Totally a guy place

Yesterday afternoon, I went with JC (my husband) and his friend to a sporting goods store here in Birmingham. When we got there, I had to go to the bathroom, but when I got to the bathroom, I thought about just had bad I really had to go. Maybe I really didn't have to go that bad. Of course the seat was up and the decor was anything but nice. When I closed the door, there was a hole in the upper part of the door - so much for privacy. I could tell that they cleaned the place because all the cleaning supplies and things like that were up on open shelves on the wall inside the bathroom. Luckily they did have soap. I was really afraid to touch anything.

I thought about my cube neighbor Mary here at work and how she would have reacted to this bathroom. She is a total neat freak. I should have taken pictures but I am still trying to take the image of this place out of my mind. If I ever go to this store again, I will be sure to take measures to ensure that I do not have to use that restroom. The place was a totally a guy's bathroom because the two guys I was with didn't think a thing about it.

Prayer Request

JC's daddy made it through Christmas, but has taken a turn for the worse since Christmas Day. JC stayed over there last night and we haven't seen him all day. On top of everything that is going on, JC is fighting a cold/sinus infection. Please pray that his dad will go peacefully and will not suffer. And pray for JC and his family and the decisions that lay ahead of them in the next few weeks.
JC and his daddy are close and this is all real hard on him. I feel helpless right now because I feel like I need to do something but not really sure what to do. Sometimes the only thing that I can do is sit there beside him and say absolutely nothing. Guess really all I can do right now is pray.

Nice start but not so good ending

My nephews played in a basketball tourney yesterday. We got there about 20 minutes before game time. After the teams warmed up, we noticed that Cody was taking off his warm up top and sitting down with the starters. Yes he got to start his first game. We were all so excited - my sister (their mom) was sick at her stomach from nerves. I don't know who was more nervous Cody or my sister. The entire team played a flat and we lost the game, but both of my nephews got to play and one started. So all in all, not a bad game. I won't get to see them play their next two games since they will be played while I am work, but I can guarantee you that I will be checking in on the score.

Merry Christmas

Wow... what a busy day. We are finally home and didn't even leave town. We had Christmas at home and then headed to my sister's for breakfast. Then for lunch is was off to JC's parents and then supper at my parents. I can say that tomorrow we will be staying here and hanging out all day. I think it only took the kids a minute to go to sleep.
We all had a wonderful Christmas. I personally received too much - Maggie got me a train to go around the Christmas tree and Josh got me the Guitar Hero game. JC got me way too much - an iPhone, which I can't get until Dec 28th and a new video camera. He is a wonderful husband and not because he got me all those things. He thinks of others before himself.
I hope that the rain holds off some so that we can get the kids' new basketball goal up and have a little fun with that.
With everything going on, it is easy to forget the reason for the season. May we all during this busy time remember that Christmas is more that just giving and getting gifts - it is about the One that was born over 2000 years ago in a manger.

Prayer

Please keep JC and his family in your prayers. His daddy is growing weaker everyday - it is all that he can do to just stand up to change his clothes. He also seems to be in a lot more pain but won't ask to increase his pain medicine because he doesn't want to be out of it. It is heart breaking to see his daddy so sick because he was so active. Just this summer while taking chemo, his daddy built an extension to their deck and re-did the stairs. JC would call to help or go over and his daddy would already to work on it or done for the day. And now he sits in the recliner all the time and isn't eating anymore. He occasionally get something to drink but that is getting less and less each day.
Pray that God will give the family strength and peace. His mom especially - she is taking this really hard.

What a day

Let me say that is has been nice having the day off with my kids and my husband. JC spent part of the day over at his parents' house which the kids and I totally understand why. We (the kids and I) decorated the gingerbread house and got a last minute present.
Then about mid afternoon we headed to get Josh's best friend to come and spend the night. Let me say how much I love his best friend and his family. Once we got home, our best friends and their little boy came over to have Christmas together like we do every year. Nothing like good chili and fellowship with good friends.
After they left, the kids and I sat down for about 2 hours and played board games. It is times like this that I miss when they are gone to their dads and I know that I will miss it when they grow up. Tomorrow my two head to their dads for about a day and then come home late Christmas Eve. I really wish they didn't have to go but I know that they need to have Christmas with their dad.
I just miss them so bad when they leave. It just seems like I am missing out on so much of their lives. This is not how I intended to raise my kids when I had them but we don't always get to choose our path in life. But I am thankful that I have two beautiful children to miss and have been so blessed to have them in my life.

Basketball season

My nephews are playing basketball this year for the first time at the school for their senior year. They have both been working hard and Cody as of right now is the 7th person off the bench. The other night he had a great game, which unfortuately I was unable to make. But last night we all went and watched them. I was so excited. We all sat up in the upper section of the bleachers and I sit with everyone until one of the boys goes in. But when they go in, I grab my camera and stand to take pictures. Last night I kept moving around and ending up not even sitting with JC and my family while I was taking pictures.
They have a Christmas tourney coming up, so I know that I will be posting some updates. We won last night 58 - 50. Cody did good and had a lot playing time - Will made 1 of 2 free throws. Cody missed his free throws. He can hit them all day at practice and when we are all shooting around, but gets nervous in a game because everyone is looking at him.
I am sure going to miss all of this once the season is over. It's hard to believe that my little nephews (6-6 and 6-5 so they are not actually little) are seniors. I hope that Josh can grow up to be a good man like my nephews are.

New head coach

After days of wondering who would get the job, Auburn introduced the new head coach yesterday and I have to say that I have mixed feelings about it. He seems to be a nice guy and previous players seem to like him, but his two years as a head coach have me shaking my head in disbelief. I hope that we are all wrong and he is a very successful coach at Auburn, but will the Auburn nation give him time to build a program? Or will he be our "Mike Shula" and fail miserably?

But as long as we are making changes at Auburn, is there anyway that Jay Jacobs and Bobby Lowder can hit the road? I see Jay Jacobs as not being "the right fit for Auburn" and Lowder, well he is just a man with a big ego who thinks he can always buy and get what he wants when he wants it and in my opinion, that is what is hurting Auburn.

But nothing we can do about the hiring now - it's over and done with. All we can do as Auburn fans is suck it up and get behind our coach and try to ignore the loud roar of laughter from the Alabama fans. And trust me when I say that the laughter is loud, because I had to listen to my husband's laughter last night. WAR EAGLE!!!

Gymnastics State Meet

Yesterday Mag had a meet in Tuscaloosa. It was the 2008 Alabama State Compulsory Championships. In the meet they split the girls into their levels and then in groups based on their ages. There were 10 girls in her age group. She had a awesome meet. The first event was the vault and we did pretty good on it with a 8.650. We have done better but vault is definitely not our strong point.
Next we moved onto bars. She was so nervous - one of her coaches was getting her to take deep breaths and relax. On the bars she got a 8.9 and finished in 2nd place with a silver medal.
The next event was the beam. She has been working really hard on her beam routine lately and you could tell. She got up there and did the best routine I have ever seen her do. She got a 9.325 which gave her second place and I was so excited. I was really have to keep myself calm after that routine. The other two girls from our team that were competing at the same time Mags was got 9.3's too - they all did great. They finished 2nd and 3rd for the beam for their age group - the other two girls were in a different age group than Mags was.
The last even was the floor, which Mags loves. She was doing great during her routine and then mis-stepped on one of the moves and so she got a 9.025 which was still great. I was so proud of her.
While all of this was going on, we were keeping up with all the scores for the girls in Mag's age group - yes I was being one of those moms. We started adding up the scores and began to realize that she was leading the All-Around. I didn't want to get too excited because there were a couple of girls still left to compete. But once they finished and we added up their scores, we knew that she had won the All Around - State Champ! They started awards and she was excited about the 2 silver (beam, bars) and 1 bronze (floor) she had gotten, but she was grinning from ear to ear when she came out with the gold medal for the All Around. I will post pictures soon to my Flickr page, but the pictures at the awards were a little blurry. I was so excited that I could not quit shaking. JC was not there since he was at home with his daddy, but he was sending me text messages and telling me "Pull yourself together woman!! Composure!!"
I was so proud of her. I had prayed on the way to the meet and asked God to give her a good meet since she was starting to get a little discouraged. But like always, He gave me more than I could had ever asked for. I don't know why we tend to put God in a box and only expect a little bit when He has so much to give to us.

Things are changing

Today we have heard that Tubs is out at Auburn. Now I wonder who they will be getting as the next head coach now. He was a good coach but if a new offensive coordinator was coming in and possibly a new defensive coordinator, then why not start off with a clean slate. But Tommy Tuberville won't be hurting with the $5.1 million he will be getting.
So now who will they get - Will Muschamp, Mike Leach, Jimbo Fisher - guess will just have to wait and see. Let's just hope things this mess will not hurt recruiting and we will have a good recruiting class.

Thankgiving

What a strange Thanksgiving we had this year.  With everything going on, I didn't have my usual fill of turkey and all the trimmings, which in a way wasn't that bad.  The kids were gone all weekend and we spent most of the weekend at his parents' house helping out with his dad.  So not much to report from this year's Thanksgiving holiday other than a little shopping and watching the Iron Bowl.