What we've been doing

Last week I posted about our trip to Seattle and didn't really get to post about what was going on with us.

First of all, school out! Samuel is now a fourth grader - we can't believe it. On the last day of school, Samuel did admit to me that he would miss school, but I think he has quickly gotten over that.

One day last week, we went to Chick-fill-a to eat and met Strawberry Shortcake, which happens to be one of Faith's favorite people.







This past week-end we went to the World Premiere of the movie CARS at Lowe's Motor Speedway. We had a great time. It was a little rainy, but once the rain finally stopped it was great. Hannah Grace didn't quite make it the entire movie, but Faith stayed awake the whole time and even talked all the way home. They wouldn't let us take cameras in, but you can click above and see some pictures from the evening. They even had a 12 lap race that the kids loved.

On Saturday, Samuel went with Memama and Granddaddy to the track to work with Raceway Ministries, while Travis and I went to see the Jamaica team off. At the track, Samuel participated in a pinewood car derby - He came in 3rd place with a Noah's Ark car.

So, that's a little bit of what has been going on with us. Please continue to pray for the Mission Team in Jamaica. We are praising the Lord with them - they have had 17 salvations in their evening services, so far! It is still very hot there, so continue to pray that God would give they strength and energy to continue His work.

Jamaica

Please pray for a Mission Team that is working in Buff Bay, Jamaica this week. We heard from them tonight and they had a great day of worship yesterday and began revival services last night in two churches. They had one salvation last night and one today during a home visit. Praise the Lord!
Please pray for: Tommy, Cathy, Lou, Ashely, Becky, Holly, Alton, Barbara, Brad, Rob, and Glenn. During the rest of the week they will be doing more home visits, a parenting classes, revival services, and a music camp. Please pray that they will have the energy they need to do the work the Lord has for them. They said tonight that it is very hot! Even the Jamaican's are hot - that is hot!

Thank You!

Friday Family Funnies - Mustard Explosion!!!!!!!

I will end this week with a Friday Family Funny from Seattle.

If our day on the Washington State Ferry wasn't funny enough, after the training session Friday evening, we all went to eat at Ruby's Diner. Travis was finally feeling better and was very hungry. He had ordered a classic burger and was getting ready to put mustard on his burger and...EXPLOSION of mustard!!! Mustard went everywhere - his shirt, Ryan's water, the wall - everywhere but his burger.

Telling the story over cyberspace doesn't sound very funny, but it was hilarious! David had a front row seat - he said the the look on Travis' face was priceless.

How Great Is Our God

Tommy talked about a song a couple of Wednesday nights ago, and then David sang it during praise and worship on Friday evening in Seattle. As we drove around Seattle, it kept coming back to my mind. I want to share with you some of the beautiful sites we saw on our trip...

How Great Is Our God

The splendor of a King,
clothed in majesty
Let all the earth rejoice
All the earth rejoice

He wraps himself in Light,
and darkness tries to hide
And trembles at His voice
Trembles at His voice

How great is our God,
sing with me
How great is our God,
and all will see How great,
how great is our God

Age to age He stands
And time is in His hands
Beginning and the end
Beginning and the end

The Godhead Three in One
Father Spirit Son
The Lion and the Lamb
The Lion and the Lamb

Name above all names
Worthy of our praise
My heart will sing

How great is our God
How great is our God,
sing with me
How great is our God,
and all will see
How great, how great is our God

Words by Chris Tomlin

First In Line!

Alright, up until now our trip to Seattle had been almost perfect, except for Travis' bout with stomach problems. Until Friday morning - on Friday morning, Travis I wanted to spend the morning together, so we took a Washington State Ferry to Bainbridge Island. The ferry ride over was great. We weren't sure what was on the island, so we took off walking. Hindsight, we should of just got back on the ferry and headed back to Seattle. We didn't find much on the Island. I had pictured this great little island with cute little shops and wonderful places to eat. We did find a unique place to eat, The Streamline Diner. Travis had a great ham steak (he was finally ready to eat again), my lunch on the other hand was a little on the scary side.

We finished our lunch and headed back to the ferry. We were walking along, thinking we are going to have just enough time to catch the 12:20 ferry back to Seattle. I need to back track a little bit - the ferry that we took over to Bainbridge island was running late, so we figured it would still be running a few minutes late. Nope! We get to the gate and hear the ferry horn. VESSEL DEPARTED.

That's alright, now we are first in line!

We wait and wait and wait...the 1:10 ferry doesn't get to port until 1:30! I haven't told you that we are suppose to be in the hotel lobby at 3:00, dressed and ready to go to the church. It is a thirty minute ferry ride, then another thirty minutes back to the hotel - without traffic. If everything goes well, we will have just enough time.

We finally get back to our car and put the hotel address into NeverLost. She gets all turned around (the little pink lines on our screen was a lot of circles) and gets us lost in downtown Seattle. We finally find our way out of Seattle, but we are going the wrong way - we are headed to Canada! We get turned around and yep, we are sitting in lines of traffic. We finally get back to the hotel and everyone else is pulling away. All does end well, we rush up to change cloths and get to the church in plenty of time. When we finally sat down, we laughed about our day and was happy to be able to spend it together.

Sleeping In Seattle

I'm going to go back to the beginning of our trip to Seattle...We had two good flights to Seattle and landed around 3pm. We headed to our motel and when we opened the door I saw the most wonderful sight that a tired Mommy could see - a BIG fluffy bed. I woke up the first morning and told Travis, I believe that is what it feels like to sleep on a cloud. The bed was heavenly!

We didn't do much Wednesday night because we were all tired from the day of traveling.

On Thursday morning, after sleeping late (or late to us), we went with Ryan and Sherry to the top of the Space Needle, visited Pike Place Fish Market, and visited the very first Starbucks, which happened to be my first trip to a Starbucks (just not a place you take three kids!!)



Travis had to finally go to work Thursday afternoon and guess where I headed - Yep, to that BIG fluffy bed! I woke up when Travis came back in the door later that afternoon.

Poor Travis didn't feel well most of the afternoon Thursday, but was a trooper and kept on going. He just about lost it, really lost it all, when they brought our supper to us at the Cheesecake Factory - but somehow felt well enough to have a piece of strawberry cheesecake.

We had purchased the day/night ticket at the Space Needle so we could see Seattle during the day and during the night. It was beautiful!

So, that was our day Thursday, we had such a wonderful time. It was so nice to be able to walk down the street and hold my husband's hand and spend time with him!

Once again, Blogger will not upload one of the pictures of Travis and I at the Space Needle at night. Sorry... (anybody got any tips?)

We had another big step in our house last night - Faith slept in her Big Girl Bed. She did great. She slept all night and even slept late. It has been almost four years since we have had a house without a crib, I can't believe it - my baby is not in a crib anymore! Next step: NO MORE DIAPERS!!!!!!

Have a great day! Tomorrow I will show you pictures of our trip on a Washington State Ferry.

Seattle

Well, as most of you know Travis and I returned yesterday from a wonderful week-end in Seattle, WA. Travis had a training session there and I was able to go with him. We had a great week.

I want to start this post by telling each of you thank you for praying for us - we did make our connecting flight in Dallas on the way out there. Thank you for praying for me to get some rest - on Saturday I got thinking - as much as we have done, I should really feel tired, but I don't - then God revealed himself to me - people are praying for you on the other side of the country that you will receive rest. God answered your prayers - He gave me much needed rest and He gave me much needed time with my husband.

Now on to the great things we got to do while there. Travis has the pictures from the first of the week-end on his computer, so I am going to start at the end for today and there is so much to tell, this will be a week long post.

On Saturday evening, after the training session was over, a group of us went to a baseball game to see the Seattle Mariners play at Safeco Field.












We had some great food at the ballpark, they had great garlic fries - Travis reminded me that A hotdog at the ballpark is better than a steak at the Ritz.















David works with Travis and his wife Lori was able to go this past week-end too. This was her first Major League Baseball game and while I was taking this picture the Mariners hit a home run. She missed her first home run at her first MLB game because I was taking their picture.

So, we had a great time at the baseball game game. I was so fun to see Travis having such a good time. I'll share more of our trip tomorrow, I have to get back to work here at home. Again, thanks for your prayers.

I have a great picture of Travis and I too, but Blogger won't upload it. I'll try again later.

Friday Family Funny - "No, like this Daddy"

Good Friday Morning!

A couple of weeks ago we were trying to get a picture of the kids to give our parents for Mother's Day. I had ask Travis to get behind me and make a funny face to make the kids smile. While Travis was making funny faces, Faith didn't think that her Daddy was doing it right, she said, "No, like this Daddy":

Thank You!

This is my first post because as many of you know I am not much of a writer. Sometimes when you get a special gift the only way to say thank you is writing it out. I work at a special place and the thing that makes it special is the people I work with. The day after the loss of my grandparents and aunt and uncle one of the first calls I made was to Matt Bradley. I knew that I needed to get folks at Upward to pray as we drove home from Charlotte. Over the next few days with phone calls, emails and cards, the people I work with just amazed me.

This week they amazd me again. First they amazed me because a group of them kept a secret from me. Then as the surprise was revieled they amazed me again. The picture above is a pencil drawing by a very talented friend of mine Chris Turner. This was the picture used in the newspaper after their death. Chris and the rest of the group from the annex wanted to do something for me and Alyssa so they all got together and framed this wonderful piece of art. So the moral of my rambling is to say thank you. Thank you for the picture, thank you for your prayers and thank you for your friendship.

Travis

Happy Mother's Day 2006

Mother's Day - a day that our family had been dreading for weeks.

A day we would not be able to go by mamaw's and wish her a Happy Mother's Day. We would not be able to hear her say, "I love all my grandkids, but there's just something about Travis".

A day we would not be able to go by Nanny's to wish her a Happy Mother's Day. Even though we were there to honor her she would end up serving us; and even though we were there to celebrate her, she wouldn't let us leave without telling each of us she loved us.

Yesterday was a bitter-sweet day. But yesterday was the best Mother's Day I have had and I believe that it would not have been so great if our family had not suffered such loss. Because Mamaw passed away last June and because of the terrible tragedy we suffered in December, I believe that we stopped and loved our moms more yesterday than we would have otherwise.

Our day started with a wonderful phone call to Candy, my step-mom then, one by one, as the kids woke up, I was greeted with a sweet "Happy Mother's Day".

We headed to church for a great breakfast prepared by the Brotherhood - I was served while Travis fed the kids.

At church, I was given these wonderful handmade Mother's Day cards.

(I am having trouble getting pictures into this post, I will try again later - this is just my card from Faith)

After church we headed down the road to Mama's house. She had invited us all there for a cook-out. She let the kids decorate a cake for me, they had such a great time.

Before supper we all took a ride in Samuels go-cart. I believe it will be a Mother's Day that Aunt Lou will never forget!

When we got home all the kids had fallen asleep in the van, but Faith woke up, and the Lord gave me time to sit and rock her just as Mother's Day was ending. I sat in the rocking chair rocking my sweet baby thanking God for choosing me to be a Mommy, and as I laid Faith down and kissed my sweet Hannah Grace and then went to kiss my sweet son, Samuel I thanked God for choosing me to be their Mommy!

I hope you enjoy these pictures of our day yesterday!

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Friday Family Funnies - "First Door to the Right"

Good Friday morning to all! After my day on Tuesday, I had a hard time thinking of our Friday Family Funny, but I thought I would tell you a story about my Grandmom.

When Samuel was little, he and I rode with Mama and Eddie to Kentucky for a visit, Travis had to work and was coming up later in the week. The night he was to arrive, it was very late. When he got there, Grandmom and Grandpop were sleeping in the living room, so he ask them which room Samuel and I were in. Grandmom told him the first door on the right. Travis headed down the hallway to the first door on the right - it was locked, not from the inside, but with a chain. Travis wondered to himself, "why do they have Alyssa locked up", so he went back to Grandmom to ask her again which room I was in, she again said, the first door on the right. Once more, Travis went to the first door on the right - still chained. So, he went to Grandmom and ask her how he was to get into the room, it was chained. That's when Grandmom realized she had been telling him wrong - it was the first door on the left. She laughed and Travis finally found us.

You may be thinking, "That's really not that funny". Well, those who know my Grandparents house, know that the first door on the right goes to the basement - which at the time had no stairs. My Grandmom was sending Travis to the basement with no stairs!

Happy Mother's Day, Grandmom!

Painted Toe Nails

Well, everyone seems to getting their toes ready for spring. Kristi had a wonderful time at a Day Spa yesterday getting her toe nails painted; Aunt Cindy and Ashley had a wonderful time getting their toe nails painted - I guess that Hannah Grace and Faith wanted their toe nails painted too!

At this point, Faith knew she was in trouble and wouldn't look at the camera

Hannah Grace did try to paint just her toe nails

While Daddy was out of town this past week-end, the girls and I painted our toe and fingernails. The girls loved it and continued to ask me to paint them again. I kept telling them that they didn't need painted again right now, we would paint them again on Saturday before church on Sunday... Well, today while I was trying to take quick shower, they decided to paint their own toe nails...and legs and hands.

After an hour of scrubbing them down with finger-nail polish remover in the bathtub they were finally clean and I sent them to their rooms while I headed to begin cleaning the living room. Finally around 7:30pm last night I was finished, after using every known carpet cleaner to man.

I know there are some seasoned mothers and some who might say, "One day you will laugh at this" - that is why I took the pictures from behind tears, so that one I day maybe I can laugh at the day I spent cleaning fingernail polish from my girls and carpet.

Today I plan to come down from my finger nail polish, carpet cleaner, finger nail polish remover "high".

Playin' Outside

Hannah Grace loves to swing!

Travis has been gone nine out of the past fourteen days, so when he came home last night he had to cut the grass. I was helping him cut some tree limbs and the kids were inside eating mac & cheese. Well, the kids couldn't stand it anymore, they had to come outside too! We had a great time playing football and playing on our "playground" (as Faith calls it). It was nice to be together and just have fun.

Faith loves to play outside

Samuel and Cassie

PACT

Good Monday morning to all!

In South Carolina, elementary school students are required to take a series of test, PACT. Samuel begins taking them this morning and will take them again tomorrow, Thursday, and Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday of next week. Please pray that Samuel takes him time and reads all the answers before he answers. They have the writing portion today - I reminded him on the way out this morning to write neatly and use his dictionary. As he was leaving he asked me "Will you be praying for me today?"

So, please pray for him this week and all the students and teachers.

Thanks for all your prayers while Travis was away this past week-end. We had a good week-end, but glad to get Daddy home. We had a great day at church yesterday. Uncle Rick sang in church for the first time last night, his daughter Ashley wrote a great post about it, click here to read it.

Have a good week!

Strawberries!

It's strawberry season and I love strawberries-
Hannah Grace loves strawberries -
Faith loves strawberries -
Daddy loves strawberries -

Everybody loves strawberries, but Samuel.

I have been putting up strawberries this week and this morning I made strawberry jam.

Strawberries to...

...Strawberry jam.

Christmas 2005

We didn't have our Family Blog at Christmas this past year and Mama just uploaded some and they were so cute I thought I would share some of them with you.

Sweet Faith

Hannah Grace

Samuel getting signed photo of him and Ryan Newman

Three kids ready to go to bed, ha! ha!

Kendra and Grandmom with her famous Chocolate Mayonnaise Cake

Merry Christmas, Late!