September

September came and went so fast that I am not sure what happened.  At the beginning of September we got to go camping and try out the new camper.  We went to a camp ground called Hickey Knob.  It had the best views but not a lot for the girls to do.  the water was very muddy and had yuck in it that was like sea weed.  The girls pretended to take mud baths in it until they broke out in little bumps.  We took CJ's friend Chanessy with us.  She is such a good girl and we like having her with us.  At night we played some games in the camper and just spent time relaxing.  It was nice having enough room for all of us in the camper.  We found that our bed was a little hard and we needed some padding on it.  The girls loved having their own space.

As I was saying work had been so busy and stressful.  One night I came home from work and Jay said that he was taking us out for dinner.  He surprised us and had found that there was a Culvery's in Greenville.  It had the same menu as in Wisconsin with cheese curd and everything.  The manager was from Cadott, WI were my nephew RJ lives.  We had so much fun talking and I could not believe that a Wisconsin based company was right here in Greenville.

At the end of September I had an in service day,  CJ wanted to spend time with her friend Claire, so her mom said that she would take CJ for the day.  CJ was so glad to get a chance to play with her old friend.  

As you can see in all the pictures.  In August when Montse came she brought CJ a present of a new purse by Vera Bradley, CJ has not taken it off since. 

September made us very humble.  We had to remember that for all the bad luck at least we were all health, happy, and together.  Our Heat pump went out on our upstairs central air unit.  That meant that we would not have air conditioning or heat until we could afford to get the unit replaced.  I was just happy that the weather had turned and it was not to hot or to cold.  Jay was going to be able to do most of the work and we just needed to wait until he could order the unit from his work.  A couple of weeks later CJ went out into the garage and saw water everywhere.  Our water heater went out, Jay had some days that he could take off from work, so he took the day off and replaced the water heater.  I am just so glad that we had the money in our savings account so that we could do this.  I do not know what I should do if we did not have the money.  Jay said " I was pretty bummed about it as I drove to work this morning.  I noticed a coworkers car in the parking lot and remembered that he had been out the last couple of days because his wife was recently diagnosed with cancer, just after giving birth to their son. Simply seeing his car in the parking lot reminded me that my problems are so small in reality. Then later today I heard the news about the school shooting in Townville, just a few miles down the road here in Anderson County. On my way home today it dawned on me that the shooting could have just as easily have been at Glenview Middle where Rachel and CJ were. Once again, considering the pain and suffering of both the parents and students involved, I was reminded that my problems are again, sooooo so very small. The take away?? Keep things in perspective and hug the folks you love."