Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Get Up, Grandma!

Last Monday morning, I called my Grandmother to see how her Mother's Day went & to just catch up. I knew that she had planned on going with my mom & dad to my sister's church for my nephew's baby dedication. She shared with me how her legs had really been hurting her for several days and by Saturday night, she'd pretty much decided not to go. She didn't want to be a burden to others because she would be getting around slowly. But when Sunday morning came, she got up, decided to move around a bit and see how she felt. She went into the living room to watch her favorite Sunday morning show, The Gaithers. But when she tuned in, she realized that her show had already gone off and that another show was on and Chris Tomlin was singing. Her words to me were, "I just love Chris Tomlin."

*I love the fact that my 86 year old grandmother loves Chris Tomlin!

So she decided to watch this show. As some point during this show Chris sang, "I Will Rise" which is an amazing song. And as my Grandmother listened to this song, she knew that despite how she felt or the fact that she might be moving slowly, she had to "get up off her rear and go." (Her words!)

There is so much to learn from this example that my Grandmother has set for me. When I first decided to write this post, I was thinking about how she is an example of someone who is willing to embrace change, especially in the area of music. But as I typed this, I realized that there's a deeper lesson to be learned, with me being the first needing to learn it.

My heart and mind are now churning over all that I am sensing the Spirit speaking to me about in my life.

Sometimes I just need to get off my rear and go!

When I grow up I want to be just like my Grandma!

Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Another 1st....

When Emma started 3rd grade at the private school, which she still attends, we began hearing about "social" classes. I was completely uneducated about this but after asking around I found out that it didn't start until middle school. But I can honestly say that by the end of their 4th grade year, Emma and Landon had already committed to being social partners!

In 6th grade, they offer a manners class and at the end of the year, they have a formal dinner, where they get to put into practice everything they've learned.

But in 7th grade, you get to go to "social". Twice a month, you attend a class where you learn different dances, hence the need for a partner. In December, there is a Christmas dance but it's just your age group. Then there's a Father/Daughter dance in February. But in May, it's the grandaddy of them all, Spring Formal. And it's some 2000 students, from 7th grade up to 12th grade, from all over the Augusta area! Since this was our 1st time, we weren't really sure what to expect. We were blown away! It was so much fun! We were thrilled that my Mom & Dad drove down for this event. It really was nice having another female to oooohhh and ahhh over all the different dresses with me!

Before the dance~



Emma and her brothers, who stayed with friends, which I'm so grateful!
With Grandma & Paps right before going in.



The Grand March~ in my simple-mindedness, I thought they would just march around the outside of the floor. But no, they did this weaving in and out pattern, which really enhanced the dress watching! :)




The next few shots are of Emma dancing. From the blurriness of the photos, you will see that my camera stinks, or it could be my lack of skills but whatever.


And finally, a picture of Emma & Landon after the dance!



Here's a video of part of one of the dances. It was so neat seeing the whole group move!


Untitled from Cheryl A on Vimeo.

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

A first!



I have been such a terrible blogger. I'm so far behind, I still need to post about spring break, Asher's party and I'm sure many other things. But something happened Monday night that I want to document. Hopefully, I'll catch up on the others soon!

I haven't really talked about Dougie's baseball season. If we're FB friends or Twitter friends, I've mentioned it some. But to be honest, it's been a hard season. At this point of the season, we're 0 and 8. And that's all I'm going to say about it. But at Monday night's game, it was the last inning, our team was down by 6 runs with really no hope of coming back. Our first 2 batters got out and guess who was up? You guessed it, Dougie.
With 2 strikes, 2 outs and nobody on, Dougie hit a line drive that went right between 1st and 2nd and ended up rolling all the way to the fence. As soon as he rounded 1st, I knew that he could make it all the way. His dad was coaching third and waving him on, as well as all the fans on our side! He was running his hardest and even though the other team made a throw to home, it wasn't even close!

So on Monday, May 9, 2011, Dougie hit his first homerun!





I am so proud of you, Dougie. Not because of the great hit but because even in the face of a hard season, you are playing your best, keeping a good attitude and being a great example. But it was fun seeing you hit that homerun! =)