we turned around to face our fate...that morning in late april.

it's been a year since...you know...mmmmhmmm.

our little ducklings

we had an exciting thing happen over the weekend(exciting to mom and me at least)-the little ducklings hatched. they were mighty mighty cute. we didn't even realize they had hatched and i was tearing up the driveway the other day and literally SCREECHED on my brakes to keep from hitting them. they were crossing the drive in "ducks in a row" fashion. very very adorable. daddy duck wouldn't let me get to close but i couldn't resist showing y'all the picture i did get. we haven't seen them since then-but mom and i choose to be positive and believe that no animals got them-they just somehow are in hiding until they are strong enough to fight for themselves. also-mom made wheaton the cutest "mickey hug"(she sometimes likes to make these "hugs" for us when we are away and since wheaton just saw mickey-she thought that was appropriate)to send to him since he's been so sick lately! it is too darn cute! that's all the excitement from around here for now!

revived.

Our hours changed at the store. Sunday days are no longer short and sweet. They are more like all day blah. This has upset a LOT of people because going to church is really not possible. It interferes with both the morning and evening services. I’ll be the first to admit-this wasn’t the first thing that came to mind when they announced the new hours. You see-I haven’t really been in the habit of going to church lately. Not because I’m not a Christian. Not at all. I’ve just become lazy. This is not what my parents expect of me. It is not what I expect of me. We grew up in a house where we went to church regardless. Regardless of what we did Saturday night. Regardless of what we had to do on Sunday. My family went to church. We were involved. Why? Because the Bible said we needed to go and be involved with others like us. I cannot think of one time we were able to go that we did not. Then we got older and our parents decided that they had raised us right-instilled in us the importance of church(“being with other believers, praising God is a HUGE part of Christianity”) so they quit waking us up on Sundays. Rob tried to argue that he found his religion on the golf course.(he was kidding… of course) I even went so far to say that I feel just as close to God at the park walking on Sunday morning than I do in a pew.(sadly-not really kidding). I’ve gotten lazy. I’ve tried telling myself that quiet time takes the place of Sunday mornings at church. So-I just decided Sunday by Sunday that it was a great day to catch up on sleep. I go randomly-but nothing consistent. I know this disappoints my parents. Faithfully-they go. Every Sunday morning. But they don’t wake us up. They know that we know the right thing. And I believe they know we will start waking up on our own one day. They are setting the best example we could have. But, again, back to the point. So-when people complain about Sunday hours-I complain right along with them. Not because I don’t go to church, but because I would just rather have my short Sundays back. But today at work-a woman I work with and respect greatly-asked if I had been this morning to an early service. No I hadn’t. I had walked at the park with Ali. I was embarrassed to tell her this because she knows I know better. And then I had this flashback image. My dad occasionally has to work on Sundays. But I can remember-back in the day when all six of us were in the pew together-that regardless of how late he got out of surgery-if it was at all possible-he came in late. He did it because he knew the benefits of us all praising God together. As a family-both blood family and church family. He set an example that is etched in my mind forever. So today-I got off work about 6:15. Church started at six. I was exhausted. It’s been a long, exciting, and, at times, frustrating week. I wanted to go home and flop down on the couch. But I kept picturing my dad showing up at church after he had just operated on someone’s knee all morning. Just to worship and be with us. If he could do that-I could do this. So I went. I was 30 minutes late-but I was there. I was too late to walk up and sit with my parents so I sat at the back by myself. It was a wonderful message and I was so glad I had gone to hear it. At the end of the service-we always sing a song called “sweet sweet spirit.” Everyone holds hands and raises them at “we lift our hearts with praise”my brothers think it’s super cheesy-I’ve always thought it was a cool way to end the service and start a new week-but tonite-it really hit me. During that song-I was holding hands with 2 people I don’t know at all. But as I looked ahead I could see my parents holding hands with each other and then 2 people they didn’t know at all. We all shared the same bond and the same love. I FELT REVIVED. And it hit me like a ton of bricks. This is why coming to church is so important. This is why my parents were willing to let us yell at them for waking us up early on Sunday mornings all those years. The fellowship. I felt so good after leaving that service. I forgot every customer that was rude to me today. I forgot how stressed out I am with all I have to do. I forgot I was worried about a million different things. So I mad a vow to myself and to the Big Guy to start going regularly. Not necessarily because it is what my parents taught me or because I know it’s the right thing-but because it's what God wants and because going to church revives me like no nap on the couch ever could. Someone knew what he was writing when he wrote, “without a doubt we’ll know that we have been revived when we shall leave this place.” I know I sure was.

he stole my pizza antlers.

another weekend has come and gone-it was a great time as usual. enough said. tonite was the big pizza eating contest between chase and me. john got scared at the last minute and backed out. i have to admit that he beat me. not without a valiant effort on my part. when i called john to tell him how many pieces i ate-he flipped out. what can i say-i'm an Ennis. i'm not going to disclose the number of pieces to the general public- it is a bit frightening. i will say that he only beat me by 3 slices. and i feel pretty ill now. but-he won the antlers until the next contest. i can't wait till my bubs comes home-i think he might really give him a run for his money.

roll,roll me away...

today was quite a day. i was the school nurse -so that always keeps it interesting. the day started with an outbreak of "foot and mouth" disease-since i knew nothing about this-i had to call my personal consultant(rob) and get the scoop. a couple of kids went home...no big deal. once that situation calmed down-then came the "wannabe superhero" with the broken wrist. now just because i have a dad who knows all about bones-doesn't mean daughter does. doesn't mean daughter wants to look at it or even can look at it without becoming quite queasy. but it kept the day interesting...that's for sure. i went on date night with my parents to paulettes. talk about tasty tasty cuisine. look no further than paulettes. from the popovers with strawberry butter to the filet to the chocolate crepe for dessert-it was a 6 star meal on a 5 star scale. i highly recommend it. but, i ate too much-thus-the title of the blog(that has also been my song of the day)we came back and watched some fawlty towers for a good laugh and now mom and dad are bunked down for the night. it's storming pretty badly outside so it think i'll just roll myself on upstairs into my bed and do the same.

play a train song...

by todd snider has been on HEAVY rotation in my car today-i just love it-and how come no one ever told me about it before? i just had a most especially delicious meal with e and now i'm super full and watching perry mason with my parents. eventful night-let me tell ya!

why do you like him so much?/why do you hate him so much?

ha.

at the risk of sounding a bit-how do i say it-"linebackerish"-i'm going to recommend a great book called "The Blind Side" the reason i say that is because it is about football. and even though i love watching football-i REALLY love a good drama -and it's got drama. it paints Briarcrest in a somewhat horrifying light(what can you say-horrifying sells)-but its just a really interesting human interest story if you ask me. mom and i both finished it within the day(it's that good) here's the link to it on amazon...i'm telling you-it's worth your time and money!

The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game

rather scattered, bubs should be proud-i used paragraphs...

Yesterday, while we were all sitting in my grandmother’s living room, I came across something in the paper that normally would have made me spit my diet coke out. It was a picture of the boy I always thought I would marry… on HIS wedding day. It wasn’t my wedding. No, the bride beside him was not me. To add insult to what I guess should have been my injury, it wasn’t an engagement announcement, but an article about how in love the two of them are. Sure does make for some fun Easter reading…doesn’t it? I read it and showed it to my parents, who then tried to lessen the awkwardness of the situation by making the usual “parent remarks.” I don’t want anyone telling me he’s not good enough for me. Sure he was. Sure he is. But he’s not mine-so that is all a moot point.
I have video footage of me in the first grade saying that HE was the boy I was going to marry. And for the next, oh I guess, “more than 10” years-I believed that. (except for that brief period when I just LOVED ch). So, imagine my devastation when my best friend called me last year (on valentines day) to tell me that he was engaged. Or I guess-imagine what should have been my devastation. I did all the right things. Responded in all the right ways. I said “what?” “why?” “NO!!” I DISTINCTLY remember deep-frying canned biscuits into donuts. For some reason-I felt this helped document the fact that I was “upset” Don’t ask-I just really like donuts-so any excuse to eat them! The thing was-really-I wasn’t upset at all. By then-I had a NEW crush. The fact that my “prince”(yes-we regularly referred to him as that) was engaged was just another in the long list of acquaintances that were taking that step. I felt like I should be outraged and disappointed. I almost WISHED I was outraged and disappointed. But I wasn’t. Why? Because he was no longer what I wanted. For those of you who don’t understand (and I don’t think that is many of you) let me set the scene. He was everything I thought I always wanted. And why shouldn’t he be? He was everything that most girls think they want-and PLENTY did. He is a great guy in every way. Attractive, fun to be around, on the road to success, same morals, and the list goes on. . I was literally gaga over him for more than 10 years. The only guy who caused me to look away from him was CH. And that only lasted a couple of months. We were never on the same page-but to me-that didn’t mean that one day we wouldn’t or couldn’t be. There just wasn’t any other way. Oh-but there was. But to make a long long story-extremely short-it didn’t work out.
You see-back in the day-the news of his engagement would have DEVASTATED me with a CAPITAL D! I KNEW that he was it. He was the only boy I ever liked and the only boy I ever wanted to like. I didn’t really want you to tell me about a future without him in it-because there wasn’t one in my eyes. But apparently there was.
By the time my senior year of college came around-I still hadn’t given up on the possibility of working out-even though he was now pretty serious with another girl. But, through a series of really interesting events-I came to find that I FINALLY had a crush on another guy. That whole story is a saga in itself really-but the point is-I finally was getting over prince. I thought there would never be another boy in life who could make me forget about him-but-I found one. I found him in a very unlikely way and it took me a good year to even admit I had a crush on him. He seems like a small part of this picture-but he’s not a small part-his role just lasted a short time. Not by my choice-trust me. The point is-I never expected it. Never even saw it coming. It was all of a sudden so fun to have a crush on someone. To not think about prince for awhile. And even though nothing ever happened with this crush-I am eternally grateful to him(and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t have a small crush on him still). Why wouldn't I? come on!! He is the ONLY guy who ever made me NOT think of prince. He came along at just the perfect time and now I understand the reason. He'll always be a crush,but not just any-THE crush that opened my eyes. But there’s more. Isn’t there always?
I ran into prince not too long ago. We hugged and made small talk and that was just about it. Absolutely NO SPARKS. I didn’t even feel anything. It was the oddest thing ever. All those years I got giddy even saying his name and all of a sudden-NOTHING. Funny what one flyer can do without even knowing it. That was such a huge turning point. I thought about it for awhile-but then just gave up and decided that some things are just too complex to think about for too long. I can count on one hand the number of times his name has come up in the last 6 months. And that is only because people bring him up to me. He just isn’t part of my thought process anymore. I NEVER thought this would be the case. Funny how life works out isn’t it? Or as some say-it’s funny how life doesn’t work out(at least the way you planned.)
So last night-I was at my best friends house. We rarely see each other and rarely even talk-but she knows me better than just about anyone does. The article was laying out on her kitchen table. There was no way we weren’t going to discuss it. After she awkwardly asked what I thought- I told her exactly what I’ll tell you. “Sometimes I thank God for unanswered prayers.” You see the girl I was then and the girl I am now-are two totally different people. While I was busy waiting on him to get in line-I got a life. I went to Auburn and made the best friends I could ever ask for. I went on trips and on dates. I thought I was doing all this to kill time-but killing time turned into my new life. It’s funny what can happen while your waiting on SOMETHING to happen. Now-I look at a picture of us taken about 6 years ago and I smile. Because he is story I tell and that is it. That is all it will ever be.(thanks, tiger) He is a far different person than the boy I originally fell for. And not in any bad ways. I’m completely different too. And I hope that is all for the better. My life would be so different than it is now had we worked out. Who knows? I know I am sooo content with the way things are now that I can’t imagine the alternative? I wouldn’t have so many of the friends I have the blessing of having or half the experiences. And from what I hear-he’s happy as a lark himself. He got married not too long ago. I hear she is a wonderful girl and I would expect him to pick nothing less.
My main point in saying all of this is that things happen in such strange ways. When I was looking for someone to take my mind off prince-I never found it. It was only when I decided to let go and have fun that it finally clicked. I cannot tell you how many prayers I sent upstairs begging God to let this all work out. And how long did it take me to realize that it DID all work out. Not the way I thought I wanted-but just the way it was meant to. I wish I could close this by saying that, yes, I had found THE ONE. But-I haven’t. I hope to someday-but I’m not really sure I’m in too big of a hurry. Why should I be? Things will happen exactly how and when they are supposed to and not a second sooner. I don’t even try to make sense of things that have happened in the past or predict what will happen in the future. What I know for sure is that when things don’t go as I wanted or hoped(as they most of the time don’t) I remember this situation-and look past it. And although I’m not sure what the plan is-I know for sure that the planning and the Planner are both perfect and have things far more in control that I ever would. And because I’m completely confident of that-I’m willing to wait and see what surprises He’s got up his sleeve for me!

happy easter

happy easter! we just got back from grandmoms and the most exciting thing I have to post are some pictures of my most adorable nephew! isn't he the cutest?(i love his little "auntie m like" sarcastic smile in the one with rob!)

he just called to say he loves me

wheaton that is. little sweet thing is talking up a storm! his "i love you" is priceless to me. special thanks to my bubs gf-we got a delivery of chocolate on our doorstep this morning. nothing else too exciting around here. i'm about to head out to get a mani/pedi. i'll write when there is something a little more interesting. so-until then. goodnight and good luck.