Road Trip To Mississippi

Family is one of my biggest blessings.

Nathan and Julia and their kids are in Hernando, Mississippi for Thanksgiving.  Hernando is about 350 miles from Baton Rouge, but a lot closer than New Hampshire.  My kids, grandkids and I have not been together since April 20, 2014.  Nathan's family had not met Paige and Nicole's family had not met Thatcher.  Once I learned that Nathan's family was going to be in Hernando, I could see a road trip in my future and, I hoped, in the future of Nicole's family.  Unfortunately, Matt did not get to make this trip with us.  In late September, I scheduled a day of PTO for yesterday.  After Paige was in the hospital last week, I wasn't sure if Paige and Nicole would get to go.  But they did.

I have been excited about this trip for a while.  But Sunday, I kicked the excitement up to a whole new level.  "Going on road trip.  Going on  a road trip," I chanted and had the girls chanting with me.  Nicole gave me a lot of eye-rolls.

Tuesday evening I walked in the door chanting "going on a road trip."  Nicole said she did not want to hear it again.  Eye-roll.  From me to her.  I stopped for gas and Nicole went in to get a monster drink.  When she got in the car, the big girls said, "going on a road trip."  Everyone laughed.  And that ended the chant.  At least for a while.

We made a not-so-quick trip through the drive through at Taco Bell.  They be out of Mugg rootbeer.  We got in I-12 at 6:15 with Taco Bell in our hands.  Thirty or so minutes later we are getting on I-55 North.  Someone says, I know we are not even to Mississippi, but I need to go to the bathroom.  It was not one of the girls and it was not me.  It was that monster drink's fault.  I know where are the rest stops and good gas stations are.  I told her we would stop at the first rest stop in Mississippi.

Paige slept from Baton Rouge to Hernando.

We stopped north of Jackson.  What is a road trip without M&Ms?  Only the people that were awake got those and no one was allowed another drink.  Then another stop in Grenada for gas.  We got to the Day's Inn in Hernando at 11:45.  Haley and I shared a bed and the other two girls slept with Nicole.  When I got in bed, Haley said, "going on a road trip."  Haley and I died laughing.  And I could visualize Nicole's eye-roll.

Like I said a few minutes ago, Paige slept from Baton Rouge to Hernando.  She needed about forty minutes of play time before going back to sleep.

The girls rose early.

After eating the free breakfast at the Day's Inn and spilling orange juice and syrup, we were off to see the cousins.

We got to Julia's parents at five minutes after 9:00.  My goal was 9:00.

Julia's parents and I have been friends since our kids fell in love and I have always enjoyed being at their house.  We just felt so welcome there.  Emma Kate and Thatcher became immediate friends.  The kids played outside.  Inside.  Outside.  There was visiting, eating, laughing, eating.

Martha had really good soup for lunch.  Then Nathan, Julia, Nicole, the five kids and I went to the movie to see "Ralph breaks the Internet."  It was a really cute movie.

We went back to Martha's for dessert and pictures.  I had hope to be headed back to Baton Rouge by 3:00, but we left at 4:00.  I am thankful for that extra hour.

Haley cried.  She said it had been so long since she had seen Camille and it was so short.  Emma Kate behaved as she does when she is said.  And Grammy might had had a tear or two.

Julia's dad and I agreed that we would probably make our first stop at Grenada or sooner.  Thankfully, we were wrong.  I got to Canton.  We stopped for gasoline, food, potty.  One stop does all this time.  We decided to eat inside instead of the car.  We need a break.  And, did we ever get one.  That fast food place was not fast at all.  It was a long break.  I was so tired.  I went to get some coffee at the c-store and they were out of coffee.  I was thinking I would have to make another stop, but I didn't.  I pushed through.

We got home at 10:00.  I was so tired.  I was exhausted.  But being with my family was worth every second of being tired.  I would turn around do it again today if I had to.

It was an awesome seven hours.

I hope we don't have to wait another four years, seven months and one day to be together again.

I am so thankful for this time for my family to be together.

Come Thirsty

The first time we fed at the dump, we noticed how thirsty people were.  Some wanted water more than the food.  When we started feeding under the bridge, people wanted something to drink.  And, in this heat, needed something to drink.  Today with lunch I had sweet tea.  Then I mowed the yard in this thousand degree Baton Rouge heat.  I did not want tea when I finished.  I craved water.  I drank a lot of it and am still drinking water.  It is hard to get quenched.

I know physical thirst, and  I know true spiritual thirst.  Do I yearn to be quenched deep in my soul as I long to be quenched physically after I mow the yard?  Jesus promised if I drink of this living water and let it quench my soul that I will never thirst again.  I usually just take a little gulp of Jesus as I need it, enough to keep from dying.  I need to drink long and deep and let Jesus fill my soul and never thirst again.  That sounds so easy.  Why then am I thirsty and yearning so much of the time?

Scars

My body has many ugly scars. They are not as red and ugly as they once were, but they are still there.  Time has erased and will continue to erase some of the ugliness.

Some of these scars are due to my own clumsiness.  Most are remains from many surgeries.  A couple of the surgeries relieved some intense pain.  I remember feeling better immediately after surgery.  Even the pain from the surgery was not as bad as what had been there previously. 

There is a fair-sized indentation on my left breast.  It is very ugly and will never completely fill in.  I had a lump removed.  Thankfully, it was benign, but who knew that until it was removed.

My stomach is covered with hideous scars.  Two major surgeries.  Two major emergency surgeries.  Both surgeries were needed to save my life.  Daily, those scars remind me that I have life, that I was spared to enjoy life.  To live in God’s will.  To continue to enjoy my family and friends.  I am thankful for life and thankful for those scars.

The scars on my body are visible.  The scars on my heart are not so visible, but they are still there.  There are several of them, just as there are several on my body.  Again, some of those scars are due to my own clumsiness.  And, just as there is an indentation in my breast, there is an indentation in my heart from the loss of my son.  Some things just never completely fill in. 

There are also big scars, hideous scars on my heart.  Some people may say that those scars have saved my emotional life or my spiritual life.  Maybe.  Maybe not.  Because those scars exist I have life: physical life, emotional life and spiritual life.  I have life because of Jesus Christ my Lord.  He has carried me through everything I have ever faced.  He will continue to lead me through everything I will face in the future.  

And, speaking of scars, I have life, eternal life.  And He has the scars to prove that.

July 4

July 4 (Independence Day) is one of my favorite holidays.  As a child, this summer holiday was usually spent with extended family.  And, usually involved food, fun, and fireworks as well.  These are very sweet memories.

July 4th was often spent the same way when my kids were little.  We have seen fireworks over Lubbock, Memphis, San Francisco, St. Louis and West Point, MS.  There was another adventure in Lubbock.

The last time I was in the USA for July 4th was 2007.  I missed not being here every single year.  I am so happy to be here this year.   We will have family, friends, food and fun.  No fireworks this year.  And, maybe we will all be inside all day tomorrow as rain is in the forecast.  It doesn't really matter.  We will have a lot more food than guests.  We will have food for our lunches the rest of the week.

I hope everyone has a fun and safe 4th.

Awards Ceremonies

This morning was the awards ceremonies for Haley and Emma Kate.   And, then school was out for the summer.  This was one of the sweetest awards ceremonies I have ever seen.

There was not a bunch of awards.  Instead each teacher thought of one character trait to describe each child.  I could tell the girls' teachers put a lot of thought into this for each child.

Haley's character trait was tender-heartedness.  That perfectly describes Haley.  She also got the academic excellence award for having the second highest average in 3rd grade.  She had a 97 point something.

Emmie's character trait was love.  That, too, perfectly describes Emma Kate.  She also got perfect attendance.  She was the only in her class that had perfect attendance.  We were surprised about that.  We did not even realize that Emma had had perfect attendance  Being on time or not on time  does not count against perfect attendance.

On the way home, Nicole said that considering what all they had been through this school year, she would give them the resilience award.  I looked at her and said, " them, yes.  Us, no".  We laughed.

Since they were dressed up for awards day and it was the beginning of summer vacation, I told them to kick off their Sunday shoes.  I then added to kick off their Sunday shoes in their bedrooms.

So proud of these two.

Pictures, Pictures And More Pictures

Anyone who knows me or regularly reads my blog, knows I love pictures.  I love to take pictures and look at pictures.  I nearly always have my camera with me.

 I often say that my books are my friends.  My photos are dearer friends than my books.  Over the last 40 or so years, I have taken thousands of pictures.  Pictures of my vacations, my kids being born, birthday parties, school programs, weddings.  Trees, flowers, and mountains.  Nearly everything I have a picture or two or more to remind me of the event.

After having my film developed, I would date and write the name of everyone in the picture on the back.  Then, lovingly, I put each on in an album.  Of course, the albums are in chronological order.

As I prepared to leave for Honduras, I packed the albums in boxes.  I drove them from Illinois to  Borger.  I was leaving my precious friends in Janet's care.  Since she has her own lifetime of albums dated and labeled in chronological order, I knew I could entrust her with mine.  She graciously gave up closet space to store nine boxes of albums.

A couple of weeks ago we went to Oklahoma City for Dustin's wedding.  Rick and Janet loaded the boxes of albums in their car and brought them to me in Oklahoma City.  We loaded them in my car.

They are heavy boxes.  I thought about taking one or two up to my hotel room to start looking at them.  I decided against that.  I really did need to get some sleep.  I did look at some of them on Saturday afternoon though.

I moved the boxes into my bedroom.  At that time, I did not have a place for them.  I stacked the boxes in a corner.

This past Friday I bought a bookcase.  I unpacked these albums late into the night.  Of course, I had to place them in the right order.

It felt so good to be near my photos again.

Saturday was Ryan's birthday.  I began looking at the pictures.  Tears flowed down my cheeks.  Such sweet memories.  Before long, Emma joined me.  As we looked at pictures of Nicole as a baby, Emma squealed with delight and kept saying, "Oh, she was so cute."   Emma is right.  Nicole was so cute.  Emma and I laughed for a long time.  

I can tell each time I bought a new camera.  The pictures became better each time I  upgraded.   For some reason the dawning of a new century caused me to take even more pictures.  In 2004, I went digital and the first granddaughter was born.  Again, I began to take more pictures.  Surely, there is picture of every breath Camille took.

I continued to take pictures while I was in Honduras, but they are all stored in Shutterfly.  I can access those and look at them, and I do sometimes, but I still like pulling out the photo albums and flipping through the pages.

All may not be perfect in my world at this moment, but having those photo albums with me again, sure made my world a lot better.

I Am Elijah

One of my favorite Bible stories is Elijah on Mount Carmel.   Elijah challenges the prophets of Asherah and Baal to see if their gods can light the fire under the bull on the altar.  Four hundred and fifty prophets show up to meet Elijah head on.  They prepare their bull and began to call on their gods.  Elijah taunts them by saying, "shout louder, maybe he can't hear you.  Maybe he is busy.  Or sleeping.  The prophets shout louder.  And still no fire appears under their bull.  There was no response from their gods.  Ever.

Elijah then prepares his bull.  He then ordered four large jars to be filled and poured over the altar.  He did this again and even a third time.  Water ran over the altar and filled the trench.  Elijah call upon his God and the fire from heaven fell upon the altar and consumed the sacrifice.

That is the part of the story I love.

Ahab was married to Jezebel.  Neither of these people were good people.  In the very next chapter, Ahab told Jezebel what happened and she sent a message to Elijah saying she would kill him.  Elijah should have been flying high and praising God still for the miracle performed at the altar.  Elijah turned and fled.  He hid under a broom tree and begged God to take his life.

Shouldn't the God that poured fire from heaven on the altar be able to protect Elijah from a death threat?  One would think so.

I am Elijah.  I am not hiding under a broom tree, but I am Elijah.

I am still praising God for the way He placed the Casa kids at the very last minute.  I have not forgotten that.  I still tell the story to anyone who will listen.  I am still praising God for many things that happened those last few days in Honduras.

Yet, I am fearful that because I have looked for a job for eight weeks and not found one that I won't find one.

Won't the same God that took care of those children, take care of a job for me?  One would think so.

I don't want to be Elijah anymore.  I want to have faith that a job is on its way.  I also need to remember my brave song and "wait upon the Lord, wait upon the Lord, wait upon the Lord."