I promise I am still here...

Mercy! I have not posted since August...right aboutthe time I started my new job...which I LOVE but which is straining my brain cells to the MAX! not to mention that's when Patti moved to Charleston and then was homeless and car-less and had me worried all the time and then, of course the kids started school and I am in an overwhelmingly ridiculous grad school program...whew...so, I've been slightly overwhelmed with life...but great things have happened and I'll quit trying to wait until I have time to catch up...I'll just start over today...what has happened this week? hmmmmmm....

Nolan "crawling"

This is a video of my grandbaby "crawling". It's a little dark because it was my cell phone but I had to try to share it!! Heather left Kalib here for 4 days after Ellen's baptism and we had such a GREAT time!!! So, now we get baby Nolan for a week. He is a scream! So sweet and precious...such a GOOD baby! Heather and Kyle are awesome parents!

I LOVE LOVE LOVE being a grandma! Enjoy!

(and YES I have tons and tons of pics and updating to do for the whole summer but my life has been way crazy so that will have to wait...check back in a couple of weeks!!)

Gratitude

Connor lost a baby tooth this week and as it wiggled out, it flipped into the sink and disappeared down the drain. He was very sad because although he is almost 10 and very aware of how the tooth fairy works, he still likes that tradition of hiding his tooth under his pillow and finding a few dollars the next morning (yeah yeah I know, we all got a quarter and the older kids a dollar but the twinners are born of my old age and they are spoiled...)

ANYWAY...

Steven came to the rescue and took off the trap and found the tooth and all was well. Connor chose to wait until Andrew was here to hide the tooth (????) so he hid it last night. This morning, when he found $3, he immediately tried to give Steven $1 for "helping me get my tooth". Steven refused to take money from a kid (Good for Steven!) but it bothered Connor and so he went to LaNelle and quietly asked her if she would "slip the money to Steven when he isn't looking". I was impressed that Connor would be so determined to pay a debt and I talked to him about the importance of gratitude and how we are taught to always be grateful for blessings and to look for ways to be of service and also to be grateful to those that give us service..and I told him how proud I was of him...and then it went like this....

mom: LaNelle slipped the dollar in Steven's shorts but I'm afraid that he will never know it came from you

Connor: I don't care. He doesn't NEED to know I gave it to him, I just had to know I did.

is it any wonder Christ said we had to become as little children? Thanks Connor, for the reminder of how to truly give...

Reflections...

sometimes adversity and heartache have to happen to bring us where we need to be....

just becuase we can't SEE or UNDERSTAND the plan doesn't mean there isn't one...

the world may seem an evil and dark place but look around and you will see patches of light everywhere...

I don't know what will happen, but whatever, I know God's in it...

You can have a great faith and be dedicated and give all you have...but you still have to endure to the end or what is the point?

there are plans in motion now for blessings I don't even know yet that I will need...

A way will always be provided for His will to be done...but you still have to do all that you can do...

never give up...never quit loving...

do what is right, let the consequence follow...

the above thoughts might not make sense to anyone but me...and that's ok.

I hate camping but this is FUN!!!!

Every year my sister and her family spend a couple of weeks in their travel trailer here in Myrtle Beach..it is family friendly with tons of amenities but still, I always thought, it's camping...YUCK! but...for the last few years, I've been able to visit her there for a few hours...and this year, for a couple of days...it was REALLY fun...so much so that I made reservations for us to camp next to her next year....for 10 whole days...in a camper I have not yet acquired and cannot afford but on my Christmas wish list is a pop-up (which is all we can haul with our vehicles but NY bred Pete refuses anything that doesn't have air conditioning and cable TV...me either)

They sleep 6-8 and have a/c, a fridge, sink and either outside or inside stove...and Jean's spot is right next to the large bathhouse...and the ocean breezes are AWESOME...and we could haul a pop-up cause it folds down small...

so it's not as nice as Jean's but she'll let me sit with her (and I'm getting some of those colored lights...Pete will just have to have a coronary!!! heehee) I promise to buy my own "big boy" chair.. We love sitting out enjoying the breeze and talking and talking and laughing and swapping memories...I can't describe the calm I feel there...so so calm...

(and note that pop-up next to her travel trailer...that will be US next year...that's our spot!! we'll just extend the "front porch gathering spot"!!) why is it so fun? well, you get to watch Grandma and David in the ice cream eating contest....

and spend some relaxed one on one time with family in a slowwwww pace...

me and my mama above and me and my sister Kim below....

and then there's all that cozy cousin time...

and as LaNelle so truly said, my sister and I act about 15 years old when we get together...so?

and at Lakewood, Kim brings her FAMOUS and DELICIOUS pound cake....yum!!

Floyd and Laurel live close so they always visit too...and my Dad and DeeDee, too

ok, I'll just admit it...I really just like having a golf cart to ride around in...even in the monsoon so Jean could have a ding dong...ok that's a lie...I wanted a snack so we left the van and took the golfcart to the camp store...who knew the drizzle would become a hurricane????? not us but it was HYSTERICAL...this is looking dead ahead from the golfcart as we drove home....

and getting to go on Floyd's new boat was a bonus...it will be in awesome shape next summer!!

I LOVE seeing extended family having a blast together...it is a VERY warm and just aweome experience!!! I love my neices!!!

and Lakewood has cool treats like this 4th of July snocone....(yes I know...I am a redneck at heart!!)

the family fun pass means we can canoe and play mini-golf and slide on the hippo slide and play water wars and shuffleboard and paddle boats...and the list goes on...for free!!! woot woot!

J Con and Michael have so much fun together!!! I love watching them...and they had a great time with the paddle boats!!

It is a Christian atmosphere which makes it nice and they have 8 zillion old guys as security guards keeping everyone safe...kids ride bikes everywhere and the teens "cruise" in the golf carts at night (when we old ladies give them a turn!!!) It is just fun and relaxed and everyone is TOGETHER instead of spread out everywhere...we will continue to have family vacays in condos but once a year, for a few days, I will be camping next to my sister (sorry Jeff...there goes your quiet time...) and letting the twins experience some old fashioned fun with cousins...because as we all know too well...life changes, kids grow up and these days never come back again...thanks Jean for letting us in on this great adventure (and everyone pray Pete catches the camping vision by next June...he's a bit hesitant...oh, and yes, we need to find a camper we can afford...details details...I'll worry about that another day!! lol

Peter and Ellen's wedding...

unedited...out of order...tons more to come...just got called in to the PICU...grrrr but the wedding was SO SO FUN!!!! and if Peter and Ellen can get to the internet, wanted them to see something anyway...I'll clean it up later!