Updates

I have several updates to type out for you like Christmas, my family leaving, finish up our trip to see Edward and others. Come back after the new year for all of those update.

I wish your family a very Happy New Years filled with the Glory of God.

Eight Years

It was December 22nd, 2008 around lunch time when my sister was visiting our mommy at her work where they were having their Christmas party. My sister and our mom was coming down the steps so that my sister could be on her way to the doctor. While coming down the steps my sister tells our mom "I think Haylee is coming." Well my sister arrives at the doctor's office where she is told you are 4cm, your baby is coming today. Mind you my sister is only 28 weeks pregnant which mean Haylee is not ready to come into this crazy world at all yet. Well the EMS is called and off to FMC my sister is taken. From the time she left Thomasville until she arrived in Winston-Salem she dilated 5 more cm putting her up to 9 cm which really meant Haylee was coming today. My sister arrived at FMC around 4:55 pm and Haylee was born at 5:01pm. Haylee tipped the scale at 2 pound 6.8 ounces and was 14 inches long. Haylee spent 55 days in the NICU at FMC. On Febuary 16th, Haylee came home. You see that precious 2 pound 6.8 ounces angel is celebrating her 8th birthday today.

HAPPY 8th BIRTHDAY SWEET GIRL!!!

How does someone this little

grow to be someone this big?

GOD

Haylee is doing wonderful as you can see for yourself. If you have a had the joy to be around Haylee you know what a sweet girl she can be. Haylee has grown into a smart, beautiful, happy young lady.

Haylee,

Over the past eight years I have watched you grow into the beautiful young lady you are today. I have prayed for you each and every day and could not see my life without you in it now. You are very smart second grader. Your love for your brothers is very strong. Your love for your mommy and daddy is one that only you could have for them. Your love for your Nana and Papaw is one that you will always have. Now you will start a new journey in your life as you move to a new state which brings new friends, new school, new faces, new church, but just remember one thing you will always have you mommy, daddy, and two Bubbas with you forever. I love you sweet girl.

Aunt Heather

On the bus

Yes that is right my brother-in-law is on the bud heading back to North Carolina. The bus left the station today at 3 (4 our time) and should arrive in High Point right before lunch tomorrow. The excitement that had fulled my sister's house is unreal right now. The boys are so excited for their daddy to finally be home again wrestling and carrying on. Haylee is really to be daddy's princess again. My sister is beside herself for her husband to finally be home again. My sister has cleaned the house spotless for Edward. I know she will not be able to sleep tonight our of pure excitement.

Oh my....

How did you all get so very lucky to hear from me two days in a row. Just wanted to update everyone on my sister's journey to a new state. God works in powerful ways. My sister texted me this morning with great news of they have a house to live in. The house has three bedrooms, two baths, small yard for the monkeys to run around in and is only five miles from the base. My sister is very relieved to say the least that they have a house to live in before they get there and won't have to live out of a hotel room. Now the fun begins with packing up all the childrens toys and everything else that come with three kids. Just keep praying that everything works out for them.

Oh yeah just so you all know SCHOOL IS OUT until January. YAH!!!

Update

I know I have been doing a bad job at updating my blog like I promised you all. Well here is one big update and I will do my yvery best to update my blog at least once a week if not more. Oh where to start here, I am just going to jump in starting with myself.

I have finished up yet another semester of school and finally see the light at the end of the tunnel since I am heading into my LAST semester for my Assoicate Degree in Early Childhood Education. I plan on going to HPU for my teaching degree but we will see how everything pans out during the summer and if I get a assistant teacher position. I am still loving my job at Hasty and love the people and children I work with each and everyday, there is never a dull moment there. I have been working out for the past month and very proud to say I am feeling great. I am still single but very much ok with that because I know God has a special someone for me one day, but for now I am content to wait for him.

The family is doing great. My daddy still loves his job very much and is a totally different person now that he doesn't have all of that stress on him. Now that daddy is happy everyone is happy in the house. My mommy is still staying at home but in January will be going back to school. I am very proud of my mommy for going back to school at the very young age of 57. Of course it will take some time for her to get back into the swing of thing but before you know it she will be running circle around all of those others in the program. My daddy, my mommy and me are taking on a new business of selling teak products. We are very excited about what God will do in our business. I will post a different blog about the items we will be selling and where you can find the product. Overall, we are still one big well ok little happy family.

Ok onto more exciting news here. My brother-in-law will be home on Friday. If you are just now joining me here just to give you a quick filler. My brother-in-law left August 21st and heading to Fort Benning, GA for 10 weeks of basic training. On November 2nd he headed to Fort Leonard Wood, MO where he has been until he leaves on Thursday December 18th. He will arrive in High Point on Friday December 19th. We are all very excited about him coming home for good this time. The kids can not wait until daddy is home and playing rough again with them. On December 29 the movers come to pack my my sister's house up to move them out to MO where they will be stationed for who know how long because the Army will do whatever they want as we all have learned over the past 17 weeks. December 31st my sister and her family will leave North Carolina to travel 14+ hours to their new home state of MO. Please pray for my sister and her family to have safe traveling there especially with three children. They are very excited about this new journey in life God has brought them too.

I Am Thankful For....

1. I am thankful for my God. I sin everyday yet my God always forgives me of my sins and NEVER judges me for my wrong doing.

2. I am thankful for my family. My mommy and daddy who believe in me, who tell me you can do anything you set your mind to, who encourages me to reach for the highest stars and never give up, who tells me job well done keep up the great work. My sister for all the great talks we have that no one else will ever know about. The person who also tells me you can do it, don't give up. My brother-in-law for everything he has done for not only my sister but for our family. I am thankful for my brother-in-law to leave his family behind to go serve our country so that we may have freedom. I am thankful for my Haylee, Logan and Tyler, for the joy they bring to my life each and everyday. I am thankful for my ma-maw who is the rock of our family, who keeps the family going because of her great faith put in our Heavenly Father above. I am thankful for my pa-paw who is now in Heaven preparing my place there.

3. I am thankful for my friends. I am thankful for my Katye and Michelle. These two girls keep me going somedays. The simple smiles, "I Love You Miss Heather", the little notes they leave in my box at work, the simple little text or messages on myspace are what I love the most about these two girls.

I am thankful for my best friend Amber. Amber and I have been best friends since kindergarten. We have been through a lot over the past few years but somehow we made it through since the best of friends. Yes we may not see eye to eye on a lot of stuff but through it all we still have the greatest love for each other in our hearts.

4. I am very thankful for my job. Yes someday I want to scream because my kids are driving me crazy but deep down inside I couldn't see my life without these kids.

......more to come tomorrow.

Two Years......

Today is suppose to be a happy day, a day for being thankful, a day to spend with family having a great time. Well that was a little different for my family today. You see at 7:05pm my grandmother lost her husband, my mommy lost her father and I lost my pa-paw. I am not going to harp on the lost of my pa-paw but I am going to say why I am so thankful for the time I did have with my pa-paw.

• I am thankful for the 20 wonderful years I got to spend with my pa-paw.
• I am thankful for the homemade strawberry and banana ice cream we used to make in my grandparents basement.
• I am thankful for the time my sister and I got to spend down in my grandparents basement skating while pa-paw would do some handy work.
• I am thankful for the nice summer days my pa-paw would go out and hang the wooden swing in the tree and push my sister and me for hours on in.
• I am thankful for the time I got to spend with my pa-paw sweeping out the basement during the fall when all the leaves would blow into the basement.
• I am thankful for the time I was able to gather wood for the fireplace with my pa-paw.
• I am thankful that my pa-paw knew our Heavenly Father and is now preparing my place in Heaven with him.

Please don't take me wrong. I do miss my pa-paw very much. I miss him so much some days I wish I could just have had one more minute, one more hour, just one more day with him. This year for some reason I had a very hard time dealing with my pa-paw not being here with us in person. I miss climbing up and down the steps with my pa-paw following him where ever he went. I miss hearing my grandmother say "wait on your little shadow." I just miss everything about my pa-paw.

Happy 2nd Angel Day Pa-Paw. I love you and miss you very much.

Army Update

So I am going to do my best to update you all on our trip to Fort Benning, GA to see Edward. I am sure I will leave things out not meaning to but I will get the highlights most importantly. First of all it was a blast and we enjoyed every minute of the trip even though it was crazy at time. I am going to go through this day by day.

Tuesday: We left the house around 1:15 with the mission of getting to GA before 9:00pm. Out of our road we went heading toward the highway, my sister looks at my daddy and says which way am I going. My daddy thinking she was joking did not answer little did her know she was not joking so there was our first laughs of many during our trip. We got the highway direction settled and down the highway we went. The kids were doing great watching movies and coloring pictures for daddy.

We had just entered South Carolina when this little voice from the back seat says "Mommy me have to potty." Great Ty has to potty. Well while Elizabeht and my daddy look for the bathroom the kids are all cracking up because we had just passing the big peach when Logan decides that the peach looks like a big butt.

Back on the highway we go after everyone files out of the van for a potty break. Trip is still going great at this point, we are playing rock, paper, scissors, watching movies, coloring, looking at the BIG Toys r us book for all the Christmas presents we want.

Finally the big Welcome to GA sign is in site.

We made it kids we are in the same state as daddy, mommy says from the front seat. "We in the same state as daddy" Ty says with a great big smile on his face. Everyone has settled down from the great excitement of being in the same state as daddy when that little voice says again "Mommy me have to potty". We got that business taken care of again, then we hit the Atlanta GA 5:oo traffic without any warning, mind you my sister is driving and she never drives in big places like this but I have to give it to her SHE DID WONDERFUL!!!! We got through that crazy traffic and stop for supper and Ty has to once again potty. Finally we make it to Fort Benning, GA with the new mission of trying to find the vistor center on base to get our pass to be able to get on the base Wednesday morning. After and few wrong turns and a few stops no go, slow down, take this exit we make it to the vistor center. Elizabeth and daddy go into get the pass. We off again with the mission now to find our hotel that we were staying in. We find it and get all checked in for our stay until Friday morning. With all the excitement it took a while to get everyone calmed down and in the bed to insure enough sleep since we had to be up super early. Finally at 11:00, Elizabeth and myself climb out tired bodies into the bed for a little sleep before having to get up at 5 the next morning.

Long Time, No Post!!!

Boy has it been a crazy two months. Where do I even start in trying to update you on what has been going on in my crazy life. Sit down, buckle up and enjoy the ride......
(Sister and family) As most of you know my sister's husband left August 21st for Fort Benning, GA for 10 weeks. I am happy to say that on Tuesday October 28th around noon we will be on our way for Fort Benning to see Edward on Wednesday October 29th at family day then on Thursday October 30th he graduate from basic training. We will leave sometime on Friday October 31st leaving Edward behind. Edward will then fly out to MO on November 1st to line everything up for the BIG move for the whole family around the middle to end of November. I am happy to report that Edward has lead two men to Christ, this was his mission field. Elizabeth and the kids are just counting down the days until they get to see him. I am not saying this has been an easy road for any of us but we have made it and will make it the last 12 days.
(Parent) My daddy was out of work from the the beginning of August until October 7th. On October 7th he went for an interview and was hired right there on the spot which was a BIG blessing. My daddy loves his job finally and it come with benefits which he has never had. Two weeks ago on October 1st everyone on the second floor where my mommy works was called into a meeting and told they no longer had a job to say. They were told they had to reapply for a job and produce a resume and have it all turn in by the next Tuesday (10/7). On Wednesday (10/8) and Thursday (10/9) everyone had to go through an interview. On Friday (10/10) everyone would know if they had a job or not, well that was a bunch of junk. On Friday they were told it would be Monday (10/13), well on Monday they were told it would be Tuesday (10/14). On Tuesday they were told it would be Wednesday or Thursday. The reason everything was pushed back on just kept going was because they had already picked who was getting job and who was not and then 6 people up and retired early and they were basically screwed, so they had to got back and try again. Well today my mommy was let go. Before all the oh I am so sorry start, let me just say, WE WILL BE OK. God had everything planned out and knew my mommy was losing her job and that is why HE allowed this job for my daddy. So as of 5:00pm on Wednesday October 15th my mommy is offically a housewife.
(Me) I am doing ok considering everything that has been going on in my life right now. School is going ok, but I am ready for this semester to be over with and just pray I make A's and B's. Work is going great loving every minute of it even though it can be very stressful at time. God has been showing my A LOT lately. I have started going to a Bible Study on Thursday night with some of the girls from church. Out preschool minister left in September so I have taken on some of her roles to help the church out. Through all of this I still fit God, church, family, school, work, friends in. I have to say right now I am loving life.

Great News!!!

So on Friday I got some very great news that I have been waiting to hear for a very long time. Friday around 1:45 or so Laura (my wonderful boss) called me int her office. Well of course my heart just sank and I did not know what was coming because I knew after-school jobs were suppose to be posted on Friday. Well I guess she could just see that look on my face as like what have I done now, but she assured me that it was good. Well she told me that we are going to have site at Hasty again this year and she wanted to know if I would accept the job as DIRECTOR of that site. I could not be more happy right now. God does answers prayer. I will update more when I know more about MY site.

While I am here I will go ahead and just update you all as to what is going on with Edward. Edward has to be in Charlotte Wednesday night instead of on Thursday. So my parents and I are going to go to church with them on Wednesday night and then my daddy is going to go with my sister to drop him off. Please start praying now that my sister and the children will be able to stay focused and remember that this is God's plan for their life. Also please pray that Edward does not worry about my sister and the children while he is gone, because they will be fine, my daddy, mommy and me will be here for them. I also would like for you to pray for us as a whole family that this will make us strong and a closer family.

Summer Fun

So today the kids came over to spend some time with us while Elizabeth and Edward squared away some things before Edward leaves (see post below if you don't know what I am talking about). So I decided to have a little photo session out in the front yard while the boys played in the water and ate watermelon. Then we came inside and took more pictures. I am really going ot miss taking pictures like we did today. Well I won't keep you waiting any long.

Army

No I am not joining the Army, but my brother-in-law reenlisted with the Army again and will be leaving August 21st for Fort Benning, GA for nine to ten weeks of training. After those weeks are up Elizabeth, Edward, Haylee, Logan and Tyler will be packing up and moving 14 hours away to Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. I am very at peace with this decision they have made because I know they have spent many hours talking, praying, waiting on God to answers prayers. My parents are very at peace with the decision they have made too. I mean don't get me wrong it will be very hard to see my babies leave and move that far away but you know what we will just have to make road trip to see them, we will still be able to talk to them over the phone and computer, we plan on buying web cams to be able to see each other also. I will keep you all updates as we get further into this journey. Please pray for our family too.

Happy Birthday....

to me. In a few short minutes I will offically turn 22. As I look back over my 22 years God has blessed me with, I found a lot of positive things and only a very few struggles. I have been blessed with two wonderful parents, a great sister who listens to me whenever I need her, a funny brother-in-law, a beautiful niece, two handsome nephews, wonderful grandparents and great friends. I have been blessed with a wonderful church family, a great work place and wonderful people to work with. I will finish college in December and have earned my AS in Early Childhood Education. I have been able to buy and Jeep to help my parents out.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO MYSELF!!!!

Beach Trip

So instead of boring you all with details about my trip I have decided just to post some pictures from our trip. Hope you enjoy.

Day One (Saturday)

Well my day started at about 6:00, when I woke up but just layed there because I knew I would probably be drving most of the way, so I need to just rest that extra hour. Well about 6:15 or so the phone rang and I just knew what that call was about and sure enough it was that calling tell us that my uncle had died about 6:00, my aunt talked to my daddy for a little bit and told us to go ahead andgo on vacation because not was going to be done until later in the week. We have not told my grandmother or my dad's brother that is with us because my grandmother will just want to go home and there is not really anything she can do and plus my aunts wanted her to come and this vacation. I know that you are probably thinking that we should have stayed home but when my daddy talked to my aunt she told us to go ahead and go on vacation and that we would do the memorial service when we got back since they were not going to do a funeral anyways. My daddy talked to my aunt this morning and the memorial service is going to be Saturday at 3 so we will have to leave the beach around 8 or 9 to get back in time for that.

Well I got up around 6:50 and got dressed fight with my eye the whole time hoping that it would clear up and not bother me to much on vacation. About 7:15 my daddy comes through and and if we were ready to go and of course we were but we were way ahead of schedule which is good I guess. So we go have breakfast at Biscuitville and then we have to run my the post office to drop something off to be mailed then on to the shop were we left the van so we could have some work done on it while we were gone. I guess we got to my ma-maw's around 8:15 or so and packed her up then we were on our way to my other grandmother's to pack them up and off to the beach we heading. I wish you could all see what my Jeep looked like on the way down here we had the chairs and the travel bag straped to the top of my Jeep. We left their house around 9:45 and were on our way to the beach. Around 11:30 or so we stopped at KFC to have lunch (exit 321). We were on the road again by 12. About 1:45 or maybe before we stopped again because I was about to pop. We got to the place we had to check in at around 2:30 which is what my daddy planned for us to do. We unpacked everything from the cars and dragged it up 30 some steps. We left for supper at Gulf Stream around 5:15, we were not sure that they were open but it turned out that they were. We were very happy with supper and to top it all off it was cheap. After supper we headed on over to Food Lion to pick up the items we could not bring with us like milk, eggs, bread, etc. We got back to the room around 7:30 or so. I head off to bed about 10:00.

So there you have it, our first day of our beach trip. I will blog about our day later tonight.

Off....

to the beach until next Saturday. I have been looking forward to this vacation for a very long time now. The reason is not because I get away from everything but this year my ma-maw and grandmaw are both going with us. I will have to say that this will be a very interesting beach trip to say the least but I am glad that my grandmaw is going with us to get her out of the house and away from Thomasville/Archdale. So in all there will be six of us head to the beach Saturday morning. We have some fun days planned and then just some lazy days planned to lay by the pool/ocean. I am looking forward to climbing to the top of the lighthouse and then we are going on a lunch cruise one day, I get to see one of my cousin and her family who lives at the beach (she is my favorite one, but don't tell anyone).

I would also like to ask you to pray for my family. My daddy got a call this morning saying that my uncle is dying. I know that says harsh and all but that is the way my daddy basically told me when I got home from work. We knew it was coming but did not think it would be this soon and with us going on vacation this week just makes it even harder. My daddy has talked to his sister several times today and she still wants us to go and enjoy ourselves. If he should die while we are gone, nothing will be done until we get back from vacation on Saturday. They are planning to only have a memorial service for him which my daddy was asked to speak at. What puts me a peace with the whole situation is the one thing that my aunt to my daddy told and that was MY UNCLE IS SAVED!!!!! When the news first came of him getting bad that was our one question we all asked each other and now we can put our minds to rest and know where he will go for enternal life.


Well I am going to leave you with that. I will see you all when we get back from vacation with updates and pictures. Have a wonderful week everyone.

Changes....

I have made some changes to my blog, the way it look mostly. I would like to thank Jessica Beaver for the much needed changes to the blog. Hope you all like it. Let me know what you think about it.

So....

So here are my idea/thoughts on my diaper cake and gift business. I am going to start with the diaper cake ideas first.

Diaper Cakes could come in three different sizes: small, medium and large. Small would be two layers and would cost between $30.00-$35.00. Medium would be three layers and would cost between $40.00-$45.00. Large would be four layer and would cost between $50.00-$55.00.

I have two different options to pick from either standard or personalized.
~~~The standard diaper cake would geared toward the gender of the baby and include diapers, 8 o.z. baby wash, 4 o.z. baby bottle, 2 paci, nail clippers, comb/brush grooming set, medicine dropper, teething ring, cold/hot teething ring, linking rings and diaper trash bags.
~~~The personalized diaper cake would be geared toward the specific gender of the baby and all materials would be gathered off the baby registry. The cake would include: diapers of choice, 8 o.z. baby wash of choice, 4 o.z. bottle of choice, 2 paci of choice, any small toys, medicine dropper, nail clippers, comb/brush grooming set, teething ring, linking rings, and diaper trash bags.

** If diaper choice is not provided I will either use Huggies, Pampers, or Luvs. If baby wash choice is not provided I will use Huggies.**
~~~If you are wanting a diaper cake I would need the following information: gender of baby, place mommy-to-be is registered, Person who placed the order contact information, date needed by (please allow two weeks) and any special requests.

Now you are asking why I am charging so much for a simple little diaper cake. Well truth be known I put anywhere from 8-10 hours buying materials, rolling the diapers and putting rubber bands around then all, and then making the cake itself to be perfect for the special little one.

Here are my ideas on the gift baskets. I can make a gift baskets for the following occassions right now: baby, house warming, birthday, wedding.
~~~ Baby: blue/pink/yellow/green pail with tub of wipes, bottles, clothing, toys, bottle brush and anything off mommy-to-be gift registry.
~~~ House Warming/Wedding: big collander with dish towels, measuring cups and spoons, different cooking spoons, salt/pepper holders, pot holders, and anything off gift registry.
~~~ Birthday: Age Theme- would need to know child's age on upcoming birthday and anything the child likes or dislikes or maybe allergic too.

**I am still working on the prices for the gift baskets but I will get back to you soon on how much the baskets would be. Of course each basket price may vary depending on how much time is put in and ideas are put together to make the basket prefect.


I am also working on making suckers to sell in buck or individually and also to put with the gift baskets and on the diaper cakes. I will go ahead and give the information to you but just know I do now have all the supplies yet that I need to make the suckers. When time comes to make suckers I will be making the following: baby- boy/girl/surprise, birthday, wedding.

Small suckers- .25 or 4/$1.00
Medium suckers- .50 or 4/$1.00
Large suckers- $1.00 each or 2/$2.00

Buck:
100 small- $25.00
50 medium-$30.00
25 large- $40.o0

So these are my ideas I would be more then happy to hear your ideas, thoughts, comments, suggestions, anything you want to say I am all ears.

Life

So just wanted to update everyone on my life. So far everything is going great just getting over a very nasty cold right now but I am going to live. My sister and her family are in FL right now visiting Mickey Mouse and all his friends. I miss my babies so much and won't get to see them until next Monday.

Work is going great. I love all my little monkeys very much. Meggan left Friday to have a little vacation because she starts her new job at the hospital. I already miss her very much but Courtney is coming back Tuesday after being out from having Branson. I have to say I am glad Courtney is coming back because I have missed seeing her around the Y since she went out to have Branson. I am sure some things are going to be different be we are just going to welcome her in our nice little family and keep the drama out, since we want to be known as the camp with NO drama.

I will leave it at that right now.

Business Pictures

This diaper cake was for a baby girl.