Growing up toooooo fast!!

I'm in Indianapolis but work kept me from attending Shara's basketball banquet tonight ... I don't usually get to be in town for events like this -- and I am actually missing RJ's 5th birthday party at home tomorrow! I think I need to go into mourning!! What will I miss next??

Back to Shara -- I love these photos ... from playing basketball for Indy Storm to just a typical 17 year old gal -- well, typical might be stretching it. Anyone who knows her knows she's not too typical. She may look more like her mom's side of the family but she definitely has her dad's sense of humor!! What a combination. I still remember when she was a little girl and cried because she didn't like to wear 'fancy dresses'!! Maybe that's why she looks so comfortable here!!

Oh, in case you didn't know -- her parents are Allen and Rachel Southerland.

The God of WHOM???

Tyler is quite the student and loves Bible stories. But he had his parents quite amused recently when he was talking about God and declared .... "the God of AVRI, Isaac and Jacob."

Abraham took a back seat to his friend, Avri Dressback.

You never know what will come out of the mouths of 7 year olds! Of course, this is the same 7 year old who can tell you about any animal you want to know about as well as many other pieces of information. I have learned to listen -- one time I was a little doubtful as to what he was telling me so I went to 'google.com' and found out he was absolutely right!

These are TAXing Times!!

Okay, so I meet myself coming and going and I dream of figures and figure out challenges that are taxing right now -- income tax season, that is! And busy isn't quite the word for it -- if I can just hang on for the next three weeks or so, I think I might stay sane ... well, relatively speaking, that is!!

Fortunately, the weekend after April 15th, my girls have planned a weekend away (and invited my sister to join us) ... this was their Christmas gift to me! What a gift!! I wish it were this weekend -- but I eagerly anticipate this time together. It will just four of us on this trip as Shonna and Teri had other commitments (Shonna is in school) ... but I know that when you get Roxanne, Sandi, Rachel and me together -- who knows what may happen! Two days in Orlando!! Or three days and two nights. I am definitely looking forward to it.

Tonight, I am at my sisters and all is quiet. I wonder why? Maybe it's because they are all at church right now and I sort of played hookey -- don't worry, I am not being anti-spiritual or anything of the sort. It was just a long day and I arrived later than I planned after stopping in to see my dad for a few minutes.

I spent a couple days with Tim and Nova Ferguson -- I love being in their home in northern Ohio. It is like being in a lodge in Colorado. Their wall (high ceilings!) is filled with hunting trophies -- five of them came from a hunting safari in Africa. Even Nova has some trophies up there! I tagged along with them to their church last night where a Ministerial was being held for the Pilgrim Holiness Church of NY. I told the conference superintendent I had come all the way from Florida to hear him speak -- he said, "I came all the way from Florida to speak!" Evidently he had been in Hobe Sound. He gave an excellent message and I enjoyed running into some old friends.

It is quieter here than it was Sunday night when I stopped through. There was a houseful -- like 30 people -- playing games and making noise but having loads of fun!!! I'm sure I will be begged into playing video games with the nieces and nephew shortly -- so better make sure I am finished with whatever I am doing at the moment!!

The little guy ....

Our guys are just growing up toooooo fast!! I hear Tyler reading and it seems like just yesterday Sandi spent hours and hours reading to him. Kamen came in to ask me how many sides were in a polygon yesterday ... RJ just told me that he's coming tomorrow morning and I can't sleep until he gets here -- well, he sort of changed that by saying, 'I'll see you in the morning." And today, I saw the littlest guy, Rudy, who has taken up the art of climbing at 10-1/2 months old. I was quite intrigued that he had figured out that if you get up on something, you must figure out a way to get down!

What was even more intriguing was that he decided that I was the "favorite person of the day" today and didn't want sisters, Regan and Bailey, to take him from me. He protested vehemently. I was even more surprised when he decided that he preferred Nana to Mommy (although I knew that would be very temporary but it did my spirit good!) Teri bribed him with, "Let's go swing!" Since I don't get to see him very often, I was rather surprised with his attachment yet happy to know that I have grandchildren who love me as much as I love them.

Imagine my surprise that my 9 year old granddaughter 'just loved' my shoes!!

Rock Band???

Since I've spent some time at my brother's home recently, I have learned to appreciate (or not to appreciate) Rock Band ... between the guitar 'hero' and 'rock band' with the set of drums, it can get quite interesting and perhaps a little noisy! The house has been known to shake a little -- and they have a big house! My brother decided to get in the "mix" one evening so I grabbed my camera since I couldn't pass up the opportunity to get him out of his comfort zone. I actually got two videos and had to decide which one -- the musical "talent" might have been slighly better in the other video ... then again! Interestingly enough, Tim has a very good voice!!

By the way, Rachel's daughters, Jene' and Shara', spent Saturday night with Tim, Susan and the boys and visited their church on Sunday morning -- I think they were quite happy to hear Mark Hall (Casting Crowns) who leads the worship in the 11am service where Tim and Susan attend. (Mark is also the youth pastor for their son, Michael.)

Okay, I'm going to try to upload this video ... enjoy .. or not!

Attn: William: Hey, look ... I cropped the photo!!

Okay, William -- I cropped the photo!! He told me I definitely had to crop the photo so it wouldn't show his office -- but, hey, if he had a completely clean office I would think he wasn't busy! That's not to say it was that bad -- but I think I will stop while I am ahead.

By the way, Teri emailed me tonight that our youngest grandchild, Rudy, took his first step today!! He can't be that old yet!!

Walking old roads ... or new roads!!!

Roxanne and I drove by our old house this week -- on a relatively new road. Well, relatively meaning that the road wasn't there when we lived in that house. We loved the fact that we had a back yard that was basically woods. Now, Jake Alexander Blvd (a four lane road) runs right behind the house. Fortunately, the people who bought the house planted a whole row of trees so the house can't be seen fully from the road.

I had to have our friend, Ed Arthur, draw a map of how to get to another friend's home since you can't get there from here now!! It seems like just yesterday we moved -- but, Kasi wasn't even a year old and she is now over 17 years old. Roxanne was quite pleased with herself. People who didn't know her were sure that she was just in her 20's so her head swelled quite large -- no wonder she told me she had a headache yesterday! That must have been the reason!!

We dropped Ed (well, drove him by and let him get out) off at Jerry's Texaco in Salisbury on our way to the Salty Caper. I reminisced for a moment and remembered my first encounter with "Jerry". (Jerry's Texaco is just down the street from our first home in Salsibury). I had stopped to get gas then went on to the mall. Imagine my surprise when I got out of my car at the mall to see Jerry staring at me -- glowering!! "You did NOT pay for your gas!!!" I was mortified! We had just moved to town, lived down the street from a gas station which we would frequent for fuel and for car repairs and I had forgotten to pay for the gas!!! Needless to say, that became a private joke for us over the next couple years! You would think I would get it right ... I decided to get gas while Ed was picking up his car. I pulled up and thought I had seen that the gas price was $3.21 (which for there was quite good.) It didn't ... it clearly stated $3.69 for regular. Okay, we have a problem. Something isn't quite right .... "Uh, are you needing 'full service'?" I heard a voice ask -- a guy was standing in front of me looking at me like, "Can't you read the sign? It says 'Full Service'!!" By the time I had figured that out, Ed had paid for his vehicle repair and was headed out to the Salty Caper and I had to be sure to follow him since I can't remember anything about how to get anywhere in a town I should have known well! Oh, well ... so, we waited to get gas until later and that time, I actually got it right.

Back to Ed and to Roxanne -- put the two of them together and laughter isn't just there -- it's really LOUD!! I was trying to work on some income tax returns (clients) and the two of them were watching a video in Ed's office of 911 calls -- among other crazy 'funny' videos. About the time they would quiet down for a moment, I heard it start up again! Neither one can control their laughter for long -- so it became quite entertaining .. for the most part! I later saw what they had been watching -- and yes, it was quite funny!!!

I did get Ed back -- he drove Roxanne and me to lunch at Casa Grande where we were to meet Terri Russell and William Brown. He was driving quite fast (okay, a little erratically) so I thought that I should share that information and yelled it out the window at some people standing in a parking lot. I'm not sure if they even cared but Ed was a little mortified and I was quite satisfied!!

Enough for now ... as we drive down I-75 towards home! We missed the storms in NC/SC/GA last night -- a little rain but that was about all ... we were blessed!!

By the way, here are a couple photos of kids of friends -- Cameron Brown, son of William and Tammy Brown (I knew Tammy's mom as a 10 year old - we were childhood friends. William graduated from high school with our daughter, Sandi.) Cameron wasn't too sure he wanted his picture taken. And Stephen Arthur -- whom we've known since he was about 2 and he's 23 now -- he works at the Salty Caper and treated us to a Hawaiian pizza -- try it, you'll like it! Oh, and Ed Arthur -- a great friend. We always enjoy being with him and his wife, Brenda. She manages the Super 8 Hotel in Salisbury and always keeps us amused with her updated hotel saga ...

Enough rambling for now!!

Old friends!!

Roxanne is with me in North Carolina and we've had fun visiting old friends! Today we had lunch with William Brown, Terri Russell and Ed Arthur! Of course, there's always laughter! Yesterday, Roxanne met up with an old friend of hers, Wendy Justice. They attended Gospel Light (Christian School) here in Salisbury and also were in each other's weddings. So .. of course, I had the camera handy!!

A houseful of boys!!

I'm at my brother's home right now .... he and Susan have three boys, ages 23, 20 and 16. I raised all girls although I was raised in a houseful of boys! They were all younger than me so that gave me the upper hand! It's amazing how different life is when there are all boys or all girls. Yes, hormones rule when there are all girls. However, Susan has done well in raising the boys to take on responsibilities that seem to be attributed to females ... loading and unloading the dishwasher. I have offered to do it several times -- and have. But, if I do it when Michael is assigned to do it, I am reminded that it is his responsibility. Yesterday, I thought I would get it done early -- but there was Jonathan on the spot (I know, it's "Johnny" on the spot but I doubt that Jonathan wants to be called 'Johnny'!) So, I put the task off until later in the day.

I remember when I was young and hated dish duty -- I still dislike it but am so thankful that someone invented the dishwasher!!

Not much substance today, huh? I was trying to upload a video of Tim 'singing' along with Jonathan playing the drums on "Rock Band" ... perhaps I will get that accomplished later in the day. It was just uploading too slowly and I gotta hit the road soon!!

Since I didn't get that done, I'll add a photo of Tyler that I took last week. It's amazing what he can find to do and to create ... his mind is never asleep!!

Heading north ... sort of ...

Roxanne and I are headed north tomorrow -- well, relatively so. We are going back to Salisbury, NC where we lived when Kasi was born. We'll be staying with our friends, Ed and Janet Isenhour. Janet and I knew each other when we were young (REALLY young). We lived in Salisbury for four years -- and Ed and Janet lived there, too. Somehow, we never got connected until a few years ago -- all the way out in Colorado.

If you check out William's blog, I understand that Janet painted the backdrop for "The Victor" being presented by Trinity Wesleyan Church. Ed's mother attended the same church we did when we lived there pastored by Rev. J.D. Young. What memories -- lots good -- some not so good. We always look forward to seeing old friends ... what is it they say about good friends, "They can see through you and still like the view ... "

Okay, it is getting late and I'm getting tired! And when that happens, I ramble ... and ramble ... and ....