Hurricane Pictures

The surf just before the hurricane hit.A little building outside our shelter during the storm.
Same building after the storm Our shelter and the plywood that protected us from the winds!

I am alive!

Thank-you to everyone for your prayers for me this week. I finally made it home last night. For those of you that don't know, I was in Cancun on "vacation" last week. The plan was to spend from Wednesday through Sunday on the beach and relax. Sadly, this didn't work out. Thursday morning we had to evacuate the hotel and go to a school for a shelter because Hurricane Wilma was headed out way as a category 5 storm. We slept on a blanket on the concrete floor. The eye of the hurricane was supposed to hit Friday morning. Instead the hurricane sat over us until Sunday morning. It was the longest strongest storm ever recorded to hit the Caribbean. It literally sat over us and went from a strong category 4 to a tropical storm over us. During the worst part, the plywood that was separating us from the storm was creaking and bowing and even cracking. Needless to say, I was a bit scared. Thank God it held and we are okay. We made it onto the first Delta flight out yesterday and got home. The shower felt wonderful :)

Decisions: facts or feelings?

How do you fall in love
How do you say I do
When is the perfect time
To spend the rest of your life
Seasons may come and go
And sometimes it rains and snows
And there will be highs and lows
So only you will know
You never know just where it will find you
’cause it can come on you so fast
Seems like it takes forever
When you want it so bad
But don’t ever take it for granted
’cause it’s more than sowing some seeds
It takes sun and water
So give it what it needs
And that’s how you fall in love
That’s when you say I do
That’s when you know it’s time
To spend the rest of your life
Now seasons may come and go
And sometimes it rains and snows
There will be highs and lows
So only you will know
There will be highs and lows
So only you will know

I've always thought this song was beautiful. But it would bug me that the writers would never really answer the question "How do you know?" I have always been a combination of analytical and romantic. I like to sort things into collums and weigh pros and cons. But sometimes you can't explain why you know something. You just know it. Many people I have spoken with confirms this phenomenon. When it's right, you will know. This is often said with regard to marriage. And I think it is true. But I think it also applys to other matters in life. It's helpful to get all the facts, to gain understanding and perspective and above all to pray. But I think all these things come together in a sort of gut feeling. And in the end, you know the right decision to make.

Any thoughts on this?

The Great Divorce

I was invited by someone at work to attend a narration of "The Great Divorce" by C. S. Lewis. It was by an actor from England. He used different accents and voices for the characters. It was a very interesting story. It told of the narrator who was on a bus trip from hell to heaven and the people he meets along the way. A statement I thought was profound was this. For those from the earth who ended up in hell, it penetrated back to their whole life. The sinful pleasures they once had, held no further pleasure and it was as if their whole life was hell. Those who ended up in heaven where able to think back on the hard times in their life and still see God or his hand, and it was as if their whole life was heaven.

Another interesting part was when the "ghosts" or people between heaven and hell dialogued with the saved. (In this story, people from hell can sometimes still choose to be saved. It's a parable, not necessarily a doctrine.) One ghost was holding on to a sign from the past represented by a lizard on his shoulder. The angel said that he could kill the lizard for him, but he had to have permission first. Finally the ghost gave him permission. After he killed the lizard it turned into a stallion and the ghost became a "bright person" and was able to continue the journey to heaven.

This may not make sense if you haven't read the book or don't understand C.S. Lewis' imaginative style. I enjoyed the narration and encourage you guys to look at the book if you have time.

Do I really need an MBA?!

This online thing is about to push me over the edge. I can't sign on to the WebCt despite having spoken to IS earlier today and getting things "straightened out." I can't buy a book for my class because the online bookstore website isn't working and I can't match the ISBN number on Amazon. I found the right title and edition, but it has a different ISBN number. I don't understand that. It is so much easier to do some of this stuff in person. I like the online thing in theory, but right now it's about to drive me up the wall.

Yummy s'mores! 

The family 

Playing Football 

My Big Fat Family Camping Trip

This weekend I was supposed to go camping with my family. And by family I mean Carrie, Paul, Christopher, Jenny,Jeremy, Charles, Mom, Dad, Uncle Mearle, Aunt Bonnie, Aunt Marie, Uncle Dale, Uncle Ronnie and his adopted kids, and my grandparents. That's a lot of family! Sadly we were rained out. Uncle Mearle was nice enough to invite us to his house for the weekend. So we "camped" at his place. It was a lot of fun. We had a bonfire and made smores and even attempted a hike. I brushed up on my football skills, which it turns out are not so swell right now! It was nice to all be together and we had a good time :)

Insecurities

What is it about women and emotions? Perhapes I am the only one here, but sometimes I feel trapped in my own feelings. Something bothers me and I just can't let it go until it is resolved. The tiniest thing can become huge in my own mind. I think men are generally more able to logically let things go. If only I could learn to do that better.

Yes, I admit, I cried over a TV show

So, I watched the season premier of Alias tonight. Wow. That was the saddest show. I realize that on Alias, people don't always "die." But it was awfully real looking. Yes I'm idealistic. But I was rather looking forward to the show ending with a nice wedding. Seriously. How can you kill off one of the main characters? Sigh.

A French Brittany Spears

Today I volunteered to be a "victim" for our mass casualty drill at the hospital. The scenario was that a hurricane had hit Florida Hospital and they had to evacuate some patients to us. I had the card of "Brittany Spears" and I had some problem with my stomach that was causing internal bleeding. Other people had lacerations and things like that. We all lined up at the ER and then staff had to practice how they would react in case of an emergency like Katrina. It was very interesting. To add to the "fun" I pretended to be vacationing from Paris and speak French. It was interesting to see how the nurses responded to me. Some pointed to things and said "walk, sit, signature." One girl tried to use her high school French. I was told that should there be a real French person, they would get a translator service.

The interesting thing was, as we were debriefing from the drill we received word that several real patients had been evacuated to us from Texas and were actually sitting in the ER. SO, needless to say the meeting was adjourned rather quickly and the people involved with the patient care went to check on their respective areas.

Time for Fall

Today was hot. It seems to me like it should be time for fall soon. October in Tennessee is one of my favorite months. My Florida friends should come visit!

Picture Purrfect! 

Heather, Amanda, and I on Heather's birthday. 

Yay for Company

Today Carrie is coming up to see me. She is going to visit River Chambers tomorrow. Last I heard he is recovering very well at Vanderbilt. For more information on River visit http://www.ljfarrowpe.com/river.html

She vetoed Mexican food and I vetoed Indian so we are compromising on Panera. Which is generally always a good choice!

I'm fun to visit! More of you should come!

I AM loved!

This weekend I decided I simply couldn't drive to Chattanooga again. It's not that far, but after so many weekeds, the drive gets old. But I am happy to announce that I had three visitors this weekend. First my parents drove up and went hiking with me for Sabbath afternoon. We had a nice picnic. Then Heather came up and we hung out Saturday night. We saw "Just like Heaven." It was actually cute. I recommend it to anyone who can look past the "yes spirits don't REALLY leave the body" aspect. We're going to head to Opry Mills today and do some shopping. Yay for company. :)

Do I stink or something?

Seriously, I took a shower this morning. But something about me seems to be uninviting to my co-workers lately. The girls in my office have started going out to supper and they don't invite me. Now I realize that this is petty and childish. But a month ago, they would have. I'm not sure what happened. As far as I know, I haven't offended anyone. It's true that my office is away from everyone. But still, I'm within walking distance. And there is always email.

Anyways. I'm sure I'll find something exciting to do this evening. Perhapes I can take up knitting.

What is my purpose?

I have a lot to be thankful for. A nice house, cute cat, good friends and family and a job that I generally like. But sometimes I still feel lost. Mostly when I'm up here in Nashville. What do I do in the evenings? Clean a little, shop a little, watch some TV, and listen to Kevin talk about his school. Sometimes it just feels like I'm not doing a lot with my life. I miss being involved in things. I miss connecting with people. I'm like an island up here. I know I'm going to miss being close to home if and when I move. But I need to do something different. I need to do more with my life than just work and talk on the phone.

I miss hiking

When I used to live in Chattanooga we would go hiking quite a bit in the fall. Chattanooga is perfect for hiking; there are so many trails and rivers and waterfalls nearby. It's beautiful really. Now that I don't live here, I have to drive 2.5 hours just to get home. So I rarely feel like driving my car somewhere to hike after that. So on Sabbath, I eat and talk until well into the afternoon and than usually just end up walking the greenway. Nothing wrong with that. I just miss the days when we would all get together after lunch and go out in nature.

I wish I could find a place to live that had both an ocean and nice hiking trials with waterfalls.