Emily!

Emily has been with since last Friday and will be with me until this Friday. She's gone to work with me three days now, and you can see how she spends her time. She has drawn pictures, read books, played on the computer, ate, and today took a couple of movies to work and watched them in our small conference room. I think she watched both of them about three times each, so she had an overdose of tv. As you can see from the third picture, she sprouted nails today.ha. She found my old press on nails and just had to try them out. You should see her using them to scratch, trying to pick up things, etc. I may be in hot water with her mom, but they do come off pretty easy and she's having so much fun.

It has been (and still is) fun having her here. We went to a movie on Saturday and saw "Wall-E" - such a cute movie; to church on Sunday and out to lunch with the bunch; back to church Sunday night; work yesterday; stayed home last night and listened to it rain, played on the computer again, read stories, got baths and hit the bed. It was kinda tough getting her up this morning. She's now wanting us to go to Wal-Mart (and I really do need to go), and I'm getting the impression she is so proud of her "nails" that she wants to show them off. ha. So, I guess we'll go.

The only bad part of the last few days is the fact that I scraped an iron post with Steve's truck and dented the passenger door. He and Angela took my car to Tennessee and left me his truck. Emily and I went to Subway for lunch last Friday (the very first day I drove the truck), and, in the process of trying to give another truck room to get in the parking lot, I pulled over too far and scraped the iron post. My heart just sank, and I wanted to badly to be able to get it fixed before even telling them about it. However, after consulting with several friends, the decision was made that I should confess so Steve would have a week to cool off. ha. So, I did just that. I didn't get to talk to Steve as he was not close by when I called, but Angela was a sweetheart and assured me that it was just a truck and was fixable and that Steve loved me more than he loved that truck. Boy was I glad to hear that!!!! ha. I felt like a kid that was in trouble and was about to be punished, and then felt the relief after confessing. I still intend to pay for having it fixed. I thought about how this was so like our heavenly Father. Until we confess our sins and ask and accept His forgiveness, we are weighed down with guilt. But once confession and repentence has taken place, what a light, happy, joyful feeling we experience.

I haven't been able to walk this week yet as it rained yesterday afternoon, and I was so tired today that I didn't even give it a second thought. I'm not sure Emily would hold out for three miles anyway, so I'll probably forego this week and try to get back into the swing of things next week. I can tell I haven't done well with my food choices, and it's beginning to show.

Ok, Emily says it's time to go to Wal-Mart, so guess I better close this out. Until nezt time...Wanda.

At a loss!

Why is it so hard to think of a title for a blog? If you blog, then you can relate. If you don't, you should try it sometime! I'd probably do this more often it I didn't have to name it. ha.

My weekend was wonderful - yard sale shopped with my friend Ramona (neither of us bought a thing!), ate breakfast together at Hardee's, dropped off clothes at consignment shop for Angela, went to Belk's and Bealls, and then home for lunch. The afternoon was spent vacuum-ing (?), dusting and mopping, etc. Yesterday (Sunday) was a blessing as usual. Went to church, had lunch with my usual group of friends, spent most of the afternoon doing nothing until about 5:30 when Jawan, Andrew, Luke and Abigail arrived on their way to Angela's for the week. What a joy it was to have all those little arms wrapped around my neck giving Gami a good dose of sugar. I even think Abigail remembered me as it didn't take her but a couple of minutes to hold up those tiny arms wanting me to pick her up. They stayed about two and a half hours before heading on down to Angela's. I just know they are having a great time. Of course, if I let myself (and I'm trying not to - but instead just turn them over to the Lord) I could worry about their safety as I know they will go swimming, fishing, etc. So, I've already covered them with prayer and know that God will do the rest.

I had a really busy day at work but came home and walked my three miles anyway. It was overcast, thundering and looked like it might rain any minute, so we carried our umbrellas. As it turned out, we didn't need them as it never rained. I guess the weather scared a lot of people because there weren't many folks out walking today. It was a much cooler walk today with a breeze blowing and no sun. Oh, how I want to get rid of some more pounds and pray that all this walking will make a difference.

All of the family except for Stuart and Mitch will be back to my house on Thursday of this week. On Friday, Angela and family are having to head back to Nashville, TN to pick up Ethan who has been at the Stamps Baxter School of Music for two weeks and Jawan and children will head back home as well. However, I get to keep Emily for a whole week while they are gone as they (Angela and family) will be going to camp with the youth from their church after they pick Ethan up in Nashville. So, I'll get to take her to work with me again next week at least a day or two. Hopefully, we can arrange for her to spend a night or two with one of her friends to keep her from being bored at my office.

Ok, enough yaking. Until next time...Wanda.

Decided to try again!

Yes, it really is me! I almost decided never to blog again, but aw, I couldn't resist. It's been so long that probably no one ever checks in any more. Anyway, let me see if I can fill you in my "doings" since the last time. I've had the joy of celebrating grandchild #6's (Abigail) first birthday which meant I got to be with Nos. 4 (Andrew) and 5 (Luke) as well. Then this past weekend, we had our homecoming at church at which son-in-law Steve preached and we got to sing as a group again. This meant that I got to spend a little time with Nos. 1 (Meredith), 2 (Ethan) and 3 (Emily). They left shortly after lunch to take No. 2 (Ethan) to Nashville for a two-week Stamps Baxter music school, and left No. 3 (Emily) with me until they returned on Monday night. I took Emily to work with me on Monday, and she seemed to have a good time between playing with her Nintendo DS, drawing pictures for me, helping me with copying, filing, etc. The picture above was also taken over the weekend when Steve's sister invited us all out to her house to grill hamburgers. If it weren't for these Georgia gnats and mosquitos, it would be enjoyable to sit outside.

Oh, another exciting thing that's transpired is that I reconnected with another childhood friend from Mississippi (did I already tell about that?). I'm planning a trip in September to see my brother, Paul, and visit with this friend while there. She only lives about 25 miles from him, so I'm excited about the visit. Bless his heart, on top of having throat cancer, almost no voice, and a feeding tube, he fell about a week ago and broke his foot. The treatments he's had to take have made him so weak it caused him to fall. I'm praying that things will start to improve for him and Millie. She's such a trooper and loves that hubby with all her heart and takes really good care of him. But, there's not much she can do to restore his strength, so we'll have to rely on the Lord for that.

As I read my daughter Jawan's blog today - www.themcginnismessage.blogspot.com - I was again reminded of how blessed she is with friends. Even when she was in high school and college, that child had more friends than anyone I've ever known. She's such a people person and so down to earth that others just can't help but love her. She's like a magnet that draws people to her and I'm so glad that her life is filled with loving friends. Of course, being just a little biased, I think everyone should love her!

My oldest, Angela, is the same way. She has many, many friends as well. Of course, both daughters are preachers' wives, so that may have a little to do with it. But they are both loving, caring ladies with such sweet spirits. They are both wonderful wives, mothers, and daughters. Hopefully, they got a little of those traits from me. ha.

As for my youngest, Stuart, he never meets a stranger, can talk to anyone about most anything, and is a nut! ha. The sweetest nut you ever want to meet! He was a 4.5 pound preemie at birth but is now a 6' 1" man. His two sisters love him dearly, as does his mom, but just don't get to spend enough time together. He's still single as God has not led him to "the one" yet. But, we are still praying that that will happen. He loves to aggravate, tease and wrestle his sisters when they do get together, loves to play with his nieces and nephews, and shares his heart with all of us. He and his best friend have their own business and are both having to work hard to get it established.

Heidi (my sweet nephew's wife, which makes her my niece), if you read this, yes, I'm okay. Just been lazy about blogging. I've checked in on yours as well to keep up with Baby B and everything that's going on in yours and BB's lives. When I come in September, I plan to pop down your way to see the house transformation as well as Baby B (I'm sure she'll have a name by then - ha). I'll keep you posted when I get details worked out.

Ok, when I came home from work today, I promised myself that I was going to work on cleaning up this house. Well, I got the dishes washed, went for my 3-mile walk, came home and ate, and here I sit - not accomplishing a whole lot! So, gotta go and see if I can force myself to do something. Until next time...Wanda.