26 days to go

The shower went off with a bang. Leah was completely surprised! I couldn't believe it. We had a wonderful turn out despite the fact that some people NEVER even got their invitations. Don't embarrass me by announcing yourself. The MAID OF HONOR did NOT even get one or two of Leah's other bridesmaids! Thank God I had to talk to them about decorating & games or they might not have even been there!!!!!!! Can we just say I had some address problems & leave it at that. At least I can't hear all of you sighing or laughing. I PREFER laughter please!

I will post a few pics at a time so I don't just skip it all together. I have, unfortunately, found that when I have too many pics I don't post ANY!!! It's terrible. So I am going to try this instead. Wish me luck. The first two pics are when Leah first arrived.


This third pic is after she changed into her extra clothes. Jamie, Marissa's mom, brought Leah the cute crown & veil, pin & sash. Leah was smiling all over. There was even a pin for Sam, the Maid of Honor. How cute. The last pic is the two of them showing off their pins. I love those girls. (If you look in the left background of this last picture you can see Leah's silly Grandma -of course, my mom- trying to conspicuously give them bunny ears. You are SO busted mom. The mirror never lies.

27 days to go

Thanks for the comments girlfriends.
I liked Angie's idea of getting more invitations but there is NO WAY Leah is going to let them be "handmade". :) FYI Angie, I did make my own wedding invitations when I married Lonnie, & honestly, they were beautiful, but still obviously handmade. I embossed them, used fancy scissors to give them these beautiful scalloped edges, had a dear poem on the front, blah, blah, blah. At some point maybe I will gag you all & go in that nasty attic & dig one out.
I could get one of those kits from Walmart though & print them out myself. I could do that & those getting them would never even know I had run out because I would do such a SPLENDID job of doing them. :)
Thanks Jessica for your gift ideas. Sweet of you to think of her too.
Now on to Dr. Maren: my big question is that your answers were based on the conditions that I had not paid for the invitations. Uh......what if I paid for half? I feel like it is only fair to blame myself because "my list" was longer than Leah's. I thought we had ordered enough "extra". Thanks for all your much needed advice. I am really happy & excited for her & Brent. Each day the prospect of the wedding gets me more excited, but is sort of bittersweet. It wasn't sad thinking of her moving out :) (kidding Leah) but it does make me sort of sad her moving so far away (wish it was me!)

28 days to go & advice needed

This is Sam (the maid of honor) & Leah EARLY in the morning at EFY from last summer. The best part of that church camp was Leah finding her best friend. I LOVE Sam! Thinking about Sam makes me think about the shower. She does not live local so couldn't do as much with the shower as I'm sure she would have liked, but the shower preparations are on their way. Even though it will be a while till the shower there is still so much to do. (please don't blog about the date if you know it :) ) Maren came up with a fabulous menu. My sister is having a yummy cake made. The maid of honor is doing the games & the bridesmaids are going to decorate. My mom & I are making the coolest favors ever! I have also recruited help to prepare all the food. I have more shopping to do yet for paper products & such, but for the most part I'm feeling good about it.

My biggest quandary at this point is over the wedding invitations. I don't remember to be perfectly honest how many invitations we ordered. It seemed like plenty. Leah did the math on figuring out the correct number plus some extra but after we actually received the invitations it s-l-o-w-l-y became apparent that we did not have enough. She came up with her list based on how many she was allowed to have at the banquet room which did limit her unfortunately. I feel like everyone local was taken care of but the problem is that I would have loved to send invitations to those who do not live locally. I know they may not have been able to come but I would have wanted them to know of Leah's special day or they already know & are probably wondering why they DIDN'T receive one. I'm feeling much guilt about this now. So here is my etiquette question for the day.........do I go ahead & order more invitations knowing they will be getting them too late to respond. I DON'T want people to think I'm sending them so that they can send a gift. Do I not send anything at all? WHAT do I do????? I am a freak about hurting people's feelings. HATE IT. Hate the possibility of it even!! HELP!!!

29 days to go

Is it going to drive you all crazy as I blog every day about Leah? It's my coping mechanism okay?
Today she received her first shower gift. She was SO EXCITED. It makes everything seem so REAL !!! It was from my sister-in-law, Julie, who is unable to come. It was really nice of her to send something. I had Leah immediately write a thank you note. Julie is GREAT about writing little notes. She NEVER forgets a birthday & always sends a card & gift.

Julie also makes a Thanksgiving FEAST every year & always invites us. She really is an amazing cook & so is Lenny. They love to entertain & are great hosts. Josh LOVES spending time w/ his cousins & really misses them since they don't live around here.

Thanks again Julie!


(Julie & Lenny & their boys Austin & Drew)

One month to go

Okay, tomorrow will be EXACTLY one month till Angelia gets married! I just cannot believe it. She has done an amazing job preparing for it, & is soooooo organized with all her wedding prep. Organization is not her strength (apple never falls far from the tree) so it's been quite refreshing to see her in this light. It has helped me a lot to see her be so responsible at such a young age since she is not going to be close by. Everyone keeps asking, "Why are they moving to Florida?" I find the whole thing funny because it's what I always WANTED to do but just never did. I am vicariously living through her Florida move as we speak. I know I'll be going to Florida a lot now since she will be there. Who knows? If we have the opportunity to adopt Kirsten & Aaron maybe we will move there ourselves someday.

The sight of their faces...

This weekend Leah, Brent, Josh & I all went to the King of Prussia for Leah's last dance competition. It was LONG but wonderful. I LOVE watching her dance. On the way home we went to the Stewart picnic. The Stewarts are my father's nieces & nephews. The oldest is Susan, then Bruce, & then Jeff. Outstanding family. They're all grown now of course w/ families of their own. Some of my fondest memories are of going to their home to visit Aunt Emmy & Uncle Jack, playing in their beautiful yard, relaxing on that cool screened in porch they had, always having Dunkin Donuts, celebrating Easter, their BEAUTIFUL fish tanks, & of going into Susan's room! She had the most beautiful bedroom. I felt so important when she invited me in. The boys were always nice & always had a smile on their face. They still do.

Anyway, it had been WAY too long since I had gone to the picnic I am ashamed to say. But........the sight of all my cousins faces brought more joy than I could say. Susan & I went on a wonderful walk & caught up w/ each other's families. I love spending time with her.

When it was time to leave & our families said our goodbyes I got into the car & cried for several minutes on the way home. Seeing all of them made my heart happy & made me think about my Dad who passed away many years ago. I can't let this much time go by again.

Greatest friends ever!

I would be remiss if I did not post about the absolutely, awesome time we had last weekend with the Milams in New York City. They took us for our anniversary which was May 10, & we once again have wonderful memories with them. Our temple trip last year, our Codorus Sunday nights, THE BEACH & now this fun NY trip. I am so happy the Lord blessed us with such good friends. There truly are only so many people that you can call your great friends, but Barry & Maren are those people to us. Maren took all kinds of phenomenal pics (as always) & I still need to post them, but I had to add this to my blog before life got away from me again. I want to do a David Letterman top 10 reasons to go to New York when I post my pics. Again, THANK YOU BARRY & MAREN!

Your son......

So much time has gone by since I last blogged. We are just so busy & I'm sorry for whining about it earlier hence the reason for the disappearance of my "whiner" post. Anyway, on to something positive that I just HAD to blog about. This week at Josh's baseball game the family all came & watched with their usual excitement. Besides Lonnie & the children & I, Pappy & Grammy always come to the games, & Papaw would never miss a game. We all sit together & talk & cheer. Josh played well, made a run, and played first base & third base. Their team won & it was a great game. BUT......the highlight of the game was when it was over. Another mom from the team came up & asked me if I was Josh's mom. She then proceeded to tell me, "I just want you to know how nice your son is. This is my little boy's first year & Josh is just so nice to him. We noticed how Josh was helping him. My husband even commented on what a nice kid Josh was." The tears came to my eyes. I thanked her so much for telling me. It just doesn't matter to me what else happens on the field if my son isn't a good example to others. Thank you Lord. That made up for all that guilt I was going through previously. Josh is such a blessing to our family.

painful lesson

About a month ago, I posted about my feelings on my daughter's wedding. Since she is soooo young I am extremely worried about it. Since I also am having her pay for a lot of the wedding she has had to learn to budget & to plan ahead. I'm so proud of her for doing that. She's upset I'm not paying for the entire wedding & says I will regret it someday, but as I watch her scrimp & save & budget I realize it's the best thing I could have ever done! Eighteen is awfully young to get married. There's no time like the present to show you are responsible enough to take care of yourself. Money management is not something that is taught in school (or homeschool because I never thought about it!). My point is that she outwardly seems like "I don't need your support. I can do this on my own." She's always been a feisty one as many of you know. My painful lesson is that it does hurt when the people around us do not support what we do when we feel like we're doing the right things. Through my own learned lesson as of late, I realize how much the support (or lack of) from those close to us means. I know now that Leah probably is hurting from my disapproval or whatever (EXTREME WORRY). My worry equates to disbelief in her abilities which would essentially mean I did not prepare her for life as an adult. Well, you know, of all the mistakes parents can make, that's not one I feel I have made. She is very mature for her age in many ways. I teach my children how to take care of themselves from early on. In reality, when I'm not here they could easily run the household from cleaning to laundry to cooking to shopping to making appointments for themselves etc. Now I have added money management to the list of things taught :) Most importantly though, my children are able to listen to the spirit & know how to pray. So Leah, here's to you. I am so proud of you for so many things & I think you need to hear them. Sorry to everyone who hates people bragging on their children. My child needs it.

• Congrats to graduating at 16 with 18 college credits!
• Congrats for knowing who that important person is & saving yourself for them!
  
• Congrats for knowing that marriage is the way to go & not moving in with someone like everyone else does!
• Congrats for having the courage to go to the other side of the planet with total strangers! (wooh Philippines!)
  
• Congrats for having the get up & go to move where YOU WANT after your married!
• Congrats for knowing that continuing your education is one of the best things you can do for yourself.
• Congrats for choosing a career that will allow you the time & freedom to do the most important work on the earth: be a mom.
• Congrats on being such a hard worker for your employers!
• Congrats to you for being able to stand up for your family & what you think is right.
  

A new appreciation

A friend who's husband is in the military sent this to me. I have ALWAYS had such respect for those that serve their country. They are truly made of something different than the rest of us. Now that we have so many friends from church who are in the armed services it seems to have so much more meaning to me though. I thank God for all the new friends He has placed in my life. I thank them for what they do for all of us. Take a second & listen, it's so worth your time. (Turn off my music to the left to enjoy this!)

http://www.flashdemo.net/gallery/wake/index.htm

the girls & the grandsons

This weekend my mom, my sister Amy & I, plus our boys, Josh & TJ, all went to a family party. We hadn't seen most of these family members since my grandfather died many years ago. My Uncle Dale was turning 80 & his 6 children were having a surprise birthday party for him. It had been so long since we had seen everyone that we thought it would be nice to go. I am so glad we did. The site of their faces made my heart happy. Just driving into Breezewood (the town where they used to live) brought tears to my eyes. My mom had only one sibling, a sister, named Jackie who passed away many years ago from cancer. I ADORED Jackie. She was a WONDERFUL aunt who was such a part of our lives. So many memories.........

My mom with Uncle Dale & his 6 children.













Josh & I with Uncle Dale, TJ & Amy








Uncle Dale & his only daughter, Erin

TJ

I love this little guy sooooooo much. My sister calls him "Peanut" for a nickname, but now I told her she needs to call him "Walnut". He was only 6 lbs. 6 ounces when he was born. Now he weighs more like 15 lbs. He is just the cutest thing. I LOVE being an aunt.





















This is his Elvis face: "Thank you. Thank you very much."

Basketball season is over!!!!!

Well, basketball season is over & I have my husband back. I'm virtually a single mother during basketball season. My hubbie gets home from work in the afternoon, takes a quick recharge cat nap & then he's out the door to coach his Junior Varsity basketball team. He loves sports & LOVES coaching. I LOVE going to the games & watching him coach. One of my favorite parts of the game are the time-outs when he's talking to his players. He gives such good pep talks. He's firm but motivating. My favorite thing that he says to his players is, "Play till the end. Don't stop. Play till the end!" He says this whether they are winning or losing. He doesn't believe in giving up, backing down or taking a break. He paces the floor like a dad with a child on the way. I truly enjoy watching him as much as I enjoy watching the game. The kids love going to the games as well. The kids & I have been nicknamed, "The Cheerleaders" because we cheer so much & so loud. Pardon those of you who are L-town fans, but they are a lame group. Sometimes I wish he coached for another school that truly had some school spirit. Regardless we support Lonnie & his team. I'm proud of how hard he works & happy he found something that he enjoys.

Happy Valentine's Day!

This says "Happy Valentine's Day" like nothing else. This red outfit was one of Kirsten's birthday gifts. She felt so special going to school in her cool Valentine outfit!

























Here are the loves of my life.




I'm the weird mom who didn't give candy for Valentine's Day but gave books instead. I LOVE books & want to make sure my children do as well.



My dear husband gave me candy & these beautiful flowers. Daises (especially Gerber daises) are my favorite. Thanks honey! You are such a sweetheart.

Happy Birthday Kirsten!

She has looked forward to this day for so long, & it FINALLY arrived. February 12 was Kirsten's 6th birthday & her first birthday with us. First thing in the morning I told Kirsten that God had the first gift of the day for her. He made it snow so she could have the day off school. She smiled from ear to ear. I think she thought it was just as special to have a gift from God for her birthday as it was to have the day off. We had to sing Happy Birthday first thing & give her a cupcake with breakfast. They went outside to play of course, and finally when Dad got home from work the birthday fun began. It was a special night. I personally was a little nervous about the cake that I made for Kirsten. She wanted a Barbie cake & I just couldn't justify spending $50 on a cake. I tried making my own. I kept calling my friend Maren for advice. She saw my hilarious example of a Pirate Ship cake last year for Josh's birthday. She didn't want any other children to have to relive my "theme cakes". Just kidding Maren. Anyway, it turned out better that I thought. That night as Kirsten & I were writing in her diary, she said her favorite part of the birthday was the cake. So, amen to that. I guess another child has lived through my experiments. Kirsten was just so tickled with all her gifts. After everything was open & we all just sat eating cake & ice cream, she came running over & said, "Mommy, I love all my presents. Thank you." Gratefulness is the best attribute a person can have. It's gratifying to know she is learning things here that will make her a better person know matter where life leads her. Even if it turns out that she goes back home, she will taking home more than she brought.

Piano recital

Josh had his piano recital after the holidays were over, & as always we loved it! I am so proud of him for practicing & playing the way he does. Some days he sits down without letting out a peep & plays & plays. Then there are other days........
One of my favorite joys right now though is when Josh plays "I Am A Child Of God" & Kirsten sings along with his piano playing. It brings tears to my eyes every time. Sometimes Aaron will grab his guitar & the three of them will be performing their own little concert. It's precious. Great job Josh on your recital!




Every recital needs a party afterwards. Thanks Miss Pat!














Josh & the other piano students















Miss Pat comes to our home for the piano lessons.

















The goal.....learn a piece & earn a sticker......lots of stickers.

Start the year out at the beach!

The new year started out with so much fun. At the beginning of January, Lonnie & I went to the beach with my Mary Kay girlfriends & some of their husbands for a retreat. It had a western theme & we made the most of it. We received awesome training from a National Sales Director who is not only successful but such a wonderful person as well. Sometimes successful people tend to be snobby or they "forget where they started" but she isn't one of them. Every month her check from Mary Kay is at the minimum $15,000. Yes, that's in a MONTH. How many people make that much a month & LOVE what they do? Most importantly to me though, are Mary Kay's beliefs: God first, family second & career third. She always said to keep these priorities in order & to follow the Golden Rule. Unfortunately, there are few jobs and or "arenas" where Americans are not found to be "offensive" when they speak about their religion. It gives me great pleasure to be able to say the Mary Kay philosophy of keeping God first at all my appointments & meetings. You never know when God is going to put someone in your path.

Anyway, the retreat was wonderful, the time alone with my dear husband was a much needed one, & the girlfriend time was wonderful. I want to give a special thanks to Lucy for inspiring one of my consultants with that Turbie Twist thingy. I loved mine so much that I gave one to all my consultants who came to our Christmas get-together. One of my consultants thought they would be fun to wear at the retreat as part of our costume. Every unit there wears something fun to identify their group. We went to town with our twists! We ended up wearing the twists, matching t-shirts & matching big, fluffy white robes that said "Cowboy's Dreamgirl". We were a hit!



















The directors are part of the festivities on Saturday night & go on stage to "perform". I say this word very loosely. Here are a few of us trying not to make fools of ourselves. As you can see, I wore my Turbie Twist all night! So thanks Lucy for being part of our fun even though you didn't know it!

Kirsten's first birthday party!

Kirsten went to her first birthday party during February. I was so tickled that Becca invited her. She felt so special & was so proud to show everyone her little invitation. It's almost impossible to know what is an actual "first" for her. But I don't think she had ever been to one before. Becca's dad said that at times she seemed to be in wide-eyed amazement at all of it. Abbie (Becca's mom) is such an amazing mom. She had crafts for the kids to make,cookies for them to decorate and just all kinds of fun for everyone. Thanks Becca for being such a good example. Kirsten hasn't lived with us that long & it was nice of you to invite her!
The party girl with her present!
















Kirsten & Becca

Get ready girlfriends!

I promise I am still alive. Just busy like the rest of you. I will update soon. Have all kinds of fun things to blog.

Dreams do come true

Just can't help it. I love this clip so much. I could watch it a hundred times a day. Maybe it's because my grandmother was an opera singer, maybe because I love the unexpected, maybe it's because I love to watch dreams come true. This gentleman did ultimately win "Britian's got Talent"(their version of American Idol). He is phenomenal. It proves that God puts a dream in everyone's heart & what we all must do is learn to solve things & master our circumstances. Find a way make a way is what I say. Now turn off my music & click on the link below. When you're done watching the clip turn my music back on to enjoy more of Paul Potts.

Trust me this is breathtaking

Leah & the tarzier

just wanted to say hi to ya and that i miss you guys.
we traveled yesterday from the bee farm at tagbilaran to a coastal and reforestation site. we met some people that are working on reforestation in the philippines and got to look at the smallest primate in the world. i have pictures with it, but the main thing with the tarzier is that it is nocturnal and it cant be caged or it only stays alive for a year. so we went to this place that is like a sanctuary for them, its a rain forest that holds them and people cant touch them or be loud or use their flash, becauses the tarziers are so sentitive to it. then we went to this other place to get a river tour and we saw these people having tarziers ILLEGALLY caged with all these stupid people taking pictures with flash. they looked so scared. we all decided to write the governor and get them reported.... but anyways. then we went and planted our own trees with tags on them that have our name. so how cool will it be if i get to come back and i get to see what i contributed to reforestation. but anyways... today we came up to a city called talibon and it is where casey served in the peace core. its a cute little place, and i am staying with 2 girls named alex and jen.... they are really nice to me and cool. and we have air con so i am excited. anyways, there is an internet place across the street from us in this market so i will be on tomorrow.... write me back with a family update... its too quiet here.
i love you
leah.

This is why moms worry

Brent called me early this morning & said, "Did you check your email yet today?" (he knows I usually get up early) I hadn't checked it yet & so he filled me in. Whenever someone starts out the conversation with, "Angelia is okay, but she was in the hospital...." a mom's heart sinks. Anyway, he told me her news & then I went & checked my email. No mom wants her child in the hospital (especially in another country) without them. It was upsetting, but thanks to Maren's wise words I felt okay. Maren's virtually a world traveler (giggle), & I knew she would have some wisdom about foreign health care (everyone needs a friend like Maren!) Anyway, Angelia sent me this email this morning. There's always excitement with that girl.

"This is pretty much the worst day ever, i was snorkeling on this island with my group...... then my snorkel broke, and i took in a ton of salt water, so i ended up in the hospital all day. i have been on oxygen for a few hours then 3 doses of a nebulizer. then they had to take blood to test my oxygen levels and when i got my results back the levels were supposed to be in the 93-98 level and mine was 55. so i went back on oxygen and they took an xray of my lungs and they had a decent amount of water in them. so they sent me to a different specialist and she told me that as long as i could breathe okay and i wasn't wheezing i could go home, so i did. i still need you mommy.... i cried the whole time at the hospital when you weren't there.iloveyou."

Reading over it again, I know she must have been afraid. She professes to not need her parents like all teens do, but at the end of the day it's always your mom that you want when you don't feel well. Thanks Lord for watching over her when we can't be with her.

pics from Leah!

Okay, I talked with Leah last night on AIM & was a happy mom! I was so proud of myself that once I got past the first day, I was FINE! But after talking with her, my heart was in tears. You know, the happy but please be safe kind. She sent us all kinds of fun pics.

Leah in Hong Kong.




Leah on the boat in the Philippines











The transportation












The dolphins










Okay, Angie, don't look at this picture. You'll be running over to the Philippines. These are street beggars. There are kids ages 2 & up who are homeless (live in cardboard boxes). They can't be adopted unless you're Catholic. Go figure. This completely tore at my heart strings. My favorite pic is of Leah looking out the window at them. She loves kids so much. When we talked earlier the kids were the first thing she talked about. Oh my......she's her mother's daughter.















The dancers in the Philippines.










Okay, candy crabs. (Leah is very hungry Maren! She found a Pizza Hut after not eating for 1 1/2 days!)









The sunset











One can be sure my daughter would find a place to get her nails done. Is my daughter a hoot or what?

Yeah!! We FINALLY heard from Leah!!!

Angelia JUST emailed me tonight at 11 pm!!! I'm so relieved. She should have been to Manila a LONG time ago, & I hadn't heard from her. Read her email below. It's so cute, especially the short person part! Make sure to comment on the blog because she checks it all the time when she gets the chance & has internet access!


okay so the flights got all messsed up and i have been in an airport since like 630 on monday morning.
we ended up flying to new york on monday... then to canada... then to china. where i am now and in about an hour i am FINALLY flying to the philippines but it costs 8 dollars to call home. if anybody wants me to call them... let me know because i dont want to call collect and everybody get mad. so if you want an 8 dollar phone call... email me back. i found free internet here. and i am not a short person here. but its cool.... i ate burger king. HA. and the last flight i was on was 23 hours. BUT i am having fun.... imiss you all. i will email again when i get the chance. LOVEYOU GUYS.!!!!


LEAH

Good-bye Angelia

No matter how crazy those teenagers get, when they go away it's still soooooooo sad. Angelia left for the Philippines early this morning. Brent took her & some of the other students this morning to the airport. Leah & I stayed up till all hours of the night packing so she could sleep for the 15 hour flight. She wanted to be exhausted so she could sleep on the plane. I know I'm exhausted & I'm sad. Well, maybe more worried than sad. I'm excited for her, but worry about all the things any decent mom would worry about when their 17-year-old daughter goes to a third world country!! Bill Bartholomew (Brent's dad) gave her a blessing last night. I am so grateful for that. Her flight has already been cancelled & completely changed. She's flying from Baltimore to New York to Hong Kong & then to Manila. I'm going to be a mess till she gets there. A mother's heart is so heavy.