Hoax?

Now it seems the parents may have released the helium balloon as a way to get on television. If that is the case, I am very disappointed that someone could put people in such turmoil. What a cruel trick. I wanted to give the parents the benefit of doubt. I am not sorry that I believed the story and prayed for the little boy. The boy needs our prayers whether he was in the balloon or not. Actually, the whole family still need our prayers. Hopefully they have learned a valuable (and expensive) lesson.

Balloon Incident:

It is wonderful news to hear the little boy from the balloon incident yesterday was found and is alive. The boy was hiding in the attic of his parent's garage. What a wonderful ending to what could have been the tragic loss of their son.
There is still alot of controversy over whether the family was doing this for a publicity stunt. I would like to believe not. I would hope these parents did not put our country into turmoil and anguish watching the balloon spiral out of control and lead us to believe the boy was inside. We have enough negative news coverage, I am just thankful this had a good outcome. Prayers were answered.

Prayers Not Condemnation:

I just read on the internet about the little six year old boy that accidentally went up in a home made air balloon. With television news coverage displaying the out of control balloon and hoping to rescue the little boy all played out live to the horror of the parents. The fear these parents had to feel watching this scene and hoping and praying their child is alive. I cannot imagine their pain. And then to have people comment negatively about this family, wanting charges of neglect brought against them. How unfair these comments are. This family is enduring a nightmare and are going through all of the "what ifs" in their minds. Kids are going to be kids and adventurous. I'm sure every family has an incident that stands out in their minds of their childhood and or child and wondering how stupid they were for doing whatever stunt they did. There was even one comment made that the parents could have put their child in the balloon to get rid of the child. Please everyone, lets give people a chance and not see evil in everything. Please pray for these parents and their child.

Friends:

I feel very blessed by the friends I have.

Yesterday, a dear friend I go to church with came to my work and took me out to lunch. We had a nice visit. Thankfully, my boss doesn't mind my half hour lunch extended to almost two hours.

Last night we watched our friends baby while they took their older son, Blake to the circus. Nathan will be three weeks tomorrow. He is a good baby so far and we enjoyed watching him. Although when he cried I just handed him off to April. She's younger than I am. Ha! My mom always said that about me and now I'm doing the same thing to April. When I was younger I didn't really understand why my mom would say that, I always thought she could do more. Well, the joke is on me, I fully understand now! You just get plain old get worn out. When the kids were younger we went shopping together. I would carry in Mom's groceries and put them away. She would sit down to rest. I had tons of energy and couldn't figure out why she didn't help me. (and this was after shopping with three, sometimes more, kids).
I would then go home, put my groceries away, fix a big supper and still have energy left over. NOW, I get it!! It is just me and April shopping (no kids involved) and when I get home from town, I dread carrying the groceries in. Let alone putting them away!! So if you ever think you won't say something your Mom has said, think again. History does repeat itself.

I am grateful I still have my mom in my life. She is 80 years old but she does not act like it and is a great inspiration to all of her children and grandchildren.

Weekend Recap:

Friday:
The night before Iron Works at Meramac Springs in St. James is always a very busy time in our household. Dwayne was busy all day and several days before getting ready to make molasses. This requires several trips taking the cane and equipment to St. James. It was nice that Dwayne was laid off a few weeks ago so he could do this during the day instead of the evenings after he got home from work. Zach always spends the night with us so he can help Dwayne. He is a very good worker. When he was younger and came to the house, he always wanted to do "man's work". He has grown up to be alot of help. Ashlyne also spent the night and helped me get the jars and tags ready.
Saturday:
As usual, I don't get up very early so we didn't leave the house until a little after 10. The day started out cold and dreary. Luckily the weather cleared up and we had a nice day. There wasn't a very big crowd at Meremac Springs due to the weather. What started out years ago as Feeler Molasses is now Feeler Molasses, aka Elrod Boys. Dwayne, Chad, Todd and Dwayne's brother, David along with his sons, Dustin, Andy and Cody do the majority of the work. We use mules to power the press that squeezes the juice from the cane. Chad's mule, Pedro put on quite a show as he didn't want to be put in the harness. We also have help from family and friends, especially Jim Matlock, better know as Big Red. My helper was my nephew's wife, Billy Rowe. She was a great help in pouring up the molasses and my great neice, Lizzy helped with bagging. Liz also decorated each brown bag with colored pumkins. She kept busy all week coloring on the bags. Liz's friend, Jena also helped. Liz and I took Jena to Vienna to meet her cousin to go to the Jason Aldean Concert. We got back to St. James in time to go to the dinner the staff of The James Foundation gives in honor of the exibitors. We had fried chicken and mashed potatoes/gravy and an abundance of side dishes and pie for dessert. As always, it was very good. Along with Zach spending the night, I had Lizzy and my great nephew, Trevor Elrod. I thought they would be so worn out they would go to sleep pretty early. How wrong I was!!!!
Sunday:
Liz and I left the house around 10:30 so we had plenty of time to set things up before the gate opened. We have such a good time visiting with family and friends that show up and the people who come from miles around. April, Billy and I had a good team effort going in pouring up the molasses, bagging, etc. April's friend, Mike Holtmeyer got broke in as a rookie. We went kind of easy on him but look out next year! We had a long day and didn't leave the park until around 7 p.m. Ashlyne and Tess rode home with me. We stopped at Dominos Pizza on the way home. I was waayyyy too tired to try and cook.
Monday:
I took the day off to rest up some. Not too much rest as April and I went to Columbia shopping. We had a good day, ate entirely too much! We had a snack on the way to Columbia, sweetened pretzel sticks at the mall and then we went to I-Hop to eat before heading home. Needless to say, we did not eat supper.

I am so grateful for all of my family that helps with this old time venture of making molasses. We are carrying on the tradition my Dad started in 1978. His legacy of molasses making will continue down through the next generation. Todd has learned how to finish off a batch of molasses from Dwayne and Zach shows talent of helping and also learning the art of skimming the molasses as it cooks.

A Nap:

Oh, what I wouldn't give to be able to go home from work this afternoon and take a nap.......
Rain and sleep just seem to go together.

Last night we went over to visit the new baby, Nathan Steven Allen. Dwayne hadn't seen the baby yet. The baby is doing great and Blake is a very proud big brother. Blake had to show April his room, toys, shoes, etc. He was very excited to have "his April" come to his house.

Weekend Recap:

Friday:
Not much going on, end of work week and an evening watching TV.
Saturday:
The evening was spent celebrating my great niece, Ashlyne Paige Rowe's 13th Birthday.
Ashlyne was the first baby in our family for several years. Needless to say, we all spoiled her. Ashlyne was a very high maintenance baby, always needing attention and cried alot. Until the next baby in the family came along my kids didn't know babies could be quiet and entertain themselves as Ashlyne always demanded attention.(and still does) We kept Ashlyne most weekends during her first year. We doted on her constantly which may have contributed to her wanting so much attention. Ashlyne always called me Nonnie instead of Connie. I always liked to think of the name as being similar to Nana (Grandma, Nana, I was trying. Ha!) I taught her a song when she was about a year old, much to the dismay of my family as they got tired of hearing me and Ashlyne singing it. I still make her sing it sometimes. "I love my Nonnie, oh yes I do, I love my Nonnie, Yahoo" Ashlyne has now entered the teen age years and has grown up so much in the past year. She is very tender hearted and is extremely protective of her brother, Zach. Ashlyne is the daughter of my nephew, Troy Don Rowe.
Ashlyne had a few friends over for the night and we had a great time with a wiener roast and visiting at my sister, Judy's house. (Judy is my oldest sister and the grandma of Ashlyne).
Sunday:
I went to church Sunday morning and stayed for a Pastor Parish Meeting after the services. We have a young adult taking over the leader's position for the next three years. It is so nice to have someone so talented and willing to take the position when she has so many other obligations in her life. She will do a good job.
I spent most of the afternoon cooking for our Sunday night family meal. We had pork loin, scalloped potatoes, corn, peas and homemade rolls. For dessert I made hot fudge pudding cake. That is a favorite of Chads. The family present for the meal was me, Dwayne, Todd, April and Mike, Chad and his friend Anna and her little boy, Desmon. We had a nice evening visiting.