In a Tizzy!

THIS has me all in a tizzy today.

I think it's high time we as Christians stomped our collective feet and said, "ENOUGH."

It's time the few who don't Believe stop directing what the MANY who DO Believe can do.

Our forefathers did not intend for Separation of Church and State to shelter the states from religion. Rather, it was intended to protect religion from heavy-handed state government. To protect the right to free speech.

It's high time we stood up as Christians and make people realize that free speech doesn't just apply to everyone else -- it applies to us as well.

And it's high time that people in authority positions step back and let the young people of this country express their love of Jesus Christ. This up-and-coming generation has a fire. They love Jesus, and they want everyone to know about it. Don't get in their way. Don't bow in fear of what others will do. Stand up. Take pride in your beliefs. Support these kids.

If you'd like to write a letter in support of the cheerleaders of Lakeview-Fort Oglethorp High School, you can direct it to:

Denia Reese, Superintendent
Catoosa County Schools
P.O. Box 130
Ringgold, GA 30736

Facebook Would Have Done My Momma In....

She would NOT have been able to handle the grammar and spelling errors.

Poker Night!

Come join us for
Poker Night

In honor of the
BOOBIES!

Be a part in finding a cure for breast cancer by joining us in a
Texas Hold’em Tournament

A portion of your $100 buy-in will be donated to Team Tiara,
Who will be participating in the
Breast Cancer 3-Day benefiting Susan G. Komen for the Cure

Saturday, October 24, 2009
Check in will be from 6:30 – 7:30
Tournament begins at 7:30

The Biggs’ House
15802 Applerock Trail
Cypress, TX 77433

Hosted by The Tiara Girls

Friends are welcome! Please respond ASAP
D’Lyn Biggs 281-883-8642

The remaining buy-in will go towards the 1st, 2nd 3rd and 4th place pots
1st place – 50% 2nd place – 25%
3rd place – 15% 4th place – 10%

Set-ups and snacks will be provided
B.Y.O.B.
Beer will be available for donations!

If you are unable to attend, but would like to donate to the cause,
please visit our website
www.the3day.org/goto/tiaras
Just click on the walker that you would like to donate to!
Thanks for all of your support!

The Worth of a Man

Pete came into my life at a crazy time.

My parents were in the process of getting divorced.

When you've pretty much worshiped the ground your Daddy walked on all your life, and then watched him knocked off that pretty pedestal you put him on, it pretty well leaves you reeling. I was in shock.

Biggsy and I had only been dating a month or so when my world got rocked. Poor Biggsy was already in too deep. He was stuck. His hard-and-fast rule about not dating girls with baggage flew out the window.

What I didn't realize up front that I was getting a package deal. Not just this great boyfriend, but a family that went along with him. A family that would offer me the stability I wasn't getting at home.

They took me in, and there is no way I can tell you just what that meant at that time -- and in every moment since.

It wasn't that Pete replaced my Dad. Not at all. He's been more like a bonus than anything else.

The quiet strength of this man makes it easy to see how Biggsy grew to be the man he is.

We've had our moments.... Like when he realized the Creek house was going to be painted anything but white if I was doing the painting. Or this summer when we both were terrified that Abbie was about to be run down by another boat in the middle of the Creek -- with our boat paralyzed by the tow cable wrapped around the prop.

For the last 13 years, Pete and Jacquie have quietly, assuredly filled a space in my life that needed to be filled.

Tomorrow morning Pete will have one of those angio things done. The kind that involves the heart and arteries and stints. I'm asking you to pray big prayers for this to be successful.

We need this man in our lives for a long time to come.

Cape, Anyone??

Hi Ya'll,
I'm posting this over here because it's quick & easy. For those of you who are walking in the 3-Day, it's a guide for how to make a handy cape to wear. For those of you not walking in the 3-Day, just consider it a guide for making a cape for your kids. Or yourself. You could wear it to the grocery store.

Tonight I made two capes in just under an hour. Easy-breezy. The first was made with pink broadcloth that sells for $1.99 a yard at Hobby Lobby. Talk about cheap entertainment.

I cut the fabric to 36" x 25". My main goal is to leave my legs showing -- they are my greatest asset, you know! I think this would be a bit better wider -- closer to 36" x 30".

Because this is a costume of sorts, and my Momma is in Heaven, and Mrs. Lewis hasn't critiqued my sewing since my 4-H days, this really is kinda slapped together. But it works.

I used the selvage on this one for the bottom hem. That way I didn't have to hem it. On the sides, I pressed it under 1/4" and then again another 1/4", so the raw edges would be hidden. I stitched that close to the inside fold.


At this point, I have to tell you my hip new sewing machine is as much a fabric snob as I am. It did not like the broadcloth. AT ALL.

Once the sides were sewn, I made a casing on the top for the elastic. I pressed the top edge under 1/4". Then, I folded it down about 3/4", and pressed it again. I stitched that close to the inside edge. No, I didn't pin it or measure it. But if you're new to this sewing thing, you probably want to do both of those.

The key is to have a casing wide enough to thread your elastic through.

You'll want to cut a 12" piece of elastic for the top. I used 1/4" wide elastic. You put a safety pin on one end and start threading it through your casing. One the other end reaches the end of your casing, stitch it in place. Then, keep pushing your safety pin through. The fabric will begin to gather along your elastic.

Once you get the safety pin end of the elastic to the other end of the casing, stitch in place there, too.

Voila!

You have a cape!

To pin the cape on, I tied some polka dot ribbon around two safety pins -- on the side that doesn't open. Then, I pinned the cape to the shoulders of my T-shirt.


I also made a cape out of this shinier fabric. It's kind of a brushed velvety fabric. I'm not sure what it's called other than "That stuff Mom used to make our bridesmaids' outfits for A'Lise's wedding. You know, that crawly stuff."

This stuff is $5.99 a yard at Hobby Lobby. It's a bit more, but it's all shiny and pretty. AND you can make two capes out of one yard of fabric. On this one, I cut the fabric to about 30.5" x 37.5". My snobbish machine really liked this stuff better.

One caveat: This cape is heavier than the other one, and pulled on my shirt a bit. I think it would probably be warmer than the other one -- something that would annoy me on mile 15 if it was really hot outside. I did make it bigger, so that's part of it. I need to cut it off a bit. It doesn't show my legs enough. Did I mention it's shiny??

So that's the scoop on the capes. If you want a cape for the 3-Day, it's really a simple project. I'm thinking anyone with a machine and a year of Home Ec could figure it out. If you don't sew, you can probably find someone who can -- it's seriously a 30-minute project.

Good luck!

Tiara Wear is now Available!!!

*** I'm bumping this post up to today.... If you want to order Tiara Wear, we need your order by this Thursday, October 1.

Okay....
We're getting ready to order our 2009 Tiara Wear. I'm so excited! You don't have to be a member of Team Tiara -- we welcome all of you to help spread the word about who we are and what we do!!!

We're still in the editing phase on a couple of these designs, but in the interest of time, I'm going to go ahead and share them with you!


Team Tiara 2009 T-Shirts & Hoodies

1. The Team Tiara Pink Camo Hoodie - $35
http://www.broderbros.com/ Style #3969, Pink Camo Hoodie. Cheri Font, Black Print
Front Left will have our team logo:

Back will say - "Just give me a cape and a shiny tiara, and I'll find a cure for breast cancer."

Available in S, M, L, XL, 2XL. These run fairly large. The Medium is about a 6/8/10.

2. The Team Tiara Hot Pink T-Shirt - $15
100% cotton preshrunk t-shirt. NOT a woman’s fit t-shirt. Black Print, Boink Font
Available in S, M, L, XL, 2XL, 3XL, 4XL, 5XL
Front – Large Team Logo

Back (With some editing):

3. The Team Tiara Black T-Shirt - $15
Print Color - pink on front; white on back.
Front – Tiara in Training (with a tiara pic)
Back – Team Tiara is Walking 60 Miles in the Breast Cancer 3-Day
Ask me how you can donate or join our team.

Here is a picture of last year's shirt. This year we're leaving off the dates and the location to make it more flexible.

All prices include tax and shipping. Orders must be pre-paid and are due October 1.

All profits will be donated to the Breast Cancer 3-Day in honor of our team member Cheri Wooley. Cheri's breast cancer has returned after 12 years in remission.

If you'd like to order a shirt or two or three, just shoot me an email to dlynbiggs (at) yahoo (dot) com and I'll send you an order form. Thanks for your support!

I Haven't Run Away....

I promise. I've just been burning the midnight oil at www.teamtiara.net . More like the midnight, 1:00 a.m., 2:00 a.m. kind of oil.

Rockstar Fundraising!

Wow! This is Rockstar Fundraising at its best! This guitar was autographed by ALL the members of AC/DC! $20 per raffle ticket. Email Tanya at tanyaandallie (at) yahoo (dot) com and she will give you details on payment. If you win, this beautiful guitar signed by the entire band is yours. ... All proceeds from the sale are going to Team Tiara and the Breast Cancer 3-Day benefitting Susan G. Komen For the Cure!!

It amazes me....

How many people will let their children go to a slumber party at the home of someone they have never even met.

What's up with that??

What a Day. Really.

Oh my goodness. I need a beer. And I don't even drink beer. But....

Went to get "established" with a new GP this morning. I wanted in her club before I got sick. It's just so hard to get a quick appointment when you're sick and a new patient. Well, it's a good thing. She said she's seeing 10 -- yes, TEN! -- cases of swine flu a day. And I'm one of those crazy people who choose to spend time at an elementary school on a regular basis. I'm doomed.

Let's see.... What else?

Team Tiara has been contacted by a lift truck manufacturer / dealer that many of us hold near and dear about painting a forklift pink and auctioning it off to raise money for the CURE. You'd think this would be a relatively easy thing to do. Nope. After a bajillion phone calls to a lot of people I know and a lot of people I don't, I got the best advice possible. Paint it a color pink that's as close to it as you can get -- and you'll be close enough. As for adding the Komen logo? Don't even get me started.... If you're in the market for a pink forklift, hang in there with me a couple of weeks and I'll see what I can do to help you with that.

This really is a Cool Deal, and I can't wait to get the details out to you.

THEN.... We've also been contacted about auctioning off a Precious yellow lab puppy. Champion bloodlines. Registered. I should have details on that in the next couple of days. We'll have a set of criteria that you will have to meet before you can bid (house with yard, etc.), and the original owner will have to approve of who wins.

THEN..... Tanya Thome, ROCKSTAR Fundraiser, has acquired a guitar signed by All the guys in AC/DC. She's raffling that off for $20 a ticket. If you'd like in on that, you should definitely let me know.

FINALLY.... We've had to change one of our designs on the Tiara Wear. I know. Crazy stuff happens to me that just really doesn't happen to other people. It seems that one of the slogans we were going to use is copywrited or trademarked or something like that. So we've come up with something else that suits us much, much better and are doing that instead. I've updated that blog entry from last night if you want to check on that.

I do have to say, this is the first time I've ever been in that particular brand of hot water. And I'm glad that the woman who contacted me was really, really nice about it. Bless her heart. It couldn't have been easy to send me that email. But she was required to. I'm so glad it wasn't one of those "Big Mean Turd" emails. I think that today of all days, that would have put me over the top.

WHEW.

But Wait.

I know I said FINALLY..... But I have another one.....

FINALLY (For real).... All the stress and jumping through hoops and all that jazz trying to raise funds for breast cancer by bringing in companies instead of just friends and family has opened my eyes to a real need that's out there. Something I have a real heart for. Something I'm really good at. Would you please be in prayer that God will help guide me in what to do with this realization? I think there's really a way I could something with it. I just need to figure out what that is.

thanks.

Happy Birthday, Kait!

I think 7 is going to be your lucky year!

Love,

Mommy

I Have a Dream.....

So I have this dream. I know that anyone who follows me on Facebook, or the 4 people who read this blog, are probably thinking, "Enough Already!" about the 3-Day. Only 54 more days, my friends. Fifty-four more days.

But I've come to the realization in the last few weeks that while I have always done the walk for my Mom, in her honor and then in her memory, no one who is walking with me really knew her.

On this team of 45, I think Anthony Patton is the only one who even knew her at all. Last year, I got to share this experience with Michelle. It rocked. But this year, we're running short on team members who realize from first-hand experience how much our family, our community, our lives have missed out on since she's been gone.

So I have this dream. I think it would be so amazing to share this experience with a whole bunch of people who loved my Momma -- warts and all. A whole bunch of people who would remember that you couldn't eat dinner without her eating off your plate. That would remember that she could brag about her grandkids with the best of them.

I've shared that dream the last couple of weeks.

And then Saturday I received a letter from a friend of Mom's. Mom and Keitha grew up together in Old Fluvanna and were thick as thieves. Keitha thought of Mom as more a sister than a friend.

Keitha has been diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of uterine cancer. Things are looking better than they were, but this cancer stuff is such a very scary thing. Please pray for her.

Cancer Sucks. And that's all I have to say about that.

Where Is Your Comfort Zone??

"It's not in my comfort zone."

When you talk about the 3-Day as much as I do, for as long as I have, that's something you hear a lot -- or at least versions of it.

It wasn't always in my comfort zone, either.

Neither was sharing my faith. But a few years ago, a dear friend offered us an analogy at a Bible Study I went to. She had just bought this lipstick that she absolutely loved, and she'd been telling everyone about it. No one was immune from her enthusiasm -- not even the checker in the grocery store.

After a couple of days of this, she began to realize that she was going on and on and on about LIPSTICK. While she absolutely LOVED that lipstick, she loved Jesus much, much more. But she didn't share Him with everyone she met.

What is it that you're passionate about? What do you share?

For me, finding a CURE for breast cancer is one of my passions, and yes, that makes the fundraising end of the picture much easier. Having lost my Mom at 61. YES! 61!!!!.... I'd do anything to keep anyone from going through what we did.

You see, my friends, fundraising may be outside your comfort zone, but it's far more comfortable than the realities of breast cancer. It's far better than getting a letter from your Mom's best friend who regrets to tell you she has advanced uterine cancer -- that her name must now be added to the list of those you walk for. It's far better than finding out a dear friend's chemo isn't working, so now the oncologist is prescribing the "red" chemo, which is the worst out there. It's far better than losing a friend who's 40 years old -- and who leaves behind two little girls.

If you're not walking with me in the 3-Day just because it's outside your comfort zone, please understand I still love you. But I'm going to be blunt with you. Cleaning toilets is outside my comfort zone. Dealing with a child who is throwing up is outside my comfort zone. Walking 60 miles is outside my comfort zone. I dare you to live a day, a week, a month without doing something that's outside your comfort zone.

I know that out of the four people who read this blog, there are probably at least one or two who simply can't do the 3-Day for whatever reason. But I know there are probably one or two who are hesitant because it isn't in their comfort zones.

If you want to step out of your comfort zone and come walk with us, there's plenty of time. But you need to get moving pretty quickly. The first step is the hardest. Once you make that step, it's just the short rows from there on out.

That pretty much goes for sharing your faith, too.

We Will Never Forget

All Abuzz......

If you're a parent of a school-age child, you know this big brouha this week has been Obama's address to schoolchildren. Scheduled for Tuesday, the plan is for Obama to offer a "pep talk" to America's students, encouraging them to stay in school.

Being the oh-so-Republican that I am (If you were around here a year ago, that would be perfectly clear to you.), I pretty much don't agree with pretty much anything Obama has to say. Don't even get me started on the Health Care issue.

Biggsy and I talked about this. For each of us, our initial reaction was "no." Well, mine was more like "Heck, no." I don't like the idea of Obama talking to my kids. At all.

But.

As vocal as I was prior to the election last year, we've stressed a couple of things around our house. For one, we stress that God calls us to respect our leaders, and to pray for them. Obama included. And while we may gripe and grimace at what he plans for us, and while I personally think we're going to spend the rest of our lives trying to un-do what the democrats are doing right now, I still owe him respect as our country's leader.

We also stress the value of education to our kids. Very, very rarely are they pulled out of school early. If the doors are open, our kids are there. And while I joked about pulling them out to get a flu shot on Tuesday, they would have been there. Obama or not.

I had a plan.

I had planned to print out the list of questions off the Internet. I planned to go over those with the girls, prepping them for ways we can help our President. I wanted to put the idea of prayer in their heads before anything else was suggested -- that is first and foremost. I planned to watch the address myself on my computer at home and to go over anything I thought was needed when the girls got home.

My plan isn't needed. And I'm a bit sad about that. Our school has chosen not to show the address. I'm not sure why -- no reason was given. I know that financial reasons are key to why some schools are not showing the address -- for every child that's pulled out of school for the day, the district loses $35. I know some schools were inundated with calls and emails -- and with this being a "red" neighborhood in a "red" state, I'm sure ours was no exception.

I'm sure scheduling was an issue as well. I've had a difficult time understanding why this address was planned for during lunch. Anyone who has ever spent time around schools knows that it takes a lot of coordination to feed 1000 kids. Why this address wasn't scheduled for first thing in the morning is beyond me.

I'm sad that we've got a President that doesn't instill confidence across the party lines. A president that people don't trust. A President that people are afraid -- I mean all out afraid -- to have talk to their children. I'm sad that we don't have a President that the people across the board can look up to -- a Reaganesque President who everyone loves no matter which side of the political aisle they stand on. If this had been George Bush, we would have been all over it. And I don't think this objection is because it's a Democrat. If it had been Clinton, you wouldn't have had 90% of Facebook threatening to pull their kids out of school. Clinton wasn't seen as dangerous -- unless you had a daughter aged 18-20 working in the White House.

When you send your kids to school, you don't have a say in what they are taught. It's impossible for you to control everything that comes across their desks. All the authors, speakers, textbooks, etc. I wasn't worried about Obama indoctrinating my kids. Our children are far more influenced by their teachers. Their parents. What they see on TV.

I wish parents would get as fired up about what our kids are taught as far as evolution vs. creationism goes. Or whether God is allowed in our schools. But no, they only get fired up about the "gall" of our President giving our students a pep talk.

Like I said, I wasn't worried about "indoctrination." My kids are smart, and I give them more credit than that. And as far as I was concerned, a lesson in critical thinking wouldn't be such a bad thing to have. I don't want my kids to be sheep. I want them to learn to listen to what an authority figure says and to decide what they think about it. I want to be in their lives to help guide that thought. But if I shelter them and keep them away from everything, how will they ever learn to think things through and form opinions?

Needing to Go DEAP

I've been struggling with something lately, and I'm not sure about it at all.

When we left Dallas, we left an incredible church family. We left a place that we absolutely loved. People we loved. If you've never been to The Branch in Farmers Branch or Vista Ridge, you should definitely check it out sometime.

When we were at The Branch, Biggsy and I both went through HUGE growth spurts on the spiritual plane. We led a small group Bible Study and were members of another one. I was on on Praise Team. The girls talked about Jesus like he lived down the street. In short, we were all building intimate relationships with God. And it was great.

And then we went through some icky stuff, and moved here, and went through even more icky stuff, and bounced around between a few different churches, and finally landed at one here in our neighborhood.

It's a Baptist church, and although we aren't "Baptists," we've been trying it on for size, I guess you could say. We were both raised in the Church of Christ, but we don't really fit that general description anymore either. A few years at The Branch will do that to you.

Lately, I've really been missing The Branch. Homesick and sad -- that's me. And it's hard to explain just what I miss because I can't really pin it all down. But I can tell you The Branch has Acapella services like nobody's business. Four-part harmony like you wouldn't believe. Even if it's not all that harmonious and slightly off-key, I'll take four-part harmony over a set of drums any day.

I miss the people. The sheer joy that would cross their faces when they would see me. (Yes, me. It's my blog. So yes, this is all about me.) The hugs. I had church friends who knew ME. I like hugs, but none of the churches we've been too down here have been very "huggy." And this isn't just a D'Lyn thing. I've watched how everyone is with everyone else. Is being huggy just a Dallas thing???

A couple of weeks ago, things around our house were in a stew. We were both miserable. Completely unhappy with one another. (I know it's hard to believe -- but we are human!) We never should have gone to church. But we did. And we put on that "church face" that we all talk about. You know, the one where you say, "I'm fine." "I'm good." Whatever. One Friend noticed. As I stood in the service and cried through all the songs -- even the ones I love -- I felt so miserable. And so very alone.

I miss having communion. Sometimes I think it can be easy for communion to become kind of just something you "do." But miss it on a regular basis for over two years, and it becomes something else. You realize the connection it gave you. You realize that you're really missing something. You realize how much you need it weekly.

The Branch did Big Time in a big way. They don't do it anymore, so even if we were there we wouldn't get to do that. But they do something just as great now. I miss going to Big Time with all our friends. And watching my kids "do" Big Time. And dude... I miss Coach's much-anticipated talks.

I miss listening to Chris preach. Chris just has this way of commanding your attention -- something that's pretty important when you're ADD like me. Every one of his lessons was interesting -- entire series where I learned more Bible than ever before. We're the same age, Chris and I (and I'm not telling what that is), but I always felt like I had so much to learn from him. I realized from very early on that here was a man who God was using to reach people in a very powerful way.

I miss being part of a missional church. Where serving people in your backyard is of utmost importance -- where being "Jesus with Skin On" is the top priority. A church where the Elders and Staff realized the need for help after Katrina -- not just in New Orleans but in our own backyard. The times when we were encouraged and empowered to give that help -- while growing in spirtual maturity in the process.

We had these great family meals before Small Group each week, and we'd take time to really be in each other's lives. The maturity (not age!) the Joneses, Anders, Goodwins and Sullengers brought to our small groups was invaluable.

The Branch has ease and in-formality. I miss the donuts. Singing music arranged by my friend Robin. Being around so many people who were so all-out on-fire for Jesus that they just couldn't quit talking about it. People who lived out the whole "hands and feet" thing at every opportunity. I couldn't stop talking about The Branch and inviting people to join us there.

Hug and Howdy time was my favorite. No one does that down here. Is that a Dallas thing, too?? Sure.... Everyone greets one another. But it seems to be more of a surface level kind of thing. Very seldom does anyone exchange names. What's up with that??

With all that's different, it's the prayer life I ache for the most. When Abbie was in Kindergarten, rest time was called DEAR time -- Drop Everything And Read. When we were at The Branch, it was more of a DEAP time -- Drop Everything and Pray. It seems to me that that intimate relationship with God and with each other was based on that foundation of prayer. Not just something you did at certain times during the service. Sure, that was in there as well. But people praying independently out in the lobby or the hallways. Wherever there was a need. Whenever there was a need.

It could be that every single church we've been to since we've been here has all of this -- and I'm not seeing it. But it's been two years since I've been in a place where I've personally experienced this "package deal" and I'm just missing it.

Biggsy told me tonight that it was time for me to move on. He's right. I know. The Branch has changed. I have changed. If we freakishly moved back to Dallas tomorrow, it would be a completely different experience. I get that.

But I'm still struggling.

Check Your Chi-Chi's!

It's September 1!!!

Not only is this Opening Day of Dove Season -- a National Holiday as far as the Biggs Bunch is concerned, it's also time for your monthly reminder to....

Check your chi-chi's!
Knead your knockers!
Squeeze your oranges!

Remember, YOU are the first line of defense against breast cancer!!!