Graham House Update

Well, lots has been going on in the past....ohhh...year or so since we have updated our blog. Oops. We have many birthday pictures and family beach trips to report about.... and we still hope to.
One significant change to the dynamics of our family life has been the fact that Laura and the kids are no longer homeschooling. After much prayer the decision for Lindsey to go to public school and the boys to go to a private christian school was made. Charlie and Levi are thriving. It was a bit rocky at the first, however, they both have adjusted well. Lindsey enjoys her school as also. As a matter of fact Lindsey has made the decision to SWIM again! YAY! We had blogged a few years back about her hanging up her swimsuit. Now she has made the decision to return to the pool. This time she will be swimming for her high school, the Hunt Warriors. This decision came from some pleading on the part of her BFF, Heather, and her boyfriend Brett. We were sad that she hung up her suit but we are glad she is back in the water. We know she is going to do awesome! Here are some updated random photos of the kids....
One other significant change to the dynamics of our family is the fact that Laura and the kids are no longer homeschooling. After much prayer the decision for Lindsey to go to public school and the boys to go to a private christian school was made. Charlie and Levi are thriving. It was a bit rocky at the first, however, they both have adjusted well. Lindsey enjoys her school as well
One other significant change to the dynamics of our family is the fact that Laura and the kids are no longer homeschooling. After much prayer the decision for Lindsey to go to public school and the boys to go to a private christian school was made. Charlie and Levi are thriving. It was a bit rocky at the first, however, they both have adjusted well. Lindsey enjoys her school as well

15 Years

8/28 Restoring Honor Rally in Washington DC

Last Saturday morning we got up early and made our way to the 8/28 Restoring Honor rally on the national mall in Washington DC. We went to the rally expecting a move of God and expecting a miracle. When we arrived at our subway stop and made our way to the rally we were amazed at the number of people, and were a little surprised at the small number of protestor there were. As we made our way toward the Washington memorial the crowds seemed energized, and then we reached a point where we could see the Lincoln memorial and the size of the crowd that was there, it was amazing. The only way that CBS could report that 87,000 people were there is if they were counting the overflow that was sitting around the Washington monument and thought the other people were with a different group, or maybe there is another reason they would report something so blatantly absurd. We made our way into the crowd and moved along until we found a place where we could see a screen and hear the sound clearly, we stayed there for 10-15 minutes and then moved a to the next screen and repeated this a couple times until we were close enough to see the speakers on the stage (steps really). All the moving around we did required us to move amongst a lot of people and we covered a lot of ground and not once did I hear a person complain about anything, or say anything that was other than polite and helpful. There were plenty of opportunities to complain if people wanted to, it was hot with not much of a breeze, there were lines at the port-o-johns, the crowd was so thick at times you were packed in tight to get through some areas, lots of people could not see the stage or a video screen, but none of that seemed to matter. These people came to see a move of God, they came looking to witness Faith Hope and Charity, and I will say that I witnessed an overflowing of all three. The overwhelming message for each individual was that God is the only answer to all of your individual problems and to all of the problems that we face as a nation, I was reminded of the scripture “if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land”. Over and over again the speakers cried out to Jesus and called on His name, they didn’t use a generic “god” to be politically correct, and every time they called on Jesus the crowd responded. This was another opportunity to hear someone grumble about being at a big “church service”, but if there were any around who did not approve of the message they kept it to themselves.
It was very moving to see the video clips of Dr. Martin Luther King’s ‘I have a dream speech’, and even more so to see the overwhelming reaction of the crowd when his niece, Alveda King, spoke. The most amazing part of Alveda King speaking is that she spoke with treats against her and her family from groups that did not want her to be there. Glenn Beck said on his radio show that she was visibly shaken, and that he told her he could get her a bullet proof vest if she wanted, but her response was, “No, I trust in the Lord”. What kind of courage does it take to go on a stage in front of more than 500,000 people when your life has been threatened and all the so called civil rights leaders have said that they expect people to boo her. To me that is amazing.
This day was also a day to honor the heroes that are more commonly known as members of the United States military, it was a time to thank the men and women that have served and are now serving. There was no better place to honor our military, we were surrounded by memorials to almost every war this nation has been involved in, and there were several times that the Vietnam war was mentioned in particular and the fact that those men were not welcomed home after the war, but I believe that there was healing for those veterans who were in attendance, I believe that they were ministered to by the moving of the Holy Spirit. One of the stated purpose of this event was to raise money for the Special Operations Warrior Foundation, a foundation that takes care of the families of special forces personnel that make the ultimate sacrifice for our freedoms, they received over 5 million dollars.
After the event was over we made our way to the Lincoln memorial, and then walked over to the White House. We ate lunch at the White House, it may have been out on the sidewalk but we still were at the White House. After lunch we started making our way back to the subway station and this is where we encountered the Al Sharpton’s protest march. This march could not have been more different from the Restoring Honor rally, my first impression was that the march was like a union strike line, with angry people yelling and chanting. To see this march was heart breaking, all of these people that claimed to be reclaiming Dr. Kings dream had just missed it, and they had just missed being part of it, all because someone told them that we were a bunch of racist. To me this was the perfect opportunity for the civil rights leaders to encourage people of all races and religions and nationalities to go be a part of the rally and make Glenn Beck prove what he had been saying. If they really wanted to prove that Glenn Beck and everyone at the rally were racist then what better way than to come and join, there was more than enough security if they feared for their safety. Instead, the ones who wanted to reclaim the dream missed seeing hundreds of thousands of people honor Dr. King and his niece, as well as others that marched with Dr. King that spoke at the rally. Glenn Beck told of a story on his radio show of a woman and her daughter that attended the rally and on the flight home sat next to a man wearing an Obama t-shirt, in talking with the man they found out that he had gone the Washington to attend Al Sharpton’s protest, but he said that he wanted to see what all the fuss was about and know what he would be protesting so he went to the Restoring Honor rally …. He never made it to the protest, that is the greatest endorsement I can think of, I only wish more could have gone to see what they were going to protest, I think that would have been a dream fulfilled.

Going Batty

For a couple of weeks Lindsey has mentioned a noise coming from her ceiling. She said it sounded like an animal of some sort moving around perhaps in it's nest with it's young. Well, we decided to investigate the situation. Cameron got on his full-body poopy suit from his Navy days and ventured off into the attic. Laura was outside of the house armed with the camera pointed directly at the wooden louvers where the varmint might make his escape. A coat hanger was shoved through the wall and twisted around in hopes to stir up the nest. Cameron came back down from the attic and decided to pound on the wall to scare them out. When he returned back to the attic he said "Charlie, go get your momma and tell her to bring the camera!" Below is the picture of what he first saw..........


Here's Cameron tackling the situation....




We ended up getting all of them out and sealing up the space with wire mesh. It stunk so bad of bat guano and urine so we gutted that whole area of the insulation which they totally destroyed while burrowing in it. It has been pretty nasty to say the least but we are glad that we didn't wait any longer. My neighbor informed us that a house just down the street had to be completely gutted out because of a bat infestation! YUK! So if you hear something in your ceiling or walls you might want to check it out. It could be that you're going batty. :0)

Katie the Mouse

The following blog entry was written by Lindsey.

Several months ago Charlie bought a pet mouse for his science project for the science fair. It turned out that this particular science fair project ended up living with us up until about two weeks ago, when I woke up to Charlie sadly declaring that he found Katie (that was the name of the mouse) stiff in her cage. We have had many adventures with Katie the mouse. The most hysterical time being when she escaped from her cage during the night and crawled into my parent’s room and up onto their bed. My mom awoke to my dad sitting straight up looking around, he said that something had just crawled up his stomach and that he slapped it off, my mom turned on the light and there was Katie on the dresser. My dad had slapped her across the room, and she was just sitting there grooming herself. Katie managed to escape several times and we had to chase her around the house several times, though none was quite as funny as when she crawled on dad during the night. As you can tell we had lots of fun with Katie and she will be missed. Here are some pictures of Katie.

This is one of our favorite of Katie.


Here is Charlie with Katie


Here she is at the end of the maze that Charlie made for the Science Fair project.

Going the Distance

Sat. May 22, 2010
Today I completed my first triathlon….Whoo-Hoo! I didn’t do so hot in the overall ranking. I was second to last in the women's category. BUT AT LEAST I WASN’T LAST! I did, however, do my very best time at swimming. I shaved off 3 minutes compared to my training times. My bike run wasn’t as good as I’ve done but the course was a lot more hilly than I am used to. One hill in particular kicked my butt, it was grooling...I could see my average speed going down, down, down quickly. And the run, well, I totally bombed on that! I really need to work on my run.

On a brighter note, I AM happy that I...
1) finished in time to go to Levi’s soccer game
(well, I am glad I finished period.)

2)didn’t stop at all even though I was tempted to while poking along on my run and…

3)Gave it my all and had fun!

I am honestly surprised that I am not that tired after the race. I feel pretty good. I think I might want to do another one …hee heee heee

Maybe Cameron will do one with me next time....now there's an idea....

Battle at Buckhorn Lake
Laura Graham age 38 Wilson, NC

Placed 40th out of 41 women contestants My number was- 61

Swim Rank- 35th Swim Time-21:15.6 Pace1:58 T1 Rank-21 T1 Time-1:39

Bike Rank-38th Bike Time-1:08:56.4 Average MPH-14.8 T2 Rank-17 T2Time- 0:59

Run Rank-41st Run Time-38:57.0 Pace-12:34 -UUUGH! I was the last runner however…..did I say I need to work on my run??

Laura and Levi strikin' a tough pose


Parade wave before go time-Swim-1000 meters

Lindsey and Charlie on the dock

Transition 1-Going from Water to Bike

17 Mile Bike Ride

Transition 2-From Bike to Run

Final Leg-Run 5k/3.1 miles

We thought this was a cool pic-The oldest runner in the race (72 yrs old) and the youngest runner (12) they finished within seconds of eachother...very cool

Finishing Strong!

Cat Scratch Fever

Well, we haven't updated in a while so I thought I'd just jot down our most recent adventures. Saturday night we decided to give our cat "Poody" a bath. Cameron and I always go into this with the knowledge that one or both of us will come out with many scratches and much bleeding. This time was no exception. We both had scratches and bites. We both bled. I, however, took a pretty deep bite on the wrist which ended up swelling and becoming extremely painful. After holding out until Monday I finally decided to get it looked at by the doc. Yep, sure enough, it was infected. He gave me some antibiotic and that was the end of that. I feel much better and have started back on my training.....

Oh yea, I haven't mentioned my training on our blog yet. Well, I am doing a triathlon next week. May 22nd to be exact. I am getting butterflies in my belly just thinking about it. This is my first triathlon. I have done a few 5k races but that's about the extent of it. Initially, my goal was to get in better shape and drop a few pounds. I have have been working out for about 2 months now. My schedule looks something like this:

M-swim for an hour in AM then run or bike PM
T-Strength training and bike AM-Run PM
W-swim for an hour AM then run or bike PM
Th-Strength training and bike AM-Run PM
F-Swim for an hour AM and run or bike PM
SAT-Go for long bike ride then run right after
SUN REST

The Rec pool that I have been using has been closed this week so I feel behind the curve with swimming this week. Needless to say my minor setback with Poody-Tat has got me a little nervous that I might not be up to snuff come race time. We'll update with more details after the race!



As I was browsing through our pictures I came across this one of Papa Chuck and it fit perfectly for the song that is now playing, "The Lion Sleeps Tonight".

Levi, Family,Cam and Willy Wonka

The Silver Ring Thing

SEX! SEX! SEX!
Now that I have your attention, I want to tell you about this great program called “The Silver Ring Thing”. Lindsey’s youth group at church has started this program that teaches the importance of saving yourself sexually until you get married. The mission of this curriculum is "to motivate, educate, support and transform generations of young people to embrace a lifestyle of Christ-centered sexual abstinence until marriage."

We as her parents, as you can imagine, are excited about this! It seems like everywhere you look especially on TV or the computer, there is some website, some sitcom, some joke, some sexual connotation or reference to sex in some way. Now don’t get me wrong, I love sex! I’m sure many of you reading this do too. What we want to express to our children is that sex is an awesome thing. It is exciting. It’s passionate. It’s an amazing gift that God has given us.

Can I get an AMEN, Hallelujah, and thank you Jesus?!!! LOL

However, all too often especially in our society it is made out to be perverted and dirty. That is NOT how God intended it to be. He made it to be a precious gift between a husband and a wife. The gift that keeps on giving ;) Anyways, that’s what this program is all about. Lindsey has made this commitment to God and we as her parents will wear a silver ring as well to show our support for her and to remember to pray for her in this area.

Now, if you are a parent and your thinking “How can I talk with my teen or young person about sexual purity when I haven’t lived it myself”. All I have to say to you is just be honest. I have shared many personal things with our children (within reason of course) and although they may not show it at the time, I believe they respect that honesty. Both Cameron and I have told them that we have made poor choices but that they don’t have to go down those same roads. We have also explained to them the importance of keeping the marriage relationship sacred and not behaving as though you are married when you have not made that commitment.

The website for this curriculum is: http://http://www.silverringthing.com/whatissrt.asp

A BIG thank you to our youth leader Pamela Letchworth for initiating this program. What a blessing you are!

Lordy, Lordy LOOK WHO'S 40!

Turn up your sound. The first 3 songs that you'll hear are songs that remind me of my brother Brad in some way. Enjoy!


My brother Brad turned 40 today. He is a New Year's Eve baby. I can't make too big a deal about it because if he's 40 I'm not too far behind him. Yep, Brad and I were a year and 9 months apart and I can remember doing all of the fun stuff kids do together. We would go down to the creek and catch crayfish, ride our bikes up to 7-11to get some nickle and penny candy, compete with eachother on our "Atari 5200", go swimming at the pool at Dad's apartment and then take a break to make a "Steakum" sandwich and shoestring french fries. We did a lot of stuff that I would guess most every other siblings that are close in age do. One fond memory I have in particular, is when we would cook up the perch we caught from the pier at Morgantown on our little Coleman stove. Also, there was that one time when I picked a fight with a kid down the street and Brad took up for me. It was the classic case of "no one can pick on my sister but me!" And boy did we have our share of fights....ahhh, the memories. LOL

Well, I just wanted to give a little "shout out" to my brother on his big day. Happy Birthday Brad. I love you.
Love, Lit

Jesus Jubalee

Charlie is an "Oompa-Loompa"

Act! For Youth, which is the theatre arts section of the The Arts Council of Wilson, will be performing the play "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory." Charlie and Levi auditioned for the play this week. Levi thought that the audition alone was the final act. He thought it was great just to be in there with all of the kids and singing his little "Speed Racer" song. So when his name wasn't on the cast roster we told him what a great job he did, and we just left it at that. We were so proud of him though!

Charlie, however, did land a part in the play. He will be joining the 9 other boys and girls doning their green wigs and orange faces. Yes, our son will be an OOMPA-LOOMPA! GO ahead.....take a minute....sing the song.....you know you want to...lol
If you need a little help remembering the words, I have posted a video below to help you out. Enjoy! Oh yeah, you will have two chances to come out and see the play, as they will be performing for two weekends. The dates are Feb 25th through Feb. 28th and March 5th through March 7th. Also, make sure you pause the song that is playing on our playlist before you watch the video below.

"Elf"

So I was watching the movie “Elf” last night and there was a scene in which Elf (Will Farrell) says, “I just don’t belong anywhere”. At this point in the movie, this poor Elf had just left his home in the North Pole with Santa and all of the “real” elves and was now looking for his biological father in New York City. Anyways, what struck my heart at that particular moment (and yes I did tear up when he said it) was how often so many people feel just like that; like they don’t fit in no matter where they go.

I was kind of meditating on that today. I thought of how people will do just about anything to fit in. They want to belong to something. They want to be a part of a body of people who see them for what they really are. Basically, they just want to feel loved and accepted. Have you ever felt this way? I think we all have at one time or another…..

Well, before we started school this morning, this thought came up in our devotion time. I wanted the kids to understand that this feeling of rejection will indeed come up in their lives if it hasn’t already. But what I really wanted them to grasp and hold on to, was the fact that God will never make you feel like that. No matter if everyone in your family, your friends, your husband or wife, your boyfriend or girlfriend, your church (yes I said church, sadly) comes against you, God never will. He is always FOR you and if He is for you who can be against you?

Just remember that today, “If God is for you, who can be against you?”…….and if they are against you…..does it really matter? You have the King of kings and the Lord of lords on your side.

Merry CHRIST-mas!

We have a Black Belt in the house

Today we all drove up to Richmond, VA for Charlie to test for his 1st Degree Black Belt. He has taken Tae Kwon Do at Dong's Martial Arts for almost three years now, and after much hard work and practice he has earned his Black Belt. We are so proud of you Charlie.

As part of his test he had to break three boards


Charlie with his new belt


Charlie and Noah with Grand Master Dong, 9th degree black belt and founder of Dong's Martial Arts.


All the Black Belts from the Wilson, NC School


Grandma Judy, Uncle Brad, Aunt Lisa, and cousins Emily and Noah all came down from Maryland to see him test for his belt.

Charlie's first football game

Last Tuseday, Charlie's team had there first game, it didn't go to good with the final score of 26-0. But Charlie had a good time during the time he played and the team had a great practice the next day to try and get everyone clear on thier positions. Next week is another game.

Lindsey walks for life

Lindsey raised money and walked in the Walk for Life event in Wilson, the event raised money for the Wilson Pregnancy Center, will have some photos when we get them developed.

Laura's B-day blessings

Well, last week I turned 38 years young. I had a great birthday. Cam and the kids got me a whole bag of my favorite things. They took me to Starbuck's, then out to eat and then we cruised the strip in Wilson...lol (that would be the Wal-mart parking lot) A little later, we all made little piggy's out of ourselves while scarfing down a Carvel ice cream cake (another one of my faves). I love my little family. They make me so happy :)

I also love my sweet friends. Amanda and Carla are two of my very special friends. They both planned a get together for me complete with a pan of brownies, two tubs of ice cream and a great time of fellowship. Thanks you guys!

Carla's gift to me was "The Word of Promise" which is a beautiful reading, if you will, of the Bible. Jim Caviezel plays the voice of Jesus as he did in "The Passion of Christ". Richard Dreyfus as Moses, Gary Sinise as David, Jason Alexander as Joseph, Marisa Tomei, Louis Gossett Jr., and over 600 actors contributed to this timeless work. It has really blessed me. I have started listening to it while riding my bike and keeping it playing in my ipod dock just so it can be playing all the time! If you are looking for a great Bible on CD, this is the one to get.
Here is the link: http://www.thewordofpromise.com/

Amanda's gift to me was a VIP ticket to the Aaron Shust concert in Raleigh. It was actually called "Chris Sligh's Back to School Tour 2009". Wow what a night it was! We got our "PRAISE ON", as Kirk Franklin would say it. Merideth Andrews and Andrew Witt were also there. It was not just another concert. It was a night of worship. Our girls went with us and it was so refreshing to look over and see Lindsey and Anna Gracen lifting their hands and praising God. I especially loved that part! One other part I loved was when Chris Sligh started to sing the old Bon Jovi song "Living on a Prayer" and Amanda and I looked at eachother and started belting it out. Then Amanda said PROM!! Oh, us 80's girls are a trip!

You can check out pictures and more info about each artist on Amanda's blog here: http://www.doughertysdigest.blogspot.com//

Oh yeah, turn up your volume on your computer and you will hear one of my favorite Aaron Shust songs "My Savior, My God" also Chris Sligh's "Empty Me" Meridith Andrews "You're Not Alone"

Charlie starts tackle football

Last week Charlie started tackle football with the city recreation department, he had three days of conditioning practice, although I think these practices were more intended to weed out any of the kids that were going to give up. The practices were not hard, but they were enough to make the kids know that they would have to put forth some effort. Last Friday we went and picked up Charlie’s gear; helmet, pads, pants, and mouth piece, these are all provided by the Wilson Recreation department.
So this week full contact practice in full gear started. Will update more later with pictures (have to wait for film to be developed- the digital is in for repairs)

Happy Birthday Laura

Today is Laura's birthday, more details of the day to come along with photos and video. We are getting ready to goto Starbucks, Oh what fun.

Having some coffee at Starbucks


Happy Birthday Huggs from the kids

Lindsey and Charlie get baptized

Matthew 28:18-20
Jesus, undeterred, went right ahead and gave His charge: “God authorized and commanded me to commission you: GO out and train everyone you meet, far and near, in this way of life, marking them by baptism in the three fold name: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Then instruct them in the practice of all I have commanded you. I will be with you as you do this, day after day after day, right up till the end of the age.”-The Message Bible

Today Lindsey and Charlie were baptized; this is something that we have discussed with them for some time now. We have explained that this is a public demonstration or there salvation and an act of obedience. The Fulford family has allowed our church to perform baptisms in their pool for many years with the stipulation that afterwards the filters would need to be cleaned! (Wouldn’t want all that sin to clog the filters now would we) LOL
We are confidant that this decision that they have made will become more significant as they grow in the Lord and realize His cleansing power.

Pastor Eric reads a scripture and says a prayer before the baptism


Mr. Eddie baptizes Charlie


Mr. Eddie baptizes Lindsey

Testing Laura's text to blog setup <!LAURA G.!>

One Love

One Love....one heart....let's get together and feeeeel aaalright.

I love it. I was out riding my bike the other day listening to my iPod shuffling through about a thousand songs and this one by Bob Marley came up and just made me smile and sing so loud that I'm sure if anyone heard me they were in disbelief that someone with such an unrefined voice would be singing so boldly and so LOUDLY! (Sorryaboutthatbigrunonsentencelol)

Anyways, I just love it. I know, I know 'ole Bob was probably flyin' high on some wacky weed at the time, but come on, you've just got to appreciate the lyrics for what they are. The man was spiritual. I'm not going to get into the whole Rastafarian theology discussion, but I will say that 'ole Bob had it going on in a lot of his songs. Exodus, Jammin. Redemption Songs...just to name a few. Anyways, we haven't updated the blog in a while so I thought I'd post some of my random thoughts! Enjoy MON!

One love,one heart
Let's get together and feel all right
Hear the children crying (One love)
Hear the children crying (One heart)
Sayin', "Give thanks and praise to the Lord and I will feel all right."
Sayin', "Let's get together and feel all right."
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa

Let them all pass all their dirty remarks (One love)
There is one question I'd really love to ask (One heart)
Is there a place for the hopeless sinner
Who has hurt all mankind just to save his own?
Believe me

One love, one heart
Let's get together and feel all right
As it was in the beginning (One love)
So shall it be in the end (One heart)
Alright, "Give thanks and praise to the Lord and I will feel all right."
"Let's get together and feel all right."
One more thing

Let's get together to fight this Holy Armageddon (One love)
So when the Man comes there will be no, no doom (One song)
Have pity on those whose chances grow thinner
There ain't no hiding place from the Father of Creation

Sayin', "One love, one heart
Let's get together and feel all right."
I'm pleading to mankind (One love)
Oh, Lord (One heart) Whoa.

"Give thanks and praise to the Lord and I will feel all right."
Let's get together and feel all right.
(Repeat)

On our way to get Lindsey a ferret, oh my what have we allowed to happen

Independence Day 2009

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHARLIE!!!!!

br>We had Charlie's party yesterday but today he is 9 years old.

Charlie, you are one funny boy. You are just like your daddy when you break out in random song and "beat-box". The dances that usually accompany the songs are priceless too. You make us laugh boy! You have always been so full of joy, even when you were a little baby you would play peek-a-boo with perfect strangers and make them smile and laugh. I especially love your "koala" hugs that you still give me. I will take them as long as I can lift you up! We love you so much son and pray that the joy of the Lord will always be your strength.

Here are some pics of Charlie and his buddies at Chuck E. Cheese

Today Charlie had his party for his birthday at Chuck E Cheese <{:-]CG3>

Almost home, we have made our traditional stop at South of the Border (at the Border of North and South Carolina) to take a break from driving and act touristy.

today we are northward bound, headed home, just quick stop at Fenandina Beach to pick up Papa and then I-95 here we come.

Happy 85th Birthday

Today its a ferry ride and a drive to Amelia Island to visit Grandma Patsy for her birthday, 85 years young. HAPPY BIRTHADY GRANDMA!!!!

History and Science

Today we went to the Museum of Science and History in Jacksonville, and on the way it seems the cars heater coil is leaking, bypassed for now, its all good.