Southern Womens Show

Today was the opening day for the annual Southern Womens Show in Nashville and it just happened to be my day off this week as I am working this weekend. I bought discount tickets at Kroger yesterday and picked up my friend Gail early today and off we went for a day in Nashville.The next two pictures are of some of the "loot" I managed to bring back home with me today! I love the vendors and the shows. I love spending a day with a friend and just being "away", even if only for a while. I think my Grandchildren will LOVE the sand buckets this summer at the beach. Even the 14 year old will play patiently with the younger ones so I got her one, too :)

This is a picture of the exhibit hall as we arrived this morning. It was already a madhouse (but not like it will be come Saturday!) I don't know where on earth all these ladies come from.

This is Gail and we are trying out different mixes for dips. Of course we both bought several. We both entertain a lot and are always looking for something new and different that tastes great to serve. We actually both bought a "dip chiller" at this booth.

By lunchtime we are starving and can only find two places to eat. Wow, $16.00 for 2 hamburgers (and not very good hamburgers, either.)

Not long after the burger event we heard a tornado watch and severe thunderstorm warning and decided it was time to take our leave. I had already spent too much money anyway. We managed to get out of Nashville before we ran into the storm, but it was pretty hazardous driving for most of the trip.

We are now home, the storm has subsided and I am left with a dining room table full of "goodies". What a good day this was!

My dip mixes and shopping fixes will just have to last........until next year!

Sunday Bits and Pieces

Friday was the last time this year for Tristin to wrestle and believe it or not, I had not been able to see him at all. Since I was finally off when he was wrestling, off I went. He has been sick this week with an earache and is on antibiotics and ear drops but wanted to try nevertheless. The picture above is how he REALLY felt. I don't care how old and big he thinks he is, he is still my "baby". I hate to see him cry. His ear was hurting and the headgear was bothering it.
Mom's lap always makes everything feel better, though.

Since the State Meet was over for the year (and we KNOW who the Ky. State Wrestling Champion is this year) his coach wanted him to wrestle one class UP. He wrestled with a 7 year old who was much bigger and still came in second. I was so proud of him. I still get a little nervous when I watch fearing he will get hurt. I guess that's just natural, though.
I didn't go anywhere yesterday but got lots of laundry caught up and Mother and Belle came over for a few hours. I enjoyed the time with them and it was a good break for me.
I have spent most of the weekend creating and compiling an "Employee Manual" for my work. It is neither easy nor fun, but at least I have the peace and quiet to do it here. It is almost always a zoo at work. The phone is ringing or people are stopping in my office at all times so there is absolutely NO privacy there.
I did get to church this morning and it always makes me feel better after I have gone. Back home and back to work. Late in the afternoon a friend of mine, Florence and her daughter Annie came and hot-tubbed it for a while. We had a good visit. In an earlier post, I mentioned Flo's Mother who is very ill. She is still in the hospital in ICU but is much better and off the ventilator. Thank you all for your prayers for her.

Annie is just a doll and I am always glad when she comes over. She has a way of making me feel younger.
Today is drawing to a close and I still have not typed the now-hated employee manual. My printer ran out of ink, I went to change the cartridge and the new one is one digit off and of course, does not fit. I have some of this on a jump drive at work and left it at work. I now have found a NEW jump drive here at home and will just start typing it all over again, I guess. AARGH! I think I will be glad when this day is done.

Wet Wednesday

Today I had to make another trip to South Central Kentucky in the driving rain for a personal matter. I did get to see my oldest granddaughter without her braces. She sure has some sharp-looking retainers (they have a zebra print) but believe it or not, she wouldn't let me take a picture of them. This is a picture of Florence and Ken who are very good friends of mine. Florence's mother is very ill and in the Intensive Care Unit at our local hospital. I'm not sure what happened since this happened today while I was gone, but I do know that it is very serious and I am praying for all of them. I firmly believe in the power of prayer and ask that my blogging friends who pray would remember them and their family tonight.
I try very hard NOT to write about politics or religion, but tonight I will put a slight bend in the road. As most of you know, I am a staunch Republican. I am also a big fan of Glenn Beck. Hence, during the 5 hours in the car today I listened to his radio broadcast. Agree with him or disagree, his show is almost always humorous and offers a lot of insight into the political goings-on. It seems Mr. Beck is highly irritated by the use of President Obama's tele-prompter. I listened intently to all the folks calling in to the program and agreeing that Mr. Obama does not seem sincere without it, that what he says "off the cuff" is almost always a polar opposite to his tele-prompted speeches, he never looks at the camera, etc. You get the message.
For some strange reason that I am about to explain, this does NOT bother ME. I would just think that by using the tele-prompter, he is saying things that he has had time to think about and hone to his liking. I understand he is still campaigning, just for something different now. And he is still speaking like he IS campaigning. Now WHY, as a serious Republican, does that NOT bother me?

Hope Springs Eternal

Leaving work early today to go to the Dentist for a follow-up following "The Extraction" gave me an opportunity to go for my walk earlier in the day and truly enjoy this teaser Spring day. I took my camera with me to record some of the early signs of spring around our neighborhood. This picture below is one of my tulips pushing through the earth and reaching for some sun. I wonder what color it will prove to be?

I also understand from the weather reports that these cloudy skies I see in this picture are bringing behind them a cold front and that tomorrow will be totally unlike today was, of course. The poor tree suffered a lot of damage from the ice storm but I had a friend with a chain saw who came and took care of the worst of it not long after the storm and the rest will just wait.

After my walk and starting to prepare dinner tonight, I decided to catch up on my blogging friends and thus begins tonight's story.

Long before I ever started to write a blog, I used to read a lot of them. If you are a reader you know how one leads to another and then another. Through that venue, I started following the story of a couple from Nashville with four children who were going through the process of adopting a gorgeous little girl from Ethiopia. http://weloveourlucy.blogspot.com/

Kristi is a faithful blogger and I soon became wrapped up in the comings and goings of the Johnson home and her daily walk with Christ, her family and their efforts to "Bring Lucy Home". After MANY months of red tape and the almost unbearable wait, she got a call today saying their baby's biological mother had returned and changed her mind. She has taken her baby back home with her. I feel so many conflicting emotions on this night. Great aching sadness for Kristi and her family. They had come to love a child they had never held. They have her pictures everywhere, though. Most assuredly stamped on their hearts. I have cried for them tonight.

But there is surely great joy in this mother's home tonight as she is reunited with a daughter she could not bear to part with in the end. It is always right for a parent and child to be together bound by an unspeakable love.

I know there will be another baby for Kristi, but I also know she was in love with THIS baby. This baby who was already a part of her family.

I have not yet met Kristi in person, even though there is an event to which I have been invited that I eagerly anticipate. You see, I already care about her and I haven't even met her yet. I wish I could ease her pain somehow on this night and give her the grace and great parenting skills to help explain this new turn of events to her children in a way that might help them grow and learn.

Kristi is a young woman of strong faith with an abiding sense of family. Her circle of friends is never-ending. She has unfailing energy and a husband she must have created just for her. I am selfish in that reading her blog strengthens me in my faith, at times makes me laugh out loud, but tonight made me cry.

I am praying for the Johnson family tonight.....and for Lucy Lane.