Saturday in the Park

I've been reading and I can't stop! I'm on page 605 and still have 300 or so to go before I'm done. It consumes all my free time! A Breath of Snow and Ashes - Will Claire find Jamie? Will Roger kill Stephen Bonnett? Will Bree EVER get pregnant again? Who killed Malva Christie and why was she so evil? When, oh when, will Ian ever find another true love?

We did go to the Zoo yesterday for Earth Day. The picture shows a cool feature from the Abilene Zoo - a bridge over the giraffes. You can walk over and feed the giraffes out of your hand. It seemed that everyone had some rye cracker that the zoo sells to feed the animals. It's kinda sad to me that they are treated like pets. I even saw one boy chasing one of the peacocks and I commented, out loud, that if he was bitten it would serve him right! It's hard for me to go there - there's not a lot of natural habitat. At least there's no polar bears in the West Texas heat!

Your Summer Ride is a Beetle Convertible

Fun, funky, and a little bit euro.You love your summers to be full of style and sun!

What's" Your Summer Ride?

Do you remember when your car defined how cool you were? Now I drive the sensible mini-van. It has very little or no coolness whatsoever.

One Decade

I recently had a conversation regarding marriage. A friend mentioned that everyone seemed to have a bump in the road at 10 years. The word divorce was even brought up. I assured her that Jim and I hadn't meant with any huge problems and we are nearing 11 years. I talked to Jim and he felt the same way as I. This has really been on my mind. I think 15 or 16 sounds hard - I don't know why.

What about you? Have you had any years that seemed particularly bad? If you are willing to post about that, please do.

My Blessings

I often wish that my children liked each other - they seem to fight all the time! This morning we went to play at the playground and they played together. There were lots of other children there and lots to do but they ended up together, playing hide and seek. Kenny was even leading Abbie around by the hand and making something up for them to pretend. It made me cry it was so sweet.

Now they are both into Mr. Rogers - after Kenny complained about it. Mr. Rogers is just very low-key and he doesn't seem to fit into our fast-paced 21st century. I'm thinking that my 2-year-olds at school would love him!

Father, thank you for the blessing of my 2 wonderful children. Thank you for showing me a future where they love each other. Praise you for loving them more than I do.

Summer Lovin'

Less than 1 month until the Abilene Swim Club opens! We have paid our dues and will have guest passes! Who's coming with us?

Second Rant!

Note to the lady in the car-pool line: I know that my 8-year-old is supposed to cross at the crosswalk!! He, on the other hand, sometimes doesn't obey the rules! Feel free to tell HIM where to cross! I'm mad enough at him for almost getting run over - I don't need you to give me a safety lesson!

These Boots Were Made For Walking

I've been angry about the price of gas for weeks now! I've wanted to write about it but it seems so useless! Today, in Abilene, it was $2.84. This skipped right by $2.80 and kept going! I don't have enough exclaimation points!! I remember last year when everyone was worried about $1.80. It was on the front page of the paper and people were jumping on bikes!!

Now I read that the president of Iran says our oil prices aren't at their "true value." How high do they have to be, Mr. President? I realize that because I'm a woman you can't converse with me so this must be a rhetorical question!! This is driving (forgive the pun) me crazy!

Are you making any changes in your driving habits? Are you staying closer to home? Have you changed your vacation plans?

A Question

So if you change your eyeshadow and no one comments on it, is it ugly? Or is it just unnecessary?

Our Gift of Life

It's the weekend to celebrate, again, Jesus's gift of life for us! Today is Good Friday - it seems to be an oxymoron. How good is it Jesus hung on the cross? How good is it that Jesus was tortured? How good is it that Mary had to watch her son be executed? It's one of those wonderful paradoxs that humans just don't get!

1Co 1:27 but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong,


Now on to your gift of life.... Beautiful Margaret is a kidney transplant recipient. I knew her when she was living with an anonymous donor kidney. I saw the drugs that Margaret has to take, the scars she lives with, and the fear of infection that is part of her daily life. While Kenny was so sick (after his birth) Margaret's kidney began to fail. Her courageous brother, John, gave her one of his. She lives today because of his gift of life.

Consider today donating your organs and tissues after your death. You must make the decision and tell your closest family members your wishes. They can decide not to donate if you don't let them know you wish it. Check out the UNOS website to learn more about organ donation. I pray that they take all of me - or whatever is usable. I'll have a Perfect Body in heaven! So when yall come to see me at the Heavenly Gulf, I'll be perfection! Margaret will be with me there - in her angelic bikini!!

Well, There You Go Again!

I'm finally sitting down to write about our Tuesday afternoon....

I was on the computer (of course,) Jim was painting the foyer, and the kids were watching Disney Channel. A pretty regular afternoon with the addition of Jim. Suddenly there was a loud bam and Abbie started crying, screaming - like in pain. Not the whiney sound I just heard when Kenny wouldn't play her game correctly. I jumped up in time to see Jim holding her and saying that she had fallen. We went into the bathroom and looked at a 2 inch long gash over her left eye. Jim applied pressure while I came back here and published The Wedding article. I told Kenny to put on his sandals and I drove us to the doctor's office. Jim held her in his lap where she fell asleep! It was about 4:15 and I wasn't about to pay though the wazoo for another trip to the ER.

They put us right into the Procedure Room and the nurse quickly cleaned it up. We waited about 15 minutes to see the doctor and I left. Kenny and I went into the waiting room so I wouldn't see the needles or hear the screaming. We were done by 5:20. She had 8 stitches put in. I haven't seen them yet. I have the whillies just thinking about it. I waited all night for her to start hurting and crying but she never did. Today she's been fine.

We don't know what happened. She can't seem to remember. I think she dozed off fell into the entertainment center.

Okay, I couldn't resist this:

You Are a Frappacino

At your best, you are: fun loving, sweet, and modern At your worst, you are: childish and over indulgent You drink coffee when: you're craving something sweet Your caffeine addiction level: low

What Kind of Coffee Are You?

The Wedding

I've been thinking about the wedding.... I know some of you want the REAL story of Margaret & Rusty's wedding. I can't be too mean because these are people I love. Margaret and I have been friends since 1990 and Abbie is named after her (Abigail Margaret.) Rusty's new to us but he made my children laugh so he can't be all bad. So with that in mind....

The pastor (Methodist church) was super young. He must have just gotten out of seminary! There were lots of prayers- not that there's anything wrong with that! But he seemed to pray every 2 minutes. There was a cool blessing by the pastor at the end. I liked that. I kept Kenny entertained by trying to figure out the stained glass windows. Ours had a large bush and I couldn't figure out the story. Any guesses? It turned out they were labeled and all parables. What was it?

There was great food. My son pouted when I made made him walk in line at the buffet. He only wanted the shrimp. They were grilled and on skewers with bell peppers and sausages. Kenny ate about 10 but only the shrimp. He left everything else on the plate. I offered every other food but that was all he was interested in. Okay, maybe the chocolate fountain. The DJ started the dancing with "Sweet Home Alabama." You can't go wrong with that!! Abbie was out on the dance floor going to town!! She was hilarious.
All the grown moms were out there shaking their groove thing! It was happening.

It My Birthday Too Now!

It's my birthday weekend. I'm sorry if you only get one day but I have determined that this ole gal needs a weekend! I try to tell myself that age is only a state of mind but I'm confronted with it all the time!! One of the girls at my preschool had her birthday on Thursday so we both had a cake. I was trying to figure out her candles - there were either too many (more than 3, for 30) or too few (less than 30.) Oh, it was the right number - only it was 25!!!! 25!

I tryed to remember 25. I got myself in the right town (Forrest City, Ark,) right job (speech therapist for the Brinkly Schools,) and right apt (the only non-goverment apt in Forrest City.) I can only name one of my friends (Bobbie Harrison - Harding bud) everyone else's name has gone. I remember that I wanted my life to start. I was too dumb to realize it had. My main regret from that time is that I didn't embrace God and His dream for me. I was so busy trying to live for myself and my dreams. I sometimes wonder what I missed.

One more thing..... I got this video off of Supermom's blog and have fallen in love with the song and the video. In my eldery state, I don't listen to Top 40 so I never would have found this. Abbie commented that Kelly Clarkson was showing her belly button. Yeah, that what rock stars do. It's the people that make me smile. I would LOVE to get out of the car to dance!

Are you wondering? 44

Reflections on Wednesday Night

1. Stand up whenever the song "Blessed Be the Name" is sung. Some of us may want to dance!

2. Baptisms are always cool. Adults and children - always cool. Justin's (the guy who got baptised) friend was cool, too. He was so happy and excited. The angels were rejoicing.

3. Kleenex should easily obtained. It's so frequently needed.

4. Pitchpipes are a necessity.

5. It's okay to drop "Fountain Free." We have hastened.

Funny moment: I see a guy who's totally in the Spirit.... He's very tall and looking up - really into it. I'm thinking "that's great and way to go" when he yawned. You just never know someone else's heart.

Celebrate Good Times, Cmon!

Here's the family with our old friends Randy Johnson and Jimmy Gann. I couldn't bring myself to make Jim wear a jacket so a tie would have to do. Jim is looking pretty dressed up for West Texas.
Jimmy and I have been friends loooong before Jim. Jim thought I was dating Jimmy when I was talking on the phone to Jim every night!


Kenny is wearing a hand-me-down jacket from Cade Allen and I think he looks great! Abbie is holding the basket she used to pass out favors and the "bracelet" that Aunt Margaret got for her. Kenny's first boutoniere, too.

Here's Abbie at the reception with Margaret. Abbie said that she looked like Cinderella. :-)










All the girls know that it's all about the dress.... It's a Bessie with no smocking and added embroidery. There's embroidery on the collar and down the placket between the buttons. The sleeves were omitted and the collar altered to be larger. It is orchid hankerchief linen that we wouldn't let her wear in the car (the wrinkles, of course.) Abbie thought it was so silly that she get dressed in the parking lot!

I'll post more soon!

Priceless

materials for Abbie's dress: $50.00

gas money to get to Birmingham: $150.00

seeing Aunt Margaret get married: priceless

Abilene - Prettiest Town I've Ever Seen

Hey folks! It's Monday - we're home! I'm doing laundry and will tell all about it later! Thanks for your prayers of protection! Pray for Jack and Tammy today - driving in the big city is hard on us small town girls....

Keep Praying

I know some of you are praying for us as we travel and I appreciate it so much. We had a near miss on the way here and I know it was God protecting us.

We were in Shreveport and there was some rain. We saw there
was a wreck about 40 yards ahead. Jim put on the brakes and I looked down.(I have an irrational fear of sliding into the back of a car on a slick road.) We were on a bridge and the pick up behind us pulled onto the left shoulder to avoid hitting us.
Then the fun started. A panel truck (AAron Rents) hit the small car behind the truck and sent it spinning all the way to the right. Then the panel truck went left hitting the big pickup at about our left, rear quarter panel. We not only heard but felt the crash. The pickup ended up in front of us (on the left shoulder) and the panel truck was about even with us. The whole thing scared the stew out of me!

I know it was God protecting us. Thanks for praying for our save return to Abilene.