Wednesday, June 17, 2009

A Sore Boy

Christian before getting his four wisdom teeth out yesterday morning . . . . .



. . . . . . and after! I don't think he's going to remember much about this day. I had to figure out a way to keep the ice packs on his cheeks -- rolled up towels did the job nicely.

12 hours after surgery, he reported that he was feeling better than he expected to at that point. Today, he has been on strong pain medication, and I confess that we have had a lot of fun at his expense!

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Celebrations

We recently celebrated three special occasions:

May 31 - Our Wedding Anniversary
June 4 - Sarah's Birthday
June 13 - Christian's Birthday



Tom and I celebrated seven wonderful years of marriage. He had just finished up his annual recurrent training, and we had been working very hard getting our house ready to sell, so we took a break and traveled to a bed and breakfast in Washington, Georgia. Unfortunately, we had our first negative B & B experience. The Internet pictures were gorgeous, the reviews were stellar, but what we found when we arrived was very different. However, we were thankful to be with one another, so we made the most of it and laughed about the experience.



Sarah celebrated her 12th birthday on June 4th. She has started a tradition in our family of decorating the bedroom door of whomever is celebrating a birthday. She has been so diligent in birthday celebrations, that I had to make sure that I decorated her door. She was glad to be the decorated instead of the decorator!



For her birthday dinner, she chose grilled chicken, sweet potatoes, green beans, broccoli, cheddar biscuits and caesar salad. For dessert, we had strawberry shortcake -- yum!



Christian celebrated his 17th birthday on June 13th, which is also my parent's anniversary. Kristin Hawkins and Sarah decorated his door, which scared him nearly to death when he came out of his room the next morning. When Sarah decorated my door, the same thing happened to me. I opened the door, and the streamers whooshed in and got in my face, which is a very frightening experience when you aren't expecting it!



For his dinner, Christian chose chicken pecan fettucine, broccoli, garlic bread and coconut cream pie for dessert.

Thursday, June 4, 2009

Sarah's Annual Birthday Celebration at The Garden Gate

On Sarah's birthday, June 4th, we celebrated her birthday at The Garden Gate Tea Room in Mount Dora, Florida, which has been a tradition since she was 6. Every year, they treat Sarah like a princess, and serve a spectacular afternoon tea in her honor.


She was greeted at the front door with a sign bearing her name. I'd like to note that she is wearing a dress that was made for me 20 years ago on the occasion of my wedding rehearsal for my marriage to Bradley. I'm so glad I held on to it, for it has become a cherished item to her.



The girls that served us had spread beautiful, pink rose petals across the floor. The atmosphere was truly out of a story book! They asked Sarah to pick out her favorite tea cup to drink her raspberry tea in. Nana and Auntie Jan joined us for our tea.



She picked a beautiful tea cup and saucer decorated with purple pansies. As we were preparing to leave, they told her she could keep the tea cup as a memory of her 12th birthday.



Every year we have visited the Garden Gate, they have sat us here at this table, which has become a part of the tradition.



It is difficult for me to comprehend that my little girl is 12, and is so tall, she looks me in the eye!



Sarah's favorite course of the tea is the dessert tray! The scones on the top tray are to live for!

Tuesday, June 2, 2009

Green Acres, Here We Come!


After six months of preparation, we have finally listed our house! We are praying for a quick sale, while trying to remain realistic about the difficult market. Once the house goes under contract, we will begin looking for a home on more acreage.




Saturday, April 25, 2009

Miss Judy's Tea Party

MISS JUDY'S ANNUAL AZALEA TEA PARTY


The young girls, all dressed up in their tea party best, waiting to savor the delicacies!



Judy, Me, Melinda and Beth



Sarah and Naomi Coppock, who was attending her first tea party at Miss Judy's.



Sarah and Kristin



I cannot express with words how grateful I am to the Lord for blessing me with this precious girl!



The azaleas at Miss Judy's made for an amazing backdrop for all of our pictures.







Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Momma's Birthday Present



So it wasn't a typical birthday present, but I sure do like it!



Tom and I at the shooting range, target practicing with my new Smith & Wesson .38 Special, complete with laser. I am really thankful for the laser, because if I can't see the red dot, I don't know where to shoot!



Christian practicing with the rifle he got for Christmas.



Andrew trying out Christian's gun and wishing he had asked for one too.

Thursday, April 16, 2009

The Atlanta TEA Party



I have been wanting to get back to blogging, and decided that tonight was a good night! I have been MIA these past few months because frankly, our family has been flabbergasted, saddened and our heads are still spinning over the current administration's blatant disregard for the founding documents of our country. Most of our time has been engaged in research and dialog amongst ourselves and our friends as we encourage one another brace for the government infringement upon our liberties. However, though we are saddened and greatly concerned about the future of our country, we know things happen in God's providence, so we rest in His will, but not without fighting for freedom!

Last evening, our family attended the Atlanta TEA party. Let me clarify what we were NOT protesting -- we were NOT protesting that a black man was elected president. We were NOT protesting against the Democratic Party. We were NOT protesting as Republicans. We WERE protesting the growing of a large and oppressive government that has been and is stepping beyond the boundaries established within the frame of the Constitution limiting its power. We WERE protesting the reckless spending of our government (Bush included) that is burdening the people of the United States with heavy taxes for not only our generation, but for many to come. We protested as Democrats, Republicans, Independents, and Libertarians. This is not a partisan issue as the drive-by media is attempting to label it.

Click on each individual picture for a larger view. Some of the signs were great!

We received word last night that the permits have been obtained for a Washington protest on September 12th! Mark your calendars -- we've already made our reservations at a campground near DC!

Tom and I are both proud that our children know far more about politics and how our country SHOULD BE governed than we did at their age.










Hannah Caison and Sarah






Leah Hawkins






Contrary to what Susan Roesgen of CNN said, there were African Americans at these protests!















By 6:00 p.m., the crowd was really growing!






Crude, but oh so funny!



We arrived downtown at around 5:00 p.m., so we were able to stand right in front of the Capitol.






The stand over to the right was where Sean Hannity broadcasted from. We were actually disappointed that he was allowed to do so. This needed to be the common people coming together without any big, conservative names.



Meloney and Ryan Lindsey!









O.K. The language is not language that we would use, but it got roars from the crowd.




This lady was standing right behind me, and she was a hoot!




The other side of her poster