TIS THE SEASON!!!

When I started this blog a few days ago, I didn’t realize how much fun it truly was going to be until I began typing. I couldn’t take my eyes off the computer screen! Once while I was typing, my sister’s boyfriend came in the room and tried to talk to me and I kept saying “ Hold on” Then about 5 minutes would pass and I’d say “Now, what’d you say?” I couldn’t take my mind or my heart off of what I wanted to say to you all. He finally gave up trying to tell me his story!! Haha!  Sorry David!!

So, as the days have passed, I’ve been thinking and wondering about the things you might want to hear about, from my journey in this life. I decided I am going to just tell you whatever is on my heart the day I choose to type! 

So here goes…

Tonight, I was sitting at the island in our kitchen like I do pretty much every night.  I was organizing my itunes catalog and answering some emails when Mama came in with some groceries.  She decided to make chicken chili for dinner & had to go by the grocery store on her way home from work to get all the ingredients.  She, of course, bought some dog treats too and the latest issue of US magazine.  You see, we have a pretty bad addiction to US Magazine, People, InTouch, Entertainment Weekly, etc!  The list goes on and on.  If Mama doesn’t buy the magazine in the store, then I do!  We are always caught up on the latest gossip and fashion!  When I saw the cover of the magazine tonight, I saw that inside we were going to get a glimpse of Shania’s wedding!   I immediately skipped over every other article til I found her wedding photos and she looked so beautiful and happy!  I then scanned the rest of the magazine knowing that I would wait and actually read the other articles on the Stairmaster one day this weekend.  (That’s kinda my routine!)  As I flipped through the magazine, I ran across about 2-3 more pages of celebrities, engaged to be married this year.  There are SO MANY! 

I began to think about my friends in country music (Carrie, Miranda, Kellie Pickler, Blake Shelton, and probably some more) that are newly married or are engaged.

Tis the season for getting married I guess!  I want to say congratulations and good luck to all of them.  There’s a running joke in my family that I probably wont ever get married because I love the breakup and heartbreak songs.  And because I live with Mama and am perfectly content with that!  I think that one day I will probably get married, but only if I have no doubts whatsoever in my heart that’s what I’m supposed to do and that I know I have found the person God wants me to spend my life with.  AND, whoever my husband is will have to accept the fact that we are going to build an extra wing on the house for Mama or get her a house next door.  Sorry, but that’s the way it’s going to be mister!! Whoever “mister” is!!!!

All of my high school and college friends are also married or getting married and I am normally informed of their news either through text messaging or facebook status updates.  Congrats to you all too!

Tis the season for new babies too!  Every magazine has cute pictures of celebrities & their babies or a list of cute, popular baby names or who is going to be having a new baby this year!  Again, I keep up with that through the magazines for the celebrities, and by text messaging or on my friend’s facebook pages.  One special baby that is coming this year to my family is a new niece!  My sister Marie is going to have her 3^rd little girl!  And I can’t help but say it, because everyone else says it to my brother-in-law, “God bless you with all those women in the house Jimmy”!!  He’s been teased a bunch but I tend to truly look at it as God has BLESSED him with 3 women and he is sending one more for his household because he knows what a good husband and father he is and girls need to see that and experience that kind of love!  So, I AM SO EXCITED to meet my new niece in just a couple months, unless she decides to come sooner.  I love my nieces and wish I could see them more because when we get together, it’s trouble! They get to do anything they want and they are ALWAYS right. 

Living apart from most of my family and friends from SC, I don’t get to attend many weddings, wedding parties, wedding showers, or baby showers.  I get to see pictures on FACEBOOK!  Thank you Facebook!! 

All of that brings me up to this….

About a month or so ago, I was invited to a shower that takes place today and I’m actually going to get to go!!  It’s in Lebanon, TN and it’s for a friend of mine that I met while on the ‘Prison Tour’ last year.  She works for a video music channel in town and traveled with us to document our trips to prison but also to help minister to the women we met there. 

Today, I am going to my VERY FIRST KIDNEY SHOWER!!!  That’s right, I said KIDNEY SHOWER!!   It’s a kidney shower for my friend named Patii. Patti is an unbelievable person.  She puts everyone’s needs before her own and is truly the most unselfish person I have met in my life. 

Patti met a lady while studying for her master’s degree in Theology. The two became friends and Patti finally learned that her friend’s husband was a veteran and needed a new kidney.  His name is John.  I’ve never met John, but I know he served our country proudly and has been on dialysis for over three years now.  As Patti got to know his wife, she began to hear about the struggles of John’s life since his kidneys stopped functioning properly.  He had no choice but to surrender his life to these machines.  Ironically, he had also once done a prison ministry but had to quit due to his fading health. His entire life has been altered because of his failing kidneys and he can no longer do the things that once made him happy.

One day Patti decided to register herself to become an organ donor.  They began to do all the testing that they do and found out that she was a perfect match for John!  HOW CRAZY is that?  She met this lady in theology school whose husband needed a kidney and she happened to match him perfectly?! It’s no coincidence.  It’s God’s plan working out for both the lives of Patti and John.   

From the time I met Patti on the Prison Tour, I’ve known she was going to be donating her kidney to John.  This surgery has been scheduled 2 times before and for health issues has been rescheduled for this upcoming week.  You see, if John gets even a cold or a sore throat, it’s highly unlikely that they can do the surgery.  So, he and Patti have been really taking care of themselves to stay healthy so that the surgery will happen on Wednesday. 

At the kidney shower, we are going to have food, we are going to tell jokes, laugh, pray, and just celebrate life.  Because of Patti, John gets another chance at living his life.  I was talking with Patti yesterday and this is what she said to me that I thought was SO beautiful.

She said, “Thank you for the prayers.  I am at peace right now and my body is better than it usually is.  Can you believe some of John’s friends sent me flowers today?  People I have never met!  God’s love is so life-giving…being a match for John has brought untold blessings in my life.  All I want to do is be a good and faithful servant, listening to whatever call he has for me.” 

What an amazing woman God has put into this world and my life!  On a regular basis, I send her questions about my faith and the Bible. Questions that sound very child-like to me and she always says they are great questions and eagerly responds with 4 page, typed answers.  She is helping me grow on my spiritual journey and I wanted you all to know a little bit about her. 

I hope that you will keep Patti and John in your thoughts and prayers this week.  I will be at the hospital lots this week and will keep you updated on how they are both doing. 

Thank you for letting me share with you what was on my heart today. 

I love you all!  

And...

HAPPY KIDNEY SHOWER PATTI! 

(Is that what I say? haha…..who knows!)

                                               Julie