My3Sons

Homecoming Week & the Tooth Fairy

2010-10-07T11:40:00.007-05:00

This week is Homecoming for Brantley School. Because tomorrow is filled with lots of activity (homecoming pep rally, homecoming parade and homecoming football game) that I will certainly post about, I thought I'd go ahead and post today about the dress-up days from the week and about Graham's news. First of all, Monday was Alabama/Auburn Day, so of course the boys went all decked out in their Auburn colors and tees. They do this often, anyway, as seen in my pics of them their first day of school. (So, no pic of that day.) Wednesday was "Sign My Shirt" Day. Justus didn't wear a white outer shirt, so I don't know if he had people sign his undershirt, or just didn't participate. Wesley's class was instructed not to participate, probably because they have a hard enough time writing their name on paper, and because they are still at an age where they may get confused and think it appropriate to write on any/all clothing. Wesley got into it, though, once he got home, by "signing" his name to the laundry room wall with a blue highlighter...Thank You, Lord, for magic eraser! Graham did wear a white t-shirt and brought it home with all kinds of signage! I think he really enjoyed it! Today both Graham and Wesley had to wear all blue and Justus had to wear black...not sure what it's all about...hopefully we will find out this afternoon. (Still no pics of either "sign a shirt" or "blue/black-whatever today is" days.) BUT, Tuesday was a different story and is what brings me to this post. It was CRAZY Day! Now, some might call everyday around here "Crazy Day", but for homecoming week it meant they must dress CRAZY, whatever that means! Justus had his own ideas and didn't ask for help, other than requesting of his dad to borrow a tie. He also wore swim shorts over his football "legging" pants, two different baseball socks and two different shoes. The little boys on the other hand were quite into it and wanted lots of help. So, for Graham we put him in his TieDyed shirt he made in Kindergarten (in Hamilton). It was big then, so it fits just right now. He also wore two different baseball socks (one green and one blue) over the outside of his jeans, a blue baseball belt on the outside of his shirt and wore two different shoes. Wesley wore his crazy looking "Feed Me" monster shirt with two different baseball socks (one blue and one black). And they both sported CRAZY styled hair. I can usually spike their hair pretty good when it is short, but because they are in need of a haircut, it made my job a bit more challenging. Needless to say I had to use lots of mousse and hairspray! Wesley said he got lots of "compliments"! Ha!

Also this week, (really last Friday), Graham FINALLY lost his first tooth! We knew it was loose before he left for school. As he was waiting in the car pick-up line after school, he showed it to one of his fave teachers, Mrs. Kelly Kilcrease (his 1st Grade reading teacher), who asked him if he wanted her to pull it. He agreed and out it came! We forgot to put it under his pillow both Fri and Sat nites, so finally Sunday nite we remembered and Monday morning he awoke to $1 from the tooth fairy! In the pic below, notice he already had a tooth coming in behind the baby tooth. We also found out yesterday that he has molars coming in. Needless to say we have a dentist appointment in the near future!

Hope you enjoy!

Friday "Flash-Back"

2010-10-01T13:25:00.014-05:00

So here, as promised, is the first of what I hope to be many posts containing some pics and descriptions of what's been going on in around our house these past few months!

For us school started back August 9th. This is a special school year for 2 reasons! This is Justus' Senior year of Highschool. I still have a very hard time wrapping my mind around it! He is a very smart, handsome young man and although he has his faults, as we all do, he has made us very proud! I don't want to say too much now, because I want to create some special posts in honor of this being such an important year for him.

The second reason it is a special school year is that it is my baby boy, Wesley's, first year of school. He started K-5 this year and for the most part he is enjoying it! He had his first field trip a couple of weeks ago. We walked down the street from the school to Mrs. Sharon Kilcrease's farm. She has ducks, chickens, a turkey, horses, goats and a miniature donkey. It was FUN!!!

So, our first Friday "Flash-Back" is...Back to School & Wesley's first field trip! Enjoy!

Finally Back!

2010-10-01T12:53:00.004-05:00

Hello blog world!!! It is SO good to be back! I have to admit I got a bit overwhelmed with being behind in my posts, so I just took a break for a while! Life happens SO fast, doesn't it! It amazes me all the events and happenings that have taken place in the past 8 months! I think what I will do here, is go ahead and pick up blogging right where we are and then each week, I'll have a designated day for "flashbacks" to catch you all up on what's been happening in our lives these past 8 or so months. I have some blogger friends who do a "Friday Favorites", so I think for the sake of alliteration, I will have "Flash-back Fridays". Now, you may be saying to yourself, today is Friday do you plan to start today? And the answer would be, "yes!" I don't think I will do them in chronicological order though, so to keep them interesting! And, I will set them up as their own separate posts, so to keep them separated and standing on their own.

So, with all of that stated, I will go and figure out where to start with my "Flash-backs". I will tell you that in the here & now, I have so much going on that it may take a couple of posts just to cover it all as well! Just to give you a hint, I think the tooth fairy may be coming to visit Graham soon. Wesley is having a "wild" time in K-5 with lots of daily antics (hint: he has already gone through the 4 boxes of crayons and 3 glue sticks he started out with in school!). And, Justus will be the starting QB in his football game tonite! (I believe "barf-bags" for moms should be part of the spirit paraphenalia they give out at the ballgames!) So, as you can see we are in high gear around the Harvey household! Happy Fall Y'all!!!

See you in my next post...my new Friday Flashbacks!

Snow Day Pictures

2010-03-05T17:30:00.011-06:00

I know, I'm falling behind yet again! Here are my snow day pictures from the Friday before Valentines Day, February 12th! It started out sleeting sometime in the night but changed over to snow by early morning. When Justus woke us about 7:00 huge flakes were falling and they fell all day! It was absolutely beautiful and we had a ball playing! It was very wet snow, though, so we had to take breaks and come in and dry our clothes. Our power went out for about 4 hours but we never really noticed! (Thankfully I had already made our chili!) The next day we still had lots of snow on the ground and it was sunny so we had more fun playing! It was a fun 2 days! Now if only the cold temps would go away and Spring would come on in! It is March after all and I'm ready for warmer temps, green grass & leaves, and flowers!

This slideshow is of just landscapes. I took the most peaceful walk all over our hillside, the church grounds and over to our neighbor's lake just across the lane from our house! God's beauty never stops amazing me!

This slide show is of our fun! It was hard to get good pics on the day is snowed because the flakes were so big and they would either block somebody's face or they would land on the camera lens and make it blurry! But I managed to get a few in! The next day, when it was sunny with a bright blue sky, it was a much better day for pics! You will notice we made a snowman village and used Mr. Potato Head apparatus & Lego blocks to design them! We had lots of fun!

Hope you enjoy!

Test Post for New Signature

2010-03-05T17:22:00.000-06:00

Testing my new signature!

Music to My Ears

2010-02-05T09:48:00.003-06:00

I wanted to tell you all about my newest "gadget" on my blog. If your volume on your sound is up when you visit, then you already know that I have added music to my blog. I have wanted to do so for a while. I know some people who just have one song which plays when you visit their blog, but when I decided to do this, I could not decide on just one song. I will try to change it up from time to time, (maybe with the seasons). But I L~O~V~E the songs I have so far!

I used "Playlist" (playlist.com) to do it. It is FREE, so you have to love that! And, it was SUPER easy!!! If you want to change the song that is playing when you visit you can just scroll down until you see the application and then click on the song title that you want to hear. Also, you can scroll up and down the list by using your arrow keys on your keyboard.

I wish I had room to tell you WHY I love each of these songs. Since I do not, I will tell you why I love one of these songs! On Playlist you can search by song title or artist. As I was searching one of my favorite artists, Travis Cottrell, (He is the Worship Leader at all of Beth Moore's Living Proof Live events), I saw the song title, "Praise to the Lord, the Almighty!". It is actually an old hymn and part of what I love about Travis is that he does such a beautiful job in arranging hymns! Even more, this was the song I chose to enter the sanctuary when I got married, instead of the traditional Wedding March. So you can imagine how excited I was to find it there! I think it is the most beautiful I have ever heard it arranged and I love how it truly is made into a PRAISE song to our Lord Who is SO PRAISE~WORTHY! Don't be confused by the fact that it starts out with a woman singing. He does record solos, but he also records with his praise teams that he organizes for the Living Proof Live events as well. I'm sure this is one of those.

So, I know that you may not have time to listen to them all in one sitting, but as you come back I invite you to listen to them all over time. I hope you enjoy and are lifted up, challenged and drawn to His throne as you listen to my inaugural playlist of what I hope are many to come! (Don't forget to turn up your volume!)

Smile Box "Scrapbook"

2010-01-30T10:26:00.002-06:00

This time I'm playing around with Smile Box. I wanted to see how this looks when I post it to my blog. It is a mini digital scrapbook. I'm hoping to do more with digital scrapbooking, but not sure if I'll use Smile Box or not.

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Testing ~ Playing

2010-01-30T01:55:00.000-06:00

This is a test post to see my new "Signature". I'm having fun playing with my blog settings. Richard helped me create my new blog header and I added photos of the boys I had made during Christmas. Probably more to come!!! :)

My BIG BOYS!!!

2010-01-29T12:04:00.007-06:00

I am SO proud of Wesley! Richard and I had determined that with this new year we had one major goal for Wesley and that was to get him completely potty trained. I must admit, I waited the longest with him for several different reasons. But, it was apparent that this was the best time for us to do this. So a couple of weeks ago, we stopped buying daytime pullups and I bought Wesley his first "new" pairs of underwear ~ Scooby Doo!!! He has had some of Graham's "hand-me-downs", but I thought maybe with new ones he would be more motivated. We also used the same "sticker" chart that I used with Graham. He earns a sticker every time he goes potty and 2 if he does 2 things (pee and poo). When he gets 10 stickers, he can get a surprise. With Graham, he took a while, too, but when I told him he could not go to school unless he could go potty, that is all it took. With Wesley, not so much!!! He really has just taken his own sweet time to get motivated. It was funny though, because the stickers really did the trick for him and he has done GREAT! He has only had a couple of accidents (just pee pee). And, he even brought up with me the other day that NOW he can finally go to school!!! Hurray!!! In fact, he is doing so well, he even has had dry pullups in the morning. (I still put nighttime pullups on him and Graham) And, Graham, not wanting to be left out, has requested a sticker chart for him to get nighttime potty trained. He is doing pretty good with this, too. So, I'm hoping it won't be too much longer and I won't have to buy ANY more pullups!!! Woo Hoo!!! I'm not in a hurry for them to grow up, but it will be SO nice to not have to spend money on pullups!!!

So, since Christmas I really haven't taken many pics! We have all been sick (except Justus) with the crud over the past couple of weeks. I did get this one of Wesley, though, sleeping with his beloved "Mater" truck he got from Grandmama and Grandaddy! I love to watch them sleep! The one of Graham is an oldie, but goodie! He is sleeping with his water gun! Ahhhh, life with BOYS!!! :)

Christmas 2009

2010-01-16T12:12:00.012-06:00

***WARNING - This is LONG post...Sorry, but at least I finally did it! :)
To keep from dragging this out, I decided to make 3 slideshows and put them all in the same post. This first slideshow is of our church's childrens ministy events for Christmas. We entered a float in the Brantley Christmas parade. We had a great turnout of kids and they had a blast, even though it was BRRRR Cold! I apologize for not having more pics of the rest of the parade. Richard actually took these because I was very sick with my bad cold and did not want to be out in that weather! I hate I missed it! Also, in this slide are pics from our children's Christmas Musical at Mt. Zion. It was a fireside setting with all the kids in pj's. Richard (in p.j.'s & robe, too) told the Christmas story in between songs. They did a GREAT job and Graham even got to sing in a trio. They sang We Three Kings and it was really good! Wesley would not sing, so he "passed-out" on the front pew! :) We have some wonderful Children's Ministry leaders...Thank you ALL for your dedication to our Lord and to our children!

Mt Zion Baptist Children's Ministry ~ Christmas 2009

This second slideshow is of our Christmas Eve 2009. We didn't have to travel 15hrs. one-way this year, but we did stay on the road a good bit! (We actually made 3 trips to Mobile in a week's time, 2hrs each way - you do the math!) It was worth it, though, because we LOVE our family!!! We actually traveled down to Mobile the day before Christmas Eve so Richard and I could go out for our 19th Wedding Anniversary celebration! We really enjoyed ourselves eating at one of our FAVORITE restaurants in Mobile that we havn't been able to go to in a long time, Big Time Diner!!! It is not a romantic atmosphere, but it is a very wholesome atmosphere (owned by wonderful Christians!) and the food is GREAT! We then proceeded to make a quick shopping errand and then went to the movies (something else we don't do often) and saw A Christmas Carol. We liked it and we got to see it in an EMPTY theatre...noone else was there! (That was romantic!) God is Good! (No pics of this night, though!) We then celebrated Christmas with the Harvey clan at Richard's parents on Christmas Eve day and then trucked on back up to Brantley to be back for our Christmas Eve Candlelight service at Mt Zion (again, no pics!) It was a beautiful service and we had a good group considering the weather...it was frightful with bad thunderstorms! We came home and I fixed a simple supper and then we read THE Christmas story. Actually, Justus read it from a book that was his when he was little. Then we opened presents under our tree...FUN MEMORIES ALL DAY!!!

Christmas Eve 2009

This last slideshow is of Christmas Day 2009. Of course after we all went and got all "snug in our beds", Santa visited!!! The boys must have been really good! Justus got a new t.v. to go with all his new bedroom furniture including a really nice media center!; a new dresser and desk! He also got the new NCAA 2010 football game for his PS2 and he got a Northface jacket. Graham and Wesley got a new t.v. and movie for their playroom and they both got battery operated 4-wheelers, fishing rods, space blaster guns, Auburn caps, glow in the dark planets and stars to hang in their bedroom, and G - a huge army plane and W - a dump truck with a working drill to take it apart and put back together. And of course they all got lots of Stocking Goodies! I have some funny video of us trying to get Wesley up, he was quite a sleepy head that morning. Also filmed them riding their 4-wheelers! (I'll post later)
We got ready and made another trip down to Mobile for Christmas with my side of the family at my mom's house. It is ALWAYS fun to get together with all of them! The kids opened presents and Granny (my mom) opened presents. Then those of us who participate played "dirty santa". We thought at first it was going to be boring, but then it took a turn and boy was there some excitement before it all ended! Poor Bubba ended up with a "lady" gift, thanks to his "sweet" daughter, Garth, but I'm preeety sure, Diane (Bubba's wife) didn't mind! HA!!! At least it was ALL in the family!!! LOL Another highlight, was that my mom's yard was SOAKED from all the December rains including the storms from the night before. All the guys decided to find the dryest spot (not that there really was one!) and play a little football...old guys vs. young!!! Well, the old guys won, (at least points-wise ~ my old guy, Richard PAID dearly the next few days...not sure you call that winning!), and the young guys ended up NASTY! Justus and Daryn got the worst of it...lots of mud all over, you guessed it, their new clothes and shoes! It REALLY was a whole lot of fun...again, lots of LASTING MEMORIES!!! (One big regret, I didn't get pics of most everybody!!!...including Mama!!!...Sorry! I will do better next time!!!)

Christmas Day 2009

Test Post

2010-01-16T10:26:00.002-06:00

I am using this post as a test to see if my blog post notification settings are working. If you get this in your email, please leave a comment or send me an email to let me know if you get it.

Thank you,
Shannon

Christmas 2009 Decorations

2010-01-13T15:08:00.006-06:00

Yes it is half-way through January and right on time (for me) I am posting Christmas pictures! I have started with a slideshow of the decoration we did of our new pastorium. Of course with a new house (new to us), it took a while for me to figure out where and how to put everything. I must confess I probably went overboard with my photos, but for one thing I am hoping by taking lots of pics, I can remember how to do this again next year as my mind is not as keen as it once was...I must be getting old or something! Ha!

We had several firsts in our decorating process this year. Maybe these will explain some of the pictures:

1. We bought our first "fake" tree. We have always bought real ones from the time we were first married, mainly because I grew up with an artificial one for so many years. I missed the wonderful scent, but I think the boys' allergies were better off for it.

2. We actually bought 3 "fake" trees and one small real one. I know...that sounds so expensive and so ridiculous! But, thank the Lord for Thanksgiving sales and for both Old Time Pottery & Michaels because we got REALLY GREAT deals on them! Those of you who know me, know it would have to be for me to buy them. I said for many years that I would only have ONE tree, but with this house having a formal living room and it being on the front of the house, I decided to do a themed tree...I used the colors of blue, lime green, gold and silver to highlight the robin's egg blue and light gold colors of that room. And, I put white doves on it to symbolize Peace On Earth! One of the "fake" trees took the place of our usual real tree and it's the one I decorate traditionally. It was located in our family room. The other "fake" tree was really a small one in an urn for the front porch. I decorated it simply with a bow to match the bow on my front door wreath and with holly berries to match my wreath as well. The only real tree we bought was a miniature frazier fir tree for Justus' room. He (my 17 yr old) pitched a fit because his whole life we have always bought a real tree. So we got this one for him and decorated it with blue and silver to compliment his Auburn bedroom. We did actually have one more tree, but it was free from a Seminary give-away I went to last year. It's the small one in Graham's and Wesley's room. They decorated it all by themselves and I think they did a GREAT job!

3. I finally bought us all matching stockings and had our names monogrammed on them. We have not had matching stockings for some time and it was fun to pick them out. My pic of them is not good, but if you can't tell, the boys' stockings all have 3-D characters...Justus has Santa, Graham has an elf (he had elf-ears when he was born and I'm not kidding the elf just looks like him...so cute!), and Wesley's has a snowman. Mine and Richard's were decorated with button polka dots for Richard and ric-rac swirls for me. They all had cute little puffy balls on the toes!

4. I had success and failure with live plants. I grew some beautiful paperwhites for my kitchen window...they were pretty, but were not the variety that smell sweet and Richard was especially sensitive to their bad scent! I also had a beautiful live rosemary tree that I was hoping to keep growing and use in my cooking, but it died about a week ago...I think the dry heat we've had to run practically non-stop during this cold spell just killed it. I also had a beautiful white poinsettia that is still pretty.

5. Lastly, 3 faves this year: 1.)my "Happy Birthday Jesus" plate I displayed in my kitchen...it really went with the colors I used in the kitchen. 2.)My new nativity which I displayed on my piano. I have wanted one this size for many years, but haven't really had anywhere I could display it. So, this year when I went searching, I quickly realized that ones this size are very expensive. I was blessed again, though, to find one on sale for a really great price during the Thanksgiving sales at Kirklands. 3.) And finally my outside decor...including my miniature tree, my new wreath made with my favorite ~ magnolias and red berries, the ribbon I chose to make the bows on both of those as well as on my teddy bear ivy topiary, wreaths on my windows (next year I will light them or spot-light them), and my Christmas "H" garden flag!

Decorating was fun and although it seems like so much when I put it all into words, it didn't seem so as I was doing it. One drawback was that I was sick with a very bad cold while actually having to put it all out, so I was pretty physically exhausted when I was done, but it was still fun...now only about 320 days until I get to do it all again!!!

(By the way, if you are my facebook friend, you can see that I posted this slideshow on my profile there, too. When you click on the name of the slideshow, it will take you to the slideshow and you can choose to see it on full screen and the pics look better and clearer.)

Catching Up!

2009-12-15T21:05:00.003-06:00

Before I post Christmas pictures, I wanted to post some of our fall stuff. I actually have more, but I just scaled down to what I thought hit the highlights. We have had a busy fall, mostly with football seeing that Justus' team, the Brantley Bulldogs went all the way to state and won the Alabama 1A state championship title! I plan to actually post my football pics, (including homecoming), in a post sometime after the New Year. For now, I have this slide show from our Fall 2009. It starts with pics of my mom with my great niece and nephew and Wesley. Wesley and I made a visit home to Mobile in October. I wish I had gotten a picture of my singing group, Reflections, that I reunited with to sing at FBC Spanish Fort's homecoming, but of course I didn't think about it until it was too late. We had a good trip and got to spend some quality time with my mom.

The next pics are of our Fall Festival here at Mt. Zion. We had a good turnout even though we didn't really do a whole lot of advertising to the community. We mainly did it for our own kids, but plan to make it an outreach event in the future. It was really fun and all the planners and workers did a great job! There are also a few pics of Justus' birthday. I made cupcakes for him and the youth group since his birthday was on a Wednesday. On the following Saturday we surprised him with a new vehicle, a 2000 Ford Explorer Sport! I will have to post a pic of the whole truck another time, I'm not sure why I didn't get one then. It's really nice! He will be able to drive it (alone) in February. We also took him to Montgomery to eat at Olive Garden. I forgot to label it in the slide, but the girl with Justus is his girlfriend, Beth Ann. She is a really sweet girl! The last pics are just a couple from one of his last ballgames. They were extremely cold!!!

There are a couple of events I haven't got pics from to post or I didn't like the few I took. Graham and Justus took part in a Veteran's Day program at school. And, we spent Thanksgiving Day with the Harvey's! It was a lot of fun, but it was a quick trip, again because of football. We have had a fun and busy fall! I will post Christmas pics in a day or two, including our church's Christmas Parade float, which the boys got to ride! Thank the Lord, it was scheduled before the heavens decided to open up with all the rain! We could definitely have a White Christmas if it was just cold enough!

Happy Fall!

2009-09-21T15:08:00.005-05:00

Fall is in the air! We haven't had super cool weather yet, but Sunday's temps were really nice! We have already made it to an Auburn football game, (I will post pictures of that day soon). And, of course, mums are out and so I couldn't resist! I've been wanting to make our front entrance warm and inviting for some time, but knew that the seasons would be changing soon, so I put it off until fall...my favorite time of the year! Believe it or not I was able to do all of this for a very reasonable price...this is definitely the time of year to buy planters and plants that are more summer hardy (all on clearance!). I will just have to make sure when the really cold weather comes to get them inside. I also was able to get my arrangement on my door for WAY less than had I done it myself...another great Walmart find! It had some purple flowers in it that did not go at all so I took them out and replaced them with 3 picks that had fruit, gourds and berries on them that were also very cheap! I am very pleased! Now all I need is a pumpkin or 2 on my steps...I will wait until October for those. :) Happy Fall Y'all!!!

Special Spaces

2009-09-02T15:42:00.007-05:00

Eventually I will give a room by room tour of our new house, but in the mean time I thought I would post about some special spaces that I've been working on. This last week especially, I've been inspired and had the energy, so I've been quite industrious. It is a good feeling! So here we go:
This first set of pics is of our family room bookcase. I've been putting this off for quite a while, so it is nice to finally get it organized and all set up. I originally thought I would not have room to put all of my books and our photos and knick knacks on them, but I had plenty of room and so Richard let me display some of his books that are really pretty sets. You also get a peek at our new furniture, although I didn't realize that the pillows are disheveled until I started posting the pics. You can probably guess who the "guilty party" is, huh Wesley! :)

This one is my favorite of the 3 sections because it is a display of all my boys' hospital infant pictures. They grow up so fast!!!

As you can see in this shot of the middle section, our computer is set up here, too. I like this a lot! We can even "hide" our printer in the cabinet below the shelves. I am an organization "freak", so I really like all the space in the cabinet and drawers to keep our office supplies and computer accessories.

This 3rd section includes most of my devotional books and home organization books. I really like it too!

I wanted you to see this shot because it was the perfect place to hang my Texas star that I won in a Keno game in Hamilton. It will always remind me of our life there!

This next section is our formal dining room. It is the opposite end of a large room that includes our formal living room, too, but I will post pics of it later. I love so many things about this room! The furniture really looks pretty together even though none of it was a set (except the table and chairs). I cannot believe that I got these curtains at Walmart! They are faux silk and they are the perfect color...and did I mention...Walmart!!! Lastly, I love my petticoat table, which is the piece to the left. It was my grandmother's and when I was a little girl I would sit and play in front of it's mirrored door for hours. She always stored my games and crayons in it...such wonderful memories! And, it is a beautiful piece to display my antique glassware!

I also love the wall color. We did not pick it. It was already this color, but it is the perfect color for all of our things! God is SO good!!!

This view shows our beautiful large picture window.

If you have ever visited me before, you know that this is another of my favorite pieces. It is an antique marble topped chest that I inherited from my favorite aunt on my Daddy's side, Aunt Sister. This is in a spot that kind of divides our kitchen from our family room. I really love the iron cross that my friend Cameron gave us for a house warming present. {I told you, Cameron, I found a perfect spot for it! :)}

This is another nook that we put together this week. I say "we" because Richard played a huge part by painting my shelf and bench this beautiful black. I should've taken before and after pics because he did a GREAT job! I really like the red and black together. This is in my kitchen at our side door, which enters from our carport and is the most used by everyone! Isn't it a "Welcoming" spot!

Yesterday and today I worked on the boys' playroom. I L-O-V-E that they have a playroom!!! I still have some wall decorating to do, but for the most part it is organized and I really like how it turned out!

I was originally going to get a denim futon cover but I think I really like the red better and it was a much better price...another Walmart deal! It coordinates well with the denim "overall" valance.

We gave the boys our old computer so they can play games. (It's inside the armoire.)

Another nice thing about their playroom...another closet!

Speaking of closets, I organized the boys' bedroom closet last week. They have a very nice walk-in closet with lots of room. Wesley's side is on the left and Graham's side is on the right. I especially like the coat hook rail that Richard installed for their back packs and jackets when the weather turns cooler.

So, as you can see, I've been a busy bee! More to do this week...we are painting Justus' room...here's a hint...Warrrrr Eagle! More pics coming soon! :)

Justus' Varsity Debut

2009-08-26T10:15:00.004-05:00

Friday night was the beginning of Highschool Football for us here in Brantley. We opened the season by hosting a Jamboree. We played our "playoff rivals" Sweetwater first in a 2 quarter test. They were picked #1 in the preseason poll for class 1A, but we beat them 14 - 7!!! The next 2 quarters were played by Sweetwater against Maplesville. And lastly, the night ended with Brantley playing Maplesville for the last 2 contested quarters. We also won against them, 7 - 0!!! Way to go Bulldogs! Justus had a great game on offense and defense as you will see in the video I'm posting. He is #9.

The game was really fun and I am SO looking forward to this season! The boys had such a good time; it did not take them any time to crash out after their bath! I'm also posting a slide show of pics so you will see them, too.

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Room With a View

2009-08-21T09:20:00.004-05:00

I have told several people I would begin posting pictures of our new home, church and community. This may take a while, but hopefully not too long! :) I will not wait for it all to be perfect, that way you can see how things improve as I finish projects. As I prepared for this move, I told myself I would be patient as I decorate and set up, so that I can do things just the way I like them. I had a big yard sale before we moved. I have to admit that is one thing I like about moving... getting to clean out the clutter!!! Also, I am trying to modernize our decor a little. We have had some things since we were married almost 19 years ago. Some things I cannot part with, but more than anything I'm trying to simplify!

So with that said, today I thought I would start with 2 "areas"...views of the outdoors from different windows and our "outdoor" room, aka the back porch. If you know me at all, you know that I am a lover of the outdoors and the beauty of nature. This may sound silly to some, but I really have missed pine trees! I know that pine straw is a nuisance in the fall, but they are so much a part of the South and I missed them greatly! As you will see and much to my delight we are surrounded by them! They are not actually in our yard, but there is a "grove" right across from our front yard that we can look through to see our neighbor's pond. (Another delight!) To look out towards the back yard there is a thick forest of young pines across the highway. God is SO good!!!

Secondly, I am posting pics of our back porch, which I L-O-V-E!!! Richard and I both have already taken advantage of it for having our coffee and quiet times with the Lord in the mornings! We also celebrated Wesley's birthday out there. I was very happy to get a couple of really nice plants on clearance at Walmart to make it even nicer! I'm sure we will be enjoying this "room" more and more especially when the temps begin to cool down!

View from our formal living room picture window into our front yard.

View from our dining room (formal living & dining is combined) out towards the church

Sun Rise out our kitchen window which faces our back yard

Same Sun Rise a few minutes later

Daytime view out kitchen window

This view out the kitchen window shows my peach tree which is just on the other side of our back fence. It was LOADED with them when we moved in.

My Back Porch {see my beautiful plants! :) }

As you can see, it is VERY roomy out there and I love the ceiling fan!

Wesley's Week

2009-08-19T20:06:00.003-05:00

This has been ONE week for Wesley!!! Of course as my last post indicated, he had his birthday last Wednesday and we celebrated with weekday pancakes just for him! That night at church just before we left, he fell into a wooden child's chair in the nursery right in front of his daddy. At first we didn't think it was too bad but by Friday it was very swollen and bruised. So, we took him to a pediatrician that was recommended to us by some of our church members. Richard actually took him and he really liked this doctor. He is in Opp which is a familiar place to Richard as he served for 2 summers during college at First Baptist Church there as a youth minister. Dr. Bang (pronounced Bong) did think that Wesley's mouth might be getting infected so he prescribed him an oral antibiotic and gave us some salve for the exterior lip/cheek area. He also did a thorough check up and decided to give him Nasonex to go along with his Zyrtec for his allergies and gave us some eye drops because his eyes were starting to run from allergies, too. He also thought one of his tonsils was swollen. By Saturday evening the swelling in his cheek had gone down, but the bruising is probably going to take a while because it is still there.

On Saturday evening we invited our friends, Ashley and Wendy Kilcrease, their baby girl Marley Kate and their two sons Jake and Luke to come over and help us celebrate Wesley's birthday. We grilled hamburgers and hotdogs and had cake and icecream. We ate out on our super nice back porch and the boys really had a great time playing all over the yard. Wesley got lots of fun presents and he especially likes his "Little Einsteins" conductor's wand that plays music that he got from Grandmama and Grandaddy! He is already humming new tunes he has learned from it.

On Monday and Tuesday we took him to the public school here to be tested again for speech therapy. As in Texas he had to be evaluated to see if he is eligible for speech therapy offered by the speech therapist in the public school system. We will not know anything official until next week, but she was very encouraging that he would be eligible. She is the therapist and I really like her. I think Wesley did, too. She also said that she would probably work with him and another preschool boy together. I will update more when we know for sure what he will be doing and what his schedule is.

Lastly, we are all having issues with our sinuses but as I said in the beginning of this post, Wesley was already having trouble on Friday. On Monday afternoon we tried to let the boys play in the sprinkler for a while after school. It was windy, but the rain had let up so we let them. It was probably not a great idea as Monday night Wesley's symptoms seemed to worsen a lot. All day Tuesday and today he has continued to get worse with lots of nasal and upper respiratory congestion. Also today he has not stopped coughing despite taking a prescription cough and decongestant medicine. Strep and flu is going around, but he is still on his antibiotic and he has not had any fever, so I just don't really know what it is. I'm sure his throat is sore as much as he has coughed! We didn't take him to church tonight because we didn't want him to cough on everyone there. I am really hoping he gets better soon! He has had a rough week!!!

These pics are of his party, his sprinkler play (Graham didn't play because he got cold) and his mouth injury:

Happy Birthday to my Baby - Wesley!!!

2009-08-12T11:22:00.003-05:00

I cannot believe that Wesley is 4 years old today!!! He is one of the greatest joys of my life! He is such a comic!!! We called Justus silly when he was a baby, but Wesley really is the epitome of silliness! He loves to make silly faces and to make silly sounds! He cracks us up on a daily basis! I'm really afraid he will be the one who I get called to the principal's office for once he starts school. He is also my most mischievious child! He is always getting into stuff, pushing buttons on machines and appliances and he has been the one to draw and write on walls, furniture and floors! (As evidenced by some of my posts on here!) :) He loves to play outside! He loves to play with his brother, Graham, and gets so excited when Graham comes home from school. He likes to go for walks and learn all about nature. He likes playing with all his Hotwheel cars and with his Thomas trains. He loves to race and will always ask for something to eat or drink and then say, "I'll beat you!" as he takes off running to the kitchen! He is a good eater and he loves milk! He may not know all the words, but he knows the tunes to SO many songs and he is ALWAYS singing! I love that about him! He is SO HAPPY so much of the time! Lately he has been singing "If You're Happy and You Know It!" I love it! He is very imaginative and loves to pretend! He is also very observant when we are driving somewhere and always gives us a narrative as we drive along..."Look, Mama, cows! Look, Mama, corn! Look, Mama, the American flag!...and so on!" He lights up the room when he enters it! Although he loves his mama's attention, he loves to give his affection to his daddy! He is a daddy's boy for sure! He loves to eat tomatoes and cucumber with white ketchup (Ranch Dressing). He is our late night owl and our late sleeper in the morning! He does not jump out of bed, but likes to lie there and take his time chillin' out! When he does get up, though, he is ready for breakfast...usually Poptarts, but he LOVES pancakes! So, even though pancakes are usually our Saturday morning specialty from Daddy, Mama made him some special just for his birthday! We will have a party, soon. All the details have not been worked out yet, but when we do, I will post the pics from it. So far, though, he is quite content with his birthday breakfast!

My Beautiful Baby Boy!

Happy Birthday Pancakes!

Thank you, God!

Mmm Mmmm!

Fishing, Football and Back to School

2009-08-10T08:48:00.010-05:00

I really wanted to post these sets of pictures separately, but I was afraid that some would be looked over if I did it that way. So, I am posting all together but I will put a description with each set of pictures.

The first set is of our first fishing "trip" since we arrived in Brantley. A week ago Saturday Richard took the boys "all the way" across our road and down a short path to our neighbors pond to fish for bass. Having the genes that I do from my daddy, I of course could not stay behind long, so I joined them a little later. We had lots of fun and Richard even caught one - about a 2 pounder. He fileted it and now it is waiting in our freezer to be added to for a good fish supper some evening, hopefully soon! I wish I had taken more pics...I didn't even take one of the prize catch! :( Graham really took to casting and I have a feeling he may end up being the angler in the family! He really enjoyed it! Wesley doesn't have a rod his size yet, but I have a feeling with his birthday coming up, that won't be a problem much longer! He may have been part of our probem, though, as he did not stop talking the whole time! :) Justus enjoyed being out there, but he's the kind who doesn't stay at it long if the fish aren't biting! Anyway, it is a beautiful place and we are so grateful to our sweet friends and neighbors Andy and Lindsay who have given us an open invitation to fish anytime!

The puppy dog is our neighbor's beagle, Lizzy. She is really sweet and visits us at our house, too!

The next set of pics are of Justus and his new football team, the Brantley Bulldogs. Yes, we are still the bulldogs, but we are GREEN this year! I have to say, I like it!!! Also, I took a pic of the t.v. news reporting that Brantley is ranked #3 in the state in the pre-season poll of Class 1-A. Now you may think that 1-A is not a big deal, but let me tell you that there is a fellow by the name of Anthony Gully from Brantley who was a top recruit to the Auburn Tigers! He is the second fastest player on Auburn's team this season. And, we will see right away if this Brantley team is what they say as we play the #1 team, Sweetwater, in our opening Jamboree! Justus is pumped and is working hard. He probably will not start this year on offense but should get some playing time as he becomes more familiar with their offense. He may start on defense and will for sure on special teams. We are all very ready for FOOTBALL!

Did I mention that 5 out of the 7 coaches here are active members of our church and are just really great Christian role models to these young men!

My handsome Junior!

These last pics are of the boys' first day of school, which is today! I also took a couple of pics yesterday of Graham and Wesley as they were dressed really cute for church! The ones of Graham and Justus out by the mailbox are not of them waiting for the school bus, but waiting for their daddy. We forgot and left the van parked at church last night. We usually walk to church and by habit did walk home last night. We had taken it to church, though, as the sky decided just as we were leaving for church to POUR down rain!

Justus, my Highschool Junior!

Graham, My 1st Grader!

My sweet Wesley!

I took this of these 2 Sunday morning. They do both have their own bed!

Through the Open Door

2009-08-01T09:19:00.005-05:00

I know it seems I apologize a lot for not keeping my blog updated....but this time I assure you I have a pretty good excuse!!! I have wanted to sit down and update it, announcing our most recent "BIG" news, but there literally has been no time. So, with that said, I will announce that we have moved! As so many of you know Richard has been called to pastor Mt. Zion Baptist Church in Brantley, Alabama. We left our beloved Hamilton, Texas and Calvary Baptist Church, whom we will miss greatly, on the 15th of July and headed toward the state of Alabama. We had a couple of overnight stays - one in Waco, TX and the other in Mobile, AL and then arrived around 1:00 p.m. on Friday, July 17th. We had lots of help on both ends from 2 extraordinary church fellowships!!! God is SO GOOD and has been SO FAITHFUL to see us through every step!!! It is to Him that ALL PRAISE and HONOR and GLORY is given!!!

Over the next several days and even weeks I hope to post pictures of our new home and new church and new community as well as keep you all updated on what God is doing here in our new field of ministry. I also hope to backtrack just a little and post some events which I have not been able to post due to the busy-ness of the move. As the purpose of this blog is mainly to update you on the life-events of our family (mostly the boys) I will leave you with this excerpt from a conversation I had with Graham (now age 6 and about to start 1st Grade) soon after we arrived here in Brantley. We were riding down the road and apparently his "wheels were turning" and he said, "Mama, isn't it funny how we are still the bulldogs (Brantley's School mascot is the bulldog, too) and we are still Baptist!" (in reference to our former church being Calvary Baptist Church and our new church being Mt. Zion Baptist Church)...out of the mouths of babes! Looks like he may be in for a few lessons on Baptist history and doctrines from his daddy! Ha!

Here are few pics to start you off:

View coming from Brantley (we are 4+ miles out from town)

View going towards Brantley

Our Welcome Cookie from the Ashley Kilcrease family (We have several Kilcreases)

Our Moving truck (that was packed so full, we could not put our stuff from Mobile in it!)

Some of our Mt. Zion "Moving Crew"!

More of the "Crew"! Notice the golf cart in the background. We don't live near a golf course, but lots of folks out here in the "country" use carts and four-wheelers to travel around! :)

Some pics of our new Pastorium - more to come, especially of the inside as I get it all set up!

You can see the church's recreation courts in this view and there is a large playground just on the other side. You can guess who likes this part of our new house!

This is the church as viewed from our front yard.

This a pic I took last Sunday. They were taking pics of our kids to go with the ad for our church in the football team's programs that are handed out at the games. As you can see, we have lots of children and youth and we were missing about 4-5 families with kids that day. They had VBS the week we moved and averaged about 90 kids with 120 being their highest attendance!

Of course Wesley not cooperating, so I had to post 2 pics so you could see his sweet (silly) smile!

Please Pray for My Friends!

2009-06-16T10:06:00.004-05:00

This post is a little different than most. I would like to request from all of you who read, follow or get emailed about my blog to please pray for some very special friends of ours! We met Cameron and Aaron while at seminary (Southwestern Baptist, in Fort Worth, TX). Cameron and I became fast friends while working together in the Business Office there. She is from the Troy area of Alabama (specifically a small town named Brantley), so we had quite a bit in common right from the start!:) Texas is very much like being in a foreign country sometimes and the experience can be a little scary and disconcerting for sure! So it is GOOD to find friends that you can reminisce with about "home" (for us specifically, Alabama!) and find so much in common! We talk alike, so we could "translate" for our other non-Alabama friends - LOL! And, we share a love for everything "Southern!"...food, family, Gulf Coast, Alabama/Auburn football...and the list goes on! Of course, we also have Jesus in common and the calling of the Lord on our husband's lives! After we had worked together for sometime, Richard had the opportunity to work with Aaron, Cameron's husband, on campus as well in the warehouse, (Aaron is the Supervisor over the warehouse as he is a seminary student, too). So, they hit it off, too, again with just so much in common. They are a precious family and have 4 BEAUTIFUL daughters, as you will see in the pics below!

After we moved to Hamilton, our friendship with them has continued and even grown as Cameron is a blogger (See her blog link - 4 Hall Girls on the side of my blog) and we keep up most days on the computer. Richard has been able to call upon Aaron to preach in his absence here when we have made trips home. We had the wonderful experience of spending Thanksgiving with them in their home this past year and we've gotten together a couple of other times, too! We just REALLY LOVE them!!!

So, with all this said, I want to ask you all to be praying for this precious family over the next couple of weeks,(really all of this week and next!). Aaron is the interim pastor at a church out in a small town west of Fort Worth, called Red Springs. He and their oldest daughter, Elleigh, just left yesterday with a mission team from their Baptist Association to go to Namibia, Africa! So, please pray for Aaron and Elleigh as they travel, as they share the gospel and minister in Jesus name to these people, for their health & physical strength, for their own spiritual growth and for their team! Please pray for the people of Namibia to be receptive to the gospel and that the kingdom of God will be furthered there! Please pray for Cameron as she is home with the girls, very far from family, that she will have strength - physically and spiritually to take care of her girls and that they will have a hedge of protection around them at all times! Please also pray for their health and well being and that Cameron's heart and mind will have peace & not worry!(Please pray especially at night, when the busy-ness slows and she needs her REST!)

I SO GREATLY appreciate ALL of your prayers!!! I know that you WILL pray for them and I know that the Lord Jesus Christ Who is Sovereign in ALL things, Who is GREATLY to be praised, Who pours out His love and grace on His own will BLESS you and them through this!!! THANK YOU!!!

Shannon

Elleigh, Sallie, Lizzie & Millie

Cameron and her girls - ALL of them Beautiful!

Aaron & Elleigh at the DFW airport about to leave for Africa!

Summer Has Arrived!!!

2009-06-12T11:33:00.003-05:00

With our temperatures flirting with triple digits today and really for the next few days, I thought I would go ahead and post some pics of our summer fun. Some of these are also from late spring, which I have to say has been extremely nice. Usually here in our part of Texas we will see our first 100 degree reading in May. But this year we've had a very pleasant May and even had a morning low in the upper 50's the first week of June. (OK that is just plain crazy!)

We couldn't survive our hot temps without a blowup pool and we had to break down and buy a new one this year...the last one survived 2 years which I think is really good! We got one that is bigger and holds more water since the boys are bigger themselves. Also, it is really easy to empty & deflate...you just pull two plugs and the water flows out along with the air. (This is the part Richard likes best!)

One other tidbit about our weather...we have seen more rain this year, which is really nice, but now with the hot temps we are coming under the gun more with severe weather! A monster of a storm just missed us yesterday evening. We got the rain and lightning, but we missed the high winds and the BASEBALL sized hail went just south of us! (Thank You, Lord!)

Here are the pics. Enjoy!

Silly, Serious & Interesting

2009-06-02T20:54:00.004-05:00

I decided to post a menagerie of photos from this past month. The first ones are of my VERY silly little boys! There is not a day that goes by that we don't experience "silliness" in some form or fashion. I love it! They keep us in stitches!

The photos of Justus close to the bottom are of his athletic awards banquet. I have got to figure out how to take pictures in low light with my camera. If I use the low light feature they turn out very grainy and some even turned out blurry. So the two you see are the only ones I got that were redeemable. Sorry! He received a certificate for his participation in J.V. football, J.V. track and Varsity baseball. He will also receive a letter (for a jacket) for Varsity baseball.

Lastly, the bottom pics are of a baby bluejay who decided one evening about a week ago to perch on my outdoors chair. The sun had already gone down and I walked out on the porch for something and there he was. He let me get within a yard of him and never flinched. I took all kinds of pics and he never flew away. I don't know when he did leave, but he stayed there a long while...very strange and interesting!

Wesley is laughing as Richard is playing "tickle" with him!

Wesley always gives me a "silly" face!

Even his smile face has a sense of "silliness"!

The boys wearing Grandaddy's hats (when he visited us) and sharing some popcorn, their favorite treat!

Graham wearing Granny Stringer's jacket (on our brief visit to AL). He saw it and asked her if he could wear it because he wanted to be an American! I told him he already is even without donning the flag! :) She got a real kick out of him!!!

Wesley making a silly face while playing in the pool on our first "official" day of summer...the Saturday after the last day of school!

This is Graham on the same day enjoying a milkshake from Storms (our favorite hamburger place in Hamilton!).

Wesley decided he needed to make a silly face since Graham had one painted on him. This was right after school on Tuesday of his last week. They had a carnival at school.

Graham's painted "silly" face!

OK, Cameron, this is for you! Wesley, Lizzie and Sallie could definitely form a group and sing rap songs! LOL "PEACE OUT!"

This is Justus receiving his certificate and shaking hands with all his coaches.

The Hamilton Bulldogs Stage!

Our special visitor...baby bluejay! At first I thought he was in the little basket/cup holder, but then I realized he was just perched there on the end of the arm.

I Like It...Finally!

2009-05-29T16:53:00.004-05:00

I have been searching for a new blog layout that I really like and I think I've finally found it. It took blood, sweat and tears (OK it was just tears), but I think this one will last me for some time! I know it's colorful...so let me know if it hurts your eyes and I will try to tone it down...but like I said, I REALLY like it!
I know I'm really behind on posting! :( I've had a lot of catching up with housework and lots going on this month with the end of school. I promise to try to post more often. I have some really cute stuff to post of the boys, especially Graham with his T-ball season and with his Kindergarten year coming to an end. For now I thought I'd leave you with some random pics that I've taken in the last few months of where we live. Enjoy!

I love Texas windmills & Texas sunsets!

Another beautiful sunset at our friends, the Newtons!

Sunset on our way home from Waco.

Golden waves of grain...actually wheat and the green behind it is corn.

Some strange looking clouds...it never stormed here, but it did West of us.

Just after I planted my vincas...They are blooming beautifully now!

My beautiful geranium!

Graham's Texas Cultural Day

2009-05-08T22:58:00.004-05:00

Today was Texas Cultural Day at Graham's elementary school. In the past they have always had a multi-cultural day, but this year they decided it was time to celebrate all the cultures that have influenced the great state of Texas. (Texans are quite proud, you know!) Graham's kindergarten classes were the first to perform and they entertained us with Mexican dances. I've posted the following video of them.(Graham is in a white plaid shirt, black belt, black boots & jeans) The first dance was a little long, but hang in there for the other two because they are really fun to watch. It seemed Graham and his partner, Brianna, were just a little behind, especially at the very end...their Ola was definitely delayed! But that's what makes it so cute to watch. Also, I have posted a slide show of some pics from the rest of the performance. Each grade did something different. Their costumes were really cute and it was all very entertaining. I loved how they did it outside on the tennis courts. We had great seating and the weather cooperated wonderfully! I hope you all enjoy!

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Playing Catch-Up...Spring 2009

2009-05-01T10:01:00.008-05:00

I'm not going to write much in this post. This is mainly to post pictures from this Spring. I never realized how busy we are this time of year and May is not going to be much different! This may be long, but hang in there...I'm sure you will find at least one pic to prompt a smile! Enjoy!

These first photos are of our niece(Richard's sister's daughter), Katy before her prom.

Katy & her mom, Janelle.

Katy & her dad, Gary.

Katy with Grandaddy & Grandmama (Harvey).

Katy & boyfriend.

Graham with Katy's dog Krissy.

Wesley with Katy's dog, Krissy. (Yes, Krissy is wearing a dress and I'm pretty sure she was traumatized after meeting my boys! :)

Justus - HHS Bulldogs Varsity Baseball

Graham had a health day at school. Isn't it nice of him to share with Wesley! :)

These next few photos are of the boys after church one Sunday in March.

This next set is of the boys Easter Sunday. We had a wonderful Easter Worship service and the day turned out pretty despite early morning storms so we were able to egg hunt. Justus was a great big brother and hid them for his two younger brothers.

Graham and Wesley in their new Easter outfits.

My handsome crew!

Mama to Wesley -"Who came to visit you and bring you all this?" Wesley replies..."Daddy!" LOL. Graham then leans over and whispers in his ear..."No, the Easter Bunny!"

Graham...always the first to get up!

This next set is at our park where Graham's Kindergarten class had their egg hunt on the soccer fields next to the playground. After the hunt, they all played for a while!...Wesley, too!

My monkeys!

Graham & his good friend, Denver.

Mrs. Kneuper making sure they all know what direction to run to "hunt" their eggs! I had a lot of fun "hiding"/tossing the eggs to be found with my new friend, Mrs. Shelley Hale, who has a daughter in Graham's class, named Emily. Shelley is also a blogger...Yea!!!

These last few are miscellaneous pics from this spring.

Graham before his "Farm" Musical program at school. I hope to post the video soon.

Graham was really excited to get his new T-ball uniform. More T-ball pics to post soon!

This is our everyday outdoors scene...riding their motorcycles and bikes and trikes outside on the sidewalk and driveway...one of my favorite things about where we live!

My Mom's 80th Birthday Party

2009-04-05T12:59:00.005-05:00

It has taken me forever, but I'm finally posting again! We had the opportunity to go "home" to Mobile, Alabama for our Spring Break March 16th. We actually don't usually go home this time of year, but I knew our Spring Break would fall really close to my mom's birthday on the 23rd of March and this year she was turning 80. We did tell her we were making the trip home, but we wanted to surprise her with a party at the end of our week on Saturday. Indeed, she was truly SURPRISED!!! Usually when we make a trip home she will try to gather our family together, but this time my sister convinced her that she would get everyone together that she could out at her house for lunch. Mama was NOT convinced that everyone with their differing schedules would make it! She was quite worrisome about it all week when we would visit with her. I would just smile and say, "Well it's OK, Mom. We certainly understand!" ("Hee Heeing" under my breath the whole time!) Also, I must say here that I am very proud of Graham. He kept asking me all week if we could tell her our secret yet? And, of course my reply was always, "not yet!" He did indeed keep it a secret ALL week! When Mama drove up to Gracie's house she was quite surprised to see so many cars, but just thought maybe Gracie and Calvin had invited some of their friends, too. As she got out and walked up to the patio, though, she began to realize that all the vehicles WERE family! It has been quite a while since we've had so many together all at one gathering! She was so thrilled...and even a bit overwhelmed that we had done all this for her! She loved her cake with her High School graduation portrait and she received bunches of really nice presents! Her favorite gift of all, though, was having our family all together! I so appreciate my family for ALL they did to make it happen! I love them all so much and count it such a blessing that we are so close even though we cannot get together as often as we would like! Enjoy the slide show of my pictures!

Wesley Wesley Wesley

2009-02-27T11:45:00.004-06:00

OH!!!!! My!!!!!!! Where do I begin? Lately with Wesley I have realized that the 2's were not so terrible! In fact, they were downright pleasant compared to the 3's! OK, I realize I'm using lots of exclamation points, but believe me when I tell you that they are justified. This week has been quite challenging with him to say the least. I wish I had pictures of it all, now, but I think this last incident of which I do have pics will certainly make my point. :)

Lately he has been quite the little "destroyer"! I cannot leave him alone in a room with a book because he will tear it up. (I'm talking a split second) The day of Graham's Valentine Tea, I had left out the stickers and ribbon from wrapping up his teachers' presents. I went to take my shower and when I got out, well there was Wesley with heart smiley face stickers all over him-even on his back, which I have no idea how he got them there. And, a whole spool of curling ribbon was strewn all over the dining and living rooms. Wednesday he used my tube of "Head-On" headache medicine (which I don't usually leave in his reach) to "color" the red fabric recliner and the floor. Honestly I was just glad he didn't eat it! And, speaking of colors...he also cannot be left alone with crayons. He starts out fine, coloring in his coloring book but it just isn't enough to keep him satisfied. Again, Wednesday, while Graham was napping, Wesley took a black crayon and colored our front door (it's painted white), one of the living room walls, the t.v. screen and the wood top of the t.v., the wood arms of our futon and the futon cushion (which I had the cover off washing at the time so that was not such a big deal.) I had just bought my first Mr. Clean Magic Eraser for such events and it did in fact work, thankfully (for Wesley's sake!). And, on that same Wednesday he poured out a bag of chips in the living room floor. Needless to say, we were in GREAT need of church by that night!

The latest incident happened yesterday to Richard. He had Wesley with him because I had a migraine that came on in the early afternoon. Wesley was playing in the nursery in a room that is nothing but toys and cribs...no storage cabinets or countertops...very kid friendly. BUT, he went next door into the center room where there is a counter top and out on it was the ink pads they had used at Team Kid the night before to put "tattoos" on their hands. He also got into some markers that were out, too. Needless to say, it wasn't pretty!!! He looked like he "bathed" in the ink. In addition, he got ink and marker on the newly painted walls of that room and the other "kid-friendly" room and on some carpet in the hallway. It would have been fine if it had been the carpet in the nursery because it's about to be taken up and replaced with laminate wood. Richard cleaned the walls best he could and will be touching up the paint tomorrow and the church already had an appointment for the carpets to be cleaned! (Of course I'm praying they have REALLY good spot removal.)

I know, as my friend Cameron reminds me, "this, too, shall pass!" I love this age because he is always discovering new things and he is so much fun and entertaining...really we do not have need of a t.v. between him and Graham! I'm just REALLY ready for the destructive stage to end! :) He is one of the great joys of my life!!! I'll just make sure I keep a good supply of Magic Erasers (put up out of reach of course.) LOL

Silly...always!

Uh-oh, the guilt is setting in, now!

I should be grateful he didn't paint his face-he would definitely have been "black-faced"!

One More

2009-02-23T10:34:00.005-06:00

I have a friend whose family celebrates Valentines over several days, so I decided to do the same on my blog. This post is of our little boys receiving their valentines from us. Justus had to leave out early Valentines morning to go to a baseball scrimmage away. He didn't get home until late that evening. I made sure, though, that we gave him his "goodies" before he left. He still loves candy, so he was happy! One more note about him: he has his first game of the season today. I plan on taking my camera so I will post some pics of him soon. Back to this post...as you can see in the video, Graham and Wesley really enjoyed getting their Valentine goodies from us. It was a "LOVE FEAST" all around as we all exchanged cards and candy, (I was in chocolate heaven). We spent the rest of the day relaxing and playing. Then we ended it with RED beans and rice for supper...mmmm!

Graham's Valentine Tea at the Circle T

2009-02-14T17:33:00.002-06:00

Yesterday Graham got a real treat at school. It is customary for the Kindergarten classes at his school to have a Valentine Tea at the rodeo arena that is out from town called the Circle T. They have a really nice restaurant and as you will see in the posted video a nice place to dance as well. In preparation for this event they were taught some etiquette so as to know how to handle a tea cup (made of real china). And they were taught to waltz and Texas 2-step. As you will also see in the video, I'm pretty sure Graham was more like 1-stepping (Make sure you watch for the twirl and watch all the way to the end). But he and his cute little partner, Brianna, did a good job and really were sweet to watch! Also notice that they are all dressed in their best western dress. There was one "couple" who color coordinated...she had on a red velvet dress and he had on a red vest...too cute! I've also posted a slide show of some pics so you can see the Tea Party as well. The decorations were really pretty and it was a really nice treat for them. Graham came home with a gallon sized ziploc bag full of valentines, too! He was so sweet sharing all his duplicates with Wesley and of course he threw away the ones with girly pictures like Barbie and princesses...that he gets from his daddy!
Of course as I stood and watched him dancing so grown-up like, I almost lost it. I had a flash back of holding him when he was just an infant. Where does the time go? Enjoy!!!

P.S. In the slide show there is a pic of Graham holding a certificate. It is for him being chosen Citizen of the Month for January in his class. We were sent a very nice letter from his principal congratulating him and us. And they took a picture of him to post in the local newspaper.

P.S.S. The 2 pics of Wesley are of him decked out in heart stickers and ribbon which he got all in to while I was showering and getting ready to go to Graham's Tea. Of course, the one of him pouting is because he thought he was in trouble...but I couldn't bring myself to get on to him...he was just too cute...my little Valentine!

Make an on-line slideshow at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Happy Valentines Day

2009-02-14T12:33:00.000-06:00

Make a Smilebox postcard

Happy Valentines Day!!! We love you ALL!!!

...The Rest of the Story

2009-02-11T09:04:00.003-06:00

As you all know we Harveys are famous for the "rest of the story"! (Well, at least one Harvey is...Uncle Paul...as Richard refers to him. He He!) So I am going to follow in his footsteps here. Apparently I was a bit premature in my reporting last night about our storm. As I told you in my previous post, the hail was very loud. What I don't think I mentioned was how the winds howled too. I didn't hear the "freight train" sound, but there was definitely major howling taking place. When Richard returned home this morning from taking Justus to school, I heard him talking to our neighbor outside our bedroom window. From what I could hear of their conversation, I knew there must have been some damage...and there was. Richard took the following pics of the limbs which fell out of our tree onto their power lines. Fortunately they did not lose power, but did lose their cable. Also there is a pic of a limb down in our back yard on my clothes line and all the debris which settled against the back fence. He told me that our other next door neighbor had lost some of her siding on the west side of her house and that the metal roof of the 2-story house next to her had been peeled back some. It was still attached, but was flapping in the wind. Our Sonic's sign was blown out as well. So, I retract my statement from last night. Maybe the tornado reported in Hamilton was on top of us! Again, I am thankful for the Lord's protective care!!! :)

Limb on Clothesline

Debris along back fence

Limb on Neighbor's cable line

BIG limb (Yellow house is our neighbor)

Broad view

Hail in Hamilton

2009-02-10T20:55:00.003-06:00

We have had a tumultuous couple of days weather-wise here. On Sunday the winds blew strong all day...sustained 25-30 mph with gusts up to 40 mph. Since we have lived here we have had many days like this. If Chicago is the windy city, Texas is definitely the windy state! So I did not think too much of it except that I knew later on that night it was supposed to storm. When Richard and Justus returned home from church (I had kept the little sickly boys home) they told me that the wind was so strong that it blew off one of our van's back windows and it had smashed on the pavement. The window was missing the arm and lock to keep it securely closed. Undoubtedly a gust opened it and the force blew it off...crazy!!! So, later that evening the rains did come and they were heavy, but no storms. We have been terribly dry here, so the rain was welcomed!
Fast forward to tonight. A little while ago, about 8:15 p.m., we were all in different parts of the house. Richard and the boys were in the living room. Justus was in his room and I was in our room talking to my friend Scarlett on the computer. I heard a distant clap of thunder and knowing we were in for some possibly severe weather I told her I had to go so I could start a load of laundry before the storms got here. I then proceeded to shut down the computer in case of strong lightning. Just as I began the process, I thought maybe I should turn it back on to see exactly how close the storms were. Before I could, though, I got my answer. I have never heard such loud winds and hail. I just knew the hail was going to break my living room windows. The lights went off about 3-4 times, but came back on quickly. I made the boys get into the hallway and I scurried around to find batteries for 2 more flashlights. We did have 2 working already. The winds howled and althought the lightning was flashing I could not even hear the thunder because of how loud the hail was. I'm posting pics of the hail which was pea to quarter sized in diameter. About 10-15 minutes later it was all over. As I got back on the computer to see if more was coming, the weather channel site showed that Hamilton was under a Tornado Warning. I'm sure it was not on top of us, but I don't doubt that it was nearby. I'm troubled because our sirens which are tested every Friday like clockwork did NOT go off. I think tomorrow I will be making a trip to Alco to buy a weather radio.

Thank you, Lord, that even when storms (of ALL kinds) hit suddenly and without warning to us that You are not surprised and You are ABLE to protect us and get us through!!!

"My help comes from the Lord, who MADE the heavens and the earth!" Psalm 121:2

Another Update

2009-02-09T14:43:00.002-06:00

Ok, so we took Graham to the doctor this morning because his symptoms worsened over the weekend. He actually seemed better on Saturday and I let him go down the street to play with one of his friends. Unfortunately that was a bad decision because he came home from there feeling bad. He complained of his throat hurting and during the night he awakened with a very hot fever. So, I kept him and Wesley home from church as his fever continued on Sunday. I also noticed Sunday evening while Graham was sitting with me that he was making a wheezing sound when he breathed. The doctor listened to Graham's chest and just as with Wesley last week ordered an X-ray. Now I had still not heard from the doctor's office about Wesley. So after viewing Graham's x-ray and reading the results of Wesley's they both have been diagnosed with Bronchialitis. So, now both are on antibiotics and because of Graham's wheezing he is on a steroid again, too. He also was prescribed the same allergy med that Wesley has been on for over a year, Singulair and they also ordered for him a nebulizer machine from home health to give him breathing treatments 2x a day (not sure for how long). Home health should be able to tell us for how long when they deliver the machine. So, please continue to keep praying for them. As you know just because they are sick does not mean their energy level goes down and in fact the steroid usually hypes them up. So say a prayer for me and Richard, too. They have cabin fever something fierce!

As for Justus, of course we will not know any more until he goes back to the doctor on Tuesday, the 17th, but I can say that he hates the ear wash that we have to put in his ear twice a day. He says it burns (which it is a form of acid) and that it makes him dizzy. Also, starting this morning he has to be at school every day at 6:15 a.m. He goes for track and weight lifting and a couple of mornings is for football, too. Then of course he has school from 8-3:30 and then baseball practice until around 6:00. So, please keep praying for him, too.

Our plumbing issue seems to be resolved. It must have been a city issue as we saw them working in our neighborhood on Friday. Of course, I also credit the Lord as I know I have wonderful prayer warriors in you all! So, thank you, Lord, and thank you our friends and family!!!

P.S. Richard seems to be doing O.K. with his throat. He says everything went well Sunday. One more thing to be THANKFUL for!!!

Update

2009-02-06T12:57:00.003-06:00

Here is an update to my prayer requests I posted yesterday:

Wesley saw the doctor and is now on another round of antibiotics. It seems pneumonia is going around among the kids in town and the doctor thought he heard some rattling in his left lung, so he ordered a chest x-ray. We have not heard any results as of yet, (I'm thinking this is a good sign, I hope) but I have put in a call to the office for them to call me to let us know. He seems a little better today.

Graham did not feel well at all last night...lots of sneezing and coughing and nasal congestion, too. He seemed to have a low grade fever, too, so we kept him home today, but his symptoms seem more like allergies.

At Justus' appointment they cleaned a lot of junk out of his ear. He cannot get water in it at all as fungus is rampant in it. We have to put a "wash" in it 2x a day and keep it completely protected during his showers. The wash is intended to really clean it and get all the fungus out so that in 2 weeks when he goes back they can see if there is any cholesteatoma in it. At that time they will determine if there is any in it and if he needs surgery.

Richard is not going to the doctor. He is self medicating. He says he thinks it is an inflamed/infected tonsil and it seems to be staying about the same. His voice seems to be OK, but I'm not sure how painful it will be when he preaches. Please just keep him in your prayers, especially Sunday. At this point it would be Tuesday before he could see a doctor because he has class on Monday.

Lastly, I'm hanging in there, but on top of all this we have also had plumbing issues for the past several weeks. The plumber has been here 3x. We are beginning to think it could be a city issue at the street, but not sure. It has affected my ability to keep up my laundry, so I'm off to a Laundry Mat tomorrow...out of town as ours here in Hamilton is nasty. I do so appreciate all of your continued prayers and the love and support you have all sent our way! I will certainly call on you if it gets to be too much! I promise!!!

Love to you all!!!

P.S. On a happy note, Justus has made the Varsity baseball team as a pitcher. He also plays outfield. He seems to be enjoying it.

Much Prayer Needed

2009-02-05T10:08:00.002-06:00

Well, today I have 2 going to the doctor and 1 who probably needs to, but I'm not sure he will go. Justus has been complaining for over a week about his ear (his "bad" one) bothering him. I would not be concerned because this does happen from time to time and we go and have it cleaned out by the ENT and then he's OK for usually about 6 months. It can be more often in warmer months. My concern this time is that it has only been 3 months and it's winter (no swimming to speed up the process). So, my first prayer request is for him and that specifically there will not be any cholesteatoma in the ear that cannot be removed by cleaning...in other words that it will not need surgical removal.

Secondly, Wesley is going back to the doctor today for the 2nd time in 3 weeks. He and Graham went 3 weeks ago for really bad colds. The antibiotics and steroid really cleared them both up, but now he has a full blown cold again...started with croupy cough, then constant productive cough, very stuffy and runny nose with thick mucus and now fever, too. He's just miserable. It's frustrating because he is the one who gets the least exposure to others. Also, last time they told us that Wesley's ears were red and that one of his tonsils was swollen, so I don't want to take any chances...thus the appointment for him today.

Graham's eyes looked bad last night, but the mountain cedar pollen has been high and he did not get his Zyrtec the night before because we ran out. With high winds forecast for today and tomorrow(this magnifies the pollen problem), we may be back to the doctor with him before the end of the week. Please pray for them both to clear up and stay cleared up. This mama is getting weary!

My last request is for Richard. He told me last night that he has had a nodule in his throat for several days and it seems to be getting worse...very sore and looks infected when he looks down into his throat at it. He said he may need to go to the doctor, too. When he mentions doctor, then I know it's not good because he usually just doesn't go. Of course my thoughts are going to the worst possible scenario...him being a preacher and having a nodule in his throat...I've heard of things like this before. Please pray for healing and for this to not be the serious issue that it could be. Please pray for me to be able to get our house completely sanitized...Lysol and Clorox are my friends!!! I know that the Lord is capable and faithful to meet our every need! I am asking you all to go to Him in agreement with me to ask for His continued provision and protection!!! Thank you!!!

Psalm 103:1-3 "Praise the Lord, I tell myself; with my whole heart, I will praise His holy name. Praise the Lord, I tell myself, and never forget the good things He does for me. He forgives all my sins and heals all my diseases." (NLT)

Our Blessings

2009-01-23T12:05:00.002-06:00

The following are 2 of my favorite videos from December. I have several more that you are more than welcome to check out at the following link:

http://www.onetruemedia.com/my_shared?z=350ad8f52008abca6cba6c&utm_source=otm&utm_medium=text_url

The reason I chose these two is because they each touch my heart in a special way. First of all the one of Wesley helping Richard lighting the tree is special because it shows his personality so well. He is most always this happy and joyful!!! He is always singing, too! I love that he is "Fa la la la la-ing as they work their way around the tree! It also melts my heart to hear him say,"Hi, Mama! Love you, too!"

In the second one, it is New Year's Eve and Justus had gone to a party at a friend's house. So we decided to let the little ones enjoy some sparkler fun and they did! Wesley was somewhat amazed by them at first and just watched them burn in his hand. Graham with his imagination pretended he was seaching for "clues"! We all had a great time! Later we played Candyland which I also filmed and you can see on my share page of one true media. I love to watch my boys having such a good time together! I remember someone asking me after I had Graham if I would have any more children. My answer was, "I'm not sure." First of all because neither he nor Justus had been planned, but also because I knew we were headed back to Seminary and that would be hard to plan for with trying to get new jobs and finish school, etc. My one comment FOR another child, was that I would love for Graham to have a brother to play with, because I had watched Justus grow up without a sibling and I wish he had had a playmate. With all that said, I truly believe the Lord was listening to my heart that day and because He is God and truly does take care of His own, He gave me the desire of my heart and gave Graham a special little playmate and buddy! In the eyes of the world it would have been an impossible feat to have Wesley when we did, but my God worked out every detail. Not one need went unmet! And we have a beautiful and precious family that Richard and I could have never "planned" ourselves! They are our BLESSING & GREAT JOY...our GIFT from OUR LORD! God's timing and plan is always perfect and I am in awe of His entrusting us with such treasures! I pray our effort will honor Him! He knows our imperfections and our shortcomings, yet He empowers us with His Holy Spirit and guides us with the truth and wisdom of His Word! May we be found faithful in training them up in the knowledge and admonition of the Lord and may these precious boys grow to be faithful servants of the One who Himself is Faithful & True! My favorite verse for many reasons, but for which fits here most appropriately is: "Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart!" Psalm 37:4

Photo and video editing at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Make photo slide shows at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Christmas Season 2008

2009-01-18T13:22:00.002-06:00

The following is a slide show featuring our 2008 Christmas Season events. I know some of you have already viewed my photos at my Kodak gallery, but this is my way of journaling and sharing what all we were doing this past December. We were blessed from the very beginning with a wonderful "Hanging of the Green" service at church. I took pictures, but none turned out,(still a low light issue with my camera). I posted a video soon after that night of the children singing from that program. I hate my pictures did not turn out, because the ladies did a beautiful job with all of the decorations. We are so blessed at our church!!!

On December 9th we took a group of about 25 to Ft. Worth to see Handel's "Messiah" performed by the Southwestern Seminary's Chorale and Ft. Worth Symphonic Orchestra at Bass Hall. We had a wonderful time as we ate dinner first at Le Madeleine's before the performance. It was a very very cold night, but we had fun and it was so neat to be in the festive downtown atmosphere of Ft. Worth. As you can see from the slide show photos Bass Hall is beautiful inside and out. They would not allow pictures to be taken inside the hall so all I could get were ones of the lobby area and outdoors. I also love the huge Christmas tree in Sundance Square. It definitely "looked a lot like Christmas!"

A week or so later we bought our tree and proceeded to decorate it and the house. I have a great video of Wesley helping Daddy light the tree that I will post later. He liked it so much he just "la la la la la'd" the whole time. He is such a happy fellow! Graham was not happy and so he didn't show up until it was photo time when all was done later that evening. We did have a wonderful family time decorating.

On Christmas Eve morning while I was cooking, Daddy and our 2 little elves went to visit some of our widows and nursing home folks. They delivered cards and homemade goodies. Our big elf stayed home helping Mama get everything ready for Christmas Eve dinner. At 5:00 we went to church for a candle light service and then returned home for dinner and present time. We invited a couple from our church who are like surrogate grandparents to our kids (one couple out of several), Bobby & Shirley Pettijohn, to eat dinner with us. We had a special time with them and are so glad they could share the evening with us! We all were blessed with wonderful presents and a fun time was had by all!!!

Christmas morning was wonderful, too, as Santa Claus had come and delivered lots more presents! Justus was greatly surprised by his new guitar and the boys were showered with lots of fun toys! Graham got a new "big boy" Bible and a new suit. Wesley got some books and clothes, too. They both got a new table and chairs to share and Hotwheels Motorcycle tricycles for each of them were big favorites! We were invited to eat Christmas dinner at the house of one of our very special ladies at church, Mrs. Naomi. She also invited another of our special ladies, Mrs. Mary Helen to join us and we had a great time! The food was wonderful and we had a great time visiting! Graham and Wesley even took Daddy on a bear hunt, but no bears to be found...only some geese and puppy dogs! We ended our day at home very peacefully spending time outside playing and relaxing inside. We are so blessed!

Our December ended with a quiet New Years. Justus went to a party with several of his buddies. The Cude family hosted it and he said it was lots of fun. He was introduced to Dominoes and so now he may have to join our games when Grandaddy and Grandmama visit! Graham and Wesley had a fun time outside with Sparklers and then we came inside for board game fun! Surprisingly they went to bed early! We spent New Year's day watching parades, football and eating Red Beans and Rice with Cornbread.

Although we missed spending time with our family in Alabama, we loved spending the time we did with our very precious church family here in Texas and our own small family time. The Lord has blessed us greatly with wonderful people and with His presence in our lives! May all of you experience Emmanuel -the "With us God"this 2009!

Our 18th Wedding Anniversary

2009-01-12T14:03:00.006-06:00

I'm catching up since my computer was down the last half of December, so bear with me. The first thing I wanted to post was our very special wedding anniversary. December 22nd we celebrated our 18th anniversary. Richard had told me back in November that he had something planned and not to try to guess. Of course I did try, but I never could have done so. I knew we were going away overnight, but that was all I knew. There are several quaint towns around us with B&B's so I thought maybe that was it. I also know there are several really great restaurants in the big cities that we are close to, so I thought that might be it, too. All to naught, though.
The night finally came. Mrs. Bobbie and Mr. Buttons came to our house to keep the boys and we were off...racing to make our reservation time. We headed north past Hico, towards Glen Rose. Just before getting there, we turned off. It was a very cold night and there were predictions of possible ice, but we never had any trouble. When we turned off the main highway, it seemed we were heading into the dark abyss...no lights, except for an occasional house with Christmas lights. The road was winding and I was certain a deer would pounce out in front of us at any moment. We finally reached the entrance to the Rough Creek Lodge Ranch about 4 miles down that road, but we were nowhere near. The entrance was all lit up, but once we entered, we were on a more narrow drive with yet again no lights on the path. The path was paved, but it was not wide enought for 2 vehicles at a time and it was not one-way. Thankfully when we did pass a truck, the land was flat and easy to just pull off to make room to pass. After about 3-4 more miles, we finally saw the lodge and all its lights. It was so beautiful from across the lake, all the white Christmas lights in the trees and on the wreaths reflecting onto the lake. We parked and entered and they were expecting us. I wasn't sure what to wear, but as fancy as the dinner was, the atmosphere was quite casual. I saw an array of fashion from casual skirts to jeans and there were several families dining, so it wasn't just couples. It definitely had a lodge feel with a roaring fire in the fire place. We had a window table which was very nice. The hostess took our coats and seated us. The head waiter and 2 other waitresses called us by name(Mr. Harvey/Mrs. Harvey) every time they asked us a question. I felt very important. The menu is different every day because they fly in different chefs and different fresh ingredients. There is only a freezer big enough to house icecream on the premises. Everything else is flown in fresh daily. We each had a three course meal...Richard had pork loin and I had steak and we both had the most incredible New England style clam chowder. Every morsel was wonderful down to our passion fruit iced tea. And you can see in my slide show that dessert was special. We each had different deserts, but they wrote on both of our plates in chocolate, "Happy Anniversary". The pics of us and my desert were taken by the hostess and emailed to me because I had left my camera in the car.

After we ate, we registered and went to our suite. All the suites have outdoor entries and have the feel of a condo entry. Most are the size of ours, but there are some (like the George H. W. Bush's suite that are larger. Every door is made of a beautiful wood and carved like ours with different outdoorsman motifs. Ours and the Bush's had quail, but there are ones with deer (bucks), bass fish, labradore retrievers, etc. Our suite as you can see from the slide was very very nice! I loved it and we really enjoyed our time. It would be an incredible place to visit with the kids as you can see from the pics I took of the grounds, but it would be pretty pricey. So unless we get another deal like Richard got for our night, we probably won't be doing it anytime soon.

I loved every minute and I have to say I am incredibly blessed by my Lord for the sweet, thoughtful husband he has given me! Thank you, Richard, for a most memorable anniversary! I love you!

He's a Winner!

2009-01-04T20:45:00.002-06:00

Our computer has officially crashed and we are getting a new hard drive soon. It is still under warranty which is a blessing. I am upset though, because I've most likely lost a lot of my pics and videos. I say all of this because this is why I haven't posted in a long while. When we get set back up, I will post our Christmas pics. In the meanwhile, I do have a bit of fun news! The video that I posted in Nov. of Graham dancing was one of 100 first prize winners in the Sandisk/Youtube Lifemoves video contest. We won a 4GB memory card for our camera. We were quite surprised! So, "Yea, Graham!!!" Hope you all are enjoying your holidays! Have a blessed 2009!

Away in a Manger

2008-12-09T08:08:00.003-06:00

We had our annual Hanging of the Green service Sunday night. It was truly beautiful and I wish I had gotten better pics of it. It was difficult in the low light and I had little opportunity because I was helping direct children. I will take some pics of the church with the lights up and post them later. I did capture the children singing on video, though. Just before they sang, they proceeded into the sanctuary, some carrying nativity figures to put in place. Wesley didn't have a piece and he got upset and decided he would not get up and sing. (He didn't cry, just pouted and sat down on the pew.) So, that is why he is not up there. Graham is in the very middle. He is one of about 3-4 actually doing the hand motions. I tell you this because as you will see there are a couple of kids on the left end who tend to be a bit more lively...LOL. Just precious! Enjoy!

Tuckered Out Little Elf

2008-12-06T19:42:00.003-06:00

I had hoped by today to have our house completely in order so that we could go get our tree and start decorating for Christmas. It didn't happen. So, today we all spent the day finishing up cleaning and we are going to go Monday after school to get the tree and spend Monday night decorating it. We are going to go ahead and put out all the other stuff tomorrow afternoon. It worked out because we are such big college football fans in our household that we didn't want to miss the SEC Championship or the Big 12 Championship and this way we didn't have to do so.

As I was taking a break this afternoon, I noticed that I didn't here Wesley. I asked Graham if he was taking a nap, but he told me no, he wasn't. Not a minute later, Richard asked me to come see something in the front of the house. I figured it was Wesley and asked should I get my camera. He nodded affirmatively. So, where was our little elf?

Under our dining room table fast asleep!!! zzzzzzzzzz!!!!!!!!!
Such a cutie pie...my little elf!

A Visit to Granbury

2008-11-23T18:29:00.004-06:00

Back in October Grandmama and Grandaddy (Richard's parents) came for a visit and stayed the entire week in a time share condo on Granbury Lake. Their first day here was on a Saturday and so we took them to visit the town square in Granbury. We happened unexpectedly upon the town's Fall Celebration and it was really nice! Along with all their cute shops they also had vendors set up all around the courthouse. The weather was perfect and we topped it off with dinner at Babe's Restaurant and icecream at their old fashioned soda fountain shop. Here are some pics. I could kick myself for not getting any of the boys with Grandaddy and Grandmama!

Being Graham

2008-11-07T10:37:00.005-06:00

From the time Graham was able to sit up by himself, he has been bopping to any sound with a beat. I so wish that we had a video camera when he was younger to capture some of his moves in those early years. He loves music and moving to music. It is a good thing that his teacher uses music so much in her teaching methods (esp. with reading), because he is flourishing. She told me at our first conference just before the first 6 weeks report cards were sent out that they don't like to give out E's (for excellent) on the first card because they want there to be room for improvement. Well, on his first card he DID have 1 E for excellent - it was in Music.

This video shows a glimpse of him...being Graham! It is in the outdoor waiting area of Babe's Restaurant in Granbury. We visited there a couple of weeks ago when Richard's parents were in town. I will post more pics from that day next time. Meanwhile, enjoy Graham and all that entails.

P.S. I'm not sure if I will post on YouTube, but the joy I get from him is worth far more than any prize I could make off him!

A Proud Moment

2008-10-17T09:13:00.004-05:00

He can pass . . .

And he can run . . . the ball!

I'm a proud mom this morning! Justus had the opportunity to show what he is made of last night. Due to some incidents on the Varsity team, the JV's starting Quarter Back was pulled up to Varsity this week to back up their starting QB. (I hate this for Nic, because he is such a good kid and unless Keaton (Varsity QB starter) gets hurt, most probably Nic won't see near the playing time he has on the JV squad - and this was not a situation of injury, but of foolishness on the part of the Varsity backup QB's. Nic has been a great leader to this JV team! We will miss him.) So, with all of this going down, you might suspect that nerves might be jolted a bit last night with Justus' first start at JV QB and with the fact that there is no backup to him. Talk about pressure! But my kid took that pressure and turned every bit of it into a marvelous show of leadership and toughness! He is an outstanding athlete! He's already a starting Running Back, a Kick-off Return Receiver, a Defensive Safety and he did a great job as Punter in a game in which our starting Punter was injured. And, he has a strong arm as evidenced in his being the starting QB on his 8th grade team in Ft Worth. He also is tough both physically and mentally. (Hardheaded is the technical term!) He is a COMPETITOR in every way! With all of this under his belt, he still has never once started as QB here in Hamilton. And, he has been OK with this because he knows the importance of being a team player even when his own dreams and aspirations have to be put on hold. For this I am a proud mom, but last night, I was impressed by something more from this great kid. . . his ability to be a TEAM LEADER! He took control from the very beginning and never looked back, even with a rocky start (His first pass was almost intercepted). He played so tough and so did his team! Our defense played phenominally! In fact,both teams played tenacious defense as is obvious by the score. . . 8-0. . . not many points at all. Also, in the first half, our team had the ball at the goal line twice and both times were denied entry into the endzone. (The second time was due to the most beautiful long pass by Justus I've ever seen him throw and was caught by the intended receiver about 6 yards shy of the goal line where he stepped out of bounds and then we ran out of time just before the half.) But with these two close calls in the first half, our team did not lay down. They came out in the second half and played almost flawlessly! Our TEAM did a great job as did their leader,Justus, who came in and stood in the gap!
Now, for the stats of the game. . .at least the ones that pertain to this mom's kid: Justus playing on defense had a beautiful interception. On offense he only had one turnover...a fumble when he was running the ball, but our defense again came out and held the other team. He had some beautiful passes, a couple dropped, but some were really beautifully caught for major gains. He also had some great QB keepers that he ran for and made good forward gains. And, to top it all off, he passed for the winning touchdown and then ran in on a QB keeper for the 2 extra points to lead the Hamilton Bulldogs to a very exciting victorious 8-0 win over the McGregor Bulldogs! (One other sidenote: This team beat up on us last year with a devastating huge defeat. So, this was SWEET V-I-C-T-O-R-Y! ) Our team played a great game on both sides of the ball with the kind of toughness we've not really seen all year! Mainly because that's how it should be... improve with every game, with every week get stronger! I am proud of them all, but of course as a mom, my proudest moment came in seeing my oldest son with head held high go in there and lead his team to victory! Justus, you know that we often spar over issues that deal with your attitude, but last night, your attitude SHINED! I am very proud of YOU!

(P.S. I have not figured out how to use my camera under the stadium lights, as of yet, and I'm very mad, I didn't think about trying the video...so the pics above are actually from last season - sorry! I am commiting myself to reading my camera manual before next week!!!)

Fall - the Season for Food!

2008-10-15T12:08:00.006-05:00

Ground beef stuffing mix for cabbage rolls

Cabbage leaf ready to be stuffed

Stuffed cabbage roll

Placed rolls in casserole - I have enough to fill a large casserole dish and a small one.

Cabbage rolls with tomato soup sauce just out of the oven

Stew meat and onion about to be browned

Vegetable Beef Soup ingredients to add to meat and onion

Here's a spoonful...Mmmm!

Perfect with a pan of homemade cornbread!

I don't know about y'all, but every fall when the temperatures begin to cool down, I get the "Cooking" bug. My family loves it, because they are sure to come home daily and find something brewing on the stove or in the oven to a most heavenly aroma! With the cooler temps, I can swing open the back door in the kitchen and the front door to create a wonderful flow of cool breezes through my galley kitchen. It makes for a delightful experience, not feeling the heat from the stove. In every house we've lived in, though, I must say that fall is the time of year that I most enjoy cooking. Thanksgiving has always been, (even before I was married), my very favorite holiday! I have fond memories of waking to the aromas of my mom saute'ing chopped onions, bellpepper and celery for her cornbread dressing and to the smells of homemade pumpkin pie baking in her oven...Mmmmm! With all of this in mind, I decided to write this post and take some pictures of a couple of my most recent indulgences!

The first are pics of my cabbage rolls, which I must admit were not as good as they usually are because I forgot that instead of following my recipe's directions, you SHOULD DEFINITELY cook the rice first, making sure not to over cook it. You don't want the rice to be mushy! However, in my case of mixing it in raw, the rice was crunchy - another unacceptable outcome. When done, right, though this dish is wonderful! My family doesn't like cabbage, but likes it in this dish. (I actually first ate cabbage rolls in a Lebanese restaurant and I was hooked!)

The next pics are of my homemade vegetable beef soup. I make it 2 ways - one using ground beef and the other (the way seen here) with stew beef that you can find already cut up for you in the grocery. I always sprinkle the beef cuts with meat tenderizer and then brown them with chopped onion before adding all of the other ingredients. I took a pic of the ingredients I use, but I forgot to put the package of frozen okra in the shot (okra is optional). I also used beef stock that I made using beef bouillion cubes instead of canned beef stock this time, but I liked the outcome better because I didn't have to add any salt to the soup at all. If you would like the recipes for either, let me know and I can email them to you...both are very simple!

Simple...these are the pleasures near to my heart! Good food, family, friends and fall! Thank you, Lord! "You thrill me, Lord, with all You have done for me! I sing for joy because of what You have done!" Psalm 92:4

Colorfully Sweet

2008-10-09T12:51:00.004-05:00

I'm not sure how I missed posting these pics back in the summer. I took them on a Sunday afternoon after we returned home from eating out at one of our favorite places here in Hamilton. We actually went with Richard's parents while they were visiting. It is a place called Dutchman's Hidden Valley. We usually just call it the Dutchman for short. They have a gift shop, an antique store, a wonderful deli with homemade german style cheeses and meats, and a homemade oldfashioned candy shop. They of course make homemade chocolate confections as well as homemade hard candy. They even have a place where you can watch them make it in the back. We always have a lot of fun when we go; it is out from town a bit, but not too far. We love the family who own and operate it - the Chorenziaks. Kara (the wife/mom) is the daughter of one of our church members, Mrs. Naomi, and Justus is friends with their son, Ben. They are a sweet family in more ways than one!

A Beautiful Sunset

2008-09-26T15:46:00.003-05:00

One of mine and Richard's favorite things about living in Texas is the beautiful sunsets! There is nothing like the landscape sillouettes created by a Texas sunset. I can see how the ironsmith artists who create such works of art are inspired to do so. I have missed some beautiful sunsets on my camera lately because I haven't had it with me. But, about 2 weeks ago, we had the opportunity to picnic with our new association that our church is joining over at a park on Lake Belton, near Temple. I caught these shots as we were leaving. The one with the lake in it I took riding in the van over the dam. It is a beautiful pic, but honestly it does not come close to how beautiful it was in person! I hope you enjoy!

Adventures in Life with Boys

2008-09-17T10:37:00.011-05:00

My Super heroes

Fun with stickers!

My very cool teenager!

My sleeping hero

Going to the Game (Justus' football)

Never sleep "unarmed"!

The "Manly Table" centerpiece

When pregnant with my 3rd child I was asked if I was ready for a girl, because of the fact that I already had 2 boys. My response was always, "I'm not sure at this point I would even know what to do with a girl!" Well, SO true is that statement today! My boys are 100% boys! While at a picnic, Sunday afternoon with our church, I saw Wesley picking up a rock about a foot in diameter. I asked him what he was looking at, (under the rock), and he replied, "Bugs!" Just common old bugs get his juices flowing. They also love playing with balls - all kinds, especially Justus! (Speaking of bugs he has had a stomach bug the last couple of days, so please pray for him - for all of us!) And, they have a SUPER-sized affinity for Super Heroes! I'm surprised my dish towels and pillowcases even know what they are really supposed to be used for, because they are used much more often as the newest cape for my "caped crusaders". I never know who they will liken themselves to on any given day - Superman, Batman, Spiderman (nocape, just a mask and "SPPPPHT!" noise accompanying their hands formed in Spidey's wellknown web-slinging stance! Someone once thought they were making the "Hook 'em Horns" signal.), sword wielding Bibleman and Luke Skywalker with his sidekick "Okyban Wenobi" (this is Graham's pronunciation), or Buzz Lightyear and Woody! Even though Justus is wayyyyy to cooooool to get in on this super hero phenomenon being played out, he does don his green Marvel tee to school and will stop to watch any Star Wars flick at anytime he sees that it is playing on t.v. So you can see why at this point there would be no room for pink ponies or princesses (unless they are being rescued), or strawberry shortcake in this household! We are definitely male dominated! So this brings me to my reason for making this post. I have placed several pics here of my boys being their boy selves and the last one says it all! In my attempt to make our house a home, attempting to add my more feminine touches, such as a basket of fruit to match my dishes in the dining room, I find this...a pair of pliers added to the basket in just the right striking pose as if to say, "It just needed a man's touch!" Undoubtedly, a little man, huh, Wesley! LOL, I love my little men and I am so glad they are such "BOYS!" My life is full of joy because of them and my heart overflows with love for them! Thank you, Lord, for the gift of my Boys! May they grow to be Men who bring delight to Your Heart, O God!!!

Vacation 2008 - Natural Beauty

2008-09-12T12:08:00.002-05:00

Finally, I'm at the end of my posting about our vacation in July. These last pics are ones I took of the beautiful nature I observed while on vacation. I took most of them in the Harvey's back yard which is really beautiful and somewhat tropical - at least the banana plants give it that feel. The pond, which they built themselves, is lined with flat stones from President Bush's Crawford ranch. They were given to the Harveys by a couple in our church, Harvey and Laura Howard, but I'm not sure exactly how they aquired them. It is a very tranquil place with life all a buzz - birds feeding from their feeders, bees and butterflies flitting from flower to flower, and the "singing" of the water in the pond. The only drawback is that the mosqitos are pretty bad no matter what part of the day you go out. They have lots of windows, though, to enjoy the view from the "safety" of the indoors! I couldn't post nature pics without ones of the beach, too. It's just too close to my heart! God's creation truly is THE most beautiful work of art!
"O Lord, how manifold are Your works! In wisdom You have made them all. The earth is full of Your possessions..." Psalm 104:24

So Far and Yet So Far to Go!

2008-09-11T13:59:00.002-05:00

This seems to be the story of my life right now. First of all Richard started back to school this week. He is driving me crazy! One minute it's one plan and then another! I'm all for going as far as he desires to go with his education, I would just like a plan and to stick to that plan! (OK, I'm venting and I know that with God sometimes there can only be enough light for the next step!) I really am just going to put it in the Lord's hands and let Him and Richard work it out! I'll do my part, but I'm not going to worry about grades, papers, deadlines, etc. He is a big boy, right?

Now, for the second part to this story. WESLEY! I love the little guy...so full of energy and happiness...singing and playing (until Graham gets home). Anyway, he has been doing so well with potty training the past few days. I finally decided to put him in underwear and he has done so great! I just bragged on him last night to Richard about how he didn't have any accidents yesterday and he went without me having to ask him all day long! That was yesterday! Today arrives and we have had two big accidents already! I found one of the spots on the floor in his room, but I have yet to find the other...still searching! I look like a blood hound sniffing around my floors and furniture! LOL Like my friend Cameron says, in the midst of craziness you just have to laugh! So, y'all go ahead and laugh for me, OK! :)

Cowboys, Queens, and Superman!

2008-09-04T12:21:00.002-05:00

This past Saturday, Aug. 30th, was our town's biggest event of the year, the Hamilton County Dove Festival 2008. According to our paper it was one of the largest ever with over 80 vendors and over 5,000 in attendance. It is always held in conjunction with the opening of Dove hunting Season and there are several events that take place over the weekend. There's a 2-day rodeo out at the Circle-T, a softball tournament, a 5-K run, a parade and vendors set up all around the town square selling goods & food; promoting causes & candidates. There's also a stage set up with a variety of entertainment.
Our church had a booth to give away water and Capri Suns and to give out info. on our new children's ministry event for the school year. So, the boys and I set out to get there in time to see the parade and to work the booth for a while. We also ate BBQ and funnel cakes, rode the Superman slide, and watched a puppet show and "Wild West Shootout". It was a jam-packed day of quite varied Texas excitement, as I hope you gather from the slideshow I've compiled. We love our little town and our life here! God is Good!!!

Justus' 1st Game

2008-09-03T15:12:00.006-05:00

Justus had his first game of the season last Thursday. He is on the Hamilton High School J.V. team and wears the #8. He is a backup Q.B., but starts at Running Back and also plays defense. He has heard talk of being moved up to varsity as a running back by the time district play gets here in a couple of weeks. We'll see! As a mama, I REALLY like him being on J.V. - smaller players equals less pain for him, but I want him to be happy and be the best he can be. I think it would be an honor to him to be on Varsity and it would help him to not be so disappointed about not playing Q.B. Anyhoo, we had fun at his first game! They won 26-0 and Justus did score a touchdown and also ran in for 2. Go Bulldogs!

Vacation 2008 - Friends & Family

2008-09-02T08:15:00.003-05:00

I'm finally getting around to posting the pics of our visits with our family while in Mobile back in July. We are truly blessed that all of our family lives in the area and that we usually get to see them all. We did miss seeing one of my brothers, Walter, this time around, but we did at least get to see all the rest and we cherish the time even if it was brief. We love and miss our family greatly, so it is always a treat for us to visit with them all!

Also a treat was an evening I was able to spend with some "old" friends - girls I literally grew up with from Kindergarten to graduation from highschool. I'm overwhelmed with how beautiful they all are and how beautiful their families are! Thankyou, Tracy, Lisa and Torii for such a fun, special evening! Let's don't lose touch for so long again! Your friendships mean so much to me and I have missed each of you!

The Lord has truly blessed us with precious family and friends! Thank you, Lord!

"I will praise You, O Lord, with my whole heart; I will tell of Your marvelous works!" - Psalm 9:1

The Best!!!

2008-08-28T10:25:00.002-05:00

I've been mulling over for a few days how to start this post. I had an awesome opportunity this past weekend to take a group of ladies from my church, our community and even as far away as Fort Worth to a Beth Moore-Living Proof Live conference in San Antonio, Texas. I have been to 2 other of her events like this and I have done several of her Bible Studies, so I was familiar with how wonderful a teacher she is and how powerful the Holy Spirit works through her and the worship team (led by Travis Cottrell). But, WOW!!! I just don't know how to describe this weekend's conference any better - just WOW!!! The funny thing is that the entire time Beth kept telling us what a wreck she was and how she really didn't have it together. That was so OK, because, God always has it together! This was by far THE BEST conference I have ever been to and it seemed more "together" than either of the others I've attended. The entire theme was the INHERITANCE that GOD gives to us when we become His child! What is so amazing is that just like the thread of salvation through the gospel is sewn throughout the Bible - Old Testament to New Testament - inheritance is there throughout, too!!! Christ did not just redeem us FROM the pit - to get us out of something - but to give us something - HIS INHERITANCE!!! He is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords and we are COHEIRS with Him!!!

Our Scriptural text for the entire weekend was Psalm 16 (A Psalm of Confidence!) verses 5 & 6: "The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup; You hold my lot. The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed,I have a beautiful inheritance." There were so many points made and principles of truth that I wish I could share them all, but what I would like to share is what spoke to me most and hear it is. If our faith is in Christ, then we are His Heirs and we don't have to live our lives in insecurity and doubt!!! In fact, it is our responsibility to this lost world, to live our lives in this confidence as SALT and LIGHT-as His conscience in standing for Righteousness and as His Light of Hope to all who are despairing! "He holds my lot", the NIV says, "He has made my lot secure!" There is no doubt that my life and the life of every believer in Christ is set in ETERNITY and we have a purpose! God's CHOICE for our lives is that we LIVE for Him in CONFIDENCE, not in ourselves, but in the TRUTH of His Word. Sometimes our life circumstances may seem like CHANCE or FATE have dealt us a bad hand, but this is a lie from the pit of Hell. FATE has NO POWER over me! Because He has made our lot secure, and because we can CHOOSE to LIVE OUT what we BELIEVE (God's Word) rather than CHOOSING to listen to and act on the messages hurled at us from this culture we live in and from others from whom we so desperately seek approval and even from Satan himself, the father of lies, we can live our lives with CONFIDENCE and SECURITY that tells everyone who comes in contact with us that WE ARE HIS and HE IS OURS - REGARDLESS OF OUR CIRCUMSTANCES! Romans 8:28 tells us He works all things out for good for those who love Him and are called according to HIS PURPOSE! He has called us to BELIEVE HIM (not just in Him, but believe him - TRUST HIS WORD); He has called us to BE CHANGED (choose to dump the "junk" we've inherited in this life and choose to LIVE in the POWER OF THE HOLY SPIRIT - Who is our guaranteed down payment of our inheritance); He has called us to be POWERFUL - to MAKE A DIFFERENCE!!! Whether it is a public ministry through our church, community, country, world or whether is is a more intimate ministry in our home to our spouse and/or children we are called/CHOSEN to CONFIDENTLY, DELIBERATELY,POWERFULLY LIVE OUT OUR INHERITANCE BEFORE THIS WORLD AND ALLOW CHRIST, THE LIFE-CHANGER, TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE THROUGH US FOR HIS GLORY AND FOR THE CAUSE OF HIS KINGDOM! God is at work all around us and we can either ignore Him and stay caught up in the entanglement of our daily lives and circumstances (which is what Satan would love us to do) or we can join Him!!!

This was the challenge I received! I have a BEUTIFUL INHERITANCE!!! Do I really live like I really believe it! My prayer is simple - Lord, Please never let me forget. Burn it on the tablet of my heart that I may be obedient to Your Holy Call on my life!! In Jesus' Name, AMEN!

Wesley's Birthday Party

2008-08-14T23:04:00.002-05:00

On Tuesday, August 12th, we celebrated Wesley's 3rd birthday! I can hardly believe it! Time has flown these past 3 years. Wesley has come so far with his speech and is saying more everyday and speaking more clearly everyday, to the point that he will not have to go to speech therapy any more. We will still work with him at home though, on his word endings and some pronunciation. He is also potty training really good now, too. He is very independent and is usually a very happy camper. He is so full of personality and really is a very smart boy! He loves playing with cars and action figures and he, like his brother, Graham, really loves super heroes. He also loves to play outside. He really loves to sing and is singing more songs everyday. His favorite part of this summer by far was Bible School. Any time he sees something Hawaiian (our theme) he calls it Bible School. So cute! He is very much a Daddy's boy and he loves playing with big brother and best pal, Graham! I probably would never have planned for him, but I'm sure glad and grateful that God's plans supersede my own for my life! He has given me such a precious gift in my Wesley!!!
Here are the pics from Wesley's pizza party at the park. Enjoy!

Vacation 2008 - "Fun at the Beach"

2008-08-13T00:43:00.002-05:00

On Friday, 7/25, of our vacation we took a trip down to the beach at Gulf Shores, Alabama. In our recent past we've always stayed a few days down there actually in Orange Beach at our family's condo, but they sold it this year. (We miss it but count it a blessing to have been able to have had that opportunity for so many years past!) On this trip we got to see and utilize the newly rebuilt Gulf State Park pavilion. It is really nice with indoor showers and bathrooms, plus a snack bar and covered picnic area. Very Nice! We had a great time as can be seen in the pictures of this slide show. Graham I think had the best time. He loved the water and the water was exceptionally nice! (Clear, no seaweed and not but a couple of jellyfish sightings) Wesley did not like the water and I wish I had remembered our pails, because last year that was his favorite way to enjoy the water - pouring the water from one pail to the other. He did enjoy playing with his trucks and ninja turtles in the sand, though. Justus and Richard played football and rode waves. I laid out in the sun and played with the boys. I also have a great video of this day that I will try to post later when I figure out how to do so. Overall we had a great day as a family! (I think I got my beach "fix" for a while anyway!)

Cool Kids!

2008-08-12T21:47:00.006-05:00

I am so excited to be entering this photo in the "Summer Fun" photo contest at http://www.5minutesformom.com/ . This summer has been very fun for my 2 boys, Graham and Wesley, now ages 5 and 3, as they have really enjoyed cooling off from the Texas heat in their pool. Of course, no matter how HOT it gets you always have to LOOK COOL!

Vacation 2008 - Pool Fun!

2008-08-12T17:44:00.002-05:00

One of my favorite days while we were in Mobile was Thursday, 7/24, when we went swimming at the Harvey's next door neighbor's backyard pool. It really was a relaxing, fun time and the boys had a blast! We just hung out at our leisure and played until we we were all tuckered out! We really appreciate Mrs. Ward allowing us to come use her pool. Her back yard is really beautiful and is similar (minus the pool)to the Harvey's backyard - very tropical! In fact the "skin"-border around my slideshow is one I made from a pic I made of the Harvey's backyard. Enjoy the pics and when I figure out how to download a video to my blog I'll show you a video I made of this day as well. :)

Family Vacation 2008 - "The Road Trip"

2008-08-07T16:45:00.002-05:00

This first slide show is from our road trips on our vacation July 20 - 30, both going to Mobile and returning home to Texas. We left Hamilton about 9:00 p.m. on 7/20 bound for Beaumont, TX. We had made a reservation there at a Holiday Inn so that we didn't have to drive all night. We had hoped to leave around 7:00 p.m., but my back had gone out on me and I really struggled to get everything packed and ready. We rolled into our Holiday Inn around 3:00 a.m. and believe me when I say I remember very little about that last hour on the road that night/morning. We didn't even unpack our bags. We just got out of the van hurried in and got into the bed in our riding clothes. I was very glad that even though the boys woke up, they went right back to sleep. I thank God for His very special gifts like these!
My pics start with the next morning in the hotel room as we are about to get on the road for the next 7 hours. The boys were excited! We were also all quite well rested as we did not get up early, but slept until about 11 a.m. and got on the road between 11:45 and noon. My next pics were of a really scenic bayou called the Atchafalaya Basin. You cross it by a bridge that spans for about 20 miles. It's just east of Lafayette, Louisiana. As we crossed the Mississippi River in Baton Rouge, LA, (see pics) we were caught in a traffic jam. If you know me well, you know I don't like heights and I especially don't want to be stuck in the middle of the bridge that crosses the massive Mississippi! It didn't take too long, but we got stuck in the wrong lane and ended up going the wrong direction once we crossed it. We had to take a detour to turn around and so that's how I ended up with pics of the Louisiana State Capitol building and Governor's Mansion. The grounds there really were beautiful, although I thought the capitol bldg. was quite different -not at all like most domed capitol buildings you see. Lastly we stopped to stretch our legs among other things at the Mississippi Welcome Center just as you cross over the MS and LA state line. It's in Bay St. Louis, MS and you can actually park there and take a tour bus to NASA's Stennis Space Center located just up the road. We didn't take the tour, but the space craft in my pics is on sight there at the Welcome Center. I couldn't pass up the chance to take pictures to the shagrin of my wearied men! As Graham so "patiently" put it, "WE ARE NEVER GETTING OUT OF THIS VAN, ARE WE!" He was ready to see his grandaddy and grandmama!

I tried to get better pics of the Baton Rouge bridge over the Mississippi River on our return trip because the weather was rainy and foggy on our first crossing. Then as we got away from Mobile a little later than expected and due to traffic on I-10, we decided to stop again on our return trip to Texas. We got as far as just north of Huntsville, TX on I-45 and stopped to spend the night. We arose early, as indicative of my sunrise and fog pictures, to get back home about 10:00 a.m. Overall our roadtrips were good, just tiring and now that the boys are potty trained(ing), we make more stops than ever! Because I have been a road traveler since I was Wesley's age, I have always loved riding/driving only because my grandparents taught me to always look for the beauty on God's creation wherever I go! It is always good to get HOME, though!!!

Our Family

2008-08-05T14:19:00.004-05:00

These pics were made by a professional photographer (Photos for a Lifetime - Eric Bussing) while we were in Mobile. We purchased the CD so we can print them ourselves. Thanks Mr. Bussing and thanks to Grandaddy Harvey for giving us this special opportunity!!!

Tropical Storm - Huh???

2008-08-05T11:55:00.009-05:00

I cannot believe it! Being from the Alabama Gulf Coast, I am quite used to being on alert during the Hurricane season with good reason. Because our family is there I still watch the weather to see if they are ever in the path of anything coming from the Gulf. Well, here I sit "smack dab" (that's a southern term) in the middle of Texas awaiting Tropical Storm Edouard to come my way! Actually, I'm quite pleased because we are PARCHED here! Our grass in the back yard is dead! (Justus, who had to cut our yard every week last summer with all the rain we got, is quite glad not to have had to cut it since June, and then it was only the front yard.) My poor flowers have really been stressing and at this point I'm not sure my sunflower crop is going to make it. I do water, but in just a 24 hour period they look all wilted again! :(

Anyhoo, I will wait with anticipation to meet this new friend, Edouard, with open arms and a few buckets to catch rainwater to quench the thirst of my waning little garden! :)

Heading "home" to Mobile

2008-07-20T18:29:00.003-05:00

We are getting on the road to Mobile, Alabama tonight - our hometown. I am really excited about seeing our family, especially my mama! We will be staying at the Harvey's house, but we are hoping to see all of our family, Richard's side and mine. We will be having family portraits made while we are there. Also, we plan to spend a day down at the beach - Yeah!!! I am really ready for salt water, sand and seafood! I hope to see some old friends, too.

Anyhoo, we'll get back home to Texas on the 29th of July. Keep us in your prayers, (specifically me, I'm having lower back trouble). I'll post lots of pics when we return!

Talk to Y'all Later!

Love,
Shannon

VBS 2008 Report

2008-07-16T12:17:00.002-05:00

Wow!!! I hardly know where to begin; my heart is so full! The Lord has blessed us way beyond our expectations and we had great expectations! As you can see from the slide-shows we worked really hard to make it a success. We could not possibly have done it without the help of so many people and other churches! Praise the Lord! FBC Academy gave us so much - decorations, crafts, and they sent about 15 people (5 adults and about 12 youth) every day to help us lead VBS. We received decorations, too, from FUMC of Hamilton, which had actually been from other local churches. Also, we had several workers from our church who worked so hard. Our total worker enrollment (including FBC Academy folks) was 32. How Awesome!!!
The children who attended were such a blessing! They came from all over town and even some from out of town visiting family. We had a total enrollment of 47 kids with a daily average of about 37. And, they all absolutely loved it! We had some who begged their parents to let them finish the week even though they had other plans made. What a compliment! On Thursday which is usually always the day that focuses on the gospel message, we had 11 make decisions after the plan of salvation was presented to the older children (1st - 6th grades). 8 of those 11 were for salvation and 2 will definitely be baptized in our church - Praise God from Whom ALL blessings flow! We will certainly be following up with all of them. We prayed for an annointed VBS and I believe the Lord blessed us with it and with a springboard opportunity to begin a children's ministry that will bring families into the Kingdom of God for His glory! We were able to put into the hands of every child an invitation to join us on Wednesday's this school year for an AWANA ministry. I also believe that the Lord made it clearly evident to our people that our children's ministry is a possibility and is a necessity to the growth and future of our church!
Thank you all who prayed for us! We know that your prayers did not go unanswered and I pray that you will be blessed for doing so! Also, I ask that you continue to pray for our church's children's ministry and for the future of our church! May God do a great and mighty work among us and may we give Him all the Glory!!! I do so already!!!
Believing Him,
Shannon

VBS 2008 Outrigger Island

2008-07-16T12:13:00.001-05:00

VBS 2008 Decoration Photos

2008-07-16T11:01:00.000-05:00

Graham's 5th Birthday!

2008-07-12T21:43:00.000-05:00

Justus' Wide World of Sports

2008-07-12T20:48:00.000-05:00

I'm Getting Excited!

2008-07-01T21:40:00.002-05:00

I will soon have pictures to post of Graham's birthday party, Saturday, June 28th. (Friday, the 27th was actually his birthday. He turned 5. I can hardly believe it! I also have pictures to post of Justus' sports (more football, track and baseball). And, I still have to post pics from youth camp.
But what I am getting so excited about right now is VBS. We are 2 days into the decorating and I am so very EXCITED about what God is going to do! We received so much from First Baptist Church of Academy, Texas and we also received a lot from First United Methodist of Hamilton. Our hallways are lined from end to end with water and fish with blue clouds on one side and on the other sand with seashells and beachballs and sandcastles. There are 3 huge palm trees on the sand side and surf boards and a dune buggy. The Missions Outlook room is beautiful thanks to Ken and Stella Taylor who will be teaching the Missions lessons. The Crafts room is almost complete and is equally beautiful thanks to Bobbie and Buttons Bass. Bobbie will be leading crafts. Thanks also to them for the hallways and the Snack Shack awning as well as a whole lot of other help they have given!!! Our Bible Study Beach Hut is about half-way complete and we still have to put up our volcano and waterfall in the sanctuary. We also have the foyer area to do which will serve as the registration area of VBS. It is all coming together so wonderfully and although it is tiring work, it will be so worth it when the kids come rolling in on Monday morning ready to learn all about how God is REAL! I just cannot wait to see how God will bless! First Baptist of Academy is also sending youth and adults to help us lead in VBS. We are soooooo blessed!
Please be in prayer for us! If you got an email from me about a month ago with all of our prayer needs, please continue to pray for those! If you need another copy, let me know. Richard and I and our family really need to be covered in your prayers as well! It is stressful on the boys being out of our routine. Granddaddy and Grandmama will be here tomorrow through Saturday to help with them! I know they will enjoy their time together! Richard still has all of his studying for Sunday to do and we are hosting a July 4th church picnic on Friday afternoon to register kids for VBS. Also there is the visiting of sick folks and other ministry that Richard has to do. We just really covet your prayers this week and next.
I love VBS! It's going to be GREAT! All praise and honor to HIM, the LORD JESUS CHRIST!!!

Love Those Puppies!

2008-06-27T11:18:00.003-05:00

I want to thank my friends, Rebecca (Proverbs Mom) and Cameron (4 Hall Girls) for inspiring me to change my blog look! They are wonderfully supportive and helpful whenever I ask them the "how to's" and I so appreciate their time to stop and help me. They are very busy moms, but are very good friends, too! So, THANK YOU both so much! Also, I must thank Richard for his enduring patience with me and help in figuring out how to do this, too. It truly was a trial and error project, but well worth it! I really love my new look. And, I hope you all do, too!

Blessings,
Shannon

Catching Up

2008-06-23T23:30:00.003-05:00

As you can see I've been busy catching up - posting pics. I decided it was best to sort them and post them as slide shows because I had sooooo many! I've had my new camera since Christmas, but was afraid of downloading my pics on our computer because it has been running so slow. We finally got a new computer last week so Richard helped me get my pics downloaded and then I was able to put them in slide-show format thanks to my friend, Cameron. Hopefully I will be better about posting pics and news. I do have one more set of pics to post. They are from our Youth Camp last week. I'll probably only post a few here, but I will post them all on our church's website. I'll post more about camp when I post the pics.

For now, I hope you all enjoy catching up on how the boys are growing up! We definitely stay busy and entertained! I hope to get more of Justus on here in the future, too! I keep forgetting to take my camera to his baseball games. I hope also to get some pics from his basketball, track, and school baseball seasons from a local website that takes them for the school. If I can still get them, I'll post them as well.

Hope you're all having a fun summer!
God Bless!
Shannon

Water Fun!!!

2008-06-23T23:00:00.003-05:00

Graham's 2008 T-Ball team - The Gray Sharks

2008-06-23T22:43:00.001-05:00

Easter 2008 - "What, no snow!"

2008-06-23T22:22:00.000-05:00

Spring 2008 Pics

2008-06-23T22:06:00.001-05:00

Winter 2008 Family Pics

2008-06-23T21:10:00.001-05:00

Christmas 07 - Better Late than Never

2008-06-23T15:27:00.001-05:00

Oh Boys!

2008-02-18T17:12:00.001-06:00

When my 4 1/2 year old son, Graham's, temperament began to emerge, we realized that as strong-willed as we thought Justus had been, (now age 15 and still somewhat strong-willed), that we were in for more than we could ever have imagined. I remember "pre-Graham" seeing children pitching tantrums in the store and thinking, "Oh, my, I'm so glad Justus never did that!" Well, I am glad, but I can certainly relate, now that we have Graham. You see, Graham is the child that at age 3 1/2 over and over said, " I am going to the little house!!!" despite the fact that we were in the van traveling away from the little house (our place to stay in Hamilton on weekends, before we moved here) towards home in Ft. Worth. He didn't yell or pitch a fit, only very calmly stated it over and over for almost an hour (practically half the way home) as if he could will it to happen somehow if he said it enough. With this fact in place I come to the point of my story, now!
If you have known me for very long you have probably heard our Justus-chicken story by now. But for those of you who have not, let me try to give a brief overview. When Justus was age 5 we were living in Seminary housing across from Southwestern in the town houses which are towards the back of that complex. The apartments at the front sit very close to a 5-lane major street and there is a traffic light there. There is also a walk-way tunnel for students to walk under that street to the Seminary, because even for adults it is too busy and dangerous to cross. Just down from that traffic light a few yards is a railway crossing because there is a very busy train track that goes beside the Seminary and of course the apartment complex. (Some living there, may insist that if you didn't know better that the train goes right through their homes, because it is that close!) Just on the other side of the train tracks is a Church's Fried Chicken on the apartment complex side of the street and across the same 5-lane street from Church's is a Jack in the Box hamburger place. One day about 2 months after living there, and just when I had gotten used to Justus playing outside with his little friends without me there to watch the entire time, he walked in with a fried chicken leg. Now, at first, I wasn't alarmed, he had come home before with a cookie, or cupcake that a friend had shared with him. I just thought that one of our neighbors had gone to the chicken place and had handed him one as they were going in with it for their lunch. (This may sound strange, but if you've ever been to Seminary, you understand the community you experience living there.) As Justus began to explain the chicken leg to me, it became apparent that my theory was in error - GREATLY! You see, he had decided to hop on his bike and cross the main road in the complex, continue out to the main 5-lane street in hopes of going to Jack in the Box. Not knowing about the tunnel, he did realize, thankfully, that the street was just too busy for him to cross. So, he proceeded down the street across the railroad tracks to "the chicken place" as he knew it. He in his black, hole-in-the-knees sweat pants, shirt and old hand-me-down camouflage jacket (he was dressed to "play" outside, not go out in public) trekked right up to the place, went in and told the clerk at the register that he was hungry! Well, I am sure that upon seeing this "poor" child and hearing his plea the man had compassion on him and in so doing gave him this chicken leg, "on the house". Justus had no money. And I can only assume the man saw Justus' bike and was not alarmed that this 5-yr old was alone, but thought he was from the nearby neighborhood. Justus then situated the chicken leg into his mouth, the way a dog carries a bone, and began to pedal back furiously. ( I know this part because dreadedly there were witnesses - our neighbors who I came to find out later were related to my soon-to-be new boss on campus - Justus is now infamous sort-of) As he told me his tale with such exuberance to have been able to handle such a task so independently, I felt my blood begin to boil and my heart begin to sink and my brain begin to roll over a thousand "what if" scenarios. I wasn't angry at him, but at myself for being such an incredibly inept mother ( I only had one 5 yr old to look after and he had managed to un-nerve me beyond comprehension.) I know that I was in some state of shock, though short-lived, for I did have enough wits about me to realize that I had to handle this as swiftly as possible - to "nip it" in the wisdom of Barney Fife. I scolded him in love, but with enough harshness to make sure he knew that he could never do this to his mother ever again!!!! With tears rolling down his cheeks (proof he knew his error) he assured me he would not and he never has!
Fast-forward 10 years to Wednesday night last week. Graham wanted to sit in with the adults in stead of going to the nursery with me and Wesley. I situated him with a couple who said they wouldn't mind and left him contentedly coloring. Before I left I told the lady Graham was sitting with that if he got restless she could send him down the hall to me in the nursery. I was clearly not thinking when I told her this, because I did know in the back or at least somewhere floating around in my brain that I would have to go out to get Justus as soon as he called me to come pick him up from Baseball practice. Only a very brief time after being in the nursery with Wesley, I got Justus' call. Wesley and I left to go get him and I never gave Graham a secon thought - he was after all in with all of the adults. Well, I got Justus and he was starving and stinky (we will not be doing this again on Wednesdays by the way! He will have a new schedule!) so I proceeded to stop at Subway to get Justus' dinner. It took an unanticipated very long time and so by the time all was said and done, it was 10 minutes until time for church to be over. I had no way of contacting Richard, so I just took Justus and Wesley home to wait for Richard and Graham to come home shortly thereafter. Not very long after we walked in the door, Richard called me to see what happened to us and to let me know he had a brief meeting, but that someone was going to bring Graham home. Before I said goodbye, he, with a very sober tone said "I need to tell you something before Graham gets home. He gave us a GREAT scare tonight!" My first thought was that it was something to do with his health or an injury! But, Oh No! A familiar feeling of De ja vu swept over me as I listened with great intensity! You see, Graham had indeed become restless in the Prayer Meeting and so was sent per my instruction down the hall to me in the nursery. Only when he arrived there and could not find Mama, he did not turn around and go back to the adults. He instead went outside and began to trek toward home on major highway (speed limit 60 mph) in the dark. He did not walk along side the road, but in it and only by the GRACE of God was not struck by any vehicles. He was indeed picked up by a gentleman who asked him where he belonged and Graham told him that his dad was at the church. Again, the GRACE of God protected him as this was a good man, (in contrast to all that is out in this world that could have harmed him), known by some present in that Prayer Meeting. The man brought Graham to the church to his dad. Richard along with many others were quite shaken up, but so very thankful for how it all did turn out. We both separately and together had long talks with Graham about never doing this again. I pray it never will!
Wesley being 2 1/2 has for a while now been stretching that muscle of independence, himself. I also pray it doesn't take a "trek" of his own to test our limits! For though these exercises in independence do stretch the muscle of their wills, it most definitely weakens the muscle of my heart!
Thank you, O Lord, for Your Great hand of Protection over my precious children and for the lessons they teach me about the weakness of my own faith!

The Blessings of a New Year!

2008-01-22T10:27:00.000-06:00

I have to say that I had hoped by now to have posted my Christmas '07 pics of our family, but as I said at the start of this new journey of blogging, I am technologically handicapped and so until Richard has a moment to help me download my pics from my new camera, those of you waiting on pics will have to just sit tight a while longer. It has not been uncommon for me in the past to send Christmas pics out by "snailmail" on Valentines. I had hoped to be a bit more on the ball by now. Oh well, I am not going to sit and brew/stew over it! (What am I trying to say?) On with more about why I am writing today!

2008 has been such a good year so far and I am just looking forward with great anticipation of what the Lord has in store for us! Our little church which had 33 in attendance the Sunday we were called here in December 2006, had 31 in just one of our 4 Sunday School classes last Sunday and over 50 in Worship, with at least 8 of those being visitors and some of our members being out due to illness/travel. Now, I am not a numbers kind of gal, but I happen to know that these numbers represent wonderful people who have either joined our precious fellowship or who are contemplating joining. Also, they are the Lord's answer to so many prayers of our church and us! We have prayed for leaders and people who have a sincere desire to see our community reached for Christ and the Lord has sent us just that! On a personal note, they represent a confirmation that we are exactly where the Lord wants us to be in spite of our own weaknesses and failures! The Lord is SO faithful!

One more note- the Lord took one of our faithful members home to be with Him this past week. And although it is a loss to our fellowship, and Bro. Robert Evans will be greatly missed around Calvary Baptist Church and by the Harvey family as he was a dear friend to us all, I know that he is with His Lord rejoicing with the angels! I also, know that although it was a great shock to us, it was not a surprise to God, Who is in control and Who is always perfect in His timing and plans! It will be a difficult road for Mrs. Shirley, Bro. Roberts wife of more than 50 years, but with God's sweet grace and with the love and support of her church family she will be victorious! I have already sensed it in the peace she has as I have talked with her.

I know I have talked more about our church in this blog, than I have about our little family as this was one of my main goals for this blog. But for those of you who are in ministry know, ministry and church life, undoubtedly as the Lord intends, are a major thread in the tapestry of family. My boys love these people as much as we do and I am thankful when Graham (age 4 1/2) gets giddy about it being "church" day once again, and when Wesley (age 2) cries when we, on our way somewhere else, pass by the church and do not stop! In this new year, 2008, may we be found faithful as the Lord is faithful in serving this precious family we call Calvary Baptist Church, Hamilton, Texas!

Our first year in the Hill Country

2007-12-10T20:00:00.000-06:00

These are not a complete package of all of this year, because I haven't gotten some pics developed that were taken on 35mm - mainly Wesley's birthday and our vacation to Orange Beach and Mobile, AL. I will add those soon hopefully. Also, the snow pics are from Easter-April 7, 2007. We had a very unusual weather year! :)

1...2...3... and away we go!

2007-12-10T18:44:00.000-06:00

Oh boy! Here I go! I am really very technologically handicapped, but my friend Rebecca tells me that I can do this. I really wanted to do this so I can share my pics and happenings with my friends and family who live far away! I'm not sure what I'm doing, so bear with me and hopefully I will get better. Hope to hear from all of you out there!