Num Nuts???????

Here is a funny video from the Spelling Bee.

t-i-q-u-e-u-r

I am watching the National Spelling Bee.

I am cheering for the home schoolers and the girl from Jamaica.

My favorite words so far are peristeronic and cyathiform.

The spellers can ask several questions of the 'askers' like definition, language of origin, part of speech, alternate pronounciations. Today one speller asked- Can I have a different word?

The finals are tonight on ABC at 7 central.

W-e w-i-l-l b-e w-a-t-c-h-i-n-g

Who is REALLY in control?

My friend, Pam, is expecting her third baby. This is remarkable. She is a cancer survivor. She is considered a high risk so she has super special stuff done to her at each visit. During one of these tests they think they found something wrong with the baby. The baby may be attached wrong to the placenta. They don't know for sure. The next doctor visit is late next week.

I talked to her yesterday. I told her that we were praying for her. I told her that I hate the 'not knowing' or the 'waiting room'. Life goes on but wouldn't it be better if we just knew something! Pam said that times like these remind her that she really is never NOT in the 'waiting room' and that the control we feel we have is just pretend control.

Wow! I needed to hear that.

I'll keep you posted on Pam

Go SEC

A very cool story about Tommy Tuberville and the coaches that traveled to see our soldiers. Read about it here

Almost there

Cathy asked me today at church about my bathroom and have we moved back into our room. Well...we can sleep in our bed and we can use the bathroom but all our stuff is not in there yet. I have new shelf paper in most of the drawers. I have unpacked three drawers in my bath. I need to put paper down under both the sinks and unpack the towels. On Carl's honeydo list for tomorrow is to install two new light fixtures over our sinks, add some shelves to our closets , put up some towel holders and a tp holder. I am not happy with the paint in Carl's bath area so John is going to repaint it with the same paint color as his bathroom. John and Carl are going to touch up some areas with paint. I plan to have the girls clean up the furniture in my room that got dirty with the wet tile being brought in. I also need them to clean the windows that got dirty with the cutting of the tile. After the closets get done, then we will move the closet stuff up from the living room.

So I'm sleeping in my own bed but we are still camping as far as having all my things in my room. I get dressed all over the place. You can probably tell!

We are not quite there yet but soon!

What's in your wallet?

I used to have this in mine but was afraid I'd lose it so I have it in a safe place now.

My Mama loved the Indy 500. No, that is wrong, She LOVED it. She often told me that the year I was born AJ Foyt was a rookie. I can remember waking up on the last Monday in May to the sound of cars racing through my room, only to realize that Mama had every radio in the house on to the race, including the one next to my bed. (The race used to be run on Monday but they had several years where rain delayed it til Tuesday. Now it is run on Sunday and if there is a delay it can be run on Monday)

Mama loved this race and only this race. She didn't follow Indy races just this one.
When I was six, my family went to Indianapolis. I can still remember the speedway. I remember when I realized that we were going to take a lap. I was scared because I just knew it would be in a racecar. I was relieved when a VW bus pulled up. This card says " I hereby certify that the bearer of this ticket has completed one lap around the Indianapolis '500' Mile Speedway. signed by Tony HulmanI have the race on right now. I have it loud enough so that I can hear it where I'm sitting as I type. I don't keep up with Indy racing until this race is on. We have had the race on for all my children's lives so that it is normal to them to have it on today.

The winner of last years race is married to Ashley Judd- Dario Franchitti
The 2002/2003 winner won the Dancing with the Stars last year- Helio Castroneves. Please remember that the 'H' is silent when you are passing on this useful info.

What a fun memory of my mama!

Make New Friends, But Keep the Old...

Carl went to Harvard in the fall of 2006 for an 8 week AMP course. There were 154 in his class 45 of which were Americans. He was put into a smaller group of 9, 2 of which were Americans. After spending 8 weeks together they became quite close. Below is Russell with Carl. Russell had work in California and then North Carolina. He flew to Little Rock to see and visit us on his way home to Australia. He will leave tomorrow and get home on Monday.

Carl picked Russell up from the airport and then showed him around his office. Tonight we ate supper at Bonefish. Russell is now looking at pictures that Kaitlin has taken for her most recent class.

It is fun to hear Russell and Carl laugh together.

War Eagle

Anne, the Palm Tree Pundit had
this story about Tommy Tuberville. I must say that' It's Great to be an AUBURN TIGER'

If the shoe fits...

I was encouraged when I read
this

May 22 is a fun day at our house!

Twenty six years ago today I was in the hospital in St Louis, MO, getting ready to go home. Five days earlier I had given birth to Andrew. It was a wild and woolly c-section experience. When I went back for my 6 week check -up the OB told me how blessed I was to be alive and to have a baby too! Andrew's apgar scores were 1 and 2.

Twenty three years ago today I was in the hospital in New Orleans, having major surgery. But it was a wonderful surgery because I got a treat. Kaitlin. She weighed 8 pounds and 15 ounces and was 23 1/2 inches long. We laugh because she has only grown 3 feet since birth. I had had an ultasound to rule out twins but the doctor said that he thought one was hiding or that he would find a tumor or something. He was thrilled to find a BIG baby.

After my experience with Andrew, I was really panicked about having another baby. Twenty three years ago to have a repeat c-section I had to check into the hopsital the night before. I still remember, like it was yesterday, how, at midnight a nurse came in to take away my water. She saw that I was awake and she told me to get a big drink and that it was morning. The verse came to me from Lamentations- Great is thy Faithfulness, Morning by Morning new mercies I see. I dwelt on that verse and made it through the night. ( whenever we sing Great is They Faithfulness in church, I remember His Faithfulness to me on that night) At 5 they came to get me ready for the birth. There a few complications but solutions were found. She was born at 8:30 am. Her apgar scores were 2 and 10.

My mother was at her home in GA with my cousin, Vicki during the birth. They had a bet on the sex of the baby. Mama thought it would be another boy. Mama went shopping as soon as Kaitlin was born and was so excited to have a granddaughter she bought the same dress in two different sizes. She didn't know this til she pulled them out at the hospital when she met Kaitlin on Friday night. (I laughed at her about this and now today I can't find one of Kaitlin's presents that I just had- it was in a kohl's bag, let me know if you see it!)

I was in a semi-private room. My roommate had LOTS of company ALL the time. She waxed her eyebrows every day. It took a LONG time when she went to the bathroom. She also had her second child, a daughter. Her first child was a girl named Kelly and they were trying to think of a name that would rhyme with Kelly for this second daughter. That cracked me and mama up. We thought of jelly, belly, smelly etc. They named the second daughter Danny. Mama and I couldn't figure that one out. I was GLAD to go home when it was time.

A year ago Uncle John and Aunt Elaine were here to help us celebrate. Two years ago, we didn't have a surprise party for Kaitlin , it was a surprise day! Five years ago she was with her cousin, Alan and his friends in Birmingham. Six years ago we had a surprise party at church and had her favorite food- Hot Dogs.

Great is His Faithfulness.

A picture is worth a thousand words

Kaitlin has a blog She plans to put up some photos from each shoot. When she takes your pictures she gives you back your photos on a disk in a week. Now her goal is to have at least one of your pictures up on her blog in 24 hours. Check it out.

Are You F? Part ll

The Theme of the conference was Glorification. Glorification is the act wherein God takes something old (us) and makes something new (what we will be like in heaven)

To bring this point home at the conference the tee shirts this year were old tee shirts bought at Goodwill etc and made into Summer Conference tee shirts. The emblem of conference was put on the back of the tee shirt. Something old made into something new.

Phase ll almost done

Here are some pictures I took Sunday night. I need to call a plumber today to finish up some work before we can use the bathroom.

Here is before on the sink and counter
Here is after... my mirror was broken on Saturday.

Here is the finished window. I really like it.

They plan to be here today to finish up some odds and ends.

Pictures from Saturday

Saturday, Wade and Majel brought in some help. Here are Jody and Gunner Here is the granite tile on Carl's sink

Are You F? Summer Conference 2008

Kaitlin and Marisa rode down with Jamie and Bo. Here they are taking the required jumping picture. Here are the three girls in the back seat on the way down.

Kaitlin and Marisa were in the room with these girls from John Brown University and Jamie from U of arkansas. Next to Kaitlin in this picture with the yellow scarf is Bri. One night they realized that they both knew some of the same folks from LR.

Even with a little ole camera Kaitlin can take fun, artistic pictures.

Two pretty girls on the beach

Kaitlin connected up with a friend from miss state, Libbie

And a friend from Tennessee, Beth

Here are some random bullet points that I gleamed from their first 24 hours home

-Kaitlin enjoyed the class on Glorification

-the teacher said that we think of what we will do in Heaven that we can't do here but also think about what you enjoy here and how much better that will be in Heaven

-Ted Wenger had a surprise birthday party for Marisa on Friday

-Keith Berger taught on dating- he said that when you are dating that your church, friends parents etc should be all up in your business

- a date is not a marriage proposal

- don't date non-believers because you marry who you date

-suffering is a gift from God

-Captain Anderson's was great. Kaitlin had popcorn shrimp and Marisa had chicken fettuccine.

-The rain didn't dampen their spirits

- their got sunburned

-Back Porch was a great break on Monday from all the craziness

-their car load ate at Waffle House somewhere near Mobile, AL around Midnight on the way home to celebrate Marisa's birthday- It was on the 17th

-they left at 9:30 on Friday after large group and got home around 10 on Saturday morning-thanks for all the prayers

-A very moving time for Kaitlin was when after Jack Howell spoke in large group they sang For All the Saints, she was crying and then looked up and so were all the musicians

-they had a great talk with Hunter Bailey

-Marisa got sick but was helped by Advil and sudefed and sleep

-they can't wait til next year

YUM

These are my new favorite cookies! Have you tried them?

5 times

I was tagged by Annie's sister RiLee

1. 5 things under $5 that I couldn't live without: chap stick, McDonald's hamburgers, deep pink fingernail polish, milo's sweet tea, Large cherry slush from Sonic
2. 5 Favorite Movies (in no particular order…)
Die Hard, Tomb Raider, Pride and Prejudice, The Face on the Milk Carton, The Deep End of the Ocean
3. 5 Baby names I love:
Andrew, Kaitlin, John, Susannah, Emily Clare
4. 5 Songs I could listen to over and over again. Titanic theme by Celine Dion (oh wait I did hear it over and over and over- the subject of a blog sometime), Threads of Love by Lorie Line (go to amazon.com right now and order it, you will love it) Pachelbel's Canon, anything Michael Card and anything by The Carpenters
5. 5 People who have influenced me in a positive way: L M Montgomery, Elizabeth Goudge, Richard Baxter, John Rosemond, and Dorothy Canfield Fisher
6. 5 things that are always in my purse: Kleenex, bottle of water (I have a BIG purse), chap stick, pen, and pad of paper
7. 5 moments that have changed my life forever: realizing that I was nothing without Jesus, giving birth to my children, marrying Carl, realizing that Jesus is my Savior not Carl, teaching my children to read
8. 5 Obsessions I have now: Blogging, texting, reading, caffeine free Pepsi, and blogging
9. 5 places I would like to go: See the Redwoods, Grand Canyon, to the beach for a month, to the Red Apple Inn, to the bathroom in my own bathroom ( is that too personal- sorry)
10. 5 appliances or kitchen tools I cannot live without: scissors, mixer, microwave, pot holders, and my stool
11. 5 people who I would like to see their top 5's:
Sue-http://www.septemberwhimsy.blogspot.com/
Denise-http://ruflife.blogspot.com/
Jennifer-http://www.rjboully.blogspot.com/
Stepanka-http://czech-connection.blogspot.com/
Anne-http://www.palmtreepundit.blogspot.com/
Nicolehttp://www.kinzlerfam.blogspot.com/
Frances-http://efrannie.com/
Emily-http://www.russ-family.blogspot.com/
Heather-http://www.thedillards123.blogspot.com/ and especially you because you are reading my blog! Let me know when you do so I can read it!

What do you see when you brush your teeth?

I read about writing on
mirrors to Kaitlin. She has run with it and it is a blessing. Thanks Denise

What's blue, has a sill and pulls skiers?

Here is the beautiful blue color in 'my' part of the bathroom. 'My' part has a sink with a cabinet, the tub/shower, the medicine cabinet and the toilet. Carl's part has his sink and cabinet and the closets. I let him use the toilet and the tub/shower that is in 'my' part. His part will be a beautiful green.

When you do a redo of any kind there are many things that come up that you had never thought of before. I just knew that I didn't like all that tile in 'my' part. I didn't realize that tile was also the window sill. Wade and Majel made and installed this sill for me and then they suggested that they frame in the window. I was impressed. I feel like they are truly working to make my bathroom just what I want it to be even though sometimes I don't know what that is. I can't wait to see my window framed.Shortly after work was started on John's bathroom, Wade shared with me that he had a new toy. A ski boat. I asked him if I helped pay for that new toy!?! We just laughed. On Thursday night as Wade and Majel ate their supper, Wade shared that he was looking forward to going to the lake soon. I got a big laugh out of him when I asked if he was going to take "our " boat.

...to the Josh Hargett power

Andrew has a good friend, Chris, who has a blog. I love reading Chris's blog because he is a gifted writer and I hear stories about Andrew.
Here is one story that I laughed about and told my brother John to read. A few days after reading Chris's blog John was surfing around to find something to watch on tv and saw that AUBURN was playing baseball. He stopped to check out the game. Josh Hargett was at bat. John just laughed. Then the annoucer mentioned the name of the pitcher who was pitching to him. It was one of John's former students! John sent me a text message telling me this. I sent it on to Chris and Andrew. We all had a good laugh.

Phase ll update

Here are Wade and Majel aka Tom and Kenny. Here also is the bathroom with tile down. Tonight they plan to paint, but they said it is hard after the supper I brought them from church. They had lemon-pepper chicken, green beans, rice with gravy, biscuit and banana pudding for dessert. Killer banana pudding was what they called it.

They plan to be done by Saturday or Sunday!

A letter to my friend and sister-in law, Tina

Today is your first Mother's Day without your mama and I am praying for you to make it through the day. Tomorrow will be better.

Mama's are just special. And when you have one that is wonderful it makes it all the harder. And yours was a wonderful one. Mamas are our champions. They think we can do things when no one else does.

Time makes it different and more tolerable but not better. I have heard that losing a loved one can be likened to losing a limb. If you lost an arm, you would learn how to tie your shoes again or adjust to slip on shoes and learn how to do many things again but you would still miss your arm.

My friend, Hazel, heard me comment on how my mama loved birds. I spoke of the different birds, mama had introduced me to and how we loved to watch the birds outside her kitchen window. Hazel then said that she would take my pain of grief to know her mama as well as I knew mine. That really impacted me. Maybe it was better to have loved and lost, than never to have had a mama as wonderful as mine was even if the grief was so deep.

Today I had a good Mother's Day. I can remember my mother with much joy and we, as a family, can laugh about things we did with her.

You will have good Mother's Days too.

My heart is with you.

RUF Summer Conference

Kaitlin and Marisa are Here this week. Please pray for them. Thank you.

Work in the bathroom and Work in my heart

Here is the tile that went up on Saturday. I really like it.

I have slept in three different beds in three different rooms in the last two weeks. (I am thankful that I have so many beds to sleep in) I feel like we are camping. I am not quite sure where all my toiletries are as I have used two different bathrooms in these last few weeks also (I think I miss my bathroom more than my bedroom- how strange is that).

Our Pastor today used the construction that is going on in our fellowship hall as visual aide. It is a wonderful thing but it is messy. When we got to Sunday School today there was sheet-rock dust all over the chairs. He likened it to our lives as Christians. We want the beautiful, new , always put together, look. We forget that we are all construction zone's. The beautiful comes in Heaven.

So as I am sleeping around (I can hear my children now, MOTHER!)and seeing all the dust, and stepping over plastic that is down to protect the floor, I am reminded of the work being done in my heart and I need to be thankful for it. It let's me know He isn't finished with me and therefor He loves me. I need to be aware of the work He is doing in your life and not judge when I see a mess.

Thanks for the Memories! plus Whippoorwill's return

My brother, John, and his wife, Elaine should be pulling into their driveway in Atlanta just about now. They spent the week here with us. This is the 25th year they have come to my house for their annual visit. They have been to our homes in New Orleans, LA, Pine Bluff, AR and now here in Little Rock. They are the best kind of guests because they just meld into our schedule. They never know what they will do when here.

For this visit we went to UALR and they got to see Kaitlin's pictures in the gallery. Afterwards we ate lunch with Brina at Dixie Cafe.
Kaitlin showed them her last project from her photo class.

Uncle John enjoying the photo booth feature on Kaitlin's MACSupper at Famous Dave's with Brittany.Even a jumping picture outside of Famous Dave's
Here they are pulling away this morning!We are so blessed to have John and Elaine in our lives.

On Tuesday morning I asked John how he slept. He said that he slept well until about 3 when he heard this strange call from some kind of animal that kept repeating. He said he had never heard it before. I explained what it was. He said that it sounded like it was right outside of his window ( I put John and Elaine in John Austin's bed, which was where I was sleeping. I have now moved up to Kaitlin's room. ( are you confused- I am and I live here) I knew that bird had it in for me. He thought he found me. Ha!) At dusk that day I took John outside and let him hear said bird. The next day, John ran before dawn. He said that the whippoorwills were high in the trees calling from one side of the road to the other. He felt sorry for those people still trying to sleep while that group of whippoorwills had their gab fest.

Said Bird hasn't bothered my sleep since I've moved beds. Maybe I can out-smart him!

Phase ll- lots of pictures

Here is the shower with the shower head raised.

Here is the shower with the 'hardy backer board' up

Notice the absence of the hole in the floor

This is shower from my closet

Did I mention that I have sheet rock dust everywhere?!

A Storm Update

Thank you to all who prayed, commented, called, sent facebook messages or emails about my child and the storm.

Said Child has taken a few steps back from all the activities of life, spent several sleepless nights wrestling with God, has drunk deeply from the Scripture and let it bathe and soothe as only it can do. Said Child has owned some sin that had taken hold and made steps for removal.

This Mama writes this with tears streaming down her face. To God be the Glory

If the shoes fits, wear it

When my mama died the hardest place for me to go was to church. Church is such an emotional experience for me and when you already have so many emotions bubbling up and then you add grief, well let's just say it was hard. At the time we lived 45 minutes from church, so there was no, well, I'll just run back home if I can't handle it. So I would ride up to church and often end up sitting in the van. I still remember the day when I ventured in. We began our Sunday with prayer in the church library. Usually there were a handful of us. I was doing fine when all of a sudden, I could fell the enormous wave of grief about to engulf me. Prayer time had begun. I couldn't make it to the door without making a scene so I opened my eyes so the tears could spill down and maybe I could make it. As I opened my eyes I saw John's shoes. John was 9 at the time. John had on two different shoes. Not two loafers or two tie shoes noooooo. He had on one tie shoe and one loafer. It took a minute for it to register in my brain what I was seeing. And then I got tickled. Soon my tears were tears of laughter, quiet laughter, albeit we were in prayer time. I thought about Psalm 139. He has searched me and He knows me. He knows when I sit and when I rise. He is familiar with all my ways. He Knew I needed a light-hearted moment and He gave me one. I made it all the way through church that day. I still couldn't go all day every Sunday yet but I could see glimers of hope and I knew someday I'd be back.

Being Deliberate

My friend, Clare, wore her moccasins last week when we went to see Kaitlin at UALR and then to lunch. She said that she wanted to wear them to remind her of the old saying "don't judge someone until you've walked a mile in their shoes or moccasins". Clare has a friend a little older than herself who has a deep faith in Christ, wonderful husband, beautiful home and a son who was just arrested with his third DUI. Clare's friend didn't exactly know what the third arrest meant, maybe even prison. She couldn't post bail because she didn't have a job, other than being a mama, for the bail bondsman to garnish her wages, in case her son jumped bail. Her husband was on a business trip out of the country. Clare's heart broke as she listened to her friend. What would Clare have done? Who even knows? Hence the moccasins.

I need to be as deliberate today as Clare and listen. After pt today I need to go shoe shopping.

A Closet with a View

Our new tub. Wade and Majel measured and Carl measured and then Carl measured again (all you wives of engineers know that to be true), they did not have to move the wall to get the tub in! YEAH! That saved time and money. This is a view of the tub from my closet.

This is a picture of where the new toilet will be installed. My other one hung on the wall and it was not recommendreplace it with another one hanging on the wall. Here is the prep ed that we work for the new one!

This is the room formerly known as the living/dining room. For the time being it is, my closet, Carl's closet and John's bedroom. He has a nest on a mattress against the wall in the dining room. He is displaced because of us being in his room. He'll be gone for the next two weeks working for TomF doing buy backs so he'll wont miss his room too much.

Phase ll more demolition

This is why I am having this done, we have some rotted wood and leaks.

Where the shower used to be
I wonder why the builder left me this nice hole in the floor. I am just hoping the nothing from under the house decides to surface to the top and into my bathroom.