Friday, August 21, 2009
My Rachel
August 21, 1982 was a wonderful day in my life. My daughter, Rachel Morel, was born!! She was a big one, at 9 pounds 3 ounces. Needless to say, a C-section was in order. I went in to the hospital on the 20th to get the process going, but she decided she wasn't ready. So, 24 hours later, the doctors decided to do a C-section. I had gained a lot of weight during the pregnancy, and I had to go off of all salt! The doctor thought I was pregnant with twins for a long time, because I gained a lot of weight really fast and constantly. It was finally decided that I was just holding a lot of fluid, thus the no salt diet. Being a short person, I got pretty big! My tummy really stuck out a lot. The little bundle of joy that came out early that morning was well worth all of the weight gain, the fat tummy, the swollen ankles, the pains, etc., etc. She has been the light of my life ever since. She has taken care of me when I was sick, physically or mentally. She has kept me in good spirits when I was down. She cooked for me when she was only in the second grade, and I was going through some really difficult times. Rachel has been a good nurse to me, with all of my physical impairments. She has driven me on trips when I couldn't see well enough to drive. She has kept me sane through a lot of trials and sorrows. Rachel is one superb human being, and she is my little girl!!!! If my other computer was working correctly, I could get a lot of pictures on here of her. I will get them on soon, but for now, I want to get the writing part done on her special day. 27 years ago today, my life changed forever and for the best!! Rachel has grown up to be a magnificent young lady. She is a terrific Math teacher, and she has her head on straight. Rachel has been married to Don for 3 1/2 years now, and she has created a wonderful home for the two of them. She is one of the most gracious people I know. Words can never express how terrific Rachel is. She is a wonderful granddaughter and thinks of others much more than herself. Rachel is one of the most courageous people I know. Thank you, God, for giving me the best daughter in the whole, wide world!!!!!!!!!!!
Saturday, August 8, 2009
Summer Happenings
Wow! This summer has been interesting. I have been able to just 'chill' at home, but I have also been able to attend a family reunion and two out of town weddings. The Hooper reunion was in Hiawassee, Georgia. This was the first one I have been able to attend, but they have them every year. This is the waterfall behind our cabin. We stayed at a beautiful spot in North Georgia. 
Here is a view from the top of the fairgrounds where we all met for lunch.
Here is some of the family at the reunion: Daddy and his cousins in deep conversation.
The first wedding was in New Jersey. Whew! That was a trip to remember. The wedding was really nice, the flights were fine, but the interstate was not so nice! Here is the wedding party before the wedding. It was taken from a strange angle, but it is a nice picture.
The second wedding was in Memphis. This was a road trip, and Adam went with me. He drove through Atlanta and other busy parts, so that was a blessing.
I finally got my pictures to download on my laptop. I am going to put them on a CD, so that I can put them up from this computer, too. My regular computer has been acting weird all summer. Maybe it is telling me that it is time for a new one, so that I can get my dissertation done before the thing crashes!! Today is the party for my brother's 50th birthday. He won't be 50 until Monday. The party is on a Saturday, so that people can come. His best friend, Peder Nielsen from California, flew in last night and surprised him! (His arms must be tired!) It was really funny to see Dewey's face when he walked in and saw Peder. Ellen had gotten him to go out for the evening to dinner and a movie, Harry Potter, a long one that kept them out until after the plane came in and I got Peder to the house :) Rachel had offered her services as a babysitter for his birthday. As luck will have it, Dewey picked Friday night to take her up on the offer! That got him out of the house! Dewey and Peder were good friends when Dewey played football out there in California. Peder's family let Dewey move into their house and live with them, so they are like his family. I took a picture of the two big guys on the sofa, in deep conversation!
I guess I should stop writing and load some pictures. Oh, I did get some work done around the house, too. I pulled up the carpet out of one bedroom, and I got my living room straight. I still have a lot to do, so the next few weeks of summer will be spent doing that.
One more thing, I got to go out on the boat with Adam and hunt for shark teeth. We found one big megalodon tooth and a lot of smaller ones. The big one split in half the next day! Poor tooth... it had been floating for centuries and when it gets picked up in human hands, it cracks! Oh well, I will glue it back together.
The island...
The teeth! The megalodon was the largest living shark ever! Here is a megalodon tooth, alongside the teeth of other types of sharks. You can see the difference in their size!!
Now, here come the pictures! Oh man, now I can't find the CDs. See what happens when I clean up around here? I can't find ANYthing! I will have to save this post and do the pictures later. Crazy!!!!!!! After a shower and a clear head, I am thinking, "You know what? This is silly. I will just go to the laptop and finish this with pictures. Why didn't I think of that before??" Okay, here I am on the laptop. Let's see if I can get the pictures on here in a decent arrangement! You guys think I am crazy, but I have been working on this blog now for a couple of hours! I think I finally got it looking decent. If you don't blog for a while, you forget how to organize things. Each time I blog, I learn a few more tricks with puttting in pictures and writing around them. I think I do it the hard way, but I get it done!
Here is a view from the top of the fairgrounds where we all met for lunch.
Here is some of the family at the reunion: Daddy and his cousins in deep conversation.
The first wedding was in New Jersey. Whew! That was a trip to remember. The wedding was really nice, the flights were fine, but the interstate was not so nice! Here is the wedding party before the wedding. It was taken from a strange angle, but it is a nice picture.
The second wedding was in Memphis. This was a road trip, and Adam went with me. He drove through Atlanta and other busy parts, so that was a blessing.
I finally got my pictures to download on my laptop. I am going to put them on a CD, so that I can put them up from this computer, too. My regular computer has been acting weird all summer. Maybe it is telling me that it is time for a new one, so that I can get my dissertation done before the thing crashes!! Today is the party for my brother's 50th birthday. He won't be 50 until Monday. The party is on a Saturday, so that people can come. His best friend, Peder Nielsen from California, flew in last night and surprised him! (His arms must be tired!) It was really funny to see Dewey's face when he walked in and saw Peder. Ellen had gotten him to go out for the evening to dinner and a movie, Harry Potter, a long one that kept them out until after the plane came in and I got Peder to the house :) Rachel had offered her services as a babysitter for his birthday. As luck will have it, Dewey picked Friday night to take her up on the offer! That got him out of the house! Dewey and Peder were good friends when Dewey played football out there in California. Peder's family let Dewey move into their house and live with them, so they are like his family. I took a picture of the two big guys on the sofa, in deep conversation!
I guess I should stop writing and load some pictures. Oh, I did get some work done around the house, too. I pulled up the carpet out of one bedroom, and I got my living room straight. I still have a lot to do, so the next few weeks of summer will be spent doing that.
One more thing, I got to go out on the boat with Adam and hunt for shark teeth. We found one big megalodon tooth and a lot of smaller ones. The big one split in half the next day! Poor tooth... it had been floating for centuries and when it gets picked up in human hands, it cracks! Oh well, I will glue it back together.
The island...
The teeth! The megalodon was the largest living shark ever! Here is a megalodon tooth, alongside the teeth of other types of sharks. You can see the difference in their size!!
Now, here come the pictures! Oh man, now I can't find the CDs. See what happens when I clean up around here? I can't find ANYthing! I will have to save this post and do the pictures later. Crazy!!!!!!! After a shower and a clear head, I am thinking, "You know what? This is silly. I will just go to the laptop and finish this with pictures. Why didn't I think of that before??" Okay, here I am on the laptop. Let's see if I can get the pictures on here in a decent arrangement! You guys think I am crazy, but I have been working on this blog now for a couple of hours! I think I finally got it looking decent. If you don't blog for a while, you forget how to organize things. Each time I blog, I learn a few more tricks with puttting in pictures and writing around them. I think I do it the hard way, but I get it done!
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