A Glimpse....

I have seen the movie "Family Man" several times but Sunday night, after watching it again, I truly started to think about it in depth. The movie is about a man who is afforded an opportunity to see how his life could have been different based on ONE important decision in his early life. The choice was between young love and marrying or going off to become successful in his life and career. He chose success. He became head over a company. He became rich and powerful. To his thinking, there was nothing better. He believed he was truly happy living a rich but alone life. It is kind of funny how we view ourselves in our own eyes. Back to the story, Nicolas Cage walks into a convenience store that is being robbed. He tried to buy the robber down, instead it turned out that his life was about to change dramatically. The choice of passing up love and marriage would be his to live for a time, for a glimpse of time. Now he would see what his life could have been. Of course in the beginning, he fights the glimpse and complains about how unsucessful his life is. He goes on to explain to his wife how unhappy he is at where their lives are. He turns to his wife, and asks her to describe how she thinks their lives turned out. She says "A SUCCESS". He goes on to fall in love with this new life. The time comes where he has to return to his OLD life. In it all, he learns that he really was just a lonely soul searching for the next thing in life to give him a temporary happiness.

I always catch myself saying, If I could do this over I would "............" Or "..........". If we were given a glimpse of alternate choices and watched how they turned out, we would all have mapped our lives to the Greed of manipulation to our own ways. Thankfully, we are not given the glimpse of what if I made this choice or that choice. It might be a great possiblity that we make a bigger mess. The Bible says " There is a way that seems right to man but the end there of is death" Proverbs 16:25. Even in our best efforts to map our lives, we fail. God has given us a glimpse of what eternity will be like if we choose him and even a glimpse of what eternity would be like if we don't choose him. For the ones who follow God, He has ordered our life. Psalms 37:23 says the steps of a righteous man are ordered by the Lord. Jerimiah 29:11 says For I know the plans I have for you declares the LORD, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. I know that in my own life, it has seemed bleak at times. I walk with so much uncertainty of what will happen next. I know that I can trust God through it all. I know that He will carry me. I just have to stand and trust. God's ways are not our ways. God is in control and I have to remember, I have a glimpse of the road I am on of what lies ahead of me from the choice I made earlier in my life to serve God, my King, by accepting Jesus as my personal Savior. God loves me and I love Him. I just need to keep my eyes pressed toward the mark of reaching the goal of my race. So, in saying that, IN JESUS NAME, I PRESS ON.

Vacation...

Well we are back from vacation and back to the grind of things. We are back to the routine of things which does make it easier to get back to the grind of things. Sometimes, I wish it were a bit longer to enjoy places, family and fun activities. I don't think I was ready to get back to the grind of things but like it or not, I am here.

Our vacation was very nice. Chad and I visited Tennesse where we enjoyed the fall foilage, my family and mountain scenary. We visited Georgia where we enjoyed Chad's family, Stone Mountain and Thankgiving!

I long for vacation again! I am however grateful to God for the time we did get to spend!

Thanksgiving in Georgia...

I am sitting in the hotel room thinking back over the past three days. Chad, Chase and myself came to Georgia to spend Thanksgiving with Mindee and Jeff(Chad's sister and her husband), Chad's parents and SURPRISE, Chad's oldest sister was here on a Medical reason and was also able to come to Georgia and we spent Thanksgiving with her also. We missed visiting with her whole family but having her here was a blessing! This was the first time that we had Chase and his 2 cousins Thomas and Ryan together.

We arrived in Georgia about 2:00 EASTERN time Wednesday Aftertoon. We checked into the Hotel and rested and freshened up. We then drove to Mindee and Jeff's home. It was very lovely. The first day, the boys played outside and had a good time. They played and fought and all was well. Later we went in and the boys played inside. Chad and Chase went up the stairs to see Thomas's and Ryan's room. They had Thomas the Train tent beds. Chad left Chase upstairs and told me to go and look at the beds. I started toward the stairs just in time to see my baby step down and head into a full roll down the stairs. He went head down, then started rolling sideways. SCARED ME to bits! My legs were shaky and I had anxiety for a little while. Chase did get up crying but was otherwise unscathed. We had sandwiches, vistied and went back to the hotel for the night. Chase didn't feel so great. He coughed and ran a little fever through the night. We gave him some Motrin for the fever and some cough medicine for the cough. The second day was Thanksgiving. Chase had run out of diapers and we were running late to get to Mindee's. We finally found a Walgreens that opened at 9 am. We bought diapers and headed to Mindees. Mindee worked very hard on dinner. Chad and Jeff had gone golfing that morning. I felt a little awkward and out of place at first. Sometimes when I am around a lot of people without Chad, I feel lost. I don't know what to say and hope I don't come across as rude. As the time passed, we all visited. Chad and Jeff came in about 2:00 or so and we had dinner close to 3:00. We had Turkey, mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn casserole, green bean casserole, stuffing, beans, and pies. I am sure there were a few other things too that I can't list off the top of my head. It was very DELICIOUS. Mindee did a fantastic job. The kids played and fought and did well together. Chase didn't go outside on Thanksgiving due to his cough the night before. He hung out inside. He did play with the toys and enjoyed himself in spite of not being able to go out. We had nice visits with everyone. We finally headed back to the Hotel and slept! Chase slept more sound with only minor coughing. Again, he ran fever and we gave him Motrin. He seemed better in the morning. Friday morning, I called my parents. It was their anniversary. They have been married 41 years. My mom filled me in on their Thanksgiving day. I was thrilled to hear that they had a big bash and everyone showed up for it. She was thrilled too! She repeated the story about 3 times before we got off the phone. I know she was excited. We drove to Mindee and Jeff's. Mindee had planed a really nice trip to take to Stone Mountain. Again this day, Chase did not go outside so his Grandmother watched him as Chad, Stacie and I walked through the plantation "self" tour in the park. There are some historical homes that sit in the park, some original homes and others were transplanted into the park from the mid 1800's. There was some very interesing history. Signs were posted with herbal and natural remedies on how the Cherokee Indians treated illnesses. It was very educational and inspiring. It left admiration to those who paved a road for us in the present time. After Stone Mountain, we drove back to Mindee's. We all ordered a Chili's meal, took pictures and Chad and I headed out for the hotel. We had such a great time. It was wonderful to see family and visit. Now we are preparing for our long trek home. Although we had fun, I think I am ready for home.

Tennessee Trip

For Thanksgiving this year, Chad, Chase and I are spending it with Chad's family in Georgia. The first part of our trip would be a small family vacation for Chad, Chase and myself. We went to Tennessee. The ride up was absolutely beautiful. We started in Texas, through Louisiana to Mississippi and on to Alabama. We then took a small trek through a tip of Georgia into Tennesse. The scenary was full of fall foilage. The trees were alive with color. It was a wonderful drive. Chase did really well on the trip. He did get sick with diarhea and upset stomach. He is doing better now. Our first destination was Pigeon Forge. We stayed at a Family Inn right on the main road. The room was very nice. It was comparable with a 4 star hotel, more amenities and at a lower price. I will difinitely stay there again when we come back. We did a lot of site seeing through the Smokey National park. We were on a hunt to see a bear in the wild. Although it did not pan out, we still enjoyed the sites. We drove to Maryville where a lot my dad's family lives. I visited my Grandmother, an Uncle and some cousins. It was so nice to see them and talk with them. It was nice to cut up and laugh. We found some really nice parks to take Chase to. He thought the whole trip was to take him to PLAY. The first words every morning out of his mouth were PLAY PLAY. We made sure to take him everyday to PLAY somewhere. One park in paticular that I liked was Springbrook Park. It had several walking paths that ranged in distance. You could walk .6 mile, .8 mile, 1.0 mile or 1.4 mile. The sceneary was so beautiful. There was a little stone bridge that crossed a creek. A water fountain flowed into the same creek. Trees were in full color with leaves covering the ground. Lots of birds played in the brush. I caught one on camera bathing in the middle of the creek. I definitely loved this park! I loved seeing that it was full of nature. Later, Chad took me to one of my favorite restaurants in Pigeon Forge, The Old Mill. It sits next to a Grist Mill that is still in use today. They make flour, muffin mix of all favors. They have a gift shop and so much to look at. We took a short trip to Gatlinberg also. We found the new COOTER's. Chad loves the Dukes of Hazzard and has worked with Ben Jones at an Autorama in San Antonio so we had to go see his new setting in Gatlinberg. It was a little disappointing as he chaged a lot of his original stuff from his earlier shop. He had a replica of the General Lee but his Sherriff's car and tow truck were not there. He changed his shop into a putt putt and bumper car station which took away from his original attraction of the original tv series. Even so, it was nice to know that Ben Jones made his shop more kid friendly. Well, on our leave, we decided to travel down the mountains through North Carolina. The mountain scenary was a site to behold. The breath taking scenes were so marvelous that it is hard to fathom the things going on in nature even when nobody is looking! One of my favorite scenes was when the clouds flowed like a creek in the center of a long mountain range. The sun was just peeking through and the mountain peeks could be seen through the cloud tops. Mist moved freely through the tree tops giving the mountains that SMOKEY look. When I get home, I will have to put that photo out here for the world to see. It was AMAZING. We are now in Georgia. I am sure there will be another blog to follow with those events!

Senior pictures...

I took Ashley to take some senior pictures. She wasn't present when the school had them so we took her to a local studio and they would upload the photo to her school for the yearbook. I am so excited about them. She looked so pretty! We have chosen a pose for a package for myself and will be picking them up hopefully after our trip to Georgia. I pray all goes well for her and that we make it through to the end of the year for GRADUATION. She has "A"s and "B"s on her report card. She is doing well!

Picture day...

You know it is a funny thing how parents anticipate picture day. It never fails it seems that as the day draws nearer that something without fail happens. Three days before picture day, I pick Chase up from the day care and he has a red mark that eventually turns into a scab by his right eye. The daycare worker does not know what happened. Two days before picture day, I pick Chase up from the daycare and he has a red streak down his nose. A mosquito bite on his left check and the scratch from the day before. The teacher does not know what happened. One day before pictures, Chase has lots of tiny scratches on his cheeks. The teacher said he tried running up the slide backwards and he tumbled down the same way?! Well, he was really ready for pictures now. AFTER the pictures, I pick Chase up he has lots of scratches on his face. The teacher said that Chase scratched himself...time for another nail trimming job! I am anxious to see the pictures anyway.

Mornings....

I love mornings! I love waking up to a little voice saying :MOMMY". Of course shortly after I get the head but to the face from the little voice when he crawls over to me and tries to love. He just drops his head straight down on my check, chin or forehead. LOVE PATS! Who says love doesn't hurt!? Then I feel those tiny little arms around my neck. We love and play for a few minutes before the inevitable of getting up. Having Chad here at home in the mornings has sure made it a blessing. The three of us get to eat breakfast together and talk!! That will be a big miss once Chad's hours go back to normal!