Going To Pigeon Forge

Bruce and I are leaving for Pigeon Forge today. We're excited about that. He took vacation this weekend and we'll be going on a couple's retreat. We're leaving a day early for our anniversary. I'm taking my computer with me so maybe I'll be able to post something there. If not, I'll "see" you all late Saturday or Monday.

We found out that there will be two parades while we're there. One on Friday night in downtown Pigeon Forge and the other on Saturday morning in Severiville, which is just the next town over. I hope we can see at least one of those. I enjoy parades.

Anyway, I have a lot to do today before we leave. I wanted to get my grocery shopping done this morning so I wouldn't have to worry about it when we got back and I need to drop my children off with their grandparents and the dog at my Mother-in-law's. Justin is going to help my parents bring in their Christmas tree from storage and put it up for them. Then they will all decorate it. Justin had practice putting our tree up the other day so I'm sure he'll be able to get theirs up.

Well, I'm gone, peoples! If I don't post later today or tomorrow, I hope you all have a great weekend!! I'm going to. :)

Bruce Is In The Spirit Of Christmas

Bruce has been off a total of eight days since May. (Please pray about that! Be specific. It's his machine that is not running good. Pray the Lord's blessings on that machine so that he won't have to work every weekend.) He's still able to make it to church. He misses the morning Sunday service though. If you would, please put that on your prayer list. We'd appreciate that.

We ARE going on a couple's retreat this weekend and he asked off for an extra day so that we could go up early and enjoy some time alone together for our anniversary which is the 22nd. We'll be married sixteen years. He's the love of my life, that one!! I don't know how he puts up with me, but he does.

OK, enough mush. Where was I going with this? Oh yeah! Because he has had to work so much and has had very little family time, home time, etc, he's been in what we like to call "a mood." LOL You know, melancholy. Or blue. However, he woke up from sleeping yesterday and was dressed and ready to hit the road. We had to be at the church at 7:00 to practice with the bluegrass group and decided we needed more lights. So we went to a store called Sandy's Country Christmas. Sounds nice, huh? Truth is, it's a little no-nothing shop with boxes in the isles and less than organized. But they have GREAT prices. He bought 650 more lights, each of us a new ornament for this year, a bulb check gun, and some name tags for packages. I don't know where we're going to put 650 lights. I guess he's going to do the outside of the house. If there were any more lights on the tree you could see it from space. LOL He actually did buy at least one set for the tree because the way I engineered the lights this year, I have no plug for my angel. It would be easier to buy a set of lights and throw 'em on than to take everything off and start over. LOL Isn't he just the sweetest thing??

We shopped at Dollar General too. Do y'all like Dollar General? That's one of my favorite knick knack stores. I frequent there often. We picked up some cards and things like that last night. Really we were filling up time because we were going to be too early to be at the church and since we don't have a key we decided to fill up time there.

We lost one of our bluegrass singers a couple of years ago. They moved to Indiana. She's been hard to replace, but we found someone very special to my heart to take her place. I can't say who it is because Pastor wants it to be a surprise. I didn't know that a few weeks ago or I wouldn't have told fifteen people in the church. LOL Just kidding. I think I only told two or three. Anyway, she's doing a great job. And I am proud to say that our oldest son, Justin, will now be in the group playing his guitar. He's very excited about playing next to his dad.

Bruce has been in the Christmas spirit since we left the store last night. He's like a little kid at Christmas time with eyes all aglow.

I Love Christmas

I love Christmas. Mainly because we are celebrating the birth of a promised Saviour. Of course it is not the babe in the manger that saves us. It is the babe that grew into a Holy and sinless man to give Himself willingly to die for my sins and the sins of the world.

And I love to read the Christmas story in Luke 2, but I especially enjoy reading the book of Isaiah through the holiday. The prophecy in comparison to the gospels is amazing, isn't it? The Bible, the REAL Bible, the King James Bible, never contradicts itself.

Christmas is a beautiful holiday. It is warm and inviting and there seems to be happy and smiling faces almost everywhere you go. Very rarely do you run into a real Scrooge. I love the lights and the tinsel. The evergreens and red ribbons. Bells and angels. It makes me feel happy inside and ready to celebrate the true meaning of the season. Christ.

I said before that I do not base my salvation on the babe in the manger because that was only the beginning. But I do love nativity scenes because the birth of Christ did mark the beginning. LOL Here are some pictures of the ones I've collected and put out this morning.


My placemats. I have a tapestry wall hanging that goes with
these, but haven't put it up yet.


Bruce bought this one for me a few weeks ago to put on our
Happy Birthday Jesus cake. I just realized I had my stable
turned backward. You can see the little angel hanging there.
LOL


These are a few of my music boxes. The big snowglobe plays
Oh Little Town Of Bethlehem and the other two play Silent Night.


This was given to me by Mary Elizabeth and Caleb, two children
that I babysat for. It's stained glass and you put tea light
candles behind it.


My mom found these for me ages ago. Aren't they cute?


Obviously the one on the left is glass with a mirror bottom and
the one on the right is a snowglobe.


This one I got from a little boy in our church when I was his Patch
teacher.


This was my Dollar Tree find.


These are little gifts given to me from different people. I like
the way the cross overshadows the silver nativity. It reminds me
of that song "Born To Die" by Ron Hamilton.


This one is on the piano. It looks like the one pictured above,
but it's much bigger.


These are also music boxes. The one of the left plays
Hark The Herald Angels Sing and reads Luke 2. Kids love
that one. The one in the middle is probably the most
unique because the stable is an egg. I've never seen one
like that before. It plays Silent Night. And the one on
the right lights up with different lights behind that halo and plays
Silent Night.


This one is one of my favorites. It reminds me of children
in a Christmas play.


This one was my Grandmother's. It was the first nativity I
owned.

Sunday

First of all, I've posted a couple of new recipes at Blogger's Recipes if any of you are interested in those.

Yesterday we decided to rearrange the living room for our Christmas tree. We ended up giving our recliner to my brother John. Getting rid of just that one piece of furniture and moving the couch to a wall really opened up the room and I like it a lot. We also took my brother a china hutch that belonged to my mother first, then me, and now him. I had the three drawers and two cabinets full and then of course I had my china in the top. After cleaning all those out I had to find a place for two sets of china and school supplies which meant cleaning out the kitchen cabinets to make room for two more sets of dishes. LOL I finally gave in around 10:30 and went to bed. I set my clock for 6:00 so I could get up and finish doing some things before the kids got up, but when I turned on the kitchen light it was spotless. I couldn't believe it. Bruce had finished cleaning it up for me. I thought that was so sweet of him.

The kids had to be at the church at 4:30 today to practice their Youth Choir play. Daddy called and said that he wanted to take them so that I could get a Sunday afternoon nap because he knew I had such a long weekend. Wasn't that sweet?

I have been blessed with two wonderful men in my life. Wouldn't you agree? :)

We had two good services today. The Lord really does know what you need when you need it. I'm thankful for a Pastor that obeys the Lord and preaches what the Lord would have him to preach.

Working the Bus Ministry

They announced to the bus kids today that we'll be having their special program at the big church next Sunday morning. They'll be singing and saying verses and it's going to be really sweet. The parents, of course, are invited to come and we'll be taking all the children for Papa's Pizza at the park afterward. They're really excited about that.

There are numerous children who come to bus ministry. Most of them come from homes where they are neglected and left to tend to themselves. Seven year olds babysitting their younger brothers and sisters while their parents are gone for whatever reason. Or a mother who is hooked on pills for depression stays in bed while her son never gets a bath, a meal, or a hug. Some of them come from neighborhoods where their future is overshadowed by gangs and violence, drugs, and alcohol.

Some of them just want you to hold their hand, acknowledge their existence, tell them they're special.

They seem to flock around Justin. Especially the tiny ones. They want his piggyback rides and silly jokes. They look for him when they get on the bus.

I know there are those that would say we should reach out to those in other countries, and I do agree to that. That's why Bruce and I give a portion of his paycheck each week to missions around the world. But I also believe that reaching out to those in our community is just as important.

I'm thankful for the opportunity that God has given us as a family to take part in such a wonderful ministry.

WOW

What a morning! Bruce and I left the house at 3:30 AM and was at our first destination at 3:45. We were content to stay warm in the car until the doors opened at 5:00. But Nooooooooooooo. Other customers just had to start standing in line. So we got out and jumped in too. The first 200 customers were given gift cards towards their purchases or to just give as a gift to someone. That was cool. I used mine toward something I bought for one of the kids. Bruce used his towards something he bought me. He wouldn't tell me what it was, but he did say I was really going to like it. :)

I didn't realize how ridiculous I looked until day began to break. I had on a knee lenth denim full skirt with the cut off fringe around the hem, a white sweat shirt with three little angels on the front that I have worn every Thanksgiving shopping day for as long as I can remember, and red socks with christmas trees on them. The socks and the skirt did not go.....trust me! The socks used to have jingle bells on them, but they got on my nerves and as I recall, I yanked them off in the middle of a store last year and threw them away. I was in the Christmas spirit, but the jingle bells were too much for me that early in the morning. LOL

Bruce and I found some really good deals. Everyone seemed to be pretty tame but we did hear about some people getting trampled. One person said it happened in California and the other said it was in Charlotte. It really doesn't matter where it happened. All that matters is that it happened and it should not have. There were people with broken legs, arms, ribs, etc. That's really horrible. What could be so important that it's worth you knocking someone down and breaking their bones? As Hannah would say, "That's so not cool!"

We made it back home around 11:00, shoved the kids into the bathroom while we carried everything in and laid down to nap. In case you're wondering why the bathroom, it's because the living room and their bedrooms face the driveway and we didn't want anyone peeking out the windows. LOL

Bruce has to work tonight so I guess he's down for the evening until it's time to get ready for work. I had a good time with him today. He'll be off tomorrow so I'm really looking forward to having him home with us again.

Boy! Am I Glad THAT'S Over!!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone. The day has nearly come to a close and I am now breathing a little easier.

My mother, whom I believe to be one of the best cooks in the south, was unable to cook this Thanksgiving because of her knee surgery which left it up to me this year. I have never cooked a Thanksgiving dinner for that many people before. As for mom, she is recuperating nicely with the exception of some swelling. I've had to fuss at her a little bit these last couple of days, but after her leg swelled terribly yesterday she promised to stay off of it and so she has. It is still slightly swollen, but looks so much better than yesterday. I'm thankful for that.

When I said I was glad THAT'S over, I was referring to the cooking. LOL I don't mind cooking, but my nerves have been shot the last couple of days worrying about everything turning out to each person's liking.

Mom and I started the day watching a Christmas movie together. Then daddy fixed the traditional Thanksgiving breakfast.........milkshakes. Yes, I know. A very unusual breakfast but it is a tradition. And one tradition my children look forward to as I did growing up.

We spent the better part of the day in the kitchen together while I prepared dinner, laughing and talking. It was fun. I had accomplished a great deal of preperation yesterday so there really wasn't too much to do today.

The menu? Let's see:
Turkey
dressing and stuffing
green beans
sweet potato casserole
veg-all casserole
mashed potatoes
corn on the cob
deviled eggs
crock pot mac and cheese
yeast rolls
gravy
My Brother brought:
smoked Boston Butt roast
congealed salad
dressing
banana bread muffins (which were the perfect size, btw if any of you do banana bread)
And daddy baked two pies, pumpkin and apple

Everything turned out very flavorful and I sure didn't hear any complaints.

Bruce was off today and it was so good to have him home. He has to work tomorrow, but will be off Saturday. So I'm looking forward to spending a complete day with just him and the kids as a family. He left mom's a little early to go see his mother and get me a newspaper for tomorrow. I'll go through the circulars mapping out my route for the morning. I'm one of those stupid people that get up at 3:00 AM to stand in the cold for two hours waiting for a door to open so I MIGHT get what I'm there for. And if I do get it, I'll be happy talking to strangers in a line of seventy-five people that won't move but every eight minutes or more. LOL Wow! I've almost talked myself out of it..............NAH! I'm there. I love the rush I get on the Friday after Thanksgiving. Do y'all go shopping that day too?

I hope you all had a very Happy Thanksgiving with your family and friends. I did.

One Can't Make A Difference

Oh yes it can! Good news, peoples. The AFA has just released a statement that we, as Christians, can feel free to shop at Wal Mart this weekend. Here is what they said.....



Donald E. WildmonFounder and Chairman
November 21, 2006
Please help us get this information into the hands of as many people as possible by forwarding it to your entire email list of family and friends.
Wal-Mart Says It Will Not Make Corporate Contributions To Support Or Oppose Controversial Issues
Send Wal-Mart a "Thank you" for its statement.
Dear Kristi,
You have made a difference! Wal-Mart has announced they "will no longer make corporate contributions to support or oppose controversial issues unless they directly relate to their ability to serve their customers." AFA is pleased with this announcement. Wal-Mart made the announcement Tuesday afternoon. In response to Wal-Mart's statement, AFA has decided to cancel its efforts of encouraging people to not shop at Wal-Mart or Sam's Club this Friday and Saturday. We believe that Wal-Mart will remain neutral in cultural battles. Click here to see the Wal-Mart announcement.
Take Action
Please take a moment to send Wal-Mart a "Thank You" email for its policy statement.
Send Your Email Now!

Sincerely,
Donald E. Wildmon, Founder and ChairmanAmerican Family Association
P.S. Please forward this e-mail message to your family and friends!

Oh, I Just Love Fall!!

"Oh, I just love fall!" is what Harrison would yell as he jumped in the pile of leaves his big brother was blowing and raking.













Jumping in leaves can tucker a little fellow out.

Comment Moderation

"Anonymous" was too cowardly to leave, even their initials, on their comment to the last post. I deleted the comment because they were "concerned" about me. I doubt seriously they were concerned. I believe their comment was meant to be a discouragement. They either know me personally and are jealous of me for some reason or they are someone who is set out to cause strife on this blog and since they are one of those I have decided to place all comments on comment moderation. I hate to do that, but some people just can't play nice and resort to childish behavior.

So go ahead and leave a comment and it will be forwarded to my email to view before being published. If you would like to post as anonymous that's fine, but your comment will not be published if it is mean or nasty.

Thanks!
~Kristi

Thanksgiving Dinner For Bus Kids

The Thanksgiving dinner for our bus ministry was wonderful. The children ate like there was no tomorrow and it was a blessing seeing the fun they had and being a part of such a great day.

When Hannah got there, she immediately went to the kitchen with her apron that Mrs. Weathers made for her and began to help in preparing the food. The little boy with her is Jordan. He is the son of our church secretary and helped he too.


We started the morning as usual with singing and puppets.


Brother Daniel was in the puppet skit and did a great job.
Hannah was "Febie" and Justin was "Andrew."
Thanks, Brother Daniel, for being a willing participant!


Hannah played the piano for the bus kids to practice their
song for the Christmas program they'll be doing at the morning
service Dec. 3rd.


We split up in our classes and after class, the children were
given the opportunity to turkey bowl. Harrison bowled a strike
his first time and then bowled down three his second time.
Whoever bowled the most points won a giant jar of candy. I
believe our class was up for the skittles. You can see the jars on
the puppet stage.




Here was part of our class lined up to give their names to Hannah
for their bowling order. But order never happened. LOL


Here are the children enjoying their turkey dinner. We had
turkey, dressing with gravy, green beans, corn on the cob
cranberry sauce, yams, deviled eggs, rolls and desserts.
They enjoyed it so much.


Here's Harrison sneaking some of the dessert I made. Chocolate
Eclaire cake. Yum! He wasn't really sneaking because I gave it to
him, but he was supposed to be with his class. LOL


Here are some of the workers enjoying a bite or two.....
or three....LOL It was very good.


After bus ministry was over, I took my mom a chicken pie that Mrs. Janet made for her and sat with her while daddy ran an errand. I was going to go on a trip with SIGMA to a soccer game, but didn't make it back in time to go so I ended up going to the Sunday school Christmas party at Brother Joel and Sis Pam's house. We had the best barbecue I have ever eaten. Being in the south, barbecue is a specialty. And this was definitely the best I've ever had. We had a good time of fellowship. It was a terrific day.

Anything For The Hiccups?

Brother Joe Bryant, a visiting preacher to our church yesterday, told this story and I wanted to share it with you.

A man walked into a pharmacy and asked the pharmacist if he had anything to cure the hiccups.

The pharmacist said, "I sure do!" Before the man realized what had happened, the pharmacist had SMACKED the man right across the face and said, "Well? Did that help?"

The man replied, "No, I needed it for my wife."

Thanksgiving Dinner

Today is our Thanksgiving dinner for our bus kids and their families. We're excited about this. I need to fix my dessert or it's not going to be good. It's one of those chocolate eclaire desserts with the graham crackers and pudding. I'll post the recipe for it at Blogger's Recipes later this evening.

Last night we spent the evening with the McCurry family. Hannah and their daughter were at a birthday party and so we got together at the McCurry home for pizza and fellowship. The boys laughed their heads off in their son's room while we sat in the music room around the Christmas tree in the dark and talked. That was so nice. They have three Christmas trees up this year. Susan said she was going to add another one next year to the dining area. We went upstairs to the game room and played some pool. It was a lot of fun. Thanks, Mike and Susan!

Mom is doing really good. I'm thankful for the recovery she's having. I am a little concerned about the swelling, but the doctors and nurses don't seem too worried about it so I'll not let it bother me until it bothers them. She has had problems with blood clots in the past and so that's really what we're watching for right now. She still can't get out and about, but I have a feeling she wouldn't mind a little ride in the car. It's terrible when you're stuck in the house, don't you think?

There's an attic sale at the fair grounds today and I thought I might get up there before bus church, but it doesn't look like I'm going to make it. I need to do my dessert and I really need to wash my hair. LOL Hope y'all have a great weekend!

My Yesterday

Yesterday I had plans to meet my friend, Pam, for lunch. When we got to the restaurant, we decided to call another friend, Janet, to invite her and she said she would be there shortly. So we ordered her lunch and waited for her to arrive. While we were sitting there laughing, talking, eating and engrossed in fellowship, ANOTHER friend, Missy, came walking in the door by herself. She came over to where we were and ate with us too. It was a lot of fun. Like a party, it was! We were there from 11:00 until almost 2:00. LOL The waitress was looking at us like we were crazy. There were a lot of giggles and some serious discussion, but not too much of that. There's enough serious in the world. Giggles are good! :)

I went grocery shopping and came home. Bruce was leaving to pay bills like he does every Thursday afternoon, and said he would bring home dinner. That is always wonderful for a wife to hear, right? Even more so when it's his idea. Can I have a witness? He brought home stuffed crust pizza from Pizza Hut. I love it. If I could, I would give all the pizza to the family and cut off the crust for me, but I don't know that they would appreciate that. LOL

Anyway, Bruce was gone running his errands and around 4:30 I was sitting on the couch playing Internet checkers when I remembered that the homeschoolers of our church were having a Thanksgiving dinner at 6:00. Pam had reminded me several times throughout this week and even brought it up at lunch before she had gone to decorate for it. Deep down I just didn't want to go because of the family time we've missed the last two weeks due to Mom's surgery and I suppose that's why I kept forgetting about it. Sort of a Freudian thing, you know? But at any rate, we didnt' go. And I felt bad about it. I felt even worse when Pam called at 6:15 to see if we were coming and she told me there was only one other family that showed up. That broke my heart and I wasn't good the rest of the night. Don't you hate it when you plan something and nobody shows up? Of course, each family that didn't make it had legitimate excuses, but I'm sure it still made Pam feel that her efforts were for naught.

We did have a good evening together as a family. No phone interruptions. No disruptions of any kind. Well, that's not entirely true. We did have one disruption, but I won't go into that. However, it was really nice being able to just sit in the livingroom and enjoy each other's company for a change.

So that was my day yesterday. I'll be cleaning my mom's house after school today. That will pretty much swallow my day. I'm glad I bought fish sticks at the grocery store because that's what I'm slaving over tonight for supper. :)

And The Winner is.....................

The winner of the 2006 Faith Baptist Rush Night is..................................

Drum roll please.................................................

















PI GAMMA KNIGHTS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

They beat the Nu Delta Builders by three points. But that's OK. We'll get 'em next year! :)

Congratulations Knights! I hope the rest of your year is as successful.

Julie's Jewels

Most of you know Sis Julie from Julie's Jewels. Well, she had a little "accident" with her blogger and had to start a new blog. To read about it, go here. She's a tad frustrated so give her an encouraging word like she would us. :)

SIGMA Rush Night

This Sunday we had our SIGMA Rush night. Our two teams decorated their spot in the gymnasium and were judged on displays and team spirit.

Our team, the Nu Delta Builders, used the verse Ephesians 2:21 for our team verse. We did a bulletin board with that verse, our team name, Greek letters, team colors (yellow and black) and each team member's signature.


Our display consisted of two houses. One was built on the rock. You could pull the string and the house would teeter but would not fall.


The other house was built on the sand. When you pulled its string, it would fall. I liked the thought of an interactive display. That was Bruce's idea.

The background was black with dark storm clouds and flashing lightning bolts. Above each house were the verses about the house built on the sand and the house built on the rock.

The banner between the two houses was thought up and done by Cassie. She's a new member to the youth group this year and I've been blessed by her enthusiasm and willingness in all aspects of SIGMA. She even made cookies for her brother's team. (Sorry, Cassie, no Christian service points will be given for that!) :)

Her banner read "God the builder. Can He fix it? Yes, He can!" We didn't get any good pictures of it because the team was in front of it everytime we had our camera. But hopefully I'll get a good one of it Wednesday before we take it all down.

Our food tables were decorated with yellow tablecloths and caution tape. The food we served was bagged lunches. Each one had a sandwich, chips, and oatmeal cake. These were thought of by John O', our team president, so that mothers with small children could come by and just grab a bag for their little one without having to balance three and four plates at a time. Great idea, John!

We also had sandwiches, soups, and desserts. The soups were EXCELLENT! I tasted each one and I did have a favorite, but I'm not going to tell which one it was. There were chili beans, vegetable soups, and a taco soup.


Bruce worked Saturday night, but was at church for honor guard Sunday morn and then back again for the Rush night. It was good to have him there. If you look in the corner of the table you can see my dad's arm reaching for ANOTHER cream puff. Shame shame, daddy!!


Our team wore their team colors and/or work clothes with tool belts and so forth. The kids taunted each other with cheers and jeers. Justin made up a cheer for them to yell at the KNIGHTS. It went like this,
"Hey! Knights! You are such a hassle! We can take you any day because WE built your castle!"
I thought that was cute.


The other team was the Pi Gamma Knights. Their display was a castle with a bridge and mote. They used two free standing knights out in front of the castle and picket fence. It was pretty. Their team verse was Ephesians 6:11 and it was posted above their castle. Their food table was decorated with white tablecloths and side skirts. Their food consisted of a potato bar, nachos and cheese, and desserts.


Their guys wore knights costumes......


and their girls wore "princess" dresses and tiaras.


We had a really good time and this being our first year in SIGMA, I think Rush night was pretty successful.

I know which team won the points, but I can't tell until it is announced Wednesday night. So you'll just have to wait until Thursday to find out. :)

Thanksgiving Meeting

We had our Thanksgiving meeting for the ladies of our church tonight. I wish I had taken my camera, but it is in my Mom's car. We had a great time of fellowship and Mrs. Ava had an encouraging word that I needed tonight.

For some of you Pastor's wives or ladies looking for something for your ladies meeting this month, here are a couple of songs that Mrs. Ava had us sing tonight. I thought they were cute.

Turkey Song
(Did You Ever See A Lassie)

See the turkeys proudly marching
Their proud feathers arching
We're kings of the barnyard
Proud turkeys are we.
We strut oh so proudly,
We gobble so loudly
Oh gobble, gobble, gobble
Plump turkeys are we.

Oh would you think scarcely
All dressed up in parsley
We kings in the barnyard
Soon roasted will be
'Tis true as you're living,
We'll be for Thanksgiving
Oh gobble, gobble, gobble,
Plump turkeys are we.

Thanksgiving Turkey
(My Bonnie)
My turkey went walking one morning
The November weather to see
A man with a hatchet approached her
Oh bring back my turkey to me

CHORUS
Bring back, bring back
Oh, bring back my turkey to me, to me
Bring back, bring back
Oh bring back my turkey to me.

I went down the sidewalk a-shopping
The sights in shop windows to see
And everywhere hung great fat gobblers
Oh bring back my turkey to me

(Chorus)

I went out to dinner and ordered
The best thing they had I could see
They brought it all roasting and sizzling
They brought back my turkey to me

(Chorus)

Mom Is Home

Mom got to come home today. She is so happy to be home. I'll be with her on the days that daddy has dialysis. She's doing very good, but they do not want her up without someone there with her.

Thank you to all who prayed for her! The prayers are working.

Things I Brought Home From The Conference

Here are some things I brought home from the conference. Pictures are in the post below this one.

Friday night, I attended a workshop by Kay Chandler. It was called "The Family Table." She did an acrostic on the word table.

T - Time with family. She drove the point across that eventually, one by one, the children grow up and leave the table. She suggested allowing our children to help prepare the meals with us. This opens the door for communication. When eating at the table, steer away from topics that don't bring peace with it. Nobody needs the indigestion! Make supper time a postive and happy time. It is our job as mothers, to make sure the family is around the table and to teach our children good manners.

A - Appreciation and Adoration. Say grace! Teach children to pray and thank God for our food and family. Pray as a family. Be a thankful people.

B - Balancing Good Meals. Ask your family what their favorite foods or meals are. Plan out a menu for THEM! Plan your menu, keep a grocery list. Think it through. Be organized.

L - Loved Ones and Friends. We should find it a pleasure to cook for our family and friends. Don't make it a labor and chore. Have people over and enjoy serving them at your table.

E - Enjoyable and Relaxing. Make traditions Make it fun. Enjoy decorating the table for your family. Find easy and fun recipes. Don't rush the meal. Do all we can to make it enjoyable.

There were five recipes give to us at this workshop. I'll let you know when they are posted at Blogger's Recipes.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The second workshop I attended was by Sharon Rabon. It was called "The Secrets of Staying In Love." I'll share her outline.

Open your closed SPIRIT
1. Deal with anger
-Anger develops from a closed spirit of one or both marriage partners.
-Anger is a negative emotion we feel when a person or situation has failed to meet our needs, blocked our goals, or fallen short of our expectations.
-Three results of anger:
anger creates distance
anger pushes us into darkness
anger ties us in knots

2. Choose to Forgive
-Ask God to forgive you for the anger that has built up inside you toward your husband.
-Become soft and tender with your husband
-Understand, as much as possible, what your husband has endured because of your closed spirit.
-Use "I feel" statements rather than "you make me feel" statements.
-Use short sentences that your husband can repeat back versus long drawn out thoughts/paragraphs.
-Admit our husband has been wounded.
-Admit your offensive behavior.
-Touch him gently
-Seek forgiveness and wait for a response.
-Remember that anger binds you and forgiveness sets you free.

HONOR YOUR HUSBAND

Put your husband high on your list of priorities.
-Your husband should come before the children.
-Your husband should come before other family members.
-Your husband should come before your friends.

Respect your husband as the head of your home.
-Teamwork makes the team work.
-Teamwork takes cooperation.
-Teamwork takes participation.
-Teamwork takes loyalty.
-Teamwork takes commitment.

Make the necessary changes for honor to be in place.
-Begin to change yourself.
-Make your likes, his likes
-Make your desires, his desires.
-If your husband is unsaved or not living for the Lord, make your prayer life stronger for him.
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The last workshop I attended was with Sherry Camperson. And the title of this workshop was "The Most Important Gifts You Can Give Your Children." Children need our presence more than they need our presents. She gave 26 presents to give to our children by our presence in their lives.

A - Attention
B - Blessing
C - Communication~Be approachable to them.
D - Discipline~Children have friends. They need us to be parents!
E - Encouragement
F - Fun!
G - God
H - Hands
I - Instruction~If we don't instruct them...someone else will!
J - Jesus~Give them the plan of salvation
K - Kindness
L - Love
M - Memories
N - Nurturing and nourishment
O - Order~Make an orderly home.
P - Patience
Q - Quietness~It is a gift! A time spent with the Lord or just thinking on His goodness
R - Respect
S - Sincerity
T - Time
U - Understanding
V - Voice~Let them hear you sing to them and for them
W - Worship
X - eXample
Y - You
Z - Zest and zeal for life.

I like that alphabet.

Finally! The Conference!!

I believe I told you that I drove a van with half of our ladies on it. There were fourteen that went to the conference, including a little bitty lady. Sis Ava, our Pastor's wife, is the one smiling in the back. Then Mrs. Weathers, Kelly, and Charity. Pam was in the front with me and the itty bitty lady had just finished eating and was snoozing.


We checked into our room in Winston Salem. This is Tammy.
One of my roomies.

Pam was my other roomie.


The theme of the conference was "Joy Bells In My Heart."


The first thing we did when we got to the church was fill out these
slips of paper for the bathrooms. Let me explain that! They had 12
bathrooms, each one decorated with a different theme. There was
a basket in each one that you would drop your slip of paper in with
your name and your church's name and at the end of the conference,
if your name was drawn you would get the prize set aside from that
bathroom.


This was a table of door prizes. There were several tables of door
prizes and if you preregistered, your name went in a basket for these.
BUT!we did not preregister. I am somewhat bitter about that, so we
won't discuss it now. LOL


The gymnasium had booths set up all around its walls. There
were lots of goodies and knick knacks to purchase. Avon and Mary Kay,
Home Interiors, people that made their own Apple Butters, etc. It
was a lot of fun shopping and browsing.




Then they fed us. I enjoyed this meal the most. I like simple
meals and this one consisted of GIANT croissants, deli meats and
cheeses, and chips. It was really good.




Some of us enjoyed the sandwiches more than others. LOL (oh dear, she's going
to get me for this.) :) Love you, Tammy!!!!!


This was our itty bitty lady that came with us. Everytime you see her
she's either eating or sleeping. Look at those little round cheeks. At this
moment she opened her eyes long enough for me to snap the shot and then she
was out again. She was such a good baby. She was recently diagnosed with being
deaf. She can only hear extremely high pitched sounds. Her mother has really been
through it emotionally and needed this conference and I'm so glad she was able to come.


One of the bathrooms was decorated as Tea Time in the Garden. They
had white lights everywhere in this bathroom and tea pots across the
counter there. A park bench and tons of ivy.


Pam and I stood under the archway and took our picture in the
mirror.


This bathroom was my favorite. It was decorated as a spa. Pam
and I kept waiting for someone to do a massage on us. Imagine our
disappointment when we realized it was just for show.


As always, it was a blessing to hear the Hutson sisters sing....

and see Sherry sign. They have such a sweet spirit.


After Friday night's session, we went back to the gym for snacks.


Here is Mrs. Janet, our church secretary, and her mother
enjoying their chips and salsa and other goodies. (I really
wish you had preregistered us, Janet. But I'm not going to hold
a grudge.)


Yes, this lady is in her bathrobe and curlers sitting on a toilet in
the church sanctuary. Relax, peoples, it was a skit! She was trying
to find a place to have her quiet time with the Lord but kept
being interrupted by her children at the bathroom door. Been there!


And this is a picture of me and Christy. Bless her heart. I miss her
presence at our church. We met a very long time ago when she was
working at the Library and then later we ended up at the same church.
Then her hubby's job took her away from us. :( They attended Brother
Steve Roberson's church when they left ours and now they are members
of Brother Chandler's church. He's the husband of Kay Hutson Chandler.
MOVE BACK CHRISTY!!!!!