So You Think You Can…

We watched the “Dance” show again tonight. We get hooked every year on this show!!!

I know most people are watching the 3 hour “Lost” finale – but we couldn’t watch that because we are just now in the middle of the second season. It is so cool to be able to watch these seasons online and catch up. Every Friday at work I have to put my earphones on and turn up my tunes so I don’t hear everyone analyzing last night’s show. Hearing them every week is actually what got me to wanting to start watching it. We’ll catch up in the next few weeks and will be ready for the next season…(unless they got off the island and there isn’t another season). I can’t imagine the execs taking it off the air with it being the most popular show in a long time. Right now in my viewing, Claire just remembered what happened to her during her captivity and realized that one French gal that killed all her family helped her get away from the Others. They have that one guy locked up…the one that says he was in a balloon with his wife and crashed on the island a few months before. I’m thinking they better not let him loose…he is creepy!

Enough of that! Back to the Dance show…we get so caught up in how much talent there is and how they can take someone that only does one style of dance and teach them all the different ball room styles as well as free styles. It is awesome! We usually get to the point where we are pulling for someone to win. We also enjoy how kind and helpful the judges are – we especially like Mary with her Hot Tamale Train scream and Mia. Mia has such a big heart…we just love her.

The title of the blog today is So you think you can…

What do you think you can do? Whatever it is…do it! Do it in a way you can be proud of and in a way that shows you care. Just as the judges expect the contestants to be serious about their performance and prove to them that they really want it…we should all look at what we are doing in our lives and make sure we are serious about the results that we want and then go for it with gusto and sincerity!

Great Time

Well…the trip to visit my sons and their families in St Louis was nothing short of awesome! I love them all so much and enjoy my time with them more then I could even type.

When we got to St. Louis, I fist stopped at my middle son, Bryan’s home and just spent some quality time catching up with him. He showed me around his home and shared about all the changes and work that he and his wife had done. I was so proud of him…he has done so much and worked so hard. His oldest boy, Joe, is 7 1/2 and is so grown up. He shared a book with me that I know his mommy, Stacy, wanted him to share so that I could get to know him better. It was an “All About Me” book. I found out all kinds of stuff..like his favorite books, pets, names, and lots more. He read it to me…bless his heart…he was so sweet. I played ball with the little guy, Jonas, and watched him and brother dance. Jonas showed me how he says his prayers. I had bought them a bubble machine and they had a great time blowing bubbles outside. Stacy fixed a very tasty supper and gave me the recipe (a crock pot meal – gotta love those). When we finished supper, Bryan shared some of the videos and art he has been working on – she is so proud of him and so am I. When I left…and hugged all of them, I just fealt all warm inside. I held back tears until I got into the car and then I cried because I was so happy to have gotten the time with them.

Next Bobby and I were off to Brad and Holly’s home – they kept the kids up so that we could visit for just a little bit with them. Cooper, Margo and Sloan gave us the “tour” of where we would sleep and showed us their room with the new beds. They were precious. Everett was all smiles…he is such a happy baby. We all went to bed and about 30 minutes later, my youngest son, Brandon and his wife Ashely and our sweet little Nora came in. Nora was sleeping, so they all went staight to bed.

The next morning we got up to homemade goodies that Holly had worked hard on. That girl is awesome…she had everything planned out and everything she made was delicious. I video’d everyone eating their breakfast. We made plans to go to the St Louis Zoo and it started to rain, so we postponed that until late in the afternoon. We got to ride with Ashley and Brandon and Nora to the zoo. It was a little bonding time with Nora and she smiled and was so happy. I think the penguins were the big hit of the day, of course I am partial to zebras. The kiddos were so pooped that they went right to bed after supper that night. Cooper was so tired that he said, “Just give me a piece of bread to take to bed!”

The next morning we got up and headed to my mom’s home. She surprised me and had invited a lot of my family to come to see my boys and their families. It was a good but crowded time. Good food and good fellowship…is always a GOOD THING! After I said my goodbyes to my boys and fams, we made a dvd of the days activities for my mom. Needless to say that made our start home to Nashville a little later than we had initially planned. We got home around 3 am and slept in on Memorial Day. It is Tuesday night now and I haven’t even started unpacking yet. I hate that part – I’ll do it eventually.

Kindness Should Be The Only Option

Have you ever been around people that just drive you crazy? I have! I know people that have somehow decided that they can say or do anything they want. They feel that what they have to say is so important, they should be able to just spout it out, no matter who it hurts or demeans. What has happened in their lives that has led them to believe that they can treat people any old way they want.

I’ve learned in my life that most of the time the best thing to do is to let their insitivity just roll off your back. But there are times when saying something can be benificial, it can bring a respect from that person that only comes from confronting the wrong. I have been in that very situation recently and knew that what was being said to me was wrong and unnecessary, so I told them so. They realized immediately and apologized for what they had said. Since that time, there is a great deal of respect between us.

What I see now is that same individual repeating the process with somone else. Again, I don’t understand why they feel it so necessary to be this way. I believe that kindness should not be an option in dealing with people on a day to day basis. I am determined to not allow those people to “drive me crazy”. I’m resposible for how I react to them – not for their actions.

Seeing my Family

I am so excited! This weekend I will be seeing all 3 of my sons, their wives and my 7 grand babies!

You will see why I would be excited when I tell you that I haven’t seen 2 of my grandsons for almost a year. The little one will be so different and the older one will seem so grown up to me. I’m just thankful for the opportunity to visit with them, even for a short time. Christmas was the last time to see the others. I wish things were different so that I could see them more often. Maybe someday that will change.

This will be a great time this weekend with lots of pictures and time well spent with those I love and cherish! This picture was taken of Sloan at our last vistit…I love it…it is so Sloan! Fun is just waiting to be had…look out St Louis!

Starting Fresh First Post

I am a Mom and a G-ma and realize that in a lot of homes the Mom is the leader. I’m not saying that is the way it “should” be, but that is the case in many homes. In raising my children, I found myself in that position due to circumstances I may share with you sometime later. I know that it can be difficult to be so many things to so many people, but also know that I wouldn’t trade my time as a mom and gmom for anything.

How did I get to this time in my life:

When my first marriage ended in divorce, my children went through a really tough time. They had always seen their mom as the strong one…the one that would always do the right thing. I dissappointed them by not staying that mom that they had known for their entire lives. I went through a complete hystorectomy that totally changed my personality…I can’t explain it …but I just knew that I was different. It was like I was outside myself looking in and didn’t know how to change the cycle I was on. A lot of times I would even ask myself…who are you?

I am a Christian with strong morals, but during this rough time I found myself accepting things that I would never have accepted before. As I look back now at those months and even years, it is still hard to believe that was me. I am just so thankful that I serve a forgiving and loving Father that gives me strength each day to face whatever comes my way. He forgave me for everything…not only forgave He forgot it….I had to forgive myself for not being the person that God had created and to understand that if He could call David “a man after his own heart” after all of David’s shortcomings…He could recreate me into “His Woman”! I could again be the mom that would be pleasing to Him.

I talked with a very wise mother during one of my darkest days and she told me to stop focusing on my problems and what I didn’t have and to just start being thankful for what I had. To put my thoughts and praise on God and let him take care of the other things. WOW! Since that day I followed her wise guidance – I sleep-I am developing a stronger relationship with my sons-I am loving being a g-ma-I have a great relationship with my husband, Bobby-We are studying the scriptures and learning new things and applying learned things to our lives-I am working at the television station here in Nashville, TN-constantly learning new things about myself-and being a mentor to other moms. Bottom line…life is good!