AACC and Play Therapy Confernce

A couple of weeks ago, I went to Nashville for the American Association of Christian Counselors at the Opryland Hotel. It was a great confenrence with some great speakers - Max Lucado, Larry Crabb, John Eldridge, Dan Allender, Kay Authur, among others. And I got to see several people that I had not seen in a long time - Adrian Hickman and his daughter, Andrea and his sisten-in-laws who were visiting him at the Capstone booth, Sharron Pharr and Kim (I can't remember her last name). I also saw Dr. JoNeal Kirby and Elaine Denman. It was good to see my friends from Harding and catch up.

I'm leaving this Wednesday to go to Orange Beach, AL to a play therapy workshop on Thursday and Friday. I'll get to see Vivian and eat some crab claws. I'll spend the night with Vivian on Friday and drive home on Saturday. Now I just have to figure out how to make the navigation system in my car work like I want it to. When we went to Branson this summer, Tim fixed it so it wouldn't keep directing us to interstates and I ended going way out of the way to get to Opryland...I don't want to do that going to Orange Beach!

I think I could spend all my time going to seminars and never seeing clients...

I am so Thankful!

I guess you wonder why after a year's time, I would post a photo of Laura and John and put a title that says I am so thanksful! Well, life has a way of catching your attention sometimes...sometimes good and sometimes, not so good. This week my heart is breaking for some friends that I grew up with in Indianola. They no longer live there, but their daughter, Heather, who was the same age as Laura, was murdered by her druggie boyfriend...beaten to death with a hammer. He had hit her once before and she required 50+ staples to put her head back together and though her family and freinds encouraged her to stay away from him, she with her good heart, after he had finished a stint in a drug rehab program took him back. Just a few days later, she was dead. Somehow that seems to be the pattern a great deal of the time for battered women. The saying goes, "the first time you get hit, you're a victum, the second time, you're a volunteer." But somehow, it's just not that simple. For whatever reason, Heather looked for the good in him and after his stay in rehab, thought that he would be "cured" and that her Christianity would be a light for him...

So today, I am especially grateful for John and his love for Laura. When I am around them, their love for each other is obvious and his protection of her is quite visible. If I ever say or do anything that upsets her or makes her uncomfortable (which I do usually unknowingly with my big mouth...you know I have this problem of saying what I think when I think it...), he calls me on the carpet and lets me know that I need to be more careful about what I say so that I don't hurt her feelings.
So, John and Laura, I love you both very much and I love that you are so in love with each other. I am so proud of you both and of your accomplishments in every area of your lives (except for one and you know what I'm talking about - that I can't change, I can only pray about!). THANK YOU SO MUCH, JOHN, FOR LOVING AND TAKING SUCH GOOD CARE OF MY LITTLE GIRL! AND HAPPY, HAPPY BIRTHDAY ON THE 18TH!!!

AWH and Searcy Friends

I went to Searcy on Thursday of this past week. I had an AWH National Council Meeting on Friday morning with a luncheon with the AWH scholarship recipients. I even got to sit by Sun (sp?) who lived with John and Rose Kennedy the last couple of years. It was great to see and talk to him for a while. It is always great to see the kids who benefit from our work...makes baking all those pies and cakes and casseroles ( and the stuff I volunteer to buy at Sam's - because you know I don't cook!) worth it. But I went early so I could play with my friends on Thursday night and take my nephew, Wil, who is a Harding student out to dinner. Beckie and Gene Weaver, Mike and Beth James, Jonathan James and his girlfriend and Wil and me all went to Doc's Grill. Food was good...fellowship was even better. We laughed until we cried...if you're reading this and you know Mike or Gene, ask them about the Mens' bathroom door in the Reynold's building.

Labor Day Weekend

We had a fun Labor Day weekend with my nephew, Wil, and two of his friends, Jordan and Caroline, from Harding here for the weekend. We cooked out burgers and Tim made a big pot of spaghetti on Saturday. It's always fun to have college kids around - makes us feel young again!



Sunday afternoon we went to see Mr. Bean's Holiday with Leslie and Rick Gillespie and Leanne Braddock and Ed Cookenham. As you can tell from the photo, we had a great time and everyone at the theatre thought we never got out we were acting so silly. We came home to find Daniel and Suzane Hurd here (actually, we knew they were going to be here because they called before we left and told us they were coming to spend the night on their way from Searcy back home to Nashville -Caroline was funny - she was like, "So, do you always have people calling and dropping in to spend the night on the spur of the moment?"...she hasn't known us long enough to know about our revolving door!) and they already had the grill going and so the Gillespies and the Cookenhams ate with us and we had a really nice evening with friends.

Today, I studied all day. Tim and Daniel went out flying (Daniel just got his instrument rating) and Suzane went shopping with her granmother. I had class tonight. Harding doesn't count Labor Day as a holiday! But, it was a good weekend anyway!