Undying Love

Death is a crazy thing. It emits so many emotions from so many people. Some people react sad while others hide how they feel and "deal" with it internally. I say these things because everyday in my commute I pass by a pretty large cemetary in Gastonia, NC. About two months ago a person was buried fairly close to the street and this location allowed me to observe their graveside in passing. Right after the burial an older gentleman began sitting by this graveside. For almost TWO WEEKS straight I watched him daily sit in his chair (yes he took his own chair) and just sit right beside this grave! I had thoughts to myself like "Wow he must have really loved her" and "Man he must be really sad and alone to just sit there". I assume that this was his spouse but I guess it could have been a child, a friend or just about anybody. Slowly over the weeks he taperd off his visits and I rarely saw him. I still look daily to see if he will be there and two days this week he was back. Just sitting. Just watching. Spending time with this person that he must have loved oh so much!

This is where my mind starting racing and I began to wonder. How many people will be stricken with grief if I were to die? And how many of them would come and just sit with my body after I was gone? I wonder if Tony would come and sit and if our love is the undying love that this man obviously felt for this person that he lost. I have on many occasions almost turned the car around to go and speak to this man. Then I think, he is with that person alone because he wants to visit them and their memories, not some crazy stalker woman joining the two of them. A love that never wants to let go, but no matter how much he tries or sits or waits, he will never bring that person back. I guess that's why God gives us the days that he does give us. So that we can create that love while we are alive.

NC ZOO

We have this tradition that Abbygale goes to a different zoo every year. We have seen Riverbanks Zoo in Columbia, SC (several times), Knoxville Zoo in TN, Lazy 5 Ranch in Mooresville, NC and SeaWorld in FL.
Well this year we decided that the NC Zoo was the place to go so that Abbygale could see Polar Bears! We try to find a new animal at each zoo we go to. Knoxville had a Bengal Tiger and of course SeaWorld has Shamu! Abbygale was really excited all week about this trip. We started on the African side and made the Polar Bears one of the last things that we saw. We saw some cool stuff before we got to Willy the Polar Bear though. One of which was a smaller elephant (not sure how old) and it was rolling around in the mud. Now I've been to zoos as stated above but I've never seen an elephant act like a pig!
Well after the elephant was done acting like a pig, he decided to go "clean off". He got into the watering hole there by all of us and starting swimming! I wouldn't have believed it had I not seen it myself, so I'm attaching pictures. At one point he was completely submerged in the water. It was really cool. Well of course the highlight of the day was seeing the Polar Bear, Willy. Abbygale just loved him. Here is a picture for your viewing pleasure! When we go to the zoo each year, Abbygale always gets a new stuffed animal. It is always a new animal that she doesn't already have and preferably one that we saw that day. She got a polar bear this time of course. Here she is getting ready to leave the zoo with her new animal.
Just in case anybody is interested, Riverbanks Zoo is an awesome zoo and great for young kids. The NC Zoo has A LOT of walking but is good, just tiring. The Knoxville Zoo was really good too. It was easy to navigate but you had to pay to park where we don't at the other two. Side Note: We have never been there but the Atlanta Zoo just had a new Panda Cub on Saturday. This gives them a total of 4 Pandas. We are trying to get a trip together to go but if anybody has been there, please let me know how it was. Thanks!

MUD RUN 2008

Well myself and a few girlfriends of mine will be participating in the Marine Mud Run Challenge at Fort Jackson in Columbia SC in just a few weeks. Tony and some guys ran the one at Belmont Abbey College a few weeks ago but I was unable to participate due to health reasons (see prior posts). Two of the girls participating with me also ran the Belmont Mud Run and had a blast. I did at least get to go watch! Well in preparation for the Mud Run on Sept 20, 2008 I have been riding a bike every other day and I usually ride around 4 miles each time. Well Sunday 3 of the 4 of us participating went to Crowders Mountain State Park and hiked together. I was told that we would be doing 2 miles - 1 mile there and 1 mile to hike out. Well apparently she read the map wrong and we actually hiked 1.7 miles there and 1.7 miles back! Thanks Carrie! ;) Anyway this was some major hiking! It took all I had to get to the top of that mountain. It was very steep and rocky. I had never even been to Crowders Mountain, let alone hike. It was beautiful when we did reach the peak though! I will post a picture later. I really thought that Monday I would be terribly sore. I was a little sore yesterday but today, when it should be worse, I hardly feel anything at all. The funny thing is a friend of mine at work found out that I was participating in this and said, "YOU are doing THAT?" I said "Yeah, Why?" and they said "well I definitely have to see pictures of this!" I got to thinking though, it should actually be pretty funny. I hope we do get good pictures!
Here is a link to see the Mud Run...www.usmcmudrun.net

Politics At It's Finest

I have a love/hate relationship when it comes to politics. I love to see what is going on and learn abou the "leaders" of our country and what they stand for. I am not obsessed with this task though and I am the first to say that I do not keep up with politics the way that I probably should. I think that is because politicians don't listen to the average person anyway and let's face it, I'm just a regular woman from a small town in a state that doesn't have enough electoral votes for the things to really matter anyway. Well at least that's how I feel sometimes.

Even though I feel like that I am still responsible and I vote. I vote because people who don't vote really shouldn't complain and I feel like in case the vote actually did come down to one vote (which it never will), that I would regret things if I hadn't voted. And even as I might be somewhat responsible in knowing things that go on, I never ever try to discuss politics with people unless they initiate it first. I tell you this because of the following story and I want you to understand my position on this.

Sunday I went to Pizza Hut with my mother to pick up some "Dunkers" for my grandmother (They are pretty good by the way). While we were waiting on our order a gentleman in his mid to late 50's began speaking to me and my mom. My mom and I exchanged the usual "wow he's talkative look" but we were pleasant and just spoke back when it was appropriate. Toward the end of the conversation, he made a blunt statement about Barack Obama and how he really hoped Obama won the presidency. My mouth fell to the floor! First of all, like stated above, most people don't tell strangers their political beliefs. Second, this was a middle aged white man saying he wanted Obama to win. Let's all face it, that's not his normal group following. After I composed myself, I said "you have to be kidding me" and he stated "no that he really thought things would be better if he won". I said "McCain would be better, at least he has SOME morals". He proceeds to state, "McCain is just like Bush and look where we are at now, McCain does not need to win anything". After looking at my Mom in disbelief I proceeded to say, "McCain is not great, I'll give you that, but who is? McCain and Bush my be from the same political party but they are not exactly the same. When voting for the presidency you are voting for the lesser of two equals. Neither candidate is great and neither one will "Save" our country but when you look at each individually, at least McCain has SOME morals. At least he doesn't kill unborn babies!" At this point my mother's mouth fell open and so did the man that I was speaking with. He said "you ladies have a great day", grabbed his order that had recently been finished and walked out the door.

Now usually I don't show my cards. I will discuss politics and things if it comes up between friends and people but usually family is the only one that I out right discuss this topic with. This year is different. This year more and more people are being outspoken about their beliefs and their likes and dislikes about each candidate. While this blog is not intended to endorse a particular candidate, it could probably come across as such. Like I stated to the man at Pizza Hut, I do not like either candidate. They are both people who should put their faith first when they make decisions, everyone should, but especially since they are both in high prominent places. Both candidates are not fit for the position they are both vying for but that wasn't up to me, or any of us "normal" people. Us "normal" people spend our time looking at both candidates and are faced with the reality that neither one represent the type of person we would choose to be in the white house. WE ARE PICKING BETWEEN THE LESSER OF TWO EVILS! For you that may be one person but for me it's John McCain. I, again, don't agree with all of his positions but when I go to pick between the two, I have to realize that a candidate that can vote to kill an innocent child would do WHATEVER it takes to get their way. Obama is a pro choice supporter and McCain is not. Obama would kill an innocent baby and that is murder.

Whatever your beliefs are, you are entitled to them. Just as I am entitled to mine. I normally don't express my opinions on politics so loosely but felt compelled to do so after Sunday's incident. Whoever you vote for, you have to live with that and that's your decision to make, just make sure you vote! Christians need to speak up for what they believe in!

Weekend Getaway!

We had a blast this past weekend when we got to get away and go camping with some friends of ours up at Chimney Rock. Abbygale loves camping and we got to camp for two days and play in the creek right by our campsite. Our friends, The Maynards, that we went with are a great family to hang around and we love their company. We had a great time all weekend and the kids had a blast!

All In God's Timing...

Well as many of you know from my last post Tony and I just found out we were having another baby. However it wasn't in his plan for that to come full circle. One week after we found out we were to have another child we found out that we were now in the process of having a miscarriage. Many of you know that this isn't the first time this has happened to us but I think we will get through this one much better than we did the last one. Our relationship is a ton stronger than it was 5 years ago when we lost Christian and that experience gave us insight into how God really does love us and wants the best for us. We know that God gives but he can also taketh away. While my selfish side would like to be mad about that, I can't. I look around at the the "things" that I do have, i.e., a wonderful husband, an awesome daughter and the best family, and I know that I am lucky. I am lucky to have these great things but most importantly I am lucky to have a Heavenly Father who will be with me when no one else knows I've been crying and will be with me when everybody else forgets that I may still be suffering inside. For that I am grateful....and everything else will fall into place.

From 3 to 4!

Tony and I found out yesterday that we are going to HAVE ANOTHER BABY! We are super excited and so is Abbygale. She is going to be an awesome Big Sister if the last 18 hours are any indication. She is very protective over me already. We should be due sometime in April if we've figured it out right. Please keep us and our new little miracle in your prayers. We are sure that this was God's plan for us and can't wait to meet our new little one!