Local Field Trip Day

Hannah has spent the week in Tennessee with my mom, visiting my Aunt Janice. They've had a really good time. They were able to visit Brother Tony Hutson's church, Middle Tennessee Baptist, Wednesday night. My Aunt loved it and is looking forward to visiting again on Sunday with mom and Hannah. They've decided to stay a couple of extra days and won't be home until sometime Monday evening. I'll be glad to see my baby girl again.

Harrison and I decided to take a field trip today to our local museum. We didn't know what the exhibit was until we got there. It was the Girl Scouts from the year they started to present date. It was interesting to see how the badges and uniforms have changed over the years. They had a table set up where you could make a paper pocket knife so we did that. I told Harrison it gave a whole new meaning to a paper cut.

Next we stopped at the Library. For some reason, both Harrison and I were not in the system and we ended up having to get new library cards. Which was fine. Harrison finally checked out two books he's been dying to get for months. Everytime we go, the entire series is checked out. So he was glad there were two there and has enjoyed reading them today.

After the library we met Bruce at Love's Fish Box for lunch. Love's is the BEST fish camp in our area, in our opinion. We had a great lunch together and then home for a little rest before Bruce had to leave for work.

A friend came over for a visit this afternoon and it was so nice to sit and chat for a while. I enjoyed it very much!

Now we're just waiting on Justin to get back from practicing with one of the groups at church. I know he'll be exhausted when he gets here. He's been up a long time today and I'm sure he'll be ready to hit the sack when he gets home.

I'm outta here. Y'all have a good night/morning/evening.... whatever. :D

Homeschool

Gotta love homeschooling. Yesterday, while in the flow of school work, I asked Harrison why Cain killed Abel. His reply was that Cain was jealous of Abel because God would not accept his sacrifice of vegetables. Hannah chimed in with, "And NO one likes vegetables!"

School is going pretty good. Harrison still has the "don't want summer to be over so let's just don't do school" blues. The other day we didn't finish school work until ten minutes after 6:00. Needless to say I was a little put out. But amazingly kept my cool. I did ponder on it a while. It's not that he couldn't do the work. It's not that too many things were going on. He just allowed himself to daydream and chatter the day away. So I had to threaten him with the bike trip we're going on this weekend. I told him that I was not going to have my days upset everyday like that and that he better stay focused. That his school work should be finished, at the very latest, by 2:00. And that if it wasn't finished by 2:00 every day this week, he would not go on the bike trip this Saturday. So he's been up at 6:00 the last couple of days and has three subjects finished by the time we normally start school. And the biggest plus out of this little journey is that yesterday when he completed all of his school work by 11:30 he smiled at me and said, "You know, I like getting my work done this early. I have the rest of the day for 'Harrison stuff!'" So see... a little motivation is always a good thing!

Hannah, on the other hand, gets right to it. She rises when the alarm clock goes off, does her chores, eats her breakfast, and hits the books. Maybe Harry will learn by her example, also.

Speaking of the bike trip, we'll be going with our Sunday School class down the Virginia Creeper Trail. I LOVE that bike ride. It's twenty-two miles down the Creeper Trail and it is absolutely beautiful. There are several bike rentals in the area or you can bring your own. They load you up in a van and take you to the top of the trail and let you out. You take as long as you want coming down through the mountain side. There are shaded tree trails that run by creeks and rivers, through valleys, old homesteads... it is really one of my favorite things to do. I think we've gone every year for the last three or four years and have a blast every time. So we're all looking forward to it.

And that's enough for today. I have a mountain of laundry, some vacuuming (among other household chores), and school work to grade. Have a great day!

Life's Little Blessings

Another friend of ours had their baby the other day. Hannah and I went to see him and he is an adorable little guy. Well, he's really not so little. He actually came into this world weighing 9.14 and 21 inches long. He has the most adorable little cheeks. I forgot to ask his mom if I could post his picture here. So when I get a chance, if she says it's all right, I'll do that. But even his little chin is pudgy and perfectly round. He's such a doll. Please say a prayer for his mom who is recovering from a c-section and very low iron. I know she'd appreciate the prayers.

After seeing the baby, we went to the mall. We had lunch at Subway. I love their grilled chicken on flat bread. I always get onions on it, but the smell of their onions stay with me all day. But you know what? It's still yummy.

We went to Dillard's after lunch and Hannah found her a pair of Sperries. She ended up having to order her size and they should be here soon. I know she'll be happy when they get here.

Then after shopping we ran an errand and stopped off at Bruce's Aunt Dessie's house for a little visit. We were pleasantly surprised to find Aunt Sue there, although she was recovering from a little eye surgery. It did not stop Aunt Dessie from finding Aunt Sue reading, though. She's an avid reader and even with one eye she's keeping up with her books. That must be where Hannah gets it from.

Aunt Dessie has a new hobby of making picture videos so we sat down with her and Aunt Sue and watched a few videos she has put together. They were fun to watch and a LOT of fun to watch with Aunt Sue and Aunt Dessie. Those two are real characters and will keep you laughing.

Aunt Dessie showed me the program she uses for making her CD/DVD labels and then let me borrow the program. I'm really excited about that because I've been looking for a good program to make CD labels for KLM Photography. I'm hoping it will run on my computer. I'm sure it will and I'm excited about trying it out.

We stopped at my mother in law's house on the way home and visited with her for a while. We had a good visit. Hannah is talking her into teaching her how to crochet. We'll get what she needs this weekend. I know Hannah will be good at that and she'll enjoy learning and making new things.

After a day of fun visits we came home and fixed a HUGE supper of deviled egg salad sandwiches. haha Truthfully, it doesn't sound like much, but Bruce loves 'em and would eat 'em every meal if I made them. Hannah made this batch last night. My mother in law came over and had a sandwich with us. Then she took Hannah back to her house for the night. So I'm guessing they watched movies, talked, and no doubt, Marie got up to cooking breakfast. That is, if Hannah didn't get up cooking before her.

Bruce has been working six days but he's off this weekend...and next...and took off next Friday for my birthday. YAY! So we're going to enjoy our weekend together and just chill. Well, he'll actually be working on a project he promised Hannah. She has a futon in her room and it takes up a good bit of space. She he's making a new frame for her bed to raise it up in the air and we'll put her futon under it. She's really excited about that. She'll have a place for her friends to spend the night when they come over.

I'll be taking our junior campers to camp this Sunday. Jeremy's fiance is going with me. It'll give us a chance to see Justin and Jeremy and find out how things are going up there. I'm looking forward to driving the campers and riding with Ashley. She is such a sweet girl.

And that's it for now. I've done two loads of laundry and have three more ahead of me. Hope y'all have a great weekend!

Of Busy Weekends and EMT Pinnings

It's going to be a busy weekend!
The children are at mom's house today. Harrison is going to hang out with her while Justin takes Hannah on some errands. I'm doing laundry and getting ready to run to the post office to mail tests and other things.
Oh yes, tests....Hannah and Harrison finished their testing and so we now have a high school junior and a sixth grader. AHhhhh
Tomorrow, I will, most likely, be helping set up for the SIGMA Banquet, which is this Saturday, then a trip to Clover with my friend, Rebecca, and then a graduation in Blacksburg, which I totally forgot about until I was typing this. Shhh, don't tell her. It's going to be a run-run day tomorrow!! lol
Friday is packed with my usual Friday things. Groceries, gassing up the car, running errands.... And then Saturday we'll be cleaning house and getting ready for the banquet.
On Sunday, we will be attending the homecoming at our former church, Liberty. We're looking forward to seeing the people there and having a time of fellowship with them. Then Sunday night is our graduation service. We take time to honor our graduates before the preaching. It's always a great service. And then we'll have a reception for the high school graduates with the youth group.
Congratulations, Raven, Clayton, and James. We look forward to seeing what you do next!
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Justin was pinned last night for his EMT. I didn't get to go. But someone took pictures, so here's a few.

Good job, Justin! Keep up the hard work. :)
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It looks like some doors are opening for him to do something for the Lord this summer. We're praying about it with him. He's been praying about it for a year or so now. He "laid out his fleece" for June 6th. So keep him in your prayers and we'll see what happens.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Judges 6:37-40, "Behold, I will put a fleece of wool in the floor; and if
the dew be on the fleece only, and it be dry upon all the earth beside, then
shall I know that thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as thou hast said. And it
was so: for he rose up early on the morrow, and thrust the fleece together, and
wringed the dew out of the fleece, a bowl full of water. And Gideon said unto
God, Let not thine anger be hot against me, and I will speak but this once: let
me prove, I pray thee, but this once with the fleece; let it now be dry only
upon the fleece, and upon all the ground let there be dew. And God did so that
night: for it was dry upon the fleece only, and there was dew on all the
ground."

Friendly

Click here for pictures from Hannah's Sweet Sixteen. We had a great time. Thank you, to everyone that made her night special.

Friendly:

"A man that hath friends must shew himself friendly: and there
is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother."

Proverbs 18:24

Only God Knows

ATTITUDE

"He that hath no rule over his own spirit is
like a city that is broken down, and without walls."

Proverbs 25:28

Mom gave Harrison some laminated cards on a key ring that belonged to daddy. Each one has a different word with a verse that goes with it. So he's been studying and learning those words and verses. I thought I'd start sharing them with y'all too.

We've had a good week so far. Hannah's party went well this past Saturday. There were eighty-three people that showed up and we had a really good time! I have pictures, but to be honest, I haven't even looked at them on my camera, much less loaded them to my computer. I've been so busy editing senior pics for James I just haven't had time. But now since I'm through with that I'll post her party pictures soon. We had plenty of food and drinks and I loved Hannah's music playlist. I love that she enjoys Godly singing and instrumentals.

Today is her actual birthday. She and I spent most of the morning and afternoon shopping. We had lunch at Fatz and then did a little more shopping before heading home. She found some cute things and so did I.

Brother Ben Mayo and his family were at our church again tonight. They've visited a few times recently and they are always a blessing. Pastor always gets him to sing and tonight was no different, except that his son and daughter sang with him. They were so good and we received a blessing from them. I hope we see more of them.

Pastor Goodman preached a good message tonight and then after his message he had some things to say about this man predicting the end of the world on Saturday, May 21, at 6:00. This guy is crazy. But without going into all the things he is wrong on Scriptually, Matthew 24:36 says, "But of that day and hour knoweth NO MAN, no, not the angels of Heaven, but MY FATHER ONLY." There is nothing in the Bible that reveals the Lord's coming. But He could come tonight and He could come Thursday or even Friday.

Are you ready?

Of Senior Pictures and More Sweet Sixteen Stuff

Justin and I took James, a young man in our church, out and about town today for his senior pics. We had a good time and I'm looking forward to showing him all of his great pictures.

James is a good kid. He's working hard at the mission where Justin's first job was and is also involved in our bus ministry. He is a crazy...but we love him. LOL
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Hannah decided on a meal for her Sweet Sixteen party, so I ordered the meat and I'll be cooking the rest, along with the help of my mother-in-law, who graciously offered to make her delicioius potato salad. Bruce's cousin's daughter is making her cake and I'll be picking that up tomorrow, along with some shopping with Hannah, taking her to the beautician to get her hair trimmed, and then home again, home again, jiggity jig!

Now it's time to get ready for church and enjoy some time of singing, preaching, and fellowship with God's people.

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."

Driver's Ed, Life and Death, and Stress

Hannah had her first day at Driver's Ed tonight. She liked the class pretty good and came home with tons of notes for her first test tomorrow. She has the same teacher Justin had when he went and was kind of glad about it since she had already heard about him and kind of knew what to expect. He did ask her how old she was and she answered she was sixteen. Later she realized she's only fifteen and after class wanted to make sure he knew. Her birthday is just a few weeks away so she's already feeling the "sweet sixteen" age. He told her it was all right, as long as she had it right on paper, that was all that mattered. haha I wonder how interesting she will make this class for HIM! Her hair is red, but her roots are blond.

She has started blogging again. I'm sure she'll have some stories to share.

I had a good day with my mom yesterday. We had lunch together, comforted a dear friend that has just lost her sweet husband of forty + years, and welcomed my new little great nephew into the world. It is amazing how much grief and sadness you feel when someone dies, but how much joy and happiness surrounds the birth of a new little person. That's life. And death.
Romans 12:15 "Rejoice with them that do rejoice, and weep with them that weep."

I've been worried about my brother. I'm sure if he reads this he'll scold me to some point. He has MS. Today he took a blow of bad news and his stress levels were already high. Stress is very bad for MS patients, causing flair ups that can sometimes be crippling. I know he would covet your prayers. I wish there was something I could do for him. I love him so much and hate to see him going through these personal battles. But even though my hands are tied, I know that there is a God that can fight these battles for him better than I ever could.

I Do Have Other Children

I've been posting a lot about Justin lately. I figured I had better post about my other two children because I'm proud of them too. :)

Hannah will be sixteen soon. After several trips to our local high school, I was finally able to get her signed up for driver's ed. She is very excited and very nervous. Truthfully, she does not want to drive. She's always been a cautious back seat driver and most of the time reprimands me for going over the speed limit or not slowing down in a curve. Let's just say my kids have always buckled up without me having to tell them. haha It will be interesting to see how she does when it is time to be behind the wheel and not behind the person behind the wheel.

:D

Hannah's been teaching Harrison sign language and he is picking it up very quickly. I'm proud of both of them. Hannah for taking the initiative to make him her student and Harrison for being such a good student for her. She is using the book The Complete Idiot's Guide to Conversational Sign Language by Carole Lazorisak and Dawn Donohue if you want to check it out.

She is also working to earn money towards some things that SIGMA is getting ready to do. Revival camp at Brother Tony Hutson's church in Tennessee and also summer camp. She's been praying the Lord would open a door to earn money for these two things and He is already blessing her.

Harrison has started saving up for an iPod Touch. Bruce bought one with his birthday money several weeks ago and Harrison has been very intrigued by it. He just started saving up and has little over $10. That should cover the taxes.....almost. But he's pretty thrifty and very good at saving so I have no doubt he'll have his iPod Touch before we know it. He's a very determined young man.

He is growing like a weed! He's as tall as I am. Which doesn't say much because I'm slightly on the short side. But for his age he's tall. He has, both, long legs and a long torso. Just a few weeks ago I was buying him fourteens. He has outgrown those and we just went up to the sixteen/eighteens. We bought new tennis shoes and dress shoes also. He is now wearing a 7.5 to 8 in men's shoes. He's ten.

So that's it for the Hannah and Harrison update. Bruce and I are blessed with some pretty great kids. :)

Pictures

I've been playing with the equipment Bruce bought me for Christmas. I had fun shooting my kids the last couple of days.

Still wanna get some with the white and stone backgrounds. Hopefully I'll do that over the next couple of days. I want to get Justin too, but his schedule has been so weird it's going to be hard to get that time with him.

Building and Leadership Camp

Hannah started a new blog. You can check that out by clicking here.

She left for Leadership camp this week, along with four other teens from our youth group. I drove them up there with the company of my friend, Rebecca. It was a fun trip. I enjoyed it. Before we left for Leadership camp, I was happy to see workers on our church property putting up our new building. So exciting!


Brother Ronnie, Brother Wayne, Clayton, and Nathan were also working.


We made it to Leadership camp and the facilities were really nice. This was the front of the gym and where the kids registered for camp.


Hannah, James, Todd, Parker, and Justin C. The young man in the blue shirt, I believe, is someone they knew from being at Teen Camp last week.

This is the view from the side of the gym. That line there is for the zip line. fun, fun!

This was the boy's cabin.

This was the lake...obviously...tubes, water basketball, swimming...more fun, fun!

Hannah's cabin was clear on the other side of the lake. I liked these cabins.

Hannah immediately decided which bunk she wanted. Smart little cookie grabbed the bottom bunk by the door, next to the air condition vent and outlet. LOL

I'm praying the Lord will show each of the kids something more this week and that they will develop a deeper relationship with Him.

They'll be home Saturday. I look forward to hearing all about it!

They're Back!

The kids were coming home today and I wanted to make sure I degermed the house as much as possible. After the stomach virus and this horrible summer cold/flu thing, it was a definite must!

I'm still sick and didn't feel like cleaning, but I had bought these pretty pink gloves last week and forgot about them so when I opened the cleaning cabinet to retrieve some products, there they were. It made my cleaning more enjoyable.
:)

The kids called shortly after lunch and said they were just a few minutes from the church so I freshened up a bit and hit the door. I was excited about seeing them and hearing what all happened at camp this year. They were full of stories and testimony. It was a blessing.

I prayed the Lord would deal in their hearts this week and He did. Justin is stewing on some things and we'll see how that goes. The dealt with Hannah's heart also. She's going back next week to their Leadership camp for a few days. She's looking forward to that. I was glad to hear she had a desire to go to that. From what I have heard it is an intense leadership training course. I know the Lord will work on her heart some more while she's there.

It was so good to see my kids. I've missed them this week.

Justin was pleasantly surprised to see that his diploma from CCC had arrived in the mail today. So now everything is official for him.

While they laid around and napped for four hours (lol), Bruce kept our regularly scheduled date night. We went to see a man about a horse. OK, not really. But we did go see a man about a vehicle. It wasn't exactly what we were looking for, but we sure did enjoy the talk we had with him and appreciate him so much!

We ended up doing fast food tonight. We were both actually wanting a burger and ended up at Burger King. It was my idea. He was open to anywhere and I chose Burger King. I haven't had a flame broiled burger in a while. Anyway, we enjoyed our time together talking and picking on one another. Hit Wal Mart for a little bit, then a couple of stores at the mall. I did find a really cute jacket at Burke's Outlet I may go back after. I'm not usually an impulse buyer, but this was just really cute and I'm regretting not getting it. I might go back after it tomorrow. On the flip side, Bruce found him a couple of shirts he liked and bought them. I found a cute door ornament tonight. I call her my Ivy Fairy. LOL She'll be sweet hanging on my front door.

And then we came home. We're watching the picture video the kids brought home from camp. And thus concludes our Friday.

OH! By the way, we have a young preacher boy in our church that has started blogging. Brother Troy is one of my favorite preacher boys. He has such a tender heart for God and is a serious studen of the WORD! Please stop by his blog and read his posts and leave a comment if you will. He's a wonderful young man and this family loves him a whole lot!

Click here to read Walking In The Old Paths.

Off To Camp and A Couple of Pics

I dropped the kids off at the church yesterday afternoon. They left for camp between services in hopes of making it to the camp's church for their Sunday evening service. Justin and Hannah were really excited about leaving for camp. This is Justin's last year. I've been worried about Justin coming down with the virus while he's at camp. He's the only one in our family that hadn't come down with it. I really hope it stays that way. I'd hate to think of him being up there sick, away from home....his own bed. I haven't heard from them so no news is good news, right?

On the way home from dropping them off I saw this little guy perched on top of an old birdhouse. He was just singing his little heart out. I decided to call him Sunday Songbird. He was just so sweet. He definitely was feeling better than I was. I wished I could have felt like singing the way he did.

We've had several frogs hanging around our house. Mainly the front porch. Bruce and I were sitting on the porch the other night and he told me there was a frog that had been living in a bucket under one of our porch benches.

Today I decided to sit on the front porch and just watch and listen to the rain, which we haven't seen in several weeks. I glanced over to the bucket under that bench and there sat this little guy.

It rained for fifteen to twenty minutes and he sat there, just like this, the entire time. I guess he was enjoying the rain as much as I was. LOL

When the rain stopped, he fell back down into his bucket.

Later in the evening it started raining again and he decided to enjoy it one more time. This time he hopped out of the bucket and sat where the rain would hit him a little bit. When the rain stopped, he went back into his bucket.

Isn't he cute?

PULL OVER!!!

It's been a long while since we've had a stomach bug in the house. Hannah came down with it Wednesday night. Since then, Bruce and I have been feeling sick. No visual effects, but the feeling is there. It's at that point where you just wish something would hurry up and happen because feeling this way really slows a body down.

The kids were on their way to pick up some things for camp. They called and said Harrison had gotten sick and they were on their way back home to drop him off. Bless his heart. This is kind of a funny story. The more I thought about it the funnier it became until I was literally squirting tears and laughing hysterically. Poor kid...

So Justin is driving down the road. Hannah is in the passenger's seat. Harrison is in the back seat of the car lying down. The fact he was lying down would have been a good clue he wasn't feeling good. But the two teenagers in the front seat didn't pick up on it. Anyway, as they're driving down Franklin Blvd (which is three lanes both ways) Justin feels a tap on his shoulder. He turns to look at Harrison who is holding his head in such a way that THIS clue tips off both teenagers he's fixin' to hurl. Hannah begins yelling, "PULL THE CAR OVER! PULL OVER!!!" Unfortunately for all of them, there was no way or no where to stop the car with other cars whizzing by them. The only two options were to, A: let Harrison vomit in the car, or, B: roll the window down and hang his head out. They all knew option A was a really bad idea. So option B was implemented. Down goes the window, out goes Harrison's head. He immediately released the last day or so of food buildup on his stomach. Most of which ended up splattered all over the back of the car, down his car door, and the tire . I can only imagine the thoughts of the people driving by them as they watched with horror, a little boy puking his guts up riding down the blvd. Needless to say they made it back home. Harrison got sick once he walked back into the house but is now resting quietly in bed and a glass of coke within reach. Justin washed the car....obviously....and he and Hannah took off once again to finish their camp shopping.

Oh me, oh my....the things that happen in life, right?

Home

It's Wednesday night and I should be at church. But Hannah has come down with the stomach virus. It came on just a few minutes before she and Justin were going to leave for orchestra practice. Since then she's been in her bed or bowing before the porcelain throne. Bless her heart. I hope she's better soon and it doesn't go through the whole house. But I figure it's probably going to so I'm mentally ready for it. *sigh*

I've been told I'm a piece of work, so here I am as artwork. Mona ain't got nothin' on me. ha haa

We've had "Baby Girl" and "Tater Tot" the last couple of days. They're the foster daughters of some sweet people in our church. I haven't taken any pictures of them, which I really regret. I've stayed pretty busy and honestly haven't thought about it. Well, I have, but it was always when I was cleaning, doing laundry, or cooking. If they come Friday I'll have to take some. They are the cutest little girls and so sweet. We've enjoyed having them.

We had the Rohrer family over for supper last night. It looks as though they'll be moving out of state in the next week or so. It's going to be difficult packing everything up and moving to a whole new place. They started their family here. Their children have been raised in our church. All of their friends are here. They're involved in ministries here. But I know God is moving them for a reason and that He has a great church, good friends, and other ministries waiting for them where they're going.

We haven't started on our new building for the church yet. We're still waiting on some papers to arrive so we can get started on that. Seems like anytime things like this are going on, you're always waiting on "paper work." Red tape isn't all it's cracked up to be. LOL Can I just say, "HEY, RED TAPE PEOPLE, HOW 'BOUT SOME PAPERWORK ALREADY???" :) I figure it won't be too much longer.

A bloggy friend wanted to know if I had skype so she could call and talk to me about something. I do, but I was telling her the webcam on my laptop isn't working. Then I remembered I have another webcam Bruce bought me. But I can't find it. I found the little CD to install it, but the camera is no where to be found. I know it's around here somewhere. It's just a matter of where. As I finished typing that I thought of a place it's probably at. See, sometimes you just have to talk it out.

Well, I started this much earlier this evening and now here it is almost 12:00 am. I'm shutting it down and going to bed.

Goodnight, friends.

This and That and This

Harrison and I are home alone today. Well, technically, Bruce is here, but he's sleeping. So it's just me and Harry. I MIGHT...big might there... take him uptown and let him play in the fountains. Kids seem to enjoy that. Lots of fun. They just push a button and the fountains come up. Maybe we'll go ride our bikes on the Gateway trail too. He's not been feeling too great this week so I don't know if we'll do this today or not.

Hannah has been praying about something close to her heart and God has already started opening doors for her financially. She's started saving her money and is getting very excited about it. This "special something" takes place in about a year or so from now, I think. It's good to sit back and watch God open doors for your children when they want to do something for Him.

Justin is gearing up for the Fire Academy in the fall. He has repelling class this Saturday and is really looking forward to that. Wish I could go watch...and of course take pictures. But I don't think he'd want his mommy there for that. Do you?

By the way, those of you that prayed for little Austin, thank you! He was sent home a couple of days later and he's doing good!! Doctors ran all kinds of tests and are just scratching their heads to what was wrong with him. But I believe the Lord healed him with all the prayers that were offered up for him. God is still in the healing business!! :)

We have a busy weekend ahead of us. I don't know if I'm ready for it or not. LOL But! Ready or not, here it comes!

Happy Birthday, Hannah

We celebrated my baby girl's 15th birthday yesterday. Here she is at age 1. She was playing and happy and having a good time and decided to cheese it up for the camera. I love this picture of her. She was so cute!


Wow. I know, right? I look like I'm having a great time, don't I? Gotta love how a camera will grab that very moment in time you wish it hadn't. Thanks, Bruce!


But then you can always make it capture a moment you want to remember.


Hannah got this gorgeous purse from her Grandmother last night. I have to say that I love it and am feeling a wee bit jealous over it. But you know....maybe Hannah will share it with me sometime.

And she got this hot pink flute too. She was online one day and found it and had a fit over it. So Bruce told her he would buy it for her if that's what she wanted. Mom and dad wanted to go in on it too. So we ordered it and it came, but she never knew it came. We just acted as though she wasn't going to get it by her birthday. She was a happy little girl when it was time to open presents.

Big daddy....little Hannah....hot pink flute

When everyone left, I took Hannah to see her grandpa in the hospital and we snuck him a very small piece of Hannah's birthday cake. See the hope I don't get caught all over his face??

Oh yes, I haven't told you yet, have I? Daddy was taken yesterday by ambulance to the hosptial for congestive heart failure. When we went to see him last night he was sitting up in bed in his jeans and henley shirt, talking with some friends of his. He was in very good spirits, laughing and cutting up. Giving them some words of encouragement about a situation they're going through. Just being daddy. Today they are doing his dialysis at the hospital and are talking of giving him a stress test today. I really don't want them doing that today since this is his dialysis day. I'm praying they'll change their minds and do it tomorrow. We'll see.

On the way to the hosptial we were flooded by rain. It was coming down in buckets, it seemed like to me. But once the rain stopped we looked up and saw this beautiful rainbow. It reminded me of all the promises God has made and that He has never once failed to keep those promises. He is good, all the time!

Another One and My Incredible Kids

Once again, the Lord added another person to our church. This is Stacia. She is a very sweet young lady. We know she'll get busy being involved in the church soon. You can just tell she's that type of person and we'll be blessed by her, I'm sure!
WELCOME STACIA!


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Brother O'Malley informed us that it is Incredible Kid Day, and wanted us to tell why we were proud of our child and why. Since I have three incredible kids, I'm going to blog about them instead of leaving him a huge comment on his fb status.

My first incredible kid is Justin. First of all, Justin loves the Lord. He is a talented young man that uses his talents for the Lord. He loves to play any instrument he gets his hands on and is all the time singing. He LOVES the bus ministry with his whole heart and loves to teach the bus ministry teen class when Mrs. Rebecca assigns him a day. He loves his church, his family, his friends, and his jobs.

Hannah is my second incredible kid. She also loves the Lord. She loves to be involved with anything our ladies are doing at church. She is also musically talented. She does NOT like getting up to sing in public, but she does. :) She also loves the bus ministry. I think she has developed more of a heart for it in this past year. She loves to read, cook, and anything crafty. And just like Justin, she loves her church and her family. She's having a hard time deciding what she wants to do with her life and praying for the Lord's guidance.

And last, but not least, Harry is my third incredible kid. Harrison is not much like Justin and Hannah. He does love Jesus. But when it comes to music he doesn't show much interest in playing an instrument or singing. However, he does enjoy singing with the youth choir. He loves his Patch class and is faithful to his devotions and memorizing Scripture. He loves to play outside and stays pretty active all the time. He is loving and funny and very aware of people's feelings.

And that's my three incredible kids! I love them with my whole heart.

3 John 1:4 "I have no greater joy than to hear that my children
walk in truth."

HE is home and SHE is in bed!

Daddy came home this evening! I haven't spoken with him yet, but he is definitely home. Mom said he is very happy to be home and back in his recliner! They never really found out what was wrong with him, but believe it has something to do with his blood pressure medicine. They have made some changes and, Lord willing, he won't have any more problems. Bless his heart. It's just one thing after the next.

Hannah is in bed with a virus. She hasn't felt well all day today and ended up in tears this evening. She never tells us when she's sick, but her face usually gives her away. I was in the middle of cooking supper when I turned around to see her standing there with big tears in her eyes. And then when she dropped her little head on my chest I knew she was sick! She's been in bed for several hours already.

It's been raining almost non-stop today. I've enjoyed listening to it and felt very thankful I didn't have to be out in it. Justin, however, was out in it today. He's still out in it. He should be home in about an hour or so. He worked for his Uncle Bryan today and went straight to work, so I'm sure he'll be starved to death when he gets home. He signs up for his next semester the second of next month. I hope he doesn't get night classes. I worry too much about him at night!

I'm going to make a SHOUT OUT to our Tennessee cousins in Kingsport! HEY Y'ALL!!!!! It was good meeting you while you were here!! Maybe we'll get up there to see y'all sometime!!