March Madenss is HERE

 

My friends Christy, ME and Kristi @ Cameron Indoor 2008

Last night I watched Back to Back the story of DUKE's 91 & 92 Championships.

I am a HUGE DUKE fan. I played point guard in high school and just fell in love with Bobby Hurley. I even named my puppy at the time "Hurley".

Watching the DUKE documentary got me so pumped up about DUKE. They are playing again in Greensboro this week for the first round of the tourney. They last played in Greensboro in 2008 and we went & watched the open practice.

Now I am over 350 miles away but I want to go so bad!

Spring

Yesterday was a busy day spent going thru what seemed like a million boxes searching for my Easter decorations. (Thanks Mr. Movers).

I finally found them and realized that most of them won't be able to be displayed this year thanks in part to little Miss Karsen.

Most of my Easter decorations are very old and very fragile. Still, it is always fun going thru the boxes and rediscovering my spring treasures.

This is going to be our first official Easter in West Virginia (living here) but we have spent the majority of Easter's here since John & I married many years ago.

PawPaw Hanson, my father in law,  reminds me of spring. He loved nothing more than getting the entire family together for Easter brunch following church at the Marriott hotel in downtown Charleston. He always paid and he always loved seeing his little granddaughter's dressed in their frilliest finest. The last time I would see him would be the Easter trip home in  2010.

 

He was so sick. He had lost so much weight. His beautiful silver hair was gone thanks to the harsh chemo. He had every excuse NOT to want to go to church or to Easter dinner but he gathered all the strength he could and he went. Even though he had no appetite, he sat at the head of our table and he watched us all laughing, talking and enjoying ourselves. He probably knew this would be the last Easter he would preside over the large table. Maybe we knew too and just couldn't come to terms with it yet. It was a bittersweet day for us all.

This Easter has me missing him very much. He would have been delighted to see John move back home. He would have LOVED baby Karsen. He would have enjoyed watching Tate play spring baseball. He would be very proud to watch Justin playing basketball and he would have really been impressed with Jonathan's decision to enlist in the Air Force or Air Guard. He would have clapped the loudest at Ashton's upcoming dance recital.

It just isn't the same. In less than 1 year, our families lost both patriarchs. We are shattered and still trying to find our way in the new lives without them. Holidays are rough and I imagine they always will be. Easter and spring bring back so many memories of that last holiday spent with him. I am going to see if we call all go back to the Marriott this year in his honor.

Red Riding Hood

Home Invasions

I was watching on ABC's Good Morning America this morning about some very scary home invasions around the country where the intruders were shot and killed.

It brought back some very unpleasant memories of the 2008 home invasion at my moms house that my son was a victim of.

Jonathan was 14 at the time and in 8th grade.

A week earlier he had broken his arm at school. It was a serious break and needed 2 surgeries just to get it reset. At the same time, I had come down with a mystery illness that had sent me to the ER  and was recovering at home so Jonathan was at my mom's house being cared for by her while I also healed.

My mom had to go to work for a few hours that day. She worked at the same church I did. It is only about a 10 minute drive. My mom lives on 13 very secluded acres and you don't even see her house from the road. Jonathan was in a bedroom on the computer when he saw a car pull into the driveway and two men step out. 

This alarmed him and he called my mom to see if she was expecting any workers. She said "NO" and told Jonathan to call 911. My mom had a terrible feeling in her heart and immediately left church to rush home to see who was in her driveway. 

Jonathan fumbled trying to call 911 and accidentally called Papa Bud. Papa Bud loved talking on the phone so he was asking Jonathan how was his arm, Jonathan was trying to politely hang up on Papa to call 911 without wanting to scare Papa. 

While this was going on, one of the men had come to the back porch and broke the glass door. He was now inside my moms house. Jonathan heard the glass and got into a closet. He immediately began praying to God for protection. The man had a machete knife and apparently was on a walkie talkie with the other man who was waiting outside in the get away car. 

My mom called my brother in law who lived about 2 miles away for help and Tom drove as fast as he could to get to my moms. Inside the house the man was going thru the rooms when Jonathan heard him say to the man outside via the walkie talkies that he was going to kill my moms dog who was a small dog but was barking in the living room. Jonathan made the brave decision to come out of the closet and as he did he met the man in the hallway

Jonathan was in his pajama bottoms and his arm was in a sling. He had just turned 14 two months before this. But in our minds, God had a guardian angel behind Jonathan. And this burglar saw something other than a small frightened child. Whatever he saw scared the burglar.  I have chills coming over me as I type this because this burglar dropped the knife and RAN as fast as he could out of the house when he saw Jonathan. The men sped away just as my brother in law and mom were pulling into the driveway. They were never caught but a few months later a crime ring was busted in a nearby county and Jonathan was positive it was the same men.

These men could have killed my son. He was alone, he was a defenseless child, he was in a sling and my moms house is so far from any other homes no one would have heard him scream. He was unarmed and the burglar had a machete knife.

But God, we are positive, protected him that day. Jonathan said he was not scared when he left the closet. He had prayed and felt a peace that only comes to you when you are a believer and you trust beyond what words can ever describe.

It was a scary incident but Jonathan is ok. Whenever I hear about home invasions, especially the sad ones where people are killed or hurt by the intruders my heart always will skip a beat and then I immediately thank God for protecting my baby that terrible day in May 2008. 


Jonathan will be graduating high school in 2 months, He has been accepted into Marshall University Pre-Med and he just passed with flying colors the US Military entrance ASVAB test with a score of 85 and may also join the Air Force. I am one proud mommy.

The only thing this burglar accomplished was he made our family even stronger believers in God and we are certain that God has a greater purpose for Jonathan's life.

Valspar Free Paint Sample

I LOVE it when Valspar sponsors this giveaway !

However, it isn't as easy as it used to be to get the free sample.

Now you have to click on the valspar link at 10am EST and be one of the first 750 per day. No easy feat. Twice this week I was able to get onto the giveaway link before they closed it down only to have it time out once I had selected my paint color.

This giveaway is good for the month of March and includes a $5 coupon for Lowes.

It's totally worth the frustration! I am trying the pink COUTURE color for Ashton's new room.

Snow Day

This is the view from my back porch today.

A beautiful, peaceful snow. The air smells so clean and fresh.

But there are daffodils peeking thru the winter white and spring (which seems to have arrived in February) is close.

I love winter so this warmer weather was disappointing for me. But for the many people who are struggling now to pay for gas, I am sure the warmer weather was a blessing.

I heart snow!

 

Prayers for West Liberty

Friday was eerie. It stormed most of the day and there was a lot of  talk in the news that tornado activity was a high probability.

To be honest, I wasn't worried. We live in the mountains.....tornadoes can't pass thru mountains....can they?

We even ate dinner out. Something that is rare with Karsen feeling so bad still.

But on the way home the clouds looked really bad. You could see the storm line and it was creepy.

We got home and turned the news on. Tornado warnings were all around us and Doppler radar had detected a big one just to the south east of us. I have lived in Kansas (when I was 8). I remember all too well the tornado siren in the town of Osage and being led into the "storm closet" in my mom's bedroom.

I have lived in North Carolina almost my entire life and lived thru a devastating tornado in Kernersville in 1989 and one that hit in 1999 10 miles of my house in Clemmons.

I never thought I would see tornadoes in West Virginia!

West Liberty, KY is just to the south east of my town. And they were basically wiped off of the map. My heart aches for those who have lost everything. One woman on the news tonight lost her daughter and mother. My heart cannot even imagine.

This storm also claimed the lives of an entire young family in Indiana. Sadly, the only survivor of the family, a baby girl named Angel, died tonight.

Baby Angel will now be reunited with her baby sister and brother, and I pray her parents.

A friend of mine asked me tonight on Facebook, why does God allow such pain, why do some survive, and others don't?

The best answer that I could muster was this:

God has a purpose for everything and every thing has a reason and purpose. For some, death is how He becomes glorified. For others, living thru pain is how He is glorified. This is where Faith steps in. You have to trust Him in all things, good and bad. For some of us, it takes something bad to turn to God. Whatever the reason, the end is this....in the end everyone dies and it is so important to know where you are going. There is a heaven and there is a hell. Walk with faith, walk by faith and know that He loves you so much. Even the shortest lives on earth are timely in His timing. And the longest lives on earth are just a second when compared to eternity. I once read in a Max Lucado book that in God's plan, every life is long enough and every death is timely. We shall all face death, but thanks to Jesus, we only face it's shadow.

I am so far from being the person I want to be. But I promise everyone, I am trying. Everyday before I go to bed I ask for forgiveness because there is nothing more than I want than to oneday be reunited with my family--Papa Bud-- and hear those words spoken to me, "Good job my faithful servant".

Please remember the people of West Virginia, Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky tonight in your prayers.

Little One at 18 Months

 

Dear Little One,

18 months!?

That is a year and a half old! Where has the time gone?

This month finds you still being my best little buddy.

You follow me around the house all day. You help me fold clothes and clean. You especially love cleaning your sisters room as you like to go through her things! She doesn't like it when you are in there so you take full advantage when you get the chance to explore Sissy's things. You are so much like Raini in that aspect.

You have been incredibly sick this past month. Even now as I type this you are dealing with another respiratory infection. I need you to be well again so we can go outside and enjoy the nice spring like weather!


Here are some of my favorite things you have learned in the last month:


*You "fist pump" when your favorite songs play. Cutest thing EVER


*When Raini visited us a few weeks ago you said "Bow"


*You like to dance


*You try to dress yourself


*You LOVE Elmo & Barney. You call Elmo, MO.

*You like to put deodorant on just like mommy when I am getting ready


*You love to color!

*You learned to drink out of a straw while you were in the hospital

 Hospitals are no fun! We had to put the IV in your foot because you would have pulled it out of your arm. Saddest day ever!

You are so loved Karsen! Thank you for being our baby! I pray the next month brings you good health!

 Crazy Bath time hair!

PS YOU STILL WON'T SAY MOMMA!!!!