Roadkill = ....Dinner??

Yes folks. 

In my part of the country, it sometimes can be.

Fortunately for me, I narrowly avoided such a tragedy last week.

Picture it:

CajunGuy behind the wheel of our car, traveling down the road to get his Mom's house when all of a sudden a furry white animal with long, floppy ears hopped into the middle of the tree-lined road. When its eyes met with the headlights of our oncoming vehicle it froze. I, of course, screamed like a little girl and grabbed on to the seat in preparation for impact, praying and promising God all sorts of things if we could only miss this defenseless creature. (But really, what kind of damage could a rabbit do to a vehicle? I really need to get a grip sometimes! LOL)

Then it happened.

CajunGuy swerved hard. Except he was aiming for the rabbit! I'm not sure how, but he missed it. He flippin' missed it!

Then I heard the words no person EVER wants to hear:

"Dang! That would have made a good stew!"

Ummm....what?!?

I did what any normal person would do and laughed at his comment. When I didn't hear him laughing with me I got scared. Really scared.

It's time for me to start checking the tires of our car the next time he cooks and claims it's "chicken".

Long Time, No See!

As you can very well imagine, things have been busy here in Cajun Country.

For starters, I am officially Mrs. CajunGuy (yay!)

Then there was the moving of stuff. Can I just say how thankful I am that part is over?!?

It's been almost 10 weeks since we became Mr. and Mrs. and it's still hard to get used to my new last name. I just got to the point that I answer to it.

But it's been a good adjustment filled with lots of growth and plenty of opportunity. 

Isn't God so faithful?

And to my favorite Cajun:

Happy 80 Day Anniversary! I Love You!

Dirt Road Lesson: Freedom

I will officially become Mrs. CajunGuy this Saturday!

Can you believe it?!?

As the day gets closer, I find myself tackling huge projects in order to move.

The biggest project being packing my stuff.

I find it to be the thing I dread most. My reason? I have stuff. Lots of stuff.

Some of it I didn't even know I had until I started cleaning and packing.

It got me to thinking: If I've lived this long without it, would it really hurt to throw it away?

In the past, I have pushed that thought to the back of my head, fearful that somehow throwing this stuff away meant that that part of my life was over.

And it is over, I know that. But admitting it was hard because it means I have to leave the comfortable, the familiar, the secure in order to start my married life.

So I sat with my pile of old photos and momentos from my younger life and started going through them. Each one I saw reminded me of the times I had back then. I could remember each photo like it was yesterday. I was suddenly able to recall everything about it -- sights, smells, even sounds. Every little scrap of paper or item held a story.

Then a lightbulb went off in my head. It wasn't the photos or the stuff that held the memories for me. Sure, they helped to jog my memory, but all of those memories are stored in me forever, not in the stuff.

I looked again at my pile of stuff. And with a finally unburdened heart, I threw it out. I kept the photos, because they hold a special place in my heart. But the stuff? The paper and the trinkets and the rest of it? I threw it. 

I had to start somewhere. It lifted an incredible amount of weight off of my shoulders and I smiled with the realization that my memories, my security, go with me wherever I do. I can access it whenever I need it and I am no longer weighed down with the baggage that comes with too much stuff.

Like Dr. King said in his infamous speech, "Free at last! Free at last! Thank the Lord, I'm free at last!"

Yes, thank you Lord for setting me free!

John 8:36

So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.

What freedoms will you claim today? I'd love to hear!

Dirt Road Lesson: Attitude Is Everything

Can I admit something here, y'all? 

My attitude stinks sometimes. I mean bottom-of-the-trashcan kinda stink. Not pretty.

At times I have the inclination to believe that my sometimes rough circumstances cause my bad attitude. I have been known to sulk, pout and withdraw during these times. 

It doesn't make anything better. In fact, it just makes them worse. 

CajunGuy's job takes him away from home for days (sometimes weeks) at a time. It has been a difficult adjustment to say the least. There are so many times that he misses appointments, holidays and important dates in order to go to work. 

I'll be honest: I hate it.

I will also extend my honesty to tell you that it often is not as bad as I make it out to be.

It could be worse. He could be out of work again. He could be permanently injured. He could have to work in a dangerous foreign country for weeks at a time like so many people we know.

The thing that makes it hard is something I have control over: my attitude.

It makes or breaks my whole outlook.

It is not my circumstances that dictate my attitude, but rather my attitude that determines my circumstances.

I can choose to pout and get angry when CajunGuy has to leave and that does nothing except hurt me and hurt the guy who is already heartbroken that he has to miss so much just to provide for us. Or I can choose to be thankful for a guy who loves me enough to work so hard to support me. 

Either attitude will get you somewhere, but is it somewhere you want to be?

Today I choose gratitude.

What about you? What attitude will you choose today?

Dirt Road Lesson: Expectations

Funny how any well-organized plan can be changed...and fast!

CajunGuy and I had our guest list for the wedding all planned out. 

Invites were printed.

Addressing had begun.

Then it came to a quick end when I realized we were about 5 invites short.

What?!?

Now it's not my policy to freak out (much...) when I am thrown a curve ball.

I was sure we needed 75 of the 100 invites that were printed.

I was sure I had not miscalculated the number of guests.

(Believe me when I tell you that. My perfectionist personality wouldn't let me miscount, haha).

I was also sure that the printer had sent us the correct amount in the first place.

In my world, 100-75=25.

In theory, we should have 25 extra invites.

So I counted the guest list (for the 63rd time).

Where in the heck did those extra 30 guests come from?

I'm sure I have no clue. 

Expectations come with a price if they're not grounded in reality, don't they? My expectations brought along its friends, Mr. Confusion and Mr. Frustration. I expected things to go right. I expected it all to happen the way I planned. And I expected that I had control of everything.

Guess I should have expected that I should expect none of those things.

Ouch.

My perfectionist heart wants things to be orderly and in my control. And each time I grasp for control, the rug of life is pulled out from under me by God Himself. He wants me to trust that He has everything taken care of and doesn't need help from a pushy broad like me. ;-)

I kid, but there is some truth in my statement.

It's exhausting trying to juggle everything in my life all at once.

It's better left to God. He never disappoints.

Which makes me wonder, if He is juggling everything not only in my life, but in the lives of the approximately 7 billion people on this Earth, how many hands does He have?