Back to School YIPEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!

I am now counting down 5 days til summer break ends. YIPEEEEE, I know I shouldn't be happy about this but I need a VACATION. This weekend will be dedicated to last minute pick up items. Wednesday will be so so sad:<. The mom's of the neighborhood have band together. Breakfast after the last bus pick up.

Mother's Empty Chair

One of my friends emailed this to me, I liked it so much I wanted to share it with everyone, the picture's are ones that I have taken in various places, I added them because it felt right. I hope you enjoy both. Missy





A woman's daughter had asked the local minister to come and pray with her mother. When the minister arrived, he found the woman lying in bed with her head propped up on two pillows. An empty chair sat beside her bed. The minister assumed that the woman had been informed of his visit. 'I guess you were expecting me, he said .' No, who are you ? ' said the mother. The minister told her his name then remarked, ' I saw the empty chair and I figured you knew I was going to show up. '

' Oh yeah, the chair, ' said the bedridden woman, ' would you mind closing the door ? ' Puzzled, the minister shut the door. 'I never told anyone this, not even my daughter', said the woman.' But all my life I never new how to pray, at church I used to hear the pastor talk about prayer, but it went right over my head', I abandoned any attempt at prayer,' the woman continued, 'until one day four years ago; my best friend said to me,' Betty, prayer is a simple matter of having a conversation with Jesus. Hear is what I suggest, sit down in a chair, place an empty chair in front of you, and in faith see Jesus in the chair.It's not spooky because he promised,' I will be with you always.' Then just speak to him in the same way you're doing with me right now' So, I tried it and liked it so much I do it for a couple of hours each day. I'm careful though. If my daughter saw me talking to a chair, she would have a nervous breakdown, or put me in a funny farm.' The minister was deeply moved by the story and encouraged the woman to continue on the journey. Then he prayed with her, anointed her with oil, and returned to the church.

Two nights later the daughter called to tell the minister that her mother had died that afternoon. Did she die in peace?' he asked. Yes, when I left the house about two o'clock, she called me over to her bedside,told me she loved me and kissed me on the cheek.. When I got back from the store an hour later, I found her.But there was something strange about her death. Apparently, just before she died, She leaned over and rested her head on the chair beside the bed. What do you make of that?' The minister wiped a tear from his eye and said, ' I wish we could all go like that.'

I asked God for water, he gave me an ocean.

I asked God for a flower, He gave me a garden
I asked God for a friend, He gave me all of YOU...

If God brings you to it, He will bring you through it.

Happy moments, praise God

Difficult moments, seek God

Quiet moment, worship God

Painful moments, trust God

Every moment, thank God

I do all of them!!!

Bedside Manners

Do you know how sometimes you luck out and find a really good doctor, and you think wow this is to good to be true. I am a wimp when it comes to dentist, I would rather go Thur childbirth than to go to a dentist ( it's the whole needle in the mouth thing ) they have to give me Happy Gas to even clean my teeth and a root canal I turn into a 2 year old un-ruly child. I had a tooth extracted today. Dr. James Morrison ( yeah Jim Morrison ) was great he put me at ease even before he gave me the Happy Juice. This happened at 12:20 pm at 5:00 pm I get a call from him not his nurse or other staff member but from him explaining to me the whole procedure again, why it took so long, telling me to make sure I beat the pain by taking my pain med. and icing it because of all the swelling and he would call tomorrow to check on me again. WOW!!And here I thought that kind of bedside manner was gone with house calls.

A visit to old friends ( The E.R. Staff )

Well he's done it again, every summer since James was 2 we have made Oh about a million trips to the E.R. with him.

Age 2 - James please don't climb the China Hutch, something will fall down on you. 5 stitches to the head. ( I got rid of the hutch 2 days later )

Age 5 - James I know you just learned how to roller blade but do you think it's a good idea to do what the bigger boys are doing. fractured growth plate.

Age 10 -James stop opening and shutting the patio door, your gonna get hurt. Slammed fingers in door, 3 inch gash, lost finger nail, and 10 stitches.

Age 13 - James you can go to Mid Meadows at the park with your friends PLEASE DO NOT GET HURT !! rampimg skate boards at skate board area 2 broken fingers and wrist.

Age 17 - James went to his friends Graduation party on the 4th of July. Met a girl, showing off, look at me I can back flip. 2 fractured vertebrates in upper neck. 10 more gray hairs for me, blood pressure went through the roof.

Age 17 - 1 week later can I please go to my girlfriends family picnic I promise I'll sit there and won't do anything, I'll keep my brace on and her mom said she'll have me lay down at regular intervals. My answer NO. I was at work he asked his grandma her answer. Yes. Girl friends mom called I'm bringing James home he's not looking well. E.R. here we come. James and the girl snuck off and went horse back riding!!!! I was let's say angry for a nice word. He was very, very lucky he didn't re injure himself. So we went back to the doctors on Tuesday everything is healing up nicely, he can't wrestle, play basketball, or football this year ( yay !!! ) Don't get me wrong i like that he's into sports, but wrestling and football I can never watch my hands are over my face the entire time.

He's been to the E.R. so much the Xray techs nurses and doctors know him by name , I could go on forever about him and his trips to the E.R. . Girls are Sooooooooo much easier, I have a 7 year old Rob that well thinks James is cool. Lord Help me. It's true your kids drive a perfectly normal person INSANE !!

PS. I love all my kids and wouldn't trade them for the world, they are life's TRUE HAPPINESS

My Day

All I can do is LAUGH !! My day started out at 4:00 AM this morning to a very grumpy hubby, he didn't sleep well because well I turned my heating blanket on ( yes heating blanket in the summer ) my house felt like Siberia !! I guess I got paid back good. I forgot my umbrella at home so by the time I went into the building I was one soaked puppy. Ok I can handle this the store doesn't open for another 2 hours I'll be dry.Lunch time rolls around and a Sweet Tea from Mickey D's sounds really tasty so I get in my car drive over to MD's walk out happily sipping my tea ( I love their fries so I got those 2 ) and feel for my car keys O GAWD there they are laughing at me in the ignition, I had to walk back to work because well that's where I left my cell phone at ( did I tell you I only have 1/2 hour for lunch ) even though it only took me 10 minutes to get back and the walk did me good, I thought all the way back should I or shouldn't I call the HUBBY. I came up with some really good stories like I went to the ladies room and my key's fell out of my pocket and went down the toilet, you wouldn't believe the power these toilets have. hmmmm no he wouldn't believe that , or We have a mouse here and well he stole my keys. Ok so here goes my phone call " Hi honey, I love you sorry about this morning, can you bring me the extra set of key's ? " He growls at me " WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR KEYS ?" " Well I kinda locked them in the car" silence..... " This is the 10th time you've locked them in the car " " Do you know what I'm dealing with at home ?" I laugh "No but it sounds like fun " wrong thing to do. " The drain backed up into the basement, the plumber is on his way and you don't even want to know what I'm walking in " " Gee, I'm sorry " I'm feeling really bad for laughing now " So is that a yes or no on the keys " CLICK..... He did bring me my key's but I'll have a heck of a MESS to clean - up . It's 7:55 PM and the plumbers are still here, they've been at the house since noon today. Boy my day is fun.

My Best Gal Pal and I are 27 years and 1 day apart. I know what your thinking what can a 37 year old and a 64 year old have in common ? Bonnie and I started hanging out at bingo 8 years ago, then coffee, then just coming over to each other houses. We talk about everything from our kids to our grandkids and everything in between. Bonnie recently widowed has had her up days and her down days, which I understand through the eyes of my mother both whom lost the Love of their lives early. I would ask my mom how do I comfort her ? Mom's answer was just be there for her, listen to her, be a shoulder for her to cry on. Thursday night I get a call from Bonnie she didn't sound as if she were having a good day I instantly told her I would be right their. When I got to Bonnie's house she was sitting on her couch with a box of tissues and the portable phone. I asked Bonnie " What's up Chic "? It took a minute before a realized weeping, Ever so quietly she asked me if I Believed in God. My answer was yes, i then asked her what brought that on since we have discussed religion from time to time. She asked me if I thought she was a bad Christian, my answer was NO why would you think that. She had gotten a phone call from the Minister of her husbands church asking her if she was ready to give tithes ( I hope I spelled that right ) to the church, she responded to him I gave on Sunday. That's not what I mean he said your husband always gave big to the church and I was thinking that you would give half the insurance money he left. ( By that time I was seeing RED). It's your Christian duty he said, this is what God and Gary would want. I explained to Bonnie that Gary ( her husband ) left that money to insure that she would be taking care of, he would have put it in his will if money was to go to the church, and if she wanted to give money she could give to orphanages, animal shelters,the local food bank, if she wanted to give to the church it should be an amount that she was comfortable with that wouldn't leave her short.Giving should be from the heart God does not ask you for monetary things, being a good Christian doesn't mean you have to give money . Give of heart, be kind to your fellow man, and believe in God. Do you think I'm wrong for wanting to protect my friend from this Shady Man in the things I told her ?, When did Church become all about money?, Your comments and thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

I started out in photography working for a WELL known school portrait studio ( no experience required they would train )about 13 years ago little did I know I would fall in love with taking and making memories for people. The first camera besides a Polaroid I worked with was a Micro Z this was great for taking school pictures what could you mess up, the film was easy to load, and the backgrounds we had to set up were amazing this one weighed about 10 - 15 pounds. The second camera I worked with was a Camera Z,( these are the kinds you would see traveling around to different stores ) this camera weighed about 15 - 20 pounds to load the film you had to put the cartridge in a black bag ( so you wouldn't expose the film ) and work blind eventually I could do this in my sleep. I would eventually work with 35 mm and 120mm formats doing sport and dance pictures. My oldest girl Ashley ( if I could just nail her down to take pictures of her) bought me a Canon Rebel XSI in January just because( I was relly surprised and flattered )I've had my eye.Yeah great kid we haven't always seen eye to eye. Any who on Tuesday since I was off work my youngest girl wanted to hang out so I said great lets go to the park and grab a dress while your at it ( I was stashing my camera and tri-pod in the car ) of course she was like O kayyyyy your weird MOM( my kids made me that way ) when we get to the park I instantly start clicking .
Karma got bored pretty quick or should I say distracted... BOYS,BOYS, BOYS everywhere OMG this is the child that rarely paid attention to Satan Spawns ( also known as BOYS ) my baby has been sucked in to Oh he's cute blah, blah, blah I can't think on this to long my horns start to come out. You would think I would be use to this by now having raised 5 girls previously. I was hoping she wouldn't notice them until she was ummmm 100 or older

I have this one in color to, you can see the water shimmering on her are. yes I was standing in a creek while she was nice and dry on a fallen tree.

She loves to read so I thought why not take a picture with a book.

With this little guy, you have to snap the picture fast. He probably thinks the camera is part of my face. AJ 3 mo. old

It's hard getting the kids not to fight. I had to threaten to hog tie them. I'll do it I swear I will. the boys have a knack for turning picture day into a " Mom he's touching me, make him stop burping, gross who did that" ! Left to Right ( Mercedes ( head band ) 18 2008' graduate, Robert 7, Cassie 19, Karma 13, James 17

Karma and Robert my youngest it was a royal pain for Karma to take this picture, it's so funny to see those 2 together. He follows Karma around as much as she would follow the older girls around ( payback ).

Needless to say I had a lot of fun spending the day with mostly all of my kids taking pictures and just HANGIN OUT, now if I can get the other 3 to come over so I can get their pictures I can finally complete my wall.