blessings

Today I woke up after 4 hours-post night shift… in a happy, calm mood. It doesn’t always work out like that, so I considered it a good omen.  I shuffled out to the kitchen, glanced at the thermometer, 102, and hooked Nella to her leash so we could get the mail.  It was hot and calm out, and when I looked down at my sweet little terrorist, I’m fairly certain she said, “Mom, let’s go swimming at the lake.”  So, I agreed.  We jumped into the old ’87, me in just a swim suit, and in the span of time it took to listen to Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “free bird” and part of “sweet home alabama” we arrived.  And on this hot, glorious Tuesday, there was no one on the beach for probably a mile each way from us.  Perfection.

The first time I took Nel to the lake, she was still pretty little and got freaked out when her feet didn’t touch sand beneath her.  I had to support her under her fat puppy tummy to teach her the concept.  Well, she’s got it now.  So after running through the hot sand, which she whined the whole way cause her little paws were sizzling, we splashed into the water.  And we spend the next hour or so playing fetch with a beached stick.  Now, she goes out as far as I can throw,  no problem.  And for a change of pace, I sat in the shallow water, soaking up some vitamin D, while Nella chased horse flies around on the beach.   Looking out into the ombrѐ lake, changing from deep turquois in the center and fading to the brown sandy beach, I couldn’t help but be overwhelmed with gratitude. 

I’ve had some challenges lately.  Some seem nearly insurmountable, others, merely a blip in life’s road. But, sitting out at the lake, if I only had tomorrow what I thanked God for today, I’d still have it all.  I threw out words of thanks for my husband, our families, our friends, our jobs, even grad school, and living in Hot Springs.  There aren’t a lot of days I get to chat it up with God like that, and it felt so nice. 

It’s good to say ‘thank you’ and it’s okay to count your blessings.  It’s acceptable to ignore stats homework for an hour to relax on the beach.  And it’s okay to be overwhelmed with challenges some times, cause those are the times it tends to become clear, the most simple solution is to trust the Lord, and know He has a plan.

Hope you all have a great day, and that you take the chance to count your blessings today and say thanks.

And Happy, Happy Anniversary to my great brother, Rob, and his sweet wife, Darcie.  3 years has flown by, so much has changed since that day at the farm, but I know your commitment to each other is just as strong. Love You Guys!!

for a recap of that beautiful, but chilly July day, visit here

the best naps happen after a frolick in the lake...

mama, i'm comin' home

It’s another scorcher out there. 102.7 - lovely.  I think snow is sounding better and better all the time.  Feel free to remind me of that in February.

We just got back from a mini-vaca to the east side of the state, visiting family and friends.  We don’t have kids. We have a dog and a cat. And the cat can fend for herself, plus she hates traveling, so she stayed home.  So just us and Nella. You’da swore we were hauling around triplet 3 year olds, the amount of crap I had packed. The food, the dish, the toys, the bed, the play pen (don’t laugh, she needs it, she’s a terrorist, remember??)…  and don’t forget the big huge kangaroo she loves. Anything to keep a 4 month old puppy happy.  I’ll chalk this all up to good practice for the time there ARE kids AND the dang dog in the car and we’re heading back to the ‘east side’ to visit.

Nella didn't care for being stuck in the back for 350 miles.

CHEESE! pool time with Lilly.

post-swim snacks are serious stuff: a lolly pop and cheetos, with her shoes on the wrong feet. I LOVE 3 year olds :)

So we spent the hot weekend catching up with everyone.  Swimming, eating, rodeo-ing (ok, we just watched that).  On Friday, Nella managed to biff it down the steps following the big dogs, “luckily” right before her vet appointment that we already had scheduled to get her micro-chipped (please do that for your dog, BTW, so they are returned home safely if they get lost)… so Nella got her first x-rays.  Let me tell you, listening to her cry while they held her leg straight to x-ray was kinda traumatic for me. New mama syndrome, I guess.  ANYWAY, she just sprained her knee and was sent home on couch rest and pain meds.  Do you want to guess how easy it was to keep her “resting”? If you’ve met her, you know, she rested for about 6 hours, cause it hurt, and then she was back to hobbling around as fast as she could.  The moral of the story is, she’s doing much better now. 

Rob and his scary beard grilling for us.

The yummy shrimp my mom made.

She loved going out and "hunting" at the farm. And she did pretty dang good, too.

Nella meeting the foster calvies, Mabel and Marvin/Norman.

Not sure who's walking who, Tyson or Nella??

SO TIRED from a big weekend. She slept the entire way home.

It was great to see everyone.  I even ventured up to the MCU, my old nurse stomping grounds, and really just wanted to put some scrubs on and jump back on in.  Really. Our family and friends are so wonderful.  They are the kind of people we are lucky to be able to miss when we’re gone, because they welcome us home with open arms. Home, by the way, is a very ambiguous term at this point – we’re not sure where home is – but we’re working on it.  When we were pulling into Mitchell Thursday night, it sure felt like coming home.  But, on the flip side of that coin, walking through the trailer house door on Sunday night to our sweet Gertie's meows welcoming us was a relief and a comfortable place to rest our travel-weary heads.  Maybe for a while, we’ll have two homes. Two hearts.  Although, I’ll forever be a flat plains girl. The Hills are pretty, but they don’t have anything on my prairie. 

Sun set at the farm. Sure miss these. Home sweet home.

Summer Lovin'

Alan Jackson sang about summertime blues. Grease belted about summer loving. I choose loving. Which is hilarious, ‘cause really, it’s HOT here, and not very fun to be outside for the mid-day hours… BUT, still lovin’ it.

they don't call it "Warm Springs" for a reason...



Jesse teaching Nella to fish.



Gertie hides from the heat



Nella discovered that hanging her head out the window is a great air conditioner

Jesse turned 31 on June 28. He’d probably rather I not publically share that, but whatev, he doesn’t read this anyway.  His birthday is super special, because it also marks the time we met, June 26^th. We had this sweet (like sacrine) conversation on his birthday as he was sitting in an airport headed back to Georgia.  And we morphed into us after that, so to me, his birthday reminds me of how we became us.  And so, I like to spoil the man a little bit every year. So I made him a candy bouquet and gave it to him at work. I bought bakery rolls for him to share too (he asked if I was trying to give everyone diabetes. Hell yeah, job security!).  We went out for supper that night with our foster-child, Danny. And Jesse got a new GPS so he wouldn’t get lost in his work truck. All and all, a pretty good birthday spoilin’



too old to smile :)

who doesn't love a little coloring at the table??

And then White Draw fire started.  As newcomers to this area, grass/forest/wild fires are foreign to us.  We quickly learned that those fires put a damper on everything. They destroy stuff, and aggravate everyone’s allergies, and take away the fireworks on the 4^th of July L. I’ve never had a 4^th without fireworks… Luckily, Hot Springs tries to keep everyone busy and not remind them of what we don’t get to have. So, since I didn’t have to work (thank God for small miracles), we partook. Is that a word? Like past-tense of partake, I think so… moving on… We mingled at the street dance, I ran in the 5k (there are no pictures of that because Jesse didn’t get his butt out of bed that morning!), Jesse drove the Golden West car while Danny threw candy at us.  We went to my first demolition derby, hit up the best golf course on this side of the state, and ended the evening with a meal out with friends.  Not too shabby for a mid-week holiday. 

Gail and I doing our best to put up with the boys



Hurry Danny, before the spinklers get you!



It's probably in the other fairway, Carson

Now, it’s back to the daily grind. Normalcy is setting in out here. And I’m (summer) lovin’ it!

just chillin'