Video Killed the Radio Star

This song went though my mind  the other day when I started thinking about my blog.  I kind of laughed when I thought about how FaceBook Killed the Blogging Star in me!!!  The whole reason I started blogging was to keep up with family and friends, share pictures and tell them what Josh and I and the boys were doing.  It grew to a network of other Mommy Bloggers that I didn’t even know was out there, but was SO happy to find.  Being a stay at home mom can be very isolating and the interaction with other mom’s was great!  Then one day I heard of this thing called…FACEBOOK….I thought I’ll sign up and see what all the hype is about.   At first I wasn’t that impressed, but I did connect with quite a few long lost people.  As our life got busier and I added more “friends” to my FaceBook, including family, friends and lots of my favorite “blog Mom’s” I was hooked.  I could add a pic with a short caption or a quick status update instead of adding a new post to my blog.  Instead of surfing the blogosphere I could go to my home page, glace at my wall and hear that it is snowing at  my cousin’s who lived in South Ca. or see a picture of my nephew going down the slid in Cleveland or have Manda ask me to stop by her house that afternoon.  Plus I can play some super neat games while I am getting all of the social networking news! {LOL}

My blog started to get dusty, just like the VCR did after we got the DVD player…

BUT, I had poured my heart and soul into my blog.  I had cried and laughed while writing post on my blog.  I had shared so many things about our life from the overwhelming joy to the gut wrenching heartache.  I keep promising that I will “pick” my blog back up.  I have the best of intentions, but I never seem to follow through with it.  I am going to try to stick with it…maybe if I set my goal to even post once a week?

I am NOT going to let FaceBook kill the Blogger Star…

(but don’t worry FB, I still love you too!!!)

Tonight is our county’s Relay for Life.  This is the second year that I have precipitated.  I am happy to be able to help REMEMBER…CELEBRATE…FIGHT BACK!  Josh’s grandmother passed away in 2005 from leukemia.  Tonight we walk in memory of…tonight we walk for Sue… tonight like so many other nights we miss you grandma!!!

(Flash Back Post from November 23, 2006)

Mary “Sue” Wiseman
October 23, 1933 - November 23, 2005

A year ago today the world lost a wonderful person. She meant so much to so many people. She was truly one of those people this world has to few of, she was a Mother, Grandmother, Great Grandmother. She was a good friend, a hard worker and a joy to be around. I can’t put in to words what she meant to everyone but I can tell you what she meant to me.

It is going to be hard to find a starting point, so lets start from the beginning. She was the woman that raised my husband, she was the one that filled Josh with all that he is. She was his Grandmother and the best Mom to him anyone could be. The sacrifices she give for Josh and her family were immeasurable.

I loved to talk with Sue. We could talk forever on the phone. I can still hear her say ‘It’s just me, I’m only gonna keep you a minute…’ Well, it very rarely was just a minute….LOL!!! I loved to spend time with her. Before Josh and I were even married we would go to concerts together. She took me to see Alan Jackson at UT one time. We got there and in line to go in and she couldn’t find one of the tickets. She dug and dug in her purse, with no luck. So luckily they had a handful of tickets left and she bought one more. Now mind you they were $50.00 seats. And once we got out to the car after the concert, Sue reached in for the keys and pulled out the lost ticket…lol….She had had it the whole time. But we decided that Alan Jackson was worth every penny spent.

The support and help she lent us was invaluable while Josh was laid off for six months and our Caleb was born 4 weeks early and had a NICU stay. She spend all night with Josh in Toledo Hospital the first night that they took him. All the while her mother was very sick back home. Caleb was born on Sunday night, and she would make trips to the NICU and to the Nursing Home. One Wednesday night after Josh and I, had just spent the day in the NICU, we stopped by to see Grandma Motter and Sue. Sue looked so tired that night.. We had no sooner got home until the phone rang. Grandma Motter had passed on. That week we buried Grandma Motter and brought home our now, healthy baby boy. Sue was so strong. What a strong person she was.

In 2000 I lost three grandparents with in three months time. I really took the loss of my Grandma Spurlock hard. While talking and crying one day with Sue, I told her ‘my Grandma Spurlock is gone and my Grandma Smith is so far away in SC“. I felt so much pain right then. I will never forget her words to me. “Shana, I will be your grandma, I love you“. From that day on, Sue was my Grandma, not just an in-law!!!

Later that same year I became pregnant with triplets. Wow!!! Three baby’s not even trying…lol…and we still had one in diapers. The news was overwhelming, but still a blessing. Until a few weeks later, I miscarried them. Sue was always the one who understood my loss the most. That year and every year after she would give to me an ornament with three angels on it. She never forgot my pain. And I believe she felt it right along with me.

So many wonderful memories I have of her, to many to list them all. But today, a year from her death, and Thanksgiving 2006, I have to say one of the greatest things I am thankful for today, is having had her in my life for the time I did.

We miss you Grandma!!!

I have some how lost the fire when it comes to my blog.  I used to add 4-5 post a week, now I am lucky to add 3-4 a month.  As I have said life has gotten in the way.  So many things are going on in my life right now!  But I really do miss the connections and friendships that I have made through my blog!  FaceBook has allowed me to keep up with many of my blogging friends.  And this weeks fun from 5 Minutes for Mom.com UBP will give me a chance to catch up with some old friends and find new bloggy friends too. The Ultimate Blog Party is a chance to share a little bit about me and learn a little bit more about other bloggers.

A QUICK OVERVIEW OF ME: I am a 33 year old, stay at home mom of three boys, {Caleb 11, Brayden 7, and Andrew 4}.  I have been married to my high school sweetheart for 13 years on July 4th.  I graduated collage in 1998 and have a diploma in Medical Assisting.  I worked for 5 months for a doctors office before I found out I was pregnant with my oldest son Caleb.  I was 27 weeks along before I had a positive pregnancy test with him.  And I then had him at 35 weeks.  I joke and say I had the shortest pregnancy ever…lol!  I never went back to work after Caleb was born.  I decided then that I needed to stay at home with my children and I have been blessed with the ability to do so.  It hasn’t always been an easy choice, we have struggled greatly but the rewards out weigh the downfalls.  Two of my sons, Caleb and Andrew were NICU babies.  Both are happy, healthy children today.  The days spent in the NICU with them top my list of hardest things I have ever done!   This past summer my 34 year old husband, Josh had open heart surgery.  After a car accident he had routine chest x-rays and they found he had an enlarged heart.  Further testing found that he had a congenital heart defect.  His Aortic valve was bicuspid and was leaking blood and causing his heart to overwork itself.  The accident was on the 2nd of June the heart surgery was the 17th of July.  Needless to say last summer was CRAZY and also tops that list I was referring to above.   But through it all I am blessed with a wonderful family and the best friends anyone could ask for.  My faith in GOD makes me who I am and without HIM I would be nothing!

• I also have a Giveaway going on right now for a copy of Here Burns My Candle by Liz Curtis Higgs.  You can read all about it by clicking HERE.  If you leave a comment on this post and the review post I will give you 5 extra chances to win! :o)

• Oh and you should see the great giveaways that 5 Minutes for Mom.com is offering this week during the Ultimate Blog Party. Here are my top three picks

This is the first book I have read by Liz Curtis Higgs and it surly won’t be the last!  Here Burns My Candle is a wonderful story set in 18th century Scotland. It follows the Kerr household during the time when Bonnie Prince Charlie is attempting to reclaim the throne.

I loved the way that the author was able to make me feel as if I was really in the 1700’s with the characters.  I enjoyed the Scottish dialect (and was thankful for the glossary in the back).  The characters are easy to relate to and seemed very real.  Despite their shortcomings I found something in each character to help me like and understand them.

Liz Curtis Higgs also had a way of sharing God’s love with the reader without becoming pushy in this story that runs parallel with the Biblical account of Ruth and Naomi.  In the end the Mother and Daughter-in-law are able to learn important life lessons for one another and are in turn bound together by love.

My mother is an avid reader and I shared my copy with her when I was finished reading.  She told me she gives it 4 1/2 stars out of 5 and also highly recommends Here Burns My Candle by Liz Curtis Higgs.

You can get more information about Here Burns My Candle by Liz Curtis Higgs by going here…http://waterbrookmultnomah.com/catalog.php?isbn=9781400070015.

ONE LUCKY WINNER WILL RECEIVE A COPY OF THE BOOK!

Just leave a comment on this post and you will be in the running to win.

For extra entries:

*Mention this giveaway on Twitter linking back to my blog (@my3wisemans).
**Mention this giveaway on Facebook linking back to my blog.
***Blog about this contest linking back to my blog.
****Subscribe to my blog feed.  If you already are just mention it in the comments.

Just leave a separate comment for each one you do…

The fine print:
One winner will be picked and contacted via e-mail on April 16th.
Please follow the rules. If not I will delete the comment. Sorry!
US mailing addresses only, please. It is VERY IMPORTANT that you leave a valid e-mail address so I can reach you if you win.
I will give the winner until April 19th to reply back to me, if I don’t hear from you I will choose a new winner.

{I am going to have to take a long boat to China to get to my point here, but please bear with me…}

March 21st–Today is not only Caleb’s birthday it was also my Papaw Spurlock’s birthday.  Caleb was lucky enough to share two birthday’s with his great grandpa, the day of his birth and his first birthday.  Unfortunately Caleb remembers neither, but I will always treasure those birthdays!  Papaw was so proud of the fact that his first great grandchild shared his special day. My grandpa also was blessed with having his son’s birthday the day before his.  My Uncle Glen’s birthday is the 20th.  Since my grandpa’s death in 2000, Glen had made a point to celebrate his and Caleb’s birthday together.  It means a lot to both Glen and Caleb.

As we were getting ready for Glen and Caleb’s birthday party yesterday all of us had my grandpa on our minds.

{Pause for some back story–my grandparents lived in a house right off the main drag of town for years…most of my memories are of them living in this house.  It has been 10 years since they passed away but I still feel a tinge of pain when I drive by that house.  A new Rite-Aid is soon going to be built on this property and they are going to tear down all of the houses on the block and my grandparents old house is one of them.  OK back to where I was…}

My mom called me as she was heading to the store to pick up a few things for the party and told me that they were taking the fence down at my grandparents old house. She said it looked like they had started to cut down the tree in the back yard too.  (A tree that we had helped plant!)  Well, they were cutting down the tree so they could move the storage shed out that Glen had built for my grandparents.  And of all days to watch it start!  Dad was setting looking out the front window and he saw the shed go by on a flat bed truck and a bit later he saw the fence go by too.  The slow dismantling of their house is like slowing pulling off a band-aid.  Please come in and tear it down and get it over with… Just rip it off quickly!

My sweet Caleb,

In a few blinks of an eye you have went from a baby, to a toddler, to a little boy to the eleven year old that you are today.  I am still in disbelief that you are ELEVEN!  I can remember like it was just yesterday when I held you for the first time. Now you are almost as tall as me.

I am so proud of who you are and what you are growing into each day.  Your kind heartedness is amongst one of your traits that I admire the most.  I hope this is also the one that is carried with you forever.

I pray that you continue to grow in your faith and relationship with God.  I am so blessed to have the opportunity to have you as my son, Caleb.  I love you SO very much.

Happy Birthday!!!

Love~Momma

Thursday I turned 33!  I don’t seem any worse off today as I did on Wednesday when I was still 32 so I guess it isn’t all that bad! :o) It was a wonderful birthday celebration.

• Thursday we had pizza at my Mom and Dad’s.

• Friday was Girls Night Out and we went to Nagoya Japanese Steakhouse.  It was AWESOME!!! Thanks to Chell, Manda, Alice and Chasta for celebrating my birthday with with me!

Our Chef

My meal…so AMAZING!

The birthday special…picture with the chef after he he sang Happy Birthday to me while banging the gong…lol!

Another group shot taken at Fat Fish Blue

• Saturday evening Josh and I celebrated with dinner at Carrabba’s, an Italian Grill in Toledo.  We had another fabulous meal!

• Sunday I had a family birthday party at my parents house. Complete with Ice cream cake from DQ.

I am so spoiled by this week-ends great food that eating my own cooking is just not going to be as fun! LOL!  One thing I have learned for sure in my 33 years is that I have the BEST family and friends a person could ever ask for!!!