Rhian Starts Her New Job

I am proud to say that Rhian started her new job with Gentiva Health Services this week as a Human Resources Director. Her first official day in the office is today, after spending the first four days in Kansas for orientation. Rhian had worked for Per-Se Technologies (later acquired by McKesson Pharmaceutical) for over 7 years. Per-Se was an 8:30 to 5:30 job with about 20% travel, which Rhian really enjoyed. After the acquisition, the job involved more travel, became a 55 mile commute (one way!), and became a 24/7 job. She was getting calls from work at nite, weekends, days off, and even holidays. To stay ahead, she spent hours at night and on weekends tied to her laptop answering emails. She didn't have time to read this blog! This wasn't what she had signed up for. Last month, a great opportunity, with a new company and better pay presented itself. Needless to say, being the smart person that I married, she took the new position! :o) She is excited about the new job and is looking forward to the next step in her career.

Uncle Bruce's 75 1/2th Surprise Birthday Celebration

Even though my Uncle Bruce Fyock (my mom's brother) turned 75 November 10th, the family decided to celebrate it this past Saturday, exactly 6 months after, making it a big surprise. He was tricked into getting there, and was reported to have said something like "What the ...?" upon his arrival. :-) Just about all his brothers and sisters, children, and grandchildren were in attendance. There was plenty of good food, singing, and dancing. Everybody had a wonderful time. I even heard that my Aunt Chris is American Idol material! :o) Looking at the pictures, everyone looks great. I wish I could have been there!

CLICK HERE to view the pictures.

Tornadoes Hit Close to Home!

Rhian and I were awoke by heavy rain and high winds around 5:15 yesterday morning. I turned on the TV to see what was going on, and Channel 2 was showing a tornado indicated by doppler radar exactly 3 miles east of us at Panola Mountain. Henry County was under a tornado warning at the time, but seeing the fact that the worst had already passed us, I didn't see the need to move the family to shelter. Had it been 5 minutes earlier, we definitely would have been there, riding out the storm! Come to find out, an F-2 tornado had touched down 3 miles west of us in Clayton County, just across the Henry County line. The tornado apparently touched down on Vanity Joy Lane in the Katherine Valley subdivision off West Panola Rd in Ellenwood, and proceeded to hit the Stagecoach Village subdivision directly east. It then continued across Stagecoach Road about a 1/4 mile from Rex Road and lifted as it got to Rex Road. Lots of trees were down and there was lots of blue tarps on roofs everywhere in the area. One house on Vanity Joy lane had it's entire 2nd floor ripped off and was completely destroyed. The good news was the owner was in St Louis for Mother's Day, and wasn't at home when the tornado hit. More good news was that nobody was injured from this. Fortunately for us, the tornado had lifted by the time it passed over us. The only "damage" it did to us was cover our yard and driveway with lots of small branches and leaves, blew over our lawn table and umbrella on the lower paved deck, and blew the umbrella on our upper deck down to our spa. Considering all that happened and the time it happened, things could have been a whole lot worse for us and everybody.

I took pictures with my camera phone, so excuse the quality. The first picture is of the house that was destroyed in Katherine Village. The 2nd picture shows the same house from the street behind it. The 3rd picture is of the street sign in Katherine Village. The last picture is of a house in the Stagecoach Village Subdivision. These pictures don't really capture the extent of the damage.

CLICK HERE to view photos of the damage courtesy of AJC.com

Picking Strawberries with the Family

On Monday, Rhian, Christian, Reagan, and Myself all drove about 5 miles to Cottle Farms in Rockdale County to pick strawberries. Needless to say, we all had a good time. The strawberries were huge and delicious. Christian and Reagan both picked strawberries. We picked a quart and they were gone in 2 days! Reagan especially loved them, but she loves all food! :o) After we finished picking, Christian and I raced each other down the rows of strawberries about 5 times. He won every time!

CLICK HERE to enjoy the pics!

Rhian's Cousin and Aunt Visiting

Rhian's cousin Lynn, who recently moved from Trinidad to London, paid us a visit for the 2nd time over the weekend. The first time was about 2 years ago. Rhian's Auntie Norma (also Lynn's mother) also came here from Trinidad to visit as well. Both arrived on Wednesday. Christian wasn't too sure of them at first, especially Auntie Norma, but after a little while, he had warmed up and talked their ears off! :o) We met up with Auntie Norma, Lynn, and Rhian's Madre Thursday at The Monastery. We spent time at the gift shop, looked at the bonsai plants in their garden area, and went to the lake to visit the ducks. On Saturday, we had a nice dinner with all of Rhian's family at our house, sans Jason, who was working, and Rhonda, who was in New York. We all enjoyed a nice West Indian Dinner of salt fish and provisions. Lynn even read a bed time story to Christian before bed, which he thoroughly enjoyed! Lynn left a couple of days ago and Auntie Norma stayed with us for a couple of days earlier this week, and is still here, enjoying Atlanta's beautiful spring weather.

CLICK HERE to enjoy pictures at The Monastery.

CLICK HERE to enjoy pictures of the Saturday Get Together!

Friday at the Lake

The Stockbridge Sharps spent the day out on Lake Jackson with my parents last Friday. Rhian is in-between jobs, so we decided to take the kids out to the lake on a gorgeous, sunny, 80 degrees day. We took a ride out on the pontoon boat, Dad and I took a ride out on the Sea-Doo's (I got up to 66 MPH), and Christian went fishing. Afterward, we enjoyed pizza and a salad. As usual we all had a good time. (Are there ever bad times on Lake Jackson? :o>)

P.S. At press time, Kyle now has the Sharp speed record on Lake Jackson at 68 MPH. We still have the entire summer to go, so I'm sure it will be broken several times before it's said and done!

Click Here to enjoy the pictures!

Reagan Crawling Up The Stairs!

We discovered 3 days ago that Reagan can now crawl up the stairs! She crawled up the entire set of stairs just to get to her brother. She loves her brother so much and wasn't going to let anything stop her from getting to her. Maybe she'll be Christian's little big sister like Karen was to me! :o)

Here's the video (Click the play button to watch!):