Setting the scene:
I spent a good portion of last Saturday cleaning out the closet in our guest room for donation items.
Me, pointing to my accomplishment: "Everything on this bed is going out of this house."
Ryan then proceeded to try and carry me in the guest room, insinuating that I, too, could be taken out with the junk. Hilarious, Ryan. Really!
So next time you see a seemingly "romantic" photo like this...
Just remember that he may actually be carrying his lovely bride to a dumpster.
"Hey guys, look at these rhinestone shoes I found!"
We did, however, just celebrate our fourth anniversary, so that means 1460 days of survival, with a few debates about whats-for-dinner and some bush 'murders' in our front yard.
I was thinking about the number four and how to make it special, and then I was reminded about golfers yelling that word. Well, it turns out they actually yell "fore," but Ryan was on the golf team, so when I saw this picture from high school I knew I had to incorporate it. When it comes to commemorating special occasions, I'm all over it, but in other areas on a daily basis, eh!
I confess. Much of my life is in piles. In the car. In the closet. Under the bed. It's an area in which I could definitely use some help...or divine intervention.
"MAY THE POWER OF ORGANIZATION COMPEL YOU!"
But when you have the schedule of a person trying to complete this masterpiece in one day with a single box of crayons, you just have to do what works.
"Looks great, Jimmy! Don't forget the other side."
JUNE is here! Where did May go? It sailed right away on us. I am involved in many projects right now that I am SO TOTALLY stoked about!!!
In mid May I spent five days in Phoenix for our final week of training with my Grand Canyon University family.
My Mom told me for weeks that she was going to let me borrow her "incredible" suitcase with the 360 degree rolling wheels for this trip.
During my last travel to Phoenix my suitcase weighed in at a whopping 59 pounds and cost me $125 bucks. The weight of it also cracked open an entire side, so I looked like a buffoon carting it around the airport on the way back.
"Nothing to see here, folks. Move along!"
So...for this trip there were diet restrictions on my packing.
I packed a minimal 40 pounds worth of items for my five day trip, and I took my Mom's suitcase out of the car, ready to roll it successfully into the airport. That's when I realized that the back wheel of the suitcase was completely annihilated.
So here I am battling with my things as I make my way to the airport check-in counter.
But it gets better. I left one of my tickets in the kiosk and had to go all the way back - suitcase in roll tow - to retrieve it.
Luggage mishaps aside, it was a great trip and an awesome time to reunite with several of my team members!
Each day a local food truck parked outside of our building where we would order lunch. God, bless that food truck! It was delicious and reliable. Well, one afternoon it was 15 minutes late, and I was fuming...so I decided to leave our building on foot to find the nearest restaurant. There were NO pedestrian crosswalks or even so much as a light. The rest of our team was at a "Destination GCU" event during this escapade. No joke! Here I was on my OWN journey. Fortunately, the food truck finally showed up, but I was about to turn into a cyclops if I didn't get something to eat!
"YOU'RE NOT YOU WHEN YOU'RE HUNGRY!"
That Friday my flight was delayed for over an hour on the way home, meaning that the incredible trio that is my Dad, Mom, and brother drove to Charlotte at 11:00 PM to pick me up.
That's some expensive takeout...
But a weekend spent with Jay is ALWAYS welcome! He flew in from Chicago to see us before his summer program in New York. Quite the world traveler, he is. But we still found time to play all 32 races in Mario Kart! And go swimming. And sit with Emerson on the deck in a kiddie pool with no water in it just because she wanted to...
I had a fabulous time with Dorothy over Memorial Day weekend. We saw Pitch Perfect 2, took a long walk, and played with Emerson at the new wellness center playground!
We also had Jamie and Chris over for fun, swimming, and a cookout for their 30th Birthdays. Somehow (gasp!) I didn't get a picture! That's probably because my hair looked like THIS at the pool...
"Emerson! Stop that running!!!"
My little tyke can wear me out. "It'll get easier," I've heard a million times since she's been born. When people tell me that they put their children in their cribs (still awake) and the kids fall asleep on their own I feel kind of like this...
"HOW is that possible? Are you human?!?"
It's like a switch goes off, and Emerson knows exactly when Ryan utters the most devastating words to a toddler..."bedtime."
I still carry her around like an infant (she'll always be my baby girl, after all), and attempt to rock her to sleep every night. But this is quite difficult while she's running all over the house. The best possible scenario I can relate it to is Mario chasing the rabbits.
Have you ever played Super Mario Galaxy? If so, you'd know that these rabbits are nearly impossible to catch. You're welcome for the visual.
It's during moments like these when I have brain lapses, like a few days ago when I had to wash our bath mats THREE times, because each time I forgot to put them in the dryer.
Fail.
Or the morning that I showed up to the WRONG school recently for an event...
and then had to drag all of my belongings back across the wet grass to my car, where a roach found its way into my trunk. And I was all trying-to-keep-my-composure like...
But sometimes things in life just stink. This was one of those occasions.
Other times, the Heavens open up and your prayers are answered. Allow me to write about something that has eaten away at every fiber of my being since I can remember.
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Most people know that my Dad is a retired pastor, but he didn't grow up in church. In fact, he didn't become a Christian until college. Our family has always questioned whether or not his Dad - my Papa- had a relationship with Jesus.
We prayed thousands of prayers for him over the years. We talked to him over and over. When I was in fourth grade I started writing a book about Jesus to give to them for Christmas. I would have dreams - and nightmares - about this situation. At the end of every day when I would reflect on my life and all of my blessings...my family, my daughter, my health... and I would always be reminded of one area that was unsettling. The question of Papa's Salavation.
When you love someone so much...so incredibly much...they can be the hardest people to reach. I'd had more in depth conversations with him about religion in the past few years, most of which confirmed my worst fears. In the summer of 2009 F.E. Hobeika (one of the greatest men I know) led a Bible study for our college Sunday school class. I asked him how I should pray about Salvation for a family member of mine. He said, "Well, you can't ask God to make the decision for him, but you can pray for intervention." And so my prayers became, "Lord, please intervene in the situation." I prayed that hundreds of times.
Every time our family got together we would sit around the dinner table and pray beforehand. We would also pray during all of our family gatherings, and each time I'd wonder..."Does Papa get it?" It ate away at me. It was the first thing I thought of every morning and the last thing on my mind at night when I -and I think I speak for all of us- would sometimes lie awake worrying about various things. It happens. We're human.
In 2012 Papa went in for a small eye procedure that turned into a hospital stay, because his heart rate was fluctuating after surgery. Since then, Papa has had ups and downs with his health and is constantly at the doctor. He's hanging in there, but at 85 life has definitely taken a toll on him.
Last fall when Papa was in the hospital to get a stent put in his heart, the doctors warned him that at his age it was a very risky procedure. One morning I walked in that hospital with one mission and one mission only: saying everything I wanted to say to Papa before his surgery. I had to plant the seed. I had to put my head on my pillow that night knowing that I had said all I could possibly say.
I asked him point blank what he was waiting on to follow Jesus. Then the hospital staff promptly came in and starting mopping the floor in his room at that exact moment... But the conversation kept going, and I covered many topics:
"Are you prepared for what might happen?"
"Are you ready if the surgery goes wrong?"
"What is preventing you from accepting Jesus?"
I also played the "Jesus Loves Me" video that I recorded for him. He listened. Regarding the commitment to walk with Jesus, he said, "I'm thinking about it these days more than you know."
Although he didn't accept Him that day, I left the hospital with somewhat of a weight off my chest. I had said everything I had wanted to say but didn't have the courage to for over two decades. The actual decision was up to him.
But on Friday morning, May 22nd, 2015, I called my Dad (who had spend the previous night at my grandparents' house) to check on Papa. A few sentences into the conversation he said, "I talked to Papa again and prayed with him...and he became a Christian this morning."
Relief. I felt OVERWHELMING RELIEF. Tears. Heart-bursting joy. THIS was the day we had waited for. THIS was the day that so many other had been praying for!!! I still can't believe it. I went in the bathroom at the school I was in and sobbed. He was safe. Safe in the arms of Jesus.
Never EVER give up on prayer. Sometimes people pray for things for decades. And the last prayer you pray may be the one that made the difference. I begged God for years. Cried. Pleaded. He heard me. And He hears you, too. Whatever you're going through. You may have asked God for something 500 times, and it may take 500 more. But I'm here to tell you that prayer is POWER. And it works.
I made a mashup of "I Surrender All" with "Touch the Sky" in honor of this incredible, life changing event.
Today, June 7th, we celebrated Nanny and Papa's 63rd wedding anniversary.
Aren't they precious? There is something extra special in Papa's eyes now. There is also something special about his mouth... that icing...
In my infinite wisdom I picked out this cake at Kroger. As we all began digging into the cake and talking we started looking at each other hysterically and laughing.
"Your mouth is blue!"
"Yours is, too!"
"Holy moly; it's REALLY BLUE!"
So when I say that we had the anniversary "blues" you'll know that I mean literally!
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