My very first blog

This was the very first bolg I wrote on MySpace. Thought it did an ok job of catching people up!

Just a little update for all of you who aren't all the way up to date and who care enough to actually read a blog (that can't be very many ;^) Let's see....I finished up at Faulkner in May of 2002. I had a whole set of plans from there.....absolutely none of them have panned out. But, that's been ok. I ended up moving up to Lineville, AL where my parents lived, just to "figure out what I wanted to do." I ended up meeting a wonderful man there, joining a wonderful congergation, and getting a job that I loved. My parents actually ended up moving from Lineville in January of 2004. Since Louise had gone to Faulkner in August of 2002 and Leigh had gone in August of 2003, that left me in Lineville alone with my wonderful man, church home, and job. That's when I got my first little apartment by myself. "Little" doesn't even begin to describe it, but I loved it! Once again it seemed that life was on track and I had plans again. Fast forward to July 15th, 2004. Since I was working night shift, I was at my apartment with Louise (who was staying with me for the summer) when the phone rang. Since I didn't have caller i.d., I rarely answered it and didn't on that day. Then my cell phone rang. I tried to get it but didn't get to it in time but saw that it was my dad. I dialed my voice mail and listened to my message...that message changed all of our lives. In short, Daddy was telling me that Momma had been taken to the hospital and they didn't really know what was wrong. I immediately called him back and told him that we were on our way (to Chattanooga, where they were living now). I did have the presence of mind to call Tim who did have the presence of mind to tell me that he was going to drive us. I don't remember a whole lot about that trip. When we got to Chattanooga (an important side note here is that Leigh at this very time was in Hawaii, half way through her two week trip) they had Momma all hooked up in ICU. It was then that they informed us that my Mom, who just the day before had worked and attended Wednesday night services and was a healthy 45 year old, had suffered a stroke. She had absolutely no use of her left side at all. She was totally helpless and that's exactly how she looked all medicated and with tubes sticking out of her everywhere. We collectively decided that it was for the best not to tell Leigh who was celebrating her 19th birthday the next day, in Hawaii. Mom was in MICU for three days, then moved to a regular room for a week, and then moved to Siskin Rehab hospital where she would spend the next four months (and Daddy and I would spend most of our time the next four months) of her life. When they took her over there by ambulance she didn't even have control over her own bathroom functions. She couldn't even smile. When she WALKED out a few months later, she was doing most everything for herself and had even taken and passed her driving test! It was amazing! She is amazing and there is no doubt in any of our minds that God truly blessed us with the nurses, doctors, and pt's at Siskin...they are amazing and we are forever in their debt! Oh yeah, not telling Leigh and letting her find out accidently over the email in Hawaii....not a great moment in our family history! Helping Mom get better pretty much consumed the next six months of all of our lives. Let's see we now skip ahead to 2006. In March of 2006, I had one of the greatest and most thrilling experiences of my life as I got to spend 2 1/2 weeks in Greece. It was amazing and not a day has passed since I got back that I have not thought back to how wonderful that was. It's a good thing...I would need that to get me through the next bump in life. So, I get back from Greece, Momma is a lot better, and once again I feel like things are on track and I can safely resume my plans. (I know, you'd think I'd learn but, you'd be wrong!) On April 22nd my life totally changed once again. The man that I had built my life around and had every intention of spending the rest of my life with decided that that was not to be. (I'm going to leave that at that) This time I didn't react so well. I pretty much just worked and went to church services. That was it. My family and friends were wonderful, as always, I just was going through something that I needed to get through. Until June of 2006. That's when, after MUCH prodding, John and Denise Rice, convinced me to come out and visit Backwoods. I did and, very much like the same thing that happened when I went to camp for the first time in third grade, I was hooked immediately. I ended up staying out there for at least part of four weeks of camp and I think I visited every week. I have no doubt that God knew EXACTLY what I needed. Through camp came three of the most important things that helped me get through the whole Tim thing and all the changes that came along with it. That was Brint, Shanon, and Bambi. Friendly aquaintences for a few years almost immediately became lifeline friends. Now we come to present time. Let's see...I'm working with Montgomery 911 as a fire dispatcher. I work about 60-70 hours a week, I am an active member at University CoC, I work out at the Y and much to the suprise to ANYONE who has ever met me, I have actually learned to like almost love it. I know, it's crazy! That's pretty much it for now. I know it's not a lot, but I'm in a transition phase. I'm not exactly sure what I am transitioning to, but I look forward to finding out. The best thing about my life is that I know for sure that God is there for me all the time! He amazes me. Plus, I have learned two very important lessons. One, STOP making plans! I mean take a hint! Two, I'm not living from bad thing to bad thing anymore with the good times just filling in the in betweens. From now on I am living from good thing to good thing, no matter how small or how large and I will just get through the little bad times in between! OK, I'm pretty sure this falls into the category of short story or book instead of just blog but, I just wanted to catch everyone up. (I should put something totally random and funny in here just to see if anyone actually does read this far....honestly, I would have given up half way through! thanks for being such a dedicated friend to read to the end!) Thank you to every single one of you who has played any role in the last decade of this crazy life, you have definitely made my life evrything good that it has been. God has truely blessed me more than I could have ever asked.