Friends, Family, and Faithful Friday

Long time, no blog post, huh? Time sure does get away from me!

I mentioned in a previous post that we were going on a trip to see our friends Kim and Chuck (whom we met in China). We headed their way a week ago, last Thursday morning. We had a great time with them!

First of all, let me say that they feel like more like family than just friends. We felt right at home there in their beautiful home.

We spent Friday just hanging around their home catching up on news and letting the kids play.

Chuck grilled out Friday night and we had a yummy steak dinner. As a matter of fact, we spent A LOT of time here at the table. Seems like we were eating all weekend!

I just loved their huge entertainment center and the big clock above it (which I didn't get in the pic).

Jason and Chuck spent a lot of time out here. And I can see why! Sitting on their screened porch, there’s a beautiful view into the woods!  They have deer that come to visit! It is so peaceful there! I told them if my dad ever came, they’d never get him to leave! His permanent spot would be right there on their screened back porch!  It's a perfect relaxing spot!  I told them we would be doing our school out there!  :)

See the deer?  One of the neighbors has a fence around their flowers because of the visiting deer.  :)

We enjoyed lunch at Fox Brother’s BBQ (known nation wide for their yummy BBQ and it didn’t disappoint) and then spent the rest of Saturday at Stone Mountain Park. We had a great time in spite of the heat!

Playing in Geyser attraction

Shiloh on the zip line.

Dakota and Joy on the rock climbing wall.

She made it to the top twice!

Riding the train around the mountain was a highlight for Luke.

The Kiddos....Joy holding Shiloh and arm around Dakota with Luke.

The only picture I think Jason made it in.  :)  The entire crew minus Chuck because he took the pic.

Then it cooled down and we enjoyed a picnic on the lawn in front of Stone Mountain and watched the laser show. It was awesome. It was very patriotic which is right up my alley! Very well done! We thoroughly enjoyed it!

The laser light show was shown on the side of the mountain.

Dakota and Joy were pretty tight.  :)

And this is Ms. Shiloh entertaining us.  The girl can dance.  :)

Sunday afternoon we headed for a local amusement park. Again, it was hot, but the kids had a blast riding all the rides.

Joy and Chuck are up there.  Later Dakota rode it with Joy too.  It takes you up and drops you.  Then back up and drops again.

Told you he's all about trains. :)  This was the space train.

Dakota on the bumper boats.

Luke escorted us around in the old car.  :)

I think Chuck rode just as many rides as the kids! Kim and I even rode the roller coaster to satisfy our kids and I also rode the scrambler. Jason was observer, encourager, and photographer (except for the go-karts...which he did ride with Chuck and Joy). I tell you that little Shiloh and Luke (both 4 years old) LOVED the roller coaster and rode it multiple times! They were little daredevils! No fear there in those two! They kept asking to ride it over and over!

That's Chuck & Shiloh in the front & Joy & Luke in the second car.

Rolling back in with arms up (now).  :)

Then Sunday evening, Chuck and Kim fed us a home-cooked Chinese dinner. It sure did hit the spot after a hot day at the amusement park. We ate way too much (but it was all delicious)! Now it’s diet time this week!

Thank you, Kim and Chuck, for your hospitality and friendship! We enjoyed our time with you guys so much! We miss you already! And to think it took these two from Inner Mongolia, China to bring our families together!  :)

I think both Shiloh and Luke look so reflective in these pics. 

As much as we hated to leave them, we left Monday morning and headed to Alabama which is where where my mom and dad were. We didn’t get to stay but a day and night, but we enjoyed spending that time with my Richie and Missy and their family too. Then it was back home for us. We had a full weekend and enjoyed it so much! We enjoyed riding in the more spacious truck (which drives like a dream by the way compared to my little Mazda).  Jason was thrilled to get better gas mileage than expected!     Now it’s time to get to work doing some maintenance around here, including whipping our pool into shape so we can swim! With all that’s been going on, we’re slower getting it ready this year, but it’s definitely pool time!  :)

**************************************************************************************

And I really do hate to end it on this note, but I need to ask for prayers yet again for our family. As I mentioned above, we were in Alabama on Memorial Day. My Uncle Junior and Aunt Betty (my daddy’s oldest brother and his wife) were there visiting from Indiana as well. We were actually with them on Monday. They headed home Wednesday morning (after we left Tuesday night), and were involved in a 3 car wreck in Kentucky around noon and both of them were killed. Richie called me last night with the news. I think we are all in shock and just numb right now. It just doesn’t seem real. This is a very close family…..all my dad’s family. We are all together fairly often in Alabama. This is going to be a hard (double) funeral. I don’t know when yet, but we will be headed to Indiana.  We would appreciate prayers for the family. They have 5 grown children, 15 grandchildren, and several great-grandchildren as well. And Uncle Junior is one of 8 children so please remember all the siblings too. One thing I’m thankful for is that Grandma had already gone on to be with the Lord when this happened and not here to bury one of her children. We do have the security of knowing both Uncle Junior and Aunt Betty knew the Lord. Again, sorry to end on that note, but we sure would appreciate your prayers.

"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you.  I do not give to you as the world gives.  Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid."  John 14:27


Thanks so much for stopping by even though I haven’t been around as much lately! We invite you to participate in Faithful Friday.  Just grab the button above and let Joy know here on her bog.

I appreciate you all! Hope you have a wonderful day and upcoming weekend!  :)

~ Blessings~ Tammy

Faithful Friday - "Nails in the Fence"

I have always thought this was a great story, full of wisdom, to illustrate the effects of words spoken in anger.  I thought I’d share it today for Faithful Friday. If only I could heed this always.   I don't want to leave holes.

There once was a little boy who had a bad temper. His Father gave him a bag of nails and told him that every time he lost his temper, he must hammer a nail into the back of the fence.

The first day the boy had driven 37 nails into the fence. Over the next few weeks, as he learned to control his anger, the number of nails hammered daily gradually dwindled down.

He discovered it was easier to hold his temper than to drive those nails into the fence.

Finally the day came when the boy didn't lose his temper at all. He told his father about it; and the father suggested that the boy now pull out one nail for each day that he was able to hold his temper.

The days passed and the young boy was finally able to tell his father that all the nails were gone.

The father took his son by the hand and led him to the fence. He said, "You have done well, my son, but look at the holes in the fence. The fence will never be the same. When you say things in anger, they leave a scar just like this one. You can put a knife in a man and draw it out. It won't matter how many times you say I'm sorry, the wound is still there." A verbal wound is as bad as a physical one.


My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry.  James 1:19  (NIV)
**********************************************************************************************

If you would like to participate, grab the button above and leave Joy a comment letting her know you participated and we’ll stop by your blog for a visit! If you just stopped by to read for a word of encouragement, we thank you for that too!

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a great weekend! :)

A Happy Hubby

My hubby is an especially happy man today.

And this is the reason why.

He has wished, dreamed, “window shopped” (online) and planned..........

And now he finally owns his own Chevrolet Silverado Z71 4 WD (not new, but new to us).

He’s walking around with a big grin on his face. It arrived Monday evening.

It looked like this when it arrived (from Delaware):

He removed the camper.

And starting the inevitable babying it and sprucing it up (with chrome).   Now it looks like this:

And the best part is that there’s no monthly note to go with it!   :)

We’ll be trying it out on our little road trip to Georgia tomorrow morning to see Kim, Chuck, Dakota and Shiloh.

The up side to that: More leg room inside the truck than my little Mazda 3 S for a road trip. The down side: Jason is going to be very picky about letting us eat and drink in it (at least for the first 6 months). ...............So if you see a lady and two kids sitting on a curb at a gas station with a snack and drink, that will probably be us.



Shhh.......Don't tell Jason, but we're really excited about it too!  :)

Have You Ever Been This Tired?

Have you ever been SO tired you just wanted to fall over right then and there?

Well I believe that all three of my kids are experts at it. They could go to sleep anywhere anytime. (And I have the pictures to prove it). Forget the noise or anything else that was going on, they just stop and sleep. Except Colt did have this thing about not letting me sleep at night, but that’s another story.

Most of these pictures today are of Luke, but it’s only because I had all these pictures on my computer and the photos of Colt and Joy are in albums (that require scanning and my scanner isn’t working right now). But suffice it to say that I have pics of them standing up sleeping as well.

I also have the cutest video of Colt eating a lollipop and falling asleep (when he was a little under two). In his sleep, he remembers he must have been eating something and his tongue is constantly searching for his lollipop. I should have entered it in America’s Funniest Videos, because it is hilarious……and precious to me!

Luke goes and goes until he can’t go anymore. Then he just stops to sleep.

He hasn’t taken a planned nap in a few months now. That’s mostly because I just don’t enforce it anymore. He really just seemed to be requiring naps less and less during the day. I remember when Joy hit four years old, she was done with naps too (although she was my best sleeper at night..going to bed the same time and getting up the same time).  She slept all night the first night home from the hospital and unless she was sick, she always had that routine.   Colt took naps until he was older I believe, but it was probably because I laid down with him and took one too!  :)

However, when evening gets here, Luke just goes to sleep anywhere he wants if he doesn’t make it to the bed first, and in any position, I might add.

Usually he gets somewhere near one of us, whether that’s on the chair or couch......

 Or in this case, under the dining room table.

However, Luke can’t resist a nap in the car. Driving puts him to sleep usually while he’s absorbed in all the 18-wheelers on the interstate. Actually the drive from our house to town is just long enough to put all our kids out for a nap. There were many days after church (especially when Colt was little) that we’d pull up at the house and he was napping, so we would recline our seats and finish up a little nap because if we turned off the car, his eyes popped open. We grabbed our sleep whenever we could with that boy!

Luke sleeps like a rock all night long. Now mind you, arms and legs are all over the place owning the bed, but he sleeps well and all night long!

So……are you sleepy yet? :)