Wednesday, December 5, 2012

One more day...

   We'll be leaving TN on Friday morning.  Tomorrow will be spent finishing the packing, loading the U-haul, and cleaning the house.   Our internet will be cancelled this evening, so this will be the last post for several days until we either get internet again in IN, or I can get to the library.  When we get settled again, I'll be sure to post a lot of pictures of our new house. 
   Rebekah's tombstone was finally set this morning.  We'll be going down to Blue's Hill one more time before we leave to see it.  I know she's not there in that grave, but my heart still aches at the thought of going so far away and the fact that I won't be able to go visit the grave whenever I want.  Its hard to explain...  In a way, I feel like I'm leaving a child behind.  Silly isn't it?  
   I'll have a lot to keep me very busy for the next several weeks.  We're planning on jumping right into this new ministry full speed ahead.   Please keep us in your prayers. 

Saturday, December 1, 2012

Our Last Preacher Night

   I posted some pictures of our last Preacher Night on my new page.  Check them out!  We did a Cowboy theme this time, and I think the kids really enjoyed it.  I know Andy and I did.
   Here are also a few updated pictures of the kids.


"Hunting deers"

My little cowpoke


Gotta' hold your mouth right....


Big stuff. :)


Having fun before Preacher Night

Audra learning how to sit up

Yep, he's my son...can't stand shoes and socks!
Ride that horse!

She's growing up so fast!

Monday, November 26, 2012

Our New House!

   We got a house in Indiana, finally!  Its a big two story house in town, just a couple miles from the church.  I can't wait to get moved in!  This house is perfect for us until we sell our TN house and it'll give us time to find something to buy in the country next year.  I'll post pics as soon as we get up there.  I'm excited about it.  
   I've been working on getting our last Preacher Night organized. We're doing a cowboy theme this month.  Its bound to be a lot of fun!  I made WANTED posters for each of the children an hung them all over the church walls.  Ty the Terrible, Vivian the Vicious (imagine that! :), and "Lefty" Justus to name just a few of our notorious outlaws.  So swing out the saddle, cowboys and cowgirls, and 'belly' up to the chuck wagon for some grub, then get ready for some rootin'-tootin', rip-snortin', Western fun!  Our famous horses, Silver and Scout are groomed and grained and ready to run!  Oh, and don't forget to practice up on Home on the Range, too, for our Redneck Singing Competition. 
  

Friday, November 23, 2012

Thanksgiving

   We've got a whole lot to be thankful for!  How often do we forget to thank God for His blessings!  We get in the rut of saying, "Thank you, Lord, for this food, for our house, for our family, for your blessings (in general)", but how many times do we stop and really think about those things?  Its become just a phrase, just a memorized prayer that we say at a loaded dinner table.  Do you ever stop and think about those little things that so often are taken for granted?  For instance, that soft pillow you slept on last night.  Or that hot bath you soaked in after a long day of work.  How about the shoes on your feet, or the nice clothes you wear.  Most people have so many clothes that they can change into a different outfit every day for three weeks without having to do a load of laundry!  We have heat in the winter and A/C in the summer...luxuries.  Did you have sour cream on your last baked potato?  Cheese?  When was the last time you went to bed with an empty stomach...not because you were on a diet, but because there was not enough food to go around?  I hate it when people say, "I don't have thing to wear", or "There's nothing to eat in this house!"  REALLY!  Stop and think about that.  There IS food, its just not the food we want.  Yes, we are spoiled with all our luxuries. You don't have to live in a mansion to enjoy luxuries.   There are so many things that we don't NEED.  Those are luxuries!  Sour cream on a potato is a luxury.   A different pair of shoes for work, for exercise, for church, for going to town...all that is a luxury.   Did you thank God for it?  There are so many little things that we take for granted!  How many spoons do you have in your kitchen drawer?  In New Guinea, they pass around a single spoon so that each person sitting around the fire can take a bite in turn.  They also share the same toothbrush, if, that is, they are are fortunate to have one in the first place.  
   We are so very blessed!  I'm ashamed at how many times I have not been thankful like I should.  God has been so good to us!  He not only gives us what we need, but many times what we want as well.  What if you gave someone a gift only to have them snatch it from your hands and run greedily away with it with not a word of thanks.  What if they opened it, then complained that it was not what they wanted?  How would you feel?  That's what we do with the Lord so many times, and yet He patiently and loving keeps those blessings coming.  I can't understand it!  Thanksgiving is almost gone from America.  I can't stand how they go from Halloween straight into Christmas without hardly a thought of Thanksgiving.  We are not a thankful people anymore.  
   Don't let this holiday pass without having a truly grateful heart.  And don't let it end there.  We should have a spirit of thankfulness every day of our lives!  You can ALWAYS find something to be thankful for!  Even in the worst situations. 

Thanksgiving Dinner

The swing Papaw made for the kids. The limb it was attached to was way up thereThe kids thought they were flying!

Playing Outside
Andy and Brad

Audra wore herself out.


Cousins Christian, Carson, and Clayton
Clayton and Christian are becoming good buddies.
Yep, she's got her Daddy's eyes.  :)
Hold your head still, Audra!





Baby Annelye White. 

Tender moments

Christian LOVED this wagon. 

Audra, Christian, and Clayton.

Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Enjoying the Beautiful Weather!

   Only two more weeks to go before we move and we've still got so much to do!  I haven't been able to get a whole lot done due to Audra's teething.  She's been miserable and very clingy lately.  I feel so bad for her.  
   Christian is getting busier and busier with each passing day!  This morning he found some water somewhere to go swimming in and as I was pulling off all his sopping wet clothes I said, "Why, Christian!"  This was not the first offense.  :)  He patted my shoulder and said, "I love you, Mama".  Ok, how can you stay irritated when that happens?  So I said, "What am I going to do with you?" and without missing a beat, he replied, "Go get hash browns?"  (he LOVES Hardee's hash browns!)  I was over my 'mad' after that.  I had to go to town anyway, so we stopped and picked up some hash browns.  When we got home, he dumped Kerosine all over his pants, and the front porch, so off came the clothes again.  This time I landed him in the bath!  
    So between accidents, scrubbing marker off of places where it doesn't belong, wiping up messes, picking up stray toys, changing diapers, filling hungry mouths, wiping tears off chubby cheeks, putting on a band-aid, diving to catch something I'd prefer not be broken as it sails through the air from tiny hands, reading to hungry little minds, and singing til I'm hoarse as I rock my babies to sleep, well...., I don't really have much time for anything else.  :)  But, those boxes will get packed somehow.  Its really not so important.  :)  
   
   I think I hear someone waking up...and my day continues.  :)  What a blessing it is to have children!  They are terribly busy, and yes, they keep me hopping.  Yes, I don't have much time to myself anymore.  But, oh, this is a wonderful life!  Being a mother, what a joy!  

   Happy Thanksgiving!  And Christmas will be here before you know it!  I'm sure I'll have a white one this year!  Not just inches either, but feet!  Hey, I came from the tropics!  I'm going to have to get used to it all over again.  I think I'll hibernate in the house for the winter.  Andy says he's going to teach me how to drive in the stuff.  Imagine driving in feet of snow?!?!?  Yikes!   Andy's driven in snow banks higher than a vehicle!  Oh my....  I guess there's no better time to get used to it than as soon as we get there.  :)   Hey, I love playing in it, but I'm not real sure about driving in it.  I could say "pray for me", but I think "pray for our vehicle" would be more fitting.  :)  With me driving, there's no telling what will happen to it.  :)




Mowing with Daddy

Audra with Dufus    (...and believe me, he lives up to his name)






Exploring...an endless adventure for one his age.  


"A boy and his dog"....except in this case a cat.  Dufus follows Christian around like a puppy.  Christian can sit on him, drag him around by the neck, or hit him with a stick, (not that we encourage this :) and Dufus just purrs, loving every minute spent with his boy.  I told you he lives up to his name!  He's so gentle with Christian and Audra!  We better keep him because we'll never find another cat as dumb, but as sweet as he is!  


A country boy's dreams...



See my new tooth???  Its in there, believe me!  We've had the long, emotional days to prove it! 

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Trip to Indiana

   We went house shopping in Indiana this past weekend.  We found one little place that would work as a last resort, but the situation is not particularly ideal, so we're still praying that something else will turn up in the next few weeks.  Some folks at the church are working on that end to find more options.
   Here are some pictures of our trip.



Indiana has some of the most beautiful farms I've ever seen.

Definitely CORN COUNTRY!

Massive farms!

Corn fields as far as the eye can see!

Of course, when you have huge farms with 100's of acres of corn to harvest, you need massive equipment.  And the combines are enormous! 


With no wind breaks, the wind was strong and constant.  I felt like I was out West in prairie land!


More huge farms.


How much corn can you get out of a field this size!  Wow! 


The Courthouse in Rushville, about 15 min from Liberty.  Beautiful!


Here it is...Bible Believer's Baptist Church

The Bed and Breakfast where we stayed.  The picture is a little bad.  The lady who owns it is wanting to sell.  We are trying to talk her into letting us rent it for the winter.  Its beautiful on the inside! 

Liberty, Indiana.  Trains are everywhere up there.  I love hearing them blowing their whistles as they rumble through town.  Its so old-fashioned sounding!  Several trains came through every day and even throughout the night.  The big building is the courthouse. 

Liberty.  Its a quaint little town about the size of Carthage.
The houses around there are huge!  This house is the norm.  Most were at least this size. 

Here another big one in Liberty.  I think this one is gorgeous!  I'd hate to clean it, though...

How about some town houses?  Wouldn't mind living in these.  :)

More town houses in Richmond, about 15 min from Liberty. 



Brookville, about 15 min from Liberty.  Not all of Indiana is flat corn fields.  Brookville is lake and state park country.  It looked like TN.

The ever present train tracks.