My Friend

For those of you who were at our wedding, you got to see one of my dad's best friends, Bruce Higdon, give our first toast to us. He has been like a 2nd dad to me and is one of the funniest people I know. I grew up being a part of his "family," thus, his niece, Casey Wilson (FROM SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE) is a lifelong friend of mine.

Many of you know that she was just released from the cast of SNL this week. She's fighting off rumors that she was let go because she refused to lose 30 lbs this summer. If that is true (and I emailed Brucie to find out) then GOOD FOR HER. She's a gorgeous and hilarious girl and I am proud of her for the amazing years she had running as part of the elite cast of Saturday Night Live.

Go Casey! I am so proud of you.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,549534,00.html?loomia_ow=t0:s0:a4:g4:r4:c0.000000:b0:z5

Anyone Interested!?

This was emailed to me this morning and I am still in shock after listening to this guy! Take 3 minutes of your weekend and listen to this - he's still available!!!!

http://melodymaker.posterous.com/the-reason-some-girls-stay-single-very-funny

Perspective

On this, the 8th anniversary of the attacks on 9/11/2001, we can count on two full hands the amount of U.S. troops we have lost in Afghanistan JUST THIS WEEK. All over that wretched country we have continued to lose fathers, husbands, wives, mommies, daughters. Those numbers are rising by the day. Thanks, Osama bin Laden....

Watching those towers fall yesterday on the news was like watching them the first time they fell all those years ago. The pain - for ALL of us - is still so fresh and so raw. I think we might all be 90+ years old and watch it with the same horror we felt in 2001. Maybe much like our parents and grandparents feel when they see footage of the attacks on beautiful Pearl Harbor??

My perspective is a bit skewed because I am about to say goodbye to the love of my life and my only child's father. He will serve in that awful land of Afghanistan for a long, long time. So, maybe my perspective is a bit messed up for the time being, but those 9 troops that we lost this week? Well, those losses seem to hit a bit "close to home," if you know what I mean. The numbers of troops lost and mamed in Afghanistan continue to rise.... So, am I being selfish when I say that I don't want my husband to go there???

My skin crawls each day that I read the headlines and the words
" ___ More U.S. Troops Lost in Afghanistan"....

Boothe's Blog

For those of you who followed my beautiful friend, Boothe Blanton Farley's blog that she kept in the wake of losing her baby girl Copeland, you will be happy to know that Boothe continues to write. She no longer is using her "keeping awake" blog but is now writing on her blog entitled "Black is White/White is Gray." For those interested, I have linked you to it here. Enjoy!

Harsh Words

Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. -- James 1:19-20

Let me start off by saying that I am hardly one to say that I don't say mean things when I am impassioned or angry. I spout off at the hip when I feel like it... but that is wrong. I know it is wrong while I am doing it. My dad has always said "if it feels good, don't do it." Unfortunately, I am the type that I would rather do something and pay for it later than withhold and be blessed later. That is sad, isn't it? But, I am human and I enjoy instant gratification.

What I DO have a problem with is how people can sit behind their computers and say the most disrespectful and hurtful things without regard to how their words might be interpreted. It is my understanding that Facebook - and similar networking sites - are supposed to be used to "reconnect" with old and new friends alike. But what I am finding to be more and more common is that people use their new-found familiarity with people as a license to say what they want.

Last night, I was bombarded with some of the most hateful things a person (a so-called friend) could say to me. She knew that I am in a dark place right now with my husband about to leave for so long to go fight in this awful war, yet she still felt it appropriate to publicly chastise me for not agreeing with the president. Thus, she told me to "get a grip... life's not all about me" and that even though my husband's leaving for so long, I had no place to have a "pity party."

It took me a nanosecond to realize that she hadn't put herself into my shoes for anytime at all... If the threat that her husband were to leave her and her child for that long ever presented itself, then I think she might have thought twice about saying the things that she did. She continued to mock me for getting my feelings hurt by her words and she called me a hypocrite and a liar.... all in a very public forum. And ALL because I didn't see eye to eye with her on my interpretation of Mr. Obama's address to Congress. She literally mocked my and my husband's service and sacrifice publicly, and to what end? She deleted me (like a coward) as a "friend" as soon as she wrote her words. Needless to say, there were about 45 comments in retaliation from many of my friends in my defense... I didn't need to say anything at all.

I tell you all of this to say that just because there are great networking tools available for all to use in this day and age, please realize that it doesn't give one the right to cowardly sit behind their computer and spew hurtful words. This absolutely wasn't the first time - nor was I the first of our "friends" to get this sort of treatment from her - that this has happened. She's notorious for saying the most horrible things from the safety of her own home. But I mean it to be the last that this happens to me.

It makes me question putting my feelings, my information and my writings into this vast cyberworld because someone with hurtful intentions can feel the "right" to say what they want to say. And words hurt. They do. Written or said to your face, words hurt. And I encourage you all to be extremely careful with your written and verbalized emotions. I intend to do the same.

Videos of Noah

"Graddy, Jan-Jan and Keddy's" Visit

We had so much fun with my mom, dad and sister this past weekend! They were the first visitors to the Beall home in Louisiana and man, did we EVER work hard to finish up decorating our new house. We were exhausted by the time they arrived and I must say, all the work paid off. We had a blast with them here and it is such a relief to have "a place for everything and everything in it's place."

We have done so much work on our new home - we have had painters, the security system installed, carpenters, contractors, you name it. And though the work has been hard and expensive, it feels great to call this our home finally. I especially feel like this is just where we belong - this house is perfect for us at this time in our lives.

We still have the blinds guy coming today to give us an estimate on installing some Roman shades and plantation shutters but that and organizing the garage seems to be the last hurdle we have to jump to be fully settled.

Noah is so enjoying his new "school." Well, once he's there he really enjoys it but when I drop him off twice a week, he clings to my leg like the other kids do with their moms. But, that time away from him allows me to do SO much. SOOO MUCH that I otherwise wouldn't get to do. We have a ton of things to do before Dan leaves in a few weeks and I have my class starting in about a month that I am busy getting study guides, notes and exams ready. I can't wait to be organized with all my coursework for my students - it will be a great experience for me.

We are making wonderful friends here in Louisiana. We live in a cul-de-sac fulllll of 23 other kids in just 8 homes. Most of us just moved in too so we are all enjoying getting to know one another and it is so much fun to have Noah outside playing with his new buddies at 5 pm everyday while the grown ups chat and fill one another in on our days.

And would you believe it that the friend I am growing the closest to is Tessa Anthony... we bought our house from them! We had a girls' night the other night and realized we were so much alike that it was scary. We laughed, shared our hearts, shed some tears and just realized that we were embarking upon a lifelong friendship - what a blessing (there's a photo of her in the mix of the album posted below.) She even sent me a message telling me that she feels like she's talking to herself when we are together because we are so much alike. That is a great feeling to meet another kindred spirit like that that you can feel so comfortable with and just BE YOURSELF!! Life's too short to have friendships that cause pain and sadness when there are other relationships that could be nurtured into some of the most meaningful of your life.

I promise to be better about blogging soon.... I have fallen off the blog wagon lately and I apologize! Here are some great photos from our weekend with my sweet family.

Instrument....

When Dan was about 10 or so, he was shot point blank in the face with a beebee gun by a friend of his (some friend). The beebee lodged itself into Dan's soft palate and just a millimeter short of his optic nerve. Because of it proximity to his optic nerve, the doctors chose to leave the bullet in his face.

We don't know when, but at some point in Dan's dental history, he had a couple of root canals done. He went back into the dentist this week for a simple follow up that he had been scheduled for and learned some shocking news. Upon examination of the XRay, the dentist noticed that stuck in Dan's gum (in one of his very last molars' area) that there was a small DENTAL INSTRUMENT that had broken off during a root canal years ago and was still there.

So today, Dan had to go back to the dentist and have his root canal opened up and have the instrument removed. The dentist was optimistic that they would be able to remove the instrument but in the worst case, Dan's molar would have to be pulled so that he could be deployable. HUH!? Until this issue is taken care of, the dentist put him on "not deployable" status because of the risk of major infection that could set in at any moment, all these years later.

We know that this situation has to be figured out because Dan's leaving in a few weeks to start his 15 months away from home. But come on!! Who could have ever expected this!? Definitely not me. So now, Dan's got a bullet and a medical instrument permanantly lodged into that pretty face of his.

Stay tuned on Dan's crazy medical issues....

Priceless

In the moving process, one tends to uncover so many wonderful items/memories one had forgotten about. Today, I uncovered this precious photo of my husband when he was a few weeks old with his beautiful parents, Brad and Carol.

School Days

Today our sweet boy started Mother's Day Out! What?! I can't believe it is that time already. He's growing sooo fast. But, we feel like this is the best thing for me and for Noah. He's such a social child so keeping him restricted in these walls and our backyard day in and day out not only makes him bored, but we both seem to wear on each other's nerves. He's only going for 2 days a week and it is a great Christian program that is clean, safe and fun for our little man. And even better, our next door neighbor is his teacher! Whoo hoo!

It was amazing to me how much I was able to get done between the hours of 9:00 am and 2:00 pm today. I cleaned, had my time with the Lord, continued to decorate our new home and was able to catch up on my preparation for the Political Science course I will be teaching this time next month online. I feel like a new woman - albeit a bit under the weather with a nasty cold.

It was so tough to drop Noah off for his first day; especially because I didn't go there with the intention of leaving him. We went to get him registered but since class began today and I desparately needed some "me" time, I decided at the last minute to leave him. He was so thrilled to get into his new class.... until he realized that I wasn't staying to play, too! All moms know what I am talking about when I say that the guilt that accompanies most things that you do as a parent was a tad overwhelming for me. We all question almost every decision or move we make as parents and I am wondering if that will ever stop!?

After dropping Noah off, I realized I had forgotten my cell phone in my diaper bag so I had to go BACK in after saying "goodbye" to Noah and the drama started all over again. He was being a Houdini - he actually hadrun between his teacher's legs to come find me when we ran into each other in the hall! It was pitiful.

While I still consider myself a "stay-at-home-mom," we had to do this for everyone's sake. Noah needs the social interaction with other kids his age (he's in a class of about 8-10 18 month olds), I need the time to focus on getting Dan ready to leave home for such a long road ahead of us and time to get myself organized for my class that I am going to teach starting this time next month. And I think BOTH Noah and I are going to need a break from each other twice a week once Dan has left home. So, while this was a hard day, it was a milestone that we inevitably had to cross over! And Noah was very ready to tell me all about his day at school when I picked him up this afternoon!