On The Road to Mississippi

Well, shortly we will be anyway. Last night we came over to Briana’s and spent the night in order to pick her up. She’ll get to go with us to MS, where we will be visiting James’ mom and my granny, who is in a nursing home. It’s about a 6 1/2 hour drive from here. The interesting part is that we didn’t have anyone to keep any of the dogs this time, so they are ALL going with us, even Briana’s. Briana’s and Ashley’s dogs are pretty big. That’s 6 people, 2 big dogs, 2 little dogs, and luggage in a Suburban. AACCKK!
It has been a super busy April. Two hikes up in the mountains, a trip or 2 over to Briana’s (without my calendar I’ve lost track!….maybe it was just one. haha), and lots of fun family time. Briana got to come home for 2 nights at Easter and 5 nights later in the month. In April we also celebrated Daniella’s 9th birthday. The day of her birthday was one of our hikes. Briana and my parents were all there for that.
The next day she had a party with 4 friends. Our outside festivities were rained out, so we had to do some last minute, quick planning. Nothing that some plain white paper on the table with crayons, nail polish, and a craft didn’t help cure. She had fun 2 days. I can’t believe she is 9. When we were just about to sing Happy Birthday, someone said, "Next year you will be a double digit." My heart went, "TEN!" I cried through the whole singing Happy Birthday.: )
I have a very hectic May coming up. This trip to MS starts it off. I would have loved to have planned it another time, but this was the only time Briana could go this year, and she didn’t get to visit them last year with us. Marissa’s birthday is 3 days after we get back, and I have a house FULL of silly girls coming for Marissa’s first ever sleepover the next night. AACCKK……again! I also have another trip back over to Briana’s, the younger girls are in a musical at church, Ashley leaves for camp, and we may go on vacation starting the last few days of the month.
Speaking of Ashley~ #1 PLEASE pray for her. She injured her shoulder last year in Kenya. It had gotten a little better, but a couple of months ago, she was playing ball with the family, and it started hurting….a lot. She’s had another steroid shot and physical therapy, but neither has helped at all. She will be having an MRI, hopefully in the next 2 weeks. We will first use that to try to pinpoint better another, perhaps stronger, steroid shot. If nothing works, we are looking at surgery. The orthopedic dr. believes she has a tear in the rotator cuff. #2 The last week of May she leaves for 11, possibly 12 weeks of summer camp, working on staff. She will be doing this with a very painful shoulder, unless we can get her a steroid shot and it works. Even without pain, this is a very exhausting, strenuous job. Please pray for her endurance, and me because I’m temporarily "losing" another child! She will get to come home most weekends. I’m off to finish getting ready for this road trip. It could be interesting!

What's Up?

Oh, all sorts of entertaining things.  : )
~Daniella's reading has improved SO much over the last 3 or so weeks.  It's not nearly so painful sounding out word after word.  She's finally recognizing words!  Now if I could JUST get her to remember the difference between d, b, and p! I'd be so happy.  That drives me nuts.  haha
~Marissa has gotten over a major hump (mental block) in math!  Yay!  We are still taking it slowly, but it's coming, and more importantly, we've had a major change of attitude.  We actually just get in there and get it done everyday, without complaining and rebelling, and usually without even being told!  Whew!
~They both LOVE me reading to them about ancient history. Go figure. 
~Ashley still loves her job out at camp training under the director.  She designed (with the help of the Olive Garden takeout menu; hahaha) a pamphlet for their Child to Camp program.  It looks awesome!  She's now working 3 days a week, plus some events, until the last week of May.  Then she will go to 24/5 (Sun night-Friday noon) through the 2nd week of Aug, 
~The only exception to the that above schedule, is that she will take off a few days in June to go to Guatemala to be maid of honor in Dulce's (Sweet Ruth) wedding.  She's going to have the most exhausting few weeks of her life May through Aug.!!
~Briana was chosen to be an understudy of one of only 2 female characters in a 9 member play.  She and the 15 year old she is understudying are the only "non professionals" in the play.  It has been a really great experience for her to be in rehearsals with the others.  Plus, Briana gets to actually do at least 6 of the shows.  This dramatically increases her speaking role.  haha.  She has a full monologue, plus other lines.  In the past, she has only had 2 or 3 lines in a show.  (Just between us! We think she would have probably been chosen to do the part, except for her height.  The part is for a teen daughter, and Briana is an inch or 2 taller than the dad!  : )  ) 
~All of us but Ashley are going over this Wed. to spend 2 nights with Briana, so that on Thurs. James and I can go see her in the play for her first time.  I'm excited!
~Ashley and I went to stay with Briana for 4 nights a couple of weeks ago.  It was super fun!  I had only seen Briana for a short time once in the previous 9 1/2 weeks.  Wow, I missed her!
~Ashley, Marissa, and Daniella are all in praise dances for our church Easter program this Sunday.  Marissa is actually going to start joining the older girls on some of their dances....the ones that aren't too hard and fast.  She doesn't have any dance training, so hopefully, she will be working her way up and getting better.  I am so surprised she likes it so much.  She just doesn't seem like a dancer to me. 
~Ashley and I are almost at the end of a Beth Moore Bible study that we've been doing together~Esther.  It has been so timely and full of things I needed to hear.  Isn't that just like God? 
~My husband is writing a book!  Can we all just say, "What?"  My husband who doesn't write and is one of the most grammatically challenged people!  : )  He heard God tell him probably a year ago to write.  He questioned it, and didn't know what it was that he was supposed to write.  So, I told him to just start writing the things God was teaching him.  (He has been in intense Bible study, sometimes now most of the day, for 2 years.)  This led to God having him write papers to present to a person he has been counseling....I am his editor (haha).  For a while now, he's had a feeling he was suppose to write a book, but had no idea what about.  The last 2 weeks it has been heavy on his mind, and he began today.  God is showing him so much!
~So much more is going on in the Spiritual realm here.  It is exciting, scary, hard, wonderful, humbling, and difficult to wait.  We are learning such a deeper, closer walk with the Lord.  God has us in place we have never been and could never have fathomed.  One day maybe I can share more. 
There's life in a nutshell.  It's overflowing with blessings, changes, challenges, and joys.  Just like yours!  Hope everyone has a blessed week!

ANNIE

Briana is in ANNIE, which opened on Feb. 5th.

Ms. Hannigan with the orphans

Hooverville~Briana is in the center

At Warbuck's house~Briana is just to the left of "Grace".

Briana in back being lifted high!

"The silk sheets? No, the satin sheets, I think."

NYC

NYC~ Briana is in yellow

NYC

NYC~ Briana is the one in the middle up in the air. : )

"Immediate seating. We have immediate seating."

The Bert Healy Show~ The ventriloquist is Briana's young man, Troy. He was most of the other numbers, too.

Briana delivering a telegram (to Troy). Here he is the President's aide.

"Annette" and "Cecil"

These are just a few of the over 1200 pictures James took at dress rehearsal!! : ) I've seen the show twice, and hope to go back again in about a week and a half. I'm missing that girl. Only seen her once in the last 8 weeks. Ashley and I plan to go over for 3 or 4 nights for some mother/daughter/sister time. James has actually seen her a couple of more times, so I'm ready for my turn. : )

Family Time

An update already? Wow! We are enjoying....for the most part.....a visit to Briana's. I say most part, because the younger girls are restless and one is bored (i.e. feeling sorry for herself). Combine that with 4 adults, sometimes 5, in a small apt.and it has it's moments of "not enjoying"! : ) But, for the most part...... We got here on Wed. afternoon. James went Wed. night and a lot of the day Thurs. to take pictures of Briana's dress rehearsal. The younger girls have been able to go 3 days to visit with my parents for several hours. Friday was opening night for ANNIE. It was FABULOUS! They did such a great job. There are 2 casts of the younger kids (orphans), and Friday night's cast was so good they brought tears to my eyes in a couple of the songs! I don't even have a child in those songs! Of course, MY CHILD was fabulous, too!! Her boyfriend, Troy is also in it. I picked at him, and told him that I would watch him, too, as long as he was standing right behind Briana. haha. It's so hard to keep up and watch them both when they're on stage together. And, of course, when she's dancing, I never see the whole dance, cause I'm always just watching her. I'll try to post pictures after I get home. I went back alone to see it again on Sat. afternoon. We get 5 comp tickets per show that she is in. Even though we all went Friday night, I went ahead and paid for Marissa's and Daniella's tickets because they are much cheaper. That way I save the free ones for me to go back. : ) I like going back the very next day, because there is just no way to take it all in the first time you see a show. Even after going to see them 4 or 5 times, I see something new every time. Today they are both back at an afternoon show, and the rest of us are just hanging out at her apt. There's not much for them to do here, hence the boredom. We'll be heading home tomorrow.

James and I will be celebrating our 25th wedding anniversary later this year, and we are trying to decide somewhere to go together. I suggested the Bahamas! haha. Just a little unrealistic.

We are also trying to plan a trip to see James' mom and my granny in Mississippi. We were supposed to go in March, but not sure if that's going to work out just yet. We had hoped Ashley and Briana could go with us, especially since Briana didn't get to go last year. But, it ends up Ashley won't be able to take off of work until fall, and Briana now has a conflict with the one week we thought she could go. Of course, we'll still take the trip, but they both wanted to visit. Growing pains!!

A Quiet Time

Yes, it has actually been a very quiet month in our home....in everyday life, if not in volume. I have been home~not out of town~since Dec. 20th. That is the longest stretch for me since April of last year! We have spent this month, just being. : ) And, actually, I gave my body a rest at one point, and did not leave my house for 15 days!!! Can you believe it? It was terrific!

In our home school, we are plugging along quite well. Daniella is whizzing through math, and loves it. She is still struggling with reading. The phonics thing is just not clicking, at least yet. I am not worried, but she gets frustrated because she wants to read so much. Most of the words that she can read at this point are words that she has just memorized their spelling. She can sound out words, but it is extremely laborious, and it never gets much better. Marissa could never read by phonics, so we may be taking that path with Daniella. We have finally reached a change, that I hope is permanent, in Marissa's attitude toward math. She struggles with it, therefore, she hates it. That part has not changed, but her willingness to sit down and just get the work done has changed for the better....much better. We are also enjoying a lapbook on the human body, especially Marissa. She finds it fascinating.

They both started piano lessons~ Daniella in Sept. and Marissa in Dec. We were quite surprised Marissa wanted to take, but so far she is persevering. We are also seeing the connection between being good at math and being good in music that we have always heard about.

James is in the midst of repainting a great deal of the inside of our house. Yay!! Nothing exciting. Just freshening it up, and getting rid of a wallpaper border in my living/dining area that was ancient. We are going to choose a new color, perhaps a smoky gray/blue for the foyer. We are also going to paint Briana's old bedroom, as we get rid of the little girl, and turn it into a guest room. sigh! : ) This past week, we went to Big Lots and bought a solid wood bed for that room for $150! The one in there is a rickety, old, worn out brass bed that she has had since she was three. We are all glad to see it go. : ) She bought her bed for her apt. at Big Lots, and has been thrilled with it. The quality is very good, and it is a beautiful sleigh bed, so we think we will like this new one. Ashley and I packed up a lot of the things Briana had left here and cleaned out her closet last week, too. AND! while we were at Big Lots, we used Christmas money from James' mother and bought a couch and love seat by Ashley Furniture for our den. I am so thankful to be rid of that 14 year old, green sectional! Well, almost rid of it. We have to get someone to help James haul it off, so right now both of them are in the den. Between that mess and the mess of all the moved furniture in the living/dining room because of painting, my house is quite the disaster area. I'm ready for furniture to start crawling back into it's place.

Ashley found out last week that a magazine article that she submitted to TOS is being published in the Spring issue! Very exciting for her....well, all of us! I was as excited as she was. She is absolutely loving her job at camp, and is so excited about the spring events and summer camps. It will be new to her, being in the roll of staff, and she's a little nervous, but it is going to be great. She loves her bosses, and they love her.

Briana will be opening in Annie next Friday night. We will be traveling over on Wed. so that James can take dress rehearsal pics on Wed. and Thurs., then we'll come home on Sun. afternoon. Can't wait to see it. Also, this week, she was ASKED to audition for a small cast show opening in March. This is a big deal to be asked to audition. This play is mostly professional actors. There will only be one or 2 in the cast of 9, who will not be professionals. She could be one of them! : ) The audition was today. There were 6 girls/women today auditioning for one role, and she was among the 3 who got called in for a 2nd reading!! Later, they texted her, and told her to come back Tues. for a call back. Whether she makes it or not (which would be so thrilling!), it was a super great experience for her today going through this different type of audition and doing cold readings of the part with these professionals. Plus, great that she was asked to audition and called back.

As for me, I started a Beth Moore Bible study a couple of weeks ago on Esther, and I have picked back up on my scrapbooking. I am working on a scrapbook of Briana's shows. I got Shenandoah finished, and am now tackling Hairspray. Talking about picture overload. Too many to choose from! It's fun, though.

Thank you to those who checked on me. Life has been full of God's presence, God's teachings, God's training, my stumbling, my learning, my leaning. We are still going through some spiritual trials with a loved one (not in my immediate family), and it keeps me on my knees...and on my face ....before the Lord. He has made us great and precious promises, and He is teaching me, in even a deeper way, to hang onto those and not take my eyes off of them or Him.

Letitia

December Blessings

Just like Nov......and Oct....and Sept......you get the picture!......December has been crazier than I planned. Prov. 16:9, "The mind of man plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps." Most definitely true! : D I went on Dec. 3rd, spent one night with Briana, saw her in It's a Wonderful Life, then brought her back home for 2 nights so that she could help us decorate for Christmas. James took her back on Friday, and my plan was to spend the rest of the month until the 18th working on Christmas lapbooks with Marissa and Daniella, bake with them, finish up my shopping, etc.

However...the Sunday and Monday after James took her back, Briana went out of town. When she got back at about 11:00 Monday night, she found someone had broken into her apartment while she was gone. She called me, and was standing at the bottom of the stairs still in the building with her dog. Her apt is upstairs. I had her get back in her car, lock the doors, and call 911. I called Troy and my parents, and they all went over to be with her. They got her computer (which mostly upset her because of all of the pictures on it, along with a story she had been writing on for about 2 years.), an old video camera (which naturally had a tape of her Oct. Utah trip in it), a $150 bracelet that was a graduation gift from her aunt, some misc. cheap jewelry, get this....a large pack of toilet paper!, vacuum cleaner, a couple of dvds, some art pencils. about $250 cash, and a bag of chocolates out of her refrigerator. They completely trashed her bedroom~dumped everything out of the chest of drawers, papers strewn all over the room, dumped everything out of the laundry hamper, jewelry thrown across the room, dumped everything out of her dance bag. Some random things from the bedroom were in the living room, 2 pieces of chocolate laying in the hall. We honestly believe from the looks of things~ the way things were randomly scattered, and things like the art pencils missing, but 2 dvds were taken out of their cases and stuffed into the bag that the art supplies were in~that a child was with them.

Whoever it was also knew she was out of town and had plenty of time. It turns out that the apt downstairs was broken into also, but their front door wasn't busted down like Briana's. They went in through a maintenance door in the back and cut a hole into their bathroom wall. Those people were also out of town, and the only person who knew both of them were gone is the girl (and her boyfriend) that lives across the hall from Briana. It also had to be someone who knew the layout of the apts to get into the one downstairs. If it wasn't them, the detectives believe it was some of their friends.

Briana spent the next 2 nights with my parents until the detective gave her the okay to go back. I went over on Wed. and helped her clean up, wash all of the clothes they had been through, and just to keep her company for a couple of nights. James came over for the day on Thurs. and installed metal reinforcements around the door frame, making it virtually impossible to kick the door in again. After those 2 nights AND the metal reinforcements, she was okay, and ready to stay alone again. I was not so confident and ready!!!

I came home, spent the next day in bed, then had less than a week before it was time to go back over to see Troy in the closing of Sanders Family Christmas, both of them in the closing of It's a Wonderful Life, and to have dinner with them, Troy's parents, and his sister visiting from Texas. Troy and his sister came back with us that night after the last show, and spent 3 nights, leaving on the 23rd.

Why is this post called December Blessings? Because there were many!
~Briana got to come home to help us decorate, which she didn't get to do last year
~She was not home when her apt was broken into
~She had left her amethyst purity ring there, because it needs resizing, and she didn't want to lose it. They missed it somehow. A picture frame on her dresser fell over on top of it and hid it from view....I think that was God's doing!
~They could have taken a lot more than they did or damaged all of her brand new furniture.
~Her dog was at my parents' house. They could have taken or hurt her.
~They didn't take her extra car key, like we had been afraid they had.
~What doesn't kill you, makes you stronger! LOL
~Someone invented metal reinforcements to go around doors, and her apt managers didn't care if we installed them.
~I got to see Briana twice in It's a Wonderful Life, and saw Troy in Sanders on a date with my husband.
~I managed to get a batch of sugar cookies cut and decorated with Marissa and Daniella before I left that day to go back over after the break-in
~Ashley helped them make and decorate gingerbread cookies.
~Ashley is loving her job in camp ministry, and she and I got to spend time together.
~Briana and Troy both auditioned, and made it into Annie.
~Briana got to come home with us on the 20th, and was here until yesterday. She will be back tomorrow for 4 more nights. The 4 sisters have had the BEST time this past week.
~Troy came and spent time with us last week.
~There was snow up in the mountains still, so we all went up and had a snowball fight while he and his sister were here.
~Somehow, some way, all of the shopping got done by Christmas (with MUCH help from my husband, who did all of the grocery shopping on Christmas Eve!)
~I had a FABULOUS Christmas with my husband and 4 girls!
~I got to go out to dinner with 2 of my friends this week.
~And, LORD WILLING, I will be home (not out of town) for 36 days straight! That will be the longest stretch since April.

~a left over Nov. blessing.....after having to have her kitty put to sleep in Oct., and after much searching on the internet, Briana adopted a dog from the animal shelter here over Thanksgiving break. She is so sweet and adorable. AND, even though the apt has a 20lb dog weight limit, they let her have her 53 lb blessing!! She named her Maddie.

I'm sure there are many more December blessings I've skipped over, and December isn't quite over yet!

I pray all of you have a terrific and blessed New Year!!!

Briana and Maddie~

"It's A Wonderful Life"

Briana has been in the musical version of It's a Wonderful Life for the past month. It closes this Sunday, and we're going over to see it again.

George Bailey contemplating jumping off the bridge~
"I'm worth more dead than alive."

Briana on the right talking to Ernie and Bert while the
main scene if playing out somewhere else on stage~

"I'm On My Way"~

Mr. Potter (in the wheel chair)~ played by Troy, the guy that Briana has been courting the last 7 months.

"Syncopation Rog" ~ high energy dance!

George and Mary's wedding~

Run on the bank. Briana is the one who looks like she's about to knock him
upside his head!

Briana got to play Elsie, Sam Wainwright's wife from New York. She got to talk with a heavy NY accent (think the old movies). .......with a southern twang. ; ) She's in the middle with the hat.

"Sam's going to take me around the world!"

I had to throw this picture in even though it's not a very good one. : ) This is a song when George's brother, Harry, comes home a war hero. Briana and Bob (the same guy that plays Sam Wainwright), decided and got the director's permission for him to pick her up and swing her around. You can see them in the back. The thing is, this is a calm swing in this picture. When I saw the show a couple of weeks ago, she was like parallel to the ground. She was FLYING! : )

Mr. Potter and George~

"Teacher says every time a bell rings, another angel gets his wings."

"Atta boy, Clarence."