what I'm talking about, you know you miss it too.

6. Chapel. I know it sounds cheesy and yes, I know that I had 30 absences my last semester, but I don't have a chance to worship like that anymore. It was a blessing to have worship time every day.

7. IMing and e-mailing all day long. I feel so cut off from the world now that I don't sit at a computer all day.

8. Spring Break Mission trips. I had some of the best times on those trips. I made new friends, spent time with old friends, and had some great mission experiences. Inner city Memphis was my favorite. Not only did I learn things that I could bring back to OKC, but I got my dad to sing in front of the Downtown Church, which was fabulous.

9. Learning life lessons. College is a time when you are supposed to mess up and figure things out. (Right?) I messed up a lot and I feel like I'm a much better person for it. I'm glad I did all the dumb things I did and will now never do again. (Yeah, OK, so I'm still learning life lessons, but I learned a lot in college, so it counts)

10. Vienna. You knew it was coming. The most incredible 3 months of my life. I left the country a very timid, shy kid from the south side and came back a cultured world traveler with Hungarian bathing experience. OK, that's a little dramatic, but I loved every minute of my trip and everyone that went on my trip and I miss them and Europe more than I love TV (that's saying a lot). Enjoy our chapel video from our Vienna trip. 6 years ago! Wow.

Friday night thoughts

I have always loved Friday nights, they're my favorite part of the weekend. In grade school, Friday nights meant watching TGIF and cleaning at the Gilliam house. You remember TGIF. Full House, Step-by-Step and my personal fave Just the Ten of Us, the spinoff of Growing Pains. It was always nice to relax and chill out and get ready to enjoy the rest of the weekend. Even in college, my friends and I preferred many Friday nights to rent an old movie and stay in and avoid all the high school kids at the mall trying to smoke all their cigarettes before their parents came to pick them up. Now that I work full time, I count down the hours to Friday afternoon, when I can go home and enjoy the quiet and not have to worry about getting up the next morning and being prepared and responsible.

My Friday night routine recently has become focused around a show that I wasn't sure I'd like at first, but has now gotten me completely wrapped up. I work or clean or do whatever I need to do until 8pm, but then I stop and sit down and enjoy an hour in Dillon, TX with Friday Night Lights. I don't know if you've watched this show, but you need to get on it. It's the best written, acted, and produced show on television. Yes, it's about football, but the real focus is on people. This show has some of the most realistic characters and situations, people that you can relate to. The acting is out of this world (Emmy voters, I'm not sure what the problem is, but Connie Britton and Kyle Chandler deserve apology letters for your lack of recognition). This man's hair emotes more than those "actresses" on the 90210 remake. (Seriously, his hair is always changing. It's rather amazing) Also, the Taylors (the coach and his wife) have a strong, healthy marriage and a happy family. They attend church together. How often do you see that on network TV? These people aren't perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but they are real and that's what makes this show so enjoyable. Prepare to be heartwarmed.

7 years??

This is a special installment of my Friday report (sorry it's so late, Angela!). Instead of keeping up with all the new happenings, I'm going back to the old days of C.Hill to reminisce for a little bit.


This beautiful young woman is named Maricarmen. She was involved with the Lighthouse back when it was still Central, before I ever even knew a thing about it. When I started going to the Lighthouse as a tutor I was assigned to Maricarmen when she was 11 and I was 18. That first year we read, we did social studies, and we started to bond. This picture is from one of those tutoring days back in 2003 when we were first starting to get to know each other. Over time I became her Big Sister and we spent an extra hour outside of tutoring together each week and I started to get to know her precious family. By the time I started working at Capitol Hill, we were pretty much inseparable. I was able to spend birthdays, Christmases, and other celebrations with her family and she celebrated with my family as well. We had lunch together every Wednesday at Shepherd Mall and I even got to be one of her escorts at her graduation last year. Here a few things that I love most about Carmen:

1. How excited she STILL gets about the Hippopotamus Song at Christmas.

2. How she is not afraid to tell me if I'm being too controlling or stupid (she called me Kate all summer, like on Jon and Kate plus 8 because of my control issues. Just because I want kids to have clean hands and not get lost at the zoo doesn't make me a control freak, does it? OK, I might go a little overboard about the clean hands.)

3. How she's dealing with things in her life.

4. How she loves to embarrass me whenever she gets a chance (she told her teacher I thought he was cute, then made me meet him at her graduation! I felt like an awkward 5th grader with glasses and braces all over again.)

5. Her compassion for others.

This last year was full of ups and downs for both of us and I have to say, I think she was there for me more than I could have ever been for her. When sweet Leighton died last winter, she went with me to the funeral home so that I wouldn't have to go alone. When I had my gallbladder out, she and her mom came and sat in the waiting room with my family until I was out of surgery. When I got overwhelmed with stress at work, she listened to me cry and then suggested a swim party to cool down. She got up at 6 and worked until midnight many nights during the summer helping me get ready for the summer program at C.Hill. She lived with me a couple of months during the summer and it's been a little lonely here without her lately.

Of all of the kids in that tiny, white house 7 years ago, I could have been assigned to any of them, but God knew what He was doing. God paved the way for this relationship to grow and blossom and change both of our lives forever. Now Maricarmen is 18, the same age that I was when I met her! She has become a beautiful young woman and I will forever be grateful for her presence in my life.

Office Thursday

It's a new Office tonight! It's about time. It's a Valentine's Day episode, which is interesting since it's now March, but hey, no complaining about new episodes. Here's a clip from one of my favorite episodes where Dunder Mifflin Scranton gets to make a commmercial. Michael's ideas for the commercial are ridiculous as always, but somehow seem to work out in the end and everyone ends up happy.

Kick me when I'm down

It's happened again. My third stomach bug since school started. My mom warned me this would happen. This one hit during school. Let me tell ya, running back and forth to the bathroom really elicits sympathy from children. I had hugs, kids offering to carry me, kids actually trying to carry me, and sweet, heartfelt sayings such as, "I don't want you to leave us, Ms. G. Please don't be sick tomorrow, we won't make it without you." I'm planning on milking this as long as I can. I'll go back tomorrow, but I'll make sure they know that I'm still not feeling great. I may even feign dizziness and have to sit a few times. As long as they are quiet and listening, I'll do whatever it takes.

This is pretty much how it is to be a teacher. You see a kid come in wiping their nose or holding their stomach and it begins. You know it's coming your way next and since I'm going to Hawaii in a week and a half, I'm trying to steer clear of anything that will ruin my trip in any way possible. I do promise not to bash any kids over the head, though.

Sports? Not so much.

I don't really talk about it much, but I'm a sports radio junkie. I listen to the Sports Animal all the time it my car (or Jocks 930 if Traber makes me really mad). I get fired up about OU Practice Reports and Thunder updates and have considered being late to work a few times in order to go and meet the DJ's from the Morning Animal. I met Bob Barry Jr. this summer and was completely starstruck, I could barely speak to him.

My favorite moments on the Sports Animal usually have nothing to do with sports. When Steely tells stories about his ex-wife or Traber flips out on Jenni Carlson (again), those are the moments I love. One of the best moments on the Sports Animal happened a couple of years ago when Dean Blevins called in after having surgery. He was still pretty heavily medicated and what transpired next was pure radio gold. The Lost Ogle posted this the other day and reminded me how hilarious it was. Keep in mind that this was LIVE radio. Enjoy.

My little buddy

One of my favorite people in the world is a little boy named David. When I first met David, his family had just started coming to C.Hill. He wasn't allowed to come yet, because he was barely three years old (his mom didn't want him to come until he was a little older). He didn't really start coming until he was 4 and a half or so, but even in those early years he wanted to be a part of C.Hill so badly. When he became a regular part of our pre-school class, it was not an easy transition. He was known to fight and punch teachers (especially my dad), spit on them, throw things, and run away constantly. He once had to be chased back into the room 5 times in one 30 minute Bible Class! Over that time though, God was working on David and on those around him. David started to come around a little bit and began to be more of a helper in Bible class. He got to be pretty tight with Mr. Milt (my dad) and started spending more time with him. He got special privileges like zoo trips and parties because of good behavior. He was able to go to C.Hill's summer program this past year and didn't get in trouble hardly at all.

The first time I took David to Oakcrest with me, he was 4. I stayed with him in class to make sure he was OK and he still tried to run away from his teachers. He has come so far from that first day. He went with me today and he asked to go to Children's Worship and reminded me when it was time. He was even upset when it was time to go. People that knew David when he was younger came up and complimented his behavior during worship.

Now, this isn't a commercial for how great Capitol Hill and all of its volunteers are (though personally, I think ya'll are great) for helping this child, but rather a reminder of how great our Father is! I used to teach in a children's Bible class, "Do your best and God will do the rest." That's very simplistic, but I believe that is what Isaiah is talking about in Isaiah 58. God gives us a direct command in Isaiah 58 to care for the oppressed, but then promises to be there and guide us when we give of ourselves. When we give all of ourselves to serve God, He will make us "a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail." I am forever grateful to everyone who has worked with Capitol Hill in any capacity for allowing God to use you to make such a difference in this young child's life. But, I am even more grateful to God for guiding us through these changes and giving us the strength to carry on.


David and my mom reading "The Polar Express"