Happy Hearts Day

I have been so fortunate to have some wonderful valentines the past few years. Last year we were shocked and surprised to have a winter wonderland of snow on Valentines weekend.

It was my first real snow and I was amazed at how it transformed our home and yard and the places around our town.

The beautiful winter wonderland also meant that we stayed home most of the weekend and spent time together rather than running around town on errands or trying to go out and celebrate. I will always remember that weekend as being special. It was also our first valentine with Lillian and it's a very special memory for me.

This year has once again been a very special weekend with my family. Special for different reasons, but special all the same. This weekend has been a wonderful warm weekend with promises of spring to come in the near future. After a very cold winter with ice and a little sporadic snow we have been anxious for warmer weather. Cabin fever has been setting in and we have been itching to get out of the house. Once again we stuck close to the home front and enjoyed our small family at our own humble abode, but honestly I can't imagine anything else I would rather do.

Tonight I was trying to make a special dinner for Jamie and when we got ready to set the table I was setting place settings for two. Lillian hurried behind me and got her silverware and her plate and put it on the table in the perfect position and then ran to go get herself a napkin for her place setting. I got so tickled at her I had to add another place setting at the table so she could eat with us. My baby is getting to be a big girl and she loves to eat at the table with her Mommy and Daddy. Sitting at dinner with my hubby and my girl I can honestly say we couldn't have had a better experience at any restaurant. We've had a great time this evening and I'm so thankful for our little family of three. I love holidays when we can stay at home and enjoy each other.

I wish everyone else a wonderful and fulfilling valentines with your loved ones. Happy Heart Day!!!

blog post

You know it never fails that when I try to do better about blogging, I go through a dry spell and either I don't want to write about whats going on with my life or I just simply don't feel creative enough to come up with something catchy and creative. Unfortunately this is one of those times. While I've had lots going on in my life none of it is stuff I really feel like writing about and I'm just not feeling like making anything up. So I guess this is just my little note to say I'm here, I want to write more, but I just don't feel fun or inspired right now. Here's to hoping in the future I'll be a little bit better about things, but at least I'm not giving up! I'm blogging anyway! Now if I could just adopt this in other things and do them whether I feel like it or not. Oh LAWD let me not go there..... Until later!!

Falls and October

Fall is and has always been my favorite season since I was a child. The changing leaves in their vast array of colors, the cooling temperatures after a searing summer, football games and chili, bonfires with marshmallows all warm my heart. We've also had another fall tradition the past two years that I am hoping will not continue next year. Last October we were taking pictures of Lillian at Highland Villageand she took a terrible spill and fell on her face and scared me half to death.

Well today, almost a year later we had a similar incident while we were out by the lake in our neighborhood taking pictures. Lillian had on a pretty dress

and the ducks were being quite playful so we went out to play.

Honestly I don't know if I was a little girl if I would be able to resist running up to see ducks playing around in the water either, but unfortunately as she ran towards the ducks she tripped and fell smack onto her face.

I know right? I felt like a terrible mother, and I probably cried more than she did, but Lillian is fine and we are lucky enough that she has walked away from both incidents with only a few abrasions that a little love, a popsicle, and some neosporin can make all better (I know, I took her to the pediatrician both times and he said she's fine.) So I'm hoping that the fall continues without any more falls from Lillian or anyone else in the Pepper household, and here's hoping that this is the last of the fall falls.

Southern Belle Pepper

When I reflect on my childhood growing up in the south, one of the things I remember is wanting to move to the big ole city and get out of the south. My sister and I would play pretend, and we would be high society city girls living in apartments downtown. We would imagine we were corporate giants who drove fast cars and lived glamorous lives with tall dark and handsome men. As I grew older and graduated high school the urge to spread my wings grew stronger and I moved out shortly after beginning college and discovered a few things they don't tell you when you play pretend. During my time here in "Bahston" I have reflected on life lessons learned and how different things are when you get out in the "bright lights, big city". Feel free to chime in on any discoveries of your own.

First and foremost, big city apartments cost money. A lot of money. No problem right? Get that big paying job at that fabulous corporate mass money maker! NOT!! Then I discovered that the big corporate job is not nearly all it's cracked up to be. In order to get to a higher level position where you're not a peon pushing paper you have to have a college education, AND (and this is the thing I struggled with the most) you kind of have to suck up to some not nice people. Well, I was working on the college thing. Three part time jobs, full time school, hey a girls gotta do what a girls gotta do. The thing I figured out real quick though was that the corporate schmorparate mess just really wasn't my thing. I simply wasn't happy. I didn't like working in an office! Well that threw a kink in my plans. I would eventually find that the thing that made me happiest went right back to my good ole southern roots, helping people out. For as long as I can remember my mom and dad have been helping people out in one way or another and people have been helping them out. In the words of Merlin the magician "that's what makes the world go round". Over and over again I found that was what made my world go round. Fortunately I could do that and pay that big city apartment rent, but after a while I found myself wanting to get out of the city and get a house. I had discovered during all of my lessons life teaches you that the tall dark and handsome men that lead glamorous lives often aren't what they are cracked up to be and the kind, loving guy next door can sweep you off your feet and make you wonder why you ever wanted that hot shot in the first place.

Now I live in a little house in the suburbs, not a big city condo, I work in a hospital helping other people, I'm married to the nice guy, and I couldn't be happier. I find myself falling in love with the south all over again and I've discovered that sometimes the best thing in the world is what we had in the first place and the grass is truly no greener on the other side. Surrounding yourself with family and friends and helping others out has become the legacy I would like to leave to my daughter with hopes that it would bring her happiness as it has me.

Boston is such a beautiful city with beautiful architecture and history, but when I see the willow trees in the park my heart longs for southern soil. The boston cream pie is divine, and the "chowdah" is truly wonderful, but after three days of boston fare my cravings lean more towards greens and cornbread or at least a giant glass of southern iced tea. I have seen such beautiful sites and enjoyed some wonderful people here but the thing that has stood out to me the most is that somewhere in this thing called life when I was running so hard to get away from the south I stopped running and my feet dug themselves in deep. Roots set down and grew themselves in far and wide and I never saw it happening. Now in another state on the east coast I am reminded again how much I love my home and the life that God somehow guided me to despite my insistent plans. Somehow he knew what I needed best and through everything he brought me right where I needed to be.

Leaving on a Jet Plane

Tomorrow is a big step for me. I will be leaving my daughter for the first time since she was born for more than a night. I know right? I sound like a sap. Poor thing can't leave her baby, but you know what? I kinda like her. She's sweet, she makes me laugh, and there is nothing better than her smile and laugh. Everyone needs a Lillian in their life to make them feel better, and I have got to feel like the luckiest person in the world to have her!

About a year ago I took the position of being Pediatric ENT Coordinator for the Batson OR. It's been a fun ride and I have learned so much since I started working with this service. This year things worked out that the ENT Department was able to invite some staff to the SOHN Conference in Boston, MA (SOHN is Society of Otorhinolaryngology Head and Neck..see now you know why they say SOHN, I'm not even sure if I spelled it right). I'm super stoked to be included because I haven't been to a national conference and I've never been to Boston, but boy is this going to be tough leaving the little pepper.

So off I'll go, for four nights and five days (Yikes!!!). My mom is helping out and I know Jamie can handle it but keep me in your thoughts and prayers! I'm sure it will be harder on me than her but still...

Learnng to Trust

In my life I have been all over the board as far as my faith and my beliefs are concerned, but as I get older I find my faith solidifying to more of a solid tangible thing that I can grab on to and hold fast. I have become more comfortable in what I believe is true and real and I have accepted that different doesn't mean wrong, it's just different.

This past week has been a tough one for me because in many ways I've given all I can and am having to trust that since I've given all I've got that God will pick up and take it the rest of the way. It's funny to say that because a couple of years ago I don't know that I would have been able to say that I "trust" that God will take it the rest of the way but I was reminded again today of why my faith has grown to the point it has while I visited with my in laws. We were sitting on the couch talking about the "air issues" we've been having lately and as we were talking we reflected back on some of the things we went through when we were in college and just getting started as a couple. Jamie and I lived in family housing on campus during the first year of our marriage. When we moved into our apartment we had a couch, a bed, some pots and pans, and a tv from Jamie's dorm room. We lived in a 400 sq foot apartment and were both in school full time while working. I can remember working so hard to get through school and to pass boards and how excited we were in that little bitty apartment. Even then God watched out for us and guided us to the next step. Then when we returned to Jackson and started our lives here, from job to job, miscarriages, and other life hurdles somehow God has had his hand in there guiding us to where we need to be. As I sit and look at my family today and the love that is there between us, as I hold my daughter (our personal gift from God), as I talk to Jamie's mother (yet another gift brought back to our life), and as I cherish my parents in their new role as grandparents (the best nana and poppy in the world) I know that God will take care of the rest. I don't know how. We can' understand how he works. Somehow though, it will happen. Step by step, day by day I am learning to trust. Learning that though things may not go my way and certainly may not happen on my timeline, God is in control and in that I can rest.

Roasted Peppers

Well it's hot and steamy here at the Pepper household! I'm not sure why this is but it seems just when I think I'm starting to get my little ducks in a row something comes along and just mixes them all up again. Case in point. Mr Pepper and I have been avidly trying to keep our finances in check as of late and do all the things that good frugal people do, such as eating at home, not splurging on big expences, paying more than the minimum on credit cards, etc. only for my mother to call me today and inform me that it is 85 degrees in my house and climbing. Yup, you got it, my air was officially on the fritz. Now why oh why when I'm trying to be smart about money do things like this have to happen? I was just starting to get excited about the fact that we were making some headway and this mean old bully came and stomped on my sandcastle. Now we've got to fork out an obscene amount of money to replace the WHOLE UNIT. Can I just tell you, we do not have obscene amounts of money just hiding around our place? The Pepper Patch is a humble abode and while we make ends meet we don't stash loads of cash in the attic (although after this something that costs loads of cash will be in the attic so I guess that could change things, huh?), so this was not good news for us. Fortunately one of my ever so wonderful and helpful coworkers got us in touch with a nice company in Brandon that has put in a temp unit until we can order one and they are working with us on the cost. So we're slowly cooling down here in the Pepper house and hopefully when we go to bed we'll be at more of a simmer than a boil. Guess it'll all work out in the end, but if you see me working the corner this weekend, know it's for a good cause. I gotta pay for the air conditioning!!!!