Slight Train Wreck

Pictured above is an excellent portrayal of what occurred last night due to my error in communication. A sweet lady in my church lost her husband about 3 weeks ago. Last night I decided to go visit with her for a bit. The plan was to go there and visit then head back to the office to work on school. This plan was discussed with my friend P who makes sure I stay safe. I generally always try to let someone know where I am at all times or at least the general plan of what I'll be doing.

Well, the visit turned out a bit longer than anticipated. I got to hear this sweet ladies heart... She spoke of the first time she met her dear husband up until the very last breath he took while laying in their living room. We discussed life and all that it entails. More than anything I got to hear what she calls her "Journey" in life. Which is a phrase I have often used myself for life. It is a continual journey. This particular sweet lady has had several other deaths in her family over the past few months. Under normal circumstances she herself should be a train wreck. While there were tears shed in our chatting last night she never lost the joy in her eyes. Her hope is set on things far above that of this earth. It was refreshing to sit with her.

What I did not know was the train wreck I was causing. I left my cell phone in the car. My friend P who always makes sure I'm safe had no clue if I was safe or not. Typically I get back to there house around 11pm where I am staying until my house is complete. The phone rang at 12:20 at this sweet ladies house and it was the husband of my dear friend. He was home with kiddos while my friend was out looking for me. They had also called another couple to see if they knew where I was. That couple was out searching for me as well. Train wreck!

I got home around 12:40. Went straight to bed still unaware of the complete train wreck. This morning I apologized to my friend for causing her to panic. She had a less than favorable face to make at me and had less than favorable words to share. She was scared to death that I was not safe. I felt awful.

Then my other friends who had been out looking for me as well called to make sure my dear friend did not kill me as she had insisted she was going to do last night when I got home.

I hate that I caused so much chaos but I have thanked God all day for being reminded last night just how much I am loved by people in my life. My safety would have been of no concern if there was no love involved. To my family who wonders if I am being taken care of out in TN. Rest assured I am being watched after.

Moral of the story... Communication is the key.

2nd moral of the story... Age does not remove curfews! :)

3rd moral of the story... Next time I go visit the sweet lady from church

just take pajamas and spend the night!

Happy Anniversary Brother & Sis in law

Six years ago to this day my big brother had a pretty exciting day. This is the day Sara Blanscet agreed to hang out with him for the rest of his life. They got married down in Aggieland at All Faith's Chapel on campus. It was of course a fun filled day. I have five major memories from that day.

5. Trying to find an easel to put a ginormo picture of them at the sign in table for the reception.

4. Helping soon to be sister in law get the dress to the Chapel in my mom's suburban.

3. Soon to be sister in law having a stomach situation (she knows what I'm talkin' about)

2. Waking up the next morning in our single wide trailer where my sister in law and I were living that semester not being able to walk through the house from all their wedding junk! They trashed the house with their stuff then left town! Punks!!

1. The best moment I remember though was when my brother saw Sara beginning to walk down the aisle. The look on his face is one I will never forget. It was a look that I only hope my groom will have for me one day. It was a look of awe that the woman walking down that aisle was soon to be his wife. Beau is not a natural smile for a picture kind of guy but I remember that day I didn't have to poke him at all to get a good picture. He had joy on his face that day. Then the moment Sara started walking towards him that joy became amazing to watch. I am thankful I got to take part in that special day 6 years ago.

Love you both dearly!

Happy Anniversary

True Story

I'm sure to someone somewhere in this world a raccoon is just so cute and cuddly. They look similar to a cat with the hair and long tail. However, when I think of raccoon I picture more of what is found in the next picture!

Let me share a brief story why...

No really, it has to be brief because I have school to be working.

Friday afternoon we had a group check into camp. We fixed them dinner but most of their group showed up around 8pm and not 5:30 as they had planned. Supper was a little late. I got back to the office about 9 and worked on a few things. About 10-11 I worked on school work. Then at 11 one of my summer missionaries from last year called. We chatted close to an hour.

So, it's 12 o'clock. I'm a little tired since I've been at work since 9am. I go out to my car. Something seems to be moving in my back seat perhaps a gust of wind has blown through (not sure how b/c the windows were up). As I am opening the door I look back into the back seat to see a shadow movie. Then the shadow is JUMPING TOWARDS ME! I am almost certain it looked just like the picture above! (Okay maybe that's a little dramatic). I jump out of the way as what appears to be a raccoon comes jumping out of my own car at me! Paralyzed I just stood there. Too shocked to scream or cry. My heart was going 90 to nothing. I had almost been mauled by a coon.

Moral of the story...

Always close the sunroof on your car...

Recent drive

Since my nephew was little I have called him Booger Butt. Sometimes it comes out as Booger Roo. I use to love saying that to him on the phone when he was with my mom. I could hear him put the phone down and laughingly say, "Nana, she called me booger butt." He and Nana would laugh about it and then he could carry on the conversation with me. Now, he knows exactly who he's talking to when I say, "Hey Booger butt whatcha doin'?" Yes, perhaps it's not the prettiest name but it makes him giggle. Which makes me smile.

On the drive home from church this past Wednesday I was on the phone with Ty. The conversation started as all do with him by calling him Booger Butt. I was riding with my dear friend and her 4 kiddos. They are great. However, using the word butt is not appropriate for their ears. As a whole I do try to stick with that but I didn't think much about it because it's what I always call my nephew. When I got off the phone they began to ask why I called him that so I explained it to them. Then one of their kiddos begins to tell me about a floor matt they saw in a magazine the other day. She thought I would have liked it. Her mom, my dear friend rolled her eyes because she knew what matt she was talking about. I asked what it said... Then I almost fell out of my seat in the car from laughter. Below you will find what the matt said. Now that's just funny to me!

A couple of pics

Just thought I'd throw in a couple of pictures from this week.

No, I do not know how to sew on my own. With the help of my dear friend though it goes alright when I sit down at a sewing machine. My dear friend decided that she'd like to try quilting. Then she ran across an organization collecting quilts to give to homeless children. For those who are like me and are quilting ignorant here's a brief explanation. Each of the four matching squares is a block. We asked ladies in our church to help make the blocks. Then once we received those my dear friend penned them together while I sewed them together. Next step is to actually turn it into a quilt. I will be there for moral support and a fountain Pepsi to offer my utmost support but that part will be done by the one who actually knows how to sew!

I've sewed a few times only at the table with my dear friend near by to offer help. More times than not I get a little... Okay, that's a lie. I get ALOT frustrated when I sew. My biggest issue was running the dang sewing machine. For the life of me I couldn't figure out how to get that little string to make lines. This time around i really wanted to figure this out. I asked my dear friend to sit down and show me once more how to thread the machine. In .5 seconds she does it and says, "that's all you do." I looked back at her and explained that she might have well just done brain surgery on someone and then looked at me like okay it's your turn now!

She goes to the other room to continue pinning all the blocks. My determination kicks in. This is ridiculous. It's a little piece of string... I can do this! I take the string out backwards. Seeing how it goes through all the different spots. Finally, it made sense!! Now the bobbin is still a little hard but I'm going to master that one day too.

That's me with my hair pulled up for the first time in a long time! I'm standing on the porch of MY HOUSE! Unique feature of this house is found right there on the porch. Most porches have a simple safety railing on the porch. I have a privacy fence on mine! Yes, I am standing straight up and not bending at all. That's how tall my railing is. Not sure exactly how it got that tall but I'm not complaining. Soon, hopefully soon, I'm going to have a closet in that house. No, I'm going to have two closets! I can't wait!!