It's a shame that life is so busy we barely have time to enjoy it!!!!

Life is so busy sometimes I wish I could just make everything stop for a few minutes and enjoy it! But time marches on and thankfully it marches in mostly positive directions!!!! Above are a few pictures that reflect a lot of what has been going on with me and mine. Laura and her family visited and while here we tried to cram in as many activities as possible - including pedicures for the sisters, a trip to the zoo, a visit to the McWane Center, a dinner at Habaneros Mexican Restaurant, a March Combo Bday Party (Laura 25, Grace 22, Tommy 20), a lunch at Chuck E. Cheese, and a session at a ceramic place called Painted By U.

Here's a brief update by person-

Cathy - Her family is doing well. Abbie has now lost 2 teeth and is on good terms with the Toothfairy. Andie can talk and we're all enjoying that. Cathy and Ricky are both doing well - trying to keep up.

Laura - We really enjoyed our brief visit with Josh and the longer visit with Laura and Harrison. Josh has some career decisions to make and we're anxious to see how that turns out (since it will determine where they end up living). Harrison and Laura leave today and we're all pretty sad about that, but we're thankful for the time we've had together.

Jamie - Paris doesn't look like she's ever had a baby but she's turned into a confident, experienced mom. Banx is precious and smiling and huge. They invited us all over to eat at their Subway on Sat and then the men went shooting while the girls went back to their house to visit.

Grace - Still loves her new job, is doing well in school and spends every spare minute with Aaron. I hear wedding bells ringing in the not to distant future.

Tommy - Inexplicably loves Ethiopia and is having a wonderful experience there. He's been gone nearly 9 months. We'll get to talk to him on Mother's Day and we're all looking forward to that.

Emily - Leaves for BYU-I on April 16 - her 18th birthday. We are not ready to let her go but are thankful to have so many friends in the Rexburg area if she needs any help. I'll drive her out and fly straight back since we'll still be in school at that point. I'll be back out in June to check on her.

Andy - Is gearing up for Spring Football and the end of his scouting career which will culminate with an Eagle Project on April 18th (conveniently while I'm in Rexburg - I didn't plan it that way I promise)

Clay - Just finished basketball and decided too late he'd like to play baseball so I get a break and he'll be starting football in just a few months - this time for the McAdory Middle School Yellow Jackets. Heaven help me where did the time go?

Butch still works hard both for UPS and the church. And I feel like I work hard but never accomplish anything. I'll be glad when school is over so I can take a deep breath and figure out where I am at least - if not get to where I want to be. I have a new book coming out at the first of June (release date changed AGAIN) and I'm working on a new Haggerty one that I hope will come out in the fall if I can get it finished. If...

So even though life is busy it's good and we're extremely blessed and grateful.

It's March in Alabama and it's SNOWING!!!!!

Seriously - we have like 2 inches of snow. Church was cancelled and everything! I know that sounds crazy to people who live in parts of the country where snow is common - but down here it just doesn't happen. So we are enjoying being 'snowed-in' for the day. It's about 40 degrees so the roads are clear and the electricity is still on - so it's the perfect kind of snow storm. As an extra bonus - Jamie and Paris were going to have Banx blessed today but the weather postponed that to next week when Laura and her family will be here!

Since I haven't written for a month I'll try to catch up on all the Green Family News!

Butch turned 51 at the first of February and to celebrate we took a quick weekend trip to Nauvoo. We've been many times in the summer but have never been in the winter and he wanted the kids to stand on the side of the river and look across in the cold so they could more fully understand how the pioneers must have felt when they left. When we arrived - to our thrilled amazement - the river was frozen! We had a wonderful time.

Cathy and Ricky celebrated their 10th wedding anniversary by taking a trip to Gatlinburg. Abbie has lost two front teeth and is probably the cutest snaggle-tooth I've ever seen. Andie is talking and knows her colors and her ABC's and can count to 19. They amaze me.

Laura and Josh are still in Murray, UT and enjoying it. Josh has a training seminar in Miami next week so they are flying here on Sat and then Josh will fly from here to Miami the following Tues while Laura and Harrison stay with us. We are looking forward to a visit and hope that Harrison still remembers us from Christmas!

Jamie and Paris are becoming such good parents. They were here yesterday and it was fun to see them handling him with confidence. Yesterday he was wearing a camo outfit (complete with hat and booties) given to him by his Grandpa Scott. Clay and Harrison both have camo too - so we're excited to take a picture of them all next week.

Grace and Aaron are at this very moment making snow angels. They have been dating now for 6 months and still enjoy each other's company. We are expecting a big announcement from them any day...

Tommy is back in Ethiopia after his short trip back to Uganda because of a visa problem. He is working hard to learn Amharic and loves the people and climate of Ethiopia. He was recently transferred from the big city of Addis Ababa (where he has been since he arrived in October) to the small village of Debre Zeit. We are anxious to hear about his adventures there. But most importantly, he's healthy and happy and about the Lord's errand.

Emily found out this week that she has been accepted to BYU-I and we are so happy. Both Laura and Grace went there so it seems like it's the place for the Green girls. We are waiting to see what track she'll be on so we can make arrangements for housing, etc. As always timing is tricky. I'm hoping she gets on a fall track and will be home this summer (she wants to leave sooner so she's hoping for the summer 09 track). But if we're going to have a wedding this summer I'd like for her to be here to help and also not have to pay to fly her home. Then once the wedding was over I could drive her out to school - just before school here starts. But we'll see what happens.

Andy is enjoying the freedom of driving although we have to share cars so he doesn't get as many opportunities to drive as he might like. He's doing weight training for football and they will have spring practice soon. He's planning to work this summer and hopefully buy himself a car. If Emily leaves at the beginning of the summer we hope he can take her job at the library. If not, Jamie has offered him a job at his Subway.

Clay has been enjoying the snow (until he hit Emily in the head with a big snowball and got sent inside). He will turn 12 in July and that doesn't seem possible. I don't know where all the time has gone. He's unhappy with me at the moment because I didn't let him sign up for baseball. But he hasn't played for 3 years and I'm afraid he'd end up on the bench most of the time if we let him play. Besides, with limited time and transportation - I just don't think we could get him to all those practices and games. So we said no and now I feel guilty. Maybe he'll forgive us.

Well, I'd better go make a special 'snowed-in' lunch!