mice are for men

i think most of the time
i would consider myself
strong
sometimes. ha
a tomboy at times for sure

but there are times.
a lot of times
were i am just
A GIRL
i am not wanting to do things
certain things are just
"man things"
this weekend i found myself yelling
"i need a man to come over and handle this!!"
then laughing...
then crying..
no joke.


this story is real
this is my life.
this really happened.

it all started when my dear friend amanda came into town to visit
lovely weekend
we we're relaxing on her last night
after a busy busy weekend
and we're watching scary movies on the couch
and we see him

a mouse
gus gus

in my house.
i convince myself no way
he must have just been passing through
but we better get a trap to catch him the next day
just in case he didn't leave
a trap..that should be easy
it was a two pack
but i CERTAINLY won't need the second one

haha right.

trap set.
within 10 min
we hear him.
caught.
gus gus in safe trap

after a little screaming and
me basically making my dear friend
and HOUSE GUEST
take care of him
he's caught
in the cookie tub.
safe ready to be set outside.




















We felt very confident
WE DID IT!!!
we didn't even have to call our dads!!
VICTORY
(insert rocky theme song and victory lap here)

we sit back down on the couch
ready to continue watching our scary movie
then we hear it
1 min after sitting down
what sounds like a DOG in my closet
something got caught in the second trap
and this one...
sounded like it weighed more than me
knocking over everything in my storage closet
i am screaming
almost hyperventilating
"what in the WORLD did we just catch"
i'm ok with just leaving it in there forever
"no need to really see what's in there, let's just keep it there"

haha amanda is WAY more brave than me
she opens the door.
another one.
gus gus's friend
ewwwwwww
this is the point i start screaming
"i can't do this..i'm only a girl.."
i'm half kidding and half DEAD SERIOUS
there it is.
only his tail is the trap
so he's just running around with a trap
on it's tail.
knocking over everything in my closet.
i start crying
i feel horrible
crying.
praying
then laughing at how stupid we're acting.
haha i didn't know what to do

so we did this.
we line the doorway with paint cans
this way we could protect ourselves
by standing on them
and try and get him into another tupperwear container

yeah
let's just say
lots of screaming
lots of crying
(on my end)
lots of "Lord why am i single i can't catch a mouse!!"
hahah truly comical
one point i couldn't breath from laughing and screaming so much.

the ways we tried to catch this thing
lots of jiffy reduce fat peanut butter was used
tupperware taped to the end of a paintbrush roller
tape
haha lots of failed attempts
1 hr of our lives gone forever
but we got him.
still alive
set free outside
and only a few things in my house broken.
haha

this shelf fell off the wall
i need a new broom
and some new tupperware
oh and a new remote control

i'm very big on being strong
and trying your hardest to figure things out
but
spiders
mice
snakes

those are for the boys
and i get to be the damsel in distress

Roy

so it's been a crazy football season
and no i'm not talking NFL
and i'm definitely not talking about OSU's season
we're not talking about their "rebuilding" year
haha

i'm talking about my brothers senior high school season.
senior
so i've driven home 3 times in the past 6 weeks
that's 6 hrs each way
for a total of 36 hrs in the car
alone.
so even though i love all 3500 of my songs on my ipod
sometimes
i need something more

i was given something more
a few months back.
a farewell talk
from a YL leader
named Bill Goans

i love listening to it
it's a great way to fill 45 min of this very long drive
i laugh during his talk
i always cry when he talks about his wife
always
sap i know.
and always get motivated when he talks about faith
being an action
a PERSISTENT action
not just something you read
something you do.
anyways i'm like YEAH GOD I HEAR YA
i'm moving
i'm doing it

sooo after bill is done talking
i wipe up my mascara
get out of my car
and start pumping my gas
thinking
Yes I love YL I love that it challanges me..
love it.

my thought is quickly interrupted
interrupted by a man

man: "excuse me miss....."
me:"uh huh?"
man:" my car broke down....i need to get to ohio to see my dad....lima ohio"
me: "you're from ohio, I'm from lima? what part?"
man:"uh he's there for work...but i need to get there to see him uh..."
me: zoning out... thinking to myself "you have GOT to be kidding this story isn't even consistent!!
man:"so anyways do you have any money to help me?"
me: at this point I don't know if he needs money to fix his car or if he needs money to help his father, but i look down and i am playing with my cross.

around my neck.

as i'm judging this man.

i'm playing with my cross necklace
and thinking of the bill goans speech.

i . just. heard.

no irony what so ever.

i just freeze.
get those goosebumps that i like to call
the holy spirit
and just freeze.

me:"sure. let me get my wallet."
now I KNOW this story is fake.
i know this.
i'm a college graduate.
but as i'm walking to my purse im thinking...this man
needs an action.

i give him some money

me: "what is your name?"
man: "roy ma'am, what is your name?" he grabs my hand to shake it
me: stunned that he asked my name. i don't know why "I'm lindsay roy, i hope you find your way to lima"
man "thank you so much"

i go into the gas station to get some subway
(my favorite road food)
and just think.

why did that action take so much work?
why was i judging him?
why was i doubting him?
why was it sooo hard to just love him and say "ok"

i am roy everyday.
everyday i make up a story
and maybe when i make up the story "yes God I will not do that again..."
maybe everytime i INTEND on doing the right thing
but i mess up
and yet everytime
EVERYTIME
God gives me another chance
gives me that $5
but his $5 is soo much more

what if all roy needed is someone to look him in the eye
shake his hand
believe that this time
he's going to take that money
take that "chance"
that forgiveness
and do something with it
and maybe he didn't that time
maybe when i left the gas station he went and bought drugs
i don't know.
but maybe
he decided to believe in God
because he saw an action

i'm not saying i'm jesus
at all.
but i'm saying ...we all are roy
we all need chance after chance to change
forgiveness
a chance
to not be judged
someone to smile at us and say
this is the time..the time to change it up roy
we all are shown grace daily
we all take that grace
but how many times do we actually show it
we need to do action more
i need to do action more.

as i get back in my car
with my flat bread sub
i drive away
and wave to roy
just sitting in his truck
and he just waves and smiles

maybe that was the day.
it all changed for roy
maybe it wasn't
but i know it was a great reminder
that faith means moving
and not just a spoken word
an action.

smiling a lot lately

i don't know where to start
my heart is so happy
i've just laughed so hard
this past month
just laughed
a lot.

and if you really are having a good time.
i think it's important to just say
life is going well right at this moment.

so here is a list
of some things
that really have been making me smile
making my heart happy.


first off.
my brother.
let's start with him.
he's growing up into this amazing young lad.
i can't explain how proud i am of him.
truly.
he's a senior at Shawnee
everytime I go home to see him play football
and i know it embarrasses him
but i cry.
he's just
growing up to be a good man
and i'm proud.

then there are the BA friends.
seriously they made me laugh SO much this weekend at Sharptop.
they teach me how to not stress
how to laugh through life
that being honest is important
they show me to love big and
they're just pretty awesome
except when they FORCE me to eat too many cookies
and i feel sick :)

always my family.
no matter what
they just always seem to be there
dylan and gabe
seriously everytime i hold them
i think "there is no way i could love them any more than this moment"
then somehow
as they get older
i fall in love more.
and my parents and hil and stu
who would i be with out them?

 and then this group
this group right here
no matter how long we go
between girls night
because life is kicking all of our butts
this group
truly a gift from God
a true smile on my face
love them

that's it
i just don't know what else to say
except that i'm happy
and sometimes
we don't need to find anything to be worried or
overthink
sometimes we just need to say
Thank You Lord
I had a great day