Green Mountain Time (revisited)

So that was the title of my very first blog post which was just a little over three years ago.  It came back to mind today as I made my way up to Green Mountain for a walk with Mandy.  I took the picture below with my cell phone as we were winding down Big Cove Road... it was probably a little dangerous, but it just cracked me up when I looked over and saw her like that... 

Anyways, what a perfectly gorgeous day for a walk on the mountain today!!  I haven't been up there in quite some time and it was calling to me...  :)  The leaves are already beginning to turn and I had to promise myself to get back up there soon and take some pictures.  I'm doing some redecorating in my bedroom and I think a nice little 'collage' of Green Mountain pictures in the fall would be perfect in there. 

When I went back to my very first Green Mountain post - a long story about a wayward grasshopper - I was reminded of how troublesome life gets sometimes.  Last night, with our Club Xtreme class, we just happened to be talking about "Going through 'tuff' times."  (Mrs. Jimmy wrote this lesson and likes to spell things like that - ha!)  We read:

“I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” (John 16:33)

and

"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me." (John 14:1) 

We talked about the fact that trouble is a part of life here on earth.  You really can't escape it.  There was certainly trouble in my life then, and there is still trouble in my life now.  Seasons of life change, time marches on, troubles change in shape and form...  but we still have to deal with them.  So what to do?  Well, if I'm to believe what I so confidently told the kids last night, then:

#1 -- I have to BELIEVE Jesus when He says that He has overcome the world (and its troubles!)

#2 -- I have to TRUST in God, TRUST also in Jesus.

So I walked the mountain trail and talked a bit with Jesus about the troubles of life, and I believe that I found a little more trust to let Him work things out and a little more of the peace that He promises will come when I'm willing to let Him do that.  And somewhere along the way this old hym started playing in my mind:

So let us have a little talk with Jesus
Let us tell Him all about our troubles
He will hear our faintest cry
And He will answer by and by
And when you feel a little prayerful yearning
As your heart unto heaven is turning
You will find a little talk with Jesus makes it right.

And now any of you who are reading this and know the song, it'll be stuck in your head the rest of the day like it is in mine.  :)   But maybe that's not such a bad thing....

Sometimes you hear or read something so many times that the significance of it escapes you.  That has happened to me with this prayer that is so popular.  But it was quoted in a book I was reading this morning and today, instead of speeding past it with a "Yeah, I've heard that before, blah, blah...," it landed on my heart with a noticable thud and has stayed with me all day.  I've always liked this prayer, but today I suddenly realized how much I struggle with this prayer! I don't do it well at all and I don't think that I had realized that so clearly until today and it seriously challenges me.  I don't really think I can get into on here all of the different places in my life that this prayer touches and needs to be applied, but I just wanted to "put it out there" and hope that if you come across this, maybe you'll spend a minute with it and let it fall fresh on your heart today, too.

What I'm listening to...

It's been interesting over the last month since Mackenzie left for school to hear about all of her new experiences.  One of the things that she is enjoying the most is the opportunity to visit different churches and various gatherings for times of singing, praise, and worship.  I've heard about everything from Granny White Pike Church of Christ to Ethos and Sanctuary.  There are dorm devos, chapel services, spontaneous discussions with kids from all sorts of faith backgrounds sitting out on the lawn late at night, and nightly times of reading and prayer with her roommate.  Each experience brings its own unique style and each is bringing valuable new insights.  And the more I hear, the more I wish I could go back to college and experience it for myself! :) 

Yes, I admit, I am just a little bit envious.

Can I tell you the most creative thing I've heard?  ...and I just love this.  A week or two ago she told me that she had gone to a dinner for the kids that are in the Music Department and as they prepared to eat, they were asked to all join together and sing the Doxology as their prayer before the meal.  (Mackenzie said it was just beautiful!)  Maybe it doesn't have the same effect on you, but that runs chills up and down my spine as I think about how special that must have been.

So my way of connecting just a little bit to all of this has been to start listening to some 'podcasts' of sermons from the Ethos Church that Mackenzie has been attending on Sunday nights.  I've listened to 3 in the past few days and each one has been powerful, challenging and uplifting.  So I thought I'd share a link to my current favorite called "GO: Messy Church."    Those of you who know me well will probably laugh knowingly at why I like this just based on the title.  ha.   I hope, if you're reading, that you will take the opportunity to listen and be encouraged as I have been.

http://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/ethos-church/id285287602

I Remember...

Ten years ago I was at home in New Bedford, Massachusetts when the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon happened.  Jack was at work at Measurement Computing about 30 minutes away and Mackenzie was in 3rd Grade at E.C. Brooks Elementary School just down the street.  Anna was at preschool and you know what's bothering me at the moment, is that I can't for the life of me remember the name of the preschool!  Weird the things that you forget...


But I do remember turning on the TV that morning to check the news and tuning in just minutes before the 2nd plane hit the second World Trade Center Tower.  The news commentators were obviously in shock themselves and still trying to figure out what had happened to the first tower as the second plane hit.  At that point it seemed to become all too obvious that what was happening wasn't an accident.  I remember watching footage of the 2nd plane over and over...  it was hard to wrap my mind around it all. 

As the realty of what was happening began to sink in, I distinctly remember calling my parents to see if they had heard...  it seemed to me that if they had, they would have already called me.  My dad answered the phone and I knew right away that they hadn't seen the news yet.  I don't think I even told my dad what was going on, I just remember telling him to go turn on the TV and then asking him to call me back after while...


The feeling of it all was overwhelming...  shock, sadness, disbelief, confusion...  but I remember the fear and anxiety the most.  It didn't take long for the news to start reporting that the 2 planes that had hit the towers were from flights that had originated at Logan Airport in Boston.  How many times had I flown in and out of that airport?!?  It was only a little over an hour away from my house...  how could terrorists have gathered and boarded planes to kill thousands of people just miles from where I was living?  And then another plane went down in Pennsylvania...  and then the Pentagon.  It was just horrifying.  And I was scared. 


I remember wanting Jack to come home and wanting to go get the girls from school.  I talked to Jack about it...  but not wanting to upset the girls and get too overwhelmed about it all, we decided to leave the girls at school...   and he stayed at work.  And I watched TV...  all morning until I had to get Anna.  I finally picked her up at preschool and then Mackenzie came home later on the bus.  Jack came home a bit earlier than usual from work. 


And it was quiet.  Eerily quiet.  The president had ordered, by then, that all flights were to be grounded - everywhere.  There were no planes in the sky.  That's what I remember.  There were always planes flying overhead where I lived...  now it was just quiet.  And everyone was home with their families and afraid to go out. 


But we decided to go out - to go over to our good friends' house, Mike and Roseanne Bently.  I think we just needed to be with people we loved and felt safe with...  try and process the whole thing and make sense out of it.  And pray.  We went to their house and had dinner and prayed for everthing that was happening... for the people who had died and their families, for those we still hoped would be rescued, (though in the end there were not nearly as many of them as we had hoped for), and for our own safety and protection because honestly, the uncertainty of what might happen next was just really scary.


So that was Tuesday night.  I think, but I'm not sure, that school was cancelled the next day and I do remember that church was cancelled on Wednesday night.  At that point most people were being encouraged to stay close to home because no one was quite sure what was going to happen next, especially since these attacks had happened so close to home. 


It's amazing to me now to think that it has been ten years since all of that happened.  I was watching the Today show on Friday morning and saw an interview with a few kids who had lost one of their parents in the attack.  It showed interviews and pictures of them 10 years ago and then they had them on the show talking about how they are doing now and how they had been affected.  And even though they all seemed to be healing and doing well in their lives, it was hard to watch and think about what they have been through. 


But it was good for me to take some time to remember...  that day, all the feelings, the need to be with the poeple you love and hold them close, to draw near to God and trust that in the midst of all the chaos, He really is still in control.  It seemed like, then, that we would never forget...  that time would just be frozen in that moment, in those events.  That the sense of unity that we felt with friends, with family, as a nation would never be broken again.  But time has a way of moving us on and away from the urgency of those emotions.  And we get busy with the things of 'now' once again...  which I guess has to and needs to happen.


But I just wanted to take a few minutes today to thank God for the blessings, the peace, and the protection on my life and those that I love and pray, once again, for those who have had to deal with so much loss because of what happened on Sept. 11, 2001.

Quick Update on Kids...

First of all, Mackenzie is coming home tonight and I'm SO happy!  I really have missed her and it will be nice to have her back home, sleeping in her bed where she should be. ;-)   Of course, when I have to send her back on Monday, it'll probably be even worse than when we left her up there 3 weeks ago...  but I digress.  This is supposed to be a happy update. :)

Mackenzie is doing great with the transition to college life.  She loves her classes (well, except College Algebra, which is apparently the 'most boring class on the planet').  She's making new friends and definitely enjoying the social life.  Apparently almost every night there seems to be someone on campus offering free food, so she's certainly not going hungry.  She tells me that every time someone finds out that she bought the biggest meal plan they laugh at her. :)   She tried to tell us that she didn't think she would need it, but we didn't want her to go hungry...  haha.  Guess we'll know for next semester!  She has visited several churches and various worship and devotional times with Ethos and Sanctuary that she absolutely has fallen in love with.  It's exciting to hear about her experiences there and what she is learning about God.   And let's see...  oh!  I found out yesterday that she got a job! She will be a 'party hostess' for Bounce U.   It's a kid's party place with indoor inflatables.  It should be lots of fun to hear stories about how that goes.  :)   So that's Mackenzie's story...

Anna is settling in to the high school and, as she said the other day, would just love it if she didn't have to go to english or science...  not enjoying those classes too much.  English is just hard and science, well, she's not enjoying her teacher there so much.  Her schedule is pretty crazy with all the gymnastics at night, so we find ourselves being 'creative' with all the free moments in between school and gym and then doing our best at night to not be up late ALL the time finishing homework.  It's a work in progress....  :)     But continuing my theme from the last post with 'funny stories about Anna,' I have to share this.  They have been doing Presidential Physical Fitness testing in PE this week.  I guess they test them at the beginning of the year and then at the end to see how they improve.  Well Anna has, every year, gotten the highest award in this because of all the gymnastics she does...  she usually even outperforms most of the boys! ;-)  
So on Wednesday, they were doing push-ups.  They had to do 21...  so she reeled off 25.  The PE Teacher came over to her and started raving about how perfect her push-ups were - and I guess went on about that for quite a while, telling her that "I wish everyone could do push-ups like that - those are the most beautiful push-ups I've ever seen - I wish I had a videocamera and could tape those, etc."   Anna was just laughing at how excited she was and was also embarassed by all the attention at the same time...      But what was even more funny, was that she saw her friend Hannah later in the day and Hannah told her, "Oh yeah, the PE Teacher was going on and on about your push-ups!  Talking about this gymnast who could do such beautiful pushups!  And I knew it was you.  :)   Then yesterday, she saw a boy in the hall that she knew a long time ago and one of the first things he said to her was, "Oh yeah, the PE Teacher was talking about you and how good your push-ups are!"    So I have concluded that we may have a fight on our hands with english and science...  but no one can mess with my girl when it comes to perfect push-ups!!!  :) 

And that's the latest stories from here...  looking forward now to a fun, and hopefully restful, holiday weekend - woohoo! :)

Just thought this was funny...

The plan for today was that Anna would go to gymnastics as usual this morning, and then we would pick her up and head up to Lipscomb.  Mackenzie called yesterday to tell us that her car wouldn't start, so we were headed up there to investigate, and hopefully solve, whatever was going on with that. 

So Jack was driving Anna to the gym this morning and she was texting.    Thinking that it was awfully early in the morning for her to be finding any friends awake, he asked her who she was chatting with.   She replied, "Oh, I'm not texting a friend, I'm just sending a text to mom.  I forgot to get one of my earrings and I need her to get it for me."   As I type this, it doesn't sound nearly as funny as when Jack came home and relayed the story to me...  but here he was, sitting right next to her in the car, and she had to text ME to make sure her earring made it where it needed to go.  I guess it's always the MOM that they think they have to ask for things.   What was funny was that he had to come home and ask me if I had gotten a text from Anna (I had missed it - didn't even realize she had texted me and had to go find my cell phone to see what she said.)  And then later, honestly, if Jack hadn't reminded me as I was running around just before we left, I would have TOTALLY forgotten to get the earring.   She really doesn't know that she probably could have saved herself some time and a few keystrokes by just trusting her dad with that request... ha.

Oh, and the 'car emergency' turned out to be a dead battery.  :)  We suspected that, but it was hard to tell from here and it gave us a good excuse to go up for lunch and see Mackenzie.  We got to meet her friend Molly and Anna got to meet some of Mackenzie's friends and shop with the girls for a little while... so a fun day all in all. 

She's Gone...

Well, the "Big Day" that had been looming before us for months now, it seems, has finally come and gone...  and taken my daughter with it.  Early Monday morning we finished loading up the car and made the trek up to Lipscomb for 'move-in day.'

 

Much to Mackenzie's dismay, I 'forced' her to stop and let me take her picture before we left.  You know, 'first day of school' and all that... ha.   That would be why she has this look on her face:   :)

It's ridiculous to think how fast 12 years of school and life have gone by...

When we arrived at Lipscomb (and can I just stop and say here that I'm SO glad that they are widening Hwy 53 to Ardmore because I think we'll be seeing that road a whole lot more in the next 4 years!) the move-in process was well under way.  I have to say we were very fortunate that Mackenzie's roommate, Carolanne, and her family had gotten there before us and had already bought and installed carpet in the room - yay!  We had two very handy dads in the room who quickly put beds together and moved things around...  then it was just unpacking and finding places in a 14x16 space to put 2 girls and ALL THEIR STUFF.  ;-)   Jack decided in all this process of constructing and 'lofting beds' and getting the girls settled that we needed to go into business selling modular dorm furniture and storage solutions.  I think he might be on to something! :) 

And here's a shot of Mackenzie and Carolanne ready to start their new adventure together at Lipscomb.  :)

Later in the afternoon, Courtney came over to campus to join us and see where Mackenzie was going to be living.  Just a couple of years ago, she was an RA in charge of all these new freshmen girls!  Speaking of RA's - here was one of the best moments of the day.  Not long after we arrived, Mackenzie's RA came up to her room to check on our progress and see if we needed anything.  There was a lot going on - bed's being taken apart, stuff everywhere, etc...  but she managed to get all of our attention and asked if she could pray for all of us.  So everything came to a halt for a few moments and she prayed a very sweet prayer for the move and year ahead and God's plans for our girls...  it was very refreshing and reassuring and just what that moment needed to settle us all down and get the day under way.   That moment, along with walking the halls of the dorm several times bringing in loads of stuff and passing posters with encouraging scriptures and reminders of God's love, not to mention helpful people and friendly smiles...  well, I'm more convinced than ever that Mackenzie has found a great place to spend the next 4 years. 

I had to include this picture because the dinosaurs are cute (apparently, each RA has a 'theme' and Mackenzie's has something to do with dinosaurs) and because for just a moment when I saw them, I was transported back in time to where I would expect to see something like this outside of a preschool classroom...   :)

Well, the day had to come to an end sometime.  We left the dorm around 5:30, took Courtney with us, and went and had dinner at Subway.  We were on a bit of a time crunch because Anna had skipped school to come with us and we had to get her back in the car and back home to finish homework that was piling up.   Saying good-bye was hard.  I knew if I tried to say very much, I was going to start crying - and Mackenzie had already pointed at me after I hugged her and told me not to cry.  ;-)  What I will remember is the last kiss on the cheek, the last 'I love you' and that last look in the eyes...  and now I'm going to start crying just writing that.  :'(    

It's hard to describe what driving away and leaving your child behind to start 'life on their own' feels like.  For several days before we left, while we were packing and such, it mostly just felt like I was getting her ready to go on a big trip.  That's not so hard - I mean, we sent her off to El Salvador for 9 days just a few weeks ago, right?  But the feeling coming back home and realizing that she isn't going to be back in 9 days is just very sad.  I miss her already and more than I already knew I would... 

...but here is the text I got from her yesterday...  "It's going really well, im loving it!"   And that makes me happy.  :)

So let the adventure begin!