Wednesday, December 12, 2007

BEACH TRIP W/ THE GIRLS!

We planned a trip to Blue Mountain Beach for Amber Howard and her sister and siter-in-law, Jeryl and Jonie surprised her by clearing their schedules and spending the weekend with us!!
The first night we were there - the colors were GORGEOUS!! God is such an awesome artist!! Here we are relaxing in Dee's condo. (left to right) Lissa Walker, Amber Howard, Jeryl House, Jonie Miller. I know the plates are empty - but dinner was great and so was the conversation as always. Dee Chambers is sitting at the head of the table. After dinner one night we watched "White Christmas". Well, a couple of us did ... the others were done in and called it a night. And these are my favorite colors - shades of blue and green ... WOW! This is the view from Dee's lanai. We're on the lanai and the weather was GREAT! Lissa shed that vest a couple times that day. I was glad for my short sleeves!CHEESEBURGERS IN PARADISE ... yes, that's where we were!. Those were chocolate nachos in front of us. Amber is holding the sauce that goes on top of it ... which we didn't use and had taken off our tab ... it was straight rum.

This was the fun part. We went to the outlets in San Destin and had a GREAT time shopping! You can't tell, but the packages behind my and Lissa's head started at the floor. We were holding the others because there was no room otherwise. Six girls create allot of happy bags!!Yet another gorgeous shot from the lanai. The sand in Florida is soooo white and unbelievably soft and fine. If I had taken pictures the first day we got there, it would have looked like a mill pond it was so still. Glad to see those ripples. And this was our parting shot. Amber's sisters went one way and the four of us came back to Tuscaloosa. I am so grateful to have spent the time together. It was so much fun!

Tuesday, November 27, 2007

THANKSGIVING 07

For all of you who have been waiting to see Devin and Paige ... here they are! More photos at the end of the blog ... but I wanted to walk you through our Thanksgiving. Beautiful tree in our backyard Thanksgiving week. Notice the frost on the ground in the picture. Amber Howard and I started Thanksgiving preparations by her teaching me how to make corn bread dressing. It was awesome! You're a great teacher Amber! (and wonderful friend) This girl knows her stuff (and stuffing!!). Thanks for those extra pounds I'm carrying around now!! This is our adorable Jack sitting on Paige's lap. He liked her right away! Pretty hair Paige!! Jack loves to point at people and pictures ALL THE TIME! He will find every picture of Devin and Bob in my office or at home or at anyone else's home and carry them around or kiss them! See what I mean!! He's a cuddle bunny!! He ran to Devin as soon as he saw him. Jack never skipped a beat!You can't see it, but there was water dripping from the roof and Jack was putting his hands in it and laughing. Look closely and you'll see Devin and Paige when they were 3 & 4 years old. Paige has her hands clasped together - which she still does to this day! The adult Devin and Paige were watching the young Devin and Paige sing! Isn't that unbelievable!!!!Our beautiful Tom turkey ... Devin can't wait to sink his teeth into him and Paige is her adorable self! See my new roasting pan Mother? It was GREAT! Here's our Thanksgiving crowd. The Jensen's on the left, Larry, Cindy and Natalie, Bob at the end, then Jeff McReynolds, Paige Jennings and Devin. GREAT FOOD and FRIENDS!!!We learned a new card game called "Quiddler". Lots of fun. Devin holding Charlie. It was so sad when Devin left for school and told Charlie ... "Please still be here when I come home for Thanksgiving!" My Grandmother was all about the wish bone thing! And so she taught us this tradition ...Two people would hold each side of the wish bone and make a wish. Then you pull till it brakes and the person with the longest end gets their wish.Apparently our bone was a little "fresh" and didn't want to break right away.Guess you can see who got the long end and who's sad!
Sweet.


Tuesday, November 13, 2007

INDIANA WESLEYAN NOV 07

I had a Campus Challenge Meeting in Indianapolis. I had told all the kids I was coming and these two (Jeffrey Jensen and Laura Kennedy) were the only ones who didn't have a conflict and came to the airport and then out to eat. They drove an hour and a half just to spend a little time together. Isn't that amazing? We had a great time - eating and catching up! I love these kids! They have blessed my life immeasurably! Hugs and kisses guys. For those who this makes any sense to, if you look past my head, the guy on the other side of the glass looked like Sucre from Prison Break!
Things changed fast and I extended my stay and ran up to IWU to see my darling baby! And look what I found?? A 12 ft. Christmas tree the guys had decorated in the lobby of their dorm, lights strung up all over the place and this beautiful boy in front of the tree! What a gift!!! He was quite excited I changed my plans. I think he missed me. :-) He didn't have allot planned and so we were able to go out to dinner, enjoy coffee at the McConn, sing around the piano in the music building and have breakfast together the next day before I left! A great treat for me! Zeldrick Martin, Devin's good friend and roomate, Abby Jones, me and Devin. Zeldrick had a date and couldn't hang out for long, but Abby never left my side all night. We had the most wonderful time! Zeldrick smiles all the time and still calls me Mommy. Abby is doing great and is just the most adorable person!

PENNSYLVANIA TRIP O7

We made a trip to Pennsylvania to see Bob's parents. This was the beautiful color we saw in Sunbury.
This is the steeple of the church that Bob took organ lessons on when he was a little boy.You can't tell - but it was FREEZING taking this picture! Bob offered to help his Dad cover their air conditioners. WINTERIZING!!! "Now I don't need to be bossy Bobby, but you have to do it this way"!!
Aren't they cute!! This is cousin Cheri. She made us lunch one day. Beef and noodles. YUMMY! Since Bob doesn't have siblings, (despite what he may have told many of you through the years) his cousins are like his sisters and brothers. We love them. And you would love them all! And I'm sure we'll have repercussions from only Cheri being in the picture! Sorry other cousins! Believe it or not, Bob's parents still have a coal furnace. This is the almost empty coal bin. They were waiting for several days for the truck to arrive to replenish.
And alas it came! They put this shoot down into a basement window and let the coal go! They ordered 4 tons!!Coal bin is now full. See at the bottom of the bin? That's where Bob's Dad shovels the coal out and puts it in the furnace.Here's the furnace all fired up! Imagine having to shovel, rake, stoke the fire all through the day! Ties you down!Here's the Kerstetters. They are so sweet and his Dad didn't expect this kiss of course. We actually went to celebrate Dad Kerstetter's 77th birthday. The Pennsylvania Kerstetters!!We had to make sure the million dollar grandson made it in the picture!


















Sunday, October 14, 2007

IWU TRIP / OCTOBER 07

We got a call from Devin on Monday, Oct 1st saying that the chorale at IWU was singing back up in a concert Friday, Oct. 5th with POINT OF GRACE!!! So, we made quick arrangements to get to IWU to see this wonderful event. We left Thursday, the 4th, drove 10 hours and got there about 11:30 pm. This was the first shot I was able to get with Devin. The chorale was about to sing in chapel. Jeffrey and Devin both sing in the chorale. Jeffrey sings baritone and Devin sings 1st tenor. They are still good friends. It's so wonderful to see them together again. Love ya Jeffrey! Thanks for getting us on the cruise ship first Jeffrey Gentry!! I'll never forget you for that!Lori Maxey (Devin's babysitter) and her baby, Katherine (4 mos) went too! They drove up separately. Lori is an alumni of IWU and thoroughly enjoyed her trip. Baby Katherine was not however, enjoying her photo opp w/ these 2 handsomes! Funny how things turn around ... we sent Lori off to school when Devin was a young boy ... now she was here to send him off to college. Amazing. Just the guys being silly. As usual. This is the lobby of Devin's dorm. The two barstools in the background sit in front of the desk where Devin works. He works 6 hours a week at the front desk making a little jingling change as Pa would say.
This is the chorale w/ POINT OF GRACE in front. The concert was awesome! They sang, "The Great Divide", "God Loves People More Than Anything", and "Keep The Candle Burning", with them.
Cindy Jensen (Jeffrey's Mom) went with Bob and I. So we captured a few "sweet" shots w/ Devin.
Was sooo good to see Devin. You can't imagine how happy he is at school. He plainly told us that he missed us but that he was not homesick in any way! Good for you Dev! We are just as happy for you! You're doing GREAT and God is doing incredible things in you and through you! WOW - we're so jealous of your school. We want to go there and get real smart too!!!

We're so weird!! Normal is way too boring!

After the concert, Jono Blackburn arrived from SWU. He spent several days of his fall break staying with Devin and Zeldrick in their room. Hated you missed the good stuff Jono! Bob is leaning back like we can't see him! Laura Kennedy is on the right side beside Dev.
Left side of the table, Karissa Neal from our youth group checking out IWU, Cindy Jensen, Lori Maxey, Devin, Laura Kennedy. Right side: Lindsay Cook, checking out IWU from our church, Bob and Jono Blackburn.