Lessons Learned

This fall cheerleading season has been one of learning for Abby (and more truthfully, for myself). This year she cheered for the middle school program for the high school that she will attend. We were thrilled when she made both the sideline and the competition squad her first year. And then she attended the camps and went to a 6th grade cheer get together and came home crying.

And this Mama's heart hurt. It's hard watching them start to make their way in this world. To trust that the lessons you have taught them will serve them in good stead. To wonder if perhaps you should have taught them a little bit more about being mean (not really, but sort of).

Abby wasn't perfect and she wasn't blameless but she also wasn't prepared for mean girls. Very few of the girls on her squad came from her middle school The majority go to another middle school and just were not all that kind. I am proud of her though. She found her friends on the squad and made her way and went on to have a wonderful season.

The year ended with the cheer banquet. I honestly thought that we had stepped into the wrong banquet when I looked around and realized what the other girls were wearing. It seemed that everyone was in strapless, short gowns which while not only inappropriate from my viewpoint would have looked ridiculous on my girl who still looks like a little girl and not a teenager. She was in a beautiful red dress that made her look so pretty and when she looked in the mirror at home she was pleased with what she saw. And then we got there and I saw her confidence and her pride in how she looked begin to slip.

She didn't want to take her coat off and in that moment I felt badly for her. I knew she didn't want to be different and while I could have offered all kinds of platitudes, I didn't. I simply offered to take her home if she wasn't comfortable. She said, "no" but didn't leave my side. That is until her friends found her and coaxed her away and before long she was laughing and smiling again and being herself.

We talked on the way home and while she may choose to do sideline cheer in the fall, she has decided that she doesn't want to do competition again.

I almost can't stand to watch her grow up. To watch my baby girl disappear into a poised young lady but at the same time I can 't help but stand in awe of the person that she is becoming.

Abby and friends at the 2011 Allatoona Cheer Banquet.

And this is what winning looks like.....

Winning a Middle School Large Division Cheer Championship anyway....

Abby and friends with her first place trophy

Last huddled big booty cheer for the girls

Blue

Blue

Blue tastes like juicey blue berries

Blue smells like beautiful cotton candy

Blue looks like big puffy clouds in the sky

Blue sounds like someone that is very unhappy

And

Blue feels like the ocean rubbing against your skin

Maddie Gamblin

8/25/11

3rd grade

Halloween 2011

Halloween is here again

Fun for girls and boys.
Little pumpkins, ghosts and goblins
Dressed up all in fun.
Waiting for the time to come
To go out door to door.
Doing all their little tricks
And getting all their treats.
Then rushing home to see their loot
Eating until they're full.
Then they yawn with their sleepy heads
And off to bed they go........
For Halloween is gone once more.


~ Darlene Arsenault ~

Our sweet friends may have moved but we still ventured 30 minutes up to Woodstock to spend Halloween with them and other friends. It is bittersweet every year to see how much all of the kids have grown but yet oh so sweet to see the girls grow in their friendships with each other. So blessed to have wonderful friends.

Abby and Bria

Emma, Ari, Maddie and Lizzie Grace

Abby and Lizzie Grace

The little goth cheerleader and our tall gypsy queen

Goth cheerleader, Monster High, Gypsy

Sisters

My sweet girls

All my girls. The oldest one tried to tell me she was a lawyer

Getting tired of walking

Absolutely exhausted

And a quick walk down memory lane from last year's Halloween festivities.

My soldier girl 2010

The 5th grade line up. Mary Katherine, Abby, Bria and little Lizze Grace 2010

Emma, Maddie and Ari 2010

Homecoming 2011

Homecoming Weekend this year was made a bit more exciting by the fact that for the first time Abby was cheering for the school program that she and her sisters will attend in high school.

While we missed the Friday night high school game so that Bud and I could go to dinner and celebrate his birthday, nothing would have had us miss the middle school game on Saturday morning. The weather was absolutely beautiful and there is no where I would have rather been.

Start of the game

Taking the field

Abby and her Bucs poster that we worked so hard on.

Abby flying high with a little help from her friends

We didn't win this one but the boys did absolutely phenomenal. Following the game all of the six grader cheerleaders and football players adjourned to the end of the field for Homecoming festivities.

The boys got to watch the cheerleaders who have watched them all season

Abby cheesing it up down front

2011 six grade football players and cheerleaders

Abby got two different roses from two different players, Hunter and "some other boy."

It was funny to watch them. They are not little anymore but not quite big. There was a bit of awkwardness as the girls handed out candy bags and the boys handed out roses. I stood there thinking, "let this last forever." I love this girl!

Wicked!!

My love for plays and musicals come from my mother who used to take me all the time to the Civic Little Theatre at home in Pennsylvania from the time I was a little girl. I can sing all the words to Fiddler on the Roof, have cried my way through Steel Magnolias and even know what the Rockette's look like doing their high kicks in the annual Radio City Music Hall Christmas Show.

I did not however, marry a man who loves plays or musicals. Nor does he really feel the need to go with me. Don't get me wrong. He would if I insisted but it wouldn't be his first choice of things to do. I don't get mad because I hate sporting events and he doesn't make me go to those.

I remember when I first had Abby that I thought, "Finally, someone to go to the theatre with me." Never mind that it would be quite a few years before that would happen. We have done little things over the past few years. Several trips to Disney on Ice shows, a children's theatre production on High School Musical and even the Nutcracker this past Christmas. But never a "real" musical until now. And it was well worth the wait.

Through Girl Scouts we were able to get tickets to see Wicked at the Fox Theatre, one of my favorite places in Atlanta. Abby and Maddie went with me. Wicked is based on the novel by Gregory Maguire, Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West. The story is told from the viewpoint of the witches of OZ, Elphaba, the poor misunderstood green girl and Galinda, later named Glenda, the beautiful ambitious and popular blond.

Getting into the city on a busy Sunday afternoon is an adventure in and of itself but we made it, found parking and made our way quickly to the beautiful old theatre. Imagine my surprise when I found that our seats were not on the balcony but actually on the floor and in row O. Fantastic seats that would allow the girls to see the very expressions on the actor and actresses faces.

As the curtain rose and the musical began I found myself watching the girls faces as much as I was watching the stage. I saw them fall in love with the magic of the theatre much as I had at their age when my mom took me. I am looking forward to many more years of theatre with them.

Our date was capped off by heavy snacks and dessert at the Melting Pot. The girls agreed that we had to do this again.

The beautiful entrance into the Fox

The girls after the show

The Fox Theatre

The remnants of our cheese fondue pot

Despite warnings about how to behave, they still acted up a little bit

Chocolate Fondue to die for!

The remnants of our dessert place. Only a few lonely marshmallows left!

Blessings

We pray for blessings
We pray for peace
Comfort for family, protection while we sleep
We pray for healing, for prosperity
We pray for Your mighty hand to ease our suffering
All the while, You hear each spoken need
Yet love us way too much to give us lesser things

'Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near
What if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise

We pray for wisdom
Your voice to hear
And we cry in anger when we cannot feel You near
We doubt Your goodness, we doubt Your love
As if every promise from Your Word is not enough
All the while, You hear each desperate plea
And long that we'd have faith to believe

Courtesy of lyricshall.com
'Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
What if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near
And what if trials of this life are Your mercies in disguise

When friends betray us
When darkness seems to win
We know that pain reminds this heart
That this is not, this is not our home
It's not our home

'Cause what if Your blessings come through raindrops
What if Your healing comes through tears
And what if a thousand sleepless nights
Are what it takes to know You’re near
What if my greatest disappointments
Or the aching(s) of this life
Is the revealing of a greater thirst this world can’t satisfy
And what if trials of this life
The rain, the storms, the hardest nights
Are Your mercies in disguise

Never Forget

I remember hearing as I grew up, "I remember where I was when I heard that President Kennedy had been shot." I never really understood the impact that this event had on the people that remembered because I wasn't there.

I know now. My children ask me questions and I answer them about "that day" but I can never describe in words how I felt. I watched the Towers fall, as a military member I hurt when I found out that the Pentagon had been hit and fellow members of the military and others that supported us had been killed and I felt the pain but also pride in knowing that a group of hero's on Flight 93 brought down a plane in a field in my home state to prevent more death and destruction.

I really had put that day in my past. I won't ever forget but I have never really allowed myself to go back there. I stay away from programs about 9/11, try not to look at pictures and I have never let Abby take out the DVD that I bought for her of all the original newscasts from that day because I knew one day that she would want to know more. That day and all that it represented has stayed locked away.

This year was different. This year I did watch the programs and looked at pictures. This morning I went to late church and stayed home so that I could watch the remembrance ceremony. I cried the whole way through it. Tears falling from my eyes and dripping down my face. I let myself feel the sadness and I tried to share with the girls what it was like. How sad, and angry and terror filled that I felt that day.

I also shared with them my hope and my pride in our Country, in those that put themselves in harm's way, in how our Country came together.

I wrote my story of "Where were you?' so that my girls would know.

I was in the Air Force stationed in New Mexico. I had dropped Abby off at her on-base babysitter at 6:30 am and then headed to our clinic, that was located at the VA and off the Air Force base, for work at 7:00. We were two hours behind time wise in New Mexico so I arrived to the news that a plane had hit the first tower and they were not sure what had happened.. I went to find a T.V. set and watched in horror as they replayed the second plane hitting the second tower at 9:03 (7:03 our time). I immediately called Bud who was in training that day for Security Forces over on the main base. He told me to head to base quickly because my USAF ID had expired and I kept delaying going to get a new one. He wisely predicted that within minutes they were going to lock the base down and I wouldn't get on with an expired ID. I headed to the base and I was the last car through before they locked the base down. The airman told me that the only reason that I was getting on was because he had previously worked for Bud and knew him. I finally made it back to our clinic and was told by my commanding officer to start making arrangements for my 1 year old daughter because it was likely that we would be deployed somewhere. I remember calling her babysitter and just crying, begging her to keep my baby safe that day and asking her if I had to go would she keep my precious girl? The clinics were silent that day as people cancelled appointments and staff just stood around t.v's watching.

Bud went straight from his training session that morning to work protecting the base and worked the next 24 hours straight. Before that day he had about 40 Airman on his watch and they doubled it to 80 immediately.. The following weeks were unreal. Every day I entered the base, it took an hour or two. The bomb dogs sniffed my car, they ran mirrors under my undercarriage, they even made me get Abby out of her car seat several times to look under it, the entire time, tanks with gunners sat trained at the base entrance and on our cars. For the next six weeks, we were confined to going to work. coming home and being by the phone 24/7 for a moment's notice recall. If I went to the grocery store I had to call my supervisor to let him know where I would be. I was no longer allowed to wear my uniform outside of the base (they didn't consider it safe) so I wore street clothes and changed in and out of my uniform at work.

The events of that day profoundly changed me. They rocked the security that I had always felt in being an American. I learned that I wasn't necessarily safe here in my own country. I also learned about the goodness of people and the pride in being an America and in coming together.

I will never forget!

In Remembrance of the Lives Lost on 9/11/2001

Field of Flags

Kennesaw Mtn Battle Park

Photo by Laura Hunter

Labor Day Weekend

Originally we planned to go with friends this weekend to a cabin. But somewhere along the way, packing up kids, buying food and driving to some cabin seemed to me to be a whole bunch of work for a little fun.

We decided to make our own fun instead. We let all of our close friends know that we were headed to White Water for the day and then on to Stone Mtn. for some evening fireworks and fun. Some friends joined us for the entire day while others joined us for part of the day.

We swam, slid down slides. jumped waves in the wave pool and then rode the lazy river around and around. As the afternoon sun blazed, we left and grabbed sandwiches at Subway and headed to Stone Mtn for afternoon and evening fun.

Several of the kids (and adults) did the Sky Hike and climb that is so much fun. Others of us sat in the shade to keep cool and talked. We did the indoor movie and the indoor play place. As the day started to come to a close, we made our way to the big lawn and sat down to eat our picnic dinner and to spend time together waiting for Stone Mtn's laser show to begin.

I remember looking around. This was our chosen family. The people we are doing life with and it felt so good and so right to be with them. Parents held kids that were not their own. Kids sampled food out of every cooler but their own. And as the laser show started everyone found their place. Watching the ooh's and ah's on the kids faces and hearing my girls sing the words to "Sweet Home Alabama" (which every good Southern child can sing) and leaning up against my husband made this a perfect evening.

Whitewater Fun

Abby

Maddie

Maddie and the little boys pumping water

Maddie, Brandon and Justin

Our Gang

Largest Bas Relief in the World. The Confederate Generals

Sam and Justin

The big girls. Sydney and Destiny

Our crazy family

My two loves

The Fireworks

Spectacular

I am so glad we planned our sunny outdoor day for Saturday because Monday (Labor Day) it was dark and stormy all day. We convened to Sparkles to go skating and let the kids play in the play structure. We had a great time minus the tornado rumored to be coming our way and for which, the management thought it good to separate all of the kids from their parents and put them in the play structure in the bottom. Scary stuff. All's well that ended well though and we finished off the night with pizza at Johnny's. Happy Labor Day.

Soccer 2011

Maddie has been waiting for this weekend for a long, long time. This weekend was the start of soccer and in her opinion, it couldn't come fast enough. She moved up this year to an Academy team. More intense frequent practices and more money :)

She is enjoying playing with this new team. A group of girls who play just as hard as she does, who understand the importance of a good pass. Watching them all together on the field at practice is sheer pleasure.

This weekend was a taste of what is to come for our family. Tournaments and games that are farther away and necessitate a 6:00 wake-up call to make it out the door on time to make the game.

The first game in this weekend's tournament was a little bit rough. The girls are still learning to play together, still learning how to really play soccer as a game and not just get the ball and hope that you make it to the goal. By the second game, the girls started to find their groove and even though they didn't win, they played hard.

Bud and Maddie returned this morning for the last game in the tournament and they shone today. Final score 9-0. Maddie had a goal and two assists and played fabulous defense according to her dad, her second biggest fan next to her mom. Their team placed third in the tournament. We are excited to see what they do as this season progresses.

Here's to another season of watching my baby do what she loves and doing it well

Warming up with her teammates

Our girl

End of Day One

The team before Sunday's game

Get the ball Maddie

After her third and final game and after dumping water on her coach.