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| i've been doing a lot of "cleaning" lately. house, store, heart... we're coming to the end of our time at Mississippi State. i know there are some who laugh at me when i say "we" because i'm not actually enrolled there... but working your spouse through school and dealing with everyday married life PLUS the stress of classes, homework, midterms and finals.. and just trying to pay the bills.. it's hard. yeah, it'd probably be harder if we were both in school, but if we were both in school we probably wouldn't have gotten married in the first place! God has closed and opened doors all along our journey to this place, and He continues to lead us in our next steps: graduation... and on to the real world (with whom we are already acquainted). i'm so excited i can hardly contain myself! two real incomes! weekends without homework! HEALTH INSURANCE! i can't believe this year makes 3 since our wedding. i can't believe God has kept us out of debt, kept us healthy and kept us from getting pregnant! ha. it is amazing how small things may seem when you pray for them in the beginning- and then looking back to see, wow, God really took care of us there... there's just no way we'd be able to do this- to live here, to be us, to be happy- without Him. how many college students graduate with a job waiting on them, in David's case- a great job at a nationally recognized golf club... how many college students graduate with no debt? THAT is amazing.
anyway, back to cleaning. we're going to be changing over almost our entire staff in May at the shop. part of me is excited, it is always neat to hire new girls and get to know them.. but a huge part of me is going to be sad to lose the girls we've got now. this has been, by far, the best staff we've ever had as a whole. every person fits into their groove so effortlessly.. don't get me wrong, we've had bad days, or "bitch days" as we affectionately call them (you only get one a month!) but there has been such healing and joy with this group. even the bad days (like this past saturday when i worked through closing with a fever and a nasty cough) are so easy going and relaxed. i enjoy these girls so much and i am going to miss them.
about a week ago, one of our regular customers was killed in a car wreck. i've actually known this girl since back in '05 when we moved here. she was a regular at hallmark as well and we'd become friends through that. david and i went to eat with her and her husband and little boy once. we weren't close at all, just knew her through the store. she was 27, married for the second time, had a middle school aged daughter from her first marriage, and her little boy (sooo cute) is 5. she worked for a non-profit that feeds the hungry around here. she was very charitable, very outgoing, and liked to have fun... a lot of fun. she was at one of the two big bars in town every single weekend.. including the night of the accident. she was with three younger folks at the bar and they left to go out and ride the refuge late that night... apparently that's the thing to do around here. anyway.. on their way back into town, the driver veered off the road and hit an embankment, flipping the jeep and throwing the three passengers out. the driver was not injured... and get this. he left them. he left the jeep and the three folks riding with him, and ran down the road and called a friend to pick him up. THREE HOURS LATER his friend convinces him to call 911 (his friend didn't find out right away that there were other people involved.) the EMTs found a girl and a guy a few yards from the car, and the girl i knew was pinned under it. she and the guy were pronounced dead at the scene. there were beer cans everywhere, in the jeep and strewn around. the other girl was airlifted to a hospital in another town- she's doing better... both lungs collapsed, both arms broken, lots of internal injuries. the guy turned himself in and is currently being charged with two counts negligent homicide and leaving the scene of an accident with injury or death. he's in big trouble, and rightly so... all of this to say, it has been a weird week at the store. the girl's aunt came in to have us fire some pottery she found when they started going through her things. she said the little boy doesn't really understand it, and his teachers at school are helping a lot... it is really sad. more than sad though, i've become kind of bitter about the whole thing. i mean, no one should die for partying too hard... but gosh, when you have a husband and a kid at home, what are you doing riding around with three college kids in the middle of the night? i just don't get it. i am sad for the families- this is a terrible tragedy and such a hard thing to explain.. how do you tell your 5 year old that?! but i really hope that our judicial system and especially the media expose this in a positive light so that some of these kids will realize how their actions ripple out and affect the whole town. starkville and msu have received grants to increase the number of cops on duty in town.. they are everywhere now. i just wish they had been around the night he got behind the wheel of that jeep. the whole thing makes you really think- if this were my last chance to choose how i want to spend the "rest of my life" (doesn't sound like such a long time now, does it?) what would i choose? there's just something about that fleeting thought, that little voice that says "this DOES make a difference"... it makes you want to do each and every little thing as though it were the most important task on earth. every morning i think, what would i do different if i knew this was it? i'd wash my hair every day. i'd smile at every person that walked by. i'd keep my house clean. i'd hug my husband just because i can. i'd walk my dog just a little while longer. i'd apologize for hundred year old hurts. i'd call people i haven't called in a decade. i'd sing more. i'd paint more. i'd journal more- write down everything, every stupid little thing that seems meaningless now- because it might be meaningful to someone, sometime... that knowledge- it just makes you want to "clean house". anyway. i'm just rambling.. cold medicine is kicking in and making me sleepy... i don't know if this meant anything to anyone.. i just hope this girl's story speaks to someone, someone who needs to be reminded of what is sacred, how precious time is, how temporary "fun" is... and how what you do right now can change the rest of your life.
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| i deleted my facebook, and i'm probably going to take a break from xanga for a while too. life is so busy right now and i don't have the time to drain into this anymore- and i'm just ready to have some real relationships back. so.. my email is lbabelart@yahoo.com and i have a mailing address and a phone number. if you don't have them... someone near you probably does. love you all- miss you, too... | | |
| a still and shapeless form, to the naked eye unborn hopeless, breathless, timeless, yet restless i can't open my eyes 'til you've given them light, i can't live until you've given life no breath will be taken that you haven't given and all i can do is be broken, spilled out, made new. waiting curiously, you are moving, creating me hopeful, vulnerable, joyful i'm a miracle i can't open my eyes until you've given them light, i can't live until you've given life no breath will be taken that you haven't given and all i can do is be opened, filled up, be used. i'm growing, learning, from first steps to running i'm crying and speaking, you're helping and teaching me i'm climbing up, diving in, open to where you move me break me down mold my heart cus you have opened my eyes and you've given them light and i live because you gave me life each breath that i'm breathing is used for your meaning and all i will do is be puposed and driven by you. 
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| ah, paint your own pottery... the latest craze in starkville. 
we are so stinkin' busy. all the time. it's hard to get anything done, and even harder to get anything painted. i have three custom pieces to do for one of my favorite customers... and i've got them here at the house because i just don't have time to do it at the store. i guess that's a good problem to have though! i loooove our staff right now. we have 4 amazing girls who know the product, know the customers... and they are each an integral part of how this business works.. the environment, the art, the love.. it's all there. it's all good. i'm happy. i'm happy for Lisa, the owner- because she is able to be away... no worries... and that's what she wanted. it's awesome. it feels good. and BO! let me tell you, this puppy has been fabulous. i take him to work with me and he plays with the kids, lays around and finds random pieces of stuff on the floor (we keep things much cleaner when he's around!). i take his crate with me on busy nights (like tonight) and he sits in it in the back without making a peep. what a sweetie! he has charmed everyone so much that when he's not there, at least every other pick-up customer asks about him. i love him, i love having him up there and teaching him to be sweet and friendly. he is the smartest little guy! i'm so impressed with this breed, i'm an aussie lover for life! 
it is so hard to find time to get back to huntsville. we'll be visiting there the first weekend of october and i'm really excited! lisa's got kid's swim meets to go to, so we're leaving the fab four to run the store alone on a SATURDAY.. whoa. that will be an adventure! they'll be fine. they're awesome. i think i owe some of you an apology. i know there are several of you back home who check this blog every once in a while for updates on our lives here in Starkvegas- so I'm sorry that I don't update more, write more of my heart and share more pictures of our home with you. i think i would pay a lot of money for just two extra hours in my day! too bad they don't sell TIME anywhere around here. however.. our phones are always on, so anytime you want to know what's up, holler at us! or drop me an email, or facebook me... or whatever. i'm more likely to write a lengthy reply than to sit down and post from scratch. :o) we love y'all. and we miss y'all. 
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| On July 7th, 2007, something very special happened... This precious creature was born! 
His name is Bogey, we like to call him Bo. 
He's a CKC Australian Shepherd puppy.  We got him from a local breeder last weekend, at 9 weeks old.  He is the sweetest little ball of fluff ever! He's very smart and calm. 
He doesn't really like baths all that much...  But he loves his momma. Ha. Those are all from our first weekend with him. I've got more! Love you all! | | |
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