It Don't Cost Nuthin to be Nice -by Bear Bryant

At a Touchdown Club meeting many years before his death, Coach Paul "Bear" Bryant told the following story and this story is one lesson I hope all football coaches pass along to their players:


I had just been named the new head coach at Alabama and was off in my old car down in South Alabama recruiting a prospect who was supposed to have been a pretty good player and I was havin' trouble finding the place. Getting hungry I spied an old cinder block building with a small sign out front that simply said "Restaurant." I pull up, go in and every head in the place turns to stare at me .. Seems I'm the only white fella in the place. But the food smelled good so I skip a table and go up to a cement bar and sit. A big ole man in a tee shirt and cap comes over and says, "What do you need?" I told him I needed lunch and what did they have today? He says, "You probably won't like it here, today we're having chitlins, collared greens and black eyed peas with cornbread. I'll bet you don't even know what chitlins (small intestines of hogs prepared as food in the deep South) are, do you?" I looked him square in the eye and said, "I'm from Arkansas , I've probably eaten a mile of them. Sounds like I'm in the right place." They all smiled as he left to serve me up a big plate.

When he comes back he says, "You ain't from around here then?" I explain I'm the new football coach up in Tuscaloosa at the University and I'm here to find whatever that boy's name was and he says, yeah I've heard of him, he's supposed to be pretty good. And he gives me directions to the school so I can meet him and his coach. As I'm paying up to leave, I remember my manners and leave a tip, not too big to be flashy, but a good one and he told me lunch was on him, but I told him for a lunch that good, I felt I should pay.. The big man asked me if I had a photograph or something he could hang up to show I'd been there. I was so new that I didn't have any yet. It really wasn't that big a thing back then to be asked for, but I took a napkin and wrote his name and address on it and told him I'd get him one.

I met the kid I was lookin' for later that afternoon and I don't remember his name, but do remember I didn't think much of him when I met him. I had wasted a day, or so I thought. When I got back to Tuscaloosa late that night, I took that napkin from my shirt pocket and put it under my keys so I wouldn't forget it. Back then I was excited that anybody would want a picture of me. The next day we found a picture and I wrote on it, "Thanks for the best lunch I've ever had."

Now let's go a whole buncha years down the road. Now we have black players at Alabama and I'm back down in that part of the country scouting an offensive lineman we sure needed. Y'all remember, (and I forget the name, but it's not important to the story), well anyway, he's got two friends going to Auburn and he tells me he's got his heart set on Auburn too, so I leave empty handed and go on see some others while I'm down there. Two days later, I'm in my office in Tuscaloosa and the phone rings and it's this kid who just turned me down, and he says, "Coach, do you still want me at Alabama ?" And I said, "Yes I sure do." And he says OK, he'll come. And I say, "Well son, what changed your mind?"And he said, "When my grandpa found out that I had a chance to play for you and said no, he pitched a fit and told me I wasn't going nowhere but Alabama , and wasn't playing for nobody but you. He thinks a lot of you and has ever since y'all met." Well, I didn't know his granddad from Adam's housecat so I asked him who his granddaddy was and he said, "You probably don't remember him, but you ate in his restaurant your first year at Alabama and you sent him a picture that he's had hung in that place ever since. That picture's his pride and joy and he still tells everybody about the day that Bear Bryant came in and had chitlins with him." "My grandpa said that when you left there, he never expected you to remember him or to send him that picture, but you kept your word to him and to Grandpa, that's everything. He said you could teach me more than football and I had to play for a man like you, so I guess I'm going to." I was floored. But I learned that the lessons my mama taught me were always right. It don't cost nuthin' to be nice. It don't cost nuthin' to do the right thing most of the time, and it costs a lot to lose your good name by breakin ' your word to someone.

When I went back to sign that boy, I looked up his Grandpa and he's still running that place, but it looks a lot better now; and he didn't have chitlins that day, but he had some ribs that woulda made Dreamland proud and I made sure I posed for a lot of pictures; and don't think I didn't leave some new ones for him, too, along with a signed football. I made it clear to all my assistants to keep this story and these lessons in mind when they're out on the road. If you remember anything else from me, remember this.. It really doesn't cost anything to be nice, and the rewards can be unimaginable.

~ Coach Paul "Bear" Bryant

Happy Fall Ya'll!

Fall is my favorite time of the year. Since all of my babies have been born in November and Ethan in the beginning of December. The fall always reminds of being very pregnant and the excitement of new life!

I love football, cold weather, pumpkin patches and Halloween. Here is a sneak peak into the Hamilton's Fall.




Ethan's 1st Halloween!
I think this picture is so funny with Anna Claire on the side sticking out her tongue!

More tongue sticking out...


The 2 Gs...Gracie and Gwenyth - BFF

Jake and Eli (Gwen's little brother)

The Hamilton and Farley Kids

You can't have fall without football! Jake's team won on Saturday and are the division champs so we are heading to the playoffs!

This is how Ethan watches football, is there anything sweeter? I wish I could just bottle all that love up!

Me and my Girls!

HAPPY FALL YA'LL!

Praying for Baby Stellan

I know many of you follow My Charming Kids and Stellan needs your prayers now more than ever. Please say a prayer for this sweet boy RIGHT NOW!

Jake and Gracie sing in the Choir

Yesterday at church Jake and Gracie made their debut in the Children's Choir. They have been practicing for weeks and were so excited! The children's choir sings for special events and since Sunday was Reformation Sunday they were on...

Here is a video of the grand performance, can you tell I'm a proud Mama? I Love seeing my kids praising God!

Swine Flu

Ugh, it happened.....Swine Flu hit our house. While Ethan is considered "High Risk" our children all got the Seasonal Flu shot before other children did at our Pediatrician's office and they are on the first list for the Swine Flu Shot in the next 2 weeks but as luck has it Sweet Ethan caught it before we could get the vaccination.

On Wednesday he started with a little cough and at 6 pm he was lethargic and his fever was 103.9 so I called the Pediatrician who told me I could either take him straight to the ER or try a new Urgent Care Facility that has opened about 20 minutes from us that is for children only. He told us that they would be able to direct admit if he needed to be in the hospital and since they had a 5 hour wait at the ER I loaded him up in the cold and pouring rain and headed on over to KidMed. I had heard great things about this place. It was opened by ER doctors from St. Mary's Hospital which is our hospital of choice and where Ethan has had all of surgeries and stays so I felt very comfortable. Oh and just like always my BBFF got me there again. What in the world would I do without her talking me all the way to hospitals and ERs?

The staff was great. We even had a Nurse who was in the PICU after Ethan had his "Big Surgery" She was with us on that first night when they were having trouble keeping his stats up and were having to "bag" him. The nurses and RTs were very worried that night when he kept dropping and I could only sit in the chair next to him and pray to God that he would put his healing hands over my Sweet Ethan and put his arms around the Nurses and Doctors and give them the wisdom to help him. That Nurse helped me a lot that night and I will never forget her for what she did for our son so seeing her familiar face really helped calm me. Oh, how our God loves us....he knew just what I needed.

Ethan's lungs were clear but he did test positive for the flu - H1N1 and he because anytime that he has a fever over 102 we have to rule out a UTI, they did a cath and sure enough his labs show a little bit of bacteria in his urine so they are treating him with very strong antibiotics. We will know tomorrow if it is truly a UTI. He is right on the cusp of having to switch to a different antibiotic to ward off UTIs so this is probably a blessing in disguise! All part of God's Plan...

On Thursday he slept most of the day and hardly ate or drank anything but by Friday afternoon he was playing in his exersaucer and rolling all over the place. We are very thankful and blessed that he recovered so quickly. He is considered one of those high risk people in the news that they keep talking about. He is doing well and we are so blessed and thankful!

He is taking 4 meds right now - Tamiflu, Bactrim, Cephalexin and Gentamicin....it takes me back to the beginning.....

Praising God tonight that Ethan is well!

Amazing Giveaway!!!

Ok, so I follow a couple of people's blogs and sometimes they have some cool giveaways but I have never played along because I NEVER WIN anything, except that one time when I won a $50 Gift Certificate to the new Michaels but other than that NOTHING. BUT....I am totally into Mama M.'s giveaway from My Little Life. I love her blog and she cracks me up!!!



I have been looking for a piece of jewelry that represents all four of my kids and she is giving away a piece from Moppet's Closet and I have found mine!!!! Just replace the kids names with mine and 3 November birthstones and one December birthstone and viola my new necklace...






All my Baby Mama Friends totally need one of these necklaces for Christmas! I mean, seriously what are you waiting for????

Ethan's Story - Ethan Comes Home

The day had finally arrived when we would be able to take Sweet Ethan home. December 30, 2008, after 25 days in the NICU/PCN we would take him home to join his brother and sisters. They had wanted us to room in with him for a night before we took him home but all the rooms were booked, guess lots of moms wanted to get a tax deduction in :) So they decided that Chris and I would both stay with him in the PCN for 2 feedings with no monitors on him except for his heart/apnea monitor which lucky for us was coming home with us. They wanted to make sure we knew what do in the event that the monitor went off at home. He was also sent home on 2 medications, one for his heart called Digoxin and amoxicillian to ward off any UTIs. The Digoxin made me so nervous, we had to listen and count his heart beats and if they were below 100 bpm we would have to call the cardiologist before administering. We also had to give it exactly at the scheduled time - 8 am and 8 pm. If we got off schedule and gave it to him to early we risked his heart dropping to low and his heart stopping or if we gave it to him to late we risked his heart going into SVT. Talk about stress! He had to wear his monitor 24 hours a day for the first 4 1/2 months of his life. It was actually a bit of relief, I don't know how I would have slept those first couple of months if we didn't have that!


We finally got home around 11:30 that night. Gracie spent the night at a friends house and Jake and Anna Claire were at my parents. We were so exhausted and so excited to have our Sweet Ethan home. I laid him in our bed between us and Chris and I just sat and watched him for hours. We were in total amazement and awe at this wonderful and perfect gift that God had given us.


The kids came home the next day and were so excited to see that Sweet Ethan was at home and was well.

This is my favorite picture - notice that all the kids are touching each other, so sweet...

We enjoyed the next couple of months and were getting ready for his surgery....more to come later.