Sarah - 2014 In Review

What is home?

Sarah chose to go to the University of North Georgia to get away from Carrollton, meet new people, and gain a fresh start.  Not to mention, the integrity and respect the school had.  She craved a small, close-knit school.  She wanted to be surrounded by a beautiful campus.  While UNG was a great school with GORGEOUS surroundings, she came to learn that it wasn't for her. She missed running into people that she knew. She missed her family. She missed the backroads of Carrollton. She missed "home". She learned all sorts of academic lessons while there, but the most important lesson I believe she learned was what "home" really is. It had more to do with the surroundings and people in it than the roof over your head.

At the end of her Freshman Spring sememster, she moved back into her old bedroom and took summer classes at the University of West Georgia, the local college that she grew up around - the one she said she would never go to because "that's where everyone in Carrollton goes".  She ended up enjoying the familiarity of it.  She loved that she was stopped on the streets by people that she knew and she liked being close to family. It's funny how the tables turned!  Sometimes, it just takes stepping away from something to see just how good it is.

This chapter of her life reminds me of a poem that she once wrote for an assignment her 9th grade year. It's heartwarming to read this again.

In the Fall of her Sophmore year, she moved into a gated apartment with one of her friends and 2 other random roomates.  The apartment is right outside of the West Georgia campus.  It's a four bedroom, fully furnished, apartment that shares the kitchen and living room space. She loves the freedom that she has, but also security in knowing that Daddy is only half an hour away when her car has a dead battery or runs out of gas (yes, that happened!).

A few months into her new living arangements, she adopted the cutest, most energetic little 5 week old golden labrador mix puppy. She named him Tucker. While he is a lot of work and requires much of Sarah's time (as she quickly discovered!), he has also stolen a huge part of her heart. Sarah has done such an amazing job at house training and teaching him manners. So far, he knows sit, shake, high five, "watch me", stay, come, and down.  It's been fun watching him grow.  She is in denial that he is getting too big to carry.  I think the pictures speak for themselves!

She's a Kappa Delta girl!

Sarah partook in the nerve-racking Rush week and was so excited to receive a bid from her top choice - Kappa Delta!  She has made so many friends through KD and had many opportunities afforded to her through the sorority that she may have never had otherwise. She was recently voted into a new member position and is looking forward to fullfilling that leadership role. Kappa Delta's philanthropy is Girl Scouts, which is close to her heart since she was a Girl Scout herself for several years.  Her old Girl Scout leader even appeared at one of the philanthropical events that Sarah was participating in! Being in a sorority has given her a sense of belonging, helped her tremendously with grades, built responsibility and personal development, and she has formed lifelong friendships.

A REAL job!

With sororities and puppies, come member dues and vet bills!  Sarah walked into Chic-Fil-A to drop off an application and was given and interview and hired all in the same day!  She works the evening shifts part-time so that it doesn't interfere with her classes.  Until now, Sarah has earned money babysitting neighborhood children.  This is her first REAL job, as she says!! She takes pleasure (no pun intended) in her job (and the paycheck) :)

So proud!

Sarah has done an outstanding job at balancing college classes, a job, sorority meetings and events, family, a boyfriend, and a puppy.  She is maintaining a B average in school in order to retain the HOPE scholarship.  Somehow, she still finds time to come home and have dinner with us; or pick the boys up from school and take them for an ice cream.  She is really a remarkable girl with a great head on her shoulders. We couldn't be more proud of the beautful young lady that she has become!

Sarah with Tucker and her boyfriend, Dillan.

2014 Atlanta Snowmageddon

So, it's been a year since I've written in the journal!  Thinking about covering the past year STRESS. ME. OUT., so I'm going to take baby steps and just start with...

A year ago today...

...it was predecited that Atlanta would be getting snow and freezing temperatures.  No one imagined it would get as bad as it did.  I mean, it IS Georgia! Everyone in Atlanta thought it would be best to leave work early and get home before the storm hit.

Bo, on the other hand, was working on a frozen pipe inside of an elevator shaft. This was his view from the building.  It's hard to see, but the bridges are the interstates full of gridlocked cars.

He received an entrapment call around 3:00 pm.  A man was stuck in a hotel elevator a half mile away.  With the traffic backing up, the only way to get there was by foot. Once he freed the gentleman from the elevator, he headed back to the original job and was able to leave work around 8:40 pm.

Headed to the truck

The view on his walk to the hotel

Since I-20 was total gridlock at this point, Bo made the decision to take the backroads.  They weren't any better. The streets were covered in ice and snow and it took HOURS to drive a mile.  As he watched wreck after wreck form, he slowly and carefully maneuvered a F250 with bald tires through the mess.  It looked like a scene from the Walking Dead.  Cars were spinning their wheels and wrecks were abandoned in the middle of the roads for miles.  By midnight, he was exausted and pulled over in a parking lot.  He stayed in touch with us as best he could, but his phone battery was depleting, so he turned it off and we lost contact with him from that point. It was too cold to sleep and hunger was setting in, so he began the commute again.  It was like an icy maze trying to make it home.  He had many near accidents and several scary, slippery moments.  There were several times that he had to get out of the truck and walk the streets to see how he would be able to pass.  By 5 am, he was still 18 miles from home and had made it to a point that he knew he couldn't pass safely.  At the bottom of the hill was a car on the edge of the road with a cliff below.  He knew that the car would topple off if he bumped it.  So he parked his truck, along with many other abandoned vehicles, and began walking.  Since everyone else had left work early, these cars were abandoned earlier in the day, leaving noone to be seen anywhere.

This is a road full of nothing but hills and trees.  No businesses. Very few homes.  Sliding down icy hills, he ended up walking 9 miles in the cold before finally reaching a convenient store at 9 am the next morning.  There, he was blessed to meet a man that was able to drive him the remaining 9 miles home. Since his phone was off, the kids and I had no idea how he was holding up, or that he was even walking! We were worried sick all night and were elated when he walked through the front door at 9:30 am! I made him a warm breakfast and put him to bed with a heated blanket to thaw out!

 The roads were beginning to thaw by 4 pm, so we ventrured out to get the truck.  We weren't sure what to expect when we arrived.  Bo knew that if anyone had attempted to drive through the area, his truck could be damaged.  Every newstation was covering the story of how Atlanta had been shut down. I watched the coverage on TV for nearly a 24 hours, but on the short drive to get his truck, I was still astonished to see the scene of abandoned cars and icy roads in every direction that I looked.  When we arrived at the truck, we were so glad to see that it had not been touched.  While there were still several abandoned cars, enough people had come to collect their vehicles that he was able to get the truck out with the help of a very kind couple that was driving around with pull chains and helping people out of sticky situations.  They were able to pull Bo's truck out of the position it was in and we made it home quickly.

4 pm!!

This is where he abandoned his truck.

Backing into the driveway.  Finally home!!

So thankful for these people!

Needless to say, he did not go to work the next day.  Instead he stayed home with the kids and enjoyed playing in the snow with them on their snow day off from school (see video below).  We are very fortunate for a happy ending!