Motorized Mania

So I go to Walmart every so often.


Fine. I go like 2-3 times a week. I have needs.


I'm starting to see a trend when it comes to the motorized carts that they provide for the HANDICAP, ILL, ELDERLY. (I placed them in large letters in case you misunderstood the purpose of the carts.)

They are for those who can't walk, or can't walk for long distances.


They are not for:
-racing
-pregnant women
-teenagers or anyone who cannot drive a car, buy cigarettes/alcohol or even vote.
-convenience because you've had a hard day at work and don't feel like walking.



As I walked through the store just a few weeks ago, I was literally nearly run down by one of those carts. She barely missed me. The driver...a girl who couldn't even have been even 14 years old. I gave her my standard dirty look of "Hey. Watch where your goin' chick!" and went on my way.

I round another corner, and she comes flying by AGAIN and almost hits me AGAIN.

Unfortunately, I speak before I think. A lot. So I said, "I have a feeling that you don't really need to be on that thing. Are you disabled? Does your mother know your driving around here like that? What if you hit a child? You need to get off that and I mean now."

She smiles at me with such a sickeningly "I don't care what you think" smile and flies off.




Since I spoke so kindly to her, she went to tell her mother...who was also riding a cart AND her younger brother, who brought up the rear on his. They followed me all. over. the store thinking they intimidated me, I guess. I did mention to the young girl that I was going to find a manager since she obviously had no disability except disrespect and laziness. Not one manager was to be found! How convenient. *insert sarcasm*


I don't know if you can tell, but this really gets my goat. Three motorized carts driven by three inconsiderate people who couldn't care less that someone might really need one.

What is this world coming to?!


And then to top it off!...we saw a pregnant lady riding on one today. She happened to be our patient, so I know for a fact that she did NOT have any disabilitating issues and she wasn't even close to term.

Call me naive and misinformed, but the last I checked carrying an unborn child did not deem you disabled.


The moral of this bog...don't ride unless you got a reason. Period.

I will call you out.

The Key

Hello blog. It's been a while.





A lot has been going on in this past year, but what weighs heaviest on my mind is the diagnosis of cancer, metastisized cancer, in my dear pastor's wife.
Not only is Colleen my pastor's wife, but she's my long-time friend. A woman that is very much like my sister/aunt and has been for most of my life...long before she was my "pastor's wife". I knew her newly married, when kids where just a prayer on her lips. I saw her in the hospital with each of her four girls. I have cried and laughed along with her. I knew her when holidays were exciting because "Mark and Colleen were coming over!". She was family to us, to me. She still is.





But I struggled with the diagnosis of metastisized cancer. And I had no idea the range of emotions I would experience, or the lessons I would learn/be learning.





For me, it started with shock. You just don't know what to think, when to think.You don't know how to pray. I told myself that I was acceptant of God's will but these little spurts doubt kept creeping in. It wasn't long before I started getting angry whenever I would talk about it or think about it or pray about it. But I couldn't figure out who I was angry at, or why.

There was no way I was angry at Mark or Colleen because they bathe every decision in prayer and seek God's will for all they do. I couldn't be angry at God...or so I thought. I found myself saying that I was angry at cancer. But if you think about it, that makes no sense.




Coming to realize where my anger originated, who it was against, repentance, contentment, peace came one night at church when someone spoke of reading Pilgrim's Progress with their family.


In Pilgrim's Progress, Christian ends up in Doubting Castle which was guarded by the Giant Despair. Christian had no hope for escape and only death to look forward to. But he remembered that he had a key called Promise that he kept in his bosom and it would unlock any door.

It took remembering that small part of a book (my favorite part, might I add), to show me that I was angry at God. Angry that He would allow Colleen to have cancer. Angry that it wasn't found sooner. Angry that it had metastized. Angry that their therapies didn't work. Angry that it wasn't me even.

I was just plain mad. Completely pushing against the will of God.


Now, you ask, what does any of this have to do with doubting castle and the key of Promise.

God allowed them to go through such a valley to show me that I had locked myself in a castle of despair. My anger was nothing more than pride and it locked me into despair that went much deeper than my anger.

How did I get there? How did I get from contentment to anger so quickly? I still don't know but I'll consider it a lesson learned, a valley that has taken me back to mountains of peace.

And even more good news!!!

We too have the Key of Promise. Promises that He will never leave us or forsake us. Promises that all is for His glory and our good. Promises of healing, whether on this earth on in heaven. Promises of eternity with no diseases, including the most terrible disease of sin.

What a relief to know His will will be done and I can honestly say that's good enough for me.

Something Old, Something New

Someone reminded me that there is nothing new under the sun. How true that is as we see hard time coming to this nation and remember that this world has seen hard times before. But God's church always prevails. Such a sweet comfort to my heart to know that God reigns.

We need to humble ourselves and pray, folks.





Update:

I have a new nephew. He was born 07/20/09 and has been the sweetest little baby! He was named William David and we all call him Will. His daddy calls him Will-I-Am and his sister calls him...new baby. (ha!) I wonder how in the world my brother and sister-in-law do it. Taking care of 3 kids, 3 and under, definitely keeps a person running.

I also got to be in a c/section with one of my friends! I had forgotten how wonderful the mirable of life really is. May we never forget that getting here, in one piece, perfectly healthy is a miracle.

And friends from church had their 5th...a baby girl!! She's has the sweetest little face and I will never forget her older sister's face when she first came in the room looking for her new sister. Priceless.

Aren't babies wonderful! *sigh*

Dr Bill

It's hard to say that I'm sad when a brother/sister in Christ passes away. I can't miss them because I know where they are. I shouldn't be sad because they aren't.

Right?


But I do miss those who go before us to Paradise. One of the kindest men I know was taken Home last week and I miss him.
And I'll tell you why.

-He never failed to hug and kiss my face EVERY Sunday.

-He told me (almost every Sunday) that if he was 40 years younger he would talk to my dad.

-He was concerned about my health and told me so every chance he got.

-He truly showed forth Christ in all he did and said.

-He loved his Lord, loved his church and loved his family...physical and spiritual.

-His smile was infectious and genuine.

And those are just a few....

Love you Dr Bill!

Change My Heart, O God

You ever been fussed at. The person giving you the piece of their mind is really in the wrong and all you want to do is point that out in a kind voice...while holding them in a half-nelson.

The old Susanna would have done definitely administered the choke hold but would have never used the kind voice. I actually told someone today that I was sorry (?!) despite the fact that I didn't really do anything wrong. Soft words were heard instead of the truth.

But my purpose in telling you this is not to show how good I am but how good God is. As I thought back to this episode and my reaction I was really shocked to remember kind words coming from my mouth.


Reflecting on all this surprisingly comforted my heart as I see how God has done a work in my life, assuring me that I am His because the Susanna before Christ wouldn't have reacted in such a way.



Thank you Lord for showing me your work in my life even in hard situations and reminding a hurt heart that Your love is "underneath me, all around me".

Refreshergy. Happy Times. Lovin' Life.

I think I've finally figured out why I haven't blogged in a while. I've actually been kind of busy, which I didn't realize until I started going through my pics for just one month.

The month of May has been full of laugher, reminicing, happy tears, graduations, dancing, games, a mountain, fellowship, family, friends.











The graduation was the most exciting this year because a precious girl who I've known since birth (ahhhhhh! I'm so old!!!), graduated from high school. I couldn't believe how much I cried. She's beautiful, her heart is gracious, her personality delightful and her smile infectious. Congratulations Elizabeth!










Lanie had her dance recital--3rd year--and did great! She loves to dance and always has. She had two dances this year and successfully did both. I particularly loved when she went up to get her award and said into the microphone, "My name is Alayna and I'm 5. years. old." Adorable. I was in the balcony but I'm pretty sure she heard her Aunt Susanna cheering for her.










A few friends, my sister and I decided to go to Oak Mountain this year for Memorial Day which was beautiful! We first canoed a little as we waited for the rest of our company to meet up with us. When Joanna and I ventured out, our other friends had just arrived so we rowed over to see them. Unfortunately, we have super rowing skills and rowed right into a giant bush on the shore line. I attempted to row us backward. Joanna just laughed.

All this rain has really payed off because Peavine Falls were the biggest I've seen. We hiked (if you call it that...we barely got out of breath) down to the falls and played around the waterfall, found a salamander, took pictures and then walked down the creek a little ways to find a pool that was a little deeper. There was a God-made rock slide that went right into this pool which made the water all the more inviting. Joanna and her friend were the only ones that slid though. I'm chicken if the water's too cold.



Then we had a good time looking at God's creation and wondering how anyone could not see that this world has a Creator with a special design in mind.

We headed down to the beach at Oak Mountain lake which was packed with people. Once again...didn't get in the water...too cold...and I didn't want to get my hair wet.



We brought a volleyball and since there were 6 of us, we played a few games of 3-on-3. Little did we know but there was a family watching us, wanting to play. After about our 3rd game, an interesting character approached us asking if we wanted to play their family since they had six who wanted to play. We figured--hey, 6-on-6, that's a real volleyball game. We're in--little did we know how eccentric the family was. I'll refrain from commenting on the different personalities, but I will say that we had opportunity to witness.



Our few games of playing the "interesting" family brought a crowd and, according to the family member, the next group would play the winner. Us. So we played a group of teenage girls who cheated horribly and still lost. Then a group of Mexicans that were a lot of fun. Then, what I will call the melting pot of Oak Mountain...there were 4 gentlemen from India, 2 Mexicans and 2 from our "interesting" family.

I'm sad to say. They beat us. Our last game and we didn't win!!


But we had fun. And I fell. Which is just par for the course. How can sand cause a scrape on my leg that looks like rug burn?!











This trip to Oak Mountain was so refreshing though. I used to go up there all the time with my cousin but work and life has kept me so busy that I haven't been up there in years. It made me reflect on how busy I keep myself and how I need to stop and refresh the soul sometimes, remembering my Creator and remembering that my life is but a vapor. All this makes me thankful for the days I've had and the times of rest that come just when I need them.










We serve a loving God, don't we?

...and that was the month of April.

There've been a few fun things that went on since my last post. I'll see if I can catch you up.

1. Lanie turned 5!! She had a princess party and it was, thankfully, uneventful. By that, I mean no injuries. We usually have some kind of story about the birthday parties and I'm just glad this one went off nicely. Daniel kept his eyebrows, no children were almost suffocated in the moon walk because of adults trying to jump and no balloons were accidentally set free before the party even began.

2.I went to see the Gardners in Colorado!! I can't even begin to tell you how much I miss that family. I had a 10 year old flying buddy and ever since we've been back we've been planning our next trip out there. We might even decide to fly to England one time just for fun--it's just one of the places we both want to visit, so why not go together, right?
While we were out there we:
-played kickball (beating the boys 5-0 one time, and 10-0 the next time!!)
-ate a lot of good food (Marie is a great cook and I love, love, LOVE her pimento cheese spread!)
-went window shopping which turned into people watching. Colorado is quite liberal...and interesting.
-I got to ski!! I never made it off the bunny slope, but I don't care. I had a blast!
-saw the Rockies and they. are. breath-taking. The weird thing is, they're pretty rocky. Like, very little grass and trees.
-kissed Mary Morgan every day. That baby girl is just precious!

3. I got to see Wicked, musical!! It. was. amazing! I didn't think I would like it as much as I did, but now I can't wait to see it again. Then we found the outside stage door and waited for the cast to take pics and meet them. Very fun!

4. We just finished up ball season so we've spent a lot of nights at the ballfield. Josh's team did better this year. He played 3rd base or left field and we got to cheer really loud and embarass him like we always do.

And here are a few pics of my nieces and nephews. You know. The ones I always talk about. They are pretty cute, I think.