Tres Is Turning 20!!!

Can you believe my first born baby is turning TWENTY years old? On Monday, March 9, 2009, Tres will be 20 years old! Where did the time go?

Let's reflect on the past. We were told he was going to be a Downs Syndrome baby. Wrong...I truly believe that he was healed by God in the womb. He was born 2 weeks early a perfectly healthy 6lb. 70z. 19 in. long bouncing baby boy. Today, Tres is 5ft. 11in. tall and weighs 200 plus pounds. He's still my healthy bouncing baby boy. It seems it wasn't so long ago that we took him to Pre-School, watched him graduate from K-5, took him to his first day of public school, and then watched him graduate from High School. Today, he goes to Jefferson State Junior College, works a part-time paying job, volunteers at ChristWay as a youth worker and assisting the Youth Pastor, Brent Hand, AKA close friend and hero, and volunteer coaches the first girls golf team at his former High School.

Tres has always been a pretty good kid. He did well in school. Tres has always had an outgoing, easygoing, fun, and loving personality. I can honestly say that Chuck and I have been blessed. Don't be deceived we have had our moments with Tres. Just to hit a few hair raising highlights...He began kissing girls in K-5, in 3rd grade he changed the amount on a check so the boys could win a competition, in 10th grade he got Stevie Ray Stoggner suspended from school, and his first freshmen year of college was not so good.

I must share a few proud moments...the day he was dedicated to God, the day he truly gave his heart to the Lord, the day he was baptized, when he won Bible Story Telling at the age of 12, the fact that he won Bible Teaching at the ages of 13, 15, and 17, little league all-stars, being the MJ Mascot, being a MJ golfer, preaching a couple of youth services, children services, and adult services, a much better freshman college year, and many, many, many other moments.

Recently, I gained a new respect for Tres. During a recent trying time in all of our lives, Tres told me privately that he saw Jesus in me. I realized that day that my first born baby boy had grown into a beautiful young MAN.

I could go on and on and on but...I'll get right to the point...Tres is a son that blesses my heart. He is a good christian boy that will make the one God created for him a wonderful husband someday. My grandchildren-to-be someday will have a father that they can look-up to and respect.

Tres, I see Jesus in you! Happy Birthday! I love you!

Love...Sweet...Love

Let's see...Valentine's weekend...What did we actually do?

It all started on Thursday. I took the day off and go to Kennedy's Valentine's party at her pre-school. Next, off to meet Missy at her house to do the construction crew clean-up. After cleaning all day I drove back to Gadsden to meet Chuck at home for dinner and watch Survivor. He surprised me with flowers for Valentine's. I love flowers.

On to Friday...Chuck and I drove back to Birmingham to help move the Skinners back in to their home. We worked all day and well into the night. Everything turned out beautiful.

Saturday...Valentine's Day...We slept late. WOW! It was so nice to actually sleep! We took Tres and Chase to Cracker Barrel for breakfast. They went home and I went to get a much needed manicure. Chase went golfing, Chuck and Tres took a nap. What excitement!!!

Saturday evening, Chuck and I drove back to Gadsden and enjoyed dinner at a Mexican restaurant in Gadsden. We watched a movie at home and just relaxed. Of course, while I took my nap on the couch...Chuck studied.

I know it may sound like a boring Valentine's but...it was ours and we enjoyed it. Oh, by the way Chuck got shoes for Valentine's - Tres & Chase got Guy Harvey t'shirts and cash.

The Skinners Go Home

The Skinners got to move back into their home on Friday, February 13, 2009. Not to bad since the fire was only in December of 2008. Thanks to everyone that pitched in and made this day possible so quick. You all did a fantastic job! Their home is just absolutely beautiful! Someone said, "It looks like a picture in a magazine".

Skinners Say, "Thank You"

Thank You
from
The Skinner Family
Jeff, Missy, and Megan

Our family has been overwhelmed by your compassion. We have truly seen Jesus through you. Your kind words, phone calls, visits, gifts of time and money, words of encouragement, and prayers are very much appreciated. The Bible says in Matthew 6:4, “that your charitable deed may be in secret; and your Father who sees in secret; will Himself reward you openly.” If we have left a thank you out along the way, we are truly sorry. Please continue to pray for us. His presences in our day to day life is our strength.

As Jeff continues to battle Stage 4 Brain Cancer, we all continue to believe that Jeff will receive his healing. A house fire in the midst of brain cancer, and the holidays, could seem like a sour note. Our family has chosen to make lemonade out of this situation! We give God praise, glory, and honor!

(This is the add that Missy put in the North Jefferson News.)

The Skinner Story...

I wanted to share an article that Missy is submitting to the local news that does specials on the community:

Our Story
It seems like every time you turn the television on or open the newspaper, you see one tragedy after another. I would like to share that among all the bad there is still some good out there. There are good people out there. My family has been blessed by family, friends, the community, business associates, our Army family, and many people I do not even know.
It all started on October 26, 2008, I took my husband, Jeff, to the Emergency Room. He was suffering from a serve headache. His serve headache turned out to be another brain tumor. On October 27, 2008, Jeff had his second brain surgery at Trinity Hospital. The surgeon removed the tumor. After the surgery, the doctor came out and told me that my husband has a Stage 4 Cancerous tumor. He was given a 48 week life expectancy. I stood still trying to comprehend what had just been told to me. At the same time, I am trying to figure out how I am going to tell our only child her father has cancer. Our only child is only 16 years old. I am 39 and Jeff is 38, how could this be?
On Tuesday, October 28, 2008, Jeff took a turn for the worse. Jeff was experiencing swelling on the brain. During this time Jeff also had his first stroke. His short-term memory was affected. He had many other physical challenges to overcome. His balance was off, etc. God has been very good and merciful through all of this. The faith of my family has grown stronger. We know and understand that He is the Great Physician. Finally, on November 8, 2008, Jeff was released from the hospital. Praise the Lord!
Everything was going really well. Jeff was getting stronger each day. His memory was improving. His other physical problems were getting better. Jeff was not feeling well on Sunday, December 7, 2008 so I took him to the Emergency Room. They changed his medication and he seemed to be fine. Jeff was finally able to begin his Radiation and Chemo treatment on Monday, December 8, 2008. Everything went well during his first treatment. I took him in for his second treatment on Tuesday, December 9, 2008, and the entire world changed. During this treatment Jeff was rushed to the Emergency Room at Trinity Hospital. He was experiencing brain swelling again. During this time Jeff, also suffered another stroke. Jeff had to undergo another brain surgery. After his surgery, the doctor came out and told me that they removed the bone flap that was put in after his first surgery, some dead brain cells, and new cancerous cells. The doctors exact words were, “We’ve done all we can do, He is in the Lord’s hands”. The next morning, the doctor told me that he didn’t expect to see me because he felt that Jeff would not make it through the night. He told me, “Mrs. Skinner, he is a miracle”. I know Jeff is a miracle…my miracle. Well as of today, I still believe that the God I know and serve will heal my husband, the father of my child.
The strokes have affected Jeff’s vision. He is still suffering from other physical problems from the cancer and his third brain surgery. He is unable to take care of himself let alone stay by himself. I am reminded of our wedding vows…”For better or worse, in sickness and in health”. This is a good lesson for those going through this with us to learn what unconditional love is.
Jeff was finally released from the Hospital on Tuesday, December 16, 2008. Our story gets more interesting here. On Saturday, December 20, 2008, Jeff’s sisters picked my daughter Megan and me up to go and finish our Christmas shopping. No matter what was going on in our personal life…Christmas was rapidly approaching. Their husbands were going to be Jeff’s caretakers that day. They came over and stayed with him for a little while and then took him to Krispy Kreme for some donuts.
I had barely gotten inside the mall and started to shop when my cell phone began to ring. My next door neighbor called and told me that our house was on fire! I remember thinking this can’t be happening! I had been doing all morning. Apparently there was a short in the dryer and this is the cause of the fire. (No I did not leave the dryer running when I left.)
God is good and He does take care of His children. The Christmas gifts I had already purchased and wrapped were rescued. My scrapbooks of our lives were saved. A few other sentimental items were also saved. Other than that we lost everything else.
Now, this is the good I want to tell you about. God is good all the time, all the time God is good! To get through life, you might as well look for humor. The day of the fire, as the day was ending, we were joking around about sending our story in to Extreme Home Makeover. Well, who needs Extreme Home Makeover when you have family, friends, and a community that have all pitched in to help rebuild our home! God puts people in your path in His timing. We have been overwhelmed from the kindness and generosity of others. God’s love is truly shining through others as they are blessing us. I can’t express our thanks enough. There are good people in this world!

I thank you for taking the time to read, Our Story. Your consideration in airing our story on your show would be more than appreciated. There are so many people to thank, I’m not sure of any other way to thank them all.
If you would like to verify Our Story, it was shared on Magic 96 by a personal friend of mine during their Christmas Elves. However, this was shared before the house fire. When someone hears about the fire on top of stage 4 brain cancer, their mouth drops open and they say, you’re kidding me…this can’t be true.
Missy Skinner

Our New Year

Let's see...we ended 2008 in prayer at the church. We had a time of prayer over each ministry and the upcoming year. Then we enjoyed a time of fellowship. The boys joined us for this. This was a great end to the year. Later, we went back to our apartment and just hung out.

We started 2009 off with some great time together as a family. The Kennedys loaded up Tres' Trailblazer and headed to New Orleans for the Sugar Bowl. We were pumped up to support the Tide!

Well, as you already know...The game was a let down! The Tide played poorly! It was as if the coaches and the team were not at the game! It was ugly!

All in all we had a great time. We tried some seafood restaurants, of course we walked down Bourbon Street, went to Jackson Square, went to the Open Market, walked on the Riverwalk, and strolled around the French Quarter. Chuck and I went to New Orleans a few years ago to watch the Chicago Bears and the New Orleans Saints play a football game. We had already experienced New Orleans. Tres and Chase had their first experience of New Orleans on this
Sugar Bowl trip. If you ask any of us about it, you will get the same response...New Orleans is stinky and nasty place. We were quite taken by the devastation and destruction still there from Hurricane Katrina.

We did run into many tide fans. It was nice to see everyone! Oh, well Roll Tide anyway!

What A Christmas

What A Christmas!

I must say that Christmas 2008 ranks as one of the most interesting for us. Normally the four of us have our Christmas on Dec. 19th or 20th. That did not happen this year considering we didn't truly start our Christmas shopping until Dec. 19th. Thankfully we finished Saturday by lunch time. Of course we had a few little odd and end things (like our gag gifts...this is another tradition that the four of us really look forward to) left to pick-up but the major shopping had been completed.

Since our shopping started so late of course the chore of gift wrapping started even later. For me wrapping Christmas presents on December 22nd is just not the way it is suppose to be. Did I mention that Tres also worked most of his break from school. This was also not the normal thing. What about sending out Christmas cards? I thought for a few moments that we were going to have to skip that task. I couldn't stand it! I love Christmas cards! I especially love the Christmas cards with pictures.

Oh well, through the ups and downs that we have been through the last few months one thing is for sure we have learned to deal with change and stress. We have been able to sit back and examine life. We have discovered what is truly important in life. I suggest to you to examine your life and truly find what is important. You will discover your true treasures.

We did have a great Christmas. Our immediate family increased on my side from 10 to 15. I can truly say this was a GREAT Christmas. I love my new sister-in-law Barbara and all the children that came with her. My Great Aunt Melba spent Christmas in California with her sister. We did miss having her here.

God did help us through Christmas on Chuck's side of the family also. We still made Christmas memories. All of us are thankful that we were ALL here for Christmas. A new tradition for us was started a few years back. We draw names at Thanksgiving and make that person a homemade gift. This has become on of our favorite things. Another tradition between Uncle Chuck and Megan has been going on since Megan was a very young little girl. They exchange a personal special gift with each other. It is usually something special just between the two of them. This year Uncle Chuck's gift to Megan was a Polly Pocket van. Megan loved Polly Pockets! Hers were in the attic and were burned in the fire. As for me, let me include these sister-in-laws, my brother-in-law, and all the children...I truly love each of them with my whole heart. We have grown-up together. This Christmas was also full of special surprises. Charlie got Sissy really good this year.

When the Reno family gathered at our house for Christmas this year this was also another time of not your normal Christmas. We had Subway for Christmas dinner and Carrot Cake from Full Moon. Like, I said 2008 was not your normal Christmas. This was the best we could do under the circumstances. Everyone was really great about this. Thanks! We were also missing 5 of the normal attending family members due to sickness and work. That was sad but understandable. Hopefully 2009 we will all be together again!

The Sullivans, our friends from Huntsville stopped by on Christmas night. This is becoming a tradition also. We enjoy our Christmas visit from them. We catch-up on life and just being around each other. What better way to end Christmas night than spending it with family and friends.

I hope you all had a very BLESSED and Merry Christmas! I will post pictues soon!