How could I be so stupid??

So the biggest meeting in preparation for our wedding scheduled for Patrick and I was last night. It was with the Pastor I want to marry us. I have been planning this wedding for 9+ months and up to this point, I have been complimented by numerous people/companies about my fine organizational skills and planning of such wedding. I take pride in this. I have to be the best.. no matter what task is at hand. Well last night, I was not at my best and I was horrified.

I arrive home from work shortly after 5:00. I tell Patrick we have plenty of time as we are scheduled to meet at 7:00. So we plug in the Wii and play Mario Brothers a while. We leave our house at 6:15 because we want to be early. We want to make a good impression and show this Pastor that we are serious about our wedding. So we get there 20 minutes early and are waiting in the parking lot as the doors are locked. As a lady emerges from the building we check to make sure we are in the right place-- and we are. She calls the Pastor and leaves him a message letting him know that we are waiting on him. At 6:55, Patrick and I get out of the car and go stand by the door. We want the Pastor to see we are there- on time. We are READY! It gets to be about 10 after 7. I am freezing from standing in the cold and getting nervous. If the Pastor cannot be on time to this meeting, how will I know he will be on time for the big day? I am starting to panic. I have Patrick start calling our wedding coordinator with the church as I start to dig into my wedding book for any information I have. As I flip to the calendar I notice something horrible... My heart drops. I start to get teary eyed. Our meeting was at 6:00! As I was sitting at home trying to beat world 6 on Mario Brothers, my Pastor is waiting in his office to discuss our spiritual relationship in marriage and I missed it!! I am mortified. I call back the wedding coordinator and let her know our situation. I am at this point so worried that he is going to think I am a flake-- a horrible bride. Unorganized and irresponsible. And he was going to be unwilling to marry us. I am just in utter worry!!

Luckily, I get the direct number to the Pastor and leave him a message about how I honestly just made a mistake. We had 3 meeting scheduled this week, one each night and I just got the time confused. I ramble on his machine for what seems like forever begging and pleading for him to call me back as soon as possible to reschedule. I am thinking that at this point the wedding is ruined, 9 months of planning and it's all ruined because of my stupid mistake.
Well Pastor Josh luckily called me this morning at 10:00 while I was in a meeting at work. My co-workers had been advised of this horrible mistake above so I take the call. Josh was so understanding. Thank goodness, because I did not want him to think of me as some unorganized bride who has no courtsey for other's time. He has rescheduled our meeting for February 9th.

I am still in shock that I made such a huge mistake. How can I be so stupid sometimes? It just amazes me!

Torture at the hands of my own Mother!

TORTURE!!!

Why, does my mother send me an email with the faces of these puppies stating "they need good homes"? Does she not remember my blog from a while back??? Let me refresh you all...

http://rebeccajobe.blogspot.com/2009/11/babies-vs-puppies.html

So I get this email and immediately text Patrick to ask for a new puppy. Now 2 weeks ago, we almost got suckered into getting a basset hound puppy. I had named her and everything. Anyway, Patrick responds back with the answer that I knew he would give me.."Sounds good." So I text mom for all the details--darn, she's still at lunch. But wait- I see an email address at the bottom, that must be the owner. So I email with all my pertinent questions and I get a response back stating they all have homes.. which makes me happy but also sad because I want a new puppy...and a baby. Gosh darn you mother!

RIP Officer Craig Story

The funeral is today for this fallen Police Officer. May God bless his soul and be with his family, friends and colleagues.

Police Officer Craig Story
Arlington Police Department
End of Watch: Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Age: 34
Tour of Duty: 7 years
Badge Number: 2117
Cause of Death: Motorcycle accident
Date of Incident: Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Officer Craig Story was killed in a motorcycle accident when his department motorcycle collided with a school bus at the intersection of South Cooper Street and West Inwood Drive. Officer Story had activated his lights and siren as he entered the intersection, but struck the side of the bus.His motorcycle burst into flames upon impact. Witnesses to the crash smothered the flames on Officer Story's clothing and pulled him to a safe area, however, he passed away at the scene.Officer Story had served with the agency for seven years. He is survived by his expectant wife and 2 year old son.

Haiti

As I was laying on a massage table on Saturday, one of my first thoughts was, "How much would the Haitians like to have this massage right now?" I started feeling really guilty that I was laying here getting pampered while these poor people have lost everything. The more I thought about it, I started to relate everything that I have been doing to how the Haitians are living their life right now. The earthquake that hit last Tuesday 1/17/10, was the worst earthquake the world has seen in over 200 years. So when I sat down for dinner, got in the shower, brushed my teeth, lit the fire in my fireplace, I realized how precious life really is. That in an instant life can be taken from you. Unexpectedly, unplanned, unknown-- we all have our destiny and it is such a tragedy that so many precious lives were taken in this one moment. Completely out of their control, their whole world changed. I came across some pictures that moved me and I wanted to share. Before I go, I would like to have a short prayer.
"Dear Heavenly Father. I know you are watching over the victims in Haiti right now. Please help to heal their wounded souls. Infection is beginning to spread quickly and many are falling ill. Aid that these people need is not getting there quick enough. Please Father help the relief efforts and rescue workers to be as effective and efficient as possible, as time is of the essence. God, please bless all the people of Haiti and help them in their grieving, recovering and restructuring of their lives. Bless all the workers who are working through each night still rescuing people and recovering people from the rubble. I know You will help walk these troubled people through this difficult time and stay with them for many months to come. Also, please help each and every person to realize how precious you have made life and to appreciate all that you give us each and every day, as we never know when You will call us home to be with You. In Jesus name I pray. Amen."

Pictures I found to be moving, heartbreaking, disturbing,and tear-jerking-- all in one~God Bless their souls...

In picture above, notice the cross in the background-- still standing...

Our New Tattoos

<---My new tattoo. It is on my lower back-- but not as low as a tramp stamp. The 8694 is Patrick's badge #


<---Patrick's new tattoo. Obviously, it's an arm band. I love it!

Planning a wedding

Since my engagement on 06/17/09, planning our wedding has been a constant in my brain. Luckily, my mother and I are the type of women who do not believe in procrastination so we were diligent in getting our tasks done in a timely manner. Now that we are only 86 days away, I think both mom and myself are starting to add the "zilla" to our names-(Bridezilla and Momzilla). Yes we planned the big stuff well in advance but with the wedding fast approaching, it is the small details that are now on our minds! I must say I am very lucky in that my mom has been through 2 weddings with my sister in the past, so she knows how this stuff goes. Me, well.. I just freak out.. I make lists, I lay awake at night thinking about the small things I need to get done and wondering why people are not calling me back in the time frame in which I expect them to call. I thank God everyday for the patience that Patrick has in dealing with Bridezilla & Momzilla Myers on a daily basis! I think we have everything under control at this point.. all I can pray for is no speed bumps in the next 2,068 hours! Although I have loved all this wedding planning fun, I am looking forward to marrying the man of my dreams, starting my life with him as his wife-- and the 7 day honeymoon starting the day after! I think it will be the moment we get settled on our cruise boat, with drink in hand, that I will be able to breathe again!

PS..Dress fitting is tonight! I am so excited to put on my beautiful dress that makes me feel like such a princess!

Oink Oink

I have officially be vaccinated for H1N1. It takes 7 days to take effect, so anyone with the pig disease, please stay away from me for one more week!

"We have an officer injured..

Please send DFD and start an ambulance. Start sending backup. We need everyone running code 3 (lights & sirens). We need Air One (the helicopter) to come to our location."

These are words any cop's wife never wants to hear. As I was playing a card game online, I hear the above statement come out on my scanner. Patrick is working tonight, so my heart plummets. I quickly check online to see if he is on a call..and he is but my site does not provide me too much information about that call, therefore I rely upon my wonderful police scanner to give me the up to date happenings of Oak Cliff at midnight & later. (For those of you who don't know Oak Cliff, it's a horrible area of Dallas where a lot of crime occurs...It's bad...) Anyway, at this point my brain and imagination goes ape wild. I start to wonder, is this the call that Patrick is on?? Is this the same call that is summoning all other units for back up?? And wait! They just said an officer is injured. I text Patrick in a state of worry, panic, fear, concern and in sheer terror. He does not respond. I listen intently to my scanner. I start to imagine what I would do if police officers showed up at my door in the middle of the night to tell me something horrible has happened to my husband. I am freaking out now. I continue listening to the scanner and I'm hearing all the chaos of the scene. I pull out my handwritten list of police codes to try to keep up with all the numbers being yelled out. I continually think to myself "why isn't he texting??" Here I sat not knowing if Patrick is: 1) involved 2) the injured officer. After about 10 minutes of this complete and utter madness, I hear Patrick's voice come over the radio. "Alpha 444, can you please...blah blah blah.." OK.. I can now release a huge sigh of relief. I have yet to hear back from Patrick but at least I know he is okay. I heard his sweet voice. He is not in that mayhem. At least not this time...

I came to conclusion long ago that being a policeman's wife would not be easy. Tonight only reiterated that conclusion. After taking a deep breath and drinking a glass of wine, I began to think about this experience and relate it into tonight's message at church. This scare made me realize I need to be more thankful to others. I need not be selfish. I need to appreciate others for all that they are and for all that they do.

In our message tonight, Pastor Ed talked about how society has gotten rude and how people have lost their manners. He discussed how so many people fall into the trap of being so self-absorbed that they do not appreciate others and what is around them. Ed explained that God's want for us is to appreciate everyone else first--then ourselves. That we as Christians need to constantly pray for others. Even for people we do not know, say a prayer for them.

After going through my ordeal tonight, I must say that it made me realize that sometimes I am guilty of being that selfish person. Hearing the adrenaline, excitement and even the tremor in those police officers voices made me realize I need to slow down in life and take the time to consciously appreciate others around me. At times, cops are out literally fighting for our safety. These men and women will take a bullet for all of us when they don't even know most of us. I take advantage of the fact that I drive 3 miles to and from work. I go into my office, have a desk, do my job day in and day out. It's pretty predictable. Cops don't have this luxury. They show up to a call and it's game time. There are no second chances. Every decision matters. Each and every call could be the one that ends their life, and they are willing & brave enough to take that risk--day in and day out..for you and me. The criminal justice system has it flaws and sometimes it's hard to move around that. But the criminal system does not hinder the police. The system is not the police officers job duty or responsibility to be concerned about. They catch the bad guys. They save lives. They take guns and drugs off the streets. They put themselves in situations I could never dream of being in. They see things I could never imagine seeing. They are so brave. Now I start to think, how do we ever say thank you enough? How can I ever say thank you enough??

Tonight I pray...

"Heavenly Father, I want to thank you for watching over our police men and women. Please continue to guide them and protect them, as they protect us. Help to lead them out of harms way and may evil evade them. Continue to show our officers the courage and bravery that they need and may they go home safely every day. Father, thank you for showing us your love and glory. In your name I pray. Amen."

PS.. Incase you are wondering, Patrick has finally texted and said everything is fine, he is fine--Well DUH, I knew that already :) I have yet to explain this whole scene above to him yet. Pat did say that during the officer assist call mentioned above, 1 officer broke his leg and 1 officer hurt his knee. The words Thank You just don't seem like enough. God bless their souls.