Faith or Freaks?

Well, I thought I'd mosey on over and write a bit. I haven't blogged in a while, ok, 7 months, but it's time I get back to it.

The last year has by far been the craziest year of our lives. If you have a moment, I'll just take you back to the beginning...

On the morning of August 27th, 2012, my phone rang and it was Matthew. He was on his way to work and he told me that he was thinking about quitting his job, and asked my thoughts. I would like to point out that this wasn't out of the blue, it's something that we had discussed and prayed about for quite some time. You're probably thinking, "Oh, so he was resigning because he had a better job lined up?" Nope. Here's where you'll think us crazy! It's ok, you are not alone.

How often do we say, "We’re stepping out in faith," but really, we have a backup plan in case God doesn't show up? That's what we have done in the past, but that's not faith. We could've easily waited until we saved up six months’ worth of income before resigning, and to be honest, that's what we had planned to do, but Matthew had a peace about stepping out in faith, REAL faith, and as my spiritual leader, I had to trust him.

Stepping out in faith doesn't mean that we see far down the road, many times, you can only see a step or two in front of you, but you have to keep walking. Years ago, Matthew sat down with our friend, Dr. Steve Cloud, a brilliant dreamer and vision igniter, and together they mapped out what Matthew wanted his career to look like. Matthew's passions are Jesus and athletics, so naturally his dream job would be sharing the love of Jesus through athletics. For months after he finally resigned, Matthew felt like he would work for a friend, Mike Moye, who is by far the smartest agent in the Sports Agency business. To us, it just made sense, Matthew would be able to work directly with athletes, build personal relationships, and then share Jesus through it all. Matthew kept pursuing and pursuing but the door kept slamming in his face every time.  Obviously, God was trying to tell him to be still and wait. Waiting isn’t very fun and it's often very scary when you're having to provide for your family, but when God tells you to be still and wait, just be still and wait. Although the times of being still and waiting are frightening, they can be such sweet times...this is when God has you where he wants you to let you know the next few steps that he planned for you. During this time, Matthew realized that he was chasing something that wasn't supposed to be, and began having a real passion for starting his own business.

If you know me, you know that I am not a risk taker, starting a business is quite possibly the scariest thing to me, but when I saw the look on Matthew's face and heard his vision for what this company would look like, I couldn't help but get on board! Many nights, he gets so excited that he stays up all night working on his business plan. That vision quickly turned in to a plan of action and then became, Anchor Bats, a wood baseball bat company. Matthew and his dad have thrown the idea around for years, but it just took some time for them to realize that NOW is the time! Rick Warren recently quoted, “Every frustration is an opportunity for innovation. Great ministries and companies arise out of unmet needs.”  Thank God for unmet needs.

I would love to be able to tell you that it's been smooth sailing, but realistically, we've been through some storms. At times, it's been excruciatingly scary, but God is so faithful and He shows up mightily to carry us through every step of the way. I could tell you story after story of how God has provided for us) this year and is continuing to do so. It hasn't been easy, to provide our cost of living, we have made drastic changes. We sold our very unnecessary Mercedes, and became a one car family. If you ever need a lesson in patience and self-control, share a car with your spouse. Instead of eating out every week, we eat at home and then we eat this very rare meal later called, “leftovers!” Who knew you could actually save food in your refrigerator and eat it again? We’ve practically sold everything, our furniture, décor, jewelry, you name it we’ve sold it! Another big change has been side jobs, Matthew has been everything from carpenter, hardwood floor installer, to painter, lawn care maintenance man, to pool boy, and so much more, but we thank God every time he provides another side job to pay bills so that we can continue to get this business up and running.

Are you wondering what the holdup is? Well, it takes quite a bit of money to start your own company. Months ago, we came to the conclusion that we couldn’t do this alone, we needed the support of an investor. Have you ever asked someone for $400,000? Let me tell you, it ain't easy! People don’t just get giddy and say, “Pass me my checkbook!” Although we’ve had a, “yes” or two, things just haven’t really panned out…YET. Finding the money doesn’t happen overnight, so we just keep praying that God gives us wisdom and discernment in the days ahead.

My question to you is, do you believe in stepping out in faith or do you think we are radically crazy for the decisions we’ve made? Why don't we, as Christians, suffer persecution more than we do? (1 Peter 4:12-19) We believe it’s because too often we look like “the world.” If there isn’t anything setting us apart from the world, we won’t be a huge target for persecution. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t wake up every morning thinking, “I really hope to be ridiculed today,” but we are called to be different and different is what I want to be! When we feel led by God, we often aren't obedient because of how "the world" (non-Christians and Christians alike) will look at us. We've been looked down upon so many times throughout the year by many "followers". What we're doing isn't anything "radical,” we are just trying to be led by God regardless of what others may think. Do you think this is easy? I don’t, I despise being looked as a weirdo, but I honestly believe it’s what God has called us to do and I pray that we continue to be obedient to His call.

This journey has been long, hard, difficult, many times embarrassing, humbling, frustrating, confusing, sometimes lonely, but we don't want to have an Esau moment and sell out to everything that God has in store for us (for His Glory) because of our desire to feed an appetite that is our own pride, fleshly desires, and worldly things. Genesis 25:19-34

Ultimately, this post/life update is about bringing Glory to God. I hope you’ll be encouraged that whether your marriage is falling apart or it's over, your kids are rebelling against God, you’re holding on the "American dream,” TAKE HEART because it's inevitable that trouble, trials, and tribulation will come but rest in the beauty that CHRIST HAS OVERCOME THE WORLD! John 16:29-33 

2013 Family Easter Cakes

Well, here they are! Everyone raised the bar this year. In case this is your first year voting, you may need to know that this competition began 4 years ago, not really sure how, but it is one of our favorite times of the year. We have no, and I repeat NO professional cake decorating skills. Once you see the videos, you will realize that quickly. We have a blast trash talking throughout the year about who's cake will win. This year, it's anyone's game. We had a few issues with the videos on Facebook, so here they are, all seven of them. You can vote by leaving a comment here or on Facebook. This year, there is a $50 giftcard on the line, so it's about to get interesting. We have extended the voting time due to the issue with Facebook. Voting will end at 11:59 PM on Monday, April 1st. Thanks so much for voting and may the best cake win!!!

Jimmy's Announcement

If you've been wondering where Jimmy has been for the past few days, you'll be happy to know...

A week ago, Jimmy received this letter:

 He came to us and asked us how we felt about him taking a few days off, and we GLADLY told him to go. Before he left, I had to know, what happened in 1998? He hung his head and showed us this newspaper article:

After he shared his 1998 troubles with us, we wished him well in the Reindeer Games, and sent him on his way. It was the quietest three days we've had in a while! 

A few days later, he sent us news that he'd be returning soon, and that he'd metaled in the following events:

 

Then, I found this at Publix:

I worry that with this success, bad behavior may begin to creep in. I guess we'll see in a few days.

TO BE CONTINUED...

The "New" Jimmy?

Have you ever been in such a deep sleep that when you start to open your eyes, you have to figure out where you are and what day it is? That's what kind of morning I had. I opened one eye, peeked around the room, and it suddenly hit me...the aroma of a hot breakfast...JIMMY!!!! 

My first thought wasn't, "oh how sweet," with Jimmy, my first thought could only be, "is our house still standing?" I hurried to get my robe on, opened the bedroom door, and found this:

I couldn't wait to wake MC up so she could see that Jimmy had returned, but in the back of my mind, I wondered how Matthew would respond to the "new Jimmy!" 

Here are a few priceless shots of MC when she woke up to find him:

 

We all made it through breakfast in one piece. I wonder how long Jimmy will keep this up? TO BE CONTINUED...

Heeeeeee's Back!

It's 3:04 am, Monday morning and my phone rings. I jumped up trying to 
figure out if I was dreaming or not. When I answered I heard, "You have a
collect call from, {Jimmy}, will you accept..." I started to hang up, 
then decided to go ahead and take it...out of curiosity alone. I guess I
expected to hear tears, shame, or some type of remorse on the other end
of the line, but instead, I heard tales of a country music wannabe that
were anything but remorseful. 

Once I finally got Jimmy to focus on the problem at hand, he begged us to 
come get him from the Nashville jail where he was being held on charges of 
disorderly conduct & assault and battery. Before I could get any more information 
out of him, I hearda gruff voice in the background yell, "times up elf!" Matthew 
and I decided to leave him locked up for the night to let him think about his 
actions. Against our better judgement, we headed up I-40 to bail him 
out. 

 When we arrived at the jail, we learned quickly that Jimmy had made
a name for himself there...not a bit surprising! We paid his bail, 
which the bailiff had to literally had to pry out of Matthew's hand. 
Jimmy received his belongings and we loaded him in the car to begin the 
very long, silent, drive home. Several times he tried to apologize, but 
he was quickly interrupted by Matthew saying, "too soon Jimmy, too 
soon!" 

When we were almost to Hendersonville, I heard Jimmy sniffling, 
then turned around to see tears rolling down his tiny, plastic face. He 
filled us in on the life he's been leading for the past year. (You know 
the last we heard, he was headed to his honeymoon spot...without the 
bride.) He started out by telling us that he had hit rock bottom with 
heartbreak. At his lowest point, he made a call, one that changed his 
life, he called Dr. Frank Page, his mentor, counselor, and friend. 

He flew to Franklin, TN to meet with Dr. Page and was greeted with kindness
and great hospitality from Dayle, who of course invited him to stay 
until he got back on his feet. As Jimmy told us his story, tears 
continued to flow. He said that he realized he lost focus of his dream, a
dream that he had kept secret his whole life...country music. 

He went on to say, "country music was a dream and it was a time when I 
desperately needed a dream, so I guess you could say that music saved my
life!" At that moment, I didn't find it necessary to point out that I 
knew he ripped that speech off from Adam Braverman, so I kept quiet and 
listened. I was so caught up in his story that I almost forgot that he 
was neglecting to mention why he was locked up. I quickly reminded him 
to get to the point. He held his head with shame when he recounted his 
actions for us of Sunday night. He said, "I was playing a gig at Ryman 
(by "at Ryman," he means on the steps outside) out in the audience (by 
"audience," he means the people walking by the steps) sat a heckler. 

“Will play (or get you on the “NICE” list) for food, $!”

 I tried everything, deep breaths, counting, meditation, but after 10 
minutes of harassment, I had enough. I took my guitar and I shov..." I 
immediately interrupted, "that's enough, I've heard enough." I explained
that he needed to get it together for MC's sake. He could focus on his 
career again once  December 25th came and went. He promised that he was 
turning over a new leaf and we'd see that he had changed once we'd all 
had a good night's rest. After all of that, Matthew still hadn't said a word.  

TO BE CONTINUED...

DIY Short Cowboy Boots

Call me crazy, but I'm a tad obsessed with boots. I want a pair in every height, color, and style...specifically FRYE boots. Here's the problem, they are a bit pricey and by "bit," I mean ridiculous! I found these FRYE short boots the other day and fell in love, and since I didn't have several hundred dollars just hanging around, I decided to...wait for it....ok, I made them!

I was walking through Target the other day and found these beauties...perfect for the thoughts swimming in my head! (Scary, I know!)

All I needed to do is cut the tops off, gorilla glue the tops back on at the shorter length, sand them with sand paper for distressed look, then burn them in spots to discolor them a bit, and BAM!

 They aren't FRYE, but they'll do!

California Girl

I have fallen in love with California! IN LOVE! If I could, I would move right now. Well, of course, I'd pack all of you up with me and then head out. Matthew had a couple of meetings a few weeks ago in a couple of parts of CA, so I tagged along. We used it as vacation, and it was better than I could have imagined.  Honestly, I wasn't overly thrilled when I found out that we wouldn't be laying on a beach somewhere hotter than Georgia asphalt from sun up to sun down, but I knew it would be an adventure. It was!  Here is our trip in photos (in no particular order):

Santa Monica Boulevard...believe me, I sang the song the whole week!

Malibu sand, people watching, beachin' it!

Red Velvet Ice Cream Cone...Sprinkles Ice Cream

First In-N-Out burger

San Francisco...Golden Gate, Alcatraz, Trolley Cars, Finding DJ Tanner's House

Notice the name, then notice the For Lease sign in the window.

Eating on the side of a cliff.

Our drive up the coast.

Pink's Hot Dogs...not worth waiting 2 hours for.

"I should go in and tell them how much I enjoyed their movie...you know Free Willy." - Matthew

Beverly Hills Farmer's Market...same as ours but with caviar.

My favorite place on earth...cupcake ATM?

Joshua's Tree National Park

When you start to complain about gas prices...

Trying to find a Kardashian

Los Angeles/Beverly Hills/Hollywood

Seal hangout

Hope that Matthew and I could have jobs if we moved to CA!