"You Can't Have a Testimony without a Test"

Jordan and his second cousins!

The weekend before dropping Justin off at the airport we volunteered to take Jordan's 2nd cousins to Memphis so they could visit with their dad for the weekend. As we were waiting for the kids in Little Rock to be dropped off by their mom, little snow flurries started coming down. We knew a storm was coming but we weren't sure how big it was actually going to be. We decided not to worry about it too much and pushed on to Memphis with the kids. We were in front of the storm the entire way there. We met his cousin at a restaurant to make the drop off and as we talked for a few, the snow just started coming down and that's when his cousin told us that all the roads and highways back to Hot Springs were closed. Apparently, the storm hit hard and fast. Ambulances were flying off the roads and cars were piled up everywhere. We bid farewell and tried to come up with a plan because we were now stuck in Memphis for the weekend with nothing but the clothes on our backs and White Lightning. 

We had already decided to hang out with our friend Anoli, a friend from Fallbrook, that evening. She moved here a few years ago from California. We had been to Memphis last year but a town is always better when exploring with a local. We were all pretty stir crazy from being trapped in the cabin for the past couple of weeks... so we were all ready for an adventure! We met up with Anoli at the school she teaches at for their homecoming basketball game. We watched for a while and it was quite an experience. We were definitely a minority in the building but we had fun soaking in all the culture! They had a dance team perform at half time and they introduced their homecoming court!

Before she took us out on the town for the evening we went back to her townhouse so she could get changed. We were talking about our situation and how were kind of stuck in town and she invited all three of us to stay with her the entire weekend!!! We took a big sigh of relief and decided that all we really needed to get to survive the weekend was a couple of toothbrushes. We could wash our clothes if we needed to!

one of the beautiful plantation homes

Her town home was located on the nicer side of the city right to next to all of these huge plantation homes. Beautiful brick homes with pillars, wrap around decks, two stories high with beautiful front yards. We were so happy to be there! After catching up for a bit at her house we drove down to Beale Street. It's full of blue's bars, clubs, and restaurants. By this time it was really snowing. Big fluffy flakes that would float peacefully down onto the busy street. It was actually one of the most amazing sights I've ever seen in a city before. The street was hustling and bustling with people, the neon lights were shining in every color, the street was covered in white, big soul music blaring in the background, and the snow just kept falling. It was a scene fit for a movie and I was right there in the middle of it. The whole night we just went from place to place listening to bands, dancing, and enjoying each other's company. Anoli brought her friend, Charissa, with us too! She was amazing and kept us laughing the entire night long. We made it back to her house sometime in the early morning and tried to catch some sleep before another fun day together.

Great BBQ

Charissa our new friend

such a beautiful winter night

The next day we went to an amazing BBQ place and walked around the hotel where Martin Luther King Jr. was killed. They have an amazing memorial set up there with different audio touch screens so you can learn all about the details of that horrible day. As we were walking through a gentleman around 40 stopped by. He had on a nice big black coat, a hat and lots of layers! It was about 25 degrees outside. As we continued walking through, he walked next to us giving us all sorts of extra information. He had a gentle soul but you could tell he was as strong as steel forged in the fire. Just as we reached the end of the memorial the man shared his story with us. Last week his family and six other families lost everything they owned in an apartment building fire about six hours east of Memphis. He and his family took anything they had left and made their way down to Memphis just a couple of days ago. It turns out that a week before his apartment was burned down, he had applied for a job on the Mississippi to be a welder for the big boats. As he shared all the hardships of loosing everything, finding his way here, taking care of his wife and daughter, he suddenly got a big smile on his face as he told us that he ranked in the top 20 of hundreds of applicants for this new job. He was going to start in just six days and would soon be making $22 an hour. Until then, he was looking to make $17 a day to keep his family in a shelter that is more like a private little apartment with it's own kitchen and bathroom. Even through all he had been through he had a sense of pride and kept his chin held high. We gave him the money we had in our wallets and told him how amazed we were by his attitude and sense of hope through all of this. He got a twinkle in his eye and a big perfect smile on his face and simply said, 

"You can't have a testimony without a test."

Wow.... that blew us away. What an incredible blessing to meet this man. We spent the rest of our time in Memphis grateful and humbled. Thank "Mr." in the black coat with the great smile for taking the time to talk to us and leaving us with a statement we will never forget.

Sunday afternoon we picked the boys back up and headed back to Hot Springs. The roads had all cleared up and we were grateful for warm showers and clean clothes.