Posts tagged ‘family’

Nashville

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Every year my husband attends a conference. Every year this conference is in a different city. The conference has made for some very nice vacations for me and the boys. My poor husband has had to work, but the boys and I would get to know a new city every year! Most of the time we would drive to the conference so we had some pretty awesome road trips.

This year the conference was in Nashville, Tennessee and it was our first conference without at least one of the boys (well, since Ben was born). Kinda sad, really. Ben was working and Alex was on a mission trip to Costa Rica.

In the past I would spend months finding out as much as I could about the location and all the things to do there. I was trying to keep the boys entertained and I wanted their experiences to be as enriching as possible. This year was different. I didn’t do any planning! Next year I will be doing the planning again. I just felt like I let a great opportunity slip by me – the opportunity to get to know a really cool city.

imageThis year was my husband’s 21st year in the conference. He was inducted as a life member which means he doesn’t have to be appointed every four years. Great news for us! He gave a short speech and we got to go to the life-members dinner. I’m so proud of him.

(This is a really blurry picture of him speaking at the conference.)

Next I’ll tell you some of the things we (mostly I) did in Nashville.

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Control Freak, Me?

Okay, so I have come to accept that I am a bit of a control freak. And I know I have a tendency to plan things to death (hey, I am capable of changing plans – I am flexible). But you know what? Sometimes you just have a gut feeling that something is a bad idea. I get talked out of that gut feeling way too often.

So, I had mentioned that we had travel plans and that my son had travel plans. Well, being the control freak that I am, I just didn’t want my son in the house while I was 10 hours away. Is that so wrong?

DSC01069You know all the pre-trip preparations I’m sure we all go through: you turn up the air conditioner, close the blinds, stop the mail and newspaper, make sure the garage door is down and the front door is locked, etc. (Maybe just control freaks go through this???) I wanted to know that all of that stuff remained done. Now, who do you trust to make sure that the long list got done and remained done? Would you trust the person who managed to get home from camp with only the clothes that remained on the floor of the cabin? I don’t think so. (Let me insert here that I love my son very, very much and he is a great kid.)

In the plan-before-bedbugs, he was only going to be in town twelve hours. He was going to spend the night with a friend and have no need to go into our house. Now he was going to be home for three days after we leave. Ugh. Luckily for me, he went to visit is brother (and his girl friend) for a day. Then there was a lock-in at the church the night we left which left only about 36 hours that he would be in town. It would be too much to hope that he would find no reason to come home, right?

DSC01072Of course I was out of town the 36 hours that he was in town so I don’t really know what happened or how much he was in the house. I assume he came home to sleep after the lock-in. All I know is that I had one of those gut feelings. So after he was safely on the plane to Costa Rica I called my wonderful friend Penny (as my husband rolled his eyes at me). I asked her if she could run by my house to make sure the garage door was down and the doors were locked. I also asked her to run by the church to make sure my son’s car was locked. Am I too much of a control freak? I think NOT!

Penny later called with the good news and the bad news. The good news was that his car was locked up tight and the windows were rolled up. The bad news – our front door was unlocked. I’m sticking with my gut feelings!

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Not Meme’s scarf

 

This scarf was supposed to remind me of my grandmother.  It really didn’t work for me though.  It needed to be grayer and softer.  She had a very soft spirit.

When I get better at this painting stuff, I’ll make another one to remind me of her.

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Painting on Silk

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From Where Do You Draw Your Inspiration?

Is it a news story on the t.v. or in the paper? A YouTube video? A story in a sermon or on the radio? An uplifting blog? There are certainly a lot of places to find inspiration.

I’m lucky. I just need to look across the room. I have a wonderful family. My husband is a wonderful, compassionate man and has the courage of his convictions. I have two amazing sons. The oldest is an Eagle Scout and is wise way beyond his years. He is kind and compassionate and loving. The youngest is faithful and talented and full of energy. They are all amazing in their own ways.

I would like to tell you about my youngest son today. Once he decides to do something there is no stopping him. Last May he told us that he felt called to run for charity. Many people would sign up for a marathon that was raising money for a cause. No, he felt like he was supposed to run about 30 miles and he was supposed to do it alone. Now, he is athletic but he is not a marathoner. In fact the most he had run at one time before he decided to run this was maybe 5 miles. And he only had three and a half weeks to train!

Well, to make a long story short: he ran the 30 miles in just over 5 hours and he raised more than $3,500 for Heifer International. In the process, he served as an inspiration to many people.

The start – a very foggy morning

A few weeks after this amazing feat, he announced that he wanted to raise money for the American Cancer Society. He had met the brother of a friend who had cancer. He witnessed how cancer was devastating a family. This time he was going to bike across the state of Oklahoma during his Thanksgiving break. He had to earn enough money to buy a bike, then modify it to make it suitable for the ride. He contacted friends, radio stations, tv stations and newspapers. He talked to his church and his school. All of this to raise money and awareness for the American Cancer Society.

Kansas border

During the ride he spent five days from dawn until dusk riding in extreme cold, rain, fog, high winds all while enduring painful joints. He says it best in this interview with a television reporter.

SEE THE STORY HERE

He has been an inspiration to many who have met him. To date he has raised nearly $5,500. If you feel inspired to donate to this cause, you may go to the ACS website and donate in his name.

Yes, I am very fortunate to be blessed with a very inspirational family. They make the world a better place to live every day.

 

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