Thankful today...

for Myspace. I'm one of the old folks in the crowd. Anyway, I did a search for my high school in my age bracket and it brought up one of my old friends, Steve!!! It was so neat to find him on there. He was always one of the sweetest, best all around guys. Seems he's made a career out of some sort of Filipino martial arts. He has a school and everything. I was really impressed and so very happy for him. Not a more deserving guy anywhere!!!

Something that REALLY annoys me...

I absolutely despise it when parents are either unwilling or incapable of correcting their children. Gets on my nerves. I'm not the kind of parent who continually swoons over my children, telling them all the time that they are perfect, wonderful, and that they can do no wrong. I build my children up, but I also let them know when they've done wrong and that I expect them to fix it. I also don't let my children willingly hurt other people without them making it right with that person. So, that leads me to this rant...we have this family in our church. I'll call them the "BPs for bad parents". There's BP dad, BP mom, daughters D1, D2, D3 (not their real names of course). Anyway, D2 has to be THE most evil child to have ever walked the planet...really. She's fifteen and an absolute terror. NOBODY in our church likes this family and the whole congregation would breathe a collective sigh of relief if they just left. They're troublemakers, kwim? Well, D2 has dated this boy in our church. This boy has a bit of a "past" (ya know, who doesn't?) Well, D2 got mad at this boy one night and started blabbing to other people this boy's "secrets". We're not talking too much partying here, this was serious stuff that involved other people. D2's parents, Mr. and Mrs. BP WOULD NOT, absolutely REFUSED to correct D2 for her actions. They are BAD, BAD, BAD, BAD parents, plain and simple. AARRGGHH!

The kids and I spent the better part of today at my mom's place. She lives in a condo not too far from here, and the condo has a nice pool area. The kids swam and my mom and I got to spend some quality time together. It was nice. We do have a pool in our back yard here, but it's always more fun to swim at somebody else's house.

We've heard that Andy's brother is being sent back to Iraq. That's all a bit scary in my opinion. I will give the Marines credit, though. They've kept him here in the US for over two years because his daughter had cancer. I'm very thankful for that because it would have been extremely difficult for his wife to care for their other two children and tend to their daughter like she needed to. Please pray that God will send angels with Jeff to keep him safe while he's there and to bring him home quickly.

Georgia pic for the day...here she is in her swing. Levi nearly turned the thing over so he could kiss her. What a sweet big brother! It's still so hard without her. I went to Kohl's this evening and all the little baby girl things there. I found myself in the baby department looking at stuff and found the cutest baby girl swimsuit. It was kinda weird, almost like it wasn't me or something, but the thought ran through my mind how cute Georgia would be in that and to get it...and then it hit me. *sigh* I love you my sweet baby girl!!! Oh, how I miss you.

Time or five?

I have lived in east TN all of my life....and I have the accent to prove it. I been on the phone with people in other states who have asked me to call back and talk to someone else because they can't understand me. The guy at the NYC subway pretty much told me the same thing. As I was talking to him, he was looking at me with a sort of blank look on his face. I finally said, "I'm from east TN"...he said, "I would have never guessed". My husband, however, did not grow up in east TN. He is originally from Little Rock, but his parents relocated to Memphis. The west TN/Arkansas accent isn't like mine. It's different; it doesn't sound so "hickish". Anyway, there's a lady at the baseball field who's been umpiring games since I played on the Sandpippers (actually, we were the Sandpipers but they misspelled our name on our uniforms. It was a bad omen.) When a child gets a hit, she allows so much to happen and then she yells, "TIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIME" (she's obviously a native, like me). That means, no more runs, etc. Also, in this league, they have a five run per inning rule. So, when a team racks up five runs, she yells, "that's fiiiiive". Can you believe my dear husband often has a hard time distinguishing?

Here's a cute pic of Levi at the ballpark last night. The lady sitting next to us gave him a Capri Sun drink. Levi can't handle that much sugar all at once (a really nasty diaper blow-out at the ballpark would NOT be fun!), so we put it in a water bottle and watered it down.

Thankful today...

that my kids don't play on the Lizards team (see my previous post and you'll know why). I'm so thankful for Coach Terry and how he handles our team. He's a great guy (and happens to be married to one of my dear friends!)

Here's a picture of Levi playing baseball (that little booger tried to run on the field over and over tonight and was successful in one of his attempts!)

Go Vols!

My kids play little league baseball. We have 5 kids on 3 different teams. Tilley and Riley play on the Vols team (mega points for originality on the team name considering we live in TN!) Anyway, the Vols are THE team to beat in their age bracket, Coach Pitch II. The Vols had a double header tonight. The first game was against the Red Sox and it went swimmingly. ALL was well. Then, they played the Lizards. The Lizards have some real cool kids on their team. However, they have the coach from hell, ESPECIALLY when his kid is batting or on base. Gives him the evil eye and tells him through clenched teeth, "you better do so and so". Poor little guy, where's the fun in that? BTW, the Vols won BOTH games which, I think, is huge considering it was miserably hot out there tonight.

Andy and I ALWAYS, ALWAYS, ALWAYS sit out near left field. Riley usually plays left field (although tonight he was on third) and it's got a nice area for our younger kids to play. Well, tonight Mr. and Mrs. BB (stands for big butt) parked their ridiculously HUGE hineys right in our line of sight. We could not see our children bat! Andy went and told them that we couldn't see and they basically said "too bad" and continued to stand there barking out orders to their granddaughter Kiara. Poor thing, she was in tears at one point.

Here's the view I had tonight of my children batting...

Moving from baseball, our church chooses to honor the dead on the Sunday before Memorial Day. That's quite a tradition in the south. It's "decoration day" in most cemetaries. We passed a cemetary tonight and it was quite beautiful with all the new flower arrangements out there. Anyway, they present flowers to the family of each person that died since last Memorial Day. The flowers are beautiful red and white carnations with a beautiful patriotic bow. It was hard accepting those flowers yesterday. You think you're finally to the point that you're "okay for the day". I thought that yesterday and quickly found out that I wasn't. Making that walk to get those flowers was so difficult and reminded me yet again that my sweet Georgia is gone. I sure do miss her.

Speaking of Georgia, here's a pic of Daddy holding her while he and the kids play cards. Notice the pink playing cards...Andy bought those just because of her.



Here's a cute picture of Andy, Kaymie and Levi heading from the parking area up to the field. Notice how absolutely darling Kaymie is carrying her Cindalella chair over her shoulder.

Thankful today...

for my stove. I have a gas stove/oven and I love it!!! I made a yummy tater tot casserole for supper tonight. Can you imagine cooking for 10 every night over an open flame? NO THANKS!

THIS is what is wrong with our society...

I found this article on MSN. Good Lord what is this world coming to? I say they send his hiney on and let "Bubba" and "Big Daddy" take care of him.

And that judge!!! FIRE THE WITCH!!!

Thursday again...

Wow, it's Thursday. This week has been fast! Three day weekend coming up...I get my honey home for three whole days! We're going to his brother Scott's house in Morristown on Saturday. They recently relocated here from Little Rock and have bought a great house with an inground pool. The kids will have a blast!

I went back to the chiropractor today. I think it's helping... Then we had to go to the bank and get some stuff notarized. For those of you who don't know, when you adopt a "special needs" child, the state will give you a subsidy on that child til they're 18 or until they finish college. So, they send you this huge pack of papers every year and it has to be notarized. It's their ignorant way of asking, "do you want us to continue sending you the $$" I just want to say, "when we DON'T want you money anymore, we'll let you know!" They send all 7 at different times during the year and it's just a big pain...not to mention all the wasted paper and postage! But, it's worth it. It ain't a lot of money, but it helps.

Another ballgame tonight. I think we just need to move in over there.


I love this picture of Levi. Big Lots had these bags of jalapeno chips on clearance for about thirty cents a bag. Since I rarely turn down a bargain like that, I bought some. So the kids were at the table eating them, and some actually liked them. Then there was Levi...he cried because they were hot and then he cried because we wouldn't let him have anymore. Go figure!



Georgia pic of the day...look how tiny she was in this picture!!!

PeeWee and Clay

Pee Wee





Clay


I rest my case.

AI results and thankful...

HE DID IT...TAYLOR WON!!!! I've been for Taylor since the first time I saw him. OH YEA!!!

So, that leads me to my thankful. I'm thankful for my tv!!!

I nearly hit the floor when Prince came out to sing on AI. I probably watched "Purple Rain" 100 times or more when I was in high school!!!

Am I the only person that thinks that Clay Aiken looks like PeeWee Herman??? I honestly thought that's who he was. DON'T like that hairstyle. And where has he been lately???

Long time no blog...

I've been out of commission this week. Still battling these headaches! I'm happy to report that the right side seems to be much better!!! PTL!!!

We went and looked at a house the other night. We haven't been actively looking since late last year. The house is beautiful but two of the rooms don't have heat or air (why do people build big fancy houses and do stupid things like that) and it's pretty far out in the country. There's no pool for the kids and no Christina and Jodie across the street to play with. It is fully bricked, no maintenance and it sits on a little more than five acres of land. I don't know. I'm just afraid that my kids would be bored out there plus they'd be covered all the time with poison ivey!


Here's a Georgia pic for today...this was New Year's Eve. I was sick with strep throat. But I came downstairs and got this great pic of Georgia and big sis, Kaymie!

12 minutes til the AI finale...GO TAYLOR GO!!!

A great pic of Levi and Daddy on the mower!

Andy giving Jodie, our neighbor, and Asher some popcorn! Jodie loves to come here because I always fix her popcorn!

Thankful today...

For our swimming pool. We have an above ground swimming pool that my aunt gave us about 9 years ago. She and my uncle had had it for probably 20 years or so before that! Anyway, the kids were in the pool today and Andy got this video of Asher, Tucker and Riley. Does Asher have a cool laugh or what?

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Sunday...

Well, it's Sunday and that means that Andy has to go back to work tomorrow. Why are the weekends SO short?

I woke up this morning with another of my killer headaches. I stayed home from church. Ashleigh (my 23 year old *daughter*...she's actually my best friend's daughter but she relocated to TN from MO a couple years ago and we're REALLY close now) came over to eat. We had steak and baked potatoes, salad and I fixed a peach cobbler (her favorite)and sweet tea.

Gonna cut this short, I'm tired and feel pretty rotten tonight. I get to go back to the chiropractor tomorrow (woohoo). Here's a pic of Kaymie and Levi taken before church tonight.

One last post for today....

I got ALL the laundry done today!!! WOO HOO, YIPPEE, YEE HAW!!! That is a major feat and it RARELY happens...I just had to share my "moment" with you!!!

Thankful today...

For my garlic press!!! It's a nice one, from Pampered Chef. I like their stuff, but it's a bit pricey, I think.

So one day, my friend, Diana, and I were in Goodwill shopping one day. I hadn't really found anything to buy (that in itself nearly miraculous!) until we were standing in line to pay. I had been wanting a garlic press cause I used a lot of garlic when I cook. I snatched that thing up so fast it would make your head spin. It was marked $1 which is good because it costs $15.50 from PC, but I didn't have any cash and was embarrassed to use a check or check card. So, Diana bought it for me...and wouldn't let me pay her back. Thanks, Diana...I love ya!

Here's a pic of one of my wonderful kiddos. It's Tilley on Easter morning. She got up in a foul mood, and when she remembered that wearing a skirt wasn't optional, it made it 10 times worse. We were trying to take her pic and she kept crying and as you can see, wiping her eyes (and probably her nose) on her nice new Easter blouse!

Sorty sore, sorty siy...

That's forty-four, forty five to you and me. Asher can't pronounce his "f's", so he uses an "s" instead. He was counting for us during supper tonight. He started counting right after he got finished telling me "you cute, mommy", "you pretty, mommy", "I like you shoes, mommy". Can you say LADY KILLER???? Love that kid!

Had an "incident" with my neighbor this morning. First of all, let me say that YES, I'm aware that there is a leash law in my county. I also know that very few, if any, people in my neighborhood observe that leash law. Darla and Trixie, my beloved doggies, had been in the house all morning. I let them out for a potty break while I folded a load of clothes (got ALL the laundry done today, btw!) and checked my email. They hadn't been outside 15 minutes when Asher says (he and I were home alone this morning), "mommy somebody's at the door". I went to the door and there was my neighbor, Bill. He asked if Andy was home and I told him no. He immediately went into a rage about how he'd talked to Andy about our dogs before (yea, about dog poop in his yard and I've already stated that our dogs aren't the only ones in the neighborhood off their leash) and how my dog had "attacked" him and how he had a witness. I began to apologize and he kept on waving his finger in my face and running his mouth. He kept on about how he wasn't going to put up with that in HIS neighborhood (um, I live in this neighborhood, too...and my house is bigger and nicer). He was so mad that he was trembling and his face was turning red and he was almost yelling. I was home alone with a five year old, my guard dog, Trixie, was around the other side of the house with NO clue what was going on and I was scared. All I could do was tell him that I was sorry. He began to leave my porch and just kept hollering and waving his finger at me.


I was already in the midst of a horrendous headache, I've been stressed about Georgia's death, and I did NOT need that! Furthermore, if he had been a gentleman, he would have waited and talked to Andy. So when Andy comes home I'm crying like a baby and trying to explain what happened. Now, all this time, I'm thinking that he'd been attacked by Trixie (pictured L). Andy goes to talk to Bill's "witness" and the witness says it was Darla (pictured below)!!!!! Darla is NOT an agressive dog. The witness said that he and Bill were talking and the next thing he knew, Darla was jumping up and trying to bite Bill from behind and that he finally hit her with a baseball to get her off of him. I'm thinking he's been mean to Darla in the past when she was out for a pb and she remembered it, or he made some sort of move towards her that she felt was threatening and she thought to herself, "oh no mister...not today". Thankfully, he wasn't hurt, but he sure had me upset.


Here's your Georgia pic of the day. I was about to give her first REAL bath. Her cord hadn't fallen off yet, but I'd decided that it was time (her cord fell off the next day). You'll have to excuse my "bad hair" for that day. With this many kiddos, sometimes I do good to get deodorant on!!

Word verification....ON!

I had to do it...for any of you that post, I've enabled word verification because I had SOOOO many spam comments. How annoying...GET A LIFE AND GET OFF MY BLOG!!!


I couldn't post without putting a pic of one of my wonderful kiddos on here. Daniel, my oldest, has become a member of the fire department here. It's a program for those under 18. He loves it and we're so proud of him!

I'm so thankful for...

my Biofreeze! I've used it alot on my neck and shoulders! It's like Ben-Gay but 100 times better, doesn't stay greasy, and the smell goes after just a few minutes.

TGIF!

Whew! Am I glad it's Friday! This has been a wild week and I'm glad it's over.

Went back to my chiropractor today. He showed me my x-rays, and compared to the "normal" one of patient, Mrs. Perfect Spine, mine looks pretty bad. He also said I have TMJ. He said basically that the stress of Georgia's death is really taking it's toll on my body. So, I'll be going three times a week for the next 8 weeks. I don't mind going...he's a great guy and his wife (who works there, too) is a great friend.


Speaking of Georgia's death, she's been gone 10 weeks today. That is so hard to believe! I love this picture...she and Daniel are napping together!

Check out my husband's blog...there's a really cute video clip of Kaymie on there.

Three more ballgames tonight, and they're all at different hours. Tonight they are at 6, 7, and 8. Sometimes we get lucky and they all play at 7! It's getting kind of dark outside and the wind is blowing really hard, so it may get rained out.


I'm attaching a pic of Sean on Christmas morning. Do you have any idea how GREAT Christmas morning is with 9 kids in the house!?!?!?! It's AWESOME!

Please take a look at some pics of children who are waiting to be adopted. Could YOU be the mommy and/or daddy that they're waiting for?

Killer headache & Thankful today...

I have learned that my body processes grief and stress by giving me killer headaches. I've had one since Georgia died, nearly 10 weeks ago. When I woke up this morning I felt like someone had set off a bomb in my head. I grabbed the phone and called my chiropractor, Dr. Ellis. I know some people think chiropractors aren't for "real", but MY chiropractor is awesome (plus, he and his wife are personal friends AND adoptive parents). He worked on me a while, the nurse practitioner put an injection into my shoulder and then they did some PT. I hope to feel better soon!

So, today, I'm thankful for my chiropractor and all his little gadgets he uses to help me feel better.


Here's the Georgia pic for today (and me in my froggie nightshirt). This was our first night home and Andy and I were about to get her in bed. She didn't cry at all that first night, she only grunted every four hours on the dot. WE MISS YOU, OUR SWEET GIRL!!!


I'm also adding a pic of Levi playing in a box. This was taken several months ago. My kids have always loved playing with sticks and boxes more than toys. Go figure.

Here's my daily plug for adoption. There are lots of waiting children...won't you consider making one of them part of your family?

All you Tennesseans...

If there are any Tennesseans on here, be sure and submit your child's information (they have to be 5 or under) to the Governor's Books from Birth Foundation. Each child gets a book every month. Kaymie got this book in the mail yesterday...it's a really nice, hard back book. Levi will be getting one, too, and even Georgia was getting them until she died.

2 hours 50 minutes til Idol...GO TAYLOR! I'm hoping for an all male finale. Not a big Kat fan here.

Thankful today...

for my digital camera! I have a Kodak EasyShare DX6490. It takes pics and video. I took this video of my sweet Georgia with it. I had just changed her diaper then turned on her mobile. I went to throw the diaper away and wash my hands. By this time the mobile had quit and she was just laying there looking at it...until she noticed that I was standing there and she began to "talk" to me. We had many of these very interesting conversations...I'd give all I have to be able to have just one more with her. I sure do miss her.

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Wednesday already...

Happy Wednesday to ya. It's been crazy around here as usual. I had to take my mom to an appointment in Oak Ridge today. Oak Ridge is a strange town, got a weird layout and nothing there makes sense to me. Of course, this city wasn't originally designed to be the busy town it is today, it was created to be a part of the Manhattan Project (think atomic bomb WWII). Oak Ridge is home to the Y-12 National Security Complex where my mama has worked for 30 years! It's interesting have a parent (and later a step-parent was added to the mix) who has a "Q" clearance (one of the highest security clearances in the country). There's no "so what did you do at work today" discussions around the dinner table. Only, "if I told you, I'd have to kill you". She was joking, of course, but she takes her job and the confidentiality that goes with it very seriously. Security got really tight over there after the attack on America 9-11-01. My husband does business with them and when he delivers over there, the guards bring out bomb sniffing dogs...cool, huh? It's been reported in the news around here that Y-12 houses the largest stockpile of enriched uranium in the world. Nice to know that has to be on some idiot terrorist's "Top 3 Places to Attack".

I have to tell you about our excitement last night! Riley hit an over the fence homerun last night!!!! I was tending to Kaymie and looked up and saw the ball go over the fence. Then, I turned and looked and it was Riley heading for first. I was jumping and screaming, and clapping. I went to look for the ball and this older gentleman had found it first and gave it to Riley's coach. They did a presentation to Riley when the game was over. YEA RILEY!!!! Of course, I didn't have my camera, but I'll attach a pic of my sweet boy anyway.

Six hours and twelve minutes til American Idol...I'm such an addict!!!

Now, for your Georgia pic for today. This was taken the first night she was home. She is being held by big brother, Sean...Tucker is on the left, and Riley (when he actually wore his glasses) on the right. We sure do miss our sweet princess!

I can't end this entry without asking you to consider adopting a waiting child. It's not as hard as you think!

Thankful today...

My little thing today that I'm thankful for is folding chairs. We have three ballgames tonight and I can't imagine sitting on the ground, or on those hard, metal bleachers.


Had to share this picture with you. Tucker is our true animal lover around here (he gets it from me!) Here he is with Trixie. She's such a good girl!

p.s. This pic was taken last week, not in January of 03. I GOTTA fix that!

2 year check up

I took Levi for his 2 year check up today with our awesome pediatrician, Dr. Blevins. Here's Levi's stats:
*weight: 25 lbs. 13 ozs. (25%)
*height: 33 1/4" (25%)
*head circumference: 51.4 cm (>95%)
He said Levi looks healthy and commented on Levi's long eyelashes (we hear that a LOT). He also said that both of his ear tubes are out of the eardrum and that he will be losing them in a few days. I'm actually glad because we won't have to be so careful about his ears this year when he's in the pool.

Dr. B and I talked about Georgia. He asked how we were doing. He's proven himself to be extremely kind and compassionate through all this. I told him the autopsy still isn't back (which annoys me...it's been almost TEN weeks!) He said he fully expects the autopsy to show "nothing" which will give a diagnosis of SIDS. He said this isn't the first time he's dealt with this in his time as a doctor. He spoke of the first time he ever saw this happen and how devastated the parents were. He said that child, like Georgia, was perfectly healthy. He said that the parents laid her down for a nap, just like we did Georgia, and that she simply didn't wake up. I miss her so much...this SUCKS!!!


And now for your Georgia pic of the day...this picture is literally the first time I got my hands on her! We had just picked her up from the DCS worker and I was moving her from their carseat to ours. Andy and I were crying and I was telling her that we'd waited and prayed for her. What a HAPPY, HAPPY day that was!!!

Please consider adopting a waiting child...there are so many waiting who REALLY want a mommy and daddy.

I'm thankful today....

Today my "little" thing that I'm thankful for is my computer and internet access (especially our high speed cable modem)!!! I remember when we got our first pc with internet connection. To say I was overwhelmed would be an understatement. It took me a while, but I finally learned how to do most of it, and now I'm pretty much an addict!!!

Interesting...

I took this little quiz today and it's so true (from an 80s standpoint that is!) Of course, my only heartthrob these days is my gorgeous, sweet, and loving hubby, Andy!

Your 80s Heartthrob Is

Michael J. Fox

Who's Your 80's Heartthrob?

Icky day...

I have a condition called bile reflux. I haven't had a flare up in nearly a year, but I think I'm having one now. It causes lots of symptoms, but the worst are extreme nausea and severe abdominal pain. The pain has been bad but not unbearable yet. I just feel plain old crappy today. Tilley and I are supposed to go to the "Mother/Daughter" banquet at church tonight. I hope I feel like going.


I'm leaving you with a picture of my sweet Georgia. I think I should start putting a pic of her every day (warning, I have LOTS of pics of her!) I love this picture...she's laying on her daddy's chest and has the look of "don't mess with me or my daddy will take care of you!" I sure do miss her.

Have you considered adopting a waiting child? Their greatest desire is to have a family of their own!!! Do you know that in most cases, the state will pay you a monthly "subsidy" and will continue the child's Medicaid until they are 18...or as long as they are in school?

Thankful today...

for my crockpot! When we got home from church...VOILA! Lunch was ready.

I have to share this picture of my "babies" with you. My awesome hubby and my youngest, Levi.

Mother's Day

Well, it's Mother's Day. My former pastor used to complain about how they had "National Pickle Month" and "Mother's Day". It has been a nice day, although I have found myself missing Georgia more than usual today. Andy had all the kids make me a drinking glass with their picture on it. I LOVE THEM! They were all wrapped in newspaper (hey, save a penny when you can, right?) with their names on the paper. One of them said, "Dad", so I expected it to be a glass with his picture on it. It had a glass with a picture of my sweet Georgia on it and said, "In Loving Memory". I'll attach the pic that he used. I know God's ways are ALWAYS perfect and He knew what He was doing when He took Georgia, but OH HOW I MISS HER!!! I'd like to go to her grave today, but thanks to her totally worthless birthparents (sorry, but it's true...I could write VOLUMES about them. They have FOURTEEN children between them and custody of NONE!), she is 75 miles away. Everybody is tired and needing a nap (including me) so we'll just stay home.



I had Andy take a pic of all the kids and me this morning. You don't know how difficult that was (just getting them to all look in the same direction!), but he did a great job (as usual). I love him so much! Here's who's who, starting from the bottom:
Daniel, age 17, Sean, age 13, Levi (being held by Sean) age 2, Tucker, age 10, Riley, age 9, Tilley, age 9, Asher, age 5, and Kaymie, age 3. AREN'T THEY BEAUTIFUL CHILDREN?????
I fixed one of my favorite meals today...beans, mac and cheese, and cornbread. I'm SO full right now, but it makes my mouth water just thinking about it! We were going to go out and eat, but you can imagine the looks we get when we tell them we have a party of 10...not to mention the ridiculously long wait on Mother's Day!!!!

Happy Mother's Day to all my friends out there. Whether you're a veteran mom, a new mom (Hi D [a.k.a. away_2me]...love ya!), or a mommy in waiting, I'm thankful that I can call you my friends!

Have you considered adopting a waiting child lately? They would love to have a mom to celebrate Mother's Day with.

Let's see if this works...

My sweet friend, Alicia, told me about dropshots.com. Let's see if this video thing will work. My Tilley girl is so sweet. I tell her (and all my kids) all the time that I'm so glad that of all the women in the world, God let me be their mom and how thankful I am for that.


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Busy day...

Whew, busy day around here. My kids are usually in charge of the chores, but it has to be done "right" every once in a while...kwim? Plus, we've got lots of laundry!!!

I got this email today and I admit, I agree with it. For those of you who don't know, I'm to the right of the "right". I am extremely conservative and my "evangelical Christian" views are very sacred to me. Here's the email...I do admit that some of the language (although not profanity) is not what I would use...

Charlie Daniels on mexicans By Charlie Daniels www.charliedaniels.com


Mexican Standoff

I don't know how everybody else feels about it, but to me I think Hispanic people in this country, legally or illegally, made a huge public relations mistake with their recent demonstrations.

I don't blame anybody in the world for wanting to come to the United States of America, as it is a truly wonderful place. But when the first thing you do when you set foot on American soil is illegal it is flat out wrong and I don't care how many lala land left heads come out of the woodwork and start trying to give me sensitivity lessons.

I don't need sensitivity lessons, in fact I don't have anything against Mexicans! I just have something against criminals and anybody who comes into this country illegally is a criminal and if you don't believe it try coming into America from a foreign country without a passport and see how far you get.

What disturbs me about the demonstrations is that it's tantamount to saying, "I am going to come into your country even if it means breaking your laws and there's nothing you can do about it."

It's an "in your face" action and speaking just for me I don't like it one little bit and if there were a half dozen pairs of gonads in Washington bigger than English peas it wouldn't be happening.

Where are you, you bunch of lilly livered, pantywaist, forked tongued, sorry excuses for defenders of The Constitution?

Have you been drinking the water out of the Potomac again? And even if you pass a bill on immigration it will probably be so pork ladenand watered down that it won't mean anything anyway. Besides, what good is an other law going to do when you won't enforce the ones on the books now?

And what ever happened to the polls guys? I thought you folks were the quintessential finger wetters. Well you sure ain't paying any attention to the polls this time because somewhere around eighty percent of Americans want something done about this mess, and mess it is and getting bigger
everyday.

This is no longer a problem, it is a dilemma and headed for being a tragedy.

Do you honestly think that what happened in France with the Muslims can't happen here when the businesses who hire these people finally run out of jobs and a few million disillusioned Hispanics take to the streets?

If you, Mr. President, Congressmen and Senators, knuckle under on this and refuse to do something meaningful it means that you care nothing for the kind of country your children and grandchildren will inherit.

But I guess that doesn't matter as long as you get re-elected. Shame on you

One of the big problems in America today is that if you have the nerve to say anything derogatory about any group of people (except Christians) you are going to be screamed at by the media and called a racist, a bigot and anything else they can think of to call you.

Well I've been pounded by the media before and I'm still rockin' and rollin' and when it comes to speaking the truth I fear not.

And the truth is that the gutless, gonadless, milksop politicians are just about to sell out the United States of America because they don't have the intestinal fortitude to stand up to the face reality.

And reality is that we would never allow any other group of people to have 12 million illegals in this country and turn around and say, "Oh it's ok, ya'll can stay here if you'll just allow us to slap your wrist."

And I know that some of you who read this column are saying "Well what's wrong with that?"

I'll tell you what's wrong with it. These people could be from Mars as far as we know. We don't know who they are, where they are or what they're up to and the way the Congress is going we're not going to.

Does this make sense? Labor force you say? We already subsidize corporate agriculture as it is, must we subsidize their labor as well?

If these people were from Haiti would we be so fast to turn a blind eye to them or if they were from Somalia or Afghanistan?

I think not.

All the media shows us are pictures of hard working Hispanics who have crossed the border just to try to better their life. They don't show you pictures of the Feds rounding up members of MS 13, the violent gang who came across the same way the

decent folks did. They don't tell you about the living conditions of the Mexican illegals some fat cat hired to pick his crop.

I want to make two predictions. No. 1: This situation is going to grow and fester until it erupts in violence on our streets while the wimps in Washington drag their toes in the dirt and try to figure how many tons of political hay they can make to the acre.

No 2: Somebody is going to cross that border with some kind of weapon of mass destruction and set it off in a major American city after which there will be a backlash such as this country has never experienced and the Capitol building in Washington will probably tilt as Congressmen and Senators rush to the other side of the issue.

I don't know about you but I would love to see just one major politician stand up and say, "I don't care who I make mad and I don't care how many votes I lose, this is a desperate situation and I'm going to lead the fight to get it straightened out."

I don't blame anybody for wanting to come to America, but if you don't respect our immigration laws why should you respect any others.

And by the way, this is America and our flag has stars and stripes. Please get that other one out of my face.

What do you think?

Charlie Daniels
April 10, 2006


Have you considered adopting a waiting child lately? Their greatest wish is to have a family of their very own....

Video post...

I have THE cutest little video clip on my digital camera that Tilley made for me. It's probably 10 seconds or so, but so cute and sweet. Does anybody know how to upload those to a blog? If so, can you leave me a comment, or email me at fiveboys_twogirls@yahoo.com with BLOGGER in the comment line?

THANKS!

I'm thankful today....

for flowers! God could have made us a REALLY boring world. Green grass and trees and brown trunks. But He didn't! He made us a beautiful world to live in with all sorts of flowering trees and shrubs, and beautiful flowers!!! Our climatis at our mailbox is blooming, so I'm attaching a pic...

Saturday

Well, I had to have Asher to the ballfield by 9:00 this morning to have his picture made with the team. He plays t-ball and his team is called the "Tee Wees"...how cute is that? Since it will be weeks before the pics are back, I'll attach my own. Ain't he cute???

Tomorrow is Mother's Day and there's been lots of top secret stuff going on around here. I took my mother to Aubrey's to eat...it's our favorite restaurant. If it's not raining tomorrow, maybe we can drive up to Georgia's grave (it's about 75 miles away thanks to her never-involved, hadn't seen her since she was a day old birth parents.)


So I told you that I went to that meeting yesterday, so that means that Andy was here with the kids. I'm attaching a pic (it's not very good, one of the kids must have taken it) of Levi drinking diet Mtn. Dew STRAIGHT FROM THE 2 LTR. BOTTLE!!!!! It's a wonder he slept at all last night!

I'm attaching a pic of my sweet Kaymie. She's such a girlie girl! :)


Have you considered adopting a waiting child lately? Their greatest desire is to have a family...how basic is that?

Little things, day 3

Okay, since I've been gone all day, I've not had to use any of my household "gadgets" today. However, I'm SO thankful for bottled (ya know, the size you can carry with you?)Diet Dr. Pepper. YUM YUM!

Have YOU considered adopting a waiting child lately?

Back from the meeting...

Well, I'm home from my meeting in Morristown today. It was nice. DCS in TN is applying to be accredited. There are only 7 other states in the US that are accredited (one of them being KY which is where our current commissioner worked before coming to TN). It's a big deal and a very L-O-N-G process. I did find out that I was only 1 of three foster parents from this part of TN that was invited. The coolest part was meeting commissioner Dr. Viola Miller (pictured) was there...she was the speaker. I've been a foster/adoptive parent for 13 years and have never met the commissioner (for the record, she's only been on the job 2 years)! She is such a neat lady and is quite entertaining. She is also very involved and will respond to an email, generally, in just a few minutes! I've been to lots of these DCS training things and they are usually boring, but she kept it interesting...not to mention they served a great lunch!


Asher's preschool sent home an interesting questionnaire for Mother's Day. It's questions they asked him. Here they are, my responses are in italic...
*What is your mom's name? Kasey (Kasey? I thought my name was Jill!)
*What does she do? kiss me (awwww!)
*How old is she? 16 (now THAT'S a boy after my heart!)
*What does Daddy call Mom? honey (true...but it's usually "baby" )
*What is her favorite color? pink
*What is her favorite food? carrots (WHAT??? )
*What is her favorite restaurant? McDonald's (only if I'm starving! )
*Where does she like to take you for fun? the grocery story ( oh yea, now THAT'S fun!)
*What is her favorite movie? "The Incredibles" (never seen it!)
*What message do you want to tell her for Mother's day? "I love you!" (gosh I love that kid! )


My sweet Georgia died 9 weeks ago today. It has been the hardest 9 weeks of my life. To describe the hurt and void I feel would be impossible. I'm posting the last pic ever taken of her. It's not a great picture, but it's the last one. She was laying on my lap and Tilley put a little tiara on her. Sean grabbed the camera and took a picture...I'm so glad he did! I LOVE YOU AND MISS YOU SWEET GEORGIA ROSE!!!!!

Have you considered adopting a waiting child lately?

Can you believe???

That Chris got booted from AI last night??? I personally am a Taylor fan, but Katharine was so awful on Tuesday night. I felt so bad for Chris because you could tell he was really surprised. But, I imagine we'll be seeing and hearing a lot more from Chris!

Little things for today...

Today I am thankful for my van. Can you imagine making a 60 mile trip by horse and buggy??? YIKES!

The meeting tomorrow...

I posted yesterday about the meeting I was invited to. It's with the commissioner of DCS. Well, the meeting was supposed to start at 8:00 and it was in Morristown (about 1.5 hours from here). I was going to go up and spend the night with my bil and his wife (pictured with Kaymie and baby Georgie) because they're about 10 minutes from the hotel where the meeting is being held. I got a phone call today saying the meeting wouldn't start til around 9:30, so I can stay home tonight. I would have loved visiting with my bil and his wife, but I'd rather be in my bed with my sweet snuggle bunny.

Good morning...

Top 'o the mornin' to ya! It's raining and cool here today. The high is gonna be 61 here on Sunday (and low humidity...ahem, D...tell A!!)

Gotta take my mom to therapy today. I took her to the doc yesterday and he told her to continue the therapy and come back in 6 weeks. She's been staying by herself since Tuesday...she's able to walk Hollie and take care of her cats. That was her biggest fear--that she wouldn't be able to care for her animals.


Mr. Birthday Boy was really "on" last night. His newest favorite thing to do is push the vacuum cleaner around, and if it won't move for some reason, he screams and stomps his feet until someone comes to help him. He also LOVES to give kisses and knows how to make them "pop". What a sweetie!


We have a bird who's set up a nest in one of the ferns hanging on our front porch. Seems like everytime we put a hanging basket out, we have baby birds...it's so exciting!


Drop by and check out my hubby's blog. Gosh I love that feller!