Trip to Montgomery to visit with Will

Will treated us royally this weekend! We left Albany on Saturday morning and arrived there in time for a splendid picnic lunch down by the river. We spent Saturday afternoon touring his marvelous church, Frazer Memorial UMC, and then we just had a relaxed evening of legos and Wii playing. Will had made his marvelous chili for supper. Sunday morning was a marvelous time of sharing in worship at Frazer. I'm just so completely impressed and proud of all that Will is doing in ministry there. It is an amazing morning of worship! We had lunch at a terrific barbecue place, napped a little and then we got to experience Will's ultimate frisbee church gathering at Shakespeare park--a truly sublime location, and the weather was spectacular! This morning (Monday) we drove home and were sad to say goodbye, but we really hope to get to go over there again this summer. It was a sweet time of fellowship, and I'm just sorry we haven't gotten over there as a whole family before now.

Daddy/Daughter Dance Feb 2011

We had so much fun going to Albany on Thursday night and staying through Saturday morning. Stan took Olivia and Dad took me to the AFUMC Daddy/Daughter dance on Friday night, and we had a blast! What a sweet time! I'm a rich, rich woman!

The Atkinson Boys Came for a Weekend Visit

Great weekend with the nephews! Love those Atkinson boys. I wish Abby and Andy were closer so we could have those little boogers over to stay with us, too! Someday, maybe! We had such a fun time. Friday night we had spaghetti with meatballs and watched the movie Alpha & Omega. Saturday morning we watched cartoons (a word that my kids hardly know, actually--cartoons used to be those shows that ONLY came on on Saturday morning), we ate eggs sausage and banana muffins, and the kids bounced on the trampoline and would periodically run in to warm up in front of the fire and then head back out. Before lunch we took a ride in the neighborhood on bikes and bigwheels. Jonathan was impressing us all with his newly learned training-wheel-free bike riding skills! Lunch was grilled cheese, apples, Sun Chips and chicken noodle soup--yummy! The afternoon was lots of lego building, sword fighting and eventually a trip to the park. We left the park and went to Uncle Stan's band room where we had quite a rockin' good time--lots of drum beating and horn blowing and boogying. When we got home it was time to go to Aunt Adrienne's Barber Shop. David & Jonathan and Uncle Stan all had their ears lowered and they all looked great! Saturday night we all made our way to IHOP for pancakes (and cheeseburgers for a couple of the kids who wanted to opt out of the pancakes--they're nuts!). It was splendidly sticky by the time we left with our crew. We hit the bath and read Officer Buckle and Gloria, a Bible story and then hit the hay. The kids and I went to the early service (I didn't make it in time to sing in the choir, but it was nice to sit with all four of them in the congregation.) David and Olivia had Sunday school with Mrs. Stein and Jonathan and David went to Miss Janet's class. Since it was the day before Valentine's day, they were showered with sweet cards and candy and special treats by these wonderful teachers. We zoomed home for a simple lunch of pb&j, strawberries and more Sun Chips. The kids got in a good last jump session on the trampoline while I cleaned up, and then we were on our way to Darien again to meet up with Aunt Carrie Beth.

Fave moments from the weekend:

1. Seeing Jonathan get so comfortable that he did a ballet dance for me in the kitchen --complete with arabesque and lots of spins and pizazz! :)

2. Hearing the kids singing "Ring Around the Rosies" while running in circles on the trampoline (how much longer will they do this?--so sweet!)

3. Seeing all four of their little pajamied bodies cuddled together for cartoons Saturday morning.

4. Me pretending I was the plane's captain on the drive home from Darien to Kingsland and then back again today--this is totally a Don Adams' special, and the kids love it.

5. Olivia begging me to make up one of my "Bippy & Jippy" stories (something I've done on and off for years with her--just spur-of-the-moment made up stories about these two bunnies who are sisters) on our way back to Darien today. My story got so convoluted and ridiculous that it lasted about 20 full minutes which helped make the drive go by pretty quickly. My personal favorite part of this Bippy and Jippy tale--Beebo and Bobo, their cousins, came to visit, and they went to this special secret bunny club park. At this secret park there was a huge slide that had loops and curves and went on forever, but the best part was that they landed in a pit of marshmallows. And have you ever seen bunnies with cheeks full of marshmallows?? Its ridiculously cute. Let me tell you, and Bippy and Jippy were stuffing their cheeks, and suddenly they got tickled. They began laughing so hard that their mouths became marshmallow machine guns--popping all of the marshmallows that had been crammed inside. Yeah. It was a pretty awesome moment in the story. There was more frivolity, and as always in my B & J stories, there was a moral. Beebo and Bobo had to learn a hard lesson.

6. Walking hand in hand with Stan in our neighborhood and watching these four kids zooming and laughing and squealing ahead of us on their bikes and big wheels.

There's more I could say, but I'll end here. It was a sweet time. Grateful to have these opportunities--precious days.

And we didn't take a single picture. We were too busy having fun and living it up. :)

the gym

To be talking about something as trivial as the behavior of people at the gym is utterly ridiculous, I know. There are people dying for their faith in Somalia, and I'm writing descriptions of folks in my gym. I'm trying to keep a healthy perspective here, folks, but just give me a minute.

These are two things I struggle being gracious in my spirit about at the gym:

1. Sweaty McSweatsalot: the guy who forgot to bring his sweat towel who is running on the treadmill next to me, and sweat is continually being slung from his elbows onto ME!!
2. Karaoke Karol: the gal who is on the stair climber two machines down from me who is singing so loudly that the lady in between us gets off, borrows her daughters iPod, returns and dramatically puts on the earphones, and the singing climber naively says, "Am I singing too loudly?" The iPod lady tells her, "No. I just wanted to listen to some of MY music." Youch. Does this stop American Idol on the stair climber? Nope. Wow.

OK, but here are a couple of things I love:

1. Obe Wan Kenobi the Marathoner: the 75 year old guy who runs on the treadmill for 40 minutes, never once opening his eyes, and he has a very distinctive, audible breathing pattern that involves bull-frog, puffy cheeks. The Force is strong with this one. :)
2. Grandma & Grandpa Powerlifters: the elderly couple who sweetly help each other through each of the weight machines, wiping one another's brows, giving whispered encouragement and direction.

I love the way the Lord made us all so different. I love characters. Why does our society push for such conformity? I'm listening to Leeland's song "Let it Out Now"---love the lyrics from the chorus:

Everyone has their sound

Let it out now, let it out now!

There's nothing wrong

With living loud!

So let it out now, let it out now!

May you go and live out loud--your own sound-- today, friends! Join the rest of us weirdos! :)

Christmas 2010

So here they are. My Christmas pics. They're only a month late, but hey! They've finally made it here! We had a great time celebrating the birth of our Savior with family. And now it's nearly the end of January! Wowzers! Where did this month go? Olivia and Benjamin are already talking nonstop about the summertime and how they can't wait for it to get here. I, myself, am trying to enjoy every cool weather day we have. They're few and far between down here in southeast, GA. I'm grateful for weather that occasionally justifies the use of our fireplace, my snuggie and a warm cup of decaf coffee at night. Don't rush this away, kids! I'll be ready for springtime soon, but I like my south Georgia winter, too! :)

Thanksgiving '10

Thanksgiving was in Perry this year. Sweet times with family. We even had a special guest all the way from India, Nimmy Gabriel, a friend of Mom and Dad's they met while in Statesboro. We had a nice visit, and we were glad to be able to stay long enough to help Nonny begin her Christmas decorating. We set up her manger scene and we went and cut down a tree together at the Busy Elves Tree Farm. Thanksgiving is always a tease, making us eager for Christmas!

Disney Trip before Thanksgiving

We had such a fun time going to Disney World the week before Thanksgiving. Stan and I had earned two free tickets through volunteering, and then Stan's parents generously gave the kids tickets to Disney as an early Christmas gift. We left on a Sunday afternoon and spent Sunday evening at Downtown Disney, and Monday we were at the Magic Kingdom all day. It was exhausting and Stan and I were battling a mild stomach bug, but the Lord blessed the time and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. I told Stan that I do believe Disney trips are in the same category as childbirth. It's amazing and spectacular but also fairly painful and costly, and somehow in just a short amount of time all the pain is forgotten, and you somehow want to do it all over again! :) It was great, and we were so grateful to Stan and Mary for their generosity that made it a reality. They also gave us gas money--really sweet. The kids are already asking when we can go back!