GRIS GRIS GUSTAV

I'm officially putting the Gris Gris on Gustav. Lord knows our families don't need another Katrina.

A PRAYER FOR HURRICANE SEASON

Our Father in Heaven through the intercession of Our Lady of Prompt Succor, spare us during this Hurricane season from all harm. Protect us and our homes from all disasters of nature. Our Lady of Prompt Succor, hasten to help us. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

St. Therese

I’ve always wanted to tell this story on our blog. However, the occasion had never presented itself until today. I received one of those chain emails which I usually find extremely annoying and usually delete immediately for fear of cursing myself. I feel so guilty sometimes for not forwarding them, especially the religious ones……so I usually just transfer them directly to my virtual trash, never to be thought of again. Today, for some reason, “that” email was begging to be opened. When I saw that it was St. Therese’s Prayer, poignant memories flooded my mind and I just had to forward the email and tell the story.

So here goes……

Most of you know that I was married to someone else before Ron. I was a very young and immature 22 year old bride. That marriage lasted a short 20 months, but had done about 20 years worth of damage to my self confidence and self worth, especially in the “relationship” department!

Fast forward 1 ½ years post divorce. I was working for a small CPA firm in Larose, LA when I met Ron’s Aunt Louise. Louise was a manager for one of our clients. On our very first meeting Louise said “I want you to meet my nephew….you two would be a perfect match!” I was thinking to myself “Sure, whatever…..I’ll probably never see you again, much less meet this nephew of yours, plus all men are pigs”. Imagine my surprise when a few months later I ran into Louise while in a Grand Isle bar. She pulled me by my arm, put me in her car and drove me to the place where Ron was bartending (yes, Ron was a bartender, believe it or not). I was immediately attracted to him. In fact, he had caught my eye a few weeks earlier, unbeknownst to him. I even remembered the shirt he had on the very first time I saw him and that cute smile. I know this is going to sound corny, but I remember thinking to myself “That guy would make beautiful children.” I know, I know, most of you are probably sticking your finger down your throat right now, but be patient with me. So, I sat at that bar until they closed at 6:30 the next morning. We really didn’t talk much that night because he was pretty busy. He called me a few days later and offered to cook me dinner. We really hit it off and began a pretty serious relationship pretty quickly. Two months into our relationship, I totally FREAKED out. I started questioning myself. Is this going too fast? Is he for real? Can a guy really be this good? What did I do to deserve this wonderful person in my life? Do I want to give up my new found freedom as a single woman? Is this really “The One”…..I feel he is, but what if I get hurt again? I was sooooo scared.

So what did I, the idiot, decide to do? I called it off ……on HIS Birthday. I still get a lot of grief about that to this day. But anyway, after my decision, I was MISERABLE. I cried for a whole week straight. I had so many conflicting emotions, but I felt that I had made a terrible mistake. Then one day, out of the blue, I get a dozen beautiful pink/plum colored tipped roses. I had never seen roses so beautiful or in that hue. They were from Ron. They came with a beautiful card and poem. Here I am, the one who had broken up with HIM and he sends ME flowers telling me that he is thinking about me. What did I do to deserve that? As I’m sitting there in shock, my co-worker walked in and told me that she had been secretly saying a Novena to St. Therese for me that week. She saw that I was so conflicted and asked St. Therese to give me clarity and a sign. She handed me the prayer card with St. Therese holding a dozen of the same exact colored roses!!!!! How do you like that for a sign? Ron asked me out on a date the following weekend and here we are happily married 9 years later...........

Our St. Therese statue is a permanent fixture on my bedside table.

While I'm on the subject of Catholic Saints......St. Philomena gave us Gracie

Emily's Birthday Bash

We attended the 2nd birthday bash for Emily DeFusco on Saturday afternoon. The theme of the party was Lollipops and they didn't disappoint! Check out the cake below that Michael Lipani made....so cute!!! We always have so much fun when we get together with our Louisiana family here in Georgia. I call them family because they truly all are a part of our family now. This extended family includes a total of 19 people. The Johnsons (5), The Lipanis (4), The DeFuscos (4), The Hillmans (3) and Us (3)!!!! We try to get together as often as possible for Game Nights which are always a blast. Thankfully The Defuscos have a large house with the perfect layout and are gracious enough to host these get togethers. I honestly don't know that I would have adjusted so well to this move to Georgia without having these wonderful friends to share our journey. Thanks guys for welcoming us into your hearts and homes.

The Beautiful Birthday Girl, Emily Emily and her Mommy

"I'm not quite sure what to do with this"

"I'll help you sister....they only feed me carrots here"Check out this spread
Everything Lollipops!!!!

Jakob and Hannah Johnson "We Want CAKE"

Mason the Muscle Man

Princess Maren

Hannah, Gracie and William

Say CHEESE

The Gang

Mel, Jack, Mike and Emily DeFusco

Brian, Mason and Catrina HillmanUS
No party would be complete without a little Wii

***We didn't get individual family pics of The Johnsons or The Lipanis. We will be sure to get those for Maren's party on Sunday.

Gracie Fashion

In the evenings it has become customary for Gracie to change into something a little more, let's say, festive. Normal clothing is way too boring for her taste. Recently, she has taken a liking to her dance recital costume!!!! On this particular day, she paired it with her EZ Bake apron, chef's hat and "high heels". The "high heels" have a brand new home in the trash after stepping on way too many toes and causing way too many tripping incidents. I'm thankful she has not asked to wear this to school. But.....the school year is still young.

Messy House

And I wonder why my house is a mess all the time! Gracie decided to pull a few things into the foyer for an "EXPERIMENT", so she says.

FIRST sniff DAY sniff OF sniff SCHOOL

Thumbs Up!
I'm so excited!!
Me and My Dad
She insisted on carrying her backpack with all the supplies in it.

Her teacher, Ms. Lawson

Today my baby started Kindergarten and what a day it was. It started off great. Gracie was super excited and was talking 50 miles an hour. Ron and I on the other hand, not so much. I didn't sleep at all the night before. Both of our stomachs were in knots. I never dreamed it would be that hard because I've dropped off Gracie at daycare every day since she was 6 weeks old. But, today was different. I was leaving her in a HUGE school with a teacher I had only met once and with kids she didn't know. Oh the thoughts going through my mind: Will she get lost, Will she eat the lunch I packed, Will she cry, Will she make friends easily, etc.

She made it to her classroom, settled into her table, started coloring and then we told her it was time for us to leave. That's when she started crying. It just BROKE my heart. I kept myself together until we got to the car. And then the floodgates opened.

My day was not okay until she called me at 2:30 and said that she had a GREAT day and she was ready to go back tomorrow........but she wants to ride the BIG orange bus :( She will have to settle for the LITTLE Primrose Bus. Wish me luck!!!

Stars and Strikes

As a last hoorah before school starts, we took Gracie to Stars and Strikes on Saturday. Stars and Strikes is a bowling alley/lazer tag/arcade/bumper cars type of place. They just opened a new one in Dallas, not far from our house. It's a little bit of sensory overload at first, but we had a great time.

Gotta love the bowling shoes! Gracie wanted to bring hers home.

I knocked down 5 DADDY!!!!

Gracie only lasted about 7 frames, so Ron and I duked it out.

We finally both broke 100. Ron's score is at the top.

I was just getting warmed up (3 strikes in the first 4 frames) when our time ran out :(Concentrating really hard on the NASCAR game

Shooting down battleships
Kid #2

Nothing like a good ole Slush Puppie

Tiny Dancer

On Saturday Gracie began her third year of dance classes. I can't believe how the time has flown by. She was really excited to see her teacher Ms. Kensey! I'm still trying to find a gymnastics class this Fall that will fit into our schedule. Unfortunately, the class would have to start no earlier than 6:30 pm in order for Ron or I to get her there. But, on the bright side Gracie has been showing more interest in dance than gymnastics, so we may be able to get away with just dancing this year! I can't believe how well she can point her toes! She has a beautiful turn out too.