Great News

I'm so excited. My friend Tiffany is coming to visit!!!! She is in Japan and I haven't seen her since August of 2007. Though I keep up with her on her blog spot, facebook, emails and phone calls, I miss seeing her and going out for girls night. I especially miss having her at scout meetings. She encourages me and helps keep my spirits up when the logistics of scouts gets me down. This will be a drop in the bucket visit but she will be here in the flesh at least.

She called me Wednesday morning and we talked for an hour. It is so cool to hear about Japan from her. I just don't know though if I can do sushi, even though she swears it's really good when you get the good stuff. I'll have to take her word for it. Maybe one day I'll get to Japan so I can try it for myself.

She has decided that she is going to teach me Japanese phrases though. The first one is: I don't understand" Course she taught it to me yesterday and now I can't repeat it so I guess I fail my first lesson. Sorry Tiff. I promise I will try. Well lunch time is over so I'll get back to work. Dang it. More later.

The Love of My Life

This October, Marty and I will be married for 15 years. It seems like just yesterday that we started dating, yet I can't remember life without him. Today statistics show that 50% of marriages end in divorce and of the ones that are still married the number of those that are happy marriages is questionable. How can that be?

I have many friends that get tired of hearing how much I love my husband and they don't understand why I want to do everything with him. For those friends that might be reading this, you might want to stop now. This is going to be one of those blogs and though I love you guys, I'm not trying to make you jealous of what I have but I want the world to know and most of all my husband to know that I'm not afraid for the world to know how blessed I am.

My husband is my rock and my strength. He loves me fat and he loves me skinny. He loves me with long hair and he loves me with short. He loves me with make up but most of all with out. I don't have to protend with him, or hide things from him. We fight, we disagree, we say negative things but we love most of all. Our marriage is not a fairy tale, it's real. It's sometimes boring and it's sometimes hot but it always.

I try to remember to tell him how special he is. I try to remember to show him that life with him is like a box of chocolate: some filled with gooy carmal and some filled with yucky fruit thingys. I'm not perfect and I'm not always right but my love for him is. Valentines is here and it's the month of love, but with him, everyday is love even when I don't show it.

Marty, I love you. Happy Valentine's month! Josephine

New Year

Well in just 7 and a half hours 2008 will be behind us. The changes that have happened over this year are just amazing. I would not have believed it if you had told me on this day last year what all was going to happen. It as been a whirl wind.

One of my best friends moved.
I worked two Emmaus walks.
I learned one of my best friends is pregnant.
I learned one of my best friends will be moving back.
I've made so many new Emmaus friends that I can't tell you how blessed I am.
I've seen two of my friends preach.
My husband began his path to become a lay speaker and may pursue becoming a minister.
I've cried.
I've laughed.
and I've cried some more.

But most of all I found myself. I know who I am and I know that God loves me anyway. I know that there are people that love me even though I will never be perfect or have a perfect house or have the perfect clothes. They may kid me about my spelling, or my snoopys or my lack of style but they love me.

I am blessed. Thank you God, my father, for showing me how much you have blessed me. Even though there are days I may still cry, I know that God will be there with me and that my girl friends are only a phone call away.

Happy NEW YEARS everyone!!!!!

Silly Sentences Just for Fun!

This is funny! Don't spoil the fun, and keep it going.............Using the comment function of my blog: Type out the sentence you end up with.

Pick the month you were born:

January-------I kicked
February------I loved
March--------I karate chopped
April----------I licked
May----------I jumped on
June----------I smelled
July-----------I did the Macarena with
August--------I had lunch with
September----I danced with
October-------I sang to
November-----I yelled at
December-----I ran over

Pick the day (number) you were born on:

1--------- a birdbath
2--------- a monster
3--------- a phone
4--------- a fork
5--------- a snowman
6--------- a gangster
7--------- my mobile phone
8--------- my dog
9--------- my best friends' boyfriend
10------- my neighbor
11------- my science teacher
12------- a banana
13------- a fireman
14------- a stuffed animal
15------- a goat
16------- a pickle
17------- your mom
18------- a buffalo
19------- a Smurf
20------- a baseball bat
21------- a Ninja
22------- Chuck Norris
23------- a noodle
24------- a squirrel
25------- a football player
26------- President Bush
27------- David Letterman
28------- an Ipod
29------- a surfer
30------- a llama
31------- a homeless guy

Pick the color of shirt you are wearing:

White---------because I'm cool like that
Black---------because that's how I roll.
Pink-----------because I'm crazy.
Red-----------because the voices told me to.
Blue-----------because I'm cute and I do what I want
Green---------because I think I need some serious help.
Purple---------because I'm AWESOME!
Gray----------because Big Bird said to and he's my leader.
Yellow--------because someone offered me $1,000,000
Orange --------because my family thinks I'm stupid anyway.
Brown---------because I can.
Other----------because I'm a Ninja!
None----------because I can't control myself!

Now type out the sentence you made, in the comment line and review the ones that others have left. I can't wait to see what you get stuck with..........

Fall Fun

Erin coming through the tunnel.

Emily emerging from the tunnel.

Emily and Erin in the tube.

A beautiful fall day with the family.

Today was such a beautiful day we just couldn't spend it at home. We loaded up and went down town to the Little Rock Riverfront where they just installed a new playground area. I must say, I am so impressed with the architects that designed this one. It is a very cool play area. There is a slide, loads of tunnels, climbing ladders and rock climbing walls made with real rocks. I'm very surprised the insurance geeks allowed them to build it. It is an awesome place. The girls were having so much fun. Dad joined in the fun with a game of chase.

A Mother's Pride

Many of you know that Emily is singing in the praise band at church, but you may not know that she has started to do a few solos. A dear member of our church is moving and she requested that Emily do the solo "Untitled Hymn" again before she left. Today Emily preformed it and I finally had a camcorder there that worked and was able to get it. I pray that the file isn't too big to upload.

If not, I hope you enjoy it.

Halloween

Trick or Treating at Aunt Tammie's



Emily was a wood fairy this year. It took a few trys to find the one she wanted and the size that would fit but here she is.

Erin wanted to be Cleopatra. That was an easy one. Worked out good. It was cool seeing her with black hair.

Here are my two girls. Aren't they cute?

Halloween Aerobics at Trunk and Treat

Okay this is my first attempt at putting video in my blog. This is a video of the crazy people that come out at a trunk and treat.

Beware!!!!

Blessed Love

Today, 14 years ago, I was blessed to marry my best friend. I could not imagine then what marriage would be like though I dreamed of the fairy tale of my childhood as most young girls do. I don't have the fairy tale because my husband isn't a prince with a castle and more money then the country but he is my prince. He tells me he loves me every day and treats me as his princess. We have a warm, comfortable home that is the perfect size for us. Yes there are lots of things I would change about the "House" (like a bigger master bath) but not our "Home". We have two of the most beautiful, intelligent, loving children. Our girls are the perfect blend of he and I. It makes me so proud to know that we created them and that God has entrusted us to continue to raise them.

Through these 14 years, Marty and I have grown closer together but not only that we have grown closer together with God. God wasn't a huge part of the start of our marriage but He has become a huge part through the course of it and I believe that makes the difference for us. I thank God each day for the day He brought Marty into my life. He has such a wonderful plan set for us and I pray that we continue to seek His guidance in making our life together only more of a blessing.

I can't put into words the emotions that run through me when I think of my husband: love, admiration, pride, desire, comfort and peace are just a few. He is my companion, my confidant, my support and my lover. He is everything I had ever dreamed of.

Marty,
I LOVE YOU more then you will ever know.
Happy Anniversay, Baby!
Love,
Jo

My Baby is Eleven

Happy Birthday, Emmy Jo!!!!

Eleven years ago today at 3:52 pm my beautiful 9 lbs 5 oz baby girl was born. I was young, naive and scared out of my mind but she was so beautiful and sweet. She has been such a blessing to her daddy and me. She is talented both musically and intellectually. She is confident and outgoing. She is strong and yet she is tender hearted.

I have one birthday wish for you Em: may you always know in your heart that you are special and specially loved.

I don't want to see you grow up because I don't want to see you move away but at the same time I can't wait to see what you who you will become and all that you will accomplish. You have much to offer the world and I know what ever you dream, you will achieve.

Happy Birthday Baby! I LOVE YOU WITH ALL MY HEART!
Mom

Juniors! Cadettes! Ambassadors! Oh My!!!!!!!!

We're back in action again. We had our first troop meeting Monday night and we have an exciting full year ahead of us. Fall sales start Oct 1st and our first outing is Oct 4th. There are some new changes for us this year though. Our troop has expanded into new territory with 2 Ambassadors, 5 Cadettes, and 7 Juniors. This is all new to me because I had Juniors last year but have never had Ambassadors and Cadettes. Course, ambassadors are new this year because they made changes to the Girl Scout structure. The new structures is:

K - 1st grade = Daisy
2nd - 3rd grade = Brownies
4th - 5th grade = Juniors
6th - 8th grade = Cadettes
9th - 10th grade = Seniors
11th -12th grade = Ambassadors

This is all fine and good but I wasn't planning on moving two of my juniors up to Cadettes until next year (I have to move them 1 year earlier then planned) and I wasn't looking at moving the 7 juniors up to Cadettes until the end of the following year. But, new rules and new changes and all is not the same. That's okay though. We will make this work. I just received new Junior training and will take Cadette training in 2 weeks and then Ambassador training. I will get this working. Cheri and I will be working hard to get us in alignment. Pray for us though. It does get complicated in a hurry.

Well, I must go work on budgets, scout level blog sites and make some scout phone calls. Well try to keep you posted with all the news.

Has it been that long?

Two weeks of school

I can't believe the girls have been in school for two weeks already. It doesn't seem like it. I haven't even posted their first day of school photos.

Emily is in middle school now and has so much going on. She works the book store every Thursday morning with her best friend Maddy. She is joining clubs, (which isn't like joining clubs when we were in school - so we will find out which clubs she in next week) and already bringing home permission slips for special trips. With GT she will be going to the Heifer Ranch for three days and two nights. That sounds like a cool trip. She will do that in October. Once a month starting in Septmeber, she will be going with GT to a local nursering home where she will play games, read stores and just socialize with the residence there. Luckily this will go toward one or more of her GS badges also. Then the big trip is in the spring when she gets to so to Huntsville, Alabama to space camp. She is very excited about. I even applied to be a chaperone for that one. We'll see if I get picked.

Erin is now in the elementary school by herself and I actually think this is working better for her. She is working really hard in school and is progressing better then I could hope. She has her first spelling test of the year today and she was ready for it on Monday which is a huge improvement over last year. She loves her teacher and is excited about learning cursive. Aunt Tammie found her a cursive book to help her practice and it just happens to be the exact one that they are using in class. That is too cool. However for us old people, the cursive that we learned doesn't look anything like the cursive their learning and it's very difficult for me to help her. Our cursive had lots of loops and curves to it. The new cursive is very blocky. I swear I didn't know that it was possible to make the letter c with straight lines when your writing in cursive. I'll have to find you a sample of it. It's crazy. That's public education. It changes one way and then changes another.

Three weeks since the Hicks moved

What???? It can't be that long! They were just packing the house. We were just at the Walk together. We were just making bookmarks together. We were just working VBS together. We were just geocaching Searcy in a mad spree together.

Life gets away from us too fast. We must learn to stop and enjoy the good things and not stress over pooh bear's head getting broke. We can't run around screaming at the kids because before we know it their not kids anymore and they moved off to college or their own life. What I'm saying is we need to take the time for those we love why their with us. Let's not keep putting it off. The laundry can get done later, the vaccuming isn't important, so there's a ring around the toilet - tell me 95% of the toilet in the homes don't have a ring around it up to 2 hours before the guest walk in the door, but who really cares? And if they do, the are welcome to clean it them selves. I've got plenty of the cleaning products in the hall closet. That's why there's a ring in the toliet, the products are in the wrong place.

I know I'm making jokes but I miss my friend. I'm still talking to her on the phone and email. I still having a pillow fight on fb with her. I know what time she's getting up. I know that she is working out. I know when she is gone to get the girls and I even know what the weather is like where she is. I do still miss her.

Kristi, I don't care if you don't have anything to blog or if you blog the same stupid routine a hundred times. It comes from you and you had a hand in it and I know that your there. That's what matters. I don't care if you post everthing you eat or drink in the day. Though I will say it because I know if I don't I'll regret it: No bathroom stop schedule. I hope your regular but I don't have to know it.

New Phones

The nice mommy has moved into my house. I don't know where she came from and I don't why but she is there. Don't believe me? Ask my girls. Emily and Erin are proud owners of the new LG scoop phones. Em's is ......... blue and Erin's is ........ purple. Duh! I don't know what possessed me to talk their dad into it but I did. I was having issues with Erin not being in the same school with Em and so I wanted her to have a phone. Makes sense right? Then why is one of the rules for Erin that she can't take it to school with her? Not that she or Emily can use it in either place but it's for them to use when they get out of school and I'm running late or need to send them a message. Yet, Em's is off all day - per our rule and Erin's is at home on the bar until Erin gets home from school via me.

I must be careful because the next thing the nice mommy might do is get them a laptop or a tv in their rooms. YIKES!!!!!

Oh and I got a new phone too. I know don't know what is up with that but I now have a blackberry pearl. And I sooooo like my new phone., except that I need ringtones. Again see missing Kristi.

News Release: Bigfoot Sighting

I almost forgot to tell you that I have found "BIGFOOT". There is no more searching to be done. I have found him. Well actually her and actually two hers. We took Emily and Erin to get new tennis shoes for school. We went to Penney's because they were having a sale. Bad idea because they only had one girl working and the place was a mess but that is another story. Emily found a pair that the liked and she asked the lady for a six. Now, I don't know if you know anything about shoe sizes but they start at 0 and go through 13 for infants to kids then they start back over at 1 and go up for adults. Emily was asking for the 6 that comes after the 13. The lady is taking a long time and I'm thinking about the fact that Em has asked for a 6. Penney's has all the tennis shoes for the kids and womens and mens in the same area so I walk over to the womens and find a size 6 Nike. I ask Emily to come over and try it on. IT FITS!!! WHAT? Erin walks over and really likes the shoe and wants to try it on. I know that she likes to take my flip flops and wear them so I thought what the heck. IT FIT HER TOO! WHAT? Em is 10 (though she will be 11 in 25 days) and Erin is 8. Let me say that again: Erin is 8. "BigFoot" has moved into my house and ate my daughters. Erin can wear a size 6x childs shirt and a size 6 womens shoe and her daddy can touch thumb to thumb and middle finger to middle finger around her waist. That ain't right I don't care how you slice it.

A Whirl Wind of Activies

I can't believe how fast the last two weeks have gone. It's just crazy.

Marty's Birthday, Mom's Birthday, Women's Walk to Emmaus #135, Hicks moving to Omaha and School n Scouts start next week.

Walk to Emmaus #135

If you haven't heard me talk about the walk to emmaus then you must not have heard my testimony about my faith and about Marty's and my decision to help start a new Methodist congregation in Cabot. The Walk to Emmaus was second of two major turning points on my faith walk and now I have oppurtunity to go back and work walks and be a servant of God for others as they take their piligrim walks.

I was lucky enough this time to work the walk with three of my best girl friends and my best best friend, Marty. Going back to work is such an awesome experience. It helps to refocus my life back on God because the activities of life pull me away so quickly.

This weekend I re-experienced His love in away that I have only found when I've been on a walk. Though I worked and am now physically exhausted, I'm so ready to go back and work. It was even better being there with Marty and the girls, but I found that I have so many wonderful people there that mean so much more to me then I will ever be able to tell them. Grace, Shelly, Lana, Rick, Joy, Chris, Veda, Vada, and the list could go on and on. These are wonderful people who I just can't wait to see again when I go back to the next walk. September seems like a very long time away.

I did get some very special news though, my friend Wendy is going to go on her piligrim walk in Oct. I'm so excite and can't wait to see her and then to talk to her about her walk. I wish I was working it. If I could take that much time off and they would let me, I think I would work every walk, but that isn't allowed for very good reason. I just so enjoy being a servant of God on those walks.

Corn Girl :(

As with every Emmaus Walk, you have to come back to reality on Monday. Sometimes it happens Tuesday or Wednesday but you do have to come back from that Mountain Top experinence. It's just the way it is.


It's no different this time but is more then just a bad day at work or a problem with the car or house. This time I got to come home each day to watch movers pack one of my best friend's house so that they could load her stuff into a truck and move her from here to Omaha, 10 hours away. No more quick hugs, no more lets go have dinner, no more "Hey can your run get the kids.". She's only a phone call, text message, facebook, blogspot away but it is still extremely painful. I'M NOT CRYING. I have vowed not to cry because God has a plan for her and her family and it's in Omaha at the moment and I support her family in this. I love God and trust Him but it is really hard to accept everything, I am only human here. Some think that I'm just crazy for not crying but to be honest - if this dam breaks it will be weeks before the flooding stops so it's best to keep the plug in it. It has almost broke all day but I'm still hanging in there.

Guess what I had for dinner in her honor? Well corn of course. Gonna have it tomorrow and the next day too. Why? Because I can. Good thing I like corn. I was teasing her yesterday about being corn girl and she started calling me rice girl because I work in the rice fields. So, here we are: Corn Girl and Rice Girl.

Okay, I'm done writing. Think I'll go climb in bed with a container of ice cream.

Happy Birthday, Sweetheart!

Today is my adorable husband's birthday. I spent all morning Saturday trying to get him a gift and still don't have anything that I think is good enough for him.

If you never been around my sweet fabulous husband then you don't know how wonderful and great he is. I am trully blessed. He is my dream come true and I'm so very proud to be his wife.

I LOVE YOU! Have a great day.

Braces are on!!

BEFORE

 

 

WOW! I can't tell you how proud I am of my baby. She got her braces on today. She didn't scream and carry on at all. She listened and was a true champ. She is hurting some now but that is to be expected. I know that the pain will be there but will be so worth it in the end.


AFTER

 

 

Time Management

I now believe that I'm terrible at time management. I am behind or was suppose to do so many things and there really just isn't any excuse except that I'm not managing my time. I don't post like I want (though I'm really rather boring and don't have much to tell). I haven't been exercising, biking, hiking or caching as much or at all. Okay..... I was just thinking about what my next line would be and I've decided to stop right there. I'm whining and I hate whining. You don't want to hear me whine, your just nosy (isn't that why we read other peoples blogs) and you want to know what's been happening with me. At least that is why I read my friends blogs. What are they doing and what are they enjoying. So... change of subject.


The last three weeks

July 14-18 was VBS - Power Lab. I'm the children's ministries director for our church and so I'm the head hauncho to make sure that it all gets done. Luckily, I've learned to deligate (well I'm learning) and this year's VBS director and co director were outstanding. They worked hard and we had another outstanding week with a few minor devil caused hiccups (like one of our pastors falling during setup and breaking her wrist.) We had 106 children on Monday and Tuesday, 104 children on Wednesday, 105 children on Thursday and 94 children on Friday. We had a Thursday night dinner and performance and sliming and had over 200 people in attendance. Plus we were able to raise over $1800.00 for the local EXCEL program (www.excelarkansas.com). This is only our third year of VBS and each year we are growning. It is so exciting to see Jesus working through all the volunteers that week. It always exhaust me but I'm always so proud of the team that comes to work during that week and before making decorations and special project to make it happen. God is so good.

Saturday was relax day and that's what I did. Our close friends have a house on Greers Ferry Lake and a party barge and so on Saturday Marty, the girls and I joined them up there for nothing but lazying around in the water all day. If you know how busy I am then you might be able to guess how little time I have to be out in the sun. So this white girl got cooked. I mean make yourself sick, can't walk cooked. I know what your thinking, I should have used sun screen, well rest assured I'm not crazy enough anymore and I did and I reapplied it 3 or 4 or 5 times. I still got sun burned. I was so sun burned I couldn't make it to church on Sunday morning and the kiddo sang their VBS music during the worship service and we had visitors. Oh how I hate that I missed it. I thought I was being smart. Guess I need stronger sunblock for these white legs.

It's Friday and I'm still suffering from the sunburn. Now I'm peeling and itching. Doesn't matter how much lotion I put on, I itch. Oh well. Leaving my DNA all over the place is kind of funny.

The other latest adventure accured last night. My godson, AJ, had an accident with his hand and a door jam. The door jam won. He got his left hand middle finger caught in it and he pulled it out leaving about an eighth of an inch of his finger missing. So off to the emergency room with a race to see which aunt, uncle or parent could get to him faster. See he was with his babysitter. I won, I got there about 5 to 10 minutes after the babysitter. Course, his momma had to come from the other side of Little Rock in rush hour traffic so that wasn't really a fair race. I make light because other then a scare and the fact that the finger is a little bit shorter then you would expect, he's fine. As his uncle Marty kept telling him, Chic's dig scares, so it's all good now.

Well that is the highlights and if I get ambisious enough then I might even get some photos up. Don't hold it against me if I don't. I'm trying.

The Cat Fairy

 

Okay, which one of you has decided that VBS is the time of the year for the Cat Fairy to come? Last year at the end of VBS, we were "blessed" with a kitten on our front steps. This year, on the first day of VBS (today), I come home to find that the Cat Fairy has made a drop on our back porch!!!!

HELLO! We are not shopping for cats. We are not the city cat people. So please stop delivering them to us.

Now - Anyone want a cat????

Just one word.

My friend Grace emailed me this one but I thought I would put it here and tag Tiffany, Laura and Kristi instead of emailing it around.

Here's the deal: answer the following question but the catch is to only use one word answers. ONLY ONE WORD.

1. Where is your cell phone? desk
2. What are you wearing right now? clothes
3. Your hair?: brown
4. Your mother?: Sherwood
5. Your father?: Heaven
6. Your favorite hobby? geocaching
7. Your dream last night? none
8. Your favorite drink? margarita
9. Your dream/goal? healthier
10. The room you're in? cubicle
11. Your ex? not
12. Fear? snakes
13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? bermuda
14. Where were you last night? Home
15. What you're not? fake
16. Muffins? blueberry
17. One of your wish list items? contenment
18. Where you grew up? Sherwood
19. The last thing you did? read
20. What are you going to do this weekend? entertain
21. Your TV? old
22. Your pets? cats
23. Your computer? dell
24. Your life? crazy
25. Your Mood? joyful
26. Missing someone? Emily
27. Your car? Suburban
28. Something you are not wearing? socks
29. Favorite Store? JCPenneys
30. Your summer? Hot
31. Like someone? Everyone
32. Your favorite color? purple
33. When is the last time you laughed? yesterday
34. Last time you cried? Sunday
35. Who will/would repost this? Tiffany

Changes

Changes are good right? Then why do most of us resist change? Why do I get sick at my stomach at the thought of having to change anything? Change is all around me these days.

Job Changes) For those of you who don't know - my job has changed and has many uncertainties to it now. I am now the State Irrigation Engineer and technically my office is on the fifth floor of the federal building in Little Rock. Now the idea of being the SIE is really cool but the new responsibilities are huge. The location of the job is an issue for me because this is the same federal building that Timothy McVay once considered as a location for bombing though he chose Oklahoma's Federal Building instead. I don't think like an extremist so to think that one person out there thought of this building makes me concerned about the other extremist that exist in the world. The scope of my job is the other issue - I've been working on irrigation project almost since day one on the job and I believe in the irrigation projects. They are designed to reduce the ground water consumption of farmers to a tolerable amount in order to keep from depleting the water source. The solution to the problem is to divert excess drainage water out of local rivers for their use. I fully believe in being good stewards of the land and believe that using our resources wisely is how we can honor God. How this relates to change is that because of legal suits against the government, funding for my office has been almost nil and thus the powers that be want to shut the office or reorganize it, as is the latest endeavor. I believe in these projects and don't want to stop working on them, but I work for the federal government and thus must do what some bureaucrat in Washington feels is important and not what I feel is important.

Girl Scout changes) Scouts is a huge part of my world. I have two girls who love scouts, a husband who should have made Eagle Scout, a mother-in-law that was a scout/leader/training for GS and the one of the first den mothers, two nephews who are Eagle Scouts, a aunt-in-law that is a life time scout and my very fond memories of my little time in scouts. Well, like all things people move up in positions and think that they need to make their mark on something and they start tinkering with it to make it "better." Well, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. I'm sure that this too will work out fine but I like scouts how it is. I'm a very old school type scout and like the structure of the organization and I even like the uniforms for ceremonial purposes.

Friends change) It's moving season again in Cabot. We live in a community that has either lived there their entire life or are military (usually) transients. Every spring/summer, the moves start happening and we have to say good bye to someone that we have come to know. Well, this time it isn't a military friend but a UP friend. Thanks UP for bringing them here but do you have to all the good promotions in Omaha? Can't there be any really cool plush engineering jobs here in Arkansas? My family has grown extremely close to the Hicks family in the last year. The girls are more like sisters and Kristi and I are more like sisters then I would have thought possible for only really knowing her for a year and a half. I was there with her through the darkness of her sister's death and now I have to watch as she moves away to a city 10-12 hours away. With gas prices and economic trends, I know face to face visits are going to be very limited at best and that just isn't the same. Again change is good, but change still hurts.

Kids change) Hey did you know that my first born is now 10 years old? She is leaving elementary school next Tuesday for the last time as a student there and will be officially a middle schooler. Do you know that she is on the edge of becoming a teen and all those wonderful hormonal changes that come with it? I didn't either until just the other day. Wow, were did the time go? Just the other day, I was pregnant and scared out of my mind about child birth. I'm so very proud of her because she is an awesome, sweet, respectful young girl but am I ready for the next phase? I don't think I have a choice.

Technology Challenged

Okay, must of you wouldn't think that I'm technology challenged but I'm. I love blogging and reading other's blog pages. This is how I know what my wonderful friend Tiffany is up to in Japan and that my friend Laura just had a baby boy. I love myspace and facebook, though I am completely challenged trying to make it look the way I want it to. However, I see things that other do and I want to be able to do it too. Like putting video online. So dug out our old RCA camcorder that we purchased just before Emily was born so that I could "record" ever aspect of her life. Yeah, right! I had to remember how to use the thing but was able to make some recordings. Okay that wasn't so bad, but know I have to figure out if I can get this old technology camcorder, which well before usb ports, connected to my computer. Well I asked my technology expert friend and of course she knew exactly what I needed. So for Mother's day, I got a dazzle converter. After several attempts, I managed to get the software loaded correctly and the recorder connected to the computer. I was even able to make a small move clip. GREAT! I can do this.

Well, here's were it goes wrong. Last night was Emily's last elementary school musical and I was all excited because I was going to record it and post it on my blog. Alexis could see Emily way over in Japan. Yeah, that didn't happen. I went to make sure that I had the tape in the right spot because I didn't remember if I had after I had learned to download. Well, the recorder ate the tape. Okay no biggy there because I had nothing of importance on there really because it was a new tape we had purchase when I dusted the thing off and had only recorded some none important things. So, I fix the tape and tried making it play. No dice. No video is on that tape now. Okay, so I try recording. No dice. Flashes "Tape" at me and locks up. Okay, try another brand new tape. No dice. Press record, it starts, then it hangs up and flashes "Tape" at me. Get it froze and it will rewind or fast forward or play but try to record an "Tape", "Tape", "Tape". Okay, I get it.

So instead of me blogging and showing you my first video of my "baby girl" just before she leaves behind elementary school and enters the world of middle school, I'm blogging about crappy technology. Sorry, but you missed a GREAT musical. Oh and you'll also get to miss her second piano recital, because it is Thursday night and I just don't see me getting over this technical hurdle that quick.

Happy Birthday Baby Girl

My baby is 8 today. I just can't believe that it has been 8 years since the day this precious child came into my life. She was happy, healthy and a ray of sunshine and she still is today. She is a thoughtful, selfless child. She always seems to put others first and just loves to give things to people who mean something to her. She likes bugs and flowers and biking and cuddling. She is my cuddle child. She swarms a lot but she just loves to cuddle.

I didn't get to spend the day with her like I wanted to. I have found that with the end of school, Memorial Weekend and Mother's day, May is a very, very busy month and if you happen to have birthday in that month it's almost impossible to get a birthday party scheduled. So like most of our month, other things took president today. That makes me very sad. My beautiful, precious child spent the day at church and then at a friends where she wrecked her bike and skinned her arm and leg up. I wasn't even there to hold her when she cried.

She did get to have her birthday party last night though. She had a swimming party at the local indoor pool. She was so excited because she got 7 new webkinz and now she has more than her sister. I don't have her pictures handy to post but will get them up soon. She has grown so much in 8 years.

My baby!!!