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!



High School Update

Well...  Day One was...  OK.  So she didn't really get the schedule she wanted, or the teachers she hoped for, or any of her best friends in her classes (or lunch), and it was a "long, boring day."   "And yeah, we were the ones that just got dumped off into whatever classes..."      But when I kissed her goodbye this morning (or at least tried to - ha)  and told her I hoped that she had a better day today, she said, with exasperation, "Mom, yesterday was FINE."   OK, then... silly me.  Guess I interpreted things wrong.  ;-) 

This picture was from about 10:00 last night after school, gym until 8:00, dinner, homework, organizing notebooks, etc...  getting a little love from Mandy. ;-) 

So we survived the first day of High School and she's off for another day.  I'm hoping that today when I pick her up, it won't be in the middle of a horrendous thunder storm and we'll have a little more 'normal' afternoon today.  Yesterday was spent huddled in the car in a parking garage for an hour because we didn't want to get out in the rain and go in anywhere!

First Day of High School!

I can't believe that I sent my 'baby' off to her first day of high school this morning.  I know everyone says it...  Where has the time gone?  But really, where did it go!?!   I think she'll probably be a little more excited (or relieved!) after this first day goes by and she knows her schedule, if she has any friends in her classes, if she can FIND her classes, if she has a decent lunch period and a friend to eat with....  if we survive the after school transition to a long night at the gym.  She's going to have some very l-o-n-g days this year.  BUT, we're going with the flow and hoping for smooth days ahead.  :)

So this morning I coaxed her into letting me take a picture with a promise that it wouldn't show up on Facebook, only on my blog.   ;-)    And I sent her off with dad to school...  

After they were gone, I went out to take Mandy for a walk and my next door neighbors were just coming out of their house with their oldest boy getting ready to leave for Kindergarten.  He had his backpack on and new clothes and fresh haircut - so cute! :)  Mom had her camera and as I stopped to say hi, dad came out.  So I got to take a picture of the whole family. :)  It was funny how 'alive' the whole neighborhood was with the start of school.   I passed one car waving to me and their neighbors, fist-pumping and shouting "Woohoo - first day of school!!"  You'd think we'd just all won a national championship in football or something... haha.   Maybe we're just all secretly hoping that the start of school means that the temperatures might start dropping soon?   Nah...  shouldn't be counting on that! ;-)

So that's my story...  but I came across this cute picture from 8 years ago when we first moved here.  Oh how ALL the girls have grown up! ;-)   Now I guess I need to wrap up this post and go wake up my soon-to-be college girl - we have some class scheduling issues to work out today and more packing to do!

Golden Anniversary

Today is my parent's 50th "Golden" Wedding Anniversary.  We've had a fun couple of days with all my family in town.  We took lots of great pictures last night that I can't wait to get back from the photographer - be on the lookout for those in an upcoming post...   And tonight we celebrated with an Anniversary dinner at Ruth's Chris Steak House.  Everything went so well with that and we all had a great time.   If I wasn't so tired right now, I'd post a few pictures from that... but it means I'd have to find my camera and download and edit and...  well, that will have to come another day. ;-)   But I didn't want to let the day pass without a couple of photos from 50 years ago.

I'm so grateful for parents who have stayed committed, faithful, and loving to each other and to their children over all these years.  We are very blessed! :)

Wrong place, right time?

Why does it always seem that those days that you have to DRAG yourself to church and you’re just feeling like you’d rather be somewhere else, are the days you find yourself hearing exactly what you needed and fighting back tears?  That was me today.  And it’s Ed Ditto’s fault.  J   You gotta love those guys who I would describe as ‘men of few words.’  Not that Ed doesn’t talk, but when he does, he says things so simply and to the point that you just have to listen.  Maybe I just envy that because I’m a rambler and can write pages or talk for hours without coming up with anything all that profound.   haha

Anyways… Ed was sharing some thoughts about communion today and

 asked, “Have you ever found yourself in the wrong place at the wrong time?”   Um, yeah, for sure.  I don’t think anyone in the room had to struggle to come up with a thought or two about that.  Then he turned it around – “How about the right place at the right time?”  Well, yeah – been fortunate enough to have that happen to me, too.  Then he had us turn to Luke 23 and he read about the two criminals who were crucified along with Jesus. 

Two other men, both criminals, were also led out with him to be executed.  When they came to the place called the Skull, there they crucified him, along with the criminals—one on his right, the other on his left...

One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: “Aren’t you the Christ? Save yourself and us!”

But the other criminal rebuked him. “Don’t you fear God,” he said, “since you are under the same sentence?  We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong.”

Then he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.”

Jesus answered him, “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise.”

Then Ed graciously gave credit to his wife for this next thought.  He said Sharon had pointed out to him that really, at least ONE of the criminals hanging on the cross next to Jesus found himself in the right place at the right time that day.  Ed struggled with that thought at first.  How can being hung on a cross be a good place to be?  Well, it’s not, from a purely physical, worldly point of view.  But with spiritual eyes, it’s not hard to see that this was about to be the best day of this man’s life. 

It didn’t hit me until I started to write some of this down, that I love the choice of words here from Jesus.  Not just, “Son, your sins are forgiven.”  Or, “Thanks for sticking up for me.”  But Jesus says, “Today you will be with me in paradise.”   Things look bad right now, but just wait, you have no idea what’s coming!   Wow…  how amazing must THAT have been to hear?  In the absolute most desperate time of this man’s life, in what looked like the worst of 'wrong places' to be, Jesus is about to turn it all around with a beautiful offer of grace and pardon resting on the faith that this man had just put in who Jesus was.  Simple. Extraordinary. Perfect timing…

And as I sat there listening, my thoughts drifted back to moments in time where I have been in the worst of situations because of my own sin and disobedience, deserving my own cross hanging next to Jesus.  And I can remember the points where I have been literally driven to my knees crying out for help and deliverance…  and the very special thing that happened to me this morning as I sat in my seat was that it was so clear to me that Jesus was there all along.  In the right place at the right time… even in the wrong place at the wrong time… and maybe most especially in my wrong place at the right time…  He’s just where I need for Him to be.

A little while later, in Allen’s sermon, he made a point about how God never works against our will, but He works with our will.  We have the choice to fight Him if we want to – but He is so willing to work with us if we will give Him our faith and trust.  One criminal on the cross did, the other didn’t.  I want to be the one who did and now enjoys his eternity in paradise with Jesus.

“Lord, Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom…”

A tough loss...

It seems that lately a lot of my conversations with people have revolved around loss of some sort or the other. Loss of a boyfriend, loss of parents, children growing up and leaving home, losing jobs, loss of the dreams you had for your children or the dreams you had for your future… even losing faith in God. Then in the last few days, it just seems like I’ve been tripping over quotes from all sides regarding loss, so I thought I’d try to put it all together and make some sense out of it.

First of all, I’ll start with this. I don’t deal well with loss at all. I’ve learned that about myself. That’s why when I read this quote from Beth Moore’s book recently, I pretty much laughed out loud:

“Learning to say ‘good-bye’ is a necessary life skill.” (from “Get Out of That Pit.”)

And by the way, that wasn’t Beth’s insight… that was something her husband told her that SHE needed to learn. (That made me feel a little bit better… haha)

Then, the next day, I heard this quote at the end of an episode of Grey’s Anatomy. (This should go in one of my ‘things I learn from TV’ blog posts.) It caught my attention and I had to go back and listen to it again… so here it is:

“Practicing medicine doesn’t lend itself well to the making of friends. Maybe because life and mortality are in our faces all the time. Maybe because in staring down death every day, we’re forced to know that life – every minute – is borrowed time. And each person we let ourselves care about is just one more loss somewhere down the line. For this reason, I know some doctors who just don’t bother making friends at all. But the rest of us, we make it our job to move that line, to push each loss as far away as we can.”

I’m certainly not a doctor, but I get what is being said here. The older I get, the

more ‘losses’ I face, the more I realize how much I dislike the whole process – and it does have a tendency to make you want to insulate yourself or find some way to push the loss far enough away that you don’t feel the pain. (but I think we all know that really isn’t possible)

But then this passage of scripture came up at church yesterday morning:

“But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body. So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you…

Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed dayby day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”  (II Cor 4)

And then today I read this quote on the USA Women’s Soccer Facebook site in the face of their stunning loss against Japan in the World Cup final on Sunday:

"That's what learning is, after all; not whether we lose the game, but how we lose and how we've changed because of it and what we take away from it that we never had before, to apply to other games. Losing, in a curious way, is winning." - Richard Bach

So, losses are an inevitable part of life. Maybe the point is that somehow through it all we don’t lose heart. And dealing with loss seems to be a lot about perspective. I’m pretty sure I’m not quite at the place where I feel like losing is winning, but I can at least say that I get what they are trying to say… There are necessary lessons that are learned from losses. I don’t have to like the loss, but perhaps I can at least find a benefit in the lessons learned and find a way to let that help me in the future…



Oh, on a totally different subject but perhaps a happier note, I recieved a call from the doctor about the biopsies from last Thursday and everything came back clear.  So that's a sigh of relief and a special thanks from me for the prayers. :)