inspired by my roomie, decided to make a list of things i am thankful for:
blogfans, what an eventful two hours ash and i have just spent.
we had this thing called prayer tonight at 9. ash and i hang out almost every sunday before or after this time. today, we decided to go for a little adventure...aka a ride through clinton and surrounding areas. sound harmless? you just wait.
the beginning of the adventure starts as we load up with some cherry limeades (light ice) and tater tots from sonic, drive to laurens and find the cutest airport ever. who even knew there was an airport near pc? we pass several other factories, including one named anderson (anderson what? i'm still at a loss for the rest of the name of this place, but at least it provided some amusement). we also pass the sterilite factory and hickory hills barbeque, a delicassy in these parts.
we start talking about something really interesting and continued our voyage through clinton. passing pc again, i decid to take a left before whiteford's (another restaurant famous for burgers and old people). noticing some cute houses and swings, ash and i continu chatting until all i feel beneath my car wheels is muddy goo and all i see ahead of my windshield is scary, large branches.
"stop, amanda, stop, stop, we're in the grass, stop, stop, stop," i hear ashton yell.
i'm pressing the brakes all the way and the car just keeps on going and going and then i press really hard and it finally stops. yes friends, i steered us straight into a dead-end ditch. and not just a ditch, mind you, but what i soon learn is a creek!
so then i very quickly put the car in reverse and rev up the engine. yup, you guessed it, all we got was spinning wheels. very loud spinning wheels. very loud and obnoxious and hopeless spinning wheels.
so what next? ashton decides we need boys to help. she calls brinck (who was about to enter into a deep slumber). i give him directions to our current dead end location and we wait. for about 15 minutes, i start to freak out. when i say freak out, i mean i'm pretty anxious but not yet at tears. so here's the dialogue that ensues after 5 minutes of pure, hysterical laughter, no words:
Ashton: "ok, ok, it's ok."
Amanda: "no, no, no, no. I AM SO STUPID!!!"
Ashton: "what are you worried about??"
Amanda: "that my car is messed up, that this ditch is messed up, that my parents will be mad, that my friends will consider me a liability, that i will never finish my take-home german test that was due a month ago, that we'll get dirty..."
Ashton: "ok...well i promise you we won't get dirty"
Amanda: "please pray. just pray ashton AHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!"
Ashton: "god, thank you for being sovereign even over this moment. and for planning for us to end up in a ditch. and for cherry limeades from sonic. and for keeping us safe, even right now. and for guy friends who are willing to get out of bed to pull us out of the mud. amen"
Amanda: AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
Ashton: what's wrong?
Amanda: MY LIFE IS A JOKE
right now i'd classify this occurance as a bigger deal than when my car got towed in greenville but less of a deal than say the time i almost slid down a mountain into a rock quarry.
conversation continues. we wait a really long time. i give the wrong directions, appearantly, but brinck and travis (an experienced firefighter, mind you) finally find us. it is during this time that the boys inform us that not only are we stuck in mud, but we are stuck in mud only inches away from a creek. thankful again for our lives, we get out of the car (althought we do get a little dirty...one compromise i'll make for my own stupidity). the boys put a long string/rope from their jeep to my poor baby stuck in this hellacious mud pit, they press the gas on the jeep a lot, a lot of noise happens, and low and behold, my car is magically returned to concrete!
problem solved! except for one last unanswerable question.
"so amanda, how exactly did you end up in that ditch," brinck asks.
my reply--there was no dead end sign. and it was dark, a little rainy, so of course my brights are off.
after the boys peace out, ashton drives my car to the end of the road when we notice the boys stopped beside the stop sign. we both wonder what else this night could possibly entail. i roll down my window, they point to the stop sign, and underneath that red familiar octagon lies a yellow diamond square that reads "dead end."
i am humiliated. God is good. the boys will receive brownies and chocolate milk tomorrow.
and that my friends, is the story of how we got ditched...
there are two terms necessary to understanding me and ash's current state of singleness. oh, blog fans, a few quick definitions before this post begins:
BJC- acronym for the "Bridgette Jones Club". based on the movie Bridgette Jones' Diary, the BJC is a club that celebrates singleness and the life of women without men.
CNBC- acronym for the "Christian NoteBook Club". based on the movie The Notebook, the CNBC is the Christian version of a man who is committed to love all of his lover forever. (note that the CNBC has a few major differences from the NBC. One of them being sexual faithfulness, for example. another being the exclusion of pre- and extra- marital affairs.)
so how do we reconcile the differences between these two equally valuable clubs? and how can we remain members in good standing of both of these clubs simultaneously? is such a feat even possible?
let me speak from personal experience my friends, while one can be an advocate of both the BJC and the CNBC, membership in either or both of these clubs does not define you. i am also learning that my membership status actually doesn't belong to either of these clubs, but instead it belongs to my first lover, my lasting lover: Christ. though it may be easier to claim total allegiance to the BJC or the CNBC, i have to remember that in trusting God to be enough to satisfy me, whether that means for me singleness or not, he will be faithful to his promises.
even though this confession may seem ridiculous, in learning how stupid and careless i act at times, God is teaching me that i will never measure up to this perfect, smart, put-together girl i sometimes fool myself into believing i am.
ashton and i just returned from a 2 am run to the wal-mart in laurens. on the 15 minute ride to laurens county's favorite late-night hangout, i remembered how much i need laundry detergent. last week was the first time i've washed clothes in a while; i had almost 4 loads swirling through the washers across the hall for a few hours.
as ash and i are walking down the detergent aisle, i am trying to decide which detergent to purchase. (a small side note: i HATE making decisions. i'm very awful at this process. i have to make a check-list in my mind or really examine pros and cons and, oh...it's a terrible thing for me to have to do!) for some reason, the only detergent we see is downy, so i ask ash where the box detergent is located, thinking, for some strange reason, that this type would somehow be more economical.
so we're strolling down the box aisle, and the incredible diversity of these detergents begins to overwhelm me! there are boxes and containers of detergent, all boasting varying scents and clothe-washing abilities when it hits me: i've been washing my clothes in fabric softener for the past 40 loads.
what does this mean? am i that ditzy? that dumb? that careless? how can i possibly ever take care of myself if i can't even wash a load of clothes correctly? and my clothes--i mean, i guess they're soft now--but have i been stinky since i last bought this stuff, spring semester of my freshman year?
and so yet again, i fail...fail to take care of myself, to be savvy, thoughtful and perfect. even at something as insignificant as a load of laundry, i see my need for a savior. and what a comfort to know that jesus never has dirty laundry.
A cool and somewhat obscure past Ashton and I share: a history of working for the world's largest fast-food chain--McDonalds! Yup, both of us spent this past summer working at different McDonalds in the Southeast's Mecca of all tourist attractions: Myrtle Beach. Speaking from experience, I think I am about as knowledgeable about the eating habits of travelers from across America as one could be! For example, a Canadian once asked me if we had any berry sauce for our chicken nuggets! If only you could have heard his reaction when I explained to him through the drive-through speaker that no such dipping sauce existed. But let's be real, friends, though McDonalds does sometimes get a bad rep, it isn't such an awful place to work. My hatred of the job during first few weeks of ruining people's lives (aka giving them a Double Cheeseburger instead of a McDouble) evolved into a sort of endearing tenderness towards the restaurant! I now even visit the McDonalds in Clinton instead of hitting up Sonic. Not to mention, I and a few of the girls I worked with stashed up on those Beanie Baby happy meal toys. Let's just say if I ever have children they won't be aching for those precious little stuffed delights. :)
just when we thought our lives were the weirdest, we found out tonight on the news that a lady in greenville woke up to a cow in her pool the other day. more details to come.
UPDATE: you can view reports of this insane incident at http://www2.wspa.com/spa/news/local/article/cow_rescued_from_anderson_county_swimming_pool/29840/. i encourage you all to investigate this strange occurrence.
