Minutes to Memories

Today is the big party day at our house!!!!! Hillary has invited lots of friends over to celebrate her 10th birthday, and it ought to be a doozy. It even looks like the weather will cooperate for the 10am start...

Hillary's Grandmother, Poppee, Uncle James Lee, and big sister came down from Arkansas for the big day, and last night witnessed a whirlwind of activity getting things set up. If we survive, I'll try to offer a full report tomorrow.

In the picture above, you can see the completed birthday "flip-flop" cake to go along with the beach theme to today's party.

Party time is three hours away. If I'm going to get in my morning jog (and complete two full weeks of jogging!), I'd better get a move on.

One of the things I love about traveling to new areas is learning their neat little claims to fame. This week's trip to the four-city cluster of Florence, Muscle Shoals, Sheffield, and Tuscumbia in Northwest Alabama uncovered the birthplaces of two extremely famous people from American history: Helen Keller and Jesse Owens.

I just missed the Helen Keller Festival, held each year in June on the weekend closest to her June 27 birthday (though, ironically, I traveled there on June 27).

On my way home yesterday, I decided to stop and visit the Jesse Owens Museum in tiny Oakville, Alabama.

It is ironic at best that there is an Alabama museum to Jesse Owens. There is a replica of the house where he spent his first nine years on the property, a house where his nine siblings slept on the floor in one room while their sharecropping parents slept in the "other" room, which doubled as the family living room. There was no real education for the black sharecropping kids in Alabama, so when Jesse was nine they moved to Cleveland, Ohio, in hope of a better life. Life was better for black people in Ohio, and it was there that an observant track coach "discovered" Jesse Owens.

And now, in what the Owens family remembered as a horrible place, there are road signs and travel brochures leading you to a museum built in his honor.

On one hand, it's sad: a community that oppressed a family trying to make a buck off of them.

On the other hand, it's appropriate: the sins of oppression have been memorialized - so people can never forget.

I traveled to the northwest corner of Alabama yesterday to speak in the summer series at the Florence Boulevard Church of Christ. This congregation has made multiple trips to Ocean Springs to help in the hurricane recovery process, and it was an honor to visit and say "thank you."

One of the neat older fellers who has been here before led the opening prayer, and as he prayed for Ocean Springs he thanked God for "Al Sharpton" being there to speak. I nearly laughed out loud right there in the middle of his prayer!!! I, of course, had to make a joke about it when I stood up to speak (you know, deny that I was running for president, etc.). After everything was over, my friend tried to apologize, but I wouldn't accept it. I absolutely loved it!!!

I did an okay job, I guess. I'll tell you the truth that I don't feel very skilled at these one-time jobs where you go and speak to people you don't know very well and then come home. Now that I've been, I think I know how I would (should) have approached it, but it's too late now. Oh well, I did my best, and that will have to suffice.

The best part came afterward: we stayed for three baptisms from the youth group! Very, very cool...

This morning, I met Ross Hargett and Josh Webster for breakfast at Cracker Barrell, which was especially neat because, though they live in the same community, they had never met. There are a zillion Churches of Christ in the Florence, Alabama, area, so it makes perfect sense that they hadn't met until today. Ross is an elder at the Killen Church of Christ who has led eight trips to Ocean Springs. Josh is the youth minister at the Florence Boulevard Church of Christ, and he has led three trips to Ocean Springs. It was neat to eat breakfast with these two special people.

Both Ross and Josh really served as pastoral counselors to me this morning for my job, and they may not realize that they served as inspirations, too. Ross talked about the new stepfamily ministry that he is working on, while Josh talked about their new single-parent ministry. Ross talked about a class he's planning to offer about woodworking, etc., and Josh shared his Monday night mechanic ministry. I started thinking how cool it was that these two men are doing such good work reaching out to real people in their community, especially when you consider that they were the same people who respectively led their churches hundreds of miles away to Ocean Springs when we were in need, too!

In the first days after Hurricane Katrina, I correctly informed my youngest daughter that we were about to meet the coolest people in the universe.

Ross Hargett and Josh Webster are two of them.

I don't really know Al Sharpton, so I can't say about him... :-)

I don't know how many folks from the Ocean Springs Church of Christ read my blog on a regular basis, but for any who do, today's post will be most interesting!

Bill is one of the neatest people I know, and father of six of the other neatest people I know. He was married to JoNan, another of the neatest people I have ever known, who passed away after a long, hard battle with cancer several years ago now.

Bill is also one of the most private people I know. Some time after JoNan's passing, he basically disappeared from church. Later, we learned that he had moved to Pensacola to work with his son. He didn't tell anyone. He didn't want any fanfare. Here about a year ago, Bill turned up again in Ocean Springs. I thought he was visiting, but instead he said that he was back. No fanfare once again.

A month or two ago now he showed up in my office and asked if he could shut the door. (This always worries me.) When we were safely alone, he asked if I would officiate his wedding ceremony! I think I acted smooth, but you could have knocked me over with a feather. I (nor anyone else in our church family) even knew he was dating anyone! He told me about Beverly from Pensacola, and even showed me a magazine article about her and her neat, artistic house.

I, of course, told him I would be honored. I've done big weddings and I've done small weddings, but I've never did a secret elopement before!

The wedding was yesterday afternoon, and it was beautiful. My Hillary and I were two of the ten people there (counting the bride and groom); Hillary got to hold the cell phone up so that Beverly's daughter could listen to the ceremony.

And to the best of my knowledge, with the exception of my wife and daughter, and my elder, Gene, and his wife, Eileen, who are gone on an Alaskan cruise (and my secretary and youth minister who were around the building yesterday), absolutely no one in our church family has a clue about this.

Bill and Beverly are coming to the Peak of the Week class tonight, and he said he plans to introduce his new wife then. I would LOVE to be there, but I have another speaking engagement tonight!

Ought to be a memorable night.

Yesterday was a fasting day for me. This is not (I hope) one of those "hey look at me I'm fasting" blogs that Jesus referred to on the Sermon on the Mount. Instead, it was simply my homework assignment for my "Forty-Something Class" at church. I'm looking forward to Sunday to hear the experiences - for many, it will be the first time to try it.

I have fasted a few times in the past, but it has been a LONG time. It is anything but a "discipline" for me. More of a rarity.

It is near impossible to read the Bible and miss the importance of fasting. I think there are two kinds: (1) the fasting that comes at key times in life: big decisions to make, scary mountains to climb, dark valleys to descend... and (2) the regular discipline of fasting, as portrayed by the pious Pharisee ("I fast twice a week...").

I don't really do either. But I think I should...

Yesterday wasn't even hard. I ate cereal and toast at 6am before my morning jog (over a week now!!!), and then I didn't eat the rest of the day. It may have helped that I was very busy yesterday - in fact, I'm positive it helped. But it amazed me nonetheless. On normal days, like Barney Fife, I get a little snippy if I don't get food during one of my sinking spells. The mind really is a powerful thing.

Which is what fasting battles: the mind. And on a bunch of levels.

The point of the upcoming class this Sunday, from whence this homework assignment came, has to do with learning to be content with what we have. We aren't so good at that in this country of ours, and the Church seems to be no different. We want more and more and more - everything bigger and better. Jesus didn't live like that.

One of the world's favorite Bible verses is Philippians 4: 13, "I can do all things through Christ who gives me the strength." We use this, of course, to remind ourselves that we can accomplish all sorts of things. More and more and more. Bigger and better.

But that's totally out of context.

Instead, this famous verse is offered as a secret Paul learned - and that secret was how to be content. Have a little? No problem. Have a lot? No problem. It really doesn't matter: either way Paul had learned the secret of being content, and it was that through Jesus he had the strength to deal with anything.

Even being hungry.

Self-denial. There's something wonderfully liberating in that term.

I had an interesting afternoon yesterday.

Not long after I moved to Ocean Springs, I had the pleasure of meeting the Reverend Doctor Jesse L. Trotter, Sr. (usually worded in that particular order), pastor of the Macedonia Missionary Baptist Church in Ocean Springs. I was pleasantly surprised that many of the preachers in Ocean Springs treated me graciously when I moved here, not as a punk Church of Christ kid, and Dr. Trotter was especially kind.

Dr. Trotter is sort of a local legend. In addition to being the ranking senior pastor in Ocean Springs, he also has the notoriety of being the first black alderman in the city’s history, ending an 89-year drought with his election back in 1981. He pastors a large African-American church next to the poorest section of Ocean Springs, and he has a passion for the causes of peace and justice.

I’ve wanted to include Dr. Trotter in my Ocean Springs photo-project, but I never could catch up with him! But recently, I noticed a celebration scheduled at Macedonia in his honor at 3pm on Sunday, June 24, to honor his 39th anniversary as their pastor. Can you imagine preaching at the same church for 39 years??? I decided I would go…

I felt a bit funny walking in, mostly because my only invitation was the church marquee as well as because I didn’t know anyone outside Dr. Trotter who would be there. But my fears were soon allayed: for one, everyone treated me kindly, but also, I soon saw Greg Gipson, an old friend who came to sit by me. I then saw another friend in Latan Griffin. And when the choir sang, I saw another old friend in Tyndria Hines. I learned that I was there among friends.

The service began at 3pm, and as you might suspect, it was a lively service! To give you a hint how lively, I left at 4:45pm, and they hadn’t made it to the preaching part of the service yet! I actually went and conducted our evening devotional at our place at 5:30pm, stayed after for a couple of lengthy conversations, and when I returned to try again to get a picture of Dr. Trotter at 6:45pm, they were just finishing up dinner! I got a hug from Tyndria, and when I tracked down Dr. Trotter I saw Latan again. After I snapped the picture I wanted, Latan offered to take a picture of me with Dr. Trotter (seen above).

I noticed yesterday that I was one of two white people in an auditorium of several hundred. I thought later that I hope I live long enough not to notice such things.

Maybe a few trips like yesterday will help.

I spent about an hour hanging out with the folks at Coffee Fusion last evening. I emailed Adam (the owner) a couple of weeks ago, and after messages sent back and forth, finally hooked up with him this past week in person. I've wanted to add the cool "bubbletea cafe" to my Ocean Springs photo-project, and he suggested I come back last evening when there was live music and the weekend crowd and try to capture some good pics then...

Well, as business life goes, turned out that there wasn't much of a crowd last night. That was fine, though - I was a bit nervous about being the weird photographer in a crowded room anyway. Plus, I got the chance to visit more with Adam, who is a really gracious dude.

And anyway, I liked the picture (above) I came away with after all.

If you're ever in Ocean Springs and need a neat place to hang out for a while, outside of my house Coffee Fusion is the place to go.

Jody and I enjoyed the rare opportunity to go to a movie last night, and we took in Ocean’s Thirteen. It was entertaining, though not destined to be one of the all-time classics. I mean, I enjoyed Ocean’s Three a lot back in the day, back when Clubber Lang fought Freddy Krueger, but Hollywood just keeps cranking out the sequels for suckers like me I guess.

One of the new additions to the Ocean series this go around was the addition of Al Pacino as the bad guy. I don’t know if you’re familiar with Pacino or not, but he makes for a really believable bad guy in this movie. A couple more such roles and he might just become a household name.

My favorite part of Ocean’s Thirteen was seeing Super Dave Osborne again. Well, that’s not really true. Instead, my favorite part was recognizing an actor whom my wife didn’t know (since this NEVER happens). His real name is Bob Einstein (and he actually has a website HERE), and he plays Matt Damon’s dad in Ocean’s Thirteen, but I remember his days as a super stuntman (as remembered in the TV Guide pic above). Does anyone else remember Super Dave? Was I the only college student sucked into getting the Showtime/Movie Channel package in the early 1990s?

One other kind of favorite part in the movie. At one point, Andy Garcia’s character faces down Al Pacino’s character (they’re both casino owners, which is important for this favorite part). Garcia says something about trying out a new game in Tunica, Mississippi. Pacino replies, “Mississippi? I thought that’s where games go to die?”

There was a wee bit of tensed silence in the Biloxi movie theater. I think I was the only one who laughed out loud.

One final thing to note: Ocean’s Thirteen is diabolically anti-Christian in my estimation. You fall in love with these endearing crooks, and between Don Cheadle’s thoughtful letters to Elliot Gould and Danny Ocean’s heist leading to $72 million to needy children, you just might think criminal activity can be okay if done for the right reasons. So other than this diabolical anti-Christian message, it’s a fairly entertaining way to spend an evening.

Plus, there’s Super Dave.

Last night involved a three-hour board meeting per my re-involvement with Habitat for Humanity, but it was a good night. I'm new to this particular board, but we appear to have a great collection of people who are at the same time intelligent, diverse, and fun. We also have a brilliant CEO in Chris Monforton, whom I trust immensely. I've taken the chair of the Nominating Committee, the group responsible for presenting new board members as well as governing the board, which is a formidable task only in that this healthy board needs to continue...

For those of you unaware, I began the Habitat for Humanity affiliate in Jackson County in the spring of 2001. I was term-limited off the board in the spring of 2006, less than a year after Katrina. When I left the board, negotiations were underway with the Harrison County affiliate to merge (under pressure from Habitat for Humanity International in the wake of the devastating storm), which was accomplished in January of 2007. I was added to this "new" affiliate in May, giving me exactly one year away from the action.

We have a new website, but it is really under construction. You can bookmark it HERE if you wish; I'm sure there will be lots of cool stuff on there soon.

Imagine our calling: eliminate poverty housing from the Mississippi Gulf Coast. A crazy thought in the first place, but given the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, it's almost laughable.

Just about as crazy as feeding several thousand people with a kid's lunchable.

Moulton, Alabama, is a little town in northwest Alabama, and I have friends there. Well, now I do. We haven’t had many hurricane relief crews recently. That part of our lives seems to be passing away, yet this week we’ve met around twenty kind folks from the Moulton Church of Christ, about half the group adults, and half the group teenagers.

After our Peak of the Week class last night, several of us stayed afterwards to show them our old slideshow. We then stayed after that and talked and told stories for a good long while. I got home after 10pm from our 7pm class.

I don’t know if the need to tell our stories is therapeutic or just plain needy on our end. I’ve told the same stories bunches of times, but I continually feel the need to tell them when new folks are around. Whatever the case, I told them again last night.

Mr. Key, one of our new friends from Moulton, made the comment that it was surprising how much is still undone in areas they had been to not long after Katrina. It has been 22 months now. So much has been accomplished, and yet some places are still a veritable mess. Just goes to show how unbelievably massive nature of Katrina’s destruction.

I hope to live a nice, long life, and never see something like that happen again.

An intense thunderstorm rolled through late yesterday afternoon, changing my evening plans. Hillary emerged from her colorful room, wanting to be with me, and I wondered again if we Gulf Coast citizens are a wee bit more sensitive to the weather than folks in other places. Maybe not, but I wonder.

Anyway, after the storm settled down, my change in plans allowed me some time to do a little more reading in The Jesus Way by Eugene Peterson. I finished an interesting chapter on "Isaiah of the Exile," and at its conclusion the author shared a quote from famed novelist, Saul Bellow.

The quote is a bit heady for me, but after sorting through it I realize that it reflects a theme with Peterson, one that I've been buying into for some time now. Here's the quote from Bellow:

"...the gray net of abstraction covering the world in order to simplify and explain it . . . that must be countered . . . by insisting on the particularity of detail and the immediacy of place, giving us access to life firsthand so that we are not 'bossed by ideas.'"

Like Gomer Pyle, I had to put a bucket on my head and "have a think" on this for a while, but I think I get what Bellow is proposing: that the tendency to simplify the world into concepts can keep us from participating in life.

I'm afraid this betrays a church scandal. We're big into concepts at church (the gray net of abstraction): we talk a LOT about things like love and mercy and justice and salvation. And yet, I'm afraid we may end up so "bossed by ideas" that we may miss out on participating in these very ideas - loving the person in line at the grocery store, showing mercy to the waitress at lunch, seeking justice for the lonely nursing home resident, experiencing salvation from our personal addictions.

I think this is, in part, why I created this blog in the first place. Less discussion about ideas and concepts. More talk about life in "the particularity of detail and the immediacy of place."

At least that's my hope.

Our pool has an algae problem. Our computer, like Cousin Eddie's boy on Christmas Vacation, has a problem we haven't identified just yet.

But enough happy news... Hillary and I went to a funeral last night.

The father of a friend passed away last Friday after a long battle with cancer. I had planned to go to the funeral myself, but I thought it was so sweet when Hillary (who has been friends with one of our friend's sons practically her whole life) announced that she wanted to go, too: she said she just "felt like she ought to." My little girl is becoming a little lady.

I rarely have the chance to sit in the audience at a funeral and think anymore; I'm usually the cat up front having to struggle to find the right words. So as I sat there, with time to think, a couple of thoughts bounced back and forth in my brain like a tennis match.

1. Isn't it just odd that, after an entire life, we signal it's end by allowing someone to stand up and talk for twenty minutes or so? I find that sad, especially since I'm often that person. I mean, this is the most significant event in the universe - the passing of a life - and we dress up, listen to a little talk, and go home. This is no way does justice to what has happened, but what else could we do?
2. Since this funeral was at the church building of a different Christian denomination, I listened closely to notice the differences in messages I might deliver, but I was somewhat surprised to think that the message was the same. I began to think that the message was not only the same in that room, but it is pretty much the same across all flavors of Christianity - and even I'm sure across other religious faiths. Here's the message: There's just got to be something more - and better - than this life. Combined with my other recurring thought, it cannot just end with a shell of a life sitting in front of a man wearing a suit who sums up this life in twenty minutes. There must be something more. This is our collective hope.

Life moves on today. A family still grieves, and from personal experience I know that they always will. Yet time really will help, and life will move on.

But the deeper questions remain...

Well, it's rearrange my life time again...

I do this periodically, and I'm not sure if it's healthy or a product of mental illness. Either I need to break out of my self-imposed box and freshen up my life, or I'm simply a discontent and am never satisfied. Whatever the case, every so often in my life I break up my precious routine and try to establish another, soon to be precious, routine.

So here goes...
* This one will (broken record alert!) involve exercise. Again. Starting today. Jogging.
* And blogging is scheduled for morning times now.

Jogging and blogging in the mornings. Sounds like a bad television show.

Happy Father's Day to everyone in blog-land! I miss having my dad around every day, but it comes to mind more forcefully on Father's Day. I hope everyone who has a dad around appreciates that blessing.

Yet I am blessed to be honored myself on Father's Day. I received lots of great wishes and cards from my family and friends, and I even received a couple of cool gifts:

1. I got a super-cool digital picture frame! I've already got it up and running at my office with a couple hundred of my favorite pictures (so far), and its slideshow may very well keep me mesmerized instead of working. Very cool stuff.
2. I also received some cooking equipment so I can learn how to become a real Gulf Coast guy and have a shrimp boil (with the picture above for inspiration)! I'm really depending on my good friend, Bruno, an expert in the art of boiling shrimp, to lead me into the land of Shrimp Cuisine. I'm getting hungry just thinking about it... :-)

We had a nice day at the Ocean Springs Church of Christ, including the arrival of a hurricane relief crew from Moulton, Alabama, tonight, one of four relief crews scheduled to come on mission trips this summer. This is Moulton's first trip, and I anticipate their having a hot, sweaty, yet meaningful week.

I watched Mississippi State make their exit from the College World Series this afternoon on ESPN. They should be proud, however; the last SEC team left standing this season.

Gotta run. I actually plan to post again tomorrow morning, so I'll see you then...

We hosted the first ever "Forty-Something Party" for our new class from church at our house tonight, and I didn't take a single picture!!! What's happening to me?!?!?

There were fifteen of us here to enjoy a Mexican Fiesta dinner, and the conversation afterwards never seemed to stop! I had bought a new game called "Buzz Word" that looked really fun, but there was never a lull long enough to even think about introducing a game. And, my original plan was to snap a few pictures during the game; hence, my lack of photographic evidence.

Jody and I made the same comment when the party, which began at 5:30pm, broke up at 8:30pm. After hanging out with the younger group (20s-early 30s) for a long time now, we sure like the hours of "we" older folks now!!!

Well, I spent my day off watching the first day of the College World Series today, hoping to catch my friends, Cole and Alison, among the crowd (I didn't). Alison's brother, Justin Pigott, took the mound tonight for the Mississippi State University Bulldogs on ESPN2, and although they didn't win, I was extremely proud of Justin.

For one, he outpitched his opposing starting pitcher (who was expected to be dominant). Justin had a great first three innings, ran into some trouble in the fourth but pitched out of it, and had a good fifth. It was the sixth inning when things started to head south, but he left with the game tied at four and his team in position to win. The relief pitcher didn't come through, however, and the Bulldogs never recovered.

But I was most proud of him for other reasons. It was so neat to hear perennial all-star, Barry Larkin, brag on him, but it was even better to hear broadcaster Sean Macdonough share things like...
* Justin's 4.0 GPA
* His position on the SEC Good Works team for his service in the community
* The fact that Justin's the man his teammates want on the mound for big games
* And the fact that he has a "deep religious faith"

Not bad things to be said about you to a worldwide audience, huh?

No matter what the final score...

We'll keep watching the Dawgs. Big game against Louisville on Sunday now! GO DAWGS!!!

When I teach a class, I always want to give my students some interesting experiences in addition to what I hope to be the challenging, informative discussions we have when we gather as a group, but unfortunately the experiences often get passed over. But when I launched the new "Forty-Something Class" this past May, I wanted to be sure that I didn't leave out the experiences. So each week, we have a goofy homework assignment.

The problem with this, of course, is that I need to participate in these goofy homework assignments, too. Lead by example, you know?

Well, this week's assignment flows from the Parable of the Good Samaritan that will be our major text this Sunday, and I asked everyone to go somewhere they would never go and meet people they would never meet. You see the connection, I'm sure, to the Jew-Samaritan relationship - or, better said, lack of relationship.

Pretty cool, huh?

Well, until you have to do it, it's pretty cool.

I cycled through a lot of ideas before settling on going to a mosque. I thought this would carry with it about as much shock value as the original Jew-Samaritan example, but I wasn't exactly sure where you'd find a mosque in South Mississippi.

Turns out, Biloxi.

I drove to the Biloxi Islamic Center today with the full intent of getting to know some folks there, but it turned out to be an older house in a poor part of town with a hand-painted sign out front instead of a gold-roofed temple. I drove by once (partly because there wasn't any parking, and partly because this is the kind of homework assignment when you drive by once. Or twice. Or more...). I circled back around, parked my car, walked through the residential gate, and went to the door and knocked.

Nobody was home late this morning at the Biloxi Islamic Center. (I did not, however - for the record - pass by on the other side.) Oh well. Maybe some other time.

So time was running short on this week's homework, and I needed a Plan B. Which came to me on the way back to Ocean Springs. I decided to go to the Fort Bayou Saloon, a biker bar in spitting distance from our church's building.

I pulled into the parking lot, and, since there was just one car in the parking lot at 11am (and no motorcycles), I was brave enough to get out and walk in. When I walked in (add your own sound effects: western music, or maybe the revving of a Harley), I was met by the imposing figure of...

Well, turns out there was a nice lady named Angela there serving as bartender. And she was on her cell phone.

She asked me what she could get me. I fumbled something out that let her know that I was weird and not really interested in a drink. So she excused herself from her cell phone conversation to concentrate on what this strange bald man had to say. I simply told her that I had come in to introduce myself. Told her I was a preacher at the church next door. Told her I had been there eight years and was a pretty bad neighbor since I had never introduced myself.

She smiled. I told her my name was Al. She told me her name was Angela.

That was about the size of it.

Nothing earth-shattering, I guess.

Except seismologists report that the Berlin-esque wall that stands between the people in the Ocean Springs Church of Christ and the people in the Fort Bayou Saloon felt the slightest of tremors.

There is a time for everything under the sun, and this week happens to be the time for everyone at the Ocean Springs Church of Christ to face potential surgery.

* Several of us spent Monday morning at the hospital in Gulfport expecting surgery for Jim, but that was only the beginning of a waiting game that continues to now as to what will happen with the mass found in his throat. So far, surgery has been ruled out, but everything hinges on the results from the biopsy taken yesterday afternoon. Still no word on that.

* Several of us spent this morning at the hospital in Pascagoula with Rebecca while her mother, Pat, underwent surgery for her colon cancer. Everything went well, and there was no "extra" cancer discovered, but the surgery was quite invasive, and recovery will be a challenge. She will begin with a four or five day hospital stay.

* Eileen went to sit with Barbara for Norton's heart procedure today. She called to tell me all went well, and the doctors successfully shocked his heart back into rhythm. She said it only took them once. Norton's health has been a concern for several months now.

* Tomorrow, my secretary, Marvel, will undergo sinus surgery. She has been anticipating this for a long time, and it is finally scheduled for tomorrow, appropriately, on Surgery Week for the Ocean Springs Church of Christ. She'll be out of the office for the rest of the week.

I do own a calendar. But I'm scared to look at next week.

To misquote Jesus, "this week has enough surgeries of its own."

Went to visit my buddy Hezekiah this afternoon on this stormy day in south Mississippi. The picture above is from his birthday party back in March, but for today's picture you'll have to add a befeathered cowboy hat to his head, stick him in front of the large screen television with three other residents of the nursing home, and turn on TV Land for an episode of Bonanza.

I sat and watched with him until he got bored enough to ask me how I was doing. I spared him the gory details and just said "fine," and then returned the question. Hezekiah said he was doing "mighty well," which sounds to me a lot better than just fine. I'm typically convinced that even though he is physically and mentally challenged and living in a nursing home (and often needing someone to change his diaper), he is most often doing much better than me.

Bonanza was pretty good today. I just caught part of the episode, but it broached the issue of Civil Rights, which I found particularly interesting. Mostly because three of the four lonely people in the room with me were black. There was a slave loose in this particular script of Bonanza, and his owner was intent on getting him back. Hoss was angry enough to spit nails, especially when Adam took the time to explain the Supreme Court's position to his brother. That's about as far as I got in the show before Hezekiah decided to carry on a conversation instead of seeing what kind of trouble Little Joe was going to end up in. I did see that the fugitive "slave" was a highly-educated black man with a British accent. I think there was a point to that if I would have kept watching.

I'm pretty sure there was some irony tucked away somewhere in my visit today, but I cannot place it exactly. I might have been some skinny version of Hoss Cartwright. And Hezekiah may have been some special-needs equivalent of the fugitive. And together, we still might be a bit astounded that second-class citizens get stuck in a system.

At least Hezekiah doesn't know the difference.

And he's doing mighty well...

Had a really busy day today...

Up early doing some work to get ahead, then on to Gulfport Memorial Hospital with one of my elders for what I thought would be surgery on one of our members. It turned out that things went much slower than everyone anticipated, and later this afternoon we received word that (a) there would not be surgery, and (b) there would be a biopsy tomorrow now to determine where to go from here.

Spent the afternoon hustling to squeeze quite a bit of work into three or four hours...

Then tonight, went to a birthday party for our friend, Shanna. While there, my friend Tom and I were taught the finer points of professional wrestling by our friends, Herman, Marion, and Tracy. I do know now that the freakishly large individual pictured above is Bobby Lashley, and he was the WWE champion until tonight, but for some reason he was drafted into another league and Vince McMahon made him give up his title belt. This angered the large Mr. Lashley, and his angry look is quite synonymous with the picture above.

I'm pretty sure Tom and I aren't converts, but I now can carry on a very surface level conversation with a professional wrestling fan.
:-)

I had the pleasure of watching the Mississippi State Bulldogs on ESPN yesterday. My favorite player, Justin Pigott, took the mound with the chance to help his team make it back to the College World Series for the first time in ten years, and he didn't disappoint.

I'm sure my friends, Cole & Alison, were in Starkville for the big game yesterday. I haven't heard from them yet, but I am sure they are on Cloud Nine today!!!

They've heard me say it before, but my fellow Razorback friends may have a hard time stomaching what I'm about to say... but when it comes to my status as a Justin Pigott groupie, all I can say is...

GO DAWGS!!!!

Our Cruise

CRUISE JOURNAL DAY SIX: Saturday, June 9, 2007
(a.k.a. "Where We Come Home to the Real World")

* We had breakfast in Four Winds this morning and were pleased to see Lovie one more time. I had a ham and cheese omelette with hash browns for my going away meal, and as expected, it was very good. Then we went back to our room to wait and wait... We watched Night at the Museum as we waited...

* Debarking the ship wasn't as bad as expected. In fact, we were in our car headed out of Mobile by 10am. Not bad at all.

* When we arrived home...

• Erica had a flat tire
• I turned on the lights in our bedroom and the bulbs blew out
• And a massive thunderstorm rolled through our county
• And we had to buy groceries
• And cook our own meals

Oh well, back to the real world. Which is where we belong. Cruising was a great experience. A great place to visit. But I wouldn't want to live there.

CRUISE JOURNAL DAY FIVE: Friday, June 8, 2007
(a.k.a. "Where We Bid Lovie Adieu And Remember that Lovie Was a Character Stranded on Gilligan's Island")

* We slept late on Friday. Later that morning, while the girls were lazy, I went to hear Cruise Director Brad's Debarkation Speech, which was semi-mandatory for one family member. He told us all about customs, tipping, luggage, etc. But believe it or not, it was fun. He has a good sense of humor.

* We ate lunch at The Wharf Grill, where I had a cheeseburger and fries AND ham and potato salad. Cruising is not good for diets if you cannot tell.

* After lunch, the girls went to watch the Belly Flop Contest and the Fear Factor Competition while I had the bright idea of going to the Internet Cafe to check in on all of you guys and see if I had been missing anything important. Get this: it costs nearly $30 for one hour of internet time on this cruise! So I chose a different option - a $3.95 connection fee plus $0.75/minute. And, of course, my computer was slow! So I noticed that I had well over 100 emails and I looked through long enough to make sure no one had died. This cost me about sixteen bucks. Sheesh.

* I went back to the room after this and began working on the comment cards and the customs form. When the girls returned, they did this, too.

* Then, we went to tour the galley (kitchen) of the ship at 4pm. It was a short tour, but it was very neat. They prepare and serve over 12,000 meals a day on this puppy! Can you believe that? In honor of this trip, after the tour, we went for pizza and ice cream before supper (man, this cruise doesn't do much for self-control either...). We then went back to the room and watched part of the movie, The Pursuit of Happyness, before dinner.

* At the farewell dinner, we made our final order: I chose chicken quesadillas for starters, a shrimp cocktail in lieu of salad, and a wonderful pork chop for the main course. Then, without asking, Lovie brought us all Baked Alaska for dessert, the most unbelievable dessert any of us have ever had. After dinner, Lovie kindly posed for a picture with our family (above) (and this is when we bid him adieu!).

* After dinner, we found third row seats for the farewell show titled "Shout," a show highlighting all the musical genres from the last half of the American twentieth century. It was another amazing show.

* After the show, we went back to our rooms, set our three largest bags outside the door to be taken off ship by someone other than us, and went to bed.

CRUISE JOURNAL DAY FOUR: Thursday, June 7, 2007
(a.k.a. "When In Cancun, Always Eat at Mocamba's")

* Our ship took the scenic route to Calica (so they could fire up the casino again overnight), and we docked early Thursday morning. We exited the gangway where we had more photo ops, this time with a man in traditional Mexican garb as well as some family-style shots. We found the bus that was scheduled to take us to Cancun for a shopping trip.

* It took us about an hour or so to get to Cancun. Our tour guide this time was Paco, a nice man, but without Antonio's personality. Paco looked sort of like my friend, John Barberio, if John were a lower middle class Mexican (that's really funny, especially if you know John!). We learned from Paco that Cancun means "Snake Nest" in Mayan, and that McDonald's just isn't the same in Mexico.

* Our first stop (of two) was at the Mexican Outlet, which turned out to be a fairly typical huge souvenir shop. It was neat, but we soon matriculated to the Flea Market next door, where we met the famed Mexican barter system. The girls all bought something, but I avoided everyone with this funny feeling that I was back at the Greene County Fair avoiding eye contact with the carnies trying to get me to play a game. Anyway, it was a neat experience nonetheless.

* We were fifteen minutes late leaving this area because two of our group did not show back up. Who knows, maybe they are still in Mexico tonight? Anyway, we drove next to a Mexican shopping mall close to the beach. Here, since we were hungry, we took Paco's advice and walked over to a Mexican seafood restaurant on the beach called "Mocamba's." It was unbelievable. The view. The food. The service. Everything. Unbelievable. I have been all over Florida and to Malibu, but the beach in Cancun as seen at Mocamba's was the most breathtaking sight I have ever seen (the picture above does not do it justice). Not to mention that when they brought me my shrimp dinner, it was six jumbo shrimp, each the size of a large chicken leg. Crazy.

* Afterwards, we hustled back to make Paco's air-conditioned bus trip back to our ship docked at Calica (basically, Playa del Carmen for those of you scoring at home). The girls shopped the little stands outside the ship while I took my sunburned self indoors (Hillary got her hair braided while there).

* At dinner, I ordered the lobster bisque as a starter, a California spring mix for my salad, and penne for the main course. It was in between the salad and the penne, as the boat started rocking back and forth, back and forth, back and forth again, that I thought I might contribute my six jumbo shrimp from lunch to the ambience of the Four Winds Dining Room. I decided to skip dessert and go back to my stateroom and lie down. After dinner, being the loyal wife she is, Jody came back to the room and got sick and did contribute her meal to the ship's plumbing system. And she will be so proud that I shared this with all of you.

* I got a little better after a couple of hours and got up long enough to go to the photo gallery and spend way too much money on pictures that I'll evacuate from my house next time a hurricane comes (while forgetting how much I spent on them), and Jody took Hillary back to Camp Carnival one more time (at Hillary's request) for a late-night slumber party scheduled to last until 3:30am. Hillary lasted just over one hour and was not having any fun, so she called Jody to come and get her.

* I ordered room service - a BLT with chips just for the salty chips (still feeling woozy), and some brownies and cookies just because... (hey, they're sort of free!). I felt a little better, and we all went to bed.

CRUISE JOURNAL DAY 3: Wednesday, June 6, 2007
(a.k.a. "Doh! Re-Apply Sunblock AFTER Snorkeling When You're Bald!"

* I received an early wake-up call on Wednesday to try to capture a picture of a Caribbean sunrise, and I was nervous when I awakened to overcast, rainy weather. Although my sunrise turned out to be cloudy, it still turned out to be a most amazing day.

* It was amazing to stand at the front of the ship (bow? stern? I still don't know!) and watch the huge ship approach Cozumel. I watched the deck hands working hard to get the massive ropes and anchors ready.

* When we docked, the four of us exited the gangway and were met with photo-op's by a half-naked Mexican warrior and a Mexican dancer. We walked to the end of the pier and instantly met Antonio, tour guide for the "Exploring Cozumel by Jeep With Snorkeling" excursion we had purchased. Antonio ranks second on the most memorable people from our trip only because we hung out with him one day, and hung out with Lovie six days.

* Antonio gathered our group and gave his speech on what to expect that day, and he proved not only to be dependable and thorough, but downright hilarious!!! He told us that his assistant, Santos, would be the jeep in the caboose position because he was supposedly the mechanic. When one of our nervous group members said, "What do you mean supposedly the mechanic?" Antonio opened his arms and his smile wide and exclaimed, "Welcome to Mejico!!!"

* The first thing we did was go to our jeeps. Jody drove ours because I never took the time to learn how to drive a standard (!), and she did great. We drove through the Cozumel traffic in a single file line of Jeeps, parked along the beach, and at Antonio's command got out on the sidewalk. He gathered us together and asked, "Are you ready for your first Mexican adventure?" When we replied that we were, he then yelled, "Run for your lives!" and led us across the busy street to get our snorkeling gear.

* Snorkeling was quite the experience, especially considering the fact that I cannot swim. Antonio taught us how to use the goggles, snorkel, lifejacket, and flippers. He had to hurry, since we were on a schedule, and as we made our way back across the busy street with our gear I grew a bit concerned since my lifejacket continually deflated. And I cannot swim. Well, I thought I should ask someone as our ENTIRE group is wading out into the water, and my concern was well founded. Life jackets should not deflate. So I began switching out my entire gear while getting further and further behind the class. Finally, I stumble into the water, and I cannot stand up while I'm trying to get my flippers on. But then off we go anyway!!! And it was amazing...

* It was also exhausting. Erica was fine. Bless Jody's heart, she was lugging 70 pounds of Hillary around, too. Me, I was mostly trying to stay alive. And man was that exhausting. But the fish were simply breathtaking.

* After my death-defying snorkeling experience, we rinsed off, changed, and jumped back into the jeeps to head to our next adventure. (NOTE: THIS IS WHERE I SHOULD HAVE RE-APPLIED SUNBLOCK TO MY BALD HEAD!!!)

* Next, we went to El Cedral, which is Cozumel's version of Mayan ruins. There was an old Catholic church on site along with other old stuff, but the hit of this part of our excursion was the dead tarantula one of our group members found. We think it was a very old Mayan tarantula, but we haven't had this confirmed by archaeologists just yet.

* After the dead Mayan tarantula, we took off on an amazing drive around the perimeter of the island of Cozumel. The crashing waves and bright blue water and natural, rocky beaches made for an unforgettable sight. After a long ride (in which I did NOT re-apply sunblock), we stopped at a beach for a Mexican buffet lunch with two other tour groups. It was wonderful, but I have to admit that my favorite parts were the ice cold American sodas (Sprite, followed by Orange for me!). While at this beach, I decided to re-apply sunblock (too late, you bonehead) as well as take some amazing pictures. Antonio got up a volleyball game at the beach by begging "Antonio's fam-uh-lee" to participate. Jody and Hillary jumped in and played, while Erica watched. And just before we left, both Erica and Hillary got one of the ever-popular henna tattoos.

* Afterwards, we traveled by jeep to one final stop, a place literally named "The Pee Pee Station," a Mexican bathroom/souvenir stop. It was here that I began to notice my sunburn.

* We finally made it back to where we started, and before we left, my girls posed for a picture with Santos (left, in the picture above) and Antonio (right). Wonderful, wonderful excursion...

* Back on board the ship, we showered and changed for dinner (gingerly, while I kicked myself repeatedly for getting sunburned!). We went to dinner at Four Winds to see our friend, Lovie (who, for the entire time, called Hillary, "Hilaria" - rhymes with "Malaria"). On Wednesday evening, I had fried mozarrella for starters, spinach and mushroom salad, beef wellington for the main course, and pineapple sherbet again for dessert.

* After dinner, stuffed, exhausted, and sunburned, I went to bed...

CRUISE JOURNAL DAY TWO: Tuesday, June 5, 2007
(a.k.a. "How Much Fun Could a Fun Ship Have If a Fun Ship Could Ship Fun?")

* We all awakened feeling MUCH better, and before long we had (mostly) headed off in different directions. After a sumptuous traditional breakfast at the Wharf Grill, Hillary went to Camp Carnival for the morning, which proved not to be nearly as fun as she expected. Jody and Erica went to lay out on the deck, and I went around the ship taking pictures (surprise!). I spent some time watching the beautiful blue waters of the Gulf of Mexico, and I also sat in on Cruise Director Brad's spiel on the various shore excursions.

* We picked up Hillary at noon (her last in Camp Carnival!), and we all went to lunch in the Four Winds Dining Room. I had Californial rolls for starters, tomato baguette for the main course (sort of a crab/shrimp po'boy sandwich), and pineapple sherbet for dessert! Yum-yum!

* After lunch, all three girls decided to lay out some more, and I ended up playing basketball on the upper deck. There was a 3 on 3 game going on when I arrived, and soon I was invited into a new game. I teamed up with a 16 or 17 year old kid named Caleb, and we ruled the court for a couple of hours! It was mostly Caleb, of course (!), but I contributed my bit with my fancy no-look Larry Bird passes, too! I realized how out of shape I have become, and I began wondering if Doc from the Love Boat would show up soon. But I quit before it came to that...

* When I stumbled back to the room, the girls were taking a nap. Then, Hillary wanted to go to the slide (since earlier it was a little too wild and crazy during the men's hairy chest competition!), so Jody and I went with her to the pool where she went down the massive slide close to a hundred times I bet...

* Tuesday was the Captain's Formal Dinner Night, so we went back to the room to shower and put on our fancy clothes. Listen to what I ate that night: shrimp cocktail for starters, followed by a Caesar's salad, prime rib for the main course, and chocolate melting cake with vanilla ice cream for dessert!!!

* After dinner, we went to the Americana Lounge for "Extreme Country," the show put on by the Holiday dancers. We arrived early and found a seat on the second row directly next to the steps that descended from the center of the stage, the perfect seats for an awesome show.

* After the show, we went back to the room, and the girls were already into looking for the towels the amazing steward and his staff would leave in the room every night, folded into the shapes of amazing animals. Ours was a crab Tuesday night!

CRUISE JOURNAL DAY ONE: Monday, June 4, 2007

(a.k.a. "For My First Trick, I Think I Shalt Puke!")

And now to sports...

It's that time of year when college baseball players (and fans) dream of going to (of all places) Omaha, Nebraska, home of Rosenblatt Stadium and the College Baseball World Series.

My friend, Cole, got the chance to go watch last year, and he said it was an amazing experience. This year, Cole and (his wife) Alison are dreaming of having a personal connection in Omaha, and if Alison's brother (pitcher, Justin Pigott, pictured above), keeps pitching like he did yesterday, then the sky's the limit!

I had the pleasure of meeting Justin last year, and I'll simply say that I'm a huge fan of his now and am rooting for he and the Bulldogs to go a long, long ways this postseason.

Here's the press release from yesterday's game:

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Justin Pigott and Aaron Weatherford combined for a three-hit shutout Saturday night as No. 27 Mississippi State topped No. 6 national seed Florida State 3-0 in the winner’s bracket game of the 2007 NCAA Tallahassee Regional. It was the first shutout of the season for the Bulldogs (35-20) and the first shutout and lowest hit total for the Seminoles (48-12).

The win advances Mississippi State to a 6 p.m. (CDT) Sunday championship round matchup against the winner of Sunday afternoon’s Florida State-Stetson game.

Pigott, who registered his eighth quality start of the year, scattered three hits, walked one and struck out three over seven innings. He left the game in the eighth inning with a 3-0 lead after FSU first baseman Brandon Reichert opened the inning with a double into the gap in left-center field. Weatherford entered the game and retired the next three batters to end the FSU threat. The sophomore righty walked Jack Rye to open the ninth but struck out the next three Seminole batters to close out the game and earn his fourth save.

“Tonight we got some great pitching by Justin and Aaron against a real good-hitting Florida State ball club,” said MSU head coach Ron Polk. “I think they were hitting .355 coming into the regional, so our pitchers had to pitch very well. They did and we made some plays behind them. I thought Bryan Henry was very effective after he gave up the two-spot in the third inning. We good a couple of good knocks… Russ (Sneed) got the home run and Jeffrey Rea got the double that set the record.”

Rea’s double, which set the MSU career hits mark at 329, helped the Bulldogs take a 2-0 lead in the third inning. The first four Bulldogs hit safely in the frame. Russ Sneed singled and advanced to third base when Jeffrey Rea doubled off the padded wall in right field. Brandon Turner brought Sneed home with a single through the left side and Edward Easley made it 2-0 with a single to right. The rally scoring spree was shortened when Mitch Moreland grounded into a double play and Brian LaNinfa, who drew a two-out walk, was tagged out on a double steal attempt just ahead of Turner’s race to home plate.

The game settled into a pitching duel between Pigott and Henry. FSU staged its biggest threat in the seventh, putting two runners on base with a single and a two-out fielding error. Pigott retired D’Vontrey Richardson on a groundout to keep FSU off the scoreboard.

“I felt a little all over the place the first three innings,” said Pigott. “But I settled down in the fourth and kind of got into a little bit of a rhythm. I’m thankful that some of those balls stayed in the ball park. That definitely helped. And our defense made some really good plays.”

Freshman Russ Sneed, making his fourth start at third base, delivered a towering home run to left to open the eighth, extending the MSU lead to 3-0. Sneed and Brandon Turner collected two hits each to pace MSU’s six-hit showing against the Seminoles.

Starter Bryan Henry (14-2) took the loss, giving up three runs on six hits with two walks and five strikeouts over eight innings, and Travis Burge pitched a scoreless ninth for FSU.

“I’m trying to remember if I’ve ever seen a game better pitched than I saw from Pigott and Weatherford,” said FSU head coach Mike Martin. “That was just beautiful baseball, and they deserved a tremendous amount of credit. That was excellent pitching.”

Florida State (48-12) takes on Stetson (42-20) at 12 p.m. Sunday, with the winner advancing to Sunday night’s 6 p.m. matchup with MSU.

Well, today's Single Parent Network was not a numerical success, but it was high in quality! And without a doubt, us "childcare" folks had a rollicking good time.

We began the day with Elmo's visit, but over the course of the day we had face painting, a bubble machine, visits from both a fire truck and a policeman, creative art, and even a tasty lunch. I don't think the kids will soon forget this day.

We had so much fun that I'm worn out!

Big day today:

#1: Went and sat on the beach this morning. This was homework for my 40-Something class. Hate me.

#2: Went to the hospital in Lucedale to check on Matt following his spleen-removal surgery. He's doing good, but the recovery will surely take a while. He showed me the scar, and it was huge. Definitely major surgery.

#3: Went from there to camp to pick up Hillary, and discovered that she really didn't want to leave (although she was looking forward to air conditioning). She had a blast this week, and much of the credit for that lies at the feet of her counselor, Mrs. Hollie. Hillary taught me lots of fun songs on the way home, with my personal favorite being a song about a wishy-washy-washer-woman.

#4: My oldest daughter, Erica, is driving in from Arkansas today. She called before she left around mid-morning. She had slept longer than she intended, but she still had all day to make the trip. It seems so long since I've seen her, and I'm really looking forward to her being home.

#5: We have a busy night planned at our church building, setting up for the Single Parent Network tomorrow morning. We have good plans and good people, but I always find myself worrying that people will forget, or things will come up. Maybe that's because these things always happen? But I should relax. Hence, the homework this morning.

#6: The most interesting part of the day will happen in a couple of hours. As many of you know, Habitat for Humanity has been a big part of my life for a decade or so now. I found out last night that I'm being interviewed/photographed with my friend, Latan, for an upcoming edition of Habitat World, the official magazine of HFHI that literally goes all over the world. That's pretty cool. Our post-Katrina transformation will be the subject.

Gotta run. Thanks for checking in with me and my life!