~A bike and a trike~

Callie had to get her bike out and 'try' to ride it when she saw Samuel on his tricycle. She can climb on, but hasn't got the hang of pushing the pedals yet! She makes the bike 'go' by throwing her body weight forward. =)

I had no clue that Samuel could actually ride his tricycle. The last time I saw him on it, he kept his feet on the ground and pushed himself around that way. I guess he's been practicing with his older brothers! :)

~Video clips of the kids riding their bikes~

Need Washing?

The following is a forward someone e-mailed me. I thought it was a beautiful story and just wanted to share it with all of you:

A little girl had been shopping with her Mom in Target. She must have been 6 years old, this beautiful red haired, freckle faced image of innocence. It was pouring outside. The kind of rain that gushes over the top of rain gutters, so much in a hurry to hit the earth it has no time to flow down the spout. We all stood there under the awning and just inside the door of the Target.

We waited, some patiently, others irritated because nature messed up their hurried day. I am always mesmerized by rainfall. I got lost in the sound and sight of the heavens washing away the dirt and dust of the world. Memories of running, splashing so carefree as a child came pouring in as a welcome reprieve from the worries of my day.

The little voice was so sweet as it broke the hypnotic trance we were all caught in 'Mom let's run through the rain,' she said.

'What?' Mom asked.

'Lets run through the rain!' She repeated.

'No, honey. We'll wait until it slows down a bit,' Mom replied.

This young child waited about another minute and repeated: 'Mom, let's run through the rain.'

'We'll get soaked if we do,' Mom said.

'No, we won't, Mom. That's not what you said this morning,' the young girl said as she tugged at her Mom's arm.

'This morning? When did I say we could run through the rain and not get wet?'

'Don't you remember? When you were talking to Daddy about his cancer, you said, 'If God can get us through this, he can get us through anything!'

The entire crowd stopped dead silent. I swear you couldn't hear anything but the rain.. We all stood silently. No one came or left in the next few minutes.

Mom paused and thought for a moment about what she would say. Now some would laugh it off and scold her for being silly. Some might even ignore what was said. But this was a moment of affirmation in a young child's life. A time when innocent trust can be nurtured so that it will bloom into faith.

'Honey, you are absolutely right. Let's run through the rain. If GOD let's us get wet, well maybe we just needed washing,' Mom said.

Then off they ran. We all stood watching, smiling and laughing as they darted past the cars and yes, through the puddles. They held their shopping bags over their heads just in case. They got soaked. But they were followed by a few who screamed and laughed like children all the way to their cars.

And yes, I did. I ran. I got wet. I needed washing. Circumstances or people can take away your material possessions, they can take away your money, and they can take away your health. But no one can ever take away your precious memories...So, don't forget to make time and take the opportunities to make memories everyday. To everything there is a
season and a time to every purpose under heaven.
I HOPE YOU STILL TAKE THE TIME TO RUN THROUGH THE RAIN.

They say it takes a minute to find a special person, an hour to appreciate them, a day to love them, but then an entire life to forget them. Send this to the people you'll never forget and remember to also send it to the person who sent it to you. It's a short message to let them know that you'll never forget them.

If you don't send it to anyone, it means you're in a hurry.

Take the time to live!!!

Keep in touch with your friends, you never know when you'll need each other
-- and don't forget to run in the rain!

YOU can make a difference....Get out and Vote TODAY!

What happens when you are driving a van, talking on the cell phone and trying to take a picture of the place that you voted at? NO...this is not a joke. I tried doing all three of these things at the same time and ended up running over just a few curbs! Oops! :) At least there was no damage (unless you want to count being horribly embarrassed when realizing that there are 3 cars behind me that witnessed my moment of temporary insanity). Needless to say, the picture didn't get taken until later in the day. I stopped at just the perfect spot on a side street, zoomed in and got the shot I wanted. Now, why didn't I think of that earlier. The picture below is a reflection in my rear-view mirror. No, I wasn't driving when I took the picture. I was safely stopped along the side of the road (with my hazards on) to take a picture of the place that I voted at. I happened to glance in the mirror and this is what I saw. Pretty neat, huh....

My mother requested that I post this e-mail........

and here is what it says in response to my post about Duane (my husband) turning 36.....


Hey! Really good. I did not know that I was only 14 years older than Duane. He could actually be my younger brother. Ha! See I am not THAT old yet. They had my birthday down for Nov. in the newsletter and I made them change it. They took it off. I am not claiming a day toward 50 until it happens.

MOM

I had never thought about the fact that my mother is only 14 years older than my husband! Yikes!!!! My mother has brothers that are younger than Duane! Oh well.....another side note about my mom's age.....She told me that I better never mention anything about her age on my blog. Now that she has told all of you via e-mail (that she requested I post today) I will have fun announcing to you all when her 50th. birthday arrives! :-)

~Pastor Appreciation Dinner~

Our church planned a Pastor Appreciation Dinner for Pastor Mark & Pastor Cravens' family. They traveled around to 3 different homes for appetizers, soup/salad & main course and finally everyone met up at the Youth & Family Center at church for the dessert. At each place, a different person was honored with a gift/card. Everyone had fun and the Pastors (and family) were very well fed! :-)

The Pastor & his family arrive for soup/salad. I wasn't able to get photos of all the places they went. Each family chose one place to help out at and later we all met at the church for dessert.
All the salad fixings.

The homemade potato-ham soup was scrumptious! I ate two bowls of it!

Pastor Mark fills up!

The Pastor and his family.

Enjoying food and fellowship together.

Ryan poses for the camera!

~HOW MANY PEOPLE CAN A LOVESEAT SEAT?~

"Let's get these pillows out of the way!"

"Now we've got some more room."

"Let's squeeze the Pastor!"

Ryan opens a gift from Simon.

Seth gave Christopher a book.

A bag full of goodies.

Meagan reads a letter to Ryan from Sis. Ogg.

Christopher reads a letter from Sis. Ogg.

On their way to the next stop.

Duane & I gave Pastor Mark 5 pounds of Reese Cups! I raided Wal-Greens 50% halloween candy stash today! Now he won't have to beg them off of little kids! :)

The two Pastors load up with desserts!

Is that sweet......Pastor & his wife.

All of the yummy desserts!

Pastor Cravens & Pastor Mark at the special table. They received cards/gifts from the church people.

Some of the church people eating desserts and talking.

A few of the ladies stayed in the kitchen. I teased them about wanting to stay close to the desserts so that everyone else wouldn't know how many they were eating! :-) Actually they were the ones cutting and serving all of the yummy treats!

Samuel chose a HUGE piece of chocolate cake for his dessert. After eating the ice cream and a few bites of cake, he found out it was too much to eat. I looked over as he was starting to shred what he could not eat. He made a BIG mess!

The guy in red is attempting to hide from my camera! :)The man in red reveals his face! He loves my candid snapshots! LOL

Duane snapped this shot of a certain someones FULL plate! :-)

I just had to take a picture of the gas price on the way home. It's been a LONG time since we've seen it this low.

A Story, Some Games & A Whole Bunch Of CANDY!

Our church had a Fall Party for the kids. It was an alternative for trick-or-treating. Each child was given a fake dollar when they walked in the door. This dollar was worth 5 seconds in the candy tote. After the story, told so dramatically by Mr. Eric, they had the opportunity to earn more dollars by playing games, answering Bible trivia and saying Bible verses. The most time you could earn was 25 seconds! Don't ya love the red eyes of this group of boys! :)

Mr. Eric captured the children's attention with his storytelling!

Pastor Mark helps Callie with the corn hole game. After she moved up closer to the board, she actually threw one in!
Some of the bigger kids have to stand back!

Some interesting poses! :)

Callie had 25 seconds to get all the candy she could fit in the bag. Instead of grabbing handfuls, she selected the candy piece by piece and carefully put it in the bag. She was happy with her choices!

Elizabeth helps two of her kids.

Two girls fill their bags.

One of the Pastor's sons fills his up!

Simon fills his bag with goodies. He gave Mommy one of his Reese Cups. Wasn't that sweet!

I love how the camera captured the sucker flying in mid-air! Seth had quite the bagful of candy when his time was up.

Pastor Cravens' oldest son had the biggest bag of candy tonight! I'm sure his mother will be thrilled when he and his brother show her all the candy they won! :)

I told everyone this was the most invigorating experience ever! The rush of having 5 seconds to fill my bag with as much candy as I could was incredible! LOL

Kathy fills up her bag under the watchful eye of a hopeful little boy.

Angie and Julie fill up with yummy candy!

Is that our Youth Pastor with a bagful of candy!

He traded me 3 packages of whoppers and 1 Hershey bar for one little 'ole Reese cup. I guess we all know what to get him for the next food pounding. :-)

Elizabeth gets her 5 seconds worth of candy. She's looking for all the Reese Cups.

4....3.....2......1......You're done!

The littlest candy lover grabs a sucker!

Isn't he cute!