* Quiet Time with God........

Well this week has officially kicked off the holiday season.
I have been so busy doing cakes and getting the house ready for the magazine and the Ann Varnum show (today) that I had forgotten about Veterans Day, I knew the boys were out of school on Tuesday for the holiday but somehow in my madness of hurrying from work to ballgames I had forgotten just what the day really meant.

Yes, it meant the first official day of holiday shopping (which I quickly learned at lunch when I ran to the store for a quick in and out trip and could not find a parking place) but did I stop to think much less THANK a Veteran for what they did for us and our country?

To: John, Ricky and all the many, many others....THANK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My show tapping with Ann Varnum was this morning, and everything went great as it always does. Ann is always a delight and she always makes the tapping's so easy, the hard part is coming up with new ideals after soooo many shows. I am free now to decorate homes for others and take cake orders.

Next on the calender is the "Tour of Homes" which is December 13th.
I think this will be a breeze, I will just need to have Christmas refreshments and freshen up the house.

Kyle has began his Basketball season at PCS, so we are at games 2 nights a week and he has practice the other 3 nights. He is playing ball now with his cast off ( because we cut it off) and wearing a brace and seems to be doing fine. He will go back the Doctor next week for more Xrays. He is slowing trying to wean his hand from the brace and gets its strength back.

Kamren went to his first "FSU" game this past weekend with just his dad and a friend. All he could talk about for days is that he was going on a "Guys Trip". Little did he know that he would wake up Saturday morning with a sore throat and chills. He tried his best to suck it up and be tough. Kirk said he made it fine going down but as soon as they got into the stadium it was not good. He had chills and just wanted to sleep, so for the first time in all of Kirk's years of going to the games he lefted before the game was over to get him home and in the bed, and that is were he has been since Saturday until today.

Kamren has been a down this week with a virus of some kind, he went to school today but I was called to come get him before lunch. I had to work after the show this morning so I took him to the office and he slept from 1:30 - 6:30pm. That was a 1st for him, he is usually fussing about being there. He has try outs tomorrow at CUMC for Basketball and he can't wait. I hope he is feeling better in the morning. When Kamren says no to food I know he is "sick".

Today marks the end of our work week, Kirk and I say that if we make through Wednesday our week is done (we only work 1/2 day on Friday). It has been a very stressful week to me stressing out over sick babies and getting ready for the show and having to work too, I am ready for a break.

I love Thanksgiving soooo much, it is a very relaxing holiday and I can't wait just to get out of town. The house is ready for the holidays and I want to just slow down and soak it all in.

This Christmas will be a very different Christmas for our family.
For the first time in my 46 years we have always had Christmas at my grand mothers and then after she passed away at my mothers. This year because our family has grown to 34 of us (13 babies) we will have our family Christmas in my families church fellowship hall/gym. This will make ALL our men very happy because they can play Basketball, Pingpong, Pool and the little ones can run and play and be as loud as they want with plenty of room. Our family tradition has always been Dinner, the Christmas Story, Gifts and "BINGO", we will still do all of this but this year we have said "NO GIFTS"( LOL) we will see how that goes. I do agree we need to teach our children the true meaning of Christmas and there has to be a start somewhere so why not this year.

All I want for Christmas is to be surrounded by my family, my children and the babies. I just want 5 short days of sitting and holding the Grans, talking to the girls and Matt, watching Kyle & Kam bond with the rest of the family we only see a few times a year. Watching Kyle & Kam explore the Great Outdoors, in Dothan it seems we are always in school and playing BALL. I love going with my dad to visit my old home place on Overton Mt. This is a great eye opener for Kyle & Kamren. To me this is Christmas....

Yes, Christmas and home changes every time I go back, with new faces and then faces that are no longer with us. I miss so very much my Granmother South and Uncle David. My grandmother started all of this, all the very special memories as a child of the very happy Christmases. Christmases of family, lots of food and Rook playing, our stockings so full of goodies they would not hang ( our stocking were full of fruit, nuts and candy, not the things you get in stockings these days, but we thought we were rich ). Jeff & Rob our cousins from Dothan were always home for Christmas and us kids(me, Lisa, Wayne, Jan, Jeff & Rob) had a blast while the adults(mom, dad, Uncle Don & Lynda, Uncle Johnny & Yvonne, Uncle David & Ameila) played their famous game of Rook. I don't remember alot of TV back then or Ballgames on a TV"s, just good old spending time together, of course just like today the men still hunt all day and come home in time for dinner and Rook.

We still try to carry on most of the traditions ( Rook, Red Velvet Cake, Dressing, Cherry Pies, Butternut Cake) and the list goes on and on. We will make our memories and hope they will be carried on by our children and then theirs. I thank the lord that I still have my parents and ALL my children will be with me. I think of my mother each Christmas as she is reminded that so many Christmases ago she buried her Dad on Christmas Eve and how that feeling has never left her on Christmas.

As I try to close this evening with all my babbling, I am reminded of a couple I stumbled across a couple of months ago. ( you can click on" NIE's Recovery" http://www.cjanerun.blogspot.com) They were in a plane crash that killed their BF the pilot back in August, they have been in comas since the crash and they have 4 small children. They were burnt over 80% on their bodies and will undergo many, many skin grafts over the next months and years. Even when they come out of the comas their lives will never be the same, they will recover but in very different bodies, the mommy and daddy their children said goodbye to back in August will not look like the mommy and daddy they once knew. The Nielson's will have to adjust to their new bodies and many battles before them. This is a very heart breaking story and it will surely make you Thankful for many things. things we take for granted daily. Please pray for this family!!!!

In our busy lives we do need to stop and Thank God for all his glory, for Families, Health, our Freedom.......Thank you God for always providing for my family.

"His eye is on the sparrow".....and I know he watches me!!!!!!!!!!!!!