Awwe...wee...ain't i a cutie??

Small town Blessings!


I have always loved being from a small town. Everyone knows who you are, and when you aren't sure of what you are doing, someone else knows! I never really stop to think about the small things until this past week. Living from a small town, the blessing are all around, you just have to take the time to see them.


I don't mean to sound selfish when I post this, and I hope the family doesn't mind, but I feel the need to post how I feel. Maybe someone will get something out of this also.


Small town blessings come in strange places, strange packages and strange ways. This week, a very close friend's grandfather passed away. I have atteneded high school with his grandsons, I am on the fire dept with one, & I hope I can say I feel close to his family, so I felt the need to go to the wake. Which is nothing out of the ordinary for us "small town people" to show our respect to the family. But for some reason, I felt the need to go to the funeral the next day. Oh, as sad as it was, it was a blessing. The gentleman that passed has had cancer for a while now. Which as bad as we hurt, we know it's a blessing he's with the Good Lord now.


I knew he was a retired trooper, retired veteran, but I didn't know he was a former POW. Which all this means, he was receiving a full military service from the 21 gun salute to the playing of Tapps. I had never attended a full military funeral and I now know it's a service that tears at your heart. And having family and friends in the service, this took on a whole different meaning to me.

For I know the children and grandchildren of this gentleman were dedicated to the caring of their father & grandfather. This was a man they looked up to considerably. And so did the community. In today's times, things aren't respected as they were years ago, and when you see two grandchildren of this man stand and salute their grandfather's flag that come off his casket, it warmed my heart to know that there is still respect in today's society. Sometimes it is hard to find. I still get teary eyed when I think about them saluting their grandfather. You could see the love and respect in the way they stood, their posture and the motions they put behind it.


Blessings--I'm blessed knowing that Mr. BT had a great family he's left behind that I can say I'm greatful to be associated with and a friend to.


I was blessed to see that there is still respect in today's society to those members that have served and are still serving our country.


I'm blessed simply because things seem a little clearer to me since Monday.


I hope that if any of Mr. BT's family reads this post, that I've done good in wording what I felt and the blessing that I received.

And my thoughts and prayers are with you always!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY TO ME?!?!?
Am I a Mommy..no..well not in one sense of the word...But I had these two wonderful plants and cards for me on Mother's Day...

Mom took Cheyenne, Cole and Colby shopping for Mother's Day gift and as they were walking off from getting Bridget & Brandy's gifts, Cheyenne said I had to have a plant also...don't laugh to hard at the next part... She said that I was a mommy to Chase, Copper and Paul (the dog, cat and turtle that I have). So that is where the aloe plant came into the picture. As for the homemade card in front of it..that's a story...They made Mike (Mom's catohoula curr) sit down and they traced his paw...which is on the back side of the card, but was too funny when I heard the whole story behind the reason for my plant and then the torment poor Mike had to go thru to make the card!

The next other plant and card brought tears to my eyes...which many of you know I only do when I'm extremely upset, really sad or really really happy. For you see Bridget is about the only girl Chris has dated that I get along with and she gets along with me. We both say what we think and that's the end of the discussion. She has her opinion and I have mine. Bridget not only is my sister-in-law, she is becoming one of my best friends. Which she's carrying my my baby brother's baby, my nephew which isn't here and this means the world to me...Along with the neice and 2 newphews I already have!... But anyways, Colten sent me a little message per his Mommy on Mother's Day. I have made a picture of the card, I hope you can read it ok..if not it says

Dear Aunt Chonda
Thank you for being there for my Mom while I was in her Belly. I was wondering if you would be my God Mother and be there for me like you are my mom
I love you
Colten

I still get teary eyed reading it! So the second plant and card was for me in honor of Mother's Day since I'm a God Mommy!!! Or will be shortly when he decides the time is right for him to grace us with his lovely little self... I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE HIM!!!

Bridget, Thank you for allowing me to be more of Colten's life that just his Aunt.

I love you!

I love Mother's Day..for a few different reasons...but the flowers are always in full bloom at Mom's on Mother's Day. These are just a few of the ones I took

A VERY COLORFUL WEDDING!!!!

The Bride -Breann and her girls
THe girls being silly--as per the camera lady's request!

They remind me of "Men in Black"!

I had the opportunity to help with a friend's wedding 2 weeks ago. As you can tell it was a very colorful wedding. This was a pretty good group to work with. I've done a couple of weddings before, but never one this large and colorful!! I had a blast. The girls even enjoyed a little bit of bowling the night before..

I even managed to get a "short" camping trip out of the deal! That's a different post in itself!

Breann & Josh,

I wish you the best of luck!!

Quiet at home

Things have been oddly quiet lately...I'll prob eat those words today! Nothing much going on.

Got my water leak fixed..if any of you see Archie Campbell tell him to forget about coming to my house, but he must have already done that!! Gotta love him!

Bridget and Colby should be traveling home today or tomorrow from Texas. She's been with Chris out there for almost a week now. Brandy, Cole & Cheyenne are doing fine. In fact the kids were at Mom & Dad's this weekend. I spent the weekend loafing around here at the house or w/ Jay, Jennifer & Aubbie.

Like i said, oddly quiet!

June 13th

That's the day the dr. says Colten will be get to see us all! Well, that is unless the Good Lord says he wants him to see us sooner!

Bridget had her dr apt yesterday and was told she was ok to travel...so off to Texas she and Colby went this morning to spend some time with Chris who is in his last year of his lineman whatever it is.

According to the dr. Colten is the size of a 31 week baby. Bridget is only 30 weeks so he's gonna be a little "chunk" as the dr. told her. But everything looks good! So we are all in the final phases of gettin stuff ready... pray that everything gets done before Colten arrives...

Easter, Chris Birthday & a Crawfish Boil

We had all 3 of these on Saturday. Chris' b-day is this week and he left Sunday heading to Texas to work for 4 weeks so, we had an all in one kind of day..and it was a COLD day! We had our Easter snap that the propane business has been wanting! We were all huddled around the crawfish pot...kids hunted Easter eggs with stocking hats on...what's wrong with that?!?!?

hot dang...i'm getting smart at this stuff...well nevermind..it tells me step by step how to do these pictures...these are just a few from Easter

Nick's Action Shot....

This year was Nick's (my cousin) senior year at Bogue Chitto. I have a previous post of his Senior Night during football seaon. I was unable to "capture" any good football pictures, but I'm still learning with my camera and I was able to catch this action shot. Nick has the gold/tan shirt on. This was a game against West Lincoln.

Nick is a very serious sportsman, being it baseball, football or hunting, he takes what he does very serious. I see a lot of Chris' habits in Nick. It was almost like watching Chris on the field again!

Nick- I love you & I'm proud of the person you are turning out to be...but you're still not getting my truck for prom!!!

SUMMERTIME!!! I think we skipped springtime!!

First trip to the creek of '07!Today Bridget & I took Colby & Chase (the dog) to the creek at Low Water bridge. The creek was still a little too cool to just sit in and play. Colby and Chase would go in just a few feet and come back up on the sandbar. The sun was nice today, not too hot. I know in the business that I'm in, we should ask for more COLD weather, but I've had plenty of that this year (sorry Nana). I'm ready for weekends at the river or creek, and some vacation time!!

Bridget even let the baby belly get some sun. I've got a few pictures of that too, but she's got to ok the ones I put on the internet...I could just stick some up here and let her see them afterwards, but I do want to be alive when my little nephew gets here, so I'll just wait for her ok.. Maybe they'll be up in the next day or two!

I'm sorry baby COLTEN and Bridget. I've been spelling the baby's name wrong in all my blogs..oh well I'll try to do better next time!

6 things that make me happy
6 things that someone might find weird about me

I saw this on Nana's(Mrs. Barbara) blog page and thought it was neat.

Things that make me happy-

• being able to have my own place again...
• Even though I might fuss at them, Cole, Cheyenne & Colby.. Each one of them have their own special way of making me smile when I need it the most.
• knowing that whenever I am down I have friends that won't judge me for my actions, and can tell me no matter how bad things are "that it's gonna be ok" or "it'll be alright".
• knowing that even though i might not act a Christian all the time and that I don't deserve it, but the Good Lord Loves me thick & thin and He is always there for me when I'm at my lowest and have no where else to turn
• a summer day at the river
• FAMILY & FRIENDS

Things that someone might find weird about me-

• I am uncomfortable with someone taking a bath/shower in my tub unless you are family, lifetime friends or someone i'm dating
• i don't like drinking out of glass glasses...with the exception of 2 glasses that are ok
• I have to have hand cleaner in my truck at all times...in my purse (that stems from being an EMT and seeing some nasty crap...you want to bathe in the stuff at times)
• I keep an extra pair of boots and tennis shoes and normally keep a rain coat in my truck ( EMT stuff again)
• I have no problem correcting someone elses children
• I don't get over loving someone so easily...but yet even though they may hurt me, I want to stay friends with them afterwards...guess that comes from wanting to be the "better person"

It's not as easy as I thought it would be.

Lions, Tigers & Bears... oh my!!

Oh well... we got the tiger... they had no lions, and one unhealthy looking bear!

Mom, Bridget & I took Cole and Colby to the Baton Rouge Zoo today...and needless to say, everyone should sleep well tonight...

Poor Mom, she got stuck in the back seat between the two boys and their car seat...(she took her nerve pill before we left)..today was a day I wish we were in my truck, but oh well, we'll know next time and maybe save Mom a little headache.

The boys really enjoyed theirselves...the biggest hit it think, imagine this was the turtles (which they see regular since I have one) . They enjoyed the fish and snakes, as long as they were in those tanks.

All I have to say is Colby should have nightmares after Bridget picked him up and stuck him at eye level to this big ole guy.. He quickly made her put him down and I don't think he damaged Colton in the process. Here's one of Bridget and Colby...this was before she put him eye to eye with the snake..

Cole is not very fond of having his picture taken at all. So I had to sneak a few in here and there thru the day.. and mainly the few I got were of his backside.

So here's one of Cole on the train...that's the best $1.50 per person we could spend...IT SHUT THE BOYS UP ABOUT THE FREAKIN TRAIN!!

Uncle Steve...this one is for you!!! Since I hardly ever get on the "other side of the camera", I though I would today...just for once. Colby is always willing to take a picture...

Once back in the car, and after a quick stop at Wal-Mart, we were headed back home.. We all ended the day playing ball with the boys, eating a good supper & decorating some Easter shaped cookies..

I'll post more from the crawfish cookout and from the Bull Bash this weekend!

PICTURES FROM THE FC DIST 5 VOL FIRE DEPT CRAWFISH & BURGER COOKOUT... our reward for all our time and effort we put in for our annual Bull Bash..... THESE ARE MAINLY OF THE KIDS...OUR FUTURE FIREFIGHTERS & EMT PEOPLE!!

COLBY AND HIS CRAWFISH





Colby says this is a cute little red head (which she is)...and that she is his girlfriend...now that spells trouble...Chris & I are going to have to have a talk with him!!! Dixie Cothren is her name...or as she use to say "Daisy Duke"... she's as tough as any little boy ever dreamed of being!



Yea, they look like they are plotting against something...we have Brooklyn (grand-daughter of Bill Martin), Gabby (daughter of Tracy Martin), Byron & Dixie (son & daughter of Joseph Cothren) and Will (nephew of Tracy Martin)...


This is the crawfish cook.. Mr. John Thomas...or our Donald Trump....you can see Ethan had just stole another "friend" from the basket... his wife Deb in the pink and their very expecting daughter with her feet up in the back ground...in fact the daughter only made it 6 more days from this picture before they put her in the hospital!








MILLION DOLLAR QUESTION!! What is Tracy having? We know Bridget is having a little boy in June...when tracy's is due is still a question... Marla is a little curious herself!!

BLUE...

I guess i'm doing this post in blue for a reason...that's kinda the way I've been feeling lately...I know the Lord makes things happen for a reason and we shouldn't question His reasoning, but we are human, right? I'm finding out that I don't adjust well to a change that I want no part of...

Then wanting a small change that I could deal with because the other change had me so upset, I went and got my hair cut...oh my goodness...it wasn't small... this is a lesson learned, DON'T go get a hair cut when your emotional! Number one there is no telling what you'll agree to letting your hair stylist do! Number two is it isn't the hair stylist fault that you are now CRYING your eyes out (again), because she's done just what you agreed to! Now I'm stuck with a style that I have no control over and I hate it...so now I have the screwed up life and the screwed up hair cut to go along with...that everyone says "oh it's cute".

So that's how my life has been lately...changes that have turned my life upside down and inside out..and have me questioning WHY ME alot lately... but I keep remembering that a dear friend keeps reminding me "it'll get better!"

oh and the new hair cut is the picture on my profile...

JANUARY 2007 BIRTHDAYS

COLE TURNED 3 & BRANDY TURNED 31...oops maybe I wasn't suppose to tell!!

Cole & Brandy had a day between their birthdays, so what is better than one cake with two names on it?!?!?
Brandy and her beautiful babies!!!

I love you!!!

Here's an update of Bridget & baby "Colton" . And don't forget big brother Colby...He took the picture of Mommy and brother to be! Didn't do too bad for a 3 year old, huh?

here's the best news of catching up the blog..

I have a place of my own again.. I loved being at Mom & Dad's, and they were a blessing to me when I needed a place to stay, but when you've been on your own for 7 years it's a big adjustment. So I made a few calls and found a cute little old house not too far from work. I'm excited. It's HUGE compared to my house in Bude. I'm doing a few little things like pulling carpet up from the kitchen and bedroom, and then I'll be ready to move in. In fact I think this weekend I'll be in there for good. So everyone will need to come see me!!!

New Years was kind of quiet. I went and watch fireworks with a few friends at Carlton's and Mary Lee's. Here's a picture of Amanda and myself from that night

Here's the two wild men!!! Cole (lft) & Colby (rgt). As you can kinda see from the picture... Colby is the mellow, happy one.. Cole on the other hand is just wondering what he can do to "disrupt" someone's world. Can't you see it in his eyes?!?! They are great little boys. I have two of the best nephews in the world!!! Christmas was great this year with the kids. I can't wait till next year when we'll have the baby to add to the collection of youngins!!
Then again, they can both have the "look of death" when you mess with them wrong...

"Colton" is baking right along. Here Bridget is at Christmas. I think in this picture she is 15 weeks. So, as you can see they are doing just fine.

Chris is in Nebraska working some ice storm damage for a few weeks. They called today and said the temp up there was 1 degree!! I couldn't imagine.. and the high for Friday is 0 degree... Those redneck boys are having to adjust....and it's taking a little bit. All I know is it has been COLD here and that is just beyond COLD!!

Keep Bridget, Colby, Chris and the families of these guys working up there in your prayers...

Oh my goodness, there is some type of virus going around that I caught...so beware...on top of a horrible cold I've already had. But after plenty of rest I think I'll be good to go...

Things are maybe settling down for me. I'm finished with helping the EMT class at Southwest College. I'm hoping to get settled in my "new, old postion" maybe in the next week or two. Other than a few holiday parties to attend, I plan on coasting for the rest of the month..oh, yea forgot I do have to go Christmas shopping since I've bought nothing so far! Yep, last minute as usual, which will mean I'll spend entirely too much! Maybe one year I'll learn...

Well, it's off to check the Saints/Cowboy score and then to bed for me. Hope everyone has a great week!!!

Here's a few pictures to catch up on what's been happening around here!!

CHRISTMAS TIME!!! Parade Time!! Which means SANTA!! or Santas!!

And believe it or not Herring Gas had it's own Santa the parade!!

He even took time out to visit with some of the children and find out if they've been naughty or nice!!

Hannah and myself couldn't pass up a chance to ride with Santa in the parade! Hats and all we were ready!!!

Then there was our District 5 Volunteer Fire Dept. Santa!!!

Lets not leave out Roxie Volunteer Fire Dept! They done a good job decorating their truck!! They put a bit of thought and time into theirs..great job!!

-see Bo, I did take a picture!!!

Merry Christmas Everyone!!!

Senior night at Bogue Chitto...

This is Nick (Mom's newphew) and Daddy. This was taken two weeks ago (not the date on the picture) at the final game for Bogue Chitto. Nick is a senior this year. He has faced may hurdles in his life and we are very very proud to say that he takes them all in stride and keeps his head held high.

From what we are hearing, it's very possible that he will be attending college next year at either Co-Lin or Southwest on a football scholarship...

Nick-We love you and are proud of the type of man you are becoming...

Things here have been crazy!! Going..going..I think I might have passed myself somewhere along the way...But isn't that everyone's life?!?!?

Things around the Ellis house are the usual...
Bridget is doing good. She's about 7 weeks now. Chris is working in LA and is home every weekend now...

Mom and Dad are doing good. Dad got a new "grill"...he got some false teeth...there was a few touch and go days with him during that...but he's adjusting well now. He said today was the first day he had to sneeze since he's gotten them, and he about had to catch them mid air, so now he knows, sneeze with mouth closed!! Mom is doing her thing, whatever that maybe...

I have bought a truck...YES FINALLY got my ride I've been wanting since high school...only thing is I requested one paid for and that didn't happen..but oh well you take what you can get. It's a 2005 Ford F150 XLT Supercab 4x4... told you I got what I wanted!! My little tarus had a foot in the grave when I traded it in. Bessie (that's what I called the tarus) was a good car and had 160,000 miles on her, so it was time for her to rest. Besides going to wrecks and fires like I'd been doing wasn't helping her any.. I'll post a picture of my new ride after Chris puts my running boards on Sunday. That was one thing I didn't think about when I bought it...my short legs getting up into this 4x4 with no running boards...but problem will be solved Sunday, good thing chris loves me! I guess that's what it is or I'll be paying him back down the road.

Cool weather has somewhat started here and it's busy at the office. So that's got us rolling on that end..you know you have been busy when you realize at 4:15pm that you hadn't even went to the restroom that day..and you just ate lunch at 3:30! But that's a typical day in the gas business for this time of the year..

I'm working hard on getting all my EMT stuff together for my recertification..I sat thru 3 days of classes 2 weeks ago, and have another 3 day class next weekend. That's not counting the Tuesday and Thursday classes I go to on the side for my extra hours...I didn't realize what all was involved once I got my certification. I honestly wouldn't trade it for the world. I enjoy doing it.

Well it's 1:52 am and I'm still up, so I guess I've caught everyone up on our end of the world now I'll try to crash...