What is missing?

So, today was spent trying to help mom tidy up the house some since they have been having work done on the inside of the house the past few months. Needless to say, things have been a little out of order. I managed to somewhat tidy the "basement" area of the house and the kitchen somewhat. I also managed to stumble across a Christmas card that interested my parents a great deal seeing as how it had money tucked inside! :)

Today is "National Missing Children's Day." This is one of those that we need to take the time out to take a little more seriously than eating snail. I am not an expert on missing children but I do know the children that are reported missing or kidnapped on the news or in a newspaper are but a blip on the radar of the actual number of kids that go missing on a daily basis. I began to grow curious about what the actual statistics were about how many kids go missing each year and this is what I found on one website.

The U.S. Department of Justice reports

• 797,500 children (younger than 18) were reported missing in a one-year period of time studied resulting in an average of 2,185 children being reported missing each day.
• 203,900 children were the victims of family abductions.
• 58,200 children were the victims of non-family abductions.
• 115 children were the victims of “stereotypical” kidnapping. (These crimes involve someone the child does not know or someone of slight acquaintance, who holds the child overnight, transports the child 50 miles or more, kills the child, demands ransom, or intends to keep the child permanently.)

A more positive statistic was, "Since 1984, NCMEC has assisted law-enforcement with more than 168,000 missing-child cases, resulting in the recovery of more than 157,720 children."

I sincerely hope you have never had to experience the kind of heartache that comes with missing a child. If you have experienced or known someone who has experienced this kind of difficulty in life my prayers are with you. I think we all look forward to seeing these dreadfully high numbers go down in the years to come but until then I encourage you to become as aware as possible on safe ways to keep this from happening to you or those you love.

Snails anyone?

Okay so it has been a while. I have been keeping myself a little busier over the weekend. Of course, the day I return to my blog I learn someone crazy made today "National Escargot Day." GROSS!!! I am not real sure why anyone would want to celebrate snails, much less eating them! YUCK!!

So anyhow, Saturday was the Marigold Festival in the little town of Winterville, where my parents grew up and where we went to church growing up. It is an event I looked forward to every year when I was younger and as I grew up. My dad was the announcer for the parade because he is just that awesome. Of course it is always fun to walk around the different booths that are set up in the park from the staple sand art to the surprising booth with huge turtles! Of course the day was not complete until dad and I had split a cup of delicious boiled peanuts and each of us wrangled our own share of homemade ice cream in different flavors. I managed to get away with a new book for a buck! Here are a few pictures from the festival, the rest will probably get uploaded when I get back to Germany. :)

Ok, well it is only letting me upload one picture for some reason! Saturday I also got to spend the afternoon with my old college roomie, Bray, at her baby shower. She is expecting her first, a baby boy, in July but will probably not last until July because the baby would be around 9 pounds if she waited. Bless her heart, she is ready! It was so good to see her and be able to celebrate with her at this exciting time in her life!

Later on Saturday we got a chance to celebrate my cousin, Tiffany, graduating from high school with some family. I know this is an exciting time in her life and we are proud of her. She is still unsure as to what God's plans are for her so please be in prayer about what her next step might be.

Sunday I spent the day with my mother-in-law's family. We went to church, had lunch, and just spent time together. Meme, Jonathan's grandmother, was not having a great day. Her throat was bothering her a lot so please continue to pray for her as she undergoes chemo treatments.

Monday and part of today was spent with Laura and the boys at her house and then we all headed into Athens Monday afternoon so Laura and I could meet up with my big brother John for a Giles siblings only dinner. It was a lot of fun to get together just the three of us. I can't think of the last time we have done that. It was definitely a nice treat on the visit home. Jonathan will get here Saturday afternoon so obviously I am very excited about that! We are looking forward to our time together at home before heading back to Germany.

Bye Bye Dirty Dishes

Today is "No Dirty Dishes Day." I was reminded of the times I clean out the leftovers in the fridge and end up with a sink like this. Dishes are my domain in our household. My husband despises doing the dishes. Every now and then I can rope him into drying them for me but usually it is my thing. I do not mind doing the dishes but I do despise how there are always dishes to do! We do have a dishwasher in our apartment but it is not very reliable nor very good at its job so it seldom gets used. I usually use it more as a drying rack for the clean dishes than anything else. :)

Anyhow, on the agenda today is my follow-up appointment at Emory. I would normally be okay with this, considering how much better I have gotten, but I am actually a little nervous. The main reason I am nervous is because for the first time in weeks I have a headache, the same type of headache that started all of this mess. This may not be a big deal in the long run but I really do not want to have to go back up on the amount of medication I am having to take. I have been able to drop down on the amount every week and been fine so I really do not want to have go back up because of headaches. Not to mention my face is all swollen and broken out from this medication and I would ideally like that to wear off before my husband gets here! Not exactly the first impression I am looking to make after a month apart. :( So hopefully this headache will go away and not return but we will see how everything goes.

Police Officer's Memorial Day

Let the record show that today is also "National Choc Chip Day" and I was very tempted to observe this holiday but within the last couple of months an event occurred in my hometown of Athens, Ga. that led me to remind everyone of this holiday instead. Police officers often do not get the credit they deserve for doing what they do day in and day out. Are there days when their job is boring and mundane? Absolutely! Are there days when they put their lives on the line to protect and serve? ABSOLUTELY!!! Nobody is better proof of this than Athens Clarke County Senior Police Officer Elmer "Buddy" Christian. Those native to Athens remember all to well the man hunt that went on for days when Christian was killed trying to stop a suspect in a carjacking. Christian had been with the police force of Athens since 2002 and left behind a wife and two young children. A five year old little girl and a two year old little boy will now go through the rest of their lives without their father. A wife is now a single mother who must take on two roles. I cannot imagine how challenging it is to have your entire world flipped upside down in one instant because of the profession your husband chose. I guess as a military wife I have to be able to fathom that possibility on some level. I ask of you today to remember that the military is not the only unit that stands up for your protection and safety. Remember to be thankful today, and everyday, for the men who live just down the street and put on a different uniform and fight a different kind of fight. Remember Christian and his family as I am sure they continue to adjust to their family dynamics changing.

Yesterday, as you might remember my parents and I spent the day with my nephews. We had a lot of fun hanging out, playing outside, and eating at Zaxby's (despite the numerous nudges for Old MacDonald's). In case you were wondering I did manage to get Jack to celebrate Dance Like a Chicken Day.

He was very good at it! He even had his head going! I love that boy!! We also managed to get a lot of playing time in outside as well. Here are a few pictures of our playtime outside.

Because one sword is just not enough!

How is it that the youngest is the one sitting?

Such a lazy playmate! ;)

Dance Like a Chicken Day!!

Whoo hoo!! Another exciting holiday comes around today!! It is "Dance Like a Chicken Day!" How much more fun can you get, right? I definitely plan on taking advantage of the fact that my parents and I are watching "the boys," ie Jack and Sam- my nephews, by getting them in on this one!! Maybe I will even have pictures to post later! Please join us in flapping those arms and pecking that head!!

Yesterday, I sadly did not have a chance to post because the blogger was down at the only opportune moment I had. Just so you don't feel like you missed out, yesterday was "Blame Someone Else Day." My parents and I had just the chance to do this but I will get to that in just a minute. My mom is off on Fridays so we got out and ran some errands and caught a movie. We went to watch Bridesmaids. I have to admit it was better than I thought it was going to be. I thought the entire movie would just be funny from what I had heard, and it was funny, but also pretty decent. After the movie, we headed back home to get ready to go to the Braves game. We were right on schedule until we got on I-20 where there was some kind of accident that left us stationery for about 45 minutes. Thus, we BLAMED the car accident on us being late and missing the first inning of the game. :( Anyhow, we had great seats on the first base side about 20 rows up, thanks to my awesome dad. It was a good game, even though we lost in the end I had a lot of fun. On Friday nights, they do fireworks so we were able to indulge in foreworks after the game which made it even better. I was able to get some great pictures but have not had a chance to upload any. So to suffice your visual needs I am stealing a generic photo from online! Sorry, but I have more important things to do like go dance like a chicken with my nephew! ;)

Limerick Day

Well today's chosen holiday is Limerick Day. I am no literary genius so I will not dare put you through reading a limerick I penned. Instead, I searched through some limericks online and found one I thought I would share with you in honor of the day.

The limerick is called "Take a Chance on Love" by Ray Lucero
"My friend I will tell you in advance
Please don't look at me askance
Love's not mere happenstance...
For you to enjoy true romance
Set fear aside, take a chance."

Granted not as excited as the holiday we celebrated yesterday, but I guess not everything can be so wonderful. :)  Well, there are no big plans on the agenda for today. I am going to attempt to begin my couponing adventures by organizing a notebook similar to what my sister has done in hopes of saving a little bit of money with the rest of the world. I do not believe I will ever appear on any episodes of the new show Extreme Couponing, but hopefully dollars will be saved along the way.

On a more meaningful note, life is full of unexpected news. Sometimes that news makes us dance in place and sometimes that news cripples us in fear. My husband recently had the latter. My husband's grandmother recently found out she has cancer. She is in the fourth stages and the cancer is in several parts of her body. She will be undergoing chemotherapy but it is just a tough situation. I have always hated when doctors put a timeline on people, they are so often wrong. My own grandmother was proof as she continued to be with us much longer than they anticipated. It is still never easy to hear someone tell you a loved one only has so long. My husband is very close to his grandparents. So please add my husband's family to your prayer list and remember them when you can. The visit home will be a little bittersweet and challenging but more rewarding in the end.

Eat What You Want Day

So I have become an enthusiast of discovering what obscure holidays occur on certain days. I think I will make this a regular part of my blog! Among other things today is "Eat What You Want Day." So treat yourself to your favorite treat no matter how fattening and do so without the lingering guilt because some person somewhere decided we deserve a day to eat whatever we want and not feel guilty about it. I think we should honor that person and their obscure holiday! Celebrating this holiday will be a small bit easier and more rewarding for me being stateside! :) I believe my treat I will indulge in will be one of these beauties...

Anyhow, enough about my intentions to indulge in a delicious Arby's roast beef sandwich. Time to actually update you on life. On the health front, my vision is much improved and I have even been able to drive!! Yay! Since I have been able to drive I have been able to visit some people who I missed dearly. Monday night I was able to surprise some of my former players from the Hart County tennis team by coming to the tennis banquet they had. It was so wonderful to see everyone again and it was so much fun to surprise them. I miss those guys and girls more than I thought I would. I did not want to head back at night since I had just started driving again so my dear friend Kaitlyn agreed to let me stay with her that night. So I stayed with her and Matt and was able to visit my Hartwell Elementary family the next day and check up on my students. Overall, it was a wonderful two days filled with surprising a lot of wonderful people that I missed and I was so grateful that I was able to do it.

The senior girls!

The guys team