Another Final Taco Tuesday

It's hard to believe, but our time in Mississippi has come to an end. People told us two years would go by fast. Turns out they were right. What a great two years! We made the best friends we could have asked for and Jason is done (almost) with seminary! Before we left, our friends took us out for another final Taco Tuesday.  Our teacher friends planned the night, so instead of homemade tacos, we went to one of our favorite little Mexican places, Margaritas. We were 8 minus 2 since the Walkers are in Canada, but we saved them seats at the table and pretended they were with us anyway. We love these people!!

Happy Birthday

For my birthday this year, we went to the Clinton-Madison Central football game complete with a tail gate party, got subs from our favorite sandwich shop, and had a girls slumber party! Great day with great friends :)

What a happy way to start the day! Love you Ash!

You will never see me in orange and blue again.

Clinton fans!

Tail gate party

Mmmmmm!

BWaits and LoLo....so cute!!

Cheese!

Go Jags!!

Thanks for the cookie cake Ash!!

Slumber party!

Lights, Camera, Action

Well, we got a taste of Hollywood a few weeks ago! We got to be extras in a movie! We're not allowed to blog about our experiences on set, but they did let us take pictures in wardrobe, so I thought I'd share a few. The first few pics are me and Jason driving to the site. Had to be there at 5:00 a.m. with hair in rollers. Kind of fun.

Is this how  you do rollers?

I've done high school musicals. This will be pretty much the same, right?

Getting our 60's on

The hairdo

Pretty maids all in a row

Straight out of '63, right?

Nice pantyhose and ugly shoes. Get this girl some heels please!

We made lots of friends waiting in line for hair and makeup. She's ready!

She's a Jacksonian!

Smile ladies!

Smoked my first cigarette in this movie with Dee Dee's husband Lee. No tobacco or nicotine. 

The actors after a hard day "at work".

Wanna walk?

L-E-T-S-G-O!

Another favorite thing about Mississippi has been running (walking) with Ashley and Krystle. I have always hated running, but Krystle runs almost every day, and Ashley was a college athlete who has no fear of a few laps. I got tired of paying for my gym membership and was looking for a free exercise plan, and I got up the courage to go running with Krystle for the first time last winter. She told me she didn't run very fast, so I thought I would try fast-walking to keep up with her. Turns out its actually much easier to jog than it is to fast-walk while someone else is jogging. So that started my running career. Ash and I went faithfully during the winter months, all bundled up in hats, gloves, and scarves. Krystle came with us whenever she felt like getting two workouts in one day since she already went with another group of girls in the mornings. So the running went really well through the winter and spring. And then Ash decided it was easier to talk and visit if we just walked instead. I didn't argue (although those months of running put me in the best shape I can ever remember being in). By the time summer rolled around, it was too hot to be outside unless you were in the pool, and Ash started P90X, so I lost her for a while. Krystle would still go with me sometimes since the heat doesn't tend to bother Arizonians.  The run/walk will always be a fond memory of my Mississippi sisters.

Krystle's running shoes :)

Feel the burn!

Starbucks Girls



Dee Dee



Friends. They have been the best part of our time in Mississippi. Long before we moved here, we started praying that God would provide friends for us. Good friends. His answers were beyond our expectations--precious lifelong friendships. I also prayed for an accountability partner--a girlfriend that would be a confidant, someone to pray with, who would encourage my relationship with Christ, and help me become a better wife to my husband, who would be willing to ask me the hard questions and let me do all the same for her. As iron sharpens iron, so one sharpens another.And so I prayed.  





Calm Tea and a Chai Tea Latte!



Well, the answer to this prayer turned out to be my next door neighbor :) She and her husband were one of the first couples we met when we moved in, and before too long, she asked me if I wanted to meet together. Every week since then we have had a standing appointment on each other's calendars. Starbucks is always our meeting place. We are regulars. They know we want our drinks "in a mug, for here"...no styrafoam. A real mug really creates a nicer experience; you should try it. Dee Dee sometimes orders me a water. I hate water, but she doesn't care. She knows I need it. She is good for me.

So every week, we sip on our coffee (or tea, as the case may be), talk about our week,  discuss a chapter from whatever book we've been reading together (Respectable Sins by Jerry Bridges, Sweet and Bitter Providence by John Piper, Creative Counterpart by Linda Dillow, Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster, Prodigal God by Tim Keller) share prayer requests, and laugh. Always laugh. Oh how I love this girl.

Gone to Restroom

So I went to visit Karis and the Almys at the hospital the other night. I stayed for about an hour, and when it was time to leave, it was dark outside. The hospital is not in the best neighborhood; I happen to work there, and we are always getting emails about burglaries. I walked quickly to my car and pulled up to the guard shack to pay. When I found a dollar bill in my wallet, I looked up to give it to the parking attendant. Only there was no parking attendant. The guard shack was empty. I noticed a piece of paper stuck to the shack window, so I leaned out to read it: "Gone to Restroom. Be Right Back". What????  You're kidding, right? Am I on candid camera? Can they do this to me? Aren't they supposed to empty their bladders before their shift, avoid excessive liquid intake, and leave only in extreme emergencies after calling for backup? Surely you can't just leave a parking lot full of people trapped behind a wooden gate arm. And yet, gate guard, I think you just did. So what do I do? Sitting here behind this gate while the guard goes pee pee and grabs a coke and maybe takes a smoke break on the tobacco free campus is not an option. We are in Jackson Mississippi. The crime rate is outrageous, it is nighttime, I am a girl, I am by myself, and I don't have a gun. How do I get out of here? Can I make it around the closed gate arm? Oooh, that would be sneaky. I wonder if I will get caught on a security camera. I'm eyeballing it. I think my little car can fit. I hesitate, but only for a second. Here goes....slowly, slowly...don't hit the gate...or the curb....a little further...yep, made it. So maybe I owe the gate guard a dollar, but maybe I don't because he broke the social contract between us when he left me alone to fend for myself in that parking lot. Gone to Restroom. Be Right Back? Leave at your own risk, gate guard. I do not to pause in scary places for potty breaks.

Karis

Our friends, Katie and Trevor Almy, have a little girl, Karis, with a neurological disorder called Krabbe Disease. Karis was born on June 29. 2009 a seemingly healthy baby. When she was about 6 months old, she starting having trouble holding food down, stopped eating, began to experience delays in development and was diagnosed with Krabbe. Now she has a feeding tube, is on daily pain medication, and always has lots of doctor and therapy appointments. God opened a door for the Almys to participate in a study at UNC recently where they found out that Karis doesn't have the typical Krabbe gene mutation responsible for the disease's high infant mortality rate, but she does have fluid on her brain which is unrelated to the Krabbe and could be causing some of Karis's developmental problems. Karis is back in the hospital awaiting brain surgery to insert a shunt for the fluid.  This family's unwavering faith is amazing; through all their pain and suffering, they continue to care for their daughter, acknowledge God's sovereignty, and trust His plan for their lives. Please lift Karis up in prayer at 6:29 whenever you think of her (6/29 is her birthday, so this is a neat way to remember each day). Read more about the Almys at karisalmy.com

Update 09/13/10: Karis was admitted for surgery today, a day earlier than expected due to an opening in the schedule (answer to prayer). Surgery was a success and she is recovering back in her hospital room. Doctors expect she will be able to go home later this week. Praise God! Please continue to pray for a quick recovery.