in the midst of November busy-ness

The last two weeks have been EXTREMELY busy!

weekend trip to Atlanta, 10K race in downtown Atlanta, tons of delicious food made by Beth’s mom, a quick visit with my precious family at the Cheesecake Factory in B’ham, movie night with church friends, sharing my testimony with college students, work, work, work, cooking theme for my classroom (made peanut butter/jelly sandwiches, fruit salad, mini pizzas, muffins, and sweet potato casserole with my students), went to Pensacola twice for seven22 and my friends’ lovely wedding, deep cleaning, cooking, massive loads of laundry, Thanksgiving potluck at my house (amazingly, 30 people can fit in my house!), taught ASL class Tuesday and Thursday nights, taught Philippians for the Deaf Bible Study, grocery shopping field trip with my students, ran 3 miles almost every afternoon, birthday parties for my student and boss, went to Early Intervention/Preschool conference, ran into my former college professor, four fun family nights and revival services at my church (about 70 youth got saved Wednesday night!), late night chats/dinner with friends, Thanksgiving feast at my school…

I guess you see why I couldn’t find a time to update my blogspot. : ( I know that blogspot is like the very last thing to do on my list. However, I do need to sit down and RELAX unlike Northerners (that’s what Beth preached about!). Also, my car needs to relax, too…I notice it needs an oil change badly!

Last summer, I made a lot of mistakes and learned my lesson the hard way. I thanked God for letting me learn from them and teaching me how to “plan” my weaknesses and rely on His strength. When I became extremely busy, I tended to be weak, tired, unguarded, moody, etc. However, God tested me again a few weeks ago…Satan knew my weaknesses; so I quickly became alert when an “old” temptation was back on its way. I chose to stay in God’s presence every moment and be into His Word daily instead of ignoring temptation without knowing the painful consequences of giving in to it. He said to me, “Keep alert. Be firm in your faith. Stay brave and strong. Show love in everything you do.” (1 cor. 16:13-14). I recently asked my parents, my “second” parents, and best friend to pray for me as I fought to be the best for God. I pray that God continues to mold, sharpen, and change me into a stronger, better woman for Him. I know I continue to learn more and more throughout my lifetime.

Let me tell you one more thing…I’ve been overwhelmingly and amazingly blessed with a “second” family here in my town. I first met my “second” parents, sis and bro at church two years ago when I was in the midst of decision-making process about moving to Mobile for my first career. At first, I had a fear of being alone and having no support in an unfamiliar area far away from my hometown where my family lives. However, God has continued to use this “second” family in my life. My “second” mother was more than willing to stay up late some nights to chat with me and give me some wise advice. My “second” father was being protective of me around guys and kept his eye on me. He told me that I should not get married until I am 50 years old. Haha! My “second” older sister was very encouraging to me during hard times and spent a lot of time with me recently – she said that she would stand up for me. There is nothing important about my “second” brothers – they just constantly pick on me.

Happy Election Day!

An hour ago, Dad texted, "Follow your heart as it seeks God and His holiness." I love Dad for his wisdom and encouragement.

"Don't worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done." Phil. 4:6

I voted today! :)

Happy 1st Day of November!

I love November. I love Thanksgiving which is my favorite holiday because it is less stressful than Christmas and more about spending quality time with my family. I love the typical November weather here in Alabama. I love November football games especially the Iron Bowl game! I love getting up earlier in the morning on "Black Friday" and shopping crazily with Dad or Mom. I love celebrating my parents' anniversary on November 23rd. I love seeing colorful leaves in Birmingham - none here in Mobile, sadly!

I am looking forward to this month! I already celebrated the first day of this November by running in my first 10K race with Jeanne and her husband Nate here in Mobile. I ran 6.2 miles in 73 minutes! Next weekend, I am going to Atlanta to run in another 10K race with Beth. Whoo!! I hope that my body will not be that sore.

This afternoon, we had the BEST fun-filled DTQ outreach event.  I was amazed at how God sent those teens to this event and how we went with the flow instead of focusing too much on schedule.  We played a camera scavenger hunt, looked for lost candies in boxes full of flour without using our hands, ate our favorite doughnuts, played "Hear me out" game, discussed about losing things/people, and shared about the Lost Sheep (Luke 15:4-7).  I praise God for those teens' willingness to participate and share their thoughts/feelings with us during our discussion time.  I pray that those teens will continue to know how much God adores them and wants to have intimate relationship with them. See the picture below....some of our teens decided to play with my Mac's photo booth after the discussion time.  

Last weekend, I mailed two hilarious Hallmark's cards to my sweet friends....they LOVED their cards! 
CARD #1: On the front, it said, "When life hands you lemons, make lemonade." Inside said, "But when life hands you a load of crap, don't make anything. Trust me on this one." (snickering!)

CARD #2: The front said, "Thanks from the bottom of my butt." Inside said, "It's a lot bigger than my heart!" (yup...yup!) 

Dad's Childhood Home

Never once in my lifetime would I have thought of having an opportunity to visit Dad’s childhood home in Portland.

Since I was a little girl, I have never gotten tired of listening to Dad’s childhood stories growing up in Montana and Oregon. Also, he shared some of his adventures of attending and getting kicked out of a college in California before he met and married Mom in Missouri. I had constantly begged Dad to tell me more, more, and more about his past growing up in the West.

Although Dad and his family (his parents, three sisters, and one brother) moved around the United States numerous times because his father was an evangelist, he grew fond of Portland, his childhood home, where he lived for almost 8 years. His peasant family and he moved into a spacious five-bedroom, 2-bathroom house at 4322 SE Yamhill when he was 12 years old. His parents bought it for only $11,300 in 1969 – which was amazingly cheap at that time! The house was originally built as a fancy house for the upper-middle class; however, previous owners literally destroyed it by letting dogs roam and leave feces everywhere. When the house was sold at a lower price, it was completely filthy according to Dad. The Mattox clan had to put in a lot of work by cleaning out all debris, removing carpet, painting, attempting to deordorize the house, repairing broken things around the house, etc.

While they started settling down in Portland, Dad was accidentally hit by a pickup after crossing the street. It threw him into the air and across the intersection. It broke his thumb and injured his legs badly. Ironically, a deaf woman drove the pickup. Panicked, she ran to Dad and signed wildly to him. Somehow God did work in some mysterious ways; for Dad didn’t know that he would have a deaf daughter about 15 years later!

As Dad grew up in Portland, he worked as a newspaper boy every morning, walked several blocks to his school every day, rebelled against his parents and learned from his mistakes, played football for a short time, spilled hot grease on his foot, stole a church offering and got in trouble again (or always!), broke his leg while playing basketball, dated a lot of girls, wrecked his Buick, played drums, worked part-time for parking cars in downtown, hopped on a train to Seattle, graduated from Washington High School, went to Alaska with his friends, bought his first fiancé home from California, and worked as a logger truck driver at Mt. Hood. No wonder where I got my spirit of adventure from!

Recently, I flew to Portland with Beth to visit our friend Jessica in Seattle for a few days. Then we rode on a train from Seattle to Portland where Chris, another friend, picked us up. We all four went to Mount Hood and passed several interesting towns such as Boring! When we arrived in Mount Hood, we were welcomed by more amazing friends at a lovely, charming chalet where we had some unbeatable views of mountains! We stayed there for a couple of days – for relaxation, recovery, and relationships. Then we went back to Portland again. Chris took us out for dinner at Burgerville, and then we fearlessly went to some haunted house exhibits and had some nightmares with real-life vampires who actually breathed into our faces, zombies that forced Chris to roll down on the floor, and scared-looking clowns who were scared by Robert’s “I am Deaf” remark. Hilarious, yet scary!

While we were enjoying our time in Portland that night, I asked Chris if he was familiar with Dad’s old neighborhood. He just happened to know it well because he lives close to Dad’s old house on Yamhill. Out of the blue, we immediately agreed to stop by Dad’s old house and high school. As we turned right onto Dad’s childhood street, I was awestruck that I had the privilege to visit a place where my family made history. As we found the house, I was floored because I didn’t expect it to be large and beautiful compared to the one in Missouri that my paternal grandparents are currently living in. Dad’s childhood house was painted in grayish blue and surrounded by a gigantic porch. It consisted of a lovely bay window in the front and little windows up on the roof where Dad’s old room was. The house was not wide, but extremely long. It didn’t have much yard except just a sidewalk. Chris and I bravely walked up the steps to the front door to see if anyone was home. As I pressed the doorbell, the lights from inside suddenly came on. Chris and I immediately looked at each other and helplessly tried to figure out what to do next! The lady, in her 30’s, opened the gigantic door and was nice enough to let me to get some glimpses of the first floor through the door. She did not want us to enter the house, which I understood. I was in awe of how Dad lived in that house! The foyer, living room, and dining room still had the original wooden crowning and ceiling supports and the original hardwood floor – similar to the old pictures that Dad was in. I thanked the lady and she quickly closed the door! I thought, “Wow…what a gorgeous house!”

As I left Dad’s childhood house, I realized that I was at the exact same location where Dad and his family moved out more than 30 years ago. His mother wrote in her diary, “August 17, 1977 – we signed papers for the realtor, Mr. Justice, to sell our house to Jack Crum and family. Selling price - $28,500.00. Ain’t God good! We bought it at $11,300. We paid $3,000 down and $80 a month at 6% interest. Seven of us lived there and loved the good times that we had together. Wow!” To this day, the house is still lovely and has been renovated – and the Mattox clan is a part of history of making this house stand firm and beautifully through many decades to the present.

The next night, I was back home in Birmingham and shared it with Dad. He was glowing with happiness as he retold stories of living in that house in Portland. Also, we did go through old photo albums and discover several pictures that were taken in that house. At the end of our conversation, he said, “Thank you for going to the house. It really meant a lot to me.”

I enjoy being a part of my family history. I thanked God for allowing me see the places where my grandparents, aunts, and uncle made memories. Hopefully, I would pass family stories on to my children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren and encourage them to cherish their family history!

true friends

I love my family and friends...they are blessings to me! :)

my first 5K run

I am blown away by the fact that I did successfully complete my first 5K run! My best friend Beth encouraged me to consider joining her in some 5K and 10K runs that support charities last summer. I immediately remembered making a list of my long-term goals in my journal way back in high school. One of those goals was to run in a marathon. I thought, "Why not now...these runs would motivate me to train/discipline myself to run in a marathon one day." Since I started jogging faithfully, I noticed how losing weight slowly has made a positive impact on my overall health - more self-confidence, better eating habits, better self esteem, and more stable hormones (no kidding!).
Yesterday, Beth and I ran in celebration of our interpreter, Lin Fulton, in Birmingham for the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure. Lin has survived breast cancer since 1995...God divinely healed her!
Next month, I will do two 10K runs - the first one with Jeanne (another wonderful friend) in Mobile and the second one with Beth in Atlanta! Hopefully, Beth and I will do a half marathon in January.
After our first 5K run, Beth and I celebrated by eating A LOT OF food - thick, juicy steak, sweet potatoes, salad and Edgar's best cupcakes - with my family and Robert (he's our brother from another mother.) We then played Guitar Hero and watched Dan in Real Life. Wonderful memories!!!!

(L to R): Juju, Beth, me and Robert trying to taste Izzie's "business"

Robertsdale

“The Southern Plantation Corporation of Chicago, Illinois founded Robertsdale in 1905. They chose the city's present location largely because of the fertile farmland and the fact that the Louisville and Nashville Railroad line had just recently made extensions to Foley, Alabama. The town was named after one of the officials of the Corporation, Dr. B.F. Roberts, and was incorporated in 1921. Nestled in the middle of Baldwin County, Robertsdale is a quickly growing city with a small town atmosphere.

Robertsdale is called the Hub of Baldwin County. The city's central location provides quick and easy access to the beautiful white sandy beaches of Gulf Shores, Alabama and the historic ports of Mobile, Alabama, and Pensacola, Florida.”

I first discovered Robertsdale when my family and I drove through it on our way to Orange Beach for our annual summer vacation when I was around 7 years old. I remember being impressed by live oak and palm trees lining along the highway and old stores/business districts that reminded me of the Andy Griffith show. I never thought that I would actually live there one day.

About three months ago, I officially became a Robertsdale citizen after moving in a very unique warehouse right in the middle of this very small, charming town. Although I grew up as a “city” girl, I took the risk by moving to Robertsdale, a middle-class, farm-y town where you see dirt bikes and 4-wheelers on every road, find out that there are actually more farm equipment than cars, notice that almost every man wears his favorite camouflage shirt, wave at every person that passes you, and learn that almost everyone in Robertsdale can be related to each other in families. The reasons why I moved to this town were because I wanted to be closer to my “second” family, become more involved in my current church in that town, be closer to beaches (only 30 minutes away), and explore what it is like to live in a small town. We call Robertsdale a “Hub City” because it is right in the middle of everywhere, but it is perfectly between two busy cities – Mobile, AL, and Pensacola, FL. Despite crazy tourists trying to speed up on highway right next to my warehouse, Robertsdale is near lovely beaches, the best outlet mall where I can find cheap clothes and numerous excellent seafood restaurants! Robertsdale has what I need – a bank, grocery stores, doctor’s offices (I am still amazed that my new doctor knows some signs), my wonderful support system, a few restaurants that serve homemade food, my church, walking trails where I can jog, a cool gym, several parks, and a perfect home-y coffee shop/ice cream parlor where I can surf internet on my Mac. Unfortunately, it doesn’t have any Wal-mart or McDonalds. Recently, Beth and I walked to Robertsdale's square park for its annual Honeybee Festival about ½ miles away from my place where we enjoyed seeing kids ride on mules, petting pigs and goats, watching some men ride on the bull, and watching senior citizens dance to country music. It just reminded me of Sweet Home Alabama movie. Soon, we will have our annual Christmas parade here!

I still work in downtown Mobile which is about 30 minutes away from my home; however, I carpool with my super-sweet boss (along with my four-year-old student) three times a week which saves me tons of gas. The best thing about driving to my work in the morning is being captivated by the beauty of Mobile Bay while driving on a 10-mile bridge across the bay. Every time I see water, I quickly think of “peace.” I usually spend my time praying and being still as I drive or ride with my boss on that baywalk. I guess I enjoy what God is giving me at this moment. I don’t know if I will live in Robertsdale permanently or temporarily; however, I praise God for allowing me live there!