wonderful

Today I met the most wonderful man. I went to walmart to run in & get a movie from the redbox (julie & Julia which I loved) and of course went in & filled my arms with junk. I went to check out & the lines were crazy. I got in the self checkout line which got shorter over time, not because people were checking out but were leaving the line. I finally made it to the front where a woman was trying to scan an enormous cart filled with groceries & the angry machine kept prompting her to wait for assistance. It looked like she would never finish when I realized the pie I had picked out was SUGAR FREE!! da dun dunnn.. so I ran over & switched pies and came back & got in the back of another line. I noticed a man in the line next to mine moving all his groceries to the front of heis cart. He looked up at me with my arms bursting with cereal boxes and pie and said "Here put your groceries in here and go in front of me." I said "well no that's okay. why?" he said. "I saw you waiting before. go ahead." He asked me about my families christmas and told me about his. His wife had surgery & he told me all about his wife & then showed me her picture. It was a family picture with his only daughter in it too. I pointed at her and he said, yes, she's special needs, her name is Brittany, the joy of our life." I told him about Tiffany & we talked about their health a bit. Brittany has spina bifida and is 25. As we walked outside he said Tiffany is a beautiful name & that he knows she's with Jesus. I told him that I thought his daughter was so lucky to have him. He said that they are so blessed to have her. I got in my car and had my yearly Christmas Tiffany cry. I miss her and I feel blessed by her and I feel happy for her. Meeting wonderful strangers gives me more Faith than anything else.

renewing thoughts

I have been thinking a lot lately about something. I think it is normal to have negative thoughts and to get irritated at thing and people. I have a few people in my life that I am super close to that I will purge my ugly thoughts and feelings to and I have always seen it as a confirmation of our closeness that I can be my ugly self with them & they still love me & do it in return. Recently though, stuff happens and I'm all cheesed or think its a juicy bit & I'll go & call my sister or tell Paul. I used to feel understood & relieved after, but lately, I just feel ugly after. nothing is gained. Why give attention to the ugly things in life? This doesn't sound like me at all! Is this growing up? hmm. I love positive people. but I love real people too. However there is the 13th? article of faith I believe. seeking after things that are lovely or of good report. I think I prefer that and finally understand it. I do not promise you will not hear all kinds of junk coming out my mouth. But I am hoping to become a much more positive person. I can feel Paul praising the Lord right now! bless his heart. he puts up with a lot : )

Disney land!

Here come a million pictures!! We had the best trip ever! The beach was a bit cold but the boys jumped and played in the water, I took a long walk, I layed on Paul's lap & we read our book to each other. we drew pictures & our names in the sand including all the spongebob characters, then me & Sam played Patrick & Spongebob jellyfishing! That was the best. Lucy ate so much sand that you could make a castle from what we're still finding in the diapers : ) She loved it. We went to a dumpy crab place for dinner where the restaurant owner and 6 women all surrounded me & Lucy. I don't want to be a braggy parent but carrying Lucy around is rediculous and was specially at Disney. She gets stared at and even with a sandy afro can draw a crowd that would make Lindsey Lohan blush. Disney got off to a rough start. Sam Paul & Fish stood in line for the Mountain train for exactly one hour & when it was time to get on the ride, Sam freaked out & refused to go so they all didn't go on it. Paul & Sam had it rough for a while after that. Notice the terrified eyebrows on Sam on the Safari ride. So me & Fisher paired up & bonded together. I kept feeling the magic & starting to cry. The Mickey & Walt Disney Statue always gets me. I guess the Zoloft is finally out of my system : ) The castle was SO beautiful. The kids, especially Lucy, loved the light parade. It was weird to be on the rides with my kids. on the small world and the haunted mansion it was like yesterday I was a little girl sitting next to my mom. <3 special. At the end they had fireworks over the castle and they made it snow with bubbles. unforgettable moments.

Flahrida

This year instead of presents we took our little family to Disneyworld for Christmas! We went to sea world today & it was rad. They have a polar express experience where you end up at the north pole. It was so magical with beluga whales and walruses and Santa & a polar bear and hot chocolate. That was Sam's favorite. Shamu was everyone's favorite! For Fisher's souvenir he got a to get an oyster from a diver & then they opened it to give him a real pearl! A real pearl has always been his dream his other dream is to be a Shamu trainer. Lucy has been an angel all day even though she is sick with a terrible cough and cold. Me and Sam went on the Atlantis ride together which was creepy as heck. I felt bad for him but it made him feel brave.
It was like 50 degrees today & the locals say that's really cold for Christmas here. It is sunny and so beautiful. Paul wants to live in Florida forever bbut he thinks his chances of getting a job here are not good. I miss the snow for Christmas a lot this year. Tomorrow we are going to the beach & then the next Day to Disney World!! I cant wait for that! I have a recurring problem though. whenever I'm excited for something like I was last night and I always am Christmas eve & such, I can't go to sleep & then I'm super tired for the exciting thing. dumb! I feel very blessed and happy.

tis the season

Tonight we went out Christmas shopping. It went good and I felt that we were efficient. Sam didn't have as good of time as everyone else and was sent directly to bed when we got home. But this is beside the point. Before target we went to Chick fil-a ( sp? ) where they were having some crazy hubbub where an elementary school was having a fundraiser where the student choir sang happy Christmas music & their parents took up all the tables. It was very happy & Christmassy but there were some seriously bad notes hit by soloists who were obviously chosen via eenie meenie miny mo. This kind of singing makes Paul want to crawl out of his skin, which I enjoy a lot. After we left Paul said, you know that choir director probably spent the last six months working on that. I wonder if he goes home and night & thinks to himself, I'm wasting my life.
I love Paul.

the maiden post

I very recently started a pottery blog for my wee business and was surprised about how easy it was. I wrestle with this blogging idea and don't know why I don't just forget about it. But I'm thinking there might be something to this. I fear that it is narcissistic of me to think that anyone cares about my rambling thoughts. Also I would definitely consider myself "an over sharer". So I apologize in advance if you get more than you bargained for. However, I am finding as I get older that I am forgetting a lot of things in my life. It bothers me a lot that I can't remember my past birthdays or even what happened last weekend. I work really hard to make my days good ones and it feels very wasteful to forget them. And so I feel panicked about the fact that I can't seem to keep journal and that if I did keep one, that it wouldn't be proper for my posterity to read. so I am hoping this will help me to record our little life and to keep it positive : )
This blog name comes from a song that Paul stuck my name into and then started calling me brookelbee afterward. I thought it was fitting. Paul sticks my name in a lot of stupid songs. It's his way of being romantic. which I think it is because he's thinking of me.
My thoughts at the end of today are these. I love my friends. I think it is going to really break my heart to leave here. however I am excited to move for a few reasons. I am excited for a new house. A clean slate and a whole different set of projects to think about instead of the same ones I've been putting off. New rooms to decorate mostly. I like meeting new people a lot but also I really can't imagine meeting ones that will even compare. However I feel like I have grown a ton as a person since I have been here & feel more prepared than I was when we moved here. I am missing the snow a lot this Christmas. I think it would be way fun to see Fish & Sam play in it now that they are grown more and I have a hard time feeling like Christmas is coming without it. So in some ways I am cool with the idea of a big toss up.
My favorite thing about today was dancing to Christmas music with the boys in the kitchen.
p.s. my future posts will be shorter!