Bittersweet

Posted Monday, August 27, 2012 10:34 AM

Today the world seems a little dimmer. We lost a very important and special person yesterday. Mr. Wade Cowart has touched so many lives in his time here on this earth. We are so very sad at his passing. Once again, words cannot describe. He was certainly one of the most unselfish men I have met. He led the flock at Buford Church of Christ so well. He was not only wise and caring in his leadership, but he had a sense of humor too. I don't think I ever had a conversation with him where I wasn't laughing. He was a great man and will be missed.

I have a story to share...

So a long time ago, Pearson was really little, like maybe 3, and he was trying to tell his parents about something Mr. Wade did or said at church but he couldn't remember his name. Then it hit him, "Mr. Scardy Cat"! See having always heard the name Cowart, Pearson thought people were saying "coward". He couldn't remember the name but knew it was some weird name that people shouldn't want to be called. "Oh yeah! Scardy cat!"

I can't tell you how many times I have heard that story and now I feel like I was there. Mr. Wade loved that story too. He has always been close to our hearts.

But... We can't be too sad for too long. Why? Because Mr. Scardy Cat is in a much much better place. The suffering and pain he was feeling here on Earth have vanished. He is with our Lord and Savior where he belongs. He is home and he is not sad. In fact, he is singing with the angels in heaven and one day we will be with him.

Revelation 21:4 (speaking of the new heaven) "He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away." ESV

We miss you Mr. Scardy Cat, but we are so very thankful that you are not in pain anymore and maybe a little jealous that you get to see Jesus before us.

Love, Mrs. Charlene Maugeri

Near the foothills of the Ozarks...

Posted Friday, August 31, 2012 9:14 PM

I am feeling very blessed today. Martina McBride – Blessed

So earlier today, I was looking at some facebook pictures of one of my teachers at Harding. (Sorry if that sounds creepy) As I was seeing how much fun he has with his family and remembering how much fun he was in class and how I felt he ginuinly cared for me, I realized how truely blessed I was to graduate from Harding University. Looking at those pictures, I realized how much I truely loved and respected this man as a teacher, friend and mentor. He, along with all of my teachers, truely cared for me and would have done anything for me. And what's cool is they would have done the same for any/all of their students. I don't know for sure because I don't have any other college experience, but I don't think you quite get this care from large state schools. At Harding, all the teachers are Christian and the student to teacher ratio is 17 to 1 (http://www.princetonreview.com/HardingUniversity.aspx). This means they can get to know every student on a personal level. Many professors host home bible studies on wednesday nights for students. Many also host class parties and study sessions in their homes etc. They all have office hours where you can go talk to them and most of them will do anything in their power to help you understand the studies. Now this is starting to sound like a commercial plug for Harding which is not what I meant. I just wanted to say I feel very blessed to have this experience.

Also, I Skyped with my old apartment mates last night. I miss them, but we didn't miss a beat. We picked up right where we left off in December when I graduated. The friendships I made at Harding are forever. I am so blessed to have so many close friends with similar values as me who care about me even from 700 miles away.

And on that note, you know what else is a blessing? Technology! Kelsey and Mollie are literally more than 700 driving miles away from me right now but last night I saw their faces (and their beautiful Legacy Apartment) and talked to them for a long time. No long distance bills, no wasted minutes or overage charges. Just using wifi and a computer. Not only that but I am able to continue to work for M3 Accounting Services out of Gainesville, Georgia from home in Dublin, Ohio! Now how cool is that? It really is a blessing. I didn't have to worry about finding another job here and the best part? I get out of bed 10 minutes before I am supposed to work and can work in my pajamas. (For the most part). Just today, I was on the phone with my boss (my work phone that I can use on the office's network via internet) and I was watching what he was doing on his computer through my computer screen. Crazy, right?

And one last thing on my heart right now. I am so blessed to be...Ashley Ragland's MATRON OF HONOR! And what an honor it is! I am so excited for Ashley and Taylor to finally be united in holy matrimony and now I get to have a lead roll in the process! Ashley, I am physically far away but I promise to do everything in my power to make this the best possible experience for you. I am so glad you get a turn at being the bride now and I hope I can pay back half of what you did for me when it was my turn! Love you!

Thanks for reading!

Love, a very blessed Mrs. Charlene Maugeri

Columbus Zoo!!!!

Posted Tuesday, August 21, 2012 9:08 AM

"How many are your works, Lord! In wisdom you made them all; the earth is full of your creatures. There is the sea, vast and spacious, teeming with creatures beyond number- living things both large and small." -Psalm 104:24, 25 NIV

A zookeeper once told me (along with a bunch of little kids at Vacation Bible School) that the difference between humans and the animals at her zoo is that we humans have the CHOICE to glorify God every day. We wake up in the morning and we make a decision that day to do everything to God's glory or to do whatever we want. But animals don't have the choice. They glorify God just by being themselves. Pretty cool when you think about it, huh? And it is evident even to us humans how glorious these animals are when we just look around. Or if we would say... I don't know... go visit a zoo?!

For those of you who don't know, Pearson and I went to the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium on Saturday. This is the 8th largest zoo in the world, 4th largest in the country, and it is considered the "best" zoo in America by several different polls. And what's the best part? We live like 10 minutes away!

Anyway, as I was saying before, this trip to the zoo truly opened my eyes. I felt like a little kid. Every new animal we saw brought "ooh's" "ahh's" and squeals out of me. I saw the work of our God everywhere and it was completely overwhelming. I want to share a few of the most impressive animals.

First, the tiger: Absolutely beautiful. I wish you all could see it in person. Words cannot describe.

Next, the lions: The King of the animals! I wish they would have gotten up and walked around. But just seeing their massive size and being that close to them was breathtaking.

Next, the rhino: I cannot believe God made something so powerful. This guy was very impressive. And he stood so still that he looked like a statue because it is hard to believe these things actually exist. But right as I was thinking this, he slowly moved his head as if telling me, "No, I am real. Believe it."

They had some beautiful kangaroos. Again, I wish they had gotten up and moved around but now that I think about it that would be kind of scary. We were almost close enough to them to touch them and there was only a little rope between us. Amazing!

Here are some of the reptiles: The reptile house was Pearson's favorite part. There are way too many to post them all but here are some of the more impressive ones.

The gorilla was amazing!! But he looked either bored or sad and made me feel bad for him It is really cool how they actually have personalities.

They had a couple of Harding Bison(s)!

The bats were super cool!

We got to pet and feed stingrays. That was phenomenal. They came right up to us and enjoyed the attention. It was like petting a dog. I could have stayed there for the rest of the day.

And last, but not least: The Manatee. I don't know what it was about this animal but I think it impacted me the most. I don't know if it was the size; maybe I expected them to be smaller, or just the fact that they actually do exist and live out there in the huge ocean mostly hidden from humans. And yet, the Columbus zoo has 3 and we got to watch them swim around in their little tank. Thinking about them being stuck in that tank made me kind of sad.  Maybe it is because it is just such a peculiar creature. Sailors used to see them and think they were mermaids. That is so cool. God made this amazing creature. And he made us. Again, I can't put the experience into words but it was astonishing.

To see more pictures and read more about each animal, take a look at my album on facebook. I hope this post has blessed you half as much as the visit to the zoo blessed me, but I know a blog post with a few pictures doesn't do the real thing justice. God is good, all the time. He is powerful and I just love when He finds a way to remind me of that.

Thanks for reading!

Mrs. Charlene Maugeri

First Monthiversary!!!

Posted Tuesday, August 14, 2012 11:24 AM

Pearson and I have been married one month today! And it has been a great month! We are slowly getting everything done but we are also trying to take advantage of the time before Pearson starts school.

We have our Ohio drivers license's and car tags. My social security card came in the mail yesterday. Pearson is all signed up for his classes and has his first lab rotation lined up. Everything is decorated except our bedroom because I am waiting on some wedding pictures. I have some pics up on facebook.

While we are taking advantage of Pearson not being in school yet, we have been mostly watching movies at home.  We watched Batman Begins the other night and I don't think I had ever seen it before. Now, Dark Knight Rises makes so much more sense. lol We saw The Amazing Spiderman in the theater Friday night because I hadn't seen that yet either. Satruday night we had ice cream with a friend from Harding who is in grad school at Ohio State. That was fun. There are so many people that have told me on facebook that they are right around the corner from us. That is realy exciting. And next weekend, (drumroll please...) we are going to the Columbus Zoo! Woohoo! Thank you Hughes' and Cowans' for leaving zoo tickets in our apartment! We are super excited and have only heard good things about it!

We went to church on Sunday for the first time since we moved here at Fishinger and Kenny Roads Church of Christ. Everyone is so incredibly nice and friendly. They have already taken us in and we have only been twice. The young adults took our email addresses so they could inform us of fun happenings and some other people have already told us they are going to have us over. It truely is the best feeling in the world to know that we will have a church family wherever we go who would probably do just about anything for us. And we still know we have family through Christ in Georgia, Arkansas and other places who are praying for us and supporting us from a distance. We know this because so many people have told us through gifts and cards and facebook and we couldn't feel more blessed. Thank you everyone for all of your love and support!

Life is so good. We are so unbelievably blessed.

Thanks for reading!

Mrs. Charlene Maugeri

The Move

Posted Thursday, August 09, 2012 10:48 AM

Sorry this post is so late. We have been a little busy putting our apartment together which still is not finished and it is driving me crazy!

Anyway, bright and early friday (August 3rd) morning we left my parents driveway in Sugar Hill, Georgia and headed to our apartment in Dublin, Ohio. The drive was so long! My dad and Pearson's dad switched off driving the budget truck while we followed them very slowly.

When we walked into our apartment, we were surprised to see it decorated for us! Thank you Hughes' and Cowans'. (They picked up our keys for us while we were still in the Bahamas).

When our dads finally got here (we had left them behind somewhere around Cincinnati), we immediately started taking things out of the truck and the whole thing was emptied in less than an hour! And 2 rooms were basically completely set up.

The rest of the weekend was spent setting things up and showing our dads around Columbus. We ate at Eddie George's Grille. We walked around the bookstore and the library, and we walked around the outside of Ohio Stadium (The Horseshoe).

Then, on Sunday, it was time for our dads to leave. Unfortunately I have no pictures of this.  We drove them to Cincinnati to the airport and saw them off. We were finally on our own. When we got back to Dublin, we ate lunch and embarked on the first of our many trips to Target with a long shopping list and tons of giftcards! I like shopping with my new husband but being the beginning of August and in a college town, there were some frustrations. lol But that was expected.

We still haven't put anything on the walls yet because there was confusion about whether we can use nails or not and then we couldn't find command strips. Everyone was out of them because of people going to college etc etc blah blah blah. It is driving me crazy but we found out today that we can use nails with no problem so let the decorating begin!!

On another note: As if getting an apartment set up and me working and Pearson getting all registered for school wasn't enough, we have to deal with changing my name and changing states. Yesterday, I ordered my new social security card with my new last name. Saturday we are getting new drivers licenses for Ohio and so my last name will be correct on there too. Then we have to get our cars registered in Ohio. Then I will deal with the bank and with work as far as my last name goes. There is a lot to do.

And I'll leave you with this: Go team USA! I think this is the first year that I really have a lot of interest in the Olympic Games and we can't even watch much with all the craziness of moving and getting settled.

Thanks for reading!

Mrs. Charlene Maugeri

The Beginning of Married Life

Posted Wednesday, July 25, 2012 11:00 AM

So Pearson and I have been married for 12 days and life is good

Right after the wedding, we honeymooned in the Bahamas for a week and it was fantastic! We stayed on Paradise Island at "Paradise Island Club and Marina." It was very private and beautiful. Below is the view from our balcony.

While on our fabulous honeymoon we...

hung out on the beach a couple times,

visited the acquarium at Atlantis,

saw Oprah Winfrey's and other celebs beach houses,

went snorkling, 

rode a jetski,

won a dance contest on a dinner curise,

and did lots of shopping and relaxing. We did NOT want to come home. You can see more pictures on my photbucket.

Now we are home and staying in some friends' house (they are trying to sell it and not living there now) until we move to Ohio. We are very thankful for John and Sarah to let us stay there. This is what we came home to the first night.

Can I just say, I LOVE coming home to my husband every day! The bad news, Pearson is sick. :( and he is stuck at home all day while I take his car to work and he has no TV or internet. Poor guy. He has been watching DVDs all day every day. I think he is just getting used to my germs and his body doesn't like it. I told him this and he said "But you aren't sick! That's not fair!" He is so cute. Even when he is sick

When I am not at work or getting things set up for our new life, we are loving being lazy and alone together and watching movies. This is much needed after spending so much time and energy planning a wedding and honeymoon.

Like I said, life is good. Thanks for reading!

Charlene Maugeri