SaintMom Blog

FEET - sorry, I HAD to do this.

OK, people…it’s time to have the talk about your toes / feet. I happen to be best friends with one of the most notorious toe critics, Rosemary. Now, if you wear open toed shoes, you have to know that people will be looking at your feet. It’s only natural. A bad set of toes is like staring into a tornado or other natural disaster, you know, when you can’t pull away from the sight of it!!!??? Yeah, you know. I am here to help you out with this if you are one of those people who don’t understand the rules that need to be followed to wear any type of shoe that shows your toes.

Rosemary and I were in Washington DC a couple of years ago. We were at the Washington Monument, I remember it like it was yesterday. Here I was just doing my normal thing - taking pictures of the beautiful monument and Rosey was checking out toes. I was looking up, and she was looking down! “Jennifer, hurry, quick, it’s an emergency!”, Rosey said. So, I go to her to see what the problem was. “I’ve found the worst toes ever! You have to see, come here!” Now, for a moment I had to stop and think about what was just said…”emergency”, “hurry, quick!” and then she follows it up with “You’ve gotta see this one toe on this lady!” At this point, I begin to laugh. The laughter overtakes my body and then I’m laughing so hard that I think I’m going to pee on myself. She showed me the lady and wanted me to go over near her and TAKE A PICTURE of her toe! Now, this lady is a tourist, just like us. Rosey wanted me to pretend that I was looking down at my camera trying to fix it or something and take a picture while standing right next to the lady. Well, here’s the thing…Rosemary was NOT whispering. Actually, she was laughing while she was telling me about it and it was obvious the lady could hear her. When Rosey and I get to laughing, we can’t be quiet or discreet! So, I go over to get next to this lady to try and get the toe pic. The lady walks away from me. Rosey wanted me to follow her and get the picture! So, I walk over to where the lady was leaning up against the small concrete wall and the lady leaves again. OK, so I guess she could have sued us for FOOTUAL HARRASSMENT, but needless to say, I never got the picture. I promise you that the laughter that I got from just watching Rosey get so excited about a horrible toe was worth it all.

Before I actually put the rules in, please know that you should NEVER, EVER, EVER wear pantyhose with any type of sandal at all. Pantyhose are actually not worn very often anymore, but if you MUST wear them, please make sure it’s with a close toed shoe.

So, with that being said, I don’t want any of you being Rosey’s next victim. FIX YOUR FEET before you wear open toed shoes. Here are the rules:

The Open Toed Shoe Pledge - raise your big toe and repeat the following:

I pledge to follow these Rules when wearing sandals and other open-toe shoes:

-I promise to always wear sandals that fit. My toes will not hang over and touch the ground, nor will my heels spill over the backs. And the sides and tops of my feet will not pudge out between the straps.

-I will go polish-free or vow to keep the polish fresh, intact and chip-free. I will not cheat and just touch up my big toe.

-I will sand down any mounds of skin before they turn hard and yellow. I will shave the hairs off my big toe.

-I won’t wear pantyhose even if my misinformed girlfriend, coworker, mother, sister tells me the toe seam really will stay under my toes if I tuck it there.

-If a strap breaks, I won’t duct-tape, pin, glue or tuck it back into place hoping it will stay put. I will get my shoe fixed or toss it.

-I will not live in corn denial; rather I will lean on my good friend Dr. Scholl’s if my feet need him.

-I will resist the urge to buy jelly shoes at Payless for the low, low price of $4.99 even if my feet are small enough to fit into the kids’ sizes. This is out of concern for my safety, and the safety of others. No one can walk properly when standing in a pool of sweat and I would hate to take someone down with me as I fall and break my ankle.

-I will take my toe ring off toward the end of the day if my toes swell and begin to look like Vienna sausages.

-I will be brutally honest with my girlfriend/sister/coworker when she asks me if her feet are too ugly to wear sandals. Someone has to tell her that her toes are as long as my fingers and no sandal makes creepy feet look good.

-I will promise if I wear flip flops that I will ensure that they actually flip and flop, making the correct noise while walking and I will swear NOT to slide or drag my feet while wearing them.

-I will promise to go to my local nail salon at least once per season and have a real pedicure (they are about $15 or 20 and worth EVERY penny).

-I will promise to throw away any white/off-white sandals that show signs of wear… nothing is tackier than dirty white sandals.

-I promise not to personalize the french mani/pedi with different colors. It’s white tips, not red, black, or any other hue, just white. The colored nails and clear nail beds are HIDEOUS as well as pierced nails with a hoop ring in them…what in the world???

Now that we have got this out of the way, please be on the lookout for people who may not have seen these rules yet.

Men, you have rules, too, but they are very simple for you.

- CLIP your toenails, do not pick at them and/or peel them.

-WASH your feet in the shower…don’t just assume that the water cleans them since they are at the bottom of you. And, no, urinating on them in the shower doesn’t help since urine is supposed to be sterile. That is the NASTIEST thing I have ever heard.

-If the heel of your feet are hard and are cracking, just wear socks and tennis shoes…we don’t want to see your nasty heel crust.

I have done my deed for the day - my community service message. If any of you have any questions or comments, please let me know. I hope I haven’t offended anyone that is already breaking the rules… just view this as me saving you from a toe disaster.

Today I am thankful for pedicures. Next week I will have my 3rd one of the summer season.

My pictures of the day are of feet, don’t look unless you can handle it.

Where Fritos come from:

Aruba, Jamaica, ooh I wanna take ya…

FISHIN’! That’s all my husband thinks about!!! So, I sing that song in my head, Kokomo and when I get to the “I wanna take ya” part, I just imagine him saying “FISHIN’!” in his raspy, country voice. Bless his heart, he just wants to fish, all the time, and I just don’t understand! I mean, he goes to the lake, usually at Bruce’s house, and sits there for hours waiting for a goofy little fish to bite his line. What for? He’s covered in mosquito bites (EVERYWHERE!) and if he happens to catch anything he throws it back! Well, he knows he better not be trying to clean fish in my garage or my kitchen! But it’s so funny when he comes home, like tonight - “Baby, I caught 4 fish!” And my friend, Rosey, says “Really? How large?” In his country tone, “One of ‘em was three quarters of a pound!” Now, I’m sorry, but I can’t help but laugh. And so did Rosey. What was he fishin’ for? Minnows? Anyway, he did go on to say that he caught a couple of larger ones, but I just don’t get it. But, I didn’t get the new Batman movie, either…so I guess I’m just a girl. I love you, Aaron…even in all of your redneck glory! That’s the best part about you.

So, I went to watch Drew Hutchison pitch in the CABA World Series baseball tournament. I didn’t get to see him pitch, but he looked adorable in his uniform! Sorry, Drew, I had to do something to embarass you. Obviously, the coach was saving him to pitch in the final round which was today. Something about he could only pitch for 5 innings within a couple of days or something? They wanted to save him for today. I did watch him pitch today, however, it was online. It was so cool that the field had a streaming live video of the game! The announcer wasn’t very good, but I could see the game well! We need that at MJCA! Drew is a very natural athlete. I’m proud of him. Love you, Drewseph.

Carly swims in the big City Meet this weekend downtown at the Sportsplex. We’re excited about that! She swims in 6 events. She also has her second drum lesson tomorrow with Mr. Bob. She’s been practicing, but probably not as much as she should be. But, she’s been busy with vacation, going to Nana’s, and swim…so she’s hardly had anytime TO practice!

This Sunday we are having a birthday party for the girls here at my house. I didn’t really send out invitations, just kind of a word of mouth thing, but if any of you have kids that are friends with my girls or have been in class with them, you’re invited. Sorry…but with everything going on right now, I just haven’t been as organized as normal. Give me a call if your child would like to come and I’ll give you details.

It’s like when Dustan passed, my world just kind of stopped revolving and I’m working on trying to get it back to where it was…not sure it’s going to happen though. I am working on a little project for the Gammons right now - just a small prayer garden type thing for their yard…to plant the tree and rose bush they received when Dustan passed. If any of you reading this would like to help with that, please let me know. I think I’ve just about got it all taken care of as far as materials, just might need a little manpower to help get it done…but really, it won’t take long.

I haven’t talked to April this week, but I saw her last Wednesday. She is such a sweet person. Their whole family is that way, just the most precious people. Please continue to keep them in your prayers. Just because a few weeks have passed, doesn’t mean that it’s all over now. The pain is still there, and very deep for them. We have embraced this family for a long time, and they probably need us now more than ever. April held us up for so long with her encouraging and scripture filled e-mails, and now it’s time for us to hold them up. Remember the rest of their family in your prayers as well, they are all so close, I know they are all hurting so badly. Especially when things start to quiet down, that’s when it seems the most real.

By the way, for those of you who read the story about the Army Ranger boyfriend I had that was portrayed in Black Hawk Down, I sent him a letter the other day. It was 4 pages long and it was very nice. I’m hoping to hear back from him and I’ll let you all know if I do. Aaron and I are still somewhat amazed at this story, or amazed at me for not realizing it!

Today I am thankful for laughter…without it, life could really be dreadful! I love to laugh and I love to make people laugh. I hope that some of my blog posts help you to laugh.

My picture of the day is of the water slide I purchased today for the girls birthday party this Sunday. Gosh, I hope it holds up!

Have a great Thursday!

Interesting story…my personal connection to the movie Black Hawk Down

I know this is going to sound strange - and it’s even stranger that I just now am figuring it out…but I’m so amazed at this I have to share.

When I was 18 years old, I met a guy while on vacation in Florida. He was an Army Ranger from Fort Benning, GA. We became friends and eventually it turned into a relationship that would last for a little over a year. We had fallen in love and during our relationship we had even talked about marriage.

We’ll call him “John”.

During our 1 year relationship, John went to Somalia for a mission. While he was over in Somalia, I wrote him lots of letters, sent care packages, I watched CNN religiously to check on the situation and I prayed for the situation constantly. I knew it had been a mission that went bad, I remember seeing all of the information on CNN. The mission in Somalia had reached it’s peak on October 3rd of that year. The Rangers, along with Delta force members had to go into the city of Mogadishu and capture a warlord who had been confiscating all of the food that the US had been sending to their country. Due to this confiscating of the food, over 300,000 people had died the year before in Somalia. This warlord had to be captured to rescue this dying country. So, as I said, on October 3rd, 1993, the troops that were there had a mission that was supposed to last less than an hour or so and that mission was to go into the city and arrest this warlord. The mission ended up going terribly wrong and several of the troops died (19) and the surviving troops were fighting for their lives, most of them being injured severely while still fighting. The mission that was to last an hour ended up lasting I think 15 hours, the men didn’t get out of their until the next morning! I vividly remember after this “Battle at Mogadishu” as it had became to be called, seeing images on CNN of US Army Rangers’ bodies being dragged among the streets of the city of Mogadishu. I remember feeling so sick at my stomach for days until I could verify that “John” was ok. It wasn’t long after that he would return home to the US and back to Fort Benning.

Once he finally returned, I traveled to Fort Benning to attend his military ball with him and just to spend time with him. He was a very smart guy, smarter than most people I knew. He had passed up several college scholarships to go to the Army to become a Ranger. I remember when I would go down to visit, he would tell me about the mission in Somalia. He even took me to the museum on base to show me some memorabilia from the mission as well as the memorials for the troops who died in Somalia. Some of them I even had known myself from visiting with him at Fort Benning. Looking back upon this, I realize that I was very young and naive to the situation he was talking about to me.

So here’s the strange part to this story - just this last weekend I realized that there was a movie made about this mission to Somalia. I’m sure you’ve heard about the movie - “Black Hawk Down”. “John” was actually one of the Army Rangers that was portrayed in this movie! The movie is like 5 years old! Why am I just now figuring this out? So, of course, I did a lot of research on it and then watched the movie. My husband watched with me and was kind of amazed at this story, or amazed at the fact that I had no idea about this movie and the personal connection I had to one of the characters! I also watched the History Channel’s documentary called, “The True Story of Black Hawk Down”. Now I am preparing myself to write him a letter to see how he is doing and to apologize for my lack of understanding once he returned from Somalia. I also want to thank him for being a soldier. It was a BIG DEAL…and I just didn’t see it like I should have seen it.

My husband says that now that I know about the situation I need closure, which I’m realizing is true of a lot of my past situations.

Another strange thing is that while I was searching for him, I found his mother’s obituary. She died the same day Dustan died…June 28, 2008.

So anyway, I thought this was so interesting and wanted to share it with you all.

Today I am thankful for our military. It is so amazing what they sign up to go through, all for the safety and freedom of the American people. I could never comprehend the things my friend “John” had to go through.

If you haven’t seen the movie, you need to, if you’re an adult. For children it is not recommended.

My picture of the day is of the movie cover of Black Hawk Down.

Whaaaazzzzuuupp?

Wow, I feel so much better! Sorry I haven’t blogged in a few days. I was so sick this last week! Even my mom had to come over and help take care of me. You know it’s bad when you want your mom! I feel a lot better, but still just a little queasy and weak. My sweet friend Penny Hutchison called today and wanted to bring us some food because I wasn’t feeling good. How sweet is that? For those of you who don’t know Penny and Bobby, you’re missing out. They are such wonderful people and I’m so glad to call them my friends. You don’t find better people than them. I love you both very much! Thanks for being our great friends.

Another one of my great friends, Debi, has been in Crossville all week taking care of her mother. Please pray for her parents and for her. She is an only child and has a lot of stress about her parents being elderly and living a couple of hours away. Debikins - we love you and we’re here for you no matter what.

ANOTHER one of my friends, Jan, Elle’s mom, came home from DC today. She’s been gone since early May I think (for work). We have missed her, and we’re going to be missing more of her now that she weighs like 3 pounds! She looks GREAT! Maybe I need to go to DC for a couple of months and see what I can lose while I’m there. She was never big to begin with, but now she even looks YOUNGER! I didn’t get to see her today, but I saw her a few weeks ago when she was in for a visit. Welcome back, NanJan!
cr
I have a lot of friends, huh!?

Anyway - now that I’m feeling better, we got out some today. Went to Academy Sports, Applebees, and a couple of other places. Last night we saw the Batman movie that just came out (YAWN). Ladies - don’t bother. It’s a guy thing. However, tonight we stayed home and watched Welcome Home, Rosco Jenkins. It has some language and stuff, but it was funny.

I leave in a couple of weeks (Aug. 1) to go on my girl’s trip to Chicago with 2 of my girlfriends, Rosemary and Wendy. We had another friend that was going, but now she isn’t, so it’s just us 3 crazy girls going wild in Chicago. We’ll probably be so crazy we’ll even stay up til like 9:00 at night! And we might even sleep in til like 8 am one morning! OK, so we’re not crazy or wild, but we’ll still have fun. I’m sure we’ll look for strange looking feet and gelato. (Long story)

Well, I don’t have a lot to talk about tonight it seems, so I guess I’ll log off. I hope you all are challenging yourself to make a difference to someone, make an impact. Today, Penny Hutchison sure made me feel loved. That was so awesome of her. If we could just all take time out to do for others like that more often, this world would be a much better place.

Today I am thankful for medicines. Even though my little 3 day sickness is not a big deal, I was sick enough to become grateful for the power of phenergan. Medicines have been a bad part of my life, with my ex-husband, so I’ve hated them for the most part, but now I’m seeing that they do so much to help so many people when used as they should be.

I’m not sure if my pic of the day will come through, I’m on my laptop. It might come through but be too large, and I’ll change it tomorrow. My pic of the day is again one of the ones we had made in Florida. This one is of my little Carly Brooke…every summer she looks like a little surfer girl.

Blah…not feeling too well.

I guess my vacation kicked me in the rear! I’m so exhausted that I can barely function! Now I know why they say you need a vacation after your vacation! It’s really true…it’s a huge job getting a family of 5 ready for vacation, taking care of them while on vacation and then getting everyone home and everything put back in it’s place. And the drive itself is hard…if you’re driving anyway. I think our next vacation will be right here in good ‘ole MJ.

So if you all haven’t heard yet, a little boy died from drowning over at Cedar Creek the other day. It was on the news and in papers. My sister and her children were there and my sister helped with the search. It was a very hard thing for her and her children to see, and I can only imagine what the mother is feeling. I really am not a fan of the lake anyway. My children can all swim, but if for some reason something happened to make them lose consciousness, at least I can see them in a pool, not in the lake. People still can drown in a pool, I’m just saying that the time between finding them in a pool or a lake would be significantly different.

My last post on my blog was about the cheer camp that our MJCA cheerleaders attended last week. If you haven’t read it, you should. It is so sweet. It just goes to show how Dustan’s spirit still lives on in all of the hearts he touched. I just try to imagine our girls giving Dustan’s testimony at cheer camp and tears start to come. I am a 33 year old woman and I think I’ve had a lot of life experience with everything I have been through, but Dustan taught me so much, still. I’m just so honored to have known him and to have been blessed by him. A lady wrote in the legacy guestbook online for the Gammon family, (not a direct quote) “if God told you 18 years ago that I can give you this child but you can only have him for 18 years, wouldn’t you still want him?” Man, that’s a strong question! Well, the answer would be yes, of course, but imagine all of the things that would be different in their life. If God told me that one of my children may pass at the age of 18, I’m sure my life would be totally different…so why don’t we live that way now? We don’t know if God plans to take someone we love. Shouldn’t we live each day as if it could be the last? I don’t mean to go and do dramatic things like skydiving or things like that…I mean just living in peace. Just being still and knowing that God is there. No arguing with friends or family. No worrying about stupid bills. No stressing over who might be our next President…God is still in control. It’s so hard to not worry, and in every day life, we all get angry sometimes. But wouldn’t we change that if we knew our time or someone else’s time was coming? I think so. I am going to try and live my life this way. I know I can’t make huge changes in my every day life, but I can make sure that I don’t waste any time or energy on Satan. I have already noticed a change like this in my life. I have no time for an argument…I don’t have energy for it, I literally have to avoid it and talk about it later. I care about others so much more now that I’m older. I think I used to be more of a non-caring person, but wow, I can see such a big change in myself over the past couple of years. My love is deeper, my friendships are stronger and I have more friends than ever, and I can feel God in my life, working and using me all the time. I hope this doesn’t sound strange, but, I WANT people to miss me when I’m gone. I want to make an impact on people’s lives that they will notice if I’m not here. I don’t want people to sit and grieve over me forever, but I do want to know that my life will be missed. I don’t want to just sit around and do nothing, so that no one will even notice if I’m gone…I want to make an impact. Do you?

It’s about time for me to change my website, but I don’t want to take Dustan off the front page. I think I will leave his picture and have it link to a page dedicated to him. I still will try to have our new gym named after him. If any of you would like to join me in that, just send me a comment or an e-mail. I don’t mean that I want you to do anything, but just let me know that you like the idea and would support it. I’ve just never known someone to make such an impact on so many people, students, families, teachers, etc. in a school.

I’m about to load our family pictures we had made in Florida. I received the disc from Mari yesterday and of course I had to play with some of the pictures. I am very pleased with them. I can’t wait to get some of the framed and in my house.

Well, Carly is at her nana’s. Zach’s at the pool with Elle (of course) and Casey is outside watering the flowers. Aaron is fishing. As bad as I feel, I’m going to head up to lie down for a nap.

Today I am thankful for home. There’s no place like home, especially after a vacation.

My picture of the day is one of my children that we had taken on the beach. How beautiful!!??

E-mail about cheer camp - Dustan’s impact revealed.

I received an e-mail from Tammy England this morning regarding cheer camp last week. She asked me to send it to April and Kenny Gammon. Here is April’s response and the original e-mail. This is so touching. I can’t wait to see the cheerleaders in their new walk when school resumes in the fall.

Dear Family and Friends,

Please see email I received today. Thanks Jennifer for sending me this. Oh Lord ,thank you for not letting our suffering go in vain. God’s Glory will be revealed through Dustan’s life and testimony. His sweet spirit lives on…….

Scroll down and read below.

A humbled mom and dad,
Kenny and April

Jennifer and April,
Please forward this to April too, so she can know that Dustan’s legacy is already at work! We were at cheer camp last week (July 7-11). This is a christian camp that very much focuses on Christ. The theme this year was giving your heart, mind, and soul Completely to God! The very first day it was obvious that God was speaking to our hearts telling us to give ourselves comepletely to Him. The High School girls were still dealing with the fresh greif of losing Dustan, so during worship time they heard and felt everything that was said. When it came time to go down front and pray the ENTIRE high school squad went forward and rededicated their lives to Christ and gave Dustan’s testimony! They said that Dustan was the one who inspired them to live for God every day, no matter what is going on in their lives. To rejoice that Christ is with them, no matter what! They also became very close to the middle school girls and now have a very strong bond with them! A long time goal and prayer answered! Thursday they stood in front of the entire camp and gave Dustan’s testimony (The staff asked them to, they were so blessed by it the first night). The staff and campers were very moved and some of the other coaches said their girls were talking about it and how they wanted to be more like that. Lindsay Lamberson is the one who gave the testimony while we all stood around her. She cried her way through it, but did a beautiful job describing Dustan’s love for Christ! His Passion for telling others about Christ’s love. Our girls plan on doing a lot of things this year to keep that revival fire going at MJCA and renew these kids to become a stronger christian and those who don’t know Christ to accept Him. We know that is part of God’s plan, that this is part of the legacy that Dustan left behind! The school will be renewed through Dustan’s testimony! The High School girls dedicated their Camp Competition routine to Dustan and they did a wonderful job! He won’t be forgotten and his story will be told! We are going to do chapel in September and do some things at Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital that deal with worship, but also God’s love and the peace He can give us, even during the storms. You won’t believe the difference you’ll see in these squads this year, they are changed girls and as coaches we’ll be holding them accountable to these changes by praying for them and with them, giving them squad sisters to pray with, etc. Just know that Dustan’s legacy is doing exactly what He wanted it to do, lead others to Christ (one of my cheerleaders accepted Christ)!

We are always praying for you and your famly, April! We Love you!!!!!! Tammy England MJCA Middle School Cheer Coach

What a blessing to know that Dustan is still touching hearts everywhere.

-Jen

Gammon Update 7/14/08

Dear Family and Friends,

I wanted to send out a quick update since so many of you have been asking about us. I am not sure what to say except we are here. It has only been two weeks and it feels like a lifetime. It is not getting easier but harder. Each day we re-live the fact that Dustan really is gone. He is not coming back. It is a nightmare we wake up to every morning. But, hey we do wake up and get out of bed. Only by God’s loving arms picking us up and placing our feet on the floor. Otherwise, I think we would all stay in the bed.

Grief is an explainable emotion. The dictionary defines it as: keen mental suffering or distress over affliction or loss; sharp sorrow; painful regret. (yes, I felt the need to look up this word that haunts my life) My definition: grief is where someone literally rips your heart out of your chest throws it on
the ground and stomps on it while you helpless watch and there is nothing you can do. Yes, this is grief. There is nothing I can do about it but my Heavenly Father can. I know He can pick up my
heart, mend it and place it gently back where it goes. So as I place my heart in the potters hands I find myself waiting patiently for Him to mold my heart and my life the way He chooses. I find myself on yet another journey I did not ask to walk. So as I stumble and fall on this new path I realize my knees are bloody. It is not from the falls I have endured but from the many times I have searched for answers. Answers that may never come here on earth. So I can rest knowing that the one who knows the answers will guide my footsteps.

For those of you who are worried that I am not eating…I am. Not much, but enough to get me
through the day. Kenny and Dylan are back to work. I think this helps them. It gets them out of the house and in somewhat of a routine. We find doing just normal routine things are very difficult but necessary. We have learned to take one minute at a time. I literally mean one minute. That is all we can handle right now.

I ask that you all continue to pray for us as each day brings new hardships. I am so thankful for each one of you and know that God has placed you in our lives.

This was my prayer card today:LORD, after this suffering, let it be said that what has happened to me has really served to advance the gospel. As a result, make my Savior clear to all those around me. Because of my suffering and willing perseverance, cause others to be encouraged to speak the Word of God courageously and fearlessly.
Philippians 1:12-14

This is my prayer. That our sufferings will not go in vain. That they will change lives and change hearts.

Still resting my face in the lap of my Jesus,
April

Today I am thankful I can see with spiritual eyes.

Oh me…what a trip!

This vacation has been so fun. Or should I say FUN-NY?

Last night we went on an airboat! Which is what I would call a swamp boat. It’s one of those big boats with the fan on the back that makes it go. We went through a swamp / marsh area looking for alligators! I even held an alligator! I’ll have to load those pics on when we get home. Debi was holding on so tight to Richard and me that I think she cut off the circulation in our arms! It was a fun ride, except for when the driver thought it would be cool to do a 360 without warning us first! Woah!

THEN - (mom, you’ll laugh at this) afterwards when we had finished our airboat trip and shopping, we stopped over at the Chevron station across from our condo complex. We needed a couple of things for the last couple of days for our condo. Aaron went to get out of the Armada from the driver’s side and as soon as he put his feet on the ground a HUGE DOBERMAN came flying out of the window of the car next to us! The car window of the other car was rolled all the way down and I guess this dog thought it needed to protect the car. It was an older Chevy Blazer type car if I remember correctly. Anyway, the dog starts a growling and horrifying bark at Aaron and he jumped and screamed a few things that I shouldn’t type on here. The dog was SO close to him that if he’d have taken another step trying to get out of our car, the dog could have grabbed him by the throat! It was a MEAN and MAD dog! It was so bad that I told him to sit in the car and I took his wallet in and got the stuff. The girl that owned the car came out of the gas station and said to her dog, “Calm down, Missy.” MISSY! This Frankenstein looking dog drueling from it’s mouth for my husband’s throat was named MISSY! And she was just very calm when she told Missy to calm down! I told her that her dog had just scared my husband to death! I also told her how dangerous that was. My poor husband. He was TERRIFIED. If I could type that any larger I would! Actually, I was terrified as well! It was SO SCARY! I have been bitten by a pit bull before, when I was around 11 years old. Still have some good sized scars on my leg from it! Anyway, I went into the gas station and came out and saw my husband still sitting in the driver’s seat and I couldn’t help but laugh. It wasn’t funny at the time, but goodness, once it was over, we laughed SO HARD! He told me not to blog about it, but it’s TOO BLOGABLE! What an experience that was!

Also, another thing that is funny about him is that every morning on this trip, or at least 6 out of 7 mornings, he has taken a morning trip to WalMart. I’m not sure what his obsession is with WalMart on this trip, but they’ve made some money off of us this week! And I usually don’t even shop at WalMart, I’m a Target girl for the most part! Oh, he is so funny. I love my husband. He is wierd and quirky but such a good husband and father. Even if he IS a WalMart junky.

I’m sitting on our balcony overlooking the ocean. It is raining right now. I can hear thunder in the distance. Poor Debi is so determined to get in one more day of sun that she went down to the beach anyway. I looked at the radar and decided that my day would be best spent blogging and getting ready for tonight and for our departure tomorrow.

Tonight we are going to Captain Andersons for dinner and then heading over to Schooners to hear Bob Mummert’s band play. We can’t wait! I’m going to make the girls take a nap here in a few minutes so that they will be in a good mood for tonight. Bob is going to have the band sing Happy Birthday to them since tomorrow is their 10th birthday! I’ll take my camera of course and load pictures when I get home.

Oh - we also had Mari Darr-Welch take our family pictures on Grayton Beach the other night. Her work is wonderful. I’ll put a link to her website from mine when I get home and I’ll show you all some of her work. For any of you that come down to the panhandle area of Florida, it’s worth it to spend an hour or so with her to get some beautiful pictures of your family. I’ll put ours on the website when I return.

Well, I’m going to head into the condo and get my girls down for a nap and start the packing process! Hopefully I’ll get time to sneek in a nap myself! The rain, thunder and the sound of the ocean is like a valium to me! I can barely stay awake long enough to finish this blog!

Today I am thankful for the rain we’ve had at home this week plus the rain I’m seeing fall right now from my balcony in Florida. As much as I’d love to have another day of sun while we’re here, we’ve been pretty lucky all week with beautiful weather.

Please say a prayer that we have a safe trip home tomorrow! See you all later!

My Wednesday at the beach

Right now I’m sitting by the pool again at our condo place with my friends, Debi, Bruce, Richard and his wife Debby and my sweet husband. The kids are swimming and we are just sitting here chatting. I’m so exhausted that I can sometimes feel myself start to snore! Just kidding, but I’m REALLY tired. Aaron and I took the girls to Shell Island today. What an adventure. It was fun, but I learned lessons of course. Like, don’t try to walk a half mile in VERY deep sand in 90 degree weather! I thought my legs were literaly going to fall off! The girls snorkled and found crabs and stuff, so they had fun. I got some good pictures of them, of course.

Debi is just so funny…she cracks me up. She and I have a really good time together. I’m glad she came with us.

Found out today that my son has MONO! And he was on his way down here to Florida with Bruce when Dr. Lagueux called me to tell me. So he has to be careful while he is here. He’s not feeling bad at all, as a matter of fact he’s swimming in the pool right now. I’m so paranoid though that something is going to hurt him though. Now I’ve been googling it all evening making sure I do everything right.

Well, I’m so tired that I have to end it short tonight. I’m not far from heading up to my room to begin my beauty rest.

Today I am thankful for my parents - Ben and Lavinia Pollock. They took Zach to the doctor for me yesterday while I was down here. What would I do without them? I love you Mom and Dad!

No picture of the day today…too tired to find one for you guys. I’ll make up for it, I promise.

Gammon Update from April Gammon

July 7, 2008

Good Morning Prayer Partners,

As I am writing this update I am using the new Mac given to Dustan for graduation. It is just like Dustan to make me learn new things. I am a PC girl not a Mac. For Dustan I will venture out and learn new things. He was so excited when he received the Mac. He had already personalized it so when I use it I see him all over it.

I just want to say “Thank You” to all who came to Dustan’s Celebration of Life. It was perfect. We are sure there were over 700 people. He would have loved everything except being the center of attention. He hated that much attention on himself. I think he would have been proud and so humbled that everyone loved him so much. He use to say, “I am really not a hero”. Oh, my baby if you only knew what a true hero you were and are.

As most of you heard Dustan wanted to be a counselor. He was and still is today. Everyday I hear his words of encouragement to me. I can just hear him saying as he did so often, “Mom, you think too much. Just live life”. That is what he did…..he just lived life. It did not matter how he felt he would not think too much HE JUST LIVED!

As far as Kenny, Dylan and I we are getting through a moment at a time. I know there are a lot of people praying. If there were not I could not put my feet on the floor every morning. So even though I can not feel the prayers all the time I know they have
to be there. Only by God’s strength do I put one foot in front of the other. So thank you for your continued prayers they are needed.

For those who keep calling and are not getting an answer…..I am sorry. There are no words right now that can be spoken. I do read my email’s and my texts. So if you need to contact me this is the best way right now. I know my words will come again, right now the only words I have is give me my Jesus. I need to find comfort within. My Father knows exactly how much I can take each day so I must trust His leading.

I was reading Beth Moore’s, Praying God’s Word today and these are the words she used…….Lord, in my heart I plan my course, but You determine my steps. (Proverbs 16:9) Life is not going as I planned. I am so grateful that you are not caught off guard. You knew everything that would befall me. Please direct my steps as You determine. I need YOU, LORD. Carry me when I cannot walk.

Who else but my precious loving Father would know the pain I feel. He gave His son freely. He watched as he suffered and then died (for us). So He knows how I feel. He sees my heart. He sees that it is broken and He only can mend it. So He only is what I need.

I know my God will turn our misery in ministry. I know He has a plan for me, Kenny and Dylan. I know that HE IS GOD!!!!!!

Dustan’s journey on earth is done, but his journey in Heaven is just begun. Our journey continues.

With my face laying in the lap of my Jesus,
April

(Comment from Jennifer - now this is a SAINT MOM!)