Here is a picture of Emma at her last WCDC Hat Parade.
Thursday, March 20, 2008
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Class of 2021
Yesterday I took Emma for Kindergarten registration. While I am so thankful that I have a growing daughter, it is very sad to know that her baby/toddler years have passed by. She did great on her tests and is quite excited to almost be a school-age kid!
I have one gripe though. The school gave me a packet of information to read over. It tells me & Scotty what Emma needs to know before starting school (most of it she has already mastered). The packet was about 7-8 pages and on every single page I found AT LEAST one misspelled or misused word. What kind of message does that send out about the state of our school system? I was stunned that they would send out material that was so full of errors. Let's hope that they teach better than they write!
I have one gripe though. The school gave me a packet of information to read over. It tells me & Scotty what Emma needs to know before starting school (most of it she has already mastered). The packet was about 7-8 pages and on every single page I found AT LEAST one misspelled or misused word. What kind of message does that send out about the state of our school system? I was stunned that they would send out material that was so full of errors. Let's hope that they teach better than they write!
Saturday, March 15, 2008
Connected by Grace
Dear Lovely Lady
You are cordially invited to join us for a special ladies luncheon
On Sunday, April 6, 2008,
immediately following the morning service
Woodlawn Baptist Church (Fellowship Hall)
1400 Southside Ave, Bristol TN
We are excited to present a great new program designed especially for you
We are Looking Up! Looking In! Looking Around! Looking Out!
And we are: CONNECTED BY GRACE!
Call to reserve a seat for yourself and a female friend
R.S.V.P
post your reply on this BLOG!
Monday, March 10, 2008
Tiny (& wet) Whispers
Emma has new found excitement for whispering in my ear. She doesn't really have anything to say so her normal secret is "I love you & Daddy stinks. Don't tell Daddy, ok?" She pushes all my hair back from my face & then she gets her mouth as close to my ear as she can. When she is done whispering her secret in my ear she just bounces away & leaves me with a wet ear!!! EEWW!
Saturday, March 8, 2008
Pierced Ears
A couple of weeks ago Emma spent the night with my mom so I could take an Accounting Exam. Sometime during her overnight stay she asked mom to take her to get her ears pierced. Well, there was no way on earth that mom was going to do it. So, on Saturday afternoon, after enduring some time of pleading, I took Emma (4 years old, btw) to the mall to get her ears pierced. On the way there I kept telling her that it was going to hurt and I kept asking, "are you sure." She assured me that she was ready!
She bravely approached the counter and told the lady at Claire's that she wanted to get her ears pierced. We picked out a pair of really cute earing made with pink crystals in the shape of a daisy. CUTE! She sat bravely in the chair while the lady made purple dots on her ears for proper placement of the earrings. And then, WHACK, the first earring was in. OH MY GOODNESS. She started saying "OW" and then "Ow, that hurt" and finally "WWAAAHHHH." She screamed & screamed. I picked her up and, of course, everyone in the mall was thinking what a horrible mom I was for making her get her ears pierced. I held up my hands & said "for the record, this was not my idea." Everyone just smiled & I'm sure they were thinking, "yeah, sure!" Well, after about 30-45 minutes we paid for the set of earrings & the one piercing. We weren't able to get the other ear done. :)
A couple of days passed, & upon my suggestion, the daycare teachers kept mentioning to Emma how nice it would look if both ears were pierced. On the following Monday night she told her dad & I that she wanted to go get the other one done. We make the trekk to the mall, again, and she sat bravely on her daddy's lap. But, as soon as the lady came near her ear with the alcohol rub, she starting squirming and pushing the lady's hand away. Daddy & I decided that we were going to get the ear pierced regardless. So, as any good parent would do, we held her down while she received the torture of the 2nd ear piercing. Dad held her body and I held her head. It was over quickly, but I'm fairly certain that everyone around Claire's would not vote for us to be the Parents of the Year!!!
For the record, Emma did say the next morning that she was glad that she had both ears pierced and she looks so cute.
She bravely approached the counter and told the lady at Claire's that she wanted to get her ears pierced. We picked out a pair of really cute earing made with pink crystals in the shape of a daisy. CUTE! She sat bravely in the chair while the lady made purple dots on her ears for proper placement of the earrings. And then, WHACK, the first earring was in. OH MY GOODNESS. She started saying "OW" and then "Ow, that hurt" and finally "WWAAAHHHH." She screamed & screamed. I picked her up and, of course, everyone in the mall was thinking what a horrible mom I was for making her get her ears pierced. I held up my hands & said "for the record, this was not my idea." Everyone just smiled & I'm sure they were thinking, "yeah, sure!" Well, after about 30-45 minutes we paid for the set of earrings & the one piercing. We weren't able to get the other ear done. :)
A couple of days passed, & upon my suggestion, the daycare teachers kept mentioning to Emma how nice it would look if both ears were pierced. On the following Monday night she told her dad & I that she wanted to go get the other one done. We make the trekk to the mall, again, and she sat bravely on her daddy's lap. But, as soon as the lady came near her ear with the alcohol rub, she starting squirming and pushing the lady's hand away. Daddy & I decided that we were going to get the ear pierced regardless. So, as any good parent would do, we held her down while she received the torture of the 2nd ear piercing. Dad held her body and I held her head. It was over quickly, but I'm fairly certain that everyone around Claire's would not vote for us to be the Parents of the Year!!!
For the record, Emma did say the next morning that she was glad that she had both ears pierced and she looks so cute.
Thursday, March 6, 2008
Pet Peeves
Do you have any pet peeves? Boy, I sure do. Here are a couple of mine for today.
- people who drive slow in the passing lane (talk about causing road rage!!!)
- people who talk/text on their cell phones while eating in a restaurant with other people
- people who talk/text on their cell phones instead of paying attention while driving
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
My Testimony
Wednesday, January 16, 1991. It is a day that I would LOVE to forget. It started out as any typical 19 year-old's day. I went to classes and then spent a couple of hours at work. I was dating a guy and had made the decision to "break-up". So, after work, I headed to his house that heshared with his grandmother. I gave him the news & he didn't take it too well. Not well at all! Finally, after a few minutes of whining, he left. I hopped into my car and drove away. Just a bit down the road, Derek was there standing in the middle of the street. I had two choices--run over him or stop. Silly me! I chose to stop. When the car stopped, he threw open my door & jumped in on top of me. He said, "I'm going to kill you" and began choking me. I struggled & he squeezed my neck, struggle, squeeze, struggle, and squeeze. Eventually, I passed out. When I regained consciousness I was in the passenger seat and he was driving. Frightened, I jumped out of the car and began running & screaming, "Help me". Well, it was Wednesday night & so everyone must have been at church :) & no one came to my rescue. Derek caught me by my hair & pulled me down to the ground. He picked me up by my lower jaw and dragged me back to the car. My mind was whirling about 90 mph and I was trying to figure out the next move. I noticed that my fingers and wrist were bleeding so I asked him to take me to the hospital. Instead, he started driving like a Baptist heading to lunch on Sunday and I was terrified. He started heading towards South Holston Lake & I told him that I really needed to check in with Mom. He agreed & pulled up to the payphones at the store on Highway 421. He got out of the car and I locked the passenger door and crawled over into the driver seat, but before I could get the door shut, he jumped back onto my lap.
YIKES! We were struggling against each other--one pushing the gas pedal and one pushing the brake. We managed to get the car back out onto the highway sideways, but guess what--no other car comes along. It's a 4-lane for goodness sake and no one is on it! Regardless, I'm holding the door open with my foot and trying to push him out. I'm close when BAM! the back of his upper arm makes contact with my nose. Blood is everywhere and I quit struggling. I crawled over into the passenger seat & started nagging. WRONG, WRONG, WRONG thing to do! He slammed my head into the window a couple of times & gave me a few backhands across the face. By that time, I was pretty much resigned that he had won. We continued on towards the lake in silence. He finally asked whether I want to die by his hand or by water. So, to make a long story short, I was eventually able to get him to calm down and he drove me to a friend's house. I had to have stitches and then surgery and he went to prison.
So, what does this have to do with my testimony? I'll get to that in a moment. First, fast-forward with me a few months. I met Scotty during the summer of 1991—and I met his MOM! She insisted that everyone in her family and even those remotely associated with her family attend church. I had been to church all of my life—off and on--but she was insistent on at least a weekly trip to First Christian. There, I met Louise Thrasher. She is a wonderful woman, but what a PEST! She wanted to pray for me all of the time. Several years passed by and God began putting more and more people in my life who witnessed to me. In 1996, my Secret Pal was a girl from work who had a very strong testimony. She was the epitome of someone using lifestyle evangelism to show Christ to others and we became close friends. Also, during the same time, I met Shirley Harrison, a home interior consultant and a truly beautiful person who shared her testimony during a Home Interior party, and throughout the whole party, she was talking God this and God that, blah, blah, blah. What does God have to do with hanging pictures, anyway? And, remember Louise?!? She was still there and wanted to pray for me all of the time. I used to try to dodge her as often as I could. You know, she would come in one door & I would head out the other :) But, pray for me she did (and she still does!!) She would always hug me and with tears in her eyes, she would pray for me. Why? I had no clue. Nothing wrong with me! Louise never gave up. Even after Scotty & I changed churches, I'm confident that Louise kept on praying. A few months after attending Fellowship Chapel in Bristol, I really began to feel that tug from God. With all of the people that He had placed into my path that year & with a couple of strong evangelistic messages delivered from the pulpit, it was more like a strong pull than a tug. So early on a Monday morning in May 1997, I called the Thrasher's house. Guess who answered? LOUISE! John wasn't home so Louise was able to walk me through a prayer of salvation and a week or so later, I was baptized at First Christian. After getting to work on the morning I was saved, I was just sitting at my desk thinking about that decision. Why hadn't I done it sooner? And then, my thoughts went back to that horrible night in 1991, and my knees went weak & I was sick at my stomach. I could have been killed that night. If I had met the Lord that night, what would he say? It's pretty clear in His word—Depart from me, I knew you not. That was enough to scare the pants off of me (luckily I was wearing a dress that day!)
It's been said a zillion times, especially when a young life is cut short---"you don't know how much time you have," "life is short", etc. But do you believe it? June 7, 2004, my 42-year old cousin jumped into his rig carrying a load of diesel fuel. He was headed to make a delivery somewhere near Knoxville. He didn't make it. He ended up in an accident and didn't even make it out of Kingsport. Did he think he would be going back home that evening? Sure, he did. I'm sure he had some old car and a wrench waiting for him. It could happen to you, any time, any where. So what I would like to say before I end is, "don't wait". In all reality, my cousin probably waited too long. Don't wait. And, if you are a Christian, but you have friends and loved ones who aren't—get on fire for them. Be a Louise Thrasher! Pray for them, ask them to come to church, talk about your Savior ever chance you get. If you don't get on fire for them and they meet their Maker, they are sure to end up in a fire of a different kind. Don't wait!
YIKES! We were struggling against each other--one pushing the gas pedal and one pushing the brake. We managed to get the car back out onto the highway sideways, but guess what--no other car comes along. It's a 4-lane for goodness sake and no one is on it! Regardless, I'm holding the door open with my foot and trying to push him out. I'm close when BAM! the back of his upper arm makes contact with my nose. Blood is everywhere and I quit struggling. I crawled over into the passenger seat & started nagging. WRONG, WRONG, WRONG thing to do! He slammed my head into the window a couple of times & gave me a few backhands across the face. By that time, I was pretty much resigned that he had won. We continued on towards the lake in silence. He finally asked whether I want to die by his hand or by water. So, to make a long story short, I was eventually able to get him to calm down and he drove me to a friend's house. I had to have stitches and then surgery and he went to prison.
So, what does this have to do with my testimony? I'll get to that in a moment. First, fast-forward with me a few months. I met Scotty during the summer of 1991—and I met his MOM! She insisted that everyone in her family and even those remotely associated with her family attend church. I had been to church all of my life—off and on--but she was insistent on at least a weekly trip to First Christian. There, I met Louise Thrasher. She is a wonderful woman, but what a PEST! She wanted to pray for me all of the time. Several years passed by and God began putting more and more people in my life who witnessed to me. In 1996, my Secret Pal was a girl from work who had a very strong testimony. She was the epitome of someone using lifestyle evangelism to show Christ to others and we became close friends. Also, during the same time, I met Shirley Harrison, a home interior consultant and a truly beautiful person who shared her testimony during a Home Interior party, and throughout the whole party, she was talking God this and God that, blah, blah, blah. What does God have to do with hanging pictures, anyway? And, remember Louise?!? She was still there and wanted to pray for me all of the time. I used to try to dodge her as often as I could. You know, she would come in one door & I would head out the other :) But, pray for me she did (and she still does!!) She would always hug me and with tears in her eyes, she would pray for me. Why? I had no clue. Nothing wrong with me! Louise never gave up. Even after Scotty & I changed churches, I'm confident that Louise kept on praying. A few months after attending Fellowship Chapel in Bristol, I really began to feel that tug from God. With all of the people that He had placed into my path that year & with a couple of strong evangelistic messages delivered from the pulpit, it was more like a strong pull than a tug. So early on a Monday morning in May 1997, I called the Thrasher's house. Guess who answered? LOUISE! John wasn't home so Louise was able to walk me through a prayer of salvation and a week or so later, I was baptized at First Christian. After getting to work on the morning I was saved, I was just sitting at my desk thinking about that decision. Why hadn't I done it sooner? And then, my thoughts went back to that horrible night in 1991, and my knees went weak & I was sick at my stomach. I could have been killed that night. If I had met the Lord that night, what would he say? It's pretty clear in His word—Depart from me, I knew you not. That was enough to scare the pants off of me (luckily I was wearing a dress that day!)
It's been said a zillion times, especially when a young life is cut short---"you don't know how much time you have," "life is short", etc. But do you believe it? June 7, 2004, my 42-year old cousin jumped into his rig carrying a load of diesel fuel. He was headed to make a delivery somewhere near Knoxville. He didn't make it. He ended up in an accident and didn't even make it out of Kingsport. Did he think he would be going back home that evening? Sure, he did. I'm sure he had some old car and a wrench waiting for him. It could happen to you, any time, any where. So what I would like to say before I end is, "don't wait". In all reality, my cousin probably waited too long. Don't wait. And, if you are a Christian, but you have friends and loved ones who aren't—get on fire for them. Be a Louise Thrasher! Pray for them, ask them to come to church, talk about your Savior ever chance you get. If you don't get on fire for them and they meet their Maker, they are sure to end up in a fire of a different kind. Don't wait!
Bible Chapter game
Can you find thirty (30) books of the Bible in the paragraph below? Actually there are thirty-one (31) Bible names, one is a variant of an Old Testament prophet's name.
"This is a most remarkable puzzle. It was found by a gentleman in an airplane seat pocket, on a flight from Los Angeles to Honolulu, keeping him occupied for hours. He enjoyed it so much, he passed it on to some friends. One friend from Illinois worked on this while fishing from his john boat. Another friend studied it while playing his banjo. Elaine Taylor, a columnist friend, was so intrigued by it she mentioned it in her weekly newspaper column. Another friend judges the job of solving this puzzle so involving, she brews a cup of tea to help her nerves. There will be some names that are really easy to spot. That's a fact. Some people, however, will soon find themselves in a jam, especially since the book names are not necessarily capitalized. Truthfully, from answers we get, we are forced to admit it usually takes a minister or a scholar to see some of them at the worst. Research has shown that something in our genes is responsible for the difficulty we have in seeing the books in this paragraph. During a recent fund raising event, which featured this puzzle, the Alpha Delta Phi lemonade booth set a new record. The local paper, The Chronicle, surveyed over 200 patrons who reported that this puzzle was one of the most difficult they had ever seen. As Daniel Humana humbly puts it, "The books are all right here in plain view hidden from sight." Those able to find all of them will hear great lamentations from those who have to be shown. One revelation that may help is that books like Timothy and Samuel may occur without their numbers. Also, keep in mind, that punctuation and spaces in the middle are normal. A chipper attitude will help you compete really well against those who claim to know the answers. Remember, there is no need for a mad exodus; there really are 30 books of the Bible lurking somewhere in this paragraph waiting to be found. God Bless."
"This is a most remarkable puzzle. It was found by a gentleman in an airplane seat pocket, on a flight from Los Angeles to Honolulu, keeping him occupied for hours. He enjoyed it so much, he passed it on to some friends. One friend from Illinois worked on this while fishing from his john boat. Another friend studied it while playing his banjo. Elaine Taylor, a columnist friend, was so intrigued by it she mentioned it in her weekly newspaper column. Another friend judges the job of solving this puzzle so involving, she brews a cup of tea to help her nerves. There will be some names that are really easy to spot. That's a fact. Some people, however, will soon find themselves in a jam, especially since the book names are not necessarily capitalized. Truthfully, from answers we get, we are forced to admit it usually takes a minister or a scholar to see some of them at the worst. Research has shown that something in our genes is responsible for the difficulty we have in seeing the books in this paragraph. During a recent fund raising event, which featured this puzzle, the Alpha Delta Phi lemonade booth set a new record. The local paper, The Chronicle, surveyed over 200 patrons who reported that this puzzle was one of the most difficult they had ever seen. As Daniel Humana humbly puts it, "The books are all right here in plain view hidden from sight." Those able to find all of them will hear great lamentations from those who have to be shown. One revelation that may help is that books like Timothy and Samuel may occur without their numbers. Also, keep in mind, that punctuation and spaces in the middle are normal. A chipper attitude will help you compete really well against those who claim to know the answers. Remember, there is no need for a mad exodus; there really are 30 books of the Bible lurking somewhere in this paragraph waiting to be found. God Bless."
Saturday, March 1, 2008
The Hokey Pokey
OK. This blogging thing is really new to me so I'm not sure what to post. Emma & I had a really fun day today. We met up with Heather & Arianna to go swimming. The pool at the Microtel was closed for painting so we ended up at the Frozen Stone instead. YUMMY! I had to do the Hokey Pokey to get 10% off my order. My face was blood red, but I saved $0.50! WOOHOO!
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