The Days AFTER Memorial Day

So, we got home from Nashville at about 1:30a.m. Tuesday morning. At appx 3a.m. Kristen woke up sick. She woke us up a few minutes before six saying she needed to go to the Dr. PriMed doesn't open until 7a.m. but we were there when they unlocked the door. She got in about 7:30a.m. and by 8:45 we were on our way back home with the diagnosis of a stomach virus and she was high on drugs. The Dr had given her a shot of phenergan and demerol so she was pretty out of it. However, NOT out of it enough to not tell me that she was about to be sick in my car.

We only had to cut over three lanes of traffic, run one red light, and do one u-turn before we were at the closest gas station. I helped her in and right as we got in the door she told me she couldn't make it in the bathroom. I tried to encourage her in but to no avail. So, I turned around for, I PROMISE, no more than twenty seconds to call Leigh to come help us. Didn't matter, when I turned around, there was Kristen out cold on the floor of the Circle K. Oh geez.
The people working at the gas station were kind of freaking out. I just kept calling her name with absolutely no answer. Ok, calm down gas station employees. Leigh, hurry up. Laurie, maybe you should call the medics. Kristen, for the love, answer me.

By the time Leigh gets there Kristen is still down, the medics have been called, and the gas station attendants still kind of freaking out. Before the medics get there we half way rouse Kristen and get her to the bathroom. When the medics get there we sit her in a rolling office chair provided by the oh so helpful gas station attendants and they start checking her out. Blood pressure is obviously low but everything else checks out. She's pretty dehydrated so we get her a Gatorade and she takes two sips and somehow throws up about 64 ounces. I'll bet you're thinking that we are at the worst part of my day, huh? Not even close.

We do finally get Kristen perked up after the medics give her an iv and I get her home as Leigh goes back to work. About 1:00p.m. Kristen is resting on the couch and I have cleaned my bathroom (in anticipation of the stomach virus that is inevitably coming my way) bathroom and am going to try to rest for just a second. (Insert phone ringing here) "Hey, La, I don't feel good. I think I'm going to come on home." Awesome, Leigh is sick. She comes home and lays on the other couch. An hour later she has her face in the toilet. BACK to PriMed. Luckily, the same Dr is still there. I'll bet you think you know were this is headed, huh? Bet you don't.

We get to PriMed about 3:40p.m. and get back in a room about 6:15p.m. Nurse and P.A. assume she has the stomach bug. Medical school for that, huh? Can we get her shot and go? Nope. Pee in a cup and we're going to take blood. Awesome again. Leigh LOVES needles. This just keeps getting better. After all of that fun the Dr comes in and says how he;s surprised she isn't in the hospital already. Huh? Yep. A severe kidney infection. The good news? there is a 50% chance that you'll get better from today. Bad news? 50% chance you'll end up in the hospital.

Oh wait! Speaking of the hospital. Wondering where Louise is in all of this? She should be helping, right? No can do, my friends, she has taken Dirt to the ER for what appears to be an appendicitis. Good day, huh? The Dr gives Leigh the same shot he's given Kristen and now is going to give her an iv of antibiotics. Yay! Another needle experience. Nothing makes an exhausted, unshowered, big sister feel better than to watch her baby sister have another go round with the needle. So, a round of antibiotics and THREE bags of fluids later, the doors of PriMed are locked and me and Leigh get to leave.

I get her home and in her room and go to check on Kristen. Leigh calls. I run in there just in time for her to throw up on me, herself, her bed, and her floor. Oh. Huh. I've never cleaned up throw up before. In fact, I've never actually been thrown up on before. Did I mention that it's like 10:30p.m. now and I'm EXHAUSTED?!?!? SO FAR beyond tired. One new round of sheets and one more round of throwing up and by midnight they are both in bed. I literally fall asleep thanking God that I don't have children and letting Him know that they have to be better by tomorrow or I WILL have to call reinforcements in. Leigh only woke up twice and Kristen none but I woke up at EVERY little sound! WHAT a HORRIBLE night's sleep!

Anyways, Kristen was feeling better the next day and it turned out Dirt had kidney stones. By Thursday Leigh was eating solid foods, no one had been sick in 24 hours, and I amazingly hadn't gotten sick! Praise! Kristen went to school on Thursday, I went back to work Thursday night, and Leigh is going to work today, Saturday! WE MADE IT!!!!!! YAY! It wasn't pretty and there were DEFINITELY times when I didn't think we all would but WE DID! Hope your week was better than ours!!!!

p.s. there was one bit of AMAZING news from the week......I'M GOING TO BE AN AUNT!!!!!!!
Don't run over to Louise and Leigh's blogs just yet, it's Lisa that is going to provide me with a little niece of nephew. She drove in town to tell me in person. Unfortunately, that was Tuesday and I was at PriMed :^( Please keep her in your prayers and I'll keep you updated!!! I AM SO EXCITED!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Memorial Day!

Me and Leigh with the Stewart boys! Maybe Braden should move closer!

Me and Leigh with the Cameron Stewart family!

Hayden, me, Julia, and Leigh!

me, Leigh, and Hayden with the BRAND NEW Gavin Stewart family!

Me and my new favorite Stewart boy!!!!!

That's a funfetti cake and a Little Debbie "cake"!

Me and Lily were having a moment......

...and so were Leigh and Barrett!

After the showers, the show got under way!

That's the bride sitting in her carriage, VERY patiently waiting out the rain!

Sunday night my supervisor asked me if I wanted to work Monday night. NO! It's Memorial Day and I have plans!!

Monday morning I came home and got ready and about 11 me and Leigh headed north on i65 towards Nashville! We got to Murfreesboro about an hour and a half before the wedding and decided we didn't like what we were wearing so we stopped by Target and picked out new dresses. So we checked out two dresses, one new nail polish, one new pair of shoes, and a bottle of Downy Wrinkle Release. We changed in the bathroom and off we went.

The wedding was on the front lawn of a old mansion there in town and as the singers started I whispered to Leigh that they really couldn't have asked for better weather. That, as they say, was the kiss of death. Next, as Barrett and Lily were wheeled down the aisle by the other flower girls, out of nowhere, there was a big clap of thunder. We smiled as the cantankerous old ladies behind us opened up a umbrella, whispering (well, I think THEY thought they were whispering) to each other how they didn't care if the people sitting behind them could see or not. They had just gotten their hair done and their blouses would shrink! Well, as the groomsmen came down the drive and jumped out of the old pickup truck they had rode up in and the bridesmaids all filed out of the limo they came up in and met to walk down the aisle the first raindrops started falling pretty hard. Then came the horse and open top carriage down the drive riding down the drive with the beautiful bride. And then came the rain. I mean the literal bottom dropped out of the sky!

The bride borrows an umbrella and just sits there and smiles. How great is that? A few minutes later the rain stops and we all migrate back towards the lawn to watch Gary and Kimberly get married! Everyone was drenched and make up all ruined but it was a GREAT wedding! And the reception was even better! It was so good to catch up with old friends and get some good quality time with Lily and Barrett.

Me and Leigh left the reception and Kimberly and Gary and went to Baskin Robins where we met up with Cameron and Stacy and I finally got to meet Hayden. Cameron was long considered my "favorite cousin" (which is weird since we are actually 5th cousins or something like that....his grandmother and my great grandmother were sisters), not because I liked him better than any of my other cousins, we just always clicked. If I thought about it hard enough I could probably count how many times we've actually seen each other since he grew up in Texas while I grew up in south Georgia, then he went to college in Arkansas and I went in Alabama. Now he has ended up only five hours north of me in Nashville. Things were always just easy between us. It didn't matter how long it had been since we had last seen each other there just never was any awkward (which is obviously quite out of the norm for me!) Now I love his wife Stacy and now I finally met his son Hayden! I already love him! We also got to meet our newest cousin, Deidre, who just married Gavin! We already love her too! We also got to see another cousin, Jeannie. It was SO fun and we got to eat Baskin Robins (little did I know how much we should be enjoying that meal!), it was just a GREAT NIGHT! I really wish we could have spent more time with them but it made us look forward, even more to the family reunion next month.

Me and Leigh got back home about 1:30 Monday morning. The story picks up pretty soon after that but this is the end of the happy chapter so you'll have to wait for the next post to find out what went down next! However, the entire Memorial Day was wonderful and SO much fun! It was good to get to see friends and family that I hadn't seen in a while, meet new family members, and get to spend some much overdo one on one time with Leigh.

100th post, 100 things

So, according to "blog etiquette" (a.k.a. Louise), your hundredth blog should be one hundred things about yourself...so, here you go 100 VERY random things about me...(don't worry, I don't really think anyone will finish all 100...except Momma...I didn't even write them all at once!)


1. I had some things that happened that I wanted to blog about but didn't, just to put off this 100th blog.
2. I always return the buggy to it's rightful place in the parking lot.
3. I am super awkward and seem to live with a foot in my mouth.
4. When watching live tv, my tv is only on Fox News and ESPN 2 (Mike and Mike in the morning)
5. I think the dvr is the most amazing machine ever invented. It has changed my life.
6. There is a 5 year old living in the north of the Philippines that is the son of my heart. As corny as it sounds, it's so true and I miss him so much.
7. The boys at the office call me "Mother Hen"....if it's not obvious, they think I mother everyone too much.
8. I am by no means a animal lover.
9. I'd take the beach over the mountains any day.
10. I hate cold weather.
11. I love the rain!
12. I love sweaters. Not cute dress sweaters or pretty cardigans, old, comfortable "grandfather sweaters"
13. When I read a good story in SI of watch something on ESPN about a player or team, I am immediately a fan of theirs.
14. If I were a pair of shoes I would be a pair of Sperry bluefish. They are everything I perceive myself to be...classic, comfortable, dependable, and tough.
15. I HATE to hear people clip their nails! I believe that it's like pooping, it should only be done in a bathroom, with the door shut!
16. I have visited Greece once and I definitely want to go back, maybe even to live.
17. I love to eat. Maybe better said, I love food. Love is the correct word there.
18. My mom was born to full time Philippine missionaries and now much of my family, including myself, are actively involved in the work over there. I would love to do some full time work over there.
19. I have been a 911 dispatcher for over 6 years now and all but 6 months of that have been on night shift.
20. I love both of my parents equally and think that they are both the best at their respective jobs but, except when I was sick or heartbroken, I was always a Daddy's girl.
21. I wear a size 11 shoe. I know!
22. I have this weird sweet/salty thing when I eat. I have to eat them equally. If I have some popcorn, I have to follow it up with something sweet like some chocolate and vise versa.
23. I have this ability to make people feel really stupid and uncomfortable, without even saying anything. My sisters and the guys call it, "Laurie's look" The worst thing about it, I don't know when I'm giving it!!!
24. To go along with number 23, I have NEVER been able to hide my emotions. ANYthing I feel shows up IMMEDIATELY on my face! I hate that.
25. I am very, very patriotic.
26. Even though I can be a hot head, I very rarely stay mad very long.

27. I can go an amazing length of time on no sleep.
28. I LOVE the Atlanta Braves!

29. I really just LOVE baseball!

30. I have a very loud voice and the more excited I get, the louder it gets.

31. My favorite foods are asparagus, chocolate, chicken casserole, fried cheesecake, sourdough bread, peanut butter cookies, broccoli and cheese soup....I could really go on and on.

32. A good pun OWNS me, every time!

33. One of my dirty little secrets is that I love reality tv. Not the ones where the actually do something, the ones where they just follow people around. I know.
34. I detest dress shoes.
35. I love Sperry's and flip flops, but I prefer to be bare foot.
36. I am a die hard University of Tennessee Vols/ Lady Vols fan!!
37. I love milkshakes even though I could live without ice cream.

38. My two vices are food and the sun/tanning bed. It is very, very hard for me to say no to either one.
39. My favorite color is blue.
40. I can't have caffeine or tomato products due to stomach problems but, sometimes bite the bullet when it comes to chocolate and Italian food.
41. I am addicted to Lipton's Green Tea...Mixed Berry.
42. I store up beauty products (i.e. face creams, wrinkle lotions, face wash, ect.) like a grasshopper preparing for the winter.
43. Mr G's is my favorite restaurant. It's worth a trip to Montgomery.
44. March is usually my favorite month.
45. When I was a kid, the doctors all thought I would be really tall because my hands and feet were so big. I'm 5' 7 1/2" and don't see a growth spurt in the near future.
46. If I ever have kids, I definitely want all boys.
47. Italian is my favorite food with Greek coming up a close second.
48. I hate to run and think it's crazy people doing it for "fun"
49. I do not believe that a salad constitutes a "meal" unless it has meat in it and then only for lunch.
50. No one has ever accused me of being a chef or a baker.
51. I am quite possibly the least crafty person you know.
52. I hardly ever wear make up.
53. I have two sisters, Louise and Leigh and one brother in law, Dustin "Dirt", and we are about as close as siblings can be.
54. I have the utmost respect for firefighters, policemen, military, and heath care workers (and 911 dispatchers...obviously!)
55. I LOVE seafood!!!
56. My favorite part of a man's body is bone structure, particularly, his jaw...how weird is that?
57. I sing in my car with the same intensity that Beyonce sings at a concert. Usually with the windows down. Let's just say that I provide a good amount of entertainment for those lucky/unlucky enough to be sitting beside me at a red light.
58. I will wear a phrase into the ground..."For the love" "Touche"

59. If I could start over I would be a women's basketball coach.

60. I cannot sleep in socks or in pajamas or with someone else in the bed. I used to be able to sleep anytime , anywhere, in any conditions. I'm definitely getting fussier in my older age.
61. For that matter, I cannot sleep under a top sheet or on printed sheets. Look, I know.
62. I rarely use my a/c in my car because I didn't have it for over three years, plus I just love riding with the windows down!
63. I think heated seats are the second best invention ever.
64. I have a horrible short term memory!
65. I usually wear my hair up because I don't like the feeling of hair on my neck.
66. Although I really like grapes and cherries, I don't like things cherry or grape flavored.
67. I'm not totally sold on the idea of getting married but if I ever do the only things that I know for sure are that I want him to be a faithful Christian and I want him to make me laugh all the time.
68. I live with my sister Leigh and my cousin Kristen. I loved the time when it was just me and Leigh in the apartment but now am loving Kristen being here, just as much!
69. I dated a guy that was 19 years older than me for three years.
70. I am deathly afraid of roaches and preying mantis's.
71. I have had seven colonoscopy's. Fun stuff, huh?
72. Andrew Copeland of Sister Hazel is my cousin.
73. I really hate shopping.
74. I gained something close to 80 lbs the first semester I was in college.
75. I have never lived in a house where we had a scale.
76. Even though I have really, really thick hair, it amazes me how much hair I lose every single time I wash my hair.
77. I hate and always have hated brushing my hair. I have a very, very tender head.
78. I definitely have always had a boys name picked out, just in case I ever have one.
79. When I was little I honestly believed that cats waited until we left and went to their own church service in their own little secret cat church building. I can even remember what the cat church building looked like in my imagination.
80. I also believed that when I dug out in our yard and hit the roots that I had to stop digging because I was at the top of hell. I mean, I would be really scared. I have no idea where I came up with this stuff.
81. I had to wear braces on my legs when I was little to make me walk straight.
82. I have scoliosis.
83. I'm pretty much a homebody.
84. You have never met a less coordinated, more awkward person then me and I'm ok with it.
85. I am absolutely terrified of the birthday after this year. For that matter, I'm not really stoked about this one coming up either.
86. I also am terrified of wrinkles. They are so horrible.
87. I do not like spicy food.
88. I hate drama.
89. I love fresh flowers!
90. I have a freckle in my right eye.
91. My eyes change colors with what I wear.
92. I get really attached to characters in tv shows/ movies/ books.
93. I take my family really seriously.
94. People (Leigh) say that I am cynical but the truth is that I am just a die hard realist and have uncommon sense.
95. I love the water. I love going to the lake, the beach, the pool, really anywhere there is water. I love to swim, ride jet skis, ski, lay out, really anything that you do at/in the water.
96. I really wish that I knew how to play the piano and I plan on learning one day.
97. I am really attracted to a guy that can play the piano or the guitar.
98. I dig the cookie dough out of cookie dough ice cream and then throw it away when all the cookie dough is gone.
99. I hate the way lotion feels on my skin. Yuck.
100. I am very loyal. I have a lot of less than desirable qualities about me but even though some off my people would probably say I take it too far, no one can ever accuse me of not being loyal.

K5 graduation

Not sure why everyone but Leigh has crazy looking eyes in this picture.

Leigh and Tucker's little sister, Gracie Kate

Tucker led the class in a poem

Congratulations to Tucker Clifton!! He graduated from ACA's K5 yesterday, which happened to also be his 6th birthday!!! I remember when Tucker was born but I can't believe how much he has grown in the three years since I moved here!

The graduation was nice but there was a slide show of the three K5 classes that lasted through SIX entire songs!!! They played a entire CD! I do understand that I am not a parent but can't we have a one or two song slide show and then all go to our respective homes and watch pictures of our own kids? Geez.... I am glad that I go to be there and am SO proud of him and all the other graduates!

P.S. I REALLY wish I could have been at GCS for Amelia's graduation! I also remember when she was born and hate that I have missed so much of her life! I AM SO VERY PROUD OF HER and she looked SO beautiful!

better late than never....again!

On April 21st my Dad turned 53! So....without anymore ado...




1. Donald Frederick Walker was born to Carl and Martha Walker on April 21, 1956 in Nashville, TN.

2. He now preaches and lives in Trenton, GA, right outside of Chattanooga, TN.


3. Before ending up in Trenton he had lived in Lineville, AL, Valdosta and Lake Park, GA, Jasper, FL, Jackson, MS, Lubbock, TX, Knoxville, TN, Charlotte NC, and, of course, Nashville, TN.

4. On August 3, 1979 he married Jamie Diane Garner Walker, his wife of almost thirty years now. He had just met her in November of 1978 and proposed in February of 1979. If you're doing your addition....I was born in July of 1980.


5. He played football while in Jr High but when he transferred to Georgia Christan they didn't have a football team.


6. He played basketball and baseball at Georgia Christian.


7. He played baseball at Lipscomb.


8. Until I was 11 he coached basketball, taught high school, and him and mom were dorm parents at Georgia Christian.


9. He then was a realtor.


10. Then he sold advertising for a cable company.


11. Next, he went into business with my NaNa and PaPa and they owned the first Alltel store in the Valdosta area.


12. When my PaPa got cancer they sold KLW Sales and that's when he finally gave in and became a full time preacher (he had been doing it part time for years!)


13. He has three daughters, Laurie Rene' Walker, 28; Louise Elizabeth Walker Jones, 25; and Donna Leigh Walker, 23. He now has a son (in-law) too, Dustin "Dirt" Jones.


14. He bleeds Tennessee orange (as all good people do!)


15. He always talks about how much he hates to shop but NO ONE enjoys finding a good deal more than him!


16. When he smiles big it looks like he is missing a tooth.


17. He has a numb spot on the side of his chin from a slip of the knife during a root canal. It's pretty funny because if food ever drops on it, he will go forever with it on there if no one tells him.


18. He is VERY MUCH a morning person!!! Unfortunately, NONE of the other four people in our house were or are!


19. He loves the Atlanta Braves.


20. He is the voice of the Dade County Trojans. He calls the football, basketball, baseball, and softball games on the radio.


21. He also has a morning radio show on local radio.


22. I don't think he has ever worked only eight hours in a day or has ever only worked five days in a week.


23. He is almost a clone of his dad!


24. Since he didn't have any boys he passed his love and knowledge of sports on to his daughters.


25. He cannot just sit down and watch a tv show. He changes it at the very hint of a commercial.


26. He is an amazing evangelist.


27. He is on the board of directors at the Philippine Theological College.


28. He was always very good at math and sciences. Even though NO ONE would have accused him of being a good student, he never had any trouble with school work.


29. He was engaged once before he met my mom.


30. When he was at Lipscomb, the social club he was a part of got disbanned and had to remain banned for ten years....to make sure the members were all gone!


31. He is the hardest worker of anyone I have ever met.


32. He doesn't chew gum.


33. We have been able to find nothing that he dislikes enough not to eat.


34. He has a special place in his heart for prison ministry.


35. He shared and still shares that love of prison ministry with Louise.


36. He lives on his cell phone. He shares that love with Leigh and PaPa!


37. He can go on very little sleep.


38. He gets knocked down once a year, every year for as long as I can remember, with a stomach virus. Besides for that, I can hardly ever remember him getting sick.


39. He loves the people of the Philippines.


40. He loves to fish but I've never heard of him hunting.


41. He met my mom while she was visiting family in Jacksonville and he was the youth minister where his uncle attended.

42. He has two sisters, Ginny Holton and Karen Sloan. They come with two brothers in law, Kenny Holton and Ervin Sloan, respectively.

43. He also inherited a sister in law, Beth Giselbach and two brother in laws, Ted and Tom Garner when he married mom. Since then he has gained another brother in law and two more sister in laws, Brian Giselbach, Patty Garner, and Peggy Garner.

44. He has 18 nieces and nephews.

45. He loves Hootie and the Blowfish.

46. He can't play any musical instruments.

47. He can't sing either but (and I absolutely LOVE this about him!) that has never stopped him from getting up and leading singing in a church service.

48. He loves to mix different kinds of cereal.

49. He has a facebook and a myspace account.

50. He loves watch how to shows on the Discovery Channel and historical based shows on the History Channel.

51. He now blogs!!!

52. He was absolutely amazing when Momma had a massive stroke just before their 25th anniversary.

53. He has never met a stranger. Ever.


These are just some "things" that when you put them all together make the most amazing man and one who has been my best friend through my entire life. Me, Leigh, and Louise are so blessed to have him for a dad and, if you have ever met him, you are lucky to have him in your life.


Happy (VERY LATE!) birthday, Daddy!!!!! ILY

Mudge...Momma...JamieG...

A few hours late but I wanted to get a post in about that crazy lady who I gave the opportunity to be celebrated on Mother's Day :^)

My mom HATES the following things:

*getting up early
*cleaning
*flat dress shoes
*physical therapy
*strokes
*her family not living close

Things she LOVES:

*everything about Christmastime
*Mexican food
*reading novels
*shopping
*jewelry
*shoes
*singing
*spending time with friends
*her family!

Momma (a.k.a. "Mudge") has more qualities than I can possibly list on here but I did want to let anyone knows who reads this how incredibly lucky I am to have the mother that I do. I don't know what I did in Heaven for God to put me in such an amazing woman's womb but anything good that you think about me can be attributed to her. She was the definitely the "law" when we were growing up but she was also the "love." There is no way that I could have had a better mom!

Momma, I love you and I REALLY wish that I had been there this weekend! Thanks for everything you do and have done for me!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!