My Mamaw's Move

Well, it's been forever (10 months or so) since I've written a blog post. Why? I don't really know to be honest.

Maybe because I like to have good well written thoughts to share. Maybe because I have struggled to know how I want to use this space with the meteoric rise of Facebook usage in my life and the availability of Twitter (but I haven't tweeted yet). Maybe because I've been crazy busy lately with many projects — our CRM implementation at work and our church Web site to name only the largest two projects.

But I'm back . . . not because I'm afraid Google will forget this blog ever existed (if you've read me at all, you know that's not my motivation) . . . not because it's just time after a long hiatus . . . not because I've figured out a strategy to use my blog, Facebook, and Twitter (I haven't yet) . . . but because today was a very emotional day and tomorrow will be even more so and I need to organize my thoughts and get something down for the record (my record and for my kids later use).

I will miss my Mamaw terribly!! No, she hasn't died or anything — she's just moving to Houston to be under my mother's love and care instead of under mine. This was a very mutual decision and we are all happy and pleased with it, including me. So, this is just to get my feelings out there on the table.

Until we started contemplating this move, I hadn't really realized just how close I was to my Mamaw and how she's literally always been close by. We haven't lived in a different city since I was in college and I came home all the time anyway. I lived with my Mamaw before I got married. She continues to be a key influence on my Christian walk and has been a wonderful model and discipler for me since I was a young boy. She modeled and was a visible reminder for me of Ephesians 3:18 " to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ." She is a bastion of unconditional love, selfless service, and sweet encouragement.

I remember my other grandmother, Gran Gran, very fondly and she passed away when I was close to 11 (or somewhere around there). Gran Gran was another wonderful woman — what a blessing those women were and are to me, I truly would not be half the man I am today without their influence. One of my heart's desires is for my children to have fond memories of their Mamaw! I want them to remember
* that she was at all of their events,
* that she called them all the time,
* that she fawned over their creations at church or school like she was in the Louvre,
* that she always wanted to feed them and take care of their every need (whether real or perceived),
* that she loved them for who they were and not who everyone else wanted them to be,
* that she saw through all of their faults and focused her praise on their strengths,
* that she was a genuinely joyful and loving person, and
* that she was a reflection of the God that she loves so much.

Okay, okay, she's not dead . . . but I am grieving. Grief is an emotion felt when something is lost. I feel like I am losing the ability for my kids to continue to get to know her and build memories with her (they are ages 5-10). I feel like I am losing the opportunity to see my Mamaw whenever I want and whenever I need to see her. I feel like I am losing a very close friend who I can talk to about anything. I feel like I am losing a mentor and discipler — although I know that I'm not, she's just going to Houston.

I know that she is only going 5 hours to the South, but it feels like a great distance for me. I have had the privledge to serve and care for her for many years as her primary caregiver. It has been my honor to give back to her a small part of what she has so graciously given to me — time, transportation, energy, an extra brain, love, care, errands, food, and so much more.

She spent the day in our home as movers were packing up her apartment in the assisted living facility. My middle child wanted to sleep in the same room with Mamaw — he's the sensitive one and has a strong connection to her. He just couldn't fall asleep and he came in crying to me because he was afraid that he would miss her in the morning (we're flying out early). Very few people in the world love us like Mamaw does and she has made an impact on my kids lives. He held me for awhile and told me that he wrote her a note and would I make sure that she saw it in the morning.

"Dear Mamaw,

I hope your move goes well. I eventually had to go to sleep upstairs. I'm praying for you Mamaw and love you. XOXO OXOXO OXOXO OXOXO OXOXO OXOXO [exact number of Xs and Os in his note]

Love, Cooper"

2007 (not a Space) Odyssey

I just realized that I haven't written about out latest major purchase -- a new 2007 Honda Odyssey! We originally were not real excited about going into debt again (the only debt that we've had for awhile is our house) but we have already paid it off (thanks to some help from the family).

Our old van was a 2000 Plymouth Grand Voyager and it had over 125,000 miles on it. We put it in the shop and when our mechanic said "it'll be around $800" my response was "no, it won't!" Since Heather broke down by herself with all of the kids driving to New Orleans to visit some of the friends that we made from the Katrina diaspora, our confidence in that van was in major decline. We got $2,000 for that van and were thankful for it. It's a good thing we sold it too! A friend of ours bought the van for his dealership and a week after he sold it the new owner called and told him the engine blew on it — thank you Lord!

We had been saving money for a new van but the cash on hand would only buy us another run down van. After weighing our options and praying over it, we decided that we should go into debt and get a little better van and focus on paying it off as quickly as possible. Our family then stepped in and offered to pay the difference between what we were willing to spend and the cost of a new van. So, we got our dream and went shopping for a new Toyota Sienna or Honda Odyssey. The Sienna's didn't impress us near as much as the Odyssey's.

The only thing that the kids cared about was a built in DVD player. When we started looking for used vehicles, we told the kids to pray specifically that we would find the right van with a DVD player since I wasn't willing to pay much extra for it. The model of Odyssey that comes with the DVD player also happens to come equipped with a 6 disc CD changer, sun roof, leather interior, and other awesome trimmings that we wouldn't ordinarily care about. Since the dealer just got a big shipment of 2008 models, we negotiated a great deal on a 2007 model!

Thank you family and thank you Lord for providing us everything we could have asked for or imagined!

Collin's Baptism

Well, yesterday sure was special and we are very proud of our son! The only problem was that the microphone was not turned on so some of the congregation could not hear very well. Attached here is the video! Since the mic was not on, I added subtitles to the video (and the text below also). Feel free to turn your speakers up to hear better, but you may want to turn them down right after the baptism since the crowd went wild!



If you have a high-speed connection, here is a higher resolution version.

Here is what I prepared to say (but it's not exactly what I ended up saying):
Church family, this is my son, Collin Enright. A few years ago Collin realized that, like all of us, he is not perfect and he was separated from God since God is perfect. Collin believes that Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection was God's perfect plan to make him Holy so that he could have a relationship with a Holy God now and forever.

So Collin, today I want to ask you: Do you believe that Jesus paid the price for your sin and do you want to follow Him as the Lord of your life? YES

Then Collin, based on your public profession of faith, it's my honor to baptize you, my brother in Christ, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. We are buried with Christ in baptism . . . and raised to walk in a new life!

Church family, this is my son, and I am very pleased with him!!

Katrina Anniversary

Coming up soon is the one-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. I intend to use this forum to document some of my thoughts and experiences from the past year relating to Hurricane Katrina.

In the Old Testament/Hebrew Scriptures, the Lord consistently asked His people to remember their experiences by setting up memorials. One example is when Joshua and the people crossed the Jordan River. God told the people to pick up 12 stones (one for each tribe) from the river bed and set them up on the other side to remember how the Lord stopped the flow of the river so that they could cross on dry land. We have a nice box in our home that we call the "Joshua Box" where we write down the ways that the Lord has directed our family so that we will not forget His faithfulness. I would like to take the next week or so to make this a virtual Joshua Box as a testament to His faithfulness to His people.

Since the DFW Metroplex is far inland, typically the main thing that crosses our minds when we hear "hurricane" is that maybe we'll get some rain and we hope it doesn't do too much damage on the coast. Before Katrina's landfall in Louisiana and Mississippi, we were much more aware due to the intensity of the storm and the possibility of having a few people in our area running from the storm. In the aftermath of the storm, however, my family was just like everyone else, riveted to our TV watching in horror how people were flooded out, stranded, in need of rescue, and then in need of the basics to survive.

The first few days, my thoughts were all external -- I hope someone can get those buses to the Superdome, what a tough job for the National Guard and Coast Guard, is the state of Louisiana able to get enough food and water for all of those stranded folks? Toward the end of that first week, we heard of evacuees in our area and my thoughts became internal -- what can I do to help, what food and water can we get to those folks, what other things do they need that we can get?

We sent some of our offering money to national relief that first week, but Sunday, September 4th was our first face-to-face interaction with evacuees. A resourceful church member had started calling hotels and motels in our area looking to see if anyone needed anything. She found some families in a motel and made contact with them. They didn't get out with much and our friend made a list of their needs. After e-mails, phone calls, and announcements in church that morning, they had their list completed in one day. When we went to drop off our donations after a Wal-Mart run, I looked into their eyes, talked with them, and played with their kids. That's when my thoughts became personal. What if this was me and my family? Where would we go and what would we do? How would I feel if I was unable to provide for my family and we had just lost every material possession that we owned?

We had no idea exactly what was in store for us, but my wife and I started talking and praying about what we should do and how we should respond. Little did we know that one year later our lives would be richly blessed by new experiences, new frustrations, new skills, new foods, new perspectives, and most importantly by new friends.

Next Katrina post . . .

Ordained as a Deacon

Wow, what an awesome and humbling experience! On Sunday night (4/23/2006), Memorial Baptist ordained me, along with several other men, as a deacon.

It was a great service with praise and worship, a charge from Pastor Gregg, and an awesome prayer time where all of the new deacon's and elder's were prayed over. To coincide with the ordination, our church allowed us each to select a new Bible that we picked out from Sonrise Christian Store. We had our Bible's available on a table for others to sign.

Most surprising to me was that our family drove in from Arkansas to be there! My grandmother, my mother-in-law, my boys (my baby girl is too young to understand it), our good friend Patricia, and our sister and brother-in-law with their kids from Arkansas all to be there -- what a blessing and an honor!