Shawn and I are headed to the mountains for Thanksgiving on Thursday and will be away until the 24th. Lord Willing we will have a safe and happy trip and be blessed to all of our family and friends without any hang-ups. We want to wish all of our friends here the very happiest of Thanksgiving's!
Cindy: I'm still working on everything I promised I would, you just may not hear from me for a few days due to the fact that I won't be around a computer for awhile.
Brent and Katie: Shawn and I won't be in Memphis the week of Thanksgiving, we will be in study with the church at Clintwood.
Hey Dora! I wanted to tell you that I'm not really sure whether or not Chelsea and I will be feeling up to being at church Wednesday night... we might, but I'm just not sure... we'll have to wait and see. But, I wanted you to know that you are welcome to come by the house to see us. Juse give us a call and let us know if you want to come. :-)
It's 7:33p.m. and Shawn and I are at MCA. He has a class until 9p.m. and I have a research paper to finish. All I can say is...Blah. As usual we drive from Alabama to Memphis on Monday's. We leave around 11:30 and arrive about 3 or so here. We stop in Corinth Mississippi to grocery shop, eat, and gas up, it being the mid point between AL and TN. The drive, the school, the existence we have made for ourselves here is getting old. I'm so very thankful that in 4 weeks this semester will be O-V-E-R! It's been a trying one.
The weather was so beautiful this evening. An absolutely perfect night for a stroll, if we could stroll in Memphis. There was a slight breeze in the air, the temperature was about 80, and there was no rain. The evening sort of collided against itself about 30 minutes ago. I heard thunder, saw lightening, and rain began to pour. The weather seemed to take a drastic turn, an oddly drastic turn. I sure wish on nights like this I could be home and in the bed. I love to sleep when it's raining, however tonight there is no rest for the weary as the old saying goes. There is just too much to do. I needed a slight break from Caravaggio and the Baroque so I thought I would Blog for a moment. It's good to pace yourself right and reward yourself with a break after working diligently.
You know folks, I thought by now I would have been settled into a particular job in a particular home and have at least one baby toddling after me, what happened to that plan? I honestly do not know. A large sum of events, varied and complex in detail that's for certain. I've lived at opposite ends of Virginia, overseas, back home to Virginia, Alabama, and now Memphis Tennessee all in the span of 7 years of marriage. Is that normal? What is normal anyway? Let me see, normal is Leave It to Beaver and not the Munsters, normal is even The Brady Bunch these days and not so much I Love Lucy. Do I wish I had a career by now, Yep! Do I regret any of my decisions? A few? Would I trade my experiences in traveling and making wonderful friends for it, NO WAY! I can truthfully say, deep down from within my heart that nothing, not a career, not a home, not even steady income can take the place of the wonderful times Shawn and I have had living in different places together. I believe that this was God's plan, for I asked Him to lead us where He knows is best in our lives, I believe He has and will continue to do so.
Hmm, isn't it odd how a little break form studying has ventured off into a discussion about my life in general? You just never know do ya? I recommend taking a break and just writing and seeing where you end up. Yep, that's a good idea.
What a minute... you all stop in Corinth, MS??? My family history research keeps leading back to Tishomoningo but being in VA... Tishomingo isn't the easiest place to research. I never thought about you all living so close to that area.
Don't worry about how your life is going so far. Things never go according to plan but that's just God's wisdom. :o)
Dora... I could kiss you right now!! :o) I requested some documents from there over a month ago and haven't heard anything back. I'll have to dig out my list of things I'm looking for (I promise, it isn't a very long list..... well, at least not yet. ;o) Are you familiar with Liberty church of Christ? They're a liberal group there in Tishomingo... although for what I can tell they used to be pretty conservative. My Great-grandparents were among the original memebers and he was also one of the first elders. Somewhere, there is a picture of the original congragation. I've tried to contact the church but they haven't contacted me back. The picture is in a book called the History of Tishomingo and it's Families. I don't know where to find the book. It's possible that it's at the genealogical society... which I believe is in the courthouse.
I found this referece to that article about the church:
"I found a reference to the Liberty Church of Christ in "History of Old Tish CO., MS, Territory" located in the research section of the Ole Miss Library."
Here's also a link to what the article says. I have a xerox copy of the article... but it's a copy of a copy and the photo is black and grainy.
OH.. I guess it would be helpful to tell you what names I'm looking for. :o) My dad has a lot of family from Tishomingo/Red Bay area. The gggrandfather that was one of the elders at Liberty church of Christ was C.M. (Calvin) Burleson. If you have a chance to look at the link in the last post, you'll see where he's mentioned.
Some of the surnames I've been looking at in the Tishomingo area are "Monroe," "Aldridge," and "Rutledge." My great-grandmother's maiden name was Monroe...her mother's maiden name was Aldridge and then her mother was "Rutledge." (Does that make sense?) I've been able to find several references to the Aldridges on the Tishomingo site but I've been having a hard time getting actual copies of the documents. I know that they exist, I just don't have a way of making copies. I'll find the records I'm looking for and let you know which ones they have with my relatives listed. Just let me know if there is any cost to make copies. :o)
I do know that our Burleson line does go back to Marion County, AL. I was able to find some land records to find where some of my relatives Calvin Burleson and his father Hilkiah Burleson purchased land in Marion Co. I have NO IDEA how to read the land records so I really don't know where exactly their land was located. Maybe I can email the maps to you and maybe they'd make more sense to you than they do to me. :o)
I don't believe I have any current relatives at Liberty c of C. What I'm most interested in getting from them... or whereever... is the picture of the first congragation and the first building. My great-grandparents moved to Tupelo, MS sometime after my grandfather was born. My grand-father's family and my dad's family all lived in Tupelo, MS. I'll try to work on an email to send to you. :o)
MCA campus is connected to Overton Park in Mid-Town Memphis. The place is usually bustling with various students, park goers, and Brooks Museum visitors. It isn't necessarily the place one would think of seeing a large populist of squirrels. However, there is a large populist of them and they are fascinating to watch! I've found that I can sit for well over an hour and watch them. Their language is wonderful, as they communicate between one another with flicks of their tails. They pounce, and jump, and run, and hop, and have so many interesting maneuvers that take them all along the ups and downs of trees and around the terrain of the yards as they are seen gathering nuts.
I would have thought living in a less populated area such a Phil Campbell Al, I would see droves of squirrels. I rarely do. At MCA it isn't at all uncommon to walk directly up to 3 squirrels who barely notice you as a passerby. They go on about their gathering and communicating and frolicking. This is what makes watching them all the more wonderful, because they do not necessarily acknowledge human existence in their lives. They have become quite adapt to the going's on of students, park goers, and museum guests. I'm happy they have, because I have developed a pleasant new pass-time that fills the moments between class and lunch breaks or class to class with moments full of merriment and sweet escape from the mundane and sometimes all too harsh world of human life.
I recommend searching for a place where you can enjoy the pleasant and happily wonderful life of squirrels. This can become to anyone who finds the time to stop and really watch a time to stop and enjoy life. Yes, my friends, I have found solace in squirrels!
We have TONS of squirrels here at my school. When it rains, we even get gaggles of ducks and geese. Once... I even found a turtle sunning itself out in front of the school! I never thought I'd see so much wildlife at a school in the middle of Hampton.
Today was my birthday. It was nice. Shawn and I went to the Renaissance Faire and then ate at Cracker Barrell, running into Mary and Rachael two of the ladies from our congregation. I had blueberry pancakes and Rachael was nice enough to get the staff to sing Happy Birthday to me and then they gave me a free dessert! I've never had anyone do that for me before so it was nice.
The week prior to this weekend was rough and some very big decisions and changes occurred from the problems at school, but all in all it will hopefully work in our favor through compromise. Shawn has been painting all evening and I found out that my long time friend from school finally got married after 13 years, 2 children, and buying home to the man she should have married 13 years ago. This to me is wonderful news and the best b-day present ever, because I had been trying my best to convince her she needed to get married years ago. Every visit at home for the last 7 years Shawn and I have been married I would go by her house and ask when the wedding was. I never gave up hope and I can't say that my pushing helped at all, though I'd like to think it did seeing as though she has 2 sisters older than she that have done the same things. I'm happy though that she made the right choice finally.
My friend Zeb Wallace called me today and told me it only happens once in everyone's life when they turn the same age as the day they were born on. Of course I have the added bonus of it being 2007, which is oddly interesting and fun for me to think about, but probably isn't that neat of a fact to anyone else. All in all though I'm very thankful to God for blessing me to live this long, though I haven't lived near as long as some folks have. My grandma is 94 years old! She's seen a lot of change in her life. I can only hope to live that long and be as reasonably healthy as she has been. Lord Willing, as I pray always, God will bless Shawn and I to live long, healthy lives in His service. That's what most Christians want I'm sure.
Well folks, I'm gonna hit the ole' flat side. Thanks for reading this and thanks for the encouraging words from my last Blog. I sure was in need of some TLC. I appreciate all of you, God Bless and have a beautiful day.
Happy Birthday! I guess we have more in common. My birthday is the 30th. And I was wanting to go to Cracker Barrel on my birthday, too. Weird, huh? And it's been almost 2 years since I was 30 on the 30th.
I just realized that I never did answer your question! Yes, Brian's birthday was Oct. 23. The girls made and decorated cupcakes for him. Hannah made him a card too.
Today, we are "suppose" to be advised and made to feel to the least as though the college staff knows remotely what they are doing. Also two 28 x 30 canvas' are due for my painting class tomorrow. I "think" I have enough Cotton Duck to build the things, but low and behold I have only enough to build one! Oh, and wouldn't you know that the school supply store isn't open today, the very day I need a supply! Oh, and guess what else, the shop...it closed early and I was basically ran out by two fellas clearly more interested in smoking than aiding students in the academic endeavors.
The schedules are all messed up, my projection sheet is all messed up, and now my life is all turned around and my "plans" which I should not have made lay in ruin. Shawn and I hoped to attend classes on Tue-Thur only, so that we could get rid of the apartment and save a bit of money by driving to school twice a week. Usually schools work with you to aid you in achieving your goals and helping place you in the classes you need, right? Isn't that the way it suppose to go? This is the way it has always been in every college I have attended prior to MCA, the staff help you secure your schedule in a way that benefits you. Let's just say the Registrar has the least bit of concern for the ploys and plights of students in need of understanding and a bit of gingerly courtesy.
Needless to say, we will be in the apartment another 5 months and a little over 600 dollars per month that we could have saved will be trashed and trodden under foot. I don't even know what to do about my second canvas, seeing as though I have no where to build the thing, nor the tools to do it with. I'm under an extreme amount of pressure and don't know which way to turn right now, as those I turn to do not have the answers. They shrug their shoulders and turn to the next person for the answers and in turn that person has no idea what to say either. Is it too much to ask for an establishment of higher learning that costs $20,000 a year per student be willing to work with the said student to facilitate their learning. I feel as though every roadblock that could be set up in front of me has been, they are making it very difficult to succeed.
I don't know folks. As Anne Shirley said "I'm in the depths of dispair," Marilla sternly answered, her "to despair is to turn one's back on God." So there is my answer to my entire problem, I'm not "Leaning on the Everlasting Arms" as much as I should perhaps. Woe is me, woe is me.
