It's my birthDAY!

It's my birthDAY!!!!  Happy birthDAY to me!  I am so blessed to have such wonderful friends and family to celebrate my birthDAY with!  Thank YOU LORD for all the blessings YOU bestow upon me, when I am so unworthy to receive them except and because of YOUR great love for me, for grace and mercy, I am SO blessed!!!!

OY! Monday!

Yes, it's Monday, after another party weekend!  LOL 

Last weekend, (Labor Day)  we had a Debbie weekend.  LOL 
Debbie is one of my dearest friends.  We met in 7th grade. 
Friday, I played Bunco with Debbie and her sister Joann and their friends.
Saturday, we went to our high school alumni football game.  Debbie's dd is in the band.  Afterwards we went to Deb's and hung out. 
Sunday, our family went to Galveston and saw all the changes from Ike.  We hadn't been there in years.  (kinda hard when you don't live in TX.  LOL) Afterwards, Debbie called us for a impromptu birthday party for her cousin's daughter. 
Monday, we went to Debbie's for dinner to see her momma.  It was an early night....of course the rest of the week we had Debbie and family withdrawls.  LOL  ;)

This weekend was another Debbie weekend!  Fun! Fun! Fun!!! 
Friday, Dobie (highschool alma mater) was playing Dickinson High.  We have friends at Dickinson and of course Debbie's DD is in the band for Dobie.  So I asked DH if we could go to the game.  He said we couldn't make it, because his boss invited us out for dinner.  We were done by 7:30, so we drove to Dickinson for the game.  Got there at halftime.  (and still had to pay $8 a ticket!  $8 can you believe it?  OY!)  Sat with Debbie and family.  Then afterwards met up with our friends from Dickinson and went to Dairy Queen for ice cream.  Yum! 

Saturday, Joann (Debbie's sister)  invited us to her youngest DD's soccer game.  Debbie got us all Starbuck's!  YUM!  After a win, we came home and got ready for Debbie's party.  We were all going out to the Kemah Boardwalk for dinner, meeting a few friends down there.  We had dinner at Landry's, with our other friends from highschool-Sylvia, Christine, and Leti and families.  Then some of us went back to Debbie's for a movie and popcorn. 

Sunday, Debbie's actual birthday.  We invited her family over for steaks, baked potatoes, salad, grilled asparagus, sauteed mushrooms, and cheesecake. 

So today I'm recovering....and as I am reading my sidebar on FB, I thought I read:

"Become a Social Drinker" 

I'm thinking, ah, no, I'll pass.  I have too much fun without drinking.  I, of course, have to reread it.  It says....

"Become a Social Worker"

Well now you know why it's OY! Monday!  LOL
Blessings!

 

 

Marking his territory

Around 4 am Sunday morning, I kept hearing a funny noise, while I was half asleep.  Finally after several times, I realized it was the dog banging his bowl around to go out.  I got up and let him out.  I stood there waiting and watching.  He wasn't doing his business, so I figured he wanted his privacy, came inside, went to the bathroom, and went back out to get him, where in fact, he still hadn't gone!  Annoyed, I said to him, "GO!" 

He looks at me, and goes on his dogfood box!  I shout at him in a whispered shout, "SCOUT!"  He jumps up in the RV knowing I'm not happy with him!  Where I notice the dog food box lid is off.  I made sure he didn't get the food wet....gross!  and crawl back in the RV and into bed.

About 20 minutes later, I hear Scout scratching at the door.  UGH, I figure he didn't finish going, so I got up again and was going to let him out.  I got the door open, and instead of him running down the steps like he normally does, he took one giant leap out, where I see the dog food lid off and a critter running from Scout.  I assume it was a raccoon.  Crazy dog must of heard the coon, didn't like him over in his dog food!  That's why he kept waking me up and why he went on his dog food box.

What's hilarious is the whole time we lived at the State Park and Amarillo, we were more like the country and never had any coons come mess with his food, and now in the city here they all come.  LOL

Blessings til next time!

Another Joy of Homeschooling

The joys of homeschooling: We were driving by a local highschool Thursday, and Bella said, "Ha, you kids have to be in there doing Algebra and I get to go to Target right now." I said, "You have to do Algebra too." She replies, "Shhh, I'm enjoying the moment." ROFLOL

Whatever happens in Vegas...

Stays in Vegas-NOT!


DH took me to Vegas for a surprise 25th anniversary trip!  LOL  He was afraid I would be disappointed, but actually I thought it sounded kinda fun. 


After shopping for two day to get ready to go and getting a manicure and pedicure, I was ready.  DH let me know on Thursday morning where we were headed, so I could buy the proper attire.


I ended up staying up all night Friday, packing and we had to leave around 3am to catch our flight out of Houston Intercontinental.  We got to Vegas by 9am their time.  Most of the day we were half asleep.  We couldn't check into our room until 3pm and so we went to Walmart to pick up a few things, and I ended up falling asleep in the rental car for over an hour!  LOL


Vegas....hmmm...what can I say....too little clothes, too many tattooes, lots of smoke, and gambling.  There, that's it in a nut shell.  LOL 


But here's what we did:
Our first site seeing stop was here:
It doesn't look anything like on TV.  The actually Pawn Shop is rather small.  There were people lined up to go in.  No, the Pawn Stars weren't there or if they were, they weren't visible.  DH and I figure the way they do the show is, they prescreen who they want on, and they remove all the spectators, leaving just a few folks in there to make the store look much bigger. 

We stayed in the Stratosphere Hotel.  Saturday night we had $10.99 Prime rib, then went back to our room and went to bed.  We were totally drained from being up all the night before.
Here's a view from our window:

Sunday, we headed down to Lake Mead and Hoover Dam.  When we got down there, we decided to take a paddleboat cruise around the lake for 90 minutes.  Our cruise didn't start for awhile, so we drove around the park and stopped at the Marina.  There was a little girl feeding the fish popcorn and here's a picture of the fish all gathered together to enjoy their snack.  Most of them are carp, but there are a few striped bass in there as well:

The cruise was very relaxing and beautiful.  We got to see the back of Hoover Dam as well as the new bridge they built across the Colorado River. 

Here's my honey, enjoying the cruise:

I think that night we went to a different casino and had dinner. Buy one, get one free.  So we paid like $10 for dinner, plus tip, and it was a buffet.  :)

Monday, I think we went for lunch at the same casino from the night before and then went to the pool at our hotel.  Spent time reading a book, while DH enjoyed the pool.  Afterwards, we went hunting for a place our friend recommended for a cupcake.  LOL  It's called, "The Cupcakery".  Unfortunately, our friend sent us to the wrong place.  We had fun checking out some of the Vegas strip while looking for it though. 
Here's a pic of the Venetian, where they have gondola rides.  It's a little blurry.  I took it from my phone.

Finally, after hitting most of the Vegas strip, we found "The Cupcakery".  It was in the Monte Carlo and not in NY, NY.  I finally thought, hey why don't I just look online-duh! LOL

The sign:

The entrance:

We also got Ben and Jerry's ice cream!  LOL  Actually, I didn't eat my cupcake until Wednesday afternoon at the airport.  I got Mocha frosting with chocolate cupcake.  The icing was so rich and sweet it hurt my teeth!  My friend said they opened one in The Woodlands too....hmmm, that's all I need!  LOL

We ended up going to In and Out Burgers that night for dinner.  :) 
Afterwards we met up with a guy I went to highschool with.  He and his wife, daughter, and mom flew up on Sunday.  He and his wife now live in Saudi Arabia and were home in Houston for vacation.  They flew to Vegas for a few days and we went and saw them.  He told me about another gal we went to school with working in one of the casinos.  FUNNY, because it was the one we had eaten lunch that day and dinner the night before!  What's even funnier is, we ended up going there the next day, and almost ran smack dab into one another. 

We got a chance to do a quick catchup, said our goodbyes and then we met some friends of my parents at our hotel after a quick trip to Walmart.  One of my dad's oldest friends and his wife.  I hadn't seen them since I was probably 12 or 13.  This was probably one of the highlights of the trip, because over the years they have become Holy Ghost filled Christians and we got to share the goodness of GOD for several hours.  They were so sweet to come meet us at our hotel and then we all went to the diner and had the $10.99 prime rib and they wanted to bless us for our anniversary by paying! 

After they left, we headed towards Hoover Dam again, to see if it was lighted at night.  We ended up driving over the bridge, barely seeing the dam, and headed back to our hotel. 

Wednesday our trip came to an end.  Got up and ready to turn the rental in.  Lost my earring, somewhere between the hotel and returning the car.  :(  Paid $150 to get an earlier flight.  It was a direct flight from Vegas to Houston....but wouldn't you know just before we are to land in Houston, Houston has severe thunderstorms, we have to divert to Austin, fuel up and wait for the storms to pass.  So we got in almost at the same time that we would have originally landed.  Hopefully we will get a refund.  We filed for one.

Now it's back to the grindstone.  :D    Not that I mind, great getting back and seeing my babies! 

Blessings until next time!

Catch up post

We are leaving for our surprise 25th anniversary getaway on Saturday.  I still don't know where we're going.  I've been trying to figure it out, but dh won't reveal. 

My sister is going to stay with my kids for the weekend.  I'm relieved.  DH wanted to leave them with some friends, but I wasn't keen on that idea.  Not only do they have 4 boys, but one of the boys is very mean to my youngest and the boys have friends in and out all night.  I don't think DH remembered that when he asked them.  I don't want to expose my 14yr old dd around that or have my 15 yr old ds around it either.  I know DH was trying to plan something nice, and make all the arrangements to surprise me, but he's so busy, I don't think he thought that one through. 

Prayers for DH and work would be appreciated.  We might not be staying in Houston afterall.  Long story, will let you know if we are leaving asap. 

My oldest was extremely blessed.  She asked me not to give out details, but it was a huge blessing and answer to prayer! 

Saw Captain America over the weekend.  Not my genre of movie, but it was decent.  My guys sure did love it!

Can't think of anything else for now.

Blessings until next time! 

Whole....

So apparently, when DH and I thought all the big dishes dropped and busted all over the floor, it turned out it was only a couple.  The large bowl was shattered and some of the small and middle plates.  I really never used the small ones. Boy!  did they ever leave a mess though. 
I was so happy when DS looked in the cabinent and saw the big plates and said, "Mom, there's a bunch of big plates in here!"  I made him count them.  LOL  There was like 6 or 8.  I was elated!  :)


In other news, on our way to Freeport Sunday, dh got a call from a friend offering him a better job in Houston.  After praying and weighing the options, we decided to take that job.  The pay is a little less, but there were more pluses.

• Dh wouldn't have to work in the office and the field (in a chemical plant)
• We would be even closer to family and friends
• We aren't on the immediate gulf coast (always a plus during hurricane season)
• Lots of overtime
• Direct hire with benefits
• Long term
• Gets to work with a group of Christian men!!!

GOD is SO good!  When our economy is the way it is, DH had a job in Amarillo, got another offer which we were going to take in Freeport, and still got a better job in Houston!  I think that's proof of serving a GOOD GOD, and a testimony of if you abide in HIM.  ;)

We drove to League City on Sunday instead of Freeport, so DH could go in and talk to his friend on Monday.  After he for sure got the job, we stayed there until yesterday, visiting some of our favorite friends.  Yesterday, we moved the RV to a super nice RV Resort.  We have all kinds of nifty amendities.

• exercise room
• wifi
• cable
• our dog can be outside during the day, as long as we are here at the RV
• swimming pool
• spa
• dog runs
• dog wash
• trash pick up
• propane refills-yeah, they come over and pick up your bottle!
• store
• next door to a park with a fishing pond
• full hook ups
• level concrete pad with picnic table
• Nice, clean laundry facilities
• Clean restrooms and showers (not that we would use them often)

Might not be a big deal to some people, but after you live in an RV for a long time, you appreciate some parks more than others.  Just ask the boy!  LOL

Still need an apartment for Doodles by Friday morning.  That's a little stressful, but I know GOD will figure it out.  (wish I would let it go, and not worry about it)
Have to go up to KS and help her move and be a hand model for her on Saturday.  I'm leaving tonight, driving as far as I can before I get tired, and finish up tomorrow. 
Prayers would very much be appreciated.

Blessings!

Movie Review, etc.

So Bella and I went to see the "New" Pooh movie on Saturday, while DH and DS went to see Transformers 3: Blah blah blah-whatever it's called.  LOL

Must say, I was a bit disappointed.  I was under the impression this was going to be a NEW storyline.  It wasn't.  :(  Same old story.  But for us that love Pooh, it was entertaining, light, and fun.  Short and sweet, maybe an hour and 15 minutes long?!  There were several kids around 3 in the theater and it held their attention with the songs and music.  So, if you wonder if it will hold a youngester's attention, likely it will!

After the movie, there was a Putt-Putt place next door.  Bella and I went there, because the boys still had quite sometime for their movie to be over.  I can't imagine sitting in the car or theater waiting for their movie to end~sigh.  So we hit the putt-putt place and had a wonderful time.  Cheap entertainment at it's finest!  and the BEST  PART is I got to spend quality time with my Bella!!!!

Monday blessings!  :D

This weekend's plans

Today's plan...to go see Winnie the Pooh with my Bella, while her brother sees Transformers 3 (ick).

Yesterday we got the boy 2 pairs of Converse for $62.50!  So exciting to get such a deal!  He got these:

And I got these cute tops on sale:

Hope you all have a blessed Saturday!  :D

Ewww Gross!

Warning:  This is a gross, yet kinda funny story.  Read at your own discretion.

A few weeks ago while we were still in KS, we had to go pick up some auto parts.  It was close to dinner time, and we were far from the RV.  DH and I decided we'd eat out.  I said something about going to Red Lobster, remembering they had a special. 

As we were driving Bella asked DH,  "Daddy, are you going to get oysters?"  (ewww, yuck!  they remind me of snot on a shell)  DH replied, "I didn't think of it until you mentioned it, but yeah, I think I will, Bella." 

I said, "Aren't you suppose to avoid oysters in months without an R?"  DH replied, "I don't know, I've always heard you're suppose to avoid rabbit in months without an R." "What? I've never heard of that!" 

So of course, the curious person that I am, got on my handy little Android phone (have I mentioned here, how much I absolutely love it?) and Googled something like, "Eating oysters in the months with no R".

This is what I found:  Oysters

So then of course I had to look up the rabbit thing.  oy, that's where this really gets gross!
I found this:  Rabbits

So after reading that outloud to everyone, my DS and DD are totally grossed out and kinda lost their appetites.  LOL 

We got to Red Lobster, which might I add, neither of my kids are seafood lovers.  Well for that matter, neither am I.  I like shrimp, scallops, lobster, and a little bit of certain kinds of fish.  The wait was about 15-20 minutes.  The kids saw a Red Robin across the street and asked if we could go there.  That's where we ended up.  That's another story in itself!  LOL

Every once in awhile, I'll kid my kids and ask if they would like to try rabbit now.  ;)

Blessings until next time!

Church Billboard

I was so blessed to get to go back to KS and see my Birthday girl afterall.  I was especially blessed by friends on FB when I asked for a favor.  I had them PM me and I asked them to send her a bday card, since I couldn't/wouldn't be there.  Really I wasn't going to be.  DH told me the night before to go!  We had a grand time.  We took her out for dinner when we got there.  (just the kids and I went, dh stayed behind to work)  The next day she had school, so we went to the state park and said hello to the people we knew there.  Saturday, Doodles had tickets to the Double A team game in Springfield.  So after school,  (yes, she attends on Saturday)  we drove out there and watched the ballgame.  We drove back and apartment shopped on Sunday. 

All that to say, on our way back yesterday, I saw a Church Billboard that read (wish I had taken a picture to insert here)

Happiness is an inside job.

It is, isn't it? 

Have a blessed one!

Happy 24th Birthday beautiful girl of mine!

At 1:38pm, 24 years ago today, it was a cloudy, rainy day and the only thing on tv to watch was the Oliver North trial, but I was blessed with this beauty!  :)  I love you precious one!  Happy Birthday!!!!

Off to see the Wizard...

"We're off to see the Wizard, the wonderful Wizard of Oz"

Okay, so we're not really.  We're off to go see dd in KS this weekend.  Next week is her birthday. She has school and DH has to work, so we're headed out for an early birthday celebration. 

I would appreciate prayers for travel mercies.  OY! Especially after all the adventures to get here! 

Blessings and hope you have a fabulous 4th of July weekend!

28 years ago

Twenty-eight years ago my mom past away, and although I've shared this story before, some of you might not have read it. Of course my feelings of missing her are the same.

My mom had been hospitalized for about a month. She went into the hospital the day after I graduated from high school. When my mom was a kid she had rheumatic fever. It had damaged her heart.

Back in January of '83, my mom had gone to the dentist to have some dental work done. I'm not sure if she didn't tell the dentist she had heart problems or not. My mom got the flu soon after that and never got better. Her fingernails started getting really thick and curling over. (the doctor called it clubbing) She went to the doctor around April. I was with her, I had an ear infection. When the doctor examined my mom I could see something was wrong, from the doctor's face. He gave my mom medicine. It just got worse. The doctor admitted her into the hospital. They treated her for a month. She came home on the 29th of June. My sister had gone to get her. I was at work. My dad didn't even know my mom had been released. After my sister got home she went to work.

My brother #1 made my mom a grilled cheese sandwich with sliced pickles. Around 4 o'clock my brother #2 called me into my mom's room, telling me there's something wrong with mom. I went in. My mom was mumbling something about needing to go to the bathroom. I went over to help her. My dad is entering the house around this time. I tell my mom I'm there to help her get up. She then was saying, no, no...At the time I didn't know what was going on...my mom started going into convulsions. I heard my dad and told him something's wrong with mom...he's confused, not knowing my mom had been released from the hospital. Someone went and got the neighbor. The ambulance was on it's way. I went to go get my sister from work. We were to meet my dad at the house and then go to the hospital.

We all get to the hospital. We ask how my mom was doing. They reassured us she was fine. We wait. We wait some more. A doctor calls us to an office. He introduces himself shakes my dad's hand and says, "I'm sorry, but your wife is dead" SHOCK, DISBELIEF...what happened? why? CONFUSION...

Later we found out that my mom had gotten an infection from the dental work. This caused pericarditis (an infection of the lining of the heart). My mom died because she was weak and had aspirated (choked internally)

We also found out that the ambulance that was carrying my mom to the hospital broke down and they had to wait for another one to arrive.

Would all that make any difference? I have no idea.

I miss my mom...I miss her. I think I miss her more and more every year. It seems to get more difficult instead of easier.

I wonder things like would she like the choices I made in my life. Would she like my husband? Would she enjoy being a grandmother? What kind of relationship would we have? would we be more like mother/daughter or friends? What would we spend our time together doing?

Did my mom know the LORD? I really don't know. I don't know if I'll see her again someday and that really hurts. Maybe that's why it gets tougher and tougher each year.

I miss you and love you, Mom.

Cadillac Ranch

Probably most of you have seen these pictures on my FB.  Yes, I have wonderful friends, for the most part, that talked me back into going over to FB, not to mention I was extra emotional last week...if you know what I mean....

We went to Cadillac Ranch the other day. It was so unbelieveably hot. Of course everyday seems hot because of spending the last 2 years up north!

For those of you that don't know, Cadillac Ranch is a row of Cadillacs put in the ground upside down, as a form of art in a farm field.  You can read more HERE.

It was so hot, we didn't think the kids would want to walk up to the cadillacs.  So we took pictures from the side of the road.

The kids were like, "Ah that's cool, can we walk up?"  yikes....it's hot!!!!  but we did it!

Here's DH and I...don't even ask what's up with my hair...too much wind and the sunglasses pulled on the top of my head!

Here's the kiddos:

We left, and the kids were disappointed we didn't bring the spray paint.  "Can we go get some and come back? We want to graffiti!" LOL "Yes, later when it cools down."  "Oh that means we won't!"

But not true!  We went to Palo Duro Canyon next.  Got our TX State Parks season passes, drove around where the temps were even hotter!  120*F in the Canyon!

Afterwards, we went to the Big Texan Steakhouse.  For those of you that don't know, The Big Texan is a famous landmark in Amarillo for their 72oz steak challenge.  You can read more HERE and HERE.  While we were there, two guys tried the challenge.  The first guy quit after about 30 minutes with about 1/2 his steak left.  The second guy seemed awfully slow, and we left before his hour was up. 

From there we went to Hellmart, aka Walmart (if you don't know why I call it that, I have a love/hate relationship with them and probably have some posts on this blog about it, otherwise they have been deleted from my old blog) and got some spray paint for the kids.  Belle got red and Joe Bug got black.  We drove back over to Cadillac Ranch and here's the kids creations:

Great day in all.  Came home exhausted and crashed from all that heat!  :)

No Troubles big or small

I have a friend going through a major deal in her life.  When I found out, I was ashamed of myself for whining about having to move again.  I apologized to my friend.  My friend replied with something so elegant and graceful:

Bobbi, hard for anyone is "tailored" to each of us. Your hard is no less important, no less painful, no less of a struggle than my version of hard.

 Your sharing your hurt and stress is actually a blessing. It gives me a chance to be there for you, if I can. Gets me out of my own little world a little bit, and I am grateful for distraction at this point, let me tell you!

 By the way, I think anyone who minimizes someone else's "hard" is out of touch with their own...or has "issues" when it comes to "hard." ;'D     

I am so blessed to call this person a friend!  She's validated my hurts, and blessed me with her kindness.  Thank you my friend. I love you and I'm praying for you.

I hope each one of you have a special friend like this.

Blessings until next time!

FB-not a place to share your REAL feelings!

On a side note, we made it to the Amarillo area.  sigh~  We don't even know if we ACTUALLY have a job here.  LONG story.  Time will tell. 

I left Facebook.  It was something I already had been planning to do, but after the other day, I decided I had enough.  I was really, really hurt by some of my friends.  I know we aren't suppose to live by our feelings, but I really just needed encouragement the other day, and instead I felt judged, misunderstood, and they were giving me advice on stuff they have NO (completely none) understanding about!

My family and I live in an RV.  We do it because we have to go where the work is, not to mention it's how we keep our family together. Our house is currently leased out.  We might not even get to move back in.  We could be facing foreclosure.  The bank said they would refinance the note, and then never did anything about it, even after we did everything we were suppose to do.  They said, wait and don't make anymore payments, after they decided we needed to pay over $5000 a month, for 6 months! That was several months ago.  That's just part of the story....

Then "friends" on FB say, "time for a change hun" and "set daily goals...."
SERIOUSLY????  SET DAILY GOALS????  Do YOU know what it's like to live in an RV and not know from day to day where you'll be and what you'll be doing?  some how I SERIOUSLY doubt it!!!  What can I change?  I have had a fairly great attitude about "my adventures" over the past 10+ years, but now I'm tired.  I'm stressed....and now I'm hurt!

The only daily goals I can set are spiritual goals, and physical goals of what I eat, time I get up, doing laundry, making dinner.  I can not plan anything....EVER!!!!

All I wanted was someone to say it's okay, it will get better.  I didn't need or want your advice on life...since you obviously don't get mine!!!  I was extremely hurt by that, so I left FB, and I don't plan on going back.  And I seriously doubt the person that said that will even see this.  And if she does, well then maybe that's a good thing.  I don't want to mention names, I don't want to be mean, but I am extremely hurt by this situation.  :( 

I know many people don't understand.  At this point it probably doesn't even matter.  :( 

For those of you that have been praying, I ask that you continue to do so.  I really appreciate not only your prayers, but your words of encouragement. 

I received one of the sweetest words of encouragement the other day from my friend, BK.  I surely hope she doesn't mind me sharing it.

Okay, my beautiful friend

You're sounding pretty frantic and I just wanted to let you know that I love you and am praying for you. I can't even imagine how deeply weary you must be of the constant change. I don't have any wise words for you but I DO want you to know that I think you're amazing, even when you're falling apart. And it's okay.

big hugs to you, Bobbi ((((((((((((((((((((((((Bobbi))))))))))))))))))))))))))))

love ya,

          bk

Happy Birthday to my baby girl!!!

Today is my youngest's birthday.  She's 14 today.  How time flies!  She teaches me how to love and laugh daily!  Love you beautiful, precious girl!

The Royal Wedding

When Diana and Charles got married, my Nana, rest her soul, claimed we were of the royal family....lol....aren't we all? (I mean somewhere back we are all related)



Anyhow, because of it, she wanted us all to see the wedding. (All the cousins would stay at Nana's in the summer)


So one morning she gets us all up at 4 am to watch the wedding.


Nana is turning the channels...back in the old days with when there wasn't a remote...lol.


Still can picture her hiney in the air as she was flipping through the channel.


She can't find the wedding anywhere. Turns out she woke us up a week early!!!!  ROFLOL!!!!!

Happy Birthday #1 Son

Today is the boy's 15th birthday.  Happy Birthday Joe Bug!  Words can't express how proud I am of you, how much I love you, and what a wonderful son I think you are.  I am, Dad and I are, so blessed to have you as our son!