I think that's what we have here. I wasn't being vague in my last post for the sake of cruelty, I was being vague for the sake of discretion! I was trying to be careful about what I said--I don't ever want to speak ill of anybody or say something that would negatively affect somebody's view of somebody else. But apparently I have whetted the curious appetites of some of the blogging crowd out there! In reviewing the situation, none of my blogging buddies have ever, or probably will ever, meet the parties in question and the chances of the people themselves actually reading my blog are about one in a billion... So let's throw caution to the wind and blurt out all the gory details!!! Ha!
Actually, I don't know that there's really all that much to tell. It's much, much more what I felt than what I experienced. I met a couple, Bobby and Betty, we'll call them. They were rather dirty and unkempt in appearance and just seemed to be the kind of people who have a pretty rough lifestyle. We shook hands and introduced ourselves and spoke with them for a few minutes. Betty just looks sad and miserable, her face drooping down into a permanant frown--and she rarely if ever makes eye contact; just keeps her face to the ground. She reeks of smoke. Bobby, on the other hand, has plenty to say--all of it very strange. He was thanking us for helping out a family member of his and saying how much he appreciated us and how he liked us so much (this was our first meeting with him) and how he likes everybody "who likes 'The Big Guy'," referring to God. He then pointed to a red rubberband he had on his wrist and began explaining how it is his "cussing band" or something like that. It's supposed to remind him to watch his language and any time he slips up and says something he shouldn't, he grabs the band and gives his wrist a snap. He has three colors of bands for when he moves from one stage into the next. The red reminds him of the devil and just makes him mad, then he'll wear a blue one that reminds him of something else (apparantly it didn't remind me of anything since I can't recall what it was!) and then a white one to remind him of who he's doing this for--God. Weird. Anyway, James and I both left our little encounter with the same feeling: these people are weird. And that was about it. But you always want to be a good witness and hope that something you say or do will help them to see God and perhaps their need of Him, you know?!
Okay, do you all feel better now?! You're probably sorely disappointed. You were probably expecting some fantastic and hilarious story about the freaks with the mohawks at Wal-Mart or something. Sorry, this is the experience I had, so that's all I've got for you!
ANYWAY, today has been a much better day. Oh, and the news I've been dying to blog about but haven't been able to...!!!
We church folk here in Andrews decided several weeks ago that we wanted to paint Tammy's living room for her. She had this one wall that was a dark orangish-brownish kind of color (from the previous owners) and has had a hard time figuring out how to decorate in there because of it. She's never really done much painting and for some reason painting always seems like a huge project to people who haven't given it a shot. It's like telling them to build a deck out back. "Who, me?! I can't do that!!!" Anyway, we've been planning this for the past 6 weeks or so and were waiting for Tammy to skip town for a few days so we could get to work. ;-)
She left last Wednesday, so that afternoon James and I went over to their house ("Sam, give us your house key and keep your mouth shut!" ;-) Ha!), moved all the furniture out, and slopped some primer over that orange wall so it would be easier to paint over. The next day Stacey came from Odessa and she and I painted the living room and got to work decorating it. There was a big picture at Aunt Sue's store that Tammy had said she loved, but knew it wouldn't work because of that crazy wall. Well, we all went in together to buy it for her and since Sue was unable to help with any of the actual labor, she donated more stuff from the store to help decorate with. How fun is that?! We got a lot done that day, then Stacey took some things home to paint and bring back.
On Saturday James took Sam to Odessa and they found an old antique armoire that had been converted into an entertainment cabinet--something Sam and Tammy were desperately in need of. And penny-pinching Sam actually bought it!!! Wa-Hoo! (He actually got pretty excited about the whole project himself and seems to love it!) Then they came back to town and ripped up the old carpet from the living room (it had several stains) and brought in the piece from the garage that somebody had given Sam several months ago. Unfortunately, we weren't able to get anybody to come over and actually install it before Tammy got home (!!!), but the piece fit perfectly in the living room and you really don't even notice that it's not actually "laid." And it's much better than the old stuff. It'll work until next week sometime when they can get the carpet guy to come install it. Stacey and I went back over after church on Sunday and finished up the decorating. Then James and I went over today and put all of the furniture back in there and did the finishing touches so it would all be ready for Tammy when she got home. It was sooooooooooo fun to do all of this--it was just so exciting!!! Here are some pictures we took tonight of the finished product...
This is what you see when you open the door.
And this is from the opposite corner--notice the brand new (but really old!) entertainment cabinet! And the mirrored shelf on the wall. The mirror on the top right was cracked, so we broke it out of the frame and put some cute little word signs in there. Neat, hu?! Oh, and Stacey painted it black, along with the frames of the other two pictures on that wall and the large shelf in the first picture--and a floor lamp that I didn't get a picture of. In fact, I had very little to do with how all of this turned out. It is mostly due to Sue's generous donations and Stacey's creative eye--I'm just the "what do you want me to do now?" girl! ;-)
This is that picture that Tammy liked so much and some stitched prints we knew she liked as well--and a candle sconce on the left.
And these are some shadow boxes and "fillings" to the left of the picture. And notice the cool faux painted wall--Stacey worked her magic there, too. She's the Mad Painter around here and she's really good.
We were so excited about it all that we decided we had to be there when Tammy got home. So we got the kids in their pj's and headed over there to wait it out! This is a picture of the kids hiding in a bedroom watching for their car.
And this is Tammy discovering her new living room! Her reaction was better than we ever could have hoped for--she was soooooooooo surprised and soooooooooo amazed and soooooooooo excited! She even cried for us! What a great friend!!! :-) Although I think she was emotional enough she might have cried over just about anything! Ha! She's had a really, really stressful month and I hope this helped her to know how very much her church loves and appreciates her. Made me think of the old Queen of the Parsonage days we used to have for the pastor's wife (always Mom, for me!) when I was a kid and how neat they were.
I'm glad that the secret is finally out and I can actually start blogging about what I've been doing! Those few days I missed last week were full of nothing but things I couldn't talk about, thus the lull around here. It will be much easier to blog now that I don't have any secrets! (I couldn't blog about it 'cause I knew Tammy would be around computers and would surely stumble upon it if I posted anything about it!)
Well, I think that's quite enough for one night, don't you?! I hope you're all satisfied!!! :-) I'm going to go join my husband. He, too, is sooooooo tired tonight and crashed in the den a little while ago. By the music I keep hearing, I know that he's watching National Treasure in there. Without me! Of all the nerve!!! I'm going to join the party. :-)
~Bec~
Later that day, kind of spur of the moment, I had to give somebody a ride over to these folks' house. I was surprised--to say the least--when we pulled up. It was soooooooo bad. Half of the siding was missing, revealing just that black paper stuff underneath, it looked sooooooo old and dilapidated and just rough, rough, rough. Let me insert here that I have nothing at all against poor people and am not "snooty" about the conditions in which some people live. I recall being in a home in worse condition than this one some years ago when we'd gone to visit some church folks. That doesn't bother me in the least--I thoroughly enjoyed that visit. So it wasn't the poverty or the living conditions themselves that made me uneasy, it was the people. Betty was standing outside screaming at the dog--who happened to be the only pleasant thing in the entire setting. Friendly dog. She shoved her arm and face into her shirt so she could light her cigarette without the wind blowing out her lighter, and she began telling me in a coarse voice how the doctor's gonna give her a patch to help with her cravings.
I helped carry some things inside and was surprised at the cement floor and filthy couch--the only piece of furniture I recall seeing in the room. Although I hardly stayed long enough to notice anything! I passed the goods I was carrying over to Bobby's brother, who also lives there. This guy looks like somebody who's been moonshining for the past 40 years someplace deeeeeeeeeeeeeep in the mountains of Tennessee...but mean. He had a long, bushy white beard and these great big bugged out eyes. And he doesn't speak, he just stares at you and will occassionally nod. I'm tellin' you, he walked straight out of an old Vincent Price movie or the Twilight Zone or something! Ha! I headed back outside and Bobby followed me all the way out to my van and then still continued to talk and talk and just wouldn't give me a chance to leave. Even after I got in the van he started talking again and made me roll the window down so he could keep talking. And I felt like he was looking around the inside of the van or something--it was weird! By this time I was feeling almost sick and couldn't get out of there fast enough!!! And it had nothing to do with the house or the things I'd seen or heard... it was all about what I felt. I can't begin to describe it, but I just felt soooooooooooo creepy!!! I'm sure some of you will think I'm just nutty or something--and I can't blame you--but I know that I have never, ever felt anything like this before. I am sooooooooo not a paranoid person and I do not get scared of people, even people I probably ought to be scared of, usually! (I'm more the kind of person to be get myself into trouble by being too careless and trusting than the kind of person to freak out and expect the worst.) All I can say is that those people (especially Bobby) freaked me out. I did not like the way that man looked at me. I did not like the way he looked at the little boy across the street. "I'm gonna go say hi to this little boy over here, he wants to talk to me--he's a sweet kid." Nothing I've said here would give any reason for anybody to think that there was anything really out of place or "wrong." But what I felt was weird, weird, weird! I never felt any fear for my safety or anything even close to that, I just felt sooooooooo creepy. And like something was driving me to get out of there.
I came straight home, found James and told him all of the feelings I'd been having (and how happy I am to have him and the feeling we have around here instead of the feelings that are over at that house!)... then I went to the bathroom and took off every stitch of clothing I had on and threw them all in the hamper (!) and took a long, hot shower and scrubbed and scrubbed and scrubbed! Strange though. I didn't feel any cleaner afterwards. I still felt so crummy and dirty and troubled on the inside. It lasted for a couple of hours, at least. I talked to James about it and then Sam called and I talked to him (he had been to the house and had the same creepy feelings), and then my Dad later on. I don't know how it is that I've been raised in a Christian home my whole life and am too dense to think of such a thing as "spiritual warfare" without somebody taking my hand and walking me through it (!!!), but somehow it just never crossed my mind that the "creepy" things I was feeling were probably "spiritual" things--and very bad spirits at that! All three of the guys (James, Pastor Sam, Dad) said the same thing--God let me feel those things for a reason and I need to take heed to that and follow what I'm feeling. They said that there could be so many reasons why I was feeling those things and feeling them so strongly--and especially since I've never felt anything like this before to take it very seriously. I have strict orders to never again step foot on that property, to keep my distance and pray for their souls from the safety of my own home-- and that if these people are to be led to the Lord (and we pray they are!), that I am not the person God will use to lead them! I was receiving warnings from God and need to listen to them. No problem there!!! I've never been so creeped out in my life. It was just weird, weird, weird.
Okay, do you all feel better now?! You're probably sorely disappointed. You were probably expecting some fantastic and hilarious story about the freaks with the mohawks at Wal-Mart or something. Sorry, this is the experience I had, so that's all I've got for you!
ANYWAY, today has been a much better day. Oh, and the news I've been dying to blog about but haven't been able to...!!!
We church folk here in Andrews decided several weeks ago that we wanted to paint Tammy's living room for her. She had this one wall that was a dark orangish-brownish kind of color (from the previous owners) and has had a hard time figuring out how to decorate in there because of it. She's never really done much painting and for some reason painting always seems like a huge project to people who haven't given it a shot. It's like telling them to build a deck out back. "Who, me?! I can't do that!!!" Anyway, we've been planning this for the past 6 weeks or so and were waiting for Tammy to skip town for a few days so we could get to work. ;-)
She left last Wednesday, so that afternoon James and I went over to their house ("Sam, give us your house key and keep your mouth shut!" ;-) Ha!), moved all the furniture out, and slopped some primer over that orange wall so it would be easier to paint over. The next day Stacey came from Odessa and she and I painted the living room and got to work decorating it. There was a big picture at Aunt Sue's store that Tammy had said she loved, but knew it wouldn't work because of that crazy wall. Well, we all went in together to buy it for her and since Sue was unable to help with any of the actual labor, she donated more stuff from the store to help decorate with. How fun is that?! We got a lot done that day, then Stacey took some things home to paint and bring back.
On Saturday James took Sam to Odessa and they found an old antique armoire that had been converted into an entertainment cabinet--something Sam and Tammy were desperately in need of. And penny-pinching Sam actually bought it!!! Wa-Hoo! (He actually got pretty excited about the whole project himself and seems to love it!) Then they came back to town and ripped up the old carpet from the living room (it had several stains) and brought in the piece from the garage that somebody had given Sam several months ago. Unfortunately, we weren't able to get anybody to come over and actually install it before Tammy got home (!!!), but the piece fit perfectly in the living room and you really don't even notice that it's not actually "laid." And it's much better than the old stuff. It'll work until next week sometime when they can get the carpet guy to come install it. Stacey and I went back over after church on Sunday and finished up the decorating. Then James and I went over today and put all of the furniture back in there and did the finishing touches so it would all be ready for Tammy when she got home. It was sooooooooooo fun to do all of this--it was just so exciting!!! Here are some pictures we took tonight of the finished product...
This is what you see when you open the door.
And this is from the opposite corner--notice the brand new (but really old!) entertainment cabinet! And the mirrored shelf on the wall. The mirror on the top right was cracked, so we broke it out of the frame and put some cute little word signs in there. Neat, hu?! Oh, and Stacey painted it black, along with the frames of the other two pictures on that wall and the large shelf in the first picture--and a floor lamp that I didn't get a picture of. In fact, I had very little to do with how all of this turned out. It is mostly due to Sue's generous donations and Stacey's creative eye--I'm just the "what do you want me to do now?" girl! ;-) 
This is that picture that Tammy liked so much and some stitched prints we knew she liked as well--and a candle sconce on the left.
And these are some shadow boxes and "fillings" to the left of the picture. And notice the cool faux painted wall--Stacey worked her magic there, too. She's the Mad Painter around here and she's really good.
We were so excited about it all that we decided we had to be there when Tammy got home. So we got the kids in their pj's and headed over there to wait it out! This is a picture of the kids hiding in a bedroom watching for their car.
And this is Tammy discovering her new living room! Her reaction was better than we ever could have hoped for--she was soooooooooo surprised and soooooooooo amazed and soooooooooo excited! She even cried for us! What a great friend!!! :-) Although I think she was emotional enough she might have cried over just about anything! Ha! She's had a really, really stressful month and I hope this helped her to know how very much her church loves and appreciates her. Made me think of the old Queen of the Parsonage days we used to have for the pastor's wife (always Mom, for me!) when I was a kid and how neat they were.
I'm glad that the secret is finally out and I can actually start blogging about what I've been doing! Those few days I missed last week were full of nothing but things I couldn't talk about, thus the lull around here. It will be much easier to blog now that I don't have any secrets! (I couldn't blog about it 'cause I knew Tammy would be around computers and would surely stumble upon it if I posted anything about it!)
Well, I think that's quite enough for one night, don't you?! I hope you're all satisfied!!! :-) I'm going to go join my husband. He, too, is sooooooo tired tonight and crashed in the den a little while ago. By the music I keep hearing, I know that he's watching National Treasure in there. Without me! Of all the nerve!!! I'm going to join the party. :-)
~Bec~
This entry was posted
on 8:12 PM
.
You can leave a response
and follow any responses to this entry through the
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
.
+of+IMG_5261.JPG)
+of+IMG_1563.JPG)
16 comments