Sunshine's Bright Ideas

God sure knew what He was doing.....

2010-08-17T15:22:00.000-04:00

when He didn't give me any children. I guess I'd be in jail nowadays if I did things the way my parents brought me up. Check out this news article:

Airport police in Albuquerque, New Mexico are expected to release details Tuesday about an "incident" aboard a Southwest Airlines flight during which a mother may have slapped a young child. The Albuquerque International Sunport's police chief told CNN affiliate KRQE that a flight attendant took the child from its mother.

"The mom may have yelled and may have slapped the baby," Sunport Police Chief Marshall Katz told KRQE. "I think it was a solid move from the part of the flight attendant to take custody of the child," Katz said. "It neutralized the situation. It calmed everybody down." KRQE reports the incident involved a 1-year-old.

The flight from Dallas, Texas, to Albuquerque arrived around 4:30 p.m. local time on Monday. Daniel Jiron, spokesman for the Albuquerque airport, told CNN he could not confirm whether a slap took place, but did say there was "concern over an incident" involving a child aboard the flight. Police took the child into their custody at the gate, performed a welfare check and determined there were no signs of physical abuse, Jiron said. The parents were not cited after airport police interviewed the couple, the flight attendant and some passengers, Jiron said. He said airport police are expected to provide more information later Tuesday.

OK, so when you were growing up, how many times did your Momma pop you across your mouth if you were talking back to her or just talking ugly? My mother didn't abuse me or anything like that and I don't know if the mother in this article really slapped her child or tapped it's mouth for saying something ugly or doing something ugly. It's hard to tell with the way news media s-t-r-e-t-c-h the truth sometimes. Since the child is only 1-yr-old, I hope the mother didn't really slap the child. I can't imagine why anyone would slap or yell at a baby since most of the time when they're that young you can get their attention with a stern look or a firm message whispered in their ear.

Nevertheless, this article does make me wonder if you can do anything to correct children nowadays. I'm not going to beat a child senseless like I saw a mother doing in an Explorer on the news one time, but I will pop their hands if they're doing something they shouldn't and I will lightly pop their mouth if they continue doing/saying something ugly when I've asked them to stop. I guess my situation is a little different since I've always handled children belonging to others. It doesn't really matter though. If I'm responsible for a child, I'm going to make them mind to a certain extent. I don't normally use physical interaction, but I have definitely threatened it!

I believe children need to know there are consequences for their bad actions. If you act ugly, you will get punished; and I'm not talking about sitting in a quiet corner either. Depending on the action, I think some kids just need a good ole fashion spanking sometimes. I got them when I was growing up, and I think I turned out OK. I guess some people would freak out if they knew my Momma use to get me with a switch (a small limb off a tree or bush that would eat your legs up!!) The little limbs would leave red marks for a while, but they never broke the skin. But you know what? Momma's point was made and I never forgot the consequences of my actions either. I've always had the utmost respect for my parents, for my elders, for law enforcement, and lots of others because I knew I'd get in trouble with my parents if I didn't act respectful. And sometimes if my friends tried to persuade me to do something I knew was wrong, I remembered some of those switchings and that kept me out of a LOT of trouble.

Well, enough ranting for today. God's word says "...spare the rod, hate the child.". It does not say "spoil the child". I was raised by it, it's my story, and I'm sticking to it!!

Happy Tuesday!!

Time is moving so fast!

2010-08-03T14:59:00.005-04:00

I can't believe it's been almost two weeks since the last time I blogged. I feel like my life is flying past me so fast I can't even see everthing what's going on.

Since my last post, we finished Vacation Bible School with about 75 kids. That was really an exciting week. We had so much fun and I loved teaching the kids new songs with all the motions. We also had the kids take up an offering for missions that week. I didn't know until Monday night that the offering was for our trip to Africa. We collected our largest VBS offering ever with $900.25. Pastor Tommy encouraged the kids each night by telling them we had enough money to get me and Jean to Africa, but we needed enough money to get us home. One church member told me he gave the 25 cents so I could come home. Ain't he just a sweetie pie?!? Jean and I are going to talk with our team leader and see if we can purchase something like a cow for a family while we're in Africa. I think that's something the kids will really relate to and be able to understand. They helped buy a cow in Africa! How cool is that?

Sunday, July 25, was Pastor Tommy's last Sunday with Center Grove Baptist. We had a great service that day with a huge lunch afterwards. Everybody was very emotional as you'd expect since he'd been our pastor for 9 years. We watched him complete his master's degree; meet, court, and marry his wife; have two children; build a house; and complete his doctorate degree. Shucks, he practically felt like a little boy who we watched grow up.

Pastor Tommy and his family did a lot for our church and our body of believers. I think a lot of people, including myself, are much stronger in their faith now because of his teaching, preaching, and encouragement. We'll miss all of the Kiker family, but I understand when a call has to be answered.

Mitch and I celebrated our 29th wedding anniversary Monday, July 26. 29 years! Where did all the time go? We were so busy the week and weekend before that Mitch suggested we take that day off from work and just be together to do whatever we wanted. I still can't believe he took a day off from work just to goof off with me, but he did and we had a great day! Mitch and I are simple people, so it doesn't take anything extravagant to please us. The one place we knew we wanted to go was Outback. Nothing else really mattered, so we spent most of the day in Virginia shopping and looking at things I could use or take with me to Africa. We found a Dick's Sporting Goods in Virginia Beach that was just an awesome store. I wound up buying some new shoes to wear on the trip that will be really versatile for any kind of weather or climate, but I am feeling so much buyer's remorse I can't hardly stand it. I can't justify wearing new shoes to a country where most people probably don't even have shoes. I think they're probably going right back where I got them because this feeling just won't leave. God's telling me something!

The time to leave for my trip to Africa will be here before I know it. I've been walking off and on since the first of the year, but I think I better get realy serious with it now if I'm going to be shape for my trip. My counterpart who's going with me has been walking for a few months. She's lost about 40 lbs. and walks every morning at 5:30. However, she is retired so she doesn't have to rush back home and get dressed for work when she's done. One day soon.....

Less than 90 days to be exact. I'm constantly getting papers in the mail from the retirement system to fill out and return, so it's moving rather quickly. I hope I'll be able to adjust and devote a lot of time to things I want to do instead of rushing through so many things I have to do. We'll see!!

Everybody Say Yes to V-B-S!!

2010-07-21T11:04:00.001-04:00

We're having Vacation Bible School at my church this week, and I am having a blast!! We have somewhere around 75 kids and it has been so fun--except for my voice.

I usually do music for VBS and I usually have my time with the kids all together during the opening worship service before they leave for their classes. Well, this year, we decided to do it a little different. We decided to make music just like one of the other stops. Kids come by to see me for about 20 minutes and I work with one or two classes at a time. I really do like this in one respect that the groups are smaller so I can work closer with the kids; but, on the other hand, it is absolutely killing my voice. Our songs are pretty long and by the time I sing them 8 or 10 times a night, I can hardly talk and my throat is killing me. Say a prayer I can make it through Friday night. We may need to change our plans for next year.

Our teachers and VBS Directors did such a great job decorating the church and the classrooms this year. I went by this morning while everything was quiet and got a few pictures. Check 'em out:

Walking in the front door at church (my Mitch made this)

In the vestibule

The front of the sanctuary

Over by the piano in the sanctuary

The information room leading to the classrooms

A scene in the K5 Class

From the 1st and 2nd grade class

other side of same room

another view in same room

4th and 5th grade classroom

same room

And if any of you remember reading my blog last year when I posted about my church completing this new classroom building we're now using for Bible school, I think I mentioned that the son of one of our church members was planning to paint some murals on the walls in the children's classrooms. Look at the beautiful mural below he painted in the nursery. My camera really doesn't do the vivid colors justice at all. It is absolutely gorgeous!

And this is another mural he painted in the toddler's class. He just finished painting it last week. It's really pretty too!

So that's a few pics to let you know what Bible school looks like around Center Grove Baptist. We are having a ball! This is the last time we'll be having Bible school with Pastor Tommy as Sunday is his last day with us before he moves to Texas. Please be in prayer that we can win lots of children's souls for Jesus this week, or at least help them to better understand God's word. After all, that's what it's all about!

Have a great week!

Momma's 82nd Birthday

2010-07-14T16:34:00.004-04:00

Sunday was Momma's birthday. I'm sure she wouldn't mind me telling you she just turned 82 years young, and let me tell you, she is one remarkable lady! Since Daddy died 3 years ago, Momma has done well on her own. She still takes care of the house, cuts her grass, and washes my daddy's truck almost every Saturday. She washes vinyl siding and cleans just about anything else around the house she sees that needs to be washed, weeded, dusted, vacuumed, cut, or picked up. I can certainly tell she has her daddy's genes!

Momma's favorite restaurant is The Mayflower and that's where she wanted to go for lunch on Sunday. We were trying to just get the siblings together to go out, but that just didn't happen. My brother works 24-hour shifts at a fire department, and he had to work Sunday. So, the rest of us got together and went on as planned. We did have a few of Momma's great-grandkids along for the ride, and boy did they provide some entertainment! Check out some pictures below:

Momma at The Mayflower

(sorry for all the sunlight in the background)

Our group

(My SIL Judy, Preston, Mitch, my BIL Wayne, my great-nephew Bryce in the baby carrier, my sister Linda with Haley beside her, and Momma)

One of Momma's Newest Great-Grandsons, Bryce

He was such a sweet boy!

Another Great-Grandson, Preston

Preston LOVES tractors and I think we spotted EVERY ONE of them between Ahoskie and RR!

And another great-grandchild, Haley who is Bryce's big sister

(I call her Haley Bug)

Turns out Haley LOVES crab legs. Her Nanna ordered chicken tenders for her, but Haley didn't eat any chicken. All she wanted was some of Nanna's crab legs.

So after enjoying lunch, we did a little shopping. Momma always wants to go somewhere and look for a dress to wear to church. I remember doing that same thing with my Momma and Daddy when I was young and they would take my Grandma shopping for a dress. Those trips way back when weren't usually too successful, and neither are our trips with my Momma! LOL!! The current styles don't usually appeal to the taste of seasoned ladies! How's that sound for political correctness? Sometimes we get lucky and find something she likes, but more often we don't. We do have lots of fun teasing Momma about things we think would look good on her (usually in a joking manner), but she takes it all in stride and just plays along.

We did do a little shopping and even got in a trip to Wal-Mart inbetween the little ones napping. It was a great day and I'm so thankful we all got to celebrate with Momma! I think it was a great day for a great lady!

It's All About Jesus!

2010-07-12T15:27:00.002-04:00

Anybody who knows me, knows I have a whole slew of nieces and nephews. Most of them are great-nieces and nephews ranging in age from 15 years to 5 months with the oldest of the greats being Alysia. My Alysia.

When Alysia was little, I use to keep her a lot. We use to have the best times. We'd go shopping, ride bikes, run and play, and just do a little bit of everything. She was too little to ride a bike on her own, so I'd take Mitch's bike, put a pillow on the bar, and ride with her between my legs. We've ridden many a mile like that on my road. When it was time for bed, I'd make a place for her beside mine and Mitch's bed because she was too frightened to sleep in another room. When Sunday came, I'd take her to church right along with me and Mitch. I'd dress her up in whatever Missy sent with her, but most of the time we'd go shopping and buy her something new.

I loved dressing her up and taking her to church. Since I played the organ and Mitch sang in the choir, she'd sit on the front pew right by my organ until we both got done and then she'd come over and sit with us. I remember one Sunday she let out a great big yawn with a big moan and I was so embarrassed. When I turned around and looked at her, she was sitting back with her head leaning back on the pew swinging her feet. She looked at me as if to say, "What??" I explained after church that you yawn quietly in church and try not to make so much noise. I loved me some Alysia.

As she grew older, I'd take her to school and pick her up from day care too. I'd play contemporary Christian music and we'd sing along with the songs. We've done homework together, but thankfully I never had to go to any teacher conferences. Alysia has always been special to me, but as her brothers and sisters and cousins all came along, I loved them too and took them right along to church with us too if I had the opportunity. Thankfully, Alysia's parents have since become members of my church, so they have the joy of taking their kids to church these days.

Alysia is now 15 years old. She's taking driver's ed this summer and she's also working part-time as a babysitter. She went to Camp Caswell with Edgewood Baptist Church last week where one of the most amazing things happened to her. Alysia accepted and came to know Christ as her Lord and Savior. Is that not the most wonderful news in the world!!! My Alysia is now bound for an eternity with the Lord! That just makes me want to shout a big ole HALLELUJAH!!!! I'm so proud of her, but most of all, I'm proud that she's made such an important decision at the right time in her life. I believe it's something she's been contemplating for quite a while now, and I don't think it's a decision she's taken lightly or been influenced into making. When I've heard about some of her friends making such an important decision, I worried they made their decision because another friend did the same thing. I don't think that's the case with Alysia. She's been so bold in telling others about her decision, I think she's truly where's she's suppose to be in her relationship with Christ right now. And I can't wait to watch and see her grow in her walk with Him!!

When it was time for us to have invitation at church yesterday, Alysia was up and out of her pew before we hardly played any of the invitation song. And when Pastor Tommy asked her to stand by him so he could announce her decision, she proudly stood by him with no shyness about her. She looked as if "I've made my decision and I stand by it wholeheartedly!" I'm so proud of her!!!

As I mentioned in an earlier post, Pastor Tommy is leaving our church and his last Sunday will be July 25. The plan right now is for Alysia to be baptized that day. It's going to be a bittersweet day in that Pastor Tommy and his family will be leaving our church, but I can't wait to see Alysia baptized to start a new life walking with Christ!

I LOVE YOU ALYSIA AND I'M SO PROUD OF YOU!!

I hope I get to see all my nieces and nephews come to know Christ as their Lord and Savior. What an exciting time that will be!! It will be so wonderful to see them in heaven where I won't have to discipline any of them! LOL!!!

It's Friday!!

2010-07-09T09:55:00.000-04:00

I'm very fortunate to work on a 4-day work week this summer. We work 10-hour days Mon-Thurs and have Fridays off. I love that schedule!!

During the summer, Mitch and I work really hard to get the yard work done each Thursday evening. We have 2 acres of yard to cut, and it usually goes pretty quick as long as we can keep both mowers running. That makes it better on my Fridays. Getting all the yard work done Thursday evenings allows me some time Friday mornings to do my housework and then relax in my pool on Friday afternoon. So far, it's worked really good!

So today will be house cleaning as usual. I think I'm going to clean my windows on the inside and wipe down my blinds in addition to my regular weekly cleaning routine. I haven't done this in a while, so I really won't be surprised at the dust and spider webs I find.

If anybody's really reading my blog, I just wanted to share with you a prayer request I read on another blog earlier this week. It's been on my mind since I read it, so I thought I'd share the story on my blog.

My church supports a family who went to Bangledesh to be missionaries. The father is a doctor and works in the local hospital which is no way big enough to serve all the people there. He shared on his blog a story about a 15-year-old girl who drank battery acid so she wouldn't have to marry the man she was promised to. She was really sick and they couldn't figure out why until a family member finally shared what she had done. She survived, but she really needs our prayers.

I can't imagine living in a culture where my future is 'promised' to someone else for me. I don't understand that at all, let alone having to marry so young. I mean, 15!! Come on! Anyway, please pray for this young lady, and if you're like me, you'll count your blessings that you grew up with the freedom we know all too well. I'm thankful I didn't have to marry until I chose WHO I wanted to marry and WHEN I wanted to get married. Thank you Lord!

Happy Friday to you all!

Well I'm Back!

2010-07-08T09:34:00.000-04:00

Yes, I did fall off the face of the earth, but I bounced right back up and here I am. I've missed my blog, and I've missed reading other's blogs. But, truth is, hardly anybody is blogging anymore. We all seemed to be caught up in Facebook. I should be blogging more often than ever this year because this year is such a milestone for me.

2010 is the year I say good-bye to Roanoke-Chowan Community College after 29 years of employment and 2 additional years as a student. I've saved up more than a year of sick leave, so I am retiring with my full 30-year benefits. God has truly blessed me over the years I've worked at this college, and I hope I've been a blessing to others as well.

Not only am I retiring in 2010, but I'm also going on my first overseas mission trip. That's a move waaayyyy outside the box/my comfort zone for me. It's my first time leaving USA soil and I'll be leaving my husband, Mitch, behind as well. I'm a little nervous, but I'm so much more confident that I'm doing the Lord's will so I know he'll take care of me and everything will be all right. I'm soooo excited!!! One other church member, Jean, is going with me and we're meeting up with 18 others in Washington, DC. We'll then travel to Nairobi in Kenya where we'll stay for 11 days. Keep me in your prayers!

2010 is bringing about another change in my life too. My pastor for the last 8 years, Tommy Kiker, and his family are leaving our church to go to Texas. That was not in my plan at all for 2010, but I definitely understand answering God's call. I will greatly miss them, but I know we'll have a new pastor broke in before we know it. At least I pray that's God's plan for our church. Our pastor search committee is working diligently to find a replacement for Pastor Tommy, and I pray we have a new one to come in shortly after Pastor Tommy leaves. Our church is growing and doing things all the time and I pray we can keep the pace and keep all our programs and projects going and growing.

Well, that's about all I have to catch up with for now. I do plan to start blogging regularly just to voice my opinion for my own self. Hope y'all have a great day today!

Good Times!

2010-03-31T16:26:00.007-04:00

Mitch and I have some friends who are originally from our community, but after traveling all over the world living the military life, they've settled in Leesville, LA. They did move back to Carolina for a few years after Anthony retired, but they decided they were more at home in Leesville so they returned there.

They're home this week visiting family and friends and we got a chance to get together with them Tuesday night for supper. If you're familiar with Ahoskie, you know there's not too many places to choose from when you're trying to decide what to eat, but we finally settled on Catherine's. They seated us on their front porch, so we just settled in and had a good visit while we enjoyed our supper.

Here's a picture of our group just as we started eating:

That's Anthony and Donna on the right and part of their son, Tony's head. We also had our friends, Doug, Judy, and their daughter Jessie with us too.

This is a more closeup picture of our group because sitting at the table beside us was a few more from our Center Grove family, Tommy and Mavis Overton and Larry and Carolyn Newsome. We all laughed and talked and just had a great time.

This is Tony giving me some kind of face. I'm not sure what you'd call that!

And, of course, Jessie had to give me a big ole silly grin. Check out her plate. She had cheese sticks and fries for supper. Is that wholesome or what??

And this is our whole group

Doug, Judy, Mitch, me, Donna, Anthony, Tony, and Jessie

(this is our third picture after moving around trying to get better light)

We had a great time with all these friends. Donna and Anthony were our youth leaders while living in Center Grove and we miss them dearly. Donna hasn't been home for 3 years and although I hear from her on FB, I'm really glad we all got a chance to get together and catch up with things. Sometimes it's just good to SEE friends instead of talking on the phone and the computer. Good friends are hard to come by and they certainly are a treasure when you find them!

Happy Resurrection Sunday Everybody!

So Long for Now Dear Friend

2010-03-24T11:35:00.002-04:00

When I was a little girl growing up on Parker Avenue in Ahoskie, I had two playmates. Vickie, who was one year younger than me, lived across the street. A few years later, Lori and her family moved to the neighborhood and we all quickly became friends and playmates.

I was the youngest of four children in my family. I had an older brother that sometimes made me fend for my life it felt like, along with two older sisters who always brought these goofy boyfriends to our house. My family and life was a little different than Lori and Vickie's, but it was great nonetheless. I use to be so envious of them being the only child in their family. Lori's Mom would take her shopping every Saturday and buy her all these clothes and I just thought that was the neatest thing.

Vickie wasn't really an outdoorsy girl, so she stayed in the house a lot. She did learn to play outside with the rest of us, but she was scared of everything and screamed all the time. She couldn't help but scream when she wasn't use to so many things that were just natural to us. Being a screamer, my brother terrified her too.

Lori was a littly skinny girl too, but she loved to play with dolls. We spent many hours out in the yard with a blanket or sheet spread out under a shade tree where we'd build our Barbie houses and play for hours. Lori and I had the neatest Barbie accessories like campers, blowup furniture, and Lori even had a townhouse for her Barbies. Man, those were the days. Practically every dollar we got, we'd go to Rose's and buy a new outfit for our Barbie.

I remember the year we all got Chrissy dolls for Christmas. They were the dolls where you could pull the hair out of their head to make it long, or crank a button on their back and make it short again. And then there was the Christmas we all got bicycles. Brand new bicycles! Vickie could ride her bike, but she wasn't very good with the brakes. She'd always want to slide her foot on the ground to stop. That worked OK sometimes, until the day she was going a little too fast, hit the light pole at the end of the street, rode up the light pole a few feet and right back down where she crashed. She didn't ride anymore for a while, but she sure learned how to use her brakes!

I remember one summer there was a parade of bikes down Main Street. My sister bought a wagon, hooked it to my new purple bike, then decorated them both. I rode down Main Street with my niece, BJ, sittin in the wagon. I would have won first place, but since I had a bike just like the one they were giving away, my friend Lori won. That was OK. We now had bikes just alike!

Well, we all grew up. Vickie went to a private school, so we kind of grew apart as we got older. Lori was two grades behind me, so I didn't see her at school very much either. I went off to the community college while Vickie went on to what is now Barton College. I think Lori went to Pitt CC when she graduated high school.

I got married first and Vickie caught my bouquet at my wedding. Imagine that.

Vickie came home her junior year for Thanksgiving just like always. I remember seeing her briefly that weekend when I was stopping by to see my parents and she was coming in too. We casually spoke, but didn't have time for a real conversation. What a shame. She went back to school on Sunday and was killed in a car accident Monday. A drunk driver hit her and a friend head on and Vickie was killed instantly.

So now we're down to two amigos.

After I married and Lori went off to college we kind of lost communication. I'd see her sometimes coming home on weekends, but not too often. She met a really nice guy and they were married at a small Baptist church in Macclesfield. Me and my parents went to the wedding and it was so great to see Lori on such a special day in her life. I didn't see her much after that except on occasion we'd run into each other when she came home to see her parents.

Lori's parents divorced and her Dad eventually moved off our street, so I really lost touch for quite a few years. We'd see her Dad once in a while and catch up with things, but I didn't see Lori anymore after her Dad moved. I knew she had a son, and then I found out she was diagnosed with Huntington's disease. We never got good news after that.

Lori fought her disease for many years, living the last five years of her life in a nursing home. I'd often ask her Dad about going to see her, and he'd always say "You don't want to see Lori the way she is now." I wish so many times I'd gone anyway, but I didn't.

Lori died Saturday. Her Dad didn't even call. I ran into Lori's cousin in a restaurant Saturday night and he told me she passed away early Saturday morning. I couldn't believe it, but I was glad to know she wasn't suffering with her disease anymore.

I still remember all three of us girls sitting out on the curb by our bikes and brushing our doll's hair. It's hard to believe Vickie and Lori are gone now, but that's what makes memories so special. We may have lost touch in the latter years, but I thought of them often; and I know we all loved each other and only wished the best for each and every one.

So rest in peace my dear friend. I will miss you, but you'll forever stay in my childhood memories. I'll see you again one day.

Been to G-Vegas lately?

2010-03-15T09:18:00.002-04:00

If you haven't been to the big city of Greenville lately, you should definitely go sometimes soon. It's mighty entertaining just to watch things around you.

Since it had rained so much and it was really too wet to go outside and do anything Saturday, Mitch and I decided to ride to Greenville. I don't usually like going to Greenville because the traffic is terrible and it's just a hassle getting from place to place. Saturday was no different so far as traffic, but I will admit the traffice was more entertaining.

It seems that the current trend with young black men is buying old cars, big cars, and dressing them up with big tires and rims and sometimes even putting a lift kit under the car to jack it up really high. We looked and laughed so much Saturday. Driving by a car wash was a complete car show. We even noticed that a lot of the guys are installing suicide doors (the doors that lift up above the car rather than swing out from the car).

We saw these two cars in particular that just made us bust out laughing. One car had the Dr. Pepper emblem painted on both sides. Another car had Cottonelle painted on both sides and "Be Kind to Your Behind" painted on the back window. LOL!! Do you think these guys get any kind of commission for this advertisement? I wonder if they got permission to paint the trademark on their cars?

Oh, and did I forget to mention the spinners? You know, the rims where one part spins separately from the actual rim. We saw lots of these, and yes, we laughed at them too. I thought one couple in a vehicle in front of us at a red light was going to break their necks looking at the car beside them. That guy had something like a 1970s car, big tires, lift kit, and spinners. His spinners really fascinated this couple beside him. You could see the man hitting his wife's arm as if to say, "Look, look, look!!"

So if you get to G-Vegas anytimes soon, try to remember to catch a glimpse of these unique cars riding up and down the streets. I'm sure the young men who own them would be proud to see you admiring their ride, just try not to laugh while they're looking!

Happy Monday to you all!

My Faithful and Loyal Companion

2010-03-11T11:50:00.001-05:00

Some of you may be tired of me posting pictures of my dog, but he's a very loyal companion to me and I love him somewhat like you love your children.

It seems like no matter where he is in our yard, he can always hear me when I come to the kitchen/utility room area to start gathering my things to leave for work or some place else. Every morning just before I come out, this is what I see:

Most of the time he's peeping at me just enough to see only one of his eyes.

If he finds that I'm not quite ready to come out, he'll lie down like this and wait a little longer:

And this is what I see when I open the door:

My Beau boy!!!

He's always patiently waiting for someone to come out and play, but most importantly, give him a doggie treat!! Bless his heart, once I'm finally out the door and in my Yukon, sometimes he'll come jump up on the threshold of the driver door as if to say "ya got anything for me in there??" He sure is one sweet puppy dog!!

Happy Thursday y'all!

I'm Lovin This Spring Weather!

2010-03-09T14:37:00.000-05:00

If you are lovin this spring weather as much as I am, you are really enjoying yourself! I have had THE best time outdoors since Saturday doing things like washing my Yukon, playing with Beau, and walking. I even managed to get Mitch to walk 3 miles with me Sunday afternoon and another 1.5 miles yesterday. I'm just lovin this weather!

Tulips are my favorite flowers and I can't wait for them to start blooming. I noticed two weeks ago my Daffodils are already popping up through the pine straw, so it probably won't be too long before they'll be blooming too.

I'm hoping this weather will last until Saturday so I can hang my clothes on the line and let them dry in the fresh air! I LOVE hanging my clothes outside to dry!

Happy Tuesday to you all! I hope you do get out and enjoy this nice weather we're having!

I think FB finally got us!

2010-03-04T09:06:00.000-05:00

I remember shortly after I started my blog in December 2009, someone posted an entry to see if everybody was going to continue blogging or start using FB more. At the time, everybody was so into blogging and we all assured each other that we'd prefer blogging over FB. Well, I think FB has finally won out.

I think back sometimes to the Blogger Blast we had last March. It was so fun and amazing meeting people I'd been reading about but never met in real life. I thought that was so neat! But, I guess that was a once in a lifetime thing. If we had a blogger blast this year, there would probably be less than 10 people there since nobody's blogging anymore.

Please don't get me wrong, I'm on FB everyday along with everybody else! I've found distant cousins, high school friends, and lots of others on FB and I enjoy hearing from them; and I also neglected my blog for a while when I was going through some stuff in my life. So even though my life may be somewhat boring to others, I still enjoy blogging and getting comments/thoughts from others.

So, if you're reading my blog but not updating your own, just know that I miss you all! I use to talk about my fellow bloggers all the time and I'd be so excited to see what was on the blogs everyday. But, I also know that life happens and blogging is probably not a top priority in anyone's life. So, to that, I'd just say blog when you can, but as I said before, just know that I miss you when you don't!

Happy Thursday y'all!!

I recently heard someone say.....

2010-03-02T10:34:00.001-05:00

Mothers are the driving force in a family. That statement really made me stop and think for a moment.

When I was growing up, my Daddy was the decision maker for most things. Daddy had the firm hand (and look) that kept all four of us kids in line, although I never remember my Daddy spanking me. When Daddy raised his voice, you knew you'd better tighten up and act right or punishment was coming for sure. I'm not talking about sitting down in a quiet corner either. My Daddy loved me, yet I feared him enough I had the utmost respect for him right up until the day he died.

Momma, on the other hand, was someone I feared and respected too, but she whipped my legs with a switch more often than I care to remember. She liked to warn you of your whipping that was to come and then make you wait until after supper before she followed through. All the while I was hoping she had forgotten, but she typically made me go outside and get my own switch and it had better not be some little twig either.

When I heard someone make the statement that mothers were the driving force in a family, I never realized how true that was until I started thinking back about my own family. Momma was the one who always got us up for school or church, fixed our breakfast, made sure we were dressed, and we did, indeed, go to school and church. My Daddy was the firm one behind my Momma, so we generally did as she asked.

I'm really thankful my parents were the kind of people who cared for their children and made sure we were taught the ABC's of church and school. I may not have liked it very much at times when I was younger, but I definitely appreciate it now. Little did I know then that they were setting the foundation to what I'd grow up to be one day. And I think they did a fine job if I do say so myself!! LOL!!!

Thank you Lord for giving me such a sweet Momma and Daddy!!

Where do people learn to drive??

2010-02-25T14:58:00.003-05:00

Lately I have noticed that a lot of people just can't drive. They may be licensed drivers by the state, but that doesn't mean they know what they're doing.

Case #1: Just because you drive a compact car does not mean YOU CAN DRIVE INTO A PARALLEL PARKIING SPACE. I've seen a few drivers try this just in the last few days and the result is they wind up about 2 feet from the curbing with their car sticking out in the street. Drivers literally have to slow down and turn out to drive past the misparked (is that a word?) car. Or, just because you got the front of your car all the way in the parking space, does that mean your rear end doesn't count? What about that two feet of bumper you left sticking out in the street? Come on people!!

Case #2: To make a right turn while you're driving down the road and you haven't approached a stop sign or anything, you don't need to stop in the road and then proceed to make your turn. This is what causes people to get rearended! If you're going to make a right turn, simply give your signal while you're SLOWING DOWN, NOT STOPPING, your car and proceed to make your turn. It's really quite easy.

Case #3: It does bother me if you talk on your phone and drive, but it bothers me even more when YOU don't realize YOU CAN'T TALK AND DRIVE!! Why do I think this?? How many drivers have you noticed driving the speed limit or better and then they get a phone call? Slows them right down. This is really evident on interstates. Phones do a better job than any patrolman could ever do! And yes, when you slow down, you hold me up, and then I have to pull out and pass you, and then Mitch gets mad at me because I like to go fast and hear my Yukon VAROOOMMM down the road. So you can easily see how you not paying attention can cause me heartache and my husband aggravation. Most of these drivers not only slow down while they're on the phone, but they also don't use turn signals very much while they're on the phone either. So this leads into Case #4.

Case #4: That little stick poking out the left side of your steering column is not a key holder. IT'S A TURN SIGNAL!!! Everybody really appreciates it when you use it! It just makes life a whole lot easier when you flip one on just before you get ready to make a turn so everybody AROUND THE OUTSIDE OF YOUR CAR will be aware of what you're getting ready to do. I don't like slamming on brakes behind you because you didn't warn me you were getting ready to make a turn. Nor do I like sitting at an intersection waiting for you to pass when you quickly slow down and turn in beside me. That's not nice.....

Case #5: If you're driving in shopping center parking lot, pay attention to other drivers around you. Who knows?? You may have to yield to a driver coming across your lane of traffic. Just because you're driving one way does not mean that ALL other traffic in the parking lot must yield to your presence! PAY ATTENTION for pete's sake!! It's your responsibility to yield just as much as it's mine.

And yes, my biggest beef with no driving people is talking/texting on the phone while driving as I mentioned in Case #3. If we're friends on FB, you probably saw my post on January 26 where I was almost hit headon by a young girl who was playing with her phone. I was just about at the point of flashing my lights at her to get her attention and start driving off the shoulder of the road when she finally looked up and snatched her car back into her lane. I could see her playing/texting/dialing with her phone as she passed. And the saddest part of the whole story? There was a child in a carseat sitting behind her.

Listen people. If you've gotta talk on the telephone, do it before or after you stop driving down the road. Most of what we drive constitutes as heavy equipment and it can really do some damage when it wrecks. I know for myself that if I'm talking and driving, I can't honestly tell you if I stopped at a stop sign or what color the light was when I drove through the intersection. If you call me when I'm driving, I'm going to answer long enough to tell you I can't talk because I'm driving and I'll call you later. And if you text me while I'm driving, well, I'll read it when I stop. When I've tried to multi-task while I'm driving, I'm usually all over the road just like that young girl was on the morning of January 26. Are we so important we can't take a few minutes of quiet time or alone time or sweet time with our husband or children while we're driving?

So these are my pet peeves for the week. I hope none of my readers park or drive like the people I blogged about today. I will say that I didn't recognize any of these non-driving people as anybody I'd ever seen before. Just know that if you drive like these people, you could be the root of a lot of road rage and that's not a good thing!!

Drive careful!! My love to you all....

Cleaning Frenzy

2010-02-22T10:14:00.002-05:00

What a wonderful weekend! The weather was great, my energy level skyrocketed, and Mitch was hangin with me!

Last week was so busy with something to do almost every night. I usually try to get a headstart on my washing and cleaning long about Thursday, but I didn't get a chance to do that last week. That meant there was lots to do when I got up Saturday morning. Ugh!!

Usually I'm draggin when I've got to get up Saturday morning and do all my cleaning and washing, but this Saturday was different. I had energy out the wazzoo!! I was pumped and ready to go! I'm not sure where that came from, but boy was I glad that I had it!

I CLEANED all morning, and I do mean CLEAN! I pulled out things and cleaned behind them and under them, I washed and wiped things that hadn't been washed or wiped in a while, and I dusted! I actually dusted with a cloth and polish!! I can't tell you when I've done that! Usually it's one of those Swiffer things.

When I finished the house, I went out and helped Mitch who was washing my Yukon. I cleaned out the inside of the Yukon while he started washing his truck. When he was done with the outside of his truck, I went over and did the inside for him.

All that didn't wear me out, so I went over to the carport and started cleaning around the backdoor where Beau had tracked mud and slung it on our white vinyl siding. I was still wiping and washing. I don't know where in the world all this drive to clean came from, but it sure helped me get a log done around the house Saturday.

It was truly a beautiful day to be outside and I even slipped on my flip flops. I was so glad to let my feet and toes breathe! LOL...

After all that cleaning, Mitch and I decided to ride to Roanoke Rapids for some supper. We grabbed a bite to eat, went in Belk's for a few minutes, then off to Wal-Mart.

BE CAREFUL IF YOU SHOP WAL-MART IN ROANOKE RAPIDS!!! That store has got me the last 2 times I shopped there. The last time we were there, we missed getting one of our bags off the carousel after the cashier checked us out. My mistake. This time, a manager was working a register because they were shorthanded. He was talking on a headset while checking us out and he double charged us on some items. We carefully checked the carousel to make sure we had everything before we left, but we didn't check our receipt until we got home. Another lesson learned!! He overcharged us almost $15.

I called the store as soon as we got home and he told me to go to the Ahoskie store for my refund. We went there Sunday, and they were not too happy about giving us a refund for a mistake made by someone at another store. Thankfully, they obliged and I didn't have to drive back to RR to get my refund.

So, all in all, I got a lot done and learned a lot too! Pay attention!! Hope y'all have a great week!

NC Baptist Children's Home Coming to Hertford Co.

2010-02-19T09:06:00.001-05:00

I'm so excited to hear that a North Carolina Baptist Children's Home is coming to our area!! My church has supported Baptist Children's Homes for years, so to have a home come to our area that will house 9 youth between the ages of 8 and 18 as well as 2 couples that will care for the youth is VERY EXCITING!! It's a beautiful home that will be located in the St. John community.

Mitch and I attended a supper last night at the West Chowan Baptist Association for all the local Baptist churches. It was a great turnout to hear all about the new group home that's coming to Hertford Co. To quote part of the program, "The Ahoskie community and its Baptist churches have historic ties to BCH’s beginnings in 1885. Connarista Baptist is part of the West Chowan Baptist Association in Ahoskie which is comprised of approximately 60 area Baptist churches. The association, originally a part of the Chowan Association before splitting into two entities, was the first to contribute funding for BCH. The Chowan Association gave $1,500 to help build BCH’s first residential campus in Thomasville. On November 11, 1885, John Mitchell, Pastor of Ahoskie Baptist Church (now First Baptist), arrived in Thomasville bringing nine-year-old Mary Presson of Hertford County. That day, Presson became the first child admitted into BCH’s care." Who knew?? The first child ever admitted to the first Baptist Children's Home was from Ahoskie! That nine-year-old traveled all the way across the state by train to be taken to a home in Thomasville, NC.

Folks, this is a very worthy cause. This project needs our prayers, our money, and our physical strength to get it all done. We alone might not be able to do all the work, but through Him WE CAN DO IT ALL!! I was so excited to see 150 or more people at the dinner last night and they were all asking questions about the kids the home could help, how they or their church could help, and how soon does the work begin? We have some really great people in our association!

The groundbreaking is scheduled for Sunday, April 25, and they hope to start construction in May. For now, we can all say a prayer for this project and the children and families it will help, but if you or your church would like to help in any other way, contact the West Chowan Baptist Association in Ahoskie. They need about $260,000 to finish funding the entire project. May the Lord's will be done!!

Video Thursdays

2010-02-18T08:48:00.000-05:00

I think I'm going to start doing something different on my blog. Some bloggers have "Wordless Wednesday", so I think I'm going to start "Video Thursdays".

If you've read my profile, you know I LOVE contemporary Christian music. I listen to The Message on satellite radio ALL the time. A song came on Tuesday night while I was listening, and I can't get it out of my mind. The song is called "Give Me Jesus". It's a very powerful song. Maybe it will speak to your heart as much as it has spoken to mine.

Happy Thursday everybody!

I Figured it Out!

2010-02-16T15:20:00.000-05:00

I mentioned in a post a couple weeks ago that for the past couple of months a song titled Born Again by Third Day has been on the radio almost everytime I turned one on. If the song wasn't already playing, it came on shortly after I started listening. I mentioned I thought the Lord was trying to tell me something, so I'll share my thoughts with you now. I shared this with the women at our WOM Pajama party Feb. 5.

2009 was a very hard year for me. I went through some major changes with my family that was really hard for me to deal with. I was hurt a lot, but I always turned to the Lord for comfort and understanding. Along with dealing with my family problems, I was also wrestling with the idea of going on a mission trip to Africa. I wanted to go soooo bad, but I was scared to death at the thought of traveling outside the USA. I'd never done that before so I would be stepping way outside my comfort zone. My husband, Mitch, was not planning to travel to Africa with me either, so that was another worry toying with my mind.

My pastor often mentioned the trip during Wednesday evening services and Sunday morning services, yet I was still wrestling with making my decision to go. I can't tell you how torn up I was on the inside with fright and what ifs, but I still wanted to go soooo bad. One day in October I was talking with my niece on the phone and in our conversation I just blurted out, "How can I say I have faith in God if I don't trust Him to get me to Africa and back home safely?" and boy did that hit me like a ton of bricks. I had unconsciously put a limit on my faith and what I thought God could do for me. I never meant to do that.....

So, finally by the end of December I made my decision to go to Africa. I can't tell you the calmness that came over me after I made this decision, so I know it's God's will that I go. My Pastor still jokes about some of the hardships we might have to deal with and some other things that might make me think twice about going, but my mind is set because I know it's God's will. I'm going and that's that!

Although the song relates mostly to new Christians, I think God is speaking to me through this song and showing me how I've been "Born Again" since I've removed the limits on my faith in Him. I didn't even realize I was doing that, but I'm so thankful He helped me see that through Him I can do ANYTHING!!! I really can!! I think all of us can be "born again" in several different ways.

I'm not worried about the costs of the trip, the shots I'll have to take, or conveniences I'll have to do without. I just pray I can go help others learn about Him and His kingdom and bring glory to His name in all that I do while I'm there. That's all I want to do. No limits!! And I can't wait! I'm so excited!!

Another One of God's Beautiful Blessings

2010-02-13T20:39:00.001-05:00

Although some people were highly disappointed when they woke up to snow this morning, I was totally excited! I LOVE SNOW!! When it snows, for a brief moment in time (depending on how fast it melts), everything ugly and dirty is covered up and made to look beautiful and clean for a while. Who can't appreciate that? We are very fortunate that we live in a place where we can enjoy all the seasons of the year, so why must people fuss and grumble when the seasons are producing what God created them to do. Winter produces snow, spring produces pollen, summer produces heat, and fall produces leaves we must rake. Some don't like cold winter snows, some don't like pollen that irritates their allergies, some don't like the heat of summer, and some definitely don't like to rake leaves and clean up their mess. So when are those people happy and satisfied?

This was one of the prettiest snows I can remember. I just couldn't get over how pretty the trees were. You'll probably get tired of looking at the pictures below, but I thought the trees were some of the most picturesque things I've ever seen. Take a look:

This was the view out my bedroom window when I got up this morning.

This is the plum tree in the previous picture, but look how the snow covered each and every limb.

Look how the snow is just laying on the pine limbs.

Looks like this limb got a little too much snow. Reminds me of somebody carrying the weight of the world on their shoulders.

This was a fire lane we drove by while we were out riding Saturday afternoon. Mitch pulled in and I walked for a little ways to take a picture. Just to walk a short ways on this beautiful snow-covered path makes you feel like everything in the world is at peace.

This picture and the next two pictures just show you how the snow fell around here. I don't know when I've seen it so heavy on each and every limb of the trees. From the biggest to the smallest, the snow was so pretty laying on them all. This really drives home the point that God knows everything about us down to the number of hairs on our head. If He can make the snow cover the tiniest of things like the smallest branch of a tree, how can people doubt His power or His grace?

And this is the view from Thomas' Bridge just off Hwy 42.

I could have taken hundreds of pictures, but you would have gotten tired of looking at snow on the trees. Mitch and I probably rode around for about two hours just looking at the snow in all kinds of different places. As I said in the beginning, I LOVE SNOW!! It's been years since we've had snow like we've had this year, so just enjoy it folks! Live in the moment for a change and just appreciate all that God's given you. If you don't like His snow, you definitely won't like what He did for our sins.

Hope you enjoyed the pictures! Happy Valentine's Day!

Go Red for All Women!

2010-02-04T14:22:00.002-05:00

Wear Red for All Ladies Friday, February 5

Our school is running this promotion to promote women's awareness to heart disease. I thought it would be neat to include all my bloggin buddies so you could spread the word where you work too! Here's an except from our student posters:

All ladies are encouraged to join the Go Red for Women movement and become part of the fight against heart disease, the #1 killer of women in America. Our involvement can help save lives of mothers, sisters, aunts, daughters, grandmothers, or best friends.

So, whether you wear your favorite red hat

or your favorite red dress

or your favorite red jewelry

wear red in support of all women in our fight against heart disease!

Don't you just love these graphics? I can see us all wearing a red poka-dotted dress to work like the clipart picture! LOL Wear red of some form and help spread the word!

Happy Friday y'all!!

January 2010's Big Snow

2010-02-02T16:51:00.000-05:00

Boy were we surprised when we got up Saturday morning. EVERYTHING was covered in snow. I expected a few inches, but nothing like what I saw when I looked out. 5 inches of snow!!! Here are some pictures of things in our neighborhood:

Proof of how much snow fell in Center Grove

This is the pecan tree in our side yard. I have become so fascinated with older trees this year. Don't ask why! When they've lost all their leaves, they just look so cold to me. There's a really neat tree at a church on Hwy 58 in Suffolk that's caught my attention and I notice it every time we stop in Suffolk for gas. It's a really old tree and I can't help but wonder how much history has passed that tree by over the years.

This is an old barn in our side yard too. There use to be horses on the lot beside our house when we first moved to Center Grove. They've since moved the horses and the lot was divided and sold to us and our neighbor.

The Byrum home

My church

We didn't have services Sunday, but I can't tell you how many church members came by this weekend to take pictures of our church. I guess we're all very proud to be members of Center Grove Baptist Church.

I don't live near snow-capped mountains, but I thought these snow-capped bushes were really cute.

My Beau boy

He thoroughly enjoyed the snow. I think every dog we've ever had always got hyper when it snowed and Beau is no different.

I was trying to pose for a quick picture, but Beau was so hyper, you can tell I was trying to hold him still for just a second. This is the only picture Mitch got and my hands weren't in the air trying to grab Beau and hold him still.

One of the pretty snow covered roads in my neighborhood.

A creek down the road from our house.

A snow-covered field. Don't you just love the way snow makes everything look so peaceful, clean, and serene.

When we went riding, we slowed down to take a picture of a barn in the woods. This bird was making such a fuss in the tree, Mitch asked me to take a picture of it. Wonder where they all go when it's raining, snowing, and so cold?

Another shot of my Beau boy. He has spent many nights inside lately since it's been so cold outside. He's such a sweet dog and if he can get near me, he's coming. If I'm working on the computer at the table, he's going to come lay by my feet. If I'm doing dishes at the sink, he's going to come lay on the rug by my feet. He knows not to go anywhere in the house but the utility room and the kitchen, but if we're in one of those two rooms, he's coming to us. He sure is a faithful and loyal companion.

Hope you enjoyed the pictures!

I'm Still Here

2010-01-28T09:56:00.000-05:00

I can't believe how fast 2010 is rolling by. I promised myself I'd be more diligent about blogging, but that doesn't seem to be happening.

So much has been going on lately. Things are starting to move along with my mission trip to Africa. I got my passport a couple weeks ago. I was amazed it only took two weeks and two days for it to arrive. Now I've started planning for all the shots I've got to take before I can go.

I was getting a little anxious when I started calling around this week and couldn't find anywhere locally that would even talk to me about the shots I needed. My family doctor's office didn't offer any help, the local health department doesn't offer what I need, so finally I got in touch with Pitt Co. Health Dept. who referred me to Travel Immunizations in Greenville. They can handle everything I'll need for my trip including all my shots and my prescription for Malaria. So far, me and two others going on the trip have an appointment in March to get everything done.

January 26 was Mitch's 50th birthday! I asked him if he wanted a big party like people around here traditionally do, but he said he'd rather we go to the mountains and spend the weekend. We're not big party people and we absolutely love spending time together, especially in the mountains, so I was excited with his choice. Needless to say, we were planning to go this weekend and the weather is suppose to be really bad. We may have to switch our plans from this weekend to the next weekend, but I hope we do get the chance to go.

Work has just been crazy since we came back from our Christmas break. But, it's OK because I'm down to the months before my retirement now. I'm not going to sweat anything. Somebody else is going to be doing my job before the year ends, so I'm taking it one day at a time and one crisis at a time.

I'm still so excited about retirement! I can't wait to see what the Lord has in store for the next phase in my life. Every time I've turned on the radio lately, a song called Born Again by Third Day is playing. I bet I've heard this song 50 times since Christmas. I gave my life to Christ when I was 12, but 2010 has put a different spin on my life and I wondered what the Lord was trying to tell me with this song. I've finally come to a conclusion, but I'm going to wait before I share it with anyone. Let's just see what's going to happen!!

I'm really going to try to do better with my blog. I hate to bore y'all with trivial stuff, but things have been so busy lately I've not taken pictures of anything or taken the time to write about anything. And to think this is going to be one of the most exciting years of my life! You'd think I would want to keep some type of journal of how the year progressed! Oh well! Life is going to happen whether I blog about it or not, so I'm really going to try to do better!

Happy Thursday everybody! Make lots of snow angels this weekend!

Where is time going??

2010-01-15T11:44:00.000-05:00

It has been a really busy two weeks. When the college has registration, it seems everything kicks into overdrive around here! Things have been so busy!! Although I've been able to leave work on time everyday, I've just been going home and logging back into my work computer and continuing to work for a couple hours. I've been doing the same thing on the weekend, and it looks like I'll be working a while again this weekend. I am grateful I have a job!!

Anyway, I've not read any blogs and haven't had a chance to post to my own blog. Hope everybody is doing well and has had a great week. This week has been busy, but it's been exciting too. I finally got my new table and chairs Wednesday. It is sooooo pretty. I'll post pictures later on. Another praise is that my husband, Mitch, and a friend of ours both had some test done at the hospital. Everything came back fine and we were all so relieved!! Praise the Lord!

Y'all have a great day and a good weekend!

What happened to the snow??

2010-01-08T15:50:00.001-05:00

This is a picture of the snow we got last March, and I sure was expecting to see about this much when I got up this morning. I was so disappointed! Maybe next time!

Y'all have a great weekend!

What will 2010 bring??

2010-01-06T11:42:00.000-05:00

I guess all of you noticed that I slacked off of blogging during the latter part of 2009. 2009 was not a very good year for me. So much happened for all the wrong reasons that I wasn't in much of a mood to blog, so I was glad when the year was done.

I don't normally put a lot of information about family matters on my blog because I think they should stay private. But I will say that 2009 really taught me a lot about family and what some of my family has grown up to become. I'd thought I'd share part of my story in hopes that somebody could learn something from my mistakes or experiences.

I've always been very close to my oldest sister. She use to tell everybody that Momma had me for her. She was 10 when I was born, so I guess I was a new baby doll with all the actions to her. Anyway, her love for me went from me to her three girls when they came along. I wasn't particularly fond of that first one since it was the first grandchild and seemed to get her way doing anything, but I stayed really close to all three girls while they were growing up. However, 2009 changed all that.

2009 taught me that all my nieces, not just those three but all six, grew up to be not so nice people. I believe they can do good and would help anybody, but I learned they'll also fuss, curse, and turn their back on you in a heartbeat. I never saw that coming, so that was a hard pill to swallow when it happened to me in May 2009. I now know with all my heart that God truly has control of my life because when that happened to me in May, my old self would have backhanded those girls and never thought twice about it.

But, life goes on, you live and learn, and then you have a confrontation with the mother of those nieces. That wasn't pleasant either, nor was it expected. So my quota as of the fall was 3 people in my family mad and not speaking to me. Well, it gets better. You see, in December I jokingly responded to the third niece's comments on FB, and she took it totally another way so she slammed me on FB. That was another unexpected slam for 2009. What a track record for me!

So, as you can see, I'm not sorry to say good-bye to 2009. I'm so very glad it's over. Hard as it may have been, I learned to put ALL my faith in Jesus Christ and not family and friends. I love my family and friends and I will enjoy and appreciate the good times I have with them, but I will always turn to the Lord for joy, comfort, help, and guidance. I knew all this before, but I've come to appreciate it so much more now.

My family has always been very close. We've always had lots of family dinners throughout the years and since we all live right here locally (except my other older sister who moved to Florida about 15 yrs ago), we've all tried to be there for each other and help out when needed. I remember when Mitch had a seizure out of the blue one Saturday night, just about my whole entire family came to the emergency room to see what was going on and to be there for us. Unfortunately, I'm not sure that's the case anymore. Since Daddy died almost 3 years ago, I'm not sure where we all stand.

So, if you don't get anything else out of this blog posting, please know that if you have a close family now, love and appreciate it a LOT! Don't take for granted it will always be there, because people grow and change as they age.

A quick update on how things now stand with so many angry people--the niece who this all started with did call me before Christmas and invite me to her Christmas supper. I went, took Momma, and we had a nice time. When I left, she hugged me and told me she loved me and I did the same. I haven't heard from her since. The other niece who got mad with me in May was there and we did manage to have casual conversation. The niece who slammed me on FB called me after Christmas to apologize too. My sister, well, she's a harder nut to crack. She asked me to leave her alone, so I've obliged. I let her talk to me on her terms and I try not to bother her in her element.

So, 2010 bring it on! I'm so ready for something good to happen to bring joy and excitement to my life! And it has already! I'm so excited about retiring from my job this year and going on a mission trip to Africa in October. I've already applied for my passport, paid my deposit, and now I've got to get started on the paperwork for retirement. 2010 IS going to be exciting and good and I can't wait!!

Christmas 2009

2010-01-03T21:15:00.002-05:00

Here are a few pictures from Christmas at the Byrum's:

Mitch's niece, Amber, checking out her new babies she just unwrapped.

Trinity is patiently waiting for Uncle Mitch to undo her new Barbie in all that packaging stuff while Dakota is checking out his new Bumble Bee transformer.

Two grown men and a young boy are still trying to figure out how to transform the Bumble Bee. Notice the directions have been thrown to the side.

Christmas at the Baker's:

This is my niece, Allyson, spinning her daughter, Haley, on the coffee table. Haley loved it since the table was just her size.

This is just about the sweetest picture I took all Christmas. This is my Mom and my great nephew, Tyler. Tyler thought he was helping Momma open her gift, and Momma thought he was so sweet helping her. Imagine their surprise when they opened the box and it was a shirt for Tyler from Granny (Momma)! My nieces buy gifts for their kids from Granny, so she has no idea what she's given them until Christmas night!

;

And this is my McDaddy chair Mitch gave me for Christmas! I just love it!! I also got a NC State red snuggie so I'm ready the next time my brother calls and is ready to open his outdoor theater (or barn theater). My BIL and SIL gave me a nice carrying case for it too, so I'm set!

And please don't ask what's up with the formatting on this post! I have no idea what's going on, but I definitely don't like this new version of blogger. For Pete's sake! Where's the spellcheck??

Some of My Favorite Things to See at Christmas

2009-12-17T10:50:00.000-05:00

I thought today and tomorrow I'd post pictures of a few of my favorite things I bring out during the Christmas season. My most favorite things are snowmen. My entire tree is decorated with mostly snowmen, but I do sneak in a few ornaments I've collected from places we've been on mission trips.

This is a 3-ft snowwoman Mitch bought me about 10 years ago. I just love her!

This is some of my snowmen I display on top of our entertainment center. A lot of these were gifts, but some were bought by me. Imagine that!

This is a snowman my great-niece, Alysia, made when she was in daycare. It's made of paper and has glitter on the front. Sorry the picture didn't come out great, but I tried it from all different angles and this one was the best. Just a side note, Alysia turned 14 yesterday.

This is the mantle in our living room. I did things a little different this year and I really like the way it turned out. It's so pretty with the lights off in the room and just the lights in the greenery turned on. My parents gave me those reindeer many years ago for Christmas. If you look closely, you'll see white snowflakes and clear snowflakes. The clear ones are so pretty with the white lights reflecting behind them.

And this is a Santa we purchased while on vacation this summer. If you remember, Mitch's bathroom is done in all brown tones with moose, so this woodlands Santa fits in really well. He's about 18 in tall and I think he looks great sitting in there among the moose things.

That's all for now. I'll share some more pictures tomorrow.

Happy Thursday!

So I Goofed Again!

2009-12-15T11:51:00.001-05:00

I promised in my last blog that I'd post pictures of our church's float we had in Ahoskie's Christmas parade Saturday. Well, guess what?? I forgot my camera! And so did almost everybody else in our group! We finally had two ladies that remembered to bring their's, so I'm trying to get a few pictures from them now. I'll do my best to get something posted soon!

What a day we had Saturday. We were up and at 'em early Saturday morning only to find out it was just 26 degrees. Buurrrrr!! We put on about three layers hoping to stay warm as we walked across town.

We had all but finished prepping the float, but we left a few things to finish once we got in the lineup. Some paper things don't travel well in damp morning air. We made it in the lineup by 9 am, lots of kids showed up to ride on the float and hold their candles (paper, of course) and lots of adults showed up as well to walk along and hand out church brochures and candy to those standing along the streets. It was so much fun!! We ran out of everything early on, so we definitely know we need a bigger supply for next year.

After we finished with the parade and got the float disassembled, we had lunch with our pastor and some friends, then Mitch and I went home to see if we could get up some decorations at our house. The only outside decorations we had was a wreath on each door. We hadn't had much time to do anything else since we had been working on the float so much. We did get the front porch done and some lights on a little cedar tree in our front yard. It's so wet and yucky in our yard, that's probably about all we'll do for this year.

Mandy's put a challenge out there for fellow bloggers to post pictures of our Christmas decorations, so I'll see if I can get some and get them posted this week.

Happy Tuesday everyone!!

And We're Off and Running

2009-12-10T15:37:00.001-05:00

I've blogged and FB'd about my church's Christmas float a lot here lately. The reason being it has taken a lot of mine and my husband's time. Once that float appears in Ahoskie's Christmas parade Saturday, I think that will complete all my obligations I was suppose to meet before Christmas. Maybe then I can start decorating my house for Christmas!

It's been a big, hard job getting this float ready. I was a little disappointed in my church members to begin with, but they sure have come through for me and our church in the end. Work was progressing slowly when we started, but I tried to keep everybody moving along so we wouldn't be overwhelmed with so much to do a day or so before the parade. And thank heavens that really is the case.

We're going to have a small church building sitting on the back of our float. There will be a large 7-ft candle on the front with little kids sitting around it holding paper candles. Our theme is "Let your light so shine that others see Jesus in you (Matt 5:16)". Well, the men built the sides for the float Monday night and Mitch put the letters for Center Grove Baptist Church on Tuesday night. Last night, a group of men put the church together on the float. Our plan was to get the church on the float and park it under the new drive-thru attached to our new building. Well, guess what...... The church structure on the trailer was too tall to fit under the new drive-thru. And so the saga began.

Some of the men started calling around looking for a shelter or facility where we could park the float and it wouldn't be out in the weather. We finally found a place in town and one of our members was kind enough to pull the float to town about 9:15 last night. Thank goodness it's already in town and we can put the final touches on it tomorrow night inside a building and not out in the cold. We can then just meet about 8:30 Saturday morning and pull it to the parade lineup site. Is that great or what!!

I hope to have some pictures of the float posted this weekend. I haven't taken any so far because we've been working at night and the lighting was not all that great. Come see us if you get a chance. We're #23 in the lineup. The parade starts 10 am Saturday morning.

I talked with Jerry at the Chamber of Commerce today and asked if any other churches had floats in the parade. There are a few and I was so excited. We use to have LOTS of church floats in our parade, but it seems they all just stopped participating. I shared with Jerry how lots of people use to meet in the old tobacco warehouse in town and we'd all build our floats there. It would be so cold in that warehouse, but we'd have so much fun! Jerry promised he'd look into providing a place for us to work next year. If he comes through, I bet we'll have a lot of floats next year just like we use to. That would be awesome!! I think it's important for our churches to have a presence in the local Christmas parades. After all, this season is all about celebrating the birth of Christ. What better time for us to really get out there, strut our stuff, and share Jesus with others!! LOL

Hope to see you Saturday! I'll be walking along with Center Grove's float handing out our church brochures and candy. Come see us!

It's Still Not Looking Too Promising

2009-12-07T15:44:00.000-05:00

Well the first weekend in December has come and gone and I still haven't decorated for Christmas. Remember, Mitch put up the tree and got the lights on. Well, he also got down the ornaments and put those on the tree Thursday night. When am I going to get it together??

I was cleaning house and doing laundry Thursday night when he kept asking me when I was going to put the ornaments on the tree. I tried to explain that I'm just one. We both worked Monday and Tuesday night on our church's Christmas float and we'll probably be doing that same thing this week as well. Wednesday night is church night, so Thursday is all the time I have for washing and cleaning. Friday night we had a gospel singing at church and Saturday I had to work at church for a while early that morning, but then we had planned to go Christmas shopping the rest of the day. Sunday we went to church, came home to grab a bite to eat, then started cooking some finger foods and wrapping presents to get ready for a party at church Sunday night. Monday morning it's right back up and at 'em to start the work week all over again. Gosh! It sounds like I'm spending just about as much time at church as I am at my job!

So when am I going to get my house decorated? Who knows!! At this point, it's looking pretty good with a tree and one or two other items sitting around. I've got about three storage containers in the attic I haven't even brought down yet. No time, no worries......

Today is a new day and it's going to be OK. Christmas is coming whether I have lights or decorations and that's OK too! If I ever finish working on this float, I think things will be much better and calmer, but we'll see. My volunteers haven't come through with helping like they promised, but that's OK too. Next year I'm hoping somebody else will take this job over and I can be the promised help that never shows up! Nah!! That's just not in my nature.

Happy Monday y'all and let's remember not to sweat the small stuff! LOL!!!! Christmas is not about decorations anyway. It's all about Jesus. It's all about Jesus. It's all about Jesus. That's what's most important!

Working at the Toy Store

2009-12-01T16:56:00.001-05:00

Since I was having so much trouble with my blog last week, I forgot to mention that I worked at our Baptist Association's Toy Store Nov. 21. For those of you who may not know what I'm talking about, the churches in my area belong to the West Chowan Baptist Association. Every year, the association collects toys from churches to help with an association-wide toy store. Churches then recommend names of families who may need some help buying gifts for their children for Christmas. Those parents can come to the toy store and buy gifts for 10 cents on the dollar. They can buy a $25 gift for $2.50. I think that is so great! Once the association sees that they'll have enough toys to serve area church members, the list is then opened up for Social Services to recommend names of families in need. This year, I think we had about 300 families that included about 500 children. The parents can only spend $5 on older children and $4.50 on younger children. They really get a lot for their money.

Volunteers work in 2-hour shifts doing everything from greeting the parents when they walk in the door to helping them shop, witnessing to them when they're done shopping, and then taking their packages to the car. This was the first time I had volunteered and I was truly amazed.

The whole event was very well organized and I was so excited to be volunteering. Going to work that Saturday morning was just like getting up to see what Santa Claus had brought on Christmas morning when I was a child. I can't tell you why I was so excited, but I truly was. I worked with a great group of volunteers and some very grateful parents as well. I did have two mothers who I think were taking advantage of the system, but that's OK. Our heart was in the right place and hopefully their's was before they left that day.

It was truly a wonderful experience and I can't wait to do it again next year! I know a lot of my readers' churches are in this same association, so if you've never volunteered before, I highly recommend you doing so next year. They need 30 volunteers to work each 2-hour shift. The shifts run 8-10, 10-12, 12-2, and 2-4. I'm planning to volunteer for two shifts next year and I can't wait!

Christmas Decorations

2009-11-30T11:58:00.000-05:00

I sure wish getting my house decorated was as easy as changing the background on my blog! Whew!! Where does time go so fast?

We had a nice Thanksgiving Thursday. I cooked dinner for mine and Mitch's mothers and then we met my brother at his house to have dinner with a few nieces and their families and watch a movie in his "theater". It was a really nice, quiet day and evening.

Friday I was back up and at 'em. I had done a lot of cleaning Wednesday, so I wanted to finish some things before I started getting out the Christmas decorations. I didn't want to get too far ahead of myself since Mitch was going to put up the Christmas tree Friday afternoon. I knew it would be a mess, but I had no idea the adventure it would be!

Mitch generally puts our artificial tree together and gets the lights on. He puts lights on each layer as he assembles the tree. It took him 6 1/2 hours to do this Friday afternoon/night. Our tree is only 7 1/2 ft tall. Needless to say at this point, I've got a tree with lots of lights but not the first ornament! LOL We'll get there somehow!

I spent most of Saturday working on our church's Christmas float. We had some things that needed painting and Mitch was working on constructing the sides that will mount on the trailer we borrowed. Our theme is "Let your light shine so that others see Jesus in you." We're going to have a 6 ft candle on the front and all the kids will be sitting on the float holding a candle made out of paper. We've got a church model/structure that's going to sit on the back of the trailer. I think it's really going to be neat!!

As always during this time of year, there's so much to do and so little time to get it all done. Maybe next year will be different since I'll be retired from my job. We'll see!!

Happy Monday everybody!

Well, I thought I did!

2009-11-24T16:09:00.000-05:00

I'm not sure what in the world is going on with my blog. Although a LOT of other people are having the same problem, it's really getting a little aggravating!

In order to update on my followers' blogs, I have to work with my blog and add and remove my own blog from the followers' list sometimes 2 or 3 times. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. If I keep working, it seems to eventually update. Persistence is the name of this game and I aim to beat blogger!

Just when I'm trying to get back in the habit of having something decent to blog about..... maybe here's my sign!

I got it, I got it, I did, I did!!!

2009-11-23T18:56:00.000-05:00

In case you hadn't noticed, my blog has not been updating on anybody's blog for a few weeks now. I've been messing and messing with it, but nothing would change and it just wouldn't update anywhere.

Well....... halleluhjah and Praise the Lord!!! I found a fix!!! Wooohooooo!!!

I got into some blog forums and found a solution that worked for some people. A LOT of people have been having this problem since about Nov. 3. One solution was to add yourself as a follower of your blog. I did that and it just updated EVERYWHERE!!!! Yipppeee!!!

Things seem to be working for now so I'm just going to take it and run as fast as I can!

Happy Thanksgiving y'all!!

So long for now.....

2009-11-22T21:09:00.002-05:00

Well, since November will be over soon and Christmas will be here in just a few short weeks, I've decided to put away the rest of my flip flops. These are what's left out of my 20 or so pairs. I held out a few pair to take to Arizona. So, farewell dear friends until we meet again!

This is really a test blog to see if this post will update on any reader's blogs. I'm not sure what's going on with my blog, but my blog has stopped updating for about the last 4 or 5 posts. If this post updates from my laptop at home, I'll then know that something's up with my computer at work. Imagine that.....

Happy Thanksgiving!

2009-11-20T09:40:00.005-05:00

I got this in an email yesterday and thought I'd share it with all of you. It sure brought a smile to my face.

Twas the night of Thanksgiving,
But I just couldn't sleep.
I tried counting backwards,
I tried counting sheep.

The leftovers beckoned,
The dark meat and white,
But I fought the temptation
With all of my might.

Tossing and turning with anticipation,
The thought of a snack became infatuation.
So I raced to the kitchen, flung open the door,
And gazed at the fridge full of goodies galore.
I gobbled up turkey and buttered potatoes,
Pickles and carrots, beans and tomatoes.

I felt myself swelling so plump and so round,
'Til all of a sudden, I rose off the ground.
I crashed through the ceiling, floating into the sky,
With a mouthful of pudding and a handful of pie.
But I managed to yell as I soared past the trees....
Happy eating to all, pass the cranberries please!

May your stuffing be tasty,
May your turkey be plump.
May your potatoes 'n gravy have nary a lump.
May your yams be delicious,
Mary your pies take the prize,
May your Thanksgiving dinner stay off your thighs!!

May you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

5-Piece Dinette For Sale

2009-11-16T10:43:00.007-05:00

I've mentioned in some of my post that I'm planning to retire next October. Well, I guess you could say I've got a checklist of things I want/want to do before then. We're steadily working on that list that included things like updating our bathrooms (check), buying vinyl fencing to replace the cedar fencing that's falling down in the backyard (check), and now I'm ready to replace our kitchen table and chairs.

Mitch and I have had the same kitchen set since we got married in 1981. You'd think it would be worn and broken down, and it probably would be if we had used it. However, truth be told, we rarely ever eat in our kitchen sitting at the table. We're always in the den sitting in front of the TV on the sofa. That's a really bad habit and I'm hoping to change that very soon.

So, to help make that change and check off one more thing on my To Do List, I've ordered a new kitchen table and chairs. It's one that's really comfortable to sit at and hopefully will be more encouraging to make us want to eat in our kitchen at the table. Very soon it will be out with the old and in with the new. If you know of anybody who needs a 5-piece set in great condition, please let me know. It's a great set for a single person, a couple just starting out, or even a family who wants a small set right in the kitchen because you don't always have time to feed your kids in the dining room. Check out the pictures below:

This is a full view of the table with everything expanded as large as it gets. The table comes with an extra leaf and the maximum size is 41" w x 60" long.

This is a picture with the leaf in and the drop sides down. This size is 41"w x 40" long.

And this is a view with the leaf out and the sides dropped (41" long x 24" w). This is how we kept it when we lived in our trailer. You know how space is limited when you live in a single-wide mobile home. You've really got to make the most of what space you have.

This is a great table for a breakfast nook or just a small table for families with kids and you need something in the kitchen where the kids can grab a quick snack or a meal on the run.

If you know anybody in the market for a set like this, tell them to give me a call at 332-6437. Our asking price is $175. It's solid wood, great shape, and a lot better than what you'd get at Wal-Mart.

Have a great Monday!

Pictures of our Arizona Trip

2009-11-13T14:39:00.014-05:00

Here are a few pictures from our trip to Arizona:

The community where we worked was beautifully landscaped and had these perfect shaped palm trees that reminded us of paint brushes. The limbs aren't flopped down like some palms I'd seen.

This is the first time I had ever seen a true life cactus. They were HUGE!! I couldn't get over how ugly they were where the birds had pecked them so bad. They kind of looked like our trees around home where the woodpeckers have almost pecked them to death.

Another lesson about cactus--I never knew they had a wooden trunk on the inside. I thought it was just a hunk of solid green stuff, but I guess it does need a strong structure on the inside to help it stand so tall.

This picture is not very clear because it was taken from the van window when we were delivering packets Friday. EVERY house in the Tartesso community is brown. EVERY HOUSE!! I couldn't believe it. And they're all only about 10 feet from each other. I'd get very clostrophobic if I lived here.

When we were cleaning up after the Fall Festival Saturday night, a coyote came out. We lost him for a minute, and then all of a sudden his head popped up out of a trash can. Reckon he goes by the name of Wile E.? And why do I ask....

Because we saw a Road Runner earlier that day. This was one of the hilights of my trip--seeing Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner. I always imagined Road Runner would be much bigger than this, but boy could that booger run!

We were on our way to the Grand Canyon Monday and stopped at a rest area. What a view behind us!

This is in Sedona. This mountain/rock looked just like an eagle to me. The mountains there are absolutely gorgeous!

And this one looked just like an eagle's head. These were some of the reddest mountains I've ever seen. Nothing like what we have in North Carolina.

This is another picture taken through the window in the van. We were going down the road to a lookout point at the Grand Canyon and we came across this elk eating on the side of the road. He was HUGE but he just stood there and grazed no matter how much noise we made or how much traffic came by.

And this is a sunset picture from the Grand View lookout point at the Grand Canyon. What a sight! The sun setting and the moon rising. This truly was one amazing site to see.

Another shot before the sun totally set. My camera could never do this view justice, but hopefully you can imagine just how gorgeous the site was.

If you ever get a chance and you're in Arizona, please do take the time to go to the Grand Canyon. It is truly a site to see!

Places I've Been

2009-11-13T14:16:00.006-05:00

I kind of borrowed this from some other blogs, but it was fun anyway! Does flying over these states count or how about landing in their airports?

visited 14 states (28%)
Create your own visited map of the United States at http://douweosinga.com/projects/visited?region=usa.

So I skipped out on bloggin, but I'm back!!

2009-11-10T15:18:00.002-05:00

I know all of you in Blogger Nation think I forgot all about you, but I went on a mission trip with my church and was gone for a week. I'm just getting caught up at work, so I'll try to post more often now.

A group from my church went out to Buckeye, AZ to help Pastor Dennis Conner who is working on a church plant in one of the communities in Buckeye, AZ. What a time we had. There were 20 in my group and a total of 91 volunteers in all.

Dennis pastors Cross Pointe Church at Tartesso. As a Halloween alternative, he plans a fall festival every year and boy is it a big one. He had over 600 people come out this year. It was a huge festival with lots and lots of different things for kids to do. We also provided hot dogs for everyone who came by.

We arrived in Phoenix Thursday night. Our duties began Friday morning after we had breakfast with all the volunteers. I'll admit I didn't take many pictures Friday and Saturday because we were on the move so much and we were so busy I was afraid I'd lose my camera if I took it everywhere with me.

Friday morning we visited LOTS of homes in the Tartesso community and left packets on the door inviting everyone to Movie in the Park Friday night and the Fall Festival Saturday night. That took up most of that day. Friday night, we showed Monsters vs. Aliens in the park. It was free to everyone. We served popcorn and hot chocolate too.

Saturday morning we were back up and at 'em early that morning to help with a bike ride in Tartesso. Riders could choose from a 2, 5, or 10 mile bike route. We were stationed at different points on the route to serve water to those who were riding.

Saturday afternoon we started setting up for the festival. Tartesso is a huge community with a big sports park. The sports park has places to play tennis, volleyball, baseball, and lots of picnic areas. Our festival was set up in the tennis courts. There were so many games for the kids to play and some of the biggest jumping things I've ever seen (those that blow up and the kids get in and jump). The festival started at 6 pm and closed at 8 pm. We had so much fun and the families were so appreciative that we did something like that for the Tartesso community.

I saw lots of neat things in Arizona that I'd never seen before, but I can truly say I was very glad to get back home to North Carolina. We did take Monday as a day to go sightseeing at the Grand Canyon. But, as amazing as that was, I was still glad to be going home on Tuesday.

I'll start posting pictures of our trip tomorrow. Like I said, I didn't get too many pictures of our actual work because I couldn't carry my camera with me all the time. Please keep Dennis Conner and the Cross Pointe Church at Tartesso in your prayers. He's got a lot of people out there to reach with God's word, so he's got a lot of work ahead of him. He baptized 5 teenagers while we were there, so he's well on his way with getting the gospel to the lost. If your church is interested in a mission trip, I'm sure he'd love to have your help sometimes. It's a great place to visit, but North Carolina will always be home!

I did update my blog! Can you see it??

2009-10-28T14:22:00.001-04:00

Just like Donielle, I updated my blog on Monday. I've left it open to the public for hours at the time, but it doesn't seem to update on anybody else's blog. So here's a silly, non-important post just to see if this updates anything.

Just another bump in the road of my wonderful life! Happy Wednesday!!

We're going to Arizona!!

2009-10-26T14:49:00.004-04:00

Thursday morning a group of 20 will leave from my church bound for Buckeye, Arizona. We'll spend 4 fabulous days helping Dennis and Cindy Conner and Cross Pointe Baptist Church with a bike race, fall festival, and Sunday morning church services. I'm so excited!!!

I think about 50 people from several different churches are flying out to help Cross Pointe, so please pray for safe travel for all of us. I think some of the local churches include Center Grove, Conway, Galatia, and Cashie. Also pray that we'll be in touch with lots of lost people so we can tell them about Jesus and introduce them to Cross Pointe Baptist. I can't wait!!!

We'll be visiting the Grand Canyon nexy Monday. I think Monday will be a very busy day with lots of travel and going and doing things. We fly back home on Tuesday.

I've got a new memory card and new batteries for my camera, so I hope to have lots of pictures to post when I get back. Maybe then I'll have more to post about than I have here lately. I seem to be in a slump with posting on my blog.

Hope everyone has a GREAT week!!

Still Hangin In There

2009-10-14T14:20:00.005-04:00

Not much going on lately to blog about, but I did want to let y'all know I'm still here. I'm still really busy with work and church, but I just wanted to wish all of you Happy Wednesday!

I did take this picture for Wendy Sunday. I missed her deadline to create something for Fall, but I did manage to finally get something fixed on my front porch. It's not what I planned, but hey, you work with what you've got. This is another one of the wreaths I made last year.

It Passed and We're In!!

2009-10-07T08:54:00.011-04:00

I've been blogging since April about the new education building we've been constructing at my church. Well, it's done!! They had the final inspection last week and we met for Sunday school in there Sunday! We'll have the official dedication October 18, but check out the pictures below. It's SOOO pretty!!

Hallway view from back to front

Classroom

Classroom

Children's Room

Bathroom Between Children's Rooms
(The teachers no longer have to bring the children out of the room for any reason. Check out that itty, bitty commode for kids. It's so cute!!)

Storage Area in Children's Rooms

Nursery

Hallway from the sanctuary

Original wall from original church building

(we left the stained glass windows in place and they are so pretty with the lights shining on them)

Restroom

(Notice the room at the end of the stalls. That's a shower area so we can house visiting missions teams.)

We have a few small things left to do, but we're forging ahead with utilizing the new facility. I'm sure you noticed the walls in the kid's rooms are kind of bear, but I think we're planning to get some murals painted on those walls.

We have been SOOOO blessed throughout this whole project. It was basically built by some very, very dedicated men in our church and there were no serious accidents during the entire project. Also, we paid for everything as the building was being constructed, so there's NO mortgage. TO GOD BE THE GLORY!!!!

We owe a very big debt of gratitude to Mr. Johnny Feher, a church member who signed on to be our general contractor. Johnny did a great job leading our project and I know he worked really hard to see it all done. At the end, I think he even worked until 3 am one morning helping the carpet guys get the carpet installed. Thank you Johnny!!

If you're ever in the Center Grove area, stop by and see us. I can't wait to see what God has in store for us next, but I know it will be something exciting!!!

My Ever Busy Life

2009-10-02T10:10:00.004-04:00

I had to come into work an hour early this morning to get some updates done on the computer system before users started logging in at 8 am. Leaving home about 6:40 am I was really worried about deer. They can come at you so quick.

I had gone about a 1/2 mile down the road when I looked over in my neighbor's yard and there stood a doe under the cedar tree in front of their pond. That was one of the most beautiful, peaceful looking things I've ever seen. The sun was just coming up, the fog was just getting off the ground, and all I could see was what looked like a black deer in front of that picturesque background. What a way to start my day!

So then I was reminded of last Tuesday when I was going back to work after being off Monday. I had to go in late because my Momma wanted me to take her to the doctor's office for her checkup. At first I was a little irritated because I knew she was perfectly capable of driving to Murfreesboro by herself and I knew I really, really needed to get to work to catch up on what I wasn't there to do Monday. And, of course, after going to the doctor Momma wanted to go to Bojangles and get a sausage biscuit. I mean, really, did I truly have time to do all this? Yes I did.

The Lord really spoke to me that morning and reminded me all the times my Momma stopped what she was doing to come help me or do something for me so who was I to tell her I really didn't have time to take her to the doctor and then go eat breakfast with her. I did take her to Murfreesboro and we came back to Bojangles and got a biscuit and we sat down there and ate it. I didn't rush her or myself to get done either. That was one point in time when I just stopped and took up as much time with my Momma as she needed me to. And you know what? I'll do it the next time she asked or the next time I just see the opportunity.

Sometimes I think we need to be reminded to "stop and smell the roses". I really think that's why God showed me that still, serene picture of the doe this morning. I was really anxious to get to work and get what I needed to do done, but God reminded me that I just needed to slow down and take my time and I would get everything done. And I did!

Anyway, don't go so fast this weekend that you let something special pass you by. Don't get so caught up in your busy schedule like I did in mine. I really wish I could have gotten a picture of what I saw this morning, but had I stopped I would have probably scared the deer, she would have run into my Yukon and then my day would have started off totally wrong.

Y'all have a great weekend!

How Well Dressed Are Your Feet?

2009-09-29T09:05:00.002-04:00

In my last blog, I talked about our WOM's Hospitality Banquet. I mentioned that a table decorated with all kinds of shoes was one of my favorites. Carol Ann and Mary Lynn did a great job with that table, so I thought I'd share how they used shoes and boots to relate to the everyday Christian's life.

How well dressed are your feet?

We won't always put on the right pair of shoes but we can improve at wearing the type of shoes that are well fitting of a Christian woman. The kind of style that enhances our walk with the Lord. If not, it will affect our whole appearance as a Christian.

Pumps - Do you find yourself pumping people up? Are you an encourager? What a great pair of shoes to wear. We all have times when we need encouragement, so think how important it is to give it as well as receive it. "Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do." I Thes 5:11

Slips ons - Do you find yourself slipping on Christianity just for church and hanging it up till the next time? Do people really know you're a Christian? If we aren't living for Christ throughout the week, how can we ever have the witness God intended us to have? "Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good woks, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." Matt 5:15

Sandals - do you find yourself too comfortable with your Christian life? Could you be doing more for Christ? Sometimes it's easy to get comfortable with what we're doing and not really do all that we have the potential and ability to do. We ought to take hold of life and live it the way God intended. We shouldn't be satisfied with being a mediocre Christian but remember who we are living for. "Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily besetus, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us. Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith.; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God." Heb 12:1,2

Tennis shoes - Do you find yourself running from your problems? Sometimes some of us want to do this. We hope if we just don't think about our problems, they'll just go away. If we'd just lean on God's strength a little more, we'd be able to better handle things that come into our lives. "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all they ways acknowledge Him, and he shall direct thy paths." Prov 3:5,6

Work shoes - Do you find yourself working and doing all you can do for God's glory? It all boils down to serving Christ and following Him. If we are following Him and obeying His word, we will bear much fruit for Him. "Then said Jesus unto His disciples, if any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me." Matt 15:24

Slippers - Do you find yourself causing others to slip and stumble? Are you aware of your actions? Although we are given Christian liberties, we can't just live life like we want. We have to be aware that others are watching us and we need to set a good example. "Let us not therefore judge one another any more; but judge this rather, that no man pub a stumbling block or an occasion to fall in his brother's way." Rom 14:13

Boots - Do you find yourself walking all over people and only doing things your way? It's sometimes so easy for some of us to do. We forget to be sensitive to others. I think if we'd be a little more loving and tenderhearted, we'd tend to stop "walking" this way. "And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you." Ephes 4:32

Flats - Do you find yourself flat in your Christian life? Do you need to get yourself motivated? It's so easy to find ourselves like that, just moving along without much life to us. Sometimes we need to just get ourselves energized and get excited about living the Christian life. "Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit. Psalm 51:12

Loafers - Do you find yourself not doing anything for Christ? Are you using your talents for His glory? Perhaps you've never gotten involved or you've been burned out and just haven't participated in things like you used to. Is there something you can do to use your gifts and talents for the Lord? Teaching a Sunday School class, preparing meals for the sick, or just mentoring another woman? We all have to be active in order for the body of Christ to work effectively. "For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of that one body, being many, are one body, so also is Christ. I Corin 12:12

Hope you enjoyed reading these. I sure did! Happy Tuesday!!

Center Grove's 2009 Hospitality Banquet

2009-09-25T09:53:00.012-04:00

The Women on Mission at my church hosted our third annual hospitality banquet last Saturday night. It was probably the best one ever! We had about 80 women come out and enjoy dinner, special singing, and a guest speaker. I think everybody had a wonderful time.

WOM host the hospitality banquet to draw more women to Christ. Different women decorate different tables with different themes and we invite guests to sit with us at our tables (church members and non-members). Some ladies really got creative this year and made things really interesting. My creative juices seemed to have dried up and I just couldn't get my tables together. I think I just had too much going on over the past week.

Check out the pictures of some of the tables:

Joy White's table

Kristina Waterfield's John Deere table

This was the most creative table in my opinion. They had shoes and boots on the table describing Christians and their faith. For example, the pump asked were you a Christian that kept people pumped up? Are you an encourager? The flat shoe asked if we were sometimes flat on our faith. All the shoes had verses and questions to go along with them. I'll try to share that in a blog later on.

Carol Ann's Bride of Christ table

My Christmas table

My ivy table

Carol Ann and Mary Lynn's pocketbook table--They made pocketbook placemats for this table. The pocketbooks on the end of the table have Bible verses on them.

Linda and Kelly's Fall table

And this is 3 generations of my family that were able to attend the banquet--Missy (my oldest of 19 nieces and nephews), me, my sister, Linda, and my Momma. There's not too many times that we all get together anymore so I'm really glad we were able to do this at the banquet. What a time we all had!!

Give a woman duct tape and see what happens!!

2009-09-18T08:36:00.004-04:00

Last night a few of us ladies were working in my church's fellowship hall getting ready for our third annual Hospitality Banquet. We were working along arranging tables, chairs, and things when we noticed the faucet in the kitchen was not only dripping but actually trickling a pretty good stream of water. A couple of us messed with it some and kept trying to cut the water off, but the handle would always slide back on enough to make the water start running again.

Well, the rest of us got busy doing something else, so my pastor's wife, Carol Ann, went to the kitchen, got some duct tape out of a drawer, and proceeded to stop that water from running. We just about fell out laughing at what she did! Take a look for yourself:

Now I've seen duct tape used for many, many things, but never to keep the water turned off. LOL Those lines on the back splash are from a plant someone is rooting in the window above the sink. It looks like she duct taped that to the wall as well. LOL

This is a picture of Carol Ann, out sweet pastor's wife. Who would have ever thought she had it in her! LOL She's a very creative lady full of resources. By the way, that look on her face is "why are you taking my picture?" to which I quickly replied "it's for my blog!"

Hope you all have a great weekend! I'll post some pictures next week about our banquet. I'm so excited!!

Fall is in the air!

2009-09-16T08:59:00.008-04:00

Fall is my most absolute favorite season of all. I love the cool, crisp mornings and evenings. I also love to decorate my yard, my house, and my office with things that remind me of the season. Here are a few pictures of what I've done so far:

Beau with the mums on my front door steps

Cooper pumpkins we bought in Blowing Rock while on vacation. I thought they were so pretty! And different too!!

My back door wreath

A little something for the office

And this is the face that greets me every morning I come out no matter what season it is--my sweet Beau boy! I'm still not sure how I got his picture without a tennis ball in his mouth!

Happy Wednesday everybody!!

Labor Day Weekend

2009-09-10T14:02:00.005-04:00

Labor Day weekend was an absolutely wonderful weekend. We didn't have much planned and I really enjoy weekends when we can kind of just go along with the flow and just enjoy whatever happens.

After we got off work Friday, we met up with some friends and went down to Colerain Beach for supper. You have to be a member to get in (and, of course, we're not) so they just have a little restaurant there that serves about 4 specials to a few people. It was really good food and we enjoyed eating with our friends and looking out over the river.

After we finished eating, we left to go to my brother's house. Billy has bought a 12-foot blowup movie screen so he can show movies outside. He really is a big kid at heart. He already had a projector and he's also bought a new surround sound system. He loves to show movies with lots of shooting and things blowing up because those sounds really come out in his system, but most of the time, the language is not great in those types of movies. Anyway, we watched Fireproof. That's a really good movie and I think everybody enjoyed it. There were 13 of us that "came out to the show" that night.

Saturday Mitch and I hung out around the house. I got everything cleaned on the inside then I went outside to trim some hedges. We just worked around the yard getting things done that we'd put off for a while.

Sunday was a great day! As Mandy mentioned in her blog, me, my Momma, my sister Nancy, and my sister Linda all decided to surprise Mandy and her family at Mason's dedication. And surprise her we did!! I love going to baby dedications and I was especially glad to be at this one. Mandy's family along with her two aunts and my family are all that's really left on my daddy's side of our family. So anytime we can get together is a time to celebrate.

After Mason's baby dedication, my family left to go home and change clothes so we could get off to Greenville. My birthday was in August, my sister-in-law Judy's birthday is Sept. 12, and Nancy's birthday is Sept. 16 so we all wanted to get together before Nancy left to go back to Florida. My brother had his sites set on the Mayflower, but I had other plans.........

We had a blast! And yes, me and Linda did one more Chinese fire drill! It was so funny!! Linda lost her shoe in the process and I just about wet my pants laughing at her. She didn't know whether to stop or go because she didn't recognize Billy's truck as it pulled up behind us! She finally made it around my Yukon but I was already back in my seat and ready to take off before she ever got back in! LOL I told her she's gettin too old to keep doing this stuff!

We did a little shopping, ate supper at Texas Roadhouse, of course we had to go to Wal-Mart, then a final stop at Krispy Kreme Doughnuts. We got Momma back home about 11 that night. We always have so much fun when we get together like that. If I could get my brother to drive a little faster than 55 and stay up with me we'd go more places faster! My Momma says he's the nearest thing like my Uncle McClullen. I think he'd drive 45 everywhere he went if he could. Ugh!! He drives me crazy sometimes!!

It was a really good weekend. I know it's one I'll remember for a long time!!

And it did end up being great!

2009-09-08T20:57:00.019-04:00

Well, it's taken me a few days, but I finally hooked up my camera and downloaded some pictures so I could finish my posts about our vacation. The rest of our week was just fabulous. We did a lot of riding and sightseeing and really just enjoyed slowing down and spending some time with us!

Here's a few pictures of what we did and some of the scenery we enjoyed:

Views like this are why we just absolutely love going to visit the mountains of NC

This is a new sign I saw for the first time on this trip. And I was driving when we saw several of these! I would tell Mitch "Woooooweeeeee!! Hang on baby!!" and laugh. He didn't like it when he wasn't driving, but I sure did. I love driving around those up and down round and round roads!

We saw several deer and turkeys this time. We even saw one on one of my curvy roads that had no shoulders on either side of the road. I was trying to let the oncoming car know that a deer was in the road when that deer just jumped almost straight up and took off up the side of the mountain. I've never seen a deer do anything like that.

This is a fresco painted in an Episcopal church outside of Jefferson, NC. (just off the Blue Ridge Parkway). There are two churches with frescoes, but we just re-visited one on this trip. It's really a humbling experience to visit the church and just sit and look at this fresco.

This is a picture of the old barn at Dutch Creek Stables where we went horseback riding. The horse/mule on the far left was Mitch's ride, Caroline. This stable is in Valle Crucis just a short ways outside of Boone. We had such a blast! I'm so glad we decided to do this on my birthday!

This is just one of many gorgeous views we saw while riding horses.

This is TJ, our trail guide, and my horse, Cole, on the left. They kept telling me my horse was ADD and would just take out after whatever might catch his attention, but he was a great ride. He did like to stop and eat an awful lot.

And this is one of my two favorite overlooks on the Blue Ridge Parkway. This is where I've asked my family to come throw my ashes after I'm cremated. If I can't have a vacation home in Blowing Rock, at least let my ashes rest in peace there.

You might not know what you're looking at here, but this is one of many views that just depressed me everywhere we went in the mountains. It's cocoons built by silkworms. We have lots of them in our area in pecan trees, but they seem to be in just about anything in the mountains. They were everywhere and sometimes they had covered just about the whole tree. In some places, you could look out over the mountains and see hundreds of them.

So our vacation for 2009 started with a bang, but it turned out absolutely wonderful. As always, we hated to leave to come home on Friday. Mitch and I have always wanted a place in the mountains, but we finally decided on this trip that if we had a place and went there often, the mountains just wouldn't be as special as they are now.

So we arrived at the cabin about 7:30

2009-09-02T13:36:00.003-04:00

If you didn't read yesterday's blog, you should read it first so you'll know where I'm coming from in this blog.

We finally got to the cabin about 7:30 Sunday evening. The driveway up beside the mountain was so steep, we had to use 4-wheel drive so we wouldn't spin out in the rocks. This is practically a brand new place. The guy just got his permit for occupancy in June and I think my neighbors were the first to actually stay there.

It was a really cute place. Small, but cute. Had I not been so rattled, I might would have taken pictures. You drove around back and went in on the second floor. If you stopped around front, you went in on the first floor (the basement). The second floor was really pretty with a kitchen area, full bath, solid oak floors. There was no furniture on this floor except the kitchen table and chairs. For the time being, you had to use an air mattress if you wanted to sleep on this floor. Note there were no curtains anywhere--bathroom or anywhere. The lower floor had a bed and another full bath and the closet that housed the hot water heater and a water tank thing-a-ma-jiggy.

Well, we went in, looked around to see what was what, then Mitch decided to unload our stuff then cut on the water pump and hot water heater so we could take a bath in a few hours. Here's where the fun begins again......

After Mitch flipped the breakers on, we heard water spraying somewhere. Mitch said something's wrong. I thought maybe it was just water filling up something. While he's over at the panel box, I go to the closet where we had seen the hot water heater. When I opened the door, water sprayed me right between the eyes. What did I do?? I screamed and slammed the door shut. Mitch was really good. He didn't laugh and he asked me was I all right.

We knew we needed to open that door again and see what was going on, so I told him I'd take the low side and he could take the back side. This time we snatched opened the door, I ducked down, and he ducked back. The leaking water line shot water clean across the room and was hitting the window on the others side. I declare I felt like I was in that Huggies commercial where the little boy sprays all over the room when the man tries to change the diaper. Me and Mitch were just like "Whoa!!" I finally slammed the door shut. Mitch had already cut the breaker off when I got sprayed in the face, but now we were getting a little worried because the water didn't seem to want to stop spraying.

We went in the bathroom and cut on the faucets hoping that would relieve some of the water pressure on the leak. Water was now coming out from under the closet door and running out on the floor. Finally, the water did stop spraying and we were able to see that there was a crack in the PVC line to the bladder tank. This meant we couldn't turn the pump back on so there was no water for showers or flushing commodes. What does this mean you might ask?? We had to load up all our stuff and take out for Boone to find a place to stay for 2 nights.
About 8:40 Sunday night we took out for Boone. We really had no idea where we were nor how to get to Boone. And was I going to try to find something with our GPS?? I don't think so......

Even after yet, another wrong turn, we finally got to Boone about 10 that night and managed to find a hotel room. We were give completely out when we finally went to bed. Lost in the middle of nowhere, dropped and forgotten by our GPS, then sprayed in the face by a leaking water pipe. What more could a couple looking for a quiet, easy vacation ask for.

The BANG! that kick started our vacation

2009-09-01T11:11:00.002-04:00

I mentioned in my post yesterday that our vacation started with a BANG! and boy did it ever. Let me give you a little background....

One Sunday in June Mitch and I decided to leave church early and head to Chesapeake. We were just planning to go to Outback and do a little shopping. Since I play the organ at church, we decided to leave after the choir sang their special music. That way, the pianist would only have to play the invitation song by herself. We left church, ran home and changed clothes, then took off for Virginia. Coming through Ahoskie, we were just talking and riding, not paying any attention to much else. Well, we came across the overhead pass on Memorial Drive and an Ahoskie police officer clocked Mitch going 50 in a 35 coming down the hill. Mitch got a ticket, of course, but ever since that day, we promised the good Lord we would not skip church to go do something frivolous like shopping or going out to eat.

So, when we started planning our vacation, we knew we would be leaving on Sunday. We planned to leave right after church since Boone was only about 5 hrs away. We weren't actually going to Boone Sunday night because we were planning to stay in a friend's cabin outside West Jefferson, so we thought we'd arrive long before dark. Wrrrroooong.......

We had directions to the cabin, but we decided to key the address in our GPS and see where it took us--being the adventuresome people we are! We love to ride and see new things. Well, our GPS took us on a more northern route than our other directions and we saw things and went places we had never been. We actually wound up back on Hwy 58 and this was OK until we got to a small community in VA called White Top Mountain community. Our GPS then told us "we cannot get you to your destination from this point!" and it just quit giving directions. What's up with that?? I've never heard anybody say their GPS just stopped giving directions. After all, we had followed it all the way, so what happened all of a sudden? It recognized the address we keyed in, so we thought we were good. Oh, and did I mention about this same time Mitch noticed we were down to a quarter tank of gas! My husband never lets us get low on gas when we going some place we've never been before, but he sure let us down this time. We had stopped in a small town named Sparta to eat supper, but I guess he never thought about filling the gas tank--just his stomach tank! LOL

Well, in looking around our surroundings, which had beautiful views by the way, my husband recognized a road name my neighbor had mentioned (my neighbors came up July 4th to stay in this same cabin). It was a gravel road so I guess that's why GPS didn't recognize it. Turns out, that gravel road took us over to the road our cabin was on but rather than going on to the cabin, we decided to head out to the nearest town to look for gas. Believe it or not, we found a convenience store out in the middle of nowhere so we were able to get gas and head back to the cabin.

Stay tuned tomorrow to see what happens once we arrive! You'll laugh your head off!!

I've been MIA but I'm back!!

2009-08-31T14:44:00.002-04:00

I can't believe I've gone almost a month without posting to my blog! Where has time gone? I thought when Bible school was over things would slow down, but boy was I mistaken. We're still rollin as fast as we can go!!!

August has been very busy. We had registration here at the community college where I work, and that made for a hectic two weeks. I worked a lot of extra hours during that time trying to stay caught up and keeping things running smoothly. Thank goodness the worst part is over and things seem to be slowing down a bit now.

Last week Mitch and I finally took a vacation. Wednesday was my birthday and all I wanted was to be in the mountains of NC for my birthday. And we made it!!! I absolutely love the little village of Blowing Rock so we stayed there most of the week. Our trip started off with a bang, but I'll get into that in another blog. I'll blog later on about our vacation and include some pictures too.

Just wanted all of you to know that I haven't stopped blogging. Things have been really busy and I didn't have anything exciting to post on my blog, but I didn't totally forget it. I've got a lot of catching up to do with reading blogs too!

Happy Monday everybody!

In your face Pastor Tommy!!

2009-08-05T11:47:00.007-04:00

Y'all remember I posted last week that we were having Vacation Bible School at my church. Well, Pastor Tommy promised if we got 100 children enrolled in VBS, he'd let his wife throw a pie in his face. You can imagine the race was on!!

We had 85 kids on Monday night and we made our goal (101) on Tuesday night. We were working and calling as many people as possible because we knew we'd be working against Watermelon Festival once it started on Wednesday.

We had an absolute wonderful week with kids everywhere! Praise the Lord!! I'm not sure how many kids committed their life to Christ because Pastor Tommy is in the process of talking with them and their parents, but I do know one young man made his commitment known while his class was visiting the missions stop. How awesome is that!!!

Brenda Dilday was our VBS Director and she always does a great job. We had one of the best kickoffs Saturday, July 25, with a train ride, a jumping thingamajiggee, and a dunking machine where they could dunk Pastor Tommy as well as some of the ladies that were going to teach VBS. We cooked hot dogs and had a blast!! Check out the pictures below:

When the children were done riding the train that morning, the adults decided to take a ride around the church grounds. Mr. Ronald Pierce was the driver and boy did he give us a ride!! That engine is just a riding lawn mower but man would she fly!

This is Alexis Bolam. She got the privilege of throwing a pie in Pastor Tommy's face because she brought the most friends (5) of all the kids.

And this is Pastor Tommy and his wife, Carol Ann. We teased her about throwing her pie ever so gently, but she really got him good. After she got his face, she gracefully slid the whole thing on top of his head! LOL After she got him, he decided to share some of the whipped cream and chocolate syrup with her!

And this is the kids doing their songs at the end of VBS commencement. We didn't do the motions to all the songs (sorry Wendy!!), but we did do Gonna Follow You and This is Why as a group. One of the classes did Workin on My Serve.

The whole week was a lot of work but a lot of fun too! I wouldn't trade that week for anything in this world. Sometimes I think VBS does more for my soul than revival--maybe because kids keep coming back to me for months reminding me about VBS. How great is that!! It is so rewarding to know that I touched their life like that!

If your church hasn't had VBS, get involved and help out! If your heart is not right with God, it will just be a lot of work for you. However, if your heart is right with Him, it may be one of the most rewarding experiences of your life. Never think you're too old to help!! I'm living proof!!

Rest in Peace Desi Girl

2009-07-30T10:16:00.002-04:00

I'm sure all of you have seen the picture of my dogs on my blog. Well, Desi girl had her final curtain call last night. She kind of took a turn for the worse Tuesday night, so I felt certain we'd probably have to make a decision for her life sometimes yesterday. I really hated leaving for work yesterday morning because I really wanted to stay there with her. Mitch and I both went home at lunch to check on her and realized she was not getting any better. So when I got home yesterday shortly after 5, I knew it was time to do something. It wasn't fair to keep her hanging on because I didn't want her to go. I knew she was tired of fighting and the time was now. I finally made the decision to call the vet.

Let me just tell you that just about the rudest person I've ever talked to answered the phone when I did finally make that call. It took everything in me to get myself straight and talk to them to begin with and when the lady answered the phone on the other end, I told her what I wanted and she quickly blared back at me that I was going to have to pay a $75 emergency fee. Well, you know what? The cost of putting my dog out of misery was not exactly what was on my mind at that time. I was so angry for a second I couldn't say anything nice so I just hung up on her. She promptly called me back (thanks to caller ID because I never got a chance to give her my name) and asked were we coming or what?

How rude! How rude! How rude!!!!! When she called back, she then started asking questions like if the dog had been there before and what name was on the account. You know what? She should have started our first conversation like that and then she could have added that there was going to be an additional $75 emergency fee since it was after hours. I didn't care about the fee, I just cared about my dog. I've always paid my bill before I left their office, and I didn't think this time would be an exception. That conversation could have been a whole lot more pleasant and I wouldn't have hung up on her so abruptly. I'm still debating whether to call back this morning and let her know she shouldn't be so sharp with people who are calling to see if they can bring their pet in to get a shot to end their lives. I mean, how cruel is that!!

Sorry to blow off steam on my blog today, but it's been a rough week. On top of losing Desi last night, I found out when I got to Bible school that an older member of my church, a dear sweet man, had passed away too. What a night! I went to Bible school long enough to run the computer for opening worship and go over my songs and motions with the kids, and I went home.

I can't take many more hump days like yesterday so I pray the rest of this week brings brighter days than yesterday.

It's official!! The count was 101!!!

2009-07-29T07:56:00.002-04:00

We made it!! We made our goal of 100 kids in vacation Bible school!!! WOOOOHOOOOOO!!!!! That means Pastor Tommy gets a pie in the face!! God is so good!!!

Center Grove has never had a Vacation Bible School this big before! NEVER!! It is so exciting to see all those kids and they are so excited to be there. Things were much smoother last night and more on schedule, so I guess everybody's found their stride and we're starting to make headway.

Keep us in your prayers! We're still huntin for more kids to tell about Jesus. We know they're out there, so send 'em our way if you find 'em!

Please say a prayer for my Desi dog too. She's not doing well these hot days. She just turned 15, and this heat is really working on her. We've tried bringing her in the house where it's cool, but she'll have no part of that. She just stands at the door looking out, so we open the door and let her go. Somehow she made it to the ditch in front of the house last night while we were at church. Mitch saw her when we got home. Her back legs don't work too well anymore, and she had just fallen and couldn't get up. We got her up and brought her to the back and washed her off. Poor thing was tuckered completely out. My prayer is that the Lord will call her home to be with Him so I won't have to take her to the vet and have them put her to sleep. She's been a good and faithful companion so I hate to see her suffer but I don't want to take matters in my own hands either. I'd rather let the Lord do His work.

Please pray for Deacon Doug too (he got that name on his mission trip to Africa). He had back surgery yesterday and things were a little more serious when they went in to fix a pinched nerve. He'll probably be in the hospital the rest of this week.

Happy Wednesday and God bless you all!!

Haven't forgotten you!

2009-07-27T14:26:00.003-04:00

Just wanted all of you to know I haven't forgotten my blog. I've been really busy getting ready for Bible school that starts tonight, so keep Center Grove in your prayers that we'll have 100 or more kids! That would be so wonderful!!

I've been practicing my songs all month trying to learn the words and the motions. I sure hope I know them when it's showtime tonight. If you'd like your kids to join us, come on out. Things start up for kids at 6:30 pm, but the adult class doesn't start until 7 pm. We'd love to have you or your kids, or your grandkids, or your cousins, or anybody else who'd like to come.

Not only have I been practicing Bible school songs, but I've also been taking some time off for me. Mitch bought me one of those $99 pools from Wal-mart July 3, and I've SOOOO enjoyed it. He bought me a float and every chance I get, I'm in the pool lying on my float like nobody's business. It is so relaxing and I love the fact that I don't have to dress and go somewhere or worry about what I look like coming home from somebody else's pool. It's very relaxing to just lie there and float around or just sit there in the evenings when it's so hot. Surprisingly, Mitch does get in with me once in a while and we just sit and talk which is really nice. One night we were in there until 9:45. There again, time flies when you're having fun or just relaxing.

I'll try to blog later this week about what's going on with Bible school. We didn't quite finish our new education building in time for Bible school, but we're almost there! The men are painting the second coat of paint today and then we're down to the final things like installing doors, carpet, trim, and finishing things like that. I think they still have to do the finishing touches on the plumbing and electrical too. I can't wait!!

Happy Monday to you all!!!

What a time we had!!

2009-07-14T13:44:00.010-04:00

Saturday was Momma's 81st birthday! Some may say that I shouldn't tell my mother's age, but she is so proud of each and every year of her life and the fact that she still does so many things for herself. Momma is very active for her age cutting grass and doing her own yard work, walking everyday, washing her truck, cleaning her house, and just about anything else she can do while standing on her own two feet! I hope I'm as active and healthy as she when I get to be 81!!

Momma doesn't ask for a lot, so it's very hard to buy gifts for her. I use to go shopping and pick up an outfit for her, but her taste has changed over the past couple of years and we don't seem to like the same things. So, since we all know she loves to eat, we decided to take her out to her favorite restaurant, The Mayflower. Me and my brother wanted to go in two different directions, so we flipped a coin and I won!! Woooohooooo!!! We went to the big RR (Roanoke Rapids). My Momma and Daddy use to go there real often to just go out and eat and do a little shopping, so I think it means a lot to Momma when we go there now.

There were only 7 of us since one of my older sisters lives in Florida, but would you believe we all had to drive. How sad is that given the price of gas these days? Some smoke, some men are just determined to drive, and others just went with the flow. It was kind of fun. Me and Linda played Chinese fire drill at a stop sign in Jackson on the way. When's the last time you did that?? We were also on the phone--a lot--talking about my brother. He drives soooo slow. Since she was behind me, I kept calling her asking where Billy was because sometimes he'd get completely out of sight. Believe it or not though, we all arrived at the Mayflower at the same time.

We did have a great time, just like we normally do when it's just Momma and Daddy's kids and their spouses. It gets a little chaotic when you throw in all the grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Here's some pictures:

Our group in Mayflower

Linda and Wayne (wonder why they're grinning??)

Linda doing a demonstration on how to eat crab legs

Next step in the process

And after all that work, you get a little piece of meat to eat!!

My brother, Billy, and his wife, Judy

Billy was asking Linda why in the world anybody would do all that work for such a little piece of meat? She declared that it was sooo worth it!!

And this is the group that sang "Happy Birthday" to Momma.

While we were eating, this group sang "Happy Birthday" to a table behind us. My Momma's face got so red. We tried to assure her they weren't coming to her table and everything would be all right. Well, they didn't come to her table that time, but they did the next time!! Gotcha Momma!!

Momma wanted to go shopping in Belk after we ate, so my brother kind of went off on his own. We did meet up with Linda in Belk where she repeatedly tried to embarrass Momma by holding up lingerie and bathing suits and asking Momma if they were her size. She's such a cut up!! Momma would just smile and slowly walk off.

I think everybody had a really good time, so I can't wait to see what next year brings!!

Amazing Things I've Learned

2009-07-09T08:21:00.003-04:00

I've really had some amazing learning experiences this week. It's just amazing what you can see and learn when you step out of your mundane, routine life and step over into the real world.

I had a bed quilt that needed washing this week, so I decided to take it to the laundromat since it wouldn't fit in my washing machine. Have you been to the laundromat lately?? Oh my goodness!! It cost $1.75 to wash a load of clothes! Why in the world would someone pay this? I actually ended up using a larger washer that cost $4.50 per load. Their biggest model cost $6 per load. I was totally shocked!

It took almost an hour for my quilt to wash in this larger machine. While I was waiting, I was just noticing some of the other people there. One lady washed about 5 loads of clothes then turned around and put them all in the dryer. The dryers cost $.25 per load which wasn't as big of a shock. However, I do remember when it only cost $.10 per load. Nonetheless, people were washing and drying loads and loads of clothes like I'm sure others do day in and day out. I know there's money in that business because the guy that owns the laundromat I visited owns one other laundromat and two car washes. He and his wife have a nice home, she doesn't work, and their kids go to private school--all because some people don't see that if they'd put that $10-$15 they're spending in a laundromat per week towards a payment on a washer and dryer, they'd have it paid for in no time! Let's look at the big picture folks!

And then there's the other lesson I was reminded of last night. Pastor Tommy gave us an update on the missionaries our church supports and he told us about how one of them who is working on a medical mission in a foreign country I shouldn't mention took medicine to a village of people who had never heard about Jesus. They went in to take the medicine and create relations with the people hoping to get a chance to tell them about Jesus. Imagine living in such a remote place you never got the chance to hear about Jesus, then imagine all the people who've gone to hell because people like me and you didn't go out and tell them about Jesus. Two of the missionaries we support have taken their families with small children to predominantly Muslim countries just to get the opportunity to share Jesus with them. One other lady has gone to a country that's so dangerous we don't even know where she is because the people there would take her life if they knew why she was in their country.

I think Pastor Tommy said there were about 1100 groups of people in the world who have never even heard about Jesus, so we better get busy people! Their lost soul is riding on our shoulders!

Was it fun or what?

2009-07-06T13:31:00.003-04:00

I had the best weekend ever this past weekend! I worked some, but I played a lot too. Because we're on a 4-day week here at work, we got Thursday off since we were already suppose to be off on Friday anyway. What a joy that was!!

Thursday was my lazy day. I started working on music for Bible school and did some things on the computer--reading blogs and catching up on FB. Friday is when I got down to business with cleaning my house and mowing the grass. And then, Mitch and I did something we've never done before! We bought a pool!!! We are forty something years old and neither one of us have ever had our own pool! It's just one of the 12' x 33" pools from Wal-Mart, but it's big enough for me and him to just relax in and cool off on some of these hot summer afternoons. And it's big enough for me and 4 kids (including a 2 yr old and a 1 yr old) so I found out Saturday afternoon.

Our church had games and a cookout with homemade ice cream Saturday, and when that was over, 2 nieces and 2 nephews came home with me to spend the night. We played in the pool a good part of the afternoon and then we got out and played some more. We all stayed outside until about 8:30 Saturday night. I missed seeing fireworks because the babies got tired and were ready for bed at 8:30, but I still had the best time with all of them at my house.

We were back up bright and early Sunday morning to get ready for church. There was a lot of hustle and bustle around my house to get 6 people breakfast and ready for church when there's normally just 2, but we all made it to Sunday school on time. By then, I was kind of excited knowing their parents were going to be there to take over at that point.

I don't know about anybody else, but I had a blast for my July 4th weekend. I hope all of you did the same!

Happy Monday!!

Happy July 4th to Everyone!

2009-07-02T11:53:00.004-04:00

Hope you get a chance to celebrate our country's independence somewhere fun this weekend!

In case you don't get a chance to go see fireworks, check these out:

Have fun and be safe!

If he's looking down, I know he's laughing!

2009-06-30T08:04:00.006-04:00

When our loved ones go on to be with the Lord, I don't know that they are looking down on us everyday. Some people believe they are, but I'm just not sure. But if, by chance, my daddy is looking down on his family, I know he fell out laughing at me, Mitch, and my Momma last night.

My Momma's neighbor gave her some fresh white perch Sunday night. It was only 7 of them, so I asked Momma if she wanted to cook them outside Monday night. Nobody likes to cook fish in the house because they're so smelly. So we decided we were going to have ourselves a small scale (pardon the pun) fish fry Monday night. Momma drove out to our house and we cooked fish, French fries, and cornbread. Gettting off work at 5 and doing all this stuff didn't leave a lot of time to cook or fix much else.

Well, Mitch did all the cooking. That's not something he does very often, so he kept asking Momma if things were done enough. All I could think about the whole time we were getting things ready is how my daddy use to cook fish in the backyard and then we'd sit on the back porch and eat. I sure do miss my daddy!

Things were going pretty good until it was time to cook the cornbread. I hardly ever cook cornbread, but I do know that Mitch likes his thin and crunchy--not in the traditional cake-like patty form. I guess I got the mix a little thin, so when Mitch tried to drop it in the oil, it spreaded out in little crumbs everywhere in the pan. I told him to give me the bowl and I'd show him how to drop it in. I did the same thing as he. LOL So my Momma said to give her the bowl and she'd show us both how to do it! Needless to say, it didn't work for her either. LOL See for yourself:

Momma had just said, "Let me show you how to do it!" Notice all the jiblets in the pan! LOL

And then there was the "Oh!" look when the batter did the same thing for her as it did for me and Mitch. LOL

All I could do then was laugh because as many times as we've all watched my daddy cook all this stuff, it sure looked like we didn't learn a thing. So I know if he was looking down on us, he was about to have a fit to move us out of the way and show us how it should have been done.

Overall everything was really good. The fish were a lot crunchier than what my Daddy use to cook, but they were sooooo good! The homemade fries were scrumptous, and the cornbread, no matter how many bits and pieces there may have been, was good too! We had so much fun!

Never any rest for the weary!

2009-06-29T14:24:00.007-04:00

What a weekend! I really dread Mondays, but at least I don't have to work as hard here as I do at home and other places during the weekend. Weekends are really rough this summer with Mitch working at church all day Saturday. There's a lot of stuff I wish he could do around the house, but he can't be in both places at once. And it's about to kill me to try and keep up!

I mentioned that we missed our church family last week when we went to see our nephew baptized. Well, folks really made up for it yesterday! LOL The guy that generally runs the sound equipment called me at 9:25 to say he wouldn't be at church yesterday and asked if I could run the sound equipment. No problem! Bible school is coming up in July, so I had to help with a promotional skit for that too. We had some special music during worship service yesterday, so I had to play the organ for the choir's special music, then run to the back of the church to start the CD for the other special music. Imagine this:

Arrive at church at 9:35. Get organ and music ready to go.

9:45 Opening service for Sunday school starts
10:20 Get overhead projector running with slideshow and get DVD ready for praise and worship
11:00 Morning worship starts. Computer freezes while slideshow is playing--DVD is playing but there's no sound or picture
11:03 Preacher says let's sing a hymn instead. Stop DVD and run up front to play the organ for the hymn
11:15 Children come up front to get ready to go to children's church. I grab a cordless mic and run to the back so I can play the announcer in a game show skit we're doing to promote Bible school
11:20 Skit done. Run back to organ to play for next hymn, offertory, and choir special
11:30 After playing choir special, run to the back of the church to start the CD for the couple that's singing special music--note that I walked to the back of the church barefooted because I didn't have time to slip on my sandals after playing the organ (I play barefooted)
11:34 Go sit down and rest while the preacher preaches his sermon--breathe....
12:15 Worship service is over. Pull out box of 51 t-shirts ordered for church members and get ready to distribute those and take money
12:45 Get home from church, change as quickly as possible, then pick up Momma and take off for Chesapeake. I've got to drive, of course, because Mitch was tired
9:00 Finally back home--sit down for about 30-45 minutes then get ready for bed cause it's back to work tomorrow

So I know Kelly's life is just about as busy as mine, but what gives with all this? I must be involved in way too many things! And I don't even have kids! I don't remember my parents' lives being like this when I was growing up. They took naps every Sunday afternoon then we were off to see both sets of grandparents and we came back home where Momma cooked supper every night. We never got takeout!

So, when fellow bloggers and everybody else asks "Can my life get any busier?", I honestly think it can!! God bless us all cause I can't imagine getting through all this without Him!

Happy Monday--or Tuesday--or whatever day you read this.....

It's Summertime for Sure!!

2009-06-24T07:39:00.003-04:00

It's hard to believe July 4th will be next weekend. It seems like just a couple weeks ago we were all so glad spring was here and we could get out the flip flops!

One of the things I love to do during the summer is grow flowers. I LOVE MY FLOWERS! Some of them are a lot of work, but to see them grow and bloom is so amazing and rewarding to me.

I went out last night to water my flowers and noticed all the blooms on my hydrangea bush. It's NEVER bloomed like it has this year. I've always admired pictures in magazines where there were vases full of hydrangea sitting around in different places. Well, today I have my own! And I grew them myself!! Take a look:

They say you control the color of the bloom with the acid in the soil. I've always wished for purple blooms but only had blue ones. This year I've got both! Go figure! Maybe it's acid rain or something because I sure didn't add any acid to my soil!

Here are some geraniums I've been growing too. I usually start with the small plants and grow them into the big plants, but this year I bought the bigger plants because they were so pretty. I've had a time keeping them alive and doing well.

And this is one of two small planters Mitch gave me for Christmas. I planted trailing/running petunias in those, and I've had a hard time keeping those alive and well too. If you skip a couple of days watering these things, they really look devastated.

I hope these colorful plants brighten your day today. They sure do brighten my day everytime I walk around the yard watering them or just admiring them. Who can look at things like this and not believe there's a God.

By the way, please keep my Center Grove community in your prayers. We're having a lot of breakins in our community and so far, no one has been caught. They've broken in 4 houses out our way. Two of them had alarms so the thieves were scared off. Two of them didn't and one of them was totally ransacked. They're not coming in the middle of the night and breaking in a window, they're coming in the middle of the day and kicking in doors. Drastic times call for drastic measures, but I'm sure the people in my community would help anybody in need if they just asked. There's no need to break in homes and just take what doesn't belong to you. So please keep the community and the thieves in your prayers. I pray they catch them soon!

Happy Wednesday!!

Father's Day

2009-06-22T07:41:00.005-04:00

I'm not sure many men read my blog, but for those of you who do, I hope you had a great Father's Day. This year was my family's second year without Daddy, and I sure did miss him. I hope all of you enjoyed some time with your family.

This year was a little different for my family in that we didn't all get together like we normally do. Since Daddy died, it seems my family has just gone to pod with people mad with one another and not speaking to others. It's sad and I'm sorry to admit it, but there's not a lot I can do about it.

Mitch and I had a great day yesterday. We missed going to church at Center Grove for the day. We went to Riverside Baptist instead to see his nephew, Dakota, baptized. That was exciting! Check out the pictures below:

Gettin ready to go under to wash that sin away!

Comin' up a new and refreshed Christian!

Riverside is Mitch's home church, so everybody was glad to see him. They had a great service and then we all left to go have lunch at his Mom's.

We visited with his family a good part of the afternoon, then we left to go to Williamston to Dairy Queen! We all scream for ice cream!! I know I didn't need it, but it sure was good. We picked up a few things at Wally World, then left to go see my niece at the river.

We surprised Missy and Brad by just showing up at Sans Souci (sans soosi). They surprised us by not having any of their kids. They were just chillin by the water, talking with friends, and relaxing in the sun. It was good to just sit down and talk with some of my family for a while and it was a good ending to a somewhat straining day.

So it's back to work today! Happy Monday everybody!!

It's Clean & It's For Sale!

2009-06-17T07:44:00.004-04:00

I mentioned in my last post that I had been powerwashing and cleaning the vinyl siding on our house. That also included all the vinyl railing I have across my front porch. Well, it's clean and it's FOR SALE! It's just like brand new and nothing is wrong with it, except that I'm tired of having to wash it and keep it clean. I'd much rather have columns on my porch to give it an open plantation feeling. I have to wash these rails 2-3 times a year because I don't like having something white and it not be kept clean. There goes my Momma again! LOL Here's the railing:

When we ripped out the old salt-treated, painted railing to install the vinyl railing, I just loved how open my porch felt with no railing at all. However, since my husband is in the building supply business and being the efficient man he is, he had already ordered our vinyl railing and we couldn't cancel the order. I've been trying to sell it ever since.

If you or anybody you know is interested, just leave me a comment and we'll get in touch. My front porch is 58' x 8' so there's plenty of railing and my husband can order more if you need it.

Here's a picture of something else I did over the weekend. I bought this set a few weeks ago when we went to finish buying things for Mitch's bathroom. We had been looking at them for a while, but I didn't really want a great big set. We don't do a lot of entertaining, so this set suits me and Mitch just fine. I put it together all by myself while Mitch was working at church Saturday. I was so proud!!

With the great weather we've been having during the evening hours this week, it's been nice to sit out on the porch and just be outdoors.

Happy Wednesday!

I Am My Mother's Child!!

2009-06-15T07:58:00.002-04:00

Have you ever caught yourself saying something or doing something and then you suddenly stopped and thought "I've seen Momma do that!" or "Oh no! I've heard Momma say that!" Well, I experienced this firsthand this weekend and all I could do was just smile to myself.

I mentioned in my last post that we had Campus Beautification day here at work last Thursday and I was working with the landscaping team. It was so good to get out of the office and work outside!

Our team paired off in teams of 2 when we started working that morning. Me and a co-worker, Janice, immediately started weeding flower beds. We had only worked about an hour, and Janice was ready to quit and go inside. Not me! I was just getting started.

Well, I kept working along, chopping weeds in some places and just pulling them in other places. Janice kept saying it was time to quit. It was getting hot and we should go in. It was only 9:30 am and we had been working in the shade the whole time! I finally said OK, put my hoe beside the door and went in with her. When she left to go to her office, I went back outside as soon as she was out of sight. After all, we hadn't been working all that long and I wasn't tired at all! I went on working until about 11:30. By then, the sun was in full force everywhere and all the shade was gone. It was hot!!

While I was off Friday, I started power washing the white vinyl siding on our house. It's a booger bear to keep clean! Not only did I have to wash the siding, but I had to hand wash all the vinyl railing we have across our front porch! It took me practically all day just to wash and clean vinyl on the front porch.

My Mom came out to the house about 3 pm Friday afternoon to help me a little. I was draggin and dog tired. I was just about done, so she helped me get my flowers and things back on the porch. She then started working in my flower beds in front of the porch. Now, I mentioned that I was already tired and working in my flower beds was not in my plans for that day, but needless to say, I worked in my flower beds with my Mom.

Sound familiar?? Yep! I totally understood how Janice felt the day before when I wouldn't quit working and go inside. My energizer Mom came out and was ready to work a few hours and just wouldn't quit! Me, on the other hand, was totally wiped out and ready to quit, but I wouldn't because I wasn't going to leave Momma to do it by herself. I am my Mother's child!!

We wound up just doing a little work in the flower beds because Momma finally got the hint that I was really, really tired. She was finally satisfied with the little bit we had done.

I love my Momma and I appreciate everything she does for me! Mitch and I took her out to supper Friday night to thank her for helping me. We then took her out riding just to get her out of the house for a while. I think my house was the only place she'd been all week except to get her hair done Friday morning.

So, I guess when people look at me now and tell me I look just like my Momma, I can respond back that I AM just like my Momma in more ways than you'll ever know! LOL

Happy Monday everybody!

Working Outside Today!!

2009-06-11T07:45:00.003-04:00

Today is Campus Beautification Day here at work. We get a a chance to get away from our desk and go do landscaping, painting, or just general cleanup. Our maintenance staff is really shorthanded these days, and given the current economic situation, there's no help in sight anytime soon. I don't mind pitchin in, but I think some of the others around here do. I'll be working in landscaping. Wooohooo!! I LOVE working outside!! And I got to wear shorts and a t-shirt to work too! How sweet is that!!

Anyway, I probably won't have time to read or comment on blogs today, but I'll try to catch up sometimes this weekend.

Happy Thursday everybody!!

Well here they are!!

2009-06-09T20:43:00.021-04:00

As promised, here are pictures of Mitch's bathroom makeover. Don't ask why I uploaded the pictures like this. It seems blogger was doing pretty much like it wanted last night. I tried to put them in a collage, but I'm not too good at that yet. Hope the post is not too long for everyone to view the pictures. Let me know what you think!

This is what you see when you walk in the door.

This is the wall hanging I showed last week. We found this at a shop between Boone and Blowing Rock.

This is the tile Mitch put down. He did a WONDERFUL job!! It's called Canyon Slate from Lowe's.

This is a shelf unit Mitch built a few years ago. We had it in the bathroom before, but I'm just not sure about it now. For some reason, I don't want any extra stuff in the bathroom since the makeover. I just want a clean look. What do y'all think?

This is a quilt rack Mitch cut in half to make a towel rack for his bathroom. It's really a point of contention now because I want him to cut it down just a little bit more to fit behind his bathroom door. That would place it right beside the bathtub so towels would be nearby as you finished your shower. He had a really hard time cutting it down the first time, so he's not anxious to do it again. Maybe he will if I plead really, really hard. I was trying to get towels to match some of the colors in the shower curtain and the tile. I didn't like brown, but Mitch wanted them anyway. I'm still looking for the color I want. I love the yellow with the other colors in the bathroom. It's a background color in the shower curtain you'll see further down.

This is a picture of the new light fixture. The fixture itself is nothing special, but I just love these globes. They are absolutely gorgeous when the lights are on.

This is the infamous new exhaust fan. We thought the bathroom was pretty much done (I was not planning to paint the ceiling) and then Mitch started installing this. It was about 1/2 in smaller than the old fan, so that meant I had to paint the ceiling. BUMMER!! The crown molding is new too!

This is the new faucet we bought at Home Depot. We both fell in love with this as soon as we saw it. It reminds us of an old hand pump.

And this is the shower curtain that started it all. Mitch fell in love with moose when we went to Alaska a few years back. He found this in Cabela's and since it was his bathroom, I didn't want to say no. It's really cool and there's no doubt it really makes the bathroom look manly. Anyway, it's something I can live with cause I like moose too!

Ta Daahhhhhh!!!

2009-06-09T07:41:00.002-04:00

Well, the fat lady is singing really loud and so are we! Mitch's bathroom is done! Yipppeeeee!!! Wooohoooo!!! Mitch finished the crown molding last night and I touched up a few places with paint. I am so glad that project is finished. It is so pretty to me!! I'll try to post pictures tomorrow. I can't wait to show you the faucet we picked out!

Tonight our Women on Missions group at church is having a Recipe Party for our monthly meeting. We're suppose to fix our favorite dish and make recipe cards to hand out if anyone would like a copy of our recipe. I can't wait to see what the ladies are cookin up tonight! I know everything is going to be simply delicious!

My recipe is a fat-free version of a Cherry Delight recipe I found a while back. It's made with fat-free Cool Whip, sugar-free jello, crushed pineapple sweetened with Splenda, and nuts (gotta have a little protein!). I love to make this for cookouts, something to snack on, or just a little something extra to go with a meal during the hot summer months. You can add marshmallows to make it lighter I guess, but I just love the basic stuff. Sure wish I had some right now!

Happy Tuesday everybody!

Where do I begin??

2009-06-07T16:37:00.004-04:00

What a night we had Friday night!! A group from my church went to the Mercy Me concert in Edenton. The night started out great with a nice cool breeze. I ran into a high school classmate I hadn't seen in years and we probably spent about 45 minutes catching up with each other's lives. It was so good to see her! We then found out that the band's bus has broken down and they'd be in a little late. No problem. That was more time for me and Pat to catch up on things.

The band finally arrived about 7:45, but then trouble came too. The clouds came over and the rain began to pour, and pour, and pour. It rained so hard! Mitch and I took our rain ponchos, so we were OK. We bought them years ago and had never used them, but they turned out to be a great investment. Another member of our group had stopped by Dollar Tree and picked up a bunch of those clear plastic ponchos, which he quickly passed around when the rain started. The youth that were with us ran over to one of the tents where people were selling food. It was kind of funny too because people were packing in the port-a-johns too! LOL

It rained for a good hour and then the lightening started, so we finally decided to call it quits and just leave. It was then about 9 pm and although the tickets said rain or shine, we figured it was just a lost cause at that point.

We left and went to McDonald's to get a bite to eat and just hang out for a while to dry off before we started home. We left McDonald's about 10 pm to just head home. Since it was on the way, we decided to swing back by the fairgrounds to see if anything was going on. Well, low and behold, the band was getting ready to go on. It was 10:10 pm, but they went on and gave a great show! Oh me!! Oh my!! It was wonderful!! Wonderful!!! Wonderful!! If you ever get a chance to see them in concert, I highly recommend you go. The lead singer gave a great testimony and shared the gospel. Clearly that band is all about Jesus.

We got home about 12 midnight, and despite all the rain, it was a wonderful night. Not all of our group went back and got to hear them perform, but I am SOOOO glad we did!! Mercy Me rocks!!!!!

Mercy Me!

2009-06-05T10:16:00.003-04:00

A group from my church is going to a Mercy Me concert tonight. I'M SO EXCITED!!! If you're not familiar with the group, they sing "I Can Only Imagine".

I'll try to post some pictures later this weekend if the weather cooperates and I can take pictures.

Happy Friday everybody!!

Git 'er Done!

2009-06-04T07:58:00.009-04:00

And that's what the men have been doing! Some very dedicated men in my church, and some who aren't even members of our church, have been working really hard on the new education building and I just want to say, "My hats off to all of you! Thank you so much!!"

Here are a few pictures of the progress being made so far:

All the electrical and plumbing has been roughed in and the insulation is done.

And this is an updated picture of the new structure. Notice the vinyl siding is just about complete. I think they're planning to finish that today. Ain't it pretty!! Yesterday they poured concrete under the drive-thru and off the back of the building for the handicap ramps.

And this is part of the wiring for the electronics. When I saw all these wires, I just wanted to grab one and try to make a Jacob's Ladder. LOL It was tempting, but I didn't bother anything--I promise!

I know some of the men are getting tired, especially with the hot days we're having now. They've worked really hard and I know everybody in my church appreciates each and everyone of them.

We're still hoping to have Bible school in this new facility July 27. We've got two teams coming from two different churches that will be helping with the sheet rock. That's suppose to be delivered today, so they'll get started on that this week too. I don't know how to hang sheet rock, but I can drill a screw to hold it up and I can paint it after all the muddin is done. So, we'll see!

Just Driving Along.....

2009-06-01T15:36:00.002-04:00

I have got the funniest story to share with y'all! Missy called me last night to say she had a story for my blog. Usually when it involves her or the kids, it is just hilarious. So here goes.....

Every Sunday afternoon, Missy and Brad take all the kids to the river. They spend the afternoon pulling the kids on the tube or just sitting out in the river swimming around and visiting with their friends.

Yesterday, Alysia didn't feel like going to the river, so Missy let her stay home and babysit the babies, Bray and Maddox. Perry was the only child to go to the river with Missy and Brad. Since there was only one child to watch, Brad decided it would be a good time to show Missy how to drive their new boat and pull the kids on the tube.

Imagine this--Perry's on the tube ready to take off. Missy starts taking off with the boat, but then she slows down. Perry's not sure what his Momma is doing, so he lets go on the tube. Momma takes off with the boat, flips Perry off the tube, but never looks back to see what she's done! LOL There's Perry in the water, screaming for Momma to come back and Missy and Brad are just cruising down the river. LOL They can't hear him because they've got the radio playing on the boat.

They see some of their friends on shore waving at them so they wave back and keep on going. The guy is waving and pointing and trying to get Missy to turn around and see that Perry's not on the tube, but she and Brad just wave and keep on going.

FINALLY! Brad turns around and motions to Missy that Perry's fallen off the tube and he's not behind them. OOPS! Missy finally turns the boat around and goes back to pick up her son who's a little frantic in the water by himself. What's the first thing she tells Perry? "Momma didn't forget you!" Ya think?? Guess you've got to learn to drive the boat and watch the people you're pulling--make sure they're still there at least!

Oh my crazy Missy! Y'all keep her in your prayers!

What a weekend!

2009-06-01T09:29:00.003-04:00

This weekend was sooooo busy! We've started our 4-day workweek here at the community college and Friday was my first one off! Is that a trick question or what? Off work? Right! Sitting home with nothing to do! NOT!!!

My brother-in-law heads up the baseball teams for American Legion Post 102 in Ahoskie. They had their annual fundraiser, barbecue chicken plates, Friday. I think we cooked, served, and sold over 1,300 plates. I couldn't believe it! My job was to dish out the snap beans and I am totally sick of looking at those beans! I got there about 9:30 am, worked until 2, went home and cut about 2 acres of grass, showered, and went back to work from 5 until 7 that evening. I was so tired when I got home that night. A LOT of people worked really hard that day to make that event successful, so I know I was not the only one totally wiped out. Some of those who worked all day even had to leave at 5 to go to a game for that night. Poor souls!

Saturday I cleaned house and washed curtains and went out and washed my Yukon. We had a reception Saturday night for my pastor who just graduated from Southeastern Seminary with a PhD (and that doesn't stand for post-hole diggers like we keep teasing him about!) We had so much fun! Congratulations again, Pastor Tommy! We're really proud of you!!

Sunday we went to church then we were off to Chesapeake to finish buying things for Mitch's bathroom makeover. We left after Sunday school just so we wouldn't be so rushed to hurry up and get there and hurry up and get back. Not a smart move! I'll explain later.

We finished getting all the remaining stuff we needed, came back to Ahoskie, stopped in to check on/visit Momma a little while, then we were back home so I could log in my computer at work and do some system maintenance while no one else was logged on the system. I got to bed sometimes after 11.

So that's my weekend in the wind! When will things finally slow down so I can get some rest? I don't see that happening anytime soon, but my body sure is calling for it!

Everything was so busy, I didn't get to make my blog private until Monday morning. If I missed anyone's email, please let me know and I'll be glad to get you added. I hope making my blog private doesn't cause any problems, but it does make me feel a little better.

Happy Monday everybody!

I'm Making Mine Private!

2009-05-28T08:45:00.003-04:00

I started thinking months ago about making my blog private. When Mandy made hers private to help protect Mason, that made me think about it even more. I don't have children to protect, but there are people out there I'd just as soon not allow to read my blog anymore.

So, my decision is made. Sometimes this coming weekend, I will make my blog private. If you want to continue reading about the medial things going on in my life, send me your email address and I'll add you to the list. I'd love to keep my blog accessible to all my fellow bloggers from the Blogger Blast, but I don't know all of your email addresses. If anyone's got a list, send it to mariettalouisa@yahoo.com and I'll get everyone added.

To all of you who've been reading but never left a comment, I hope you've enjoyed it!

A Sneak Peak!

2009-05-27T07:43:00.005-04:00

Here are a few shots of what we've finished in Mitch's bathroom so far. I just LOVE the way everything is coming together. It is so exciting!!

This is a shot of the new tile with the new paint color.

This is a wall hanging we bought while vacationing in Boone last summer.

And this is the new light fixture with the new mirror. And yep, you guessed it! We bought the new fixture, but forgot to buy bulbs! LOL I wish everybody could see the sconces. They are so pretty when the light is on!

I CAN'T WAIT to finish everything else. We have church tonight, so it will be Thursday night before we can get back to work on finishing all the other stuff. I'M SO EXCITED!!!

The Fat Lady's Almost Ready to Sing

2009-05-26T07:47:00.004-04:00

What a weekend! We worked really hard on the bathroom and she's almost done. I'm so glad this project has gone much smoother and faster than the first bathroom remodel!

I posted pictures last week after we got everything moved out and ready for paint and tile. I did manage to get one coat of paint on the wall Thursday night. When I got off work Friday, I started cutting grass while Mitch started laying tile board. After I got all 2 acres of grass cut, we grabbed a bite to eat, then I went in behind Mitch to get the second coat of paint done. It was 9 pm by then but it only takes about 1 1/2 hours to paint the entire room.

Mitch started working early Saturday morning. We had two invitations to go out Saturday evening/night and we were hoping to go to both of them, but things didn't quite work out that way. Even though he worked really hard ALL day, he didn't finish until sometimes between 5 and 6 Saturday evening. Needless to say, we missed both invites to go out! Bummer!!

Sunday, we took a break and just rested. It was back to the grinding stone Monday morning. Mitch was a little slow getting started and he couldn't figure out why until a neighbor called for help in getting another neighbor in the car to go to the hospital. Mr. Arthur wasn't doing well and Ms. Carolyn was going to get him to PCMH. Please keep him in your prayers. They're not sure exactly what's going on, but it may have been a stroke.

When Mitch got home, he was able to go ahead and get started and get done too! He finished grouting the tile early enough to get some baseboard back in and get the pedestal sink back in place. Just about all of it should come together tonight!

We're planning to set the commode and a storage cabinet back in place tonight. We can then finish all the small stuff like baseboard, crown molding, and little stuff like that. I'm so excited!! Hopefully I can post pictures later on this week. So far I LOVE the way everything is coming together! It looks just like the image I had in my head!! And yes, I do keep a little something up there once in a while despite stories that have been told! LOL

Happy Tuesday!!

Bare to the bone!

2009-05-22T10:24:00.005-04:00

Well, we finally started redoing Mitch's bathroom this week. He's been taking things down and moving things out all week long, so last night I finally got the chance to start painting. Since I was able to get the first coat of paint on last night, the plan is to get the second coat on tonight after Mitch finishes putting down the backer board for the tile. Tomorrow morning he plans to start laying tile. Sunday, we'll take a break and he'll grout the tile Monday to finish the job. I'm so excited!! Here's a picture of the bare room:

We're storing the commode and the pedastal sink in the bathtub until the tile work is done. When I walked in the bathroom last night and looked at this sight, all I could think about was the rhyme people use to write on bathroom walls:

Here I sit all broken hearted....

Well, you know the rest! LOL

Think about us while we're working hard this weekend and others are resting or playing at the beach!

Have a fun and safe Memorial Day Everybody!!

Miss you Daddy!

2009-05-20T10:26:00.002-04:00

Daddy died two years ago today. It was a really sad time for me and my family, but I know he's much better off now in a place where he doesn't have to struggle for every breath and he doesn't have to lug around an oxygen tank. He really didn't like that thing!

This is another picture from my family's trip to Washington, DC about a month before Daddy died. This was a class from a school in California who was touring DC. They found out Daddy was a WWII veteran and the teacher just stopped everything and gave her class a really great speech about the war and all the sacrifices made by those who did the fighting. Daddy really was in the limelight for that brief moment in time. After the teacher finished talking, all the kids wanted to go pose with Daddy to have their picture taken.

We miss Daddy a lot, but it was really hard for him near the end. It was a real struggle just to draw each breath, so I'm glad he's no longer having to fight that battle.

Love you Daddy and miss you bunches!

It's Bray's Birthday!

2009-05-19T07:55:00.007-04:00

Today is the 2nd birthday of my great-niece, Brayanna Faith. Happy birthday Bray girl! Here are a couple pictures we took while jumping on the trampoline Mother's Day:

I jumped with her so much that afternoon I felt like a bobble head when it was time to go home. We had so much fun!

Bray is a sweet little girl who always has a smile on her face. She's also the problem solver who can always drag or pull something somewhere she shouldn't so she can use it as a ladder to get into something she's not suppose to reach. She's a very innovative little munchkin! She's also a very girly girl who loves to dress up in pretty dresses and wear shoes that make noises (hard-soled shoes). I wish I had a scanner so I could post her picture in her Easter dress. She looks like a little flower blossoming open in her little frilly dress.

Bray will always be a special little girl because she was born the night before Daddy died. While Missy was downstairs giving birth to Bray, the rest of the family was upstairs expecting Daddy to die any moment. Bray was born late Saturday night as Daddy died later on Sunday evening. Such bittersweet memories to lose my daddy but welcome a new great-niece into the world!

Happy birthday Bray!

Time flies when you're having fun!

2009-05-18T08:51:00.002-04:00

What a whirlwind of a weekend! For the past two Mondays, I've felt like I needed to take Monday off just to recoup from the weekend. Actually, I did do that last week. I couldn't take off Monday because I had a webinar all day, but I took off Tuesday cause I was just tired. If you've got vacation time at work, why not use it? Right??

This weekend was not much different than last weekend. Friday was graduation at the college where I work, so I was there until about 8 pm Friday night. I did manage to get most of my weekly cleaning done when I got home Friday night, so I slept in until 10 am Saturday morning. 10 am!! When have I done that? I think it really messed up the rest of my day by sleeping in so late. I didn't feel like doing anything much at all.

The WOM group at my church was hosting a Dessert Cafe for our seniors Sunday, so I spent part of the day Saturday fixing/wrapping marigold flowers we were giving the ladies as gifts. That took quite a while. When I finished, I wanted to go out and mess around in the yard but I just didn't feel like it. I needed to go back to Wal-Mart and buy more ribbon to finish the flowers, so Mitch and I decided to go to Franklin.

We went to Lowe's and bought more flowers for our yard, went by Wal-Mart and picked up more ribbon and a few other things, then went over to Farm Fresh to pick up a few more things. I LOVE Farm Fresh! The one in Franklin even offers discount coupons for gas when you buy groceries! We paid $2.13/gal with our discount coupon Saturday night. That's a lot better than $2.26!

Sunday was a very, very busy day. After church, I went in the fellowship hall to start setting up for the Dessert Cafe. We can't do our setups early anymore because they have children's church in the fellowship hall every Sunday morning. Anyway, we were moving tables, setting up chairs, placing tablecloths, and just about anything else you can imagine. I wish I had remembered to take a picture, but everything was so hectic I didn't even think about taking pictures. It turned out so nice. We had the flowers for the ladies setting on all the tables, we had mugs with a handkerchief in them for the men, and we had silly French names for all the desserts on our food table. We even had a little wrought iron patio set in one corner set up like a little cafe' area. We had about 35 people come out on such a dreary, rainy afternoon and we all had so much fun!

When I finally got home yesterday about 5 pm, my feet and legs were killing me. I still had to wash all the tablecloths we had used at church, but at least that wasn't something that required a lot of work on my part. Once again, the weekend was over and done with and I was dog tired.....

So, it's back to work today and I need to just make the best of it! Have a great Monday!

Happy Anniversary Momma and Daddy!

2009-05-13T08:49:00.002-04:00

Today would have been my parent's 63rd wedding anniversary. Isn't that amazing? My parents stayed together through thick n' thin for 61 years. They never separated or talked about divorce that I can ever remember. That's really remarkable to me during a time that most couples can't hardly make it past their first argument without leaving and running off to someone else.

Daddy died in 2007 about one month after this picture was taken. His death came one week to the day after he and Momma celebrated their 61st anniversary.

Daddy was a World War II veteran and this picture was taken at the WWII memorial in Washington DC. He wanted all his children and their spouses to travel to DC and have our picture taken at this memorial, so we did that in April 2007. And what a trip it was! That was the first vacation we had ever taken as a family without the grandkids and it was SOOOO much fun! We zipped all around DC for three days seeing the sights and having a ball! Daddy wasn't in the best of health at that time, but I know he had a great time too! After all, we had made his dream come true!

Thinking back, I had a really great life growing up. I was really blessed with my parents and my family and so much more. Momma and Daddy worked hard most of their life, but we always vacationed in the mountains in the summer and had plenty of great times in between. Momma and Daddy taught me just about everything I ever needed to know to make it in life, although a lot of the lessons didn't come easy, they came nonetheless.

So, if your parents are still living, I strongly encourage you to take a moment and give them a great big hug with a kiss and tell them you love 'em! They worked and struggled really hard to make us what we are today so don't forget to let them know how much you love 'em!

Happy Anniversary Momma and Daddy!

Happy Friday!!

2009-05-08T08:18:00.002-04:00

Well, another weekend is upon us and I'm so excited!! It's Mother's Day weekend and that means spending more time with family!

I'm not sure what we'll be doing Saturday, but Sunday is going to be a full day for sure. We've got church Sunday morning and then we're off to pick up Mitch's Mom and take her out to lunch. We'll spend most of the afternoon with her and then we're off to meet my mother and family for supper. Yippeeee!!!

Missy and Brad are cooking chickens on the grill and the rest of us are bringing all the fixins to go with it. There's going to be homemade ice cream and everything! I can't wait!!! I hope the rain and thunderstorms hold off at least for that afternoon and evening.

I hope all of you mothers have a wonderful Mother's Day and a great weekend! Wooohoooo!!!

Remembering when......

2009-05-05T19:55:00.003-04:00

My daddy use to let me sit in his lap and drive his tractor like this.

When I got home from work Monday evening, I looked out my window and saw my neighbor, Greg, riding his tractor around the yard while his son, Trent, was doing the driving. How cute is that? It brought tears to my eyes because I remember my daddy doing the same thing for me when I was a little girl.

I watched from my window for a minute, and then I just had to go over and take a picture for my blog. Trent explained that the tractor was daddy's and he was just driving it. Greg said make no mistake, Trent loves a tractor of any kind. Even our other neighbor, Mr. Henry, has taken him riding on a big John Deere. Boys and their toys!! I just think Trent loves anything you can ride on. Sometimes his Mom, Karen, rides him on the lawnmower, but I think he's getting a little big for that. His sister, Kristin, use to ride him on the 4-wheeler, but I think she's too old for that now. That's why he's moving on to bigger toys like TRACTORS!

Well, Daddy's been gone two years this month and it's been a long time since I sat in his lap to drive his tractor, but I sure have some great childhood memories! My brother has Daddy's tractor now, but I don't think he'd let me sit in his lap and drive around his yard! LOL Wouldn't that be a hoot!!

The Birthday Party!

2009-05-03T20:12:00.025-04:00

Missy had a birthday party for Bray and Maddox Saturday. What a fun time we all had! LOL She decided to have the party at our church fellowship hall because there's so many family and friends. It really worked out great because there was plenty of room inside and outside and there was also a big playground area for the kids to play. Here are some of the pictures:

Blowing bubbles outside

Time to blow out the candles! Bray wanted no part of her cake because she knew the candles were hot. Maddox just wanted to dive into his cake.

So Daddy blew out the candles for Bray, and then it was time for her to go to work. Nothing shy about this little girl! Her little cake didn't stand a chance when she got a grip on it!

Maddox played with his cake a little in the beginning, but he soon got the hang of it and really started digging into it.

Then it was time to open presents. You'll notice there are no pictures of Bray opening her presents. We couldn't keep her inside or still long enough to get a picture! She was really a girl on the move!

And this is the big present they both got from their Momma and Daddy. Bray's car is pink and purple while Maddox' car is like a firetruck with a siren and all. I didn't get pictures of Maddox in his firetruck because just about everytime they put him in it, he'd start crying. I think he was getting tired and there was so much going on all around him. They were so cute!

So this was the highlight of my weekend. I really enjoyed spending time with my babies. I also got to see Alysia, Perry, Katlyn, Haley and Daymon too (more nieces and nephews)! I was really tired because we got up at 5 am Saturday morning to go work at the Kennedy Home, but we still had a good day and a great time.

Have a great week!

Well, I did it again!

2009-05-01T08:23:00.002-04:00

I've gone a whole week without posting to my blog. Where does time go so quickly?

My heart's been a little heavy this week. A co-worker, Gloria Wiggins, lost her battle with cancer Monday morning. Her funeral was yesterday. It hit me a little hard because I'm only one month older than Gloria. Every time I hear about someone my age dying, it really starts me thinking and wondering. Most importantly, I'm thankful my salvation is straight with the Lord, so I know where I'm going when I leave this world. But on the other hand, lots of people who are stricken with this disease have so much life in them and so much to live for. It's really hard to understand.

I'm very sorry for Gloria's family's loss, but I can truly say her funeral was definitely a celebration of life. It's the first African-American funeral I've ever attended and I must say my soul and my spirits were definitely uplifted when I left that church. I thoroughly enjoyed the preaching, the music, and the words of encouragement. What an experience!

Well, a group from my church is off to the Kennedy Children's Home in Kinston tomorrow. It's the annual spring cleanup day there, so we're going to help out. Pray for safe travel and no fire ants or red bugs while we're working. I think we're suppose to be trimming tree limbs and raking debris. Mitch and I will have to drive back a little early because Missy is having a birthday party for two or her babies. Maddox will be one May 6 and Bray will be two May 19. So we'll work hard part of the day Saturday, then party into the night with a bunch of my babies! Wooohoooo!!!

Sunday we've got a big day planned at church. We're recognizing one of our members, David Brinkley, for all his years of service to the church and we're making him a deacon emeritus. We'll also be having a luncheon in his honor. After church, I hope to go home and take a long, long nap!

So, that's my weekend plans all wrapped up in a bundle! Hope y'all have a good one!

No News--No Blogging

2009-04-24T07:53:00.004-04:00

I can't believe I haven't blogged since Sunday. Where has all the time gone? It's been a really, really, hectic week here at work. I don't know when I've been SO busy! Thank goodness things slowed down a little yesterday so I could catch up on some stuff.

Nothing much going on around home either. Mitch has been sick with a terrible cold since Tuesday. He's feeling better now and sounding a little better too.

My niece, Missy, has had an exciting week. She got VIP tickets to see Jimmy Buffet last night in Raleigh. Can you believe somebody GAVE her 4 VIP tickets? How lucky is that? She called me about 10:30 to let me hear the concert over the phone. She's so crazy, but I really do love her! And for those of you who keep commenting/asking about her starting a blog, her answer to me was something like,"Let's get for real people. I've got 4 kids. Do you really think I've got time to blog!" She does have time to visit Facebook once in a while, so you can catch her there.

Hope you all have a great weekend! I'm so excited about the warm weather we're suppose to have. I hope I can get some sun while working in my yard. Be safe!

Well, the fat lady has sung!

2009-04-19T20:27:00.009-04:00

I've been home for 5 days now, so I guess it's back to the real world tomorrow. How sad!!

It's been a wonderful 5 days off! I was moving a little slow Tuesday and Wednesday because I strained some back muscles carrying something I shouldn't; but when that got better, I was off and running for the next few days.

I hurried up with my cleaning and washing Friday so me and my Mom could go to Greenville. With the warm weather we were suppose to have on Saturday, I wanted to shop for plants and flowers for my yard. We made it to Plant 'n See Friday afternoon and I was able to buy marigolds, lantana, geraniums, ivy, and some spike plants for my larger flower boxes. We had so much fun walking and looking at all the flowers, plants, and shrubs.

After we left Plant 'n See, I went to Bostic Suggs Furniture store. That was not in my plans, but it just sounded like something fun to do. I'm LOOKING for a good deal on a new dining room table and chairs. Mind you, I said LOOKING! Anyway, I walked out with a bachelor's chest for my foyer. It's not a dining room set, but I'd been looking one of those too--not necessarily a bachelor's chest, but some type of chest! I had really just given up because I couldn't find anything I really like that wasn't $600-700, and I just wasn't paying that much for a chest. This chest was on sale--$600 OFF the regular price. It's Kincaid and it's solid wood, so I feel like I got a really good deal. It's what I've been looking for, so they packed him up and he came home with me. Take a look!

I'll keep looking for the dining room set. I haven't seen it yet, but I'll know it's the one when I do! I saw some chairs I really liked, but I just can't seem to find a table that I like.

Mitch worked on the new building at church all day Saturday while I mowed the grass and washed my Yukon. Momma came out with some bushes she had rooted, so she planted those for me. We also worked on a huge pot of ivy I've had for about 3 years and it just died this year. I'm not sure what happened to it, but I had to clean out the pot and put in some new ivy plants.

Saturday night we met some friends for dinner at Nixon's Restaurant in Rocky Hock. We met some great new friends and they were so funny! I laughed so much! This group is mostly high school classmates and they meet every month for dinner at all kinds of different restaurants. We didn't graduate with them, we just knew one of the couples. They've invited us in to join them, so we're really excited!

We had a great day at church today, grabbed a bite to eat for lunch, then picked up a few things from Wal-Mart. We've just lounged around the rest of the day chillin out and takin it easy. Tomorrow is going to be a rude awakening since I've been sleeping in until 8 or 9 am every morning and just doing things at my pace. Sure hope I wake up with a positive attitude tomorrow morning! Guess I better make sure I get up on my side of the bed instead of Mitch's! LOL

Hope everybody has a great week! Let me hear from you! Comments are really few and far between here lately! Come on! I dare you to leave a comment! Double-D! Your feet stink and you don't love Jesus if you don't!! LOL

A helping hand!

2009-04-16T20:20:00.006-04:00

This is my great-niece Bray (she'll be 2 May 19) and her little brother, Maddox (he'll be 1 May 6). Does this look like trouble and trouble?? How sweet is it that he's holding the walker still while she climbed up to reach the buttons on the microware! I tried to use my swivel chair at work as a stepping stool and it just about threw me across the office! LOL

My Bray girl is one little genius. If she can push or pull something she's going to use it as a ladder to reach something she shouldn't. And anything is fair game. She's used chairs, rockin horses, who knows what else, and now this walker. Momma took her little chair because she used it so much to get into things she shouldn't. I think it was used for things like getting in the toothpaste and using the toothbrush to brush your hair (with the toothpaste on it of course), putting vaseline on daddy's comb and he combed his hair without knowing it was coated with vaseline, and she also used it to reach cookies in the pantry that Momma had put away. She definitely knows how to make a plan and carry it out! That's my girl!!!

Hope everybody has a great weekend!

Easter brought me a......

2009-04-14T21:16:00.016-04:00

really great day to count my blessings and enjoy them too! I do LOVE Easter or Resurrection Sunday as my pastor would prefer I say. I really enjoy going to sunrise service and then regular church services. After church, we're off to see Mitch's family and then we're back home to visit with my family.

This year brought a little extra excitement in church when my brother-in-law, Wayne, had an angina (sp?) attack during worship service. I was in the choir singing our cantata when I saw my sister, Linda, and her daughter, Missy, get up and go out of church. Because of the place I was standing, I never saw Wayne get up and go out. After Missy and Linda went out, others who were nurses and EMTs starting getting up and going out too. I knew then that something was wrong with Wayne. I was in the middle of the choir group and I didn't feel I could just bust through everybody and go see what was wrong so I stood there and sang the best I could trying not to cry.

When the choir finished with the cantata, I had to play the organ for a congregation song and then play for the offering. I was so nervous and anxious to go check on Wayne I made some mistakes playing the offertory. When I finally made it outside, Missy told me what happened and that Linda had left to get Wayne home in the bed. Those attacks scare him because he's not sure if it's another heart attack, but once the nitroglycerin pills take effect and calm things down, the whole episode just totally wipes him out. He went home and slept the rest of the day. Thank the Lord he's OK!

We spent the rest of the day visiting with family. Take a look at some of the pictures I got!

Amber (2)

Trinity (my dancing queen)

Trinity's photography skills

A candid shot of all 3. I'm trying my best to fit us all in the shot, but they keep moving!

My little boy Roy. His real name is Perry Wayne. He was the first nephew after 8 nieces.

Two more of my girls--Katlyn(12) and Alysia (13)

Bray girl (Brayanna Faith) on the move. A 2-year-old always on the run.

And then there's Maddox man. He's the youngest who will be 1 May 19.

And these were a surprise from my sweet Mitch! He is so sweet!

Growing? In more ways than one!

2009-04-14T20:18:00.006-04:00

Over the past few months I've blogged about the new education building that's going up at my church. We're building this new structure because we've run out of room in a lot of our Sunday school classrooms and in the nursery as well. I'm so proud to say that we're growing by leaps and bounds. Here's another picture update on construction.

However, when we started planning for future growth, we had no idea we'd see nature's growth so close at hand. About 30 feet from all the construction going on, would you believe a Kildee bird has laid her eggs. She's right on the edge of the driveway where all kinds of commotion is constantly going on. Forklifts are driving past her, tractor trailer trucks are making deliveries, people are driving by or walking by, and there's just all kinds of stuff going on there. But everybody's trying to look out for Momma and her babies to come.

The men have set up cement blocks and tried to build a makeshift blockade to help protect the eggs. There's no nest or anything to protect the eggs. It looks like Momma just found a spot and laid her eggs as you can see below.

In case you're not familiar with these birds, she's really good at trying to lure you away from her eggs. We've seen her act like something is wrong with one of her wings so as to make you follow her and go away from the nest or she'll just run by you trying to get your attention and direct you off in another direction. It's really neat to see the extremes she takes to protect her babies.

I hope I can get a picture of the babies once the eggs hatch. My picture looks like I got really close, but thank heavens for zoom lens. Who knew we'd see such an amazing course of nature while building something new.

Had any drama lately?

2009-04-10T08:31:00.002-04:00

Outdoor drama, that is. Twelve of us took out for Farm Life last night to go see the outdoor drama, The Message of Easter, performed by Piney Grove Baptist Church. It was great! If you've never been there and you have school age children, it's a great lesson in the true meaning and message of Easter.

The website is http://www.messageofeaster.org/. It's located about 15 minutes (about 10 miles) from Williamston, NC, so you can stop there and get a bite to eat and then go on to the show. They have seating for 2000 and it's been packed every time I've gone so you'll need to get there early. As I mentioned before, it's outdoors under the stars so you'll need to dress warm too. Each show starts at 8 pm. People come by the car load and by the bus load.

It was so neat to hear my nieces and nephews ooooing and aaahhhhing last night. My great-nephew, Perry, who is 7 was totally amazed. There was a group of 32 kids that sat behind us and they talked through almost the entire show. That was annoying for everybody around them, but they just wouldn't be quiet. Even the kids in our group kept sshhhing them, but they still wouldn't stop talking.

It's a great performance so I hope some of you can go see it if you've never been before! This is their 30th year performing the drama, and to me, it just really sets things in perspective.

Happy Resurrection Sunday everybody!! Be safe and be blessed!

Come join us!

2009-04-09T08:39:00.003-04:00

This Sunday my church choir will be performing a cantata entitled In Christ Alone. If you don't have a church of your own to attend, come join us! You can call 332-2229 for directions.

One of the songs we're singing is a medley of In Christ Alone with The Solid Rock. For some reason, the words to this medley really spoke to my heart last night while we were practicing so I'd thought I'd share them on my blog.

In Christ Alone

with The Solid Rock

In Christ alone my hope is found.

He is my light, my strength my song.

This Cornerstone, this solid ground,

firm through the fiercest drought and storm.

What heights of love, what depths of peace,

when fears are stilled, when strivings cease!

My Comforter, my All in All,

here in the love of Christ I stand.

In Christ alone! who took on flesh,

fullness of God in helpless Babe!

This gift of love and righteousness,

scorned by the ones He came to save.

Till on that cross as Jesus died,

the wrath of God was satisfied

for every sin on Him was laid.

Here in the death of Christ I live.

There in the ground His body lay,

Light of the world by darkness slain:

Then bursting forth in glorious day

up from the grave He rose again!

And as He stands in victory

sin's curse has lost its grip on me,

for I am His and He is mine

bought with the precious blood of Christ.

On Christ the solid Rock, I stand.

All other ground is singing sand.

No guilt in life, no fear in death,

this is the pow'r of Christ in me.

From life's first cry to final breath,

Jesus commands my destiny.

No pow'r of hell, no scheme of man,

can ever pluck me from His hand.

till He returns or calls me home,

here in the pow'r of Christ I'll stand!

This is just one of eight songs we'll sing in the cantata. Another song, Only By the Blood, will make the hair on the back of your neck stand up whether you're a believer or not. All the songs really have some powerful words in them.

I know there's a lot of excitement Easter/Resurrection Sunday, but it's not all about Easter bunnies and candy. Remember we serve a risen Savior and all hope can be found only in Him!

Awesome! Awesome! Awesome!

2009-04-06T11:35:00.007-04:00

That's the best way I know to describe my weekend. Absolutely fabulous!

Our church WOM group had our free yard sale event Saturday morning. We met at 6 am and started setting up tables and pulling stuff out. People were there and ready to shop before 6:30 am! Some people are very serious about yard sales!

We greeted the people as they walked over, explained that everything was free, and we shared a brochure from our church that had all the information about our different ministries. I then asked them point blank if they knew the Lord and their personal Savior. Everybody I met readily answered me with a Yes! or I sure am! except one man. He was with his wife or girlfriend. When I asked them both, she looked at me and said I am and rolled her eyes at him to see how he was going to answer. He answered yes, but for some reason I'm not quite sure he was telling the truth. Well, truthful or not, the plan of salvation is in our church brochure so maybe he'll take the opporunity to say the sinner's prayer and become a Christian. Maybe that was one seed I planted Saturday!

Overall, it was a great experience. People were really nice. Several people offered us donations, but we didn't take it. We invited them to come to our church and put it in the offering plate themselves.

Sunday we went to a dance recital to see one of our nieces and nephews (my husband's brother's children). Trinity and Dakota did a great job. The recital lasted 3 hours and they both had about 4 or 5 routines to do. It was really fun, but it sure was long. Their little sister, Amber, who is 2 got a little restless but she'd calm down everytime her sister or brother came out on stage.

Hope everybody had a great weekend! Happy Monday!

FREE Yard Sale

2009-04-03T08:20:00.002-04:00

The Women on Missions group at my church is hosting a FREE yard sale tomorrow. Rather than trying to make money, we're trying to tell people about Jesus.

Each person can select 10 free items and 1 large item for free. One of the WOM members will walk along with each shopper while they make their selection and talk with them about Jesus, our church, and the different ministries we offer.

If you're in the neighborhood, stop by! We'll be located about 3 miles outside of Ahoskie on Jernigan Swamp Road (out past Catherine's Restaurant). Remember, everything is free!

Hope everybody has a great weekend!

Progress being made and progress being torn down

2009-04-02T09:39:00.005-04:00

I'm happy to report this morning that progress is REALLY moving along on our new education building at church. The men seem to have a new sense of energy since all those rainy days have passed and they are really working hard. Most of the walls you see in the two pictures below were built Tuesday. In just a very short time, it went from being a floor to a building. HOW EXCITING!!!!

And then there was a car accident in front of our church Saturday night/Sunday morning. One of Ahoskie's finest was on his way to work in his patrol car when a deer ran into the side of the car. The story goes that it sent the car in a spin which took out our church sign in the process. You can see in the first picture how the car hit in spots as it was going across the front yard of the church. His car finally came to rest in the yard across the road from the church, turned around facing the direction he was coming from. He escaped with just a few minor injuries, but they say he's really lucky to be alive. He lost his front wheel in the process so when someone came by shortly after his accident, they were looking at his car and ran over his tire in the road. They busted two of their tires so they had to be towed too!

He hit some places in the front yard with such force, it threw mud all over the front of the church. It really rained hard in our neighborhood Saturday night so the whole front yard was just a sloppy mess. Powellsville FD was kind enough to come out and wash down the front of the church so it would be clean when services started at 9:45.

So, progress is going great on the new building, but it looks like we may be purchasing a new sign sooner than we had planned. I'm just thankful the young man is OK and things are moving along great on our new building. At this rate, it sure won't take long to spend the $30,000 we collected Sunday!

Happy Thursday!

Don't feel sorry for me!

2009-03-31T08:57:00.002-04:00

Mandy's comment to my blog yesterday has prompted me to write my blog today. In case you missed her comment, she said "Having no children of your own, I used to wonder about all the things you and Mitch must be missing out on...". Let me tell you, there's very little I've missed.

I've been an aunt since I was 10 years old, and there's not much that I've missed in the life of all my nieces and nephews. I've dealt with happy babies, sick babies, crying and screaming babies, and babies with very bad tempers. I've changed diapers, dressed babies, washed babies, burped babies, walked the floor with crying babies, rocked babies, and spanked babies. I've been peed on, pooped on, and spit up on. I've had babies sleep in the bed with me when they were little babies and I've had them sleep on the floor beside my bed when they got bigger and were afraid to sleep too far away from me.

My house has also been initiated by all these babies. My oldest great-niece stood by my front door and peed on the floor while watching my husband outside and talking to me. I was around the corner talking back to her not knowing she had just peed on my carpet. By the way, she had just left the bathroom. I've cleaned milk off the couch, off the floor, and just about anywhere else you can imagine. And juice too!

So then the babies grew older. I took them to day care, I've taken them to school, I've picked them up at school and day care, I've helped them with homework, I've been to award programs, and I've been to their graduations.

All 6 of my nieces are grown now and have children of their own. I was there when they married and I was Mistress of Ceremonies for one of the weddings. I was there during the birth of many of the great-nieces and nephews too. Boy did my nieces take on a whole new disposition during child birth! I've since watched their children grow.

I've taken kids to church, to the movies for their first time, spotlighting, shopping, and just about anywhere else you can think of. I've even helped some learn how to ride a bicycle. I bandaged their boo boos when they got hurt, and I've hugged and cried with them when they hurt and it wasn't something I could fix.

So please don't feel sorry for me. I've had a very fulfilled life when it comes to children. My nieces and nephews range in age from 37 years to 10 months, so as you can see, there's not much that I've missed out on. I wasn't too thrilled when that first one came along because everybody thought she was just "precious". And I thought precious, my foot! But, she finally grew on me so I let her stick around (meaning I didn't throw her out the car window, drown her in a pool, or play too rough with her (only Missy knows what I'm talking about--LOL). I did accidentally throw one across the yard when I was swinging her around and around by her arm and leg and she ACCIDENTALLY slipped out of my hands. Sorry Allyson!! (I got in big trouble for that one--but she didn't get hurt!).

So, be happy for me and know that I've shared in many, many joys in the life of each and every one of my nieces, nephew, great-nieces, and great-nephews! And I look forward to many, many more good times and memories!