2008

It’s the end of 2008 and I thought I would join the growing trend of bloggers. :) This year was not in the least what I thought it would be. There have been smiles, tears, and much laughter along the way.

I discovered that planning is definitely my forte. I started the year with planning a trip to Gatlinburg for 10 of my friends. We headed up to the mountains in early February to do some relaxing, shopping and some trail walking (yes, I did walk the trails). The time away really gave me time to think. I think the theme of the trip boils down to Matthew 6. A couple of my friends and I also assisted in the planning of the singles beach retreat for two large churches in Huntsville. 100+ singles attended the event in Laguna Beach, FL on Memorial Day weekend. It was an amazing time of worship, activities, and fellowship. Shortly after this (meaning about 4 days), we were starting a small group Bible study expecting only 6 people. We were surprised that first Thursday night when we had approximately 14 show up. In order to keep the group small, we opted to divide the group. Shortly thereafter, we found that both groups had doubled in size. Next thing we knew, my friend and I were dividing the groups again! By early fall, we had 4 groups going throughout the city. It was amazing to see what God did within all of the groups. Christmas time came and my friend and I found ourselves planning a formal Christmas dinner for our small group Bible study. We chose to cook a dinner consisting of beef tenderloin, mashed potatoes, fresh green beans and crème brulee. Afterwards, we played a game of Catch Phrase, played Rock Band and watched “White Christmas”. I loved having the opportunity to dress up and play hostess. :)

Even with all of this planning, I found time to participate in a women’s Bible study with my mom and several other women who have played key roles in my life. I have found myself challenged to not only believe in God, but to truly believe Him. I spent quite a bit of time at the river, coached Upward Cheerleading, and a multitude of other things . I lost a significant amount of weight (I’m down 2 pant sizes!) Oh- and I bought a house! It’s a small 3 bedroom, 1 bath in South Huntsville. It’s farther from work, but closer to my social life. I’m enjoying it for the most part. I host a small group of my closest friends over weekly for dinner and “Friends” night.

Mom says I have the best stories from this year and that I should write a book. I figured I would sum them up and share them this way. I think I’ll start with my “surprise” birthday party. My friends were so sweet to throw me this party. The only problem was that I was the first one there. We all had some good laughs. J I guess the next one started with the bat at Andrew’s house. He claims it’s my fault it came in, but he left me standing outside so I say he deserved it. Haha… Anyway, a bat ended up in his house probably through the fireplace. We were hanging out with Chris and Larissa that night. The plan was to play Rock Band. After an hour and half (or more) of trying to catch the bat or make it fly out the door, Andrew ended up killing it. It had to be done. We have been called murderers, but I guarantee all actions were taken before this was done. Then this summer we were out on the river, and I had agreed that I would tube. So, the boys pulled out the 3 person tube and 3 of us girls got on. The first round was kind of funny then we switched people. That time around I kept telling them to stop, but the spotters weren’t paying attention. I ended up with a terrible case of whiplash. So, several trips to the chiropractor later, I was back to normal. Our family vacation brought more good stories. My favorite way to describe it is: 2 Hurricanes + 2 Tropical Storms + a search and rescue + several unexpected trips to Disney World= PRICELESS. I don’t think we will be going on another cruise during hurricane season. I think the next best thing came when I was driving home after meeting Kim and April at the High School Musical 3 premiere, which ended at 2am. I was driving and singing the songs from HSM2 at the top of my lungs and suddenly I realize there are flashing lights behind me. I couldn’t understand why since I was going the speed limit, but I pulled over. I realized it wasn’t just one cop that pulled me over and it wasn’t two, but THREE cops pulled me over! They said I was swerving (it was windy) and asked if I had been drinking. Once I explained where I had been, we shared a few laughs and they let me go. Next on the list would have to be after small groups the second week of December. I had been sick all day, but went anyway. We always watch The Office and a movie afterwards. This time the movie was Elf and I fell asleep (this is not too unusual for me- once I get in that papisan chair I’m out!). Well, once the movie was over, I got up to head downstairs to get my things together and go home. I go to step down and I just couldn’t catch my footing. All I remember is hitting each stair all the way down and hearing Brad go “NO NO NO NO”. Once I got to the bottom, I just prayed I hadn’t broken anything. The tears were there, but there was no way I was crying. I got to the bottom of Andrew’s driveway and completely lost it. I didn’t have time for that kind of injury. We had a formal dinner on Saturday! Needless to say, I could barely walk on Friday morning. Mom had to take me to the doctor where we discovered nothing was broken. I ended up with 3 extremely large bruises and 5 smaller ones as well as a 2nd butt. I am happy to say that I now I just have a small knot still there, but I am healing! If that wasn’t enough, exactly a week later, I’m headed into work (on time for once) and I get on the elevator. I know I just work on the 2nd floor, but I was still in a significant amount of pain. Anyway, I get on and it gets all the way there and goes to settle and the power goes off. At first I thought I’d give it a couple of minutes and see if the power came back on. When it didn’t, I called my boss. She didn’t answer the phone, so I thought, “I’ll call Kevin. He always has is phone on him”. Sure enough, I asked him “So, is the power out up there?” He said, “Yes.” I was like, “Well, I’M STUCK IN THE ELEVATOR”. The next thing I know everyone is asking me if I’m ok, if I need food, if I’m ok again. Good grief, how long was I going to be in there? 30 minutes later, they had manually pulled the elevator down and pried the doors open and I was free. The most overwhelming thing was the 50 or so people standing outside. Lisa made me face my fears and get back on it that day, but I have been trying to avoid it if at all possible. J The last couple of weeks have stayed calm- thank goodness.

Well, those were the highs and the humorous of 2008. There were some lows, but I don’t want to dwell on those. I want to learn from the mistakes and press on. I won’t be making any resolutions this year. They are too easy to break. Instead, I am going to make goals, one of which is to travel to places within a 2-4 hour radius more. I have a lot of friends I haven’t visited in a while. Secondly, I am a pretty cautious person. I won’t do it if I even remotely think it will hurt me physically or emotionally. It’s time for me to start branching out- more than trying new foods. My fun goal is to find as many snooty events as I can and get involved- even if I have to plan them myself. Life is too short to not celebrate the things that make us happy.