HOLIDAYS OF 2009 / 2010

Our Alabama family holiday was a little later than usual this year. We didn't get to Tuscaloosa until New Years and so this began our time together. This year we didn't get to see Scott. He was off on a holy pilgrimage with the youth. (ski trip) And while Amber nor I like this picture, it was the only one I got with her and so, sorry Amber, I had to go public with it! Our little munchkins were playing with Devin and Emily on the other side. Ellie found these reindeer antlers and decided they were a good accessory with her outfit! They are so much fun and soooo cute! We gave Ellie and Jack Christmas presents from Uncle Kevin and Aunt Dana. They really like them. They were ornaments. Ellie's was a cheerleader and Jack's was a soccer player. Martha came and brought us this beautiful bowl filled with clementines. We love those! Our friends had gotten VERY creative this year and Martha etched our name in this bowl! Paul gave Devin a fishing Santa. Devin loved it. Paul has gotten him a number of these over the years and they are such fun decorations to put out at Christmas. It's a great reminder of all the fishing trips they used to do together when Devin was little. Paul and Martha really liked the wooden trivetts we brought them from Jamiaca. Paul kept Emily stumped trying to figure out how to open her present for a long time. It was a gift certificate from Starbucks encased in a tricky holder. Took her awhile. But she is a very determined young lady of course she conquered it! This was her first experience with Paul's gifts. (they are always creative and fun!)
Devin also got this great hoodie from Paul. Devin will wear it proudly I know at IWU! Devin also warned Bob "hands off!"

IN LOVING MEMORY OF CHARLIE 1994-2009

We said good-bye to our sweet little Charlie after 15 1/2 years on December 4, 2009. We miss him dearly and are grateful for all the joy we experienced through him!

SPRING BREAK / UNIVERSITY SINGERS TOUR 2009

This was actually our first stop after leaving for tour ... Hephzibah Children's Home. Reason being, one of our students got a call from her parents saying she needed to return home because her father was having emergency heart surgery. We were a number of hours away from school by now and thought the best option would be to leave her at Hephzibah until a family member could pick her up. Meanwhile, we did a quick tour and went to the stables. Thus, our first picture on tour!

Here's our tour crew in front of the stables. Pretty nice barn!

Believe it or not, this is not real food, it's just a picture of food taken at STEAK & SHAKE, where we ate our first dinner. Yes, things got a little out of hand. We requested hats and they graciously gave them to us. We pretty much were the entertainment for the entire restaraunt. You can only see a snibit of Bob's face on the left. After numerous attempts at trying to get us all in the frame, we gave up and just took a picture of Bob. See below. Yea, so this was pretty much it.All the girls - Sarah whom we left at Hephzibah.This is Ben. He totally fits into the 50's diner scene.

Ben, Amy and I stop for a quick picture on the beautiful beach of Casey Key. We had about an hour here. Not near long enough.

Tiffany, Ashley, Colicus and I are on a pier. The colors were so beautiful. This picture kind of washes everything out. A passer-by felt sorry for us and help us get this shot. As sometimes happens on tour, you run into people you never expect to. This is Joanne Drury Cutler and her husband Dwayne. They went to a church we had a concert at (Cape Coral) and we got to go home with them and get caught up on the last 30 years. Joanne's first husband, Elmer Drury, was our boss at United Wesleyan College when we worked there.Me and Joanne before taking off the next morning. What a great night with them!Saturday of the tour was Tiffany's 21st birthday. We started the day by celebrating with humungous sunglasses and banners. Bet you can't guess which one is Tiffany! Then we went to Plant City to visit Parkesdale Farms and enjoy some fresh strawberry stuff! It was only 10 am and we really didn't care. We just wanted the goods! Now this was the really fun part. They had this huge cut out strawberry for a throne, with tiarras there and flowers. There was a little sign that said, make yourself queen or king for a day. So, this was our strawberry Princess for the day. She had a blast! It was great that her birthday was so much fun for all of us. Her first birthday away from home too. Another fun thing at Parksdale Farms was this big map and these straight pins. They wanted you to mark where you were from. So, Colicus did it for all of us ... Central, SC. Sadly, this is the only picture of us singing all week. This is at Brooksville, Fl. The kids really enjoyed singing there and meeting so many wonderful people. I was singing for Sarah all week - so I'm on the far left side.

MARCH SNOW 2009

It was Sunday, March 1, 2009 when it began snowing in the late afternoon. It had already rained steady for 2 days and I didn't think there was any chance that even if it did snow that it would actually accumulate! I thought all the water would just soak it up. But it snowed hard and long enough for us to have a little winter wonderland for a day or so. My little frogs had snow caps as you can see!

Our back yard. Really it's beautiful! The next day, the sky was that gorgeous Carolina Blue again, making a great backdrop for all that white stuff!!

This picutre was actually taken during the snow storm on Sunday afternoon. I was outside on the porch and Bob took the picture from inside the house. Here comes Devin with his laundry and stuff to spend the night. He wasn't real happy about the snow at the time ... guess he had his fill in Indiana. But here's HAPPY BOB with a snow shovel! Yes, we actually own one. He uses it to shovel pine straw. I think this is the first time it was ever used on snow! Again, this was taken while it was snowing. You can still see the grass a little bit. But by the next morning, all hint of grass was buried in that soft white blanket.

FEBRUARY VISITORS 2009

Emily came for a weekend visit in February. We sat through a couple of cold baseball games together. We had a propane heater the first day at the games and then we were informed they weren't allowed on campus. BOO!! Emily looks good in SWU BLUE!These are our precious friends, Gordon and Frances Miller, from Kernersville, NC. We say they are Devin's special Godparents. Frances got to hold Devin in the hospital when he was born. They were on campus for Board of Visitors meeting. SWU is very special to them and they are so happy their "perfect" Devin is a student there!

Devin was upstairs in the dining commons - so he was easy to find to grad a couple of pictures. Gordon and Frances were absolutely delighted to see him.

Frances ADORES Devin and told EVERYONE that he was just PERFECT! I love this picture. So, they would probably not appreciate me saying this, but Gordon will be 90 this year and Frances is in her 80's! Aren't they just glorious??!!

Frances liked that Devin was so much taller than her!

Christmas Beginnings 2008

Hope everyone is having a great beginning to this holiday season! It occured to us that we purposefully didn't put "inside" pictures of our house on the internet, because we wanted Devin to see it in person for the first time - but that was August. So, now since it's December - we wanted you to enjoy our holiday decorations. Honestly, Bob did "ALL" the decorating. He always does and does it beautifully, I might add. I did ask if I could move something and he growled at me. So, it's been 30 years now and I should have known better than to ask! What was I thinking. He's not home tonight and I turned something a different way. Hee Hee Hee!

Charlie was all to happy to pose. When he sees me with the camera - he just knows what to do. And, he won't move until you tell him to. So Devin, we're really excited about seeing you in a week or so ... and for you to be here for Christmas. We love you sooooo much! And yes, I remember your special request for apple pie!!

Charlie still loves to sit under the piano. Bob's beautiful arrangement of pineapple, apples (McIntosh of course!) and lemons. We got this great urn from Dad Kerstetter. He's always good to pick up treasures at yard sales, estate sales, etc. This one was totally black and I didn't think it was worth much. But thanks to Amway metal cleaner - we got a beautiful silver urn. The greenery is from our woods out back.This is one of my favorite poinsettias - it's called a Candy Cane pointsettia, because it's pink and white stripe.

Okay, now this is MY thing! Baking, cooking and eating these delicious yeast rolls, my dear friend Terry Rainey made. Terry and her husband Kerry, are from Tuscaloosa and have relocated to Seneca just this summer via Oregon, as Pastors of Seneca Wesleyan Church. Terry came to my house this Tuesday to put together an outrageously delicious dinner for "University Singers". And this next part is true ... "And I helped!" We were expecting about 14 people and so we had to use both of our tables. See the red globes on the table? We got those for $5.00 total at the Kirkland Home Outlet in Pigeon Forge last Christmas. Love that place!! Didn't know when we bought those we'd be putting them on our table in South Carolina! Wow, what a year can bring! Okay, the trio of green trees in the middle of the table was also from Kirkland Home Outlet - and I put them on the table and Bob said he liked it!! They were crazy cheap too! I actually saw those same trees on a Christmas HGTV special where they were showing some of their stars homes!!Our wonderful friends - enjoying our first Christmas get together in South Carolina! Left end: Ken Dill, back row, Ben Harris, Michael Wooten, Sarah Wald, right end, Jane Dill, to her left ... Colicus Jones, Amy Evans, Andy Dixon

From Bob to the left: Jacob Kuder, Ashley McGrath, Jacob Hall, Tiffany Moore ... and all those cute kiddos make up the "University Singers" ... some of our new children! Andy, the one everyone is looking at - is from Allentown, Pa. His high school was located on my old college campus - United Wesleyan College. He's our resident comedian! So, I'll bring you more as the season progresses. To all our wonderful friends in Alabama, North and South Carolina, Pennsylvania and California: We think of you all often - pray for you - and hope that we get to spend time with you in 2009! To all my precious college students at IWU & SWU: study hard, take vitamin C, and please try to go to sleep before 3:00 am! To my precious family: can't wait to spend time with you in the mountains. I'll try to get that roll recipe down before then! To Devin: Our most precious gift of all, we pray daily for you, for strength, health, direction, peace, joy and laughter! We'll leave the light on till you get here!! LOVE YOU!!! ... na-ah, love you more ...