See if you can spot Karen's two beautiful daughters (TWICE!), my fat legs, and our newest (4-footed) family member, Dolly. Dolly is getting quite the ego, btw...she's only lived in Abilene for eight months, and she's been in TWO different commercials. (You can catch her first cameo here.)
We're lucky to be on our SIXTEENTH moment of fame 'round these parts!!!
Madison Middle School and Kirsten and I are in this month's Texas Fish and Game magazine, y'all!! (Get there as fast as you can...don't know how long that link is good!)
And here's the best part...check out God's perfect timing: Kirsten couldn't find this article until I was in the hospital, so she was forced to read it to me AS I LAY IN A HOSPITAL BED! It was the very best kind of pick-me-up, and it really lifted my spirits. (Well, the morphine drip really should get MOST of the credit.)
The school principal and AISD superintendent have both read Cali's story, too! Thanks, Cali! You are the best PR man our humble little library has ever had! God bless you and your family...and here's hoping you ALL get to come to Abilene next time.
P.S. Forget about planes...you don't need no stinkin' planes! Just throw The Whole Family in the car and make The Trek Across Texas! (The snacks are better when you drive, anyway!)
Watch the three videos here, on Kester's blog. Watch all three...and be prepared to do some thinking...
P.S. Home from the hospital. (HOME! What a wonderful word.) Sat down last night to make a list of all the kindnesses shown to me since this awful surgery was announced...and hardly made a dent. Jesi's parents praying for me in Africa, our preacher showing up with a 4-pack of bath tissue when he heard I was doing the colon prep (he also prayed with us and helped me celebrate the liquid portion of the Lord's Supper), flowers, food, visits, phone calls, dog chewies for my babies (thanks, Carol!) and so much more.
Can you imagine having so many nice things done for you that you have a hard time remembering them all to make a list? My cup runneth over...and my heart is so happy. As long as I don't look down at the staples holding my tummy together, all is WONDERFUL!
Karen and her girls (Team Nightingale) are the ones you want caring for you in an emergency. They are patient and kind and go the extra mile to make me feel special. What a blessing!! Oh, and Kirsten? I feel sorry for anyone who doesn't have a friend like Kirsten. She can do anything. She and Libby can make things happen by sheer force of will!
Time to take a shower and try to walk a little...friends are bringing me SOUP, the world's best food, for lunch.
Please pray for my sweet sister this week as she plays Florence Nightingale to me, starting tomorrow with a scheduled noon surgery. (Lifting me up in prayer as I go through this health trial would be a special gift to me...and very much APPRECIATED, too!) Your prayers are precious to our Creator!
You might want to pray for two special nieces, as well. They have both promised their mom that they will help Aunt Kristy as she recuperates at home for several weeks. (Bless their poor hearts...can you imagine anything more wretched than bringing your auntie ointments and creams for her giant scar? Or walking her dogs for her? Or bringing her a pain pill so you don't have to listen to her moaning in the next room?)
Yeah...you'd better PRAY HARD and PRAY OFTEN for the residents of this house/hospital wing!
And since I feel like such a beggar now that I've shamefully solicited your prayers, it is time to do something for you. This one will be an especially nice present for my parents, who are HUGE Molly Ivins fans. Enjoy!
Did you enjoy yesterday's guest blogger, a.k.a. "Tater Gauge?" Well, since I had to remove all the video clips I'd put on the school's borrowed Flip camera before school begins, here's a smidge of Tate that made me smile..
Oh, and speaking of Super Sport...she recently enjoyed participating in the Fowler Family Tacky Game.
What is that, you might ask? Here's the gist: While Fowlers are guests in each others' homes, we like to hide/strategically locate tacky or unusual items in fun places. Ugly ties, macrame owls, comically bad DVDs, feathered dreamcatchers, futuristic coffee mugs, naughty ashtrays, etc.--all good FUN!
Russell and Amanda Faye recently upped the ante last Christmas by adding a new *reverse* twist: Instead of being the butt of the joke by having items hidden in their home, they worked diligently to hide things in the VISITING Fowler's car. (The best one was a Menudo album, securely tucked into the mesh netting behind the passenger seat, found while searching for a map of Austin in February...that's right, A MONTH after leaving Charlotte. Bethany was at the wheel, getting ready to turn left onto I-35 when I popped up with a Menudo album instead of a helpful map, and we laughed our way onto the interstate!)
So, anyway, Monday morning, Tay Tay enlisted Bethany and Dottie to keep me occupied while she hid a really atrocious top in my luggage. ..several sizes too small and completely, deliciously inappropriate...so I wore it to Librarians' Staff Development yesterday.
Joke's on YOU, Tay Tay!
(Just kidding. In fact, we all had a hard time keeping a straight face for the camera after I changed into this Fashion Faux Pas!)Thanks for the laughs, Tater Bug!
UPDATE: Surgery Monday. Prayers, please! Prayers for KAREN would be prudent and appreciated, too; she has informed me that I was a rather "challenging patient" the last time she played Florence Nightingale during the Giant Jaw Surgery of 1994!
Ohhhh... the adventures I have with my Aunt Kristy and Bethany. This past Thursday, (August 6th), we went to the one, the only, THE RED HOUSE! This is the furniture store where credit is extended to ALL PEOPLE!
I hand-wrote the directions from our house in Charlotte to our wonderful ending point, making it hard to tell if we were supposed to turn left onto Tyvola Rd. or make a u-turn and head to Transylvania. The entire trip was one never to be forgotten. Once we arrived at The Red House, we all took turns gathering in front of the sign and taking pictures, making the workers in the store and people passing by turn their heads.
Aunt Kristy had to get the perfect angle of the sign so she now has about eight pictures on her camera of it.
After that, we walked inside as if we were normal furniture shoppers, just wanting a new coffee table, when in reality, we wanted to run up and hug "Big Head" and "10 Gauge" with all our might (at least me and Kristy). Johnny ("10 Gauge") briskly walked up to us and introduced himself making me freak out and stare. After all of us talked to him a little about how far we had traveled and telling him how wonderful he was (that comment was from me, of course), we started walking around the store. I soon spotted the perfect thing to buy, a Red House t-shirt. After freaking out Aunt Kristy, Bethany, and I were invited into the back with 10 Gauge to look at the sizes.
We all took pictures of him handing the shirts to us and then took pictures of hugging him, that's right, hugging him. WE HAD OUR ARMS AROUND 10 GAUGE!
10 Gauge then told us that most people like to hold his 10 Gauge. We walked into his office and he threw his gun at Bethany wanting her to hold it. She immediately took it and got her picture taken under his deer head mounted to the wall, Kristy, taking the picture, tried to avoid the naughty half-naked girl calender on the wall.
We all then followed with the taking pictures of ourselves and the gun. Later, after walking past the ovens, I realized what this trip was for me--a dream come true, so I of course had to share my feelings with Bethany making her mock and laugh hysterically.
After exploring the best store of all time, we sadly had to leave, but 10 Gauge made it so that we could never forget our trip to The Red House. He kindly gave us his last two flashlights with batteries (of course having The Red House address on them, making it easier for our return in a few weeks). He also gave us a magnet for the refrigerator, so that every time we get out some food, we can think about how we would love to be eating this hamburger with 10 Gauge. Lastly, he gave us business cards just for the scrapbook. Isn't he wonderful? Aunt Kristy, Bethany, and I walked up to the counter and bought our MAGNIFICENT t-shirts, which I preferred over a book for my birthday.
Kristy was not too happy with my choice, but was glad I was such a nut about The Red House. 10 Gauge, just being his sweet self, gave us a little price break on the shirts. He handed us our receipt, then we slowly walked out of the awesome store hugging him on the way. As we got into the car, I kept reminding myself how lucky I was to have visited, The Red House...where black people, white people, hixspanic, and ALL people can buy furniture!
"We are trained scientists who believe in God, but we also believe that science provides reliable information about nature. We don't view evolution as sinister and atheistic. We think it is simply God's way of creating. Yet we can still sleep soundly at night, with Bibles on our nightstands, resting atop the latest copy of Scientific American."
~and~
"What we learn from science cannot threaten our belief in God as the creator. If God created the universe in a Big Bang 15 billion years ago, guided its development with elegant mathematical laws so that eventually there would be big-brained mammals exploring things such as beauty, morality and truth, then let us celebrate that idea, not reject it."
Music. Poetry. Altruism. Mother Teresa. Sweet Baby James. There may be questions about *how* God created this beautiful earth and the endless universe, but there is no doubt that He did...
Fixin' to go home and celebrate right now with three other big-brained relatives...and three small-brained dogs, God's grateful child
P.S. Stay tuned for trip updates. Will post The Red House trip tomorrow...with a VERY SPECIAL guest blogger!! Here's a little taste to bring you back...
