Note to Bailey

Bailey,
You are a precious, sweet child.  I love you so very much.  Today is your birthday and we enjoyed celebrating it with you. I pray that God continues to bless  your life as you grow into the child and young woman he has directed you to be.  I borrowed this picture from your mommy's facebook page.
With much love,
Mamaw Green

My salvation experience

I was born and raised in church. My parents were active in the baptist organization. My dad was pastor of a baptist church. When I was seven years old my dad was pastor of Trinity baptist church. I remember one Wednesday night during church I decided that at the end of service I was going to "get saved". The only thing I really knew about being saved was that I had to believe that Jesus was my savior and I had to tell someone that I wanted to be saved. Well that night my dad did not give an invitation to come to the alter and be saved. So after service he was standing at the door shaking everyones hands as they filed out of church. I shook his hand and said something to the effect of "why did you not ask if anyone wanted to be saved tonight?" He responded with a look and a "what did you say", I repeated and said, " I wanted to be saved tonight and you did not ask me if I wanted to be saved." He was kind of stunned. When we got home I was helping my mom make "puffs" (the things florist make corsages out of). Dad called me to the kitchen table and asked me what did I know about being saved. I told him I knew I was a sinner and I believed that Jesus could save me if I asked him into my heart. So he was satisfied that I understood, he knelt with me and we prayed together. I was so excited that I wanted to share this experience with my big brother, Van. So I ran up the stairs and proclaimed "Guess what, I learned to make a puff and I got saved tonight. Little did I know then that that was the easy part because it was a gift for the receiving. The hard part has been learning about how to give my life to Him and let Him be Lord of my life. This has been a long and slow process. HE'S STILL WORKING ON ME!

My memories of Allen's Infancy

Allen was a sweet and content baby. He had a smile that could melt your heart. Mickey loved him and wanted to help me care for him. Allen was also breast fed but he constantly got choked as he nursed. He nursed for 2 months then I weaned him onto a bottle. He had an easier time with the bottle. I kept a baby book for Allen too. When Al and Jenn married I gave it to them.
I was completely absorbed in home life. We only had one vehicle so I was homebound while Tim was at work but that was ok because I was really just another kid with them. We spent a lot of time outside playing. I would hang out clothes and put Allen in a clothes basket. Mickey would run around playing with him. We had a great year just enjoying each other. Tim loved to fish and would go fishing everyday after work. We didn't have anything material wise but we had a lot of fun.

My memories of pregnancy, labor, and delivery with Allen

Tim and I decided we wanted another baby and I got pregnant with Allen late April early May 1983. He was due Jan. 22nd 1984. I had a great pregnancy. Once again the due date came and went and no baby. However, I did not go into the hospital for false labor. The night I went into labor it was snowing. Tim's 1st cousin Greg was dating our neighbor and could not get back to Birmingham because the roads were iced over. My younger brother, Scott was also spending the night with us. I woke up about 2am because my water broke. I called the Doctor to tell him and Greg overheard the conversation. He was so anxious. I woke Tim up and told him my water broke. He asked me to make him some coffee before we left. Greg overheard him and hit the fan. He started saying "Tim your wife is in labor get up and carry her to the hospital." That gave Tim the open door he wanted. He said "it took her 3 days to have Mickey and the coffee at the hospital stinks". They went back and forth for several minutes Greg's anxiety level increased. Finally, Tim let him off the hook and asked Him to drive Mickey and Scott to Ruth and Ralph's house. He of course agreed then we were off to the hospital. The labor pains started just before we got to the hospital. The labor was a lot quicker than with Mickey but it seems just as intense. This time Tim stayed with me and it was a lot better. I had a spinal block, as with Mickey, and Allen was born just after 2pm. He was a sweet and beautiful baby. He looked a lot like Tim but there was a little of me in him too. I was so happy.

Blog Facelift

I changed the design template. I hope its not too busy.

My memories of Mickey's Infancy

Mickey was a very content baby. However, there was one day when we had a BAD day. He was about 2 weeks old. Tim was at work and I was home with Mickey. He was a breast fed baby. Dr. Gray had instructed me to let him eat on demand. Well I think I over did it. I fed him every time he cried or whimpered. One day he was screaming in ovious pain. I could not find anything wrong with him. He would nurse for a few minutes then start crying uncontrollable. By lunch time I was a wreck and so was he. I called my mom crying. She came over and took Mickey and told me to go to bed. I did without hesitation. In a few minutes Mickey was asleep. I came out of the bedroom and momma had him with his knees under him on his tummy butt in the air sound asleep. She told me he was too full and problably had a gas bubble. She got him to burp and he went to sleep. I was relieved and realized just how much I had to learn about babies.

Mickey's favorite place was laying on Tim's chest. I kept a baby book of important events and milestones and I am glad I did because I can not remember any of those details. I kept a baby memory book of Mickey and when he and Sandy married I gave this book to them.

Time with our children and grandchildren

Jennifer and Allen invited all of us over for supper. Wow what a meal. Jennifer outdone herself. Even Tim tried a greenbean (which he hates) because they looked so appetizing. He still hates greenbeans but what a testimony to how great it looked and tasted.
A little blurry. Hard to keep little Braylen still. Iphone doesnt take good action shots.


Now Bailey decides to move at the last minute so her face is blurry.


Now this is a great shot of Sandy... believe it or not Lawson took this shot. He is a much better photographer than his mamaw.


Uncle Mickey and Braylen

Lawson and Bailey.

Tim and Lawson

Tim and Bailey

Sweet little Bailey and her baby.

Lawson's attempt at holding Braylen. She was not having any of this.

My memories of pregnancy, labor, and delivery with Mickey

I decided shortly after graduating high school I wanted a baby. Tim was not in agreement. I begged for months and finally he reluctantly agreed but stated that he would not be changing any diapers or baby sitting. I agreed! Little did I know he meant it. I did not care! I wanted a baby. My pregnancy was for the most part uneventful. I felt "blah" for the first 3 months but not nauseated or anything else. I took prenatal vitamins. Back then Daddies-to-be had to wait in the waiting room and the mama-to-be had to labor alone with a nurse. There was one exception. If you attended a class one day a week for 6 weeks your husband could attend the labor and delivery to "coach" the wife. Tim and I completed these classes. Mickey was due on November 14th but in the early 80's they did not induce or do a c-section unless the baby was in distress. We made several trips to the emergency room with "false labor" as they called it back then. Finally, my water started leaking on the 16th early in the morning. I called the doctor and went to the emergency room. I was so happy to be admitted finally. I was not hurting and only dilated 2cm. They let me walk the halls for a couple of hours then my water completely broke and I was bed bound, strapped to the monitors and nothing to eat. I was in a labor ward which was 4 beds in one room with a curtain between. I was having cramps but not real labor pains. woman after woman after woman came in screaming, laboring, moved to delivery room, and then to their postpartum room for the next several hours. I felt like a complete failure and could not belive that I was not progressing. Finally on the late hours of the 2nd night active labor kicked in. I was screaming like a wild wounded animal. Tim had been there long enough that Dr Bailey must have felt sorry for him because he let him sit in the hallway with him watching tv and playing cards. I was very frustrated and angry at them both. Finally, the next morning my nurse, Mrs. Isum, talked the dr into giving me a shot for pain. He ordered Demerol IM. In the class they told us it could make the baby very sleepy and not do well after delivery so I refused it. I got out of control when I was dilated 6cm or so and she and Tim talked me into it. I took the injection. It did not help the pain at all. It made me sleepy when I was not hurting but when I was hurting I was more out of control. I screamed "just kill me" over and over again. Finally around lunch time Dr Bailey came in and told me IF I would promise him I would push with everything I had he would go ahead at 9cm and let me deliver the baby. Of course I agreed. I would have agreed to anything at that point. They carried me to the delivery room and administered the spinal block. I felt such relief. Tim was brought in and sit by my head. All of a sudden I heard the nurse say "Mr. Green are you ok?" He was ushered out. "Mickey", Timothy Michael Green was born November 19, 1981 after 36 hours of labor, a broken tail bone and 4th degree episotomy. When I laid eyes on him he looked just like Tim. The amazing thing was all that labor, pain, etc... did not matter anymore. It was worth it all!

remodelling project

Finished!!! Now to enjoy and finish paying for it. Of course we came in over budget. Seems to be the constant theme at home and work these days.

Mickey and Allen the early years

Shortly after I got pregnant with Mickey we sold the old mobile home and bought a new one( a small double wide with 2 bedrooms and one bath). We moved onto company land since Tim was a foreman.

Mickey 6 months old. Living at quarry in Sylacauga.




Mickey was a little over 2 years old when I started wanting another baby. I got pregnant with Allen in May of 1983. We tried to trade the dbl wide but owed too much so we bought a 14x80 single wide with 3 bedrooms and 2 baths and rented out the dbl wide. Allen was born in Feb 1984.

Mickey on swing in front of new mobile home around the time I was pregnant with Allen or shortly after he was born.


Mickey 26 months Allen 2 weeks old (Feb 1984)


Allen 4 months old (June 1984)


Mickey 2-1/2 yrs, Allen 6 months old


Mickey 3 yrs Allen 1 year


Mickey gave himself and Allen a hair cut on this day. Mickey was 3-1/2 and Allen was 18mths.


Sometime early in 1985 I was having a tupperware party when Tim came home unexpectedly. He was in rare form. He went straight to the bedroom and did not speak to any of our friends. After they all left he informed me that the quarry was closing the finishing plant. He did not have a job and since we were living on company land we had to move. Since his job was the only source of income we had we were devastated.

Mickey 4 yrs Allen 2 yrs Just before move to Georgia


Allen's favorite place to hide. Kitchen cabinet between stove and refrigerator.



Several companies called in in the next few weeks and he decided on a job in Douglasville Ga. Dixie Marble company wanted him to open a finishing plant for them in the Atlanta area. They agreed to move us to a mobile home park there in Douglasville. One problem solved. A place to live. We moved just after my mom was diagnosed with stage IV breast cancer and began her chemo treatments.
We settled in Douglasville. I got a job at Winn Dixie Deli on Thorton Road just across from where Tim opened up the finishing plant for Dixie Stone. That spring we bought season tickets to Six Flags (it was about $12.00/per person per day or $24.00/per person for a season pass). We scraped up the money and bought 4 season passes. There was not a day that went by that we did not carry the boys to Six Flags. By the end of summer I had taken a part time job at the area church daycare beside Annet Winn elementary school. This was where Mickey was going to start kindergarden and I had to have a job and Allen had to have a care giver. I did not know or trust anyone in Ga. to keep him so I quit my job at Winn-Dixie and got a job at the daycare. That was short lived thank the Lord, because Allen screamed everyday for me from the time I left him in his class until I was summoned by the director to his class. Mickey was liking his new kindergarden.


John and Nate came for a couple of week that summer and went to six flags with us.


Allen at Six Flags in line to his favorite ride (the MOMO. Tim, John, Nate, and Mickey are somewhere riding the big rides.


Then Tim was recruited to West Palm Beach Florida to start another finishing plant for another company. They did not want to move a mobile home, so they found us a rental home in Palm Beach Gardens. They flew Tim to West Palm Beach. He picked up a company flat bed truck and we put everything we could possibly carry onto that truck and moved to Florida. That was the longes trip of my life... 14 hours with a 5 year old and a 3 year old in a small 14foot flat bed truck. This was in the fall of 1987. We got settled in and enrolled Mickey in Dwight D Esienhower elementry school. It was just a few blocks from the house so Mickey, Allen, and I walked every morning and every evening.

Mickey and Allen playing in the yard in WPB Fl.


My Mom started doing very bad so Tim was having to drive me and the boys home just about every weekend and back before Monday for him to go to work and Mickey to go to school. It was mid Oct 1987 when we got the news that she was not going to make it. I talked to Mickey's school and told them the situation. They gave me a couple of weeks worth of school work for him and told me to mail it back to them everyweek. Tim Carried me and the boys home to be with Mom the last few weeks of her life. She passed away November 16th 1987.


We buried her on Mickey's 6th birthday 11-19-1987. We delayed his birthday celebration until we returned to WPB. We gathered his friends at school for his birthday celebration.


Mickey and Allen loved playing in the sand and picking fruit from the fruit trees by the canal. The problems with that was there was an Alligator that lived in that canal.

Here are a few pics of them in WPB shortly after we returned from the extended visit to Alabama. Mickey went back to School and all was well.



Christmas day WPB Fl.


In January 1988 my Dad and sister came to WPB to visit us. While dad was there he looked up an old friend of Paul and Scott's that was having a difficult time. They ended up moving in with us so we could share expenses. We had just recently lost everything we had and it sounded like a good idea. That little house got smaller and smaller. We were all miserable. By April, we were all ready to move back to Alabama. So we did. Tim's Mom found an old house on Deloach road that a neighbor said we move into and fix up instead of paying rent. We agreed and moved back to Alabama.
Mickey was transfered to Fayetteville school Kindergarden for the last 2 weeks of that year.


This is a picture of Mickey's kindergarden graduation ice cream celebration at Fayetteville

Early Married Life

I left off the stories at marrying my buddy Tim. We got married spring 1979 during AEA week my junior year. I was 16 and Tim was 19. Below is a copy of our wedding invitation and a copy of our vows that my dad typed on his manual typewritter.














We went to Birmingham in Tim's Cutlass Supreme Oldsmobile




Tim was a draftsman at Moretta Harrah Marble Quarry. We bought a second hand single wide mobile home (12x60). This is a copy of pay stub the week we married.




Below was my todo list my first week as Mrs. Timothy Green. (I was a very busy girl)HAHA.

Tim got a job in the finishing plant of the marble quarry and made plant foreman by age 22. I wanted a baby as soon as I graduated June 1980. I went to work at Russell Mills sewing plant that same month. My job was sewing sleeves in Tshirts. I got pregnant with Mickey in Feb. 1981 and got fired for low production sometime in May the same year. No one would hire me because I was pregnant so I drawed unemployment until after Mickey was born Nov. 1981. We decided for me to just stay home and be a housewife and mother. We did not have anything to speak of material wise but we loved each other and we loved our little Mickey.

Georgia Aquarium

Saturday morning we ate at the hotel restaurant and went to the Georgia Aquarium. It is definitely HUGE, and so are the crowds!! The automated ticket kiois is the way to buy tickets. The line for ticket booths was wrapped around like a snake coiled up. We bought our tickets and were in the building before the ticket line moved 10 feet.

I had read the reviews online prior to going so we knew it was going to be crowded. The problem is people are just plain rude. If everyone waits their turn one can see everything. However, this was NOT the case.




We would wait to see a certain fish and as soon as the previous guest would move,someone would push us and go before us. It was so loud that Tim and I could not even talk about anything (he has a great knowledge of aquatic life and I love to listen to him tell about a certain type of fish and what they do etc...) I got sooooo frustrated I just started snapping pictures so I could enjoy the sights later I took approximately 200 pictures in 2 hours. No I will not post them all but I will post a few of the better of them.





Tim tried several times to desperately take a picture of me and I of him and people would push through us or around us and mess up the picture. These are horrible but we did manage to snap a couple that were not completely blurred.











It rained all day and we decided we did not want to sit in a rainy stadium and chance a long delay or possibly even being rained out soooo we decided to go back to the hotel and watch the ball game from there. But first, we toured the old places we use to live, work, and play. We were amazed how much it had all changed since 1987. Brought back a lot of memories of the boys and our year at Six Flags with them (literally)there was not a day that year we did not go with them if it was open. We reminisced about how we thought back then that we HAD to show them a good time and make memories for them. We laughed because we had a conversation with Mickey the other day and he remembers very little about that whole year and the following year in West Palm Beach. I will Blog about their childhood and the memories I have and wanted for them later.



Anyway, when we got back to the hotel... lightning had struck the cable station and the cable and internet was out. We wandered around a bit and then decided we would check out and go home. The guy at the front desk told us we could not check out because the internet was down. Tim told the guy that he might not look like much but he knew there was no way he could make him stay against his will. The man laughed and said you are free to go but I can not check you out until internet is back up. Tim asked him if we needed to pay him anything, he said no it is already charged to your card. Soooo, we left. It was very funny. We got home in time to see the Braves game 4th inning in the comfort of our own home.