Final Exams: My First Experience

Well, I must say that my first college experience with final exams went well. I took both my French and my history exam on the same evening last Tuesday about thirty minutes apart. Basically, I was testing from around 5:30 p.m. to around 9:20 p.m. since I finished early. I must say, however, that I found it a little disconcerting to be interrupted twice by my history professor with rather trivial questions during the exam. I guess I had the misconception that you were supposed to be allowed the entire testing time with relative quiet without interruption to be able to regurgitate those answers necessary to acquire a satisfactory grade. I was proven sadly wrong. On the first occasion of interruption I was trying to remember the answer for a multiple choice question with something to do about a riot in New York in 1863 caused by a Conscription Act and what other cause. I suddenly had the feeling of someone hovering over me and looked up to see my professor looking at me at which time he asked, "The guy that used to sit by you in class, has he been in class lately?" I must admit I was rather dumbfounded at this question in the midst of trying to take an exam and immediately tried to switch my thoughts from 1863 to the present. I answered something like I thought he had been, but I wasn't sure. He then went and asked my TA and after being satisfied with a good answer from her, continued his walk around the rather large, full classroom (it was probably the fullest it had been since the first day of class). I then turned my attention back to the test and decided on a good answer for the above described question and began again to try to conquer this final. A little later as I was working on an essay on the Reconstruction in the South after The War Between The States, I was yet again interrupted this time by a tapping on my desk with a rolled up unused final. I again looked up to see my professor again standing over me. This time he completely surprised me by asking if I thought I was going to get an A in this course. In the midst of trying to switch tracks from Reconstruction to this question it took me a minute to respond in which I told him that I thought I was going to while in the back of my mind thinking that if he didn't let me finish his final I definitely wouldn't. Satisfied by this response, he proceeded on with his walking around the classroom watching for any possible cheaters. I, of course, was left with the task of trying to switch my brain back into gear. My train of thought doesn't take it so well having to stop suddenly to take on rather unnecessary questions. I was able to remember what I was trying to prove in my argument about Reconstruction and continue on with the exam. I finished the exam with plenty of time to spare and glad to be over with it. The French exam went well though I found it rather strange to hear kids talking about how hard it is to drive while one is high. I must say that that was a strange topic to be discussing when preparing to remember everything we'd learned in our French course. Nonetheless, I was able to conquer that test. After I finished, I walked back to my dorm room about to explode with excitement. However, I waited until I got there because I didn't want to alarm anyone on this cold night by jumping up and down screaming that I'd survived by the grace of God! I also needed to use some caution since it was late at night and I was walking back in the dark. Poor Joy had to endure my excitement while she tried to study for an Interior Design exam. To quiet myself, I turned on a movie with headphones and had some fun snacking. The next morning, I began a Ministry of Silly Walks (as Monty Python would most likely call it) by covering the floor with boxes and other items in an effort to get ready to move back home for three weeks. So, that is where I am right now besides going to work everyday. Ah.....I'm loving this......

You Are What You Eat!

YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT!

This was a project done by my roommate at the beginning of the semester. Basically, she had to combine an organic and an inorganic object together to mean something. The result was somewhat humorous to say the least. I'll never forget how funny it was having three girls (my roommate, a friend of ours, and me) trying to pry open Barbie to amputate her legs, arms, and head! We ended up having to use a pick with a hammer trying to undo her. Goodness, when they put Barbie together, they really put her together!

Evening Ponderings

As I sit here taking my vitamins as is my evening ritual before going to bed (I have to try to stay in as an exceptional state of health as possible seeing that on a college campus one can never tell what he might pick up), I can't help but wonder at a rather strange contradiction I've witnessed here at college or is it a misunderstanding? I'm not sure which.

Any of you who know me well enough know that I do not believe in celebrating Christmas. I'm not going to get into that in this particular blog post basically because that wasn't the entire substance of what I'm pondering at the moment. Okay, I am in a choir here at college and as a result, I've recently sung some Christmas carols as they are called (Yes, it a little ironic singing "We Wish You A Merry Christmas" when I don't even celebrate the holiday). What I find strange is that we were allowed to sing such hymns as "Hark, the Herald Angel Sings" and "O Come All Ye Faithful" when just saying the words to a lot of such hymns at a public high school graduation could get one sued since it mentions Jesus Christ and Him being King.

Here on a college campus, it seems there is a constant push to try to make Christianity conform to all the other religions out there or to be more tolerant. When preparing to write my last English paper, in the list of forbidden topics, I was interested to notice that all references to God or the Bible were strictly forbidden. Why then is it all right for our choir to sing these beautiful hymns giving glory to God in front of thousands of people at a ceremony to light a bunch of Christmas lights on campus, but it's not acceptible to mention Him in an English paper?

Pictures, Everyone!

Step on in to our lovely abode! The above is our very nice wooden door with our names posted on it, so that everyone knows who lives in the room. Course, maybe it's just because we girls like cute signs!
Okay, our room wasn't in the best of order when I was taking these pictures, but it was about the best I could do at the time. Aren't the curtains cute? My roommate's mom made them. The bed on the right is mine.
This is a better look at my corner with my wall hangings and such. We're not allowed to nail things on the wall, so they give us hooks to hang things off the border that goes around the room.
The above is our lovely sink. It looks a little empty at the moment because I had removed my stuff to head home for the weekend.
This is our nice kitchenette. :) The coffee pot is essential to my survival as a college student. Many thanks to the kind person who bestowed it upon me for a graduation present! I finally replaced the fridge that wasn't working! This one works quite well and I'm quite satisfied with it. It actually keeps things cold!!!!

Ah, yes, this is our lovely Milkdud. He's the little friend Joy brought along to guard her computer and printer. Doesn't he look nice and tough with his big Audrey Hepburn sunglasses on? He's a nice little dude and gets along quite well with Chou Chou the pink bear that guards my bed during the day.

Well, I hope you enjoyed the tour of my room! Now let me show you my work of art from the other day. Course, maybe I should instead call it artful disarray!
I was at the time studying for a history exam, listening to some music, and trying to finish a paper. I thought it just looked so interesting how everything was placed and just couldn't resist snapping a picture.
Well, I may try to post more pictures later, but at the moment I have some history to read. Hope everyone is having a good week! God bless!

Doing the College Thing

Ah.....yes, good ole college. You know, where you study more, sleep less, and hope you remembered everything you were supposed to for that exam. Nothing quite like it, I must say. So far it hasn't been that bad. This past history exam, I studied so much I felt like I was going to overflow with all this information and was almost dying to take the test just to unload my overflowing brain! Now as soon as I've almost recovered from the last exam, I now have to rev up for another one next week. Isn't college wonderful!
Well, let's see. I don't have that many funny stories to tell about college life so far. I guess one funny thing is how my roommate has found out just how deep I can sleep. She often has to stay up late working on art projects while I try to at least have a short visit in Lala Land and on a few occasions she has dropped things that made a loud crash. According to her, I didn't even wake up or stir. I guess the only rather annoying thing pertaining to this is that I have on occasion caught myself talking in French in my sleep which of course cannot be a good habit. Course, maybe it isn't so bad since no one would know what I was saying anyway unless they knew French. ;)
I guess the main thing about college that bothers me so far is just the complete absence of morality and decency. I remain shocked at the profanity I hear and see all around me. I've been told that I will become adjusted to it, but do I really want to become adjusted to it? Shouldn't I be shocked at the worldliness around me? Some may say I was overprotected as a child, but I personally think that I was well-protected. What I find extremely shocking and even perturbing happened one day in my history discussion class at the beginning of the semster. We were doing a group activity examining one of our assigned readings that we would afterwards present to the class. Being a homeschooler, I still don't quite get the concept of group activities, but I'm learning. I was sitting there writing notes on the different ideas that the people in our group were voicing on what our particular reading entailed when one of the girls looked at me and said why you *beep* *beep*, what are you doing? I, of course, was shocked and just stared at her trying to collect the thoughts that had just been blasted out of my mind by her profane statement. She then said she was just teasing and wanted to know what I was writing. What kind of teasing is that? Really, I see that as insulting! I probably should have told her as much, but I was too shocked to say much. What kind of society teaches kids to "tease" that way?
Oh, well, I shall go for now. Lala Land sounds better every minute. Besides Chou Chou *pronounced shoo shoo* (means cabbage, cabbage in French), my little pink bear is probably getting impatient for a good sleep. Course, what else does the little guy do, but sleep all day, but that's beside the point!
God bless everyone and have a good week!

I Will Survive!

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Yes, I am surviving here at college! Hopefully, I'll fare better than the poor alien. Course, I often laugh that instead of a disco ball falling on me it would probably be a filing cabinet since I nearly had one fall on me at work the other day. Yes, 'tis true. I was just having one of those days and well, gravity decided to demonstrate that yes, it still does work. The accountant whose office I was working in at the time, caught it thankfully.
I have successfully with the Lord's help survived five weeks being on a university campus! The first four weeks were very rough. I was extremely homesick and really struggling with a lot of stress. I've never experienced anything quite like college and it really threw me for a curve. I am finally getting to where I can eat normally now. When I become stressed I can't eat, so I've joked that I'll probably lose my freshman 15 rather than gain it. I am getting my appetite back though and I think as each week goes by that it will get better.
I'm enjoying many of my classes. My French professor is rather interesting. She's from Africa and is a native speaker of French. She can be a little hard to understand sometimes with her strong accents. She was very excited when she found out that I am a French major.
I do have a history professor who enjoys making predestination and Calvinism look pretty ridiculous. I can't help but pity the man. He is interesting to listen to though when he's not dicussing his views on Calvinism and topics related to it. He often goes on rabbit trails and draws "maps" on the board that look like some sort of weird animals or scribbles. The class I take with him has about 450 other people in it. It was a little intimidating at first, but I'm pretty used to it now.
Probably my favorite class is University Choir. I'm really enjoying that! It's kind of my stress reliever. It is a bit of challenge trying to read the normal notes being so used to shape notes. I usually just have to figure out what my part is by listening to those around me. So far, it's going okay. I'm looking forward to our concert in November with much excitement.
My roommate and I have entered our room into the best dressed room contest! We are really hoping we win because the winning room receives a grand prize of $200! Being poor college students, our mouths water at such a grand sum! :) Yes, I know you'd like to see pictures of the room, but truthfully I haven't gotten around to taking pictures of it! I'll try to sometime soon when I can find the time and our room looks presentable. ;)
Being a college student I have finally truly realized the significance and importance of FREE FOOD! I love free food! It's one of the best things you can get as a poor college student whose fridge is no longer working. Yes, little Mr. Haier decided to give out on me about three weeks into classes. He ruined my yogurt and his only use at the moment is to hold our magnets. I'm hoping to replace him as soon as is feasible!
Ah well, I guess I'll go for now. I'll try to post when I can, but you'll have to forgive the very possible time lapses between posts. The Lord bless you all!

Some Deep Thoughts from a Year Ago

This is part of my journal entry from September 5, 2006. Reading The Beehive's most recent post made me decide to share this with you. It kind of relates to what Miss Fa and I are going through.

Tuesday, September 5, 2006

The door into adulthood is opened so gradually that unknowingly we one day glance up to see the door standing wide open. With excitement we come to the threshold and stare with wonder at what is ahead in the world of Adulthood. Yet as we gaze with excitement we can't help but look back at the wonderful times of childhood and chuckle at some of our childish ideas or games. We think solemnly of some of the important lessons we learned during that tender time. Yet, we musn't spend much time looking back and must look to what is ahead. So, with a little fear and tension we cross over the threshold into adulthood never to walk back over that same threshold again. The door of childhood has been closed, but we may gaze back through a window called Memory and recall those happy, carefree days. With God's help and grace we will spend the rest of our lives toiling in that world of adulthood until He calls us to one last threshold called Heaven. He often gives us glimpses of that great place to help us on. We musn't despair when times do become rough, for all this is just temporary. We should ever press that Mark and follow Christ's leading and we will not lose our way as we travel through to that last threshold. With His help we will make it through and may God bless all those about to cross that threshold into the world of Adulthood.

PS. I will post pictures soon!

Yes, I'm Alive!

I have officially moved into my dorm! It went well and our room is starting to look more like a room rather than a storage closet. I do promise that I will post pictures once I get a chance. What's campus life like? Well, I must say that it is very different from what I'm used to, course I'd expected that. I guess the hardest part is being away from home and my comfort zone, if you know what I mean. Pretty much today I've just stayed close to my dorm room as much as possible. I prefer that. I'm not sure who I can trust, so I haven't talked to very many people besides my roommate, my CA, and the people at work. Strangely enough I felt the most comfortable at work today probably because it's about the most familiar thing I have at the moment. Please keep all of us college students in your prayers.
Mainly, for this post I just want to leave you with a verse that seemed to pop out at me about a month ago as I was contemplating what college would be like.

"Beware, lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ." ~Colossians 2:8

I Would Like to Present....

The newest honorary memeber of the Stacey's Niece and Nephew Club!

This new member was born on August third at 12:55 a.m. weighing 8lbs and 9oz and 20 7/8 in. long. His name is Joseph Judah and he's as cute as can be. He looks just like a certain brother of mine....:) His other siblings as well as his Aunt Stacey are delighted to have him in the family.

Now some of you are probably wondering what the guidelines are for being a member of this little club of mine. There are currently seven members, but we hope to grow in numbers over the next several years. The guidelines are the following:

1. You must be the child of one of my five siblings.

2. You must not mind being kissed and hugged by Aunt Stacey.

3. You must love Aunt Stacey and all the other members of this club.

4. You must be well-behaved and obedient.

5. You must have a good sense of humor and love to giggle and be tickled. ;)

6. We must meet at least once a year and have a jolly good time. :D

They're not hard guidelines to follow and it's always fun for all involved. :) For, of course, you must know all club members love Aunt Stacey!

I was in a semiconscious state early this morning when suddenly....

I heard the garage door open! I was in my friend's house alone and didn't know what to do! The house is probably being robbed I thought! Should I panick? Should I scream? Nah...I'll just go back to sleep.
I know it sounds cowardly, but I really wasn't quite awake at all. I can't really think right if half my brain is still asleep. Then I heard this Celtic music playing, you know, the kind that makes you want to slip even further into subconsciouness. Then the thought popped into my head: Wait a minute! If someone was breaking into Shanna's house, they wouldn't be playing Celtic music! (That is unless they're extremelely weirdly Irish and must do a jig while plummaging their victim's house.) I then realized that it was only Shanna returning from work and I could calmly enjoy my last thirty minutes of sleep. Ah..........
*Beep Beep, Beep Beep, Beep Beep*
That is, of course, until one of the most hated noises in the world disturbed my slumber. "Oh, yeah, I'm supposed to go to work today....." So, I jump --Uh, well actually, the right word would be: drag myself out of bed and try to wake myself. I then go about trying to prepare myself for yet another day of work besides the fact that I've got to pack up my things to return home for a night. I did triumphantly make it out the door or rather garage door by 9:05 a.m.! Aren't you proud of me? I also arrived at work at 9:30 and was able to get in thirty minutes extra work. It was also nice not to have to keep circling the parking lot this morning trying in vain to find a parking space. That's just campus life for you, I suppose.
I do enjoy my work. I work in the accounting building on campus as a student assistant. Doesn't it sound nice so far? It's relatively quiet besides the constant sound of the keyboard and scanner. There's probably about 10 accountants in the hall where I mainly work. Many of them can be pretty nutty and are enjoyable to work with. I do several miscellaneous jobs not limited to scanning and indexing documents which includes arguing with the troublesome scanner, mail run, making labels for files (which can be a little tedious and sometimes frustrating), filing, filing, and more filing, mailing out documents after they've been put in order, and whatever other little jobs they hunt up for me to do. It was pretty humorous yesterday when our power went out. I was in the middle of printing some labels when suddenly the lights blinked and everything just quit. It took about an hour to finally get the power back on, but even then the computers were still not really working. So, we sat around labeling files until I left to head back to Shanna's. It definitely hasn't been boring! I must say, though, this job has been an answer to prayer! I don't have to work on weekends and they close at five! I hope everyone else is doing well! God bless

A Prayer Request

My Grandmother whom I mentioned earlier is not doing well. She has Alzheimer's and lately has been refusing to eat or drink. As a result, she has become very weak. We have thus canceled our plans to attend the Memphis meeting and will be heading to Georgia to see her. I would like to ask for an interest in your prayers at this time. We will have to be home by Monday because I start my new job on Tuesday though, so it will be a very quick trip. Yes, I did get the job I mentioned! What an answer to prayer getting that job is. I'll talk to you more about that later.
Please keep Grandmother in your prayers and us in your prayers as we travel to see her. Thank you and God bless you all!

An Answer to Prayer

Grandmother has greatly improved! It really seemed like she was not going to make it and we had packed up the car and were headed to Georgia to try to see her before she passed away. About three hours down the road my uncle called and said that Grandmother would be fine and that we could turn around and go back home. We were, of course, stunned because the call before had really sounded as if she wasn't going to make it through the surgery she was going to have to have. The doctors were able to stop the bleeding she was having a problem with and told my uncle that she could go home the next day.
We were not really sure what to do, so we pulled into a Dairy Queen and parked to eat the lunches we had made. Afterwards, we went inside and got a Blizzard. We did some discussing over our Blizzard and came to the decision to just go ahead and go back home. It's amazing how a Blizzard can help you think! Maybe it has something to do with getting a brain freeze. ;) Anyway, that's exactly what we did. So, our joke of the day was that we drove three hours just to get a Dairy Queen Blizzard!
Since we've been home we've basically made a mess of our house trying to prepare it to get sprayed for fleas. Yes, we have fleas! Wonderful little black balls of misery! Our five kittens that we gave away decided to leave us something to remember them by. The exterminator said that the spray he used should completely get rid of them within two to three weeks. That would be nice since I'm a little tired of all my flea bites. I really find it funny that I've gotten bit more here at home more than I did at Camp. C'est la vie!
Well, on to more pleasant topics.....
It does appear that God has provided me with a job on campus. If I do indeed get the job they'll want me to start on August first. I'm really excited about it because I've prayed and prayed for the Lord to provide me with a job and it really will be an answer to prayer!
My hopes are to attend Grace Chapel's meeting next week, Lord willing. I look forward to seeing many of you there. I also look forward to some wonderful preaching and fellowship.
May the Lord bless each of you with a wonderful week!

A Special Hymn

This is my grandmother's favorite Sacred Harp hymn. It is number 328 in the 1991 edition of the Sacred Harp hymnal. Grandmother is having some serious health problems at the moment and is in the hospital. Please keep her in your prayers.

Praise God

Words by Charles Wesley, 1742
Music by S.M. Denson, 1911

Oh, for a heart to praise my God,
A heart from sin set free;
A heart that’s sprinkled with His blood,
So freely shed for me.

Oh, for a heart submissive, meek,
My great Redeemer’s throne;
Where only Christ is heard to speak,
Where Jesus reigns alone.

Oh, for an humble, contrite heart,
Believing, true and clean,
Which neither life nor death can part
From Him that dwells within.

A heart in every thought renewed,
And full of love divine;
Perfect, and right, and pure, and good,
A copy Lord of thine.

My Obituary *teehee*

'What" will your obituary say?' at QuizGalaxy.com

Snapshots of Camp

Fun in the Mud


I'm A Survivor!
The Battle!

"I am smitten!" said King Ahab
Watermelon Eating Contest

Yes, I must say that it was a wonderful week at Camp! The theme this year was the sovereignty of God. I really got a lot out of the wonderful sermons that were preached and Brother Zack lead a very good Bible study. I must say though, my toes were stepped on during many of those sermons and I see some areas in my life that I really need to work on.

One of the greatest highlights of Camp for me was Quiet Time with our group. Two of my friends and I had the 6-8 year old girls and we had a wonderful week together. I was a little nervous about being a counselor for the first time, but the Lord really answered my prayers for our little group. Now I have a lot of little friends and I hope that they will remember some of what we talked about during the week and use it in their lives. If nothing else, they did learn a new song that they can sing to themselves! :)

Okay, those of you who weren't at Camp are probably staring at the picture of the Challenger Survivor sticker and wondering what that's supposed to mean. I shall quickly explain! Brother Abraham F. started something new this year called "The Challenge". Basically, he lead us in intensive aerobic exercises and a little running for about thirty minutes or more early in the morning. I don't think I'll ever forget having Sister Judy as a leap frog partner! Most of us who braved The Challenge all week were very sore afterwards. Usually the indicator as to who had been doing The Challenge was if they groaned when they stood up after sitting for a while. I'm trying to continue The Challenger here at home though definately not to the same degree.

On a different note, I would like to shout "HALLELUJAH!!!!" through cyberspace. THE IMMIGRATION BILL DIDN'T PASS!!!!!! Oh, I was so relieved that it didn't!! What an answer to prayer!

Have a wonderful weekend, everybody, and God bless!

Out and About Again

Well, I shall be departing tomorrow and will be gone for about a week and a half, Lord willing. I hope to see many of you in my travels. I shall thus leave you to behold a picture of a beautiful Texas sunset. I hope everyone enjoys their summer!

A Solemn Oath

" I, Justin ......., do solemnly sware to defend the Constitution....... "

Yes, nearly a month ago my older brother officially joined the National Guard. It was a very solemn day for all of us that witnessed his being sworn in. He will go to basic training in October and then AIT for about six months or so. If you really want the intricate details, ask him. I'm afraid I'll say something wrong. Anyway, it was quite a day for all of us who went, namely myself, my younger brother and my mom. We went down to Houston which was quite a journey and found our way to the MEPS building.
Since we had arrived early we were taking pictures of some of the buildings around and then of the MEPS building itself. Suddenly, while Mom was taking a picture of the MEPS building a security guard came out and kindly asked what we were doing. We quickly explained why we were there and what we were doing. He said that it was all right for us to take pictures, he just had to know why for security reasons. I was relieved! I was afraid he would take our cameras away or something. He then escorted us into the building.
The three of us sat in the visitors lounge after signing in and glanced around at magazines. About an hour or two later Justin came in and visited with us for a little while and then had to leave. Around lunch time Justin came in and said that his recruiter would be glad to take us to lunch or show us the way there. After some discussion, we kindly accepted his offer. He was very nice and interesting to talk to. I was quite relieved that he didn't try any recruiting tactics on me! He bought us lunch and we had a nice visit while munching on some Chick-fil-a sandwhiches (Oh, those things are soooo good!!!).
About an hour after we arrived back at the building from lunch, Justin was sworn in. It's quite a sobering ceremony to watch. When the colonel told Justin that he had one last chance to dash for the door before he swore him in, I was thinking to myself, "Come on, Justin, run for it!!!!", but he didn't. Yet, I'm happy he's found what he feels he wants to do in life and wish him well!
By the way, sorry it's taken me nearly a month to get this up here! We've had technical problems here at our little resort! I've also been pretty busy. God bless!!!

Makes You Wonder Sometimes

Hey I recently got this in an email and thought ya'll might get a smile from it like I did.

--Go to Google.com

--Click on Maps.

--Click on Get Directions.

--From New York, New York

--To Paris, France.

--And read line # 23.

See if it makes you laugh. :D

Out and About

Howdy!
Hmmm....hard to believe it's been two months since I last posted. Oh, well, it's been busy! I actually started a post around a month ago, but never finished it. Well, you're probably wondering what's been going on in the life of so peculiar a person. Now, shall I keep you in suspense or give a brief run down?

*readers give me a pleading puppy look*

Oh, all right, I relent. Well, let's see. The last time I posted was in February. Well, mostly during February I was busy trying to get things working with the college I'm planning to attend this fall. Unfortunately our computer doesn't like their website (it's a loyal Aggie computer), so I had a lot of problems signing up for new student orientation and such. I must say, I got to know the guys over at I.T. very well! We finally got things fixed by having to register for various things over the phone. The rest of the month I spent trying to catch up on the school work that I had gotten behind on after being gone. I think I've pretty much caught up now, thank heavens!!
March went by in a whirlwind literally!!! We had one of the worst dust storms I've seen since we moved out here at the beginning of the month. It was terrible when we went to go clean the church because so much of the dust seeped in. Not to mention all the dust and tumbleweeds that showed up at our house. We had at least a dozen tumbleweeds from the door of the house to the garage. Then came all the showers!!!! We had the more rain this past March than had ever been recorded in the history of our area!
I attended a church meeting during March with some friends of mine and greatly enjoyed myself. We did the usual thing you do at meetings. You know, enjoy good sermons, eat good food if not too much food, enjoy good singing, have great fellowship, stay up late, drink lots of caffeine to stay up late, get really hyper,........ maybe I should stop there! *wink* Really, there's nothing like a good PB church meeting! Wouldn't you agree?
Well, this week has gone well so far. I received my first birthday card this past Saturday from me brother Stephen and my first birthday gift just yesterday. Wow! It's weird getting on up in years per se. :D Well, I hope everyone has a wonderful week!!! God bless!

An Empty Place

An Empty Place

I went to Granny’s house today,
And a lot of family was gathered there;
Although we acted jovial and happy,
We all knew why we’d come;
It was because of an empty place.

As we talked of happy memories
And times gone past;
We’d all become silent
Thinking of the one
Who used to fill that empty space.

We’d all be congregated in one room
Talking again of lighter things,
When once again we’d become silent
Almost expecting a funny remark
From that empty place in the room.

Although we all miss
The person who filled that place,
We would not wish him back;
For he has filled a place
At the feet of Jesus.

(In memory of my PawPaw)

I wrote most of this poem the day PawPaw died. It helped get some of my feelings onto paper. PawPaw was a strong, gentle man with an incredible sense of humor. He was the kind of man that worked behind the scenes and didn't much like being put in the spotlight for doing what he knew needed to be done. There's no one like PawPaw and no one who will ever be just like him. As one of the preachers said at his funeral, PawPaw served his generation. We all deeply miss you, PawPaw, but we are thankful that you are no longer suffering and are happy with Jesus!

Smile!

Lassie, Come Home!

Yes, I'm back! I was gone for two weeks on a "Southern tour" per se. I also have been sick most of this past week, so understandably haven't been on here. I'm recovering well and believe that I shall survive! Jesse is doing very well if any of you are wondering. There looks to be a very good possibility of his skin graft taking.
I traveled with my sister's family to Georgia a couple of weeks ago. I must say that it was an interesting trip. We arrived at my oldest brother's house and enjoyed our stay there. One night I sat down and watched The Village for the first time while wrapped up in a blanket. Boy, did I jump in some parts!
Our family get-together went well although many people were missing because of sickness or other reasons. Our usual Sacred Harp singing seemed to go well also, even though I ended up being the only alto for most of it. :/ My aunt's apple cider was absolutely delicious, as usual! My brother Stephen was also able to come which was a treat since we don't get to see him much anymore.
We then headed on to my Grandmother's former residence to camp out for what we thought was a couple of nights. It was quite interesting hunting for places to eat on Christmas Eve. After finding a few things at a gas station we were able to find a Chinese restaurant!!! It was just like on A Christmas Story when they end up eating at a Chinese restaurant because the next door neighbors' dogs ate the turkey. We ended up having to stay at my Grandmother's house longer than we had planned because most of our relatives ended up getting the stomach virus. We had fun though. Julie and I just took the kids to Publix and some other places to find food and to try to get out of the house.
After taking leave of the house, we headed on to Memphis for the New Year's meeting. We all had a wonderful time and heard some good sermons. I always look forward to the Memphis meetings. Kara and I probably stayed up too late, but I don't believe we ever completely finished our visiting. After the meeting we stayed in Memphis for an extra day before heading on to Oklahoma and then home. I can now officially say that I've been to Oklahoma!
I can't tell you how happy I was to finally walk into my natural habitat! What's more is that the Second Season of Hogan's Heroes that I had ordered was waiting for me on my dresser! It's been great to be home!!!!