My love of history

A country without a memory is a country of madmen.
George Santayana

History will be kind to me, for I intend to write it.

Winston Churchill

College is such an important decision making time in our lives. I spent many months, even years, praying for God's wisdom regarding my major. It was a very hard decision because I knew I was disciplined enough to do anything I wanted.

Honestly, looking back, I don't know the exact point when I decided to choose history, though I do know some of the reasons. Mr. Glynn Swagart was my history professor at TTU, and I found I enjoyed taking his classes. I also enjoyed learning about our past from a Christian perspective, and it's impact on our present. I decided that if I had to spend four years in school, I might as well enjoy what I was learning. So my course of study began- history.

Now, sometimes I wonder that if I had been counseled better I would have considered a different major, one of more practical applications. Goodness knows I hear about it enough from some of my family.

It wasn't until my junior year of college in Dr. McCleary's History of American Architecture class that I found my true passion- central halls, trends in architecture, time periods of carpenter's lace, etc. From that point on, I began looking everywhere I went. I've been to Savannah, Charleston, St. Augustine among many other less insignificant places, and have been touched by unique aspects of each cities' architecture.

This past weekend I had a chance to go to New Orleans. A friend of mine got us all one bedroom suites at La Belle Maison.

The Wyndham Vacation Ownership conducted an extensive, three–year renovation to transform the 100–year–old Franklin Press Building into a modern resort. Located in the Big Easy's Picayune Place district, Wyndham La Belle Maison reflects the design, color and character of the famed French Quarter. The Wyndham Vacation Ownership development team partnered with the Historic District Landmark Commission during the project to preserve the façade of the original structure and maintain this important cornerstone of New Orleans' history.

La Belle Maison was located only two blocks from Canal Street, a major thoroughfare in the city of New Orleans. Forming the upriver boundary of the city's oldest neighborhood, the French Quarter (Vieux Carre), it acted as the dividing line between the older French/Spanish Colonial-era city and the newer American Sector, today's Central Business District. The wide median earmarked for the canal was referred to by early inhabitants as the "neutral ground", due to the animosities amongst culturally distant residents on separate sides of the avenue.

St. Louis Cathedral was so beautiful and Jackson Square was a perfect picture taking spot!

My Grandmother

Granny fell a few weeks back, breaking her hip, and even though she was healing well, she still wasn't able to drive. Friday morning, my sister LeighAnn picked Granny up to take her to my sister Taylor's salon to have her hair done. Taylor started on Granny's hair, but had to step out of the room to get her a magazine and to greet her next customer. When she came back, Granny had fallen asleep in the chair- or so Taylor initially thought. When she couldn't get Granny to wake up, her co worker Russell called 911. Her coworker Lauren tried to get my aunt Patty on the phone, but when she couldn't she just ran across the street to where Patty worked to get her.

Taylor's salon is right off the square in our little town, but even better than that, its located right in front of the fire station. Several firemen arrived within 2 minutes of the 911 call. They rushed Granny the 3 minutes it took to get her to the hospital, b/c it also was very close by. She was there for several hours, getting tests ran. Later that night, she had a massive heart attack and was put in ICU. The doctor told the family that had she not been in the hospital when it happened, she wouldn't have survived it.

Looking back, I see God's hand on my granny throughout the entire situation. God made sure that she wasn't at home by herself Friday. He made sure that she was close to immediate help. He made sure that the first episode happened so that she would be in the hospital later when a worse one hit. My sister LeighAnn and I were discussing Monday night how it just wasn't Granny's time to die. I am very thankful to have a few more years with Granny. Maybe she'll be able to meet the child Jeremy and I are going to adopt.

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Financing Adoption

Jeremy and I have formally applied for an adoption through Bethany Christian Services, and are now in the paperwork process of the home study. We've gathered documents, birth certificates, rabies vaccinations on our kitties, proof of this and proof of that. We've filled out (or nearly anyway) a long questionnaire about ourselves, both past present and future. We're getting ready to submit it to Bethany CS along with the home study fee. However, I keep holding out, thinking that we'll get an answer from the bank about our adoption loan.

It's been an interesting journey just from debating about applying for, actually applying for and waiting to hear about the adoption loan. At first, I thought it was our one shot. Now, God has opened up so many other possibilities, that I wouldn't be surprised if we didn't need the loan at all. Don't get me wrong, my controlling Type A personality would LOVE to have that loan and be done with it. However, I"m at peace if God has another plan for financing this adoption for us. Hopefully, we'll hear something soon.

Another interesting and sometimes annoying issue Jeremy and I have had to deal with regarding this adoption is hearing everyone's opinions. Mostly we've received positive feedback, but occasionally someone will want to tell us some horror story that they have heard. I try to remind myself that God has led us to this decision and He will equip us to face whatever challenges that come up.

Funding Adoption

A lot has been going on the last few weeks. After two generous donations, Jeremy and I were able to pay the application fee. We quickly filled that out, got it in, and planned on going to the educational class the last Monday of October. However, we had just gone out of town to Chattanooga to visit family and friends, and were just too tired of traveling. We would have had to drive the two hours over there, spend three hours in the class and drive the two hours back, not getting home until around midnight. So we opted to go ahead and start out home study paperwork and go to the class in November. (Funny, its the Monday after Thanksgiving and before Jeremy's conference in ATL, but oh well.

Well, just found out I have to run over to the credit union before they close to pay our adoption loan application fee, so more later!