Wow! It's been a while since I have actually had a moment to just sit and write. My days are full starting from 6am (some times 4:30am wahhhhh!)and are just plain old non-stop! After the rough start to 2010 I am happy things are calming down. Between the oddly strange couple days of snow that we had in Southern Alabama I have slowly watch the days grow warmer. I know I should say Thank you God for every beautiful day that you have given me but it is so much easier to say on a nice warm spring day! During my hiatus I had a birthday and turned 35. I love my birthday and swear that I will be doing a birthday happy dance at 101 years old. Brent's birthday is three days after mine and he turned 35 as well. We have had this on going thing to where if my birthday didn't turn out as planned he has always given me his...poor guy should only be 25 then! This year was AWESOME though! We decided to throw our own birthday BBQ. We had a few families over and I think there was a total of 16 of us. It was great fun and the day couldn't have been more incredible! About a week after that I had taken my first trip away from home....ALONE! Yes! Alone! I couldn't believe it but I did it and the kids and hubby survived although a little annoyed by all the notes I had left. This was no ordinary trip though! My friend Tammy had introduced me to this great family via internet. The Freeman's. A year ago while I was anticipating my birthday little Joshua was being diagnosed with stage four liver Cancer. Wow! That kinda just put things in perspective. So I have kept up with Joshua through her blog and through phone conversations and eventually friended Nadene his mom through facebook. Man! The faith this family has is amazing and un-shake-able! So towards the end of this February they had confirmed that Joshua's Cancer has spread to his brain now. The doctors are already scratching their heads at this little boy because he is already a true miracle! It's been a year already. They have stopped all treatments now and it's in Gods hands and our prayers. Whoops I got off track. Anyways, Brent said I could drive to Tennessee over night with Tammy to go see Nadene, Tim and lil' Joshua. Nervous as I could be I did it! We left quite early and it felt like the shortest trip I had ever taken! Tammy and I talked for a solid 5 1/5 hours non-stop! It was amazing! When we arrived with Spider man and fire truck gifts in tow we were greeted by the smiling face of Nadene. We spent that whole afternoon playing with Joshua and talking with the family. We watched as family came and went and then came again. We heard knocks at the door by groups of young kids from surrounding churches that drove 1 1/2 hours to just lay hands on Joshua and pray. We heard occasional cries from Joshua about how much his head hurt and at times he couldn't climb up far enough into his dad's lap for comfort. If he were able to climb inside of him it still wouldn't be close enough! He loves his daddy! They would waiver back and forth over Tylenol or Morphine to ease his pain. You could see the struggle on her face on what to do but oddly enough it came through a smile of faith and prayer. When people arrived to pray over him I had to leave the room. I stepped into the bathroom to cry...ALOT. I couldn't help being angry. I'm sure everyone, everyone has a why moment.I just didn't want to sob in front of everyone and eventually left with a crazy headache from crying. All in all it was a wonderful afternoon and if you could only hear the sound of this sweet little boy with his southern drawl saying daddy it would melt your heart.
That evening after grabbing some dinner we headed over to Tammy's Aunts house to stay the night. All I have to say is WOW!!! My day was even more exciting! Tammy talked of her family and it is really neat to hear but I think meeting her Aunt was the best thing ever! Darn near everyone in Tammy's family were missionaries! Not all but quite a lot! Tammy's Aunt Frances had lots of stories and a lot to talk about. She giggled as we talked about Facebook and showed a proud smile as she showed us her cell phone that she just started texting on. Her house was immaculate and she had a back room that was nothing but post cards, letters, photo's from and of missionaries and decor of her travels. There sitting on a chair was her husbands clothing that had been made into pillows. Her husband was a missionary as well and died in 93' I think she said. I may be wrong but it is a real inspiring story. I'm guessing that they went a lot of places together but this time they weren't together. He had traveled to Uganda with his best friend that is a Pastor and a group of other men. They traveled to prisons and talked to the condemed and hundreds and thousands gave their life to the lord. You are probably wondering how I know this but I actually heard it straight from him through his words during his last days here on earth. He had recorded his whole trip and Aunt Frances had put it all on CD for everyone and gave Tammy a copy of it. We listened to it most of the way home. It was so moving and you can almost hear a smile on his face. Is that possible to hear a smile? You could though as he spoke of how many people were saved that day and then you would hear the music and drums of the locals as he went into tribes. Then you would hear the excitement of his voice as he travels beside the Nile river and started hollaring Oh My goodness! I see 1,2,3 ....4..5..6, 7! Water falls! You can hear the WHOOSH! Ever so slightly of the water and him talking about the Alligators in the water. The excitement put you at the edge of your seat! What an amazing man! He died the day after this conversation about the water falls and it was a strange fate. There was a gentlemen from Uganda that had driven them for days and days and loved the missionaries so much. He was tired and simply didn't want to tell them and he fallen asleep at the wheel of the vehicle. Oddly enough they had all sat in the same seats everyday the whole trip. This one day his best friend the Pastor was a bit late and jumped into the vehicle and Tammy's Uncle had scooted one seat over so his friend could sit down. When they wrecked and rolled the door came open and he was thrown from the vehicle and rolled on top of. His friend the Pastor had attempted to save his life. The driver of course was then a broken man. He was hurting and so sadden and obviously took responsibility of the fact that he had caused this to happen because he was tired. A year later Aunt Frances flew to Uganda to find this man and hug him and tell him she loved him. AMAZING! So those pillows I talked about. Well, they are actually a shirt that he had worn there in Uganda and her children had them made into pillows for her.
I am so thankful for this trip. I got to meet an amazing family and a little kid that is 3 1/2 and has more fight in him then I had ever seen in anyone in my life! I got to meet Aunt Frances and swear that EVERYONE should have an Aunt Frances! I also got to learn so much about a best friend and brought us closer together. I always feel that when I spend time with Tammy she speaks to me. No! Not like hey how ya doin' kinda speaks to me. But speaks to me biblically! She just makes me want to grow! I think that God sent her into my life and even though she is in my life that he sends her farther into my life in specific times when I may be drifting or questioning things. I am thankful for her everyday!
I am so proud of my husband for taking care of the boys while I was gone and I know how exhausted he probably was. I didn't call as much as I wanted to and all in all it turned out great! I now know that I can have a wee bit of me time...that is if I wanted to! What a great trip!
