If only she could be...

I saw a Rascal Flatts video this morning on CMT: “I’ll Be Home for Christmas.” That song reminds me of my Nanny. She loved Christmastime and I know that if she could be here for Christmas, she would be. Now that she is gone, I have her Christmas tree and her ornaments. For the past couple years, I have enjoyed her tree. Noah and I look at each and every ornament and we remember where she got it from, who gave it to her, etc. It’s fun to watch my little boy’s eyes light up when the tree is finally lit and decorated! I know Nanny would be happy to know that we are enjoying her things!

I took Noah to her gravesite about two weeks ago. We stopped by to tell her hi and made sure the flowers were settled in their vases. Each time we go, I have to go over who each grave belongs to and how they are related to us. Last night, we drove pass the cemetery and we both said “Hi Nanny!” Then, Noah said, “We haven’t seen Nanny in a way long time, not the last time we went to there, but before that.” I reminded him that we will see her when we get to Heaven. She’s there waiting on us!

Sometimes, when I tell Noah that we’ll see her in Heaven, he asks me how I know that he’s going to Heaven. I tell him the very same thing every time… I ask him if Jesus is in his heart and if he loves Him and if he believes in Him… And every time he says YES. I say, “Son, there’s your ticket! Jesus is our personal ladder to get to God in Heaven!” Amen for that! Jesus is preparing a place for us!


I can’t even put in words just how grateful I am today! Thank you Jesus!

Hugs,
SW

Happy Holidays

Just a few things….

My Dad had a birthday Saturday! HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD! I hope you have many more! We (the family) went and ate lunch at IHOP Saturday afternoon…and my dad tried really hard not to make it obvious that it was his birthday…but too bad! They ended up singing Happy Birthday to him anyways! It was super funny!

The children’s Christmas musical at church was this weekend, too. It ended up being very nice and portrayed a wonderful message! Jesus is the reason for the season! I enjoyed it both Saturday evening and Sunday evening! Great job Shana (aka Chicken Butt)! I love you girl! Now, get cracking on your Silent Night solo and make your Aunt Sandy even more proud!

My classes are now officially over! I am so glad! I have not received my grades as of yet but I am sure that I have B’s in both classes and I can definitely live with that! I am already registered for spring classes and I am a little excited to start them. Almost a full load… I am taking three classes. (And I’m very excited to hear that Ivette will be taking classes, too! YAY!)

My Brownie-girl (my kitty) passed a way a few weeks ago. She decided that she was going to take her life into her own paws and starve herself to death. As sad as it was, I know she’s in kitty Heaven living an eternal life! Apparently, her earthly nine lives were up! We miss her! In light of that situation, my Dad got Noah and me a new kitten. An early Christmas present if you will. She’s a cute little stinker and very energetic! She’s along-haired grey tabby with white patches. Adorable! She gets along with our other pet, Katie. Katie is our cat-dog. She’s a mix of wiener dog and mini Doberman. She’s a very good dog! However, she swears up and down she is a cat! So, we call her Katie-cat. We named our new kitty Ali. Remember the TV show Kate and Allie? Well, we have the series follow up at home!

I must head out for now…. I need to go home and check on my two crazy animals! I’m sure one has completed her hold to China and the other has finished destroying the carpet in the spare bedroom…. A mother’s work is never finished!

May you have peace in your heart and a smile on your face!

Hugs,
SW

What color grout do you prefer?

Yesterday at school Noah typed up a mini autobiography. It was only about a paragraph long but it was to the point. To sum it all up, he likes to play football and when he grows up he wants to install tile just like his uncle and dad. He was very proud of what he wrote and was eager to show it to me right away!

Later that evening, he came up to me while I was desperately trying to squeeze in a nap on the couch and told me that when he “gets big”, he’s going to lay tile and that he already had a name for his business: Young’s Family Tile. Wow! My son has his future planned out already while I can barely plan for tomorrow!

Not too long ago, we had discussions on marriage, babies, and college. These conversations took place in less than an hour! Sometimes he mentally exhausts his poor old Momma! The first question he asked was: “Momma, when are you going to get married?” Momma replied, “Son, I’m not, well, at least not anytime soon. Why should I get married?” Noah commented that I should get married and he even told me who to marry…. Then, it moved on to when he was going to get married. He said when he’s 24 he will marry his sweetheart Kali. I told him that was a good age because it would give him time to finish college. Noah said, “Oh, I don’t think I’m going to college.” Of course I quickly replied, “Oh yes you are! Without a college degree, you will be working at Burger King flipping burgers for the rest of your life!” A big bright smile came across his face and he said, “Oh yeah, I get to eat their food!” The new-found healthy eater that I am told him that he would surely die early on of a heart attack if he ate Burger King every single day. Looking a bit concerned, he told me, “Oh! Well then I’m going to college!” Amen to that son! Amen to that!

Now, my question is this… Does one really need a college degree to become a tile installer? Ha Ha!!! My son is so funny! If God ever blesses me with another child, I pray for a boy that is just like my sweet Noah Michael!

God Bless You & Yours,
Sand Woman

Playin' Football "Outback"

Just so you know, my son and I will be traveling to Australia. We are in the process of packing our clothes and toiletries and will be on the next plane out. I will send family and friends postcards upon arrival!

I am so kidding!!!!

Oh, but wishful thinking!

My son told another boy at school that we weren’t going to be around for a while because we were going to Australia where he would be playing football! So, Chris, the boy at school, informed his mom (she and I work together) that Ms. Sandy wouldn’t be at work for a while because of our planned football trip to the Outback. Football down under! How silly!

Now, isn’t that something! My child has a very wild, creative and not to mention mind-boggling imagination. Like “they” say… “Out of the mouths of babes!”

(But seriously, I do want to go to Australia!)

The Back Burner

Writing poetry is my source of emotional output. I pour my soul into my work. When reading my words, one can see directly into my heart. Poetry is what I love and it’s who I am. I can openly and freely express myself. Mostly, I write for my own personal release but if someone gets something out of my words, if someone is touched by them, or if someone is inspired, then, not only have I satisfied my own need, I have also done my job as a writer.

And if you didn’t know…

I don’t just write poetry. I love to write about anything and everything. I also love to read! I enjoy reading inspirational and self-help books as well as biographies. I love to read works by Joyce Meyer, Beth Moore, and Max Lucado. I like Phillip Yancey, too. And the Chicken Soup books are so good! Books, books and more books please! I feed my soul with books!

Anyways, there for a while, a LONG while, I seemed to have lost my desire to write and my inspiration, whatever that was. Though it made me sad that I wasn’t writing as often as I had before or as often as I should, I didn’t really do anything about it. I just decided to shove it on the back burner.

But I HAD to take it off the back burner and put my writing front and center once again. I made a vow to write something every single day. Starting today. (Now, let’s see if I can stick to that?!) Let’s just say, I have once again found it… my inspiration and my motivation to write!

I need all the release I can get these days…. Life is stressful, hard, difficult and sometimes just plain crappy. At the same time though, it can be wonderful, happy, full of joy and outright fun! When I write about it, I feel much better, like a ton of bricks have been lifted from my chest. Trust me. I know that keeping my emotions all bottled up get me absolutely nowhere!

So, I’m writing again. Mind you now, I may not share everything I write with you but rest assured, I am writing. And that is a good thing!

Have a very blessed day!!!! And remember Jesus loves YOU and so do I!

Much Love & Many Hugs,
~Sand Woman~

Hope for the helpless, rest for the weary, love for the broken heart...

Lately, I have been searching more and more for God. For a while there I had lost sight of Him. Mind you now, I said I had lost sight of Him… all the while, He was still right there in front of me. He never left me.

I won’t lie and say that I pray about everything. I won’t lie and say that I ask for His guidance. And I definitely won’t lie and say that I don’t need His help. The truth of the matter is that these things are exactly what I need: I need to lift everything up in prayer, continuous prayer. I need His guidance and most of all I need His help.

These past couple of weeks have been trying for me, for all sorts of reasons. This week is even more trying. I’m struggling with something and I need to make a decision about it. Yes, I have prayed about it many, many times. I know that God hears all those prayers and I also know that in His own way He is telling me exactly what I need to do. He is sending me signs. Some of the signs are those that I do not wish to see or wish to accept but I don’t have a choice. I asked for help and He’s giving it to me.

Yes, I’ve had a few rough days but no need to worry because like I said, I’ve been talking to God about it and I will continue to do so. You know, He never promised that all our days would be filled with sunshine and happiness. His light will shine in the end! We just have to continue to seek Him!

Trials and tribulations, hardships and bad times teach us and remind us that He is always there to back us up and hold our hand. Things like that teach us to put all our trust and faith in Him only and to give everything to Him. Sometimes, I have a hard time doing that (this would be one of those times). I tend to want to hold onto everything and put my trust and faith in man. It never comes out good!

"Though the sorrow may last for the night, His joy comes in the morning!"

~and~

“When you call on Jesus, All things are possible!”

Have a blessed day!
SW

"But Mommy...."

My son will finally start swim lessons this coming Monday at the YMCA. I am very excited about it! He already knows that I was going to sign him up…. He informed me, “But Mommy, I might be scared of swim lessons.” So, Monday should be very interesting! I just hope he will get in the water. I will be there and more than likely his dad and my dad and my mom. He’ll have plenty of support! Like me, he kind of has a fear of the water. My fear is far greater than his though. I’m hoping that since I smacked my fear right in the face at the Water Festival Raft Race, he will do the same at swim lessons. We shall see….

I’ll be sure to post some pictures.

Sayonara for now!

Hugs,
S.W.

Robbing Peter to pay Paul?!?

What do you do when you think someone has done something really wrong but you don’t want to ask them about it or bring it up? You only have a hunch, nothing concrete….and you really want to give this other person the benefit of the doubt. And you would like to think that this person is somewhat responsible….. Hmmmm.

Well, this is the situation I’m in right now.

Scenario….. You owe someone BIG money but on your own you can only come up with let’s say about 80% of it…..through a loan of course. So, you wonder how and where you will get the other 20% to pay this someone off; that is unless you want to be held in contempt of court…. Your mom can’t help you. Your dad can’t help you. You have no on else to ask. And you can’t get a loan for the exact amount you need. You have three vehicles though. Would you sell one to get the rest of the money? Or would you rob Peter to pay Paul? What would you do? What if your child had a very substantial sum of cash in a joint savings account? Quick cash…. And you think no one will ever know if I take it.

THINK AGAIN!

So, this is what I think is up…. My child’s father had to buy me out of my interest in “our” house or sell. He chose to buy me out. He decided that he would get a loan to do so. But the loan was for only $32,500.00 as opposed to the $42,500.00 that he owes me. At first I thought nothing of it as he told me he had the rest taken care of. Okay. No big deal. But the more I thought about it, the more I asked myself: “Where did he all of a sudden come up with that kind of cash?” Two things came to mind: 1) His mother helped him out (and I very seriously doubt she did. 2) He took $10,000.00 out of our child’s savings account.

I was talking about this to Tammy and she told me that he more than likely did use Noah’s money. She said that last year he told her that if worse came to worse that he would use Noah’s money. So, right now, there’s no doubt in my mind that that is exactly what he did. I have not approached him about it yet. I don’t really know how to. What if I accuse him of that and he really didn’t do it? I would feel super lousy. But what if he did and I just pretend that he didn’t?

First of all, he has absolutely no right to use NOAH’S money. His family did not contribute anything to that savings account. Not a dime! MY FAMILY put all that money in it. I’d say that Stan probably put at least 98% of that money in there. He worked VERY hard for that money. All those checks he handed over said pay to the order of NOAH YOUNG, not him! Okay, so second of all, if he actually did do something like that, does he intend to pay it back with interest? Noah will be upset…….and trust me if I find out his dad did do this, I will tell my son. It’s his money, he has the right to know!

As you can see, I am very torn here. And I am also very IRATE! Can you see the smoke coming from my head? I would hate to know that my child’s father is a thief! And that is exactly what that is: thievery!

I said before that he has three vehicles…. If he was that hard up for cash, he should have sold a vehicle. That’s what I would have done. He has known for a very long time that the day was coming that he was going to have to buy me out. He could have been saving, working extra jobs, etc. I know this is a heavy accusation but what am I supposed to think? I’d like to think he’s better than that.

If he really did this, I will never trust him with anything ever again.

Let me say this: I WILL NOT GIVE HIM ANY MORE MONEY TO PUT IN THAT BANK ACCOUNT! I will be opening a new one with mine and Noah’s name on it only. And he will NOT be able to touch it!

So, for now…. I will wait…..until the perfect time to DROP it on him!

I’ve got to go. I need to get a breath of fresh air before I go crazy!

Peace.