Prayer Request

We found out this morning that Myron's 1st cousin, Lil' Gene, commited suicide today. I don't know any details. He leaves behind his wife, 5-month old son, a Mom, Dad, two sisters and many more relatives. I'm not sure of his age but I know early 30's. Myron and his sister, Kathy, were really close to Gene growing up. They were more like a bunch of brothers and sisters rather than cousins. They spent lots of time together on their Grandparent's farm ... most of all getting into trouble and doing things that they shouldn't have.

His Mother, Patricia, is having a very hard time dealing with this as you can imagine. No parent is supposed to outlive their child. Unfortunately, it happens too often.

My heart is breaking for the Morris/Krauss family. Especially, the wife, Denise, who will now raise the 5-month old on her own. Please remember this family in your prayers. I do pray God will heal their hearts and help them find peace (if that is at all possible, but then anything is possible with God, right?).

A Shopping Spree

I had such a blast today. Although, I am very tired and burned out. But I have to say that I had a few laughs and tried on so, so, so many outfits. The ladies I went shopping with were awesome. They were honest and brutal (just kidding). They nicknamed themselves Stacey and Tracy. One of them really is a Tracy but the other is Pat. They didn't feel like Clinton was appropriate so she became Stacey. They were very supportive. Here are pictures of the outfits I bought but probably will not keep all of them. I was a lot scared at the checkout counter. But I felt it better to bring everything home and go over it all again to decide what to keep and take back. Although, it will be hard to take any of it back. There are a few pieces I am not totally crazy about. I figure I will do a fashion show for Myron and see what he loves and doesn't love. I will return the items we both agree are not good. Please pray for me. I am a little nervous telling him the damage I made today on our finances.

8th Day of School

I was informed by my very wonderful friend, Tonya, that I need to update my blog. She is tired of reading the same things. I just haven't had anything to post that is of any interest.


But then tonight as I was putting the girls to bed, I asked Sarah if she got in trouble at school. And of course it came out that she got her name on the board AGAIN!!!! I have to say I am more than a little disappointed in her. Because she didn't learn her lesson the first time. That's right... she got her name on the board again for the same reason she got it on the board last week ... playing with the same little girl. It is really sad that getting her name on the board does not seem to bother her. If she gets her name on the board, she loses 5 minutes of recess. Which means she has to sit in the classroom while all the other children go outside to play. One consolation is that the other little girl did get her name on the board this time. At what point do we begin punishment at home for her getting her name on the board? And then I think that if I start asking her every day if she got her name on the board, that eventually she will start lying to me about it. And I definitely do not want to start that cycle. We already have a few issues with that. I'm just aggravated by it, I guess. I want them both to be good girls in school and follow the rules. But it doesn't seem to be a "perfect" world. We will have to have a few more discussions with her tomorrow. Tonight it was time for them to go to bed.

Tomorrow I am going shopping, clothes shopping, with two ladies I work with at the Church. They love to shop ... I mean love to shop. I have kind of gotten out of the "love" of shopping. But I am looking forward to trying on clothes and having a few laughs with no whiners tagging along. We will probably just end up at Stein Mart because it is close to the school and I am on a limited time schedule. It's sad that nothing opens until 10 a.m. and the girls get out of school at 3 p.m. Then they have violin at 3:30 so I have to be at the school early. Hopefully I will come away with some cute outfits. We are going to Disney in November and I need a few things to add to my wardrobe since I will be unable to wash clothes while we are there. I will let you know how it all turns out.

I am off to finish cleaning the kitchen. It is hard to get up in the morning to fix breakfast and lunches with dirty dishes in the sink and the counters cluttered.

Good Night!!!

Day 3 of School

Yep... It's day "3" of school and guess what? Sarah got her name on the board today. I have to tell you... I was not too happy. And I heard about it, not from Sarah directly, but from Sarah telling Bethany about it while they were in the tub. I know, I know. These things happen and it will be a learning lesson for her. But I was really hoping it wouldn't have happened this early in the school year. And to top it off, the little girl she was playing with didn't get her name on the board because she didn't get caught. Now, I have to ask: what kind of friend is that? Then the little girl proceeded to talk Sarah into letting her (the little girl) pinch her (Sarah) during recess. Poor Sarah said it hurt really bad. It left a little red dot on the top of her hand. Of course, she didn't tell on her because she doesn't want to be a tattler. Again, what kind of friend is that? I had to explain to Sarah that this little girl is really not her friend if she wants to hurt her, intentionally. The little girl is bullying Sarah and I feel I have no control over the situation. It's only the 3rd day and I don't want to be dealing with these things this early in the year. I can tell it is going to be a long, long year.

Bethany is doing good in her class. They are learning lots of stuff about the Olympics. She came home yesterday talking about Michael Phelps and all the medals he has won. I was very impressed. Sarah hasn't said too much about her class except that they do a lot of work. I guess there is not as much play time as there was in Kindergarten.

Time for School

The girls were off to school this morning. They were so good. They got right up, got dressed and was at the table for breakfast in no time. I never had to raise my voice or threaten to take their new toy they just bought on Sunday away from them. If only every morning could be that easy...

They have their matching message bags, matching lunch boxes and matching water bottles. Luckily I was at the school today during snack and lunch time. Neither girl could find their water bottles. Can you see it in the picture?

They seemed to have a good day. We still haven't processed everything but all went well. They both had homework. Luckily it wasn't anything too difficult.

After school, we went for a little first day celebration at The Hop. That seems to be a common thing for most the students at ACS. We saw lots of friends.

The girls are extremely tired today. I feel they will be asleep as soon as their heads hit the pillow tonight. And I believe I will be right behind them.

Our Weekend

I guess there was a little confusion with my first post. I wasn't saying that my girls have been "angels" all summer long ... just that one day. And believe me, it was short lived. The next day they were back to the normal arguing and fighting over toys. In fact, Sarah was in a lot of trouble Saturday morning. She has a bad habit of hitting when she doesn't get her way or what she wants. I have a mind to tell Bethany to just draw back and knock Sarah out. But Myron says that wouldn't be a good idea, and I agree with him. So, she was sent to her room until she could come out and apologize.

Saturday was a very relaxing day for us. We went for a short bike ride in our neighborhood. We ended up at our neighborhood "petting zoo". Our neighbor has horses, a goat, a pheasant, three dogs, a bunch of birds ... oh, and one cat which I haven't had the pleasure of meeting yet. We took carrots over to feed to the horses and Nick, the goat. The girls really enjoy going over to see all the animals; especially, Winston, a long-hair Dachshund. He is a very beautiful pup. Kelsey, the 15 y.o. daughter, babysat for us twice this summer and both times she took the girls back to her house where they got to ride the pony and one of the mares. They have such a good time visiting with all the animals. We really enjoy having Cathy and Kelsey as one of our neighbors.

Today, we went to church, out to lunch and the grocery store. Our church service was extra long this morning. We had a baptism, which I always cry at for some reason. It is always such a blessing to see a child of God baptized. Then we had an Hispanic woman speak to us about her experience this last week. On Tuesday, there was a raid at a local business. Fifty-seven Hispanic women were arrested because they were here illegally. Most of these women have small children who are US citizens (they were born here). A lot of the women are parishioners at St. Eugene which lead to her speaking to us. My heart goes out to these women who have risked their lives for the sake of their children. Please remember these families in your prayers. They only came here to better their lives and the lives of their children. Imagine what it would be like to lose your children to the State. I cannot go there. It hurts my heart.

On a brighter note... Tomorrow is the first day of school. My girls are not overly excited about getting up early in the morning. I tried to get them in the bed at 7:45 tonight but at 8:15, they were still awake. It has finally gotten quite so I believe they are finally asleep. I know it must be hard to go to sleep when the sun is still up, but it is going to be much harder getting up at 6:20 in the morning. I pray God will help me be a good mother in the morning and pray I will not have to yell my girls on the first day of school. I should probably get lunches made tonight so I don't have to worry about it tomorrow morning. But I am getting tired and ready for bed myself.

I will try to remember to post pictures tomorrow from the first day of school. Good Night to all and may God bless your day.

My First Blog

Okay, I am officially blogging. I have been reading everyone else's blogs and keeping up with their families. Well, now it is my turn. I'm a little excited. Although, I am not a very good writer. I don't always have funny things to share. But I will try to share the highlights.

We have two days until school starts. YEAH!!! I'm a little ready. I do enjoy having the girls home especially on days like today. They have been such a joy and have played very well together. I don't think they have fought one time (knock on wood).

We went to the Country Club pool with friends today. No, we are not members but luckily we know people who are. The girls have really enjoyed swimming this summer since they took lessons. They are like two little fishes swimming around now. This picture was taken while we were in Gulf Shores this summer. They have really come a long way in just a few months.

Here is my insight for the day: If you ever think of buying furniture from Ashley Furniture, well let me help you reconsider. We bought bedroom and a sectional sofa in April from Ashley Furniture. It was supposed to be delivered in June ... June 24th to be exact. We received a phone call on Saturday, June 21st saying the armoire top to our bedroom set was damaged but they would deliver the rest. On Tuesday, they brought out the bedroom furniture (with a busted chest of drawers and a dinged armoire bottom) but no sofa. Guess what? The sofa was damaged. So they sent out a technician to fix the chest but we were not happy with a "fix". So they said they would replace it ... like I thought otherwise. Then the next week they brought out a new sofa but it had a cracked cup holder in it. Luckily the customer service is very nice. We have had no problems getting the pieces reordered ... we are just having problems with the pieces coming to us undamaged. Okay, so we still have to have the chest, armoire base and don't forget the armoire top (which we never did receive) replaced. We are told that the bedroom furniture cannot be delivered until August 5th. But guess what? The delivery guys show up with an armoire base and a chest of drawers but NO armoire top which was the first item we were told was damaged and would be replaced. It took me three ... yes, THREE days to finally get the answer, I knew was coming anyway, that an armoire top would be delivered on August 13th. Of course, it didn't get delivered until today the 14th. So I have to say ... ordered in April, delivered in June, July and August. Let me compare this to another furniture story..... We ordered on-line from Haverty's two base pieces to an entertainment center for the basement. The order was placed on July 4th and could have been delivered on the 9th but we were out of town. So it was delivered on July 18th. The items came earlier than they were supposed to with out a scratch or ding nor a broken piece of glass. The lesson we learned from this is ... to not shop at Ashley Furniture. We have bought plenty of furniture in the 10 1/2 years Myron and I have been married and not once did we ever have as much trouble getting non-damaged furniture as we have had this time. I will try to post pictures of the two rooms soon. Then you can let me know if it was worth the trouble.