Choices

"Time passes in moments... moments which, rushing past, define the path of a life, just as surely as they lead towards its end. How rarely do we stop to examine that path, to see the reasons why all things happen, to consider whether the path we take in life is our own making, or simply one into which we drift with eyes closed? But what if we could stop, pause to take stock of each precious moment before it passes? Might we then see the endless forks in the road that have shaped a life? And, seeing those choices, choose another path? "

--Scully (The X-Files)

Getting it Right

Every once in awhile, people will surprise you. In a good way. (I am no longer surprised by the stupid, rude, obnoxious or otherwise unpleasant things people do to each other anymore). I just got this e-mail from HCA corporate headquarters informing all employees that the company is donating $1 Million in cash for direct relief to the victims of the Haiti earthquake. 100% of the money is going to the Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders. The e-mail also provided a link where HCA employees can donate directly to either of these organizations and promised to match, dollar for dollar, every donation that employees make.

I'd just like to say, way to step up to the plate HCA. Yeah I know there's lots of great PR in a move like this and all that jazz but still, not many big corporations out there today do things of this nature anymore. It makes me proud to be a part of this company.

I know where I'm sending my tithe for this month and I'm giving you the link too. If you're looking for a good cause, well, I would encourage you to think about this one...


www.cfmt.org/HCAHaitiReliefFund

So Apparently, I Have Actual Followers

Who knew?

I started this blog back in July as a means of 1) keeping myself occupied while Zack sold his soul to the Devil in exchange for a law degree and 2) so that those friends and family back home who care to can keep up with me while I'm in the Big Easy. I seriously had no idea whether anyone would care to read anything I had to say but figured "What the heck?" and rolled with it anyway. Over the past few months I know my mom has read my blog. So has my sister. And even my Dad who at first refused to out of protest because he thought having a blog made me susceptible to being stalked by all the crazies of the world. My grandparents even read my blog.

Not that its not flattering to know the family is reading...but...well...I dunno. I guess deep down I had aspirations of bigger and better things. Like maybe someone outside the family would care to take a gander at my inner-most thoughts every once in awhile. (And by inner-most I mean the inner most thoughts that are appropriate and safe to broadcast to the world).

Well! Come to find out, I actually have a few real readers! I'm just terribly excited by this news too, because it means that someone out there actually has taken time out of their otherwise busy and probably very fulfilling day, to read about me. And let's be honest--I'm vain enough to really enjoy the thought of that!

So...to you girls who I now know are following my blog...

and THANK YOU!!!

I'm truly flattered that you enjoy it enough to stop by on occasion and promise to do my best to keep you entertained. Or at least not offend you.

My New Obsession

Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to introduce you to the King Cake...or as I now like to refer to it, "The New Orleans version of manna from Heaven." Last week was 12th Night, which (I think--still not fully up on all of the festivals and carnivals here) marks the beginning of carnival season here in New Orleans and the arrival of the King Cake. I'd heard tales of these mythical King Cakes but this past weekend was my first up-close-and-personal experience with one...and OH MY LORD, are those things laced with cocaine? To say that I'm now mildly addicted may be the understatement of the week. We bought one Saturday night and I've managed to devour most of it already. Yes; almost a whole cake in just over 24 hours...don't judge me. And this one wasn't even anything special; just one we bought pre-made from the grocery store. This particular cake was stuffed with cream cheese (and maybe heroine), but apparently they came in lots of other flavors too. I can't even imagine how good some of the homemade cakes must be. I'm craving King Cake as we speak come to think of it and I think I'm exhibiting mild withdraw symptoms. I figure, at my current rate of consumption, I will gain approximately 14 pounds by the time Mardi Gras actually rolls around.

I love this...

"At the end of the game, the King and the pawn go back in the same box."
- Italian Proverb

Thankful

I truly do believe that God is watching out for us and knows, even better than we do, what we need in our lives at any given time. And whatever those things are, He makes sure to provide them for us in ways that we probably could never have imagined for ourselves. That's how I feel anyway, about a particular part of my life these days.

When we first started attending Rayne Methodist Church (we came across it in August after visiting several other churches in New Orleans) I met a really sweet girl who introduced herself and seemed genuinely happy to see us there. Deborah. Come to find out, she also works at the hospital where I work and helps lead a women's Bible study for 20-30 year olds. She invited me to come to the Bible study group, but at first I kinda brushed her off. Ok brush off is too harsh; I just didn't really take her invitation seriously and I completely forgot about it to be honest, because Bible studies have never really been my thing.

I've done my fair share of Bible studies (or at least tried to) mostly during college. I hated them. God help me but they were absolutely some of the most tedious, uncomfortable things I've ever done. When it reached the point where I was dreading the evenings I was supposed to go, I knew I wasn't probably getting out of those things what I should, so yes, I usually just sort of slowly stopped going. Call it an unfair generalization if you want, but I found the girls who lead those things to be sooooooooo fake! And I hate fake. They were always so insincere and fake and believe it or not, downright catty sometimes. Oh and, did I mention they were fake? They acted like they were so perfect and holy and as though doing this Bible study somehow made them better than others. They were super "cliquey" and exclusive and just...not super pleasant people a lot of the time.

Needless to say, the second time Deborah invited me to her Bible study here, it was with great hesitation that I agreed to come. Truthfully the only reason I went is because I've found that once you're out of school and in a brand new city where you know no one, its really hard to meet new friends sometimes! Especially when the majority of the people you work with are men over the age of 50.

I've been going to this study every Tuesday for the past month or so now and oh my goodness, I can not tell you how much I enjoy it. These girls (young women) are amazing! (And that's coming from someone who has never had very many girl friends because I find females as a group downright impossible to be around most of the time). I've never been around a group of women who are so real. These girls are sincere and open-minded and for the most part, brutally honest about themselves and with each other. There seems to be an unspoken rule that no one will in any way judge anyone else so in turn, everyone feels comfortable opening up and being truthful. We don't all sit around for an hour and pretend that we've got things all figured out or that we're perfect and holy and that God loves us better because we're doing this. These girls recognize that in fact they're not at all perfect and never will be. We all readily admit we don't fully understand everything in the Bible; we sometimes question God, or what we feel God is leading us to do. Sometimes we feel lost; sometimes we do things even when we know we shouldn't, and sometimes even when we try our best to do what we think is right, we still come up short. And what I'm starting to see the more I talk with these girls, is that that's ok.

By Christianity's, and even secular society's standards, this group of girls is far from perfect. But they're super, super real and in my opinion, downright amazing women. There are teachers and lawyers and a physical therapist. There are single women, married women, girls who are dating and living with their boyfriends and one divorcee. Some of them drink, some of them have very "checkered"pasts, and some are in marriages that are struggling.

Through them I'm seeing that I don't always have to be perfect. I don't always have to be right. I don't always have to know the best thing to do for every single situation. God knows I'm not and never will be able to do all those things and He doesn't even expect me to. People are, by definition, imperfect creatures. I'm learning that I'm going to mess up and I'm going to come up short sometimes and I'm going to be confused and angry and often times completely lost. But the beauty of it is, God already knows that and loves me anyway. I get to wake up every single morning and have a brand new chance to do the best that I can, and if at the end of the day I've made some mistakes; so what?

I'm Back

Hello all! I apologize for my extended absence but between a trip home to Kentucky for Christmas and ringing in the New Year back in NOLA, I haven't been inclined to write much lately. Actually, lets be honest here; I just got fat and lazy while I was home and am just now getting motivated to get back in the blogging saddle.

Christmas was really good. We were able to go home to Kentucky for almost a whole week, which was wonderful. We saw my family, Zack's family, and a few of our old friends in Lexington as well and one of the best parts was that we were able to go to Calvary (our church in Lexington) on Sunday after Christmas. Man. I miss that place.

I actually worked the week between Christmas and New Year's Day while Zack went to Florida for a wedding so we had to hightail it back down to NOLA pretty quick. All in all though, it was a pretty darn good holiday season. Happy 2010!