Alcatraz

This is HILARIOUS.

Will I leave my heart in San Francisco?

That is the question.

I am so excited. This time tomorrow (EST), Steve and I will be in the air somewhere over the western half of the United States and making our way to San Francisco. What am I most excited about? ALCATRAZ. For those of you who have seen So I Married An Axer Murderer, you get part of this. It's such a place of intrigue. Its walls and cells hold so many stories. Some of these stories will be told via the audio tour and I can't wait.

Steve and I are booked on a 48 hour hop on/hop off bus tour. We figured it was the best way to see the city in a limited amount of time! This includes a downtown loop, a Golden Gate loop and then a night loop of the city.

Another thing I'm excited about is the cuisine -- there's so much to choose from out there. Thanks to John Murphy, who lived there for a few years, we will be able to navigate to some of the local hot spots.

I'm also looking to forward to capturing images of this fantastic city with my new camera! A dream of mine would be to have some good enough shots to display in a show of some sort. Steve is really encouraging me in this endeavor and I'm so thankful for that.

So, perhaps I'll leave my heart or part of it. We'll just have to see!

Update

It was a very busy and emotional weekend. I am tired. While I'm emotionally exhausted, I am so glad I was able to be home with my family during this stressful time. Thanks to all of you who prayed, called, offered encouragement and support. It really means so much to know I have such wonderful friends.

My mom is home resting. She came through the heart cath. without any complications. Her heart is in good shape. They still don't really know what caused her low blood pressure in the first place, but every test came back clear. She was released from the hospital on Saturday afternoon. She was so glad to be able to be back home. Things are okay, but I'm sure she'll have to take it easy the rest of the week.

So anyway, thanks so much friends.

Heavy heart

My mom is sick. Yesterday she was admitted to the hospital for low blood pressure. The crazy thing is that she has a history of HIGH blood pressure for which she's taken medications for years and years. Apparently she's not been feeling so well the last couple of weeks. She couldn't go to work yesteray and her doctor told her to come in. Well, she did fine on the EKG and the blood tests. She did fine on the CT scan of her chest. They ordered a stress test for this morning and she failed. Her blood pressure skyrocketed. Now, she can't remember why she's even in the hospital. Thankfully she knows my dad, my brother and is aware of current events. I spoke to her briefly and she was terrified. Apparently my dad wasn't together enough to tell her what was going on. So, I told her. I can't explain the feelings I am experiencing. I'll try. I'm scaerd. I'm scared for so many reasons. Some of them are selfish. What would I do wihout my mom? How will this affect me? Then my mind goes to my dad. What would my dad do without my mom? Would he be okay? How would he deal with Blake on his own?
My family suffers so much. My parents hearts have been broken by their children. My mom has been plagued with health issues. My dad has been such a good husband to sit by my mom's bedside time and time again. He adores her. She is his strength. It breaks my heart to be on the phone with him and have the line go silent. I know that he is crying on the other end and cannot find any words to utter.
I don't feel capable of dealing with this. I know God is in control. How can you be a Christian without having that pounded into your subconscious. I have to tell you though, I am having a really hard time sensing His presence -- that He desires good things for me and for my family. It sure looks like we've been cast the short lot. My head hurts from crying. I need to wrap this up. Steve is coming to pick me up so we can drive to Asheville to be support for my dad. Bless him.
Facing the mortality of a parent is a strange thing.

Another Myspace real life encounter

Friday night, I had fallen asleep on my couch while watching A League of Their Own on TV. Steve was sitting/lying on the floor after just sneaking some semi-sweet morsels that I bought just for him when he comes over. He loves them.
So anyway, my phone makes the sound that it does when a text message comes in. I walk over, pick up my phone and notice it's a NJ area code. I knew it wasn't one person so I texted back, "Moe? Is that you?" Sure enough, it was my friend Monica Navarro. I know her through a mutual friend. She's one of those people that I connected with right away. Anyway, Monica had texted to find out if I was around. She was sitting over at Sir Edmund Haley's, a local pub, with some of her friends from Charlotte. Due to a security breach Friday morning, flights were cancelled. Monica was only supposed to lay over in Charlotte, but she was unable to get a flight out. Thankfully she has friends here. So, Steve (after he finished off some more semi-sweet morsels) and I headed over to meet Monica. It was one of those times where you just pick up and it feels normal to be hanging out with people you've never met before. MySpace has been good to me. This is the 4th time I've met a friend in person after only exchanging online communications. All 4 I now consider friends.
By the way, Monica was stuck here until Sunday evening so we were able to meet up with her again for Indian buffet after church on Sunday. Yay.
Oh and her friends were great too! I look forward to hanging with them again sometime soon!

Andrew the Martyr

I've been reading in this book Foxe's Book of Martyrs this evening. Really, a lot of us who profess to be Christians have no clue what the early Christians had to deal with as a result of following Christ. I'm no sure what percentage of the early Christians died horrible, painful deaths, but it was common.

One martyr's story struck me. It's Andrew's story. Remember him? Andrew was Peter's brother and he was also a disciple. Well, he died a painful death. Like his teacher, the object of his devotion and his God, he died by crucifixion.

In the book, it gives the account of what Andrew's last moments were like. Here's an excerpt from the book:

"Andrew, going toward the place, and seeing afar off the cross prepared, did change neither countenance nor colour, neither did his blood shrink, neither did he fail in his speech, his body fainted nor was his mind molested, nor did his understanding fail him, as it is the manner of men to do, but out of the abundance of his heart his mouth did speak, and fervent charity did appear in his words as kindled sparks, he said, "O cross, most welcome and long looked for! with a willing mind, joyfully and desirously, I come to thee, being the scholar of Him which did hang on thee: because I have always been they lover, and have coveted to embrace thee!"

Wow. I mean, seriously, Wow! Who in modern times follows Christ with such devotion and dies so courageously? I know there are stories, but they don't seem to be in our neck of the woods. China, yes. Parts of Africa, I'm sure. It causes me to question my own devotion? Do I love my God so much that I would welcome, look forward to being martyred for his name?

It's definitely a sobering subject, yes?

May those of us who are Christ followers consider our heritage and be thankful that there were those brave enough to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ in the face of certain death and at the very least, great persecution.