For Aunt Peggy

My mom told me today that my aunt needs us to start updating our blogs more often. So here is whats been going on with me lately...

* Williamson County schools have been on Spring Break this past week. Several of the ministers took off to be with their families so I was one of the few in the office all week. This was hard because without the ministers there, there isn't a ton to do. I cleaned out files, organized things, and tried to appreciate the quiet...but I'm not a big fan of quiet. And along with that, my 2 best friends are teachers so they also had the week off.

* I went to see the movie Amazing Grace with some of the Coffeehouse Theology gang on Thursday. It is the story of William Wilberforce and his fight to abolish slavery in 18th century England. It was really good- go see it. It has inspired me to read the book Real Christianity by Wilberforce. Not enough people know about him. He was a pretty incredible person.

* Tomorrow, I am going to the casting call for some new reality show on ABC about bingo...yes, the game. My dear friend Lauren called me this morning to tell me about it. She said the ad on the radio said they were looking for crazy people who like games. That is definitely me and Lauren. My family can surely attest to the fact that I get crazy when I play games.

* After the casting call, we are joining some other friends for food and fun in the park. I am loving this 80 degree weather! There is nothing better than a cute skirt and some flip-flops!

* I think I need to go see my dad next weekend. Please pray for a miracle healing of his soul or at least a miracle healing of his body so we can have more time to work on the soul.

Aunt Peggy, I love you and miss you. I can't wait for you guys to be in North Carolina! I'm praying that the condo sells quickly! Hopefully this Easter will be the last holiday we will all have to be apart.

Soo excited...

I just ordered this book on Amazon and can't wait to read it! Its being featured right now at Starbucks, I think...go grab a copy! Or do it the cheap way like me. I got it for like $10!

Me so tired...

I just got back from a great trip to Florida. I got to see my wonderful family, ride my favorite disney rides, and go to the beach...my place. Now I am getting ready to move. I am so excited about living with my great friend Brittany but...I am totally stressed about the actual moving part. I wonder if I have time to trade my 'rolla in for a pick-up truck...and build a lot more muscles.

A little court, a little crime, and a little fruit.

On January 1st, I got a speeding ticket in Nolensville. I was going 46 in a 30. Thats considered wreckless driving. Yuck. Anyway, this morning I had to wake up early, get all dressed up (because everyone said I had to) and trudged out in the blizzard to go to Traffic Court. And what an experience that turned out to be...



I walked into the Nolensville Town Hall, which was in a small strip mall. I got there a few minutes early and was sent back to the "court room." From the second I walked in I knew I was in for a treat. This court room was smaller than a small classroom. There were folding chairs all lined up in a few short rows and a simple table up front. Sure enough, the room filled up pretty quickly (none of those people were dressed up) and then an officer stood up and actually said, "All rise for the honorable Judge so and so" and contintued with all that other court room stuff.



Someone had told me that they would just have all the folks stand up at once and plead guilty and that'd be it...So I was surprised when he called out a specific person. I can't remember this poor guy's name but he was hispanic and couldn't speak any english. The judge called out to all of us, "Do any of you speak Spanish? Oh you, will you translate?" The judge went on to say, "So and so, you are charged with going 50 in a 30, no license, and no insurance. How do you plead?" I felt a little relieved because this guy's offense was worse than mine. But I couldn't believe they were going to call everyone out individually like that! I was thankful that my last name started wit S- I assumed I would be called toward the end. BUT no, no. The very next name, "Jaclyn Joy Smith." Oh no...I walked up to the front. "Jaclyn, you have been charged with going 46 in a 30. How do you plead?" "Guilty." I went out and paid the court fees and was allowed to go.



As I was getting out my gloves and keys, these 3 scruffy guys came in. The lady asked if they were there for Traffic Court. One of them said, "No, but I'm hoping to put someone in court." Oh my...this was going to be good. I tried to stall but I couldn't hang out in there any longer without it being obvious. So who knows what that was about.



I now have to go to Traffic School. I am going to the one at The Factory in Franklin. The lady told me they give out door prizes at that one. What?! Door prizes at Traffic School?? Okay.



I spend the rest of the day being lazy. I read a lot, and sat on my butt a lot. Until I went to the grocery store and bought all this fruit...





So I'm turning over a new leaf. The old one is getting a little too pudgy.

A day with Maddie

Maddie and I got to spend a great day together today. I did have to work, but even just sitting around with her in the office was wonderful. But...all the real fun happened after that. We went to Borders and got her some really cool books and things to entertain herself while we are at work tomorrow. Then we went to the bowling alley to play in the arcade. We were thinking about bowling but it was league night. Someday I will be in a bowling league and that will be awesome. Anyway, I got her $10 worth of tokens thinking that maybe we could win about 100 or so tickets and walk away with a Chinese finger trap and a kazoo. I love both of those things. But boy was I surprised when she put her first token in and this is what happened...

...she won 50 tickets right away!! Oh but wait, like a true Las Vegas gambler, you don't leave when you're hot! So she put her second token in and JACKPOT! She actually hit the jackpot!! Who really does that?! It was the funniest thing. We were both going crazy until this group of silly boys showed up.

All the boys wanted to know her secret! They were so jealous! As if that boy right there really needed any more tickets. But he said that he had been trying to win the jackpot on that one all night! You know that that means...Maddie appeared to be the the lurker! You know, like the old ladies that practically live in the casinos and watch people win nothing on the slot machines until they finally give up. Then the lurkers swoop in there and win the jackpot! Just like my sweet girl! It was fantastic! I told Maddie that just because she has the magic touch does not mean she needs to go back to Vegas and become a gambler. She said, "Aunt Jackie, I know you gambled. I saw pictures." I said back to her, "But Mad, thats okay. I used Papa's money." I made her pinky promise. Anyway, we ended up with 400 tickets! She picked out a dough set, some dominoes, a jumbo pen that says "Best Brother" (she is going to color over that tomorrow), and 5 pieces of laffy taffy. Bummer, no Chinese finger-pull.

Then we came home and decided to make scrambled eggs for dinner. The ones I made for her were awesome. Mine were less than awesome. Sacrificial love.

Our night wrapped up with some good ol' America's Funniest Home Videos and dominoes. Yep, I love this girl.

God, what do you look like?

So, my friend David Morris stopped by the office today to chat for a few minutes. We started talking about what God looks like...somehow. I often forget how I end up in certain conversations but I was telling him how I pictured God when I was little. I pictured him like this...

Have you ever image googled God? Well, this is what you get...

The typical, old God...

The eye of God...

The kinda creepy God...

The pretty God...

And my personal favorite...

A Fun Friday

I have laughed a lot today. I love days like this...

I went to Kroger this morning to get sodas for Sunday night's Student Worship. The lady that was checking me out was really mean. I thought for sure that it was going to be an unpleasant trip to Kroger. That was until I met Mack. Let me tell you about Mack...he is an older, African American man with cowboy boots, a cowboy hat and a face mask (because its cold outside.) The only reason I know his name is Mack is because of the gold and silver belt buckle that he had on that was the size of Texas! Mack is a very friendly, loud man. He insisted on pushing the cart out to my car. The whole trip out there was wonderful. He asked me how my day was going and I asked him the same to which he responded with something like this: "My day is great! My days are always great! Ain't nobody ever gonna make me not have a great day!" When we got out to my car, I popped the trunk and started moving the sodas in when he hollared at me, "You ain't touchin them sodas! You leave them for me!" Then he saw the cat carriers I have in my trunk and the rest of the conversation went something like this:

MACK: Woh! You got a dog in them things?
ME: No, they are for my cat.
MACK: Ooh! You got a cat! I bet its just like Garfield. Garfield is never up to any good...he just sits arooounnnd, being laaazzzzyyy alllll day!"
ME: Haha, yeah that sounds about right.
MACK: Meow! Meow! Meow! Hissss!! Hisssss!! (insert other strange cat noises here for the next 3 minutes.)
ME: (practically rolling around on the ground) Hahahahha!! Thats exactly what my cat sounds like!
MACK: Yeah, I got a dog at home. I told him this morning, 'Dog, you better get out there and catch you some food.' If he don't, he don't eat! Well...have a great day! You better have a great day, cuz I'm gonna have a great day!"

I got back to the church and told Carol that I met the greatest guy at Kroger and his name was Mack. She immediately asked me if he was black and wore a cowboy hat. Apparently he has been on the news. So I guess you could finally say that I met a celebrity at Kroger.

Then...Carol and I got locked in the prayer room at church. We went in to snoop because we had never seen it. There is an outside entrance to this room and then an inside entrance that is through a storage room in the Parlor. As we were looking around, we saw someone coming up the sidewalk to pray...Janet. (Janet sends the staff prayer emails every week. This week, her prayer concluded like this, "I pray in the name of Jesus, MVP and Super Bowl Champion".) We wanted to get out of there quickly so we started scurrying around to find the exit. Carol went through a door only to end up in the prayer room bathroom. I said, "No, Carol! It's this door!" We got through that door just as Janet was beginning to enter through the outside door. Then...tragedy struck. We were in this dark storage room and the door out of the storage room into the Parlor was locked! I couldn't even speak I was laughing so hard (but it was that quiet kind of laugh because I didn't want Janet to hear us.) We looked around frantically for a minute to assess the situation. We couldn't go back through the prayer room now because Janet was in there and that would be weird. Praise the Lamb! A maintenance guy was in the Parlor and heard us trying to open the door! He came to the door and said "hello??" with much hesitation. He let us out. I can't even imagine what he was thinking. Probably something like, 'what are these 2 cucks doing in the prayer room storage closet?!'

Oh, I love my job.