LIFE'S GOOD

Ok, I've not updated for a little over 8 months!  They have been the best 8 months of my life!  As most of you know, I am now divorced.  I am also in love with my best friend.  And he is head over heals in love with me!  I have NEVER been treated so wonderfully.  I am respected, admired, desired, loved, cared for and basically treated like a princess.  He calls me his Angel.  He really believes I am a gift from God.  I have never been so happy.  I thank God everyday for the wonderful love I am blessed with.

So much has happened, I wouldn't even know where to start.  So, I will let you all know.  LIFE IS GOOD!!!  There have been festivals, romantic dinners, trips to fantastic places, dinners with friends, wonderful quiet times with the kids, special family holidays, quiet walks, exciting bike rides (both motorcycle and bicycle rides), ball games, movies, and so much more I can't even list them!

The kids are all doing great!  CJ has lost about 20 pounds and shot up 6 inches!  His grades are coming up and he is very popular with the girls!  Nicole is doing wonderful!  She is still the most sweet-spirited child.  She loves Myron and they have a special bond!  She is doing good in school and is slowly developing into a woman!  Mikayla is practically toothless!  She is doing awesome in school and has handled the divorce very well.  Mike and I are trying very hard to make the transition very smooth.  Jordan is doing better than I expected.  He gets an attitude sometimes, but that is to be expected.  But his grades just came up substantially! 

Mike, the kids and I are sharing the house until it sells.  The house is the one down point in my life.  I really want to sell it.  Even though we are all working together to make this work, it will be so nice to have a fresh start!

Work is very busy.  I just hired another secretary.  It seems weird to have 3 secretaries, but this works for us.  Eventually, the new girl (Lori) will also be Bob's secretary and I can let that part of my job go, but for now, she is all mine.  She seems very nice and everyone loves her!

Chewie lives with Myron now.  Apparently, someone here (unknown at this time) was abusing him.  He began to cower every time a voice was raised to him.  Plus, it is easier to show a house without a dog in it.  But this is working.  Myron and Chewie are best buds and keep each other company.

I have gained weight since most of you saw me last, but I'm happy and will eventually lose the extra pounds once I have my own place with no junk food and time to exercise.  So, I'm not worried right now.

I'm going to try to post some pictures later, but it will be so hard to decide...I have HUNDREDS to choose from.  Myron bought me a great camera for Christmas and I've been a picture-taking fool!  Just ask any of my kids! 

I know some of you have prayed for me and my happiness.  I want to thank you.  I am constantly amazed at how many of our family and friends actually prayed Myron and I would get together; that we would realize we loved each other.  8 times out of 10 when we told someone we were in love, the response was "Yeah, I could've told you that...years ago!"  Sometimes I wish we found this out years ago, but then I realize, God works in His own way, in His own time.  I am finally in a place when I can accept someone loving me and be willing to accept the spoiling!  He feels the same!  He loves being spoiled.  Which is amazing, we both have giving natures and it is hard for us to accept someone doing for us, but we are quickly becoming experts!!!!

I will write more later and post some of my pictures (if I can remember how!)

Love,

Mommabear

Hi Guys,

Well, so far the summer has been as busy as predicted.  And I can't believe how fast it has gone.  The kids go back to school next week!  Seems like they just got out.  I must be the only mother in the free world who isn't ready for school to start.  It is so much easier when they are out of school.  We have more flexibility with schedules and no homework.  But, alas, every summer must end.  So, off to school we go!

I leave for Vegas next Friday! I can't wait.  Even though I will only be there for two days, and working both days, I will still have the nights to "paint the town."  I've never been there and everyone I'm going with has, so I should have some really good tour guides.  Of course, with only about 3 hours each night, they will have to be fast tours.

Work has almost gotten under control and that's a relief.  I just have to catch up on a few more projects and I will be looking for work.  But please don't tell Myron that.  He will find work before I'm ready!

The house goes on the market on Monday!  Finally!  I feel as though I'm living in a vacuum, unable to go forward, being sucked into the past.  I want to get onto the next phase of my life.  I will keep you updated on showings and how it goes.  I just found out the average sell time in my neighborhood is 3-6 months, and that makes me sad.  But I will put my faith in God and pray He allows the house to sell faster.

Ok, the weight loss has been going great!  Since the competition with Ben, I've lost 20 pounds in 12 weeks.  Overall, in the past 1.5 years, I've lost 45 pounds!  I feel better about myself and I get compliments all over the place.  So, I'm happy with my progress and look forward to losing the last 10 pounds or so.

The boys are playing football and Nikki is cheering for Countryside Cougars.  They practice everyday and are exhausted all the time.  They have special diets of high carbo during the day, high protein at night and they must eat before 4 pm so they don't throw up at practice.  This makes for very interesting days!  I feel like a nutritionalist.  I'm constantly making sure they are getting what they need and not too much or too little.  So, the boys are on different teams (CJ missed the cutoff by 5 months) and Nikki is in the same age group as CJ, but she made varsity so she will cheer for a different team.  In case anyone is doing the math, I will be attending 3 games every Saturday!

Ok, I guess that's all for now.  I will update when I get back from Vegas.

Love you guys and miss you lots!

Mommabear

Hey Y'all,

Back from the "wilds" of Disney!  I had a great time.  Rested lots, got oodles of sun and had fun with the kids.  We were there for 10 days and I love camping at Disney.  Krissy came and joined us twice for a visit, and I really enjoyed seeing her.  She brought Justin and her friend Olympia once.  I really liked meeting her and enjoyed spending time with all of them.  I took LOTS of pictures of course!

Jon joined us for a couple of days and I didn't realize how much I missed him until I saw him.  He is home until Sunday, and I don't want to see him go.  I'm thinking, El Paso is not so far.  With all my travel, I should get some frequent flyer miles and so see him.

The second week of August I go to Vegas for 3 days (work related, but my mom, dad, Kaitlin and Matt, plus Myron will be there).  We go camping at Yogi for Labor Day weekend (4 days) and the very next Friday I go back to Disney for camping and Night of Joy.  Then the end of September I go to New York for 5-6 days.  It's going to be a very busy summer!

Work is very busy of course, but really fun!

The kids are all doing great.  They had a blast at Disney.  The boys are completely girl crazy (Lord help me through the next 6 years!) and the girls both had friends go camping with us, so they had a wonderful time.  They are all enjoying summer camp, and are not ready to go back to school.

We are getting the house finished up and then putting it on the market.  I'm actually looking forward to moving.  We've been here for 7 years and this is the longest I've lived in any one place.  So, I'm ready.

Chewie is doing wonderful and is still the love of my life!

I'm still in first in my fantasy baseball league.  Every week the founder of the all-girl league writes an article on our team, and every week, he says how wonderful I'm doing and how I'm the "powerhouse of the league."  As a Words of Affirmation, this is great!

My diet and exercise are really paying off.  I've dropped about 25 pounds so far and I've dropped 3 dress sizes.  I'm very happy with my progress, plus how I'm doing it.  I only eat when I'm hungry, I eat good foods, stay away from sweets and bread and walk miles every night.  My body loves exercise!  Because I'm not giving up "everything," soI can see myself staying with this and keeping the weight off. 

Ok, I guess that's all the news.  I could go on and on, but really, who wants that?

I miss you guys and love you all!  I'll try to update on a regular basis from now on.  Plus, if someone will step up to the plate, I could actually post pics on my posts.  Anyone?  Really, some of them are really good...

Mommabear

Well, it's only been a couple of days.  See, I'm not the ultimate slacker I used to be.

I performed a wedding today.  It was really beautiful.  It was held in the garden of the bride and groom.  I thought I would do a simple civil service, but the couple liked my ideas of adding a lot of the tradional stuff.  I felt good about giving them a special service. I had a lot of fun and felt like I was a part of something really special.

You know what, not much has happened in two days.  I did teach Mikayla how to take pictures tonight.  We had a "modeling" session.  We had a blast.  When she got the hang of the camera (meaning, no pictures of her fingers or me with my head chopped off) she decided to tell me how to pose.  It was hilarious.  "Mommy, put your hand on your hip like this.  Now bend your knee up, turn your head this way."  It was so much fun.  Btw, she's pretty good.  Some of her pictures came out really good.  And her suggestions were perfect.  She also had me change my clothes 4 times.  "Mommy, I think we need a different outfit, let's see what you have."  It was just precious!  She also got to the point when she could look at the picture and tell me if I would like it.  "You won't like this one, your butt looks big, let's take another one."   Yeah, that part was not so "precious."  Ok, actually it was!

So, how about some updates Miss Krissy and Miss Hutch?  I know you guys are very busy, but if I can do it, I know you can.

Hey Hutch, guess who I spent over half an hour talking to today?  Your mom!  I ran into her at the store and we talked and talked.  It was great!  You know, usually all moms can do is brag on their kids, but with us, we spent the entire time bragging on each other's kids!  And of course praising each other because we did such a great job raising you and Matt.  It was really nice.  I like your mom a lot.

Well, I guess that's all going on in my life.  I love you guys and miss you sooooo much.

Mommabear

Ok, Ok, I know.  I have again become the ultimate slacker.  I have been so busy these past few months.  I still love my laptop so much, but I've spent so much time updating my pictures and running my fantasy baseball team, I've had no time to post.  But honestly, those of you that read this know just about everything going on in my life.

So, I am having all my old picture negatives put on CD so I can download them to my computer.  It's been so much fun seeing those pics again.  Janet, I even have that great one of you and I at the pumpkin patch now.  If you don't have it, let me know.  I've been spending tons of time downloading the pictures, naming them, dating them and putting them in special folders.  I may need to get some help on the dating from each of you.  Usually, I can tell approximately when they are by the ages of the kids, but not always.

So, my fantasy team is still in first.  I'm the person all the girls are out to get.  All the messages mention going after me.  It's really fun.

Jon comes home in two weeks!  Yeah!  He will join us at Disney for a few days.  I'm really looking forward to going camping this year.  It is going to be so much fun.

I have just about completed the house and will be listing it shortly.  It is kinda sad, but time to move on.

I will be making so many changes in my life in the next few months it is scary, but I know they will make my life better in the long run.  I will need your prayers and good thoughts.

Let's see... the 4 little kids are all in summer camp and having a ball.  The boys start football when we get back from Disney.  They are both so excited.  Mikayla is getting so big and Nicole has become a little lady.  KK is recovering from her accident and working hard with school and 2 jobs and Matt is busy with 2 jobs and 3 classes this summer. 

Work is great.  Chicago was fun!  We explored the city and then worked our butts off.  We had a great lunch of deep-dish pizza with lots of laughs that made the pizza taste even better.  It was a short trip, but fun nonetheless.  I met lots of great people and that is always fun. It's amazing how much you can fit into a 36 hour trip.

As most of you know, I have been very sick for over a week.  The goods news is it seems to be over, the great news is I lost 14 pounds!  I also have doctor's orders to walk twice a day and drink lots of water.  So I should be able to keep most of the weight off.

The past week has been a mixed bag of emotions... intense, stressful and just plain great!  I don't know how many of these kind of weeks I can take, but sometimes really great things come from what looks to be a totally bad situation.

So, I think you are all updated.  See, even with 2 months to update on, it still is kind of boring.  I know most of you are so busy you are not updating, but I could use some news, especially from Krissy.

My love to all of you.  I miss you guys so much, you know who you are!!

Mommabear