If you love them, say it OUT LOUD...and often!

Some of you know the terrible tragedy that happened to us recently. Some of you know and have been praying. Some of you do not know and I would like to tell the story. If you have already heard it, listen again, if you will, and pray more, if you will.

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I received a call from my Mom last Thursday, March 25th. She was frantic and fragile. She said that Marc (my Step-Dad) had been in a terrible accident. She said she thought he was ok since he called, but he said the accident was real bad and she needed to go to him. She usually takes Autumn to school, so I jumped out the door to take her to school. The only update I received was that the police would not let her get to Marc, which meant not only that it was a bad accident, but also that she did not know for sure if he was really ok. The Sheriff called Mom and said they were taking Marc by ambulance to Georgia Baptist Hospital in Atlanta because they had a trauma center...that did not sound good. Off we went to the hospital to see about Pa!

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When we got to the hospital, he told us that the car that hit him lost control and spun into him. There was nothing he could do. He said he did not know if there was one person or two in the other car, but they were not moving. He said his chest hurt badly. Marc was checked out and released from the hospital that day.

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I received very bad news on my way home from Autumn's teacher. She said that two people were in the other car and that they both perished. She also said that one was a 13 year old student at Autumn's school in her same grade and that Autumn knew her. The other person was her 18 year old brother. They were their Parents' only two children.

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The schools were flooded with guidance counselors all day Thursday. The schools of these two were turned upside down with grief. These were good kids. They will be missed by many.

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Marc is very banged up from the impact, including severe bruising. Most of all, there are emotional scars that he will carry for the rest of his life. The accident was not anything he could have avoided. It is a bad, curvy road and he just happened to be right there. It still hurts to know that two kids are gone and he was there.

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Mom, Cindy, Autumn and I met the Family at the service for their two children. They were amazing. They were apologetic. They were strong..for us. They said they were praying..for us. The moment they embraced my Mom was the most moving moment of my entire life. My fragile and heartbroken Mom just stood in their embrace while they comforted her and gave her exactly what she needed to help her and Marc get through this. I will never forget it.

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So now, I ask for your prayers. Pray for the Family of those two beloved children who were lost. Pray for my Family to get through this time of recovery. Pray for strength for Marc. Pray that this event will impact whole communities of drivers to slow down. Pray that the ones you love will be safe from horrible tragedies.

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...and if you love them, say it OUT LOUD...and often!

Happy Birthday To My Littlest Angel!

My Sweet Avery,

I can not believe you are four years old today! I have enjoyed every moment of being your Mommy and am blessed to know you. You have the sweetest heart. You tell me I am pretty every day, even though you are the one who is truly beautiful to your very core. You are so much fun to have around and you love everyone with all your little heart. You are such a wonderful little girl. Happy Birthday, my sweet little Avery Michele!

We love you so very much!!!!

WE LOVE SPRING!...and lots of other activities!

Hello all! I hope you are doing well. We are so glad to see Spring come our way around here, although my Hubs has a very bad cold! He says it is the worst he has ever had. :(

I made another wreath. If you have been following me for a while, you have seen these. I made an Easter one this time! They are cute and look great on the front door!

This one has bunnies on it. The picture was not supposed to be sideways! Ohh well. Turn your head, please. Too much trouble to flip once it is here! :)

If you would like to see the other wreaths I have made and see the directions on how to make one, go HERE!

Here is my foyer table. I tried to add some spring touches. Nothing spectacular, but cute!

I took a picture of the "egg tree" I made for the table. I found the branch in the yard and hung eggs on it! Voila! Egg Tree!


One of my "cute little egg-heads"

The other "cute little egg-head"!

It was nice outside, so we went for ice cream last weekend. They had a blast!

.............and made a mess! Avery said she loved it so much, she wanted to have her Birthday Party at Brewster's!

I love finding art! Alex drew this of her and Autumn!

I don't get a whole lot of pictures of my Austin because he hides alot. I caught him doing his homework! He is so smart!

Since baseball has started, we are spending time at the ball fields. We love to see good weather on a ball field day!

When we have an early game, we go to Wal-Mart and goof off until it gets warmer! This is a look Autumn used to have when she was little. Funny the girls do it!

The littlest things make them happy! Autumn cringed. She said Ronald had to be germy since all those kids sit on him! The girls came out ok.

I told you he hides. This time, he was hiding from a haircut!

Yes, that is my child driving my car! She is 14 and will be 15 in November. We let her drive on our little road where it is closed. She is pretty good. Look how focused she is!

My Mom has had these little straw people for as long as I can remember. When she was not paying attention, Autumn and I took the chance to be silly with them! It is not hard to get Autumn to be silly!

See.

Last but certainly not least, here is my little Avery with "Teddy". You know I am a sucker for a sleeping baby!

I know this post was all over the place, but so are we! ...and we LOVE IT!!

Until next time...........................

And The Winner Is.....

Derek!



My Hubs won the Biggest Loser competition we had at work! Yay Derek! Guess who won second place??? Me! Yay me! Out of nine people, we won first and second! Derek beat me by one pound, but hey, WE WON! If you were not around when we started this competition two months ago, here are the details.

Nine of us at the office decided to have a contest, Biggest Loser style. We did not want anyone to not get into the contest because of the possibility of losing money, since that is negative, so we decided that the winner will have all the losers over to their home for a half day on a Saturday for free labor!

Let me tell you, this has been GREAT! If you have the opportunity to participate in something like this, DO IT! Find some friends, relatives or co-workers and decide what the losers will do. You could decide on cleaning your house, helping you with a painting, picture hanging, yard work project. Those would be some great ideas! It is very motivating and if everyone plays, everyone wins! There is no real loser...only the biggest..which happens to be my Husband (who is actually much smaller)!

Here are the top results: Derek lost 37 pounds! I lost 22 Pounds! Vince and Dave both lost 26. There were nine total and most lost weight. Two were girls and I was one of them! The results are based on percentage of body weight lost, so anyone can do it! We were serious about it. Everyone started eating lunch at the office. Think of the money we saved! We counted calories and were very dedicated around here. We ate healthy foods and exercised and I tried out a ton of new recipes. It was great and I highly recommend it!

Well, Derek will have to decide now what he wants everyone to do around here and when we will have the big day. I can not wait to see what he makes me do... maybe cook! That is what he likes for me to do and that is fine with me. He will not be hard on me since I fed him for two months! :)

Now we have to keep the weight off!!

Softball this weekend! Yay! Go Prowlers!

Please continue to pray for my cousin, Justin, who is still in Afghanistan. I saw a sticker on a car the other day and thought I would share what it said:

"Land of the Free....BECAUSE of the Brave"

I thought that was appropriate...and true.

I also won my first giveaway ever! I have been blogging for not quite a year and have never won anything! Check out my friend, Cheri sometime. She hosts giveaways with lots of vendors who enter, so there are always many chances to win! She is also a really nice person, who also happens to have four kids, and I am so glad to know her! Thanks, Cheri! Go here to see what I won!

Have a great weekend.

...............until next time

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