Australia Bound

Suzanne and Laura are in the air flying from Atlanta to LA for a connecting flight to Sydney, Australia for a once in a lifetime, all expense paid 8 day vacation. Here's wishing them a wonderfully uneventful flight (both ways) and a memorable vacation.

Today I am grateful for my siblings: my sisters and brothers and all my in-laws (and out-laws). They are my extended safety net.
Anne and Rick for always being there, quietly and never asking why, just seeing the need and filling it. They are the best. The best of the best.
Laura and Mike for their faith and most of all because Laura can ALWAYS make me laugh! For her inner beauty, her intelligence and her integrity.
Marti and Bubba for just being themselves and so in love.
Sissy and Dave for a shining example of a marriage enduring through separation and ongoing medical adversity with a child who is challenged both physically and mentally.
John and Rosie for their faith and friendship and laughter.
Greg and Shelly for their humor and beautiful outlook on life.
James and Mariane for their love and trust in each other. And for Mariane who is pregnant again at 38. James is 45. God Bless 'em. A baby!I love youze guys!

Today I am thankful for my daddy who will be 89 in December. He is finally, after these many years, starting to tell us about some of his experiences in the Pacific during World War II. God's Blessings on that whole generation. And I am also thankful for my step-mom who has kept him happy and healthy for so many years.

Veteran's Day

Tomorrow school is out. I have the day off and Damien is determined that we are going to do "fun things". I have permission from him to work tomorrow morning. Lunch will be Cracker Barrel so that he can have pancakes and bacon (Aunt Laura threw his leftovers out Friday night because we left them in her car ~~ he was HORRIFIED!) Then we are going to search a couple of consignment shops for some jeans for him. Then the really fun part, The American Fun Park (formerly known as Putt-Putt) so he can have some FUN. LOL

Today I am thankful for

Today I am thankful for my loving and supportive husband who has put up with my quirks and foibles (and there are a LOT of them!) for 38 years of marriage. He is my total opposite and my absolute best friend. I cannot envision life without him. He is my anchor in the storm and my shoulder to lean on.

I hope you all have the blessing to have someone like Hugh in your lives.

Mariane is expecting

Forgot to post that in the update.

My brother James and his family transferred to Robins AFB in Warner Robins, GA. This is his last duty station. He will retire from the Air Force in January after 25 years. Anyway, Mariane is expecting their second, due date May 25, 2010. She is 38, God bless her. We are so happy for them. They did get started kind of late in life. We still call James "Goof Guy". He'll always be the youngest, our baby brother. But he's going to be a daddy at 45. He's getting REAL tired of all his sisters' admonitions of "You had better take care of her!" I'm still smiling from the news. A new baby in the family. God's blessing!

It's been FOREVER!

My cousin-in-law sent me a letter with some pics of the family reunion last June and mentioned that she still checks this. LOL! FACEBOOK GOT ME! You can find me there almost every day. I'll see about posting a link on my profile. So Ginny Ellis ~~ This one's for YOU!

Anyway Allen did just fine with his surgery. It's been over a year and the cyst has not come back. He and Michelle are divorcing. They tried for 2 years to work things out and it just didn't. Sometimes you have to let things go. Michelle moved to Biloxi in March. Hugh and I took the boys out to see her in June. Damien spends almost every weekend with Allen.

Damien is a shining star. Straight As all year last year, perfect attendance and honor scores on the state Criterion tests. He is a happy boy. Second grade is challenging for him. Sometimes it's hard for me to keep my hands off and let him make mistakes. But that is how you learn.

Chris got back safely from his last deployment to Iraq and was transferred to a Reserve Center in Marietta, Georgia last December. YAY!!! 3 hours away. They have bought a house (closing in a couple of weeks). Suzanne is going to Australia for 10 days with my sister Laura.

Business is like all business these days . . . slow to the point of agony. But all is not lost. We can still pull out with the Christmas season.

In a nutshell, that's the last 14 months (has it been that long?? Geez I'm bad!)