"Daughter" Wendy

As Many of yo know I have a daughter Wendy that I placed for adoption at her birth. That was a very hard thing for me to do and I have NEVER forgotten her. She is now 26 years old and I have never had contact with her. I have had contact with her adoptive Mom over the last few years. I am sending Wendy a card today. Plain and simple just a thinking of you card. Please pray with me that she will accept this card and know that I am here for her. She got married last year. I just so want to know her and love her again!

A Summer Day With Zachary!

Zach is my "adopted" grandchild. Zach is an energetic little 3 1/2 year old. He is very lovable and a special guy in my life! We spend one or two days a week together. His parents are wonderful loving people also. Zach and I ussually go out to lunch and he loves pizza and Moe's! Here are some pictures of us enjoying the summer together! Enjoy!

Margie, Margie, Margie

It has been an eventful week for me! I started my new job on Monday and quit on Wednesday. I just could not do it. The hours were mights and weekends. I would never get to see Allan! I just was not taking that change at all. I did not want to have to miss church on Suinday's either. I would have only hald one weekend off a month. I just went into melt down mode on Wednesday and knew this was not the job for me. So no operator position for me. Then on Friday I got a call form the city library and have an interviw today at 4:00. I am so very excited. My very first job when I turned 16 was the public library. I also organized and set up a church library a few years ago. So I have some good experience with library work. I am really excited. It is for 30 hours a week every other Saturday and they are not open past 7:00pm during the week. I can handle two Saturdays a month. They are closed on Sundays and Mondays! Well I will let you know how it goes!! :-)

I have a new job!!!

I did it I got the operator job at the Jackson Clinic. I am so excited and so nervous all at the same time. I start on Monday May 19th. I am not sure what my hours will be each week I will have 30 hours a week! I have put a leave of absence in at Birth Chaoice for the time being. It has been a long time since I have worked a 30 an hour a week job. I feel I will need time to adjust to that before I continue counseling at Birth Choice. Anyway please keep me in your prayers on Monday as I begin my training! I will keep you posted on how it goes. My son also got a job at Old Navy and he too is thrilled! God is so good. We may think His timing is too slow sometimes but we also know His timing is operfect!

Just Venting to Myself!!

Today has been a day I just need to vent. I need to get this off my chest. I am so frustrated and so stressed out I a at my whits end. I don't know what to do. Ok, Andrew my 22 yer old son lost his job about 6-8 weeks ago and has not found a new job yet. I realize that is not that long to find a job however he does very little and I mean the bare minimum to find a job. He has no desire to find a job and we (my husband and I), can not seem to find a way to get him to have a desire to find a job. He went to Auto mechanic school for 13 months because he wanted to be a mechanic and got loans and the whole thing. Went through the entire 13 month program for nearly $30,000 in student loans that we nice parents co-signed for! Then he graduates and moves home and gets a mechanic job and he HATES it as well as his boss. Oh my what are we do do. We told Andrew while he was still working to look for another job so he could quit the mechanic job and go to the new job. Well does he do that. Oh no he is too tired to look for a job after work, or there is not enoght time to look for a job I work all day every day of the week, or a number of other excuses till he is one day fired! Well now he has no job!!! So here we go telling him well you really are going to have to find a job. you have a car payment to make of nearly $300 a month and a loan payment of nearly $400 a month and those are only the two bills that we your parents co-signed for you! Your other bills and or credit cards are yous not ours! WEll we do not have the money to make his car payment and his loan payment and all our own bills an payments every month on end for sure. So he has been told he has to apply for 4 jobs every day and he does that for a few days maybe 3 and then he starts doing 3 applications a day. Then the new thing is that on Friday's we don't do app;ications cause places don't want them on Fridays. So we hava a friend remodeling a home and he will pay him a good amount of many an hour to help him with it. We tell Andrew go out three days a week fill out 3 applications and then go work two full days with our friend and a couple of half days so you can help us get your bills paid till you find a job. That worked for one week!!! We are now at this point. Andrew sits on his butt in his bedroom playing some stupid X-BOX game for hours & Hours & hours all day all night! He is adicted!!!!!!! We have had yellomg fights, screaming fights, notes back and forth and it has got to stop. It is going to make me crazy. Right now I do not want to be in my own home. I want to run away and hide. I don't want to hear the game he plays killing and shooting and swearing at everything. It is horrible and I don't feel like I can even invite a friend over to visit. I had my 3 1/2 year old adopted grandson over yesterday for the day. He and I walked back to my bedroom to put him down for a nap and clear as a bell Andrew says "Oh SH__" I was so MAD I almost lost it and told him to turn that lousy game off or stop talkng like that right now. He got much quieter. Anyway I am just ready to fly away. It is getting so old. I do not know why my son at 22 years old does not wantt o go out and get a job. He has no money and we do not give him any money. The only money he gest is the bills we pay for him that we co-signed for. Any other bills he has the collection agencies are after him for. I am so sick of this...........tired...........drained...............and......frustrated. My husband is just as upset as me and we are at a total loss as what to do. We ae now praying MORE and trying to let go and let GOD!!!! I don't know if anyone can even understand this chicken scratch but if you do and have some helpful thoughts feel free to share!!!! I feel like we are being punished cause we co-signed on the car and school loans for him and becaseu he was such a good kid all through his growing up years even through the teen years!! OK sorry I will shut yp now. I pray that God will bring us through this soon. I love yuou Lord and I know you are here and you are in control!

Contemplating Mother's Day

WOW when I sit and think about Mother's Day what an ironic day for me. I have a Birth mother who wants nothing to do with me and has rejected me twice in my life now. Sad but I live with it and go on. Just the way it is. I have an adoptive Mom that loves me deeply and I would not trade for the world. She is the Mom that God gave me and blessed me with I am so thankful for her. She has always been there for me all my life! I have a step-son that is great! I love him as my own son. He has a wonderful wife that I love as my own daughter. They have our first Grandson and he is the BEST!!! So that makes me a grandmother too. I have a birthdaughter that I have not yet met. I hope one day to meet her and be a part of her life. I also have a daughter and a son that are still here at home with me. So Mother's Day is a very big day for me! Just some thoughts I have had today! I hope all of you Mother's have a great day!!!! :-)

A trip to Maui, Hawaii

I left with my daughter Jennifer (23) on Tuesday April 1st for Maui, Hawaii. We ldft from Nashville on Southwest Airlines and flew to Las Vegas, Nevada. Neither of us have ever been there before. We were surprised as we landed that the sript was right there next to the airport. We saw a pyramid hotel, the Stratosphere hotel and others. It was pretty neat to see. We had about a 2 hour lay over and had some pizza for dinner. We then boarded the ATA airline plane for our 6 1/2 hour flight over to Maui. It was a long flight and seemed never ending. It never got dark, as we flew into Maui we saw the sun begging to set and at that time it was midnight to us. I don't think many people can say they have seen a midnight sunset. hehehe We landed and went to the baggage claim to meet my Aunt Theresa and Uncle Richard. I saw them and they had a beautiful lie for both of us that they placed around out neck! They had purple and light green flowers. We then got out luggage and headed out to the car. It was getting dark so we could not see a lot at the time. Aunt Theresa and Uncle Richard took us to dinner at a nice little 50's diner called Rudy's. It was really nice and had model airplains all over the place. Jennifer and I shared a bacon cheeseburger meal that was very good. We then drove to there condo and it was on the North shore about an hour away. Jennifer and I to say the least were very tired form the trip. So we visitid for a bit and then went to sleep. The next morning when we awoke we could see out the window to the beautiful ocean view! The water was so blue and just gorgous. Here are a couple of pictues of our view from the condo.




On Wednesday Uncle Richard was off from work and we left to run some errands and just see the area around Maui. We stopped at an area to shop where there were many arts and craft type things. We then went to have lunch and the resturaunt was on the second floor we could not get the elevator to work, so Jennifer ran up the stairs to find out why. she came down and siad the electricity is out and they can not serve anyone. So we walked out and noticed the other businesses were out also. We got into the car to go to a different place. As we got going we heard on the radio that the most of the island was out of electricity. They said they did not know why but to just drive carefully and drive nicely and that it will be fixed eventually. After all this is Maui and it will be done on maui time! So we stopped at a little place and they said they have gas so we can come on in. We went in and the waitress/bar tender asked the cook to come out and tell us what he make for us on the menu. It was quite an experience! There were two couples there we met also that were from Canada and we visited with them some. When we were done eating Uncle Richard as a joke said "You would not have any ice cream back there that is melting that you have to use up would you?" Well the waitress soon came out with 4 dishes of ice cream with chocolate sauce and a cherry! It was a fun time! Part of the trip that will be a fun memory! After lunch we headed back to the condo. It was a beautifu drive along the ocean. We saw many surfers and lots of beautiful landscape. We had dinner at the condo that night and just visited.

On Thursdaywe got up at 2:30 am to head up the mountai to see the sun rise. Jennifer and I slept most of the way up the mountain. We dressed warm as it was quite cold up at the top of the mountain. You can see us bundled up!





The sunrise was beautiful! What a wonderul experience. I do not know how people do not think there is a God! This was the highlight of the trip for me! Here are a few pics of the beautiful sunrise!






After the sunset we stopped for breakfast a a very nice place on the ocean. It was a beautiful place with lots of flowers growing outside. We had a very nice breakfast and visited. We then went back to the condo for the afternoon. Aunt Theresa, Jennifer and I all took a long nap. Uncle Richard did some reading and went to the pool. That night we went to a Luau and really enjoyed that also. The meal was a buffett and it was wonderful with lots fo things to choose from. The pineapple there is GREAT! I tried the poy and that was utterlay yuck! LOL my Aunt loves it, I think it is an aquired taste, but I can at least say I tried it. Here are some Luau pics for you to enjoy!






On Friday my Uncle, a pharmacist, went back to work. He and my Aunt have gone to Hawaii for the past few years for the winter and he works for 4-6 months. They live in Michigan the rest of the year. We were so glad that we were able to visit them and have a good time there in Maui. So anyway on Friday morning Aunt Theresa said that I needed to call ATA and I asked why. She siad well she heard something on the news last night about them going bankrupt and closing. I was like "what"! So I called and got a recording saying something like...."This is ATA we are sorry to any inconvenince this may cause but we are no longer in business and we will not be offering any refunds, please contact another airline for your further airline needs." I was like oh no what are we going to do to get home! Aunt Theresa has a lap top but had been unable to get online all week so I called Al and told him what was going on. He looked online a bit while we were talking and then said let me let the secretary here at work figure this out and I will call you back. I said that was fine. He called me back a bit later with airline reservations for us to come home on American Airlines for $1.250 each. I said oh my gosh. I guess I will be looking for a part time job when I get home! Which by the way I am now doing!! So the rest of the day was a rather down day. We did not do much. We went to the pool and enjoyed that. That night we went to Lahaina to eat dinner at a great seafood place called Bubba Gumps. We also went to a fun souvenier shop and got some things for us and others back at home!

On Saturday Aunt Theresa, Jennifer and myself went to the Maui Oceanic Center in Lahaina. It was a fun time. It was neat to see all the marine life native to Hawaii. We also ate lunch there at the cafe and it was beautiful. Here are some pics from there.








We spent the afternoon back at the pool at the condo. When Uncle Richard got home Jennifer and I walked down to the beach with him for a little bit. It was beautiful and here are pics for you to see!








On Sunday we went to church with Aunt Theresa at St. Theresa's. After church we went to the Maui Arts and Cultural Center Castle Theater for a concert called Opera Rocks II. There was a lunch before the concert that we had and enjoyed outside. The concert was done by the Community Choral arts and 30 of the Honolulu Symphony musicians and 2 opers singers. It was wonderful concert and we all enjoyed it very much. Some good culture for the trip. The Symphony conductor was Stuart Chafetz and was very good. That night we ate at the condo and Jennifer and Uncle Richard got subway sandwiches and brought them back.

On Monday we did some shopping at a store called Hilo Hattie what a neat store with lots of things from Hawaii. Jennifer and I each got a pretty new dress. We also got other items and the rest of the gifts we wanted to bring back to friends and family. We spent the afternoon back at the pool. That night we got most of our packing done to head home on Tuesday afternoon.

On Tuesday we finished packing and visited with Aunt Theresa and headed to the airport. Oh boy were we in for a surprise for the trip home on American Airlines! Aunt Theresa dropped us off and asked if we wanted to her to come in with us and we said no we would be fine. So off she went and on in we went after we said our good byes. We went to the ticket counter to check in and the lady said that our flight the next morning in Dallas was cancelled and did we want the 7:30 pm or the 9:30 pm flight instead. We were landing in Dallas at 5 am. I said the 7:30 pm flight and she put us on that flight and we were off to the gate to head to Dallas! While sitting at the gate and talking to aother passengers we heard many stories for them and there travels on ATA also. Aloha Airlines also shut down and there were passengers that had been stranded from that airline also. We found out that our flight in Dallas had been cancelled due to the MD-80's being grounded. Anyway we got on the plane and headed to Dallas. We got into Dallas as expected at 5 am. By 7:30 am I said to Jennifer I am not staying here for the next 12 hours this is crazy we need to go out to the ticketing counter to see if we can get an earlier flight or something. So we did that. We got in line and got to the counter and were told that Nasheville was the hardest place to get to that day. I said well how about Memphis, we just wanted to get home we were so tired. She said well there is one at 5:15 and I said well I guess that is better than 7:30 tonight by a couple of hours. Then she said let me look and see if there is anything else. Oh here we are....I have one that leaves here for LaGuardia at 10:00 am and arriving in Nashville at 5:30 pm. I thought oh wow. Jennifer did not know where LaGuardia was and was not to sure about doing that. I said are you sure that when we get to LaGuardia that the flight from there will not be cancelled and she said I can not promise that but you just need to get out of here and the planes are a different kind. So I said ok. I would rather fly all day than sit in that airport all day. So that is what we did. When we got ready to land a flight attendant announced that we would would be landing at Gate D10 and then annonced some of the other gates for the connecting flights when she said Nashville she said gate D10 and I thought that is strange are we going to get back on the same plane naw that can't be. So we got off and sure enough we were getting back on the same plane with in an hour. We were so glad to know that we were going to at last get home.

A couple of days ago we were give by American Airlins two $500 vouchers to use with in the next year. That is a nice compensation for all we went through. Al and I will probably use them to go and see our Granson and family in Virgina this summer. We have not decided yet as we just got them!

Hope you enjoyed my story even though it was so long!!!


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