Centennial Post

One of the cool features of Blogspot, the blogging platform I use, is that it tells you how many entries you've made.

Today is my 100th blog entry!

And before this blog existed, there was, of course, Caringbridge. Just in case you weren't a reader of our caringbridge site, it began on August 31, 2008, the day after Nicole fell six stories off the roof of her apartment building in New York. That site was a godsend, as it provided not only a way for us to communicate to a lot of people at once (preventing us from having to say the same thing over and over on the phone), but it provided us with amazing support from those who signed the site's guestbook. The beautiful prayers, well-wishes and Bible verses that seemed to speak directly to our situation lifted us up daily and gave us strength to care for Nicole.

In the last couple of months, Nicole wrote her own Caringbridge passages, including the last one, on December 16, 2009. The site is still there...and you can go back to the read the passages from the first few days after her accident to get a real feel of where she was back then...and how far she's come.In all, we posted 301 Caringbridge entries. Just click on Caringbridge.

In a way, I think it's a good idea for everyone to look back to see where they've been--how far they've come--to appreciate where they are right now.

Switching gears....how about this beee-u-ti-ful weather?! The weekend was absolutely glorious, and we did all we could to take advantage of it!

Saturday morning found Nicole and I at The Auditorium in Fondren, where Nicole was the featured speaker for the St. Joseph School Mother-Daughter brunch. Despite major technical issues (the Auditorium's video player wasn't working, so Nic couldn't show her video), she did fine, winging it, speaking from the heart and talking to the girls in attendance about perseverance, moving on in the face of adversity, and about (sniff-sniff_ the important relationship between mothers and daughters. She told the crowd I was her biggest cheerleader (I am!), so I couldn't resist shouting out "GO NICOLE!). Good times...

Saturday night, Joey-Joe arranged a special night at the ballpark to celebrate my dad's 83rd birthday. We went to see theMississippi Braves play with Mama and Papa Dale, Joe, his girlfriend, Emily, and her parents, Jan and Wally. We hung out in the Trustmark Skybox and ate hotdogs, hamburgers, nachos, peanuts, brownies, cookies and ice cream...I felt like an Alka-Seltzer commercial: "I can't believe I ate the whole thing!"  So, here's a brief commercial message for Trustmark Park...it's an awesome place, and the Braves are a great team. We are lucky to have such a fine stadium here, and folks need to go out and support it. Once you're there, you'll love it--great baseball, lots of fun entertainment, and enjoyment all around!

Yesterday was equally as beautiful, and Emily and Joe fulfilled a promise to do an "Extreme Patio Makeover" for me. We took everything off the back porch and hosed off all the pollen, planted flowers, and spruced everything up for the spring and summer. I couldn't have done it without their help. I was dog-tired at the end of the day, but waking up to a beautiful patio this morning was worth the strained and tired muscles.

So, on the 100th anniversary of this blog, I'd like to say thank you for your support...and for your interest...
Our family has been put into an extraordinary circumstance and we have been blessed with a miracle that is Nicole's life. Your prayers, support and concern have helped us through and we appreciate it more than I can ever express.

If you haven't already, please become a follower of my blog...and once again, thanks for reading!

Blessings to all who read this!
Susan