8 great years!

Stephen got Angel for me for Mother's Day 8 years ago. I originally wanted and orange tabby and he hunted everywhere for one, but was unsuccessful. He found Angel in a box with other kittens, which were covered in fleas, and she was the closest thing to orange that he could find. She had some peach markings on her, but for the most part she was grey. I was so excited when he brought this bundle of fur to me that I immediately gave her a bath to get rid of the fleas and then cuddled her like a baby. Smokie was already 5 years old so she was set in her ways and would not allow me to do that with her. She did not like Angel coming in to her territory, nonetheless, she learned to love her over the years.


Smokie started losing weight and had gotten a little sick, but I was able to nurse her back to health. Then, a few weeks ago Angel started getting sick and losing weight. I have tried and tried to nurse her back to health, but all of my efforts were useless. Yesterday I called Brookwood Animal Hospital in Jackson and they told me to bring her in. I have to tell you that this hospital exceeded all of my expectations plus some! Dr.Bell worked her in, working through her lunch hour and drew some lab work, cleaned her ear's, and told me that it would be tomorrow before I would hear anything because the lab work would not be back until the morning.


My day started off great. I receieved some good news about my school books so the day was going to be excellent. Wrong! After I got home from school my Mom took the phone call and it was Dr. Bell. She was calling to inform me of the lab work and told me that Angel's diagnosis was diabetes. At first I thought "ok well we can certainly work through diabetes because there are humans who live everyday with this disease". Yes, I was wrong again. Diabetes affects animals differently and the cost of treatment is very high so she said basically that our best option is to euthanize her because her kidney's had already started to shut down. I lost it!



I have never had to make a decision to kill one of my pets and I believe that is harder than having a pet pass away. Stephen had the hardest job because he was the one who took Angel for me. She was such a sweet cat...she was my cat. I was the only one she would let love on her until the last year she would let Stephen love on her. Stephen and I would always joke around that Angel is my cat and Smokie is Stephen's cat.



I do not ever want any more animals because I get to attached. Yes, I'm one of the crazy ones that people talk about that treat my animals like my kids. Hunter had a hard time as well. How do you explain to a 4 year old that your kitty went to live with Jesus. He told me that "he wants his kitty back, he does not want Jesus to live with his kitty". Wow what do you say? I just assured him that his kitty cat was not sick anymore and he needs to be happy for her. I thought sarcastically what a great birthday present, actually it would be the worst one yet. I'm very thankful for the 8 wonderful years of love that Angel gave me and I will always remember her sweetness! She will be missed greatly.

It's kickoff time...

We are in full football mode considering last night was the scrimmage game between Lamar County and Rutland. We play Rutland every year for a scrimmage and we always seem to forget that it is only a scrimmage and not a real game. Last night was different though. Fort Benning's official parachute demonstration team the Silver Wings jumped into the new stadium and delivered the game ball. It was really cool. Watching those guys jump out of that airplane brought back really good memories of when Stephen and I went skydiving, man that was excitement! There were four guys that jumped out and the last guy was carrying the American flag. That was real beauty to see our American Flag swaying about in the wind as it slowly made it's way onto the football field, it gave me chill bumps. The assistant principal at the high school Dr. Shipp is a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. army and he arranged for the silver wings to come and perform.





The game was pure excitement for a couple of reasons. First, it was played in our new stadium which is really nice and secondly because our son was on the field playing. Brian had reservations about playing football this year and after many discussions with him by various people he felt that it was in his best interest to play. Stephen and I could not be prouder of him. He is still a teenager and drives us crazy, but, he has turned out to be such a good kid and well respected. The team played well although we lost 8 - 13. The game was close right up until the end and kept us on our feet the entire time.





Now we have a two week break and will continue with our first official game of the season on August 28Th when we play Spalding. I will keep you informed of this football season so stay tuned.

1st day of school

Today was the first day back to school for our kids and Hunter's first day at school all day. He was so excited about school and carrying his new cool lunch box that Maw bought him. Usually Hunter goes to bed whenever Stephen and I go to bed which is late sometimes. All weekend we kept telling Hunter that he had to go to bed early because he has school. I was a little nervous because I just knew that I was going to have a hard time getting him to go to sleep on his own. After his bath I told him that he had to give everyone night kisses (the in-laws were over for dinner) and then he was going to bed...he did exactly that. At 8 o'clock sharp he was in bed. Stephen and I were afraid to go into our room because we were scared that we were going to wake him up. Yes, his room is still in our sitting room off of the master. But he told me that if I make Sissy's room John Deere he will sleep in there, both of them want it John Deere...we will have to see about that.

He slept all night until 6:20a.m. when he woke up on his own and came into the living room with some sweet morning love. I was sitting on the couch still in tears, but quickly wiped my eyes so that he would not see that I had been crying. I started at 5:30 a.m. crying my eyes out and I had to call Stephen because he always makes me feel better, or at least he tries. I think that he thought that I was joking with him at first until he heard me really getting upset. I told him that I thought that I could hold it together but I just could not get it together. He tried to comfort me and told me that I had to dry it up so that I would not get Hunter upset. I knew what I had to do, but I still sat on the couch with my kitty cat hysterically crying for the next hour. Crazy, huh?

Hunter did so well he walked in that classroom like he owned the place, I kept my composure UNTIL....the teacher told him to tell me bye. Have I ever mentioned that I do not like good-bye? I hugged that little man so hard, kissed him, and got out I love you, have a good day before I lost it AGAIN!!! I took some pictures and then went up the hall to the lunchroom to watch how he did with breakfast where I took more pictures of him and his little preschool buddy Kale. He had a doughnut on his tray and asked me " Mama what is that?" I told him that was a doughnut and to eat it because he likes doughnuts so he asked me "how do I eat it?" He is not used to eating big doughnuts because I always buy him the small ones. I had stayed long enough so it was time for me to go and I actually left without crying, can you believe it?

I could not get back to his school quick enough to pick him up and see how his day went. When he came around the corner I wanted to run up to him and hug him, but I did not want to embarrass him so I waited for him to come to me. I have to say I thought that he would have been a little more excited to see me. He just smiled at me and I scooped him up and gave him the biggest hug. I asked him how his day went and he told me " we just sleep all day" and I asked him if that was all he did is sleep all day and he said "we played and we sleep and we eat lunch". So then I asked him if he met any new friends and he said " just one mean boy and then he was nice". I think that he had a good day because he is looking forward to going back tomorrow.

This is Hunter on his way to the lunchroom for breakfast and sitting beside his preschool pal Kale. They were so excited that they both were in the same class.

He was a little aprehensive about school when the little boy beside him was crying, but he did great!