This past weekend we were blessed to be a part of something fantastic!  We are brand new wish granters for the Make-A-Wish foundation.  We went through our day long training during the summer of 2011 and started working with Ivan’s family that December.  Ivan can’t do on his own, the things most of us take for granted – eating, walking, bathing, getting dressed…  He relies on his family and teachers for everything.  He has cerebral palsy.  Working with his family to try to find a wish that would make him happy was challenging because he wasn’t able to be a part of that process – when we normally meet with children we have them draw pictures or talk about their favorite celebrities or where they would most like to go.  We couldn’t do that with Ivan, but his family knew what makes him happy – country music!  It was so awesome to see Ivan light up with a giant smile when his sister Kayla started playing country music on her cd player that first time we went to visit.  We spent some time with our co-wish granter Eugene and the Make-A-Wish folks in Orlando trying to identify a way to bring country music to Ivan. With the help of his Mom Ericka, we finally landed on the idea of season passes to Wild Adventures and to send them there for the official wish day when a country music band would be performing in concert. 

With the wish determined, we started to plan the send off party.  The send off party is an event that Make-A-Wish wants the wish granters to plan for each child.  It is where/when we present the family with all the things they will need for their adventure.  We decided to stay with the country theme and use that idea for decorations and the cake.  We used one of the rooms at Ivan’s grandmother’s church for the party and it turned out great!  I am so pleased when I look at the pictures.

Normally, a wish granters job is pretty much complete after the send off party but Chris and I offered to drive ourselves to Valdosta and pay for our own tickets if the family thought that we could be of assistance on the day of their visit and the concert.  They took us up on our offer and so we had an unusual and amazing opportunity to see the wish happen for Ivan.  We rode rides with the family (including the water ride that we took Ivan and his brother and sister on), we were with them when they fed the giraffes, and hopefully we provided some relief to the family as they made their way through the park. 

I have to say that I was so inspired by the calm and happy spirit that Ericka brought to her family throughout that long and hot day.  She was so amazing – and it wasn’t as if Ivan was the only person she had to worry over.  She showed love and individual attention to each of her children and never appeared to get flustered.  It is truly an honor to have spent the day with her family and I hope the wish was something they will never forget.

Here are pictures of the send off party:

Amazing how some hay and a cowboy hat can transform a room!

The sign says “Cowboy Cakes”. I got these ideas from Pinterest 🙂

Kayla was so sweet. She got up to the mic and talked about how much she loves Ivan and then she sang a song with Ray Wiley.

 Here are photos of wish- day at Wild Adventures

Kayla took me for a wild ride on the bumper cars!

What a great picture!

This was how happy Ivan would get after Chris would put chap-stick on his lips. It was so sweet!

We took a turn watching Ivan and William so that Ericka and Chris could take the kids on a ride – it was great fun!

The family in front of the stage before the concert!

When Chris and I walked through what would become our home, the very first time, we told each other we would have to replace the carpet as soon as possible.  That was August, 2004.  Nearly eight years later we finally did just that – in our bedroom!  (We are hopeful we will do the boys bedrooms this summer.)  Because Conner, Chase and Chris all got a chance to work with Chuck last summer installing wood floors we felt like we could do all the labor ourselves.  That was really the only way we would be able to afford to do this!  We picked out a dark, hand scraped wood and let it sit in the house for about ten days to acclimate to the climate (humidity) of the house.  During that time we were pulling up our carpet, prepping the concrete, repainting the walls and the baseboards and cutting under the door frames to allow for the extra height of the wood. 

The other thing we decided along the way was to redo our closets.  The house came with some built-in units that we found to be a real waste of space and just a place for lots of dust to accumulate.  We spent a lot of time measuring and researching ideas and looking through the IKEA website.  My Mom and I then took a trip to the IKEA in Orlando to pick up the pieces we selected.  For me, this was my very favorite part of the renovations – to now have a closet that I designed for myself to function in the way that works best for my stuff was a dream come true – I even decided to put in a chandelier to make sure it was extra girly!

Install day was February 4th, 2012!  We woke up prepared for a long, full day.  I pictured myself getting drinks and snacks and helping carry in wood and deciding which piece should go where.  Within about 15 minutes of getting back from the breakfast run to Chick-fil-A I was down on my hands and knees with a mallot in my hand smacking the heck out of wood planks and spreading glue and PUTTING IN WOOD FLOORS!  It was really awesome – for about 8 hours.  After that, I was literally on my belly, with tears rolling down my face, wondering how anyone survives labor camps!  It is a bit embarrassing to admit I was so dramatic about it, but it was extremely hard work!!  The icing on the cake (please be sure to recognize the sarcasm in that comment) was that once all the wood was in we looked around at the awful mess we had created with glue!  We spent the next three hours (until around 3:00 in the morning) cleaning glue up off the wood floors.

In the end it was SO TOTALLY worth it.  We had a family day that was full of hard work, but we created something awesome together.  We feel like the room and the closets are finally clean and organized and we know we will be happy walking on these floors for as long as we own this house. 

Here’s some photos of the project at various stages, start to finish.

Before!

 I had been thinking about my 40th birthday from about the time I turned 39.  I was a bit obsessed with it actually – and decided around January that I wanted to have a party at the skate rink.  I reserved the rink for a private party on the day of my birthday (I got lucky it was on a Saturday) and then started letting people know.  I really wanted it to be a celebration of all the friends and family that have helped make the first 40 years of my life so wonderful.  One of the most amazing things was that three of my best friends from grade school drove down from Georgia with their families to join in the festivities.  We all turned 40 this year, so it was a fun way for us to bring in this new decade together.  When they all decided to come I started to think about a second component of the party – an adult only event back at the house since everyone was sleeping over at our house anyway.  This component of the party required my Mom and Dad’s help – they would be in charge of watching 12 kids at their house overnight!!  Then we started thinking about the timing and since the skate party was from 5-7 and we were just having snacks and cookie cake, maybe we should have dinner together after skating.  We decided to go to my favorite Mexican restaurant El Jalisco (and other than the long wait for a table for 30 it was awesome!). 
    

Since P.J. and Kimmie and their families were here on Friday, we were able to stay up late reminiscing and being silly – it is a very cool thing about friends you have had since you were little – there just doesn’t seem to be any awkwardness at all, everything just picks right back up and the feelings of friendship are just as strong as they were when we were 16!  Saturday morning we went downtown and got so lucky because there was a free IMAX space movie for kids and a space ship at the Kleman Plaza.  One of the highlights or our trip downtown was the fountain at the Capitol.  I will never look at those dolphin the same way again now that Micheal has climbed up on one of them!  The girls were all so excited to have their pictures taken, so of course I was loving that – they are all so beautiful! 
    

Being at the skate party reminded me a bit of my wedding day.  I was surrounded by only people I love and cherish and they were all there to celebrate with me!  I didn’t skate much because I was having so much fun talking with everyone and giving out nearly 100 hugs!!  We did the hokey pokey and I was so glad Chris came out and helped me with that!

As I mentioned, El Jalisco was super fun (although the margaritas are so strong – and the tequila shot they had me drink as they sang happy birthday was probably a bad idea).  A little too much was consumed back at the house and I had my first ever two day hangover – but as I walked around work on Monday, in a headachy daze, I couldn’t help but smile and think that was the Best Birthday EVER!!!

The morning after! Best friends forever!!

What an amazing Mother’s Day!  We drove to Orlando to meet up with my parents, Chuck, Traci and the kids and Nancy and Gail.  Everyone being together in that relaxed setting (no one felt that they were entertaining or had to worry over things in their home) was perfect.  On Friday night for dinner it was just me, Chris, Nancy and Conner and we went to this amazing Italian restaurant and laughed through the entire meal!  There was a balloon artist there and we kept making jokes about him making me a Buzz Lightyear balloon since Buzz and I have a “thing going”.  That “thing” is a reference back to when Dad and I did the Disney Marathon in 2003 – as we were getting pictures with all the different characters Buzz was seriously hitting on me – I’m not sure why, but it’s a compliment to catch the eye of an action hero!
By Saturday mid morning everyone had arrived and we got in some quality pool time and then went to Downtown Disney to walk around and take Lance to the huge Lego store (he is a Lego fanatic!).  We grilled out for dinner, had birthday cake for Chuck and then played team Sequence for most of the night.  I just love playing games with family and friends and while I was not successful at getting everyone to play Pictionary, they promised we will do it next time!  A sweet thing that was going on during the day that I didn’t know about is the boys had taken the car to the store to get Mother’s Day cards.  It meant so much to me to know they picked it out themselves and signed it by writing things that they wanted to thank me for.
We woke up Sunday and found Chuck’s church service on the internet and sat around and listened to that – it’s not quite the same as being there in person – but what a gift that our family shares in a deep love for the Lord!  Then it was time for family pictures!!!!!!!!  Although the full group photo taken with the self timer didn’t turn out so great – the others did.  Chuck and crew then got on the road and after some more time down by the pool and some fun underwater photos we went to a really nice restaurant (Crave) for an early dinner and then hung out for awhile before getting on the road to come home.

The focus of motherhood for me changes from year to year.  In the early days the focus was the constant care and nurturing required of me as a Mom, that focus shifted to more of a teacher and cheerleader as they entered school and team sports.  As they began to mature into young teenagers the focus was on trying to make sure these young men respected God, their family, themselves, women, and their communities.  Of course, there aren’t always clear demarcations between one stage and another, and some things have been a focus since the day they were born.  I cherish my role as a Mom.  I can’t imagine living a life without children.  I am proud of them, and excited for all that lies ahead for them.

Here are some fun pictures from the weekend.

We tried quite a few times to get a picture where we are all smiling – but I wasn’t very good at not holding my breath under water. Chase thought that was pretty funny!

It wouldn’t be a family gathering without games!

Lance loves legos so you can imagine how much time we spent at the lego store in Downtown Disney!

Here are some pictures from our family photo session!

Using the self timer on the top of a trash can produces interesting results!

On Sunday (April 3rd, 2011) I got to spend the day with my college roommate Suzanne.  We lived together my first year away from home when we both went to Valdosta State College. I can still remember the day she came to visit me during the summer before school started.  We found out about our roommate assignments at Langdale Hall a month or so before school began and so she drove down from Clarkesville Georgia to meet me in Warner Robins.  For some reason I remember this funny conversation we had – we were walking up the steep driveway of my parents house and she was slipping some on the pine needles.  She said, this is something we don’t have in Clarkesville – and I said “what, pine needles” and she said “no, paved driveways!”.  That started the beginning of a year full of laughs and awesome moments (of which I can only really remember a few).  I remember how shy she was about doing things (like calling to order pizza on the phone or going to the store to buy tampons!), I remember playing intramural flag football with Sue and a bunch of other girls from Langdale.  I remember this random time we drove out down this dirt road because someone told us there were ghosts there.  I remember having ear plugs in when the fire alarms went off and we slept right through it (we started wearing ear plugs because these were the days before cell phones and the pay phone for the floor was right outside of our dorm room!).  I remember starting to really grow up that year, and Sue was by my side.  She was a true and constant friend and I was blessed to have been paired up with her.  She was my only bridesmaid on my wedding day and came down just to be there when Chris and I renewed our wedding vows ten years later.
Spending the day with her and her sweet family (Jason, Ella Jane and Marshall) reminded me how easy and relaxed I always feel when we are together.  It feels so natural to be with her and I know if we lived closer we would spend much of our free time together – I sure wish we did live closer.  She is an amazing Mom, and it was fun on Sunday to watch her in that role.  The last time we were together was four years ago and Marshall was just a baby.
Sue has the sweetest family, a brother who has a true heart for missions – he leads groups to China and is about to adopt a special needs child from there.  I remember her mother Phoebe being one of those people who never has anything negative to say – she always found the bright side to everything and Sue’s Dad is one of those people who makes everyone feel at home and taken care of. 
Spending the day with Sue on Sunday made me want to write these things down so I am sure to have at least these memories for years to come.

I’ve always loved to give Sue big kisses on the cheek!

Something happened yesterday that reminded me of exactly why I created this blog!  Chris and I went to a wedding at Maclay Gardens on Saturday and it was a picture perfect day – problem was, I didn’t have my good camera.  On Sunday after Chris left to work an evening shift I decided spur of the moment to drive out to Maclay and try to get some pictures of the flowers that are blooming and the gloriousness of the spring God gives us here in Tallahassee.  I told the boys where I was going and why (never for a moment thinking they would want to join me to walk around the garden and take pictures) but Conner said he would go!  We got in the car and he asked me to send his friend a quick text to let him know where he was going and that he wouldn’t be able to meet up with him for Sunday evening youth.  I protested saying he should go and I can go alone – he wouldn’t allow it.  He was set on us going together and said he didn’t want me to have to go alone.  I wonder if he will ever understand the hugeness of that gesture – how it touched my heart and gave me a glimpse of the man he is becoming.  The man that will care for his wife, be kind to her, take care of her and make her laugh.  Conner will be 16 next week and in our culture that is still viewed as an age when you are cared for by your parents – but at that moment I felt he was really taking care of me.  We had an amazing time taking pictures and wondering around.  Conner is such a natural artist – he can draw anything and so it was no surprise to me at all that he took right to the quick lessons I gave him on ISO, f-stops and changing the spot of focus.  We truly had a day I want to remember forever.  I know there will be more and more of these glimpses to come – where I see the boy I once knew becoming a man right before my eyes.

Here are some of the pictures we took that day:

I spent the weekend on a women’s retreat with a bunch of wonderful women from a local church and also with my sweet Mom.  On the way home we were talking about family and those who are no longer with us and other such things that are brought to mind on events such as these.  We started to talk about my Mom’s Mom and the fact that she died just one month after my first son was born (her first great grandchild).  I do remember that we made the trip down to see my Grandmother when Conner was just about 10 days old – but I would have sworn the last time I saw Grandma was in her house.  My Mom kindly reminded me (everyone is very used to my poor memory) that it was in the hospital and we practically had to sneak Conner up because folks didn’t think it was a good idea to have a 2 week old infant in a hospital.  (They were probably right, but allowing my Grandmother to meet Conner was extremely important to us all).
I realized after having this conversation that my memory is worse than I realized – it’s one thing to forget folks names after you meet them for the first time, or to forget the small details regarding events, but this is a pretty big detail and I just can’t make myself remember it.  Makes me sad.
I compensate for my bad memory by taking lots of pictures – I always have.  I often joke that if I don’t have a picture of something, it never happened.  Because of my difficulty remembering things – that is just about the truth.  I guess we didn’t take pictures that day in the hospital, probably wasn’t appropriate.
So, I decided I was going to start to do something to help.  I am going to write it down in the form on a blog (it’s my understanding I could print this out someday if I wanted to).
I will just randomly post blogs about either current events that I want to remember, or past events I don’t want to forget.

Here’s the group of us on the women’s retreat 2011