STILL TOGETHER AFTER ALL THESE YEARS

While looking for a picture to post for (ahem) "Wordless Wednesday" (I obviously havent grasped the concept of letting the pictures do the talking), I found this old picture of me, my two sisters, and some of my cousins at Cheaha. Can you guess which one is me? I'm the little runt who was too little to get to hang out with the big girls. But, I got in this picture and struck a pose like a big girl, so there! Nowadays I am allowed and actually invited at times to spend time with them. I thought I'd try to find a few recent pictures of us still hanging out together.

This one happens to be at Cheaha just two summers ago, (uh--about 37 years after the first picture!) with two of the cousins in the picture.


Here's some of the group, two years ago, at a Sweet Potato Queen Parade in Jackson, MS. I wasnt going to say anything, but .........doesnt one of them have a LOT of beads???

My sisters and I in New Orleans last summer.

Ok-so my brother wasnt in the original picture--I'm not sure he was even born yet. But, here are my sisters and one of the cousins.

Not only do I get to hang out with them, I even get to do a little dancing too. Not like when I was too little and could only watch while they all got to have fun doing the famous Soul Train Line. But--that's another story.

Saturday

Saturday--the first day of the weekend. The day I don't have to get up at a certain time, go sit at a desk all day and make sales calls, figure quotes, and write up orders. The day that holds so much promise and potential. I want to get all my housework done, errands taken care of, have time to myself, and also spend time with family and friends.

But, most of the time I end up getting discouraged because I have a lot to do, don't know what to do first, then don't get much of anything done at all! Just last Friday I was adamantly saying how I just could not go to the beach the next day with a friend. Too many things to do, and no one to take care of my dog. She called me on that--she asked if I was really going to accomplish anything. THEN, she found someone to watch my dog for me.

So, this past Saturday I found myself on the beach in Gulf Shores Alabama. I was lazily lying back in my beach chair, my bare feet enjoying the feel of the sand as I buried them, then raised them up, watching the sand slide off of them. My red painted toenails peeking out of the sand. I used my feet to make piles of sand and dig holes. I love the feeling of my feet in the sand.

All the while, I was feeling the wonderful breeze that kept the sunny rays from making me feel too much heat and be uncomfortable. I watched and listened as the water came rolling in towards the shore, building up into a wave. I tried to guess when it would crest and crash and then be gone. Then it was just water flowing in to meet the sand and then rush back out to once again become part of another wave. I don't think I could ever get tired of watching and listening to this pattern being repeated.

When I am sitting on the beach, the rest of the world seems far away. And the things I usually tend to worry about just don't seem so important. I don't think I ever look at the ocean without thinking about the awesomeness and power of God. I think about how amazing it is that He spoke all of this into existence. About how He designed the sun and moon and tides to all work together.

At some point, the thought entered my mind that some people have never had the opportunity to witness this miracle. I thought about how blessed I was. I thought about how I would love to be able to share this experience with some of the children and adults that I met while I was in Azerbaijan.

Azerbaijan----wow! It wasn't many Saturdays ago, from this very Saturday (April 18th) that I was in Azerbaijan on a mission trip with 10 other people, including my brother. Not too long ago I was a world away!

Saturday March 21st. I woke up at the Ambiance hotel in Baku, Azerbaijan after arriving there the previous evening from Montgomery, AL via stops in Atlanta, New York, and Istanbul. After breakfast we toured this city that overlooks the Caspian Sea. A city with a tower called the Maiden tower, that comes complete with a legend about a young girl being, of course, locked in the tower. A tower that was most likely built during the 12th century, or before. After that we visited a 17th century Zoroastrian worship place, that once had natural fires burning, due to underground natural gas in the area.

Later that day, everyone in our group was to meet with their local team members and interpreter to head out to their assigned villages. Since, the group my brother and I had been assigned to would not be ready for us till the following day, we headed home with some other team members to spend a night with them at their interpreters house.

It was a small apt in an old broken down looking, gloomy building. Though it was decorated with the colors of the laundry was hung out to dry on many balconies. A cinderblock building that had big, heavy cement stairways and walls. The water in these apts was only turned on for about an hour each morning, and then later in the evening for a short period of time. To make sure water was available during the "off times", there was a room, containing a sink and toilet, that also had a washbasin and other various containers filled with water.

Our host, after dropping us off at his apt and making sure we were settled, had to head out to work for the afternoon. He asked us please keep quiet and not to go outside the apartment. Maybe it was not such a good idea for people to know he had Americans staying in his home? Or to draw attention to himself, as speaking about religion is pretty well frowned upon in their country. That was my first Saturday in Azerbaijan

The next Saturday, March 28th, found me in Aliabad, Azerbaijan, close the Russian and Georgian borders and very close to the beautiful Caucus mountains. I was staying in the home of a man named Zaur Baleav. A man who I had read about before I ever went to Azerbaijan. A man who spent 9 months in deplorable living conditions in a jail cell for holding religious meetings on his own property.

This Saturday morning, we were able to attend a Baptist worship service in a small chapel on the property of another pastor, Hamid Shabanov, who also spent time in prison for preaching. Most people in this area speak Georgian, and so the preaching and singing were in Georgian. I sat in the wooden pew of this modest, chapel and listened to women singing hymns of praise to God. Knowing that they were risking their very freedom for doing this.

After worship service, we were fortunate enough to be the guests at a send-off party for a young man going off to serve his time in the Army, as is required in this country. It was a large affair with about 100 people, who were friends and family of the guest of honor. The Azerbaijani people have a reputation of being very hospitable and they lived up to their reputation this day. We were welcomed and did not feel like outsiders or intruders during this special occasion. We were treated to authentic Azeri foods, entertained with Azerbaijani music and dance, and even joined in on some of the dancing.

Later that evening, I said good-bye to my new friends from Aliabad, Pastor Zaur, his wife Nunuko, and their daughter Natia and boarded a bus that would travel through the night and bring me back to Baku early Sunday morning. That was a Saturday I will always remember.

Not all Saturdays will be memorable for places visited or things done. Some Saturdays I will just need a break. Some down time. I will hang out on my old, comfy couch, snuggled up in my favorite throw, with remote in hand. Some Saturdays I will be dusting and scrubbing bathrooms or doing some type of yard work.

But, I realized, while lying on that beach and thinking of the opportunities I've had in recent Saturdays, that I do need to make more Saturdays memorable. I don't need to sleep away an entire Saturday, when I'm not even sick. I don't need to spend the entire day doing housework either.

I need to make Saturdays more of a priority. I need to get more things done during the week so I can enjoy my Saturdays. They need to be spent with family and friends. They need to be spent seeing more of God's creation and enriching my life.

So what am I doing this Saturday?

Well, I will start off my day being one of the hostesses at our company’s annual customer appreciation golf tournament. It will be fun to meet with customers I have never met in person before, or only get to see once a year at the tournament. Afterwards I will be joining in the fun and excitement of my grandson's second birthday.

It is a Saturday that was planned for me by others, but it will be a fun Saturday. What will you be doing this Saturday?

I was gonna write about Azerbaijan, but I dont have my pictures together yet.

I have been sick lately, and although I've had plenty of random thoughts, I haven't had much time to write them down. Back in November of 08, I was fortunate enough to visit Aruba with some family members and a dear friend. We kept a journal of each day's adventures. I promised that I would officially document our trip, so I am going to dedicate some blog space to this. We laughed ourselves silly on this trip, and it might end up being a "you had to be there" kind of thing, but the story must be told..............

AT THE AIRPORT

For most of the travelers on this trip, the story begins at the Montgomery airport. I was very proud of myself that I made it on time. This was important to me, since I was traveling with my mom and I owed it to her to be very much on time. Especially after I almost made us miss our flight to Hawaii and my sister had actually caused her trip to Europe to be delayed by an entire day! So--I was on time---all was well. We were going to ARUBA!!! J. set the tone for the day by telling the Delta agent that she had packed her best panties for the trip. Funny--- he felt the need to do a security check on her luggage, while everyone else's luggage was just tossed on the conveyor and sent on their way without much concern.

On the plane, we were called out by the Flight Attendant as being loud and having too much fun. She said she was jealous that we were going to Aruba. I think J. invited her to come with us. Come to think of it, I think J. invited the ticket agent to come with us too. Wait a minute---I think when we called American Express to see how many points it would take to fly to Aruba, she invited that person to come with us too! At some point, J. asked for the flight attendant's microphone. I'm wondering if she was going to invite the other passengers to go with us also! But, the flight attendant said she didnt need a microphone, and at one point asked other passengers for duct tape. For our mouths.......??? The Flight Attendant was filling out some paperwork and one of the passengers said she was writing us up and we were going to get sent to the Principal's office when we got to Atlanta.

Our other traveling partner, D., left from the Lawton airport. She had her own little adventure just trying to get to Atlanta to meet up with us. D. arrived early and got in line to go through security. It just so happens, that in this small airport, without a lot of traffic, that about 75 members of the military, with their backpacks, were going through security to get on their flight to Atl. on the first leg of their deployment to Iraq. They were ahead of D. and the line was moving slowly. D. heard the boarding call for her flight, but didnt think much of it. The flight couldnt leave without all these soldiers. Pretty soon, D. is actually being paged to board her flight. But, what could she do? She had to wait her turn to get through security, just like everyone else. Finally, she realized that these men were on a later flight than hers. She was told by a ticket agent that she was supposed to go ahead of the other people in line, since she had been paged. At this point, a female TSA agent gets in the middle of everything and says, "Oh No! She's not getting bumped up in the line." She says that D. should have arrived earlier. D. mentioned that she did arrive early, but could not help it that the soldiers were even earlier for their flight and got in line ahead of her. The TSA agent was adament about D. not cutting in line. D. said, "Look. I just want to get to Aruba". Thankfully a nice soldier let D. go to the head of the line. (Poo on that Agent!)

When we arrived in Atlanta, we went to find D., who was telling her story to another passenger and had her pointy finger in the air as she was saying , "RUDE!!" in her best BonQuiQui impersonation, which was very good by the way. D. was not happy and said that when she got back to Lawton and "fount her" (agent) she would "cut her, oh yes she would!!" "RUDE!" I'm not sure J. asked Bonquiqui to come on the trip with us too, but in her honor, we quoted her the rest of the trip. "Oh, is that what you had sed?"

THE THURSDAY PEOPLE

We arrived in Aruba on a bright and sunny Thursday afternoon. We were staying at a Time Share condo, and most of the weeks go from Thursday to Thursday. We got our luggage up to the room, and then decided to go check out the resort area and look for a place to eat. Now, remember, this was in November. And, even though sometimes the weather is quite pleasant at home in November, we were still traveling in jeans and had them on while doing our exploring.

As we passed through the pool area, we saw people just finishing up a day of soaking up the sun and relaxing by the beautiful and inviting pool. I dont think I saw anyone who was wearing much more than a bathing suit and a cover up. They were all settled into their tropical vacation. I guess we looked a bit out of place in our jeans. I guess it was evident that we has just arrived. This became apparent to us as we passed by someone and heard him say, "There go the Thursday people!"

Stay tuned for more as the Thursday people become enlighted about the ways of the island.

(And maybe I'll finally figure out how to put the pictures in where I want them!! )