My Son, the College Student

Wow. I didn't think this would be so hard. I mean, he's been in SERBIA all summer, for Pete's sake. Up until the moment he pulled out of the driveway yesterday, I thought it would be no big deal. Then tears came from nowhere! I blamed it on allergies, on not feeling well, on being tired from the Block Party, on missing 2 hormones pills this week... but the truth is, I'm going to miss him like crazy.

Here he is the day he came home from the hospital. All 10 pounds of him.



Wasn't he a cutie pie???

Hunter and Willard watching cartoons. Willard actually liked them more than Hunter did.

On this day, he got into the baby powder. He denied it being the guilty party, but something tells me he was lying.

Look, Mom! No teeth!

This is the boy who can stand up and make a speech in front of hundreds of people with little or no notice, but can't find Chapel Hill Road in Decatur without a GPS. The same one who can organize an entire event, but can't clean his room. He can rub elbows with politicians in D.C. but just recently learned to cut up his own steak.

He's growing up now and I'm so proud of him. He's a kid and I know he'll make mistakes, but he knows God has a plan for him. I love you, Hunter!

Cleaning out!

It's that time of year again. Our annual Block Party is August 14th so that means my house gets a good cleaning out. I've already collected 13 bags (that's the black HEFTY bags) full of things to give away, and I haven't even started on Haley and Karlie's room yet. I know it's hard to believe, but even with all that stuff gone, we're still packed to the rim with STUFF. How sad is that?!?!? You can remove 429 gallons of stuff and still have a 25 times more than we need.

I have a walk-in closet in the old master bath (now Haley and Karlie's bath) that we haven't been able to use in years. It used to be Willard's closet but somewhere over time, it became the place I stuck things that I didn't know where else to put. It's got everything from pageant dresses to hunting rifles. I found the airbrushed car tag that Willard had on his car in 1986... "Willard-n-Amy". haha. I also found the metal detector that we bought to try to find our wedding rings that he lost on our wedding day (you know that story!). I actually had a good time once I got in there digging around. It's looking better and there's not much going back in!

I've also decided to part ways with all my baby stuff. Goodbye highchairs, goodbye strollers... does this mean I'm finally over my need to have a baby in the house? No... it just means that I'll buy new stuff when/if I get one. (I hope Momar doesn't read my blog).

Our family is definitely complete. No new Garnett's. HOWEVER, I intend to keep fostering as long as they'll give them to me. I told DHR that I wanted to be the "go to" person if they need a short-term or emergency placement. I don't think I want to do anything long-term, but I would LOVE to have them for a few days (or weeks!). My phone rang last night after 10 p.m. and it was my social worker. My heart skipped a beat and I was already mentally getting my clothes on so I could head to Decatur to pick up a kid (or four like last time!) but she wasn't calling for that. :( She was calling to give me some sad news about one of the DHR employees, but it took me a minute to catch my breath.

Hope you all stay cool in this heat. I STILL prefer hot weather over cold weather, but this is getting a bit ridiculous!