Christmas Events!

It's been an eventful week, the highlight being our nephew decided to come on Christmas Day! We're all still in shock, but thankful Isaiah, Lesley, and Chris are well!

Jason had the whole week off. I took Tuesday off so we could visit his aunt Frances in Mt. Airy with his dad and his friend Jeff. We ate at Snappy's downtown and walked around to a few stores. I only had to work half day Wednesday, which was nice. We had a lot of kids Wednesday night, but it went well! Thursday, we went down to Statesville early to see Grandma and Grandpa and watched "White Christmas." We had a nice Christmas Eve with everyone and had fun playing dirty Santa. Friday, we had breakfast with mom and dad, while waiting on the progress of Lesley's labor. We headed down to Statesville around lunchtime to hang out with Lee, Linda, and Gary. We played out Wii there for awhile, mostly to distract me (was a bit nervous until about 3:30 when I heard Isaiah was born!) For dinner, we went to Mooresville to visit the Bost side of the family

Saturday, I tagged along with Jason, Lee, and Sarah for squirrel hunting in the woods behind Lee's house. A bit disappointing since we only saw one squirrel. We watched the UNC bowl game until half time before heading back home. Today, we visited my uncle Kent, cousin Jake, Kelly, and their daughters in Lexington. We had a nice afternoon with them. We traveled a lot this past week and are worn out for our work week!

Let it snow!

We got snow on Friday! I got to leave work early, but Jason had to stay late dealing with a snow plow! Molly seems to really like the snow, while Chip isn't show thrilled! Here's them playing!

We walked the dogs a bit Saturday morning. Then, I stayed at home and read a bit of this book called "Crazy Love" while Jason went hunting with Lee. They didn't see any deer. :(

Sunday, we went to Dobson to see the Fulk side of the family, which was nice! Then, we went to TNT, which was about our need to control the things in our lives and working on giving them over to God. It was a tough topic, but good to discuss!

Earlier this week, I went to a Corinth Women's luncheon with my friend Abigail. It's nice to finally know a lot of women at the church!

Christmas Parties!

Our internet has been down a bit this week (I found out due to a Charter upgrade), so that's why I've haven't posted thusfar!

We had a fun week last week! Admist the dealings at work, we had our CFA Christmas party on Thursday night! (12/10) Picture of us above.




For the past 2 years, we've done an employee only party, but this year, we ate at Catawba Country club for dinner and got to invite guests.




We played a game where each of the employees had to pop a balloon by sitting on it. (I had to cheat and use my earring!). Some had money in them and some didn't. It was quite entertaining because my co worker Mike popped two balloons with no money, so he had to go again. He jumped on one balloon for about a minute before it popped!




We had some of by boss Lori's friends play songs. We sang bits of everything, form Christmas sons to a few 80's.

Highlight of the night: My co worker Amber and Lori sang "Baby Got Back." (Lori had the song on her ipod.) We've seen Amber sing this before, but it's just as good the second time around!




We had a great evening of just relaxing with one another!

We discussed "love is not rude" for life group. It really applied to my life since that week, the phone run non stop at work! I know that's a good thing, but it can be very annoying when you're in the middle of concentrating. I've had to watch my tone of voice when I answer the phones to make sure I'm not conveying rudeness.




Saturday, we went to Chapel Hill to see Newton Conover high school football team play in the state championship. Our friend Greg is the offensive lineman coach, so we rode with his wife, Abigail and their 6 month old Lincoln. It was extremely cold and they lost terribly, but we enjoyed the fellowship!

Sunday, we went to the contemporary service, which we haven't been to in awhile. We alternate now between traditional and contemporary services, but haven't been able to go to the last two Sundays. Ther sermon talked about how we don't have the excitement of Jesus coming into the world.

In the afternoon, I went with Liz, Deda, my great aunt Peggy, and mom to see "Miracle on 34th Street" at the theater. Cute play! Jason stayed at home to make a cheesecake for the TNT Christmas party later that evening. We had lots of people show up and had great soup! We wrapped the presents we bough for our kids from the ALFA organization and did a gift exchange. The "regulars" of TNT were very excited to have such a great turnout!

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

We put up our tree today! We had hoped to go to Boone yesterday to my mom's cousin's tree farm and pick out our tree (like we did last year), but it snowed 3 inches there. We were a bit disappointed, but maybe next year!

Here's a few more Christmas decoration pictures!

It's been cold this week and Jason & I are feeling it! We've had sore throats and sneezing! But we are thankfully not sick.

Jason's work will probably get busier, since his co worker retired on Monday. He had to work overtime two hours on Wednesday, but will be off the whole week of Christmas. Everyone else took off, so Jason is using 12 hours comp time and 1/2 day of vacation. It works out great!

We talked about humility and Christ's sacrifice in life group. We're on the "love is not boastful" line of 1 Corinthians 13. Saturday, I worked at nursery for church, which was easy. Jason worked out in the yard for a bit.

Yesterday afternoon, we watched "Beyond the Gates of Splendor", which I borrowed from my co worker. It's a documentary film about the 1956 murders of five missionary men in Ecuador by the Waodoni, a tribe of violence that has since become peaceful.

I'm familiar with the story since Jason and I watched "The End of the Spear" back when we dated. It's one of my favorite films and made a huge impact on me. The five men wanted to befriend the Waodoni to share Christ's love, knowing that no outsider had made peaceful contact with them.

A few years after the murders, Elisabeth Elliot, her daughter, and Rachel Saint moved into their territory, living with the men who killed Elliot's husband and Saint's brother. Evenually, the tribe members came to Christ, and stopped killing others.

The documentary had each widow tell really sweet stories of their young marriages and life in Ecuador. The hardest part was one of the men from the search party talking about seeing Nate Saint's body. He couldn't even put the rope on him to pull him out of the river.

It's such a remarkable story. Nate Saint's children were later baptized by saved Waodani men who killed their father. What a true representation of the power of Christ's love and forgiveness!

I'm doing the Corinth Women's newsletter and I want to profile Elisabeth Elliot's books about this story and these films since they died on January 8th.

Saturday night, we ate at Panera Bread, then went to Kohls to shop for a child that CFA has adopted from the Family Guidance Center (which has a shelter for women coming out of domestic violent relationships). We enjoy buying clothes for her! Before Thanksgiving, we shopped for a child from the ALFA organization (deals with people and families impacted by AIDS) that our TNT bible study adopted.

Then, we went to Abigail and Greg's to celebrate his birthday and enjoyed watching football and playing Apples to Apples. I think we're going to go to Chapel Hill on Saturday to watch Newton Conover play in the state high school championship. Greg is one of the coaches.

Today, we've spending some time resting since we've decorated the tree. We're watching "King Kong" tonight at TNT.

Last week, we had some friends over to play Wii, which was fun! Here's some videos of boxing!

Thanksgiving Week!

Our days at work were slow this week. On Tuesday night, Jason went down to play Wii with Adam and Lee, then wenIt hunting early the next morning. He went to his mom and Gary's later that day to see them. CFA decorated the office on Wednesday, then had lunch and the Best of Beers come and bring some soft drinks, teas, and beer. I sampled some good tasting drinks, such as Cane Cola (soft drink made with sugar cane instead of corn syrup), and House Call (a lemongrass tea).

Chris and Lesley came in Wednesday, so we had dinner at mom and dad's with them. I headed to church to work, but there wasn't too many kids. Thursday, we went to Charlotte for the Garth family Thanksgiving. There were about 40 or so people there. For dinner, we ate at Grandma and Grandpa's house. Mike and Becca got two new kittens and brought them! Both of them fell asleep in my lap for awhile. So cute!

Friday, we played lots of Wii! Jason got a pinball game, and a trivia game. I kicked my brothers toosh in boxing! Jason got a funny video of me!

Saturday, we watched the UNC vs. NC State ballgame at mom and dad's again, then ate some soup I made for dinner, then played more Wii! Mom seems to like it alot!

Chris and Lesley have an energic cocker spaniel named Frankie. He loves to play and I got a cute video of him playing tug of war with Chris!

Sunday, we had a baby shower for Lesley at my house. She got cute things! My two second cousins, Corrina and Olivia, were helpers! Here's some pictures!

Saying Thanks!

We are both ready for a break from work! Jason gets off Wednesday too and we get to decorate the office on Wednesday, so it's more like a free work day!

Friday, we talked about envy in life group. One of the first scriptures we read was Psalm 37: 1-3, the first part saying, "Do not fret because of evil men, or be envious of those who do wrong..." This struck me because I read In the Presence of My Enemies by Gracia Burnham this week. She and her husband Martin were held hostage by Phillipine rebels for a year back in 01-02.

She talked about how they struggled with envy and hatred especially as they saw their captors eat more than they did and not share when they could have. Martin would say how they were suppose to love and serve everyone, even terrorists. They came to the point where they decided to be thankful for any food they had and it helped with their survival. Martin ended up dying in the jungle when the Phillipine soliders rescued them. Another hostage was killed and Gracia got shot in the leg.

I read the book in two days because I couldn't put it down! It convicted me of how spoiled and unthankful I am. It is a great testimony of how the grace of God carries us even in the most horrid situation.

Envy has been a great struggle in my life since I'm bad about comparing myself to other people. I've really tried hard not to do that but since the miscarriage, I'll admit I have failed many times. It's so easy to question, "Why me?" I think I'm starting to climb back up from the hurt of this experience. I have seen good come out of it, especially connecting in a new way with my parents, who had a miscarriage 22 months before I was born.

Saturday, we got to see the Bost side of the family to celebrate Thanksgiving. John was in from Hawaii and Mathew and Rachel back from Florida. I'm glad we got to see them all!

It's been quite rainy today, so we couldn't walk the dogs. We had a nice life group about distortions of God, and how our experiences have shaped wrong ideas about him. It's a constant struggle to see God's love despite the unfair and bad things that happen. But, Jesus experienced hurt and unfairness, so who can we better relate to then Him?

Laugh moment of the week:

When I came home for lunch Friday, I watched Jimi climb inside a blanket on the couch. He hid in between the layers.

Be Kind!

We had our friends Abigail and Greg over Saturday to watch the 2nd half of the UNC game and play Wii. It was lots of fun! We played some new things, like darts and air hockey! Their 5 months old Lincoln (who we saw when he was a day old) just chilled, as you can see below.

We let the dogs see Lincoln and I was so happy that they were really gentle with him. He laughed a bit as they licked him and I got a cute video!

The work went went by a bit slow. My work had a flu shot clinic on Tuesday and I got my first flu shot! I think it just made me a bit tired. Jason had Wednesday off for Veteran's Day. I usually take off, but I was a bit behind since we had our flu shot clinic the day before. So, he was nice enough to take my car to new places to see why the check engine light is still on.

We did go to a nice dinner for a non profit organization called Safe Harbor on Thursday night, which was nice. Life group was on kindness. The book we're reading goes through the 1 Corinthians 13 about what love is. So, this week, kindness. I find that so challenging especially with a job in customer service. Some days, I don't feel like being kind to anyone...especially phone calls! So, it was a good lesson.

We walked the dogs again on Sunday! At TNT, we continued on "distortions of the world" and how that affects our way of thinking. It asked for times you've realized things were just wrong with the world. Deep stuff!

If I can only keep kindness on my mind this week!

Beautiful November Day!

It was such a lovely day that we took the dogs on the Greenway near our house. We haven't walked them in awhile and since we were out there for about an hour, we wore them out!

Tonight, we had a good TNT bible study about the distortion of the world. Mainly, we talked about the fall of Adam and Eve and how that creates the sense of "things not being right" in this world. But God's compassion and love shines through in those moments of hurt too, which is what we've experienced in the last month.

Yesterday, we raked leaves in the morning and then went to the library. We got the movie, "The Dark Knight" and watched it last night.

Friday, my work had a sales meeting all day, but we get off work early on those days which was nice. We learned about that "patience is the red carpet upon which God's grace approaches us." (From Max Lucado's A Love Worth Giving)

Last Sunday, we went to Ikea with my mom, Linda, Gary, Will, Mandy, and Aida. It is a huge place, but neat to go through.

Last Saturday (which was Halloween) was a yucky rainy day. I helped with a Soup Kitchen at Corinth for lunch, then came home with a migraine. We were suppose to have a block party at 4:30, but it got cancelled due to the rain. We just stayed inside and watched "Footloose." An 80's film is the perfect way to spend Halloween, right!

The Invasion of the Swine Flu!

We came as the swine flu today at work and surprised my boss!

Here are the pink piggies!

Rosemary and I came in retro! She's a hippie and I'm wearing my Aunt Anne's dress from 1976!


Happy Halloween!

Shake Your Groove Thing!

Today was a busy and stressful day for us, so it was fun to go to our church's Trunk or Treat! We had a 70's theme with our friends and danced to great 70's music!

Here's my whole groovy outfit!

If you didn't figure it out, they are from the Village People! Wes is the biker, Jason the cowboy, and Taylor the construction worker. What macho men!

Groovy girls! Tiffany, me, and Rachel!

Our friend's 3 year old son Cole loved dancing with us! Shake your booty!

Restful Weekend!

This Saturday was the first time we've been home at night in 3 weeks! Though we loved the things we've done the past few weekends, it was nice to just be home! In the afternoon, we went to a BBQ for one of Jason's co workers who just got married, so we did get outside a bit!

Friday, we watched "Ghosts of Girlfriend's Past" with our life group. It actually had a good point of realizing the ways you are self protective and pushing others away first so that they don't hurt you. But, when you do that, you miss out on experiencing true love since you never let anyone get close to you.

Today, Jason went fishing with his dad and Lee, while I worked in nursery and then helped make chili for our church's soup kitchen next week. We had dinner with my friends from college, Bill and Carrie, as they were on their way back home and had to come through Hickory. It was great to see them!

Work was draining for me this week, especially since a big group of mine decided to change carriers at the last minute, meaning they won't have their ID cards by the 1st. It creates much unnecessary stress for me. Jason had a pretty easy work week, no major disasters yet! Hopefully, it will stay that way!

Wii Fun!

While I babysat at St Lukes on Tuesday night, Jason went and bought a Wii. He's been talking about if for some time. I tried to get him one last Christmas, but he said no. He wanted to wait until the cost went down. I have to admit, it is really neat! Jason wore himself out boxing on Thursday, but he won every round!







We were suppose to go camping this weekend with some friends from our TNT bible study, but due to the cold and wet weather, we cancelled. We were a bit disappointed, but it was probably the best thing. It would have been miserable and no fun.


Instead, we got to go to life group on Friday, to a wedding on Saturday and eat at Cody Creek, and relax on Sunday, finally watching the Panthers win again! It was pretty today, but cold. We should have gone outside for awhile, but we had such a long day yesterday going up to the Mt. Airy area for the wedding and getting back late, we were just tired!


Now, I'm watching Jason play alittle more Wii before we go to bed!

Miracles in Process

"God's greatest miracles happen after the pain of uncertainty and disappointment."

At our wedding, we wrote this at the end of our testimony story, relating the struggles of our lives when we were single to the story of Jarius in Mark 5: 21-43.

Personally, this one is my favorite miracles (other than the resurrection). Here's a bit of history of how I came to relate to this story.

My sophomore year of college, the Intervarsity girls bible study discussed the miracles of Jesus. One of them was the story of the bleeding woman, who touches Jesus' clothes and is instantly healed.

I found myself relating to her. Who hasn't felt like an outcast at some point in their lives?

It also struck me that Jesus tells her, "Daughter, your faith has healed you...." It's the only time Jesus calls a woman "daughter", and I wondered why.

Why not the woman at the well, or Mary? What makes this unnamed outcast, who doesn't even have the confidence to ask Jesus directly to heal her, special?

I prayed over this for a few months...I couldn't figure it out! One day, God revealed it to me: Her identity completely changed with her healing.

She had been bleeding for 12 years, which made her unclean, which made her unable to be around anyone. No one smiled at her, no one was her best friend; she was completely alone.

Jesus couldn't let her just go unnoticed anymore.

For social reasons, people needed to know she was different now, and I think Jesus had to acknowledge her need for emotional healing too: she needed to know she was important.

She was no longer the same as before. She went from an outcast to a daughter in less than a second! It's just like when we come to know Christ!

For the longest time, I focused on the bleeding woman. Then, one day I read it again and saw a new story: Jarius.

There's a completely different point of view seeing the story from Jarius' side.

This man is a synagogue ruler and his kid is really sick, enough for him to come to Jesus and beg him to go to his house to heal his daughter. Jesus agrees.

As they walk with this huge crowd around them, all of a sudden Jesus starts asking who touched him. It's a silly enough question that the disciples state the obvious: Jesus, you're in a crowd. There's a bunch of people touching you.

Then, this woman comes, and tells that she touched Jesus' clothes and was healed instantly.

I wonder what Jarius was thinking as he watched this conversation happening: He asked Jesus first. Doesn't Jesus know his daughter is dying? Why did Jesus stop to talk to this woman?

As Jesus finishes his conversation, Jarius' friends tell him his daughter has died. "Why bother the teacher anymore?" they say.

Jarius has to feel heartbroken. He probably asked every doctor for help and Jesus was his last chance. Now, it's gone and he'll have to face his wife and his friends with this disappointment. I wonder if he also felt a bit forgotten.

But Jesus says something that I'm sure was confusing for Jarius to hear, "Don't be afraid. Just believe." And they continue towards Jarius' house.

There, they see a bunch of people mourning, which had to make Jarius feel even worse. He sees his wife, I'm sure her eyes puffy from crying.

Jesus then goes in the house, to the room where the girl is laying, along with her parents, and James, John, and Peter. He tells her to get up and she does! Jesus raises her from the dead! I think this is the first time Jesus ever raises someone from the dead. The other times are a when he raises a man from the dead during his own funeral procession, Lazarus, and himself.

I think many times in our lives we feel like Jarius as he walks back to his house: surrounded by uncertainty, feeling disappointed, and not quite sure what Jesus is going to do.

It would have been easier if Jesus had just told him, "Don't worry! I'm going to raise your daughter from the dead!"

But, Jesus doesn't work that way. He just says, "Don't be afraid. Just believe." And he ends up doing an amazing miracle!

What I like the most is that Jesus is with Jarius during the time he felt the uncertainty of not knowing what was going to happen. Jesus doesn't leave him. I'd like to think Jarius was somewhat comforted by Jesus' presence in the midst of the hurt. I know I am!

So, great miracles do follow great pain. Would we really appreciate it if a miracle just happened instantly?

(Note: Keep your eyes and heart open. There are miracles in process all around you!)
written 10-17-09

"In the Tunnel"

This week has been rough, but thankfully things have gotten better as the week progressed. I took the medicine for the miscarriage Sunday when we got home from the concert, so that was unpleasant for me. Monday was better (Jason was nice enough to stay home with me because I was nervous of how the medicine would make me feel.) Tuesday, I actually felt fine, but when I went to the doctor, the ultrasound showed some of the sacks were still there.

So, I had to take another round of medicine. Friday, I went back and the midwife was 99% sure I was done. They did some bloodwork to make sure the hormones were down, but I haven't gotten a call yet, so I hope that no news is good news. Wednesday, we did nursery and I did get to work Thursday and Friday, so that was nice!

Friday, we had life group at our house, talking about the move of Jacob and his family to Egypt with Joseph. I did find it interesting that near the end of Jacob's life, he blesses Joseph's sons, but puts the most important blessing on the younger son instead of the older son. Seems to be a theme of Genesis....

Saturday, Linda, Gary, Lee, Will, Mandy, and Aida came up so we could celebrate Linda's birthday. We ate lunch at the Tap Room and went to Octoberfest. Aida rode a few of the rides, which was cute! Then, we headed up to Blowing Rock to eat at Woodlawns and Kilwins for ice cream.

Today, we worked in nursery and I actually was with the babies for awhile. I felt fine about it and enjoyed it. I don't want our miscarriage to affect us to where it's too painful to be around kids, because we enjoy being around them so much.

Tonight we had a dinner party at TNT where we all brought an ingredient for soup and dessert (but could not say what we were bringing). Then, we decided on what to make: minestrone soup and chocolate chip/peanut cookies (which Jason did).

So, this week starts off as normal as it can. I do feel a sort of "loss of innocence" from the miscarriage: that things will never be the same again. I do have my down moments about it (Saturday, I felt a bit depressed, but today was better).

Right now, Jason and I are "in the tunnel", not quite far enough to say we see "light at the end of the tunnel." One of my own phrases that we used in our wedding story has circled back to comfort and convict me: "God's greatest miracles happen after the pain of uncertainty and disappointment." We don't know right now what that miracle will be, but we will wait for it, as God is faithful and good.

U2 concert!

Jason and I were very thankful that despite the sad news that our pregnancy showed no embryo and therefore, I'll have to take medicine today to continue the miscarriage, we were still able to go to the U2 concert in Raleigh that we've been looking forward to since April.

It was completely AWESOME! Videos are below after the pictures.

Here's a picture of us and the set, which is a "spaceship"

Here's some pictures of the band



Bono in his infamous black attire.



The Edge rockin' on his guitar!




I was completely stunned that the third to last song they played is probably my favorite called "Ultraviolet (Light My Way)" off the album "Achtung Baby". I don't think it came out as a single since there are so many other good songs on that album (like "One" and "Mysterious Ways") I took a video of the whole song so this is my longest one, but it's worth it!

I had hoped that they would also play "Where the Streets Have No Name". Bono sang the first verse of "Amazing Grace" and then it totally bridged into the lovely melody intro of the song!

My favorite song from "How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb" is "City of Blinding Lights" and I think the effects they did with the screen were the best! Bono and this boy from the audience are running on the 360 degrees circle stage! (to be that kid!)

"Beautiful Day" has a special place for me and Jason since we had the chorus play when we walked into our wedding reception when we were announced.

Another favorite song of mine is "One".

I like to think you could change the chorus to "God works in mysterious ways."

One of the last songs is one of the best: "With or Without You."

Muse was their opening act and I got a video of one of their songs. They were good!

List of songs played: Breathe, Get on Your Boots, Mysterious Ways, Beautiful Day, No Line on the Horizon, Magnificent, Elevation, In A Litttle While, New Year's Day, I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For, Stuck In A Moment, Unforgettable Fire, City of Blinding Lights, Vertigo, I'll Go Crazy - Remix, Sunday Bloody Sunday, MLK, Walk On, One, Where The Streets Have No Name, Ultraviolet, With or Without You, Moment of Surrender

New floor and New "neighbor"

Last Sunday (20th), Lee came up and we decided to go ahead and pull up the carpet in our family room since we were putting the new floor down on Saturday. Therefore, we had what I called a "poor newlyweds apartment" for the last week (not to offend anyone!): no entertainment center and just a third of our sectional couch. It was actually quite cozy!









Saturday, Jason and Gary put the new floor down, but unfortunately, the salesman did not estimate correctly, so we're missing about 2 feet. He got to the store just after it closed, so we'll finish it this week!








Lastly, we have a "new neighbor" who we've named Charlotte. A few weeks ago, she had camped out right outside our sunroom door, so we had to relocate her to the Crape Myrtle tree in the backyard, but she parked just outside our window in the back of the family room. She has a very nice web! We think she's a garden spider. Apparently, she likes Wake Forest!





Saturday night, we went to our friend Tony B.'s 60th birthday party, which was tons of fun! An Italian cook made from stratch lasagna, even the noddles were homemade, so it seemed sweeter than the other kinds.

Sunday, went went down to Charlotte for Becca's birthday, eating at Olive Garden, and then going to their house and we played pictionary. Jason and I did pretty well, getting some hard ones that we drew for each other since we were on the same team.

Then, we had TNT talking about the distorations with the word community: how we hide our struggles and isolate ourselves, which thereby doesn't promote community. It was very challenging!

Off to a new week! Next Saturday is the U2 concert in Raleigh, which I've been looking forward to since April when I bought the tickets! It's going to be a long week!

All Church Retreat!

We had the Corinth All Church Retreat this weekend! Jason and I really enjoy this retreat. This our third time going. We actually went when we weren't even members of Corinth, which is where we met a bunch of people, and even found out about the life group we now attend on Fridays.



The theme this year was "All Hands on Deck: Service over Self". Pastor Bob talked about the idea of a "consumer driven church": where we are more focused on what we get out of church then how we can contribute to church and the community. It made me think a lot of how I can get caught up in having more things instead of doing more things for God and others.



We really enjoyed that since our theme was service, each "crew" did a project around the Blowing Rock Assembly Grounds. Our crew pulled weeds in the front and then put some new mulch down. It was so amazing that in an hour, the flower beds looked completely different! I guess it shows that improvements happen when you pull the bad stuff ("weeds") out of your life and replace it with good stuff (like mulch!).



Saturday evening, the whole retreat goes to the Daniel Boone Inn to eat dinner. We had to leave early since we helped with the "Nautical Nonsense" games later that evening. I think everyone had a great time! First, we did a "shoe hunt" and had everyone take off their shoes and pile them in the middle. Then one person from each team goes up, finds their shoes, ties them and runs back and another person goes.



I didn't get this on video, but someone tied Pastor Bob's shoe strings together, and then our other Pastor Paul threw one of the youth's shoes across the gym at the end and then they wrestled a bit as they tried to get back to their team to "win" the game. I have a quick video from the beginning of the game!

Then, we had them complete different tasks and at the end, they'd make a flag for their ship.

Blindfold a crew member to "walk the plank" because they complained about the food

Stick life saver candy to a member's face since they were drowning

Pull one of the younger members on a towel with a rope (to pull in the anchor in )

Pass a beach ball over each member's head in a line (to help work together as a storm comes)

Blow up balloons as your "floaties" since the ship is sinking!

Most of my pictures turned out blurry since the teams completed their tasks so quickly! Just use your imagination! But, here's a photo of some of the flags! Our team was the SOS Servant's Heart!

Quirky pets!

This week felt long for both of us, even with Monday off! We've both been feeling a bit of fall allergies, which is a bit distracting to life.

We enjoyed life group of Friday, talking about Joseph revealing who he was to his brothers and saying the infamous translation to his brothers: "You intended it for evil, but God intended it for good."

Saturday, Jason went dove hunting while I just chilled at the house. I did get my cat Lilac to actually sit on my lap for about 5 minutes, which is HUGE progress! Sunday, we watched the Panthers get slaughtered with Liz here at the house and then went to Red Lobster.

I have some videos of our crazy pets for entertainment.

First is Lilac, who is in love with our kitchen faucet:

Jimi doesn't do much that's odd, but he loves the sunroom!

Lastly, the crazy dogs! Chip sneezes when he's excited and Molly just loves to love!

Pre Labor Day Week and Labor Day

It's been a busy week!

Monday, had the normal dinner with my mom and dad.

Tuesday, I went to help with a service project at church that the women's ministry did. We put together care packages for a missionary in India. Jason went with Liz to the Crawdads game, but it wasn't a very good game at all.


Wednesday, had the usual working at church.


Thursday, we had a Community Watch meeting. There were more people than I thought since it wasn't just our circle. A few weeks ago, a house was broken into and a car stolen. The people were on vacation. The police officer did mention that alarms are good to have. We do leave the dogs in the sunroom at night, which makes me feel safer, but I'm not sure if we need to take further steps or not.

Friday, I had half day off and Jason took comp time. Gary, Linda, and Lee picked us up around 1:30 and we headed up 321. We stopped at Moses Cone for awhile, then the Boone Mass General store where we bought some candy (since we never do!), and then headed to Shatley Springs for dinner. It was a nice evening to just spend with family!


Saturday, Jason and I decided to head to Grandfather Mountain!







Both of us had not been there in years and I just thought it would be nice to go! We enjoyed seeing the animals (we fed a bear in the video below) and the mountain views! The weather was a bit overcast so it felt great! We drove on the parkway with the windows down since it was so cool!




Sunday & Monday, we just rested for the most part! We did do some yardwork and walked the dogs today, so we weren't completely lazy!

A "new year" of school and learning

Jason's first week of school went well! There was a compressor in one of the Jenkins' trailers that went out Monday, but thankfully got it fixed on Tuesday, the first day of school! He's been very tired this week, especially since Saturday he helped his friend Kevin again.

I am learning more about self insurance through another co worker because I've got to spreadsheet some competitive quotes. It's completely different than fully insured, so I've got to be patient with myself.

Friday, we had some lightning storms, especially at the Shankles house near Fred T. Foard high school where we had life group. We talked about Joseph getting out of jail and becoming "Vice President" of Egypt. All for interpreting a dream that told Pharaoh he needed to prepare for a famine in seven years!

While Jason was gone on Saturday, I went with mom to the mall for a bit and we bought "Cletus" a bib from Babies-R-Us that says, "Chicks Dig Me." I think it's cute!

Sunday, I worked in nursery for a new member orientation, so Jason got to sleep in a quiet house during the afternoon!

Then, we went to the 50th annivesary celebration for our church, Corinth. They opened a time capsule with some newspapers and articles from the early 1900's to the 1950's. Later, they had a service, with some talking about memories of coming to the church.

Now, we're watching the documetary called "Planet Earth" that's on the Discovery Channel. We didn't know there are really glowworms! I thought it was just an 80's thing! They live in caves! We don't see how anyone can watch a show like that and not believe there is a Creator!

Cletus is a BOY!!!

My brother has been calling their baby "Cletus the Fetus".

Today, we found out that Cletus is a BOY! Carrying on the Starnes family name! I don't think they'll really name him Cletus!

Estimated Time of Arrival: January 12th, 2010

Appreciation!

Jason was back to a normal schedule this week, except having to work until 5:00 on Wednesday. The administration/teachers had a kick off "pep rally" on Thursday and Jason said it was good. Hopefully, since many had to wait out the whole summer not knowing if they had a job, everyone will be more appreciative towards one another (especially the maintanence department).

I have gotten very busy with work, having at least five groups I'm working quotes for. I'm started to get the groups confused, so I need to slow down and not let myself get overwhelmed. I'm also having to deal with a co-worker who is causing difficulties towards me and others, so that will be challenging. She tried bossing me around Wednesday and it made me mad! I did get over it, and have decided to have the best attitude I can about it.

Friday, we had life group at our house since the originally host was sick. I had to lead too, so I prepared on Thursday evening! We are at where Joseph works and gains the trust of his boss, Potiphar. Then is thrown into prision after Potiphar's wife lies and accuses him of assault. (which he is innocent of).

There, he somehow makes the best out of his situation and is put in charge of the other prisioners. What a work ethic! We even discussed that since Joseph was the favorite son, he probably didn't have to do a lot of chores like his brothers did. He apparently trusted God on such a deep level that things would somehow work out, though he is unfairly in prision. Of
course, knowing the end of the story makes it easier to see this, but I try to read as if I don't know how it will work out. That way, it relates to my life more!

Saturday, I cleaned the inside of the house while Jason mowed. We watched "The Mummy" in the afternoon. We had dinner with Liz at Village Inn, then flipped between the Bristol race and Panthers game that evening. We hadn't seen her in awhile since we've been so busy on the weekends, so it was nice!

Today, we helped with nursery the whole time because a co worker needed to leave early. Then, we had TNT tonight and talked about the mystery of pain & unfairness, which correlates to the Joseph story from Friday.

We had another thunderstorm tonight! There's been a few this week! Even though it makes things muddy, we need it so it's another appreciation!

Grandma's Birthday!

Saturday evening, we joined the Holcomb family to celebrate Grandma's birthday! (which is actually the 18th!) We ate at King of the Sea (sounds like a Disney movie), and then to Grandma and Grandpa's house for red velvet cake. I took a video of us singing to her and she momentarily forgot she had to blow out the candles! It was so cute!


We had a great time laughing as usual at some crazy stories!

This past week Jason worked another four 10 hour week. He went fishing with his dad on Friday morning. Every Friday he's been off, he's either golfed or fished! He's exhausted by Sunday, but I'm glad he's gotten to do those things with his family and friends.

Friday night, we had life group, and are now studying my favorite person in Genesis: Joseph! I can't wait to get further into his story and discuss how neat his life was! I still find it interesting that the genealogy of Christ is NOT through him. (Joseph was like the best of the best!)

It's actually through his brother, Judah, and we read Genesis 38), where he unknowingly sleeps with his widowed daughter in law, who becomes pregnant with twins. It's a soap opera story, and always blows my mind that God used that situation.

Saturday morning, while Jason was at his friend Kevin's new house doing heating and air again, mom came over and we pulled weeds. (Oh, the joy!) Due to Jason working so much and my laziness and anti-weeding, the "patch" as I call it in the front yard has exploded with lovely clovers!

So, I helped mom in the morning, but was feeling a headache around lunchtime. (For real, I wasn't faking to get out of pulling weeds!) Mom worked all afternoon though! Thankfully, she's got her job back as a teacher's assistant, but I think she's been bored, so she said she didn't mind pulling the weeds.

Sunday, we crashed until we watched "The Count of Monte Crisco" with Wes & Tiffany. Now, we're chilling and watching pre season football! Go Panthers!

Wolf Creek Farm

Jason and Lee went fishing/camping this past Friday at the Hobacks (aka Wolf Creek Farm), who live right across the Virginia line. They stayed up until 1:00 catching some cat fish and then slept under the stars in the back of Lee's truck.

I lead life group on Friday night, then came back to a quiet house! It's so different when Jason's not around! I think I've forgotten what it felt like to live by myself.

Jason asked me to come up on Saturday so I could see the place! I ran into some road construction on I-77 so I was about a hour later than I had hoped! Jason and fished a bit when I got there, but the catfish must have been taking a nap! I loved the lake and fields with the cows and donkey (who serves as the security system so the coyotes don't get near the cows! I didn't know donkeys were good for that!)

It is a very relaxing place to visit! Unfortunately, we forgot to bring our camera, so we don't have any pictures to show. :(

Then, we went up to their pool to chat with Cindy and her daughters and adorable granddaughters. It was pretty hot, even up there in the mountains. We had a cookout and then left that evening.

Jason has one more week of four 10 hour days, but he's had a good attitude about it. The next few weeks will be rough since they're gearing up for the start of school again. I guess the summer is just about over!

We love the Inmans and Scharfs!

We got to see some of my friends from college this weekend and their kids! Carrie and Bill Scharf came down from Franklin to Charles and Jennifer Inman's house in Lincolnton. They called me on Saturday! We all headed to Denver to have dinner with Charles, who is a manager at Lowes.

Jason had been working in Statesville helping out his friend Kevin with the heating and air in his new house, so he met us there. After eating at Showmars, we went back to the Inman's house. They have a GREAT backyard and we had fun playing with the kids. Connor Inman just turned five and Trevor will be three in November. We had not seen Caleb Scarf since he was a baby and he turned two in May.

Connor and Trevor rode bikes for awhile!

Caleb loved the frisbees!

We're so glad we got to see them! :)

Wet and Wild Weekend!

It's been a long week for both of us, especially Jason! He worked four 10 hour days, then had to work half day on Friday. (Hopefully, he'll get some extra time off this week!) We looked forward to a fun weekend!

Since we were celebrating Uncle Mike's birthday at his house in Mint Hill, we decided to go to the Carolina Raptor Center before the party. It was a hot day, but thankfully most of the walking trails are shaded! We enjoyed seeing the hawks, eagles, and especially the owls! (even though they are fiesty ones there!) Here is a picture of us with a golden eagle after we watched the flight show program.

Then, we headed to Mint Hill and met Linda and Lee on WT Harris Blvd so they could follow us. At one of the intersections, we noticed that they got behind a car taking a left hand turn, so I called their phone to tell them where to turn next. Lee said, "We've just been rear-ended. We'll be awhile."

So, Jason and I turned around and parked in a driveway. The car behind Linda and Lee had hit them because of the force of another car running into the second one. (Like dominoes)

Their car was not dented at all, but the other two were banged up. Thankfully, no one was hurt though.

So, after that little drama, we headed to Mike and Becca's, where she had gotten a dunking booth! We laughed so much! Jason got dunked at least 10 times throughout the night! Some videos are below that captured the moments well!

Dunking Booth Videos 7-25-09

Molly loves Jason!

Here's a video of how much Molly loves Jason! She knows he's the one who brought her home!

Molly's been here one year!

Today is the one year anniversary of Molly being with us! Here is the story of how she came from both of our perpectives:

Jason- On the Tuesday before we got Molly, I had gone to one of the schools supply houses, and there was a woman with a black lab puppy. She said six had been dumped at her house and she was giving them away. I asked Melissa what she thought about getting Chip a playmate and she said she wasn't sure if that was a good decision.

But since I had Friday off, I found out that the puppies had been given back to the people who had them originally, so I went up there to see. It was at a mobile home and the puppies were in storage building. I saw a boy puppy that I really liked, but he was already taken.

Then, I saw a sweet little girl curled up on cloth and she looked me with sad eyes. So, I took her instead. I had to bring her to Lee's work because I had planned to eat lunch with him. Then, we came home and waited for Melissa.

Melissa- I got off of work at 4:00 that day and walked into the kitchen to see a little black puppy on top of the couch. She got very excited to see me and jumped down to greet me. In complete shock, I said "You got a puppy." I didn't really know what to think. Jason said he wasn't sure if I'd want to keep her or not, but after hearing about where she lived, I knew we would be a better fit. What's one more mouth to feed anyways?

We went to life group that evening, and then came home to try to figure out what to do with her for the night. I was afraid to leave her on the sunroom with Chip since I wasn't sure how he would react to her. We tried putting her in the cat carrier in our bedroom, but she whined. So, we let her sleep between us in the bed on a towel. She did well, but a few times I she licked my hand during the night. (The only other times she's slept with us was after she got fixed and was sedated. But she was about 20 pounds bigger, so it was a bit more cramped that night)

The next day, we let Chip and her interact a bit more. Chip was very curious, and Molly kept wanting to play with him. She also wanted to play with the cats, but they really didn't know what to think of her.

She still gives us a few "loves stratches" though we're trying to teach her not to jump as much, and many nights, she is our living security system. But we're glad to have her!

Getting through the rest of the week

I (Melissa) had some migraine issues this week, which I haven't had in awhile, so I'm not quite sure why. I felt bad Wednesday night and Thursday morning, but then felt lots better in the afternoon and evening.

Friday was the opposite with feeling good in the morning, but had a bad headache by mid afternoon. Thankfully, my boss let us off at 4:00, so I came home and laid in bed. I could tell that feeling bad affected my attitude in wanting to help my clients and co workers. I also felt like I wasn't quite myself either.

Unfortunately, the nausea didn't go away so we had to miss life group. I hate missing life group, but Jason took care of me and we watched some America's Funniest Home Videos and laughed.

Saturday, we went to one of Jason's childhood friend's weddings up in Dobson, which was lovely. Then we hung out with his mom and stepdad at his brother's house in Statesville, where they are giving the kitchen a nice facelift!

I found out something neat and I hope Linda doesn't mind me telling this. She didn't know she was pregnant with Jason until 15 1/2 weeks, because she lost one too beforehand. Afterwards, her clothes weren't fitting and she took a pregnancy test, and it was positive. She called her college roommate, who was a nurse, and told her concerns. So, they did an ultrasound, and there was Jason doing flips! Linda could be an episode of "I didn't know I was pregnant" on TLC!

Today, we stayed in nursery all morning, and had a good time with the kids. We treated ourselves to lunch at O'Charley's (which we went for our second date) since we've cooked all this week. Then, we both found shoes at Kohls (thank you 30% off with my Kohls credit card!)

We had a discussion night at TNT with just us and Wes and Tiffany. We talked about the freedom we can experience with God: times we've had that and other times it's been taken away. My favorite scripture reading was Isaiah 61: 1-3, about how God is there for the brokenhearted and gives us "a crown of beauty instead of ashes..." I just think that's such a neat visual!

Now for a new week!

History of July 14th

Today is my Grandmother's birthday and deathday. I picked some flowers from our yard to place on her and Grandfather's grave this morning before work.

I laid the flowers on the counter and my cat Jimi must have liked the smell. I think some of the pollen rubbed off on him because he now has orange on his face and legs. He looks like he's eaten some Cheetos!

Also, my first day at CFA was on July 14th, 2005, in which Grandmother died that evening. Interesting events happened on this day and maybe the future holds more!

Garden progress

We cooked our first squash casserole this week using squash from the garden! It was very good, considering I haven't been a big fan of squash! (Mom would be proud of me!) We've had a good amount of tomatoes too. Our pictures show the "baby" watermelon, a good sized cantalope, and some fuzzy okra!

It's so neat to watch everything bud and grow! It reminds me how awesome God is an awesome creator and provider! I often feel I overlook the complexity and details of nature, so it's nice to have the visual reminder right outside!

At life group, we talked about Jacob's deceit of Issac into blessing him as the firstborn, and also Jacob's dream about the ladder. I never really understood the Jacob's ladder deal, but I was enlighted that it appears as the first time God speaks to Jacob directly. I thought maybe Jacob needed visuals aids too!

Myrtle Beach, June 30th to July 4th, 2009

This past Tuesday, mom, Chris, Lesley, and I headed to Myrtle Beach! I worked that morning, which always seems like a blessing and a curse. I had a few things I needed to get done with a group changing carriers July 1st.

As I looked forward to the beach, I remembered a phrase from Camp Rockfish: "Participate, don't anticipate." We told the kids that since they wanted to know what activity was next, instead of enjoying the one at that moment. So, I focused on being content at what I did.

Tuesday, we ate a Fuddruckers and walked on the beach since we got there around 5:30.

Wednesday we chilled on the beach and played a bit in the ocean. One of the lifeguards had to get someone on a boogy board that morning, so that should have been the foreshadowing of a dramatic week.

Dad and Jason arrived around 6:00 on Wednesday and we ordered pizza. After we finished, we heard the fire alarm. We headed out to the front of the hotel, seeing the staff scrambling. We ended up walking to the pier and eating ice cream. We figured someone pulled the alarm "for fun".

Thursday, we played in the ocean a lot. Jason got sunburned since he didn't apply sunscreen. We shopped at the Tangler Outlets before dinner. It was scronching hot! We ate at Philips Seafood near the Broadway at the Beach for dinner. I actually loved the crab cakes and salmon I had! Later, Jason and I walked on the beach.

Friday, Jason, Chris, dad, and I went on the banana boat that morning. Dad was the one who wanted to go the most, but in fact, enjoyed it the least! About 90% of the time he groaned or cussed, and occassionally I heard him say he wasn't able to hold on anymore. Thank God, he didn't fall off! None of us did!

Jason had a great time in the front. It took me a few mintues to get used the jerkiness. From the shore, the banana boat did not seem that jerky. But, I started to really like it on the way back, which I think is mainly because we flowed with the current instead of against it. I think I held on too tight because my hands really hurt! Later that night, my arms and legs joined in!

After laying out that afternoon, mom asked one of the hotel staff if they knew about a good local restaurant. We ended up at Mrs. Fish, a hole in the wall! Wonderful seafood! Mostly, everyone had fried scrimp, but I got Mahi Mahi (being brave!) and it tasted excellent!

The Family Kingdom amusement park was across from our hotel, so mom, Jason and I went to walk around since there is no admission fee. We hoped to find candy apples, but they didn't have any. We didn't ride anything, but it was a nice reminder of county fairs.

Saturday, Chris and Lesley headed to Charleston since she'll have an internship there for the month of July. Chris flies to Memphis Sunday.

We had a great time! I enjoyed seeing a different side of God's creation and beautiful sunsets from our hotel room!