Character Counts

This week, my good friend, Vickie asked me to write a character letter for her. She needed a few letters to let the judge in her upcoming hearing know what a good person and upstanding citizen she is.
Here's the nutshell version: a few weeks ago Vickie was on her way to work, it was a Friday. She was going along, happy and content, looking forward to her day and the upcoming weekend. Suddenly, the car in front of her stopped and she hit it with her car. No one was hurt, but the police were called. While the officer took all the info from the other drive, Vickie waited in her car and drank part of a Mt. Dew (that was all she had to eat or drink at that point). When the officer asked her to step out, she felt dizzy and staggered a bit. The officer asked her if she had been drinking - at 7:30 AM - of course she said no.
Let me interject here, Vickie has never drank, never even as much as tried a cigarette, does not swear (never has). She is the Lay Leader in our church, the Sunday School superintendent, works with the youth, serves on various committees, takes care of her aging parents, goes to the mission fields once a year - the list is endless. She is an awesome person and love God!! That's why when she called to tell me this story - I laughed uncontrollably. I asked her three different times how long it took her to make up this story - she literally had to convince me that it really did happen. I mean - this is Vickie for pete's sake!!
Continue story - Vickie was still a little bit on the unsteady side so the police officer made her take a sobriety test - right there on the side of the street near her office. She did not pass - oh, she did the finger-to-your-nose part o.k. it was the heel-to-toe backwards part that tripped her up (no pun intended).
So, the officer hand-cuffed her and took her to the hospital for a blood test; then on to city jail for booking. Yep, mug shots, fingerprint, the whole ball of wax.
Vickie was mortified. She had to sit in a jail cell for three hours before her parents could bail her out.
So, now she had to appear in court with her attorney to try to straighten this mess out.
We have all had a fun time with it - Vickie has made fun of herself and has really taken the whole thing in stride.
So, when she asked me to write a letter of character for her, I was honored that she would ask me. I gladly wrote her a glowing letter, telling all the wonderful things about her that I could think of. I used lots of lovely words and phrases - I meant them all - but I wanted to be sure that whomever read the letter could know what I know about my friend.
Then, I began to think - what kind of character letter could be written about me? What if I needed a letter of character from God - what could He write about for me?
Would he say that I have been a "good and faithful servant?" Would he say that I am always there for His children? What would He write?
I'm afraid it would be a terribly short letter. So, this experience has made me ponder my character. I need to pay closer attention to the tiny, itsy-bitsy details - you know, the ones that really matter?
If God were to write a character letter for you - what would He write?

Easter 2008

Our Easter Sunday was a very pleasant one, indeed. We began our day with a wonderful church service about our Savior and what He did for us. Glory!!!! Immediately following the service, we had two baptisms - how great is that???
Then we drove 45 minutes to be with our family (my Mom's side) and to eat a most scrumptious meal prepared by some of the South's finest cooks. One thing we can do and do well in our family is cook (and eat). We love us some delicious ham and sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes,corn pudding, green beans, deviled eggs AND pickled eggs. Then we had banana pudding, lemon cheesecake and (my favorite) Dump Cake, hot out of the oven. O-mi-gosh is it wonderful!!! That's not all we had - just the best part!!
Now, on Daddy's side of the family, we cheated a little bit. You see, Daddy's sisters are not what you might call, uh, cooks. They just didn't take to it like Mom's sisters did. So, we all agreed to meet at this wonderful family style restaurant on Saturday to celebrate Easter together. The restaurant is a local favorite and is run by Mennonites. We sat at this huge table and were served our food as if we were at someones home. Big bowls of corn, beans, carrot souffle, cabbage, gravy, pickled green tomatoes, mashed potatoes, country ham, fried chicken and deep fried catfish. Yum-O!!

As you can tell, the last few days of life around here have been centered around a table full of food. 'Tis true! But, even though we have gathered with loved ones around these wonderful meals, the focus of our celebrations was not lost. We gave much thanks to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for His sacrifice and for His gift of salvation that none of us truly deserve.

So, my prayer for each of you is that you have enjoyed a joyous Easter which includes full bellies and even fuller spirits.

God bless you and let us celebrate Easter every day this year.

Conversation with a Fourth Grader

This is a conversation I had with one of my fourth graders this week.

In the hallway as the fourth grade was changing classes, Jay, a freckled face, red cheeked boy, walked up to me with a wide grin plastered across his face. I could tell he was bursting to tell me something. This is how it went. . .

Jay: "Hi, Mrs. B. Guess what."

Me: "Jay, I can't begin to guess, why don't you tell me?"

Jay: "Casey said she would go out with me."

Me(taken aback a bit): "She did? Well now, just where are you going?"

Jay(obviously perlexed) "What do you mean?"

Me: "Where will you two be going?"

Jay: "I don't know what you mean, but she said she would go out with me."

Me: "I understand that, but you haven't told me where you will be going."

Jay: "Nowhere."

Me: "Oh, then how will you be going out if you aren't actually going anywhere?"

Jay: "We are just going out."

Me: "Right, but where will you be going?"

Jay: "I told you, we are just going out."

Me: "So, you don't have a special place in mind?"

Jay: "A special place for what?"

Me: "To take Casey out."

Jay: "I'm not going to take her anywhere."

Me: "Then, how is that you will be going out if you aren't going to go somewhere?"

By this time, Jay was obviously confused and somewhat defused.

Jay: "Mrs. B, I don't know what you are talking about, but Casey is going out with me."

Me: "Jay, maybe you should explain that to me. If you aren't actually going to go somewhere, how can you possibly be going out?"

Jay: "We just are."

At this point, it was time to go to class. As he walked away, Jay sadly shook his head. Talking with another boy, he looked back at me and said . . .

Jay(to other boy) "I feel sorry for Mrs. B., she has never gone out with anybody."

Boy: "How do you know?"

Jay: "I was just talking to her and she doesn't even know what 'going out' means."

Boy: "Man, that's really sad."

Jay: "Yeah, I wonder if her husband knows?"

At this point, all I could do is return to my math class.