Catching Up

Just a few pictures from the last week of school (the week before Memorial Day). Debbie and Chip came to visit, and shop!One of the cool gifts Aunt Debbie gave Gordon was this egg, that hatched, to a "baby alligator"...it fit so well with a new book I'd just bought for Gordon "Zach's Alligator" where the boy puts an alligator key chain in water and it turns into a real alligator...thankfully this one just turned into a rubbery toy, but he sure loved watching it "hatch" over the 3 days. Gordon had a big end of school program - I have lots of video, but only a couple of pictures. I was so proud of how well he sang and did the hand motions. He especially liked the song "Going on A Bear Hunt" I can't believe he is going to be five this year...ugh.

Discombobulated

I love that word.



It is our life right now.



It is so strange to ALL be home ALL of the time.



I have a brief audit appointment tomorrow and am meeting with a friend for lunch - and I am so looking forward to getting out of the house! Don't get me wrong - I'm a huge homebody, but we've spent more straight hours together in the past 10 days then in our first year of marriage I think.



This is the first real week where I've felt like I was "unemployed" - tomorrow's small audit will be the only appointment I've had all week - and I've worked maybe 1 to 2 hours a day all week on wrap up work here at home.



I've caught up on all the laundry, dusted everything, vacuumed everything, polished everything, spread a full truck bed of mulch, cooked some stuff, done some grocery shopping, and even organized Gordon's socks, toys & clothes! There are just a few things left of "housework" and a few things left to do for work - and then I'll spend more time on searching for what I will do next with my career.



Shannon had an interview tonight - he's still there (I'm beginning to think they hired him and put him to work, it has been over 2 hours since the appointment!) It would be nice, to have one of us with an income - even though it isn't anything we can live on for long term - it will help spread out the savings in case it takes me a while to find something comparable to what I am losing, plus if we can get the health insurance and not have to pay for Cobra insurance...God's will be done, we pray and have faith that in the end, we'll be fine no matter what, deep inside I know that, and and grateful to God for the peace he's given us in this turmoil. I am sleeping better than I've slept in years!



In my prayers this past week I'm constantly praying for this little guy. I've been a reader of Mckmama's blog for a few months now, and although I'm just a reader and don't know this family at all really, I feel drawn to continue to pray as little Stellan fights for his life. Mckmama's faith is inspiring, human, real, and strong - I think it is so easy to say God is in control when life is going along normally, but to go through all of what they have gone through in the past year, and still know that you know that you know He is in control is a real testament.

2 Months Later

Life happened. Work was out of control. A lot to update but will start with just the basics:
1) Shannon was laid off the last week of January - it was working out great with him at home taking care of everything, because my work was consuming - I had to work in Florida for a week in February, plus all my work up here - and January to February 27th is our "crunch" time so it was nice to be able to put all my efforts into my work for a change.
2) Gordon and I flew to Florida on 2/6, Shannon joined us on 2/11, and we spent Valentines weekend at my sister's house and going to Disney - it was a blast!
3) We came home. I worked like crazy, literally only stopping to eat, sleep 3-4 hours, go to the bathroom, and back to work again from wee early morning to late late night. Shannon was getting worried, I was getting worried. It was right up to the deadline of 12:00 midnight on 2/27. And it all got done except for one audit, which was great considering.
4) I had some breathing room again the next week, until Thursday 3/5 when I got the call that I needed to cancel my Friday audits and drive down to Charlotte to meet with my manager. Talk about an uneasy feeling. It was a sleepless night to say the least. I was told, along with many others across the nation, that I was being laid off as of 4/2. Amazing how one day, life is normal, the next, it is turned upside down. Well upside down may be a stretch. I know, as in all things, God is in charge. We will do what we have to do, things will be fine. I am just thankful our life change is just in economics and careers, not in loss of health or a loved one or dealing with something worse. We have a lot to be thankful for, and we are so grateful that we have each other and our family and friends to pray for us and encourage us.

Maybe now that I will be having some "free time" I'll be able to catch up more here! My little Gordon is as sweet and funny as ever and I have many updates to share.

We're looking forward to a beautiful spring full of hope and renewal, I hope you are having a beautiful first day of Spring today!

Just a Day in January

It has been a fun year so far.

Gordon is doing much better at school - I think the chaos of the travel to Florida in November, having company, and the whole excitement of the holidays was probably not the ideal time to have him adjusting to his "new" class - he wasn't doing badly, just was not happy about going and it was starting to concern me. But now he's doing even better than before - loving school again (although he does have to be convinced to stop playing with his trains to go to school - but once I promise they will still be here when he comes home, he's game!)

• We've started a new habit - organized his room to make room for a chair beside his bed that I can sit in to read to him. He LOVES getting to pick out the books and then sitting in bed during story time. He gets very excited about the story now - before in the living room he would often get distracted by things in the room if the story was a little long, now he hangs on every word, frequently interrupting with questions or comments. Then we fold our hands and we say our prayers together and he quite happily snuggles down into his bed, waits for a kiss, and then says "good night mommy, I love you" while I turn on the cd and then shut the door - bedtime has never been so sweet :)

• Tonight Daddy is out of town - actually is for most of the week, again. So I picked Gordon up and decided we were going out on a date. I announced this to him as he was climbing into the carseat at school. He said "but I don't want to go on a date" LOL...nice. We went anyway - to Applebees so I could have a big salad. On the way we passed a horrible car accident, the kind where a large crowd of people are standing around, with 8 emergency vehicles assisting - there were 4 vehicles involved in the crash - the jaws of life were being used on an upside down SUV, which had another car on top of it and a third one was smashed into its side, the fourth one was into a wall. It is one of the worst I've seen in a while. I get very emotional when I see things like that - I feel for those poor people involved, no matter who was to blame - and I just pray to God I never have to be in another accident in my lifetime - and that Gordon is never in one. Having a child is the most amazing experience in life - and also the scariest - every fear I've ever had for myself or a loved one is multiplied when I think of something happening to him. I try not to think of such things, but I can't help it when I see such carnage on a street that I use every day to and from school with Gordon. Boy that was a tangent...of a tangent. Where was I, oh yeah, the date. So we went to Applebees - my little boy was such a perfect date - he held my hand, he sat next to me in the booth, we had great conversation - he was so polite to the waitress, every time she gave us something - drinks, napkins, dinner - she was treated to a quite loud and jolly "THANK YOU!!" She laughed every time. Then he got a balloon on our way out, he was over the moon.

• I had been wanting to stop at Target, so I asked my little date if we could make one more stop before going home to play with trains. He said we could stop at Nar-get. No one warned me that there was a huge clearance sale on toys. I was sucked into the Thomas the Train aisle. I thought I would like to see if they had any people to go with the train set - as in Sir Topham Hat. Gordon likes to pretend and I thought he might like that to go with the trains. No figurines. But momma fell in love with the trains that actually run - we have the "Take Along Thomas" - which I'm not loving. We have several of the trains which is why I got this system, I didn't want to have to buy all the trains when we have so many. But the 'take along' tracks aren't great - I'm just not impressed. But I fell in love with the Thomas Trackmaster trains & tracks! They fit together much better and the trains actually moving just thrilled Gordon. So I bought Duck, the train, and a package of Trackmaster tracks. Gordon was so excited he could hardly speak. From the toy aisle to the register and then to the car he clutched Duck to his chest with his arms and repeated how much he wanted to thank mommy for buying duck. I am such a sucker I know. I am spoiling him. I know. But it was soooo much fun! We opened up the track and popped a battery in Duck and Gordon's face was just pure joy when Duck whirred to life and whipped around the oval track. He loved it. And he was so thankful (so how can he be truly spoiled??) And - he still went to bed on time when I told him it was time to go. We'll keep the Take Along Set and this Trackmaster set and use both - he won't get any more train toys for a good while - I promise.

It is Thundering

It is January right? Just checking. Thunderstorms in January - neat. It took me a while to figure out what that sound was, I thought for a minute my stomach issues were returning.