Day 2 & 3

Here's some shots I was taking before the school bus came on Day 2.




As I we were waiting I saw a truck & trailer start to pull up the drive. Low and behold...it was the Pop pop!


So Dad go to help us see them off for Day 2. (Dad dropped by to drop off some fuel to Jim.)

After everyone left I went back into my office. As I looked out the window I noticed Marbles had a buddy on the front porch....only he didn't know it was there and it didn't know Marbles was there....


We have these HUGE toads all over the place...and they aren't afraid of much! But they'll sure surprise the heck out of you when you walk up on one unknowing that they are there :)

Both kids had good second days. Matt's teacher had a bad phone call about her father's heart surgery and she had to leave out immediately to Arizona to be with him. All Matt knows is that problems happened in the surgery on the heart and then they had to do emergency surgery on his brain. I asked if he was sure and he said yes. I doubt he was pulling my chain on this cause he was very heartbroken for his teacher...as were the other students. He said almost everyone was crying when Mrs. Martin was crying. So...here's another request...please add her, her Dad, and her family to your prayer list.

Nat's day didn't have near the emotions. It was just a good day that ended with a HARD workout. Nat said she did her best and really tried hard. I told her that's what coaches like and to just keep it up. She's on team "A" for the tryout practices...but not sure that, that signifies anything.

Here's some quick shots from this morning (Day 3)that I got in right as the bus was pulling up....not the best, you can tell I was rushed and so were they.



Hope everyone else has a great Day 3!

First Day of School!

I don't know if I've EVER seen my kids more excited to start school! Matt was asking us to please just put him to bed 10 mins before bedtime last night (and he just repeated that request just now)!! Guess their summer was not as exciting as it typically is. But, what ever boredom they were experiencing...it's over now. They both bouced off to school today with the biggest cheese eating grins on their faces.





It was COMPLETE maddness at Matt school this afternoon. So instead of waiting in line to pick him up, I parked and walked up to get him. This worked out great for me cause I got a wonderful shot of him and his teacher Mrs. Matrin...which we are blessed to get for the 2nd year in a row. He(we) are so, so lucky!! Matt hass all the same classmates as last year (since his teacher asked all the parents form last year if they'd like to be in her class again sine she was moving up to 4th grade). He's so delighted and could hardly contain himself when he was telling me about his day.


Here's Nat leaving her 1st day of Jr. High (which is in the old high school bldg)...she's a big shot now. She was really worried that she'd be stressed out today, but she told me that after we got her schedule straigtened out this morning that everything else went pretty smoothly. And she said that the boy who has the locker abover her was really sweet and that is a pleasant change from last year when she was surrounded by rude locker neighbors.


Here's hoping that tomorrow is just as awesome for the kids. They'll be back to morning bus riders tomorrow. And Nat will experience her first after school workout. She's trying out for the volleyball team. We'll find out after next Tues or Thurs if she made the team. They take 24 girls, but supposedly a ton are trying out. Cross your fingers :) I hope all of your kids had great first days also!

Happy Birthday Tina & Happy Anniversary Billy and Tina :)

First off..Billy - I'm VERY sorry that I couldn't find a picture of you to put on here (that was JUST you). I found several of you and Brayden playing at Christmas...but you never looked at the camera :) I'll make up for it this weekend..get ready to smile.

Now to business.......

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TINA!!!



For those of you who didn't know, Tina is my sister-in-law (technically), but in my heart she's my SISTER! Our family has been so blessed to have her. She's is so sweet, happy, caring, patient, excellent Mom ....my list could go on and on! She and I hit if off right away. I was a teenager (a rotten one at that) when she and Billy started dating. And she saw right thru it all and accepted me anyway. She became so dear to my heart a long time ago and I'm so, so thankful for that!

And her and Billy...wow...they are such a perfect match for each other. Talk about a couple who couldn't be more meant for each other...that's them! They are having their anniversary today also. I believe this is their 17th wedding annivesary (Billy, Tina, Mom, Dad...anyone who knows..correct me if I'm wrong). Regardless, these 2 have weathered many storms together and they just continue to get stronger because of it. They are one tight unit and couldn't be a better example of how a marriage should be. And they both adore wach other in a way that just puts a smile on your face. It make me so happy that my brother has someone who loves him so much...and it makes me happy that, that someone is Tina!

I love you both (and you 2 sweet kids) so much! And I (along with all my family) are so, so blessed to have you in our lives! Can't wait to see you this weekend...rain or no rain. Brayden has asked EVERY day since Monday..."...go Tyler's house??" He's very pumped...along with the rest of us.

I love you and Happy Birthday Tina and Happy Anniversary Billy and Tina!

Happy Birthday Debbie!

Today is my oldest sisters birthday. I send out birthday wishs to her on the blog...even though there's a high chance that she won't see it :) But I get to put a little something on here about my big sister and use her birthday as an excuse :)

Debbie is our (me and my siblings) 2nd Mom. She is the one that made sure we were all doing ok while Karen was sick. She's the one to make sure you got a hug if you needed it. She has the biggest heart and will take care of whom ever is in need! And the kids...oh man, to get to go to Debbie's house...that's heaven right there. And funny, all the stray animals in the whole world feel the same way :) She may not be too happy about inviting them in (the animals), but she'll make sure they are cared for none-the-less. Debbie has an infectious laugh. You can't help but to laugh even if you don't know what the "funny" was. And as a Mom to her kids...yowza...talk about being the kinda Mom that kids wish they had...that's Deb! And her children reflect her love and caring in ways that just floor me sometimes.

So here's to ya Deb! I hope you have a great birthday and I'm sorry I missed you this past weekend. We all love you tons!

I have placed this photo of Debbie with her oldest daughter Jordan with the hopes that you'd lift Jordan (and her worried Mom) up in your prayers. Jordy's been having bad headaches for about 3 months now and has found a lump at the base of her head. She had numerous tests run towards the end of last week and they are waiting on the results. She's currently on an antibiotic for what they (and WE) are hoping is a lymph infection. It's just such a scary thing to happen to a child and plus with all that just happened with Karen...we are all on pins and needles about this. So if you wouldn't mind adding her to your prayers, I'd sure mean a lot to me!!

Dreams

I decided to go thru and nab all the emails that Yahoo had saved between me and Karen. I go in a read a few a day. Most are just one liners, but they still make me smile and realize that I miss her so much! Today (2 weeks since she passed away) I open up 2 emails...one makes me cry and the other makes my heart stick out of my chest a foot.

In the first email she wanted to get my advice on the caps they'd made to give everyone at the wedding. She wanted my opinion but also felt bad cause it wouldn't be a surprise to me. ...that one made me cry. The next one I'd TOTALLY forgot writing. Here's a segment that I'd wrote to her on March 14th, 2007....

"...Hope you guys are doing good. I had a dream about you last night. Kinda weird, but at the time really scary. I was having to beg a dragon not to eat you cause you were my sister and I loved you so much and couldn't live without you in my life...."

Yes the dragon in the dream makes it a kooky dream. But at THAT time that dream really shook me up and I remember I really felt compelled to tell her about that dream cause it was the first time I'd EVER even considered not having her in my life. And for those of you who didn't know....she never even went to the doctor till Good Friday and even at that time she (and the dr.) thought it was a cyst (or something along those lines). Nothing had come up about cancer.

No I don't believe that I have ESP or anything out there like that. But I have had some dreams come true. I just NEVER thought a dream like this would come true. I guess if I wanted to analyze it...the dragon was cancer? What ever...the SOB (dragon, not God) took my sister even after I begged so hard.

My Mom told me a while back (way, way before all this) that if you have a disturbing dream about someone...they need your prayers. Good Grief Mom....you couldn't have been more right about this one.

Sorry, but finding this email has really hit me at so many levels. I wasn't looking to write another tear jerker. I was just wanting to share this email that I'd wrote to my sister to make sure she knew how much I loved her and wanted her in my life. Today - more true than EVER!

Thief

Here's one to make you smile :)

Yesterday I set $2.50 on the kitchen counter. When I came back thru the kitchen after the kids had, had breakfast I only had $2 dollars! Well...unfortunately my thoughts went to one child...poor ole Matt :( So I kindly went to him and asked if I could have my 2 quarters back. He gave me the deer in the headlights look and said he didn't have them. I assured him that I wouldn't get mad if he'd just give them back. He swore he didn't have them. So I walked away and went to Nat. Now she's a WAY better fibber than her brother. That girl WILL NOT give in...stubborn!!! She tells me she didn't have the quarters and told me I could search her room...yeah right. So I walk away and just shrugged it off...it was only 2 quarters.

Then I went back to my office and remembered the midget's mumblings earlier in the morning. When I had my head so far into my work that I was just saying "yeah...uh huh...okay baby..." and stuff like that cause I didn't have the time (or so I say) to pay real attention to what he's saying. As I thought more I remembered him saying "coints" (aka coins)..... I found my culprit!!! It came back real vivid then. I heard the little slap-slap of his fat feet running into the kitchen...him yelling "Momma...coints"...then slap-slap changing over to "thump-thump" as he ran across the carpet to his room and "clinck-clinck" of the coints into the pig.

Matt asked me as we headed to town to take Nat to Art "Mom, did you ever find out who took the coins?" And Nat followed with "Yeah! Who did it?" I just pointed to the midget and we all just died laughing!

On a more serious note: If you didn't get to read 49, please do. Momma says :)

49

49 is the days my sister had once she was diagnosed with Cancer. I loathe Cancer! And "49" should sum up why. I know that I haven't written a happy-go-lucky blog in a while, but bear with me...I will soon. My whole perspective on the life we have has been radically rocked (as has all my family and friends of Karen). It's just jaw dropping to me as I still just sit here and think about how fast those 49 days were. It was jaw dropping for her oncologist that it was JUST 49 days. And the most heart breaking of all, it was jaw dropping (though she NEVER showed it) to my sister Karen. Cause the day before she passed away I could still see her fight in her eyes. She wasn't done.

As I flipped the calendar from July to August, my heart sank. The 13th was to be her 1st scan to find out if any of these harsh treatments had shrunk the cancer.

This is all just rambling and I apologize. I just gotta know that someone who reads this will take something from this. DON'T ignore what your body is telling you...it DOES NOT make you a hypochondriac to go to the doctor if something seems "off". You know what it makes you??? ....it makes you stick around for your family and those who love and care for you. And every one of you have those people in your life. And guess what? It will hurt their hearts so bad if your gone. I was one the worst about going to the dr. and I just tried to dismiss the occasional twinge and pang. It will NOT make you a "baby cry" to admit that you have these things and to see a dr. about it. I (we) will never know if Karen had felt any twinges or pangs that were her bodies way of telling her something wasn't right. So be proactive in your health. Only YOU know what you feel and what's "normal" and what's not. Don't go around thinking "oh I'll tough it out" and then you have to experience the "49". You don't want that...your family...your friends...your loves ones....they DO NOT want that!

I know that this "poem" has been passed around forever and most of you have already seen it. I know I've seen it before, but now having this experience with Karen it takes on a whole new, cherished meaning to me:

Life Is A Gift

Today before you think of saying an unkind word Think of someone who can't speak.

Before you complain about the taste of your food Think of someone who has nothing to eat.

Before you complain about your husband or wife - Think of someone who's crying out to God for a companion.

Today before you complain about life - Think of someone who went too early to heaven.

Before you complain about your children - Think of someone who desires children but they're barren.

Before you argue about your dirty house, someone didn't clean or sweep -Think of the people who are living in the streets.

Before whining about the distance you drive -Think of someone who walks the same distance.
And when you are tired and complain about your job,Think of the unemployed, the disabled and those who wished they had your job.

But before you think of pointing the finger or condemning another ,Remember that not one of us are without sin and we all answer to one maker.

And when depressing thoughts seem to get you down ,Put a smile on your face and thank God you're alive and still around.

Life is a gift... Thank God for it...