Footprints

By Margaret Fishback Powers

One night I dreamed a dream.
I was walking along the beach with my Lord.
Across the dark sky flashed scenes from my life.
For each scene,
I noticed two sets of footprints in the sand,
One belonging to me and
One to my Lord.

When the last scene of my life shot before me
I looked back at the footprints in the sand.
There was only one set of footprints.
I realized that this was at the lowest
And saddest times of my life.
This always bothered me
And I questioned the Lord
about my dilemma.

"Lord, You told me when i decided to follow You,
You would walk and talk with me all the way.
But i'm aware that during the most troublesome
Times of my life there is only one set of footprints.
I just don't understand why, when I need You most,
You leave me."

He whispered, "My precious child,
I love you and will never leave you,
never, ever, during your trials and testings.
When you say only one set of footprints,
It was then that I carried you."

This poem made me think of what all of you do for me :) you would be surprised how many of the footprints in my sand are yours

Oh, The Looks People Have Given Us. . .

For those of you at home, I've got some new people to introduce, with their standing titles, for the sake of the stories.
Maddie - The Supreme Samurai
Alex - The Scottish Ninja
Donavan - The Italian
Preston - The Dancer
Makenzie - TTB
It has long since been agreed on that Katie is the Plotter. She has definitely thought up most of the crazy adventures we've been on. So I must give her the credit for this awesome escapade. You see, it as always been a weirdo, which I saw in the most loving way possible, dream of hers to go bowling in formal dresses. Since neither she or Ryan - The Kids, as Tanner and I call them - didn't really want to go to their Homecoming, she planned her bowling dream for the night of September 11, 2010.
I had my own reservations because I don't do dresses. Katie's plans had never ended in complete disaster so I didn't complain. Right as I was about to leave my house, my little sister Makenzie (a.k.a. TTB), expressed the desire to come along. I called Katie to see if she could join and then ran down and got her dressed up in her nicest dress - because this bowling alley was really high class.
We arrived at Katie's to find her in her awesome 'Sleeping Beauty' dress, Preston in a suit minus a tie because Ryan had said he'd bring him one, and Donavan was decked out in a suit and vest with a pocket watch and hankie for good measure. We all greeted each other and began talking til the rest of our group arrived. Ryan came next, sporting a nice shirt and his skinny tie from Ebay.
"You're wearing a skinny tie!" Katie said.
"I bought another one today," Ryan informed her. "Its a darkish one."
"We really need to help you over this addiction," she said seriously.
"He is addicted to online shopping," I explained seeing the confused looks on the other boy's faces.
There was a knock on the door and Donavan lept up.
"I don't know you," he cried. "You're not allowed in. Go away."
Maddie slid in the door and Donavan slammed it in Alex's face.
"Alex!" Katie and I yelled. "We love you, come back!"
Donavan laughed and reopened the door. Alex walked in and smiled to the crowd.
"How could you come with another girl," Katie cried, stalking up to him.
"I've got two," he said, not even blinking as she brought the old joke up.
"You CANNOT have two!" Katie cried.
"Look at how many you have!" Maddie countered, gesturing around the room. All the guys stared at each other awkwardly and then busted up.
"So we're all here?" I asked.
"Looks like it," Katie said. "To the cars!"
"Which cars?"
"Which one am I in?"
"Am I driving?"
Lets just say a lot of confusion followed until Preston and Ryan ended up in Death - Eater of Humans. TTB, Alex, and Maddie ended up in Denton - The Car.
"Wait, Paige," Ryan said, before he slid into Death's - Eater of Humans - back seat. "Do you know how to get there?"
"Ryan, do I ever know how to get anywhere?" I answered.
"It's right across from my school," he said.
"Hon, I have no idea how to get to your school," I said.
"Just follow Katie," he said.
"Don't I always," I asked and we both slid into our respective cars, laughing.
In my car discussions over the song choice broke out. There were demands from Donavan and threatenings from Maddie. We reached the parking lot, and Katie decided to lead us on a wild chase throughout the parking lot. I ended up parking and waiting for her to pull away.
When we walked into the Jack and Jill's Bowling Alley, I don't know if anyone else noticed, we got a LOT of really, really odd looks. People would glance at us, do a double take and then look back. Some people stared, open mouthed, and others would nudge their friends and mouth 'Are they serious?' Needless to say, I was cracking up. We all stood in the lobby waiting because Tanner had informed us that he would be joining us instead of going through with his original plans. Once he showed up, to the immense confusion to the guy at the cash register, we all bought our two games and rented the shoes.
I giggled to myself as we walked to lanes one and two, and peoples gazes followed us, obviously noting the clack, clack, clack, of our heals and the swish, swish of the dresses. We threw all of our stuff on the table and switched out our shoes. Donavan, Maddie, Alex, TTB and I were on lane one and Katie, Tanner, Ryan, and Preston were on lane two. And the games began.
Alex was obviously the champion, he had the form down pact. I knew I sucked, I think the highest score I'd ever received was a 103 and that was on my EXTREMELY lucky day. Katie ran - as well as she could in that huge dress - at the lane and threw her ball, squeaked, and fell over. The people at the table next to ours all covered their mouths and cracked up - which was really graceful compared to me because I almost fell over I was laughing so hard.
Closer to the end of the night, all of the guys ended up sitting in a row.
"Look," Katie said, "It's the Council of Men."
"We've decided. . . ." one of them said. Either I forgot what they said or they never actually said what they'd decided on.
"I'm not sure I trust their judgement," I whispered to Maddie.
She looked over and cracked up, "Me neither."
Once the lane one game was finished we all switched out our shoes, yet again, and started picking up our belongings.
"Alex, don't forget your real people shoes," I said, looking under both of our tables just in case.
"Oh. . . right," he said, bending over to pick them up.
The alley was less crowded when we left, but every pair of eyes in the building followed us as we walked toward the doors. I went though the check list of all the things I brought: shoes, little sister, keys, debit card. . . oh crud. Wait a minute. . .
"Alex?" I asked all innocent like. "Would you, by any chance, know where my debit card is?"
He smiled the maniacal smile that only Alex can accomplish and slid me my card in a weird overhanded way.
"Thank you," I said sweetly, and went back into my checklist: shoes, little sister, keys, debit card, knock-out ring. . . ah, well it wasn't that important. It'd cost me like fifty cents anyway. I had to run to catch up with everyone. Katie, Ryan, Preston and Tanner had already left, so my passengers were all just waiting around my car. Alex still hadn't lost the smile, which - I'm not gonna lie - kind of scared me, but I ignored it and hit the unlock button.
I slid into the car and got ready to pull out.
"Here, Paige," Alex said - I could hear the smile in his voice.
He reached up to my seat and handed me my ring.
"Really, Alex?"
"I even handed your card to you so you'd feel the ring! You didn't notice," he said, laughing to himself.
I laughed - I'll admit, I can be kind of oblivious. Despite that fact though, we made it back to Katie's house alive. People had curfew's to observe, and we'd never been late before. We were able to stand and talk in Katie's living room. Ryan had to say good-bye so he hugged all of us and rushed to his car. Being the people we are, most of us gathered at the front door to wave while he pulled out. And then. . .
Ryan got back into his car to make cerfew and Maddie, Alex, Preston and Donavan followed. I watched as slowly it was only Katie, TTB, and I left. It'd been a good day. I turned to her:

Moments Like These

The Most Amazing Car Chase EVER SEEN!

School had started which meant that the times of the Fantastic Four were only going to become few and far in between. Needless to say, it had been two weeks and I was going crazy without my friends - literally. After two weeks for school, there was finally a Friday where all four of us were open - naturally, a celebration ensued. Ryan had recently asked me to redesign his room - because his older brother moved out and everybody seems to think I have a flair for interior design - and he hadn't ever seen a personal favorite of Katie, Tanner, and I's Better Off Dead, staring John Cusack. So I planned to drag everyone up to Ikea to search for the right kind of lights and things for his room, and then rendezvous at my house for the movie. I'd cleared the day with my mom, and had even gone out and rented the movie because my copy had decided to finagle with a cruddy DVD player and had come out too scratched to function.
Katie and I were waiting for the guys at her house, and they were taking FOREVER!! Minutes turned into half-hours, half hours turned into hours and our trip to Ikea went farther and farther into the realm of the not happening. Finally, Katie and I got tired of waiting, and decided to venture to Ryan's house - though Katie stepped into my shoes as the Driver when slid into her car, Death - Eater of Humans. They came out of the house right as we pulled up, so we stayed in the car and they came to greet us. Or so they thought.
Katie kept Death's - Eater of Humans - doors firmly locked and laughed as Ryan tried, in vain, to wrench them open. Frustrated, he pulled out his phone to call her and she showed him her phone so he could watch as he ignored his call. I cackled in the front seat, this was going to be fun. Ryan threw his hands up in exasperation and he and Tanner went to his car, Birdie - the Painted. They TORE down the street, so naturally Katie and I followed. They swerved around corners, turning down random streets and we followed as fast as Katie's speeding compass would allow.
They pulled onto Main Street and tore after them, just making the red light they tried to lose us at. To Ryan's credit, he changed lanes abruptly, and another car followed them closely before Katie could follow. We noted the parking lot they pulled into, and turned at the next available place. We scoured the parking lot, because Birdie - the Painted - isn't that hard to find.
We finally spotted him in the Chase bank parking lot, and pulled in the spot right next to him which just happened to be open. We looked over at the car, expecting to see a suprised Ryan and Tanner, but they weren't there. After examining the car, we found that poor and innocent Ryan had left his windows open, even if the doors were locked. Do any of you really think that would've stopped Katie and I? After tripple checking that it really was Birdie - the Painted - Katie and I locked up Death - Eater of Humans - and ninjaed through his windows. We sat there, basking in the glory of a well executed plan and then the guys came out of the bank and saw us in their car.
Thats when all - well, you know - broke loose.
Tanner's hands shot in my window and started tickling me trying to get me out of his seat in the passengers side - like I could get out, the door was locked. . . duh. Ryan attacked Katie, AFTER opening the door, and she lunged back, ducking and poking at his stomach. Ryan got her out of the car and tried to close the door with him inside, but Katie abandoned all reason and reverted to our previous method - jumping through the window. She landed back on the seat and Ryan pulled her out of the car again. They ended up on the grass, and Tanner quickly occupied the drivers seat - we sat and watched the children play.
Suddenly, Ryan grabbed Katie's hands and dragged her out to the street corner. He then knelt down on one knee and asked her to marry him. Katie laughed and said yes - of course - and they embraced so enthusiastically that Ryan ended up picking her up and swinging her around in circles. They came running back to Birdie - the Painted - holding hands and laughing hysterically. Tanner and I looked at each other and I said only one thing: "I love our friends."
Once things calmed down, and Ryan forgave Katie and I for hijacking Birdie - the Painted - we all got back into our respective cars and drove to my house - glorying in each other's company.

Moments Like These

No Service Hick-town? SPAM! (Part Two of the Epic Day Saga)

Ok, this post is a continuation of the Epic Day Saga. So the following events happened right after everything in Part One.
Ryan had a family thing in Manti - so he had to leave. Which meant things automatically got serious since he is our comic relief, right? HAHA no.
We'd had plans as a group to go and support our frind Jessica - the Graduate - in her graduation from the MATC CNA course. It was all the way up in who knows where, I just turned when my GPS's told me to. We ended up in (insert city name here)early enough to secure an out of the way seat that would allow Jessica - the Graduate - to see us when we would stand and cheer when they called her name.
No offense to Jessica - the Beautiful - but the ceramony was kind of boring. I was grateful that I skipped out on my own highschool graduation. I texted Ryan to let him know we were there and keep him updated on events because he had really wanted to go. It'd been ten minutes of people talking about the amazing establishment and blah blah blah, without Ryan texting back. So I texted him again : "Are you there?"
"Katie," I whispered. "Ryan isn't answering again."
"I know," she said, exasperated. "I texted him like thirty minutes ago!"
"Well, maybe we should keep texting him," I said, rather maniaclly. "He'll have to answer eventually!"
Her eyes glinted and I knew the Plotter was with me. She whispered the plan to Tanner, and we all pulled out our phones and began texting the most random things we could think of. This is how we spent the rest of the graduation ceramony - pausing to cheer Jessica - the Graduate - on, of course. Once the ceramony was over, all of the graduating students went out to meet their family and friends, and as we were on our way to meet Jessica - the Graduate - I had another brilliant idea.
"We should leave voicemails too," I said and Katie cackled.
We then began a calling circle, in which Katie died and came back twice. It was a truely epic waste of time.
We did have to get home, so we found a gas station so Tanner could put $10 dollars of gas in Denton's - The Car - tank so we could make it alive, and we each got a fifty cent soda. We all ended up at the pump, waiting for the tank to fill and drinking our sodas - having the time of our lives - when we all got the same text from Ryan:
I hate you all. I drive through some no service hicktown and I get 102 new text messages and 20+ voicemails!
We all threw our heads back and laughed. The cashier from the store shot us a weird look, and we just kept laughing. We all gave our certain replies and climbed into Denton - the Car - still laughing. And thus ends the Epic Day Saga.

Moments Like These

Thank You

Hey, I'm a cruddy poet, but I think this fits, this is to you guys:
Night after night, I lay alone
Racking my brain ‘til dawn.
Trying to find the right words.
Emotions have never been easy for me,
But there’s something inside that burns like a flame,
When I realize how lucky I am.
I count you among my family,
Those people I can’t live without.
You’ve raised me higher than I ever thought -
Helped me climb when my passion was lost.
I can’t even begin to thank you enough,
The right words have yet to be found.
I feel them within my beating heart,
Still beating - all thanks to you.
Whatever happens to us,
Whichever way we go,
I know these words will be true.
This love that I feel could fill libraries,
If I could only write it down.
But when scouring my brain,
Only two words I find:
Thank you.

National Sewing Machine Day.

Ryan dearest,

Although this hasn't happened yet I'm sure it will be blog worthy! Tanner, Paige, and I are going to celebrate national sewing machine day!!!! YAYA! We are planning to 'sewing machine' your house don't be to angry with us :)

Katie -The Plotter-

Me + Ryan + Kaite + Tanner + a Mattress = . . . . (Part One to the Epic Day Saga)

As a group, we end up doing a lot of things we never really planed. Don't believe me? Do yourself a favor, stop reading this post now and scroll down to the bottom - it's all the proof I need, since these are all true stories. I'm really not that creative, people, come on.
Given the title of this piece, it probably wouldn't help to tell you that this excursion was actually planned, mattress and all. You see, there is this sport - one of two sports I will willingly participate in - called 'Redneck Fishing.' There are a surprising amount of tools needed to execute this sport correctly. I've provided a list of the necessary tools for those who would like to attempt it:
1) air mattress
2) pump (unless you want to waste your breath filling said mattress up)
3) sun screen
4) bug spray
5) a pond
6) any water toys you can get your hands on
7) a car to transport everything to said pond
Ryan, Katie, Tanner and I piled the above list into the trunk of my car - Denton - minus the sun screen and bug spray though, we weren't that smart. Then my little Kate-Kate directed us to this really, really small parking lot that connected to this trail we'd have to haul everything down to get to the pond.
When we got to the pond, I threw the mattress I was carrying into the pond and mounted it. You surprised? What were you thinking we were going to do with the mattress, huh?
"You guys gonna join me?" I asked as my mattress began to drift towards the middle of the pond.
"I'm not getting in," Tanner said.
"What?!" Katie, Ryan and I asked at the same time.
"I don't want to get wet," he explained.
"You don't want to get wet, but you came to play with us in the pond?" I asked, intelligence-doubting sarcasm dripping off of every syllable.
"Uh, yeah," he said, like I was stupid or something. "It's you guys, duh."
Well, if nothing else, that sentence summed up how we all felt about each other.
Katie and Ryan then mounted the second mattress and pushed off from the shore, leaving Tanner and Zoey - Plotter Jr. - to entertain themselves. I cackled maniacally to myself as I began to pull my water toys out of the bag I'd packed them in. I dipped all four of the super soaker balls into the water, preparing them to be launched at the other mattress. Then, I loaded up one of the two super soakers I brought as well and set it on the mattress next to me before chucking the other empty one at them with a battle cry of "DEFEND YOURSELVES!!!"
I grabbed the super soaker next to me and sprayed both of them down, and then threw the super soaker balls toward them, rapid fire style. I cackled again as their cries of frustration rang across the sky, causing Tanner and Zoey - Plotter Jr. - to jump and come running.
I refilled my supper soaker at shot it at them again, but they were out of range thanks to Ryan's paddling.
"Haha, come and get us," he cried.
Events continued on like this for another twenty minutes before. . .
"Woah, our mattress is deflating!" Katie cried.
So we paddled back to shore, and Katie had an epiphany.
"How about we stack them on top of each other?"
I liked the idea, so we lifted their deflated mattress on top of mine and clambered on to it. By this time, the pond was no longer our own. Three kids, much younger than the rest of us, were now playing in the water, and our mattress had begun to drift off to one side.
"Katie, have you talked to your council lately? We could use some help steering this thing."
Background story: Katie was sitting in a ditch with a small stream going through it. A little girl came by and asked what she was doing. Katie told her that she was Queen of the Mermaids and was waiting to meet with her council. The little girl believed her.
"Council?" Ryan asked.
"HAHA, I'd forgotten about that," was her reply.
I quickly explained the background story to Ryan and then Katie said, "We're a sexist council so you can be our butler."
"Which makes you our motor," I summed up for him. "So paddle that way."
He glared at me and I could just hear him thinking, 'Really.' I just smiled and nodded. He sighed and begrudgingly laid down over the side of the mattress to start paddling us towards the middle of the pond. Giving Ryan all the credit he deserves, we didn't make it very far. After about five minutes, Katie and I began to call to the little children that had invaded our pond.
"HEY! Want to come push us to the middle?" I cried, in the direction of the oldest child, a girl.
"Our butler is having some issues," Katie called after me.
Ryan grumbled.
The little girl made her way over and looked at us. "I can help you I guess. Where do you want to go?"
"Just to the middle," Katie said. "We'll let you join our council as payment for your good deeds."
"I'm just here to catch frogs," she said, obviously thinking we weren't half as serious as we were.
"You'll be the council's chauffeur/frog catcher then," I said.
She just blinked and pulled us to the middle of the pond, and then went back to her frogs.
"I can't believe you just added her to your 'council," Ryan muttered.
I busted up, but Katie looked almost offended.
"I cannot allow a man onto the council! It betrays the most ancient traditions!"
Ryan grumbled, and we all just laid out on the mattress, enjoying the sun. Probably thirty minutes later, I looked up and realized that we'd drifted back to the banks of the pond.
"Uh, guys," I said.
"BUTLER!" Katie cried, and poor Ryan began to paddle once more. The chauffeur/frog catcher looked over and saw Ryan struggling with the steering - yet again - and she swam back over to us.
"It looks like your butler is having some problems," she said, shooting Ryan a pitying look. "Want to go back to the middle?"
"Yes, please," Katie said sweetly.
We ended up in the middle again, but it didn't last long because we realized our voice of reason was no where to be found - and he'd taken Katie's little sister with him. Once we got our mattresses back to shore, we took off into the trees looking for the lost souls. We drug them back and began to haul all of our supplies back to Denton - the Car.
"Okay, now it's time for sledding," I said, "Kate, what do we do?"
(For those of you at home, a list of things you need for Redneck Sledding:
1) air mattress
2) pump (unless you want to waste your breath filling said mattress up)
3) sun screen
4) a whole HECK of a lot of soapy liquids
5) a hill
6) water
7) a car to transport everything to said hill)
Katie was in her element.
"Paige, you say here and re-inflate the mattresses. Tanner, Ryan and Zoe (- Jr. Plotter -) grab the soap. We have to . . . wash this hill."
They all went to the trunk as I sat in the front seat forcing the car application for the pump into the cigarette lighter.
"Um, Paige, I don't think we've got enough," Katie said, "The hill is bigger than I remember."
"Okay, well lets go get some then," I said, and we piled into Denton - The Car - and set course for Wal*Mart.
We walked in and got a lot of really weird looks because Katie, Ryan, and I were still in our 'Fishing' clothes. We headed right to the bathroom isle so that we could select the most delectable smelling shampoo's for the sake of the hill.
"What scent?" Katie asked the group, "Lavender, or coconut?"
"I'm good either way," I said.
"I like coconut," one of the guys (I can't remember which).
"No, do lavender," the other said.
That's when the lady standing next to us gave us a really weird look and slowly left the isle.
"We'll do both then," Katie said as I, being the only one who noticed the lady, cracked up. "We're gonna need a cart."
"Got it," Tanner called, and dashed off.
We all stared after him, wondering if we would ever see his face again. He came barrelling around the corner and we loaded ever single bottle of shampoo into the cart.
"Do you think this will be enough?" Katie asked.
"Kate, the cart is practically overflowing," I said. "We'll be fine."
"We don't want to have to come back," Ryan said.
"We won't don't worry."
We walked around into the next isle just to make sure we were getting the best deal possible. My eyes scanned the shelves and I yanked the cart to a stop.
"You guys! Jackpot!"
There were HUGE bottles of bubble bath. Big enough to last one person a life time of bubble baths - and we needed a lot more than that.
"I'm pretty sure we could get three maybe four of these and we'll be good," I said.
"Is that going to be enough?" Katie asked again.
"We have the stuff in the car already," I said. "This is just insurance."
"Okay, lets get the honeysuckle kind," she said. There were only two bottles so we ended up getting two lavender scented ones as well. I gave control of the cart back to Zoey - Jr. Plotter - and Tanner.
"Go put the shampoos back," I ordered.
They cackled and went back around the corner, much banging and tumbling of bottles proceeded to sound from their isle. Once they were back we headed to checkout.
"Oh, I'm so glad my brother isn't working," Katie said as the four of us stepped up in our line and the cashier gave us an extremely sceptical look.
We got back into the car and Katie delegated the same duties. The spread the soap and I inflated the mattresses and we all pulled them to the top of that poor doomed hill.
"Ok lets do this!" Katie said, jumping on one of the mattress, which slid a colossal three feet.
"Wow," I said clapping slowly, "That was amazing!"
"Shaddup Paige," she said. "We need more water."
"I can go and steal a hose if you want," I offered. "We can run it from the spigot to the top of the hill so the hill doesn't dry out for a while."
"Good plan," Katie said.
"I'll go with you," Zoey - Jr. Plotter - said.
"Okay, Tanner and Ryan, grab a bubble bath bottle, we're going to keep the hill wet.
Zoey - Jr. Plotter - and I jumped into Denton - The Car - and went to my house to collect the hose. Apparently, we took forever because we found Katie, Tanner and Ryan all laying on one mattress, with the other on top of them. They'll have to post about what happened there.
I hooked the hose to the spigot and stretched it to the top of that hill, spraying water down til the grass was so shinny it hurt to look at.
"Okay, take two," Katie said. She jumped on a mattress and flew down the hill with a triumphant cry.
Tanner and Ryan jumped on the second mattress and down they went.
The next hour consisted of us diving down the hill head first, feet first, on our stomachs, on our feet, and sometimes even our rear ends - but they didn't make it that far on those, did you guys? We sledded until we could barely talk anymore.
To this day, the grass is brown and scratchy where we poured gallon upon gallon of bubble bath, and if you push your nose into the grass you can still smell the delightful combination of honey suckle and lavender.

Moments Like These