McF Family.

Mrs. McF has been integral in connecting me to the body of Calvary and without her I would never have had the opportunity to meet with Calvary, nor would God have been able to bless me through them. It has been so cool to see God bring things full circle in my life. From my first moments of living down the street and around the corner from them to attending the same church to returning there this weekend, the McF family has been consistent participants in my life. I was thrilled to learn that their daughter R would be available to come up to Idaho for the weekend. I had been looking forward to seeing her again – and the weekend together only proved that time knows no boundaries.

I have been searching for several days now, trying to find a picture of R and me together. It was not like I was searching for that ONE picture or some picture that I was envisioning in my mind or that I remember the instant it was taken. No, I was simply looking for a picture of the two of us together where we were dressed! I am guessing that R and I must have been messy kids! Our mum’s removed our pretty dresses the Sunday we had chocolate pudding at church and on the afternoon we had watermelon in the yard and there ended up being several pictures of us during bath time! Well R, I am thankful to say that we now have a picture proper for public viewing!

We had lunch at the McF’s house after church and spent a good deal of the afternoon laughing and sharing life. I also learned how to make dolls out of lovely flowers. Mum and I had never seen them before. You know, flowers like that aren’t exactly in abundance around Vegas! Haha. However, I will be on the lookout for flowers like that in Scotland, because I now know how to make them into dancing ladies!
Even though several members of both families were MIA, catching up with the McF family while I was in Idaho was a superb highlight of the weekend for both me and my parents.

785 First Street.

The whole purpose of my trek north was to share a few moments with the family of Calvary Baptist. In the moments I had with them on Sunday, I glimpsed a wonderful scene of the body of Christ.

I walked in the door and instantly was greeted with hi’s and hello’s and a friendly smile. Once I introduced myself and said my name, there was instant recognition of who I was! It was a bit odd to be recognized as the “M” and I am still working on not laughing out loud with that revelation! I do not feel any different today than I did a year ago, I suppose that I feel a little different now than when I was a member of Calvary (but 25 years will do that to you!). I knew though, with each encounter, the family of Calvary had been preparing for my arrival – taking seriously their commitment to undergird me in prayer and love.

My time Sunday morning with my Idaho Falls family was wonderful. Thankfully, the bundle of nerves rummaging around in my belly did not keep me from delivering my presentation (the pictures went off without a hitch)! It was so fun when I met Mrs. J, my Sunday school teacher from when I was two years old! God was so gracious in showing me that even 26 years ago He was laying the foundation for me to follow Him. I was taught about the love of Christ and showed the same love by Mrs. J and the other teachers I had. Last weekend, God took the opportunity to re-introduce me to people He touched my life through. I will ever be thankful for servants of Christ who are willing to invest their lives in the little children.

It has been a long road over the past few months, working to line up churches and people to actively participate with me through prayer in the work that I am going to be doing. It has been amazing to watch things unfold between myself and my prayer partners in Idaho. I know that I can go forward fully confident that there are members of Calvary going before our Lord on my behalf and on behalf of my work.

I was so blessed by the honest love and acceptance poured over me by the members of Calvary and I know that I will continue to be blessed by them in the future.

Casa De H.

Every time anyone in my family travels to Idaho Falls we stay with the H family. We have been friends with the H’s since I was 15 months old. I can remember always wanting to wear the dresses that had belonged to N (H’s oldest) because I liked them best. We have shared many memories with the H family. It is a sweet feeling knowing that no matter where you go or what you do in life, there are some friends who stay with you forever. Spending time with the H’s always ends up being a great time of hanging out, lively discussions pertaining to the how’s and what’s of life and of course, there is always something decadent and delicious brewing in the kitchen. Their hospitality and generosity is a blessing to me and my family.

Saturday morning, we hung out with Mrs. H – going to the Idaho Falls farmer’s market, searching for warm winter clothes for me (it was a bit too early for much to be out - sad), sampling hot bread and cinnamon rolls at the Great Harvest Bread Company, where I managed to find a mix for cinnamon chip scones! Yummy! Mostly I enjoyed the coolness of the day in a quite relaxing manner – A.K.A taking a nap. Haha.

The H’s own and operate a casual fine dining restaurant in Idaho Falls called The Cellar. Since I had not been back to Idaho Falls in nearly a decade, everyone else in my family has had the pleasure of experiencing an evening at The Cellar. Finally with this trip, I was able to take in my own evening at The Cellar (rather than having to hear about all its goodness from my little brother). I do believe that MY evening spent at The Cellar far surpasses any that B may have had! Not only did I have the chance to finally eat at the restaurant, I got to go there on an evening where they were hosting live music! Live music provided by none other than Mr. H and B.H. (their second child). B.H. has been given the gift of a beautiful voice (a voice that might make angles jealous – in my humble, non-musical opinion) and Mr. H plays a mean guitar! They laugh – calling their band “a cover band with one original.” I especially enjoyed B.H.’s rendition of Johnny Cash’s “I’ve Been Everywhere!” Talk about putting a smile on your face! B.H. was a sport and graced us with several encores.

One Delight After Another.

What is the true definition of a “day trip?” I really want to know. My parents and I took a “day trip” to Yellowstone National Park on Friday. We were only 1.5 hours away from one of our favorite places to go, how could we not take a “day trip” up there? Well, for the Mizell clan (lead by a Mum on a mission) our “day trip” to Yellowstone lasted around sixteen hours!

We managed to catch nearly ALL of our favorite sights (and the ones we missed were due to road closures – not lack of attempt). We went from Black Dragons Cauldron to Fountain Paint Pots up to Mammoth, over to the South Rim of the Canyon and everywhere in between. We even caught Old Faithful shooting off at sunset! I really enjoyed seeing all the places I remember in my mind (or see in a picture). We managed to spot deer, elk, antelope and geese. Plus we enjoyed the ever popular close encounter with a bison or two.

I have wonderful memories of my family and I going to Yellowstone and it was neat to revisit those in my mind as we traipsed through the park. It was sad to be there without my brothers … one day, maybe we will go there together again.

After getting home and sleeping off the soreness of our joints, I believe that we came to a consensus that sixteen hours was a long “day trip,” but well worth the revisited old memories and newly made ones.

North To Idaho.

I've got a bit of time and I figured that it might, just might be a good time to do some preliminary posting on my trip to Idaho Falls, Idaho. Then maybe I can avoid having to compose a mega extravaganza post of the WHOLE trip at once. Good thinking, Susanna. Good thinking.

Today we drove. And drove. And drove some more!

My parents are along for this trip and we all piled into their pick-up truck (which is easier to do without B and the dog) and pulled out of Vegas about 5:30AM. It was an uneventful trip - you know the kind - a stop for gas, one for breakfast, again for lunch, gas again and then the final bathroom stop before arriving at our destination.

All very normal. Everything that is except for lunch.

We were privileged to get to stop just outside of Salt Lake City for lunch with some new friends. I met Mr. and Mrs. McK in Boise during the commissioning service up there. We clicked right away, mostly over our mutual love of Scotland! I digress ... Mr. McK was out of town at a meeting this week, but Mrs. McK was willing to meet up with me and the folks for lunch. She and her friend L took us out to lunch at the Olive Garden! It was a great time and a welcome break to the thunk - thunk of the tires on the road. I am amiss in not having gotten a picture of us. Sad I know. Hopefully, I will remedy this on Sunday with on our trip home.

Now I am in the lovely city of Idaho Falls, watching the sun set gently in the sky. Looking forward to the homemade pizza for dinner and all the other delights this weekend is promising.

Susanna 1 - Garage Sale nil.

The garage sale was a smashing success! At least that is what I am calling it. I am a novice garage sale person and do not really have any means of judging the success of a garage sale. I will choose to believe that since I got rid of a majority of the stuff and pocketed money that I otherwise would not have … it must be a success!

Although, at the rate it got started, I was not sure how I would refer to it when it was done.
Mum and I set things out in the garage Friday morning. It went well and we were both pleased with how it looked, what our prices were and how quickly we got it done. Friday night, just before we were heading out to dinner at Joey’s, someone rang the door bell. A woman was at the door wondering if I wanted “to open my garage sale early?” Open early? Who does that? I panicked because I had not been prepared for this question and I had no idea what I was supposed to say. While I was trying to come up with the answer the woman decided to wait right outside the garage door – I wonder what she would have done if I had never opened it!? I opened the garage door and she proceeded to loudly give her opinion of every item in the garage, including the items that were clearly not for sale! She finally settled on a VCR, a pair of cowboy boots (which she wanted me to prove were 100% leather, um, right?!) and a Mexican serving dish. After she paid me, she asked for my assistance to carry everything to her car. As she put the dish in the front seat, she bumped the lid and the handle broke off. She broke my pot! She then proceeded to tell me that I had broken the pot and what good was it to her broken and that she wanted her money back?! At that moment, all I could think between trying to breathe to remain calm and not yelling at her that SHE broke the pot was give the lady her two dollars and get her out of here. So I did. And she left. For future reference – I will not be opening my garage sales early!

Thankfully, Saturday morning was a much better experience. I was supposed to be “open” between 7am and 1pm. My first customer showed up at 6:10 as I opened the garage door to begin setting things out. Let’s just say he was disappointed to discover that it was a girl’s garage sale and there were no tools! We got all set up. My friend R came over to help out and Old Mrs. B even brought us some donuts! Saturday only got dicey once. There was a group of garage salers (what else do you call these people?) who showed up mid morning. It looked like they had already hit every other garage sale in the whole city! They practically came running into the garage grabbing up stuff and piling it in the middle of the driveway. They were running around speaking to each other, pointing and grunting to me as to price and mostly flustering me. The man in charge of the circus pointed to the pile of stuff in the drive wanting to know how much for the pile. I told him twenty dollars. He seemed okay with that then he started talking to me about a stereo system my brother was selling. I am sure that this was part of their garage sale tactics, because as he was trying to distract me with the stereo questions, the woman who was with him kept putting more stuff in the pile I had already told him twenty dollars for. Needless, to say after about twenty minutes of all this – I was tired and just wanted them to go! We finally agreed on a price for everything (including the stereo) and they left. I am sure I did not make out very fairly in this instance, but it was over!

There were moments of laughter between R and I as we spent the day people watching and interacting with completely random strangers. One older woman who came by was certain that if R and I got on our bikinis and danced in the middle of the street we would have more traffic stop to look! We vetoed the idea! It was also funny how many men stopped to look and see if we had tools and other man things. Most of them wanted to know where my husband was … they were certain they could talk him out of some tools! Haha. We also had to chuckle at Mum. She had put out 5 boxes of old canning jars. I think the sign said “Canning jars $15.” Turns out that three of the boxes were empty and the fourth was only half full! Neither she nor I had ever even looked in the boxes when we were cleaning out the garage a few weeks ago! I managed to sell the existing jars for $1.50.

I will have to say that I am a wee bit disappointed that more of my shoes did not go. I suppose getting rid of half of them is a good starting place!

Tomorrow, one of the shelters here in town will be coming by to take what is left. Then my car can return to its home in the garage and I can move on to my next endeavor. Which will most certainly NOT be a garage sale!

Day 14. Done.

Tuesday was Day 14! You know what that means, right!?! Yahoo, Wednesday was my day to eat what I want. If you are envisioning me gleefully running around the house like a kid in a candy shop - you would not be to far off from the truth! Think of the song by the Pointer Sisters, "I'm so excited, I just can't hide it. I'm about to lose control ... " Haha.

The problem with doing a cleanse or any kind of fast is that you cannot go to quickly back to the foods that you have been avoiding - you do not want to send your system into shock and make yourself really sick. For me, that's anything but fruit and veggies.

So while my luscious dinner may not seem like the complete carb-fest that that I so dearly wanted ... I was excited about the taste of it! I chose to make my official meal back one of my favourite staples in life.

Mmmm .. beans, cheese and a tortilla! Let me just tell you, I loved every last delicious morsel of it!

Admitting you might have a problem.

I love shoes. Period. This leads me to have a lot of shoes. A lot of shoes that I love. Shoes that I love a lot. You get the idea!

I am in the process of having to pare down everything I own to a few boxes. Which means .. yep, you guessed it .. I had to go through all my shoes and get rid of some of them. Whew! That is hard work. Just ask anyone who loves shoes, they speak to you. They speak to you in the department store, they speak to you while you are dressing for a big day and they speak to you while you are trying to get rid of them! I did a preliminary sort putting them in piles of how much I wore them or how comfortable they are. Then I quickly scooped up the ones that I have not worn in about six months and the ones that hurt my foot in some manner and deposited most of them in the garage. Looking at the pile of shoes in the garage, I was pretty proud of myself. The pride of my accomplishment quickly faded when I looked at what was still left. I decided it was time to call in the big guns!

It went something like this:

Me: I like them because I wore them here to do this or that.
Mum: When will you wear them tromping around in the mud?
Me: Never.
Mum: Get rid of them.
Me: I like these a lot. They are cute, kind of out of style and Clinton and Stacey would hate them.

Mum: I agree with Clinton and Stacey.
Me: These are some of my coolest shoes. Except I can’t wear a very thick sock with them.
Mum: How thin of a sock do you wear with them.
Me: None.
Mum: You won’t really like having cold wet toes.
Me: No, I guess they should go too.

In the end I managed to get rid of a lot of my shoes. 54 pairs to be exact! As it was pointed out to me ... that's a lot of pairs of shoes for one pair of feet. Lets just say I kept a few (will be adding a few, hehe) and will have to do a second and final pare down, but I still have five months before I have to get on the plane with my precious belongings crammed into a few boxes!

After all that I needed a nap.

Half way.

Day 7.

That, ladies and gentlemen is today. I have successfully completed day seven of the cleanse! I know, I know ... there is so much excitement surrounding Day 7 you can hardly contain it. Let me tell you, I am FREAKING excited. This means that one week from tonight, I will be eating a meal full of lovely, brilliant, wonderful carbohydrates!

Now if only I could settle on what exactly I should have. Haha.

Satisfied.

Today has been a good day. I got a lot accomplished – things that seem mundane, simple things really.

I caught up on a few emails, followed up with some phone calls, mum returned safe from her travels around the world, I went to the grocery store for more of those important fruits and veggies. I chatted with mum about what kind of Christian women we were and what kind we wanted to be, listened to the stories of her travels, ordered a new book online, played with the dog and now here I am sitting on the back porch.

I am satisfied.

Satisfied in the coolness (yes, that is what I will call it) of the cloudy sky, in the smell of the possibility for rain, in the slow simple motion of my swing rocking back and forth. Satisfied in the quiet hum of the air conditioner (because really it is still hot), in my own laughter towards the dog as he chases the hummingbirds around the yard. I am satisfied knowing that I can rest in the peace and power of my Lord. When things get rough or people annoy me, I can in His power chose to react and respond in His way and not mine. I want to lay aside my selfishness so that others will see Him in me.

This is where I am. Ready to live. Willing to go.