Hospital Hoopla

Today is Thursday. It is the 4th day of the longest week on record. It has been a very stressful week for the Perry's, but there is a light at the end of the tunnel (and its not a train!) Daniel was admitted to the hospital on Sunday afternoon with Diverticulitus. Its basically an inflamed and infected colon. Its typically seen in older people, but not unheard of in young adults either. He started complaining of a pain in his abdomen on Friday evening and it got progressively worse as the weekend progressed. By Sunday he was doubled over in pain and we went to the emergency room. After a couple of hours of getting a CT scan and being on pain meds and IV fluid, he was diagnosed and admitted to room 406. He was put on IV antibiotics and pain meds and by Wednesday morning (his 28th birthday) he was released to go home with the best nurse he could imagine (ME)! He is recovering very nicely and the doctor says he should be good as new by the weekend.

Now that the update is complete, I want to share the real reason I am writing this blog. I am using it as therapy. LOL. I tend to flush things out better if I write them down, so here it goes. This week has been a very trying one for me, and I know it has been for Daniel as well, but he is less apt to talk about it. Anyone of you reading this that is married or in a very committed relationship can attest to the fact that when that person is hurting it is the most awful feeling in the world, especially if you can't do anything to fix the hurt. To make matters worse, ever since we got married Satan has tried to attack me with fears that I will lose Daniel at an early age. Now I don't accept this lie of the devil, but in times such as this, when he is lying on a bed, hooked up to IV and not knowing what is wrong, those lies start to creep into my brain. There were many times this week when I was so close to breaking down and letting the fear take over. I'm not proud of that, but its the reality of the situation. That mixed with the stress of staying in the hospital, eating junk food, not exercising, thinking about hospital bills (ughhhh) and trying to stay positive was exhausting.

Things are getting better each day and today I finished the book In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day. I read a few passages that really spoke to me.

"Lock eyes with the lion. Why would God be putting it in front of you? What good thing might God have waiting for you on the other side of this challenge? Maybe there's a lesson He wants you to learn or a blessing He wants to give you. Don't just focus on the fear factor. Try to see the bigger picture. What will you miss out on if you let your fears dictate your choices? Is being "safe" really worth it? Maybe God wants to show you something about yourself or Himself, but you'll never know what it is unless you chase your lion. And once you have the lion cornered in the pit, you'll discover that his roar is worse than his bite when you've got God on your side. " ~ Mark Batterson

We want to thank all our friends and family who have sent greetings, prayers, and encouragement to us these past few days. Its so amazing to be reminded what great people God has placed in our lives, and to see how loved we really are. Thanks again!

Boys will be Boys...

This past weekend Daniel and I ventured down to Hazel Green, Alabama to spend some quality time with the Lovell family. Daniel's grandparents have a wonderful little haven away from the world there and we really enjoy spending time with the family. Everytime we go visit it seems like the house is full of people. This weekend Daniel's mom brought the four nephews down with her. We spent the weekend swimming and playing in the yard with the boys. They live in Cookeville, TN so we don't get to see them very often.

Daniel loves being their uncle and is insistent that they have a good, positive role model in him. He also loves acting like a kid with them too. I would like to take a minute and introduce to you "the boys".

Caleb Logsdon, age 8

Caleb is your typical big brother, but he's not your typical child. Caleb is high spirited and is smart beyond his years. He loves technical things and figuring out how things work. He loves to question...everything....and everybody. He learns different languages in school, and plays football.  He can be bossy at times, but overall he has a protective nature over his little brothers. 

Gavin Logsdon, age 5

Gavin is a very unique little boy. He is a book worm already and loves Magic Eye books and Where's Waldo type books. He follows Caleb everywhere, sometimes against his better judgment. He has already shown that he can pick up on activities and sports very quickly. He is very inquisitive and asks a lot of questions. He already has big dreams...aka: a limo ride for his 5th birthday!

Elijah Logsdon, age 3

Elijah is a little ball of fire...a bulldozer of sorts. He is full of life and mischief. He loves taking things apart and putting them back together. From a very young age he would break the toy...then figure out how to fix it. He is very loving, but very hyper at times too. He idolizes his big brothers, and loves to have his picture made. 

Luke Logsdon, age 14 months

Luke is a bundle of joy with a head full of beautiful curls. He is super loving and playful and picks up on things quickly. He just started walking recently and is into everything. We spent a lot of time together this weekend and he is a joy. He loves to eat whatever you are eating and once he warms up to you, you have a new best friend. Plus, he is the only one of the boys that knows me only as "Aunt Starr", not "that girl that uncle Daniel married". LOL. 

These are "the boys". I also have my own set of "boys" (Trey, Todd, and Jason)  and my "mini me" (Rebecca). I will introduce you to them soon.

Lyrics of Life

I was listening to Pandora today at work and one of my favorite songs came on the radio. It was one of the songs from our wedding that my wonderful friend Sara sang during our communion ceremony. This made me start reminiscing about that day and all the special songs that we spent so many months picking out. You think I'm joking when I say we spent months picking out our songs, but I'm being completely serious. I love music, and I love knowing all the lyrics and singing them over and over. I also love how music makes me feel, how it has memories associated with it, and how it can completely change a mood in just a few minutes.

I wanted every detail of our wedding to be special to us, and this included the songs. We meticulously picked out songs that held special meaning to us, had a memory associated with it, or reminded us of special people in our lives.

Looking back on that day, I remember it going by so fast and I remember not really paying much attention to the songs. I'm sure other people didn't either, but I know how much time and effort we put into making those songs mean something. I burned our wedding and reception songs to a CD and I keep it in my car. I listen to it often to remind me of how truly blessed I am. I have put together a play list of some of the key songs from our wedding and our reception. My wish is that you will listen to each song with a new understanding and think of Daniel and I when you hear them.

Our Songs:

1. When you say nothing at all- Allison Krause (Communion Song, sang by Sara McAdoo)

2. Indescribable- Chris Tomlin (our recessional song)

3. Better Life- Keith Urban (introduction of the wedding party)

4. Myspace Girl- The Afters (introduction of US!, b/c we met on Myspace)

5. God Bless the Broken Road- Rascal Flatts (first dance song)

6. My little girl- Tim McGraw (father/daughter dance)

7. Song for Mama- Boyz 2 Men (mother/son dance)

8. Love you Madly- Cake (cake cutting song)

9. Just a Girl- No Doubt (bouquet toss song)

10. Firecracker- Josh Turner (garter toss song)

Create a playlist at MixPod.com

I'm feeling "Risky"

Why is it that I have this desire to jump off perfectly normal cliffs into the water below? What makes me have the urge to jump on the back of a motorcycle? Why does learning martial arts all of a sudden thrill me? What motivated me to start a business with no background knowledge in business ownership? What possessed me to reach out to a stranger online (who ended up being my husband)?  I'm not sure what is happening, but lately I have been feeling rather risky. Am I just wanting more adventure in my life? Am I testing the limits of my abilities? Is God preparing me for something major? I hope its the last one.

I have been reading the book "In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day" by Mark Batterson. Its an amazing book and its stretching my mind to think outside the limits. I read this page today that resonated with my so loudly....

"Obedience is a willingness to do whatever, whenever, wherever God calls us. And that looks very different for each of us. It doesn't always necessitate going halfway around the world. Often the most courageous actions only require us going across the room or across the street. 

I'm not sure what lion God has called you to chase. It may mean teaching at an inner-city school or starting a business or becoming a foster parent. It may mean ending a relationship or beginning a new one. But one thing is for sure: You can't remove risk from the equation.

Part of me wonders if we've been sold a bill of goods. Is it just me or does it seem like some people act as if faith is the reduction of risk? They act as if the goal of faith is to eliminate risk so our lives are, in the words of the old hymn, "safe and secure from all alarm." 

Have you read the Bible lately? Faith is risky business.

The goal of faith is not the elimination of risk. In fact, the greatest risk is taking no risks. Isn't that the principle in the parable of the talents? Jesus commends the two men who take a risk and make a return. But the servant who buries his talent and breaks even is called "wicked." Why? Because he wasn't willing to take a calculated risk. Maybe risk taking is at the heart of righteousness. Maybe righteousness has less to do with not doing anything wrong and more to do with doing things right. Righteousness is using your God-given gifts to their God-given potential. And that requires risk. Maybe our view of sanctification is too sanitized. Maybe our view of Christianity is too civilized. Maybe we need to reconsider what made our spiritual ancestors heroic."

Go out and take some risks today...Chase your lion!!

Art abounds

I would never had thought that we would become "art collectors". I love art and always have. It was a vital part of my adolescence. I often say that if it wasn't for my art and photography classes in high school, I never would have made it out with my sanity. I owe a lot of that to my favorite teacher, Mrs. Hill. She was an inspiration to me back then, and was always so willing to sit and listen to the childish rants of teenagers...you know how hard life is for a 16 year old. Art was my escape from the stresses of life, school, home and work. It was time for me to be creative and explore talents that God has given me. It was the pressure relief valve of life. Sadly, I haven't kept up with my art in a LONG time. I still have unfinished projects from senior year of high school that still beckon for my return. Life got busy, and I got lazy. Plain and simple.

It was interesting for me to find out that most of the Lovell side of the family (Daniel's family) are very talented artists! When I met Daniel's grandfather Charlie, who used to have his own darkroom and is an avid painter, I knew we would be instant friends. He inspires me too, but just like me, he hasn't done as much art work lately. When Daniel and I went on our cruise back in the spring, we took the opportunity to attend an art auction on the ship. We did it in an attempt to kill an hour or so during a rainy afternoon, and for the free champagne (HA). Well it turns out that we really enjoyed the art and left the ship with 4...count them...4 pieces of art for our house!! So, I guess we got thrown into being art collectors after all. Here is the beginning of our collection.The first three are all in our guest room, and the last is a stand alone investment piece in our hallway.

The first two are by an artist named Linda Le Kniff.

This one is by Itzchaz Tarkay (Little Round Table #7)

And the legendary Peter Max (Woodstock Series: Profiles)

Updates on Life

These past couple of weeks have honestly been a whirlwind of emotion and looking back its pretty hard to remember all that has happened. Fortunately, I am one of the "lucky" ones in my city/state that was not effected by the flood financially. I was however affected emotionally, and I still find myself weeping at the sight of homes destroyed, or hearing stories of utter compassion from complete strangers. It amazes me to see the way our towns, cities, communities, and state in general have all come together to help our neighbors. I haven't been able to help out as much as I want to, but I know the work will go on for months and I will have many opportunities to help my neighbors.

So a quick run down of the last couple of weeks (that is if I can remember it all).

Saturday, May 1st:
We had a new group getting started in our MHR Program that morning so I had to get up at 6:00 and drive to Franklin. I arrived in Franklin around 7:15 and the rain started. It was raining buckets all morning and after the convocation we went to brunch. I left Franklin to drive back to Smyrna around 10:30. Now this 45 min trip took me over an hour because the small two lane highway leading back to Murfreesboro was starting to flood in areas and honestly, I was nervous. I finally got home around noon and went back to sleep for a couple of hours. When I awoke, the rain was still coming down in buckets and we started watching the news. After about another hour (3pm) we got a call from our friend Anthony. He was calling to tell us that he was stuck in traffic on I-24 near Bell Road and that the water was rising pretty fast. In the couple of minutes that we were on the phone with him, the "small creek" that runs beneath the interstate was in his car and rising fast. He and two friends had to bail the car, jump the concrete barrier and start walking back towards Nashville to the nearest exit. He talked to us on the phone as we watched on the news his car get completely covered with flood waters. We felt so helpless because we couldn't get to them to come pick them up. We spent the rest of the evening watching the news in utter disbelief and trying to figure out how to get Anthony, Jonathan and Dallas back home.

Sunday, May 2nd:
We had stayed up pretty much all night the night before watching the weather reports because they were calling for tornadoes overnight and the rain kept coming. So on Sunday we decided to sleep late, I mean we couldn't go anywhere. I got up around noon and went and turned on the news. I was sitting in utter shock at what had transpired overnight. The pictures were unbelievable and it was just getting worse. I spent most of the day on Sunday in my pj's watching the news and crying. I found out that one of my coworkers had lost her home completely, one had flooding in the basement, and one had flooding in part of her home. Again I sat feeling helpless and in shock.

As the rest of the week passed, I continued to be engrossed in the news stories, even though Daniel was tired of watching it. We went back to work, and started figuring out ways to help our co-workers.

Wednesday, May 5th:

A group of my co-workers and I went to Candis' house to help clean up debris in her yard. We spent a couple of hours over there and it felt so great to be a helping hand.

Thursday, May 6th:
Daniel and I had our first dental appointment at our new dentist in Smyrna. We walked in and one of my old co-workers from Outback was sitting behind the desk! It was so neat to be able to catch up with her. We really like our new dentist, even though the appointment lasted over 3 hrs b/c they had to do the x-rays, cleaning and tell us about cavities and such. Plus they only had one hygienist working that day. We left and went home to see that the contractors had started working on our new floors in the townhouse. By Thursday night they had all our floors ripped out downstairs so we spent our evening upstairs watching Hulu and Netflix, and packing for our trip to Virginia Beach the next day.

Friday, May 7th:
We got up and left our house by 8:30 because the guys were there to work on the floors again and we didn't want to be in their way. We went and picked up Anthony and took him to where his car had been towed so he could salvage what he could from the car. The car was pretty crazy to see. We ran a few errands and got on the road around 1pm to drive to Virginia. 11 hours later we arrived in VA Beach for the weekend.

Saturday, May 8th:
Daniel wanted to show me Naval Base that he used to be stationed at, so we drove to Norfolk and took the guided tour of the base. It was really interesting and it was fun for me to get to see that part of Daniel's life. He seemed excited to show me all those things too. I was very proud of him that day. He bought me a Navy t-shirt and we spent the rest of the day hanging out with our friends, playing volleyball, and eating!

Sunday, May 9th:
We got back on the road to drive back to Nashville around 1pm. 11 hours later we arrived back in Nashville. We walk in to our townhouse, exhausted and ready to crash, and the first thing I see is our house in shambles!! The contractors that did our floors did not finish on Sunday like promised and just left our house a wreck. I was so upset and then I couldn't sleep.

Tuesday, May 11th:
I awoke to go to work, still mad about the house. I got to work and emailed my landlord and spent the day chatting back and forth with her about how to remedy the situation so we could actually use our house. Daniel started his week-long trek to help Anthony find a new car. I get home and my landlord's neighbor shows up at my front door and says "I'm here to fix your house". So part of me was really happy, part of me felt humbled, so I rolled up my sleeves and helped her put my house back together and clean. Even in the awkward situation, I made a new friendship stronger and by the time Daniel got home, the house was clean again.

Wednesday, May 12th:
I got home from work to see the contractors back at my house finishing the floors. It was a welcomed sight :) I put my stuff down and changed clothes and went to Publix to try "couponing" for the first time. It was really fun and I saved $37.50 on groceries! I was so proud when I got home and Daniel heard about my conquest for at least an hour. We also went to our first neighborhood watch meeting that night and got to meet some more of our neighbors. I felt so grown-up.

So that brings us to today. As you can see, its been an eventful, tiring, and stressful two weeks for the Perry family. But it has also brought us closer together and strengthened our friendships even more. We love our life and are so excited to see what tomorrow brings.

Updates on the Nashville Flood

Hello, as most of you have probably heard by now, my beloved city is flooding. As of Tuesday morning, there are still major sections of Nashville underwater, including Riverfront Park downtown, the Titan’s stadium, the Opryland Hotel and Mall, and most of Bellevue. There are hundreds of people around the city and surrounding counties that are homeless now, including 3 of my coworkers. If you have not had a chance to see some of the photos of this tragedy, you can visit the Facebook page below, or look up the local news channels (2, 4, or 5) in Nashville. 

I survived the Nashville Monsoon of May 1st Click Here

I would like to take a moment and introduce you to one of my co-workers who lost her home on Sunday to the flood waters. Her name is Darla Sansom, and she along with her husband Johnny, and 18 year old daughter Abby have found themselves in a devastating situation with the total loss of their home and all their personal belongings. (please see the photos below) The first flood picture is of their home on Saturday evening. By Sunday, the house was completely underwater, including the roof. They fortunately have flood insurance, but it only covers the structure, not the contents of their home. They are currently living in a rental home of one of their church friends, but have nothing to fill the home. 

Please understand that Abby is graduating from High School in a few weeks and is planning to go to college, but now has nothing. Daniel and I want to help in any way we can and we wanted to share the opportunity to help this family that is so close to our hearts. Please see the list of items below and consider going to our website to purchase these items for Darla and her family. Even if you are out-of-state, you can order the products online and have them shipped to Daniel and I and we will make sure Darla receives the gifts.

Suggested items to purchase:

-      Laundry care items (detergent, fabric softener, bleach)

-      Cleaning supplies (LOC, scrub buds, Multi-purpose cloths)

-      Canned chicken and tuna

-      Boxed cereals

-      Shampoo, conditioner, body wash

-      Facial cleaners

-      Shaving gel/razors

-      Hair care items

-      Toothpaste

-      Paper products/trash bags

They have also registered at Target so that church friends and family can purchase items for them. We would appreciate your help to bless this wonderful family. If you would like to order through our website, please visit:

Http://my-Libertas.com

Password: health

If you are not currently a customer, please create a free account and have the products shipped to our address:

Daniel and Starr Perry

155 Oak Valley Circle

Smyrna, TN 37167

Thank you so much for your generosity!! Please spread the word about our amazing city and let America know about us J So proud to be a Nashvillian this week!!