Whittaker Woman

I Don't Know What To Do With Myself!

Here I sit... ALONE. I am having the shakes I don't know what to do with myself. I have a meeting at 9:30 so Carlos and I carpooled together. The kids are at home with Nani. I am in love with having someone who can watch my kids all the time for free. It really is an amazing thing. You really can do so much in 10 minutes with no kids around! I am being so productive!  Well not right now, I got side tracked and am blogging but before this I was focused. I must focus and utilize my time! Bye, H

5,243,126,974 pages

It all started with this book. I saw a fellow blogger review it and at the time I was finishing The Shack (recommended by so many of you) and so I was wanting a fun easy read. I decided to check out EBAY and get myself some Amish books.

I have read pretty much every one of Beverly Lewis' Amish Books so I branched out and got some books by another author.
Then I got an email from the blogger who reviewed the first books saying she would send it to me! Hurray. I was set, 6 fun new books! Later that week I went to our P.O. box and found this...

A box full of books.  Another wonderful blogger sent me a ton of books. It was such a wonderful surprise that made my heart so full! I think I have some reading to do! H

Appointment

There were a lot of challenges for me to get sitters, and decide if I should go on this short trip to Dallas. I even woke up this morning still on the edge and having to decide. Finally I committed and off we went.
You all know we got here. Had a great lunch in the Grapevine area with our friend Dex.

Then the guys went back to the church and did churchy things. Even though I wanted to be a part of this event and ministry, the idea of being out with out kids pulled even stronger! Two days ago I emailed my friend Emily, knowing she lived in TX but unsure where. When she told me she lived near Dallas it was set, we were going to get together. Small emotions of guilt played in my head for bailing on the guys who flew me out here, but what I did not know than was God's plan was so much different than I thought.
I came here to be with my man and attend this live DVD recording at least that is what I thought when I got on the plane today.  NOPE, not the case. I was here to spend the day with my friend Emily. Her sweet family faced a very hard day and it was very clear after about ten minutes that we had an appoinment planned by God.
We clicked, compared adoption stories, and began a new friendship. One that neither of us knew was ever going to birth until today. I have only had one other time in my life where I planned something and after I  realized that the trip had nothing to do with my plans. It was our trip to Climb Mt Whitney with our friend Randy.  I realized that the trip had nothing to do with climbing the mountain and had everything to do with God colliding Carlos and I with Randy. This is now the second time I have experienced my plans to have nothing to do with his plans. I just know it felt amazing to have experienced his hand on my life today. Thank you everyone who gave her love today.  I love my community, I am proud to be a part of your lives! H

Where's Debbie?

You know I had to throw some sexual humor in my blogging from Dallas! Come on!
 I am back in California fall weather. Wind and warm air. I must confess I miss my fall trees and scarfs! We are at Fellowship Church, attending their live Worship DVD recording. I really look forward to some Praisin' my God tonight!  Oh and next to my man. That NEVER happens. What a treat!
In the mean time I will be heading out to meet a new blog friend. Many of you have followed her and her family as they traveled to Ethiopia to pick up their little Abe, however God's story did not finish there. Once they got back into the states, they  realized Abe was behind, that mama gut feeling kicked in and they have now come to realize that their road is going to look much different than they had planed.  I just got off the phone with her and she said things did not look good. I am not sure what that means. All I know is that God has a story for them. Please join me in Prayer as we ask God to lead them, guide them and support them. I am a sucker for an adoption story, not all come out as we had planned, but they always come out as God planned! H

Blog Party: Meet Liege

Meet Liege, she was born in Brazil and I think she might earn the farthest traveler for this blog party! She now is in Cali, my kind of girl! H

Blog Party: Meet Rene' and Karen

I am so sorry I am so far behind. This blog party is WORKING  me!
          
This is Rene'  and Karen. Go check them out. Thanks ladies for sharing the post!
I look forward to meeting you both! H

Blog Party: Meet Tamara

This is Tamara, who will be traveling to the blog party from Nashville. She went to 9 different schools growing up? Who can beat that? I went to... 4... and then the the jr high, and high school that fed into my last school. H

Blog Party: Meet Michelle

Meet Michelle, I love to hear about others who have adopted and reading their stories. Go check her out! H

The Barn... Only 15 more spots

Hey guys, just an update. I only have 15 more spots available for this blog party. We are having it in a location that only allows a certain number of guests, so I wanted to make sure everyone got a ticket. I have heard many of you say you are coming, but not everyone has bought a ticket. If you are interested, make sure you buy your ticket before they get filled!

Remember the date of the party is NOVEMBER 8th, at 6:30 pm.

We will be having it at the Fickle Pickle Barn   in Roswell GA. 

Cost is $21 per person. Dinner cost $20 and I added a dollar so we can have a little extra to play with! So first things first if you plan on attending please go ahead and use the Pay Pal button on the side to buy your ticket! I have set up a Pay Pal Button on the side to make it easy to collect the money for the party. We can give a 100% credit back up till the day before. After that we will just have to enjoy the meal you purchased. :)

Ok last bit of info... My goal is to feature one person a day, in their words of WHO THEY ARE. So if you have not sent me a picture, your website and a bio of YOU, then send it to whittakerwoman@yahoo.com. If you have not been keeping up with everyone go Check it out. It really has been fun meeting these people.

First...Pay, Second... Bio, Third... lets get to know one another! H

Blog Party: Meet Kyle

 
So far Kyle is traveling the farthest to get here. However I have heard some rumors that he may not hold the title very long. We shall see. Go say hi! H

Blog Party: Meet Natalie

Oh my,  check out Natalie ! You will find out why she deserves to win some kind of Mother of the Year award. Or at least a I-am-a-stud-and-lived-through-it award I mean really, at one point in her life she had three kids under the age of 21 months. CRAZY! I want to just shake her hand because of that!  How far apart are your kids? H

Blog Party: Meet Cookie

Meet Cookie, she loves Pepsi... But I am a Coke kind of girl. What about you. Coke or Pepsi?

Blogger Party: Meet Jenn

Meet Jenn, met and married her man within 11 months. Who has a faster record? H

Meet Renee

Meet My Special Ks

Behind the Scenes

So the other night Carlos wanted me to take a picture of him for one of his blog posts. I got the camera and began shooting. However Mr. Photographer was getting so mad because apparently I was not doing it correctly. I finally gave up and just kept on shooting. Oh he was getting so mad. I loved it. :) H

Hmmm, was this a hint?

So I was reading some of your blogs the other day and found a great blog that was about a woman's journey of loosing weight. I loved it. It was real, and honest. However I looked over at her blog roll and found this...

Everyone on there has to do with weight. HMMM, should Carlos and I get the clue phone. HA! H

33 Miles CD Winners!

Yes you heard me right I said Winners! When the guys at 33 Miles saw how many people were interested in their CD they decided to offer 5 free CD's to Give away. Hurray. So five people won! I used a computer generated program to get the winners and here they are...

Ok guys here is the winning numbers!
Lucky winners are...
Commenter:
#14= brandiandboys
#62= Brandi
#29= Zack
#135= Tracie
#27= Stephanie

Lucky winners, please email me at whittakerwoman@yahoo.com and leave your address where we can send the CD to! Congrats friends!
I look forward to doing more giveaways! H

Saturday November 8th is the date!

Ok we had to do a little date adjustment, but this time it is set in stone. 

Blogging Party: November 8th, (evening)
Where: Atlanta (ish),  GA
Who: You!
Why: To make community just one step closer!
Details: If you would like the details, please email me at whittakerwoman@yahoo.com
Please leave your name and your blog name, your email, your blog (if you have one) and your mailing address. I will send out invitations and give you the whole scoop! H

Mi Familia estan blogging!

It was a weird day... randomly I found out that 6 of my family members are blogging! How fun is that! Now I only have to convince the other 50+ members to do it too.
But in the mean time here is my family, will you welcome them to our blogging family! 
My step mom: Sherry
My cousins: Katie and Lauren
My aunts: Janet and Dorothy
My uncle: John

How many of your relatives blog? H

Party anyone?

I have have been chatting with another blogging friend about possibly doing a gathering of some sorts. I am just curious who would be interested. We are thinking it would occur the weekend of October 25th. Would anyone be interested? H

A True Family Night!

Wow, we have no excuses when it comes to planning a family night! You have to check out this blog and their story. This is a story of true love. Could you imagine adopting? Could you imagine adopting and then your baby becomes diagnosed with a deadly disease. Could you imagine? Wow you must read their story! I am humbled that they did a family night!
Meet Carmen...
H

Thief!

Grrr! You know we are a blogging family when one sly person yanks another's post!  I took this picture for my blog today. Mr Sneaky decided to steal it while I was taking Sohaila to school. Thief!

Losiah's  bed looks like a murder scene! Good morning! H

Dear Grammar Police

Thanks for your correction on this last post.

YOUR = BELONGS TO YOU
YOU'RE = YOU ARE
Arrgh! Sorry can't hold it in any longer. You can do it! I know you can! YOU'RE smart! I think you may even have YOUR college degree! Please set a good example for those wonderful kids of yours. And please take this in the way it was intended...the nicest possible way. :)
Thank you.
Posted by: Grammar Police | August 08, 2008 at 06:10 PM

I do need it! I will be the first to say that the California school system has failed big time with me! Truth be told, I  have a college degree and still can not spell or write a grammatically correct sentence! English was obviously not my major. I had no intentions ever to write again once the diploma was in my hand. However,  I am married to  a writer who conned me into this thing called blogging.
So here I sit... a blogger who has 1,400 people read my blog everyday and I can't write.
I know blog experts say that in order to grow your blog you need to spell and have correct grammar. I guess that rule of thumb does not apply to me, because people keep coming back! I am always up to learning so please always correct me! I do ask that you leave your email, or blog. There is no reason to hide. My friend Janie is always my grammar police and she does not hide.
This may make you sad if you are a stickler about this kind of thing, but I must tell you my goal and desire for setting a good example for my kids really has nothing to do with grammar. But I can learn and appreciate your lesson today. Keep them coming! H

Drum Roll Please...

As of 3:40 am on Friday morning, here are the stats!

The average age of the Whittakerwoman's poll is 31!
We are a combined 7,062 years old!
Youngest reader is 18 years old... Kayla and  Jessica
Youngest at heart reader is 57  years old... Barb aka Brody's mom  and Marcia! (However my grandma, conveniently left out her comment today. I won't name her age, but I KNOW she is older than 57 and reads everyday! :)

Alright that was fun. H

Not the search I was hoping for...

I was going through my referrals and seeing how people got to Whittakerwoman and found this. Someone typed in WOMAN WHO DROVE HER KIDS IN THE LAKE into google and searched, and guess wha they found? My site! HMM, kind of scary! H

Weekends are a vicious cycle

I have to tell you all the truth, I get fueled by you guys and on the weekends, well I have to say you are few a far between. Which in returns makes me want to kick back and not blog. Forcing this vicious cycle to continue because if I don't blog... you don't read.  See we gots a problem here folks! H

Am I loading?

I have not been able to load my site all day. I can see people  have left comments so I am assuming some people can see it. Why can't I?
Who can see me? H

Blog Interview

 
I was interviewed over at The Secret Life of Kat go and check it out...

Typepad

Shame on you... You have been so kind for so long, but recently you have ticked me off. You need to clean yourself up or  Whittakerwoman and her clan will be moving elsewhere. H

Lectured by Wordpress

I was totally lectured while I was leaving a comment today. I guess you can call me speed Whittaker!

Help!

Ok so my man, aka my computer helper is gone and I need help!
Why is typepad putting such a big gap after each photo. They just changed their website and now I cant get my posts to look right. I have the text right below the photo when I compose the post, but when I save it there is that gap. Any helpers out there? H

No Soap Opera watching today

I thought I would be able to watch some tv today, LOST to be exact, however I spent all day in bed. Doing what you might ask? Well besides trying to rest because of this stinking cold, I was reading all of your blogs. I spent all day visiting all 150 blogs of yours out there! Did you hear me...
I read 150 blogs today! I loved that everyone contributed. I feel like I just went on a family reunion and met Uncle Pete and Aunt Sue. You guys have some great stories! Thanks for all your link love and just introducing yourself to me. H

The Whittaker Brothel

Yes, I called our house a brothel. There are many roads I can take that, but what I am trying to say is that my  husband is the biggest stat ho I know.  And how does the phrase go?  You become who you hang around with.
So... lets do a little roll call/ link love

Tell me...
Who are you?
Do you have a blog?
Where are you from?
Tell me what's something on your list you have done and are proud of. And your not allowed to say I don't have a list. Just tell me something you've done in life that you are proud of.

And finally tell me if you have linked me and would like to be linked here.

I'll start,
I am Heather Whittaker, you all know my blog. I live in Atlanta but have to say I am from California.
I think the thing I am most proud of was hiking to the top of Mt. Whitney! Which is the highest mountain in the lower 48 states!
There you go. Your turn.
H

Blind Date

The staff of all three North Point Church Campuses have been working their tails off putting on the Drive conference. There are tons of church staff members from all over the world here for this conference and a couple read our blogs. So what did my NO BOUNDARIES man decide... To have a  gathering.

After the awkward introductions,  It actually was neat to meet some of these people who are regular readers,  but don't have a face. I enjoyed hearing stories and how people got into this crazy world of blogging. H

It's about time!

I love my blog banner. It was perfect when Carlos made it for me. However I am SO over it! I am a seasons girl and this picture says nothing but fall to me. So Daley came and took some new shots of us I am so excited! Carlos will put my new banner up, hopefully soon. Here is the picture.

Oh i love the blue and my couch is so great! Hurray for color!
I guess I will just copy and paste Carlos' blog post on the topic.

It was time for our quarterly Hake shoot.
This is the third time he has shot us.
Here is the first time.
Here is the second time.
We were able to lounge on our Hollywood couch.

H

Here you go babe...

Check this out...Enterprise Enterprise.