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.

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

Looking Ahead.....

This weekend is approaching with the excitement mounting inside me. I am so excited that I am going on a trail ride with some girls from the horse lovers message board. So, while our last few weekends have been busy with doing things for others and with others - I am getting some "me" time and getting to spend it with my horse Hannah. The only thing that would be any better is if Jessie were at a point that she could go.....she'll get there again one day and Shelby will too! This week our elections have made headlines and provided abundant fodder for the analysts, journalists and other interested parties. It's not that I'm not interested but I'm just not very politically motivated. This campaign season tried to pull me in whether I wanted to or not. Our democratic candidate for State Supreme Court was running an ad which contained a song running in the background. The song was the oh-so-well-known children's church song "This Little Light of Mine". Her ad's focused on her experience as a judge as well as her personal life as a church pianist. My daughter's would hear the ad and immediately begin singing...it was kinda cute but then snap back to reality that it was a campaign ad that had them lulled into singing their church song. Kind of an oxymoron - dontcha think? Anyway, this same ad had a blurb in it about her house being firebombed at one point in her career as a judge. My oldest daughter has a heart of gold and was truly concerned about the fate of the judge's family and her home after this "fire bombing". She asked me numerous times if I could "find out what happened"....I did a quick search of the internet and came up pretty empty. So, I went to the candidate's website. (You might be asking why I keep saying "her" and "candidate"??? It's just that if anyone is searching for this person on the web, I don't want my blog to be a hit for them in the search.....not interested in any political ties or torture as a result of this post) The website was a dead end as well...so I e-mailed the campaign office and did not hear anything back. Some time passed and my Mom and I happened to be discussing the candidate's and this whole series of events came up. My Mom was a little miffed that I had not heard anything back from the campaign office.....and just as luck would have it, she had a little free time on her hands that day. She began making some calls and was running into dead ends and even "butt ends" as she relayed that someone in the campaign office was less than cordial when she inquired. Next thing I knew she was asking me to look up the library number to the candidate's hometown. Apparently there was an article in the candidate's hometown paper and the library there should be able to provide it. She relayed to me later the librarian was a little hesitant to discuss the life and times of the towns seemingly favorite daughter. It's a small town, they are family friends, they go to church together and I know that in small towns you live and die by the garden club, your church and the beauty shop! So, Lord bless the librarian for her loyalty to her friend and town but also for her dutifulness as she sent us the article which she had to retype into an e-mail to be able to send to us. The article explained no one was home at the time and the damage was minimal. They felt the suspect was probably someone who had been in her court however I don't believe anyone was ever charged. I will say I'm not sure that this firebombing was as sensational of a headline once the details were unearthed but it sure sounded good in the ad and got your attention (at least my daughter's and in turn ours). At any rate, I am glad my Mom didn't have to have the interview with the B'ham reporter who was chomping at the bit to interview her and find out why no one would divulge the details of this firebombing...I'm glad Jessie got her answer....I'm glad the good librarian helped us all.....I'm glad the candidate only donated $300 to John Kerry instead of several thousands and Dear Lord I'm glad the ads are over. May "This Little Light of Mine" never be exploited again! PS - she won the election....may her values and hometown roots guide her in her decisions and in the relationships she is about to cultivate.

Work and Rodeo's......

Guess in some ways they have a lot of similarities....I mean in both there are clowns, bulls, thrills and spills! No this is not some profound analogy of the two - that's just the only title I could think of that describes my week and weekend, then when I got to thinking about how funny the two sounded together - I started thinking maybe they aren't so different after all. So, this week in the midst of the M word (that's merger - for those new to my blog)...we found out who our manager will be. The old Regions comp manager will be the new manager in the new Regions - makes perfect sense doesn't it? Ok - when Regions m'd with Union Planters - the Comp Manager came over from UP...so the Regions Comp Mgr moved to another position in HR. Then, the Exec Comp Mgr, who was from UP, was "displaced" so that Comp Mgr came back into Comp doing Exec Comp. So, he has a lot of COMP experience and will be the new mgr over Base/Variable Comp in the new Regions. I know him, like him and feel things will be fine. He was actually part of my decision to come to Regions in the first place even though I knew I would not be working for him...he was instrumental in helping me make my decision. So, I feel good about him and the fact that he will be working for a former SouthTrust manager who has been at Amsouth. So, that's one less unknown in this cake we are baking......now if we can get the rest of the ingredients we might know what kind of cake we are making....until now I've just been worried about pre-heating the oven! I say that to say that we know we have a job just not doing what or working for whom and it's like knowing you've got to make a cake but not what kind or how....so you're just standing there at the oven waiting to start it pre-heating!!! I know - I'm goofy....but that's the way I feel. I just hope our cake doesn't go flat and personally I prefer carrot cake to german chocolate; so let's just keep the coco"nuts" out of this recipe! So, next on the agenda is I got my Yukon back - yeah! I am no longer in the racecar, I mean Grand Prix and the new has worn off the girls and they were ready to have our car back. So, I'm on my way home later than usual last night because I had to go to Trussville to pick up my car. I pass by a home which has a few horses and one of them is out, grazing by the side of the road. I called my sweet hubby and asked him to bring a lead line - to which he replied "you're kidding - right?" and I said "no, I don't want this horse to get hit and no one is at home here"...so off he comes, kids in tow and I try to play Roy Rogers (just kidding). It was dark and this guy was not thru grazing....pinned back his ears and took off. I got his halter briefly and he immediately pulled back and went up with his head, so I let go. I am not into playing "cowgirl" especially with strange horses...so I called the Sherriff's Dept and left it in their hands. I did find the number for house thru freeality.com and called later. The horse had been captured and was safe and sound. I was relieved! I am also very thankful to my husband for coming down there for me....he didn't have to do it and I know he was getting ready for a tournament (by the way he came in 2nd - whoo hoo!) So, with that rodeo behind us....we were off to a "real rodeo" on Saturday. We got up bright and early Saturday morning to head to Hidden Creek Ranch near Vincent / Vandiver. Jessie went to horse camp there this summer and LOVED it. They were holding their 2nd Annual Dusty Bottoms Rodeo for kids ages 2 - 15. We did not pre-register and weren't exactly sure what all it involved. When we got there, I made an executive decision that we would not participate or compete this year but watch for a little while and then embark on other activities. The lineup showed it would be a long day at the Dusty Bottoms Rodeo and it was MUDDY....so the two combined did not seem appealing for an entire day. But we watched long enough to know that we will be back next year and with horses in tow for them to participate. While we were there, Jessie got to ride a mechanical bull - well you can only imagine what that has led to....I got pictures and will have them posted later. She also enjoyed watching the roping events and told me how she wanted to practice roping! We were heading to The Hitchin' Post for a b'day party and she told me she wanted to look at the roping dummies when we got there and the ropes! Lord - help us, I can just see Shelby being roped, Reed being roped, Blackie being roped and heaven forbid I make her mad! Once at Hitchin' Post, we checked out the roping dummies and ropes. Mr Cedar was there and he advised us on that aspect and he is going to let her borrow a rope for calf roping and give her some pointers. She also tried on a really cool pair of new boots from the John Deere line which have brown bottoms with pink uppers and are toooooo cute. We are going to see if she can get those for Christmas! We had a great time at Hitchin' Post and they are in full swing for their rodeo next weekend. We were worried we weren't going to get to see too much of their 1st Annual Rodeo because the girls are in a wedding next weekend....but the rodeo doesn't start until 8:00 each night so we will probably get to see plenty of action. If you are looking for some fun, come out to Kimberly, Alabama to the rodeo OR you could just go to work for a company in the middle of merger - it's all about the same!

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"......