Christmas Week

Harper spent the night with us on Christmas Eve eve

I always have the Davis side of the family over for brunch , so Harper had to have Elsa Hair for the day

Joey and I tried to take our first and only selfie but it didn't work so Audrey took a quick picture. I hate taking pictures of myself. I am totally amazed at the people who take selfies everyday of their life.

Harper loves her bedroom Christmas tree but she told her Mom Sunday morning before church that she didn't like wearing boy plaid pants. Its funny how children already think about things, they were not boy pants but I guess she thought the plaid and colors were.

 

Her favorite present of all, her name is Tink (Tinkerbell) and it is one of the sweetest cats ever. It lets Harper drag her all over the place.

The week before Christmas and all through the...

Loves to mow with Pap-paw, especially in this tractor it has heat/air and radio

She wanted me to chase her up the hill with my car, don't tell her parents

Then our next stop was Macaroni grill for bread and noodles

Then her favorite place of all .

Then after going to the new toy store we found off to Tanglewood to show us the lights, this is her second trip.

Joseph

Today our youth pastor preached about the sacrifices Joseph made, the shame of marrying a woman who was already pregnant. Trusting a woman who told him she was a virgin, stepping out in faith that what the angel said to him was true. Then becoming the man to raise the Messiah. Joseph was a
righteous and blessed man.

James Taylor

                              Joey loves to buy Christmas music, so here was a new one.

Christmas

One of my favorite ornaments. mainly because every time I watch this movie I think of Joey and his family when he was younger.  They are most perfect example of this show.

I heard this on TV this morning and forgot how much I liked Sawyer Brown.

Princess Auraskate is what she called herself

The Wiseman is visiting a neighboring town

This years tree is finally done.

Thanksgiving

I think their videos are so cute...

Joey

Monday marked Joey's 57th Birthday. He is a man who God made especially for me.   He is a great Dad to our children, he enjoys their company, he will do anything for them (he might complain a little), he absolutely loves his Harper. I tell my kids all the time how jealous I am of their relationship with him. I missed  that in my life.
Joey is a spiritual man who is always digging for more truth. He loves to have discussions about Biblical things. He is very generous to others. He is a mans man.  He does get a little uptight, can be messy  and is a worrier, I don't want you to think he is perfect. But like I said he was made for me. Happy Birthday Joey!!!(as Harper says did you know a baby kangaroo is a Joey, Pap-paw)

Work what is it?

Work -"activity involving mental or physical effort done in order to achieve a purpose or result"
Life has a whole takes work, we have to work at our job, we have to work at our church, we have to work at our relationships, we even have to work at our play. Joey and I have been in deep discussion about the life of the church, where it is headed and how do you get people involved.
We fuss about the leadership in the church not getting people motivated and I personally don't get how you can be a member of something and not want to be involved. I told Joey the other night the leadership of the church ought to throw a real shocker to the congregation to wake up everyone that when you come to church on Sunday a lot of work has been put into that 2 hr span. What if, we all showed up at 9, there were no prepared teachers so we didn't have Sunday School, then we went out to our sanctuary and the 400 chairs that are always magically lined up were not put out, and our sound guys decided that they had something to do that morning so they didn't show up, and our music leaders forgot it was there week so they had not prepared any worship music for us to sing, and finally Pastor overslept didn't have his prayer time before the service with some of his elders because they decided to go get breakfast that morning instead. How do you think our service would go? Things don't just happen day to day, there is planning and effort put into. My main question is why is it that people assume that church should get only leftovers from our life. On the average we have probably 200 adults that attend regularly, teens included. If everyone did one job within the church, it would make the world take a look at how we appreciate being able to do the job the church was intended to do, reach the lost. But because of 10% of the people doing 100% of the work, the church is not performing to the best of it ability. I hear what does the church do for me, as a Christian that should never be our first response, we should be saying what is it that "I" am doing for the Gospel. It can be as small as helping set out those 400 chairs every week, staying after church to put them on back up, being a usher, helping with the landscaping twice a year, helping in the nursery, children's church, small groups, Sunday school, fixing the play ground, music, sound, connections, youth group, VBS, missions week, meals for people, visitation to the sick, special events or even as simple as giving out bulletins and saying hello to people as they walk through the doors.
When everyone at their "job" do what they are suppose to do, work gets done. Same goes for the church. I know we don't get paid in monetary means but we will get paid in heavenly rewards when God says well done my good and faithful servant.

We under estimate

 

We under estimate the intelligence of our younger generation. The government wants to dummy up this next group of kids so that they can't think for themselves. At our house we like strong minded people and encourage it.  With saying that strong mindedness can be tough to deal with sometimes and can push every button you have but that keeps life exciting.

This little one is one of the smartest and strongest girls I have ever met and I raised her aunt Audrey who liked to push every limit. This past week she has been really sick and is on strong antibiotics that  taste "yucky" as she puts it. It has been total torture getting her to take this medicine, here are a few of her comments the last couple of days.  "Mam-maw your not a Doctor you don't really know",
"Mam-maw don't tell me my stomach hurts when I say it doesn't." "Daddy popped me on my shiny hinny and it didn't hurt." We  were counting down the time so that we could take her medicine I let her pick the time and she said 9:45, so we kept a watch on the clock and she counted down 9:43, 9:44 and I asked her what the next time was and her reply" I'm not going to look, because I'm not taking that medicine!"  I had to laugh...I would rather have a person who thinks for themselves then one that lets someone else thinks for them...

Lets just say

Lets just say that Saturday night at mom's house was a lot harder than I thought it would be.  I intentionally arrived 15 min. late so that my sister would be there and wouldn't you know she was 30 min. late. So I walk in and don't know hardly anybody at the house. I cried immediately. I went and sat on the front porch till she came, and still couldn't get it together.  My stepdads girlfriend asked me if she had done anything and I just smiled and weepy eyed said no. My sister and I just sat in the den surround by people working in moms kitchen walking around moms house and I realized at that moment it wasn't moms house any longer. I realized at that moment that I haven't because of all the mess the last year  really  had time to grieve the loss of my mom. So to say that it has kicked in is a understatement. I dreamed of her that night and woke up in tears. So I called Pops and told him we need to talk, I thought it would be just me and him but he brought Vicki, Leigh Anne told me she might be coming so I prayed all day Monday that I would handle the situation  carefully.
It went really well, Praise the Lord, it was stressful and we all cried a little and laughed a little but I think we worked through a few things.  It isn't ever going to be the same and I know that, with change it is what it is and our house saying goes "put on your big girl panties and deal with it". So Leigh Anne and I are heading out to the house in the next couple weeks to start dealing with it.

Fall Days

Harper & Gavin (Aunt Sis's great grandson) of course she was telling him how to drive 

Beautiful fall day at Tanglewood

She stood still for a minute I had to snap quick.

This week has been beautiful, we have had such fun playing outside the last couple days. This truly is my favorite time of year, I love all the colors, the sunset are beautiful and the few sunrises I have seen have been great too.  "This is the day the Lord has made let us rejoice and be happy in it"

Changes

It has been a long time since my last post, I think that my words should be few lately. I am pondering life, the busyness of it all, what really matters, what things are really important, and what things I waste time on. The smile and sweet innocent song of a granddaughter, the thoughtfulness of a friends call, the beauty of Gods creation especially in this season, the laughter of my family, these are things that are important and really matter. It has been a year and half since my mom died suddenly and with that it seems that she just disappeared. Life changed dramatically for me, my daily phone calls to her about important things and sometimes absolutely nothing suddenly stopped. All Holidays changed, her house has had dramatic changes and I have not been there since last Christmas. I will go there this weekend and I have no clue to how I will feel about it. I told my sister-in-law yesterday that when mom died its as if that was the end of her memory because we have not really done anything with her stuff, we got rid of her clothes and her craft supplies but we have not been back since and now someone else lives there and I am confused on how to handle it. That is why I have been trying decide what really matters in life. What is really important and what are my choices in all this. When children of divorce are at these stages in life it puts things in such different perspectives than when both of your parents are together until death, Andrea said that it has been hard enough  just going through all her moms stuff, that it was only her and her brother to figure it out helped , put in a step-parent and step-siblings and that throws a whole other kink in things. As Christians we are suppose to try and handle things differently than the world, so as I go through these next steps in life I do pray to handle them with grace and mercy, its not my strong suit... So I will need prayer...

Harper Singing

Harper loves this song, she does not know all the words thank goodness. When you stand her up at the gates (of hell) "ole well" is what she sings. We laugh as this is her theme song for life, she won't back down.

A new Favorite

Harper & I turn up the radio and sing as loud as we can to this one.  I am trying to get her away from "Shake" by Mercy me for a while.

Not for the faint of heart

As I laid in bed last night toss and turning, I woke up bright eyed at 4:00 and thought I should get up and clean this house, then I thought maybe I will go back to sleep if I just lay here and watch a little TV. I finally fell asleep about 6:15. During this time I decided to have a pity party, my head was so full of what I call CRAP!!!. Joey and Josh are gone hunting, I have had a lot to do, my computer at the office crashed and I have been trying to save as many files as possible, I had to go and look for a new computer and I am not computer savvy, thank goodness for a computer geek friend and he sent me in the right direction. I am in charge of our church connection on Sunday night, so I had to go and get groceries to feed 125 people dinner.  Then extended family time for my nieces birthday. That alone sends me into a nervous twit. So I got home at 9:00 after leaving yesterday morning at 8:30. I was wore slap out, that is the southern term for being completely exhausted. As I woke up this morning I realized that the only reason I was created was to worship the one and only living God. That I am here to worship and tell others about Christ. Why is it that so much junk is in this world to distract, complicate, and keep us from doing what we know we are suppose to be doing. I am on a mission and I need to make sure that I don't let these distractions or the darkness of this world to get in my way or bring me down.  Satan is here to kill, steal and destroy. As my friend Cindy says, life isn't going to get any easier, so I need to prepare and be ready. In say this, the scriptures, the work of the Holy Spirit  and not how I feel will be the only way to conquer this life. Life is work, and hard work a lot of the times, it is not for the faint of heart...

Labor Day

Labor Day, what is it? Wikipedia states its a  yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of their country.  The Bible states "Those unwilling to work will not get to eat." 2 Thessalonians 3:10.
A funny but sad story, I remember a lady one day being let out at her job at Food Lion, I happen to walk by as she was being dropped off by her husband and I remember her words still today, Honey, do you think you might go to work today? I went home that day and told Joey that I do appreciate that he has always been a hard worker.  Work is good for the soul, it is good for the mind, and it is good for your health. But everyone needs a rest day, so enjoy all you hard workers...

Just when you think

Just when you think God is not listening or doesn't care he throws you a curve.  Joey and I have had to be on one of the most prayerful times of our lives lately. And in saying that sometimes you really wonder is God listening. When something seems hopeless and bigger than the parting of the Red Sea you think can he really fix this problem. Josh has this piece of property that he sold but before he sold it he had it logged and Joey went behind them and clear and made a burn pile that was as tall and big as our house. Josh just told him to burn it and Joey argued with him saying these are logs they won't burn.  About three weeks ago they got a burn permit and poured tons of diesel fuel on it and lite it, it never got started good, Joey decided it was too wet still so he left and it rained a few days so he decided he would wait till it was hot for a few days again. All I have heard is " I don't know how I'm going to get that pile of wood to burn." Sunday ( on the way to church no doubt)  I had enough of listening to his complaining and I will admit I said a bad word and told him I did not want to hear another word about that blasted pile of wood. Monday morning was the day to try again and burn that pile, Sunday night Joey had prayed and asked God about this other situation and said I just need to know that your in control of this issue. The next day he had Derick fill up his fuel truck and they headed over to the land to pour a truck load of fuel on the pile and see what happens, Derick let him off to get the backhoe so that he could move the logs around as they burnt, as Joey was riding to the spot he thought where is that mound of trees, maybe I'm in the wrong spot, Derick was looking at him like he was not very bright and Joey came into the clearing and the wood pile as large as our house was completely gone. Joey was dumbfounded, he called and said that God had done a miraculous thing there and it was totally unexplainable. He asked the neighbors if they had seen anything and one fellow who is mentally challenged said he thought he smelled smoke one night in the middle of the night and had wondered why Joey had not come back to work on the pile. Joey said only God could have burnt that pile in one night after it rained and left nothing but a circle of ash behind. When Joey called I told him see God is trying to tell us all that he can do anything he wants if we will just let him be in control, and quit worry about all the details.

Dream

sometimes our dreams are not his dreams, we need to find out what God dreams for us...

When God says no

I was coming home last night from helping a friend paint her bathroom cabinet and heard the tail end of a sermon by Chuck Swindoll. What got my attention was he said, have you ever thanked God for saying no. We always are saying thank you Lord for this good thing, and for answering this prayer, but do we stop and say thank you for not allowing this or that. Alot of times after time has passed and we see the big picture(that he always sees) we are so thankful and blessed that in that specific time in our life he decided to tell us no. Aren't you glad he has our life in the palm of his hand and takes care of us,  Jeremiah 29:11¹ For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. God knows the best plan for our life, when he says no to something as the verse says he doesn't want us harmed,but he wants us to have a good and peaceful future. So thank you Lord when you say "no".

Harper

Harper made herself a new headband and decided to wear it like Olivia Newton-John from the 80's workout video.

Resting from the hot Sun that day, if only me and Diane could have climbed in there, Would that not have been a sight.

Kelsey and Harper hand in hand as we are leaving the park, it is great to see my friends grandchildren becoming friends with my grandchild. How the time does fly..

 

Harper has been very deep thinking the last few days, it is funny to watch and listen to her as she talks about so many things. She told me last week after we were having our usual sing-a-long, shake-a-long to Mercy Me's Shake that she "has Jesus in her heart and him and her are really close"

I just laugh and told her that I could believe it. When you hear her pray it is so special and sweet. I told Joey its sad that adults don't have the simple faith of a child. To Harper it seems so simple and easy.You know that faith is a spiritual gift, I always say I don't have a lot of gifts other than discernment but I have realized that I have the gift of faith. I, like Harper have never not believed in God, to me it has been so simple to believe, but I have spoke to other Christians who say there have been times that they struggled with the total belief system.   

Construction

A year ago last March I had decided to start doing some remodeling at our house, I told Audrey if Wesley isn't going to propose I'm going to start using the money on our house. Well I got one bathroom done, bought the things for the other one and he proposed. So now  a year later I am finally starting again. I got my bedroom furniture painted and walls done, still no door on Joeys closet (I'm waiting on him to go get). I started on my bathroom got the walls painted and was going to just exchange the jets in tub for brushed nickel and tile the floor that is where it all began . I can't find jets around here, I have talked to so many different companies and finally one in Mt Airy said they might could get some from California but I would probably have to paint one of the pieces to match. So what was going to be a simple thing as now turned into a major construction. Josh says by the time you pay for the new jets and having them shipped here and installed you could have a new tub without the jets (what I want anyway). So my small project has turned into a big one. Also, while the master bath is being redone we have to use the upstairs shower, since it hasn't been used in over a year I didn't know it wasn't working correctly till a few weeks ago, so thankfully we have a licensed plumber in the family and he came and cut out part of my hall wall upstairs to do a total redo on all the spouts in that shower. So now I have to have the wall fixed and everything up there repainted. I still have not got to the small 1/2 bath that we bought all the things for last year. I told Joey the other day, my small projects have turned into great big projects and next I want to work on the kitchen and den... He just shook his head and said in another year or so...but you never know if what I'm doing now might effect the other rooms HA!HA!.

Curtis loew

I had never heard this song till the other day, Josh loves the old Rock and Roll tunes and he was singing the chorus to Harper, I do miss the old sounds...

VBS

This week has been our Vacation Bible School(VBS) at church. Our leader decided to do the evening time slot instead of morning. I liked it because for the last couple of years I have not been able to help because of work.  Also they thought this could bring in a lot of kids whose parents work and they stay at daycare and are unable to attend.  We have had a great turn out of kids, alot of kids who don't come regularly to our church. Joey even volunteered to do the pre-school play time, he is wore out by the time its over, he keeps saying this is totally out of my comfort zone.  I will say that I have been disappointed in our adults in the church. With a average of 300 regular attenders in our church you would think that we could get more than 30 workers, and 1/2 of those are teens. I mentioned to one of the leaders last night that next year we might need to rethink putting jr highers with groups because they still are kids themselves and the adults in the group have to take care of them also. She said we had to use them because not enough adults volunteered.  Pastor mentioned to me the other day how he is feeling God leading him in a direction he has never gone before, motivation of adults. Because of our last year the leaders in the church have grown tired and weary. They have been under such attacks and stress that is starting to show in the church body as a whole. The 40 and younger generation is just not motivated to do alot of service work within the church. I know that when I was young and had small kids, I didn't work outside the home so I was ready to do things at church so I could have adult contact, this generation about everyone in the home works and after work they are ready to go home and not do much else, I get that.  But somewhere there needs to be a happy middle ground.  Just trying to figure out how the church needs to work in todays society is hard.  I know that working at church and church activities are not what get you into heaven, or help you be at a higher standing in Gods eyes, so I guess we need to figure out the purpose of todays church. What is the goals of the church of today, what is the needs of the community that we can make sure that they know who Jesus is and be relevant today.

Contentment

I have not had much to say lately, but after Sunday school this week and the week I had with Joey I decided to comment on Contentment. What is contentment, Websters definition is "a state of happiness and satisfaction" so the way I look at it this mean its all in the attitude and mind.
Paul talked about  " Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to be content with whatever I have. ¹² I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little." Phil. 4 
Learning to be happy and satisfied where ever we are in life at any given time. Is it hard for you or easy. I am not what they call a high maintenance girl. I don't care to shop alot but when I do I shop. I think I am pretty content with things, but I am married to a "wanter". He said last night if so and so sells we can buy this or that. He is always thinking about what we need or want next.  I pretty happy just painting a room, he on the other hand wants to gut it and start over. So we try to meet in the middle sometimes. But he made some comments last week and I had to bring him back to reality of how blessed we are. Not that I'm a saint on this subject but right now I'm in a good place with contentment. Who know next month. We as Christians struggle with having stuff and being good stewards of what Gods has blessed us with. I have a cute little car it has done good by me, but it is low to the ground, when we bought it my other car was on last leg, and this was a good deal, got good gas mileage and we were struggling financially at the time so we bought it. Now things have loosened up a little and I am struggling with whether to get a car I don't have to crawl out of or hit my forehead every time I put Harper in back seat. Do I need  to be content with what I have or not.
So everyone struggles with this Christian or not. But we as Christians have a responsibility to be wise with the money God has entrusted to us, so I have to check my attitude and mind set to make sure I am making the right decisions.
The rest of the verse from Paul is "For I can do everything through Christ, who gives me strength.
This is the secret of living in every situation.  

Days of Summer

Learning to Swim

Dancing to the flower beat

Just being a cutie pie

A Beach Bum for sure

Hanging out with her friends

Random things that are going on in the Nifong Home.

Life this last week has been pretty good, Harper has taken over the "Linda" attitude, (you know the little boy who told his mom Listen Linda, honey etc). Harper's new thing to tell me is Mam-maw be patient, real quietly she says patience mam-maw patience when I'm trying to get her to do something and I start to count to 5.  I have to say it cracks me up. We are headed to the beach with her next week and I can't wait.  Audrey and Wesley friends who child passed away back in April are expecting another child and the mother has not been doing to good, so they are inducing her tomorrow.  I can only imagine what is going through the minds and hearts of this young couple, losing one so soon and now the early birth of this little girl, prayers are truly welcomed.  I have one nephew graduating from high school and two nieces graduating from middle school, life is so fast. Wesley got to see his new neurologist and really liked this one, they didn't make him think that it was all in his head. He had a nerve conductive test done Monday and they told him he has over active nervous system, what ever that means. They put him on some medicine that is suppose to help his tremors and see what it does. I read that a chiropractor can help with this problem and so she is calling his Dr. and seeing what they say the next step is. We are starting to build a new storage building at the facility so that will keep me busy for the summer, we are 99 percent full, so the time to build is now when you start turning people away. My headaches are coming under control, I am seeing that a lot of things I eat are a trigger, lack of sleep and not keeping to a normal sleep pattern is also a trigger, unfortunately the summer is here and I am burning to the core (hot flash city) , Cindy, I love winter right now, you will see one day...
God is good in so many ways, our roof had so much damage that the insurance company gave us enough money to redo the whole thing and a little left over and our upstairs AC blew up this winter and it was enough money to pay for it. I had prayed as the children were here please let it last till they are gone and sure enough it went out a few months after Audrey moved, then the ice storm made Davidson county a natural disaster area so the insurance went in our favor. My theme verse here lately has been "this is the day the Lord has made, let us rejoice and be glad in it." Every day holds something new sometimes good, sometimes hard but every day is made by the hand of the creator.

Waiting on the night to fall

This is a song of such truth, its scary.We as Christians don't even recognize the old man (Satan)  anymore. As we feast at the table of his he will numb our minds. He knows he will never have your soul but he will gladly rob you blind

Fixing my thoughts

What do you fill your mind with when all is quiet. Pastor ask us this question Sunday, do you fill it with the thoughts of food, sex, business, money, music, tv quotes, or do you try not to think at all.        Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.  Philippians 4:8
We have to make our minds think on things.  We choose what we think about, we choose where our minds go. I don't know about you but this is one of the hardest things to conquer as a Christian.  I have a sinful mind, I have sinful thoughts, and I definitely struggle with wanting to control it. Our minds are always bombarded with worldly ways. We stop and think that sounds ok but what does the Bible really say about something.  The ruler of this world likes for us to think on things that are opposite of what the Bible says and masquerade it to feel right.  Look at the verse from his view,
Today I will think about what is true to me, I will look through the eyes of trickery, I will see things as dirty and unkind, I will except mediocre and will not think that anyone but me really deserves the praise. The sad part about this is that we all look and think on things with filtered eyes, our circumstances, our life paths, and unfortunately through media views. We have forgotten how to think with pure motives. I have such a cynical family and it rubs off on each other more than I care to admit. Granted a lot of the reasons are we as humans have been burned to many times, but with Sundays sermon I have realized that I need to be fixing my thoughts.

Time Warner vs Direct TV

As of this very minute I have been on the phone with Time Warner trying to change my service and have spoke with 3 different people, one disconnected me, the other sent me to another number and the last one I couldn't understand a word and  I asked to speak to someone else and was put on hold again for another 20 minutes.  Finally a English speak and understanding lady was there to help. As Harper says patience Mam-maw. I still have not resolved my problems.  I do not want to keep paying the high prices for cable and Internet, and they make it hard on you when you can't talk to a human.  They somehow wear you down so that you give in and don't change your service because its to hard to get a real person on the phone and you don't want to go through all the hassle again on another day.  As of right this very minute I am on hold again 30 minutes into calling third time, waiting for them to find me a store that I can return the stupid Internet box that they won't pick up, or let me mail in, but I have to physically return to a site but they don't know where I am suppose to go.  It's like a told the girl on the line, America is going to hell in a hand basket if the computers ever go down because no one knows what to do anymore without them. Can you hear the frustration....
Next I decide to call Direct TV to see if I really want to go through the hassle of changing to them.
So after two hrs on the phone, I am now going with Direct at half the price of Time Warner and I will not have to deal with this again for a least two years....

Smart little minds

Harper has started to figure out little pranks.  Last night we went down to their house for dinner, Joey and Josh were shooting their bows and Harper has this little water station near their target. When Joey went to get his arrow out of the target she got a bucket of water and threw at him, soaked his backside.  She thought she was so funny. We went for a little walk around the neighborhood and a man named Steve was out walking his dog, Harper looked at me as said "Mam-maw that's Steve my neighbor".i don't tink I understood what a neighbor was till I was 6 or so.   She had made "H" symbols all over her walkway, she said mommies name starts with a A, its a little different than mine, H has two straight lines and a line in the middle Mommy's is the same but with a top on it.  Its great how little minds work...

Chris

This is Josh's buddy Chris. When they were in high school they became friends and Josh lived with Chris and his brother Cory in college for a little while when he was in Charlotte taking Real Estate classes. We have some funny stories about these boys, they are christian guys, funny, and as Josh said last week they are getting ready to make it big.  A senior week beach story, they all played baseball on the respective legion teams after graduation, so they only had a couple of days to go to beach. Josh and one of his buddies stayed at the condo we had and slept out on the deck on cots, they liked to hear the ocean. One of the nights Josh said we will be back by 2 or so we are meeting up with Chris & Cory. Well I woke up at 3 and thought I hope nothing is wrong so I called his cell. He answered I can't talk right now the cops are here I will call you back and he hung up the phone. That does not ease a moms thinking in the middle of the night, so I waited till 4 and called back. Josh was laughing and said he was on his way back, we were all sitting around in the room singing karaoke and had to many people in the room and someone called the front desk so we were all hiding in the bathroom and shower when the cops came. Thank goodness it was all innocent.  Their new song is getting ready to be released next month and Josh has heard it and says it is good.  This is one of their first videos. Its good to support people that you know have christian morals and want to do the right things in life.  I always thought Audrey would marry him but they were just buddies.  We laugh and told Chris years ago when they became famous Joey wanted to drive their travel bus, little did we think we would have to move to Nashville with them and that isn't happening.  We hope that God showers down blessings on these guys.

Today

Today is the day the Lord has made let us rejoice and be glad in it....

Mty oldest

 It hard to believe that twenty-nine years ago I gave birth to this man, and as I type man it blows my mind how old he is.  I remember him as a child and his punishment for not obeying was taking away his hunting privileges. I think it made him love it even more.

This picture was taken last week at his best friends wedding, They have been buddies since birth, Jared is one month older and they were together all the time as children. Josh has turned into a man that a mom can very proud of, he loves the Lord, is a good husband and great dad. He works hard and even though he gives me a hard time I know he loves me and his dad and enjoys being around us. What more could a parent want.  Happy Birthday Josh...

Only in New York

What can I say, only in New York will you see a man singing in his tighty whiteys and not get arrested

 Only in New York do you realized how very small you are and how big  everything else is.

. 
 Only in New York do you walk across the Brooklyn Bridge and get the chance to have your picture taken with a snake, I passed on the experience.

But only in little ole Davidson County do you get to see this.....

Audrey

                                          My baby girl on her wedding day last year,
                                       she is now 27 years old and how the time does fly

 

 

She is a girl who likes different things

Who brings joy to my life daily.

We talked about this just last week, I am not one who says I Love You verbally alot.

I would rather show it in action, words are overused sometimes.

She was talking about how people use the Love word alot and don't really mean it.

I was out of town on her birthday this year and forgot to post what I had wrote the week I was gone. So here is belated Happy Birthday and Love you more than words can express.

 

NY Bound & other things

I leave tomorrow for New York City, I am going with Katie, first to install some curtain, then to vacation the rest of the week.This week is the anniversary of her grandsons death and the end of her traumatic year. We both decided we needed a vacation, her last daughter was married last weekend and she cooked all the food for 250 people, so she is wore out. I enjoy going there when I go with someone who knows their way around town.  She does work for people up there all the time so she is great at navigating traffic. I would just die if I had to drive in that town. I am hoping I can maybe find us some tickets to a play, she is taking me to some really cool restaurant she found last time there, there reminds you of old Hollywood. Then we are going to the Hampton's where her brother has a house and chill out there for a few days and when I say chill I mean chill. There is possibility of snow at the end of the week up there.  Thank goodness I like cold weather, it suits me right now in this stage of life.
Went to headache Neurologist today, head still hurts pretty much everyday. The medicine she has me on helps, but I still know I am having migraines due to my eyes go crazy, my neck hurts, and I'm sensitive to sound. I love my son but the tone of his voice is hard on my head some days. I am always telling him talk quieter and if you know him that is hard for him to do, he can't hear good so he always thinks he is talking quietly. I told the Dr. that I was thinking by now they would be stopping, I sleep about 8 hrs a night now, I have cut out pork, chocolate, and alot of other things. She told me today that I have to cut out my cokes, you know that delicious brown sugar syrup that I love to drink.
I have cut them back to only two cans a day. She said this week cut back to one a day and then cut out all together and see what happens.  She said that it might not matter but she has had 3 patients this week that cut them out and their heads quit hurting. So I am going to take some with me to NY but by the time I am back I will be off of them. I told her that when I became allergic to shellfish, my favorite thing to eat, that God was probably going to punish me even more and take away chocolate and cokes, and its looking more like it everyday.  I do truly know that its not punishment, just laughing about how life changes. I am seeing that I can live without things, and am learning to enjoy different things.  But I do crave crab legs, boiled shrimp, bacon and chocolate regularly but I figure if Audrey can give up all the foods she has had to give up surely I can too. Plus I have realized that for most of my life, food has been a high priority, I woke up thinking about it, thought about what I was having for dinner at lunch time, and went to bed planning the next days meals.  Now food has become a chore, I don't crave anything much, and for poor Joey I never plan anymore so he loses out.
Thank goodness he is a breeze when it comes to eating, he loves cereal and he can even cook that....

Grumbling and Blessings

This morning I stopped by a piece of property Josh bought to build a house on for a couple. I had Harper with me and Joey is doing the grading there and when the kids were small we always went out to the job site to see him work, and Joey asked Harper if she wanted to see Pap-paw run the big tractors, so of course we stopped. When we got there Joey was complaining, he grumbled about the dirt being to wet, he grumbled about so many trees needing to be cut. Josh and I laughed we both agreed that even if this was the best job in the world, he would complain about something.  We all needed to go do some things so we left Mr. Optimist to do his work, we had to go down the road to turn around.  Josh left before me, then I followed. He had slowed down to a crawl to see the lot from the road for a second, and I saw this car coming up behind him, and as I was directly behind it, I knew that they were going to hit Josh , I started hollering in my car, like somebody besides Harper could hear, I was hollering  stop, stop, Josh go ,go. She did stop  but only when she hit the back of his truck, she was going 45-50 mph and never saw his brake lights, we think she was looking over at where Joey was clearing the lot. I saw Joey running across the field and by the time I got my car stopped the lady had gotten out of her car and was walking around it. We just praise the Lord that she was alive because she said she was 80 years old, and her car was mashed, windshield busted, both air bags deployed, and smoke coming out of car. Josh's truck is pretty much toast, the car guy said he thought it was totaled, the frame was bent he told him you got the crap knocked out of you. I know it was bad because Joey said the back of his truck went straight up in the air at impact. To see you child in a car crash in front of your eyes is not fun.  I was so rattled and I had Harper so I was trying to stay calm, but guess who was the calmest, her. I left her in car for a minute to check on Josh, gave her some stickers and a sheet of paper to play with and when I came back to car she was in there singing Jesus Loves Me. Joey told Josh it was his fault he was in a wreck, because of his complaining, of course we know that is not true, however, it does put things in perspective when you see you child crash in front of your eyes and your are complaining about wet dirt...

Working out Life

As I laid in bed this morning and prayed, I told the the Lord that a year ago today life for me changed. Moms one year anniversary is tomorrow but its really today, she had her stroke on April 18, she was brain dead by the time I got to the hospital, but her death certificate reads April 19. I am talking to her about how Josh has alot of the same personality traits as her, big dreamers, A.D.D.,
messy but in their minds organized, people who like to laugh, loved to push my buttons.  I remember her telling me right before I hung up from her that afternoon, you can't change us so quit trying and learn to deal with it. A hour later I got the call from Pops to come to hospital quickly. As I talked with God this morning, I know that we all in life have to deal with whatever comes our way, I always remember my Mam-maw telling me that she hoped she deals with things gracefully, and I have always hoped for that but know that sometimes I fail. I know that my life compared to others is great, its joyful, its hopeful, it is plentiful.  I know that there are people who suffer daily, hourly and to such extremes I can't even imagine. However, my life is my life, just as your life is your life, and we each have to work through our days, weeks and months with whatever is thrown at us. I think the key is to work through it.
  From Philippians 2: Work hard to show the results of your salvation, obeying God with deep reverence and fear.  For God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases him. Live clean, innocent lives as children of God, shining like bright lights in a world full of crooked and perverse people.  Hold firmly to the word of life.
The key here is to work through life, obeying God through it all, hold firm to the Word. Sure we will fail at times, but we need to continue to work it out.
Life will through us under the truck sometimes, as I write this, Audrey called this morning to say that they have a couple that they are very close to, it is one of Wesley's best friends since elementary school, he was in their wedding, they have a little sweet handicapped boy named Owen, he is 2 1/2 years old, he was born blind and has other complications, unfortunately something has gone wrong this morning  and they are taking him off life support and he is going to be made whole in heaven. Audrey said the year is ending just like it started.
When I started praying a the first of last year for my children to see God for themselves, not for what I have taught them, but make him personal to them, never did I think how this year for both of them would have gone. I always tell my children, my goal as a parent is not to wish you to be happy but to be godly.  With godliness comes joy. 

Harper

Since her parents have a hard time taking pictures I talked Harper into taking a few this week, Josh only takes pictures on his phone and Abby being a third child growing up her parents didn't take as many pictures of her so she doesn't take many pictures either.



My weeds are a beautiful purple and white right now so we went in stood in the middle of them.

I always wanted tulips and it took me a couple of years to get some to grow, Harper is growing up so fast.

She does not like the white trees only green mam-maw, but I talked her into standing in front of the pink tulip tree.

I put her up in the pink dogwood to hold on while I took her picture. Her cousins where "way,way high" the other day and she wanted to try it.

My first real dinner party

Last night for the first time since last February we had couples over for a dinner party. Since Wesley and Audrey bought their house last March and it required so much work so that he could live there we worked all of March and alot of April there. Then because my life took just a change over the last year and I was not of my right mind, we haven't had anyone over since about February or so. I decided that it was time to start again with entertaining. Since the head is getting better and I have to live right now with the headaches I figure as long as I can see straight and can hold my head up, I'm going to have to make a effort to get back in the swing of things. It went well, I was exhausted by 11 but all in all everything went good and my food even tasted good.  Joey has laughed lately and told people I cook good cereal. So I am thankful that I haven't lost my touch with cooking, however I did try and make food that even Audrey could eat and healthier for everyone, so I was pleased with the turn out. I have forgotten the enjoyment of cooking for people and having people you don't see often or getting  to spend any quality time with. Life goes so fast and you realize I haven't sat down and talked to you in over a year. I see you and say hey but really get to see how life is going for you.
I have tried to stress to my children friendship is such a needed essential in ones life. You can glean so much from having people with different backgrounds, I have been telling Josh and Abby they need more friends to hang out with besides their family and then Natsu one of the ladies at dinner said last night I think it is special that Josh and Joey like to hang out together. She comes from a military family and she was saying when she got married , she didn't hear from her folks maybe 6 times a year, and I can't even imagine that, I have to tell Joey he can't call Josh at night, he needs to wait till he sees him the next day let him have his family time at night. Then Josh fusses at me for telling him that. Then Pam another lady was a missionary kid and she was telling how she came to the states to go to college and only talked to her family twice a year and she wrote everything down so she could remember to tell them the important things when they called. The other couple their are Yankees, the wife is the sweetest lady you will ever meet, the husband is me in male form. So we give each other a hard time, but I learn alot from him. Hes a little more dramatic than me, but my kids think hes great.
You see friendship can help you see things more clearly sometimes, it helps you appreciate others,
I truly believe it helps you live a much more joyous and happy life to have good friends.  

Money Issues

Joey and I have had many conversations lately about the handling of money. We have decided that in everyones life money becomes a issue at one time or another. Do we handle money in a godly way or do we make it a god in our lives. With the passing of so many this year we have learned a few more things about money. My mom loved to spend money, she never thought about where it came from, or how hard it was to get, or if she would need some in the future. She lived for the moment. In some ways its great to live so care free but in the end somebody still has to pay. (no pun intended), Then you take Mr. Robert, never had a family of his own, took care of so many people with his money. While doing his estate stuff, we realized that everyone who called he pretty much gave money to..  he gave to save the wolves, every Indian tribe out west, boys clubs, veterans, polar bears, save the whales and many different religious organizations. We decided that since he lived a lone for so long if you called and talked to him at night he would give to them. Robert is the complete opposite of mom, he planned ever detail of where his money would go. His extended family received some and they have not been happy with how he decided the rest should be distributed. Joey and I went to take his sister in North Wilkesboro the rest of her stuff yesterday. We had to sit and talk about how Robert chose to give his money away and it becomes uncomfortable when they are not happy and you have to explain it over and over again that it was his money and his choices of where it went.  We told her that he made it perfect clear in paper and words that it was his money and he could "do exactly what he wanted to do with and nobody better tell him different."
In saying all this money can be cause of so much discord in families, where you hold on to it so much that you neglect your family and their needs,  you use money to get your way and love is conditional to that money, you can make unwise choices and blow it on stupid things and leave your family in bad situations, or you can see money for what it really is, a tool for good. You can pay your bills, your can help people out in need, you can further the kingdom. Money is not bad, but if all your life always revolves around the thoughts of money then you might need to rethink your situation.
Joey and I have over the last 5 years had to rethink how we view money, Joey will tell you that he use to think about it too much, how to save it all, spend on what he wanted, and consumed with the love of it. He keeps a little stash for things he wants and I told him I needed some to pay a Lowe's bill (his things) and his first comments was you can't have my money. I didn't say anything, but I will tell you I am no saint, I thought " I know where it is I'll just go take it anyway" then a couple hours later on our ride home from Jeans, he said I don't know why I said that to you about the money. We all struggle with what we think is mine on a daily basis, but what we need to remember is, nothing is really ours, we die without a thing and take nothing with us, so why not use it for good today...

Harpers mean voice

Harper now likes to talk to us in this voice were she growls at us. Abby called last night to ask if she has been talking to me with this voice when she doesn't get her way. She got in trouble for telling her mom to get out of her room, then in the bathtub for telling her mom to quit messing with her. Abby asked her where she learned to talk like that  and she said "in Winston". Abby explained to her that you cannot talk to people with this growling voice when she didn't get her way and that she was going to tell all her grandparents and she was going to be punished if it continued.  I think it is funny when she talks with her little growl and I think she thinks she is being funny, but I have to abide by the parents, so today when she looked at me one time and growled "don't look at me Mam-maw" after I hid my smile, I asked her where she heard someone talk like that and she replied "Walmart"... I am not surprised....LOL

Birthdays

Today is my mothers birthday, she would have been 73, in just a few weeks it will have been a year since she passed away.  Time has flown by so much, we think that when things are hard that time stands still, but I think that when times are tough if flies by too. I  have not been to moms house since Christmas, still have not gone through all her things. Leigh Anne left me and went to beach, I didn't connect at time that it was moms birthday and that's how she copes. Our mom loved, I mean LOVEDDDDD the beach and we would take spur of the moment trips down there when we were younger. So I guess in honor of her, Leigh Anne decided Tues. to go to the beach yesterday.
Ecclesiastes 3
There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under the heavens:

² a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,
³ a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,
⁴ a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,
⁵ a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing,
⁶ a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,
⁷ a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,
⁸ a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.

There is a time for all things, I have learned this year, you have to be a part of it, you have to enjoy the good, endure the bad, and try to be in the moment at hand.  

April Fools Day

Today has more meaning for me than just tricking people.  I have never been one for tricks. But 31 years ago Joey and I got married on April Fools Day, Good Friday and a over all cold weekend.  I remember when we decided to get married in two weeks time, first everyone thought I was pregnant (not), second we were just going to run off and Myra fussed at me and said you can have a quite small wedding at church in no time at all (250 no invitations sent out guest, mother ready to kill me) , third Joe (Joeys Daddy) was dying of cancer and we wanted him there, last but not least I knew if I didn't get Joey down the aisle, his mother might try to get him to stay at home a  little longer, LOL.
I told Joey the other day I think that this last year has probably been the hardest of our married life, he on the other hand says so sweetly none of them have been that bad.  He is a forgetful man. Audrey gave me a card yesterday and she wrote thank you for showing us that marriage isn't always a fairy tale, but can work if two people are willing. Happy Anniversary to us....

Things that are happening

Buster has a new name this is Harper and Fat Cat

Can you tell what these are, we were having a party so we have, ugly banana, corn on cob, tomato, peas, lemons, artichoke, watermelon, grapes, strawberry with tea. My creative side...

 

Harper and her new water gun, she is a actress...

My shot at trying to be organized,

after having to go through other peoples things, I am trying to clean up my on "stuff"