2007 Recap

Each year I like to reflect back on the previous year and do a sort of recap blog.  Here it’s almost February and I haven’t even thought about it yet.  Well in all honesty I have thought about it but I thought why in the world would anyone want to remember the past year in my life?  I was only thinking how horrible it has been and how much heart ache it included.  But really when I thought about it and looked back through the months worth of pictures stored on the computer I realized there were so many wonderful things that happened as well.  And I’d be selling the year short if I didn’t do a recap and mention all those wonderful things along with the bad.  So here goes nothing.   I hope you enjoy and remember the good things about your past year too.  I don’t really have a plan so I’ll just number them and explain.  Some may be long and drawn out and some may be short and sweet.  Depends mostly on how much I remember which considering the state of my mind lately probably will not be alot. 

1.  2007 was my first year as MYF (Methodist Youth Fellowship because I know someone will ask) Leader.  What an honor and privilege it has been.  Along with the honor and privilege also came a few headaches.  The main headache being all the fundraising involved.  Our church is pretty small and there isn’t a ton of money for doing everything these kids deserve.  So in order for fun to be had money had to be raised.  Now I hate fundrasiing more than anything.  I guess that goes back to my high school days and cheerleading.  But one of the fundraisers the youth and I did in February 07 was so much fun.  Not only fun but it ended up raising more money than anything else we did the rest of the year.  It was a Womanless/Cow Beauty pageant.  Don’t ask me where the cow part came from but the womanless is pretty self explanatory.  It was mandatory for all the youth and leaders to enter the competition.  We asked for volunteers from the congregation too and had several takers.  Which might have been a bit disturbing considering how many men wanted to dress up like women and strut their stuff.  As for the girls… We had to make ourselves look funny or ugly to the best of our ability.  How was money raised you ask? Well it was pretty guiness if you ask me…  After each contestant walked the runaway they all went back around the room carrying a bag with their number trying to get as many votes as possible to win.  The votes were money and the winner was the one who collected the most money.  It worked out great.  We made well over $800 dollars that one night and there wasn’t nearly as many in attendance as I had hoped.  It’s too soon to do it again this year unfortunately… But seeing this every few years is MORE than enough anyway… 

2.  In May we did another fundraiser that wasn’t nearly as much fun… I hate yard sales but they had always done one each year and I wasn’t confident enough as a new leader to venture out from the norm just yet so I went along with it.  Not so much this year btw.  For a few months before we collected items and junk from all the congregation.  It was a great way for them to spring clean and for us to make some dough so there was tons of donations… It took nearly 2 night to get set up and then the morning of the yard sale it was pouring rain.  We gathered together and prayed that if God saw fit would he please stop the rain for a few hours.. Guess what? He did and we had our yard sale.  We raised over $500 this day.  For me it was too much work for these old bones.  Yah, sure I had 13 or 14 able bodied kids around but they were not very much help.. As much as I love teenagers they are lazy bums when it comes to manual labor and I worked my buttocks off all day…

  

3.  June was a bittersweet month.  Our pastor of 13 years had to move on to another church and we got a new one.  Brother Ron and Mrs. Joan had been such a major part and influence on my life for so many years it was really hard for me to let them go.  Even to this day I still have troubles with it sometimes.  But God works things in his own way and it’s not for us to question or know why things like that happen.  Maybe Brother Ron was meant to preach at another church for the life of one person to be saved.. And maybe that one person would go on to win many many lives to Christ.  If that means I have to get used to a new preacher and wife then so be it.  I can do that for God.  So.. out with the old.. and in with the new.  Brother Eric and Mrs. Barbara then entered into my life.  I love them both but it’s just not the same yet.  I’m sure in a few more years I’ll wonder how I ever made it without them. 

4.  Four and Five happened back to back but are two very different thing… Allison spent 5 days at the University of Alabama for Cheer Camp in July.  I didn’t go so there isn’t alot for me to say.  I do know that her squad did excellent and won camp champions and brought home many other trophies and ribbons.  Allison also tried out for Univeral Cheerleader Associations All Star squad and made it.  This is a very high honor and you have to be really good to make it.  We were very proud of her to say the least.  Winning All star would affect the rest of our year too but I’ll get to that later. 

The squad being goofy…

When I was looking for this picture of Ally with Big Al (Alabama’s mascot) I found this one of me and Big Al from about 18 years ago at cheer camp… 

5.  The very same day Allison left cheer camp was the day we left to go on the youth trip to Gulf Shores/Orange Beach.  I lost my mind and decided to take 15 teenagers on vacation.  I know I know.. What on earth was I thinking?  Beats the heck out of me.  It was fun but for me not in the relaxing way a vacation should be.  I tried my very best to keep the kids inline and also give them many good devotions about God to ponder, pray and think about as they lay their heads down each night.  With that being said the next time I go to the beach I will only have two kids with me.  The 2 I gave birth to. 

6.  Okay up until now it’s been all fun and games… But here is where 2007 started getting sticky.  I’m in a really good mood right now and I don’t want to bring myself down writing about depressing things.  So if you want to read about my father’s death and his life up to that point read this entry from August 9th…

7.  More Cheerleading… The girls competed at the Haleyville Invitational and of course they won…. By this time their heads are getting purty darn big..

8.  Kelsey got glasses.  Now she is like the rest of this nearsighted family. 

9.  We went camping with my Sunday school class in September.  It was a great weekend full of fun and fellowship.  I am getting tired of writing so the entries are getting shorter.  Hopefully the photos paint a better picture anyway. 

10.  I’ll combine these 2 events… As you can see cheerleading pretty much runs our life.  I’m looking forward to this year because Allison has decided to take a year off before moving up to varsity.  As soon as Nationals are over in February we will get a break..

North Alabama Regionals-  3rd Place

Alabama State Cheerleading Competition- 3rd Place

11.  I told your cheerleading was everything to us… But this time cheerleading paid off in a big way.  Because Allison made UCA Allstar she was invited to be in the Thanksgiving day parade at Disneyworld.  We got amazing group rates and we took advantage of this since we haven’t been on a real family vacaition in a long long time.  We had a blast together as a family and it was just what we needed.  I took so many pictures I’m not even going to try and post them all here.  You can view my Disney photobucket album here though if you want to check them out.  Looking back now I am so blessed for this vacation because little did we know that just a couple of weeks after we returned our world would come crashing down around us. 

12.  Which brings me to the final chapter of my 2007 recap.  Most of you know the story.  I started this blog over 2 years ago when my then 20 year old brother had a car accident that left him a quadriplegic.  I journaled his 7 months in the hospital and recovery from my point of view.  Then we he got home I wrote about his struggles and what I was going through as a part time care giver.  Chuck went from having his back turned on God before the accident to praising him with all he had after he survived what should have killed him and then headed back the other direction as depression over his injury took over.  I journaled it all here.  This was my outlet for stress and worry where he was concerned.  Sometimes the things I couldn’t say to him I could say here.  But I always was able to tell him how much I loved him and he told me too.  On Dec 11th I lost my little brother through circumstances none of us could have prevented or saw coming.  I struggle every day without him in my life.  I’m comforted knowing he is happy and walking again in heaven with our Savior and Lord.  It seems like I’m leaving Christmas out but I’m not really just everything from that day on seems to run together over the few weeks following….I miss him everyday some days it gets the best of me but most days I still manage to smile. 

Thank you to all who have been here over the last year with me.. Laughing, crying and sharing our lives… I don’t know what I would do without this blog & my friends here… Be well and here’s to another great year ahead of us all….

Here I am baby…

Hello everyone.  I’m back.  I didn’t really go anywhere but I feel like I’ve been in hell for over a week.  To make a long story short I had a major change come about in my life.  A change that had to happen but I wasn’t ready for.  It’s been a daily struggle but I’ll be strong and persevere.  One tool I’m going to use to help me is my trusty ole blog.  Yes, it’s always been there for me before and it will be now too.  So, here I am… as random as ever… 

I finally got all of my dad’s affairs taken care of.  I closed his bank account on Thursday and there was just enough money to pay the balance on our Disneyworld trip.  God works in the most awesome ways.  I’m not saying my father died so we could go to Disneyworld.  I’m say that the timing of his death along with my grieving.  Then the death certificate came in just in time to pay something that I had no idea how I was going to swing it.   

I also had to clean out his apartment.  I may have already told you this.  He didn’t have anything of much value.  Just a few furniture items.  One of those being something Chris has been wanting forever.  He finally got a LazEboy recliner.  It was so filthy though I had to steam clean it 2 times before I would even allow anyone near it.   

There are 2 items that I am most proud of.  One is my great grandmother’s antique dresser.  Isn’t it beautiful?

It’s made of solid wood too.  Right now I have it in my dining room holding all my scrap booking supplies.  And the other item is a mantle clock that my grandfather received when he retired from his company.  It chimes every 15 minutes and every time I hear it I’m reminded of my childhood days because it used to be in my grandmothers house.   

Allison is doing great with cheerleading.  They only have 2 more Junior Varsity games left this season.  It seems like the games just started a couple of weeks ago.  She will cheer with the varsity squad at homecoming and then it will on to basketball season.  Plus they have 3 competitions before December.  

Kelsey got glasses! They are so cute.  She really loves them which I think is great because I remember when I got glasses I hated them because kids made fun of me.  I guess kids these days make fun of different things.  Tomorrow is picture day at school so I rolled her hair in these foam rollers so she will be all prettified tomorrow.   

My sister bought a house.  It’s just down the street from my house.  Actually it’s a house that my dad built about 20 years ago.  When I was in the 5^th grade our houseburnt to the ground and this was the house he built to replace that one.  My dad sold it to his sister when he and mom bought a farm.  My aunt then sold it to someone out of our family and they recently foreclosed on it so Stephanie bought it.  I’m so happy to have the house back in our family.  A piece of my dad is in that house and just being inside of it reminds me of him and growing up.  I spent all last weekend steam cleaning all her carpets and helping paint.   

Well I guess that’s all I have right now.  Next time I chime in I’m going to recap on the fall premieres coming up that I’m excited about.  You all have a good day.  I’ll try to get around visiting soon.  I know it’s been a long time.  Please forgive me.   

Wordless Wednesday

As promised

Ok here goes nothing…  Finally I’m going to update my blog.  And I have so much to blog about.  The last few weeks of my life has been jam packed with excitement, relaxation, stress, sadness, & fun.  I’m actually not sure where to start.

First of all, I hope everything is going great with you all.  I’ve been so busy that I haven’t been able to get by and check on you guys.  I will get around to that soon I hope.  I miss reading about your lives almost as much as I miss writing about mine.  I’ve said it before but I’ll say it again, putting it all here helps me keep my life in perspective. 

Allison-

I am so proud of my girl.  Her cheerleading squad went away to the University of Alabama last week to compete and learn at UCA (Universal Cheerleader Association) Camp.  We all knew they were good but this was their first year to go away for camp and we were not sure how they would measure up to some of the huge squads that come from bigger schools.  UCA does not organize the competitions by size of the schools or squads.   Everyone learns and competes the same. Well let me tell you they did incredible and came home with 3 trophies! They prepared a dance before they left to perform for their Home Pom routine and placed 2nd in it.  They learned an Extreme (fast paced) routine down there and competed with it and placed 2nd in that one. They won Camp Champ in the Cheer division too which I believe is like the highest honor.  Go MHS JV Cheerleaders!! I’m so proud of you girls. 

Now on to the best part of Cheer Camp.  Allison was selected to try out for UCA All stars while at camp.  She went through rigorous try out on Wednesday along with 5 other girls from her squad and about 100 from other squads.  Guess what?  She made it! Not only did she make it but she was the only one from her squad who did.  I found out on the way to the beach while driving a huge 15 passenger van.  Good thing I didn’t wreck!  I’m so proud of her and her skills in this sport. And YES it is a sport for any doubters out there.  You should see how hard these girls work.  So anyway, she was invited to perform in a Thanksgiving Day parade at Disney World.  It’s so exciting.  The bad part is, I’m not sure how we will be able to afford to go.  It will cost about $2500 for us to go.  My mom is determined to make it happen and we are professional fund-raisers so you never know.  I’ll keep you all posted but you may be able to see Allison on TV in November!  

Youth Trip-

Thursday morning we set out for the beach with 2 vans, 13 teenagers, 3 kiddies, and 4 Youth leaders.  The trip down went fine complete with perfect weather and everyone in a good mood.  The worst part was listening to Kelsey and Emily (6) ask me for 7 hours “How long till we get there”. We went to Orange Beach, AL but I had to run through Gulf Shores, AL to pick up the keys to the condos.  So we ended up traveling about 10 miles on the beach road.  That was like torture for everyone because we could actually see the ocean and those 10 miles seemed to take forever.  We were not able to afford to stay right on the beach but we were just across the road and we did have a cross walk which made it nice.  The condos were nice and everyone seemed to be happy with the sleeping arrangements. The weather was beautiful, the waves were perfect and the jellyfish were few and far between. 

Of course where you have 13 teenagers especially if half of them are girls you are going to have some drama.  We did have our share. I’m not going into detail because it’s all childish and really doesn’t amount to a hill of beans.  I was extremely disappointed in the behavior of 3 of the girls.  They were disrespectful to us and to the other children.  The worst part is these were not the younger children.  These were the older ones who should have been better role models and examples for the others.  But all in all I’m sure it was just Satan trying to get in there through these kids and ruin our trip and try to keep us from getting too close to God. We did not let him win.  The point of this trip was for our youth group to become closer together and closer to God.  It was a complete success.  We had devotions in the mornings and at night.  In the morning I let them prepare what we would discuss and at night Me, Chris, Brandon and Pam lead the services.  Everything worked out perfectly and God was with us all the way. My heart is so full of God’s love right not that I can’t even explain it to you all properly… This trip was just as much for me as it was for the kids.  I needed to get my relationship back on track with my savior and this was just what I needed.  One of the boys came up to me after I lead a revival on the beach Saturday night and told me thank you over and over again.  He said he had never experienced the Holy Spirit like that before.  He just kept saying over and over again how amazing it was.  And it was.  After I finished speaking I told them all if they had anything they need to let go of they should walk to the edge of the water, let the waves wash up onto their feet or their legs and as the waves carried the sand from underneath their toes let God have whatever was in their heart.  Everyone went to the water.  We prayed and cried together over different people and different things for 30 minutes.  Some of the kids ended up laying down fully clothed in the water together.  It was incredible and I really can’t do God the justice He so deserves in my description.  But I hope you can understand what I’m saying. I’m home now and feeling so blessed.  I’m glad it’s over in a way but I wish we could have stayed longer. 

Dad-

It’s been a while since I have updated you all on my dad’s condition.  A few weeks ago he took a really bad turn for the worse and ended up spending some time in the hospital.  That’s when we found out his liver is ate up with terminal cancer and he doesn’t have much longer to live at all.  I called to check on him this morning and hospice has now come in and they don’t expect him to make it to August.  I’m torn on whether or not to go up there now.  Last time I saw him I told him I loved him and that’s really all I have to say to him.  I know his heart is right with God now, even though he hasn’t been a very good father to me I’m so glad he will be in heaven waiting on me when I get there.  I’m praying for his passing to be as easy for him as possible.  So sometime in the next few weeks I’ll be going through a funeral for him.  I’m not looking forward to it at all.  But I know I’ll make it through with God’s help just like I have all the other trials and tribulations in my life up to this point.  

Chuck-

I know it’s been forever since I’ve updated you all on Chuck.  Since he is the reason I started blogging to begin with I try to update on his recovery every now and again.  In case you don’t know Chuck is my brother who had a car accident January 13, 2006.  He broke his neck at the C5 vertebrae and is now a quadriplegic.  I started blogging to release emotions my family and I was dealing with while he was recovering.  Sometimes it’s hard to believe he hasn’t walked in a year and a half.  He is doing pretty well physically.  He still deals with some typical problems that quads normally deal with.  Urinary tract problems being the worst of the physical ailments. He goes to out patient rehab once a week. Emotionally I think he really needs more recovery. He drinks all the time and seems so depressed.  He is always in such a terrible mood.  So much that people do not really like to be around him.  He has his back turned on God again.  Chuck always goes to the extreme in his behavior and right now he is extremely destructive of himself. He is doing all the things he did that got him in the position he is in now again. I’ve talked till I can’t talk about it anymore to him.  He doesn’t want to listen to me.  From here on out I just make sure to include him in my prayers.  I tell him I love him as often as I can and put the rest in God’s hands. 

Well I guess that’s all I have time for now.  I’m going to post a few more of the pictures over at my old Msn space if you want to go check them out here. There are a few other minor things but that is pretty much what’s been going on here.  Have a great day!

Wordless Wednesday