Monday Meanderings

Why call this post Monday Meanderings? Because it's Monday and I'm wandering all over the place with this post. So....

I'll be hanging out with my mom tonight at her house. Eating supper and whatever else. I'm looking forward to it. Love my mom!! She's the best. A few other ladies will be there too, so we'll be sure to have a great time, I know.

Remember when I blogged about Harrison's iPod Touch he was saving up for and bought? Then a few weeks ago (sometime before Christmas) it stopped working. So we finally got around to calling Apple today and they are sending us to their Apple store in Charlotte. They'll run a few tests on it and if they can't get it to run, they'll replace it for him. That's good to know. I'm glad I bought that warranty! Harry will be happy to get his iPod back and start playing the games he had on there.

I bought Bruce the Kindle Fire for Christmas. I'm beginning to think I should have asked him for one, myself. I really like his. I haven't messed with it much, but I love all the features he's been showing me. Maybe if I'm good between now and my birthday, he'll get me one. That's a long time for me to be good, though. So we'll have to wait and see. LOL

Justin is off on Mondays, so when Bruce and I got back home from the gym, I started cooking lunch. Since Bruce works second shift, I try to cook a hot lunch so we have a sit down meal together as a family. Monday is about the only day we get to do this, unless you count Sunday, which I really don't, because my two older ones don't always come home with us after the morning service. I enjoyed having my whole family at the table, laughing and talking together. I live for those moments! :)

I took some videos of our youth choir singing last night. Lord willing I'll be able to get those uploaded to Youtube soon. When I do, I'll post them here. They were asked to sing at a service next weekend for Brother Chris Emory. We're looking forward to it. We love Brother Emory and his family, and the people there at his church.

This weekend we have our all nighter with the youth. It's been a while since I've pulled an all nighter and I'm not sure I'll make it. But we'll see. I'm looking forward to it, nonetheless. Lunar golf, bowling, and then games and snacks at our church's gym. Should be a good time.

And that's it for today. Trying to get back into this whole blogging thing is a killer sometimes. But I have to admit that I am finding it easier to write about things the more I do blog. Hope y'all have a great evening. I know I'm going to!

Blessings Upon Blessings

Today was full of blessings. Brother Eddie Davis is preaching our revival and preached the BEST sermon, There is a River. I cried off and on through that whole sermon. Many people were touched through the preaching of the Word this morning. And if you're in the area, we'll be having service tonight at 6:00 and each night, through Wednesday, at 7:00. Come join us.
There is a family that has been coming to church. I have watched these people and can really see the Lord on their lives. They are a sweet story. The mom just got saved a few weeks ago. And the daughter came forward to get saved this morning, before the preaching got underway. If you knew their story, you'd be crying like I did when I saw that daddy walk behind his daughter to the alter with his Bible in hand. It was just precious!
Having a baptism after services tonight. I really can't wait to see what the Lord is going to do.
~~~~~
My mother was in attendance this Sunday. She's been sick with bronchitis this past week. She was in Virginia with her sisters for several weeks before that, so it was nice having her back in the services today. And I'm glad to have celebrated her sixty-third birthday with her, this past Friday. Bruce and I took her to her choice of restaurants, then back to our house for cake and ice cream. After that, she took Hannah and Harry to her house, where Justin joined them after he got off work. And when I was done doing my Friday errands, I joined them all at her house for a hot dog supper and a movie. We had a great day with her and hope she enjoyed our company as much as we enjoyed hers.
~~~~~
Justin had an agility test at a fire department this past Friday. He did good and they called him back for an interview this coming Tuesday. So proud of him. It's a part time position, but it's definitely a foot in the door and I know if it's the Lord's will, then God will open that door a little wider at just the right time.
~~~~~
Someone very dear to our hearts bought mom a new washer and dryer for her birthday. It was a tremendous blessing to her and she is so excited to know that it will be delivered this week. I'm happy for her. My dryer still dried clothes great, but it was old as the hills and made the LOUDEST noise while drying. So she gave us her dryer. It was like night and day when I dried clothes in it yesterday. LOL Earlier this year, the Lord gave us a practically brand new washing machine. So this year, the Lord gave us a "new to us" washer and dryer set. And that's a blessing to us.
~~~~~
Harrison is doing GREAT with his new curriculum this year. He's up and hitting the books at 6:00am. He'll do three subjects, check his work, make corrections, and then go back to bed for an hour or so. He'll get back up, do his chores, finish his last two subjects, and he's done by or just shortly after 1:00. He's doing great. He's struggling in Math, but only because he needs to master some things. So we've stopped everything until he's done that. No point in going on until he has the knowledge to move on. That's another reason I love homeschooling. You can stop and concentrate on what's important. Bless his heart, he hates math. But I'll be honest, he gets it honestly. It was never, EVER my favorite subject!
~~~~~
Hannah is doing great also. Sometimes I just watch her working away and can't believe that she has one more year of high school left. It can be a little depressing when I think about it, but I am so proud of her and the young lady she has become. She is so independent and I know that she is going to do good, in whatever the Lord leads her in doing.
~~~~~
Bruce's job is still going strong. He's been working six days since January. Since he's been on second, it has been a great blessing for family time in the morning/afternoon hours. We are still praying the Lord will open that first shift position for him and we believe He will in the near future. I have enjoyed having him home at night. He worked third for so long, it's been different having him to curl up to at night. But I have gotten some great sleep and am actually on a normal sleep schedule, which I didn't have for the last few years. I have to say, I like it!!
~~~~~

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in
Christ:

Ephesians 1:3

R & R

Bruce and I took Hannah and Harry on a weekend trip to Myrtle Beach. We love this time of year. For one thing, all the kids are back in school and everything seems so deserted. The weather is getting cool it's just a great time to go. This was our first family get away where Justin could not be with us because he had to work. We are so very thankful he has a job, but we sure did miss him on this trip.
Bruce was doing his "Uncle Rico" impression here. LOL Anyway... we enjoyed some good eats.

And, of course, what trip isn't complete until you stop at a Krispy Kreme?? You know what the red light means!!

This is the front view of our hotel. We stay here everytime we go and we are never disappointed.

This was the view from our balcony.

Despite the cool winds that first night, the children still enjoyed some swim time.

Although I love the ocean and the beauty of it, I don't usually put my feet in. If I do, I don't go far. Bruce and Hannah, on the other hand, love to body surf. So they did a lot of that while Harrison hunted shells and sharks teeth.

We woke up to beautiful sunrises...

Watched gorgeous sunsets...

And were simply amazed at how bright the moon shone down on the ocean. It was just lovely!

So glad we were able to get away and enjoy a few days of solitude. With Bruce working six days a week all year, he really needed it and I'm glad he was able to go and just chill for a while. He has recently gone to second shift and I really couldn't be happier. His goal is to get to first, but that may be way down the road from now. Right now we're happy he's on second. I have to admit that I've been sleeping so much better now that he's home at night. He's worked third for so many years, I had no idea how bad my sleep habits were until he went to second. LOL

We officially begin our homeschool year on Wednesday. I'm looking forward to it and I think the kids are ready to hit the books again, too.

I have two photo shoots going on this weekend. One is for some high school senior pictures and the other is a charity event for cancer patients. I'm looking forward to both.

My business cards came in while we were on vacation. They turned out super! I was so glad. I made them at Vistaprints.com. They are really great.

So that's about all there is to say today. I actually have tons more, just don't have time to say it. So... there ya have it.

Hope y'all have a great week!

Psalm 69:34 "Let the heaven and earth praise Him, the seas, and everything
that moveth therein."

Family Reunion

We had a family reunion back in July. July 4th, actually. It was so much fun. I had seen my cousins for the first time in over thirty years back at Thanksgiving and had the privilege of seeing them again at the reunion. They are so much fun and I love them very much. There was a lot of silliness going on with these glasses. I'm pretty sure there were at least fifteen of us that took pictures with them on. lol This is my cousin Gary and my little cousin.

Bruce enjoyed playing Corn Hole and Horseshoes.

My cousin Steve.

The reunion was at my uncle's house. His land is surrounded by gorgeous mountains. It was lovely.

My mom and her siblings. It was so good seeing my Aunts and Uncle. And boy did they ever cook up some food!! There was so much food, it was like Maw Maw was alive again. They all learned to cook just like her!

It was wonderful being with the family for the day and I hope we get to see them again soon. There were about thirty of us there. I love them all and pray for them.

Comment Season Is Now Open

Now that summer is pretty well over and things are settling down around here, I've enabled comments and hope to hear from you soon.
There has been so much that I haven't gotten to blog about!! I admit I've missed it. I hope I can get back into the swing of things.
We took our youth group to a camp ground the first few days of last week and had our own camp meeting with them. Spencer preached the first day, and Pastor preached the second. The services were sweet and we had a great time. The more Spencer preaches, the more he sounds like his dad. It's just amazing. What a blessing it was to hear him!

We spent one day at Dollywood. Bruce and I were playing it safe until after we ate supper at Aunt Granny's. Then we went straight to the Thunderhead roller coaster. What was I thinking? Never eat a meal and then board a roller coaster. That is so not a good idea!!

We had two families join our church today. That was a blessing. I'm looking forward to getting to know one family better and just slap happy that the other family has come back home. We've been seeing a lot of that this year and it's been good to see those familiar faces we've missed seeing, come walking through the doors. Welcome home S&U!! :)

Today would have been my dad's 66th birthday. To be honest, I've tried not to think about the dates in this month. Just taking each day as it came, never noticing the calendar. So when Mrs. Janet stood next to me in the choir and said, "Ain't today your daddy's birthday?" It dawned on me that, yes, it is. And of course a few tears snuck out. My heart breaks, but it also rejoices in the fact that daddy is celebrating more today than he ever had to celebrate here.

We had two wonderful services today. In between those services I ended up going shopping with Harrison. Somewhere between last Sunday and this Sunday he grew out of this dress pants. The boy has gone up three pant sizes this summer. It's crazy! Just one of those things, huh?

I can't stop yawning so I guess I'll turn in for the day. I hope each of you had a wonderful day with the Lord!!

Pictures, Camp Meeting, And Other Stuff

I had a couple of photo shoots this week and last week. They were so much fun!! This week, I photographed this little cutie. He is so precious. His mom told me that she had talked to him and told him I was coming. He was such a good little boy. We handled and moved and flipped him so much, and yet he kept the sweetest disposition through it all. I think he liked having his picture taken. Our lives are crazy busy these days and so I haven't had time to edit them all. I'm hoping to have them finished tomorrow.
I also enjoyed one of our newest members at church going with me. She is a sweetheart. When she found out I enjoyed taking pictures, she brought me her photo album to look at so I asked if she'd like to join me on this shoot. After all, who doesn't like taking pictures of pretty babies? So I'm glad she came with Hannah and me. She's a pure joy to be around.

Last weekend I had a ball taking pictures with my gorgeous niece, Jessica, and her handsome fella, Brandon. For the most part when taking pictures, people never really know how to stand, they don't know what to wear, they want to know if I want them smiling... you get the idea. But Brandon had it all worked out in his head how he wanted everything. He wanted them to wear matching clothes, knew some of the poses he wanted, had places picked out for their photo shoot. It was kind of funny, but really sweet too.

This was just a test shot, but I fell in love with it. She's so beautiful. Inside and out.

~~~~~~
We spent the 4th of July at my Uncle's house for a family reunion on my mom's side. He lives in the Lake Lure area on a beautiful piece of land surrounded by mountains on every side. I got to see all my Aunts and Uncles, with the exception of one, and also got to see most of my cousins and their families. It was just wonderful! We made it home to enjoy a little resting time then headed to town for the fireworks display. As usual they were just beautiful.
~~~~~~
We found out Brother Mark Stroud was preaching at the Greer Baptist Camp Meeting, so we gathered up some teenagers on the bus and headed down there. I tried to think of a word to describe it, but the only word I can say is *good*. So, so, GOOD! From the choir singing to the WORD of God preached, it was Holy Ghost filled. We have another meeting we're going to next week and I'm looking forward to that. Then we'll have VBS and then our Tennessee trip. We'll be going to a campground where we'll be having our own camp meeting. We did this last year and it was just amazing how the Lord moved in the lives of the youth. The preacher boys preach, the kids play instruments and sing and it is such a blessing and sweet time of fellowship.
And that's it for now. I hope y'all have a great weekend. I know I intend to!

Just Bubbling With Excitement!!

I turn the BIG 40 today. Someone asked me this morning how it felt to be forty. Well, about the same as it felt yesterday when I was thirty-nine. LOL
I've always loved my birthdays and this year is no different. I am too blessed to be stressed over age!! God has been good to me and if He allows me another forty years, I'll be praising Him still.
I wrote a little poem last night just for the day. Here it is:
I'll be forty today, 'tis no lie. Like some I could sit and boo hoo and cry
but instead I think I'll take the day, and yell, "YEE HAW, I got something' to say!
I am not feeble, I am not old, 'You look so young' I'm often told.
So please no sympathy for me, I like my birthday, if fills me with glee.
Yeah, I'm forty and feelin' real great, a lot of it's due to my special mate.
I'm looking forward to another great year, 'cause forty-one is nothing to fear."
~~~~~~
Justin will be here soon. He and Jeremy should be pulling in anytime. I know they've had a great week at camp and I can't wait to hear about it. I've been overly excited just thinking about it. He'll be home all next week before returning for the summer. So I'm looking forward to having my boy home a few days. His phone isn't working and, of course, they don't have Internet access where he's at. So we don't get to communicate. That would explain why I'm so excited to see him, I guess. I've missed him. Our whole family has.
~~~~~~
Our church is having dinner on the grounds this Sunday after the morning worship service. This will be our first churchwide event since the new building has been completed. We're looking forward to that and I'm sure I'll have pictures to share with you later.
~~~~~~
Then Monday we'll be going toward Lake Lure to spend the day at my Uncle's home. My mom's brothers and sisters will be there, with my cousins and their families. Some of them I've only met through facebook and some of them I've seen once in thirty years. I am so looking forward to it. It will be so nice seeing everyone.
~~~~~~
I hope your fourth of July weekend is as exceptional as mine is going to be. Our country has taken some different paths and I feel we are losing touch.....no.....lost touch.....with the God that it was founded upon. But we still live in the greatest country ever. I am thankful to be an American. I am thankful to be a child of God.
~~~~~~
“It can not be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians, not on religions, but on the gospel of Jesus Christ!”
~*~Patrick Henry~*~

A Tuesday Funny

The house was quiet last night when we heard Bruce speak up and say, "Hannah, the city of Oz called. They want their socks back."

Mother's Day Weekend

Our Mother's Day weekend was special. Bruce decided to have our mothers over for a cookout on Saturday. He grilled the BEST steaks. They were delicious. He had baked potatoes with all kinds of fixin's, salad, rolls, and dessert. He pretty well thought of everything.
We bought our moms, each, a new Willow Tree angel for their collections along with some other little gifts we thought they'd like. Mom's angel was listening to a sea shell and Marie's was holding a little boy in her arms. They're really pretty.
I can't remember what Bruce said to crack his mom up, but I loved this sweet picture of them.


And here's one of me and my mom. Doesn't she look pretty in her pink and black?

It was a great time celebrating the lives of our moms and what they mean to us.

When they left, Bruce and I went to an Antique mall we heard about. I enjoyed looking at everything, but nothing really jumped out at me. Bruce found a book there that made him happy. We also went to a book store he likes to frequent. We had planned on going out on a date Saturday night, but both of us had stayed up way too late on Friday night. I think it was after 4:00 in the morning that we finally ended up going to bed. So we went home for a late nap and spent the rest of the evening enjoying some family time.

~~~~~~~~~~

Sunday was wonderful. Pastor brought the message on how you never really hear the names of women mentioned in the genealogies, but there were five women mentioned in Matthew 1's genealogy he wanted to preach about. It was so good and what a great message of how God's grace overcame impossible situations in their lives. There was a woman saved before the preaching began and a man saved during the invitation. Praise the LORD!

Mom invited us to eat Sunday dinner at a local Asian restaurant. We enjoyed the food and fellowship, and we ran into a family we just love, who told us about the great service they had at their church. Isn't it good to know that Christ can do His work among His people, even when one group is in Shelby and the other in Kings Mountain? That's how God works!

The evening service was good too. We were able to see three baptized and it was a blessing and joy to see them make that open profession of faith and statement to follow Christ.

I love being a mom and I love my babes! They gave me a necklace and earring set they had made for me, and some other little goodies. And Bruce gave me a gift card to my favorite clothing store. We never, EVER go out on Sunday nights after church because Bruce works third shift and likes to come straight home and chill before he has to go in. But he wanted to make up our date night and took me to Dairy Queen for a burger basket and blizzard out on the DQ patio. The weather was nice and we ran into a lot of people we know from our church and a few other churches in the area. It was great time.

I hope all you great moms out there had a wonderful Mother's Day like I sure did.

Lots and Lots of Pictures!

Today is Mother's Day. I hope all of you wonderful mothers had a good day with your children. I know I did. We had a cookout yesterday with our moms and honored them. And then today we went out to eat with my mom after church. Two souls were saved in church this morning and we're baptizing some tonight. I'm looking forward to that!!

Just wanted to share some pictures of the last couple of weeks. There's a good many of them.
The next couple of weeks I'll be busy taking pictures of two seniors, planning Hannah's Sweet Sixteen party, which is this coming Saturday, and several others things on my agenda. Everything is pretty well set for Hannah's party, I just need to get busy on the food end of things. Speaking of food...the pictures begin with my devil's food chocolate cupcakes and malted eggs. I love malted candies. These looked "sweet" nested a-top the cupcakes too.

My mother-in-law enjoyed one.

This was Easter weekend. We had dinner at mom's house. It was fantastic!!

My sister-in-law Jenny and my beautiful niece, Jessica. I love them.

Jessica graduates from the police academy this week. My brother, John and Bruce, were playing with her fake gun.

This was the combined choir at the Zion Hill youth revival. They sounded spectacular!

Daughters of Faith sang that night. I love to hear them sing, There is a Remedy. Beautiful words to that song, if you've never heard it.

Some shoutin'!

The Simpson family....I loooooOOOOOooooove them!

Brother and Sister Spears. They sang a song I have never heard before and I would really love to hear it again and find out where it came from. They were such a sweet couple.

Preacher #1 that night was a young man that started in fourth gear and finished in fourth gear. He was something! His sister got saved after LeAnna gave a testimony about her salvation. You never know when someone is going through the same thing you struggled with that led up to your salvation.

The second preacher up was Brother Spears. He was fantastic! Would love to hear more from him. I hope we see him often in some different meetings.

Here are some pics from the Crossroad's Rescue Mission Jubilee. When all else fails...when you've been let down...JESUS IS ENOUGH! And He sure was the week of Jubilee!

Gotta have KFC buckets for the offering under an old fashioned tent!

Some silly people I saw at the meeting....

Lots of fellowshipping and playing with babies.

And let's not forget the Sun Drop. MMmmm!

Precious times....

A shoutin' time!!

A humble time....

A testimony time.

We heard some great singing that week from the Rochester Family....

The Crossroad's Rescue Mission men choir...

Vintage Faith Bulegrass....

Faith Baptist Youth Choir...

Daughter's of Faith....

Missy and Amanda...

Brother Compton....

And others, but I can't remember their names. LOL

The singing was really good. But the best part of the meeting was the preaching. Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God! Several precious souls were saved during the week of jubilee. I thank God for that!

My favorite preacher of the week was my very own Pastor.

Brother Williamson lets. it. fly, boy! I'm tellin' ya!! He's really good.

My niece took this pic of our family Easter Sunday. Harrison dislocated his knee the week before, hence his leg being bent.

My mom loves her hats and doesn't she look precious in this one? If you'll look at the pictures above her, that's my daddy on the top right. This was his first Easter in Heaven. We missed him, but praise God we know we'll see him again.