Florida: Day 1

Last week, the kids and I went on our first family vacation in 4 years. Matthew doesn't even remember the last one...he was 2 months old! Since my generous dad and stepmom were taking care of getting the condo, there was no reason not to go. We actually got to Pensacola Sunday evening, but I count Monday as our first day there.
It was looking pretty cloudy and very windy when we woke up Monday so we decided to forego the beach and head to the Gulf Breeze Zoo.  Because my niece was pretty "beached out," she decided to go with us.

Getting ready to see the animals!

Ready to feed the birds

Kelsey feeding the birds

Matthew and Kelsey

Riding the zoo train

The kids loved taking pictures in these little cut outs!

Saw a fox bat that had a six foot wing span!!!  I couldn't get any good pictures of him but, trust me, if you saw him in the woods, you'd get the heck out of dodge! How big is your wingspan?

We finished up our zoo day just before the thunderstorms hit. So glad we had the chance to see all the hippos, rhinos, zebras, tigers, etc...before the rain started. All in all, a great start to our vacation.



One year...

As of this past Monday, it has been exactly one year since we last had Elliott here with us. One year since I held his hand, kissed him, hugged him, saw his smile, heard his voice, listened to him breathe in the middle of the night...the list is endless.  The kids and I have been through more in this past year than we ever thought we would have to endure without our husband and daddy.
We've experienced birthdays, holiday, t-ball games, and other family events as our new little family of 3. It will never be the same...
But, even though this was the worst year, it was in some ways the best year. I'm sure saying that this could be a "best year" will astonish and possibly offend some people, and believe me, I have a great deal of guilt even considering that this was a remotely good year. But this year I learned strength, perseverance, faith, and grace.  This was the year that I held my children tighter, I clung to my family more than I ever have before, I learned to let people help me, I learned to cherish people, I saw love in action.
I certainly hope that no one EVER has to lose a loved one so suddenly and at young age, but if you do, I hope you find solace in your faith, your family, and your friends. I pray that you have a community of people who will love on you like I do. I pray that you will have strong, godly men who will rise up to ensure that your children have a positive male influence in their lives. I pray that you constantly find yourself in the presence of people who love you more than you imagined, and I pray that you let them.
One year...the pain never goes away, but it gets easier to bear. One year...sigh

Gators & Friends: Check

Do you remember that summer checklist Gracie made about a week ago?  Well, with so little time to spare, we figured we had better get a jump on it. So, on Friday, we loaded up and headed out to Greenwood to go to Gators & Friends.

Here are the kids all buckled up and ready to hit the road



About 40 minutes after pulling out of our driveway, we were pulling into Gators & Friends. A few minutes in line and 2 cups of animal food later, we were set to go! (Gracie insisted the animal food smelled like wood.  It smelled like something alright...I just wouldn't say it was wood).
Of course, Matthew made a bee line for the little ride-on gator.  Remember when they had little ride-ons in front of all of the grocery stores?  The good ol' days...



We had a great time looking at all of the animals. Matthew's favorite was the goats, and Gracie's was the wallabies. I was a little partial to the wallabies myself, because they had a baby wallaby!! So cute!

The fallow deer had to be the loudest animals at the park. I guess they learned early on that the squeaky wheel gets the grease, or in their case, the loud animals get the food!






























Then it came time for the gator feeding.  Yowza! I'd sure hate to fall into this pond!

After the big gators were fed, the baby gator came out to play.

It was lunch time when we wrapped up at the gator park, and when you're only 2 minutes from the state line, you just have to go Texas for lunch. Just so you can say, I drove all the way to Texas for lunch. We went over to the Catfish Village, because I like the big pond out back.  All of the David Beard's restaurants remind me so much of my Papaw Tom. We use to go to Catfish King after church all the time. I think I've only been once since he passed away in 2003. So this little lunch outing was fun for me.

Well, that's one thing we can mark off the list.  Wonder what we'll do next?

Is today the day?

Gracie came inside this evening and told me, "Momma, you have got to come outside and see this!"
I went out front and the sky had taken on a yellow hue, like just before a storm. And on the horizon opposite the sun was a huge white cloud. The sun was reflecting off the cloud giving it an orangy glow. Standing there in the driveway, Gracie looked up at me and asked, "Is today the day?"
"What day?" I asked.
"The day that Jesus is coming," she answered, very matter-of-factly.

I love that my daughter is excitedly looking forward to the day that Jesus comes back. While no one knows when that day will be, going forward I'm going to wake up each morning and ask, "Is today the day?" and live that day as if the answer is yes.

Tooth Fairy Troubles

I have a very sad little girl in my house this morning. Yesterday, Gracie lost her 10th tooth! (or was it her 11th? After about the 3rd or 4th, I lost count)
She carefully placed her tooth in her little tooth box, put the box on her bed post in preparation for the Tooth Fairy's arrival, and drifted off to sleep with visions of glittery fairy wings, jewelry made of shiny teeth, and crisp dollar bills.
She leapt out of bed this morning, grabbed her tooth box, looked inside and found....her tooth and NO MONEY!! That horrible Tooth Fairy! How can she not come?!
After some fast talking, I was able to.convince her that the Tooth Fairy did, in fact, come but that I had gotten up to go to the bathroom at that very moment and she got scared and flew away before she had a chance to grab Gracie's tooth. (I think she bought it...whew!)
Actually, this Tooth Fairy was finishing homework and went to bed so tired she completely forgot! I certainly hope I remember to fulfill my fairy duties tonight. I'm not sure I'm clever enough to come up with another excuse.

Where has summer gone?!

I can't believe school starts in just 23 days! Where has summer gone? In spite of the dwindling summer break, Gracie decided to make a summer checklist Monday night. I guess we better get to work if we're going to knock some things off the list! Some of the items on her list are:

• have a picnic in the park
• Go to the BAFB museum (I made her put that one the list. She's not thrilled about museums. But just because it's summer doesn't mean we can let our brains go to mush, right?)
• Go to the movies (we've done this already this summer...twice). She loves the movies!
• Make s'mores
• Have a water balloon fight
• Go to the farmers market (another one of my suggestions)
• Go to the library
• Go swimming (she goes every Monday. How much more swimming does she need?)
• Go to Gators & Friends
• Go bowling
• Play putt putt
• Catch fireflies
• Sonic happy hour

With only 3 weekends left until school starts, her list is pretty ambitious. Looks like we'll be carrying some of our summer checklist into the school year. It makes summer last a little longer :)

By the way, we'll be going to Gators & Friends on Friday.  Check that one off the list!

Me, in a nutshell

Because I am new to blogging, and lack the patience to really explore all of the functions of blogger site, I can't seem to figure out how to put an "About Me" on the site beyond the simple little Google+ profile.  So, I'll just put it here.

I assume that most people reading this know me, but on the off chance that some unsuspecting stranger has stumbled upon this site, I am Shanon Schimpf. Though I am 34 years old, the biggest events in my life have all occurred in the past decade, so we'll start there...

In 2001, I married Elliott. I was so surprised that someone had seen me at my absolute craziest (and not the good kind, folks. I mean the "oh my stars, that girl has lost her mind" kind of crazy) and still loved me and wanted to marry me! So, on March 10, after 2 1/2 years of dating, we got married.

2 1/2 years after we got married, we were blessed with our first beautiful baby, Gracie. She is such an awesome little girl. Super smart and so creative (can you tell I'm a little biased?). I cannot imagine life without her.

 As much as we loved this beautiful little girl, we knew something was missing. That void was filled 4 1/2 years later in the form of our rowdy little Matthew.  He is now 4 years old and is definitely all boy. He is rowdy, unruly, and prone to fits. But he is also sweet, cuddly, and loves his momma!

We definitely had our fair share of ups and downs, and life was by no means "perfect" (after all, whose is?). But for the most part, we were a happy family who loved each other very much.

Then, on July 23, 2011, our world came crashing down.  Elliott had been working at my dad's house, building an outdoor kitchen. The kids and I drove over that afternoon to spend some time in my dad's pool, and to hang out with Elliott.  He wrapped up working early in the afternoon, and spent some time in the pool and, as is typical at my dad's house, a big group gathered. We visited, ate, and had an all around great time. The kids and I left to head home and Elliott was to be not far behind us.  We had no idea that that would be the last time we would be together as a family.  Elliott was in a fatal car accident that night. And in an instant, our happy family of four became our little lost family of three. We never imagined that we would say good-bye to a husband at 33 and to a daddy at 7 and 3. 

It's been nearly a year and the kids and I learn a little more each day about what our new "normal" looks like. I learn a little more about what being a single mom is like each day. The kids are learning to adjust to life with just one earthly parent, and are doing pretty good. Each day, we get a little bit stronger.

My purpose of this blog is not to evoke sympathy, but to give everyone a little insight into our world these days. While we always invite and covet the prayers of our friends and loved ones, we are growing stronger each and every day, so "don't cry for me, Argentina" (I couldn't help myself, it was getting a little too serious, don't you think? - that's another little thing about me, I use humor at inappropriate times to cut the tension).

That's us in a nutshell.  A momma and her two babies growing stronger each and every day as we seek God's will in our lives. Thanks for coming along for the ride!