Gold Rush Cutie

So my little girl is a Freshman at AHS now.  I can't even believe both of my kids are in highschool!! I feel so old! She decided she wanted to try out for the drill team this year instead of pursuing tennis as she did in middle school.  Of course my little dancer made it on the team and she loves it!  It is so rewarding to see her dress in her uniform as I once did when I was her age.  She is so adorable in it!  I am so proud of her. She seems to do exactly what she sets out to do.  She tells me she wants to be a Vet and I truly believe she will be.  She has such a big heart and loves God.  This child began going to church on her own with friends on Wednesday night.  I am so proud of her for doing so but so ashamed of myself for not leading by example on that one.  Sometimes I feel like as much as I encourage her she ends up inspiring me instead!

Driving a little too fast eh?

So here's the thing, Hayden will be officially 16 in January.  I know I know, what the heck?  Yes he will be driving.  Preston bought him a car a few months back and we prepared for the let down of Tj not following through with giving him his truck.  Well it's a good thing we did.  Because well, life happens and that is all I want to say on that.  Hayden is beyond excited to drive and I am beyond excited to let him.  I am so proud of the young man he's become. He is a sophomore now and still on the AHS Varsity Tennis team and making A's and B's on his report card.  I have no idea how in the world I lucked out having two of the best kids. God is sooo great!

Hard week....

This has been one of the most exhausting weeks. Just a glimpse:

June 13 Nikki passed
June 15 Katherine (my niece) Birthday
June 17 Hayleighs Birthday
June 18 The funeral
June 20 My anniversary and Prentices (brother in law) Birthday
June 21 I go back to work

Do you know how hard it is to appreciate or celebrate the following when you follow June 13? Lord give me strength to move on....

My dear sweet sister....

Nikki passed away on June 13, 2013.  Who would have thought she would have gone to heaven so soon. We thought she had more time with us. When the doctors diagnosed her with pulmonary hypertension at 18 we knew that she would have a rough road ahead.  For a 18 year old, the limitations she had would make any other person depressed. Not Nikki. She was so full of life and love. She made the best of things by being a rock for her family. She was always there no matter what we asked of her. She was at every family function, birthday, holiday and even found time to do the same for her friends. She was a true blessing in every way. God has taken one of his best angels back home and we love him for the time he shared her with us. I will continue to miss her daily and selfishly wish she was here with us. Even though she was a sister in law, the "in law" fell off as soon as I met her. She was my sister and I was closer to her than I thought I was. My heart aches for her to be with us, but I know and find peace in, that she is with our Savior.

The only way I could express what she meant to me was writing this:

From the moment I met you,
I could see your heart,
You were so full of love,
Kindness, joy, you stood apart.

You cared about others needs,
Before you considered your own,
You took time to really know people,
You made your heart their home.

Everyone adored and loved you,
For the person you were day to day,
It was easy for anyone,
To love you in every possible way.

You were such a blessing,
To this world you leave behind,
You were a miracle, an inspiration,
For the rest of my life, you are mine.

I will love you and miss you,
Until I see you again,
I won't tell you goodbye today,
I'll keep you in my heart till then.

Car wreck

On May 11, I am driving to drop the kids off half way to see their dad. I am driving down I20, Hayleigh is in the front seat and Hayden is in the rear passenger. All of the sudden I see a SUV on the other side of the highway rolling diagonally onto my side of the highway and I am thinking, wow that is going to be an awful wreck as I also saw two other cars on that side slide sideways. Then I realized this rolling SUV was not going to stop and was heading straight for me and the kids.  I thought oh lord this is it. I am going to die.  I slightly turned my car to the right to take most of the hit if I could, I had a car on my right and a car directly behind me. I pushed on the brakes turned a little to the right and closed my eyes waiting for the impact. Then it hit, pushed me into the car on the right, then hit from behind, then again from behind. My ears are ringing, and my eyes are open but it's pitch black for a moment.  Then I see smoke fill the car. I scream to the kids "we have to get out of the car". Hayleigh is crying, "my stomach burns mom it hurts it hurts". I don't know if it is sliced in half or what but I know we have to get out of the car.  My door is jammed shut, Hayleigh's door is jammed shut, but luckily Hayden's opened.  Hayden only seems to be a little hurt from the seat belt but can walk around. He gets out, Hayleigh crawls through the middle of the car then I do. We are out of the car and on the side of the road. I look behind us and there are two SUV's flipped over, and multiple cars wrecked. Hayden rides with Jessica when she gets to the exit we wrecked at.  They followed Hayleigh in the ambulance to Weatherford to be checked out, I follow in an ambulance myself.  We both end up at the hospital in separate rooms to be checked out.  Tj, Jessica, and Preston are there with me and the kids.  They release Hayleigh without serious injury. They do a cat scan and xray on me and find nothing damaged and I am released later. I think we were all in shock pretty much the whole night. Amazed that out of the 7 cars involved in the accident, every single person, got out of their car after the accident without severe injury or fatalities.  God is great! I couldn't put into words how I felt about the wreck because I was so gracious that the kids and I were alive and not severely injured.  I was overcome with joy and humbled by Gods mercy.  It could have been so different and IS for so many others out there.  I feel so fortunate to be one of the few that survived and accident of this magnitude!

Permanent Preston...

Well Preston finally got transferred to San Angelo.  He is moving in this weekend. It's going to be weird after a year to have him full time in the house again.  I hope I didn't get too spoiled to my ways but I am sure I did.  I am glad he gets to be here full time I am just hoping that I am not the one to ruin it for him.  Why do I have to be so difficult!

Flute being a pain in the behind...

Last week Hayden and Hayleigh are fighting over the Wii like normal 11 and 12 year olds do (NOT) and Hayleigh gives in and sits down.  CRUNCH right on her flute.  Now she didn't break it, but I get the "Mom we need to take my flute to the shop cause it's  bent". Of course I ask how it happened and she admits to accidentally sitting on it.  So I take it in to get it fixed, $95.00 later we get to bring it home.  I said next time you look where you sit!

Memorial weekend....

This past Wednesday mom came down to stay with me at the new house.  My dad and brother drove up yesterday to stay the weekend.  I suggested they just meet in the middle at my house instead of my dad driving up there.  Because of course I want to see him and my brother.  So since all were in agreement, it's like old times less my kids.  My dad, brother, mom and me under the same roof.  Thank God my parents still get along after being divorced at at times, they still act married.  It's funny.  The best thing a kid could ask for honestly.  My brother is getting older, more mature, and still has the same loving heart as when he was little.  It's weird that now I am hosting the visits at my own home.  Of course it wouldn't be complete without the kids or Preston but kids are at their dads and Preston stayed at the Grand Prairie home because he is sicker than a dog.  And he has work to do with a little work on the house as well to get it on the market.  So that is a big disappointment in itself.  I am thinking if this weekend goes well, maybe my family can put their differences aside to all get together for one of the major holidays.  There is still hope in me. I honestly just feel blessed to have them here now.

On overdrive right now...

Wednesday of this past week, Granny came to stay with me.  Mom came in Friday and we drove to Dallas to take the kids to TJ.  So around 8:00 that night we decide, lets just go ahead and go to Winstar tonight.  We will get a hotel and go gambling and crash after that at the hotel.  Well we found a room at the Hilton Denton thank God.  It was so nice and plush.  Felt like sleeping on a cloud.  We went to Winstar and gambled until about 3:30.  SO when we got back to the hotel it REALLY felt like heaven.  Got up at 10:00 and went downstairs to eat their wonderful breakfast spread....walnut and chocolate chip waffles...mmmmmmm.  Then of course we checked out and went back to the casino.  LEft there around 4 or 5 and drove to the grand prairie house.  We were POOPED after that ordeal.  NExt morning woke up and went to Raina's about 10:00 had the best time ever!  We went to starbucks, Target, Chili's, Got a PEdi, went to Kohl's and spent $$$$.  It was great! Left her house to visit my dad and brother and left dallas around 9:30 or 10:00 PM.  Got back to Abilene about 1:30.  So It has been a crazy sleepless and busy Spring break so far.  Almost as tiresome as school.