This is my 200th posting on the Good F Words blog.
I thought I would try to come up with 200 things for which I'm thankful and/or odd little facts about myself. If any of my three readers actually read through the entire post I will be INCREDIBLY impressed!
1) I'm thankful for Jesus.
2) I'm thankful for the Holy Spirit.
3) I'm thankful for Mike.
4) I'm thankful for the friendships we've made in the last year.
5) I'm thankful for my Zachary Thomas Bishop.
6) I'm thankful for my Alec Michael Bishop.
7) Zachary was supposed to be Madalyn Nicole, but he surprised us all by being born with a penis! ( Now honestly who thoughts you'd see the word penis on #7?)
8) I was in such shock after Zach's birth (and the emergency C-section) that I started hyperventilating.
9) The doctor actually put me under with anethesia because I was so freaked out!
10) When I woke up I asked Mike, "Did we REALLY just have a baby BOY?!"
11) Between my two boys, I lost a pregnancy in its 12th week. The miscarraige was devastating.
12) I'm not thankful for that loss per se, but I am thankful that Alec came along right after.
13) I had a hard time deciding on a boy name when pregnant with Alec.
14) We liked Jack (rhymed with Zach) and Zander/Xander (alliteration with Zach).
15) One night when Mike was on a road trip during that pregnancy we were talking on the phone and he suggested Alec. That was the one! I liked the A to Z theme.
16) I'm thankful that Alec is my sweet cuddle bug.
17) I'm thankful that Zach is so smart and so tenderhearted.
18) I'm thankful that Zach is showing a gift for music.
19) And for acting.
20) And for writing.
21) I'm thankful that Alec is learning to read, and that he loves it!
22) I'm thankful that Alec is showing a gift for art.
23) I'm thankful for the beautiful soul and beautiful hands of my husband. He makes music!
24) I'm thankful for Tracy Anderson and for her awesome friendship.
25) I love to teach writing. I like a tight pronoun-antecedent agreement.
26) I love a strong three-point thesis statement.
27) I love making people laugh...
28) unless they are laughing AT me.
29) I like pretty things.
30) I like being a little bit girly.
31) I love Bath and Body Works Coconut Lime Verbena...
32) and the new scent Butterfly Flower.
33) I love Yankee Candles...
34) I was editor-in-chief of my college newspaper and that made me feel pretty important.
35) Since college I've worked in advertising, in public relations, and in teaching.
36) I'm thankful that I was able to be a 100% full-time, stay-at-home mom for five beautiful years. I'm thankful that since Zach was born in 2001 I've never had to work more than part time.
37) The last time I got a pedicure, I chose a dark purple color and I really loved that.
38) When I was in grade school I loved Aaron Cox because he could play piano and he was my buddy.
39) When I was in middle school I still loved Aaron Cox because he was cute, played piano, and was my buddy.
40) At some point Aaron just became my buddy and he eventually married my friend Kenya.
41) There are people that I haven't seen since high school, but I still think of them on a regular basis. Good thoughts for good people.
42) When I was in high school I loved a boy name Eric Johnson.
43) He broke my heart into a million zillion pieces.
44) Part of the reason why I wanted to leave home after high school was because of Eric Johnson.
45) I am so thankful that I left home and went to Harding University.
46) I loved Harding.
47) My college experience shaped me and provided me life lifelong friends, many of whom were roommates.
48) My first roommate at Harding was Heather Wiese.
49) Heather is now a business owner and jetsetter in the Dallas area.
50) Heather goes to Paris and New York on a regular basis.
51) I'm thankful for Heather and for the history we share.
52) I'm thankful that Heather is doing what she loves and that I'm living a life I love.
53) My second roomie at Harding was Sara Looney.
54) Sara was my bosom friend (name that book!)
55) I still e-mail/talk/text Sara every day.
56) Sara is still my bosom friend more than 17 years after we met.
57) Sara married Jim Miller, who now is a professor at Harding.
58) Sara teaches part time for Harding.
59) They have two sweet kiddos.
60) I'm so thankful for Sara and her family.
61) My friend Cara started out downstairs from me in the dorm our freshman year.
62) We played intramural softball together.
63) She was loud and funny and extremely competitive.
64) We hit it off and the next year she wiggled her way into being my suitemate.
65) Cara married the first boy that I dated at Harding: Kent Jobe.
66) Funny thing: Cara dated Jim (Sara's husband). I dated Kent (Cara's husband).
67) Cara is an elementary school teacher in Arkansas and her hubby (my first HU date) is a minister. Cara and Kent have three awesome kiddos!
68) My friend Maria somehow found her way into our girl-family during my sophomore year.
69) One day she just showed up in my room and never ever left. The next year she was a suitemate.
70) Maria was our social butterfly.
72) I'm so thankful for Maria and for her sweet little A man.
73) My senior year we added a couple more girls to the roommate situation: Kathryn and Melissa. They were hilarious and fun and I wish I would've had more than one semester with them.
74) When I was 15 years old I put on Jesus in baptism and began to live a life of faith.
75) That year I went to Camp Blue Haven in New Mexico for the first time.
76) CBH changed my life.
77) I met some awesome people at CBH. If you were at CBH with me, consider yourself added to point number 77.
78) Jenna Blankenship Howard was one of my counselors and she was amazing.
79) I once caught Jenna Blankenship making out with Mark Howard in our cabin. This was way before any wedding bells had rung. Scandal!
80) Jenna's little sister Jenise was one of my closest CBH friends.
81) Jenise and I wrote each other (snail mail) for years and years. We still keep up!
82) Eventually Jenise and I ended up back at CBH as counselors together.
83) Someone else was at CBH that summer.
84) That someone played a guitar.
85) He pursued me relentlessly.
86) He introduced himself to me as "Hey, I'm Mike."
87) He proposed to me less than two months after we met.
88) We got married a year later.
89) When we married, I dropped my unfortunate middle name and legally became Andrea Stark Bishop.
90) My bridesmaids were Sara, Cara, and Maria.
91)
By the way, does anyone know what my unfortunate middle name was?
92) Three days after Mike and I married, we were on our way to Chicago to join the Navy.
93) We're still in the Navy.
94) I am thankful for the two perfect babies that the Navy paid for in full. No hospital or doctor's bills. I think I had to pay $12 for meals with Zach.
95) Since we married, we've moved from Chicago to
96) Norfolk, VA to
97) Millington, TN to
98) Wynne, AR to
99) Millington, TN to
100) Chula Vista, CA to
101) San Diego, CA to
102) Port Orchard, WA to
103) our current home in Bartlett, TN.
104) I AM SO THANKFUL FOR MY CUTE HOME IN BARTLETT!105) I am also very thankful for the upbringing that I had in Wynnewood, Oklahoma.
106) I'm thankful for my parents, Jim and Linda Stark.
107) I'm thankful that I was raised in a household with two parents who loved and were in love.
108) I'm thankful that my dad is a wonderful, AMAZING man who is devoting his life to caring for my mom.
109) I HATE ALZHEIMERS.
110) I'm thankful for good days with my mom.
111) I'm thankful for the years of good memories made with my mom.
112) I'm thankful for the many Christmases when she danced around the Christmas tree and sang (very badly) along with Elvis Presley.
113) I'm thankful for the many Christmases when she accidentally gave me twice as many gifts as my brother.
114) I'm thankful for my brother, who will always be five years older than me and about a dozen years less mature.
115) I'm thankful that his wife Kristy puts up with him.
116) Seriously, I'm thankful for Jimbo and Kristy and for their superstar status as AUNT and UNCLE. My boys idolize them.
117) I'm thankful for Mike's brother Buddy.
118) I first met Buddy at Cresta del Monte, the family cabin in New Mexico.
119) I immediately fell in love with him. He had (has) red hair. I've always had a weakness for red hair.
120) I'm thankful for Buddy's new bride Jessica.
121) I wish I could hate Jessica, but I cannot because she's just too awesome.
122) Seriously though, let's compare:
123) I am an adjunct professor of writing at Southwest Tennessee Community College...
124) Jessica is actually Dr. Jessica, professor of mathematics at San Diego State.
125) I am 5'2" and "pleasantly plump" while...
126) Jessica is close to 6' and is fashionably trim and athletic.
127) I am cute; she is beautiful.
128) She's also very sweet and likeable so I guess I'll just have to get past the urge to hate her.
129) I have a set of in-laws that raised my husband to be kind, gentle, loving, and faithful.
130) I am thankful for Mikie and Dwayne Bishop.
131) When I was little I helped my mom grade her 2nd graders' papers. She let me grade when I was in elementary school.
132) When I was in elementary school, grading papers was COOL!
133) I don't really love grading papers anymore.
134) I really SHOULD be grading papers right now.
135) I have about 45 ungraded essays staring at me from my office floor right this minute.
136) Ummm, I think one of the essays just snarled at me.
137) I wanted to have another baby, but it looks as though that is not meant to be.
138) Most days I'm completely fine with not having another child.
139) Every once in awhile though, I long for sweet baby breath again.
140) I wanted a baby girl, though I would not trade my two beautiful boys for a dozen baby girls.
141) I was a cheerleader in high school, but I've always regretted quitting basketball my freshman year.
142) I was a big ol' nerdy nerd girl in high school but amazingly enough I still had friends.
143) I am thankful for childhood friends that I still consider friends even though I haven't actually seen many of them in years and years. I'm thankful for the good people that I went to school with and to church with all of my childhood. I'm thankful for the Coffey family (and for sweet little Ilena who I used to babysit!).
144) I am thankful for my HUGE family of cousins.
145) On my dad's side of the family, I was one of nine first cousins.
146) On my mom's side of the family, I was one of twelve first cousins.
147) Going to see a grandparent was rarely boring for me. I had/have some truly awesome aunts and uncles.
148) My Stark grandparents both died while I was in high school and I regret that I didn't know them while I was an adult.
149)
My memories of them are wrapped up in smells (tobacco, laundry soap, fresh air, dirt from the garden) and in tastes (ice cream, root beer floats, fried chicken) and in touch (cotton housedresses, soft kittens, leather boots).150) My Hollie grandparents both were still around for the birth of my first child. Grandpa died a couple of years later, while my Grandma died last month.
151) My memories of them are fresh and clear.
152) My grandpa was a tease and always made my grandma laugh.
153) I'm thankful for Grandma Hollie's love of the lord. She raised a family of believers.
154) Okay, my hands are starting to go numb.
155) I can't feel my fingertips.
156) I'm such an exaggerator. Seriously though, numb hands.
157) Are you actually still reading? For real?158) Okay, secrets are interesting.
159)
My (not-so) secret girlhood crushes are:160) Brad Clampitt, Wade Smith, Jamie Williamson, Brandon Neimyer, and James Allen (all from Wynnewood)
161) All of the above crushes were completely innocent and kept close to my heart. Never pursued.
162) Non-Wynnewood crushes:
163) Kirk Workman, Shelby Smith, Nathan Mellor, Rick Chitty, Andrew Johnson, and many many other Harding boys that were so fleeting that I can't even remember their names anymore.
164) I have nine small flat moles (freckles really) on my thigh that are in the shape of the big dipper. Seriously.
165) I have a dimple on my face that my mom said was the result of a fall when I was a child. I cut my cheek on my bedside table and it created a cute dimple. Not 100% sure if that is correct.
166) Mike has two adorable dimples.
167) Alec has a super cute dimple as well.
168) I hope to someday take my children to London (well, all over the UK) and show them all of the wonderful things that I saw when I studied abroad. I went with the Harding in England group of 1995. I think it was 1995.
169) I've never really considered getting a tatoo.
170) I'm not much on drinking, but I do love some Tylenol PM on occasion.171) I've always wished that I had long black hair and big green eyes.
172) I've also wished for smaller boobs.
173) I wrote a novel two years ago and think it is above average, but I'm too overwhelmed to really TRY to get a real publisher to look at it.
174) I'm considering self-publishing my novel.
175) I've started a second novel and I think it might be even better than the first.
176) I love to write. I guess that's not a secret.
177) Holy cow, 177.
178) I occasionally say bad words just because I think they are kind of fun to say... dammit.
179) But then I feel bad for saying the bad words, so I don't really do it very often.
180) I ache over the loss of my mom's memories.181) I ache over the love that my dad shows her on a daily basis.
182) I ache knowing that my boys will never really know how awesome she was when she was healthy.
183) I ache for the Lord to take all of her home soon.
184) Sometimes I have a real, accute, almost painful need for chocolate.
185) This morning I ate chocolate cheerios for breakfast.
186) My husband makes me extremely happy on a regular basis.
187) I can't think of a time in my life when I ever doubted the presence of God.
188) I can't think of a time in my life when I ever doubted that someone on this earth loved me.
189) One of my most proud moments in life that has nothing to do with my children is when I was awarded BEST GIRL CAMPER at Camp Blue Haven. That was awesome.
190) Another most proud moment was the day that I received my ACT scores and saw that I'd made a 30. That was also awesome.
191) Crazy thing is that a 30 wasn't enough to get me Honor Scholar status at Harding. At Harding my 30 was just so-so; it was a pretty good ego bust.
192) The first "B" I ever received was in French, during my freshman year of college. I cried.
193) Told you I'm a nerdy nerd girl.
194) I want to be a full-time writer, but I'm not sure how to make that pay the bills.
195) If I could live anywhere on earth, I think I'd choose a place with mountains and trees.
196) My favorite tree is the aspen. My favorite flower is the tulip, or the lily, or the daisy, all happy flowers in my opinion.
197) I am thankful that Wynnewood, Oklahoma, was my home for years 2 through 18.
198) I am thankful that Michael Dwayne Bishop has been where my heart is for the last 14 years.
199) Thank you for reading!
200) I'm thankful for the many friends that God has placed in my life during our years of moving from place to place. He's always given me at least one good girlfriend in each city and those friendships have been the greatest of blessings.
------------------------------------
Wow~!
This morning I've been looking for old pictures for a school project that Zach is working on. I spent a lot more time than I'd planned because, in the process, I kept running across pictures of Mom. Had to take several crying breaks. These are some of my favorites. Why can't she still be like this? I hate Alzheimers.
And this is Zachary with his two buddies Zach M. and Tyler. It really warms my heart to see these three boys together. I see future Harding University roomies!