Why the Things We Do

Peanut butter, sauerkraut, and taco sauce. What do these things have in common you might ask? Let's recap what happened during supper at the Herron/Spencer home a few nights ago. As usual, I cooked dinner for me, husband, and Papaw, and this particular night we were having tacos. Although we have had tacos several times since the husband and I moved in over a year ago, Papaw never knows what to do with the tortilla and all of the ingredients. We usually show him what to put in it, then show him how to roll up the tortilla and eat it, but this night it went a little differently. As I was putting my taco together, he just started putting everything that I was using into his taco. I put beans in mine, he put beans in his. I put sour cream on mine, he put sour cream on his. Then I put taco sauce on mine. Well, even though Papaw always claims that "he'll eat anything", he doesn't really like spicy stuff. So I warned him that the taco sauce was spicy and he may not want it. Then he decided that his taco needed something else. Here's how the dialog went:

Papaw: "I think I'll put a little ketchup on it and see how I like it"

Me: "Um, I've never heard of anyone putting ketchup on a taco before, it might not be very good."

Papaw: "Well I'll see." (reaches for the sauerkraut) "I'll put a little of this on there too, see how I like that."

Me: "That sounds gross! I'm sure no one puts sauerkraut and ketchup on a taco!"

Papaw: (laughing and very proud of himself) "Well there's a first time for everything!"

Husband (as he's walking in the room): "Papaw that looks bad. You may as well put peanut butter on it."

Papaw (after getting this mischievous look in his eye and a sly grin, he gets up and walks toward the cabinet): "Well maybe I'll try that, too!"

So Papaw ate his folded over taco (he forgot how to roll it up) with taco meat, refried beans, cheese, sour cream, ketchup, sauerkraut and peanut butter. He was so proud of himself for grossing me and the husband out, but he wouldn't take big bites. He kept saying "boy, this is good", and I kept saying "you're lying!!!" I guess no will ever know except Papaw how bad that taco tasted. But that's just a day in the life for us. You never know what he's gonna put together when it comes to food, or to get attention. It was pretty funny, definitely the most memorable dinner I've had since we've been living here. It was one of those times where I thanked God for the time that we have living here. We won't be here forever and we won't have forever with Papaw (or each other for that matter, the husband and I aren't promised tomorrow, either). Romans 8:28 says that God works for the good of those who love Him. Yes, yes He does. 

If you're feeling adventurous tonight, have a sauerkraut and peanut butter taco. It could be the best present you've ever had! 

Math Suks

Why am I awake at 7:30 on Saturday morning when most people are sleeping in? I ask myself that question just about every Saturday. Seth works on most Saturdays and guess who makes his lunch in the mornings? Nope, not Papaw. I make his sandwiches every morning before he leaves for work... well, except the two times in the past week that I told him I would "bring" them to him because I was tired and didn't want to get out of bed at 7 am... and I forgot to. Whoops. Looks like I won't be getting the "wife of the year" award any time soon! But anywho, by the time I get up, make his sandwiches, fill up his water bottle and get back to the bedroom, I am officially too awake to go back to sleep. So here I sit, blogging.

Let's talk about presents. I don't mind making these sandwiches every morning because I am making them for one of the hardest-working men I have ever known. My husband. He works hard at everything he does, which is a rare quality to find in a man these days. I have a Dad like that, but more on him later. Seth is dedicated to his job, but will be going back to school after taking a year off to figure out what he wanted to do. He will be majoring in accounting, which sounds terribly boring to me. I took College Algebra 3 times before I passed it, not because I'm bad at math (the third time I finished with a 95 A), but because I just don't like it. When you don't go to class or do your homework, you don't know what's going on. When you don't know what's going on, you don't pass the tests. When you don't pass the tests, you fail College Algebra twice. Don't fail College Algebra twice. Luckily, the third time I was engaged and highly motivated to do well, pass the class and get my degree so that I could find a job and support me and my soon-to-be husband. I did it! Seth will do better. He likes math and apparently plans on making somewhat of a career out of it. I'm proud to be his wife and realize how blessed I am. God has been good to me.

As I stated earlier, I also have a hard-working father. When I was younger, I don't think I grasped this trait (remember, I had to take a simple math class three times because I was lazy). My Dad is always working on something, but knows how to relax and have fun, too. He worked hard to provide for our family and making sure our home was in good shape. He still does. He is the best high school principal I know, not just because he works hard, but because he cares about what he does. He cares about every student, every teacher/staff member, every parent. He believes that students can succeed if the right environment is provided for them. For those of you not from Crestview, trust me when I say the environment around CHS has not been so good the past few years. Dad just finished his first year as principal there, and the environment has totally changed. Have you checked out the Lip Dubs? You should. Here is the original one, and here is the teacher lip dub, featuring the greatest faculty meeting speech I've ever heard by my Dad. Check out the videos, they were both done and produced by students. It's great to be a Crestview Bulldog! Happy Father's Day to the best dad and the best principal!

Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes

I should probably tell you how I got here. I grew up on the beautiful Emerald Coast of Florida, just north of Destin. Both of my parents are from KY originally, my Mom from a small town in western KY and my Dad from Lexington. My Dad played college football at the University of Kentucky (go Cats) and then became a football coach. After he and my Mom got married, they moved to sunny Florida where the weather was warm and the football was a big deal (unlike in KY). They had my brother, then a few years later I came along, and we settled in Crestview when I was 2. I LOVE where I'm from. I appreciate it very much, but I have always wanted to move to Kentucky. As a child, Ryan (my brother) and I spent a couple of weeks each summer in Kentucky with my Mom's mom, Gram in Todd County, and my Dad's parents, Nanny and Da in Lexington. Something about the air, the fell of the grass and the lightning bugs made me fall in love with the state. I dreamed of going to college at UK and meeting an incredibly good looking Kentucky boy to marry. Yay me! I did it!

High school was a blast. I had great friends and we had good, clean fun. We made embarrassing home videos (praise God YouTube had not been invented) of ourselves dancing to the Spice Girls and N'Sync and ate our weight in cookie dough. They all had boyfriends come and go, I never had any boyfriends. We went on band trips all over the country and my senior year our girl's basketball team won the District Championship! After a year and a half of knee injury, I was proud to play in that game and be on that team. My family flies airplanes (I'll post more on this later) and at 17, I soloed my family's Piper J-3 Cub for the first time. It's in my blood and I'm grateful for the opportunity to see the world from a different perspective.  Still, I knew I was called to go. I loved my friends, my church, my parents, my airplane and my home. But I had to go. So, at 18 years old I packed my bags and went off to college 650 miles away from home.

It took me a while to figure out who I was. I suppose I'm still figuring that out. I changed my major twice and had many different friends. By my junior year I was loving life. I was a manager for the women's basketball team and got to travel all over with them all while getting my education paid for, and I was very involved with FCA and bible study. I made some life-long friends that year. Two of them were from a little town called Beaver Dam. On Easter weekend, I went home to Beaver Dam for the weekend with Bailey. That Saturday afternoon we went to her church to play basketball with her younger brother (who was in high school) and some of his friends. One of those friends was really cute! His name was Seth, he was nice and had good hair and muscles, and even came back to Bailey's after we played to have some BBQ with us. He was more than 3 years my younger, so thinking he was cute was the extent of my interest, but luckily God's plans are bigger than mine. It would only be 2 1/2 years before we began dating, got engaged and got married. We've been married 2 1/2 years now and he is still way cute! He is one of the best presents I have ever received!

After we got engaged we decided to move from Lexington back to western KY so that he could finish up college at WKU and I would look for a job. We lived in Bowling Green our 1st year of marriage in a cute 1-bedroom apartment that we loved. I was a teacher's assistant at an elementary school and we were dirt poor. But we made it! Soon Seth got a part time job at a pharmacy and was going to school full time (pre-med) and working 4 days a week. We had plans. But God did too. As we were celebrating out first year anniversary, we moved into an apartment out of desperation. I was desperate for more space and change. Seth was unhappy in school and his job, so we moved. It was awful. We stayed there a month and a half before we finally decided to move back to Beaver Dam and live with Seth's Papaw. His Granny had just been put in the nursing home (she had severe alzheimer's) and Papaw was very lonely. It was a good move for everyone. We were warm and safe and Papaw had company. He gave us the master bedroom/bathroom so we could have our privacy. It was a great present for all of us!

We've been here about 16 months now, and I'll be honest, there are times when I just want my own house. But this last year was so critical. Seth's Granny went to be with Jesus and it was great that we were here for Papaw and Seth's mom, Becky. I got a new job that was very unplanned but that I love very much (a huge present!) and Seth had to have back surgery... for the 2nd time in as many years. There was and is a reason we are here. God has not called us to move yet and He is stretching my faith by asking us to stay for a while. I have no idea how long, and I pray every day for discernment to hear His voice. When He calls us, we will go, even if we're not ready. Seth has a job he loves now at the local hardware store and will be going back to WKU in the fall majoring in Accounting. I can't wait to see what presents will come from that and what kind of presents we will be able to give to others! That's what it's all about anyways. God gives us presents so that we can give others presents, too.

So there you have it. If you are still reading this post, thank you for taking the time to hear about my life and hopefully you will understand some of the things I reference in future posts. Until then, look around... God has presents to send you. :-)