The End of the Season

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Dave & Tim (Score Board in the background)

The Last Senior Game for David ended with a great victory: 56 - 41. It was a great last game. It was a great week leading up to the game. It was homecoming week.The students at MICS started out the week on Sunday working on their floats for the Friday Parade. Monday was Gilligan's Island theme day (guess who was the skipper?) Monday night was their homecoming dance on a river boat (yes, it was a 3 hour tour).


David and his date, Katie --> by the way, Katie wins homecoming queen on Friday

The students did make it back to shore from their "cruise homecoming dance" and were able to sleep in and go into school late Tuesday, which was M*A*S*H theme day--> a night of volleyball game and victory would be a great end to Tuesday: then Wednesday was bowling in the morning while the theme was "Happy Days". As you are reading my blog, you must be getting it, the theme for the week was TV shows of the past. Thursday was introducing homecoming court, Lip Sync competition, and "Bevelerly Hillbillies". But it was also major surprise day....Mark flew home from Oklahoma just to see David's last football game. Mark's friend Beef picked him up at the airport and he surprised me at work & then David at school. What a nice surprise. Sooo Mark was here to see David announced as one of the senior boys on the homecoming court. He does not win King...but he will always be my prince!


Mark & Dave

The seniors did a Happy Day's song and were great...they did a dance routine and looked like professionals (okay...I am the mom and this is my blog based on my view point).

Friday...the day of the game!!!First was the parade. Being on the court, David got to drive in a convertable and throw candy out to the crowd. Their float was great..it was a ship based on Gilliagan's Island.

Then the night of the game. The weather was perfect...friends came to the game. David had his own cheering section: Myself, Niel, Mark, Mr. & Mrs. Anderson, Kristen, Beth, & Chelsea. It was a great night for football. It ended the way any football player would want their senior game to end...with a victory. 41 -56...Cougar Victory. I will leave you with some great pictures of the day and night.


Dave & Ryan


Dave & Caitlin


Captains of the Game: David #79 & Ryan #32


Mark & Dave


Mark, Dave, & Kristen


Senior Boys at the end of the game: Luke, Miles, Dave, Tim, Blake, Ryan, & Spencer

Below is a picture of David & his coach...who stood in for us for David's senior night while we were gone the week before for Niel's mom funeral. The team is Dave's other family:




The last picture.....is David walking the field one last time by himself....the first steps from the football field to his future....

October 30, 2009

(Above picture) Niel & Karen & Geoff
We would like to thank all of those who have sent cards and prayers our way for the loss of Niel's mom. She lived a long life and was loved by many. Even with a handicap she touch many lives by opening her home to the neighborhood children as a care giver and even to young adults as they made their way in life. She raised three wonderful children as a single mom and did a wonderful job. Her daughter (Karen) has the gift of caring and helping others...her gentleness with her own children is a trait she received from her mom. Her oldest son has a heart that is thankful for what he has, and he tries when he can to help others. Niel (her youngest) also as the gift of thinking of others and helping others, a trait he received from his mother. He is always willing to help others, even when it is not convenient for him. His thoughtfulness is a wonderful gift his mother gave to him. All three loved their mother and she loved them. She might be gone, but she will live on in her children's lives and her grandchildren lifes. Again, thank all for the prayers and cards. I leave you with a few pictures of our trip to Rochester, NY.


(1999: Niel, Eric (in back) , Marge (MOM), Karen )

Oct 2009

(Picture taken by Chelsea before Niel and I chaperoned the Edgewood Homecoming)

Happy Fall!! I say that totally jokingly because the past two weeks here in Florida we have been setting records high. Last week, every day was over 93 degrees. I will say, I totally miss New England this time of the year and this extra heat makes me miss it more. Fall has not come to Florida.

But since it is fall....well, we are in the middle of Football season and David's senior year. This year, with the economy down, his school's enrollment has been down, so they only have 22 guys for his football team. David is playing center and some times when needed (has happen every game) he plays Defense as well. Here are a few pictures of David:

David and his friend Luke

David Hiking the ball

David and Tim Captains for the Game

Sooo, you can see we are really busy with on the weekends with Football. This weekend David has an away game in Morehaven Florida (South Florida..about 3hours from here). We will go to the game, spend the night and since we are in South Florida, we will go see Niel's brother Eric who is in a nursing home in South Florida.

Work has been busy for both Niel and myself. Niel's work has been having some layoffs, but so far we have been blessed and he still has his job. Myself, my classes are crowded (over crowded if you asked me) but going great! I am teaching Government HOnors, AP Government, and 8th Grade US History. I enjoy my job and my students. This past week has been our homecoming and being the SGA Sponsor, it is my baby. Spirit week was great and the homecoming dance was beautiful. Our theme this year was An Evening Under the Stars. We decorated in blue & silver and of course stars. It was really nice. I am tired, very tired, but seeing the kids having a great time, well, it is worth me being tired.

Brian and Chelsea came over this weekend. It is always good to see them. Brian is still looking for work...so prayers in this area would be totally welcomed. He has completed the application process for the police academy and has passed one of the test already. If all goes well, he will be in the police academy in January or February.

Mark is in Oklahoma taking classes. He has been really busy but he still manages to call home once a week (which makes me happy). He is in on campus apartments, so he gets to cook some of his meals. He will be flying home for Christmas Dec. 18th. He will turn 21 the next day...does not seem like he will be 21.

David will be singing with his choir at Epcot on the 18th of December for the candle light procesional. So, if you live in Florida and want to see a wonderful Christmas Concert, I highly recommend this one. You need to book special tickets through Disney for this (you can always google Candle LIght Processional to get more information).

I hope and pray that all is well with eveyone and that you are enjoying time with family, because in the whole whelm of it, family is the most important part of life. I will leave you all with David's senior year picture...yes he is a senior....he will turn 18 on December 4th ....time sure flies when you are busy with life.

July 2009

Wow...the summer is almost over and somehow I just feel like it started. David has his senior picture appointment for the yearbook scheduled on Aug 3rd. First I can not believe that is already happening. David a SENIOR in high school. Time sure does fly. I am looking forward to watching him play CENTER for his football team. But SENIOR year, not so sure I am ready for that. As you can see from the above picture, he is taller than his older brothers.

July 4th came and went with some fireworks but the best part, we were all together as a family. Brian & Chelsea came over for a few days and we all had a great time. On the 4th we went to a church picnic....all of us went...all of us had a ball. On the 3rd, we did our own fireworks in the back yard. Yes...I broke down and Brian & I got the fansy fireworks that go up in the sky. No hand ones for anyone. ;o) I am glad I did that, after spending time with friends and family at the July 4th party I was totally over heated...so I was asleep on July 4th by 9 pm....but I had my show on the 3rd, so I was okay with it. I will say, this is when I miss Maine the most. I love Maine in July and I love the Rangeley fireworks. Sure wish Maine was closer than a 3 day ride. ;o) Brian and Chelsea had to head back to Tampa for thier jobs. Brian is working at Midas and Chelsea is working at the water park for Bush Gardens.

We had some friends visit us from Austrial and Mark got to go wakeboarding:



Niel's Uncle Joe came over for a visit and we met Uncle Joe and Niel's dad (Stoyel) for lunch after church one sunday. It was a nice visit. Niel's dad seems tired all the time, that worries me. So please pray for his health.

David went on a mission trip to Cincinati to teach VBS in the inner city. He was in a skit and played the jailer:


They had a great time. The bus broke down on their way back but otherwise it was a good trip. Yesterday, David started his first job at Chic-fil-le.(He got in from the mission trip at 11 the night before) Here is him in his new "work" outfit:


While David was on his mission trip, Memaw and PopPop came down to Florida for their doctor visits. PopPop got the all clear from his doctor to do what he wants but if he gets tired, he needs to rest. This is good since he has been already doing what he wants to do (like mowing the lawn). Mark and I made a trip up to Cracker Barell to have dinner with them...it is a half way mark for both of us. We had a good visit with both of them. Memaw seems to have a cold that will not go away. PopPop looked good but looks like he needs to gain a little weight. We had a good visit. They are already back in NC and I think planning a trip to Maine to see the other grandkids and great grandkids. Did I mention that my niece Connie is pregant with TWINS. Yes TWINS! She is due in Jan or Feb.

My knee is healing and I am feeling better. Therapy in the pool is the best thing. I have a few more weeks of vacation left. Go back to work on August 3rd. Niel and I went on a mini-cruise for a mini vacation. We went out of Fort Lauderdale which was nice since we got to visit with Niel's brother Eric who is in a nursing home in South Florida. We got to see him on Thursday before we left and then on Monday when we returned. We had a good time. We got to do some snorkling and see some historical places in Key West. But the best part of the vacation was just spending time with each other. I just like hanging with Niel. We had a great table on the cruise and ended up hanging with one of the couples a lot. The couple we hung with, lived near Uncle Joe and the guy used to work in Uncle Joe's park. What a small world. ;o) The below pictures is a picture of us before the formal dinner.



While we were on the cruise, Mark and Janel went up to Gainesville to visit Missy and Granddad. I hear through Janel, that Mark's grandmother (Missy) smoked him on a game of tenis. Guess the poor kid does not get his tenis talent from missy but me. (Sorry Missy). They were also abel to see their Cousin Jenny and her children. They had a great visit. And per Missy....Brian & Chelsea, Missy wants a visit from you two!!! I would recommend, practice tennis before you go. ;o)

I hope everyone is enjoying their family this summer. Family is so special and I enjoy every minute with mine. Part of my family is growing up but that is part of life...sometimes I just wonder where all the time went but then I remember, time has gone by while we have been enjoying each other.

The New Pet in the House

The new addition to our family is Stormy the Cat. She is a total princess and has taken over the house.As you can see, she loves to play in boxes...so in our room we have two boxes that she totally plays with. She thinks Chewy is a weird looking cat and tries to play with him (sometimes he seems to like the attention). Cody acknowledges her but that is about it. But down deep I think he is glad she is here...a few times I have found them cuddled next to each other sleeping.

I am doing better since my knee surgery. I am up and walking and have stopped the heavy pain meds...personally, they were horrible and made the room spin. I want be running anywhere soon but even with two good knees I would not be running anywhere in this Florida heat. Therapy is going good but I am looking forward to get the okay to do therapy in the pool. I go to the doctor on Monday...so hopefully I will get that okay to drive again and permission to get in the pool. Since the surgery was on my right knee, no driving until the doctor clears me. So Niel has been my nurse and driving me around. Yesterday after therapy, he took me to the movies and dinner. The movie was great, we saw Proposal and I recommend everyone to see it. A really cute movie. Even Niel enjoyed it..it has a lot of funny spots in it. We ended the evening with dinner at LongHorn. It was nice. I will say I was tired, but it was a good tired.

Boys are doing good. Brian is looking for work again and is thinking about going to the police academy. Something to pray about. David is at Wet N Wild today with friends from school and Mark is working.

June already

It has been awhile since I blogged. I was going to blog when school was out....send pictures of my vacation...but then my vacation did not happen and I have been basically been laid up with knee problems. It is called condramalicia. Nice name for rough and loose cartledge behind my knee cap.

So...instead of a trip to DC....I spent the time on the couch...resting my leg. The doctor says that sometimes resting the leg helps with the inflamation...so I rested. Now, I proble did not rest like I should have....but I rested as good as I could. While I was resting we got the new addition to our family. STORMY. She is a medium hair gray & white cat with the sweetest personality. She loves to purr and she loves to cuddle. She even likes the dogs...now, she has let them know she is head princess of the house. So...instead of DC...I have become friends with our new member of the house.

Well...resting did not heal the problem, so last Thursday, the doctor did surgery on my knee. Basically he went in and cleaned up the cartledge. Now, in my mind, once he did that, I thought I would be okay. Everyone I bumped into this past month, said, I had knee surgery and I was up and about....I guess they forgot about the pain from surgery. I am not up and about yet. It has been 5 days and to be honest....it hurts. My leg is swollen and I do not feel like getting up and about. Now, I will say, Niel had warned me. He said this would happen but then he said, well, when I had knee surgery 25 years ago....so I thought, things had change. The lady in the line at Walmart had knee surgery and she was back to work in three days. I guess they only let the fast healers to talk about their surgery....three days. I took a shower and thought being dirty was not all that bad if taking a shower was as painful as mine was. I will admit, our friend Bill did mention on the 3rd day I would feel like a ton of bricks landed on my knee...I feel he discribed it totally correctly. So imagine, a ton of brick pain and I am trying to take a shower. OKay...now I have brought humor back into your life.

Today...day 5: Physical Therapy. You know they make you exercise and work out your pain while you pay them. What is that all about. Okay...in reality, it was not all that bad...but today was the first day. I have physical therapy on Wednesday and then Friday. Niel went with me today...he went to see what I am suppose to do at home. Yes...not only do they expect you to pay them to make your exercise, you have to do homework. Do they not know I am on summer vacation. Now I have homework...and it is not fun homework, it is stretching exercises. Does this mean I have made it to the big time with my own trainer.

On a good note. All three boys were home these past few days. Brian & Chelsea came over to see me but also to celebrate father's day over here. The reason they had the extra time, well, Brian lost his job. So he is job hunting again. This is a tad bit discouraging but I know he will find the right fit for him soon. Please pray for that. So..while they were visiting, Throttle got hurt. He got a huge gash in his back and had to get about 8 staples. Poor little guy. He took it better than I did with my knee but him & I spent the day resting on Sunday. We could have put a sign out front: rehab for all. They headed back to Tampa today...hopefully Throttle will heal fast and that Brian will find a job.

Mark and David were at summer camp two weeks ago. Mark was a counselor and David was a camper. They both had a great time. David even earned the award Mr. I (some award for the best guy camper). He is back at doing Iron Claw (football conditioning). This past Friday, Mark(as acting intern) took the youth group to Rock Springs. They had a great day tubing and relaxing. Funny though, when both Mark & David came home at 5, they both went to bed for the rest of the day...so how much relaxing did they truly get.

Niel....I think he needs a saint award. He has been the chief nurse through all of this....he is so sweet and takes everything with stride. Did I mention the new kitty Stormy likes to play with his legs at midnight. The boys did take him and his dad out to eat on Sunday...I was not up to it...but then Niel brought me leftovers home. He is so sweet. I feel so blessed to have Niel.

Guess that is it. I will not be running any marthons soon (okay,even without this ingury I would not be running any marthons...but that does sound good).

I hope you have enjoyed your June and July will be here before we know it. Summer will be over and I will be back at work. Then I will say, what did I do this summer? Oh yeah....knee surgery and physical therapy.

Mother's Day Weekend

I will say I had a wonderful Mother's Day weekend. All three boys were home for the weekend. We all went to church, David played in the Praise Band and then sat with us, afterwards we all went to lunch at Fujamias (Japanese Steak House). After the wonderful lunch we headed to the movies and saw Star Trex. It was a great movie and a great time. The rest of the afternoon I watched home improvement shows.


Besides Mother's Day weekend...David had PROM on Friday night. His school does a Junior/Senior Prom. We took pictures down by the River Front before he was off with Friends to dinner and then Prom. For some unknown reason he did not want us to follow and take pictures. But we did get a lot of pictures at the River Front.
Here is David at the house before we went to the River Front:

Here is David with the football boys:

Here is David with his friend Donna:

Here is David with his friend Taylor:



Mark is home from college. He is going to take 4 classes this summer besides work a part time job. His old job at Florida Seafood hired him back for the summer. He will also be helping our youth leader at our church this summer as well.

All is well in Cocoa Florida. It has been unbearable hot lately. I will say it has totally wiped me out. I had an MS attack on Friday but I am doing better. I am trying to take it easy and avoid the heat as much as I can.

I hope all had a wonderful Mother's Day weekend as I did.

Happy Easter & the End of Spring Break

Happy Easter! Today will be a fun relaxing day ..go to church, have Easter Dinner, and then work on work for tomorrow because Spring Break is OVER! I am cooking a New England Boiled dinner, something I used to do when the boys were younger. It is your typical ham dinner with vegitables. I am having apple pie and ice cream for desert..so it is all Maine today! Niel's dad Stoyel will come over for dinner as well. We are going to eat at noon..so Brian & Chelsea can have time with Chelsea's family and David has to go to work.

Back to work tomorrow for Niel & Me, but as the time flies out of Spring Break it does bring Mark closer to home, he will be headed home on May 1st, so it will be good to see Mark again.

Brian & Chelsea have been here for Easter Weekend. It has been good having them over, along with Throttle. He has grown so much, he is much bigger than Cody now, but Cody is still the alpha dog or is it Chewy. All three love to play together. Of course Throttle likes to play longer but the other dogs let him know when enough is enough. Brian has enjoyed his time by fishing and Chelsea has been studying...it is near the end of the semester so she had a lot to do. I think yesterday she was working on her studies and I was working on AP Government stuff.

Our College trip seemed to have been a success. We visited 5 colleges in Florida and David has found the one he wants to attend. He really like University of North Florida. He loved the "not tropical feel" which he was trying to get away from. The campus is beautiful, the academics are top notch with many different majors to choose from. He is looking into Marketing/Business which they have a great program. He has mentioned education which they also have...and they have pre-law, another idea that he has tossed back-n-forth.
University of North Florida Jacksonville:




He has decided he will apply to four colleges, hoping to get accepted by Univ.of North Florida. He will apply to UNF, New College, USF, and UCF. The New College does not offer as many major as other colleges but they are high academics and they do have an Economic major. Here are some pictures of our travels:

Florida Gulf Coast University, Ft Myers, Florida:


The New College of Florida, Sarasota, Florida:




University of South Florida in Tampa:



Florida Southern College in Lakeland:


I hope everyone has a wonderful Easter Day...I love this time of years...the flowers are out, it still is not too hot. Yesterday we had a youth yardsale and it was a perfect day for a sale. The youth group made about 1400 toward their summer mission trip. David had fun holding the sign by the road and acting crazy to get people to come into the yardsale. We had a lot of big stuff so a lot of the youth group boys were also delivery guys with their trucks.

Day FIve College Tour

Well...we have finished our College Tour! Today we saw University of North Florida and David loved. We all loved it. It is not a large college yet not so small (it has 14,000 students)...no football team. It sits outside of Jacksonville about 10 miles to the OCean, yet it does not feel like a beach college...more like a college in the north or in the middle of the state.

So...now this summer, David will take another ACT test and hopefully have higher scores then before, work on his resume and essays for colleges. He plans on applying to 4 colleges: UNF (his fist choice), New College (2nd choice), USF (3rd choice), and 4th choice UCF.

TOmorrow Niel plans on working in the yard...I will break down and work on AP stuff and update my new school lap top. Right before spring break (2 hours before), our computer tech guy came and replaced my old lap top with a newer one...so now I have to play with and get things accomplished on it. That is my plan for tomorrow.

On Saturday, the youth is having a yard sale, so as a parent of the youth, I will be busy working it. If you want any junk, come to the yard sale (US 1 and Michagan Street)....Niel is excited about getting some of the junk out of the garage here.

I also want to wish everyone a HAPPY EASTER...I serve a risen Savior!

College Tour Day 4

Okay...we have arrived home for the night...sleep in our own bed! YEAH!!! and do laundry ;o( okay...part of traveling is doing laundry when one is done...so it is now done.

This morning we went over to see Florida Southern which is located in Lakeland Florida. It is a beautiful campus. I think David really liked the campus, not sure on how much he liked the college part of it. He still wants to keep it on his list. He is starting to think he wants to stay at a small or medium college.

The dogs were glad to see us. Or should I say glad to see Niel, they have been by his side since we got home.

Well...off to church, tomorrow we need to get up early to go see our 5th college.

College Trip Day Three

It is 9:46 and I am tired. We had a busy day and saw TWO, yes two colleges.

Last night we did eat at Yoders and we also saw some of the Ringling Brothers Circus Museum. We got back to the hotel...David went and spent an hour in the hot tub..Niel and I rested.

Tuesday: The morning started eating breakfast in the hotel and then hitting the road to visit The New College of Florida. I will say that it is one of the best kept secrets in Florida. Part of the campus has beautiful old buildings and the other part new. The college is located in Sarasota right on the Bay. We were there from 9:45 - Noon. We had a great talk with the admissions specialist and then a tour of the campus. The New College of Florida population is only 800 students. I will say I loved this college and if I was 17, this is where I would want to go. David also wants to keep it on his list.

After we had lunch, we headed to Tampa to help Brian purchase his new 2000 GMA Sierra 1500 SLT, it is white and he is happy. He traded his Mustang in and it looks good. Niel test drove it with him and sat with Brian as they wheeled and dealed.

After the purchase, we headed over to USF (Universit of South Florida), where we had the sweetest and prettiest guide yet, Chelsea showed us around. The campus is HUGE. David liked it though and it is on his list. He has taken off Florida Gulf Coast (the college we saw on Monday) off his list.

We are now in Lakeland. We checked into the hotel and went to find the college (Which we did); then we had some dinner (Steak & Shake). Did you know they no longer have the berry cobbler? But their steakburgers are still good. We are now all back in the room. This hotel does not have a hot tub and with the temperatures at 50 outside, David has chosen to stay in the room and watch some tv and play on his lap top.

Tomorrow our tour starts at 10 am. Tomorrow night we sleep in our own beds...i will say I am looking forward to my own bed.

College Trip Day Two

Well we have visited the first College: Florida Gulf Coast. It was an interesting experience this morning--> I had the wrong map quest address and Niel punched in the wrong address to the college...so instead of making our appointment at 10; we showed up at 10:20 and ended up doing a self tour ourself (which really was not that bad). Did I mention the college ended up only being 5 minutes from our hotel yet it took us an hour to get there with the wrong directions.

Florida Gulf Coast was okay. Nothing to truly write home about. It is small which I liked and the dorms were great (yet no one could truly answer the problems with getting dorms ones Sophamore year...which we knew personally had happened to one of Mark's friends).People did seem very friendly and both David and Niel noticed there were a lot of pretty girls on this campus.

The campus was very tropical and looked very similar to the Cocoa Beach Area, just more expensive. David did not like the fact that the college seemed to be very similar to the area we already live in and he felt it was in the middle of no where (which in reality it was but go 20 minutes in any direction, one would find the masses). Traffic was horrible though.....I do not think they know how to drive in this area.

We ate lunch at a place called Red Robbin. That was nice.

Since we are already at the new hotel...we are going to adventure out and see where the college is (we would like to make this tour). we are also going to try an Armish Restraunt for dinner: Yoders. we have heard wonderful things about it, so we are going to try.

Guess that is it for now. I will blog more about our adventurous college tours.

Spring Break College Tour Day One

Okay...we have officially started our spring break college tour. We left Cocoa after church around 1:30. We headed to Tampa and stopped for a visit with Brian and Chelsea. We had a great visit....of course the grandpuppy loved seeing me. He just gets larger and larger...but still so loving and gentle. After we took Brian and Chelsea out to dinner...we headed to Ft Myers....we arrived at the hotel around 9 pm. I will say....I am tired. David has headed to the pool and Niel just finished bringing in the suitcases. Tomorrow we will look at our first college: Florida Gulf Coast. The Hotel Clerk did make a note that we are here to see Florida Gulf Coast, yet I have a University of Central Florida T-shirt on and Niel has a University of South Florida t-shirt on....hey we are on a college tour.

The hotel is great...we are right next to a mall....but it is closed now and we will be busy tomorrow and headed to a new hotel. I think Niel is glad we got in after the mall closed. ;o)

Spring is here in Florida (March)

Can you believe March is here and almost gone?! Now the weather is beautiful and it does feel like March is here yet it seemed to have sneaked up on me. I guess with all the excitement of the end of February....time just flew by.

My dad is doing good. Slowly recovering. The doctor says he needs to walk more ....so, mom has a schedule for him to follow. I talk to him every day and he has totally enjoyed the cards and phone calls. I know mom has appreciated them as well.

The fire in the back yard has not rekindled again...yet the air is very smokey. Many places in Florida are on fire. It is so dry right now....sorta scary, especially after having our back yard on fire. The last two weekends Niel has worked in the back yard cutting away the trees that had been on fire and getting rid of some brush that would be good fuel for another fire. Last weekend Brian & Chelsea were here for the weekend. (Brian still has not found a job) So Brian helped Niel bring stuff to the road; this weekend David helped in the yard. It is surely a two man job. Per Niel, he really needs a few more weekends like the last two to get a handled on the yard.

Myself...I have been busy at work and taking care of the house. At work we have had testing, which always interfers with my AP classes, so I have been having to do double time to try to get my students all the information they need. Not to mention the time I missed going to Ocala to be with my mom during my dad's operation. I have great students and they too have been working hard to stay on task.

At work, there are still talkes about layoffs and cutbacks for next year. It is just an added stress on teachers...something we truly do not need. As it is, there is never enough hours in the day to get all we want to get done. I can not remember a weekend I did not bring work home to work on. I even brought stuff to the hospital when we went to Ocala (which did make time fly by while waiting for my dad's operation).

David has signed up for his senior year classes. I can not believe he will be a senior. Time flies and knowing next year will be his senior year...that will fly as well...that year seems to go faster than any of the other. We are in the process of putting together a trip during Spring Break to look at Florida Colleges. He still is unsure on what he wants to major it or do for the future. Maybe the college tour will inspire him. We were hoping that church or school would have done a college tour like they did when Mark was a junior...but no such luck.

Speaking of Mark...he is on the road right now for Florida. He left Oklahoma yesterday afternoon....he is homeward bound. His plans (per him) is to sleep in his own bed and go to the beach. I guess we do live in the perfect spot for SPRING BREAK...20 mintues from the beach.

Continue to pray for my dad's recovery and Brian finding a job. I will say...the past month has been stressful but it did not seems as bad with all the prayers and Niel by my side. He is a tremondous guy and I am the luckiest girl in the world.

Jan. 25th , 2009

First we have been really busy since Christmas has been over. Niel gave me livingroom furniture for my Christmas present so during Christmas break I took wallpaper down in the entry way and the livingroom. We then ordered the furniture and then painted the livingroom. I also took the wall paper down in our bathroom. So this weekend I painted our bathroom.

The livingroom furniture was delivered Friday....so we started setting up...I had already boxed up stuff that I wanted to go to a yard sale and stuff I still wanted to save...it is amazing how we get so much stuff in our life....I think I have too much stuff still but I am learning to perg. We are not quite finished with the bathroom so I will wait to take pictures of that, but my livingroom is done. Enjoy the pictures:





BARNEY THE CAT


Well....we get so attached to our animals...they are always here to welcome us when we come home from work and they are always glad to see us. Barney was no acception to that rule. He was a good cat. Sometimes I think he thought he was a dog, in all truth, he was the alphadog at this house. If you went for a walk, so did Barney. He loved hanging with people..if you moved from one room to another..so would Barney...but he was a CAT and loved his independence. He loved to roam outside, he loved to guard our yard from other cats, and he loved to hang with the boys. I think he thought he was one of the boys...I guess after 16 years, he was one of the boys. He would wait for Niel to come home from work at night and walk in. When Niel took the garbage to the road, Barney would follow him but expected Niel to carry him back, which he did. This weekend, our beloved Cat died. He had not been feeling well these past few weeks, I thought he did not like the cold weather we had been having. Well, on Saturday, he perked up...he helped or supervised David working in the yard, he was helping Niel in the garage and he helped Niel put my new curtain rod in the livingroom. He was helping me unpack books that I had boxed up during the move. Well, a few minutes, he walked into the kitchen..then I heard weird breathing...he was laying on the floor...I went to get Niel, he was still acting strange and less then 5 minutes he died. He went to chase mice in the beyond. So, here are some pictures of our beloved cat...he is now buried in the flower bed he loved to lay in. He will be greatly missed by this family.