Circle of Life

Last weekend we were going to visit Josh, Nikki & Eli in Buford and attend a surprise birthday party for our friend, Eddie Mayfield. Eli had a virus all week and Nikki kept him home. We drove down on Thursday night, so we could keep Eli and they could both work on Friday. We arrived after he had gone to bed, so the first time I saw him was when he woke up Friday morning. The video below is what he was wearing. It is an old little league ball uniform that Josh had worn many years ago. It won't be long until it fits him and he is stepping up to bat just like his dad. I can't believe how fast my grandchildren are growing!

Juror No. 5

I received a summons for jury duty a few weeks ago. I have been a registered voter for 38 years. I have received only 3 jury summons previously. Two, I called the night before I was to report as directed and was told they didn't need me. One, I went but when they found out my husband was a police officer, they sent me home. I was not surprised that they called me but was surprised when both the state and defense chose me. They asked my job as well as Scott's before we retired. The case was about a home invasion. The family who did not speak a lot of English were asleep in their beds, parents and two small children, when 4 men with guns kicked open their door at around 3:00 in the morning. The parents were tied up, the children were put in a closet. Both parents cried on the stand as they told how they believed they all would be killed. I can not imagine the terror of the situation, with it only compounded by the fact that these men were screaming at them and they didn't understand most of what was being said. One man, a drug addict, confessed and named the defendant in our case as being the leader. The defendant was an admitted drug dealer. Our duty was to listen to all of these people from a world that is so different from our own. Take all of the evidence and try to decide which of these unsavory people were likely to be telling the truth more than another. I felt like taking a shower each night when I got home. The case was finished and we started our deliberations on Thursday around 10:00 am. We took an inital vote and it was 6 guilty, 3 not guilty, 3 unsure. By the time they sent us home it was 9 guilty and 3 not guilty. This morning it was 10 guilty and 2 not guilty, by 11:00 it was 11 guilty and 1 not guilty. We got a chalk board and diagramed and discussed for hours. It seemed that the not guilty votes were a result of not understanding some of the testimony or evidence. Once we found out what the misunderstandings were, everyone agreed to a guilty verdict. We all talked about how uneasy we were going back to the community, many have jobs where they contact the public everyday. We knew that the defendant's family and friends were remembering our faces, checking out our cars, and just generally trying to intimidate us. It was scary, but I have done my due diligence and am very glad it is over.

Snow 2009

We had our first snowfall last night. It was only about an inch, maybe two. I know for you who live further north (or midwest) this is nothing. I am sure it is because we get so little that we still love it! Scott said that he had problems getting the truck out of our driveway. We have two hills between the house and the road, one is steeper than the other so we had to pave it. It was very icy but there was hardly any snow the closer he got to town. The schools are closed today for a teacher's workday, so the kids that did get snow won't even benefit.

Christmas 2008

We had a wonderful Christmas!! It is rare and very special when all of our family can be together. We enjoyed our "new" traditions, cookie making for Santa on Christmas Eve, cookout at the firepit, and mandatory pictures. Thanks to those who photographed and allowed us to photograph. Below are a few of the pictures.

Top Five Things I am Thankful For

I may be biased but this is one cute kid!!

As I was being thankful this past weekend, I guess my top five would be:

1. God and His unending and amazing mercy and love

2. My family

3. My friends

4. Good health

5. My memories of my life so far and my dreams of the future

I was going to put Georgia Tech beating Georgia for the first time in SEVEN years but that would just be tacky. We had a great Thanksgiving. Those of us who could went to our family cabin in Ellijay. We missed Carol & her family and Amy & hers. We celebrated the fact that our family will increase next year (see Number 2 above). When I thought of Number 5, I thought of all of our past that makes us what we are and without hopes and dreams the future seems very dismal. So thank you God, family and friends for Thanksgiving 2008.

Eli is THREE!

Saturday was Eli's third birthday. He is the youngest of our grandsons (15 days younger than Quinn). We had a wonderful celebration with family and friends. Sharon, Nikki and Christy all contributed to the making of his cake - Rocket from the Little Einsteins. He sang the theme song for us while they were decorating the cake. I don't know why in this photo Rocket looks orange, it wasn't. Sharon got the red color perfect. See Nikki's blog for his 3 year old pictures.

Three Unplanned Reunions

Last weekend we had three unplanned reunions. Scott's mom died after a short illness. She was our last surviving parent. Carolyn Rae Bryner Puckett became my mother-in-law almost 36 years ago. She told me on our wedding day to call her Mom because I was her daughter now. Scott's dad was from Carrollton, GA and is buried there, so Scott's mom was buried beside him. We celebrated her life and mourned her death on Friday. We had not seen the Carrollton relatives for several years. It was really good to reconnect with them, swap email addresses and phone numbers. Scott's sister, Rhonda, and her family (13) came from New Jersey; his brother, Bryan, and his family (4) from Illinois; his brother, Glenn, and his family from N.C. (3). That was our first unplanned reunion. Quinn celebrated his THIRD birthday during that time, so we had a party for him on Sunday. Several members of my family (sisters, nieces) came. That was reunion number two. Amy, Chuck, Trip & Quinn had not planned on coming back South until Christmas, so that was our third reunion. We took the boys to the park on Saturday.

The Cabin

About 35 years ago Daddy built a cabin in the North Georgia mountains, located between Ellijay and Blue Ridge on the Ellijay River. It has one bedroom, one bath, a large room with living room, kitchen & dining room areas. We soon started spending all of the summer holiday weekends there as a family, as well as Thanksgiving. We had Daddy's annual family reunions there. We spent weekends there with friends, as they got older our kids did too. After Daddy's death, we lost some of the glue that held us together as a family. Our family weekends have all but stopped. As with any home, it needs regular upkeep. This year was the year of the Renovation. Susan & Joey did almost all of it themselves (with some help from their friends). It needed a new roof, new carpet, new refrigerator. They accomplished all of that as well as did dozens of improvements inside. It looks amazing. Those of us who could went on Saturday for a workday. From the time my kids were born, we lived in 5 different houses. The cabin is the place where they see their childhood when they visit. Amy worries that with Daddy gone and changes being made that she will lose that. Don't worry Amy, when I walked up on the porch I could still see Daddy sitting in the swing, Mama standing in the kitchen, smell Mamaw's yeast rolls rising on the fireplace hearth, hear the cheers & moans of a late night Rook game, the screams & laughter as the bat circled the room, Bucky's wild stories, shouts as the tubes came into sight on the river, the complete darkness sleeping wall to wall in the living room, giggles & shouts as the biscuitmaker was awakened, babies being bathed in the sink, growth chart on the bedroom door, hammock swinging, lightning bugs and campfires. So many memories are all still there. Thank you Daddy for giving us this gift.

Over The River and Through The Woods........

Amy, Chuck & the boys went to Florida with Chuck's parents for a week. They came through Atlanta and stayed with Josh & Nikki for a couple of days. THEN, came to our house!! We were so excited to have them here for 5 days. As if that couldn't get any better, Eli came with them! So we had ALL of our grandchildren here at the same time. On Tuesday we went to Hollywild in Inman, SC. It is an animal park with some exotic animals that have been in movies, tv shows, or commericals. Wednesday we went to a kid's museum here, Kid's Senses. Thursday we made crafts for feeding the birds. The boys saw deer and turkeys in the backyard. Then Thursday evening we had a cookout in our backyard firepit.

Josh & Nikki came after work Thursday night. Friday we went to Carol & Phil's house for a family get together. All my sisters were there and my Aunt Margie, Uncle Bud, and cousin Pam. While there, Phil's youngest son, Rob, came home from his second and final tour to Iraq. We went to the airport to wave flags and cheer him home.

It was such a wonderful week. Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone involved.

Two Birthdays & A Carousel

Saturday we went to Ron's 60th Birthday Party. We had a great time. Nikki and Sharon will be posting pics of the party. Ron and Josh share the same birthday, August 13th. Sunday we took Josh out to eat for his birthday at the Foodworks in Chattanooga. It is an old converted knitting mill.

Sharon, Nikki's mom, among all the very crafty things she does, carves carousel animals. She carved a horse for the Coolidge Park Carousel in Chattanooga. This year she finished a baby rhino for the Endangered Species Carousel at the Chattanooga Zoo in Warner Park. We went there on Sunday so that we could see the new carousel and Eli could ride the rhino. See Sharon's blog for pictures of Ronnie B.

Hailstorm

We have gotten a few storms in the past few weeks, but not the gentle rain that would be the most beneficial. Even at that, they seem to go around us most of the time. We will hear thunder and the wind will start blowing the leaves and then nothing. Today we were getting severe thunderstorm warnings on TV for our county. Finally, it started raining and then the hail. I haven't seen many hailstorms, certainly not this much. Below are some pictures I took. The last one is a hailstone that bounced off the front door (we have a wide porch). It had already started melting but is shown next to a quarter. Sorry it is blurred, I was getting pelted as I was taking the picture.

Smoky Mountains

This weekend I am house/dog sitting for Carol & Phil in Arden near Asheville.

This morning I drank my coffee on their back porch watching the sun rise. This was my view.

I do love the mountains!

Hello Dere!

Scott and I attended a wedding in Augusta this past weekend. The bride was a woman who was in Scott's group at a church camp 20 years ago. He wrote to each of the group afterward but Casie is the only one who continued writing (now emailing). He has watched her grow as a Christian and from teen to bride. She is the recreation director for her church. We decided to use the weekend to visit Josh, Nikki, & Eli, too. We drove to Buford on Friday, then to Augusta, Saturday, and back to Buford, Saturday night. Sunday morning, Nikki was playing with Eli. He would pick up an animal and say "Hello dere, how are you?" to another animal. I had to get my camera. We didn't get the "how are you?", but I did learn that a camel and polar bear can be friends even though their native habitats are extremely different.

The Unequal Distribution of Water

While in the Midwest last month, Scott and I kept commenting on the amount of rain. It seemed to rain at least every other day. On the drive across southern Illinois, we saw a lake where there should have been a field with crops. The water was literally to the horizon. When we first got to Missouri, I found myself going to a window and watching the rain. It had been a long time since I had experienced that much rain. So while Midwest is flooded, the Southeast is parched. I read in the paper this week that our county in NC has been rated with six other counties in the state as D4 or Exceptional Drought conditions. This is the driest rating, drier than D3-Extreme Drought. We stopped watering the grass in the early Spring but are still watering our flowers. Scott is always thinking about the possiblity of our well going dry. This is a picture I took of the yard today.

As the flood waters of the Mississippi continue south, Amy and family live far enough from the river for their home to be safe. I heard this morning that the amount of expected flooding has begun to be overestimated instead of underestimated as it was in Iowa. Brenda & Jason are friends of theirs who recently moved back home to Iowa. Even though their home was safe from the flooding, their church wasn't. I borrowed these pics from Brenda's blog. The first one is the parking lot and the second is the back of the sanctuary.

Remembering A Small Town Southern Man

My daddy was born into what Tom Brokaw referred to as the “Greatest Generation”. He was a child during the Depression and became a man during WWII. He married my mama, they had four daughters, lived and died in the same small town where they were both born. He worked hard all his life because that was just what you did. He worked the land, worked in textile mills, excavated land, poured concrete, and created beautiful things from wood. He and Mama were married 54 years before she died. It broke his heart. That broken heart went on beating for 364 days before it stopped and he was able to join her. Alan Jackson wrote a song about his father, Small Town Southern Man. Every time I hear it I think of Daddy. This is the chorus:
He bowed his head to Jesus
And he stood for Uncle Sam
And he only loved one woman
Was always proud of what he had
He said his greatest contribution
Is the ones you leave behind
Raised on the ways and gentle kindness
Of a small town Southern man

I miss you, Daddy.

The Mind of a Child

When I was a parent, I am sure I was too busy trying to teach, discipline, work, etc. to really appreciate the mind of a child. It is true they do make you see life differently. While staying 3 weeks with Trip and Quinn, I was able to revisit the ever evolving mind of a child. Amy and her sitter, Chris, thought is was time to start potty training Quinn. Amy asked me if I would work on it for her. He did really well, in that every time I took him, he would go, but he wasn't to the stage of realizing it for himself yet. I am sure that Amy and Chris will have him completely there before long. Quinn's 2 year old thinking is linear. He recalls things he has been taught. Example, if I use the potty, Gram will give me a M&M. Trip's 4 year old mind is much more complex. Example, if I go with Quinn and Gram to the potty and sing a nonsensical "potty" song to Quinn and he is successful, maybe Gram will give me a M&M too. Trip is constantly thinking. He questions everything and for every answer, there are usually two more questions. His mind is like a big sponge and he is soaking up everything he can. He has become fascinated with Heaven . Before I was there in April, Amy told him that her rolling pin was made by my daddy. After many more questions, he learned that both of my parents were in Heaven. When I was there in April, he told me that when he went to Heaven, he was going to tell my dad thank you for making the rolling pin. The following are some more conversations about Heaven from this visit:

After being reprimanded, he said that he wished that my mom wasn't in Heaven so he could tell her to put me in time-out.

He told Amy that he didn't want to go to Heaven. Amy said that he did want to go to Heaven but not until he was very old. She tried to think of the oldest person that Trip knew, which is Chuck's grandmother who is in her 80s and said that you would be even older than Momaw. He nodded and said but not as old as Grandpap (Scott, 58 years old) :)

On our last night, we were coming back from eating out. He asked Amy what my mom's name was. Amy said that her name was Memaw but she called her Meem. He picked up a toy cell phone and said he was going to call her in Heaven. The following is his conversation, "Hello, Memaw, can you come down from Heaven to Missouri and get Gram and take her to North Carolina? She needs help. 'Preciate it! Bye".

Thanks Scoggins for a great and enlightening visit. I love you all.

Playing in the Sprinkler

We have been in Missouri for almost three weeks while the boys' sitter, Chris, and her husband were in Russia adopting a daughter, Masha. They finally arrived home last night about midnight after a 35 hour flight. We are staying a couple more days, so they can recover and try to adjust to their new family. We will be going back to NC on Saturday. I can't tell you how much we have enjoyed being here with Amy and her family, we just don't see them nearly enough. Today with the temperature almost 90 we decided to turn on the sprinkler and let the boys play. Trip loved it but Quinn was a little apprehensive. By the end he was at least getting near it. Amy said that I had his swimsuit up to his armpits, but he didn't seem to mind. I do love to hear my little boys laugh!

Scott's New Do!

For some reason after 58 years of straight hair, Scott's has suddenly gotten a big wave in the front. You can't see it very well in this picture because he had been wearing a cap. The last time he got his hair cut, he said he was going to get it cut shorter and then came home with it short on the sides and that big wave still on top. Since we are still in Missouri, he decided to go today and get it cut again. Before he left, I told him to think more "Harrison Ford" than "Andy Griffin". This is how he came home. The woman that cut it took a little more off than he wanted but I am sure that big wave will be back in a few weeks.

Going to MoBo!

Scott and I took the boys to the Missouri Botanical Gardens. It is a beautiful place and we only saw a small portion of it. We spent most of the time in the Children's Garden. Enjoy the photos!

Happy Birthday, Amy!

Sunday was Amy's birthday. After church, she and I went shopping and she bought some summer clothes. Then we met the guys for dinner at PF Changs. When we got home there was ice cream cake. So other than Quinn refusing to eat and making himself barf at the restaurant, I think it was a good day for her. I hope this year is the best yet.