Thursday, May 29, 2008

Haven't updated this in a while!
Joseph graduated...I'm officially out of the homeschool business and he's officially in college.

Here he is ready for "fake prom"...texting as usual. I really felt the Looooooooooooooove with this one. After about 6 attempts and some cajoling, I got a good one. This isnt' it. Just my favorite!! LOL


Cassie applied back to work...don't know where that will end up, but it was alot of fun to have her join us at Bible study these last 10 weeks and I hope working doesn't cramp her style!! (Or our time together)
Paul's the same...
And our little guy is getting less and less little!! He's rolling over, sleeping through the night, laughing and watching us with great interest. He had his first round of cereal and like it alot, his first time in a walker...liked that too...for about 5 minutes. He makes me laugh every single time I see him... Now he's a drooling machine. We need a bib on him all the time and when he's on his stomach, there's always a wet spot left as evidence.





Been doing some scrapping too. 210 pages so far this year to be exact. Working on the kids homeschool years now...a real trip down memory lane. So far down, neither Cassie nor I can remember who some of the people are!! LOL


I love this one of Cassie and Ronnie. So intent on each other. It was a good day on this day..relaxing, fun, great conversation and laughs.
OH...and I gave my first professional talk on the 17th. Not much to say beyond that. Just want to remember...LOL

Thursday, May 15, 2008

What a great Mother's Day

Chock full of happy memories, great message at church, family time. I've officially turned into my mother...all I wanted was to see Cassie and Joseph and the bonus of them getting along and laughing together made it all the sweeter.









Gotta love the "I'll tolerate that lady kissing me" face. He's so darn funny....makes me laugh all the time. Good thing I never have to discipline him. Don't think I'd be any better not laughing at him than I was with my kids!!




Joseph with his new glasses...which I didn't like but like more every time he wears them...and which reminds me that I haven't put in for the reimbursement for their ridiculous price!!





Not the greatest picture of us all..but i certainly captures that point of the day!! Joseph switched his shift at Dippin Dots so we could go to church together for Mother's Day...so he was rushing off to make it there on time, the baby was starting to cry, and Cassie and I were just relaxing and enjoying the day. Her first Mother's Day corsage...hopefully not her last!!

Just a darn good day...with darn good kids...and a darn cute little mister!!

Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Giving a talk in 2 weeks

and I am at the point where I always get "WHY DID I SAY YES TO THIS?????" I'm speaking at my first retreat, with a theme of "class reunion". My talk is going to be basically: we need to evaluate our lives at least as often as we go to a class reunion. Then talking about how at my 5th reunion, not much had changed, at my 10th I was 9 months pregnant (had Joseph the next day), didn't go to my 15th (there's some analogy there about not being present in my life at that point), 20th decided to go at the last minute and had a blast but realized alot of people hadn't changed much in 20 years; and our 25th we didn't go because our marriage was a mess and I couldn't imagine what I'd say 2 months after all hell broke loose. But they had an impromptu one the next year, and we went (I must say, I looked great) and had a really good time. And a few things I've realized: at each reunion, we've lost a classmate. Some to tragedy, some to illness, and now this last one, to an aneurysm. Lesson learned: don't expect to be at your next reunion...live each day to its fullest and without regrets...and ask yourself (answer honestly): if I passed on between now and the next reunion, would I have left the legacy I wanted to? Would I have left a mark on the world for the better? What loss would be felt? And if something needs to change...CHANGE IT NOW.

Momentum changes one step at a time...over a period of time...so if your life isn't what you want it to be at 23 or 63, change that momentum now. Do one thing today to change it. Then wake up and do another tomorrow. And another and another. Grow your friendships, value your family. Plant a garden (container or big), grow your faith, read a book from the library, take a walk. Laugh. Cry. Watch the stars and night and a good comedy with someone you love. Call someone you love...tell them. Write that book, or article, or journal entry you've put off. Send a card. Buy yourself flowers or chocolate or your favorite treat.

And after awhile, you will see that your life is richer, deeper, more filled with joy. You will not that not many of the things I listed cost money. And therein lies another lesson. Life, between reunions, doesn't have to be expensive to be EXPANSIVE. Live fully today. None of us are guaranteed tomorrow. Be kind today. We all like to be treated kindly. Start the trend. Forgive someone who has hurt you. Nurture a hope in someone else. Dream...a little dream. Where do you want to be at your next reunion? WHO do you want to be at your next reunion?

As for me...I want to be a woman with rich friendships and a deep abiding faith. I want to be a mom who unabashedly loves her children and whose children respect and love her. I want to be a doting grandma of my sweet grandson. I want to be a mother in law who supports but gives enough space, who celebrates the man my daughter married. I want to be a wife who loves and respects her husband and shows it. On a lighter note, I want to be a few muffies lighter and a few scrapbooks heavier. I want to be AG, the most frequent visitors of my beloved nieces. And I want to keep up. I want to age well. I want to sleep through the night and wake up refreshed (perhaps those cups of tea late at night need to STOP!!). And I want to walk one step closer to serving Jesus well every single day of my life. Because I'm either heading toward him or away. I choose toward.

What do you choose? Choose well...and I'll see you at the next reunion!!

Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Cinco de Mayo

for us was waking up to the news that the bar across from Cassie's apartment burned down, a loss of electricity, then babysitting (and taking like 80 pix) and crashing. No margarita's here!! LOL
Joseph won his battle of the bands, with great style and enthusiasm. It was so fun to be back in the world of youth ministry. It really gets me excited and enthused!! I love every minute of it...





And National Scrapbook Day came and went with me not scrapping a single thing. And spending too much money on scrapbook stuff. Too much. Sigh. No budget left for May.WOrking on some layouts, trying to stay current and work on backlogs (think decades worth of it!!) on the big weekend crops.
Now that we are on the brink of no school for the rest of my life, in theory, I should get tons of layouts done!! Remember those words..."in theory" LOL

Seriously, is he not the cutest, funniest baby? I've never seen a baby (not even my two) that had as many expressions as this little guy does. I keep telling him "You are a funny little dude"...
And on his 3 month birthday, I was leaving and told him that I was going to go but would see him this weekend and he looked at me and smiled!! WOOHOO!! FINALLY...
and then he smiled at Paul on Sunday and Joseph on Sunday. What the HECK??? I wait and wait and wait...and cajole and beg and we all get the smile at the same time. Hrmph!!