Comments for Chris: FAIL.

So I was looking back over the blog tonight and kind of thinking through how much fun this year has been.  Jess and I really enjoy bloging.  We don't do it half as often as we'd like to, and I swear that I forget half of the really good ideas that I have - none the less a lot of fun is had by these two.

Then I noticed something.  My wife is a lot more popular than I am.

Mr. Hill - 14 comments.
Jessica Hill - 42 comments.

Wowser.  I know Jess is way cooler than I am, but that was still pretty brutal.

Hope you enjoy our silly writing selves as much as we enjoy popping away on the keys of our MacBooks.

Excitement brewing for the weekend.

Mr. Hill

P.S. - The Aggie Football team gives me heartbreak.

SHFP: William Wilberforce - Author and Statesman

This man has become one of my heroes.  Both a professed follower of Christ and leading politician of his day, William Wilberforce was a driving force behind the abolition of Britain's slave trade.

He wrote and published this book in the late 1700's, and I have found it's words to be equally as potent and applicable today as they must've been more than 200 years ago.  The book that I have quoted below, Wilberforce's A Practical View of Christianity,  has challenged my intellect (as Barbara Tuchman's book did), improved my writing (reading his writing is like playing basketball with Lebron...it's rough, but you get better), encouraged my dreams, and shown me that there truly is nothing new under the Sun when it comes to our fallen nature and struggle towards Jesus.

So, I challenge you to muddle your way through this passage as I have his book.  Keep a tab in your browser set to www.m-w.com and admit that your vocabulary is a little deficient (as I have found myself forced to).  Recognize how material and relevant Wilberforce's words are in 2010 as they were in 1797 - one of my favorite discoveries as I have read the book.

Most of all, I hope that you realize that in the same manner that Wilberforce had a professional calling as a politician but made a tremendous impact on the religious and moral standing of his country through his writing and life - so we can today.

No matter what profession you find yourself called to - engineer, accountant, sales, politics, stay at home mom - I guarantee that you can also have an impact for Christ on the culture around you.  Change for our great nation will not emanate from her government, but from normal men and women like us who are willing to follow Christ in a passionate and surrendered manner.

"There are many shades of difference between those who flatly renounce, and those who cordially embrace the doctrine of Redemption by Christ.  This class has a sort of general, indeterminate, and ill understood dependence on our blessed Savior.  But their hopes so far as they can be distinctly made out (for their views also are very obscure) appear ultimately to bottom on the persuasion that they are now, through Christ, become members of a new dispensation, wherein they will be tried by a more lenient rule than that to which they must have been otherwise subject.  'God will not now be extreme to mark what is done amiss: but will dispense with the rigorous exactions of his law, too strict indeed for such frail creatures as we are to hope that we can fulfill it.  Christianity has moderated the requisitions of Divine Justice; and all which is now required of us, is thankfully to trust o the merits of Christ for the pardon of our sins, and the acceptance of our sincere though imperfect obedience.  The frailties and infirmities to which our nature is liable, or to which our situation in life exposes us, will not be severely judged: as it is the practice that really determines the character, we may rest satisfied, that if on this whole our lives be tolerably good, we shall escape with little or no punishment, and through Jesus Christ our Lord, shall be finally partakers of heavenly felicity.'

"We cannot dive into the human heart, and therefore should always speak with caution and diffidence, when from external appearances or declarations we are affirming the existence of any internal principles and feelings; especially as we are liable to be misled by the ambiguities of language, or by the inaccuracy with which others may express themselves.  But is sometimes not difficult to anyone who is accustomed, if the phase may be allowed, to the anatomy of the human mind, to discern, that generally speaking, the persons who use the above language, rely not so much on the merits of Christ, and on the agency of Divine Grace, as on their own power of fulfilling the moderated requisitions of Divine Justice.  He will hence therefore discover in them a disposition rather to extenuate the malignity of their disease, than to magnify the excellence of the proffered remedy.  He will find them apt to palliate in themselves what they cannot fully justify, to enhance the merit of what they believe to be their good qualities and commendable actions, to set as it were in an account the good against the bad; and if the result be not very unfavorable, they conceive that they shall be entitled to claim the benefits of our Savior's sufferings as a thing of course.

"They have little ideas, so little, that it might almost be affirmed that they have no idea at all, of the importance or difficulty of the duty of what the Scripture calls "submitting ourselves to the righteousness of God" [Romans 10:3]; or of our proneness rather to justify ourselves in his sight, than in the language of imploring penitents to acknowledge ourselves guilty and helpless sinners They have never summoned themselves to this entire and unqualified renunciation of their own merits and their own strength; and therefore they remain strangers to the natural lostness of the human heart, which such a call would have awakened into action, and roused to resistance.  All these, their several errors, naturally result from the mistaken conception entertained of the fundamental principles of Christianity. They consider not that Christianity is a scheme "for justifying the ungodly" [Romans 4:5], by Christ's dying for them "when yet sinners" [Romans 5:6-8], a scheme "for reconciling us to God-when enemies" [Romans 5:10]; and for making the fruits of holiness the effects, not the cause, of our being justified and reconciled; that, in short, it opens freely the door of mercy, to the greatest and vilest of penitent sinners; that obeying the blessed impulse of the grace of God, whereby they had been awakened from the sleep of death, and moved to seek for pardon, they might enter in, and through the regenerating influence of the Holy Spirit might be enabled to bring forth the fruits of Righteousness." (Emphasis the authors)

Christmas Morning

The last two nights (for some unknown reason) I have been struggling to remain asleep beginning at sometime around 4ish in the morning.

This morning I managed to hack through it until sometime around 6:30, at which time I decided to bag it, get up, use my Christmas Eve iTunes Giftcards, drink some really good coffee, and enjoy the time leading up to the Jordan family Christmas this morning at 8.


If you're a friend of mine, you know that despite my occasionally gruff sounding, loud, excitable, and from time to time scruffy exterior there lies the heart of a big teddy bear.  This morning, the teddy bear is beating out the grizzly bear for the forefront of the mind's expression.

Lots of that would have to do with the fact that for whatever reason I woke up with this song in my head.

I am a sucker for that song.  Not particularly complicated.  Some would call it cheesy.  I really don't care.  I love it.

Lots of that love has to do with the fact that I have some really wonderful memories with my wife and that song.  Waltzing around the Chi-O parking lot, lying there this morning watching the sun come up on Christmas morning, driving around half of this state with her on wildly fun road trips.  I love how music brings memories and emotion into the most simple of things.

Another reason why the teddy bear is winning this morning is because I miss my family.  Yes, at the tender age of 24 I am experiencing the tears of my first Christmas away from home.  (My wife's came last year...she is way more brave and tough than I am.)  I miss you family.  Jess and I love our presents.  This has to be one of the most thoughtful sets of Christmas presents I have ever received - making this morning all the more difficult to be apart from you, Tige, the ranch, and the White Christmas that you are surrounded by.

Likely the final reason that I will disclose this morning for my teddy bear sneaking out this morning is that I am rather emotionally thinking about the gift of my Savior.  Wrapped as my presents but wrapped in a body of flesh, my Master became a man in order to die and bring me life.  Truthfully, it is difficult for me to talk or write about my Jesus without emotion springing into my eyes because He is the reason I am who I am.  He took away all of my hurt, bitterness, and sin setting me free to be who I always wanted to be - now for His Glory.  Fulfillment.

Merry Christmas, Friends.  God bless you on this most wonderful of days.

Mr. Hill

Desires fulfilled and Trees of Life.

I am literally brimming with excitement this morning.

Yes, brimming.

You see, in the last 3 days I have experienced the fulfillment of no fewer than three of my childhood/teenage dreams.

Yes, I am really serious about that.  Three in three days.

Jesus is really fun and exciting like that.

We'll take them in order of occurrence.  Saturday, Sunday, and Monday timing:

-SATURDAY-
Desire fulfilled: Preaching in a church.
        You have to understand, as I type that, I am crying.  That is a desire that has been so deep in my heart, so full of passion to teach and encourage God's people - It's really hard for me to express how much life there was in me when I walked over to the little podium.

       No, I didn't preach to thousands, it was just about 15 or 20 at my parents little country church in Childress, TX where our family's ranch is....Do you know that, that didn't matter to me on Saturday night?  Christ Jesus, my Master, spoke a message to my heart for his people, and trusted me enough to steward those words right.  The Creator of the Universe, the Love of my heart, my Lord.


Proverbs 13:12 - Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but when the desire is fulfilled, it is a tree of life.


-SUNDAY-
Desire fulfilled: Shoot a really big buck on MY OWN ranch.
       Alright, I recognize that not all of you will understand this one.  You have to know, since I was a little kid, I loved cowboy and ranch things.  When I was in high school, my parents bought our ranch...I was one step closer.

       My whole family has always been bird hunters - dove, quail, pheasant.  That's cool and all, but I wanted to shoot a big deer.  I had shot little cull bucks and does before on other people's ranch to help them maintain the eco-system balance, but I had never seen a buck worth shooting on our ranch.  We were waiting for the right one and the right time.

Sunday, the time - and the buck - both came:

Here's how it happened, if you aren't the hunter (or wife of a hunter) type, feel free to skip past this paragraph.  :)  So, we drove in the "Mom Mobile" (Our diesel Mule) over to this wheat field where we had been seeing Fred the Deer.  (Yes, his name is Fred.)  It was me, Dad, and our Outfitter friend, Chad.  We pulled up and there were 10 does...no Fred.  I was slightly discouraged.  We thought he might've been shot already by our neighbors, because we hadn't seen him in a couple of days.

Dad says, "let's drive over to this one other place that I've seen him."  We drive over to the side of this little draw next to the wheat field.  I was thinking, "It's OK.  We'll come back tomorrow.  Maybe I can shoot another buck.  It's OK.  Jesus will fix it."  (Even if you don't care, you must understand, this was a momentous occasion for me.)

Fred is there across the draw(small canyon for you non-country folks) and back up towards the wheat field .  Fred and a 6-pointer friend actually.  I have Chad's .300 Winchester Short Mag.  This is basically a small cannon.  Fred appears to be 9 points (one of his antler "tines" doesn't for like it should).  Fred is also MASSIVE.  NO kidding.  He easily weighed 300 pounds, thus the need for the cannon.

Fred begins to walk down into the draw.  We lose the line of sight.  We walk quietly, excitedly, nervously toward a fence at the bottom of the draw.  We have him again.  He's turned a little toward us (not a good profile shot) so we wait.  I cannot even begin to explain to you the agony and horrible excitement that you experience at this point.  What if he runs?  What if we don't get the shot?  It's awful.

Chad says, "He's going to walk down the draw...wait for it."  I wait.  (Chad is awesome)  Fred begins to walk down the draw.  Chad again, "I'm going to stop him, you ready?"  I find Fred in my sight.  "Yea, yea," I say.  A whistle...another whistle.  Fred stops, Chad, "now, take the shot."

BOOM!

Fred is clearly hit.  He is stumbling a bit.  He is still moving.  Chad says it was a perfect shot.  (I feel 10 feet tall at that point.)  Fred is attempting to move toward the end of the draw and the big canyon (bad news), Chad tells me to, "put another in him." so we don't lose him in the canyon (all very guyish) I chamber another short mag quickly, line him up, and pull the trigger again.

Big Fred buckles.  It's over.  Turns out, both of my shots were less than two inches apart, right in the kill zone.

It was so perfect.  Then I walk up on him.  He has a front kicker.  He's a 10-point Buck, and I shot him on my ranch with my Dad.

I realize that, that doesn't strike a chord in the heart of all of you, but you must understand, that was a desire of my heart from the time I was a little kid.  God provided the ranch, the deer, the time, and the place.  It was amazing.

Proverbs 13:12 - Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but when the desire is fulfilled, it is a tree of life.

-MONDAY-

Desire Fulfilled:  Have friends like my Lone Star Marina Men.

       To say that I was short on friends through middle school and high school would be an understatement.  Describing me as unpopular would've been an understatement at times through those years.  Literally, at times all the way through high school, I was at times totally devoid of having a good guy friend.

       I literally begged God for friends, for men.  I begged God for men who I could share life with, share struggles with, share victories with, enjoy the Lord with, and enjoy everyday life with all the same.  I wanted real friends.  Not just friends that were for a certain part or piece of life, but friends that I could share all of the things that make me, me with.  Jesus, sports, food, good beer, dominoes, prayer, sin struggles, good stories, the lot.

       Monday morning at 5:30 I was praying with some of those friends.  Every Monday morning we meet in a conference call from all over the state of Texas (and one loner from Memphis, TN who needs to get his butt back here.) to pray for each other, for our marriages, for our relationships, to pray that we would endure as men who are called by the name of Jesus Christ.

       When I cried out before the Lord in my bed at 1503 S. Lamar in Amarillo, TX for all those years asking him for those type of friends, I never could've imagined a group like the Lone Star Marina.  Ben, Brad, Don, Geoff, Prothro, Daniel, Sloan, Wes, and Kyle Wood - not to mention all of the sweet women who put up with us and the many other folks who love to hang out with us.

Thank you, Jesus, for my friends.  They are truly a desire fulfilled in my life.

Proverbs 13:12 - Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but when the desire is fulfilled, it is a tree of life.




I want you to know why I wrote this blog.  It wasn't to sound like a braggart.  It wasn't to boast.  It's purpose was two fold:

One: To express my heart of thankfulness to my Sweet Love, Jesus for bringing my dreams to fruition.

Two: (And honestly the main reason.) To give YOU a three-fold testimony from my own life that Jesus gives you dreams and He will bring them to fruition.  If you will trust and follow Him, I promise you that He will always bring you a tree of life.


Whether you are waiting for your desired spouse, the desire of the right job, the desire of seeing your kids become successful, no matter what desire resides in your heart - I promise you, you have a God who loves you and longs to fulfill that desire.



John 10:10 - The thief comes only in order to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance (to the full, till it overflows).



Yep,

A Fulfilled, Mr. Hill

Music

Man, I love music.

I love what it does to me when I hear it.  I love how it sets the tone for an evening.  I love how it can change at atmosphere.  I love how we use it to express ourselves.

I love the lyrics to music.

I love the melodies of music.

I love that Jesus made us to praise Him with music, to praise Him with our voices.

I saw the coolest movie the other day that sparked this thought.

Equilibrium is the name of the movie.  It stars Christian Bale as John Preston, a high-ranking enforcement officer in a future dystopia in which all forms of emotional expression are illegal, and citizens are forced to take daily injections of drugs to suppress their emotions. After accidentally missing one such injection Preston begins to experience emotion; he begins to question his own morality and to moderate his actions, while attempting to remain undetected by the suspicious society in which he lives. 


So after he's missed his injection and his emotions begin to open up a bit, he hears this:





Up until this point in the movie, it has been totally devoid of music.  Bale's character has been so unemotional, it has been so cold, and then all of the sudden those notes from Beethoven's 9th come.


I don't care how you feel about classical music, music in general is so emotional.  I hear certain songs on my iPod that sometimes bring me to tears thinking about my Jessa.  I hear other songs that remind me of home and the Diamond H Ranch.  I hear other songs that remind me of yelling at the top of my lungs driving around with my best friends.


I love music.

And then ...

I had this thought: I would so much rather be some incredible entrepreneur than be famous.

Now I realize that there are many famous entrepreneurs, but it is just different somehow.

After reading a magazine article about Steve Jobs (Apple) and watching a year old dateline about Taylor Swift (awesome) I am very convinced about this whole entrepreneur thing. It is possible that you might be thinking that Taylor Swift is famous because she sings and plays her guitar (GI-TAR) and has great hair but you are SO wrong. Taylor Swift writes, produces, designs, leads, micro-manages successfully, casts vision, and is nice people. I would definitely call that being an entrepreneur especially since her record label Big Machine was just a dream in some ex-universal record employee's head when she signed with him.

Then there is Steve Jobs who has single handled guided Apple into being TOTally amazing. I mean it is because of him that I am able to write this here blog on this here computer.

So if I could somehow combine myself into being a mix between Taylor Swift, Steve Jobs, and Giada Delaurentiis then that would be totally awesome. The world would not know what to do with a blond singer song writer computer genius who single handedly transformed the music, cell phone, movie, and computer industries while also excelling in then kitchen.

I just had to throw Giada in there for her good looks and amazing cooking ability.

Real or Fake?

My view from the front porch this morning. I am far from being a photographer but I just thought this was so beautiful! I just wanted to put this on the blog even though it does not have much to do with the topic today.

Morning Quietness

_____________________________________________________

Real or Fake?

The last month or so I have kind of been in a little bit of a funk. This funk could be described as being a little disengaged emotionally and content to not do any introspective thinking. While I had this funk "on" I kept wondering why I was like this and I never could exactly put my finger on it, but I decided that it would eventually pass and I would return to my normal self. Which happened this morning - I awoke and just felt new and better and more alive than I have been feeling lately, despite the cold that is trying to attack my body. My first instinct was to blog about making it through those times and coming out on the other side, and then thankfully I realized that is totally lame and very "Christian bubble" like. I do not want to "make it" through anything I want to take advantage of every trial and learn something. Instead of coming up with my own "fix it" lesson for myself I decided to put it before the Lord and listen to what He has to say about it. I have not heard anything yet, but I really want to understand from him what was going on with me before I self analyze. It could be that God wants to change something inside of me and I am kind of uncomfortable with that so I just kind of shut down!!! SHOCKER

I had one of those moments this morning where you discover your own hypocritical tendencies and you yourself are shocked by them yet at the same time are equally glad that God allowed you to discover it yourself so that someone else did not have to point it out for you! Thank you Jesus.

I am way into being vulnerable when things are going bad. Now, I am on my own journey figuring this out and still have tons and tons to learn. It is not an easy journey because then I have to actually apply what God shows me and actually BE vulnerable when things are not all pretty and tied up with ribbons. The reason I have not blogged much in the last month or so about my inner deep things is because I did not want to look myself. Ouch. Yet, at the same time I also did not want to be all fake religious about it either. I was kind of caught in the middle of being real and being fake.

What caught me off guard this morning was how quick I was to want to blog about having just gotten through a tough emotional time (for which I still have no real explanation, other than what I am realizing right now) before I even sat down and prayed about it and asked God about and actually LEARNED what He wanted me to know. How religious of me! Then I started to think about all the times I have received some revelation from the Lord about something and then proceeded to tell everyone I know before I even test it out and apply it to my own life. I don't know about you but realizing all that this morning really jump started my heart and made me really hungry to know Jesus more. On one hand it is disappointing to realize I still have a bunch of stuff to get through, yet on the other I still have a Jesus who is willing to take me through a rough and dry period so I can actually look at the plank in my own eye and move on and grow into being more like Him.

Over the last six to seven years God has really been showing me that the best kind of being "real" is when you least want to do it because that is when you are most weak and God can be most strong. I have yet to walk in this long before I come across some wall that I have put up to protect myself from something and prevents God from healing me or growing me in some area of my life. Usually that wall prevents me from being real and vulnerable in some area of my life, and then I have to go through this process with Jesus where He helps me deconstruct that wall so I can be free. But - that is what life is all about, learning how to live and be more like Jesus and not giving up when you come across a big wall!

What I have recently learned is that you do not have to take all the walls down before Jesus is willing to use you. I always subconsciously thought I had to be perfect before Jesus could "do" something in my life or "use" me in some way, but that is so untrue and definitely what a lot of my insecurities have been grounded on. SO - maybe THAT is what God is trying to tell me right now - just maybe that is the meaning of the journey God has been taking me on - that if I allow Him to Jesus can use me while He is taking down all my walls and I am being real when I really don't want to.

....all so very interesting :)

:::Dog Blog Part One::

I would like to introduce everyone to my new personal assistant and office mate

Giada De La Hill

Giada making sure all her toys are being carefully guarded and protected.

Giada helping me with a little computer work, or rather warming my chair.

Giada got to meet her cousin Jack the Great Dane. She literally attacked him even though he is 200 times bigger than she is at this moment in time. Jack sweetly indulged her for awhile and then very gently put his arm around her as if saying it is time to calm down little girl. I think it was love at first jump. She also wanted to put her head in his mouth - we could not figure that out!

Giada has officially won over my "non" dog loving parents who allow her to come to work with me. It is truly amazing - but I must give a shout our to my brother and his girlfriend's dog Jack the Great Dane who prepared the way.

Now - for everyone who is wondering why did we named our Labrador Giada let me explain. I love to cook and I love anthropologie and I love the food network. My favorite person on the food network is Giada De Laurentiis and her husband is a designer for anthropologie, so it was perfectly natural for us to name our puppy Giada. Some of you still may be confused and feel like that is not a good enough reason, but I am not going to explain further because if you really know me then you understand :)

I seriously cannot believe we waited this long to get a puppy. It has been far better than I ever imagined and believe me I have been imagining for a long time. She can already sit, lay, and come about 80% of the time. She always looks at us as though she could just form complete sentences and tell us what is going on in her head. She also snores which is quite funny.

Please be prepared for many more dog blogs to come :)

The Little Joys of Cooler Weather...

Finally, it seems that the (rather obnoxious) days of 90+ degree October days in Houston have gone by the wayside, and we are actually moving into fall.  All week I've walked outside to my car in the morning to forty degree temps that turn into seventies through the day.  Who doesn't love that?

My goodness I am excited.  So many fun things get to start now!

Some of my favorites:

Drinking good coffee all day long...

You just can't do it during the hot Texas summers,

but drinking coffee all day on a Saturday when it's cold out

is so nice.  (Having a cute wifey to snuggle with

doesn't hurt either. ;) )

House Shoes.

I would like to think that I was somewhat famous in college for my love of the house shoes.  I love coming home from work when it's cold and slipping on my comfy house shoes.

I've had the tan pair all the way through college - literally had to wrestle Wes one time for them.

The darker pair are my "Nice Old Man" house shoes. (They are sort of a source of major pride.)  Jess got them for me last year for Christmas, and they are so nice.

LOOK - if you are a man and don't have a nice pair of house shoes, you are missing out in life.  LL Bean and Land's End have some great ones.

North Face Jackets.

Let's face it, Stuff White People Like hits the nail on the head with this post.

I watched other people bust out their North Face jackets for years before wising up and buying my own Apex Bionic jacket last year.

Waiting before investing in one of these great jackets was an EPIC FAIL.

Pricey?  Yes.  Worth every penny?  You betcha.

As a conclusionary statement to this post, I must relay the Hill family's sincere and heartfelt apologies to Mrs. Theresa Whitney, mother of our dearest friend, Wesley.  

Theresa, you have likely checked our blog unfruitfully 17 times since our last post.  We think that you probably know this already, but we love you to death and think that your son is one of the best things to come about since sliced bread.

Say hi to Big Stan for us.  

Mr. Hill

Sweet Sleeping Puppy

Last night Giada came home :)

We have tons of pictures to prove it. Hopefully I will get them all up sometime today!

Right now I am at the office, they are letting her come to work with me this week so we can potty train, and she is sleeping in my lap which is basically all she wants to do right now.

I cannot even describe how excited I am - I have been waiting many many years to have a puppy all of my own (when I say "my" I mean "our").

Giada slept incredibly well last night and already can play fetch!

Update: Puppy Tragedy 2009

Update: G GETS TO COME HOME!  WHOOP!  It is 3:45 and I am leaving in about 10 minutes to go get our little, baby puppy.  Pictures to follow courtesy of Randy Olive Photography.  THANKS, OLIVE FAMILY!

Mr. Hill

I mean, really.  How cute is that dog?  How does she so quickly become totally attached to my heart?  (Lord, help me when I have a kid!)

Sadly, very sadly actually, Little G did not come home with us last night!  :(

As I stood there last night with my little pink collar and Mossy Oak Breakup Camo leash to take the little girl home, I was totally distraught when I saw the SPCA guy come around the corner with the vet tech instead of my puppy.  I knew something was wrong.  She began to relay to me what had happened.

Apparently when they opened her up for her surgery, they found some bleeding in her abdomen (read: they probably nicked something).  They treated the bleeding, got it clotting, treated anything that could've caused the bleeding, and felt confident enough to go ahead and perform her surgery (No more babies, little puppy.  I would've greatly preferred to wait at least 6 months, but apparently in Houston it is a Class C Misdemeanor to take her out of the shelter without having her spayed.  Don't even get me started on how ridiculous that is.)

So, she had to stay at the SPCA, all bandaged up and sedated, over night for observation.  They are suppossed to call Jess's cell phone today (If they don't call by 10, they can expect a phone call from muah.) and let us know if we can pick her up today.

As I recovered (Yes, recovered.  For those of you who don't know me super well, I have a seriously soft teddy bear heart, just ask my wifey.) on my drive home and began to think through the situation, I felt kind of bad for the little vet tech.  It occurred to me that I was standing there with my hands on my hips, no smile, and the most stern look that a man my size can offer while listening to her; the whole while expecting to hear that G was gone.  I geniunely felt bad after that for likely scaring the crap out of the poor, little woman.

At any rate, I'll keep you up to date on how things go.  I think my wife and I are ready for something to go, "as planned" now, thanks.

Mr. Hill

"G"

Point of View

So let's see how quickly I can describe what just happened here on our glorious Sunday morning.


Preface:
Yesterday we slept late. I got up before Jess, like I usually do, and went downstairs to turn on the coffee. After the coffee was made, I poured myself a cup of unadulterated morning awesomeness and began the process of concocting my wife's morning brew.

Sugar goes in the cup first, then the creamer...wait, where's that creamer?

I look on the top shelf of fridge with all of the other milk/breakfast liquid products. Nothing doing.

Hmmmm, think like your wife, Mr. Hill.

Literally picture me standing in front of the open refridgerator looking at the top shelf, but then ever so slightly (or maybe not so slightly) bending my knees to "squat" down to the height of my beautiful wife.

BINGO.

Right on her eye level shelf at the very back sits the majestic box of her "Silk" creamer.

I literally would never have seen it had I not done that.





Today's happening.

So Jess is making herself some coffee. We're kind of silly this morning.

I tell her how funny it was for me to find her creamer yesterday, as she's pulling it out.

I say, no really, check this out...I walk over to her, literally pick her up and say, "here's what I see." Then I set her down and proceed to tell her the rest of my Silk seeking saga. After we finished laughing about my ordeal, she goes, "I have such a better view of the fridge than you do!" There can be no argument on that point. I see the top shelf, and that's about it.

Life with someone you love is simply an excuse to make something fun out of looking for the creamer.

Giada De La Hill

Today Chris and I adopted our first puppy :) --- we are so excited! We rescued her at the SPCA and we get to pick her up on Monday.

She is a two month old chocolate lab and is so gorgeous. We named her Giada and we will call her G or Gia for short! We took her and her brothers and sisters into the meeting room and she was the one that came running over to us and did not care about anyone else. We, personally, think she is already super smart - and Chris has definitely already fallen in love with her!

I am so excited and so sad we have to leave her there for a few more days!

SHFP: NeedToBreathe

Yes, it's time for more SHFP.

NeedToBreathe has 3 studio albums: Daylight, The Heat, and The Outsiders.

I had written huge post about why I like these guys so much.  I just deleted it all after watching their YouTube videos.  They don't need me.  Here's 3 of my favorites.  Go buy their freaking cds.

Lay Em Down - "make good on a promise, never hurt again..."



Something Beautiful - "In a day dream I couldn't live like this..."



I am Washed by the Water - "Even when the storm comes..."

Loving Jesus like a kiddo

The past six months have been tough in some ways and in some ways not. Chris and I are growing up together. Chris and I are still living in my parents guest house, also known as the barn, which has presented to us some internal struggles. God has made it evidently clear that this is where we are to live for today. We squirm and wiggle and try to get God to give us a different answer, but He is currently just telling us to wait. On what? I have no idea. We are to wait on God's best for us no matter how impatient, uncomfortable, humbled, or frustrated we get. We are learning how to trust God even when we cannot see past tomorrow. We have everything we need for today and no idea what tomorrow will hold. We have complete peace yet our flesh is trying to run out way ahead of us to get us to make decisions that are unwise and un-anointed.

It is hard to explain our situation to some people because it is hard for some people to understand that we are just waiting on God. It seems illogical to some - sometimes God is totally illogical which is part of why He is so exciting. In the middle of God being illogical to our human way of thinking Chris and I are getting rubbed together and refined to become more like Him.

I read a blog that I found totally by accident on some other blog that I cannot remember. It is about a young 20 something girl who left college to go live in Uganda and take care of orphans. It is real and raw and so GOOD. It is called the Journey and last week Katie wrote this story in her blog and it totally touched my heart. Here is the except:

Every Sunday my family eats lunch at a local restaurant called Yummies (yea, laugh at it for a minute...) This Sunday John was waiting for us when we pulled up after church. He greeted us sweetly but then turned to show me a quarter-sized hole in the back of his foot. All we could really communicate in the little English he knows and the little Swahili I know was that a bottle had cut him. I could not figure out how a bottle made such a large, deep hole. Unfortunately, for severely malnourished children, even the smallest cut can become a gorge due to the body's inability to heal properly. While the big girls got situated inside, the little girls and I trecked off to the nearest pharmacy to pick up some antibiotic ointment, gauze and tape. After washing his foot as best we could with my bottled water, we bandaged him up good. He looked up and said, "I waited for you. I knew you would fix it." We gave John his food and sent him on his way, promising I would come back in the morning to re-bandage and start him on an antibiotic.

Monday morning, he sat waiting in the place I park my van at 7 am. He was not surprised to see me. As I handed him the antibiotic, explaining how to take it. I kind of wanted him to say thank you. But as I looked in his eyes I knew why he hadn't thanked me. Because this was expected. He knew that I was going to bandage his wound and give him medicine because that is what I do. His trust was much better than a thank you. As I washed the gash and covered it with a fresh bandage, he said once again, "I knew you were coming. You bring medicine like you said. You always come." As I took his sweet face into my hands, I whispered to him that Jesus loves Him and that He will ALWAYS show up, always come, always be there to help him.

*****

Several weeks ago, Gwen's son Elijah was looking at pictures of some sweet Ugandan children on her computer. In an effort to teach him to be thankful for all that he has, Gwen explained to him that these children were hungry, sometimes not eating for days, some having no mommy or daddy, some unable to take a bath or drink clean water. Elijah looked up at her with no doubt, "Mom, don't worry, Katie will feed them. Katie will take care of them."

Over and over and over again God reminds me. I see these children's blind faith and I LONG for my faith in the Lord to be so trusting. HE WILL COME. I am waiting for Him. I KNOW that He will come and bandage my wounds and bind up my brokenness. He will always show up, just like He says, bringing the medicine, or whatever else is needed.

I look at these precious children. Hundreds and thousands and Hundreds of thousands of them. Hungry, with no mommy or daddy, some unable to eat or bathe for days, never having clean water to drink, never having adequate medical care when they are hurting. Could my faith be like Elijah's? Could I look at you without a hint of doubt and say, "Don't worry. God will feed them. God will take care of them." HE IS COMING. HE IS COMING to bandage our wounds, to bind up our broken hearts, to take our faces into His hands and whisper I am always here. HE IS COMING and all these children that are hurting and hungry and longing for love are going to be scooped into His everlasting arms and told that they are beautiful. They will no longer be hungry or hurting because they will be filled with His spirit. They are the least of these, they are His heart, and He is coming for them and for us. So we wait like John. We are expectant like Elijah. We will not be put to shame.


For some reason these two stories cut to my heart and reminded me of the blind trust of a child. A child knows when someone is good. A child is not worried about deserving something he or she needs. A child just asks for it and expects it - at least a healthy child does. Jesus so sweetly reminded me that I always need to expect him to be there for me. He reminded me that it is safe for me to depend on him to always be there for me. Jesus can actually take care of all my grown up problems - He just wants me to give them to Him like a child, without restraint. Jesus actually wants to love me when I am struggling about being worthy and valuable or when I am upset that we have no idea what house we want or where we are supposed to live. Jesus cares. He wants it all. Simple. Just like that.

During one my quite times last week Jesus told me to open up to Luke 18. I had no idea what that passage said I just heard in my heart to read it. Here is what it said:

Luke 18

The Story of the Persistent Widow

^1-3Jesus told them a story showing that it was necessary for them to pray consistently and never quit. He said, "There was once a judge in some city who never gave God a thought and cared nothing for people. A widow in that city kept after him: 'My rights are being violated. Protect me!'

^4-5"He never gave her the time of day. But after this went on and on he said to himself, 'I care nothing what God thinks, even less what people think. But because this widow won't quit badgering me, I'd better do something and see that she gets justice—otherwise I'm going to end up beaten black-and-blue by her pounding.'"

^6-8Then the Master said, "Do you hear what that judge, corrupt as he is, is saying? So what makes you think God won't step in and work justice for his chosen people, who continue to cry out for help? Won't he stick up for them? I assure you, he will. He will not drag his feet. But how much of that kind of persistent faith will the Son of Man find on the earth when he returns?"

I needed to hear that last week. God is for us - a million times more than a corrupt judge. It is so hard for me sometimes to view myself as a child of God that Jesus will do absolutely anything for. Sometimes I feel like God does not hear my prayers or understand how hard my situation feels at the moment - BUT HE REALLY DOES. God wants us to persistently pursue Him in every situation - He is so GOOD. He is ALWAYS there.

Did either of those things speak to anyone else?

Proverbs 12:4

"A wife of noble character is her husband's crown."

I have truly obtained favor from the Lord.  I am a blessed man.



Mr. Hill

The beginnings of the LSM, Tailgating, and Middle of the Night Intruders

The Hills were in College Station again this weekend to inaugurate the first Lone Star Marina tailgate in Spence park which was organized by Mr. Josh Meeh .

Now to all of our readers who have absolutely no idea what the Lone Star Marina is please let me explain.

I've gotta little story for you, Ags!

 Once upon an Aggie time there were two houses that each contained five boys where multiple adventures ensued continuously. Chris was a roommate in the Lone Star Verde. The name being inspired by the various shades of green throughout the entire house. The outside accent colors were green, the kitchen was green, the bathrooms were green, everything was green. So the house of boys took on the characteristics of the Verde - adventure happening, girl attracting, domino playing, poker gambling, ever living - ever loving queso making, Sunday afternoon "Cowgirl" watching, college boys' house. There was also another house of equal reputation and fun that was called The Marina. The Marina was named for the ridiculous number of boats that happened to hang around the house - between the boys who lived there and their crazy neighbors there were always several boats around. I also have to mention that the Marina boys could cook Giada De Laurentis and Bobby Flay right about their jobs if they had wanted. Two houses resulting in ten boys plus the several other members of this legendary group that are absolutely essential to the Lone Star Marian group [LSM] - of whom we cannot live without but did not live in either house (or lived in each house at some point. And of course what I call The Coalition of Significant Others [CSO] - the CSO consists of all the girlfriends, fiances, and wives of the Lone Star Marina boys and thus who [most obviously] complete the entire picture. So - add up all those groups of people and you get a post college group of friends who support each other, pray for each other, make fun of each other, and hang out as much as possible.

All that to say this previous weekend we had the "Inagural Aggie LSM Tailgation" as former students where the boys actually got the spot in Spence Park the night before, and we all had to find somewhere to sleep because no one lives in College Station anymore.  The next morning we piled everything we own into a truck and set up shop on campus. During college I always saw the tailgaters and did not necessarily think it was that big of a deal - ya know there are some people who have been tailgating at Aggie games for decades. I had NO IDEA that tailgating was an exact science that you almost need an apprenticeship for. No, seriously. Tailgating requires a lot of planning, group involvement, and lots of electrical creativity. Needless to say we somehow managed to set up shop, play dominoes, grill foods, and play some games - but MAN WAS IT HOT AND MUGGY. Heat and humidity is what really complicates a tailgate and where the real tailgaters are able to show their true expertise. To successfully tailgate in the heat and humidity of September College Station everything from the food to the drinks to the games to the power generation must be planned properly. I must say the LSM needs to improve in all of these areas. Thankfully we possess all the right people in order to accomplish such a task - yet until this weekend I had absolutely no idea that Tailgating is a professional sport in which the right amount of training is absolutely necessary. The old grandmothers of Aggieland definitely need to have a post college "discipleship" class for all the CSO women who have tailgating as a definite part of their future. Gracious it was HOT!

On to another story of this weekend ---- our blogger friends Evan and Julie who are also part of the LSM group shared a funny story on their blog this last week.  Julie shared what happens when the husbands leave the wives alone at night and the women are forced to combat all things scary by themselves with the proper training required for such moments. Last night an event happened in the Hill house hold which definitely related to the Prothros blog, as we had some pretty scary noises wake us up last night. Thankfully, Chris was home and in bed with me, or I would probably still be laying in bed or underneath it paralyzed with fear. After Chris and I had been asleep for several hours a really, really loud noise startled both of us so much that we both sat up straight in bed and went into defensive action before we even knew what had happened. The noise sounded like someone was breaking into the barn with a bulldozer. Chris immediately pulled out his gun and flash light and began the sweep of the upstairs first and then the downstairs. I immediately grabbed the cell phone and opened the door upstairs to see if I could hear or see any intruders outside while I texted my Dad so he could watch from the Big House. Please note that Chris and I have not stopped to even consider that we are awake in the middle of the night - we are adrenaline pumped and totally on the sleepy defensive. Chris is sweating profusely and in navy seal protection mode. We manage to conclude that no one is in the house or is trying to get in the house - relief. But we still have to look outside in the actual barn part of the barn to check on all the equipment and vehicles and make sure no one is hiding in all the thousand places they could hide out there. Chris goes out and makes me lock myself inside the house so that no one can get me while he is out there with some perpetrator by himself. We conclude again that no one is trying to kill us or steal anything - relief again. But we are still pretty riled up - when Dad comes to save the day in his Ralph Lauren pj's while carrying his massive gun and flashlight - no shirt of course. Dad does his sweep - robbers beware you will get shot and mutilated if you come on the property by a designer wearing Daddy - and we both feel much better that we are protected by Dad the navy seal. Chris and I go upstairs and get back in bed hearts still pumping. We have absolutely no idea what that sound was - I think it is some daddy deer trying to attack us - Chris rationally tells me that was not the case. As we lay there attempting to calm down Chris decides he has to take a shower before he can go back to sleep. As he gets into the shower he figure out what the noise was. His shaving mirror - which is made out of metal - had fallen down inside of the shower. The shower in the loudest thing on earth so that even when a bar of soap falls down in sounds like an atomic bomb is going off, so it was no surprise that it sounded like we were getting bulldozed from the outside in when the mirror fell.

So - I am not sure if our mirror intruder beats the Prothros gerbil intruders - but it definitely makes for a good story and an interesting night - not to mention two very tired Hills!

To the people of LSM please feel free to provide more descriptions of the LSM group and its beginnings!

Big Sibling Weekend, etc, etc...

Opening thought:

Man.  I really, really like who we are.  I really like who we Hills are.  I like our marriage, I like our relationships with Jesus, and I like where we are in life.  I'll tell you what though, I think most of all I like how much we want to change.  I like how hard we are working to make our marriage better, I like how we wake up everyday and ask Jesus to change us, and I like how we know that where we are in life today is not where we are called to.

So there's my opening thought.  It comes as I drink a Coke Zero and watch my wife cook.  Man she is hot. I don't care if you don't think I should say that.  She is, and I love the ever-living daylights out of her.  The way she talks trash to her onions as she sautés the crap out of them, the way she dances and sings out of key to the new Gavin Degraw cd thats playing in the background, and the way that she drinks her little Diet Dr. Pepper in her A&M koozie.

Yes, I hope you understand a little bit better the place of sheer marital bliss where my opening thought bubbled out of.


So now, onto our weekend last weekend.  We went to A&M and hung with our awesome sibs.  They are super cool.  We had lots of good laughs.  We went to the Aggie game and watched them Beat The Hell Outta utah state.  We ate at all of our favorite places in College Station (including Blue Baker and Wings & More - I swear they put a drug in that wing sauce.), and went to this AWESOME NEW CHURCH IN CS called Antioch - no really, you should go there...Hilton, 10am.


The weekend was a huge success.  We really love Luke and Tige.  They are two incredibly wonderful friends we happen to be related to.  Makes things fun.

Honestly, my favorite night was Friday.  Mikala (Luke's super sweet girl friend) and Luke made us a dinner that was easily 5 star Italian.  Parmesan and Pancetta stuffed chicken with Luke's roasted red pepper pasta, fried zucchini, homemade yeast rolls, red-velvet cupcakes and mini cheese cakes.

Needless to say, I didn't even know what to do with myself.  I ate so much I nearly died.  It was so good.  It was so fun to hang out with them!  The most fun part of the night came via the game Catch Phrase.

Most of you know how to play the game...if not check out the wiki link.  I have to say that between my little sister and I we were pretty awesome.  The Hill family bond is pretty tight to say the least, and sadly Jess and I were on opposite teams, so "The Unimind" was not in action.

Easily the funniest part of the night came at my expense, but I am willing to bring it up b/c it was so freaking hilarious.  We were playing Catch Phrase.  I must say, I was surprised to see how many totally random people, places, and things they manage to get into that game.  Ted Kennedy, buzz cut, "without a paddle", back hair...the list was totally random and a lot of fun.  That is about where the funny part kicks in.  I was sitting to Jess's right.  She gets handed the game and begins to laugh uncontrollably, all the while attempting get out some words and being pointing in between my shoulders but slightly down my shirt neck..."Chris (lots of laughing) has (lots more laughing) (I being to turn red and feel the awful truth creeping in as to what she is trying to say) this!!!"

Perplexed looks around the group while Jess continues laughing uncontrollably and pointing furiously at my back.  Most of them don't know me that well.  The timer is speeding up.  She's nearly crying at this point she's laughing so hard.  Luke, Tige, and Mikala begin to catch on.  Someone says it, and as the song says, "we just fell about the place."

Yes, you guessed it, she was pointing at my small, insignificant, awful, little patch of back hair.  "Back Hair" was the catch phrase.

I mean really.  What are you going to do if you are me but laugh?  It's freaking hilarious.  Totally embarrassing, but really, really funny.

I guess its laser for me someday...until then I'm just another prop in Catch Phrase; oh, and the timer just ran out.


Mr. Hill


"Take that, onions."
"A good onion never reveals it's appearance."
"I'm ruthless!"
"Food gives up in her presence and bows as the mention of her name."

Blogging Love

I love blogs.

Blogs provide a space for creativity, growing, community, ranting, skill developing, skill bragging, and the list goes on and on.

I love blogs because they never cease to amaze me. I believe sometimes the devil can trick you into believing that if you surround yourself by other peoples thoughts then you will have no thoughts of your own. In some cases that might be true if you are extremely unsure of yourself and other people's atmospheres affect yours therefore preventing you from being stable. Recently I have been so inspired to be more me because other people are being more them. I love reading about other peoples passions - even if I am totally not passionate about them. I love seeing how people are growing and creating because it inspires me to want to pursue excellence.

I totally believe that is how God wants creativity to be. The more creativity is shared the more original people can become. God is the Creator of creation and I truly believe He loves it when His kids are creative. I truly believe God wants to release more and more creativity into His church and I think finally people are starting to earnestly desire it.

John Bevere and Joyce Meyer always say that Christians should be the most excellent in whatever it is that they do. Whether it is teaching or engineering or cooking or designing - it is God's plan that Christians have the most excellent and cutting edge ideas. I love that. Unfortunately that is not always the case because legalistic religion tends to stifle the creative because creativity cannot flourish where there is no love. God wants to brag on his kids by giving us the best ideas, we just have to let Him pour himself into us and let Him change us to look more like Jesus. The great thing about all of us looking like Jesus is that every single one of us will look totally different and be the most excellent at what He has anointed us to do!

I love blogging. I love people. I love Jesus. I love becoming more like Jesus so I look more like me :)

Anger resulting in no blogging

I confess the whole Acorn thing made me really angry last week.

I even wrote a whole blog about it, but I decided not to post it because I do not want to be really angry on the blog. Although, I do enjoy Chris and I's occasional political blogs I do not want to rant and rave unnecessarily - even though that might be the point of some blogs?

I decided that instead of being really angry that America has let Acorn be what it is [ I am sure we can find similar levels of grossness all across different organizations in America ] to instead do some volunteering in inner city Houston. I will also confess that I have not always been the best volunteer in life, and that is probably why Acorn was able to manifest itself all over inner cities across the nation [not that I am solely responsible]. So - I am going to do my part to start helping the poor and needy. We shall see how it goes - I promise to keep ya'll updated!

So - in order to not end all grumpy and what not about the state of America I am going to give a shout out to my friend Julie Prothro and her blog - she posted some great videos this morning! Click here ---- Please take a good long look at all her postings as she has done some great photography!

Much love blogging world :)

Thursday

I love my husband.

He is perfect for me.

Thank you Jesus :)

Meat Eaters.

My wife found this little youtube video...I thought it was freaking hilarious.

My Favorite quotes from the two brits:

"It's an ethical thing, I don't think humans should be treated like that."

"You mean you keep an animal, in captivity, for no reason...that's barbaric.  At least pigs are for sausages."

"There might be a few more polar bears left if anyone wanted one for breakfast."



"I expected you to return the effort."

Mr. Hill

SHFP - "Christo-centric rap electric"

It's time for some more Shameless Hill Family Promotion.

All through college I heard about this guy, Lecrae, and his boys the 116 Clique.  They were those Christian rappers who some of my friends went crazy about.  I had heard a couple of their songs like "Represent, Get Krunk", and honestly I wasn't that impressed.  Admittedly, I hadn't listened to much of the lyrics, but the music and the main "Represent, Get Krunk" mantra had been kind of goofy to me.

Then Rebel by Lacrae came out.  Then it was Identity Crisis by Tedashi.  I was totally hooked.  These guys brought a crazy good beat and the word all at the same time.  It's like listening to a sermon with the subs in my truck.

Below are the lyrics to the latest song by the Flame and Lecrae (a couple of the 116 Clique boys).  This song is easily as good as any rap song playing on the radio right now, and the lyrics are like reading scripture. I freaking love it.


Mr. Hill - Go hard or go home.


Your boy's been a Christian, quite a few years
Victory and faith, but I failed in my fears
I heard a lot of words that have tickled many ears
That's why I praise God for the Word that we adhere
The Word became flesh, lived for thirty years
Died at 33, but after days reappeared
Jesus Christ anointed one ascended in the air
Or you can say the air where the Father made Him heir
Of all things the throne know it's more than a chair
But after our redemption yes He did take a chair
Greater than the angels name superior to theirs
This is Hebrews Chapter 1 if you cared
I'm leaning to the right
The light is where I'm running
I thought I wanted life, drunk, sexed out and blunted
But all I really wanted was the One who really won it
Fought death, beat it gave His life to the public
I love it!


Angels surrounding His throne and
Worthy is the Lamb who was slain
The whole earth is full of His glory
All nations bow to His name
His majesty fills the Heavens
Our hearts give thunderous praise
Declare the Lord is forever
Make a joyful noise in this place


Man I'm trying to lift Him high
Higher than the stars
I am not of this world like I'm from the planet mars
I love to preach Jesus you can read it in my bars
I'm pretty straight forward when I'm speaking bout my Lord
He paid the sin price being beat by Roman guards
But when He resurrected gave us life free of charge
Now me and my boys need to be in the phych ward
Cause we went crazy for God our lives was scarred
Now in the Book of Life, our names have been written down
Find More lyrics at www.sweetslyrics.com
We're casting our crowns before His feet on the ground
It's such a holy melody and a heavenly sound
Hearing holy holy holy coming out of the mouth
Of the four living creatures by His throne all around
Can you picture the scene this this is how it's going down
You just need a little faith and a new set of eyes and a telescopic lens to look in and see God
I love it!


Angels surrounding His throne and
Worthy is the Lamb who was slain
The whole earth is full of His glory
All nations bow to His name
His majesty fills the Heavens
Our hearts give thunderous praise
Declare the Lord is forever
Make a joyful noise in this place


One day we gon' be out man, like three strikes
And home son like a homerun CHRIST
IS – KING – LION – LAMB – GOD – MAN – SIN CONQUEROR – GRAVE CONQUEROR – SATAN CONQUERED
Can take a sinner, atheist sinner to God conscience
Can take nothing
Make creation and lives honor
The same God that came through a fetus as Jesus
Limited to breathing
Got believers singing


Angels surrounding His throne and
Worthy is the Lamb who was slain
The whole earth is full of His glory
All nations bow to His name
His majesty fills the Heavens
Our hearts give thunderous praise
Declare the Lord is forever
Make a joyful noise in this place

Panties a la floor - Funny Marriage Story #2

Chris and I had a fantastic honeymoon. Great food. Great service. Great spa. Great relaxation. Great margaritas. It was AWESOME. But this post is not about the honeymoon it is about a little incident in the airport going home from our honeymoon.

When we left for our honeymoon my suitcase was naturally nearly 100 lbs. Which costs us about $800 million of "overweight" fees, but I mean who really cares when you are leaving for your honeymoon? No one! Did I wear all of the clothes in my suitcase? No, probably about half. If I had to re-pack would I have made it lighter - mmm, probably not! I must say though a year into marriage and I can now pack lighter than 50 lbs!

So - Chris and I arrive at the airport in Puerto Vallarta with all our suitcases fully knowing that we were "overweight" and were going to have to pay another $800 million fee. Chris was not too concerned about it we just chaulked it up to the cost of going on a honeymoon. We walk into the airport - all suntanned and sundressed and glowing from our first week of marriage - we are holding hands and kissing as we approach the check in desk. There is this kid there to check us in.

I have to mention know that there are people EVERYWHERE. It was not some abandoned airport where literally no one can be found, it was the beginning of vacation season and the masses were out!

Chris lifts my suitcase up onto the little scale and the kid's mouth falls open and his eyes almost pop out of his head. He proceeds to tell Chris in Spanish that my suitcase is very "overweight" and it will cost us $800 million is fees. I start pinching Chris's arm. Chris says nothing. Then the kid says he has a solution. For only $20 you can buy this box and pack some of your stuff into it and bypass the $800 million fee. I say N0 - in Spanish. Chris says nothing. The kid repeats himself in English. Chris whips out a $100 bill and says yes we will buy the box. My heart sinks realizing they are going to open my suitcase.

Then it happens.

They whip my suitcase off about ten feet behind us where they have all these tables set up and all these people checking them. It is not like in the states where they have the nice little divider walls. Nope, everything is out in the open for everyone to see. The suitcases are front of the line where everyone is waiting to check in positioned perfectly so they are 2 feet from your open suitcase.

[ literally my heart is beating faster as I am telling this story ]

The lady opens my suitcase and literally ALL of my panties and honeymoon lingerie flies - like it was spring loaded - into the air and then lands on the floor. I do not even go to pick it up. There is this family with 8 children standing before me with eyes wide open as something black and lacy almost hits the youngest one in the head. Instead I start backing up and tell all the little workers - ESTOY MUY ENOJADA. ESTOY MUY ENJODA. I am very angry.

SO - you think that is bad? Chris still has his $100 bill in his hand and the kid still has his mouth wide open. THEN the kid tells Chris that $100 bills do not exist in Mexico and he must go get it verified at the bank in the airport. We literally only have $100 bills. No $5, $10, or $20 - just a bunch of $100's. I give Chris the death stare as I am telling everyone how angry I am in Spanish and the little ladies are kind of hiding behind my suitcase full of panties. Chris swoops down and grabs all my lingerie and panties and throws them back in the suitcase, and then he and the kid go off to get the $100 bill "authorized". I am left standing there infront of 200 people, all of whom have just seen the contents of my newlywed wardrobe fly all over the airport and nearly injure small chilren, and the little airport ladies DO NOT SHUT MY SUITCASE. It is just left open for the entire 20 minutes Chris and the kid are gone to get the $100 bill "authorized".

Needless to say I stood there for 20 mintues brooding and repeating in Spanish ESTOY MUY ENOJADA. At one point as I saw Chris running back and forth across the airport with his $100 bill in his hand and I considered just sprinting and form talckling him right there so maybe everyone would stop staring at my panties.

Poor Chris.

He comes back. Chris AND the kid pack some my panties and lingerie into the box. It is determined that we no longer have to pay a $800 million fee just $20. The kid looks at us proudly like he has just saved the day. I pinch Chris really hard and give him another death stare. We walk away and Chris starts pleading for his life and offers to buy me starbucks.

I decide in a moment I am sure was anointed by God that I would forgive him and it would be ok as long as he bought me Starbucks - I did give him one last pinch though. Thirty mintues later while on the plane we started to kind of laugh about it ... I mean Chris was trying to save us $799,999,980.