2014 Reflections

As I reflect over the year,  I am amazed at the changes that have occurred.  It makes me wonder what will happen next year.  We have lost some good people,  and we have added to the family.

This year, I lost one of my favorite uncles.  Frank Griffin went home to be with the Lord.  He had battled many cancers,  but he could not beat lung cancer.  There is a praise that comes from this - I will see him again.  His doctor led him to accept Christ as his Savior.  This was a prayer of my family's for a long time.  Frank is having the best Christmas this year. I also lost a friend in Ohio who lost her battle with ALS.

In Michael's family, there have been a lot of happy times. One of his nephew's, Kyle, got married,  two of his nephews became fathers for the first time,  and another nephew, Geoff, is getting married in two weeks.  There was one more change,  but I'll tell about that one later. We are so happy to watch all these boys become responsible young men.

We were able to go to Gulf Shores with my parents this summer. It was a fun week. Michael and the girls went surf fishing,  we went shopping,  and we got to spend quality time together.  I can't wait to go back next summer.

Updates on our immediate family:

Rachel is in seventh grade.  Yes, that means she is in middle school.  She has become very interested in drawing and is really good at it.

Abigail is a junior in high school.  She received her class ring in September. She also got her driver's license in October. Thankfully our insurance didn't increase too much.  She went on her first international mission trip in April to Nicaragua and loved it.  I hope she will continue to have a heart to help others.

The big news comes from Andrew and Jessica.  They gave us a great present on Thanksgiving day - they became parents to a beautiful baby girl.  Her name is Maylee Ann.  She weighed seven pounds, one ounce and was 20 3/4 inches long.  That means Michael and I are grandparents. You can call us Grand Rock and Gigi.

Like I said - lots of changes. Such is life, right? This is what keeps us going and growing. 2014is just about gone.  I pray that 2015 will be filled with more thrills and for all.

What?! Has it Really been Three Years?

I guess I need to look at this more often.  A lot has changed since the last post.

I won't go into all of the changes right now, but I think I will be using this more now that is more accessible to me.  For now, I just want to do a little shout out to Scotties tissues!

I have a box of Scotties that I really like.  I received it for free from Smiley.  It's been great to have around during this allergy season.  I am amazed at how environmentally responsible this company is.  They plant three trees for every one that they use in their products.

Latest Updates

It's been a long time since this has been updated. Last summer was a busy time of surprise.
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First surprise of the summer was a party for Michael's mom. She turned 80!! What's hard to believe is that she was diagnosed with Congestive Heart failure 15 years ago. The party was a picnic at a local park in North Carolina.

Second surprise was a reception for my parents' 50 wedding anniversary. It was planned from my house and took place in Atlanta. The surprise was kept from them until about two weeks before the actually party. One of the men in their Sunday School class let the cat out of the bag.

The third surprise of the summer was taking the girls to Disney World. They didn't have a clue about where we were going until we were pulling into the place. We went with Mary Kay and her family. We also saw some good friends from the past - the Binghams!

I'm going to try and keep this updated better. If not, you might be hearing from my oldest, Abigail. She's become a pretty good writer herself!

NEW CAR

Here are the two pictures I took the other night of the new car. We hope it will last as long as the old one.

Out with the Old

We have taken the plunge and bought a new car. Our car was 40 miles away from 200,000 miles . With this in mind, there were too many things that were needing to be fixed and we thought it would be more cost effective to et rid of it instead of paying for the repairs. Here are some of the final pictures of the old car:

We broke down and bought a 2005 Pacifica. So far, everything is great with it. No payments are due yet. We will see how much we like it when we have to start making those monthly payments. We have not had to do that in about five years.

Holidays are Coming

The holidays are upon us and is anyone ready? My husband still has a 'Bah Humbug' attitude toward Christmas. I wish he could get a little more excited for the girls' sake. I love to decorate for the holidays, but he won't do it until two weeks before Christmas. This year we will have three trees - one in the living room, one in Abigail's room, and one in Rachel's room. The one in the girls' room are small, artificial, prelit ones; the one for the living room will be real.

Thanksgiving will be spent with the Brechts this year. My whole family will be there for the day. The girls and I are planning on staying through the weekend to do some shopping for Christmas. Hopefully there will be some good sales on Black Friday. This will be my first time to be able to get out early and shop. The kids will hopefully sleep in and MK and I can go shopping without them. I know it would help me to be able to get some presents for the girls.

Christmas will be spent with the Rock clan. Michael's family has decided to do things a little different this year. We are not buying presents for the couples in the family. Instead, we are going to choose a family that we know who is need of help and pool the money that we planned to spend and give it to a deserving family. We have talked about doing similar things in the past; this year just seems to be the year that everybody is in agreement that there are actually people out there that genuinely need the help.

I pray that those of you who read this have a safe and wonderful holiday season. Merry Christmas and remember the true meaning of the holiday.

A Weekend of Firsts

What a weekend! We went to Atlanta to watch our high school football team play North Gwinnett. Two games were played that night, so we took the girls to my parents' house. It was the first season game for our team and looked like it was going to be their first lost. After three quarters, our team came alive and pulled out the win. While we were at the game, Rachel lost her first tooth!! Here's picture of how she looks now:

Saturday, the guys went to play golf. Marykay and I took the kids to Stone Mountain Park. The guys me us over there after their round of golf. Our family went on Sky Hike for the first time. For those that don't know, this is a new attraction at the park. There are three levels to it; we only went on the first level which is only 12 feet off the ground. While we were on the rope course part, Darrell and Marykay took their kids on the children's part of the course for the first time! Daniel was climbing the rope wall and lost his balance on the way down. He now looks like he's been beat up. All four kids tried climbing the rock wall. Rachel and Abigail made it to the top; Rachel beat Abigail!

Before we got on the course, there were two people that got scared on the second and third levels. I thought that might deter the girls from doing it, but they didn't back down. They really surprised me. I will do it again another time. If you get the chance, I really think you should try it!

New Year, Same Schools

School started yesterday and all went well. Michael and I were afraid that they would be up before me since they were so excited about starting. Thankfully, I had to wake them up. Here are the new outfits for the new year:

Abigail is beginning band and will be playing the flute. She is so excited. The band director told us at 'Meet the Teacher' that she did not have to have her flute at school until next Monday. She took it on the first day. She is also starting the year with braces and will have them until eighth grade (if all goes well).

Rachel got to go to the dentist the day before school. She got a good report - no cavities and some loose teeth. Hopefully the first one will come out soon. She will then be able to compare with her sister and Daniel what the Tooth Fairy pays.

In our class, we have 25 students. Some are siblings of former students; others are new to the area and new to the school. We were hoping for smaller classes this year since we had two new schools open in our district but that wasn't the case. It should be a challenging year. We have one special needs with us for half the day. We'll see if I still have my long hair by the end of the year.

Preteen Time

It's official! She turned ten on Sunday. We have started into the 'tween' time of the life of our daughter. The girls and I ended our two week stay with my family in Atlanta with Abigail's birthday celebration. Once home, we got to celebrate again with Michael.

Today, Abigail got what a lot of kids cannot wait to get, only to start counting the days until they are done. She got her braces on and has to go back next week for an appliance that goes across the roof of her mouth. It is not an expander, just kind of like the spacer that she had on the bottom. Here is a picture of her from a couple of weeks ago - before the braces:

And here is a picture of her with braces. If you look close, you can see the colors she cose for the bands (orange and purple - GO TIGERS!!!):

School's Out, Now What?

Ok, so it has been a while since my last blog. There has been a lot happening here. I will try to cover it all if I can.

At the beginning of May, we did our annual hatching of eggs in our class at school. We were not as successful this year as we have been in the past. We had 24 eggs; 20 of them hatched and 2 were not fertile. For some reason, two of the chicks did not have it in them to hatch from their eggs and one that did hatch had a problem with one of his legs. Here are some pictures of our little ones:

Also, for those of you who have not seen the girls latly, here are their spring pictures from school. A friend of mine here swears Rachel is a little Michael (in girl form of course). Abigail played fast pitch softball this year again; her team finished second for the season. Abigail will be in fifth grade next year and Rachel will be in first. My, how time flies, right?

In case you're wondering, Michael is in the process of getting his shotgun ready for the first boy who asks either of his girls out. You know the new song out: "I'll probably be up all night, just cleaning my gun."

We are getting ready to keep Daniel and Emma for two weeks here in SC. In July, the girls and I are going to stay with everyone in GA for a couple of weeks. One of those weeks is is the mini camp at Mountain Park United Methodist Chiurch, the other week is VBS at Lilburn, which all the kids will be attending. We hope everyone has a happy and safe summer Spend time iwth the ones you love - you never know how much time you will truly have with them!

Here's the Latest

We finally got our new computer. Now I can update everyone on the latest here in SC.

Michael was released by the doctor last week. He is now officially back to full duty at work. He is just glad to be back behind the whell of the truck. He is now hoping that softball will start soon so that he can see how good the surgeon was. We went bowling this past weekend. The only complaint he had was hist wrist was hurting.

Two weeks ago we went to visit Michael's mom in NC. While we were there, we took the family to the circus. It was the first time the girls have eer been to one. It was also the first time in a long time for the rest of us as well. Here are some pictures of what we saw.

A good time was had by all.

Before too long, we will have pictures of softball. Abigail is going to be playing again this year. We could not get Rachel to sign up - maybe next year.

Wintertime Fun

Hard to believe that we are almost into the second month of the new year and I have not had anything to say. OK - for those of you that know me know that I always have something to say; I just have not had time to post anything.

To catch some of you up with what has been happening with us, here is a brief synopsis:

• Michael's mom had a defibrillator put in shortly before Christmas;
• Michael's nephew, Kyle Hardee, had surgery on his knee for the second time;
• Michael had surgery to repair a ruptured disc and is out on short term disability again.

We are spending this weekend with my family in Atlanta and having a fun time. My girls got to play in snow in two states within the same week. We had about an inch of snow this past Thursday at home in SC. Today in Atlanta, we got about a couple of inches and they got to play in it with Michael, Darrell, Daniel and Emma. I don't do cold, so I took the pictures and went inside to wait for hot chocolate. Here are some pictures of them building a couple of snowmen. They also threw a few snowballs at each other.

The kids enjoyed spending time playing outside with Hershey in the backyard too. I just hope none of the kids get sick after all this. Both of the girls have perfect attendance for the school year. I hate for that to be messed up because they were having fun enjoying time outside.

Working Hard

First, let me publicly thank my parents for coming to spend a weekend with the girls so that Michael and I could get away for a night. We stayed at a B&B in Tyron, NC and ate dinner in Landrum, SC, Friday night. On the way home, we stopped at a couple of yard/estate sales. Believe it or not, we did not buy a thing. This was the first weekend that Michael had off in a while, so we thought it would be a perfect time to 'drive around.'

This past weekend, he had another weekend that he did not have to work, so I had him work around the house. We went Friday afternoon to Home Depot before going to the local football game. The football game was ok. the weather could not have been better. We beat Gaffney 49-14. It should have been a higher score, but we gave them the touchdowns. Saturday was the day to paint. Michael painted both of the girls' rooms. Sorry, but Abigail's bright yellow room is no longer; it has been replaced with a green hue. Rachel's room is a lavender color. I will try to post some pictures later. I spent most of the day stripping the bed that will be put in Abigail's room when we finish it. Once the stain is finished, we are going to have a friend of ours put a clear coat on it and Rachel's bed to protect them for the next two hundred years.

The final project of the day was replacing the light in the kitchen. We took down the three-light fixture and replaced it with a nice fluorescent fixture. Now you can see everything in the kitchen. If anyone would like the three-light fixture, you can have it. It's a nice fixture for a smaller area, just not in our kitchen.

Abigail goes on her first field trip for the year next week. Her class is going to Stone Mountain, GA. How fitting for a girl who has a Mountain membership? She gets to ride on a charter bus with her class there, but not home. We are going to come for the weekend, so Mary Kay is going to pick her up from the park. the kids can hardly wait to see their cousins.

Summer Vacation

We waited and waited and now it is over. Vacation with the family has come and gone - and we all survived. This is the first (and probably the last year) all of the Brechts have gone on vacation together. We spent a week at a beautiful house at Gulf Shores, AL. My mother-in-law was there as well.

We did family pictures at the end of the week at Fort Morgan. It is a great place to make pictures. This one is where we were trying to get everyone set for the family shot. I am sure Mary Kay will have better pictures (Darrell was the main photographer for this photo shoot). We tried to find a location that was easy to get to and not too much sun for Daddy. He seems to be doing great since his heart surgery.

We spent a little time at the beach, a lot of time at the pool, and some tof the time shopping. The guys went to play golf a couple of times during the week. We also took the kids to Waterville USA and The Track. Everyone enjoyed the water park; most enjoyed the go-karts and I think all enjoyed putt-putt at The Track.

Now, it's time to get ready for school... Hayden and Abigail are going into fourth grade, Sophie will be in first, Rachel and Daniel will be in kindergarten and Emma will be in a Mother's Morning Out program during the week. No more babies in our families. Once schools starts, we will begin planning for next year - we are thinking maybe Disney World.

Summertime Activities

Here are some pictures from what we have been doing this summer. We have gone to Atlanta for Daniel and Emma's birthday party. After that, we brought Emma home to spend the week with us to give Mary Kay a break. We went to Discovery Island, which is a neat water park near Greenville. We had a good time being a family of five for the week.

Darrell, Mary Kay and Daniel came in Friday to spend the weekend and take Emma back home. Darrell and Michael played golf at Furman. Saturday night, we all went to Cheeseburger in Paradise. It was an experience that we might go back again sometime.

We are all ready for the beach. We go as a family in three weeks. Once we get back, I have two weeks before both girls will be heading to school. Abigail is going into fourth grade and Rachel will be in kindergarten.

More pictures from other activities will be posted in future blogs.

School's Out...

Yeah!!! School's out for the summer, and now I have to find things to do with the girls while Michael works.
Here is a picture of Abigail with two of her favorite friends from school on their last day of school. They seem to be the three musketeers. I hope they remain good friends forever.

As for things to do, we went on our first adventure this weekend. We went to visit a couple of SC state parks - Jones Gap and Table Rock. Both parks have nature trails that you can hike; however, we didn't hike at Jones Gap. We may go back there later in the summer to see what else they have to do. Table Rock was beautiful and had more to do. We took the girls out on paddleboats and saw a family of geese. They have a beach area similar to Stone Mountain's. I think we will go back there again later this summer. Mom said that she remembers going there for picnics with her family. It would be fun to do that with family and make new memories.



Michael said Table Rock looks like Stone Mountain with hair. We'll need to take a picture and see if he's right.

Accidents will Happen

Just a quick update on what's going on in Spartanburg...

Six weeks ago the weather was nice, and we decided to finally work on our yard. You know how hard it is to get the weather and finances to cooperate. Well, it did and boy did we find out how wonderful God really is. Michael borrowed a friend's four-wheeler and the neighbor's aerator to prepare it for fertilizer and all the other stuff you put on your grass to make it look pretty. The girls had been begging to ride on the four-wheeler, so Michael obliged. While doing our yard, the neighbor two doors down asked for her yard to be done too. My husband told her that would be fine. He had just told the girls to hold on, started backing up, and then heard screaming from the girls. Abigail had flipped off the back of the four-wheeler and her feet went in between the bar attached to the aerator and the aerator itself. He then proceeded to yell for me. I was in our front yard, fixing an area that we were going to concrete later. Long story short, we ended up in the hospital for four days.

God is good - things could have been much worse than they were. Abigail ended up with stitches in both feet, a walking boot on one foot and IV antibiotics for most of her Spring Break. Thank you all that prayed for us during that time. She is doing great! She played in her first ball games this past week; the doctor has released her to run and jump and do all the activities she could not do with her hurt feet. Her coach has her playing first base. He thought it would help her since it doesn't require as much running as other positions. David did say he may move her to shortstop before the season ends. Below are pictures of the aerator that she fell on; you can see how sharp the spikes are when you see the mulch on it.

School is almost over and our summer will begin. We are in the process of planning what we want to do. Some things on our schedule are: going to the beach, halping family get houses updated, and anything else we can think of that will keep Mom, Abigail and Rachel busy while Dad works.

Christmas 2006

Yes, Christmas has come and gone and we have finally finished all of our Christmas celebrations for 2006. This weekend was spent with my family to open the final Christmas presents. The girls were so excited to get their Doodle Animals - Rachel got a horse to write on and Abigail got a bear. Both are also excited about other toys they received as well.

This was a bittersweet Christmas for us in NC. This was our first Christmas without Daddy Rock. We all spent time remembering previous Rock Christmas celebrations. Mama Rock seems to be doing well. She has her moments, but she seems to be adjusting well. When things get a little rough, she goes on trips to visit family. She was able to take some time and help Pamela get settled in her new home. We are so glad to have her and the family close again.



Below are some pictures from the Rock and Brecht Christmas gatherings. We pray that this year will bring all of our friends and family blessings beyond measure.