A Time for Everything

I'll start this post with my favorite bible verse, which was read at her funeral on Sunday.
Ecclesiastes 3

A Time for Everything

3 There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens:

² a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
³ a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
⁴ a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
⁵ a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
⁶ a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
⁷ a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
⁸ a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.

I take great comfort in these words. Because I know our separation is only temporary.



If I close my eyes I can still feel the warmth of the fireplace, I can hear her favorite PBS programs on the TV, Nancy's Notions, Julia Child, Nature, This Old House, etc.

I can still remember the feel of the crisp clean sheets on the bed in the spare bedroom. I can remember her peeking through the door to check if I was awake. Then I would jump out of bed and a chill would run up my spine as my feet hit the hardwood floors.

I remember the  crackling of the fire as she worked to get it going. I remember the sizzle of the cast iron skillet as she prepared breakfast for the two of us. If I close my eyes I can still hear the dogs toenails as she paced the hardwoods. Nights spent in that house with her were the best.

I can remember Saturdays spent in Ashville paying bills running errands and making a quick pit stop to any yard sale we would pass by. I remember Sunday mornings spent at Mountain Top Flea Market.

I can remember my favorite thing to do with her, she had dozens and dozens of rings. I would walk into her bedroom, pull out the little drawer of the jewelry box and carry it in the den. I would take each ring out one by one and admire it. I would ask her where she got it or who gave them to her, and she without missing a beat could tell you who gave it to her, and on what occasion, or where she purchased it.

I remember a childhood trip to the Smokey Mountains in which she sat next to me in the car, singing along to the familiar country songs as they drifted out of the car speakers.

I remember the taste of her homemade vegetable soup, there's none like it in the world. The taste of her Dilly Dally Onion Rings, her ''Nanny Tea'' and her famous fudge. All of these things have had their time, and now only remain in my memories. My heart aches, it aches because I want to feel the warmth of her hugs, or the softness of her voice on the other end of the phone. I've played the voicemail's shes left me at least a dozen times. I know she wouldn't want me to cry for her, I know more than anything she wouldn't want that.

She was the one I would run to as a child when I would fall down and get hurt or be heartbroken over a boy as a teenager. She was my rock, she was the one person I could talk to about anything. Where do I stand now that my rock is gone? We all need someone in life, a very special someone who we have a relationship with like no other. Few of us ever find that person, and even less realize they have someone so special. But what do we do when they are gone?

I can imagine her walking barefoot on a beach with her blue jeans rolled past her ankles, with Papaw by her side. Just like in the photo I have of the two of them together. I can imagine how happy they both are to finally be together again. I can imagine them both looking down on all of us, their hearts filled with love and a huge smile on their faces. I can hear her voice say ''don't cry sweetheart, it's okay''

I look around and there are reminders of her everywhere, whether it be a photo of her or a pair of earrings, a book on the shelf, a afghan she made sitting on a shelf in the closet, a scarf, a shawl, a dress in Shelby's closet, a watch in Colt's room, a ring on my finger, a framed photo in the hallway. Everywhere I look there are reminders of her love for us. Although I cry, I am grateful for all these things. I am grateful for my 27 plus years that I was blessed to share my life with her. I hope that someday I can be as good of a Nanny as she was.


Rest in Peace Nanny, I'll never forget you.
Ruth Emily Smith Bevel
August 29,1937 - December 19,2012

A few photos I found on my computer...........

Nanny and Colt at Noccalula Falls 2011

Nanny at Shelby's 3rd Birthday party 2011

Christmas 2009

Nanny and Shelby Easter 2010

At Colt & Shelby's birthday party in 2010

One of my favorite pictues of them May 2010

May 2010

September 2012

Nanny Thanksgiving 2012

Nanny at Colt's birthday party 2011 Huntsville Depot





 

Thankful for my blessings

Today I am thankful for God, my husband and my children. Without them I wouldn't be where I am today.

My husband has been by my side for over seven years, through thick and thin. I can't put into words how wonderful he is to me and our children. I'm thankful for his good work ethic, and determination to always provide for his family.

I'm thankful for my son, and my daughter. They are my little miracle babies, the ones I thought I would never have. God is so good, he always knows what we need and exactly when to give it to us. His timing was perfect. These two little bundles of joy bring me so much happiness and love. They fill my life with laughter and good memories. I would do anything for them. Some days they can be more than a handful, but still I wouldn't trade a single second of our time with them for anything in this world. Each day goes by and I feel like there is no possible way I could love them anymore than I do, yet they always find away to make sure my heart is overflowing with love for them and from them. There is nothing comparable to the love of a child.

I am forever thankful, because I know at any moment any of these things could be gone. I cherish every second of every day that God lets me share with my family. 

Subtle reminders

Something so sad happened when I was checking out at the grocery store. The man in front of me had an injury of some kind and his left side/arm/hand constantly shakes. (I assume it was an injury due to the scars.)


He had trouble picking up his bags and placing them in his cart, as well as trouble with counting out his cash. The cashier offered no help with putting his bags in his cart, and stood there watching as he struggled.

There were about five or six people in line behind me and several had rude comments on how slow he was. People take things for granted all too often. You never know tomorrow you could be facing the same struggles he is facing today.

He was a sweet and handsome man, and deserves just as much respect as anyone else in this world. There's no reason to treat people the way people do now. It literally makes me want to cry. I hope whatever his situation, whatever has happened to him that he has someone at home or in his life to let him know that he is loved in this world.

I wish I had done something to help him, but I didnt' want to offend him. I just couldn't find any words. I think in a way that this was a subtle reminder from God, a reminder to be thankful for everything I have. I'm always thankful for my family and friends, but its the simple things I forget to be thankful for like my good health.

God bless this stranger! I pray for the ignorant ones who laugh at him.

 ''kindness is free''

Scarecrow Trail at Huntsville Botanical Gardens

Each year for fall Huntsville Botanical  Gardens puts together ''Scarecrow Trail'' various businesses, schools, groups etc. get together and make a scarecrow for the trail. It's always fun to go to the Botanical Gardens, we go multiple times a year.

 Fall is always extra fun though, we get to see all the creativity and hard work that is put into each scarecrow. This years theme was ''traditonal''

So one day Making Connections got together to set up the Autism Awareness Scarecrow. I don't get to be as involved with the group as I would like to be, and I was off the day they were setting up so I decided to go. Debbie did a fantastic job with the design. It's hair was spray painted and it had cute little iron on puzzle pieces all over it's overalls.

It turned out to be such a cute scarecrow too! After that my friend Whitney, my daughter and I all enjoyed a lunch at Clementine's at the Gardens. Then we took a short tour around the gardens, skipping most of the different sections of the gardens. It was so hot that day, and I had to pick up my little man from school so we were rushed for time.

Whitney working on the hair.

Little Miss Sassy working on his ''stuffing''

After it was all finished

How cool is this? I love the sunflowers, they add a nice touch!

Angry Birds made out of gourds and plastic jugs.... pretty neat! 

 

 

Giant Lilly pads in the water garden.

If you've never been you really should make plans to go. Fall is the perfect time, the weather is cooler, the leaves are changing and who doesn't love scarecrows?

 

Little Gymnast

Our little princess fell in love with all the jumps, flips and pageantry of the Olympics. She is obsessed with Gabby Douglas! She begged and begged to take gymnastics so I finally went and got her registered. She absolutely loves it!

doing a roll

Jumping on the AIRTRACK

Very first time on the bar

So proud of getting her hand stamped after completing her first class

Balance Beam

 

 

This Saturday is ''Open Gym Day'' for members and they get to bring a sibling or a friend. She  is going to take her older sister Lindsey! Super excited!

Twice the fun!!!!

Everyone who knows me knows that I am a die hard fan of Ford. Especially the mustang. Back in 2006 I got a 2000 Ford Mustang coupe, V6 that is sunburst gold. We have done so much work on it that it doesn't even look like the same car. We've added decals,new headlights, rims, rear window louvers, a new Cobra R hood, dual exhaust, a GT bumper, custom leather seats and the list goes on and on. My husband and I both enjoy going to car shows and showing our cars. I've won several trophies ranging from Huntsville,  Birmingham, even Savannah,Georgia. My car has been in numerous parades throughout the Tennessee Valley. I'm proud of all the hard work, time and money that my husband and I have poured into that car.

Photo by Olivia Photography

 

Seats by Norm's Upholstery

Photo by me

 My husband decided to get rid of his F350 duley. We wanted something fun to drive around, we rarely even drove the truck. It was just sitting there wasting away. He found a 2000 Ford Mustang GT convertible on Auto Trader online. We called the dealership and told them we would be coming up on Thursday to take a look at it. We dropped our son off at school and headed to Murfreesboro, TN. Two hours later we were in the parking lot and knew we wanted the car. You can pretty much say it was ours from the moment the salesman placed the keys in our hands and said take it for a drive. We drove it, stopped and lowered the top then went back to the dealership and told them we wanted it. I'm looking forward to this being our new project. Can't wait to see the end results!

because sometimes a girl wants to go fast :)

Sitting in the driveway at our friends hows, chatting about mustangs!
 

                                                                      

Am I insane????

Last week my  lovely package that I ordered for myself arrived, aka the INSANITY workout program.
I couldn't wait until Monday to get started! So finally Monday arrives, and I wake up ready to defeat day one of the program, which was the fit test. I didn't do as bad as I thought I would. I absolutely loved it!

So today I woke up a little sore from yesterday's workout. I was still determined to start and finish day two, which happened to be plyometric cardio circuit! Turns out I was more sore than I realized. Still I put the disk in the dvd player and started. I got to the point where my legs felt like they were a thousand pounds. I pushed myself through it, and now I'm so sore I don't even want to attempt tomorrow's session. I know I will still attempt to do day three anyways. We only have sixteen days until our trip, so that's sixteen days I can be doing an ass kicking program!

I've already quit drinking sodas and junk food. It's amazing how I went from craving such bad things to such good fresh healthy things. All week I've been eating salads, and grilled meats, and drinking water. YAY me! So excited to see my results from doing this program!

''A Red Carpet Event''

A Red Carpet Event, what an awesome name for my princesses first dance recital! It was a busy day but an amazing day! I got up and got my princess dressed in one of her big brother's button up shirts. We went to see our good friend Beverly at her salon, and of course she did an amazing job on her hair!

Next up  we headed over to the civic center for her Mary-Kay make-up by Miss Carly, who also did an amazing job on her stage make-up! She looked like a little porcelain doll!

Then she was ready to go onstage for her rehearsal. She was super excited! She went backstage then I took a seat out in the audience and waited to see her rehearsal. I'll even admit that I cried, as she was the first one to walk onto the stage with her beautiful little golden curls! Such a bittersweet moment, seeing her onstage for the first time! I can remember the day she wanted to take dance classes and she was still too young. Now here we are, her first year has just been completed!



Rehearsal



They all looked so stinkin' cute dancing around in their little costumes, with  their bouncing curls! As soon as her rehearsal was over I left the concert hall and met her as she came off stage. I hugged her and told her that she did an amazing job and I was super proud of her! The first words out of her mouth were....''where are my flowers?'' hahaha!!!! I had to explain that she was only at rehearsal and that she would get her flowers later that night after her performance! So after all that we went home and relaxed until it was time to touch up her hair. Then we went back to the civic center for make-up. I left her backstage with her group and took a seat with my family! I couldn't wait until it was her turn!!!!

Opening Act

Choo Choo  Cha Boogie





My beautiful Princess Dancer



With her teacher Miss Stacey



She was so very proud of her beautiful roses!!!!



Daddy's girl!!!!




We had a fantastic time watching her performance! I can't wait until the DVD of the show arrives next month! I'm so thankful that Ann's Studio of Dance made her first year of dance a year to remember!

blah! blah! blah! blah!

I haven't been able to blog in a while, and so much has been going on.  Life seems to be out of control lately.

Between taking little man to school, and our princess to dance classes, going to the gym, being sick for to weeks, being the president of the mustang club, organizing meetings, planning a car show, trying to be a good wife,mother and step-mother I've lost myself lately. I feel like I'm overlooked, overloaded and definitely overwhelmed. It's like I just woke up one day and life  had gone from being normal to crazy.

Tomorrow I start a new job, I'm nervous about finding the right balance between being a good wife & mother, while keeping up with my responsibilities  with the mustang club and working part time. I'm excited about going back to work,  meeting new people, and  getting out of the house.

Friday night I'm going out with my friends Kathleen,Rachael,Rose, & Beatrice! AGH, a girls night out! It's well overdue and is going to be awesome! I'm so excited! It's only for a few hours and then I will be thrown back into reality. lol I will let you know how that turns out!

My daughter Vanessa has Epilepsy & her seizures are becoming more frequent. Her neurologist is sending her to Children's Hospital next Tuesday-Thursday. My husband can't take off work since we just came back from a vacation. So I plan on going to visit her while she is there. I can't not go see her knowing she is going to be there.  She will be hooked up to machines with all sorts of wires. I plan on leaving the munchkins at my parents house mainly because  I don't want them to freak out over seeing their big sister in that environment. Hopefully they will be able to catch it and figure out what is triggering her more frequent seizures. She gets out on Thursday. Then on Friday she goes to another specialist. She's had a sinus infection for three months & they did a scan. They found some sort of mass in her sinuses so that's why she has to go to see a specialist. Hopefully it's something that can be fixed with medication.

I finally finished my book one night last week and then watched the movie the next night. Its sad I don't even have time to hardly even read anymore. Anyways Courageous is a must read and a must see!!!! I think everyone could learn something good from it. It's reminded me that when I'm feeling like I have been lately that instead of stressing out I need to just take a moment to PRAY! I just have to remind myself sometimes that God is in control and everything will work out just as he has planned.

Mardi Gras Parade

As president of RCMC I received an email a few months ago asking our club to participate in a Mardi Gras Parade at a retirement community. I was all for the idea! It was on a Friday so most RCMC members had to be at work.



Four of us participated, and my husband tagged along with his B4C Camaro. {I even put an RCMC flag on his antenna when he wasn't looking}

I was so very happy that I was able to participate in the parade. Not everyone at the retirement community is capable of driving themselves or even taking the bus. So for them to be able to go to a special event/parade is nearly impossible.

We bought Mardi Gras beads to toss out, then we were given more of them twice after we arrived as well as whole boxes of mini moon pies to toss to the crowds. We lined up and then, I moved my daughters car-seat from the back to the front just for the parade. {it was on private grounds and we were doing about 5mph} My husband did the same with our son in his car.

Baby girl absolutely loved tossing the beads, and moon pies to the crowd. She was upset once we reached the end of the parade route, because she ran out of people to throw beads/moon pies to well before she ran out of the beads/moon pies! I was moved to tears over the fact that there were several elderly ladies lined up along the road, sitting in their wheel chairs draped in white sheets because it was a bit chilly out. One little old lady had even fallen asleep in her wheel chair. Bless her heart! It meant so much to me to be a part of something like this, it clearly brought joy to the residents at the community. People who normally don't have the opportunity to participate in such festivities.

The reflection on the bottom left corner is from my windshield.

We had a lovely day, it was beautiful and  sunny, and we spent it together as a family making other people happy. I hope that they make this an annual event & invite us back again!

I took a close up of the beads hanging from my rear-view window. I think it looks pretty neat.

Oxygen deprived ~

Today I had to take lil man to yet another Autism evaluation. We got up at 7am got ready, had a small breakfast and watched Sprout for a little while. Soon enough it was time to leave. He said he wanted to bring his new book with him to read to everyone, so I shoved it in the bag with our other belongings.

A short drive across town & we arrived at the elementary school. We went inside, found the office and signed in. We sat in a small  waiting area until they were ready for him. A short time later a lady came to get us, and we followed her down the long {very artistically decorated} hallway. We were taken into a large room for his testing. I signed a few papers and they started working with him, while I worked on filling out a stack of papers.

Two hours later they were finished with his testing. Once they finished adding up his scores they starting going over all of it with me. He did very very well. I'm so very proud of him! After all was said and done they told me they want him to start school on March 19th! I was super shocked! The last thing I was expecting was for him to start school in less than three weeks! They are placing him in a magnet school. It's called Calvary Hill School Academy for Academics and Arts, or as the locals call it AAA! Wow! Way to go little man!

This is a picture of a statue that is out front of his school. I hope to learn more about the story behind it soon.


I tried calling my husband as soon as we got to the car & he didn't answer. So I did the next best thing and called my bestie! She understands me so very well and always knows what to say.

Almost three hours after his testing began we arrived at home. I was in tears, which of course made my husband think something terrible had happened. I finally managed to spit it out and he gave me one of his big warm hugs. {I could just melt into his arms} He told me not to cry and everything would be alright.

So the remainder of this week I will work on filling out more paperwork. Then next week we go to his school to register him and meet his teacher. {I've heard nothing but good things about her} I'm excited to meet her & to see his school and classroom. I'm excited about getting his supply list and going shopping. Going to pick out new clothes is going to be fun too!

All of these new feelings are starting to emerge. I have been a stay at home mom since he was born, I've spent the past 4 1/2 years with him & his sister everyday! I  love our random outings, playing hide-and-seek, pillow fights, day trips and so many other wonderful things we do together. I keep reminding myself to take deep breaths. I thought I had several months to prepare myself {and him} for this. Now I find myself with only days to prepare for this big step in his life. It's bittersweet because I know I'm letting him grow up  a little bit more as him makes this transition into this crazy world.