Saturday, February 19, 2011

RIP - Brielle Murray

Please pray for the Murray family. Yesterday they lost their 13-year-old daughter Brielle to cancer. She had been battling RMS cancer for 3 years but through it all she was faithful to the Lord, seeking him when she was hurting or scared for comfort and never stopped thanking him for all of his blessings. Such an inspiration this little girl was. Although Josh and I do not know Brielle or her family personally, a couple of our friends do, and brought her story to us. My heart goes out to her family, I cannot imagine the pain they are feeling to have lost their precious daughter who brought so much joy to their lives. She is home now with the one she belonged to all along. If you want to read about Brielle's battle, please click the link below:
http://web.me.com/terrypeiffer/Brielle/Welcome.html

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Valentines Day with an unexpected guest..


Valentines Day is a day Josh and I celebrate every year. We make it a weekend rather than a day and we ALWAYS do something special together. It's so important as a married couple to keep things alive and exciting.


This year we booked a room in Palm Springs. This place was probably the most beautiful, romantic hotels we have ever stayed at. I actually found this place by googling "top romantic hotels in Palm Springs" and Andalusian Court came up as #1. Behind the hotel were huge mountains, the sky was so clear and the weather was perfect. Our room was like home. We had a kitchen, living room, bedroom with a fireplace, bathroom with a huge shower and huge tub and our own private patio with a fire pit and jacuzzi tub. The room was so beautiful and cozy that I didn't even want to go out for dinner, I wanted to cook dinner there and just enjoy the room.



We arrived in Palm Springs around 3:00 p.m. Sunday. After checking into our hotel, we drove around looking for a local grocery store to buy champagne and stuff to make breakfast the next morning. After getting everything we needed we started looking for a good place to have dinner that night. We came across a place called Chop House, they had exactly what we were craving for dinner and the setting was dark and romantic, we decided to go there for dinner that night. We went back to the room and exchanged gifts. Our gifts to each other for Valentines Day are always something we can do together. This year we will be hiking Mt. Whitney together and seeing our favorite christian artist in concert (Chris Tomlin). I am beyond excited to do both. Mt. Whitney is every hikers dream to accomplish, I love setting goals like this and knowing I will do anything to complete something I set my mind to. Chris Tomlin has an amazing voice and his songs really touch me...I cannot wait to see him live!!! Josh is so thoughtful when it comes to gifts. He listens to me, remembers things I don't even remember and surprises me every time.




We opened a bottle of champagne, had a glass and started getting ready for dinner. The plan was to go to dinner and then come back and light a fire by our private outdoor jacuzzi and relax in the jacuzzi with Champagne. As we were getting ready to head out to dinner, I heard the jacuzzi jets on. I opened the patio door to find someone in our jacuzzi, closed the door faster than I could blink and told Josh "someone is in our jacuzzi". Josh said "no way" and opened the door to tell the guy he needed to leave. The guy was fully dressed sitting in our jacuzzi (full of water)with a fast food bag sitting next to him. Josh told the guy that we paid for that private jacuzzi and he needed to leave and be gone by the time we got back from dinner. The guy said "okay, I'm really sorry" and we left for dinner.




Dinner was sooooo good!!! Josh got king crab legs and I got lobster. As we were eating dinner we couldn't help but laugh and wonder what the the heck that guy was doing in our jacuzzi fully clothed. He didn't seem drunk and he was completely coherent. It was just really weird but all we could do is laugh.




We got back to the room and Josh checked the patio area only to find the same guy, still fully clothed in our jacuzzi!!! What the heck?!?! This guy was huge and hairy and there was my husband once again telling him to leave before he calls the cops. The guy keeps apologizing, says he has a problem and starts standing up as if he were finally going to leave. Josh asked him if he was okay and he responded that he was fine so we went back into our room to give him some time to leave once again. At this point we are full and irritated that we can't do as planned. Josh goes back outside ten minutes later and guess who is back in the jacuzzi again?!?! Big ol hair dude! Josh calls the hotel manager and it goes to voicemail, so he called the cops. At this point, I'm pretty sure this guy knows Josh is on the phone with the cops and any normal person would have left...but he didn't he stayed, in the tub, with his clothes on and his fast food bag. W.E.I.R.D!



The cops came pretty fast. Apparently this guy was arrested a week prior for the same thing. They said he was completely harmless but had a mental disorder, schizophrenia perhaps? They asked him a few questions, he did everything they asked and they came in and told us there was no point in arresting him as he was completely harmless, but that they were going to take him to the hospital for a 3-day mental evaluation. I felt kind of bad for the guy, he was so nice but so not all there to think what he was doing was normal. After an hour of chaos, Josh and I were still trying to comprehend everything that just happened..it was just so bizarre. We continued about our night, relaxed in our hot tub and stayed up till nearly 1 a.m. just having fun. I swear, no one can make me laugh like my husband, I have so much fun with him. It's like being with your best friend and just being able to completely be YOU with nothing to hold back. It's an amazing feeling to have someone you can connect with in every was possible.





The next morning we woke up and planned on making mimosas and enjoying them in our jacuzzi. I was making drinks and Josh went out to get the jacuzzi ready. All of a sudden he walks in the room and says "What the heck, that guy is back in our jacuzzi fully dressed in a different outfit" No way!!!! Sure enough, he was back and he was fully dressed, wallet and all, in our private jacuzzi! What happened to him being admitted to the hospital for a 3-day evaluation? This was just so odd. Josh called the cops again and this time he was arrested.




We sat there listening to everything the cops were asking him. The guy seemed so innocent, so honest but yet so lost. I felt awful for him but something in his head was not right. He said he would hop over the brick wall of the villa we stayed in and just sit in that jacuzzi for hours (he lived across the street), but it was private and he had ALL of his clothes on, I don't get it. He said he was depressed, the cops told us he lost his job not too long ago and I couldn't help but feel for him but at the same time wonder, what was so special about this dang jacuzzi to make him not want to leave once the cops were there (they gave him every opportunity to just leave, but he didn't want to). They arrested him that morning, he complied with everything they told him to do, he was so big they had to use three cuffs on him. I just felt so bad for that man, mid-30s and to be that depressed and to sound so alert yet so not all there just made me sad for him. The only conclusion I could come to is that he wanted help, he wanted to be admitted to a hospital, he wanted someone to notice him and help him...




Although we had a crazy twist in our vacation, it was still so much fun. This is the kind of stuff we will look back on and laugh about, these are the memories I hold dear to my heart no matter what the situation was because we know how to make the best out of anything : ) As I always say....our life is so much fun together.