Drive Safely

I know a lot of you already know, but I thought I would fill in those non-family members that read our blog about my cousin Kristin. For those who do not know her, she is my cousin and we are about the same age and since we were babies we were inseparable. In the picture from my last blog, she is the little blond girl. My Grandpa called us "The Two Kris's (or Crys's if you want to spell it my way!) We often times would meet at my grandparents house and spend a few days together with them. When I moved to Tennessee I thought I would probably die because I wouldn't be able to see her anymore. We wrote almost daily and tried to always one-up the other one by sending goofy cards or gifts, sometimes really cool posters and things. My dreams came true about a year after I moved, her and her family moved here! It was amazing, for the first time in our lives we got to go to school together. Over the years we have remained close, until just recently, but I won't go into that. On Monday night, April 12, Kristin was in a very bad car accident. She was flown by life star to UT hospital with multiple injuries. She remained in ICU for the better part of the week, and had surgery on Friday on her spinal cord and her leg. She initially had bleeding in her brain and her spleen, but they were able to get control of that eventually. She received several blood transfusions. She also has a "nick" in her liver, but the doctors said that will heal itself. She also has a broken pelvis, in several places, a broken shoulder, broken ribs and a gash on her head that needed staples. She has a place on her lower leg that looks like a shark bit her, and she will eventually have a skin graft on that. She is in a room now, and is talking a little more and doing better. It was very scary for a while, though. And she has a very long road to recovery. She will eventually be moved to a rehab center. She was thrown from the truck, and it is a miracle that she is alive. I find myself thanking God every day the he spared her life. I know she has a lot of work ahead of her to get better and back to being whole again, but I know she can dig down deep and find the strength to do it, and I am also praying daily for that. Please remember her and her mom, especially, my Aunt Margaret Ann in your prayers. She is always by her side, and is wearing herself out to be there. I guess I knew how dangerous cars were, but I am reminded of it now. Everyone drive safely, and don't let your cell phone or anything else be a distraction. It only takes a second for a terrible thing like this to happen.

Happy Easter 1977?

AMAZING! And kind of scary for me because I can see that I am the spitting image of my mom, who is shown here when she would have been about 10 years younger than I am currently! I think this was probably in 1977, but I could be a year or two off either way. That would make me, the little one in the front in the sailor dress about 5 and my sister, Nikki, about 8 and my mom 27, give or take. Kristin in the front, the only blonde in the bunch, would have been 4, Kellee on the far left 7 (or almost) and Kim I guess 9 or 10. I think I remember this Easter Sunday, but most of them we spent with Kim, Kellee and Kristin so I could be just remembering them all! I do for sure remember loving to wear an Easter Hat! That was my favorite thing about Easter. Wonder why we don't do that much anymore? I stole this picture off my sister's Facebook page, thank you, Nikki. I thought everyone would get a kick out of it. I can definitely see Billie in me as a little girl, too. How fun. Good times, I was a very lucky little girl to grow up with all of my cousins around me. The five of us were always so close and always had the best times together. I hope you all had a great Easter weekend. I will try to post more Easter pics later in the week when I can.

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter Eve, all! We took Billie this morning to the "The Egg Drop" at Powell High School. This first picture is from that. They dropped eggs out of a helicopter! It was so much fun. Billie got to jump in "bounce house" things and slides and we saw lots of friends there. There was a huge turn out, tons of people. ONE LIFE Church hosted it and they did a great job. Billie didn't win any special prizes, but she got to get lots of candy and see some friends so she was happy.

Billie and I went to the zoo yesterday, and the other pictures are from there. They had baby camels that just loved Billie. I am sure they were really hoping she would give them some snacks, but she thought they just loved her so that is all that matters. We spent a good while watching "George" the one year old Chimp. SO CUTE! Oh my goodness, I totally see why people have them as pets because they are so much like little human babies, but they grow up to be strong, scary Chimps. Billie had a wonderful time at the zoo, and so did I. Matt worked half a day and then golfed with a friend in the afternoon. He had a great time. His office has actually moved, they moved Monday to their new location and he over looks the golf course all day, making him want to be out there golfing instead of working! So he plans to take advantage of the close proximity and get a lot more golf in from now on. I am so happy he has the opportunity!

I am trying to study while Matt and Billie wash the cars. I am sure I got the better end of that deal! I hope everyone is enjoying the beautiful weather and you all have a wonderful Easter. I am in awe of the sacrifice made for my sins on the cross this weekend so long ago. I am so thankful Jesus washed away my sins so that I may have eternal life. Love to you all!