5 Weeks and Counting....

Just a quick update on the everyday life of The Ray's.

So Doug graduates 2 weeks from tomorrow (Saturday). Man, the past four years have flown by. We were talking tonight and it seems like yesterday when we found out he got accepted and now he is graduating. It's been a fun ride and I have made a lot of great friends along the way. When people used to say, "it will fly by", I kind of thought "no way"! 2009 seemed so far out of reached and now here we are.

I have 5 weeks and counting left, living and working in the state of North Carolina. I have to say, if you asked four years ago, where I would be in 5 years, it would not have been Pennsylvania. I am excited about this step though. It's just funny to me how things change so much in that amount of time. I was never planning to move to Raleigh and I did, then I was planning on moving right back to AC and now I'm not, and then I have a 2-5 year plan to be in PA, so we will see where that plan ends up. I beginning to think there is much sound in my planning, or at least the follow through. But I am happy where my life is and excited to take this step. I feel a very "green" life in my future.

We will also be celebrating our 5th anniversary in three weeks! Of course, since we are going to the beach after graduation, we will be celebrating our anniversary with 16 or so of our closest friends. Not a bad way to celebrate I suppose. It does seem odd, that if we stick to the 5 year end of the plan, I could be celebrating my 10th anniversary in PA. Wow, that's kinda scary. I don't know which is scarier; that I will be in PA still or my 10th anniversary. That just makes me feel old already. It is hard to believe sometimes that Doug and I have been together almost 7 years. Where does the time go? And how have I put up with that boy this long (that's for you honey)!?!

Well, other than all the packing and planning, that pretty much sums it up. Although, this has all been keeping me plenty busy. And I am sure with all the school events in the next two weeks, I will not be bored anytime soon.

As always, thanks for following my sometimes thoughtful, sometimes random blog. (and ignoring all my grammatical mistakes)

26 years of life.......

Emotions run deep with surreal feeling of everything the past 26 years have given me. I feel oddly emotional and thankful for the fact that tomorrow I will celebrate my 26th birthday. I am not normally one who thinks much about getting older. It is a simple fact of life. However, I cannot help but to be thankful for all the things God has granted me...

When I look at the world we live in, sometimes I wonder how my life ever turned out like it has. I do not measure success in the amount of money I bring to the table, but with the amount of love and experience that has been afforded to me. In a world full of chaos, deceit and poverty, I have conquered Everest. I have waded through the deep and dark to rise above and see the sun. I have walked a long and narrow path, with the love my mother taught me, to carry me through. I have drowned in the sea of worry to break free of the surface and hold my head up high. It is with the grace of God, my family and friends that I am who I am today. Thank you to all who have touched my life in one way or another.

As thankful as I am to the gift of fortune, I am still sadden with those who struggle. The heartbreak of those who will never see 26 years. I am weighted with pain for the Mullis'. They sit in silence and struggle for their son's life everyday. Ethan Mullis, not even 2 months old, has fought for more in his life time, than has ever been asked of me. So for my birthday, as a gift for me, I ask that you pray that he may see 26 and beyond. Pray that he have the chance to live a full and happy life that I have lived. Financial times are tough, but this is one gift anyone can afford, whether you know the family or not.

Learn more about Ethan and his struggle for life at Signs of Life
http://joyemullis.blogspot.com/

On a happier note, thank you all for the birthday wishes and cards thus far! It means a lot to have such wonderful friends in my life!!! The world would be the same with out you.

Things fall apart....

Why is it that we are so close to the end and everything seems to fall apart?

I have to say that I am over a lot of things recently. For instance, my oven. Granted, I do live in a rental so I could have possibly gotten this fixed, but it such a pain to have to deal with our landlord/rental agent, that it hardly seemed worth my time to get this fixed so close to moving out. Now after trying to bake five simple pork chops for almost an hour, I am tempted to have an "office space" moment with the stupid thing. It has been on the fritz for a bit now, but it's becoming a pain in my side. I just want to eat dinner, is that such a hard thing to ask. Oh, of course, that seems to be the answer at hand, "Yes"! It is refusing to cook things as it should. So now here I sit, ranting on my blog, about the annoying inconvenience.

And then there is the dryer. Oh the dryer. This unfortunately belongs to me, so there is no one but myself to pay for this faulty machine. When we moved here from AC, Doug did want to pay to have a gas hook up installed in a rental property. At the time this made sense. Now I think I have spent more money in electric bills, than it would have cost to install it, I regret the decision. We traded dryers with my sister in law so that we could have an electric. My nice, large capacity, gas dryer is long gone. In it's place, a smaller, electric one that takes up to three cycles these days to dry clothes. That is, if it doesn't decided to stop for no apparent reason.

All the while, we are so close to moving and major shortage of cash, so I am stuck. Stuck in this impending Hell of machines that refuse to see my point of view. I just want dry clean clothes and dinner on my table. I suppose I should be thankful that I have the clothes or the food at all, but it is hard to see that, when suffering from my lack of "status quo"

PS. Thanks for being such a trooper to read my babbling annoyance at the modern day technology!

Dynamic Water.....

As most of you know or have read, my brother is in the process of trying to drill a well in Kenya. I very much support the efforts to bring clean water to those in need. Water is the very essence of all things taken for granted.

So I just wanted to write a little spot for him that the website is up and you should go check it out! It is still in production, but you can see what all is going on. A heads up that there will soon be an online "yard sale" in which all profits will go towards the money needed to drill. I will post more about that when the details are set. Please go to the website and check it out. And think to yourself how different life would be, if everyday you walked miles carrying whatever container you can find, just to reach dirty water for survival. Water that is infested with Giardia and God knows what other diseases. Imagine if you spent everyday watching your child never grow, and suffer in immense pain. These kids are lucky if they even still have parents. Think about the good life you have when you lay your head down on your pillow tonight and go to sleep.

I know we all think times are tight right now, that the economy is poor and we are in a recession. But what if there were never an economy, never house to call your own, and never a drop of clean water to quench your thirst. We can all do something, or continue to detach ourselves from the world we live in.

Go and see what could be...... Dynamic Water

Strange things happen in the middle on the night.....

I thought I would share this funny story. It's had my laughing to myself all day.

Sometime in the middle of the night, last night, I was dreaming as usual. I have no idea what was going on in that head of mine, but I did something I have never done before. The funniest thing is, I remember doing part of it, but not everything.

Doug and I were sleeping peacefully, well at least he was, until I jerked his pillow from under neath his head. I remember try to pull really hard on the pillow but it wouldn't come out! I guess somewhere in there it finally gave way. I only remember the struggle and then a second later Doug was asking me what the heck I was doing. His story is that I took the pillow and when he awoke I had it over my head and then dropped it on my face. I guess that's what woke me. The next thing I know is that I was sitting up and knew that it was his pillow. So I said "sorry", handed back to him, rolled over and went back to sleep.

Sometimes I wish I had a video camera, this would have been hilarious to see. Now I just wish I could remember the dream and why it prompted me to steal his pillow. If nothing else, we had a great laugh about the story this afternoon when we got home from work. Still, just thinking about it makes me smile.

Strange things happen in the middle of the night....at least when you sleep with me!