A Glimpse of The Family

Scott, the oldest, lives in the tiny community of Collettsville. There's great camping, trout fishing and hunting areas around him. He sold the RV trailer and bought a tent pop-up to pull around to different places to camp more in nature like we used to do back when they were all home. Scott is a Paramedic for Caldwell County (where we live) and also owned his own Landscape Service for about twenty years. He earned his Eagle Scout rank in Scouting and has been very busy with rescue groups since High School.

Currently, he is a member of the Collettsville Volunteer Fire Department. When there is time and the season is in, you will find Scott out hunting for deer. He furnishes us venison for the year. He also has seen bears, wild turkeys and a mountain lion from his tree stand up in the mountains near his home.

He hasn't been able to work for quite a while because of a back injury while working with EMS. His surgery hasn't been as successful as he wished and work is still iffy for him. He has sold his Landscaping busy since he was unable to do the required work. He has a foster son we are still hoping will be adopted, but so far all the legalese has been going on since the baby came into his life at the age of four months. He is now four years old and Mom had trouble dealing with all the pressures of it all and moved out.

Tina comes next. She and hubby,Jim, live in Connelly Springs, NC, in the middle of 35+ acres of woodland. They live in a log house which they designed and her cousin built. You have to drive through water going over the top of the dam, which holds back a 7 acre pond, to get there. Jim made a walking trail down by the waterfalls, around the pond, and up through the woods. It is about a mile to walk. He earned a Stewartship award for forestry with his work in the woods.

They all seem to go in different directions at the same time. I will tell you that they are the proud parents of two sons and a red-headed daughter who rules one and all. They have a dog, BJ, but he has this habit of splitting his time between them and some place else. One never knows when he shall pop in - or out.

Jim and Tina both have lots of degrees and titles in the field of Social Work and counseling. Tina currently has returned to the public school system as a Guidance Counselor, until the children are older. She also has earned her black belt in Karate. Then there are the courses on "Brain Gym" which she hopes to use in special classes later. I keep encouraging her to practice with my grandchildren. Add Kindermusik and giving Flute lessons, she stays on the run. I try to wave as she is flying by, but now she has added on trips in the summer with People-to-People as the adult leader of the pack. So far there has been two trips to Australia; the boys each got to take one of the trips with her. Summer 2003 will be a trip to Great Brittian.

September, 2001, found Jim and Tina making a trip to New York City after the attack on the eleventh. They worked there for two weeks. Returning home, they took a Red Cross Workshop so they would be qualified to return and do some more serious work in NYC. Tina returned right after Christmas and worked for nearly three weeks helping people to ajust and find answers for many of their needs. Jim was unable to return at that time.

Carol and hubby, Paul, live in New Jersey, with their six kids er ... actually, dogs. Carol is with AT&T Solutions. Paul works with another division of AT&T, but currently they are in the same building. They enjoy working with their dogs in agility and have brought home quite a few ribbons. Strider, a basenji, won an Agility Excellent Award. He is only the third Dog of his breed to earn this award. He has competing on AKC level and is now retired. He was on The Regis and Kathy Lee Morning Show, and has been featured in a computer advertisement.

They stay busy year'round working with the dogs and have their own business started along with a friend. They both are into training others to handle dogs. Carol has also become only the third person in NJ to become a registered AKC judge for agility. She travels throughout the US judging for AKC Agility Trials.

We go up to visit as often as possible. Meanwhile, it is Carol that got me started with this page. Which,incidently has led into an addiction! I really enjoy the computer and webpages and ICQ and e-mail and awards and web rings ... the list grows longer ... there are so many wonderful people to meet.

Then comes Robert, my baby. He certainly is not the least measuring in at 6'3 and 1/2". He and wife, Maria, live in Granite Falls with their two boys. They are the ones that hear my pleas whenever I need (or want?) things done. Thankfully, Maria is very patience with my interruptions of their lives.

They are the proud parents of my very first grandson, and my youngest grandson (They are eight and a half years apart.) Maria earned a degree in neculear medicine at the community college and now works in a hospital nearby. Robert works out of the Main Office of Broyhill Furniture Ind. Inc. with the Security Division. The oldest son is interested in wrestling and works out with the high school team until he is old enough to join them. The youngest has just started kindergarten and also has his first year playing soccer. Robert had a website, but for some strange reason, it turned into a genealogy search area which I now seem to own.

Aaahhh....Grandchildren....

What can I say?? My Grand Kids are some of the best!!! They're real smart, cute and know a Great Grandma when they see one!

Carroll James is nearly 14 years old and named after both his grandpas. He loves to ride his bike, play ball, and put off any homework as long as he can. However, his knowledge of science - especially snakes and rocks - is far beyond his school activities. His favorite pastime on the computer is being able to beat his cousins in the games they may play. Although, every day he comes in and wants to look up a new song so he can learn the words better, or hopefully find a place to download songs legally.

Joseph is exactly 9 months to the day younger than C.J. His favorite pastime is reading, the computer and playing soccer. Joseph got to spend three weeks in summer school at Lenoir Rhyne College one summer. He and his brother have taken part each year in a program offered at the Community College in Morganton. Soon he begins studying the books for flying airplanes. He has done some Karate with his Mom and brother and Basketball Camp. He rides his bike and loves playing around in the woods where he lives and is taking piano lessons once again along with his bass guitar lessons. He does percussion in the band at school. 2001 found him spending the summer in Australia with the People-to-People Group. 2002 found him in the Space Camp in Alabama during the summer. Who can say where all that energy comes from? Actually from his mother. He has started with a Boy's Scout Troop and hopes to earn his Eagle Scout Award like his uncle.

Jon-Isaac is ten. His Mom was discussing about the importance of using and exercising your brain when he was younger. Later in the week, in the grocery store he saw some drink he especially wanted Mom to buy. Mom said,"NO! You know that stuff isn't good for you! It's nothing but sugar!" His answer: "Yes it is to! Look! It's a Mystery Drink and I'd have to use my brain to guess what flavor it is! You SAID I had to exercise my brain." Would you believe he still loves those mystery drinks. He is into the Kool Aid puzzlers now.

Incidentally, his mother asks who he took after in the family. I tell her she need only look into a MIRROR! She gave the whole family a grand time as she was growing up.

Last year there was a day at school when his teacher laid down the law to the class about being well-behaved when his visitor from the state department came to see him. During the time his visitor was there, one of the children found it necessary to ask to be excused to the bathroom. Afterwards, the teacher was upset with the class because one of them had to ask to be excused. JI remarked to Mom, "I don't know why he was upset about somebody going to the bathroom. That's only a natural thing to have to do. If I were him, I would have worried more about what she thought of him picking his nose the whole time he was talking out there in the hall with her." Little escapes his wisdom.

He has started piano lessons this year and so far is not a happy camper about it. He took regular guitar lessons for awhile, but apparently big brother scared him off from practicing at home. He plays basketball during the school season, but his first love is soccer and he plays during the summer and does the indoor soccer, which is a mean game of moving, during the winter. He loves to read and work at the computer and his turn to travel to Australia with People-to-People was this summer, 2002. His very best friend was there beside him throughout the trip.

Dylan Scott arrived with only ten members of the families lined up along the hallway of the hospital awaiting his arrival. Five years had passed since the last grandchild was born and we were excited as we awaited. His greatest love is to investigate this world around him. He is such a joy for all to watch. He has just started to school and loves going. One afternoon, Mom was picking him up from daycare at the same time his teacher was leaving school. He immediately ran over to walk her to her car and proudly shut the car door once she was seated behind the steering wheel. His specialty is always remembering where he has been and the way to get there again. He can glance out the car window and know where he is.

He was using the computer a while back. Big brother came along and told him to get off the computer. Dylan's answer was that it was a 'puter, not a computer. Mom and Dad came along and told him, "Yes, Dylan, it is a computer."

He walked off down the hall mumbling as he worked each hand up and down as he spoke, " Puter, computer, puter, computer, how's a fellow to know anything when they don't teach him! Puter, computer, ..."

Storm came into our lives as a foster baby. He was presented to Scott's home at the young tender age of three and a half months straight out of the hospital. He had one small paper bag the size you would get one hamburger in, of clothes He weighed only eleven pounds and was in a body cast from the waist down because of a broken leg. A metal rod was positioned between his legs. He would not fit into a car seat or a stroller because of the cast. We learned later that he also had nine broken ribs in different stages of healing. He has developed into a beautiful, loving boy and is a part of our family. He and the other two young ones are constantly playing together and love each other dearly. Our prayer is that he will soon be adopted and a permanent part of our family.

And then comes my only granddaughter! She may be youngest, but she certainly knows how to rule the roost. One hand on one hip and the other hand pointing out and moving, she can take control with no problem what so ever. We all thought she would have to be a tomboy, but not so. She loves frilly clothes and dressing up. Her preference is to wear a dress and bows in her red hair with its red shining when lights or sun reflects off of it.

Maw maw Charlie is Great Grandma. She loves baseball - especially the Atlanta Braves and the New York Yankees! We took her to a Yankee's game some summers back in Yankee Stadium. (That was one of our Carol and Paul visits.) It just happened that this was a day when the game the day before was postponed due to rain. The four of us that accompanied her to the game along with Joseph who was much younger, decided we would allow her to decide when it was time to leave. We sat through the make-up game, an old timer's game and the regularly scheduled game - about eight hours! She had a great time when she got to cheer for both the Braves and the Yankees at the same time, playing against each other in the World Series playoffs.

My puppy I brought home when he was eight weeks old, Sulitan Charlie Hustle is a 12 lb. (overweight) Yorkshire Terrier that was named for Maw maw by my eldest grandson.

Several years ago the grandkids found out that her china doll was broken when she was a child and she never got another one. That led to a rather large collection of assorted types and sizes of dolls.

Mother had to be moved into a nursing home because of health problems and my inability to care for her. Her days of crocheting towels, working with beads to turn into window hangings or ornaments are now behind her. Her eye sight has failed her and the shaking in her hands prevents her from doing much of anything. Her Nursing Home is only two miles from home. It is a beautifully decorated building and as nursing homes go it is as good or better than most. Together they watch some TV and the birds around the feeders that Robert put up outside Maw maw's window. Can you believe that a squirrel found it before the birds? Mother would really enjoy having her dolls with her if it were at all possible. Her goal last summer was to get someone to bring her one of the apples growing on the tree outside her window. Oops! Someone else got to them first! She didn't get one.

I have to say that she is in one of the better nursing homes and yet, it can never be like home and familycare. Two weekends straight the workers didn't bother to even change her clothes. She would not get up, so they let her lie there in the same nightgown that was put on her Friday evening. Come Monday, the same CNA that cared for her on Friday came in and changed her gown on Monday evening. That's not right. Mother is one of those that refuses to ask for help and being that she doesn't ask or remind anyone, it's the other residents that make the most noise that get the most care. A talk with my brother and now I'm interested in seeing what happens. Guess we haven't clued them in to the fact that brother owned his own nursing home, helped build and run thirty-five other nursing homes before working for himself and still has his administrator liscense.

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Remember~~Friendship is the only cement that will ever hold the world together.~~ Thank you Debra, Pam and Maureen

~~REMEMBER:

Please, visit someone in a Nursing Home near you. So many of these wonderful residents never have visitors. When we take the children or the dogs with us, you should see how the faces of these folks light up! They love to see the children, and children really do enjoy being with them. Dylan got to be at the Nursing home before coming home from the hospital after his birth. How special it was for Great Grandma to get to see and hold him first. It only takes a visit or two for someone to adopt you and how their face will light up when you walk through the door. One lady calls to me when she sees me, "I just love you."

PETS

The memory of Ozzie,the Cocker Spaniel will always be with our whole family, as he holds a special place with in our hearts, especially Maw maw. When she had to move into the nursing home, the first thing that she missed was his picture. It now hangs in her room and she loves to tell of him and his many deeds and misdeeds and antics.

It seems that all the different pets in our family needed more room to roam around and exercise. They are with Ozzie and His Tribute, as well as an additional page. Be sure and check them out. Each family certainly has its own taste in pets.

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Yorktown

Lenoir, NC 28645

United States

© Copyright 1998 - 2002 by Stormy Jeanne

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