January 13, 1968

That is the day my parents were married. Roseann Louise Casertano married her prince, Daniel Edward Corbett......

From that union 4 children were born - Marie, Daniel Jr., Patricia and Colleen. There are now 9 Grandchildren as well.

My Dad went Home on April 8, 1992 - a very dark day for all of us. Yet his life is still celebrated by all of us. People here in Charlotte who never had the pleasure of meeting my dad "know" him because of all they have heard about him from all of us. My friend Tina uses many of my dad's expressions!!! And I love it.....

Many of the people closest to us "grew up" with my dad around and they still (almost 17 years later) talk about him and how much fun they had with him and how much they miss him.

My parents worked together in their own business - not many people can do that and remain happy. In the eulogy I wrote for my father's funeral I said to my mother "You were his right arm, his Rosie...." and that is exactly how it was. "Their song" was I Got You Babe (Sony & Cher) it was a reflection of them - they didn't always have a lot, but they had each other - and that was all they needed.

My mom has not been on one date since he passed. We have encouraged her at times to go out, do something for yourself instead of your kids and grandkids all the time. Her response:

"Once you have had caviar, you don't want just any fish....."

And so it goes - she had the love of her life and she is content to just continue to spoil the rest of us.

I hope all who read this have or find this kind of love in their lifetime.

A Son's Love

As I was reading Holly's Blog the other day
I was reminded about the love a son has for his mother.

My son Joseph is no exception, as a matter of fact lots of my friends tell me already that he will be quite the smooth ladies man when he grows up. He is mannerful, kind, considerate and frankly he is smooth. He gives out hugs and kisses constantly and without being asked. He is truly a ray of sunshine.

Last night was no exception. We were sitting at the dinner table and talking about a few events we have coming up - one of them being mother/son day with his elementary school. Well mother/son day is Sunday, January 18th from 3:30 - 7:00 for a meet and greet and a Charlotte Checkers Hockey Game. As we are sitting there I am teasing him (he is 6) and saying oh boy Joe mommy must really love you - do you know the sacrifice I am making to go to the mother/son event??? Do you Joe??? That is the Conference Finals of Football, Joe - the winner is going to the Superbowl Joe. And so on... His response, - "But mom this is a mother/son day you know that is so important......" With a big smile on his face and his blue eyes sparkling the whole time - so of course I said - "You are right Joe - there is nothing I would rather be doing than spending mother/son time with you."

The night progresses and I am upstairs on the elyptical machine - I have one of Big Joe's shirts on, sweats that I wore after pregnancy and my hair in a pony tail. Little Joe comes into say something to me and mid-stream he stops and says "Nice earrings mom!!!" and full of enthusiasm - so I say well thank you Joseph and he turns to walk out, but stops and says "Mom are they new???" Do you see what I mean about him giving the ladies attention!!!

So again I say - there is nothing in this world like the love a son has for his mother. And I also want to add that a dear friend of mine told me that years ago when she had a son and before I had children - she was so right.

What My 30's Brought Me

Today is my 40th Birthday!!! I am not sad, worried or having a mid-life crisis. I love the life I have and I pray that my 40's are as good to me as my 30's were.

Reflections:

I turned 30 on 12/30/98. What an amazing 10 years it has been. Of course we all know life gives us both ups and downs but I do my best to not dwell on the downs because without them I might not be the person I am today so I prefer to call them life lessons.

Here are some of the high & low lights of the past decade of my life.....

Joe and I bought our first "house" - we closed on it on 1/7/99. 10 years later it is our "home" and already full of so many great memories.

Danielle was born on 10/21/99 and Joseph on 4/7/02.

Five of my Twelve nieces and nephews were born over the past ten years.

Colleen and Amber lived with Joe and I and we were there with them for first steps, words etc.... They moved out on their own and then onto NY and broke my heart - obviously the story has a happy ending as the came back to Charlotte a few years later and Baby Alex was born.

Steve, Regina and the girls move right around the corner from us!!! Talk about a major GREATNESS.

Mine & Joe's entire immediate family now live in Charlotte or Matthews.

I bought my first ever brand new car.

My relationship with Tom (my BFF since I was 12) has grown even stronger, him and Joe get along GREAT and he married Lisa - a wonderful girl and our kids are growing up together.

I got a job that I truly enjoy and have been at for 10 years. I could not have asked for a better boss.

The same job brought Tina into my life. There were many things I would not have made it through without her sitting next too me and holding me up. Plus I would never have laughed this much at work.

My friend Lori and I shared our first pregnancies. It was so nice to have someone going through all the same stuff at pretty much the same time.

I have met amazing people here in Charlotte who fill my life with love and happiness and who I know with all I my heart would do anything for me, Joe, the kids or my mom.

Joe's job at Verizon brought us Daryl and Andre and their boys. They are truly an extension of Joe and I and they are 2 people we can't live without. We have laughed together, cried together and laughed somemore.

God spared my brother-in-law Jimmie after a near fatal car accident. It was a long road but he is here with us and as good as ever.

Some of the people who I love the most in this world lost one or both of their parents and my heart broke with and for them - having been through it I did my best to support them.

I lost my grandmother who most people know meant the world to me. I do remain grateful that I had her for 38 awesome years.

My mother moved in with us - and frankly I could never, ever say enough about her and what she does for us and the kids.

I lost the man (Tom's Dad) who sent me my first dozen roses when I turned 16 and then again when I turned 21. I know if he was still here today my door bell would ring and a dozen white roses would be waiting for me.

I have witnessed God move those closest to me, closer to Him. I have seen 3 people who I hold so dearly give their life to Christ and reaffirm that through baptism. I have seen God in my children daily.

I have seen my sister not give up on finding happiness, she didn't settle, sell-out or give up. I give many thanks to the people who love her and stood by her and held her up and I give thanks and praise to Elevation Church and the people she has met there as well. She has come full circle and realized in her heart she deserves happiness and inner peace and now she has found it.

Joe and I have grown closer and stronger in our relationship.

I have reconnected with several family members through Facebook and it feels great.

Most importantly - I have learned that the material things Joe and I have are not what makes our life so amazing - what makes it amazing are the people in our lives. If I wake up at 40 with nothing - I will still be one of the luckiest, most blessed girls because of the riches my family and friends shower us with.

Stay tuned for what I hope my 40's will bring me......

What Would You Give Baby Jesus

While working with our 3rd graders last night, my sister-in-law Regina and I read the story of The Birth of Jesus. After the story we asked the kids "If Jesus was born today, what gift would you bring Him?"

Some of the responses:

A blanket to wrap Him in the keep Him warm
Gold
Clothing

Some wanted to give Him their little brother or sister!!!

But my absolute favorite response - and this was our first response of the night:

I would bring/make Him a tag/sign that said

THE DREAM IS BORN

What a great response!!! I wrote it on the board so we would all think about it.

So tell me, what gift would you bring Baby Jesus if He were born today???

Elevators Spreading The Word

My daughter Danielle was in a Christmas Program at her school (Highland Creek Elementary) last night. Part of the program was each 4th grade class performing on stage. In one of the classes a girl had on a E-Kidz Shirt, so in the middle of their performance Little Joe (not very quietly) says "MOM - that girl has an e-kidz shirt on!!!" So I say, yes she does. And the performance goes on. There were several hundred people in the auditorium and we were all leaving together - on our way out we saw the girl again and Danielle and Joseph were so excited and pointing at her, her mom noticed this at the same time we noticed her mom was wearing an Elevation shirt.

She was very happy and excited when we told her Colleen is also an Elevator and before we could tell her we have visited Elevation many times she was inviting us to attend service. I can not express in words how excited and proud she was to be a member of such an awesome Church.

This is a pattern for sure - anyone I have ever met that attends Elevation is never just oh I attend - it is always I attend the best Church EVER!!!

Know Your Limitations

I volunteered to watch my nephews Noah (3 1/2) and Logan (2) for a few hours. I figured how bad could it be, it would be just the three of us - so we would get great quality time together.

The expression "God never gives you more than you can handle" was on my mind today. I realized that He certainly knew that a day like today more than once in my life would have been too much.

Here is how it went:

Up and getting breakfast at 7 (no problem I am an early person)

Me trying to check some work e-mail - Logan, Logan, Logan where are you....
I found him in the master bathroom trying to turn the water on in the tub.

Noah needed me to turn a game on for him - so we go to the TV that the kids play games on - which is always set for the game. Guess what, someone decided to watch TV in that room. I will sit here embarassed to admit I am remote control challenged - but only in my own home - Joe has all kinds of set ups and I have no patience for it at all. So I say to Noah ok lets get the remote - I now have three in my hand and I am trying to figure it out - Logan is sitting next to us and I hear him say "Dare you go" and the input changed - he had the remote we needed in his hand.

Me trying to get them in the car so we can go to Concord Mills so I can let them play on the little playground in the Mall - HONESTLY my only purpose for going as I am trying to stay out of the stores. Logan, Logan, Logan where are you....
I found him sitting on the chair in my office banging away on the computer keyboard. He looked up and said "I workin".

We get to the mall and since we are there for one reason I carry Logan in and hold Noah's hand as we walk in. We get to the playground I take off their coats and they are off and running. It is a small playground so one way in and out. I am standing right there - and I mean right there. Here comes Logan off the slide and bam he is off and running right out of the playground and into the Maidenform Store directly across. I am running and hoping the nice lady that is there with her son will keep one eye on Noah who is still playing.

This happens about 3-4 more times - I honestly lost count - and I promise you all that you have never, ever seen a 2 year old this fast. So I say ok time to go home and have some lunch. We bundle up and we start walking out - I am getting my keys - oh wait, no I am not because I can't find them. Back to the playground and we look around - NO KEYS. So I walk out to see if I can see them in the car, all the while looking at the ground to see if I dropped them. NO LUCK

So I call Joe - I lost the keys, WHAT, I lost the keys, your kidding, no I'm not - I am frazzled and I can't find the keys. Ok check customer service and call me.

Of course we were parked as far away from customer service as possible so not I have to carry Logan the length of the mall and hold Noah's hand. In just getting back into the mall I was exhausted. As we came in I saw and empty TJ Maxx Shopping Cart -and YES I put those 2 kids in the shopping cart and pushed them all the way through the mall.

No keys at Customer Service. Call Joe - he is on his way. Now walk all the way back to the van. Waiting outside of the van - kids still in the shopping cart and Joe comes. He unlocks the van but still no keys. Then he looks at me and says - and I quote "what are you doing?" "you are the ghetto queen of the mall with 2 kids in a shopping cart" - I was like, what? I am exhausted and I couldn't carry him all around - this seemed like a good idea.

We go back in the mall and look at the playground again. No keys so now I just want to get home to feed them. So Joe gives me his key to the van and we get in and I start the car. From the back seat I hear Logan say "Oh found the keys..." and no he didn't mean he found mine - he meant oh good for you - you found the keys. So I say no babe these are Uncle Joe's. This whole time we are 100% confident that Logan must have picked up the keys at the play area - Noah said he did and Logan said he put them on the table. So we looked on every flat surface in the play area - nothing.

I get home, make them some chicken nuggets and mac n cheese. We have lunch. I call Colleen and give her the whole story - without even telling her what Joe said about the shopping cart she says "No you did not put those 2 babies in a shopping cart and walk the mall" - so I am hysterical at this point because she just keeps going and going about it. I look over at Logan and he is taking the cover off of his cup - only water, but still - and he turns it over and poors it into his empty bowl and exclaims "TA DA". So I throw some papertowel on the floor and just leave it there. I figure at this point what does it matter.

My mom is pounding on the garage door to get into the house at about 1:30 - I have no idea how it got locked. So I run and open the door - and as soon as I do she just looks at me and starts hysterical laughing. She did know what happened but it must have been my appearance that tickled her so. I looked at the boys and said -"get your coats, Nana is here..." She was taking them home. Again she laughs. Then she looks around my TORN UP house and says - what the heck happened....n I said "I am afraid to take my eyes off of Logan for one minute, so this is all the results of that."

They left, and they were crying, they did not want to leave me. I was touched - but I still helped them get in the car quickly.

It felt so good to sign on my computer and work!!!

Colleen, Kristy, Tina and my other closest friends know that I am a TYPE A personality and in 39 years and 11 months I have not lost keys, my purse or my wallet. So this has set me back for sure.

I left my number with mall security so keep good thoughts that I get these keys back - the one for my van costs $75 to replace and I really don't want to go that route.

And here they are - the two responsible for all of this:

The Johnsons

My sister Pattie has 5 kids, they range in age from 13 - 2 years old. They are, Devin, Isaiah, Mackenzie, Noah and Logan. However for our family, the are affectionatly known as "The Johnsons" - seems easier than Aunt Pattie, Uncle Dan, Devin, Isaiah, Mackenzie, Noah and Logan, doesn't it???

They fill a house, raise the volume, empty the fridge and pantry - HOWEVER - they also fill it with love, laughter and great times!!!

They were at my house yesterday and here are some pictures of them that are potential Christmas Cards......