PHAREWELL PHIL

I would like to take a moment and bid a fond farewell to Phil Fulmer. Thanks for going out on a win. UT 28 Kentucky 10.
Pharewell Phil ........it's been a wild ride !!!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Thanksgiving !!

I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving ! Be sure to count your blessings today and give God thanks.

Blessings,

Cecelia

We are Finally Home !

Praise the LORD we are finally home. George was finally released from the hospital on Wednesday. The Dr. told us that he wanted us to stop every hour so George could get out and walk around. This would help his circulation in his legs so there would be a worry of blood clots.
We picked up our girls from Joy and Tybee and got on the road about 4 PM Eastern. We had traveled about 30 minutes and George got sick. Lets just say he had eaten Strawberry Yogurt before we left the hospital and it was not pretty. I don't know what it is about Strawberries and Surgery Patients but......well this is my 2nd experience and it is not good. If you have surgery AVOID STRAWBERRIES at least for a week or 2. LOL You have to laugh or you would cry..trust me.
I was afraid George would be sick all the way home so I called in some prayer warriors and asked that they pray for him. So....he slept. Oh don't worry I had the clock police (our girls) reminding me when 1 hour had passed no matter if there was an interstate exit or not. I had a hard time convincing them that it could be a little longer than an hour and it would be fine. So we stopped 3 or 4 times so George could get out and stretch his legs and walk around a little. Long story short we got home around 9 PM. I brought him and 2 of our girls home. Abigail went back out to get his pain meds filled and pick up some yogurt and Gatorade for George. And NO we did not get strawberry yogurt !!! It was 11 by the time we got to bed but Oh did we sleep good.
Since we've been home we have been abundantly blessed by our church family with food. Our leaves and yard were taken care of by some of our deacons. I know !
In this season of Thanksgiving our family certainly has a lot to be thankful for.

Blessings,

God is Good All the Time and All the Time God is Good !

First of all let me tell you that George is doing well. He is well on his way to full recovery ! He has been up and walked several times around the little “block” on our floor. He has made the transition from Ice Chips to Clear Liquids to a Full Liquid Diet. Me on the other hand well the food in the cafeteria is Wonderful ! I mean it. Oh and the icing on the cake ……..Starbucks !! Woo-Hoo ! Yesterday afternoon I was starting to drag and I was cold so I went to get me some Hot Chocolate. I looked on the Starbucks menu and there was a Mocha Café Latte. In plain English that is a Hot Chocolate with 2 shots of espresso added. It was goooooooooooooooooddddddddddddddd.
On another note please continue to pray for George’s recovery as I know you will. He has developed some skin breakdown on his upper legs because of having to be in the bed so long. He is not complaining, he is a trooper ! Also the Doc said we would probably get to head home tomorrow, so keep that in your prayers as well. He said to stop every hour on the way and let George get out and walk. I’m trying to get him to let me do a Harley Secret Shop in Cookeville but he just looks at me and rolls his eyes ! LOL Don’t worry folks he will be the top priority on the trip home.

OK its time to post the miracle:
On Sunday after George’s surgery, Joy, Derrick, Tybee, Jeff H., the girls and I went down to the cafeteria for lunch. We had a great lunch of Pot Roast and Mashed Potatoes. Two of the girls had Bacon Cheeseburgers and Lydia had a BLT. We enjoyed our lunch and headed back upstairs.
About 4 to 5 hours later after everyone had left I decided I would go down and get supper. I was afraid the cafeteria might close early because it was Sunday. So I started looking for my purse and it was nowhere to be found ! YIKES ! I was freaking out, on the inside anyway. I went down to the cafeteria and looked at the table where we had been sitting and it was not there. I asked a cashier if anyone had turned in a backpack purse and she said not to her. She left her cash register with me to check with some of the other employees. No one had seen it. She asked me if I knew where security was and I said no. She said I will walk you part of the way; well she walked me all the way there. We go to security and no purse. I did not know what I was going to do. My wallet, George’s wallet and our checkbook were all in my purse. I had already called the girls to see if they had accidentally picked it up when they left with Joy and Derrick. They said no they did not have it.
I looked at the young lady who was walking with me and I said ….I am just going to pray that God either puts it back in our room or somewhere that I can find it. I explained to her that we lived 4 hours away and that it was not a good situation to be in. We walked back to the cafeteria. As soon as we got there another employee walked up to my helper and said, “ You know you can’t do that, you can’t just walk away from your register like that.” Call it the Holy Spirit or Mama Bear…..at this point it was both…. I looked at that man, held my hand up and said “ You just back up off her, she is being my angel right now !” She went on back to her register and I said I am going to check at the table one more time.
Guess What …..It was under the table ! Praise the LORD ! I grabbed my purse and went over to my sweet angel at the cash register and showed her that I had found it. I gave her a huge hug, yes I did ! I said girl that’s just Jesus right there ! He is taking care of me.
I’m telling you I had to walk around in the cafeteria for a few minutes just giving God the glory. Another employee saw me and said “You found it ! “ I told her where I found it and said, “Sister, it was like God just put His hand over it and kept it there for me.”
My purse, sitting in a busy cafeteria, in a downtown hospital, under a table. It did not get taken. Say what you want but I’m saying that has God written all over it ! Praise the LORD ! Thank you Jesus !
I could go on and on about how God has worked everything out down here for our good. Hmmmmm…….that reminds me of a verse in God’s Word: And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to His purpose. Romans 8:28 (NIV)

Blessings,

Happy Anniversary Baby ....Got you on my Mind !!!

That 80's flashback was brought to you by ....My 24th Wedding Anniversary !!! That's right 24 years. Actually we have been together 29 years all together. We started "going together" exactly 29 years ago today ! We were 14 ! LOL


Well this has been an adventurous Anniversary so to warn you this will be a long post but I will start off with our Anniversary picture.

If my beloved looks a little different it's because he had surgery today! That's right Gall Bladder surgery. It all started on Monday of last week........

Monday: My husband and I along with our girls and 2 other couples from our church traveled to Middle TN for the Tennessee Baptist Convention (TBC). George woke up on Monday morning with what seemed like a stomach virus. But my husband the "trooper" took some medicine and pressed on. He drove the church van and we made the 4 hour trip to Middle TN. We got checked into our rooms and as soon as I handed him the key he disappeared. When the girls and I got to the room he was already in the bed ! He was not feeling well at all but he wanted us to go on to the TBC Mission Night and enjoy ourselves and he would have some much needed peace and quiet. The girls and I went with the 2 other couples from our church. We enjoyed a couple of hours and the headed back to the hotel. We stopped at a Kroger and got hubby some Ginger Ale, Gatorade and Saltine Crackers. Upon our return to the room he was feeling much better, was grateful for the crackers and Ginger Ale. He ate a few and drank some Ginger Ale.

Tuesday: He woke up feeling much better. We ate a continental breakfast together, went to the conference and had a great time. Just a side note about the TBC this year. Dr. Tom McCoy was the TBC president this year. He is Pastor of Thompson Station Baptist Church. This man is truly a man of God. The whole atmosphere of the TBC was different this year and I think it is because Pastor Tom and his church had poured out the prayers for the convention. He took time to talk to our girls and cut up with them a little. They loved him. My oldest daughter and I had gotten to hear him preach a little over a year ago and were truly blessed then.

Ok back to hubby, he ate lunch at the Carson Newman Luncheon on Tuesday and then we even went back on Tuesday Night to hear the Dr. McCoy preach. Afterwards we went and ate a light dinner. He had a great day.

Wednesday: At 3 am I heard a horrible noise. I quickly glanced around the room to check on the girls. I discovered that it was my beloved. He was in bathroom throwing up ! Let me just tell you, He does not throw up. That was only the 2nd time in 24 years, I promise. He was also having a lot of pain. I spoke with a good friend of ours who is a Dr. After talking with George; he suggested that we take George in to an ER to get the pain checked out. Once we got to the ER they did a couple of scans and said it was not his appendix and they did not see any gall stones in his gall bladder. The Dr. said he did not want to send George on a 4-hour trip home without knowing where the pain was coming from so he admitted George.
The 2 couples that had traveled to the convention with us took our girls, the church van and headed home. My friend Tabitha met my girls at 12:30 am at home and took them to her home until further notice. Thanks Tab !
Thursday and Friday: His had a temp and was still having pain although not as severe. His white blood count was dropping and his temp would go up and down. The Dr. said we could possibly go home on Saturday. We got in touch with the church secretary Sunny and she said her husband and another gentleman from church were on stand by to come get us on Saturday. I told her I would call after I heard from the Doc.
Saturday: The Dr. came in and said he was going to let us go home. Woo-hoo ! He also said George’s bilirubin was elevated so he wanted to do 1 more blood test. Ok so he did.
I called Sunny and got the guys headed down to get us. About 2 hours later the Dr. called and said the blood test had shown that his bilirubin was even more elevated and that maybe it was his gall bladder after all. He wanted to keep George and do another test.
George told me to go on home with the guys that were on their way to get us. I did NOT want to go! However submission kicked in and off I went. In retrospect I am glad I did.
I got home on Saturday evening and the girls were glad to see me. Molly (the dog) however was not happy that her Daddy was not home. She would not even look at me ! LOL That dog is George’s dog. She loves him like crazy !
George called me and said the last scan they did showed that it was indeed his gall bladder. He had talked to a surgeon and the surgeon wanted to do the surgery early Sunday morning. I was not happy again ! George told me to get a good nights rest and bring the girls and our van and come down Sunday Morning. I reluctantly agreed.
Sunday: The girls and I got up and hit the road around 8 am Eastern. We got into Knoxville and the surgeon called and said he was about to begin. He talked to me a few minutes and made sure that I had all my questions answered. He said they were going to do their best to do it laprascopically.
An hour and a half passed and the surgeon called back. The gall bladder was so bad that they had to make an incision and remove it that way. They also put a drain tube in. So recovery time in the hospital will be longer since we live 4 hours away.
Our girls are with our good friends Joy and Derrick who you might remember gave birth to a precious baby girl on Easter Sunday.
As of now all is going well, thanks to the pain pump ! LOL
I have HUGE God Stop to share but I am going to save that for a few days.
That’s the story in a Great Big Nutshell !
Blessings,

Cecelia

Pears, Pears and More Pears

My girls and I have been busy this week canning pears. We were blessed by a lady I met on the Freecycle Network who has 2 pear trees in her yard. All she asked was that we leave the damaged pears on the ground for the Deer that frequent her yard. We love pears and were so thankful to get them. We had a total of 29 quarts.

The thing on the right that appears to be a torture devise is acually an Apple Peeler, Corer, Slicer. It can also be used just to peel if you lay the coring/slicing blade down. This little blessing helped us to get the pears done a lot quicker !
My girls really worked hard on these pears and we will all reap the benefits this Fall and Winter.

Blessings,

What is that horrible smell ?

Oh its the Vols stinking up the field. I knew this game against Florida would not be good but I thought we could at least score a touchdown. Here we are in the 2nd half and we are scoreless !!!! We have no score but have managed to get 2 Flags thrown in 2 downs ! Um.....does anybody have a Quarterback we could borrow !?! Oh well there's always next season. Go Vols.


**********************UPDATE*********************
Final Score FL 30 TN 6 . We scored a whoppin 6 points. I don't know what made Phil think we could get a 2 point conversion when it took us 4 quarters to score a stinkin touchdown ! We nearly didn't get that one done. Oh My Goodness !

It's A Mirable......We Won !

In case you never watched Rugrats....Mirable is Tommy Pickles word for Miracle.
UT won 35-3 over UAB ! I really can't believe it. They still need work however. Jonathan Crompton threw 2 interceptions ! We can't be havin that. C'mon Phil lets get it together.
All in all it was a good game. You can read the details here. They tell it better than I do ! LOL

Pics I Promised Earlier

Here is Holli with her fav Lobster Pizza ! She loves it. Hope you enjoyed your day baby girl !

The birthday girl making a funny face ! Fifteen is such a mature age. LOL

This is what I had for lunch. Mmmmmmmmmmm, lovin me some endless shrimp ! I had a total of 40 shrimp. 1 order of the Cajun and 3 orders of Dry Scampi. I don't like the garlic on scampi, I like to dip it myself in drawn butter.

Ah yes, Drawn Butter shots again. No I didn't really drink it. You can read the history of drawn butter shots here.

This is the Titans game. I tried to get a pic of "Patty's Husband" but the teams kept hogging the camera ! LOL

This is Abigail with her new toy. I'm not sure what it is called but it turns into a huge ball thing.
She decided to put it on her head and get in her own little bubble ! LOL

My Baby is 15 Today !!! and Patty is 15 plus some !

Ok well she is not "the Baby" she is the oldest but she is still "My Baby" !

Happy Birthday Holli !!!

Happy Birthday also to my BFF Patty ! Lets just say she is not 15 ! LOL
Glad you had a good day gurl !

We had a good time today. I will post Pics from Lunch soon.

ITs FOOTBALL TIME IN TENNESSEE !!!!!

It's finally here ! Tonight is the big game. I can't wait. We are playing UCLA in California. Let's see how my Vols hold up ! The fun starts at 8:00 Eastern tonight ! GO VOLS !!!

********************UPDATE*****************

We lost in overtime :( We did fine as long as UCLAs quarterback was helping us out but once he got his act together we fell apart ! Can you say "Larry, Moe and Curley play football ! " Well we looked like that a few times. As I sit and listen to the post game show I keep hearing the words......We need to go back, practice hard and make some adjustments. No Kidding !!

Oh well there's always next week..................

Mama I'm Scared of the Storm. Can I get in your bed ?

That is the words that I heard at 3:26 am this morning from my daughter Abigail. About 10 seconds earlier I had heard a clap of thunder and a saw a flash of lightening. I knew I would be hearing footsteps, I just wasn't sure how many sets of feet I would hear.
Abigail crawled up in between me and her Daddy (who never woke up). As soon as she settled in it thundered again and here comes Molly. She is my youngest but also 4 legged ! Molly is our dog.

Now granted she always sleeps at the foot of the bed but she was scared of the storm as well. Abigail grabbed one of my hands and Molly put her head in my other one. Molly is a rescue so we wish at times she could tell us of her adventures when she lived on her own. I wonder if that has anything to do with her fears but also with her unconditional love. She is very sweet....enough about Molly, back to the storm.
As I was laying there with Abigail and Molly seeking shelter and comfort with me I was reminded of Our Heavenly Father. I thought of the verse that talks about how He shelters us under His wings, how He gathers us close to Him. I picture a Mother Eagle in her nest with her hatchlings gathered up under her wings, safe, warm, sheltered.
It made me wonder....What if instead of standing in the middle of our life storms we immediately ran God and drew close to him ? Would the storm be over quicker, would we be able to rest in the assurance of His presence, would we be able to stay calm in spite of the raging storm around us ? Hmmmmmm, a lot to think about.
In case you are wondering, I did get back to sleep but it did take a little while as I pondered. Hopefully the next time I am faced with a storm, God will hear my footsteps as I run to Him, crawl up next to Him and hold His hand and maybe even lay my head in the other hand.
Praise You Father ! You are not only the Maker of the Storm, You also calm the storm !

Blessings,

Me and my kiddos gettin all ready, gettin all ready for school !

Perhaps some of you are familiar with the song "Me and my Teddy, gettin all ready, gettin all ready for school ! This song was made popular at our house by a large, purple dinosaur back when the kids were younger....much younger. Anyway, we started school here at Miller Family Academy on Friday. I have the kids start August 1st so they can be done by the first week of May.

The kids didn't fuss too much and they really do seem to be enjoying their new cirruculum. The girls have always used the Lifeway devotionals that are age appropriate for them. They love using them everyday and can't wait to get their new one each month. They are going to continue to use them this year but we are going to do something else as well. Our Pastor, also known as Daddy in our house, is offering a scripture memorization class at church. He wants our family to participate so we are going to. We are both excited and nervous, hiding God's Word in our hearts is a wonderful and necessary thing in the life of a Christian, however the act of actually memorizing it is a not such an easy task. It will be fun and challenging !
We have now completed 2 days of school only 178 left to go !!!!

Blessings ,

God Stop Friday and More

I just realized that I have not posted since July 1st. YIKES ! So not only will this be a God Stop Friday but an update of sorts.
Hubby has been on Vacation since July 14. My daughters made up a song about Daddy being on vacation and sang it to him as soon as church let out on Sunday night July 13. We have had a great time. I have had to work a few days but that is ok because I love my Merchandising Job !
On Thursday of last week we went to visit my BFF Patty and her crew. Thanks again go out to Jason for giving up his room for 3 nights ! Thanks Man for letting us invade your space !
Patty, Georgia and I went to the Christ Church Music Conference Concerts in Nashville and had a blast. Oh my goodness if you have never heard Christ Church Choir sing then you don't know what you are missing. They are awesome !
Another cool thing that happened was that I ran into a friend that I had not seen in years. In Nashville at the conference of all places. I was walking to get a refill on sweet tea for me and Patty and I heard this voice. I was thinking it sounded familiar, as I returned to my seat I heard the same voice say my name. I looked and it was my good friend Jan and her husband Michael. Michael is a Worship leader at a church in Ohio. They were attending the conference. We connected again on Friday after the conference and talked for a couple of hours. It is so good to reconnect with old friends and catch up. We could have talked for hours and hours more !
Our family attended church with Patty's crew on Sunday and had a wonderful time. It was their Pastor's 50th birthday celebration so we had cupcakes after service !! He brought a wonderful word from the WORD. It was a 2 parter and I so wanted to go back on Sunday night and hear the rest but we had to get on the road home. Someone (DH) missed his dog !
On Monday Tabitha and I traveled to the Tri-Cities to do some store visits. We also had to go to Wise, VA. I have been to Wise before but this time we went from Bristol to Wise instread of from Kingsport. Well 1st of all we discovered a Hardees that still serves Fried Chicken. It was a gift from God let me tell you. We were so hungry and it was soooooooo good. Oh and peach cobbler, mercy me it was gooooood ! We left the Hardees and continued on our way to Wise. I don't know if we took a wrong turn or what but we got lost. But God.....oh how I love those 2 words.....But God put 2 angels in our path in the form of road construction workers that placed us back on the right path. I was driving down the road and the 1st angel(construction worker) was waving us toward him and I mean he was cranking his arm he was waving so hard. I said to Tabitha, I think we need to go this way. So we did but then stopped and asked the 2nd guy how to get to Wise and he sent us up a ramp and on our way. We got there very shortly. When we were coming back that little construction area was gone ! I am telling you the truth. Now you can say it was in a place that we did not drive back by if you want but I know God put it there just so we could find our way !
Tuesday : We went to the Smoky Mountains for a picnic. We went to the Chimney's picnic area because there is a creek for George and the girls to play in. We had a great day, Abigail helped her Daddy grill hot dogs. They were scrumptious, mostly because Abigail told me that when she was helping Georgia grill that Georgia told her to pray over them before she cooked them. So she did. Ah, the power of prayer. We had Smores for dessert . Life is so much better when you add a little chocolate. After lunch George and the girls headed off down to the creek and Molly(the dog) and I stayed at the picnic area and took a nap. They played at the creek for a while and were getting ready to come back up to the picnic area and rest a while. Abigail and Lydia came running up and said "Mom, Daddy fell in the creek and hurt his arm, come quick !" He had fallen getting out when a rock that he was standing on shifted. He dislocated his shoulder. Off we went to the ER at St. Mary's Sevier County. We got there and they took him back really quickly because it was obvious how much pain he was in. They put him on a gurney in the hallway but he still got taken care of. A great big burly guy came and rolled him to X-ray. I could not go in so I called a few friends to let them know what was going on and to ask for prayer. He was in there a good 10 minutes and when they brought him out he said " Look honey I am healed ! " He was smiling and moving his arm. When he laid on the x ray table his shoulder went back into place. He does have to wear a shoulder stabilizer for several days but he is getting better every day.
The last 2 days we have been having a yard sale and have done pretty good. Vacation is almost over but it has been good. I love the refreshing of the LORD, when we take time to enjoy it.
Sorry for the lengthy post. Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend !!!
Blessings,

(LATE)God Stop Friday and More !

I know this is 4 days late but I really wanted to share this. First of all last week was extremly busy. I worked at my merchandising dog/cat food job every day last week ! My wonderful hubby spent his day off Friday driving me around Chattanooga. Anyway back to the God Stop.
The major reason I wanted to post is this:
My youngest daughter Abigail (along with her sister Lydia) had earned some money by feeding a neighbor's cat while they were on vacation. Lydia is saving for an electric guitar and is about to get enough to buy one ! Abigail decided that she was going to buy herself a Fire Belly Toad. She went with me to one of my stores and bought one. She was also GIVEN a brand new 20 gallon aquarium to keep her frog in ! Does this girl have God's favor or what !!! We had to go to another store to buy crickets because the first store was out. So off we went and there she bought another Toad ! It is bright green and the first one was brown. We decided that she needed a container to keep the crickets in as well so later in the week I felt led to go into a thrift store, yes girls I was led by the Holy Spirit to go in this thrift store. Anyway we found a small plastic cage like you would keep hermit crabs in and it was very inexpensive, so now she has a cricket cage as well. We are really enjoying the toads. We put the cricket cage right beside the aquarium and when the toads are hungry they go stare through the glass at the crickets ! It is hilarious !

I also have a cute picture to post. On Saturday our church had Angel Food distribution. This is an awesome outreach ministry. If your church is not involved in it I urge you to check out the website and pray about being a host site. We have a great time of fellowship on distribution day. All of us bring our kids and they have a blast as well. Here is a picture of Baby Jay - Angel Food !!!

Drawn Butter Shots At Red Lobster

Patty and I had sooooooooo much fun at Red Lobster Thursday night. We had a blast taking pictures. I had eaten everything from 4 cheese biscuits to Fire grilled Lobster and Shrimp.The only thing left was the drawn butter. I looked at Patty and picked up my drawn butter cup and said "Hey Patty...look drawn butter shots ! " She immediately took the picture ! No I didn't really drink it but we laughed and laughed. I love God's gift of Fellowship, especially when it is with your BFF ! The time flew by and before we knew it Saturday was here and it was time to pack up and come home. We are already planning another trip down ! See you soon girlfriend !!BTW tell Jason that yes I will make his favorite pie next time. Heck we might even have to have that Thanksgiving in July thing !!! LOL

Blessings,

It's God Stop Friday Again!!

Ok so I know I have missed several God Stop Friday's. All I can say is that life has been crazy. So this week I have had so many God Stop's that I just had to share a few. Here we go.....

Monday: It's time to start gathering Homeschool books for the Fall. My oldest will be in 10th grade (YIKES) in the fall. She needs Algebra 2. We use Saxon Math and last year I got a bargain of "only" spending $25 for her Math. Well this year God decided to show out even more. Holli and I went to McKays Used Books on Monday. I felt God leading me there...I really did. So anyway told Holli that I was heading back to the Homeschool Book section. She said ok and proceeded to the Young Adult Fiction section. I was on my way and encountered a section I had never seen before.....It said "Math". I said ok and went to look. There on the bottom shelf was a Saxon Math Algebra 2 book, it looked brand new and guess what...it was $4 that's right $4. Oh and did I mention that I had $8 in book credit so I really didn't even pay anything for it !! Go God !!!!
Tuesday: I went to the Tri-Cities to work at my Petsmart stores. There is a Lifeway right next to the one in Johnson City. I needed to get my workbook for the Summer Siesta Bible Study. The shelf was empty ! I was a little dissappointed but God......I suddenly remembered there was a Lifeway in Kingsport which was my next stop on the Petsmart route. I found the book in Kingsport. Thank you Jesus !
Wednesday: This was business meeting night at our church. Let's just say the last several months have not been fun when it comes to business meeting. Well this business meeting was different. For the last few weeks there has been such a sweet spirit in the church. God is so good. At this business meeting we actually laughed and clapped and praised God. There was a motion made by one of our wonderful deacons to Re-Affirm our Homeschool Group and Mother's Day Out programs. Now there is a long story behind that which I will not go into but the whole group all 50-60 of them errupted in to applause when the motion was made. I was so blessed because I direct both of those programs and my husband ( our Pastor) oversees both programs. Needless to say the motion overwhelmingly passed. And yes there was applause again. God smiles on us when we choose to bless little children. Thank you Father for the love you have placed in the hearts of the people of Magna View for Children.
Thursday: Oh My Gosh Thursday !!! Satan tried so hard to steal the joy of the day from me but he failed miserably ! In your face satan, you are defeated ! Ok on with the post.... The big good event of the day was that my family and I got to come up to Murfreesboro to visit my BFF Patty. Yes I am sitting in her living room eating my scrambled eggs that my fav Greek gurl prepared.....thanks Georgia, as I post.
Last night we went to eat at Red Lobster with Patty and her family and Joy and Derrick (our former music minister that relocated to this area) and their beautiful new baby girl Tybee !
I started off the meal by eating 4 count 'em 4 cheese biscuits ! I continued the glorious meal with a Caeser salad and then had Fire Grilled Lobster and Shrimp...Girls I was in heaven. Patty took some pics and one or both of us will post those later.....get ready to laugh ! We had an awesome server named Maxx....she had it goin' on let me tol you. We decided not to have dessert at Red Lobster so............we went to the DQ Grill and Chill. I had the Chocolate Covered Strawberry Waffle Bowl Sundae ! Go have one you will not be dissappointed !
Today: I am chilaxin at Patty's....we may hit a few yard sales later, we may not. Either way we are having a good day. My Man and Barry (Patty's Brother) are golfing ! Life is gooooooood !
Be blessed my friends. I can't wait to see what God has done in everyone's life this week.

Blessings,

What A Blessing

Tonight at church we had a wonderful service ! We had a concert and it was awesome ! Kenna Turner West sang. Oh my goodness girls, she was great. I was told it was going to be Southern Gospel and I must honestly say I was not real excited about that. I am a contemporary music girl myself and I used to like some Southern gospel but got tired of it.
Our family arrived at the church early (of course we did, we are the Preacher's family), and Kenna was already there getting ready for tonight. Scott, the deacon in our church that had gotten Kenna booked , took me in to meet her. She and I immediately bonded. We only spoke for a couple of minutes. Did you ever meet someone who you felt like you had known forever and would love to just sit and chat with.......well that is Kenna. She just blessed your heart !
And have mercy the girl could sing. I loved every song that she sang. She had me laughing, praising God and yes even crying a time or 2. I know it was a miracle, I actually shed a few tears. She told a story and sang a song about her deceased Grandma who had battled Alzheimer's Disease. We had the tissues going, let me tell you.
After that song she sang one called "I'm A Mom". It was hilarious. It was sooooooo true and would be loved greatly by all you Mama's out there. I am going to try to figure out how to post it so you can hear it. Kenna said it was ok for me to do that.
Let me just tell you, if you ever have a need for someone to come sing at your church or event or retreat.....Kenna is the one. She certainly has the gift of encouragement and will just become your new best friend. She is precious.
She is the daughter of Ken Turner of the Blackwood Brothers and the daughter in law of the Late Dottie West. She lives in the Nashville area. Check out her website . You will be blessed.

Blessings,

God Stop Friday.....a little late

OK I have been waiting to post for a week......and now I am even later ! Oh well....here goes.
God truly is a good God that love to give us delights. He cares about the smallest details in our lives. And for this I give Him thanks !!
I was in our local Food Lion store just browsing, picking up a few items. I came across some of my BFF Patty's favorite bacon. Its the Center Cut kind in the really nice package. We NEVER buy this bacon because I am very frugal sometimes when it comes to certain groceries. Well....the store had 15 or so packages of this bacon marked down to $1.29, that's right I said $1.29. Cool right, it gets better. I got about 4 packs of it because it was a great price and I could freeze it to use later. I went on up to the bacon section and there were $1 off coupons for this brand of bacon. Anyway long story short......I got the bacon for .29 ! And yes I got a total of 10 packages of bacon !! Ten packs of bacon for $2.90 OMG !!!!! All I can say is..........DELIGHT ! DELIGHT ! Oh and by the way I also think that was God's little way of saying "Bacon is Good ! Eat up ! "
Blessings,

My Bible Promise for Today

You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His Wonderful Light !
1 Peter 2:9


I Love God's Word and His Promises are true ! Praise you Father for your Word.

GodStop Friday !

This is a Major God Stop !! My husband has served at our current church for 10 years. There are some wonderful people in the church and they wanted to bless my husband for his faithful service and also for his birthday. The Personnel Team collected money and purchased him this car ! It is a 2004 Chevrolet Malibu. It is beautiful and such a great blessing. My husband had a little Blue 1989 Dodge Ram Pickup truck that he and he loved his little truck. He faithfully drove it everyday. It did not have AC but he drove it anyway and just rolled down the windows. There is a boy in our church that has special needs. He is precious and also a handful. He loved George's truck ! He always asked George if he drove his truck. He always wanted to ride in the truck. So his Grandfather asked George if he could buy the truck for his grandson. We really were not looking to sell it but were glad for this gentleman to have it for his grandson.

This picture is of my middle daughter. She plays the guitar. She has been saving to buy an Electric Guitar. On Monday we were at a local amusement park with our Homeschool Group and Lydia said "Dad I found this money laying on the ground." She started counting it and it was over $50. My husband told her she should turn it in. She agreed and turned it in. The employee told her that if no one claimed it by the time the park closed that it would be hers. Well guess what.....no one claimed it so Lydia had a major God Stop and gave God the glory for her blessing.
Our family is truly grateful to God and to his wonderful people that seek to honor him and bless others ! Thank you Father !

Cinderella - Steven Curtis Chapman

Cherish every moment. They grow up too fast ! Prom is Friday !

Rotten Fruit

I love God's Word. The Proverbs are so full of wisdom. I discover something new everytime I read the Bible. I love what verse 33 says....."Whoever listens to me will live in safety and be at ease, without fear of harm." God promises us if we will just listen to Him then we will not have to worry at night when we lay our heads down to rest or any other time for that matter. It's like the trust of a child, the feeling of safety that comes from knowing their Daddy will keep them safe from harm. But if we do not choose wisdom and fear the LORD then we will be subject to eating the fruit of our ways and our schemes. Something tells me that fruit is rotten and bitter.
I also love how God uses everyday things to get His point across. There are a few more references to fruit. Psalm 1-" Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on His law he meditates day and night. He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers. Not so the wicked ! They are like chaff that the wiind blows away. Therefore the wicked will not stand in the judgement, nor sinners in the assembly of the righteous. For the LORD watches over the way of the righteous but the way of the wicked will perish."
I heard a sermon on this passage a long time ago and the Minister that delivered that message pointed out the progression of how people get "sucked in" to the evil ways and plans of others.
First they walk in the counsel of the wicked, next thing you know they are standing and listening to the ways of the wicked and before long they become so comfortable with the ways of the wicked that they end up having a seat, in the seat of mockers. We must be careful that we do not let the enemy so deceive us.
Another reference to fruit and probably the most familiar is in Matthew 7: 15-20 - "Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves. By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them."
I think all I will say about this passage is : What kind of fruit are you bearing ? LORD help us to bear good fruit !
This next passage is about the best fruit of all. Galatians 5:22 - "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law."
This of course is good fruit. Let us all be careful that we always seek the LORD in everything we do. We must bear good fruit, not bad fruit or we may end up eating our own rotten fruit !
Blessings,

Happy Birthday To My Beloved !!!

Today is my darling husband's 43rd birthday. I am only 6 weeks behind him. He had a wonderful morning of golf. Our girls blessed him with presents and cake. Now we are off to Tony Roma's his favorite place to eat ribs !!!

Happy Birthday George !!!!!

New Pics

Here are a few new pictures that I want to share. The first one is of Holli and her fella Tyler. Aren't they precious. Tyler found out the other day that I like him and approve of him so I guess I can go ahead and say it out loud now ! They have a Godly relationship(don't you Tyler). They will be attending a Homeschool Prom in a few weeks so they decided to go ahead and have their pictures made early.


This next group of pictures is from the play Beauty and the Beast that all 3 of our daughters and 4 of Tyler's siblings were in. This one is of my Lydia who played Honey the bread seller and Jacob (Tyler's brother) who played Chip.

This is my youngest Abigail. She played Fluffy the dog/footstool. She always(usually always)plays an animal. She has been the Crocodile in Peter Pan and Toto in the Wizard of Oz.
This is some good friends of ours. The one in the hat is Caleb (Tyler's brother). The other 2 are brothers and their characters were hilarious. Ryan (the younger one) was LaFou and Connor was Gaston. They did a great job.

This is Holli who played Belle and Destry(a college student) who played the Beast.
This is Holli "petting" Fluffy (Abigail). The boxed girl in the background is Casey(Tyler's sister) who played Chessie. The little girl in the foreground played the feather duster.
Here is a good one of "Gaston" trying to tell "Belle" that they were going to be married !

The above proposal made "Honey" and "Paige" (our friend Anna Lee) cry !

This one is of "Belle" and "Beast" almost professing their love ! YIKES !
These 2 cuties are Elijah and Josiah (Tyler's 2 youngest brothers). They have stolen my heart !

The kids had a great time doing the play. I hope you enjoy the pics as I enjoyed posting about them !

Blessings,

Ok so it's God Stop Friday again. Well today has been my day for God Stops ! My family is facing some upcoming decisions. Life changing decisions I might add. Well my husband said to me the other day that we need to fast and pray over these decisions. I said ok I will pray but you can handle the fasting. Those of you that know me know how I mean that. Well this morning I woke up and God was impressing on me to fast. Believe it or not I did not argue, I did it. Of course the enemy started to fight me right away. On Wednesday and Friday my friend Jennifer stops to pick up breakfast for all of us that work Mother's Day Out. So she called this morning to get our order. I told her what Holli wanted and asked her to just get me an orange juice. I thought I will make it ok on O.J. and was expecting a small size. My good friend Jen ordered me a large and guess what girls it was the size of a Mickey D's Sweet Tea ! I was floored! That was a God Stop !
The next God Stop was that my BFF Patty called me this morning and we got to pray together over the phone. It was awesome ! She too had not eaten anything this morning so God had directed our prayer time together.
I had a great day but am still seeking God for clarity of direction.
Blessings,

GodStop Friday ....on Saturday

It's that time again, GodStop Friday ! I was glad to hear that it had been a quiet week for Patty because it has been a quiet week for me too. Although I have witnessed God working mightily all around me.
I had an awesome Easter beginning on Easter eve (the night before). My "adopted" kids had their first baby. If you go here you will see the beautiful little Miss Tybee. Please pray for Joy and Derrick as they leap head first into sleep-deprived parenthood. Pray for God to strengthen them every day !
On Monday me and my friend Tabitha and I headed up to the Tri-Cities to do the merchandising job that we have together. As we were leaving our 3rd and final store we grabbed our purses out of the trunk of her car. She did not know it but her wallet fell out of her purse. Now she had already had a rough day and this only added insult to injury. But God....(those are my favorite words to type so I'm going to type them again)...But God.... had other plans, plans to prosper and not to harm Tabitha, plans to give her hope and a future ! (Jer. 29-11)
Tabitha realized her wallet was missing when an angel of the LORD (or so appointed as one that day) called Tabitha and told her that she had found her wallet. This wonderful lady also told Tabitha that she would send it back to her. Well bless God she did just that, she even FedExd it to Tab. Praise God !
I also have been blessed with a new opportunity to have another part-time job so as to help provide financially for my family. God brought this opportunity right on time and I praise him for it. He has and will continue to be my strength !
Oh well maybe it has not been such a quiet week after all. Be blessed my friends and I can't wait to see what God is going to do this week !

I'm A Grandma !! Well Sort of....

Isn't she pretty ! This is Tybee Lin and her beautiful Mommy Joy. Tybee was born very early on Easter Sunday ! Our "adopted" kids gave birth to this precious one. We actually "adopted" Joy as a college student to be her home away from home and we got Derrick in the deal. So they became our kids. They got married 5 years ago and 2 of our girls were in their wedding. Well now they have this beautiful blessing.
Derrick called us Saturday evening and said Joy was in labor. We jumped in the van and got down to the hospital. Once we were there my hubby knew I wasn't leaving until Tybee arrived.
Joy and Derricks parents were anxiously awaiting as well. Long story short....I got to stand outside the door with the 2 Grandmas and Joy's Aunt and we got to hear Tybee's first cry. How precious to hear that arrival announcement! What a gift from God on Easter. Praise you Father ! Well here are a few pics. Enjoy !
We think Tybee is lifting holy hands in this one. Getting ready for Praise and Worship !

Look at this sweet little family. Aren't they precious.

I think Daddy is a little proud of his little one !