We love this classy Lady!

This post is dedicated to a very special classy lady in our lives...NANNY! We love her so much and I admire her in so many ways. My first born daughter is named after her...Abbey Sue. Let me tell you all the reasons why she is so easy to love and admire. She is married to a wonderful man, Papa John..whom we admire too and has raised four amazing children(La La being one of those). She is inspiring, beautiful, devoted, loving, generous, talented and brilliant! In December, she celebrates her 80th birthday. The family celebrated it this thanksgiving. We are so blessed to have her in our lives. From the moment, I met her....at OSU, over fourteen years ago...I knew that she would be an important person in my life! She made me feel so welcome into her family and still makes me feel special and welcome. She gives back to her community and her alma mater, OSU! We love you Nanny and wish you many more years of happiness and good health! Happy Birthday from the Burnett clan!

A sad heart....

I never know what my day will be like as a school counselor. This morning was one of those days that as I walked in the middle school doors, I had no clue what waited for me. Our school secretary greeted me with the news of one of our students was getting ready to be told that their Dad had been killed last night on his job. The mom of the student had called and requested that I be there when they gave the news to the student. I was to call her immediately. Talk about praying very quickly! As I drove to the grandparent's house, many thoughts entered my mind...what to say or do? There are never any right words to say to 12 year olds that lose a parent. My goodness....life aint always beautiful or fair...that's for dang sure! Especially when you have so many other things going on in your life as a middle school aged child. It was a very difficult morning for me as they gave the student the news! All I could really do was hug the student and let them know that we would be there for them when they returned to school. The student wanted me to tell several friends of the news. After I pulled out of the driveway, I thanked the Lord for the blessing of my Daddy and that I still have him in my life to call on at any moment and he is always available for me. The road ahead will be extremly rough for my student; but I will be there to help and so will our wonderful teachers that we are blessed to have in this wonderful school district. So tonight...my heart is sad for my student and I am praying for that student to have strength, hope, feelings of love and support....and to know that there will be many looking out for them as they enter this struggle and realm of emotions ahead.

COUNTING MY BLESSINGS...

Being back to work has been another one of those reality checks for me and made me remember to count my blessings. My job is middle school counselor so I see and hear a lot of disheartening things in my line of work. Yesterday, I had one of my students tell me that their family was homeless and would possibly be staying in the car that night. Talk about worrisome, disheartening, frightening, helplessness and a whole other realm of feelings going through my body. We are in a time of recession and it is not fair what some of these kiddos go through........it made me get down on my knees last night and thank the Lord for my many blessings and a roof over my head. My daddy always told us to be thankful for the food on the table, a loving family and the roof over our head. I never really thought about it until I became an adult and started paying the bills and then again last night as I couldn't sleep worrying about my little student. I did give her resources hoping they would come through for the family. This morning I came to school and seeked her out first and was reassured that our loving community had a loving church that provided them a safe place and warm place last night. So.....I am counting my blessings at this very moment and hoping that you are counting yours too! Sleep tight!

Growing up too quickly!

This is my first baby princess and she is growing up too quickly before our eyes. She is in the third grade and I am so proud of her. She is responsible, careful, sensitive, generous, caring, beautiful and I love her so much. I can't wait to see what she becomes. She is a lot like her mother in ways. We both were first born daughters! She is all girly girl, loves fashion, dance, Icarly, Hanna Montana, barbies, computer and on and on. Here she is at her school book fair where she dressed up as a princess and just looked all grown up. I about cried. This weekend for Halloween she was a bat girl with make up. Being the first born, she also has a stubborn streak like me. As a baby, she was up every two hours until she was one. And she still is usually the first one up in the house among us. I love you so much, Abbey Sue! You are a huge help to your Mother; especially since we brought Nelley home. Can't wait to see what you become!