Scalding Showers...Frigid Pools

Well as some of you may know, I have yet to get in the pool this season. I can't stand cold water! Matthew is always joking with me about my scalding showers, but I likes what I likes! So each day the kids go out and check the thermometer in the pool to see if it's warm enough for me to get in. To date, the warmest it has gotten is 74 degrees. 74 degrees people...a small pool like ours should not take your breath away in the dead of summer! So when Abbey went out to check the temperature today, you would have thought it was Christmas morning. The squeals of excitement that rang through the entire house over the fact that the pool was "finally warm enough for Mom to get in!" My first thought was "Abbey did you forget how to read a thermometer". So I told her to bring it to me and when I read it I burst out laughing...she was right it was finally warmer than 74 degrees! The thermometer read 130 degrees! Hmmm...I think it might be broken, considering the fact that Abbey stuck her hand in the water to pull it out and didn't get 2nd degree burns! Well so much for the clearance thermometers at the pool store, we might have to invest more than $3.99! Unfortunately, a pool heater expense is at the bottom of the financial priority list at this time! Maybe next year. Hope you enjoy the random videos of the kids. Make sure you pay attention to Brady when he is NOT the one performing. I have a feeling he might be the class clown in kindergarten this fall!

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These are the days they will remember!

What a wonderful revival we had this weekend! Eld. Tim McCool and his family arrived on Thursday morning and we took them over to Sea World for the day. The kids had a blast. Although Abbey and Abigail and Madison had only met on one prior occasion, you would have never known. Before we got out of the airport, they were holding hands and chatting about everything under the sun...you know, just like a primitive baptist! We couldn't have asked for better weather to eat our way through Sea World. On Friday, we had the Abernathy kids come over to go swimming. All 10 of the kids got in the pool right around ten am and at three o'clock I had to shut down the pool. They all looked like little wrinkled prunes. I truly think they would have eaten lunch in the pool if I had allowed it! Everyone got showered and dressed and we headed off to chuch. As we arrived, the summer storms were moving in. As many of you know through the PB grapevine, we lost power for the entire preaching service (we put the "primitive" back in primitive baptist). Bro. Tim was unflappable however, despite it being his first experience preaching by candlelight, and spoke on the burdens both good and bad! My only regret is that we were unable to record the sermon. On Saturday morning we arrived back at church to find the power restored but the A/C still not working. No sweat (pun intended), we just plugged in a massive fan and had yet another spirit filled service. Bro. Tim preached on how we are to leave things better than we found them as Jesus Christ always did. After lunch, Bro. Chris Taylor from Vero Beach preached (while we took the McCool family back to the airport). And Saturday night we had an especially blessed communion service. Bro. Garland Varnum spoke on the bread, Bro. Chris Taylor spoke on the wine and Bro. Jerry Thomas spoke on the washing of the saints feet. We finished off our meeting with Bro. Buddy preaching part 5 of his series, Our Adversary (I Pet 5:8). Although I am saddend by the end of the meeting it just brings us one day closer to our next one which will be 3rd weekend in November with Eld. Ronald Lawrence. I'm so thankful for these times with our friends and families of like faith. I pray that our band of believers will continue to grow, so that my children's children will have these experiences to look back on and remember. Lifelong friendships are made at these meetings and it was so good to see all of you that we have been missing over the years. Thank you to all who visited! The Lord is Good!

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Recipe for a great weekend!

As I mentioned earlier in the week, we have our annual meeting this weekend...well technically it's our semi-annual communion meeting. And although I usually find myself struggling over what to cook for the potluck meals, I really enjoy my cooking day! I try to do all my cooking on one day so that my weekend can be focused on the meeting and the sermons we've heard and also for fellowship (whether at our house or someone elses). I love to put in my chuch CD's and listen to the beautiful hyms while cooking. Me and the kids sing out loud as we cook and clean (my dishwasher gets a good workout on these days). It really helps shape our spirit for the weekend and it gets us all excited for the upcoming services. We are blessed to have Bro. Tim McCool and his 2 daughters and son staying with us. If you have never had the blessing of keeping a minister before, I highly recommend it. Annual meetings are hard work for everyone but the rewards far exceed the amount of exhaustion. As we prepare to enter into this time of fellowship and, Lord willing, revival, I pray for good health, listening ears and a cheerful heart. I know I have never been disappointed at the end of a meeting and I pray I never will be. May the Lord bless you all and keep you safe and we look forward to seeing all of you on Friday evening. God Bless!

An assortment of information!

We invite all who can make it to our July Meeting this coming weekend! Eld. Tim McCool from Alabama will be joining us. We will have services on Friday evening, Saturday morning, Saturday afternoon and our communion service will be Saturday evening. If anyone needs a place to stay, feel free to contact us. We have plenty of room at our house and I know we have several other families who have opened up their homes!

Brady: Momma, what's in heaven?

Me: God is in heaven.

Brady: What else?

Me: Well God's children that have already died are there too, but we don't know what else. Just that it is better than you could ever imagine.

Abbey: Jesus is in heaven too Mom!

Me: Yes Jesus is in heaven too.

Brady: Uhhh, I tink (he can't say the "th" sound) the Holy Ghost is there too right Momma?

Me: That's right Brady...I'm so happy you remembered what we have talked about...

Brady: Uhhh is he a real Ghost?

To that the conversation just ended. Brady wasn't interested in learning the difference between a ghost on Scooby Doo and the Holy Ghost. We will try again later!

We have been through a very difficult couple of weeks and need the prayers of all of you. We went over to my parents house last night for dinner and had a wonderful time. Abbey got the church song books out and we had our own little "church hymn sing". There are few things more heartwarming than seeing your children scour the church hymnals for the song they are thinking of and then attempt to lead the song just like the song leaders do. Abbey was so cute this evening. She wanted to sing this one particular song and in our song book she knows how to look it up in the "I" section, however, my parents have an older book and she couldn't find it. So she was trying to explain it to us. She said "I know it starts with I and it has God in it" which is only 85% of the songs. So after about 15 minutes of trying to guess different songs that we know she calls out frequently she finally remembered that the way we sing it is girls start and then boys sing! Ahhhh, of course..."I will call upon the Lord"...if you could have seen the sheer happiness on her face, again not too many more heartwarming moments. Hymn singing does a heart good! We went home last night humming all our favorites looking forward to Wednesday night when we can call out some long lost hymns that were rediscovered last night!

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Abbey: Mom, I want to show you a magic trick!
Me: O.k. Abbey
Abbey: O.k., hold your hands like this (Abbey with her fists clenched)
Me: No, Abbey. You're trying to trick me into fist bumping.
Abbey: Mom, I promise...it's just a magic trick. (With a big ol' goofy grin on her face)
Me: Abbey you're tricking me...I see you smiling.

Abbey runs off and I hear her shout "Dad, it didn't work! Mom didn't fall for it!"

Political Activist - Trailblazer for all things Sacred!

I would like to invite you all to participate in my boycott. My husband and kids have proclaimed me tragically un-hip, but I ask you is it un-hip to take a stance against something? This is America people...land of the free, home of the brave. And what may you ask is my boycott against? "It's a hand gesture normally associated with sporting events and Bud Lite commercials. Deal or No Deal host Howie Mandel reportedly adopted the gesture as a friendly way to avoid his contestants' germs." (M.J. Stephy of Time). It is the ever growing popular "fist bump". After the hoopla that Presidential Candidate Barack Obama recieved after the highly publized fist bump with his wife, I thought "This is potentially our next U.S. President. Someone who is supposed to be poised with grace and wisdom. Someone who should be setting the example of proper etiquette to a nation who has lost its way in a gadget happy society where personal contact has declined as separation has grown. I tell you we need to see our future leaders displaying the kind of relationship with their wives that show love and respect and NOT the fear of contracting a germ. We need to see our future leaders treating this office with the respect it deserves, not the worldly gesture of a victory to some non-life changing sporting victory! Don't get me wrong, the fist bump is perfectly acceptable in the sporting arena, but I will choose to remain "Tragically un-hip". I will fight! You can't make me do it! I take a stand and I will not back down!

Summertime Boredom Cure #1

Before



after (I can actually close the toyboxes now)

Well, as I lamented earlier this week...my kids seem to be a bit underappreciative of the wonderful time of year called summer! So in order to cure this boredom I have decided to put them to work cleaning out toy boxes, dresser drawers, closets and of course the big playroom upstairs. I told them that since they couldn't find anything to occupy their time, that I would occupy their time by putting them to work and I have ultimate power over what stays and what goes. I marvel at the utter junk that accumulates in all the nooks and crannies of the kids rooms. I unfortunately did not get a before shot of Abbey's room, but I have included a before and after shot of Brady's room. I trust none of you will judge me and my inability to train my children to properly clean their rooms! And for all of you expectant mother's...just wait...your day is coming in the very near future when you too will look at your child's room and say "how in the world did it get this way?"

AAAAHHHHH! Can you feel the weight being lifted off a poor Mom's shoulders? 4 big black trash bags full of "donations" and 2 big black trash bags full of garbage! Man! I got a lot accomplished in one day! Hmmm we have company coming to town in a couple of weeks for our July chuch meeting...I wonder what else I can get done before then? Uuhhh, maybe a playground.

Playground Update

Progress to date: Step 103 of 111. I'm seeing a light at the end of the tunnel.

Home Again Home Again

Well, we're back from the beach and we had a wonderful time down in beautiful Marco Island. I would have to say it is my new favorite beach. This is our third summer in a row going down there and I just feel so pampered whenever we go. We had a great time visiting with Matthew's parents and now we are in the retrain mode...my kids act like they don't know how to function being at home without anyone here to entertain them.

I've got to come up with a solution to the "I'm bored" statement. I'm sorry the huge 700 sf playroom upstairs full of toys plus the two bedrooms with closets that won't close because of the overflowing toyboxes aren't enough entertainment for two youngun's that you need me to entertain them while I'm trying to wash the bajillion clothes and towels that have started to reak from the laundry hampers. I'm sorry that the stack of books if piled one on top of the other would be taller than a two story house aren't enough entertainment for a 7 and 5 year old that they need to ask me every 5 minutes if they can watch yet another mind numbing tv program.And when do you suppose they ask if they can go swimming in the pool or play on the playground? Right...when the blackest darkest clouds with bolts of lightning so close, I'm ready to hide in a no window room roll in for our daily afternoon shower. I know the solution...put them to work...but really how much house cleaning can you get out of a 5 year old?