Happy birthday, Kathleen!

So now I am the mother of four teenagers. Kathleen turned 13 today. She has been anticipating teenhood for years now, and finally she is one! Congratulations, Kathleen! I'm so proud of you! You are an amazing, talented, beautiful young lady. May God bless you and always keep you close to Him.

We finished off our spring break with a bang. Keith's friend, Carol Bell, finally succumbed to cancer on Wednesday after a three and a half year battle. She wasn't even supposed to have made it that long, but she celebrated her 70th birthday with God's grace. Keith went over often to her apartment in Atlanta to get her over to doctor's appointments or to run errands. They forged a strong friendship during that time. Her body was shipped back to California where most of her family lives. She is survived by her daughter, sister and mother. Keith will go later this week to honor two people who have died, Carol's memorial on Thursday and then on the Seattle to support his mother as the family spreads the ashes of his Aunt Velda.

On Thursday, I took Keri Lynn to Georgia College and State University, in Milledgville, GA. It is a gorgeous campus. Keith was supposed to go with us, but with recent developments, couldn't make it. So it became a mother/daughter event. I decided that I definitely want to go to GCSU. Free wi-fi, cable, gym, pool, well-stocked cafeteria, library and computer labs. I could really get used to living on campus! Everywhere we looked, students were out and about with laptops and cell phones, doing what young people do these days -- stay attached to the hip/ear with some kind of electronic device. But while I wait to figure out the logistics of attending a college 2 1/2 hours away, I'll let Keri Lynn go there!

Earlier in the week, Keith took Keri Lynn shopping for a mini laptop. It will be perfect for college life, not too big to drag around, but easy on the family budget. Keith was in his element, dragging Keri Lynn all over Kingdom Come looking for the perfect computer. Now Keri Lynn can use it and not hog my computer all the time! Whoo-hoo!

On Friday, we celebrated Kathleen's birthday with a afternoon party full of candy, Little Cesar's pizza, cake and ice cream. She sent out 33 invitations, knowing that most people wouldn't be able to make it over spring break. I was still a little worried, though, and didn't actually end up ordering pizza until the party was well underway! She had 10 guests after all was said and done, so that was a pretty good ratio on a holiday weekend! We ended the party just before bad weather came surging in -- wind, lightening and hail and rain. It was a lot of fun. Keith and Keri Lynn went to switch out cars during the hail storm, but by the time the newer model truck was in the garage, the hail had stopped! We had a short tornado watch, but decided that most of the activity was a few miles east of us, so we stayed in the family room keeping watch over storm patterns on the news stations.

On Saturday, we had Kent and Kradan over for a visit. It's always a lot of fun to see them. They brought lunch and we provided dinner, and we all played cards and talked and laughed. It's weird, though, having kids give us adults a run for our money with whatever games we're playing. It wasn't too long ago that we were playing "sympathy" rounds, where we'd let a kid win. Now it's every man for himself! And it's a little disconcerting to be beat by a 10-year-old!

Easter morning, we all were scrambling around to find at least a few clean clothes. (The laundry continues to multiply itself in the laundry room hallway . . . ) Then we were off to church. The music was so beautiful. I was so moved by one hymn in particular. I just cried and cried as we sang.

Later on that afternoon, I took a three hour nap, in anticipation of joining the working world on Monday morning. Sure enough, my alarm clock went off at 6:20 this morning. How RUDE! I think we only have about six more weeks to go before the end of school, though.  

I'm in the process of posting pictures on facebook, so if you're not on it already, then please join -- It's the right thing to do! And you can see pictures!