A tree made me! A tree saved me!

I love trees!  Love all of the different shapes and sizes.  I think it is great when you can find a shape or design in a tree.  Kind of like laying on your back and looking at the clouds...pig, plane, or even a car.  There is a tree on Cane Creek Road and every time I drive by it I see a heart.  I wish I was good at photography...because I would totally capture that heart for you.

I love the idea of the "tree of life" and the "family tree".  For me they are intertwined.  The tree is a symbol of where I come from, who I am, and what makes me who I am.  It is my family.  It is all the true friends in my life.  Some branches are thicker.  These would be the relationships that are stronger and hold more meaning.  Some are thin.  The people that maybe you aren't as close with, or are a person from your past.  There are your occasional branches that fall off.  Well...and that one would be self explanatory.  :)  Your trunk is your foundation.  A good solid foundation in God.  A good mix of family.  Without a good strong trunk, your tree could be swayed.

One of my favorite places to visit with my Kenny is Charleston.  It is just amazing there.  They have the most beautiful wrought iron fencing throughout the city.  On one of our visits I bought a necklace of a tree from a jeweler that does replicas of the iron work.  Apparently though...the tree does not exist as a fence.  It is to pay homage to the angel oak.  Of course now I want a wrought iron gate with a tree on it.  :)   Here is my necklace.

Today I got a tattoo of this tree!  I wanted it as a reminder of all of the above.  I am who I am.  God made me.  I have a good, strong trunk with some really great branches in my life.  I have lost branches, continue to lose branches, and probably will lose more.  God prunes you!  He takes people out of your life.  He adds people to it.  You can handle the pruning if your trunk and roots are rock solid.  I could not be more excited about my tattoo.  It is fabulous!  Have a look.  :)

I have another tree that is important to me.  This is the tree that saved me...a cross.  Without a cross, I would not have life.

"He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to sin and live to righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed."  1 Peter 2:24  

I found a cross similar to this with the ichthys.  I loved it.  So although it doesn't look like "the" cross, it is a symbol of the cross that saved me.

A tree made me!  A tree saved me!  Something to think about next time you look at a tree.

On this day....7/28/11

I can't believe it has been three years since Capt Bowen passed.  I did not know Jeff.  I had met him once or twice and he was very nice...but I did not know him.
Three years ago  I was out of town helping at camp for the kids at church in Hickory.  I work in the kitchen when we go and we are pretty busy with all of the meals.  Our children's pastor had offered to buy us all Bojangles for lunch that day as a thank you and for all or our hard work.  We sat down for a break, and to have lunch, so I popped on Facebook to catch up.  I started seeing posts from friends all over town about a fire that was burning on Biltmore Avenue.  Friends at the hospital could see it burning and posted pictures.  WLOS was posting updates of firefighters injured.  I couldn't believe what I was seeing.  I immediately started trying to call my husband...who I knew was working that day.  And of course I couldn't reach him.  I knew he was there...because I knew.  The people at camp with me were asking if that was his district...and I told them it wasn't.  It didn't matter.  It was too big of a fire.  He was there.  I didn't know who to call.  I called his mom...but of course they hadn't heard from him either.  I became more and more anxious.  I began to see more and more posts.   The time is around 1:00.
While this was going on a little girl at camp needed to go to the clinic for what they thought was a bug bite.  It was decided that I would need to take her.  This poor girl.  As we pulled out of camp I kept telling myself to hold it together, he is fine, don't cry.  Oh man!  That was not going to happen.  I continued to try and reach Kenny on the phone (which I knew he wouldn't answer).  I had to explain to the nurse and doctor at the clinic what was going on, so if I got a phone call I could step out of the room.  More importantly so that they wouldn't think I was crazy...because I couldn't stop crying.  I know that sounds dramatic but being out of town, and so far away, I just couldn't get my act together.  The time is about 2:30.
I began to get phone calls from everyone asking if Kenny was okay...and I just sobbed.  All I could say was...I don't know.  And I truly did not know.  My phone was dying.  I plugged it in at every stop we made...clinic waiting room, patient room, car, pharmacy, car.  I didn't want to miss a call.  The time is 4:00.
We made our way back camp and still no phone call.  I tried to call friends that work at the hospital but of course they couldn't tell me anything.  This day seemed to go on forever.  I had to get my act together for dinner.  Still no phone call.  The time is 5:00.
My daughters were at the camp with me and I did not want them to know what was going on so I plugged on through dinner and tried to keep my cap down low so they couldn't see my eyes.  I could not concentrate to save my life....all I wanted was to talk to my husband.  We are at 6:30 now.
I quit answering calls because they made me cry.  By now I knew that a firefighter had died and another seriously injured.  I just kept praying and crying.  Finally I get a call from one of my dearest friends, Scott, he had just seen Kenny and wanted me to know.  I hadn't talked to Scott.  He didn't know that I hadn't heard from him...and that I didn't know if he was injured or worse.  Scott knew I was out of town and wanted me to know that he had in deed seen (laid eyes on) Kenny and he was "okay".  I sobbed.  Thinking about it still makes me cry.  It was the best phone call I have ever had.
It was at least another hour or so before I actually got to hear Kenny's voice on the other end of the line.  I cried.  He cried.  That was a hard call.
However, all of this is nothing compared to what was going on at the same time back in Asheville.  A lady I had never met before, Stacy, received a much different call.  It was one with bad news about her husband, Jeff. 
My husband came to camp the next day with all of the other parents to pick up their kids and see where they slept and have dinner.  I ran!  Literally ran down to meet the buses and into his arms.  I was so thankful to God to have that opportunity.  We stood in the middle of all of these parents, in a gravel parking lot, just holding each other.  I have never seen him look the way he did.  Defeated almost.  So heavy.  So burdened.
Jeff had many very close friends and a great family that love and miss him very much.  The great thing about the fire department (I found out) is that you don't really have to know a person that well in a case like this...you just know.  I did not grieve like his close friends and family grieved.  There is no way that I could have.  They have a huge hole in their life.  I grieve for them.  I wish that I had known him.   You can tell he was a really great guy!
I think about this day a lot...mostly when Kenny is working obviously.  It makes me remember that we aren't promised tomorrow.  It makes me try to be better.  Not go to bed mad.  And certainly not go to work that way either.  It makes me grateful when I should have been grateful already.
Be grateful!  Tell your family that you love them!  Spend time with the people that mean the most to you and who you mean something to.  Laugh!  Embrace every day!