Lindsey Turns 13!!!

Next to Miley Cyrus, Taylor Swift is one of Lindsey's favorite singers. She likes the song "Change" on our song playlist....

Click the PLAY button on the slide show to see Lindsey through the years


On April 11 our little baby girl became a teenager. It’s hard to believe that it has been 13 years since we brought her home as a bald, chubby little bundle of joy, by the way she didn’t really get much hair until she was nearly a year old, and we called her our little Sumo wrestler until she was about 5 years old (she had more rolls than Subway). She was born in Ft Myers Florida, and at the time we lived in Cape Coral, just across the river. For Lindsey’s birthday we were in Maryland visiting with family for Easter, and we did celebrate her birthday along with her cousins who also have birthdays in April (Kyle on the 16th, and Alexandra on the 7th). The following weekend we had another birthday party at home, Lindsey invited five friends over for a birthday party and sleep over (that’s right 6 girls spending the night, not quite the 16 she had for her 6th birthday but definitely a tall order to fill, not really the older she gets the easier the sleepovers are, they just go hang out upstairs). She is growing up so fast. She is a wonderful daughter and sister to her brothers, and is the best friend that you could ask for. Her favorite scripture is "a friend loves at all times, Proverbs 17:17" and it is evedent in the way she treats those around her.
We love you baby girl
Happy Birthday Lindsey!

Here she is a her Uncle Brad's house playing pool


and here she is with her friends at her sleepover

50's Party, LFC Volunteers Banquet

At church we had our annual volunteers banquet and this year the theme was a 50’s style party. Guys with their hair slicked back, girls with their poodle skirts. Everyone should know by now that we are always ready for a costume or theme party. We had food and fun, some song and dance, played some games, and lots of fun, enjoy the photos below and see them all in the slideshow

School in Kapoeta, Sudan

Here is something that we have felt lead to share about. Our former pastor and continued friend, David List, called us the other day to make us aware of and to seek support for a project that he has been a part of. He and his family are part of an organization that is building a school in Kapoeta, Sudan an area that did not have any schools for more than twenty years due to civil war. The school is almost finished and recently started having classes for the children. They have been having over 200 children a day come to classes, but as I said, the school is not completely finished. The school needs $7,000 to finish the last two rooms. So our hope by putting this on our blog is that as you read this and see the pictures of the children in school that you might consider helping in any way you can. Any donations are tax deductable and can be sent to:

"International Support Ministries"
(and specify clearly for the "Sudan School Project")

and you can mail it to:

15318 Hutchison Rd
Tampa, FL 33625

Below are some pictures of the school and the children, not only are they learning to read and write but they are learning God's love through the people He has put there to help them in such a practical way. Thanks for taking the time to read this and know that any gift, no matter how small it may seem, will be a blessing. Feel free to pass this blog address to anyone that might have an interest, and if you have any questions please email us and if we can’t answer them we can get someone who can.

Happy Birthday Cameron!

Cameron is 38 today!

38 things we love about him...

1. Levi says he likes when daddy plays "Midnight Club" with him and "Speed Racer"
2. Charlie says "he helps me do stuff like putting things together and figuring things out"
3. Lindsey says "he makes me laugh when he just bursts out in random song"
4. Lindsey's friend Heather says " Mr C. makes her laugh"
5. Laura says he makes me laugh,
6. he is thoughtful,
8. he is a gentleman,
9. he is a great kisser!
10.he is a great daddy,
11.he is super patient
12.he is a wonderful provider
13.I love how his eyes are squinty when he laughs or smiles
14.he has kind eyes
15.he loves his Momma
16.he honors his father
17.he can fix almost anything
18.he is slow to anger
19.he is smart
20.he loves Jesus and acts like Him most times
21.I love how I am the only one that sees certain silly things he does
22.he is generous
23.he shows compassion
24.he's calm
25.he has a gift for peacemaking
26.he's a great kisser!
27.he would give me the last bite of his dessert if I wanted it
28.he walks the walk more then talks the talk
29.he's cuddly
30.most babies fall asleep when he holds them, they must sense his gentle spirit
31.he is trustworthy
32.he gets along with mostly everybody
33.he takes great pictures and LOTS of them
34.I like who I am around him
35.he knows me and still loves me
36.he is unconditional
37.he is more handsome to me now than the day we first met
38.he is self-less, today on his b-day he took me to the dentist to get my tooth fixed...see what I mean, he's my love. We love you Cameron. You are the best.

Cam's b-day cake that Lindsey made



A friend sent this survey thingy to me so I thought I would share it on the blog. The answers next to the questions are mine and Cameron's answers are below. I missed a few but it was fun...


Here's a chance to see how well you really know your husband. Cut, paste and fill in the answers, then forward . . . shoot, you know what to do. The real challenge is to send it to your husband to see how right you really are.

1. He's sitting in front of the TV, what is on the screen? A Miami football game or a "shoot 'em up" movie
2. You're out to eat; what kind of dressing does he get on his salad? Ranch
3. What's one food he doesn't like? onions
4. You go out to eat and have a drink. What does he order? Thick burger and sweet tea
5. Where did he go to high school? Shaw in Columbus Ga.
6. What size shoe does he wear? 10 1/2
7. If he was to collect anything, what would it be? He collects a lot of stuff. Die cast cars mostly 911 Porches, comic books, pens haha
8. What is his favorite type of sandwich? Turkey with cheese and lettuce and a little bit of mustard no mayo
9. What would this person eat every day if he could? m-n-m's
10. What is his favorite cereal? Apple Jacks
11. What would he never wear? Shirts with pockets in the front
12. What is his favorite sports team? hmmm let me think, oh yea, MIAMI!
13. Who did he vote for? McCain
14. Who is his best friend? Jesus and me
15. What is something you do that he wishes you wouldn't do? fuss
16. What is his heritage? Secretly he would love to be Scottish, but I think he is mostly German and English.
17. You bake him a cake for his birthday; what kind of cake? Strawberry with Strawberry icing.
18. Did he play sports in high school? no
19. What could he spend hours doing? putzing on the computer (checking on our stocks, searching for a 911, touching base with old friends on Facebook)
20. What is one unique talent he has? He has become quite the photographer.

HIS ANSWERS:
1. Something sports
2. Ranch
3. Onions
4. Hamburger and tea
5. Shaw
6.10 1/2
7. EVERYTHING, I collect collections of collections
8. Turkey
9. Candy
10. fruit loops apple jacks, any type like that he says
11. short sleeve button up shirt with pockets and also a white shirt with white pants or black shirt with black pants he says he needs a contrast.
12. Miami Hurricanes
13. McCain
14. Jesus and Laura
15. Laura tries to force food on me
16. American
17. cheesecake
18. No
19. playing on the computer and watching tv
20. fixing stuff that's broke

Cameron and his Momma

Happy Birthday Levi

Today our baby boy, Levi turns five years old. For those not familiar with Levi and his personality, he is very high energy and is wide open. He likes fast loud cars, guns, anything having to do with firefighters or the police. He is quick to shoot you, then arrest you, then try to rescue you from danger all in a few moments time, and he expects the same treatment in return. With that being said, his presents consisted of firefighter and police uniforms, fire rescue truck, and plenty of Speed Racer toys (the boy loves him some speed racer, almost as much as Starsky and Hutch).



Five things we love about our five year old.

1. We love the way he truly desires to help people, his desires to rescue and heal people is a God given gift that we believe he will use all throughout his life.

2. His imagination and playfulness, he will play out his desires, when he plays “cops” he calls Cameron “Starsky” or “Starsk” and Cameron has to call him “Hutch” or they call each other “partner”, and this has been the regular thing for months. When they play “Speed” Levi calls Cameron “Rex” or “Racer-X” and of course Levi is “Speed Racer”, and Laura is “Huggy Bear”

3. His love, he is always coming up to one of us and hugging us and telling us that he loves us.

4. His energy, we really wish we had the energy to keep up with him, he has an over abundance without question.

5. His persistence, we would all do well to learn from how he goes after what he wants and doesn’t stop.

Levi we love you for all of these things and more, Happy Birthday.


For Levi’s birthday we all went to Raleigh to a place called Adventure Landing and played video games and drove the go carts. Here is a video clip of some of our fun.

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.