Love this...

I believe that this is how Christ feels about us; I feel this love from Him. I've also come to realize that it's the sort of love that I've never had in a mate and that I'll never settle for less again. None of us should...we all deserve to have this kind of love.

Hope y'all enjoy the video.

Nostalgia

I'd posted once about the way we taught the boys the meaning of Easter by hiding 'gifts' (passes) in their plastic eggs. Charlie would have all of his used by the end of the week, Casey would save his until he needed them.

Yesterday I asked Casey to give his room a good cleaning, as he's about to trade rooms with Charlie in a few weeks before he leaves for college. He brought these down.





















I guess since he's turned 18 and is soon to be on his own, he doesn't see much of a use for these anymore. There are a few years of passes here. It's actually a little sad for me.

A little later in the day, I asked Casey why his hat was on the kitchen counter, and he tells me to look inside his hat. At first, I don't see anything, then he tells me to look in the rim. A 'coin' is in the rim, covered in two sided tape. I honestly don't recognize it at first, but it does look a tad familiar. I asked him what it was and he told me to read it. On one side it's a football player.

On the other side it says; With God, All Things Are Possible.

He said that I'd given him two of these a long time ago, one with the football player and another with a basketball player, which he still keeps upstairs. The one above he has covered in two sided tape and keeps it in the back rim of the cap he wears.

One special kid.

Oh, and then he handed me a pass for a foot rub. Wonder if he'd take a mercy pass from me? LOL, nah, I'll rub those size 14 feet with joy tonight.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CASEY

18 years ago, I thanked God for you...

and I still do today.

Go Left, Go Left...

When you are in the left turn only lane and go straight, you are likely to hit the car to the right of you who is in the lane that has the option of also turning left or going straight. You see, they can go straight, because they are in a lane that has that option. You, however, are not. You are in the left turn only lane...and the problem is, if the car to the right of you is opting to turn left, which is well within their right, and you go straight, well...you'll hit them. Hard.

So, I was in the right lane turning left early Saturday morning when this sweet little old lady in the left turn only lane went straight...into me. She told me, she told the police, she told anyone who would listen, that she was just in the wrong lane and got confused.

Her car was much bigger than mine.

*Btw, I'm okay. :) A little sore from the impact because my door was what took most of the impact. Got a few bruises and banged my knee up, but all in all, I'm okay!

Christmas In July

So, I'm working. I got a job about 2 weeks ago at a woman's clothing store about 10 minutes from where I live. I barely make minimum wage, I'm on my feet the entire shift and I have to smile and make nice with people. The oddest thing, though, is that I don't hate it. Nope, I really don't. I've never worked in retail before, the closest thing to it would have been the years I bartended and/or waited tables. Only then I actually made decent money...actually pretty great money.
I'll still be subbing when school starts, along with keeping this job. They've said they'll work around my schedule, we'll see. I'll have to work the two jobs to make ends meet until I find that o.n.e. job that pays enough to be my only job. But right now, I'm just thankful to have the job. Seriously, I'm very thankful.

Yesterday, it was Christmas at the Bratcher home. My ever so sweet friend, Lisa, went on vacation with her family to Hawaii and in the midst of having a wonderful time on her family's first vacation, she got enough stuff (and by stuff, I mean goodies) to send us the best ever care package. Okay, so it took her a month to get it to me after she got home, but who cares? The boys and I got boxes of chocolate covered caramel and macadamia nuts (like Turtles?) and a box of macadamia nut cookies. Yuuummmm! There was a really cool carved shell night light and some real 'purty' jewelry. She sent me some green earrings, which really look good on me. :) AND she sent me a bracelet that I love...not just because it's a gorgeous cuff bracelet made of various rock, but because I had seen it on her in one of her vacation pictures (that you can see HERE) and had told her that I'd liked it. When I saw it in the box, I immediately loved it and put it on. Then...because I'm not all that bright, I thought 'this looks familiar'...hmmmmm. I was really hoping it was one similar to the one I saw in the picture and not the actual one, because then I'd feel awful that she'd sent me her actual bracelet, but YUP, that's what my friend did. I can't believe how generous she was. It was her souvenir. Don't get me wrong, I'm not sending it back, lol. I'm just overwhelmed at her kindness and generosity. Everyone should have friends like my Lisa. I may not have a lot of friends, but the few I have, they're keepers.

Oh, almost forgot...but I didn't. HAPPY BIRTHDAY DABICH!! May God bless you richly. Much love and many hugs to you, my friend.

Looking Back

Last week I did the post of the pictures of my life leading me to where I am. Looking through all those pictures was, well, hard for me. So many faces, so many memories, so many years ago.

Some of my favorites were of my paternal grandparents. The pictures of my sister and I with my grandparents brought back wonderful memories. We saw them several times a year, but we'd always spend a week of our summer with them. They'd take us to the local fairs where we'd stuff ourselves with carmel corn and candy apples and ride everything at least once. They'd take us fishing where my grandma would pack us lunches with a thermos of her home made lemonade, the best lemonade ever. They'd take us to strawberry fields where we could pick our own strawberries, and honestly, I don't think I've ever tasted strawberries better than those we'd pick when I was a kid. They'd take us to visit our 'odd' relatives that always creeped us out just a bit, and they'd show us off with so much pride. They'd take us to the drive-in movies and my grandma would pop the best corn to take with us, but they would always fall asleep during the movies.
Looking back, I don't think I could possibly have appreciated them as much as they deserved, but I did appreciate and love them, and I'm sure they knew that I did.
When I was older, and after I'd left my first husband, I use to work in accounting 8-5, 5 days a week and bartended 6 nights a week with Sundays off. Every Saturday night when I'd get out of the bar, I'd go home, get my dog and head down to my grandparents, a 3 hour drive, getting there around 5 or 6 am. I'd get a couple hours of sleep and then take my grandparents around town to get their groceries and whatever chores they needed done. My grandma would fix a great meal (the lady never got too old to cook!), I'd take a bit of a nap and head back home late that afternoon. I did this every week for over a year. My grandpa had gotten too old to drive safely, not that he ever drove safely...or completely sober, and walking to the store had gotten to be too much for my grandma. It was never a chore, I looked forward to it every week. They knew I loved them.

I spent my last night in Indiana before leaving for Texas at their house. The morning I left my grandpa took me to the gas station and filled my car up for me. My grandma filled my front seat with food and gave me $20. I'll never forget tears flowing down my face as I drove off, watching them in my rear view mirror, standing together in the middle of their street, waving goodbye to me.

YIPPEE-KI-YAY Got Better With 20 Years

The boys and I watched the original 1988 Die Hard movie tonight (Charlie had never seen it), and watching it after having seen Live Free or Die Hard a week or so ago,well, the original wasn't nearly as good as I'd remembered.

Oh, and Bruce Willis has gotten so much hotter with age...better, I mean better with age.

The Top Five Things I'll Miss When Casey Starts UNT

#5. The way he answers "Of course I will" whenever I ask him to do something.

#4. The way he says "Look what I can do" and does a little jump and twist in the air (From some skit on Saturday Night Live or something) just to make me laugh, regardless of where we are or how crowded the area.

#3. The way he says "Hello" and strikes up a conversation with a complete stranger.

#2. Seeing he and his brother together, watching how they interact, the closeness that the two of them share.

#1. Seeing his keys and wallet on the counter in front of the microwave each and every morning, knowing that he is home.

Picture Tag (runnnnn....now!!)

Tagged by Rosemarie, and it's 8 pictures of your life leading up to now...I think. Anyway, here goes:
This is me, topless, (like you couldn't have guessed) with my cousins and my pony.























Me as an early teen (in the Peace shirt) with my mom and my sister.























Sometime in my junior or senior year, wearing my school sweater. Goooo Cougars!























Early 20's, Louisiana, that's all you really wanna know.























First Christmas with my first hubby, Butch.


















Mid 90's with the boys...hair was hard to control in the 90's. :)























One of my last pics before going blond, probably about 9 - 10 years ago maybe.

And me.

So, that's a brief 'Kathi's life in pictures'. If you do the tag, I'm gonna want to know about it! :)

Three Thumbs Up

The boys and I saw Live Free or Die Hard yesterday at the movies. Wow. What a wild ride! We loved every minute of it. The place was packed and I sat between two strangers; one who loved to crack his knuckles and got way too many calls on his cell and the other was a man who simply couldn't manage to ever completely suck out whatever was caught in his teeth, and trust me, it wasn't for his lack of trying. However, it couldn't ruin this movie for me. It was awesome.

Was it in anyway believable? Are you serious? Of course not, it's a Die Hard film. Cars flipping, flying and blowing up...Bruce Willis walking away from inconceivable accidents. Yeah, baby! And Justin Long (Apple's Mac commercials, Jeepers Creepers), another wow, he was great in this film.

The only Die Hard film I've ever cared for was the first one...until now.