I do believe I've got a new favorite song!.............maybe even a new favorite singer.................

Once upon a very long time ago, I blogged about my son bringing a live (kind of) fish into my house. If you haven't seen it, go here. If you have seen it, sit back and enjoy another exciting episode of...............................

"Jesse Carson Critter Gitter"

Tomorrow is Mother's Day, so I've been thinking a lot about my mother today, not that I don't think about her every day because I do..............especially if she's reading this post right now. My mother became my mother when she was only 16 years old, just a year younger than my own daughter. She's been my mother for 72% of her life! Those of you who know me can understand why she looks so exhausted sometimes! I can't imagine what it would be like to be raising a child at the age of 16. My 17 year old can't keep a hermit crab alive for more than a week. It is estimated that the year I was born there were around 700,000 abortions performed in the United States............and I was not one of them. Praise the Lord and thank you, Mama!!!

My mother didn't have an easy row to hoe when I was little. I'm not going to go into any details about my parents marriage, except to say that few women could've taken what she took for as long as she did. The point I'm trying to make is that even with all of that, Mama was and has always been a wonderful mother. So many times my sisters and I will be talking about when we were little and we'll mention something that was really special to us that Mama did and she'll say, "I don't remember doing that." It's funny how she can remember what she thinks she should've done differently, but can't remember the cool things she did. So, in honor of you, dear mother of mine, here's a little reminder.......

I remember when I first started school you used to tie my lunch money up in a little handkerchief and safety pin it to the inside of my jacket so that I wouldn't lose it. The edge of the handkerchief had a print of little boys and girls holding hands and skipping.

I remember you dressing us in brand new Christmas pajamas every Christmas Eve.

I remember you cutting real grass with scissors to put in the bottom of our Easter baskets.

I remember you painting my fingernails and toenails.

I distinctly remember you not killing me when I covered your freshly mopped and waxed kitchen floor with Hershey's Cocoa. The revelation that Hershey's Unsweetened Cocoa cannot be eaten straight out of the can with a spoon was probably punishment enough.

I remember that when Missy and I were old enough to be dropped off at the movie theater by ourselves (back when it was safe to do that) you went into the K-mart across the street from the Bijou movie theater and bought us purses. You also bought hair brushes, lip gloss, notepads and pens, little mirrors and tissues to go into our purses.

I remember you baking me heart shaped birthday cakes.

I know that I don't tell you as often as I should, but I love you very, very much!!! Happy Mother's Day!!!

I can't believe how long it's been since I posted! I'm not even sure that I remember how to write a complete. Ha! I crack myself up.

Where do I start? The last real post I wrote was back in January on the day of my grandpa's funeral. There's still a little sting as I write the words "grandpa's funeral." I miss both of them so much. So, let me see.............where do I start?

God has been doing some incredible things in my life during the past few months. Eventually I hope to sit down and write a more detailed post about all of it, but now I'll just give you the Reader's Digest version.

Last December I finished school and started the dreaded job search. I ended up working for a home healthcare agency, which will remain nameless. I absolutely loved the people I was caring for, but the company itself was not at all what they made themselves out to be. When the recruiter from this home healthcare agency came to Tech to recruit we were given a lot of information that made the agency seem very appealing (duh! They were recruiting!), but once I was hired, very little about the agency was what it was made out to be. For instance, we were told that we would be reimbursed for mileage.......NOT! We were told that the agency offered a good health insurance package. The insurance wasn't worth the paper it was written on. It was a joke. At one point in this lucrative career I was driving 30 minutes to my first house, staying for two hours, driving 30 minutes to my next house, staying for two hours, driving 30 minutes to my next house, staying for two hours and then driving 30 minutes home. Do the math. I was working 30 hours a week and driving 10 hours a week, but I wasn't getting paid for the time I was driving, nor was I getting any reimbursement for my gas. I was not a happy camper. I prayed about it and prayed about it. I asked God to guide me and to put me where He wanted me.

Not long after I started praying about it (a matter of days) I got an e-mail from my instructor at Tech. She was telling me about a job that someone else had told her about. She said that the second she heard about it she thought of me. There have been only a few times in my life that I knew beyond all certainty that something was mine before it actually became mine. The first time I ever layed eyes on my husband, I knew he was mine. I knew he was mine before I ever knew his name. The very moment I read about this job, I knew that God's handprints were all over it and I knew that it was mine. I sent in my resume the same day. A week later they called me in for an interview. I went into the interview knowing that God had already given me the job. I got called in for a second interview and was hired.

Ephesians 3:20 says that God is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine. I can't tell you the number of times that my mind and mouth have quoted that scripture since He gave me this job. I'm telling you I'm just flabbergasted by what He has done. He has given me a job as a medical assistant with Preserve Health. Preserve Health is a family practice being built five minutes (count 'em - five minutes!) from my house. Although the building is still under construction (we're supposed to start moving in May 19th) and we won't start taking patients until the middle of June, all of the employees have been on the payroll (full-time!) since April 2nd! Even our health insurance has been effective since April 2nd. As amazing as the job itself is, neither the job nor the benefits compare to what I know God is getting ready to do IN me through this job. This lesson goes so much deeper than what can be seen. There is no doubt in my mind that God is getting ready to take some shackles off of me that I've been carrying around most of my life. I know it as well as I've ever known anything. I've got a feeling that it's going to be a wild, sometimes challenging ride. I'm anxious to see where it goes.

Question: How many women with PMS does it take to change a light bulb?

Answer: One! ONLY ONE!!!! And do you know WHY? Because no one else in this house knows HOW to change a light bulb! They don't even know that the bulb is BURNED OUT!! They would sit in the dark for THREE DAYS before they figured it out. And, once they figured it out, they wouldn't be able to find the stupid light bulbs despite the fact that they've been in the SAME CABINET for the past 17 YEARS! But if they did, by some miracle of God, actually find them, 2 DAYS LATER, the chair they dragged to stand on to change the STUPID light bulb would STILL BE IN THE SAME SPOT!!!!! AND UNDERNEATH IT WOULD BE THE WRAPPER THE LIGHT BULBS CAME IN!!! BECAUSE NO ONE EVER PICKS UP OR CARRIES OUT THE GARBAGE!!!! IT'S A WONDER WE HAVEN'T ALL SUFFOCATED FROM THE PILES OF GARBAGE THAT ARE A FOOT DEEP THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRE HOUSE!! IT WOULD TAKE AN ARMY TO CLEAN THIS PLACE! AND DON'T EVEN GET ME STARTED ON WHO CHANGES THE TOILET PAPER ROLL !!

I'm sorry. What was the question?

TOGETHER AGAIN

Just wanted to let you all know that seven weeks from the day that my grandma went home to be with the Lord, grandpa joined her. He had been so unhappy with her gone. He developed pneumonia the Wednesday after New Year's. We thought he was begining to get better, but then Monday night he went to bed and by Tuesday morning, he was hearing Grandma say, "Fred, what took you so long?!?"

It was such a shock to the family, but we're convinced that He knew what was about to happen. Every one of us who saw him the days right before he died noticed that he was incredibly affectionate and loving during our visits with him. I saw him two days before he died and when I started to leave I hugged him and kissed him, as usual. When I stood up, he smiled, reached for me again, kissed me and held on longer than he ever has. I didn't think a thing in this world about it until after my Uncle Johnny called me and told me he was gone.

I've always said that I hope I die before JB. I don't want to be left here without him. My grandpa had a different take on the subject. Right after grandma died he told me that eversince she got Altzheimer's he had been praying that she would go before him. The way he figured it, he knew that if she died before him, he would be placing her into good hands and he would've "seen her through to safety." I guess it's kind of like in the movie "Titanic." When the ship started going down, they got the women and children off first. Grandpa got her into the first life boat and then he got into the second. God is faithful.

For those of you who don't know my grandparents story, this post will explain why the following song is going to be played at grandpa's funeral today.

NORMAN ROCKWELL WE AIN'T

We celebrated Christmas at my mama's house today. My brother, Wesley was in town from California, which made me extremely happy! It's not possible to have anything but a good time when Wesley's around.









About five minutes after the children were told to stop throwing the football in the house, Uncle Tommy and Uncle Wesley preceded to tear the house apart wrestling..... in the hallway of all places. Notice the dent in the air conditioning vent.........about the same size as Tommy's head, wouldn't you say? They were all "ain't skeered" when it came to going against each other. They sure got quiet when they thought Mama was coming......I guess that's called "aint stupid."

Of course, I played nice, kept my hands to myself (notice the G. I. Joe kungfu grip on the cup of coffee) and used my inside voice.

Jesse has always had a strange attraction to his Aunt Kathie. If I'd waited and snapped the picture a second or two later, I would've had a wonderful picture (suitable for framing) of Kathie ringing Jesse's bell after he stuck his tongue in her ear.

Kathie made her famous deviled eggs.

She really put her all into it. In case you're wondering, the bag broke.

We really should consider seperating these two next year.

Maybe not.