Malana

Payton's B-day

2009-07-10T08:08:00.004-04:00

On Saturday we celebrated Payton's first birthday.

Her very first present was from her moma & daddy: a little disney princess tent.

Lets just say she loves it...

& her daddy, too...

& her papal.

Then at her party, they did the presents first. It took her a short while to figure out that there was stuff inside the bags.

I just think this picture is cute. (her plumber shot)

Elizabeth peaked in on each present first. I caught her in the act.

She liked what i got her. ^v

The birthday cake (cupcake)

Before.

After ^v

Then we can't forget the big sister of little Payton.

Elizabeth was a huge help at the party. And never once did she show any sort of jealousy. I was thrilled that she was actually happy that it was Payton's b-day. What a great sister.

Story

2009-05-01T14:22:00.004-04:00

I really don't have much to say, so I decided to post the intro to the book I'm currently working on. It's on it's 5th draft if you count all the times I keep changing it and so forth. But it still is of the same story I post about a little while ago.

So, here's the dream intro to my book 'Frozen Inside'.

Dream

Somewhere between awareness and sleep I felt my body pull from the deep depth I was in.
Slowly the heavy weight left me and my mind was suddenly full. The blackness behind my eyelids faded revealing a dark forest floor.
I was running.
Through the black night, my feet never faltered. I ran as if my life depended on it.
My heart thudded in my chest. Steam vapors passed my lips with every gasp. A burning pain screamed in my side. Cold sweat clung to my aching skin. I didn’t slow.
Nothing told me why I was running. My mind and my conscience were on separate levels. I vaguely wondered if I was in any danger as I pushed on. Nothing seemed out of place in the dark grey trees.
Something snagged my foot. I fell to the cold, snow-covered floor.
The moment shocked me. There was a reflecting moment when I saw my surrounding more clearly then before. I was not in a completely blackened forest, but a forest at night with a crystal clear moon shining above. The snow and fog mirrored the white light.
A strong gush of air blew my long hair away from my face. The air suddenly grew colder. Stinging my face as it passed.
I pulled my throbbing hands up. The pervious years’ leaves were under the thin layer of snow. A few twigs clung to my palms.
I wasn’t hurt, so I got to my feet again. There was no way I could run like before. My breathing was still in its own race. My heart still beat against the inside of my chest. I stumbled forward.
So many different things raced in my head. Feelings and actions were on the top of the scale, but there was nothing to relate why this was happening. There was no understanding to why I was running in a dense woods. I wanted to know.
My mind was only registering what emotions I was feeling right then. It was purely out of love that I dashed across this unknown uninhabited waste land.
A beautiful handsome face fixed in the center of my mind. His face was a bit fuzy but his blue eyes shown like beacons. He was simply more-lovely than anyone I had ever seen before. Of course I would do anything for him.
I controlled my breathing and set off again. If I was doing this for him then I couldn’t linger. I had to hurry. It all boiled down to this.
“It will come to pass,” I heard myself say out loud. “This is the only way.”
I had no clue as to why I said it, but it was right. The encouragement pushed me forward again. Whatever I was doing was right and perfect. It had to be. There seemed to be no choice in the matter but to see it through.
I tripped again.
A stinging sensation howled from my hands. Worst than last time. Red blood flowed from my palms.
One of my bleeding hands jumped to my throat, clasping something. I felt my determination strengthened as the cold stone pressed on the scraps.
I jumped to my feet again walking in a hurried pace.
I crested on the top of a hill and paused. This felt very familiar. It was like another time and day came flooding back to my memories. This place was not strange but known. I’ve been here before.
“It would not be any further now,” my voice said.
My words and thoughts confirmed in agreement. I went numb as my feet took off again.
I ran again. I ran against time. For time I knew was growing short with the advancing moon. I raced to an end that I did not know.
Can I really follow through with this? Am I strong enough to defeat the battle before me? Is this really protecting the others? Would he still really love me?
The thoughts confused me. They begged to slow my step as I ran.
That beautiful face came apparent again in my thoughts.
Something reached up taking hold of my foot. I fell forward for the third time. My hands threw out in front of me to brace for the impact. I felt my knees hit the ground hard. The dark winter soil met my already bloody hands. My eyes flew open. The breath of my lungs escaped through my lips.
The world seemed to stand still again.
A drifting cloud of fog flew away from me like ripples on a pond.
Something glinted on the edge of my eyesight.
On the ground, frozen in time was a small puddle. The bleak glint of the moon reflected the trees on to the ice. My eyes locked with my own sunken icy blue eyes. I looked to myself sickly and pale. Despair written clearly in my expression.
“I have to do this.” My voice sounded distance, unsure. I almost wanted to beg for a chance to leave. Some unknowing doom had to be in my immediate future.
No I can’t. I gave in. All my fears and worries came pouring out of me. I knew I was going to die alone. I was too far down this course and my end was near. Death just on the edge of the trees.
I stared at my haunted face in the mirrored ice. The frozen feeling went completely through me. I couldn’t move.
Coming visibly clear on the ice, a face smiled in front of me from behind.
I shook my head at the dream. No, it wasn’t a dream. It’s too real.

There you go. Just a small piece.

Doggie Update

2009-04-14T10:49:00.002-04:00

I still don't have my pictures loaded to the computer, so still no Gatlinburg pics.

Flash is going in today at noon for another check up and new bandage. Today should be a good day for him. He's getting the cast off. They are going to do an x-ray to see how well the bone is healing, but they said the wound is completely closed now and the bone should be strong enough for him to stand on. We still don't know of his muscle if he'll ever be able to use it or not, but he's been using his shoulder a lot to work his leg. Now, his leg should just be wrapped to keep it healing striaght. Though he's a disabled dog, it's not slowed him down yet. He still tries to chase deer and geese which is funny with the ecollar around his neck. He uses the casted leg to kick the little puppies away from him and he'll use it to get our attention by hitting us with it. He's a goofy dog that has overcome his difficulties.

Brake Check

2009-03-31T08:43:00.002-04:00

Well, at least someone did that to the car in front of me last night.

The SVU guy claimed he was annoyed that the car in front of me wasn't giving him enough room to merge over on the hwy in front of the movies in Corydon. (He didn't use his signals or anything either). So, when he got in front of her, he slammed on his brakes. The car in front of me stopped in time. I didn't. I hit her and the van behind me, hit me. The semi behind the van was paying enough attention and swurved off of the road just in time not to hit all three of us. Thankfully there was no damage, except for the dent I gave the woman car on her licences plate. The SUV guy drove off, leaving us all behind. We all called it a truce since there was nothing to worry about. It took me an hour to calm down enough to drive from my mom's daycare to home. Even though there was no damage, I'm sore and stiff at all my joints. And tired. Very tired.

Gatlinburg:

Was as good as ever. It was very enouraging being with the girls that weekend. I don't think I've fully recovered yet. I just got the pictures on Sunday (I took very little so I'd been waiting on the others hoping they are better then mine.), but I hadn't loaded them to my computer yet. I'll post more on it later with pictures.
I skipped out on the 8 mile hill trail they did on Sunday. I was all for it on Saturday, until it was mentioned about the bridges with only one rail each. Then, I was scrambling mentally thinking how to get out of it without disappointing the others. If anyone knows my roller coaster/heights story than you'd understand perfectly.
Saturday: we took a small trail and got side track at looking at this lovely stream. I got a few pictures of the five foot or so edge that separated the elevated trail and the stream. Just how the sun was shining through and the moss blanketing the ground and trees was pretty to me. Instead of being smart, I followed the girls across stepping stones to the little island in the middle. They were getting pictures of rapids. I was going to try being sneaky and get back to the other side and try get some pictures with them admiring the rapids. It didn't work. I fell in. I had my cell phone & camera. The camera works. My phone doesn't. Sadly, the phone that took my abuse got replaced on tuesday. My pass phones didn't last as long as this one had or with stood the amount of torture I gave it. This new one almost screams at me saying it's breakable. I've already dropped it once this morning. It seems fine.

But back to the fall, the girls were real sweet about it. They were understanding and helped by taking my phone & camera and setting them out to dry. At first I thought i was fine, but then we went shopping and slowly my knee hurt. For that whole evening, I seriously wondered if I broke my knee cap. It was black and swollen. But I don't have insurance and I wasn't about to let them know. Now, it doesn't matter because my knee is fine and the bruise is almost gone.

Sunday: we went to this little congregation. I want so badly to help them out. The two years we've now been there they seem to be struggling in more then one way. I didn't get to speak to any of them this year, but they don't seem that strong of Christains. They're trying, but with the conditions they are struggling with (financially & government restrited meeting times because of their bad water) they just don't seem strong. The class I got lost in. We read a passage, then he jumped back and reviewed heavily of the prior passage. It was encouraging to find out they had only started three years ago and they've maintain ties since then. It just makes me feel helpless. I want to do more for them, because they are God's people and ARE trying to follow Him and spread the word. I'm just worried.

The evening: I stayed at the cabin while they went hiking. I worked on my book for the most part. I work best with an open window. So I turned off the heat and opened the door. The ceiling fan didn't work. I played with it, but I think the motor is burned up. But I typed seven pages (which is a lot for me in one run). I thought I saved it; but the computer had mircosoft processer and I was using regular word and had to keep going back and forth on the saving files. (Monday morning I discovered it didn't save. I only got caught back up this pass weekend.) That night the girls bought pizza and we watched TV. It was fun in the sense it was relaxing.

Monday we went to a pancake house and afterwards shopped some more. Then we had our last study out side in the sunshine and headed back home.

Hopefully I'll be able to post some pictures. It really is a pretty place there and it just makes me wish to go hiking more often at home. I know our hills don't equal theirs but our history in the forestry is just as rich.

Friday

2009-03-20T08:16:00.002-04:00

To start off, Flash is doing better. The cast hasn't slowed him down at all. He's getting his fifth cast today. They have to keep changing it out because they physically couldn't close the wound with stitches, so to be as non detailed as possible, the hole is left open and healing. It's healing quicker then what the vet was expecting. I'm going to try talking one on one with what his actually process is. His bills are kinda up there and my budget is tight, now even tighter. Looks like school is getting put off again till the fall. I was going to go this summer, but the vet bills are higher then what my car is value at. Sorry, to be complaining. I just got the Gatlinburg trip this weekend and all on top of it. I've been trying my hardest to look forward to the trip, but with leaving so much going on at home, I'm worried. I'm probably going to be calling home every few minutes checking on things.
Monday, unfortunately, is my 24th birthday. Normally, I get to hide in a hole. Last year, I was in Gatlinburg, which wasn't to bad. We went to Cades Cove which was fun. I'm one of those historial weirdo's so that was a treat. Then they took me out to dinner. I've never been one to like my birthday. I only did the kiddy parties, because my mom loves them. Me, my sister, & my brother take after my dad more. We don't like aging. My mom loves parties, but when the attention is focused on her, she fits in with us on the no attention level. But she'll be 50 this year. (Evil grin).

On a different note: My books are coming along very slowly. I'm at the point of the Book 2 where I'm having to do research to make it as real and believable as possible. I'm only on chapter 10 of that book. This one might be longer then the first. Which is scary. Book 1: I'm still working on draft 3. Almost done with it though. Just three more chapters and draft 3 will be done and draft 4 can start. Draft 4 is where I'm changing it from 3rd person to 1st. I'm looking forward to that, oddly enough. I think after draft 4, I'm going to see if someone outside my fan base (aka: a good friend & coworker) would read it and give an opinion. But we'll see.

I got just under 7 hours before I leave for Tennessee. And a little over 3 hours before I leave from work. :)

Flash update

2009-03-10T12:24:00.002-04:00

Nope, not the coon. He's been shot. The bone in his shoulder is completely shatter. He has no feeling in his leg. From the size of the wound and destruction, he will never be able to walk on it again. The vet can't even stitch him up. He's at the vet for the next two days and going through surgery.

Tuesday

2009-03-10T11:39:00.002-04:00

I woke up this morning very early. There was no sunlight in the sky. I looked over at my clock to see it was almost four thirty. I rolled over and drifted between wakefullness and sleep. I finally lifted my head again to see it was after six thirty. Late. I hurriedly fled my room, showered, changed, made sure Gary was awake and gathered my things. I had one job left to do. Feed the animals. I went outside, still hurrying, pourd out dog food, and cat food in their respective places. Then I noticed my dog, Flash. He rolled over like always wanting a morning belly rub. His tail was wagging. It was still dark outside. I reached over to pet him, when I felt something warm and soft. With the light of my cell phone, I was grossed out. Flash has been hurt again. Again, and again and again. This poor dog can't stay out of trouble. He's been attacked by what I assume is a coon.
I thought I was going to be late this morning, I was now. I brought him in and taped up the gapping hole in his leg the best I could. I knew from his lack of movement and such that he was in a lot of pain. It looked like it would be to. As much gore as I've seen living on a farm, you'd think I could handle this. As I taped him close, I got light headed and queasy. I called mom and she said to see if Steve (my neighbor & sister's father-in-law) could take him. Luckily Steve was awake and agreed to take him. The worst part was having to leave the poor guy.
I sit here at work, just finishing the flood of orders from our main buyer, and my phone rang. It was mom. The first thing out of her mouth was the enormous price the vet is charging. It's only a few hundred shy of what the 3 nights stay & lung surgery and such was in Louisville. Mom told me that she told them to go ahead with it. Flash somehow managed to get metal chips in the wound. We can only guess that while he was fighting the coon, he must've hit something down in the barn - like the round bailer or a sheet of tin or something like that. He has to be in a splint and they are going to do x-rays to see if he has any broken bones. With the muscle torn like it is, there maybe a chance he'll never be able to walk on that leg again. He just turned a year old in Feb. My mom suggested that my brother needs to go coon hunting. Even more so now, that dad moved Daisy May and her six snow white beagle pups down there.
Life is never daul on the farm.

March

2009-03-09T11:11:00.004-04:00

Well, here we are. March. Spring. And everything else in between.

Okay, a list of updates.
We got nearly eight thousand for the ruin pool from the insurance. So, the property taxes are paid, the blazer is in the shop (and should be done today) getting a new transmission, dad got new seed for the pasture fields and had the seed drill out sat. & sun. planting. They are paying off some of their bills, and that pretty much covers it.

Me: I have one car payment left until the car is MINE.
We've got two weeks till Gatlinburg.
Two weeks, I'll be 24 <- urgh.
The current book I've been writing since Nov, is on it's 3rd draft and I decided to change it from 3rd person to 1st which is going to be my fourth draft. I was doing a prologue, but I think I might cut it out. I just can't grasp it. So maybe make it part of a dream or something like that.
I'm back to exercising. Four miles in the last two days. Today, I'm walking/jogging another two miles. I'm feeling every bit of it.
I've read the song of solomon, twice this year. And I've asked Gary on information on it, because I'm confused. Now, last monday, I finally made it to the studies. Happily I opened my Bible to what Bruce is teaching: Song of Solomon. Yes.
We might be recieving another mare here soon. Still ify on the info of her. But my mare would be thrilled to have another horse with her.

Family:
Dad: is a little under the weather right now. Mainly a cold, but he's getting better. He's in a better mood thanks to the flow of money and he's back on the tractor again. That always makes him feel better. A true farmer.
Mom: is fine. She's trying to get credited for some type of daycare thing and her big interview is this week. She has had to get rid of a lot of stuff there and rearrange a lot. But the best part is, they want her desk clean. I'm looking forward to that. It's hard to type with a pile of uneven paperwork under the keyboard and mouse.
Gary: got a new truck. Well, not new - a '93 Ford Ranger. He's already going to jack it up this week. Figures. The other truck he's "giving" back to dad. Gary never bought it - dad did - so now dad gets to drive it.
Karie: hurt her knee two weekends ago. She still has problems with it, which makes her worried about her past knee problems and disease she had. But she struggling through it. Stephen has been helping her more at home, so she's getting relief that way.
Stephen: is as normally weird as ever. A good brother-in-law.
Elizabeth: is already looking forward to her 5th birthday. (It's in April, but time doesn't matter to kids.) She's already naming off many things she already knows she's going to get. When the day arrives, she won't remember half of it.
Payton: is a ham. My cousin got married saturday and Payton hamed it up. She stole the spotlight. She just smiled at everyone and wanted held by everyone. Trying to impress the family (which isn't hard to do).

That's all that I can think of at the moment.

Payton 7 month update

2009-02-25T08:25:00.005-05:00

She's seven months old now. In a short time, she'll be turning eight months.

At six months she's was starting to crawl.

At seven months...

She's pulling herself up and...

waving. If you listen closely, it sounds like she says "hi".

We expect at 8 months, she'll take her first step. (She's very active.)

And we hope, she'll have her first tooth in some time soon.

More Wind Damage Pictures

2009-02-25T08:10:00.006-05:00

The first wind storm took only three of the roof sections. Now there's only three left.

The home owners insurance won't cover the greenhouse so we're out of luck here.

This is where one of the post of the shed was ripped from the ground.

Inside of the shed.

The frame itself is intact. But the floor is shot.
The pile of stuff by the trees was where the shed was.
Homeowners insurance is giving us $1400 for this and
the front screen door (it was damaged to).

Once upon a time, a pool sat here.

Now, it's the every cat's dream.
A giant litter box of sand.
What's left of the pool.
We are waiting on the insurance people to get back with us on the amount we'll get for this.
The degree I had wrong. It's actually about a 135 degree turn.
Side note: I like the sky in this picture.

Our second windstorm within 5 months

2009-02-12T08:20:00.005-05:00

It was interesting yesterday. I called mom, because I heard a building losted it's roof in Corydon and then most of the towns electric was out. She said she'd believe it because we got hit bad at home.

This is what's left of the pool.

The northeast corner

This corner is the only corner that stayed where it was suppose to be.

The pool rotated a 180 degrees around this point.

The corner closest to the camera should be the northwestern corner.

Now it faces due south.

This is the poor pear tree caught under the deck.

This is more of the same pear tree just at the other side, along the fence row.

As you can see the blue tarp is now on the tree. It was strung across the pool to protect it from the winter. The metal pipe in the center of the picture was actually under ground, under the pool for easy draining. How what was on top and underneath becoming opposites, I don't know.

Note: You can still see the sand on the pipe.

I thought this little guy is cute. He's a salamander.

He must've survived the pool turning, because he was walking kinda dazzed in the wreckage.

OUR OTHER DAMAGE

The picture is sorta dark, but this pile of stuff once had a two story red shed hovering over the top of it.

I was only able to take pictures this morning of the red shed. So, I don't have them on the computer yet.

It did this flip and scatter deal.

If you want to see before pictures of the red shed look down at the snow pictures. I think a wide shot of the snowmen at it in the background.

MORE DAMAGE

My car. Something hit it during the night and the windsheild has a foot marking of scratches up and down it. And a crack now at the base.

Solution: Mom's turning it all into home owners insurance.

I'm joining the club...

2009-02-09T08:32:00.002-05:00

The car problem club.

My poor car this morning was doing prefectly fine, until the stoplight in front of walmart. It was red, I slowed like I should and then I heard a loud grinding crunching like sound. My front driver side brake is finally shot. I bought the brake pads, rotator and ect. early last year or the year before. My brother couldn't get the bolts removed off of the driver side so we left it. Now my car is waiting it's turn at John D's. I'm lucky it's only the brakes and not anything else major. I had to drive the Geo to Louisville today. That was interesting so far the whole way here. The car doesn't do well over 60, but the speed limit is 70 so it was fun. The little car with a lawn mower engine shakys horribly at that speed but it lasted. I think I'll take the highway home instead.

Snow

2009-02-02T11:01:00.006-05:00

Okay, I normally love snow. I still do. This snow was amazing to me. It was just so neat to see the Lord's greatness in the different weather patterns. He stopped my too busy life in my tracks. It is mind blowing to see little bits of cold rain taking down giant cedars. My electric, heat, & distractions were taken away from me for a few days, which made me really have to slow down. I got to focus on what matters most during it. I read some in Psalms, which was helpful.

Cooking was interesting. Our only heat was this heater. So, I made cream of chicken soup for me & my brother on tuesday. You got to do, what you got to do.

This is the highway near my house. If you look closely, you could see the lines under the ice. But for the most part, it was a one lane road all the way to town.

I just like this picture. It's of the ice hanging from the old dairy cattle milk tub, that we put our trash in now.

You really can't tell, but Gary's truck looked like a monster with all those ice sickles hanging down from the grill. By the way, we first got a layer of snow at 3 and 7/8 inches. Then we got about 1/2 an inch of ice. Then another layer of snow (which i couldn't measure do to I sleep at night). Then there was about an inch of more ice on top of it. Then we got hit with another 4 or so inches of snow.

Dad's been saying all fall & winter that he needs to get the lawn mowers put up. Guess what? He ain't done it yet.

Tree Damage

2009-02-02T10:49:00.003-05:00

Before & After

2009-02-02T10:43:00.002-05:00

Before (During the Storm)

After

Before

After

Before

After

Gary's snowmen army

2009-02-02T10:25:00.005-05:00

Leave it to my brother to play in the snow.

He built 6 snowmen as a joke. The gag was to have them all looking like they were attacking the poor trailor. Steve, who lives there, thought it was hilarious.

^v are called Y2K Spike

Here's the Viking King. ^v This one cracked me up with his large grin.

^this one is fat snow (like fat joe.)

Side view of army attack

Spike

Gary's favorite: Snow Lee

Their lines.

Note: one on right hand of the picture has a snow ball in "hand".

Front view

Fat Snow

The battle challenge: Come On!

My favorite: Angry Farmer - ^v

Monday

2009-01-19T09:40:00.003-05:00

Well, It snowed. We got a couple of inches out at my home. Driving was tricky last night. I was on my way to M&E Shearers place when I started the decent on the hill just before their home. The road, of course, was covered. My car wanted to go one way, and I tried to get it another. I slide off the road (don't worry nothing happened). I called M. to let him know I wasn't coming over now, and I found it very hard getting the car out of the valley. The Lord really REALLY blessed me getting out of there. I followed out the road going towards Old Forest rd. That hill was a nightmare. I'm really thankful the Lord blessed me safetly to get up that monsterous snake like hill. The trip to the valley to home took me near an hour when it should've only been about 15 mins. This morning wasn't so bad. 462 hadn't been touched yet by a snow truck when I left, but one lane on 62 was clear. I made it to work only 20 mins late this morning. The further east you go the less amount of snow there is. It's going to stay cold today, so hopefully the snow will stay. We're suppose to get more tonight. We'll see.

The plan is in maybe two years, that I'm going to get a loan to get a log cabin kit. So far many of the designs I've seen aren't the greatest. I'll probably get one close to what I want then redesign it. I'm to picky. :)

Little Payton is now six months old. She is finally up to 13lbs 8 oz. She started her level 2 in baby food. I'll get some new pictures of her some day and post them.

Little Shearer is so cute and little. Daddy was smiling all morning Sunday even calling the song books "little guys" Mommy looks great. Already as thin as thin could be. She is proud to, letting everyone see her little buddle of joy. Haellely was off playing with the other kids. Brad B. Even seems delighted Brennen was born on his birthday.

I finished my book yesterday. I started the editing today. This will be the hardest part. An author suggested that at least 13-15 editing reviewing is necessery in order to get the story to flow well, spelling corrected, and everything to match. So, I begin.

Here you go Karen

2009-01-12T09:11:00.003-05:00

Well, it has been almost a month since my last update.

So...

First Update:
The reason I hadn't updated is because I got depressed. I wanted to so badly but, I went to try to print a picture vertically instead of horizantally. So I went into format on my camera. I thought format is like excel where you can change the different settings and such. I was wrong. Format is like format on a floppy. I lost two years worth of pictures and video's on my camera. That's the reason I was depressed. So I've got no pictures to post.

Second Update:
I have a cousin, I'm calling him JP for the moment. JP has had a history of drug problems. We thought when he moved back to the county he'd get better. Nope. Not to long after he moved in with his brother, Jon., his brother discovered his chainsaw was missing. He confronted JP, JP admitted in taking it and selling it for his drug money. Jon. demanded it back, and JP had it returned, only after Jon had to pay to get it back. That was the start. Jon kicked his brother out after more things came up missing. JP went to move in with his mom on Turkey day. That night my uncle who lives by JP's mom (the uncles sister) discovered his battery charge was missing. They did a police report and the uncle pointed his finger to JP. They had no proof.
Well, JP had been coming to our place to hunt during the hunting season. - no big deal - right? RIGHT?
It wasn't a big deal until my neightbor saw JP's truck taking off with our hay bails in the back. The neightbor assumed since JP is family, that my dad gave him permission. Wrong. He stole 9 of our $5 haybails, and stoled them for only $2.
But that wasn't the only thing that came up missing. My brother has this car monitor that tells you what's wrong. You plug it underneath the dash board and the thing reads the car. I don't know what they're called, but they're handy and expensive. My brother bought his for $250 and only had it for two weeks before it came up missing. It was inside the house in the living room. My brother asked JP to return it and our bails. JP claimed to never have taken anything. We had no proof either.
Just up the road, my grandpa discovered the battery from his truck had been stolen. No proof, but we knew it's JP.
Christmas came with JP being uninvited to the family gathering.
The day after Christmas, we had some good hearted people stop in to see my brother. Word gets around pretty quick in a community where your family is well known. And it's odd everyone knows where you live at to. But anyway, word was passing of my brothers scanner missing to this one guy named John. John knew his friend had just bought something like that from JP. John called up his buddy and they came directly to our house. It was my brothers monitor. the buddy said that JP did sell it to him for $20. my brother paid $250, and JP only got $20 for it. We called the police.
The buddy submitted his statement on the scanner, my neighbor gave his statement on the bails of hay.
JP is now being sought by the police. He is wanted for stealing, breaking and entering, selling stolen goods, and driving without a licenses.
Since our police report, JP is also accused of sealing a tool set from his mom's boyfriend and another tool set from his brother.
But JP is hiding. The last word we got is he's hiding out at his girlfriends aunts house.

Third Update:
I'm working it out with my parents at the moment, but I'm going to be buying five acers of land from them. Dad's selling them to me pretty cheap. Only a $1,000 an acer. I'm excited.

Fourth Update:
I only have three more months and my car is MINE.

Fifth Update:
I'm not going to be in the talent show this year. :(

Sixth Update:
I've been working on a new story for the last month. It's going to be a long one. I'm only 271 pages into it and I'm getting closer to the climax battle scene. I love it. I'm placing a long of text from the Bible in it. The main two charactors are studying the Bible. The girl has never read any scripture before. And the guy is teaching her. It's fun getting to put that into a book and letting the girl grow in the Lord. There is also a whole other story this fits into.

Seventh Update:
We're all still waiting on Jr. Shearer to be born.

Eighth Update:
On friday, one of the daycare mommy's wondered if the old white geo metro was forsale. She wanted to buy it. The GEO! This little car was already has a rebuilt title on it. Whitie (as we call it) has taken out 6 deer, it has hit a sidewalk and destroyed the front bumper, no heat, no air, the back hatch is bungy corded down, it has hauled at least two calves and a dog on numerous events, it's purple hood was just spray painted this past summer, it was used as a fourwheeler in the pastures and hauled hay to feed the cattle, it has 250,000+ miles on it traveling many times to Louisville and back. This car has a very active history and yet, a lady wants to buy it. We're at a lost, but dad can't part with the tin box.

I think that's it at the moment. Or at least what I can think of anyway.

Need an update

2008-12-15T08:00:00.002-05:00

So, here I am. There isn't much really going on. The meetings with Scott were great (those onces I could go to, but Trents just gave me a copy of them so I can listen to the full lessons.) Mom was real encouraged by them.

Today is a sad reminder for my family. Two years ago, my grandma Harriet Leslie Mauck passed away. Please remember my family. Though it's been two years it's still hard knowing she ain't here any more.

The weather I've been looking forward to has finally started coming. I love snow. This is what we got coming today.

...WINTER STORM WARNING IN EFFECT FROM NOON EST /11 AM CST/ TODAY TO 7 AM EST /6 AM CST/ TUESDAY... THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE IN LOUISVILLE HAS ISSUED A WINTER STORM WARNING...EFFECTIVE FROM NOON EST /11 AM CST/ TODAY TO 7 AM EST /6 AM CST/ TUESDAY. THE WINTER STORM WATCH IS NO LONGER IN EFFECT. ONE TO FOUR INCHES OF SNOW AND ICE ARE EXPECTED TO ACCUMULATE THIS AFTERNOON AND TONIGHT. THIS WINTRY MIX WILL AFFECT THE MONDAY AFTERNOON AND TUESDAY MORNING RUSH HOUR. CONTINUE TO MONITOR THE LATEST FORECASTS FROM LOCAL MEDIA...THE NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE...OR THE WEB AT: WEATHER.GOV. A WINTER STORM WARNING MEANS SIGNIFICANT AMOUNTS OF SNOW... SLEET OR FREEZING RAIN ARE EXPECTED OR OCCURRING. THIS WILL MAKE TRAVEL VERY HAZARDOUS OR IMPOSSIBLE.

Have a good day,
Leslie

Our odd dogs.

2008-11-24T09:24:00.003-05:00

Like Mother

Like Son

Now this was actually pretty funny. I came down stairs friday and into the living room, there was Daisy May, and Catalina. Selina was missing. So, I figured she was let outside and paid no more heed to it. I walked into the utility room to get my clothes out of the dryer and I looked over to the laundry basket and there she was. How she got up and in there amazes me.

monday

2008-11-17T16:14:00.002-05:00

Well, I'm doing better health wise. I still got the cough and strained my throat more then I should've singing last night at the Fishers. So I'm back on the medicine.

A few have asked about my writings. I have finished a different book (not Malana). It's about an Indian girl, who as a child her father went off to battle with another tribe. Instead of him returning the "enemy" tribe came to take them away to their tribal village. Word of a complete defeat left the villagers with no hope. The girl grows up with this hatred inside of her against the enemy tribe because of her lost life with her father and mother, and she still in habits this hope that she'll meet her father again one day. Well her mother arranges the girl to marry a boy who is the future chief to use as a sign for the two tribes to be joined together. The girl refuses but in the old way, once a marriage is pleadged it's final. So the girl runs. She goes through many struggles and learns to trust the boy and works with him to find her father and battle against the different hate filled divides between the tribes. Much research has been poured into this story to try to get it as true to the customes as I could, with the original language of the Cherokee woven into the book.

I'm currently working on another book, but the plot is still sticky. I was going to go one route, but the more I think about it the less I like it. It would be a story within a story and it would make it to hard to write. I'm hoping that within a month I'll have a website done with my stories posted on it. I'd love to get the Indian story above to get it copy righted but first I need to keep reading through it to get all the corrections done.

Mom's health is not the greatest right now. She went in to the doctor to have testing done. She has Asthma and the dics in her neck are deteriorating. Her knees are still causing her pain. But she keeps on smiling.

Dad's health is doing much better since the doctor took him off his medicine because it was messing up his blood and liver. He says that he's got so much energy now. But the meds he really needs so I'm not sure whats going to happen there. The doctor will need to draw up more blood work to find the reason for his weak spells and then slowly put him on the meds again.

Karie is sick right now with the same bug that's going around. Payton is starting to show signs of it too.

Prayers are welcomed on their behalfs.

P.S. I just saw snow outside my work's office window. YES!

In my time of need...

2008-11-11T09:07:00.000-05:00

I'm so blessed with a family in Christ around me. I fell ill on saturday nightish. Though I wasn't feeling to well, we recieved a phone call from Star saying that since she was there at the building that she would go a head and clean it saturday. I was just waiting for dad to get off work then we'd both meet at the building to clean, but this was an unexpected surprise and blessing. Then sunday, the full illness started taking it's effect. Since I couldn't make it to service that night, I got the cutest phone call from Jay & Ben Cook - through their dad's help. It was the sweetest thing I've ever heard and am very thankful for Kelly & Julie and their children. Then monday came along. I forced myself to work and all day long the fever increased and my voice decreased. Around 1ish I got a phone call from Elizabeth Shearer. She was seeing how I was doing and such. I in formed her that I was going to go home early. Well, my boss took a little longer in his erands and I finally lefted at 3:30ish when I normally leave at 5. Well, I'm tight on money to the point I'm over drawn at the moment, so I had to humbly do the worst thing possible. I had to go ask mom for some money so I could get something to eat. It's horrible, I felt horrible when I know everyone else does the same thing and they're tight on money and such. But my stomach out weighted my guilt and I arrived at the daycare to see Elizabeth was there with Haelley. She had taken her time and enegry to be so thoughtful and caring to get me a gift. She bought me puff kleenex's with Vicks; Halls cough drops, chapstick, and two cans of Campbells chicken noodle soup. I was by far one of the sweetest and kindest acts I've ever seen or experienced. Let's just say I'm trying out the kleenex's & cough drops today. I'm truly blessed with those who are living like Christ around me. I could never espress how thankful I am for all of them.

Update in Pictures

2008-11-04T07:50:00.002-05:00

This is a picture of Flash shortly after I brought him home.

I'm not going to post any pictures of his wounds.

Sorry they are so dark. His stitches are out now and he's full of enegry again.

This is why we nickname our dogs. The beagle that's on her back is Daisy May, which we call Lazy Daisy. Cathalina and Selina are called the chills, because all they do is lay around "chillin". And also dad called them his children for a while also.

Our fall beauty.

I got more pictures to post later, but the computer was acting funny last night.

Flash is home

2008-10-22T09:07:00.001-04:00

My baby has made it home last night. The poor fella does not look good. He's got the rubber hoes that are draining fluids away from the wounds. They look like cooked noodles sticking out all over his back. Of course they had to shave him to do the surgery, but I didn't think they'd shave almost the whole back of him. He has to wear an Ecollar, because he kept trying to pull the noodle things out. He has to take four medicines (with cheese or hotdogs). I'd love to post some pictures of him, but I don't think it would be appropriate right now. Maybe after I get the noodles removed this weekend I'll post some. He's so happy to be home, I don't think his tail has yet to quit wagging.

ANOTHER ANNOUCEMENT!!!!!
The halloween/fall/hayride party has been CANCELED for friday night due to a 80% chance of rain. We are looking into rescheduling it for MAYBE sunday night. We got phone calls still to make to ensure that's what we are going to do.

another update

2008-10-21T09:05:00.001-04:00

Flash is doing really well in recovery. I tried calling this morning to get a check on him, but there was another emergence so they couldn't tell me at the moment because everyone was with the other animal. So last nights report is he's doing really well, and still wanting his belly rubbed.

We did contact the police and met with an officer that is familiar with the area. We (me, mom, Officer Gilley, & my brother) spent area a half an hour working this out. As gentle as Flash is we all came up with the conclusion that he saw who ever it was, rolled over wanting his belly rub. For some unknow reason he/she stabbed him on his side, then Flash must've rolled back to his feet, allowing whoever to stab him on his back before Flash got away. Let's just say I'm still angry over this. The cop is going today to walk around the forestry area to speak with the neighbors to see if they know anything or seen anything. He's also going to call the vet and get a full report of the information they've gathered from the wounds. I just can't believe someone would do this to him. He's just such a gentle dog that I can't understand it