Forever in Our Hearts

My great-aunt Bibs passed away....she was 91 years old. I love you Aunt Bibs.

The other day while I was talking with my brother Greg and reminiscing about Aunt Bibs, we both just shared sweet memories of how we remembered her. Greg told me of a time when he had first gotten his drivers license he and dad and Aunt Bibs were driving to cousin Kathy's wedding. Dad let him drive. I expect Greg was driving like a "16" year old and dad continued to remind him to slow down. Greg said that after a few chides from dad, Aunt bibs looked over at him and sort of gave him a knowing look and said "it's ok Greg hoooney". Ahhhhh, the wisdom. So sweet. It's no wonder he remembered that moment in time.

One sweet memory I have of Aunt Bibs is when she was living at dads apartment and she asked me if I wanted to go to Washington DC with her, on the subway!!! Well, of course I did! The night before, she put pin-curls in my hair so that I would be all fancy for our trip. One lady on the bus said "my, don't you look just like Shirley Temple". I will never forget that...

Dad was a dental technician so while Aunt Bibs was up to visit, dad had fixed her teeth for her. However,I remember Aunt Bibs without her teeth. I spent quite a bit of time with her during her visit, so I learned how to talk like she did....without her teeth. Lord forgive me for being such a simpleton, but to this day, my sister and brothers always request that I "talk like Aunt Bibs". I know Aunt Bibs would laugh right along with us.
We love you Aunt Bibs. We remember you with such loving, fond, sweet and genuine memories that can never be taken from our hearts. Thank you for always being so kind and understanding. You will be missed by so many. I can't wait to see you again!

Also, I wanted to honor the memory of a dear man that went to our church, Mr. Jerry Toler. Cameron and I didn't know him very well but from what we did know he was a wonderful husband, father, friend, and Grandpa. Thank you Lord for his life and for all of the people he had touched. At his service last night he requested two songs to be played. The first that you are hearing is by Brad Paisley and Dolly Parton "When I Get Where I'm Going" and the other "I Was Country When Country Wasn't Cool" by Barbara Mandrelle and George Jones. In listening to these songs you can can hear Jerry's heart. Real and beautiful.

Aunt Bibs and Mr. Jerry you both will be forever in our hearts....

Mrs. Amanda

Yesterday we celebrated a wonderful teacher, awesome servant and my sweet friend Amanda. She has been serving faithfully for over 3 years in the 4's, 5's and 6 year old class at our church. The kids are going to miss her and all of her spritual insight and wisdom. We had a little celebration with cake and goodies and lots of hugs from all the kids that will miss her smiling face over in the "Kidz Zone". She is moving into different areas of ministry and worship, and we know she will be a blessing in all that she does.

We had Amber go get her out of church, she told her that her dauughter (Anna G) needed her, and when she came in all the kids jumped out and yelled SUPRISE!!

Snow Day in Wilson

As you may know we live in North Carolina, we are in the eastern half of the state which isn't known to get much snow. We get an occasional dusting or even more common is an ice storm, but not today. Can you say "accumulation", yes folks, according to the Wilson Daily Times the city reported over five inches in some areas, and at our house our unofficial measurement was about four inches of pure, snow white, powdery, goodness. This is the first substantial snow fall for this area in three years. The kids lost their minds of course, and I guess so did I, I feel like a big kid when it snows. So me being the principal, teacher, mom, and biggest kid in the house, I called an official "SNOW DAY!" We got all of our snow gear out and went out and played in the snow, in and out all day. Cameron took Lindsey and Charlie to an over pass on HWY 301 to go sledding (these are some of the only real hills in the area, its all flat from here to the beach) Here are some of the pictures from our fun.

Look what we found in the toilet

When I woke up the other day I had to do a double take as I passed the toilet. To be honest with you, I thought that maybe someone forgot to flush, however as I looked a little closer (why would anyone look closer?) it seemed that the object was hairy.....yes I said hairy, and indeed it was. I quickly went to wake Cameron up from his slumber, and I phrased it like this "Um, there is something in our toilet and I think its an animal, I think its a rat." Well this was enough to peak his curiosity and he got up to check it out. After even closer inspection, it was determined that it was a baby squirrel, and it was dead. Poor thing must have gotten trapped in the sewer pipes, and made its way somehow into our house. Our imagination takes us to places we don't want to go, like what if that thing made it out of the toilet into the house, or what if it made its way into the toilet while the bathroom was in use.....but lets not talk about that anymore, thank God for small favors. We called the city to let them know what happend and they kind of laughed and said thanks for letting them know, and said it happens sometimes.

Below is picture of the little fella, may he rest in peace. For some reason Cameron felt the need to measure it.....don't ask.

"Children Learn"

Well, it's back to the books for the kids and I tomorrow. I can honestly say that I am ready to get back down to business. I am praying that the transition will be a smooth one. We have all gotten used to staying up WAY too late and sleeping in WAY to long!

As a home school person, I try to reflect regularly on things that I do, things that I can improve and things that I should nix altogether. My desire for our kids is that they be intelligent. My hope is that they have and use their manners. I really do care that when they are texting their friends they use proper grammar (yea right!) But I think I have really chilled out in my approach lately. Yes, all of those things are good and I am doing my best to "get it all in there". A good friend said to me during a book discussion "Us as mothers are NEVER going to teach our children EVERYTHING that they need to know" I have to chant that mantra over and over to get it into my thick head. I CANNOT teach my children EVERYTHING that they need to know about social studies, math, history etc, BUT GOD CAN. Where I fall short He picks up the slack. It may not be in a "school" setting, but HE will be sure that they learn what they need to know for the plans that HE has for them. We have all sorts of ideas of what our children will do, be, or become but God's plans FAR EXCEED any of ours. So basically if I continue to abide in Him and Him in me then He will let me in on His plans for our youngins' (well really, His youngins')! He'll let me know when to encourage a thing and when to back off.

I was in the thrift store the other day and I came across this beautiful poem by Dorothy Law Nolte, PH.D.
Here it is and I hope it blesses you as it has me:

Christmas Fun and close out 2008 and Happy New Year 2009

Well even though this is the first post of 2009, this is a wrap up of 2008, in December we did all sorts of fun stuff. The kids were part of the Christmas play at church, in which Charlie and Levi were angels (they are very good actors) and Charlie was also a Rock Star and Lindsey was one of Charlie’s groupies.

Cameron was able to get some time off and took the boys bowling on Christmas Eve, and of course there was all the fun of opening gifts on Christmas morning. We picked up Cameron’s dad on Christmas morning and brought him over to be with us when we opened gifts, and to have lunch (Christmas Dinner). After we took Papa home we went to the park, this has now become a tradition I guess since this is the second year in a row that we have gone to this park on Christmas day. We spent most of the days after Christmas enjoying our new family gift, new cell phones with QWERTY keyboards and unlimited text, so needless to say we have been texting each other from room to room, thank goodness for unlimited text, so far since Christmas day here are the text totals (this is just 7 days) : Laura – 495, Cameron – 316, Lindsey – 721, Charlie – 860. Charlie enjoys texting just to say Hi every now and then.

After Christmas we made our way to Raleigh to try and find some great deals, but it turned out to just be a good day out of the house (where are all the deals I thought were going to out there). Yesterday we enjoyed the good weather and cleaned up the back yard, and last night Lindsey went to a lock in at a local church with one of her friends and the rest of us just stayed home and watched the new year arrive on tv. And sent plenty of Happy New Year texts of course

So that about does it for 2008, I hope everyone has a blessed and fruitful new year.

Christmas Card

Well it is time again for our family Christmas card, and instead of the normal family gathered around the Christmas tree, we decided to do something a little different, as you can see. Now when we ordered these we thought we ordered enough, but once we had them in hand we realized that we had fallen short, this then forced us to pick and choose who to send them to. If you don’t receive one of these masterpieces for your collection, we beg your forgiveness and promise to triple our order next year, and promise that next years will be even more spectacular. Until then we placed the card (front and back) for your viewing pleasure.

Front...

...and back


We made the photo a little small to make sure it fit into everyone's web page so just in case you can't read it, the back of the card says:

Dear friends and family,
We hope our silly card puts a smile on your face and joy in your heart. We sure had fun with those candy canes! As you can see the kids are growing up fast and we look youthful as ever (ha ha LOL).
We hope that during this busy season you will pause and remember the reason for the season; Happy Birthday Jesus.
We love you all and hope to hear from you soon. You can see what we are up to on a regular basis by checking out our blog at;
Love, kisses, and candy canes,
Cameron, Laura, Lindsey, Charlie, and Levi

Sitting in the Middle of My Mess

I received this e-mail below and it really blessed me, so I thought I'd share it on our blog today....

Sitting in the Middle of My Mess
Glynnis Whitwer

As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said.� Luke 10:38-39 (NIV)

Devotion:

I tend to consider myself a "Martha" type personality. And I don't mean Martha Stewart. By this time in December, that Martha probably has her hand-made cards mailed out, 10 batches of candy made and gift-wrapped, and her entire home decorated.

No, I'm nothing like Martha Stewart. (Me neither) In fact, last year I didn't even manage to decorate the tree. It got put up and because it was pre-lit, it had lights. I managed to put a few gifts under it before Christmas. That only happened because my dear children kept looking at me with those big hopeful eyes, asking when I was going to wrap SOMETHING. But that was it.

Last Christmas ended one of the most stressful years of my life. I'm thankful nothing devastating happened to my family. But the demands on my time exceeded my available time. When that happens, I get behind ... on everything. So I spend lots of time just trying to keep my head above water.

Back to being a Martha. If you know the Luke chapter 10 story of Martha and her sister Mary, that's the Martha I'm talking about. And it's not a flattering comparison. That Martha had the privilege of hostessing Jesus. Jesus actually came to her house. Instead of sitting at His feet like her sister Mary did, Martha worked and actually complained to Jesus that Mary wasn't helping her enough.

Jesus gently chided Martha, and affirmed Mary's choice to sit and spend time with Him in the middle of all the work that had to be done. I remember the day clearly last December when I decided to follow Mary's example and sit in the middle of my mess to spend time with Jesus.

Normally, I feel as if everything has to be clean before I can "treat" myself to some down time. I believe I have to have the dishes clean, counters cleared, urgent emails addressed, laundry going, home-based business checked for orders, etc. Normally, by the time I've done all that, something else has demanded my attention, and my time with Jesus is neglected - much like what happened to Martha.

But not that day. That day I sat at the kitchen table and looked at my mess. It was big. There were papers strewn over every surface, a lunch box left on the counter from the day before, breakfast dishes everywhere, jackets from yesterday, blankets that had been left on the couch, dog fur forming balls, and the list went on. I had to fight my instinct to get up. And I won.

I sat in the middle of my mess, and spent time with Jesus. I pictured Him sitting across the table from me. It was pure pleasure ... and the mess amazingly faded from my view. My stress melted away, and I felt renewed.

This Christmas, whether you've gotten your house decorated or not, whether you've mailed out cards or not ... Jesus has come to your house for a visit. I had such a good time sitting in the middle of my mess with Jesus last year, I'm planning on doing it again. Will you join us?

Dear Heavenly Father, Thank You for sending Jesus to be a companion during my hectic days. Help me to remember that peace can only be found when I choose to set aside the pressing demands of my life, and quiet myself with You. Teach me to look for Jesus' presence in the middle of my mess. In Jesus' Name, Amen.

80's style Christmas party

Last night Cameron’s office had their Christmas party, and it had an “80’s Prom” theme, so you know we were psyched, Laura went and found an awesome dress and Cameron got his Don Johnson / Miami Vice outfit out of the attic (the one he got for an 80’s birthday party two years ago). Big hair for Laura and an earring in the left ear for Cameron and we had it going on. The party was downtown Raleigh and we didn’t even come close to being able to blend in when we walked from the parking garage to the party location. There were several who dressed up in 80’s style with some minor things like a Members Only jacket or an AC/DC t-shirt but there were only a few who really took it to the next level. We won the prize for the best dressed and won a basket full of 80’s movies.

Wilson Christmas Parade

For the past few years our church has had a float in the Wilson Christmas parade, and this year was no different. The theme for this year was that we are to reach out to the people of Wilson as Jesus would and we are to be Jesus to the community and to the world, so we had the kids dress as different people in the community and we had Jesus on the float with them (He is the only one able to keep them in line, LOL). We had to have the truck decorated as well so we came up with a rendering of some commonly know images of Wilson (commonly known to those from Wilson anyway). There were also dancers walking behind the float (everyone said they looked like angels) and behind them were people holding banners lifting up the name of the Lord.

Here is the link to the slideshow on Flickr


Here is the painting crew getting the decoration for the truck ready...


...and here is the finished product


here is the decorated truck and the float with all the kids on it


and the dancers during the parade


and some of the banners


Lindsey wore Laura's Air Force uniform, Levi was a police officer, Charlie was a construction worker, and Laura and Sue carried the church banner

Nicole and David

It was so great to visit with my cousin Nicole and her fiance David. They are getting married in a couple of weeks! Congrats you two, we love you! Nicole you got a keeper! Cole, we hope the Wilson clan didn't shy him away any ;)


Mommy Lisa and Markey


Uncle Greg and Markey



Papa Tom and Markey

Aunt Laura getting Markey hooked on her ice chomping habit. It was the only thing that made him stop crying...well, besides his momma of course...

Back at Mom and Tom's house

We headed back to Mom and Tom's house that night with Heather, Kyle and Noah. Friday evening papa Tom made a fire outside and the kids roasted marshmellows. Greg showed up after a day out fishing and brought home a really big rockfish. Here are some pics ...






Papa Tom takes kids for a ride around the farm in the truck