Someone's Pastor's Wife.

I've loved Anita Renfroe since the first time I saw her at a Women of Faith conference.  I think it was about 10 years ago?  She's hilarious.  If you don't know her, here's one of her more famous songs:




She's a comedienne & singer.  Funny stuff, and all clean.  She's also responsible for the All the Wrinkled Ladies parody of All the Single Ladies and tons of other funny parodies!

When I saw her in person one thing she said stuck with me more than anything else.  She was talking about her husband & how he used to be a pastor.  After her comedienne gig picked up, he resigned to become her road manager.  She said, "I was someone's pastor's wife."

This woman who had joked about tampons & boobs and made us laugh until we nearly peed our pants was someone's pastor's wife.  It was a game changer for me.  It took pastor's wives out of the well-put-together-soft-spoken-perfectly-coiffed-hair mold that I had put them in.

Which was good, because that's exactly what I ended up being.  Seven years ago I watched as several men of God prayed over my husband & he was ordained as a minister.  I was 20 years old, ya'll.  A kid.  And suddenly I was a pastor's wife.

I knew I wasn't cut out to be the well-put-together pastor's wife of my past.  And Anita Renfroe taught me that I didn't have to.  I could just be me, and that was good enough.

Over the years I think that has shocked some people, but I'm so thankful that I've never had to be something I am not.  I wear my jeans to church, my kid only wears dresses when someone else buys them for her, and I'm not that great of a cook.  Heck, I'm not even that great of a friend, but I'm learning.  But Jesus still loves me & still uses us for His ministry.  Even when we screw up.

So here's to all the pastor's wives that have broken the mold for the rest of us, allowing us to be who we really are.  Thank you.

Blessings & Luxuries Even in the Rough Moments.

2014 hasn't been my favorite year so far.  It started with watching someone I love go through a health crisis.  Then we ran out of oil to heat our home which made for quite a drafty 24 hours.  $600 later we had heat for (hopefully) another month.  Getting estimates from companies for switching to natural gas to heat our home ($$$$).  Getting sick myself, which rarely happens.  And not just a normal sickness that gets worse & then gets better, but this warped sickness that gets better, then worse, then better, then worse, and leaves your head spinning.  Headaches, earaches, body aches, too hot, too cold, sleepy.  I'm over it!

Oh, and then there's the Saturday night we spent at the hospital for my husband.  He's fine, kind of.  He is having gallbladder issues for the billionth time, and is now on a diet where even tap-water is on the bad list (yeah, that's not working out too well).

On Sunday he dropped a plate on the floor & it broke.  I broke.

It was just kind of laughable how many things happened to us all at once.  I'm pretty strong.  I can take one thing.  I can take two, but hit me with a new drastic situation every day for 5 days & I start to wear down.

But again I come back to the awesome grace of God.  How blessed I really am.

I have luxuries.  Time, money, a roof over my head, health.  Sure, these things aren't as plentiful as they were last week, but that doesn't change my blessings.

I know I've been writing about this topic of blessings & luxuries a lot lately, but it's really been on my mind.  And it's my blog, so I can do what I want.  :)

So tell me, what blessings & luxuries have been hitting you in the face lately?

A day without heat.

We got back from vacation this week, turned up the thermostat and... nothing.  The fan was running, but when the house didn't start heating, we knew something was up.  We were out of oil.

It was 10pm so Josh went to borrow some space heaters.  We bundled up & made sure the baby was warm & went to bed.

The next morning I called for more oil & after visits from three different oil companies for different reasons, we had it working again by 5:30pm.

My daughter was nice & warm with a sitter all day.  I enjoyed riding in the car because of the warmth.  I went out to Wal-Mart to buy our own space heater.  I started feeling ill so I took some medicine.

All day long I was reminded of people without these luxuries.  People who couldn't just call someone, write a check, and be warm again.  People who would do anything for a warm coat, a roof over their head.  Who would just love relief from that headache.

It's so easy to get caught up in life.  To think poor me.  There are two ways to look at it:


-We had no heat on a cold day & night.
-It cost $600 to get everything working again.
-I'm sick and just want to lay down & ignore the world.


-or-


-We have a roof over our heads.
-We had $600 to write a check and get heat in our home again.
-We have a babysitter who is wonderful, affordable, and truly loves & cares for our little girl.
-We have warm clothes to put on, blankets to curl up under, and TV to watch when we don't feel good.
-There is medicine in our cabinets & food in our pantry.
-Did you notice this all happened when we got back from vacation?  It was a week long vacation where we didn't have to pay for a hotel.  'Nuff said.
-We have each other.  That is far more precious than anything listed above.


The list can go on & on, but you get the point.  Life is full of luxuries.  You just have to remember them.

I much prefer when life gives me lemonade, but maybe the lemons aren't so bad if we remember all that we're thankful for.

How easily 6 months can change your life.

This picture caught my eye the other day & made me smile.  It brought back so many memories of 2013.  Thirteen has always been 'my' number.  I was born on the 13th, met my husband, got engaged & got married all on the 13th.  I was just sure Hazelnut would be born on the 13th- a week early (but she wasn't).

So my entire life I'd been looking forward to the year 2013.  I mean-- a whole year of the number 13?  What could be better?

I'm not sure what I expected to happen, but I am thankful for the year that we had.  Each negative thing had a positive right behind it to overshadow it.  I crave stability in life & this year has been full of stability.

Back to the picture.  It was taken in April at our old apartment.  If you had told me in April (the month taxes were due. mind you) that we'd be in our own house right now I would have laughed.  Even Josh, the big dreamer, probably would have laughed.  Some unexpected taxes had battered our savings & although we knew we could save it again, a down payment & mortgage was just out of the question.

But six months later, we were signing a large stack of paperwork & painting our new house.  Two and a half months later I'm still in shock.  God's blessings have been so great this year, I can't even understand it.  I'm so thankful for it.


The apartment seems like it was years ago.  Our house has only ever know one other owner.  We hear stories about the family that lived there-- all wonderful, heartwarming stories.  They raised their children there, grew old together, and you can feel it as soon as you walk in.

I can't wait to continue that tradition & I'm honored to be a part of it.  Here's to many more fantastic years.

Six months can easily change you life-- for the better or for the worse.  Life is fragile, and I'm thankful mine was for the better & pray that continues.

Dear _____________,

Dear _____________,

Ten years ago, our church hired a new pastor.  He was vibrant & excited to take on the job.  We were all excited, after looking almost two years for the perfect pastor for us, we finally found him!

But you... I remember what you said to his wife.  Don't let us suck you dry.  Don't let him die 20 years too early of a heart attack.  Okay, so I'm paraphrasing, but that was the general gist of it.

It had never occurred to me the toll that a church takes on its pastor.  One man, trying to do it all.  Our church had about 300 people, which was large for our area.  If someone was sick, he made the calls.  I remember once he did something like 10 funerals in 2 weeks.  Others helped, of course, but a lot fell on the pastor.

I want to thank you.  Thank you for sharing this insight with me, even though it didn't apply to me at the time.  First of all, I learned to appreciate our pastor in a whole new way.  What a huge job!  Secondly, I was soon to meet Mr. Fowler, my future husband.  And within two years, he would be playing a pretty major role in a church, thrusting me into the world of being a ministry wife.

The other day I read this article.  Seven Lies that Ministry Wives Believe.  Although I've struggled with some of them a little bit, none have ever been a huge struggle for me, and I firmly believe it's because of the foundation that you set all those years ago.  The kind warning you gave to a ministry wife, emphasizing the importance of protecting your husband so that he can continue on his mission from God.  The importance of protecting your family.

I wish I could remember exactly who you are.  There are about 5 ladies that I have it narrowed down to.  Please know, I'm thankful.  Being a ministry family is tough & often requires a lot of extra time, but you remind us that we need to put it all in perspective.  To have a servants heart, but also to keep ourselves strong to keep on going.

I'm also very thankful that God has called us to a church with many pastors, all taking a piece of the role.  With 3500 people, one, two, or five pastors just can't do it all.  We have pastors in place to take care of needs, but we also encourage our members to serve each other like a pastor would.  I love that!  When we were in the hospital when our daughter was born, the Chaplain came by to ask if we wanted her to notify our church.  It was almost comical because we'd already had so many visitors from our church.  The church as a whole cares for each others needs, not just the pastor.  It's wonderful.

So thank you.  Thank you for instilling these things in me at a young age, not knowing how important it would be for my future.  Thank you.

-Susan

Getting Ready.

Have you ever felt like God is working in you?  Like... He's got something He needs you to do, but you're not ready for it yet.  So He brings people into your life, puts you in certain situations... just general gearing you up for something.

That's what going on for me right now.

It's a really long, intricate story, but in one word, it's compassion.

Over the past year God's taught me a huge lesson in compassion, brought new friends into my life who show ginormous amounts of compassion, and has been speaking to Josh about the same thing.

Like, woah.

This past week was when we realized it.  Several conversations we've had lead us to realize that God's been working on both of us in the exact same area.

I have no idea what we're getting ready for, but I'm a little scared.  Not super scared, because let's face it, every time we follow God life only gets better.  Mostly, I'm scared because every time God speaks to us like this we end up moving to a different state, and I really don't want to move again-- I love it here!

During church this last week I was sitting in the back row struggling with these thoughts.  Wondering what God is gearing us up for, and how much it's going to cost.  We recently had to make a big choice as to whether to trust God or try to do our own thing-- and trusting God involved a huge financial setback.  My amazing husband guided us in the right direction and we trusted God.  Why did I ever waiver in that?  Why?  Immediately all the struggles that we'd dealt with melted away and God has replaced 50% of those finances within the past month.

Which leads me to the biggest thing.

A house.

We've been wanting to buy a house for the past 6 years.  No joke.  6 years ago we had a realtor & looked high & low for the perfect house.  We even put an offer in on one or two but something always happened (thank goodness!) that it didn't work out.  Turns out, it was a great thing because soon afterwards we moved to a new state.  Rented an apartment & oogled over all the gorgeous, fairly cheap houses.  Repeat the move to another state, new apartment, oogle at even cheaper, just as gorgeous houses.  Repeat the move to another state... you get the picture?  We are still living in an apartment.

Truth is, we like living in an apartment.  I get scared living in a house-- with an apartment there are always people nearby.  We don't like doing maintenance or mowing the lawn-- hate flowerbeds and landscaping!  And apartments are usually right off the main road-- saves gas going to work!

But we hate just throwing that money away every month.  We dream of buying a house, working hard to pay it off early, and not having a house payment at all!

But in the back row on Sunday, God reminded me of something.  So what if we're throwing that money away.  So what.  He's going to provide for us anyway.  And if He is the one footing the bill, then why does it matter to us?

So just like that, I'm no longer thinking about buying a house.  I'm no longer looking up real estate listings just to see what's out there & what the market is like.  Do I want a house?  Oh yeah.  But if God wants us to have a house, then we'll have one & He will show us when it's time.

Kind of freeing, actually.

If you're the praying type, I'd love if you'd keep us in your prayers!  Pray for us to have compassion & for God to show us clearly what it is He wants us to do.  And since I'm still human & a bit selfish, can you also pray that it doesn't involve moving?  ;)

The 7 Year Itch

Seven years.  Seven!  Today marks our 7th wedding anniversary and man, do I ever love that guy more & more every single day.

Ten minutes into our anniversary he asked me, "So, do you have the seven year itch?"

I laughed.  I was about to ask him the same thing.  Truth be told, I'd been thinking about it for our past two anniversaries.  It's not that I was scared, but just a little curious as to whether we'd feel that tinge.

And the answer?  Not at all.

Truth be told, I feel more attracted to him than I ever have before.  More in love.  More secure.  More like a family.  We've always been a team & we still are... but stronger.

We're definitely in a comfortable spot in our marriage.  At least once a week we'll accidentally wear matching outfits.  We come up with the same 'new' ideas at the same time.  It's great, actually.  One of us will have a wild idea and the other one is already on board.  We know what makes each other tick & try to avoid those thing.  We're not as headstrong towards each other.

Also?  We've started finding pictures of ourselves & can't remember when they were taken.  That's right... we're getting old.

We know the photobooth is in Gatlinburg, Tennessee, but we're not sure if we were married or not.  It kind of looks like Josh is wearing a wedding ring.  It was definitely a day trip.

People ask us a lot about how we do it.  What marriage is like.  How it is to come home to the same person every day for seven years.  

It's all God.  Keep God in the center, and everything else will work itself out.  And coming home to the same godly man everyday is a dream come true!

The only question Josh had for my friend when she handed him my number was, "Is she a Christian?"  When she told me that, I knew he was different.  I am so blessed to be his wife.

Why I Don't Sing with my Husband.

"Why don't you sing with your husband?"

"Why do you & your husband go to different churches?"

"Doesn't it bother you?"

My husband works at a church. He is a worship leader at one of our church's three campuses. Last year I auditioned to sing as a background vocalist & they had an opening to sing at the new campus, but not the one where my husband leads. So I started singing at the new campus & I love it! But I get a lot of questions & people look at me like I'm crazy sometimes.

Photo Courtesy

You see, when it comes to volunteering, it's not about being glamorous or hanging with your friends (or husband). It's not about convenience. It's about serving God & others. It's about being available. When we first moved here 2 years ago I said I would volunteer wherever I was needed. At first, that meant standing out in the freezing cold, collecting cans & packing them in boxes. Then the preschool department called dibs on me so I worked in various aspects there until I finally landed on leading worship for 2-4 year olds. It was fun... even if I did have to wear an orange shirt!

But after a year & a half, I finally got up the nerve to audition for background vocalist. I love singing but I had a few fears:

1) That I wouldn't make the cut.

2) That I was auditioning for the wrong reasons.

Photo Courtesy

I was scared that I just wanted to be in the spotlight. That I just wanted the attention. I love attention & am naturally an extrovert so I really had to dig deep to make sure that I was doing it for the right reasons.

After a lot of prayer, I realized that I really will volunteer anywhere so long as my daughter & family life don't suffer from the time commitment.

So once I made the band, we soon realized that there were not going to be any open spaces on the worship team my husband leads. Not only that, but there is sort of a waiting list for it & I'm 2nd on that proverbial list.

And here I am. Singing at a totally different campus from my husband. And I love it! Don't get me wrong, I'd love to sing with him, but here I'm forced to be out of my comfort zone. I'm meeting new people & enjoying the friendships. Heck, the new campus is actually much closer to our house so that makes it even easier. Did I mention that the stage is bigger, there are more seats, & everything is brand spanking new?

Everything is for a season & this is our season. I'm sure we won't be at different campuses 10 years from now. Plus, it's not like we can sit in the service together anyway, so not much is different other than the building I am in.

And... now I know, in case I had any doubts. I am still volunteering for the right reasons. I will go where I'm needed, not where is fun or where my friends are. It's not about me- its about serving God & others!

Guilt-Trip God?

1) 97% of statistics are made up on the spot.  Kind of like the one I just gave you.

2) God is not a guy in the sky trying to guilt trip you into sharing things on Facebook.  Or email.  His demands are more along the lines of love one another & such... not "repost if you love [me]."

If you've ever found yourself reposting something like this, I encourage you to reconsider.  It's not that I don't want God's love shared... I just don't see how this is showing God's love.  It's a guilt trip to try & get other Christians to repost it.

Instead, why don't we go out, find someone who doesn't know God's love, & show it to them?

I include myself at the top of the list of those who need to work on this.  Sure, I may not repost things like this on Facebook or email, but how often do I purposefully go out to show God's love to another person?  I think there's no better time to start than now!

Thankful Beyond what I can even Comprehend.

Since it's Thanksgiving, I'm pretty much required to write about what I'm thankful for.  I tried to do a neat spin on it, but there's something awesome about just being truly thankful for all the boring things in life.  Except, you know, my life isn't boring and all.  ;)

Last year I was a little emotional on this day.  Everything in our house was packed up and it was the last holiday that we were certain we would see our family.  I mean, we knew that we'd see our family on future holidays, but we didn't know which ones, or how it would work out.  An 8 hour drive is much further than a 1-3 hour drive!

But still, I was thankful for the new adventure in life.  We knew that this was the final step for us.  The final move (at least for a long time), and I'm thankful that we still feel that way after a year.

I'm thankful for our amazing God.  He is incredible!  I mean, we aren't that great of people, and still... we have an absolutely ridiculous amount of blessings.

If you'd told us last year we'd be expecting a little one in January, I'm not sure we would have believed you.  Truly, we would have squealed in  excitement, but wouldn't have ever guessed it.  Don't get me wrong, she wasn't a surprise... we had planned & hoped for a little one... but truly didn't think we'd be at a point financially & emotionally to have children yet.

So last night as I stayed up until 2:30am furiously cleaning the nursery, I was thankful.  Thankful that maintenance fixed our closet so I could begin to hang items in there again.  Thankful that I had the energy to clean that much for that long.  I am not the type of person that has to have everything clean, but thankfully that nesting urge kicked in around the 6.5 month mark!  And oh-so-thankful to have my amazing husband by my side.  His nesting urge wasn't quite as much, but he stayed up with me (he's not a night owl at all!), and helped move large pieces of furniture around the house-- and put the stroller together!

Looking through archives, I found this picture.  I'd put song lyrics on it... and I think it sums up today perfectly.  "You only have on life to try to find out what it means to be alive."  That, my friends, is the key to thankfulness... knowing what it means to be alive.

What are you thankful for this year?

Didn't you know? Temporary tattoos are in vogue.

Last night my husband came home from work dressed quite differently than he left that morning.  I really wish I had a before picture, but I don't typically make a habit of taking a picture of my husband before he leaves for work.

At first glance, he looks pretty normal.  He works at a church, and he does love his church (so do I!), so what's so different about it?

He had a temporary tattoo of the church logo on the inside of his arm.  Yes.  Let that soak in for a sec.

After laughing for a bit about it, I informed him that I can't pass up this "photo opportunity."  So we hopped outside for a bit to do a mock fashion shoot.

Yet another reason why I love my husband.  He's a kid at heart!

If you need a good laugh, this is for you!  This was a video our pastor did for this past Sunday's sermon.  If you'd like to hear the whole sermon, check it out here.



What is 'church' to you?

[Not] your average love song.

This is ridiculously awesome.  If you appreciate how crazy & genius a musician's mind can be, you will love this.

Life verse.

During summer retreats or mission trips in high school everyone seemed to have a 'life verse' that they memorized from the Bible.  Then in college it was rampant.  I began searching through the Bible, but never really found one verse that seemed to apply to everything in my life.  I figured there was one somewhere in there, but after a lot of frustration of trying to find one, I decided not to force it.

So I forgot about it for about 6 years.

And last week when I saw it at a mechanic's shop I realized... it applies to every aspect of my life in a special way.  It's me, and it's something I need to live and breathe and remind myself of daily hourly.

Do you have a verse like that?  What is it and when/how did you discover it?

What it means to be alive.

I made this about a year ago and came across it in my computer files.  It made me smile, so I thought I'd share it again.  It was one of those gorgeous Greenville, SC skies I always talked about.  This wasn't even taken with my good camera... it was with my $100 Kodak EasyShare (of course, the color is boosted).  The words are some song lyrics.

So often I try to move on with life faster than I should.  There's a difference between breathing and being alive... living life to it's fullest.

Enjoy the day!

Jump!

Our church puts a LOT into each service, and major holidays like Christmas & Easter they go all out.  They actually had a guy go skydiving as part of a segment for Easter.  We will do whatever it takes to get the message across of God's love.

So here are a few highlights that I captured on my little Kodak EasyShare.  I was in the front row, so the lights were heavily messing with my camera, but you can still see the main event!  If you'd like to see the full service and how this ties into everything, check it out here.  (It should be up by Monday-- if you don't see it immediately, check in the archives for the service on 4/24/2011)

And how 'bout them skis?

And in case that wasn't cool enough, here's a belly flop!  Actually, a LOT of belly flops!

Last but certainly not least, let's add a snowboard to the mix!

And finally, during the service, our pastor even jumped on it!

 How was your Easter?

This is my Africa.

I live in Virginia, but I have an Atlanta phone number, I just moved from South Carolina, and I grew up in and have a license plate for North Carolina.

When people find that out, their next question is, "Oh, is your husband in the military?"

"Nope, the ministry."

Which gets all sorts of responses.  

It makes me smile, though.

In high school I was not the one who wanted to leave my hometown.  When everyone else was making plans to leave and experience the world I was applying at exactly one university, and it was 30 minutes from my house. When Josh and I got married, the thought of living in the big city of Asheville was daunting.

So living in 4 different states in 3 years and settling in 8 hours away from my family wasn't anywhere near the radar.

But I'm glad it ended up that way.  Sure, I'd love to live in the same town as my family and get to see them throughout the week like I used to.  To hang out with my brothers on a Friday night and watch their kids grow up.  But I also see a tiny glimpse of what it must be like to be a foreign missionary.  Virginia is my Africa.  

And honestly?  It's pretty rewarding.  To be in a place (figuratively and literally) where you know you were destined to be... it's awesome!

Happy Easter!

Lessons from a car repair place.

I have quite a bit of experience in car repair places.  That doesn't mean I know a durn thing about cars, but it does mean I've spent countless hours frustrated beyond belief.

But yesterday I went to a new place.  It was a repair job that my normal place couldn't do, so a friend suggested this place.  Generally, I get so full of anxiety that I'm in tears and ready to hit the loony bin by the time I leave with a quote.  But not this time.  Why?

He had a Bible verse on the rug as you walked in.  "Walk by faith, not by sight. 2 Corinthians 5:7"

I'd read that verse, even knew songs about it (Jeremy Camp, if you're interested).  But for some reason, it sunk in.

It sounds so silly, I'm sure, but with my car, I have to walk by faith, not by sight.  With pretty much everything I do, have to live by faith, and not by what I see around me.  Good grief, if I lived by what I see around me, it would be a sad, depressing life.

I have faith that God is going to take care of me car-wise.  Whether it's providing another car, or fixing this one, or maybe even both(!), or maybe neither, but a completely different solution... He's going to take care of me.

What is it in your life that you have to (or should be) living by faith, and not by sight?

Let's Build a Bridge

In the fall of 2009, Josh and I sat in our seats at North Point Community Church in Atlanta, GA.  Smiles went across our faces as we heard what our [then] church was about to embark on.

Building a $5 million bridge.

Say WHAT?!?!

I know, I know... but when you go to a church with 20,000 people, the scale of things change.

Imagine if every single parking space at Wal-Mart was full, and all at once, every single person tried to get in their cars and leave, while an equal amount of people are trying to get to Wal-Mart and park at the same time.

Did I mention that there are over 3,000 parking spaces in this hypothetical Wal-Mart, and only two exits for the parking lot?

Yeah... that's how every Sunday morning is at North Point.  There are police and parking attendants making sure everything goes smoothly and is under control, but taking 20 minutes to get off campus isn't too out of the ordinary, and we didn't have air conditioning in our car!

So now, if you attend church, would you want to invite a friend there, or would it be a little intimidating knowing that they're going to have to face that crazy parking situation?  Or would you just meet them at the McDonald's down the road and ride in together (because that's convenient)?

And if you're not a church attender... would you go anywhere near that crazy parking lot?

Here's a few words from Andy Stanley, the pastor, about it:

As Josh and I sat in those seats and listened about the plan and reasoning for the bridge, we couldn't have been happier.  Church growth, to us, is crucial.  That's one of the many things that made us fall in love with Waters Edge... it's growing!

And I'm happy to announce that the bridge opened at the beginning of January!  That 14 months after they announced they were going to start to raise funds.

For my WNC peeps reading this... I think this would put the Hendrix Street bridge to shame, what do you think? (Yes, I realize this was a private bridge built, rather than government... did I mention this one is 800 ft long?)

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If you're interested, there are a few videos at the bottom of this page -- mainly "Not everyone has a Jet-Pack" and "How do you Fix Traffic at North Point?"--- that are funny and also show a piece of the crazy parking lot at North Point.

Dangerous Retreat.

Yesterday my husband spent some time away from the office with the other staff members at our church (where he works).  As he left, I found myself saying, "Bye sweetie, don't end up in the hospital this time."

Then I laughed a little to myself because, last time he went away with the staff at a church he was on staff at, 2 of them ended up in the emergency room for unrelated incidents.  So I dug up a post I'd written about that and thought you'd enjoy!

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A week before our first anniversary, Josh went on a Pastor's Retreat with the other pastor's from our church.  He was the Creative Arts Pastor, which means he got to do all the cool stuff with design and lighting and music.  And he had a really big Mac.

This retreat was in the middle of nowhere North Carolina.

I made a handy little map so you can follow me on this crazy trip.

Here is the cast of characters:

H = main pastor = adventure (was in the Marine's)

J = my awesome husband (worship/creative arts) = adventure (but completely novice)

S = children's pastor = has a head on his shoulders

K = worship/admin = feeling a little dizzy

D & E = H's wife and daughter who visited one crazy day

H & J are all about kayaking.  A kayaking adventure is born.  Did I mention H slept in a hammock all week?  That's inside a perfectly good cabin.  *shakes head*

S is a little skeptical, but agrees to go along as long as there is a raft involved.  K is not feeling well and decides to hang out at the cabin and recuperate that day.

Fast forward to the river.  The river is the blue star on the map above.  J gets caught in the current (a good thing), flipped (a normal, expected part of kayaking), loses his paddle (not good), and reaches for it (detrimental).  The current pushes his shoulder out of socket.  He is still underwater.  He gets above water, feels like he's been shot.  Everyone stares, then gets him out of the water.

They take him a little too far away from the water and when the emergency crews for the river get there, they realize he's too far away from the water, and therefore they cannot treat him and must call the county hospital.

I couldn't make that up, y'all!

So they call the ambulance.  Meanwhile, it's just a shoulder out of socket, right?  So several skilled people try to pop it back into place.  They were all unsuccessful.

The longer a shoulder is out of socket, and the more it is messed with, the worse damage there is.

By the time the ambulance got there, J was nearly going into shock.  Maybe he did for all I know.  I'm not a medical guru.

The hospital is the green star on the map.  Not terribly close.  And they only had 2 or 3 ambulances.  Three rooms in the emergency department (from my memory).  The hospital was... well... I'll just show you a picture of it's sheer size:

Image Credit

Sooo.... it took awhile for the ambulance to get there.  That's when I got a call on my cell phone.  I was in a summer class at Western Carolina University (the pink star).

It was a strange number, so I didn't answer it.  Then the same number called back immediately, which is cell phone code for "answer this call... you don't recognize the number, but it's important."

So I answered it.  And it was J, barely making sense.  He started with "I'm ok" and quickly told the story.

He had borrowed the cell phone from the EMT treating him in the ambulance.  Is that sweet or what?

Thank you, Mr. Ambulance Guy!

He said it was another 30 minutes or so before he'd be a the hospital so I stayed for the rest of the class and then headed to the hospital.

What hospital?

I called the number back.  Ambulance guy told me which hospital.  What a great guy!

But how to get there?  I didn't have GPS!  This was 2007 y'all!  :)

So I called a dear friend who knew her way around the sticks.  She got me straight there.

Pause.  Remember K?  He wasn't feeling well so he stayed back at the cabin?  Well D & E had come by the cabin and after a little bit, K passed out.  D called an ambulance.

Remember how many ambulances this county had?

Now back to the river.  All the guys can't ride in the ambulance, so H gets them back to the truck.  He then calls his wife, D, to tell her.

In what I can only imagine to be a very confusing conversation, they both realize that they are headed to the hospital for different reasons.

Once at the hospital, we realized we were taking up most of the emergency room.  What hogs.

J & K were hopped up on amazing amounts of drugs.  We took cell phone videos.  What I wouldn't pay to still have those.  And because he was wearing a wetsuit that had dried after being wet, he stunk.  Not to mention he didn't have a change of clothes.  Or even shoes.

I can only imagine what the hospital staff thought that day.

Honey, I don't know what kind of church they are, but they sure can stir up some trouble.

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I'm glad to announce that this time, no one ended up in the hospital.  I'm not sure what they did, but it sounds like mainly meetings all day.  We did have to make a call to Josh's doctor, but it was an unrelated issue.  :)