I haven’t blogged in months and months although one of my life’s most precious moments have happened in my “silent period.”  Katie and Chad blessed us with another precious grandchild, an event at which I was present.  I retired and have spent a wonderful summer doing things I enjoyed.  Dan and I took a great anniversary trip, etc. etc. 

 I had some “fallout” from a post I wrote last Christmas that was taken the wrong way.

So I fell off the bloggin’ wagon but have decided that I’d like to try again.

I think I struggle with what every other blogging woman has experienced.  How do you write about your life without sounding shallow, self-serving, boastful, prideful, sarcastic, sappy and on and on?  I came upon this decision.  At times I am all of the above.  Somedays I am so sappy I almost need anti-nauseau medicine.  Somedays I am so proud of my family, friends, whatever that I feel like I might burst, all days I am filled with so much love for my family that I am “over the top” about them, somedays I am sarcastic, but hopefully not without humour.  Somedays I am so touched by what God has shown me that I feel like I might explode without sharing it.  But all of these things are who and what I am.  I don’t know many people who can write a daily, bi-weekly, monthly blog that is “earth-shattering, exciting” stuff.  Mostly what we blog about is important only to people who know and care about us, the writer.  It’s hard to write when you don’t know who the audience is.  I have decided that I will write for myself.  When I blogged before, I worried about every word.  How will that be taken?  Does that sound like I am just showing everyone about this perfect little life I have?  (If that’s the case, then I am a better liar than I thought!!)  Because long ago, I realized that I will never be the beauty queen; but I guess I always aspired to be “Miss Congeniality.”  I want everyone to be happy, to like me, to respect me……..My son has a quote that I love, “Stand for something or fall for anything.” 

So here goes another try.  I just want to blog about things that are going on in our life, spiritual issues I feel strongly about, and frequently about the two little grandchildren I adore.

I just want to be real.    I am afraid “my real” won’t be good enough for the reader.  But the reality I have is the only one I know.  So I guess this blog is just sort of a “disclaimer!”  No one wants to take responsibility for anything anymore.  Have you noticed that?  The laundry isn’t responsible when they knock the buttons off of your shirts, the airlines aren’t responsible when they destroy your luggage, and on and on.  I want to be responsible to myself and my family.  I don’t want anything I write to be an embarrassment or an invasion of privacy.

I also want to remember that balance is the key.  I don’t want cyberspace to be the only way I communicate.  I want to remember that the people in the room with me are more important than my time spent on facebook or blogland! 

You know you have spent way too much time with blogs and facebook when you know the name of your college roommate’s cousin’s baby but you wouldn’t recognize your neighbor if he/she came to the door!!

Enough said.  Its another beautiful fall day in the deep south which I love.  Got my babies here at my house and all is well in my world.  (OK, did that sound boastful?  See, already breaking my own rules!!!)

I

The words from a 1987 Seals and Croft song just keep twirling around in my head. (In my heart the words are always in tune but that’s not the case when I open my mouth.)

And all the years will come and go, take us up, always up.
We may never pass this way again.

Dan had a business trip to NYC last week.  I often tag along on the infrequent trips he makes out of town.  We had been trying to figure out a week we could either go see Matt in Charleston or have him come home.  We had not seen him since Fourth of July.  So as luck would have it, he was free for several days last week so he flew up on Tuesday, the day we arrived.

 

A hug from my baby boy when he arrived at LaGuardia.

Then we were off to the New York Hilton, where Dan would be “holed up” in meetings from early morning till dinners late in the evening.  We did have Tuesday night to spend together and we walked around Times Square and people watched for a while.

We just had Matt “bunk in” with us because the rooms were ridiculously priced.  (That’s the beauty of me traveling with Dan when he has business….its the same room cost with or without me…..Basically these trips cost us little (my food and any extra nights we add on either at the beginning or the end of the trip!!!)

Matt, all 6′2″ (or more!!) of him on the super comfortable (NOT) fold out couch.  When we checked in, the guy said he was “upgrading” us for free.  I sure would have hated to see a non-superior room.  NYC hotel rooms are notoriously small.  We spent little time in the room thankfully!

So Wednesday, Dan headed out pretty early for his meeting.  Matt and I hit the streets.  It was drizzly weather so we walked a lot, hailed several cabs, and even took the subway. 

I would have been hopelessly lost the whole time but Matt has an excellent sense of direction. (definitely inherited that from his dad.  I can’t beat my way out of a paperbag…and neither can Katie!) 

Self-portrait.  To free up my hands, Matt put my sunglasses on!!!  We were multi-tasking!!!!

And of course, we went down to the site of the World Trade Center.  I am almost positive all of the people who lost their lives that fated day got up, started their day without a solitary thought that “they might never pass that way again…”

…and just in case, we did not look enough like stupid tourists, I made a pic of a roach in the subway station.  There are some moments that it becomes apparent that your job in life is to embarrass your kids no matter how old they are!!!

So as we walked lots of rubber off our shoes, went through two cheap umbrellas, went into stores where we couldn’t afford the gift boxes,  rubber-necked at unbelievable sights, etc.etc. AND we LAUGHED!!!!   We went to the box office and got matinee tickets to go see Billy Elliott.  It was a great musical with lots of dance.  I am not sure that Matt would say he loved it, but its my job as his mother to introduce him to theatre!!!!  (just a little late!!!!) 

We hoofed it more after the play and ended up at Rosie O’Grady’s for dinner that night.  My feet were screaming.  I told Matt I’d give him a quarter to rub my bunions….(definitely an inside family quote…it’s from Christmas Vacation and our family is nerdy enough to quote from that fabulous award winning movie quite a lot!!!)

Back to crash time for me.  Dan was in the room exhausted after a long day.  Matt headed off again to go see the new Michael Jackson movie.  I barely had the energy to brush my teeth.

A good night’s sleep (thanks Ambien!) and we were off again.  Still just walking and talking more than we probably have in all the years since he’s been gone from home!  We tried the TKTS booth at Times Square to get a good price on a play for Thursday night but there wasn’t anything that appealled to both of us.  Dan, friends, and I had seen Jersey Boys in Atlanta  in June but I love it so much that I wanted to see it again and have Matt experience Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons….the music that rocked my teenage heart  forty years ago!!!!

We went to the theatre box office ….there was a cancellation …. there were two seats center stage…..seven rows back…..When she told me the price, I just sort of backed out of the theatre.  Matt was so diplomatic.  He said, “Honestly Mom, I don’t care if we see it or not…It’s up to you and its a lot of money.”  We stood outside for a few minutes and I made a quick decision.  We’d go back in and if the tickets were still available, we’d see it!  Well, it was meant to be…It occurred to me that the chances of us ever being in the city, just the two of us, with such an opportunity would be slim.  In other words,
We may never pass this way again.

We returned to the hotel to change and go with Dan to a cocktail party that was scheduled before his business dinner.  (I felt guilty because I always accompany Dan to those venues and try to be the good smiling, HEY HOW ARE YOU wife….)  But for the three nights Matt was there, I sort of dissed my sweet husband!  But for the cocktail party, we went up several floors at the Rockefeller Center and I have to say it was a beautiful view.  Just behind the terrace level were the beautiful spires of St. Patrick’s Cathedral.  It was sort of a fairy tale venue but Matt and I couldn’t linger long because the beat of the Jersey boys was calling us!

This picture does not do justice to the beauty of St. Patrick’s Cathedral in the background. 

No girl should have to choose between two such special men in her life???? 

Came back home…..Too tired again for words.  Laid comatose on the bed until I realized I had to get up, get the boots off my feet, and crawl under the covers.  (The energizer bunny Matt had gone back out to walk around one last time because he was flying out Friday before lunch.)

When Matt left Friday, there was about an hour or two before Dan was through with his meetings.  I walked back down to Times Square, with sunglasses on, tears just streaming down my face…..The time we had together was priceless.  Matt’s almost 27 years old and I just can’t imagine that we will ever have that same experience again!  I was just hit with the nostalgia of all the moments spent with my children, friends, family, that were special because they were there in that moment! 

AND those moments came and perhaps won’t return….not ever again..at least not in the same way.

As Dan had done nothing but work, I wanted to get tickets for us to see something I thought he’d like.  So I purchsed scalper’s tickets for Wicked (the untold story of the witches of Oz) for Friday night.  It was a great musical!  I see why everyone says its a “must see” on Broadway!

 On Saturday we got matinee tickets at the TKTS booth for Oleanna with Julie Stiles and Bill Pulliam. All I can say about that play is this…Thank goodness we got the tickets at a discount and it was only 70 minutes long!!! 

We had dinner at one of our favorite Atlanta resaurants, McCormick and Schmicks.  How unoriginal are we????? But it was still a good NYC restaurant as well.  Then to cap off the weekend we walked back down to Times Square to see the Halloween revelers!  (I sure missed seeing Charlie the Monkey and Molly Kate, the mouse back at home!!) 

Daylight come and we wanna go home….day…o….

yeah, I think this was a costume!!!!

He might actually look more like MJ than Michael Jackson!!!!

and I want to go on record as saying that we DID not try to get tickets to this!!

Got up Sunday morning to 35,000 NYC marathon runners all over the city,  I was mostly in awe of the handicapped “runner” who used the long sled three wheelers.  There were lots of them in the lobby of the Hilton.

And all too soon, it was time to leave.  With the play Wicked still on my mind, I do have to echo the words of Dorothy….”there’s no place like home.”

and my prayer for today is this…

Lord, help me to remember to grab the moments that come, appreciate them more.  Take no days for granted.  Know that all of this is merely a dress rehearsal for what you have planned for me…..and live like I am dying because…

We may never pass this way again.

“My thoughts are not like your thoughts.  Your ways are not like my ways.  Just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts are higher than your thoughts.”  Isa. 55:8-9

I think about how much wiser an adult is than an infant.  Then I think about how much wiser God is than an adult, me, for instance.  I ask for so many things out of my desire to control my environment.  Heaven forbid, that I should NOT be in control.  The reality is, I am NOT in control, never have been, and all praise to God, that I never will be.  That alone, relieves so much stress.  I do not have to do it all.  I can only do so much.  God is ultimately in control of everything and its so freeing to come to that realization.  There’s freedom in giving it all to God and letting Him be God….and well I will just be me.  Scarred, sinful, insecure, self-seeking…..I am NOT going to tell you  all my faults!!!

Below is a paraphrase of some words I recently read in one of my favorite author’s books.  Max Lucado in The Great House of God speaks of how God views the world because he’s a gazillion times more knowing than I am…..

 

I think “Heal this person.”  God thinks, “Save her soul.”

I think “I am going to live before I die!”  God thinks, “Die, so that you can live.”

I think, “I love this “stuff” that will rust and decay and moths will eat up.  God thinks, “I love the things that endure.”

I see people I admire and think “I want to be like her.”  God thinks, “Be like Christ.”

I rejoice at my successes.  God rejoices at my confessions.

I think pay raises are good.  (retired people DO NOT get those!!!)  God thinks raising the dead is good.

I want to avoid pain and suffering at all cost.  God wants to use pain and suffering to bring me closer to Him.

God lives in a different world than I do but oh the comfort to know that He is always with me and He will protect me and keep my safe.  (Not always in the ways I view “safety and protection” here on earth) 

 ”The foolishness of God is higher than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.”  (1 Cor: 1:25)

So with these thoughts hopefully etched in my heart today, I am off to begin my Saturday chores.  My heart just hurts today because of the memory of 9/11.  I cannot seem to stretch beyond it but I have to cling to the promise that God sees things in such a different light than I do. He views time and space and events so much differently yet He is in all the details!  What a relief that the creator, master of the universe doesn’t have the tunnel vision that I do…..

Can I get an amen?

 

I went to LaGrange yesterday to spend the afternoon with Katie and Charlie.  She goes back to the doctor on Friday.  Her due date is either June 20 or June 23.  We are so ready to see Molly Kate Cottle.  Her nursery is perfect except she’s missing!!!  She has so many clothes in her closet that they won’t all fit in.  She must have fifty things with either her name or her initials on it.  (I think I have one necklace, maybe a purse, or two…..What’s wrong with this picture???)  Anyway she is going to be one LOVED little girl.

I got to do one of my favorite things yesterday, read books to Charlie.  He would sit and listen to books ALL day long.  I told him my voice was tired and that I honestly couldn’t read anymore.

This is one of his favorite books, The Great Gracie Chase.  Katie says it reminds her of their dog, Gracie (who is in a better place  now~not heaven, just a home where she can be the queen she was meant to be!!)

(and yes, Charlie has gobs of clothes.  The reason he is shirtless, is that he is spending a lot of time on the potty trying for real results~i.e. poop)  And it just seems easier when he has on less clothes….)  Yesterday Katie, Chad, Charlie, and I were all in there with him while he was having one of his big sit-upons, and it occured to me that maybe Katie should take her crockpot in the bathroom and just prepare dinner there.  They log a LOT of time in the bathroom!!

I made this pic just before I left.  I am hoping its one of the last ones of
“just the three of them.”  These are precious days as they wait for Molly.  Charlie’s little world is about to turn upside down and sideways because he has been the center of a lot of universes for a looong time.

Chad had come home from church, donned his fishing attire and he was taking Charlie (with his Shrek fishing pole) to go fishing.  (What self-respecting fish would bite onto a lure dangling from a  SHREK pole????)

Charlie is enjoying these last days to be his mama’s only one. He loves her so much!  He’s prone to “wallering all over her.”  (I love how Chad says wallering is a South Ga. word, but if you are Southern (PRAISE GOD right now) you know what wallering is!!!

Chad is practicing his “home delivery techniques” just in case Molly decides to come rapidly at home.  (I just hope if he’s been fishing, he washes his hands really well.)  Most likely, with Katie and her mother’s history of labor and delivery, they will have time to walk to the hospital before MK appears.  (Actually Dan and I could probably set out walking from Douglasville when we get the word she’s in labor and have time to arrive before MK’s birth)

Katie and I personally cannot relate to all you women out there who get to the hospital, have two contractions, push two times and have a baby.  Just keep those stories to yourself!!!  We Parmer women take our time!!  Perfection takes longer!!!

 

Friday, May 29th was my official last day of employment with Douglas County School System.  I have been going to school for the better part of 50 years.  AND I never got out of elementary school!  I am so excited about this new chapter in my life.   The summer will be like every other summer for me because I have always had summers off as a school teacher.  It will seem different in August when teachers go back to school but I hope I am having so much fun with our new granddaughter and our grandson that I barely notice. 

My family pulled a “fast one” on me last night. They had a surprise retirement celebration for me here at our home.  I thought something was up but I just figured the kids were coming and we’d go out to dinner or something…..BUT oh no, they planned it all out.  They called the guests, ordered the food, cleaned the house, etc. etc.  And they orchestrated the whole thing in a week because they were waiting to see when Matt would be able to fly in from Charleston.

Here are a few pictures from our fun night.

They put these balloons on the mailbox.  It was crazy in our neighborhood yesterday because our next door neighbors had a huge “jumpy” thing in their front yard for a party they were hosting.  Our guests sort of wanted to go over and jump too.  But actually the only one that jumped was Charlie!!!

 

An old friend of Matt’s, Brett Hicks.  It was so special that he came over to spend a Saturday night with a bunch of old people.  We have loved Brett for a long time!!

 

Charlie was so good.  He was the only child there.  But in all the commotion in the  kitchen, he got his foot stepped on.  So we had to retreat to the bedroom for a little comfort!

“It’s okay, Uncle Coach Matt, I know you didn’t step on my foot on purpose.”

 

They had card tables set up in the foyer but it was a lot more fun just to see how many people we could cram around the dining room table!! We had lasagne, rolls, and salad from Sam and Roscoe’s.  And fabulous desserts from Sweet Teresa’s.

By dessert time, this was one tired little man who had no nap!!!

A little swipe of the icing on the cake invigorated him!!!

My kids were awesome, Matt had cleaned house all day and Katie was one of the kitchen hostesses.  Martha and Maryann cleaned up the kitchen.  I wasn’t allowed to help.  Now, that’s being rotten!!!!

Here’s our precious Mr. Parmer, 89 and still going strong!!!  He can hang out with the best of them!

This is a picture of most of the guests.  Chad, Charlie, Julie, and Dan are not in this one.  Dan was behind the camera.

Buddy was photographer so Dan could get in at least one picture!!!  I was obviously surprised or otherwise I would have moved the irons off the top of the back wall unit in the downstairs den!!!!

Sweet cards and gifts.

Thank you to all my friends and family who came and celebrated with me.  I love you all!  I don’t know what I’m going to do next, but with good friends and my loving family, it will be great!  I am sort of thinking into being a full-sized, mature, underwear model…..NAW, not that either!!!

 

Last night Dan and I went to the Swan Ball.  It’s the Atlanta History Center’s biggest fund raiser of the year.  We have never been before.  I really was not in the mood to go.  I was tired because of work, Grandparent Camp all week, and a sore back.  I never even went shopping for a dress.  (Thank you, Gail, for letting me wear yours!!!)  I also wasn’t excited about putting on stilletos and smiling for HOURS!!!

 But once we got there, we had such a good time that I forgot all about hurting feet and my bad attitude about the whole affair!  The cocktail reception was outside in the front of the Swan House.  I have never seen so many beautiful dresses!  Old Guard Atlanta turns out “big time” for this social scene.  There were musicians all around the entrance to the mansion.  It was like beautifully dressed people were just floating around the grounds.  We were able to go into the main level of the Swan House. 

 This is the front side of the house.  It was built in the 1920’s by the Inmans (same family as Inman Park)  The house sits on about 20-30 acres of the most beautiful land ~ in Buckhead!!  ~ where a quarter acre lot can be a million dollars!!!!  Anyway, it was acquired by the Atlanta History Center in the mid to late 60’s.  It’s beautiful!

Here’s a picture taken of the back side.  When you walked out and stood on that landing, it was all so green, fountains, beautiful flowers, ponds, etc. etc. (reminded me so much of our own lovely home…..NOT)

Here’s a pic of Dan and me just before we left.

 

 

Here’s me, the ugly duckling, about to go to the Swan Ball!!!  Gail’s dress is beautiful and I so appreciated her letting me wear it!  It was actually like wearing a nightgown~it was so comfortable!  Now those gold HIGH shoes, that was another story!!!

 

 

 

 

 

Here’s my handsome date for the evening.  After the cocktails, dinner, auction, etc, there was a fabulous band playing great Motown hits~so much fun to dance!  It was great fun till it was almost Cinderella’s clock striking twelve and my feet were screaming!

The tables at dinner were  so pretty.  In the center of the ballroom were hundreds of flowers and the platform where speakers stood.  The whole platform rotated round and round very slowly. And in the center of all the plants was a white baby grand piano and a pianist!  She serenaded us all evening with beautiful music! 

 At our table was this couple who had been married for many many years.  He was corporate counsel for a big Atlanta company and he was stricken with ALS fifteen years ago.  She was a beautiful woman (I would guess they were ten years older than me????)  AND there sat her sweet husband, in his wheel chair, in a tux of course, and actually unable to communicate.  BUT he was there!  And I admired them so much.  I didn’t know you could live with ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease) for that many years.  His mind was fine, his body was just breaking down.  It put lots of things in perspective about whining and groaning about trivial things!! 

 We sat in round tables of ten people each.  To my right was the most interesting, FEISTY little lady. She said she had never missed a Swan Ball.  AND she was a hoot, with her politics, her opinions, etc.  I would guess she was 80!!!  She had an opinion about everything and she wasn’t bashful about telling it!  Got to love old rich people…(actually I wish I had one in our family that was leaving me her fortune!!!!)

We were standing outside at the cocktail reception talking to one of Dan’s brokers.  And up walks Roy Barnes and he’s talking about he’s going to run for governor again, yatty, yatty…..He’s kissing all the women, smiling and working the crowd….and all I could think was….”You are a democrat!!”  He rode over in the same car we did to get from the reception to the dinner and everyone was calling him “Govner”.  That’s the southern way I guess.  Once a governor, always a governor!! BUT you have to pronounce it as two syllables !!! Gov-ner!!!

The theme was

“A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and it was sort of a fairy tale for five or six hours one April night in Atlanta when our fair city seemed far removed from the real world!

Right in the middle of a song we were dancing to, my feet screamed out,

“Take me home or lose me forever!!!”

….and the duckling woke up in the morning and was still a duckling…but she had dreams of dancing with the swans!!!

 

 

 

Charlie has been with us for a week.  We call it “MawMay & NeeNee Camp!”  What a busy, hectic, fun-filled week this has been!  I had to work three days this week so Dolly kept him when I worked.  She is incredible!  Over seventy years old and she has more energy than I have!  AND she is so good to Charlie!  We all just over-indulge him because we can!!!! No apologies for that either!!!  When I say over-indulge him, its rarely about material things.  Sure he likes a toy as much as the next child, but what he truly wants is just your time!!!  He loves to sit on the sofa and watch a movie with Dan.  The more times he’s seen it, the better it gets.  This week it was The Fox and The Hound.  That was one of Chad’s favorite movies when he was little, so its endearing that Charlie loves it too!

We started our week off with Katie’s “sprinkle” on Saturday at Missy’s house.  Charlie stayed with “Aunt Martha” while Dan and I attended a much-loved member of our church’s funeral.  We went to church on Sunday and Charlie got to see his SS teachers that he adores.  Sunday evening we went to see Ava!  Charlie loves Ava, as he does all little girls, but she’s not too keen on his advances!!

“Ava, look at the cute bunny!”

“Okay, if you didn’t like the bunny, how about this buff body??”

This water shooter (from the dollar store at the mall) was the best purchase of the week.  Actually went back today and bought six more of them because they are so much fun!!)  We played outside one day for hours with these things.  I’m also sending him home tomorrow with a couple of them so he and his daddy can “shoot” his cats and whatever else little boys like to shoot! ~”Run Woody and Buzz!!!”

You know you want one of these too?  There’s something of the little kid left in all of us~the love of water and summertime!!!  What else could you buy for one dollar and a bucket of water that could be more fun???

(I AM SOOOO Getting a new camera before Molly Kate gets here!!!  Obviously the one I have is a piece of junk!!!!)

We baked sugar cookies one night.  (Not exactly like a good grandma would do~these were the kind that you buy, put on a pan, and pop them into the oven.  I just rolled them all together with a rolling pin and we cut them out with cookie cutters!)  Recipe??? What recipe? 

The look on his face?  Well, that’s because he said they were too heavy and he was about to drop them!!  Charlie was popping the cookie dough into his mouth faster than I could get it on the pan.  He kept saying it was making his tummy feel better…..

Chocolate pudding and whipped cream.  What happens when two chemicals collide!!!  Not too much “made from scratch” stuff around this grandma’s house!!

Cleaning him up so I can return him unharmed tomorrow.  Back to his mommy and daddy.  He misses them even though he loves being here with us.  I am so thankful that we get to spend so much time with Charlie.  The fun thing is that I can drop everything and just “do the Charlie thing.”  That’s the luxury of being the grandparent.  My house looks like a bomb exploded so that will be my next week project but for now …… it’s still MawMaw and NeeNee Camp for about eight more hours!!!

…and this old grandma needs to go to bed so I’ll be rested up for what promises to be a cRaZY DaY tomorrow….Leaving to go to LaGrange at 8:45 for Katie’s shower there, return home to get ready to go to a blacktie affair tomorrow evening, the Swan Ball….and I am just the ugly duckling!

Sharon Goodwin, her daughters, Missy and Jessica (whom Katie grew up), and Carolyn Peebles hosted a beautiful brunch shower for Katie on Saturday morning.  I honestly do not remember better food at a brunch or prettier presentation.  The “sprinkle” was held at Missy’s beautiful home.  I don’t think I have wrapped my brain around the reality of having this little girl….I am just into Charlie’s world and making him happy and secure about the new addition .  Well Charlie is going to get lots of male bonding with his daddy, his grandads, and his great granddad, Uncles Corey and Matt.  We ladies of the house are going to be the queens!   And stick together we will.  We will have Molly Kate figuring out 25 percent off and an extra 20% by the time she is one year old!

Here’s a few of the photos I took on Saturday.

Great food!

Three of the hostesses with Katie.  Carolyn, the other hostess, was off for her hospitality committee job at church.  One of our precious church members was buried Sat. afternoon and she was on the committee that fixed lunch for the family. So after Katie’s shower, Dan and I head to Fairburn for his funeral!

Katie, Molly Kate, and me!

(Molly Kate is peeking out the navel!)

Carol and her granddaughter, Sophia!

Here’s Carolyn, the other hostess, talking to Sophia!

I am so excited about the little princess who will be here in late June.  We have truly been blessed.  I am anxious for Katie to schedule one of those boutique 4-D sonograms so the whole family can go in and have a “sneak preview” of her cute little self!!! 

I seem to be running about a week behind on the Parmer Happenings!!!  Here’s some photos of our trip to the beach Spring Break 2009!

We left for Charleston Sunday morning.  (not even 24 hours after I sprung Dan from the hospital)  What a tropper he was. I knew he wasn’t feeling great because he consented to ME driving and HIM riding in the backseat and playing with Charlie.  It seems like it took three days to get there but it’s always that way when you are heading to vacation.  We had a deadline.  Matt really wanted us to go to his church with him for the 6:15 Sunday night service.  So we got there in time to literally throw our stuff out of the car, get back in the car, and go to Seacoast Church with Matt.  Awesome service.

The week fairly flew by.  We had 13 people in the beachhouse most of the week but there were two nights when there were 18 of us. 
All family~And all fun!

 Just the four of us on the last night!

Beach fun.

We had an egghunt on the beach.

Most of the “Motley Crew” on the last night!

The view from our deck was great!

Great and Sam at Patriot’s Point

Charlie sharing the love with Sam on the beach.

Ben and Me!

Dan and I~front of the beach house…How fast the week flew by!

Matt, Isaiah, and Abram

Leaving my cousin’s house (he lives five min. from Bobby Jones) to go to the Masters on Sunday.

Katie and Charlie came up Saturday morning so that we could all leave together to go to Charleston for our family vacation.  (We sprung Dan out of the hospital (http://danparmer.wordpress.com), got lunch, and Katie and I went to the church for the annual Easter Egg Hunt.

Mawmaw and Charlie heading off to hunt eggs!

They did a great job of dividing the hunting areas.  Charlie was in the birth to three year old area.  Most of the kids in this area didn’t even try to find the eggs.  They just picked up rocks, sticks, etc.  They were so cute!

Charlie & his mommy.  (Chad left early Sat. a.m. for a mission trip to Jamaica.)

Grandmas and their grandkids!  We have all gone to church together for over twenty years.  We raised our own kids together in various church programs and now we are all “swinging grandmas.”

Katie grew up with these young ladies at church also.  Now they have kids about the same age.

Charlie just wanting to “share the love” with Addison.  I don’t think she was too keen on his advances.  BUT you can’t blame a little guy for trying!

Charlie found the prize egg.  Actually I found it and put it in his Easter Basket.  All the other kids were just walking all around it.  I hope that wasn’t too bold of me.  BUT hey, somebody had to find the Prize Egg!!!

Hippity, Hoppity, Easter’s on its way!!!

Sometimes in Dan’s job, we go to things where I feel totally like a fish out of water.  Tonight was one of those nights.  We went to an incredible evening at the Mansion on Peachtree. (It’s right across from Lenox Mall)  It was to give exposure to the residences there that are for sale.  It’s a hotel on the first 20 or 30 floors, then up to floor number 58 will be residences.  We were real tempted to buy the one we were in tonight because they only wanted 4.9 million for it.  (I am not sure I had my checkbook!)  It was on the 51st floor and we spent most of the night on the veranda.  Unbelievable view of Buckhead.  For just under FIVE MILLION you can own the whole floor.     It’s huge and you just looked down to Buckhead and out across to Midtown.  It was almost surreal.  Just made me realize how many BIG FISH there are out there.  When you get up that high you cannot hear the road rage, smell the exhaust, or see the homeless people.  Just not real.  Maybe that’s why the SUPER RICH want to live WAY up there so they can escape all of us plain folks!

My handsome date for the evening

Our beautiful hostess for the evening

Anyway, it was a fun night.  We had dinner afterwards in a great Italian restaurant in Buckhead.  I love these events but I am so glad I come home to simplicity and life I understand…I think it would be fun to be rich for a day!!  Naw, I am happy just as I am…..

See anything you like?

I thought about the analogy of the latest gas crisis sort of like my faith and my dependence on God. Sometimes I just want to delve deep into my Bible and pray and  plead with God to fill me up.  Then other times I just sort of breeze into the “gas station” that is God’s word and get a couple of dollars worth.  Just enough “gas” to get me to and through the current crisis.  And God isn’t out in front of the Quik Trip waving a sign saying, “get it all right now.”  He’s just there, waiting on me.  Always waiting on me.  And the reasons I don’t always “fill it up” are laziness, distractability, belief in my own self (I got this one, God, I’ll call on you when I need you), etc. etc.   Today my prayer is that I will meet with God every day and get my tank TOPPED OFF so that I can have deep water faith in shallow and deep water.

 And in search of real gas for your real gas guzzlers out there, here’s a link that helps you to find the cheapest gas in your area.  Like you really have time to look here, then find the station with the cheapest gas.  But it SOUNDS like a good idea!!  Blessings!

http://autos.msn.com/everyday/GasStations.aspx?m=1&l=1&zip=30187&x=16&y=7

Lifetime achievement award—that’s what we’ve been calling Dan’s award he got at our alma mater Friday night.  It was called the ACHIEVEMENT AWARD and we are so proud of him but we had to put our own little spin on it.  I always love when they do the LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD @ the Oscars.  So we teased Dan that he would be getting that.  He was awarded this at the University of West Georgia College Friday night.  (Chad and Katie, Dan’s brother, and lots of old fraternity brothers came to see him get the award.)

This was a great honor they bestowed on him.  AND his family is so proud.  While Dan has achieved a lot through his job, I think his greatest achievement is his family.  I have been blessed to be his wife for 31 plus years.  He is the consumate family man.  So this brief video is a tribute to “The Family Man.”  I think all the achivement awards you get in life don’t amount to squat if you are a failure in your own home.  Dan, I love you and am proud of your “LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD.”   Here is a why you win the award from your fam. (and this will NOT win an Oscar, I created it in thirty minutes!!)

 

We just had the pleasure of having our little man, Charlie, at our house for two nights.  I picked him up in LaGrange Monday morning and delivered him back home tonight. Here are a few of the fun highlights of our two night “MawMay & NeeNee Camp.”  We stopped by a Pumpkin Patch on the way here Monday morning.  He loved wandering thru the pumpkins and said they were all cute.   We picked two little ones, gave a donation to the Shepherd of the Hills youth ministry, and came home to begin our fun!!!  Here is Charlie at the Pumpkin Patch.

He loved the unusual pumpkins

So many decisions.....

Finally got around today to painting our pumpkins.  Charlie told me how he wanted them to look.  Then he named them.  (I am sure Katie is going to use them as table decorations in her house:)

Signed, limited edition art pieces!

Precious Pumpkins

 Charlie is absolutely fascinated with spiders.  Sort of a love/hate relationship.  He loves the little plastic dollar store ones but not so fond of the real ones that are all over our yard (and yes, there are some who live inside too!!)   So everyday that he was here we went on a Spider Seek and Destroy Mission.  I felt sort of guilty as we found them after they had worked so hard to build their webs.  But when we found them, it was pretty much just destroy their web and beat the spider senseless with the plastic rake.

Got it, MawMaw!!

Charlie, armed and ready for spider patrol

We went to Kohls, bought new shoes, some MatchBox cars and airplanes.  AND they have a super deal-a soft plush Curious George and two of his hardback books.  – Only five dollars each and the money goes to charity!  Every little child I have ever met LOVES Curious George and Charlie is no exception.  I think I read each one of the new books no less than five times each—in two night!!

Curious George Feeds the Animals

****AND could we have been more WHITETRASH in Kohls today?  I had dressed skinny little Charlie in some long pants that were in his bag.  I knew they were adjustable in the waist but Grandmas don’t always know just how to do things.  Well, I ran into an old friend in Kohls and she was talking about how cute Charlie is, etc. etc.  And I am smiling, totally agreeing with her.  About that time, he took a few steps and his pants fell down to his ankles.  He said “MawMaw, my pants fell off!”  I took his hand to go to the car.  He had to hold one hand on his pants to keep them from falling back down!  That was a good laugh!

And all to soon, I had to load him back in the car and take him to LaGrange.  Just enough time to make a few snapshots of the original artwork that will someday be worth a fortune, I am sure!!!

Mr. Bones with his Pumpkin People

We met Katie at Burger King, had a gourmet dinner there, let Charlie play for a while on their SUPER playground.  Katie and Charlie headed back to town to go to church, I headed back to Douglasville. 

And I am already anticipating our next time together.

Just another healthy meal with MawMaw

One last hug to last for a while

Thanks, Katie and Chad for loaning us your greatest treasure! 

 

 

When my children were little, I sort of dreaded the question, “what can we be for Halloween?”  I wasn’t always the most creative mother when it came to Halloween costumes.  So here is a recap of some of the Halloween years in my past.  (I am doing much better with my grandchild, Charlie.  I bought at least five costumes last year when they had the big clearance sale at Old Navy!!!  The problem this year for him might be, “WHICH one can I be??”  I think he is leaning towards being a lion!!!!  Look for photos AFTER Halloween to see his decision!!!  The following pictures are from a photo album that I tried to scan.  Not great quality but you will get the idea…….Apologies to my children who had to wear this stuff….

 

This is George and Barbara Bush.  (Katie is George and Matt is Barbara. Unfortunately Clinton won in Nov!!!)

Me in my wedding dress (a truly lovely design with an empire waist!!  oooohhhhh-scary.)  Katie was going to go out that year as a southern belle.  It turned very cold and she ended up just greeting our little goblins at the door.

Spider Man and a clown.  The spider man costume was really pajamas and the clown costume had been around for years.  Not too much thought or preparation here!!

 

Again, the clown costume was a “family heirloom” and I think Katie was a gypsy.  Matt was too little to go out trick-or-treating.  This was way back in the days when there was NO church fall festivals!!!

 

My poor kids—this was an extremely tacky year!!!

Katie’s first costume.  One of those totally plastic creations, probably from K-Mart!

Again, there are no words.  Just apologies to my kids.  I promise I will do better for my grandkids!!!

Vampire and witch–what was I thinking???

Sort of seeing a pattern here–there’s the trusty old clown costume!!!  Matt was a monster.  I did love that little play outfit.  It had a blue tail.  And the front said “Monsters need love too.”

Teachers were always encouraged to “dress up” too.  I think I must have been a Braves player, Katie a baby and it was Matt’s turn to wear that great clown get-up!

The kindergarten team dressed up as residents of a retirement home.  We had a lot of fun that year.  All day long we were in “character.”  One of the team members dressed up like a man and she was the resident “dirty old man”, always pinching the ladies!!! And the kids, well Matt was an army man, and Katie was a  gypsy again???

Actually these were some of the better costumes.  BUT, Katie, a devil and Matt, a toy soldier?   The good news is that I might not have thrown these together at the last hour!!:)

We always had lots of fun on Halloween in spite of the bad costumes.  Got lots of good candy (that I always checked for razors and poison –that really meant I went thru it and got out all the good chocolate!) Katie never really loved candy.  She just wanted to come home and eat vegetables.  Now Matt, he IS a child after his mother’s own heart.  He would see how much he could stuff in his mouth and hide before I confiscated it.  So many fun memories.  AND again, apologies to my children.  I vow my grandchildren will NEVER have to wear such tacky stuff!!!

One of Dan’s fraternity brothers that we reconnected with last week is Santa.  AND I don’t mean, he dons a white beard and a pillow.  This guy is the real deal.  He’s just the nicest guy you would ever want to meet.  AND he is Santa 12 months a year.  (He said he gives out candy canes all year long and that he must always watch what he’s doing because little children are watching him.)  His wife is Mrs. Claus and together they are just the cutest couple.  I couldn’t figure out how to get his picture on the site so take a second and look at his website.

www.redsuitsanta.com

He actually has twinkling blue eyes!!!  It’s a little early to talk about Christmas but if you want to book the best Santa ever, you better get in there quick!!!

 

This is traveling around through emails and everyone has probably already seen it. I voted yesterday (whole process a little under two hours-so not too bad.)  I have been so concerned about our country as I see us tumbling into weak foreign policy, economic socialism, and unprecedented disregard for unborn life.  But I so need to focus on the following predictions. (actually I disagree with the author of this list, they are not predictions, they are promises!)

Top 10 Predictions No Matter Who Wins the Election

  1.  The Bible will still have all the answers.

  2.  Prayer will still work.

 3.  The Holy Spirit will still move.

 4.  God will still inhabit the praises of His people.

 5.  There will still be God-anointed preaching.

 6.  There will still be singing of praise to God.

 7.  God will still pour out blessings upon His people.

 8.  There will still be room at the Cross.

 9.  Jesus will still love you.

10. Jesus will still save the lost when they come to Him.

 

                  ISN’T IT GREAT TO KNOW GOD IS REALLY IN CONTROL?!

 

 

Mr. Parmer and His Fox Hole Buddy

If you get a chance, check out Dan’s blog about the awesome trip my father-in-law went on.  It was sponsored by Honor Flight out of Fayetteville, Ga.  In 2004 a memorial was erected in DC and dedicated  to the brave men and women who fought in WWII.  Nationally we  are losing 1200 WWII veterans daily.  If you have a friend or family member who served in WWII, I encourage you to check out the national site and sign him/her up.  It would be a trip he/she would never forget!

Dan and I had a chance to visit the American Cemetery in Normandy, France several years ago.  (We had seen the movie, Saving Private Ryan, when the allied forces landed on the beaches up and down that hilly, rough coastline in France.)  So, it was so moving to stand on those beaches and remember the sacrifices that so many gave.  At the American Cemetery, there are crosses or star of David, depending on the religious background of the fallen soldier.  No one is talking there.  Its so reverant.  I think what got to me the most was the realization that many families lost their sons on those beaches and didn’t even get to bring them back home to American soil.  The grave markers have the soldier’s name and hometown inscribed on them. 

Didn’t want this post to be sad.  Just wanted it to be a reminder to thank a veteran.  Any veteran.  Just go up to the men and women in the airport and say thanks.  Hug some old misty eyed man sitting in the doctor’s office wearing a cap  that says Korean Vet, WWI Vet, Vietnam vet, whatever!!!  We owe the protectors of our country so much.  It doesn’t matter what political affiliation you have, it doesn’t matter if you support the Iraqi war, or any war.  But know that the reason thousands of people are standing out in the cold and waiting hours to vote is because of sacrifices of so many.  God bless this great country.

If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land.
2 Chronicles 7:13-15

God is not saying if the unsaved people will call upon Him, He is saying if HIS PEOPLE, CALLED BY HIS NAME…that would be us, the church, the people who call Jesus saviour.  He is talking to me!!!!  Time to pray for our great country.

 

On Omaha Beach

This was in June and it was so cold and so windy that I cannot even imagine what it would have been like on June 6, 1944  when the Allieds took the beaches of Normandie.

 

Dan was born three months early (practically unheard of way back in the old days!)  The doctors more or less told Mr. and Mrs. Parmer just to take him home, make him comfortable, and see what happens.  Well life is what happened because Sunday is his 58th birthday.  He never suffered any health problems usually associated with premature birth.  He was the most beautiful little baby, so olive and even chubby by his first birthday. 
He has been my best buddy for 31+ years.  Happy Birthday, Dan!!!

Such a cute little guy!

Dan is on the first row.  Can you find Waldo Dan?

Mrs. Parmer always made her kids’ birthday cakes and dressed them up for the day!

 

Charlie gives the best birthday hugs of all!!!

 A Ben Update—

Dan just got the best present!!!  We just got the word that our little Ben is out of the NICU.  He is now in a “stepdown” room with his mommy and daddy tonight.  He still has a feeding tube but he is taking a bottle also.  Please continue to pray for Ben and his family.  What a blessing friends and family have been!!!

 

 

 

This blog will show that I am true to my word, “MY GRANDCHILDREN WILL HAVE CUTE HALLOWEEN COSTUMES.”  Charlie and Katie came to town to attend the fall festival at our church last night.  Charlie, the Lion King, roared his way through the evening.  We had a great time.  Here are some pictures of the good times.  It was pretty cold but I think Charlie was snuggly warm in his lion outfit.  Now Katie and I were like popsicles! 

 

Just stand there and look cute and you’ll fill your candy bag up quickly!

At the “trunk or treat” area.  Why does Mickey Mouse have fangs, MawMaw?

Baby Cakes, the clown, who made Charlie a yellow balloon lion.

 

My dear lifelong friend, Carol, and her grandbaby boy, Holden.

Holden’s precious little sister.  She was Pebbles and he was BamBam.  Just too cold to see how cute they both looked.

Katie, Charlie, and Tiffany.  Tiffany’s car was decorated in a Christmas theme for “trunk or treat.” 

Vivienne was a gypsy fortune teller.  I wonder if she could have told Charlie some lottery numbers (or at least some good stock advice!!)

 

I enjoyed seeing all the little kids dressed up last night. Friday night I’ll probably give out candy for the first hour or so, then turn out my lights.  When the trick or treaters start driving themselves to the house, mutter “trick or treat” and shove a pillowcase up for candy, I am over it!!!!  Who needs a pillowcase full of candy??  Whoa, I am starting to sound like my grandmother!!!! 

HAKUNA MATATA!!!!

My niece gave birth to our newest family member born Halloween morning at 12:01.  (She said she would have pushed harder for him to come out NOT on Halloween if she had been aware of the time!!!)  But I think a Halloween birthday would be fun. One thing for sure, there will always be a party on his birthday. 

My new great nephew’s name is Benjamin Harris Moore (my brother, the proud grandpa has affectionately nicknamed him “Paintchip”  (…..Benjamin Moore paint….)  He is absolutely beautiful, a healthy little boy, weighing almost seven pound with beautiful dark hair.  My niece will have her hands full because she has a little boy that is fourteen months old.  So basically she has two babies!!  Here is our little Benjamin Harris Moore.  Welcome to the world.  (I got to hold him and he still smells like heaven!!)

Of course, I had to peel back the blankets and look at his sweet little body.

One set of proud grandparents, my brother, Hal and sister-in-law, Pauline.

 

New Mommy Kelly and her precious bundle.

Please please pray for my little nephew, Benjamin Harris Moore, who was born yesterday.  He is being transported to Children’s Hospital for heart surgery.  Please pray for little Ben, his mommy and daddy.  We are all in shock and our hearts are broken but we know that God is in the miracle business.   I will do an update as soon as I hear.  Thank you so much for your prayers for our little man.

Little Ben was helicoptored over to Children’s Hospital last night.  He is stable and his signs are good.  They are going to do heart surgery on him probably Monday.  The reason for the delay is that they want to be sure he remains stabalized and they also want to assess any other problems so they know exactly what they are going to do.  Its also a good thing they have Ben stabalized because now the surgery does not have to happen so quickly.  (Well, at least that’s my unmedical understanding.   We were up all night with phone calls, text messages, voice mails, etc to each other so I may not have all the info correct.)  When we last spoke to my brother in the middle of the night, he said that the doctors are confident that Ben will be fine.  This procedure is not common, but its not all together uncommon.  Babies from all over the state are flown here for this procedure.  So we do have the advantage of this being somewhat close by!!  Kelly and Great will leave Northside Hospital today.  If Ben has his surgery tomorrow, he should remain in the hospital five to seven days.

I think I have cried out all the tears I have.  I just ask that you pray for Ben, pray for his parents, grandparents,  other family and friends.  Please pray for the doctors and the team that will go to Ben’s little heart via his back.  I already feel like this baby is bathed in prayer. 

Thank you for praying.

We went to Children’s Hospital today after church.  (It was our church’s 15th Homecoming Anniversary and it was a great service, although I fought back tears through the whole service and the luncheon afterwards!)  Ben is scheduled for heart surgery tomorrow morning at eleven o’clock.  His problems are: a collapsed aorta, two small holes in his heart, and a “clicky” valve.  That was very medical sounding, I know.  BUT the good news is that right now he is NOT scheduled for open heart surgery.  The aorta is what they are planning on fixing tomorrow.  There is hope that the holes in his heart and the valve issue will NOT require surgery.  If so, that will be open heart surgery and will happen later.  Our prayer right now is that his problem will be fixed with tomorrow’s surgery and that will be the end of this little fighter’s cardiac problems.  We did not go back into the NICU to see Ben.  Kelly and Great say its heartbreaking because I think he has a gazillion (is that a medical term?) tubes, wires, monitors, etc coming from his little six pound body.  We are so blessed to live in a time when Ben’s problem can be assessed, diagnosed, and fixed.

We covet your prayers.  Specifically we ask for healing for our little guy, wisdom and discernment for the medical team, and peace and assurance for his mommy and daddy.  They are trying so hard to be brave.  I will update tomorrow when I get home from the hospital.  We anticipate the procedure to last for four-five hours.  (The surgery itself is less than two hours if all goes well, but there’s the prep time and the recovery.)

There’s a song that keeps running through my head,  “When you can’t trace His hand, trust His heart.”  God will be revealed through this if we allow Him to be.  Thank you for the prayers.

What a long day!  Ben was supposed to be taken to surgery at 11:00 but it was actually closer to 1:00.  But the good news is this—he did well in his surgery and the doctors were pleased.  They repaired the aorta and will wait and see about the other issues.  Kelly and Great won the lottery and got a parent room at the hospital.  When we left the hospital, Kelly and Great had not seen Ben but I hope by now they have been able to do so.  My brother just called and said that Ben’s vitals are all good and they will be slowly weaning him off some of his meds and hopefully some of his tubes and monitors!!!   We just feel like God has answered our prayers for Ben.  Of course, God always answers and  sometimes we like His answers more than others!!! 

 This is a neat story…..Yesterday Kelly and Great stumbled into Steak and Shake for a quick snack between hospitals.  Poor Kelly must have looked very tired and sad.  Someone working at Steak and Shake came up to her and said, “Mam, I don’t know what’s going on in your life but I can tell you are troubled and I will pray for you.”  What an awesome reminder of the power we have to show others the love of Jesus……..

Thank you so much for your prayers.  Keep on praying for our little guy!!!

Little Ben had a good night.  His mommy and daddy slept on real beds and I think everything is as good as the doctors hoped for.  They are gradually weaning him off the ventilator.  When he is out of ICU (hopefully only a few more nights) they will go to a “stepdown” room where Kelly and Great can room with him.  Kelly was rather apprehensive just before Ben’s birth about the sleepless nights with a newborn and a fourteen month old that often likes to party in the middle of the night.  Now she is so anxious for Ben to be well, to take him home, and to party all night long with her two little boys!!

 

Here are some pictures of the family.  We still covet your prayers for Ben, his parents, and big brother.

 

 

Chad, Katie, Charlie, Big Brother Sam, Great, and Kelly last Christmas

Charlie and “Sambo” last Halloween.  Charlie always tries to pick him up!

Sam and Charlie Fourth Of July ‘08

Our little guys getting clean this past summer

 Sam’s First Birthday in August-Charlie just can’t get enough lovin’ from Sambo!

And last, but not least, Ben with his great grandmother, GG Dolly.  As you can see by the pictures, we love getting the boys together and we cannot wait to throw Ben into the mix and watch them have “little boy fun.”  We already have their look alike Christmas PJ’s for GG Dolly’s Christmas photo/Christmas card!!!  I just know we’ll have a picture this Christmas of our little miracle guy with big brother, Sam and Cousin Charlie!!

This was made on Friday when he was just hours old.  Little did we know the drama that was ahead.

I made this montage back in the summer to celebrate Charlie and Sam’s first year together.  Katie posted it on her blog back then.  But if you are really bored…..I give you

Sam and Charlie-the First Year (the one for next year will include Ben!!)

 

 

First of all a big shout out in praise—Baby Benjamin Harris Moore came off the ventilator tonight and is breathing on his own.  THIS is huge.  We are so thankful for all the prayers.  I was talking to Katie while ago and she said she mentioned something about Ben and Kelly to Charlie…just a casual remark after hanging up the phone….Charlie told her he had been praying for Ben all day!  What a precious prayer that must have been to God!!  I have no idea the number of prayers that have been and continue to be raised for Ben but on behalf of our whole family, let me say THANK YOU, THANK YOU!

 

Now about P.E.D.S……I have seen, listened to, heard, all the political banter I can take for now.  And I refuse to bore you with more of it on my blog.  But I just want you to be aware of my newest ailment. (Its my ailment so I can name it, can’t I?) Its called  Post Election Depression Syndrome.  I am fairly certain its contagious.  As it is time to choose my insurance for the next year, I am looking for one that will cover PEDS.  So far, I have been unsuccessful so I am choosing a homeopathic approach to healing.  Lots of faith in who is really in control, followed by prayers for our country will help.  Also a double dose of humour is great for temporary relief…….

Here’s one of my favorite Youtube videos.  I just love to hear this little guy laugh.  And his facial expressions are great.  So I am watching it one more time, then off to bed and tomorrow my P.E.D.S. will be better:)

Friday morning, October 31 at 12:01 you came into our lives. And none of us will ever be the same. You entered the world at six pounds, 14 ounces, and a whopping 21 inches long.  You are teaching us about the value of life, the love of family and friends,  and the power of prayer.   We love you, Benjamin Harris Moore.  Happy one week birthday. Your family is so ready for you to come home.  You have rocked our world, little man, and we intend to spoil you silly when we get a chance!!

One of your Aunt Karen’s absolutely favorite songs, just for you, Ben Boy!!!!

(If you would like to receive updates from Ben’s mommy at Children’s Hospital, click on this link.  You’ll need to sign in with your email address and a password.  But then you will receive updates as Kelly posts them.)

http://www.carepages.com/carepages/BenMoore/patient

We went to LaGrange Friday and spent two nights with Chad, Katie, and Charlie.  We went to see Mr. Parmer sing at a nursing home Friday afternoon.  He is in a little singing group with two or three other senior citizens.  They sing every Thursday morning and then twice on Fridays–three different nursing homes in two days!!!  Now that’s a touring group.  Especially considering their age.  Mr. Parmer will be 89 in January. But, that’s his ministry!!  He enjoys it a lot but its exhausting because they sing for well over an hour at each venue (nursing home). 

Dan borrowed Chad’s video camera.  You can hear Charlie chirping in the background.  Mr. Parmer wanted to sing this song for us.  They didn’t have the music or anything for it but he just stood there and sang his heart out.  The nursing home residents love this man!!!  He’s the Andy Williams on the Senior Circuit!!!!

 

 

Charlie loves his G.G. Earl (great granddaddy Earl) and the feeling is mutual.  Here’s a picture of GG reading to Charlie.  (Keep in mind that the dear man is practically blind with macular degenerative disease.)  But he’s reading to Charlie anyway!!!  These pictures were made on Saturday-Georgia Game Day and both were game day clad!

Our little miracle guy, Ben, is at HOME!!!  He got to meet his big brother Sam this afternoon.  I cannot imagine how nervous Kelly and Great must be taking him home for the first time.  He is NOT on a heart  monitor.  He has a feeding tube but as soon as he starts eating well, then that will go.  Please pray that the hole in his heart that is causing concern will just heal itself and thereby avoid open heart surgery in a few months!!! 
I firmly believe that God has heard and answered all the prayers that have been raised for this little guy.  The prayers have truly sustained Kelly and Great during the last days. 
God is faithful. God is good. Thank you God for hearing our anguished cries and healing our hearts as well as Ben’s!

Well, its been officially Christmas season for several weeks now. There’s a Santa in Arbor Place Mall.  I heard he arrived the day after Halloween????  All economic forecasters are predicting a horrible Christmas for retailers so I guess they have to do whatever it takes to “get you in the Christmas shopping mood.”  But I have to say, it does work for me.  Charlie and I made a quick trip to the mall yesterday morning.  As we shopped around, lots of stores had Christmas music playing, Christmas trees are up, and lights are twinkling.  Last year Charlie didn’t want anything to do with “HO HO” so we’ve been really talking him up for this holiday season.  As we were walking down the mall, a very skinny Santa in Picture People talked to Charlie.  He liked him for a minute but as soon as he realized he was talking to Santa, he sort of drew back to me.  I mean this Santa needed to go down to Chick Filet and grab a chocolate milkshake (maybe two…)

Then the Santa in the middle of the mall was the very next person we saw.  I told Charlie, “gee, there’s Santa again.”  I wonder if he thinks it odd that there were two Santas in his field of vision!!!!   Probably not!!  We waved to the one in the mall (once we finally got his attention….he was so busy talking to the cute little Santa helpers that we didn’t make much of an impression on him!!!)

But on a sad note, I called the Santa who came to our house last Christmas to see if he would come again this year.  He told me that he so wished he could but that he was being treated for cancer.  He was the sweetest Santa.  Our whole group of family and friends loved him (well, not Charlie!)  So when you say your prayers, just pray for Santa.  I honestly don’t even know his name, I just call him HoHo when we talk on the phone.   But God knows his name!  Here’s some of my favorite photos from our party last year.

Charlie was getting sleepy so I thought it would be so cute for Santa to help put him to bed.  Not such a good idea on Charlie’s part.

Charlie showing Ho Ho his Nativity set.  (Always the preacher’s kid!!!)

Here’s a picture that shows the true spirit of Charlie Cottle!!!  He loves his tub crayons.  Here he’s decorated himself with the crayons as well as the whole tub.  I just love this picture.

Charlie and Katie are staying with us this week because Katie is having back problems.  She has a herniated disk that rears its ugly head every now and then.  We have enjoyed having them here but I wish it was different circumstances because Katie is in a lot of pain.  But this little cherub lights up all of our faces with his antics!!!

Looking forward to Chad coming tomorrow because it has been a tough week for the Cottle family to be separated.  Charlie has missed his daddy.

Katie has a herniated disk in her lower back which is causing her lots of problems.  She and Charlie have been here since Sunday so that we could help her out.  We have had a lot of fun this week in spite of the fact that Katie has not been up to par. The chiropractor has told Katie that an inversion table might be helpful to alleviate pressure from the bad disk.  Well, she has ordered one and hopefully it will arrive next week.  But in the meantime we have created our own version of an inversion table.  And its always good to find humor in any situation so here are some of the pictures of Katie getting her homemade back therapy.  Of course Charlie is trying to slide down at the same time poor Chad is holding Katie by the ankles.  Believe it or not, she said it has helped some.  So if any of you out there are suffering from back problems, just drop by, and we can do this therapy for you.  Thirty dollars a visit and we accept most insurance plans.  (Or if you want to get an ambulance chasing attorney to say you have whiplash, we’ll take 50 percent of the final settlement!!!)

Hold on tight, Chad.  We asked Chad if she was getting heavy and he politically said, “Of course not!”  What a sport!

What the pictures DON’T show is that Charlie was trying to “slide down the board” the whole time.  AND we were all trying not to laugh.  (The board is Matt’s Brio Train Board that Dan made MANY years ago!!) 

Okay, Charlie, its finally your turn!!

 

Katie’s back therapy was so successful that we thought a trip to the mall was in order!!  We usually take the stroller just to hold the packages because Charlie isn’t too interested in riding in it!!

We ran into Ella Smith at the mall and she rode the train with Charlie!!  What a sweetheart she is!

This afternoon I was being so lazy, just sort of napping downstairs.  Dan was out playing golf and I was getting out a few Christmas decorations and decided I needed a little catnap!!  Matt called me and said he was heading home to Charleston from Greenville where he had been for a weekend soccer tournament.  I was half-asleep on the sofa and I said a quick prayer that he would have a safe trip home.  A few minutes later, I heard the garage door open and I thought it was Dan just putting his golf cart back in the garage.  The door opened and Dan said, “Guess who I found in the driveway!!!”  It was Matt, home from Charleston to surprise us for a Thanksgiving visit.  I am so excited.  I was sort of bummed out that I wouldn’t get to see my baby boy for Thanksgiving and now he is here!!!  We are going to have a great week because Dan is taking some time off and we’ll have good times.  Katie, Chad, and Charlie will be here Thanksgiving night so I will have my whole crew here for a few nights.  I am so thankful to have my family here with us for Thanksgiving!!!

The cat is out of the bag.  It’s officially NO LONGER A SECRET.  I am going to be a grandma again

 

and Dan is going to be a grandpa once more!!! 

We can hardly wait.  Charlie calls us MawMaw and NeeNee.  Dan’s official answer is,”I don’t care what he calls us, just so long as he calls….”

Katie and Chad are expecting a baby in late June.  Her due date is actually about the same time as our 32nd anniversary.  Charlie will be three in March.  Just the right age to be a BIG BROTHER!!

We feel so incredibly blessed. Raising our children was an awesome adventure.  But as a parent, it was such a juggling act to keep all the balls in the air at one time.  Working full time, housework, laundry, discipline, homework, sibling rivalry, family committment, etc, etc.  But when Charlie comes around, all of those “have-to’s” just sort of slip away and we just sit on the floor and play with him.  It’s the luxury of not being totally responsible all the time.  Anyway, we are so excited about the prospect of another little baby to love (spoil).  Charlie is convinced its a girl.  We find ourselves referring to the baby as a “she.”  I have a closet full of baby girl clothes upstairs.  But we have had so much fun with our Charlie-Boy that I have NO preference about the sex.  We are praying for a healthy baby and for Katie’s back to heal.

 

Loving on Grandbaby Numero Uno!!

 Thank you to all the friends and family that are praying for this baby-to-be!!!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

  Oh God, remind me, to be thankful for everything. I pray that I will be so mindful of all the blessings I have this Thanksgiving.  Never before has my generation seen such dark economic forecasting, such a lack of patriotism, and just over-all tough times.  But I have a strange peace about it all.  God is still in charge and He’ll be faithful to look after us if we call on Him.  I am thankful that He is there whether its a matter of national concern or a time as trivial as I’m calling on Him for some minor situation I’m experiencing.

 

 I am blessed to have a lot of dust and clutter that I am not sure where to hide, but that means I have a big house with plenty of room for the ones I love.

I am blessed with Charlie’s toys all over my house, but that means that he likes to come here to play and we get to be a part of his life.

I am blessed with a refrigerator that needs to be cleaned out.  (Just how many salad dressings do I need???)  But that means we have plenty to eat.

I am blessed with ever ringing cell phones, emails, and a husband who is always on one of them.  But that blessing means he has a job that he is committed to doing well.

I am blessed with too many things to attend in the month of December but that means we have friends and work colleages that want us to be a part of their holiday.

I am blessed to be a part of a church that is going through some difficult times right now.  But I believe we will come out of it with a better plan to make it the type of church God wants it to be.

I am blessed to have my husband of 31 plus years, a daughter and a wonderful son-in-law, and of course, Charlie, our soon to be three years old grandson,and last but not least, a son.  I have friends and family that are always there for me.

I am blessed with a yard full of dead brown leaves but that means I live in a place that had the most vibrant fall I can remember.

Gifts too numerous to count.  But that is my prayer.  That I will really think about the blessings that abound.  The greatest blessing is that God reached through the ages and chose me and said he would never leave nor forsake me.

On top of the turkey, the dressing, and the rich rich food, find time to be thankful.

(At the end of the day, you might be most thankful for Tums!!!)

God bless.

Katie has been married for four plus years.  Matt has been living in Charleston for over two years.  But for just a few days during Thanksgiving they were both here. (along with Chad and Charlie, of course!!)  It was so much fun.  Katie and Charlie were here for most of the previous week.  Matt surprised us by coming home last Sunday.  So for two weeks our house was humming.  Then on Saturday night,  we closed the door as they left and it was Dan and me.  We always enjoy the calm after the storm but for some reason I was sad all day yesterday.  I love my kids more than anyone in the world.   I am so glad they have their own lives but the quiet along with the never ending rain made me sad yesterday.   So Dan and I went to the movies–actually we did a MOVIEATHON!  We saw FOUR CHRISTMASES and AUSTRALIA.  I had severe fanny fatigue after two movies but we had fun.  Too much popcorn and a huge bladder bursting coke!!!  Go see Four Christmases!!  It will make you smile.  Now Australia is an EPIC–almost three hours long!!  Then we came home and Dan gave me lessons on how to use the wii Fit.  That was comical!!  Dan and I have so much fun together.  I am blessed that he knew my heart was sad yesterday and he knew it wasn’t personal.  Just one of those “mama moments.”  The greatest gift a man can give his kids is to love their mother!!!

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas—just not at my house…..

I have watched way too many Christmas movies. I envision a beautifully decorated home with fresh evergreens permeating the air, sweet cinnamon and spice smells coming from a warm oven.  Beautiful packages all tied up with gold and silver ribbons (and inside each box is just the perfect thing for a grateful recepient.)    Every now and then, the doorbell rings and its a group of beautifully dressed little children with shining faces.  They sing beautiful songs about the birth of Christ.  When they leave, they shout, “Merry Christmas.”  (no “Happy Holidays” lip-service to this group of merry-makers.)  Occassionally a few of them come in for Hot Chocolate (AND not the Nestle “just add hot water” stuff!!!!!)  I am sitting at a table writing Christmas cards to friends and family.  And of course the Christmas cards have pictures of the six of us all sitting  looking at the camera smiling and posing perfectly……….  Just a scene from a Norman Rockwell book….

But here’s the reality. I DO have one tree up.  (Thanks to Chad for putting it up for me.)  There’s no fir or pine smell as this tree was made in China in a factory, not by God on a tree farm.   The only smell is the slightly lingering odor of burned green beans from dinner tonight.  (I drained them, put them back on the stove eye that was turned WAY UP!!)  The next thing I know, the smoke detector is going off, the fire department and security system have called…..No fire, just smoke…..  I have a few gifts under the tree.  I bought these boxes at Macy’s that are already wrapped, have tissue, and ribbon inside. You just open them, put the gift in, and voila……Not very Martha Stewart looking.  There’s no cinnamon or ginger smell cooking but I did buy some Hershey bars with almonds on sale at Kroger today.  Haven’t seen any Christmas carolers yet but I don’t think I could hear them unless they knocked the door down.  Dan is working out with the wii fit downstairs, has the surround sound so loud that this level of the house is actually vibrating!!!   I really meant to get a picture worthy of a Christmas card during the Thanksgiving holidays when we were all here together but that never happened.  I do have a few recent pictures of Dan, Frizzy, the 15 year old stinky dog, and me.  That would work!!!!   And if I do get around to doing Christmas cards, I’ll probably computer print the labels, have the cards done, and the only personalization will be my fingerprints on them!!! 

But this Christmas is real.  It’s us.  It’s (as Katie is fond of saying) “how we roll around here.”  I think I will go in the kitchen and make myself a great cup of hot chocolate.  (and its not exactly Nestle in a cup, it’s our new  Bosch coffee system , so its a slight upgrade from Nestle or Swiss Miss….)  Life is good and Chrismas is the song in your heart.   Right now I can’t hear my song real well because the teen-agers next door just arrived home and they have this bass system in their car that you actually feel before you hear it.

Christmas 1982

With fond memories of the year we got a baby boy for Christmas.  Matt was born on Dec. 17th and due to a c-section, we didn’t actually go home to our house till Christmas Eve.  (Stayed at my mom and dad’s house for the first few days!)  I was determined that we would be home for Santa to come to OUR house for Katie’s third Christmas and Matt’s first!!!!

Seems like only yesterday…..

Christmas 1983-Matt was one and Katie had turned three in September.   The “real” Santa Claus was the one at Cumberland Mall.  We may have seen various Santas around town but I always told Katie and Matt that the REAL Santa was this one!!!  Now that Talking Reindeer—he probably gave her nightmares!!!  My memory of the crawling tube is that it lasted about two days.  I think one of them jumped on the top of it and smashed it flat..

Happy times!!

Christmas 1984

We still have that Fisher Price doctor kit.  Charlie loves to give us all “check-ups” with it. AND we must have built a hundred forts with those Lincoln Logs that are behind Matt.  Katie’s baby doll is almost as big as she is. 

December 1982

Today is my baby boy’s 26th birthday.  Probably time to stop calling him that!!  He’s 6′2″ and slightly more than his 8 pounds at birth but as his mama I can still call him my baby!  A December birthday was challenging at times.  When he was small, we always said, “Next year we are going to celebrate your birthday in the summer.”  But of course, we never did.  So he suffered through birthday presents wrapped in Christmas paper and birthday parties that always had Christmas trees.  But I think he turned out pretty well in spite of all of that!  
Matt lives in Charleston, South Carolina.  It’s been home to him for about three years.  He loves it. He loves his job and he has found a church that he loves.  So I guess we lost him to the Low Country.  But its not a bad place to visit!!!   

Second Birthday Picture–of course there’s a Christmas tree!!

I can honestly still remember this shirt!!!  It seems like it was in the washer just yesterday!

Here’s to you birthday boy.  Looking forward to having you home for Christmas!!!

I have spent WAY too much time this weekend looking at old Christmas pictures.  This has got to stop.  I have things to do now.  Live in the present, (GO out and buy PRESENTS!!)  So this madness stops right here today!!  But before it does, I am going to share these memories.  One thing I have learned is that today’s fashion is tomorrow’s joke.  So here’s an apology to Katie and Matt right up front.  If the clothes I put on you hurt your self-esteem or damaged your psyche, I am soooo sorry.  The damage done has made you stronger adults.

Here’s to old times and great memories!!!

Christmas at Grandma’s.  I can still remember that green Beverly Hills shirt.  It was way cool!!!  And Matt’s glasses were really spy glasses that allowed him to see through walls.

My two little angels-at least for the moment!!!

I thought this cat was Rascal, our cat of about seven years.  BUT maybe not.  Matt was so fond of that Ninja Turtle.  I think his name was Raphael.

There were always little cousins to play with at Granny’s house.  Here’s Jenna and Becca!  I think I made that bow in Katie’s hair.  I always made bows to coordinate with the outfits.  I hope those weren’t too scarring, Katie!!!

We thought the “perm” would never grow out.  What  kind of mother would have chemicals put on a child’s hair???

The Singing Christmas Trees were a kindergarten Show-Stopper for years.  I think those lovely creations finally were thrown away but not before about five or six years of kids wore them!!!!

Oh Katie, can you ever forgive me?  I actually made this sweatshirt dress.  It was an original, wasn’t it Baby Girl?  Surely no one else on the planet had one of these.  Again, a lovely handmade bow accompanied the ensemble.  Matt, you were luckier.  No handmade outfits for you!!!

I think we must have been practicing for the cover of  Family Circle Magazine or something like that.  I am just so wishing I still had that lovely peach creation hanging on the wall!!!

OOOPS, Matt, spoke too soon about the handmade creations because here you are wearing a handpainted sweatshirt made by your loving mom.  AND Katie’s hair, still chemically enhanced!!!

Oh my gosh, they both have on handmade creations!!!  I wish we had saved these.  I think they might be worth a lot of money by now.

This is the real Santa!

This was the year Santa Claus brought Frizzy.  AND he is still alive and well fifteen years later!!!

Poor Matt with a December 17th birthday always had his birthday gifts wrapped in Christmas paper.  My brother Hal and his wife , Pauline, always gave Matt underwear as one of his gifts.  It was a long-standing fun tradition!!

When Katie was in Kindergarten, we still had a religious Christmas program in public school.  This was the last year we were allowed to do that so we always said Katie retired the role as the virgin Mary. 

 

My sweet mother-in-law, Zephine Parmer, who passed away two years ago about this time of the year.  (I think she was wearing one of those lovely handpainted sweat shirts.)  These were fun times!

My navigation system has said “I have reached my destination.”  I am officially off of Memory Lane, but oh what a trip it has been!!!

In the true spirit of good sportsmanship, its only fair to make fun of myself after showing all those Christmas pictures of my kids.  I was looking for something in the basement this morning when this box of pictures dumped out on the floor.   As I was putting them back in the box, I had the thought, “WHY did I ever save these ghastly things?”  I feel fairly certain just having that box in the basement has warded off all sorts of evil spirits!!!

As a classroom teacher for the better part of twenty years, Picture Day was always a big event.  Many years I did not have my picture made and as you see these photos, you will understand why.  Please know that the teacher’s packets were pro-bono. I would NEVER have purchased these beauties.   I think its a parent’s duty to ALWAYS purchase your kids school pictures and exclaim about how beautiful they are.   Now these are pictures that NOT even a mother could love….

I think this must have been the day I was teaching shapes to my kindergarten kids.  The shape of the day was triangle.  And the Peter Pan collar actually was aerodynamic.  It enabled me to fly.

This delightful 100 percent polyester outfit was guaranteed to be fire retardent, stomach virus retardent, and  this collar was actually a glider for those days with the perfect amount of wind on the playground.

For absolutely NO MORE COST, you could go and get your own school-age children, drag them to the media center, and include them in your “free packet.”  I am sure Matt had to go to the guidance counselor’s office after several years of this abuse.  He did however, have on his glasses  which allowed him to see through the walls of the girl’s restoom stalls.

 

 

I can honestly say that the cream colored outfit was only enhanced by the authentic stone wall and  Shroud of Turin background.

This photo was made during an especially lean time at the Parmer household.  Dan nor I had a pillow so we had to use my hair on which to rest our weary heads at the end of the day.  That might have been the beginnings of our neck problems. Some nights Katie and Matt and the dog were all able to use it for a pillow as well.

The overly processed blonde hair was softened by the school marm blouse and earrings, and coordinating broach.  (Who under 95 years old wears a broach????

This must have been during “D WEEK” in Kindergarten.  D for duck and D for downright awful hair!  Too bad the  corduroy skirt doesn’t show, it had more of those yellow ducks all along the bottom of it.

Is it possible that Matt is wearing the same shirt I had on in previous photo???  Oh surely not.  The lovely blue creation I am wearing was handmade and done up in silver glitter paint by yourstruly!!!

This was made back in the days of NO AIR CONDITIONING in my elementary school.  I probably had to yank that scarf off my neck and wipe the sweat that poured off of us as we strived to survive in the heat. (Pre marriage days as I am wearing only an engagement ring….and Dan still wanted to marry me.)

All I can say is POLYESTER reigneth!!I was pregnant and I suppose I was looking for that sweet innocent glow of young motherhood.  What other reason would I have had the “Little House on the Prairie” blouse on and those wings on my head???

This must have been a particularly trying year in Kindergarten?  I was going through

 my prison warden look phase.

…to be followed by the “old maid schoolteacher” look.  Check out those coordinating

earrings—and another broach!!!!

Now I have to be secure or crazy to put this horrible thing out here for public view!

We all wanted Farrah Fawcett hair back in those days.  Obviously I didn’t get it.

It wasn’t enough to just go get one of my children and humiliate him/her, No it was an all-sing!!

Words just cannot do this justice..

Okay, that’s enough humiliation for anyone for one day. 

 

 

Refer to previous blog to make your selection!!!

Oh what fun I have had with the old school pictures.  And you, my beloved readership are so supportive.  So because of your overwhelming support of the pictures, I am going to have a very limited public offering of them.  (You realize I have sheet and sheets of them—remember they are school pictures!!)

Send a stamped self addressed envelope and your remittance right away to receive your limited edition photos.

Remit to:

No More Mothz

1900 Melody Lane

New York, New York

These photos work much better than moth balls and leave no lingering odor to

 embarrass you in front of your friends.

I have been told they will also get rid of squirrels in your attic if that is a problem for you.

Many satisfied customers have used them to line bird cages.  The uses are limited only by your imagination.

Act quickly-at these prices, they won’t last.

Limit-six per household.

1  8×10-$78.00

2  8×10-$25.00

3   8 x 10-$3.50

1 wallet size-$2.50

1 5 x 7 – $1.25

or if you would like for me to hand select your photos and glue them onto an 11x 14 collage, I will be glad to do that.  But act quickly if you want to receive this limited edition offer in time for holiday gifts.

(All proceeds will be used to help pay for Botox for patients who cannot afford it.)

 

 

Charlie has been quite the singer!!  He loves to sing Frosty the Snowman.  So we did a snowman project today.  (Poor Charlie, his great grandmother, his grandmother, and HIS mom are all early childhood education teachers so everything is a learning experience……)

 

 

“Okay, MawMaw, what do I do with this????”

 

 

It’s “life-sized”, the same size as Charlie.  Good question, “What is he going to do with it?”

Grandma just had a great idea.  Take it home with you tomorrow~~~~Your mom and dad will surely love it.

 

 

The statement on his pj’s is fairly accurate.  His other sweet grandmother, Grammy, got these pj’s for him.  But we both think alike.  It’s your world, Charlie, we are just living in it!!!

And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so?  It came without ribbons.  It came without tags.  It came without packages, boxes or bags.  And he puzzled and puzzled ’till his puzzler was sore.  Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn’t before.  What if Christmas, he thought, doesn’t come from a store.  What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more.  ~Dr. Seuss

What a fun day!!  We had our family Christmas gathering at my mom’s house today.  Matt made it home from Charleston late in the afternoon and Katie, Chad, and Charlie were there.  We laughed, quoted old movies, told totally stupid stories, and had lots of fun.  We got some great presents from my Mom but I think the memory we will carry from today will be that we laughed and had fun.  We ate way too much good food and all sat around at times and stared at the wonder that is our Charlie!!!  What fun.  Family gathering Numero Uno!!!  It’s off to LaGrange tomorrow to have a Christmas gathering (numero dos) with Dan’s dad and some of his siblings!

“I do not want to pose with this silly looking gold reindeer.  Whoever heard of a gold reindeer anyway?”

“So good to have you home, Uncle Matt!!  Did you get me a present?”

…and did Uncle Matt nail the present this year?  A cool authentic xxsmall Manchester team soccer outfit.  Complete with little Nike soccer socks!!  Matt even gave Charlie a few soccer tips.  The ball is NOT a Manchester team ball so Matt wasn’t too happy about that.  But none of us know the difference.

My mom gave Katie this beautiful lounging outfit.  It looked great on her but we were teasing her about how low it is

….so we had to get on to Reverend Cottle for looking at her ta-ta’s!!!….

Find Waldo Charlie.  We almost lost him in the pile of paper and boxes.

All tuckered out after such a fun day!!

The Grinch figured it all out.  The Christmas memories that you make with family and friends are the things you remember.  I honestly don’t even know what I gave or received last year.  I mostly remember the laughter!!!

Well this is the first year since I was sixteen that I have not sent out Christmas cards.  I am dealing with some health issues that I may or may not blog about later.  But I just couldn’t seem to ever get the Christmas card fever this year.  As I would not want the word Scrooge attached to my name, I have decided that I will do my first ever Electronic Version of a Christmas Card.  I have never done a “Christmas letter” but I thought ….there’s a first time for everything.  So here is …..(and read no further if you don’t know me and my twisted sense of humour….I have never done a Christmas letter because ours would be so boring .  I have chosen the road less traveled, the one of personal embellishment!!

The Parmer 2008 Christmas Letter

We rang in 2008 with an intimate dinner party with some of dear friends we have met on our world travels.  I could not wait to try out some of the recipes that I had gotten when I attended the Sorbonne Cooking Mini-mester last winter.  And of course Dan wanted an opportunity to bring out some of his favorite wines we’d gathered when we were in the south of France in the summer.  Our table gleamed with the beautiful reflections of our friends faces as we thoroughly enjoyed ringing in 2008. 
January 2008 brought us the first snowfall of the year.  We were housebound for several days which gave us an excellent opportunity to watch our new 60 inch plasma tv.  We watched some of the professional videos that we had made on our travels last year.  I always say, “If you are going to take a great trip, at least carry along a photographer to capture the moments for you.”

The beautiful south is bathed in colour in the spring and this year was no exception.  We had our yard completely relandscaped by a professional who also is groundskeeper for the Biltmore property in Asheville.  What a delightful guy he is. He is fluent in seven languages and I found myself picking up quite a bit from him in the eight weeks he worked for us. 

Well nothing says spring like a good dose of spring cleaning so we just decided this year to do away with all of our old furniture and purchase new.  We have been on several whirlwind trips abroad in an effort to furnish our home.  Did you ever just wake up one morning and say, “All of this furniture has got to go.”

Our beautiful and successful children are doing well.  Our wonderful son winters in beautiful Charleston, SC.  He is still single but I cannot imagine how much longer he can remain so.  Every mother up and down the eastern seacoast is trying to hook him up with her daughter. Most of the girls he meets in Charleston are named from the bread group. Just last week he showed me photos of him and Biscuit, him and Muffin, and another one of a precious young lady named Cookie.  He is ardently pursued by some of the finest plantations in the south.

And what can I say about our daughter and her family.  They maintain their beautiful home in LaGrange, Georgia.  Our grandson who is not even three has been accepted into a fine preschool where he is an honor student.  He can cut on lines and do puzzles so brilliantly.  Everyone says he reminds them of me.

Just a few more highlights of our year:

Dan ran with the bulls in Paloma in the fall. (I did not.  I stayed in the spa for three days!!) We went skydiving in the Grand Canyon.  Something you must try.  We returned to our usual vacation hot spots where we own timeshares. (Belize, Maui, and Milan)

And of course, we who have so much, must share with humanity.  We spent four weeks in India in the hottest part of the summer.  I taught Castillian Spanish to the diplomat’s children and Dan led nightly sing-a-longs outside the embassy, where we stayed.  All in all, I think we made quite a difference!

In closing, I would like to say a very Merry Christmas to all of you.  Until next year,

Very Humbly yours,

the Parmers

 

Last Sunday we went to LaGrange for our Christmas celebration at

Mr. Parmer’s house. 

 

 (My dear mother-in-law, Zephine Parmer,  passed away two years ago in December.  She had Alzheimers for at least ten years prior to her death and we sure miss her at Christmas) 

 Christmas at the nursing home 2001

We got to LaGrange in time to attend the 11:11 service at First Baptist. What an awesome Christmas service it was.  Here is a picture of Charlie (OF COURSE) after the service

 The stage had this beautiful little fireplace, candles all around the altar.  It was just so warm and inviting!  Dan and I both truly felt like God showed up at that church service.  His presence was there.

 The Cottle family after the church service.  Did we ever get lucky with this son-in-love?

 

After church we went to Mr. Parmer’s house for a great lunch and lots of laughter.  (That’s pretty much a requirement at any gathering there!!)  Dan’s sister cooked lunch.  All I had to do was show up with a honey baked ham.  (I can handle that!!)

 

 ”GG Earl, I can fix your tree to make it more pretty.”

Charlie & NeeNee

MawMaw & Charlie

 

Sunday night we did the coolest thing.  We went to the Explorations in Antiquity Center and did the Shepherd’s Walk.  It was so cold.  We were all bundled up. BUT that place is awesome.

 

Here’s the mission statement of the museum:

“To transport the visitor across the sea thru the ages to the earlier times and places of the Judeo-Christian heritage in the Middle East.  The archaeological remains can help understand earlier periods and rediscover the hopes and fears of people from long ago.  Our museum can help the visitor find meaning from the amazing archaeological discoveries from the biblical world.”

 

http://www.explorationsinantiquity.net/ 

 

I highly recommend the experience.  What an awesome thing to do at Christmas.  It’s almost impossible to fathom the world at the time of Christ’s birth.  We almost felt like we were walking in that time!!

Well, Charlie was a trouper because we were there for over an hour.  He was so bundled up that you could hardly see him.  There was a rooster walking around and that was Charlie’s favorite part. He was quite the noisy little creature. 

 

 Kept remembering the verse when Jesus told His disciples he’d be betrayed

before the rooster crowed.

 

He wanted to hold Baby Jesus.

I wish I could remember what this part was???

Can you say COLD??

I’ll just call this picture “Son-In-Law in a cage.”

This picture was in the shepherd’s tent.  Charlie loved it.  We all want to return to the center when its WARMER and we can have a second look!!!

Christmas Eve began with brunch at Tami and Brint Smith’s beautiful home.  No one can do Christmas Eve brunch like our dear friend, Tami!  It is just perfect.  In our group of friends, Tami is definitely “the hostess with the mostest.”  We didn’t make pictures this year….(My camera was at Katie’s house) but we don’t look that different from last year.  So here’s last year’s brunch picture.  (Just add a few more wrinkles on me and voila…2008!)

We went to the Christmas Eve Service Wednesday night at FBC LaGrange.  Another beautiful tradition for Christmas.  When all the candles are lit, the church goes dark, and the congregation sings “Silent Night”…..it just gives me goosebumps! 

This is not a very good picture but I just had to post it.  This is the second year that Charlie has helped his dad welcome the congregation at the Christmas Eve service. Chatty-Cathy Charlie had lots to say up there.  (He might be a preacher himself!!)

Then it was hurry back to Douglasville so we could get ready for Santa.  (Katie, Chad, Charlie, Matt, and Mr. Parmer were all here Christmas Eve.)  Here are some photos Chad made of our Charlie Bell as we were getting our Christmas Eve dinner ready.

We were a lot more excited on Christmas morning that Charlie.  When he woke up, we were quick to remind him that “IT IS CHRISTMAS.”  He loved his toys.  There is just no way to describe how much joy that little guys brings into our lives.  He loved the Winnie the Pooh toy, his Jesus toys, his movies, his stocking, etc.etc.

We adults mostly loved our morning coffee!

Santa left a pineapple that he brought all the way from Hawaii!

I hope Santa left make-up in my stocking.  This natural look is not good for me.  Better for Katie!

Charlie was glad to play Santa for us when it was time to pass out gifts. (This was a job that was formerly held by our resident elf, Matt, when he was younger.  Passing the torch….)

In between opening gifts, Matt was on his laptop.  (Technology has gone too far.)  In his defense, he left Dec. 26th for 14 days in Europe and he had lots of work to catch up on.)  BUT the laptop at Christmas…Please!!  Notice Frizzy is caught up in the excitement.  He says “It’s my 15th Christmas and I can’t help but notice that I am left out of the whole present exchange.  Did NO ONE get my name??”

It’s Mr. Parmer’s 88th Christmas and he is still sharper than most of us.  (Not actually much of an accomplishment–but we are so grateful for his mental and physical health.)

We discovered Little Man had a fever later that morning but he still had a great Christmas Day!

Christmas afternoon while Charlie was napping, he played Scattergories.  I looked around at the mess that was knee-deep all over my house and thought about straightening it up……

No, it will be there tomorrow….

but they will not.

We spent New Year’s Eve 2008 in the same way we have celebrated it for thirty years-with just a few friends.  I have never thought I wanted to get in a large crowd or hang out in a hotel party with hundreds of strangers.  So we do what we’ve always done.  Just a small group of us  have dinner together, try real hard to look alert at the midnight hour, pop the top on champagne, hug and kiss each other and promise we’ll do it again next year.  The beauty of this type of excitement is …..we can party like this until we’re in the nursing home!

Here’s a couple of pics from Wed. night at Carrabas

and of course, our New Year’s Eve gathering is rated G–for grandchildren!

This is Martha’s precious angel, Ava.

…and Charlie blowing raspberries on  Ava’s knee. 

(I know…this is too exciting for most people.  We can plan your next New Year’s Eve event for only a small fee….) 

This was New Year’s Eve 2001- a little more excitement!

This is a short montage of pictures made of OLD FRIENDS

pictures are between 1979-2000. We were lookin’ so good…

 

My Christmas tree has been up for about a month.  Obviously its not real.  I mean its not imaginary, but you know, its not the sweet smelling tree of everyone’s childhood memories.  It just makes me happy, sitting in here in the living room window.  So I am thinking it will be MY BIRTHDAY TREE as well.  I have a late January birthday and my tree might just still be right here keeping me company.  That is my rationale for keeping it up.  (Plus Charlie loves to turn it on for me and he just might be back in a week or so….)    Also Frizzy has taken to lying under it.  Never before has he done that.  (I think he’s trying to make us feel guilty because he didn’t get ONE present this year. )  We were leaving for dinner tonight and we couldn’t find him anywhere. He long since gave up coming when we call.  Finally I looked in the living room, and there under the tree was Frizzy.  So the tree is definitely up til we redeem ourselves and get Frizz a gift.  BAD PARENTS!!

As Frizzy is 15 years old, we really should try to make every Christmas special for him.  Ever since the grandchild came along, Frizzy just hasn’t risen back to his seat of honor!

(…as the tree is my witness, Frizzy, I promise to buy you a treat at WallyWorld next week.)

I have been asked about my situation so many times lately that  I have decided I will blog about it once and that will be that! 

 I have thoroughly enjoyed blogging and facebook, especially during the last month.  It has been a great distraction for me.  I can wile away hours right here in front of the computer.

  I have always thought of myself as very positive, very upbeat, and an eternal optomist.  I love the following story about the eternal optomist. 

There were twins born to a lucky family.  Two little girls.  Alike in everyway physically but their personalities could not have been more different.  One of the little girls found fault with everything and everyone, while the other one could not have been more positive and encouraging.  One birthday, the parents decided to give the girls gifts befitting their individual personalities.  The negative little girl got a room full of Disney princess dolls, castles, dress-up clothes, DVD’s, everything Princess related.  The other little girl got a room full of hay and horse poop.  On the morning of their birthdays, the first little girl came whining and crying down the stairs saying that she did not like her Cinderella doll because her eyeshadow was the wrong color.  The second little girl came dancing and singing down the steps, covered in horse poop and singing at the top of her lungs.  She cried, “With all this horse poop, there had got to be a horse somewhere.”

The older I get the more I am convinced that my reaction to every event in my life is more important than the actual event.  Some people’s cups are half full and some are half-empty and even that is spilling out!!! 

So all that said, to say that I am trying real hard to stay positive during this latest  phase of my life.  I have a growth in my throat (real simple layman’s description)  and the doctors think its benign.  At least they thought it was as long as it wasn’t growing -but it seems as its getting bigger. Hopefully I will have the surgery soon to remove it and get on with getting on….

Most days I am fine, but every now and then I have a meltdown. My dear sweet husband has had to put up with a lot of tears from me lately. I do NOT want to talk about it.  I think that no one wants to hear someone else’s sob story because everyone we meet is going through something.   I am only writing about this because I feel like its the honest approach.  If I have seemed distant or not as “Pollyannna” as I usually am, its for this reason.  I am confident that regardless of what happens, I am in God’s hands. 

I appreciate all of my friends and family member who have been so supportive.  My cup is more than half full, I am convinced that somewhere in all of this horse poop there is a  horse and that God will be glorified if I allow Him to be.  I am praying for a miracle and the miracle I am praying for is that I will just stop stressing and let God handle this for me.

With all of that off of my shoulder, I am ready to start tomorrow-Monday.  Because after all, tomorrow is another day.

…Do not be anxious about anything but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.  And the peace of God which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus….

Philippians 4:5-7

Okay, admittedly yesterday’s post was hard to write.  So today I am definitely lightening the load!

A few weeks ago I went to the nail shop to get my nails done.  I have worn acrylic nails for so long that my own poor nails are about the strength of single ply toilet tissue.  I don’t like the actual experience of going to the nail shop.  I just like the outcome….well usually.  Anyway I went to  fairly new place, got a young lady, whose business license had a lots of Vietnamese characters but seems like her name is Laura.  In the course of the HOUR + that it took for her to do my nails, she occassionally asked or told me something.  I was never quite sure.  I must have said, “Excuse me.” ten times.  She talked so low and I honestly don’t know if she was asking me if she could paint swastikas on my nails.  I may have said sure.????  How would you know?  Then when I thought she was about through, she murmured something about my eyebrows.  I think she was asking me if I wanted to have them waxed.????  I said, No thank you.”  She looked at me and said, “why you no like eyebrows waxed?  Then she and the girl six seats away started in doing that very low talking when you are sure they are talking about you.  They were probably calling me a crazy American woman with a unibrow…So I have found myself looking in the mirror a lot lately and trying to decide what do I need to do with my eyebrows?  If the “professionals” in the nail shop think they’re bad, maybe I need help!!

 Anyway here’s my favorite Bon Qui Qui nail shop skit. If you have ever been to a nail shop, you will relate and cry with laughter! 

watch?v=SsWrY77o77o&feature=related

 

The other morning I was getting ready and heard this song on the radio. It’s a Ginny Owens song and its absolutely beautiful. The words just reached out from my rocking radio station 104.7 THE FISH and grabbed me.  I have been humming (definitely off key) the words to this song for days.  So today I went to YouTube to find the song and stumbled across this awesome montage.  It’s a beautiful tribute to the brave men and women who protect our country. 

We all have “our bag of rocks to carry around” with us.  Everybody we meet is going through something.  But none of us are going it alone.

An old friend told me her mantra a few weeks ago.  She said her goal was to be the fountain, not the drain.  I have fallen in love with that phrase.  Not totally embracing it all the time as I wish but what a goal, to spurt out goodness instead of sucking the life out of situations….

My prayer:

God, as I go through valleys in life, if I feel  alone, You are not the one who left.  You are always there with me.  Through valleys and mountain top highs, I am never alone.  Please help me to be the fountain, not the drain to others I meet along the way.

Be with our troops who everyday are in harm’s way.  I just go about my business here and often without a thought of those who face the horrors of war.  Please put your armour of protection around those who defend our very way of life.

watch?v=oo46GTIZMKw&feature=related

 

IT”S A G-I-R-L!!!!

Christmas Eve we found out that Katie is having a baby girl.  She’s coming in late June and her name is Molly Kate Cottle.  (Charlie has dubbed her Molly Cake.)  I am so excited about having a new grandbaby.  I must admit I am excited that she’s a SHE!!!  Katie and I went to see Mama Mia when it came out this summer.  When I heard the song, “Slipping thru my fingers”, I knew I’d have to do a montage of it.  AND then when Katie announced she’s having a girl, I couldn’t wait to put this together.  This is in honor of all of us mamas and our daughters.  It’s a special bond.  I am so excited that Katie and Chad are blessing us with another grandchild.  And a little girl. Although we are all in agreement that our male grandchild is perfect, we are going to try real hard to love this  female one too….LOL
This is dedicated to our Little Miss Priss, Molly Kate Cottle and for my baby girl that will be her mother.

What an obnoxious link below.  It should work if you click on the top one???? Let me know if its invisible!!!!

<a href=”http://www.onetruemedia.com/shared?

(I have had to keep it on 1TRUE MEDIA because YOUTUBE keeps stripping my songs.  (That whole copyright thing is just a pain……)  AND I was NOT willing to find another song.  The songs came first in my “creative process” and the pictures came second.

Hope it makes you smile and if you are a young mom, enjoy every minute  of your kids and if you are one of us seasoned moms,  just celebrate the fun years you had with your kids!

Just want to start off by saying thank you so much for all the prayers and support for me and my family during the last months.  A quick update-Dan and I “roadtripped” to Nashville yesterday (Vanderbilt) to see a wonderful doctor.  He came highly recommended to us and I know why.  Anyway, the short of it is this-He doesn’t think the tumor is growing.  VERY GOOD.  Getting it out has risks involved.  NOT AS GOOD  Decisions, decisions.  I have several options: 1- Leave it alone, and watch it, 2-do a biopsy (a  very slight chance its the c word), 3-or have it removed and risk some complications.  Right now I just don’t know what I want to do.  Its a bothersome little bugger but I can live with it…..or I can choose to live without it!  Once again, I am in God’s hands and He hasn’t dropped me yet!!!  I am praying for His guidance about the decision making process.

Enough about that.  I am about to share a miracle with you all!!  If you have been reading my blog for a while, you will remember the prayer requests for my little great-nephew, Benjamin Harris Moore.  The little angel was born Halloween and had heart surgery just days after he was born.  ANYWAY, Kelly, my niece brought her boys to my house on Tuesday.  It was Ben’s first trip (that wasn’t a hospital or doctor visit.)  We had so much fun.  There is no way to describe how thankful we are for this little guy and the miracle that he is.  He is a chunky little monkey.  He looks so healthy.  He still has a feeding tube but other than that, you would never know he has had problems.  (He goes back to the “suck and swallow” doctor soon and hopefully he’ll be able to start taking a bottle some.)

We had hoped to dress the boys alike for a Christmas photo but Ben wasn’t ready for visitors or visiting then.  So here is our miracle, Ben, his brother, Sam, and Charlie.

 

Poor little Ben and Sam were probably sore when they left here because all we did was hug and kiss on them.  AND the good news is they are coming back to see us on Monday.  (We will have six little boys at my house then because  my cousin and his wife are coming and bring their three guys.)

 

 

What a fabulous time we had last weekend.  The fun started on Sunday when we got to take Charlie with us to church.  He loves his little  friend, Holden. They looked like two little prep school guys! (His grandmother, Carol, is also one of my oldest friends.  We go back together to the fourth grade when our grandmothers were friends and neighbors.)

Charlie got hugs from good buddies, Parker and Ella-Bella!!!

 

After church we went to “GG Dolly’s” house (Charlie’s name for my mother.)  Great Sunday lunch, home cooked.  One of my favorite cousins, his wife, and their three boys were here for the weekend. Charlie was so excited about seeing them.

Charlie really looks up to his cousin, Isaiah, who is six.  They share a love for Woody, Buzz, and all things Toy Story.

 We started out with a trip to the mall to ride the train.  I had four tickets, four little boys, perfect math….But just as we were loading, Charlie decided MawMaw HAD to ride too. 

 So I crammed myself into the first car where you can ring the bell and took several thrilling turns around the train track.  I rang that dang bell for all it was worth!!!

No trip to the mall is complete without some of those delicious overpriced cookies!!!

After the short mall trip (four little boys~it doesn’t take long for that fun to be over!!) we headed to our house.  We had a marshmallow fight (don’t ask).  The children were not even involved.  It was adult instigated. I took one for the team.  Got hit right in the cornea.  (Several hundred dollars to the opthamologist on Monday, drops, and he told me what I suspected all along–it was fine.)   But even that didn’t put a damper on our fun!

In case you didn’t see Katie’ blog, here’s a short version of the video of the marshmallow fight.

What the video doesn’t show is how fast the kids were cramming the dropped marshmallows into their mouth.  AND our “older than dirt” dog was suddently filled with renewed life and he chased around the floor gobbling them up also.

Somehow in all the mayhem Dan and Charlie found time for a little shut eye.  My two little clones!!!

Even though I was only looking through “my good eye” the rest of the visit, it was a blast.  Then Monday morning my niece, Kelly, came with her two little boys, Sam and Ben.  We now had six little guys in our home ranging from six years old to almost three months.  There was never a shortage of a little guy to “catch and release.”  Grab ’em up, kiss ‘em quick and let them go back to “boy fun.”

Here’s a few pictures of all six of them.  (I was actually at the eye doctor when Dan made these pictures!!!!  )I asked him if he couldn’t have gotten a better picture?  His comment was something along the lines of “Have you eve tried to get six little boys all looking in the same direction at one time?”

Isaiah, Abram, Ezra, Sam, Charlie, and Ben

I can’t wait til June to see how our Molly Kate is going to fit in with all of these boys!!!

“A little boy is all God can use to make a man.”

 

This past Tuesday was my 55th birthday.  If I had known I was going to live this long, I certainly would have taken better care of myself!!!! 

 Katie and Charlie came up on Monday evening so they could be here with me on my BIG DAY. Then on Saturday my brother, Hal, my niece, Kelly, her two boys, Sam and Ben, Katie, Charlie, Chad, Dolly, and Dan were here to help me celebrate again!  Good times!

I don’t think we made pictures on Tuesday but here are a few from the weekend.

Charlie and I made a car cake on Friday night.

My “big brother”, Hal and his grandson, Sam.  Dan and Hal were about to take Sam and Charlie for a golf cart ride.

Charlie likes to love all over Ben.  (He’s my little great-nephew who had heart surgery right after he was born.) He was three months old Saturday.  Now his birthday is something to celebrate.  What a gift he is.  We could not love him more.

We all just sit around and stare at Ben. 

So I am 55, is that middle age?  Not middle age (unless I am going to live to be 110) but definitely mid-life.  Here’s just a few observations about the beauty of being

55 v. 15!

1.  I already know how to drive.  I have a license and my own car.  If  I smash the fender, my daddy isn’t going to be mad at me.

2.  I never have to attend a “sleep-over” and hope the most popular girl will choose to sleep by me.

3.  I do not need a date for Friday night.  I am living with my boyfriend and that’s okay!!!

4.  I have friends who have passed the tests of time.  AND no, they are not trying to steal my boyfriend.

5.  I do not have face break-outs!

6.  I do not have to worry about a tampon string hanging out of my bathing suit EVER AGAIN!!

7.  I do not have to worry about tampon strings anywhere. 

8.  If I miss my curfew I will not be grounded, I will just feel like a truck ran over me the next day.

9.  I don’t have to buy my clothes at Abercrombie.  (not real sure if they sell clothes or sex anyway!!!~just an observation)

10. and my all – time – favorite reason to NEVER BE A TEENAGER AGAIN–

Valentine’s Day does not stress me out.  I do not have to be the only tall, skinny, big teeth girl in the tenth grade not to get a valentine ever again!!!!!  (Remember I LIVE with my Valentine!!)

 

What is it about one or two a.m. that conjures up all kinds of worrisome thoughts?  I love the book  Cat in the Hat by Dr. Seuss.  My two favorite characters in the book are Thing One and Thing Two.  I have dubbed my nighttime fears Worry One and Worry Two.  Because if I am done worrying about Worry One, there is always Worry Two!!!  But oh the Bible is so clear.  The words of Jesus, the MAN himself said these words in Matthew:

6:25 ….”do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear.  Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?  “

then in 34: ” Therefore do not worry about tomorrow because tomorrow will worry about itself.  Each day has enough trouble of its own.”

Oh how I want to claim victory over worry and senseless stress but I am not there yet.  I read something in my Beth Moore homework the other day that jumped out of the pages at me.

Beth (I call her that because we are BFF) said something about waving good-bye to her daughter and grandson as they were leaving her house.  Then Satan, in all his glory, put the thought in her head, “What if something happens to them on the way home.”  OH MY GOODNESS!!  I have that fleeting thought everytime one of my loved ones leave my home.  Is that SATAN stealing my joy or what????  Here’s my scenario:

I call Dan, Matt, Katie, ________ (just fill in the blank with any of my loved ones).  As they are talking to me, the call is dropped.  If I cannot reach them in a few minutes, I think, “something has happened.”  Then when the phone rings with the joyous sound of their voice on the other end, I breathe deeply and say “Thank you God, I am done with worrying.”  Then I pick up the newpaper and read the headlines, “Gazillions out of work.”  Okay I am off to a new “worry.”

WHAT IS THAT ALL ABOUT?  It’s about ME trying to play God in everyone’s life?

Is it because I am a woman and is this something only we women deal with?  Or is it because I don’t have enough faith?  My prayer today is to “let GO and Let GOD!!!”  All I know is every minute I spend stressing about something I have ZERO control over is one minute of happiness I have wasted.  Today I choose JOY!!!

Happy Monday to my dear friends!

 

I

I have an appointment on Tuesday, February 17th in Nashville with Dr. James Netterville to remove this THING behind my throat.  At least that is what I think right at this minute.  Why is this such a hard decision???  This has gone on way too long and my husband has been way too patient and I am way ready to get on with getting on.

So, we will go up on Monday for a late afternoon pre-op appt. and then I am scheduled to be at Vanderbilt Medical Ctr. at six a.m.  If all goes well, I will only spend one night.  We should be “homeward bound” on Wednesday. 
I have prayed so hard about this decision.  I have really sought to hear from God.  Well, last night at my Beth Moore Week 4 Bible Study, I think I finally GOT IT!!!  It was all about fear and how crippling it can be and how fear can rob you of fulfilling your destiny. 

I don’t think having this surgery is fulfilling my destiny, by any means.  But I feel like God’s voice was clear to me that I need to make a decision. 

I am over myself and this thing!!!  I want to be the fountain, not the drain.

And who knows, maybe I will be able to sing really well when its all over…… After all this doctor is the doctor to the Nashville stars….

God is good and He is good all the time, not just when things go my way….

Nuff said!

Yesterday I went to ______ (all names have been changed to protect the innocent.)  to have my new phone turned on.  There were three people in the back where you go to “have service.”  When I walked up for my turn, I was greeted by a surly look that said, “why are you bothering me?”  In my perky, hyper-way I proceeded to tell her that I’d like my phone turned on.  She again looked at me like I was bothering her.  She never said, “thank you”,  “have a good day,”  “Kiss my a____” or anything in the way of conversation. NOW I am NOT picking on _____________.  It seems like more often than not, that is the new “customer-no-service”.  My point is this……With unemployment as high as it is, with highly qualified people that have been successful in their jobs, they are just no longer needed due to down-sizing, poor market, etc.  HIRE THESE PEOPLE WITH THE RIGHT ATTITUDE.  If I owned a company, an employee would have the three strike policy.  Everyone is allowed an “off day” but if everyday you show up to work with no other goal but to look annoyed and bothered by the very customers who support the company, then TO THE STREET YOU GO.  Let those surly, bored to death, NO SMILE left in them, people be the ones without jobs.  Hire the people who know how to smile, look interested, and generally glad to be alive.  If  XXXX amt. of people are going to be without jobs, my new government policy would be to hire the friendly, helpful people and let those surly folks go home and wait on their unemployment checks.   In my daddy’s words, “give you something to cry about.” 

Why am I on this rant  today??????

For every grouchy person, there are so many out there working hard to put on a good face despite poor sales, poorer pay, etc.  I think its just when you come in contact with the “NO-SERVICE” people they tend to leave their “grouch” all over you….. My goal is to “kill ‘em with kindness.”

Yesterday I got a phone call that I have so waited to receive.  My great nephew, Ben, went to the doctor yesterday.  Little guy has been in the world since October 31 and he has gone way too many times to the doctor.  BUT the BEST news!!!!  Ben had a hole in his heart that was possibly going to be repaired with OPEN HEART surgery.  Not something you ever want your infant to experience.  Well, the doctor can see where the hole was, but ITS GONE!!!  Ben still has his feeding tube but I just know that will soon be gone.  (His little swallowing box was injured when they had to put all the tubes down his throat TWICE when he had his first heart surgery.)  The doctors assure Kelly and Great that the swallowing issue will be resolved.  He can swallow, some of the liquid just goes into his lungs.  BUT I just know that will soon be a thing of the past.  He is truly our little miracle.  Right now I am wishing he was here so I could just kiss all over him.  He is a love bug!!!!

Dan and I in “hog heaven” just loving on our boys, Charlie, Sam, and Ben!!

I am not much of a Valentine person.  Maybe I am almost “anti-Valentine.”   I am a hopeless romantic.  I am madly, passionately in love with my husband, I just don’t love Valentine’s Day.  I always feel so sorry for those guys you see in the store.  Those “last minute” kind of Romeos.  They know that if they go home empty-handed they are screwed.  (and not in the way they would like….)  They would buy out Bath and Body Works or the flower shoppe just to make it home with the gift that says,”see I remembered.”  Its funny because I must have unknowingly passed on my feelings about Valentine’s Day to Katie.  (So sorry, Chad, but think of all the money it will save you.)  I think there is a ridiculous amount of money spent on candy that’s not good (any candy that comes in a small heart shaped cardboard box that says assortment ~ not edible!!), roses that will wilt right away, slinky synthetic fabric lingerie that you cannot wait to take off (maybe that’s the whole idea), overpriced cards where big red hearts spring out and  actually “talk to you.”, etc. etc.    Maybe its because I am the luckiest -girl-in-love-in -the-world.  But I don’t need any of the above to let me know that Dan loves me.  And he doesn’t need a card, a sleeve of golfballs, a pair of red underwear with hearts, etc. to know that I am the Valentine he’s stuck with for life!!!

 

Maybe because I was tall, skinny, (back when skinny wasn’t cool, guys called me “Zipper”) uncool,  not too cute, etc, etc. I think I always dreaded Valentine’s Day in High School.  Maybe that’s where my phobia comes from.  There’s nothing like Valentine’s Day in High School when you are “unattached.”  (a nice way of saying….no boyfriend.) 

My favorite memories of Valentine’s Day are the ones I spent teaching Kindergarten.  We used to make little Valentine “mailboxes” and then at the end of the day, the kids passed out their Valentine cards.  It was so much fun to see them open them.  We always had lots of fun because the little children were just sure that the Valentine Cards were handpicked for them.  (And this was back in the day when Kindergarten Kids couldn’t really read-now they have to know a gazillion words by the end of Kindergarten)  They just got the biggest kick out of me reading those silly things to them.  AND of course, some of the really cool moms attached good candy to the Valentines!!!!   Good times!

But so as I don’t go down as a Valentine Grinch, I want to write about why my Valentine has passed the test of time and why every day is Valentine’s Day when you live with the absolute love of your life, your one and only soul mate…..

My Dan and why I love him more today than the day I married him:

1.  He always has a handkerchief in his pocket.  I never have tissues even though my mother  always told me “never leave home without one.”  I don’t know how many times he has given me his handkerchief and I cried and wiped nasty mascara all over it.  When the meltdown is over, he just quietly puts the hanky back in his pocket.

2.  He thoroughly checks the house every night for monsters.  I know that if I go to bed with every light on, he will go around, turn them off, check the security system, lock the door, blow out the candles I have left lit…..(more than once I am sure he has saved our hourse from burning down.)  I love candles and he now knows before turning in at night to turn off the lights and look for that little glow…..

3.  He gave my children the best gift a man can give his children.  He loves their mama.  Nuff said.

4.  He NEVER expects me to cook dinner.  He always asks, “Can I stop and get something for dinner?”  “Do you want to meet somewhere for dinner?”  Now, don’t get me wrong, he wants to eat every night.  He just doesn’t expect me to be the one that makes it happen.  (Actually my cooking has been so bad lately, he probably HOPES I’ll say “just pick something up.”

5.  He has never dropped his underwear, dirty clothes, etc. anywhere except the clothes basket.  (I don’t recall him “doing the laundry.  I am actually a little OCD about the way laundry is done, so don’t want to make him into too much of a saint.  I am the laundry fairy, I just don’t have to look too far to find it.)

6.  We share enough of the same interests to keep it fun, but not too many to get in each other’s way. Dan loves golf.  I love to shop.  He gets out of my way almost every Saturday so that I can go shopping if that’s what I want to do.  AND he patiently looks at all the purchases I brought home and listens to all the great bargains….and I try real hard to listen to him say, “well I did real well on the first nine…….then something about birdies, bogies, etc…..”

7.  We love our friends.  And what a gift they are.  My best girls are married to Dan’s guy friends  or maybe I should say Dan’s best guy friends are married to my girls!! 

8.  We love our family.  I got the best set of in-laws known to man when I married Dan.  Dan always joked that if we got divorced, his parents would choose me.  My mother-in-law would have complimented me if I had shown up with a bird nest on my head.  She would have said how pretty the eggs were!!!  My family loves Dan.  AND THOSE KIDS we SHARE….well there’s nothing in the world Dan wouldn’t do for either of them…….(and now the list includes, “Don’t mess with my son-in-law or grandson either.”)

9.  He has been so supportive and “there for me” during the last six-seven months when I have been dealing with my health issues.   It has been hard for him too.  Sometimes I think its harder for the “other one” when someone isn’t feeling well.  (He has been carrying an enormous load at work, this economy has made it so difficult in the real estate business.  He cannot sleep at night because of having to cut positions, make decisions that impact people negatively, etc. etc) 

Marriage is a relationship where when one weeps, the other tastes the salt.  And my dear Valentine has tasted lots of salt lately.

10.  Dan is not a saint, not am I a “saintess.”  Is that a word.  But together we are blessed beyond measure. God has blessed us in spite of all our short comings! And now it is almost dinner time and I hope to hear from Dan telling me he is on his way home…….and I will once again be confronted with the age old question I ask myself everynight…….”What’s for dinner?  ”

(I am thinking carry out from Carraba’s sounds good tonight….)

What did I do to deserve this??  I keep asking myself this question.  There is no answer.  The question to the answer if this:
What did I do to deserve people being so kind, so thoughtful, so considerate, so prayerful and on and on…

Dan and I are finally getting away……we have joked about the need for an escape so much lately.  Well, tomorrow we are getting away but unfortunately its to Nashville, TN, home of Vanderbilt Medical Center.  There I will have surgery on Tuesday morning.   If everything is “textbook” perfect, I will be released (that sounds like a prison term….) in 23 hours.  Well, not exactly 23 hours (I hope NOT  b/c that would have me checking out before daylight.)  But that’s how they refer to a modified out- patient surgery.  So bottomline is “best case scenario” is  we’ll come home on Wednesday but I am doubtful of that just because I am not sure I want to be that far away if there’s a problem.

But I have such peace about this surgery.  I believe I have heard from God.  AND regardless of what happens, I will be fine!!!

The thing that has absolutely blown me away is the outpouring of love, support, prayers, etc. from so many people.  I DO NOT deserve this, of that I am sure.  God’s grace is sufficient and when you need to scoop out more than your usual share, then its there for the taking and accepting!!!  His grace comes in the form of inner peace and He often uses his “foot soldiers” to help spread it around.  AND boy, have I seen some footprints of God all around me.

I came home from work one day this week and there on the table was the most beautiful flower arrangement.  I couldn’t imagine who sent it and couldn’t wait to read the card.  Well, it came from the Mt. Pleasant Soccer Association, where Matt works.  I was so humbled by the fact that they thought enough of my baby boy to send HIS MAMA flowers.  OK, I cried like a little girl.

Aren’t they beautiful.  Today is Sunday and they are just as beautiful!!!

Another day I came home and got a package out of the mailbox.  It was a little square package and it shook.  Couldn’t wait to open it.  It is a beautiful Brighton key fob with a cross on it.  Its a beautiful key chain but I did take the cross out to wear for a few times.  It was from an old dear friend who is in my Sunday School class.  I made a comment last week about how pretty hers was and she bought me one just  to let me know she would be praying for me on Tuesday.  

  Thank you Gail White.  I would wear it in surgery but I think they pretty much like you completely naked!!  Devoid of clothing, ornaments.  Just that crunchy hospital night gown.  OOOHHHH, I will think about that tomorrow! 

I have gotten so many phone calls, email messages, and sweet cards.  I don’t deserve such royal treatment.  But I am truly blessed by the well wishes of my much loved friends and family.  I am going to tell my doctor on Tuesday morning that all he will need to do is just stand there with the knife (Lordy, can’t believe I said that……I think its a scapel, but I am not feeling real good about that term either!!) and God will direct his hands.   That man is bathed in prayer.

and last of all….What did I do to deserve this man who has put up with me for all of these years?  Well, actually, we both are lucky in love and we know it.  He will be my escort, confidant, supporter, cheerleader, for the next few days. 

 I do not want my kids to come to Nashville.  Its just too far and this is no big deal.  So they will be home keeping the homefires burning till I return.  Got to feel for Matt.  He’s going to be “dogsitting” Frizzy here at our house.  We have this houserule here that whomever sees the dog poop first has to get it up.  Well, poor Matt, he just needs to watch where he’s stepping for the next few days because Frizzy is old and often incontinent!!!  It will happen to us all if we live long enough!!  I’ll leave you with that wonderful thought!

 

 

 

I feel sort of like I have been on LOST PLANET for one week.  There’s something about going into a hospital, being put to sleep, and then the subsequent drugs they give you. It has made the last week have a sort of fog over it all.  Everything went like clock work as far as the surgery on Tuesday.  I went back right on time.  It took less time than they had expected.  I was in excruciating pain for about twenty hours and then Wednesday around lunchtime I felt remarkably better.  So the doctor came in and said, “lets spring you out of here before the hospital kills you.”  And with all the scary stories I’ve heard about staph infection and all other maladies, I was glad to leave.  So we left Nashville on Wednesday and arrived home about eight o’clock.  All around were horrible stories of tornadoes, bad weather, well I just felt it was more divine intervention for us to get our tails back home to Douglasville, safe and sound.  We got to sleep in our own bed.  I felt so well on Thursday, most of the whole day, my voice was working fine, and I was in minor discomfort.  I was so busy bragging on myself as the model patient and new poster child for Dr. Netterville.  But by Friday morning, Iwas signing a different tune.  Actually I was squacking, whining, and generally being a big baby.  Everything hurt, even parts I was unaware of  having.  So I spent the better part of Friday, Saturday, & Sunday  in the fetal position on the sofa.  Dan, (who has always told me he was a doctor????) insisted on a walk around the circle late Sunday afternoon.  I have to admit it helped.( Gosh I hope he doesn’t read this because “ he’ll be all that and a bag of chips “because it was his idea!!!!)

Well, today is Tuesday, officially one week from the blade!!!  If I am going for drama, I could say the surgeon’s delicate scapel……Hey I like the sound of that.  I might write fiction!!!  I digress and today I am going to try very hard to go  COLD TURKEY on the pain meds.  I have important decisions to make like~~~ “which Academy Award winner do I want to watch first on pay per view????” ” What DO I need for Dolly to get at the grocery store?”  “How many days have I had these same PJ’s on??” My life has been so complicated lately……  I am actually trying very hard to be humorous over something that hasn’t been too funny but if you can’t laugh at yourself, then you don’t deserve to laugh at anyone else!!!!

I have been blessed through all of this.  Now I am going to sit here and cry like a big baby.  It must be the drugs leaving my body because I cried last night at the second watching of the Academy Awards.  (ONE speech I DID NOT CRY through was Sean Penn’s speech~~~ I get so tired of actors using award’s ceremonies for their political platforms….) I am really digressing now!

But I have been blessed beyond measure at the outpouring of love and support for me AND my family during these days.  I have had so much time to lay and think about things while I have been recuperating.  This whole surgery thing for me was of course, a big deal, but on the grand scheme of life, it was a blip. I have cried so many tears about a woman’s death who lived in LaGrange.  I never knew her.  She was a little older than me, the mother of four children, and diagnosed several years ago with pancreatic cancer.  She passed away and was buried yesterday. Through her whole illness, she continued to teach her bi-weekly Bible study classes to hundreds of women in LaGrange.  (something she has done for years.)  Katie has spoken so highly of her since they moved to LaGrange.  Her family actually had several tragedies this past week.  AND over and over in my head, I wonder WHY HER???  Why someone who is SOLD OUT for you, God?  She’s given it all????  I have to keep reminding myself that the mysteries of  God are one of the reasons He is God and I am not!!!!!Well, there are several other reasons…..too…….I have learned so much in my Bible Studies that I have done during the last few years.  One thing Beth Moore repeatedly says is that the mysteries of God are as important as the things we know.  The things that are NOT written in the Bible are just as important as the things that are.  I struggle with that but am trying hard to understand. 

A friend included this in a card she sent me last week and I am claiming it right now!

Matthew 14:27 “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you.  I do not give to you as the world gives.  Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”

If you enjoy hitchhiking on to other blogs, you’ll have to see the beauties that Katie posted on her blog.  Charlie let me take his lovey with me to Nashville.  The lovey and I had quite a time as chronicled in Katie’s blog.

Here’s a few gifts that brightened my days~~~

My chick bag from Carol Addison. Doesn't she look like fun?

 

 

 

 

 

 

A beautiful bromeliad I am going to try very hard to keep alive!!!

Another beautiful arrangement that Dolly is going to have to get over here and separate before I kill it!!!!!

….and now the pressure to rally is really on. Late tomorrow evening, Charlie, Katie, and Chad will arrive.  Chad has a church mtg. in north Atlanta on Thurs. so they are coming here.  I have to be better then because Charlie thinks only MawMaw can put him to bed, change his diaper, bathe him, etc. etc.  I have been put on notice by Dan and Dolly, my wardens,   that I have to “let it go this time.”  BUT we’ll see….They can’t watch me all the time……

Come on up, MawMaw, put me to bed!!!

Here’s where we may run into a little difficulty. He usually picks out so many books for me to read……We’ll figure that out tomorrow!!

“look Mawmaw, I am going to sleep.”

I love this picture.  It was made last Sunday before we left for Nashville the next day. We went thru the whole bedtime ritual.  Read a gazillion books, hugged, kissed, prayed for half the planet, and finally I said, “Now Charlie, its time to go to sleep.”  He replied, “Okay, Mawmaw, you can leave now.”  In other words, I’ll go to sleep when you, THE ADULT IN CHARGE, gets out and leaves me alone!!!  I am sure there’s a lesson somewhere in there for another day……

Today when the nurse from Dr. Netterville’s office called with my biopsy results, I felt like there should have been a drumroll

 and the sound of an envelope opening……

and the Oscar for Best Director  goes to Dr. James Netterville for his amazing vision in the film,  MY BIG FAT LIPOMA,  Best Supporting Actor, Dan Parmer for his brilliant portrayal of the long suffering husband in NOT NEAR ENOUGH PRIDE AND WAY TOO MUCH PREJUDICE (have you read the post I wrote on his blog????  He deserves more than an Oscar!!!!)  

And last but not least,  BEST WRITING FOR AN ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY, from the fabulous film, THAT WHAT DON’T KILL YOU MAKES YOU STRONGER 

~these words, THE PATHology  REPORT SHOWED NO CANCER CELLS.

and all Praise goes to God….

Happy birthday to Chad, numero uno son-in-law, okay, only son-in-law.  But I am sure he would be my favorite no matter how many I had!!!

Katie and Chad have been married for 4 1/2 years.  And I honestly can’t remember when Chad wasn’t in our family.  Of course, I don’t remember what I had for lunch today either!!  But we have so much fun together.  We tease him unmercifully and he’s come to expect it.  That’s just how we roll around here at the Parmer household.  The first Christmas Katie and Chad were married, we did some silly gag gifts.  We were shopping at Dillards and saw the ugliest pleather UGA coat.  It had a big bulldog on the back and the red wasn’t really red, it was sort of orangish!!!  It was B A D!!  Anyway we wrapped it up and gave it to him.  (Dan said that was a naughty thing to do since he was brand new to the family.)  I am not sure what went through his mind when he opened that ugly thing, but he was smiling and saying thank you.  I had to laugh and spoil it all.  (and then to make matters worse, I told him to give it back to me.  It cost fifty dollars and it was going back to the store.  It was just a joke!!!!) 

Good times!

 

OOOH, Chad, you are going to be looking good with this baby on!!!

Okay, now take it off.  It’s going back to the store.  I am NOT paying fifty dollars for this ugly thing!!  I wish the pictures captured the “orangenish” of it, not red!!!

Chad is an excellent youth minister, works hard at his job.  And he works hard but he sleeps even harder.  I have never seen anyone that can go from standing up, laughing, talking, drinking real coffee to drop dead asleep so quickly.  I cannot believe the youth or a youthful parent hasn’t shaved Chad’s head on a long bus trip because when he goes to sleep, he is G O N E!!!  Last week when they were here, I wish I had made a pic of Chad asleep on the sofa.  He doesn’t move.  I asked Katie if she ever checked him to be sure he was still alive!!! 

This was made several years ago. It looks like Katie may have caught some of Chad’s sleeping ability.

Chad is a great daddy to our little man, Charlie.  Last Sunday, after preaching two sermons and I am sure, knowing Chad, being UP all night, he stopped by the grocery store to get carrots.  NOT to eat, but so that when he got home, he could make a snowman with Charlie.  Because everyone knows a decent snowman has to have a carrot nose!!!!  I love when he and Charlie go out “treasure hunting”.  Chad has a metal detector and they love to go out in the woods and hunt for buried treasure.  Any old piece of buried in the earth trash is treasure to Charlie.  But mostly the memories of “treasure hunting” with his Daddy will remain long after the discovery rusts away.

So here’s to you, Birfday Boy!!  We are close in our family.  Real close.  You have to have a sense of humor to survive us and he has risen to the cause.  WE LOVE YOU, Chad-O and wish you a great day!

Destin, summer 2005

Destin, June 2006

The family that vacations together, stays together.  I mean really stays together!!

**the fine print…..They DID not sleep in this configuration.  Poor Matt had the pull-out queen sofa in the den.  The mattress was horrible but I forced them into these photo ops in the mornings!! 

 

Some days are good and some days are gooder. I am s l o w l y getting better everyday.  Once again, I need a dose of patience so that I remain humbly grateful instead of grumbly hateful.  I am not a good patient , mostly because I am impatient.  I am actually a doctor’s worst nightmare.  I don’t do what they say.  I don’t even listen very well.  But all that said to say this.  I am counting on Saturday, March 14th to be the day I am 100 percent again!  BECAUSE we are having our little man’s family birthday party here.  It’s going to be a pirate theme for Cap’t Charlie.

AARRGGGH!  Fire in the hole! 

 He has been talking about his pirate birthday party since right after Christmas. His other precious grandparents took them all on a pirate cruise this past summer and that fueled the love affair with pirates.  (He’s too little to have been snared by Captain Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Carribbean. Too scary for him!)

The Pirate ship Grammy and Papa took them on.

I am not sure the pictures do the heat justice.  Katie said it was so hot. You can see that Charlie is almost sweating off his tatoo!

Here’s Cap’t Charlie doing the chicken dance.  (Somehow I can’t imagine pirates taking time out from looting and raiding to do the chicken dance!!)

Then the next Saturday, March 20th four families are going to honor Blake C. and his new bride to be, Brittany with a dinner party at Martha’s house.  We met last night for our first planning session and its going to be so much fun.  Blake is the middle son of one of my best friends and he is just the most incredible young man. 
~So got to be 110 percent by then!!

THEN the week of SpRiNg BrEAk, we are going to Charleston for a family vacation.  (Chad will NOT be with us because he is leading his youth on a mission trip to Jamaica~He’ll be off doing the Lord’s work and we’ll be wasting away on the beach!!!  BUT we will be missing him!)

I am so excited about this trip.  My niece, Kelly, her two boys, Ben(our miracle child) and Sam(her wild man!) are going with us.  Katie and Charlie, Dan’s 89  year old dad, David, Dan’s brother, Brenda, Dan’s sister, Matt, Dan, Dolly and I will be all together for the week.  I am still looking for the perfect beach house on Isle of Palms.  We need six bedrooms so its not easy to find, but I’ll find it!  Matt, who lives in Charleston, is also looking!

So got to be 120% by then. Here’s a few pictures of the last family vacation trip we took to Charleston in September 2007.  What a blast we had!

This was the whole group except David, Dan’s brother.

Here we are, the three women on the trip (i.e. chief cooks and bottle washers)

This is the WHOLE GROUP ( I am in it although just as a shadow!!)

Then to top the week off, we are going to go to Matt’s church in Mt. Pleasant.  The week we are there, the church is hosting a performance called
THE THORN. 

www.thethorn.net

 
We are going to get tickets to see it.  I think it must be similar to The Passion Play, in that it depicts some of the life of Christ. Matt absolutely loves his church there.  He cannot stand to miss on the weekend.  I am so proud of his committment to live a Christian life.  Then Dan and I (and part of the group that is still there on Sunday) will go to church with Matt on Easter.

So much to look forward to in the future.  Lots of reasons to behave and do what the doctor says~so that I can be 150 percent when Molly Kate makes her debut in June.

Katie is six months pregnant and glowing.  (part of that glow is nausea and sinus infection and back ache~not been a fabulous pregnancy but she’s hanging in there!)

But as tomorrow is not guaranteed, Life is to be lived like eveyday is your last.  So with that said, its time to head to my quiet time in the kitchen with just my Bible, my notepad, and my Jesus. 

One day last week I was at lunch with Katie, Chad, and Charlie.  Charlie was doing that thing that three year olds are infamous for~~going from lap to lap, sometimes even via the underside of the table.  He was bored with the O’Charley’s scene, tired, and ready for a nap.  So the constant motion was his entertainment.  Chad said, “Where we are from in South Georgia,  we call that wallering!!!”  I love that!  Wallering!  That’s what Charlie was doing, wallering.

If I was Websters, this would be the entry:

wallering, verb, – rolling around in the muck, inability to “light” and stay put.  i.e. The pig was wallering in the mud.

Okay, lately I have been wallering.  Wallering.  Everyday I wake up, I am determined that this is it!!!  This is the day, I am back to my old self!

I am tired of wallering in this post-surgery muck.  It’s springtime.  We have officially sprung forward (I personally am much better at falling back….but ….) It’s time to get on with getting on.  I don’t like to talk but I can still get out there and enjoy this spring.  If you are a friend I usually communicate with, I am so sorry I have been so quiet on my end.  I feel pretty good.  Just my voice gets tired. (That sounds so whiney!  Whose voice gets tired unless you are an opera singer???) I am not good on the phone right now.  Don’t know why, but I know that everyday is better.

I keep hoping I will improve my listening skills because I don’t feel like talking very much.  BUT no, instead of listening better, my brain is thinking about what I wish I was saying!!! 

Enough wallering. 

The pictures on this blog are of my Charlie “wallering” around.  It’s cute when you are three years old, but not cute for me….

I love that little man so much!

 

I was following him around with the camera the day I made this picture.  He said, “Stop making my picture, MawMaw, I need to poop!”  Got to love that!

Dan and I love to watch movies.  Its our vegging out time in the evening.  We do Netflix two-movies-at-a-time plan so there is usually a movie lying around for us to watch.  And boy, have we seen some “dogs.”  Occassionally we hit a homerun and get one that is pretty good.  Most nights we just stick the movie in the DVD player and even if its bad, we just sit there and critique it.  BUT rarely do we get up and turn it off…..

Well, I had seen the previews of FLASH OF GENIUS with Greg Kinnear (who I think is just so stinkin’ cute).  It’s loosely based on some guy who invented the intermitten windshield wipers and got screwed by the big auto makers.  OK, now whoever thought a movie about windshield wipers would be worthy of a full length feature film??

Just because Hollywood makes a dumb movie and Netflix delivers it to my mailbox, WHY DO WE WATCH IT?

My movie tastes goes to absolutely lame movies at time.  Here are a few of my recent favorites.  Some of them I could watch over and over just because they make me laugh.  I wish they would leave out the gross language.  I can usually judge a movie in the first five minutes.  If the dialogue consists of the F word more than one time in the beginning, I usually figure it doesn’t have much of a plot……

Stupid Lame Movies that Dan and I will just sit and laugh at….

Knocked Up

Mr. Woodcock

Wedding Crashers

I now Pronounce you Chuck and Larry (maybe that’s not the title…but its so funny.

I do not like movies that resemble real life very much.  If it has sadness, people dying, that’s NOT entertainment….

I can read the paper if I want that….

What a random blog……

That one scored a “thumbs down” from me.

 

 

This was my first full week back at school and I think it might have been too much!!!  Only one more day to go….I usually just work part time but I have tried to make up the time I missed during the last week so I have been “full-time” this week.  AND if that wasn’t enough, I decided to do whole class lessons and teach each of my student’s whole classes…..Oh well, just one more day and then~~ TGIF tomorrow!!!

Well I am pretty wiped out by day’s end so I knew I wouldn’t be able to go with Dan tonight to the Atlanta Board of Realtors Million Dollar Banquet downtown.  We had such a great time last year.  We had a stretch limo pick us up, drive us to Buckhead where we picked up the Number One agent and took her to the party. There was champagne (which I don’t even like, but it was fun to drink it in the limo!!) That was the night the tornado blew through downtown Atlanta and we were totally oblivious!  We were being picked up by the limo driver and going on to the Capitol City Club, because the revelers weren’t ready to go home.  Meantime the city of Atlanta was blowing away!!!  But it was sort of a Cinderella fun filled night.

But this year, due to economic downturns there was no limo, just Dan leaving in his trusty Acura to go all by himself to the banquet. 
And gosh, he was looking good when he left.  All dressed up in his tux with a brand new black tie and cumberbun.  Those ladies better leave my man alone down there tonight~~~~

I have always loved Black Tie events and this was the very first time Dan ever left the house in his tux without me!!!!

 

So as he left, I threw myself a little Pity Party.  BUT I didn’t invite anyone else to come.  I had it all alone and now its all over. 

BECAUSE there is going to be a real party here this weekend.  We are having a family birthday party for Charlie Bell here Saturday.  Its mostly adults and just a few children but I am so looking forward to it.   Going to be a Pirate Party because that’s what Captain Charlie wants!!!

Here’s a few pictures of some of the things we’re going to have at his party.

 

Captain Charlie modeling his pirate hat last weekend!

His shirt that my sweet friend, Stephanie did for him

The dining room table

The sign I made for the front door.

Pin the Clothes on the Pirate game

The sign for the Walk the Plank game!

Dan just walked in the door.  He’s so tired that I think he was already getting undressed in the car but here’s his pic as he walked in the door.

It’s night night time now!!!

Got to go get rested up because the Cottles are arriving tomorrow!!!

….and that party will be a party!!

 

Katie, Chad, and Charlie arrived Friday afternoon so they could help us get ready for Charlie’s Pirate Party on Saturday.  We were so hoping for pretty weather.  Last weekend it was 80 degrees on Sunday, the week prior it snowed, and well today, cold and wet. One thing about Atlanta weather, if you don’t like it, stick around, bound to change!!!

But nothing could damper Charlie’s spirits!!  He woke up Saturday morning saying he was ready to open his present.  (Katie and Chad got him a wonderful pirate boat, complete with compass, sound effects, cannons, etc. )  He was told he could open that present in the morning before his party.  When Dan and Chad dumped the contents out on the floor, the term “some assembly required”  just didn’t do it justice.

BUT two handymen, Chad and Dan got it put together with lots of Charlie help.  Here is Charlie first thing Saturday morning!!

He even slept in pirate pajamas!

Some assembly required???

Captain Charlie’s toy assembled.  Now nothing to do but wait for the party to start!

Maybe just a little more practice firing the cannons!

The party was mostly old family and friends.  We had 30 adults and 15 children.  I could not believe how good the kids were.  Too cold and wet to set a foot outside but they were great.  I know I didn’t get pictures of everyone because it was kind of crazy at times.  But here are some of the sweet family and friends who braved the nasty day to help celebrate Cap’t Charlie’s Third Birthday!

 

Check out the lovely day!  This is my favorite cousin Richard’s wife, Julie, mother of Isaiah, Abram, and Ezra. (Charlie loves these “cuzzins” so much.)

Julie is laughing because I greeted them at the door wearing an enormous wiggly eye over my left eye.  (IF you have suffered thru my blog for very long, you might remember that we had a marshmallow war the last time they were at our house and I got smacked really hard right in the cornea!!!)

What a cute pirate cake!!

Sweet Pregnant Kristi dropped by with a gift from Gracie.  (Gracie was having a girly tea party Saturday for her birthday party that afternoon.)  Katie and Kristi let the two bumps collide.  Molly Kate meets Jamin for the first time!!!!

Ella-Bella wearing her pirate dress with her hat full of gold!!

Parker and Ella ~ Fire in the hole, Matey!

Charlie and his future wife, Ava.  We believe in arranged marriages in this family.  Ava’s mommy and Katie have been friends since before birth so we think its only fitting that Ava and Charlie should marry!!!!

They go together like peas and carrots and ..

Ava shares in his wild sense of adventure!!!

Isaiah, Jeran, and Breydon looking for gold coins.  This would have been a lot more fun outside in the grass.  Not very creative hiding gold coins in carpet!!  But the kids were troopers!!!

Sweet little guy, Javen, sitting in Cap’t Duvall’s lap.  Vince is a captain in the US Army, flies black hawks and has done one tour in Iraq.  Well, Charlie told him that HE was a real captain, not Vince.  I think they got in a male bonding conversation about which one was really a captain!!!  Should have told Vince NEVER ARGUE with a THREE YEAR old, you will lose everytime!!  Vince is a great guy and a wonderful daddy to Ava.  (Charlie’s father-in-law?????)

Charlie’s “other grandparents”, Papa, Grammy, and Uncle Corey.  Corey gave Charlie the cutest pair of real leather cowboy boots.  Cannot wait to see him wearing those!!

GG Dolly and Ben~I cannot imagine doing a party without her help. 

My great-nephew, Sam playing with the car tracks.

Sarah with Caroline.  Sometimes the party fun is just too much for little ones!  Her brother, Holden is Charlie’s little buddy.  I got to hold Caroline for a while and she is so snuggly.

Pirate booty for Holden!!!

My great nephew, Ben, our miracle baby! 

“It’s my party and I can say AARRGHHH if I want to.”

It’s just such a shame that no one loves you, Charlie!!!!

Happy Third Birthday!!!

May 29, 2008~I will retire from teaching….

Wow!  It’s finally here.  I will retire with thirty years although I started in August of 1976.  (I took several years off along the way when Katie and Matt were little.)   It’s official.  I got the paperwork today from the state department.  All of a sudden I feel so old.  RETIRED!!!  That just sounds so old, so finished, so washed up!!!  I don’t know what I want to “be when I grow up.” I don’t think I want to do anything school-related when I retire.  I might not want to do anything in the way of a job.  I want to be able to see Charlie and Molly Kate whenever I can.  I would love to go visit Matt in Charleston more.    I would love to do some meaningful volunteer work.  I would love to teach women’s Bible studies but I am not real sure I’m qualified for that.  (However my mantra is, God doesn’t call the equipped, He equips the called!!!)

I had so much fun with the old school pictures when I posted them back in the fall.  So I thought I’d spend the next few days sharing what will surely become collector’s editions somewhere along the way!!!

I was Miss Harper this whole year.  (Dan & I became engaged in the fall of my first year teaching.  I think he wanted to marry me because he realized how much money I was going to be making!!!)

This group of second graders in 1976-77 would now be 40 or 41 years old!

I was absent the day this group photo was made.  I came back that fall as Mrs. Parmer!  Dan and I lived close to Cumberland Mall and I trekked out to Lithia Springs everyday that year!!!

I taught Kindergarten for the next two years.  This was back in the “good old days” when Kindergarten was split into morning and afternoon sessions.  One group came in the morning, left before lunch, and a fresh batch arrived in the afternoon and rode the bus back home.  This was “back in the day” when all that was expected of kindergarten kids was to hopefully recognized the numbers, letters, colors, and write their names.  We played games, sang songs, (off key, yep, that was me even back then!) and had lots of circle time!!

This was the same year.  Either the morning or afternoon group??  This was in my permanent phase.  That hair was something else…Just not sure what?? 

This must have been in my cowgirl phase.  I am wearing some dress straight out of Little House on the Prairie AND boots!!!  I taught about twenty kids in the morning and another twenty in the afternoon!  Good times!!

Oh my goodness, what photographer thought this would be a good idea for the school pics that year?  Every child’s picture was this format.  I sure hope theirs were cuter than mine!  At least that awful permanent had grown out!  But not one to disappoint….it will reappear!

I think these twenty three kids that I taught in one session were easier to teach than a roomful of fifteen kids now….Don’t know why that’s so…but it is.  Didn’t sign my contract at the end of the year because Katie was coming in September!!!

28 kids!!!  No second grade has 28 kids anymore!!!  This was school year 81-82.  I look a lot smarter in this picture than the one before because I finished my master’s degree while I was out with Katie the year before!!  (OOOPS, I thought I looked smarter till I realized I had that awful perm again! ) Must have made getting out of the house easier with a baby!!!  What WAS I thinking??

I taught till December the next year when Matt was born.  I stayed home and played mommy till Matt was 18 months old.  I returned to Annette Winn and taught first grade there for one more year. 84-85

Then I transferred to Arbor Station because it was so close to our house.

My first year at Arbor Station. 1985-86.  Again a large group of second graders!  I totally look the part of “old maid schoolteacher” in this picture.  It must have been the pressure of getting two kids out the door every morning!!!  At least I didn’t have a permanent!

I felt my kids were slipping away too quickly so I took the next year off.  Matt was in three year old kindergarten and Katie was in “real school”~five year old kindergarten at Arbor Station.

When I returned to Arbor Station, I started what would be a ten year tenure in Kindergarten.  It was all day then, no split sessions!  I had twenty-five kids in my classroom!  Unheard of in kindergarten today!!! 

OoPs, there’s the permanent again and I think I have the same blouse on as in the previous picture.  I must have though that was “real purdy!!”

This year we all went to Arbor Station together.  Matt was in kindergarten and Katie was in second grade.  AND me, I had bowl hair, that’s all I can say about that.  It’s just a big ole bowl full of curls and the only thing worse than the hair might just be that outfit!!!

I’ll post more pictures and continue in this exciting saga later. 

…..to be continued

I know, you can hardly wait!!!

Here’s my kindergarten class 1989-90.  Check out those pigeon toes on me!  Once again its just my hair and my class!!!  It’s funny how I remember some of these kids just like it was yesterday.  I hope they remember my hair!

Wow!  I think I counted 24 kids!!!  That was a big class!  This picture was made during my “I love to sail” phase!!!!

This was our last year to all go together to elementary school.  Katie was in fifth grade and Matt was in third.  How did I ever get out of the house back then???   I can barely get myself out now……

This was 93-94.  My trusty side-kick in many of these pictures is Bev Vaughn.  She was my parapro for years.  We had some good times working with these kids.  It was always good to have another adult in the room with you~someone to laugh OR cry with!!!

School year 95-96.  Cynthia Battles and I started working together that year.  Bev retired.  This was a great year.  These kids are in college and I hear from lots of them via facebook!

96-97.  That red dress was one of those that screamed “schoolteacher.”  You could have fit in it whether you weighed 110 pound or 200 pounds.  Many of my teacher friends blame their weight gain thru the years on those “fat clothes” that ONLY teachers wore.  No belt, no waist, so how would you know you were packing on a few extra pounds each year??

1997-98~My last year in the classroom.  I had some difficult situations that year and I knew it was time to do something different.  I went back to West Georgia and added on the E.S.O.L. endorsement to my certification!

So for the last eleven years, I have traveled among several schools and taught E.S.O.L.  No group pictures anymore.  But here are just a few, I will close with.  These are some of kindergarten kids from North Douglas Elem.   This was “W week.”  Every week I made pictures of them with something that began with the “sound of the week.”

Some of my favorites:

David, from Nigeria, speaks an African dialect.  He couldn’t decide on the Dolly Parton wig or the Annie one!!!

 

Ievgen, from the Ukraine, who speaks Russian, chose the Dolly Parton look.

One of my all-time favorites is T week when the kids don the bad looking  teeth.  T is for Teeth!!!!

Annette, whose home language is Spanish!  Check out her grill!

Jemerly, also a Spanish speaking little girl, proudly showing off her grill!

…and its time for me to leave before I do psychological damage to these children……..Teaching English to speaker of lots of other languages has been interesting!  English is a difficult language.  If the English language made any sense at all, lacksadasial would have something to do with a shortage of flowers!

Two months and counting down…..
I wish I knew what I wanted to be when I grow up…….