Beautiful Sunset Yesterday....

On the way to take Tim to the gym to train yesterday we saw this beautiful sunset.  

I love when I get to see God's handiwork.  No man made this.  It's all God.  Only our creator can make such beauty for us to enjoy to be reminded of the fact that He and He alone created all things!  Thank you Lord for showing us your majesty in such beautiful ways.  

9 Years Ago and Now....

It's amazing the difference 9 years makes.  Tim was a read belt in TKD back then and now he's 1 1/2 years into olympic weightlifting and absolutely loves it.  We thought he loved TKD but it doesn't even compare to how much he loves weightlifting and doing PR's.  Love both of the pictures though because they represent different times in Tim's life.  In the one we were still calling him Timmy and now at 16 years of age it's Tim.  Right before his grandfather, Franklin Neal, passed away he began calling him Tim and then Tim wanted everyone to call him that so that's what we have been doing.  He will always be my Timmy though😊.  

Tim's Favorite Place To Be...

 Tim would rather be here than anywhere:

That's the weightlifting floors at Athletic Lab (Click on Athletic Lab).  It's Tim's favorite place on earth to be.  With Christmas and New Year fast approaching there are several days they won't be open and he's already disappointed about it😔.  I can't wait until the day we can build him a climate controlled weight room that he can do all his workouts in on our property.  He will still want to go to the gym but it will give him an alternative for when they are closed or his schedule is too busy for him to get to the gym.  Having options is a good thing.  This is a need for this kid for sure.  It's our hope and prayer that we will be able to start building a house with a climate controlled weight room attached to it on our other piece of property by the time he turns 18.  God's word tells us to set up an inheritance not only for our kids but for generations to come and that is our hearts desire for Tim and any other Neal's that come after him.  We are looking to the future while being thankful for all that we have learned along the way.  God is so good!!! 

Random Pics of Stella....

The first picture is a Christmas pic of Stella with Tim in front of the Christmas tree and the other is just a random pic of her.

 

My Desk Is No Longer Mine....

Stella has taken over the space where my keyboard and mouse go because the sun is currently shining there...LOL!!  I'm sure this will be ongoing thing because she loves being near her humans and she goes back and forth between me at my desk and Tim at his...LOL!  Plus she loves the sun!

Playtime with Stella...

 Stella loves playtime.  Tim has such a great time with her.  She is the sweetest thing ever.  And anytime I get to typing she becomes my typing partner...LOL! Here's a pic of her and Tim playing:

The fuzzy ball is her favorite toy.  

Blast from The Past - TBT...

Back to a time when our (one of my best friends) kids where still young.  It seems like forever ago that these pictures where taken but the bottom picture was taken Christmastime 2018.  They have all changed so much over the years.  

Tim is 16 and we just made a plan to graduate him in 2026 instead of 2027 from HS.  Charlie will be 21 in May of 2025.  He's all grown and working.  Andie is 16 and going to be graduating HS two years early.  She's such a smart young woman.  Soon it will be just Scot & I and Paula and Doug when they come to visit because all of our kids will have their own lives they are living that don't include us...LOL! 

Here's a recent picture of my best friend with her husband and Andie (included a pic of Charlie but it's a year old):

This is Charlie taken in 2023.

My Pal While I Work...

Stella paws at me while I'm working until I finally let her come over to my desk then she proceeds to be between me and the keyboard purring like crazy demanding my attention.   It's becoming her daily thing that she does...LOL!! 

Stella loves attention but most cats do.  She loves having as many play times as you will give her.  She especially loves chasing the wand toys and crinkled up paper.  She gets the zoomies and runs all over the house...LOL! She loves to be with her humans.  She will sit in Tim's chair while he does VR gaming with his friends.  She loves to get on my dining room table which we are trying to break her from.  Consistency is the key.  She will eventually understand and make adjustments.  

Tim has been doing so good with her.  He and I feed her and He takes care of the litter boxes daily to make sure all the clumps are gotten out.  He has surprised his dad and I at how good he's being with her.  He's wanted a cat for so long and she's such a good kitty.  Stella sleeps in Tim's room.  She's his shadow as he walks around the house...LOL!

This has been the best early Christmas gift ever for Tim.  I'm still surprised that Scot and I caved and let him have one.  She was special though because we found her in a parking lot and gave her to a rescue who nursed her to health so that we could adopt her back.  I wasn't comfortable keeping a kitty that young who technically should have still been with her mom.  It all worked out swimmingly in the end though.  

Love When A Plan Comes Together....

Today was such a productive day.  I was able to make plans for Tim to get his Junior and Senior years of High School done next school year so that he graduates in 2026 when he was originally supposed to graduate.  Tim is happy.  His dad is happy.  And I am extremely happy because we won't have to keep bumping heads about getting school done and he will be done with school at the age of 18 instead of 19 years of age.  What a stress reliever this is for me that we are going to be getting this done when we will be getting it done.  

Stella's 1st Couple of Days....

Stella is enjoying her new home.  She is venturing out more and more and learning the lay of the land.  She is still unsure of Tucker (our dog).  She hated when he barked the first day.  Day two she didn't seem to mind at all.  She just stares at him now.  She watches him play with his toys.  Tucker wants to lick and play with her so bad right now but she's still not there yet.  A few times a day we put them together so they both can realize that it's ok to be friends.  I figure a month from now they will both be ignoring one another as they go throughout their days.  Stella's food bowls and litter boxes are where Tucker can't get into them.  Stella's found our dining room table and I knew she would.  She has her days and nights mixed up a little bit right now.  Working on keeping her more active during the day so she'll sleep more at night.  Here are some pictures that we have taken these 1st couple of days of her being here.