I LAUGHED TILL I CRIED

I've spent most of today "catching up" on my blog reading that I missed while I was out of town. I'm not quite caught up yet, but I'm working on it.

But, OH MY WORD!...if you need a good belly laugh, you've got to visit my friend Kari aka "Dufus". I laughed until I cried. Go here for a good time. Thanks Kari! Laughter really is the best medicine!

A BADGE OF HONOR

Thanks again Karolee!! I'm reflecting today on what chapter I will read for the month of September.

TODAY

Happy Birthday to you sweet Tracey! I hope your day is special and you get to spend it surrounded by people you love and who love you.

Today is the last day of the Proverbs Challenge. I've truly enjoyed it. Thanks Karolee for coming up with the challenge.

I'm getting very excited...on Sunday I am meeting some of my blogging friends in Pensacola! Yeah! Can't wait. You can count on more info and photos on Monday when I get back.

Oh My Word! Good News! I got an e-mail from M&M this morning...look what's new! (I know...they're carbs...but..... dark chocolate and peanuts!!!!! Together!) Go here to see the cute commercial.

HOPEFULNESS

It's good to be home, although it was hard to leave Beth. Thank you all for your very sweet comments and especially your prayers for Beth and for me.

When I was at the hospital the other day with her, I picked up a prayer booklet provided as a ministry of the Pastoral Care Department at Saint Thomas Hospital. One of the prayers is called

HOPEFULNESS
Oh Lord God, I have no idea where I am going, I do not see the road ahead of me,
I cannot know for certain where it will end.
Nor do I really know myself and the fact that I think I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so.
But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you and I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing.
I will trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death I will not fear, and you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to make this journey alone.
~Thomas Merton

HOME AGAIN

I'm home. Exhausted both mentally and physically. This was a very hard trip. I really can't even put into words how upsetting this trip was for me. Maybe I can "talk" about it later in detail. But this I know: Multiple Sclerosis is a terrible disease. I hate it. Truly. (I know...hate is a strong word I usually don't like using, but it sure fits how I feel tonight.) Beth now has over 50 lesions on her brain. It's devastating how much this disease and the multitude of medications has affected my friend.

CHRISTMAS IN AUGUST

Oh..My..Word! A rather large package arrived today and look what was inside! It feels like Christmas or my birthday! Seriously!

I won the French theme giveaway from DebraK at ~the Bunnies' Bungalow~ last Saturday! Oh la la!

Wow what beautiful goodies too! There's a Bodum french press coffee maker, and Gevalia Kaffe (coffee) Paris Le Procope, named after the oldest coffee house in Paris. Oh, and there's a white ironstone cup and saucer from Homer Laughlin china, the Seville pattern. And there are two darling Paris prints which are mounted on burlap frames, some toile note cards, an Eiffel tower tag and a gorgeous red and white toile vase.

I still can't believe I won. Thank you, thank you, thank you DebraK!

If you haven't visited her blog, please do. It's warm and welcoming and so much fun to visit.

RESTED, BUT BUSY

Well, I really did it! Yesterday afternoon I took a 2-1/2 hour nap!! It was wonderful and just what I needed. We had dinner plans with our friends, Ed and Jane, so I got up in time to shower and dress. We had a wonderful time visiting with them and our meals were awesome. I guess I've looked pretty tired these last few days because at one point during the meal, George leaned over and whispered that I sure looked refreshed and beautiful. What a sweetie!

Okay now that the kids are gone, it's time to get serious again.................

My friend, Beth, has asked me to come to Nashville for a visit. Beth is my friend I've mentioned many times who has MS. She is really struggling right now not only with her health, but with her personal life. She has separated from her husband and is living alone. She's usually one of the strongest people I know, but all of this is hitting her real hard. She called a few days before my kids were to arrive and asked me to come. I felt bad having to tell her I couldn't then, but promised to come after they left. Today I'm getting myself organized and packed, so that I can leave tomorrow right after church. Please pray for her and my trip.

I'm gonna be a busy bee today working on all the chores around the house, packing, and I need to give Miss Daisy a bath, but I'm also hoping to get to "catch up" on all my blog reading. I've only been able to read just a few each day and I've missed everyone. Thanks to all of you for your sweet comments this past week.

FIRST THINGS FIRST

Sigh....the kids left this morning around 10:00. What a great time we had this week! Lots of good hugs, kisses, snuggles, giggles and conversation. It's always hard to say goodbye for me though. Sigh......

After they left, I made a trip to the library, worked out at Curves, and then picked up some lunch. I'm back home now and there's lots of things calling my name. Such as...............


There's laundry to do............. There's ironing to do..........................

Lots of cleaning and straightening up to do.............................

There's paperwork and mail to catch up on........................... I REALLY want to catch up on all my blog reading and find out what all my blog sistas have been up to (and I will very soon)..................................

I have a few good books waiting patiently for me to pick them up............................
I was doing so well on my low carb diet until the ice cream, pizzas, Mexican food, etc., so I must get back to being "good" again........................................

But....this is what I'm doing first...a good, long afternoon nap.......

SHE'S TURNING FOUR!

Sydney Anne is turning four on Sunday, but since they are leaving in the morning, we celebrated tonight. We went out for pizza and then ice cream :-)


Here she is getting ready to blow out the candle on your ice cream cone. (note: Can you see how tired George and I both look. I'm even more exhausted than I look, if that's even possible. The tennis match this morning really wore me out...AND I didn't even win!)
Angela and Kaley Grace with their cones

Landon decides to use the last of his cone for a horn....boys!

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Back at the condo, we gave Sydney Anne some of her birthday gifts. One was a trunk of "dress up" costumes complete with jewelry, gloves, tiara, tutu, etc. Both girls immediately put on a fasion show:

Sydney Anne with her crown

Kaley Grace loved this outfit. She couldn't stop checking herself out in the mirror Syney Anne walks the "runway" in this one
Sydney Anne poses in another one
Sydney Anne models a "Dora" swimsuit we gave her along with some high heels and crown and gives us "the wave"...so adorable!

Afterwards, we all watched Open Season...what a cute movie!

ANOTHER FULL DAY

I can't believe it's time for my tennis team to start up again. This morning we had our first practice of the season and tomorrow morning is our first match. It was incredibly HOT this morning. Unbelievable! Pray for me in the morning. I'm taking a cooler full of ice and some bandana's to keep soaking in ice water to tie around my neck to keep me cool (I hope).

The kids spent the day on the beach and then came back to our house after lunch to swim in the pool. The girls are really improving with their swimming.

Tonight we rode by golf cart up to Grand Boulevard for Mexican at Cantina Laredo and then had ice cream at Kilwin's afterwards (surprise, surprise). Here's some photos from today:

This was taken in the front yard before leaving for dinner. The sun was pretty bright.

The kids rode with us on our golf cart and Eric and Angela followed on our neighbors cart

Does this ice cream make my hips look big? If not, it will :-) Why didn't someone tell me to stand up straight?!
Sydney Anne aka "Miss Messy Pot" and Kaley Grace loving their chocolate cones

Landon finished his quickly. He's getting so tall!
It's impossible to keep her clean!
We needed lots of napkins!
This is what happiness looks like!

SUNSET AND ICE CREAM

We rode by golf cart to get our ice cream (George is taking the photos)

Landon pretends to drive!
Look at the sunset!!!!!!!!!!!! We parked right by the bay to watch it go down.

Kaley Grace LOVES ice cream - big time! Give her ice cream and her eyes light up!
Landon wanted cookies & cream ice cream
Sydney Anne loves to "wear" her chocolate ice cream (click on this photo to see her mess)
I cleaned her up a bit to take this photo. I had to take the photo quick because she gets it all over her after each lick.

Coming home Sydney sang out loud all the way. I mean loud ALL.THE.WAY.HOME. What a character!

When we got back to our house, I loaded them in the car to take them back to the condo and all three fell asleep before we left the neighborhood. Between the beach this morning and our pool this afternoon, they were tired little puppies. So cute.