17 days and counting

In 17 short days I will be marrying the absolute love of my life. I have never been more excited in my life. I am sitting in 17 short days will be the new home for me and my husband, and our little dog too! Planning a wedding has been way more stress than I anticipated but I know that on that day it will all be worth it. I know in my heart that Thomas and I will proudly sit and show those wedding day photos to our children and grand children and probably every body else in between. It doesn't seem like I have waited to marry this man for almost eight years. But then on the other hand it does. Ha. Our apartment is filled with gifts from our precious friends and family. I am so thankful for all the things that we have received. I am anxious to have my husband here now. He is the most important part after all. I look back on our relationship and I can remember those things that happened that we had to work out and pray over. It changed us. It made us grow as a couple and as people. I believe change is part of life we can not avoid no matter how hard we try.
My life has certainly changed in the past year. The plans that I had made I quickly found out were not what my Jesus had planned for me. This statement has not come easy. It is hard as a twenty year old to realize you have no idea what you are doing or why you are doing it. But through the grace of God on a daily basis you figure it out one day at a time. I am officially a graduate from ICC. I must say I was a very proud lady as I walked across that stage. I think my parents were happier than I was. Graduation day was an awesome accomplishment for me. I am so looking forward to my next big day!! The wedding is quickly approaching. 17!!

Have a good week.
God Bless

Pappaw Junior

Pappaw would have celebrated his birthday this month.

I miss that man more than anyone will ever know. I think about him everyday. I think about how we would sit at the Trolley while Mammaw went home, and we would eat so much ice cream. Then Mammaw would return and we would run to the kitchen, looking like we had been working our fingers to the bone while she was gone.

I think about him singing I'll Fly Away so many days as we worked side by side in that little ole Trolley car. I think about cleaning up at night when it was time to close. I would be so tired and yet I wasn't half his age and he kept right on trucking. He worked harder than anybody I knew. Not for recognition. But because that's who he was. I think about all the summers we worried about Pappaw because he worked in the garden in the hottest part of the day, and he didn't sweat enough. But he loved it so we let him keep at it.

I think about how he hated any kind of drink that wasn't milk or pepsi and how if he knew something had cheese in it he would refuse to eat.

I think about how we drug out those Christmas lights the day after Thanksgiving every year for as long as I can remember. The older I got the more I watched Pappaw during this time. He was just like a little kid. He smiled so big and he enjoyed rolling out every light and checking every tiny little bulb making sure that it would light up just right. I think about the first blow up item that we bought him to put in the yard for Christmas. I think we eventually got up to about ten or twelve different things. But no matter what we always put the manager scene up and he would say "This is what it's all about"

I think about those amazing Trolley burgers that he could cook up. I think about the way he taught me to make a Pappaw Breakfast. I can just see him teaching us grandbabies to dutty ump. This was Pappaw's dance for us. Basically he would clap and say dutty ump and we little tots that we were would dance and he would laugh cause he thought it was the cutest thing in the world.

I think about how he always wore a red hat, sitting up too high on his head. I think about the many trips that me and Mama made taking him to the doctor after he got sick.

I can remember him being in the hospital like it was yesterday. I can see so vividly the scans of his brain that the cancer had eaten away at. I also remember him talking to me when he wouldn't talk to anybody else.

I will never forget my last days with Pappaw. I sat beside him on a stool at his house as he laid in the bed, just waiting on God to call him home. I wasn't there when he took his last breathe but the ones that were there know without a doubt that the angels came and swept him right out of this world and into a brand new body that no cancer will ever touch. Like a bird from prison bars has flown, I'll fly away. I believe that is just what he did.

His funeral was a very sad time for me and my family. But so many people came to his visitation. I have never seen so many people in my life. He touched people's lives and most of the time he never knew it. That was just Pappaw, hard working and dearly loving. We celebrated his life that day. I will never forget us singing I'll Fly Away at his funeral. That song will forever remind me of Pappaw.

Nothing will ever fill the place that Pappaw held in my heart and life. I love that man dearly. I am what I am today because Pappaw taught me that this world doesn't give you anything you don't work for.

Happy Birthday Pappaw! I love you!

nothing fancy...about my life..

I have come to the conclusion that wedding planning is very stressful but with the help of my precious mama that we are going to enjoy every minute of it. Yesterday we went to the Bridal show in tupelo. We got tons of great ideas. I am so excited/nervous. I am such a planner and I want everything to be perfect. My precious fiancé. He has been so good. All he wants is to be married. Thank you Lord for this beautiful man who will be my husband so soon! I have a very long list of things that I need to get done as soon as possible but I am trying to not be a bridezilla!! I think I am doing okay right now ha ha. I will get back to you on that in a month or two!!

My classes started today. I am going solely online this time. I hope that I like it and can handle it. Full time online is going to be tough but I have faith in a higher power for greater strength! I hope you all are enjoying this new semester and new year. To all of you that are student teaching, I wish you the best. You are touching lives on a daily basis!!

I hope that this week brings you great joy and opportunity. Take Care. God Bless.

hello bloggers

hello people of the blog world. i have not written in this thing in such a long time. i think i might have forgotten about it. so much has happened since my last post. i was in nursing school and it consumed my whole life. terrible is probably the word that i would use. so as of right now i am not taking any nursing classes and i am searching for what i really need to be doing. i am praying that health care is where he leads but that is still open. it is hard because in five short months my whole world will change. i will be married. where has the time gone? i was talking to an old friend today and we fill like we are getting so old. everybody we know is finishing up college and getting married and having children. seems like we should still be running from the boys on the playground. time really has flown by in the last couple of months. christmas at the house was great. my last one of a part of my family. next year i will have my own family!! i am so excited. i am going to try and keep some things posted about the wedding. hope you have a good start to this new year.

When Is My Wedding

Wedding Ticker from WhenIsMyWedding.com

i am ready for thanksgiving break. fall break was good. but it was a teaser. ha. i have got so many things to do in such a small amount of time. i think that this is probably what my mama was referring to when she said that there is never enough time in the day. why how that woman gets smarter as i get older. i like that this week started on wednesday. i don't think it is going to be a very hard week. but in nursing school anything is possible. how precious :) my life is going pretty good right now. i have been presented with some pretty awesome possibilities recently. still brewing and praying over these before i am ready to reveal them. hope you all have a wonderful SHORT week. take care. God bless.

• nursing school is going to fry my brain
• october is fast approaching. this means two things.....
• the 4th is 8 months until our wedding!
• the 5th is 7 years as boyfriend and girlfriend! :D
• i have so much planning to get done.
• working and going to school full time is HARD.
• i love my life.
• my sister got top 15 in the pageant at NP (will post pics later)
• my good friends jon and bridget had their little boy. Welcome to the world Jon Owen!
• i am going to decorate my apartment for the fall tomorrow. excited
• ginger is a year old. (my dog/daughter)
• thomas turned 23 on the 23rd. we had a good time going out for this birthday.
• i realized that this semester has a lot of events that i probably will do for the last time since i will be married next year. wow.
• If I Die Young by The Band Perry is one of my new favorite things.
• i love days off work.
• the weather has turned cold and i love/hate it.
• hope you have a wonderful week!
• God Bless!