2012, Here We Come!

I was glad to see 2011 go. It was a good year, but it was a long one. There were a lot of "firsts" without my dad in 2011 and, although nothing will ever be the same without him, those "firsts" are brutal.

We had a great Christmas. Our churchwide fellowship was the Wednesday night before Christmas and I think it was the BEST one we've ever had. At least since we've been members at Faith. It was so nice to be in our new gym. We have a lot to be thankful for with our new building. And another blessing that night was when my husband showed up. He had four hours left he could take for the year and they approved them so he could be at the fellowship. I was really happy when I saw him come in.

The 22nd was our 21st anniversary. It was a really good day, too. We were able to spend the whole morning and early afternoon together before he had to leave for work. I collect nativities and so he bought me the wise men I needed for my Willow Tree collection. As a matter of fact, he finished that collection for me this year between our anniversary and Christmas. I love it. It's so pretty.

Christmas Eve, we had my family over. I thought it went ok. One of the games I chose was fun, but I wish I had revised it a little to save time. It was kind of funny. You write down things, not necessarily pertaining to the holiday, and tape them to the player's heads. It could be people in the Bible, celebrities, cartoon characters, inanimate objects...you get the idea. The person has no idea what or who is on their head. Only the other players do. So you can ask the other players yes or no questions until someone figures out who they are and when you figure it out, you win the game. We also played a game where someone had to wear reindeer antlers until someone else heard them say anything pertaining to the word "yes." Then they could take the antlers. Whoever had the antlers at the end of the night won a prize. Brandon, my niece's boyfriend, was the winner of that game. It was nice having Brandon with us this year. I hope he's able to spend many more with us. We missed those that weren't able to make it.

We had three services Christmas Day. Two morning services and one in the evening. We attended the early morning service since we were spending the afternoon at Bruce's mother's house. Attendance was low for that morning service we attended, but I heard they packed 'em in at the second morning service. So I'm glad to know that people still love church, even when it falls on Christmas. Which, in case you're interested, is still the Lord's day, AND not to mention the celebration of His birth. I think time spent in His house is a good thing, don't you? It was sad to see so many churches close their doors. Anyway... we had a very good morning service and we had a fabulous time with Bruce's family, despite the fact that I had come down with some kind of cold virus, lost my voice, and thought I might just die that very day. No, I didn't really think that, but it did begin to feel like it. Needless to say when we finished up at my mother in law's and opened gifts here with our children, I went straight to bed and stayed there until sometime Monday afternoon. I'm still not fully well, but much, much better, thank the Lord!

We spent New Year's Eve here at home. We did absolutely NOTHING all day long and into the night. Bruce and I both dozed off for a little while and woke up for a kiss at midnight, and then hit the sack. It had been a couple of long months and it was just nice to do nothing. But we made up for it with our Sunday school class New Year's day at our afterglow, following the evening service.

And today, Bruce and I joined Planet Fitness. We've never joined a gym before, so it was an experience. I've worked out at the YMCA, and it was ok, but I think I like Planet Fitness much better. They have a lot of rules concerning noise, dress codes, and other issues, but they are rules that benefit your experience there. My ankle is throbbing from cleaning a house before we went and then walking on the treadmill. But I knew that would happen. I may stick to the bicycles tomorrow. Anyway, it was fun to go with Bruce and we both enjoyed the experience. Looking forward to going back with him tomorrow. And in case you're wondering if that was some kind of New Year's resolution, no, it was not. Bruce's doctor told him his triglycerides and cholesterol levels were way too high. So we're going to do everything we can to get those down. He doesn't want to go on medicines if he can get it down by doing what he ought to do in the first place. As for me.... well, I don't go to doctors unless I really, REALLY have to, but I'm guessing my counts would be bad too. LOL So, in order to help him and us both, we decided to make some changes.

And that's all she wrote, folks. Praying you have a wonderful 2012. God was good last year and He'll be good this year too! No doubts about that.

2012

New Year's Eve 2010, New Year's Day 2011

Mom left her bingo game at our house the other week so for New Year's eve we invited our moms over for supper and bingo. Bruce had gone out and bought some prizes and we had a great time. He was our game caller and he was a riot.


Bruce's mom had a good time. I think this was the first time she had ever played a game with our family. We'll have to do it again.


My mom won the first four or five games before Bruce made everyone change cards. LOL


Bingo...who would have thought it was so much fun?

They didn't stay 'til midnight, but that was ok. When they left we watched a movie with the kids. It was over five minutes before midnight. So we counted down the minutes and HAPPY NEW YEAR! It was 2011!! Can you believe it? Wouldn't it be great if the Lord came back this year?

For New Year's Day we went to Bruce's mom's house for her traditional New Year's Day meal of ham, blackeyed peas, and greens...with other fixin's of course. I do not like blackeyed peas, but if you'll look closely you will see my one little blackeye pea I ate. I didn't even chew it. Just popped it in my mouth and chased it with water. LOL

Bruce's oldest brother and his family were bringing in the new year in England and his younger brother and his family were bringing in the new year at their home in Virginia. So his oldest middle brother and his boys were there. This is Barry. You'd never guess he was Bruce's brother, would you? ;)

My sweet Hannah-girl.

My nephew, Elijah.

My nephew, Zach.

My silly son, Harrison.

My sleepy son, Justin. :)

My sweet mother in law, that cooked all that good food....and the blackeyed peas. haha

My silly husband. Like father like son. You know?

Bruce and his baby girl.

It was a great couple of evenings with our families.

HAPPY NEW YEAR'S TO YOU TOO!!!

Happy Day After New Year's

Out with the old, in with the new.

We had a good year last year, but I am super excited about 2010. I think it's going to be a great year!

We met with our Sunday school class the last night of 2009. We played games, ate Tex Mex, shared things the Lord had done for us through the year, and enjoyed each other's fellowship. Our party broke up around 11:00 so Bruce and I wandered over to Wal Mart. Yep, Wal Mart!! I had my 2010 New Year's Kiss in the electronics department. :)

I talked to Justin when we got home and it sounded like they were having a good time. And Harrison said they all got tired at Grandmother's house and went on to bed before midnight.

My mother-in-law called New Year's Day and said she was cooking her traditional New Year's dinner of Black eyed peas and cabbage. So we headed over there for lunch. I don't do anything "peas" but I did eat one off Bruce's plate. There was corn, corn bread, rolls, stewed taters, and Hannah fried pork chops and made a chocolate cake. It was really good. Barry and his sons showed up and Bryan showed up with his three granddaughters and Brandy. I was glad we got to see them.

Kelsey is spending the night with Hannah tonight. They've had a good time watching some DVDs, playing board games, and doing girl stuff...you know, snacking, giggling, etc....

It is now already the second day of the new year. Can you believe that? Another day to be thankful for what He has taken away!

Psalm 103:12 "As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed
our transgressions from us."

New Year's Eve

Our family will be going in different directions this weekend. Justin is leaving tomorrow with a couple of his friends and one of their families to spend New Year's at Myrtle Beach. He's really excited about going. I know they'll all have a great time. By the way, if you're anywhere near Myrtle Beach, there is a wonderful youth conference going on with Greg Lentz. I've already heard some great things are happening there. Brother Larry Brown and Ralph Sexton Jr have already preached this week. And the Rochester family is down there too. Can't get any better than that, right?

Hannah and Harrison will be staying with relatives and Bruce and I will be at a party for our SS class. We're looking forward to that. I don't reckon we're going to midnight, but you never know!! Us old married couples can party it up sometimes!! LOL

So what are your plans to ring in the new year? Can you believe it's almost 2010 already? I can't. This year has flown by!!!

I won't ask what your New Year's resolution is, but what would you like the Lord to do for you this coming year? Or even more importantly, since He's already done so much for us, what would you like to do for Him? Of course, I don't really want to know the answer to that. Just thought I'd throw it out there to ponder.

Colossians 4:5 "Walk in wisdom toward them that are without, redeeming the
time."

The McKameys

This is the last of the groups we saw at the singing last Saturday night. Kim, the lady that gave us the tickets for Christmas, asked me which group was my favorite. It was this one! I love the McKameys. Always have. Mama McKamey will just kick her shoes off and sing, sing, sing! She's so funny. They're just laid back mountain people that love the Lord.

Papa McKamey

Mama McKamey

Their daughter...she has a very powerful voice and you can tell she holds back a little so not to drown out the rest of the family.

This is the son-in-law. He's their bass player.


Mama McKamey's sister

Singin' and shoutin'

I wish I had gotten more of this song, but I wasn't fast enough with my camera. It's called I've Won. I have more videos of them, but blogger is taking FOREVER to download them and cuts out on me. UGH! So I'm sticking them in "the vault" and I'll use them another time.

Thank you again, Mike, Kim, Taylor, and Madison. We had such a wonderful time and it was a very thoughtful gift since y'all know we LOVE good southern gospel and bluegrass gospel music.

The Inspirations

The third group to sing Saturday night was The Inspirations. Bruce and I have heard them several times at our church. Their singing and enthusiasm was no different last weekend.


I'm not sure, but I think this guy is slowly taking Archie's place. I dunno. Maybe he's just filling in every once in a while to give Archie a break. But he would sing and then Archie would sing. Going back and forth like that through their songs.



The young man on the right has taken Matt Dibler's place. When we first saw him we were both thinking and wondering what kind of sound he had. He had sound! He had a gentle baritone voice and we liked it! I was thrilled at what he brought to the group. I think he'll do a great job with the Inspirations.

Here they are singing A Winner Either Way.


And Sweet Beulah Land.

The Primitives

The next group following the Diplomats was the Primitive Quartet. They're one of our favorite groups ever. Not just because of the songs they sing, but because of the Spirit in which they sing. You can tell that they are very humble men and men of prayer.

This guy is a riot to watch. He sings with such animation. You'll see what I mean if you watch the video of them singing Walking in the Highway.

Here they are singing Walking in the Highway.

And one of my favorite songs they sing...He Didn't Stay Dead.

Over the next few days I'll be sharing pictures and videos from Saturday. One of the girls on our Sigma team, and her family, gave Bruce and me tickets to the New Year's singing in Spartanburg for Christmas. The featured guests were The McKamey's, The Inspirations, The Primitives, and The Diplomats. We were very excited.

Spartanburg is about an hour away so we don't exactly spend a lot of time there. We thought that once we neared the auditorium we would most likely be surrounded by lots of restaurants, but this was not the case. Once we found the auditorium, we traveled back up the road to find a place to eat and ended up at a little restaurant called Big Daddy's. They were locally owned, much like the Mountainview here in our town. The food was good and they sure did pile it on.


There were all sorts of vintage toys in the restaurant.

The atmosphere was light and the other people there eating seemed to enjoy it as much as we did.

The first group up to sing were the Diplomats. We've never heard them so we were interested in what they would sound like. We enjoyed them very much. And this lady here had a set of lungs on her like I've never heard!

This gentleman is the above lady's husband. He just had bypass surgery a month ago and wasn't supposed to be doing a lot of singing. He gave his testimony, though, and was very sweet.

Their piano player was very good. He could really "tickle the ivories" so to speak.

The one holding the guitar is their son and the other man on the right was their bass singer. He was hilarious.

And since the dad wasn't able to sing much, Matt Dibler filled in for him and did a great job.

Here they are singing Come and Dine.

Thank you, Mike, Kim, Taylor, and Madison. We had a WONDERFUL time!

Lots..And I Mean LOTS...of New Year pics!

On New Year's Eve we spent our evening at church, followed by a fellowship, followed by a party at our friend's home. New Year's Day we spent the day with family. First at my mother in law's home for a traditional New Year's meal of black eyed peas and greens. Knowing I don't like either of those, she promised a pork chop in the deal. Thanks, Marie! Here are a few (well, more than a few) pics of the last couple of days.

Bradley and Bruce


Some singing


We heard three sermons, the first from Brother RJ on the Great Commission.


Then more singing

The second sermon was from Brother Johnny. His sermon was "Things Will Be Fine in 2009."

And more singing

Justin

Gary

Our last sermon was from Pastor Goodman.

After services, we all headed to the fellowship building for soup, sandwiches, and desserts.

Nathan

The food

Sharon

Brenda's giving me the "evil eye." Scary!

Paige

Mrs. Joanne

Mrs. Janice and a little sweetheart!

Kayson

Jaythan

The dessert table.

The food line

Mrs. Pat and her sweet hubby.

Brother John and Mrs. Elizabeth

"Little" John O'

Jeremy and Justin

Celine, Mander, and Kaylyn

Abigale showing me how old she was...She was born on New Year's Eve.

Robin

Jeff

Naomi and Brother Johnny...don't they look serious there?

Elizabeth and a very tired Ethan

Mrs. Janet making haystacks

Nicole playing Wii

Missy and Faith

The guys

Checkin' out Mrs. Janet's turtles

Joseph drinkin' some root beer

Isaac drinking his root beer

Double-dippin'

We stepped outside just before midnight for some fireworks

Kelly wanted to try her hand at the Wii too. She did pretty good!

The temps were dropping and my feet were cold from being outside. Mrs. Janet's fireplace was the perfect place to warm them up.

chillin'

Alanna and her mama

Joel and Pam

Brad and Kelly

Playing Catch Phrase

Our score keeper

Bruce and me

New Year's Day!

Zach and Elijah

Ashley...we haven't seen her in a couple of years. She is turning into a lovely young lady.

Liberty clearing the table

Justin and Hannah

A panormaic

Sugars from the nieces

Sugars to the nephews

We haven't seen Lanie in a couple of years either. Isn't she just a doll?

Marie with Lanie, Mackenzie, and Nicki

My daddy...not quite shaven...yet!

Bruce eating cheese ball and crackers

Getting ready to play Harrison's new Monopoly game

Panoramic

our banker

LOTS of laughs!

And some pizza!

Justin

relaxin'

We had a very good couple of days. All of the fellowship with our friends and family was a blessing. I hope you had a wonderful time bringing in the New Year. I look forward to seeing what the Lord has in store for us in 2009. Can He get any sweeter? I think He can! I know He will.

Here's a video of one of our groups singing When I Wake Up.