Donna’s Blog

Friday rambling…

…been another crazy week

…some good stuff

…some bad stuff

…i guess the typical stuff that most people go through

…i was at a business lunch meeting yesterday and the ladies got to talking about how as women, we don’t always share our “stuff” because we are afraid of what others might think of us

…you know what?

…i think we might all see that we are all much more ALIKE than we are DIFFERENT.

…and even in the areas we are different, what does it matter?  do we have to judge someone because they feel or act differently in a situation than we think we would?

…i’ve never understood why we don’t celebrate the differences in each other

…i’ve never understood why we had to try and “fit in” with the crowd.

…why is it NOT okay to show up to school dressed exactly like you FEEL instead of like what is “in”

…but even at an early age, kids will pick on others who don’t fit in

…is that a learned behavior? 

…i was reminded today, again, that we really are all a lot alike.  i sent an email to a writer friend.  we both missed attending Write About Jesus this year.  We both talked about the discipline it takes to keep writing when you aren’t a “full time” writer and you have to make the time to write admist all the other “duties” you have.  And we felt the same about the struggle to keep on and persevere in this writing journey.  and i was reminded that although i’ve felt very ‘alone’ sometimes, she totally got everything i was saying and understood my crazy thoughts and feeling about it all.

…and that makes all the difference.

Medicine?

I needed a dose of this today….

medicine

great lyrics, great melody, great delivery.  i don’t know if the song was written FOR the movie, or if the movie makers found it afterwards…but it was a perfect fit.

enjoy your day. 

Monday rambling…

…Since i didn’t get to do it Friday

…and because i just feel like rambling today about stuff

…like why do computer programs have places for you to check to “remember me”, and then they don’t remember you?

…and when you wake up at 2:30 a.m. not feeling good, you should probably take some medicine because you won’t feel good when the alarm goes off at 5:00 a.m. either

…and what is the age when your children start thinking that you are actually a person and not just the voice that says “pick up your shoes out of the living room!!”

…and what age is it when they start to appreciate the “wisdom” you share witht them?

…and shouldn’t i feel more perky this morning since i actually go an extra hour’s sleep this week?

…and shouldn’t i definitely feel more perky this morning with this “Sharon Osborne” red highlight in my hair??!!

…and can you believe the calendar flipped over to November yesterday?

…it’s time to hold on for the holiday ride….all the preparing of meals, searching for presents and attending school programs and parties…let the fun begin!

…i saw someone post on  Facebook “30 days of thankful”—what  a great idea.  to spend this month not just giving thanks on one day, but EVERY day.  might be a great habit to start

…so today i’ll tell you what i’m thankful for.  i was actually already thinking about this earlier this morning.  i’m thankful that both my girls have sweet boyfriends.  it makes a difference–trust me!

…and since this is already the 2nd, my 2nd thing i’m thankful for is fun around the lunch table yesterday.  we were all at Nana’s house and just had a hilarious time.  it’s so great to laugh together as a family!

…your turn…

“Soul Survivor”

 I’ve been reading this book and it is so good.  I love me some Phillip Yancey.

In his 3rd chapter of this book he talks about a Dr. Robert Cole.  I’m ashamed to say i had no idea who this man was.  I’m not going to go into detail about that right now.  Because what i wanted to share with you is something that Dr. Cole writes about and that Yancey shares with us in his book.

Dr. Cole has been interviewing and writing about the difficulties of the 1960’s school integration.  He had the chance to meet and interview Ruby Bridges…the little girl who was the first black child to attend the Frantz School.

There were also three other little girls doing the same thing at other “all white” schools and one particularly little girl was named Tessie.  Tessie had Federal Marshalls come to take her to school every day.  She lived with her grandmother and Cole writes that every morning she greeted the men with a “Lord Almighty, another gift”!  Tessie grew weary of all the insults and screaming she had to put with on her way to school every day and asked her grandmother if maybe she should stop going to school.

Her grandmother had this to say (and this just floored me!):  “You see, my child, you have to help the good Lord with his world!  He puts us here–and He calls us to help Him out….You belong in that McDonogh School, and there will be a day when everyone knows that, even those poor folks—Lord, i pray for them!—those poor, poor folks who are out there shouting their heads off at you.  You’re on of the Lord’s people; He’s put His hand on you.  He’s given a call to you, a call to service–in His name!”

Cole goes on to say that loving our enemies is something that is incredibly hard to do….most of us could not truly do it….yet here was a 6 year old living it out.

L-i-v-i-n-g   i-t  o-u-t. 

Because…

It was a few years ago and i was just browsing through the Christian bookstore in Thomasville to kill some time before my jewelry show.

I always head to the music section and that’s exactly what i did.  And that’s when i saw the title of a track CD called “I Am”.  I pulled the CD off the shelf and opened the jacket and read some amazing lyrics.

it’s become my favorite song of all times….

I Am

Grand Champion 4-peat!

 It was quite a day….in fact, it’s been quite a week….no, quite a FEW weeks.

The Marchin’ Cats are used to victory.  Since the arrival of their director, Michael Thomas, four years ago…the band has made significant improvements.

So it was a huge disappointment when we attended our first competition three weeks ago and placed second.  And then two weeks ago we attended another competition…marching in the wind and rain, and placed 5th.  That was the longest bus ride home ever!

The kids were so solomn as they thought about what they could have done better.  And for the seniors in the group…they were wondering how they could have enjoyed three years of success, only to watch it all fall apart their senior year.

The kids were on fall break Monday and Tuesday…but they still met at the band field Tuesday afternoon and practiced for three hours.

There was one more competition and they were going to give it their best shot.

That’s when Karlee dislocated her knee cap.  We were just sick!  Not only worried about her knee injury…but worried about how she would feel not participating in the very last competition of her high school career.

Friday night was a football game at Douglas high school.  We weren’t expecting much to happen, so when the wildcats pulled ahead and won the game…we were all ecstatic.  Maybe this was a sign of good things to come for the weekend.

Then on Saturday morning, the band met out on the field for a two hour practice before leaving for the compeition.  At the end of pratice, hanging in a bright sunny sky, hanging between two beautiful white fluffy clouds, was a rainbow.  another sign maybe?

The Marchin’ Cats took the field at 3:45 for the preliminary competition.  And something magical happened……the show and marching was near perfection.  Karlee stepped onto the field with the band and i was so thrilled to watch her march!

After all 11 bands performed, the awards began.  2a, 3a, and 4a bands are grouped and awards given accordingly.  There were three 4a bands and we came out the winner in our division.  8 of the 11 bands were invited to stay for the competition round.  We were scheduled to perform at 8:30.

The band kids ate some dinner and just hung out for a while.  But soon it was time to suit up again and head out to the warm up area and do it all again.  This time we add some special elements to the show…the props.

It included 6 life-size cowboy tents, bales of hay, an outhouse, a huge cow, a good cowboy, a bad cowboy and Paige as the “outhouse girl”!

The show started and i just had chills as i watched it.  It was amazing.

And when it was time for the awards…we held our breath and waited.  Again, we took top honors in our class.

Then they annouce the Grand Champion….that’s the band that overall, scored the highest scores.

And when the announcer said Valdosta High Marchin’ Cats….we went wild!

The kids persevered….never gave up….overcame obstacles and achieved what’s never been done before….FOUR YEARS IN A ROW OF GRAND CHAMPIONSHIPS!

Crrrrazy week

A friend emailed me over the weekend that something was up with my blog.  So i tried to check it out and sure enough, no blog came up, but instead it was an advertisement for a marketing firm.  I got a little more worried when i tried to go to the blog.com homepage and was told the page could not be found.

i thought maybe the blog people were out of business.  i know there are other blog venues out there that i could use, but the hard part is knowing how to attach that new blog to my website.  which is really why i have continued to stick with these blog.com people anyway.

By Tuesday the situation had worked itself out.  I guess the blog people had goofed somewhere and finally corrected it.  all i can say is, yeah….glad it wasn’t my problem to fix!

Then Tuesday night Ben and i were having a little date night out at Texas Roadhouse.  We had just finished up really and were signing the bill when Ben got a call on his cell phone from a number he didn’t recognize.

it was Karen Cook…..the dance line instructor from the high school.  i knew from Ben’s face and his comment “we’ll be right there” that something was up with Karlee.

he said Ms. Cook told him it had something to do with her knee.  she was marching and then she wasn’t.  she hobbled to the sideline and was in severe pain.

we picked her up and took her to the e/r.  i have to say i was impressed with how quickly we moved from the waiting room, to the triage room, to Room #5, to seeing the doctor, to having an xray taken to being discharged.   it all took only 2 hours.

the doctor told us she had a sprained knee and to have her seen by an orthopedic surgeon and tell him the e/r doctor was “worried”.  (translation….not able to read the xrays all that well?)

so we leave with this on

 and some pain meds that the doctor told her would make her sleepy.  (which had the reverse affect and actually keep Karlee awake all Tuesday night).

So Wednesday morning at 8:30 i call Dr. Aguero…he’s the one who saw Karlee when she broke her wrist and elbow.  I will spare you the details of the three phone calls trying to get someone to call me back….but by 12:15 i was aggravated and then it dawned on me….call Dr. Bearden.

i had just seen him for my shoulder incident a few months ago.  we really like Dr. Bearden.

i was told i could leave a message with his nurse and then we waited.  in a little over an hour, the nurse called back and we were told to go ahead and bring her in.

in less than an hour after that, we were in a patient room and Dr. Bearden was coming in to check on her.  the guy has great bedside manner.

he did a quick exam on her leg, pulled up the xrays on his computer from SGMC and the diagnosis…..Karlee’s knee cap came out of place.  it had gone back into place on it’s own…but the pain was from stretched and/or torn ligaments from the dislocation.

doctor’s orders:  USE THE KNEE.  that’s right…walk on it and start some physical therapy. he wrote us a prescription for one of these:

Much more comfortable.   although she woke up last night about 2 am and took it off cause it was rather tight. 

i haven’t woken her up yet this morning.  but we’ll see how she feels and try to get her into some therapy today.

we’re hoping that she can march on Saturday.  it’s the LAST marching band competition of her senior year and it really means the world to her.

Friday rambling…

…it’s been “Tax Season Part II” around here this week.  for those people who filed an extention in April, tax returns were due yesterday.  so it was busy busy busy this week

…the thunder, lightening, winds and heavy rains did not wake me up this morning

…the phone ringing with a recorded message saying “this is your code red weather alert” did, though

…the forecast for this weekend is busy busy busy

…tomorrow is Valdosta’s Got Talent at 7:00 at the Performing Arts Center!  We have 15 acts for the show and it will be a great night of entertainment.  tickets are $10 and you can still get one from me

…i’ll be at TPAC tonight decorating for the show

…unfortunately i can’t actually MAKE the show because the band has a competition in Sandersville tomorrow.  we’ll be leaving at 7:30 a.m.

…which means we have to be at the high school at 7:00 a.m….ready to ride on one of these…

…guess what time we get back?

…3:30 a.m. Sunday morning. 

…yikes!

…forecast for Sunday….sleeping in and lots of laundry!

bloggy friends, hope you have a great weekend!

nuthin new

Happy Tuesday bloggie friends!

I’m having my coffee and missing chattin with you!

Not that i really have anything to chat about, but has that ever stopped me before?

I ran in the rain last night and loved it.

It wasn’t one of  those “big rain drop” kind of rains, just a sprinkle really.  so i just kept running and enjoying the drops washing the sweat off my face.  i figured if a downpour came, i would just run home.

that actually happened a few weeks ago.  i was out for a run and the sprinkles started.  i kept running, hoping it would only be a light shower.  but it was like someone turned up the hose in heaven and water just poured out of the sky.  i wasn’t too far from home, so i headed that direction.  my sweet husband was on the porch; he said he was about  to get in the car and come find me and pick me up.  how sweet.

but when i was running through the rain last night…waiting to see if it was going to turn into a downpour….i thought about how life can come at me like that.

i’m just going about my routine and all of a sudden the sprinkles start.  i have a decision to make.  forge ahead, or run for shelter.  and if i keep “running”, when is too much rain, too much?  when is it just too much to take?  and do i realize there is always a present shelter?  there is always a hiding place?  there is always a refuge?  or do i sometimes run in the rain and wonder where God is?

when i was running last night, this song came on my ipod.  how fitting.

Bring on the Rain

Friday rambling…

…i’m trying to resist putting more sugar in my coffee this morning.  i really want too.  just a dab more.  but since i drink so much coffee, i figure if i can cut out a dab a sugar every few weeks, pretty soon i’ll be drinking it black.

…i always envy people who take their coffee black.  no messy cream packages to pry open.  no accidentally dropping the sugar packet in the coffee while trying to rip it open.

…we watched Seven Pounds Wednesday night.  i love that movie.  one of Will Smith’s best performances ever!

…it’s about time to make a trip to Bath and Body!  my lotion that i use at work is almost all gone.  and that would be awful because i HAVE to lotion up every morning and then every time i wash my hands i have to re-lotion.  is that a word?  re-lotion?

…i didn’t go out running any night this week.  that’s probably because i spent four nights up at the band room.  meeting-meeting-work on props-and pack snack bags.  of course we were home by 7:00 last night, but then i had to take Paige dress shopping.

…found a really awesome dress for $19.99 at Belk!

…pictures soon!

…i had color painted on my nails yesterday.  i think that was a mistake.  i miss my french manicure already

…A&E has a new show out called “Hoarders”.  Oprah featured some of it on her show yesterday.  It was frightful to see what their homes looked like.  Most of them just had “paths” in rooms to walk through.  One family of five used their parents bed as a place to eat because the kitchen table, counters and any other surface good for eating on was piled with clutter.

…somebody please tell me that cool weather is coming

…i need to find another good book to read to take on the band trip tomorrow

…we go to Fitzgerald for our first band competition.

…pictures to follow!

…call a friend today, treat yourself to an extra piece of chocolate, and make it a great Friday!