Happy Birthday Chris

It is hard to believe my baby boy is 17 today. My time has flown by! I can still clearly remember being pregnant and then trying to get him here (it took 3 days). He was 5 weeks early and was a little thing. I remember going home and having my mom with me the first few days. When she left I remember thinking I had no clue what I had gotten myself into!! He was a mess. I think he spit up more than any baby I've ever known! He spent many nights sleeping in his swing, thank goodness for battery operated ones:) He quickly caught up with his weight and was always at the top of the charts! He has grown from that tiny baby born 17 years ago into a fine young man. He has been a blessing and has a lot of potential to do something great with his life. Not only is he 17 today, but he is starting his last, first day of school tomorrow! Senior Year has finally arrived for him. I wish him all the best this year and pray he will continue to follow God in his life.

I love you!!

Summer - A Time to Catch Up

Well, I am finally blogging again after a 2 month break. I am so glad it is summertime, but can't believe it is already July. Sometimes that word is not so good for teachers to hear. It means summer break is half over:(

I started the summer with a little time to myself. Unfortunately, Katie still had some school left after I got out. Below she is pictured at Honor's Night. She made all A's this year and did very well on her CRCT!! I was so proud of her. She made a great adjustment to middle school.




The week after she got out of school, I went on a Girl's Trip with my neighbor and another friend. We went to Gulf Shores for 4 nights. I have never been away that long by myself since before marriage. It was a great trip and Katie learned she can survive without me:) This is a picture of the view from our balcony and the 3 of us waiting for dinner.

Katie took home-ec. this year in school and is finally a little interested in what goes on in the kitchen. One day when I was trying to cook, she and Chris felt they had to join me and help out! Here is Katie mopping up a mess on the floor!

Chris is really into the new show "The Cake Boss". He is always asking me to get him some fondant and gum paste. He looked up a recipe for making crepes. Here he is putting chocolate syrup on his creation. They actually weren't too bad.

Last week Katie and I went to Children's Camp with our church over at Woodland's Christian Camp in Temple, GA. Katie was so excited she got to be a junior counselor this year. It was really hot, but we had a great time.

Here is Katie crossing the high pole which is 25 feet above the ground. Many of the kids did this. Katie thought the part where you let yourself fall off backwards was the best!

This is another activity where the girls all got on this pole. Then they had to line up according to height without getting off the pole!


Every year there is a skit and we end the week with a talent show. Here are the characters from the skit also performing in the talent show. Mike is the one in black.

We've also been to Six Flags, White Water and the movies. With Katie around, there is no time to sit and do nothing. She gets out of the bed asking "What are we going to do today?" I keep trying to get her to read a book, but that doesn't seem to work!!

Hope you all are enjoying your summer:)

Katie's Birthday

Katie is 12 today. It's hard to believe she is my baby. My kids are definitely growing up quickly. It seems like just yesterday when I was sitting in church and then Sonny's at lunch having contractions and putting off going to the hospital. I had always heard you should wait at home as long as you can, so that is what I was doing!! Much to Mike and Janet and Phillip's undoing. They kept trying to rush me out the door as soon as possible. By 10 that night she was born and all was well. I thought I'd post 12 things about Katie in honor of her birthday. (The picture above is us celebrating her birthday while on spring break.)

12 Things About Katie

1 - I think she will end up outgrowing us all. At 12 she is 5' 8" and wears a size 10 shoe. It is nice being able to share shoes:)

2 - Katie has always been our athlete. She has played softball for many years and is currently playing basketball. We're hoping she will one day get a scholarship!!

3 - Katie loves ice cream. That is her favortie dessert. No matter how full she is, she can always make room for ice cream. Her favorite is cookies and cream.

4 - Katie has always had a unique personality. She sometimes marches to a different drummer than the rest of us.

5 - Katie is a momma's girl. She loves to be with her mom, esp. when it's bedtime.

6 - Katie does not like to spend the night away from home (unless mom is there too!!).

7 - Katie's favorite color is red.

8 - Katie likes to go, go, go. She gets that from her daddy.

9 - Katie is not a very affectionate person. She is not "touchy - feely" at all!!

10 - Katie is turning into a teenager - she can't get enough of texting and Facebook!!

11 - Katie's favortie place to eat is Japanese.

12 - Katie is growing up into a beautiful young lady that any mom would be proud to call her daughter!!

Happy Birthday Katie!! I love you:)

Katie 4 years ago. I don't have a baby picture to put on here:)

Spring Break

I love Spring Break. After that loooooooooooong stretch from Christmas break, I am always ready for that week out of school. It is also a way to get ready to make it through the last stretch before summer. The past few years we have gone on a cruise at spring break, but with my mom not doing so well, we decided to just go to the beach for the week. We went to Navarre Beach which is between Pensecola and Fort Walton. We went with our friends, the Nixs, and rented a beach house. We had a great time, though I wish it had been a little warmer. Of course it sounds like we missed the snow fall in April by not being at home. Here are a few pictures from our week.


Here are the kids playing in the water. No way I was getting in:) They had a blast playing in it!!

Katie, Olivia, Christian and Matthew - eating in Pensecola at Peg Leg Pete's. We had a waiter named Justin who was the best waiter I think I've ever had.

Mike, Chris, David, Sara, Ellijah and me - our favorite pastime - eating!!!

Playing putt-putt in Pensecola

On the board walk in Pensecola



Ellijah on the last night - he was so tired he just wanted to rest in the booth:)

A Tribute to My Mom

This has been a very emotional and difficult week for me. My mom has Alzheimer's and has really regressed over the past few months. She ended up in the hospital a couple of weeks ago because she fell. After that happened, she was no longer able to stand up or walk. My dad and the doctors decided at that time it would be best to move her into a nursing home. Up until this time my dad had been doing everything for my mom - feed, dress, bathe, etc. Once she could no longer help at all, my dad knew he could no longer do it on his own. This past Wednesday I went up to Ellijay to help my dad with the move. I think it is one of the hardest things I've had to do. It is so hard to see this person who is no longer like the person you have always known. Next month my parents will celebrate their 58th wedding anniversary, so you can only imagine how hard it has been for my dad to go home by himself these past few nights.

I have been so blessed with such great parents. I don't think we realize how great our parents really are until we become parents ourselves. My parents brought me up in church and taught me about Jesus. Not only did they tell me about Him, but they lived it out as well. They have been so supportive through the years and have loved me sacrificially. Even as my children have grown up and played sports and sung in musicals, they have been there to support them too. I have always been thankful to have a good relationship with my parents even as an adult. It has been very hard, esp. over the last year to begin to lose that with my mom. I miss being able to call her up and ask for advice or to tell her about what is going in with the kids and her being able to participate in the conversation. It is hard to go to her house and do the cooking, not have her cook for me. It is hard to see her weak and frail and not really knowing what is going on around her. It is hard to not even know for sure she knows who I am. I am so thankful for the years I've had with my mom, and pray God will give me and my dad the strength we need in the time she has left on this earth.

Thanks to those of you that have been praying, and be sure to give your mom a call and tell her you love her:)

And the Winner Is . . .

Chris Morrison!! Chris had his wrestling banquet tonight. It was at the school and turned out very nice. When it came time for awards, Chris hit the jackpot. He got three awards and lettered for his second year. I was very proud of him and the hard work he put in over the season. It definitely paid off.
The first award he got was the coaches award. This one was chosen by the coaches.

The second award was for outstanding JV wrestler. His peers chose this award, which made it very special.

The last award he got was the scholar award. He has the highest GPA on the JV team and it turns out he has the 3rd highest out of all the wrestlers. Needless to say, this one makes me very happy:)

Chris also had a busy morning. He took the SAT for the first (and hopefully only) time. He thinks he did pretty good. I was looking at some of the practice questions on-line the other night and was soooooooooooo glad I wasn't having to take a test like that again!!

Chris is also in the midst of his lacrosse season. I actually have a couple of pictures to post this time. He is #21. He thinks his game is successful if he scores a goal and makes some good hits on people. He loves that part of the game!!!

When we are not keeping up with Chris' schedule, I have been playing (or maybe winning by forfeit) a little tennis. Katie is also starting up another season of basketball. My main goal right now is surviving until Spring Break. Will it ever get here!!!???

Latest Re-cap

Things have been busy around the Morrison household. Chris' lacrosse season has started. He is playing varsity and jv. The varsity team is 3-0. The JV team lost their first game. They shouldn't feel too bad though. Many of the players have never played lacrosse before, including Chris. Thankfully his staph almost gone and it doesn't look like it will scar.

Katie had her basketball banquet at Stars and Strikes on Sunday. She had a great time seeing the new friends she made playing this season. She also got the best offensive player award. She really came along way this season and is going to now play in a league that will play through the spring and summer. She also got her progress report this week and has all A's and 1 B. She is so proud of herself and her grades:)

I went to visit my parents on Sat. My mom was having a really good day. She was much more alert and was trying to participate in the conversation. They now have people coming to help them 2 or 3 days a week, which has been a great help for my dad.

While I was in Ellijay I was looking at the newspaper from my hometown. My parents still get the weekly paper and I always like to look at it when I am there to see if I see anyone I know. As I was looking at it I saw a headline that said James Morrison. Of course it caught my eye. I started reading it and realized it was about Mike's dad. He died 2 weeks ago. Mike and his dad have not spoken for 16 years and he had no idea his dad had died. It was the weirdest thing to read that in my hometown paper. Mike was very shocked, to say the least. But, I know it was a "God thing" for him to find out. It has really brought back some old things that he is finally dealing with. In fact, he is going to give his testimony at church Sunday, so say a little prayer for him. God is at work and God is good:)

Victory!!

This weekend was good for Katie and me in our sports endeavors. I had a T2 match on Friday night and we won in 3 sets. Today I had my last mixed doubles match and won again in 3 sets. That seems to be the norm for me lately - to play 3 sets. Forever it seemed like I could never win a match, but thankfully I am back on the winning track. Hopefully it will carry over to our spring ALTA team!

Katie had her all-star basketball game Sat. morning. The team they were playing against had players from the top 2 teams in the league, so I wasn't expecting a very close game. It ends up that they were tied and ended up winning by 2 points in overtime!! It was such an exciting game. Katie had 2 free throws and made both of them which kept the game tied. After the game she didn't seem to think that was so important. I told her this was the kind of game where every point counted!! Sorry for the poor picture quality. Maybe I need a new camera:)

We went out as a family to celebrate Valentine's Day. We went to our favorite Japanese steak house - Tokyo. We went about 5:30 which turned out to be a good thing. There was a long wait when we left.

Chris' head still looks pretty bad, but he will be returning to school on Tuesday, most likely wearing a headband to cover up the terrible looking stuff on his head. Lucky Katie gets the whole week out of school!! I am going to take the day off on Wed. so we can do something together.

Here are some pictures from Chris' last wrestling weekend. Couldn't find them when I did that post.

What a Week!!

This has been quite a week here in the Morrison household. It started out Monday when we took Chris to the doctor because of his eye and a breakout on his forehead. Turns out it was pink eye (which I had diagnosed myself) and staph infection. He had made it all the way through wrestling season and had just finished his last week of practice and then he gets staph. It is an awful case. His forhead looks really bad. I will spare you all by NOT including pictures!! He has been out of school all week. Hopefully he won't have too much to make up next week when he goes back. Then on Wed. night when he was coming back from a friends house, who lives in our neighborhood, he was run off the road by another car and did some major damage to the frame or axel or something. You can't tell by just looking that anything is wrong with the car, but it is there. The good thing is that he wasn't hurt and it wasn't his fault.

As if dealing with all that all week hasn't been enough, I found out today that because I am part-time I am way low man on the totem pole when it comes to a job next year. Cobb is making lots of cuts and part-time jobs might be one of them. My principal talked to all of us who are part-time today to make us aware of what is going on. We don't know anything for sure, but supposedly everything has to be decided on by mid-April. Please pray that all this will work out as God has planned. I've always wanted some time off from teaching, but I didn't really want to be forced into it!!

Hopefully after all this, things will begin to look up around here. I have 2 or maybe 3 tennis matches over the weekend, Katie is playing in her all-star basketball game tomorrow morning and Chris and Mike are going to see Notre Dame and Loyola (sp.?) play lacrosse tomorrow at McEachern High School.

Hope you all have a Happy Valentine's Day!!

I've Been Tagged

I'm playing the blog tag game. Here is the picture that I
ended up with. This is actually from Christmas 2006. Mike
is looking at one of his gifts and that is my Mom and Dad also
in the picture.









My friend tagged me...and I thought this would be fun.
So, here's what you do:
1. Go to your 4th folder where you store your photos.
2. Select the 4th photo (no exceptions).
3. Post the picture with an explanation.
4. Tag 4 people to do the same.

Wrestling Wrap-up

Well, this weekend ended Chris' 2nd wrestling season. I must say I am glad it is over for another year. I enjoy it to a certain extent, but boy is it time-consuming. Chris has had a really good season this year. He was very disappointed at first when he found out he couldn't wrestle varsity, but I think it turned out to be a good thing for him. I think he placed in every tournament he wrestled this year. He had many wins - many by a pin. He lost very few matches and was only pinned once. He finally finished first last week at North Cobb, and finished 2nd this weekend at the Cobb County Tournament. I took some pictures Sat. to post, but something happened to them. I do have a couple from earlier in the season. You just gotta love what they wear!! Katie's friends always get a kick out of that when they come with her to a match:) Now he is chomping at the bits to get on the lacrosse field!!

When we got home from wrestling on Sat. we discovered our heat was out on the main level of the house. We are building fires and using space heaters until the repair man comes on Wed. At least we are gone most of the day. We had our small group over last night for the Super Bowl. I love the time we get to spend together. We always have a great time of fun, food and fellowship.

I'm sitting here watching the men's final of the Australian Open. I know who wins, but I still want to watch the actual playing of these 2 great tennis players. One day I'm going to be as good as they are!! Ha!! Ha!! If I could only be 100th as good as them I might actually win a match occasionally. Last spring my ladies team made it to City Finals, which was very exciting for us all. But since that time, because we have had to move up a level, I feel like I have hardly won a match in ALTA, T2 or now in singles. I always play a close game, many times 3 sets and tie-breaks included, but just can't seem to put it away. I still love to play though and think it is great exercise. I can't wait to get back out with my ladies' team this spring. We have a great team that plays really well together and I must say you don't find that everywhere. Here are a couple of pictures from spring tennis at the City Finals.

Words Count

We have been studying about gossip and watching what you say in our middle school girls' Sunday school class. We talk about how what we say is like a sword and can hurt the person we are talking about. We also talk about how much better it is to say things that edify and encourage others. It is amazing how much power words can have. As parents, teachers, coaches, etc. we can either help those we come in contact with or harm them. We have the opportunity to encourage those we work with and say words that will build them up. Or, we can say things that will be harmful and maybe even leave scars. I found that it is much better to say words of encouragement. A coach will usually get better results from his/her team if they encourage their players instead of being negative with them. Just this weekend, the opposing coach at Katie's basketball game got a technical foul for unsportsmanlike conduct because of the things he was yelling at his team. It was terrible. I hope that as a wife, mom, daughter, friend, and teacher I can put into practice using words of encouragement instead of words that harm. Let's all remember that our words count - for either good or bad.

Letting Go

Well it was very different having a 16 year old driver during Christmas Break this year. Chris was gone from home much more than he was home during the break. The new found freedom of being able to drive was very real for Chris. It was also very eye-opening for me. Another phase of life has come. Even though he has to tell us where he is going and check in with us often while he is gone, it is still not possible to know where he is every minute that he is gone. It made me realize that I have lost some of the parental control I have had for the past 16 years. It used to be he would only be where I took him. Now he has the freedom to take himself places. Though that is in some ways very freeing for me, it is also scary. But, I must say that I am very thankful that he is a good kid and that for the most part he has a good head on his shoulders. It is hard to let go, but is a little easier when you can feel confident that you have instilled good values and morals into your child and they are seeming to follow in the path you have set for them. I know I have to put him in the Lord's hands and pray for protection every time he leaves the house. It is amazing the peace I have in the midst of this change. God is good and gets us ready for the next thing we have to face.

Another Year

Well, 2008 is officially over now. As I look back on this year and am thankful for how God continues to bless me. Even though this has been a crazy year for our country, God has been faithful to me and my family. As I think back over the year, these are a few highlights.

1. My youngest started middle school ( and some other things too:) )

2. My oldest turned 16 and is driving - Yikes!!

3. I've been blessed to work part-time again, and God saved my job at Ford!

4. God started a new work in my life after going to Deeper Still.

5. I've turned into a tennis fanatic - just can't play enough.

6. I was able to visit with many old friends at GSU Homecoming.

7. God continues to bring people in my life who are now dear friends.

8. God is preparing me for the change in my Mom - she's not the same as and it has been hard.

As I think back over the year I can also think of some difficult, painful times as well. But, it is awesome how God helps us put those things away and mostly remember the good times throughout the year. "His mercies are new every morning - Great is Thy faithfulness." No matter what we may experience and no matter what this new year may hold, the one thing I know is that God is faithful and has promised to never leave us or forsake us.

May God bless you and your family in this new year.