A Blessed Life

What a blessed life we live!! God has shown himself to us in so many ways...really all of our life together, but especially this past couple of years as we have struggled with moving. My moving to SA was a great decision, and I don't regret it for even a second...God meant for Bill and I to be together heart, mind and body and we have really reveled in our time living together again. Of course we miss our children (we count our daughter's-in-law as children), and our grandchildren...I could really obsess about how much I miss them, but God has assured me they are in great care in the arms of their parents...my children are AWESOME parents!! And the ones who aren't parents are AWESOME uncles!! Wow...who would have thought that my children linked with God could do all of this without me?!? I say that very tongue-in-cheek because no one knows better than I what a control freak I can be...and another blessing is revealed...when I give in and allow God to control, it all turns out much better. [and I don't cry all the time]

Tonight in place of our regular Wednesday night Bible Study, we had "Praise and Pie Night" so we could all come together and pray for each other and our families who will be traveling over the holiday weekend!! Doesn't it sound great?? I mean you have Praise (which is always great), and PIE...what more can I say?! And let me tell you...there are some bakers down here! Bill and I work with the Fellowship Committee, which consists mostly of retired couples, and we love each and every one of them! They treat us like their own kids, love on us, joke with us and have really made us feel at home here. We just absolutely love this Church and love being a part of it...you can feel God's love, guidance and presence.

We will be leaving tomorrow night on our drive to Searcy to join our son Levi, daughter-in-law Laura, grandson Gavin and brand new granddaughter Carrigan for a Thanksgiving Feast at Laura's mother's home along with Laura's sister and niece and our son Andy. We can't wait to see them, hug, visit, laugh and make memories! What a blessed life!!

Our other children, Cliff and his son William, Carl, his wife Crystal and son Camden, and Zeke will be eating with some of my brothers and their families and my Dad and Judy. We will miss them, but they will be surrounded with good old fashioned family-love and making memories too.

Praying that all of you have a safe, joyful and memorable Thanksgiving.

My Kindergarten Boy

William is doing so well in school!! Cliff went to his first parent-teacher conference a couple of weeks ago, and William's teachers all bragged about how well he has adapted to school life and how well he is processing everything he is learning. He has had such good behavior that his daddy let him choose some toys as a reward!

Great job William!!
Keep up the good work!

Halloween munchkins

I have such good memories of Trick or Treat back in the "old days", when you could go from door to door for hours and would get home made treats from all of your neighbors and not be afraid to eat them!! We lived in the country, so we would walk for miles (ok, I know I really sound old now), and would drag our bounty back home, sort it, trade for our favorites, and then HIDE IT to make sure the older boys didn't make off with any of it! Our neighbor, Melba Carmichael, used to make popcorn balls every year and invite us inside her house for hot cocoa, a sampling of the popcorn and send us off with at least one popcorn ball in our bag. Such fun times!

I received pictures of each of my grandchildren in their halloween costumes, and you just have to see how adorable they are!!

William as "Rock Man"Gavin the "Dinosaur"

Carrigan the "Friendly Ghost"

Camden the "Horse"

Who wouldn't want these little goblins to knock on their door?!?

Beautiful Granddaughter

New pictures of our beautiful new granddaughter Carrigan.


























































She's so perfect, and so expressive already. We can't wait to meet her on Thanksgiving, and hold her and feel her downy soft skin!

Look, she's wearing the felted clogs grandma made for her!