Still Blessed

A friend of mine said this to me yesterday. I have been thinking about it ever since she said it. I am not going to put her personal story here but trust me when I say she has been through things in the past 3 years that most people don't go through in a life time.

In the middle of updating me she said how things are tough "but I am still blessed" - unbelievable perspective - and one we should all work on having.

We sometimes think our problems are HUGE when in reality they are nothing. If your faith and trust is in the right place, God will see you through. Maybe not in the way you are hoping for, but certainly in a way that He had planned for you.

So remember when you feel down and out that you really are "Still Blessed."

Glimpse of True Love

When Joe and I first came to Charlotte to visit and see if we thought we would like to move here, this LOVELY lady was the first person we met. Daryl was working at the Verizon Wireless store in Matthews, NC, when Joe and I went there to see if he could meet his potential new manager. We came to Charlotte on a Saturday and when Joe asked Daryl if the manager was around, she laughed whole heartily and me, Joe, Daryl and Andre have been laughing together for almost 12 years now!!!

Back to the point of my post - Daryl & Andre are true High School Sweethearts they met when they were teenagers and have been together ever since. March 27, 1982 they were wed. They are what true love should be. They love each other unconditionally, the finish each others sentences, they put each other first before anything, except God. I have seen either one of them walk into a room full of people and cross the whole room before the say hello to any of us and greet each other first - with what I call "the 3 kiss" - 3 quick pecks on the lips.

They have 2 sons who are seeing what it takes to make a relationship work and they have parents who are willing to stick it out through thick and thin because that is the kind of love they share.

They will both tell you their relationship wasn't always easy and they got better with age. (don't we all)

I can not put on paper all that I have learned from them - I feel blessed to have them to guide me when I have relationship questions. Joe and I are coming up on 15 years of marriage ourselves and often times their now 27 years of knowledge has benefited us.

These shots are from their 25th Wedding Anniversary Vow Renewal in the Bahamas. 14 of us went to support their "union" as it truly is one of the best we have seen.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY my dear friends!!!






Listening to the Minister


She only has eyes for him

Just as in love as they were 25 years before...

Glowing with happiness

Couldn't have done it without them

Yesterday I hosted a bridal shower for my sister Colleen it was a perfect day for a deserving Bride-to-Be. Everyone had a wonderful time and it was so heartwarming for me to see so many people who truly care about my sister & Robert and their happiness. Everyone thanked me as they were leaving and said what a wonderful time they had and what a great job I had done. I am going on the record to say I could have never done this on my own - there was lots and lots of behind the scene's help that I received. I want to share full credit will all of my loved one's who really helped me make it all possible:

This amazing cake was baked with love by our "sister" Regina. Although I think I heard she almost gave up and went to BJ's.... :) Her patience and love for Colleen won out in the end and this was the result!!! Please don't ask her to ever do this again....

She also planned the whole party with me and stayed until every last dish was washed and just about put away. SHe also ran around during the party serving, refilling etc.....

Our brother provided the delicious spread you see here. He is a manager at a Panera Bread and he loves to put together nice presentations of food. Daryl & Regina also made some of their best batches of potato and pasta salad. There is pretty much no left overs. :(

These are just some of the lovely ladies that were there to wish Colleen well - you can see we were more than filling my family room.

My very deserving sister and I in front of the Cinderella Castle cake - symbolizing her finally finding her Prince.


My lovely Danielle who "touched-up" mommy's roots the night before the party so I wouldn't really look like Colleen's "older" sister!!!

Some camera shy people who worked behind the scenes as well were Johanette, Tina and Kristy. Whether it was helping me at the party, hauling stuff all over town for me to borrow or keeping my kids busy and getting them where they needed to be - I appreciate all of it.

And most importantly to my WONDERFUL husband who worked his tail off painting, hanging curtains, helping with set-up and clean-up and who always gives me support when I am putting an event like this together.

I love each and everyone of you for caring this much about Colleen and her happiness.


PS - later I will post more pictures - these are all I have here with me for now.

So Proud!!!

Last night my mom and I were at Concord Mills with Danielle and Joseph. As we were walking through Children's Place to leave the mall, Joseph looked down and said, "Someone dropped their money." I looked down and he was right there was $16.00 on the floor. He was standing there and looking around so I said "Joseph, pick up the money" he looked at me like I was crazy but he did pick it up. I took the money from his hand and here is how it went from there:

Joseph: Mom what are you doing?

Danielle: Mom we can't keep that it is not ours!

Mom: I know that, lets just stand here a minute and see if anyone comes back looking for it.

Joseph: We should just ask people if they lost money.

Mom: Joseph if you ask someone if they lost money 90% of them will say yes and take it from you.

Joseph & Danielle: Well we should take it and turn it in at the desk/front counter.

Mom: (I may be overly cynical) Kids if we leave this money at the counter they will probably just take it. Sometimes God puts money in front of you for a reason. (I wasn't sure what the reason was just yet)

Joseph: YOUR RIGHT we will take the money and put it in the offering at Church so God can use the money the way he thinks we should.

Mom: That is a GREAT idea!!!

So we left the mall, I let them each count the money so they would know how much they would add to the offering (they love having their own money to put in the offering) then I looked at my mom and said, "Can you believe these 2 kids didn't just say yeah we found money and we can keep it!!!" I am so, so proud of them for wanting to find the person, return the money and most importantly never, ever once thinking about what they could do with that money for themselves!!!

Perhaps God put the money there to remind me of this side of my kids....

Needless to say I called Joe right away and I could hear in his voice he was just as proud as I was. What awesome kids!!!

Don't Sterotype

So twice between yesterday and today I have been personally affected by sterotypes.

1. I am 1/2 Irish - guess what, I didn't drink green beer, didn't get drunk and stumble all over, I don't drink on a regular basis at all and I didn't eat corned beef and cabbage. BUT I did wear green in honor of my dad and my heritage and so did my kids.

2. I am a government employee - guess what, I am not lazy, I am college educated, I work very hard and take my responsibility to the tax payers of Charlotte very serious. Most of my co-workers left big businesses and accounting firms to come work here. I LOVE my job - it is a perfect fit for me and my family - I do resent when people think all government employees are slackers or people who couldn't work elsewhere. Everyone in my department could work elsewhere and we have - we happen to have an awesome boss who understands what it is like to have a family and in return we never abuse that. Most of us could make more money working somewhere else - but we enjoy what we do and the people we work with.

So those are the two that hit me personally in less than 24 hours. I encourage everyone to think about what you are going to say, before you say it. Don't classify "groups" of people as if they all have like characteristics.

There are many more sterotypes that annoy me for sure - but I would rather not give them a spotlight and I don't want to offend anyone that would be perceived to be in "the group".

Happy Birthday Devin

Devin is my oldest nephew on either side of the family. Today he is 14!!! I can't believe it... In the picture you see a mature, handsome young man - I see 14 years of memories. When he was a baby all the way through at least 2 years old his rolls had rolls!!! If I had a scanner I could totally embarass him right now. :)
He is an athlete for sure but more importantly he is a sweet kid most of the time!!! He, like every other teenager, has his moments but when you get to spend time alone with him and he doesn't have to be the "big man on campus" he is good hearted, loving and very sweet.

Happy Birthday Devin!!!

Humorous lines from Danielle.....

I wish I could find the time to write down everything that is funny or touching that comes out of my kids mouths - I want to save it all and remember it always.....

Danielle - she is such a smart little girl and very studious so it is quite hilarious when she has her Lucille Ball moments. Here are two such moments related to Colleen's Wedding:

1. I was sitting and writing out the invitations to her Bridal Shower so I looked at Joe and said I want to be sure I am spelling Robert's name correctly - so he starts to go to our computer to check and Danielle says (very seriously) "Mom I believe it is R O B" and when she got to B Joe and I just cracked up - she looked at us like "What?" so I explained how I meant his last name...

2. Colleen came over on Tuesday because we were going for a practice hair and make-up for her wedding. Danielle says "Colly, why are you here on a school night?" so Colleen says "I am going to get my hair done for the wedding" and Danielle says "Really, will it stay until April?"

Of course it is easy to see in both of these examples how a 9 year old could get a little confused - but those that know my daughter well know these are just a sample of her "moments".

Big, Big Dip

My family fell into a HUGE dip last night. We have been struggling with Danielle falling asleep on her own for about 2 1/2 months now and last night the devil really had his way with us.

We started out talking about all Pastor Steven said on Sunday and what we had learned and how important it is to "look up the mountain" and not "dig deeper" but somehow we lost control of all of the important things.

Many tears were shed last night by all of us - I can't begin to describe to you how difficult this is and how on top of this I battle with myself about failing as a parent because I can't seem to help her.

We pray every night as a family and as individuals that God will help us through this. We know he is using Danielle to teach us something, but some nights it is not always so easy to keep that in the front of our minds.

Pray for her and for us that our time spent in this valley is coming to an end.

Performing Competitively

Back on February 28th my daughter Danielle and her dance class performed competitively for the first time. The girls are all between the ages of 9-11 and most of them have been dancing together for years. Danielle started dancing when she was 22 months old. It started as a way to get her involved with other kids her age - and now it is like a way of life for her!!!

These young girls are AWESOME, dedicated, mannerly, sweet, loving, kind and so on. They are exactly the kind of kids I want my daughter to surround herself with.

Their teacher, Miss Charyl is all of the above and then some. She loves each girl like they were her own. She nurtures them, yet holds them to standards about being considerate, respectful and a good team player.

We were all leery about our girls competing at such a young age but they begged us, with Miss Charyl's help and focused on how much they love to dance and not on the competitive piece.

It was truly a great experience. I loved the day myself. The girls did GREAT, especially for first timers. They only performed one dance, tap and a big part of me believes they really didn't understand or care about competing - they just love, love, love to perform and be on stage.

They did score enough points for a 1st place award!!! And more importantly they did it together, took the judges notes/criticisms together and will work together to improve on them.

This Saturday is their next and final competition for this season - 2 dances this time Jazz and Tap - wish them luck!!!

Being made-up by Miss Charyl

Running through the dance

Solteria, Alyssa, Julia and Danielle

Danielle and Jayla - her friend from her class in school who is on another dance team

Danielle and Me





Miss Charyl and all the girls

Please don't comment on the heavy make-up, it is hard enough for all of us moms to let them wear it - but it is required when they compete.

I'm not just saying......

Times are stressful, we all know that. Just this week I had to tell 3 different people whom I love dearly to remember that sometimes when God takes something from your hands/grasp it is because he is making room for something better!!!

In respecting everyone's privacy I will not post about specific situations but I want all of you to know that when I say this too you I mean it from the heart. Please don't think it is easy for me to say because I am not in your situation, because it is not. I cried all the way into work this morning for all of you. My heart is breaking for you and my instinct is to swoop in and make it all better. Obviously, I do not have the power to do that, only God does, but I pray for all of you every night.

You all know I wear my heart on my sleeve and I celebrate all your successes and happiness and in turn I hurt when you hurt.

I love you all and I know everyone of you will weather the storm you are in - and most importantly you know where I am if you need me.

Re