Just another Sunday in the South (Alli update 10-19-08)

That's an old country song that just popped into my mind. Sundays in our family growing up(both mine and my husband's) were always a no brainer. You got up, you had breakfast, you listened to the Top Country Countdown with Casey Casem while you got ready for Sunday School. Then after church was always the official big Sunday dinner. I'm fortunate to still have all of my side of the family still in town (except for one nephew away at college right now) and so the traditional Sunday dinner is still, well, a Sunday tradition. And you know there's great comfort in that. Something you can count on, something dependable, something constant in your life. And as wild as the last week or two has been for us, I needed to go visit that haven. So today we strapped on Alli's helmet and headed over, though we were a little late. And you know I could have just cried when I walked into the kitchen and saw that "always able to count on" macaroni pie of my mom's. I needed that. It's a Sunday staple, and there are some upset babies if there's no macaroni pie. The only thing that's ever changed about it is the size as the family's gotten bigger.
It's funny how traditions play such a role in our life. And there's something to be said for them. God can use them as such a sweet haven when our lives are spinning out of control. That place where you can just relax and be you, where the week's stresses can't find you, where you can sit around the table and laugh with your family, or sit and watch the pond or the cows, or just simply sit quietly and enjoy that dependable ole macaroni pie that you know will be there as long as the sun rises and sets on the ole homeplace.
It's been a hard 2 weeks. And I so needed that time today. Many of you don't know that the night before Alli's accident, we had a tornado down our way. The meteorologists said it was on the ground right in our neighborhood. My hubby drove in it and experienced a surreal moment where the speedometer said 60, but it felt as though they were not moving and could see things blowing around him in a circular motion. His windshield was busted and we had some trees to come down. And it was Alli, our sweet baby, who while we were rushing around in the excitement of the moment said, "It's okay Mommy. Jesus is with us. He'll take care of us." How could I have known then that the very next night I would be calling those very same words back to her in desperation, reminding her of the Faith she had just the night before? Begging her to hold on, begging God to keep His promise to not leave us nor forsake us. Friend, we've walked a nightmare this past week and I just kept thinking that surely I would wake up any moment and it would have just been a bad dream. But that's not the case. It was real. And as strong as we've had to be to get through to where we are now, with her recovering now, the reality of what we've been through is starting to settle in.
Today is October 19Th. One year ago this very week I lost my grandmother and my pastor within 48 hours. That Dec. my Bug had a horrible burn on her hand that required much painful tending to and then was miraculously healed just when the Dr's were preparing to send her to the Burn Center. Then when 2008 rolled in, I began to experience some health problems that only recently subsided. I also lost a cousin tragically, and his mother, and another cousin within 1 week's time. One of my dearest friends moved far away and I felt so broken. Then as some of you know we had trouble with our new house. And then we arrive here with the tornado and then the accident. I will very honestly tell you that sometimes I feel like wearing a sign that says, "No my name is not Job." And sometimes I really have to wonder just how much one family has to go through before God will allow them to rise up out of the valley onto a higher plain to prosper and flourish, and have a time where it doesn't hurt so much just trying to survive.
But I do know my God is real. And nothing can change how I feel. I give Him my worship, and I always will because I know that God is real. I have seen Him do great things. I have seen His Merciful Hand do things that man cannot explain. And I know that the only reason I still stand here today, that my baby is alive today, is because He lives. And I know that I can face these uncertain days because He lives. I can walk in the valley, and I can be okay with that, because the view in the valley is breath taking. For it's in the valley that you can see the beauty and majesty of the hills.