The Four Lovely Ladies

 

From left to right: Junior, Grammaw, Antie, Mammaw

 These four lovely ladies came to visit me on Friday!  They were cackling in and they cackled out!  My Mammaw, Grammaw, Antie and Cuzzin’ drove in from Chicago all the way to Maryland on Friday so that they could support me on Sunday.  I had to share about missions at my church on Sunday.  It was a kick-off day for my journey to Ukraine.  

 

When they arrived on Friday, they kept me up until 4:00 am.  I then stayed up until 6:30 am so that I could make sure my message was complete and prepared, because I knew that they would want to gallavant around the city for a spell…and gallavant we did.  We went to Eastern Market and grabbed some crepes.  We joined the crowds that lined the seats and awaited the arrival of Senator Ted Kennedy’s Funeral procession.  While we waited we talked and reflected upon our own life losses.  In the background a man played hymns on his trumpet and we sang along to tunes such as Amazing Grace and America the Beautiful.

After that, we headed to Georgetown for some seafood.  I knew how to get to Georgetown.  I’ve been there a time or two, but not for seafood.  My cousin hissed with skepticism as we scrambled to find a restaurant.  We finally asked two ladies for a referral and we ended up at Sea’s Catch, a lovely restaurant that overlooks the channel and has food that rendered the applause of our stomach’s settled satisfaction.  

Well that evening, I needed to sleep, but I was nervously nervous like never before.  Mind you, I had to share a message at two services and I couldn’t sleep.  So I rested my eyes and popped up the same morning after a short nap ready to hit the bricks.  

The lovely ladies met me at the second service, and they were at late.  The GPS wasn’t very kind.  Gladly, they didn’t miss the message, because I wold have felt terrible for bringing them 12 hours for them only to miss the occasion.  they enjoyed my church and they felt  what I feel when I’m there a sense of peace.

Well after “shurch” we went to Annapolis, Buddy’s Crabs and Ribs.  It was decent.  The portions were huge…and you wonder why Americans are so robust.  I had half of a small pigs rib cage on my plate and I thought there’s enough meat here to feed me for the winter. After dinner, we walked and enjoyed the beautiful day that our state capital had to offer and then we were on our way.  

Next stop Howard University…

My grandmother’s alma mater.  I’m a Hampton girl myself.  Anyway, we traveled the campus and my grandmother pointed out buildings and gave an account to go with each one.  We were excited, because she was.  

Finally, we traveled home and we were up one last night…

  As my grandmother slowly approaches 90, we are trying to glean as much as possible about our family’s past from her and my cousin Junior.  They grew up in Bronzeville, a district in Chicago, and our family was rather large and full of mischief and mayhem.  We laughed and hooted and hollered, as they told stories of my great-grand parents and great-great aunts and uncles.  

I come from a family that has a rich heritage.  My great-great grandmother was part Native-American and part European.  She “passed” and was able to work as the head seamstress in Marshall Fields downtown location in the heart of Chicago.  My great-great grandfather was the son of former slaves and together they had 11 children, four boys and seven girls.  They were gorgeous ranging in shade from butter pecan to caramel mocha.  The darkest of which was nicknamed Dot, because she was beautifully brown.  Anyway, the boys grew-up to run storefront churches, the girls grew-up and did an assortment of jobs such as cosmetology,  sewing, modeling and my great grandmother served as a precinct captain.

As I listen to the fond memories, shared on behalf of my grandmother and cousin, I get tickled, because the details are so colorful and fun.  They laugh hysterically as they remember the good old days.  Somehow, I can’t help but be thankful that they  still remember and are able to share.  I wish that we knew more and could trace further back, but I think that we have a nice beginning to share with generations to come.

So this weekend was full and fun.  I hated to see them go, but I will see them soon and we will join together, reminisce and laugh again.

Get-A-Long Gang

So I was with some old college friends/family this weekend.  We were called the GET-A-LONG GANG…nicknames were handed out ranging from the Colonel and Big Shirley to mine, Mama Bird.  What a wonderful surprise as we celebrated the most recent union of my friends Mike and Jen, who got married on July 5th and are 7 weeks into blissful weddedness!  (Blog is a made up word so I feel entitled.)

 

Anyway, as we sat together, ate, laughed, sang, cried and reminisced, I couldn’t help but think about how quickly time flies and what happens when you finally take time to stop inside of it  and redirect yourself away from self.  You know how it is when you’re in your twenties.  Its like one big weekend.  21-25 is Friday.  25-29 is Saturday.  30-34 is Sunday. Those years are like the day,  you wake up and wonder what the heck you’ve been doing for the past 10 years.  Its not that you forget abut your friends, because you don’t.  You just get stuck in the holding pattern of career, spouse, children, ministry, busy-ness.

Memories are as fresh as ever and prayers are even more sincere.  Seeing them just brings surfaces the feelings you always have when you’re with them:  love, safety, encouragement, joy, truthfulness, honesty, openness, trust.  

As we shared only those few hours together, we vowed to stay in touch and to purposefully stay connected, now that we’re old enough to know how much we need each other’s hands.

Hands for the prayers we may not be able to pray, to hold each other’s children, to write words that swell with motivation and encouragement…Hands that embrace hearts and are filled with history, secrets, memories and life.

I am thankful for all of my friends from High School  and College to even right now.  They have helped mold me and shape me into the woman that I am.  

• I listen to Country music faithfully and love to look at Christmas nights on a snow-covered night.
  
• I song-match with phrases in the midst of conversation.  
  
• I snap my gum, because it adds to the minty flavor.
  
• I pray, pick up my cross daily and follow the King.

I hope that I continue to find God’s favor in this way.  Its through my friendships that I realize how much God loves me and takes care of my heart.  I pray that you too, would receive the same.

UKRAINE ‘09

I just got back from Ukraine on Monday night!  I had an amazing time.  I traveled with a group from Carolina Forest Community Church.  We co-hosted a day camp for neighborhood children with House of the Gospel Church in Rivne, Ukraine.

The week was action packed.  Camp was every evening from 3-7, give or take an hour.  I was the official camp photographer.  I had a Canon Power Shot (point and shoot) but you would have thought that I was shooting with an EOS 1-D Mark III.  Anyway, I got some great shots of the  children and that was exciting.

Carolina Forest has a neat summer theme, called Nick at Night.  They use it as an outreach tool, a teaching tool and much much more.  Well their church partners in Ukraine were desirous of implementing this same technique in order to reach out to the surrounding community.  So we brought Nick at Night to them.  For those of you who aren’t familiar with Nick at Night, it started off as a tv show for kids, filled with dares and challenges.  Children were drenched with slime and dared to do outrageous stunts.  (Fear Factor’s predecessor)

Needless to say, this camp was filled with the same…pies in the face, green slime, peanut-buttered armpits, showered crowds, plenty of laughter and rib-tickling fun.

This trip was somewhat of a kick-off  for me and the whole missionary partnership process.  As some of you know, my plans were delayed for a year, while I underwent more heart construction, which I am indescribably grateful about.  I took a slue of pictures and I gathered data.  I really just soaked it all up, but this time in a different way than the other trips.  I was more observant, more settled, more excited, and more sure.  

We broke bread together, cried together, prayed together, laughed together, worshiped the King together and served together.  I am filled.  I am humbled.

Now, that I am back in the states, I have a lot of work to do, from moving out of the cozy cottage to traveling around the nifty fifty.  I am excited about this life shift.  I am excited about God.  I am excited about Ukraine.  I am excited about my life.

 

Thank you to my new friends from CFCC and House of the Gospel… until next time.

Shortening the stack

I don’t know about you, but I have lived what I would like to call a two-stack life.  Picture a desk with two stacks of papers on it:  one stack is really high (3ft.) and the other one is really low (2 in.).  

The high stack is filled with tedious little projects that drive me bananas, thus the height of the stack.  This is the stack that I avoid.  That I knock over and rearrange again and again.  It is the stack that I avoid and wish away, but it always returns in the form of unanswered e-mails, FACEBOOK invitations, long breathy messages that leave phone numbers at the end instead of the beginning, phone bills, re-rescheduled appointments, ungraded papers, etc. etc.  You know this stack right?.  And depending upon the job you have coupled with your personality type,  this stack may vary in size, give or take the season.

Well let me tell you about my high stack:  I have been a teacher for 13 years.  I started when I was 12.  Do the math.  Imagine my parents surprise at the spawning of such a pedagogical prodigy.  HAH!  Anyway, 13 years is a really long time to be a teacher, when you loathe paperwork.  Do you know why?  I’ll tell you  why.  Because American teachers’ livelihoods depend upon reams of white 8 1/2 by 11 standard weight copy paper.  We have paper everywhere.  Papers on the walls.  Papers in our pockets.  Papers on our desks.  Papers on chalkboards.  Papers in our hands.  Papers stuck to our sweaters to remind us to pass out papers.  Papers on the floor, in baskets, in binders, in cubbies…EVERYWHERE!!!!!!!  Checklists, gradebooks, permission slips, tests, answer keys, reports etc. etc.  I love children and teaching of all forms, but paperwork is not my cup of tea.  I wish I was a goat, because then I would just devour it.

Are you still going?

It is May 26th 2009.  I haven’t written a blog entry in 3.4 of a year.  Can you believe it?  It’s not that I don’t have anything to say.  It’s just that, it wasn’t time.  I’ve had a little time, but I wasn’t quite sure what to say or where to begin.

So the questions are, “Natasha, are you still going?”  ”Natasha, when are you leaving?”  ”Natasha, are you teaching?” “What’s next?”