updates & activities

OK so here is an update:

~GiGi will be moved, tomorrow into a nursing home. Willow Creek just outside of Jackson. This is truly an answered prayer. She will be frightened as she often is, but this is best for her.

~Kayla, my cousin quit breathing two times over the weekend and her husband had to perform CPR on her. They are going to run some more tests tomorrow to try and figure out why. She has a little girl, Riley Claire who turned one on July 4.

~ Joe's mother fell down a flight of stairs and after much concern seems fine just nursing a foot. We are so thankful she did not break her hip. That was a major fear.

We are thankful that our Heavenly Father is with us and gives us the strength we need to face this wave of trials. They are all in our prayers and we ask that they be in yours as well.

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Things are slowly getting back to normal here after such a disruptive weekend!

We had dinner with our sweet friends Bruce and Donna. Donna fixed such a wonderful roast and carrots, potatoes, and peach cobbler for us. It was so very kind of them to do that.

What great fellowship with friends!

We took the children to the park and had so much fun. Orren did not want to share the swings and Olivia climbed on everything. On the way home we rescued a turtle from the street. When we discovered that it only had 3 legs Olivia insisted we "save" it by bringing it home. So Joe held the turtle while I drove home from the Parkway (Old Cahaba residents know exactly where I am talking about) We released him into our backyard where Huckleberry spent the next 45 minutes baying at him. Until he wore himself out and fell asleep. Of course the next morning he was gone and Olivia had some sadness, but we assured her that he is with his turtle family and well. So if any of you in the area find a 3 legged box turtle, please be kind to him, for that is Yurtle our friend the turtle. We then pulled out the bubbles and spent the evening blowing our troubles away with the children.

Orren is walking everywhere and we can hardly keep up. He is so proud of himself when he is taking those wobbly steps. He laughs and grins ear to ear! Wait until I post the video of him with POP ROCKS. He is hysterical!

We send best wishes & prayers to our friend Julie, her Grandfather had a heart attack over the weekend and is in ICU.

Oh, I almost forgot that Saturday morning Joe took the children to Home Depot for the "kids workshop" They made the cutest wooden football goal posts! They had the best time and it was great for them to do while Mommy was away and taking care of some things. The next workshop they will make a firetruck whistle. They are so excited. Each child gets a "child sized" Home Depot apron (to keep) and a pin to put on it for each workshop they attend. It is a great Daddy activity! (Mommy is going to enjoy these little outings as well. All alone!)

Check out your local Home Depot for dates and times.

We are again so thankful to all of you for your prayers and thoughts. We will keep you posted hopefully without being too much of a downer!

Have a great night!

GIGI/ Grayson's birthday/ Kayla's wedding

GIGI @ 86 years old came through surgery fine. She had a rough night and did not rest well. We now know she has leukemia and we will be taking steps to get her the care she needs. It is going to be a long next few weeks.

I have been so moved by the phone calls and love. Thank you to our blogger friends that have posted and emailed. Thank you all so very much. We will keep you all posted as we know more.

Right now we are pulling for USM to beat AUburn! Go Eagles.

Kayla should be walking down the aisle right now. I am certain she looks beautiful and our thoughts are with her.

Happy Birthday Grayson!!!

We are thinking of you also and hoping you are having a great day! You are a BIG one year old!

We love you!

Just a really quick post to bring everyone up to date on somethings. We got a diagnosis of Alzheimer's on Wednesday for my Grandmother. We all call her GIGI. Anyway, she has developed a place on her leg that caused them to rush her to the ER this morning. Please pray for my family.

We have some precious friends that have lost their 3month old grand baby. They unselfishly adopted a pregnant 17 year old. That is the loss. Our deepest thoughts and prayers are with them.

There is just so much going on right now. I am trying to stay positive and strong. It is difficult. I will post updates as we get them, but most likely not much else. I am emotional and I don't want this to be anything but a positive place filled with Christian love. I am only going to post when information changes or I can in faith . May God be with all of you and bless you!

one should not post when one is as stressed and aggravated as I am

OK, so our weekend plans are not happening. There will be no trip to Mississippi. We are going to miss the family BBQ on Friday. Our niece Kayla's wedding on Saturday, Grayson's birthday party Saturday night. So why are we missing all of this? Joe has to work this weekend.The children are so disappointed and they don't even get to be with Daddy this weekend. But, so it goes. I am going to try and think of something fun I can take them to go and do. Olivia is missing her Daddy so much tonight! Orren had a hard time going to sleep tonight as well. Maybe he is missing his Daddy also. He was screaming at the top of his lungs! He normally will lay down and go right to sleep, but tonight he had difficulty. He would stop screaming instantly when I picked him up. Like you were turning a light switch on and off. I rocked him for a little while and then put him to bed while he still cried some, he did finally fall fast asleep.



I decided the other things I posted earlier about another situation were not what I wanted on here. I apologize to those of you that got the post through email, I cannot control that. I try to be above all of that. I hope you all have a great night!

Chief's Birthday, errands, Pictures of Gustav

Today is Chief's Birthday so let us say :

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHIEF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We love you and miss you so much!

So today was errand day, THE DAY OF THE WEEK I DESPISE! I loaded the children up and we were off after lunch. Orren is basically giving up the afternoon nap but I thought he might sleep in the car. No such luck. I guess he is exactly like his sister. Early morning lark 6:00 AM, 10:00 nap, 6:30 PM bedtime. Not a bad schedule unless you are a night owl like me.

Olivia is doing very well with her studies and is enjoying this new system. I think it is fantastic she is getting a private school education right here in my kitchen. It really makes a difference on days that it storms or the children are dismissed early for what ever reason. I am with her and I am raising her. I am who she tells her hearts desires and I am who influences what she thinks and I get to watch her grow into the Christian Woman she is becoming. It is my most precious blessing.

Orren is still clinging to Mommy a little too much. It is preventing me from doing very much around here. I am looking for his new Bunk beds. I think we are definitely doing the dark wood from the Pottery Barn Kids ( I know BIG shock, I need to own stock) They really are the ones I like the best and the most functional. I need to find him a chest of drawers also. Then maybe I can get his room all organized.

Joe is working long hours this week and it looks as though I will get to play single mommy again. I will keep you updated how we do. At least it is a short week.

Kayla's wedding is this weekend, & Grayson turns one. Lots going on!

See you tomorrow!

These are pictures that Chief sent us of the Gustav aftermath

This is the condo after Gustav! It did great.

And Gustav passes through, Our kids helping Jerry's kids, and Alabama Football

Picture Chief took @ the beach late today.

First let me say how thankful we are that all of our family and friends are safe and their homes seem to be as well. All are now safely back home. We say a prayer of thanksgiving to our Heavenly Father for his mercy and blessings. Thank you to all of you for your calls and prayers. They were greatly appreciated and needed.



We had a great holiday weekend and we are dreading getting back into the groove tomorrow. We spent Friday preparing for Gustav and the family to arrive. Then @ 6:00 PM we ran to Chuck E Cheese to celebrate Ramsey's Birthday. It was so fun and his cake from Edgars was fabulous!



While at the grocery on Saturday, Orren pulled an "Oh my goodness" moment. The Firemen were there taking money for the MDA fundraiser. You know where you put the money in the boot. Joe gave each of the children a dollar to place in the boot. Olivia went first and the firemen made over her and gave her a sticker. Then it was Orren's turn. The firemen talked to him and tickled him and then held the boot up so he could put his money in. Orren looked at it, them, & then us. Just as quick as lightning he stuck both hands in the boot and pulled out two fists full of money. I could have melted into the floor! I started apologizing and the firemen were falling out laughing. All I could think was Orren please don't throw or drop that money! After wrestling it away from him we replaced all the money into the boot, apologized profusely and shuffled everyone to the car. GrandMaMa said "well, he thought they were sharing." LOL I am so glad that we were in Inverness and not at our local grocery, I would never be able to call the fire dept if we had an emergency!



Saturday night we of course were glued to the TV as we cheered on the Tide and took down number 9 Clemson! We enjoyed being with our friends and were so surprised to get goodies from Salah. He brought everyone something from Vegas. Orren a hat and T-shirt, Olivia a hat and t-shirt (pink hat & purple shirt no less) Joe got a hat and t-shirt. Knowing my passion for purses and bags I got a gorgeous bag! Thank you Salah we all love our souvenirs!



Sunday was spent here waiting on arrivals, making phone calls and wringing our hands about Gustav.



Today we made breakfast burritos and bought a movie on pay per view ( Spiderwick Chronicles, VERY GOOD). Baked a spice cake, which really has me longing for Autumn to get here. I made home made Beef Stroganoff, got everyone safely back in their homes, played with the children and everyone to bed. Joe is now watching Tennessee play UCLA. I am blogging. It was a day to relax. Once we knew Gustav was no longer a threat.

Tomorrow we are back to school and normal day to day. It is a short week! Hope it is wonderful for all of you!

The aftermath

*GrandMaMa and the 2 O's

Well, let me just say this..... when Daddy is home alone with the little ones, Mommy has work to do the next day. They had so much fun. They made Jello and played and ate things they were not supposed to. Stayed up late and watched football. I am tickled because Olivia this morning was saying well, Daddy ...... it cracked me up.



We are still watching Gustav, now it seems Hanna will hit Alabama (even Birmingham by next weekend) She is to be a Cat 3 also. Evacuations are crazy and coming from all areas.







Today is Ramsey's birthday so.....................................

Happy Birthday Ramsey!!

We will See you at Chuck E. Cheese in a bit, we love you!

For those of you that are curious, Orren is walking here and there. He just doesn't like it as much as crawling. Chief says it is his 4- wheel drive. I fell in the floor I thought it was so funny.

Tip Top Grille pictures

*View from Tip Top Grille

We had such an adventure that day. Oh my goodness! The wind on top of the mountain is VERY strong and it blew our umbrella right out of the table when we sat down. Then because the sun was so bright we decided to move to another table with a sturdier umbrella. Well,........ in the move Chief's drink was knocked over and all of his food was soaked. It fell apart when he picked it up it was so soggy. So then Olivia's chicken took forever and we were all so aggravated that it wasn't as much fun as we had hoped. But as Chief said we are not likely to forget it!*Olivia squinting in the sun @ tip top

The weather was perfect it was so cool, windy, and sunny. I wish it was that way here at our house right now.

* Master Orry on his horse

TOMORROW IS SEASON OPENER AGAINST CLEMSON! WE ARE SO EXCITED!

ROLL TIDE ROLL!!!!