Going out of business!

You write, I'll read.

I PROMISE, I WILL POST AGAIN!

I just don't know when!

I'm keeping up with most of my friends on Facebook now. Since I got the insurance company squared away, it's been pretty quiet around here. I don't have much to chat about.

We enjoyed a rainy weekend at the lake a couple of weeks ago. I'll try to get some pics up from that in the next few days.

If God brings my family to your mind in the next few days, please pray for Jordan. He's doing extremely well in 4 of his 5 classes at college. The 5th one is a big ole math class. He's "struggled" with math for as long as I can remember. In 3rd grade, we both shed tears over multiplication tables. In 5th grade (I think) it was fractions. In 9th grade, Algebra just about killed us all! Then in 11th grade, he had the same teacher for Algebra II as he did for Algebra I. Now, all that is coming back to haunt him. His words? "I am clueless!" This is one thing Momma cannot help with either. I can only pray it will click for him and that his prof. will have mercy on him and try to help him. He only has to take 3 math classes in college....I hope this isn't an indication of what's to come. He's already been to tutoring this week and it helped him some. But he turned in homework online today and made a 60. That's about the 4th one like that too. Yikes!! God can move mountains and He can help a kid in college math too!

Here's an incredible praise for you. Remember Vicki at www.vickidees.blogspot.com? She's my friend we've been praying for with lung cancer. You have to go read her post from Wed. http://vickidees.blogspot.com/2009/09/drowning-in-grace.html I never know if I do that link thing right, so I'm leaving both sites up. This is a miracle post and I'm tempted to repost the whole thing. Go on....go look for it!

Well, look at that; a post! I didn't even mean to!

Happy Friday, er, Saturday everyone!

WE NO LONGER OWN A SILVER TITAN

We accepted the insurance company's offer for Jordan's truck. I hung up the phone and burst into tears. Sat here bawling for a good 10 minutes....you know the praying, crying, whining cry. I haven't been this upset about anything since Rocky, the beautiful Sheltie, died in 2005.

IT'S JUST A PICKUP....GET OVER IT!!!

But it's Jordan's pickup that he loved and was so proud of. His first wheels. Have I mentioned he washed it weekly? Or that he has a box of HIS truck washing stuff that the rest of us have to ask permission to use? He entered this picture in a calendar contest and it won and was published in a Nissan Titan calendar.

I continue to be thankful that he and Jeff weren't hurt and that the insurance offer is very generous. I don't take either of those things for granted. I'm thankful the girl HAD insurance and that it was from a reputable company that has worked with us quickly.

I guess this happened too quickly to him moving out, our turmoil in the worship ministry at church (although, our pastor last night told us in choir it isn't turmoil, but God's way of growing us to new heights) and a couple of other issues floating around here. Anyway, I'm gonna get over it today and start looking ahead to the next fun car he will drive.

Happy Thursday everyone!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY HUBBY!! 2009

Today is hubby's 48th birthday. I was shopping with my sil Saturday for cake decorations. His mom used to put number candles on their cakes and she told us to get them for her. First I had to count on my fingers 2009-1961 to come up with 48. Then I did it again, thinking that couldn't possibly be correct. I picked up the 4 and the 8 and look at my sil (who's 16 years older than her brother) and said "I don't think he'd like this number on his cake". So I didn't buy them.

We are continuing to deal with the truck accident. The insurance company has offered us what they believe to be a fair settlement. We are still haggling with them though. Jordan is doing great at school driving his rental car. We have to turn it in tomorrow so we need to find him a vehicle pretty quickly.

Happy Wednesday everyone.

HE'S OKAY, BUT HIS TRUCK ISN'T

Dewayne called me yesterday afternoon and said the words every mom dreads to hear: "Jordan's been in a wreck". He was sitting at a traffic light which has train tracks next to it. The light turned green but a school bus had to stop again at the tracks. Everyone stopped, except the girl behind Jordan. She hit him without even hitting her brakes. She received a ticket. Her insurance company called me within a few hours to get the claim started.

Dewayne was on his way over there after spending the day in Ft. Worth. He was planning to take both boys to supper. Instead, they went to the tow truck lot to survey the damage. The tow truck driver said he figures the truck is totalled. Dewayne is more hopeful. You can imagine how Jordan feels. He LOVES his truck. Washes it regularly, vacuums, keeps it running nice and loud, put custom wheels on it with his own money...you know, takes care of it better than I keep of mine.

I'm very, very thankful no one was hurt. I'm a little (okay, maybe a lot) frustrated that this happened on his 5th day away from home. IF the truck is totalled, we aren't really prepared financially to replace it. IF they repair it, will it actually look okay and drive right? Please pray for this situation: That the insurance company will be fair, that Jordan will not be angry and that I will "keep it together" in the meantime.

MOVING DAY

First day of Kindergarten, Bakersfield, CA 1996

Whew, I'm so glad the weekend is over! Saturday was tough! I was doing okay until I saw Jordan standing at the bathroom sink in his boxers and my mind went back to a little boy standing on the blue bunny stool in his Power Ranger underwear! That was the first time I teared up. My sis in law sent me a text message at 9:30....tear up #2. Looking into my hubby's eyes at 10:00...tear up #3. I am proud to say, there were no melt downs until we drove away from their house at 8:00 pm. God gave us a sweet lightning storm to watch as we drove home. Kind of a sign that there's nothing too big for Him no matter where my sons live! All day I received text messages from my friends who were responding to my FB status update. That was great! Here's some pics of our day

Telling Bailey bye (tear up #10)

The moving van

Substitute first day of school picture
Entertaining us in his new room (note dad sitting in the corner)

We went to supper at Hullabaloo's (An Aggie word). We've driven by this place dozens of times but never thought about eating there. It's out in the boonies a bit and I saw it in the"Drive-In's, Diner's and Dive's" book, which hubby and I watch all the time. Sure enough, there were pics all over the place of Guy eating and filming the show there. Clint is hugging Paul, the 3rd roommate.

This is a pic of an autographed poster, behind glass that's making the glare. The food? Now I know why he did the show there....YUM BO!! By the time we left, there was a line out the door to get in and the place only has about 20 booths. Glad we went early.

When we arrived at the house, Clint and Hillary had a gift for us (tear up #23)

I NEVER drink Dr. Pepper anymore, yet you'll notice by the time we got home and I took this picture, part of it's gone. I drank a little more with lunch yesterday and even some last night. My tummy's a little upset today lol.

We had an emotional time at church yesterday too. Remember a few weeks ago when I posted about one of our worship minister's leaving? He's from Oklahoma and we Sooner fans stick together. Well, two weeks ago, we found out the lead worship pastor is ALSO leaving! Talk about rotten timing!! Yesterday was the first time our choir had been together since May. This pic is taken at 3rd service, which not as many people sing in. My very kind hubby went all the way up to the top row of the balcony to take pics for me. There's not much light on us, but I wanted pics of Kent before he left. The gal on praise team in the gray shirt is his wife. I'm going to miss them so much!

We will sing together next Sunday for the last time with him. He's been the worship pastor 7 years. We've been going there 4 years. I always tell myself "don't get too attached...they'll leave". It never works. I always get attached.

Thanks for staying with me for this long post. Thanks for your prayers as well. I felt them and would appreciate if you continue to pray for Jordan as he begins this next chapter in his life.

Happy Tuesday everyone.

FINALLY!! A GREAT WEEK AT THE LAKE!

As I said in the last post, the past two summers we've been to the lake, it's rained cats and dogs. And last week looked iffy for a while too. We stopped in OKC for a very, very quick visit at church. The youth was having a "water" night from 5:30-7:00ish. We were pushing it to be there by 6:00 and doing pretty well when all of a sudden, traffic on I-35 came to a complete stop! As far as I can see, there are cars....not moving. It reminded me of the mass exodus from Houston during Hurricane Rita. Then I see the sign "Road Work next 10 miles" Oh No! This will delay our trip probably several hours, we'll miss friends at church completely, and should probably just head over to the lake and forget OKC. Nonsense. I was raised in southeast Oklahoma and know the back roads like the back of my hand. Okay, it's the part of my hand I haven't looked at in 25 years or so, but I do have GPS in my truck. So, I say to Jordan, who's driving "take the Wynnewood exit son, we're going on an adventure". I hear groans from the backseat. So, off we go on a road I haven't been on since probably 1982. Clint's girlfriend was with us and it gave her a chance to see rural Oklahoma. Heck, it gave my sons a chance to see rural Oklahoma too! We made it to the church by 7:15 and were able to catch a few friends still there. We then drove by our old house. It looked beautiful...happy. The hydrangea I planted in 2001 was huge! We drove down the street to the bridge that led to nowhere when we lived there (now, it's a road to more houses). It was a place of adventure for the little boys and only a ball game whistle away. Funny, I whistled at them in St. Thomas when they couldn't see us, and they knew immediately it was me (Bible story here, but I'm in a hurry). Anyway, we enjoyed seeing the neighborhood, got to our friend's house, had another bff over for a quick visit, then hit the road for the 2 hour trip to Lake Eufaula. We arrived at 11:00 pm...we left our house in Houston at 11:00 am. We were tired and ready to go to bed.

Monday morning we hit the lake to find windy conditions creating some nasty little waves. Not good for wakeboarding. No worries though, we're at the lake with our friends. That night, a HUGE thunderstorm hit complete with thunder and lightning. Wow, what a show God put on for us!!! Bad news though....rain was supposed to continue thru Tuesday. I'm not one to pray for rain to avoid us because I figure God knows more about the weather than I do, so we ventured out after the rain intending to stay near the dock in case it began to rain or lightning. It didn't happen!!! We looked at the weather radar before we left and there was rain heading straight for us. I don't know where it went, but it didn't rain a single drop anymore that day! It was a wonderful day! Here's some pics for you:

Charlett, the amazing boat driver

Clint, looking good

Clint, looking not so good (He's wakeskating wearing special shoes, not wakeboarding)

Jordan, looking good (and very serious)

Jordan, looking not so good (also wakeskating)

Tuesday, Jordan and Bobby were able to take wakeboarding lessons from a couple of pros that live on the lake. Really, they are pros that compete. They could do all the cool tricks. By the end of the day, Jordan could land the jump across the wake and Bobby landed a couple of flips! They thought it was so cool to be on board the super fancy schmancy boat!

Wednesday, we took a drive over to Robber's Cave Park. Rumor has it Jesse James hid out in the mountains, hiding from "the law", hence the name. We've been going there for years but Hillary had never been. So we went and enjoyed the beautiful scenery and hiked and climbed mountains (there's a trail, it's not really mountain climbing). Here's a couple of pics from there:

One of the first years we went there, Jordan got stuck on this rock and I had to climb up and get him. I told him he was on his own this year!

How sweet is that? Clint and Hillary

Jordan and Bobby. Maybe later, I'll go thru old pics and find one of the first ones of them standing here. They were about 8 or 9 then.

Bobby climbing up

And finally, this pic is not of a sunset, but of a SUNRISE! The last day we were there, we were on the lake at 6:55 am! You should have seen the fish jumping!

Later this week, I will post about the one problem we had and also post a picture I took especially for my friend Linda. You will laugh!

Happy Monday everyone!

OOPS, NO POST SINCE JULY 24TH??

Sorry 'bout that chief. My sister used to say that to me when I was little. I didn't know until watching late night commercials that the phrase came from the old "Laugh-In" show. Anyway, I've been plenty busy lately and haven't stopped long enough to blog. I thought I'd better get a quick one done before the boys (yea, they're 21 & 18 but still my "boys") and I take off for a quick trip to the lake Sunday. Hubby will be out of town, summer school is finished and who wants to sit around doing nothing? So, we're heading up to God's country for a few days. We'll make a quick stop in OKC Sunday afternoon to visit some bff's before heading to Lake Eufaula Sunday evening. The last two summers we've been there, it has rained non-stop. I'm hoping for a drier week this year.

Wednesday marks the one year anniversary I lost my best girl, Melody. (http://sooneraggiemom.blogspot.com/2008/08/my-friend-melody.html) Please pray for her family next week as they remember her. (Her parents, in-laws, husband, and daughters.)

See ya next week!

MORE ROOF REPAIRS AHEAD

A few of you were with me in September when Hurricane Ike visited my neighborhood. If I was blog smart, I'd post the link the right way to show you pics of the damage to our house. But I can never figure out how to do it "right" so you'll just get this: http://sooneraggiemom.blogspot.com/2008/09/i-really-really-dont-like-ike-now.html Oh geez, I bawled just reading that post again. Anyway, a couple of months ago, we noticed a few shingles had fallen off the house. It had not stormed, hailed nor had there been any heavy wind. It was odd. This was in the midst of end of school stuff and we forgot about the shingles. Then we had graduation and vacation and remembered we hadn't done anything about the roof. We called the roofer who helped us after the hurricane. He examined the roof and said he believed our entire roof needs to be replaced. Remember, they only replaced the front where the hole was. I don't know why we didn't pursue having the roof completely replaced last year. We were just so happy to get it fixed quickly, we didn't even think about it. I've been talking to the insurance company for a couple of weeks now, getting conflicting information (imagine that) but finally was told since it had been so long since Ike, we'd have to file a NEW claim. That means we'd have to pay our deductible AGAIN! Those were not the words we wanted to hear. I began to pray as soon as I hung up the phone with the person who told me that and asked God to please let them be gracious to us and not open up a new claim. Guess what? The adjuster came this morning and said "this is damage from the hurricane"! YAY GOD!! I know he could have easily have said "your roof is old and this isn't our problem". I'm so grateful.

I've really enjoyed reading blogs this week. It has lightened my mood and made me feel better. I've counted my blessings, been to California, read about my friend going through a break up but seeking God's help to get through it, laughed at odd pictures, read some really good Bible lessons and have been awed by my friend far, far away who went to youth camp where I didn't know it existed. I've also praised God for my friend with cancer who continues to hang in there and FEEL GOOD! (they gave her 30-60 days in April) Yep, your blogs are a blessing to me.

Have a great weekend everyone!

MOVING WEEKEND

Saturday was a tough day...bittersweet. Clint (I've decided to start using real names, instead of initials or made up names)and Jordan are sharing a house for college this year, along with one other roommate. Clint has lived in student housing the past three years, therefore, he didn't need furniture...until now. His roommate has living room and dining room furniture so we didn't have to worry about that. We had to make a decision about bedroom furniture for both of them. Jordan got new stuff courtsesy Hurricane Ike so we had decided to let him take it with him. This will leave his bedroom completely empty....I will not set foot inside it for the next year. That will be another post, I'm sure. We decided to buy ourselves new furniture and give Clint our old stuff. My hubby had bought our bedroom set before we were married, making our furniture about 28 years old and still in perfect condition. We've moved this furniture eight times plus the several smaller moves across town into different homes and it's made it perfectly. We get to College Station and start unloading the dresser and I see a huge scratch on it! I guess we're not the best movers afterall. Anyway, as I was polishing it one last time in Clint's bedroom, I begin to cry. I'm pretty much an emotional mess right now getting ready for Jordan to move out. A few other things have got me stirred up as well. I found out Thursday, one of our worship leaders has been called to another church in Atlanta and will be moving in a couple of weeks. He's a Sooner like me and we have to stick together here in Texas. He and his family are the second Sooner families to move from my choir in the past year. Not fair at all!

I'm not ready for this phase of my life. I'm not old enough to be an empty nester. I don't want Jordan to move away. I've been one of "those" moms for 21 years. You know, the one that shows up everywhere the kids are. Beginning in "extended session" when they were newborns; VBS; children's choir; homeroom mom; team mom for soccer and baseball; (NEVER missed a game my boys were playing in. I remember walking as fast as I could from one baseball diamond to the other trying not to miss anything. I even quit playing softball when my boys were playing baseball because our games were on the same night). I'm being honest right now...I'm miserable thinking about this. Please pray for me as I go thru this transition. My heart is so sad.

Aren't you glad you came by my blog today? What a bummer.

RAMBLE RAMBLE RAMBLE

Ya'll know how much I love Beth Moore and read her blog. She posted an anniversary post today that she videoed (that's an odd word) around her office which is just down the street from my neighborhood. If you watch it on the third video, when she says to Melissa at about the 2:00 mark "that's too long baby, that's too long", if they would've turned left, they would have driven into my neighborhood! How cool is that? I saw her once at the mall near our house and was so shocked she was shopping at MY mall. I figured she'd be down at the Galleria shopping. I was with my hubby and I noticed her as a very thin lady with pretty eyes. It took a moment before it registered "THAT'S BETH MOORE". I stopped and turned around and told him it was her. He asked me why I didn't say hi to her. I said "I don't know". Then I was confused...should I chase her down? should I insist we turn around and follow her and hope she goes into Bath and Body Works and I could just non-chalantly greet her? Nope, I just kept on walking thinking she has a right to go to the mall in peace like the next person. But the next time I see her, you can be sure I WILL stop and talk to her and tell her how much her ministry means to me.

The first time I heard her speak was at a Ladies retreat at Falls Creek in 1995. It was three days after the OKC bombing and you can believe God spoke thru her! I had no idea who she was, but knew she was an annointed speaker....a little twangy (okay, a LOT twangy) but nevertheless, she brought comfort to that tabernacle. In 1997, I did her "A Woman's Heart; God's Dwelling Place" study. As soon as she started talking on the video, I said, "that's that lady from Falls Creek". I've been a fan ever since. No matter where I've lived, she's been there....in the TV, of course.

No big plans this weekend (imagine that). Clint will be home later tonight but he's going to two weddings tomorrow so we won't see much of him. It's so hot outside, we can't even work in the flower beds. I'm extremely upset right now anyway. Remember last year when I posted about my bird of paradise plant http://sooneraggiemom.blogspot.com/2008/07/ta-da.html? Well, I noticed it was getting ready to bloom again this year. Yesterday I was out pulling weeds and looking at all the dead things we can't water and I reached over the plant to cut the bush next to it AND KNOCKED OFF THE BLOOM!!! I was seriously stunned and thought I was gonna cry! The only thing that kept me from really getting mad at myself is that I noticed two other blooms on it. Whew....that could've sent me right over the edge!

Have a great weekend everyone!

OKAY, OKAY HERE'S A POST

Last year when I began blogging, I remarked "I don't work outside the home and my kids are old"....not much blogging material. Lately, I've realized just how boring my life is right now. The highlight of today? Going to Target to buy the coffee I forgot to get at the grocery store yesterday and checking my Facebook and email.

I've forced myself to start thinking about things J. will need for college. Since he's living with his brother and another friend in a rented house, he won't need a lot of the start up stuff C. did. Towels and school supplies is all I've thought about so far. C. has all necessary kitchen stuff so I won't have to get any of that. He's taking his bed so I won't have to buy sheets. Hmmmm, see? Even boring trying to plan for shopping! I need to plan another cruise. I can do that well and it takes a long time too.

Actually, I've been pretty wimpy lately thinking about him leaving. He's been my buddy since day one. We've been thru a lot together and I'm thankful we get along as well as we do. He's taken care of me thru my two recent knee surgeries and even helped me figure out why my truck wouldn't start Tuesday (wiggle the steering wheel).

I can't really even gather my thoughts to finish this blog. Maybe I should quit blogging. I haven't been doing a very good job lately. I log on everyday thinking a wonderful blog will pop out of my brain onto the keyboard. Maybe I'll just log in everyday and say Hi.

Happy Thursday everyone!

WHAT HAPPENED TO JUNE?

Oh, I've been a naughty blogger. I figured I'd sit down to write a story about our amazing cruise as soon as I got home. I've been really busy and then for whatever reason, I just kept putting it off. I've been reading blogs, just not commenting much or posting. Anyway, here's a few of my favorite pics

This is in Dominica. We swam into this hole!! It's not a cave but above us was covered with trees and we couldn't see the sky so it felt like a cave! The water was freezing. Supposedly, part of "Pirates of the Caribbean pt. 2" was filmed inside.

This was taken right after we got to our hotel in Puerto Rico. Aren't they cute?

Here's me & hubby on our favorite beach in Barbados. The waves were fun for the guys to play in.

I dunno about this one The beach we went to in St. Kitts had black sand!
This one is back in Dominica again. They weren't supposed to be way up there and our guide had to call them back down!

This is a shot of our beach in Antigua.

Our best friends from OKC joined us. We had a ball with them! So now I sit here all day looking at my pictures, reading Caribbean forums and plan my next escape. I'm pretty sure Heaven will be full of beautiful beaches and amazing rain forests. That's not scriptural, but if those places are so beautiful on earth, why wouldn't they be in Heaven?

Happy Monday everyone (from HOT, HOT HOUSTON)

GRADUATION

Whew! There I said it! What a fantastic time we had last weekend! My sister and her hubby arrived Thursday. Her job was to bake and decorate the cake. It took ALL DAY FRIDAY to make this puppy. She amazes me.

Greasing the pan.

Notice how she made the pan taller with aluminum foil. (shhhh, don't tell her I put this pic up here)

Licking the batter bowl

The finished product

Flying caps!!!

It was HOT HOT HOT HOT outside!!!

It was getting a little crazy hereI love watching guys bear hug each other!

We celebrated Saturday night. We had 18 people for supper/party. A couple of J's friends came over later and my bil had a great time messing with them after they began flirting with his daughter. Truly some of the biggest laughs of the night! I had made him a slideshow and managed to keep it a surprise. We enjoyed watching it but it was very bittersweet. I know he must go on, but I LOVED having him be my little buddy. No tears today....just a big lump in my throat.

Here we all are watching the slideshow

Folks started leaving Sunday. By noon Monday, they were all gone and as I sat here reflecting, I realize how blessed I am. I have an amazing son whom I couldn't be prouder of. I have a wonderful husband who kept everything running smoothly. I have the sweetest in-laws a gal could ask for. I have an incredible sister who loves me more than is humanly possible. I have an extended family that I really enjoy being with. I have friends who called and texted me Saturday to make sure I was doing okay. I am thankful.

The one thing I don't have? A picture of the graduate in his cap and gown! Since we weren't at home to get ready, I don't have the standard "stand by the fireplace and let me take your picture" picture.

Oops!

The weather couldn't have been nicer. We very rarely have days that aren't humid, but God blessed us with great weather. We enjoyed sitting outside Saturday and Sunday night just chatting with each other. The moon was full and there was a breeze. It was definately warm enough to swim. If I'd taken this a nano second quicker, Andrew would be jumping in the water.

I will probably not blog again until after vacation. I have lots to do between now and Saturday morning.

PRAY FOR VICKI

A few months ago I asked you pray for my friend, Vicki who is fighting cancer. She's an amazing lady and has put up the most couragous fight I've ever seen. She's far exceeded in both length of life and quality of life but is having some major pain today. Please pray for her today. Here's the link http://vickidees.blogspot.com/

I continue to clean, shop and get ready for the 20 or so people that are coming for Jordan's graduation. I'm almost ready. My sister and bil will be here tomorrow evening.

Posts will be few and far between for the next week or so but I'll try to get some family pics and graduation pics up (I know you're eagerly awaiting them).

Happy Wednesday everyone.

WARNING: SAPPY POST ALERT

You knew it would happen....I'd get around to sappy posting about J. I know, I know, all mom's are proud of their sons. But this guy has been thru some tough times in his 18 years and I'm proud of the young man he's become. When he was 5, his little world was rocked when we found out we were moving from Owasso all the way across the country to Bakersfield, CA. He was sad he'd have to leave his friends, but talks of Disneyland and the beach soon made that all better. Fast forward exactly one year later....dad has been offered a new job back home in Oklahoma! Woo Hoo! The celebrations we had!! We spent the next six years there. 1st grade until mid-6th grade before, well yeah, transferred again. I can barely type the words of how distraught he was when we told him. Never, in a million years, will I forget that night. I don't know who took it worse, him or his best bud Bobby, or Bobby's mom. Looking back now, I see it was all part of God's plan for our lives. He's grown into a wonderful young man. Would he have grown into that same man if we hadn't moved? Probably, but many of the kids he hung out with in his elementary school have not done so well and are not living a life pleasing to God right now.

He has always been my daring son. Don't tell him he can't do something. He was walking, er running at 10 months and never slowed down after that. He wanted his training wheels taken off his bike when he was 4 so he could "ride like the big kids". Even asleep, covers were thrown off, all stuffed animals landed on the floor, and when he woke up in the morning, it all began again. He has some weird habits too. Has a shoe fetish. His first Easter, I bought him a pair of black patent shoes from W-M. We called him "Mr. Shiny Shoes". That was the begininng of the shoe fetish. He loves shoes!! He's also pretty picky about his clothes. I haven't bought him anything other than t-shirts for years. When he was little, if the clothes "didn't feel right", he wouldn't wear them. He's still that way. He loves cologne, loves his truck, his ipod, his posting board at the Titan truck website. But most importantly, he loves God. He teaches jr. high boys small groups and will do anything his youth pastor asks him to do. Even if he doesn't want to. (btw, I posted a couple months ago about our yp resigning suddenly. Turns out, he was asked to leave and had been put on "notice" in Oct. We have a new guy now that he LOVES)

He's had numerous injuries. In 7th grade, he had a knee problem that put him on crutches 8 weeks. In 8th grade, he got tangled up with another runner at a cross country meet and suffered a very serious hip injury. Crutches, 8 weeks. 9th grade was accident free and he excelled at running. 10th grade, an ingrown toenail had to be fixed then a stress fracture in his heel put him in a cast for 4 weeks after being in a walking boot for 4 weeks. That was the end of running for him. The most bizarre injury was back in Dec. when he had the skateboarding mishap and bruised his thoracic nerve in his back/shoulder. He works out regularly and is quite buff, if I do say so myself. He doesn't drink soda, eat many sweets or pig out very often.

He hopes to be a physical therapist. He's been around it enough in his 18 years to know that would be a good career for him. He's compassionate, yet not wimpy....perfect for PT. Between my three turns and his two, he's pretty sure that's what he wants to do. However, in Texas, it's now required that you have your Doctorate for PT. Ask me in 8 years how he's doing.

Here's a few pics of him

The last pic is of us with him holding a scholarship certificate. We wish there were a couple more to go with it, but we're very thankful for this one.

Graduation isn't until a week from Saturday. I'll probably have a couple more sappy moments before then. I've been praying for God to help me to keep it together since the beginning of May. Just a few more weeks and I'll be free to have a meltdown. Then it will all be okay.

Happy Friday everyone.

I THOUGHT TUESDAY WOULD NEVER COME!

We're getting ready for our family to come down for J's graduation in two weeks. We do most of the visiting in our family, so when people come down here, it's a huge deal!! We worked SO HARD this weekend, I can barely move! The weekend started off on a fabulous note with dinner with the R family. I'd do that link thing, but I'm in a hurry. They will be moving within 30 minutes of us in the next month. It will be great to have another friend here and I'm so thankful God is using them in our area!

Saturday was our clean up day. Living in Houston, we've found the need to power wash our drive-way and patio area every few years. If we don't, the mold turns all concrete black! It's nasty and you don't realize how bad it is until you start washing it off. It took me and the two sons until about 6:00 pm to get everything clean. Hubby and whoever wasn't power washing was installing our new storm door. Things I took for granted in Ok, don't apply here. We've lived here 6 1/2 years and are finally getting around to putting it up. That also took most of the day. In between those chores, I decided to scrub the grout in the kitchen. I was about a quarter of the way thru when I got up to take a break. I sprayed some more cleaner and walked away to check on the door crew. I came back in the back door and completely forgot about the floor being wet! Both feet flew out from under me and I landed smack on my hiney! Bonked my head on the refrigerator (the fridge is ok) and possibly broke my pinky toe (AGAIN). This is a once a summer occurance nowadays. It's a lovely shade of blue today. That concluded Saturday.

Sunday we slept in (we never miss church but none of us were moving very quickly). About 10:00 we started the next job of the weekend....stripping the front door. Oh my word, what a job!!! I will never, never, ever do that again! Here's what the door looked after sanding for the better part of two days

These are my friends

These are not my friends

Hubby thought for sure we could sand the door BY HAND. J. went to his friend's to borrow one of the sanders and I went to Home Depot and bought the second one. He'll find himself doing chores alone next time he pulls that.

We stained it and put it back up late last night. We still have to put the shiny coat on, but that can wait until our muscles don't ache so much. Bailey thinks it's all for her.

Which it is.

Happy Tuesday everyone!

THE LAST PROM

It's been a very emotional couple of weeks around here. First with Mother's Day then with J. breaking up with his gf, getting ready for the prom, etc. I had a slight meltdown yesterday. I read a facebook update yesterday that sorta pushed me over the edge...."Hearts will never be practical until they are made unbreakable". The poster? J's ex gf. I came THIS CLOSE to sending her a message telling her how sorry I am that my son broke her 17 year old heart. But then I remembered the days he spent trying to figure her and her moodiness out, dealt with her parents issues, and really was a very good boyfriend to her. I didn't send the message. I figured that would open up a can of worms that I just can't deal with right now. This post is supposed to be about the prom and since I will not post very many of these to my facebook because of said ex gf, I'm going to share them here.

The guys in his group wanted to be different, so they chose white tuxedoes instead of black. Isn't he pretty? His date was a girl he works with and has known a long time. She graduated last year from a different school than J, but knows some of the same people. She fit right in with the group.

You'll notice it isn't very sunny in this picture. It hadn't rained in a couple of weeks until about 5 minutes after this picture was taken. It then POURED DOWN! However, the home we were at was amazing and had a huge covered outdoor kitchen. Plenty of room for these goof balls.
The whole group (I don't know why one guy has on a black tux, must've not gotten the message)
Then we went into the amazing house and took this picture on the staircase. I wonder if they would adopt me?
Don't you love his pastel/polka dot umbrella? Hummer limo!

Here's a pic of most of their group at the all-night after party. Hubby and I arrived there at 11:15 p.m. and it was over a little after 5:00. We got home about 5:45 a.m. Hubby went right to sleep but I was awake most of the day. I'll probably need a nap this afternoon.

They ordered matching shirts for the party with their names on the back. J's date was a very good sport even though her name wasn't correct. One last pic of him and one of his buds. I'm gonna miss them.
Since I'm finished with the slideshows (which they LOVED), I can now start getting ready for graduation. Most of our family will be here and my house hasn't had a good old fashioned cleaning, well probably since C. graduated in 2006. I have lots to do to get ready.

Happy Monday everyone.