Blessed

With all the crap going on at work lately and dealing with the stresses of trying to sell our house (we all know what the market is like right now...), I haven't been feeling very blessed lately....

Well, God must have known that I needed a good swift kick to remind me that every minute we have on this earth is a gift. And that we need to cherish those moments. My problems, however BIG they may seem to me, are teeny tiny in comparison to what many other people out there are facing.

Thank you, Lord, for allowing me to finally meet Kaytie and Avery in person today. Who knew that dinner at Pizza Hut (coupled with a keen sense of hearing) could make a grown woman (me) cry?!? What beautiful, precious angels.... I know Shyla & Phillip would be so proud as would big sister Haylie!

In 2 days, it will be the 2nd anniversary of when we lost those 3 sweet spirits. As we remember and reflect, let us thank God for every moment and every memory.

God Bless,
Amy

Why?

WHY do people want to try their hardest to ruin someone else's happiness?

Whether it be happiness in a relationship, a family, a career, etc...

Just WHY????

Let me just say that I feel like a total outsider at work. I love my job and I love that I am asked by our manager and our system director to branch out and help with new technology, special projects, etc. And I am NOT leaving. But I feel like I don't have a single friend in the pharmacy where I work. We've got some back-stabbing, talk about you when you're right around the corner, people where I work.

I have always been an emotional person. I wear my heart on my sleeve. And hard as I try, I have extreme difficulty hiding my feelings. Any advice y'all can offer on "How To Deal" would be much appreciated!

Thanks for reading!

Amy

We Never Know....

People have their reasons for the things they do or don't do.

Sometimes they share those reasons with us and sometimes they don't.

As much as I rely on Facebook to keep in touch with family out of town and friends, I found out something this week that I did not know.

On the one hand, it breaks my heart. On the other, I can't even begin to understand what it's been like to walk in those two pairs of shoes for the past 19 plus years.............

I love them both with my whole heart. We've lost touch and reconnected a number of times. But they will always be like a second mom & dad to me.

I wish each of them all the love, happiness, and fulfillment their hearts can hold. After all they've been through, they deserve it.

Happy :o)

I went to work this morning, then left at a little before 9:30 a.m. to go meet my stepsister, Cindy, for breakfast at Denny's. This may sound like nothing special to the rest of you.... Let me explain why it was such a BIG DEAL to me:

I have not seen Cindy in person since right after my mom passed away in December 1995. So it's been a VERY long 14+ years... For a couple of years now, I have been back in touch with her, my other stepsister Sandra, and my stepbrother Scott. Say what you will about Facebook, but I still think it's FANTASTIC!

I was nervous about seeing her at first. And when I saw her, she told me "You couldn't look more like your mama if you tried!" I take it as a compliment. I don't mind looking like my mom. :o) And I cried when I hugged her. Not a teary, mess up your makeup kind of cry, but a cry nonetheless....

And then, once we sat down and really started talking, it was like we had just seen each other 14 days ago instead of 14 years ago. Plus, Robert and Evan came to meet us for breakfast, so Evan got to meet his "Aunt Cindy" for the very first time!

I am hoping that sometime later on this summer, we will be able to see Sandra and Scott as well. That's when I feel like "all will be right with the world". I don't want to dwell on why we went so long without seeing one another. Hurt feelings, water under the bridge, whatever... None of that matters anymore.

So, if you're thinking about meeting up with a long lost friend or family member that you haven't seen in quite some time..... DO IT ALREADY! Family reunions ROCK! (Even if they only include a couple of members, and even if they only last an hour or so.... ;o)

Haven't...

1. Posted since January
2. Yet lost the weight I need to lose to get to a "healthy" number
3. Been to the gym at all this week
4. Quite adjusted to the time change yet
5. Been feeling well today
6. Had a girls' night in forever....
7. Seen a movie at the movie theater in several months
8. Gotten tired of coming home from work and hearing Robbie "spill the beans" about everything they've done that day
9. Put the boys to bed yet
10. Forgotten and NEVER will forget my FIRST LOVE. Yes, by God's grace, I've been fortunate to be able to move on and get married and have a family. I love my husband and our boys with all my heart. But that does NOT mean that my memories of Chris will ever fade. Here's to one of the cutest, funniest, most "people-loving" guys I have ever known! Our loss 19 years ago was Heaven's gain. And we WILL see you again. This I KNOW for SURE!!!

~Amy Beth

I never knew...

that cancer could move so quickly....

My great uncle (my Paw Paw's brother), Uncle Jimmy, was just diagnosed with cancer in November. He had a cancerous spot on his lung, cancer in the lymph nodes in his chest, and a small spot on the back bottom left of his brain. They tried radiation for a couple of weeks, but he was still too weak to start the chemo. On Christmas Eve, he was hospitalized for pneumonia. On Monday, Dec. 28, he went home on hospice. He passed away Friday night, 1/1/10. He was only 67 years old. And that's still way too young to die in my book......

My heart aches for my Aunt Mamie, my cousins Lisa and Gregg, their spouses Louis and Kim, my Uncle Jimmy's grandkids, Jimmy Louis & his wife Dana, Brandon, Brittany, Cameron, and Jason, and his great grandkids, Levi and Presleigh, and all of the rest of us (including me, of course) who knew and loved him. Words can't fix the hurt. It is so ironic and so sad to me.... As everyone else around the world is celebrating the BEGINNING of a new year, new decade, etc. we are mourning the END of my Uncle Jimmy's life here on Earth. But I believe he's in Heaven with the angels and God, and I look forward to seeing him again when God chooses to call me home.

Uncle Jimmy, we love you. We miss you. We will ALWAYS remember you.

Amy Beth

Today

Let's see.... Where do I begin???

1. Robert and I were just crazy enough to get out in this crappy weather to head to Hattiesburg (of all places) so that we could take the boys to a friend's daughter's birthday party at Chuck E Cheese.
2. We (really I, cause I don't do late very well) were a bit concerned if we were going to be on time or not. Well, we were right on time. AND, other than our friend and her children, and her cousin, we were one of the first to arrive.
3. We sat our stuff in several chairs to save our places. She gave us the boys' tokens and we went off as a family to play some games before the pizza arrived. Luckily at a certain point, we decided to check back to see if the pizza was out. No announcement was ever made for us to return to the table for pizza. (Every other time I've been in a CEC, whether for a party or not, I have heard them make an announcement when it's pizza time.) Otherwise, if we hadn't checked back, the boys would have had no pizza. As it was, other attendees (mainly the adult extended family members) ate most of the pizza before the boys ever got their first bite.
4. BTW, forgot to mention that one of the attendees (a "lady" that I don't know) had the audacity to pick up MY purse and Robert's camera and move it to the next chair, WITH me standing right there, WITHOUT asking me first, so her daughter could sit in what was supposed to be our chair.
5. I've always (and Robert has too) thought that a child's birthday party is supposed to be about the kids. Well, our kids didn't even get to sit with the other children at the party. We were basically banished to the far end of the long table and had to fend for ourselves.
6. If you can't tell by now, we (and I DO mean WE) are NOT happy about the way things went today. Especially since we drove over 90 miles ONE WAY to be able to attend this party!
7. I totally understand that things get hectic and the host/hostess can't always chat for any real length of time with any one particular guest. But we really got the brush off today. I'm not sure I ever even heard a "Thanks for coming!"
8. I AM thankful, that in spite of everything else, our boys had a decent time and are too young to understand the snub that happened to us today. Plus, the gift we selected was a huge hit with the birthday girl. And it's not that sweet angel's fault that we were treated the way we were.....
9. If you want to comment, please feel free. If you have any birthday party disasters, etc. to share, go ahead. It'll help get my mind off the fact that we basically wasted a whole lotta' gas to go to Hattiesburg for a party, and had to stop at Newk's in D'Iberville on the way home to get a decent meal. (By the way, the Newk's Q sandwich was FANTASTIC!!!)
10. This is the only blog I'll do about today's fiasco. Anything else will be all about Christmas, my oldest "baby" turning 3 on the 31st, etc. etc....

Amy