Back to the Old Story - Now the Eighth Grade

I told you a few months ago (before i got distracted with the excitement of the present) that we have a come to a very very important part of my life. It may not be truly more or less important in God's eyes. I'm not sure. But i do know that i can personally see more of the effects from this part of my life that any other.

Sadly, i know that i do not remember nearly everything that happened. But happily, i remember a lot of it. Back in May, i told you about Kristi and April and Joy. Now let me tell you about James Allen Rogers. I mention his middle name here because i knew it as soon as i knew him.

This is the eighth grade. I was new to town. James wasn't new to town. Everyone knew him, but he hadn't been there for a year or two. I didn't know why, but he had been living with his mom or something. And when he re-enrolled in our school, his name was somehow messed up on the roll, and every time a teacher called attendance, they asked for Allen Rogers. So, in every class period, everyone in the class learned James' middle name, Allen.

If i remember correctly, i actually had only two classes with James. We had Mrs. Sewell's history class, where James sat one row to the left and one row behind me. The other class was Coach Williams' Algebra (or maybe pre-algebra) class. James sat a couple of rows away from me in that class, so i don't remember him in that class as much.

James, of course, is my current husband. But i didn't always have the great affection for him that i have now. It started out a little rocky. It was pretty early i the year that i actually got myself in a lot of trouble with James. A lot in my book anyway.

It was the night of the high school homecoming game. I was to spend the night with my friend, Michelle. We were both part of the "pep squad," which really meant that we wore matching t-shirts and cheered loudly at the football games. At some point in the evening, i learned that Michelle planned to go to the 8th grade homecoming dance after the game at the baptist church. Now, my parents didn't allow me to go to dances. And i should have called them and let them know my situation. But instead, i rationalized that i would just have to go with Michelle to the dance. But, oh no, i didn't have a date. So i decided that i would see if James, whose advance i had previously rejected, wanted to go with me to the dance. I said that i just felt sad for him and knew he wanted to go with me, so i went to the dance with him. But it seems like i must've had feelings for him......at least a little.

Anyway, we danced slow dances together at the dance. Mostly we stood and swayed and stepped on each other a little. Neither of us dared a fast dance. We didn't kiss or hold hands or anything. We just swayed.

Well, it remained that whether i liked James or not, i had still disobeyed my parents, and in the following days, my conscience was making me MISERABLE. So miserable that i actually broke down, and with great sobbing and tears, confessed to my completely unsuspecting parents what i had done.

I got grounded from high school games for the rest of the year. Wow.



Folloing our dance I remember that James made further attempts to express his affection for me. I don't think i responded well. Allthough, i still own a small ziggy doll dressed in heart covered boxer shorts that he gave me that year. He also gave me a beautiful red rose, freshly cut from his parents' garden, carefully wrapped in a wet paper towel and a piece of foil -- for which i became very angry with him.

I had already made it very clear to him (possibly after the gifting of the ziggy doll) that we could only be friends. Then he answered with a red rose. Later, i learned that the rose was meant to be a "friend gift."

Whatever.

Sick

Today, i'm sick.

I say it that way with hopes that i will be sick only today, and not tomorrow or the day after that. Just today.

When i was a little girl (and also when i was a big girl), i remember very distinctly the care that my mother gave whenever i was sick. It's a very fond memory.

I remember my mother waking me up because she had heard me coughing and brought medicine to calm my cough.

I remember the wonderful tea she made me, with honey and orange juice in it. And i remember her serving it to me in an orange tupperware cup. =)

I remember my parents always praying for me and trusting that our Heavenly Father would care for my health.

I remember cold wash cloths on my feverish forehead.

And mostly, i remember the peace of knowing that i was completely safe and cared for, no matter how bad i felt.

Thanks Mom and Dad!

Now that i'm much too far away from Mom and Dad to get the personal care i remember, i still benefit, knowing that the Father comforts me and is right beside me when i don't feel well (and even when i do feel well), caring for my needs and making sure i'm never ever alone.

Thank you Father!

I think i'll go back to sleep now.

Home

Here it is! Our home.

We've never been homeowners before, and we are extremely grateful to God for our little house. Isn't it cute?





The scenery is awesome!

A New Home, Part 2

As businesses began more and more to open the weekend after Ike, James' search for work stepped up. A job that he had been all but promised right before the storm, was given to two less trained individuals, who apparently required half the pay.

But Hurricane Ike delivered a blessing we didn't anticipate: FEMA, who is helping to clean up this mess, requires there to be paid monitors of the clean-up activity. James is a great worker, but i'm betting he's even better at watching other people work. He took the job, and has been working ever since. Only trouble is, this job is a "make hay while the sun is shining" sort of gig, and they're working 7 days a week, 14 hours or so per day. This really wouldn't have been a problem if it weren't that we weren't moved yet.

We had planned to move our things to the house on September 25. My aunt and uncle had generously offered to get us a u-haul truck to make this easier, and we accepted. I had an interesting realization during this time. See, my husband is the man who takes care of business in my life. The car breaks down, James can fix it. The cabinet needs fixing, James can do it. Something large needs moving, James can move it.

Here's some background:

When we first got married, and we were moving furniture into our apartment, some kind people in the church had given us some furniture and provided people to help move it in. One of the items of furniture was a 7-foot long sofa sleeper couch. Those things are heavy! Several people tried to help James carry the couch up the stairs to our second story apartment, but he said he didn't need help, hoisted the monstrosity on his back, and walked up the stairs delivering it to the apartment unaided. Now, my husband has gained some wisdom over the past 10 years, but the basic principle remains. If it needs doing, he'll get it there, and he doesn't necessarily recognize the need for assistance.

Because of the aforementioned, and because James seemed unconcerned about the need for man-power for our move, i really hadn't given it much thought. My part was to plan with my aunt to get the truck and to have all the boxes packed and ready to go. James, i was certain, would take care of the rest.

But then came this job, that we both felt he shouldn't pass up. And there i was with a home full of belongings to move and nobody to do the heavy stuff. I might also mention, that when it comes to heavy lifting, i am increasingly more of a wimp by the month. After all, James can do it.

To make things more interesting, i miscalculated my ability to talk during the day, and i ran out of daytime minutes on my cell phone, so i couldn't talk to anyone until after 7.

To make things even more interesting, on Wednesday morning, my best friend, Meredith, went into labor (an event to which i was committed to attend for months previous) and did not deliver until Thursday morning at 11:58.

**The event of the coming the beautiful baby is one i will let Meredith retell on her own blog (once her internet access is restored). So i'm not blowing over it, i'm just trying to stay focused on the move. Keep an on mommymerepete.blogspot.com if you're interested.**

To make things a little bit more interesting, i was also tracking an online offer for free used appliances, which i very much needed, and were offered to me, but that i had until Thursday evening to pick up and move or they would be offered to someone else.

Two big things happened for me during all of this: i saw the hand of God's provision and favor in providing for my needs, and i realized how very much i appreciate my husband and how thankful i am for him.

Through a chain of events that is a little too long to add here, i met a young man from our church, who helped me get the appliances, and he stored them in his garage until Saturday when he would help get them moved to our house.

The same young man was hoping to network some helpers for us, but on Friday evening, he had not gotten any commitments for help, and that's when i panicked a little. I'm not a great networker, but i knew that i had to have help, and i started making phone calls. James brother, Sean, really came through, and he showed up at my apartment at 9 o'clock after working all night in Houston, and he worked all day and helped us move, along with another young man in the church who was able to volunteer at the last minute.

By Saturday afternoon, at 2, our belongings were in our house, and my helpers fed and on their way back home. God is so good and faithful. I just can't get enough of Him.

A New Home, Part 1

Well, on September 11, we closed on our little house in the woods. And on September 13, Hurricane Ike made landfall and then progressed north doing lots of damage. We stayed in our apartment for the storm, since we didn't have time to get moved into the house in two days. There was a very large oak tree catty corner from the back of the house that we knew was likely to come down, but we weren't able to cut it down before the hurricane. I prayed and prayed for the Lord to protect our little house.

Meanwhile, in Conroe, in preparation for the storm, my loving man searched diligently to find a place to park our car where it would be out of danger of falling trees or fences. He found a place, actually at an apartment building across the street from us, where not a tree was anywhere near the parking lot. So we felt safe about the car and holed up in our apartment with all of our supplies and waited for the storm. The worst of Ike made it to Conroe sometime while we were sleeping. Our building suffered no visible damage, though there were lots of limbs down, and a large part of the fence separating our complex from a neighbor's back yard was down. In the morning, when the weather cleared enough, James got up and went to check on the car. The saddest thing had happened. A limb on a tree on the other side of the building had broken, blown over the building, slid down the roof, and crashed directly into the hood and windshield of our vehicle, shattering but not breaking through the windshield on the driver's side, and causing a big dent in the hood. No other vehicle in that lot suffered any damage.

So, James removed the limb, got in the car, started it with some trouble, and moved it back across the street to our complex and parked it in the place it had originally been parked, where no trees had fallen, and where the car ceased to run.

So, the storm has cleared, and of course we have no power, and we're very concerned about our new purchase, but we have no transportation to go and check on our investment. This is ridiculous! And of course, as neither we nor anyone else seemed to have expected, our cell phones stopped working late morning on Saturday.

We bided our time waiting for businesses to open, visited with friends Meredith and Jeremy, who came and visited almost every afternoon, which was nice for breaking the monotony.

On Monday, we walked to a pay phone and called James dad to ask him to go and check on the house. He said he already had, and that it looked fine.

On Tuesday, the auto parts store near our house reopened on a generator, and on Wednesday, we were packed and off to our house, with the little supplies we had. Thursday, of course, was to be my birthday, Friday, our 10th wedding anniversary, and Saturday, James' birthday. We had planned for months that a home of our own would be our gift to each other this year, and we were blessed to get to spend those days in our house, even if it was bare.

Upon arriving at our house, we found a very different-looking yard. SO many limbs had fallen! But also, i saw the hand of God answering my prayers. The big oak we were concerned about did fall, but fell parallel to the back of our house. Other, smaller trees, all fell away from the house. Nothing even fell on the power line. Nothing. Thank you Jesus!

Then, the most wonderful thing happened, at about 8:15 Wednesday evening, the power came on at our house. So we had a bare floor, an air mattress to sleep on, and air conditioning. I got to wake up in my own home on my birthday, which is what i really wanted, and we spent all three days in our house. By the third day, however, the discomfort of the air mattress had worn us in, and we returned to Conroe to sleep on a real mattress.

I tried to post pictures with this entry, but since i am working from a dial-up connection right now, that is proving slow and difficult. =)