Small West Texas Town Incident Number....

well frankly I've lost count. So this is the story of the Abilene Airport and my trip a couple of weekends ago to Memphis. I hadn't been to Memphis in over a year and my good friend from Austin or Atlanta (yeah she has moved as much as I have) just moved to Ole Miss to take a crack at immulating John Grisham in other words she is going back to school to be a lawyer. Now having left the accounting world to go back to school I know some of the exciting emotions and the scared emotions and well all the other emotions. Anyway my other good friend from Memphis I hadn't seen since her mad dash trip to San Antonio that provoked my exuberant delay of a project for my own mad dash to S.A. to watch the Memphis Tigers get slaughtered well maybe that is strong but....Anyway the point is I'm going to Memphis to see my friends. Well I had this ticket from American Airlines from a trip that was supposed to have been a fun weekend in Chicago but ended up being a miserable existence in bed with a higher than 105 fever. So I was just going to fly from DFW on Friday to Little Rock and drive to Memphis and come back on Monday no problem. Well then I found out that we didn't get Labor Day off from class. I thought that Harding was the only unfeeling school to snatch Labor Day out of students grasp of a free day of school when of course its needed to deal with the adjustment of starting back school but anyway I wanted as much time as possible in Memphis so therefore after exploring internet flight options on the AA website I got the bright idea of flying out of Abilene at 5:30 AM. I was going to have to get up at 4 anyway to drive to DFW and this would just prevent me from falling asleep at the wheel.
Now there were many clues that should have clued me into the very awful idea this was. Here are just a few of those clues:
1). There is only one small sign off of the loop (of which by the way most of the time I can drive all the way around the loop and only see two or three other cars) for the airport.
2.) The airport is on the news all the time for improvements where the newscasters say the deceiving words of Abilene International Airport and follow that in the same breath with Abilene Regional Airport.
3.) The runway is about as long as my drive way.
4.) My roomate from California flew here to interview for the program and asked where the taxis were; all airports have taxis right?
5.) Whenever I have picked up friends they are usually at least two hours late AND the short and long term parking is on the curb of the drop off drive. Most airports send cops after you if you park here.
6.) The overflow parking is on a dirt parking lot.
7.) When you drive by on the loop you look over and see the storage lot for about 20 AA propellor planes. I guess each morning they just rotate which plane you fly in. Scary I know.
8.) AA is the ONLY airline that flies out of here. If there ain't southwest I should have know it was a bad idea
9.) It has rained here all summer and all this week and rain means props can't fly.
10.) and Finally the flight was at 5:30 AM that should have been enough to clue me in to THIS IS A VERY VERY BAD NO GOOD IDEA.
but....
well I booked it and yep baaaad idea. So I actually get up get to the airport by the designated 4:30 (I've missed a flight at a small airport before because the ticket checker in dude is the baggage loader dude and the people loader dude and so an hour before is essential) Well I get there and they tell me my flight has been delayed until guess what time 8:45!!!! Why not because of weather not because of mechanics I mean after all there is a whole lot of planes to choose from, but because the pilots need to sleep. WHATT???? I needed to sleep too. I guess I don't want them falling asleep flying me but there is two of them and its a 40 minutes flight why can't they sleep in DFW?
Well I settle down in one of the 10 chairs in the so called unairconditioned mosquito infested waiting room and try to remain happy but well lets just say after a disaster in DFW because I missed my connection and flights were full because of Labor Day weekend I finally got to Memphis and had a great weekend.
However, I will have to be paid exorbant amounts of money to fly out of this hole in the wall airport again!!! (Cobbie if you read this it is equivalent to the trailer in MS airport experience!!)

Blessed

One thing that I have really been reminded of since seeing clients in the clinic here and working at the YMCA especially since both of those tend to serve a lower income population here in Abilene is how blessed I am. Not just physically, but spiritually, mentally, emotionally, educationally, etc. I sponsor a child in the Dominican Republic through Compassion International named Minouche. Basically I write her about once a month encouraging her and she writes me back and then I contribute a very small amount of money to her project so to speak for her schooling and clothes etc. I think I have sponsored her for 4 or 5 years now. Anyway, this year I decided I would send her a little extra money, a very little extra money for her birthday. $499.05 in fact in Domincan Currency which sounds like a lot but believe me in the US money was not that much. Anyway, I had hoped that she would be able to splurge and by herself something special. This is the latest letter I received from her, " I pray you and your whole family are doing well. I feel very happy to write back to you and thank you for the $499.05, my mom will buy me milk, chocalate, oats, eggs, and some other things......"
I racked my brain unsuccessfully to try to remember the last time I asked my mom to buy me milk or eggs for my birthday or for that matter chocalate. Now maybe I EXPECTED a chocalate cake but....
Anyway it made me think that even though I think I'm a poor college student I don't wander where my next meal will come from (for that matter have never wandered where my next meal will come from as you can probably tell), I don't wander if I'm going to be able to run my AC if I get too hot, I don't wander if I can take a shower or if the water has been cut off, I don't worry about having to figure out how I'm going to go somewhere I just hop in the car and go even at 3 complaining all the while bucks a gallon. I have clients that have to worry about these things. Beyond these things I have emotional blessings. I have friends that will listen to my ranting and raving, I have spiritual blessings, I have the ability and means to go to a Private college and get a Masters degree. I can go on and on. But I still complain and fuss and want more and wish I could afford this or that. Hmmm maybe we should have everything stripped away from us every once in a while to truly appreciate our blessings. I assigned a client of mine homework once for a week to write down 3 specific blessings everyday. Maybe I should assign myself that homework!!!

Seeking Input

Ok I have a question for you all that I want input on. I've been trying to decide if I should blog my thoughts and get take the chance they might influence any of your input that you are so kind to offer or if I should get your viewpoints and then write about mind. Maybe just a little bit now; basically I've been thinking alot the past year but especially this summer and especially the past several weeks about self-esteem and our worth and our worth because of a relationship with God and here is basically the statement I want input on:

"You are not worthy you are so unworthy but you are worth it to God"

Ok I can't stop so we'll continue. Now this statement has been BIG to me lately and has rung so true and I believe it. In fact I've come to the conclusion that perhaps this would be a better teaching to today's youth that the societal self-esteem and confidence that are often pushed their way that seems to throw so many expectations at them that they are trapped without any way out and no more self-confidence than when they started. However, without divulging a lot I had a client somewhat challenge this. Basically the questions that has brought up to me is basically a long the lines of 1) Are we born unworthy - now I personally think we are born perfect and make decisions to stray away. 2) Why would a loving God that wants a relationship with us give us the right to make these decisions then. Why even have a tree that we can't touch; he made us right? then why it seems purposely throw something at mankind that will be tempting, 3) Are we really not worthy? or are we just sinners? Therefore does the sin make us unworthy and then back to number 2; 4) How does this cross thing really make since anyway. I mean this loving God makes us, then allows us to be tempted, then comes and rescues us threw this cruel unhumane way that well if everything is from God is this from God? and I'm sure there are a lot more but we'll stop there before my mind blows.

Now I want to put in a disclaimer here. Before you all go worrying about me while these questions are going through my head and I'm thinking through them I haven't gone off the deep end. I think a lot of this is where faith comes in but I'd like to get your viewpoint as well. To prevent long posts you may not want the whole world to read feel free to email me at rls06k@acu.edu (that is a zero not the letter O)

I'd appreciate any thoughts.

An official 2nd Year

Its official as of 7:30 last night when the MFT class of 2007 walked across the stage at graduation (believe me I love those people but not enough to attend their graduation if I go to mine that will be a miracle!!!) I became a 2nd Year. Here is a picture of that class of hoodlums oh sorry therapists. To most of you all reading this these are just a bunch of faces of students posing for a class picture but to me these are dear friends that I've cherished getting to know over the past year. I've been trying to ignore it and just go on with life this past week but I'm gonna miss these fools especially my two awesome clinic co therapists and my YMCA co therapist and a certain GA that had her own room as well as the others I came to know well this past spring. They were fun loving and sarcastic and you all know that is right up my alley but they also cared about me becoming a good therapist and about people and it was awesome to get to know them. Now my class is in charge so to speak and maybe that is scary and maybe its not but I'm ready (I think!!!). I'm sure I'll have highs and lows of confidence but I'm ready to take over the reigns and give to these first years coming in what this class gave to me. I guess it really sunk in this morning as I took one of my co fools to the airport and one just brought me the key to the GA office. Its amazing and yet wierd to think in just one more year and I'm gonna be walking across that stage wandering where these two years that sometimes seem to crawl by have gone to....