Do You Believe in Answered Prayer?

No pictures today.  I started one with photos, but decided to switch gears.  I had something happen to me today that just doesn't happen to me every day.  The story starts two weeks ago when I woke up for church.  I almost couldn't get out of bed.  I absolutely felt like a 90-year-old woman.  I had to kind of slide over to the edge of the bed and swung my legs over and quite gingerly sat up.

My back went out like this maybe a year ago.  It was so painful.  I couldn't stand up, sit down, walk, lay down.  It was awful.  My incredible chiropractor and deep tissue torturer (I refuse to call him my massage therapist...230 pounds bearing down on a poor little know is torture plain and simple) were able to get me all fixed up after a couple of visits.

So, this time I went, went through the torture treatment and got better, but not totally well.  I went again later in the week and felt even better still, maybe a lot better.  Of course that led to doing too much over the weekend.  That excess led to a third visit left me able to walk fairly well, but twisting and sitting  were still tough.  

Enter my friend, Susan.  Susan is the woman who put a chip in James when he was four years old that was programmed to make him want to go to Guatemala when he turned eight.  I don't have any proof of that, buy I am convinced of it nevertheless.  We've been with her on mission trips five times and she's been countless other times.  (Maybe not countless but more than I can count on my fingers and toes.)  She decided that she and another friend needed to come prayer for back this morning.

Bright and early at 9 AM Susan and Stephanie show up our house.  After reading some verses from Psalm 119 beginning around verse 20 about delighting in God's law, they prayed.  And guess what?  When they were done my back felt better...a lot better.  It still had a little catch to it, but I could move around so much better.  I got so much done today, but I was so aware of God's mercy and how I hadn't been able to do any of my to do list for the past two weeks.  I was like a new person.

If you're not sure about this pray thing, you should definitely try it.  I'm "walking" proof.

It Was Grueling

I have fallen down a bit on my commitment to post regularly...hopefully every week.  Maybe I can give you a little color on what's been going on for us during late summer.

The last week of July is always the Georgia Cycling Gran Prix.  It's a series of 6 races over 5 days.  It's hot, it's hard and did I mention it's hot?  Grueling is a much better word and I'm not even talking about the cyclists.  That's just for the parents that are lugging them to all those races.  I noticed there weren't a ton of spectators for the men racers - they were much too smart for getting out.

These races were part of an omnium, meaning that there were points awarded for each race (with winners for each races).  At the end of the races, the person with the most points would win the omnium.  This picture is the beginning of the last race.

When James came around after one lap, he and his closest competition were at the back.  I mean the way back.  I mean like minutes after the younger, smaller, weaker kids had passed.  They looked like they were out for a Sunday afternoon ride on cruiser bikes.  Maybe I should explain a bit.

The first race didn't count in his omnium because it didn't have any junior races, so he and his friend/competition raced category (or against men).  The next day they raced a crit.  I've only been to this one particular crit once.  It's in the parking lot of the Gwinnett Arena.  On that blacktop it was hotter than Hades.  (I learned my lesson and my sweet husband always takes him.)  Any way, it was close, but the competition beat him by about a half wheel maybe half bike length.  The race was on.

The next day was a road/circuit race.  They make really big loops and the race is generally a longer distance.  This photo catches James just as he's about to cross the finish line.  The competition?  About a bike length and a half behind.  They had each won a race.

The next day was the time trial and the crit in downtown Covington.  We were pretty sure James wouldn't win the TT, but he felt good about the other races.  We were right about the time trial, but he was feeling good and ready for the crit later that same afternoon.

It was really hot again.  Miserable.  We watched those guys go round and round.  James took that crit pretty easily.  His sprint has really gotten a lot stronger.  The competition was ahead by only 1 point since the TT didn't count as much as the other races.

So we come back to that last race.  Another circuit.  Those guys played cat and mouse until the very end.  They knew that it would come down to whomever finished ahead of the other.  It was sooo close, but in the end James lost by half a tire.  He was ahead and got caught right at the line.  Nevertheless I was so proud of how he raced over 5 grueling days.  

Santa Rosa Beach

I'm not sure where the time goes. It seems we were just packing for our annual trip to the beach and now we're already back.

The guys are getting older and they're not lovin' the beach as much as I do.  It's not so much the water or sunning.  I just enjoy sitting and listening to the waves.  Sitting is really not part of their vocabularies.  Alas!  We had to find other things to do.  We discovered the water park in nearby Destin.  Not exactly White Water, but it worked.

Even Tammy didn't spend as much time on the beach, but the pool was a nice replacement.

Keith played quite a bit in the pool and beach.  He was really enjoying the waves this years and spent quite a bit of time with the boogie board.

Papa's favorite part is always eating out.  (Ok, maybe one of my favorites, too.  The seafood is always so much better there.)

This year we discovered the glass blower at Bayou Bill's.  We saw him 4 nights in a row.  Don't ask.  Maybe a future blog will feature some of our purchases.  He was a really nice guy and even replaced a mouse who lost its tail on its first night with us.  

Christopher spent a lot of time digging in the sand....

and snorkeling.  I've been reading a book on different kids of intelligence.  He's definitely my kind who has nature intelligence.  When I have a better grip what that means, I'll share.  It's been a pretty interesting and helpful in understanding the differences in my two guys.

Speaks for itself.

Oh, did I mention that I have NEVER seen so much seaweed.  Fortunately, it wasn't the slimy green kind, but the plant kind.  But, it was everywhere.  One day there was literally a pile that was knee deep.    Crazy.

My nature guy - he found little tiny fish on the beach.  Never seen those before, either.  Christopher truly has an eye for detail.

Keith and Christopher were looking for a baby lionfish.  We saw it pretty close to the show so they followed him for a while.  We did see quite a few interesting things this trip.

Signature CBT.

It rained off and on all week, but the real storm rolled in on Friday.  It was wicked-looking, but beautiful, too.  Somewhere in those waves is my husband looking for a good wave.

Until next year.

A Year Ago Today

Christopher and I were packing.  I am not sure who thought it was a good idea to go to San Antonio, TX in mid-July.  I had promised him I would take him anywhere he wanted to go in the US.  I guess I was feeling kind of guilty about all the time I spent hauling James to bike races all over the southeast and beyond.  The Alamo was his quick response.  The Alamo.  That seemed like such a fitting trip for him.  He loved war stuff and there are so many things to do there.

We spent a fair amount of time on the River Taxi.  It was so hot - too hot to walk around very much.  

We did find one way to cool off.  The Buckhorn Exchange, which was our favorite museum, also had an eating area.  The best root beer float I think I've ever had.   

There were several museums we enjoyed, but the Buckhorn was our favorite.  I think Christopher knew the name of every gun in there....and there were bunches.  The Texas Ranger Museum was also there.  Really cool stuff.

The Alamo was cool, as always.  It seems smaller every time I go.  The Tower of the Americas was neat, too.  We could see all the landmarks from there.  Of course, we could see them even better from the helicopter.  Yes, the helicopter.  I hate heights.   

Only for one of my guys would I ride in a helicopter.  It was a great trip.  Loved spending time with my CBT!

2012 Nationals

I think I have finally begun recovering from Nationals in Augusta.  I am so thankful that we were there last week and not this week given this crazy heat wave.  We had mixed emotions about participating this year.  James has trained hard, but just hasn't grown much in the last year so the competition seems awfully unfair. 

The first race was the road race...the one that's not very fun to watch.  There were 88 guys in this race so it's hard to find your participant among other things.  They usually do a couple to three very long circuits so you see them every 30 minutes are so.  This one was no different.  They had a neutral start, which means they go pretty slow to the first turn.  We saw him come around once more and then the finish.  During the neutral start, he lost a fair amount of position - hard to recover from that start.  He finished not so great.  (Below he's the 4th one in this small group.)

The next day was the time trial, also known as the TT.  James isn't a great time trialer so we didn't expect a lot.  Good thing.

He had about the same time as he did last year.  Pretty disappointing.  He did look good on his bike.

The TT is a lonely ride.  Riders start every 30 seconds.  You try like the devil to catch the one in front of you and try not to get caught by someone behind you.  

The last event used to be the one James said was his worst event....until 3 years ago.  He podiumed as a 12-year-old (I know that's not really a verb, but cut me a break.  It's faster than explaining.)  Every since he's done well in criteriums or crits as they are affectionately called.  They're also the most scary for a mom watching from the side.  So often there are crashes.  This year James went into the crit with something to prove.  As James neared the end of his warmed up I whispered in his ear that I would buy him a new set of wheels if he finished with the pack.  He's been timid lately and I wasn't sure he would force himself to stay in the pack.

That was an expensive whisper.  He finished 17th out of 81 and with the pack.  He had a horrible start position for reasons I won't go into so he showed a lot of heart of effort to get with the front pack and then stay there.

Learning to Play with Video

New toy!!  I finally got around to reading the instructions on how to use the video recording feature on my camera.  (I didn't get far enough to realize that I hadn't turned the sound on.  Hopefully remedied for next session.

Any way, at the races last weekend I took a fair amount of video snippets.  Unfortunately, the two best vinettes - the one where James attacked in his Cat 4 race and his finish - I was technically challenged and totally missed.  I did learn a lot so here are a couple of links.  These will take you to the site where all the other snippets are - would love hear to feedback.  (Other than that I misspelled snippit in naming the links.)

Snippit #1

Snippit #2

Walk with Me

I have been trying very hard to blog once a week.  (Ok, maybe very hard might be a bit of an exaggeration.  It is on my list and I do endeavor to get to it each week.  Shoot, it's Sunday and that is still a stretch.  I must confess - it is on my list higher than quite a few other items.  Whew, that's better, now I can proceed.)  I do enjoy it and I am finding that it helps with my scrapbooking if I have if I have a few lines jotted down.  I have a few posts percolating, but I have something special I want to share today.  

I used to love going to my grandmother's house.  She and my granddaddy lived in the country and I would spend-the-night with them sometimes. I still hear the utter quietness of being there.  It seems like a few times we watched Lawrence Welk together, but other than that there really wasn't any TV.  Before Grandmother's hands got so painful from her rheumatoid arthritis, she would do some kind of needlework at night.  She did everything...I mean everything.  She knitted, crocheted, quilted, tatted...I'm sure I'm leaving something out, but I am more and more amazed all the time at all the things she was able to do (because I am utterly incapable of them).  Any way,  she would sit and work on something.  Granddaddy would sit and play solitaire.  The only thing you could hear was the pendulum on their clock and the faint sound of card being turned over along and along.  (I suppose that explains why I am addicted to spider solitaire - it's genetic and beyond my control.)

Another love that I believe I am genetically attached to is my love of flowers, especially fragrant ones.  My grandmother had the most beautiful flowers.  When she could still walk around her yard, which unfortunately was while I was still quite young, we would walk around her yard and she would show me her treasures.  One day I'll tell you the story of one very common weed that led to a little game between us.  (You'll have to wait until summer when I can get a photo, of course.)

God has blessed me with a husband who loves them, too, so we piddle and plant and move and plan.  It's a love affair that is never over.  And now that you've been patient with my walk down memory lane, to the payoff.  (If you get this blog via a feed, you'll want to go to the site.  It's much better against a black backdrop.)

I've been playing with camera equipment this weekend and after a lot of rain today, I wanted to go see what was blooming today.  So glad I did because I had a few surprises.

This hydrangea is one that we brought over from our other house.  I can't tell you how many we planted trying to get one that would be a dark purple.  I wouldn't be surprised at all if was at least a dozen.  All to no avail.  We moved this one to this yard and I had my dark purple hydrangea.  I'm sure this is some spiritual tie in there or some parable, but I can't stop enjoying looking at this beauty to figure out what it is.  This flowerhead is a surprise because it just came from nowhere.  The deer ate all but one of the flowerheads so I'm not sure where this second one came from.

When Keith and I started our gardening journey, I hated hydrangeas (especially the blue ones) and crepe myrtle.  I am happy to report that I am now reformed and I think they are wonderful.  Maybe they seemed so common to me from childhood.  Now, I just believe that I have matured enough to fully appreciate all their wonderful attributes.

I have something fragrant blooming pretty much year round, even through a lot of the winter.  We have a few varieties of gardenias to keep the scent going longer through the early summer.  For the past few weeks, the minute you walk outside you can smell these lovelies.  They're so fragile but make such a big fragrance statement.

Day lilies are another favorite from the old house  Unfortunately, we moved in the winter and weren't really able to move any of them.  This is the first one at our current house.  Keith especially likes day lilies so I'm sure it's the first of many to come.  They come in such dramatic colors - I can't wait to see what we have after several years.

I think this guy speaks for himself.  Doesn't just looking at this picture make you happy?

The very newest addition.  I can see this pink hydrangea (and the blue one for that matter) from my kitchen window.  I'm not really sure why, but this one makes me think of my grandmother.  I'm pretty sure her house in heaven has at least one somewhere around.  I'm also pretty sure she has a smile when I indulge in my love for flowers.

Language Barriers

I am finding that as I get older I am getting less and less patient.  (James, who is sitting here watching me type, says "Ain't that the truth."  I'm not sure who asked him.)  Any way, the McDonalds near us has made me so angry that I actually boycotted it for a year.  I would literally drive 15-20 minutes to go to the next closest one just so I could avoid the one that is less than 5 minutes away because for a period of time, they always got my order wrong.  It's not that difficult.  It is almost always for Christopher and is almost always a double cheeseburger, small fries and a Dr. Pepper.  How hard can it be?  But, I digress.

This past Friday I had another language barrier issue, but I was able to just smile about it.  We had our annual Memorial Day reunion at my Uncle D's and Aunt Pat's.  We look forward to it so much every year so this year I decided I would get a special pedicure just for the day.  Right beside the McDonalds is a nail salon with very, very nice ladies from Vietnam.  They always do such a nice job.  I asked for something red, white and blue.  Maybe a flag.  Told her to be creative.

A friend of mine came in while I was there.  I hadn't seen her in quite a while.  Kim is recovering from breast cancer so we had a lot to catch up on.  I wasn't paying attention to my toes....what a surprise.  I am not crazy about sharing a picture of my toes, but I did get a chuckle out of my "red, white, and blue" pedicure.

And, just for the record, this is the first time ever my toenails have been black.

17 years

Seventeen years ago today I married my best friend.  There were crazy things that happened, but all that mattered to us was that at the end of the day we would be married.

Keith, I love you and thank you for 17 awesome years.  I'm looking forward to five times that!

Faces of History 2012

So many of my posts tend to be about James.  I think that's because he's always doing something.  Christopher, on the other hand, spends a lot of time thinking and planning.  One thing he has always enjoyed is creating costumes.  There is a perfect marriage each spring when his class does a "Faces of History" presentation.  Each student picks a person from the period they are studying.  They research this person and they write a paper about him or her.  The culmination is to do a presentation in front of all the other students and parents of their paper, but in first person.  Then everyone tries to guess. 

Christopher's person is from modern history.  

And, it won't surprise anyone who knows him to know that this person is closely associated with weaponry.

Can you guess which American war he fought in?

The gun became part of his arsenal at Christmas.  He was looking forward to February and ask for this particular gun so he could play with it, but also use it in his presentation.

Believe it or not, this replica gas mask was already in his chest of various war "things."  We had to purchase the hat, but everything else he (or someone in our house) already had.  He just has such an eye to put it together.

This person was from Tennessee and even though he was practically a rock star when he returned to New York after the war, he wasn't interested in the money or fame.  He just wanted to go home.

He was a believer who lived his faith even on the battlefield.  Any ideas?

Meet our very own Alvin York.  Christopher did such a great job.  I was so proud of him!

Historic Roswell Criterium

Short and sweet, but trying to keep to posting something every week.  We've had a weekend full of racing and converting Christopher's bedroom to a playroom.  When we get it finished, I'll post some pictures of it.  It's been quite an undertaking.

What I do have tonight is a video of a race finish today.  It was pretty fun....he had some great teamwork that helped a bunch.  For a kid that used to not have much of a sprint, it was pretty impressive.  Click race video to see it.

Tribute to Aunt Tammy

We're taking a break in our usually scheduled self-absorbed postings to pay tribute to Aunt Tammy.  Aunt Tammy has been a blessing to so many people over so many years.





She is not a big fan of traveling, but we can always  count on her to travel to the beach every summer.  I think she always has a glow about her when we're at the beach...




...and that smile is just a little broader when we're there.




Often it's her birthday while we're there.  She is taking one of her "happy birthday" calls while she lounges by the pool.




That movie star smile.




Once she's taken all her important phone calls, she makes time to chill in the pool.  You should have seen the two of us trying to get on this float at the same time.  Or, maybe not.  It was a riot.




Ok, so baking a birthday cake at the beach without all your own kitchen utensils isn't the easiest thing.  Aunt Tammy just takes the whop-sided cake in stride and enjoys it all the same.




We love you, Aunt Tammy!