Fair Time!

Well, It's fair time. Cody is showing our 4-H club hog, and I must say she is the most beautiful hog in the world!LOL She is very sweet and smart too. We have taught her to sit and I have posted a picture of her sitting in the yard while Cody bathes her. She loved it. Cody really worked hard taking care of her and we were worried that she wouldn't make weight since she was on the small side when we got her, but she was 240 lbs at weigh in and the minimum weight was 240 for her to be in! WHEW that was close! On Tuesday, Cody was dressed in his best 4-H outfit and did a great job showing her. She was so funny. She was the first one in the ring and she walked to the far side and sat down and waited for the others to come out. As they entered the ring she would run up to them and introduce herself and then go sit back down. It was so funny. She is really not aware of the fact that she is a PIG. Although, I think that might be my fault since she was running with the dog, would eat her food, and we called her just like a dog. She would hear my car pull up in the evenings and it sounded like a heard of elephants running towards me with the exception of the oinks she was trumpeting.

I know I have explained to the kids in 4-H that these are farms animals that are raised to be eaten, but I am going to be sad to see her go to the market on Saturday. Thank you Dixie for the great time we've had together.

My Children

I am at a loss. I thought being the parent to a young child was a challenge, but what did I know? I have now reached the season of life when I am the unsure parent of an adult child. I have made it my goal in life to instill values, responsiblity, morals, and plain common sense into my children. I feel like there are enough children in this world that have been raised on welfare, been exposed to drugs, been involved in criminal activities, or have basically raised themselves. Therefore, I was bound and determined not to allow that to happen to my kids so that when they left the nest they would know what is expected of them and they would fly right. Well, how much more naive could I have been. Of course they are going to have to try everything out there before their new adult brain kicks in, I just never realized this until now. I guess my new parent brain is just learning right along with them just exactly how stupid we are!

Our Sons

Only by the grace of God.Three sons we have been given.It is our little peace on earth,A little taste of heaven.The names of our three sons,Cody, Johnnie, and Jake.The five of us together,A family we do make. The joys and the tears,We seem to make it through.The hopes and the fears,We'll get thru all those too.The future's not for us to see,We must stumble thru the days.Loving one another, In each and every way. As long as when we part this life,All three sons do know.We love them now and even more, As thru this life they go.
Thank you God for our Sons!

What makes me sad

My sister in law's blog has a daily writing prompt that she posts for anyone to write from. She posted one a few days ago that kinda seems fitting. This time of year is always hectic with school starting for my 2 younger sons, especially this year with one going into middle school. Saying that, I also must say that I try to stop and take time to remember someone that passed away during this time 7 years ago, and that was my mother in law. She was truly an inspiration and role model for me.
In addition to my younger sons, I also have another that is about to be 21. He moved out a few months ago, has a serious girlfriend (whom I love) and is trying to pursue his career as a police officer. With his growing independence and changing life, I to am changing. I am going into another season of life and am learning to have an adult relationship with my child. When my son decided to move out I wondered if this is what it was like for Mom when her son (my husband) left home. How did Dad react? Did they have a hard time? Since it was their youngest and they had been through it before, was easier? He was their baby, did that make it even harder? These are the questions that I want to ask her but she is not here. I know there will be even more questions as more things change in my life. What if you don't think they are making the right choices, do you tell them or let them learn and pray that they don't mess up too bad? What if they aren't doing what you have taught them, do you say anything or just say "they are adults now"? What do you do when you can see the road they are going down and know there is a cliff at the end? Tell them,"STOP, don't go there"? Or worse yet, you do tell them but they continue on that path. You can't ground them anymore. What do you do?
I wish she was here to get advice from in those times when I really don't know what to do. All I can do is look back and try to remember when we were going through times in OUR life what she was doing and saying to us.
I do miss her terribly, and I must say that writing this makes me miss her even more! It makes me soooo sad that she is not here for me, but it makes me even sadder that she is not here for them. Her advice and wisdom was priceless. They don't have what I had from her which was the time to learn from her. What THEY are missing is what makes me sad.

More summer time fun

Well it was another great weekend out with our extended family. We spent the weekend at Salt Springs Resort and I would recommend it to anyone that loves the outdoors. This place has 2 bedroom "cottages" that are actually small houses, and they are $90 a night. With your rental you have access to all the amenities of the park including 2 pools, a hot tub, miniature golf, shuffle boards, tennis, horse shoes, an indoor game room, and of course the lake. The lake is what we enjoyed the most. We took the boats out again and we rode all day Saturday and Sunday. The lake is huge and the swimming area is sand bottom and roped off so it is safe for the kids. We cooked out Sunday's lunch on the grill right at the lake side picnic tables. This will probably be the last hoorah for the summer, so I'm glad it was fun. I'm sure we'll be back next year for a week.

My Sister-Delene Martin

I get my daily reading in at a website that my sister writes. She is an AWESOME writer. She writes love stories, suspense, fiction, and she even has a feel of a tribal story teller. I wish I had her talent. Since I don't, all I can do is tell her with the little writing talent I have with a poem to honor her. Love ya Sis.

Oh, to be a writer
Able to tell a tale.
The ability to swing a pen
And your thoughts you can sell.
Into your mind, what a beautiful world
The words come to life with the stories you've told.
Oh, wonderful artist
To I see what you see.
Oh, to be a writer
What a gift that would be.

If you want to read some of her stories go to www.delenemartin.com

Summer time

Another week has come and gone, and now school is less than a month away. I had taken on a second job taking care of a neighbor that had a stroke a year ago and now has to have help. He lives alone and has started falling. I went over last weekend and spent all day cleaning and preparing to start his new routine on Monday evening. I will take him dinner after I get home and get it cooked and then give him a bath and clean up the dishes, and do routine care. Little did I know that this job was going to be short lived. I finished cooking dinner on Monday and went straight over to get him taken care of. I pulled up in the driveway and there he was, laying in the yard, sunburned and cover with ants! I called 911 and they took him to the ER. They admitted him and have discovered that he is in atrial fibrillation and has probably had some more strokes and will be going into a nursing home instead of coming home. His son wanted me to start trying to take care of him to prevent the nursing home because he isn't going to be receptive to going into one, but now he has no choice. We'll see how he does, I hope for his sake he adjusts well.