Tornados and Strep Throat

What a difference a day can make!

Yesterday was such a nice day, as was the weekend... but today is rather awful! We are being bombarded by high winds, pouring rain and tornado warnings. If you know me, you are aware of my fear of bad weather... I really, really hate it.

I can remember being at my Grandmother's house (across the field) and it was dark outside. My parents may have been out for a well deserved date, so my brother and I were staying with her until they returned. We always stayed in her kitchen as it was the center of the universe, and where she watched TV and read.

I remember the winds picked up considerably, lightening popped, and it was raining... I went straight under the table. It was so dark, and my imagination was running wild with what was happening outside that warm room. I can almost feel my heart beating out of my elementary school chest (or is it because mine is doing so today as well?) as I prayed to God to save us from the storm. I also prayed for Momma and Diddy to come home soon. It wasn't I didn't feel safe with Grandmomma, because I did, but I just wanted my Daddy!!! He was/is the calm in storms, and all things I can't handle.

Years later we experienced another storm I'll never forget. It was a Sunday afternoon and it got spooky quiet outside. Diddy and I went to the bay window to check it out when pieces of tin began to whiz by the house! And then it was tin, wood and tree limbs... it looked a weird shade of green out there too... Diddy and I then went to the french doors at the end of the room and saw a tornado across the pasture. I was mesmerized by this, as it had already destroyed the barn, taking the tin roof and wood and flinging it for miles. Our trampoline went end over end down through the yard to who remembers where. I do remember being really concerned for the cows who had no where to run as that wind tunnel began coming our way. (They survived it just fine...)

Momma and Billy saw all this as well, and Diddy was trying to get us to the back hall and bathroom... the tornado was coming across that pasture toward our home... I have never been as scared and unable to move in my whole life.

By the grace of God that tornado took a turn before it hit our house and "hopped" over the woods on the other side, taking with it only some shingles off the roof.

I have never been the same about weather again... I am a wimp, terrified.

Eight months pregnant with EJ, I trembled in our hall closet as we took cover from another tornado in the area... my girlfriend in Atlanta was in labor, and for a time labored in the hall of Northside Hospital as they were experiencing the same bad weather. My husband stood on our front porch loving it as the wind whipped around and trees bent over in crazy angles... we didn't get hit that time, but it sure was too close for my comfort!

As I write this the sky is clearing and it appears the rain is slowing... we are still under a tornado watch, but I feel much more at ease for the moment.

Just in case, I have cleaned out the hall closet. Or, BB and Reynie's basement is just a short drive down the dirt road...

As for the strep throat, I took EJ to the Dr yesterday and she has it... we are stuck in the house today as she is contagious until she has taken the antibiotic for 24 hours... Not that we will be going anywhere in this weather anyway! I expect Cub will get it too, but hope for the best.

God is Knocking...

I took this picture mid morning. It's one of two Quince bushes we have outside our bathroom window, and I noticed that they were both blooming as I was getting dressed for the day. This weekend was gorgeous here in our little piece of the south, and though I know we are still in for some cold weather, I can't help but get excited at the bits of spring beginning to show!

Last night Geoff took Elizabeth and Cub upstairs for their goodnight books and prayers before bed. Cub is always first, and after his book and little talk with God is over, he likes for us to "fly" him to his bed... then he gets his goodnight kisses and lights out.

EJ has her own little ritual, and after her book and prayers she likes us to rub her back before we kiss her goodnight and turn off the big light. She will not sleep without a night light...

When Geoff came back downstairs, he told me that he learned something while getting the kids settled down for the night, and this is what he told me....

"After we said our prayers, she put her hand on her chest and said that she could feel God. She then asked if I wanted to feel him? So, I put my hand on her chest and she told me that it was God knocking (her heartbeat). Then she said the reason he does this is so that when you lose your heart and can not find it, just listen for God knocking and you will find it there."

Of course I cried...

Amen, baby girl... Amen!

The Little Things

I was working on my article today for the March issue of the local magazine I write for, when I heard my son talking in his bed. Our computer is in our bedroom, and I had his monitor on...

He was talking to his toys, Woody and Buzz Lightyear, and telling them that he loved his "Sissy" (EJ), his Mommy and his Daddy. Then he would make the toys talk back to him, and they said they loved us too!

He is using a lot of new vocabulary now, but many times I am the only one who can understand him so far... really, EJ is even better than I am at knowing his language, and when I can't figure it out I will ask her to translate for me!

EJ is becoming much more inquisitive about everything. I am now getting a lot more of the "Why?" and "How?" questions, and she soaks up the answers like a sponge. On the way to school the other morning she began counting, and she went all the way to 100 without much help at all!

These are the little things in life I want to remember... with my best friend and cousin having babies last week, suddenly I realized how quickly children grow up ( it seems like yesterday sometimes that mine were so little...), and I want to take in these precious toddler and pre school days while they last.


Like the pink boots that she insists on wearing even when they don't match at all, or the little smirk he gets when he knows he is going to get in trouble. I love it when I go into the play room and they are sitting in the same chair, all hugged up together, and when they play dress up. She is always the princess, and Cub is always Buzz - but the scenario is usually a little different each time. I love their expansive imagination, and how they make up the best stories when trying to get out of trouble, or get each other in trouble!

So, for now I am the one trying to soak it all in and live in the moments, though some of them are more trying than others!

Living in Oz

Oh. my. gosh. yall!!!

Rick Springfield was on Oprah yesterday!!!!

I watched him on General Hospital as Dr. Noah Drake when I was in the fourth or fifth grade... My Grandma watched this soap opera, and I would stay with her sometimes in the afternoons.

Later, as a younger teen I plastered a million posters of him on my walls and ceiling, and wrote his name all over my school folders... my best friends and I squealed like the teens we were when his songs would come on the radio, or his music videos came on Night Tracks.

Does anyone remember Night Tracks? Since we live in the country, and Momma didn't want a big satellite in her yard, no MTV for me... We had 3 or 4 good television stations to watch (without static!), and were lucky enough that the one from Atlanta had a video show on the weekends, so I could get my Rick fix! We would stay up all night if we had to - waiting on his latest video to come on, and then belt it out and dance all around the living room...

Once my girlfriends and I went to Albany to see him in concert, and I cried real tears as we got closer just thinking I would be in the same stadium as he was....

We've even been to see him in concert since becoming married women and Mommies... and screamed just like we did when we had big hair and braces.

Ahhhh, memories!

Family Pizza Night

Sunday night we all went back to BB and Reynie's for homemade pizza and some family time together...

With our expanding family, we decided to start having these get - togethers once or twice a month. Believe it or not, living on the same farm doesn't always mean you get to see your loved ones on a regular basis... sometimes we only wave as our car/truck drives on down the dirt road in a big 'ol hurry!

Okay, maybe we do see each other more than some folks, but we just like to make sure we get to see each other on a regular basis - we all enjoy it and it makes Momma and Diddy very happy.

The other "20" times we may eat together are all spontaneous!

Momma and Cub's pizza made together..

Reynie's pizza crust is really, really good yall, and she also made an awesome sauce from tomatoes grown in their own garden last summer.

(The recipe for this pizza crust is found on her blog... I'd make it a direct reference to that post, but I do not know how to do that! It was about a week ago?)



Topping off the night of good fun were coke floats, with chocolate sauce and vanilla ice cream. (The kids were in heaven!) We really do enjoy our family time and all the good food, laughs and tall tales that come out of it!

Momma is renovating her kitchen, so the next one will be here at our house... I have no idea what I could do to equal the pizza/sauce, but I look forward to another night with all of us there.

My new favorite picture of Uncle BB and EJ!

A Beautiful Baby Girl!

Welcome to the world Addyson Dale!

My cousin Renee delivered Addyson yesterday at 1:10 p.m. by C-section. The sweet little bundle is 9lbs, 3ozs and is 22 1/2 inches long!

Whew - She is gonna be tall like her Mommy and Daddy!

Congratulations to Renee and Evan - She is beautiful!


Here are the kids in the waiting room... EJ and Cub were sad they couldn't go back to the room to meet their new cousin, so instead they each wanted to send a balloon with their love!

Just Because...

I love this picture of our little ballerina!