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As most of you already know, we got a very chilling and unexpected call last week about Freddie’s grandmother, Mazie. She had died in her sleep Monday night. What a shock to everyone who knew her! We’d have never believed it if you’d told us a week before…she was such an “on the go” lady, there was no stopping her.
What an honor to have these generations of women in our lives. How precious they all become when something rattles their existence. We are so thankful to have our mothers, grandmothers, aunts and sisters. What a beautiful connection God gave us.
In all of this, all I could think was who’s next? to be honest. That ? scares me. How unprepared I felt for that call…and for the next. All I can do is connect with those I love the most as much as possible. That’s become my desire…Freddie was especially addiment that I make sure to talk to my Nana and Pawpaw as much as possible…what a priviledge.
So, here’s to Lilly Mayetta…we’ll dearly miss you.
What an emotional rollercoaster this past week/weekend has been! Praise God that we don’t function off our emotions. I would be in an insane asylum by now…
Let’s begin with Wednesday…after 4 days of new city to ourselves, Freddie and I were graced with familiar faces from our church in Madison! Our friends John and Jessica were vacationing in the Ft. Lauderdale area for the week celebrating several events that occured in their lives over the last 6 months. Lucky for us! We met up for dinner in Coconut Grove and had a great time…one of the highlights of the evening had to be when John ordered his dinner and asked the waitor, “tell me about your dolphin”…let’s just say we were rolling. Turns out, the dolphin John was referring to was actually MahiMahi…a common dish for most anywhere that serves seafood. Nevertheless, that was the quote of the night, and spurred on a snow-balling rest of the week…
Thursday, my middle sister Emily made my mom the happiest woman in the world by bringing Mickaela Abigail into the world. What an amazing thing! Another baby girl, healthy and happy parents…Praise God! We heard the good news that afternoon, got to see some pictures and sent our love. That evening, we were supposed to sign our lease with the realtor on the townhouse we’d been negotiating over. The good news was: we signed the lease. The bad news was: we forgot we had to wait to get HOA approval before moving in…big, big bummer. Not only that, but she told us approval could take up to 10 days…we were royally bummed.
Friday was for the most part a good day…Freddie was off work because his job here does the 9/80 system, and his first week, he got the Friday off!!! We spent most of the day in South Beach walking around…ate at Emeril’s restaurant in the Loews Hotel…took a long nap after all the walking, went to see a movie. Good day.
Saturday…this was the day that made up for the rest of the downfalls of the past 4 days. We got up somewhat late and drove to Biscayne Bay. The perfect weather, 72 with a cool breeze…walked on the beach, went to a lighthouse tour, ate lunch at this random cafe on the island that seemed to be pretty popular and rented bikes for half and hour. Before we got to lunch, we got a call from our realtor in Madison who’s been in charge of getting our house sold/rented…He had exciting news that he had rentors for us, for the full year who were wanting to move asap, first rent being due Feb. 1st!!!! Woohoo. Such a relief. Not that we’d been really focused on that as much as getting out of the hotel here. This was truly a God thing…oh but there’s more!
On our bike ride, our realtor in Miami called saying we could come by the townhouse and meet the owner to get the key because she would let us keep Tess there! This was a happy moment indeed…We’d been boarding Tess since we got here, which wasn’t so sad for her..just me! Mind you, the owner of the townhouse had not shown any sympathy, mercy, or compassion whatsoever before this moment…so thanks to anyone who prayed for us. We got to pick up Tess, unload our cars that we’d been driving around with more than half of our closets and random sorts of belongings. This was excellent news! We got finished with the whole procedure and were on our way to get some dinner and turn in for the night when my best friend Jaclyn called. I knew this call was coming, just didn’t know when…she and her boyfriend (who also happens to be one of my oldest friends) got engaged the night before!!!!!! YAY! How amazing…what a topper to a great day. It’s amazing to see God’s hand at work. He wows me just when I think he’s forgotten I exist…He is so good…
This is stop #2 in a Best Western. Although now, we are living here for the week until we get a “for sure” on the townhouse we want…This is the nicest Best Western I’ve ever seen, so thank God for that! Getting here (Miami) was not as bad as I’d expected, although there is an eery sense of just how small and unknown you are when you come to a new city/state. We both feel like we’re on vacation at this point.
God has reminded us both that this is His doing, He will provide and He is in charge. PTL! When we arrived on Saturday, we had to drop Tess off at a boarder (a friend of a friend of the Gibsons)…this broke my heart more than you would think. Freddie and she are my family, and to have to give her up even just for a week is really hard…mostly because she would keep me company while Freddie’s at work. Hopefully we’ll be in our new place next week and we won’t have to worry about how she is and what she’s getting into.
Miami is a beautiful city. Really…Tall buildings everywhere, ocean as green and blue as you can imagine…and a starbucks on every corner :)! We went to this place called Bayside last night that Freddie used to go when he was a little boy…it’s an open-air mall that borders this bay with tons of shops and food, live music and as many yaghts to delight your eyes as you can think of…it was a relaxing, enjoyable night. I love that there are people everywhere. I have no idea what the population is, but it’s big…way, way, way bigger than Madison, AL.
I have to give a shoutout to all the girls who threw me a surprise going away party last week. These girls, though they are young know how to love Jesus, pursue His word, make a mean chocolate cake and love. I can’t express how precious that time with them was. Plus, my sg partner Kristen allowed us to come to her house for the event. I will truly miss my time with the students of Asbury…they are in such an exciting time of life, and I will treasure every moment I had there.
Mark has been an amazing friend, and I have no doubt we’ll keep in touch.. He was the one who got Freddie involved at Asbury, took care of him before we got married…got me the job at Asbury, etc. He allowed us to stay at his place (Tess included) for the last 2 nights of our time in Madison…we are so thankful for his generosity and hospitality. Truly, God is doing amazing things in the lives of our friends.
Now that we are here in Miami, a new chapter of life has started…I trust God will continue to move in and around us, showing us what is next. We’ll keep you posted. For now, bye from Best Western.
hendersonlane 