Happy Birthday Jeremy

Today is Jeremy's 34th birthday. He was born on August 27, 1976 to Ronnie and Sylvia Clayton. He was their second child and second son. It may be hard to imagine now, but Jeremy had the curliest blond hair that you ever did see when he was little. Needless to say he hated the curls, that's why he sports a shaved head now days!!!

I couldn't ask for a more kind, loving, and caring husband. Jeremy is always willing to help others out that are in need. It doesn't matter if it is for friends or family. If you need something done, Jeremy is there. There have been so many times in our marriage when I felt completely defeated and he is the one to lift me back up. This year has been extremely difficult for our family. I honestly don't know what I would have done without Jeremy in my life. I talked with him about me going back to school instead of looking for a job and he told me that whatever I needed, he would get for me. He has worked long hard weeks to pay for my books and education. Anytime overtime was available, he was asking if he could work. It touches my heart so much that he is willing to work so hard so that I can pursue my dreams of becoming a nurse. I know that there are a lot of women out there who are not able to be in my position and I am truly grateful for this opportunity. I know that I don't tell him as often as I should how proud I am to be his wife. How blessed our children are to have such an awesome father. We have grown so much closer since Jolianne came into our lives. She gave us the chance to stop and really think about the things that are the most important to us.

I thank God that He brought Jeremy and I together. He is my rock, my teddy bear, my best friend in the whole world. I love you beyond imagination honey!!!

Happy Birthday Jeremy :)

Happy Birthday Ronnie

My Little Ham!!

Well yesterday was Ronnie's seventh birthday. I meant to post something for him but life got a little busy as usual so I am updating now.

Ronnie Daniel Clayton was born on August 23, 2003 at Mother Francis Hospital in Tyler. He came after a long 19 hour labor that was induced because of my high blood pressure. Ronnie Daniel is not a very common name so let me tell you where it came from. Ronnie is my father-in-law's name. It is not short for Ronald, it is simply Ronnie. Daniel is my father's name. So we put the two names together and came up with Ronnie Daniel in honor of both of our fathers. Everyone on Jeremy's side of the family calls him Little Ronnie. It is pretty funny because Ronnie has never been little. He came into this world weighing nine pounds, at 38 weeks. If I would have carried him to 40 weeks he would have been 10 lbs. I always joked around and said that I got a 3 month old instead of a new born!!!

As he has gotten older I have seen such an amazing heart in him. He is always honest, even when it sounds brutal he adds love to the end so you just can't help but laugh. Example...He will tell me, "Mommy I really love that you are "fluffy", it makes it more comfortable when I lay on you and have cushion. I love you so much Mommy." Now if it were anyone else I would probably leave the room in tears!!! But not Ronnie, he has no intention of hurting my feelings, he was just sharing his thoughts with me.

Ronnie has never met a stranger. He will talk to absolutely anyone. It doesn't matter where we are. He loves to tell people things about his day or what we are going to be doing when we get home. One time were were at Wal-Mart getting a colander and Ronnie thought that he needed to tell the woman on the isle that his brother Andy had broken the colander that we had so we were getting a new one. He then let her know that you do not wear them on your head, even thought they make a really cool hat. He also invited her to our house for dinner. And told her we have the wooden house with the green roof if she needed directions. He is such a Ham!! He always has people laughing or smiling when he is around. He is a bright ray of sunshine for our family. He really keeps us on our toes and wondering what is coming next!!!

I pray that Ronnie will continue to grow in Christ. He is always so excited about anything and everything to do with Church or Bible Study. I hope that he keeps his heart open to God and listens to what the Lord has in store for him. I know that he will do amazing things.

Time Just Seems To Fly

I can't believe that the first week of August is almost over. We only have two weeks until school starts back. I have had so much fun this summer with the boys. It feels like just a few weeks ago school was getting out for the summer. I started getting ready for school a few weeks ago and I am very happy to say that I have all the school supplies purchased and all the clothes bought. I have a few more shirts to get for Andy and I will be finished. I am very excited that we are all getting ready to go back to school. I pray that this year is a good year for everyone, especially coming off of the year we've had. It is hard to believe a year ago I was placed on bedrest in the hospital. It seems like a life time ago. Time sure does seem to fly by lately.

Ronnie and I are going to be going to Splash Kingdom sometime in the next week. It is soooo hot this week so we may have to wait until next week and go in the morning. We have been working on him following directions the first time he is told. I have been doing a color system and when he is acting bad he has to turn his stick to a different color. He starts at green, then moves to yellow, then red, and then black. If he has a black stick that means he has had a very hard day. I promised him if he could keep his stick green for one week that we would go to the water park. It took us a little while but we finally have a green week!!! I hope that he can stay having green sticks for the rest of the summer. I really hate having to spend so much time getting on to the kids.

Andy will be going to D Now starting on Saturday. It is a really awesome three day event for the youth at church. I hope that this really reaches out to Andy. I feel like he has been so lost lately. We have really been struggling with him making good choices. He has been grounded from his phone and iPod all summer long and he just can't seem to get things together. I pray that he will get on the right track. I pray that God will put something together for me, I feel like I am out of options with him and not really sure where to go from here. I can take things away all day long but he needs to learn to make the right decision. It is easy for him not to use the phone late at night when I am keeping all the phones in my bedroom. The first time I forget to take them in there he is right back to making calls at 2 and 3 in the morning. I wish that he would respect our rules and do the right thing on his own. I know that he is at a difficult age so I need to find some way to get through to him. Grounding doesn't work, getting rewards doesn't work, taking things away doesn't work, giving extra chores doesn't work. Anyone who has suggestions please leave a comment for me. I don't want to give up on my boy. I know that there is a way, I just have to find it!!! (maybe I should try the color sticks with Andy and see if they work!!! ha ha)

I hope that everyone is having a blessed day,
Crystal

Blessed

Have you ever sat down and really thought about how blessed you are. I think that it is so easy to get caught up in day to day life and we forget to stop and acknowledge how awesome God is. This past week I have really gotten a chance to see how amazing His plan really is. The way He works in people's lives and puts things together, so often I hear the phrase, "how weird is it that such and such thing happened", or "what a coincidence that was" I always want to say, "That is God working in our lives." Sometimes I say it out loud and sometimes I just think it. Either way, I feel so blessed that I can see it for what it really is. There was a time in my life when I would have just ignored God's work and said, "Yeah, that really is weird!" This past week I thought a lot about when Jolianne was in the hospital. I have been talking with Kim a lot while she is up at the hospital with Christopher and so many things just come flooding back to me. Some of the stuff I was surprised to realize, I had forgotten. I think that is God's way of making things easier for me. So many times after we lost Jo Jo I would hear that it gets easier and I really wasn't sure how all that was going to work out. Now I understand. This past week I have had the opportunity to witness the power of prayer. It is so amazing to feel God's presence in a room. To know that He is hearing you. Christopher's name was lifted up by so many friends and family. We all feel so blessed to have such a great support team of people that care.

Another way that I felt blessed this week is when Ronnie and I were Baptized together. I was Baptized when I was 14 as a Methodist but I feel so differently about my relationship with God now that I wanted to be re-baptized as a Baptist. Ronnie asked God into his heart last month so it was really amazing to get to experience that together. To be in the water with him, standing behind him. I hope that he knows that I will be right there for him always.

There are so many things that we can be thankful for. Even when we feel that everything has gone wrong and nothing seems to be going our way. God is there. He doesn't ever turn away from us. I can testify that even on the darkest days, when you think there's no way you're ever gonna be OK, God is holding you so tight. He will see you through and make sure that you will see the light again.

Love always,
Crystal

Choose Your Own Adventure

Did you ever read the Choose Your Own Adventure books as a child? You know, the ones where you are reading a story and then you have the option to pick which adventure your main character will go on. I have been thinking lately about how things might have been. I think, what if Jolianne had not had a heart problem. I imagine our family living in Heartland in the beautiful house we had built and I would still be working at Oldcastle. Jolianne would be 9 months old. Crawling all around on the floor. She probably would have figured out how to say "Dada" and "Mama" and "Bubba" by now. We would have our friends and family over to visit. Life is good and I couldn't be happier. Then there is adventure number 2. The adventure that started when I was placed in the hospital. We would still be living in Wills Point. I would have quit my job at Oldcastle to stay home with little Jo Jo because she needs special care. By now Jo Jo would have had her last heart procedure and would be doing great. Everyone all together enjoying life and realizing just how precious each of our lives are. I know that is one of the better imaginations of what our life would be like but hey, this is my adventure so I will just go with it. Then there is adventure number 3. The adventure that started the day my sweet Jo Jo flew to Heaven. THE REAL STORY. The story of a family struggling to piece their lives back together. We are living in Wills Point, I am a stay at home mom with intentions to start school in the Fall to pursue a degree in Nursing. I have joined the Praise Team at church and I teach a Sunday School class twice a month. In this adventure life seems to be more than I can bear at times. There is a lot of crying and a lot of pain. There are days where I am doing fine and days where I miss my daughter so much I can hardly breathe. But in all of this chaos the most important thing about this adventure is that it includes a very personal relationship with my Savior. I know that things are not the way I had pictured them to be at this point, but I also know that I am a stronger person in this version of the story. I know that with God at my side I can do absolutely anything. I am so very blessed for everything I do have. At times when I get down about life being unfair I simply have to remember that although I am the main character in my book, God is the one that chooses where I will go. He is wise beyond anything that I can even comprehend. It is my duty to make myself available to Him so that He can use me however He sees fit. He does know the end of my story, each day that I wake up is a new page. Each evening is a testamony of my faith that He will take me where I need to go.

I hope that anyone reading this today that is struggling with "their story" will find comfort that your life is in God's very capable hands. He will never leave you, He will never forsake you. Make youself available to hear from Him. He speaks to us everyday. Are you listening??

Summer Begins

Ronnie and Ms. Clark

I am so proud to say that both of my boys passed for the year and will be advancing to the next grade. Andy with be in 8th grade and Ronnie will be in First. Summer officially starts tomorrow, June 7th. The kids are out of school and we are ready to get our Summer On!!!! Vacation Bible School starts tonight at 6:45. Jeremy and I are both participating in VBS this year. We are very excited. Jeremy is acting in the play they do at the beginning of VBS and I am a team leader. I take the kids to each activity. They did such an awesome job decorating our church as a Rain forest. Andy goes to Church camp tomorrow. He will be in Arkansas until Friday. This is the first time that he has ever gone to a spend the night camp. I am very excited for him. I hope that he has an amazing time and makes a lot of new friends. Andy is a part of such an amazing youth group. I am so glad that he enjoys going to church. I hope that Andy takes some good pictures while he is away. I am going to get him a disposable camera so that he can take lots of good pictures. Well I better get going, we have to leave in a few minutes to get to the church on time. I hope that everyone is doing well.

Show Cancelled

Well I just found out today that our Fifth Sunday Showcase has been cancelled due to lack of participation. A lot of people are going to be out of town for the Memorial Day Holiday so we are going to try to do it again on another night. I am still glad that I was able to overcome my stage fright and commit to singing a song. For those of you who don't know me, that is so out of the box for me!!!! Not the committing to something part, but the singing a song in front of the whole church part. =) I got some of the books in that I ordered for Nursing School. I actually ordered Cliffs notes for Anatomy and Physiology. I hope that it does me some good for the class that I need to take this fall. I also ordered some practice tests so that I can see what kind of questions will be on the entrance exam. I am very excited about the future. I can't wait to get started. In a few months, once school starts, I will probably be writing about how sick I am of school. Oh well, until then I will keep an open mind. I hope that since I have chosen something that is close to my heart I will feel differently about classes and studying. We will just have to wait and see.

Until next time.
Blessings and Peace to you all.