UPDATE

I have to admit that when I started this whole blogging thing I really did think that I would be more consistent at it. I'm sorry that I haven't been. Unfortunately it seems that I usually think about it when I should be doing something else instead (I'm a horrible procrastinator), like NOW! I should be in the midst of writing a 12-15 page paper for my Policy class, however, here I sit, without one page started, writing a new blog. Ohhhhh, what a rush it will be over the next day and half as I scurry to finish and meet the deadline. I think I'm an adrenaline junkie!
Anyway, I thought I should update everyone (as if I didn't tell the world already) as to what our immediate future plans appear to be. (I say "appear" because I am quickly learning that life can change in a matter of moments, and you just have to be willing to go with the flow and trust the Lord.) So, it appears at this point that our family will be moving to Alaska in the first week of the new year. Trey has re-enlisted in the Army for another 4 yrs and requested a 3-4 yr adventure in the great unknown (ALASKA!). I am looking forward the the adventure, just saddened by the distance between Alaska and my family. I am really hoping that some of my family and friends will be able to take advantage of our living there and schedule a vacation that they might not have otherwise scheduled.
So, we decided to sell the house that we bought only a year and a half ago (we were nervous about this). It was only on the market for 5 days before it went under contract! Thank you LORD! I was slightly stressed at the beginning (especially while we were trying to get it ready to put on the market), but once it started showing the Lord really did give me a peace about it, and for good reason it appears. It was all in his hands, and still is. He is good to his word, he will take care of you. It will be bittersweet leaving our first home together. We put a lot of ourselves into this home and it will be sad to leave, but we are looking forward to our future in Alaska together, especially with the impending addition of our new family member.
Gabriella Grace, that will be her name. You can call her Gi-Gi if you like. I think Taylor wants to call her Gabby. We are just thrilled that she appears to be healthy and right on track for her February 8th due date. Thank you for your prayers! How fun it will be for her to tell her friends that she was born in ALASKA when she gets older. What a life our children have. Thank you Lord.
Well, I suppose that I have procrastinated long enough to give you a "brief" update on things here in our household. I hope you have enjoyed my latest addition to the blogger world. I sincerely hope that you will forgive me for not keeping up better, but here's an idea.... If you feel the need and urge have your immediate sally social worker fix and can't wait for the next blogg, feel free to visit my myspace page. You can find me at: http://www. myspace.com/sallysocialworker

Enjoy!

Man, has it been that long?

So, two things I am thinking tonight as I write this entry.
1) WOW it has been close to a month since the last time I posted....WHERE DOES THE TIME GO?
and
2) WOW, Trey and I have been married for six years this Saturday.....WHERE DOES THE TIME GO?

First of all, I had visitors this month, and lots of them. My sister, Laura, who I have not seen since 2004 (during my wonderful trip to Hawaii!) came to visit us for nearly two weeks. She also brought along with her my two precious nieces. Hannah is 3 and Kayla is 1 1/2. They were a joy, a handful, but a joy! Well, they were here visiting for nearly 2 weeks, and somewhere in the middle of the visit, guess who shows up??? Drum roll please....YUP, the husband for hire! Okay, that is a little bit of an inside joke between she and I, but the point is that her husband showed up and it was the first time I had EVER met him since they have been married (which will be 6 yrs next yr). I was delighted! He stayed for about 5 days I think. Well, being that my other sister Elizabeth and her daughter, Chloe live in town, we obviously expected them to spend plenty of time here as well visiting, after all it had been many years since they had seen one another. WE HAD A HOUSEFUL! Needless to say, once everyone left I was exhausted! I thoroughly enjoyed my visit but am happy to reclaim my home as my safe haven and soft place to fall....I know you understand what I mean. Anyway, school started back for me while they were here visiting and I have been wrapped up in that as well, then Taylor also started school on the 25th of Aug so that has kept me busy too. I'm sure you can imaging the total confusion, exhaustion, excitement, and chaos of it all! Isn't life fun! TOTALLY!
NEXT- onto my marriage. WOW, totally can 't believe that Trey has stuck it out with me this long. We started dating in March of 1999 and will be married for 6 yrs this Saturday (September 2nd). How can one person put up with another for that long? Talk about love and dedication. And to think, we still have 40+ to go (God willing). I have to tell the truth, our marriage has been a road of rocks, potholes, construction, traffic jams, and road rage....HOWEVER, they are all worth it for the moments and times that we have had the whole open, newly paved highway to ourselves, cruising in our convertible with the top down staring up at the starry night sky without a care in the world thinking we owned the universe. Yes, there have been those times too. I love my husband dearly and can only pray that he have a glimpse of the depths of my love for him. I know that God has a purpose for our union and I intend to honor my commitment to my husband for many years to come (as a matter of fact...until death do us part is how I recall the vows going). I'm thankful to be married to a man that loves me and is committed to our family. Thank you Lord. Thank you. I just can't say thank you enough.

Daddy & Daughter Date!

So, I've been sick and tired lately....ALOT! I've also been home 24/7 with my beautiful daughter Taylor (who is 5 going on COMPLETELY GROWN!). Unfortunately, at the present time, Taylor is an only child and has no one but MOMMY to play with during the day (we can't wait for school to start). Since mommy hasn't been exactly feeling up to par lately, the play dates have been a bit rough to say the least (almost non-existent to tell the truth). Yes, on occasion (and I mean rare occasion) we will invite a friend over for her to play with during the day, however, this seems to backfire as I end up exerting more energy tending to the two of them than I do with just Taylor. Anyway, to make a long whiny story short I have been begging my husband for some down time (you know, just some me time to relax and be at peace with myself...). So, drum roll please.....dum dum dum dum....THEY ARE ON A DADDY & DAUGHTER DATE TONIGHT! Yes, it is true! Trey is has taken her to the infamous Mc D's and then out to see Over the Hedge (supposed to be a hilarious animated flick) at the dollar theatre! Doesn't that sound like fun? And the best part is.....I don't feel a bit guilty! Not only am I not playing with her, but she is also not here at all, and I know she is still in good hands and having a blast! Everybody wins! Okay, okay, Trey might not necessarily agree at the present time (let's just say his patience nerve isn't quite as long as mine....and the child talks....ALOT!), but I'm sure in the years to come he will totally appreciate the wonderful memories and cherish the times he had with her while she was still little. So, just thought that I would update you on the peace and serenity that is happening in my home at the present....and to top it off there is a beautiful thunderstorm in the works. I have just gotten out of a nice refreshing shower and am about to curl up on the couch in my robe with a good book! Ah, life is nice. Suddenly I don't feel so sick and tired!

Well, I guess I spoke too soon as the old saying goes. Yesterday I got sick AGAIN! I was sick in the early morn (Life Lesson: Multigrain cheerios and skim milk aren't as good the second time around) and then the evening before bed as well (hamburgers and frenchfries not quite as bad as cheerios, however, still don't recommend bringing them up for seconds!). Today, I thought I would take it easy and felt pretty good for most of the day, just really tired, but with dinner came another helping of nausea. Unfortunately I wasn't able to stomach the grilled porkchops or asparagus, but was able to stomach the mashed potatoes (YUM)!
I am hoping that tomorrow will be a brighter day. My sister Laura and my two nieces are going to be here next Tuesday to stay for a little over a week, and I am desperate to sew matching dresses for all the girls. Considering I have never sewn ANYTHING in my life (I think I might have sewn something in home economics in the 5th grade) and the fact that I have 7 days to complete four matching summer dresses, I think I might be behind on the power curve. Any suggestions??
Well, will close for now. Hoping to stay consistent at this.....

Long Time No See?

So, yes, it has been FOREVER since I updated......I've been busy????
Well, that is kinda true. I had a little stint in Virginia where I fell ill and made a few trips to the ER by ambulance. Come to find out, after much research and emotional trauma, I couldn't be a drug addict if I wanted to. Yeah, they think I'm just hypersensitive to Opiates and that I had a bad reaction (you could say that again!). Anywho, not long after that little episode I found out that I was "with child". Yuppers, another bun in the oven. After a few minutes of devastating fear and confusion, I came to terms and am absolutely delighted! We are praying for a boy, but will settle for healthy! (Is that selfish). So, now that I THINK I am getting over the first trimester uckies, I will hopefully pick this Blogger thing up once again.
So, yes, I'm alive, yes, I've been busy and sick, and yes, I'm sorry for not updating sooner! Love to you all though!

Rainy Day and New Hobby

Today the weather is rainy and chilly here. I really don't like days like this, they are a bit depressing. I suppose I could be doing laundry or washing dishes, cleaning toilets or vacuuming, reading a book or taking a nap, but instead I decided to write. Well, if you can consider this writing.

I read a little in my bible today, some from the book of James. It was enlightening to say the least. It was encouraging to know that I "think" I am on the right track with my Social Work field. I really feel like this is what the Lord wants me to be doing, but I'm just not sure where I'm supposed to be going with it yet. Sometimes the waiting gets to me. I'm trying to be patient.

This weekend I am going to Virginia to spend some time with my Aunt Mel before school starts again. I'm really looking forward to getting to spend some one on one with her. She is so wise in my eyes, and so caring and giving of herself. You just can't help but come away from an encounter with her with your spirits totally lifted! She has a God given gift! I'm blessed to have her in my life.

Once school starts I will be in class every day Mon-Fri, and on Fridays I'll go back for a night course as well. There will be absolutely NO BREAK (except for the 4th of July). I think I will really appreciate the down time I get to spend with Anut Mel in a few weeks when things are feeling all hay wire from school.

I think that Taylor and I may be developing a new hobby. Not too long ago we got some corn cobs and Trey mounted them on the trees in the back yard (Thank you honey!). Well, the intention was to be able to watch the squirrels. Instead we seem to have attracted what seems to be tons of birds to our back yard (picking up what the squirrels have dropped). She and I are very curious about what type of birds they are, so I think we might try to learn some of the different types. It seems like good quality time together. I'm excited!

Well, I guess I'm off to get to some of that house work I'm putting off. TTFN

YEAH TAY TAY!!

Yeah for Taylor! She is now officially a YELLOW BELT in Karate! Last night she had her testing and awards! I was so proud of her, of course I was crying! She is already signed up for the summer sessions, and she is all psyched about getting her green belt now! Watch out world, Tay Tay is on the loose!
Well, I cut my hair short! Not too awful short, but trust me...SHORT FOR ME! It is just at my shoulders. I feel lighter for some reason (maybe because I don't have 5lbs of hair weighing my head down anymore). I'm still trying to get used to it, it is different.
Taylor loved it, and when she got home the first thing she said was, "Mommy, I want my hair cut just like it!", so, now she has her hair cut just like it! Yup, we are twinkies! Two peas in a pod! She is definitely my little shadow...
Hey, I went to the doc a few days ago. I took the polish off of my toes and found that my big toe nail was all disgusting and nasty ( I'll spare you all the gory details, I don't want to make myself dry heave). Anyway, turns out I have some kind of fungus under the nail, and it is all dead and coming off. So, the doc prescribed me some Lamisil and says that I will have to be on it for 3 months. Well, I went to fill my prescription for the first month (just 30 pills) and I about fainted! They were charging $402.00 for thirty little pills. ($1,206.oo for three months) I'm thinking....." THANK THE GOOD LORD ABOVE FOR ARMY BENEFITS!". I had to pay $3.00 out of pocket! YES, YES, YES, YES, YES, YES, YES, YES........Thank you Tricare!
So, now, by the grace of God, my poor little toe nail will, someday, in the future, see the light of day again (he is in hiding under a strawberry shortcake bandaid until further notice...).