Eli LOVES Handy Manny! Like really truly! :o) Here he is enjoying Handy Manny's song...
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Self worth and self value are such a hard thing to get. I know that I don't have a good handle on my self value... I put way to much of what I "value" about myself into how others look at me and treat me. I don't mean to do this, it just kind of happens in the long run.
My biggest issue is take to hear what other people say no matter what they say. It can be the most minute thing, but it will haunt me for days, weeks and sometimes months. :o( I just can't seem to shake it when someone says they don't like something about me or that I don't do something well. I try to remind myself that God is who I need to worry about His oppinion.... My self worth should not be based on other people... I was talking to Grandma today and remembered something else that I wanted to comment on about September 11th.
Could you imagine what life would be like today for American's if those brave men and women on that plane that went down in Pennsylvania hadn't taken back the plane? WOW! I was thinking about this the other day and was reminded of it today when Grandma and I were talking. Those men and women changed the face of America... They saved at least some of our reality... We got back yesterday from RTU 2011! It was great! :o) Everyone had a good time... Especially Eli! He had so much fun running around and playing! On Friday we got there and did our traditional dinner at the Irish place. We walked around and Eli loved seeing all the people and dancing. Saturday we woke up early and went to Islands of Adventure. Eli went on the Seuss Carousel and the One Fish Two Fish ride. Then we (Rick, Eli, myself and Nancy all weekend is "we") went to Harry Potter Land for lunch. After some pumpkin juice and yummy food, we walked around some more and checked everything out. We went back over to Universal and got there before the little kids area closed so Eli was able to play on the playground and run around for a little while. We saw Jessi and her 3 kids there! We couldn't believe that we saw them in Universal! lol. They were not staying for the concerts so we just saw them for a moment. But it was funny! We walked around and heard some of the concerts. Eli LOVED the music and danced alot. :o) Nancy bought him a light up sword and he loved it! On Sunday we went to a church service at Universal and then back to IoA for a couple of hours. We shopped and then got on the bus to come home! It was a whirl wind weekend but fun. :o) I can't wait to go back for a family vacation soon! :o)
So many people have commented on and talked about September 11th today, so I figured I would go with the flow and discuss a little too! The other day we (Mom, Dad, Bethy and I) were talking about how different a year makes and then we started talking about September 11th and what a difference 10 years make! When you ask the question, "Where were you?" Everyone knows and can almost tell you exactly what they were doing at the moment the Trade Towers were hit. Mom remembers watching it on the news and going over to the office to tell them to turn it on, Bethy remembers being in an assembly and going back to the classroom to watch it on TV, Dad remembers being at home on the couch and watching it while healing from knee surgery, I remember not finding out till after our childcare class was over... But what do all those memories mean? Do we remember the horror of the day or do we remember the heros? Do we live in fear or do we live in the freedom of hope for tomorrow? There are so many moments when we can let the sadness take over and become overwhelmed with the loss and fear of that day, but we need to focus on the HOPE and the HEROS from that day! So many people became heros that day when faced with a challenge that none of us ever wants to face. The HEROS of that day will never be forgotten! 10 years makes a huge difference in peoples lives... In the last 10 years I have graduated high school, gone to and graduated from college, lost 3 grandparents, gotten a job, gotten married, moved out of my parents house, gone to Alaska and islands in the Carribean, had a baby, moved a second time, prayed a lot, learned a lot, lived a lot. Our youth celebrated Rock the Universe 2011 this weekend. Today we participated in the national moment of silence at 8:46AM this morning. After our moment of silence Greg Denise prayed for us and then we sang some songs... Here are a few videos of them singing. WE WILL NEVER FORGET! THAT IS A PROMISE!! Tonight was Kevin's Senior Night. :o) It was so awesome to watch Kevin get recognized for being a senior! I can't believe that he is graduating! The funny thing is it's exactly 10 years after I graduated! :o) Kevin is the last to graduate from the Quinn's side of the family! We are so proud!! <3 <3 <3 Sometimes the best thing to do is laugh out loud!
I did yesterday when Aunt Carol commented that she and Aunt Kathy saw the rainbow and blue flash of light too!! I love it!!! YEAH for GG and Aunt Karen letting their presence be known!!! <3 <3 <3 This year has been a hard one (as you saw in the last blog) for our family. Not just Mom, Dad, Bethy, Del and the 3 of us. But our extended family as well. For anyone who doesn't know, we have a HUGE extended family! We have many aunts, uncles and cousins. They are all awesome, and they have all been affected by the losses in our family this past year.
Now on to the purpose of this blog post... Kevin and Uncle Bob. These 2 guys (and Chelsea) have been through more than I could ever imagine. Life has handed them some lemons, and they have made LEMONADE! <3 Chelsea is working out in California at LiNK, Kevin is a senior at Flanigan High School and Uncle Bob works for the Miami Dade School District. They are an amazing family who keeps on keeping on after loosing Aunt Karen to cancer in 2006. But again, I have strayed from the purpose of this post! :o) Tonight Uncle Bob was telling my mom the story of Kevin and him driving home from Gram's memorial service. While they were driving all of a sudden out of no where there was a rainbow! Uncle Bob said, "Hey look at that" and Kevin said, "That is mom welcoming Ms. Hammond to heaven." (At this point, you can see already that I am cry during this story!!) Then all of a sudden, there is a flash of blue light across the sky and Uncle Bob says, "What was that?" Kevin says, "That was Ms. Hammond going to heaven." OH MY GOODNESS! At that point of the story the tears are flowing and I can't stop crying. There are moments when you just know. You just know that heaven is real and the people you love are there. This was one of those moments. I feel blessed that Uncle Bob shared this with us tonight. <3 <3 <3 A year makes!
Eli is napping so I had a few minutes to look over some old blog posts from last September. There is one on Rock the Universe which we will be going to this coming weekend! :o) There is one on Gramie and her surgery that she had last September. It's hard to believe that she has now gone to heaven with Popi less than a year later... There was a blog post about Eli's second developmental clinic visit (and now he has graduated from there!). And there is a posting about Eli's GG-Pa and his death. It is hard for me to truly take in how much our lives have changed in the past year.... GG-Pa passed away September 2010, Grandma Purple passed away in the spring and GG passed away in July. Last summer I NEVER would have guessed that our family and our lives would look this way this year. We are SO BLESSED! I try to remind myself of that often and sometimes I forget, but not today. Today I remember and I am THANKFUL! On our Labor Day, we LABORED! :o) Haha!
We cleaned out Eli's bedroom. We took down his crib that he doesn't sleep in because he sleeps in his play yard. We put up some items thar have been hanging around (a frog picture in the bathroom, a Marlins baseball helmet with Jeff Connine's signature and a picture holder thing.) We cleaned out his closet and moved things around. It was great! There were 3 big bags donated to Good Will. It feels great to clean house! lol. Then we went to Nanny and Pop's house to swim and have a BBQ. It was fun. Eli loves the water so much! He actually walked into the water over the side! Rick and Vicky were there to catch him, but our kid has no fear! Happy Labor Day everyone!!! <3 |