Saying Goodbye

 Before I begin I need to say that this was one of the most heart-breaking, gut-wrenching days of my life.


You may remember this post that I wrote a while back.  Well...none of us got the kind of healing we wanted for Mikayla...the miracle of an earthly healing.  Instead...Mikayla was reunited with her heavenly Father last Sunday.  

Mikayla's stuffed animals.  She was an animal lover like no other!

Mikayla was a very lucky little girl.  She had two wonderful, Christian parents who taught her about her Savior and Mikayla accepted Jesus into her heart long before the illness that damaged her brain.  


As true Christians, we rejoice for Mikayla knowing that she is healed and in Heaven.  


But that does little to ease the pain we feel from the separation death creates. That pain, I believe, is many times greater when it involves your own child.


Today I realized that I have never attended a funeral for a child.  


Today I heard the cry from a mother's heart as she saw her child's face for the last time on this earth.


Today I pray that I won't ever have to do that again.

I have heard before that "it's not goodbye...it's see you later' and this is very true.  So maybe the post title should actually be "Saying See You Later."  But I digress...the point is we are not left without hope...we have the joy of a reunion in Heaven to look forward to.  And we have our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ to thank for that!

You Might Be A Redneck...

...if this is your front yard.

The first thought as I pulled into my driveway and saw that my husband had jacked the car up and removed the wheel was "oh my gosh...we are rednecks!"  Combine that with our "green acres mobile" there off to the right and that bulldozer we STILL have in our yard on the left and it's a scene straight out of Poor White Trash.

Groomed

The only time that he actually looks somewhat like a Jack Russell Terrier:

The traditional "roll-around-in-the grass---what-happened-to-all-my-fur" move.

Thank goodness it grows back quickly because I like my furry dog better.

Another Tooth Bites the Dust

It is a well known fact, for those that know me well, that my teeth are a major source of stress (and pain) for me.  


Soft, eroding enamel, lovingly inherited from my mother cause many infections and abscesses that eventually lead to root canals or extractions.  


Yes indeedy, I have had so many extractions that I have lost count...but if I was keeping count, one more could be added today.


Luckily most of those teeth are molars so they are not seen...and luckier still, I have an understanding husband who won't let me go through life looking like a hillbilly with missing teeth (no offense to those who have missing front teeth).


But, as the extraction site needs two weeks to heal...I will be doing a limited amount of smiling until July 11th when a temporary tooth will be placed.  Just a warning...not to be offended if I don't smile when I see you.  


You would think after so much experience with tooth problems, I would be used to it by now.  


You could...but you would be soooooo wrong!!!


I am a little bitty baby when it comes to my teeth. 

I've already had a root canal this year which drained all our insurance money so this reconstruction work will be out of pocket...but my alternative would be to take antibiotics and pain pills every other month until January when our insurance renews and that, my friends, is NOT an option.

Seven Years

Seven years ago today I married my best friend.  

Our pastor was kind enough to to marry us on his own wedding anniversary.

That day we were blessed with the presence of our family and great friends.

Blessed with the presence of our four children...

(A little experiment with the teeth whitening feature in Photoshop.  I turned down the amount of whitening after this...but thought the picture was funny and wanted to post it as is)

And blessed with the presence of our Father God.

This past seven years we have been blessed with great times, good times, and even not so good times.

but through it all...we keep our focus on the commitment we made that day.  After all, marriage is a commitment - it is not a feeling.  

This commitment comes in to play when you have a husband who does not even go out to get an anniversary card until 6:15 on the evening of said anniversary!!!


Oh well...he DID pick out a good one so that kinda made up for it...that and the bottle of amaretto...AND the very large bag of dark chocolate m&m's.  


I think I can forgive him!

The Pool

One of our favorite summer hangouts.

The boy in the water...the mom on the lounge chair with her favorite book...sun shining warming and tanning the skin...ah...sheer bliss!  

Except for today when I forgot my book!  Arg!  BORING!!

Yesterday was the third day in a row with temps in the 90's and nothing but sunshine.

So...why not test out the local pool for the first time this year?

So...forgetting my book today and all...I had nothing to do but "people watch." 


Is there anything cuter than a little girl with a pixie haircut and a ruffled bottom swimsuit?

I don't think so..

Unless it's this little precious with her cherry swimsuit.

Oh...so...cute! *sigh*
Anyway, chalk up another great day at the pool.

Where's Ollie

Sometimes taking Ollie on his nightly walk around our yard is a bit like that book "Where's Waldo"

He loves exploring in the tall grass/weeds.

Final Resting Place

As I have mentioned before, my grandma's ashes were buried.  The ceremony, which we thought was the 7th and made a special trip up north for, was actually on the 14th.  


Today, I got these pictures, via e-mail, from my uncle.

I'm not too sure what the daughter on the stone is for.  I know that she had a stillborn daughter at some point so I'm wondering if they are buried together.  

In yet another interesting, yet confusing, decision that she made before her death...she chose to be buried next to her son (who died in 1986 at 46 yrs old.) instead of by my grandpa (whom she had been married to for 36 years).

I guess it's not for me to question.

Tree Inventory

We've been in our house for 6 years now.


We bought this land without anything on it...except a preexisting mound system...and had our house built.


The first spring in our house my husband decided we needed some trees on our property so we, as a family, spent a wonderful (not) weekend planting about 100 itty bitty pine trees.


This is how they look now - about 3 ft. tall.


Every other year hubby has thought it necessary to add 100 trees to our (now) tree infested property.


The latest batch, added just last month, is struggling with the lack of rain lately.

Anyway, this has become somewhat of an issue for me...since I'm the one who cuts the grass and all...and maneuvering around trees is really starting to get.on.my.nerves!  Believe me...it is not easy to do.


So, just for kicks and giggles, I decided to do a tree inventory on my latest grass cutting excursion.  


Some of the trees have died...mostly victims of the lawn mower and a driver (me) who wasn't able to control it very well - I told you it's not easy maneuvering around all those trees!


Final tree count: 279!  


And that does not even include the dozen or so fruit trees that hubby also planted in various places...also equally hard to mow around. (In fact, one of those trees has already succumbed, another victim of my lawn mowing skills. 

Watering

Normally, with all things being equal, I would be elated that we haven't had a single drop of rain this month yet.


In fact, looking at the data from the trusty weather.com site, our last measurable rain was .05 inches on May 26th.


I am a self-confessed sun goddess.  Sunscreen applied, I could spend hours a day soaking up the warmth of the sun's rays while I make my way through book after book.  


But this "drought" is taking it's toll on our garden, on our grass, and on the 279 trees that my husband has thought necessary to plant around our property (but that's a story for another time).  


The garden is easy to take care of but hand-watering 297 trees is not on my wish list of fun things to do.


So, I was pretty happy when I went outside to read today and saw this:

"Oh, thank goodness, God is taking care of our watering today," I thought.

Unfortunately, as ominous as this looked, it was a quick moving storm and only rained for a few minutes.

***Sigh*** There may be more watering in our future.

Training

Zack is working hard this summer training with one of the best basketball players on our school's high school team.


After looking into several clinics and camps I thought one on one training would be the best thing for him right now.


And so far he is loving it. 


One of the things he is working on is his vertical leap.  He asked me to take this picture.

Then I challenged him to raise the hoop to regulation height and try again.

So he did...and...

Wow!  


 His goal is to be able to dunk by high school.  I'm not sure about that but I am continually being amazed by his effort and the fact that he is only going to be in 7th grade.

Someone Please Tell Me...

What in the world was my husband thinking!

A couple weeks ago he informed me that "some work" was going to be done on our front lawn.  That we were getting the fill for free and would only have to pay for the labor - which was going to take a day.

A week later the work STILL is not finished. (these pictures were all taken yesterday)


And our front lawn looks like a wreck.

And I can only imagine how much this "labor" is going to cost us...since my normally very smart and prudent husband did not even bother to get an estimate!