We will always remember Ellie for her love for others, her creativity, sensitivity, and delight in life! Ellie's light has spread far and wide... may it continue to shine in our hearts.

Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Sheepish check-in

I have been away so long that I hardly know what to say! I have been so busy that I feel like I've hardly been able to come up for air. My first 90 days of work is officially over! Can you believe it? In some ways it feels like I just started working yesterday, and in other ways it feels like forever. Every day I feel more confident in what I know, but that seems to be followed by an onslaught of things that make no sense at all. I guess that's a good thing because I'm beginning to see that I'll never get bored. No matter how busy or overwhelmed I get, I'm finding that I never dread going in to work each day and at the end of the day there's such a feeling of contentment. Some aspects of my job push me out of my comfort zone (like today - I jumped in the car and drove into the heart of Orlando, and even with my GPS I managed to get lost at least twice) but many other things harmonize so completely with who I am that I just have to pinch myself...

Emotionally, this is the season that hits us the hardest. Every time I catch that "whiff" of Christmas on the horizon, my heart sort of catches a bit and I have to try not to lose myself in the wave of sadness that follows. I tend to cry a very tiny bit every day on the way to or from work (or both) when I'm listening to music. John has been doing pretty well, but he was hit hard just the other day by a tidal wave of grief. That is our way... I eke my grief out in steady little increments while John either has blue skies or a tsunami. Ethan has been doing well. I've just noticed that he's been talking a lot more about Ellie over the past few weeks. It's like our psyches are somehow pre-programmed to feel Ellie more during this season even when we aren't looking for it.

Thank you so much for your patience with my lack of posting. I haven't meant to stay away so long. I feel like I'm always working or catching up on home stuff or relaxing and recharging for the next day's work... it's a never ending cycle! I will try to check in more often.

I hope that you are all doing well and looking forward to a special Thanksgiving with family and friends! I am so thankful for you all!!

Saturday, November 07, 2009

Mom's website

I just wanted to let you know that Mom has been having some technical difficulties with her website. She was not receiving emails from people who had entered the new contest. The problem is now fixed, so for those of you who entered the contest, you will need to re-enter and Mom will send you an email back confirming that she got it.

Also, I thought that you would like to know that the winner of the last contest was Ethan's kindergarten teacher from school last year in Montana! We thought that was so wonderful!! We love you Mrs. Stephens!

Sunday, November 01, 2009

Nancy Mankins Hamm

The winner of Mom's first contest on her website has been posted! Click on the title of this post to go check it out and see if you won... If you didn't win, there is a new contest starting up. Have fun, and good luck! :-)

Thank you all for the good response to Mom's new book and website. I'm happy to say that Mom got quite a few hits from people who had come from this blog! Thanks for participating and helping to make her new website a success. It means a lot to me.