I knew I was a Red Head!!

Your Hair Should Be Red

Passionate, fiery, and sassy. You're a total smart aleck who's got the biggest personality around.

What's Your Funky Inner Hair Color?

When You Least Expect It

Well, I figured it would happen this way. I had been looking around town for a time when I had my camera and I saw Matthew McConaughey. Saturday the film crew wrapped up filming here in Huntington with the annual Green and White game...a spring scrimmage of the MU Thundering Herd.

This year's game had a twist. Not only was the film crew going to be there doing arial shots and taping the crowd chanting "We Are Marshall" but it was a reunion of the 1996 championship team which includes among others Chad Pennington and Randy Moss. They were hoping to have 10,000 fan show up for the big game and 17,000+ were in attendance.

Another twist was that not only was the crew from the movie there but the cast was there as well. In fact, Matthew came out with the team when they walked through the crowd. I was looking around for Chad, Randy and any other familiar faces and didn't notice Matthew with Coach Snyder until Jim said, "Hey, there's Matthew."

Luckily I have my husband to help me find the sexiest man alive. Below is a picture he snapped of Matthew looking at the camera. He was only about 5 feet away from us and I had no clue.

When you least expect it...

We Found Out!!

Last week we got the news but with Holy Week and all of its activities we haven't had time to announce the good news. On Maundy Thursday we had our "big" ultrasound. I had asked the baby if he/she would behave and let us know if they were a boy or a girl. And the baby did more than cooperate.

It's a boy...we were made sure of that several times. From all indications and measurements he is right where he should be in size and development. The ultrasound tech looked at all of his little bones and his organs and found them as far as she could tell to be growing just fine.

He's an active little one...almost turning somersaults. He looked at the screen a few times and then held up his fist. Thank you all for your thoughts, prayers and support during this time...we are so excited!!

More Pictures from We Are Marshall

More pictures...


And one of Jake

Star Gazing

I must say that I've been excited about what's happening in Huntington over this past week. Over thirty five years ago this town and Marshall University experienced a great loss. While coming back from a football game at East Carolina, most all of the team and most all of the coaching staff was killed when their plane crashed just outside of town.

Last year the movie from Ashes to Glory retold all about what happened that fateful night and the years to follow. Hollywood caught that idea and have decided to make it into a movie right now called, We Are Marshall.

Among the actors in this film are Matthew McConaughey, Matthew Fox, January Jones, David Strathairn, Kate Mara among others. It has been pretty wild around town. There is even a website devoted to sitings of Matthew McConaughey.

Anyway, this is the second day of filming...they are doing a lot of the filming here in town especially on the MU campus and around town on Fourth Avenue among the buildings that haven't changed. We were coming back from Jake's first soccer practice of the year and trying to figure out what to have for dinner. We decided to choose Chili Willi's (Jake loves their "orange dip") but when we got close we saw that the roads were blocked. I spotted a lighting semi and said, "They're shooting at the bus station. We are going to Chili Willi's." (The restaurant is across the street from the bus station.)

We had to park over a block away because of the road blocks, but were lucky enough to get a table by the window so we could watch the action. Soon we saw that the scene would be shot in front of the bus station and Matthew Fox and January Jones would be the key actors. We watched the scene over and over again as they tweeked and tweeked it. It was pretty cool. Above and below are a couple of pictures (small as they are...they were taken with my camera phone and it shrunk them) from that scene. I can't wait to see the movie and hopefully see this scene.

Not What We Expected

This wasn't exactly what we had in mind when we started our service on Thursday nights. Common Grounds was going to be a way for us to reach out to college students at Marshall. But it has developed into an outreach to those who are on the street and those who are seeking to get their lives back after being on the street. It has turned from a way to minister to students away from home into a viable and effective way to minister to those who have no real home.

This Lent we have been doing a series called Journey to the Cross...first person reflections on Jesus' journey to the cross. As the worship team sat down to dinner before the service started, one of our regular attendees, S, came over and sat with us a while. He has been coming since the service first started and has brought a lot of people to worship with him too. He's been on the street and now lives with friends near the church.

He talked about how wonderful the service has been for him and looking around pointed out how many people who are starting out on their own are coming to the service. He said that he knew the service was going to be successful because we hadn't run him off. We started talking about how sometimes the welcome isn't so sincere when someone looks, dresses or seems different. With tears in his eyes he thanked everyone around the table for welcoming him and his friends into the church.

S has a point...so often we talk about wanting to be welcoming to those who are different...we look to Jesus as the example for love and acceptance. But in the midst of that sometimes we allow culture and other things to get in the way...and the welcoming becomes more restricted.

I thank God that I have had the opportunity to meet these folks that otherwise would most likely have blended into the background. Some folks are easy to ignore/disregard, but this service has brought them into the forefront and made them more visible. Their stories are interesting...amazing even.

Some have been homeless for quite sometime...some live on the riverfront...others have been abused and have sought safety....still others have been maimed by their lives on the street. But one thing stands out for each and every one of them...they are bringing others into the church to experience a warm meal and potentially a worship service. We have new people each and every service...all because they are inviting others.

It wasn't what we had expected, but God had a different idea. Thank you God for thinking outside the box...thank you God for guiding us to those you wish us to reach.