Abbey Angel

I just wanted to take a moment and write about my Abbey Angel.  Sometimes as the 3rd of 4 children she has to fight and claw her way to the top of the family food chain.  This is just the reality of a large family.   She and her friend Justin came over last night for dinner and we had the most enjoyable, relaxing dinner in a long while.  Abbey was in the best mood and seemed to make everyone smile.   We laughed, joked, played Wii games and played with Justin's new dog Leo.  I remember when Abbey was a baby, she would wait for me to get her from the crib and greet me with the biggest smile you can imagine.  That is why I gave her that name- Abbey Angel.  She had blond curly angelic hair and a smile that was a true gift from God.  She still has the gorgeous smile, but straightens her hair most days.  I am so proud of her and all that she is doing to  make the world a better place.  She will graduate from UT in May with a Social Work degree and I know God has big plans for her!  Thanks to Abbey for giving us her "ray of sunshine" last night!

Oh What A Week in Texas Schools

Had a great week at my school with the awesome faculty I am privileged to work with everyday and the students and families I work with.  I love me job and I love public education and all that is stands for.  Yes I know there are problems as in any big system, but what is happening in Texas to our schools is unthinkable.  So we know there will be cuts in the budget due to the economy etc.. We received an email from our Superintendent on Tuesday that the cuts will be worse than anticipated- bottom line teachers will lose jobs, classes will be huge, and students will not have a good learning environment.  I could go on and on about the state of our economy and that there is not money and everyone has to pay the price.... blah,blah,blah.  but what about the children?  This is serious stuff folks- Until you have sat in a middle school classroom with  40 kids and tried to teach and learn -well,  it just can't happen.  Learning does not take place and students suffer.  Governor Perry is talking a 10 billion cut from education in the state of Texas.  For my district that could mean 74 million.  For my school that could mean 12 teachers- unbelievable!  I implore all of you to email your legislator, email Perry and let them know that our children have to be the priority.  There is a "rainy day" fund in Texas  that Gov. Perry can use to help our children.  He has stated he doesn't want to tap into that.  Well we have a monsoon and it's raining hard and hurting our children.  Here is the website to find who your legislators are:

http://www.fyi.legis.state.tx.us/

Write them-email then- they have to listen

Here are some quotes on Education:

I never teach my pupils. I only attempt to provide the conditions in which they can learn.

Albert Einstein
US (German-born) physicist (1879 - 1955)

The foundation of every state is the education of its youth.

Diogenes Laertius

 ( Courtesy of Luci Smith photography )
"Greatest Love Of All"

I believe the children are our are future
Teach them well and let them lead the way

Rest, Rest, Rest

Sometimes in life we just need to stop and rest.  After my 3 day trip to Lafayette which involved looking at 12 houses in one day and supporting Brooke and Travis buying a house the next day, then a full week of work crammed into 3 days.  I am completely exhausted.  On top of that Kirk was out of town until late last night.  He went to San Fransisco to the "Google" sales kick off.  He came home with some goodies from Google- always nice to get things to test out!  He is so happy with his job and I am happy he is happy!  So today after our errands this morning, we are sitting on the couch watching movies all day.  I may get up to cook something, but not much more than that.  Connor refuses to watch some of my line up of movies, so we had the x-box - Blue Ray war and I won the first round.  I'm sure he will get to play x-box sometime this weekend.  So all is quiet at the Smith house today and we will all rest!


Sometimes the most important thing in a whole day is the rest we take between two deep breaths, or the turning inwards in prayer for five short minutes.

Here are pictures of Brooke and Travis - just because I miss them!

          Travis and Finley at Mighty Fine for Jeremy's 25th birthday.
She went to the shoe store with him

     Brooke's shower in Austin
This is her stroller and car seat from Bella, Luci, and Abbey.

It's the Moments That Take Your Breath Away

What a whirlwind of a few days. Let's see- grand kids, Jeremy's 25th birthday, Reba and George Strait concert, Brooke's shower, family wedding, trip to Lafayette to help Brooke and Travis get settled.  So where to begin.  I think I will begin with a George Strait Song-" The Breath You Take."  This is the song that meant the most to me as I sat through his wonderful concert.  Here are the chorus lyrics to that song:

Life’s not the breaths you take
The breathing in and out
That gets you through the day
Ain’t what it’s all about
Ya just might miss the point
Try’n to win the race
Life’s not the breaths you take
But the moments that take your breath away

So the moments that took my breath away these last couple of days- 

Finley's big girl bed- Finley has moved out of her crib, so Abbey cleaned out her room so we could childproof it and Finley had a room with toys and  Tinkerbell sheets. She was so excited she jumped up and down and giggled when she saw it!

Jeremy's Birthday- can't believe my first baby is 25 and has two babies of his own.  We all went out for hamburgers then a real grown up movie date with Jeremy, Luci, and Abbey- Connor, Brooke, and Travis took the babies home and watched them. 

Reba and George- Wow!  What a concert!  My sweet husband bought tickets for my Christmas present.  I loved it.  The special moment was when George sang Kirk and mines song- "Amarillo by Morning."  I know he was singing it to us!

Brooke's Shower- my girls- Abbey and Luci and Travis' sister Tracy put this on for her.  It was a special shower with family and friends.  Thank you to all who came and made it so special for her.

Emily and John's wedding- Saturday night the whole family was invited and we all went-even the babies.  Finely made some new friends with the flower girl twins.  Emily is a childhood friend of Jeremy.  We love her family and had a fabulous time!  It was nice to have dinner and dancing with everyone all dressed up!  A special moment was Kirk and I dancing with baby Carter.






















Lafayette here we come- well this is bitter sweet.  I drove with Brooke on Sunday to Lafayette.  I helped Travis and her get settled.  They put a contract on a house tonight so let's all pray it goes through.  It would be nice for Brooke to be settled before baby Hudson gets here in  9 weeks.   The moment that stays with me is her hugging her daddy before we pulled away from our home in Austin.  It was a sad moment, but I know we have raised a strong daughter and she will be fine.  Travis has been such a sweet heart supporting her!

So there you have it- the moments that take my breath away!  How blessed I am to have this life and family.  I pray that you stop to remember the moments in your life that take your breath away!

Ring in the Good News!

Well its the new year and everyone is healthy and happy.  We just got good news that Travis and Brooke are relocating to Lafayette La.  That means our grand baby will be 7.5 hours away from us!  I have taken the news with as much grace as I can muster...all I can say is God has been right by my side all week.  They told us this week and we are so excited and proud of Travis and his job promotion.  He will be the branch manager of his roofing material distributing company in Lafayette.  Brooke has handled this news with such ease and grace considering she is 7 months pregnant.  She found a doctor and hospital the day she got the news.  She has now found temporary housing and is already working with a realtor to buy their first house by the end of February.  The baby comes March 25th!  I am so proud of her!  So it looks like I will be making trips to Lafayette and Oklahoma on a regular basis.

 I have thought this week so much about being away from Brooke and the baby and I know we will all be fine.  I feel so connected to my grand kids in Oklahoma and Luci and Jeremy that I know extended families in long distances can work.  So that is life the way it is- not necessarily how I planned it or wanted it but it is what it is.  Brooke and Travis will leave next Sunday to begin this new journey for their family.  I know they are strong and I know they will grow and become stronger in their faith.  God will be with them!  After all they are not my children- they are His and this is all part of His plan.  I just wish the plan included all of us living in one city- but I am sure my momma wished the same thing and so did her momma when she left to have me in Seattle, WA.  Life goes on and God is good all the time!  So 2011 is a time for change. 



Change always comes bearing gifts.  ~Price Pritchett

If nothing ever changed, there'd be no butterflies.  ~Author Unknown

 Sweet Brooke Marie and  Baby Hudson Alan