He passed!!!

Tom took his exam to be a Red Hat Certified Engineer today. It was in two parts. If you failed the first part, you couldn't go on to the second part. Well he was sooooooooooooooo nervous that he would fail. Tom has never failed anything in his life. He was nervous like this when he took his MCSE exam and he blew it out the water. I knew he would do the same thing this time but he was so nervous that he was nauseous at lunch time today! There was no need for him to be nervous. He scored 100% on the first half and 90% on the second half.

I am so proud of him and so happy for him. But I'm not at all surprised. I'm married to an uber genius!!

Toys

What ever happened to the good normal toys from when we were growing up? I remember the Easy Bake Oven....before it became a microwave, a Sit and Spin....before you added lights and sounds to it (incidentally, there is no way to turn off the sounds on it so Tom cut the wire, otherwise it would have driven us totally nuts!), and I also remember Brittanie had a robot with cards that asked her questions. It was a learning toy and she loved it. Katie's 4th birthday is coming up (October 30th), as well as Christmas, and I was looking for some toys for her. I've been seeing commercials for toys and am not impressed. The two in particular I find unacceptable is the Quizard from Fisher Price and Barbie and Tanner.

Here is the link to their website: Quizard Maybe I'm in the minority but anything to do with wizards makes me think of the occult and thus is not acceptable for my child. I guess they are riding the Harry Potter sensation....also not acceptable in our home. But it is scary that they are starting children out young thinking that wizards and things like this are acceptable.

The second one is just disgusting. It is Barbie and Tanner. Here we have Barbie walking her dog, Tanner. She gives Tanner a treat and he immediately poops it and Barbie has to pick it up with her pooper scooper. This is a toy????? Are you kidding me? Basically, give Matel $15 and you can pick up poop. Sounds like a deal? Sounds stupid and gross to me. I don't get it! If you think I'm kidding, check it out for yourself: Barbie and Tanner.

My friend, Terri, told me about the perfect pet related toys. They are called the Littlest Pet Shop and there are different pets and the accessories that go with it. They are very affordable and best of all....no poop to clean up! Katie has such a fascination with Brittanie's hamster so I'm going to buy her the hamster and the accessories for it for her birthday. Here is the website, if you want to check it out: Hasbro's Littlest Pet Shop.

Such a smartie!

Katie's bathtub has been having a leaky faucet for awhile now. Katie has developed a phobia of water for a few months ago. It started when she was in the bathtub when we were washing clothes and the water in the pipes made a sound in her tub that scared her. She has been terrified ever since. The leak in the tub makes giving her a bath difficult because she doesn't want to get in the tub and once she is in, she can't wait to get out because the drip and the sounds in the pipes from the drip scare her to death! Well Tom and I were talking about his dad fixing the leak in their bathroom and how ours needed fixing too. He said "One day I'm going to fix that tub." Well just now, Tom put on his tennis shoes and I asked him where he was going. He said he was going to turn off the water so he could fix the tub. Katie said "Is it finally one day?" hahahaha She is such a smartie!

Update on Katie

We got to the surgery center at 8:05 and they called us back at 8:10. They went through the preop stuff with us and we found out that once again our last name was misspelled. I will never understand why everybody wants to put an extra "L" in our name and make it Slightler. Makes me nuts but everybody does it. But anyway, she wouldn't speak to the staff and wouldn't kiss me before they wheeled her off. She kissed Tom but wouldn't kiss me. They didn't have to start an IV or anything. They just put anesthesia in a balloon and let her blow it up and that put her to sleep. She woke up weepy but that is to be expected. But we left at 9am and was back home at 9:30 and it is now 10:30 and she is back to her normal self. I forgot that last summer when she got her tubes done, she also had her adenoids out. So that takes a little longer to recover from. But right now she looks like she has never had anything done.

Thanks for everyone who prayed! It works everytime!

Pray for Katie

Katie is having her tubes put back in her ears tomorrow morning. We have to be at the Palmetto Surgery Center at 8am. She had this done 14 months ago and it went very smoothly so we are praying for the same thing again this time. I will post a new blog entry when we get back home tomorrow to let everyone know how she is doing.

Happy sweet 16 Brittanie!!

Today was Brittanie's sweet 16th birthday! I picked her up early from school today and took her to have the restriction lifted from her driver's license and then we went and opened her own checking account with her birthday money. Tonight we took her out to eat at Ruby Tuesday's. It was me, Tom, Brittanie, Katie, Randy, and 1st Sgt. Cannon....who is her favorite JROTC instructor as well as her 2nd daddy. We were so glad he came. We just love him. He is like part of our family. We had a great time. 1st Sgt was coloring with Katie but everytime I tried to get a picture of it, he would stop. hehehe But we had a great night and I asked Brittanie on the way home to rate her 16th birthday on a scale of 1 to 10 and she gave it a 10. But here are some pictures we took at Ruby Tuesday's tonight.
By the way, Randy gave Brittanie a Carolina Panthers Build-A-Bear and her promise ring on Saturday. Tonight he surprised her with yet another gift....a beautiful silver heart bracelet. He spoils her rotten!

Brittanie's sweet 16 party

Brittanie had her sweet 16 party last night and everyone had alot of fun. I still can't believe she is going to be 16 tomorrow!!! She received lots of nice gifts but the one she liked the most was her promise ring from Randy. He was so nervous that he was literally shaking. He said he had never done that before. It was so cute. I told him to calm down. It was a promise ring not an engagement ring! We had between 25 and 30 teens there and they all had a blast!
I'm thrilled that Brittanie had a great sweet 16. We are dog tired today....but it was worth it to see Brittanie smiling all night long.

Some people shouldn't be allowed to procreate!

I will never understand some people! Brittanie's boyfriend, Randy, is a sweet guy and when motivated, can make really good grades. He isn't into alcohol, drugs, cigarettes, etc. He is a good guy with a bright future. But last night, his dad was drunk but his mom was sober and listening when his dad told him that Randy was his son and he is going to be a loser just like him. He said he shouldn't be dating someone like Brittanie who wants to change him into not being a loser and that he should just accept it and be a loser like his dad. No this wasn't reverse psychology. He was serious. Who wants their kid to be a loser? I thought even losers wanted better for their kids. I like his mom but I couldn't believe she just sat there and let him say that stuff. Randy couldn't even talk back. He and his mom have learned that arguing with someone who is drunk is stupid and pointless and can turn into a huge mess. So basically he had to take it. But his mom didn't go to him afterwards and tell him that his dad was wrong for what he said and encourage him. I don't get that! I know people who would kill to have a son like Randy. Since he and Brittanie have started dating, his grades are up and he is going to church everytime the doors are open. Normal people would think these are good things. I just don't get it.

Please pray for this family. I think his mom is a wonderful and sweet person. She probably just doesn't know what to do when he drinks like this. I'm going to be praying that Randy stays the course of living up to his potential, which is all Brittanie wants for him, despite the negative influences at home.

Update on Tom

When I got back from getting Katie at school yesterday, Tom was still asleep. He slept until almost 3pm. He got up and got me to put the Icy Hot patch right down the middle of his lower back...up and down. Then he sat in his recliner and did some work. The man cannot just take a day off, even when he is hurt. I can predict the future. He will be 100 years old, on his death bed in the hospital, demanding his laptop so he can check the servers at Zeus. hahaha

Anyway, he took some Motrin when he got up but asked me if we had anymore Zanaflex because the one he took was wearing off. I didn't. So I called Dr. Hook and asked him to call him in something for his back. He gave him Vicodin and Flexeril. He hasn't taken the Vicodin. We are funny about narcotics. We only take them for extreme pain because of the risk of addiction. But he did take the Flexeril and he has gone from excruciating pain to soreness. He missed his physical this year. He really needs to go in and get his calcium checked. I found out that all of the severe muscle cramping I have been having is because of low calcium. Who knew?

But anyway, that's the update on Tom.

Now on to Katie news. Those who have known us for awhile may remember that we had absolutely NO problems with Brittanie...not even terrible 2's....until she turned 5 and that's when she started stealing everything that wasn't nailed down. No many how many times she got a paddling, she would continue to steal. Everytime she would steal something I would make her take it back and apologize. But it still didn't deter her. The last time she stole something, I flagged down a St. James Parish Sheriff's officer and had him talk to her, ride her in the back of his squad car to the St. James Parish jail and they went in and told the inmates to make alot of noise when she came in. Well that scared her to death! That was on a Friday. That Sunday, she went to church with my mom and there was a young guy...late teens/early 20's....giving his testimony that he had been stealing, even from his parents, to buy drugs and even though he had gotten saved since he did this, he still has to pay the consequences and was going to jail the next morning to serve his sentence. That did it for Brittanie. The 6 month run of stealing came to an abrupt end. She has never stolen anything again. Well now I'm afraid Katie is about to start up. Yesterday when I drove up in car line, her teacher was talking to the kids that were left and asking them if anyone had taken the toy sheep. They all said no. One of the teachers said she saw Katie with it. So she asked Katie and Katie lied again. Well when she saw me, she moved to go to my car and forgot that she had stuck the toy sheep between her thighs and it fell out. So the teacher talked to her and she cried. (Katie has become a real cry baby recently and cries about EVERYTHING...most times with no tears!) That's when I realized she had something (can't figure out what it is but she calls it a ring) that I told her she couldn't take to school. So obviously if it was in her hand, she had it all morning with her at school. So we have lying, stealing, and disobedience. This kid is NOT going to be easy as pie to raise like Brittanie was. She is so headstrong. It is going to be tough to break that will. She gets it honestly as Tom and I are both very headstrong. But that is what kept Tom and I from yielding to peer pressure growing up. Tom and I have never tried drugs and never had a desire to. We didn't have sex before marriage. I drank a little before we got married but Tom has never had a drink. So a strong personality can be a good thing. But it can also be a bad thing if they don't want to do anything their parents want them to do. That's where we are with Katie. She doesn't want to do anything we want her to do. But Tom always says, a hard head makes a soft behind. He has told me more than once that if his dad wouldn't have stayed on him and made him behave, he wouldn't have turned out like he did. So we owe the same to Katie. But I am so dreading the thought that we may have to go through the stealing thing with Katie.

Brittanie has completed her first week of work at Subway and loves it. The owner told her she has caught on well and is doing a great job. I'm so proud of her. She has a strong work ethic like her dad. And she got her new schedule and starting next week (remember she turns 16 on Monday) she will start getting 4 hour shifts and they will start at 5 instead of 4 so they won't conflict with her drill team or rifle team practices. She still won't ever have to work on Wednesdays or Sunday mornings so she won't miss church. We asked God to give her the job He wanted her to have and He has really blessed her with this job. It is close to home and school and is low stress and accomodating to her schedule.

Pray for Tom

This morning after Tom got out of the shower, he bent down for some reason and pulled a muscle in his back. I have never seen him in so much pain. He put his shoes on but couldn't finish tieing the last shoe because it hurt to move or even breathe. I had one Zanaflex left, which is a nonnarcotic muscle relaxer but it is powerful, and gave that to him. I wanted to put an Icy Hot patch on it but he said the area was too big. I had to run Katie to school and when I got back he was laying on his stomach in the bed sleeping. The Zanaflex evidently kicked in because he was miserable before I left no matter what position he was in. Lets pray that this is a one time thing and will be better when he wakes up.

Knowing Tom, he is going to wake up, hung over from the Zanaflex but not in as much pain, and try to go to work. I say try because I won't let him. That man is a workaholic. His motto has always been "Don't call in, crawl in." He HATES missing work. So for him to stay home today, you know he is hurting!

So everyone help me pray that this goes away quick. Tom has a high threshold for pain so for him to be down and out like this, it must be bad!

Another weird sleeping position

I got up early this morning to put a batch of clothes, that included Brittanie's Subway uniform, in the dryer and when I passed Katie's room I noticed she was sleeping in the weirdest position and had to get a picture. This is what I saw.In case you are wondering, the little tan thing under her chin is her beanie baby puppy that she takes EVERYWHERE. I have just never seen her with her head towards the foot of the bed and her feet under the pillow at the head of the bed before. This is why we don't like to sleep with her. She moves ALOT when she sleeps.

Sad day in Southern Gospel music

One of my favorite southern gospel groups lost one of its members yesterday. The Hi-Cotton Singers are a southern gospel group in our area and they are phenomenal. I love them and look forward to hearing them play every year at the Collard Festival. I'm REALLY regretting not being able to see them this year due to being at Brittanie's competitions because it was the last time we would get to have Jim McLane playing with Hi-Cotton for us as he went to be with the Lord yesterday. Please pray for his family and the Hi-Cotton family that God will get them through this difficult time. Here is the tribute that the lead singer, Glenn, posted on their website:

Jim McLane 1965 - 2006

There are a few times in your life when you get to witness what God can do in someone’s life. Today we lost a great friend, an awesome bass player but more importantly a true brother in Christ. Today, Jim McLane went home to be with Jesus.

Jim joined Hi-Cotton in August of 2002. Funny thing is he was just filling in for the weekend. We had a trip out of town that weekend and were not going to have a bass player. I had known Jim from work for a couple of years and knew that he played. When I asked if he could help out that weekend he didn’t hesitate (except to ask his wife for permission). Jim was a great guy but was not exactly what you would call a model Christian and I would be lying if I said I didn’t have a little bit of concern about Jim coming along. I had prayed for a couple of days about someone to fill in on the trip and it seemed that every where I turned Jim kept coming up. I know now that that was God working everything out. If that weekend didn’t scare Jim away, I knew nothing would. Later that afternoon after arriving in Kentucky, we promptly wrecked the RV and trailer. Then after that, Jim had to sleep on the floor sharing a mattress with someone he had just met that morning. Then to top it off, the planned meal for the next day at the church included a healthy portion of Bar-b-Qued goat. That Saturday God worked one of those small miracles that we so often take for granted. The goat fell in the pit and burned. After supper we had one of the most special concerts we have ever had with Hi-Cotton. That night made a major impression on Jim and he was hooked.

Over the past 4 years, Hi-Cotton has been through a number of changes. Jim also went through some changes. He began to grow in Christ and develop a real heart for ministry. Jim realized that as long as we did what God had called us to do; He would take care of the rest. There have been more than a few occasions when Jim would remind me and the rest of Hi-Cotton that it’s all about the ministry. When the sound system wasn’t quite right or the crowd didn’t seem to be into the concert, Jim would remind us that it was all about the ministry. The growth in Jim’s life was evident to all who knew him. Jim’s favorite Hi-Cotton song was “I’m Not the Man I Was Before”. I truly believe it was his favorite because he felt like it was a personal testimony.

Jim, my brother and friend, play in that heavenly band like you have never played before. I look forward to the day when once again you setup behind me and play the thumping bass line for me to sing ‘Amazing Grace”. I love you my friend and miss you already.

Glenn Mills

September 17, 2006

Our little Micheal Jackson

For the last couple of weeks, Katie has been taking off her shoes and leaving one sock on and taking one sock off. She even wants to sleep this way. We can't figure it out but Tom has started calling her little Michael Jackson but instead of one glove, she has the one sock.

She loves to sleep in the weirdest positions. This picture was so cute but it was showing too much to I put a big pink spot over the indelicate part so I could still post it. This can't be comfortable, huh?

Sunday update

First off, I'm thrilled to report that the guy that kidnapped the 14-year-old girl in Kershaw County has been caught. They have a laundry list of crimes against him and if there is any justice, he will never get out of prison.

This morning my friend, Joanie, who just got saved a couple of weeks ago, went to church with us this morning. She loved it and is planning on going back with us next week. She even filled out the visitor's card that she is interested in joining and having the preacher call. I'm so happy!! Our preacher is always great but this morning he preached exactly what we needed and he was so nice to Joanie and her daughter....like he is to everyone. But Joanie hasn't been to church since she was a little girl so I'm so happy that the first time she goes back she experienced Christians coming up and welcoming her, especially the preacher. Often time preachers are perceived as cold and unapproachable. Ours definitely isn't like that. Bro. David Carter is just plain wonderful. We love him! On our way out, we shook his hand and I was standing next to him and Joanie was facing him with Katie to the right of her and her daughter, Laura, behind Katie. So after greeting Joanie, he shook Laura's hand and asked Joanie if that was her daughter. Joanie said yes and then Katie pops up and points to me and tells Bro. David, "And I'm her daughter." It was so cute. He said "Yes Miss Katie, I know who's daughter you are."

Katie has been learning so much at Grace. It is incredible how much a 3-year-old can learn! I bought some 8x10 phonics cards from ABEKA last summer and now that she has started learning phonics at Grace, I review them with her at night. Denise reminded me how the teacher does it....they say for example "Capital A, little A. A says a as in apple. A says a a a." So I started doing it that way last night and she has been sailing through those cards and loving it. I bought her a bunch of games and even a Barbie laptop that involve phonics and letters for Christmas. Well now that Grace has taught her those letters, she is having a blast with her learning toys. She sits in her play room and will periodically yell "OH I LOVE THIS GAME!!" I hope she keeps her passion for learning.

Well that's our update for today!

Answered prayer

I don't know how many of you have heard about the 14-year-old girl from Kershaw County, SC that was kidnapped while she was walking home from the bus stop last week. I have been following the story intently because I have a teenaged daughter. I have been praying that this child will be found alive and the story broke this morning that they did find her alive but the kidnapper is still at large. He went to great lengths to hide this girl and not get caught. They found her in a pit that he dug about half to three-quarter mile from the main road in a thick part of the woods. It is scary how much effort he put into this. It is only by the grace of God she is alive.

Here is the story on the website and there is a link you can click that will show you the interview with the Kershaw County Sherriff. Click here.

This is a wake up call to all families. There is no such thing as overprotecting or too careful when it comes to our children. Brittanie thinks I'm nuts that I make her call me when she gets to where she is going. When she was younger, she was always with me. I protected her. But it is scary that she is going places without me being their to protect her. I just pray for God to keep her safe because I can't be everywhere but He is everywhere.

Brittanie is in the newspaper

The Messenger, a free newspaper in the Gaston and Swansea area, printed an article about our cadets. Basically it is verbatim what I e-mailed to them so technically I wrote the article! But there is a picture of Brittanie in there too. The owner of The Messenger sent me a pdf file of the paper so I could see it and I got excited and uploaded it to share with my friends and family who don't live around here and wouldn't get to see it. Gotta love The Messenger!!

Click here to see it.

She is on Page 2.

No school for Brittanie today

Brittanie doesn't have school today so she used this opportunity to visit USC and took her friend, Jessica with her. She had an appointment with the Army ROTC Sargeant at 9am. That lasted about an hour and she called me at 10:10am from the Russell House, which is like a student commons area and has tons of stuff including a bunch of fast food restaurants. She had been second guessing her decision to go into the Army because she doesn't want the Army telling her when to go to dentistry school, when to get married, etc. Well the Sargeant told her that they aren't like military universities or schools like Texas A&M with a Corps of Cadets that put all those restrictions on your life. So that made her feel much better. He also told her the ROTC scholarship is very competitive and that she needs to fill the application out and send it off in February of this year. So that is what she plans on doing. She and Jessica are both excited and want to go to USC! I'm thrilled. Now she just has to get the SAT/ACT scores to get in and we are set.

Yesterday when I picked up Katie from school, her teacher asked me what my name was. I told her and she told me that they had been reading a book called "Is your mama a llama?" She asked the kids in the class what their mom's names were and Katie didn't understand her question and looked at her like she was nuts and mumbled something. So after we drove away, I asked Katie what my name was and she looked at me like I was nuts and said "Mommy....DUH!" hahaha The way she said it was so cute! So I explained to her that just like her name was Katie, mommies and daddies have names too. Like Daddy's name is Tom (she knew that) but we call him Daddy and Sissy's name is Brittanie (she knew that too) but we call her Sissy. So I asked her again what my name was and she said "Honey." That's when I really laughed. That's what Tom calls me....always has.....and sometimes in the morning Tom will say "Bye Honey, I love you" as he is walking out the door and Katie repeats it just like her daddy. So she thought my real name was honey. So I told her my name is Lynette and she did "Pfft!" and rolled her eyes and looked out the window. I don't know what that means but it made me laugh even more. She has such a personality!!

Today's update

First off, Brittanie got her school pictures back today and they are GREAT!!! It is the best school picture she has taken since she started school in K4. My scanner is broken so I had to take a picture of her picture but here it is.

The next update is about Katie. She was crying yesterday that her ears were hurting. So I took her to her ENT today and he said there wasn't even any redness but it could be that fluid it settling in her ear canals or on the ear drum itself causing pain because the tube is out on one side. So he has scheduled her for surgery on the 27th of September to put the tube back in the left ear and replace the tube that is still in the right ear. I picked that date because Katie doesn't have school from the 27th to the 29th. So she will have plenty of time to recover without missing school. With the winter coming up, I don't want to chance her having 100 ear infections.

Brittanie worked again today and had a good time. She really likes her new job. She was extra happy when she realized that she would be making about $100 a week. That would mean after paying us the $200 for her car insurance each month, she would still have $200 left.

Anyway, that's the update today. Please pray for Katie as she goes through the surgery, as well as Brittanie that she will be able to keep up with her grades now that she has this new job. She is doing great right now. 3 A's and a B in Chemistry and this is her hard semester. I'm really proud of her.

Brittanie's first day of work!

Brittanie had a good day at work today. Randy came by Subway after practice to get a sub and of course he was wearing his t-shirt that says "Make me a Sammich!" Ya gotta love the little goofball. But she was stocking the chip rack when he came in to order his sub. A coworker let her make his sub. So now she has the memory of her very first sub that she ever made went to Randy. She was taught how to check the temperature of everything and to bake the bread and chop the bellpepper. She got the hang of making the subs pretty quick....especially the wrapping of the subs. Her coworkers were amazed that she didn't have to be shown how to wrap the subs. We eat at Subway alot and she is very observant. So she knew how it should look. They were also impressed with her knowledge of the menu. Well we have gone there many times over a 5 year span. She could probably recite the menu. hehehe She said everyone was very nice and it really got busy around 6pm....like the restaurant was full! Baptism by fire! One thing I like is that the boss has cameras in the restaurant and it is a live feed so she can actually watch what her workers are doing at all times without actually being there. She said some of the guys were cutting up when it was slow and the boss called and told them to cut it out. That makes me feel so good because if some loser comes in to rob the place, the owner can call the Swansea PD and they will be there within a minute. That's a comforting thought, especially after that loser shot and killed two workers at a Wendy's in Columbia a few days ago. Granted Swansea isn't Columbia but there are dangerous losers everywhere.

We still don't know if she is going to be able to keep her position on the rifle team or not. Ironically, she came home with her letter for her letterman jacket for the rifle team and her certificate stating she lettered in rifle team.

We still don't know what her schedule will be just yet. She works tomorrow and will find out then what her schedule will be. We do know that she doesn't work on Wednesdays or Sunday morning or Sunday night. That's the most important thing.

Here are some pictures of her in her uniform. She wouldn't smile because she thinks it is dorky for me to want to take her picture in her uniform. When she becomes a mom, she will realize the importance of taking pictures of ALL firsts!

What a busy but good day!

Our day was rather busy. Brittanie and I headed to the school for her rifle team and drill team competition at 7am. I worked the canteen till 1:00pm, which is when everything was over. Brittanie's rifle team took second place but Brittanie got first place in individual prone position. She set yet another school record by shooting 183 out of 200. What's sad is that she is in danger of being removed from the rifle team because of her job. Until she turns 16 (on September 25th) South Carolina state law says she can't work during the week after 7pm. So she is scheduled to work 4 to 7 starting Monday. We don't know yet how often she will work. But the manager told her they would work with her. Hopefully her rifle team coach will too because he admitted today that had she not shot today, our school would not have placed at all. She is their best shooter. But anyway, here is the medal she won for getting top shooter. (For those keeping count....that makes 6 medals, 19 ribbons, 5 semicircles, and 3 cords....but she can only wear 2 at a time.)They wore class B's today but didn't put their awards on because it makes things easier when it comes to drill team inspection.

Unfortunately, Tom couldn't be there today to see her get her award because you just can't take Katie to a place like that and keep your sanity. So he took her to the Collard Festival parade and she was able to see her "best friend" Daniel. Daniel is actually her cousin, Daniel Sightler. I think Daniel is in K4 at Grace. They stand in car line together and have gotten to know each other and Katie just loves him. Daniel's dad is Tom's first cousin, Tripp. Tripp and his wife have two wonderful kids. Katie loves them both. After the parade, Tom walked down to the festival grounds to let Katie ride some rides. But she thought it was too hot and wanted to go home. So she ended up not riding anything.

I wish my mom could have come up here this weekend. She really tried but nobody could drive her. She wanted to drive herself but I wouldn't allow that. She's 800 miles away and 75 years old but she would have been there to see Brittanie today if I had allowed it. But that's typical of a grandparent that loves her grandchild. My girls are lucky to have at least one grandparent who loves them unconditionally. She may not agree with the way they dress, the music they listen to, or the school they go to but she loves them wholeheartedly and my girls know it and appreciate it. If she lived in South Carolina, she would be at all of Brittanie's competitions like she was at Brittanie's softball games when we lived in Louisiana. Actually she has been to one of Brittanie's drill team competitions last year. The only family she had there today was me. My mom always at least calls after her competitions....just like she and my dad have always done after her softball and basketball games.....to see how she did and how things turned out. So at least Brittanie knew that even though my mom couldn't physically be here (even though she tried) she is thinking about her and wishing she could have been there to share in the joy of her victory.

After the competition, I headed to the Collard Festival for the last half of the day. I just HAD to see the Elvis impersonator I booked. He was great. I'm not a big fan of Elvis but if you closed your eyes, you would have sworn Phil Urban was Elvis. He was GREAT!!! He even did the scarf thing that Elvis did...ya know giving women in the audience a scarf and kissing them on the cheek. Here are some pictures.
Well Elvis is not the only celebrity at our festival this year. We also had my friend, Red Fraley, as Willie Nelson. I absolutely HATE Willie Nelson. But Red is incapable of singing anything bad. He only did one Willie Nelson song....On the Road Again. But of course he had get in character for the song......Red and his band are GREAT!!! They sang "Chicken Truck" by Jon Anderson. I thought I was the only one in the world that even knew that song. Well if they can sing that song by Jon Anderson, surely they can sing the most popular Jon Anderson song.....Swingin! They did it! It was so cool!!

I met Red's wife this weekend and she is very nice and very pretty. They make a great couple. I like them both so much. Red helped me to make this year's entertainment for the festival the best ever. I thought this year was the best but I'm not alone. The festival goers were all talking about how great the whole festival was this year.....especially the entertainment.

So we are all very tired but it is a good tired. This year's festival was a great success!

Friday night at the Collard Festival

Tonight was the start of the 24th annual Gaston Collard Festival and there are a couple of stories I had to share. First off, there was a couple with their little boy, who was about 3 years old, sitting at the top of the bleachers behind me. He kept throwing something up in the air and his parents told him to stop and he asked them "Why? Cuz I'm going to throw it so high it is going to hit Jesus in the face?" That was just too cute!

The second was Katie watching the fireworks. The Collard Festival has an outstanding fireworks show. Katie loved every minute of it. She kept screaming "Wow! I can't believe it!!" She was so adorable tonight.

We are looking forward to tomorrow. Katie LOVED the Gaston Christmas Parade. I'm sure the Collard Festival Parade will be just as exciting. Tom is going to take her to the parade while I go open up the canteen for Brittanie's JROTC rifle/drill/color guard competition.

Yall have a good weekend!

Gaston Collard Festival

This weekend is the 24th Annual Gaston Collard Festival. I am in charge of entertainment again this year and I think this year is going to be the best festival ever as far as entertainment goes. We have beach music and rock on Friday night. Saturday we have southern gospel with the Hi-Cotton Singers and Unity (the Shirey family), which are two of my all time favorite southern gospel groups. Then we have the best Elvis impersonator....Phil Urban. After that is country/rockabilly with Red Fraley's band, Wishfull Think'n. It is going to be GREAT!!! I created a flyer for the festival to send to the schools and distribute at IGA and Food Lion that tells what you can expect at the festival. Here it is:

There’s something for everyone at the Gaston Collard Festival

1. Gaston Collard Festival Parade!! People of all ages love our parade. This year is going to be one of the best yet! Governor Sanford, Joe Wilson, Jake Knotts, Nikki Setzler and many more dignitaries will be riding in our parade! Come out and enjoy the parade, catch some candy, and wave at the leaders and those vying to be leaders of our state. The parade starts Saturday morning, September 9^th at 10am and runs from Mack Elementary down Mack Street all the way to the Civic Center/Collard Festival grounds.

2. Come to a real live auction! Friday night, September 8^th at 7pm.

3. Come rock with us! Friday night is Rock Night! We have a DJ that will be playing the latest in rock music! From 7:30pm to 9:30pm. Teenagers will love it!

4. See beautiful fireworks! Friday night, September 8^th at 9:30pm.

5. Be a beauty queen! Beautiful by Nature pageant September 9^th. (applications at the Town Hall or on the internet at www.townofgaston.org)

6. Save a life! Be a blood donor. The Blood Mobile will be at the festival Saturday, September 9^th.

7. And as always there will be food, fun, carnival rides (open Saturday), games, live entertainment (including Elvis!!), and of course our world famous collards!!

So come on out for good family fun for all ages at our

24^th Annual Gaston Collard Festival!!

Katie this morning

I told Katie a few months ago that if she were good for a whole month, we would take her to Chuck E. Cheez. Well this morning she was being slow and acting like she didn't have a brain in her head and I know preschoolers find that fun but when you are already running late it is FRUSTRATING! As they were leaving I said "Go to school. I'm tired of you acting retarded this morning." She said "I'm not retarded, I'm a good girl." I responded with "pfft!" I thought it was low enough that she didn't hear it but she did. She said "Awwww man! I'm trying to be good but I can't. I"ll never get to go to Chuck E. Cheez!" It was so cute that I almost want to take her anyway.....almost....but I won't! Consistency is key. She is doing so much better.

My friend, Terri, told me about a book called "Parenting the strong willed child." I read Dr. Dobson's book about it but though I like him, it didn't help much. Terri is reading this book and applying some of the techniques, as she has a strong willed child too. She thinks it is working so I am going to give it a shot too. Tom and I both have very strong wills so Katie got a double dose.

But I have to give credit where credit is due, Katie isn't NEAR as bad as she used to be. Hopefully she is growing out of it and I think Grace helps. Grace is very structred and disciplined and she thrives there and is learning so much....including good manners. Her K3 teacher is outstanding!!!

YAY!!!!

Well Brittanie had her interview at 3:30 today and at 9pm the manager called and offered her the job! She is so excited to have her first job. They provide the burgundy polo and visor. She will wear either black or khaki slacks. It is minimum wage and for right now if she works during the week, she will only work 4 to 7.....which is what the state has set for 15 year olds. But when she turns 16, they will adjust her hours. She will not be working on Wednesdays and if she works on Sundays, it will be 12:30 until it is time to go back to church that night. Fortunately, our church is literally right behind Subway. So she won't have a problem at all making it to work on time after church. She starts Monday! Thanks to everyone who helped me pray about it!

Brittanie has a job interview today!!

Last night around 9pm, Brittanie got a call from Subway in Swansea. She had put in an application there back in May but hadn't heard from them since. We assumed she was too young and they weren't interested. Well Brittanie will be 16 in 19 days so they called her and set up an interview for today at 3:30. Unfortunately that interferes with rifle team practice but they will have to get over it because she has car insurance to pay for and has to get a job. So everybody pray that God's will be done. We don't want her to get this job if it isn't going to be the right thing for her.

She interviewed at Piggy Park in West Columbia last month but because of her age, they couldn't start her until she was 16. But she breezed through the test...just like she did at Subway. The person who interviewed her at Piggy Park told her she was over qualified for their job according to her test. Her math skills are excellent. But they told her that if she doesn't have a job already by the time she turns 16, to call them back and they will put her to work. We would rather her work at Subway. It is around the corner from her school and closer to home. Also, Piggy Park makes you pay $100 for a drug test and SLED check before you start working. They do give it back once you have been there six months. But to start initially you have to shell out $100. The job at Subway would just be better all around but I think Piggy Park would be more willing to work around church for her. Although she told the guy from Subway last night that she can't work on Sundays or Wednesdays because of church and he still wanted to interview her so that's a good sign! Everybody pray!

By the way, we have never discussed with Brittanie that she couldn't work on Sundays or Wednesdays. Of course we would want her to go to church instead of work. But we just haven't discussed it with her. She made the decision on her own that church is much more important than work and that God will reward her faithfulness by giving her a job that will allow her to never miss church. My point? You can be a Christian at a public school. I honestly think Brittanie is a stronger Christian than those kids who were so mean to her at Grace. (We also recently saw a raunchy/disgusting perverted "poem" left by one Grace student on the myspace page of another Grace student of the opposite sex. Proof positive that you can dress a person up like a Christian all you want but if there is no heart conversion, it is pointless!)

Happy Labor Day!

Today was a wonderful and peaceful day for me because I had the entire house to myself. Brittanie slept till 11:30 and Randy came to pick her up shortly thereafter to spend the day at his house. Tom took Katie on a hike at Table Rock State Park in the upstate of South Carolina. She had a blast! For some reason, she kept calling it Myrtle Beach. When they got to the steeper parts of the hike, she would trip and fall and say, "Oh, I hate Myrtle Beach!" But tonight when she got home, she told me she had fun at "Rocking Table." Close enough! She was down right filthy when she got home. We put her immediately in the bathtub. After her bath, she was up an hour and we put her to bed. She went out like a light. She was exhausted but I'm sure it was a good tired! Tom does the roller coaster thing with Brittanie and since Katie loves being outside, he now has the hiking thing with Katie. He is such a good daddy!!!

I also got good news from Jonathan! He is leaving Iraq in September instead of October!! The less time he spends in that place, the happier I am.

Hope everyone had a good Labor Day!! Don't forget to pray for our soldiers!!

Brittanie's early birthday present

Tom got a late birthday present yesterday and today Brittanie got hers early. The only thing she wanted for her birthday was an Ipod. She has an old Dell MP3 player but it doesn't work 95% of the time. So she wanted to replace it with a 30GB Apple Ipod. We decided to give it to her early so we can use it for the Collard Festival on Friday night. She was so excited that she was literally jumping up and down and squealing. Here is a picture of Brittanie with her new Ipod.

Tom's late birthday present

Tom received a late birthday present of $1000 today. The person wished to remain anonymous but that person told us that it had to be used to buy Tom a new recliner since his has all but given up the ghost. He has glued and nailed and everything else he could to keep it going but it is in bad shape. So we went out today during La Z Boy's sale to buy a replacement....preferably in black leather. Unfortunately, the one he liked best didn't come in black so we got a burgundy one. Tom doesn't like the look of it but I do. He just said it felt good to sit in. I think it looks nice but being comfortable is what is important. His legs are so long that it makes fitting him in a recliner tough. But we are very excited about getting his new recliner. Unfortunately this one wasn't on sale and was $1188. Tom is such a tight wad. He said "I can't believe I just spent $1200 to sit down!" Technically, we are only paying $188 for it. But that didn't matter to him. He's so cheap! But anyway, they couldn't give us a delivery date today. They said they would contact us Tuesday with a delivery date. Tom didn't like that. He said he wanted to tell the lady that he will give her $50 now and the rest when they deliver the chair and maybe that would give them an incentive to get him his chair faster. Have mercy! Anyway, I went to the La Z Boy website and grabbed a picture of the one we bought.

Something you almost never see

Katie has been running wide open all day long. She wouldn't even take a nap today. She has been running around literally all day long. Well all of a sudden, she climbed up on the sofa and was out in a matter of seconds.....at 10:45pm. It was so cute that I just had to get a picture.

Freaky Friday

Both of my girls had something special at school today. Brittanie had Freaky Friday and they dressed like freaks and Katie had Kindergarten hat and sunglasses day. Randy was the most interesting one!

Brittanie is NOT a morning person and had a major attitude this morning as you can tell in this picture.

Katie, on the other hand, was so excited about hat and sunglasses day that she was in a great mood and hamming it up for the camera.
So feminine! This is why they are required to wear shorts under their dresses.