a good friday and change of plans saturday

bittersweet. yep that's what today is! but i'll tell you about friday first.

i had to get up early yesterday morning to go to a c.e. course at the old capitol inn. dr george may puts this one on every year and it's awesome. the speakers are pretty interesting and there's lunch at SHAPLEY'S. o.k. in case you are new to my blog or just completely missed it, this is my ALL TIME FAVORITE. but i can't go often, so it's nice when it's included in a seminar, you know?

after i ate ate, i hauled tail to JA where pillow was playing east rankin academy. the game had started at 1:00 and it was already about 1:30 or so when i'm "flying" down ridgewood. i had promised stella that i would get there asap, so i was trying to live up to my end of the deal. well, holli (her mom) text me to let me know we were down 27-23.

geez.

you see.....well - you gotta know the east rankin connection, too. o.k. - - - - stella dates wilson and wilson's 1st cousin (anne) plays for east rankin. i sat here trying to think of the easiest way to explain it and that's it!

anyway. i obviously wanted anne to have a good game, too, which she did. but back to the lady mustangs......the past couple of games we have gone to that we've been a few minutes late, they've been losing before we get there. but not after! so holli told me to hurry my butt up and get there (her words - not mine). without details that only a few of you would care to read, pillow did win 50-46. stella finished with 17 points and only 3 fouls!!!!!

after a quick hug and "see ya tomorrow!!!", i "flew" back downtown to finish the seminar. they let out early, so we were able to leave! oh yeah - kim rode with me! thank goodness. we hardly EVER get to see each other and we live right by each other (well, if we could go through backyards.....).

we had a care group leaders meeting at geno and lisa's house, then went for our standing friday night date with cory and jenny at coldstone. jenny's sister, leanne, went with us, too! for those of you who have been praying for them, thank you!!! their mom is doing SO SO much better, but still needs our prayers, so keep 'em coming!!!

now for the change of plans saturday.......

i called the alluvian spa yesterday morning to cancel shana's manicure and confirm my 10:00 massage with greg that i booked at the end of 2007. i had to leave a message because the spa wasn't open yet. and i sent tommy a text to ask him to call to make sure that they got my message. guess my instincts must have known that something was up.

on our way to shapley's, tommy calls. he informs me that i need to call the spa. uh-oh. i call and here's kinda how it went...:

spa: "thank you for calling the alluvian spa. this is katie. how may i help you"

me: "hi, katie! this is suzanne barnette and my husband said that i needed to call y'all in regards to my appointment in the morning?"

spa: "yes, ma'am. alli will need to talk to you. she knows all about it"

~knows all about what? a massage? please don't do this to me today!!!~

spa: "hi, mrs barnette, this is alli. i got your message and have talked to your husband. we had your friend down for the manicure, but never had you down for a massage."

me: "alli, i made them at the same time! and did this back in october or november!!! and the girl that i spoke with told me that you have a group coming in and that greg was booked, but that she was moving someone around so that greg could do my massage because the other person on his book was new."

spa: "i was wondering why we had a manicure that had no phone number or anything with it"

me: "that's because my appointment was supposed to have a note that shana was coming with me and you could confirm with my phone number! alli, i know it's not YOUR fault, but this is the 2nd time i have made appointments to come home specifically for the spa and y'all have messed up my appointment. i will continue coming because you are the best spa around here, but this is unacceptable"

spa: "i understand. i don't know how this could have happened. and i don't have ANYTHING that i can offer you - we are completely booked up. greg does have something today at 3:30 that i can offer"

me: "alli? i am in jackson at a continuing education seminar. that won't work. this is just very disappointing because i have been looking forward to this. i brought a friend for the "delta escape" package back in the fall. i called in july and booked it for september 29th. i got a call on august 28th to confirm our appointments for august 29th. we had to cancel and rearrange our day on september 29th because the time we wanted was not available anymore. whoever does the booking needs to be a little better. this is twice in less than 6 months that just MY appointments have been messed up"

spa: "again, suzanne, i am so so sorry and wish there was something i could do or offer, but we are booked solid.

me: "that's o.k. thanks for your help."

i may have told alli a few more times how disappointed i was, but it wasn't going to change anything. my awesome masseuse, greg, would be relaxing somebody else at 10:00 on the 23rd. dangit. but on my way back to the seminar from the ballgame, my cell phone rings and says "alluvian spa" (yes, they are programmed in my phone). here's THAT conversation:

spa: "this is katie from the alluvian spa. is this SUSAN?"

me: "this is SUZANNE"

spa: "hi, SUSAN (don't they get it!?!?!). i was going to let you know that greg has had a cancellation for tomorrow afternoon.

me: "how late? what time?"

spa: "3:30-4:45"

me: "katie, i don't think that's going to work for us. since you messed up my original appointment, we went ahead and changed our schedule around for saturday. we'll be in jackson until after the pillow girls basketball game and then we're coming straight home to go to giardinia's and stay at the alluvian. but thanks for calling!"

see - my life verse, psalm 37:4 even applies here. "delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart". as disappointed as i was that i was not going to be getting my massage, i was so so much calmer about it than even i expected. i shocked myself! see - we had been trying to figure out how we could get to greenwood for my 10:00 appt, then get back down here to watch the championship game, then get back to greenwood. TOO MUCH RUNNING AROUND!

so God decided to take care of those problems for me. i can book something with greg some other time. it will be o.k. (even though i needed it NOW). and stella's face beamed when i told her we were going to be able to be there today. she even asked - "what about your stuff in greenwood?". i told her the story and she said - "it's just meant to be! you are supposed to be here for me!".

so today, instead of running up and down the interstate, my little girl is going to get to go to the dad's and dolls tea party with her daddy at our church (i'll be home decorating a cake), then we'll head to JA to watch basketball, go to greenwood and have a nice dinner and night at the alluvian.

thank you, God, for knowing what's better for us! He took so much stress out of my day that MY plan had! i'm glad that His plan is always better!

HAPPY WEEKEND, EVERYBODY!
(and sorry for such a long post. eeeekkkkkk!)