Few Words and Lots of Catching Up

We bought a Christmas Tree. The kids gave it a name...I think it was Bob. Or was that last year's tree's name?






Then we came home and I took pictures to use in our Christmas card. The cards turned out so cute. Right now they are under my bed...I never mailed them. They are addressed and everything. I didn't post the picture that I used on the cards, just in case I use them next year!!!

By the way, I just love my kids...they make the simplest of things so much fun!












We continued a long standing Christmas tradition and made cookies (and a mess!) with one of my favorite people in the whole world...my niece, LaLa.










J3 sang in the Christmas musical...it was incredibly cute (almost as cute as he was!!)
"A" was his biggest fan! What a sweetie!

Oh, To Be Young...

Twice in my life I have gotten the notion to run a half marathon. The first time I decided to try it, it was 1996. J2 and I had been wanting to start a family for a while, and things weren't going very well, and one of the things the doctors told me to do was to cut back on my exercise. After many months of no changes, I decided to just forget it and go back to my normal routine. In fact, one of my closest friends at the time wanted me to train with her to run a half marathon.

So we started training, working out on our own during the week and then running a long run together on the weekends. We had worked up to 10 miles on our long run, but suddenly things started getting harder. I remember running a short run with my sister and struggling through every step. (She said afterwards that she thought "Man, she is not in very good shape to have been running as much as she has!)

Well, the short version of the story is that I soon found out I was 8 weeks pregnant and because I didn't want to take any chances at all, I quickly decided to end my training regime and put the half marathon idea on hold. My friend went ahead and successfully ran and did fantastic. We went and cheered her on! I missed running it with her, but I was so thankful for the reason I wasn't running that it made up for it!

Fast forward to 2000. Again, J2 and I decided to try the same half marathon in the fall. We started training for it (I think that my niece, LaLa, was training with us too, but I am not certain). We had worked our way up to 6 miles on the long run and guess what - I found out after several years of wanting to have another baby with no luck, that I was pregnant again! So, once again the half marathon idea was put on hold.

Do you see a pattern here? J2 now says - no more half marathon training. We are too old for the unintended blessing that seems to come with it!!

But on Thanksgiving day we had the joy of getting to go and watch two nephews, one niece and my nephews girlfriend successfully run the half marathon on Thanksgiving Day! They did really did great!

We were all incredibly proud of them.

And as far as training goes...well, for most of them, there was none. LaLa had been running to get ready. KN has all his army training, which has gotten him in great shape, but hasn't been running anything with that kind of distance. L, KN's girlfriend had never ran more than 3 miles before. And as for DW...well, he just thought it would be fun to join in and stopped by Wal-mart to pick up a $10 pair of running shoes for the race!

Oh, to be young and able to just go- "Hey guys, let's go run 13 miles next Thursday" and then make it look easy!

Set Another Place at the Table

Our family traveled to my parents in GA for Thanksgiving. It was quite a crowd...twenty four to be exact.

One of the many great things about my parents is the fact that there is always room for one more at the table (or in the house for that matter!) Growing up they always welcomed our friends into their home.

Although we are all grown and gone, with families of our own, when we return for a visit it doesn't matter how many people are going to be there. They still welcome those we bring along with open arms.

This Thanksgiving was no different...just my parents, the four kids, our spouses and children total twenty-two. But when my nephew's girlfriend, who lives in a different state (and is awesome, by the way) wanted to come, Mom and Dad said sure. Then when my niece wanted to bring along a high school girl who is in a group she disciples, Mom and Dad said sure!

The amazing thing is that they don't just let them come...they immediately treat them like one of their own.

They have blessed so many people by their generosity and hospitality and have set such a great example of how to love your "neighbor" as yourself. I am incredibly thankful for them and all that they do!

Oh yes...When you look at the pictures, you may think that it looks more like Christmas than Thanksgiving. Well you are right (and wrong at the same time!!)

See, it is Thanksgiving but we went ahead and did our Christmas gift exchange since we weren't going to be together again at Christmas time!

Why I Love Fall Festival

A as a hippie - I mean everyone needs to be a hippie or hobo at least once!!


What a handsome cowboy!







Let me be brief...

Yes, it is okay to be shocked. I know this doesn't happen often!

I love Fall Festival because it is a night when my kids just get to have a lot of fun doing what kids should do...dressing up, looking cute, eating junk, playing games and jumping on bouncy things.

Oh yes, and beating the pastor's son in law at the obstacle course.

Well, maybe it was really a tie on the obstacle course thing (he won one year, J3 the other), and maybe someone did hold onto his feet for a few seconds so that my son could win that one time.

To substantiate my claim, here are two pictures from one of my favorite years - Fall Festival 2002...

Need I say more!

Magical Manhattan

Yes, I am way behind on posting...

It goes along with the rest of my life. i still have my Christmas cards addressed and ready to send in a big pile in the hutch of my computer desk. (It is an improvement over last year. At least I got them printed and addressed!!)

In the fall of 2008 (it has been so long now, I am not certain of the month. Thank goodness for date imprinting on pictures!), J2 made plans for us to go on a weekend getaway to NYC. It was an incredible trip in every way!

I don't have a lot of pictures because my camera batteries died just a few hours after we got there and I didn't buy replacements until our last day.

But let me assure you that we had an awesome time. Can I just say...I love hanging out with J2! He is so much fun (of course he was a little on the wild side with the jaywalking, but I tried to just hang with him on that one! You know I am a major rule follower...just ask him about our trip to Chinatown!)

We stayed right on Broadway at TimeSquare and had an incredible view from our hotel window. We ate at some incredible restaurants. We saw Rockefeller Center, St. Patricks cathedral, Central Park, Chinatown, Soho, GroundZero, the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State building, just to name a few. We walked and walked and walked and walked.

We also rode the subway, which wasn't nearly as intimidating as I thought it would be once we figured out how to tell which direction the trains would be traveling.

The highlight of the trip was our visit to the Brooklyn Tabernacle. J2 and I had just completed a wonderful bible study by Jim Cymbala called When God's People Pray, which uses the stories of the prayer ministry at the Tabernacle to demonstrate the power of prayer.

It was J2's idea to venture out on Sunday to the service there and I am so glad that we went. Words truly cannot express the amazing praise and worship experience there. And the people...they were so friendly and kind! While we were waiting for the service to begin, we met a lady usher who found out that it was our first time there and she moved us up to the best seats, front-center 2nd row. After we moved to our new seats, we had the priviledge of meeting a couple that serve as missionaries to the United Nations. I didn't even know there was such a thing!

This couple just oozed wisdom and joy. It was such a pleasure to listen to them share things from their life. The things they said were just what we needed to hear! It was like God just placed them there in those seats and then brought us up in front of them just for our benefit. HMMMM - go figure! (The details will have to be another post at another time...)

AND THE MUSIC....it was just the best!

Sadly, I have only one picture from there that I took with my cell phone. Which I had to take on the sly by the way. We saw a woman who came down front to take pictures with her cell phone be very "firmly" escorted out! In their defense,she was making a bit of a scene and it was a worship service...

Well, I really could go on and on and on about our time at Brooklyn Tab (that's what us insiders call it - ha,ha!) and NY. But I have got about 5 months of blogging to catch up on, so I'd better stop now!

Staff vs. Deacons

This fall our church had an evangelism emphasis series that was tied into football. Perfect really for the section of the country that we live in, which is very committed to and extremely enthusiastic about football of all kinds...

...high school, college, pro and the ever time consuming, computer hogging,but if your husband has to have a bad habit praise the Lord it is nothing worse than, fantasy football (can I get an amen from the fellow FFL widows out there. Hang in there girls, this thing can't go on forever!!)

It really was a great idea. There were videos during the worship service tied in to football. Clips from Rudy, Remember the Titans, Bryan's Song and Facing the Giants (which are all some of my favorites. I love a great sports movie!!) were all shown. Then there was the Evangelism Linebacker. I laughed until I cried!!

The staff did a great job by starting with something that many could relate to in football,and connecting it to something that we all need to be doing, telling others about Jesus.

One of the highlights was the staff versus deacon flag football game. Weeks before the game, practices started and the trash talk began. All in the name of good Christian fun, of course!!

Several weeks passed, practices continued and word on the street indicated that there was a mysterious increase of sales of BenGay and advil in the region.

Finally game day arrived and we prepared our tailgate picnic and met friends in the parking lot for a pregame meal. Side note: That is what J2 called our rehearsal dinner - the pregame meal.

The parking lots were full and the team colors of yellow (for the deacons)and green(for the staff) were seen in mass. There was even a group of boys that painted themselves green. It really was such fun!!

My prayer for the night was that no one would get hurt. That probably sounds like I am thinking that the deacons and staff are old or out of shape...

But perhaps when you consider my own history of a major accident which required surgery from just running in a straight line on a flat surface with no one chasing me to tear a flag from my waist, you will realize it is not a statement against those playing in the game.

Fortunately, there were nothing more than some minor bumps and bruises and everyone who came to the game seemed to really have a blast. I know that we did.

The kids really loved watching J2 play and showing his athletic ability. They were very proud of their dad. I was too.

Both teams played well, and in the end the deacons emerged with the most points. If it were left up to me I would say that they were both winners.

But every other member of my ultra competitive family would have to correct me and say "Mom, (or honey), really the team with the most points was the winner. And that would be the deacons."

The pictures are bitter sweet to me. There are many of J2 and his great friend B. B and his family are moving to Texas. I can't imagine what our lives here will be like with them in another state. At some point, I will do an entry just about them and how much they have meant to our family. But for today, I am just enjoying the images captured on film by my precious friend, MM, of our husbands sharing some great times out on the field.

Happy 18th Anniversary

We met in the library at Furman. I was in there studying intensely (in case my mom and dad are reading this!!) and he came in with a couple of his buddies.

I had seen him play basketball games and thought many times how incredibly cute he was, but was quickly reminded by friends that he was taken. So that was the end of that.

That night in the library, there was an official introduction and some small talk. Some how it came up about what his dad did for a living. He said he was a baptist preacher.

I mean, how much better could he get..handsome and son of a baptist preacher. Oh yes, but still taken. So again that was the end of that.

Many months later we had a class together. It was basketball season and he missed a lot of classes while they were on the road, so we would study together to help him get what he missed.(I am sure it took a lot of persuasion on his part).

Eventually, following much mocking by my room mates after he left my apartment ("Oh Joey! You're so funny! he, he, he") I finally admitted that I had a crush. How could I not? He was sweet, kind, funny, thoughtful,generous, easy to talk to,unselfish, smart and have I mentioned extremely cute...

Oh and don't let me forget,suddenly available.

We soon started dating. Fast forward 20 years and I am still incredibly in love with this man. I wasn't wrong those nights in my apartment...he really was and is still all that -sweet, kind, funny, thoughtful, generous, easy to talk to, unselfish, smart and unbelievably handsome -and have I brought up the great looking thing!!

I cannot put into words what a blessing he has been to my life. Guys like him are a rare find. He loves the Lord with all his heart and desires to live a life that honors Him. He is committed to his family and never puts his needs or desires above ours. He is really just a wonderful man.

And regarding J2's statement that night we met about his dad,the baptist minister,Rev. B...it was all just a trick to impress a girl in the library.

Guess it worked!!