Knight in shining armor....

They don't make them like they used to.  The knight in shining armor is a thing of the past.  The man who is honest, respectful, caring, brave, gentle, loving, chivalrous, devoted, and faithful is a rare find these days.  My great uncle Leamon was one of these men. 

Uncle Leamon was born in 1922 in rural Kentucky where he lived and worked on a farm until he entered the Army and was sent to Europe in WWII.  He served honorably, receiving multiple promotions to the rank of First Sargent and ultimately receiving the Purple Heart.  He returned to Kentucky where he spent his days working the farm and loving his wife.  He was a quiet man, but when he spoke-you listened.  He was a faithful man too.  God was first in his life. 

The world has lost a great man.  In my opinion, one of the last of a fading breed.  Uncle Leamon has taught me many things.  How to properly approach a bull.  How to walk through the pasture without stepping in cow pies.  The reason to hold on when riding a horse (thanks to the tractor driven by my brother scaring the horse that I was on).  How to live a life that God would be pleased with.  How to love someone with all of your heart and soul for a lifetime......just to name a few.

You will be missed Uncle Leamon.  In closing at his funeral, the pastor said something like this: We know that Leamon got a warm welcome when he met Jesus.  I imagine that he heard "Well done, my faithful servant, well done."  I can only hope to hear those same words one day.

Leamon Smith

Oct. 11, 1922 - May 20, 2011

Sunshine on my shoulders.....



at·ti·tude – noun (dictionary.com)

1. Manner, disposition, feeling, positiong, etc., with regard to a person or thing; tendency or orientation, especially of the mind.

2. Position or posture of the body appropriate to or expressive of an action, emotion, ect.

Attitude is a subject that seems to be popping up a lot lately.  The amazing John Maxwell got to me with his attitude talk at 12Stone a few weeks ago.

'God decides what happens to you, you decide how you react to it'. ~John Maxwell

How true that statement is.  His message really hit home with me and I started a little experiment at work the next week.  The goal was to see how my positive attitude would affect others.  What I learned is that it was contagious and that I was the one who benefited the most from it.  I was happier, less stressed out, I smiled more, and I was more patient.

Having a good attitude is a lesson that was hard for me to learn and one that I am still learning, and that I'm happy to learn.  Many of you know that I sometimes struggle with my health and right now, it is a struggle.  However, if I get upset or depressed or pull out the 'why me' card, what does that accomplish?  How does that help the situation?  It doesn't, it only makes it worse.

In small group last night, we were talking about how God places us in situations that are sometimes difficult or painful to prepare us for something more, or to teach us something that we will use in the future.  In 2000, my father was diagnosed with stage 4 oral cancer and was given a 5% chance to live.  I literally thought my father was going to die, that he would never walk the down the aisle at my wedding, and that he would never hold my children.  It was a hard pill to swallow.  I watched my dad get depressed, but I also watched him remain faithful to the Lord, relying on his Father for strength and comfort.  Throughout it all, his attitude was good, he didn't stress out about the future because it wasn't his to stress out about.  I didn't know it then, but that was a lesson I would need to learn myself.  My father beat the odds and is still with us, praise God.

When I was faced with my own health issues, I was mad; I'm not going to lie.  I didn't understand why I had to deal with this disease or even HOW I was going to deal with it.  Slowly but surely God changed my heart and that lesson I learned watching my father nearly a decade earlier came flooding back.  I CAN do this because I have Him holding my hand and walking with me every step of the way.  My attitude has played a huge role in how I deal with my issues.  That's not to say that I don't have bad days and 'poor pitiful me' days, because I do.  However, I try to keep those to a minimum.  I try not to stress out about all the things that I have no control over, because all that does is hurt me.  Let's face it, there are very few things in life that we do have control over, one of those is your attitude.  So, if a good attitude makes even the worst situations a little brighter, why not go with it?!  After all, having a bad attitude just brings you down.  There's enough in this world working to bring us down, we shouldn't contribute to it.  So, how's your attitude today?

Ode to mom...

Mom: Darn it!

Jenny: What?

Mom: I should have had the people in Lisbon write Emma’s name in Portuguese.  Remember when Uncle David did that for you and Matt when he was in China?  That was such a great gift, now I wish I had done that for Emma.

Jenny: You do realize that the Portuguese share our same alphabet letters, right?  Therefore, her name in Portuguese is spelled, E-M-M-A.  It looks no different than how we would write it.

Mom: Really?

Jenny: (laughing now) Ummm, yes mom.  Really.  In China they use characters; in Portugal they use the alphabet.

Mom: (laughing now too) Oh. Ok, never mind.  Forget I ever said anything.  

*Ps.  I don’t forget

Mom: Hello!  How are you?

Italian cabbie: I good.

Mom: This is such a lovely place, were you born here?

Italian cabbie: Hotel King, yes.

Mom: No, were you born here?

Italian cabbie: Shopping area there.

Mom: Have you lived here your entire life? (Nearly yelling now, as if this would make him understand)

Jenny: Mom, I don’t think he speaks English, you should stop talking to him.

Mom: Yeah, I guess so.

Italian server: Here is your food.

Mom: Grazie (pronounced: GHRAT-seee)

Jenny: Mom, its grazie (pronounced GHRAT-zee-A), not with a ‘see’ on the end of it.  It’s more of an ‘a’ or ‘eh’.

Mom: No, it’s not. 

Jenny: Yes mom, it is.  Listen closely, its quick, but its there.

Mom: No, it’s not.

Jenny: Yes it is!  (pulling out Italian phrasebook, then showing her the pronunciation) See, GRAHT-see-yeh.

Mom: Fine.

Mom: I need to think of something that Emma can call me besides Grandma.

Matt: Ok, well, what do you want her to call you?  

Summer: Grammy?

Jenny: Granny Lynn?

Matt: Nana Lynn?

Mom: What about sugar?

Matt/Summer/Jenny: WHAT?!?!?

Mom: Seriously.

*silence* *birds chirping* *pins dropping*

Matt/Summer/Jenny: (all rolling on the floor laughing)

Mom: Fine, I’ll just be Grammy.

Matt/Summer/Jenny: (still on the floor laughing)

Summer/Jenny: *singing* Ooohhhh Sugar…awww honey honey…..

*this continues to be a source of laughter between the family*

Happy Mother’s Day to my wonderful mother, Lynn Long.  We may not always see eye-to-eye or agree on much of anything at all, but I love you and you make me smile.  I enjoyed my time in Europe with you, even if we did get on each others nerves from time to time.  Memories made there cannot be shared by anyone other than us and I will cherish them forever.  You are a special woman and I would not be the independent, strong-willed woman I am today without you.  I hope you weren’t offended by my poking fun at you, after all, that’s how our family says, “I love you.”

In the words of my mother: “Jennifer Anne!  You just cooked your goose!”

Curiosity: Not always a good quality

Picture this: Beautiful piazza in Florence, Italy.  People everywhere speaking all sorts of languages.  Stars shine down to the open air restaurants that line the piazza.  Somewhere nearby there is a man playing New York New York (weird, I know) on an accordion.  The smell of fresh prosciutto, basil, and tomatoes fill the air.  Are you there?  I was.

Now, after I ate every last bite of a calzone that was bigger than any calzone I'd ever seen in the states, I needed to pee.  So, I find my way into the tiny women's restroom only to find a type of toilet I'd never seen before.  Now, side note.  This is a common occurrence in Italy, or Europe for that matter.  There are toilets of all kinds, normal ones, lidless ones, a hole in the ground (yes, seriously, a hole in the ground), and some crazy self-sanitizing lid type toilet.  This was my first encounter with the latter design.  I see the lid stuck at a 50 degree angle and my curiosity is sparked.  What is this?  How does this work?  The instructions on how to use this amazing contraption are on the wall in front of me, but I don't read Italian. 

So, I go by what the pictures are doing.  I push the lid down. Step one.  Only, I didn't realized that the lid was going to pop right back up.  So, I let go after I had bent over the torture device to get a better look.  The lid pops up so fast that I didn't have time to react, I was lucky I didn't get hit in the face.  Then, out of nowhere, blue smelly liquid comes shooting out of the back of the toilet coating the lid.....and my face.  I, of course, scream.  Then I start laughing and I cannot stop.  I'm sure that whoever was in the tiny bathroom with me was so confused about what was so funny in the stall next door.  I walked back to my table, where the sweet smells of delicious Italian food had been overtaken by the smell of sanitizer for some reason, and relay the story to my mom.  She laughed too.  The moral of the story, whenever you investigate how a toilet works, DO NOT bend down to...wait, who am I kidding.  Don't investigate toilets in foreign countries.