Where have the last 2 weeks gone? Lets see, school has been out for Patrick since the 14th. We attended WHS's graduation on the 21st to see our "honorary son" Jeremiah Burns graduate. Patrick has been working out in the weight room since school has been out. Jon graduated with honors from EMCC. Jon started to work at Anel on the 17th as the welding instructor. He loves his job, but has been a little hard on him since he has been used to staying up really late and sleeping late most mornings. I think that he only had one 8:00 class this semester. Of course stupidity has made it a little hard on him as well. He had an injured butt and foot the first week. This week he has an injured knee that looks horrible and has fever.

Elizabeth came home today and we went water skiing this afternoon after church. Jon and CJ came out with the jet ski, but it quit in the middle of the lake. We did a little taxi service and got him in to the dock. they both did a little skiing with us. I skied for the first time in years-got up the first time. sure glad that I have dropped a load of weight since last summer. Patrick has helped me by making me lift weights, too. We all skied and had a great time. Jon left after we got home to visit with friends and Sidney cooked hamburgers for us for supper. Really good.

I am so glad that I am off work tomorrow. Sid is off, too, so we can just be lazy and think about our veterans. I am missing one very special veteran myself. Daddy has been gone almost 13 years now. Sid's dad has been gone 6 years. Thanks guys for your service and sacrifice. Love you very very much. Miss you bunches. I will cook some ribs in your honor...

What a week. I have put in a record 40 hours at Miss Sippy's this week. We have been so busy, and also shorthanded. I am more than ready for the weekend. Gator baseball tomorrow at noon. Hopefully we can play this tournament without any problems.

Picked up my baby after school today for the last time as a junior high student. He doesn't have to go next week because he is exempt from all his final exams. Time has really flown since he got started in school. We debated sending him to preschool because I was at home and didn't know just how much he'd learn anyway at K4. He told us that he had to go to school because he had to learn. WE both looked kinda dumbfounded and said, well alright then! We sent him to the Presbyterian kindergarten here in Carrollton because Elizabeth and Jonathan both went there. It was a good little kindergarten. It is closed now. He loved kindergarten and loved going most days. It was funny, though, one night he told us that he wasn't going to school tomorrow. I just kinda brushed him off. The next morning I got everyone up and dressed. Took the big ones to Winona, came back to Carrollton to drop off Patrick and walked him to the door as always. Well, he said, remember, I told you I wasn't going to school today. I tried to leave him and he pitched a snotslinger of a fit! Miss Judy (Bankston), the director told me later that he stayed mad for a while and she'd never seen that side of Patrick! Still to this day don't know his reasoning behind that little episode. the next year was K5 and we switched him to Winona Elementary. He had the teacher that to this day is his favorite teacher of all time. Mrs. Susie Austin. Susie was fun! She had a playhouse in her classroom built like a little loft with a slide. The kids loved to play in it on rainy days. Patrick has always loved animals and Mrs. Austin had 2 parrots, Taco and Buddy. They also had bunnies and turtles and other animals in the classroom. First grade was Mrs. Lester, second, Mrs. Bourne, third, Mrs. Forsythe. The end of year awards programs for the little elementary students were always held in the pod. Each teacher gave her own awards for her classroom. Patrick usually brought most of them home. Fourth, fifth and sixth grades were a little different. They started switching classes and this changed things up a bit. There was a little competition for those end of the year awards. Each teacher only gave 1! He still brought some home! One year he got the award for the second highest average in the whole grade! He still is in the top 4! He could be number one, but doesn't want to put out that much effort. He started band in the sixth grade. Loved his band director, Miss Dee Dee Pitts. Miss Pitts was a big kid herself! She had pet names for many of her students and really made band fun. Patrick was "Mater"! Patrick started playing the trumpet. He loved it while Miss Pitts was there. He even moved up to a "silver trumpet"! Seventh grade moves him to the secondary school, which houses grades 7 through 12. He liked being at the big school, says he has a little more freedom. Wow, no more reprimands for "reckless swinging", leaning up against the building during recess, or coming in from recess with his shirt half out! No more recess. :(! Eight grade was good, except for the band thing. Miss Pitts got a better job at a school on the coast and in comes Miss Tullos. Not good. Nuff said. While in 8th grade, he played jr. high football, which he wasn't really interested in, but it got him into a weightlifting class instead of accelerated reading. The weights really helped him this year for baseball and he was able to make the jr high team this year. He didn't make it in 7th grade and was really upset about it. He still plays tournament ball on the weekends, their team is planning on going to Arkansas in July to play in the USSSA world series. This year he got the American legion award which really made me proud. It is a citizenship award, the criteria being: Courage, Honor, Leadership, Patriotism, Scholarship, and Service. It is given by the local American Legion Post.
Right now he is passed out on the couch-resting up after a big week. They finished state testing yesterday and today was exam review day. I don't know if I can get him up to go walking or not!

I had a really nice Mother's day weekend. Between ballgames on Saturday I transplanted oleander and my flowering pomegranate bush that had been rooting in the keg for 2 years. When I pulled it up, half the dirt in the keg came with it! I tried to cut grass, but of course we can't have anything that actually works when you turn the key. Somebody left the gas on and flooded it, so we had to take out the spark plug and change the oil because it was full of gas, then we had to charge the battery before it would even crank. Sid did cut it after he got back from Starkville with Jon's camper. It was time to move it home, since he is out of school now. Anyway sprayed a little round up around the fences and flower beds and the electric fence around the garden. I sure hope that the electric fence works this year. I did it just like the man at High Grade told me. Knee level. Our ball game that evening was delayed until almost 10:00 and we didn't get home until very late. I, for once, did not set my Sunday alarm and as a result overslept and missed Sunday school. Once a year ought to be alright. WE took our time getting moving Sunday morning as we had a ball game at 12:30. won that game, but were disqualified for letting Jake pitch 1/3 of an inning too much. So sad. So, we went to El Cabrito for supper, all 5 of us! Liz even spent the night and stayed all day monday. She and Jon came by Miss Sippy's for lunch and then sent Jon off to Margaret's house! He made it, even though he just knew that he would get lost. Margaret called me tonight to tell me how much they enjoyed visiting with Jon. I know that he is enjoying them too. She told me that Jon is going to Knox's scrimmage game in Gulf Shores Thursday night. That is good, because he is going to Gulf Shores Thursday anyway! This time to start his vacation with his friends. I pray they will have nice weather and great attitudes!
I got my mother's day present in by UPS today! The kids got me some reebok runtones, in guess what color????? YES, PURPLE! and black! Love them. They feel so good.
Tomorrow night is GA recognition night at church. The little darlings will get their badges and show their parents what they have learned this year in GA. YES! School's out for the summer!!!! ha ha ha
Patrick is exempt, so he will get out this coming Friday. I think that this is the earliest that he has ever gotten out of school. They are graduating a week earlier than usual, too. They usually don't graduate until the Friday before Memorial day, but this year it is on the 21st.

My mama will have been gone 13 years on May 22 and Daddy on July 23. Almost 2 months to the day apart. I do miss them..... :( Sigh.......

I found out today that an old friend has breast cancer. I hate cancer. later.....

I can't stop tonight without bragging on the other son. Patrick has always done well in school, always won many awards, gifted classes, Beta Club, you name it. He learns extremely fast and forgets nothing. He is very quiet to those who don't know him. Sometimes he is quiet to those of us who know him extremely well! A deep thinker. I got a call tonight (recorded message) from the principal of his school inviting me to awards day this Friday at 9:00 am. I then text messaged my boss and told her that I would be attending. She replied, "k". I told her from the start that my family is first and this job would not stop me from attending any important function that happened to occur during my regular work hours. She understands. I am glad,because I like what I do, but I can be happy at home, too! I was very happy at home for 17 years! anyway, I am proud of the P-man tonight!

I wish Liz would tell me something, but I never hear from her unless she wants for me to help her with something. I'd brag on her, too! I know that she has worked extremely hard this year and has slept little, fighting deadlines and trying to schedule working, observing the classroom and attending classes. she has done it on her own, with no financial help from us, so there I am very proud of the independent young lady she is becoming. I am very proud of her, too.

I love my kids!

My oldest son finished another semester of college this week. He didn't want to go. He didn't want to go to kindergarten, He didn't want to go to first grade, nor fifth grade. He just plain didn't want to go to school. I wonder sometimes if we had just left him alone, would he still be under the sycamore tree in the back yard pushing the big yellow tonka dump truck through the sand? It's funny how things work out. Coincidences? I think not. One thing we have stressed throughout his young life is to trust God with everything. He always works things out for the best even though we might not see it for a while, or maybe never in this lifetime. I know he has prayed for direction in his life and God has pushed in this direction. How do I know it's God? Well, I didn't think that he'd be able to pass the state tests required for high school graduation, particularly algebra. He has always hated math and always has done poorly. God put in his path a wonderful dedicated teacher, Pam Burns. Pam kept Jonathan after school every day of his junior year to help him. She tutored on Tuesdays and Thursdays for anyone, (and gave extra points on those days!) but she worked strictly with Jonathan on the other 3 days. I know some days he hated her and hated math and hated not being able to come home at 3:00. Well that April came and with it the state algebra test. I had been praying for him all year, and so had Pam. the time had come. I begged God to help him and just really didn't think he'd be able to do it. Well, I was driving on 82 towards Winona one afternoon worrying and fretting over that boy and a voice spoke to me, not audibly, but very real just the same. It said, "You are assuming he will fail." I got chills, because I knew at that moment God was chiding my unbelief. I told him that I was so sorry, that I knew that he was bigger than I was giving him credit for, and from that moment on, I didn't worry about that test. Fast forward to August, just before his senior year. Pam called me from the school. The teachers had already gone back and the students would be returning in a few days. She said, "I'm not supposed to tell you, but...not only did he pass the state algebra test, he scored proficient." Is God not awesome, or what????? proficient is just under advanced! This child showed a remarkable talent for welding as a young teenager. When he was able to take vocational classes at school in the tenth grade, he signed up for metal trades. He excelled in it! They asked him to represent the school at the skills USA competition that spring. He did not do very well. He didn't pack the right stuff and left some stuff out of his tool box and when they got to the competition, the welders were not at all what he was used to. they were ancient crackerboxes. He didn't give up, but took the second year class as a junior. Again he was asked to go to the skills USA competition and took first place in the district. The competition was held this time at Mississippi Delta Community College instead of Greenwood high school and the equipment was much more advanced, like what he was used to at Winona High. Of course, he was more mature and prepared better and knew what to expect. As a result of his first place finish, he was awarded a medal and a scholarship to study at MDCC. His metal trades teacher wanted him to train for the state competition with the welding instructor at Anel Engineering there in Winona. He worked with Ben Lewis for several weeks preparing for state. Ben recognized his talent and asked him if he wanted a job. Of course he jumped on it! He started off making twice what his buddies at the grocery store were making and doing something he loved. He worked after school from 3:30 to about 7:30 and they were very understanding concerning his school work. If for some reason he needed to miss, there was no problem. No one checked on this, but they think that he might have been the youngest welder in the state at 17! He continued to work through the summer and after school his senior year when Maury Hull approached him with a proposition. He wanted Jon to further his education. Jon just figured he would go to work after graduation so he was not too sure about this. He had the scholarship to MDCC, But Maury wanted him to go to East Mississippi Community college. East apparently was recognized as one of the top welding schools in the southeast, maybe they whole United states. They were the only community college who offered an associates degree in Welding and fabrication technology. MDCC only offered a certificate. Maury told Jon that MDCC couldn't teach him anything, he was more advanced than that. Maury told Jon that Anel wanted to help him with his education and pay for it. Jon and I went to see the school and talk to Mr. Gary Gammill, the instructor and his advisor. Jon immediately liked Mr. Gammill. Mr. Gammill pushed Jon to do things he didn't really want to do, like finish related studies and take the tests so he could get a diploma. He let Jon work for him after school building trailers to make extra money. Jon still worked some at Anel on Fridays before they cut production. After a while, he wasn't able to get many hours in at Anel, but Maury kept in touch to let him know that they were still there. All this time, Jon was praying for direction and he told me one day that I guess I'm supposed to be a welder, cause too many doors are opening up. I told him maybe for now, but maybe it is just a stepping stone to something bigger and better that he couldn't imagine just yet. Well, my sweet boy is starting to work there in a few weeks as the welding instructor for the Komatsu tank line. He will welding, too. He still is not too sure about the job, since he wasn't crazy about the starting salary. A plus, though is that they will pay for him to get his CWI certification, CWI being certified welding inspector. That is something that he can take with him regardless of where he works. Another test for me to fret over? I think that I am through fretting, or does a mother ever completely stop? I am trusting God to handle it because he is much better than I at working out things for the good for those who love him and are called according to his purpose. Don't think that I won't be praying for him, though! That I will never stop doing for sure. I am so proud of this boy. He has accomplished so much that I never thought that he would do. Now he is feeling a little sad that it has come to a close. Maybe not...