Assateague Island - My Favorite!!

One of my favorite places on the Maryland coast is Assateague Island where the horses run freely. You can find them in some of the most beautful settings. Sometimes not so beautiful when your husband steps in their poo and gets it in the car. Oops!! I have attached the link with information on Assateague Island below along with some pics we took of the horses. Enjoy!!

http://www.nps.gov/asis/naturescience/upload/wildhorses-%20In%20Design.pdf

First Day At AOL!

Today was Rick's first day at AOL. Keep him in your prayers as he adjusts to a long commute and a new place to work. Hopefully AOL will not be as stressful as WUSA. It shouldn't be because nothing is as stressful as TV broadcasting! :-) We enjoyed the beach! Will post pics later, and I have to share a story about what the Lord did for us today!! God is so good - ALL THE TIME!!

Going To The Beach...

Today is my last day at work for this week!! The Garners are headed to the OC tomorrow thanks to good friends and a free condo. Ocean City, Maryland is on the Atlantic Ocean, and I love the beaches on the Atlantic. Hopefully, G will not be scared of the ocean or the beach. She keeps talking about sharks in the ocean, so we may be spending all our time at the pool, which is fine with me. I am going to go after work to get "pool stuff" since we don't have anything. See you guys next Tuesday because I am going beachside until then.

Rick's Final Note...

I wanted to share the note Rick sent to his WUSA family on his last day. In the words of the WUSA Sales Manager...A Class Act!!

WUSA Family,

What can I say? It’s been real, it’s been fun, and in some cases it’s been really fun. Seems like June 7, 2004, was yesterday and I was walking into the online coverage needs for the death of former President Ronald Reagan. Nothing like a major news event on your first day!

That intensity never slacked off. From being a new Department Head building a new department with a budget and personnel; to relaunching the website 4 times plus one minor facelift; to having a staff of 5 whittled down to 2; from having 1 website increase to 5 (WUSA9.com, m.WUSA9.com, dvmMoms.com, dvmOurTime.com, and SearchDVM.com) while still processing multiple sales and marketing needs; and from a culture where NOTHING happened on the website without going through the web department to a culture where many more are involved in the multimedia processes...much has happened in 4 years.

My deepest thanks and appreciation to Miriam Wright and Emily Cyr who have kept me sane and steady. A Department Head could not ask for a better, more attentive, or more dedicated staff. Through the good and bad, they’ve been flexible and willing to be willing. The three of us spent untold hours tweaking and improving multiple online products, learning new tools and processes, training personnel, answering emails, and attending meetings. Appreciate the resource, talents, and patience Miriam and Emily possess.

I've been asked several times over the years in one manner or another, "How do you do it? How do you juggle everything?" I haven't always shared the best reason: my faith in Jesus Christ. For me, only He could've paved the way allowing my family and I to come from Jackson, Mississippi (Market 89) to Washington, DC (Market 9) and only He could've orchestrated the opportunity at AOL which I never knew was available until it was dropped in my lap. I'm thankful for these blessings, the many friendships I've made at WUSA, and much more.

Having been in broadcasting for 20 years (first radio and then TV), online has always been present and my true interest. No other platform offers so much diversity for content and was one of the reasons I won an Emmy at my previous station. AOL will be a departure from the whacky broadcast field and web will become the primary focus instead of just being along for the ride. I welcome the change of not reacting to or completely changing my day because of every breaking news, weather, or sporting event.

I'd love to stay in touch with many of you. My personal email is webmonkeydc@yahoo.com, my IM is webmonkeydc and I have LinkedIn, Facebook, and MySpace pages. There’s also a blog at richardtgarner.blogspot.com. The home number is 301.362.0737.

Thanks for making the journey challenging and rewarding.

Live long and prosper,
Rick

I am very proud of you, and I love you, honey!!

Garner's Weekend In Philly

The entries below for today are from our May weekend in Philadelphia. There is so much history in Philly that we barely scraped the surface in one visit. The Garner family will definitely be returning for another visit. I recommend showing this city to your children. What began here is something our country should NEVER lose sight of, but I am afraid our nation already has forgotten.

Daddy & His Little Girl

Georgia & Rick walking down the brick street next to Christ's Church.

Philadelphia City Hall

Independence Hall

Below are pics where court use to be held.

Below are pics of the room where the Declaration of Indepedence was signed. It's a cool feeling to be in this room. This room and the one above are across from each other in Independence Hall.

Christ Church Cemetary

Benjamin and Deborah Franklin's Resting Place and their children .

Christ Church

Liberty Bell

Aunt E and G in Philly

All Dolled Up!

You'd never thought this child had her tonsils out two days ago. On Friday I ran a few errands - library, post office, and the Chick-fil-A drive thru - to get G and I out of the house. I was not dressed up, just threw on clothes, but the patient had to get dolled up! ;-)

The G Has Hit The Wall!! ;-)

Keep up the prayers and thank you! The little one finally CRASHED this afternoon. She slept for a couple of hours, woke up, asked for a bath, and then to go to bed!! It has all finally caught up to her. She did not sleep well last night. I was up with her a couple of times and then she got up about 7:30 a.m. G stayed active and awake all day and then at 4:30 p.m. hit the proverbial brick wall and sacked out! She slept on my lap for about an hour and then on Rick's for another hour. YES, she is in the bed now, and we all should have a good night's sleep!! Thanks again for the calls and prayers!!!

Finally Home From G's Surgery!! ;-)

Thanks for all the calls and prayers. We arrived at the Greater Baltimore Medical Center at 6:56 this morning. G went into surgery sometime between 8 and 8:30 a.m. to have her tonsils and adenoids removed. Did great during the first surgery. Yes, I said first. Came out of it and seemed to be doing well, but kept getting paler as time went on. She continued to have blood in her mouth. The doctor came by twice and on the second visit said we need to take her back to surgery. G had a blood clot on the right side tonsil area. They went back in and took care of the clot and cauterized the area. After the second time in, all is well in her mouth. She did breakout in a rash on her face, but it has already disappeared.

We finally got home at 3:30 this afternoon. However, my child is refusing to sleep!! PLEASE PRAY FOR US, and pray that G will sleep!! I gave her Tylenol with Codeine an hour ago, and it has yet to knock her out. I was hoping she would snooze this afternoon because she needs it, and we need her to!! But no, she is complaining about EVERYTHING!!

I repeat...please pray for Rick and I during this recovery time and thank you for listening to my rant!

Georgia's Surgery

The little G is having her tonsils and adenoids taken out Wednesday, June 11th at 8:30 a.m. We have to be at the Greater Baltimore Medical Center at 7:30 a.m., which means we leave our house at 6:00 a.m. That's what happens when you live between two big cities, go to the best Peds ENT and have to basically drive to the other side of Baltimore. All for the little one!!

Anyway, please pray for us. I am not looking forward to the moment they take her away from me to wheel her into the operating room. Who wants to let go of their precious one to hand her over to a practical stranger to cut on her. Yes, I know all the God and Jesus will be with her and me stuff, but this is my little one! I am willingly handing her over for a procedure that of course will make her better on the other side of this ordeal. I don't like that handing her over part!!! I'll never forget Katrice calling me when they took Samuel away from her for surgery. I could barely understand her. Her emotions in that moment has stuck in my brain FOREVER!!

Okay, I'm sane again...No...I'm not...well...maybe I am. Ugh, give you any idea where my emotions are on this?! I need M&M's, and there happens to be some on my desk. Yeah, it's a cheat day!!

Seriously, please pray for the peace that passes all understanding for Rick and I. Pray the blood of Jesus Christ of Nazareth over Georgia, the doctors and nurses, and the family waiting through this. I know it's a simple procedure, and I will be okay. I'm not worried about Georgia at all. I'm just not looking forward to that emotion of letting her go to be cut on!