WARNING: GOBS OF WEEKEND PICTURES!

I have tons of pics to look at from our weekend. I had wanted to attend the Sword Conference one day last week and thought it would be Monday or Tuesday, but it ended up being Thursday, which was the best day for me anyway. It was all kind of last minute. I've never really driven anywhere more than thirty minutes away without Bruce, so I wanted someone to go with me. I knew that Mander needed this trip as much as I did so I asked Mrs. Janet if I found some people to go with me, could we take the church van. She said yes and I called Pam to see if she wanted to take her kids. Everyone else was working or had something to do that day. So the eight of us hit the road.

Brother Norris Belcher's sermon was on "Where Are The Other Nine?" This was a great message taken from the story of the ten lepers. And how we need to keep the main thing, the main thing. Quit worrying about what other Christians are doing, or rather NOT doing, and just continue in the work of the Lord. Stay focused on what He expects of YOU and not what He expects of someone else.

Celine won a prize for the most well behaved in her class. I wasn't surprised.

Group pic: Caleb, Hannah, Harrison, Celine, Pam, Nicole, Mander

Pam, me, Mander

When it was time for lunch, we ran Pam and her kids to Wendy's to purchase their lunch and headed back to the church. I figured that since Gospel Light had a school, there had to be a playground there. I was right and we had it all to ourselves. The weather was nice and the frosties Mrs. Pam bought for us were delish!

One of the highlights of this trip was seeing Rachel and her family. She is like a sister to me. I can't even tell you what she means to me. She's always been there when I needed advice or needed someone to pray or just needed someone to giggle with. And when she says she'll pray....she really does. I just love her so much. AND! For those of you who don't know, she's Courtney's mother from Courtney's Contemplations.

And an added bonus at the conference was seeing Naomi, Rachel's sister. She and her family are from West Virginia and she is so sugary sweet. Although, she WAS in the above picture, but she threatened my life if I didn't crop it out. So I did. LOL (((HUGS FOR NAOMI!))) We've had the privilege of spending time in their home in West Virginia and have such sweet memories of that. The beauty in the front there is precious Anna. Does she not have the CUTEST little face?

Courtney and I got in trouble so they locked us up. It was all her fault, I'm telling you. She was my flower girl and is now in the process of planning her own wedding. I guess she had to sow some wild oats before she gets married to that Georgia boy. And look where it got us!


Hey, y'all like that hat? She loves lime green and from what I hear she loves that Georgia boy too, who happens to like all that cowboy stuff. So I had to get her this hat. She looked good in it, but the bars take something away from it.

I guess Donna Janey (second Hutson sister) couldn't make it to the conference, so Alan Camperson (Curtis Hutson's grandson) filled her spot with his mother, Sherry and Aunt Kay. They sounded wonderful together.

Shelton Smith, Editor of the Sword of the Lord.

The choir

Brother Jim and his two oldest boys showed up for the evening service. He's saying, "Hi Bruce!"


The boys: Caleb, Seth, Stephen, Jonathan, and Joshua there in the back. I don't know who the little guy is. Sorry. Stephen is also getting married soon. As a matter of fact, he's getting married about a month after Courtney. I had to give him a hard time for that. After all, Rachel is going to lose her two oldest children within a few weeks of each other.

*poor Rachel*

Rachel and Brother Jim

Naomi...I was hoping to get a pic of her and her husband, Brother John, but as soon as service let out, he made his way out for tomato sandwiches. Oh well...next time.

The beautiful girls, Anna, Courtney, and Bethany. Very good, Bethany...stay focused on the camera. ;)

Courtney, Harrison, Hannah, Bethany, and Anna

We had a good time at the conference hearing good messages, making memories and catching up with friends.

We got home about 2:00 Friday morning. I was up at 7:30, vacuumed the van and returned it to the church. Then cleaned mom's house. I was so tired, but looking forward to our evening with the L family.

We hung out in their remodeled garage and it was so much fun! Mike and Kim had scads of food. We brought everything for hotdogs and they did the burgers and fries. Wow, were those burgers good! You can't find 'em that good in a restaurant.

Mike did homemade fries too. They were seasoned to perfection after he pressed the potatoes through his new press and fried them in his deep fryer. YUM!


Everyone seemed to be enjoying their supper!

And Mike did two things of homemade ice cream. One was strawberry banana and the other was peach. Ohhhh, they were good!

We also played a game or ten of UNO. I wish we had kept score.

I'm not sure what they were playing, but Hannah had a sneaky look on her face.

They broke out the Wii games and that was a lot of fun. Now I want the Wii Fit! Here is Bruce playing golf.

We had a wonderful time and, again, didn't get home and in the bed until the wee hour of the morning! Thanks, Mike and Kim, Taylor and Madison. We had a wonderful time with y'all.

Bruce played some real golf with his brothers Saturday morning and then went to cut his mother's grass. While he was at his mom's, I went to pick up this box from freecycle. Freecycle is an online community site where people in my county and surrounding counties give things away that they don't want to throw away or bother taking to Goodwill. I receive emails of things people are giving away or looking for and when I saw someone was giving away some light covers I jumped on it. I really only needed one for the boy's room, but there were two and so I decided to replace my chandelier with one and put it on Freecycle. The light covers are really nice. Bruce will put them up sometime next week. The other thing in the box was this darling picture. The frame is rulers and the picture is a one room school. It is SO pretty, I love it! Look up Freecycle on the Internet and see if there's one in your county.

I went grocery shopping after I picked up from Freecycle. The kids put the groceries away while I laid down. I was feeling very bad and HAD been all day. When I got up, we went to a birthday party for "Little Joe."

The little ones had a BALL in this pool

Some of the older kids played Monopoly.

Mrs. Janet was learning to fly. lol

Mander and Carissa

Me and baby Ethan. He's the youngest of six and such a content little fellow. Wow, I look whipped, huh? I probably could have used a little longer nap. lol


Cameron was really enjoying that hotdog!

The birthday boy ate his hotdog from the top instead of the side.....obviously.

Amy, of course, made this Thomas the Train cake. God has blessed her with such a talent. She does some awesome cakes!

Present time!!

We bought him the Travel Aqua Doodle. You fill the pen with water and they can draw on the inside. As it dries, the picture disappears. No mess! We mommies like no mess!

Ethan was enjoying his toes. Can you do that? Yeah....me neither.

Little Joe LOVED his tricycle. But bless his heart, everyone wanted a turn on it and he was the last one to get on it. Poor thing.



Mom and daddy were at church this morning. It was wonderful seeing them in their usual place. It touched me to see daddy raise his hands in praise and shed tears because of how good God is!

Tonight we said goodbye to our missionaries, Brother and Sister Brackeen. We have supported them for many years while they've worked in Russia. Their son and daughter-in-law are members of our church and we love that whole family. They've been home for six months and may not get to go back into Russia. They won't know until they get there. I believe God will get them through with no problem. Their heart is there in Russia and they long to spread the gospel.

They were shaking hands at the doors after church. I snagged a quick shot and I guess it was too quick because Brother Brackeen's eyes were closed. hehe

We were surprised and glad to see Holly and Katie from 2 Sister's blog, their mom Lisa from A Place to Land, and their dad there tonight. I wish their family could attend every service, but we understand they can't do that. They live FAR away from the church.

We start VBS tomorrow night. So be looking for more pics to come!