In Thanksgiving....

• Monday was full of funeral activities, glad it's over - was thinking about how he's gone and how I don't have any grandparents any longer. I will always have the memories of better days!
• I have a JOB!
• Reconciled with a family member
• Had dinner last night with Chad's Family
• "Paid it forward"
• I love my kids, husband and our horses!
• We have our health.
• Will have Thanksgiving time with our families tomorrow
• Am off work on Friday and will get to spend time with my girls!
• Plan to ride some this weekend.

and baby makes 3......

Did that title get your attention? NO, we aren't expecting an addition to the family....but this past weekend we kept my 11 month old nephew as my brother and his wife went to Atlanta for a wedding. He's a good baby and goes to sleep without a lot of fanfare and sleeps pretty well. We also took him to the Hitchin Post for the trail ride on Saturday. Mom got to ride Goldie and Goldie didn't try any of her usual tricks. I took Shelby on a "trail ride" where I walked her on Blackie thru the woods and made a loop on a nice little portion of the trail. When we got back I let Shelby have the reins and she and Blackie and I went to the outside arena and we played around weaving in and out of some barrels for a bit. Then Jessie and I went for a ride on the same loop with me on Hannah and her on Blackie. He got lazy halfway thru the loop and I had to take Hannah behind him and prod him along. He is a great "speed" for Jessie right now but she will be back up to full speed in good time. She is asking me let her ride Blackie with me on a real trail. I may take her to Oak Mountain for a little ride and change of scenery for us both. Also, the arrangements were made for my Grandfather and the funeral was set for Monday the 20th with viewing and graveside services all in one. We also had to secure pallbearers. On Sunday, Callie - Richard and Allison came over for us to take each other's pictures for our family CHRISTmas cards. We picked the coldest day of the year - brrrr! We took their photo using Blackie and got a cute picture of Allison on Blackie. I really need to take more pictures of the girls with the horses - the one of Allison turned out so cute! My brother and his wife came to get James and soon we were back to our family of 4. He's a great baby but it's such an eye opener to what life would be like if we added another. Chad missed a part of our time of having James at our house as he wasn't home Saturday night to go hunting with his Uncle and didn't get home until almost 11:00 on Sunday afternoon. He needs to have the full weekend to really understand the impact! I think we will give it a few months before we "pretend" again!

For Whom the Bells Toll.......

At lunch, I visited a local mall to make a few purchases. As I left, I stopped outside the store's exit and fumbled in my purse for my keys. As I stood there fumbling for my key's the Salvation Army bell ringer was ringing his bell. I was not even paying attention to it until I was stopped to find my keys. As I stood there the bell's ring, seemed to resonate in my head and I was totally distracted from finding my keys. My focus kept drifting to those that have lost loved ones and those that are going thru difficult times as we approach the "holidays". The bell was ringing so methodically and my head was almost spinning. In such a brief moment, I thought of so many families and their situations....many of the families listed in my "Praying For" list located on the left of my blog. I couldn't believe how my mind was racing....couldn't find my keys....wanted to find a dollar bill to put in the kettle and wanted to run....all at the same time. As I walked to the kettle, I thought specifically of the wife lost today in Tennessee - BJ Kilpatrick and of little Jake Raborn and how his family continues to turn his death into opportunities to "pay it forward" and of Hannah Sobeski's family "carrying the torch". I pushed my dollar in firmly and hoped it would find a way to "pay it forward". The ringer smiled, wished me a nice day and I thanked him and told him "you too". It was as if the bell stopped but I know it didn't....I know he was still ringing it and with the same methodicalness that was there a few moments ago....it just didn't have the same resonance that it seemed to have just moments earlier when I fumbled for my keys and was going to pass it by. I know a dollar isn't an impactful amount.....at this moment I don't think that ordeal was about the amount but about the recognition and the reflection that took place for me. Little did I know I would get back to my office and receive a message from my dad about 20 minutes later. That message was that I needed to call him and that it was very important. You never know with my dad...important can have varying scales with him but that's another one for another day. I called him to have him tell me my grandfather had passed away this morning. He is my Mom's Dad and she is an only child. There have been extenuating circumstances that have placed a strain on the relationships we all shared with he and his wife (not my grandmother, she passed away in 99). Nonetheless, it met me with a swell of mixed emotions and will cause some angst for us in the days to come. So the bells have tolled and continue to toll....life must go on, even when others have passed on. To quote James 4:14, "Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes." How small that truly makes our life yet so important that we live it while we can. So, I will persevere thru the next few days and close another chapter in my life. As the next chapter begins for me and for you...I'd ask you: Are you living your life - truly living it? Can you take the time to hear the bells and really hear them? Can you pay it forward? Can you carry the torch? In my prayers - Tonya

Trick or Treat - we had them both !

With having the Fall Ball "bash" at our house, the girls and I discussed not buying costumes this year or going to any other fall festivals. But, they are my girls and in that they are resourceful! So they came up with things we had at home to make costumes out of and twisted our arms to take them to Nee Nee and Big Ron's neighborhood like we did last year. (Sidenote - last year, was the first time we skipped the church fall festival and took them to their neighborhood. We only took them to houses that Chad and his family have known forever. They loved going to the doors and then coming back to dump all of it in the living room floor of Nee Nee and Big Ron's.) Jessie decided she would be Ellie Mae and knew exactly what she wanted to wear to achieve this look. Shelby wanted to be a princess and we have plenty of apparel to accomodate that! Jeannie aka Nee Nee had us all over for supper and invited my parents as well. My parents brought my nephew James Adam as my sister-in-law and brother had to be at the funeral home for her step-father's visitation. My parents visited the funeral home and then brought James over with a monkey suit in tow. Jessie poses with her "costume", note the hay string she chose to adorn her hair with! Shelby poses in Jessie's first pageant dress AND in a real crown that Shelby won in her first pageant. I had out a play crown and she would have nothing to do with it. Slightly out of focus picture of James in his monkey suit AND he has the hat still on his head. He hated the hat. There are better pictures below but no more with the hat on..... To add to the excitement, Sandi and Ryan got their wedding pics and had a gazillion pictures to look at. We "oohed and aahed" over those as Jeannie called us all to the table. It was hard to put those down as we relived that day....Sandi could be the cover of a bridal magazine and Ryan could be a model as well. Then I saw pictures of my girls.....they are soooo pretty and I can't wait to order some of those for myself. We also had Tiffany and Mark with us for dinner. Last year, Mark had fun tormenting trick or treaters and the "fun" was about to begin again. However, in the torment last year Shelby was petrified of a mask that Uncle Ryan had brought out. She asked Chad a million times yesterday if "that mask" was still there. Chad promised her "no mask"! We were posing the girls and James on the stairs for pictures (see first picture below) when she looked up shortly after I took the pictures and she saw Ryan in "THE mask"....she frieked out.....see next picture. Chad admonished everyone involved. Bless her heart...she has been sick this week and almost didn't even get to go and then this!

she had not seen the mask yet

now she's seen it!

Chad, Nee Nee and the kids left to go hit a few houses....before they could get down to the sidewalk - "Ellie Mae" had a fight with the stairs and the stairs won. Chad carried her in the house crying and we had to doctor a skinned shin and arm before they could continue. While they were gone, Mark and Ryan tormented our trick or treaters with jumping out of the shrubs with power tools and masks on. They crack me up!

The kids came back with candy in tow and they sorted thru their loot in the living room. We took a few more pictures during this time (all can be seen in our online albums in the Halloween album at http://tonyahall.shutterfly.com). We had a great time having everyone together, minus Big Ron who had taken his parents to the beach.

The girls are in a wedding this weekend - YES, I do rent them out for weddings to earn extra money for my horse habit!

I am sure I will have more pictures from that event to post later.

Thanks for reading about us. hug your kids or a family member and live life to the fullest in God's Grace!

Fun Pictures....Fun People

Pictures from the Rodeo

The girls look on at the action.....we'll have fun next year! Jessie rides a mechanical bull. She has asked could she have this at her birthday party next year, since they rent it out. Look out parents, we'll be having a rodeo at our house!

Photo Link for the Fall Ball

I hope this link will take you to pics of the Fall Ball...be warned there are a ton as I am collecting them from everyone who took pictures. http://tonyahall.shutterfly.com Let me know if it doesn't work!

The Fall Ball has come and gone...

The much planned for "Fall Ball" has come and gone. I had hesitated to call it our "first annual" because I just knew after my husband missed a day of fishing and all the work that went into it...he would say NO WAY to another Fall Ball. But last night he surprised me and said something to the effect of we know things we will do different for next year and I said, "so that means there is a 'next year' ?" and he said "yeah - I had fun and we can do it again". Yippeeee- I just knew he would be wanting to kill me by the time the day was over but he was a real trooper in all the prep work, setting up, saddling the pony and running the hay ride....which was a huge hit. I told one of the mom's that I was going to owe him big time for this one and that he would want to fish every Saturday for six months after this day!!!! But I truly think he had a good time. We certainly would not have pulled it off without the help of our families who all pitched in to set up and keep things going. I think at times I felt things were a little more chaotic and less organized than I had 'planned' for them to be....but I think everyone had a great time. One of the dad's said he thinks this will be talked about for a long time. Shelby's pony, Blackie, was also a real trooper as I walked him probably 200 times around the round pen. He has not been ridden in at least a month and when Shelby does ride him - it is not for very long. I should have had a step stool out there to help the bigger kids get on him....I did not know I could lift that much weight....my back is telling me today that I shouldn't have. I am so glad Blackie is not spooky....because a baby was on him with her Mom holding her to pose for a picture. Someone outside the round pen decided it would be cute for the baby to put on a cowboy hat and threw it in to us....it landed right on Blackie's head and slid down his nose. There are many horses that would have flipped them out so I am so thankful for that not happening and safety for us all! The games were fun as all the kids enjoyed the cake walk, bobbing for apples, hunting thru the hay for candy, a ball toss and a duck pond. I had a great time even though I didn't get to mingle too much. I am just so thankful God has blessed us with the setting, the friends and the means to do something like this.....I will post pics as soon as I have them. Looks like I can safely call it our "First Annual Fall Ball"......