Last night I felt the panic a parent feels when they can't find a child. If you haven't experienced it yet, I'm sure, at some point, you will. Jeremy and I took the boys to Belk at Dogwood Mall to find Papaw a birthday present and then we were going out to dinner. We took the escalator up to the Men's Department to look around and of course, the boys were hiding in racks and running around. After only a couple of minutes we couldn't find Garrett. We started calling his name justing waiting any minute for him to come out..... He didn't. I picked Graham up and Jeremy and I both started walking around calling Garrett's name. We walked over to the children's area and a lady made a call that we were looking for our son. I described his clothes and gave her his name and age. Still, I'm okay and I'm thinking, "Jeremy better tear his behind up when we see him." For some reason I am unusually calm in situations like this, and Jeremy- as always- is.
After a few more minutes we're both walking around the 2nd floor of Belk hollering Garrett's name. I can hear Jeremy's voice across the whole store. I am beginning to hear the panic in his voice. Now when Jeremy gets scared I get REALLY scared, since he is always the calm one. It is very unusual for Garrett to hide from us or even to walk away from us. My heart started pounding and I could feel tears welling up in my eyes. Meanwhile, EVERYONE - including employees and customers start looking for Garrett. I am still walking around with the belt in my hand that we were going to buy. (Renee, I thought of you when I couldn't find Graham and I was running around with that pizza in my hand, and you said, "Sha, put the pizza down!") I threw the belt down somewhere, as I just kept aimlessly walking around the same path, not knowing what to do. I just wanted to sit down in the floor with Graham and cry, but I knew that wouldn't help. I just prayed, "Lord, please help us find Garrett. I can't take losing my son!"
At this point it feels like it's been an eternity, but I think it had been about 20 minutes. Jeremy had looked in every rack and the dressing rooms, elevator, and bathrooms. (He told me later that he thought that someone could have gotten him and taken him to a dressing room or something and hurt him in no time. - I'm so glad he waited until later to tell me this.) Belk had initiated their response team to all the exit doors and had called the police. FINALLY, I heard someone say, "We found him!" and a lady was carrying him.
I walked over to Garrett with a scared look on his face. (We DID NOT tear his booty up - I couldn't do that!) We took him in our arms and told him how scared we were and how Momma was crying because I thought I might not ever see him again. I told him they had even called the police. He said, "They were going to put me in jail???" I said, "No, baby. They were going to help look for you." Then he says, "I sorry, Momma. I not do that again." I asked him where he had been and he told me he was under that red table. (It was a display table covered with a red tablecloth.) I said, "What were you doing?" And he said, "Hiding." I said, "Did you hear us calling you?" And he said, "Yes." (At this point we are trying not to laugh.) I said, "Why didn't you come out? Were you afraid you were going to get into trouble?" He said, "Yes."
We finally made our purchases and on the way to the van used to opportunity to talk to Garrett about what to do if a stranger ever tried to get him. As we went to bed we said our prayers and thanked God that we found our Garrett. Life just wouldn't be the same without that sweet boy who loves everybody, loves to "go somewhere" and keeps us laughing. I cannot imagine the panic and fear a parent feels when they never find their child. Needless to say, we let Garrett fall asleep in our bed with us. I think he snuggled in a little closer to me than usual, or maybe it just seemed that way!!!
Friday, July 11, 2008
Sunday, July 6, 2008
We remember Nana...
Yesterday we went home to Meridian for the night to see family. This morning we went to church with Papa, and afterwards we were talking about how we should stop by Nana's grave to remember her. Garrett wanted to go and take some flowers but we didn't have any, so Jeremy picked 2 wildflowers for the boys to put on her grave. We asked Garrett what he remembered about Nana and he said, "that pink drink." (She used to buy him a strawberry-banana smoothie from Sonic almost everytime she came into town.) It was so sweet seeing the boys put their flowers under Nana's name. She would be so proud of them and would be having so much fun with them, but I know it can't even come close to the JOY she is experiencing in Heaven with her SAVIOR!!!
Saturday, July 5, 2008
4th of July
Yesterday we went to Petal to my sister, Boo's house. We swam and then went to the festivities at Petal High School. The kids played on the jumpy-things and participated in the sack races and the watermelon eating contest. We ended the night with fireworks. (Garrett kept his ears covered the whole time!) We returned home last night around 11:30. Graham fell asleep before we even got on the highway in Petal. Garrett was alseep not long after that. We had fun visiting with our family!
Thursday, July 3, 2008
Good news and Bad news...
I'll start with the bad news...
Dory Yay-Yay, our fish, died yesterday. We've had her/him for about 6 months which is longer than we thought we would have it. We knew it had not been eating and acting funny lately and knew her time would be soon. Yesterday afternoon after Garrett's nap I walked into his room and saw Dory Yay-Yay lying at the bottom of the fish bowl on top of the rocks. (I thought fish float when they die!) Anyway, I waited until Jeremy came home to tell Garett. I thought Garrett would be so upset. Jeremy came into Graham's room where they were sitting in Graham's chair reading books together, and Jeremy said, "Garrett, I have some sad news...Dory Yay-Yay died." Garrett said, "Bring her in here and let me see." Jeremy did and he looked at the bowl and went, "Rrrroarrrr!" (I guess trying to wake her up!) Then he says, "We can go to the pet store and get another one!" He was real upset, can't you tell! So then Jeremy says, "Do you want to have a funeral for Dory Yay-Yay. That's when we dig a hole in the ground for her and tell her we are going to miss her." (Since we are still potty training we thought flushing her down the toilet might be a little traumatic since we are still working on poo-pooing in the potty!!!) Then I tell Garrett, "I know where we can bury her. We can bury her beside the driveway where that flower grows where we remember Nana." (where my one iris is!) Jeremy and Garrett go outside and bury her and Garrett comes back inside and says, "Momma, I real sad." I say, "Why, Garrett?" And he says, "Because I'm going to miss feeding Dory Yay-Yay and watching her swim." I just about cried. He wants to name his next fish Dory Yay-Yay, too!!!
Now some good news....
Garrett is potty trained!!! He now wears underwear!!! However, I still have to remind him to go to the potty. He doesn't come to me and tell me he has to go. He sleeps through the night in underwear with no accidents. He has been tee-teeing in the potty for awhile but not poo-pooing. Well, a couple of days ago he and Graham were playing outside and Garrett tee-tees in his underwear. He wants me to go inside and get him some more Spiderman underwear. I go in and when I come out he says, "Momma, I poo-pooed!" I say, "Where?" And he says, "Over there on the rocks!" (in the driveway). He was so proud. I guess he squatted down like a dog and did it. Jeremy asked me did I get on to him and I said, "No, at least he didn't do it in his underwear!"
So yesterday when Garrett gets up from his nap he wants to go outside and play and I tell him, "If you need to go to the bathroom, just go outside." (I did not specify tee-tee only.) I watched him tee-tee in the grass and a little later he came to tell me he poo-pooed in the driveway again, AFTER he came inside to wipe his booty with his Kandoo wipes. Now that boy ain't right!!! Between these two boys life is a hoot, and I just have to laugh my way through it!!
Dory Yay-Yay, our fish, died yesterday. We've had her/him for about 6 months which is longer than we thought we would have it. We knew it had not been eating and acting funny lately and knew her time would be soon. Yesterday afternoon after Garrett's nap I walked into his room and saw Dory Yay-Yay lying at the bottom of the fish bowl on top of the rocks. (I thought fish float when they die!) Anyway, I waited until Jeremy came home to tell Garett. I thought Garrett would be so upset. Jeremy came into Graham's room where they were sitting in Graham's chair reading books together, and Jeremy said, "Garrett, I have some sad news...Dory Yay-Yay died." Garrett said, "Bring her in here and let me see." Jeremy did and he looked at the bowl and went, "Rrrroarrrr!" (I guess trying to wake her up!) Then he says, "We can go to the pet store and get another one!" He was real upset, can't you tell! So then Jeremy says, "Do you want to have a funeral for Dory Yay-Yay. That's when we dig a hole in the ground for her and tell her we are going to miss her." (Since we are still potty training we thought flushing her down the toilet might be a little traumatic since we are still working on poo-pooing in the potty!!!) Then I tell Garrett, "I know where we can bury her. We can bury her beside the driveway where that flower grows where we remember Nana." (where my one iris is!) Jeremy and Garrett go outside and bury her and Garrett comes back inside and says, "Momma, I real sad." I say, "Why, Garrett?" And he says, "Because I'm going to miss feeding Dory Yay-Yay and watching her swim." I just about cried. He wants to name his next fish Dory Yay-Yay, too!!!
Now some good news....
Garrett is potty trained!!! He now wears underwear!!! However, I still have to remind him to go to the potty. He doesn't come to me and tell me he has to go. He sleeps through the night in underwear with no accidents. He has been tee-teeing in the potty for awhile but not poo-pooing. Well, a couple of days ago he and Graham were playing outside and Garrett tee-tees in his underwear. He wants me to go inside and get him some more Spiderman underwear. I go in and when I come out he says, "Momma, I poo-pooed!" I say, "Where?" And he says, "Over there on the rocks!" (in the driveway). He was so proud. I guess he squatted down like a dog and did it. Jeremy asked me did I get on to him and I said, "No, at least he didn't do it in his underwear!"
So yesterday when Garrett gets up from his nap he wants to go outside and play and I tell him, "If you need to go to the bathroom, just go outside." (I did not specify tee-tee only.) I watched him tee-tee in the grass and a little later he came to tell me he poo-pooed in the driveway again, AFTER he came inside to wipe his booty with his Kandoo wipes. Now that boy ain't right!!! Between these two boys life is a hoot, and I just have to laugh my way through it!!
Tuesday, July 1, 2008
Deeper Still in Atlanta
This past weekend 8 of us girls went to Atlanta to the Deeper Still Event to hear Priscilla Shirer, Beth Moore, and Kay Arthur speak. The whole weekend was awesome, except for getting lost in my van. (I was the driver!) We heard Priscilla on Friday night and got to our hotel around 11-midnight. We were exhauseted and went straight to bed that night. Saturday morning we had to be up early. (We decided taking the MARTA transportation system would be a better idea!) On Saturday Kay and Beth spoke. I also forgot to mention that Mandisa sang on Friday night and the praise and worship was awesome, too, led by Travis Cottrell. The conference ended Saturday at 5:30 then we all walked and found a place to eat downtown. Saturday night we stayed up "bonding" til around midnight. We had such a good time. I think this is becoming an annual trip for us, so anybody who wants to go next year (don't know yet where it will be) is welcome to go.
By the way, I can explain the pictures below, but I won't say who they are (for my protection!!!) Saturday night the girls in my room are waiting on the girls in the other room to come and join us for some "bonding time." We opened the door and the top picture is what we saw!!! These are NOT wigs - that is their real hair!!! Then we all teased our hair. I know - we sound like we are in Jr. High, but that's the fun of it. I hate I didn't get any pictures of us when we did look cute. I promise we did have some good "Jesus time" too!!
By the way, I can explain the pictures below, but I won't say who they are (for my protection!!!) Saturday night the girls in my room are waiting on the girls in the other room to come and join us for some "bonding time." We opened the door and the top picture is what we saw!!! These are NOT wigs - that is their real hair!!! Then we all teased our hair. I know - we sound like we are in Jr. High, but that's the fun of it. I hate I didn't get any pictures of us when we did look cute. I promise we did have some good "Jesus time" too!!
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Back from the beach...
We spent Wednesday-Sunday at Seagrove Beach, just down from Seaside. Jeremy's whole family went - 19 of us and stayed in a big house with a pool. However, Jeremy didn't get to stay with us, but I have the best husband ever. He was on-call Tuesday night before we left and got about 3 hours sleep, drove us to the beach, spent the night with us, drove back home by himself and went back on-call Friday night and only got a couple of more hours of sleep again! He didn't want me to have to drive all that way by myself, and he just wanted to be with us as much as he could. He said he wouldn't have anything else to do anyway!
This year Graham absolutely loved the water, whether it was on the beach or the pool. Garrett preferred the pool. And, he did very well since he just finished swimming lessons. He was jumping and swimming all over that pool!
Our last night we went on a 2-hour sunset Pirate cruise for the kids. It was so much fun watching them. First, we had a huge water fight (it was planned) with a big boat that came up next to us. Then the kids got their faces painted and wore pirate hats and had a sword fight. Then we picked up a treasure chest out of the water and they got to look in it for treasure. At the end they all did the "limbo" and the "chicken dance." They shot a cannon on the ship a couple of times and Garrett didn't like that! Other than that all the kids loved it. If you can ever go to Panama City and do it, your kids would love it (if they're about 3 years old and over!) Our trip was great other than Jeremy wasn't there with us!!!
This year Graham absolutely loved the water, whether it was on the beach or the pool. Garrett preferred the pool. And, he did very well since he just finished swimming lessons. He was jumping and swimming all over that pool!
Our last night we went on a 2-hour sunset Pirate cruise for the kids. It was so much fun watching them. First, we had a huge water fight (it was planned) with a big boat that came up next to us. Then the kids got their faces painted and wore pirate hats and had a sword fight. Then we picked up a treasure chest out of the water and they got to look in it for treasure. At the end they all did the "limbo" and the "chicken dance." They shot a cannon on the ship a couple of times and Garrett didn't like that! Other than that all the kids loved it. If you can ever go to Panama City and do it, your kids would love it (if they're about 3 years old and over!) Our trip was great other than Jeremy wasn't there with us!!!
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