Author Archive

Teacher Work Day

Tuesday, January 5th, 2010


You gotta love teacher work days. We get very few of them. I spent the day at the copy machine making copies for all of my students for the entire semester. I did go out to lunch with Shelley and Sara, but spent most of the day getting ready for tomorrow.

It was not as hard as I thought it would be getting back into routine. I also made it to the GYM for the first time since before Thanksgiving. It felt good to work out. I just gotta keep it up and make going a priority in my life.

Welcome 2010- Hope it is better than 2009

Saturday, January 2nd, 2010


It is only day 2 of 2010 and I am not holding out much hope that it will be better than 2009. The day started with my backing my van into a basketball post and damaging my tail light and rear panel. Then I knocked a computer monitor over and onto the floor. If today is any indication of how the year will go I just want it to go by quickly.

Today we went to IKEA and purchased furniture for the recreation room that we are creating. We purchased an additional book shelf and a table and 4 chairs so that we can play board games. For the time being David is using the table area of the recreation room as a temporary office space. The recreation room is almost complete, we are still wanting to purchase bean bags and some art work for the walls. It feels good to be making progress on finishing up the room.

Jacob Arron Nunn arrived this morning. He is 6 pounds, 12 oz and 19 inches long. I kind of wish I could be there to help Kim since Daniel is deployed but it is probably better that I can not be there right now.

Also– from the ruins of the fire, smoke and water damage THE APPLE LIVES. David had pulled a few machines out of his office hoping to be able to salvage parts from them. To our surprise when he turned on his Apple a log in screen appeared. He was able to log in and it appears that no data is lost and the machine is working properly. WOW. We never thought it would work.

Happy New Year (I hope)

Friday, January 1st, 2010


So today is the first day of 2010. I really hope that this year will be better than the last. We spent the day traveling home from Gatlinburg. Traffic was not too bad and we were home early in the afternoon.

We decided to go to the Cheesecake Factory for dinner. It really scares me about how upset I can get over simple comments people make. One of the servers said, “you make such beautiful babies.” I know innocent comments like that should not get to me but they do. I love Madilyn and I am so blessed to have her as my daughter. Yes, she is beautiful on the outside, and with David and I as her parents she will grow up to be beautiful on the inside also. The comment the server made just hurt because I would really love to know what a baby girl “made” by David and I would look like. I will never find out and that hurts. You would think that I would be doing better by now emotionally but I am not. If I am not busy I am over whelmed with grief and sorrow. I really feel like I have to keep busy or I will go nuts.

People keep saying it takes time– how much time does it take? People keep saying God has a plan– When will we realize the plan?

Wilderness at the Smokies- Day 3

Thursday, December 31st, 2009


We decided to do breakfast again at the Thirsty Miner since it was pretty decent. After breakfast we headed to the water park. I had thought that Caleb may be done with the water but he and Madilyn both were ready for more fun in the water. We had thought about going to Gatlinburg for the day but it was sleeting and cold so we just stayed at the resort, which seemed to be fine with everyone.

We did venture of for dinner at a local Mexican Restaurant. The food was pretty good, but the service was a little slow. Guess everyone was busy because of the holiday.

Caleb was going to attend the New Year Eve Water Park Party but after being there for about 30 minutes he came back to the room. He said, “Someone is going to die in there.” Apparently the party was a big success and everyone at the resort decided to attend. At least he had sense enough to come back to the room. So he rang in the New Year by watching “Band of Brothers.” David and I showed our age by being in bed by 10:30. Of course sleep did not come easily because the resort passed out noise makers earlier in the day and people kept walking up and down the halls making noise with the darn things.

At mid-night Madilyn woke up screaming because she had been awaken by all of the yelling and people in the halls with noise makers yelling “Happy New Year.” It took about 30 minutes to get her back to sleep. Thankfully the noise in the halls died down by about 12:30 and we were all able to get back to sleep.

Day 2 at “Wilderness at the Smokies”

Wednesday, December 30th, 2009


We had a great day today. Because we were all too lazy to get cleaned up and ready to leave the lodge we decided we would just have breakfast at the “Thirsty Miner.” After the dinner we had there last night we were not expecting the breakfast to be very good. We were very surprised that the breakfast was good.

After breakfast we went to the water park and enjoyed the morning. Madilyn and Caleb both enjoyed our time spent at the water park. Of course, Madilyn had to take time out for a nap so that she could be pleasant this evening.
This afternoon we went to the outlet mall. We mostly went to the baby outlets to buy Madilyn a few new outfits, but we did make it into Lids and a few other stores.
Our highlight of the day was having dinner with our very dear friends Cheryl and Joe Manis. We have known them for about 18 years and have so much in common. We had dinner at the “Applewood Farmhouse Grill.” The food was wonderful, but the company was even better. We enjoyed spending time with Joe and Cheryl and their wonderful children. After dinner we all came back to the lodge to just hang out and spend time together. I really wish we could see them more often.

Got out of dodge

Tuesday, December 29th, 2009


We have had a rough November and December so we decided to get out of dodge and take a spontaneous vacation. We ended up at “Wilderness of the Smokies Lodge” in the Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg area of Tennessee. A friend told us about the lodge and the 60,000 square foot indoor water park that sports a year round temperature of 84 degrees. We thought that it would be a blast for Caleb and a way for David and I to relax some. We were able to book a suite with a living area, kitchen and a very large bedroom. The bedroom itself sleeps 6 and the living area sleeps 4 so there is plenty of space for a large family here.

We checked in around 4 and were at the water park by 4:30. Both Madilyn and Caleb had a blast. The toddler area features a large wading pool, swings, and a small 2 lane slide. Madilyn loved going down the slide and landing in the water. She also enjoyed being in the large wave pool with mommy and daddy- however the waves were a little on the rough side.
Caleb had a blast on the 4 big kid water slides. David and I even took a couple of turns going down the slides. I am sure that Caleb will want to spend all day tomorrow here at the water park and I am good with that.
We had dinner at one of the resort restaurants “The Thirsty Miner.” We were not impressed with the food, so we will probably plan on having most of our meals in town.
Today was a great day with the family, hopefully the next couple of days will be just as good.

WHAT NEXT!!!

Saturday, December 26th, 2009


I am starting to feel like Job. I don’t know how much more that I can take. So we lost a baby, then the roof has a leak, a storm took out the gazebo and now…… David’s new office space was part of the Great Downtown Canton Fire of 2009. Most of his damage is due to water, but water and electronics are not a good mix. Everything in the building is lost.

Every window in the place is gone, the back wall of the bathroom was torn out so the fire fighters could get to the building next door. We have been working so hard on getting the place ready for a new business launch in a few months. The work at the office space had helped to take my mind off of loosing the baby. The owner is 91, we don’t know if he will want to do the necessary repairs or if he will just let it go. Repairs will take months. So now we just have to wait and see what will happen.
Everyone keeps saying “God has a plan.” Well I wish God would let me in on the plan.

Christmas Day

Friday, December 25th, 2009


Back in September when David and I planned to stay home for the holidays we had no idea we were expecting. When we found out we were going to be having a baby, we thought it’s good we planned on staying home for the holidays. With our loss I am so thankful that the plans to stay home were already in place. I don’t think I could have done Christmas with extended family this year, especially since several family members are expecting and our loss is so recent.

David, Caleb, Madilyn and I had a great Christmas with just the four of us. It was just a day of peace, quiet and relaxing. The kids enjoyed their gifts and we had a nice Christmas dinner. It was nice to be able to be in our own home for the holiday. While David and I love our extended families sometimes we just need to take a break and focus on just us with no other distractions.
David and I are both sick, but we are making the most out of spending time with the kids.

Christmas Eve.

Thursday, December 24th, 2009


Overall today was pretty good. I hate that my day can be trucking along and something simple can make me loose it. This afternoon as we left for the Christmas Eve service we checked the mail. There was a card in the mail that was meant to be encouraging and uplifting, but it just hit me the wrong way. All I wanted to do was crawl in bed and cry– not go to church.

The service was alright. I could not concentrate because I was overcome with grief. It’s been a month. When will it get easier? I just hate that I am so weak. People keep telling me how strong I am if they only knew how weak I really am they would be surprised. But as they say “Life must go on.”
We let Caleb and Madilyn open 1 gift each tonight. Caleb opened an I-Tunes card, so he and David spent the evening shopping on I-tunes. Madilyn opened up an ABC Caterpillar. She loved it.
If I don’t cough a lung out tonight things might be alright. I can not stand being sick, especially during the holidays.

Kids Rooms Painted

Tuesday, December 22nd, 2009


Well we were able to get both Caleb’s and Madilyn’s room painted in 2 days. Now we just need to find time to do the rec room. Maybe shortly after Christmas. I really would like my garage back.