First Day of School

Summer is over and the kids are back in school. No more lazy days of staying up too late watching movies and sleeping in late. This year is a lot of firsts... Katelin's first day as a 16 year old... Jonathan's first day as a middle school student... and Carrie's first day as a 2nd grader! We told Katelin it was her birthday and every parent in our county got a present... they got to send their kids to school!!!

Wayne Forbes... Rest in Peace

One week ago I received a call from my cousin Heather. Her dad had a massive heart attack and died and the week has been a whirlwind of activity as we laid him to rest and tried to help my cousins pick up the pieces of their lives.

Wayne was the oldest. My dad came next. Shelia was born next and then Shirley Faye rounded out the family. Shirley Faye was born with a heart condition and died at the age of six.. having never walked, talked or crawled. Now Wayne is gone and it is just my dad and Shelia.

My brothers and I sang at Wayne's funeral and tried to help the girls as best we could. Death is never easy and they will feel the hurt for many years to come. It is my prayer that the hurt begins to give way to the good memories.... that they will always remember him but not always hurt this much.

My dad took this picture at Christmas when we had our family gathering... Tanya, Wayne, Kristi and Heather...

This is Wayne when he enlisted in the US Army. He served one term in Germany and two in Vietnam...

This is Wayne, Shelia and my dad (Gary) a couple of Christmases ago...



Rest in Peace, Wayne... until we meet again on the other side.

Here We Go

Well... here we go! I have wanted to do one of these for a while just to share with family and friends what is going on in our crazy house and with life in general. It will also give me a place to write ideas and thoughts without Bob having to hear each and every one of them!

First of all... an introduction...

I am Melanie and I am the mom, wife, chef, taxi driver, accountant, nurse, and tutor for this family. I love to scrapbook and am terribly behind... I am researching our family history and have been on that project for many years... I play keyboard with our band at church... I love to cook and have planted my first garden this year... AND I am trying to learn to quilt!

I have four children... Heather has already moved out on her own. Katelin is soon to be 16 and is in high school. She is a very smart kid and LOVES being in her high school marching band. The clarinet playing has improved and we are beyond the squeek squeek sqawks! Jonathan is 11 and plays guitar and sings all the time. He must know every song ever made! He plays some in our praise band at church. He loves the Lord and very much wants to have his own Christian music band some day. Carrie is the dwarf of the family! She is nine and is delightful! She is a special needs child and is in a special classroom at school but is very big when she tells you she is in 2nd grade. Be ready though, because she will also ask what grade you are in!

Bob is my wonderful hubby and we have shared this life since 1995! He is my very best friend and a great man of God. He is a youth pastor and we have a great group of kids at Archdale First Church. He and I also co-direct Carolina Ministries Kids and Youth Camps.

So..... there you have the basics and I will add more as I figure this thing out!