Jesus Loves Me

 

No one should have to attend the funeral of a five year old. It was a very sad but sweet ceremony. He was a second generation farmer at 5 years old and he was proud of it! He had purchased a small yet costly John Deer tractor the day before he died with his own money and signed his name JO on the receipt because those were the only letters he knew of his name. We sang Jesus loves me at the ceremony because that was his favorite song and they played the "Dukes of Hazzard" as we were dismissed because that was his favorite show. The Dallas news channell 8 came to the funeral and showed his story on the news because of the 80 farmers who came out and helped the family put 3,000 bayles in the barn so they could tend to the funeral. His dad was out on the tractor when his little boy got ran over by the neighbors truck. A very sad day, but also filled with sweet memories of Johnny. The sky was overcast all day with a few sprinkles, but the sun still shined through the grey. The grey symbolic of our sadness and the light symbolic of the happy place that Johnny is now. I think the sweetest part of the day was watching John Paul (dad) drive the tractor pulling a trailer to the burial site. In the trailer was the family and the casket. They took Johnny on his last hayride. There were about 7 tractors lined up on the side of the rode and as the trailer passed each one the farmer would turn off his tractor until it was almost silent except for the one tractor they left running. I hope no one else has to experience a loss as this. This is a very strong family and they are truly remarkable people as David said because they believe in a remarkable God. God bless this family and be with them as they deal with the loss of this precious life that has been returned to the one who loves him the most and can make him the happiest little boy in heaven. I hope he has the greenest fields as far as the eye can see and a big green John Deer tractor to drive wherever his little heart desires. 

The New Way to send your letter to Santa

I was gonna put a cute little glittery santa up here, but this picture just cracked me up so I had to share it!

Well, here is my great shopping tip for all you mothers who get stuck shopping with the kids and need to buy Santa stuff. I've done this the last three years and the boys haven't figured it out yet! Since I made some Christmas money this weekend I took the boys to the store today to make their wish lists. Well, walmart had one blue doodle dinasuar left that is on Jakes list and it was only ten dollars. So what I tell the boys is that we will buy it and take it home. We take a picture of it with the digital camera and email the picture to santa and he knows exactly what they want. Then I tell them that the next day or later I will take it back to the store and return it. (BTW- I don't actually take the toy back, I hide it somewhere in the house.)

If your kids think that you need to take picture of their entire list you tell them that you only have to buy and take pictures of the toys that are hard to describe to Santa, and this way he will get it exactley right. I keep thinking Bradley will figure this little trick out, but he hasn't!! I love it and it makes shopping really easy. I don't have to hide anything! And if they happen to stumble across their hidden Santa presents, all I have to say is- oh I'll return that to the store tomorrow. Hope this is helpful!

Jewelry Debut

 

Here is my mom's and my booth!! We had a very sucessfull show! We are excited. We were nervous about if people would like our stuff or not, but it was a hit. A little something for everyone! Our web site is www.thebeaddoctor.com. We have it up and going, just not everything is pictured on it yet. Soon though we will get it on there. Our next show is Dec. 6th! Tonight I am exhausted. We worked hard to pull our display and everything else together for the first show, but the next one should be a breeze. Hopefully it will go as well or better than this one! 

Thanksgiving???

So this one is a tuff one to share. While mom and I anticipate a fun day tomorrow selling our jewelry, I am reminded of so many others who are struggling and hurting. My father in law who can’t even eat this bountiful harvest of food because of the cancer (We love you John and Grandma Deborah and we are definitely continuing to pray for you and we were very thankful that we have you!) My friend JB who is going through the first holiday after the loss of her mother. My old Abilene friend Kinney who is in ICU after suddenly coming down Guillian Barre Syndrome (from what I heard, he will spend a month in the hospital and have to relearn how to walk.) This disease struck him when he was young and it basically paralyzed him but he overcame it then. You can visit his blog at http://kinneymabry.blogspot.com/

And then literally, two minutes before we sat down to eat Thanksgiving lunch I got a call from a friend who told me a friend of ours from when we lived in Ferris lost their 5 year old yesterday (Wed.) in a tragic accident on the farm. What’s sad is he turned five Tuesday and his party was going to be Sunday. They are a sweet sweet family. John Paul and Heather.

So how do you sit down to a Thanksgiving meal and be thankful when so many around you are hurting? That is a tough one for me. I am so thankful for my boys, my husband, my mom and I getting to have our business (my dad for putting up with us), our house (yes even both of them) , that we have so many blessings. My heart has a great joy and yet a deep sadness for those that I am personally connected with in the above paragraphs. I don’t know. I hope many of you and all of you had happy and fun filled thanksgivings. I really, really do. I want that for everyone, and I guess that is why it’s so hard to be thankful, I want it to all be perfect for everyone. I don’t enjoy hurting and I don’t want others to have to hurt. I know this is a down blog entry. Sorry, I just didn’t feel right only posting happy wonderful things about my life when a part of my heart is sad. So share in my happiness of the good and wonderful blessings my family has had this week, and pray for the ones who giving thanks may not come as easily for.

The Big 8!!!

 
Well here we are. Another year down :) I was rocking with Bradley the other night and said, "Wow, I can't believe you are eight years old." He said, "That's okay mom, I still feel young." How cute! He's even young enough to think it would be cool to live with us while he's attending college somewhere! (Yeah right! We'll see what he thinks in 10 more years!)

A lady came by our house last week with a welcoming bag from housewarmers. It has tons of coupons for free stuff from local businesses in town. So this morning I went by the party store and picked up the free balloon boquet. After that I headed over to Chicago Style Pizza to get a free medium pizza for the boys (Nana brought yummmy ribs for the adults). Anyway, I've never seen the Godfather, but imagine a big scary Italian guy with a thick italian accent standing behind the pizza counter. When I showed him my free coupon and asked for the pizza, he said, "No! No! No! You not show me that thing! I not honor that coupon! Those people are liers! I go broke with that thing! It's supposed to be buy a large and get a medium free!" So I start crying and tell scary mafia pizza man that all I wanted is the pizza for my sons birthday and I would just go somewhere else. So then he gets all soft and says, "no, no, no, You want free pizza? I make you free pizza! It's just my voice. Don't leave here sit down! You want drink, here have drink I go make pizza! It's your sons birthday? You bring your son here every birthday and I make him free pizza!!!" SO scary mafia guy ended up being okay and sent me home with a free large peperoni pizza (BTW- I left him a good tip)

 
And here is the cake....I know not the greatest art work ever, but the boys loved it. At least it was better than the Spongebob cupcakes I made for his class at school. They looked like Big Bird with the chicken pox!

  

And of course he raked in the goodies!! Batman legos, a light up Bionicle, and enough money to put with what little he has saved to buy the Game Boy he wants! It blows my mind that kids can get this much money in one day(Thanks grandparents :) Papa and Deborah also sent this awesome quarter collection map of the fifty states quarters. They even sent all the quarters that have been printed so far. Last night we had fun punching out all the discs on the map were the quarters belong. Then you pop the quarters in where the discs were. Anyway, the disc are currently being used as flying weapons to throw at each other (go figure!) All in all a GREAT EIGHT!

Things that Make me Happy

1. When Bradley forgets about looking "cool" and grabs my hand and holds it when we are walking somewhere.

2. When we are on a tight budget and Bradley thinks that riding the school bus home on his 8th birthday TODAY is the awesomest present ever! (Birthday pictures will be posted Saturday after family party)

3. Going to Kroger and buying $50 worth of groceries for $30 because they double and triple coupons!

4. Making other people laugh.

5. When Randy calls me in the day for no reason (rare occasion, but I love it!)

6. Getting a new IM or email from friends, or comments on my blog.

7. Playgroup on Fridays--We have a mix of about 6 or 7 moms and only 2 of them attend the same church, but we are all Christians. It is a unique group and so uplifting to be a part of and the kids all play great together!

8. Staying up late (I do this often).

9. Sleeping in until 10 a.m. (another rare occasion but I love it!)

10. That I only live an hour and 15 minutes from my mother and she pays for my gas every time I go to see her.

11. That my husband still loves me even after I pull too far forward into the garage, and jam into the wonderful workbench that he built, and put a giant hole in the wall! (Another rare occasion that I hit something with the car :), but he still loves me!)

Playdates

Feature- by Stacy Lu - AOL Coaches :

Add alcohol to the mix and I guess todays play date could have been a lot crazier than 8 kids, ant bites, dirt in the hair, and going home with wet clothes. I'm not against drinking but this just seems absurd to me! Found it today on AOL...Click on the link above and tell me what you think!

REMEMBER....
Veterans' Day is November 11th!

PFC GARY H. BULLARD, U.S.M.C.
WWII Veteran
Iwo Jima
Purple Heart recipient

"These are a few of my favorite things!"

I don't know if it's the age Jake is at or what but he just seems to crack me up lately. I'm sure if I had been blogging when Bradley was four I would have listed some stuff about him. This isn't a Thursday thirteen or anything. It's just a few of the things that he does that will give you a little glimps into his personality.
1. He always wears his shoes on the wrong feet, and he doesn't care to switch them when you tell him they are backwards.

2. Our repeated coversations about boys and girls. Jake "Are babies born as boys and girls? ME Yes Jake. J When I was born was I a boy? M Yes Jake. J When you were born were you a girl? M Yes Jake! J How many boys are in the universe? Thousands?! M Yes Jake.

3. The movie ELF has become one of our all time favorites. We watch it year round. I love it when we are grocery shopping in Wal-mart and Jake busts out in his loudest voice with his favorite line from the movie "I'm singing. I'm singing and I'm in a store and I'm singing!"

4. The other day he was playing guns and pretending to shoot someone and I said "Jake we don't shoot people. You can shoot animals like squirls or deer." Jake gets all serious and says "No, No, Mom. Santa uses reighndeer. We don't shoot deer momma!" Ha isn't he in for a rude awakening! :)

5. I love how he still wants to rock at night and he still cuddles with his baby blanket!

6. This last one is my favorite. He has these imaginary friends Pete and Rudy from the football movie Rudy. They have lived with us for a little over a year now. Rudy is about two inches tall and Pete is Jakes size. Of course their favorite time of day to show up is at bedtime to keep Jake awake (How convenient). Jake usually comes out from the bedroom and says "Pete and Rudy are bothering me!" They then have to sit in time out and Jake falls asleep just fine. Of course they have died a few times when Jake had real friends coming over to play. EX: About an hour before Jake's fourth Birthday party, he informed us that Rudy drowned in our pool and he wouldn't be able to make the party.