Hip-Hip-----Hopefully someday NO MORE HIP!

YaY for me!

I have lost 45 pounds in the past... oh... 5&1/2 ~ 6 months!

I figure if I lose less than a half a pound a day til my 40th birthday... I will be at my healthy ideal weight!

With God all things... ALL things... are possible!

For life...

Some wonderful things happen in your heart when you have true friendships. There seems to be an unconditional love for them that is indescribable. There is an excitement knowing that they are part of your life.

What is so awesome about having friends that share a piece of your heart... is that no matter how long you have been apart... or how many miles are between you... you can pick up right where you left off with the same love and excitement that you all had for each other from the very beginning!

Rich made friends with a guy when they were in the Air Force together. They were both stationed at Grand Forks Air Force Base in North Dakota... they were in the same dorm room.

I was still in high school in Washington state. See... Rich and I met through my cousin... who was in basic training with Rich. Rich and I became "ink to paper" pen pals... so to speak. We wrote letters to each other for about a year and a half. Then we started to call each other. We sent pictures to each other also. Then one night, while I was at work... Rich called me. He told me he wanted to ask me a question... but he was afraid of my answer. I told him to go ahead and ask me the question because the answer would probably be yes. So... after a moment of silence... Rich asked me to marry him over the phone that night while I was sitting on a mop bucket in the restaurant I was working at after they closed... ( I was the janitor ). I did say "Yes!"

Rich sent me my engagement ring next day express mail. I eventually was sent a one way plane ticket to Grand Forks North Dakota. A place I had never been before.

To make a long story short (which I have a hard time doing)... I left with my Mama's permission... a couple suitcases... $50.... and a one way ticket to be married to a man I had never met in person before!

Was I scared? A little nervous maybe. You know what the great part about only being able to write was? It allowed us to open our hearts to each other... without the pressure of actually sitting right in front of each other. There were no walls between us... only words. I knew Rich as if I had known him all my life... and I had gotten to know his mom as well. My mom even had the opportunity to talk with his mom.

So then... on my 18th birthday... we said "I Do!" And I am happy to say that over 20 years later... we are still together.

But... I was talking about... our friend! I met Kyle when I got to Grand Forks. It seems like the three of us hit it off and became very close friends. When Rich and I got married... Kyle was supposed to be standing with Rich. They both had their uniforms on... and that IS JUST THE WAY IT WAS SUPPOSED TO BE! But... this stupid guy... who came to see us get married... (who we weren't even friends with)... jumped up and signed the marriage license before anyone could say anything..... OOOOOHHHH MADE ME SO MAD!!! I have always hoped and prayed that Kyle knew that he was the one that should have had his name on our license. Anyways... in our hearts... we knew.

The three of us spent all of our spare time together. We would go fishing down on the Minnesota side of the Red River. We would go shopping together. Kyle would stay overnights at our house both on base and off. We cooked out together... crab legs on a charcoal grill... mmmmm! I will never forget those moments. Rich will never forget those moments. Rich left the Air Force and we have never seen Kyle since.

We have kept in "sort of" contact over the past 20 years. We usually have to get ahold of Kyle's mom to get his phone number. But... we have never forgotten about him. He is still in our hearts as much today (or more) than he was all those years ago.

Rich and I have been through so much in our lives together. Thinking of those times with Kyle... kept us in touch with who we were... and what kinds of moments have made us who we are today.

Rich called Kyle's mom the other day. Got his phone number. And called him. We are so much closer to where he lives now than we have ever been before. Like only 3 states instead of the whole country. He says he wants to take a road trip... I hope he lands at our house! We came back to West Virginia... for one reason... for Rich to re-connect with the things from his life that he left behind 20 years ago. I pray for him and Kyle to re-connect as well. Rich needs the camaraderie. I saw the old sparkle in his eyes while he was on the phone with him the other day. And... I got a chance to talk to him as well!

What a great feeling was stirred in my heart! Our friend... from so long ago... IS our friend... for life.

"Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never fails."

We love you, Kyle! Always have... always will!

Know what I learned from all of this? What thoughts kept going through my head the past few days? Rich and I have emotionally, spiritually, and financially been stripped to absolutely nothing... so many times in the past 20 years....... but our friends.... are still there.

I hope I have touched your heart today. Let your friend for life know how much you love them... each day that goes by... is one less day that you have... live it to the fullest by enjoying the free things in life that money cannot buy... because those things will last beyond life itself!

Feeling a little out of place...

I really enjoy living where I am right now. It has been one new adventure after another. I still can't help feeling a little lonely for something familiar. Here in West Virginia... which by the way is a beautiful place... the hills are rolling. Unlike the Rocky Mountains that cut crisp jagged slashes of rock up into the sky. Here... it looks as if God tripped over something while He was planting the trees and spilled his bucket of tree seeds. He must have had ALOT of seeds! Because there are all different kinds... ALL OVER THE PLACE! That... to me is beautiful... yet different than what I am used to. I really miss the Oregon coast. Standing on the edge of the world... next to a watery paradise that cannot be compared to anything else... ok... maybe a little piece of heaven.

Some of the trees across the "grove"... as people call it here... are slightly twinging to other colors. I am excited to see fall. I do not like winter anywhere that has snow... however... it can snow on Christmas eve and stay til New Year's and it would be ok. Here... the trees and rolling green hills and valleys turn to grey against white in the winter. I saw what that looked like when we first got here this past March. I guess you might call that kind of scenery a pencil sketcher's paradise.

There is beauty all around us... no matter where we are. I suppose it is only as natural as life itself to miss familiarity. Finding a new way in life is a challenge. Am I up to it? Well... I guess I am... as I have no choice in changing it right now. I believe that God picked this place for us to be. It is hard to describe really.

I was having a difficult time living with my mother in law... whom... by the way... I love almost as much as my own mother.... almost. It was very hard living under someone else's roof. To submit yourself to another way of life completely... difficult. Adapting... is a challenge.

The day I had the accident in the car... was a life changing day for me. I have found many blessings out of that accident. Yes... our car was totalled... and it sits in a locked up wreck yard... with a sad little look on it's face. On the day of the accident... the minute I got in the car to make the 54 mile trek to work... I had a sense of foreboding all around me. I wanted to go back home and call in sick. I seriously felt ill...... not physically...... but "something" wasn't right. I knew I could not go back home. I had to keep my job... I needed the money... and I am not the kind of person who likes to call in. When I am supposed to be at work... I am going to be at work. I took off driving... and instantly felt the need to pray. I started sobbing and crying out to God. What I kept repeating over and over was... "Lord... you know where I am supposed to be... just get me to where I am supposed to be." I was praying in the "spiritual and financial and a place to call home"... sense........ but... when I rounded the last turn into the parking lot to where I work...... the tire, axle, area completely broke off of the front passengers side of the car. It didn't happen on a long hilly road... it didn't happen on the 70 mile per hour interstate... it happened in the parking lot to where I work.

I give thanks to God every day for him keeping me from harm that morning! He indeed got me to where I believe I was supposed to be. From me getting the job here... mostly by word of mouth... to finding a house five blocks from work... everything has been planned out for us by God. We were open to His will for our lives... and I believe we will be blessed here.

You know what though? To totally put trust into the Lord... when your future feels as steady as a rickety old rope bridge hanging on by a thread above a deep and craggy crack in the earth... it is hard... it is hard to trust... but you have to! No matter what the circumstances... pray to the Lord to protect you in all ways... to surround you with His mighty angels. I pray always for my friends and loved ones, our car and our home... and everywhere we are to be completely surrounded by His angels of protection... and I have a simple faith that He will honor my prayers. I KNOW He will honor them! He has done so in my past.... more times than I can count.

Yes... I am lonesome for my friends that I left behind. I am homesick for familiarity. But I see daily new faces... and am experiencing new things... and new surroundings... and I am finding that each day gets easier to trust. You have to really work at it sometimes. Trust can be an easy thing to do... but in order to do it right... you have to surrender the part of you that brings the wall of fear and uncertainty down. It's difficult... but... WITH God... all things are possible! ALL THINGS... not just SOME things.... but you have to do it WITH God!

Be blessed... and if you don't feel blessed... look around you... your very life is a blessing!

I hope you enjoy my poem that I wrote this afternoon.

"Lonesome For Friendship" by: Suzii Bunting 09/21/07

My heart seeks out the moments.
The one's that might have been.
Long is the time that passes by.

To touch the hand of one's heart...
That I have not yet known.
To see my reflection in their eyes.

Take me to the time that's lost.
Show me who you are.

I will find your friendship there...
And place it in my heart.

The roads along this journey...
Brought me here to find my way...
I've travelled them so far.

Open up your life to mine.
Become a friend to me.
What makes you who you are?

Time goes by faster every day.
We cannot fail to try.

Love and friendship lasts beyond...
The days that pass us by.

STUFF

I thought I would stop by here and let you all know what has been going on! I have been busy working... of course. I have also been focusing alot on my book. I feel like there is definitely some "movement" going in the right direction where my thoughts for the book are going. I have done alot of organizing of my thoughts... which... by the way... are alot less organized than one would think.

I believe I was trying to hard... for a long time... to "get it right". There is no right or wrong. It is all from my heart. The definite "right" if you want to call it that... is God's blessing... and the message that is supposed to be given... will be.

I have started another blog. A place where only I can go and write till my fingers fall off. I also have more notebooks started. My goodness... I have caused alot of trees to suffer!

We went across the mighty Ohio river yesterday to visit Rich's mom. We went and did a little more organizing of our storage shed... and brought a small load of stuff over. Eventually...(hopefully next month) before the snow flies... I would like to have all of our stuff out of the storage unit and in our house. That will save us a little bit of money. It's been difficult to get it all going in the right direction... but we are headed that way.

Our little house is looking more like home. We have little remnants and treasures from our past all over the place. It is odd... you know... to have "stuff". Knowing in my mind that it is just "stuff"... you cannot take it with you when you go... and still feeling like all of the "stuff" makes our home what it is... a home. You know what though? I would run away from it all in a heart beat if God came back to take us all back home to heaven. That is where my true home is. That is where I want to be the most.

People work so hard every day... for what? Stuff. The more money you get... the more "stuff" you can get. They are busy and all stressed out over things... things that cannot truly buy happiness. I don't mean to sound morbid or anything like that... but if they were to die tomorrow before they ever opened their eyes.......... they would not get the opportunity to come back and get the deed to their house... or say... "Wait... can I take my new car?"

When you have had nothing... you appreciate everything. When you have had "stuff"... and had it taken all away from you... or circumstances fell hard on your life causing all the "stuff" to not be quite as important as it once was....... you realize that there is so much more to life. I honestly believe that if people would just slow down... and look around them... and see the emptiness in their house of stuff..... they might fill their spiritual house with the treasures that they can take with them when they leave this life.

Like I said... I have been blessed with things.... stuff... earthly treasures... but... I lost my Mama to getting a pile of "stuff". I think I would rather have my Mama back. Have you lost anything of real value? Not money value... heart value. Did Grandpa leave you a nice big house? But Grandpa isn't there to enjoy the gift of giving you the house that he worked so hard for all of his life. The gift... is from the heart. The gift... is love.

Love lasts through all space and time. I can feel my mother's love... even now... and she has been gone for seven years now. I can see her face in the memories of my heart. I can look around my house... and see the stuff that she once had. I can touch it... and feel it... and remember things about getting them. I would give them all away... for just one more hug from my Mama... to feel her arms around me... and to hear her voice say my name... to see her smile. I would be homeless... and stuffless... for just one... just one hug.

Home is where your heart is. Where is your home?