Tagged For Eight

Dabich tagged me to tell 8 things about myself. I've been blogging a long time, so it's hard for me to think of 8 things y'all don't already know about me. But I'll try.

1. My birthday is in August. Yup, I'm a Leo, but I don't follow astrology.

2. I have pretty, pretty, pretty feet. :)

3. I hate cooking and I've never been good at it.

4. I love having a fire in the fireplace.

5. I'd always rather be outside.

6. I (still) have a huge crush on Michael Chiklis.

7. My favorite comedy is The New Adventures of Old Christine.

8. I love storms, you'll always find me outside when it's raining. Add some thunder and lightening...and I'm one happy girl.

Okay, I'm suppose to tag eight people, but I'm just not a tagger. :) If you decide to do it, let me know!

Pictures and Birthday Wishes

I'll be at a parent orientation for a couple of days at UNT, so I'm leaving y'all with a couple of pictures.

Casey and Haylie, after playing in some of our wonderful Texas rain:



















And some of the few mums I have left that my sweet friend, Katy, left me with before moving to Ohio, about 8 years ago. Can't believe they're blooming already.





















Wish me luck at UNT. I'll be around complete strangers, day and night, and let's not forget how very shy I am. Not looking forward to it, but it's mandatory. Why? No clue. Never heard of parents having to do this before. Lot's of 'parent socials', meeting with faculty and some UNT students, and staying in dorm rooms. Oh my. :)

OHHHHHH, I don't want to forget about this:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY NIKKI ~~ WE LOVE YOU GIRL !!!!

Pointing You In A Decent Direction

If y'all have about 5 minutes (or so), this is such an excellent read: Amber Waves of Grain. You won't be sorry.

Heart...Be Still !

* Updated - even better, if that's possible. :)

Gonna be a looonnnngggg summer

So, I'm kid free today. Not that my kids are 'kids' anymore, but they'll always be kids to me. Except, of course, for when I want to use the "you're not a kid anymore" quote on them when I'm trying to drive a point home...as in they're too old to do something kid-stupid. Come to think of it, I may recall my dad having said that to me not too many years ago before he passed on. Good thing there isn't a point here or I'd be off of it by now.

I've been spending my summer hitting the job market at a furious rate...and though I've been on several interviews, I'm still unemployed. Seriously, it's gotta be my personality because my job skills are decent. Typing 60 wpm, data entry at 10,000+ kph, not much I can't do really. And yet, I'm drawing zero dollars in every week, which adds up to nada at month's end. I do get that I've not had an office job (or any job) other than substitute teaching for nearly 10 years, and that doesn't make for a great resume, but I do make for a great employee. I'm trusting that God's got that perfect job for me and I need to wait on it, it's just that there isn't a line for trust on my deposit slips for my checking account.

Casey is in Colorado with church camp, Charlie is working his 11 hour days and I'm home, alone, and bored. Really bored. Crazy bored. I did ask Mark if he could get me a job like he did for Charlie, but he said he didn't think I'm quite cut out for it...what with all the digging and jack hammering. I'd like to say he underestimates me, but he's probably right on this one.

As I was backing out of my driveway this morning, taking Charlie to work, I ran over a kids helmet. It was a nice one. First time I backed over it, I got out and looked to see what I'd hit, but didn't see anything. Backed out again, and geeze, it made a nasty pop. Not pretty. Can't count the times we've had to pick up neighbor's stuff up out of our drive; bikes, skateboards, roller blades, helmets, bats... I feel really bad for running over it, but it must've been tossed under the back of the car to where I couldn't see it. Shame.

Still no word from my attorney. Called last Friday, reminding them that I'd not heard from them in a week and still hadn't received my final papers, which I've been waiting on since January...was directed to voicemail and left a message. Called again this past Monday, left another message. It's ridiculous. Wonder if I post their name on here, like I did Christian Brother's Automotive, if I'll get any response. It would be different if it were a contested divorce, but it's not. Mark and I have worked every single thing out on our own without any one's (or any attorney's) help.

Whine, whine, whine...sorry.

Remember the pictures of the tree damage we had from a few storms ago? Well, we have a crepe myrtle in our front yard (almost share it with a neighbor) that hasn't bloomed in maybe 10 years. It bloomed this year. Had so many blooms that it couldn't hold them all.





















We tried roping it up some to keep it off the ground as much as possible...didn't work. Ended up having to take most of it down, only leaving a couple of limbs and we did rope them to keep them growing up straight. If it hadn't been on the sidewalk and blocking our mailbox, I'd have let it be, it was gorgeous. Oh well...maybe next year.

That's about it from Bratcherville. Keep my job hunt in your prayers, please. Enjoy your day!

Brothers

In my last post I was expressing my thanks for men of God who have stepped up to be male role models for Casey. Yesterday I was helping Charlie clean out his room and as he gave me an old back pack to throw away, I looked through it to make sure there wasn't anything in it.

There was.

Inside it there were a few papers that were trash, a couple of pens and such, but most importantly was an envelope that had 'to Charlie' written on it, but I noticed it was in Charlie's handwriting. I opened it and inside was a sort of questionnaire he'd filled out to remind him of what was going on in 2007, his sophomore year of high school. It had questions like; what are you wearing? (a Black Sabbath tee shirt and ripped jeans), if you could live anywhere where would you live? (New York) and so on. There was one question, however, that made my whole day. It asked 'Out of your entire life, who is your role model, the person you admire the most?' and Charlie answered 'MY BROTHER'.

I asked Charlie if he thought Casey knew that he felt this way about him and Charlie said "he should, I've told him before".

Really??

One thing that amazes me about this is that as much as Charlie is into music and film that he didn't mention one of the people he's got hanging on his walls like Quentin Tarantino or Dave Mustaine.

I showed the questionnaire to Casey after church today, and after he read it he just looked at me and grinned. I asked Casey if he knew Charlie felt this way, and Casey said that Charlie has told him before that he admired him, but he never knew whether to take him seriously or not. You know...brothers and all that.

Casey is keeping this piece of paper that lets him know that the way he lives doesn't only have an effect on his life, but on Charlies. How awesome it is that as men from our church stepped up to be positive male influences in Casey's life, Casey has done the same for Charlie.

I'm grateful to have two such great kids, and I'm so very grateful for the positive influence they have on one another. How amazing is that?

We all influence the lives of others, whether we realize it or not. Everything from the language we use to how we react to life's responsibilities. Nothing goes unnoticed.

Stepping Up

I picked Casey up today from the airport. I knew I'd missed the kid, but when I drove up and saw him sitting outside of the airport on a bench, my heart just skipped a beat. It's only been six days, but I'd forgotten how much of a man my baby is until all 6'2" of him stood up, picked up his bag and headed for my car with that big ole' smile of his.

For those of you playing catch up, he'd driven to Miami from Dallas with a couple of men from our church taking some supplies to our new campus there. He'd stayed in a hotel with them for a few days till they flew home on Sunday and then he stayed with a church member there, that Casey said was an amazing Christian (his name is DiDo), until today. Casey flew from Miami to Houston and then home to Dallas.

I am so grateful for the wonderful men that God has put in Casey's life this past year since his dad left. Our church really stepped up when they found out Mark had left us and some amazing, strong men of faith have been there for Casey. I'm so thankful that he has had positive male influences in his life this year, it's been such an important year for him...his senior year and all that goes with it. There are four or five men that call him, invite him to play basketball, to come over for video games, and to go to the movies. I wonder if they have any idea what an influence they've had on him. I wonder if they know what a blessing they've been. Each time I thank them, I nearly break down and cry. These men all have families of their own, and their families have welcomed Casey into their homes with open arms.

When I took Casey to meet the men he was driving to Miami with last Thursday, there were some men from the church there to see them off. One of them said to me "Do you realize what an awesome young man of God your son is?" and I told him "I realize it every single day." I've thought back to that man asking me that question several times since then, and I keep thinking how thankful I am that there are some real men...strong men, faithful men, around Casey that see him as I see him; and not only that, but they let Casey know that they see him that way.

God has blessed my family. He has given my sons positive role models in a time when they have desperately needed it. I am so thankful....so thankful.

A Very Good Day

I found a blog that my nephew has today. I've missed this kid more than I can tell you. I say 'kid', he'd say 'man', and he'd be right. I've googled him before, but today I got lucky.

One thing I can share with y'all that I found on his blog was a link that is pretty cool. TV-Links , and he explained the link this way:

"It is a site where you can stream whole shows off the Internet. They have shows that are currently on TV, mixed with old ones like Brisco County Jr, and Undeclared. Not all of the links work, but it is free and you don’t need to install anything. There are also some movies and sporting events (like a couple of Wrestlemanias). In other words, it is a good way to waste time at work: Enjoy."

I ditto his suggestion; enjoy. As for me, I'm a very happy aunt.

Introducing...

A couple of pictures of Casey and his girlfriend, Haylie.

































She's cute, sweet and she 'gets' Casey. I like that about her.

Tid Bits

The best toy in the world for a cat is a fly. It's also extremely entertaining watching four cats going after the same fly, which is pretty much invisible to us, making it all that much more entertaining.

I wonder if my divorce will ever become final. I can't get a call back from my attorneys, but occasionally they'll acknowledge a fax and will call, telling me I'll be getting my final papers in a few days to review, but I've been hearing this since February. Seriously, February. Mark and I have worked everything out by ourselves, all we need are papers to sign. If you ever need a good divorce attorney in Dallas, make sure and ask me for my attorney's name so you can mark them off your list of those to call.

Mark got Charlie a summer job at the company he works for, a pool company in Dallas. Charlie is working on one of their construction crews. It's hard physical labor, in our hot Texas weather, 11 - 12 hour days. Yesterday marked his first full week on the job, and I've yet to hear this kid complain. Comes home everyday exhausted, covered in dirt and sweat, but with a smile on his face. I'm so proud of this kid.

Our church has a few different campus' around the Dallas - Ft. Worth area, and opened one up in Miami about a year ago. Several of the leaders went there to get the campus up and going. Casey, volunteering at the church as much as he does, knows most all of them. The church has rented a U-Haul to take a lot of last years 'kids adventure week' props from our church in Plano to the campus in Miami and they have asked Casey to ride down with a couple of our assistant pastors that are driving it down. He's so excited. He can't help drive, because he'd have to be 21, but he's going to help since he helped build it all, he knows how everything needs to be done. They're leaving for Miami on Thursday and though the other guys going are flying back on Sunday, the Miami pastor has asked Casey to stay on for a few days, so he'll be flying back Tuesday or so. Thankfully, my good friend and neighbor is a flight attendant, so she's able to get him a buddy pass ticket to fly on. Casey has been wanting to visit this Miami campus since we opened it, so he is thrilled.
When he gets back from Miami, the church is paying his way ($475) to our teens summer camp in Keystone Colorado. They call it a camp, but they're staying in condos at one of Keystone's resorts. He'll be there for 7 days. Casey is so excited, and I'm so happy for him. God has blessed Casey greatly lately!

Charlie and I were watching some oldies on youtube last night. Janis Joplin (Cry), Otis Redding (Try A Little Tenderness) and a few others. Pretty cool being able to share this sort of stuff with your kid.

Praise Report

Shame on y'all for not being a fan of Al Green. :)

I was in such a great mood Friday, feeling such a huge weight off of my shoulders because...well, because we got some great news Thursday. We got word Thursday morning that Casey had gotten 4 excellent scholarships. A real help. A HUGE blessing.

All I could do was give God thanks, and I kept hearing 'everything is gonna be alright'. I knew it was a song, looked it up on youtube and there it was. One of my old favorites (Al Green) singing the words I was hearing in my head and feeling in my heart.

So, if y'all would be so kind, take a second, please, and give some thanks to an awesome God for answering our prayers and for making a way for Casey.

Everything's Gonna Be Alright

(Al Green - 1987)