Hope you all have a very nice relaxing weekend. I am on my 7 days to work so will not. It has been a very busy week so far. Had a train wreck Thursday and one of the trains had cyanide capsules on it, so we went on Chemical Hazard alert. Very interesting for about 2 hours. No one was killed in the wreck, thank God. Evacuation of about a 4 mile radius. Then last night there was a 20 car pileup on I-20. A 2 year old had to air lifted to Children's Hospital and we received a patient with multiple broken bones. Don't know if any more came in after that because I had worked a double and left after 14 hours. The weekend is here and it's raining so will be busy again tonight in the ER. Won't have time to send anything tomorrow between worship and working so will blog again Monday.

Family Nicknames

As you have seen on Greg's blogs last year about our Mom, see came from a large family. She was the eldest daughter of 5 girls and the second child of 7. The eldest son is Robert Jr. (this is what Grandmama always called him) the rest of the family calls him Bob (no big surprise there). As mentioned before, Mom being the eldest daughter was called Sister by my grandfather. She also had the nickname of "Hitty" given by Bob when he was little because he couldn't say sister. That stuck throughout her life with all family members (cousins included). Her grandmother couldn't say Muriel (Mom's first name) and called her Mule (which my Dad said applied sometimes). In going through her belongings, I found cards and letters sent to her from Dad and he called her "Dusty" and she called him "Lucky". Never knew that before so didn't have the opportunity to find out why these names. She was also very affectionately called "Muz" by all the grandchildren and us as well, and just about anyone close to her. At her funeral Eric (her eldest grandson) stated he had given her this name but , again, going through her things, I found a card given to her for her birthday by Dad and her signed it "To almost Grandmuzzie". This was just before Lori, her first grandchild was born. I think I remember she told me that Greg gave her the nickname "Muz" when he was little and we lived in Florida.

Next in her family is Opal Lea. She married Don Rost, and for some reason all of us grandchildren have called her Lea-Don for as long and I can remember.

Ruth was the next child and she married Dexter Dunavant. She was called Ruth-Deck. Don't know who started these nicknames but they stuck.

Shirley is next and her nickname for all time will be "Too-too". Again don't know where this came from but she has always very affectionately been called this by all of us. She was married to Frank (who also passed away last summer) and I think some of the younger grandchildren called him Mank.

Elizabeth Ann is the youngest girl and no one knows that is her real name because she has never been called anything but "Pat". I think Mom gave her that name, if I'm not mistaken.

Tom was the last and he was always just Tom or Tommy.

There are 23 of us grandchildren. The first being Bob's eldest son Robert , known only to us a "Butch". Then his sister Diana Gail. She is called Dee-dee, which is short for Dee-dee Bop (don't know where that came from). Her youngest brother is David (a few days younger than I). I don't remember him having a nickname.

Next comes the four of us (actually Alan and myself were born before David). Alan, our eldest brother is Alan Dwain. He was known a Dwain until a few years ago. When I was little Mom said I called him Dane. As I got older her became "Bubba". In high school he got the name "Frenchie" and we have all guessed as to the origin of that. He has been "Frenchie" for most of his adult life and it has been very hard to call him Alan, but I'm getting there.

I'm next and stated before I have been known as Cis or Cisy all my life. To the point that many of my cousins friends don't know I have any other name.

Greg is next. He was very affectionately called "Bimbo" by our grandfather. He followed "Bozo" (our grandfather's name to all us grandchildren) everywhere and sang a little song - "Bimbo, Bimbo where you going to go-li-o. Bimbo, Bimbo, what you going to do-li-o...." This was taught to him by Bozo and he would sing it to him all the time. As the nieces and nephews came along, he acquired other nicknames, none of which stuck. Eric called him "Gork" at one time. When Tara was a baby, she called him "Egg" and Janice, "Jam". For a little one, I can see how she would get that out of Greg and Jan. Mostly he was called Bim by Mom and family.

Rex, we have already discussed. He is now called "Uncle Beeps" by nieces and nephews.

Other cousins: There is Olivia, known as "Da-da", given by me (she is not quite 2 yrs younger than I). Mom said when I saw her for the first time I said, "My Da-da" meaning babydoll. Her brother was Anthony. He was born the day the Russians lauched there first Sputnik rocket, therefore his nickname was "Sputnik". These are Shirley's children.

Lea's girls are Gail and Layne. They didn't have family nicknames as far as I know. The cousins always called them by these names.

Ruth's children are Dru better know and Drusy Lou, Dexter - Monkey and David ( not the one mentioned above). Don't know why Monkey, he is by the way Dr. Dunavant now.

Pat's children are Scott, Trisha and Chad. Scott was the only one with a nickname and it was Googer because that is what he called dogs.

Tom's girls are Cindy and Andrea. Their full names are Cynthia Elizabeth and Andrea Lee. My aunt Betsy said she didn't want them to have nicknames, so we called them Cindy Beth and Andy Lee I think just to hack her off.

So there you have it. Interesting names somewhat. Oh, My girls are Tara Elaine and Teri Diane. Tara has been know as Tata all her life and Teri was called "Touchdown" for awhile (because of her initials). She is now very lovingly called Aunt T or just "T" by all (given to her by Haley). Haley is known by me as Haleybug and by her grandfather as "Hamburger" (again because of her initials - HB- Haley Brook). Hannah is Hannah Marie and before she was born we called her Nanna Pudding so Mike now calls her "Pudding" or as she says "Puddining".

Now you know all our little secret names with as much history as I know as to why we carry them. Have fun and brothers - forgive (although I think your nicknames are really cute). Love ya.

New Puppy

I am a sucker for babies of any type (except reptiles). Therefore, we now have a new puppy and if I knew how to post a picture you would see her. When Mike gets home from Knoxville, I will get him to do this for me. A fellow at work was trying to give away puppies for about a week (mix of chocolate lab and short hair German pointer) without success. He then brought them to work last Friday and within 30 minutes all of them were gone.

We had a black lab that had wondered into our yard about 2 years ago and stayed. He was the sweetest dog but is no longer with us. Greg has mentioned before that he sure is glad he is not a dog belonging to us. We live off a very busy highway and all the dogs we have owned have been some type of herding/hunting dogs. So they chase squirrels and get hit on the highway. That is the reason Cheyenne (the dog in the picture) is now a house dog. Anyway, back to the story. Mike was really hurt when Hawk (the black lab) met his demise so I thought a new puppy with lab in her would be a good gift(and cheap, since they were free). So I picked out one that is really pretty (picture to be posted Friday).

He was trying to think of a name for her and nothing seemed to fit. He was describing her to Haley and she suggested the name Boots. Mike hesitated. Then we went to visit Teri and Josh and she said "Boots fits. Like Boot scootin boogy." So the name stuck. When Mike told Haley he decided to call the dog "Boots" she said, "Like boot scootn boogy." It really amazes me how much this child is like her aunt and not her mother. Haley is a "Mini Me" of Teri.

Anyway, Cheyenne and Boots have been introduced. Cheyenne must have thought she was a rat at first. We had a hard time keeping her from attacking her. They have now made friends and Boots will not settle down to sleep if she is not right next to Cheyenne. She is inside for the time being (because of cold weather) which makes keeping the house clean and straight a thing of the past for the next couple of months. But puppies like babies are just too cute and fun to watch.

More later with pictures.

It's Tuesday and I apologize for not blogging in a week. It had been a very hectic week and Sunday night and all day yesterday I have had that flu that has been spreading like wildfire here. I just finished reading a blog from a man who just returned from China getting his daughter. It is sidneyelizabeth.blogspot.com if you are interested.

As some of you know, our daughter, Teri and her husband Josh are adopting from China and we (she has asked me to accompany them there) will be going over sometime around June/July to get out little Maddie. Steve goes through his trip on a daily basis and gives us some idea of what to expect from our trip. I ask your prayers in the finale steps of this process and our flights to and from China. We will be taking a laptop with us and are planning to blog on a daily basis with pictures of the baby and sites visited.

Teri and Josh have rec'd their "brown package" from China which means they have officially been approved by the Chinese government to adopt. So, things are progressing smoothly and hopefully rapidly.

Will keep you informed.

Happy Birthday

47 years ago tomorrow, we lived in Florida, I was in the 3rd grade, had one older brother and one younger brother. Mom went to the hospital in the early morning - before we awoke for school- to get me a little sister. Much to my surprise and aggravation (and some anger she told me), she came home with another boy. How dare she mislead me this way(there wasn't any ultrasound to tell the sex of the baby then). She told me that I was very angry with her and told her to take him back and get me a sister. I found out many years later that she and Dad actually looked into adopting me a sister, but God knows best. So here he was - Rex Stewart England.

It didn't take me long to fall in love with this little bundle of activity. Mom had been calling him Tad (short for tadpole) while carrying him because he was constantly moving (and still hasn't stopped). Greg was 5 at the time and the nickname of Tad was changed to Saspo by him(I think Mom told me this was Greg's way of saying Tadpole). The nickname stuck much to his aggravation in later years. He was indeed a wiggly baby. I remember trying to help Mom change diapers and you had to keep one hand on him at all times because he would wiggle to the edge of the bed before you knew it.

I had a rocking chair I had gotten when I was 5 and when I would come home from school I would hold Rex in my lap to watch cartoons in the afternoons. Mom said she would not have believed it had this not been her child and she witnessed it but at the age of 2wks, he would be awake and waiting on me to come home and hold him. If I happened to be late for some reason, he would put up a fuss. He was then (and still in my mind) my little baby. I would take my lunch money and get a roll or something to keep my stomach from growling at school and save the rest of it to buy him ice cream in the afternoon when the ice cream truck came around.

He has always had the most wonderful sense of humor - as those in California learned a few years ago. He, like our dad can turn any situation into a comedy. Mom told me once that he had the capability to make straight A's in school but chose not to and one of his teacher's told her not to worry that his personality would get him far and it has.

So, the years have passed and this delightful little boy has turned into a wonderful man, caring brother, loving husband and father (and will be a more doting grandparent than I when the time comes). For all the joy, tears, heartaches, and love, I wanted to take a minute and tell this sibling (who was supposed to be my SISTER) a very happy birthday and I wish you many more. (Actually the day of his birth is Jan 10th, but I will be out of town tomorrow). I love you very much little brother (over 6 ft tall). Cis

P.S. The nickname of Saspo was shortened to Sas throughout most of his life. When the nieces and nephews began to arrive, the name somehow was changed to Beepo. When he was a junior in high school he had a niece and nephew in elementary (same facility for all grades) who would see him in the halls and call out to him - completely embarrassing to him. The name was then shortened to Uncle Beeps which he seems to be ok with now.

I went to the doctor yesterday to find out what could be done for what I thought were episodes of Bell's Palsy. I have been having twitching and facial drooping since November and it seems to be getting worse. I learned that this is not Bell's Palsy (although I didn't accept that from my doctor until I talked with one of out ER doc's last night at work). I appears to be some form of focal seizure activity of the facial nerve. I will be trying the medication my doc gave me for two weeks and then a return visit. If this doesn't help, then I will be making and appointment with a neurologist.

The symptoms are more aggravating and embracing than anything else. Teri (the youngest child -better known to ya'll and "china baby's mom") was sitting at our table New Year's eve, pulled her mouth down in the corner and drooped her eyelid and asked, "hey Mom who is this?". My kids love me soooo much.

Would like to ask your prayers about this because seizure activity kind of frightens me (having seen some very scary ones as an ER nurse). I know this is not serious at this point but don't know what is really causing this to happen and that is a little unnerving.

Thanks for you prayers. Will keep you informed and I find out more.

Church family

I've just read Keith's blog from Sunday. A little insight to the family Mike and I worship with. A couple of Sundays ago I went forward for prayer. I had been in a deep depression since Mom died and didn't realize it until Greg called one day and we talked. I thought I was handling things well, with the usual occasional bouts of tears and heavy heart. After our talk, I realized I wasn't handling thing at all. I had been treating Mike, my children and grandchildren with little to no patience and generally acting horribly. I had been "going to church" because that was what was expected of me and not because I really wanted to be there. I got nothing out of being there because of my mind set.

After my talk w/Greg, I realized how bad things had gotten. I asked our preacher to pray for me and forgive the way I had neglected our church family. He asked me to talk to the congregation. Basically, I told them the above and that only the closest to me had any idea the pain I was feeling. There is one RN that we worship with that I have known for many years and she knew something was wrong. After I spoke and asked their forgiveness and continued prayers, just about every woman and quiet a few men gathered around me to pray. One of the deacons said "We'll take you, being a booger and all," (I had mentioned what a booger I had been).

I was later told by a member that a couple had made a decision to place membership with this church family from witnessing this gathering of family around me to share my burden. They said they had been looking for over a year for a congregation that really showed they cared for one another and for a congregation where when someone had a problem that person wasn't afraid to get up and share it.

I think this is what many are looking for today, and many of the "churches" are realizing they need to get back to caring for one another and those outside the body of Christ if there is truly going to be a difference made in this world.