Brandon, Kimberly & Family

Are you ready for some football???

2010-08-19T21:15:00.001-05:00

Wow!!! This year is rolling right on by! The kids started school last week. It’s hard to believe the summer is over. Now we’re back to homework, projects, reports and FOOTBALL.

Justin, Phillip and the rest of the Benton Raiders kicked off their year with a jamboree at Deer Creek Academy last Friday. They played two games that night. The first one ended with no score. The second one ended with the Raiders victorious 14-0. All the boys did a great job! This week they go head to head at home against University Christian. Our first home game will be an exciting one, I’m sure.

Christian began practicing for Pee Wee football this week. His first game will be next Thursday at Sharkey Academy. Brandon is helping to coach this year, and both of them are really enjoying it.

Well, you guessed it… that leaves only Hunter and I to cheer them all on. We have a great time, though. Monday night at “Meet the Raiders” Hunter and I sat in the stands with Megan, Miranda, Reagan. Clapping as our family members and friends took to the field to be introduced. Hannah and Becca even joined us after they were through being introduced on the softball team. We all sat around talking, laughing and eating M&M’s. Life is good!

Stop!!! Don’t go!!!!

2010-08-10T22:21:00.001-05:00

There’s lots of things I could write about tonight. Today is, after all, my parent’s 38th anniversary… and mercifully my granddaddy has lived to see his 80th birthday tonight. I’m very thankful for all of that. My parents have showed me that while life is not a bed of roses… love is able to conquer all. They have showed me my whole life that they love each other enough that any obstacle can be dealt with, and yes, overcome, even. My granddaddy has showed me that a deep faith in God, a sunny spirit, quick thinking, the ability to never meet a stranger, and (again) love can absolutely make the world go round and handle anything. From these three (grown-ups), I have shaped a lot of what I think and what I say. I’ve tried to make them proud of me, and I think I have succeeded (or at least most of the time).

Anyway, what I’m blogging about tonight, is Justin starting his senior year tomorrow, because I just can’t get it off my mind. First off… Justin is my first born son. He was my experiment (so to speak). LOL When I found out that I was pregnant with him, I knew immediately that this child held the future of the world in his very hands. He began to talk at an extremely early age… and before we knew it he could carry on a conversation before the age of two. He was such a smarty that I entered him in 3 year old kindergarten (yeah, I know that now they have it for one year olds, but back then it was three).

School has been an adventure for us. I often say that I hope his diploma will have my name on it too. I have worked much harder on his graduation than I ever did on my own. We have done projects, book reports, science projects, etc… most at a moment’s notice. Somehow, he never seems to know the assignment as early as his peers do. I’ve made late night runs to Wal-Mart, begged the services of my uncle (the sign maker), harassed my good friend, the mathematics PHD… and generally almost sullied my reputation (just kidding… but close) to get help on what we needed it on. Long story short: Tomorrow is his first day of his senior year.

One thing that he has never disappointed me on is his character. I don’t know how I have been chosen to be so blessed… but Justin has an almost faultless personality. He is steady and true. Stable, and good-natured. Sweet and honest as the day is long. I would like to think that some of it was my doing… but I know that God has blessed us in this manner. I know that I have raised a good man, and that he will make me proud in any endeavor he undertakes. I guess that is all you can ask out of life, huh?

So, while I’m sure this post will embarrass him greatly… I just had to write it. My eyes have been wet all night. I wrote his name on the last school supplies of his last year… and for this mama… that is quite a job.

Hug your babies… they don’t keep! Life is what happens while you’re busy making other plans.

Good luck, Justin!!! Your mama loves you!!!

What a trip!

2010-08-04T21:14:00.001-05:00

First Row: Hunter, Christian, Me, Bonita aka Nana, Amber, Lela & Hammond
Back Row: Phillip, Justin, Brandon, Marty aka Papa & Mark

We had the best time at Orange Beach last weekend. Nana and Papa booked us a condo at the Wind Drift South condos. We all relaxed Friday, and then Saturday morning... the kids were ready to hit the beach first thing in the morning. We swam, and played almost all day long. The water was beautiful and clear, which was a good thing considering the overwhelming heat. We all got a little sunburned, but nothing too bad. The boys caught a blue crab, and lots of little hermit crabs. We saw stingrays, dolphins and other sea creatures.

Phillip watching the carnie trying to learn
the techniques Phillip taught him.

Late Saturday afternoon, we all got dressed up in white shirts and khakis and took family photos on the beach. After the pictures were taken, we cruised on over to The Hangout. I don't know if you've ever been there, but it is a very cool place! Not only is there great food, they also have live entertainment outside, a HUGE sand dune for the kiddies, a machine that blows tons of bubbles, fire breathers, unicycle riders and dancing waitresses. Though everyone had fun, I think Phillip had the most. He got a temporary tattoo and he also showed their unicycle guy a thing or two. Thanks to good ole Coach Cook, Phillip is a pretty amazing unicycle rider. He can even juggle and ride at the same time. They guy let him ride his unicycle, and Phillip did some tricks and some people even tried to tip him. It's great to know that after the tens of thousands of dollars of tuition I've paid, that if all else fails he can join the circus. LOL

Hunter and Christian at "The Hangout"

After the hangout, my honey and I went on a date. We had a great time and listened to a good band.

Sunday it was time to go home. We loaded the kids up and all our junk and set off. Our first stop was Surf Style in Orange beach, then on to Souvenir City in Gulf Shores. Hunter bought a gun (or as he calls it, a "smoke pole"), Christian bought pet hermit crabs, and Justin bought a real ninja sword. Yeah, I know, this is the kid that set himself on fire... a sword might have been a poor choice. ha ha Phillip had already bought a wooden surf kind of board on Saturday. We got back on the road and our next stop was the Ralph Lauren Polo Outlet in Foley. Boy, did they have some great deals!

When we got to Mobile Bay, we took the boys through the Alabama Battleship Park. It was VERY interesting and hot as blue blazes!! We climbed stairs, descended stairs and walked a LOT. They also have a submarine and an airplane hangar with lots of cool jets, planes, etc. We all rode the flight simulator and completed our mission successfully. Then we had several hours left to go with all six of us in our Taurus. You haven't lived until you've ridden that far with all boys and hermit crabs. In fact, at one point, Justin was trying to convince us all that the hermit crabs didn't really hurt much if they pinched you. He demonstrated his point and ended up riding several miles with the crab latched onto his finger and his brothers laughing hysterically! We finally got home around 8:30 or 9:00 Sunday night. Home sweet home.

The bubble machine

Justin at the Hangout

USS Alabama

Cap'n Hunter

Smith Grandchildren: Hammond, Christian, Hunter, Lela, Phillip and Justin

Funny!!!

Phillip's temporary tattoo

Uncle Brandon and Lela

Oh happy day…

2010-07-30T00:51:00.001-05:00

It’s been a long journey. Most everything was completed back in January, but today was our final hearing on Brandon’s adopting the boys. The judge granted our petitions and wished us well. We are so thankful to my friend, Steven Cookston for handling the case for us. Today he made the six of us and our families very, very happy.

After court we headed off to Brandon’s Aunt Shirley’s house to celebrate with the Jenkins side of the family. We had a wonderful time! Aunt Sharon made a cake welcoming our brand new niece Lela, new cousin David and our boys into the family. It was so special to us. We enjoyed visiting with everyone and the food was great!!

Brandon’s dad is doing well with his radiation and chemo. He looked like a million dollars tonight. We sure do appreciate all the prayers that have gone up for him. I know that his treatments will be successful and that he’ll be completely back to normal in no time.

Tomorrow, we will be heading out to Orange Beach for the weekend. The boys can hardly contain themselves. I sure hope there will be no tar-balls to deal with. All of us love the beach and are raring to go!

Disappointment

2010-07-28T22:05:00.001-05:00

Today, the realities of the real world came crashing down around my sweet Christian and Hunter’s ears. Since school is out, they have been watching a lot of tv. Mostly Nick, Cartoon Network, etc. There are so many cool things on the commercials! They’re always coming in and asking me to order this, or order that. “It’s only $19.99 plus shipping and handling,” they say. I can’t tell you how many times they’ve come running to me and told me to watch a “really cool commercial.” There has been everything from magic sand-like stuff to anti-gravity balls.

Finally my attention was captured with the Fushigi Ball commercial. Now, that was one cool commercial! It features this really neat looking ball and the people on the commercial are showing that it basically defies gravity! Best of all… it is ONLY $19.99 plus shipping and handling. You have to admit, that for less than 20 bucks actual anti-gravity technology is a really sweet deal!! So, while I was all hyped up from the commercial… I ordered them both one of these amazing balls. I placed the order on June 29th. Almost every day since placing the order they have rushed to see what the mailman brought us. Finally today the order arrived. The first thing we saw in the package was a notice that said: Be sure and read the part in BOLD LETTERS. Yes, you guessed it! After all the fancshy smancshy commercial video of this ball defying gravity… when we actually finally get our hands on it… we learn that there is no anti-gravitation involved. It’s all illusion. They were nice enough to put a free bonus inside the package of an instructional video that teaches you how to do it. If they watch it a whole lot they will probably be in league with David Copperfield et al.

You live and learn, I guess.

Playing Catch Up

2010-07-28T20:21:00.000-05:00

I know... I know... it's been FOREVER since I posted. We have had quite a year to say the least. We've had a lot of good times and a lot of not-so-good times since my last post. I have to say that during them all, even the bad ones, we have been blessed to have the protection of God, the love of our family and the prayers and support of our extended family and friends. There are no words to adequately express our appreciation for those three things.

On January 22nd, Justin was burned in an accident. He had mostly 3rd degree burns on 12% of his body (the backs of his legs and tops of his feet.) It required a trip to the burn unit at Doctors Hospital in Augusta, GA. That is a wonderful hospital. The doctors, nurses and all of the staff are extremely knowledgeable and very compassionate. Justin had surgery the day after the accident to have donor skin, pig skin and synthetic skin placed over his burns. We followed up at Crossgates River Oaks Burn Center in Brandon, MS. Thanks to the Good Lord, his doctors and nurses he is doing fine now. It is truly a miracle that he has so completely recovered. The doctors were even amazed with his progress. In March, he was released from their care and told he could resume all of his usual activities. Now, you may be asking “How was he burned???” Well, that’s a story for a whole other post!

Justin and Hunter both had February birthdays. My oldest sweetheart-darlin-angel is now 18, and my youngest sweet-darlin'-angel is now 6. Both birthdays hit me hard. I think as parents we all tend to have an unshakeable image of our kids that never ages. For instance, my parents have always told me that in their minds I am always 2 years old running around the house with my hair flowing behind me singing Dolly Parton's “Jolene”. LOL In my mind, Justin is about two years old with his ear to my tummy when I was pregnant with Phillip. Justin was fascinated with Power Rangers back then. Each time Phillip would kick, Justin would look up at me and say "Mama! He say 'Koowah'!!!" (For those of you who missed the Power Ranger craze of the early nineties... Koowah is what the power rangers said whenever they kicked or did a really awesome move.) Now my little Power Ranger is 18, and technically a man. We celebrated Phillip's 16th birthday in April. I still think of him being 4 years old, watching "Blue's Clues" and eating weenies and cheese. When the show would end, he’d sing, “We just figured out Blue’s Clues because we’re really smart!” Obviously, he was a HUGE Blue’s Clues fan. He had his own handy-dandy notebook and everything! In June, Christian turned 9. Finally! (For some reason I’ve been telling people that he was 9 the whole year he was 8!!! Am I a bad mom???) Anyway, when I think of Christian, he is 2 years old and always reaching up for me to hold him shouting “Hold he!!” When he was that age, he never referred to himself as “me” or “I'” it was always “he”. And, I’ll always remember Hunter when he was around 3 at our cat’s funeral. After all of his brothers had wiped their tears and said a few words about “Scratch”, I asked him if he wanted to tell Scratch goodbye. He replied, “I’m gwad Stwatch is dead. Stwatch stwatched me. Bye, Stwatch!” I had been so worried that the untimely death of Scratch would scar him for life (which is the whole reason we had the huge funeral in the back yard complete with eulogies). Boy was I wrong about that one!

Phillip won two awards at the Benton Academy Athletic Banquet this year. Justin had his JR/SR prom. The Raider baseball team made it all the way to North State. Christian finished third grade, and Hunter graduated kindergarten. Christian and Hunter also played Dixie Youth baseball this year, and Brandon helped coach Hunter’s team.

In April, our house was hit by a tornado. It was the scariest thing I have ever experienced. Being a delta girl, I was calmly sitting out on our back porch listening to the tornado sirens from town. Brandon told me to come inside… couldn’t I hear the sirens? I told him I could, but that in Greenwood my family always had a joke that if you hear the sirens you’re okay. Long long long story short… I did come inside and we all ended up in the hallway scared senseless and praying. It’s almost impossible to describe the feelings and the experience of the tornado. When we came out of the hallway we were shocked to discover that all the metal from our roof had been stripped off… the under-roof had actually been picked up and sat back down again. We had a big rip in our living room ceiling, all of our kitchen and laundry room cabinets had been loosened from the ceiling. There was insulation all over the living room. The back porch was completely gone. The gazebo was almost completely destroyed. All of our beautiful old hard wood trees were either snapped in half, completely uprooted or terribly damaged. We were without: power for four days, water for about a week, telephone for 2 weeks and cable and internet for almost a month. We hired Johnny Sanders Construction to do our repairs, and they did an awesome job! Our house is back to normal, and we’re still working on the yard and acreage. There are so many people to thank for all their help that I cannot begin to name them all. I’m to afraid I’ll leave someone out. We have seen the best in people during this challenging time.

.For more tornado damage pictures... click here.

Here are just a few pictures from this year…

Watch for more posts… now that I’ve caught you up, I’m going to try to write regularly.

Hotty Toddy, Y'all!

2008-11-18T21:58:00.003-06:00

Brandon and I took Hunter and Christian to their first "real" Ole Miss football game last Saturday. We couldn't have gone on a better day for cheering, since we beat La-Monroe 59-0. Also, I think we would have been hard pressed to go on a colder day. Brrrrrr, it was freeeezing!

Before the game, the boys had fun playing and throwing their football around in the grove with their buddy, Vaiden. Their cousin, Hammond, and Vaiden's little brother, Whitten enjoyed watching them. We did manage to get them all to sit still for a few pictures.

As always, Brandon and I had a great time visiting with our friends. Everyone was THRILLED with the score, of course. We'll all see each other again at the Egg Bowl. Can't wait!

Hunter, Christian & Hammond

"Making some noise"

(Left to right) Hunter, Christian, Hammond, Vaiden & Whitten

Hunter, Colonel Reb and Christian

Elizabeth's 4th and 4th Game

2008-11-18T21:53:00.001-06:00

So, I thought it was just about time to write another blog, and couldn't quite come up with any ideas of what to write about. I opened up my friend, Elizabeth's blogspot and there was my inspiration. She had been tagged by a friend of hers to do the "4th and 4th Game". The rules of the game are easy (especially when I was able to copy and paste them ha ha): 1.Open your pictures folder (or Picasa)
2.Go to the 4th folder
3.Open the folder and pick out the 4th picture
4.Once you find that picture, share the picture and what it means to you or what is going on in the picture.

Sounded like fun to me too! So I looked and found this one. This is one of the many Sunday afternoons spent over at my parents house. My daddy LOVES to cook for all of us, and we sit around and listen to music, watch ballgames, races, or just talk and joke about old (and new times). This picture was taken in 2005. So Hunter was only around 18 months old. Justin was 13. Phillip was 11. Christian was 4. Daddy and I were... well, lets just say we were three years younger than we are now. Sadly enough, my mom isn't IN the picture with us. She is (as usual) behind the camera documenting all of our wild and crazy times. I'm not sure what we were laughing about, but there's really no telling with us.

Anyway, thanks for the great idea, Elizabeth! I had fun with it! :)

Me and my fellas

2008-09-17T20:45:00.006-05:00

This week...

2008-09-17T20:45:00.004-05:00

Last Friday night, we played football at North Delta Academy, in Batesville. After the game, Brandon, Justin, Phillip and I went to Charleston, MS to my great Aunt Tina's house to spend the night and visit. We had a great time. Aunt Tina will turn 92 tomorrow, and my Aunt Peggy has flown in from Oregon to celebrate with her. We were very lucky to get to spend time with both of them, and enjoyed it immensely. Happy Birthday, Aunt Tina!

Saturday, we went to Oxford for the game. We had a lot of fun. This was my first game this year, since I missed the Memphis game a couple of weeks ago (due to the now infamous cat-bite). I was so glad to get to see everyone! After the game, we had a flat tire. Evidently there was some sort of complication in changing it, and before it was over it took Brandon, Justin, Phillip, Mark, Jay and Chad all to change it. I told someone, it reminded me of a bad email joke that would start out like "how many Ole Miss fans does it take to change a flat?" hahahaha

Sunday, Christian pulled a tooth, and during the night the tooth fairy came and left some money under his pillow. I've told him that if he doesn't slow down, he will drive the tooth fairy into bankruptcy! LOL

Hunter was really glad to have school pictures made yesterday. He told me he gave a really big smile - and he hopes Mrs. Neely gives him one of her pictures too.

Phillip was able to start practicing again this week, and will play in his first game since his injury tomorrow night. I'm very glad that he's better, and hope that he is able to play with no problems. I guess I worry too much, because not only is he beginning to play football again, he's also started running cross-country, obviously he's feeling better than I think he does. GO PHILLIP!

This Friday, the Benton Academy Raiders will go head to head with the Tri-County Academy Rebels. Apparently it is a big rivalry. I'm so excited about it, because Jan and Steve are coming and also my long lost buddy Phil that I used to work with in Richland. His family are long-time TCA Patrons, so we'll be rooting for opposite teams, but it'll still be great to see him... even if we do whip their you-know-whats! ha ha GO JUSTIN!

Also, Rex a very close family friend is in Greenwood for a class reunion this week. He's staying with my parents, and I'll get to visit with him some. I can't wait! I haven't seen him since our wedding in May and have a lot of catching up to do.

This Saturday - we'll be heading back to Oxford for the Vandy game. My old buddy Robby and his new squeeze will be there, and I'll get to see them! That'll be great!

So, there's been a lot going on around here and a lot of visiting with special people that I don't often get to see. I'm looking forward to it all and hope they all have safe travel!

What a week!

2008-08-24T19:08:00.003-05:00

It's been a week since I started this and low and behold I haven't posted a single thing since then.

Thursday, we traveled to Winona Christian Academy for the Jr. High Jamboree. Phillip was playing. Well, the second play of the first game, the ball was handed off to him. He got tackled and someone came down on his ankle. He was out the rest of the game.

Then on Friday night, we went back to our old school, Carroll Academy for the varsity game. Justin was playing with his new school - Benton Academy. It was a good game. Benton won 39-8 and Justin even made the last touchdown of the first half.

Saturday morning, Brandon and I took Phillip to MS Sports Medicine in Jackson. He has a severe high ankle sprain, and will be out for at least two weeks. He has to have therapy and will see an ankle specialist this coming Friday. Hopefully he'll be one of the lucky ones who recovers fairly easily.

Hunter and Christian are both doing well. Hunter got all smiley faces last week at school. Christian brought home signed papers and his lowest grade is a 98. So, everyone is doing great!

Welcome to my new blog! :)

2008-08-18T20:58:00.003-05:00

Yes, I now have ANOTHER something to keep up with! Hopefully I'll be better at keeping up with this than I am with my myspace or my facebook. They've gotten kinda dusty as of late, but you know... I have been extremely busy!

Lets see: Since May I have married my sweetheart; gone on our honeymoon to Nashville; the boys and I all moved to Yazoo City; I went on a cruise to Cuzumel; and now school has begun again. This time, of course, we've started at a brand-new school (well, brand-new to us at least.) The boys love it, and have already made many friends. Jr High and Varsity Football have both started which means that now our Thursday nights and Friday nights are taken up, and Ole Miss football is right around the corner which will occupy many of our Saturdays for a while.

Yes, I'm a pretty busy girl. I'm so blessed to have people around me who love and need me.