Hello sweet friends......   I have tried to decide all day long, if I wanted to share this post at all, and if by sharing this post would it simply be just for me......for me to open up and share the sorrow I am feeling at this time.   

As many of you know, I have a niece who had a brain injury at the age of 3.   She was in a car wreck with her mother and stepdad and suffered head trauma as well as multiple injuries.  Her mom and stepdad died in the wreck.   Because of this, my parents raised her and since my mom and dad have both passed away, I now take care of her.  

She attends a residential village that takes care of adults with mild to moderate disabilities.  Tammy is on the day program there, which means I take her 3 days a week from 8:30 in the morning until  4:00 in the afternoon.  I can not say Enough GREAT things about this place.  They are all like one big family!!  And....the best thing about BVT is that it is a Christian Based facility.  We are very Blessed to have this so close to our home.   

This past Saturday, two bus loads of residents and day hab adults, where on their way to participate in a "Special Olympics Event."
The location of this event was about 75 miles away.  Sam took Tammy over to the village around 5:30 Saturday morning, as the bus would be leaving around 6:00.  

Around 8:45, I had a call from one of the staff members that was traveling on the 2nd bus, and I could hear a panic tone in her voice as she spoke to me.   I ask her if everything was OK and she told me, NO....that they were not ok.   She proceeded to tell me that one of the buses had had a roll over and that my niece was on that bus.

She then continued by telling me that the driver of the bus had had some kind of medical emergency (heart attack or stroke) and that he had died.   This was the cause for the roll over and that many of the occupants had cuts and bruises but that she they were ok.  

Sam and I rushed out the door and drove to the scene of the accident.  It was the longest hour and a half,  driving that 75 miles.       After seeing the bus, I could not believe that there were no other fatalities.  The disabled adults on the bus had to be pulled out through the windows of the bus and many suffered cuts due to the broken glass.   All of the doors on the bus were blocked or lodged... no way to exit through the doors.  

Of course, they all were in shock and bleeding.   I finally found Tammy, as they had secured all of those involved in the wreck, in individual cars for their safety and to be checked out by the medical team.  

I was almost beside myself by the time I reached Tammy.   She was in shock and shaking all over.  Sam and I got her in our car and took her to the ER to be checked out, as she had glass in her hand and bruising as well as small cuts.  It was while we were in the car, that I had to tell her that the driver of the bus, who was her teacher for the pass three years, and her very special friend, had died of a heart attack or stroke while he was driving and that this was the reason for the wreck.  

My heart hurt so much, to see the pain that she was in as she learned about the loss of this wonderful man.   He was a huge asset to the BVT village and a very special person in Tammy's life.  

Late last night, I found myself in a state of exhaustion and frustration.   I was deeply saddened that Tammy had to experience yet another accident in which someone she cared so deeply about, had passed away.   The accident when she was 3 that left her with brain damage and would change her life forever, and... the loss of her mother and stepdad.   And now, this accident where she suffered pain and the loss of her dear leader and friend.  

So often, it is hard for us to understand things like this.   Why must things happen like this?.....to someone who is so precious?   I had myself a good long cry.   I needed to release the pain that I had in my heart.  I was sad for my sweet niece, and I was sad about the loss of my friend too.   There were so many times when Sylvester would give me great encouragement concerning Tammy's goals and achievements.  He would go out of his way to try to meet the schedule that I had when picking Tammy up from class each day.

He would set goals for Tammy to reach and he would always contact me to let me know she had made great improvements.  Tammy has limited use of her right hand, and Sylvester was determined to help her gain some movement back in that hand.  I will never forget how extremely excited he was, the day Tammy was able to squeeze a ball with enough strength to pop the little top off of it.    

This will be a difficult week for BVT as the residents and the Day Hab adults return for class.  It can be very difficult to try to balance pain with the everyday life that must go on.   Please keep them all in your prayers.  Pray for the family of our teacher/friend who passed away.  

Psalm: 34:18

The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.

Psalm:  73:26

My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.

Thank you for allowing me to share my heart and my sorrow.  

BTW....I found out later that there must have been a huge band of angels surrounding that bus.....because, not only were there no other fatalities from this horrific roll over accident, BUT...when the bus came to a stop....it had missed a big gas meter by about 3 feet.  
No explosion, No major injuries, and all of these disabled adults were able to survive the accident.   

God Bless,
Shug....

Hey Y'all......we have a beautiful day going on right here in my little town.   Clean up is happening around the area and things are getting cleaned up.   

We had a wonderful Easter Weekend!  Hope you all did as well.

The Great news is:   Jesus is Alive!!!  Not just on Easter Sunday, but EVERYDAY.....JESUS IS ALIVE!

My family was kinda scattered this Easter.   Some were in Levelland all last week for the "National Little Dribblers Tournament."   Some were in Dallas for the "BIG"...Volleyball  event that is held each year at the Dallas convention center.  Our Air Force family was not able to come home, and one son-in-law was working out of state.  

The rest of us enjoyed church service and a fabulous lunch.  Our menu included, Stuffed Quail, Ham, Dressing, Green Beans, Cream Potatoes, Mac and Cheese, Deviled Eggs,  German Chocolate Cake, Pecan Pie, Coconut Pie, Strawberry Pie and of course......Oreo Pie!!!    Tea and Strawberry Lemonade!

We played the "Cheaters" version of monopoly.   What a game this was.   If you have never heard of this version, you should check it out.   LOTS of LAUGHS!

We also sat out in my rock garden and had a ton of good laughs!  

One of the old metal chairs collapsed when Tucker sat down!!  We laughed!!!!

Mylee is enjoying herself.....

                                              Typical sister in this photo...

Tucker and Emily.....

It was a great weekend.....

Hugs,

Shug...

Storm Damage

Prayers for our small little town and surrounding areas.   Not sure if it was straight line winds or a tornado, but we have MANY trees that have been ripped into or have been completely uprooted.  School was canceled today because of downed power lines...

Several homes in town have been damaged from trees that either clipped the homes or went straight through the roof. 

This is my uncle and aunts home.   This huge tree fell right through the roof and into the living area.  So very  thankful that they were not injured.  

Huge trees like the one above are uprooted all across the area.  

Lots of cleaning up to be done!   Some areas have no electricity!

Many of the worse hit areas are less than a mile from our house, but yet..... I slept through it all.   Never heard the wind, rain or the loud clashes of thunder!   

Our little town has much to be thankful for as there were no injuries or fatalities.   

Please keep Chandler and Brownsboro, Texas..... in your prayers.  

Shug!

I am a calendar person.   How about the rest of you?  Do you heavily rely on your calendar each day to keep you lined out?  I'm pretty sure that most of us look at some kind of calendar, whether it is on our cell phone, our desk, hanging on the wall, or on our desk computer.  

I like details and I prefer to have things lined out, not only days ahead, but for weeks and sometimes months or a year in advance.  This is just how I roll.  Procrastination is not in my vocabulary.

Truthfully, if I don't have plans lined out or things are hanging in limbo.......I find it difficult to function.   Don't get me wrong, I can do Spur of the moment kind of things, but only if it doesn't interfere with my calendar.  

Spur of the moment get-aways can be fun, or a spur of the moment date with your spouse can result in special memories...  As I recall, there was a time a few years ago that Sam decided that he and I needed to go do something spontaneous.   He was at a convention down in the San Marco area and I had gone with him.  When he finished a full day of dealing with customers, he came back to the hotel room and said....."get your swimsuit on....We are going to go ride the river!"  Riding the river isn't getting into a boat and having a nice relaxing ride.   NO, it's getting into an inter tube and tubing down the river!!    

I'm here to tell you that we Lived after that little adventure, but it didn't take us but about 10 minutes on this 2 1/2 hour river tubing trip to realize.....this may have been a little too much adventure.  

SO SEE....I CAN DO SPUR OF THE MOMENT THINGS!


You know what?  God is in every tomorrow!!  HE is in every today. 
AND although it makes me feel good to have a calendar to keep me moving, to keep me in line, I can rest assured that God is with me every minute of my day.  

Have a Blessed Weekend
Shug

I have to tell y'all.....My all-time favorite flower and fragrance is a gardenia!  For me, the smell of a gardenia flower is pure heaven!

Sam and I visited a garden center yesterday afternoon and my attention was immediately drawn to the sweet fragrance of a gardenia bush...    I actually picked one of the blooms and after sniffing the sweet flower for about 20 minutes, I stuck it in my hair.   So..for the buyer of that particular bush....I am sorry that I borrowed one of your blooms.

If anyone had been watching me, they may have thought that I was sniffing something other than a flower!  LOL.  I was really enjoying the moment.

After we got home, I told Sam.....God is Wonderful.  He created such a sweetness and even though many people have tried to imitate the fragrance of a gardenia, with their candles, sprays and colognes.....NOTHING ever measures up to God's touch on this flower.  

I truly absolutely love it, and I did not want to put my bloom from last night down.  I wanted the smell to stay with me.  It was if I was addicted right then and there. 

I began to think about how much I love the smell and the stunning blooms of a gardenia bush......and then, God spoke to my heart!

{HE said:  This is how I want my children to love me!! Just the way you love the aroma of the gardenia.  I want you to love the sweetness of my breath as I breath upon you each day.  My fragrance is love and I pour my love out, upon you at all times.}

I don't know if anyone understands what I'm talking about here....but, I sure know that God sends us special things all the time,  to help us know HIS love for us!  Thank you Lord!

Blessings...
Shut

Kids will be Kids...??

This is baseball/softball season.   One of my favorite sports....I love sitting out in the warm sunshine, relaxing in my lawn chair, with a nice glass full of lemon water.....watching my favorite kiddos play ball.  

So....last night, Sam and I went to watch Mylee Jo play one of her softball games.   They didn't win, but it was a good game!

If any of you have been to any of the small city baseball complexes lately, you may have noticed that there can be multiple fields in an area and you can actually watch two games or more, at one time.  

In our case last evening, Mylee was on one field (facing the Sun) and on the field right behind us was a t-ball game going on.  It was a (Little) girls game.   I want to say that the ages on the t-ball field ranged to be 4-5-6 year olds.  

At one point, there was a lot of noise on that field, so I turn around and look.   What I see, is this little RED HEADED girl with a big pony tail and a big pink bow, climbing over the fence.  

Now mind you, her team was in the out-field, but I just assumed that she must have had to go to the restroom and that was why she was climbing over the fence.  But no....she was on the run!!!!

As the game went on....I noticed this same little girl running around the outside fence of the ball-field, and behind her was her mother.  Each time the mom got close to her, she would take off running faster.  This must have gone on through at least 4 of the innings.  Not only would she run around the field, she would take off up to the concession stand and try to hide from the mom and anyone else trying to catch her. 

All the while, her teammates were either in the out field, or batting.  
After all, they were trying to play a game!!!! 😁

I guess you could say, this was a game with a player on the run!!!!  lol.

About the end of the 5th inning, the Mom finally caught the little girl.  Now, can you imagine coming out to a game to watch your child play ball, and you spending the entire time trying to chase her and make her get in the dugout???   Child out of control?  I do believe so.    

Needless to say, the mom put her in that dugout and she sat there with her arms crossed, with a big pouty face, for the rest of the game.

I had a hard time staying focused on Mylee's game, because I was too busy laughing at the little RED HEADED girl.  She was putting on a show!! There was no charge to get in the game, but I just might have paid a few dollars to see all of this action unfold.

I can guarantee you that the mom was give out by the time she got home.   She definitely got herself a little workout!!

Oh yes.....Kids will be kids and then more!!

Shug

Prom 2019....      

Prom was this past Saturday evening......   and we had two grandkids going to this big event!!!!  

Our grandson, Carson....is the guy holding the Prom sign.   The other guy is Tori's boyfriend, Dakota.   Tori is our oldest granddaughter.  Carson and Dakota are both seniors and Tori is a junior. 

This is a picture of Carson and his date, Emily.

Tori and her date, Dakota.

Is it ok if my favorite picture of the evening is the one above??

The one of our grandson and granddaughter??

I love this picture of the two of them.

They all looked so Pretty and handsome!   How about the girls dresses?  They both chose almost the same color, just different styles.  

Do you remember your Prom/Proms?

I certainly do.....another story for another time.  

hugs, 

shug...

Do you ever wake up feeling like your mind is overwhelmed with  mental clutter?  I do.....and it's no one's fault but my own!

How can this be, when I am a stay-at-home wife, mother, grandmother, aunt, sister and friend....  After all, stay at home women have an EASY LIFE!  lol. 😂😂😂

Stay-at-home used to mean that the lady of the home....filled her day with cleaning, dusting, sweeping, making cookies and preparing meals.   And if I were a Stay-at-home mom back in the 50's, I would do the exact same things.....and I would even wear Pearls.

I guessing that the 50's stay-at-home moms may have had a little extra time, to read a good book and of course, do something relaxing like ironing!

Perhaps their minds were cluttered from time to time with more practical things like preparing a meal for a church gathering or needing to sew a new outfit for a special occasion. 

For me.....it's all about my love for life!  I love doing so many things, and for that reason, I get so wound up, moving from one thing to another.   

Just today, I found myself ....folding clothes, then suddenly thinking about a project that I have going on.  Before I knew it, I had not only moved to another part of the house, but I was re-doing a small thing on the project.   I hear my phone ding and then guess what.....
I checked my phone and the next thing I knew, I was working on my computer.   

The clothes did get folded and put away......My project is still in the process of being finished and my work on the computer is now complete.  

Oh, my mind is OPEN big time......I may need to not put so much wind beneath me and let that parachute rest a little while.   

I enjoy seeing little picture quotes like the one I posted above.  Often times, they teach me something about myself.  

I feel good about my busy mind, cause I know that when it comes right down to what counts, (cluttered mind or not) I can certainly choose  positive thoughts over any kind of negative issues and then, move right on in to more projects that keep my mind turning 90 miles an hour.... 



shug.....

April 1, 2019........ If you see News Flashes coming across the TV, saying that Sasquatch was seen sitting in a field of Bluebonnets, here in Texas! ........  Please know that it's not for real!!

Today is APRIL Fool's day!!



Shug