The Taylor's Triumphs

There are several familiar songs and hymns that have been incorporated. I can't wait to see what all God reveals to us through this music.


Hope you all had a great weekend as well. I have a refreshed feeling today and I'm hoping this feeling stays with me for a while!

Please pray for Scott, Kelly and Harper Stamps. Harper was born last night and was having difficulty breathing due to pneumonia. She has been airlifted to St. Francis Hospital in Tulsa, OK, where she may be put on a heart/lung machine for a while. Please pray for safe travel for Kelly and her parents as they join Scott and his parents at Harper's bedside. Please go to http://www.kellyskornerblog.com/ for more information and updates.

Okay..... so we all know that teachers have the easiest job there is, right???? SO MANY people (my husband included) think that and......well, I beg to differ. Yes, we have GREAT holidays....until there is a hurricane, which seems to be making an appearance yearly now and we miss at least one day of school which is to be made up at a later date (CHRISTMAS holidays). And then there is the time when it snows and you get 2 wonderful, much needed days off, which have to be made up during SPRING BREAK (for crying out loud people, who came up with that?). But honestly, we do have great holidays and great hours, especially if you have a family. I love my job, don't get me wrong. I actually enjoy it. However, some of my students have just about driven me insane today.

One major problem is all the mouths that continue to move even when they've been told to be quiet. I promise you I tell them to be quiet and they look at me as if I've grown another limb or something. Then there are those who choose to just simply not do their work. What in the world makes them think they have the ability to say what they will or will not do? Maybe it's because I come from a family of educators, but I was raised KNOWING that we didn't have a choice. We simply did what we were told and didn't question the adult telling us to do it. Some of my students question me when they're given an assignment. They try to bargain with me about the quantity as well as quality of work they'll produce. WHAT?????? I just don't understand. Who has taught them to be this disrespectful? One student in particular was given an assignment and 2 hours later had not completed even half of it. What was the assignment? Well it was defining 20 simple spelling words. He only got 5 of them done in 2 hours time. Not because he's incapable, but because he's lazy and just doesn't understand why I'm picking on him and making him do all this work. Oh my word!! I think my blood pressure is going up again just thinking about it.

When did things change in our society to make our children think they can disrespect those in authority? I pray that I can be somewhat of an influence on my students and help them to understand the importance of respecting their peers, themselves, and their leaders. If anyone out there actually reads my blog, please say a little prayer for me and my students. I kinda lost my cool earlier, but I believe they got my point about respecting others!

The weekend has come and gone quickly. Friday after school I went and bought groceries (stupid move for a Friday afternoon). I picked up pizza on the way home and David and I spent the night watching TV. Saturday I finally convinced myself that I had procrastinated long enough. I slowly and reluctantly began taking down my Christmas decorations. I pretty much "Christmas" the whole house. I got everything from the hall bath, kitchen and den taken down. I still have the living room and Cloie's room to finish. I must say, everything looks so bare now. I LOVE Christmas decorations and since this was the first one since we completely finished our house, it was decorated really well. We had 2 events at our house this holiday season and I wanted it to look really nice when everyone came over. So I guess I was very reluctant to take down all that hard work and thus led to my major bout with procrastination.

Saturday afternoon we kept our neighbors' twins (girl/boy). They'll be 3 at the end of this month so they're both pretty active, but we love keeping them. Conner absolutely loves David and I enjoy watching them interact. I hope we have a little boy one day so I can watch "my boys" do all the things that daddy's and their sons do.

Saturday night was girls night; no kids and no husbands!!!! Jackie, Niki and I get together as often as we can. Sometimes it's only once a month, but other times it may be every couple weeks. Our normal meeting place is El Sombrero in Brookhaven. We eat and just catch up on the happenings of our every day lives. We sometimes vent, cry, or laugh 'til we cry, but it's always so fun picking up where we left off the previous time. Jackie suggested that we go see Bride Wars this time, so we met at El Som, ate and then it was off to the movies! Niki didn't go see the movie with us and we hated that she didn't, but she had some other things to do before going home. This movie was great! We were laughing one second and crying the next. It was a typical chick flick and captured every emotion. I seriously hope there is a sequel to this movie! The ending left us thinking there was a serious possibility of it...I sure hope so! You should pay the $7.75 and go see it. I hate to admit it, but it was worth the admission!

I love spending time with the girls. It's amazing that through all the high school drama and then separation during our college years we are still the best of friends. Sometimes we may go a week or longer without talking and we still pick up right where we left off. We all know that if we ever need anything the other girls are just a simple call or text away. It's hard to find friends like that and I'm so thankful that God allowed these two special people to remain in my life.

Well, this is my first post here in the land of blog. I've been lurking for quite some time here in blog land on various peoples' sites. So many of these sites have provided me with some awesome words of encouragement and inspiration on days when I really needed it. I'm thinking it's now my turn to begin my journey with blogger.

So, how do you start these things? I know there's supposed to be a meet and greet, first post and all, but how do you start them? **Everything that comes to mind reminds me of an AA introduction. ** Hmm, well, here goes!

My name is Kelly Taylor and first and foremost I'm a Christian, Wife, Step-mama, Sister, Daughter, Granddaughter, Cousin, Teacher, Friend, etc. My husband, David, and I have been married for almost 14 months. Wow, that's been quick! David has a sweet and beautiful little girl, Cloie, from a previous marriage. We love our time with her and crave more time with her every time she has to leave us. I have to say our first year of marriage has been one wild roller coaster of a ride. I really like roller coasters, but good grief, enough is enough sometimes! God has used each and every day of this craziness to really grab me and get my attention. I love my Lord and I am thankful for EVERYTHING David and I have gone through this past year. But my goodness, it has been difficult at times. I'll provide you with a little background info:

David and I learned we were expecting our first baby together in late March 2008. After the initial SHOCK wore off, were ECSTATIC!!! Over three short weeks, we created so many life scenarios about our baby girl or boy. We set so many goals for our family and home. We pictured that precious baby bed with beautiful bedding in our extra bedroom. We imagined what the age difference would be like with Cloie being 8 years old when this newborn entered our home for the first time. You see, in 3 short weeks, we fell deeply in love with a precious tiny baby who was just a little miraculous "blob" on the sonogram screen at 5 wks and 5 days; whose heartbeat was the most beautiful thumping beat we'd ever heard. At 7 wks, 5 days, we lost our baby. All I can say is "Wow". That was absolutely the most difficult thing I had ever experienced in my life. It was as if someone had knocked the wind right out of me when I heard those words from the sonographer. And bless her heart, she cried with us too. Looking back now, I can honestly say I went through every stage of grief. It was horrible and heart wrenching. I had to do so much soul searching and every single time I moved one step closer to the Creator.

David and I decided to start trying again immediately. We found out in July that we were pregnant again! We were so surprised that it happened so quickly. We went in on July 18, 2008 to have our first scan. This scan was precautionary; to see if everything appeared to be "okay". Once again, we were heartbroken. There was nothing on that small screen this time. Nothing that resembled anything. My doctor concluded that we had experienced a Complete Molar Pregnancy. Basically, a baby never even formed, just a bunch of cells and tissue. I had to go through another D&C along with another twist on my already emotional roller coaster ride. I managed to scare myself to death the night before the D&C was scheduled. Dr. Sumrall had clearly told me not to go home and research our situation until she was 100% sure that was what had happened, but, you know me, I'm a detail person if anything! So I found that not only did we not have that 2nd baby we were praying and planning for, but we also now faced the possibility of these cells coming back spontaneously and chemo as treatment. What???? Yeah my thoughts exactly. After the D&C, I went to the Dr. weekly and had blood work done each week for 10 weeks. I love the McComb Clinic and I LOVE the girls in the lab, but good grief, even they got tired of seeing me each week. She then moved me to every other week and then in November, she decided I could start a monthly blood work check. We have to wait until the one year mark (July/Aug.) before trying to get pregnant again. So that pretty much brings us up to date. **Looking over what I just wrote, I believe you got the short and condensed version....be glad :) Remember, I'm a detail person!**

With all that said, I'm glad I'm here. I'm glad you're here. I'm glad I'm on this journey I'm on. Which, may sound somewhat crazy, but you know what? If I hadn't gone through both of these heart breaking experiences I wouldn't be where I am now as a Christian, wife, or future mother. I follow Angie Smith's blog, Bring the Rain, and she once posted something about being thankful for the worst of circumstances. She's suffered loss too. They lost their baby girl, Audrey. Her words in that post lit a fire inside of me. It motivated me and after SO MUCH prayer, I told God that I was and am thankful for the loss we experienced and the other medical obstacles I'm still having checked monthly. That was a super hard thing to actually tell God. I thought being thankful for loss was unheard of, but I meant it when I told Him "thank you". I pray that as I continue to have these life experiences, I will continue to grow closer to God with every single little or big step I take.

Thanks for reading all my ramblings for the day. I hope you'll come back to visit and comment!

Kelly