$10 Tip

Wednesday night’s Mike and I usually grab an inexpensive meal out because Brooklyn is with her dad. So this past Wednesday night we decided to head over to Cracker Barrel so we could have some veggies.

It wasn’t very crowded so we got right in and sat down. Our waitress didn’t show for about 8 or 9 minutes, but no worries. We ordered our drinks and food at the same time. She brought our drinks and I noticed on her apron it said rising star which I thought meant she was probably new. She asked if we needed anything else and Mike made a sarcastic comment about our salads under his breath, but she didn’t hear it.

I played the triangle country game until I finally got it down to one peg. We talked. We laughed. And then here comes our food. Salad & food at the same time. I asked her salads & food at the same time and she said, “yeap.” She obviously didn’t know what to do. She’s about 16, maybe. Very young. So she leaves. She came back a few minutes later and asked if we needed anything else. Well, I had been choking my salad down so I could eat my food hot and decided enough was enough. I asked for the manager.

He came to our tables and didn’t even give me time to politely ask him to help us out. He said he heard there was a timing issue, could he put our food back under the warmer. I said, that will be fine. Mike asked him just to cook him a couple of more pieces of fish because they would be horrible after being under the warmer (which was probably true). So he whisked our food away.
The girl promptly comes behind the manager and asks if we need anything else. I said no, she lays down the check and walks off.

Now, usually this would have made me mad. But I thought about Brooklyn in about six years and realized this girl had no idea how to handle conflict, no idea how to deal with this situation, we are probably about her parent’s age and she probably thought we were being mean.
Two young guys sit down at the table behind us. She obviously knew them. They start giving her a hard time about not knowing the menu. They said something about her tip going down and she whispered (but I could hear it) that her tip was going down because of our table.

She brought me another diet coke, she filled Mike’s water, and she did a great job of taking care of us the rest of the meal. I ordered a piece of caramel apple pie to go and she asked me if I wanted the ice cream in a separate container so it wouldn’t ruin the pie.

I was thinking about something Perry Noble preached on during Christmas about tipping your servers more during the season and especially on Sunday. I started digging in my purse. I had $10 in cash (I never carry cash) and I decided I would tip her that $10 and write her a note to hang in there.

Mike was worried that I would lecture her. I figure they hadn’t trained her; she was just learning and obviously needed some encouragement. Leaving her an atta girl without a tip would not have accomplished anything.

I don’t know if I did the right thing or not. I have no idea. I wrote "hang in there" on the coaster, put the $10 under it and we left. I hope she learned from the situation. I hope I learned from the situation.

Stats

The average liver transplant wait time at Chapel Hill is around 11 months. However, it depends on how sick you are because they don't transplant you until your MELD score is around 24.

The average liver transcipient has a survival rate of 85% at one year status post transplant.

The average transplant costs $250,000 and meds are $5000 after the transplant.

2 Samuel 22:31

Psalm 18:2

Transplant Bound

This past week was the good, the bad and the ugly all rolled into one.

We drove up to Chapel Hill so we could go to the transplant class. It is a very good thing that they don't just give away livers to the first person that can pay for one. They are a priceless comodity for the sick person that needs one.

Mike needs a liver. So we attended the class and found out the transplant will cost about $250,000 and his meds will cost $5,000 per month after the transplant. If his insurance stays the same the cost to us will be around $1500 for the surgery and about $300 per month for his anti-rejection meds. The cost of the meds will actually reduce after time as he goes on fewer meds; however, for the first couple of months he will be taking 30 pills per day at least.

I read on the internet somewhere today of a group called: Alcohol is cheaper than therapy. I would beg to differ. It has huge physical and spiritual ramifications.

Today's scripture is found in 2 Timothy: For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and love and of a sound mind.

Christian Witches

So I was reading a blog the other day and linked from a comment someone else made to another blog. I was very intrigued. I found something I had never heard of: Christian Witches. Sounds like an oxymoron to me.

How does one proclaim to be a Christian: living in the light worshiping God and also a witch: a worshipper of nature is basically what those who are Christian witches seem to profess to doing.

Jesus covers this in Luke 4; however, most who chose to worship other "idols" look at the bible as not being the inspired word of God, but look on it as a book written by fallible men doing the best they could. My thoughts on this are God is God and if He chose to publish His story He made history work out to have in the story what He wanted told.

The River Church

Today we visited the River Church. It was my BFF Jan's birthday and we spent the morning together and then went to lunch. There are so many church plants popping up all over Asheville and I am such a church geek. I used to read about all different kinds of churches when I was on staff at Covenant. But because I was on staff and had to be there every Sunday, I couldn't go check them out, but now I do have that opportunity.

We enjoy the Underground. I love to hear Kevin speak. He is a very talented teacher and you can tell he is anointed; however, we haven't really connected there. Most of the women (not all, but most) are at a totally different life stage than I am and most of the guys are at a different life stage than Mike. We have some really good friends that we met at Covenant and we were all at the same stage in life. It's hard to socialize with people that have little kids because Brooklyn always ends up entertaining them (and she resents that). She likes us having friends that have kids her age.

Likes about the River:

They are reaching outside to others. They are doing bedrolls for the homeless. They are sending money to Nicaragua to buy a wheelchair for a woman that has cerebral palsy.

They communicate well. They send a newsletter out via email. Their website is informative. They have a new visitor packet.

They are friendly. We were welcomed by several different people and not just the pastor.

For what they are doing I liked the way they did music. They didn't have people bring in instruments and try to put together a band.

Dislikes:

They don't start on time. Sunday is the biggest day we get to spend as a family and with friends. I work. My time is valuable. I don't mean to sound arrogant, but I do think that my time should be valued and if you are going to start at 10:30 then you should start then.

The preaching style was more Baptist. This is just a personal preference for me - I like a more conversational style of message.

The way they do music. Wow, a like and dislike. I just like a band to worship with; however, I do think it works for what they are doing.

Just my perception.

Christmas

Mike was sick all night on Christmas Eve. He woke up yesterday morning way too early. He did last for us to open presents. My mom came down for breakfast & presents and then I took Brooklyn to her dads. When I got back, Mike was asleep.

He has lost about 12 pounds this week and his eyes are dark. Emotionally it is getting harder for him. I think too he is having a hard time with friends that aren't calling. Their lives move forward while his is on hold. He tries to sound cheerful when Kristin calls but she is starting to read through his fake courage.

He got me a beautiful black diamond cocktail ring (Kristin helped him pick it out - thanks!). And chocolate truffles. But he slept all day. I would love for us to have one weekend back in the apartment (that is where it all began and it was wonderful).

He also got me a stand mixer and a food processor. I guess that means I will have to cook more!

Brooklyn got some video games, but was most excited over her ring, necklace and her keyboard. The ring is too small and will have to be sized. The keyboard is being returned for an upgrade that doesn't take batteries, but she was so excited to get it. She is beautiful. She's turning into a great young woman. She's learning to sew and loves to cook. One day some guy is going to be very lucky...but not for a very long time.

She read us the Christmas story on Christmas Eve out of Luke. I wonder if an angel came to me if I too would be terrified?

Christmas in the Tahoe

We had a wonderful time with Kristin (Mike's daughter) & Curtis last Sunday (12/21). We meet them in Winston Salem for brunch at the Village Tavern (yum). I had the crab cake benedict and it was wonderfully prepared. The crab meat was lump and the filling was just enough to hold it together. The egg was perfectly poached. Our server Karen was very attentive. It was a wonderful meal.

Then we went to HH Gregg. In the Tahoe, we put some seats down and we exchanged Christmas presents. Talk about Redneck! It was just nice to all be together.

Then we went in HH Gregg and watched Mike & Curtis drool over the BOSE surround sound systems.