Lover's Leap

One of my favorite things to do in the fall is to ride up the mountain and see the leaves. This year was dominated by golds. Sadly the reds and vibrant oranges were more subtle, almost nonexistent. But the golds were many, deep and strong. There are places when the sun hits just right, that is glows, and you can feel the presence of God. We took a day and visited the beautiful over look at Lover's Leap, went to the candy store, took my mother in law to eat at Tuggle's Gap, and enjoyed the company of our youngest daughter and oldest grandson. It was a splendid day.

We live in a beautiful place. We don't have to travel to see the wonderous creations of our Master and Creator. We only need to slow down long enough to enjoy what He has surrounded us with. We couldn't be more blessed. He is so good to us. I am ever so Thankful to Him for every single blessing. 

My Cheerleader

I can't remember if I've talked a lot about the changes for Meadow that we have made this year. I'm thinking I did mention it. We've changed her school for her 7th grade year and we are right at a month into school and I'm so happy to report that she is doing awesome.

I love the new school. The security is better, there are more staff to student ratio, and the best news of all is that Meadow has met no resistance- which means- NO BULLYING at her new school. There is less drama and she is more focused on her academics.

She has a new boost of confidence in herself that I knew was hiding in there. I'm so glad it's surfacing. She's made new friends. Her grades have come up. I'm just so happy.

It was a tough decision to make because you never know how things are going to play out. You want to teach your children to tough out situations as well. I felt in my heart this was the best thing to do and with Tony feeling the same way that was the confirmation I needed.

She is more involved because she is a cheerleader. And even more so because she absolutely LOVES cheering.

You can't imagine how happy that makes this momma. It's weird when there were things we wanted so bad when we were little but couldn't do them, and we feel as though our dreams come true when we see our own children get to live those dreams.

Here's praying for a great rest of the year!

Her friend Kylie on the left and my Meadow on the right. Aren't they just beautiful!

Showing Some Doxie Love

Suki Sue. I just love her eyes.

Suki and Slanky. Sweet Siblings

Different Edit

Aren't their colors gorgeous? He's a Dapple and she's a Double Dapple.

The Slank.

This was coming home from taking Meadow to her friend Kylie's today. Meadow walks to school with Kylie and the pups love to ride. What a mess they are! Growing up a storm too.

Pappy, Treyton and the Motorcycle

This kid loves to ride. Poor ole Pappy had been working since 3:30 am this morning. He was tired and wore out. He had already made it in the house, ate, took his shoes and socks off, and sat down to relax for the evening. Then Treyton says, "Pappy, we motorcycle men, let's ride the motorcycle!" How could a tired Pappy say no? Mimi came out with her cell phone to take pictures. The laughter you can't hear in the photos brought sheer joy to my heart. Seeing the look of the awesome rush he felt flying up the road and listening to the roar of the bike made him feel like he was on a rollercoaster I'm sure. His face glowed! Moments like this are priceless. If you look real close on this last picture you can see my Meadow ducking behind her daddy hiding from the camera. At 12 she didn't have her hair fixed or her make-up on and did not want her picture on Facebook or Blogger. God is good.

Exhausted

Let me tell you, I really wanna sit down and give a long detailed description of my work week. It's been awesome but my feet are aching so badly! This ole fat girl isn't use to standing 10 hours a day. :) I'm just too tired to write it all down. Tomorrow I have 5 hours and I'm off for 3 days. Promise to catch up then.

One tiny detail. My yet to be born grandson finally has a name! Woohoo! Heaven is somewhere between 6 and 7 months. Who takes that long to pick a name! Ha! I think I had all of mine named before I was ever pregnant with them.

Oh well. Off to snuggle Meadow and hope to get in bed before midnight.

;)

It's August

The summer has flown by. Time just flies. I wish I could slow time down. I try to simplify our life and savor the moments and yet still the moments are gone before I can register that another day has passed.

Meadow is changing schools this year. She is a cheerleader. She has lots of great new things going for her this year, so please, keep her in your prayers.

I change my blog design frequently and freely thanks to Lee Lou's freebies. This time when I changed my template I also changed my scripture. I needed a new focus and God was speaking this to my heart. Lately, my emotions and anger have been so powerful and ruling. I've allowed my heart to lead me. Thinking and acting on your feelings isn't always the best thing. I know that I have stood for the right thing and that my every word has rang true, and now the Lord is saying to me, "Let go my child and Let Me."

So I'm digging into His word and praying over this situation that has been so hard for me to witness. I am going to allow Him to protect me. He has a shield of protection around me. He is my mighty warrior and He is fighting this battle for me.

My new scripture is Exodus 14:14 "The LORD shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace." KJV

So now, I hold my peace. Thank-You Father.

And on a lighter note I wanted to say, "Happy August!" Today is the first!

Happy 12th Birthday Sweet Meadow!

I can't wait until we go to our photo shoot and get to have very good pictures made of us together. I want to tell you Happy Birthday and that I cannot believe that you are 12 years old. Time is flying by and you are becoming a  young lady right before my very eyes. You are my baby girl, my youngest daughter, my last child at home. My heart strings pull hard on you. I want you to always know how proud I am of you and that I look forward to watching you become a wonderful woman.

Walk baby girl, don't run.

Listen, don't always tell.

Stand out, be proud. Never look around, be who you are.

Be kind always.

Stand up for yourself but don't be too sensitive.

Always lend a hand.

Be honest.

Have self respect and integrity.

You make a difference in each and every life that you encounter. Stay close to the Lord, dig in His word and never stop praying.

I am so blessed to call you Meadow, you, my daughter.

Snowy Beauty

Isaiah 1:18 Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.

Last night we got a little surprise. They were calling for ice but we got snow. I think a little ice came in before the snow hit but the snow is so billowing and beautiful.

Tony was off work, I am out of school, Savannah Sky is home, and school was canceled for Meadow.

Family Day.

I love them.

Few and far between.

Meadow has been a little under the weather for over a week now. Cold with sore throat and continuous cough. She has a doctors appointment in an hour. Tony and I are going to upgrade our cell phones. I think it's time for the Droid! I'm oober excited.

Meadow has been asked to go on a mini vacation with one of her good friends from school. They are going snow tubing, spending the night in a hotel, eating out and possibly going tubing again the next day. I am so thankful for opportunities like this. I know she is going to have a blast. She leaves in the morning.

Tony and I have decided that we are going to the beach for a few days over spring break. I cannot wait. We are planning to take his mom as well. The beach is her favorite place and she has not been in 13 years. I talked to her yesterday about it and she was so excited.

God is good. We are so blessed to be able to enjoy the life we live together. Family, so tightly knit together.

Guess I need to get ready to head out, and prepare for studying this evening and weekend. Unless we head back out to Honduras Coffee Shop tonight. Another musician is playing and I LOVE the folk music and the company.

Oh, I almost forgot. I am going to share a couple of pictures of our snow. It's not a lot but it is definitely enough. I enjoy the serenity of it.

 

 

Our trees in our back yard. 

 

 

Meadow's foot prints on our back porch off of our kitchen.

Hump Day!

Praise God for short hump days! Tomorrow will be a long day of classes for me then I'll be off for a three day weekend. Ahhh

I'm taking Friday off with dear hubby and some friends. I so need a day of total rest and relaxation.

Then the weekend will be spent studying.

I've been getting to spend a lot of time with my little ham of a grandson. I was in One Day Surgery yesterday and had to come home and do a report on my day, having it turned in by 8 am this morning. Treyton spent the night. That little booger was bound and determined that I was not going to type my report up. He was one little stinker.

So, Meadow came to my rescue and started playing dress up with Treyton and my oh my, you have just got to see what she came up with for him. He had so much fun. He was laughing and posing. He absolutely loves having his picture made and playing with his auntie Meadow. Here are a couple of their pictures.

 I just love these!

I did finally get my paper done and managed to get in bed by midnight. Getting up is easy, it's making it home without falling asleep that is the hard part. :)

Another Day Down

Ugh, I'm so exhausted. I have had a stomach ache and felt just bad today, an ache has been in the back of my head, not a real headache but a presence of one. It made for a long day. Too long. I can't describe in words how bad my legs ache and how glad I am to finally be home.

After I got home from school I had to go to the Dr. That took until 7:30 and then I'd promised Meadow a trip to Kmart to buy some new colored jeans, so we ate at Subway and then went shopping. I didn't realize how early Kmart closes so we had all of 20 minutes! lol But honestly, that was all we needed. She found what she wanted and we made it home before 10 pm.

Yesterday, while I was in class I had a phone call from Meadow's school. I had to leave the classroom to take the call. Turns out she'd thrown up at school and I had to make arrangements for her to get home. I hope I'm not getting that.

Ah yes, I did have to go to my lab instructor and talk about my skills. I did take too long on one of them so I get a retake next Wednesday.

Tomorrow is my operating room tour! I'm excited but praying I feel better!

So, it's off to bed I go tonight.

Sleep tight blog world. Don't let the bed bugs bite!

(I haven't forgotten that I need to share pictures of my desk and computer, I'll get to that this weekend!)

Jumbled Brain

Too much information smashed into one little head already. And today was only Medi Tech training for the COWs (computers on wheels) at the hospital I will be training in. It's scary and exciting at the same time. I love going to the book store and picking up new supplies for this semester. Thankfully all my books were purchased last semester so my needs list was very short. I picked up several study guides and I read them all tonight. I'm so thankful for these. They will slip right into my binders and make for great little reminders when you know something but it's just not coming to you.

Studying is what I'm doing. I'm continuing to plunge through my 30 sum page chapter in Fundamentals on medication administration, practicing drug dosage math and prereading my Pharmacology. It's going to be one doozie of a semester.

Last semester I worked in the nursing home, I'm so looking forward to working in the hospital. Lots of exciting things coming.

Heaven and I are going to the Farmer's Market in the morning. I haven't been in a long while and I'm looking forward to seeing what goodies they have.

Sky and her friend Becca cleaned out my classroom today so I'm going to put some time into painting and "redressing" the room into my study for nursing school. Lots of goodies coming for it. I also plan to distress a China Hutch that belonged to my long lost Nannie West this spring. I'm going to incorporate some earthy toned colors with accents of aqua and different hues of blue. Blue is my favorite color. Sapphire is my birthstone. I'm going to make Meadow a little nook (corner) for her sewing machine, supplies and new goodies she got for Christmas. It feels good to have this little project under way. I'm so happy with my home. I've got my bedroom exactly like I wanted it, my kitchen is done, and the den is done. So now on to my new study.

I use to want to move to badly. I always felt as though this house belonged to my mother in law. It took years for it to feel like home. We've been planted here since 1997. That is a long time to live in one place. I remember our years of renting and house hopping and it makes me even more grateful for our home. I love it here. The peaceful homey feeling. It's not perfect but it's our perfectness in it's own way.

I've built up a lovely collection of gorgeous red dishes. Some Paula Deen some not. My kitchen has one wall that I paint every so often when I bore of the colors. I started off with a Biltmore Estate shade of purple. It lasted about a year and I was ready for a change. I went with the bricky looking Paula Deen red and I love it so much all we have to do is touch it up. I have had no desire to change it since we've had it done. It's a cool shade. I have a curtain with a coffee house theme and it has the same bricky red and a touch of aqua in it. I'm really excited to bleed that aqua over into my study. It's going to be a great blend.

I have to say my favorite thing in our home is our fireplace. For years it was covered up by a board. I never understood why. Then one day inspiration hit me and I pulled that board down and cleaned and cleaned that fireplace. We carpeted that room and painted it a coffee creamer color and then added gas logs to the fireplace. Stunning it is. There is an old hand built fireplace mantel that adds just the right personality.

Meadow wants to go to Kmart when she gets home tomorrow to pick up some clothes. She wants colored jeans. I can't believe those things are back in! It's so 80's! I have to laugh. I remember those days. Even now I just don't care for colored jeans.

I sure love me some cow girl boots though! These are the ones Tony got me for Christmas......

I love them. They are Corrals and they are so comfortable. I've tried on everything from Ariats, Tony Lamas, and Old Gringos. Let me tell you, nothing compares to these. The soft feel of leather and notice the square toe. They are amazing. Only a few styles come with the square toe. I plan on ordering another pair in February that have some aqua in them. I haven't decided if I'm going to do all aqua or just accented aqua. I love them all. :) I highly doubt the aqua ones I've been looking at are square toed though. I'll have to go with pointed toes on those.

Well, I think I've rambled long enough. I've talked on just about any and everything just jumping around on no particular theme-oh yes- that's right- Jumbled Brain! That's okay though, my life is just like that, I love it that way. Never boring.

Christmas 2012

We had an awesome Christmas. Wonderful family time. This year we had a new appreciation for each other. It's hard without Nannie and Papa West. It's so different. But I looked around the room and seen their legacy. Such a huge legacy. Then I looked at sweet Landri and my heart was overwhelmed with thankfulness for the Lord's healing touch. I'm so thankful for every member of our family, and every spouse, and every friend. I'm thankful for every moment, every memory. I cherish my time with them.

Yes, Christmas was awesome this year.

I've enjoyed my off time thoroughly. It took me a few days to wind down. I was so stressed coming out of last semester. I have a lot of peace going into this one. I do have a lot of studying to do which will commence on Saturday.

2012 held many events for us.

I was accepted to nursing school. Savannah Sky spent a month in Ethiopia and a month in Uganda. She also graduated. A whole year early. Who would have ever dreamed? Landri was diagnosed with a brain tumor and then healed, never having to go through radiation. Tony and I enjoyed our 19th Anniversary. Heaven turned 22, Savannah Sky turned 17, Meadow turned 11 and my sweet Treyton turned 2.

I'm really looking forward to 2013.

I have some Christmas pictures but Meadow's camera is missing in action. Hopefully it'll turn up soon.

Looking forward to the New Year!

Meadow Turns 10

South Port, North Carolina