Road Trip

 So when was the last time you went on a good road trip?  It’s not something we get to do a lot as adults.  It takes too long, nobody likes to spend that much time in a car, and well we live in fast food world, what can I get and how quick can I get it.

In August of 2010 Kate and I set out on a road trip!  I was a groomsman in Stephens wedding (yes, Stephen from LTQENUICP)  in Louisville, Kentucky.   We decided we were going to drive up to Louisville, and then go to New Jersey to see my Grandmother; also I hadn’t had a good Philly cheese steak in a while so I needed to make a visit to Philadelphia. 

The wedding weekend was great. We stayed at the Galt House hotel which is right downtown on the river.  We took a bike ride along the river and I got a flat tire. We also got to visit Churchill Downs, home of the Kentucky Derby.  All in all, a great time and we were so happy to spend time with Dude (which is what Kate and I call Stephen).

Since we were making a long drive, we decided to add another fun destination onto the trip. There was only one problem; what is between Louisville and New Jersey?  Well look at the map, there really isn’t, just a whole lot of nothing, a lot of Ohio and all of Pennsylvania.  So of course, our logical decision was to go up to Canada!  After the wedding we drove to Niagara Falls, which is one of the Seven Wonders of the World.  It ended up being a great side trip - we had fall views from our hotel and even took our bikes for a nice long ride.  We even went out on the maid of the mist; which gets you closer to the falls than anything else.  And we splurged and went out on the high speed jet boat that hits high level rapids (now, if only they would let me take our kayaks on it). Niagara Falls is a location that you need to get to at some point in your life. It was the second time that I had been there and the first for Kate.

Side Note, everyone I tell thinks this idea is crazy but I want to create the virtual experience of going over the falls in a barrel, I think it would be a gold mine and you know you are thinking right now I would pay $25 bucks for that.

Back to the story, next we headed to Skaneateles, New York. I’m guessing you have no idea where that is, well it is in upstate NY and we stopped there to visit a couple from the church that was part of my small group.  They live up in NY for the summer because of his work, and that summer they had twins that were 4 months early, they were stuck in NY without any friends and family so we were able to stop by for an afternoon and spend some time with them. 

Then on to New Jersey, where I got a John’s Roast Pork cheese steak, which the only thing better might be there Roast Pork Sandwich, if you find yourself in Philly don’t waste your time with Geno’s or Pat’s, but make your way to John’s Roast Pork, just make sure to do it early, they are only open on weekdays until about 3pm or when they run out of rolls or meat. 

At this point you have to wonder why I am going on and on about this road trip so much, well it really was a great time and 3 weeks that Kate and I got to spend enjoying the road.  But you are asking what does this have to do with the kidney donation.

Right, that is why I am writing a blog, the kidney donation, sometimes I can get to be very absent minded.  I forgot to tell you that the last stop on the trip was to the University of North Carolina Medical Center in Chapel Hill, NC, to make a visit to someone who happened to be in the hospital at this time.  I think you know who, but to find out more about that you are going to have to tune in tomorrow. 

You always see weird things on road trips, someone explained to me once what this probably meant, but i still think it is hilarious.

If you’re out on your bikes tonight, do wear white. ( I need a closing line, I am going to use other peoples till I come up with my own, I take suggestions.)

No one said it was going to be easy.

To quote Jimmy Duggan,"It's supposed to be hard. If it wasn't hard, everyone would do it. The hard... is what makes it great."  I'll give a prize for the first person who comments on where that quote comes from.  I will post the correct answer in a blog at a later day.

The problem with saying you are going to do a blog everyday is you have to do it everyday.  Even if that day you didn't really feel like writing yet alone talking to anyone else.  Some people might say this is like therapy but for me sometimes reliving something by talking about it or discussing it can be torture so this can be a lot tougher than I would have expected. 

Well enough for the small talk, let get to it.   We are about to make big jumps in the story, last time we talked we were engaged, the next important thing to talk about as far as this story goes is the wedding.  After 7 months lots of planning, lots of work on invitations the date was set we managed to have a location and we were all set up to be married on January 25th, 2009.  Ashley was one of the bridesmaids and she travelled down to West Palm Beach.

It's hard for me to talk about how Ashley was involved in the wedding since it all seems to be a big blur as I am thinking about it, but I know Kate was so thankful for her being a part of that special time.  Ashley had been involved in our relationship since before we were Jeremy and Kate.  It was great to have her as a part of something that both Kate and I will remember for the rest of our lives.

Here are some pictures of the wedding to make Kate happy after no pictures of the ring yesterday. 



Sorry that this blog is kind of short and not all that interesting, maybe I can get Kate to post about teh wedding, she would be better at that than me. Starting with the next blog we will start getting into when we really started going through the process of becoming a Kidney Donor. 

Kate and I could use some prayers going through the next week, we still have to jump through a couple of hoops to get the surgery scheduled. 

Matthew 7:7-8 "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened."

Engaged

Kate and I had been dating for almost a year when we left for Peru in the summer of 2008.  We had decided we were going to lead a mission trip together, we thought how cool it would be to see different parts of the world while serving the lord,  however sometimes the Lord has different plans.

Isaiah 55:8-9 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,
declares the LORD. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

When we showed up to offer our services to lead a trip Kasey Booker who was in charge of missions said it would be best since we were first time leaders if we went somewhere we had been before, so it turned out we were leading the trip to Peru (and what an amazing blessing that turned out to be for us).  We ended up with a great team of 13 people who became very instrumental in our lives and who many we are still close with today, but I think almost every one of them thought I was going to propose on the trip, including our missionary Tom Hough who wouldn’t stop talking about it.

I had a plan in place, however it wasn’t going to be in Peru, it was always very important to Kate and me that even though we met on a mission trip, that the mission trip wasn’t about our relationship.  The mission trip is about God and the work he wants to do in and through us for the Shipibo Indians in Pucallpa Peru.  Even to this point with having gone as a married couple 3 times we haven’t shared a room on any of the trips we have taken, it’s not why God has us there.  Plus Kate really looks forward to that week where she gets a break from all of my stupid jokes.

So well before the trip I knew that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with Kate, so I needed to do some ring shopping. We really hadn’t talked about marriage that much, and we definitely hadn’t talked about what kind of ring she wanted, so I had to give the best friend (Ashley) a call to see if she had any ideas.  I think her first response was pink and polka dots, so that is what I did, a diamond with sapphires and diamonds on the band like polka dots.  If I do say so myself it is a pretty cool ring ( I know I’m biased). 

So I had the girl, had the ring and if everyone would get off my back and have a little patience I was ready to propose.  So we went on our first date on a Tuesday after we got back from Peru, and I’m not sure exactly what the day of the week was, but when we got back from Peru year 2, I took Kate out to dinner at the river house, and took her back to the Singer Island Inlet where we had our first Kiss.  It is kind of funny because they both really played out the same way, we stood on the inlet for way longer than anyone expect while I worked up the courage to do what I was about to do.  So I dropped to one knee, didn’t drop the ring in the ocean and asked Kate to Marry me, there really is no feeling like it.  

To quote the book mystery of marriage by mike Mason, “Marriage is to human relations what monotheism is to theology.  It is a decision to put all the eggs in one basket, to go for broke, to bet all of the marbles.  Is there any abandonment more pure, more supreme, more radically self-abnegating than that of putting one’s entire faith in just one God, the Lord of all, in such a way as to allow that faith to have a searching impact on every corner of one’s life?  On the level of human relations, only one act of trust can begin to approach this one, and that is the decision to believe in one other person and to believe so robustly as to be ready to squander one’s whole life on that one. “

Kate said YES, and to be honest the rest of the night was a blur to me, that was all I really needed to remember. 

Still you have to be wondering when I am going to talk more about the kidney, and the decision to donate, and all of that, and believe me that will come.  But this story isn’t only about donating a kidney. Yes that is a big act, and something everyone seems to be amazed by, but it is the steps that brought the three of us this big act.  To be honest this story goes back so much further than Peru, it goes back to Catawba, it spends time in London with Kate and Ashley and there is no purpose to this story if it doesn’t bring Glorification to God. 

I will close with 2^nd Thessalonians 1:11-12 “With this in mind, we constantly pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling, and that by his power he may bring to fruition your every desire for goodness and your every deed prompted by faith.  We pray this so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ”

Wanna Get Away

I was wondering what was the worst thing that can happen to you at a restaurant is.  I mean I waited tables for years, I’ve dropped chili on people at Chili’s, and I’ve spilled plates down the back of a lady at a 5 star resort in Florida (the Breakers), but until today I am not sure I have every had anything like that happen to me. 

I was at Shane’s Rib Shack with my coworkers, my chicken tenders were considerably late and when the waitress handed the basket to me.  As I was putting it down on the table it clipped my straw in my drink and knocked the cup over into my lap.  I had water all the way down to my shoes, and I looked like someone with a bladder problem who couldn’t find a bathroom.  On the other hand it is a great story to start a blog with and a new way my coworkers can make fun of me.  

So back to the story.

Over the next year LTQENUIKP(in English, Team number four is number one, Peruvian Soda, Pants, just doesn’t work the same) tried it’s best to keep in touch.  Ashley went home to North Carolina, and after several months the 3 of us in south Florida thought we should make a trip to get the group back together. 

We met in Charleston, for a weekend, went on some big military boat, because everyone but me enjoys Museums, continues are love for Karaoke with what I am sure were some embarrassing song. We also had some very good meals including the very nice Magnolia, and another famous one you might have heard of, waffle house.

The second trip we made was too Salisbury, North Carolina the well known town and were the world famous school Catawba is located.  This is also where Kate and Ashley went to school and where they met.  It is a lovely town that is famous for several things, like College BBQ, Tokyo Express, and being the location of where Food Lion started.  It’s funny to think that Kate went to a school in the hometown of a store that I was once banned from for shoplifting (probably should have left that story out, but it’s too late now).

This was pretty much the end of LTQENUIKP, Ashley still lived in NC, Stephen left for Grad School in London, and Kate and I were dating in west palm beach.  I guess we should have known this day would come.  To quote the well known musician Dell Paxton, “Ain't no way to keep a band together. Bands come and go. You got to keep on playin', no matter with who”.  So even though we lost LTWENU, Inca Kola and Pantalones kept on truckin (I knew that sounded wrong but I’m going to stick with it). 

I’m going to end at this point, just a short blog today, but you are definitely going to want to tune in tomorrow, you will get to hear the engagement story.