Our Trip to the Outback Bowl

Recently after talking with a few people who used to read my blog (when I actually blogged), I realized that I missed blogging! I like sharing my faith.....my blessings, my struggles.....putting my thoughts into words is something that I like to do, and I hope that it can serve as an encouragement to others as well. Plus, I really do like recording some of our family events.

So....to play a little catch up....

Our family (minus Olivia and Brian), the Peters family (Julie, Sam, and Mae), the Mims family (Kelly and Lynn and their four kids plus Parker's wife, Alyssa), the Johnsey family (Joe and Leanna and their four kids), and the Green family (Mike and Amy and their three kids) all planned our every other January trip to Disney World for January 2-9. We normally go later in the month, but our college kids wanted to come too, so we had to move our trip up earlier in the month before their classes began.  (Our headcount for Disney World was 26.)

Sometime in December, it was announced that Mississippi State would be playing in the Outback Bowl in Tampa, Florida on New Year's Day. Kelly sent out a group text asking if we were interested in going to Florida a couple of days earlier to go to the game. Since Jimmy was already off because of his holiday schedule, we said, Yes! The Mims and Johnsey families were in too, so we bought tickets, reserved hotel rooms, and bumped up our departure date. The Peters and Green families joined us at Disney World like they had originally planned.

So. We left at 3:00 AM on December 31 for the 12 hour drive to Tampa. Our goal was to make the Outback Bowl parade in Ybor City at 5:00 PM. We made it! Even though Clay was involved in a minor car accident on I-75 in Georgia, we still made it. Barely. And we were tired, and we looked like we had been on the road all day with little or no sleep! (Lynn never even went to bed the night/morning before we left.....I slept 2-3 hours I think).

at the parade...running on caffeine and cowbells!

Fun Fact: A local news reporter asked me a few questions about our trip to Tampa, our going to the bowl game, etc.

The crowd was so loud, and I don't even remember what I said! But it was on the news that night!

The kids were also featured on the front page of our local newspaper on January 1, with a story about our families traveling to the Outback Bowl.

Here we are the morning before the game.

And here is the whole crew!

Jimmy and Me

We arrived about 2 hours before the game began so we could enjoy all the pregame festivities and just take in being at a professional football stadium. It really was a lot of fun, and the weather was beautiful!

Our family of five

We sat in front of the pirate ship which was cool!

Sadly, Mississippi State lost the game to Iowa. Iowa was considered the home team, and it certainly felt like they had a home team advantage in some areas. The announcers kept making it a point to remind us that this was Iowa's 6th Outback Bowl appearance! However, the Iowa fans that I met were super nice. And all of us enjoyed the sunshine!

After the game we searched for some time to find a Cuban restaurant that was open on New Year's Day. We were joined by Jimmy and Leanna's first cousin, Warren and his family too. Next we returned to our hotel to repack and get ready for our early morning departure the next day to Disney World!

Today

Hail State!

Lynn, Leanna, Leigh, and I (the only one without an "L" name!) and our families had the best time at the MSU/Texas A&M game today.  We had a breakfast tailgate beginning at 8:00 AM this morning.  Then we enjoyed beautiful weather and a fantastic game at 11:00.

We were joined by a dear friend (our preacher) and his dad who happen to be Texas A&M fans. I hope they are not suffering hearing loss from all the cowbells. Clang! Clang!

It really was a fun day...the only sad spots were that Jimmy had to work and could not join us and Olivia and Julie are far away at their college.

November Goals
So far, so good. On this 5th day of November I have managed to read/study my Bible every day, wrap one present each day (I am about to wrap today's present after I finish typing this), and I am on my way to blogging 5 days this week.

Praying for Others
Trey (our preacher) mentioned this in a recent sermon--often times we tell people that we will pray for them, and we have every intention of doing so, but the reality is that usually we forget to actually pray for them.

Here are some solutions:

• Stop right then and there and pray with that person.
• If it is a prayer request that you are receiving online via FB, a blog, or an email, make a note of it in a notebook, on a sticky note, or notepad. Then transfer that list to a master prayer list. 
• If someone asks you to pray for them in person, write it down on a notepad or piece of paper, or enter it somehow into your phone. Again, transfer the information to a master prayer list.
• On a daily or other regular basis, pray for the people on your master prayer list. I just start at the beginning and go down the list, page after page. I pray for a certain amount of time each day, then I stick a sticky flag at the name where I left off. The next day, I begin praying at that place on my list. Whenever a prayer is answered, I put a check mark and the date. I also date the entries I make when I list the person and their request. When I have prayed the entire list, I start back at the top.
• If you at least scan your list each day in addition to praying for a portion of it, the names of the people and their situations will be in the back of your mind. Then, when you have snippets of time you can recall people to pray for. I prayed many prayers while feeding and rocking babies in the middle of the night. When I have had periods of anxiety and could not sleep, I prayed for others. In fact, praying for other people is good medicine when you are feeling down.

I think that is all for today. I'm off to wrap my present for the day!

Fun Days and an Update

I began blogging over eight years ago, and up until about 2 years ago, I was a fairly regular blogger.  I want to try to get back into the habit of blogging again. I really do. My internet (or lack of high speed internet) still frustrates me, but I am going to do the best I can.

Yesterday we attended the Mississippi State football game. It was hot, we got sunburned, and State lost, but it was still a fun day with friends and family!

 The Three Amigos 

(Lynn, Leanna, and Me)

AKA The Wedding Planners

(more on that later....)

 Me and Jimmy

Sweet Sam and Jimmy

(Uncle Kelly in the background)

After the game we enjoyed an early supper at Oby's, which was one of our favorite restaurants in Starkville when we were all in college. It's still delicious!

The fun for today involved getting up at 3:30 to run the Tupelo 13.1 Miler.  Leanna, Jimmy, Clay and I joined about 800 other runners for the 5:00 AM race start.  Leanna and I had the goal of finishing by 7:30 so we would have enough time to go home and get ready for Bible Class which started at 9:00. We did it!  In fact, we ran the race in 2 hours, 12 minutes. Of course Jimmy and Clay finished well before that. 

I am resting now. 

But first, about the wedding planners.....

Julie got engaged on August 20!  She and Sam Peters will be marrying on June 3. So, Leanna, Lynn, and I are in full planning mode. Our first wedding! 

 Sam and Julie

Sam and Julie again

The Last Couple of Days

Jimmy and Clay left yesterday morning at 4:40AM for a 1400 mile round trip to Gainesville, Florida, to see Olivia and Julie run in a huge cross country meet. They also delivered Olivia's goldfish that I forgot to take when I took Julie to college back in August (Olivia had to fly down to school a week early for a summer school class…..and I was supposed to bring the fish, except that I forgot!)

 Proud Daddy with Olivia and Julie after the Mt. Dew Invitational

While they were gone Leah, Sam, and I cleaned house, did some school,  bought groceries, and hosted 6 other children for a little spend the night party. (Lynn's younger two children and all four of Leanna's). They played while I prepared food for our family Bible study meal (that we had tonight) and packed the car for the tailgating at the Miss. State ballgame (earlier today).

The three mamas (Lynn, Leann, and I) and 11 children left around 8:00 AM this morning to go see the Bulldogs play. All three of our husbands were unable to attend today's game (Jimmy--on his road trip, and Kelly and Joe were working). The teenage boys set up and took down our big tent, and we all worked together hauling everything to and from the car. We enjoyed a nice day in front of Allen Hall, relaxing and eating lunch together before the game.

We watched the Bulldog Walk, rested in the shade a little bit more, loaded up all three of our vehicles, and then went on in the game.

It. Was. Hot.

 Lynn, Leanna, and Me---before the game---before we melted.

 The Children

A selfie we took after sweltering at the game awhile.

Nice photo bomb from the guy sitting behind us.

None of us have a twitter, but we texted the picture to Kelly to see if he could add it to the #maroonselfies so we could appear on the jumbotron (We never saw it). :)

We left at halftime in order to make it back home for our family Bible study.  We made it just in time! And guess who else made it too (before us!)?  Jimmy and Clay.

That's my last two days.

And that's post #4 of 100!