In ALL things, give thanks!

December 2011 come and gone!

2012-01-12T11:03:00.001-08:00

This past month Jeff and I thought and prayed about how to celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior. Typically we, as most of the world, buy gifts for everyone and spread ourselves very thin. We attend every work, school, neighborhood and church function to eat sausage balls and spinach dip and play dirty santa with $5 gifts that no one in their right mind would even want. We usually spend way more money than we even have by way of the satanic credit card and for what? Is this really how Jesus would want us to Glorify Him? This year we would have been considered the Grinch family I guess. We attended very few parties and only bought what we could afford and only bought for a few people. It has taken us 15 years together of finally discovering that, yes, you can still have a nice holiday without all of the hooplah the world throws at you. We had a really nice time reflecting on how Jesus must have entered into this world and what a wonderful gift He is to our family. Our new year was pretty much the same with little money spent. We were invited to the home of the Gatlins and had the best time ever. I will guarantee we had just as much fun, if not more, than the richest person in Time Square watching the ball drop. We only had about $25 worth of bottle rockets and roman candles and ate soup and sat out in a field in middle Mississippi. I guess this past year, God taught me much but I will come into 2012 learning that the really important stuff doesn't cost a dime.

A night to Howl!

2011-11-02T16:20:00.001-07:00

My son had a Halloween costume all figured out since our trip to Wrestlemania in April. No question, he was going to dress as John Cena. After all, Jeff only spent a small fortune on accessories to ensure that he would be as authentic as possible. Will waits until Saturday morning to tell me that he has now decided that John Cena just won't do and that he now needs a new costume. I have been working like crazy for about a month now and Saturday was going to be my day to do just what I wanted. Or so I thought! I left home in search of the perfect costume and after the first two stops I realized that this was not going to be easy. I don't know about everyone's town but in this town, the people are obviously crazy about Halloween costumes. I first went to Walgreen's, because after all, they advertised just that morning that I should shop there to find hundreds of costumes. Well not so at the Laurel, MS Walgreen's. Next I went to 3 Dollar Generals, Rose's dept store, Big Lots, Burkes Outlet, CVS, Dirt Cheap and then the dreaded-Wal-Mart! I might say that even the big boy (Wal-Mart) was completely out of costumes. What could I do? I had the idea of wrapping Will in muslin and letting him go as a mummy. How cool! I was going to buy him a white sweat suit, steep it in tea bags along with some muslin and fabric glue it on. This would be perfect. I was giddy just thinking about it! My plan was coming together just fine until I got a phone call from my son. I could hardly wait to reveal my plan and once I did, I got a silence on the other end of the phone. I assumed my call must have dropped because he should have been having a ticker tape parade in my honor. Then I realized he was still there. He was rather disgusted with my idea. After a long day of striking out, I went home defeated. Sunday I drove all the way to Hattiesburg where I discovered Ultimate Party and got a makeup kit. Will was going as a werewolf! Like it or not! I did want him to be the best one he could be though so I splurged and got a professional kit and hairy gloves. I think he turned out pretty cute/scary. He was pleased and that is all that mattered! We attended trunk or treat at our church and went a few other places. Many people did not even know that it was him. I guess Mom pulled it off after all!

I guess alot has happened!

2011-10-23T15:41:00.000-07:00

Yes, a whole bunch has happened since my last blog post. Will has officially turned 10, school has started back and I am the mother of a 4th grader (which I still cant believe!!!),leaves have begun to fall and my sweet husband is now a whopping 43 years old! Life is just simply flying by and I am so blessed to be living it! God has chosen specifically to have me right here, right now and so I guess He doesn't want me to miss a minute of it either! Will actually said to me the other night-"Mom, I think I may be going through puberty." My heart sank! I didn't know that he even knew the word puberty, much less that it is something the human body "goes through". So, with much reservation I responded with the following-"How is that?". He replied "Because I have hair growing on my toes real nice and bushy like daddy's". With much relief I just laughed and checked out those hair toes of his. I do love that sweet boy of mine!

Thank God-for God!

2011-06-25T11:43:00.000-07:00

I hate to sound like such a whiny baby-But lately I have been in some great turmoil. With anyone in particular? No, just myself I guess. I find it hard to believe that there are millions of people in this world yet it is so hard to find many good ones. (I include myself in that figure) On Sunday nights I have been teaching the children of our church about the book of Exodus. I have read this book many times and felt as if I knew all there was about it. Don't you just love how you can read from the scripture over and over the exact same verses and yet God points out different messages each time? Anyway, I got to the "wilderness experience" and found myself identifying with the children of Israel. Up to this point I saw myself as a Moses esque person- a real leader. God put a hot poker on my heart to convict me of my moaning and groaning about my situations. Right now I am absolutely in the wilderness. Now, what to do about it? Do I keep pointing out our very flawed society, the lack of trustworthy and dependable people, my current state of unhappiness? I think not. God led me to this book for a good reason. When God plagued the Egyptians, it was to make them know he was their Lord; when he provided for the Israelites, it was to make them know he was their God. After all, did I not name my blog "In ALL things, give thanks!"? Instead of fretting about the lack of true friends, may I cleave to the only friend I truly need. Thank you God for being there for me when it seems no one else is! If you happen upon this blog and do not know my precious friend Jesus. I want to tell you that if you ask Him to come into your heart, HE WILL! You wont be sorry!

The Preacher's Son

2011-06-21T12:49:00.000-07:00

This was sent to me by my mother in law! I adore it! Hope you get a laugh!

An old country preacher.....had a teenage son, and it was getting time the boy should give some thought to choosing a profession. Like many young Men his age, the boy didn't really know what he wanted to do, and he didn't seem too concerned about it. One day, while the boy was away at school, his father decided to try an experiment. He went into the boy's room and placed on his study table four objects.

1. A Bible.....?

2. A silver dollar.....?

3. A bottle of whiskey.....?

4. And a Playboy magazine.....?

'I'll just hide behind the door,' the old preacher said to himself. 'When he comes home from school today, I'll see which object he picks up.

If it's the Bible, he's going to be a preacher like me, and what a
Blessing that would be!

If he picks up the dollar, he's going to be a business man, and that would be okay, too.

But if he picks up the bottle, he's going to be a no-good drunken bum, and Lord, what a shame that would be.

And worst of all if he picks up that magazine he's going to be a
Skirt-chasing womanizer.'

The old man waited anxiously, and soon heard his son's foot-steps as he entered the house whistling and headed for his room.

The boy tossed his books on the bed, and as he turned to leave the room he spotted the objects on the table..

With curiosity in his eye, he walked over to inspect them. Finally, he picked up the Bible and placed it under his arm. He picked up the silver dollar and dropped into his pocket. He uncorked the bottle and took a big drink, while he admired this month's centerfold.

'Lord have mercy,' the old preacher disgustedly whispered.

'He's gonna run for Congress.'

Summer 2011

2011-06-03T13:54:00.000-07:00

This Summer has started with quite a bang! Once again I am our church's Day camp director and somehow a teacher as well. I have 14 children in my class. Once I found out that I was not going to have nearly enough teachers, I knew there was only one option. I sat down and carefully chose the children that need "special" TLC. I did not want my other 3 teachers to quit on me in the first week so I purposely loaded myself up with those kids that need more attention than others. Some might actually refer to these kids as "bad" or "trouble makers." I find that most kids are really good if you find what works for them. Yes, I do find myself quite flustered some days but I dearly love this bunch. In fact, I am deeply in love with all 55 of them. They keep me really busy. I will try and post some pics in the upcoming weeks of all of our good times. Until then, I will leave you with this- In case you were wondering if our son had lost his adoration for the world of professional wrestling- He hasn't! This is how he ate his supper the other night.

Yes, he was also wearing leather wrestling pants and his championship belt.

Ladies and Gentlemen! Welcome to Wrestlemania!

2011-04-06T14:01:00.000-07:00

Yes, that's right! I attended my first super bowl of wrestling known as Wrestlemania. Jeff, Will and I headed to Birmingham Saturday night to stay with our parents. We were planning to get an early start Sunday morning and spend the day there sight seeing. When we arrived in Gardendale to visit our parents we decided that we would have some supper. Just before we headed into the restaurant, Jeff looked at me and had a terrible look on his face. "oh no, you are not going to believe this". What??? Yep, he had forgotten our tickets to get in to wrestling. Fine with me. I saw this as a sign that we should not go. After all, this was certainly going to put us way off schedule. Once we finished our dinner, we had my dad come meet us and pick up Will. We figured that at least one of us could get a good night's rest. Jeff and I set out on a long journey back to Mississippi. We arrived back at our house about 12:45pm. It seemed as though we barely slept and the alarm was ringing. We got back on the road and after a very quick trip to my parent's house, we made it to Atlanta by mid afternoon. We stayed at the Omni hotel at the CNN center. It was very nice. We even had our own bathrobes there. Will took full advantage of this. He looked like Hugh Hefner walking around with his smoking jacket on. We decided to quickly freshen up and hit the streets. Boy, did we see some sights!!!!!! There were many strange and unusual people who came out for this show. In my opinion, this "thing" lasted way too long. I headed back to the hotel early to order a little room service and watch police investigation shows (I love them). Jeff and Will eventually rolled into the room about midnight. They both had made a trip to the souvenier stand and as you will see in the pictures, Will was all John Cena'd out! In fact, he has barely taken his attire off since he got it. He wore those silly head and wrist bands the entire time we were in ATL and actually slept in them last night. Monday before we left we went to the new World of Coke and had a blast. I must say I was a little embaressed to be seen with two of the biggest red neck looking guys. Oh well, I love them anyway!

Auction Hunters-"Mississippi Style"

2011-02-21T14:11:00.000-08:00

Jeff, Will and I love to watch reality shows. Some of our favorite ones are American Pickers and Auction Hunters. We love to see the guys find all of the cool things they happen upon from time to time. This is why when we were invited to an auction this past Saturday night, we jumped at the chance. I am not really sure just what I was expecting but nothing could have prepared me for what I found. First of all it took place in the middle of nowhere. Second, upon entering the building the sight was as follows: naked light bulbs suspended from scary raw looking wires half taped up, mismatched seating from who knows where(we actually sat on a church pew with which the middle felt as if it would give way at any time), Pictures of John Wayne, some indians and sky divers donned the walls. As we made our way to sit down, I had to step around a blue healer (dog) to get there. We accompanied some of our dearest friends there. Landon (the husband) goes to this particular auction all of the time. He knew almost everyone in the place and they all called him by name. I had no intention of telling him how disgusted I was with this place. How on earth could they offer me anything that I would be remotely interested in? Landon went up to this folding table and registered us both and brought back our numbered paddles. The first item made it's way to the block and the auction began. It was one of the ugliest bed spreads I had ever seen. It's beginning price was $50. Who on earth would purchase this hideous thing for $50? No one! They lowered the bid to $40 and still no one held up their paddle. Once again the bid was lowered and no one nibbled. This made me feel better about my fellow bidders. The bed spread had to be put away and the next item was up. It was a heart shaped muffin pan. My friend and her husband immediately held up their paddle and bid. After a small bidding war they were the victors with they winning bid of $4. The longer I sat there, the more I began to get into this whole thing. I began to forget all about the fact that every man there was wearing overalls and had a spit cup in the bib. I almost let the aroma of cigarette smoke and goat go past me without holding my nose. Yes, I liked this!!!!! I too began to get the bidding fever. My only problem was that there were a couple of women directly in front of me who seemed to want EVERYTHING!!! Made no difference if it was a stuffed animal or a shot gun, they wanted it and were willing to bid their entire life savings for it. I did manage to win one thing though. It was a cute little white tea kettle. They even threw in a set of shoe stretchers that no one else would buy. I guess the old saying is true about not judging a book by it's cover. The cover of this book certainly wasn't too pretty but boy the pages were full of fun!

We followed up our evening with a trip to another of our favorites!

What's the DEAL with modern medicine?????

2010-12-13T17:25:00.000-08:00

Recently I injured my neck by sleeping some crazy way and was told by my doctor that he thinks I have nerve damage. My left arm aches and I have no strength in it. I can barely grip a glass of water. After a preliminary diagnosis, he felt that to really find out for sure if I am destined for surgery, I need to have an MRI. An MRI? OK, No problem!!!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAAAAHHHHAHAHA Just let me tell you! Perhaps I can get this out without crying. I know that I have been accused of being a touch dramatic but today I am being totally honest about a devastating ordeal. First, I was escorted into the bowels of the hospital for this procedure. It was in the basement, and yes, I do believe that is also where the morgue is. Once I got to my destination, I was told to take off my bra, earrings, rings, tongue rings (of which I had none), navel piercings (of which I also had none!)and anything else I had on my person that was metal. I had really spent time on my hair this morning and had pulled it back on the sides with the two cutest little decorative bobby pins. I was told that YES, that too had to go. So, here I was bra less, earring less and now had two giant bumps on either side of my head thanks to the bobby pins being removed. Once they secured my valuables, they trotted me down the hall. (I should have been blind folded with a cigarette) They placed me on my back with a pillow under my knees. They said this was for comfort!!! (HA!!) Then they tried squeezing all 850 lbs of me into a hole that would only accommodate a small Ethiopian child at best. I thought maybe they had mistaken me for some ground pork and I was going to be shoved into some sausage casing. I should have known I was staring down the barrel of trouble when they handed me a "panic button." I "squoze" the button so hard I am quite sure it will never be the same. The words of my doctor kept ringing in my ears, "Mrs. Taylor, you aren't claustrophobic are you?" Me-"No, of course not". I screamed so loudly that if there were dead people on that wing they may have flinched. The operators took it really well and actually laughed it off and made light of it. They said things like, "No problem" and "happens all the time". I'll just bet they had a good laugh when they saw me leave. They rescheduled me for an open air MRI tomorrow. All I can say is WE SHALL SEE!!!!!!!

Happy Birthday Jeff!

2010-11-03T16:40:00.000-07:00

Recently Jeff celebrated yet another blessed birthday. I wasn't exactly sure what we would do but some of our wonderful friends from church decided for us. We were invited to a small party at the home of Myrtis and Roland Gatlin. In attendance were the two of them, Mrs. Anne Sullivan, Jeff, Will and myself. It was one of the funnest times I have ever experienced. The Gatlins are up there in years and some may think that senior adults do not know how to have a good time. Wow, would they be wrong about these two. Since we have attended West Laurel Baptist, we have been embraced by these two. They have treated us not as their pastor/family, but as real family! I am not sure we have ever been so loved and cared for. Mrs. Myrtis prepared the yummiest meal ever. Mrs. Anne is also one of those special people that we have fallen in love with. She and I have especially grown close and I feel that I can share anything with her. She and the Gatlins are the definition of true friends. In this day, I have found that those kinds of friends are hard to come by. After our wonderful meal we celebrated with fun games and gifts for all of us. We love them so much and are so blessed to have them as our church family--I mean family!

Good Times!

2010-07-27T11:59:00.001-07:00

This past weekend Jeff, Will and I had the EXTREME fortune to attend Carolina Baptist Church. Jeff pastored there for a little over 7 years. Wow, it is really hard thinking back that far. I got married on Sept. 28, 1996. I could not have been a happier bride. We went on a Hawaiian honeymoon and came back to our cute little gray split level in Rock Creek, AL. We had mostly new furniture and tons of new wedding gifts to open. Life was absolutely wonderful. Every evening we came home to grill on our back deck. I fell right into the kitchen and began cooking away. Unfortunately I also began eating all of my wonderful creations, hence my current weight! Oh well, again I say, life was a bowl of cherries. UNTIL------Jeff came home one day to tell me that he thought he felt God's calling to another church. I immediately thought of the good thing we already had and let him know that I thought he should consult with God again. He did talk more to God and to my dismay, He concluded that God definitely wanted us to go to Carolina Baptist Church. "WHERE IN THE WORLD IS CAROLINA BAPTIST CHURCH"? "Andalusia, Alabama???" I quickly found out! I was only 24 years old when I finally landed there. It looked like a nice enough place. We were told that we would be residing in the pastorium. Yikes!!!! That place was right smack dab next to a cemetery and has a cow pasture in the back of it! Before long I fell right into place and fell in love with the people there. There were certainly times that I wanted to run back home as fast as I could, but, I had made a committment to God and Jeff. That first year I found out that being a pastor's wife is not exactly a walk in the park. As I'm sure the congregation there will tell you, I was VERY inadequate and immature!!!! I am still not the pastor's wife I would like to be but I do think that a few years and some past experiences have helped me quite a bit. I had a wonderful pastor's wife growing up and have known many other shining examples. I am nothing like those wonderful ladies. Through the years I have questioned God about His putting me with Jeff and I have never really gotten a clear answer. All I know is that I love God with all my heart and I love my husband with all my heart. Jeff is a pastor and will probably always be one. I have resigned myself to the fact that I am not a very good preacher's wife. I actually heard a devotion this morning at day camp from a local minister that spoke to me heart. His message was to just be yourself because God made you who you are and has a very clear purpose for your life. He used an example of an apple and a peach. He said "the apple cant be a peach and the peach cant be an apple". What he meant was don't try to be something you are not. I am not a dynamic preachers wife! I am just plain old Rebecca Ann Rooker Taylor but God made me who I am and I want to be just that! Thank you Carolina Baptist Church for filling 7 1/2 years of my life with happiness and love! Also please pray for me as I amble through this life that I often feel so ill fitted for!

God Bless America!

2010-07-13T11:52:00.000-07:00

Another smashing good time was had at our house for the celebration of the birth of our country. The water slide keeps getting bigger and I do believe the food gets better and better! This year we decided to go with kabobs! They are sooooo good! I always panic just before we have a party thinking there won't be enough food. However, there is always plenty with some left to spare. Isn't God wonderful the way He always makes sure we have all of our needs met? He also tells me not to worry and there I go worrying EVERYTIME!!!!!! As my mawmaw always said I am just a "hard head". Anyway the following are a few pics that I posted of our good time! Thank you all who came and made it so much fun to host! Thanks most of all to the men and women who have fought and some even lost their lives defending this great country. Thanks be to God, my father for allowing me the privilege to live here and worship HIM freely! GOD BLESS AMERICA!!!!!

Gold Medal Winner!

2010-06-23T08:21:00.001-07:00

This past weekend I had the Extreme pleasure of accompanying my son and husband to the State Games of Mississippi. Each county chooses their best sports players to go to Meridian and play in this competition. Will was chosen from a pool of about 80 children. I must say I was one proud mother!!!! Jeff has said that he absolutely hates soccer and that he thinks it is a sissy communist sport. Ha! He had it coming!!! Our only child LOVES soccer and is great at it. The temperature hovered around 95 degrees the entire time we were there. I must say that I have the fattest, whitest legs known to man and I was somewhat glad that they may get a glimpse of a tan. It didnt take long until my poor appendages were hot pink and felt like I was sitting in a frying pan. While we were there we camped at Okatibbee and visited the water park. All in all, we had a wonderful time and were so elated that our precious young son received a gold medal. GOOOOOOOO Will!!!!!! Perhaps one day we can watch him win the World Cup (Dream)

Check it out!

2010-06-10T14:24:00.001-07:00

This summer I took the position as Day Camp Director for my church. It will last for 11 weeks. Boy, is it going to be a long 11 weeks!!! Nah, just kidding! I have already fallen in love with the kids. We have 38 enrolled and they are all just precious. Today we took them to the bowling alley and then to the park for a picnic. When we first arrived I found the coolest gum ball machine ever that was stocked full of stick on facial hair. Is that the bomb or what? I have always been a sucker for a lady with a stache! This was my souvenir for the day. I will try and post some pics as the days go by of some of these kiddos!

Seems like old times!

2010-05-29T11:31:00.001-07:00

Last weekend Jeff, Will and I had a trip planned to Birmingham for me to attend a seminar and for he and Will to hang out with family. Instead we lost a dear sweet friend and Jeff was asked to do her funeral. Due to the fact that I had this planned for several months we decided that Will and I would go alone. We headed out right as he finished school. About half way there he began to ask me questions about my family and childhood. He has really never shown any kind of interest much in the past so I assumed he didn't care who his mother and daddy were before he knew them. I must say I was very tickled that he wanted to know EVERYTHING about me all of a sudden. It was really awesome because as we approached my most favorite place on planet earth (Birmingham area) I was able to actually show him some of the places that I was talking about. My mother is the grim reaper and was certain that we had been killed for sure somewhere between there and Laurel and I knew that I would take a real chewing when I got there for being so late but I decided I did not care. If my son showed any inkling of an interest in me then it was well worth it. As a baby, Will loved me and showed it by constantly wanting me to hold and cuddle him. As an 8 year old boy, however, he only shows me in private when he is absolutely positive that no one else can see him. He says I do "things" to embarrass him. Anyway, I took him by my elementary school and high school. I was told that Mortimer Jordan High will not be there much longer and this breaks my heart. I think it is the very BEST school in the entire solar system. I would be the absolute proudest mother ever to have my offspring attend my alma mater. Oh well, I guess that will never be. I did at least get to make his picture by the blue devil. As we cruised around my old stomping ground I found more and more I wanted to show and tell him. I took him to Barger Roller rink (where I got my first kiss)(this did not impress him and he said he was going to tell his daddy). We rode by my best friend since 8th grades house and said hi to she and her family. Visited Metro Mart on the highway where all of my "teenage" friends would buy our Marlboro Red cigarettes (they never once asked for our ID). As we drove past Morris cemetery he even noticed that there was a tombstone next to the road with the name ROOKER on it and asked if they were kin to me. Of course, how could I not take him to the graves of my beloved Maw Maw and Grand daddy? The trip down memory lane was exciting for him but somewhat sad for me. It made me realize how much I miss my home and all of the things that I have missed out on. I haven't seen any of my highschool friends in years except for the occasional visit home and just a chance meeting. Several of them have even died. My parents have aged and seem to get more "old" looking and acting each time I go home. New housing developments have popped up all over and it has gotten to where I barely recognize my own hometown anymore. I pray that God will some day lead me back to the place that I became "ME".

This is the church I attended from the time I was born until I married in 1996. My parents still go there.

This was me when I was Will's age. I was just about to start 3rd grade. Check out that groovy paneling behind me!

Yes, I am standing on a toilet in this picture. I could not see due to all of the other high school girls primping in the mirrors in front of me. It was the only way I could fix that birds nest poof of mine!

This is me on the left and my friend Alisa on the right just before we went to the prom. Wasn't my hair beautiful? I think I used a whole can of Rave 3 to get it to stay up there like that!

Wow, first grade seems like 30 years ago, Wait, it was 30 years ago. BTW, Mrs. Vanfleet was awesome!

First thru sixth grade here at John E. Bryan Elementary "Home of the Little Blue Devils"

Awesome high school with some of the finest teachers anywhere! I spent 7th-12th grade here! My grandmother Louise was a graduate in the first few years of it being opened so many years ago.

Until I got my license, I spent almost every Friday night (not during football season of course) here at Bargers. My daddy would give me $5 and told me to bring him any change. HA! He never got any back!

I wish I had a dime for every time I went here and bought a Mello Yello or a pack of Big Red gum.

Yes, I too rode the cheese wagon. I must say I had some pretty good times on this. I sure learned alot. My parents would have died if they had only known what conversations happened on Coach Wayne Counts bus route! Who needed the birds and bees from mom and dad? Just keep your ears peeled and let the older kids fill in the blanks! This is precisely why I take my son to school everyday! He'll learn soon enough as it is!

These crosses are right beside their graves. I think they are so beautiful. I miss you both sooooo much. Look forward to seeing you again!

Will, this post is for you. Maybe it will answer some of those questions you have about what kind of woman gave birth to you. I love you!

Let's Get Ready to RUMBLE!!!!

2010-05-18T15:13:00.000-07:00

Recently Jeff took Will down to Mobile for a father/son outing. They went to WWE wrestling. Will has become in love with this "sport" and even says that when he grows up he wishes to pursue a career in the field or as a scientist. (I am pulling for the science thing). In my younger day, I would have been right on the band wagon to join these two. Every Monday night at Boutwell auditorium in Birmingham,AL Lisa Maddox and her parents would pick me up and off we would go. There were a few other girls from our school that would meet us there. They were Lynn and Julie Moore. Now keep in mind we were in the 4th grade. We each had a "boyfriend wrestler". We would actually pretend that they knew we existed and loved us right back. First of all, they would have been put in the federal pen for even looking our way and second, I am quite sure these were probably happily married men. Oh, if only my mother knew what I was up to, I am positive that I would have been whisked off to church instead of CCW wrestling on a school night. These matches were televised the following Sunday afternoon. I loved wrestling and my pretend life so much. My little fun ended one day when I was seen on television by my father making a lude gesture to my "boyfriend's" competitor. He wasn't impressed or humored in the least. Though I did not attend the event with my boys, Jeff reports that Will has the same excitement and vigor for wrestling just as I did so long ago. Instead of pretending that they are his boyfriends (thank you Lord!!!!) He pretends to actually be them. Everywhere we go we see him crouching into a wrestling formation.Makes no matter if it is church, the library, grocery store, etc....... He has action figures and a tiny little wrestling ring. His wrestlers ride with us to school everyday and even sleep right next to his bed in his easter basket. Perhaps one day some little silly 4th grader will be in love with my "wrestling son." Please dont forget mom and dad!

This was my "man" in the red shorts. Cute, huh?

Here is a close up of Brad Armstrong. Back in the day he had a curly mullet that would make any 9 year old melt!

Don't worry Will is saying "number one"

This is the Big Show, he is my new favorite!

Home Sweet Wal-Mart

2010-03-06T18:16:00.000-08:00

Last night Will had a little friend to stay for a sleep over. He is a very sweet child and was very good. They ate lots of Pepperoni pizza and played very hard until time for bed. I went on to bed early and Jeff tucked the boys in. I said my prayers and I was out cold UNTIL------ Jeff came storming into our bedroom around 1:00 AM and woke me by shutting our door rather loudly. Of course I sat up and asked what was going on. He replied by saying that "our little friend" had been coughing for hours and he was very irritated. I told him that he could not just simply close the door on this sick kid and pretend that he was not there. I decided that I had to go and check him out. Just as Jeff had said, the kid was hacking. This was not a robust productive cough but rather just a little, VERY annoying kind that came about every 2-3 minutes. I asked him if I could give him a cough drop and he said "no, once I ate one in church and it made me throwed up". (Yes, he said "throwed up"). Well, after consuming half of a pepperoni pizza, I did not fancy the thought of cleaning that out of my already dismal looking carpet. I then decided that I would offer him a cool cloth and a glass of ice water. He accepted and to make a long story even longer, this kind of thing went on ALL NIGHT LONG!!!!!! The boys had a soccer game this morning and had to be at the field by 8:30am. As you can imagine, I was/am VERY tired. Anyway, they played 2 games and lost them both, badly. After the games and we had given our friend back to his rightful owners, I decided that I would leave my two boys at our church and I would go to Wal mart and purchase our monthly groceries. I love my two guys more than a little but do not like to take them grocery shopping with me. They and I are much happier this way. So, I drop them off at about 1:50pm and tell them I will return in an hour or so. I get there and do my shopping. I spend about $300.00 and decided at this point I need to get outta there quick. Also, time has really crept up on my and it was a little after 3:00pm. Time really does fly by in there for some reason. I actually enjoy grocery shopping. I like buying things and thinking up ways to make good suppers. Ok, so then it is check out time and then out to my van. There she sits, poor little gold mini van that I have had forever. She is waiting on me with her "BAMA" tag and her "McCain/Palin" bumper sticker. I can tell she has missed me. I open her up and fill her to capacity. I open the front passenger door and deposit my keys on the seat and then I close the door and then it happened. My door made a crazy but familiar noise. My heart almost stopped. It was the sound of all of the doors locking. Even though I had pressed no buttons, she locked me out with my keys on the seat. I got very still and tried to remain calm. I did have my cell phone. I decided that I would just simply call Jeff (who, by the way, always keeps a spare set of keys to everything with him at all times) and he would drive the church van up there and let me in. I called him and got no answer. I called the church and got no answer. I called my friend Lauree and got no answer. I called my friend Anne and got no answer. See where this is going??? I tried 11 more people and got NO ANSWER. Ok, what to do??? Ah, I said to myself, how often do I come to Wal mart and not run into someone that I know. Thats it, I will just go sit in Subway and wait for all of these friends to come pouring out and ask one of them for help. 1 and 1/2 hours later, I decide maybe I don't know anyone in this entire place. Maybe I dont have as many friends as I thought I did. At least none of them were at Walmart anyway. My $300 worth of groceries were baking away in my van and I am sitting here like a zombie from sleep deprivation in Laurel Walmart subway on a beautiful sunny afternoon. I finally think of one lady who lives relatively close to the church and find her at home on the phone. I explain to her what predicament I am in and she says she will be glad to pick up Jeff and Will for me and bring them to me. I waited another 35 minutes for a trip that should have taken this woman about 10. She calls me from her home to tell me that she went to the church and Jeff isnt there because his truck isnt there. I wanted to scream!!!!!! Of course, his truck isnt there. He rode with me. She was totally confused. She argued with me for at least 10 more minutes before I could make her understand. After another 35-45 minutes, I look to see my knight in shining armour arrive on our church van to rescue me with his spare key. He pulls up to tell me that his spares are in my van. We had to drive all the way down to our house (30 minutes out of town) to get our other spares and then back (30 more minutes) to open the van door. I was pretty chapped at "Goldie" (my van) for the trick she had played on me but was very happy to find that she had kept my groceries cool. I know that this has certainly been a long story but I want you to know that it is now 8:52pm and I have only just now put my groceries away. I learned alot today. Mostly from hanging out at Walmart but I am just too pooped to share that now. Perhaps another day!

Whatever shall I do?

2010-02-18T14:54:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow Jeff is leaving and taking my precious little boy with him. They are headed off for a father/son hunting trip. They will be staying overnight. At first, I was a little scared about them leaving me all to myself but the more I have thought about it, it sounds kinda good! I have even been contemplating what I might do with this free time. Perhaps I might do my nails!

Okay that will only take me about 30 minutes! What else? Oh I know, I could go out to eat!

Or maybe a movie?

No, neither of those would be good because I would just feel plain stupid going out to eat alone and there really isn't any movie that I want to see playing right now. What about going to the beach?

Nah, too far! And besides, Mississippi has really ugly beaches anyway. I guess I could always call my buddy Lauree and we could go shopping.

The only problem with that is that I would probably need some money and I have very little and also Lauree has 4 kids! I love them but do not fancy an outing with them to the mall! UGH!! What else is there? Am I just going to have to sit and cry at the thought of them leaving me?

Ok, I have thought of what I should do! First, I will sleep late!

Next, I think it is high time that I cleaned my house. It is very dirty and has been neglected since I started back to work!

Then, just before they arrive home from a long tiring weekend with no good food, I will prepare them a wonderful home cooked feast to welcome them in from the cold.

I do look forward to some time alone but will miss my boys terribly while they are gone! Lord, please take care of them for me! I cant wait till they are back home safe and sound!

SCRAMBLED! Bewildered! Just plain crazy!

2010-02-09T06:43:00.000-08:00

This is exactly the way that my brain feels lately! My life has had so many changes in the past year that I really feel kind of lost! Not in a spiritual way of course but just in a human being kind of way. Does that make any sense? I went from the same old, same old mundane life ( one that I happen to like very much) to feeling like my life was in a snow globe and some little kid picked it up and shook it violently! The snow pieces didn't fall back in the same place and the snow man has been left feeling a little dizzy! I guess what I am getting at is that I am searching for direction! In my 36 years of life I have always been so sure of who I was and where I was going. I am very stubborn and when I wanted something I usually found a way to make it happen. Of course, God has had everything to do with my journey but He has allowed me to be very sure about things. UNTIL NOW!!!! For instance, I went from working a job to staying at home to now working 3 jobs! I just feel so pulled from one direction to another. Perhaps this is exactly where God has placed me for a reason. Maybe I have been TOOO sure of myself for way too long and He is ready for me to put complete trust in HIM. Let me tell you friend, if you have never been here, IT IS HARD!!!! Trust may come easily for some people but it has never been one of my strong points. I have become jaded somewhat over the years due to being hurt by some of the people you love the most. I dont think that you should ever grow hard to people but sometimes it is really difficult to keep putting your heart out there only to have it trampled on again and again. I spoke to a very wise friend recently that after I said that exact statement to her, she replied "so what, Jesus did the same thing. He gave Himself unconditionally to every man over and over and still does and HE even knew that this same bunch was going to kill him". Boy is she right!!! Maybe I shouldn't be praying for direction but instead for contentment. God, let me be happy right where I am!!!

Freaked Out!!!

2010-01-23T08:09:00.000-08:00

Ok, for about a month now SOMETHING has been scurrying around above my head as I lay in bed. Jeff and I can be lying there trying to go to sleep and we hear IT! It is something that has obviously gotten into our attic. Some have suggested that it may be a mouse. If it is a mouse, then it is the size of a grown man. At first HE favored the attic part above the bedroom only. Now HE roams freely all over the house. I am SOOOOOOO freaked out! I keep telling my BRAVE husband that he should do something but I think he is freaked out too. As I sit here typing it is scurrying around up there right now. Oh no, what if it falls through?????? EEEEKKKKKKKKK!!!!!! I want to just pack up and move. I guess a braver girl would poke her head up there and face it like a real cowboy. But I have never wanted to be a cowboy so I guess I will just go get groceries and leave IT to devour my home while I am gone. Any suggestions blogger buddies????

Wow, Have I had a good nap!

2010-01-16T18:21:00.000-08:00

Been gone for a long time but have decided that it is time to start this up again. I have allowed alot of things and people rob me of some of my joy but I am ready to move forward and hopefully, not look back. I always enjoyed doing this in the past because it is such a good way to chronicle my thoughts and feelings and fun family events. If you want to read you can and if not, that is ok too. I am mainly doing this for me but will gladly share with whomever wants to read or just look at the pictures (unless you are some kind of a weirdo and in that case--go find someone else to be weird with cause you don't want to mess with me - trust me!).

Special Blessings

2009-08-11T11:33:00.000-07:00

As of late, I have been doing a lot of thinking. Thinking about the Goodness of God. I have had some special circumstances in my life this year in particular that have made me sit up and take notice. God has used these things and some very special people to point out to me just how wonderful my life is. He often showers me with His "special blessings". I do not deserve His love and these "extra" things He does for me. In fact, I do not want what I have coming to me. I think back on my Maw Maw. She was such a sweet thing who often went out of her way to let me know how much she loved me like baking me my favorite dish or playing games with me or letting me put on all of her jewelry. I know that she loved me already but she just went that extra mile to let me know just how much. Now, I certainly do not parallel Maw Maw with God but in a way it is kind of the same, just on a much grander scale. He loves me and you too, so much that not only does He provide our necessities, but He wants to give us sweet little gifts all along just to remind us that He is here and He is listening to our hearts and desires. As I unloaded the pictures from my camera, His love begin to show so brightly to me. In the past few weeks He has allowed me to spend time with some of the most precious people in the world to me. I have also gotten to witness my son turn one more year older. We traveled to Birmingham to spend time with our family. While there we celebrated Will's birthday. I rode there with my sweet friend Ann Sullivan and got to hear all of her funny and sweet stories of her blessed life. I got to spend time with almost every member of mine and Jeff's family and even got to go out with my all time best friend from high school, Julie Chandler Miller. The next week we were delighted to welcome the Yates family from Andalusia, AL. We spent an entire weekend swimming, laughing, eating and just catching up on hugs and conversation. They attended church with us on Sunday and it was so sweet to once again be able to worship next to such good friends. A big thank you goes to my heavenly father who has given me much though I deserve nothing.
His goodness often leaves me speechless and that is a big thing for me.

So Busy!!!!

2009-07-29T13:55:00.000-07:00

Until school starts back, my life is insane!!!! I really do not have time for a real post so until after Glade Elementary opens it's doors for a certain little second grader, this will have to suffice! I worked late alot this past week and when I do that I have discovered that total anarchy reigns at my house. Jeff usually plops in front of whatever television isn't already taken over by the Disney channel and Will is left to do what he pleases pretty much. I had been having these suspicions for quite some time and had them solidified when I came home to find Will in this:

He told me this was his battle gear. I wonder who he was going to battle in this!!!!

2009-07-16T14:42:00.001-07:00

Create your own

I found this on the web and thought it was cool!!! Try it on yourself. My hair is not right but they didnt offer an ugly brown hedge bush. Other than that, I think I captured "ME". Actually, my cartoon me is a lot prettier! Anyway, it was fun!

Independence Day Blow Out!

2009-07-06T11:40:00.000-07:00

On Saturday, July 4, 2009, My family hosted our 4th annual outdoor party. We actually started preparing about a month ago. Jeff and I have mowed, trimmed hedges and weeds, pressure washed any and everything that we could blast with water, reworked our gold fish pond and other things that fail my brain at this point. We have a very clean house and yard but have made one discovery----We are getting TOO OLD for all of this. We both absolutely love to throw and host events at our home. I find that it is such a good way to get to know people more intimately than just saying hi on occasion. There is just something about the warmth of a home that forces you to let your guard down and just be you. Those are the kind of people that we like to be around, just being themselves. I told Jeff when we first married that he would probably never pastor one of those big stuffy churches because once they met me they would not even consider him for that position. Jeff and I both are just plain old country people who enjoy hanging out with people that are just plain old country people as well. I want the kind of home that nobody would give a second thought to slipping their shoes off and kicking back with a glass of iced tea and joining us for a meal or a movie. Our home is certainly not a fancy one but I hope that it is seen as a place of love and friendship and most importantly one where God abides. We had a wonderful time with our friends. I hope all of our friends know that we love them very much. It was a great time to reflect on the holiday itself and be thankful that we are free to fellowship. God Bless America!!!! and thank you for letting me be born in this wonderful country. P.S. If anyone would like to come for a visit, this would now be a good time since the house and yard are so clean just give us a week to recuperate first.

Is marriage still sacred?

2009-06-23T12:09:00.000-07:00

Last night I watched the much anticipated episode of Jon and Kate plus 8. I prayed so hard that I did not hear the word divorce. Yes, I actually prayed for these people that I do not really know. Once I heard that they were splitting up, I cried. My husband thinks I have completely lost my mind for getting so involved with these "reality shows." The two of them kept saying that they were just putting their kids first and I just find that hard to believe. I mean any kid would say that they would rather have their parents together and in love. I know that in a perfect world there would not be divorce. However, since the fall of man, it is a way of life. They both said multiple times that their kids were the reason for everything and that they were absolutely number one in their lives. I am sorry but that is their first mistake. Your kids should be one of your top priorities but your spouse should always come first. When I was a little girl and we sassed my mother, my dad would say "Don't you talk to MY WIFE like that"! It may sound ugly but we always knew that my dad would always take my moms side over ours in any situation and he was 100% right in doing this. Parents that allow their children to become their whole lives will one day be very sad when those babies grow up and get out on their own. But, you are stuck with that spouse that you have been ignoring all of those years until you die. After all, that is the promise that one makes when they say their wedding vows. Not only to each other but also to God, our Father. My family has certainly been touched by divorce. Both of my brothers have been divorced and it has had so many repercussions with our entire family. I grieved along side them when they both went through this. Children were involve in both circumstances and that is never good. I really don't know what causes divorce. I guess everything from adultery to just plain not getting along. I just wanted to shake both Jon and Kate and say "Don't do this, you can make things right, just forgive each other and love"! I am not foolish enough to believe that my marriage is perfectly safe from these evil snares. I know that it is only by the grace of God that my marriage has survived and is stable. I give all of the glory to my God and praise Him daily for my husband and the fact that he lets God lead us. I know that everyone does not do that and that he is a pastor but let me say that the divorce rate amongst pastors/wives is extremely high. I just pray that God will keep us pure and true and that we only physically, spiritually and emotionally embrace each other as long as we both shall live. I am not judging people that have been through divorce, in fact I am saying that I am so sorry for the heartache that they have endured. If you know someone who is contemplating a decision to divorce then you should get on your knees and cry out to God on their behalf. Actually we should be crying out to God on a regular basis for all of our marriages, good or bad. At any time if we let Satan, he will quickly pounce and break our families apart. I know that I have been on my soap box about this but it has just troubled me and I feel that God has used this show to put marriage on my heart. Let's pray for God to restore the marriage of the Gosselin family and in the meantime, that He will be with those poor children as they adjust to their broken apart family. I am thankful today for the gift of unity in my marriage.

You Might Be a Redneck if..............

2009-06-17T12:13:00.000-07:00

If you ride in the back of a pickup truck from Laurel,MS to Gulf Shores, AL covered by a tarp, with fishing poles and camper sewer hoses resting at your feet. Guess what! I guess that'd be me. Tuesday night my family hitched up our camper and headed for the beach. We invited a friend for Will and therefore only had room in the front of the truck for 3 people with seat belts. Good old mom got to go in the back. I was actually planning on just riding in the camper until we found out that it is highly illegal. Instead option number two had to be put into play. It sounds really bad but actually other than a few bugs in my teeth and muscle cramps from having to hold the tarp on top of me, it really wasn't so bad. At first it was scorching hot so the cool air felt really good. After about an hour, I began to freeze. I stopped and got batteries for my MP3 player so once I nestled under my tarp, I was absolutely fine. I sang my heart out to everything from Travis Tritt to Elton John (quite a vast difference huh?). My audience was the birds and the pavement and neither seemed to mind that I was a little off tune. I used my time to not only play McGyver by using my shoe laces to secure my tarp, but also to talk to God and just plain reflect on life. All in all, I would have to say I kind of enjoyed my windy ride. Once I laid down, no one other than truckers even knew I was there. I am sure they were wondering about the body they say partially covered by a blue plastic tarp though. Anyway, once we arrived and got all set up the rest was easy. We just had to go and have a good old time. That was no problem! The weather was absolutely gorgeous. We found so many shells and even some crabs. I caught a huge one just off the shore. Slade's dad came and picked him up on Friday morning so I got to ride in the front on the way back.

We stayed and stayed on the beach. We also shopped alot. I discovered Old Time Pottery and would like to be buried there when I die. I have been looking for some decorative rocks to go around my fish pond and ran across a little place called Fran's that had the most beautiful koi and gold fish pond. They sold the rocks I was looking for at 12 cents per pound. I bought $28 dollars worth and had a pile.

Here are a few more pics. I used a new camera on some of these and they have a crazy date. I also tried some black and white and sepia. We had a blast and I was not ready to come home. I didn't wear makeup the entire time and wore a ball cap and a pony tail.
Today I am thankful for time away with my guys. Thank you Lord for good family memories being made.

Instruction from the wise

2009-06-08T08:31:00.000-07:00

Some time ago Will and Jeff came walking up from the lake lugging a big blue bucket. I am never quite sure what these two may conjure up so I was pleasantly surprised when Will showed me this bucket of "cool looking mud." I looked in to find that it was actual clay. These two had somehow discovered a natural clay pit right down from our house. I was sooooo excited. I love to work with clay. I took some sculpting classes in the past so I do have some rudimentary knowledge of what to do. I mentioned our discovery to one of dear friends/church member. He has recently really gotten into sculpting and wanted to come out and take a look. Since he was coming anyway, I asked him to bring some of his sculpting tools and give us all a lesson. He agreed and brought his wife and grandchildren. We also had our friends the Headricks to come along for this ride. We made a whole afternoon out of it. We all headed to the lake where the discovery was first unearthed. Once we gathered enough to work with we went back to our place for a dinner of crawfish, shrimp, fresh corn on the cob, twice baked potatoes, delicious slaw and salad and cupcakes for dessert. Once we were thoroughly bloated, we convened to the carport for our lesson. There were many "ghost (the movie)" comments and much laughter. Mr. Roland doesn't hear very well so he did not let this deter him from the job at hand. His wife brought along many items that he has already done and even presented me with a pretty little blue coffee cup and a set of praying hands. Mr. Roland decided that he would show us how to make an herb box with a lid. I chose to make an apple and a rabbit. Will made Squidward (co star from sponge bob). Will has made many attempts at old Squidward and each time I have to wonder just how his little brain thinks. Anyway, we had a great time and I certainly look forward to it again in the very near future. I have decided that though I love to work with clay, for now I had best keep my day job!

Today I am thankful for: Friends young and old that bless me with their love.

Crock Pot Lover

2009-06-05T13:16:00.000-07:00

Yes, I LLLOOOOVVVVEEEEE crock pots. Almost a little unnaturally I admit. I have 7 of the delightful gems. Nothing pleases me more than to throw a bunch of stuff into one of my precious little friends, wait 8-10 hours and PRESTO!!!! A delicious meal with little or no mess. Through the years I have been fortunate enough to procure many different styles, colors and sizes of my pots. I guess you could say I am some what of a crock pot collector. I really have an unusual obsession with them. I have cooked everything in them from soups and stews to baked potatoes. Since we got our camper, I have even invented some recipes. I am sure that I am not the only one to ever fix this but I did modify it for my crock pot. One of my favorites is as follows: Beef Pepper Steak

3 lbs of thin cut steak
3 bell peppers seeded
2 yellow onions
1 bottle of Lite soy sauce ( I have high blood pressure so this cuts down on sodium)
4 tbs of cornstarch
2 tsp of sugar
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup of "e-v-o-o" as Rachel Ray says (extra virgin olive oil)

Fill skillet with oil and brown the following: steak, onions and peppers.

Don't cook meat and vegetables fully, just brown. Once you have browned these, pour all contents of the skillet into crock pot.

Add Sugar,salt, pepper and about 3/4 c of soy sauce, cover with lid and cook on low for 6-8 hours.

Just before serving, add corn starch to the hot liquid and stir until it becomes thick. Also, you may need to add some more soy sauce depending on your taste preference.

Serve over white or brown rice.

This is so yummy. I served it with a green salad and corn on the cob. Try it for a quick supper!

We are Terrible People!!!

2009-06-01T08:54:00.000-07:00

Last year my husband forgot his mother's birthday. We were reminded of it many months later. I am sure that it really hurt her feelings. It was simply an oversight due to our VERY busy lives. I know that is no excuse but we are on the go non stop it seems. After last year I personally vowed to maintain some sort of chart system or something to keep up with everyones special holidays. I called my father in law the other day at work and he reminded me that Jeff's mom had her birthday three days before. What????? Had we done it again????? I could not believe it!!! I wanted to crawl under my desk and die!!! After a good tongue lashing from him, I quickly hung up and called Jeff to let him know that we had once again left his mom in the cold. He pondered over the situation and called me back to say "We are going to Birmingham in the morning to surprise her with a visit". "OK" I said "But my poor old van will probably not make it and we have invited Will's friend Slade to spend the day with us". No problem, we will just have to rent a car!!! Rent a car??? Boy, had we gotten ourselves into a big old mess!!! Anyway, we took off up there on Friday and really did surprise her. I was also able to visit my mom for a little while. We took Jeff's parents out to their favorite restaurant Nikki's downtown.

The food was delicious and we had a great time! Will got and gave much love to his grandparents and I hope Jeff and I got out of the doghouse!

On our way home Jeff suggested that we go out of our way a little bit and show Will the first home that he and I lived in after we got married. It was such a cute house in a nice subdivision. It had 4 bedrooms and an attached garage. We worked so hard on it. We had paint parties and had my dad to put in new kitchen cabinets, countertops and flooring. We worked on the yard and planted shrubs and flowers and even painted the outside. We were so proud of that house and all of our hard work. We actually only lived there for one year and then Jeff accepted a new job in Andalusia, AL. Once we got to the subdivision, I began to reminisce about that happy little newlywed couple who moved into that place 13 years ago. We lived all the way at the very end in the cul de sac. With each turn and twist my excitement grew. I planned on taking pictures. Then, there we were!!!! My excitement quickly turned to horror!!! Our beautiful home had been turned into a haunted house complete with waist high grass and weeds, shredded plastic mini blinds, broken windows with tape repair work, rotten shudders and last but not least, a vast array of the oldest junkiest cars they could possibly muster up! I was and am still devastated. Will and his friend Slade shrieked with laughter at the sight of that place. They said "No, really, which house was yours"? Needless to say, I did not take any pics, I was kind of afraid that we might be shot to death hanging out in the drive way. After this terrible trip, we decided that since we were in the neighborhood, we should go and show Will the first church that Jeff pastored. It was actually still there and in relatively good shape. We had such a good time and hopefully we can remember Jeff's moms birthday next year. The thing I am thankful for today is: I don't live in that Hueytown home anymore!!!!

Rain, Rain, Will you ever go away??

2009-05-24T15:28:00.000-07:00

Jeff and I had all of these exciting plans to finish our outdoor fountain/fish pond, plant flowers and bedding plants, prune hedges and box woods, finish cutting up all of those trees that he and Casey cut down a couple of weeks ago and anything else that needed to be done in our yard. We love to camp in the summer and know that we must get our yard in good shape so that all we have to do is an occasional weed pull and cut the grass. However, our plans were vanquished this weekend with torrential down pours of rain. I mean it wasn't one of those light mists that can actually be helpful in cooling things off. It was as if God just opened up a flood gate and said "Let er Rip." I do love watching television so after many mind numbing hours of Mrs. Neicy Nash(Clean House) telling me just how dirty everyone else in America keeps their house and getting caught up on all of my recorded episodes of Wife Swap and Trading Spouses, BTW I LOVE those two shows!!!!, ironic for a pastor's wife huh?, I decided that maybe I could find something a little constructive to do with my time. It started first with my kitchen refrigerator. I had no idea that cool whip could turn blue!! I mean my fridge was in REALLY bad shape. We had 4 bottles of French's mustard in there. Who opened a new one before the old one was used up???? Anyway, once my fridge was spotless, I moved on to the freezer. Once again I am amazed at what turned up in there. Some things were unidentifiable and I wasn't willing to thaw it in fear that it might come back to life and massacre my family. We (by we, I mean ME) moved out to the shed in the back and defrosted and cleaned out that freezer. Doesn't all of this sound like SOOOOO much fun???? All of this was on Friday. On Saturday I was so ready to get out and get started on that fish pond and those flowers. Guess what???? Yes, it was raining on that day too. My sweet husband had the great idea of us going to Hattiesburg and going to IHOP. Have any of you seen those commercials of that lucious looking CREAM CHEESE filled french toast? Every time it comes on I begin to lust!!! I know that it is wrong to lust over people but is it wrong for food??? Well just let me tell you that it was all I thought it would be AND MORE!!!!!!! If you have the opportunity to go there I HIGHLY recommend anything slatered with cream cheese and whipped cream!!!! Though my plans for yard renovations did not quite turn out like I wanted, all in all, I had a great weekend with my family. What am I thanful for today???? THE RAIN

Happy Mothers Day /Thanksgiving to me!

2009-05-10T10:51:00.000-07:00

What a great life!! God has certainly given to me more than my tiny brain could ever imagine. Just merely going out in our yard and looking around or walking to the lake I am taken back at the majesty of this art work that God has painted and given to me. I especially look at my sweet boy and know that he is such a precious gift to me. My heart melts every time I think about the joy that he brings his daddy and I. I can now even joy in the fact that I am a mother of two and one day we will reunite with him/her. A friend told me recently to remember to give thanks in everything. Sometimes even when we dont quite understand- just give thanks! That is how I want God to find me- Giving thanks!!!!

Glass half full or half empty?

2009-04-26T12:36:00.000-07:00

Through our recent loss I have made many self discoveries with God's help. I will admit that I really let many things bog me down through all of this. I was to the point that I thought God was really mad at me. After speaking to a friend lately and telling her just how I felt, I realized just how silly I sounded. I have always thought of myself as a happy, jolly, friendly person. (some may disagree) However, I had gotten to the point that I had lost all of my joy. I was completely miserable, even before this happened and have discovered that this is not the kind of life I want to live nor the one that God has given me. I know that He is still the same, I had just changed. Through this situation, I now know that I am VERY blessed. Just because bad things happen doesn't mean that God doesn't care about us. I feel that He uses these situations to draw us closer to Him. He wants to be the one to console us and dry our tears. I guess I knew this all along but just have not needed quite that much grace and mercy until now. It would be really hard for me to say that I am glad about the loss of our precious little one, but I am glad that God is still my Father and is still loving me. I find it hard to believe sometimes that He could love someone who was so willing to blame everything on Him. He doesn't deserve my mean words or my cold shoulder or my fist shaking fits that I had with Him. But, as Jeff always says, "He is a mighty big God and He CAN handle anything we throw at Him". Praise Him , I am so glad He does!!!!! After looking at my camera the other day, I noticed many pictures of things, places and friends on my memory card. This was a turning point for me when I began to laugh and smile and remember all of the fun things that my family and I have done the past few months. Some of these are from when we went to Vicksburg over Spring Break to see our dear friends Jose and Karli and some are from my time in Jackson. Jackson is where a co-worker, Heather, and myself had to go to take the state board exam for our dental radiology license. BTW I made a 96% woo hoo!!!!!!!!!! I say all of this to let you know that we should never forget the wonderful little blessings in our life. Thank you Kelley Garner for the inspirational message you left on my last blog. You are absolutely right, there is sun behind the clouds!!!!

The following are pictures from Easter at our house. These people are some of our dearest friends.

Here are two of my most precious blessings EVER!!!!

Learning to Cope

2009-04-21T14:22:00.000-07:00

Each day I get better physically. Some days I am better spiritually and emotionally, but others, I am not so good. I am told this is to be expected after someone loses a baby. I have never been in these shoes before and do not know how I am suppose to feel. I guess more than anything else, I had to really cry out to God about this whole thing. Only He knows all of the answers. He is continuing to deal with my heart. I ask for everyone to please continue to pray for my family. On a lighter note, This past weekend we had some much needed work done in our back yard. We live in a mush pit. We have a really big back yard that is filled with huge trees and they make so much shade that once it rains it takes weeks to dry out. There is just hardly any sunlight getting to the ground. UNTIL NOW!!!!! Jeff and his friend Casey Hicks got to business cutting trees and shoving them out of the way with the bobcat. I must say I was skeptical at first but they really got on it and now ----THERE IS LIGHT!!!! We may actually see some grass soon.

Doesn't Jeff look cute as a bug in his overalls. I was so proud of his hard work!

Casey did great with his little bobcat and chainsaw!!!! Maybe he'll come back and help us plant some grass.

Just look at my husband running this thing! That is MY man in there!!!!

Life is Fragile!

2009-04-10T11:23:00.000-07:00

Life truly is Fragile! I was reminded of that this week when Jeff and I lost our unborn baby. This was certainly something that I was not expecting. At first, I was so angry. I just could not understand why this had to happen. In fact, I still do not understand the why. I may never understand. My anger quickly turned to grief at the thought of my little baby dying. Even typing the words makes me shudder. Some people make light of miscarriage. They think that because the baby was unborn that it didn't matter. Tell that to my heart. It did matter!!! It was a baby and now it isn't alive anymore. I trust that God is doing a great job with him/her until one day I will see that sweet face for myself. Throughout the ordeal I kept telling God that I just needed Him to be with me. HE WAS and IS!!! I have been having all of the physical things that go along with giving birth I just don't have a bundle of joy to get my mind off of it. Even still, God is with me. He has reminded me of His love through a wonderful boss and co workers who made it possible for me to be off this whole week as I heal physically and who have prayed for me. He allowed one of our precious deacons to bring a delicious meal over to our home. He didn't even knock on the door. He just left it under the car port. No words were said but by his actions, he spoke many. He led someone in my church to make a card and have all of my sweet friends in the childrens dept, youth and team kids to sign it with loving sentiments. God is very real and has shown me Himself over and over this week. I find that I love Him more today than yesterday. I could NOT make it through this grief and pain without Him. He was with me when I told my sweet husband and saw the joy leave his face. Jeff quietly held me in his arms and cried along with me. He was also there when a little 7 year old had to be told that he would no longer be the big brother. He was there too for grandparents as the mourned the loss of a new life. All I know is that God is good all of the time. Sometimes it is hard for me to say that but if we can get ourselves out of the way, we can find it! Please pray for us as we continue to heal physically, emotionally and spiritually! Happy Easter and it is a GOOD FRIDAY!!!

Guess What!!!

2009-04-03T14:45:00.000-07:00

Spring Break in Jackson/Vicksburg

2009-03-29T15:06:00.000-07:00

During Spring Break my family "camped" in Jackson, MS. I put that in quotation because it was not exactly what I call camping. We were unfamiliar with this park and went sight unseen. We went there and found out that there is a huge difference between a campground and an RV park. RV parks are full of snow birds that speak with very thick yankee tongues. Lights were all out at 8pm and there were many tacky plastic yard decorations in almost every lot there. We assumed that there were many who fell into this category who obviously had taken residence there for the Winter. Our rig landed right by a 4 lane. We could see Kroger from our lot and a major intersection. I try to be an upbeat person but when I meet disappointment like this it is hard to maintain a cheery dispostion. We arrived there on Sunday night and it was freezing and raining. The first of many let downs I might add. We have some really good friends who recently moved to Vicksburg. I had told them that we would be close and so we planned to rendezvous(eat and hang out) with them while we were there. That first night we just cooked hot dogs, on our grill because "camp fires" were a no no!!! Anyway we watched traffic and ate our weiners while we shivered and went to bed. The next morning, Jeff decided that before we met our friends that we should explore the place and get our showers at the bath house. I normally shower in our camper but for some (stupid) reason I decided that I would follow my husband and check out the luxurious (not) bath premises. I insisted that we take the truck so that I wasn't dragging shampoo, panties, towels, etc. all across the place for every grandpa there to stare at. Once we got there Jeff went into the men's and I went into the ladies'. It was a really long corridor, typical of most camp site bath houses. I had to go all the way to the end, where to my astonishment, I find that it is a handicap shower. This meant that the shower was designed for someone to sit down and shower. Was I going to sit down on this filthy, yellowed, disgusting bench that was provided to wash my nether regions???? I don't think so!!! Anyway I decided that I would just have to do a back bend to wash my hair or something. I started the water and let it warm as I stepped out into the bathroom part to take off my clothes. It was pretty early and there wasn't a soul stirring that morning except us(or so I thought). I got completely naked except for my nike shower shoes and my carhart ball cap when I discovered that I couldn't find my soap. I assumed that I must have left it in the truck, that was locked. Furthermore, Jeff had the keys. I was in quite a pickle, but wait, don't these places have hand soap??? Of course, I could just quickly run to the sink area and get a handful of soap. After all, it was better than stinky camper smell, right?? So there I go. I made it to the area and sure enough they had plenty of soap. I stood there admiring my raccoon eyes and greasy looking bangs when, there she was!!!!! A little old lady with the biggest smile on her face. She was wearing a yellow rain slicker and was holding a dog leash. I used my one arm to shield my body, but hey, I was naked. Completely naked. Not a stitch on. Only my shoes and hat were in tact. There was quite and awkward silence until she said, and I quote "Are ya takin a shower?" No, I wanted to say, I just like pumping hand soap in public bathrooms in the nude! "Yes", I replied thinking that this would encourage her to hit the road but instead she just kept on standing there smiling. I finally turned to her with a questioning look and she simply replied "I need to wash my hands." I moved aside and casually walked my naked butt down the long corridor to the shower. I got inside, picked up my washcloth from the gross bench and lo and behold, there it was, MY SOAP!!!! I have lots of pics from the time with our friends that I will try to post later this week.

This is where IT happened. I'll bet that poor old woman had some stories to tell after that trip to wash her hands!

Check out this hideous shower curtain. Look closely and you can see some undetermined brown spots on there.

Dancing in Fields of Grace

2009-03-08T19:13:00.000-07:00

As you can see by the post I made earlier today, I have had a really fun weekend. Actually it started on Friday. We woke up early and got Will ready for school. Jeff and I dropped him off at school and then we headed to Hattiesburg to see one of our sweet church members. She was having a beautiful baby. Jeff and I got to spend to whole morning together and I loved it. It doesn't matter what we do or where we go, as long as we are together, I am guaranteed a wonderful time. After God, of course, Jeff is my most favorite person in the whole world. Once we got back I got to go to a great little place here in Laurel called Doodle Bugz. It is this awesome place where you can go and do ceramics. I LOVE to paint and do it all of the time but have never done anything like this before. I have officially found my new favorite hobby. I am deeply in love with bunny rabbits and have them all over my house. Of course I painted the sweetest little bunny you have ever seen. After I finished there we left for Clarkco where we had a blast. That alone would have been a great weekend but NOOOOOOO, God wasn't finished blessing me yet. He is SOOOOOO good to undeserving me!!!! I actually got kind of mad about something today and almost let it rob me of the blessing God had in store for me tonight. I will spare you all of the details. Just to touch on it I will say that I was under the impression that someone had already gotten me a ticket to my most favorite Christian group in the world--Big Daddy Weave. He is my all time FAVORITE and he came here to Laurel. I was so excited until I found out that my ticket had been given away. A smarter person would have accepted defeat and walked away. Instead I got very angry and made up my mind that NOTHING was going to stop me from going to this concert. Alot happened this afternoon but in a nut shell I will say that I wound up with a free ticket and even though I had to camp out for 3 hours, I got a FRONT ROW seat. How about them apples????? That just goes to show that if you want something badly enough, you can get it!!! Oh yea, I did not have time to even change my clothes after church. I looked like such an old lady up there with all of those teenagers jumping around and slam dancing. I was wearing Aerosoles shoes for crying out loud!! I had pearls on my ears and cuffed dress slacks. I am sure I was a sight. I stood up and screamed and danced and waved my arms and hands just like every other kid that was there. I just happen to be 35 and dressed like my granny. I absolutely didn't care. I was there to receive a blessing and that is just what I got. My anger melted away the minute I heard those wonderful words which had been inspired by God. I realized that even though I felt I was wronged, God is so merciful to me and just so giving that my anger was just silly. Who cares!!!! I was dancing in fields of Grace with BIG DADDY WEAVE ON THE FRONT ROW!!!!!! So NAH!!!!!!!!!

This was sweaty, shiny me after the concert!

Back to Clarkco for some Spring fun!

2009-03-08T11:45:00.000-07:00

Friday Jeff, Will, me and Will's friend Tessa left to go camping at Clarkco state park. Yes, this is the same place where Will broke his leg. We did not stay in that loop again but we did walk over there to the crime scene and even re-enacted it. Will even laid on the ground in the exact spot and pretended to be in pain. I'll tell ya, if that boy don't go to Hollywood some day, they'll be missing out on quite an actor! Anyway, we met my boss and his family and many other friends who all have campers as well up there. It was so much fun and the weather was AWESOME!!! I have a beet red face, arms and chest to prove just how hot that sun was. Thank you Jesus for a wonderful time with friends and family in your beautiful world. P.S. And for making sure there were no broken bones this time!!!!

An exhausting but FUN weekend!

2009-02-22T14:55:00.000-08:00

Friday I dropped Jeff and all of his dogs off in Greene County at his dad's hunting club. Will and I then headed to Birmingham to hide at Red Lobster and wait for my mom to arrive. We were there to surprise her for her birthday. I have known her for about 35 years now and do not think that woman has ever been surprised about anything. I love her but she is just plain nosey and manages to figure everything out. Many times in the past we have tried to have something special planned to surprise her but every single time she has managed to foil our efforts. UNTIL NOW!!!! I think we finally did it. I think she was genuinely caught off guard. It was a very small affair. I contacted two couples that she and my dad are really close to and let them in on my plan. Also, my brother Terry and his family came. My mom seemed really happy and I know she had a good time. After dinner I went to my parent's home and spent the night. The next day my mom, Will and I went to a million places. When you live so far away from home your family thinks that you should do a ton of things that you normally miss out on. I was really exhausted but I journeyed on anyway. We went by to see my mother in law, my brother's new house, my sister in law and her children and I even ran into one of my oldest friends from elementary and high school at Wal Mart there. Needless to say, I was VERY tired by Saturday night. Today I thought I could just rest for the afternoon until Jeff reminded me that we had to carry Will down to Hattiesburg after church to tour the Dairy Fresh milk plant with his cub scout troop. As I sit here now my eyelids are about to close. I still have church tonight so I guess I had better pray that God will hold them open for me and wake me up!!!!!

Just another ordinary Sunday morning (or so I thought!)

2009-02-08T15:05:00.000-08:00

This morning I got up dragging around (usual thing). I did my normal Sunday morning routine. Jeff gets up first and goes to the den to watch a little Sunday morning news. I wait about 10-15 minutes trying very hard to get just a few more seconds of blissful sleep, then I join him. I love our alone times together in the mornings. We usually just sit and talk about our upcoming plans for the day and discuss how dismal things are usually in the news. This morning was no different except, I lingered just a little too long on our conversation time and this made me scurry to get myself ready for church. I TRY to get there a few minutes early so that I can get the kids breakfast together. On Sundays we have just a light meal for the children's dept. and I am the one who usually puts the milk, juice, muffins, etc. out for the kids and teachers. Anyway I was trying really hard to get my hair curled and my pantyhose on straight when I called for Jeff to get Will ready for me. Will always puts his own clothes on but we pick them out for him so that we know he matches and isn't wearing shorts or some other get up that is inappropriate. So, Jeff did just as he was asked and he and Will were in the kitchen waiting for the matriarch to join them. Finally, I run into the kitchen, still putting on earrings and readjusting those blasted pantyhose(don't you just hate it when they get twisted around your thigh and it feels like someone with giant paws is giving you an indian burn in your groin?) when I looked at my son to give him my approval. I noticed that obviously Jeff had not paid careful attention to him because it looked like he had something on his face. Oh no, this would never do!! I can't stand dirty kids in public. Filth around your yard is one thing but NOT in church. As I got a damp dish cloth and began my spit bath, I noticed that the clump of dirt looked more like a really bad pimple. Will is only seven and should not be bursting out with acne just yet. Upon further inspection, I found these spots all over his little body. I was horrified and knew deep down that this was probably chicken pox. My mind kept saying NO, HE HAD THE VACCINE, IT CAN'T BE!!! Jeff went on to church and Will and I headed into Laurel to our after hours clinic affectionately known as "The MEA". They are notorious for LONG waits. Fortunately because everyone was terrified of this kid with these pustules all over him, they took him right on back where they confirmed my suspicions. That's right, Will officially has the chicken pox even after he had the vaccine. I was pretty upset but he is excited about missing school. I guess maybe it can be a good thing. I will have to miss some work but I will get to spend the day with my most favorite little boy in the whole wide world!!!!

Tagged by Shonna

2009-01-24T19:23:00.000-08:00

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I hesitantly accepted this tag. But I decided that if I was going to do it, then I wanted to show off my man's skills. (As shown above)

1.What is his name? Jeffrey Lowell Taylor

2. Who eats more? We can both do some real damage on an all-u-can eat buffett bar!!

3. Who said, "I love you" first? Jeff, on my parent's front porch after a huge fight

4. Who is taller? He is, barely.

6. Who is more sensitive? Me

7. Who does the laundry? Both, he does his and mostly Will's and I do mine and what's left.

8. Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Me. I always let him sleep closer to the door in case robbers come. That way while he is fighting them I can get away. hahaha

9. Who pays the bills? Jeff

10. Who cooks more? Me. Jeff only cooked once and he got really sick.

11. Who is more stubborn? Me!

12. Who is the first to admit they are wrong? Jeff

13. Who has more siblings? I do. I have two older brothers

14. Who wears the pants in the relationship? Jeff

15. What do you like to do together? Spending time together just doing yard work or camping.

16. Who eats more sweets? Probably me. Jeff doesn't like chocolate or alot of other yummy things that I love.

17. Guilty Pleasures? Jeff hunts every chance he gets. I dont think he feels one bit guilty about it though. I love to buy expensive sheets and table linens.

18. How did you meet? A blind date arranged by my pastor and his wife on August 10, 1991.

19. Who asked whom out first? Jeff asked me out.

20. Who kissed who first? Jeff kissed me by the oak tree in my parents front yard. He only waited about a month and a half before he finally did it.

21. Who proposed? Jeff, in the Galleria parking deck (romantic huh?)

22. His best features and qualities? He loves God, good provider, strong, wonderful father and example to our son, very patient with a much flawed wife.

By the way, what happened to everybody's #5????

Precious Friends

2009-01-17T16:44:00.000-08:00

This past weekend Will and I were invited by Stacey (Stallings) Martin to make the trek over to her hometown of Andalusia, AL. Of course, we gladly accepted. I wanted so badly to check on John and Beth Colvin. For those who do not know, Jeff pastored a church just outside of Andalusia called Carolina Baptist for over 8 years. In our time there we made a cast of wonderful friends. One set of those were the Jacobs family. They took us into their home and lives as if we were actually related to them. Beth is their oldest daughter who had just graduated from high school when I met her. She and I became fast friends. The truth was that I was only a few years older than her myself. I had only been married for 6 months when we moved there. It was a very difficult time for me and I certainly needed some close friends. Being a pastors wife were some mighty big shoes to fill. I am afraid that I had absolutely no idea how to even begin. The people of that church were gracious and patient with me. I am grateful for that. Recently Beth's sweet husband, John was diagnosed with cancer. Of course when you hear news like that and you are so very far away , you want to go to that person and just be near the situation. I honestly do not even know John that well but I love him not only because he is my brother in Christ, but also because I love his wife and family. guess it is kinda like the old saying "any friend of your is a friend of mine." I mean that because they love him so much and are hurting, then so am I. Anyway, I did get to see John and he seems to be doing quite well under the circumstances and as an added bonus I got to spend time with some of my favorite people on the planet. Thanks for a great weekend and to all of my Mississippi and Birmingham friends and family; PLEASE continue to pray for John and Beth as he continues his healing from God.

P.S. Also we enjoyed our fun time with Stacey, Kady and the rest of the Stallings gang!

Sugar Is STILL Sweet!!!

2009-01-04T11:41:00.000-08:00

This past weekend my family and I had the EXTREME pleasure of attending the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans, Louisiana. It was really my first "real" trip there. I went one time before when Dr. Billy Graham spoke at the Super Dome right after Katrina but Jeff contracted a virus and got deathly sick on the way down. We went with our church group on a charter bus so when we got there I had to go and rent a car to drive us home. So, like I said, this was my first real trip there. Alabama played against Utah. As most of you know by now, WE GOT BEAT!!!! Not just a little either. We got beat real bad. Utah played great and so did Alabama. They just played a little better than we did. They won fair and square. There was no cheating. There was no trick photography or smoke and mirrors. They just plain old beat us. Was I disappointed?? Hello! Of course I was! Even though Alabama lost this game, I am not the least bit disappointed in them. Their team has so much to be proud of. They came from being real under dogs, to playing in the SUGAR BOWL!!!! How many other teams can say that??? Oh well, you win some and lose some. Many Alabama fans were leaving before the game was even over and this made me furious. Were they going to lose? Yes, but they needed the support of their fans through the bitter end. My family stayed and waved and screamed and cheered and acted a little crazy until the clock turned zero!!!! We love the Tide and are very proud of them and their WINNING record. Our guys did great and need to hold their heads high!!!!

Once the game was over and we accepted defeat, we went back to the hotel to get our game plan for the next day. We ate lunch on Saturday at a place called "Mothers". If you were dieting, this was NOT the place for you. It cost $58.00 for lunch! When I heard the price I almost died. FOR LUNCH???? But they redeemed themselves when they brought it to us. It was probably the best cajun food Jeff or I have ever had. The next time you go to New Orleans take your pocket book and your appetite to Mothers. You won't be sorry! After lunch we caught a city tour which carried us all over. Our tour guide was a local who had been there his entire life and knew absolutely everything about every nook and cranny. He carried us over to the ninth ward which is the area that was completely under water after Katrina. It still looks awful. He told us that many famous stars have begun rebuilding homes there for the people. Brad Pitt has already built several and plans to build many more. He then carried us to the Garden district, Bourbon street, Jackson square and the French Quarter. I was thoroughly confused by the time the tour ended. It is an entirely different world there. People talk, look, act and think differently there than I suppose anywhere else in the world. We did have a wonderful time though seeing such an unusual place. My favorite was probably the Catholic Church that we toured. This back woods Southern Baptist girl has never seen anything like that before. My jaws were sore from having to keep push them back to close my mouth. I have just NEVER seen anything so neat in my life!!!!! They were chanting and I got to see a REAL priest in this fancy robe. People were going in these confessionals and kneeling on the pews holding their rosary. I have only seen images like these in movies. My mother in law was raised Catholic and she told me that she would take me sometime to mass in Birmingham. I can hardly wait. I am certainly not going to convert or anything. I just find it fascinating to see how other people worship. To sum up my trip I will have to say that New Orleans was a nice place to visit but I was glad to come back to Ellisville,MS!!!!

Christmas Memories 2008

2008-12-31T15:27:00.000-08:00

I don't know about everyone else, but the Taylors had a wonderful Christmas!!!!! We spent last weekend in Birmingham with our families. My brother got to come home from his stay in basic training. We had such a good time getting to visit there. We spent Christmas eve and Christmas day at our home in Mississippi. We had 10 special guests from our church to join us for lunch. As usual, Santa (yes, he still believes) brought our son way too much! He opened many gifts and when he finished he still looked semi unhappy. See, the only thing he really asked for was a dog. To give you a little history on this matter I will have to turn the clock back to this summer. We were given a Shih-Tzu dog named Isabelle aka "Izzy". She was a magnificent dog whom the whole family loved. We carried her everywhere we went. She was just one of us and treated accordingly. Izzy was killed in the road in front of our house. We live on a very busy road and she was really bad about going toward it. We tried everything from spanking and shaming to just plain yelling at her about getting near such a dangerous path. In the end she just would not listen and one day Jeff found her remains where she had been killed. Will is such a sensitive child and Jeff and I were just too afraid to bring him such heartache. We never lied to him, we just never told him the truth either. We assumed that after a while he would just forget her and assume that she ran away. However, almost every day since her ill fated departure, he has fervently prayed to God that he would return her to us safely. Every time he asks the blessing or says his bed time prayers, he asks. His Sunday School teacher told me a couple of weeks ago that he prayed the sweetest prayer for his little lost dog. Jeff just could not stand it anymore and against my better judgement "Santa" brought Will a new friend. We made it really fun for him too. "Santa" left a letter addressed to William Taylor on the Christmas tree that told him that he had a very special surprise for him but he had to follow some clues to find his present. We had him go all over the house and outside too to finally receive his gift. You have never seen such a happy boy!!!!!!! Mom-not so happy!!!! I mean I am very happy that it brought Will so much joy but if I had chosen the perfect friend for him I would have gotten something like a Peek a poo or a toy poodle or something along those lines. My husband was in charge though and he had much different ideas about a good friend. He chose a mountain feist, which is alot like a jack russell terrier only alot calmer. I guess he is pretty cute. But they are usually bred to hunt squirrels. I wonder if Jeff has something other than just a "friendly pet" in mind!! HMMMMMMM! Check out the pics below to see "Chuck" Taylor.

P.S. He has actually began to grow on us all!!!!!

All I want for Christmas is my 6 front teeth

2008-12-14T14:33:00.000-08:00

About a month ago my sweet boss, Dr. Scott Martin decided that it was finally time that I have a nice smile. I mean there wasn't anything THAT bad about my old one, but I had many fillings on my front teeth and they were really kind of small. Of course, being a dentist who has been practicing for over 20 years, he could take one look at my mouth and see every imperfection. I too, was pretty self conscious. Especially working at a dentist office with all of these beautiful girls with the most perfect teeth. Dr. Martin began to prep my teeth for solid porcelain crowns all across the front of my mouth. I could lie and say that it was a breeze, but I would be telling a humungous lie!!! In fact, it was one of the most unpleasant experiences I have ever had. Dr. Martin did a great job but just being in the chair for 4 hours straight, made a person like me crazy. I had to be quiet and could not talk at all. I did get a restroom break or two. He fitted me for a set of temporary crowns until my permanent ones could be made at the lab. I got to even go to the lab and watch how they make them. It is really fascinating to see. The next time you complain about how much dental work costs, just know that there is a tremendous amount of work that has gone into every single procedure. I feel blessed to work for such a wonderful Doctor who cares about his patients but also his employees. Friday I had my "real" crowns delivered and I am so proud of them. My thanks to Dr. Martin, his wonderful staff and the terrific staff at Thompson Dental Studio. You all have given me something to smile about!!!!!

A friend of mine sent one of these to us. I thought it was so funny!! Check out Jeff. Doesn't he look so happy!!! And I am super skinny!

2008-12-06T13:44:00.001-08:00

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"To Santa" or "Not to Santa"

2008-12-01T11:30:00.000-08:00

This year Will is seven and he has finally grasped the whole commercial side of Christmas. Until this year I really felt like Jeff and I had done a great job of instilling the REAL Christmas message into him. We celebrate advent, talk constantly about Jesus and how He came to earth as a baby and how this whole entire holday is actually to celebrate His birthday. I really felt like Will completely understood all of this UNTIL------THIS YEAR!!!!! We have never really talked alot about Santa Clause. I mean we don't talk bad about him or necessarily tell him that the whole thing is a hoax or have santa bashing conversations, we just don't say much of anything either way. Well let me tell you that this child of mine is truly convinced that there is going to be this jolly old plump man come to our home on Christmas eve and deliver anything and everything he can possibly dream up under our tree. He has made himself a list and it continues to grow daily. Every single second of every commercial on television right now is used up telling children how wonderful a toy is and how they just can't keep living if they do not pester the stew out of their parents until he/she gets it. He has even asked for some gifts for his cousins. He said that was just in case they hadn't been good and that he could get the gifts and give to them. I must admit that I was pretty touched when I saw that he was asking for a diamond ring for me and a "Bad Boy Buggy" for Jeff. I mean he certainly isn't being greedy just for himself or anything. I explained to him that his dad and I didn't need those things and that Santa could'nt buy all of the things on the list either due to the economy and that santa had a budget too. He said "Mom, Santa is a millionaire and besides he makes all of this stuff himself so he doesn't need a budget." What do I say to that????? Jeff and I are really struggling with what to do. Do we shatter a little seven year old's dreams by telling him that this whole santa thing is a big fat lie or keep on stringing him along until some kid on the bus tells him (which is how I found out)? All I know to do for right now is just keep on talking about Jesus and explaining to him that this is not OUR birthday but HIS!!! If anyone has any words of wisdom please pass them my way.

More FALL Fun!!

2008-11-16T12:36:00.000-08:00

Yesterday my church hosted a fabulously fun western roundup. We worked really hard on getting together a lot of really fun stuff. We gathered there shortly after 8:00 am on Friday morning and did not get home that night until after 9:00 pm. My in laws drove all of the way from Birmingham to help us out watching Will while Jeff and I worked with our fellow church members to get everything ready for Saturday. We were really tired when we got home. Jeff's parents brought along my niece and nephew with them. We were so excited to have them visit with us. Will doesn't get to play with them as much as I would like. But, that is just part of being a pastor's son. We may never be close to them. It just depends on where God leads. In the meantime, we will look forward to our wonderful visits. I assumed that they would be asleep when we got there. Josie, my niece, was fast asleep in the recliner. However, Justin, her younger brother was wide eyed. He is so funny. He very flatly told me that he was not sleepy and that he did not plan to sleep at my house. At first, I wondered what we would do, after all, Birmingham is not just up the street from my home. My mother in law said that he normally will only sleep with his mother. Well FINALLY he just kind of passed out. Will was still very awake and would have been glad to stay up a while longer. Since we got Justin to sleep, I made him go as well. Just as Jeff had gotten his clothes off and settled in bed, we received a phone call telling us that he was needed at the hospital. One of our dearest church members was in serious condition. He had to get up and take off. Once he arrived he was met with the news that this dear woman had passed. He eventually got back home and in to bed. After a really long night of listening out for cries of "I want to go home" (which never happened), Jeff tapped me on the forehead and told me to get ready. It seemed as though I had just laid down. Saturday was a western themed carnival so we got gussied up in our western wear and headed off. My poor in laws were left to fend for themselves with all three children. We chose one of the coldest days to have our carnival. I saw so many women bundled up like eskimos. We all wound up with earaches and runny noses but we had a wonderful time and I feel like we accomplished what we set out to do. Our purpose was to minister to our neighborhood and we did just that. God certainly blessed our efforts and we are so thankful! I am already looking forward to next year!!!!

P.S. We got a splendid surprise on Sunday. Mary Cross and her two precious daughters joined us for church and then out to Applebee's for lunch. It was so much fun catching up with Mary and these two girls who have grown into such beautiful and intelligent young ladies.

How about that Tide?????

2008-11-09T15:37:00.000-08:00

Ladies and Gentlemen, FINALLY!!! The Tide looks great this year. I have had to endure so much mockery and criticism about the team my family cheers for. Thank goodness I live in Mississippi and they have three really terrible football teams. Otherwise, life would have been almost unbearable these past few years. My husband is so hard on Alabama's team each week. He loves them but calls them losers and girls. I know that he is only saying it because he just wants them to do their best. It isn't enough to him that they win, he also wants for them to beat whomever they are playing by at least 3 touch downs. Well not me. I say that as long as they win, I am proud of them. In fact, I am proud of them even if they lose. Twenty years from now no one is going to say "Hey, Alabama barely beat LSU." or "Alabama was barely number 1." When swimmers compete in the olympics they only win by mere seconds but they still get the gold baby!!!!!!! That is all that matters. I am not boasting because they may very well get beaten in the weeks to come. That will be o.k. because I know that they have worked so hard and I think it has finally started to pay off. Auburn fans---go easy on Bama. You all have had your time to shine. Just let us have this one year to enjoy being on top!!!!! After all, we are from the same wonderful state. Can't we all just get along???

Halloween Fun

2008-11-02T16:49:00.001-08:00

Will has been so excited for Halloween to finally arrive. He actually got to go to two Halloween carnivals and was also awarded "student of the month" at the awards day on Oct. 31. Several months ago I begin to try and come up with some kind of a cute idea for my precious little angel to dress up like for Halloween. We don't actually do "Halloween things". We normally just go to a church carnival. But still, all of the kids dress up and have a good time looking at each others costumes. I do not have any kind of a problem with children wanting to play dress up and go to have fun at a carnival. Some people have ideas that Halloween is evil. Perhaps they are doing evil things but we do not!! Anyway, I got on ebay and Will happen to see this horrible snake costume that he said he would just die if I didn't win for him. It started out at $11.00. To make a long story short, it ended being over $50. I should have nipped it early on but, Will really knows how to get me to do things for him I normally would never do. This costume arrived a few weeks ago and Jeff and I laughed and laughed. When he put the thing on it looked like he was some kind of silly lizard or something in that family. I mean, hello, snakes do not have arms or legs and these are not easily hidden or cut off for just one night at a Halloween carnival. Oh well, he absolutely loved it. We actually thought of dressing up too and going as Steve and Terri Irwin. We also entertained the notion of letting Will carry an apple and Jeff and I going as Adam and Eve. After much pontificating on the subject we decided that nudity (even with fig leaves) probably would not be the wisest decision. In the end we decided to just dress up as Jeff and Rebecca. Good Choice!!! I have added some pics of our fun night at West Ellisville Baptist Church. They have the greatest carnival and we have gone every year since we moved here. They had about 1300 people go through their doors that night. They really know how to throw a party or as sponge bob would say "PAR-TAY". Our buddies the Ward's joined us for the fun. We all had a blast.

Fun in the Autumn sun!

2008-10-27T10:04:00.000-07:00

Saturday Will's cub scout troop met at Mitchell Farms in Collins, Mississippi. We had such a great time. We were taken all around the place on this big wagon pulled by a tractor. They had the most beautiful fields of sunflowers. The only bad part was that they were covered with bees. Will was a scaredy cat about standing too close to them. Each person that went on the tour was given a pumpkin. We now have a total of 9. I am not quite sure what we are going to do with all of them. I hope they last until Thanksgiving so I can just use them for my fall decoration. We discovered that the owners wife was actually the tour guide. Stacey Martin had mentioned to me that the Mitchells had some connection with Andalusia. Sure enough, she confirmed this. She knew alot of people that we knew from there. Isn't it a small world!! The highlight of this trip for my husband was the BOILED PEANUTS!!!! I must say they were spectacular!!!! They were called super jumbos. They were by far the most gigantic peanuts I have ever seen before. Some people like them small but not me. The best part was that they were only $1.00 per bag. Mrs. Mitchell told us that these nuts were originally used to feed hogs back during the depression. I say those are far too yummy for hogs. Just give them to the Taylors. We will gladly take care of them.

Friday night lights!

2008-10-19T14:21:00.000-07:00

Friday night the South Mississippi Fair rolled into town. As always, the Taylor family just had to go. The Jones County Baptist Association set up an area for all of the churches to come and witness to fair goers. The set up was so nice. Renae Register works for our association and did such a good job. She had a really nice tent that she made look like a church and had a huge screen up showing Christian videos of groups like Casting Crowns and Mercy Me. I saw a lot of teenagers going in there and really enjoying the music. There was also this booth that looked like a well. It had two huge ice water jugs on it so we could give out free water to people passing. Our church signed up for Friday night. We figured that we could kill two birds with one stone. Will was just going to die if he didn't go and we really wanted to go and help support our association's efforts. I took the first shift at the well with Jack and Iris Hilton. We had such a good time. Speaking to people and working a crowd is my forte'. I mean I can talk to absolutely ANYBODY!!! Just ask my husband. I found this kind of thing to be so much fun. While I was gabbing to every Jones County resident, as well as, all of the illegal immigrants that dared come through my path, Jeff was off with Will taking a cruise around the midway. He purchased an $18.00 armband for a seven year old to ride just a few rides. Anyway, Jack and Iris' shift ended and they were off on a search for a chocolate/peanut/ice cream concoction. I was there all alone but did not even notice because I was just talking to all of my new "friends". After all, aren't strangers just friends we haven't met yet? Before I knew it, my shift was coming to an end. Jeff came to me with Will so we could "trade off". It was now my turn to carry Will around while Jeff chatted and charmed and talked about Jesus. For those of you who don't know my husband, he can talk about Jesus all day long. The chatting and charming do not come so easily for him. Before I left I walked over to look at some things close by and came back by the well where Jeff was suppose to be. He was there alright. He looked as awkward as he possibly could. He was very much out of his element. I could see right away he and all of those "friends" would never be!!!! Sweet Renae came over and told us that we could start shutting things down and Jeff looked very relieved. I guess that just goes to show that in the Body of Christ we all have very important roles. Jeff's is administration and being a great bible teacher and preacher. Maybe mine is just talking. Good thing because I do it A LOT!!!!! If we are talking body parts, Jeff would probably be something like a head or a backbone- me, I would probably just be a pinky toe or maybe an earlobe. Oh well, God can use and earlobe or a toe too! After we cleaned up we both set out to finish this night and try to get our money's worth out of that $18.00 armband. I rode no rides. The only thing I spent my hard earned money on was a gander at Tina the "snake lady". Yes, I wasted my money. It was the most ignoramus thing that I think they have ever tried to pull. Of course maybe I am the ignoramus for spending my money to look at a lady born with no bones that supposedly slithered like a snake. It was simply a woman with a big afro and sunglasses sitting on the floor surrounded by a plastic snake body. She kept her head down at first. I think she may have been playing with a cell phone or something under her "snake body". She just kept her head down so you were just looking at her afro. I was pretty mad when I realized that was it, so I called out to her and she did finally lift her head. She never even cracked a smile. I mean I am sure that being a freak in a side show at a cheesy fair is probably not a real barrel of monkeys or anything, but hey, that was $2.00. I expected a hello at the very least. Maybe even a menacing snake like hiss or something. But nothing!!! Oh well, maybe next year they can come up with something a little more original or at least someone a little friendlier. Perhaps she suffers from the same awkward feeling that Jeff experienced over at Jacobs' well. Maybe I could be the snake lady. They could market me as "Tina, the TALKING snake lady".

Life in His Hands

2008-10-17T12:58:00.000-07:00

"Life in His Hands" was the theme of this years Crisis Pregnancy Banquet. Jeff and I were asked to host a table this year. At first I was very apprehensive. The deal was, that you had to invite enough people to fill up a pretty big dinner table. Also, these had to be people who wanted to know more about the CPC and would be willing to give a rather large financial donation for their cause. I am a terrible salesperson!!!! I could not sell umbrellas in a torrential rain. I, as always, waited around to the very tail end to find my people. God watches out for us stupid people and, as always, He fixed my mess. He lead me to just the right bunch of people. We had a wonderful dinner, got to fellowship with some great friends and hear great stories about how babies had been saved from being murdered by abortion. If anyone doesn't have the heart to want to save precious babies, then they obviously need our prayers. If you have a CPC in your area, then please give of your time, as well as, finances. Aren't you glad your mother wasn't an abortion advocate??

Negative Changes!!!!!

2008-10-10T15:37:00.000-07:00

Being a child of the 80's I vividly remember when Ronald Reagan first got elected as president. We staged a mock election my second grade year at school. They actually brought in one of the old time lever pulling booths and allowed each second grader at John E. Bryan Elementary to cast their vote. Reagan won there by a land slide. I remember one girl voting for Jimmy Carter and several people laughed at her. Our noble teacher quickly stepped up and reminded us all that our votes were just that "ours". We as American citizens had a right to vote for any candidate we chose. Of course, we couldn't actually vote because we were only 7. However, she let us know loud and clear that it is a great honor just to be elected as a candidate and that we should admire and respect these men because they would have a very hard job ahead. Agree with the candidate, or not, they were still going to be the president. That mind set has followed me for most of my life and I must say that Mrs. Bradley was right. I can only imagine being the one person who can make such life changing decisions. In my 35 years we have had many presidents now and some I have truly loved and some others, not so much. It doesn't matter!!! These men deserve my respect even if they do not earn it sometimes. God teaches me to obey the laws of the land. I certainly think that you can disagree with the candidates morals but no matter how mad we get, they may still be in charge. This current election seems to be of great significance due to the war in Iraq and the failing economy. I don't know that I have ever been more tempted to dislike one of the candidates that is running. I don't mind telling you that it is Barrack Obama. He just plain scares me with some of his thinking. Being a conservative Christian, he and I do not see eye to eye. I am not saying that I agree with everything that John McCain says either but we seem to be closer to the same page. If I had my rathers, I would vote for a great man of God like Rev. Billy Graham or the late Dr. Adrian Rogers. These men are not running so I guess I will have to settle for John McCain. I am certainly praying that he wins, but if he doesn't then I will pray for Barrack Obama. First, that if he doesn't know Christ as his savior, that he will accept Him. Next, that he will submerge himself in God's Holy Word and find out what He says about things like abortion, homosexuality, adultery, as well as, many other sins that seem to be rampant in America.
Just the other day a few co workers were talking about the election and I made a comment about a hideous movie being marketed right now about our current president. It is a shameful mockery of the revered position of the president. It was made by Oliver Stone who is obviously a flaming Hollywood liberal. I just mentioned it and before I could make a comment about it, my co workers laughed and jeered about how funny they thought it probably was. These comments made me furious. In a very non Christ-like manner, I stormed away in anger. I certainly had to ask God to forgive me. Simon-Peter is my favorite bible personality. He too, let his over zealousness get the best of him sometimes as well. I just happen to think that George W. Bush has done a pretty good job with what he has had to follow and with the liberal Democrats in Congress over ruling much of what he has tried to instill. Most of all I admire the fact that he tells us that he prays to God. He has been very open about being a Christian. If you think this doesn't matter, you are WRONG!!!!! I will sum up by saying that whenever you think of criticizing our president, just try and put yourself in that position and instead offer up a prayer. Shame on you Oliver Stone. I wish that Mr. Kristy Bradley (my 2nd grade teacher) could give you a good "talking to."

One FULL Saturday!

2008-10-05T11:32:00.001-07:00

Yesterday about 30 people from our church traveled to Tupelo, MS. Back a couple of months ago I received a letter in my mailbox at church adveritising this really cool looking place called "Tupelo Buffalo Park". I got so excited because I love Fall weather and look forward every year to getting out and enjoying this beautiful world that God has so graciously given us. It boasted the largest zoo in the state, as well as, a pumpkin patch, hay maze, indian village and hello???? Tupelo is the birthplace of none other than Elvis Aaron Presley. Say no more. I was ready to hop on our church bus and go. We left the church around 7:00 yesterday morning. Trying to get that many people on the bus that early in the morning was no small feat. However, we did it and wound up only being about 15 minutes later than we originally planned on leaving. We made it all the way to Scooba, MS before we had to make our potty, coffee, orange slice, slim jim break. This ordeal took about 30 minutes. I was beginning to wish that we had just taken a bucket and a shower curtain and constructed a make shift toilet. Finally by 11:00 we arrived in Tupelo at the park. We were greeted by their friendly staff and ushered to our luch pavillion. Each of us had taken along a picnic lunch. Oh yea, my in laws met us there also. My mother in law brought enough food for an army. We all kind of ate from everyone else's stash. After lunch we went on an open air tour of the free roaming buffalo, zebras, camels and many other animals that I don't remember what they were. I am sure the guide told us, but of course, I was probably talking and did not hear. (I know that is hard to believe) Anyway, next we saw the animals. This was no ordinary zoo. The animals could all just be touched and they could touch you back and lick or gnaw or whatever else they wanted to do. It was neat but a little scary too. After the animal tour we went to a hay maze. I am not much on just walking out in the middle of a field full of hay and cow patties!!! I am sure it is fun to some, but not my cup of tea! So, while all of my group wandered aimlessly through this torturous tunnel dodging "land mines", I cheated!!! There, I have admitted it. Yes, I cheated!!! I slipped out through the entrance and into the pumpkin patch. I was safely waiting at the exit when half of the group came out astonished that I had maneuvered so quickly through. My family was with the other group who were still searching for the way out. About half way up to the pumpkin patch I heard some of the little girls in the other group begin these blood curdling screams for their "mama". They had gotten seperated and were lost. It was actually kind of funny. Cause, hey there I was the first one out!!! Ha Ha Ha. After all of this excitement, we picked our pumpkins out, made a scarecrow and left. Our next stop was just down the road at the Birthplace of Elvis. It was probably my favorite thing on the entire trip. I could go on and on about how wonderful this day was but I feel like I have written a small novel now. If any of you ever get the chance, I would highly suggest this trip. I give Tupelo Buffalo Park 2 Thumbs up and the birthplace of Elvis 2 thumbs and one big toe up!!!!

P.S. Also, Alabama won their football game against Kentucky. What an awesome way to cap off a day of fun.

Seems like only yesterday............

2008-09-28T13:50:00.000-07:00

It seems like only yesterday that I woke up with alot of craziness going on at my house. It was exactly 12 years ago today in fact. I got up and saw alot of people there working on my mother's hair and helping her to get ready for the upcoming events of the day. I casually strolled out and began to watch television and have cereal with my dad. It was to be the last of this kind of day. I was about to become Mrs. Jeffrey L. Taylor. I wasn't nervous one bit. In fact, it seemed like the most natural thing I could possibly do. Jeff and I met on August 10, 1991. My pastor, Danny Tesseneer and his wife, Denise, set me up on a blind date. It was to be the turning point of my life. I had many relationships before Jeff. I had even thought I loved someone once. Not until I met Jeff did I really know this kind of love. We started out as good friends. Then we evolved into best friends. Before I knew it, I was totally in love. He remains this day, the love of my life. I barely remember life before him. God has been so good to me in ways that I could never deserve. Many people go through their lives without knowing true love. God has shown me what it is to love someone besides myself through my husband. He is the leader in our home and I am so thankful for that. I never have to worry about where he is or what he is doing. Is he perfect? No, but he's all mine and I love him with all of my heart. Looking back 12 years, I wouldn't change one day! I only look down the road and pray, selfishly, for 60 or 70 more years with my handsome, smart, Godly husband!!!! Happy Anniversary!!

A Great Night!!!

2008-09-20T14:19:00.000-07:00

Well, It has certainly been a while since my last post. I was on vacation for 2 weeks and I was sick most of that time. I had all of these plans to work at home and some on the children's areas at church. I guess God had different plans for me. I have to go for an endoscopy this coming Friday so I ask for anyone who reads this to please pray for me. On the bright side, I have actually lost 16 pounds thus far. Not such a pleasant way to lose weight, but hey, I guess I will take it however I can get it. Anyway, I went back to work this week and I was kind of bummed out! I mean being off for two weeks made going back to work very difficult. I assumed that Monday was going to be just awful but it really wasn't bad at all. Several people have told me that they prayed for me this week and I can say that I certainly felt the prayers!!!! On Thursday afternoon a good friend of mine who happens to be a Southern Living consultant came by the office to bring her son for an appointment. She seemed to be very anxious to hurry things along and get out of there. I finally asked her why she was in such a rush. She told me that she was going to get to meet Gail Pittman. Thee Gail Pittman, I aked. Thee Gail Pittman, she exclaimed!!!! She then said would you like to meet her? Well, hello!!!! Of course I wanted to meet Gail Pittman!! I have spent so much money on Southern Living and also on Gail Pittman pottery. They are some of my most prized treasures. I was overjoyed at the mere thought of actually getting to meet such a celebrity. My friend told me that I needed to bring a piece of my pottery and that she would autograph it for me. My sweet co worker,Diane, got invited also. We could hardly believe our good fortune. We had such a wonderful time. I already loved Southern Living and Gail Pittman, but after hearing their funny, inspirational words, I love them even more. I am now and will forever be one of "thee Gail Pittman's" biggest fans. She hugged me 3 times. Can you believe it????? The next time any of you are at my home be sure to ask me to see my autographed platter. I took many pictures of the speakers and some of the beautiful displays they made right before our eyes. The only bad part of the night was that they drew names for about 50 peices of SLAH products and GP pottery. Of course I did not win one single thing. I am a poor sport! I guess just getting to meet a great lady and learning some decorating tips will just have to suffice!

Still Here!

2008-09-02T16:12:00.000-07:00

No, We did not get blown away. Praise God. Things could have been much worse but the only thing that happened around our home is that we lost 4 trees. That's ok though because we live in a very wooded area anyway. Maybe now I can actually have a few more patches of grass. It has rained cats and dogs for the past few days so I decided that this would be a prime time to finish my shed project. I am ALMOST there, just a few finishing touches now and I will be finished. While cleaning out, I made many great discoveries. I found oodles of memorabilia that I didn't even know I still had. I ran across a box of love letters from my husband. He and Will stayed inside so I took my sweet time and carefully read each one of them. It was like we were still "boyfriend and girlfriend". Now that God has lead me to them again, I will not part with them ever. They will be treasured. In the stack of pictures, cards and letters, I found a birthday card from my precious Maw Maw. She had written in it how much she and my granddaddy loved me and how proud they were of me. Before I knew it, I was showering the card with tears. At first I saw this project as an unsurmountable chore. But looking back, I now know that it was not only necessary but also a blessing. I too found these pictures of my sweet time teaching the 2 and 3 year old class at Carolina Baptist. What Precious Memories!!!!!

Hurricane Gustav-Deja Vue

2008-08-28T10:50:00.001-07:00

My grandmother always said that if your nose itched someone was coming to pay you a visit. Well my nose is actually itching and I am afraid that my "company" may be Hurricane Gustav. It was exactly 3 years ago tomorrow that Hurricane Katrina came and really devastated us. Already the stores are a mad house!!!! Hurricane mania has officially struck! The gas prices have already started to go up and there is no bottled water, charcoal, batteries or spam in a 50 mile radius. The latest reports are that the canned good aisle at Wal-Mart is very scant. I am going to be getting off work early today and Jeff and I are heading home to get everything that may possibly blow away tied down. I just ask that anyone who reads this to pray and ask God to protect us. I know that He is in control of all situations and this is no exception. To all of my Laurel friends- Be Safe! The following are some pictures taken in Laurel during Katrina:

What a great way to turn 35

2008-08-24T17:17:00.000-07:00

Friday, August 22, I turned 35 years old. I was kind of not looking forward to that number. I'm not really sure why because actually every year that God allows me to live is a huge blessing. Anyway, Jeff and I are smack dab in the middle of our shed clean out project and I looked at Friday as a day that I could get a massive amount of work done. On Thursday, the girls at work had given me gifts and we had brownies and ice cream so as far as I was concerned the whole birthday chapter was closed for another year. Oh well, shows what I know!! One of my best friends,Lauree, called and said that she would like to prepare a nice dinner for me and my family but I declined due to the amount of work I had planned on getting done. She was extremely persuasive and Jeff said that if someone was going to be nice enough to cook for me that I should go. So, reluctantly I accepted. Only guess what! We swung by our church on the way to her house to drop some stuff off and there it was. Just as I stepped through a door, SURPRISE!!!!!!!! Yep, there was a big old party waiting for me. I could not have been more surprised if I had waken up with my face sewn to the carpet! I have only had one other birthday party my entire life. We all had a great time. Thanks to all of my wonderful friends who helped to ease me into 35.

The possum incident

2008-08-12T12:38:00.001-07:00

Tuesday is trash day for those of us who live out in the county. This morning my good dependable husband was taking the trash out for us when he made an unusal discovery. Will and I were still inside when he came in and very nonchalantly said "We have a little visitor in our trash". Of course I said "Do you mean a dog?" "No" he said. "How about a rat or snake?" I asked. "Nope" he replied. He then told me that I really needed to go and see for myself. After a few last minute loose ends that had to be tied up, we finally exited the house. Just as my foot touched the bottom step I heard Will scream and say "Mom something or some kind of animal is in our garbage. I quickly ran over and took a look. Inside was a disgusting possum. He was just laying there with his tongue out like he was dead. I assumed he was dead until Jeff pointed out the maybe he was just "playing possum". I have heard this expression for my entire life but have never seen it so dramatically put into play. As I leaned over once again for a quick glance, Will decided to give the trash can a good karate kick. The can went on it's side and out rolled the possum. He still lay there until we all leaned in again. Just as we got over the top of him, he turned to look and see if we were still there and we all screamed. He then took off through the yard. He stopped to give us a menacing hiss. He kept waddling away only to realize that his foot was ensnared by a big, bad walmart sack. Every few steps he stopped and hissed at the sack. We laughed and laughed. What an embaressment for the poor possum when he gets with all of his friends. Can't you just hear them making fun of him. It would be the equivalent of a human dragging toilet paper on your shoe. What wildlife in Mississippi!!!!

P.S. Click on the picture and you can see this mean thing hissing at the bag!

Back to School!

2008-08-10T20:01:00.000-07:00

Tonight at church our minister of music hosted a "Back to School" fellowship. He asked for all of the members to bring school pictures of themselves without any names. He posted them on a couple of folding boards and let everyone try and guess who they were. It was so much fun! I almost did not participate but I mentioned it to my mom and a couple of days later, I received an entire envelope full of old school pictures. Since I was doing it, I insisted that Jeff call his mom and she e-mailed us some of Jeff. As I examined these pictures of myself, I recall thinking I was pretty darn cute at the time. Poor kid, if she only knew how ridiculous she looked! And then there's my pitiful looking husband with his nappy hair and those horn rimmed glasses. Need I say more???? I am really thankful that we do eventually get out of those awkward stages. Hope everyone has a great school year!!!

My sweet 7 year old

2008-08-07T13:50:00.000-07:00

When I was a child growing up, each birthday my mom baked a cake and decorated it with those candy things from the grocery store. Sometimes my mawmaw and grand daddy would come and sometimes I had a friend over to play in the yard. Other than that, nothing else. We each got $10 from our grandparents and mom and dad bought us something small. Mine usually involved clothes for school since my birthday is Aug. 22. My son however thinks that a birthday is an event that should last at least a week. He reminds us constantly throughout the week that he needs to be in charge of choosing any and all activities, places to eat and length of time we should stay because after all-he is the "birthday boy". Perhaps his parents shouldn't give in to this kind of spoiling but hey - your only a kid once and as I have found, adulthood comes soon enough. Besides, Jeff and I have just as much fun as he does. Our birthday bonanza began last Friday night with a camping trip back to Clarkco (the place where he broke his leg) They have built a new splash park and he had a very good time. We came home late Saturday night. Next was Sunday when we and some of our really close church friends gathered after church for a small informal dinner. After we ate, we had a fun game of hide and seek in the church. Our church is really big and there are lots of cool places to hide. Children and adults played and had a blast. Of course we had a no running rule so this kind of put a tiny damper on it. And lastly On Tuesday, Aug 5 (his real birthday) Jeff and I took he and one of his closest friends, Slade Hicks to a place in Hattiesburg called Peps Point. We had alot of fun but I sure am glad that his birthdays only come once per year. I am exhausted!! I am very proud of my sweet little 7 year old man and thanks to God, he is growing into a great young man! Happy Birthday, Son.

Kady Martin's singing debut

2008-07-30T14:20:00.000-07:00

Catfish with Kady

2008-07-30T13:36:00.000-07:00

Last night my sweet friend Vickie Stallings came for a visit. Stacey called and wanted to know if we all could get together for dinner. I suggested this really swanky place (ha ha) called Charlie's Catfish House. It is not the most impressive looking establishment in the world but the food is really pretty good! I got the boiled shrimp and it was great! As you can see by the pics, Vickie had the catfish. Poor fish! She left nothing but bones! We got to see Kady and play with her. She is the cutest and tiniest baby I think I have ever seen. She looks like a little pixie. She may be small but boy can she wail. Jeff and Stacey had her singing and talking and just plain old yelling. Will was smitten with her right away. He has decided that he would now like a brother or sister. But, judging by the way he aggravated Kady, I'm not sure I want to venture down that path any time soon. Anyway, it was great seeing and catching up with old friends. We love you guys. The only bad part was that there was no Larry!!!!!

Awarded: 2008 Queen of Procrastination-Rebecca Taylor

2008-07-27T11:24:00.001-07:00

Yes, it's true I am the biggest procrastinater in the world. I feel I am very deserving of this award! When Jeff and I moved to Mississippi we brought alot of belongings. I say belongings, Jeff says Junk! "One man's trash is another man's treasure"---I really like that saying. To me, things like plastic pumpkins, boxes of construction paper, Christmas ornaments that mice have nibbled on, ten million pieces of corning ware etc. etc. etc. Are not junk!!! I use to think that I wasn't a pack rat and I'm not with anyone's things except my own. In my opinion, Jeff and Will could do with alot less than they have, but hey, keep your paws off of my treasures! Anyway to get back on the subject of procrastination, when we moved here the house we bought was partially furnished. We really did not need most of the things that were here because we already had our own stuff from Andalusia. Do you see where I am going? Now we have twice as much "Stuff" as before. I have been saying ever since we moved in that I should clean out our shed(which is really a small house behind our house) and turn it into something really useful. I love to paint and so this could be used as a little place for me to go and do what I enjoy. We could paint the walls and do the floors and a whole assortment of sprucing up and the place could really be nice. It's just getting motivated to do it. Jeff and I were going fishing yesterday with some people and plans fell through. I searched all day for a fun alternative and just couldn't come up with it. I was sitting at the bar in my kitchen when I looked out there at my poor neglected shed. As you can see from the pictures, we have just thrown everything in there and have never attempted to do anything else. IT'S TIME FOR A CHANGE!@! I am very glad that my parents do not have the internet because my mother would have a heart spell if she knew I was showing the under belly of our home to others. I rolled up my sleeves last night and went at it. I wound up throwing away only 2 trash bags full thus far and you can't even tell I touched it. But, I am resolved to keep going. It may take me a month, it might even kill me, but I am going to try. Pray for me to carry on, even as the procrastinater in me says "No, find anything else but THIS".

P.S. I did find a pair of my very favorite sandals out there. Who knows what else I may find if I just keep on digging.

Smarter than the average bear!

2008-07-20T12:39:00.000-07:00

Well, what a time I've had lately!! It seems like every weekend for the past forever I have been on the go. Just this morning a large group of our church friends and I went to Yogi on the Lake in Pelahatchie, Mississippi. Jeff and I went last year with our camper and liked it so much that we came back and told our children's committee at church about it. We went up on Friday morning and came back this morning. We had such a blast. If any of you have children and are looking for a GREAT place to go and have some fun-Go to Jellystone. It is actually a chain. The first one we went to was in Robert, Louisiana. It was nice but a little dated. They still had a pinball machine with Kiss on it and everything was painted in ugly brown and bright orange. This one in MS is really brand new. They just opened it last summer. It is really close to Jackson which is the capitol and has lots of shopping and other cool stuff to do. Sorry Beth Colvin, nothing catastrophic happened! Just good ole summertime fun! Looking forward to next year when our group plans to venture to Disney World I had better get some rest.

P.S. We actually did have a skunk experience that was pretty horrible but I think I am just too pooped to do it justice. Just let your imagination run with it!

I'm Officially O-L-D!!!!

2008-07-14T10:14:00.000-07:00

This weekend we decided to try out this new water park that is only like 30 minutes from Laurel. It was really hot and I thought this would be a good idea for us to have some family time and cool off in the water. Besides my family, My good friend Diane and her daughter, Morgan and also Will's buddy, Slade went with us. When we arrived we rented a cabana and got everything set up for a day of fun. They had this really cool thing called the "Lazy River". Diane, Morgan, Will and myself decided that we would try this out first because, hey, who could resist "LAZY river"? Anyway, we got our cabooses into these round floats (inner tubes) and just floated all around the park. It was an all 80's weekend so we connected our arms and toes to each other( we called this formation our party barge) sang "love shack", "thriller", "I love rock and roll" and many other hits from that era. We were having such a good time until we rolled around one of the bends of the river. There lay a lifeless body of a teenage boy. There were life guards all around giving him CPR. We don't know if he died or not but he never moved the entire time they were working on him. We heard some of the paramedics saying that he had a seizure in the water and this caused him to drown. It took me quite a while to calm down after seeing this and so we went back to the cabana, had lunch and just rested for a while. To lighten everyone's spirits, Jeff decided that we should all go for a trip down one of the slides. I do not like water slides, I do not like heights, I do not like free falling from many feet up in the air!!!! It probably was not a good idea to follow Jeff. Once I got to the top of this "tower of torture" I began to have serious thoughts of death. I'm not kidding. When I got to the entrance of the tunnel, I saw that they made you lay down flat and cross your arms over your chest as if you were laying in state in a coffin. All I needed was a lilly laced in my fingers and I was all set for the viewing. I laid down and then I was off. It was the most horrific moment of my 34 years thus far. I have NEVER been more frightened. I do not exactly have the healthiest body in the world and so I imagine my heart should not have jolts like this often. I do believe that when people enter into hell, that Satan delivers them through a portal just like the Collins, MS waterslide. This slide was not only fast, scary and trying it's best to drown my robust body, but it also was pitch black dark the entire ride. Once I finally reached the bottom of this torturous ride, I was deposited into a deep pool of water. I had water thrust up my nostrils and a wedgie that wouldn't quit. I came up for a breath only to see my friends and family laughing hysterically at me. It hurt my feelings that no one even cared that I was about to go into cardiac arrest. I just cried and went back to our cabana where I soothed myself with some Bue Bell homemade vanilla with strawberries in a cone. The rest of the day I stuck to the "lazy river" while all of the "young people" had fun.

2008-07-14T09:41:00.000-07:00

VBS 2008 "Outrigger Island"

2008-07-13T11:57:00.001-07:00

This Year we had a great time at our VBS. We had alot of good kids who enjoyed learning about Jesus. As you can see by the pictures, we had a good crowd. We had delicious suppers each night and lots of fun and frolic. I taught the 3 and 4 year old class. I do believe my group was the MOST energetic. I have found that it is relatively difficult to do alot of teaching to this age group. For the most part I felt like I was babysitting. I felt very defeated until toward the end of the week when one of my most rowdy pupils told me the story of blind Bartimaeus exactly as I had told it earlier in the week. It is times like these that make you feel like you did at least plant some seeds. I do love to teach and I pray that God can use me to do so for many years to come.

My trip "HOME"

2008-06-29T13:23:00.001-07:00

This weekend I had the extreme pleasure of going home. A friend of mine at our church had a class reunion in Talladega, Alabama. She did not want to travel alone and invited me to travel with her. My parents were very happy to hear this and made arrangement for a fun filled weekend. We arrived there on Friday and went out to eat with my daddy. For those of you who really know me, you know I really like to eat!! Birmingham has some wonderful eating establishments and all I could think of was getting to sample some good old Alabama cuisine. Guess where my daddy chose to dine? Captain D's!!!!! I mean how much more exotic can you get? Anyway, Will scarfed down a pile of macaroni and cheese and another shrimpy, greasy pasta conglomeration. We got back to their house and were pooped. Will and I got into the bed around 10:00. I was exhausted and we got all snuggled in. Will turns toward me and throws up that disgusting dinner he consumed earlier. My parents were sound asleep so I had to take all of the covers off the bed and wash them. I put Will on the couch in their den and I wound up in the most UNCOMFORTABLE chair I have ever sat in, much less slept in. I actually did not sleep. My brother came about 7:oo Saturday morning to take us bowling. (just what I wanted to do after a night of shrimpy vomit and no sleep). We did have a great time though. After bowling we went up to Vulcan Park. Vulcan is the big statue that you can see when you approach the city of Birmingham. We had such a great time. It was wonderful getting a chance to catch up with my brothers, parents, neices and nephew. I will leave by quoting Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz---"There's no place like home."

P.S. Check out the picture of Will with some of my neices and nephews- He was wearing my rhinestone sunglasses and looked like Elton John. Also, I have a new camera and I'm not sure why it printed the wrong date????

Only in the "city"

2008-06-22T14:44:00.000-07:00

I guess you could say that I am pretty much a country girl. I was born and raised in a small town in Jefferson County just north of Birmingham called Morris. Actually, we just had a Morris address. My real place of residency was in a little town (I think) called Haig. Where the population was a staggering 319. My family made up 5 of those. Anyway, everyone knew and still knows everyone else. Everybody looked out for each other and their property. In fact, once I got my license, I dared not to speed those streets because "Mama Jewel" Armour (an up the road neighbor) would call my daddy and tattle on me. What I'm getting at is that it was a really close knit, safe place to grow up. Jeff and I are now living in Laurel Mississippi. Our church is smack dab in the middle of a pretty rowdy city. It is still ironic to be sitting in the middle of a church service singing Victory in Jesus and hearing sirens blaring and tires screeching as ambulances, fire trucks and various police personnel attend to whatever emergency is out there. At the first two churches Jeff pastored, this kind of thing would have called for more than a few people to go out and investigate and then report on their findings. Here, people don't seem to even notice. Just this month, our church has been robbed twice. Someone took a hammer, smashed out one of our Sunday School windows, came in stole a lap top and money from the petty cash drawer in the office. They obviously didn't get enough the first time, so they came back for more the second time. I realize that we are suppose to always be like Jesus. We should love our neighbor as ourselves, be kind one to another etc....... I am trying really hard!!!! However, it is sometimes pretty difficult when some idiot steals from the church. I mean how low down would you have to be? Our church is a very giving bunch and would most likely give anyone anything they needed. Just ask, don't take!!! I know we all have sinned and fallen short of God's Glory and that none of us deserve His mercy. I just have to remember this when I am thinking of ways to get revenge like hiding in that hallway they seem to keep coming in and surprise them with a lead pipe and some buck shot. I pray that my son will be able to know the same peace and feeling of safety I knew as a child. I love the song Broken World by Across the Sky (it's my 3rd song on the playlist). I think it sums up the only hope we have. Keep us in your prayers!

Where in the world is John Harper?

2008-06-05T12:43:00.000-07:00

One more event that happened on our trip to Bama was an incident that I still hear about daily. When we lived in Andalusia, my son became very best friends with a co conspirator named John Harper. They loved each other very much and played together every chance they got. They were tit for tat on the rough scale. In fact John H. was the only other child Will's age that could come any where close to matching "fighting skills". I always dreamed of having this handsome, smart and well adjusted little boy. Well at least he's handsome and smart!!!! He is still rough and tumble. Marianne and I had talked before we came and were going to try and get the boys together. I should never have mentioned this to Will because it became a crusade to track down John Harper. Our schedules never worked out until the last day I decided I had heard enough whining and so the three of us set off on a quest to find John Harper. As we got on the road, I told Jeff that J and Marianne had sold their old house to Russell and Kristen Wiggins and I didn't really know where they lived now. One thing to our advantage is that Carolina isn't very big and that everyone knows everyone else's every move. So suffice it to say we wound around on one of those country roads looking for what we thought would be some kind of a metal "Butler" building or something. What we found was in true Marianne style the most beautiful metal building I think I have ever seen. However, there was no John Harper. I tried to tell Will that it was just as good to see his home and even his blue eyed dog but he wasn't buying it. There was some ruggedly handsome guy there who looked just like J.W. and I thought at first I might could even tell Will that this was John Harpers dad but he wasn't having anything short of thee one and only John Harper Dubose. If you are out there man, Please know that there is another person on earth who thinks you are the coolest friend he vaguley remembers.

P.S. Just to commemorate our trip out to the Dubose Pondersosa, I took some souvenier shots. Isn't this one of the prettiest horses you have ever seen?

My Home's in Alabama................

2008-06-04T06:38:00.000-07:00

What a WONDERFUL time we had in Alabama. Jeff and I often sing the old Alabama song "My Home's in Alabama...no matter where I lay my head.....". We believe that too! We may live in Mississippi and though it is still the south, it will never be home. Mississippi is a good place and we enjoy living here, don't get me wrong, but there is just something about Alabama that I LOVE!!!!! Maybe it's because me and my entire family were born and raised there or maybe it's because the Crimson Tide calls it home, or maybe it's because it's just plain AWESOME!!!!!! Anyway we got to cross over into the majestic state a couple of weeks ago and it was wonderful. We pulled our camper over to Open Pond and stayed for 6 days. We got to see so many of our friends while we were there. I took some pictures of our last day when we went to Blue Lake. These were just a few of the people we got to see but there were many others like Donna, Ron, Evan and Abi Yates (whom I love dearly)!!! They promised that they are coming over to Mississippi to see us soon, but I'll believe it when I see it. We also got to see Sandra and Ashley Kelley and this little boy. They said his name was Landon but I don't believe them because the Landon I remember was a little baby the last time I saw him.

The Wedding

2008-06-03T07:54:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned on my last blog, we recently attended a wedding. Some of our dearest friends in the whole world asked for Jeff, Will and I to come be a part of their daughters wedding. Britni Ballard and Bucky McMillan were united in marriage on Saturday, May 24, 2008. They were married at Blue Lake Methodist camp in a rustic little chapel. It was a really pretty wedding but it was also very hot!! The fun made the heat worth it though. I hung out with a group from Carolina so that pumped up the fun meter!! The ceremony was performed by Jeff and I think he did a great job. Everthing was decorated beautifully, the food was super and the dancing was hilarious. Anyone who knows the Ballards, know they like to have fun and Brit's wedding was no exception. I believe all who attended would say that they had a great time. Congratulations Brit and Buck!!! We Love You!!!!

Not MIA anymore!!

2008-06-02T08:00:00.001-07:00

Alot has happened since my last blog!! We FINALLY finished our church renovation, Will graduated from kindergarten, he got a new red half cast and Britni Ballard became the new Mrs. Bucky McMillan. First here are a few pics of our church renovation.I will post my other pictures later this week.

2008-04-23T10:41:00.000-07:00

Okay! Our camping trip was ALMOST uneventful. At the end of our "relaxing" stay, Will met some cute little indian boys and made friends with them. Jeff says that he is like me in the way he will talk to anybody and in a few seconds will know their life history. Anyway, they were having a really great time together UNTIL......... They decided to do bike tricks. The oldest little boy went down a hill and when he reached the bottom, his front tire fell into this ditch (which was filled with leaves and appeared to be solid)he flew over his handle bars and scraped all of the skin from his arm. His dad ran over to check on him. Only seconds later, Will decides that he can do this trick a little better. We are not really sure what posessed him to do this after he just saw this other little boy sailing through the air. Oh well, he did it! and before bed that night we ended up in the ER at South Central Med Ctr here in Laurel. The doctor said he had a spiral break in his lower left leg. He is in a camo cast from his toes to his hip. Here are some photos of our adventures at the hospital and the next day getting his cast put on.

2008-04-23T09:56:00.000-07:00

This past weekend our family FINALLY got to take our long awaited camping trip. We decided to go to Clarkco State Park in Quitman, MS. It is really pretty there and relatively close to home. It was very relaxing. We took long walks, read magazines and fished. Notice the No Swimming or Wading sign? I took this picture as Will was exiting the water. Glad the wildlife conservationists were no where in sight.

2008-04-07T07:35:00.000-07:00

Last Friday Will's sweet teacher Mrs. Boone asked if I could go on a field trip with the class. I agreed and she told me that we would be going to the Magnolia Center for a "Day on the farm". I was really excited because I assumed it would be like the thing in Andalusia that the young farmers have for the children. It was fun, however, it was certainly not the same!!! They only had about ten animals which were very frightened. (not that I blame them) Alot of the animals were in these big cages and all of the kids were screaming and poking and slapping at the poor things. It was very noisy and chaotic. I dare say those animals will ever be the same. Shonna, tell Russell that he should come to Mississippi and show these cute cowboys how to do it. I posted a few pictures below of our day.

2008-04-06T15:23:00.000-07:00

Finally, back! We have had some technical difficulties as well as a ton of work lately. We are in the middle of a rather large renovation on our children's dept at church. Jeff, myself and my children's committee have been painting, moving and cleaning for months. Hopefully, we will be finished before our Day Camp starts in May. Soon I will post pictures of our wonderful areas. We will have all new furniture, a media room, a snack shack, a gaming center and an indoor play ground. I am so excited to get to be a part of a wonderful work God is doing in our church. We hope to have a big dedication day around the second week of May and let everyone in the church, as well as, the community come by for a look see and enjoy an old fashioned picnic in our gym.

2008-03-24T09:37:00.000-07:00

We had a WONDERFUL Easter weekend! We actually had planned a camping trip to Archusa. Jeff spent Thursday getting our camper and truck packed and ready to pull out Friday morning. He decided to go turkey hunting (of course) before we left but only stayed for a few minutes and came home with a severe stomach virus. Needless to say, he spent the entire day in the bed with a high fever and chills. Will and I spent the day together out doors to enjoy our glorious world that God has given us and also to stay away from those germs!! We shopped for an Easter dress for me. He usually will not go with me to "girl shop" as he calls it but this weekend he really didn't have a choice. He made me laugh out loud a hundred times. He chose many dresses that he thought was pretty (they were not pretty to me!) . Being that he was trying to help me, I knew that I had to try them on at the very least. One was a spaghetti strap floor length dress with a hideous kelly green sweater. For those of you who do not know me, I do not quite have the physique for a spaghetti strap anything. We finally decideded on something together. Saturday we played outside while Jeff continued to recuperate. On Sunday we all overslept!!!! We didn't get up until 8:44 AM. Sunday School starts at 9:15 and we live about 20 minutes away from church! WE WERE LATE!!!!! Even so, the day was beautiful, the sermon was good, everone looked spiffy and lunch was terrific! We spent the afternoon with the Hicks family and enjoyed wonderful fellowship. We capped the weekend off with a "camping trip" in the driveway. Jeff, Will and his little friend Slade Hicks made a camp fire in our copper fire pit Sunday night. We roasted hot dogs and marshmallows. We had a "no going in the house rule" (except for me of course. ha ha). I left the boys and Jeff snoozing away in the camper this morning. In and among all of the fun we also had alot of time to reflect on the wondrous meaning of Easter. With every blade of green grass, every blooming azalea and Bradford pear, I am reminded of the gift of Life our precious Savior gave to me! Thank you Jesus for your selfless gift to the world!!

2008-03-13T10:35:00.000-07:00

Well, my mom's surgery is over and she got to go home Tuesday. The doctor said she is doing very well. I stayed with her over the weekend. The medication had her VERY loopy! Half of the time she didn't know who I was and therefore talked about me. Some good, some not so good. At one point she said that I reminded her of Michael Jackson. She asked me if I was trying to bleach my skin like he does. She also told me that I should make my grandmother( who has been dead for almost a year) get out of the room because she was talking too much and getting on her nerves! Thank goodness all of the medication has worn off and she is now doing really well. Thank you all once again for your prayers.

2008-03-03T14:44:00.000-08:00

Good News! Today was my mom's surgery at Brookwood Med Ctr in B'ham. My dad called earlier and said that after 6 hours of surgery, my mom is now in ICU. The surgeons told him that everything went really well. They do not anticipate any complications at this point. Thanks to everyone who lifted our family up in prayer. To God be the Glory for ALL things!

2008-02-25T19:27:00.000-08:00

Today I found out that my mom will be having surgery on March 3 in Birmingham. She and my dad met with the surgeon this afternoon and were both told that this will be an extremely long and difficult surgery and that she is an incredibly high risk patient. I am very concerned and ask for anyone who reads this, to please pray for my mom. She knows God and I know that if anything happened to her, she would go to be with Him. However, I am not sure I am ready to let go of her just yet. I know it is all in His hands and He will do what is best. Thank you for your prayer!

2008-02-17T12:43:00.000-08:00

Hello, family and friends! I found this great web site through my good friend Beth Colvin in Andalusia. It is very hard to keep in touch with everybody now that we live in Mississippi. I will put some of our most recent pictures on here so you all can see this bubbling metropolis we call home (ha ha). You can also see how "little Will" is no longer little. It makes Jeff and I so sad to see him grow so quickly, but also so thankful to God for our wonderfully healthy and energetic son.