Too Much Fudge

Okay, I think I have now officially eaten my weight in peanut butter fudge.  If I don't hurry up and get it all eaten......Yes, I know.  Eating it quicker does not make me gain less weight, but hey, if I eat it quicker, that's quicker that my walking might actually do some good, instead of just trying to break even! 
I have actually been walking on the treadmill more consistantly this week.  It's not really a New Year's resolution.  I've been wanting to get started for a while, but have just now gotten going.  I have missed one or 2 days, but I've done pretty well.  I just have to keep remembering to do it.  That's my biggest obstacle--remembering, along with making time.  I am tempted to put a tv in there.  I have a beautiful wooded view, usually with lots of birds.  However, walking everyday, I can only do so much contemplating life at 2.4 miles per hour.  I guess I don't have that many thoughts!  For now, I will just keep praying and watching the birds.  But a little distraction every few days would be nice.  I am not a music lover--at least not so much that I would be relaxed and enjoying it while I walked that long.
I hope our health is on the mend.  It started with Daniella, who had a cold that she couldn't shake.  She got some better and felt better after a few days, but held onto a lot of stuffiness for about 2 weeks.  Then Briana had that weekend episode that she ran the 102 fever for a couple of days.  Once the fever broke, she was pretty much fine--a little stuffiness for a day or 2.  The week before Christmas, James started coughing really bad.  He was getting a little better, but the Friday before Christmas he relapsed, and has had a terrible cough.  I never could get him to go to the doctor, but he did lots of herbs and other remedies here.  I think he's about gotten over it.  That same day, Friday before Christmas, Ashley had to go to the dr.  She was having a horrible sore throat, which was only getting worse.  It had only been about 2 days, but seeing that the offices were about to close for the holidays, we took her in.  I'm so glad.  She had strep throat, and got a lot worse, before the antibiotic kicked in on Monday.  Briana has now been sick again for about a week.  We took her in to the dr. yesterday, and she is now on an antibiotic for a sinus infection and has had a horrid cough. It is amazing that the little girls and I have managed to avoid all of this so far.  I am so thankful, but praying steadily that it's not just all slowly making the rounds. 
I was very hesitant to start structured schoolwork back.  I was not looking forward to attitudes.  They have not been good.   We have a big issue with FUN.  "This is not FUN.  It's boring."  If it's not FUN, then we have a pouty attitude.  Guess who's attitude too quickly follows?  Yep!  Mine.  The real issue is having to stop playing to do anything.  However, we started back yesterday, and both days have been a delight.  We are relaxed homeschoolers to start with (which makes the FUN comments even more disheartening.), so we don't just sit at books all day.  I have changed my schedule from the one I started with in the fall.  We scraped the Prairie Primer, which if you recall, I predicted.  We are still reading the books, though, and are enjoying them.  There are still some things I want to work in and work out with our activities, but we are off to a good start.  Pray that it lasts.  I am really good at starts.  I am beginning to think that in my old age I get as bored as she does.
I am so unbelieveable behind in my scrapbooking.  That is one thing I would like to work out for myself this year--a somewhat consistant time to work on pictures.   I am not one of those amazing scrappers.  I can't afford to put one picture on a page with elaborate, creative work (even if I knew how to!).  And, I scrapbook a ton of pictures.  I can't stand to leave any out.  We take LOTS of pictures.  I am hoping when I do ever sit back down to it, I can come up with some more creative layouts.  I think part of my problem is that I, along with Ashley and Briana, have done most of our homeschool group's yearbook for the past several years.  By the time I get that done mid summer, my brain is fried, and I am sick of scrapbooking.  It is my hope that this year I will be able to spread out the work and have other families help with the pages.  I've tried a committee of the high schoolers, and that works okay, but still leaves me with actually more stress. 
Marissa and Daniella have been practicing a "puppet show" rendition of the Nutcracker for days now using Barbies.  I sing Nutcracker music in my sleep!   We are due to watch the actual performance.  I have left explicit instructions that the show is not to last as long as the music.  Ashley and Briana used to do those kind of shows, skits, and plays all the time.  Marissa saw a video the other night of them doing one, and that is what has encourged her to be creative.  It should be interesting. 
Letitia

Happy New Year

Happy New Year to all of my blogger friends!!
Here are a few more snapshots of our Christmas that I had wanted to post earlier.

Here's the "gingerbread house" they made from Graham Crackers.  They had a fun time working on this together.

Our tree.  I love our tree.  We always have a real tree (sniff....ahhh!) with colored lights.  Most every year, each girl has gotten a new ornament.   I have a few on there that I especially like, too, that I've collected over the years.  This year at my grandmother's house I also found a couple of old ornaments that I remember from my childhood.  Those were so fun to have this year.  Nothing fancy, just memories. We also have quite a few handmade ornaments from Guatemala. 

This is a new ornament this year.  Back in the beginning of Dec., we watched the White House Christmas special on HGTV.  It was showing how they decorated the White House this year, including interviews with Laura Bush.  They showed this Carolina Snowflake that she had ordered 250 of for a tree.  I made the comment how much I liked it.  Much to my surprise, my husband went back and watched it (it was recorded), got the name of the store where they were sold, and ordered me one.  (It's the one on the left.)

The Carolina Snowflake is handmade in Spruce Pine, NC (www.homeoftheperfectchristmastree.org).  It is handwoven, reed dyed with crushed walnut hulls, henna/madder (and green commercial dye). 
Also, remember me saying that I saw a print in a local store with my blog verse, but the frame was beat up?  James went back and got it (on top of being marked down, it was also an additional 40% off, so he got it pretty inexpensive), took it to a friend who is a framer, and had it reframed for me.  He was just full of surprises this year!

"You will show me the path of life, in your presence is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.  Psalm 16:11"
(I didn't really feel sick, even though I looked it in that picture!  We'll chalk it up to a long week and bad lighting!)
My little girls with their new Felicity dolls.
We've had a pretty quiet week.  We still have some sickness going on.  My parents did get to come for Christmas for 2 days instead of 5, but we've had several taking turns with some awful stuff--but all different, it seems.  Briana is the one sick now.  Tonight we will just hang out here, play a board game, maybe make some cider.  I made a double enchilada casserole last night, so we will have the other one tonight. 
Wishing everyone a blessed and Happy New Year's Day.

Letitia

Christmas in Our Home

Our family has been enjoying the Christmas season, although, or perhaps because, we haven't done much.  We have enjoyed having Advent together most nights.  If we have to miss a night, we catch back up the next one.  One of our other family traditions is, after Advent, we pray for the people we have received a Christmas card from that day.  A couple of nights a week, we all sit around the tree, turn out all but the tree lights, and sing Christmas carols and other Christmas favorites.  We have a fun time with that.  Sometimes we forget the words or get our verses all mixed up, and we've added motions to some of the fun songs.
    On Dec. 10, Marissa and Daniella participated in our church's children's Christmas program.  They were both so excited.  This was the first program Daniella had ever been in.  She had a short solo.  Marissa also had a solo, as well as a speaking part.  She had quite a few lines.  This was her first time with a speaking part, and she was pretty nervous, but did great.  She said singing solos is much easier than speaking!  It wouldn't be to me! 
They are the 2 to the left.  Everyone is in summer clothes because the setting was a Christmas cruise.  They were getting ready to sing their solos. 
    The next day, Ashley and Briana went with my mom and dad to Charlotte, N.C.   Ashley, Briana, and my mom volunteered at the collection center for Samaritan's Purse shoeboxes.  Their job was to open up the boxes, take out the payment and forms, check for any other money that may have been put in, and close the boxes back up.  If you've ever packed a shoebox to the rim, like we do, and spent 10 min. rearranging everything to get it to fit, then you will understand that that job was not necessarily an easy task!  I'm sure it's even harder for the group whose job is to sort through and take out the "no-no" items.  Ashley said she didn't want to see another rubber band for a long time.  Her hands were sore from being popped by them.  But, they had a blast.  In fact, they were only signed up for 4 hours, but asked if they could stay longer.  They ended up working 5 1/2 hours.  They are already planning for next year.  My mom had to stop before the 4 hours was up.  She had been sick, was feeling some better, but relapsed. 

 These are all stacks and stack of shoeboxes.  And, those are just the ones that had been processed at that particular center, THAT day, up until 1:00 !     James, Marissa, Daniella, and I went to our homeschool group's Christmas party on the 12th.  We had a nice time, eating, socializing, and doing some crafts.  I was on clean-up duty, so after that was finished, about 4 or 5 moms sat around talking for a while, while our children played outside, since it was a warm day. 
    Other than shopping, that has been about the extent of our activities--and they were all in 3 days time.  Ashley is in our church choir, and they had their program this past Sunday morning.  It was so pretty this year.    James and I went on a shopping date last Sat.  We got quite a lot of shopping finished up.  We were going to splurge and go to Texas Road House (I was craving some ribs!), but there was a minimum 1 hour wait time.  We went to Chic-Fil-A instead! 
    Every other year, my parents spend Christmas with us here.   This is supposed to be their year to come.  We are praying they will be able to.  Please pray for their (and our) health.  When my mom relapsed in Charlotte, she went steadily downhill.  She finally went to the doctor last Friday, and they told her she had a rattle in her chest.  She also has a sinus infection.  She's on antibiotics, and seemed to be getting better.  She had been 48 hours without fever, but last night started running one again and hurting in her chest.  She says she doesn't hurt this morning, so we don't know what's going on.  My dad is coughing a lot, too.  Daniella had a cold last week, but is slowly getting over it.  Then yesterday, I woke up with a stomach bug.  I was running 101.5 temp yesterday, but seem to be a lot better today.  I'm still hurting a little, and kind of weakly feeling, but much better than yesterday.  I don't seem to have fever today, either, which is good.  Ugh.  That fever, was awful.  So, this morning, Briana wakes up--kind of--really late, and feels horrible.  She had had a very restless night, probably with fever.  She was running 101.4 temp.  She has no symptoms so far.  I'm hoping she's going to do what she does lots of times.  Many, many times through the years, she would run a really high fever (104, 105).  We would struggle to keep it at 100-101 for 2 or 3 days, then she would be fine.  She would never be sick.  That's actually how our bodies are supposed to work, so I am praying that she will do the same thing this time.  She's loading up on Vit. C and Goldenseal.  Anyway, please pray, if you will, that everyone will be well enough for my mom and dad to come, and for us all to enjoy Christmas.  I don't want them to spend Christmas alone, and we want them to get to be here.
   We were all supposed to go to Dollywood yesterday to see the Christmas shows and lights.  Since I was sick, but it was warm, James took Briana, Marissa, and Daniella to ride rides for a couple of hours.  We were hoping I'd be well enough to do the shows today, but I'm not, and Briana is not.  I hope sometime before the end of the year, we'll get there.
I hope everyone is having a blessed Christmas season, and enjoying the fun and blessings of being a child of God.

Letitia

P.S.  Oh, it was so cool.  When James and I were shopping the other night, I saw a beautiful print that had my blog verse on it.  I would have asked for it for Christmas, but it was on sale because the frame was in bad shape.      
   

Marissa's Adoption

Today we celebrated the 9th anniversary of Marissa's adoption.  She loves her special day, that she prefers to call Gotcha Day--"because we're so glad we've gotcha!"  We celebrated with her yearly request of homemade ice cream sandwiches--toll house cookies with vanilla ice cream between two.  We also spent time as a family looking at her scrapbook of our trip to get her, and telling her stories again of things that happened on the trip, what we did that day, and where we were at "this" time.  Tonight, at her request, we are having the always healthy Papa John's pizza for supper.

Marissa was born on May 13, 1997, and weighed 5 lb. 4 oz.    They told us it was a 90% chance that we would have a boy, because most Guatemalan adoptions are boys.  What a surprise when they finally called us late in June to tell us of our referral, and they said we had a little girl.  Of course, we were so excited, and a girl was just fine with us.  We already had two, ages 10 and 7 at the time, so we knew what to do with them! 

It was such a long wait until we were finally able to go get her.  Everything with her adoption went smoothly, but we were new at this, were not getting enough information, didn't know anyone else who had gone through this, and if there were online groups at the time, we sure didn't know about them.  At one point they told us to tentatively plan on going the end of October.  The last week of Oct. came, and we had heard nothing.  We called, and were told, "Oh, no.  You aren't going yet.  We had to get her birth certificate authenticated at the hospital where she was born.  We put it on a "Chicken Bus", and will just have to wait until they send it back."  Oh, my.  Have you ever seen a Chicken Bus?  Plus, they were sending it up into the highlands, several hours away.  We didn't know if we'd ever see that birth certificate!  As Thanksgiving approached, and we had gotten the birth certificate, we knew the call should be coming soon.  We were just waiting on her passport and final approval by the American Embassy.  The call finally came on Monday, Dec. 1.  We were told we needed to be in Guatemala by Wed. night.  You should have seen the travel agent's mouth drop open when James told her we needed 4 tickets to Guatemala, leaving in less than 2 days.  We got up the next morning, drove to Atlanta, and spent the night.  Wednesday morning, we flew out of Atlanta to Houston, had a 4 hour layover, plus an onboard delay, and arrived in Guatemala City close to 9:00 pm.  We were in the air 6 hours.  I should mention that this was the first time I'd ever been on a plane.  I prayed a whole lot!  On top of that, I arrived (very abruptly--Guatemala City has a VERY short runway) in a country where I didn't speak their language, and was scared to death.  Our foster mother's grown son met us at the airport, and we took a wild, fast ride through the streets of Guatmala City.  Have you ever seen Mr. Toad's Wild Ride?  He took us to the foster home to get Marissa, we filled out paperwork, then he took us to the hotel, dropped us off, and said, "See you in 2 days."  That was it.  We were totally on our own, with a new baby that we knew nothing about, a hotel where no one spoke English, and we were the only guests. 

But, we had our baby girl.

Meeting Marissa for the first time.

Marissa was 6 months, 3 weeks old.  She was very tiny, and wore 3 months size clothes.  It was about 10:00 pm, but she was wide awake and playing.  We gave her a soft bear rattle, that somehow became affectionately known as "Bobby".  She loved playing with him, and watching the ceiling fan turn.  She wouldn't settle down for us, but by about 11:00, she finally fussed herself to sleep.  She was up at 4:15 crying.  I sat on the toilet and fed her a bottle, trying to let Ashley and Briana sleep!  We stayed up after that, and had to be at the American Embassy at 7:00.  That was another adventure.   After a few hours there, we walked back to the hotel and rested for a while. 

Then we looked for McDonald's.  That was the next adventure.  It was a very easy, fairly short walk from the hotel, we had a map that the lady at the Consulate's office had drawn for us, and we couldn't find that place to save our lives.  We walked for an hour in dress shoes, on streets we probably shouldn't have been on, in traffic that would run over you in a heartbeat, and tried desperately to ask people for directions before we found it, and went, "Oh, duh, there it is." 

After lunch, and resting from being hot and "famished", we did some shopping across the street.  James had to go back in the afternoon to pick up her visa, and the next morning we were back at the airport at 6:30.  Marissa did great on the flight home, and went to sleep as soon as we got in the car. 

Marissa had a lot of physical catching up to do.  At 7 months, she couldn't sit alone, could not support any weight at all with her legs (as soon as you tried to stand her up, her legs just folded under her), and could not lift her head when she was lying on her stomach.  She spent the next week, catching up quickly.  Within a few days she could sit up.  My in-laws bought her a bouncy seat that you hang in the doorway, and after teaching her how to push with her feet, within a couple of days she was a bouncing maniac! 

Marissa is a fun, adventurous, mischievious, cutie pie.  She is smart, is good at solving problems, and loves to explore new things and places.  She loves horses, pink, her cat, sparkles, mud, playing and reading outside, her sisters, the computer, and history.

We are so happy God brought her into our family.  We are all blessed.

                          

               We Love You, Marissa

         

Addition:  Tonight after we got the little ones all tucked in, Marissa called me back up.  With tears in her eyes, she hugged me super tight, and said, "I'm so glad you adopted me.  You are the best mother I could have."  Wow.  Very humbling.  I know that I am the mother God gave her, I know it was his perfect match, but I know I am not the best mother I could be.  For some reason, her statement has a whole other significance with her being adopted.  Help me, Lord, to be worthy of her title.  Help me to be the mother she needs me to be.  Thank you for the precious gift of Marissa. 

. 

Nutcracker

Briana is dancing in the Nutcracker this weekend.  Her first performance was last night.  She is in Knoxville this morning where they're perfoming the 2nd Act at Fantasy of Trees, and she has one more perfomance of the full show tonight in Gatlinburg again.  She managed to talk James into "dancing" in the party scene with her again this year.  He did it with Ashley and Briana 2 years ago.  It's not what he would choose to do for entertainment, but he's a sweet dad, who does it for them.  There are only a couple of guy dancers at this studio, so the director asks for dads or boyfriends to volunteer for the party scene.  He doesn't really do much actual dancing, except for a few steps here and there.  Mostly, he twirls her or assists her, and they "mingle" with the other party guests in the background while the children dance.  Here are a few shots from last night's performance. 

James and Briana posing before the show.

 

Entering the party with their 4 "daughters".  (Those girls have been calling them Mommy and Daddy for 2 weeks.  I got introduced as their grandma last night.  Geesh!)

Briana and James are in the center of the picture.

James built the clock you see in the background, along with the swords for the Nutcracker and the Mouse King, and the wind up key for the mechanical doll.

Briana in Snow.  You aren't seeing double.  There is another dancer directly behind her.

Briana on the right.

Waltz of the Flowers.  Briana is 3rd from the right.

Marissa presented flowers to the Dew Drop Fairy.

Daniella presented flowers to Clara, but I missed it!  Thankfully, I have another chance tonight.  You can see her a little toward the right of the picture between the 2nd and 3rd dancer, walking off the stage.When she walked out on the stage, half the audience went, "Awww." 

Letitia

How Do You Pronounce My Name?

A few months ago, one of my friends here asked me how to pronounce my name.  Still it didn't occur to me that I should tell everyone else.  I'm not sure why.  You would think after spending my whole life being called everything you can imagine, I wouldn't just assume that my friends here would know what my name is.  So for the ones of you who have never heard of the famous etiquette expert, Letitia Baldridge, I'll clue you in.  I guess phonetically, it would be----

Luh-Tisha  (any of you that know me have any better pronunciations?)  Don't drag out the "uh" sound too much though.  I'm southern, but not *that* southern, regardless of what Jen thinks!  Just run it all together.  The "i" in the Tisha part is pronounced short "i" like in "igloo".  My whole life, one of my grandmother's pronounced that "i" like "ee"  --Luh-Teesha.  Don't like that one! 

Growing up, my family and friends called me Tish or Tisha.  My family still does.  I prefer Tisha of those two, and like that name fine.  Of course, there were the weird and annoying variations like Tishee.  A few guy friends in high school decided I was Mortisha (Adams Family) in order to tease me.  And now, if you ask Jen and Gena, they've decided I am Tia.  Good name, too, right Tia? 

The name Letitia comes from the Latin laetitia, which means "joy".

So there you have it.  Now my question is--what have YOU been calling me in your head all this time as you read my comments?! 

Letitia

Camping, Crashing, and Cats (and Bears) Oh My!

Camping-Last week we went camping at Fall Creek Falls State Park.  It's about a 3 hour drive from here.  A lot of it was one of those comedy (and sometimes not-so-funny) of errors trips.  I was sick the week before we were supposed to go, so I didn't get ANY packing done until the day before we were leaving, including catching up on the wash.  Ashley and Briana were gone a lot that week, so they couldn't help me as much as usual, but did help on Sunday while we were trying to finish.  But, we had so much left to do on Sunday, that it took us forever to get out of here.  Since we had an injured Shadow, Betsy graciously offered to cat-sit for us.  She is pretty much on our way there, but we barely made it there in time for her to get to go to church.  Then I had forgotten to get some things from the grocery store, so we had to take a little longer route into Crossville to stop at WalMart.  It was 9:30 by the time we got to the campground.  Thankfully, with our walkie talkies (that Betsy found humorous) we are quite proficient at getting into a campsite in the dark.   Monday and Thursday were good days.  We had a great time--campfires, walking, biking, playing games, going to the playground.  The whole state park was almost deserted, so it was so quite and peaceful.  Remember me saying that we were keeping an eye on the weather to make sure it wasn't going to rain much before we made the decision to go?  SUNDAY MORNING, as we're getting ready to leave, they up and change the forcast!  UGH!  It rained ALL day Tues. and Wed.  My parents were camping there, too, over on a different loop.  Marissa and Daniella went over and spent a few hours with them on Tues. in their camper, because ours was getting a "little" claustrophobic with all 6 of us.  And, those two were wild that morning.  They had the sillies and were bouncing and loud, mixed in with some occasional squabbles, so it was time for grandma's (Sorry Mama!).  Anyway, we survived all the rain-played lots of card games.  Thursday was back to beautiful and sunny.  But, like as soon as the sun came out, so did the ladybugs.  By mid-morning the camper was filled with them.  That was funny.  Thankfully they left when it got dark. 

Daniella bike riding

Marissa relaxing in the hammock, enjoying a classic.

My little monkey, Daniella

Okay, you absolutely cannot roast a marshmallow well, if you don't stick your tongue out!  Notice the marshmallow already on her nose and chin! 

Okay-this pictures cracks me up.  This is my 20 year old daughter and her grandfather coloring.  I told you it rained for 2 LONG days!!!

My girls at the overlook.

Fall Creek Falls.  This was taken into the sun, so the lighting is rather poor.

Marissa and me bike riding.  She has her own bike, too, but this is a cool tandem bike that can hook onto mine.

Eating ice cream at the camp store.

Snuggled around the campfire.  It was COLD at night.

Crashes-Check out time this time of year is not until 3:00, so we were taking our time Friday morning, trying to get in some bike riding and "camping" time since it had rained for 2 days.  We had gotten back from biking over near the falls, but James, Briana, and Ashley were still out.  I'm sitting outside the camper, and I look up and see James coming in pretty fast.  Comedian that he is, I assumed he was racing and horsing around with them.  But as he kept coming, I saw that they weren't in sight, and I knew something was wrong.  Briana had wrecked over on a closed loop.  We all jumped in the truck, and drove over close to where they were.  They had actually both wrecked.  Briana's bike got out of control somehow, and she hit bad.  Ashley was right behind her, and had to slam on brakes to keep from running over her, which threw her off of her bike, too.  Briana hit her head, but thankfully had her helmet on.  She has some nasty, nasty scrapes all over the place--her right shoulder, tiny one on her right elbow, a big, bad one just below her left knee, a big, bad one on her left arm, and several small bad ones on the back of her left hand, plus some misc. others scattered around.  She has a huge bruise on her right thigh, along with both knees, and she hurt her ankle.  Ashley got a couple of minor scrapes, but her knees have continued to be achy.  I took them to the chiropractor yesterday, so I hope that will help her knees.  I am SO, SO thankful to the Lord that they didn't have any head injuries or broken bones.  I am thankful, too, that they respected my wishes and wore their helmets even though they would have preferred not to.  Now they understand why.  Briana's has a big soft spot in it, along with scrapes across the front of it where it hit the pavement. 

Ashley and James rode the bikes back home, while I got Briana into the truck and took everyone else back.  We got her doctored, but that made us very late once again.  Plus, because they were hurt, they couldn't help us get everything packed back up, so it took forever.  Then we had to stop at my mom's and dad's to pick up one of our dogs.  I think we were 9:00 getting back to Betsy's to pick up Shadow.  Told you it was a comedy of errors.  We managed to have some fun times anyway.

Briana being doctored by the park ranger. 

Cats-Today is the first day Shadow has been able to stay out of the kennel most of the day.  He's slept on the couch most of it anyway.  But, he has tried to walk around some.  The muscles in that leg will take a long time to heal and "regrow", since they had to cut a lot out.  The nerves seem to be healing well, and he seems to be able to make it go where he wants to.  He just can't put weight on it.  But, boy, the vet shocked us yesterday by saying that it will probably take 18 months for it to be fully healed.  This is an outside cat, and he's dying to get outside.  Not to mention the added loveliness of a litter box.  18 months--that's a year and a half!  That's a long time!

Bears-Well, just before we left for camping, we got quite a surprise.  Our neighbors 2 houses and 2 big yards over had a bear in their backyard.  Hello, we don't live THAT close to Gatlinburg.  We are NOT supposed to have bears in our neighborhood.  I do know they have had them not too far from here before, but we've lived here for almost 17 years and never had one, so we felt kind of immune.  BEARS!!!!   Also, the consensus seems to be, including from the vet, we think there is a high possibility that that is what happened to Shadow.  There were no tears in his wound like teeth marks.  It was just one big "swipe" all the way down his shoulder and leg, all the way to the bone.  The worst part is the Wildlife people didn't catch it with their trap, so it's still out their wandering around somewhere.  BEARS??!!  Thankfully, my little ones usually make so much noise squealing when they are outside playing, I doubt a bear would be brave enough to come close.  At least I hope not. 

Okay, this is already terribly long, but one more thing.  Ashley is going to get to go to the writer's seminar in Gatlinburg this weekend.  Gena is going to be speaking there, along with several others.  She is really excited.  She wants to write--to be published one of these days.  She is a great writer, especially inspirational and "creative non-fiction" type stories.  I feel very inadequate at helping her figure out how to be published.  I hope this weekend will be very helpful to her.  She is also taking some writing classes online through Writer's Digest.  She has gotten very good feedback there, also. 

Okay, I'll quit  my rambling now.  I'm trying to catch up on reading everyone else's blogs, so I'll be by to see you all soon.

Letitia