Alabama

Don't tell any of my new Alabama friends but I'm missing Alabama. (I don't want them rubbing my Yankee nose in it.) My boyfriend and I have been together for a little over nine months now. We try every weekend to see each other. Most of the time it works but we have those rare occasions where we both have something going on and so we skip out on that weekend. Anyway, we take turns every weekend traveling back and forth. Sometimes it works out where I'll head to AL two weekends in a row and then he'll head to TN two weekends in a row. The last two weekends I've traveled to AL and this weekend I'll be staying home and he'll be traveling up to see me.

To be honest, I'm a little sad about that. I've learned to really like that place and I love the church he attends. He attends the same church as my brother and his family and it is an awesome church. The people are so nice and friendly and they have really welcomed me in with open arms. I'm becoming less of a visitor. I've met some really sweet and awesome people at his church and am becoming fast friends with them.

It's hard though going back and forth from my church to his church. I love the preaching at both churches. Of course, I love my dad's preaching and I do miss it when I'm not there. But I love the music at my brother's church. He does an amazing job and if I have to be completely honest, it's hard going back to my church's music because it's not on the same level. It's good music, it's just not at the same level. So it gets a little hard going back and forth but I'm so happy that the Lord, for now, has placed me in two excellent churches. They are two totally different churches but they are both great churches. Naturally, no two churches will be the same but they both fit my needs and I'm getting so much out of the services at each place. I feel like a blessed woman.

Now, I know the question burning in your mind (or not) is where will we live once we get married. We have no idea and we don't need to really make that decision just yet but I do secretly know where my heart is at the moment.

Storms

I am not a huge fans of storms. I never really have been. Usually when I know a storm is coming I get myself home and where I'll be pretty much safe and sound. What I get so freaked out about usually is when there is a threat of tornadoes. The weird thing is when a tornado is in the area I usually go stand outside and try to find it so I really contradict my fear of storms.

When Alan and I started dating and I knew we were going to be traveling back and forth every weekend the only thing that made me nervous was the threat of storms. Alabama and Tennessee get huge storms and sometimes big old fat tornadoes. I knew the odds of both of us driving through storms were pretty good especially during the spring-fall seasons. This year though it hasn't been that bad. I really can't remember driving through sprinkles let alone huge downpours with threats of tornadoes. But this past weekend was completely different.

It has been so hot in the south that everyday there are isolated or pop up storms everywhere between Tuscaloosa and Nashville. I usually can get out of Nashville before they hit and and can time getting to T-town without hitting any of the storms but this weekend was not the case. I left Nashville Friday around 1pm and by 3pm I found myself near Cullman, AL and went through the worst storm I had ever been through at least driving by myself. I could tell it was one of those isolated cases but it was pretty scary. It was driving into a wall of water and then it was raining so hard that I had to put my flashers on and was driving about 10 mph. People were pulling off left and right but I just kept on truckin. I knew if I kept going I would eventually get out of it and when I got of it...I got out of it. It was a line had been drawn across the road and on this side was the big bad storm with lots of wind, lightning and huge claps of thunder and on this side it was dry as a bone and as sunny as could be. It was like going from night to day. Weird. I was glad I kept going. I had no other trouble the rest of my journey to Northport.

On the way back to Nashville I went through an even bigger storm before I even got to Birmingham. This one was so bad it forced me to get off the road and seek shelter. I was so scared and came close to turning around and heading back to my brother's house where it was safe and dry and sunny. The storm finally let up and I ventured back on the interstate to head home only to be caught in another storm about an hour and half up the road. I was so over these storms. This one was not really anything but some heavy rain and didn't have much wind, thunder and lightening like the other two. By the time I got to Huntsville my nerves were shot though. I was so happy to see that the clouds were separating and the sun was shining through. The rest of the way home was dry and clear and sunny and I made it home safely. I was thanking God over and over for keeping me safe while on the road. The whole trip reminded me of that song Till The Storm Passes By.

In the dark of the midnight,Have I oft hid my face;

While the storm howls above me,And there's no hiding place;

'Mid the crash of the thunder,Precious Lord, hear my cry;

"Keep me safe 'til the storm passes by.

"'Til the storm passes over,'Til the thunder sounds no more;'

Til the clouds roll forever from the sky,

Hold me fast, let me stand,In the hollow of Thy hand;

Keep me safe 'til the storm passes by.

Many times Satan whispers,

"There is no need to try;

For there's no end of sorrow,There's no hope by and by";

But I know Thou art with me, And tomorrow I'll rise;

Where the storms never darken the skies.

'Til the storm passes over,'Til the thunder sounds no more;

'Til the clouds roll forever from the sky,

Hold me fast, let me stand,In the hollow of Thy hand;

Keep me safe 'til the storm passes by.

When the long night has ended, And the storms come no more,

Let me stand in Thy presence. On that bright, peaceful shore.

In that land where the tempest Never comes, Lord may I

Dwell with Thee when the storm passes by.'

Til the storm passes over,'Til the thunder sounds no more;

'Til the clouds roll forever from the sky,

Hold me fast, let me stand,In the hollow of Thy
hand; Keep me safe 'til the storm passes by.

Protective Sister

This past weekend my brother came up for a softball tournament and brought my niece and nephew along with him. (I might have mentioned this a couple of times.) Anyway, while my dad and brother played ball all weekend my mom and I played and took care of the kids. They were a blast to be with. I love those two kids with all my heart and they make me so proud to be their aunt. They are two really well behaved sweet kids. I could also be a little biased. :)

I have a cute and sweet story to tell you about my niece Anna Grace. On Saturday mom and I wanted to take the kids to the park to play but it was just way too hot to get them outside for any length of time. So we decided to take them to Chick-fil-A to eat and play in their nice air-conditioned play area. As soon as we got there they ran into the play area while we ordered their lunch, grabbed a table and got everything ready. When they saw that their food was ready they came out and ate their lunch. After they finished eating I told them that they could go back and play for a while. At this point we were trying to keep them awake. They were headed back to AL later on that day and my brother asked us to keep them awake so they would sleep on the way home. That was really no easy task and by 7pm with no nap you have pretty cranky 4 and 2 year old kids.

Anyway, we probably let them play for about 30 mins when we thought maybe we should get everything together and head back to my parents house. I could see that all the kids in the play area were playing together and they were playing some type of game. They all came down the slide together when I saw this 8 year old boy wrap his arms around my nephew's stomach and just kind of throw him off to the side. Well, my niece saw this as well and with all her might she shoved this boy and screamed at the top of her lungs, "Get your hands off my brother!" Then she just told him off good. I had seen this boy throw Luke so I started to get up and get the kids but evidently they didn't need me. LOL! I was really proud of my niece for sticking up for her brother. I got the kids and brought them out to our table and Anna was still yelling at the kid through the window. I had to calm her down. Then I bent down and told her how proud I was of her for defending Luke like that and that she was a good big sister for taking care of Luke when an adult wasn't around. Then all of a sudden she burst into tears. She was sobbing so loudly that the entire restaurant was staring at me like I had just beat the child. I asked her what was wrong and she just kept saying, "That boy was so mean to my brother and he was trying to hurt him. I couldn't let him hurt my brother!" It was so sweet but Anna was bothered by the entire situation. I looked over at Luke to see if he was okay and he was sitting there laughing with my mom and chomping on a waffle fry so he obviously was just fine.

Now the sweetest part was when we were driving back to the house Anna was still a little upset by the whole thing but she was calming down. She was still talking to me and mom about this boy and why did he want to be mean to Luke. She then looks over at Luke and says, "I'm sorry that boy was mean to you today, Luke." He looks at her and says with the sweetest smile, "It's okay, Sissy." My heart nearly broke. I teared up over the love and closeness these two kids have for each other. My brother and sister in law are doing a fantastic job raising these two kids.

I've also realized through this whole thing that if you mess with Luke you have to deal with the wrath of Anna Grace. :)

A New Beginning

I always have a hard time coming up with a title to my posts most of the time. I want them to be catchy and not something so simple. I want to capture someones interest just by reading the title so that they will want to read my blog that day. For you fellow bloggers, do you title your post before you write it or after? I always tend to title it after I write so I'm not pinned down to a certain subject. I've been reading some friend's blogs and they always write about one subject but I always tend to talk about two or three things in one post. I wonder if that's not how it's supposed to be done. I never post pictures so I wonder if my blog is really boring. Oh well.

Anyway, this weekend was very fun but exhausting. My brother and his kids came up for the weekend so he could play in a softball tournament. My sister in law couldn't come because she couldn't get Friday off of work but my brother brought his kids so we could spend some time with them. I took Friday off from work so I could help mom with them and spend some good quality time with my niece and nephew. We had the best time with them. They are just the cutest, sweetest, and most funny kids I have ever met. We just played, ate, watched movies, and laughed all weekend. It was so hard to see them go but at least I'll get to see them next weekend and the weekend after that (thanks to having a boyfriend who lives in the same town as they do).

I've been thinking a lot lately about my health. I'm not sick or anything like. A couple of weekends ago I got to go on a little road trip with my boyfriend from AL to TN and we got to talking about our family's health history. We both have diabetes in our family history but I also have heart disease in my family. That got me to thinking how I really need to start taking care of myself and that I really need to get healthier. It's not that I eat very unhealthy but I don't really eat that healthy. I do but I don't if that makes sense. I've tried to lose weight before but I've either quit after a little while or gained everything I lost plus some. I really do want to look better but that's not really it. I really really want to feel better and keep from getting the diseases that have plagued my family. My dad has gotten a huge health kick and if you haven't seen him in awhile you might notice that he's lost quite a bit of weight. Someone asked him this weekend if he was sick. He's not sick at all but he went on Weight Watchers and he hit the gym. He would go to the gym in the morning and then at night he would walk on the treadmill for about 30-45 mins. He was very dedicated and has lost almost 30 pounds. He looks great! So his membership ran out and he decided to rejoin but only if I would join up with him. So I did. Our membership starts September 1 and I'm actually looking forward to it.

I've gotten great encouragement from my parents and boyfriend. I had a good conversation this morning through instant messaging with a friend, who is also getting back into exercising, that was very inspirational and now I'm very excited to start this. I'm also going to learn how to cook healthier. My only problem is that I only need to cook for one or two people and every recipe is for 4 or more. So does anyone know of any good healthy recipe websites I can go to or recipes that only serve 2 people? I don't want to spend extra money or have all this food laying around.

I do ask for your prayers. Weight has always been a battle of mine and food has always been a lover of my soul. I want to have and keep this motivation to stick to this lifestyle change and slim down and get healthier. Maybe by going on here and blogging about it every so often it will keep me accountable. We shall see.

H-O-T Spells HOT!

I bet you didn't know that, did you? That's what its been here the past few weeks. Its been unbearably hot. Yesterday it got up to 102 with 115 heat index. Today it got up to 97 with the heat index 103. A good ole thunderstorm just rolled through and pushed the temperature down to 75. I went outside for a few minutes to enjoy the cooler weather. Although it was still a tad humid it still much better than the 100 degrees weather we've been experiencing. I can't remember a summer being this hot. I'm sure there has been but my mind is refusing to remember. But you didn't come here to read about the sweltering heat which it seems the whole country is dealing with right now.

Is it just me or does school start a whole lot sooner than it used to? Schools in the area are starting this week and next week. When I was in school (boy, do I remember my mother saying that) we didn't start until the after Labor Day weekend. Then we didn't get out of school until the last weekend of May or the first weekend of June. It seems as if they are getting out later and starting earlier. These poor kids today don't know have much of a summer. I remember when summers would come around they seemed to last forever. Now it doesn't seem like they last long enough to do anything. But it could be just me.

My brother and his kids are heading up to Nashville tonight. He's playing in the Master's Men softball tournament Friday and Saturday so mom and I will be playing with the kids the whole weekend. Jenny can't make it because of work. I'm a little bummed about that. I miss her. My parents bought a small pool for the kids so I imagine we will spend most of the weekend there. I can't wait. I haven't seen them since the National and I'm missing them like crazy. I've gotten so used to seeing them every other weekend that when I miss a week, I miss them terribly. My sister in law and brother when to the doctor the other day and the new baby is looking really good. They sent me a picture of the ultrasound and the picture was so clear. You definitely could make out the head and everything. I can't wait to meet this new little one. I'm already guessing that its a girl. We won't know until she's born. They decided not to find out. However, they did get a due date. It's February 20th. This will be the 4th birthday in February. Anna, Chad, and Luke's birthdays are all in February. It will be a very busy and expensive month from now until the end of time. LOL!

Stay cool!!