Pop goes the weasel...Jack

Ok, as I was sitting here on the bed, reading The Pioneer Woman's blog.....
Pete scoops up our teenager manx cat Jack-a-poo-tee (as Lyndi calls him). He asks Jack how he got a plug taken out of his chest (because he is either a tough fighter or can't fight worth a lick). Jackapootee, obviously not liking that Pete was inquiring about his personal business, raised his paw and popped Pete right on the nose. Pete put him down and called him a son with no father!!! I still have tears in my eyes from laughing. Pete had a drop of blood on his snout. Now we know...never comment on a cat's war wounds...they dont like it!!!

Better Since I Left the Room!

So today my embalmer friend from the other day returned for another procedure. There is something about this fellow that I really appreciate. Maybe its his down to earth attitude and honesty. He just seems like a good guy.
After his procedure was complete I said, "Hey ______ you doing all right now?" He said,"Yea Marci, I actually started to feel a lot better once you left the room!".....WOW!!!! I told him that he was talking awful big now that there weren't any sharp instruments being pointed at him!! I had to laugh. I'm a big enough girl to take some ribbing. And I have to say that he didn't leave out of that office without hugging me bye and thanking us for doing a great job. So I didn't let it get under my skin. He was being rather brave making a comment like that to a woman that could be peri-menopausal, generally hormonal or pregnant!!! But I am definitely NOT pregnant should that horrifying thought even begin to cross your mind!!!!!!!
Then today I had a patient preface a question with," I'm going to ask you a personal question that you might think is me trying to set you up for failure." I went ahead and told her that the shorts she had on did NOT make her butt look big!! But what she really wanted to know was.....If getting rid of her spider veins was going to make her into a SEX KITTEN!!! Was her husband going to be harassing her and pawing at her? Hmmmmmm....I wasn't quite sure if she wanted to be pawed or didn't want to be pawed. You know how married women are.....either they are a sex kitten or they seem to suffer from recurrent headaches. She also wanted to know if the compression stockings she would be wearing might be a turn on for her husband......I'm like....Lady, I don't know your husband, he MAY just have a fetish for ladies wearing grandma style hosiery! Nothing surprises me anymore.
So I called my in laws tonight. My father-in--aw that's 71 answered the phone. I asked what he was up to and he said he was walking on his treadmill. I asked him how long he walked...30 minutes every single day!! How bout that? Grandpa totally shows me up on a daily basis!! I really need to get back to working out!! Maybe if I get back to working out....I too can be a SEX KITTEN!!
The patient that asked me about becoming a sex kitten was 51 years old. And my father-in-law (as I said) is 71. I am almost 37.....there is something really wrong with this picture.
These two separate incidents tell me couple of things:
1) Middle century, mature (my patient's wording) women think about being sexy.
2) My parents and everyone else's parents maybe having sex, thinking about being a sex kitten and have weird hosiery fetishes.........ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!!!!!!!!!!!

I WILL RISE!!!

Ok, its not even 9AM and I've been through about every emotion known to man...or woman...in my case!
This AM, Lyndi decided to have a falling out fit because her cereal wasn't in a BIG bowl. I'm sorry, I put it in a travel worthy bowl like I do EVERY morning when we have to eat on the run. But because I fell short of her expectations....since Pete was at home sick with the stomach yucks and I had to get Lila to school too.....she had to FALL OUT on the floor and practically be dragged to the car. Thanks to Pete for actually getting her UP in her seat and buckling her in...cause if I had to do it...I might have had to ___________ her (you can fill in any verb you can think of that semi-resembles torture).
So, once we got Lila to school, Lyndi asked me for the 1000000 time whether or not we were going to church tonight. She LOVES to go to church. And I LOVE that she LOVES to go to church. And what a sweet blessing that (despite the fact that she had a blooming fit at the house)she sat in the back seat singing to (at the beautiful tender age of 3)"I Will Rise" by Matthew West. She may not know what the words really, really mean YET, but she sang them with all of her heart. And I strained to hear her. I bet that God probably strained his ear a bit to hear her sweet little self singing HIS praises this morning too.
I would be so selfish to say that the blessings ended there for me....
While we were driving in, I thought that since I was running early that I should stop by and see my dad on the way in at work. For a moment I wavered on that thought. But then I drove up the drive to the shop. When I walked in I saw one of my dad's coworkers. I joked with him that if I called out "DAD", how many of the men at the body shop would turn around! I called "dad" and my dad did turn around! :) Along with about 3 others. But I wondered inside if my dad recognized my voice, the voice of his child that he had heard call his name for almost 37 years.
I told Dad that he needed to come out and see Lyndi. She loves her Papa so much!! She wanted to see him so badly. So he went out and hugged her and kissed her on the forehead. He stooped down and talked to her while she sat in her car seat. She didn't have a lot to say but I could tell that she was so completely crazy in love with talking to her Papa.
I asked Dad if he knew how his coworker David White was doing. David recently lost his 44 year old wife quite unexpectedly to Meningitis. Within less than one week, his wife went from having an ear ache to going to the hospital...to going on a vent...to being disconnected...to dying. They had (I think) 3 teenage children together. Dad said that he wasn't sure how he was doing since it had been a week since she had passed and he had not been back to work.
No sooner had we spoken of David and dad said,"Well here comes David now!" David walked up and I introduced myself. I hugged him and told him that we had been praying for him at our church in Comer. I told him that I was sorry for his sudden loss and that although we can not always understand why these things happen, God does have a great plan in everything. Across his face, there was a flash of sadness that was replaced with a gleam of pride and love. He told me that his wife, who had died before her time was a Christian woman who whole heartedly believed in God. She was a very good woman that was unselfish, always doing for others and was very kind. He knew where her heart was...with the Lord. I thought, what an awesome blessing to KNOW without a doubt that she BELIEVED. Not only did she BELIEVE, but she was a woman with a big, unselfish heart that did for others. He said that he thought he needed to get back to work and to move on into the next chapter of his life. And I knew what he meant. He needed to get back to DOING something so he didn't sit at home dwelling on his loss. He needed a distraction. But at the very least, he had peace in his heart. I am so grateful for him for that.
But then came an extra blessing for me. As I told my dad that I needed to go, I hugged him bye. When I hugged him, for some reason TODAY, it took me back. It took me back to all those years when I hugged my dad and felt that warm, cozy, comfortable love that I felt as a young girl...back when I was a true Daddy's girl. The warmth and safety I felt there....that I haven't felt in a long time...was THERE!! It was like having a renewed belief in the Santa Clause I believed in as a child. As we grow up and find out the truth about Christmas (and come to understand that we celebrate Christmas because of Christ and not because of the man in the red suit) and begin to forget the excitement and joy that we felt for the man we know as Santa....I felt that overwhelming joy and love for my Dad just like I used to feel for him like I did as a child. Not that I don't love my Dad now. I surely do...but to experience the same love as a child and probably just as Lyndi felt for him.....was a beautiful, sweet blessing.
As we grow up and grow older, we start to see our family members and parents for the true people that they are and not just as our sister, brother, mother or father. We learn about them as a provider, about their hopes, dreams and disappointments. We may even have hurts and disappointments tied to our relationships with them. But today, being able to see my Dad through the eyes of a child and not thinking about any other feeling but the love I felt for him really made my visit extra special. And knowing that David suffered a huge loss, his time with his wife cut short, made me recognize what a special gift I received this morning. And I am truly, deeply thankful for that!

Fun With The Dead

I really don't have a lot to say about "Fun With the Dead", but I had a patient today that used to be an embalmer...and it sounded like "back in the day" that he and his friends had a good time. Death can be such a depressing thing. All people that work around death and dying have to have a release. Humor has to be a daily part of a service person's life. Nurses, doctors, police officers, funeral directors and fire persons all have a heavy emotional load to carry. Maybe I need to add DFACS workers and counselors to that list too.
Understand this, my patient didn't necessarily have fun with the dead, but instead with the live folks that got the heeby jeebies being around dead folks. As a young 20 year old, I can still remember having to deliver flowers to a black funeral home. I had never really been around dead people much, let alone dead black people. If you have never seen a deceased black person....they do NOT look dead. When white folks die, they get a pale, grayish tint to their skin. If a white person doesn't appear gray, they look like manequins from all the pancake makeup. Black people, they retain the natural color of their skin. They actually just look like they are asleep. This is a very unnerving thing to many white folks. But what's funny to me is that many, many black people that I have worked with get really freaked out around people that are dead.
I remember a girl I worked with at a hospital. She was a 20 something black female, patient care tech. All day, we had been waiting for a patient to pass. This gentleman had been really sick for a long time. We knew that death was imminent. That tech would have walked to China to get take out if it meant that she could avoid having to go in and be around this patient that she knew could be dead. Once the patient passed, I thought this girl was going to have a heart attack. She begged and pleaded to not have to go into the patients room. Unfortunately for this tech, it was part of her job description to have to help prepare patients after ceasing to be of this world. I have to admit that inside I was giggling!! If that patient's hand had moved even one millimeter toward her because of gravity...she would have ran to China!!!
Speaking of the dead, Pete felt half dead today. Last night he came down with a very unpleasant stomach virus. Pete spent the evening running back and forth to the bathroom. The runs and vomiting pretty much ruined the hope of a decent night's sleep. He was achy and had chills. Tylenol has been his friend. Toast and chicken noodle soup have been his gourmet meals. Woohoo!
This year marks five years of nursing for me. This also means that one of my Federal loans gets forgiven. I couldnt be more thrilled about this major event. I also can not believe that this year marks my 5th anniversary of nursing. It seems so hard to believe that this much time could have passed. Now if I can just get the other school loans paid off....I'll be 52 years old when this happens....booo.
Lila told me tonight that I was the best mom in the whole world. Sorry ladies....I know you had hoped to get that award....but 2010 is MY year!!! Lila used to tell me almost every day that I was the BESTEST Mommy in the World. Then from about 6-7 yrs she kind of backed off from that....I wonder why???? hmmmmm Don't guess it had anything to do with me being a strict meanie? Oh well....Lila's a good girl most of the time...a little whiney and will cry at the drop of a hat....but sweet most of the time. I'm really glad that she loves me and appreciates me despite the fact that Im strict.
Can I just say it??? I love my family!

True Friends

From the time we are very young, we have to ask ourselves what characteristics we think it takes to be a good friend. What makes a person a true friend as opposed to an acquaitance? What is it that binds us to one another? What experiences, emotions, actions or conversations takes a person up to the level of friend?
I can say that I have friends that I have had from the time I was in 3rd grade. I am almost 37 years old and I am still friends with people that have known me for most of my life. Oh the changes our lives have gone through!!!
This weekend, Pete asked me what I had to call my friend to talk to her about. I told him that I didn't NEED to call her about anything. I called her because she is my friend. The difference between me and Pete is that there are people that I love and care about. I try to keep up periodically....sometimes pathetically enough...the conversations are months apart! But, I dont have to have a reason to call. However, in this friend's case, I know she is having a hard time and I wanted to call her and offer a little bit of support. That's what real friends do. Real friends reach out from time to time to check in and check on eachother. I don't know if men do this.
Men call eachother to see if they want to hang out and watch a game. Men call because their wives tell them they must...like telling them to call their mother!
I am not trying to say that men can't have REAL friendships.

The Book

Tonight was the first time in FOREVER that Pete and I got to go out on a date. My friend Jason was great enough to take on two MORE girls (ours + his) and let us have some grownup time! For that, I am very grateful.
We set off from Jason's house and went directly to Hobby Lobby...... Last night, I went to our church to try my hand at scrap booking with our pastor's wife and a few other ladies. I had a bit of stress to work through. I have to admit that scrap booking was rather therapeutic. So tonight I went and got a few supplies for me to use to finish working on Lyndi's baby album...you know, the one that I haven't ever gotten around to working on yet, despite the fact that Lyndi is now 3 years old! And just stuffing her baby pictures inside the front flap of the photo album doesn't really cut it huh?!!!
But our date did not stall out there!!! We had a nice dinner at Red Lobster. We got there about 5:30 so we were able to beat the real crowd!! whew! Then we went to see the movie "The Book of Eli". I really did not have any idea about what the story line was for this movie. I didn't know if it was a thriller, a drama, a comedy...whatever. I kind of figured from the death and destruction starting out that it probably wasn't going to be a romantic comedy. Although people did snicker during the first scene when Eli shoots a cat with a arrow...and makes dinner out of the kitty. But anyway.....
The movie was a good one, I think. It was thought provoking. I have some questions about it now that I've had time to think. Despite the fact that the main story line is that Eli has a Bible that he is trying to get to somewhere...and he will fight to the death to protect it...Eli doesn't really spend a lot of time talking about God. He mentions faith. He recites a couple of verses. Other than a few random mentionings of these things, that's about all of the religious topics put out there by the movie. I'm really kind of curious about that. Faith, prayer and the Book are mentioned. At one point Eli speaks the verse from the Bible that explains that we were made from dust and will return to dust.
As we were walking out, I kept wishing that I could know what others thought about that movie. What if many of the other viewers had no idea what the movie was supposed to be about, just like me? Were those viewers disappointed. Was the idea of God lost on them? Were they touched by God's word and power? Was a seed planted?
While walking out of the theater, I heard a young man behind us comment,"Man, that sure was cool when he smashed that guys head into the counter!!" I told Pete, "Sure, one could walk away with that message from the movie...or they could walk away with the message I got....(about God!!)" I think the whole concept was lost on that kid...or maybe he was just trying to seem cool in front of his friends, but secretly inside, he wondered about our Lord? I'd love to think that that was the case.
Too often these days, some people are trying their hardest to take God out of our lives. I read recently that educators in Texas were having to meet to discuss how they were going to write their history books. They were going to mention the creator of Mary Kay products. She was mentioned twice in a text book already. However, the conflict they were having was over how much they should mention about MLK's religious beliefs. Some groups that really believe in the separation of Church and State, felt like there should be no mention of the fact that MLK was a Christian. Also, they didn't think that we should mention any thing about our founding father's religious beliefs. They think that our founding fathers wanted to push Christianity. I always thought that our United States was supposed to be a place for religious FREEDOMS...we could worship polar bears if we wanted to...What do I know? But I do know this...MLK....he was Dr. Martin Luther King...the REVEREND Martin Luther King. His speeches were delivered to the congregation of his church and in other arenas. He was a Christian. Because of his Christian beliefs, that support peace, love and hope, he HAD A DREAM. But hey, if one person can go into the movie "The Book of Eli" and come out totally impressed that Eli smashed a guys face into a counter.....and I can leave out thanking God for being such an awesome, loving God.....Then, I can thank God that our founding fathers were courageous enough to separate from the Queen and create a New World where we have religious FREEDOMS!!

Food, Water and Shelter

Satan's demise

2010 begins. We are now 3 days into the new year. I'm asking myself what God has in store for me this year. What does he want me to do with his life. I say His life because really, my life is His. I don't know what I can do or would do without Him. Nothing would make sense I think. I would feel lost and alone.
This morning, at church, our Pastor used a smart analogy. He said that if a person stands in front of a drink machine and just stares at it, nothing happens. Only when that person puts his 50 cents in the machine does he get something out of it. He was saying that when we go to church and just sit there in the pews and don't ever put anything into our worship, we won't ever be able to get anything out of it. This is true about everything in our lives. Standing back and waiting for something to happen, will never bring anything to fruition in our life.
Our Pastor has a vision for our church. It is unbelievable how many non believers there are in our county. Never mind our whole nation. Just locally, only 30% of our population are believers in Christ. Broken down, that means that 8.7 people die every day in our county that are unsaved. How heart breaking.
Part of the vision for our church is that we become more involved in missions. Local missions, not foreign missions to start. There is a mission being put together by the Southern Baptist Convention to seek out souls in Atlanta. 90% of people in an area located near 285 are non believers. My guess is that life has become so overwhelming that people have lost sight of God.
Last year, Pete and I participated in AWANA. AWANA is a children's ministry. I never felt overwhelmingly compelled to teach AWANA. I participated and really appreciated seeing God move in a couple of the children's lives. But as far as whether I am called to work with children or not, I would say no. I prayed and prayed about it but never felt that God was leading me in this direction.
This year, I will be praying that God give me guidance as to whether or not He wants me to do HIS work in Missions. Does HE want me to go to Atlanta and be a part of this missions group? Only time will tell I suppose.
For now, I am grateful that I am one of God's children. I am thankful to be saved. I find great comfort and joy in being one of HIS. For now, I look forward to learning more about God's plan for me and my family. And I pray that God will use me for HIS good.
Sure sounds like a BIG way to start a new decade and new year!