Thank You!

The older I've gotten, the more sentimental I become about our service men and women.  The Sunday before the 4th of July our church did a special anthem recognizing the different military branches.  People were asked to stand when the branch they served was being sung about.  Seeing the different men and women from our church standing in honor of their branch just about had me in tears.  I am forever grateful to all the men and women who are currently serving and those who have served in the past.  I also greatly appreciate the spouses, mothers, fathers, siblings, and other family members of those serving.  To feel such pride and fear at the same time, it just makes me really appreciate everyone who goes through that.  I tell my kids with great pride that their Pap-Paw and gradfathers served our country.

On the Tuesday before the 4th we found out that Joe got the job at Hyundai. He started this past Monday (July 9th).  These first few days have been orientation so we don't have much to report yet.  He is supposed to find out what department he will work in today and start working on one of the shifts this coming Monday (6:00 a.m. to 2:45 p.m. or 2:30 p.m. to 10:45 p.m.). Starting on August 6th they will start a 3rd shift.  Monday through today he has not had to be there until 7:45 a.m. and I can not even begin to tell you how nice it has been to have help in the morning, and to have him home each night by 5:30 p.m.  Tomorrow and Friday he works from 7:00 a.m. to 5:15 p.m. 

Joe somehow managed to get off for the 4th and so we did what we always do- a family gathering at the Lake.  It was a great day to spend with Aunts, Uncles, and Cousins and we had a blast.



Friday the 6th we planned one last hoorah at RTJ.  More times that we can count we have made the drive to Greenville so the kids could "play" at Joe's work and  ride the golf course.  I wanted them to have closure and not just say he doens't work there, end of story.  So we invited Quint, Sheila, Caden & Ansleigh to go down Friday afternoon so that we could get our closure from RTJ.  On the way down we stopped at the Hyundai plant so I could show the girls and Joel a little bit of where Joe would be working.  When we finally made it to Greenville we ate dinner at Old Mexico and then headed to the golf course.

We had a blast and stayed until about 9:00 p.m. that night.  On our way home we ran into a bad wreck.  It turns out that Joe knew and worked with one of the guys in the wreck.  The doctors still don't know if he will fully recover.  He is 30 with three young kids just like us.  Please keep him and his family in your prayers. 

Saturday morning we hung around the house and then headed over to Chris and Crystals.  It was another fun day.  We ate some yummy food and played outside.  At first we hooked up the sprinkler and the kids and I ran through it.  (Yes I played too.  It is hot!!!)  Then Joe and Chris set up the slip & slide.  Again, I played too.  After Chris seeing how much fun I was having he joined in too.  I was very very sore the next day.  I guess that means I'm getting old :(

Sunday we had lunch with MeMaw and Paw-Paw and then Joe went to help his brother while the kids and I went home to clean.  It was a really good weekend.

This weekend Joe works at RTJ for the last time.  I know it will be bittersweet for him. 

In other news I have started planning Jolie and Joel's birthday party.  They will share a party this year, but I think it will be so much fun that they won't mind that they are sharing.  Jolie keeps begging to go to the beach so mabye one weekend before school starts back we can take them to play in the sand and swim in the ocean. 

The girls continue to have a fabulous time at MCDP.  Yesterday they took Taekwondo lessons at school and LOVED it.  The teachers said they did really good too.  Here are some pictures Ms. Jessie has taken of Jolie this summer:

 This one Ms. Jessie texted to me.  Jolie told her to send it to me and to tell me that her toe said "Hi."

She has a really good one of Josie that she has to get to me.  I love knowing that my kids are so loved :)

I hope everyone is enjoying their summer and staying cool.

Love you all!