Half Our Lives

On this day, 17 years ago, Greg asked me to be his girl.  He said to me, "I have two questions to ask you, one, will you be my girl, and two, will you go to prom with me?".  I obviously said yes, and since we are both 34 now, we have been together exactly half our lives.  This June we will celebrate our 13 year wedding anniversary.  We have three beautiful boys and have had the good fortune to have done most of what we have wanted to do so far.  We are thankful for our blessed life together.

Spring Break in Mississippi

This past week was Spring Break for the boys.  Greg was unable to take time off from his internship, so I packed them up and we headed for Mississippi.  We drove across Southern Arkansas and arrived in the Mississippi Delta, the land of cotton and the birthplace of the blues.  We had never been to this part of Mississippi before.  The reason for our visit was my desire to seek out historical places.  This time I was in search of a site that was a catalyst to the Civil Rights movement.  We visited what remains of the Bryant Meat and Grocery in Money, MS.  It is where 14 year old Emmett Till whistled at a white woman, thus setting into motion a chain of events that eventually gave Rosa Parks the courage to say no to the white man who demanded her seat on that Montgomery bus.  If you do not know the story of Emmett Till, you might want to take a moment to google him.  It's heartbreaking.  We arrived at the store on a foggy morning.  There is no marker or memorial, just a rotting building.  The smell of decay was heavy.  All and all, fitting for what happened here.  

Bryant Meat and Grocery, Money, MS

After we left Money we drove south.  I really enjoy seeing the bayous and back road country. It's mysterious in a way, like something you can never really know.  Our destination was Flora, MS.  In Flora is the Mississippi Petrified Forest.  This is the only petrified Forest east of the Rocky Mountains.  Apparently 38 million years ago, these trees came down river, got buried under silt and turned to stone.  Today, through erosion, they have re-emerged.  As you walk the trails, you see logs sticking out of the ground here and there.  It was a lovely hike.

38 million year old log

After our hike we continued west toward Vicksburg.  We traveled on the Natchez Trace Highway for a little while.  What a beautiful road.  Someday it would be fun to drive the whole lenghth, from Natchez, MS to Nashville, TN.  Upon reaching Vicksburg, we spent the remainder of the day at the battlefield.

Jacob near the Shirly House, Vicksburg, MS

Justin "firing" the cannon

The next day was spent finishing our tour of the battlefield, then a trip down to the Windsor Mansion Ruins outside Port Gibson, MS.  This mansion burned to the ground in 1890.  Now only the columns remain.  

Us at the Windsor Ruins

We drove home across Louisiana, thus making a circle of sorts.  It was a rewarding trip, seeing new sites, the boys doing so well, and knowing I could handle it on my own.

Happy Birthday Justin

Justin is six years old today.  I remember the day he was born well.  I was having such a hard time carrying him, he was so darn big, even though my doctor seemed oblivious to it.  I knew he must be big, because I could barely walk.  I was scheduled for my weekly check up that afternoon.  So, that morning, Greg, Matthew and I went on a walk to see if I could speed things along, even though it was still nine days before my due date.  I went to the appointment alone, taking Matthew, who was two, was pure torture for him.  So, the doctor checked me and said, "you're in labor".  I hadn't felt a thing, so I was a little surprised, although I think I mostly felt relieved. His office was in the hospital building, so he had me call Greg, and sent me down the hall to the maternity ward.  So, I get there, and talk to the check in lady, they ask me about contractions, and I said I haven't felt any.  They looked at me like I was crazy and asked why I was there.  I think they called down to my doctor's office.  They finally put me on a monitor, and sure enough, they registered contractions. Although at that point in a pregnancy I'm sure that you're having some contractions anyway. Honestly, I often have wondered if the doctor suddenly realized how big the baby must be, and just decided to induce.  They started the IV with Potocin, and pretty soon I started to feel real contractions.  Greg finally showed up, I was starting to wonder where the heck he was.  He had to wait for my sister to come stay with Matthew, plus he decided he better eat some dinner.  Lucky guy, I was starving and only allowed popsicles.  So, all this started around 5 pm.  I remember watching "A Few Good Men" while we were waiting.  I turned down the offer of a epidural.  I hadn't had one with Matthew, by God, I wasn't going to have one this time either.  That turned out to be a blessing in disguise. I did have the pain meds put in my IV though.  Finally, near the end, I got really irritable, I didn't want Greg touching me, any noise set me on edge.  At one point the nurse brought in a warming bed for the baby, and it kept beeping.  Greg was told to make it stop. That is the only delivery where I remember being really irritable like that.  Finally it was time to push.  It didn't take long, thank God, because Matthew took three hours of pushing, and  I thought I was going to die by the end.  Justin was born at 11:31.  He weighed 10 lbs 4 oz and was 21 and 1/2 inches long.  I think I did a double take when the nurse said 10 lbs.  She told me it was a good thing I hadn't had the epidural, because I probably wouldn't have been able to push him out, and would have ended up having a c-section.  I remember going past the nursery on our way to my room, and he looked so big compared to the other babies.  Matthew came the next morning to meet his little brother.  He didn't have much interest in him though.  I don't think he was ever too happy he suddenly had to share mom and dad.  As we drove home from the hospital, I noticed all the trees had started leafing out.  It was our first spring in Texas, so it was kind of neat.  All my tulips and daffodils were in bloom at the house, so I always know spring will come around Justin's birthday.  Now six years later, he such a creative, bright personality.  I'm so thankful he was sent to us.

Justin at Good Morning Borchardt

This past Monday, Justin went up with all the other birthday week kids to sing the birthday song at Good Morning Borchardt, their morning assembly.  Later in the assembly he got to go up again to receive his art show certificate.

A trip to the Ranch

Saturday we headed out to visit my parents at their ranch.  The boys have so much fun out there. It's sixty acres with a creek and trees, so they can run and explore.  My parents put up a tire swing for them, and they just love that.  We also ride three wheelers while we are there.  Yes, my parents still have their three wheelers from the 70's.  The ranch is an hour and half north east of us.  I wish we could visit more, but it's just getting harder and harder with the boys and Greg being in school. 

Cavanuagh Flight Museum

Friday Jacob and I went to the Cavanaugh Flight Museum in Addison to see the visiting B-17 Flying Fortress.  After touring the first two hangers, we went out to see it.  It was roped off, so we were limited to how close we could get.  As we walked to the backside, we could see into Hanger four, and what was sitting there, but Ol'927, a B-24 Liberator.  We knew the museum had bought it, but we didn't realize she had arrived.  The B-24 is Greg's favorite plane.  I couldn't wait to tell him it was here.  The museum also bought FiFi, a B-29, but no word on when she will arrive.  Jacob enjoyed seeing the planes, but he didn't like being in the hanger with the "bad guy airplanes", aka WWII Nazi planes.

Greg's Birthday

Today is Greg's 34th birthday.  Unfortunately, he has to work all day, and go to school all evening. He gets home around 9 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays.  We have arranged to meet him at school and have dinner with him though.  He already has his present, a new trolling motor for his fishing boat, I bought it for him this past Friday.  He has a bad case of spring fever and is dying to get that boat ready and on the water.  Well, two more weeks until Spring Break!  Happy Birthday Greg.

More Party Pictures.

Justin's Birthday Party

Yesterday we had a birthday party for Justin, who will be six on March 11th.  We went to a place called Jump Town, where they have a play ground of jump houses, slides, etc.  We had 22 guests, and the kids had a blast.  He has such sweet classmates and friends.  I'm so glad they came to celebrate with us.  We brought his gifts home to open, and boy, he has more patience then I do when it comes to opening presents.  He carefully removed each card, looked it over, then proceeded to open the gift.  He was in no rush.  Happy early birthday Justin.

Matthew's Scorpion

Matthew has been asking for a pet Emperor scorpion for a good two years.  I told him he could get one when he was eight. Well, he turned eight in November.  Now, please understand, Matthew is a walking encyclopedia on animal and science facts, he's truly interested in these animals. I put him off for awhile, but he saved his money and I finally agreed.  We went to Petco, and I told the front check out lady we needed help to buy a scorpion. She called over the loud speaker for assistance to reptiles.  Well, this poor young girl shows up. She asks us if we are sure, because you can't play with a scorpion.  I blurted out that we were used to poisonous pets, we have a pair of fire belly toads.  So, she opens the cage, and there are at least six scorpions running around in there, she's trying to push one into the little box.  Trust me, I could feel her pain.  Thankfully, a fellow employee, a young man, came to her rescue.  He reached in, picked it up by the tail and put it in the box.  OK, so we found everything else we would need, and went to check out.  Well, in all the excitement, the pair who helped us neglected to give us our little slip with the checkout code on it.  So, once again the gal was on the loudspeaker calling for help from the reptile department.  Meanwhile, quite a line is forming behind us, and the lady directly behind us asks, what's in that box, everybody is shying away from it.  The check out lady shoves it toward her and says it's a scorpion, would you like to hold it?  Of course she did not.  We finally made it home and got him set up in his new home. Honestly, I have no desire to touch it, but it is interesting to watch him.  We put him under a black light, and he glows green.  Matthew isn't so shy though, he's picked him up by the tail a few times and he did get himself pinched, but he said it didn't really hurt.  

Justin's Art

A few weeks ago we received a letter from school that Justin had had artwork selected to be displayed at the Frisco School District Youth Art Show.  The show was this past Thursday.  Oh my, it was so crowded there.  After figuring out where his school selections were on display, we pushed our way through and found his art teacher.  His artwork was a beautiful sand paper with color creation.  Sorry, I don't have a creative bone in my body, so I don't know what you would call it.  Looking at it, you would think a much older child then a kindergardener had done it. Greg and I were blown away.  He will receive a special certificate in a school assembly in the coming weeks.  His is the middle picture in the top row.