I Don't Know if I'd-A Told THAT

**Be warned that there are some cuss words in this video. So don't turn it up full volume in front of the little ones or at the office :)

Some bones are better left in your closet, and this may be one of them...BUT it is too funny and ridiculous to keep to myself. This video is Jeremiah his Senior year of college at Samford. He and his friends were hanging out in the Sigma Nu dorm one afternoon, when they decided it would be fun to dare Jeremiah to jump out of his second story window and grab on to the small tree outside. Stupid. Dangerous. YES, but the result is a pretty funny YouTube video.

It will make more sense if I tell you that he passed out for close to a minute. The camera is rolling for the jump, is turned off while they all freak out and try to make sure he is not dead, and then starts rolling again once he re-gains consciousness--and discovers a lovely side effect of passing out :).

I am so thankful that God protected him, even though he certainly was not protecting himself. He watched it last night and kept saying he had no idea how he did not dislocate his hip...or worse. We'd only been dating a couple of months when he did this...Glad I didn't run away scared I was going out with a madman :)

I'm Not Done Yet :)

(I feel like I am posting a mug shot of my Valentine. hehehe. Why do I feel the need to embarrass him on anythings Valentines related?) I posted the pictures, but I never did get to tell you why it is I love Valentine's Day so much. It has nothing to do with hearts or red roses (In fact, I find the symbols for Valentine's Day rather atrocious on the whole.), it is about what it represents. There is something that makes my heart sing about knowing that all over the world, people are celebrating love. Not just romantic love, but children love, friend love, brotherly love...but mostly romantic love, if I'm honest. And for any of you out there who may be wanting to tell me that maybe I should be naming my favorite holiday as Easter, and stop getting so wrapped up in all these secular holidays, I would like to remind you that, "God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God abides in him” (1 John 4:16). So when you get down to it, getting excited about love IS getting excited about God, so there. (Can you tell I've been crossed by that one before :))

Growing up I never had a boyfriend on Valentine's Day, leaving me with dear old Dad as my ever-constant Valentine. While he was an excellent one, I can remember wanting desperately to be able to celebrate the day with a real boyfriend (Somehow my boyfriends in high school always managed to purposefully sabotage our relationships just before the big day arrived. Probably smart...). You know, it didn't happen--having a real Valentine--until Jeremiah, and we were not technically together (did anybody else take several "breaks" on your road to love???) until the V-day before we were engaged. So, when I finally did have a boyfriend on the big day, you can imagine my delight to find that he knew how to celebrate it right. He filled up the front desk of the KD dorm with flowers, not just for me, but for my best friends as well. The guy knew the way to my heart (Right council? :) He knew he couldn't make it without your approval.)

Then where did the, slightly ridiculous, Valentine's Day ghost emerge from? On our engaged V-Day he had a HUGE medical school test. I was livid. Here V-Day is on a Friday night, I am ENGAGED, and I have been spending the past month giddy about the fact that it is on a Friday so that evil medical school will surely not be able to think of a way to ruin this for me. Oh but it did! Jeremiah, knowing me, had forbidden me to come see him until after the test was over. He knew he'd not get an ounce of decent studying done if I brought the V-day happies, so I determined to make the best of it. He said I couldn't SEE him, but he didn't say I couldn't leave surprises all along his trail throughout the day to wish him a happy V-day, make sure he knew how loved he was, and maybe embarrass him in front of all those stuffy med-school friends just a wee bit. So that's what I did. I skipped all my classes, named myself the Valentine's Day Ghost, and left an elaborate trail of things in his path. Like a huge poster, decorated in one of my most artsy endeavours to date, covered with all the little particular reasons why I loved him. Heart Scooby Doo boxers tied to his car in the school parking lot...it went on and on. I remember my roommates watching (and helping) me map out all of the day's happies and one of them said, "It's a good thing you've already 'got him,' because if he were smart, he'd be sure to run after all of this." :)

And so, the ghost has continued on ever since. I guess it is technically our first tradition. We've added a couple of Little Goblins along the way, and I still love having the excuse of Valentine's Day to crazily, unashamedly, loudly proclaim how much I love the man I am married to. Happy V-Day! I am still wanting to shout it :)

V-Day

(You must know that I went to the airport to pick Jeremiah up bearing this sign :))

Happy Valentine's Day! From the V-Day Ghost and Little Goblins :)

A Day's Rhyme

Day of chaos sharp and tense,
Running, cleaning filth and nast
Sunshine breaks and calls us forth
Leave behind chaos’ source.
In a chair I settle deep,
While the babies run and leap.
Laughter dancing in my ears,
Needle guides my fingers clear.
Through the pleats I push my angst,
While the sunshine warms my nape.
Forget the bathrooms and the floors,
In the haven beyond our doors.

“Mommy, will you bring a snack?”
“In a minute,” I call back.
Crackers, cookies, water clear,
On their table small and dear.
“Can I sit by Dapples please?”
On one side the sisters squeeze.
Baby smiles a thankful grin,
To Sister who knew her very whim.
Curls begin to bob in time,
To some tune I cannot find.
“Mommy don’t you like this song?”
“Sorry girls,” I answer long.
Pink icing clutched in tiny fists,
As giggles burst through swaying hips.
A song I cannot seem to find,
Plays sweet and clear in babies’ minds.

“Thank you, Lord,” and my heart swells,
To watch the love, I could have squelched,
If chaos, nast, and dirty floors,
Had kept us all in dim-lit doors.
Two bodies move to table top,
Down comes umbrella ‘til it stops,
Closing in my little girls
Now Injun braves with golden curls.

Oh Deer!

On Monday night, Groundhog's Day no less, I was one of those Car vs Deer accidents that I often listen to Jeremiah talk about from his ER nights. I left Dothan around 8:30 to drive back to Birmingham. I was cruising down 231, just north of Ozark, when suddenly there was a deer right in front of my car. Do you know that all I could think when I saw that thing (besides Holy Crap you better slam on those brakes as hard as you can) was, "That deer is going to smash through my windshield and kill me." Because those are the type of horror stories Jeremiah likes to relate. Things like antlers skewering the driver, Ok?!

Obviously, none of that happened or I wouldn't be happily writing this little blog post. Besides crunching the front grill and my door, there was no real harm done. Pace never even woke up in the backseat and Mary Aplin only roused for a few minutes. My father and brother-in-law came and picked us up at Trailer World (if you've ever been to Christmas City in Ariton, you know where I am talking about :)), since the front of the car was wedged into the wheel. Then we went back to the Maddox's house to spend the night and try the trip again (Groundhog's Day!) the next morning.

Now, three really nice things have come out of that accident. One, is that Dr. Maddox (my FIL) is one of those people who doesn't just give you the shirt off their back if you need it, he gives you his shirt and then goes out and buys you three of the very nicest shirts you could have imagined to go with it. Jeremiah's whole family is like that really. It astounds me. So anyway, Dr. Maddox gave me his brand spankin' new Land Cruiser to drive while my car gets fixed. I feel absolutely spoiled rotten and find myself LOOKING for errands to run :)

Second, on our way home we stopped to eat at McDonalds. It had been a long night, none of us had bathed, and I am assuming we must have looked pretty homeless because of what happened. This nice, normal, sixtyish man was joking with Pace in line while we ordered our food. She was an easy target considering she'd worn large, pink, heart-shaped sunglasses, upside down (because she REFUSED to let me turn them right-side up) into the establishment. (You see we were still celebrating V-Day, even in our distress.) I didn't think much of it; we were eating our lunch inside (since I didn't dare let the girls eat in the bright shiny borrowed car) and close to being done, when that same man walked by our table and handed Pace a TWENTY saying, "Buy something fun for you and baby sister!" I was shocked at the kindness. I tried to give it back but he shook his head, smiled, and disappeared out the door. It was just so sweet! Not a five, a TWENTY, to absolute strangers.

Third, like anytime something near-tragic (or tragic) happens, I was left feeling extremely grateful. Grateful for all the times, that I don't even know about, that God has stretched out a hand to protect us. Grateful that we were all safe, and that we weren't another ER story being talked about over dinner. Grateful that I wasn't dealing with the guilt of having an accident that had injured one of the precious packages that were sleeping in the backseat. Just grateful for life and family. I was having a "discussion" with Jeremiah about finances when that "mean deer who needs a spanking" (as Pace is now calling it) stepped into the road, and it is amazing how everything shifted into perspective...and I even got a new car and a twenty in the deal :)