road trip

Josh and I went down to H-town this weekend. We're still here, actually. We came down for one of my best friend's birthday. It's been really fun. Because of her job, she is staying in the Renaissance hotel, so we got to stay with her. She was so sweet. Her room had a king bed, so she asked for a roll-away cot thing and let us newlyweds have the king bed. Oh it was so comfortable!! And the service was great. But best of all, it was all free!! At least for us, anyway.

We also stopped by and saw my grandmother Shirley. It was kinda hard to see her. She seems to be getting into her last days. While we were talking to her, she kept getting us confused with other people, or forgetting who we were, or what we had done. It was kind of hard to talk to her, and tell her "no, I'm Katie. My mom hasn't been here for eight years." I just pray she's not in much pain. As much as I still want her around and alive, sometimes you just wish she could no longer be in pain, and be in a place where there's no pain. I don't know if that makes sense, or if it sounds mean or ill-hearted, but I really just want her suffering to be over.

We were going to go to Surfside Beach this weekend and say hi to Momma, but with the hurricane and all the rain, we aren't going to be able to make the trip. We were kinda looking forward to it, but we will just have to save it for the next time. But for now, it's time to watch a movie. I'll be back later, probably after Josh and I get back to Big D. Peace!

revisiting...

so on friday at the pool, the water aerobics intsructor tossed beach balls into the pool and had the seniors try to keep them up in the air. This has been attempted a couple of other times, but this time, the seniors were actually getting the hang of it. The hit it at least 7 times in a row before it landed in the water. They were all laughing and seemed to be having such a good time. This event usually is quite entertaining for us lifeguards, since the ball would usually only be hit once before taking a dive. It's funny watching seniors attempt a game that children love to play, whether with a beach ball in water, or a birthday party balloon. It made me want to revisit part of my childhood.

I went home and found some Play-Doh. I forgot I had some. Last summer I made little goodie bgs for the preschoolers I taught swim lessons to. I bought a thing of like 10 little Play-Doh samples. I had two left over - orange and black. So I busted out the colors and started creating. I made a replica "Leaning Tower of Pisa" that had an orange floor ever other floor and black floors in between the orange ones. It even had little window looking things all around it.

It was so much fun to take some time out and just play. I didn't have to think about all the things that needed to get done around the apartment, or think about how little money we have, or wonder how we're going to pay all the bills this next month, or wonder how we're gonna make it, or worry about Josh not being able to find a job. I could just play. It was so much fun. I think I'm going to start taking a little time each day to just play.

reflection

I watched the sun rise today. It wasn't a special day or anything, but the sun starts to rise when I'm on my way to work. Lately, this event hasn't been anything spectacular. It's either been stormy and overcast, or just bright and blue. But today it was beautiful. It reminded me of when I was little.

We used to take family vacations to Galveston. We would stay at, I believe it was the Galyan, and I remember our "room" would always consist of these things: a main bedroom, two bunk beds built into the wall, a kitchen, a living area with a hide-a-bed, and an ocean-view balcony. Well, technically it was a gulf-view, but to me it will always be an ocean view.

Mom and Dad would stay in the main bedroom, while my brother, sister and I would take turns in the bunks and on the hide-a-bed. And whenever I would sleep on the hide-a-bed, that following morning Momma and I would get up early and watch the sun rise. Sometimes I was awake first, sometimes she would come and wake me up, and sometimes I'd wake up to her moving around in the kitchen. We would sit on the balcony, watching the sun come up over the ocean. This morning looked like one of those sunrises Momma and I would share.

I don't know why I noticed it so much this morning. For the past year I've been at work before the sun comes up, and there have been some gorgeous sunrises. But today was different. I don't know how, but it was. Just different.

i can't seem to escape it

Well, I'm back at the pool. I'm trying to have a good attitude about it, but there comes a point where you're 23 years old, married, and have a college degree, and you really don't want to be lifeguarding anymore. It's not like it's a very hard job(don't get me wrong, it is harder than most people think), it's just that I've been doing it for so long, I kinda want to get away from it. But at the same time, Josh doesn't have a job and with this job I was able to start immediately. It's one of those "for worse" times in our marriage. You do what has to be done. you might not like getting up at 5 every morning and working 10 hour shifts, but you do it.

I was thinking the other day about how much I loved working at camp. Besides the fact that I got a killer tan and lost about 25 pounds each summer, I felt like I was really doing something worthwhile. Granted, I was lifeguarding. And guarding at camp is a lot harder than guarding at a city pool. But I was working with kids, I was impacting them, I was using my hands getting into the dirt and building something.

My second (and last) summer, there was a kid who fell off the blob backwards and caught his neck on the rope. We had to backboard him and they took him to the hospital. I was the first responding guard; I had seen the whole thing happen from my post at the top of the blob tower. He came back and it ended up being just a sprain. It could have been a lot worse. When he got back from the hospital, the kid came up to me and thanked me for saving him. I didn't feel like I had done anything special, I had just done my job. But when he came up to me and I saw that he was better, it gave me such joy.

I started thinking about how I had saved him physically, but who knows who I had saved spiritually in all of my conversations with the kids at camp. I don't remember "leading them to the Lord", you know, with the Roman road and a prayer and all that. But I talked to kids, asked about their interests, what they thought of the worship times, how God has made a difference in my life, what I got out of the worship times. Maybe, just maybe one of those kids thought about God differently and is now free from sin, all because I talked to them.

I don't need to know how many, or if any at all. But it was really cool to think about that. I often times forget, but I realized just how similar my fleshly job is to my spiritual job. I need to be watching out for people, for their (spiritual)safety. And when I see them start to go down, I need to jump in and save them. Maybe I won't see instant results, maybe I won't see any results, but I do know that I have to try my best. Every day I pray that God will keep me alert as I watch the pool, and that He will help me remember all of my skills if I need to take action. But how I forget to ask Him to help me in the job that all believers are called to do.

Lord, help me to not only me a physical lifeguard, but a spiritual one as well. Help me to recognize those in need. Help me know what I need to do to save them. Lord, I know it's only You who can save them, but use me to help. Enable me to do what you have called me to do.

weirdness

for some reason, my latest post wasn't viewable from "www.latortugadelanoche.blogspot.com" but was if you dropped the "www" from the beginning. I'm posting this post to see if it will show this one and the other one on the full web address. this is only a test.

the aftermath

josh went into work today. not to deliver anymore water, but to settle things with regard to the accident. we are both doing much better physically today than yesterday. my bruising is looking prettier, or a lot worse, depending on your point of view. we did get some bad news today, though. apparently josh will no longer be able to drive for the company because the insurance won't cover him anymore. there also isn't anything available at the plant for him full time. his boss is gracious enough to let him work in the plant for two weeks, but after that, he's out of a job. i don't currently have a job. i went on an interview last week, but found out from the friend who got me the interview that i didn't get the job.

i called my old boss for the city today. he was keeping me on payroll in case, well, i don't even know in case of what, but maybe it's in case of this. there's a possibility that he can take me back working, and possibly make me a pool manager. not the greatest job, but it would give me full time hours during the summer at least, and would be a nice pay raise compared to what i was making when i left. and he said i could probably stay indoors at the senior pool. don't get me wrong, i enjoy working outside during the summer and getting a nice tan, but when you're outside in the sun for 8 hours a day, it just drains you. so anyway, at least there's that possibility of having a job during the summer that is "full time" while josh tries to find a job.

i haven't really completely organized my thoughts on this whole situation. when i heard the news from my husband, i wanted to cry, but if i did it would have hurt my nose a whole heck of a lot. who knew that someone who had been a perfect driver for the company for 4 or 5 years would be dropped after getting into one accident? you'd think the previous good driving would count for something. oh well.

when you're getting married, you think about what your married life will be like and feel like for those first few months. i never thought that within one month of getting married my husband would lose his job. God took care of us in the accident, and i know He's got something planned for us, but it's so hard to see right now. all i can see is the rent that's due in a few days, the utility bills, the credit card bill(which luckily won't be too bad since we hardly use it), and all these other things that we're responsible for. please pray for us as we try to figure out how we're gonna make it. just pray.

where did that come from?!?!

So I went delivering with Josh yesterday. We usually find that fun. We get to spend the day together and work together and drive around the DFW metroplex in a box truck full of bottled water. Well, we were about halfway done with our route when we come up to a stop sign. Josh makes a complete stop and then we see a white car coming from our right make a complete stop after us. At least we're pretty sure she did. We figured "hey, they must have a stop sign, which would make it our turn to go." After all, we were on a somewhat main road. When I say that, it means that on the Mapsco page it was on, the name of the street was in bigger capital letters than the other ones around it. Not bolded, but bigger. So since it was our turn, Josh proceeds out into the intersection to continue going straight on that street we were currently on. I look over to tell Josh something and I see this late 80s, early 90s Ford truck within feet of the driver's side door, heading straight at us, coming with lots of speed.

BAM!! All of a sudden, the box truck that we're in is turned almost a complete 90 degrees from where we just were. We were in a major car accident. The Ford must have hit us at a pretty high speed (my guess is higher than the limit on that road) in order to turn this big delivery truck 90 degrees. The damage? The Ford didn't seem to have much damage. It was crunched up nicely, but it didn't look like anything under the hood got broken. Guess they really do build them "Ford Tough." The delivery truck? Well, the radiator got busted, and the driver door could not be opened. Basically, the driver's half of the cab took it pretty hard. The side window shattered, the gear selector, which was between Josh and myself, was angled and bent and could be put into park. As for the white car that seemed to have made a complete stop; well, let's say it was a miracle that the girl driving got out of her car easily and without a scratch on her. Apparently when the Ford turned us, the hood of her car got trapped under the box part of the truck. Her windshield was pretty shattered and kind of flattened in a little bit. Again, a miracle she walked away unscathed, however, very understandably shaken up.

The fireman/EMT guys happened to be just down the road and got to us within about 3 minutes of the accident happening. By the time Josh and I got out of the truck through the passenger side and to the side of the road, they were already there. The police got there just a few minutes later. All of them were very nice. They checked all of us out and there were no serious injuries.

Even though we were in the biggest vehicle, Josh and I were the only ones with apparent physical injuries. He has a small bump on his head and a scratch across his left shoulder (where he hit the door on impact), his left leg is sore and he has a bruise on the inside of his right knee. I, on the other hand, got it worst of all. The gear selector decided to have a field day on my left leg. I have a bruise that extends from the middle of the top of my thigh, down the outside, to the middle of the back of my thigh. It is about the size of a sweet potato, as far as the width of it. Since the only seatbelt I had was a lap belt, my lap is pretty bruised up. Plus I have a bump on the side of my nose. And I ache all over.

Everything happened so fast. I saw the truck coming after it was too late, then I feel pain in my leg and my nose and all of a sudden, we're face a totally different direction. I thought my nose was broken once we came to a stop. I new what had hit my leg, but I still have no idea what bopped my nose. My best guess is the clipboard I was holding in my lap. Luckily my nose isn't broken, but it hurts like heck. I feel pretty beat up.

Last night Josh and I kept thinking of how this could have been avoided. Had we doubled checked where we were going, had we left sooner, all sorts of things. But we are still baffled about a couple of things. Number 1, where did that Ford truck come from? Josh is a safe driver. He looks both ways before going. He comes to complete stops, and I mean truly complete stops, whenever he's delivering. Number 2, if that truck was there and Josh just wasn't looking hard enough, why didn't the truck see us? We totally admit we were at fault, but just keep wondering, how did this happen?
Number 3, how could a truck (granted it was an F-250) move and turn our big box truck almost a complete 90 degrees when we had just started to accelerate from a complete stop? He must have been moving pretty fast to do that. Number 4, how in the world did that girl in the white car walk away without a scratch on her? When I got to the side of the road and saw that car, I was amazed to see the driver walking around.

As I look back on yesterday, I can't do much else but thank God. So many things could have happened. There could have been pedestrians around, the damage could have been a lot worse, that girl in the white car could have been severely injured. God had His hand on us yesterday. Even though we're beat up and bruised, we're okay. And everyone else involved is okay. I'm sure they're sore today, too. Now comes the fun part. Dealing with company insurance, our medical stuff, all the wonderful things that come as a result of being in an auto accident. But we're trusting God to take care of us. He's gonna have to. And we know He will. We witnessed that yesterday. Praise the Lord.

adjusting

so i've been married for over two weeks now, and i think i'm finally starting to adjust. it's still weird living with another person. sure i've had roommates before, but never a male roommate. but i have to say, God is very cool. He created this whole marriage thing and it's great! still a little weird, but nonetheless, very cool.

josh and i just got plano library cards. after all, we live in the city now, so we figured we'd get a library card and check out books for free instead of blowing all his hard earned money at barnes and noble, or some other bookstore. and that's where i am right now. we're too poor to afford internet access right now, so i am taking advantage of free high-speed internet. hopefully this will encourage me to get out of the apartment more so i can come on here and blog more often. but for now, i'm a happily married 23 year old with no job. life is great!

i'm married!!

I'M MARRIED!!!!!!!!

That's right, folks, I got myself a husband! Gosh, that's so weird. It's weird in a good way. I've never been able to say "I have a husband" before, but now I do, and I can! It's still all just a little weird.

I cannot describe what it feels lke to be standing behind the chapel doors, my arm looped through my fathers, waiting for the doors to open, revealing my groom waiting for me at the altar. It was so surreal. I remember standing there, thinking "this is really happening? it doesn't feel real." But the good news is it was real and now I'm a wife!

People have asked me "so how's married life?" My response? It's weird. It doesn't really feel that different, except that now, Josh doesn't have to leave to go back to hs house, nor do I have to leave and go back to mine. I guess we kind of have this idea in our heads that marriage is going to be so different from what you're used to. I guess that's partly true. But Josh and I spent so much time together before we got married, that it doesn't feel that much different. It feels right.

The wedding turned out beautifully. There weren't any real problems. We said the right names, we had the rings, we wrote our own vows. But there was one tiny problem. The people who set up the chapel forgot to put out the bread and juice for our communion! The plate was there, the cup was there, but there was nothing to partake of! So what did we do? We faked it. We prayed (for real), but when it came time to eat and drink, I reverted back to my theatre days of pantomime. Other than that, everything went great. The reception was wonderful, food was good, and the weather was perfect!! God totally blessed us that day, allowing everything to go smoothly and the weather to cooperate with our plans.

I am so happy. I now have a husband!!

from the farmland

Well, Daddy was released from the hospital yesterday (saturday). His surgery on wednesday went really well. They ended up doing 6 bypasses instead of 7. The surgeon was highly respected by all the nursing staff, and speaking of them, all of the nursing staff were great. So now we are hanging out at the hotel, waiting to go to a follow-up on tuesday and also waiting to get the green light to fly home the next day. Kristen, my sister, is flying up here tomorrow. It'll be good to have the family in one place.

I can't imagine how my sister is dealing. She hasn't been able to be up here with us and I'm sure it's been killing me. It was killing me until I was able to be up here. Even though I didn't know if my dad had made it through when I landed, I still felt better knowing that I was up here. So Mija, I love you and I'm praying for you. I can't wait until you can be here with us.

I feel kinda helpless. I mean, my dad is doing great, considering he just had major heart surgery less than a week ago. But I wish I knew what I could do for him. I don't want to baby him, cause he doesn't need or want that. But I wish there was something I could do. My guess is once we all get back home things will get better. I'm sure he'll be more comfortable in his own house around familiar territory. But I still wish there was something I could do right now.

Please keep the prayers coming. Pray that my dad makes a swift and safe recovery. Pray that we encounter no complications that would keep us from going home this wednesday. Pray that as we all fly, my dad will be comfortable and that it will be a safe flight. Pray he can get upgraded to first class, which would be more comfortable for him. And pray for us, his kids and his family, that we would know how to help him and that we would be able to deal with all of this. It's been an emotional roller coaster for me. Plus with my wedding less than three weeks away, I've got a lot to think about. Before his surgery, I was just worried about whether or not he would be here, period. I wasn't even concerned about the wedding. But now I know I need to think about that again. I know things will work out, but it is kind of stressful for me right now. So pray, also, that all the final wedding details will work themselves out beautifully. Thanks, and God Bless.