Staying Friends With Meli and Teri

Ok, I have exactly 16 minutes between right now and the time I have to leave for services so I am going to get in as much as I can so Meli and Teri will still be my friends and Gin Gin won't disown me. I don't remember the last thing I wrote but I think it was before the SEC championship game. We lost. Oh well, we were there which is more than I can say for the rest of you! Now I just hope we can step it up and do better on New Year's and beat Wisconsin. Losing a bowl game is NO way to start a new year. I took the first of two Christmas vacations, the second weekend in December and went and spent Sat, Sun, and Mon nights with Mom and Dad in Jackson. I just spent some time with Grandma and the Giselbachs (my aunt and her family) in Jackson, TN. It's something that I don't get to do near enough and I loved every minute of it. On Tuesday I left Jackson, TN and drove the short distance to Nashville. In Nashville I met up with my cousin Jeannie Petty (who let me bunk with her and was the pewrfect hostess....even turning on the heat for me!!!) and we went and visited my newest cousin Hollie! I don't have time to get into everything wonderful but a link to their page is on mine and if you have a few extra minutes, it is definitely awonderful read! SHe is BEAUTIFUL!!! On top of that she is sweet and funny not to mention, one of the most intelligent babies I have ever been around! And.....she took her first (more than 2) steps to ME! YAY! I REALLY wish that I had a camera so you all could see HOW stinkin' cute she is! What a AWESOME addition to the Palmer Clan! Monday night my cousion Gavin took me and Jeannie out for supper and, like all responsible grown ups do, we ordered dessert first! =^) Wednesday involved a little more playing with Hollie before I was off to Huntsville. In Huntsville I got to stay with my friend Bambi and do a little Christmas shopping. I also got to spend some time with Michael and Brian Rainey, which is always an adventure! I love my Huntsville people! (This is also where I locked my keys in my car....UGH!) Thursday I got home about 9:00, which was just in time to get ready and head out to work at 10:00! It was exhausting but worth every minute of it! On to Christmas.....Christmas morning I got held over at work and had to stay until 10 so me and Leigh took off then and went to Mom and Dad's where we had an UNBELIEVABLE Christmas with the whole fam!

How do you all do it?

Good greif. Ya'll make me feel like the worst blogger ever! Where do you find the time to, not only keep your blog so updated, but to keep them so cute, also? Geez. I figure that, on average, I work about sixty hours a week. That leaves me 108 hours a week. Appx 4 hours are spent at church services, appx 50 hours sleeping (yeah, right...the key workd there is appx and I know that some wees appx has to be closer to 35-40), and probably 4 hours for the Tenn game on Saturday. WHERE is that other 50 hours?!?!? It seems like I never have time to do things like sit down for a meal, call friends, play on the internet and keep my e mail and blogging updated, shop, cook, clean..... So, somebody give me the secret. Most of you either go to school and work, have kids and work, ect and you still get your stuff done. It would seem that I should have a plethera (sp?) of time since I am only working.

On to updating......
First, football. This week, I am the happiest football fan alive. Not only did my Vols win, impressively Saturday, against Arkansas, but we seriously have a chance to make it to the SEC championship! Seriously. Daddy comes home from the Phillipines on Wednesday and I am driving up on Friday and we will go to the Tenn/Vandy game Sat in Knoxville! YAY! I have missed him like crazy and ALWAYS love going to Knoxville! I am storing up money just in case Tennessee doesn't blow it and we make it to Atlanta!
Next, Thanksgiving. Of course, I have to work on Thanksgiving so this will be my first Thanksgiving without Momma and Daddy. They will be coming to our house on Monday morning and staying until Wednesday. Our family will be having our meal on Tuesday and then Mom and Dad will leave and drive to Jackson and be with all of Mom's family until Saturday. Louise and Dirt will leave on Wednesday and go to Corinth to be with his family. Leigh is still deciding. She wants to go see Mom's family but also doesn't want to leave me here by myself (even though, honestly, I would spend the entire day SLEEPING!) or miss out on our day-after-Thanksgiving shopping! We'll see.
Next, my visit with Meli and Kayden. They arrived after the misery that was the Tennessee-Alabama game, October 20. I didn't have the bed up in our guest room but since Leigh was out of town I put them in there. It's up now, Meli! We visited for a while before calling Louise and Dirt and met them at a Mexican resturant for supper, after going by the park so KaKa could see the ducks. After that we made the obligatory stop at Krispy Kreme and came home and watched The Little Mermaid and visited some more. My favorite part of the visit was waking up on Sunday morning. I think those of you with children may not be able to realize what a treat that is. Kayden was in such a good mood and I loved hearing her conversation in the am! I was soaking in the tub before services when I heard Meli's voice and poked my head out of the curtain....Kayden had been standing in there, no telling how long and either hadn't said anything or I didn't hear her. She must have gotten quite the concert! I was just laying there singing to my Sister Hazel cd, while she was standing on the other side of the curtian! Whoo! They went to servies with me at University and I was so proud to have them! When they left I had no idea how sad I would be! There's nothing like having something around for a time to realize how much you miss it!
Finally, I am going to get better at this! Soon, I'll get some pictures up of everything including the family, the Tenn game, Meli's vistit, and the new house!

Back to the old blog....

Ok, to all of you who really know me, you couldn't have expected much better of me. I hardly can leep up with everything going on in my life, much less keep everyone else updated regularly. Let's see where to start...
First, I lived. I didn't think I would but I did. I missed a couple days of work and a whole weeks worth of church services, only to get sick again about a week and a half later. That's right, deathly ill again. Only this time, I got sick the weeke we had to be moved out of our apartment. Lovely, I know. Much thanks to Leigh, NaNa, and some friends of ours we got moved out of our apartment and into our new HOUSE (capitalization inserted for happiness emphesis :). That's the good news, the bad news is, it's now almost the end of the next month and we have really only unpacked the basics. We're having Thanksgiving here this year, so maybe we'll have it done by then!
Let's see....I lived, we moved....that leaves football. As most of you know, football plays MUCH too large of a role in my life. I LOVE it. Schedule my life around it. Tennessee football (of course) and this year, Faulkner has started a team. Tennessee has caused me much anguish over thier season but, Faulkner football has been great! Well, not the team so much. They've been much like you would expect a first year team to be. However, I LOVE the tailgating. We have been doing a HUGE tailgaiting thing at all of the in town games but, Sat before last we took it to a whole new level. I went to work at 10:30 that night and called the officer that was working in that district and asked him just to give me a call if he saw anyone trying to set up to tailgate out there. (You have to understand that this was another team here in town and they have a very small campus that is located downtown and there is not much room to tailgate. However, they wouldn't let us set our stuff out until 'the day of the game' or we would be tresspassing.) About 1:15 am he called and said there WAS someone setting up. So, I called my brother in law and our friend Jason and they all loaded up and went out there. Just so you're keeping up, I called them about 1:30 in the morning, the game doesn't start until 1:30 that afternoon. I was only working half a night, so I got off at 2:30 am. I went home, woke Leigh up, we both put on sweatpants and met them out there. The two of us made ten. Of course, we were the only girls. They had set up three tents, about 25 lawn chairs, a grill, a tv and satellite, three tables with food, and a huge cooler full of drinks. Later, when the fire rescue truck from that district got a call, they stopped by on their way back from their run (both of them, obviously, work with me and one goes to church with all of us) and the two very nice policeman who told us about the spot, brought us out some hot chocolate. It was SO fun!!!! We ended up with over 50 tailgating but nothing (including the game) was as much fun as those first 5 or 6 hours before everyone else showed up!
I think (besides for Meli and Kayden's visit, which will be covered in my next blog) that about wraps it up. I've been working an insane amount of hours and will continue to do so until the holiday season, so forgive me if I don't update as much as I shoud.
(also, please forgive me for all of the errors in this post...it was done at 3 in the morning. You've got to love what night shift does to your body)

close to death....

OK, so maybe that is a slight exaggeration but, I definitely felt like I was. After, what can only be described as, THE WORST football Saturday ever, I finally went to bed and tried to go to sleep for a few hours before work. Then I woke up to, the only worst thing to wake up to besides an annoying alarm clock......the IMMEDIATE need to find a trashcan, tolit, anything! Oh my goodness, I still can't believe how sick I was! I was burning up with fever and couldn't keep ANYthing down! I actually ended up sleeping on the bathroom floor on Sat night. Of course with my luck, Leigh was out of town on this weekend, so I was home alone. I called Louise and told her I was sick and she said to call her if I needed her. When I finally was able to get up on Sunday morning, I realized that I was definitely going to need some help. I was already so weak that I could barely make it to my own kitchen, only to realize that I didn't have ANYthing to drink. I tried to call Louise, I remembered that she had gone to early service and was probably back asleep by now. I tried to sip on some water and take some tylenol and that didn't go well, at all. I tried to call again, again getting no answer. Since I am no stranger to stomach problems and the dehydration that can follow, I knew that I was there and needed some Gatorade pretty quick. Finally, I called a freind of mine that works on first shift who sent a very nice police officer over with a huge thing of Gatorade. Louise, of course, called as soon as she woke up for service that night and came right after service and fixed me some soup. By later Sunday night, I seriously thought I might be dying. The only two things that I did from Sat afternoon to Mon afternoon were be sick and sleep. Finally Monday got here and my doctor worked me in. Of course I had a nasty stomach virus (is it crazy to anyone else that we can actually send people to walk around on the moon but can't figure out how to stop a simple stomach virus?!?) and was dehydrated (i could have saved myself that co-pay). She made sure that I was well stocked with Phenegran (sp?) and gave me an i.v. of fluidds. That was as much fun as it sounds like too. For any of you who have never had the pleasure, a nurse trying to find a vein to stick the needle in to give you the fluids is about as much fun as.....well, someone trying to dig a needle around in your arm!!!! Anyways, all this to say, I did live, and maybe only because of my friend Kesia, Officer Caldwell, and Louise! Thanks to all of them! Hopefully this week will be a better football week and I'll regain all of my strength. I'll need it, since, yesterday we signed a lease on the new house. We got lots of pictures, I'll put them up as soon as figure out how. We're real excited and open for anyone who wants to come join in our moving party!!!!

no way it's been nine years

Today me, Leigh, KaKa, Uncle Ervin, and Samantha all moved Kristen (my cousin) into the dorm for her freshman year at Faulkner. As we pulled onto campus I was flooded with emotions. What a very harsh realization that it was NINE years ago that my family pulled onto that very same campus to drop me off.
Nine years ago........nine years ago, when Momma had never had a stroke, Grandaddy was alive, all of my family still lived together, Adam was still alive, none of us had ever heard of ancephely, nor had been affected by down syndrome, and terrorism was one of the farthest things from any of our minds.
Nine years ago I was SO excited to meet new people, live on my own, start a new life.
Nine years ago I was SO scared to meet new people, live on my own, and start a new life.
Isn't life funny?
I told Leigh, "I need a do-over"
The more I thought about it, maybe I didn't. Maybe I don't.
Nine years ago........nine years ago, I had no idea how strong my family was, I didn't appreciate my grandparent the way I should have, I didn't know how wonderful living on my own could be and how much I appreciated the faith in myself, that my family gave me, I had never known a true American hero, I had no idea how strong my friend Melissa was, nor had I ever know the joy I know when I'm around Jessica (my cousin with down syndrome), and I had never seen the strength of the people of this great country.
Nine years ago if you had asked me what I would be doing in nine years, the only thing that I know for sure that I would have said is NOTHING that I am doing now. Again, isn't life funny?

My very first blog

This was the very first bolg I wrote on MySpace. Thought it did an ok job of catching people up!

Just a little update for all of you who aren't all the way up to date and who care enough to actually read a blog (that can't be very many ;^) Let's see....I finished up at Faulkner in May of 2002. I had a whole set of plans from there.....absolutely none of them have panned out. But, that's been ok. I ended up moving up to Lineville, AL where my parents lived, just to "figure out what I wanted to do." I ended up meeting a wonderful man there, joining a wonderful congergation, and getting a job that I loved. My parents actually ended up moving from Lineville in January of 2004. Since Louise had gone to Faulkner in August of 2002 and Leigh had gone in August of 2003, that left me in Lineville alone with my wonderful man, church home, and job. That's when I got my first little apartment by myself. "Little" doesn't even begin to describe it, but I loved it! Once again it seemed that life was on track and I had plans again. Fast forward to July 15th, 2004. Since I was working night shift, I was at my apartment with Louise (who was staying with me for the summer) when the phone rang. Since I didn't have caller i.d., I rarely answered it and didn't on that day. Then my cell phone rang. I tried to get it but didn't get to it in time but saw that it was my dad. I dialed my voice mail and listened to my message...that message changed all of our lives. In short, Daddy was telling me that Momma had been taken to the hospital and they didn't really know what was wrong. I immediately called him back and told him that we were on our way (to Chattanooga, where they were living now). I did have the presence of mind to call Tim who did have the presence of mind to tell me that he was going to drive us. I don't remember a whole lot about that trip. When we got to Chattanooga (an important side note here is that Leigh at this very time was in Hawaii, half way through her two week trip) they had Momma all hooked up in ICU. It was then that they informed us that my Mom, who just the day before had worked and attended Wednesday night services and was a healthy 45 year old, had suffered a stroke. She had absolutely no use of her left side at all. She was totally helpless and that's exactly how she looked all medicated and with tubes sticking out of her everywhere. We collectively decided that it was for the best not to tell Leigh who was celebrating her 19th birthday the next day, in Hawaii. Mom was in MICU for three days, then moved to a regular room for a week, and then moved to Siskin Rehab hospital where she would spend the next four months (and Daddy and I would spend most of our time the next four months) of her life. When they took her over there by ambulance she didn't even have control over her own bathroom functions. She couldn't even smile. When she WALKED out a few months later, she was doing most everything for herself and had even taken and passed her driving test! It was amazing! She is amazing and there is no doubt in any of our minds that God truly blessed us with the nurses, doctors, and pt's at Siskin...they are amazing and we are forever in their debt! Oh yeah, not telling Leigh and letting her find out accidently over the email in Hawaii....not a great moment in our family history! Helping Mom get better pretty much consumed the next six months of all of our lives. Let's see we now skip ahead to 2006. In March of 2006, I had one of the greatest and most thrilling experiences of my life as I got to spend 2 1/2 weeks in Greece. It was amazing and not a day has passed since I got back that I have not thought back to how wonderful that was. It's a good thing...I would need that to get me through the next bump in life. So, I get back from Greece, Momma is a lot better, and once again I feel like things are on track and I can safely resume my plans. (I know, you'd think I'd learn but, you'd be wrong!) On April 22nd my life totally changed once again. The man that I had built my life around and had every intention of spending the rest of my life with decided that that was not to be. (I'm going to leave that at that) This time I didn't react so well. I pretty much just worked and went to church services. That was it. My family and friends were wonderful, as always, I just was going through something that I needed to get through. Until June of 2006. That's when, after MUCH prodding, John and Denise Rice, convinced me to come out and visit Backwoods. I did and, very much like the same thing that happened when I went to camp for the first time in third grade, I was hooked immediately. I ended up staying out there for at least part of four weeks of camp and I think I visited every week. I have no doubt that God knew EXACTLY what I needed. Through camp came three of the most important things that helped me get through the whole Tim thing and all the changes that came along with it. That was Brint, Shanon, and Bambi. Friendly aquaintences for a few years almost immediately became lifeline friends. Now we come to present time. Let's see...I'm working with Montgomery 911 as a fire dispatcher. I work about 60-70 hours a week, I am an active member at University CoC, I work out at the Y and much to the suprise to ANYONE who has ever met me, I have actually learned to like almost love it. I know, it's crazy! That's pretty much it for now. I know it's not a lot, but I'm in a transition phase. I'm not exactly sure what I am transitioning to, but I look forward to finding out. The best thing about my life is that I know for sure that God is there for me all the time! He amazes me. Plus, I have learned two very important lessons. One, STOP making plans! I mean take a hint! Two, I'm not living from bad thing to bad thing anymore with the good times just filling in the in betweens. From now on I am living from good thing to good thing, no matter how small or how large and I will just get through the little bad times in between! OK, I'm pretty sure this falls into the category of short story or book instead of just blog but, I just wanted to catch everyone up. (I should put something totally random and funny in here just to see if anyone actually does read this far....honestly, I would have given up half way through! thanks for being such a dedicated friend to read to the end!) Thank you to every single one of you who has played any role in the last decade of this crazy life, you have definitely made my life evrything good that it has been. God has truely blessed me more than I could have ever asked.

prayer requests

Please keep the family and friends of Cpl Kenneth Armstrong in your prayers. Cpl Armstrong was a detective with the Montgomery Ploice Dept who was killed this morning in a vehicle accident while on his way to a burglery call. Cpl Armstrong was only 32 years old and leaves behind a wife, who also works for the city, and two young children. He had only worked for MPD for three years. I know I sound like a broken record but, please take the time to keep these people who protect us in your daily prayers. This includes all police officers, firefighters, ems workders, and military. They all put their lives on the line everyday to make the world livable for the rest of us. They are overworked,underpaid, underappreciated, and I can't imagine what any of our lives would be like without them. Please also remember the MPD. This is our third officer that we have lost in less than a year. That is a very high number when you think that, that is three fathers, husbands, sons, and/or brothers, not to mention friends. Becasue of what we all deal with everyday, it really does bond us together and make us a family and losing three members of your family in less tha a year is tough. Thanks so much and God bless.


And, please also remember the Hicks family and the McSween families. Our God is so good and there is no time where that is more obvious than now, when there are so many terrible things happening. How do people that don't have an active relationship with God, even get out of the bed in the morning?

Car Woes

So, my plan was to get up around 8 yesterday morning, shoewer, pack, go hang out with Meli until around lunch then leave to come back to Montgomery (about a 4 1/2 hour drive) and be back in time to rest before I had to be at work at 10:30. Well, things started to go amiss from the plan when I left Melissa's the night before, around 9ish. I decided to go see Nicole sionce she lived right down the street. It was when I went to leave her house that I noticed that I had a flat tire. Now, don't be mistaken when you see the word flat. I don't mean real low on air, I mean FLAT! Well, Tom had already left for work so I decided just to sleep there and worry about it in the morning. There wasn't much I could do after 11:00 anyways. Well, God love him, when I woke up Wednesday morning Tom had taken my car, had the tire patched AND brought us Chick-Fil-A for breakfast. I was SO happy and not too far off of my plan. Now, Gin Gin's house (where I was staying) was about 5 miles away. SO, off I go to pack and to go to Meli's. Well, not so much, evidently. The tire was flat again by the time I got there. Just my luck. So, a very nice man from the Children's Home comes over and helps me put on my spare. I go to Melissa's for a very short time and then I'm on my way to Quitman (going at the blazing speed of 45 mph!) because PaPa knows a tire guy who can probably get me a good used tire for a reasonable amount of money and pretty quickly. Well, for times sake I'm going to move this along, I finally left Quitman at about 10:30 (e.s.t.) last night with four NEW tires and $300 poorer! You've got to love life! On a much more serious note, Meli seemed to be better but please keep them in your prayers!

Coming Home

OK, so (after a little pressure from some friends) I decided to give this a try (for my few friends who don't keep up with me through MySpace and Facebook). I got to come home (to Valdosta for all of you who don't know that) today. I work night shift so, obviously, I sleep during the day. Well, when I woke up around seven on Friday I had 18 missed calls. Most of from which were friends and family here in Valdosta. I knew something was wrong and dialed Gin Gin to find out what it was. That was when she told me that Melissa had, had some complications on Thursday and Janey had made her enterance on Friday morning. For any of you who don't know who Melissa is, she has been my friend longer than any of my other friends. Our parents went to school together and then we started school together in pre k at Georgia Christian and graduated together in 1998. I love her and she married John Hick, who I love just as much and feel like I've known just as long. I wish that this blog would help me put into words how I felt at Janey (their daughter)'s funeral today. At that moment there was nothing that I could think of that I wouldn't have done to take their pain away or just ease it. Anyways, I left work at 4:30 this morning and got here about 20 mins before the service was to start. I love and miss all of "my people" here and that longing was even more severe today. I love my home and am so thankful to have people like John and Meli in my life. I hope you all remember them in your prayers.
OK, this was a lot for a blog, I know I got a little wordy (is that even a real word?). But, I had a lot to talk about since this was my first one AND so much is going on. We'll see how this blog thing goes.