Mrs. Snow White

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PAIGE MARIE WHITE!!!

2009-12-28T12:43:00.000-08:00

Exactly 21 years ago yesterday on December 27, 1988, God gave me the most wonderful Christmas present I could ever imagine - Paige Marie White. She weighed 8 pound 6 ounces and was 20 3/4 inches tall. Exactly the same as her sister Brooke. She was kind enough to wait until after Christmas to make her appearance and sent me to the hospital the day after. What a beautiful gift that was given to me.

Unlike her sister Brooke who liked to sleep and eat all the time...she liked to be awake and not miss a thing. She would take little 10 minute cat naps during the day and keep me busy!! She was always our little clown. She would say and do the funniest little things. She was always up to something - in her quiet little way. People would always say that she had the sweetest little angelic face (which she did) but I would say there were little horns on top too - ha!!!

Paige has always been my little helper. She helped me sooooo much with all the other children as they were growing up. I never had to ask her to do a thing. She would just get in there and help with whatever because she just loved doing it. When the smaller kids would be outside playing, she would give them a bath when they came in. She was the wardrobe consultant. She was the beautician and would fix their hair. She was the cook. When Bethany was a baby and I was so exhausted, she would take care of her on the weekends for me so I could rest. At night she would take her in her bedroom with her and put her little bassinet next to her bed. Paige would get up many times during the night and feed her. I'm telling you, she has been such a blessing to me. That's just the kind of person she is - a GIVER!!!!

Paige was named after my maiden name which was Page. I wish now I would have spelled it like my maiden name but the spelling, Paige, is prettier looking. Her middle name is Marie which was after my grandmother who I never met. At the time, I didn't know what all of this meant, but God named her this for a reason. Paige means "servent" which she definitely is. Marie means "bitter". When I first discovered this, I thought "UUGH". Having your daughter's name mean "bitter" doesn't sound too good. But God in His infinite wisdom has brought the meaning of her name to mean so much more to all of us.

When Paige was 16 years old, she went on a missions trip to Ecuador. When she got back she started to get sick - it was a gradual kind of thing. It started out with her just being sick in the evenings. Then it progressed to the point she couldn't eat anyting without bloating up and being in pain. We took her to Doctor after Doctor. Hospital after hospital. Test after test. She has been through so much. Probably more than most people would experience in their entire life time. To make a long story short....she has Gastroparesis - which means her stomach is paralyzed. She has a stomach pacemaker and a bladder pacemaker. She continues to be nauseated 24/7 and experiences pain every day of her life. She could have chosen to become "bitter" because of this horrible thing that has been given to her. But she hasn't.

Marie comes from the word "myrrh." This was one of the gifts the wise men brought to Jesus. How fitting that Paige was born after Christmas. The myrrh bush is a very bitter plant. When the myrrh bush is cut, it produces tears. Paige's body has been cut so many times and she has cried so many tears. These tears are collected and made into the essential ingredient for the most fragrant perfume. These tears also have healing qualities. So the real meaning of her name is "sweet fragrance from rightly responding to hurts." Paige has chosen not to become bitter because of this horrible illness but instead has chosen to leave a sweet smelling aroma around her. She has a beautiful smile on her face - continues to be a GIVER - and has blessed many lives through her illness. She is a living testimony of God's mercy and grace.

So you see, God truly has given me a wonderful gift. He has given me 7 beautiful gifts. I am so blessed. I love you Paige Marie and am thankful for the wonderful 21 years you have blessed me with. Keep that sweet smile of yours and continue to leave that sweet smelling aroma as you bless other's lives. You will make a wonderful nurse on day!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY SPECIAL BOY, BENJAMIN

2009-09-27T12:41:00.000-07:00

This blog is late since Benjamin's birthday was September 5th but it's because I had difficulty in posting it several weeks ago. I hope this works now!! Here is my birthday tribute to my special boy, Benjamin!!

On September 5, 2001, a precious baby boy was born - Benjamin James White. He weighed 8 pounds, 3 ounces. After Hannah was born, I had 2 miscarriages. That is why there is such a big age gap between Hannah and Benjamin. The first miscarriage was hard enough but for it to happen a 2nd time was a little much for a person to take!!! So when I became pregnant the 3rd time, I was a little nervous to say the least. I was very careful in everything I did and I kind of ate a lot too!! I gained more weight (50 pounds to be exact) with him than with any of the other pregnancies. I remember my favorite thIng to eat was french fries. I would get a whole bag of frozen fries and bake them in the oven. The kids would get such a kick out of me just sitting there at the table with the whole pan of fries (not wanting to share either, ha!!) and dipping them in ketchup. but hey - at least I baked them and didn't fry them!!

About the last month or two before he was born, we were getting our kitchen remodeled. It was completely gutted out so I was having to wash dishes in the bathroom tub. Not a fun thing when you are extrememly big and pregnant. I remember cooking supper in my electric skillet on top of Hannah's play kitchen in our dining room because I didn't have a kitchen. Not only were we remodeling our kitchen but we were making an upstairs out of our attic. We started this about the same time I became pregnant. So things were very messy and very unorganized. It was a very stressful time but it all got done right before Benjamin was born and it all worked out.

Both of my parents were here when Benjamin was born. Randy, Brooke, Paige, and my mother were in the delivery room when he was born. It was such a special time for all of them and special for me too!! My mother stayed almost 2 weeks with me but my Dad had to get back to Texas and Brooke went with him.

Benjamin was born the year of 9-11. We didn't have television then so had no idea what was going on. I remember I was sitting in my bed nursing Benjamin, when I got a phone call from my Dad telling me what just happened. I remember the fear of just not knowing what was going to happen next. Here I was nursing my newborn baby and what if these crazy people come to Natchez? All kinds of things were going through my head and it was such a scarry time. One that all of us will NEVER forget.

When Benjamin was born, all of my children were older so I really had it made. I hardly got to hold him. They all spoiled him and he was truly loved. When I became pregnant with Bethany, I was so sick I could harldy get out of bed. Paige took care of all of Benjamin's needs and pretty much raised him. I felt so bad but I was thankful I had her to help me. Benjamin was so funny and entertaining. I remember we would all gather in our living room and set him down on the floor and just watch him. He loved to put on a show and we would just laugh and laugh. He is still very entertaining and so much fun!! Right now he is playing football and when he makes a touchdown, he does a touchdown dance. It's different every time and he makes the crowd laugh. I was kind of worried how he would react to having another baby in the house since he was the center of attention, but he loved his little sister Bethany when she was born. They were like a married couple for years after she was born. The honeymoon is over now but they are still very close.

Benjamin is very much a people person. He doesn't know a stranger and can pretty much talk and get along with anyone. He is a very passionate little boy. He can get quite angry but he also cares very deeply about people and just issues in life. He still loves to be held and kissed on which I'm thankful for that!! Although he is getting to where he doesn't like me to do it in public. But he sure loves it at home!!

We found out in the pregnancy that Benjamin was a boy. The only reason I did was because I needed to know "where" he would go. We only had a 3 bedroom house at the time, and we had 3 girls in one room and 2 boys in another room. We were adding more rooms upstairs in our remodeling so I just needed to know how this was all going to work out. I wanted a Bible name. We really weren't planning on having any more children - 6 children was absolutely perfect!! We would have 3 boys and 3 girls. We were called the Brady Bunch and I even made up my own works to the song. So I decided on Benjamin because Benjamin was the last of his tribe in the Bible. It seemed like the perfect name. He still is our last boy - the last of the boy tribe!! Actually his name means, "on the right hand of his father". Which that is very fitting too since we had Benjamin at an older age. Randy will really need Benjamin's help when our older boys are gone which will be here in the next couple of years.

My prayer for you Benjamin is that you will keep that passion of yours. Use your passion for God's glory. You have such a way with people. People are drawn to you. God has great plans in store for you. I love you so much and am so thankful that you are my son!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY SON!!!!

SUMMER IS OVER

2009-08-15T06:12:00.000-07:00

Our summer is officially over now. It seems like it was so short but at the same time it was full and enjoyable. We just finished our first week of school. Paige is in her last year of Alcorn Nursing School (actually she starts next week), Aaron is a Senior this year and going to Cathedral High School, Daniel is a Sophmore and also going to Cathedral High School, and I'm homeschooling the rest. This is my 17th year in homeschooling. Hannah is in the 8th, Benjamin is the 2nd and Bethany in the 1st.

I guess the 2 biggest highlights around here are 1) Aaron just got a new vehicle. It's a 2003 Nissan X-Terra and the coolest thing around!!! It has a lot of extra features on the outside which makes it more cool looking than the regular X-Terra. If I knew how to post pictures on this thing I would!! There is a long story behind this vehicle but the moral of the story is that God led us to this vehicle and every circumstance behind it was HIM and all HIM!!!! Everytime I look at this vehicle now I can't but help feel God's love. 2) My nephew got married in Texas. Real sweet wedding and very sweet couple.

Both my boys are playing football this year. This is Daniel's second year to play and Aaron decided to play also. He didn't want too because baseball is his sport but since this is his last year of school, I persuaded him too. We had a Jamboree last night and each team only played one quarter. We lost 14 to 8 but do you know who made our teams one and only touch down? That would be MY son, Aaron White!!! That was sooooooo exciting. I can't wait to see them play the rest of the season - both my boys. Our first "real" game is in the end of August.

Most everyone is back in school now. May God bless all your children this year and keep them in His hands!!

PEACH SCHNAPPS ANYONE??

2009-07-19T14:12:00.000-07:00

Anyone ever heard of Peach Schnapps?!? That was my question for the day Friday, but I sure know about them now. I saw a recipe for a Peach Pound Cake that sounded so good. It sounded like a good summer time cake. We were having a Sunday School fellowship the next day so I thought that would be a perfect thing to bring. It said you needed to soak the peaches in 1/8 cup sugar and 1/4 peach schnapps. So I headed to the grocery store on a search for peach schnapps. I had no idea what that was but figured I could find it. I looked in the fruit section. No luck. Next to the cooking section. No luck. Maybe it's like an ice cream topping? Looked there. No luck. Juice Section? No luck. Hmmmmm. They must be out of it. So I go to another grocery store. Did the same search. No luck. OK - I have absolutely no idea what these peach schnapps are. So I decided to show my stupidity and just ask the cashier what in the world peach schnapps are. She said, "Honey, they aren't called schnapps (with a short vowel "a" sound) but it is called schnapps (with a short vowel "o" sound). So I said the word correctly this time and said, "OK - so what are peach schnapps"? She said, "Honey, you are in the wrong store. You can find that in the liquor store around the corner." Ha.....I couldn't help but laugh. I told her I had never been in a liquor store in my life. She assured me that this was only used for flavor and that the alchohol is burned out of it through the cooking process - like a rum cake. She said you couldn't get drunk off it unless you "maybe" drank a gallon of this stuff. Well, I decided I wasn't about to go in a liquor store so I would send Randy in the morning - ha!!! He wasn't too excited about going in there either but he said if I would call first and make sure they even had it, he may go for me. You know....have it ready and waiting for him so he could just run in and run out? So I called the place and pronounced the word right and everything!! I must say it felt so weird looking up a liquor store phone number in the phone book and calling it. Well, they did have the stuff so I asked how much it was. She said it was $9.00. I asked how big the jar was and she said it was 1/5. Well, I had no idea how big 1/5 was and I didn't want to act more stupid than I already was so just said thanks and hung up. It sounded pretty tiny to me and I didn't want to pay that much so I just made up my own concoction to soak those peaches in. The cake ended up being very good. But this cake sure did have a story behind it and we laughed so much over it. So if anyone ever wants to make this cake and wants to know what Peach Schnapps are, I can sure tell you where to get them!!

Summer News

2009-07-13T05:13:00.000-07:00

I thought I would get caught up on my blogging. Right after Bethany's birthday, on Father's Day, we left for Florida with the youth group from our church. We took a nice bus...watched videos.....snacked.......slept......and visited. The youth trip was amazing. I've been on youth trips before and there is usually some sort of girl drama that goes on. There was no drama and no problems this trip. The speaker was amazing and I absolutely LOVED the music. We did mission work during the day and had Bible studies and conference that evening. The last day we went to Universal Studios which was a blast. I think the kids highlight of the trip was seeing my hair wet and nasty from the rides (ha).

Our garden is gone now but we are still enjoying the fruits of our labor which I put up. Oh by the way....my arm looks great now after the bad burn I got from making plum jelly. A full quart size jar of boiling water fell on it. You can hardly tell it now.

We are enjoying the summer, it is soooooo HOT!!!! We haven't had much rain at all. Everything is so dry. It will soon be time for school to start back up. I already have my students curriculum all ready to go. We will start the first part of August.

Hope everyone is having a great summer and I would love to hear from you!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MY BABY - BETHANY!!!!

2009-06-20T06:12:00.000-07:00

Exactly one year ago today on June 20th, 2003, at 6:05 p.m. our last child was born - Bethany Joy White. She weighed 8 lbs., 6 ozs. and was 20 3/4 inches long. Do you know that Brooke, Paige and Bethany were exactly the same weight and height? She was known as the "tie breaker." Up until her birth we were known as the Brady Bunch. We had 3 girls and 3 boys. A perfect little family. But now I'm known as Mrs. Snow White with my 7 dwarfs. We weren't planning on having any more after #6 (Benjamin) so she is truly a gift from God. Not that the rest aren't gifts from God because they are, but she wasn't in "our" plans. That sounds so horrible but I don't know how else to put it. But God knew that we needed her and I can't imagine what life would be like without her. She is the sunshine in our home.

It all started when I wasn't feeling well. I just layed on the couch feeling sick. Brooke took one look at me and said, "Mom, you are pregnant!!" I told her there was no possible way that I could be pregnant and no I was not - I just didn't feel good. She just kept smiling and said, "Nope, you are pregnant.". Paige came in later and said the same thing to me!! Well, they were right!!! I was so in shock. Like I said, we weren't planning on having any more so how did this happen? Well, don't answer that!!! I just knew Randy would be more shocked than I was so I was not looking forward to telling him. In fact, I think he was the last one to find out!!!! But like me, even though he was shocked he was happy. How can you not be happy with the news of a new baby?? It just took a while to get to that point.

Randy goes to Ecuador every year (except for this year) on a missions trip. Her due date was around the time that he would be gone to Ecuador. He struggled with what to do. He loves going to Ecuador but he didn't want to miss her birth either. I encouraged him to go to Ecuador. He would be back 3 days before her due date which was really pushing it but I was leaving all this in God's hands. He would make everything o.k. And like the rest of my children, she arrived very late and everything did work out just fine. Actually, you would think being the 7th child, labor would be fast and easy. But no.....she was the longest labor of them all. I think it was 26 hours. Along with Randy, both Brooke and Paige were in the labor room with me. Brooke was pretty much in the Doctor's way - ha!! She was right down there just a squalling. She kept saying, "This is such a miracle!!" as tears were streaming down her face. She even got to cut Bethany's cord. How sweet is that? My oldest child cut my youngest child's cord!! Bethany was also my most difficult baby. She had colic soooooo bad. She cried in pain from sunrise to sunset. I tried everything but nothing helped. But fortunately after 2 months of this, it was gone. She went from a screaming baby to a smily, happy baby and has been that way to this day. She just smiles, bounces, skips, giggles, and is just the sweetest little thing.

I feel like we have a second family. There is a big gap after Hannah - 6 years - and then there is Benjamin and Bethany. I had 2 miscarriages after Hannah. So I knew Benjamin and this baby would be very close. I wanted to pick a name that just flowed with Benjamin. So when you said his name, the other would just follow. I wanted a Bible name so I chose Bethany. Doesn't that sound good? Benjamin and Bethany. Even their middle names start with the same letter "J". Benjamin James and Bethany Joy. I call them my 2 B's. They were a couple. They acted like a "married" couple. They were so loving and absolutely adored each other. They were so cute together. After about 5 years of this adoring, loving, relationship, the honeymoon ended. Now they act more like an "old" married couple. They still love each other but they have their squabbles now. He is still very protective of her and she is very jealous when he pays attention to other little girls. I am having so much fun with these 2 it's like we are starting all over again.

Bethany is such a cuddle bug. She'll say "We need some loving today" and she'll climb up in my lap and I'll cradle her like a little baby and kiss her all over the place. I know she is too old for that, but who cares? They stay little for such a short time. The other day when I was holding her like a baby and giving her her "loving" I said, "What is going to happen when you get too big to climb up in my lap like this and get some loving?" She said, "I'll never be too big for that. I'll always be your baby." But, I know one day she will be all grown up and doing her own thing - so I will enjoy it while I can.

Bethany means "daughter of the Lord" and I can truly say she IS from the Lord. Joy means just what it says, "joy". She is so happy and with that blondie hair of hers, she is like a ray of sunshine. I absolutely just love her to death.

My prayer for you Bethany is that you will keep your joyful spirit and that you will bring sunshine to others so that they can see God in you. I can't thank God enough for giving you to me. He knew you were just what I needed!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

Daniel's Moment.....

2009-06-11T05:53:00.000-07:00

When Daniel was a little boy he used to absolutely idolize Chad. He kept his picture on top of his dresser.....he would follow him around every where.....one time he invited "just" Chad to his birthday......he would talk about him all the time. Little did we know that one day he would be our son-in-law!!!!

Chad knew he wanted to fly a plane one day. When he started going to flight school, he would always tell Daniel, "I'm going to take you up with me one day." Then Daniel would start bugging him...."Chad, when you going to let me fly with you?" He would bug Chad to death - until he got older of course.

Last night, we were to meet Brooke in Vicksburg because Daniel is going to a wedding with them in Alabama. Brooke was supposed to meet us but instead Chad met us with his PLANE!!!!! He is a flight instructor so he had one of his students with him.

The plane was soooooo little. It was about the size of our Suburban. It looked like a little toy. In fact they were pushing it around and turning it with their hands to get it in the right spot. It looked like they were playing with their little toy plane.

Of course I was a little nervous thinking about my little boy going up in the air with Chad in that little plane. So I asked if I could look at the plane. Chad said, "Sure." It had so many buttons. It had 2 tiny seats for Chad and his student and a really small seat right behind them for Daniel. Chad also told me the plane was really old.....hmmmmm.....There were 2 sets of controls by each seat - so Chad can control the plane also. Chad said this was his student's second time to fly......hmmmmmm.....He said he would put the plane in the air and land it since it was only his student's 2nd time to fly but that the student would control it once in the air.

It was time for them to leave. I'm still kind of nervous but I know Chad has been doing this for a long time. Seeing your child drive off in a car for the first time is scarry enough but seeing them fly off in a toy plane is even scarier!!!!

They putterred off down the run way. They went so far down the runway, we couldn't see them - but there were lots of trees too. After what seemed like an eternity, we see them coming back our way going faster, and faster and then up, up and away in the clear blue yonder. We waved to them!!!

I turned to Randy and said, "This is Daniel's moment".

Our Garden.....

2009-06-10T13:39:00.000-07:00

Since my last post, I have been busy putting up vegetables in our garden. We haven't had a garden in many years (since Paige got sick) so I'm remembering what hard work it is. I think I have put up over 30 quarts of snap beans and close to that much in squash. We are still waiting for our okra, cucumbers, and tomatoes to be ripe. We are fixing to pull up all the beans since they aren't producing anymore and plant something else. Even though it's hard work, they taste so good.....they don't have all those chemicals on them....and it's also saving us money!!!

I had an inury last night. We planted a plum tree shortly after we moved here which was about 12 years ago. Well it has finally produced us some delicious tasting plums. So I have been busy making plum jelly also. I had my canner full of boiling water to put the jelly jars into. First I had to take the empty jars out of the canner which were full of boiling water also. I have these tongs that I use. Anyways, as I lifted one jar out and was moving it to the sink, it slipped from my tongs and all that boiling hot water ran down my arm. Oh the pain, the pain. The jar also fell right into my pan of hot jelly and ruined it and spashed jelly every where. At that point I was too much in pain to care. I had to just hold my arm in the sink and let cold water run over it. Then I went to bed and cried. It made me think what hell must be like. My burning arm is nothing compared to what it's going to be like. I am thankful and grateful that I won't have to experience that burning for eternity. The hours of burning I experienced was enough for me. Today it feels better. It's red and feels more like a bad sunburn today. I have more plum jelly to make tonight but I'm going to be VERY careful this time!!!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BROOKE, MY FIRST BORN

2009-05-29T04:11:00.000-07:00

Exactly 22 years ago, a precious baby girl, Tiffany Brooke was born into the world. She weighed 8 lbs., 6 ozs. and was 20 3/4 inches long. She looked so much like her Daddy it was almost scarry. It was like I was looking at a baby Randy. I had been been waiting for this day for so long.......

As far back as I can remember, I have always wanted to be a Mommy. In my Senior year of high school, as everyone else was taking about "where" they were going to go to college, and "what they wanted to be" I would remain silent from fear of being thought of as crazy or something. All I ever wanted to be was a Mom. I played with dolls until I was too old to be playing with them. I would offer to babysit for free. I LOVED babies. I would dream of the little girl I would have one day. I named her when I was just a child myself. Her name would be Tiffany Brooke. In my dreams she always had light brown hair and curls. I never had one with light brown hair but Brooke did have the curls. I absolutely could not wait until I had a baby of my own.

Just as I knew it would be tragic for a man to be a husband when he's not ready to be a husband....I knew it would be just as tragic for a man to be a Daddy when he's not ready to be one. I was ready to have a baby the moment we got married. However, Randy was not ready to be a Daddy. So I never pushed him....I never nagged...I never said a word about it. I wanted him to be ready in his own time. After we had been married for 2 years, I heard the words I had been waiting all my life to hear, "I'm ready to have a baby." I grabbed him so quick.....I didn't want him to change his mind - ha!! Well, I thought when you were ready to have a baby, you just have one. It's that simple. I couldn't wait until the next month to find out I was pregnant. It didn't happen. It didn't happen the next month, or the next month or the next month. A year went by, and I still wasn't pregnant. I just could not understand why God was punishing me like this. All my life I had been waiting to have a baby. I wasn't asking for a bad thing - but a good thing. Why would this not be His will for me to have a baby!!! As time went on....I got a little depressed. The silence in the house became louder. I wanted to hear the sound of little feet. I would feel my stomach and think I felt movement, At times I thought I was going kind of crazy. My heart goes out to all the women in the world who long for a baby but can't have one. That's a terrible place to be in. From the time we first starting trying, Brooke was born 2 years later. Looking back though, God's plan to wait was perfect. Don't ever think He doesn't know what He's doing. He wants what is best for us just like our earthly father does - but His desire to do what is best for us is so much more. God knew that I wanted to stay at home with my children. He knew I wanted the house with the white picket fence. Once Randy graduated from college and got a job, we got in credit card debt up to our eye balls. We were having fun with the money that we never had. If we had a baby when "I" wanted, I wouldn't have been able to quit work or afford a house. Once we decided to have a baby, we started getting ourselves out of debt and saving up money for a house. It took those 2 years of wanting a baby and not being able to conceive to pay off those credit cards and do you know that right before Brooke was born I quit my job and we bought our first home? God's timing is perfect. It didn't have the white picket fence but it did have a fence. Our first home was beautiful and everything I had dreamed for. I had so much fun fixing up her room and getting ready for her arrival. We didn't find out what she would be but I was hoping and praying for a GIRL!!!! Once again, God gave me the desires of my heart. I had the most perfect little baby girl.

She really was the perfect baby. She was like a doll to me. She was so good. She hardly ever cried. She loved to eat and sleep - just like she does now - ha!!! I couldn't believe how wonderful having a baby was. It was BETTER than I imagined. I would change her clothes all the time and have fun dressing her up. I loved to show her off. I took her everywhere to just show her off. I was so proud of her. I made us a schedule and we did it every day. We had school...we had church....we had play time....we had nap time....I love those schedules!!! We did everything together. She was such a smart little girl. I would always tell her how smart she was and she would go around saying, "I fart." Her "s's" would come out like "f's". She was just the cutest thing.

I'm fixing to tell you something that I have never told anyone before. When Brooke was 6 months old, I was in our living room rocking her in my lap. I never rocked her to sleep, but I was just rocking her while she was wide awake..enjoying her. God spoke to me. It was so loud and clear as if He was sitting right next to me. He told me that He was going to use Brooke in a very special way. It was so clear it kind of scared me. I didn't tell anyone because I thought most people would say, "Yea, every mom thinks that about her child." So like Mary, I just kept this in my heart. But as I think about Brooke's life, I can share this now - because God has already used her in a very special way. His words have come to pass. Since she was 5 years old she has had a strong desire to be a missionary in China. She loved for me to tell her stories about Hudson Taylor who was a missionary in China. Her dream came true and she did get to go to China one summer as a missionary. She taught English as a 2nd language in the schools there. As you know China can only have one child per family. She told the class one day about her family. She started drawing stick figures of her siblings. First she drew one figure of Paige. Mouths started dropping when she drew a 2nd stick figure of Aaron. 2 siblings is unheard of. She drew another stick figure, then another, then another. They just kept coming. She was able to share with them that it is a blessing to have many children. Children are a gift from God. Not only did she go to China, but she has been to Ecuador many years. I'm not sure how many - maybe 8 or so? She even spent an entire summer there one year. She travelled all over teaching young girls about "Purity". Ecuador is a very immoral country - much worse than America. Not only was she able to speak about Purity but she was a living example. She saved her very first kiss when she became engaged to Chad. What a testimony to save yourself for your husband!!! She has touched so many lives and been such a witness and example to others. Yes, I can honestly say that God HAS already used her in a very special way.

When I was a child and picked out her name, I had no idea what it meant. I just fell in love with the name and knew that was what I was going to name my baby girl one day. I have now learned that the name Tiffany means Godliness. Brooke means Peaceful Dweller or Giver of Love. Names are so important and God knows us by name long before we are even born. Brooke has always been very strong in her faith and not ashamed to let people know what she thinks. She is very much like her Daddy in this way. She has shown God's love "to the ends of the earth." God knew the perfect name for her. My prayer for you Brooke, is that you will continue to be an example of God's love and share your faith with others. I know He is still going to use you in a very special way.

You are very special to me and I am so thankful that you have been my daughter for 22 years. Every day is a gift and I'm thankful that God has given me 22 years of being your mother. HAPPY BIRTHDAY BROOKE!!!!

HAPPY 26TH ANNIVERSARY TO MY PRINCE CHARMING

2009-05-21T06:10:00.000-07:00

Today I get to celebrate our 26th anniversary with my Prince Charming. At first I thought he was my frong so I thought you would be interested in how it all began.

My first impression: When I first started High School as a freshman ( I was 14 years old) I was eating my lunch in the cafeteria way in the back of the room. I saw a boy come through the lunch line clear across the room that had the whitest hair I had ever seen. His bangs were hanging down in his eyes. I thought to myself, "That is one ugly boy."

His first impression: At the time I was "in love" with a boy named Randall White. He was the tallest, biggest, strongest, boy in the 9th grade. He was a football player!!! Every day during 5th period I would walk by his study hall class where he sat right in front of the door on the front row. The door would always be open. I would walk by....smile real big....bat my eyelashes....and wave at him with that little flirty hello like us girls do you know!!! Little did I know that that ugly blonde headed boy sat behind him thinking, "I'm going to marry that girl one day" as I walked by the room every day.

As time went on, me and Randall broke up. Shortly after I started liking another boy named Jerome Ray. He had all sorts of family problems and ended up living with his best friend. Jerome would always talk about his best friend. How wonderful he was and he wanted me to meet him. One day during lunch, Jerome came and got me and said that his best friend was in the lunch line and he wanted me to meet him. It was that ugly blonde headed boy!!!! Well, to make the story shorter, as time went on I got to know that ugly blonde headed boy very well - his name was Randy White. Jerome didn't have a car so Randy would have to drive him every where which meant he would take him to my house. Randy would just sit in the car wishing that it was him with me and not Jerome. The more I got to know Randy, I started "liking" him. He was so much fun to be around, everyone liked him, and he was a great person to talk too. He wasn't ugly to me anymore. I started falling in love with him. Eventually, Jerome and I broke up and it also ended a very good friendship between Randy and Jerome.

We were the best of friends. We did everything together. He was the person I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. We dated all through high school. In my Junior year, my family moved to Texas. I was leaving the love of my live and my heart was broken. We continued to talk to each other by phone and we wrote letters to each other. My parents let me get on a plane and fly down for his Junior Prom. The next year he got on a plane and flew down to my Senior Prom.

After we both graduated from High School, we wanted to be together. My parents told me I could not move back to Mississippi unless we had plans on getting married. So Randy proposed to me, gave me a beautiful ring, and I moved to Mississippi. I didn't have a car, a place to live, or a job. But I found a job....a ride to work....and lived with another girl in an apartment. I was so happy that we were finally together. Everything was all wonderful at first until he started to slowly change. He would much rather be with his "buds" partying and having a good time than be with me. He was a wild little thing!!!! As much as I loved him, I knew this wasn't the kind of guy I wanted to spend the rest of my life with and he couldn't be the kind of husband that I wanted. So I broke up with him and gave him the ring back. I was really hoping that he would see that he was wrong, ask for forgiveness, and tell me he would change. But he didn't. He said that I was right and it was best that I move back to Texas. Ah....that crushed me!!!! My parents came to get me and helped pack me up and I moved back to Texas.

I was determined to get Randy out of my thoughts and my life. I got my old job back....moved into an apartment....and bought me a fancy sports car. It was a yellow convertible Triumph Spitfire. Oh....I LOVED that car!!! Everything was going fine until about 5 months later I received a phone call at my work from Randy. He apologized and told me how he had changed. He wanted to see me again. I told him "NO!!" Several days went by and I couldn't quit thinking about him. I realized that I did still love him and I would give him a second chance. So I called him and told him he could come see me. He was right. He had changed. We kept in touch through phone calls and letters again and got to know each other all over again. He was living with a rowdy group of guys in college and he moved out and lived with a widowed elderly lady. He concentrated on his studies and removed all the negative influences that were in his life. Eventually, we got engaged for the 2nd time but this time it was for good. My Prince Charming had turned into the kind of man I wanted to spend the rest of my life with.

We got married in the summer between his Junior and Senior year of college. He was going to USM in Hattiesburg. We moved into the married dorms on the college campus. They were so tiny and made of concrete block walls. I bought our furniture from a garage sale. The springs were sticking up and it was so uncomfortable. But at the time, I thought we lived in the most beautiful place in the world. It was my home and I was living with my Prinice Charming. We didn't have any money and living off love!!!

Here we are 26 years later with 7 children, and he is still my Prince Charming. Don't get me wrong, he can still be a frog at times but I learned that when I said "I do" and "until death do us part' that is exactly what I meant. Being married to somebody is probably the hardest thing a person will ever do. It takes a lot of give and take, a lot of sacraficing, a lot of forgiving, a lot of putting yourself last, and a lot and lot of commitment.

So here is to you - My Prince Charming - Happy Anniversary!!!

A TRIBUTE TO MY GRANDMOTHER ON MOTHER'S DAY

2009-05-10T11:45:00.000-07:00

This is a tribute to my grandmother, Frances Lorene Page, who passed away last week on May 5th, 2009. She died at the age of 99. She would have been 100 on September 5, 2009. I wish all of you could have known her like I did because your life would have been touched and possibly changed because of her. If you want to know what she was like, just open your Bible to Proverbs 31 and that is my grandmother. She was all of this and more. She was an amazing woman.

I have such fond memories of going to her house as a child. She had the neatest back yard. We called it the "jungle". We would almost get lost out there and just play for hours. We would use our imaginations and get lost into our own little different world out there. She was so sweet and loving and loved her grandchildren. She was the best cook ever. She made everything from scratch and just had that special grandmother touch that went into all of her food which made it taste even better if that is even possible.

As a teenager, she was the one person I felt comfortable talking to about all my teenager problems. She was so full of good advice and was never condeming. She understood all my feelings and would always say, "I will pray for you, Jolyne." And you know what? I knew she really would. She would even write me letters. They were so precious to me. She would always end them with, "You know Granny is praying for you."

As a young married woman who was wanting LOTS of children, she was the one person I looked up too. She had 6 children of her own and I KNEW she was a good mother because the "proof is in the pudding." She raised 6 children who are hard working, full of good character, and wonderful Christian people who I wanted my children to be like. I was so interested in how she raised all those kids and I wanted to know her secret. I would sit and listen to everything she had to say. Her main advice to me was to get those babies on a schedule. You need to have a routine with them every day, she would say. She would go through her whole day and tell me what she did every day with those babies. So you know what? That's what I did!!! It must have worked because I had 7 of the best babies you can imagine. She had plenty more practice too because she took care of babies in her church's daycare for many, many years.

My grandmother was so prim and proper. She was so pretty and never had a hair out of place. She wore make up (even in her 90's), and she had the prettiest jewelry which she wore all the time. She always smelled so good too. She was so soft and squishy. Even when she wore sweats, she was all dolled up with her makeup and jewelry. Her house was always so clean and organized. It always made me a little nervous when I would bring my young children to her house because I was afraid they would break something. I loved all of her furniture and all of her knick-knacks. . It was old looking but so pretty and feminine just like her. I loved everything in her house but most of all, I loved her!!

The one thing about my Grandmother that stands out more than anything else is her love relationship with the Lord. I have never met anyone like this before and I probably never will. You know how when you first fall in love with somebody, you just want to talk about them ALL the time? That's how my Grandmother was about Jesus. It was part of her normal conversation. She wasn't trying to impress...or be somebody she wasn't. It just flowed out of her. It was like Jesus was right by her side and she would just talk and talk about Him. I remember being at her house many times when she would really get to talking, and family members would silently sneak off. It's not that they didn't enjoy listening to her but she could carry on for hours!!! No joke!! I remember it was my Mother who usually was the last one sitting with her. But that just tells you how much she loved Jesus. He was everything to her. She couldn't wait to meet Him face to face. And now she is. I know she is loving every minute of it up there. When I picture her up there in heaven right now, it brings a smile to my face. I can see her dancing and singing. I can see her just worshipping and praising Jesus because she did that here on earth. I miss her so much but I know she is in the place she has talked about all her life and with the ONE she has longed to be with. She is with her Lord and Saviour! - the love of her life.

2009-04-23T06:11:00.000-07:00

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME - A TRIBUTE TO MY PARENTS!!

Exactly....????? (use your imagination) years ago, I was born into the world. I have 2 of the best parents anyone could ask for. My Mom is one of 4 children and the only girl. Yes, she has all brothers. She had kind of a hard life. Her mother died of cancer when she was a teenager and she had to take care of her brothers. Several years later, her father was killed walking across the street by a man who was rushing to the hospital with his daughter. Her house burned down as a child and they lost everything. When she went to college she was very, very sick but still remained Valedictorian. She was a school teacher most of her life and a great mother to boot!!!!

My Dad is one of 6 children. He has one brother and all the rest are girls. He used to get so mad at his sisters for wearing his t-shirts because they would always come back to him with "bumps" in them - ha!!! From my grandmother's stories, he was a very obedient child and hard worker. Because of his character and hard work, he has been very successul in the business world but mostly in the parenting world.

They met on a blind date and were married 6 months later. They didn't wait too terribly long to have me because they were older and ready for a baby!!! My Dad was in the service at the time they were living in Colorado and was to go to Washington State when my Mom was very pregnant. She cried all night long begging to go with him when he finally said she could go. So I was born in Tacoma, Washington. I didn't stay there long as we moved back to Colorado which is where I spent most of my growing up years. Colorado is a wonderful place to grow up. Lots of snow...mountains...and sledding!!!

My parents had me in church whenever the doors were open which I am very grateful for. My parents were strong (and still are) in their faith. I remember my Dad having devotions with us in the evening and being sooooo embarrassed when one of my friends would call and he would tell them to call back because we were having devotions. Isn't that terrible?? I am so thankful that I had a Dad who was the spiritual leader in our home and took the time to have devotions with us and lead us to have our own personal relationship with the Lord.

So this is a tribute to my parents. I wouldn't be who I am today if it wasn't for them. Thank you for loving me, being Godly role models, being married for almost 50 years and still enjoying it, raising me, giving of yourselves for me, providing for me and just being there. I love you both very much!!

The Yuks

2009-03-25T10:52:00.001-07:00

I'm laying here in bed feeling yucky and realizing I haven't posted in a while. Somehow I got on facebook and have been doing that more and have forgotten about my blog. So I will fill you on what's been going on since my last post - Hannah's birthday.

Lots of baseball. We are undefeated so far. Benjamin has coach pitch try-outs next Monday and he is so excited. He has moved up from tee-ball. The great news is that with Aaron being a Senior next year and no more going to his ball games - we get to start all over again with Benjamin. He is a real good athlete too!!

Daniel tried out for tennis. He has never played tennis in his life - so I was surprised he was going to do this. He made the team and he is actually very good!! He is enjoying it but I'm not understanding it. I'll have to get somebody to explain it to me.

Hannah is getting ready for her ballet recital on April 18th.

Paige is very busy with nursing school. She gave her boyfriend an IV last night. She tried to do it on one of us but we all said NO WAY!!!! I guess when you are in love, you will do anything for that person. Anyways, Daniel filmed the whole thing on his cell phone. Now I need to figure out how to get it on here so you can watch it. It's hilarious. Paige forgot to take the tournaquit (sp??) off his arm so there was a lot of blood!!!

Benjuamin and Bethany only have 25 more lessons in school and then we are done for the year!!! YIPEE

Spring break we worked outside a lot and got a garden ready to plant in a few weeks. We haven't had a garden since Paige got sick several years ago so I'll have to remember how to do all this again.

Well, I think I have mentioned everyone in this blog. Randy will be going to Houston soon on business. Brooke and Chad are doing well and we got to "play" with them over Spring Break also.

I hope I get over the "yuks" soon because the wild indians are loose and my house is falling apart at the moment!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HANNAH GRACE WHITE!!!

2009-03-01T08:09:00.000-08:00

ALMOST exactly 13 years ago today, our 5th child and 3rd daughter was born to us at 4:17 a.m. in Brookhaven, MS. She weighed 7 lbs. 6 ozs. She was my smallest baby. The reason I say "almost exactly" is because she was born on leap day, February 29th 1996!! Yes, in reality she is only 3 years old. But today we have a teenager. I had such bad experiences with the boys being born here, I decided to drive an hour to Brookhaven. I must give a plug to the Doctors in Brookhaven. They are wonderful Christian doctors who really care about you and will even pray with you!!! Because she was the first leap day baby to be born in Brookhaven, we made the front page of the newspaper with a picture that filled the whole front page!!! She came into the world as a "star" and she still is a "star".

Our beautiful daughter's name is Hannah Grace. When I found out I was pregnant with our 5th child, I can't describe the awe, the wonder, the amazement, the joy, the humbleness, the thankfulness that I felt. To think that God had blessed my womb a 5th time was beyond me. I felt so honored, so priviledged, and so grateful. God had shown his "Grace" to me. So I had no doubt what I wanted to name our child - Hannah which means Grace. What better middle name goes with Hannah than Grace itself. So her middle name is Grace. Hannah Grace White. God had shown his "Grace" to me more than I deserved and I was forever grateful.

We found out the sex of her because I needed to know which room to put her in. Brooke and Paige shared a room and Aaron and Daniel shared a room. I needed to know "whose" room the baby would be going in so I could start rearranging and getting things ready. We found out she was a girl but kept it a secret from the children until Christmas Day. I had a little stocking hanging up with the rest of the stockings. Christmas morning the children were wanting to know whose stocking that was. So I had Brooke look inside and there was a little note from "Hannah Grace White" saying that she was a girl and that she couldn't wait to be their sister. Brooke and Paige were jumping up and down with joy because they wanted a sister. The boys....well not so much....but they got over it. Then we all waited anxiously for her arrival.

The day of Feburay 28th, I was so exhausted. I don't know when I have ever been so tired. I could hardly function. It was a Wednesday and I taught Awanas. I called our leader and told her I couldn't come because I was so tired. She told me to take a nap. So I did - I layed on the couch and rested. After a while of resting on the couch, Daniel (who had just turned 2 years old a few days earlier) reached out his arms to me for me to pick him up. He wanted to lay on the couch with me. So I leaned over and lifted him up and WHOOSH!!!!! There goes my water. This was totally unexpected. Hannah wasn't due until March 3rd and all my babies are LATE!!! I was not prepared at all. I didn't have my suitcase ready.....nothing had been done because I thought I still had time. So here I am in a panic (with a towel between my legs - ha) trying to throw things in a suitcase. I called Randy at work and told him. He was just as shocked as I was. I had to call a friend to come watch the kids so Randy could take me to the hospital. As I was walking out our door, I hear Brooke holler, "Wait, Mom". She went running back in the house and came back with a Bible and an Angel. She told me to put these in my suitcase so they would take care of me. Is that sweet or what? She was so scared for me.

Everything went fine. She wasn't born until early in the morning the next day - Leap Day!! I love the Doctors in Brookhaven because they give me an epidural as soon as I get there. LOVE YOU...LOVE YOU......LOVE YOU!!!!! I was still in labor a long time which is the norm for me but my Doctor stayed in the room right next to me ALL NIGHT LONG. He didn't leave my side. Is that sweet or what?!?

Hannah's name has a double meaning as well. For those of you who know her, know what I'm talking about. Actually, you don't even have to know her but just LOOK at her!!! She is so graceful. She has such good posture. She stands and sits so straight. She "floats" when she walks. She is so prim and proper. She likes to dress up and be a girl. She likes to be all fixed up. She is like a queen. She is a ballerina who dances with such grace. Yep, "graceful" is the word to describe her. But she likes to have a good time too and is quite entertaining. She can really crack us up. She has also become my right arm. I couldn't do what all I do without her. She helps me with my 2 younger children...she helps me with all the duties in the house.....she helps me with so much.

My prayer for Hannah is that she will be "grateful" and "thankful" for all that God has done for her and given her and in turn can give back to others out of a heart of gratitude. To have a "servants heart" out of love for our Saviour.

I LOVE YOU HANNAH WITH ALL MY HEART AND AM STILL IN TOTAL GRATITUDE THAT GOD GAVE YOU TO ME!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DANIEL!!!

2009-02-22T11:52:00.000-08:00

Exactly 15 years ago today at 10:36 p.m. , our 4th child and 2nd baby boy was born into our family. We named him Daniel Ray White and he weighed 9 pounds 2 1/2 ounces and was 22 inches long. He was my biggest baby. He also shares the same birthday as my father, so that makes this day even more special. Daniel was different from the rest in that he had coal black hair. He also is different in another way in that we felt God's presence from the very beginning with him.

Randy told me from day one that he KNEW the baby was a boy and that his name would be Daniel. I got to name the other 3 children, but Randy named Daniel. I really didn't like that name to be honest ( I love it now though) but every where we went, the name "Daniel" would be mentioned. We would be in the car listening to the radio....and a guy would be preaching on Daniel. We went to someone's house one time, and the man who prayed before our dinner mentioned the name "Daniel" in his prayer. When I would ask our 1 year old Aaron to bring me a book to read, he would bring me a book about "Daniel". Things like that happened all the time. It was really wierd but I knew God was telling me too that we would have a boy and we were to call him "Daniel". When it was time for my baby shower, I told everyone I was having a boy and to give me boy clothes. I had no idea for sure because we never found out the sex of our babies. I took a chance in saying that he was a boy because that is how sure we were that he would be a boy!! And he was!!!

His birth was quite stressful for me in that my Doctor insisted that he be taken by cesarean on his due date. Because she believed a baby should not go one day past their due date. We went round and round with her. She made my life miserable. She even went so far as to tell me that she hoped she wouldn't visit our baby in the morgue!!! All of my babies were late and we were going to trust God in his timing of birth and not man's. Brooke was 3 weeks late and Paige and Aaron were exactly 9 days late. Daniel ended up being 9 days late also. During these 9 days of lateness, the Doctor made my life even more stressed.

Well, God has a funny sense of humor. The morning of February 22nd, I woke up and knew that I was in labor. The pains were not bad but I knew it was labor. My mother was with me and we went to the mall to walk. We even went out to eat at the Eola for lunch and people would say "How much longer do you have?" and I would say, "I'm in labor now." That really freaked them out!!! Later that evening the pain was much worst. I remember being in bed watching the Olympics with all that Nancy Kerigan and Tonya Harding stuff going on. I was in so much pain. The family would come check on me and I would send them away because when I'm in pain, I like to be left alone. Based on my painful experience with Aaron, I knew the hospital wouldn't let me have an epidural until I got to a 5 so I decided to be in pain in the comforts of my own home and not in some cold hospital. When the pain got so bad I just couldn't take it anymore, we went to the hospital. They checked me right away and I was at a 5!!!!!! Oh joy, joy, joy......that means I get my epidural!!!! They told me to go to the restroom and then they would give me the epidural. For you younger readers, you may want to leave at this time. Anyways, when I went into the bathroom, the baby's head started coming out. I started screaming for the nurse and she got me to the table where SHE delivered him. That mean doctor never even got the pleasure of delivering a beautiful, healthy baby boy. This was the first time for that nurse to ever deliver a baby so I was quite the talk of the hospital. Unfortunately because I went from a 5 to a 10 in a matter of minutes, my body wasn't ready and Daniel came out bruised from head to toe. No joke - he looked like he had been dropped on the floor he was so black and blue. You know how bruises change colors as they heal...well he was different colors for a good month after he was born. The nurses in the hospital nick-named him the "Skid Mark Baby." He came into this world in a big hurry!!

Out of all my pregnancies, we felt the hand of God on Daniel's life more than any other child. He is indeed a very special gift that was given to us.

The name Daniel means "God is my Judge." Our prayer for Daniel is that he will live his life for an audience of ONE and not live to please man. We want him to only care what God thinks about what he does and not man's opinion. Daniel is so special to us and he has such a tender and caring heart. He is so much fun to be around and I love him more than words can say

HAPPY BIRTHDAY DANIEL. I AM SO BLESSED THAT GOD GAVE YOU TO ME!!!!!

Prom Days are Back

2009-02-16T07:16:00.001-08:00

Randy and I got to attend the Prom at the boy's school on Saturday. We were in charge of the "coat check" area. We got to get all dressed up and it was a lot of fun. I do have to say, we aren't as young as we used to be because it wiped us out!!!! There was a breakfast afterwards and a lot of the kids and parents spent the night at the house it was at. We got home about 2:30 a.m. It was on Valentines night!!! My boys were the most handsome ones there, of course!! It was fun to feel like a kid again!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AARON!!!!

2009-01-31T08:22:00.001-08:00

Exactly 17 years ago today, I had our first son - we named him Aaron which means Bearer of Light. I pray every day that he will be a light to this dark world. He was born at 8:22 p.m. and weighed 8 pounds 11 ounces. Out of all my births, he was the most painful. We didn't know whether he was a boy or a girl. We really felt like he was going to be a girl. I knew Randy wanted a son so bad so probably was convincing himself it was a girl so he wouldn't be a little disappointed. As for me....I wanted a girl. I wanted a house full of girls and no nasty, dirty little boy who likes to bug his sisters. That's until I had a boy of my own. I can't even describe the love I have for him. If you are a parent of both a boy and a girl you will understand what I'm talking about. There is a special, different kind of bond between a mother and son - just like there is between a daddy and his daughter. I never imagined having a little boy could be so wonderful. Yes, they are dirty, nasty and like to bug their sisters. But I love every minute of it!!! I love their chubby dirty little hands and their hugs and kisses. I love watching them play ball. Now Aaron is grown and now I get to squeeze those hard muscely arms and still love those hugs and kisses (even though they aren't as much!!)

This baby inside of me was very strong. Out of all the babies, he kicked and punched the hardest. At times, it would almost take my breath away. I knew whatever this baby was, it was going to be STRONG!!! When I went to bed that night 17 years ago, the baby was kicking and punching harder than ever. I could hardly take it. My last words to Randy before I went to sleep were, "This baby is kicking so hard, it's going to break my water and my body isn't going to be ready." Sure enough in the middle of the night - BAM - one very hard kick and there goes my water. I called the hospital and they told me not to come in until I was having contractions. I waited 2 hours and still no contractions - nothing was happening. They told me to come in and they gave me Pitocin which causes you to have contractions. I was dilated to a 0 now so I was really not doing anything. I had such strong contractions it was unbelievable. They said they couldn't give me an Epidural until I was dilated to a 5. I have always had very long labors. Even baby number 7 took me 20 something hours to have her. I went all day long in excrutiating pain. They wouldn't help me. Finally that night when I was so dilirious in pain I wanted to shoot myself, they said I could have an Epidural. They paged the Anesthegeologist. He was under the hill and his pager wouldn't pick up. I begged, I pleaded, I bribed for SOMEBODY to please give me the Epidural. Nobody could give it to me but him. Oh the pain, the pain. I screamed, I cried. I finally got to a 10 and still no epidural. You could hear my screams all over the hospital. Probably all over Natchez!! The Doctor and nurses were getting mad at me and kept telling me to quit screaming - I would scare the baby. At this point, I didn't care. I was out of my mind in pain. Finally at 8:22 p.m. a precious little boy was born. He was worth every scream, every tear, and every pain. His Daddy was so happy to have a son. He is also the first to carry on the "White" name.

I have loved every minute of these 17 years with Aaron. And yes, he is still strong. Not only physically, but also strong willed. He is smart, athletic and he is mine!!

I love you Aaron and Happy Birthday!!!

Happy New Years Everybody!!

2008-12-31T11:55:00.000-08:00

I haven't updated since Christmas. We had a very nice one I might add!! We got to add another stocking to our fireplace mantel this year - one for Chad. So now we have 10 stockings on our mantel. We have a fireplace in every room so we will have plenty more room to add more stockings in the future for spouses....our grandchildren......great-grands....no telling how many stockings we will have!!!!!

Santa had a very hard time putting together Benjamin's 8 in 1 game table. If it had not been for Chad, I think the table would have been thrown out the door - no kidding!!! So thanks, Chad!! They were up until 2:00 in the morning putting that thing together.

My happy news for the day is that Brooke found me an artifical tree at Hobby Lobby. No more tree disasters to experience. It was a $350.00 tree that she got for $98.00 - that includes tax too!! I wish I could put it up this year since I only got to enjoy our tree this year for such a short time. My only fear now is that when we set it up next year - the lights won't work!!!

This is the last day of the year. Tomorrow starts a new beginning. A time to think about changes you would like to make....things you will do differently.....goals to set.....attitude adjustments.....so many things. May God bless all of you this coming new year!!

One of the best Christmas trees yet!!!

2008-12-19T21:25:00.000-08:00

I can't believe how our little Charlie Brown tree turned out. It's absolutely beautiful!! I'm so so so so happy!!!. Randy was so clever in his idea of putting it on top of a box. Actually it was a book shelf he made that I didn't even know about. I have plans for that book shelf that he had hidden away. - after Christmas is over! It's laying face down with a maroon blanket on top of the box. All my ribbons and stuff are gold and maroon. The tree is absolutely gorgeous. Then sitting on top of that maroon box and all around the tree on the floor are my black and white presents that are wrapped out of Brooke's wedding reception paper....well....you can't help but just stare at it. I have wrapped the presents in maroon and gold ribbon. I was wanting to buy a huge tree after Christmas, but I love this idea and it's so different!!! I wish all of you could see it!!

We are having Randy's side of the family over at our house on Sunday for our Christmas celebration. I have the house looking so good!! Bethany said, "Momma...we going to get the house all cute-seed up in Christmas style?" She is so much like Hannah it's kind of scarry!!! Well we got it all cute-seed up for sure.

I'm in the Christmas spirit......pretty much finished with all my shopping except for stockings......and I've been thinking and meditating on the "true" meaning of Christmas. I pray that all of you have gotten to that point also. Have a great weekend!!

My tree story lives on......

2008-12-16T14:33:00.000-08:00

I can't believe I still have a story to tell, but I guess I do. We put the fake tree up last night after Randy got home from Jackson. It was late but I want a tree up before Christmas gets here!!! The tree came in 3 parts. Can you believe the lights wouldn't work??? I tried every kind of connection possible but nothing worked. The very very bottom part worked and that was it. Second of all this tree looked really weird. I can't believe this tree was too big for Christy's mother's house. The top of the tree is eye level with me. It's short and squatty. I called Christy and asked her if there was a piece missing because it looks funny and the lights won't work either. I hated to sound ungrateful and tried not too, but I was kind of sad about the whole thing. When you are used to having a 10 foot tree that fills up the corner and now I can see over the top of the tree.....well, it was kind of depressing. She said it was only 3 parts and for me to just string some lights on it. So that's what I did. I put lights on top of lights that don't work. The tree is full of wires and bulbs.

We haven't decorated our little tree yet. We are going to set it on top of a bench to give it more height and put a blanket or something around the bench to disquise it. I officially dedicated this year as our "Charlie Brown Christmas."

I bought Hannah a cute little 3 foot tree for her room for $8.00. I bought some bright shiny turqoise material to put on the bottom for her tree skirt. It's decorated with all her Nutcracker ornmanets and hot pink ornaments. I made a gold bow for the top and wrapped the gold ribbon around it also. It is absolutely BEAUTIFUL!!!! She is so happy!! It is sitting proudly in the corner in front of her fireplace. On the mantel above the tree is her framed picture of her as Clara with nutcracker dolls next to the picture.

That part of my day has been good.

Tonight we will get the fake tree on the bench and get it all decorated. I'm using Brooke's black and white paper that we used for the reception tables to wrap all my presents with. I bought some maroon and gold ribbon to tie on all the packages. I think it's going to be so pretty. We have 3 different designs of the black and white paper. My favorite is the polka dot paper. We will have a memory of her wedding also - and this will be Brooke and Chad's first Christmas. It will make it more special that I'm using the paper in her wedding.

Report on Aaron's arm. It's not broken. He has a pretty big brace on it. He has to go to physical therapy 3 times a week. Absolutely no baseball for 4 weeks. I think I will kind of miss washing his hair for him in the sink - it was our bonding moment!!!

Hopefully this is the end of my tree story. I can't imagine anything else going wrong. This has certainly been a memorable Christmas.

Update to last update

2008-12-14T19:55:00.000-08:00

In my last post I mentioned that our crooked tree was up but not decorated because it was....well.....crooked. We always get a very large tree - usually about 10 foot. It takes 3 people up on ladders to decorate it. We finally got it decorated Friday night. It took us 5 hours!!!!! It was so pretty when we finished it and we got to enjoy it for about 20 minutes before going to bed. The next morning we heard a crash.....and then a bunch of wailing from Benjamin. Our tree had fallen over and lots of my ornaments had busted in a million of pieces. Benjamin cried, "Christmas has been cancelled!!!" Because our tree was gone, he thought he wouldn't get any presents either. Randy came home from his deer camp to pick it back up and see if he could get it supported better. It was hopeless. We had to take everything off of it and drug the tree outside to our "burn pile". So now, here we are...about 10 days until Christmas....and we still don't have a tree. My sister-in-law gave me an aritifical tree to borrow but forgot the stand. Hopefully we can get the stand tomorrow and I can get a Christmas tree back up. I still haven't wrapped a single present either.

Update on Aaron's arm: he came home from school Thursday begging me to take him to the Doctor because his arm was hurting so bad. It really hadn't hurt much until that day. I took him to the After Hours Clinic and they did x-rays. Ends up his arm was cracked in 2 different places. They put a splint on it and we have an appointment in Jackson tomorrow to get it looked at.

Exams are this week for the kids and then it's Christmas break - yea!!!

I just noticed that Brooke changed by background scenary - I like it - Thanks Brooke!!

Shalom (that's for you Brooke)

It's been a long time......

2008-12-08T12:37:00.000-08:00

Yes, I haven't updated in quite a while. It's getting quite busy over here......tis the Christmas season. That's the one thing I hate most about Christmas - all the busyness. I would just love to focus completely on what our Lord and Saviour did for us in sending His Son down here to earth so that we could have life and do nothing else but center everything I do around that and bring joy to others by finding ways to give and serve......but once I again I get all caught up in the hustle and bustle. GRRRR!!!!

Thanksgiving was really nice. We spent it with Randy's family.

We have had our tree up for over a week now and it still remains completely naked. It is sooooo crooked. We have it propped up but it has still fallen twice. I am waiting on Randy to make it more steady in some sort of way before I start decorating it. I have started decorating the house though.

Randy and I are driving to Jackson tonight to "try" and finish up our shopping. Brooke has offerred to fix us supper - yea!!! I can't wait.

Aaron has hurt his arm really bad. He was playing football and hyper-extended it. He can't move it and it's in a sling. So...baseball lessons have been cancelled until further notice.....

Hope everyone has a great week!!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!!!

2008-11-25T06:12:00.000-08:00

I've been blowing and going for days and haven't had a chance to update. The Nutcracker was gorgeous!!! Hannah did such a good job. I got to see every single performance. She is so graceful and quite the ballerina. When she came home Saturday night from her last performance as playing "Clara", her toe was bleeding really bad. When she came to show me, it was dripping on the floor!!! Instead of freaking out about it, she was so excited. She said, "Mom, this is just like the movies. If your toe bleeds, that means that you are doing everything just like you are supposed too. This is what a ballerina hopes for...dreams for...." So we took several pictures of her bloody toe!!!

We enjoyed having my Mother here. Her blood pressure was lower than it's ever been since her stroke. So I'm glad she was relaxed and had a good time. I took her back to the Baton Rouge airport yesterday.

Randy, Aaron, and Daniel are at the hunting camp. Between the 3 of them, I hope one of them gets a deer. We have sure enjoyed eating Benjamin's deer. He is feeding our large family!!

The rest of us will be driving to Jackson this afternoon to spend Thanksgiving with Randy's side of the family.

I hope all of you have a wonderful Thanksgiving. We have much to be thankful for!!

Today is the DAY!!!!!

2008-11-20T06:24:00.001-08:00

Today is the day that the Nutcracker begins. Hannah will play the part of "Clara". She has been working so hard for months. I can't wait to see her. She's been coming home from practices kind of discouraged saying she doesn't know it. But last night she got to practice on stage....in costume....and with the LIGHTS!!!!! Most people are scared of the lights (including me) but not Hannah. She loves them. Most people see her as a shy, and very quiet girl, but when the spot lights hit her, she turns into a completely different person. She said she feels like a different person. Hannah's ballet teacher even cried last night when she watched Hannah. OH....I can't wait!!!

Benjamin is back in the woods again. He saw 20 deer yesterday. Most of them were small and the ones that's weren't, outsmarted them. He will give it one more try this morning.

I picked up my mother at the Baton Rouge airport yesterday. She flew in from Texas to see Hannah's performance. My Dad wasn't able to come because he has to work. She likes to play cards and games, so we will enjoy her while she is here. She recently had a stroke and her blood pressure is still high so I would appreciate it if you would keep her in your prayers. She is on medication but it hasn't kicked in yet and she has to take her blood pressure at least twice a day. So...while she is here, I'm trying to keep everyone in the house calm, cool, and collected - yea right!!!!! Once Benjamin gets home, it will be more of a challenge.

Benjamin's BIG news!!!!!

2008-11-15T06:36:00.000-08:00

Benjamin killed his very first deer this morning!! He called me and woke me up to tell me - he was soooooo excited!!! It's in his blood now and he is ready to do it again!! It was a very, very big doe. His Daddy had gone over and over everything you are supposed to do before they left the house. They had only been on the stand for 15 minutes when Benjamin saw the deer. Randy put him in his lap and started the "talk" again about what all you are supposed to do....where to put the cross hairs.....blah, blah, blah. When Randy was still talking....BOOM!!!!! Benjamin had already shot the deer because he knew what to do!!! It was a perfect shot right in the kill zone. So our little boy is bringing home some meat to feed the family!!!

2008-11-10T06:45:00.000-08:00

We had a nice weekend. We went to Robin and Cole's wedding which was the sweetest wedding!! We saw the Walkers. I got to hold the Patrick's sweet little baby boy. I got to spend time with Brooke. I was finally able to go grocery shopping. Hannah and I shared a brown bag special at Sonic on Sunday. Nice, nice weekend.

As I was doing grooming duties on Benjamin and Bethany which included cutting Benjamin's hair, giving Bethany a trim and cutting their nails.....I was reminded how time flies with your children. When my 5 oldest were younger, I would line them all up to cut their finger nails and toe nails. That was 100 nails to dispose of!!! I'm talking ONE HUNDRED!!!! Now I only have 40 to cut. Well, actually it's less than that since Benjamin bites his. The nail numbers are dwindling - so sad!!!

The soccer tournament went well, even though we weren't able to go. They won every single game and made it to the Championship game in which they lost 2 to 1.

Let me know how your weekends went. Shalom (that's for Brooke!!)

2008-11-06T11:32:00.000-08:00

Thank you for all your "well" wishes. I am feeling much better. Today is the last day for capturing bugs. I think we still have 4 to go. Me and Benjamin.....whoa.....excuse me and let me rephrase that.....Benjamin and I have our work cut out for us today. It's actually been kind of fun. It's weird how I go places now and instead of looking at things I used to look at, I'm looking for a bug!!!! I actually touch them too!!! WEIRD!!!!!

The wedding pictures came in today!!! It was fun reliving the wedding while I was looking at them. It was such a sweet wedding. All my little "dwarfs" were in it - how sweet is that!!! Now I get to sort through all of them....put them in order....get them in an album....and write comments about them. I want to be able to put some of them on this blog but I have no idea how to do it......help Brooke!!!!

Brooke and Chad will be coming home this weekend. It's still kind of weird adjusting to a son-in-law. Not that it's a bad thing....it's just different. I can't wait to see them.

Well I have tons of things to do that are waiting for me. Shalom!!

Feeling blah.....

2008-11-05T09:32:00.000-08:00

Brooke says I need to post again but I don't really have anything to report. I felt really sick all day yesterday and I still don't feel that great today. I know what some of you are thinking....No...number 8 is not on the way. I just don't feel well. We have church tonight and AWANA'S. Plus Aaron has a bug collection that is due tomorrow. He needs 4 more bugs. In order to help him out, I'll have to go bug searching today. He really needs a dragon fly. Please go outside today and capture me a dragon fly. We'll come get it. Paige is doing her "clinicals" today at the hospital. She has her first male patient today - a sponge bath!! She isn't looking forward to it. Even though there may be a certain area you want to practice your nursing, you still have to do EVERYTHING whether you like it or not in order to get to that point. This is one of those things. She wants to be a nurse in the labor and delivery - especially work with the babies. She has always loved babies. Gotta go!!

Just one of the JOYS of homeschooling.......

2008-11-03T10:09:00.000-08:00

.....happened today. You spend countless hours of teaching your child phonics - the sounds each letter makes. It seems like they will never "get it". Then one day...it clicks....and they can read words. I'm proud to say that Bethany read her very first book today. It was sooooo exciting!!! It's such a joy knowing that you taught your child to read. We still have a long way to go, but the first step is always the best!!!

2008-10-31T12:57:00.000-07:00

Last night was our church's Fall Festival. Bethany went as "Belle" and she was such a pretty little thing. Hannah did her make-up and hair. She polished her nails too. She wore her little "tiarra" sp?? that she wore in Brooke's wedding. We had a little catastophe though in the process of getting ready. Hannah was curling her hair, and she jerked which caused Hannah to drop the curling iron and it burned the top of her shoulder. She was crying but trying not to cry because she didn't want the tears to ruin her make-up!!! Trying to be a lady even through the pain!!! Are we women vain or what???? Benjamin went as Spider Man. If I had put more thought into this, he could have gone as "The Beast". That would have been real cute.

Randy is in the woods today trying to bring us some meat home. I hope he gets one!!

Well, I'm fixing to go clean out Bethany's drawers and closets and get rid of some clothes. If any of you bloggers need some cute little girls clothes around size 3T to 4 or so, let me know.

2008-10-30T05:52:00.000-07:00

..It's kind of depressing that I didn't get any comments yesterday after my banner 1st day, but I'll be o.k. I'll just copy the email that I sent out Wednesday concerning my daughter Paige so you will know what's going on with her and PLEASE keep her in your prayers. She has a disease called "Gastroparesis" which basically means stomach paralysis. Her stomach quit working a little over 3 years ago. That was the last time she had a "meal". She can only eat baby food now and even that is quite painful. She has 2 pacemakers inside of her. One is for her bladder which is working very well. The other one is for her stomach which isn't working very well. She has a section of ICC cells in her stomach that are completely dead which is why it isn't working like it should. Here is the update.

It's been a while since I gave an update on Paige. She went to Jackson and saw 2 Doctor's so I'll give a report from each.

Reproductive Specialist - things are improving in that area.

GI Doctor - about 6 months ago, we had her stomach pacemaker turned OFF. It was causing her so much pain. She said it felt like her insides were being ripped apart and like she was in surgery (cutting knife feeling) but she was awake. She said she would rather deal with worsening symptoms than with that kind of pain. We were constantly getting the settings on the pacemaker changed to try and make it better but it kept on shocking her and causing her all this pain. A couple of months ago, she had some tests done to see if there has been any improvement in her digestive system since it's been turned off. The Doctor informed us it has gotten much worse. Paige also said the pain is still there even though the pacemaker is turned off. So she agreed that since the pain is still there anyways and since things have gotten worse, she would would have it turned back ON. So as of now, the pacemaker is back ON at a very low setting. She will go back in December to have a lot of blood work done and also increase the voltage on the pacemaker if she does well. We were hoping and praying for a quick fix with this stomach pacemaker but the Doctor told us that in some cases it may take years before she feels any improvement. Even though she didn't FEEL any better with the pacemaker on, it did improve the motility of her stomach some.

So....please keep her on your prayer lists and continue to pray for her. She continues to have the 24/7 nausea, unable to eat, bloating, pain, migraines almost every day and unable to sleep at night.

Considering all these horrible things she has to deal with on a daily basis - she is going to Nursing School....making A's and B's....and I can't begin to tell you how proud we are of her. She is absolutely amazing and our hero!! She is such a fighter and isn't going to let this disease stop her from accomplishing her goals. Most of all we give God all the praise and glory for sustaining her and keeping her going. We can't explain it but are so thankful He is in control.

2008-10-28T19:55:00.000-07:00

OOHHHH!!! I'm so excited!! I have 6 comments on my first blog. You all made my day - thank you!! Keep the comments coming.

I have spent the day in Jackson. Paige had 2 Doctor appointments today which I will talk about tomorrow. It's late and I'm fixing to go to bed. My Prince Charming and Aaron should be home from Jackson in about 30 minutes. He is taking pitching/fielding/hitting lessons in Jackson on Tuesday nights. Paige has Clinicals on Wednesday's which means she gets to work at the hospital and put her nursing education into practice. She has gone to the hospital to check her patients chart so she will know what she is dealing with tomorrow. She has to be at the hospital in the morning by 6:00 a.m. She is going to make such a caring nurse!! I know people are going to be blessed by her.

Well....when we got home from Jackson today which was at 8:30 p.m., our back door was WIDE open. It really scared us because your first thought is that somebody is in your house. We have a Sherrif that lives across the street so we drove over there. He wasn't home but his wife called him and told him to come check out our house. He came over along with another Sherrif. Randy was the last one to leave our house and apparently he locked the door but didn't shut it completely. It was windy today (and freezing cold) and our Jack Russell puppy who USED to be an inside dog and has been demoted to the outside, jumped on the door and let himself in. There were bird feathers all over our bedroom floor and I found Jack (our dog) in the living room with something in his mouth that he was trying to hide. It was a bird!!! I'm surprised he didn't tear anything else up. So that was our excitment for the evening. It was 60 degrees in the house so I had to cut the heat on.

Another highlight of our day was that our yard is all cleaned up now. We had about 6 huge trees fall in our yard during Hurricane Gustav. One of them hit our house and we have some house damage too. Anyways, we had to pay to get them all removed and as of today they are gone!!! YEA!!! We can see outside our front door once again.

Good night!!!

2008-10-27T06:57:00.000-07:00

Brooke came to see us this weekend and did this all for me. I told her to put it in my "favorites" so I would know how to get to it - ha!!! I have no idea how to work this thing except to maybe do my posts. I gave her my password so she can change my settings around - no telling what she will do.

For those of you who don't know I'm a stay at home mother with 6 children now. One of them (Brooke) got married in July. I homeschooled Brooke (21) and Paige (19)( all the way to college. Brooke is now happily married to Chad who is a seminary student and flight instructor and she is working for a lawyer in Jackson. Paige is going to Alcorn School of Nursing and making A's and B's I'm so proud to say. I homeschooled Aaron (16)all the way to 9th grade where he is now attending Cathedral High School. He is a Junior now. He is smart and an awesome baseball player!! I homeschoold Daniel (14) all the way until this year. He is also attending Cathedral High School and is in the 9th grade. He is playing football and soccer. I am continuing to homeschool Hannah (12) who is in the 7th grade this year. She does ABEKA on the computer. She is a hoot. You would never know it because she is shy around people she doesn't know but she is absolutely hilarious. She takes ballet and will have the leading role in the Nutcraker in about a month. Please come out and see her!!! She is working so hard. My 2 youngest ones are Benjamin (7) and Bethany (5). They are just adorable!!! Benjamin loves sports - any and ALL sports and is really good at it. Bethany is called "Miss Priss" because that is exactly what she is - very prissy. As my older ones are growing up so fast on me, it's nice to have these 2 younger ones to still hold and cuddle. Well, that's about it on me.

Now....all you peoples and peepets.....please write me!!