Kayla's Sleepover

I can't believe my baby is 10! They grow up way too fast. For her birthday Kayla wanted to have a sleepover. We invited a few of her friends to spend the night. They played house, barbies, jumped on the trampoline, watched movies, swam and played dress up. Notice.....I didn't say sleep......'cause they didn't do much of it! But they finally fell asleep around 4 a.m. and were up bright an early around 6:30 a.m.

Here are few pictures of the girls.

Kayla & her cousin Hannah modeling.

The girls in their dresses and a lot of make-up.Alien Kailey.
Fun in the pool!

Could they be getting sleepy?

My Memaws Thimble

I warn you guys.....I am feeling a little sentimental today.....okay, a lot sentimental. Anyone who knows me will admit to the fact that I am a pack rat. A sentimental pack rat that is......but if you ask my friend Mindy she would probably disagree :o} she would probably say that I am the typical run of the mill PACK RAT!

Anyway, My Memaw lost her battle with cancer around mother's Day in 1998. Just about a month before my sweet Kayla was born. Being that I love to sew and most of my childhood memories of Memaw revolve around her sewing, I inherited her sewing machine. With this sewing machine came a stool with a storage bin underneath it. It's where my Memaw kept her sewing things. Over the past few years, I have packed and packed and packed in thread, material scraps, patterns, etc. I have not ever taken the time to clean it out and organize it until today. I opened it up and dumped the contents out onto the floor. At the bottom of the pile I found this:

My Memaw's thimble....I had been through this bin a hundred times before....how did I not see it? I started to cry....uncontrollably, in fact. I miss her so much. I remember sitting on the couch beside her as she wore that thimble and talked and talked and talked. It was kind of funny, she would be talking as I was walking out the door and still be talking when I came back in. She always had advice on everything....and would tell you what it was whether you wanted to hear it or not. :) No matter what the problem was, if she said it was going to be ok, it was. If she could fix it, she would and if she couldn't, she prayed until God fixed it. If I could go back to before she was sick, I would sit for hours and hours and just listen to her words of wisdom. I would ask her opinion on marriage, family, friends and...well, everything. She knew it all. Mind you, I know she wasn't perfect, but she was close.
She loved the Lord with all of her heart and it showed through her actions, words and even in her eyes. All she had to do was to look at you and you knew that you were loved beyond measure.

My Memaw left a legacy of love with her family. Not only her love, but the love of the Father. Oh to be more like her......

She is probably running the streets of gold giving those Angels a piece of her mind right now. I can just hear her....

I did warn you......I promise it will be a while before I organize the cedar chest.

Our Vacation

We had a great time in Gatlinburg! Jeremy's nephew Jeff, his wife Carre and their three kids went & Jeremy's niece Jill & her son Colton. We stayed in different cabins. Our cabin was so nice. It had two hot tubs, a sauna and a deck over looking the mountain side. I could have spent the whole week in the cabin! But of'course we didn't. We spent three days in Dollywood. We rode rides, watched shows, walked, walked and walked some more. The weather was perfect! Unless you got wet, then it was chilly. So, needless to say we didn't spend much time at Splash Country. But that's OK with me. I despise.....I mean HATE water parks. Standing in line to ride a water slide with....half naked.....well, mostly naked people.....bumping into you.....well, you get the picture.

We got to catch up with an old friend, Billy Hodges, who use to sing with Under Grace. He sings with the Kingdom Heirs in Dollywood now. Congratulations to Billy and his wife Serena on the birth of their daughter Adison Jo! She is beautiful!

We went to three shows during the week. The Comedy Barn, The Miracle & The Black Bear Jamboree. The Comedy Barn was hilarious! Jeremy was called onto stage along with two other men to be in a little skit. 'I will try to put the video on here later, it's so funny.' The Miracle was wonderful! I would definitely go see it again and again. Even the kids were mesmerized by the animals and cast members. The theme of the story is A fallen Angel and A Risen King. It starts with Lucifer being cast out of Heaven and ends with Jesus defeating Lucifer in Hell. It was GREAT! The last show we saw was The Black Bear Jamboree......I have always been taught that if I can't say anything nice, then don't say anything at all....so I won't. (but just between us, I will never, ever go to that show again!)

We strolled through the shops in Gatlinburg and Pigeonforge, went the the world's largest flea market and rode the Tram up to Ober Gatlinburg. But we couldn't leave before we went down to the river. It is my favorite thing to do when we are in the mountains. I love to wade in the ice cold water (by the way,Jeremy fell) and look for neat rocks and just relax with the sound of the rushing water in the background. It was nice to get away from the crowded streets, shops and restaurants even if only for a few minutes.

I really enjoyed our trip to Gatlingburg, I love the mountains. I just wish that everyone else had stayed home that week :) My idea of a perfect vacation would be me, my family and no-one else doing nothing....just being together.....all alone.....by ourselves....just enjoying each other. I know, that's almost impossible, but I can dream can't I?

Here are some of the pictures from our trip.

~Life Happens~

Jeremy left early this morning, about 6, to go to a camp meeting with some preacher friends of his. When he leaves early, I love to snuggle into his side of the bed and fall back to sleep. So, determined to catch a few more winks; I did just that. And as much as I wanted too, I just couldn't fall back to sleep.

So, since we had to put the truck in the shop today, and I am pretty much stuck at home.....I decided I would get an early start on the laundry that I have fallen so far behind on because of the weekend, babysitting, revival, and kids and, and, and....there's always an excuse.....well, at least until you run out of clean towels!

I was getting a lot accomplished. I really was. I had most of the clothes washed and on hangers. I just had to put them away and finish a load of towels. Then through the normal household sounds, kids, t.v., dishwasher I could hear a strange sound coming from the garage. This is what I found.....

I'm not sure how Chicago managed to get inside this pot, but I know he couldn't get out on his own. That reminds me of myself...or people in general. We get ourselves in some of the stickiest situations and if it weren't for God; we would be stuck too. I rescued the cat and put the pots up....then I heard the washer signal....so off to put the towels in the dryer. When I opened the washer door.....

Oh no! There is obviously something wrong with my 1 yr. old washing machine. This is a before picture....it got worse. We had bubbles from the washer to the patio door. I thought I just used too much soap, but it's on its 3rd drain/spin cycle.....and we still have bubbles......lots of BUBBLES.

So, I guess the old saying,"When it rains, it pours" is very true.

It's kind of funny. Just when you think you have things under control....life happens....and it happens a lot around our house. It's like God just wants to remind me that HE is still in control and I will always need Him to fix, rescue, help, handle, resolve, lead, comfort................well, for everything.

Just think, all of that 'life' happened before lunch....imagine how much 'life happens around here in a whole week! And I didn't even mention the blow dryer blowing black smoke or the lawn mower tearing up!

At least the cat's okay :)

Kids Are So Funny!

Yesterday, the kids and I went to Kentucky to spend the day with mom and my sister. Last night my mom treated us all to a trip to the fair. It's become a tradition. Every time the fair is in town we go to Kentucky and my mom and I, along with my sister-n-laws, take all of the kids to the fair. I love the fair....well, I mostly love the smells of the fair. The corn dogs, caramel apples, funnel cakes and my favorite....the COTTON CANDY. We started off the evening with a bottle of Dramamine. I wasn't planning on riding much, but just watching those rides spin still makes me Queasy. Come to think of it, thinking about them spinning does too.

I skipped the first few rides, I wanted to give my Dramamine plenty of time to kick in. Then we get to that big pirate ship. I am not sure of the name, but it rocks really high like a swing....more or less.
I was sure to get a good seat. Not the back row.....I wasn't that brave. So we settled ourselves in to the next to the back row. :)
It was just me and my nephew Caleb. As we were waiting for everyone to load the ship, Caleb asked if I was going to puke. Laughing, I assured him that I only get sick on spinning rides. "It's OK if you have to puke" he said...."I have on my play shoes." 'He says the funniest things! Plus...he doesn't say puke right....he says pute.
There we were, facing the rest of our group as the ship began to rock. "Wow....this is fun!" I told Caleb. He smiled in agreement. The ship continued to rock and each time it went higher and higher. With each swing I could feel Caleb scrunching further and further down into the seat and leaning over further and further towards the girl on the other side of him (away from me). The longer we rode, the further away from me he went. Thinking he was just scared and wanting off the ride I asked, "Caleb, do you like this ride?" With a huge smile and a scared to death look on his face, he nodded his head yes.
As the ride began to slow down he looked up to me and said, "I want to ride again!" "You do?" I asked...."yes, but this time I want to sit in the middle and I want to sit with Grammy." I asked Caleb, "Why do you want to sit with Grammy?" Caleb answered,"She don't puke on the rides."

I guess he was only scared because he thought I was going to be sick. He is so funny....
I bet you all thought I was gonna say that I got sick....well, you were wrong. I rode it again with Caleb and this time he enjoyed it much more. I guess he realized I wasn't gonna 'pute' on him.

We Won!

Holy Hills won the church softball championship!

I don't know of a team that deserved to win more than they did. They played with more heart, more christian character and more sportsmanship than any other team. I'm not saying that just because I have a husband, a son and a nephew on the team......well, it may have had a little influence on me.

The championship game was the best game of the season. It was a close one against First Baptist, with a final score of 12 to 16.

The old saying, "The show must go on...." must be true for softball too. When up to bat, Jeremy popped his knee out of joint. When he fell, it popped it back in. After a few minutes with an ice pack and a couple of ibuprofen he was back in the game........limping, swollen and obviously in pain......but determined to finish the game. Please be in prayer for him as he heals. His knee is still very swollen and he is in a lot of pain. His dr. appointment is tomorrow and we are praying it is nothing serious.

Here are some pictures from tournament day.

King James Fellowship

Friday Night was the King James Bible Fellowship. We had a good crowd even though there were two graduation services going on. What a great time in the Lord! We had popcorn preaching....that is always so much fun. For those of you who may not know what that is.....each preacher is given a time limit, 3 minutes, 5 minutes, maybe more. It is so funny to see some of them try to fit a 2 hour message into a 5 minute one. I think Jeremy has been escorted off the platform a few times. Or at least chased off....

We had a chance to catch up with some old friends and get to know some new ones. It was such a blessing to see the Sellers family. We have had the privilege of getting to know them over the past couple of months and have truly fell in love with their family. Please be in prayer for them as they make the preparations to move to Nepal. Visit their blog & let them know you are praying for them.

Bro. Chad, Bro. John & Bro. Jeremy

Mrs. Mindy, Mrs. Sandy & Me
Rachel & Kayla