Raising Mississippi

Happy Birthday, Mom!

2007-10-15T20:08:00.000-07:00

Well it's late and I don't have much to say, but I wanted to wish my dear old mom a happy birthday today. In case you don't know her, my mom is an incredibly loving and giving person who is quite passionate about her convictions on things (even if those convictions pertain to Vanderbilt sports:) and has occasionally been accused of being a bit quirky or slow on the up-take. Here are some of my mom-ism's:

1. "What's a cracker?" (upon watching Ocean's Eleven when Bernie Mac calls Brad Pitt a cracker)
2. "What's learning disabled got to do with abortion? (when we were visiting the Mormon tabernacle choir and an anti-abortion protester approached us and said that LDS people were in favor of abortion)
3. "We're gonna knock the socks off of you!" (Mom's blood-curdling cheer at Vandy games that is an alteration to the chant that most fans repeat as "We're gonna beat the *$#! out of you!")

I could go on with more, but I will spare her the embarrassment. More than anything, when I think of Mom, I think of a seeker and one who embodies the metaphor of hungering and thirsting after righteousness - she always wants to know Him more and please Him more. Also, she has been a pretty darn good mom, if I don't say so myself, and I have never had to question her love for me for a millisecond because she has shown it so clearly all of my life in word and in deed. Thank you, Mom, I love you!!

(I have some pictures to load, but for some reason, blogger isn't letting me right now. Maybe later...)

Birthday Boys

2007-09-06T18:52:00.000-07:00

It should come as no surprise to anyone who knows me well that the two most important men in my life are my dad and my husband. And they both have birthdays within a week and a half of each other so this blog is a happy birthday wish to them. (Even though it wouldn't surprise me if neither one of them has ever seen or ever will see my blog - not really their thing.) Anyways, today is Dad's birthday and I just called to wish him a happy day and told him that we got him the start of the NFL season for his birthday. Brooks' birthday was August 27 and I got him Heelys (you know, the shoes with wheels in them that all of the twelve-year-olds are wearing these days) and I think that he's actually going to keep them. Let's hope he doesn't break anything once he starts to break them in.

I don't have a lot to say about these two fellows mostly because I don't feel like getting verklempt right now so I'm keeping it light-hearted and being a little emotionally lazy. Basically, I have always thought the world of my dad and he's pretty much been incapable of any wrong in my mind - much to the chagrine of my mother at times, I'm sure. He is a Godly man who was the best example I could have asked for in what to look for in a husband and so I credit him much for helping me choose this other Godly man in my life. Strangely enough, Brooks shares many characteristics with my dad, the biggest in that he treats me far better than I deserve. Anyways, enough butt-kissing by me so here are a few pictures of the two of them over the long long years that consitute their lives (He he he). Note that Dad is not happy to be wearing a UT hat (probably the only time he ever has worn one) and also note the excellent trucker-style haircut in the picture where I was a baby. Note also that Brooks was an adorable child, though not exactly "precious" as a teenager - do you think that he might be related to Kramer? Anyways, happy birthday to them both - I love them deeply.

2007-08-12T12:07:00.000-07:00

Well, it's Sunday and Brooks is napping so I figured I should blog. As usual, we went to church in Pearlington (the new, small-town, log-home church that continues to be a new experience for us) and there was air-conditioning for the first time! Hallelujah! Donnie,the man who preached (who is an EMT and off-shore worker, but a gigantic-hearted man who shares his thoughts with us every other week), talked about Job and compared it - albeit on a much smaller scale - to the suffering that so many of the residents of Pearlington and the neighboring communities have gone through over the past couple of years since Katrina hit. (If you don't already know, Pearlington, Mississippi is one of the areas that was hit very hard by Hurricane Katrina and was a fairly poverty-stricken place to begin with, thus the recovery from such a devastating event has been that much harder for people who are basically "in the hole" to begin with.) Donnie's sermon, coupled with a piece that was featured on "All Things Considered" on NPR this past week, have me thinking of how much the people that I am surrounded by have suffered in the last couple of years and I confess that I feel paralyzed by it. I'm not sure that I've ever been in a place in my life where I am so surrounded by need and even desperation, but I don't know how to respond. I know that Brooks is helping by working for Walls of Hope and providing a way for people to rebuild their homes, and I know and believe that I am helping him be able to do that. But I can't help but think that there should be more going on on my part because in some ways, I have more time on my hands than I've been accustomed to due to being in a new place and not having many social engagements. I also find myself constantly amazed at how easy and sheltered my life has been when I realize the things that so many of the folks we meet down here have been exposed to - as my dad would say, they have been "rode hard and put up wet". I know this should evoke deep gratitude in my heart for the blessings that God has given me (which it does definitely remind me of what I have to be thankful for), but the overwhelming feeling I have is one of questioning - why, God, why such a difference in the burdens that your children have to carry? Why such a difference in the opportunities that we are afforded? I don't get it, and I guess I'm not supposed to. Anyways, I apologize for the babbling but that is what was on my mind today.

On a lighter note, after church, Brooks and I stopped by one of the homes that Walls of Hope built. I don't know if I've blogged this before or not, but basically Walls of Hope just builds the shell of a house and they don't complete the house so the homeowner is responsible for drywall, electrical, plumbing, flooring and all the many other finishing touches. The homeowners who we stopped to see are Mickey & Lynn and their house is nearly done and it looks awesome! Mickey's daughter was actually on her way to their house from Baton Rouge and bringing them a bed so that they could spend their first night in their new house. Imagine that, tonight will be the first night that they have spent not in a FEMA trailer in nearly two years. I'm telling you that these two fifty-somethings were giddy - they couldn't stop hugging and kissing each other because they were so excited. It was really neat to see a finished (for all practical purposes) product and the fruit of so much labor and I think that it was a blessing from God that we stopped by to see them today - I only wish that I'd had my camera with me so I could have put up a picture - oh well!

Well, please keep us in your prayers that we will make the most of our time here and find all the adventures that God desires for us. And I also recommend that you check out the story on NPR about the Scenic Trails FEMA trailer park in Hancock County, MS (that's the county where we are) - it's a little depressing but still very good. Thanks!

Connectivity!

2007-07-26T14:59:00.000-07:00

Okay, I have no real excuse for not having blogged in nearly two months but can I just say that time really flies whether you are having fun or not! (Luckily, I am mostly having fun, but still I don't know where the nearly four months that we have been residents of Mississippi have gone.) Anyways, I called today "connectivity" because I just got the wireless router that I ordered on e-bay today in the mail. It's all set up and I'm blogging from the kitchen table instead of the drab office where I can't bring myself to go outside of the normal working hours. I'm hoping that this will improve my blogging skills but I suspect that the problem is much deeper than that.

Anyways, life is still good for us down here. Not too much news to share but we have had a few visitors, which was a lot of fun. My sister and her twins came down about a month ago for a long weekend and we had a great time. I even made the car-ride with them and I must declare that they must be the most well-behaved 21-month-old angels ever! Eight hours is a long time for me to spend in a car without crying so I was much impressed with them. Anyways, I think that I have some pictures from their trip that I can post but my camera is currently in Nashville so none today. My mom and dad came down for a visit this past weekend and we also had a great time biking around the area and showing them some of Brooks' handiwork. Bay St. Louis/ Waveland really is a neat little small-town area to visit, even in spite of all the destruction and trash that's still being picked up, so I invite visitors to come and see us!

A couple of interesting things that have happened that I will blog about later (hopefully when I have pictures to accompany the blogs) are a gulf baptism from a couple of weeks ago and our dog Spear's bout with heartworm and how he is finally winning over the heart of his stepmonster who has allowed him to live inside the house and even picked up his poop! More to come later - take care!

Spartan Pride #2

2007-06-05T17:23:00.000-07:00

Oops - I forgot to put the pictures - here they are.

Spartan Pride

2007-06-05T17:22:00.000-07:00

Well, today’s blog is a bit of a tribute to my alma mater, Greater Atlanta Christian School, due to recent milestones in the lives of some fellow Spartans: 1) Lana Kate Walton got married this past Saturday, 2) Kara Walker Koons turned the big 30 yesterday, and 3) Little Katie Koons (certainly a future Lady Spartan) turned one-year-old today! I spent this past weekend in Norcross, Georgia for Lana’s wedding and had a wonderful time seeing people that I rarely see and catching up with some of the best friends that I will ever have. I’m actually a little sad because Lana was my last friend from high school to get married and we always have so much fun between the bridal showers and wedding festivities and is such a great excuse to get together and resort to our high school maturity level, and now I’m not sure when we’ll do it again, but I’m sure a day will come. Unfortunately, I’m a terrible photographer and my camera bailed on me on the wedding day so I don’t have any pictures from the wedding but believe me when I say that Lana was absolutely beautiful! I’m hoping to get some pictures e-mailed to me so I’ll be sure to post them when I receive them. I did have a couple of pictures from the rehearsal dinner that I’ve posted – that would be the blushing bride Lana and the big birthday girl Katie. Things have been crazy busy over the last week or two and we have a busy weekend coming up as Brooks and I will both be in Nashville this weekend and get to catch up with family, especially for him since he hasn’t been home since April. It’s starting to get hot down here, but unfortunately the locals still say it isn’t hot yet – oh dear, we might not make it once July & August get here. Hope everyone is well!

Pearlington Church

2007-05-28T09:36:00.000-07:00

Well, I was a little ambitious in promising three more blogs before the end of the month but here I am with at least one more. This picture is of the church that is being built in Pearlington. It's a neat little log-home building that has been built mostly by good Tennessee folks from Mt. Juliet and Brooks is doing the plumbing. Today I got to be a "plumber's helper" for the first half of the day (i.e. plumber's days start at least by 7am even on Memorial Day) while we "roughed in" the church. This is where Brooks and I have been attending church on Sunday mornings since we've been here. It is a drastic change from our home at Woodmont Hills in Nashville but right now we feel like it's where we're supposed to be, at least initially. It's basically a church plant by the Picayune Church of Christ, which is about 30 minutes away, and has been supported by several churches in the Wilson county area of Tennessee. We were a little hesitant about it at first, because there are already several other churches in the small town of Pearlington and we wondered why they couldn't all get together rather than build a new one just because there's no "church of Christ". (Sidebar - Brooks and I were actually wondering which had more church building square footage per capita, Pearlington or Franklin Road in Nashville? We may have to investigate further...) I still don't know the answer to that but I do see an energy and desire to bring the local people in to experience a fuller life in Christ and Brooks and I both think that it could be a new experience and challenge to our stereotypes of people. Although it's not necessarily the theology that we think is right, the people absolutely have hearts of gold and fully believe that they are doing God's work by ministering to the local community so we are on board. (However, we met some fellow beach volleyball friends who attend a local non-denominational church that they really like and we will likely start going there on Wednesday nights since the new COC doesn't have Wed. night services yet. Shhhh, they have instruments there so we can't let anyone know.) I do apologize if this is boring most of you, or just disgusting you, to hear of the silly games that we play but it's currently the world we live in and so I think that it's the place where we're supposed to figure out how best to imitate Jesus and product His character in us and those around us. That's a pretty crappy answer but I'm still struggling with this one.

Anyways, that's all I got for today - we're off to grill out and play beach volley ball for a Memorial Day celebration. Hopefully, I'll take some pictures and bring them back to post again. Have I mentioned that south Mississippi is completely chock-full of CHARACTERS? Even Brooks says so and anyone who knows him knows that he is a character, indeed. By the way, the other picture here is of my step-dog Spear in the back of Brooks' work-truck. Brooks said I should take a picture of Spear so that I could give the readers of our blog "something cute to look at" - that's a direct quote and I am pretty sure that I should be offended! Have a great holiday and good-bye!

Miserable Blogger

2007-05-20T17:37:00.000-07:00

WOW - My last blog was on April 17 - that's over a month. Okay, so I'm new to this whole blogging thing and apparently I haven't made it much of a priority. No promises, but I will try to do better starting today and maybe I'll get in at least five whole blogs during the month of May.

Well, the latest on our adventure is that we moved out of the lush house that we were staying at in Gulfport about 3-4 weeks ago and moved into a condo/townhouse that we're renting in Waveland, MS on May 1. Waveland is right next to Bay Saint Louis in Mississippi and was hit pretty bad by Hurricane Katrina. In fact, there is an interesting article that appeared on msnbc.com (go to http://risingfromruin.msnbc.com/2007/05/rentals.html)a few weeks ago about the rental housing situation in Waveland and I can personally attest that it is very true that it is difficult to find anything to rent in this area. I feel so blessed that we found the place that we did, even though it's a little pricier than we had anticipated. It is about a quarter of a mile from Brooks' work's shop and about a mile and a half from the beach. Wal-Mart, Dollar Tree, McDonald's and Sonic are within a half-mile and it's fairly bike-friendly so what more could we ask? It is actually a pretty nice place and plenty of room for the two of us. In fact, there is plenty of room for guests - we have a spare bedroom, 2.5 bathrooms and a very spacious kitchen - so if anyone wants to come visit, please do. There's not much to do here (aside from casinos) but New Orleans and Biloxi are each about 45 minutes away and the beach is actually not too bad. It's definitely no Destin but it's still the beach. In case anyone cares, our new address is 509 Gladstone Street, Waveland, MS 39576.

Well, I'm going to call it a blog for today so I can save things to write about later! Here's my thought for the day - Paul says to "clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience." I have thought for the last few years that I should just have these qualities due to the Spirit's work in me if I was seeking like I should, but this indicates that I have to decide to "wear" them just like I decide to wear a suit or scrubs depending on the day. Maybe that's a "duh" for you guys but it lifted my spirits this week and gave me hope that I can "put on" these characteristics (of course through the help of the Spirit) when I make a point to. Hopefully I will make a point to more than once this week because even when I think about clothing myself in these in the morning, I usually find myself naked (figuratively speaking of course) at the end of the day because I so quickly disrobe of the compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience! God bless and good night!

Gulfport

2007-04-17T17:40:00.000-07:00

Well, I don't have much to write today because there's really not much new but I did take some pictures of Gulfport over the weekend that I wanted to post. Brooks and I are currently living in Gulfport which is on the Mississippi gulf coast and is a few miles down the road from Biloxi. I had never visited Gulfport before "the storm" but from what I understand it was a fair-sized tourist spot on the Redneck Riviera. (That was always my Dad's name for the Alabama gulf coast and I've determined that it applies to the Mississippi coast as well.) Without having anything to compare post-Katrina Gulfport to, I am struck by the abandoned nature of things here. The house where we are staying is about three blocks from the beach, but I've never seen such an abandoned beach before. There are tons of empty lots where houses or hotels or some touristy place used to stand. As I'm out walking or jogging along the streets, I'm struck by the number of "For Sale" signs as well as the number of houses that appear to have just been "left behind", almost like those books about the rapture or something. I doubt that these pictures will portray the strangeness, almost eeriness and ghosttown-likeness, but I figured a picture's worth a thousand words. (Guess I shouldn't have rambled on so much then but isn't that what blogging's for?) By the way, if anyone can tell me an easy way to link other people's blogs to my site, that would be great. I've been getting comments from people I haven't seen or talked to in forever but I can't figure out how to do it. Oh well - I guess I'll learn!

Not so savvy...

2007-04-14T16:04:00.000-07:00

Okay, I'm a technological idiot - I gave up on myspace partially out of fear of weirdos but mostly because I couldn't figure it out so that should tell you where I'm coming from. I don't know why the picture I tried to post with my first blog didn't show up so I'm trying again. Here goes...

Raising Mississippi

2007-04-14T14:59:00.000-07:00

Well, here we are in the state of M-I-Crooked Letter-Crooked Letter-I-Crooked Letter-Crooked Letter-I-Humpback-Humpback-I. Brooks and I started our adventure about a week ago. For those of you who don't know, my husband Brooks and I have moved to the gulf coast of Mississippi and have made a commitment to be here for at least the next year. Brooks will be working with a non-profit organization called Walls of Hope that was established in the wake of Hurricane Katrina to help with the rebuilding effort. They are similar to Habitat for Humanity in that they use volunteer labor and homeowners pay for the materials and skilled labor. If you want to learn more, you can visit their website at www.wallsofhope.org. We are currently staying in Gulfport, MS because a very generous couple has offered us their house to stay in for the next month or so while they are out of town. We are looking for a house to rent somewhere between here and the Mississippi/Louisiana state line, which includes the communities of Long Beach, Pass Christian, Bay St. Louis, Waveland, and Pearlington - basically all of the areas in Mississippi that were wiped out by Hurricane Katrina.

I've never been really sure about the whole blogging thing for several reasons that I won't go into now - I'll save that for a later rant. Anyways, I figured that while we're away in Mississippi this is probably a great way for me to keep people up to speed on what's going on without sending mass e-mails to people who may or may not want to know all the boring details of our adventures down in the bayou. So here it is - my blog and my first post on it and who knows, I might get hooked on blogging. I named it "Raising Mississippi" because of the t-shirts that our small group in Nashville gave us. Brooks has pretty much memorized the movie "Raising Arizona", as have Fred & Leigh Gately, and it is a favorite of the four of us so they made us t-shirts before we left that say "Raising Mississippi" on the front and "OK Then" on the back. If you like the movie, you'll get it. We absolutely love the t-shirts and Brooks even threatend to order 20 more of them but I think he came to his senses. I'm posting a picture of the t's so you can enjoy the creativity!

Well, I think that's all for today. There's so much to write about life down here - how everything is so abandoned and destroyed and I don't know what it looked like to begin with but I can't imagine how it will ever get back to normal if it looks like this nearly two months after the storm - but I don't know where to begin so I'll save that for tomorrow or the next day or the next. But one last thing to add is that no one down here ever says Hurricane Katrina; they just say "the storm" so I'm going to try to incorporate that into my blogs if I can remember! Praise God from whom all blessings flow and good bye!