A Christmas Tragedy

December 22, 2008

My incredible father was a very handsome and intelligent man. He was a civil engineer and graduated from A&M Summa Cum Laude. Because he created things, it was not hard to dream and see those dreams become reality. He would draw things up as blueprints and then make them. Next thing you knew, there was another building or street he made, so it was not hard to believe that what he said, would happen. He was my symbol of strength and possibilities being made reality. With him dreams came true. He was strong and handsome and smart and our everything. He worked everyday to provide for us as best he could. We were not rich but our needs were met. We had plans, too. He had blueprints of the nice house we were going to live in that even had a pool. We never got to live in that dream house. It never made it off blueprints.

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Tragically, he died of a sudden massive heart attack brought on by too many sequential insulin reactions. His heart just couldn’t take it anymore in spite of how strong he was. I was crushed. I was twelve, my little sister ten and my brother became the man of the house at fifteen. Losing your father, the cornerstone of your house, family and heart, the symbol of strength and stability in your family can be a devastating blow. You can read an extraordinary and fascinating tale of how my father was able to come back from Heaven to let us know he was all right here. I believe in the eternity of the human soul. I believe that the bonds of love last forever. I don’t know why there is so much tragedy on Earth and why we have to go through it; I just know it is a part of life and no one knows when it is going to befall us. When it does, it can destroy all the plans and dreams you had for the future. My first marriage was destroyed by alcohol. I thought it was going to be the end of the world. One night I was fighting with my husband (ex) and I couldn’t take it anymore. I walked outside, looked up into the stars and thought, “God, I want to find a man who loves me for me, who is intelligent, interesting, admirable and funny, who doesn’t drink or do drugs, who is older and settled and doesn’t cheat on his wife or go out to bars at night. I want someone romantic, who doesn’t have a wife and kids, maybe has a dog he loves.” Then I pictured an older man with his dog by his side in a mobile home pulling into my driveway to deliver me from the hellish life I was living. Wouldn’t you know three years ago I met him. He is a local captain with a great reputation for honesty, intelligence and had all the qualities I was looking for. He owns Gladiator II Offshore Adventures which means he takes people fishing and helps them catch fish either offshore or in the bay. You know the funny part? When we met, he did not live in a mobile home. That was the only part different from my dream image. He lived in a 5th wheel which is pretty darn close. Can you believe that? Is God wonderful or what? We got married six months ago on June 21st.

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My brother stood where my father would have been.

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God’s gift to me was willing to take on a child from another marriage and love her as his own.

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God allowed our paths to cross and we are perfect for each other. May God continue to bless our marriage and I hope all others searching for that special someone KNOW that God will provide the right person when it is time. Only in God’s time will it happen.

I am asking for special prayers of healing to be sent to the father of these beautiful twins who are my daughter’s best friends. They have just had their world devastated by a horrific accident in their family. Their father fell 30 feet and is paralyzed. We need prayers for healing for the whole family. I would be so lost, scared and devastated had that happened to us. Please keep them in your thoughts and prayers this Christmas. The hole for their pool in their dream house was already dug and concrete poured.

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Today I am going to see how to set up a gift account at the bank to help them pay the electricity, water, and other bills. Their mom works at Walmart and there is no way that that meager paycheck can cover what needs to be covered. They don’t know what they are going to do. Losing the business is a given. If he can’t walk, there is no way he can do construction. He can’t even move from the chest down. His wife said they will lose the house and car so I want to help find some kind of Plan B since Plan A has been destroyed. I know you will find it in your heart to help these beautiful 13 year-old twins, their 15 year-old brother who has just been thrown into being the man of the house, and their devastated mother. This man was a healthy 41-year-old man yesterday and today is paralyzed. Please help.

I just got back from work. A lady walked into the office. She had no business with us – just walked in and gave me some pamphlets for her bank. Since the bank I had called to see how to set up an acct. never called me back, I told her somebody had gotten hurt and I needed to find out how to set up a gift account. She asked who got hurt and I told her. Her hand shook from the shock and she had to sit down, shaken. Turns out she has known them and the family for years. She said she would do what she could to help out. She said before she left, “I don’t know why I came in here. I didn’t know you were here. I just felt I needed to open that door and come in here.” I said, “I know why you came in here. Because you were EXACTLY what was needed and God works in mysterious ways.”

The information is “The William A. Plouffe Fund” and the acct. no is 2905004843. It is set up so nobody can take money out but you can deposit whatever you can to help this poor family out. The banker lady and I were just instruments needed to relieve the fear and terrible pain that family is feeling right now. The bank is Lone Star National Bank, 601 Padre Blvd., South Padre Island, TX 78597. (956) 761-1130. Thank you so much for your angelic help and may you have a Merry Christmas. God bless you and yours.


Christmas Tree Decorating Party

December 6, 2008

Princess knew something was up when she heard a gaggle of giggles in the front room.

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You can’t have a Christmas Tree Decorating Party without popcorn.

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You gotta hook up the jams.

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The menu was very healthy and included: pizza, candy, chocolate cake, root beer floats, and sodas.

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These girls are the sweetest girls you could ever meet.

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Taking off the blue makes it shine in only silver now.

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We have a collection of ornaments that include family heirlooms.

 We don’t live in a fancy house or have fancy things but we have love and good friends and that is what life is all about.

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My awesome photography skills with my new camera make it look like the tree shoots lasers.

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Frikken lasers!

 This is Princess’ mom, Belle. Like I said there is lots of love in the house.

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Christmas Mercado

November 25, 2008

I have been so busy preparing for the Mercado, I have not had time to do much else. Yesterday, I began working on my artwork at 8:00 am and did not quit until midnight. Today I took a few bottles to work to have them closer to Louie’s Backyard and my co-worker Charlie, “Charlie’d” them up. They looked fabulous. He gave me some tips on how to showcase them on Saturday and I went right out to buy what he suggested. We have spent over $300.00 on supplies easily. Well it wasn’t spent easily, believe me. It is easily over $300.00 with the suede, various paints and brushes, all kinds of stuff.

The good news is my boss LOVED them and said that he would buy every single last one of them if I did not sell all of them. They are beautiful and I had an idea of what people want here. It is an island. Everybody wants tropically-themed art and I have what they want. I have worked my butt off and I can’t wait to hear people fawn over them. I have learned alot, ruined a few bottles, burned my fingers, ruined cups, brushes and what not but now, it has gotten to the point where it is fun. I just pulled the tube of glue out of the glue gun to see how much was left… OOPS. I hope I didn’t just ruin it and fill it full of glue on the inside. I am going to wait til it hardens and knock it out of there. I have learned alot while on this artistic venture. I learned that to remove glue off something, you can put it in the freezer and it will break right off. Also, to clean bottles from the inside, you put raw rice in them with vinegar and let it do its magic. I was so pleasantly surprised to see how sparkling clean they got with the vinegar from the inside. I hope I am a success on Saturday. We pulled all my bottles in from drying outside, then it began to rain tonight. I felt so good when we bypassed all that possible damage to my works of art. It seems like for once, I have the chance to be a success, a real success at an art form. I envy those who can watercolor and do oil painting. I saw a guy once do paintings in 5 minutes flat on tv. It looked so easy. It is not the same when I try it. This time, I am seeing the beauty that I envision come to fruition and that is a great feeling.