Snakes in the grass

It has really been different with Glenn retired. What I thought would happen hasn't happened. Silly me, I thought a lot of work around the house including inside the house would be done and I would come home to just sit and relax. Why did I think that? God had other plans for Glenn and he willingly opened his heart and mind to listen to God. Glenn stays so busy with visiting, praying, reading his Bible and ministering to folks that I have had to rethink what I was thinking about retirement. To have come home to just sit and relax would have put more weight on my body and as every woman knows, a man just can't clean their house as well as they can. I have had to really search my heart and the Bible to understand that God's work comes first. Now that I have realized it, it seems like everything else around the house is gradually getting done also without Glenn having to give up spiritual time. What a blessing! I am learning to be flexible but for those of you that know me know I really like to have things lined out in my life. I am understanding now what it really means to put God first. I have always been like a Martha not a Mary and its hard to break old habits. Things are happening in our kids lives as well. Luke and Alisha are starting a new career in their life. Luke will be starting a church here in Gladewater. It will be an extension of their church in Longview. Please pray for them as they plant this church. Us girls, Allie, Shannon, Jaime & Taylor, getting ready for New York City. Still can't believe it. We will be leaving in June for that. Christy & Tim expecting that new baby. Can't hardly wait to hold him/her. Tim is in Salt Lake City this week and I know Christy will be glad when he returns. Can't hardly believe it but Katie will be graduating in May from preschool. She will starting kindergarten in August. Wow!! Man, you should have been here Sunday. Even if I do say so myself, lunch was fantastic. Chicken and dressing, baked chicken, ribs and everything that goes with that. I love the gathering on Sundays after church. On another note, my ferns look they have been put in a washing machine and then pulled back out. They are very sad looking. I really ought to post a picture of them on here but they are really too sad looking. Anybody got any hints?? Well, I guess I better get ready for church. We are going to eat and then have a Bible lesson. Talk more later. Oh you thought I forgot about my title "snakes in the grass" well you were right. I glanced up at that and remembered what I was actually going to post! Glenn & I were outside in the backyard last night cleaning up where an old building had been. Not one but 2 snakes were discovered. Now Glenn will never kill snakes, he always bends down and actually picks the snake up and as he gently puts in over the fence, he always says "Now don't come back" I warned him again, I will kill that snake if I ever get a chance and he's not here. I will kill, kill, kill, no going over the fence for that snake. Okay that's my snake story. Do you have one?

Five Questions to ask your Mom

I was reading in a magazine the other day and came across an article that I thought was very interesting. People always regret what they hadn't asked, never what they have. So with that in mind here are five questions that I wish I had asked my mom but I am going to answer these myself for my kids. Then they may have more questions they want to ask me but we will start with these:

1. What's the one thing you would have done differently as a mom?

I look back and realize that I really stressed over little things. I wish I had not been as strict as I was. I wish that I would have had a nightly routine of bible study and prayer with the kids. Back then, I felt like I didn't have time but I realize now how much time was wasted on TV and other things. I wish that I would have listened more. I know that my answer is covering more than one thing but its hard to limit it to one thing.

2. Which one of us kids did you actually like the best?

Over the years, each of the kids have said, you liked so and so the best. I can say honestly, that I have tried my best to like and love each of my kids equally. Shannon as my first is special because I got to practice on her. We were rarely apart. She only went one time to spend the night away when she was a baby and neither one of us got much sleep. I envisioned ballet lessons, gymnastics, cheerleading, bows and beautiful long hair. I got all of that! Tim, my son and second. Doesn't the word son, just melt your heart? I was ready for a boy and looking forward to all that meant. Baseball, soccer, football, basketball, and tennis. I was ready to get out in the back yard and practice any of that with him. And then there is Allie. My last, my surprise. I got another chance to hold a baby. That will always be special to me. We rocked and rocked and rocked and rocked. Which one of you kids did I actually like best? I hope I made each of you feel special. I tried.

3. What's the one thing that you would have done differently in your life?

I wish I would have realized there were ways for me to go to college and I would have gone. I would have tried to be more outgoing and not so shy. I would have lived my life more for Jesus.

4. What do you really think about stepchildren?

I think that a heart is big enough to include a lot of people. Growing up in a home with half brothers and sister, I never thought they weren't my real brothers and sister. They were and they are. That's the way I feel about my stepchildren. Jaime and Luke are part of my life, I didn't give birth to them, but to me that changes nothing. We have built memories together and I love them.

5. Is there anything that you always wanted to tell us but never could?

Always remember that tomorrow is a new day and the past is in the past. Don't hold grudges! They only hurt you. The other person probably doesn't even know that you are holding a grudge. Always treat your spouse like you want to be treated without expecting anything in return. Go to church, read your Bible. Remember those kids are looking at your life, what is it showing them? Hold your temper when disciplining a child. Sometimes its just a misunderstanding. Try to remember what you didn't like about how you were raised and then change that in how you raise your kids. Find someone that you admire in the way they are raising their kids and copy some of their ideas. Always remember that I love you with all my heart and I am glad that you are my kids.

Yes, I know I said 5 but I wanted to add another one.

6. If you could go back, would you marry Glenn?

There is no hesitation, no nothing, I would absolutely marry him again. Even knowing what all we would need to go through, trying to blend a family. He is all I need and want. We've had our ups and downs, but we are on the up side and loving life together.

You can't get much better than this!

What an exciting weekend we had! At Grayson's 4 year old birthday party, Christy passed out envelopes with the picture below in it. She asked us to open them at the same time. What a surprise!! Another grandchild. We are so excited. We are hoping for a red headed little girl, but we would be just as happy with another boy!!
What a great way to spread this news. We were just all shocked and so happy. November can't come soon enough. We have had several birthdays this month. We had Collin's eighth birthday last week. That was a blast. Then Grayson's at the park on Saturday. We had a lot of fun there but the news of the new baby kinda overshadowed everything else. We celebrated Luke's & Zach's birthday on Sunday and you should have seen the Easter Egg Hunt. We had to hunt in the dining room, kitchen and our bedroom because of the rain but we had a great time. The other news I have is, New York City, here we come!!!!! Shannon, Allie, Jaime, Taylor and myself. Just the girls, we are going to celebrate Taylor's 16th birthday. Yippee! I still can't believe it, New York City in June. We have already booked hotel and flight and we are just counting down the days. Man, things are happening at our house. Well, that's all my news for now. Hope everyone's week is going as great as mine.

Sick, sick, and more sick

I am tired, tired, tired of Glenn being sick and me just on the verge. In reality, Glenn is really better, not completely well, still coughing quite a bit, but definitely better. I am going to have lunch at our house Sunday, but I will need to clean and disinfect the whole house. This is going to be a busy weekend. I have a wedding on Friday night, a baby shower on Saturday morning, a baby shower on Saturday afternoon and a birthday party Saturday night. Busy little bee!! I miss all the grand kids, there is no telling what the big ones have been up to! Can't wait to hear on Sunday. I've seen the middle ones a little bit this week so I know what they are up to. What in the world are those 2 red headed ones up to???? And that baby Brady, he has called and talked to GaGa and Grandpa several times. Can't wait to see everyone. To me along with the sickness, it has been a sad time, one of my friends has gone through a really hard time and will have an even harder time on ahead. He and his family really need our prayers. Also, its odd that Glenn has been talking this week about us not taking each day for granted and really living each day to its fullest. We had a friend killed this week in a car wreck. It really made things sink in and made me realize how we take our health and our life for granted. This is going to be a great weekend! I am going to be positive and happy. I have already decided. Hope everyone else is doing great. Talk more later.

Should have known.......

Well, even if we aren't exposed, it seems like we get sick if the rest of the family gets sick. Glenn got sick on Wednesday and slowly progressed to full blown sick on Saturday. He stayed in bed all day on Saturday. That was the day that I stayed at the hospital with Brady and family. Glenn was feeling some better on Sunday and Monday. But on Monday I came down with, I guess the flu, we called the doctor and they wanted me to come in before they would give us any medicine but I did not feel like riding to go in so I took theraflu and hoped for the best. It is Tuesday afternoon and I'm feeling lots better. As of right now, I am planning on going to work tomorrow. Glenn has gone back to bed, he is aching all over like I was on Monday, so I am afraid he has relapsed. Talked to Tim today and Christy now has what the boys had last week. I hope she feels better today. We missed Sunday lunch, it has already made for a long week. Hopefully we will get back to normal this week. Hope everyone is having a better week than us!

Vacation!

I know that if you got to go on vacation every other week you would probably get tired but I absolutely love vacations. I love the packing (not the unpacking, so Glenn usually unpacks), buying snacks, and getting in the car and getting ready to go. I love the freedom of not having anything to have to do and nowhere to have to go to. We had a great time in Mississippi (the drive is long). But our room was great and the king jacuzzi could have fit 4 people in it easy. We met Jaime, Jay and kids, Shannon, Richard and kids in Memphis and ate at Central Barbecue. It always helps to have good looking girls with you, the manager ended up giving us free drinks! While we were gone, Brady and family all had the stomach virus. Brady ended up in the hospital on Friday for his stomach virus but he is going home this afternoon. All better! Grayson had the flu on Monday and then Hudson got the flu on Thursday so their family has been fighting the flu all week. Bomp has had a stomach virus also this week. This was definitely the week for us to leave town but didn't help much because Glenn has come down with some type of bad cold. No lunch gathering for us Sunday. We all need to get well. Don't even want to think about work yet for next week. We have a lot of birthdays coming up. We have a wedding in April. Lots of things happening in the next few months.

I have People!!!

Shannon and I had planned to go shopping Saturday morning but on Friday night Shan called and said Katie didn't feel good so she was probably not going to get to go. Allie called and told me that she & Brady were going to meet me over there so when I told Glenn on Saturday morning that I was driving by myself over there, he decided that he might go. While getting ready to go, Shannon called and said Katie was feeling better and that she was getting to go. While I was talking on the phone, Glenn said that he wasn't going to go since I had "people" going, Shannon heard him & said "did he just call us People?" We got to laughing about me having people. So, me and my "peeps" went shopping. It was a race against time, Collin had a basketball game at noon that we had to get back to see. Sometimes, I am just amazed at what all I have, husband who loves me, kids who love me, grand kids who loves me and "people". What a life I lead!!!!