Painting and more painting

I started this morning at 7:30 taping my downstairs....I love the color downstairs, but the dummies used flat paint....you can't wipe it and it doesn't stay clean when you have kids and it marks up really bad! So, I'm using the same color and going over the entire downstairs...quite a job, but it's looking much better....I quit at 3:15 and my first piano lesson started at 4:00. I took a very fast shower!!! I have a 30 min. break right now and then 5 more lessons....then I can eat some dinner!!!! I'll be dead beat tired tonight!!!!

And tomorrow I get to paint some more!!!! Until I get to the stairwell, because that is going to require me to rent a stairwell ladder....ugh!!!

Monroe County Fall Festival

Josiah and his friend Mackenzie from church...
Josiah, Morgan and Josh riding motorcycles
Josiah and Morgan on the Scrambler!
Josiah petting the baby alligator!

This weekend is our fall festival in our town. Our church does a booth and sells tenderloins, drinks, fried twinkies and a few others things to raise money for Speed the Light. It's a HUGE fundraiser! It starts on a Thursday evening and goes until Sat. night. Ronnie's been there the whole time, so he'll defintely be tired on Sunday morning! The boys went this morning and played games and saw an animal show and we went tonight and rode some rides with some friends from church. They had a blast!! More pics in the family pics link!

A letter to Jadon

Jadon David,

Today is the anniversary date of when you went to see Jesus. Six years ago today we watched you as you left this earth and your spirit went to Heaven. I remember holding you for the first time that day knowing that day was going to be your last day with us. It felt so unfair to us and to you. I remember holding you after you left us - seeing you for the first time dressed in a little blue sleeper with no more tubes attached to your body. I knew you weren't there with us anymore, but I didn't want to let you go. All of our dreams for you were gone. I wish we could've had more than those two weeks together, but I am so glad that you are living a much better life with Jesus than you would've here on this earth. You never had to experience the awful sin of this world and for that you are so blessed. I know the two weeks you spent on this earth were not enjoyable for you, but I thank Jesus for giving us that time to see you and be with you. I pray that you don't remember the pain or the suffering you went through while you were here. I pray that you do remember us being there with you, talking to you, singing to you, holding your hand, praying for you and just sitting beside you. At times it doesn't even seem that you were even here. It almost seems as if it was a dream.

I don't know if you can see us down here on earth, but you have two awesome and beautiful little brothers, Josiah and Joshua and we talk to them about you and they ask questions about you and want to see you just as much and your daddy and I do. I share about you and show your scrapbook to lots of people because we will never forget you. Your story ministers to others and reminds us of how precious life is and how grateful we should be for what God has given us.

I can't express in words how much I miss you and cannot wait to see you again.

I love you Jadon,
Mommy

Josiah's been taking piano lessons...

Josiah just started taking piano lessons last week and look how far he's come!!!! It's amazing! He defintely has a natural gifting for piano! I'm such a proud mommy!

Yearbook Yourself

One of my friends introduced me to yearbookyourself.com and I got hooked!!!

This is what I would look like in 1968! You wouldn't believe how much I look like my mom here!

This one is from 1962....

and this one from 1964...

Try it out....it's lots of fun!!!!

Never....

Never allow the bank teller to write your account number in on a deposit slip. Ronnie took a deposit last week and he didn't know our checking account number b/c he didn't have the checkbook and so he gave the teller his license and she wrote in the wrong account number....someone else's account number! So, the other day I get a letter in the mail saying my medical insurance payment was returned and as I went over my bank statement online I noticed a big deposit that wasn't on there that I had in my checkbook. I faithfully keep good track of my transacations online and when I get my statements in the mail, and I was pretty sure I had enough money in there to cover it! So, they found it and we realized what happened. Now Ronnie has the account number memorized! Everyone makes mistakes, but that's a pretty big one! So, they credited us back the $30 charge for a returned check and everything's fine. You just never know what's going to happen!!!!

So, today we planted some shrubs in front of our house. The previous owners pulled everything out I guess, so now I have greenery! Why is that stuff so expensive????

Happy 6th Birthday to Jadon David Hinson

On Sept. 1, 2002 Jadon David Hinson was born to us. Our firstborn son was born at 25 weeks and was too underdeveloped to survive more than two weeks in the NICU. He weighed 1 lb and 13 oz. His life will never be forgotten and we will remember him forever. Our time with him was short, but we look forward to seeing him again one day when we get to Heaven!

We have always gotten Josiah and Joshua gifts in honor of Jadon's birthday and this year they both got scooters. Joshua got a spiderman scooter and Josiah got one for big boys, a Razor! So, they're super excited! And one day Josiah and Joshua will meet their big brother in heaven and we'll have have a big reunion!

We love you Jadon David!