Hunter says so long to NMB

The "saying good-bye time" for Hunter started on Monday. He had several friends over to swim for a couple of hours. It was a good time. Then last night we went over to my parents house for dinner and just hanging out. It was fun and yet sad all at the same time.

Bethmom, Hunter and Waltwee

This morning I took Hunter to the airport (we left home at 4:15 AM....ugh). Hunter is on his way to California to hang out with Grandma Jan and Uncle John for two weeks. He will then fly to Minnesota to meet up with the family. Hunter will actually get to have dinner with Ronnie Thursday night (tomorrow). Ronnie is in California at a conference at Saddleback Church. He has some free time Thursday night so the whole family is getting together for dinner. How fun!!!!

This is Hunter waiting for his flight at 6:00 AM. Yes, he was tired but beyond excited about this trip. I should have waited until yesterday to tell him about it. :) He was talking non-stop about getting to go.

Hunter on his way out to the airplane. We paid for him to have an escort through out the trip. I have been flying alone since I was 9, but times have changed and you just never know what may happen. The airports are just too big now.

This is a very bad picture, but it is Hunter's plane taking off. There was this thin covering of fog on the ground. Looked spooky.

Have a great trip Hunter. I will miss you very much, but we will see you in two weeks! Don't drive Uncle John and Grandma Jan crazy!

Rock a bye baby

Rock a bye baby

In the tree tops

When the wind blows

The craddle will rock

When the bow breaks

The craddle will fall

And down will come baby

Into John and Wendi's arms.

Yes, it is true. My friends John and Wendi are expecting a baby. Please take a moment to stop and remember that I went to Florida to visit them right after they brought home their son, Isaac. My visit there was in the middle of May.

Isaac is truly a gift from God. Another young lady gave birth to him and John and Wendi were chosen to raise him. That really is a gift. I really have no idea all the emotions that they went through during that process.

The other emotions I have no real clue about is their battle with infertility. Wendi has been going through medical treatments over the last 5 years to try and conceive. They have gone through 2 different types of procedures (I think). The last time they made an IVF attempt was just a little over a year ago...right before they left Rochester, MN and moved to Eglin Air Force Base in the panhandle of Florida. John and Wendi have done a lot of greiving over the last several years.

The last attempt was met with a completely spent Wendi. She told me that she could not go through this again in the near future. They have 7 (I think) embryos still waiting for them at the Mayo Clinic. She told me that they will definately be going back for them in the next year or so. They both just needed a break.

During that break they decided to put in their paper work for an oversees adoption from China. After making this decision and jumping through all the hoops, they were approached by this young lady that had been in their lives for 17 years and asked to adopt her son. Isaac was born into a family that loved him instantly. By family I mean his new adoptive family as well as the family of the young lady that gave birth to him. What a loved little boy he is. What a cutie he is, too. I had such a wonderful time getting to know him for a couple of days. (Aunt Ebby misses you Isaac)

The other day I got an email from Wendi asking me to call her. When I did she said, "Ebby I'm pregnant!"
I said, "What? Are you kidding?"
What I heard her say was, "No, I'm kidding."
Boy was I mad at her. I started yelling at her to not ever do that to me again. That was a joke that I couldn't take.
She stopped me and said, "No, no, no, Ebby. I'm not kidding. I'm pregnant!"

Needless to say this was such wonderful news. I am surprised that I didn't wreck the car. I was on my cell phone talking and driving at the same time. I started crying, and talking, and listening, and crying, and talking, and yelling at the kids that Wendi is pregnant, and asking if I could tell Ronnie, and sometimes there was just a quiet pause. I was so floored yet so joyous at the same time.

Wendi did say that she and John both can't figure out how this happened. I offered to explain it to them :) I knew what she meant. They couldn't figure it out medically. Wendi is not supposed to be able to have children with out medical intervention, and so far that hasn't worked either.

This is what I am going to do. I am going to chalk it up to the fact that the Lord's timing is absolutely perfect. If they had gotten pregnant earlier then Isaac may not be at their house. Isaac is at the perfect house and Wendi got pregnant at the perfect time.

Please keep them in your prayers. They will now have two children under the age of 9 months. I guess I am going to have to make another trip to Florida. Oh shucky-darn. :)

I'll buy an "E" please Pat

I graduated from North Myrtle Beach High School in...a year that was previous to this one. One of my teachers was very fond of Vanna White. She would show us Vanna's projects she made in class all the time. As I understand it from people that know the White's, Vanna is a very nice and lovely woman. She was about 8-10 years ahead of me in high school so I didn't know her. She returns to North Myrtle Beach each year for a family vacation.



The reason for saying all of that is that I have a friend in Rochester, MN that kind of didn't believe what our city signs say on them. This morning I decided to go take a picture of it and post it on here so she could see it. Here you go Karen. Proof that North Myrtle Beach puts Vanna Whites name on their signs.

As I was riding around this morning taking pictures I came across this house. My first thought was, "Why would you paint a house original flavor Hubba Bubba pink?" After I took the picture and was returning home I thought that about it some more and came to the conclusion that someone was a Barbie lover when they were growing up and always wanted a Barbie house. Now that they are grown and can do it they built their own. This pictures does not do justice to the hot pink-ness of this house. It is very bright.
I was out taking pictures this morning of the sunrise on the beach at 6:30 a.m. I thought that I would show you how many people are on the beach at this time of the morning. CRAZY PEOPLE! Either they just got up or they are just getting in from the night before. I know...I know. I was out there, too. But I am getting ready to move and wanted to take some pictures before I did. They are out there just to be out there. This is the sunrise over the marsh in Cherry Grove. This is one of my favorite places here on the beach. That is Hog Island in the background.

This is the Cherry Grove pier.

Again this is the marsh in Cherry Grove.

Another picture of the marsh and Hog Island.

The marsh and Hog Island....again.

Sand fence on the beach in Cherry Grove.

Happy 20th Birthday English

Today is my oldest daughter's birthday. They are trying to tell me that she is 20 today, but that would mean tht I had her when I was 10 years old. :)

Happy Birthday English!!

The picture above was taken this past Christmas. We got a new Monopoly game that is all digital.

The picture below was taken during my trip to Monterey this past February. We were out to eat dinner and I caught her off guard.
Picture in Monterey, CA again.
This picture was sent to me this morning. English said she was trying to look mature.

Happy Happy Birthday!!

The Box!

Since being married to Ron Ray I have moved from South Carolina to California, California to Tennessee, Tennessee to Kentucky, Kentucky to Minnesota, Minnesota to South Carolina, and now from South Carolina back to Minnesota. All of these moves have taken place in 17 years. Those big moves don't include the little moves we made within the same area we lived...from house to house.

Thankfully, we have a moving company that is moving us this time. I am packing everything, but they will be loading it up into a truck and driving it to Minnesota for us. The only other time I have had the pleasure of not having to load a truck was our first move from South Carolina to California. The Army moved us that time.

During all of our moves there has been this one box that has moved with us. The box has changed one time due to the fact that the original box fell apart and I had to replace it with a plastic container. The contents have always stayed the same. No additional items in the box and none taken away.

I have moved this box around our different houses trying to find somewhere to put it. I can't get rid of it. Ronnie would be so mad at me if I did. There have been a couple of times that I have wanted to get rid of it and tell Ronnie that it got lost in one of the moves somewhere. I have wondered if he would even realize that the box was MIA if I did get rid of it.

The kicker is that he doesn't ever look in the box. I don't even know if he can tell you all the contents of the box. I could tell you because I look through it each time we move wondering if we can get rid of some or all of it.

Each time we have moved this box has been a sore spot with me. I think that we have gone round and round about it each time we move. Ronnie is fortunate that he isn't here this time or we would once again discuss this box. He is also fortunate that there are movers involved or I would probably "accidently" place it with loving care and gentleness into the garbage and ask forgiveness later when I had to lie and say that it was "lost" somewhere along the line.

I am not sentimental about "things". I have great memories from my life, different events that have taken place, and the people that have been a part of my life from different times. I don't keep "things" that much. I have a few pictures from my childhood, a couple of quilts from my grandma, and three plates from my other grandma. I also have some jewlery from my mom. The sad thing is that I would sell the quilts in a heart beat if someone wanted to buy them. I have very fond memories of my grandmother sewing, but not the quilts. She made beautiful Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls. I wouldn't get rid of the plates or my moms jewlery though.

Oh this box drives me crazy, but I love my husband and will let the movers pick it up, load it onto the truck, and then unload it and once again place it in our garage to never be opened and looked through.

A little side note. I have lived in the following states:

• North Carolina (born there)
• South Carolina
• Colorado
• Wyoming
• Oklahoma
• California
• Tennessee
• Kentucky
• Minnesota

That is a lot of moving people!

Happy Father's Day

Happy Father's Day to two great guys.

First to my wonderful husband, Ron. If you are a first time visitor to our blog my husband Ronnie has been living in Rochester, Minnesota since February. We have only seen him twice since that time. On July 1st the rest of the family will be moving back up to Rochester and we will all be under one roof again.

The Lord definately gave me a precious gift when he put Ronnie and I together. He is truly a blessing. We love you and can't wait to see you.....SOON!

This is a picture of Ronnie showing off his "man beard", which he said was a member of the family. I don't consider it a part of the family. :( Now he has this foo-man-choo thingy on his face. It better be shaved off by the time we see each other face to face.

Next is my step-dad, Walt. We call him Waltwee or Walter-wee-winski. He is a great dad and we love to be around him. He makes us all laugh. He and my mother have been married 20 years. He has been more of a dad to me than my own natural father. Thank you Waltwee for everything you do for our family. We love you!

Our Weekend

This past weekend was spent celebrating Veronica's 16th birthday. There wasn't a big celebration, but two different little get togethers.

On Saturday night we went out to eat with Bethmom and Waltwee. They took us to Nakatos, which is a Japanese steak house. This is a tradition with my side of the family. When we are with my parents and there is a birthday we usually go to a Japanese steak house to celebrate. We have done this for 20 years now.

Veronica's friend, Grace, went to eat with us Saturday.

Grace, Veronica and Cole

Veronica and Waltwee

Hunter and Waltwee (who was being VERY silly)

Hunter and Bethmom

On Sunday a bunch of Veronica's friends gathered at the beach for her birthday. Some of them brought their boards and surfed, but most just swam, played football or hit the volleyball around. It was so stinking hot that you couldn't just sit around for very long with out burning up so most of the day was spent in the water. I actually put my suit on and joined the kids in the ocean. It was a fun day.

Building a pyramid...but not doing such a good job.

Veronica and Grace...who we will miss very much.

Veronica and Jake...another very good friend of Veronica's. We will miss him a lot, too.

All the girls in a tide pool just chillin'

All the kids in a tide pool.

This is Veronica and Will. I was so worried about Will while we were at the beach. I kept asking him if he had put sunscreen on or not. Poor kid probably felt like he was 5 years old and his mother was with him. At least when he left he wasn't bright lobster red.

Veronica and Steven

Steven, Veronica, Haley, and Andy. Andy has the WORST farmers tan EVER!
Happy 16th BirthdayVeronica!

Happy Birthday!

Happy Sweet 16, Veronica

Hunter's Going Away Party

Yesterday afternoon two of Hunter's friends threw him a going away party. Everyone was able to keep it a surprise...even me, which is amazing. We started at a park and then headed over to Halie's home (one of his best friends) and had a good time. Halie's dad grilled, we went canoeing, on a row boat, played volleyball, tips, jumped on the trampoline, and just did some hanging out. Thanks Katie and Halie for a great going away party!

This is Halie...one of the girls that threw the party. Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of Katie.

Some of the party goers. Not all of them are in the picture, but these are Hunter's peeps.

Hunter is the one sitting in the bottom of the canoe.

The neighbor found this little baby racoon and was trying to hand raise it since they didn't know where it's mother was.

Veronica joined us for some of the party.

I was talking to Ronnie when Veronica started snapping pictures.

Now I think that these videos are funny. I could not stop laughing at Cole. He was so cute trying to steer the row boat.

How to leave a comment

Hey my peeps! I know you are out there. Our visitor count goes up everyday. Someone other than me is getting on here and reading our blog. If you are a shy blog checker....TOO BAD! Leave a comment every once in a while. If you aren't shy then get with the program and let us know who is out there.

I have had a conversation with a couple of people who said that they didn't leave comments because you had to register at blogspot. Oh, but that isn't true. To leave a comment without registering to blogspot do the following:

1. Click on leave a comment at the bottom of the post.
2. Type in your message.
3. Click the "Name/URL" circle on the right.
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5. Then click submit comment (or what ever the wording is)

Thats it. Easy as pie. Try it sometime....you might like it. Then you can go on to visit other blogs and leave messages there, too.