Graduation Day is Here

Tonight at 7:00pm CST our amazing Carson will be graduating with his class from St. Stephens Pre-K program. Kari and I will be there along with other family members, and friends. When Carson started with St. Stephens he was only 6 months old and his graduation from Pre-K was so far off we never even thought of that day. In February when we went through all those malicious accusations we never thought that Carson would be able to graduate. We, including Carson survived and are looking forward to him attending the ceremonies this evening. Check back tomorrow to see pictures of the boy at graduation.

Does Jesus Live in the Dirt Momma?

We have talked quite a bit lately about where God and Jesus live. I have tried to answer in a way that would make sense to a five year old. We have talked about how he loves Jesus and that Jesus loves him so much, He wants to live in our hearts and keep us company all the time.

With the recent passing of our family dog, we are dealing with all sorts of questions that I never had to deal with before. When Ginger died, my dad buried her at their house, and he showed both Carson and I where it was. As parents we have fallen back on some old cliches for some of the questions. One such question is where is Ginger going to live now? I, without really thinking told him that she is living with Jesus now just like Garth. Garth is our black lab that was put down about three years ago. Carson is a VERY literal child. He was taking a bath later that night and asked if Jesus lived in the dirt, since Ginger was buried in the dirt. I had to think for a minute...and said that Jesus lived everywhere.. so I guess He is in the dirt too! The very next question was "does Ginger live in my heart like Jesus"? I answered that she will always be with us in our memories. Sometimes the questions are harder than I make them out to be, because Carson accepts quite readily anything that we tell him honestly. I have found when we try to get too technical with things... we complicate something that he can grasp readily if we keep it simple.

At that time Jesus said, "I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. Matthew 11:25 NIV

Hopefully... Words can heal.....

I can't sleep.... too much running through my mind ....I started this blog several months ago on a dare.. never in my wildest dreams did I think that it would become such a big part of my life. I blog pretty much daily... I like to share tidbits of my life with others, but the main reason was to keep Wayne updated in a different way about what is going on in our lives while he is living apart from us. I usually post random things that happen throughout our day, and even what I am scrapbooking at the time. I have shared way more here in this media than I have ever done in a face to face friendly relationships.
Unfortunately, some postings on my blog have caused hurt to other people. That was never my intention. I realized that the written word, like the spoken can not be thrown around without thought. Having so recently myself, been attacked by the written word, I should have known better. My heart breaks thinking that friends that I love were hurt by the thoughts that were posted on my blog. I tend to over think many things and I should have thought through before I typed. The posts were pulled, but not before damage was done. That I can not repair, but I can ask and pray for forgiveness. I know that some will read this and just simply choose to ignore, some will read and wonder what the heck is that about. All that needs to be said is that I hope and pray that the ones that I hurt read this and know I am truly sorry.

A Very Sad Day at the George Household

Ginger (1991-2008) and Petey

We lost a special member of the family today, Ginger my 17 year old dachschund died today. I originally bought her as a gift for my Father for Father's day, but it was obvious from the very beginning that she was going to be my dog. When she was a puppy she had a habit of running on three legs... she would lift one of her back legs and scamper around, it was quite comical at times. You could tell her to put her foot down and she would do it. She was also known to eat objects that dogs are not normally supposed to ingest. She had two surgeries on her stomach to remove foreign things that she had eaten. She had had two litters of puppies, that produced my brothers dog and my other dog Petey.

She was diagnosed about a month ago with cancerous tumors that were inoperable. We knew we only had a matter of time left with her, but knowing doesn't alleviate the hurt of losing her. She will be missed tremendously.

If you have never been owned by a doxie, you are really missing something. You are owned, you don't own them. They are notorious cover stealers, as well as heart stealers. They are extremely loyal and suffer from big dog syndrome.... you know little dogs who don't know that they are actually little dogs. They think that they are the biggest dogs on the block. Ginger was my bed partner long before Wayne and I got married, and she was able to steal his heart as well.

The last couple of years have been rough on her, she was nearly blind, and almost deaf, she was no longer a nice red colored doxie but she was grizzled with mostly grey. When I took her to the vet recently, she said that she had a lot of spunk left in her, and that we should enjoy the time at we had left.

It breaks my heart to see Petey running around looking for her, I don't know who will miss her more, him or us... I think we will both miss her tremendously.

We are going to miss you old girl!

Old New Hampshire Friends

I headed to NH on Friday to pay my parents grave a long overdue visit. The last time I was there was in April 2002 to bury my mom who passed away in December 2001. It was a long overdue visit and I sat there for a while cried, talked and realized that the 2 evergreen bushes my mom had planted years ago needed some trimming. My older son, Peter who lives in the same town was suppose to be maintaining the bushes had kind of let them get carried away. No problem I borrowed some tools and took care of them myself. Also raked away a ton of leaves that got caught underneath the overgrown bushes. The I went to Lulls Farm, a local NH fruit / veggie / flower farm just up the road bought some red and white geraniums and planted them. Mom would of turned 88 this coming Monday.

After taking care of the cemetary plot I decided that it was time to look up a few old and close friends who I also had not seen in at least 6 years and who although we talked on the phone or via e-mail ocassionally it is always better to see them in person. First up was my good friend, Billy. Billy and I were on the Milford NH Fire Department together back in the 80's and 90's and we have a special bond of being firefighting brothers. He was also the best man in our wedding. So as I drove by his house he was out on his lawn tractor mowing his large yard, with his back to the road I drove up behind him and as he looked over his shoulder he could not believe that I was there. We talked for about an hour and then he needed to finish and I had others to see.

The I drove over to Hollis, NH and stopped at the local gas station that is still operated by the same guy. His sons and I attended high school together and a couple of them also served with me on the Hollis Fire Department. I ran into a good friend at the garage, Chip. Chip and I talked for quite a while and he said that he would call Kristen and Greg (husband and wife) and maybe the 4 of us could do dinner. Later in the afternoon, Chip called and said that dinner was going to be at Shorty's at 7:30. Well we all get there and the laughter and fun begins and it was a total blast. Kristen, and I were EMT's on the Hollis Fire Department and we had shared many a call together and relived some of them tonight. Chip was also on the Hollis Fire Department, and use to be Kristens boy friend. Kristen, also reminded me about my alledged lumber stealing incident (goes back to fall of 1990 or 1991) - it's a whole story in itself and I thanked her for reminding me. Long story short, it was good to see these friends of mine, to share some so so Mexican (NH idea of Mexican) food, and more than anything to laugh and listen to stories you have heard before 1,000 times but like fine wine they always get better. Kristen and Chip came to the conclusion that I have been missed and that the heck with moving to Virginia, I'm wanted back in NH - so Kari don't get to comfortable in Virginia - just kidding.

On Sunday it is back to Virginia, and then on Wednesday I leave for Texas and to a special guys Pre-K graduation.

Kristen, Chip, Greg, and Billy - thanks for the time we shared today and now that I'm only 500 miles away instead of 1,600 let's get together more often.

WE WON!

Whoo Hoo!... Carson's first soccer game of the season was this morning. They played a team that kicked us last year, so I will admit that I was slightly concerned that they would beat us today. The final score was 8 -3, they sure did give us a run for our money... and the kids had an absolute BLAST! What a difference a year makes... it is amazing, all the kids were focused on the game, we had no butterfly chases, or flower picking parties. Just a ton of fun! The other team really was a tough opponent, and it was so nice to see all the kids having such a good time playing together.

I will warn you now... I can almost guarantee that I will bore you to death with soccer pictures before the season is over.

It's SOCCER Time!

If there is one thing that Carson really loves to do, it is play soccer. This is his third season, we debated letting him play this season before we move, in case we have to move before the season is over. This season his best friend Caden is getting to play also. There is something about little boys and the thrill of kicking a ball down field. At practice tonight Caden and Carson ran and ran and ran some more...

The first season that Carson played last spring, they did not win one single game. The team was comprised of 4 yr olds who had never played any sort of organized sport before. I got such a kick watching the kids all intent on the game until a butterfly flew by... or a dandelion was spotted. The little girls holding hands and running together, and dropping everything to smell a flower. This is such a fun age to watch. He played soccer again last fall, and they won 6 out of 8 games. A major improvement! We are looking forward to a fun filled season, whether they win or lose, I know that the kids will have a blast doing it!

Some Pages From my Crop

Finally got a few pictures of some of the pages I got done on Saturday. I had planned on staying until midnight, but seeing how my hubby surprised me for Mother's Day I figured I would surprise hubby and I left about 9:15. I was able to get 12 pages done! This is huge for me because I am lucky if I get 3-4 done in a 12 hour period. I am way too anal about matting all pictures etc. But I did something Saturday that I never have before... I used CTMH's paper pack Magic Moments for about 8 of those pages. They are all pre-printed with the matts etc... so easy! I used this paper pack for some pictures of our mini vacation from last summer. Mainly from the Dallas World Aquarium. There was a lot of pinks in this pack, but they worked with the aquarium pictures quite well.

This was just a sampling... and of course I still need to journal and embellish... but the hard stuff is done!

I also was able to get a four page layout done from the Fort Worth Zoo. I had originally intended to use the CTMH paper pack Expedition, but the colors were off.. and the paper I did use just made the pictures pop. I used a tru fit folio so this will be a flip page when all assembled.I did not embellish anything... I always do that at home... Or I would never use all the stuff I already have... I would be constantly buying new stuff to do it there.

Happy Mother's Day One Day Later!

First let me say that I hope everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day spent with their families. Carson and I had planned on a quiet day just the two of us, but there were other plans that I was unaware of. I had been looking forward to Saturday for months... I had an all day crop to attend and I had made arrangements for Carson to spend some time with my Mom and Dad, and my sisters family. I was going to pick him up at 3pm and go and pick up the sitter I had hired for the rest of the evening. Her mother was scrapbooking with us and she was just going to pick up Macy when it was over. My day was PLANNED! I was enjoying some much needed Mommy time. Carson was dropped off with my sister, I was busy working on a project at the crop and Wayne calls me. Now when he, who is supposed to be in Virginia, asks me how late I am going to be out, I start to question him as to what he is up to. Just so you know he is always up to something! He convinces me that he is not up to anything and just making conversation. About 45 minutes later I look up and Carson is walking into the crop room, my very first thought is I forgot something, and Wendy is bringing him by for it. So I ask "did Aunt Wendy bring you by".... and He just grins as big as all get out and said nope..."MY DADDY DID" Sure enough Wayne walks in right behind him.Now just so you know... I questioned Wayne several times during the week, because he gives away little clues as to his plans... and I have been able to read him for years. He really had finally convinced me he wasn't coming home, so I was VERY surprised to see him. He had to do a lot of finagling to get this to all work out. He called my sister and mom and dad. He cancelled the sitter, he traded in frequent flyer miles, and he made arrangements to work out of home on Monday. While this was a very short trip, it was one that both Carson and I needed. Oh and I did get a cool new little camera for my purse... yea... so I feel I really raked it in this Mother's Day.

Much Needed MOMMY Time!

I am getting a wonderful treat today, as I am at an all day crop. Since Wayne left in February, I have not had more than a couple of hours by myself.....It has been Carson and I pretty much 24/7... I desperately need time off...We all need breaks once in a while and I am going to take full advantage of this much needed mommy time! Hopefully I will get a lot accomplished and will be able to post some of my layouts when I am back on Sunday.