Gators, Grandmas and a “Stay-cation”

Have you ever heard of a “stay-cation?” They are actually becoming quite popular these days as the recession is taking its toll on people’s discretionary income. As I’m sure it is not too difficult to figure out, a “stay-cation” is basically a vacation at home.

We are currently enjoying our own “stay-cation” with a little mid-day blogging, DVR watching, walking, talking and seminary. It’s so nice to both be home!

In all actuality, I guess we may not qualify for complete “stay-cation” status, as we have been out of town half of the week. Too bad, I’m still claiming it… We actually settled back into our house yesterday after spending a long weekend in Baton Rouge. Micah headed to Louisiana as planned Thursday night, but I had to stay behind for a last minute appointment on Friday afternoon. Riding in two cars was not ideal, but it was worth it. The torrential downpour that stuck with me throughout the entire five hour lonely car ride was also not ideal, but I made it safe and sound.

Good thing I did, too, because I arrived in Baton Rouge to discover that some amazing friends had offered us a couple of LSU vs. Florida tickets!! I think Micah about soiled his shorts when he found out. These tickets were going for hundreds of dollars on the Internet, but they offered them to us at no charge. The generosity of some people astounds me!

As I’m sure you all know by now, the outcome of the game did not go as hoped, but we still had a blast. The record Tiger Stadium crowd of 93,129 was electric. And I wouldn’t be surprised if there were half a million people on campus that day tailgating! In all my years as a Tiger fan, this was the worst traffic and the most people I have ever seen at LSU. There was also an incredible energy in the air! We got to enjoy some gator jambalaya, run into old friends and watch Tiger Band march down the hill. If only the Tigers had an offense…

After gameday, we had the opportunity for some family time. We visited with my parents, brother and grandmother. Then Monday we caught up with Micah’s grandma and aunt at Coffee Call.

We fit in a little time with Istrouma folks too, spending our first Sunday at our home church in over a year. It was nice to catch up with people, and then to celebrate with some students at Madeline’s birthday party that night. Good times, good times!

Now we’re back at home with the windows shuttered enjoying our little “trip.” I guess I better return to avoiding outside contact with the world…

-Laura

A crew we will never forget

A couple of weekends ago, we got a big treat as some of our Istrouma girls came to visit! I taught these girls in a Sunday small group for several years while they were in middle school. I even coached some of them in 6^th and 7^th grade basketball at St. Luke’s. And now, they’re all grown up! Seriously, we can’t believe they are in 10^th grade now. The best part is that over the years, we’ve watched them grow even closer together as a group – a built-in support system of life-long friends.

 

 

It was wonderful to hear where these girls are now in life, and what all God is doing in them.

We filled the weekend with talking and shopping. Friday, we went to Katy Mills Mall for dinner and store browsing before spending hours playing Catchphrase. Of course, Catchphrase always leaves you with a few memorable outbursts…

Rebekah:  “An ugly cupcake! An ugly cupcake!”

(loooong pause)

Somebody:  “A muffin?”

Rebekah:  “YES!”

 

One of the girls:  “SHE played the wife of that guy on Cheaper By the Dozen!”

Natalie (I think):  “Ashton Kutcher??”

 

Rebekah:  “The opposite of ALLOWED (a loud) fruit!”

Me:  “A quiet fruit?”

(buzzer)

Me:  “Wait, what was the answer?”

Rebekah:  “Forbidden fruit!”

There were lots of others. All credit goes to my sister and brother in law for introducing us to that game. We’ve had a ton of fun playing with adults and students alike!

Saturday we headed to the teenage Mecca of Houston – the Galleria. After a number of hours shopping, we checked out the ice rink and found it a little too crowded. Determined to still have our fun, we headed to Memorial City Mall to enjoy some skating.

Then Micah, Randy and Jessica headed to an Astros game while we girls headed to a dinner theatre. We saw Julie and Julia at Studio Movie Grill where they serve you dinner while you watch.

After the movie, we hung out in our youth building for awhile. It was an odd phenomenon for us to see our students from Baton Rouge enjoying our Houston student building!

We wrapped up the night with some Guitar Hero and more talking.

The girls joined us for church the next morning and then we devoured some Pappasito’s for lunch.

It was extremely hard to say good-bye to these girls who mean so much to me. I have watched them grow up and I can’t wait to see what’s in store for them in the years to come. God has blessed them with beauty, brains and dynamic personalities. Although I’m sad not to be able to watch them grow day to day, it thrills me to hear how well they are doing and how close knit they are staying.

Other people we respect in ministry have told us repeatedly that your first crew of students will be ones you never forget. They will be life-long friends and people you keep up with as they grow into adults. I pray hard that this will come true with these girls.  Love you all (even the ones who didn’t get to come to H-Town)!!!

-Laura

Louisiana sampler

We had such a great weekend that I thought I’d share a little more. Unfortunately, we didn’t have the camera with us on Friday when we were running in to familiar faces left and right. But, we kept the camera lens busy with shots of family and scenery…

We gave my mom her Mother’s Day and birthday presents Thursday.

Friday morning we took a 6 mile walk with my mom around the LSU Lakes. We started at City Park, which has been cleaned up and enhanced. The playground, golf course, tennis courts, walking paths and the Raising Cane’s-sponsored dog park all look great!

Friday night we went to the new Alex Box to see some LSU baseball with my folks (These pics aren’t mine).

Saturday we went out to Tony’s seafood and bought a feast!

Micah and my dad picked out an ice chest full of frozen Louisiana goodies for us to enjoy at a later date. They travelled well on the journey back to Houston.

Back at home, we dug into our little Louisiana sampler. Everything was delicious (the best gumbo either one of us has ever eaten!), but our favorite was, of course, the boiled crawfish! 

 

On our way out of town, we stopped to purchase a few LSU goodies, and took some pictures while we were at it.

And then I couldn’t put the camera down, so we wound up with some cool shots on the bridge.

-Laura

On the road again…

We’re back in Tejas now, passing through Beaumont on our way back to Houston.

Today we had a true taste of the Louisiana experience! Fresh boiled crawfish, corn, potatoes, boudin balls, chicken and sausage gumbo, fried catfish and crawfish etouffee. Is your mouth watering yet? Mine is, just thinking about it all again! We picked up this feast with my Dad at Tony’s Seafood, and even managed to walk out with some frozen goodies. That means we’ll get to enjoy a few more Cajun treats sometime down the road. Tony’s has their seafood down to an art form!

Hard to say good-bye to my fam, but we really had a great weekend with them. Walking with Mom, LSU sports, great food, shopping, watching Mike the Tiger, seeing IBC folks, crawfish – a complete weekend!

More about the trip and some fun pictures to come!

-Laura

Journey to the homeland

Bonjour from our beautiful Baton Rouge! Yes, we are back in the homeland for another quick no-Sunday trip. We came in for a little pre-Mother’s Day rendevous with my folks, as well as some R & R for ourselves and a heavy dose of some good ‘ole Louisiana hospitality.

Our summer calendar is packed, as usual, with youth activities and trips. So we fit this trip in our schedule right before the craziness truly begins…

Thursday was nice, but today was truly great! We convinced my mom to play hooky from teaching and then set out on a 6 mile hike around the LSU lakes (boy can my mom move!). We then indulged ourselves at The Chimes and stopped in at Storyville and a few other stores.

After cleaning off our sweat and grime, we headed out again to meet up with Rebekah, Madeline, Natalie and Elizabeth at Dunham. Always so good to see those girls!! I can’t BELIEVE they’re all about to be 10th graders! I seriously almost passed out when they started showing off their learner’s permits…

We then set off with Rebekah in tow to Perkins Rowe, where we met Jordan and her friend, and Andrew Stovall.  So great to spend time with all of them and hear what’s going on in their lives!!

One of the things I miss most about living here? Running into familiar faces everywhere you go! We passed Sara and Joe McClelland in the car; talked to Elizabeth Stovall in the carpool lane; heard some shouts from the McDonalds drive-thru which turned out to be Gina and Nick Ellison; ran right into Melinda Breeden and Cameron Weatherford; and bumped into Fred working at LaMadeline’s. And all that was within about a two square mile radius!

We wrapped up a glorious day with a visit to the new Alex Box at LSU. The Tigers defeated the Florida Gators tonight 10 to 1! Thanks to Tommy Sisson for the tickets and I’m so glad we got to sit with my folks.

On tap for tomorrow: More walking, LSU shopping, a trip to Tony’s and CRAWFISH!!

-Laura

Syncing up with BR and IBC

A few weeks ago we headed off to the homeland to participate in Istrouma’s Disciple Now Weekend.

Micah spent the weekend with the senior boys. These are actually guys he taught for a few of their middle school DNow weekends. Plus, several of them were in the ISM worship band that Micah led. I know he loved spending time with them!!

 

I spent the weekend with the 6^th grade girls. I didn’t know any of them prior to the weekend, but we had a lot of fun!

 

I also had the chance to catch up with some of my favorite ladies (and meet my new friend Barianne)!

 

Neither of us can believe that these girls are in 9th grade and these guys are about to graduate from high school. I can’t tell you how much it means to us that we get to stay in touch with these awesome students! Watching them grow up has been a lot of fun and getting to minister to them is a privilege. And, of course, through the wonders of modern technology we can keep up with them (and cyber-stalk them!) through Facebook and text messages (which they usually send secretly during school…). We heart our Istrouma students!!!!

Even though it wasn’t for long, we also got to spend a little time with my family. It was great to see everybody!

-Laura

A little narcissism

There is a trend going around on Facebook right now of people posting their “25 Things About Me.” I have been tagged in a number of these and I’ve actually enjoyed reading several of them, so I figured I would give it a shot.

I actually started this about two weeks ago and then forgot about it, so maybe the first thing on my list should be that I have a short attention span… Even though I technically finished it a few days ago, I decided to add some pictures before posting. Enjoy!

25 Things About Laura

1. I am secretly a “tween” simply posing as a mid-20’s gal. I guess that’s why I get along so well with 6^th, 7^th and 8^th graders!

2. I love all things Hannah Montana/ Miley Cyrus. Yes, I’ve even seen her in concert! My newest “tween” fixation – Selena Gomez. She’s adorable!

 3. I love middle school students. Not in a creepy stalker way, but in a “you’re so cool because you’re so awkward, but awesome and you don’t even know it” kind of way. Working with these students and helping them find their identity in Christ excites me!

 4. Micah and I have known each other since I was in 7^thgrade! We grew up in the same church youth group, but didn’t start dating until college. I always remind our students that they never know who they could fall in love with one day. (The usual response to that is a collective “EWWWWW!”)

 5. Two years ago I was a horrible “texter,” but my text messaging skills have evolved. My girls in Baton Rouge supplied me with a list of “text translations,” so I now know what “g2g,” “BTW” and “OMG” mean (got to go, by the way, omigosh). This form of communication has forced me to loosen up on my obsession with grammar and punctuation, allowing me to write “casual” text messages and blog posts with plenty of ellipses…

 6. I am usually a grammar nazi (code name: Grammar Girl), and often quote AP (Associate Press) Style rules as I’m reading or writing. For instance, I just double checked myself on the use of CapitAl vs. CapitOl (only an “o” when referring to the building!) for #8. So I guess that really makes me an AP Style nazi (that’s what journalists and PR people use).

 7. I can tell you the history of the city of Baton Rouge in detail off the top of my head. It comes from years of writing and re-writing the story for press kits, magazines, web sites, etc.

 8. I worked for the Baton Rouge CVB (travel and tourism) for 3 years, making me passionate about all things in the Capital City. It has also turned me into a well-informed traveler, reading tour books and web reviews before we go anywhere.

 9. I am completely passionate about all things LSU!

 10. I almost didn’t attend LSU… I was VERY close to choosing Auburn University (gasp!). Can you believe I was almost a Plainsman/War Eagle/Tiger??

 11. I can’t wait for LSU football season to start again!

 12. I know more than the average female bear about college football. I credit this to my love for LSU, my “College Gameday” watching husband and my roommate freshman year of college, Kerri.

 13. I pretty much hate watching baseball on TV. Watching live is fun, but a 4-hour game on TV where each team only scores 2 to 6 runs? No thanks. I also chalk this one up to Kerri, who made me watch EVERY Atlanta Braves game on our 13-inch TV in the dorm years ago.

 14. I love epic hour-long TV shows, such as LOST, Heroes and 24. Thank God for DVR, since two of these air at the same time, and the other airs Wednesday nights during youth activities!

 15. DVR is probably the greatest invention of my lifetime! Other shows scheduled to record: Top Chef, The Hills, The Rachel Zoe Project, The City, Divine Design, Smallville, Ugly Betty, Ace of Cakes, The Office, Hannah Montana, Project Runway, How I Met Your Mother and The Biggest Loser. Oh, and any sports show that could have SEC football “season previews!” Many of these shows aren’t airing new episodes right now, but we’re set to record whenever they do!

 16. I love to write (can’t you tell?).

 17. I lived in Jamaica for 2.5 years of my life… but I don’t remember anything because it was the first2.5 years of my life. However, I have been back to JA with my family and on a mission trip. I have great memories from these trips!

 18. I hope to one day live in a place that actually has hills…And houses that have basements.

 19. I loved American Girl dolls as a kid, but was never allowed to have one. I think it’s because I ripped the heads off all my Barbies… I still read all the books, though, and I still secretly pine for a Samantha doll!  

 20. My biggest fear is not being able to have children.

 21. My second biggest fear is actually giving birth to a child!

 22. I love oldies music with a passion! At any given moment, I might just belt out a little diddy by the Temptations, Four Seasons, Peter, Paul & Mary, Diana Ross, etc.

 23. I have always loved Billy Joel music. It reminds me of my Dad whistling along with the songs on long road trips in our Ford Aerostar “minivan.” (I’m not too sure if that thing would still qualify as a minivan, though. It was roughly the size of today’s Ford Excursions or GMC Envoy XL!)  

 24. I can’t help but love pop music. Currently, I am singing Beyonce’s “Single Ladies.” I have even seen the ultimate 90’s pop group, N*SYNC, in concert.

 25. I once bit into a metal ball on a cookie. It messed up my tooth and cost us a lot of money in dental bills. Why was that metal ball on a cookie? I still can’t answer that…

Mardi Gras Mambo

For the second year in a row, I am going through withdraws. Apparently Texans don’t celebrate Mardi Gras (who knew? Ha ha).

This year, Fat Tuesday falls on February 24th. All of Louisiana will be celebrating with days off of work, parades, doubloons, beads and king cakes… and all of Texas will be completely unaware it’s even a holiday.

But, alas, the folks at Zatarain’s are trying to make my life outside of Louisiana just a little more bearable. Check this web site out. It’s an official petition to make Mardi Gras a national holiday! I know we’re probably not lucky enough for this to actually happen, but I appreciate the effort from the guys who make some of my favorite Cajun spices, food mixes and frozen Louisiana dinners. (I am petition signee #469, Micah is #477.)

I have seen a few glimpses of Mardi Gras around here, though.

At our neighborhood Randalls (a grocery store), I was appalled to find a dozen cinnamon rolls arranged in a circle with purple, green and gold sprinkles - and labeled “King Cake!” Who are they kidding?! That is NOT a King Cake!

Now this is a King Cake -

Each year, Louisianians spend the months of January through March bringing these delicious treats with them to work, school, church or social events. And whoever gets the hidden plastic baby in their piece is selected to bring the next one.

Of course, there’s always a fight over who makes the best King Cake. My personal favorites are Gambino’s, Cake Palace and Hi Neighbor (yes, the grocery store). My dear friend Kerri will argue with you for hours about the pure dominance of the Cake Palace King Cake. This has been a hot-button issue of her’s for the entire 20 years I’ve known her!

One of these days, I’ll have to enlighten everyone on the origin of the King Cake… Fascinating, I know!

-Laura

Opaaaah!!!

No, the title of this post is not a misspelling on a certain Chicago talk show host… It’s what Greek people shout as they celebrate (Cue the dance music and start throwing plates on the floor)!

Although I love “My Big Fat Greek Wedding,” this is not the reason I’m blogging. Actually, I’m feeling very nostalgic today.

I miss Baton Rouge.

I miss Chicken Shawarma.

For those of you who aren’t Baton Rougeans, you might be wondering “what does Greek food have to do with south Louisiana?” I’m not sure how or why, but somehow our hometown has wound up with possibly the largest population of Greek and Lebanese restaurants.

My favorite is probably Albasha’s, but I really miss Serop’s Express. This Downtown BR favorite was a frequent lunch stop for me and several friends from work. Where else can you get Chicken Shawarma, Feta Salad with Fetush. Pita, Hummus and many more Greek favorites for under $5?!!

Something about that rotating spit that roasts the chicken and the lamb… I just can’t get enough!

Oh, I’m drooling now! You may not think this sounds too great, but don’t knock it ’til you try it. Trust me, it’s delicious!

Alright, I better get back to Googling “Chicken Shawarma” and “Houston!”

-Laura

Back in the Big BR

The blog has been quiet lately, but Christmas time has been busy for us, as I’m sure it has been for all of you!

We are in Baton Rouge this weekend, visiting my family and seeing friends. We had a good Christmas here and in Houston. Soon I’ll have to post pictures from our NEW CAMERA of all our Christmas celebrations.

Tonight is the “Istrouma Reunion,” where all of us “old folks” from the IBC youth group get together and catch up. It’s always great to see people we grew up with, and even some who Micah taught as a youth intern in college. I’m sure we’ll chat about Ricky Young, Steve Masters, Bro. Wayne, Forrest Pollock, Jay Fletcher, Mark Roberts, Steve Spence, Sherry Spillman, Clay Holcomb, etc. Always a good time to get together and reminisce!

-Laura