??????????????

Ok, I've often said

"I've never met a doughnut I didn't like."

This might be a first.

Click HERE for details.
If you don't live in the Carolinas, you might not understand.

COUSIN CAMP 2010

Cousin Camp 2010 was at my house last week.

Two days. 98 degrees.

Six little children.

The oldest JUST turned four.

Two teenagers.

Eight of us big girls.

16 total.

Can you say FUN? 

Can you say CRAZY? 


Can you say LOVE?

(this pic was taken by www.photographybyjennylynn.com)

These kids make my heart sing. They make me happy. They point me to Jesus and make me thankful. For the blessing of children. For the blessing of family. For the blessing of having someone to love. I love to sing to them....and they don't know I can't sing....so they love it too. I was pushing them in the hammock, making up a song as I pushed. In the song, I called each of their names. They waited for their name to be called. And they smiled. Just at the sound of their name. They don't know, but I call their names EVERY day. To the one who matters. To the one who takes care of them. To the one who blessed me with them. These cousins are growing up blessed. Because He hears their names. And HE loves them even more than I do. If you have a chance, have a cousin camp. You will be making memories they will never forget.


And neither will you.

COUSIN CAMP 2010.

GLEE!

I'm not much of a television watcher. I watch a few things occasionally. I spend most of my *idle* time on the computer. But, oh dear, I am hooked on *Glee*....hooked I tell you! Yesterday I watched 13 episodes. 

13.

Did you watch it last fall when it was on television?

 Oh, and I hear this makes me a *Gleek*. :)

I Have A Missionary Friend

...........YEP...I do! 

Her name is Karen and I adore her. 
I could listen to her stories for hours. That says a lot for me because I am NOT a good listener. 

I'm not proud of that. 

But, it IS what it IS!

ANYWHOO.

Karen has been in the states on furlough and is headed back now to 

West Africa.

Can I just say, not even for a visit.

Not even for a friend.

Would I go to West Africa.

I guess I'm selfish like that.

She loves me anyway.

That's why I love HER.

She and I had lunch together recently and I asked her:

"Just exactly what will you be doing when you head back?"

This was her reply:

We are moving to Mali to live in a Muslim context...with hopes of impacting our community with Christ (oh, that they might know Him!).  We are highly relational in trying to make the most positive and lasting impact possible.  We have also seen a decrease in people willing to come and those able to stay long term.  Because of this, we are opening our "home" (although they won't live right with us -at least that's not the plan right now!) for those who are willing and able to come from 2 months to 1 year and live like we do.  They will learn language (Bambara and possibly some French as well) and study things like "Islam", "Personal Spiritual Formation", "Contextual Living", and such things to become effective in this type of setting (Muslim).  Our goal is to prepare and equip people to move out and live in areas like Mali (not necessarily staying right there in Mali)....for others to see the great need of the Muslim community.

WOW. Just WOW.

I pray this prayer every morning:

Lord, what can I do today for your kingdom?

She's doing it.

Thank you Karen.

Love you friend.

P.S.  *Cousin Camp* just ended @ my house. Post will be up soon!

FAMILY

        
                                       son/daughter-in-law, son/daughter-in-law, son-in-law/daughter(Holding grand), hubs(holding grand),me

Happy Two Years!

Proud of your marriage.

Proud of your commitment to each other

And to Jesus.

Proud to be your parents.

Happy Father's Day!

"My father didn't tell me how to live;

 he lived, and let me watch him do it."

And he does it well!

Happy Father's Day Daddy!
I Love You!

 I can't let this Father's Day pass without a shout out to my oldest son,B.

Happy Father's Day B! 


You are about to be on the ride of your life. You can't imagine how wonderful it will be. You will be a great daddy, I can't wait to see the love!


I love you!

And to my husband, the father of my children:

"The most important thing a father can do for his children is to love their mother." 

~ Henry Ward Beecher

Thank you for loving me well. 

Thank you for being an example to our children.

Thank you for being a great example to all the *littles* in our lives. 

Happy Father's Day!

And to my Heavenly Father

On this day, and every day,

Thank You for your Grace.

TWINS Born 50 Years Apart!!

Cuteness runs in the family!

                                                  My Niece's son, J                                                    My Brother
                                                                                    

First Day of Ballet....Sort Of

We got her all dressed in her ballet clothes.

We got her all excited about her first class.

We took her ON TIME at 10:00.

They had changed the class to 9:00.

We were bummed.

She was as happy as a clam.

Oh well.....next week!

 

ANGEL UNAWARE

My Parents just went on an Alaskan Cruise.

They had quite the experience getting there from the Charlotte Airport. First, you have to know, I am 53. That makes my parents older than me. :) Aren't they cute??

I asked my mom to write their airport experience. 

This is what she wrote:

The story is that a young girl named Sara was on the same flight we were on, leaving Charlotte enroute to Atlanta. Our flight to Atlanta was 2 hours late leaving Charlotte due to bad weather. When we arrived in Atlanta our flight to Seattle had already left.

Dad and I went to the Air Tran ticket counter and were told that there were no more flights out to Seattle until the next day.

We heard this voice right behind us say "No way!"  Long story short she took over right there. She looked at us and said, "Follow me"...and so we did. She proceeded to go from one ticket counter to another, each time we were told the same thing. No flights until tomorrow. Actually, a couple of flights were open that would take us to New York, Florida, etc. Still we would not get to Seattle until the next morning.

Finally after two or three hours she (Sara) opened her lap top and begin to check airlines. She jumped for joy and said, "I see right here that Delta has a flight leaving Seattle at 6:00 pm." So we ran with her to the Delta counter and the agent said she saw nothing of the kind. Sara turned her computer around to show her. The agent said, "Good luck with that."  

So Sara got on her phone, called Delta and sure enough it was true and they had.....get this.... 3 seats left!!!! Not together seats, but who cares at this point?! They asked if the three of us were traveling together and she winked at us and said, "Yes!"

It took some doing to locate our luggage, etc. But believe it or not, our stuff arrived in Seattle on time!!!

Sara treated us to a late lunch in the Atlanta airport while we waited on our flight.

She is originally from Idaho and moved to Seattle, where she works for a wine company and travels. Charlotte is one of her contacts.

(Actually her mom sent the pic, as I have emailed her and told her all the good things she should know about her daughter.)

We believe she was an 'Angel Unaware'....and that we would have most likely not made it to Seattle on time to make our cruise to Alaska without her help.

I DO believe in Angel's Unaware. And I am so thankful to this angel, Sara, for helping my parents navigate in unknown territory.

Today I got an email from Angel Sara.


This is what she said:

My name is Sara  and I got to know your parents when I was traveling from Charlotte to Seattle a few weeks ago.  We missed our connecting flight  in Atlanta, and thus started our crazy travel adventure together.  I still am not quite sure how I became lucky enough to get stuck in an Atlanta airport with such amazing people as your parents, but I will tell you that I don’t know if I could have survived that day without them.  It amazes me the way people can bond with one another during a crisis, and that’s exactly what happened to us. They were instantly like family to me….after we landed in Atlanta (at a little after 10 a.m.) we quickly became each other’s support systems  -  there wasn’t anything we didn’t do together – eating lunch, booking and rebooking flight after flight (I think we counted 4 different flights we were booked on), and even when we arrived at midnight in Seattle your parents waited for me to get off the plane and help me with my bags so we could walk to baggage claim together.

Your parents truly are amazing and after that day they will forever hold a special place in my heart. Your mom has been texting and e-mailing me, and I now kindly refer to them as my “airport family”.  

Great story, huh?

An Angel Unaware.

Heroes and Kiddos

We had a FUN FUN weekend with our nieces and nephew!

 Hubs drew Ariel on the chalkboard table.

The kiddos think he is a hero. :)

The LOVE Begins Before They Are Even Born!

Got THIS picture on my cell yesterday from my son:

The caption said "For My Baby"

Whether you are a Duke fan, or not...

You have to LOVE the excitement from a new daddy!

She's Famous. I'm not.

Clover Lane.

Surely you read this blog! 

If you don't, boy what you are missing!

She has a way with words and writes with a *no nonsense* approach to parenting. She has taught me so much about blogging.....and she let me copy her header!!

Anywho, she is trying to make me famous...like her.

Go HERE to read her blog today. She interviewed little old me.

Leave her a comment...and then come back and tell me what you think.

....and just because I can't blog without a picture:

It's The Little Things

I'll be honest. Being Nonny and Poppy has changed us. We see the world with new eyes. We so wish we had taken the time to see with these eyes when our own children were younger. Don't get me wrong. We spent lots of quality time with our children. We were all about family....We still are.

BUT, we did NOT appreciate a walk through Target with a *Fancy Nancy* outfit.

We do now.

And it is OH SO SWEET.

We Didn't :

We didn't push the shopping cart backwards....(just so Poppy could SEE baby *A* and how precious she is.)

We didn't take the time we wish we had for those little, every day things.

We didn't appreciate all the little things.

And most of the time................

It's the Little Things.

A PIIIINKKKKKKKKK Weekend!

WHEW!!!

This weekend was all about PINK!!

Saturday morning we went to our niece's first dance recital. Really, is there anything cuter than a first recital? They are SO excited and they look SO cute! 
This baby girl niece was SO proud!

Then, Nonny and Poppy took the grandgirls to dinner while their  mommy and daddy had a date night.

Sunday we had a little *photo op*

........and went to another niece's PINK birthday party

....the PINKEST I have ever seen!

Happy Birthday *M GIRL*! We sure do love you!!

(Told you it was a PINK weekend!) :)

Flash Back to the 80's!!!!!!

Cleaning out my attic.

If you grew up in the 80's

Or, are a mom/nonny of a girl who grew up in the 80's

You know what all of these are.

(The Care Bear was still in the washing machine when I took this picture!)

Does this bring back memories for you?

Never Met A Doughnut I Didn't Like!

Guess what today is?

Guess what I'll be EATING tonight?