Been A Long Time

Well, it has a been a long time since I blogged. There has been so much in the lives of my family going on that stopping and making time to do this has just slipped into one of the many other activities that were lost. Since the last time I posted a blog there have been some exciting events to occur. Peyton was born in March of 2011, Nick and Nicole have sold their house and building a big new one, Nick as become a school Counselor, Nicole is selling houses like crazy and Bailey has now started 1st grade and Peyton is in Preschool. Alex is now engaged to his high school sweetheart. That is a story within itself. Alex and Lauren had dated when they were in high school. After she kept breaking up with him (3 times) he would not go out with her again in high school. They parted friends and she went away to college in Ohio. After moving to California after college, she finally came home to KY. Alex and Lauren had stayed in contact over the years and started to date again. Now they are engaged to be married on Jan 23, 2016. I had told Mark, my husband, when they were dating that she would be one of our daughter-in-laws. Sometimes you can just tell right off the bat when it is right. Mark is wanting to retire, but I don’t want him to yet. It seems a silly thing to do when we still have one child at home and not yet out on his own. But, I am trying to be a good wife and not make demands on him. He will do what is right for our family. We have lost a pet, Sadie. Sadie was my snuggle dog. She died as I listened to her last heart beat after having a stroke last October(2013). It has been almost a year and I still shead tears from time to time. Nicole and Nick had to have their dog Jackson put down due to a stroke also in July on 2014. I am still the General Manager at Theatres of Georgetown. I love my job, even though sometimes it drives me crazy! The theatre is doing ok and we are looking at expansions! Personally, I wish my boss would think through and look at all possible points before he says we are going to so a certain promotion. We all love to do promotions, but we need enough time to put them together properly. Anyway, that is the big items in the Jones family since last I was here. We are fortunate to have a wonderful, loving family!

RESPECT

Respect, a lost idea in today's society. A lost thought to young people except that they want respect, but anyone else has to "earn" respect. It is so sad to watch people today, driving, walking, speaking, shopping.... you see no respect towards others, only self-centerness. Where to start explaining my position....... well I guess this post will start with driving.
When you are driving, do you think about other drivers on the road or do you just look out your windsheild and think only of what your needs on the road is. Do you give signals when you change lanes? Do you allow someone to cut in front of you in a long line of traffic? Do you smile even if someone cuts you off or do you flip them off?

Who taught you to respect? Did they tell you and not do it themselves, or did they teach by example? What if we put others first and ourself last? What would happen to how we treat others? Just some thoughts.

Bounderies ARE needed!

Today I will be talking about parents who do not put bounderies up for children. Imagine if you will that you as an adult had to decided everything. You had no laws that had to be obeyed, in fact no one had any laws to obey. Things would be caotic! As adults we have decided, or voted people into office to make the laws that we follow. But children, they have such a limited scope and a limited if any way to make safe sound decisions on what their bounderies should be, that they were given parents to make those decisions and bounderies for them. Parents are to teach them as they grow how to make those decisions. So many parents today are afraid to say the most simple word in the world - NO and make it stick. Last night at my work, I watched a father tell a child to hold his own drink. This child was about 10 years old. He refused. The father then held the cup over the trash can and said either to take it or I throw it away. The child stood there and just looked at his father and the cup with a look of "Yea right!" I stood there and watched this and then I saw the mother, she gave the father a look and he did not throw it away. The child knew the father would not follow through with throwing the drink away, so the child knew he was in control. Parents should be a unified front, not one against the other with the child in the middle. Another time I watched a child want some candy, the mother said NO. The girl, age 13, then started to pitch a fit - yelling at her mother, kicking her and hitting her. Her mother then got her the candy and looked at me and said, she is emotional troubled. I watched the child then turn to her friends and smile and mouth - it works everytime. Again - who is in control?. I have watched parents take up for children that were acting like animals in public (not pretentd doggies, or cats or monkies). I have seen parents that are more concerned with their cell phones or talking to their friends that did not notice that their child was about to pull a fire alarm. I have been called a F***ing idoit because I ask a 15 year old not to hit signs that were hanging from a ceiling. Parents' job is to protect a baby and start to teach them. As a child grows and learns and shows they have learned, then it is their job to let go little by little. To trust them with decisions that are within their capabilities. If a parent does their job, a child will be a responsibile adult and teach their chldren the same way. I was not the perfect parent, but when I said NO or their father said NO it was NO. Yes meant yes and No meant NO! They knew that no matter what one of us said the other would back it up, so their was no mom said no, so go to dad or the other way around. I have great fear for my grandchildren, not for the way they are being raised, but the people they will have to deal with and their children will have to be around. People that have not been given boundries and were given trophies for just showing up! Parents be PARENTS Please!!!!

Parents be parents

I have been absent from my blog for a long time. As I think about and observe others around me, as work mostly, I see actions that make me question the need for parent testing BEFORE you become a parent. Not that I really believe this should happen, but I watch parent after parent giving away their right to raise their child to others and only wanting to be friends with them. An excellent example is the following: A father drops off 8- 10 year olds girls at the theatre to watch a movie. He had no idea they were meeting boys(yes at the age of 10). The theatre had a minor problem with the print that was quickly fixed. Remember that fact as it will play into the rest of the story. Through out the movie the manager on duty had to go into the theatre and tell the children to be quite, put their cell phones away, stop changing seats and stop running in and out of the movie. The next day, the father calls the theatre and ask to speak to the manager complaining that the girls did not get to watch the movie due to all the problems that had occurred during the movie. The manager on duty was not the same as the one the night before so, she told him she would look into it and call him back. After talking to the manager from the night before and checking the projection booth log for problems, she called the father back. She told the father that the only problem the print had was during the previews and it was fixed quickly that the patrons did not miss any of the movie itself. The only other problem that was in that theatre was a group of young people, both male and female, that was being disruptive and the manager had to go in several times telling them to be quite and get off their phones and stop changing seats and not to run in and out and in and out. After the theatre manager on duty finished telling the father this, the tone of his voice changed... the dawning that his sweet daughter had "exaggrated"... in other words lied was appearant in his voice. And nothing else was said. My question is this: What kind of parent drops off 8-10year old girls to go the movies alone? In this day and times, how could you feel that this is a good parenting practice? If we as parents want to do our job correctly, it will mean we have to say NO, you can not go without parents with you to the movies. It means putting your childrens welfare above what they want. It means putting with is best for the child above whether or not the child wants it. Children are not yet able to make most decissions. It DOES NOT hurt a child for a parent to be with them, it does not hurt them if THEY think it is embarrassing for their parents to be around. Parents should be part of a child's life, not drop them off somewhere and hope they will know how to act and nothing will happen to them. It is time for parents to grow up and be parents!

The Christmas Gift

What happened to the Christmas holiday this past year? My last post was Dec 3rd. On Dec 9th I was offered the job of General Manager at Theatres of Georgetown, under the new ownership. WOW, what a day! I walk into the theatre for the first time in over 2 years, I was home. My mind was racing, I was going to an interview with someone I had never seen or talked to except to say yes I can be there at that time. As I entered the theatre, an alarm was going off. I knew exactly what it was and when Mr. Roaden(Scott) ask me if I knew, I walked him over and pushed the button and stopped the alarm. Took a min or two to explain what the problem was and Scott said, Ok there is a point in your favor.... I smiled and felt a little more at ease. After talking with Scott for less than 5 minutes, he ask, "What would it take to get you here?" We agreed on an amount, the date I could start and the race was off......

That night I turned in my resignation at my current position as Assistant Manager at Regal and started working out my 2 week notice. For 2 weeks, if I was not at Regal, I was at Theatres of Georgetown, trying to help get ready to open on Dec. 18th, YES I said less than 2 weeks we planned to open. There was so much work to do. The booth equipment was in terrible shape and the theatre itself needed so much cleaning and repair and I don't even like to think about the concession area and how not clean it was, it makes me cry.

After 2 weeks of cleaning and fixing and hiring the open date was here. It was 30 mins before we were to open, no money in the register, not all the stock in, and they had just finished putting on a new popcorn kettle. We had not had time to train the staff, luckily 1/2 the staff was my old staff, so they help with on the job training the others. The system we were using was an excel program, my husband wrote for us to use. (He spend over a week on that program, no pay, not promise of pay, just because he loves me and wanted to help me. If your spouse will do something like that for you, hang on to them, that is a love worth more than all the money on the face of this earth.)

Anyway, with all the challenges we had that night to get things going, we opened only 5 mins late and the people were so understanding and waited as I put the money in the registers and others were still stocking in items. It was a wonderful night, we had not done a big grand opening, as not everything was truly ready, but we had a good crowd and it was enough for the staff and registers we had. Shortly after that during the holiday we were slammed! It was so much work, but so much fun. I was finally home, where I belonged- manager of Theatres of Georgetown! That was my Christmas gift.

My family

This is my most wonderful, kind, patient, loving man that I have the great honor to call my husband, Mark. He is and will always be the true love of my life. A very wonderful gift from God above, that is my husband and I thank God everyday for him.

Also in this picture is our grand-daughter Bailey. She is an absolute joy for us to spend time with her. Mark is not very emotional outwardly, but the look of his face when she smiles at him or recognizes him is beyond explanation! He would give his live for her is needed. The dog in the picture is Tessa, one of out Shi-tzus.

This is my youngest son, Alex. He is now 20 years old and in college. He is a unique creation and gift from God. He is his father's son! I know God gave him to us for a very special reason and we love him and are very proud of him. He is a strong man of God and I truly believe that God has a very special job for him.

This is my mother and father. Two of the most wonderful people that God placed on this earth. They worked hard the whole life to give my brother and myself a good life. I owe them more than I could ever repay them, and I thank God that he gave me to them to raise.

These pictures of of my brother, Carter and his wife, Allyn and daughter Addison. These were taken at is very early birthday party, 40th. Carter and Allyn are such fun to spend time with, I only wish we lived closer. And my niece, Addison, makes me feel young as we dance around the hallway. I love them all so much!

This is my father and mother-in-law with me and my husband. They live in Gatlinburg and are two of the most positive people I have ever met in my life. I am not sure of what kind of daughter-in-law I have been to them, but if I have fallen short of their hopes or have ever hurt their feelings, I know even if nothing is said, they forgive and truly forget. They are wonderful, loving people.

Below is my oldest son, Nick and his family. His lovely wife and my daughter-in-law, Nicole and their daughter, my grand-daughter, Bailey. Nick and Nicole have been married over 3 years and were together either as friends or boyfriend/girlfriend seems forever. They met when Nick was in either 4th or 5th grade at St. John's School. Nick is a teacher and soccer coach as well as a devoted husband and father. Nicole is in real estate and loves to cook and has wanted to be a mother for as long as I can remember and she is doing a wonderful job with Bailey. I am not sure what kind of mother-in-law I am, but I pray they know I am here if they need me and that I pray for them everyday. Bailey is the absolute joy of my life. I would do anything I could for her as would her grandfather, Mark and her Uncle Alex.

Well, this is my family. Family is the first institution that God created. He created it before the church, so logic would say that it is very important to him. When we leave our family that we grew up in and marry - there by joining the two families- families grow. Whether you are directly related or the "in-law" don't forget that your parents and your spouses parent and siblings are all part of your family now. And family will always be there for you, just as God meant for it to be. I know my family is here for me and I believe they all know I am here for them!

Family love is a love that is beyond explanation.

Pain

In our world today, there are so many different pains. There is physical pain, mental pain, emotional pain and heart pain. Most pains come and go. Some are worse than others, some last longer than others, and some go away completely, and still some never go away.

The ones that often don't go away are from what I call heart pain. They are pain caused by those that are close to us, those who we love and trust. Often they do not even know they are causing pain and unfortunately sometimes they know they are causing the pain. For some unexplainable reason they seem to take joy in causing the pain, like it gives the control or payback for something that really no longer matters.

How do we deal with that pain? If you go to that person, they act like it was not on purpose, or they brush it off as "you should not feel that way" or "don't let it get to you" .

Some pain is so deep that although you want to let it go, you don't know how. For some people they can just just go on and ignore the pain and the person causing it, for others it becomes so overpowering they choose to take the life God gave them. In both cases, I feel sorry for them.

As I see it, either case does not have God in their life, so they handle it wrong or don't handle it at all.

If you have a family, and you have extended family through "in-laws" you have felt the pain of the heart. Those that are the closest to us are the ones that can hurt us the most. Why? Because we open our hearts to them. We open our lives; therefore, giving them the chance to hurt us. When (not if)... when it happens how will you handle it?

Jesus tells us to give it to him, place it at his feet and forgive it and them forget it. For me, personally, forgiving is not the problem, but forgetting is somewhat harder. Some will say that if I have not forgotten it, then I have not forgiven. I disagree with that, we can forgive them and with time forget it also. As long as we do not act or bring up the hurt or try to get revenge, then

with time we can forget.

We each have our own situations that we deal with on a daily basis, happiness, sadness, hurt, helping other and hopefully healing. I will make a deal with you if you are reading this:

I will pray for healing for your pain, and you pray for healing for my pains too.

Father of all Heaven and Earth,

May God heal the pains of all those that read this blog. May each heart be open to the love of God. That each person will be filled with the loving, forgiving and healing spirit that only the God of heaven can provide.

Amen

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