Winter Wonderland... A Bit Late in Coming!

SUPERBOWL WEEKEND

WOW! What a week! Some good and some bad! We've had many ups and downs this week. We've been and continue to carry heavy burdens for those we love. We have prayed and will continue to pray for these needs! Trusting and believing that ONLY God can answer such difficult tasks. He brought light into our lives this week in the form of a couple of announcements! CONGRATULATIONS are in order! To Whitley, for an outstanding GPA, she has been enrolled into the NATIONAL Honor Society! You go, girl! We are proud of you! Also, the word is official, Wesley will be stationed in S. Korea, following Tech School. We are so happy that he will be able to live out a life-time 'Korean' wish and pray daily for his safety. To Wes, Congrats, we love you so much! You know, when the world seems bleak, God knows just when to send these kind of blessings our way, doesn't He? HOW GREAT IS OUR GOD... SING WITH ME, HOW GREAT IS OUR GOD!

We've had our first, what I would call, major snowstorm of the season and there's more on the way tonight!!! Too late if you ask me... As most of you know, I absolutely do NOT love snow!!! Which will be no surprise to most of you, however, IF it must come this is the way I'd love to see it happen.... On Christmas eve, in the late afternoon, it would begin to flurry just a bit. Temps would stay around 30 or so. Though the snow would not accumulate at all, it would continue to flurry lightly throughout the rest of the evening, into the night and all day Christmas day/night. Temps would remain in the upper 20's or lower 30's during these two days. However, two or three days following Christmas day, the temps would fall drastically into the single digits. A heavy accumulating snow would begin to fall and not let up until it reached a minimum of one foot, PLUS. This would cause EVERYTHING to be 'shut down' for a few days. Giving everyone time to relax, spend time with family, etc. AHH After 4 or 5 days of this, the temps would begin to rise gently into the mid-to-upper 40's and above, the snow would then melt and within the week, SPRING WOULD ARRIVE!!! Now, that's the way it ought to be!

If you've heard the name, Laura Silsby, head of New Life Children's Refuge, Boise, ID in the news lately. She's a part of a group who traveled to Haiti to retrieve children, bring them to America and give them new lives here. Her particular group is being wrongfully suspected of human trafficking and facing time in court and possible prison. Would you please say a special prayer for her, the rest of her group and their families here in the States? LAURA'S FAMILY ARE FRIENDS OF MY PARENTS AND ARE IN DIRE NEED OF YOUR PRAYERS AND MINE!

Well, we had a grand Super Bowl weekend!!!!! While living here in Indy, I've become a "True Blue"! However, last night, MY SOUTHERN BLOOD RAN DEEP! Born and bred in Louisiana and being proud of it, I felt compelled to cheer for the Saints! No matter the final outcome, it was a great game for all!!! Greg, Aly and I wore black and gold to church on Sunday morning, blue that night and black to the family party. I've been a bit neutral, verbally speaking, throughout the past few weeks due to feeling a sort of "double-minded" and would have been happy had either team won, however... after THAT win??? MY HEART'S FEELING PRETTY GOOD RIGHT NOW! GEAUX SAINTS! (Nothing like a party for some great food, too!) For pre-bowl-fun on Saturday, we surprised Aly with a spur of the moment trip to "Incredible Pizza Co.", for supper and as you can tell (in the photo album above), she did indeed have an 'incredible' time!!!

"Going Bonkers" and More on Spring Break

We finally arrived home from Spring Break last evening at about 8:00 pm. After dropping Aly off around 6 to spend a little time with Papaw, Greg and I then had the chance to check in at a very important meeting on the southside, before we drove into our own driveway a bit after 8 and began to unload the luggage. Aly came home about an hour or two later and after several days away, I can truthfully say it was a joy for us all to be back home again! Trips are always fun, especially if it's for Spring Break, but we all know 'there's no place like home'!!!
Due to the fact that our camera was left at home and never packed, I thought we'd not get a single picture... however, I was wrong! My Father-in-Law provided me with a camera on Saturday and I was able to 'borrow' it for our adventure to "Going Bonkers" Family Fun Center and then again on Sunday! (Thanks, Dad!!!) I wasn't used to a different flash, wasn't sure how to get rid of the red eye, the lighting was 'off' compared to our camera, etc. So, these photos are not of the best quality but, I'm very thankful to have the memories 'on film', as well as in our hearts! We had a great time with family during our 'break', laughed at anything and everything, ate too much, enjoyed the BEAUTIFUL sunshine and all in all wouldn't have traded this trip for the world!
CLICK HERE! http://picasaweb.google.com/thepennfamily2007/GoingBonkersOnSpringBreak09?authkey=Gv1sRgCLj3_a_a7rWLXw&feat=directlink for the details.
HEY! It's March 17th and we all know what that means! It's St. Patrick's Day!!! Here is an Irish Blessing JUST FOR YOU! "May the Irish hills caress you. May her lakes and rivers bless you. May the luck of the Irish enfold you. May the blessings of Saint Patrick behold you."

Alyson Dawn Turns 9 Months This Wednesday... UNBELIEVABLE!

As hard as it is for us to believe... Aly will be 9 months old tomorrow!!! She's growing so very fast and it's quite fun to see all the changes in her as the time goes by! She's made many changes in the past 2 weeks or so... she's 'getting around' a room now (though not by crawling or walking, but by 'rolling', 'scooching' and 'lunging'!), she's actually been sitting up on her own for a while, she waves at everyone and I do mean everyone (whether she knows them or not! LOL), she points at things, she can now pull herself up in bed and her vocabulary includes "Mama", "Dadda" and "Bye Bye"! Who knows but what she'll just skip the crawling and go right for the running! LOL
Being as 3 next months will pass by like lightening... we've already begun to think about a small family '1st' Birthday Party for her. Themes, cakes, etc. will be such joy to plan, even if a bit sad at the time, that the year has slipped by so quickly!
Whitley is here for the week... she and Aly are having a ball 'bonding'!!! They love to play 'tag' around the couch, 'peek-a-boo' around the corners, 'basketball under the basket' (Aly rolls the ball out of her lap and onto the ground then, Whit dribbles it before making a basket and 'sending' it back to Aly for her 'turn'!), she also likes to 'bottom-bounce' on Whitley's bed, etc.
Well, Greg and I are certainly looking forward to our little 'belated' Anniversary Trip in a couple of weeks... (*sigh*) It'll be SO great to get away, if only for a couple of days and relax after an extremely busy Summer! We'll do our best to post pix for ya'll toward the end of the month.
Here's to another wonderful week for all of our Blogging friends and to a great end of a fabulous Summer!

My 3 Musketeer's...

Summer Company Abounds and It All Begins in A "Boys Dorm"...

WOW!!!


Camp is over and the Company has begun to roll in...



Wes and his friend, Devin are in for the week. Greg and Cuz Nate went to pick them up over the weekend. Nate spent last night with us, so they've been having a ball together for 3+ days now. G'Ma and G'Pa Penn will be coming in this Thursday evening, staying with us over the 4th weekend and Whitley will be coming in at the end of the month, for a week. We also plan to have part of the Louisiana clan with us for a week and that's coming up right away!!! YAY! Having company really is a BLAST!!!
Busy times for sure, but are we ever having fun... I'll add a little Photo Album of our week so far, (the first 1 1/2 to 2 days of it, anyway!) at the bottom of the BLOG for your viewing pleasure, K? Please please please remember NONE of these pix were 'posed' and also remember our house has literally turned into a BOYS DORM this week! (Aly and I actually need 'back-up'... a Boys Dorm is NO place for little angels like us! LOL)
Well, last week was a little interesting to say the least! Camp was interesting in and of itself (we won't even go there) and then, I had a bit of a scare on Wednesday spending 12 hours in the ER, on top everything else! They took several tests, I'll go to my regular Doctor tomorrow for a follow-up, but all is well at the moment... PTL for His watchful look over us all, especially in our time of need! He's a good God and we'd never make it without Him!!!
One things for sure, with all of the busy days that seem to be flying by, Summer will be over LONG before I'm ready for it to be! I trust you are all having a splendid Summer and I'd LOVE to hear from some of you... especially those that I haven't heard from lately - HINT HINT (lol)!!! XO

Boys Will Be Boys!!! An UN-POSED look into the real deal...

Happy March, Ya'll!

It's hard to believe that March has arrived!!! We're loving this spring-like weather! 65*+ outside this morning (and still rising) with clear sunny skies! Simply beautiful!!!

What a SHOCK when you realize that our little Alyson is already 4 months old!!! (BTW - THIS PIC IS NOT OF OUR ALY - I JUST COULDN'T RESIST POSTING IT! TOO CUTE THOUGH, DON'T YA THINK?)

Well, we're spending the weekend in Mexico (the town, not the country, that is! LOL) with Greg's family and having a BALL!
Alyson just can't get over being at Mawmaw and Pawpaw P's house with her big 'Bub' and 'Sis'!







(Whitley, Fall 2007) This is all so new to her and really quite fun, too. No doubt she'll really "get into" these trips in a few months when she can 'toddle' around and 'shadow' both Wes and Whit... after all, what else are big brother's and sister's for???

(Wesley, Fall 207) Guess that'll be it for 'blogging' at the moment, we'll do our best to try and get a couple more in by the end of the month!

(Aly, Winter 2008) Take care, have a Happy March and enjoy this 'springy' weather! (Isn't it just the best Season ever!) Spring fever has HIT, that's for sure!!!