Festival of Flowers

Here are some pictures from my recent trip to Biltmore... I took tons, so this is just a very small sample!

Lost Generation...

My Dad sent this to me in an email not too long ago. I encourage you to watch it all the way through, it's not that long, but you don't get the complete effect unless you watch the whole thing. 

We began annual reviews on Wednesday, which is when we start meeting on every special ed kid in the district to plan for next year. I've had about 20 meetings so far and probably 40-50  more to go in the next few weeks. 

I am looking forward to this weekend. A good friend from high school is getting married and then on Sunday Alex and I plan to go to Biltmore so I can take pictures of the flowers again!

Here we go again...

I think anyone that has read my posts have likely seen a comment about the deaths in my family in the past year. Well, please add another one to the list. This makes six in a year, along with a close family friend. 

My cousin Ronny had a heart attack last Friday and passed away on Tuesday. This has been quite a shock to my family because even though he was 69 he was very healthy and doing well. The funeral is tomorrow and I am going with my Dad and we plan to stay afterwards to visit with the family. This has just been so tough because I know we are all hurting from our losses. I know it will be emotional tomorrow, but I really want to be there for my Dad. Also, Ronny's niece, Jill, is right around my age and we have always been close. So, I definitely want to be there for her as well. Please keep me and my family in your thoughts and prayers. 

I feel as if every time I think I am making some progress with all of this, something else happens and I take several steps backwards. I understand that life is not forever and thankfully I know all of these people are in Heaven. But that doesn't make it any easier, it just give me a peace about where they are. I will never understand how people make it without some type of faith, especially a faith in God. It's hard for me and I have been a Christian most of my life. 

On a more happy note, Easter is this weekend and I am looking forward to it. I don't have any major plans, other than to see family.  Alex actually got a new rabbit a couple of weeks ago and he has a mohawk that makes him look like Elvis. I have never seen a rabbit that looks like this! 

I also have to mention that some friends I went to Clemson with just had a baby boy! They are missionaries in another country and everything went really well. Congratulations to the Hawkins :)

Break Time!

Time for spring break and the whole family (and I mean everyone - 12 total) went to Charleston for the week. I got sick on Tuesday so the rest of the week wasn't as great as I had hoped, but not bad. I took over 300 pictures so it was kinda hard to narrow it down to just a few to put on here, but I picked some of my favorites to highlight the week.

Here's my Dad (aka Papa Joe) pulling Whit and Olivia on the boogie boards... and just in case you can't tell, the water was freeeeezzing, and Papa Joe was the only one brave (or crazy) enough to get in the water past his toes. Needless to say he will do whatever the little ones ask so he froze, but they sure had fun!

Alex came down for the second half of the week and here he is building/digging on the beach with Whit. I think they are discussing "building plans" in this picture! I think Whit was excited to have someone dig in the dirt with him. For those that don't know Alex, he builds anywhere he goes, so he was right at home!

One of the biggest highlights of the week was science experiments! Yes Whit will someday be a scientist I do believe. Although I have to add in here that the day we discussed this Olivia was trying to think about what she would be and it all centered around what kind of shoes the person wore. She decided that she wouldn't be a cop because those "boy boots" just weren't cute enough! 

Back to the experiments... they were fun and such a nice way to bring the family together! We also learned more than one way to pronounce "Borax!"
I can not leave Baby George out of the pictures, so here he is after a nice bath with his wild hair. He was so much fun to watch on the beach and especially in the house with all the people he loves around him 24/7... I think it weirded him out a little bit. 
Overall, in case you can't tell, it was a fun week and going back to work today was very hard, especially since one of my busiest times of year starts next week. 

One last thing... on a much less happier note, I have a cousin, Ronnie, who had a heart attack Friday night and is not doing well. The outlook does not look good and a doctor is coming tomorrow (he is in Myrtle Beach) to assess the extent of brain damage. He is not breathing on his own as far as I know, so that leads us to think the damage is extensive. I just ask that anyone reading this say a little prayer for him and my family.