Troop 85 returning home

Click here to view this video

This is a video that a friend of mine shot of the boys returning from Camp Saturday. You have to have your volume on & listen to our horn on the bus we have. So funny to hear them coming & going.

I tried to do a video but my little camera that should have worked did not work. Caroline & I are alot alike. We go to the same church, we have great husbands, our oldest boys are in baseball, we do the Scout thing with the same troop, we are trying to raise two boys the best we can & we love our camera's. Ton's of other things in common. Her family is a really sweet Christian family. Go take a look at her blog of pictures. She does a great job. If I don't get the shot Caroline or another mom Tami M. got it. (The things in common can also describe Tami). We do love us some picture taking. Caroline takes her's a step farther than I do.....She Scrapbooks. She also sells the products. Be sure & take a look at her stuff.

Those who know me can get a peek at me in the video & hear my voice. That we could have done without. The "Let's go find brother" is not my brother. She is talking to her little boy.

Mohawk or Not

I am gonna be holding my breath when I go to pick Chris up tomorrow.
Will he have the Mohawk or not?

That is how my last post left off.

Well Chris has been picked up after arriving back to the church from his Boy Scout Camp Out.

(AFTER)

So far he has no regrets.

As long as my 11 year old did not come back with piercings or tattoos the hair thing does not bother me as much.

This is a picture of some of his friends in the group that also got the famous haircut.

By the way...next Saturday my sister is getting married so guess who will be sporting his Mohawk for the family pics?

Chris at Boy Scout Camp

(Chris is 2nd from left)

Chris has been at Boy Scout camp all this week. We had family night Wednesday. All the boys will be back tomorrow & I imagine will be really tired.

I snapped this picture of him while there Wednesday.

Boy Scout Survival Camp was a couple of weekends back & Summer Camp for both boys is coming up. I do believe they will be camped to death soon. I am so thankful we can give them the opportunities we didn't get growing up. Chris seems to have fun spending time with his friends during the summer. Hopefully he will look back & have fond memories of his time at camp.

I got a phone call today asking if it was ok to give him a mohawk haircut. At first I am sure you have shock but when you know the story it is not all bad. The camp has a spirit award they give. Cub Scout's have a Spirit Stick & the Boy Scout's have the Turtle Totem. Each Troop trys to get the award. You get to carry it around until your time to pass it on. Wednesday when I got there our troop had the totem. You have to personalize it with something. One of our Asst. Scoutmaster's told our troop that if they got the Totem for spirit he would shave his head & face & add the hair to the totem. HE DID IT. We have some really great leaders. Here he is in a photo (before of course). Well with our temps reaching near 100 already outside I am sure he welcomed the coolness.

I am gonna be holding my breath when I go to pick Chris up tomorrow.

Will he have the mohawk or not?

Chris leaving for Camp

It seems all we have been doing is packing for camp. Chris left for Camp Yocona Boy Scout camp after church today. Ususally big thing with all the boys that go. Here are just 6 of our newest Boy Scouts. (Chris last on right)

Outside the chapel waiting to go in as a group. We had Scout Sunday.

Lining up to hear last minute instructions.

Chris with his carry on. Heading to the vans.

The STUFF they can't live without. This was just the trailer
stuff. The truck was full also.

Really quite at home tonight with only one child.

Before I Was a Mom

Before I was a Mom,
I never tripped over toys
or forgot words to a lullaby.
I didn't worry whether
or not my plants were poisonous.
I never thought about immunizations.

Before I was a Mom,
I had never been puked on.
Pooped on. Chewed on. Peed on.
I had complete control of my
mind and my thoughts.
I slept all night.

Before I was a Mom,
I never held down a screaming
child so doctors could do tests.
Or give shots.
I never looked into teary eyes and cried.
I never got gloriously happy over a simple grin.
I never sat up late hours at night watching a baby sleep.

Before I was a Mom,
I never held a sleeping baby just because I didn't want to put her down.
I never felt my heart break into a million pieces when I couldn't stop the hurt.
I never knew that something so small could affect my life so much.
I never knew that I could love someone so much.
I never knew I would love being a Mom.

Before I was a Mom,
I didn't know the feeling of having my heart outside my body..
I didn't know how special it could feel to feed a hungry baby.
I didn't know that bond between a mother and her child.
I didn't know that something so small could make me feel so important and happy.

Before I was a Mom,
I had never gotten up in the middle of the night every 10 minutes to make sure all was okay.
I had never known the warmth, the joy, the love, the heartache, the wonderment or the satisfaction of being a Mom.
I didn't know I was capable of feeling so much, before I was a Mom

May you always be overwhelmed by the Grace of God rather than by the cares of life.

Sickness & Buses

I have gotten so far behind on the day to day stuff. I have a blog post setting in my draft folder. I need to get it out & post it about our....hold your breath......Christmas.
I have been home all day with a sick child. My youngest son has been bothered with sinus/allergy stuff for some time. We have gone to the doctor about it several times but then after awhile it is back. Just now he ran through the house full speed. But in the morning he will be deathly ill for school. I picked him up from school yesterday. I had bible study at church yesterday morning & errands to do to get ready for my kindergarten class at church last night. I was headed toward Wally World & caller ID on my cell phone showed the school. I should have known....sick. They thought it looked like PINK EYE. I went to get him, shot to Wally World real quick, got home, put medicine in him, got my lesson ready, went back to church & finally back home to rest & eat. In all this I wasn't being totally inconsiderate. It was not pink eye. I won't go in to nasty detail but all the signs were not there. He got up this morning & just the allergy stuff was there.
On top of all the sick stuff today my oldest son did go to school. He rides the bus home in the afternoons. Well the time came & went for him to be home. OH NO was I suppose to pick him up from school late. I did it again. I need to write these things down. Just kidding I did not forget him. The bus was late. Finally after walking the floor & standing outside willing the bus to come it didn't. I called the bus garage & guess what...they close early. Does that make sense? Buses are running & the office closes. I left a somewhat angry message. I am sure no one calls me back. I called the school & they knew right off what I needed. The bus driver had become sick & they had to double up on a bus. It took him 2 hours past his regular time to get home. He came through the door at around 5:25 PM. School is out at 3:oo pm. I guess the reason I am so upset is I have been having several several problems with this route. It seems no one there wants to fix the problem. To beat it all the bus driver was not even familiar with the area & kept getting lost. She was taking directions from the students & they didn't even know where to go. Now wasn't that just perfect.
Well he is home safe & sound. My sickly child is off in the house watching cartoons probably on my unmade bed & I am about to go hunt for food in the pantry to feed them. Jeff is traveling this week so we have been on a very flexible schedule for meals.

Shoeboxes & Scouts & Dinner

Monday started off the Collection Center in Tupelo for Operation Christmas Child. We all have such a great time together talking, laughing & packing boxes. The table & floor is what 2 churches brought in. The boxes are starting to come in. Today was to be a slow day so a couple of us took it as an off day. I did go by to drop off some things (drinks & snacks for the rest of the week) & found out we are running low on cartons. Pat (regional coordinator) started calling around & a box company was gracious enough to donate some cartons to us to pack shoeboxes in. That will be a lifesaver. I ran & picked those up & headed to Wally World after to finish getting things for my dinner for the China guest. While out 3 people mentioned to me they seem us/me on the news. No--- no one was arrested, shot or drug deal gone bad stuff. It was OCChild getting the attention it deserves. I didn't get to watch the news so I didn't get to see it.

Monday night (last night) the Boy Scouts at church hosted the Cub Scouts at church to come outside & join them in activities. We had a nice camp fire but it was so cold outside. I am sitting here now clearing my throat because of it being sore. It was so cold. Did I mention that it was really cold? Jeff & Chris left earlier to go to a store & get some hunting stuff. Here is what Chris got. Minus the scout pants he still has on from earlier.

Well I am about to go to bed so I will finish it with a picture of hubby & myself with our dinner guest on their way to the door. We had such a great time. We talked about kids, husbands, wives, family, jobs, & cultures. Poor Jennifer sat & listened & did not understand a thing. I did have the guys translate some things but I believe they got sick of that after a bit. We had so much fun. Of all places to make a picture was a worst room in the house. The boys playroom.

Jeff, Ken, Toby, Jennifer, myself

China guest

What does a Southern guy do on the day after opening day of deer season for youth's?

Take your son deer hunting of course. After church today my hubby got a call from a friend that said the deer were on the move in the afternoon because of the warm afternoons. Hubby & Chris threw on some hunting stuff grabbed a gun & hit the door running for our land. Chris (11 years old) has been wanting to kill his first deer so bad. No luck last year. Matthew (7 years old) just is not to interested just yet. He & I took the time to stay home & stay warm. I cut labels to use at the collection center tomorrow for OCC. Matthew watched TV & played out in the playroom. Such a peaceful Sunday afternoon.

Hubby called around 5:00pm. They were leaving the land. No deer in site. No deer roast yet. They did however bring home food. They brought home a hot & ready pizza from Little Caesars.

Now for my title of "China Guest".

Jeff has had a few of his Chinese people from China in the past couple of weeks. They come here once every 18 months or so. Jeff is with Ashley Furniture. (NO-He can not get you cheap furniture. NO-He can not get you a job) They wanted to experience some southern culture while they are here. Yesterday we took them to our land just for that. Hubby had gotten a big 4 wheeler from a friend & took both the boys 90cc 4 wheelers. He took a couple of guns for target practice, rubber boots to hike down the trail & fishing rods to catch some bass. They seemed to have had a great time. When we were getting ready to leave we went to a little store up the road on HWY 15 to have BBQ (lunch, 午饭 wǔfàn or zhōngfàn). It is called Pam's Place. Stop by for great BBQ. It is cooked right out front in a barrel & they thought that was really something. Toby & Ken speak pretty good English. Jennifer does not speak any. Her being around me had to be a hoot. I just talked & talked. I had the guys tell her some things but as women we have our communication. I had looked up a 4 page list of things to say or rather have her look at the paper & point to the words.....It did not help.

Jennifer using Chris' little 22 Henry. Our lake in the background.

Jennifer & me/I (Yes-it was dang cold)

Jennifer, Toby & Ken

Toby, Jennifer, Ken & Hubby

Toby & Ken riding on the back of the truck coming out

Loading up to go eat.

Loading up the 4 wheelers to go eat BBQ

Our guest are due to go back at the end of this week. They have been staying in a local hotel. We will be having them as dinner guest Tuesday. I look forward to entertaining such wonderful friends from another culture. You learn so much.

Goodbye (informal)--
拜拜。 Bai-bai (Byebye)

Bless you--

Yi bai sui

Into the week

So much goes on in the week. Not just loading shoeboxes Monday but one of my son's had a check-up Monday with his Ear Nose & Throat doctor. Several weeks ago he had some tiny knots show up in his neck. A parents worst fear. Well after a good thorough exam the doctor seen no real concern. None of the things are present that made him all to concerned. As a parent we still question ourself but I had to trust the doctor & the Lord to watch over my son. Now for the family that follows my blog...Guess which child it is that has given me the concern?.........You have it! Matthew....he does not do anything simple. After all of this it seems to be allergies. He was constantly clearing his throat. We thought it to be habit but it seems to be something else now. He is on a nose spray & pill at night & it has made a big difference. Had to get from the appointment to school & pick up Chris from Chess Club, get home, take a breath, eat a bite & get out the door for scouts. Just a normal Monday.

I am in a bible study at the moment on Wednesday mornings. My SSClass teacher is leading something she has written. Forgiveness. We have done this in class but she has added some to it & put it as a Bible Study. I wish everyone could have the teacher I have. (Sorry K but it is the truth.) Next week is the last week of it & it seems to come to fast.
Chris had a science project due the next day & after church that night we had to hit it hard. It turned out pretty good. It should after buying a hundred dollars of supplies from Hobby Lobby. It is a Decidious Forest. Can't you just tell? Click on the picture & find the deer eating apples from the orchard.

Thursday came & this week my church has a ministry that we got involved in a couple of years ago. It is called Courthouse Ministry. We have the entire week from 9 am to noon each day that we serve coffee & cookies to the people that are waiting for the judge & their lawyers on the second floor. The cookie dough is donated & our kitchen staff cooks them up fresh each morning for us to pick up before we go. Me & another lady from church have to find at least 10 volunteers each time our week rolls around every 3 months. Most churches have stopped doing the ministry so our time rolls around alot more. If you have ever tried to fill volunteer positions then you know it is probably easier asking for a kidney than their time. Sorry but its the truth. So sad to see alot of the cases that come in. People waiting seem to have their nerves shot just a tad. Talking with them, giving them a cup of coffee & a cookie & sharing Christ with them seems to put them a bit more comfortable. Anyone who knows me knows I can talk. I once carried on a lenghty phone conversation with an information operator. She was quite nice. My husband was not shocked.
Speaking of talking- I talked to one of my sisters Thursday night for 134.02 minutes. That was a short conversation. She has taken a 2nd job so she works all the time now. Don't really know much we talked about, just life is all. Something special is shared between sisters. I have wanted to choke her sometimes & she me but in the end we are always sisters.
Friday---Had another date night. My church has once a month Parents Night Out. We take full advantage to have the time together. Couples need that. The boys had fun. They had scheduled a guy to come in & do little tricks & balloon art. Matthew loved the balloon dogs. It popped within an hour of being home. What a surprise!

Weekend is here

I had a busy week but tomorrow & Sunday will be really nice.
This morning I was thinking that I would never get everything done. Even if I had 5 more hours in the day I would still feel the same.
Before I took the boys to school a lady I do alot of projects with at church called & asked if I had done something I was suppose to 2 weeks ago. Remember my previous post: "I need to write these things down". Well that was one of those moments. I had to pick up some donated cookie dough for a Courthouse Ministry we do through our church. I got home to shower & dress. I had to e-mail my scout parents. We are working on several things from our scout book so I had to get them prepared what to bring for the meeting Monday. check! done!

Our church has a Christmas Traditions Brunch tomorrow. I had signed up to do a table. In other words to decorate it. I am what you could call a procrastinator here lately. I had not gotten my stuff out of the attic. My silk ponsettia looked ragged so I ran to Hobby Lobby to get a different one. Picked up some shiney fabric, new gold rope for the centerpiece wreath & grabbed a few teacher ornament gifts. Ran short on that time thing. Cut my trip short.

Here is a picture of what the table starts as.

A clean slate.

Then you have to come up with something fabulous. I am not a decorator so fabulous is not in my vocabulary. I did pretty good. You have to decorate with something you do in your home at Christmas. I love Nativity scenes so that is what I used. The church provides the china so that will be added tomorrow. Got my table done.

Check! Done!

After the table was done I had to be home for the school bus to run & get my last born off it. Chris gets off the bus next so I had to have his camping bag packed & have hime at the church by 4:30. Thank goodness it was only an overnight trip or I would not have gotten his bag packed. The Webelo 2's have a big day tomorrow so Chris was pretty excited to do all that guy stuff. The scout trailer & leaders pulled out of the parking lot on time & with all scouts accounted for. Matthew & I have been taking it easy tonight. Matthew has been playing with a hunk of play dough & is quite content. Since the time has changed it gets dark early so when my door bell rang tonight it sort of startled me. Jeff is, as I am typing this, driving from the airport in Memphis home. He had been gone on a business trip this week. Well Mormon's were at the door. I had seen them earlier riding their bikes up on Main Street. They really get around. Really good Christian guys but they can't convert a die hard Southern Baptist woman. Sorry! Check! Done!

Practiced for the Operation Christmas Child program at church Wednesday. Our dedication is Sunday night. Both Chris & Matthew will be singing in their choir groups. Both hate to sing. I guess I keep hoping they will just have a light bulb come on inside & fall in love with it. I think I am pushing it. Pray for everything to go great. I have butterflies in my belly. Before the kids come in to sing I will be introduced as the person who lead this years OCC collection. In front of the whole church plus some. I am always the one behind the scenes not right out in front in full view. That seems to make you a target.

Well my husband is expected in a few minutes so I better clear him a path to get through the house. After the brunch tomorrow we are going to be getting some stuff done to the house again. We keep wanting to get it sold but if it is not on the market it isn't going anywhere. Be sure & read my other blog & see what I did yesterday at the land.

Boy what a day

Well another Halloween has come & gone. I say good riddance. I usually get the house all spooked up. We put out some decorations put not many this year. We are the house with fake spider webs on the porch with spooky music playing in the window. We don't get much of a chance to hand out candy. We usually take the boys around the neighborhood to trick or treat & by the time we make it back the biggest crowd has already come. We get some die hards still out late but by the time they come I am in my PJ's & warmed up from being out. The late ones do rack up on candy because to keep from eating it all myself I grab a large handful & dump it in their bags. Not the boys haul though. I don't have a death wish. As a kid I used to be really excited over my take at Halloween because we didn't get alot of candy other than Halloween. My boys are just spoiled from getting it all year. They have gotten into it some but not real bad. It is so weird how when they put it all in a tub together there was lots of little chocolate goodies. But when they go back it seems to have diminished. Weird! Right! wink. wink.
Well the door to door stuff was pretty good BUT....always a but.
Earlier in the day I noticed my toilet & washer acting funny. For treat or treating people in our neighborhood ride 4wheelers, golf carts or mowers around. Saves alot of steps. One year we decorated our mower to look like a train. This year not as elaborate.

Well get on with the night. Hubby came home from work, the boys were dressed up & it was getting dark. I had hitched the wagon to the mower. While in the front yard the boys & I heard a loud POW. we all went & looked toward the garage door. I thought at first someone had egged our garage door. We live on a cul-de-sac. No one had came in & not from the side. We would check the inside when we got back. Hubby driving the mower & the boys & I were in the wagon. We started out of the yard & the tire was flat on the wagon. We turned around went back to the garage to get some air in the tire from my husbands shop. We hit the remote & the door would not go up. (Remember the POW sound.) Well he went around to the side door & tried from inside. It would not go up. Deal with it when we get back.
We made our trip around the "Hood" as we call it. We get back home & pull the mower & trailer to the door. We get inside & put our stuff down & turn the lights on to alert trick or treaters "We Are Back". One the my boys comes to me & says " Why is the cats feet wet". Oh no, Did the little snot turn his bowl over? No, not something simple in this house. The toilet had erupted & had flooded my laundry room. Great! It seems at times all I do is clean messes. I always get stuck with the dirty work. Well the garage door is jammed & so is the toilet. Hubby come in & starts calling garage door places at night. He does talk to someone who promises to come out the next day & look at it. No problem! WRONG! Hubby has to be at work the next day & both the boys have a b'day party to go to. Ok, what is the problem? Both vehicles are stuck inside the garage. Well this great man comes & gets our door up in between jobs. He comes back later & replaces our springs & we are sprung.

While he is here, the plumbing guy is here also running a snake through our drain line outside. Since the half bath is not really used chances are something went through my line from the washer. Still can not be sure. We are always missing a sock here & there so I am convinced that is where they are going. I have a stash of socks that are missing a mate hoping the mate will come back some day but that ship has sailed. But as sure as I throw it away I will find it.

Well I have used the garage door several times, washed a few loads of laundry, ran my dish washer & all seems to be ok. Never gonna get this house back on the market. At this rate we will have all new pieces in this house.

Here is how my granddaughter got from house to house in the "Hood". What a life!

My daughter went for her ultrasound today....All is well & we will have another baby girl soon. Not sure of the date. I know...bad grandma. That will be another story later.

Jump back a day!

Well can I actually get two post in one night?

I posted about my day but now the weekend.

We still have Cub Scout popcorn sell going on & had another 3 hour shift at Sam's Club to sell. The boys actually did pretty good which was my two & one of my Tigers from my den. They stalked errr...waited outside the exit door for customers leaving & ask if they would like to help support the cub scouts by buying popcorn. Some people ignored them but some nice people actually stepped over & bought. One guy actually said "he did not recognize the Scouts". Don't even get me started. That's another post in itself. Well we were tired & cold & finally got home about 9:30 that night & we were T-I-R-E-D. The boys want to know can we do it again Saturday............NO NO NO. All my two did was fight & punch each other the whole time & run everywhere not paying attention. One of my sisters has two boys & I ask her ALL the time "please tell me it gets better." I miss baby dolls & doing nails! Boys are not wired that way. Thank God.

Hubby was home all weekend. Before the weather turns to cold we hoped to get the 4 wheelers out & take to the land. Chris' had been acting up for a bit. Hubby got it out early Saturday to do a quick thing to it but nothing here is simple. He was stumped so it is off to the repair people. Here we go again! He gave up, we got the other one loaded & headed to a friends house to pick up his big 4 wheeler. Wait, we need to switch the little one to the back of the truck because both will not fit on the trailer, get gas in a can, air in the tire, the boys are hungry, We are never going to get there. We are trying to find a place in Pontotoc to pull the trailer in safely to get gas & guess what blue lights behind us. Yes, a city cop. We must have attracted attention looking for a station. No my husband was speeding. He didn't argue. He was. Proof of insurance. Guess what not in the truck. It was our leased vehicle we were turning back in so all of it was removed from the glove box. We decided to buy it instead but none of the papers were put back in. I guess the officer thought we looked honest enough & let that part slip. I now have it at my side ready to go back in the truck tomorrow. Well we try to proceed onto the land. We get there & are met by some wild turkey crossing the driveway in. Pic attached. We are now at the spot we will call home hopefully soon. All is well in the Pa'tty World. All three guys got muddy. Chris even had muddy underwear from riding. That is some serious mud riding. I weed eated around some trees, cleaned off my cats grave who I still miss something fierce, played with my toy (Nikon camera), road a 4 wheeler through the woods & back out & took a deep breath because by that time the sun was going down. Turned out to be a good Saturday ticket & all.

At church the next morning with Operation Christmas Child in full swing I have had things I have had to do. We picked that day to give out the empty boxes that Samaritans Purse provides. Only about 250 were passed out. We had a really great time doing it. Pic attached. Hopefully they come back all full to send over seas.

Shelley Farmer (Director of Childhood Education)

(me) Katrina Potter Patty (OCC coordinator for HBC)

Dale Taylor (volunteer for OCC)

Kathryn Walden (volunteer for OCC)

Rev. David Langerfeld (Associate Pastor)

Rev. Tim Alexander (Minister of Education & Single Adults)

Our 2 boys both have b'days this month & their grandparents sent them some money that was burning a hole in their pockets. Sunday after church we went to Wally World to spend that hot money. The boys both got toys since you know they don't have any. The pitiful things. S-P-O-I-L-E-D to the bone. Man time is passing quick. The boys are 7 & 11 this month. Our daughter turned 22 this past summer. Different seasons of our lives. Changes come. We deal. Me not as much. I do deal with it but in some ways I look back & wish for the old times. People are what I miss the most. Father, mothers, sisters & nephews that have passed. Time heals wounds. A blogger friend is having to bury a nephew soon. What I read of him all says he was a great guy & you wonder why was it his time. But it is God's time not ours. God has plans for him & he needed him now. My heart breaks for the family having to say their goodbye's. Patty I will be thinking of you. Please keep this sweet family in your prayers.

Well it is getting late. I have bible study tomorrow. I still need to finish the booth tomorrow. My husband comes back from a quick business trip that he left early this morning on. My oldest son has a b'day & I need to get a fire lit under me to get some painting finished around here. Got to get this house sold. Now I will try to download some pics for you to view. Click on them for a larger view.

Scout Day at Huntsville Space & Rocket

Chris (Webelo 2 rank), Me, & Matthew (Tiger rank)

Pack 85 Tupelo, MS

Alot of our pack went to the Space & Rocket Center this past Saturday. The church vans transported alot of the group & several took their own cars. They left that morning & came back later that afternoon. I took my own vehicle & stayed the weekend back home. I am SOOO tired. I stay busy the whole time I am there. Since Jeff did not get to go my mom & sister went & spent Saturday with us at the Space & Rocket Center.

Later the boys & I ran by & spent some time with Jeff's dad (my in-laws). My baby sister called when I was about to leave from there & wanted to know if I wanted to run to Wally World with her. We went & did the Southern thing of shopping & running into people & talking & catching up. We left there & drove around & waited on my niece to get off work at the pizza place. We made her & her friends take us cruising around "The Square". We lead very pathetic lives to hang out with 19 year olds. We just had to see if it had changed any since we were that age. It has not just to let you know. By the way the only reason they let us go was because I let her drive my vehicle & it was my gas that made the many trips around "The Square" & town. The reason we finally went home.....the old people in the back seat was about to fall asleep (my sister & I). Boy were we tired & it was not even midnight.

Pastor appreciation was the next day at my sister's church & they were honoring their pastor that performed my wedding years & many years ago.

In my hometown they have a Trade Day the "First Sunday" & "First Monday" of each month around "The Square". Not much was going on but it was still fun walking around & remembering a place I walked for as long as I remember. If you go & don't run into someone you know you must not be looking. I seen my husbands neice & her little family I rarely get a chance to see while back home. We tired of walking & went after lunch. Then back to my sisters to pack up & leave town finally around 5:00. Engine light came on so that threw my time off a bit. (My neice did not tighten the gas cap after she put gas in for me)

Got back here to MS finally around 9:00pm.

Now back to real life back here & got to get busy with Operation Christmas Child at church.

Off to cook dinner now.

More later.

The big "R"

Well we all come to a time in our lives we start thinking the big "R". Retirement. We have in the last few years leased all our vehicles. Well now in our 40's we are thinking long term vehicles. If you can say long term. We want something we can get paid off quick but still be worth driving after. Well no cute-little-sporty-great-gas-mileage car for us. Gas prices just seem to go back & forth but for now we will try this. Jeff had been looking for days on end. I still had my heart set on an SUV because of the convenience of it having two growing boys. My Dodge Durango lease was up last September & now the Ford Explorer truck is up this month. I had wanted a 3rd row seating. Of all places Jeff checks e-Bay & finds several that fit what we wanted. A couple did not work out but found this one in Texas. He & Chris (our 10 year old flew to Dallas Texas Friday night, sealed the deal Saturday morning & drove the Denali home by Saturday night. Fully loaded with all the bells & whistles. Not to bad for a 2006 model. Now we have to look for that cute-little-sporty-great-gas-mileage car to save on what this monster will soak up.

Chris really enjoyed flying with his dad. His 3rd trip on an airplane. Jeff travels alot so once they made it to the airport in Memphis he upgraded to First Class & Chris thought that was just the best. Well if this is a blessed life then I guess we have it. We have worked so hard for the things we have in life but sometimes just the simple things in life like sitting in First Class is all you need.

Well off to bed I hope I go. I just finished stuffing envelopes that were invites to a family reunion back home. So much sadness this past year but now a time to come together & see family that you may never get the chance to see again. You never know in life.