Monday, November 30, 2009

Family & Holiday Go Together Like A Horse & Carriage

We had an exciting week of preparing for company and an even more exciting weekend of fun, with our company! After a vigorous day of cleaning on Wednesday, our guests arrived on Thursday around noon. These guests included Greg’s Mom and Dad, his brother Chad and wife, Sunny. Thursday afternoon, we joined my parents, Larry and Trisha, Uncle Ron, Aunt Diane and Mamaw S. for a SCRUMPTIOUS Thanksgiving dinner, together! Mother… you outdid yourself in every way! Thank you!!! That evening we went back to our place and enjoyed a relaxing time, all warm and cozy in our “jammies”. On Friday, we continued more of the same, until mid-afternoon… when we headed downtown Indy to check out Lucas Oil and watch the “Circle of Lights”! This was also tons of fun, Mom P. and I did a great deal of ‘people-watching’ as the Holiday Stage was being set, while having a warm snack from Au Bon Pain. The rest of the crew headed over to Circle Center Mall to waste a couple of hours and returned just as the ‘pre-show’ was about to begin. A ‘nap-less’ Aly was getting a bit frustrated in the cold night air, so we ended up leaving before the “BIG MOMENT”. However, it turned out to be a lovely evening, after all! Saturday, we drove over to the Incredible Pizza Co. and enjoyed a very tasty buffet, lots of games, rides, etc. and laughed more than we had a right to! We even took in a ‘bit’ of shopping later that afternoon. It was a pleasure to have to have our family worship with us on Sunday and we all enjoyed hot homemade soup and chili before they departed for home. We already miss them and look forward to Christmas visits coming SOON! There are even more reasons about looking forward to Christmas and number one would have to be, the fact that we will be receiving a new camera and will no longer have to ‘beg, borrow or steal’ photos from family and friends! A SPECIAL THANK YOU, to my sis-in-law, Sunny for ‘sharing’ a handful of Thanksgiving-Weekend pix with me and I will now 'share' them for you to view below!!! Trust all of my Blogger-Palz will have a chance to ‘rest up’ from their busy Thanksgiving Holidays and enjoy the upcoming Christmas Season…

Monday, November 23, 2009

Thank You Lord for Your Blessings…




As the world looks upon me (us), as I (we) struggle along...
They say I (we) have nothing, but they are so wrong.
In my (our) heart(‘s) I'm (we’re) rejoicing, how I (we) wish they could see.
Thank you Lord, for Your blessings on me (us).

Now, I (we) know I'm (we’re) not wealthy and these clothes they're not new...
I (we) don't have much money, but Lord I (we) have You.
And to me (us) that's all that matters, though the world cannot see.
Thank You Lord, for your blessings on me (us).

There's a roof up above me (us)
I've (we’ve) a good place to sleep.
There's food on my (our) table
And shoes on my feet.
You gave me (us) Your Love, Lord
And a fine family.
Thank you Lord, for your blessings on me (us).

Happy Thanksgiving One and ALL!!!

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Alyson's First "Wee Worship" Experience

We are thrilled to announce, Aly truly enjoyed her first visit to “Wee Worship”, this past Sunday! Mrs. Alberta, Mrs. Maria and their staff are amazing with those kids and Aly simply loved being a part of it all. The theme of this particular Sunday, was ’The Creation’ and Aly was able to bring her first ‘paper’ home, a 3-D coloring page, to place on the fridge! Now, we’ve made things at home in the past, but THIS was different! Also, each Sunday the “Wee Worshiper’s” make an edible snack/craft… and here is Aly’s!
‘The Creation’, complete with the sun, moon, trees, flowers, grass, dirt and even WORMS! Thanks, “Wee Worship” team, for making our Aly’s day, she is having trouble waiting for next week, now!
What a wild weekend AND Monday we’ve gone through! We decided to pull out all the Christmas decorations and finish them, so we could actually have time to enjoy the season! If we had waited until after Thanksgiving, the first of December would’ve been here and then less than a month until Christmas! For certain, 3 or 4 weeks is NOT enough Christmas for us! It’s is our favorite time of year and if things had been a bit more ’normal’ this month, our Christmas ’wonderland’ would’ve have been completed even before mid-November… However, we are now enjoying the true beauty of Christmas and hearing Aly’s “OOO’s” and “AHH’s” over the bright lights and ornaments! (When it is 100% complete, we will post pix!) The pure wonder of a child at Christmas, there’s nothing quite like it, is there?
On a similar note, we are getting more and more anxious for the children’s Christmas Musical, “It’s A Wonder---ful Life”, at church! ONLY 3 weeks away!!! It should be the best one we’ve put on (at least for the past 5 years), but the stress of the adults involved would NOT exactly be summed up as ‘wonder---ful’, at this point! LOL If you think about it, over the next 3 weeks please say a prayer, that all will go well and there will be spiritual results evident, within those that come to see us perform. May God, Himself, be glorified……...

Be on the lookout for a Thanksgiving Slideshow soon! Happy Holidays!!!

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Farewell and Homecoming All Rolled Into One Weekend

It seems fitting that I would find time today, Veteran’s Day, to Blog! God bless the men and women who give and have given their all, for the freedoms we all hold dear! Wesley is now among those heroes and we are ever grateful for his desire, to ‘stand in the gap’, for his Country!
Aly and I certainly have had an interesting week! This past Wednesday evening, following church activities, Greg and I put Aly down for the night and it was the last time she saw her Daddy, until Monday evening when she awoke from her afternoon nap! To keep her calm, we didn’t talk about what was happening, until bedtime on Sunday night, we felt she would understand a “one moon” a little better than “five moons”.
Greg slipped away at the end of his workday on Thursday and headed to Missouri, where he spent a final weekend with Wesley, who was to leave for USAF Boot Camp. The two of them were also able to enjoy a bit of ’manly’ time with Grandpa and Uncle Chad over the weekend, as well! Grandpa P., Grandma P., Uncle Chad and Greg drove Wes to Jeff City on Sunday morning, where he was shuttled to St. Louis, for an early morning flight to San Antonio on Monday. We already miss him, but know that God is there with him and has big plans for him and his future! We trust God to see Wes through and will continue to pray daily for his safety!
While all of this was happening to “Daddy”, Aly and I had quite a bit of excitement of our own… ’Uncle’ Scott and ’Aunt’ Suzanne (cousins) from beautiful Louisiana came to town for a visit! We all had a ball! Tons of laughter, entirely too much food, viewing family photos, etc.! We made marvelous, magnificent memories together! Nothing beats time with family, even if we were missing our “Daddy”, at the same time! One of the highlights of the weekend, would have to be when we went shopping at the Mall, (We found it hard to believe Santa was already there!) then lunch together at “Johnny Rockets”, was yet another grand and glorious memory made! Thanks, Scott and Suzanne for coming up to ’Yankee land’ for a few days and reminding us of just how much we miss YOU and the South!!! We love you both! “The love in our family flows strong and deep, leaving us memories to treasure and keep.” (unknown)




The ultimate ‘sad’ news of this post would be the fact, that we do not have ONE single photo of Greg’s trip to Mexico, nor ONE single photo of our weekend here in Indy! However, I have included three pictures for you, 1 of Scott and Suzanne (taken at Cousin Jordy and Jessika's wedding), 1 of Wesley’s Graduation Day portraits and 1 old favorite of Greg (and Aly) who was missed terribly while he was away. We WILL try to do better at posting pictures in the future!

Monday, November 2, 2009

Happy 2nd Birthday, Alyson Dawn (October 30, 2009)


Though we are a bit sad, at the thought of Alyson already being 2 years old, we are thankful to have such a beautiful gift from Heaven to call our very own! We've just come through a very busy weekend... Aly's Birthday Party on Friday evening, Trick or Treating at the Mall on Saturday and a full day at Church on Sunday! A wonderful few days together, though!!!
We celebrated our 'Ladybug Aly' and the BIG #2, at "Incredible Pizza Company" and an 'incredible' time was had by all... adults and children alike! A wonderful buffet of every kind of food you can imagine, our "Incredible" Party Hostess/Entertainer (Lindsey), unlimited "Incredible Fairground" fun for everyone and all followed by a 'Ladybug' red velvet cake at Mamaw S.'s house!!! (Aly also enjoyed her 1st Trick or Treating... at the Mall on Saturday!) Thanks for the many birthday wishes, gifts and prayers!!! ARGH... once again, we were 'jinxed' with our 'chincy' camera and had to borrow one from Mother and Daddy for the weekend... thanks for sharing, y'all! We'll let the pictures speak for themselves in the slideshow above, of the weekend and it's events! (Remember, you can 'click' the center of the 'showbox' to be taken directly to the 'photo album'!) ENJOY...