A little slow but she's back...

I have been living with an extremely slow computer for quite some time now. I have been so afraid it would crash and everything would be gone. So I sent her off to the "repair man." (Thank you Mr. Repair Man!)

I have since received her back but she is still moving very s-l-o-w-e-l-y! I am preparing to put some more memory in her so she can pick up the pace a bit. Until then...my time on here will be still be scarce.

I have missed catching up on everyone. It is so fun to be able to read a letter from all of my friends whenever I get the notion. It thrills me to see all of your children growing up and seeing the Lord work in your lives.

We have been BUSY with basketball. Mark is coaching the college team. We have loved the boys but not so much the schedule. It is coming to an end so that is good! The girls have loved watching them play and enjoyed getting to know them a little. We have had the opportunity to have them over to our house a couple of times. They are great guys. I am glad the Lord gave Mark this opportunity. (I will be even happier after the season is over :) )

I found this message on a friends blog from when Dr. Campbell (a spine surgeon) spoke at our men's banquet. It is a FABULOUS message on "Why I am a Christian." It is worth listening to! You can find a link to it on the Giallourakis' blog.

I will post pictures from Maddie's birthday soon...hopefully:) A sneak preview:

Thanks for stopping by!

The funny things kids say...

Today, as Maddie and I were getting her ready for her nap, she said another funny thing. (background info: We have been talking to her about how Jesus was born in Bethlehem and about how Mary went on a long journey to get there and there was no room for them to sleep when they arrived. She has been telling us the story and it so cute.) So, I am telling her that I am SO thankful that the Lord gave her to me! She then said to me, "Were you scared?" I didn't know why she asked that so I said, "Scared of what?" She said, "When you went to Bethlehem?" My mind immediately followed her thoughts. She was thinking that I had traveled to Bethlehem to have her just as Mary had went and had Jesus. I just had to smile and explain that I did not go to Bethlehem to get her. It was a funny moment.

Last night after supper, we played Apples to Apples. We have enjoyed playing this together since the girls received it for Christmas. If you have never played you will have to understand how to play so you can follow this funny story. Each player has cards in their hand that have a thing, person, or place written on them (ex: the moon, Washington DC, river, last day of school, Abraham Lincoln, etc). The cards in your hand are red. One person is the judge and he turns over a green card which also has something written on it (ex: round, scary, sad, exciting, amazing, unhappy, etc). Everyone must vote with one of their red cards whatever they think is the best match. You may or maynot have a good match but you must put in a card. So last night, Mark was taking his turn to be the judge (it changes after each vote) and the green card was "long". We all put in our votes. He is reading the cards (he does not know who put in which card). I do not remember the votes but for the sake of the story, we will say fork, last day of school, and Pinnochio. Well, Mark choses the winner to be "Pinnochio." Noone speaks up that it is their card. Finally, Cassy realizes that it was hers but she thought the word was "Pinichilita" (which is not really even a word, which made it even funnier) It was so funny that she had won the vote with an appropriate card but didn't even know what it was. We had already been teasing her that she won the game before without even knowing how to spell or read a lot of the words. It was a fun time for the family. (Sorry, the story was so long and may not have even been funny if you weren't there. I almost decided in the middle of writing it that it was not going to be funny but I had already typed so much of it that I just couldn't erase it!)

Enjoying A's on the report cards:

I took the girls after school the other day to Krispy Kreme to get their free donuts for their all A's on their report cards. It was so fun. We enjoyed watching them make the donuts. It was fun for them to be rewarded for their hard work!

I remind myself that these are the greatest days of my life, enjoying the little things with my children!

Reflections of...

Wow, I guess I can do a lot of reflecting from the time of my last post. I will spare you the excuses for the long delay and just say I am a poor blogger.

I love Christmas time. It is packed full of excitment. I love the decoration, the lights, wearing red, the food, the music, the parties, and on and on I could go. This year was another wonderful time.

We always begin the year with the Ladies Christmas Brunch. It was wonderful this year with Mrs. Sexton doing the speaking. Normally we have a special speaker come but this year we were able to hear our own Mrs. Sexton. She is so sweet and kind. It is a great start to the celebration of Christmas. We are always reminded that Jesus is the reason we celebrate. His birth, life and death are the real joy of our Christmas.

One of my favorite things we did this year was a gingerbread house making party with a couple of Abby's friends. It was very fun and something I would like to do again. One of Cassy 's friends has one that she does for their entire class. I am not that brave (nor do I have the facility). Abby, Ginnie and Tiffany showed much creativity and had a wonderful time together.

Other favorite activities for this year included: Academy Christmas program (highlighted below), Sunday School class party, party for the basketball team (Mark is now coaching the college team...this was my first ever all men party. Much food is required!) staff christmas party, children's staff party (I must explain it more in a minute), school class parties, special music at church, making christmas cards with a friend, christmas caroling to some of the shut-ins of our church, Dollywood, the nativity pageant, shopping, and I am sure I have forgotten something. All of these activities and hardly any pictures. I am just not good for capturing the memories with the camera. I MUST improve in this area!

the Academy Christmas Program: It is so fun and exciting. The program this year was very good. Abby and Cassy enjoyed so much learning their songs and poems. Cassy's class sang a song about the candy cane and wore candy canes around their necks. Abby's class wore gifts around them and sang about the True Gift of Christmas. Sorry our pictures turned out very blurry. You can view pictures on the templebaptistacademy.com website under event photos.

the children's staff christmas party: Every year Pastor and Mrs. Sexton shop and purchase a gift for all of the children of the staff members (this is a very large number of children). It is a wonderful thing that they do. My kids look forward to it and I am sure it will be something they always remember about our Pastor and Mrs. Sexton. They go all out on the gift that they get. Abby received a scrapbooking kit (really cute which she LOVES!) and Cassy received a Color Wonder Explosion. Maddie received a singing dog with a play phone and radio with it. I think they could fit the description the world gives for Santa. They know just what the kids will love. It is such a meaningful thing that they do. I know the Lord will bless them for it.

Christmas Day for us: Our morning begins with breakfast at Mark's parents' house. It is a southern style breakfast that lasts you through until the afternoon :) We then open gifts with Mark's family. Grandma and Pops have five children and 9 great grandchildren. Everyone was able to be together this year. It was quite a party! We only buy for the children but there is, as you can imagine, a mound of presents. (I took pictures but with my sister-in-laws camera because...if you can believe it, I FORGOT mine. The unpardonable at Christmas!)

We leave there in the afternoon (we should have left earlier but I became engaged in a game called "Othello"). We came back to our house for Christmas dinner with my family. I have two brothers and my parents have 6 grandchildren. We were all together as well, thank the Lord!

Mrs. Sexton encouraged us a few years ago (she probably does every year, but one particular year we took it to heart) to read the Christmas story from Luke 2 every day during the month of December with your family. We began to do that and our girls have memorized the passage. For the last three years, at least, they have quoted it for my family before we open our gifts on Christmas night. I have enjoyed this tradition.

We opened presents and enjoyed one another's company. The men in my family play rook until the wee hours of the morning. Us girls played one of Abby and Cassy's Christmas presents, "Apples to Apples." It was all good!

I have a few pictures of the girls with Hannah that I will include. I need to get some pictures of all of the cousins on the Fowler side. Maybe soon!Andrew, my nephew, with Hannah

Cindy, my sister-in-law, and I always have some project when we are together. She wanted stockings made for her, Derrick, and Hannah. So, we made these. I think they turned out really cute. I hated to let her take them home. They would have worked perfectly for Abby, Cassy, and Maddie. Oh well!

As for continuing on and on: Sorry. I will stop reflecting now. I am looking forward to a wonderful year in 2008.

Updated Pictures of the Girls

We are doing well and having a good week. I just can't believe how time is flying by. I know I am guilty of taking things for granted. I think about my girls and how quickly they are growing up. I know these are golden years in our lives. I want to as Pastor Sexton preached, "Seize the golden moments in life."

We had the wonderful opportunity about a week and a half ago to have a friend take pictures of the girls. (Thank you Angela!) I was so pleased with the way they turned out. These pictures will be treasures that freezes them at this stage of life. It is just wonderful to capture their personalities in the shots. I think she was able to do that very well.

My, how the Lord has blessed us with three wonderful girls! It has it challenges, which I am sure are just beginning, but I am so grateful to God for the gift of my children. I hope you enjoy the pics of "the girls."

This shot is my favorite, I think???

This picture is of my girls with the Reagans. They spent that week with us and we were all one big happy family :)
To those who have taken an interest in our lives, Thank you!

A Month At A Glance

I can't believe it has been almost a month again with no post. I am a lot better at checking everyone else's blogs than keeping up with my own... I will work to try to get better.

Just after my last post, my niece was born, October 10, 2007. She is just BEAUTIFUL! Call me partial, but I think you can agree. Meet Hannah Marie Proffitt...

She is such a cutie! So much hair! I did not get very many clear pictures so more pictures will have to come later. I have not been able to see her since she came home from the hospital. I miss her!

Last month we also had our annual Mission's Conference. I was not able to attend much of the Conference because Maddie was sick. I did go to the Banquet which is always fun. The children dress-up like they are from another country. They visit different rooms and learn about places around the world where people need to hear about Jesus. They see very authentic sights. It makes wonderful memories for the children. This is a picture I took after the banquet with their friend Jacob.

Each night of the Conference this year Mark took the girls before the service to "tour the world." They were able to "visit" each continent (People in the church built different sights to commemorate each continent.) They were able to choose different meals and eat authentic food from different places around the world. I know I cannot accurately describe the sights but they were quite impressive. It was a fun week and the Lord touched many hearts.

Last week my dear friend Alicia and her children stayed with us. Her husband was on a missions trip to Cuba. It was wonderful to have her and her five well-behaved children! We had a great time all week with the highlight being Friday when we went to the Bounce House and had the kids pictures made. I am including a few pictures of the week although I was not the best at remembering to take pictures.

This picture was just playing in the back yard. A big box can bring such great entertainment.

Climbing up for the big slide at the Bounce House...

Isaiah was so brave and Caleb was a monkey...Although I did not get any good pictures of the others, they all enjoyed the slide as well. Audrey did not want to slide down after she climbed to the top. You can see on her face that she did not enjoy the ride very much.Audrey finally recovered from the trauma of the slide down and decided that she did like to be able to bounce.

From left to right and top to bottom: Isaiah, Abby, Maddie, Caleb, Briley, Audrey, & Cassy. Such good buddies :)

This picture describes us all after several hours at the Bounce House:This was us playing with the parachute on Saturday just before they left. We just had a great time together :)

Thank the Lord for His blessings of friends and family.

Our friend Angela took our pictures also. They turned out so cute. I will have to wait to get those pics from her to add to the blog.

Until next time...thanks for stopping by.

T-Ball

I have mentioned in a couple of posts about Cassy playing t-ball. She played on a team that Mark's brother coached. My niece Emilee also played on the team. Abby was too old but they let her be the "bat girl." They even purchased a team shirt for her.

Abby, Cassy, & Emilee

Cassy enjoyed playing very much. We hesitated at the committment because it meant that we had something every evening of the week: Monday - Prayer Meeting/Visitation, Tuesday - t-ball, Wednesday - church, Thursday - piano lessons, Friday - t-ball. We decided to let her play and she did love it (we enjoyed it too!).

It was quite comical to watch them chase after the balls that rolled in the outfield, hit the ball, and even just run the bases. It provided some good entertainment. We were able to meet some new people also. It was just all good!They gave out trophies after the last game this past Friday night. I thought it was so cute to see them lined up anxiously awaiting their name to be called. Cassy is #11 and Abby is #00. Those of you that know Lauren Pauley, she is #3. She is beside Cassy in the team picture. Dakota Gearin also played, she is #2 (all the way to the right in the front of the team picture.)It was rare to see Maddie sitting on the bleachers but I was able to capture this picture. She loved playing around in the dirt. Our bathtub has never seen such dirty girls!

We ended the night and the season with some cupcakes. Chocolate and icing is always a good combination with dirty faces and dirty hands. (I just try not to think about all of that!)

T-ball ended up being something we all enjoyed!