“my daddy”

I had lunch with my daddy yesterday morning. It was great! Not because of the food but because of the company with whom we shared it. A good friend of his who I knew growing up was in town and I wasn’t about to miss out on seeing him! He’s an old flying buddy of his, and we always called him “Uncle” Barry, though, of course, he was of no blood relation to us. He was always one of my favorite people to be around, though, and I haven’t seen him in years. YEARS! Also there was Daddy’s next door neighbor who also flew with the both of them- how weird is it that now he lives right next door to him??! Daddy cooked breakfast and everybody ate and talked and then politics came up, of course, because….well, it’s my dad. Of COURSE politics are going to come up. Instead of rolling my eyes and tuning them out, though, I just shut my mouth and listened to them talk, throw ideas around and talk about which books they’ve read and the ones they’ll read next. It was such a great time.

We finished up and moved into the den where everyone sat comfortably and continued the conversation. We caught up and I got to meet Paul, the next-door neighbor and they continued to trade “stories”. It went something like this. “Oh, well, do you remember when we….” or “Do you remember that one time when you…” and “OK, I’m gonna tell one on your daddy and one on Paul…” It was great. And Daddy was in a different world- it was so great to see him laughing and joking and “hangin’ out with the boys”. It was so much fun to talk and catch up with everybody, especially my precious “uncle” Barry. As I watched him talk and laugh and cut up, I was struck by a few things and started off down memory lane…

“My Daddy”- always has a story to tell . . . always had his advice for me ready and raring to go (which I used to hate and now I love) . . . loves me unconditionally . . . is the Godliest man I know . . . always always has my best interest at heart and wants nothing in return . . . is always giving out books (books are between $15 and $30 each!) . . . never passes up a chance to teach me something . . . loves to cook . . . passed on his love of flying, photography, all things fast, Jesus and the amazing grace He gives us on a daily basis, reading, the outdoors and traveling.

I love you, Daddy! As I’ve grown older, I see your points, hear you talking (more) even when I don’t want to and love you more every day! Thank you for sticking with me and making sure I did things right the first time! 

(more to come on my mom and brother!)

books and toys

I was just looking at the STACK of books I have on hand (lately) to read…in my copious spare time   Here they are- let me know if you’ve read them or can recommend some more in the same genre!

CSLewis- Mere Christianity, Neil T Anderson- Who I Am in Christ, John Piper- Future Grace (that’s a BIG book!), Francis Chan- Crazy Love: Overwhelmed by a Relentless God, John Piper- Desiring God (again, lots of good reading here, it seems!), John Piper- The Supremacy of Christ in a Postmodern World, Max Lucado- In the Grip of Grace (very excited about reading this one), John Piper- Don’t Waste Your Life, John Piper- Seeing and Savoring Jesus Christ 

On a completely different note, I’m dog-sitting this weekend for a dear friend of mine. He has a 3 or 4 year old red nose pit bull who is a sweet albeit large and clumsy lap dog. He’s a sweet potato. I knew I’d need to have more toys to further the contentment factor and here’s what I found:

 Tennis balls…the wonder toy that keeps everyone happy- including mama!!!

OH, and don’t anybody say anything about the game last night. I agree with my friend Jon- I wish that we could just beat UGA and Bama and move on to next season. It’s just one of those seasons we have to get through and learn from…and try not to repeat! WAR EAGLE!

OPEC??!!

So as oil prices have dropped, so have our gas prices, which we’re all THRILLED about. I think I saw on a local sign (in a different part of the city) that they were down to $2.29 a gallon! WOW!

Well, OPEC’s gotten wind of this (of course- it’s what they do) and they are cutting oil production by 1.5 million barrels a day starting 11/1. How unfair is that? They’re not making the millions of dollars more a day by keeping their freakin’ oil prices high, so they’re cutting production to decrease supply which. Demand doesn’t change, so in turn our gas prices will rise and they’ll be back to making more money while we struggle on a daily basis. They’re never happy, huh? There’s no such thing as too much money in their eyes. Just can’t make enough. So instead of making (hypothetically) $5 million dollars a day, they’re only making $4.3 million dollars a day.

Poor rich OPEC oil giants. They may not have enough money to pay for their gold-encrusted palaces and platinum-plated Bentleys. And their wallets are too small for their fifties and their diamond shoes are too tight.

Nashville to Harrogate to Knoxville to Birmingham

My precious brother had his White Coat ceremony at LMU-DCOM (that’s Lincoln Memorial University- DeBusk College of Osteopathic Medicine) this past weekend. I’m so proud of him and I’m SO glad we were able to be there. The ceremony officially welcomes the students into the medical community, but as the keynote said, the coat doesn’t mean anything. It’s nothing more than a symbol, but it reminds the students each day they wear it (during clinicals and practicals and such) of what they are working toward.

I’m so proud of this kid- he’s going to make such a great doctor. Good job, brother! Keep up the good work!

Here are some of the pictures of the weekend. Oh, and the story- my mom went up Friday night, my dad and I were going to follow when he got back from a trip that afternoon (he’s the pilot for a paving and grading company based out of Tuscaloosa-gag). We ended up NOT leaving that night, but EARLY the next morning. The company needed him to take someone to Nashville and we were able to tack on a flight to Knoxville and then daddy was able to come back home after the ceremony. It was a fast and furious weekend, but it was SO worth it. I’m so proud of my “little” brother!

I’ve got to figure out how to work that Slide.com stuff and get some pictures up here. Until then…this will have to do! 

 This is one of my favorites.

 My sweet brother, the future doctor.

why is Hollywood so liberal?

I don’t “do” politics. Part of me believes that as long as I stay naive, I can’t be swayed one way or another. . . I know what I believe and why, and I believe it’s right. Part of me just doesn’t understand it- no one does what they say they will do, so why should I believe what anybody says?? That said, I don’t “do” politics- but I know in my heart that Obama is wrong for this country! I’m not saying McCain is right, but I know Obama is wrong!  Don’t vote for Obama just because he’s the first black guy who’s made it this far and you think it’s the right thing to do because you don’t want to look back in 4 years and say, “Yep, shoulda voted black…now he’s not ever gonna get that chance again.“   

By the way, the ONLY thing I agreed with Obama on tonight is that he said education in this country needs to have more responsibility placed on the parents- they need to turn off the TV and video games and spend more time with them. I totally agree. I don’t have kids myself, but it seems, widespread, very easy (as I’ve seen in some of my days of babysitting all over the city) to sit your kid in front of the TV and then put them into bed with a night-night story and do it all over again the next day. “Let the teachers do it.” “The teachers will teach them and then they’ll do homework at home.” It doesn’t work like that- and it certainly didn’t work like that when I was growing up. You have them, you brought them into the world, YOU take some responsibility and BE the parent.

Can I just vote for Bob Schieffer for president instead?

Here’s my question: why is all of Hollywood so freakin’ liberal? Why does everybody in Hollywood want Obama in office? How is that they have their voices heard and spead all over this country, but we don’t? I think it has to do with something that we talked about in sociology, and I believe I’ve talked about it before. They are those who shout the loudest and have connections- their social network and areas that they can reach to and through are so much larger and more spread out than are ours, so they can make known whatever they want to make known. They have agents of media that most people can receive- TV, movies, internet, magazines, blogs and of course, the all-important and all-encompassing GOSSIP WAGON. But I don’t understand why people believe them because they’re Hollywood! Who gives a flyin’ flip what they believe just because they’re pretty or handsome, have millions of unwarranted and undeserved dollars in their big, fat bank accounts and can memorize some lines to make a movie??!!

I skimmed over an article that Alec Baldwin, God bless him, wrote about the war between McCain and Obama. He says the following…     On another note, another friend turned to me recently and said, “If Obama is elected, we will have witnessed something truly great in our lifetime.” I agree. We will also witness, I would argue, the death of the civil rights movement as we have understood it these past sixty years. The last, great obstacle to meaningful racial equality in America will vanish, and with it, the yoke, real and perceived, of the limitations of the black experience in our country.

I’ll say it again because I believe it- do NOT vote for the senator from Illinois just because he’s black and can give a great speech that makes your heart bubble over with some feeling you haven’t felt in awhile but you don’t know why.

I’m just SOOOO happy!

I consider this kid one of my best friends in the whole world- even though he didn’t believe in God, I worked with him day in and day out for almost 4 years, and I absolutely adore him. He’s amazing in so many ways- talented, good with people, INCREDIBLY intelligent, good business man, an all-around good guy. But he didn’t know the Lord- in fact didn’t even believe there was a God and if there was, “it wasn’t for him”. Many discussions passed between us about this and how it related to our lives, but I never resigned myself to “it’s just the way he is- there’s no hope.” I wanted so badly for him to know Jesus and understand what I was trying to tell him.

ALL THAT CHANGED LAST WEEK. He called me today to update me on a few things including the fact that last week on 10 October 2008, he heard the call and felt the hand of the Lord and SURRENDERED HIS LIFE TO THE ONE AND ONLY LIVING GOD. I cannot TELL y’all how happy- literally TOTALLY OVERJOYED- I am about this. It just makes me so…I’m awestruck. I’m flabbergasted. I’m looking at a miracle! I am thrilled beyond belief. I told him nothing could make me happier than hearing that news today, to which he, true to himself, said “not even if I had a check sitting on my desk here for a million dollars?” No, baby, not even that. Not even close.

I’m so excited for him, so you children of God out there, please be praying for this kid (I say “kid”, he’s my age…!) as he begins this new phase of his life. I, too, feel like I just started over and feel like a brand-new Christian (after all, it’s only been about 14 months since the same thing happened to me), “learning” things I’ve been taught all my life and finally being able to understand them and put them into practice…so be in prayer for me, as well, if I could ask so much!

PRAISE BE TO THE ONE AND ONLY LIVING GOD, WHO WAS AND IS AND IS TO COME!

I miss my Blackberry!

Well, the unthinkable has happened. OK, it’s not THAT bad, but it’s not fun.

I visited a church today where a friend’s former pastor was speaking. (The church will remain nameless to protect the innocent- or guilty, in this case.) I wasn’t going to take it in, but they were going to be late and didn’t know where they were going (different church, different nursery and kids area)…I was early so I thought I’d scout it out for ‘em. (NO, it’s not their fault, it’s MY fault.) I talked to her just before the service and they were going to be awhile, so I thought I’d go in and get a seat. I went to the restroom before that and then walked in and sat down. About 20 minutes later, I thought “ooooh, I hope they haven’t called b/c they can’t find me…” and I reached down for my phone. Not there. Looked around, tried not to panic, but did anyway. Got up, leaving my Bible, keys and Burts (important stuff, you know…!) on the pew and ran back to the TWO other places I was while at that facility as well. Info desk…nothing. Bathroom…nothing. I sat through the rest of the sermon- which was fabulous, by the way- trying to concentrate on the message and not the fact that the Enemy wanted me to focus on other things so as not to have the message infused into me.

So, of course, I retraced every step 5-8 times, checked and double checked and quadruple-checked the restroom, trash cans (it’s happened to people before) and anything else that was around. I left my numbers and emails and addresses and other people’s names and numbers in case they found it.

Seriously, you can’t use it, so why not just turn it in? Yes, it’s true…I was apparently not paying attention and left it somewhere (or it was stolen from the pew in plain sight of others), but it’s NOT YOURS! It’s mine! I paid for it, I take care of it, I pay the bill every month and it has ALL of MY information in it. It does you no good whatsoever because it’s attached to my account- which means the ESN is attached to me and unusable. You can’t use it! Just turn it in like any person AT CHURCH should do.

So frustrating…

what can wash away my sin?

NOTHING but the blood of Jesus. What can make me whole again? Nothing but the blood of Jesus. Oh, PRECIOUS is the flow that makes me white as snow. No other fount I know, nothing but the blood of Jesus. . . . . NOTHING can for sin atone, nothing but the blood of Jesus. Naught of good that I have done, nothing but the blood of Jesus.

Just one of my favorites.

ranting and raving

Maybe I’m just hormonal, but I doubt it- I’m pretty good about knowing the difference now. 

First of all, this freakin’ bailout bill. The Senate passed it (good for you, boys- our hard-earned tax dollars at work, everybody!) and the House will vote on it on Friday. I don’t know much about politics and the economy…and not near as much about our government as I should. However: when 70-90% of our nation is unhappy, dare I say angry and fearful, of what our government is doing…it makes me wonder. Of all the things I’ve seen and read over the past few days, Dave Ramsey’s plan, The Common Sense Fix, is the best plan I’ve seen so far. I don’t know anything about it, so I have to trust someone whom I KNOW does…cause I sure don’t trust my congress, senators and representatives.

Speaking of, aren’t they called representatives for a reason?  WHO THE CRAP ARE THEY REPRESENTING???  Themselves- their own interests, whatever they think goes. We talked about it in sociology last night- he who shouts the loudest and shows up to all the meetings is the one who gets his legislation passed (ex: the bailout, moms and dads at PTA meetings and board meetings, city hall and municipal meetings, etc.). You can’t ”win” unless you’re there, you can’t have a voice unless you’re there, hence the reason we elect these leaders…to make our voices known. I DON’T HEAR OUR VOICES MAKING ANY IMPACT- DO YOU??? I don’t recall being asked what I thought about the bailout. I don’t remember anyone calling or sending me a letter or an email or having ANY kind of meeting about what I thought of this mess we’re in. Did I miss that? (On another note, Jeff Sessions and Richard Shelby both voted against it. Here’s the list of people that voted ”nay” with them-  http://www.c-span.org/pdf/Senators%20Voting%20Nay.pdf). If your senator is on there, call, write or email your guy (or girl, Elizabeth Dole!) and thank them profusely.

Second, I am so SICK of laziness- laziness in our lives, laziness in our work but most of all laziness in customer service. Now, I will be the first to admit that the past 3 years of my life have not been the most productive, especially physically. I regret that, but I’ve also learned from it. I am SO tired of hearing half-assed “words”, strewn together to form a “sentence”, asking me if she heard my order correctly. I am so TIRED of hearing what they did over the weekend or who told what to whom at the concert…when they’re LITERALLY standing behind the counter within certain earshot. UNPROFESSIONAL. I am so TIRED of hearing profanity among co-workers pretending to work not 2 feet from me, not caring a bit that they are THERE at work, getting paid to do a job and provide a service for someone else. Don’t give me a free meal, don’t make excuses for the shotty job your employee did on making my meal. The fact that she missed something requires your attention! S/he wasn’t paying attention, probably because she was gossipping with one of her friends, throwing straw wrappers at the maintenance guy (who, incidentally, is doing a better job at work than SHE is) or maybe she just doesn’t care. Either way, she wasn’t paying attention and messed up- REPEATEDLY. That’s one of my BIGGEST pet peeves ever, probably because it was ingrained into my brain and tattooed on my every action growing up.  Step up and be a leader, a manager, an owner and tell them what they’re doing wrong- or I will! I have no problem telling someone when their service is bad- whether they’re getting paid $7.00 and hour or $50 an hour. If it sucks, it sucks, no matter how much you’re getting paid for it. If they don’t learn it at home, they’ll learn it out in the world…and I’ll be happy to be their teacher.

Third- our new curfew. For those of you who don’t know, the city of Birmingham has just adopted a brand-new curfew (this mainly on the heels of an early, early morning shooting downtown that left 3 people dead). Young people under the age of 17 who are not with their parents or at a school-sanctioned event must be out of public places by 9:00 p.m. Sundays through Thursdays and on weekends, they must be home by 11:00 p.m. I say, hallelujah. At least someone’s trying to do something about it- instead of saying “get your kids home” or “parents need to take the reins”, now there are consequences. If the minor is found breaking the curfew, he will be returned and HIS PARENTS will be fined $500 for the first offense- and second if they are so unfortunate. The third time brings an additional $500 fine and possible jail time. I guess we’ll see how the city enforces this new curfew in the coming days, weeks and months. It’s a start, Birmingham.