ANGELS AMONG US

 We would first like to THANK YOU for clicking onto our website. 

 We appreciate each and everyone of our loyal customers.

Here's our story! A mutual friend of ours, C. P. Hall,  introduced Kevin and I to each other about a week before Kevin graduated from school.  Kevin and I started dating on the night that he graduated, May 28, 1991.  While I continued with high school Kevin went to college.  I graduated in May 1993.  Kevin was my high school sweetheart although he didn't attend high school with me my Junior and Senior year.  We were united in marriage on August 8, 1993.  He is the love of my life..  I would be so lost without him, he's my husband, best friend, my confidant.  Kevin and our three children are my heart. Kevin has been there with me through all of the laughter and the sadness that we have had to deal with.   He's a wonderful husband and the best dad.  A GREAT provider for our little family of five, plus 4 cats and 1 dog, Jack Russell Gilliam.   When our daughter heard us say the name of the type of dog we brought home (a jack russell) she thought that was his name.  So she started calling him "Jack Russell Gilliam".   We giggled under our breath as to not hurt her feelings.  We just thought that was the cutest thing we had heard in a while.  Our kiddo's would have a fit if I left out the animals. 

After being married for a couple of years we decided to have children.  We were unsuccessful for the first couple of years.  Kevin and I suffered three miscarriages.  We had two female doctors in Fairhope, Alabama tell us that we would have to have medical help to conceive a child and be able to carry the child to full term.  In 1998 we were debating on going to the appointment that we had to start the process of invetro.  The week that we were due to go down to Fairhope to begin the invetro process I started feeling sick.  We decided to take a pregnancy test to see if somehow we had conceived a child on our own.  The results were "positive".  So we went down to the local store and purchased two more test to make sure that they were all positive.  They were.  Due to certain reasons that I will not dwell on we decided to change doctors and start seeing Dr. Marshall Shoemaker also located in Fairhope, Alabama..  Dr. Shoemaker has wonderful bedside manners and is a very pleasant doctor to be around.  I would highly recommend him to everyone.  He is a loving a caring person.  He doesn't treat you as if you're just another dollar in his pocket.

On December 30, 1998 our first son was born weighing in at 8 pounds 10 ounces.  We were now proud parents of Tommie Alexander "Alex" Gilliam.  Our excitement was taken away from us very quickly.  Alex was very pale and very white when he was born.   Dr. Paula Drummond and one of her aiding physicians saw that something was not quite right with Alex' heart.  Alex was taken by ambulance to Childrens and Womens hospital in Mobile, Alabama.  Doctors there found out through their test that Alex had Tricuspid Atresia, a very rare heart disease.  I was very sick (near pneumonia and a serious bladder infection).  The staff in Fairhope were not going to release me to go be with Alex but my sister and I finally convinced them to release me.  I didn't care that I was sick, that was the least of my worries.  I wanted to be with my son, Alex, whom was at Childrens and Womens hospital for several hours before being flown by jet to Birmingham, Alabama.  On the way to Birmingham Alex suffered a severe stroke causing more damage to his little body.  On January 7th, 1999 we were told that nothing could be done medically to save him and that our only option was to take the ventilator off of him.  He had began to swell so bad that he looked like a one year old lying there.  Devastated and depressed we talked about our only option all night long and decided on the morning of January 8th to release him to our Lord.  We had him baptized and removed the ventilator from his little body.  As I rocked Alex in a private room he passed within thirty minutes.  No more pain for my little Angel, just a big hole in my heart.   

THE HARDEST DAY OF OUR LIVES...JANUARY 8, 1999

Tommie Alexander "Alex" Gilliam

December 30, 1998 - January 8, 1999

May God hold him in his arms until we see each other again.  We were so blessed those nine days that we had him with us before God took him home to live with him.  I  had decorated Alex' room in Winnie the Pooh so we both decided to make Winnie the Pooh his headstone.  I painted a Pooh on a piece of styrofoam & placed it at his grave until his headstone arrived.

The message on Alex' headstone reads:  The Angel that presided o'er my birth, Said, 'Little creature, formed of joy and mirth, Go love without the help of anything on earth.'  That verse came from the first page of this baby book.  It's like it was a sign, because he did get to go and love without the help of anything on earth.  He no longer needed all of the tubes, medicine, doctors or nurses after his passing.  We would have liked to have placed a slab with edging and marble rocks around his grave but the cemetery he's in only allows headstones, but we feel lucky to have been able to create such a neat headstone for him.  Some cemetery's only allow the smaller flat headstones that the lawnmower's can run over.

Our Liberty National Insurance salesman, Randy Flemming, went to Birmingham in his own car and brought Alex back to Baldwin County for us.  He saved us a lot of money and heartache.  Atmore Memorial Chapel Funeral Home in Atmore, AL was absolutely wonderful to us, they handled all of his burial arrangements.  We highly recommend them.  We have never met anyone like Mr. Flemming.  Great personality and caring.   

I became very depressed and I ate anything and everything to comfort myself.  Kevin worked the graveyard shift.  I couldn't sleep at night when he was at work due to horrible dreams that I was having.  I woke up one night running into the living room because I heard someone tell me to check on the baby.  It was horrible because there was no baby in the house, he had passed away.  I woke up one night on the phone with a nurse in Birmingham, AL asking how Alex Gilliam was.  She replied, "Ma'am, your son passed away.  Are you okay.  Should I give someone a call to come check on you."  I told her "no" and hung up the phone and cried myself to sleep.  A couple of friends told me to take nursing so that I could work at night like Kevin.  There is no way I could have went to nursing school at the time, it would have been torture to me.  I couldn't even stand to go to the doctor for myself for a long time.  I ended up getting a job at the only other pratical place I knew that had a graveyard shift, Wal Mart, because I would be away from the house when Kevin was and I'd hopefully be so tired that I'd have to sleep.  It worked.  I started out as a cashier and quickly moved up to a customer service manager.  About a year went by before Kevin was placed on the day shift.  An opening came available in the accounting department at the same place so I applied for the position and was hired.  I was only there about eight months when I became pregnant.   For the childs safety I could no longer work at Southern Aluminum.    

In 2001 we gave birth to a VERY HEALTHY daughter, she weighed 8 pounds 1 ounce.  In 2003 we gave birth to another son who was also VERY HEALTHY, he weighed 8 pounds 6 ounces.  After giving birth to our son in 2003 my uterus would not firm up causing it to collect my blood, therefore, causing me to go into a coma.   Now Kevin was facing death with another one of his little family.  He signed the forms needed to agree to letting the doctors give me blood to save my life.  I was given two or three pints of blood to bring me back into this world, Kevin never left my side.  He later told me the gruesome story about what all the doctor and nurses had to do to me and said that Dr. Shoe asked him if he needed to step out but he wouldn't leave me.  All I can remember is I woke up hurting and sore from the stomach compressions.  I hurt severely for nearly two weeks.  We had wanted to have one more child but decided that I needed to live to take care of our children that we now have.  Neither one of us wanted to face that situation again.  When I went to pick out baby books for our daughter and son I read the passages/verses in the baby books to make sure they didn't say anthing like the one that Alex' had in it.  Weird you say, no, I wanted to make sure that there wasn't a sign in the baby book of another one of my children passing on to be with our Lord.  I believe in signs like that one from our Lord.  I had read that baby verse in Alex' baby book several times while carrying Alex.  I never would have thought that I would have to place it on my sons headstone, NEVER.... 

"What a joy it is to be able to watch our children  grow & learn.  They give us so much pride & joy each day we wake up.  Life would be so lonely without them."  To hear them say "I love you Mom/Dad" each day warms our hearts. 

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July 2005 Fun.

1. Bible School    2. I'm Cool     3. Golfing Fun     4. Sticker Fun

THE WAY OUR BUSINESS CAME ABOUT:  I didn't think I'd be able to live without Alex because I couldn't take him to the park, watch him grow or snuggle with him and give him kisses.  After making flowers for Alex' grave for every holiday and special occasion I decided to make flowers for other people because I found joy and comfort in making them.  I enjoyed making floral arrangements so I decided to open up a small florist shop in memory of him.   If I can make someones day by making them a flower I feel like Alex has helped me through another day. Family members and friends would get me to make an arrangement for them for funerals or special occasions.

One day in November 2002 I was standing in the dining room making him a flower for Thanksgiving/Fall when my 2 1/2 year daughter said, "Mommy, he's our Angel Among Us." I was totally overwhelmed at how such a small child could think like that. Angels Among Us sounded right for the name, so we decided to open up our shop in Perdido, Alabama on August 9, 2004 and call it ANGELS AMONG US FLORALS. 

Our little flower shop welcomes you to come visit with us.

Monday  - Friday  8a.m. - 5:30 p.m.

Saturday 9 a.m. - 4 p.m.

Sunday 12:30 p.m. - 5 p.m. 

251 580 3335    OR    877 580 3335

In our flower shop we have our children a play area set up so that they are near me when I work.  Our children make special things for people using materials from our shop and I find it very heart warming.  They enjoy our shop as much as I do and they know why we have our shop.  I don't mention Alex all the time but there is not a day that goes by that I don't think to myself "would he be doing that too", "how tall would he be", "what would he sound like", and so forth.  One day I will get to run up to him and give him the biggest hug and live with him forever in the presense of our Lord and Savior.  

Thank you for  taking the time to read this.

May God send a blessing to you on this wonderful day!

HERE ARE A FEW ACKNOWLEDGMENTS THAT I WOULD LIKE TO MENTION.

When I first opened up my business Ms. Sue (Retired owner of Bay Florist) gave me Guide Books with Floral Designs for Funerals, Weddings and Everyday occassions.  Mrs. Ruberta Hadley (Retired owner of Perdido Florist) has given me a lot of tips and time saving techniques to help me learn more about the business.  Plus she sold me her remaining items (cases, shelving, silks, vases, baskets, ribbon and so forth) for a fraction of the cost.  Mrs. Pug Jones (Retired owner of Pugs Perfect Petals) GAVE me a nice large cooler for my shop.  She called me up one day and asked me if I needed one, I said "sure", she said if I had a utility trailer to come and get it, FREE OF CHARGE.  I thank each of the three ladies mentioned. 

 SO DON'T FEEL SORRY FOR US.  WE FEEL BLESSED TO BE SURROUNDED BY SUCH A LOVING COMMUNITY AND LOVING PEOPLE 

 PRAYER & GOD WILL HELP US AND YOURSELF THROUGH ANYTHING. 

I have lots of customers that trust my work and call from Stapleton, Loxley, Bay Minette, Atmore, McCullough, Perdido, Kentucky, New York, West Virginia, California  and other states and local area's.  About 80% of my customers have never stepped a foot in my shop, they trust us and our work. 

We thank each and every one of them for their loyalty.

EASTER 2008

Family Easter Egg Hunt at Robertsdale, Al Park.  I think we had about seventeen children ready to hunt the eggs left behind by the Easter Bunny.  What fun they all had.  First and Second cousins are in this photo.  Have you had a Family Gathering lately?  Have one.  Let your children have fun with their family.  We have a Family Gathering every September so that our children know their cousins, aunts, uncles, great aunts and so forth.

Easter 2008

Our Business

Our Goal is 100% Customer Satisfaction.  We strive to be the best in the industry.

We give discounts on your next order(s) if someone calls and says that they heard about us from you.  

Our Wonderful Children!

Our daughter turned seven this month.  Here are some photo's from her party and from another party for Jessica that we attended the same afternoon.  What a GREAT time we all had.

About to blow out the candles...

Our BUTTERFLY Clowning around..

Our TIGER clowning around....

My little "Kenney Chesney" with his gourd plants (June'08).  He planted them in March '08.  He's waiting on a gourd!!

Who We Are

We are a Christian Based and Family Oriented Business.  We enjoy our business and our customers. 

We have lots of customers that call us up, tell us what type of gift or arrangement they need and we get the job done for them.   About 80% of our customers never see our shop because they trust us and our work.  

Our little boys first catch by himself.

He baited the hook, cast the line and reeled in a "shark"

Our son caught this fish at

Our daughter with her sunflowers that she planted in March 2008.

We were in our flower shop.  I was working, they were sitting on the loveseat watching t.v.  All of a sudden I heard a scream.  I thought one of them had hurt themselves..   Nope!  My little girl had looked out of the window and saw something yellow where her sunflowers were.  She ran out of the shop and straight to the garden to see her newly grown sunflower. 

Our children will eat everything we grow in our garden if they see it grow and get to help pick it.  If they know it comes from the grocery store they want eat it.

KITE FLYING ADVENTURES

January 11, 2008

Our daughter

Our Son

What a BLAST we all had!  We do this often with our Children.  We want them to know that they ALWAYS come first.