Calling All Bloggers

The Tennessee Snail, or perhaps The Snailette, has entered a contest with a local radio station in Clarksville, TN. You see, the winning couple will receive an all expenses paid wedding. We could really use your support. If you look to the right, you will see a link that will take you to the page to vote. it will only take a couple of minutes and you can vote once a day until the 31st of January.

I'd like to take a moment and tell you a little about my sister and her fiance' Mike. My sister is the glue that holds teh Snail clan together. Being the youngest, she caught a lot of hell from her two older snail bro's, but we love her dearly. As we grew older and began our own families, she naturally did the same.

Not more than a year after having her first child, we began to notice Xavier was developing a little slower. He was diagnosed with Autism. My sister quickly began to devour information and talk to people, learning as much about Autism as she could. She continues to work 110% to make sure Xavier has every opportunity available to him to grow into a bright & vibrant young man.

When Xavier was 4, Marriah became pregnant with her second child, a beautiful young girl, Skylar. Skylar reminds me so much of her mother, but that is for another blogpost. Shortly thereafter, she was expecting #3. There was a great deal of complications with this pregnancy. A week before her due date, my sister was rushed to the hospital, only to find out she had lost her infant son. Sebastian holds a special place in my sister's heart.

Unfortunately, this was not the end of the difficult road my sister was to travel. Less than a week later, her now ex-husband, was on the front page of the local newspaper- ensnared in a scandal of infidelity, prostitution & general asshattery. (Okay, the asshattery part was my opinion, just sayin') She picked herself up by the bootstraps and soldiered on, moving to Tennessee to stay with my parents until she could get her family back in order. Here she continued to further her education and provide for her children. In an effort to learn more about Autism & how to provide for those with special needs, she completed a two-year Occupational Therapy program at the local college and now works in that field.



It had been over six years since losing Sebastian & dealing with the ex; my sister had lost her faith in men. The prospects on the horizon didn't look great, until Mike entered her life. I can honestly say, I don't know how he did it - She is a tough nut to crack. His patience & persistence will go down in the books, they may even use his courtship as a training tool in future generations. I meet him for the first time at my parents house last Christmas, watching him with my sister and her children is beautiful, he is quiet and gentle. Months later, I was equally impressed at my parents house, preparing for the retirement BBQ for my father. He just showed up the day before, asking what needed to be done. There is sort of an unspoken rule in our family while preparing for a BBQ, you just work, we know what needs to be done and we just do it. He fit right in.

He is currently deployed in Iraq, returning on a two-week leave in June; this is when they plan to get married. Winning this contest would be an amazing gift for their family. Please, as a personal favor to me, take the time to vote for Marriah & Mike! If you feel compelled, you could give me a little link love and blast this out on your blog too!




The Christmas presents Mike "fired from a cannon" in Iraq to Tennessee.