Stalkers

...are not cool! Ok, I've got to run to wally world, right? Right! Well, I usually go with my partner in crime - T. So we head out to get what we need...

So, we're getting our list and we're about 80% done. Head to the hair section...well, around the corner comes some guy we had "noticed" and labeled the type to watch out for. A guy in a hair section...not a good thing. He's on the phone and walks up to me and T...

"'Sup girls? I'm not from around here, but I'm here with some friends tonight and we got a little party happening over by the college..."

We're giving him these looks like, yeah...what do you want us to do about it?

He goes into introductions and shakes our hands! Oh, I'm starting to be like ok, I'm ready to move on. I give generalities and no information whatsoever. He finishes telling us about this party. "Yeah, just me and a few friends...like, getting together...you know.....nothing too crazy." He looks at T, "Are you like already...yeah....you look like you've been......right." She looks at me like, Did he just ask what I thought he did? and give him a crazy look like, I'm not believing you just said that... Without missing a beat, he continues, "I'm from Atlanta and we're just here for a while.....yeah, and girls....we just don't see them like you two!" FINALLY, he walks off! I'm rejoicing!

We're like...that was weird. He talked to us for like 7 minutes.....SEVEN MINUTES! That's a long, long, long time when you're "cornered" in the hair section....We talked about ball, food, I heard "party" more times than I could count....I'm about ready to have it out with somebody!

So, as we move on watching for this one guy.....we notice two more "watch-out-fors" (not in a good way, people!)....and I'm going, Next time, I'm not using my real name... so we conspire to use "fake" names....kinda fun! LOL Anyway, so on our way to check out we notice one of our black belt instructors, Jessie, there.

We go on and check out, he's on the phone we're ready to get away from this dude. I'd like to say hey, but he waves and I wave...and he's on the phone. So, we continue checking out. A few moments later, he's back. I bow and we say hey, talk about how we're doing, and catch up. He moves on to do whatever and we return to checking out....

Then the 2nd "watch-out-for" dude walks up..."Hey girls...I was noticing you two and wanted to know if you'd like to hang out..." I'm thinking, not now...we just go finished...I wasn't planning on doing this again so soon....I'm gonna have some fun this time!

He asks for our names, we execute our "plan" beautifully.

Then I speak up, "You aren't inviting us to another party, are you? We've already had one guy do that...." I just trail off and T looks at him, raises her eyebrows at me, and looks back at him - like she's not believing I just said that.

"Well....umm...no, not a party......no drinking or anything like that...." haha, busted!

"We've got something to do tonight..." I tell him...and we do!

"Ok...later then!" He walks off!

I've had enough creeps to last a while now. We finish checking out, pay, and start to head out. As we're about to out the doors, I realize the 2nd dude is right outside the door with another buddy, possible even three or four. I remember Jessie and how he was checking out as we left...I grab T's arm and whisper, "We're not going out yet.....they are waiting for us....Jessie's checking out....Let's walk out with him!"

She nods in agreement. So, we make small talk with the sweet greeter there. Jessie finishes and heads our way. I walk up to him and explain that we've had some guys trying to get us to go to parties and they are outside the doors...and asks him if he would please walk us out.

"Not a problem!" He cheerfully says with a smile.

He goes with us, and to beat it all his tee shirt said, "Black belt instructor" on the back in big letters! haha

He puts his arm around me as we're walking out..."Those guys will just wish they're like me when they grow up!" LOL You've just gotta know Jessie, you gotta love him! I look back to see if the guys were still there at that point...nope! They saw Jessie and his tee shirt and ran the other way - tails tucked! ha

He was just as sweet as he could be. He stayed right there and talked to us the entire time we loaded groceries. We finished and he was like, "Ya'll have a great night!" and heads to his car. I start to take the buggy to put it up (I hate to see people being lazy and just leave their buggy there to dent someone else's car...no offense if you do that...) and he's like, "Oh, let me get that for you! Just get in the car!"

Awww, I couldn't show my appreciation enough! I wanted to give him a big hug and try to communicate some of it, but words or actions couldn't begin to show it! He was just so sweet and thoughtful! And doing it so cheerfully! He just is one of those people that make you want to smile all over! :-)

So, we survived our night of stalkers and creeps - many thanks to Mr. Jessie!

Heart Broken

Awww, it's so pitiful... Ok, I've been going to my grandmother's to help her babysit kids (ages like 3-8) one afternoon a week. I've been getting out and playing baseball with them...so much fun! LOL

Well, there's this one particular little boy...I like to call him A-Jacks. I was messing with my phone and he walked up to me and said, "Boyfriend gives you kisses!"

I just nod...here's like a 5-year-old telling me this stuff. What do you say?

"Does you haves a boyfriends?"

"No, AJ, I don't...why?"

"'Cause I's wants to be your boyfriends and gives you kisses!" He looked up at me, "I gives you kisses!"

I leaned over and point to my cheek...how could I resist a kiss from a cute boy? haha

Well, today was my day to go...and AJ knew it. But my knee has been giving me trouble all week and today it just got worse. So I called my grandmother and explained what was happening. She said AJ had been looking forward to me coming all week last week. And he'd probably come in asking. She then told me to hold on, he was walking in. He came in, said hey, then asked the fatal question...."Where's Maedan?" Oh yeah, he calls me "Maedan!" Isn't that sweet?

"Well..." my Meme expalins, "Her knee is hurting really bad and she won't be able to come today."

"But I wanted Maedan t' come!"

Meme offers the phone to AJ and tells him to talk to me.

"No!" says AJ, "She's nod comin'.......I don' wanna talk to no one!"

It just broke my heart! So, all of you guys out there, I'm sorry to say I'm not single anymore...I've got a 5-year-old boyfriend who's irresistable and gets his heart broken easily! hehe

BBQ with the Governor! :-)

I had a great time at this BBQ! It was great to have some time to hang out while getting some "work" done...although it's not so much like work to me - I enjoy it!


I met a new friend, got to witness a few hilarious "firsts," sign up tons of volunteers, and get a great picture with the governor!


There are several candidates I finally got to meet! Some I had heard great things about, others I didn't know much about at all!


A guy was there, recording for the opponents' benefit! Apparently, he's there recording every speech the Governor gives - as he's up for reelection in November. They are waiting for him to make a mistake in a speech. The Governor saw him, called his name, introduced him as being from the other side, and offered him a front row seat - to record from! He looked in the camera and said, "Hi Mark!" haha


The first lady of Georgia is a wonderful lady. She just talked and talked to Judy, my "boss" and "politlcal mom." Then she allowed us to get a picture!


It was just a great day. Even though it rained pretty good twice - and it was an outdoor event! Thankfully, they had these huge tents set up....and I had an umbrella!

His Work, My Heart...

I know I haven't been so regular about posting...but life happens and gets in the midst of things, right?

No, God's been teaching me things and revealing some things to me. He's changing me, shaping me, molding me into someone better. One of the "issues" he's been dealing with me a lot lately is forgiveness. It's strange, because a friend of mine has been reading Wild at Heart. This morning, I picked up the book and read a piece in the chapter Healing the Wound. And as we chatted tonight, he mentioned something about it and how God was dealing with him in that area! I thought it was neat!

Anyway, in this chapter John Eldredge says...

You must understand: Forgiveness is a choice. It is not a feeling, but an at of the will. As Neil Anderson has written, "Don't wait to forgive until you feel like forgiving; you will never get there. Feelings take time to heal after the choice to forgive is made." We allow God to bring the hurt up from our past, for "if your forgiveness doesn't visit the emotional core of your life, it will be incomplete." We acknowledge that it hurt, that it mattered, and we choose to extend forgiveness. This is not saying, "It didn't really matter"; it is not saying, "I probably deserved it anyway." Forgiveness says, "It was wrong, it mattered, and I release you."

Wow, forgiveness is actually realizing and admitting that what someone did to you hurt...a lot! I'm the type that likes to go on, pretend it never happened. But, it finds some nasty ways to "reveal" the hurt! What's your way of dealing with it? Do you get angry? Perhaps you lash out at others? Maybe you try to ignore it, until it all builds in and the steam just finally explodes all over an innocent person? It's so hard for me to admit it, because it means I opened myself up, I was vulnerable to it, to someone.

Another thing He's been working with me on is giving people the benefit of the doubt. You see, one of my spiritual gifts is discernment - I can usuallyjudge someone's character and will be right about 90% of the time. Not to brag or say how awesome I am, but that's just a gift He blessed me with. But sometimes in that, I have the potential to judge other 10% and not give them a chance to "redeem" themselves after my judgment has been passed! LOL But He's been working with on this, as Natalie Grant's Another Day lyrics go...

Another day to make somebody smile
To go the extra mile
To take a wrong and make it right
Yeh, I’m tryin’ to touch somebody’s life
I get another day

As I've been listening to the song, the part where it says, to take a wrong and make it right just really seems to get to me. When I listen to a song, I visualize the Sign Language that would accompany it. And the words I would use to communicate it would be the same to communicate to take an evil, a sin, a bad and change it to good, blessing, love. Not only am I taking the wrong away, but I'm putting a blessing in it's place.

When I judge someone so rashly and their intentions are better than I judge, I in fact did them wrong. Not that I need to stop looking at people adiscerninging what I feel, but that I need to be able to take a step back and admit I might not have it all figured out.

That's where I need to have the guts to say, "Hey, I mis-judged who they were, what they are. It's time to re-examine what they meant and what I feel." Guys, it's so incredibly hard to do that. But, it's a must.

Why can't people just be themselves and not have to worry about hiding their intentions? I would think that changing from the inside out would be so much easier than trying to "hide"...then people don't have to all the time worry about others knowing the real them, discovering they are just a fake.

On His Schedule, In His Time, At His Place...

Have you ever just known you were supposed to be somewhere, that you were at the right place - only to find out that it's not where YOU had planned on being?

Praise In Motion (the interpretive Sign Language/dance team) had scheduled a performance for a local church's youth group meeting last night. You see Stacey's husband, Al, set it up with a lady he works with. The lady just happened to be on vacation, but assured Al that all was a "go" even though she was leaving. To beat it all, Al had something else happening so he wasn't able to come and make sure of the directions and all.

So, we get to the "place" and get out to make sure we're at the right church. Indeed, they are expecting someone to come and perform. So, we go over the time with the youth pastor and he graciously gives us all the time they allotted to "singing time," which was about an hour. He was awesome and said they weren't on a strict time limit, just to allow the Lord to lead us. Well, we get up and do about an hour performance, which was one of our longest performances, but definitely great! My cousin, Hannah, performed her first song - by herself! She was incredible! Usually you have one, two, maybe three songs that "stand out" above the others...I think all 9 songs stood out! :-) You could just feel His presence there! We end with the grand finale Redeemer and are asked to do it again - not an uncommon request for that song - actually, it's a norm to plan on doing it twice...it's powerful indeed! Needless to say, we had just come off of a "spiritual high."

So, the youth pastor gets up there and is like, "You're going to be floored...." He looks at our group seated on the front row and continues, "I don't know where you guys were supposed to be, but the group that was scheduled to visit us was running a little late and they are here now. According to God's plan, you are right where He scheduled you! But it's not where you had planned on being!" We all laughed...after we pushed our jaws up off the floor. We were stunned!

Where were we supposed to be? What in the world happened? What are the odds of the churches meeting at the same time, expecting an "unknown" interpretive team, and the scheduled group being that late? We still don't know where WE has planned to be (as the lady is still out of town), but it worked out and it was His will we were there.

And, praise the Lord, we've gotten another booking from the other group and another potential booking - just waiting on the date!

I'm Baaaaaack!

Ok, back to blogging now....yeah, that's where I am now. We got back late, late on Sunday evening from the tournament. We ended up coming in for 5th - and in a World Series that's not a bad place! :-) Although we should've been 2nd or 3rd (with a definite shot at 1st)....but you have those bad innings that lose a game for you. And, because of the rain, they had shortened the normal 120 minute time limit to a mere 50 minutes. This is like chopping a 6-7 inning game to 2-3 innings.

The thing that made us sick was when we realized the team that won all the way straight to the championship was the team we lost to in extra-innings. Which means we played with the best of them, then gave it all away in one bad inning! But, that's why it's called a game....

The good news is, I think I'll be able to play some fastpitch Fall Ball!!! That's so exciting to me....now, if that coach would call! lol

I'm going to try to get some pictures posted soon! Mom took TONS of them!