Into silence we go...

well, to Virginia that is. We are heading there today, so Jamin can work a little. We're so excited to see his parents! After a while, we are going to visit his sister and brother-in-law in Richmond. Then we are going to see some of our good friends in Roanoke Rapids, NC. We don't really know when, but that's the plan. I won't have internet access for a while, so please be patient with me. :)

We visited a new church last night. It was a really good service, and the pastor and his wife talked with us for a while after church. They are sweet, country people, and I believe it is the friendliest church I have ever been in. Still praying. I hope it's all settled soon.

Things will be different for a while. Jamin will be gone a lot, so I plan to take my sewing machine, and catch up on some letter-writing. I'm planning a new quilt. :) The first quilt I made, the green one with pin-wheel design, is on my Granny's frames right now. She has been quilting it, and I've helped her just a tiny bit. It'll be finished when I get back. Yea! I think I'm keeping that one.

Today, we are going to spend some time in Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg, just enjoying the mountains (before we travel on to Virginia). I love driving around with the camera. It's so much fun. That's where we spent our honeymoon...so many memories.

I hope you all have a great week! Pray for us as we travel.

Thanks Cathro Teens!

We love our T-shirts!

Lunch with a Friend

Last week, my friend Rachel took me to lunch at Cracker Barrel. She brought her youngest son, Owen with her. We had so much fun. We stayed for over two hours, catching up on all the time we've spent in different states. This is not a wonderful picture, but at least you can see the cute baby!

Fun With Braden

Last week, both nephews spent some time at "Mimi's." When Braden was here, we spent some time playing outside. He's so cute and fun to play with.

Daniel, what a cutie!

After unloading the truck, one of our nephews, Daniel loved playing inside. It was adorable! He ran and ran, and he loved the way his voice sounded inside.

I have my hard drive...

all hooked up and ready to go. Here are a few pictures. More can be found in the gallery.

Scary moment

Will it ever end? We all wondered.

My beautiful mother

Lunch break for the faithful workers. :)

Bye, 8075 Cathro Rd.

You can't go through Dundee without stopping at Cabela's.

"Come to Tennessee, we're playin' your song."

Just taking up space...

There really isn't much to report. Without my hard drive, it is not much fun at all to blog, but I'll do my best. :) Getting that drive back into my possession is on my mental list of tomorrow's to-dos.

On Wednesday night, Jamin and I had the opportunity to sing at my sister's church, the Harriman Baptist Tabernacle. It was really fun and we enjoyed it. Then on Thursday night, we were asked to come and sing at a nearby church where several of my family members attend. They were holding revival services. It was really a blessing to be able to be used even in a small way for the Lord...and it was a lot of fun!

Tomorrow, almost ALL my immediate family members are going to take a gun class to become certified to carry a concealed weapon. This is NOT due to the Virginia Tech massacre, just something they've been wanting to do. If you think I have a slightly insane family, well, you can just keep your comments to yourself.

Keep checking back. I promise to make my posts more interesting ASAP!!

Finally, a few pics...

Our last service...see the snow starting



Loading the 7-ton piano

My sister-in-law Becky and I Thursday afternoon...just starting out


More to come...

Settling in...

The weather is beautiful here today! So nice. I was outside for a while playing with my nephew Braden, and I got sunburned. Jamin did some yard work for a few hours, and he got sunburned too. :) We've been in the shade too long!

We're enjoying living close to our families. We went to see Jamin's sister, Jada, at Crown College yesterday. It was so good to see her!! Tomorrow I'm going out to lunch with Rachel, the oldest friend I have. By that, I mean we have been friends since we were babies.

So many memories come flooding back to me every day. Certain places in the road remind me of certain things. One spot between home and Wartburg is where my Dad said, "You know, God's grace really is sufficient." This was on the drive home when Papaw (his dad) had passed away and we were on our way back from the funeral home. It is amazing how vivid some memories are. At my home church on Sunday, I was reminded of all the times I had prayed at that altar for God to use me.

I don't quite have the "I'm home" feeling yet. That will take 1. a house of our own, and 2. time to live there. But for now, I can say, "It's great to be back in Tennessee."

To the teens at Cathro: We still love you!! Keep in touch.

Pictures are on the way. I'm still waiting for the hard drive to be excavated. :)

Hello from rainy Tennessee

We pulled in last night at 10:30pm. It was a long, long move. Everyone is exhausted, but PRAISE THE LORD for safety! When you spend about 18 hours on the road driving 4 vehicles, it is amazing to reach your destination unharmed. We are thankful the Lord kept us all very safe. And as far as we know, only one flower pot was broken. :) Thank you all for your prayers.

Jamin and I drove to Bay City, MI on Wednesday to pick up the Penske truck. We parked it in our backyard. Overnight, it snowed several inches. After we loaded it up (almost full) on Thursday, it was stuck in the snow! Jamin could not drive it out. My brother hooked up his pick-up truck to it, and our neighbor also came over to help with his truck. It took about 30 minutes to get the truck into the driveway. I was having a few panicky thoughts, seeing visions of unloading everything so we could move a lighter truck.


I have tons of pictures on the way, but the transition will take a while. We buried our external hard drive somewhere, which holds all the pictures. So I can't unload my camera without it. Also we buried our pillows, so I had to improvise. It will take a little longer to find out what else we're missing. :)

More to come soon!!

Overwhelmed...

that's how I feel right now. There is so much stuff in our house! We have worked and worked and worked, and you can hardly see the progress we've made. We have it mostly done, but have a lot to go. My parents, brother and sister-in-law are driving up tomorrow, and we are driving 3 hours down to pick up the Penske truck. Please pray that we will all be safe, and that our move will go well. It is supposed to be really cold and a chance of snow Wednesday and Thursday. It would be great if the Lord would warm it up a little.

My posting will most definitely slow down temporarily. As long as we are at my parents', we will have internet access. When we visit Jamin's family, we won't have it. Please keep checking back here. Though I may be silent for a little while, I will be back. :)

Happy Snowy Easter

It was freezing cold, and snow covered the ground. But I refused to let the snow stop me from wearing my new sandals. My feet froze and I couldn't walk without holding onto someone...but it was worth it! What we women put ourselves through!

All-Nighter

Wow! Did we have fun! The all-nighter was really a blast. We stayed busy from midnight until around 6:00 am. I've posted a few photos here, but there are tons more in the gallery (the album is 'Teen All-Nighter'). This is our paper-building game. The teens had to make a giraffe out of paper and tape. This is the winning giraffe:

This was the Clothes Relay. Each person had to pick a piece of clothing from a box and put it on, run back to his teammate and give him/her everything they are wearing (from the box). That person ran to the box, got a new piece of clothing, etc. They really had fun.

Starting to feel tired...

Skit-in-a-Bag. We gave each team a bag full of items they had to use for a skit. This was the winner, so funny! You can tell they're having fun!

Card-House Relay

Those were the highlights, but click 'Photo Gallery' on the right if you want to view all 60-something pictures!

Needless to say, we were tired when we got home. Around 8:30 we could finally crash. We didn't get up until after 2. This is a fun thing to do, but only a few times a year. :)

Stewardship Conference

This past Sunday through last night, we had a stewardship conference. It was a very good meeting, with Evangelist Dan Martin as the special speaker. The Lord really moved and did a lot of work in the hearts of the people at Cathro. The church has had a plan to build a gym and extend classrooms. The people made commitments to give and even to give up things they have to be sold, so they may give the money to the building fund. It was amazing to see people stand and give up their hobbies and possessions for God's work. One of the teenagers stood and said he was giving his four-wheeler to the church to be sold for the building fund. Some people may say that is crazy, but God will bless every thing we give to Him. God has done so much for us; nothing we give is too much!

Jesus said unto them, I am the...

As you know, we've been packing. We've been finding things from our childhood. Jamin was showing me some pictures he had drawn when he was little. One picture was of a boat in the water. Up on a cliff, there was a lighthouse. On the back of the picture, it said, "Jesus said unto them, I am the lighthouse." I laughed and laughed. It was so cute! I guess you never know what kids are thinking.

Boxes, boxes, boxes...

The pictures will have to slow down for now. We've been busy packing. Now we have Stewardship Conference through Wednesday, so that will keep us busy. Wednesday after the service, after the fellowship meal, we're having an all-nighter for the teens. We're planning to do some silly stuff, and watch "Facing the Giants." If anybody has cool, free (or very cheap) ideas, please let me know. We're planning to keep it rolling all night with hardly any down time. So far we have about 3 activities and contests. It will be fun, but I'm trying to sleep ahead of time. :)

Have a great day!!