Many Christmas Blessings

I am sitting here wearing my new glasses that Josh got me for Christmas. :) Isn't Christmas grand? I have really enjoyed putting together and putting away the new loot I was so blessed to receive this year.

We had a fantastic time together. Our living room was full to the brim with love, excitement, paper and ribbon!

Mark got some LSU stuff he asked for.
Josh got some Saints stuff he asked for.
Casey got some new Shades that were to die for. Of course I could be objective since I did pick them out. hehehe
We were all completely blessed beyond measure.

It was a joy to see Avery coming in wondering what was up.Once again this year, Avery wasn't too into the opening of the gifts. When I was a kid we always had everything wrapped up. That was the way to do it as far as I was concerned. I absolutely LOVE shaking, guessing, and unwrapping! Todd, on the other hand, had gifts unwrapped and under the tree. He loved that, but in this battle I won. So our kids always had everything wrapped. UM, EVEN THE STOCKING GIFTS ARE WRAPPED! I know, weird, but that's the way I like it! Anyway, I am saying all this to say that I think Avery may be a candidate for having some gifts unwrapped and under the tree. She enjoyed the things once they were opened like her Cabbage Patch Kid-Lori.
And her Nursery Rhyme book.
As you can see here she REALLY enjoyed her ball that her Great Uncle Johnny sent!
But the opening of them left room to be desired where she was concerned. So maybe next year Casey and Charlie may try leaving some of her things unwrapped. (As horrid as that sounds to me) hehehe

Here it seems as though she is thinking, 'You silly people, you know how long it takes me to clean these floors and now you have gone and thrown everything down for me to pick up! Silly, silly people."

And yes, Nonna and Poppa did get her a Barbie Car. I know I know. But hey, I remember how excited her mommy was when we got her a Beetle Bug -(a much larger blue one) so why not bless this little miracle with one of her own? Anyway, it was ON SALE! And they didn't have what I really wanted OR what I chose for Plan B- So this is what we ended up with.
She didn't quite get the hang of actually driving it yet, but LOVED, getting in and out and in and out of it.

After the morning festivities, which included a LARGE and delicious breakfast made by "Yours truly" the game was on.

Then Avery landed in her favorite napping spot. Believe me, there were no complaints from Poppa who just happens to be wearing his new hoody that Mark got him.
I just want to say that I am so totally blessed to have this wonderful family. My life is so full of blessings-too many to measure. I am thankful to God and I dont take any of it for granted, not for a second. Thank you God, THANK YOU GOD, for my many, many blessings.

Last Weekend

Fun with Avery

We had a good time playing "Steal the Paci"

I just loved this picture of her leaving.

Tell It

I read an article today that left me sort of sad. It mentioned Pastors who stated that they "hated" Christmas. Now while I understand that they are speaking from the commercialism point of view, I still "hated" to hear that they "hated" it. Christmas truly is the most wonderful time of the year. Yes the pocketbook aspect of it does come into play. We know that Christmas really is to celebrate the birth of Jesus our Savior. True enough, there are those who don't believe yet still "celebrate". But what better is there to celebrate than Jesus? We celebrate sports championships, graduations, contest winners, and job promotions.
Again, what better to celebrate than JESUS?!

Do you know that Christmas time is - for some people - the ONLY time they hear the miraculous story of the birth of our Savior? What better time to take every opportunity to tell His story? While some may see it as a children's story, and others may see it as a fairy tale, others may come to know Christ as Lord of their life upon hearing it.

So amid the wrapping paper, bows, long lines, and dollar signs, let's tell the story. What a gift that is.

With every present wrapped, carol sung, and poinsettia placed, let's tell the true story with joy.

With every Christmas party attended, Christmas card sent, and Merry Christmas voiced, let's tell the story with joy.

With every candy cane tasted, tree decorated, and string of lights strung, let's tell the amazing wonderful story with joy.

There is Good news of Great Joy for ALL PEOPLE!

A Lesson Taught!

Last week our Special Education teacher mentioned to me that one of her students who has special needs, REALLY wanted a bicycle. The family had no means to get him one and Mrs. McC was wondering about finding him a used one. We knew that our local Sheriffs Office in the past had a project where prisoners refurbished used bicycles for needy kids. I gave the Sheriffs Office a call later that morning and they said that they could fix him up. Todd went to the Sheriffs Office on the day they told us to come, and picked up the bicycle and brought it to my office.

Yesterday Mrs. McC, Carls teacher brought him into my office to show him his SURPRISE. I am almost in tears as I type this, just like I was when he came in and I saw his reaction. He looked at that USED but nice bicycle and was SOOOOOO EXCITED. He kept saying, "My bike" over and over. He said "Take it home." We assured him that he could take it home. He twirled around and jumped and smiled. - tears - Not only that, he brought people all day long over to my office to show it off.

We are at that school to provide an education for our students, BUT WHAT A LESSON WE LEARNED from a special needs child. The selfishness we see, or are involved in ourselves is SHAMEFUL. How wonderful it would be if the little things we were blessed with; we would react to, in the same way this sweet kid reacted to his used bicycle in need of a seat cover.

Thanks to Carl who blessed me so greatly this week with a lesson taught.

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Mark is 22

Another Happy Birthday Post. This time my firstborn son, Mark Christopher is turning 22 years old.

So 22 years ago today, I went to church. It was a Wednesday night. I started having contractions during the service. Nothing major, real light contractions. I timed them and they were real irregular. So after the service we just went home. We remembered three years earlier when we had Casey how long I labored in the hospital. I didnt want to lay in that bed for so many hours so we just went home and went to bed. A couple of hours later I woke Todd up. (Early to bed, early to rise is his motto) Anyway, I woke him up and told him it was getting stronger and we should probably go on. He said, well lets wait for one more contraction. Another contraction came, I woke him again, he said AGAIN - One more contraction. That went on for 3 or 4 contractions or so and then all of the sudden a really loud gushing sound woke him up. Yep, my water broke. I said, "I told you we needed to go". He never got out of the bed so fast. hehehe So we headed out. We got to the hospital and the nurse told me to "HOP" up onto the table. I looked at her like she was from another planet. No HOPPING happening. Turns out when they checked me I was ready. They called Dr. Godfrey who ran 3 red lights to get there before he was born about 45 minutes after arriving at the hospital. (No medication!) So turns out we didnt have to stay in that bed for hours laboring. That day Mark was ready to go. Two weeks later we celebrated his first Christmas! Mark has pretty much been ready to go ever since. He LOVES to GO more than anybody I know. He has already been more places than I have ever been my whole life thats for sure. This is one of the pictures he took on one of his trips.He is smart, adventurous, funny, helpful, and fun. He loves sports and still stays involved in as many as he has time for. This is Mark (on the left) and his friend Ben(who he is still friends with even though they dont get to see each other much.)

This is the night he won the National Football Foundation Hall of Fame Top Scholarship! We are just as proud of him now as we were that night.He loves hunting deer and duck too. He sure didnt get that from his dad. He is really a well rounded person with lots of interests. He is always ready to do something new and always has been. This is a picture of when he was "Clifford the Big Red Dog" for a contest in First Grade. He won $10! I am pretty sure he doesnt read my blog so he will in no way be embarrassed by it. hehehe I am very proud of who he is. I wonder what God has in store for his future. Whatever it is I know it will be great. So Happy Birthday Mark! We love you more than you can know.

Flashback Friday

Phew and Praise the Lord

Today Todd had to go to the doctor for a checkup. 2 weeks ago he went for a physical so that he could get his CDL renewed so that he could continue to be able to drive the church bus. Well his blood pressure was too high for the doctor to pass him on his physical. Today 2 weeks later after taking medication he had to return.

Now rewind to last night.

So off to sweet sleep I went and at some point this dream began.

'TODD AND I WERE DRIVING SOME SUV DOWN AN UNFAMILIAR ROAD. WELL TODD WAS DRIVING OF COURSE BUT I WAS ALONG FOR THE RIDE. I WAS IN THE BACK OF THE SUV DOING SOMETHING AND I LOOKED UP AT TODD TO ASK HIM SOMETHING. HIS HEAD WAS TILTED TO THE SIDE. I CALLED HIM AND HE DIDNT MOVE. I WENT UP TO THE FRONT OF THE VEHICLE AND HE WAS UNCONSCIOUS. WE WERE TRAVELING FAST. I HAD TO TRY TO STEER THE VEHICLE AND GET IT TO STOP. I COULD NOT MOVE TODD. THE POWER STEERING WASNT WORKING AND I WAS USING ALL MY STRENGTH JUST TO KEEP THE VEHICLE ON THE ROAD. THE ROAD WAS SO CURVY AND I ONLY HAD TIME AND STRENGTH TO STEER AROUND EACH BEND. THERE WAS NO TIME TO STOP - ONLY TO TAKE THE CURVES AHEAD OF ME.'

Okay so then I woke up. My heart was beating out of my chest. I was breathing heavy. It was so stressful. Good thing the doctor wasn't taking my blood pressure at that point.

Does anyone think I had any sort of subconcious (or maybe not so subconscious) fear that I wouldnt be able to handle things alone and that it would be such a struggle if something happened to my sweetie? Yea me too.

I was kinda bothered (a little bit) by that dream all morning. Especially when his appointment was at 9:15 but he decided to go on in a little early like 8:30 (against my advice) 'just in case they could go on and get him in.' And he didnt get out of there until noon!

So I guess you know how great I felt when his blood pressure was fine, his kidney was fine (He only has one), and blood work wasnt necessary because everything else looked so good. Phew! No blood work = Todd remaining conscious. :)

**Insert info--The last time Todd had bloodwork he passed out. Turns out he has a disorder or condition or whatever you call it where if he passes out he has an exaggerated pause in his heart. Therefore his heart will stop. He had to be revived and was a big deal that we do not want to revisit!

I am praising God this evening and breathing a sigh of relief. Again so thankful to God for taking care of us. I think I will have a little more restful night tonight.

Proverbs 3:24 - When you like down you will not be afraid. When you lie down your sleep will be sweet.

Maybe I will even have a happier less stressful dream, ya think?

Great Days

I have enjoyed my time off from school. Cant believe its almost time to go back. Man it really flies by. I certainly had a good time while it lasted though and got quite a bit done too. Of course we had our Thanksgiving meal which was wonderful. We missed Mark but were glad he had a nice restful day duck hunting. We played with Avery outside which she thoroughly enjoyed.
With a little help from Avery Grace we got to work.
She took it quite seriously.
She kept picking up ornaments and saying "Ooooh"
And after a bit I got my tree up.
Perfected my tree topper.
Made a wreath, thanks to Maries Trees!
and did a little decorating. I have more of that to do. But this was a good start.
I Almost finished shopping, AND wrapping too.

We played a little with the newest member of the family.
He wasnt quite as thrilled as his mommy was with this little getup.
It made us laugh though.

So once again we had a great time together. I have to admit that I am a little sad that this week is almost over. But before I know it I will be off again. What a wonderful time of year.

Not Exactly As Planned

Some days dont go just like you planned. Ever notice that? Today was one of those days for me. I will tell you about one of the things that made today a little bit atypical. There were many things to do and I was busy getting it all done one thing at a time. Next on my agenda was to take a quick trip to Natchez to pick up a surprise Birthday Cake for the sweetest man in the world who happens to also be my husband. So off I went. I was driving towards Natchez and in the rear view window I noticed a Jaguar (or what I thought was one) coming up on me really fast. I wondered what in the world he was doing. He did not slow at all and I had to gun my engine to keep him from ramming me from behind. He then slowed down for a second but then very quickly sped back up, (like in the movies) and veered around to the left of me. There was traffic in the right lane beside me so I could not get over away from him and he swiped all down the side of my car knocking my mirror and scraping all down my beautiful silver camry. (Which is no longer quite so beautiful). I was shocked. I think I even said out loud, "No he didnt"! But he did indeed. That though is not the end of the story. As he bounced off of my car he traveled into the oncoming lane of traffic and headed THE WRONG WAY onto the BRIDGE heading from Natchez. I was so upset and shocked. I was trying to call 911 to alert someone, but of course by the time I even got my hands on my phone the collisions had already taken place. I pulled off the highway and parked. I called the police in tears explaining the situation. Turns out this mans blood sugar had bottomed out and he was completely out of it. He hit someone head on, on the bridge which I am told subsequently caused 3 crashes behind his. I am not sure but I think he may be the only one who was transported to the hospital from the crashes. Thank God for that.

So no today did not go as planned.

I gave my husband a call to which I was not planning on crying so I didnt freak him out. Well that did not go as planned either. LOL He asked me where I was and through tears (and of course letting him know I was fine) I told him and he said "I am on the way." What a wonderful guy I have. I ALWAYS ALWAYS ALWAYS feel better when something happens, after talking to him. He just makes things better. I thank God for him.

The surprise of the cake came out since he did ask me where I was going when this happened. So tonight (a day early) {which also was not part of todays plan} we ate some of this delicious birthday cake.

Now this is not your typical birthday post either but you know that's just how today came about. I can tell you though that I can think of no one I would rather say HAPPY BIRTHDAY to right now than this guy.

This guy that I married 26 years 5 months and 3 weeks ago. In this picture he is giving the thumbs up after we were married and walking back down the isle. I am here to tell you that every day since that one he has made me feel like he still feels that way about us. THUMBS UP!

Happy Birthday to the sweetest man I know that is ALL SMILES most ALL the time.

Man do I love him.