Ask your friendly Wal-Mart associate

I would like to give props to the friendly wal-mart associate that checked me out today. He was dancing and singing the entire time he was scanning my purchases. I don't know if I just looked really bad or if he just assumed that I didn't feel so hot since I was buying 2 kinds of medicine and a thermometer. He informed me that it was pouring rain outside (like I couldn't hear it on the metal roof above) and that he did not want me to go out in it. Unfortunately he was dancing around too much for me to catch his name. So, if you ever find yourself on 280 you should check out the wal-mart. It was a quality experience. On another note, this time next week I will be on my way to Prague. WHOOHOOOOO!

A Wedding and a New Baby

Today was a state holiday so I took the opportunity to get out of town. I went to Mobile for Leigha Arthur's mother's wedding, and to see the newest mini mee-maw. Leah McKnight and Tyne came in Saturday for the Wedding and then we hung out Saturday night. We had lots of fun just talking, singing, and laughing.


Don't we look beautiful?


On Sunday, Leigha and I were just lazy but did manage to get out of the house to go see Kellie and Blakeney. Blakeney is soooo tiny. Of course, the only time she cried was when I was holding her.


Blakeney, the newest Future Judson Girl, in her new outfit from Susan.


She is so tiny.


I spent my holiday today just hanging out with Leigha and her Mee-Maw and Papa. So, Now I guess I need to get ready to go back to work tomorrow. I think I will take a break and go eat some left over wedding cake first. (Thanks Mee-Maw)

There'll Always Be A Judson

I apologize to all who read my blog and aren't Judson girls. You may not appreciate this post quite as much but it might give a little insight to a Judson alumnea's life. Unfortunately I forgot to take the camera to Irene Jordan's tribute at The Club last Saturday. However, even if I had I would have had to use Melissa's computer. For some reason my computer will not allow me to upload pictures. I did it without any help on Melissa's computer...just like I had been trying(unsuccessfully)on mine. If anyone has any tips feel free to enlighten me.

So, the afternoon with Irene Jordan was very entertaining. We attended a luncheon, hosted by the Birmingham Judson alumnae Association to honor the lifetime achievement of Irene Jordan. I wish that all of my Judson friends would value the knowledge and culture that we can gain from the women who have gone before us. But, let me get off of my soapbox and start at the beginning. I picked Melissa up and proceeded to follow the mapquest directions. Maquest is stupid. The only thing that the mapquest directions accomplished was to enable Melissa the once in a lifetime opportunity to see Vulcan and all his glory. We ended up starting over and following Mrs. Eugenia's directions. I guess I should have just trusted her to begin with. Mrs. Eugenia suggested that we valet park. I have never valet parked in my life but since we were late I figured that I would follow the little guy in the white jacket who was waving his hand at us a hard as he could. He was a funny little guy. It is kind of strange just handing your keys over to someone you don't know at all. Not that I think he was going to take a joy ride in the Malibu or anything but it made me very self conscience about how trashy my car is at the moment. Anyway, in true Judson fashion, the luncheon was off to a late start. We had a minute to mingle before finding our way back to our back corner of the room. For some reason I had the urge to say, "Nobody puts Baby in the corner." I did refrain though. Melissa and I were on our best behavior and we tried to brush up on our etiquette that The Judson afforded us. O.K.,Let me explain who Irene Jordan is. She is a Judson graduate who went on to become a Metropolitan Opera Star. She might be one of the most famous Judson graduates. She has returned to Judson on many occasions to help raise money for the school. She did a benefit concert to help raise money to build the second Jewett Hall after the first burned.

To begin the luncheon they recognized all of the people who came from all over the state, Ms. Jordan's family, board of trustees, all the regulars. Then they recognized members of the Judson choir who sang at Carnegie Hall. Well...wouldn't you know what I was the only one who was technically a member of the choir at that time. As I stood up I slowly pulled Melissa up with me. Even though she was not a member of the choir she still sang with us and that was good enough for me. I quickly sat back down but that was not the last time that Melissa and I would be the center of attention. More on that later.

The highlight of the day was when Ms. Irene Jordan herself sang Sweet Little Jesus Boy. It was great. She then decided to play the piano while she sang the second because she did not have time to properly practice with the pianist, who I do believe was about 100 years old. Now, let me just explain that Irene Jordan is almost 90 years old. If she sings that beautifully now, I would have loved to hear her in her prime. She was just amazing. She spoke without a mic even and we all heard her just fine. She was very amusing. I think I got a glimpse of me when I get that old because her stories rather resembled Marie stories. More than one time she said, "now how did I get on that subject, that wasn't what I was talking about." She was great. If you ever get a change to see her please take the chance. This was like the Golden Club banquet for one woman. I am going to go on the record now and say that at least one of the MeeMaws better do something in their lifetime so we can have a tribute to you. We ended the afternoon by singing There'll always be a Judson. They did not print the words so it was rather amusing to hear people trying to sing a song they did not know. It took Melissa and Me through the first verse to really remember it but then it was obvious that we are really the only people who did. So, we sang a little louder hoping that the older Judson ladies around us would be able to sing along with us. No, that didn't really help. It just caused all of Irene Jordan's family that was around us to watch us and smile. After it was over we were applauded on our singing abilities and I am sure there were some comments in there about Carnegie Hall. I don't really remember because I was too embarrassed. Mee-Maws...I carried on the tradition. Even by ourselves we are public spectacles.

After it was over I was chatting with Caroline Reich and Mrs. Potts about what a success it was. We discussed having another luncheon in the fall. Caroline would like Wayne Flint to come speak but she said that you have to book him way in advance. You know me, and my one tract mind, I quickly voiced my opinion for the next tribute luncheon. My suggestion was to honor a past missionary or missionaries who went to Judson. I know there are a lot out there but we just don't hear about them very much. Maybe we can call it the Ann Judson award or something and present it to a great missionary graduate from Judson every year. So, I do expect all of the Mee-maws to attend the next luncheon.

Experience Africa!

What do you get when you put together 3 rounds of really strong tea, enough food to feed a small African village, and two amazing newlyweds? The 2006 Safe Harbor Missions Conference, of course. The weekend started off with tea at my house Friday night. Our missionaries were Terry and Barry Newman. They are Alliance missionaries going to Mali. After snacking on finger foods, Barry provided us with tea...African style. The tea is served in three rounds in small glasses that are similar to shot glasses. This was especially exciting for me because I learned to love this African tea ceremony while I was in Senegal. In Senegal they call it attaya. Each round gets sweeter. It represents the sweetness of friendship. It gets sweeter sweeter.

On Saturday Nanny, Pa, and I prepared a Senegalese meal. This included 5 lbs of carrots, 10 lbs of onions, 5 bell peppers, a lot of garlic, 6 lbs of chicken, and a Sam's size box of rice. Somehow we mangaged to get it all cut up and cooked in two hours. I don't know what I would have done without Nanny and Pa. It took all 6 of our hands going as fast as possible to get it done. I certainly have a new respect for the African women that cook like this everyday. Of course they only have one burner, not 4 eyes on the stove going at one time. The Church looked just like an African Hut (at least Luke and I thought so). We had 4 mats on the floor for our trays of food. We all sat on the floor and ate with our right hands, just like in Africa. Everbody did really well trying to eat with thier hands. I was very excited that everybody dug right in. Some people(Luke), mastered the eating with your hands part of it. After dinner was cleaned up Terry and Barry shared some personal experiences about the people in Africa.

On Sunday, we had a wonderful worship service. The music was wonderful. I could barely even keep from crying so that I could acutally sing. Terry and Barry shared with us about what they will be doing in Mali. Terry will be working in a new Women's and Children's Hospital as a nurse. Barry will be working with the Fulani community beside the hospital. They shared with us how "perfect" this place is for them. Barry encourged us to pray for the Fulani every time we put on our blue jeans or see something blue because they love blue. They shared some specific prayer requests and then we prayed for them and thier journey to Mali.

When it came time for the Newmans to leave, I think we were all sad to see them go. We will see them again on Feburary 12th at the Alliance Mission Ralley. I think that we have found friends in the Newmans and I hope that we continue to pray for them as a church and individually.

Baby Steps, Remember?

Ok, so I never said I was going to be good at this Blog thing. I had high hopes but so far I am letting myself down. I want to apologize to anyone who has tried to comment on my blog in the past couple of days. Thanks to my computer mom(Melissa Reh) I have seen the error of my ways. Apparenty I checked one too many yes boxes when I messing with my settings. I thought that moderating comments sounded like a good idea. I did not realize that I would have to approve everyone's comments before they were posted. So, If you have tried to comment and it told you that it had to be approved, you might want to try the comment again. Once again, thanks to Melissa for trying to comment and then trying to help me not make the same mistake she did. Unfortunately I did. Ok, I am going to end this blog now before it turns out a lot like a Marie Story.

Happy Birthday!

Happy Birthday to Pa and Josh. I spent the afternoon with Nanny and Pa and now we are going to meet the family for dinner at Fincher's in the Country. It is the best Catfish place ever. I am sorry I have not updated on the Missions conference yet. I really did try last night. I had a long post and I was trying to put pictures on it. Somehow I lost it. I am learning...be patient with me.