BEACH

We are at the Beach

We awake to a very rainy and dreary day. Thankfully the skies cleared up and we were able to spend the day outside at the beach and at the pool. I do not have time to write much because it is my night to make supper. Here are a few pictures from our day.

Sunday, May 30, 2010

Well we are on our way to Gulf Shores. We were planning on leaving early this morning from home and traveling all day today, but totally unlike us we decided to be spontaneous and leave last night. The kids were (are) about to burst with excitement so we decided to drive half way and spend the night. We are in Birmingham and are about to leave to for the beach. There has been a lot of drama surrounding this trip but thankfully it has all been worked out and it should be a very relaxing trip. All (yes, all 15) of Jeremy's family will be spending the week together at the beach. Jeremy's parents got a condo from some friends but we just found out last Monday the it was only a TWO BEDROOM condo. We (the daughter-in-laws) went into panic mode and started trying to figure this out. A very long and stressful story later we were able to also get the condo next door to the one they already had, so we are good now. Well, I better get going we are about to pack up. I did want to share some VERY exciting news. I got a call on Friday from the Christian school and was asked to teach 2nd Grade next year. I was thrilled!!! I never taught 2nd grade but I will figure it out. Last year when I was subbing over there I was in 2nd Grade most of the time and I loved it. This news has made my summer so much better.

Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Last night was my nephew, Kaleb's, graduation. I was actually more emotional then I thought I would be. Kaleb was my first love. I was 14 years old when Kaleb was born. I thought it was so cool to be in Junior High and being an Aunt. That little boy changed our families life. My brother and his family lived across the street from us and we were always with Kaleb. At the age of 14 there are not many things that are important to you but Kaleb Scott Douglas was the most important thing in my life. When I was a junior in high school they moved back to TN and it crushed all of us. Two years later I left home and came to college in TN and was able to once again be apart of Kaleb's life. I have watched this little boy grow into a fine young man. He has struggled with many things in his life and his life is pretty turned upside down right now, but I see a strong young man who really wants to do what is right. I love him so much and I am thankful that he is in my life. He is a bit of a jokester and we were a little nervous that he would pull some kind of prank last night. The worse he did was he and some friends got some fake mustaches and wore them to get their diploma. Sam thought it was funny and tried it on after graduation. We had a late night because we did not go eat until after the ceremony. We went to the yummy pizza place and I am looking forward to eating some of the leftovers. Well, today is the last day of school and I am excited! I am going to work on Friday because they will be short staffed but I do not mind the extra money. Well, here are some pictures from last night. I love the ones of the kids and I think it is crazy that Molly looked at the camera as soon as I snapped the picture. She was not supposed to be in the picture but it turned out cute.

Tuesday, May 25, 2010

We had a wonderful weekend! Here are a few pictures. The lighting was terrible in the church so all the baptism pictures turned out dark. We also had someone else taking the pictures and was not quite sure how to fix the camera to make the pictures lighter. ANyway, it was a sweet time and I am so proud of Samuel. Tonight we have my nephew's graduation and then tomorrow is the last day of school YEAH!!!

Kindergarten Graduation

This morning was Sam's Kindergarten program. It was so sweet and of course I cried for most of it! I love all my kids. I also love all my kids equally but I hope this does not make me sound like a bad mother, I love them differently. Each child came into my life at different stages in my life. Each of my kids are blessing to me and each are a special gift. Samuel was my personal lifesaver. I know that sounds dramatic, but he was. After my cancer I was in a very bad place. I had so many doubts and I was a bitter and angry person. I was so good at hiding it but when I was home or by myself, the true feelings would surface. Samuel saved my life, my emotional, spiritual and maybe my physical life. From the moment I saw his picture he was knitted into my heart and life and I knew that life would never be the same. He brings so much joy and happiness to others and I love watching him grow into this amazing little guy. Well, I am on my lunch break so I better stop before I totally lose control of my emotions. I have a few videos of this morning but they are not super great. They sang a few songs and they were really cute. They sang the song "Zip-a-dee-doo-dah" but they changed to the words to say "Zip-a-dee-doo-dah, Zip-a-dee-yah, watch out 1st grade we are on our way". It was adorable. After the program Sam went home with Gran to spend the rest of the day.

Tuesday, May 18, 2010

We had a great weekend. By Saturday I was finally feeling better so that made just about everything better. I was not completely pain free because it seemed like the pain that was all over my body decided to join forces and settle at the back of my neck. I am not kidding, I had a knot at the base of my neck that hurt so bad but I did not have any pain any where else. By Sunday night the knot was going down and I have been sleeping so much better. We had an amazing youth service on Sunday and I am not sure if I have ever seen a better bunch of sincere teenagers. I love them all so much and could not be more proud of the young men and women they are becoming. Yesterday was back to work and then last night I got my house so clean that I almost cried! I stayed up an extra hour last night just to enjoy the cleanliness. I knew I could enjoy it while the kids were asleep. We have a very busy week and weekend so I probably will not be posting. My parents are coming in tonight. Sunday is my parents' 40th wedding anniversary and Sam is getting baptized on Sunday. My nephew is graduating from High School Tuesday night and then we have graduations on Thursday and Friday. I will try to post pictures of the baptism. Here are some pictures I got this weekend.

Friday, May 14, 2010

Thank you all for your prayers concerning Sam and his ear. He is feeling so much better and is acting like himself again. I on the other hand have had a pretty rough week. It is mostly my own fault because I have been stressed out and because of my stress I have been in a lot of pain. My back and neck and most of my body has been hurting me all week, Last night was the first night all week that I actually slept through the night. I had to take some form of sleep aid every night but I still would wake up a few hours after finally falling asleep and would be hurting so bad I could not get back to sleep. I would use ice and heat. I would get in the floor and lay down but nothing was working. I actually found a couple of tennis balls and slept on them to take some of the pressure off the knots that had formed in my back. Jeremy thinks I should see a doctor because this happens quite often. I feel fine for a few weeks and then I can barely move from the pain. I can usually tell what triggers the stress but I am actually not sure this time. I guess some of it has to do with the recent sickness of myself and the kids. I think some of has to do with the fact that the school year is ending and I am not sure what I will be doing next year for employment. I think some of it has to do with the fact that seven of our teenagers from church are graduating and Jeremy and I are really going to miss them. The teenagers graduating were the 7th graders when Jeremy and I started working with the youth group. This Sunday is graduate Sunday and it will be very emotional for us. There is so much going on these days and it seems time is just flying by. I hesitated in saying this, but I will. Have you ever felt like something is about to change in a major way in your life? I cannot explain it but I just feel like the winds of change are about to blow. Obviously these feelings may just be from all the other things that are going on in our lives. Sorry for going into that little rant.

We have another busy weekend ahead of us. Tomorrow morning Jeremy and I are doing a 5K (I am walking) for his school district. Tomorrow night we have our special dinner for our Seniors. Sunday we have our Youth Service/Graduation service. It is going to be amazing and I cannot wait!! We have two seniors that will be baptized and it just thrills my heart to think about of these two teens have grown so much in the Lord the past year. After church we have a spaghetti supper to help raise funds for our trip to Oklahoma City this summer. After the lunch my tic tac toe team is coming over the house so we can work on our questions and then back to church Sunday night. Well here are two pictures of the kids taken at church Wednesday night. When we got to church some of the teens were practicing for Sunday and my kids were awestruck of the teenagers.

Playing Baseball in the house

I got this video of the kids the other day. Sam loves pretending to play baseball and of course he is sporting our favorite teams the Chicago Cubs!

Update on Kids

Well I thought we were going to have major issues with Emma's tooth but come to find out her tooth is bruised. I had no idea a tooth could be bruised. She must of hit her tooth on something but I cannot think of a time she hit her mouth hard enough to bruise her tooth. The good news is that the tooth is in good shape and does not need to be pulled. The bad news is that the tooth will stay discolored until it falls out. After the dentist we went across the street to the doctor. Sam started crying at my work and the teacher came over to tell me that he was complaining of his ear and that he was running a fever. I called the doctor and got him an appointment. The doctor came into the room and looked in his ear. There was a piece of wax in the way so he had to dig it out. When he got the waxed removed he was surprised to see that his ear drum had ruptured. I stared crying because I could not believe it. I thought he just had another ear infection. He prescribed him a strong antibiotic and some ear drops that are also an antibiotic. I have to take him back next week to make sure his ear is healing. He looks so pitiful! He is fast asleep on the couch and will probably stay there the rest of the night. Please say a prayer for him and that he ear heals quickly.

Monday, May 10, 2010

We had a pretty good weekend. Jeremy and about 25 people from our church went to help some of the flood victims. There was a certain street in the Donelson area that was destroyed. We know 5 or 6 of the families personally and I was happy so many people showed up to help. I could not find someone to watch the kids so I had to stay home. Sam woke up Saturday morning with a fever and an earache. I gave him a dose of medicine and Tylenol and he seemed to be better by Saturday night. I will keep watching it. He was fine yesterday but was complaining again this morning. Jeremy was trying to help so he gave him some pain meds that were prescribed to Sam when he was having his tooth issue. Well, it happen to be codeine so my poor child will probably be so sleepy all day. He does not go back to school until Wednesday so at least he does not have to sit in class. He is with me at work so the teacher said she would let him lay down if he needs to rest. Well, back to the weekend. I got some things organized at the house on Saturday and then we went out to eat for Mother's Day. Sunday was church and then we went to Jacob and Lindsey's house for lunch with Jeremy's family. We did not get home until 3:00 so the kids and I did not go to church last night because the kids were still sleeping when it was time to go. Today I am taking Emma back to the dentist to get her front tooth checked out. A few weeks ago her front tooth started turning black. I am not sure what is going on because she did not have a problem with the tooth until the one next to it was pulled. I will be leaving work at 11:00 to take her. I am going to take Sam with me but will leave Chloe here to rest. After the dentist I am planning on coming back to work. Well, my class will be back in a minute so I better go. I only got two pictures yesterday and none of them are of the girls.

Thursday, May 06, 2010

We are having a pretty slow week. Jeremy had to report back to school today but the students did not report. I think they had the teachers come in today to get an idea of how many teachers could actually get to school. Sam is still out of school and last night on the news they said that our county may not go back to school at all this school year. Thankfully Sam can come with me to work. Every one in our house seems to be healthy at the moment and I am hoping it stays that way. I finally got my camera out and got some pictures of the kids last night. We took the kids for ice cream at Sonic before church last night so I took a few pictures. I took some of Emma but she was looking crazy in all of them. Before I go I have a quick story about this morning. Sam is getting baptized in a few weeks but he has been getting a little scared. We have been talking to him about it more the past few days. Well last night Emma said she wanted to be baptized too. She then followed it by saying "What does baptize mean?" Well this morning Sam was playing and he was talking to his cars about being baptized and Emma started whining that she wanted to be baptized. Sam jumped up and ran over to her and put his arm around her and said, 'OK, Emma copy me. Jesus, come into my heart." Emma just looked at him like he was crazy. Sam then begin to pray "Jesus, help Emma get things straightened out in her life. Help her be good and listen to mommy, daddy and her teachers." It was so sweet!!! It also made me laugh when he said the first line about getting her life straightened out. Obviously he has heard someone say that before.

Tuesday, May 04, 2010

To say it has been crazy around MIddle TN would be an understatement. It started raining her last Friday/early Saturday morning and continued to rain until Sunday afternoon. I was near Opryland Saturday for that workshop and I was starting to get scared as reports started to come in that the Interstates were flooding and being closed. Several of the ladies at the workshop had to reserve a room because they would not be able to get home. The instructor of the workshop let the ones who could still get home leave early. The Opryland area is not flooded. I made it home safe but could not believe all the water. Sunday morning the road in front of our house was closed but we were able to get out and get to church. There were several times we thought we may have to turn around and go back home. After church we had to go to Clarksville. I had a severe reaction to the medicine I was on and the doctor had to call some different medicine in to the pharmacy. I had not gotten a chance to go pick it up and by Sunday morning the strep was back in full swing and I had to get some medicine. We were able to get home safe but was in shock by all the water and damage. I have seen so many floods on TV but it is so much harder when you actually know so many people that have been affected. Jeremy and some people from church are headed to Nashville this morning to see where they can help. Sam is out of school for the rest of the week and Jeremy is not sure when he will be returning. Please pray for all that have been affected by this flooding. It really is an unbelievable sight here in Middle TN. I got a video of the kids the other day and thought I would post it.