Jesus

Last week one day while we were out and about Pearl saw a manger scene in a yard. It was one of the ones where each figure is a different piece. She says to me "Mom we don't have a Jesus." I said to her yes you are right we don't have one like that. For the past two years while living in Bridgewater they had one and she would ask to go talk to Jesus and would walk into the stable and talk to Baby Jesus. The first time she did this I cried like a baby.

On Monday morning we were visiting my parents and Pearl said to her Dad as they walked out the door Daddy we need that. I knew @ once that it was my parents baby Jesus. A few minutes latter she was pleading with my Mom to let her have Baby Jesus. She said don't worry Mamaw I'll bring it back after Christmas cause she doesn't have one and she needs Baby Jesus.
My prayer is that we will hunger for Jesus as much in 2009 as Pearl does in 08, and that she will never lose the passion she has for Jesus as she grows.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas, to one and all. We started this morning by reading from the Bible about the birth of Jesus. Than it was down stairs to see what Santa had brought. Pearl after opening a few gifts said she was done and to give the rest of her presents to other boy and girls. Now that is a lesson for all of us. Than it was breakfast with my parents when they arrived. Pearl had a great time visiting with them. She even got her mamaw to go outside and play chase with her. We exchanged gifts with my parents and than ate lunch together. After that we just hung out for a while until it was time to say good-bye. We spent rest of the evening enjoying family time playing with our new WII. Pearl loves the controler. We ended the evening with a birthday cake for Jesus, candles and all. Happy Birthday Jesus!!!!

GrAdUaTiOn!@!

Hello, well the time has come, the end is near, I have finished my last semester of seminary at Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore Kentucky and I am waiting for all my grades to come in. I am glad it is done and I really appreciated all I learned and all that God used to teach me, mold me, and make me grow. I am especially thankful for family and even more thankful for Brenda and her support, help, and love as we finish seminary. I told her even though the diploma has my name on it... it was a joint effort.



I just kept thinking, "Where is my family and I hope I don't trip!"



Well, graduation is over and now it is another experience behind me :-)




And of course Pearl still watches my every move...

Thank you Brenda, thank you Pearl, thank you all who helped me in all the many ways graduate from seminary.

Pearl's first written story

Pearl never ceases to amaze me. She just turned four and started walking up to me and telling me stories. Well she did it again and said dad, "I have a story... listen" and I was in the middle of writting my sermon for November 30th, the first Sunday of Advent this year and I said sure, so I stopped and opened a word document and typed down what she said. It was interesting to say the least and of course I am sure she is a genious for coming up with this at age four and only turning four less then two months ago.

Pearl's




First story written down:

There was a horse in the field in the storm and a big monster came. It was a big monster and it hit the horse and pearl and knocked them down. Then Justin came and he got hit. Pearl was Hanna Montana and came and saved Justin.
Then the big monster went potty and Justin fell on it.

I would add "The End!!!"

HAPPY VETERAN'S DAY

Thank you to all the men and women who have served and are serving our country in the armed forces. I am very thankful for the sacrifices you have made and continue to make for our country. I am thankful for the freedom that my family and I have because of what you have given. Thanks for your service

Church fire

This is the church that I grew up in. I have many memories there as a child and will always have them. I talked to my Dad yesterday morning and he said that there is not much left. Please pray for the church members as the move on from here and rebuild. It is said that God will bring beauty out of ashes. The church was a 107 years old. The memories will live on and so will the church it will just look a little different in the next 107 years.

Pearl's 4 year old pictures!@!

Pearl is turning four in October and we took her for her four year old Pictures.

I could not believe she was posing with such expressions. She never stops amazing me.

Pearl's fourth day of Preschool

Pearl was just as excited today for preschool.

I am glad she really is enjoying school and i hoep she keeps it.

Stepping Up

Today, even though I could not make it to the session due to the fact I am away on a Clergy Spouse Retreat, I am starting another Beth Moore Bible study. This one is entitled Stepping Up. I did this once before with a group of wonderful ladies from Concord, of which some I have known since I was in high school. This time however I am doing it with a group of ladies as a part of a community Bible study in Punxy. I am looking forward to meeting new people and building relationships with the ladies of the area. As part of today's lesson I wrote a psalm based on Psalm 120. Enjoy:

I yell for God and He says what.
Lord deliver me from family strife.
What will He do to you strife.
A servant's heart with love!
Oh that I satay that I live in hurt.
I have been silent and absent too long.
I want to build a bridge but they won't come on.

I am excited apathy is not as widespread as I thought

In the aftermath of 9-11 I saw people looking to God for help and I saw many amazing things. I know God is not the author of evil, but that He can use all for His will and purpose and I was blown away at the sacrifices people made during 9-11 from firemen, police, people giving their own, and the loved ones left make sense of it all. Today after dropping my daughter off at preschool I was driving home, back to Timblin, and I passed an elimentary school where I saw teachers gathering all the students, those little elimentary school kids, and I was glad at first and started getting excited thinking about how little 9-11 is talked about, remembered, or the grace of God in the midst of it celebrated and honored. I looked back at those people around the flagpole and got excited because apathy is not as widespread as I thought it was and I thought about a passage in scripture where Jesus talks about letting the little ones come to him for such as these belong the kingdom of heaven. For us to honestly and purely come before God, admitting we are weak and need help, looking to God to answer our prayers, and honor as well as celebrate God's hand in the midst of hurt, reminds me we can no longer live the days of doing nothing, of having faith, that only affects our lives when we walk through the church doors and into the sanctuary, but must permiate every aspect of our lives down to whatever is inside the protons, neutrons, and electrons, inside every cell of our bodies.

I hope you look around this September 11th and see whatever God wants you to see and share it with someone else.

Pearl's third Day of Preschool!!!

Pearl gets more and more excited every day to go to preschool!!!

She was so excited she even had me take a picture of her against a ruler painted on the wall.

Pearl's second day of Preschool!!!

I think Pearl was even more excited for the second day and have even more fun

There were less pictures on the second day because dad was bad and let the batteries die in the camera, but the report from the teacher was that she was again cheerful, playful, even though she refused to open her milk carton by herself and that she played with the computer, blocks, and went for a walk.

Pearl's first day of Preschool!@!

Pearl sure did have a great first day of Preschool, just check out the slideshow!!!

Pearl does not seem to miss a beat, jumping into a new school for Preschool this year, after moving from Bridgewater to Timblin and she seems to be having a great time!, I hope the second day is just as good if not better.

Wind

NIV Ecclesiastes 1:6 The wind blows to the south and turns to the north; round and round it goes, ever returning on its course.




I often ponder what it meant, formally, metaphorically, figuratively...
Wind here and there, wind everywhere, north, south, changing direction, and ever returning on its course.

I am not sure I know any more, have come any further, but maybe that is the point as long as we are doing what God created us to do, following Him, honoring him, obeying Him, loving Him, using the gifts He gives us, and every time I look at this picture I remember it is much less about the big things then it is about the every day little things in life that we need to be so especially faithful in.

As the wind blows over you and through your hair may you and I see where God's wind is taking us and leap forward.

Summer is coming to a close

A favorite picture form our trip to Canada summer of 2006

We returned last night from what I consider our last adventure of the summer. Corben had a training @ the conference center in Cranberry on Tuesday and a meeting on Thursday in Bethal Park. So we all headed to Beaver County. We stayed with my Mom and Dad while there. On Tuesday after Corben was done with is training my sister, Pearl and I met him at Quacker Steak and Lube for lunch. Than upon our return to my parent's house Pearl and Corben went swimming which I figured would be the last time for the summer. Latter that evening we went to John's house and Pearl went four wheeling and we stacked fire wood. Pearl also helped Aunt Dottie make cupcakes. On Wednesday I went to the dentist, and got a pedicure. Aunt Dottie and Pearl made cookies, and Pearl and her Dad went swimming again. The remains of Tropical Storm Fay moved in so our trip to the Big Knob Fair was wet and short, but the gyros, french frys, and the famous Concord UMC funnel cakes still tasted great. Pearl's highlight was of course seeing the animals. Fay also resulted in my time with my sister picking black berries to be a wet experience, but we still had fun and got enough berries to make a cobbler. So on Thursday while Corben was at his meeting all day we went to my Grandma Aegan's and she taught us how to make a black berry cobbler. Pearl had a blast helping roll dough, but she never did try the end product. She says black berries are disgusting. After dinner Pearl and her Pap Pap went to the garden to pick green beans and tomatoes and Pearl picked the littlest watermellon I have ever seen but she is so proud of it. Pearl than decided to dig for treasue, so bath time happened before we left. We than headed for home listening to the football game and than finished watching the game at home. Pre-season is over. Come on regular season. Here we go Steelers. Fall is here. Today I will freeze our greenbeans so we can have fresh greenbeans this winter.

Almost Home

Our last stop of our two week journy was to Corben's parent's house for our nieces birthday. Pearl enjoyed playing with her cousin Jared. Enjoy a few pics from the party.

Family Vacation and School Continued

We spent a day driving in the smokie mountains, stopped by the aquarium again it was too hot for anything else. Than it was off to Kentucky for school. We spent one evening at the local YMCA Pool. On our way home we stopped by and visited family. Pearl picked pumpkins with Pap Pap Richard, and went 4 wheeling with Aunt Dottie and John.

Family Vacation and School

In August Corben had to return to Kentucky for a one week class so Pearl and I joined him. However before school we spent a week on vacation. We started off at our the Price family reunion, then went to visit Corben's parents, than headed to Tennessee again. We love this place.

Family Vacation

We spent just about a week this year the end of May begining of June in Pegion Forge Tennesse with my parents, sister, and her boyfriend. This was his first family vacation. The hotel ended up being under construction so we didn't get the rooms we had planned, but it all worked out in the end and we had a great time. We spent one day at Dollywood, one day at Spash Country, one day at the Aguarium, and lots of time shopping and seeing the sights. We can not wait for family vacation next year Pearl's says go to the beach. We will see. Enjoy a few of the thousands of pictures we took.

Pearl's First Beach Trip

Pearl had been asking to see the ocean. So in May when Corben's cousin Jeremy got married in Richmond Virginia we took a week's vacation and went on to Virgina Beach for some fun before all of our excitment over the next month and a half. We had received the call about Corben's move a few days before we left for the wedding. Here are few pictures from the trip. Pearl loved it and can not wait to return to the ocean and beach. We can not either.