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This is a page for whatever odd things cross through my mind, my own writings or any projects with which I'm currently involved. So, relax in the ole rocker and just see what comes to pass.
I must relate the latest news -- We are preparing to homeschool! Jocelyn will be dual enrolled as of the first of the year. She will continue her art and band courses at her current public school and I will be teaching the primary subjects. If you are wondering why or just want to know more, please have a look at Adventures in Homeschooling.
Parker James was born May 24, 2002. He came a full month early and after keeping mom prisoner in the hospital on bed rest for a month. (That was no fun!) We never dreamed we would have a living, little boy in our lives. Needless to say we are feeling extremely blessed. Feel free to check out my pregnancy diary although it didn't get finished because of the hospital stay.
Samantha Jane was born Feb. 11, 2000. Although nearly a month early, she is growing each and every day. Our family feels extremely blessed just to have her as a part of our lives. Here is a more up-to-date photo of Sammie.
Also, we have a family photo gallery. Drop by the gallery and have a look at all the photos!
First a little about me - I do work for local government from my home. I have worked fulltime outside of the home since I graduated college, so I'm really enjoying this break from the grind of life. Of course, my husband James works like a man possessed in order to allow me this luxury and I couldn't love him more for his commitment to both me and our family. Would you like to see a picture of us? He is a senior network administrator at Frontier Natural Products Co-op , an Iowa-based business which specializes in natural foods, spices, aromatherapy, coffee and more. If you are in the area and want a really terrific place to utilize your talents, this is a company worth a look.
Up until August of 1998, I was the Director of Operations for our local newspaper. We were expecting our second child in September and made the decision for me to stay home with the new little one and our daughter Jocelyn. Many of our hopes and dreams were shattered when our son Spencer was stillborn just a week before his due date. For unknown reasons, the placenta separated from the uterus, a condition known as placenta abruption. Recently, we have found ourselves in a process of self-evaluation and, at times, anger.
People have told us many things since his death. One such thing is that everything happens for a purpose. Although I have always believed this statement, for the life of me I cannot find the "purpose" for his death. Perhaps I'm not supposed to know right now. I can tell you that stress of this nature can do one of two things to a marriage - drive you apart or pull you closer together. We are very fortunate in that it has made our bond to each other stronger. I can't imagine there being anything more difficult for us than saying goodbye to our child.
Many of the people who have visited this page have asked to hear the complete story of how we lost Spencer. If you are interested, feel free to visit the web page I developed for him. To be perfectly honest, I don't spend much time looking at that page because everything still hurts too much.
Now, just because I'm a stay at home Mom, don't be fooled into believing that I sit on the couch all day watching soap operas. I maintain the Marion Community Web Site, City of Marion, Marion Public Library, Swamp Fox Festival and City of Mt. Vernon sites. In addition, I'm a member of the Marion Metro Kiwanis. We meet at the Longbranch Convention Center every first and third Wednesday. If you are interested, send me an e-mail and I'll send you information. It's a fairly new club which formed in 1999.
On every third Wednesday of the month, you'll find me at the Friends of the Marion Public Library Board meeting. This is a group devoted to helping the library and its very capable staff. Currently, we have a bookstore located in the lobby of the library. I have plans to put up a page just for the bookstore in the near future - stay tuned! Currently I serve as the board's secretary, but I think that will be changing for this next FY. My duties will probably be changed to that of publicity director. Cool, huh? If you are interested in becoming a Friend of the Marion Public Library, please visit their web site for more information.
I enjoy many things. One of my favorite hobbies has to do with the NFL. In particular I'm a big Kansas City Chiefs fan. Most Sundays I can be found in front of the boob tube watching them and the rest of the NFL play.
Obviously, my time is not filled just by these tasks (but they are my favorites!). The majority of my free time is being spent on our home. It's an older home which we purchased almost two years ago. Although structurally sound, it was in need of many cosmetic and infrastructure improvements. Anyone who has had the pleasure of working with old plaster walls will understand. Our most recently completed project was having the whole thing rewired. (Can you believe that I can now wash and dry clothes at the same time?) Also, we are looking into ways to renovate the kitchen and bath.
To bring in extra money, and to make sure that my brain doesn't forget how to function, I freelance for magazines, newspapers and the like. Other writer-types may want to check out my Writer's Inspiration pages for information on using the Internet to aid a writing career. As I get more time, I'll be back in the saddle and keeping everything up to date.
Being a writer, I jumped on the "free speech on the net" bandwagon. I made some pages several years ago as testament to the cause. If you want to see them, be warned that much of the content is offensive to most people. Also, none of those pages have been updated since I lost interest in fighting Congress on the CDA issue. (That's about four or five years ago.)
In any event, you may want to come back to this page every so often. I have some weird tastes which will more than likely be made public right here.