That Girl Moment #892: The Heat is ON.

I gotta tell you, I love me some air conditioning. I grew up with a dad who adored it and earned himself the moniker The Nanook of the North because of his incredible devotion to all things freon. MY mom and I learned to adapt, as all creatures, and so we accustomed ourselves to putting on blankets and snuggling up. We never turned it down because Dad's opinion on the whole thing was such a Dad's Opinion if you know what I mean:
"You can put more clothes on but you can only take so many off. Turn the air back up!"

Hence, my fashion statement of The Snuggie when I visit at Seth's house. It might be too cold, but at least it's not too hot!!

So I grew up in a house that had a lovely air conditioner. Then I went to places like Haiti and Mexico and Bolivia and learned how much I really did LOVE that magical machine that emits the coolest of breezes.

I could kiss that thing just now thinking about June in Haiti. I'm pretty convinced I sweet more than the average Sumo wrestler, so give me some air and I don't have to pat my pitties down, or use the J technique (named for an anonymous bff) in which one sticks tissues under her arms until she heads out to avoid the pit stains.

So when I arrived at my big brother Ryan's house in the Pacific Northwest last Sunday afternoon, I was in for a huge surprise.

The purpose of my trip was to visit my family but also take care of K, H, and E while mommy and daddy went on a grown-up vacation by themselves.

{I'm a very expensive babysitter. If you don't have the kind of dirt on me that my brother has.}

So Monday morning, Ryan and Shan left the house for their trip, and I was left with my three extremely Marvelous and Mischievous nieces, ages 6, 4, and 2.


Now if that doesn't make you sweat a la C and C Music Factory, nothing will.

What made me sweat even more was that for the life of me, I could not get that blessed air conditioner to work. I maneuvered it, tried to change the settings, made sure it was turned to cool, and at one point may or may not of hit the thing a couple of times out of sheer frustration. The upper level of the house is where we spend most of our time, and it was Hotter Than Haiti up there. I kept messing with the A/C just hoping I could get it to work. Finally, although I am opposed to bothering mommy and daddy too much when they are on vacation and away from the girls, I broke down and asked my sweet brother what in the Holy Hill Country was wrong with his blessed air conditioner.


Then came the dreaded words:
"We don't have Air Conditioning."

Eh.

No WONDER that piece of machinery would not work! And it was hotter than a firecracker on the Fourth of July in that beautiful house. From the outside you couldn't tell that it was the House of Sweating and More Sweating.

I opened all the windows and put out all the fans. Then I melted some Tillamook cheese right on the counter.

Okay, so that last part was a total lie. BUTICOULDHAVEPROBABLYIFIWANTEDTO.

The girls were hot, I was HOT (not the good kind--sweat is not cute, despite what they may tell you (jillian michaels!) and I did not have as much patience as I should have at times because it was so blasted hot.

When I would go around the house mocking my brother: "Nobody has A/C out here. blah blah blah. Everyone just opens their windows. blah blah blah. The breeze is so cool out here. blah blah blah."

I thought they were crazy. It was hotter than a tamale tucked inside a jalepeno.

Fast forward through two more days of bitterness and BO.

On Thursday evening, Ryan and Shan walk in to a huge reception from the crowd of small people and to an exhausted and overheated Aunt Wah, whose new bangs were caked and matted nicely right to her forehead. It's all the rage for missionaries visiting Haiti, I hear.


Ryan and Shannon begin to laugh heartily once they say their hellos to their three young children. I was not in such humor.
Finally, my brother says, "Why is the furnace running outside?"

I managed to have a slight amount of self-control and did not say something smart alecky as I so deeply desired to in my heat-induced temper shortage.

Then it dawns on me. After my brother told me there was no A/C, I didn't bother to turn anything off because I was so incredibly bitter I didn't want to look at the stupid thing again. And since it was set to cool, the heat would never have kicked on at all. Right?


Wrong. Of course, I had been running the furnace on accident since the evening they left. So all of my bitterness at my poor brother was ill-focused.

I was the HeatMaster. ME! I had sabotaged this house and my poor nieces had pit stains all because of me!

It was my fault, and since there was no one to blame but me, I was in bad humor with the many jokes that came next.

Such as:
"Hey Laur, is it hot in here or what? Heh heh heh."
"You're never gonna live this one down."

and my personal favorite:
"That is SUCH a That Girl moment! You better blog about that!"

Once we got the heat off, it cooled down in the house pretty quickly. Still, like Darcy, I love my a/c most ardently and never wish to be parted from it again.



The furnace? Now that's a different story.

Exponential Cuteness.

H and K practicing. They do NOT get gracefulness from Aunt Wah.



H and E in their little contraption while K and R look on.
R is my big brother...see the resemblance?





Why is E behind the wheel in every group of pics I see?
Let's hope she doesn't inherit my driving record.




The Three Musketeers at DisneyLand...Pixie Hollow to be exact.
H and K wearing their ears, but E will have nothing to do with it. She's a little teapot instead!




Wish I had some sisters--even though they don't always see eye to eye, they love each other a whole lot. Notice K holding E's hand--she is Mama's big helper and a definite nurturer!




R, H, K, and my Dad, "Captain" holding E before Disney.




My sweet ballerinas! That's H's mischievous face right there.

Not Me! Monday.

MckMama is teaching all of us in blog world to be brutally honest and live to tell about it.


Here goes:

I would NEVER, ever drive and talk on my cell phone at the same time on a pretty Saturday afternoon.

Furthermore, I would not even DREAM of driving without my hands at ten and two and without constantly glancing behind me in my rearview, up ahead on the road, and in my side mirrors. Another thing I would never do is get so ridiculously lost in conversation with my dear friend that I forget what else I am doing: operating a motor vehicle.


Sheesh. What kind of person do you think I am??


I would never, ever look up and realize that I am headed for the hind end of an Aztec. Since that would NEVER happen, there would be no need for me to lock up my brakes, right?


{Not me, folks. CLEARLY not me.}



Since those things would never happen, you KNOW that I didn't hit that Aztec in the back. I didn't rear-end that Aztec. Never. And I sure didn't hit it very HARD!

I certainly did not see my life flash before me, and of course I didn't cry and shake like a newborn hamster. An elderly gentlemen who did not look like George Burns did not climb out of the car still chewing his cigar (I would have bit it clean in two if I got rear-ended) and tell me, "It's okay, honey. These things happen."

There's no way I would've wrecked my car in front of the new First Federal on the main drag in Washington, and that makes it impossible for me to have stood on the side of the road with snot dripping from my nose and long sleeves on in the blazing heat looking on awkwardly as the cars passed. Bloggerotsky, please. I have way more class than that! And I most certainly did not not take a shower that morning and have nasty hair. Because that would be so gross and awkward. I would have never sweat even more on the side of the road and have my hair go from nasty to nasty and stringy.

There is no chance that the Emergency officials saw EVERYTHING, from lock up to impact, because they would never be showing off their antique fire engine in the bank parking lot.

I certainly did not act like a sixteen-year-old kid, apologizing over and over for my lack of discretion. I am way more mature than that, people.

I didn't call my daddy to come rescue me. He DID NOT take me out to Scoops to make me feel better.

And of course, I didn't total sweet little Darla, who has been with me through thick and thin since 2002. Her hood wasn't partially perpendicular to the car or anything. And it wasn't like a movie at all with the smoke pouring out of her engine.
I wasn't mad at all that my airbag didn't deploy.

I didn't cry a little more when I got to the body shop to see her in such a condition.

I would never not keep fancy clothes at my old homestead in Loogootee for emergency situations. I would never have to go raid Ashley's closet and wear a dress without a girdle of some sort. I was raised right!

I would never be slightly late to my speaking engagement and be totally frazzled. God would certainly never send my friend Colleen there to pray with me and calm me down before speaking to 30+ women.

I would never get in my dad's car and drive all the way to Oakland City only to figure out that my apartment keys were back in Loogootee. I wouldn't drive at 11pm to the Thompson's to sleep on their couch only to discover a horrible accident on Hwy. 61. I did not, of course, wait in my car for over 45 minutes as they brought the heliocopter in to lifelight someone out. I did not start crying all over again and thanking God to be alive.

I did not wear a black dress and weird-looking white shoes with my legs that did not need to be shaved to church and my toenails that did not need to be painted on Sunday because of limited wardrobe choices and limited time.



Because let's face it, my friends. I am soooo not That Girl. Not me!

Quote of the Day.

Yesterday, my aunt and I were watching a movie and in it the guy calls Jesus a crutch for people who can't make it through life on their own. My aunt looked at me and said:

"Lolls, he ain't just the crutch. He's my whole wheelchair!"

Okay, so now that I am chained to my desk again you will be hearing more from me.
Scout's honor. Well, kind of. I was never actually a scout per se.

First off, thanks to Donna R and Tami J., who saw me the other night and made it a point to tell me that I indeed did NOT look anything near pregnant and instead I looked like I had lost weight (God bless your wholesome souls-it's good to have fantastic girlfriends!).


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I had a wonderful time spending Christmas with those that I love. My brother Ryan and his wife Shannon, were in town for two whole weeks, so I was busy playing with my nieces and spending time with friends who were home over break. On Christmas Eve, Seth and I cooked for my family and opened presents as is our tradition. The meal was not my best, but it was fun and Seth was very helpful. My girls adore him. I also got a short visit to Seth's parents' home--they are so hospitable and sweet, loving people who are very thoughtful. Seth's niece and nephew were really fun on Christmas day, too.

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You would think things like toothbrushes and kitchen utensils would not exactly fill the yule with tide, if you know what I mean. But Julie J. hooked me up with some delightful PINK Kitchenaid tools that I love (hmmm, wonder where she got that idea?) and Seth's mom and dad got me the sweet SoniCare toothbrush I had been wanting in order to avoid further tooth mishaps.

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For those of you who have been wondering, Amy and Andy's wedding went very beautifully (anybody who plays Dave Barnes at their wedding holds a special place in my heart) and I chose to read to them the passage from Romans. They loved it. It was one of the most FUN weddings I have been involved with. As their friends started to arrive, we all knew and loved each other deeply and were so happy to see one another! I have never been to a wedding rehearsal where the wedding party had such a great time--our college gang was reunited and I couldn't help but cry at God's goodness and also at the realization that there wouldn't be many more times like the wedding where we were all in attendance and sharing in the joys of our brothers and sisters. The feminine side of our gang, which my roommate Nicole calls 104+1, which stands for the dorm we all shared (104) and our dear friend that had already graduated by then who didn't get to live with us in that room
(hence the +1) received a locket from Amy that is a beautiful reminder of the community we so deeply share and love, and ALL of the hundreds of stories that make us laugh upon every remembrance of them.

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Don't worry, my Christmas tidings did not fail to bring you a gift of sorts in the form of a "That Girl..." moment or two...

So I got a Starbucks card from my aunt and uncle and I thought I would go ahead and use it to bring Seth and Bev (who was in the process of cutting his hair at the time at the fabulous Dimensions Salon in Vincennes...shameless plug...

I decided to make a quick run by the ATM. Okay, mistake #1 was assuming that on December 23 I could make a "quick run" by the ATM. HELLO!

So I wait for my turn up at the beautiful machine that gives me cash on demand. Okay, we all know that it doesn't give me cash on demand. But tell me you don't get a happy feeling when it pushes out a couple of twenties your way...
Oh, and I am "That Girl..." who fills out her little paperwork right at the ATM and makes everyone behind her mad. You guys know it's not intentional. As I reach with my card to put it in the little receiver thingy,

Seth calls. Okay, just so you know, I drop everything when I hear that beautiful "Look After You" ringtone by The Fray.

Literally everything.
Including my ever-loving debit card.

yep. right on the ground.

Is it possible for a debit card to dance in the wind a little bit?

Turns out, yes. It flopped like three feet ahead of my car. At first, I thought, I will just open the door a little bit and squeeze on out. Well, as the rap song says, "I get it from my mama." My rumpshaker will not allow such a scenario.

So I reluctantly pull up a little bit and get out. The blessed folks behind me saw what went down with the epic ATM failure and the subsequent dance of the debit, and they took pity on me. Only, when I got out, I was not wearing my adorable polka dot rain boots (fashionable and practical!) and I slipped on the ice. But I didn't FALL DOWN! yay! Now mind you, there is a line forming out the wazoo at Old National, and I am trouncing on the ice trying to pick up said debit card, which is hard to pick up because it is wet and flat. So I finally get it picked up and sheepishly ask the people behind me if I can do the ATM now...
yes. I finally finish my transaction and move on in life from the ATM Trauma.

Oh, and did I mention that Seth had accidentally pocket dialed me? So he didn't even answer. Amazing.

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So that's my Christmas experience in a nutshell...

How was your Christmas, dear readers?

The Pursuit.

I made a silent vow the other day to finish my thoughts on this post due to Kaitlyn's encouragement....(addy says HI!)


The assumption I will make in this post is that we are all agreed that God has been pursuing us since the Garden. If you have questions about that or generally don't believe me on that, email me and we'll discuss it.

So He has been chasing me down since before I was born. He's not shy about admitting it either. He's open in His Word about the challenges that His heart has in the pursuit of humanity, and it must wound Him terribly when we do not respond to that.

The appropriate response to the pursuit of someone is to reciprocate the interest. The word teaches us that we do that in a two-fold way:
1. Pursuing Him.
2. Pursuing His people.

He never quits chasing us down, whether we bother to notice or not. However, I have to believe that we lose the desire to pursue our earthly relationships and community when we don't pursue the Lord. I had a conversation with two close friends and accountability partners last night. We discussed how we had all been struggling with decisions to be made/spiritual slump/etc and the last thing we wanted to do was to gather together. Why?

No pursuit of the Lord = no pursuit of His people....


Without the incentive of a vibrant relationship with Jesus, you have no reason to love me. RIGHT? So when that top shelf relationship struggles, does it not trickle down?

Plus, when we do not seek grace out, we don't have it to give and it makes loving people practically impossible.

For example, for the married women reading the blog:

do you find yourself growing frustrated in your marriage when you aren't pursuing the Heart of God?


Or for parents:

Do you have less patience with your kid when you haven't been in God's Word?


People, this is not coincidental. That's why it's key that we become intentional in our relationship with the Lord, and what trickle down are grace and patience.

What's the point of pursuing the heart of another if you don't do it to the best of your ability?


Be intentional today with the Lord and those He has given you...Then leave a comment on how it goes!!!



Love,
That Girl.

I love my Brudder.

My big brother is one of my favorite heroes. He is very intelligent, hard-working, a good provider for his family, he loves his wife and his girls, and he takes his role as a big brother very seriously. He called me yesterday just to check on me. He knows that the past few weeks have been pretty rough on all of us. He said, "Laur, something told me to call you today."
I tod him it was not something, but rather SOMEONE. I thanked him for obeying God and calling me.

He is presenting to the CEO of Conoco Phillips tomorrow, so you can pray for him if you think of it. I know he will do a great job! I am so proud of him.




I love him! Aren't my girlies getting big, too?

Q & A: Round One

Greta asked me a great question:

Shawn & I attended the Right to Life Banquet the other night and noticed your dad had a special guest sitting next to him. What are your thoughts and feelings about this new development?


As we all know, life goes on. Sometimes before we are ready for it. When my mom first passed away, it was very hard to adjust to my dad dating. He started dating sooner than I thought was healthy, but I didn't lose a spouse and I didn't have to come home to our empty house every night. I had school, work, friends, boyfriend, church activities, Emmaus stuff, etc to keep my mind and heart busy as I grieved this monumental loss. Every day the two places he went were our shop and our home, both of which carried multiple reminders of her life and death.

But I was hurting, and I didn't cut him any slack. I said disrespectful things and was hateful to him a number of times regarding this issue. I regret that with all of my heart. I disapproved of his choice to move on that quickly and more than anything was worried about him. I made excuses for being angry and frustrated, but in the end, I was sinful and selfish in a lot of ways. I was dying inside, and the idea of someone new did not exactly set my world on fire.

I prayed a lot about it and God showed me that my attitude toward him had been very wrong. Regardless of how I felt, he is my dad and he was hurting too. I should have shown more compassion.

He does have a lady is his life now who is a really nice Christian. She loves the Lord and knows the Word of God. She is very adventurous and loves to travel. I like her and although I have only met her once, I think she is probably a great encouragement to my dad. She is very pretty and smart and has two daughters. She lost her husband a few years ago to cancer, so she knows the pain and hurt my dad has been through. I don't know what they will do, but I know this:

I am learning to trust God with the things I cannot change. I want GOD'S best for my dad, so I have to be wiling to surrender what I think is best. I have come a long way, but I still have a way to go. HE is enough.


Love you, Dad!


So I am a little disappointed since thus far I have only received one question...
COME ON! You know you want to ask....



Thanks to Nana Judy for her help in getting my signature figured out. Kim, go here and they will help you step by step.

(First time I posted this I forgot to attach the site for the signatures. SORRY!)

Until Round 2,

Hooray!

Three cheers for my beautiful and wonderful sister-in-law, Shannon. She finally entered the blogging world and I encourage you to visit her blog about their family.

ahem.

And may I be the first to present to you...

(bom bom bom...)

The Blaine Biggs 5

enjoy...I know I will. My three sweet peas do some crazy things so I am ready to read them in print.

Aunt Laur being nostalgic with an old photo of my three nieces. From Left: Hannah, Kristin, and Ellie.

Happy Birthday, Princess Kristin!

Happy Birthday to my firstborn niece,

Kristin Elaine Biggs

Hard to believe that six years ago today I looked into the isolette and it was definitely love at first sight.

The day Kristin was born, my parents and I were out in Anaheim, CA for the Christian Booksellers' Assoc. Convention and Shannon was scheduled for a c-section that day. Mom said it was okay if we got there late and had plans to fly out the next day, the nineteenth. But when Ryan called that morning at 6 am to let us know that miss Kristin Elaine was in process, mom couldn't wait and she just haaaaaaaaaad to get out there on the eighteenth. So dad gets on the horn and calls the airline and gets our flight moved.

Kristin with her beloved Mamaw and baby Ellie in Mexico.

Then came the harrowing cab ride from Anaheim to LAX in LA. I saw my life flash before my eyes as our cabbie somewhat seamlessly weaved in and out of scary traffic. Of course, once we got in line for our airline, I looked down and realized my suitcase was missing. I was slightly bitter but got lots of new clothes...
We had ten minutes to get across one of the largest airports in the world and so we pulled a Home Alone and started running through the aiport. Lots of people were staring at us.
We boarded the plane and high-tailed it to Texas. The first thing I saw was a beautiful Biggs baby lying in the isolette blinking at me. And the whole trip was worth it in that one minute.

She is in love with life, Jesus, Hannah Montana, Keith Urban, and ice cream. She is good at giving hugs, being a big sister to Hannah and Ellie, and singing on top of the coffee table (wonder where she gets that...)

She has a precious spirit and God has big dreams for her.

Happy Birthday, sweetheart! We love you!

Somewhere, Ben McVay is giving thanks.

Because I can now receive all those obnoxious pictures he takes of me when I get fired up about something in Seth's office...

Today I got a new phone courtesy of my brudder and his lovely family.

It is really delightful--the nicest phone I've ever had!

I am very thankful for it.

see below:

Enjoying Where You Are at (on the Way to Where You are Going)

This is a collaborative post. Cue that song from the Wonder Years ("I get by with a little help from my friends... whoa oh oh oh"). Actually just one friend.

Turns out I get by with a lot of help from her. She gave me the title.

Which brings me to tonight's topic.

I live in the home of Randy and Terri, beloved friends who are now family to me and who see me as part of their family as well. I sleep on the most beautiful red couch I have ever seen. By a fireplace (which in truth doesn't do me much good during these summer months--most of you know that I find myself sweating in the most Arctic of conditions) that is most legit. In a house filled with warmth and love and laughter and joy and beauty and a Wii.

I have become a gypsy. A vagabond.

It's so weird. I never once thought that after college I would be gypsying my way through the summer before I became a full-time grad student. But here I am, at the Thompson family home, living in a town I said I would never live in (love makes you do some crazy things--and I'm talking about the love for God and His people--the benefits of living in the town extend much further than being close to Seth (definite bonus, though!). I am close to the people I fellowship with, which is why I love being here.)

So why am I paranoid about where I am headed?

in life.
in ministry.
in relationships.

The wise sage Dr. Seuss knew a few things about this place...

"You can get so confused that you'll start in to race down long wiggled roads
at a break-necking pace and grind on for miles across weirdish wild space, headed, I fear, toward a most useless place.

The Waiting Place...
...for people just waiting. Waiting for a train to go or a bus to come, or a plane to go or the mail to come, or the rain to go or the phone to ring, or the snow to snow or waiting around for a Yes or a No or waiting for their hair to grow. Everyone is just waiting." excerpt from Oh! The Places You'll Go

My mom once told me as we chatted through the night that she felt she wished portions of her life away, waiting on the next thing to come along. For example, when she graduated high school, she couldn't wait to get married so life could "really" start, she said. Then when she was married, she looked forward to having kids so that she could have the American Dream--the picket fence family. Then when my brother was little and later when I was little, she couldn't wait for us to quit running around amok and get potty trained already. The list goes on and on. That is, until she built a viable relationship with Jesus and quit wishing her life away. So her advice to me as cancer ravaged her body and at times her mind, was to avoid wishing this precious gift, this life, this breath, away. We cried and prayed and found ourselves wishing for all the things she had wished away so we could keep enjoying each other's company.

Slowly, I am learning that difficult lesson. God has put me in a place in my life where going forward in some ways is what I would have considered failure to be before. Like not having my own place, for example.
But is it really failing...

• to live in community with people you love because the realization that the blood of Jesus has the capacity to make you one That is more powerful than DNA and public opinion. Don't believe me? Check this out.
• to stay up late with your BFFs and sleep in really late the next morning because you know this is the only time in your life you may have the opportunity without little fingers pulling your eyelids open*
• to be able to serve others and surprise someone with finished dishes or folded laundry because you had no other pressing commitments
• to read every book on your to-read list and never once feel guilty about it
• to swing all afternoon if you darned-well please?
• to sit at Starbucks all afternoon and spend time with the One who knows you best while listening to the same Coldplay song a million times
• to be able to work three walks in one spring because nothing and no one can hold you back?
• to take a trip that's a little unplanned and unstructured and totally irresponsible because there are things to do at home (but you know it will make you a better, happier person full of life and the joy of Christ)
• to have time to cry and pray and seek the Lord with a brother or sister just because you can take time to really get it

If this is failure, I want an F on every report card life ever writes me.

I want to enjoy where I am at on the way to wherever the heck I am going.







*this has happened to me. Hannah was the culprit on that one. I know you are surprised...

Adorable. (she looks like me...)

If my nieces were any cuter...
Look at Kristin-- she's gonna be heartbreaker (like Aunt Laur. Ha.). This is her Kindergarten picture.

I hate that she's getting so grown up!

I LOVE my nieces like they are my own.