What A Day

What a day today has been. In a good way.

At work today I went over my sales goal AND got to play with 3 super cute babies! I adore my job. Or maybe it is the clients I adore! ;)

When I got home tonight and checked Facebook, I noticed that Lane Goodwin, a 13 year old Rhabdomyosarcoma cancer warrior I have been following, was able to join in his own support campaign by giving the "thumbs up" sign multiple times. This along with the fact that Lane has been walking and talking today during visits with loved ones is miraculous, because sweet Lane is home on hospice after a seizure earlier this week led doctors to discover that Lane's cancer has invaded his brain and there is nothing more they can do for Lane. In most of Lane's pictures he is seen doing "thumbs up", so Jordan thought it would be cool to get Lane's supporters to do it with him to honor his courageous fight and remind him he is not alone. That being said, Jordan started a Facebook event earlier this week appropriately titled "Thumbs Up for Lane". The event has gained thousands of photos of people across the globe showing Lane a "thumbs up". The response is amazing and the event made national news today. The best part is Lane is alert and has seen it and is incredibly humbled.


Also tonight on Facebook, a local songwriter and performer published the album version of "Emma's Song", the song he wrote for my good friend, 5 year old Leukemia survivor, Emma Bulich. The song is amazing.


To check out Lane and Emma's stories visit them on Facebook at Prayers for Lane Goodwin and Prayers for EMMA. The links to the event and the song will be on their pages.


Tomorrow I get to babysit our cousin Connor while his mom, Dawn, gives birth to our soon-to-be newest cousin Jonah.

Pictures soon. :)


Until my next post,
Stormy <3

Playing Catch Up!

Hello blog world! A good friend of mine has decided to keep a blog. I am very excited about this because it means I can keep up with her and her sweet family. We live about four hours apart but we were best friends through school so I am excited for this chance to keep up with each others blogs. I logged on to follow her new blog (raisingandpraising.blogspot.com) and realized I have not updated my own blog since May! My gosh it is almost October! Thankfully I have discovered the Blogger App for the iPod, so posting should be simpler for me from now on.

So now to play catch up... Since May I have gotten a job at PictureMe Portrait Studios. I am absolutely loving it! I spend my days taking pictures of families all shapes and sizes. It is really interesting to hear their stories and learn their personalities in just the hour we spend together during their session. I am really glad all that work I did on my graduation project in high school paid off, literally. ;)

I am also fast approaching my first anniversary of marriage with my sweet husband. It has been a rocky year but we have remained strong and are looking forward to many more years together.

We adopted a sweet cat into our lives as well. We named him Mowgli after The Jungle Book character. His name is to fit with his kitty cat cousin's name. See, Jordan's sister, Michaila, adopted her sweet kitty just a week before and named him Baloo. Both cats are from the shelter and we are very thankful to have rescued them. They sure do bring a little extra sunshine into our lives. Furry little friends. :)

It has been a fun summer filled with adventures including numerous trips to Busch Gardens, a Toby Keith concert, an Andy Grammer/Gavin DeGraw concert, a NASCAR race where I met my favorite athlete, and two weeks with my awesome little sister that I absolutely cherished. Now it's time again to pack up the summer clothes and prepare for a winter I am sure will be just as fun.

That's about the gist of what has gone on in our world since May, and hopefully I will actually be able to keep up with my blog now! ;)

Until my next post,
Stormy <3

It's Going To Be A Lovely Day!

Good morning world, it is 6:56am here in Norfolk, Va, and I am ready for the blessing of a day God has given us!

I have eaten breakfast, the laundry is done, and my better half is catching up on some much needed rest.

Now to clean my bathroom, get dressed, and then lunch with my MIL.

It's going to be a lovely day!

Until my next post,

Stormy <3

Free Slurpee Day!

It is Slurpfree Day at 7-11, so today when Michaila got out of school we went to two 7-11 stores. I took a picture of Kayla and Victoria "slurping" away in the backseat.

Now we are at Nanny's for dinner. It has been a pretty good day. :)

Until my next post,

Stormy<3

A Wicked Weekend

This past weekend Tabetha and Justin came to Norfolk and picked me up. We went on an impromptu trip to the zoo here, and then headed to Goldsboro.
On Saturday my mom, Kim, Mekenzie, and myself traveled to Durham and I finally got to see Wicked! Wicked is one of my favorite stories and I have wanted to see the Broadway production for years. I am excited to say that it was definitely worth waiting for.
I had an awesome weekend and I am back home in Norfolk now. Last night Jordan surprised me with a trip to Newport News to visit Emma and family. Her parents, Ed and Michelle have become great friends of ours. We went to dinner with them at Chili's and then came home and watched the Billboard awards.
Tonight I am catching up on the internet world while Jordan works.

Until my next post,

Stormy <3

So Much Stuff

Hello blog world. So much stuff has happened since my last post that I don't even know where to begin, or even if I will remember everything to post here.

After Christmas, everything began to change. Tabetha and Savannah and Ashlynn came to Virginia for New Years, just as we had planned, but after that everything went downhill. On January 3rd, on the way back from taking our visitors to the state line to meet my mom and aunt so they could go home, Jordan and his mom got into it on the phone. It was all really stupid, but we came home, shoved all our stuff in the car, and moved into my mom and dad's house in NC. Just that quick. Jordan's job was gone, and we were estranged from his family. Just that quick.

We were in NC from January 3rd to May 4th, and now we are back in Va, all family reconnected, and Jordan has his job back. Here's what happened:

January 3, 2012- We left in a huff and started over in NC.

February 2012- We started work in NC. Jordan at Zaxby's and Western Sizzlin, and me with Tyler as his CAP worker.

March 12, 2012- My parents' house burnt down. Jordan dropped a candle that ignited the curtains and everything went ablaze from there. He was the only one home, and he got himself and the dogs out. We lost a lot, but were able to save some sentimental items and, miraculously, my sister's bedroom and the spare room were spared thanks to the closed doors made of platinum. My sister didn't lose anything aside from what she had in the living room, and most of our family pictures were saved, because my mom kept them in that spare room. We lived in a hotel for two weeks before my parents were placed in a rental house. During that time, Jordan's family came to help us. They stayed a weekend, and during their stay we had a family meeting that gave Jordan and I a plan. We were working toward moving out on our own, and he was given a manager position at Papa John's in Goldsboro. Having been absent for work for a week due to the fire, he lost his previously mentioned jobs.

April 2012- We were working toward our goal when we came to Va to visit for a weekend and celebrate Michaila's birthday with her, because we had missed her party because of work. We had planned to leave and go back to NC that Monday after breakfast. On the way to breakfast we got a phone call from Jordan's dad saying that the Supervisor of the Va Papa John's franchised stores was asking to see Jordan, so he went. The supervisor offered Jordan his job back. This is the same job he was working in NC, but in Va the pay is double, so we accepted graciously. We did go back to NC that Monday, but only for the week.

May 4, 2012- We moved back to Va.

May 14, 2012- Jordan went back to work at a different Papa John's, Great Bridge.

And now here we are.

Until my next post,

Stormy <3

Catching Up and Christmastime!

Well, I'm just gonna jump right in.

Obviously, the post I said would be here "after I move" never made it up.

I mean, unless you count this, even though I moved over two months ago.

I finished packing and Jordan came and got me from Goldsboro the Thursday after baby Connor's surgery.

Connor is doing well as far as we know, by the way, but he isn't the topic of this post.

I have lived here in Norfolk, Virginia since the end of September.

On October 13, 2011, Jordan and I got married.

It wasn't the huge wedding we thought we wanted, but it was beautiful.

Judge if you want, but he and I are happy.

We were married late afternoon in a small room surrounded by our mothers, sisters, his grandparents, my grandma, and his aunt Linda.   I wish our dads could have been there, but aside from that, I think it was perfect.

I got a job at a military surplus store, but I quit because I couldn't handle the drama between the other "employees", and my husband said we would be okay.

I re-registered for college, and I start at Tidewater Community College on January 9, 2012.

I'm really excited to go back to school, and I hope to be able to blog a lot more once I start again, because I really want to have this to look back on and even show my kids someday, and so far the gaps between my posts are too big.

Anyway, moving on to the real reason for this post...

This holiday season is the beginning of new traditions.

Things are not exactly as they have always been on either side of the family because Jordan and I got married, and that means TWO family Christmases.

We are spending Christmas Eve here, and going to NC for Christmas Day and visiting until the 28th.  

Then, Tabetha and Ashlynn and Savannah are coming home with us for New Year's.

I'll have a lot more to blog about after the fact, since there will be lots of new memories made, but I did want to catch up at least a little bit here.

Expect photos and details of the holidays soon!

Until my next post,

Stormy <3