MY PAWPAW

My Pawpaw and my mom

THIS NICE LOOKING 'YOUNG' MAN IS MY PAWPAW. HE IS MY MOM'S FATHER. HE IS THE BEST PAWPAW AND GREAT PAWPAW THAT WALKS THE EARTH IN MY EYES. HE HAS ACCEPTED ME AND MY CHILDREN WITH OPEN ARMS AND WITHOUT JUDGEMENT. HE HAS ALWAYS BEEN HERE FOR ME AND MY FAMILY AND NOW WE ARE THERE FOR HIM. HE HAS GOTTEN OLDER NOW AND SUFFERS FROM PARKINSON'S AND MILD DEMENTIA. I WISH THIS MAN COULD STAY HERE ON THIS EARTH WITH ME UNTIL MY DYING DAY (AND I REALIZE THAT WE AREN'T PROMISED TOMORROW) BUT I HATE SEEING HIM SUFFER LIKE HE HAS BEEN LATELY. TODAY WAS THE FIRST DAY IN MY LIFE, OTHER THAN WHEN HE HAD SURGERY, THAT I SAW HIM AND HE HADN'T EVEN COMBED HIS HAIR. HE HAS ALWAYS BEEN SUCH A GOOD LOOKING MAN AND HE STILL IS BUT YOU CAN SEE IN HIS EYES HOW TIRED HE IS OF BEING SICK AND NOT LIVING LIFE TO THE FULLEST LIKE HE ALWAYS HAS. HE ABSOLUTELY HATES HAVING TO DEPEND ON ANYBODY ELSE B/C HE HAS ALWAYS BEEN SO SELF SUFFICIENT. THERE IS NO DOUBT IN MY MIND THAT HE IS SAVED AND READY TO GO TO HEAVEN FOR HE IS A VERY RIGHTEOUS MAN......PERFECT NO BUT CLOSE. PLEASE PRAY WITH ME TODAY AND IN THE NEXT FEW WEEKS FOR HIS HEALING EVEN IF IT MEANS THAT I HAVE TO RELEASE HIM AND LET HIM GO, FOR HIM I AM WILLING TO DO JUST THAT. I KNOW THAT WHEN THE TIME DOES COME TO LAY HIM TO REST IT WILL BE HARD BUT I KNOW WHERE HE WILL BE AND THAT HE WILL BE 'WELL'!!!

I LOVE YOU PAWPAW SO MUCH AND I THANK YOU FOR TEACHING ME SO MUCH ABOUT LIFE AND IN LIFE. YOU ARE AN AWESOME PAWPAW AND A GREATTTTTTT PERSON. I THANK YOU THE MOST FOR TEACHING ME ABOUT YOUR JESUS AND SHOWING ME HOW TO PRAY AND WORSHIP HIM. EVEN THOUGH WE MIGHT HAVE TO SAY 'GOODBYE' ON THIS EARTH I WILL SEE YOU AGAIN ONE DAY IN HEAVEN. THANK YOU FOR BEING SO GOOD TO MY BABIES EVEN THOUGH YOU DIDN'T HAVE TOO...YOU COULD'VE TURNED YOUR BACK ON US GIVEN THE SITUATION BUT YOU DIDN'T AND I THANK YOU. I KNOW THAT MY DECISIONS HAVEN'T ALWAYS MADE YOU HAPPY BUT I PROMISE YOU THAT I WILL MAKE YOU PROUD. I LOVE YOU WITH ALLLLLLLL MY HEART!!!!

LOVE,

RACHAEL SHAE

CHARLSIE & ELIJAH AT THE PUMPKIN PATCH



LANDON, CHARLSIE, & ELIJAH AT THE PUMPKIN PATCH



ELIJAH AT THE LOCKIN AT CHURCH ROASTING MARSHMELLOWS



I have a few pictures to post for now. We have been really busy lately. Jalen turned 9 and had a birthday party at the jumping place. Thanks to all of my family for making that possible. I will be posting pictures from his party soon.





We are gearing up for Halloween. Jalen is going to be the Bumblebee transformer and Elijah is going to be Woody. It's going to be a trip.

Finally some good news

Finally some good news to share. Nothing that I am extremely proud of but when you have 2 children to feed and take care of you have to do what is in their best interest and for my best interest also. I got approved for food stamps FINALLY and it has helped out tremendously. I went and applied for medicaid for me and my boys today and please pray that we are approved ASAP. I was able to go to Cooper Green and get a blue card today and so for once in a very LONG time I feel at ease. I mean seriously that is A HUGE BURDEN OFF OF ME. I mean do I want to be on welfare forever....NO but I will do what I have to do to support my boys. I give all the credit to the good Lord above for being with me during the whole ordeal. Like I said in my last post....HE WILL NEVER LEAVE US NOR FORSAKE US and He is ALWAYS true to his word. He loves his children and will make sure that WE are taking care of at all times all we have to do is believe.

Thank you for all of your prayers recently. I couldn't have made it this far without them!!!!!

God Bless,
Rachael

Anybody else going through a critical time in your life? A relative suggested that I read the book of Hebrews to remind me of God's grace, mercy, and unconditional love for me and I am still reading it for like the 50th time because it is so good and has moved me so much. I will leave you with one of my favorite verses in the whole bible which happens to come from Hebrews.

Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, NEVER WILL I LEAVE YOU; NEVER WILL I FORSAKE YOU. Hebrews 13:5 Yep so when we are in the valley (even for what seems like a lifetime) He is right there with us or in my case right where I left him.

Keep praying,
Rachael

I know that alot of people have been asking what you could do for me and my family at this time and my answer remains the same....Prayer! Yep please just continue to pray for me and my family to be made whole again. I am feeling and doing much better but I know that your prayers are what has gotten me through the last 2 weeks and so I am soliciting more prayer. Thank you so very much!

Rachael--

Great family and friends

I just would like to thanks the family and friends who have stood by myside during the past week or so as I've entered yet ANOTHER not so fun journey but I will make it! Thanks and I love all of you!

Love,
Rach--

Relationships

I am a very blessed person. Perfect by no means but strive on a daily basis to do some kind of good deed for a stranger. Recently since my Pawpaw has become sick we have become so very close and I love him more than he will ever know. He thinks he knows nothing but yet he is so FULL of wisdom. I love my mom and dad, Ashley & Jeff, Ryan & all of the kiddies!


Also there is one particular man who has been in life literally since the day I was born. He's my Uncle Gene but since we were so close in age we were more like brother and sister. By no means is he perfect and I'm sure that he commits his sins as we all do but I have watched this boy grow into this AWESOME man of God. You know they always say well don't get your eyes on people b/c they will let you down and yes this is true but whenever he has ever let me down, he gets RIGHT back up and is READY for battle. Having the honor of growing up together of course we have had our share of little disaggreements but one thing I can say about him is that he is REAL. Nothing you see about him is fake about his messages or in his worship. This guy has a relationship with Christ Jesus that I strive for daily.
It's been a few years now but when this particular incident happened I knew that Gene was going to be ok...why you might ask? Because God takes care of his own children and my admiration for Gene grew so much stronger as I watched others slander his name and try to throw him off his game but you know what Gene NEVER changed and I have enough faith in him to know that if he was to ever run into someone who may have spread rumors about him or ran his and/or his family name through the mud I still know my Uncle and he would hug their neck and shake their hand and let them know hey you know what "I love you, man"
Geno if you get to read this I want you to know that this is really how I feel about you. I love you so very much and have an enormous amount of confidence in you and honestly I don't know what or if you are going through a struggle but I just feel like God wants you to know that he hasn't brought u this far to leave u now and he has somethings in store for you that would blow your mind.


I love you,Rachael

Baby Brooks aka Mr. Smiley




Elijah & Weston racing each other on the motorcyles





J man waiting patiently to ride the Woody at The Track






E aka wildman getting ready to go racing









J riding the waves on his boogie board










Elijah & Weston looking for seashells together









I see it 'Jahhhhgy' do you see it?

Priceless

Who knows what E man is looking at on his foot

Wow look how many we got

The 3 muskateers







BFF's






The famous bull....this was right before we started getting harrassed by this drunken idiot





Don't know what's up with my eyes here but we were at Angelos

Mr. Smiley again

Here are some of the pictures from our beach trip a few weeks ago. Thank you Jeff and Ashley for taking us with you guy's! We had a blast and could never thank you for EVERYTHING that you do for us. We love both of you and your boys with ALL of our heart!!!!!

Back From the Beach

Well we are home from our trip to Destin. It was so much fun and I am sure that one day when I finish school and get established that I want to move to the beach with my boys. We all absolutely LOVED LOVED LOVED Destin!!!!! It is so beautiful down there. With the exception of a few rude people (ha ha MOM) it is a great place.

My mom had a 'little' run in with a rude woman at McAlister's while we were there. I will spare the details (for my mom's sake) but by the grace of God me and my sister were at the hotel when the incident occurred or else I would probably be sitting in jail in Florida and I will just leave it at that. Ya know you just don't cross my family or especially my kids and life is good.

I will hopefully have some pictures up very soon so stay tuned!

Wow I never knew just how much work it is to pack for 3 people for a weeks vacation. I mean I am greatful to be going to the beach for the first time in a few years but I'm thinking I am going to need another vacation to recooperate from this one. I still haven't packed myself yet and I had the boys packed until Elijah decided to "see what I had for him to wear" at the beach. I didn't know whether to laugh or cry when I saw all of their clothes out of the suitcase, unfolded, and strolled all over their room. I mean only my child would do this. Not to mention the fact that I have worked so hard cleaning up the house this week and it never fails my boys go right behind me and make a new mess. It's beyond frustrating when they do this!!!!! I guess I should just suck it up and enjoy it while they are still young b/c as we all know, kids grow up sooooooooo fast and before I know it they will be grown and I will be old and lonely. :(

I just got back from getting my hair cut off and it is VERY SHORT. I had been letting it grow out for 4 years and it was all the way down my back but it was just too much. It had gotten to the point that it was just sitting on the top of my head in a bun everyday and so I did it!!!!! I feel very liberated and I bet I lost 10lbs just from getting it cut. I've been saying that I was going to get it cut for months and just never did it but tonight I went with my mom to get her hair cut and she was nice enough to pay for it so now I HAVE SHORT HAIR! It'll be just fine once I get used to it.

It's hard to believe that it is almost time for school already. Elijah starts kindegarden this year and Jalen will be in the 3rd grade. This makes me so sad b/c it seems just like yesterday that I was bringing them home from the hospital and now they are getting so big. I am just a wee bit nervous at the thought of Elijah starting school b/c he is MUCH different than his brother and I hope that the school doesn't have to put me on speed dial. For the most part Jalen has never really given me any problems other than running his mouth constantly (he gets this honest, so I can't say to much) however my little Elijah is quite the character. They are literally like night and day. It seems like all they do these days is fight with each other, cry, and then fight some more but it's funny to watch them when an outsider picks on one of them b/c they take up for each other. My nephew Weston is with them alot of the time and they play good together for all of about 5 minutes and then war breaks out. I know that they all love each other and they are all close but I know that when they get older they will appreciate each other more. Baby Brooks is right behind them. He is the best little baby and I LOVE HIM TO DEATH and HE LOVES ME. He's just a tad bit spoiled and I'm afraid that I have played a part in spoiling him but I wouldn't have it any other way. He will just sit in my lap and watch them play and follows them with his eyes. He wants to get down there and play with them soooooooo bad and he will be able to before I know it.

Well that's about it for now! I really need to get off of this computer and do some more housework. Don't forget to say some prayers for us as we head to the beach Saturday and I'm sure I will have tons of pictures to post when we get back.

I never really realized that so many people were reading my blog for inspiration and one friend that I will not call by name was expressing to me how uplifting my blogs were to her and another friend encouraged me that I needed to start back b/c she too was touched by my blogging. And so here I am returning to the blogging world and I am kind of excited about it. Let me forewarn you though that however today I have been hurt by someone that I thought loved me and was really like family too me but after a few phone calls and conversations with her today and how adamant she was that what she was saying about we was so true that even though my heart is still heavy and it does bother me but I will overcome this too! I just feel like there is a certain way that you call somebody to confront them on some information that you have been given....you don't just tell me WHAT YOU KNOW IS TRUE from somebody that you probably haven't known 1/2 of the time that you have known me. I've noticed lately that this person has treated me different and I know she looks down on me and yea that kind of bothers me but all in all what it comes down too is that the only person's opinion of me that matters is GOD and he knows the truth. It truly amazes me at how fast people are quick to talk about you but they seem to forget that you NEVER know what you may face in your family ONE DAY so let that be your warning to maybe be less judgemental. This isn't the first time that this person has put her 2 cents in b/c along time ago when I first had Jalen she gave her opinion on the way she thought things should be and I was heartbroken but was able to forgive and forget but however with the seriousness of this situation right now I am pissed, I am hurt, and at this very moment I don't care if we ever talk again. I know that this doesn't make my God happy but he knows my heart so why try and hide it!!!!! Also be careful when you go around telling people like my mom who has helped me out for years (not b/c she had too) but because (I know that my mom loves me) be careful when you say that if you were my mom you wouldn't do this and this and this. Well let me tell you until you are in that situation be careful of what you say you won't do b/c YOU NEVER KNOW WHAT MAY SHOW UP ON YOUR DOORSTEP!!!!! Be careful in accusing people of things that you have no clue of what goes on in their life b/c the bible does say "JUDGE NOT THAT YE BE JUDGED" I know for a fact that I am not the only single non working mother that you have had negative things to say about but until YOU WALK ONE DAY IN OUR SHOES THEN DON'T BE SO QUICK TO JUDGE.

Love to All,
Rachael