The Good Doctor

You know, it's really not that often that I can say an experience at the doctor's office was just really, really good. So I thought I should mention it here today. :-) I took Mackenzie to see a dermatologist for the first time today to see if we could resolve some of the break-outs happening on her face. (I'm sure she'd love to know that I'm writing about that on my blog - ha!) Anyway, we had an appointment for 11:00 this morning with a doctor that I just picked out of a list of doctors provided by our insurance. So we show up at 10:45 (yes, I was actually early - I know it's hard to believe!!) and sign in. Pretty quickly, I get called up to the desk, only to find a very bewildered receptionist asking me if I was SURE that I had an appointment for today, because I was not on their schedule. (I know, it's not really sounding like it's a good experience just yet -- but hang on.) After a few calls and some whispering with other administrative people behind the desk, she very politely explained that Mackenzie was 'in the system,' but apparently they had forgotten to schedule the appointment. I was expecting to be sent home, but then she promptly made us a folder, handed me the required stack of paperwork to fill out for new patients and told us to have a seat. I was grateful to find that in some places the 'customer is always right' is still in practice. She actually trusted that I had written the appointment down correctly and they had gotten it wrong -- imagine that?! :-) Anyway, I did prepare myself at that point to have to wait a while, though, since I now knew that they would be having to 'work us in.' Well, I hadn't even made it through the first paper I was filling out when they called us back! We sat in the room for about 2 minutes and in came the doctor. Dr. Lon Raby. Here's the cool thing -- he noticed Mackenzie's 'Unbound' t-shirt that she had on (the group from Oklahoma Christian University that came to perform for us) and told us that his family had hosted a teen from there this summer -- and then he asked us where we go to church. So I told him and it turns out he goes to Mayfair. So that was a nice 'plus' in the whole thing. Well, he took care of Mackenzie, we checked out -- and I swear we walked out the door at 11:15!! I couldn't believe it. :-)

Well, when I started this I thought it was going to be a quick story -- but somehow my stories are never really like that - ha. Anyways, if you're looking for a good dermatologist at some point, I'd have to say that I would recommend Dr. Raby. :-)

Whatever You're Doing

I heard a new song on the radio today.

Not sure how long it's been out, but this was the first time I have heard it all the way through and it was so good that I wanted to post the lyrics here. To anyone who is reading, I hope it speaks to your heart as much as it did to mine.

Whatever You're Doing by Sanctus Real

It's time for healing time to move on
It's time to fix what's been broken too long
Time make right what has been wrong
It's time to find my way to where I belong
There's a wave that's crashing over me
And all I can do is surrender

Whatever You're doing inside of me
It feels like chaos but somehow there's peace
It's hard to surrender to what I can't see
but I'm giving in to something Heavenly

Time for a milestone
Time to begin again
Reevaluate who I really am
Am I doing everything to follow Your will
Or just climbing aimlessly over these hills
So show me what it is You want from me
I give everything I surrender...
To...

Time to face up
Clean this old house
Time to breathe in and let everything out
That I've wanted to say for so many years
Time to release all my held back tears

Whatever You're doing inside of me
It feels like chaos but I believe
You're up to something bigger than me
Larger than life something Heavenly

Whatever You're doing inside of me
It feels like chaos but now I can see
This *is* something bigger than me
Larger than life something Heavenly
Something Heavenly

It's time to face up
Clean this old house
Time to breathe in and let everything out

ROLL TIDE!!

Well, this year is certainly giving me a reason to like football even more than I already did -- which is a lot! I'm old enough to remember what it was like to have watched Alabama back in the glory days of 'Bear Bryant.' Tonight's game against Georgia reminded me of Saturdays long ago watching Alabama on one TV with another TV stacked up on top of it trying to watch other important games (usually Auburn!) at the same time (and sometimes listening to another game on the radio, too.) Of course, this was long before TiVo. :-) So can I hope that this is just one more step down the road to an SEC Championship? -- How about the National Championship... hmmmm..... may be a little premature for that, but for tonight, we're looking good! woohoo!

Roll Tide Roll!!!

Blueberry Cobbler Update

Well, the blueberry cobbler was a hit - even with Anna, who didn't get her banana pudding. :-) It really looked nothing at all like the picture, but I didn't really make it like a pie -- more like a 'dump cake.' And just about any kind of fruit that you put enough sugar, butter and cake mix on top of is going to turn out good somehow. ;-) yum...

Blueberry Cobbler

After 'Jacob the Deceiver' I was feeling the need to 'lighten things up' a bit, so I thought I'd tell you a little about my afternoon. Anna and I had to go to Walmart after school today to get some things for dinner. (For some reason, it doesn't seem that I can EVER cook dinner without a trip to Walmart first!) Of course, a trip to Walmart for stuff for dinner always ends up being a trip to get so many more things that you didn't realize you needed until you got there. And at least $100.00 later, you finally leave with everything you 'needed.' (at least until tomorrow!) :-)



One thing that Anna was in search of -- so that she could make bath 'fizzies' -- was citric acid. I may be revealing my ignorance here (nothing new about that!), but I had no idea what citric acid was (and I still don't), but it was an ingredient in four different 'recipes' she had for making these things. We couldn't find citric acid, and the folks at Walmart didn't know what it was either, so of course I'm beginning to wonder if it even really exists. After all, if you can't find it at Walmart, what hope do you have? ;-) So if anyone has any insight on where to track citric acid down, I'd love to hear it.



The other thing that you don't want to do when you are at Walmart is go there hungry. We bought so much junk -- yummy junk, but junk none-the-less. And Anna wanted to make banana pudding and I wanted to make blueberry cobbler. Today I won that debate. :-) And so I now have a blueberry cobbler in the oven that I'm looking forward to having after dinner. yay! Now, I promise you this one thing, it won't look anything like the picture above -- I'm just not that good. haha But I do think it will taste good, and I'm ok with that! Maybe I'll post something later to say how it turned out -- since I 'made up' the recipe. That's always interesting.

Jacob the Deceiver

Just wanted to share a quote from the book that we are reading in our Old Testament class on Wed. nights. We were going through the 'ups and downs' of Abraham's family tonight, and this was written about Jacob:

"...Here is a man who is a fugitive, on the run after swindling his brother and totally deceiving his father. This is hardly a man who deserves God's kindness.

Which is the very point of the story. God is not showing kindness to Jacob because Jacob deserves it. God is simply saying that nothing Jacob has done stands in the way of what God will do with him in the future. Through the example of Jacob, God is telling us the same thing. No matter how badly we have ruined our past, God simply asks us to rise above those mistakes and become what He calls us to be. This does not mean that He approves of what we did wrong in the past any more than He approved of Jacob's lying and cheating. But God does not want the weight of our past to impede the promise of our future."

Green Mountain Revisited

I spent some time on Green Mountain again yesterday - my favorite place to 'walk' with God. (Don't tell Mandy -- she thinks I go just to take her there!) The view of the covered bridge up above is not one I saw yesterday, but in honor of the beginning of fall, I thought I'd post what I hope to be seeing up there soon. :-) I have no lessons from grasshoppers, fish, or ducks -- but I read this quote yesterday and just wanted to post it because I really liked it.

"God's love language is obedience."

(That's a nice way to remember John 14:21: "Whoever has my commands and obeys them, he is the one who loves me. He who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I too will love him and show myself to him.")

Since I am a very 'tangible' kind-of person, it helps me to know that when I choose to obey God, that He feels like I am choosing Him, and that makes Him feel loved. :-) It really is as simple as that.

Xtreme Transformation...

I realized after my post yesterday that I had referred to the Club Xtreme room as *my* room and thought that was awfully possessive-sounding of me -- if not a bit arrogant. ;-) So, I just wanted to print a 'retraction' of my previous post and let it be known that it has definitely been a collaborative effort to revamp the Club Xtreme room into the space adventure that will be unveiled tomorrow morning. After spending most of the day there today working with Jack on 'finishing touches,' I am more than happy to say that, "It's Done!!!!" :-) Well, aside from a few things here and there... ;-) But I took a few pictures along the way and I thought this was at least one neat 'transformation' of a corner of the room... don't mind the stools and junk still littering the room -- those are gone now. And now I'm just looking forward to a good night's sleep...

Good Friends

OK, so today I was doing a google search on 'Stars' for some images I needed for my Club Xtreme room, and this is one of many things that popped up. I really liked the saying, so I thought it deserved a spot on the blog. Some of you who are around here may see this pop up again if you visit the new and (hopefully improved) Club Xtreme room. :-)

Without "M"

As I was passing through Anna's bathroom this morning, I saw that she had put this poem up on her wall that she wrote a little while back. I had forgotten how much I liked it and had this thought that it would be fun to post on the blog. My children are both blessed with much more creativity and 'out of the box' kind-of thinking than their mom, so I'll just let it speak for itself. :-)

Without "M"

Without M there would be

no gymnastics or

trampolines

There would be no moms

But there would be dads

There would be hugs

but no families

Shops, but no malls

Bills, but no money

Without M, Marvelous would

be lost.

Personally, I'd hate to see 'marvelous' lost from the world, so I'm thankful today for "M." :-)