Go Ladybugs!

We officially ended our Fall Ball season.  We ended our season with a win!  Way to go Ladybugs!

Shame on Me!

Yes it has been quite some time since we last posted....  I vowed to try to stay up to date and I have royally failed!  I just wanted to fill you all in of the happenings in our life right now.  The girls are wrapping up their Fall ball season and we get to say goodbye to another season of being on the Ladybugs!  This season has been a lot different than any other season... Those who play with us will completely understand.  We have our banquet scheduled in a couple of weeks, which is always lots of fun.  The girls have played upwards basketball in the past and we have decided with our schedule that we are not going to play this year.  I think the girls are excited as we are that we won't have somewhere to go every day of the week for the next 2 months.  Softball does start back in January so we really only have 2 months off!  Taylor and Tillery received their first report cards last week and I am proud to say Taylor made all A's and Tillery made all ( well I can't remember the term they used for Kindergarten ) but she passed everything except her contact information... I laughed and said that I didn't even know our new contact info when I talked to her teacher.  We have been on a few fieldtrips... Stevie B's, a play and Westville.  There is always so much going on at the girls school.  We had Halloween this past weekend and the girls dressed up and had a blast.  Since they were both in a wedding that afternoon I tried to convince them to go as flower girls... That didn't quite go over well, so Taylor went as Daphne form Scooby Doo and Tillery went as Alex from Wizards of Waverly Place.  I will try to do better and keep you updated more regularly!

We passed all the criteria and we are officially certified to be Foster Parents...

Just a Blog!

I don't have any pictures to add today!  Just a few updates....

* We have moved and are settled in to the new house.  We still have some minor things to do before everything gets going full swing.  We don't have a stove, we ordered one they sent the wrong one so we are waiting, I think since it has been 2 weeks we may just have to settle with the wrong one.  We need a bathroom painted and a few cabinets painted and the rest is just finding time to unbox and get settled in.

* We will be putting our house up for sale VERY SOON... So if you know anyone interested please let us know!

*The girls have started back to school and seem to be enjoying this year.  Tillery loves it that she is at school with Taylor as do I and her dad, it makes life so easy with them in one location.  They have both been doing great so far.  Homework in 3rd grade is something else.  I am learning all over again.  Taylor was accepted into the gifted program and will go to the Intermediate School to learn with the more advanced students once a week beginning next week, I can't wait to see how this goes!

*It's time for softball again!  The girls decided to put up their pompoms this year and play fall ball.  Last year they cheered and this year they want to play softball.  They will be on the same team THANK YOU JESUS!!!!  Adam will be coaching them.

*Adam has been preaching every Sunday at Seale Baptist Church in Seale Alabama.  It is amazing to me to hear him, you ought to come if you are not doing anything on Sunday morning!

*Adam started school yesterday, he has 2 semesters left so I loaded him down this semester.  He is taking 5 courses.  That is right 5!  Most are electives and should be easy... Biology, Nutrition, Wellness, Community Health, Management....  Lets see if he gains any more gray this semester..... 

That is all of the updates I can think of.  I promise to get pics posted as soon as we have a second! 

Gotta go back, back, back to school again....

So Yesterday was the First Day of School...

Everyone woke up and we actually had a good morning.  Both girls were a bit nervous, but excited as well.  We had gone shopping Sunday to get some last minute school supplies so the girls were fired up about using their new stuff!  We got ready, had breakfast and headed out the door.

This picture was taken with Adam's phone so it is a bit blurry...  This is Tillery on her first day of "Big Girl School".  She was so excited.  I will post better pictures from my camera later.  We arrived at school after waiting in line for quite some time and took Taylor to her room first.  She went to sit in her desk and wanted us to leave.  I guess she is getting to that age where we embarrass her.  We took Tillery to her room.  She led the way the whole way to her room.  When we turned the corner to her hallway, I thought that I was going to cry.  When we got to the doorway, she completely stopped.  She didn't want to go.  We got her in and to her desk, she kept wanting bye hugs and kisses.  We left and there she was in "Big Girl School".  As the day went on I could not wait to pick them up to find out how their day went.  Tillery told me that she loved it!  She was mad that they only got "3 minutes" at recess.  She was also upset that we took her lunch and she wanted to have lunch there.  So today we fixed that problem.  She said that she was good and that she loved Mrs. Hedges.  Taylor told us that she liked it, getting her to tell us anything...we have to pull it out of her.  She had a great day, but both were completely exhausted.  This morning both girls got up and were ready to go, to me this is a good sign that yesterday went well.  As I drug Tillery out of the bed this morning she told me that yesterday at the playground she saw her sister and her sister would not play with her.  She told us this as we woke her up this morning so we didn't know if she had been dreaming or if she was telling the truth.  We all giggled..  As Tillery woke up she said it again, Taylor was there and laughed too.  Come to find out they were at PE yesterday around the same time and Tillery wanted to play with Taylor and Taylor would not play with her.  So I guess mom and dad are not the only thing right now that embarrass Taylor.  I guess she is at that age!

Welcome to 3rd Grade

Last night we had orientation for Taylor. We went in and it felt a little like dejavu. We picked out the shirts from PTA. And Taylor picked out the exact same ones Tillery did. We went in to Taylor's class. She got Mrs. Laney. Taylor's best friend Katherine Williams is in her class. She knew several of the other kids in her class so she was excited. We sat down and listened to Mrs. Laney. She told us about her and went on to tell us about all of the class rules. She stated that they are on the color system, similar to the red light system but more mature. They will have all of the subjects this year and the tests this year will be weighted. This means we will be doing a lot more studying. Taylor is ready to start Monday and so am I. This is going to be a great year!

HAPPY WORKING SONG

OHH HOW I WISH THIS WOULD WORK!
i COULD USE A HAPPY WORKING SONG AND ALL THE HELP THAT COMES WITH IT...

I'm a Big Girl Now!

Wow how time flies!  Monday night we rushed home from the beach to get Tillery to her Kindergarten Orientation.  She was so excited.  The only thing she was worried about was who was in her class.  We hurried in the door from the beach, changed clothes and grabbed her school supplies.  We got to the school and Tillery knew exactly where to go and was not shy a bit.  She picked out her t-shirts that PTA was selling and headed to her classroom.  When we got in Mrs. Hedges classroom we began to put up her supplies.  She looked around and found her name on her desk.  As all the kids began to come in she was so excited that she knew several of them.  Our neighbor was in her class, a girl from church, a little girl who she started off in daycare with and Nathan Cox, they have been together since they were babies.  Mrs Hedges began her introduction and told her class rules.  Tillery sat very quitely ( to my surprise ) and listened.  She told about how the discipline policy in her class was a red light /green light system.  Tillery listened to everything she said.  We finished up there and Tillery wanted to see where Taylor's classroom was going to be.  We found it and Adam was explaining to her how he would bring them in every morning.  He told her that he would bring Taylor in and let her walk by herself and then walk Tillery to her room.  Tillery insisted that she could do it by herself. We go back Thursday night to find out Taylor's class rules and find out who is in her class.  I have a feeling that this is going to be a great year! 

I CAN'T WAIT!!!!

This is from the producers of Fireproof and Facing the Giants...  I LOVE the movies and can't wait for this one. It is about Fathers taking the lead role in our families.

As for me and my house we shall serve the Lord

Opening Doors

We have made so much progress on the home.  I have taken lots of pics of the house in all of the stages.  I also started a cora;s house blog.  You can follow the progress of the home and our journey there.  The website is http://www.corashouse.blogspot.com/.
I wanted to say that since Adam has been ordained we have been extremely busy!  With all of the work at Cora's House we hardly have time for anything.  It is amazing that during this time he has continued to do an awesome job on Saturday night and preach every Sunday.  Each Sunday at a different location.  And some of the psat few weeks he has had to go back on preach on Sunday nights.  Adam was offered a position today as the pastor of a church.  Please be in prayer that God will lead him in the right direction.  He has agreed to interim for them until they find someone but they quickly told him that the job was his if he wanted it.  Tonight on facebook... Adam was asked to speak at an event in Columbus in a couple of weeks and be the featured speaker at the forum.  God is opening so many doors right now, please be in prayer that we will follow him through the right one! 
I also created a page for our BFG...   http://www.snlgabc.blogspot.com/

Ladies Night

Very Rarely do I get a chance to have a night out.  This month at Bunco, Faye came up with the great idea of going to Sips and Strokes in Auburn.  Very quickly we all decided to go!  I am so glad that I did.  We started out the night by meeting over at Shannon's house and all 7 of us piled up in the vehicle and headed to Auburn.  Our first stop was at Niffer's...

We enjoyed great food and even better conversation!

We quickly finished our meal and headed over to Sips n Strokes.  The class was sold out so it was packed.  We got our canvases and a table and quickly began to get ready to work on our masterpeices...

We had a great time, somewhat aggravating trying to learn to blend colors but loads of fun!

We all agreed that we had too much fun and that we were going to have to do this more often....

Until next time ladies!

Fireworks

In the last couple of weeks.  You can just about see or hear fireworks every night.  I am hoping that the fireworks bought on the Fourth will eventually be all used up so we can go back to not feeling like someone is unloading a gun in our neighborhood, but until then we have enjoyed watching the big pretty ones!  Here is a pic of Tillery watching the fireworks from the top of her daddy's truck! 

J*U*L*Y

This month has already started off better than last month....  At least we didn't start this month in the hospital!  We have had a few minor issues but nothing major!  Everyone's health is great so far this month.  No one has been injured not too bad....  We got the "Swagger Wagon" back!  It drives great!  I guess I had not realized how long it had been messed up...  We are more than half way done with our DHR training course, Thank You Jesus!!!!  While this class is VERY informative it is also VERY boring!  We have been working hard to get Cora's Home ready to live in.. Everything has been removed from the home with the exception of the kitchen items and the closet...  The closet will take days to go through.. This closet is bigger than my bedroom and is full to the ceiling with stuff!  They are coming by to do carpet and tile this week and once it has been cleaned in we go!  In the meantime we have been preparing our home to put it on the market to sale!  If you know anyone that is interested let us know!  Everything is moving quickly and we are very exhausted!  Also this month Adam will be preaching a lot.  This Sunday he will be at Seale Baptist and the next 2 at Crawford Baptist. 

What a Month.....

Wow what a month!!!!

I am so glad to see the month of June go...  We started the month off in the hospital.  Adam had another bad episode with his kidney stones and had to have one surgically removed.  He recouped quickly as he always does and officiated his first wedding ceremony.  The ceremony was beautiful.  The girls enjoyed dancing the night away.  We left the next day to travel to Orange Beach.  I had to attend a seminar at the Perdido Beach Resort.  Adam and the girls enjoyed a vacation and some fun in the sun.  During this time we were still pondering and praying about taking on a huge responsibility.  It was at this time it was confirmed to us and we decided to move ahead with the next phase of our lives.  We will be moving out of our home and into another home to take care of children who have been taken away from their families until they can be permanently placed in the care of the state.  So with this decision came lots of things this month.  We have had meeting with the foundation that we will be working with, we had to have fingerprints and back ground checks done, we also have had to start a training class.  This will be week four of ten.  There is a light at the end of that tunnel!!!  Because we are moving into a home that has literally sat vacant for years, we are in the process of an Extreme Home Makeover!  We have been working in the home trying to clean it up and get it ready for the Johnson's.  Our small group at church has been outstanding in supporting this project.  They had been supporting for about a year but have really stepped it up since Adam and I have decided to do this.  Church this month... well let me see what I can say....  It never ceases to amaze me what goes on there!  We have had a wonderful small group.  Adam decided to stop doing the college bible study on Wednesday nights.  This was a decision that was hard to make but with him in school and everything that we have going on it was the best decision for our family.  The girls enjoyed Bible School this month.  They LOVED going every night and we loved watching them perform the Sunday night.  Taylor is getting to the age where she is not as thrilled about doing things like that but Tillery was super excited.  She loved performing and screaming through the church at us in the balcony.  IMAGINE THAT!!!  Tillery has also kept us on our toes this month.  She began the month with a gash on her eye.  We took her to the Emergency Care and they dermabonded it.  Since then she has had numerous bike accidents.  She is without training wheels this month so we knew this was going to happen.  She looks like she gets along well with the pavement.  She has a toe that is skinned up and a knee that every time we get it about well she falls again.  Taylor is usually pretty good when it comes to accidents, she is not as rough as Tillery.  She spent the night off this week and came home with a black eye ( pics to follow).  She fell into a fireplace!  WHAT!!! Thank God we have AFLAC accident insurance.  Adam has stayed busy this month.  He went with some friends to Panama City Beach for a fishing trip and then went again to finish their scuba certification.  So he is now official.. I can't wait to see him and Bryan Brown go...  We also celebrated a few birthdays this month.  WE had a few parties to attend and we had one at home for Adam.  The girls gave him their presents and we enjoyed this time at home together.  As for me this month.. nothing really special other than the fact that my vehicle shut down on me and had to have a new transmission.  The girls and Adam have kept us busy this month.  I am ready for June to go and welcome July.  Please July don't be as busy as June was!  Until Next Month....

Saddle Ridge Ranch

This week the girls enjoyed Vacation Bible School. They enjoyed learning more about the bible, arts and crafts, spending time with their friends, and singing new songs. Tonight we went to church so the girls could perform all of the songs that they learned at the Saddle Ridge Ranch. Here are a few of the pics that I took of the girls tonight!

Disappointment... ;(

So this week we had a MAJOR blow!  We knew that the "SWAGGER" wagon as a few of you call it... was beginning to act sick.  We kept pondering what to do with it....TRADE, KEEP, TRADE, KEEP...  We knew if we kept the vehicle we would need to put some money in it to get it healthy again...  Well that decision was taken out of our hands.  It totally broke down on us.  Tuesday morning on the way to work, as I pressed the gas... the vehicle would not go!  I called my mom to pick me up and a tow truck to pick it up.  At that point I knew that it had to be fixed regardless of what we decided to do with it.  Come to find out, my transmission is TOTALLY SHOT OUT!  It had to be completely rebuilt.  So we just put a lot more SWAGGER in the wagon and will be driving it for a while longer.  But on the flipside... no beach this week.  AS devastated as we were to tell the girls.  It was the right thing to do right now.  Transmissions are NOT cheap and neither is a trip to Panama City Beach.  So we will be postponing our trip for a few weeks and enjoying the Fourth here at home.  Adam already has the weekend planned out for us! 

OIL!?!?!?!?!?!

I think the main question from everyone has been

"DID YOU SEE ANY OIL WHILE YOU WERE AT THE BEACH?"... 

Let me go ahead and answer that... 

NO and YES. 

No we did not see sheens of oil washing up on shore
No it did not smell like oil
No the beaches were not closed
Yes we saw lots of small tar balls

Yes we got to swim in the ocean
Yes there were Hazmat people in white suits there working in Tent Cities
Yes they had boons everywhere you could see

I think I answered a lot of the questions, Here are a few of the pics we took.

A Little Work...A Little Play

Last week I had to attend a 3 day conference at Perdido Beach Resort in Orange Beach , AL.  SO instead of going alone I decided to take my hubby and my 2 sweet little girls so they could enjoy a little fun in the sun.  We arrived and Adam and the girls immediately hit the pool/beach ( while I was inside in meetings)

The first evening they provided a poolside dinner with a band.  The girls really enjoyed this.  After that we went for a walk on the beach. 

We decided to get out of the hotel and do a little shopping...  The girls trying on shoes....

The next day I had class until lunch and was able to join the family in the sun.  We had a great time out by the pool.  The girls met some children from Ethiopia and quickly became friends

Tuesday evening we went to dinner at the Original Oyster House.  The food was great.  Seeing the sunset while we ate was amazing!

After dinner we walked around The Wharf and admired all of the large boats that were there....

After the conference we headed home... Making a quick stop in Foley for a little shopping and a great meal at Lambert's .  The girls enjoyed catching rolls!

15 Years!!!!

This weekend on facebook one of my old classmates contacted everyone in our class to try to start getting us together for our 15 year reunion.  They posted a couple of pics from our yearbook I thought I would share. 
This is the class of 1996 from Glenwood... One of our crazy class shots!

This one is from the pictures we put on our senior page of us as little babies...

Chez Ami Fall 2010

Here is a glimpse at some of the collections for Fall 2010. If you are interested in booking a party contact me... There are lots of new things this season!

What A Saturday!

Wow! What a Saturday! We woke up yesterday knowing we had a busy day. But little did we know what we were in store for.... We started the day off with a birthday party for Taylor's best friend Katherine Williams at the Phenix City Skate Center. The girls had a great time and were very tired when we left. We came home and as always the girls were begging to go outside and play with the kids that live on our street. We had a couple of hours until the wedding, so I agreed. About 30 minutes later the mom across the street walks all the girls home. Tillery is in the front, no tears, and looking extremely mad. I am thinking that they had been over there fighting and she is making Tillery come home. When I met them at the end of the driveway, they told me Tillery had busted her eye. I didn't see much blood so I told her to come inside so I could clean it up and she could come right back out. Well as Adam and I were cleaning her up we noticed real quickly that her eye had been cut pretty bad. She hit it just right were it had laid it open. I immediately threw her in the truck and off to the acute care we went. I did this because #1 it is cleaner than the ER and #2 we didn't have much time until the wedding. The doctor came in and looked at Tillery's eye and agreed that we needed to sew up her eye. She left the room and Tillery was upset. She returned to the room a few seconds later with her tray full of all of her supplies and told us that because of the location of the cut they were going to put dermabond on it. Thank You Jesus! The doctor fixed us up and we were on our way. The glue stung a little bit, but nothing like stiches ;)

We returned to the house to get dressed to head to Adam Mitchell and Katie Tooker's wedding. The ceremony was beautiful. And me and the girls were so proud of what a great job Adam did officiating the wedding. It was his first one and it went really well ( well other than one small thing ;) ). After the ceremony the girls enjoyed lots of dancing and we safely made it home.
We are looking forward to a couple of days out of town. To regroup from the week we have had. Please pray that we return home safely!

Tar Balls

This morning watching Good Morning America I was shocked to hear that Tar Balls had washed up in Pensacola.  We all knew this was going to happen but something in me said they would fix it before it had gotten to our beaches.  Here is a pic I found on the internet of the beaches in Pensacola.

As we head to the shore this weekend, I pray that we don't find this! We are headed to Perdido Beach and I am devastated that this will be destroying our beaches.

Hit Me Baby One More Time ;)

Our new blog has been up a running just a week...  And we have had over 100 hits!  I vow to keep blogging and I promise to keep this one up to date.

Home Sweet Home

We were discharged and sent home!!!  Adam is sleeping and has lots of meds to keep him comfortable!  We are happy to be at home and look forward to sleeping in our own beds.  I am excited that the girls are back at home as well.  Tillery told me that she got homesick because she had not been here in 3 days.  Thanks again to everyone for everything!

Rock Solid

Everything went well this morning.  The surgery is complete.  They were able to go in and remove the stone.  The doctor came out to the waiting room and presented me with a ROCK.  We are waiting no for the discharge process so we can go HOME...  Thanks again for those of you who have stopped by or called.  You have no idea how much it has meant to us! 

FEEL BETTER

Adam Update

Adam is feeling better today still in some pain but I think all of the morphine is helping...  We finally saw the doctor about an hour ago and they will be doing surgery to remove the stone tomorrow.  He used a lot of big fancy words but basically they are going to go in and pull the stone out.  That is of course unless he passes it before then. 
So one more day here in the hospital... I think I could write a book on the AMAZING things you see in the hospital.
Thanks to everyone for the prayers, visits, calls, texts, emails, etc.  We appreciate it very much! 

A Memorable Memorial Day

Today will be a Memorial Day that I don't think we will ever forget.  Yesterday we had a great day at the river with friends riding jet skis, boats and swimming.  We came home last night exhausted and excited that we had one more day to relax before the beginning of our work week.  WELL...   this morning God had different plans for us.  We ended up in the ER with Adam.  He was in excrutiating pain with kidney stones.  I figured that they would treat him with pain meds and send us on our way as they have done in the past.  Well at 4:30 this afternoon and a 7 hour wait later, we were told that he was being admitted to see about having the stones removed.  I ran home to have my dads cooking and see the girls for a bit, now I am sitting here with Adam and he is OUT!!!  I will keep you updated on what they are planning on doing but I believe they will be doing surgery in the morning..

Memorial Day Fun Fact

Memorial Day was first known as Decoration Day..

From the practice of decorating graves with flowers, wreaths and flags, the holiday was long known as Decoration Day. The name Memorial Day goes back to 1882, but the older name didn't disappear until after World War II. Federal law declared "Memorial Day" the official name in 1967.

SWAGGER WAGON

I stole this from a friend... I LOVE IT!!!!  You will need to pause the music on the side bar so you can hear it...

Here We Go Again....

Okay so I totally messed up my blog and I have tried and tried to fix it and just couldn't get it right!  So I decided that it was easier to set up a new one.  So....  HERE WE GO AGAIN....  I hope you enjoy!