Rain, Rain, Go Away....

...NO! It's rained pretty much all day today and I'm glad. We've been in desperate need of rain. If it rained like that all week it would be fine with me. However, Bruce said it would be in the 60's and sunny tomorrow.

We had some great services today. Brother Danny Whetstone preached our morning service. He is the President of World Wide New Testament Baptist Missions. He took us from creation to the cross in his sermon. It was so good. My husband and I were talking tonight how neither of us saw him use any notes and how he quoted scripture. It was really something.

I had nursery tonight in the baby nursery. There were only three babies in there so it was pretty calm. Cassie and Tammy were in there with me. Cassie stayed with me while Tammy went out to sing with the Ladies Trio and then she stayed with Tammy while I went out and sang with the bluegrass group. Which was really funny. The first song we sang was So Much To Thank Him For. After a few other songs Pastor asked us to sing So Much To Thank Him For. We told him we just sang it! He said, "I bet I'd enjoy the services here if I'd come more often." HA!

Some of the guys are going to Joel's early in the morning to help put up a new garage. The gals will come a little later to do some scrapbooking while all the kiddies play. But then a bunch more will come later so we can bring in the new year together. Of course there will be pictures to come. I plan on going early, but not before I bleach my shower doors and do a load or two or three of laundry.

So what are your plans for bringing in 2008?

Two More Days of 2007

Can you believe 2007 is winding to a close? This year has sort of flown by with lots of activity and hustle and bustle! Hasn't it been fun?

What did I do this year? Let's see, I babysat my two favorite girls (besides my own Hannah, of course), Celine and Carissa. I went to the Monster Jam in Greenville. Saw our friend, Jay, off to Afghanistan. Had several FUN lunches with my parents. Watched our youth group play some of the funniest games ever. Watched Justin blow stuff up with firecrackers. Found new recipes to try and attended Lan Parties. Visited my friend, Tammy, after she had her little Abigale, who is now walking! Attended a hoppin' New Year's Eve Party at Mike and Susan's. Received stuff from a secret pal, even though I never signed up to be one this year. Buried our beloved cat, Tom. Did a sock swap through snail mail with a bloggy friend. Welcomed a new Guinea Pig, Fudge, into the family. Attended a revival service at our church with Brother Joe Arthur...never a disappointment! Played in the snow. OK, well, I didn't play in the snow. The kids did. But it did snow here this year. Went on a couple's retreat with my church family. Had NUMEROUS bluegrass practices. Watched Bruce begin to make his mandolin. Went with our youth group to Brother Tony Hutson's church in Murfreesboro, TN. Saw several of our teens accept Christ and others make decisions in their walk with Christ. Celebrated the 20th anniversary of our Pastor and Mrs. Ava being at our church. Learned how to roll dice for candy canes. Had a day at the spa with our church ladies. Learned how to play two new party games, Whale's Tales and Chinese Writing. Had fun at our Mother Daughter Banquet with Hannah and my mom. Made several stops to Dairy Queen after church. Went to a campmeeting somewhere. I still don't know where we were. lol But it was GOOD! Went to visit our friend Joel in the hospital when he fell from his roof and nearly killed himself. Went go-kartin' several times. Buried Fudge. Got another new guinea pig, Yogi. Shot up and out when Bruce found a millipede in our bed..YIKES! Went to Hannah's last Patch Quiz Bowl...EVER (boo hoo). Went to the mountains for a day trip with our Sunday School class. Attended our first SIGMA banquet at SIGMA sponsors. That was fun. Had a picnic with friends and their cows. HA! Went to one of those cheesy circus tents at the fair grounds and pet some really pitiful looking animals. Had a family fun day with my fam at Chuck-e-cheese, the museum and planetarium. Was the choses patients of the week at our dental office. Went to six flags. Celebrated a birthday for Kendra at the Chantilly Tea Room. Played softball. Cried when my son got his permit. Made some camolottes. Attended graduation ceremonies for four teenagers in my life. Found a rainbow on my ceiling. Dressed up in a poodle skirt for a 50's theme. Taught the five year old VBS class. AWESOME KIDS! Saw both my kids off to camp. Made new kitchen curtains. Helped two baby blue jays get back to their mother. Painted a house for my thimble collection. Battled a sinus infection, double ear infection and upper respiratory infection all at the same time. Went to a couple of church picnics. Had fun at our Bus Ministry Water Day. Celebrated the fourth at my brother's home and pool where he grilled the BEST steaks I've eaten. Watched fireworks with a bunch of our friends on top of a hill. Celebrated some more fourth at Brian and Amy's where I ran from a runaway bottle rocket. Got a new kitty, Harley. Watched my dad nearly die in the hospital. He has nearly recovered from that. Celebrated Mrs. Janet's 20th anniversary as secretary at our church. She does it all, folks! Busted up our van at the hospital. Watched a meteor shower. Was there when our friends reconciled their marriage. Had RUSH night with our teens. Went to Elizabethton, TN with our choir where Pastor was preaching a revival. Enjoyed a week of doing NOTHIN' at the beach. Went on an overnighter with a bunch of friends from church. Ate a five dollar ice cream cone from Marble Slab Creamery. Started taking part in our Rest Home Ministry. Attneded a prayer revival at our church with Brother Benny Beckum. Went to two family reunions. Had fun at our fall festival. Visited several friends and family in the hospital and at their homes as they recovered from illness or surgeries. Attended showers and weddings for friends and families. Wrote numerous skits for different ladies fellowships and wrote our Christmas play. Attended the ladies meeting in Walkertown, NC with about 30 of my church peeps. Had a visitor from WV for a day!!! Celebrated many birthdays. Attended several home-goings. Joined a co-op. Celebrated 17 years with my Sweetie Pie. And attended way too many Christmas parties!!!!! But oh what fun they were! And now.....I'm waiting on 2008 to see what the new year brings our way.

So, what did you do this year?

Humor Me

OK, I am experiencing laptop problems again and have resorted to using our desktop. SO! Brother Randy, I do hope you will be at church Sunday for I will be dropping my computer off to you. If I don't, I or my husband one will charter a plane just so we can go up 3000 feet and throw it out of the plane and smile as it crashes into a billion pieces.

Now, for all you fellow bloggers out there, please sign into your google account and leave a comment so that I may begin a blog roll, which I should have started ages ago.
And I do thank you kindly!

:)

Have You Given It Up?

"But let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice: let them ever shout for joy, because thou defendest them: let them also that love thy name be joyful in thee." Psalm 4:11 This verse was sitting out at my parent's computer desk, highlighted in pink this morning and it got me thinking so here's your post for today. I was recently told that the Lord shines through our family. That was a blessing and an encouragment to me. However, lest I lead you astray, let me be the first to say that I have had my share of trials and did not take them very well. I did not put my trust in the Lord. And I was certainly not joyful. Case in point, when my brother killed himself a few years ago. I remember watching my mother stand up in church that Sunday morning, just one day after she was told her son was dead, with her hands raised in the air, giving praise to the Lord and thinking to myself, "How can she praise Him?" I was filled with a lot of anger at Larry and at others. Not to mention the hurt and pain I was feeling from the loss. And I was just his sister...not his mother. I suppose I could go into great detail about this tragedy, but it would really take away from the post and what I intended to convey today. 2007 is almost gone and as I look back over the year I see where God was in the midst of every one of our trials. At the beginning of the year it was easy for me to let go of every circumstance and place them into the hands of my Heavenly Father, knowing and believing all along that He would take care of it all. And He certainly did. Sometimes through a song or sermon. Other times through God's people. But I failed Him at times when I would allow other circumstances to cause me to be depressed. He did not take his joy away from me. I gave it up. The verse above simply says, "But let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice." The times I was depressed and feeling less than joyful are the times I was not trusting Him. "...let them ever shout for joy because thou defendest them..." This doesn't say "let them ever shout for joy WHEN thou defendest them." We should be shouting for joy because we are the child of an almighty God and He will defend us from our enemies and from our trials before we even ask it of Him. "...let them also that love thy name be joyful in thee." I love the name of Jesus. What other name is there? It is when we take our focus off of Him and stop serving Him that we have given up our joy. Are you filled with joy at the mere mention of His name? Or have you given up your joy because of circumstances in your life that you can not control yourself? Let it go. Give it to God. He will, once again, give you joy.

Christmas Eve and Christmas Day

I had these pictures in somewhat of a chronological order but accidentally backspaced these first two out. So now they've ended up at the top of this post. These were taken Christmas morning. Harrison got the Nintendo Wii, which is a lot of fun to play....and very tiring! Especially the boxing.


Hannah asked for a pink camera. Bruce found this pink digi Polaroid and digi picture frame. She's probably taken a thousand pictures already. I'm sure she'll be uploading some pics to her blog soon. I'll let you know if she does.


Our Christmas Eve started with my sweetie pie, Hannah, sick with the stomach virus. She only got sick a couple of times but stayed in bed the entire day. I had decided the boys and I would help mom set up at her house for our family gathering, stay for a little while and then I would go home to Hannah and Bruce could go for the rest of the festivities. But mom and dad had already had the virus at their home and assured me that Hannah would be welcome if she felt like coming. Of course, by 6:00 PM, she did indeed feel like going but did not partake of the Christmas buffet that was set before her. She did, however, enjoy her Grandma's punch.

This year we had some very special guests join us for our family time. Brother RJ and Mrs. Liz, Michaela, Sam, and Ashlyn. This, of course, is our Youth Pastor and his family. We gathered in the living room to read the Christmas story from Luke 2 before the gift frenzy began.


Daddy liked the havoc heli I bought Bruce for his Birthday. So much, he wanted one for himself. So that was one of the gifts we bought him. What will we do with these grown boys and their toys?



Bruce got this battery charger. He was happy with that.


Daddy and mom were given two tickets to the Living Gallery at Bob Jones in the spring. As you can see by this hilarious look on her face she was thrilled and surprised.

Justin and Hannah were thrilled with more gift cards.

Harrison was happy with some binoculars as he tried to zoom in on the people sitting on the couch....four feet away from him.

We play a game at our family time where daddy gives away a total of fifty dollars. In between unwrapping presents, we'll stop for daddy to draw names of the adults from a box. The first two names drawn go back in the hat. The third name drawn wins a money prize. The money is given in increments of five, ten, fifteen, and twenty dollars. Bruce won the first prize of five dollars.

Daddy won ten dollars. He was so happy because he never wins any of his money back. lol

Mrs. Liz won the fifteen dollar prize.

And to be honest, I can't remember who won the twenty. I think it was mom. But I forgot to get a picture. And so the children aren't left out, each child there gets a five dollar gift card to McDonald's.

Michaela was happy to see she got a princess tea set from Maw Maw and Paw Paw Birt.

Brother RJ told daddy he wanted a screwdriver for Christmas so daddy bought him this Black and Decker deluxe tool kit. I'm pretty sure he was happy with it.

Sam was so good as he waited patiently for a present to open. What a sweetheart!

Jessica liked the necklace we got her.

And Ashylyn loved hearing the sounds coming from her new Leap Frog toy.

Mrs. Liz was surprised to open a new crockpot from mom and dad. She wanted one really bad and got it. I wonder what she'll fix in it!!!!!

Brother RJ wasn't the only one opening a tool kit. Harrison got one too and was so happy with it. He came home and started hunting things to fix or reasons to use his tools. He has big plans too, to help his dad the next time Bruce is working on something.

The little ones enjoyed attacking Justin...even Ashlyn got in on the fun.

As time was winding down, Maw Maw enjoyed kissing the tired babies.

It was a fun evening with lots of laughter and we had a wonderful time, although we missed my niece, who was visiting her boyfriend in Florida and my brother John who was taking care of his wife, Jenny. She had surgery a few days ago and wasn't able to make it. Lord willing, we'll be together next year. He did manage to stop in for just a few minutes earlier in the evening and he did make ten or so phone calls during the festivity. HA!

Christmas morning, Harrison woke us all up when he ran into the corner of Justin's dresser racing to the Christmas tree. To be perfectly honest, I could have slept at least another three hours, but Harrison was up and ready for the rest of us to be up too. LOL

I bought Bruce the Sansa e2000.

And he bought me the ipod classic. Sorry about the picture....not very flattering, I know....but again, I could have slept a few more hours. Besides, no one ever takes pictures of me because I'm always the one with the camera. lol

Justin was thrilled with his XBOX 360.

When we finished opening presents at home, we got ready for Bruce's family gathering at his mom's house.

These are my nieces, Brittney(L) and Brandy(R). Aren't they pretty?

The Havoc Helis were such a big hit with the men/boys in my family, Grandmother just had to buy more. So Harrison and Carl got one too.

Bryan and Barry got some new work out clothes.

And we all surprised Marie with a new freezer. She needed one and was happy to get it.


Mackenzie is a very loving child and loves her Great-Grandmother. Nikki, Mac's mom, sat on Marie's lap and Marie said, "My Nikki." Mackenzie's eyebrows went down and she said, very matter of factly, "MY MAMAW!" Aww, what a sweetie.

We missed having Bruce's baby brother, Mitch, with us this year. Along with his wife, Angie, and their boys Jonathan and Jackson. Maybe we'll see them soon. I was glad to know that Mitch made it home for Christmas. He was stationed on a ship way out in the ocean. I still don't know if I'm allowed to give that info away, so I'm keeping it to myself. Anyway, we missed their family.

With all the food that surrounds us during the holidays, it can get quite depressing when you're feeling bloated and fat. So Bruce and Barry shook hands on losing fifty pounds by this time next year. As I recall, they made a similar agreement this time last year to lose twenty pounds and Bryan was in on it. I didn't see Bryan anywhere around when this agreement took place! The paper with their weight on it from last year is still gracing the side of Marie's refrigerator. Can they do it, folks? Yeah, I think they can. Will they do it? Stay tuned for my 2008 Christmas post.

The Greatest Christmas Tree

The video in the previous post is a song I sang during our Christmas program and this is another one. It's called The Greatest Christmas Tree by the Rochester Family. You can't see me, but I'm behind one of the little shepherds. However, you can see Bruce playing the guitar. We had a lot of fun doing the play, which I'll tell you more about later. Right now it is ten minutes after 6:00 and I need to get ready for church! I hope the songs are a blessing to you!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

Faith Baptist Deaf Ministry, Oh Holy Night

This is our deaf ministry signing to Oh, Holy Night. Bradley Richard is singing.

What Is YOUR Perception of Redneck?

A friend of mine sent me this picture of a person's homemade Christmas yard decorations and I thought I'd share it with you. You won't find this at Wal Mart, I can guarantee it. However, you could probably find all the things needed to make it there........if you are so inclined, that is. There were "no trespassing" signs in two languages in this yard and my friend assures me she did not trespass to get this picture, but she did take it in a hurry, therefore, I will keep her identity a secret. So anyway.........

....wouldn't you say this is on the border of a redneck Christmas?

December 23, Christmas Sunday

Since Brother Ken and Mrs. Tammy are in Colorado for Christmas (having a white Christmas, I'm so jealous!) Bruce taught Sunday School. It was really good. His lesson was on The Choices We Make Dictate The Life We Lead.


Josh and Betsy were given more Aunt Jemimah stuff for Christmas. If you'll recall, Josh opened an Aunt Jemimah hand soap dispenser at our White Elephant Christmas party. See those happy faces? That's not just because of the gift. Betsy is expecting. YAY! We're so excited for them. Please keep them in your prayers!


This is mom with a few of her children in her Sunday school class. Aren't they cute?

Cameron....always looking sharp!

In the morning service, our church gave Paige and Jay (Our army fellow in Afghanistan) gift cards to restaurants to use while he is home. He'll arrive on Christmas Day and leave after the new year to return to Afghanistan. We also took up a love gift for them and Pastor told them the church would cover any expenses they made during his visit home. I think that's the least we can do for a couple that serves God and country. Don't you? We love Jay and Paige!

The kids were asked to come to my neighbor's home to receive their gifts after Sunday evening service last night. Dena and Reggie have always thought about my children at Christmas and it has always meant so much to them. This year they each received gift cards and they were thrilled over that. Especially Harrison. He loves gift cards. lol

Our Orchestra playing Carol of the Bells in Sunday morning service.

We had our Christmas play last night and it went really good. I have two videos of me singing Heirloom and The Greatest Christmas Tree and also one of our deaf ministry doing Oh Holy Night, but I just don't have time to upload them right now. I'll do it when I can.

December 22, Happy Anniversary to Us!

Today is mine and Bruce's 17th anniversary. Justin and Hannah are spending the night with friends and Harrison is with mom and dad.

Since all of our Christmas shopping is finished, we were able to just relax and enjoy our time together. Even though Bruce has a really bad head cold, we still had fun.

We began our time together with lunch at Applebee's, thanks to Taylor and her family. They gave us a gift card so we used it on lunch today. Bruce had chicken fried steak and I had the shrimp platter. Thanks y'all!


We drove to McAdenville and jumped in line to see the lights. It was a very long line!


But we finally did make it into Christmas Town USA.


They had a tree dedicated to our men and women in the armed forces.


I loved this big tree.

The trees were so pretty this year.

My favorite site in McAdenville has always been the lighted trees around the lake. The picture certainly does not do it justice.

McAdenville is an old mill town. The owner of the old mill paid the electric bill for his employees during the Christmas season, providing they put up lights for the community to enjoy. And so it became a tradition.

After viewing the lights, we went to Bethlehem. Ok, well not really. We went through the living nativity.

The angels

The shepherds

Mary, Joseph, and the little babe.

Herod and the wise men.

Since we were in the area....and the red light was on....we stopped at Krispy Kream for doughnuts and hot chocolate.

He bought a dozen, but we each ate only one. That one was so good though!

On the way home we stopped at a house near our home. The owners decorate the entire yard and house with lights.

I liked this one...it's that funny Looney Tune martian.

Noah's ark was across the street.

When we came home, we exchanged our cards. He wrote one of his poems for me. I LOVE his poems. I'll have to share one with you some time.

I had a great time with my dear love. Seventeen years just hasn't been long enough.