5.... WOW!

As always time has slipped by too quickly for my liking.
Gibson is 5 today... Oh my goodness how time has flown. It seems like just yesterday that I was checking in to the hospital on the day that I would meet my very first son. It's crazy to think that 5 years have passed.
So much has happened since that sunny September day. Gibson has grown into a sweet and silly little boy. He is full of imagination and is too smart for his own good. He loves taking his time putting his puzzles together and loves books. He is doing great in school and we are pleased with all of the progress he has made in the last few years. We know that life for Gibson may not always be easy, but he sure does get through it all with a big smile on his sweet little face. To say that I love him is an understatement. I don't think there are enough words in the english language to share how much he means to us.
Happy Birthday little man!! We love you Bubba!!

Okay so I have done it again.... I keep falling off the wagon when it comes to the family blog!

Needless to say I promise to set a reminder for myself to catch everyone up on what is going on in the Black house!

Currently we are working with Gibson's teacher to get Gibson setup for next school year. We are working on getting him in the half day pre-k program as well as continuing with the special education class that he is currently in. He will be at school all day at least 4 days a week, possibly 5 days a week. Secondly we are getting Chad all setup for his first school year! He will follow the same program that Gibson has been on for the past two years. We are anxious for him to get started because we have seen such growth out of Gibson since he got into school.

On the subject of Chad he just finished a study that we were a part of through the Oklahoma Autism Network called Connected Kids. It was amazing because I was able to learn tons of techniques to work with him on at home that are all related to ABA (Applied Behavioral Analysis) therapy which is the therapy that research shows works best for children of any degree on the spectrum of Autism. We are so happy that Chad is finally progressing in his speech both in receptive and expressive language.

Gibson is also doing really well. He has made SO much progress in the last year it is like a completely different child. He has been on ritalin for about a year now and we have seen huge changes in his behavior. We still have a lot to work on but we are finally getting much better results. He is doing great in school and is ahead of his age in a lot of educational areas. He is already doing almost everything he should learn in pre-k and even a few things taught in kindergarten. We may be behind in social and emotional skills, but we make up for it in knowledge. He is like a little sponge. Right now his favorite thing is you tube videos in foreign languages. His favorite seems to be Trotro, a little donkey cartoon, which he watches in French. It makes for an interesting conversation when he suddenly says something in French and you have no clue what just came out of his mouth. This is an every day occurrence in our home.

As for Gerod and I, no major changes except that we are doing the Insanity workout program and it is one of the hardest things I have ever done!! Its just crazy. Hopefully we will get some great results and be able to post our changes in about another 55 days! :)

Hope all is going well in the lives of our friends and family.

Where have we been?

I have not blogged in... well almost a year. Time has really just escaped me and we have SO much going on all the time making it really hard to get on here and post.

In the time since I have last posted we have had a lot of changes. In September Gibson celebrated his 4th birthday! I cant believe he is 4 and will be 5 in only 5 short months. My baby is about to be a "little kid", not even a toddler anymore.
Later in September Chad was also diagnosed with high-functioning Autism. It was a diagnosis I knew was coming, but was still hard to hear. I know that both of my boys have lots of struggles ahead of them, but I also know we were given these two amazingly Autistic boys for a very special reason! We may not know it yet, but we will one day.
Gerod celebrated his 30th... yes you heard right... 30th birthday! Old man! We had a GREAT party with all of our friends and we were able to celebrate Gerod and how wonderful we all think he is. It was a great night! So excited to see what 30 brings for this amazing man of mine.
We celebrated our first Christmas without my grandpas. It was very different than past years, but we tried to make it as normal as possible. We were able to remember things about them and how amazing it was to have had them with us as long we did.
Gerod and I celebrated our 7th wedding anniversary. Amazing how time flies! It seems like just yesterday we were heading to the chapel to get married! He is such a great husband and amazing Daddy. I couldn't have asked for anyone better!
On Valentines Day Gerod and I celebrated 10 years since our very first date! Again, I am awestruck at how quickly time passes us by. I look forward to MANY more years to come.

And that brings me to today... no special day or anything... just the day I saw someone post about people who stop blogging and I thought... I need to start doing that again. What a wonderful outlet for my feelings as well as a great way to document the things our little family goes through.
I know we have many things in store for the years to come and I cant wait to get back into blogging to keep track of ALL the things we do as a family.

Here are our recent family pics by a friend of mine: Neely Jacobson.

LOVE THEM ALL!!

Big COWBOY Birthday!

Chad's 2nd birthday party was a big success... minus the sweltering heat! It was 108 degrees on the day of the party and the location was the beautiful, yet not air conditioned, Express Clydesdales barn in Yukon. Even though the heat was horrible that day the kids still seemed to have a great time.

This was the massive Clydesdale barn

 The yummy cake pops I made that melted in the heat. :(

 Cupcakes, again by me.

 Chad LOVED all 4 of his cupcakes! We gave in since it was HIS birthday and all.

 Cutie BOOTie!

 Love his boots... they are actuall Gibson's old boots but we plan to get both boys a new pair of boots for Christmas.

 Miss Emma! This is Gibson's girlfriend, her Mommy is my best friend so they just HAVE to end up together one day!

 Miss Paige... she has twin brothers who will be turning one in November. I dont know how her Mommy does it, but its amazing. Isn't Paige just too cute?

 Chad enjoyed exploring the farm.

 Gibson LOVED the horses!!

 One of the many beautiful Clydesdales.

 Someone needs a teeth cleaning!

 The staff member that gave us the tour of the facility and showed us the clydesdale, BIG JACK I think was his name, showed us the difference between a normal horseshoe and a Clydesdale horseshoe.

 Ms. Ashley (Gibson's teacher from last year) and Reis. I absolutely adore this picture for so many reasons.

 Ericka and Rilee! Love these two girls!

 Gerod and Chad touching the Clydesdale. It took Chad a little while to warm up to him, I mean he was HUGE, but once he did he loved it.

We had a great time celebrating Chad's 2nd birthday! I cant believe my baby boy is already 2... time sure is flying by for our little family of four!

The worst day of my life

I have not blogged in a very long time. I have been overcome with grief, sadness and so many more emotions that I didn't even know existed. I hope to never go through the pain that my family and I have gone through these past couple of weeks ever again.

I'll start from the beginning...
Saturday May 21, 2011
This was the day that everything started.
The boys were already in bed when we got the phone call... Gerod's Granddaddy died in a motorcycle accident driving home from his lake house. Gerod was crushed. I have never seen him so broken. All I knew to do was to hold him, allow him to cry and comfort him to the best of my ability. It was a horrible night.

Monday May 23, 2011
We made the long drive to Gerod's hometown in TX for the funeral that was to be held on Wednesday.This was actually a really good day, the drive went well and we slept well after we arrived late that night.

Tuesday May 24, 2011
Another tough day as this was the day of the viewing. Gerod's Granddaddy looked really good and we were able to say our goodbyes. It was a very emotional time for all of us as Gerod and his Granddaddy were always very close. He was in perfect health so this was just the most unexpected tragedy that we could imagine. Little did we know things were about to get much worse.

Wednesday May 25, 2011
We woke up and got dressed for Gerod's Granddaddy's funeral service. We made the drive to town and met with the family at Gerod's Granddaddy's home. The service was so large they had to hold it at the civic center and it was beautiful. Afterward Gerod and I talked to some of our friends and I was able to speak with both of my grandparents and my parents who all came to the service. I hugged my grandparents and said goodbye because they were not going to attend the grave side part of the service.
The burial service was led by the Masons of the Masonic Lodge that Granddaddy had been a part of for most of his life and they did a beautiful job.

Little did I know that my whole life was changing during that service.

When the family arrived at the church for the meal that was to be provided to us there was quite a lot of talk going around. We found out that my grandmother had been in a serious accident and was in the hospital in the town. Panicking, Gerod and I rushed to the hospital. When we got inside I told them who I was looking for and they asked me to give them some of her information. At this point I wondered why my grandpa hadn't given them this information, where was he? Moments later a nurse came out of he ER and told me that I could see my grandma and that she was ok. I was confused, overwhelmed, scared and anxious all rolled into one. Once I got into the room and saw that my grandma was responsive and able to speak to me I immediately felt better. She was in serious condition but otherwise really didn't look all that bad. She asked where my grandpa was and I told her I would find out. I told her that everything would be ok.

At this point they told me they were going to medi-flight her to a bigger hospital about 30 min away and that I would need to sign some forms to release her. I asked a nurse where the other three people were that were in the car with my grandma and she didn't respond. It was like a movie, everyone was looking at me, hearing my words, but no one was saying anything. After asking multiple times a trooper finally walked over to me and said the words that will forever haunt me, "Ma'am, the two males are deceased"... what he said next I am not sure of, I completely lost it. The "two males" were both of my grandpas... my only two grandpas... they were two amazing men in my life, and they were gone.I had just seen them not even an hour earlier and they were gone! As I type this my heart breaks all over again. I kept thinking this all just had to be a dream, no, a nightmare. How could they be gone?

They took Gerod and I back to an empty part of the hospital where I cried hysterically. About that time my parents walked in. No one had told them yet.
I didn't realize until later that I am the one who told my mom; I am the one that told my Mom that her father and father-in-law had just died. I don't know if I will ever be okay with that.
Then it was time to make phone calls, Aunts, Uncles, Sisters, Brothers... we called them all.

I felt numb, as my parents, Gerod and I all drove to the hospital to check on my Grandma as well as my Grandpas girlfriend who was also in the accident.
When we arrived at the hospital we found that we would not be allowed to see my Grandma until after her surgery, but we were able to see my Grandpas girlfriend before they wheeled her to surgery. She seemed to be alright but was also in very serious condition.

In the waiting room, surrounded by family on both my Mom and Dad's sides I wondered how something like this could happen. I couldn't imagine that it was all real. It couldn't be real?!?

Around 9pm we were able to go in to the ICU unit to see my grandma and my grandpas girlfriend. My grandma was alert and asked the question we were all dreading hearing, "Where is Jim (my grandpa)"?
My Mom, her sister, and my grandmas sister had all decided to tell her the truth if she asked this question. I am sure that my grandmas heart broke in the instant that she heard the news. My grandparents had just recently celebrated their 55 year anniversary. Just heartbreaking.

That night Gerod and I drove back to his hometown with his parents to stay one more night. We left the boys with his parents and we stayed in a hotel. Even though the kids weren't with us I still struggled with sleep. I woke up frequently, crying and didn't get good rest at all.

Thursday May 26, 2011
The next morning we prepared to drive back to the hospital but then decided to go back to my hometown instead. We ended up traveling on the same road that the accident happened on. I thought I was prepared, I thought I would be fine, but that was anything but the case. As we turned onto the main road in town I felt my fingertips starting to tingle and then it crept into my hands and arms and then my whole body was numb. I couldn't breath, it was like the air had been sucked out of my body and I cried uncontrollably. My hands and arms went stiff and I had no clue what was happening to me. Gerod got me to my parents house as quickly as he could and once I got home my family got me calmed down, and they told me I had probably just experienced a panic attack. It was the craziest thing to ever happen to me, although I guess the entire situation is just the craziest thing to ever happen to me.

Continued later...

Evals... Oh how I am sick of evals!

Gibson has an evaluation tomorrow with a doctor that can diagnose ADD/ADHD. Yet another evaluation for one of our little guys. As much as I dislike taking the boys to doctors for evaluations I am excited to find out if Gibson indeed has something else going on. We shall see how it all works out, I am just glad we are finally getting this checked out.

I will also be calling an ENT (Ear Nose & Throat doctor) tomorrow because Chad failed his second Tempanogram (?) test the other day during his evaluation with Sooner Start (which he qualifies for... more to come on that and what all services he will be receiving). I am hoping that because Chad flat lined on both the Tempanogram tests that tubes might possibly solve our problems and he may not have Autism after all. I am not going to get my hopes up but I am also going to try not to dwell on the fact that its still a definite possibility.

I am also calling up some doctors to see if I can get my shoulder situation figured out. I swear, after this is all said and done I don't want to see another doctor for a while. hahaha! Doesn't look like that will ever happen though.

I will update with our results from the doctors appt sometime tomorrow (or today since its 2am)!

Piece Walk - Oklahoma

We participated in the Oklahoma Piece Walk today and it was a blast. We got to enjoy the beautiful weather and were able to see all of our friends. It was a great morning!

Gibson was so excited!

 Mommy and Gibson (this was the best picture we got)

Waiting for the walk to start!

 Not sure what this face is, but it sure is cute!

 Love him!

 Gibson LOVED playing the chimes at the music station they had setup. We may have to get him signed up for some kind of music therapy soon!

 Our entire group, not bad since we were a little behind on signing up for the event! :)

We had so much fun but we wish that Daddy could have been off of work to join us. That would have made the morning even better.

Next year Gerod and I are thinking about taking on the 5K together as well as raising some money and getting a team together for the walk. I cant wait for next May! :)

Thank you!

Thank you all for your sweet comments and emails! :) God sure gave me great friends who stick by my side when I need them the most!

A bit of heartache

I have been on the phone a lot today; scheduling appointments, calling the insurance company, and so on. I took Chad into the doctor last Thursday and he said what I have been thinking for a while now, "I am seeing some things that Gibson started doing at this age that concern me Callie". Oh goodness, and there go the waterworks. I have talked about this with Gerod, our small group and even on the blog but I guess I kept thinking and hoping that it was something else. Maybe there is a hearing issue? Maybe he is just mimicking behaviors that he sees in Gibson?

We obviously don't know for sure yet, but I kind of feel in my heart that something is off. I keep telling myself that I CANT do this! I CANT have 2 children with Autism, I just CANT. However in the same breath I hear God telling me that I CAN and that he chose me for a reason.

Chad will be evaluated in September to find out for sure if it is anything Autism related or just a speech delay or hearing problems. I don't know what the outcome will be, I am not a doctor, but I cant seem to shake that nagging feeling I have like I got with Gibson.

Something just isn't right here.

Some days I think about it and I cry, the tears flow and I just cant seem to shake them. There are other days when I can talk out loud about my thoughts and fears and not even shed one single tear.
All I know is that for some reason God knows I am strong enough to handle this. I don't know if I believe it, but God only gives us what we can handle. I know that there is some divine purpose to all of this and maybe one of these days I will find out the true plan.

Until that time I cherish everything that is going on with my children. Gerod and I couldn't be more pleased with the progress that Gibson is showing, and we are ready for Chad to get started on his journey of therapy as well. Our first meeting with Sooner Start in Tuesday, May 10th. We will get an evaluation from them on the kinds of services that Chad will receive (I know he will qualify) and then we can finally get the ball rolling.

I should be getting a call back from the doctor who will see Gibson soon to get him evaluated for ADHD. I have thought that ADHD might be another issue for Gibson but had been reluctant to ask our pediatrician if we could get him evaluated, but as soon as I brought it up he agreed that it would be good to get Gibson tested and gave me two doctors numbers on the spot. *I love our pediatrician by the way, he is AWESOME!*

So anyway, that is what is going on here! We have a lot on our plate right now and we are just trying to take it all in.
I know I have promised MANY times to keep this thing up to date, and I promise yet again that I will get better about it. I think sometimes I stretch myself a bit thin and I need to sit down and re-evaluate some things I have going and maybe give up one or two things to make my days a bit more stress free!

I will keep you all updated on what we find out.

Tomorrow we leave for Texas to visit family. It should be a nice break or us, and LOTS of Mexican food for this Texan born, Texan bred Momma!! I am ready!

Today

There are sermons that hit you smack dab in the face and make you realize who is really in control.
I very much enjoyed the sermon at our church today in which the Pastor talked about having trust in God. It kind of hit me like a ton of bricks that God is in control, not that I didn't know that before, but sometimes I need to be reminded I guess.
In the sermon our Pastor talked about a book called Sabbatical Journey by Henri Nouwen. In the book the writer talks to trapeze artists and how the "flier" has to trust the "catcher" to catch her. In the same way our Pastor talked about how we must "let go and wait for God". We want to "reach out but we must wait in absolute trust that God will reach out and catch us".
God has his hand in everything! Sometimes I forget that he is right here when I need him. He is here beside me when I have a bad day and feel like I just cant take anymore. He is here with me when I rejoice and he is rejoicing with me. I only hope that I remember to seek God ALL the time, not just when I feel like I need him the most.
I appreciated today's sermon so much with everything we have gone through in the past year with Gibson. God has been right there ready to catch us when we need him the most, I just need to remember that.

P.S. I promise to update with new pictures really soon by the way!

Autism Screening

We had Chad's Autism Screening on Tuesday afternoon. During the screening the screener had him play with toys and tried to get him to interact with her in certain ways and she would score him. After the screening was over we went over his score. She told me that for his age he should score less than a 2.75 and he scored a 2.75. Since he scored right on the cutoff and because Gibson has Autism she suggested we get an evaluation because she is not certified to give a diagnosis.
We have already contacted Sooner Start, the program that Gibson was in until he was 3, and they should be contacting us for his initial evaluation soon. On top of that we will be contacting a few of the doctors here in OKC and possibly the doctor we used in Lubbock to get Chad evaluated.
I feel like we are going through deja vu here in our house right now. Chad and Gibson couldn't be more different if in fact Chad is also on the spectrum, but at least we know more about Autism and have a few more resources this time around in case we get a positive diagnosis for Chad.
I will keep everyone informed of what we find out.

All about Gibson

I am very sad. Gibson has an AMAZING teacher at his school that does so well with him and I found out recently that she will not be coming back next year. She would have been his teacher for another two years but since she is leaving he will have a new teacher. With our plans of selling the house (which isn't even in the beginning stages of getting an offer right now) we don't know if we should stay in the same school district that we are in or if we should move to a new area. It is so difficult to make decisions that can so greatly effect your child. Gibson truly needs a teacher who can understand his trials and can help him work through them.
I am amazed at the amount of compassion from the teacher he has now and I wonder if we will find such an amazing person again. Can we get that lucky twice? I sure hope so, but in the meantime if you all can be praying that we make the right decisions in Gibson's future schooling. It is something that since we found out that he was on the spectrum has been one of my biggest fears; not getting him in the right place where he can maximize all of the potential that I know is inside him. I think there is a lot of research in my future of other school possibilities.

I also want to say a big thank you to all of our friends and family who wore BLUE yesterday (April 2nd) in honor of National Autism Awareness Day. It is amazing to see everyone show their support of Gibson and our family. We love you all and are so thankful that we have your love and support for Gibson. I know that there are more struggles ahead, but that only means that there will be even more for us to celebrate when those struggles are overcome. We have already come so far in such a short period of time. Thank you all!
We have already started raising money for Autism Speaks and you can access our page here if you want to donate to help fund research for Autism in Gibson's name. This year our goal is to triple our fundraising last year which means I would like to raise $3000 or more! Please help us reach this goal. AND Mark your calendar to walk with us in October. I would love to have 25 or more people walking with us. You need to register if you plan on walking with us.

I am such a bad blogger...

In case you haven't noticed, those of you that actually "follow" my blog, I have been a really bad blogger lately. We have been so busy sometimes I cant even see straight. Not only am I wife, mother of two, Photographer, and Jeweler for Premier Designs but I also just recently started selling Rodan & Fields skin care line. They are an amazing company that I will talk much more about later and if your interested in hearing about the products let me know, but again that's for another post.

Lately things have been going pretty good here. Gibson is doing really good and has only had a few recent tantrums that have been extreme. He is doing well in school and getting better in his new Mothers Day Out program at our church. One of the directors actually gave me the best book the other day called "Autism Alleluias" which is a devotional book written by the mother of an Autistic son. It is really a blessing to read some of these stories and I cant say enough thanks for the generosity of the director who thought enough of me to get me this book.

Chad is doing well too, although we are a bit concerned with his delayed speech and will be getting an evaluation on him on Tuesday. I can talk more about that after we have the evaluation. We also converted Chad's bed to a toddler bed the other day and he is actually doing very well with the change, it is amazing how quickly he adjusts to change.

Gerod and I are doing well too. Just enjoying life with two little men! Its definitely crazy around here but every day is a blessing and even though we don't see it as such sometimes we know how truly blessed we are.

Pictures to come later when it isn't so late and I am not so tired. I better head to bed now because I am taking the boys to the zoo tomorrow morning with some friends. I will be bringing the camera of course and should get lots of pictures of the kiddos!!

ABC's will never be the same...

For 2 years Gibson barely said a word... he wouldn't sit still long enough to "read" a book or be read to... he was very behind in many areas but we were working with a therapist and knew that one day he would start to get better. I know there are many children out there on the spectrum who never speak. I have a few friends whose children are in those situations, so I knew it was a possibility that Gibson might never talk. Remembering those hard times make the little things, that many parents take for granted, so special to us.

Gibson has a bedtime routine that is pretty consistent every night. He goes into his room, chooses a book (usually his ABC book), reads it to us, turns off the light on his own, gets into bed, sings us "Jesus Loves Me" and then sings his "ABC's" then tells us "Goodnight" and proceeds to say "Shut the door" before we walk out into the hall. Sometimes he even says "I love you" before we kiss him goodnight. These are moments that I never was fully sure would happen for us. We cherish them every single night and I am so thankful that we were able to capture Gibson reading to us one night a few weeks ago. Its amazing the progress he has made in only a years time!


How cute is that little man? We are so proud of him and the progress he has made in such a short period of time. We had a Parent/Teacher conference with his teacher the other day and she feels that with the progress he has made already that by the time he enters kindergarten he should be able to be in a typical classroom. :) We are SO happy to hear this news!

Once I get around to it I will be posting pictures from Gibson's Valentines Day party at school.

BIG DEALS!

I bought all of this for only $25!! It was originally $64!!

Some people aren't into clipping coupons. I used to be one of those people. I thought that the people that clipped coupons were weirdos that weren't really going to save that much money in the end. Then I went to a coupon class at my church. The lady that taught the class has a family of seven (2 adults and 5 kids), they used to spend over $1000 at the grocery store every month which is pretty close to what I spend for our family of 4. However this lady now spends less than $300 per month on EVERYTHING... produce, normal groceries, and toiletry items. I thought that this lady must be spending literally ALL of her time working on her coupons but I found out that you can do it all fairly easily. This was my first "real" coupon trip and I saved almost $40! That's insane. If I go to the store 3 more times this month that means I will save over $160 and spend about $100. I am sure there are a few little things that I need to purchase in the beginning that wont be on sale or have a coupon but in the end I will be able to save a lot of money. This is great for anyone in any situation... Married, Single, Kids, No Kids... Anyone likes to save a buck or two.
If you are at all interested in saving some money please check out the website www.couponcloset.net you will fall in love with coupons and how easy it is to save money.

Good luck in all of your future money saving adventures! :)

Spelling our name!

Gibson has impressed us so much in the last year with everything he has learned and how far he has come since November of '09 when he wasnt hardly talking at all. Now he is spelling out his name and knows what he spelled. We are amazed!

Save a Penny...

I went to the coupon class at my church tonight with lots of girls from out Sunday School class. I learned a lot more this time around than I did the first time and I am hoping to really dive into the world of couponing now! If you are interested in learning some of the things we learned in class go to www.couponcloset.net
The information is a little overwhelming at first but it is amazing what this lady saves every month and I hope that I can do the same. :) We are making some changes in our house over the next year or so and this will help us out a ton!!
More to come on our money saving ventures!! :)

You dont understand...

Gerod and I decided to take the family to Jason's Deli after church on Sunday. On Sunday our Jason's Deli is extremely busy because of the church crowd. When we got to the restaurant there were quite a few people there but it wasn't packed until about 15 min later. We got the boys in high chairs and Gerod got into the long line to place our order. Sitting at the table trying to entertain a tired 1 year old and a 3 year old with a short attention span is, needless to say, VERY difficult!
As I was waiting for Gerod to finish up in the long line I noticed a family with a Mom and Dad around my parents age and their kids (I assume) that were probably close to my age. They sat down after us at a table right next to where we were sitting.
Gibson was getting restless and although he was making very little noise he was being somewhat irritating pushing his high chair backwards and then pulling himself back up to the table. I asked him to stop, quietly, a few times. The entire time he was doing this the Mom from the table next to us kept glaring at Gibson. Once he stopped doing messing with his chair he decided it would be fun to play with the pepper shaker. At one point it slid across the table and fell on the floor right next to the foot of the Mom at the next table. The son picked up the pepper shaker and handed it to me, to which I apologized for Gibson's accident. The Mom again glared at Gibson then turned to her family and said the following: "If you kids ever acted like that out in public I would have taken you outside. You guys never acted like that in public though. Its so irritating when parents don't make their children behave." It took all of my strength not to fly across the table and give that lady a piece of my mind. First of all, no child is a saint and I am quite sure that at some point her children were obnoxious in public. Secondly, Gibson was not being bad... yes he wasn't listening to me very well but I have had many worse situations with him and in my opinion he was being very good.
Situations like this infuriate me because the people that talk badly about my child for one have no right to talk bad about him like that and two they have no idea of the struggles that Gibson is faced with daily. I don't understand why other people out there think they are so much better than others especially when they have no clue of the situation that they are talking badly about.
With that being said I hope that I can ask everyone that reads this blog a big favor... If you see a Mom struggling with her child don't automatically come to a swift judgement about her and her parenting style. You never know what is REALLY going on there. I ask that you maybe give a helping hand or give her an encouraging word, not talk bad about her and her child right in front of her. You never know what something as small as asking if you can help her with something or telling her its okay might go. I know that there have been certain situations where people have done this for me and it has almost brought me to tears of thanks.
Acts of kindness can go a very long way!

Have a wonderful weekend everyone. I head out to Texas first thing in the morning!

Do you really know?

Because my Great Grandmother passed away today I have been thinking a lot about life. I spoke with my Dad on the phone tonight and he read me a story that my Great Grandmother wrote about her life; growing up, getting married, having children, owning successful businesses, and seeing the world change around her. There were so many things in the story that I just didn't know about my Grandmother. I guess I just never thought to ask her about her life. Oh there were the stories that I heard over and over again that I could tell lots of people about but truthfully I learned more about my Grandmother in the short time that I was on the phone tonight than I had learned in the 26+ years that I have been alive.
This makes me wonder how much people really know about their family; where family members are from, when they got married, what major world events did they witness that we only get to read about in the history books? I wonder how many people out there were stunned to find out something about a loved one only after they passed on. I know that for me it is a blessing that my Grandmother was asked to write these things down on paper. Now I can share things about her life with my children and in turn they can share them with their children.
I encourage you as I write this, to sit down with an elder in your family and ask them questions. Ask them about how different it was growing up then as opposed to now. I am sure there are many stories to be told and many stories that we will never hear but I know that we will never learn things about our family and its history unless we listen, truly listen to the people that have been through it all before. I hope that I will take this new found knowledge and speak to my living relatives about what things were like back when they were young. I might even take it upon myself to write some of their stories down so that future generations of my family will know about the history of our family.

One last mention about my Grandmother that I thought was too sweet for words:
My uncle sat down with my Grandmother the other day and prayed with her, they prayed that she would accept Christ as her Savior because she couldn't remember if she ever truly had done that. Then she followed by saying that she was 96 years old and she was entitled to forget things *still witty as ever*. She prayed with my uncle so that she would be assured a place in Heaven alongside her two husbands and two of her children (one of whom was my amazing Grandmother; Barbara Ann). I love the song "I Can Only Imagine" and every time I hear it I think of my late Grandmother Barbara and now I know that when I hear it I will think: I can only imagine what fun my family is having in Heaven and I know that I will rejoice when I can see them again!

Jennie Mae

Christmas 2009

God Bless you and your family... please hug and kiss your dear family members because you never really know when they wont be with you any longer.

Great Grandmother

Today is a sad day, I got a phone call from my Dad earlier who let me know that my Great Grandmother passed away early this morning. It makes me very sad that she is no longer with us but she lived a great life. She died at the age of 96 and she was spunky up till the very end. Here I am with her on Christmas Day.

 And here is my Dad with her. She was his only living Grandmother left.

I am so glad that we were able to see her one last time before she passed away. She insisted that we bring the boys over for her to see them. The smile on her face was priceless watching the boys play in her room. Gibson even gave her a kiss and told her bye bye.

I am thankful for her in so many more ways than I can write about. She was an amazing woman and I only hope that I can be like her. I am happy that she went peacefully and that she is doing much better now. She can be with her two late husbands and two of her children up in Heaven. I know that she is rejoicing to be with her family again!

Love you Great Grandma, you will truly be missed!