It's seems like forever since I felt like posting... or had time. Summer has been whirlwind. Our Arizona vacation was nice, it made me realize though my mom is getting older and slowing down. It made me see how much my son has grown and even though he has grown, he has so much more about life to learn. I wish he would fine that someone special that makes him complete. The life he's living right now, is a bit scary to me..... fun for him. Coming back to our sleepy little town to the friends, job, neighborhood , church we have here and I love dearly makes me a little sad at the thought that I really left home... and have no need or want to ever make AZ home again. There was a time in my life, I thought I would never leave it. Today my hear is heavy. I watched my husband drive out of the driveway with our Expedition full and a trailer in back of it full also. Full with my 19 yr old daughters belongings they are taking down to where she attends college. Our house will be emptied of her and her things and her new apartment will be filled. I'll miss the spaces she fills around here. I'll miss her friends coming over at inconvenient times. I'll miss the extra unplanned mouths to feed and more places needing to be set at the table.I'll miss her laugh, her smell, her! It's ironic that I am feeling so close to this town and finally dealing with the fact that it's my home now and she is at the stage in her life where she's trying to find herself and decide where her home may be. I just pray she finds happiness and peace within much sooner that her older brother who is still chasing his tail. The youngest of my biological children, will be 16 soon and driving. FREEDOM for her and more grey hairs for me. She is the most "home body" child of the three of them. I'm not sure if her driver's license will lead to her being gone as much. I just don't know why the sad, heavy heart today. I knew this day was coming. She's coming back later today, she won't be gone until next Friday. Every time one of my children leaves to start their way in this big world I feel uneasy. When they are close and I can see them, hear them and love them under one roof my heart is much happier. I know I have to trust that God will take care of them. No matter how my prayers for them come out, he has a plan and it will be filled. I have to pray for peace for my heart that they will be happy and safe.

Life Ends

My friend was taken off life support and pronounced dead......

You Never Know

You know, you never know when your time to meet your maker may be. A friend from church was in a car accident the other day. Went to the hospital and checked out fine. The next day she starts throwing up, and during the discussion with her children about whether.er they should call 911 or their father, she starts having slurred speech and passes out. She has been on life support ever since she got to the hospital. She coded once and they resuscitated her because there was no family there yet. She's married and has five children. The oldest is 19 the youngest is 9. You never know.............

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday

I'm not sure why we have day's called Sunday MO, it's been cloudy all week and I'm tired of it. I say all week, but we've only been home since Thursday evening. OH well..... the kids are dieing to swim and I won't let them swim unless it's at least 78 outside. Even at that, their little lips turn blue and they're shivering in a matter of minutes. They don't seem to mind at all. The two hour time change is still taking it's toll on their little bodies. I put them to bed about 8:30, they're usually asleep by 9. They've all been sleeping until 9-9:30 i n the morning. Not that I'm complaining about sleeping later than usual, it's just a bit weird for my clan. I did some summer straightening of my cabinets and I looked up it's almost noon and I 'm still in my pj's with no shower. What to do today... because I have no other plans, I think we'll bathe the dogs. That should be a fun task!

Airport

I didn't mention our airport antics....just imagine..... 8 people, 12 pieces of luggage including 3 car seats.... many many stares of disbelief! When the doors to the shuttle opened one man seeing our luggage actually said " You've got to be kidding me..I'll wait for the next one." I'm sure one of these days we'll show up on Funniest Home Videos or You Tube on some one's phone video. People would stop and watch in horror and disbelief, crowds would part, heads would shake, and smiles would come across faces. I'm not sure if they thought we were cute or they were thankful it wasn't them. All in all, the airport experience went well. No one threw a fit, no one peed their pants, no one got lost. The airplane ride was also thankfully uneventful. The only thing that happened was a few too many trips to the "potty" to see the blue water and hear it flush... wondering where it was going. Where does it go?!?

Home Again

Returning home from vacation is somehow not as exciting as leaving for vacation. I left my house spotless so "I wouldn't have anything to clean" when we got home. Who was I trying to kid?? With 8 people on vacation, when all the overstuffed suitcases threw up all over the house there was plenty to clean!! The kids were all very cranky because they had just lost two hours of the day just flying over the Midwest. When we got in the SUV to drive home from the airport, we discovered it was a little sickly and when the speed dropped below 40, it would shake like an old lady. I just prayed that if the engine was going to fall out, it would wait until we were in our driveway! Luckily we made it home and our mechanic neighbor fixed it that night. Apparently we got a lot of rain while we were in AZ and rain pooled on a part of the engine that doesn't appreciate water! Go to pick up the dogs at the kennel the next morning and they all acted like they had no manors at all. My lab practically dragged me to the car and sat so close to me I had to breathe dog breath the entire 20 minute drive home! The puppy put her foot right into my soda and got sticky wet stuff al over the inside of my car! Oh well.......... everyone was happy to get the dogs home, everyone but the cats that is! It takes a vacation to make you realize how happy you are in your home. I do love it here! We have nice neighbors, great schools, very very low crime, if any really.

Arizona Vacation

It's been four days since our plane landed in Phoenix.It's been eleven years since we moved and four years since we were here to visit.In some ways it seems like we never left, in some ways it feels like we never lived here at all. Some things have changed so very much since we left. Other things have stayed eerily the same. Take my mom for instance, her house has not changed one bit. It's a nice little house, but I think the same magazines are in the same magazine holder since we left........ She is so set in her ways! It makes me think about moving back here a little, who is going to take care of her when she needs it? Her friends have always been here for her, but what happens when something happens to them and they are no longer able to take care of each other? Our son J1 said we couldn't move here, because he wasn't ready to move away yet! I'm know he wasn't all kidding!!! He likes the fact that we are 22 hours away by car and only a phone cal ll away if his account gets too low to live. J2 my daughter that's in college said she didn't care if we moved, she'd actually have a cool place to vacation in the summers. D2 my daughter who is a Sophomore in HS was horrified that we might actually be serious about moving before she graduated. The thought of leaving the fantastic friends I've made in MO makes me ill. So for now, I guess we just think of our old home town as a vacation spot! G