Palm Sunday.....Anna Cross Baptism

I have been blessed in my life to have good friends young and old.  Last Sunday, I was privileged to attend the Baptism of one of my dear almost daughter's daughter.  To make a great day even greater, the whole family was able to be there together.  

They had rented a beach house and everybody came into town to spend time together.

When we arrived at the church, the first service was still going on so we waited and this is what we saw.

And this.....

It was Palm Sunday and all the children had palm fronds, getting ready to enter the sanctuary.  This donkey was obviously portraying the colt that Jesus rode into Jerusalem.   I was wondering two things as Mr. Donkey was walking around.....one, were they going to walk him down the aisle in church?  and two.....how many of those little boys were thinking  that they could stick him with a palm frond .......they didn't!  That was a good thing!

The children walked down the aisle, without the donkey, and sang.  Then it was time for Anna Cross to be baptized.  She was so sweet and good.  

After she was baptized, the preacher walked her all through the church.

  In the last two years three babies have been added to the family!  Here they all are and I'm going to try to get this right.....Mary Grace with her husband Mikey behind her on the left holding their baby Grady.  Standing next to Mary Grace is Marie.  Behind Marie is her son Beau who is married to Katie in front of him holding Anna Cross.  Right behind Anna Cross is Charlotte and Tony, known as Nanny and Big Daddy.  Emily is top row next to her dad.  Sadly, her husband wasn't able to come and we missed Jeff.  Last on the top row are Brian and Robin and their twin girls, Addison and Emma.  They are becoming quite the large family!

Brian and Robin and their girls.

Anna Cross looks so happy for me to be holding her doesn't she?  She kind of has that please mama come get me now look!

My sister holding one of the twins.

After church, there was a gathering at the beach house where the family is staying.  This was the first time they have all been together in a long time.  The first time all the new little cousins had been together.  Lots of friends joined in and a small reunion took place that was so much fun!  
I'm just going to put some pictures up and not try to name everyone!  Some will know them, some won't, but if you're like me you just like seeing other people's pictures.  If you're not like me, skip on down!

O.K. I am going to comment on the above picture.  I believe Aunt Mary Grace had these made for the twins!  I absolutely love these bibs.


O.K. I have to identify......a good friend Jason with his daughter.

Katie with friend Maggie and Maggie's mother.

Katie with friend Macey.

Katie with friend Ronnie.

Katie with friend Roxanne.

Emily with brother in law Beau

Brian and Mikey

Carol with Anna Cross

Emily, Mary Grace, me and Katie.

Marie, grandma, with Anna Cross

Sisters and brother with spouses and children.

Ronnie with my sister, Cathy.

Sisters holding sisters!

Three sisters, Katie, Emily and Mary Grace

Anna Cross on the trampoline!

Carol put Anna Cross right to sleep.

Me with Anna Cross.....does she look like she's trying to get away again???

Aunt Katie with Grady

There are so many more pictures, but I think that I've posted enough for today!  It was a great day and so good to see the whole family plus lots of friends!

Super Rear!

I sent this in an email to my really busy husband!  Then I called him to make sure he looked at it......he loved it!  You know he always says we're eating butt fertilizer when we have candy or cookies or cake......so this was just absolutely perfect!

So if you're having a little trouble with extra cushioning, just scream to the top of your voice.......SUPER WOMAN!!!!!

Have a great day!  I have a sweet post coming soon.

Happy Anniversary Tommy & Claudia!

It's so hard to believe that four years ago these two stood and spoke their marriage vows to one another.  They have had four great years and we are so happy for them in their marriage and because this year.......

they're having a baby! 

My father in law said at our wedding that it is a wonderful thing to see your children happy!  He was so right.  

There was a lot of hustle and bustle in the months and weeks leading up to the actual wedding day, but everything was so beautiful and smiles were on every face!

I wanted to do something really special for their rehearsal dinner and give them something that would remind them of what marriage means.  I researched the rose colors and then wrote a little thing and framed it and had it on their table.  The flowers turned out beautiful!

When I first talked to the florist about doing multicolored roses, she tried to discourage me, saying I wouldn't like all those colors together.  But I held out because I needed those colors!

I'm sure even if you click the picture you can't read the card, so here is what it says....

Yellow with red tip.....................falling in love

White.................purity and worthiness

Yellow............................joy and friendship

Red............................ great romantic love and passion

Pink...............................appreciation

Orange......................................desire and enthusiasm

Coral...............................desire

Red and White together..............................unity.

This bouquet symbolizes marriage!  Falling in love which is the first step,

Pure and full of joy....friendship which is the core of any relationship,

the great romantic love and passion that drives the marriage,

appreciation for each other so necessary in life,

the desire and enthusiasm that you have for one another,

the unity in two flesh becoming one!

We give you this bouquet with our prayers that you have a lifetime of love and happiness!

We still pray for both that they will continue to love Christ first, then one another and of course this wonderful new baby boy to be born this summer!

Happy Anniversary and many, many more!

A Possum Tale.....

These two dashing defenders of their domicile had quite a bit of excitement last night.  

After a late supper, we were sitting in the living room trying to relax after a hectic day, when Jack, our little black doggie started whining to go outside.  He was out for some time barking like crazy which is not unusual.  We do need the dog whisperer here!  After a while I let his brother, Mikey out too and together they were waking the entire neighborhood.   Or at least disturbing them during their favorite t.v. shows.

I decided I might better go out and take a peek since no one else in the house seemed concerned and make sure it wasn't a burglar they were keeping at bay!

But, THIS is what I saw......

They were barking at this HUGE possum!  I got way too close for comfort before I saw him peering down at his enemies!  So I screamed quite loudly and ran in the house with the dogs close on my heels!  

Then I risked life and limb to go back out and take this picture, mainly to show my husband how big that sucker was!  

I mean, this possum could have jumped on the dogs or me and bitten us.  The dogs have had their rabies shots.....but I haven't!  

I told the two conquering heros thank you and prayed they had done their business for the night because there was NO WAY we were going back in the yard!  

So my question is this.......where does this monster possum live during the day?  

A very green day

As I dragged myself up from my warm bed this morning, green was the last thing on my mind.  It really didn't even cross my mind that it is St. Patrick's day today.  I had a headache and knew I needed to take a shower and get up to rehab to make sure mama ate her breakfast.  

When I say drag, boy do I mean drag!

The only green things on my person were my coffee cup and my green P*ublix bag with mama's clean clothes.

But to my delight when I arrived this is what I saw.....

I couldn't help stopping to ask if I could take her picture!  

She's green!  

Happy St. Patrick's day!

A little break and other stuff......

This is always a busy time of year for us.....but it's usually much more stressful for my husband.  This year, not so much.  Oh, he's stressed, but it is the kind of stress he loves!  He truly loves work and of course I'm glad because....well, you know I like to shop!  

But this year has been a bit different with mama at the ER twice in two weeks and now in rehab.  Yesterday, she had a bad, bad day.  She just wouldn't wake up to do therapy or to eat.  It was a little scary, but today she seems fine, or as fine as you can be at 86 with bad shoulders and a broken back!

The therapist said she has us kids wrapped around her little finger.  Whatcha gonna do???  Kind of like spoiling a child, too late to turn back now!  Are there any discipline books for your parents? 

See, she's even up eating and smiling!  I did force her  ask her smile, I threatened to put her picture on the internet....shhhhhh....don't tell her! 

She has to have that very uncomfortable brace on when she is sitting or standing.  It was great to see her smiling today.

Saturday, Russell and I took a little break and rode up to the woods.  It was cold and wet, but I was a very good sport as you can see in the picture below.

Yes, I have on a camouflage hat because it kept the wind off my face just a teeny bit and if you click on the picture and look closely, you'll notice I have mud on my face and all over my jacket.  I realize that is not a happy look on my face, but when you've just been splattered unexpectedly with mud, it is so hard to smile!  It did, however, make my husband smile.

Actually, it was a nice little break from real life.  

The week has flown by.... oh, wait, it's only Tuesday!  

Everyone is on the mend.....mama, my dogs....pretty much things just may be looking up!

I fix my eyes on Jesus, the founder and perfecter of my faith..... Hebrews 12 
My paraphrase

ER......It's not like T.V.

What a weird couple of weeks!  

As a family, we have been very blessed!  But there are times when you just have to laugh or cry, or maybe both!  

On Sunday night, February 28, I got a call that my mama had fallen and was being sent to the hospital by ambulance.  So I rushed up to the ER and we spent a few hours there.  She had a big bump on her head so they got a CT of her brain.  All was well there, so we were sent home even though she was complaining of back pain.  At home, things went downhill fast!  She stopped getting up at all and ended up in a hospital bed and some other stuff!  Things just continued to go south with more and more pain and complications.

Sunday, March 7th, after a wonderful church service, I had messages from my brother looking for me and asking me to get right over to mama's!  She was worse and the retirement center nurse was considering sending her back to the ER.  We discussed it at length and decided that she wouldn't get much done on Sunday night (especially since we had been that route before), and that we would look at things Monday morning.  

Monday, we decided she needed to go to the ER.  We waited for one sister to arrive from Pensacola, then met the ambulance for another trip......

As for the ER, can anybody say Spring Break???  What a zoo!  There were kids everywhere with everything from alcohol poisoning to claims of rape.  We saw two little girls, scantily clad looking miserable and I was tempted to say having fun yet??

We got right back and began our nine (9) hour stay in the torture chamber ER.  

Ever been on one of these luxury beds for 9 hours?  We really needed Dr. H*ouse!  Where's a good T.V. doctor when you need him???

Finally, they came to take her to get a CT of her spine.......for 8 days, mama had been suffering with a broken back!  She left the ER the first time without anyone looking at her back.  Suffering a compression fraction at L1 and T12 with fragments.....she was fitted with a brace.  

Please realize that by this time we were slap happy from worry and weariness!  So when a cute, bright blue eyed prosthetics and orthodics guy came in, my sister says you have the most beautiful blue eyes I've ever seen.  Hold back sister!  He very gallantly said ladies, I'm too old for you (young enough to be our son).  I'm quite sure he sees weary older women all the time and perfectly understood that she would normally never say a thing like that!  Of course, then when he asked me to sign some paperwork, I said Sure blue eyes!  Grin here.......I was kidding!!   He probably went home to his 20 something year old, beautiful, blonde wife and had a good laugh!

But back to poor mama (who actually is a big flirt too).  The ER docs wanted to brace her and send her back home.  We were so confused, we didn't know how that would work out.  But as the providence of our sweet Lord would be, right at that moment, my phone rang and it was the nurse from her primary care doctor's office.......who also just happens to be my next door neighbor.  She said very emphatically......UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES LET THEM SEND HER HOME....SHE NEEDS TO GO TO REHAB!  That gave us the backbone to have them admit her until she could go to rehab. 

Now my 86 year old mother had been laying on that table for 9 hours without a drop of water or any food and her oxygen levels hovering around 87!  I got really concerned about her dehydrating or worse and went into the hall and called out to the doctor.....I can't of course say his name, but it rhymes with who and starts with a V.  He finally got some fluids started, admitted her to the hospital and Tuesday she got moved to rehab!

So, now here she is in the rehab.....

Much more comfortable bed! 

Still a bunch of tired goofy children!

I now need rehab after my brother sat on my lap!

Of course, we were so thankful that she was finally getting some treatment!

I just can't resist a little photography.  This is just one half of my mother's children! 

I'm pretty sure by this time, she was ready for us to leave! 

She did a little rehab this morning.  We're praying they can get her back home!  Her good sense of humor is intact!

There's a post a coming!

O.K. the last few days have been horrendous hard, but I cannot write about it tonight because I'm just worn slap out!  But check back, because tomorrow I'll tell you where I've been! 

Random Dozen

Go on over to Linda's and have fun answering these questions!

1. Do you prefer even or odd numbers? Any particular reason?
I really like odd numbers, like I felt younger at 37 than I did at 36...particular reason?  Does crazy count? No, really, odd numbers roll off the tongue easier!  AND I was born on an odd numbered day! 
 

2. On a scale of 1-10, with 1 being "not at all" and 10 being Carly Simon-worthy, how vain are you?
O.K. I admit it....11
 



3. Among these Irish stereotypes, with which do you identify most closely? Talkative, Proud, Inquisitive, Love to party, Hot-tempered
I'm awfully talkative.  It got me in trouble in school!  I once got a D in conduct while the girl I talked to got an A.....I went to the teacher to protest since we BOTH talked how could there be that much difference in our grade?  The teacher informed me it was because she was an A student and he just couldn't knock her off the honor roll!!!  O.K. today, she's a lawyer, I'm a housewife.  I shoulda kept my big mouth shut!

Conduct.......how you behave in class.  I'll bet they don't have that grade anymore!

4. How lucky do you consider yourself?
There is really no such thing as luck.....even if I am guilty of saying you're so lucky! I'm very blessed!


5. What is the subject of your favorite post that you've written?
I have never been good at picking favorites......but this one I liked......way back in the day.....

6. Describe March weather where you live in three words.
 In like a lion....I know that's 4, but I can't help it!  


7. How apt are you at detecting blarney when you hear it? (Smooth talk, flattery)
Oh, I know smooth talking when I hear it right away!  Now I actually like a little flattery!  :)
 
8. How "green" are you, environmentally speaking?
I'm so sorry to admit this, but not at all!  I know, I'm ashamed!
 
9. What is your favorite song this week?
I never know the name of songs or the groups that sing them....like when people ask DH and I what our song is, well....we really don't have one!  
 
10. You are walking along and see a coin on the ground. What denomination does it have to be before you will stop to pick it up?
See a penny, pick it up, all the day you'll have good luck!  Well, there goes #4!
 
11. Complete the sentence: "Every time I look outside my window ...."
I see a ton of oak leaves in my pool and on my deck!  I really need to do something about that once the wind quits blowing!

12. What was the #1 song on the day you were born? See this site to find out.
Sweetheart by Vera Lyn  .....wouldn't you know.  I know, I've never heard it either.

Well, this was fun after a hectic week....what?  It's only Wednesday?  Well, things better settle down is all I know!