Oh Summer, Please Don't Go

Is August already over? Really!? It hasn't even felt like August. The weather this month has had mild temperatures and sunny days.
We spent all day last Saturday with our friends in Murfreesboro. We spent a few hours at Ansley's bowling party, we went by a few stores, visited Erin and Brandon at their house and went to dinner with them at Demos. We made it home just in time for bed Saturday night.

Sunday, I helped in the sound booth at church. The only thing that I don't like about it is that I can't pay as close attention to the message.
Devin, Brooke and I went to moms on Sunday and we took a picnic to Rose Cemetery and had lunch with my mom and grandparents.
I finally got the front door painted and placed our new Hayes Family art on it.

Stroker got tickets for him and Devin to go to the Titan's pre-season game on Thursday to check out all the new stuff at LP Field. Devin decided that he didn't want to go since TTU got a new player from UT on their team.
Stroker got rid of the Titans tickets and got us 4 Tech tickets so we could all go to the game, but he got shot down again by Devin again.
Ended up that Devin wanted to stay home and track all the games on TV. Stroker, Brookelynn and I went to the Tech game ourselves. I don't know if it is teenage melancholy or if we just aren't as cool as we used to be (LOL), but Devin doesn't go much of anywhere with us these days.

It's Went Down

As sad as it is for me to watch, Henry's house no longer stands. Henry and his wife lived in the house across the street when we moved into ours. It wasn't long after we moved into our home that Henry's wife was admitted to the nursing home. She has spent the last decade there while Henry took care of the house and the lawn at their place. The house belonged to Henry's wife when they married and it was his wife's decision to leave the house to her own daughter in the event of her death. I guess to make it simpler, Henry's wife decided to go ahead and place the home in her daughters name sooner rather than later.
Last fall, Henry had to spend a few weeks in the nursing home for rehabilitation after a surgery. While recovering, his step daughter-in-law deemed the home uninhabitable and had Henry evicted. Thank goodness Henry had a good friend that found him an apartment and moved his belongings so that he would have a place to live once he was released from the nursing home.
Henry's daughter in law immediately began the negotiations to sell the property. She warned the church that she had a buyer that wanted to place apartments on the property. This was in an effort to convince the church that the opportunity was "now or never" to purchase the property for themselves. Being as Henry's house adjoined the church parking lot, they went through with the purchase to ensure piece of mind.
What I would have liked to seen happen, was for the church to approach Henry and offer to let him move back in. Henry's life expectancy is minimal, as he is in his elder years and has health problems. Henry would have much rather spent his last years "at home" rather than in some dreary apartment.
Anyway, what I had hoped for, was not the reality. Instead, the church made the purchase, gave permission for the SWAT team to practice emergency drills with it for about a month. Once that subsided, the church gave a couple of men permission to strip the house of any metal, copper etc. After the two men ripped off the gutters, tore down the carport support beams, knocked holes in the foundation to pull out the water pipes etc., the house looked like this.

It sat there for about six weeks until the church decided to let the youth group have a demolition party. They knocked down anything they could, busted out windows and then spray painted bulls eyes to throw tomato's at the house. We have looked at that ugly mess for about  a month, all the while I thought "Henry would be heartbroken if he seen this".

On Tuesday this week, they dropped off the bulldozer.
Wednesday, the house came down.

Thursday, they loaded up the mess.

And today they finished the job.

I am glad to see everything cleaned up, but it still bothers me that Henry's home is gone and Henry is stuck in an apartment somewhere here in town. I wonder if Henry's stepdaughter ever thinks about Henry or if she is just glad to have the cash in hand?

Rollercoaster of Life

This blog has definitely taken the back seat to life here lately. Sometimes there is so many things in full swing that journaling the events is just too time consuming to undertake.

Last week started off on a good note. We came to an agreement Sunday night that we would try to make a conscious effort to recognize and understand each other’s feelings and emotions here in the Hayes House. As we all know, personalities don’t always mesh and make perfect harmony, but God knew exactly what he was doing when he handpicked our family. From the hard headed teenager, the know-it-all tween, the no-nonsense father and the “just let it go” mother that I am, life at the Hayes House can get a bit sticky.
Although we end up frustrated and upset sometimes and can’t figure out why things are going the way they are, He knows what He is doing and sometimes we just have to trust in Him. It can be very hard to "let go and let God" sometimes. I admit, I want to fix things myself but my efforts show no progress. What I do know, is that there is a divine plan for us and He needs the four of us together to accomplish His plan.
I do thank God for those that he chose to be part of my life. They are perfect for me.

I received a call from Erin on Tuesday that broke my heart. We, as humans, will never comprehend why infants are called home so early in life. We question and ponder and ask ourselves “why?”
God has a plan for each and every one of us. Most of us spend a large portion of our lives trying to understand the plan. Things that go unobserved by our own eyes can sometimes make an impact on others because it is part of His divine plan. Somehow, in some way, baby Oliver had already fulfilled his part in God’s plan  in just four short months here on Earth.
Of course I thought of the Tylka's a lot on Wednesday (and throughout the rest of the week). I prayed for comfort for their family and I thanked God for my own.

We also attended church Wednesday night. We had prayer for all the school age children at church and discussed plans for the women's group.

The week progressed on and eventually the weekend arrived. Ansley came home with me Friday evening after the funeral. She and Brooke planned to have a sleepover. We went to dinner at O'Charley's and then hurried back home so Brooke and Ansley could enjoy their time together. They get along so well when they are with each other. They played with Ansley's iPod Touch till after 9:00. They were up by 7:00 Saturday morning giggling and playing again. It didn't seem like long before the play date was ending.

Saturday afternoon, Brookelynn had a birthday party to attend. Camari had a "Shake It Up" party at Cream City.  Brookelynn said that she needed to wear clothes like CeCe and Rockie would wear on the show; however, she was not up for this photo oppertunity.

As I lay in the bed Saturday night sorting through all of the thoughts entertwined in my brain, it hit me..."I am supposed to take breakfast items to church tomorrow morning." 

So much for a good nights sleep. I was up all night (in my dreams) getting food ready for church. When I woke up Sunday morning, I was already worn out. Never-the-less, I jumped out of bed, got ready, and headed out to buy groceries.

We made it to church on time, served breakfast, and had a great Sunday sermon about "counting".

I left the church and remembered that I had forgotten my serving dish at the church. U-turn. As I went back in, Debi asked about our lunch plans. A half hour later, we were at Cheddar's with Sterl, Debi and Angie. As the day progressed, we loaded up and drove a dressor to my moms house. I got a few things rearranged at home too. It was a great day.

Life is full of ups and downs. Somethimes when the day is over and I lay in the bed collecting my thoughts, I thank God for the experiance.

Grateful

Cool Down and Sunshine

The weather this past week was rainy and dreary;

However, the rain cleared out just in time for a beautiful weekend.

Today was awesome. The sun shone and the temperature was 84 degrees.

Bob Ross himself couldn't have painted a more beautiful day.

We got sooo much stuff accomplished today.

• Stroker got up early to wash and wax my car.
• Brookelynn and I went to tractor supply to get a couple of new tires for the dolly.
• Stroker put the new tires on the dolly.
• I bought a new swiffer and put it to work.
• I vacummed the couch and some other stuff.
• Finally hung the last shelf in our closet.
• A couple of more picture frames made it back on the wall.
• I touched up paint on a few scuffed walls here and there.
• We went to dinner at El Tapatio.
• Laundry
• Wrestled Cletus to give him his monthly dose of dewormer.
• Enjoyed the sunshine as I ran in and out of the house completing errands.

Hopefully tomorrow I will be just as productive.

Our Next Olympian

Brookelynn has had nothing but gymnastics on her mind for the last two weeks. She even checked out a library book this week about gymnastics. She propped the book in the legs of my bedside table and practiced all of the illustrations in the book.

I been working on a yellow, white and silver theme in the laundry room. I want the room to feel bright and comfortable since it seems that we spend a lot of time in front of the washer and dryer.

I'm kind of debating on a new sofa. I like the one that we have, but it just doesn't contrast well with the "polished silver" color on the walls.

Welcome August 2012

The first few days of August have felt productive.

• Wednesday 8-1-12: Chic-fil-a Day! Dinner at Church

• Thursday 8-2-12: No School!  Stroker and I voted.
• Friday 8-3-12: Stroker and I had a quiet dinner for two at Logans.  Brookelynn got in a fun trip to the fair.
• Saturday 8-4-12: Had our anual "Birthday" dinner at Golden Coral. Twenty-four of us attended this year. Thank you Daddy.
• Sunday: A rainy, stormy day. Church, visited mom, organized the desk and hung a few photos. Stocked back up on snacks for school. These should be gone by Wednesday.

I also hung the last couple of shoe shelves in the new walk-in closet. Almost all of my shoes are off the floor now. I don't know what makes me so OCD about things not touching the floor.