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teege05
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Name: T.J.
Location: Houston, Texas, United States
Birthday: 11/17/1982
Gender: Female
Interests: This is a start: church, praising God, tennis, basketball, football, volleyball, ping pong, pretty much any sport, country dancing, playing my guitar, shooting, hanging out with friends, singing, photography, being outdoors, hiking, climbing, driving my truck
Message: message me
Website: visit my website
Member Since:
2/28/2006
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| Wow... It's been a long time since I posted anything.... Where to begin? Well, let's see. I think I'll break this up into section so I can keep up with what happened.
Thanksgiving was nice. We went to Austin and had Thanksgiving with Matt's parents and sister. It was very peaceful and relaxing. We visited the rest of the family for a little bit too. I had to get back to work so that wasn't too much fun, but it was nice to have the day off.
Christmas was wonderful. Matt and I drove out to Arizona to have Christmas with my family. We stopped through Austin on the way there and back and got to spend some time with his family as well. We went to the Grand Canyon and San Diego on the way to Arizona (We did make a quick stop in Arizona to drop some stuff off before heading to San Diego - didn't just skip the state all together.) We got to meet up with Jackie, Durward, Karen, Chad, and Oliver in San Diego. That was a lot of fun. Matt met my grandmother, aunt, and uncle. Mom, Dad, Robert, and Bekah all got to come to Arizona too. That was awesome having everyone together. I think we ended up driving 3500 miles when it was all said and done. It was a lot of time in the car, but it was fun.
New years was relaxing.
February 4 my license was approved!!!! I found a supervisor who is really nice, a youth director, and school counselor. It should be a good learning experience overall. I have been really looking for counseling jobs since I got the license. It has been a really annoying and stressful process. I was unable to talk to anyone about jobs. Everyone said that their information was online and if there wasn't anything there then I was out of luck. I was really starting to get worried that I wouldn't find a way to get my hours going. Last week though, I got an email from one of the ladies I had been emailing back and forth with (one of the VERY FEW who were actually responding and one who has been VERY helpful since last year) and she said that she may have a possible part-time opening in her private practice. I have an interview with her this morning so hopefully that will go well and I will have at least a part-time counseling job so I can start gaining my 3000 hours.
This weekend was a big weekend. My parents and Matt's parents met for the first time. My parents also met his sister Amanda (maybe not for the first time, but the first that any of them remember since it would have been a long time ago at a Parent's weekend event). They actually met at the shooting match that we (me, Matt, and my parents) were shooting in San Antonio. I think they all got along very well and enjoyed meeting one another.
Something else really big happened this weekend, but I will make you wait to figure out what it is (if you haven't already figured it out). Here is the story though: Thursday we both had off work so we went to College Station to get a burger from Chicken Oil. We also went to the George Bush Museum (FINALLY) that we have been trying to go to since we started dating over a year and a half ago. The museum was pretty cool. We will probably have to go back again when we have more time, but the 45 minutes we spent in there was not bad. We also took pictures of the GIANT Aggie ring that they put at the association of former students building. That thing is ridiculous, but cool at the same time. We were going to take pictures of the rest of campus, but we were running out of daylight and we needed to get back to Houston since I worked the next day. Friday we left for San Antonio around 10:30pm (we would have left sooner than that, but my parents had a flat so we took our time). We ended up getting there around 1:30 or so. Saturday we get up and get ready for the pistol match that we are all shooting (it was a lot of fun). Matt shot his first all steel pistol competition and did really well. He very much impressed his mom and sister who had no real idea of how well he can shoot. He impressed his dad too, but he already knew how good of a shot he is. He also beat me very cleanly on one of the stages. I was impressed with his shooting and his calmness under the pressure of shooting a man-on-man competition for the first time. Everyone did really well and had a lot of fun. (And we didn't get too sunburned either.) Matt's family went back to Austin after the main part of the competition was over (only thing left was the shootoff that we didn't even know about until later) So after the match was over we went to eat dinner with my parents and a couple of family friends that happened to live in the are (that I hadn't seen in at least 15 years- probably closer to 20). After a very long drive to find the restaurant we finally ate and then headed to Austin to stay with Amanda for the night. We ate breakfast with Amanda, then lunch with her and their parents then headed back to College Station to drop off a couple of shirts that were the wrong size (conveniently). After dropping off the shirts we went to take pictures of the rest of campus (that we didn't get on Thursday). Matt REALLY wanted to take pictures of the Academic building (which turns out is one of his favorite buildings on campus- who knew) so we headed that way. We took a quick stop at the H2O fountain and the learning statue and some random trees that I saw along the way that were budding and blooming. We stopped at Bolton Hall (the back side of it at least) and took some pictures of the columns along the stairs. I took a few pictures of the tree there and the bird that was trying to hide from my camera. After taking pictures there Matt took my hand, said "let's go" and we started walking. Conveniently, Bolton hall is right beside the Century tree and we started walking under the tree. After a few steps he said he needed to stop and clean his lens. (His lens was disgusting.) We stopped at the bench so he could set his bag down. He handed me his camera and opened his bag. I was paying attention to the bells that were ringing and the lack of people on campus since it was spring break and didn't notice what he was really doing (it was 6:00pm). He took his camera back and set it on the bench. He reached back in his bag and pulled out a ring box instead of his cleaning stuff. At this point I decided I should probably put down my gear too. He opened the box and kind of looked in it for a second. He smiled and asked if he had to get on his knee. I told him he didn't have to. He got on his knee and asked me to marry him. I said "yes" (of course). He said "good". He put the ring on my finger (fitting perfectly). Then he actually cleaned his lens. I was setting up my tripod when a few people came over and asked us to take a picture for them. So I left my camera there and took a few pictures for them then they left and we could take pictures of ourselves under the tree. I brought my tripod so we could take pictures somewhere- not knowing it would be there. After taking the pictures and putting the tripod away we decided to call our families from under the tree. We went to see a friend who lives in town for a few minutes then headed to Laynes to get some food and drove back to Houston. I was told later that he was planning on asking me on Thursday when we went to town, but the ring hadn't come in yet. He actually got a call from the jeweler while we were in College Station on Thursday exactly when I went into HEB to try to find something (very convenient timing if I do say so). He ended up going on Friday while I was at work (he had already taken the day off) to get it and had it hidden in his camera bag for 2 days.
Well, that's about the summary of the last 4 months of my life. I'll have to post again with what happens with this morning's interview.
And I guess this is how I'm going to have to put the pictures on here since it has obviously changed since the last time I put pictures on here... Photos Hopefully that will work. Or you may just have to copy and paste for it to work :/
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| My brother is doing a research project for one of his classes. He is researching something about bicycle owners and spending habits (I think). The survey is only 23 very simple/quick questions (Including the demographic questions that you don't have to think about). It will take less than 5 minutes to fill out and it will help him with his project. Here is the link (and hopefully you will be able to just click on it instead of copying and pasting it). Thank you for your help!
http://wtamu.qualtrics.com/SE/?SID=SV_bdW2TBUjg2hrq3a&SVID=Prod
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| Dear Drivers,
Please take note that even if you do own a shiny new Escalade, Lexus, Hummer, etc does not mean that you have some right to just park in the handicapped parking spots in front of businesses. It does not matter if you are just "running in for a second" or simply want to leave your precious car running outside to be sure you don't ever sweat when you get back in from doing whatever it is that you are doing. If you do not have a handicapped plate or placard you are NOT ALLOWED TO PARK IN THOSE PARKING SPOTS. It doesn't matter how big a hurry you are in or how little time you will be inside. IT'S AGAINST THE LAW!
Now, I know that people who drive Escalades, Lexuses, Hummers, etc. are not the only people who do this, and not all people who drive those vehicles do this, but it was the instance today at the post office. The parking lot was almost empty and the freshly washed and waxed Escalade pulled into a handicapped parking spot, left the car running, and went inside. I mean, really? The other parking spots were all of MAYBE 20 feet away. But, apparently this guy is so important that he is allowed to park in a spot that is not legal for anyone else to park in without a permit. I'm not even going to get started about the fact that there was NOTHING wrong with this guy either. That is a whole other can of worms that I don't even want to open. I am pretty sure that I would be able to write a book on how wrong that is and how much it annoys me, so I am going to stop now before I start on that one.
Ok. My rant is done now. | | |
| My dad sent me this the other day and I thought it was so great that I needed to share.
"Political correctness is a doctrine, fostered by a delusional, illogical minority,
and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media,
which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely
possible to pick up a turd by the clean end"
R. J.. Wiedemann LtCol.USMC Ret
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| Wow... it's been a long time since I posted anything. It's been a busy last couple of months. I'm still fighting with the state of Texas about getting my counseling license. They are not wanting to let me count the Moral Development class that I took as my Developmental class for the requirements for my LPC-Intern license. I called the other day and they said my case was going to go before the board on July 10th. Woohoo... another 2 weeks before I know if I am good or have to take another class... UGH!! I guess it has worked out though. I have been able to go home twice and help Dad and Mom with some stuff so that's good. The really bad part (besides not having my license yet) is that the place I had a job lined up with (3 different times now) has said that they are (once again) going to have to look for someone who can work right now- that they can't wait on me to get my license. Understandable, but still sucks. I have also been turned down by every other place that I have applied (that is, IF they have even contacted me). I have lost track of the number of resume's and interest letters that I've sent out. I guess it works out that they haven't said yes, since I really don't have my license yet, but still... it would be nice to know that I have something available to me when I do get it, but I guess that's not really how the world works. I do know that if I don't have a job come August that there is a place that wants me. I can be the intern at Wesley again. Of course, that means moving back to College Station, which wouldn't be too bad. I don't know. I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.
**WARNING** Rant Ahead **WARNING**
Now for the actual reason for this post. During church yesterday we were singing some hymns that I really like (well, I like most of them, but these are some pretty powerful ones if you read the words and don't just sing what's on the page). We sang "To God be the Glory" and "Here I am Lord" during the service. I really like hymns- a LOT. I also really like the organ- and there is a really nice one at the church so it's a good combination- right? Well... yes, but no. One problem I have had with the songs we sing at church is that we don't sing all of the verses. We only sing a few verses and just move on. The other problem I have is that there is no feeling behind the songs. It seems like everyone is just going through the motions and is waiting for them to say the benediction and let them go- like the time has been served, you are free to go now kind of thing. I was thinking, while we were singing "Here I am Lord", about how powerful those hymns were when we sang them in chapel at Asbury; how you could really FEEL the power behind the hymn and how you could FEEL the meaning of the song and the belief in what those words say and mean. I miss that. I miss the power behind the songs during chapel. I admit that I stopped going to chapel services because I found them to be depressing, but I really do miss the music and TRUE WORSHIP that took place. It wasn't just going through the motions, it was true worship. You could feel the power in the room. I didn't feel that yesterday- at all. I miss it. I want that. I want to feel the power in the words of the songs. I want to feel the power in the music. I want to feel the TRUE WORSHIP of God- not just see the motions being done. We only sang part of the song yesterday. We completely skipped half of the song. There is a reason that there were 6 verses written, and not just 3. There are important things in those other 3 verses. Why is it so important that we keep to such a strict schedule that we have to skip 3 verses? Yeah, the preacher had to go preach at another service-number 5 for the morning- so what? Are we really THAT bad about having to "beat the Baptists" to lunch that we can't sing 3 more verses to a song? Can we really only devote 50 minutes of our lives to worshiping Christ? I do have to admit that I don't take nearly as much time as I should to focus on God. I need to work on that. I really do. It's something that I know I need to work on. I have a hard time thinking that the church has to be so rigid that we can't take an extra 2 minutes to sing a few more verses.
The other part of that is that I don't feel like God is truly being worshiped. I could be wrong, and I hope that I am, but I don't FEEL it. If you have ever been in one of those services, or small groups, or retreats, or whatever where you can truly FEEL God there and being worshiped then you know what I'm talking about. There is a power that can't be described. I didn't feel that yesterday, and haven't for a while. I was looking for it when we got to the last verse of that song. I was feeling it in my mind as we started to sing... and then it wasn't there. I don't know why, but it wasn't there. I don't know if it was just me or if it was the whole congregation or what, but that power wasn't there.
Here are the words to the song (the verses with the ** are the ones that we sang):
Here I am Lord
** I, the Lord of sea and sky,
I have heard my people cry.
All who dwell in dark and sin,
My hand will save.
Chorus
Here I am, Lord. Is it I, Lord?
I have heard you calling in the night.
I will go, Lord, if you lead me.
I will hold your people in my heart.
** I, who made the stars of night,
I will make their darkness bright.
Who will bear my light to them?
Whom shall I send?
Chorus
I, the Lord of snow and rain,
I have borne my people’s pain.
I have wept for love of them.
They turn away.
Chorus
I will break their hearts of stone,
Give them hearts for love alone.
I will speak my words to them.
Whom shall I send?
Chorus
I, the Lord of wind and flame,
I will send the poor and lame.
I will set a feast for them.
My hand will save.
Chorus
** Finest bread I will provide,
'Til their hearts be satisfied.
I will give my life to them.
Whom shall I send?
Chorus
Do you notice what we skipped when we didn't sing all of the verses?
I have borne my people's pain and wept for love of them, but they turn away; I will break their hearts of stone and give them hearts for love alone; I will send the poor and lame, set a feast for them, SAVE THEM.
I'm sure they had a good reason for skipping these verses. I know us Methodists typically like to skip the next to last verse of the hymns because they are the "hellfire and brimstone" verses, but unless I missed something, there is none of that in this song... so why did we skip the verses? I don't get it. Ok, I'm done with that "little" rant... for now.
Why is it that we have to have such a strict schedule for God? Why can we only have 50 minutes on Sundays for worshiping God? I know that schedules are busy and we have to do things like work and eat and sleep in order to live. We need time to fellowship and relax and just have fun. But, aren't we supposed to be living our lives for Christ first instead of last? I admit that I am really bad about this too. I "forget" to read my Bible. I don't take time to pray as much as I should- heck, most of the time I fall asleep while I'm praying before I go to sleep. I know it's not a good thing, but it's something else I need to work on. I am going to challenge myself- and anyone who reads this- to pick just one time this week to either read your Bible or pray or sing some songs or walk outside and enjoy God's creation. Then do that again next week, and the next. Then add another day or time. Keep doing that. Let's see what happens. It has to start somewhere.
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