Brad & Gillian Davis

When It Rains:

2012-01-11T01:43:00.004-06:00

The little people get wet!

The last couple of days it has been raining around here. Ok, not raining. POURING. And our yard floods pretty badly - for instance, when I went to bed last night, you couldn't see any grass in the yard; it was water all the way.

So, this morning the kids wanted to go outside and play. Now, as long as they tell me before they go, I generally have no problem with them going out by themselves (we live in a fairly rural area, back a way from the road); so, when they told me they were going out, the only requirement was that they stay close to (or on) the porch.

After a bit I went to check on them, and apparently the lure of the muddy water was too much for a certain little boy, 'cause this is what I found:

(note: she wasn't 'disobeying' me - she was just 'protecting her brother'. Besides, she had BOOTS on, and when you wear boots in the water you don't get wet. -Her logic, not mine- Of course, that being the case, I guess the inch or so of liquid I poured out of her boots after she took them off wasn't wet? Who knows.)

Unfortunately, he wasn't as well equipped for the water as she - his shoes were soaked (at least they were play shoes), and in some places, the water was nearly up to his knees, so I don't know if boots would have helped or not.

Also, the fire ants were feeling a bit, um, displaced, shall we say, and objected quite fiercely to being sloshed around in the lake - he has bites from his toes to his knees!

Gotta love little boys and their sisters! :)

We Wish You A Merry Christmas...

2012-01-11T01:00:00.002-06:00

....And a Happy New Year!

Hope you all had a blessed holiday season!

Five Years?!? Already?

2011-11-28T01:12:00.003-06:00

Five years ago today, Brad and I spent a long day at the hospital...we played games, read books, slept, worried (him), crocheted (me)...anything to pass the time.

Finally, at 9:08 that night, our waiting was over and we held our precious baby girl for the first time.

Since that day, that little girl has brought us great amounts of joy, laughter, a few tears of frustration, and yes, even some gray hairs (well, mine at least. I think she might have been the cause of a few of her dad's hairs falling out!).

She began her life with a stubborn streak a mile wide - born a week+ late, and then only after much coercion, and then when she finally decided to come out she did so with a vengeance - and a bit of Curious George in her...this has not changed! In fact, she has only honed and grown these skills.

She began talking before her first birthday and hasn't stopped since, except, occasionally, to sleep for a bit (but not too long!)

Today she is an extremely smart, imaginative, curious, bouncy, and, still, stubborn little girl. But she's also a sweet little girl when she puts her mind to it! (And if she ever tells you she's shy, don't believe it! :D)

And we wouldn't trade her for anything!

And so, to my beautiful, energetic little princess:

Happy 5th Birthday!

Book Review: Couples Who Pray - The Most Intimate Act Between a Man & a Woman

2011-11-04T00:18:00.003-05:00

Written by SQuire Rushnell and Louise DuArt, a husband & wife team; 164 pages, plus addendum (surveys for the husband and wife to take on how they feel about different factors in their current relationship). It addresses such subjects as: The Power of Prayer, Forgiveness, Prayer and Money, and 6 Steps to a Happy Marriage, giving real-life examples of couples who have taken the '40-day Prayer Challenge' -a challenge to pray together with your spouse for just 5 minutes out of every day for 40 days - and the outcomes - the differences in the lives of those who made the pledge and kept it.

When picking this book for review, I was very curious to see what the Authors would have to say on the subject. Though I come from a Christian, very church-oriented background, the subject of couples (and/or families) praying together was not widely addressed.

Though I did enjoy reading the book, and found it interesting reading about the 'celebrity' couples, such as actor and film director Denzel Washington & his wife Pauletta, Kathie Lee & Frank Gifford (among others), and their accounts of how implementing daily prayer together changed their lives, if I was looking for a deep, profound revelation of things I had never seen before, I did not find it in this book. In many ways, I found it very simple -not revealing new truths, but merely reiterating things I've known or heard about most of my life. And, while I realize that physical intimacy is a very important aspect of any marriage, in my opinion, there was a little too much emphasis placed on the physical benefits of increased prayer and commitment to God, and not enough on the Spiritual.
Still, I realize that many - possibly most - of the general population has not had the religious upbringing that I have had, and to them this book would be very enlightening. For that reason, I would recommend it to anyone seeking to better their relationship with their spouse, and in the process strengthen their relationship with God.

note: This book was supplied to me free of charge in exchange for my honest opinion.

For more information on how you can review books, click on the blue BookSneeze button on the right side of the page.

Food for Fall

2011-10-11T23:07:00.003-05:00

The last couple of days, I've had a hankering for some good ol' cornbread.

So, today I was thinking, 'what to fix for supper?', and thought, 'I should make some cornbread'.

And what goes better with cornbread than a nice pot of soup?

Now, I'm not a big fan of fall. Ok, I'm not a fan of fall at all.

But soup is a nice fall food, and we like soup...so soup it was. (Too bad it wasn't a nice fall day! It's not quite as nice when it's 80 degrees outside, but I digress.)

I've never made soup with sausage before (except for gumbo, but that's a little different), but I had a package of polish sausage in the freezer that I had bought a couple of weeks ago when it was on sale for $1.89. So I got to thinking.

And this is what I came up with:

We're not really overly fond of polish sausage, but I thought this turned out really good. Not sure about the hubby, but he ate two bowls, so it must not have been too bad - you'll have to ask him what he thought! By simmering for a while, the potatoes cooked down some and made a nice thick soup.

Ingredients:

12-14 oz polish-style sausage, sliced

1 small onion, chopped

2 T. butter or oil

4-5 medium potatoes, peeled and cubed

2-3 T. beef soup base (or powdered boullion)

1 can tomato soup

8 oz. frozen green beans

6 oz. frozen mixed veggies

salt, pepper, garlic, dried parsley,basil and oregano to taste

Heat butter or oil in 4 qt. pot, add onions, saute until translucent and starting to brown on the edges. Add sliced sausage and brown, stirring frequently. Add 2-3 quarts of water and stir to deglaze pan. Add remaining ingredients, and simmer for an hour or so.

(I used approx. 1 t. garlic powder, 1/2 t. dried basil, and 1/4 t. or so oregano. I'm not big on oregano, so you could add more, or less, if you like.)

Could also be put in the crockpot after browning onions and sausage, just be sure to add water to deglaze the pan before you put it in the crockpot, or you'll lose a lot of flavor.

(note: I wouldn't normally use tomato soup, but happened to have a can and wanted to use it up. You can do the same, or a can of tomato sauce would probably be just fine. The soup will give a slightly sweeter flavor to the broth. The goal is not to be a tomato-y soup, just to give the base a little pizazz.)

Serve this with some nice, hot buttered cornbread (NOT the sweet kind. YUCK.), and you have a yummy fall-ish dinner!

Enjoy!

Love...Without Limit

2011-10-10T00:13:00.003-05:00

O Love That Will Not Let Me Go

O Love that will not let me go,
I rest my weary soul in thee;
I give thee back the life I owe,
That in thine ocean depths its flow
May richer, fuller be.

O light that followest all my way,
I yield my flickering torch to thee;
My heart restores its borrowed ray,
That in thy sunshine’s blaze its day
May brighter, fairer be.

O Joy that seekest me through pain,
I cannot close my heart to thee;
I trace the rainbow through the rain,
And feel the promise is not vain,
That morn shall tearless be.

O Cross that liftest up my head,
I dare not ask to fly from thee;
I lay in dust life’s glory dead,
And from the ground there blossoms red
Life that shall endless be.

(Written by George Matheson)

Let Them Eat Cake! (and look at it, too!)

2011-09-25T22:58:00.001-05:00

Friday, my day was spent with sugar. And shortening. And dye. Lots of all of the above!
But, first, we had to make a little trip to Walmart to get a couple of things we needed. While we were there, we stopped by the toy department to find a birthday present for a certain little fellow...in the future, I think that all trips to the toy dept. will be limited to times when the kiddos are NOT with me! Walking down the aisles, Jonathan would see trucks and cars (some from the movie CARS), and he kept looking at me with his little puppy-dog eyes, pointing at the toys and saying (in a pitiful little voice),

"mum, pwease? Dat! Pwease, mum?"

I gave up on the toys, grabbed a Thomas dvd for the present, and headed out.
There's only so much puppy-eyes a mommy can take!!

Anyway, back to the sugar.
Remember the certain little boy I mentioned?
Well, his name is Connor and he just had a birthday - he's 2 years old!
His mommy and daddy wanted him to have a Thomas the Tank Engine cake for his party, and since Bethany (our resident cake-decorator-person) was busy, I got to do it! :-) (She did make the cake- I just added a few minor details on the outside! :D)

4 lbs. of powdered sugar, 2 cups of shortening, and miscellaneous other somewhat good-tasting things later, here's what we came up with:

A work in progress

Almost finished

All done!
(Ju's one request was that she could have a piece of the traintracks at the party! :-) She has now decided that SHE wants a train cake for HER birthday. How very girly! Actually, she informed me that she wants Emily - one of Thomas's friends - on it, and Emily is a girl train, so it's ok.)

...and the side view. Yes, I know it's crooked. This was my first full-decor cake - You didn't expect it to be perfect, did you?

Bubby and the Birthday Boy - they were scooping the sand out of the sand-box and dumping it in the pool. Silly BOYS!

All in all, it was kinda fun. I might do it again - someday.

PART 2: The Princess and Her Puppy-dog

2011-09-19T00:19:00.001-05:00

This is a story of a princess and her puppydog.

The Princess

The Puppy

(Disclaimer: I am not calling my son a dog. However, said son likes to pretend he is a dog, crawling around the house and barking at people. A favorite game of the son and his sister is hims pretending to be her puppy - they roam the house and she gives him orders, pretty much the same as when they're not playing puppy. :-) Back to the story)

One day, the princess was eating an ice cream sandwich. She was feeling particularly kind that day, and she knows that the way to a puppy's [man's] heart is through his stomach, so she decided to share with her puppy. (Who had already eaten his ice cream sandwich)

[Or, maybe she just didn't want to finish it and decided to put it in her garbage-can of choice - the puppy. Whatever.]

Anyway, the princess fed the puppy the ice cream.

The puppy pledged his undying faithfulness to his beloved Princess. (At least until the next time she takes something from him) [which was probably about five minutes later.]

And with chocolate-smeared faces, the pair went off to find something else to destroy.

Until Mommy caught them and made them wash up.

The End.

Someone has pointed out that most of the pictures I post of Jonathan contain food. Really, he doesn't eat ALL of the time. Just most of it. :-)

PART 1: The Princess and Her Hair

2011-09-19T00:15:00.000-05:00

Ok, so I know none of your mothers ever did anything weird to your hair, right?

And of course, on the off chance that POSSIBLY your mother did something odd to your hair at some point, you would never do anything like that to your daughter. RIGHT?

Well, aside from parting it down the middle and pulling it back so tightly that my eyes slanted...
...and giving us the "goat-ears" hairstyle (side braids looped up to look like ears)...
...and the "whalespout" do (ponytail on top so it 'spouted')...
my mom NEVER did anything strange to my hair. :-D

And I, OF COURSE, would never dream of humiliating my dear, sweet little daughter like that.

Ha Ha...

Introducing: The Princess and Her Hair

Ever heard of rag curls?

Well, on a whim, I decided to try them.

The Rag-headed Princess

She thought it was pretty funny.

(I like this crrraaaazy hair!)

Now, I don't usually curl her hair. There is a reason for this - and it's not that I have some problem with curls.
You see, she has naturally curly hair; with a little water and some scrunching she has curls. The few times I have put her hair in curlers just to try it, it turned out all funky and frizzy/spiky. So we don't curl it.
Enter the rag curls.

The finished work.

Ok, it didn't turn out too bad, but probably not something we'll do too often.
However, notice the person in the curls.

Isn't she cute? :-)

Did You Know?

2011-08-19T13:58:00.000-05:00

Corelle is branching out - instead of just dishes, they now have a new line of HATS...

...but the 'Hat Hair' will almost make you cry!

Catalogs are great reading material.

Mommies make GREAT smoothies; if you try really hard, you can almost drink the whole thing without ever taking a breath!

Cowboys sometimes like to play with dolls...

...and they don't always have all their teeth.

Just a few things that I thought you might like to know! :-)

For All My Fellow Thrifters:

2011-08-04T23:21:00.001-05:00

There is a very good reason why you should take your tape measure along when you go Thrift shopping!
Today, I ran into a little thrift store not too far away looking for some work pants for my hubby; it was nearly closing time, but on Thursdays this particular store has a sale where you can get everything you can stuff into a brown paper sack for $5.00 (used to be $2.50...but that's beside the point), so I wanted to catch them today for the sale.
So, being in a bit of a hurry, I looked through the men's pants rack, and found three pairs of nice pants in hubby's size. (I was almost wishing he was a bit larger - there were a TON of nice pants in a 36!!) So, anyway, I filled the bag with the pants, a few items for me, and some things for the kids (around 20 items in all), and went to pay.
Came home, threw most of it in the washer, then the dryer....
Pulled the pants outof the dryer, and went to measure them, as one pair, according to the tag, might need shortened - only to discover that the person who had previously owned them had had them ALL shortened. To 25". Yup, all three pairs. So, now I am the proud owner of three pairs of useless pants - unless dear hubby wants to start wearing capris for work! :P
So, THAT, my friends, is why you should take a tape measure along with you! (unless, of course, you're in a hurry, and wouldn't have time to use it anyway!)
Oh well, at .25 cents a piece, I guess I didn't waste too much money!
Besides, of the other items I got, one of them was a girl's Bonnie Jean dress, looks brand new - a beautiful soft cream with pink flowers - that will probably fit Ju next spring. It was worth the $5.00 by itself! And she loves it.
So I don't feel too bad.

Actually it's kinda funny.
:D

The Unexpected (Uninvited) Guest

2011-05-15T02:27:00.001-05:00

'Twas a Sunday morning like any other; I got up, showered, dressed, got the dinner things together, started the cinnamon rolls to baking - nothing unusual about that.
But this was Easter Sunday.
So, of course I wanted it to be a good day, a special day for the kids.
I got the kids up, put the little one in his highchair and gave his breakfast, started dressing the big sister...so far, so good.

And then, it happened.
I went toward our bedroom, across the kitchen, going after a pair of sock for the little gal.........
And just as I passed the table, about to step into the bedroom, there, out of the corner of my eye, I saw something move.
Ok, so this is Louisiana. There is a great abundance of wildlife here. Bugs thrive. Lizards thrive-possibly due to the aforesaid bugs. Our house, much to my dismay, is inhabited by many different species of bug; lizards and frogs are not uncommon; the mice are trying to take over. I'm considering buying stock in a pest control company.
So, anyway, back to the wiggle.
It took a minute to register (by which time I had passed into the bedroom), but it dawned on me that THAT was not your ordinary wiggle.
So I went back for another look.
Sure enough. This little wiggler that had come to crawl - oops, I mean CALL, was not any of the previously mentioned wildlife.

THERE WAS A SNAKE IN MY HOUSE!!!!!!!

Well, it just so happened, my kiddos had drug a glass canning jar out of the cabinet tio play with, and it was still laying on the floor where they had left it. The little snakey dude had found it and crawled inside to check it out - so I grabbed the dustpan and attempted to cover to top of the jar and lock him in.
So far, so good, right?

NOT!
He escaped, and headed under the fish tank. At this point, I decided to alert the man of the house to our visitor.
So, armed with broom and mop, we poked around under the fish tanks, and, sure enough, out he came - headed staight for the bedroom; I cut him off at the pass, so he tried for the kitchen. The boss-man wonked him on the head the his handy-dandy mop, so he turned and headed for the back door. GREAT!
Unfortunately, as it happens in most trailers, to get to the back door you have to first pass through the laundry room.
Folks, my laundry room is also my pantry, and the room where everything in thehouse that doesn't have a permanant home goes to die.
Mr. Snakey-poo was well hidden.
I poked around for a bit, but no reptile.
Finally, the hubby, now armed to the teeth with shovel and garden rake began an assault on said laundry room.
And, after much digging and tossing, unearthed our friendly guest.
Oh, the whacking and pounding that did ensue.
To make a long story short, Mr. Snake ended up snake soup. Only the rake and one jar of apple butter were broken in the process! :)
And miracle of all miracles, Ju never did figure out what all the banging was about!!!!

And, we made it to Sunday School with 3 minutes to spare!

So, What has Gillian been up to?

2011-04-27T13:37:00.005-05:00

What have I been up to?
Oh, nothing much....

Just this:

See the first five from the left? Yup, that's what I was doing in February and March!

(Congratulations, Josh & Melissa! The wedding was beautiful - minus the bridesmade dresses, of course!)

And this:

(Just the jacket, not the dress)

And This:

Oh, yeah, and the jacket I'm wearing in the header picture. Plus, a few other things.
My sewing machine says it is tired of blue. My sewing maching says it is tired. Period.
My husband is tired of blue fuzz sticking to everything in the house. My children are tired of me sewing.

For some reason, they want to play outside.
I think I'll let them.
Bye-bye, sewing machine! ('til next week or so, at least...)

Sometime, remind me to tell you about our Easter Sunday visitor...the uninvited, unwelcome one.

Hope you all had a happy Easter (and Valentines' Day, and Christmas...)!!!! :-)

Send Cards...Or NOT Send Cards...that is the question.

2010-12-06T12:50:00.004-06:00

Ok, so it's Christmas time again; and, once again, I ask myself:
Should I send Christmas cards this year?

I ask myself this question every year. Every year, I have great intentions of doing so. And, somehow, I always end up forgetting. Either I don't get the cards in time (January or February isn't considered a good time to send Christmas cards), can't find cards I like, or I forget to have pictures made in time, or I get the cards all ready to send - and forget to send them.
Plus, I hate spending money. I know, it's odd, but true.

Well, ENTER Shutterfly Christmas Cards!

This year, Shutterfly is offering 50 FREE Christmas cards to Bloggers.

FREE? Did I just hear the word FREE?

Hey, I think I can do this!

Want to see how you can get free Christmas cards from Shutterfly?

Click here! 50 Free Holiday Cards from Shutterfly

Or, just want to see what they offer?

You can get:

Want to see some cards that I might choose?

I like this one: Family Wall Red Christmas Card

And this one: Pretty Poinsettia Print Christmas 5x7

And this one: With Love Chartreuse Christmas 5x7

(I'd post the pictures, but the computer I'm using right now won't let me)

Check it out! I think I might just do Christmas cards this year!

Thanksgiving, Birthdays, Little people and more:

2010-11-30T15:05:00.004-06:00

First of all:

HAPPY THANKSGIVING, EVERYONE!

Hope you all had a great day, and are very thankful for all the wonderful things you have. :-)

Next,

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, JULIANA!

My little girl just turned four!!!! We had a princess party for her last Friday, while her grandparents were here, and she thoroughly enjoyed herself. Thank you, Beth for making her cakes!

I'm running out of time, so, quickly, here's a couple of pictures of the little monkey - thought you might like to see what he looks like these days! :-) He'll be one year old in just a couple of weeks it's hard to believe! Still, he has no teeth, and isn't overly interested in walking as of yet, so it doesn't seem as if he's trying to grow up too fast on me. He likes to talk to us, chase balls around the house, and push around his tractors and cars while making motor noises!

"Hi, Mom! What's that thing you're holding? Can I have it?"

'Who, me? I'm not doing anything - just sitting here hoilding my train. What makes you think I'm up to something?'

Just thinkin....... (again)

2010-10-20T00:43:00.001-05:00

"If you heart takes mare pleasure in reading novel, watching tv, going to the movies, or talking to friends rather than sitting with God, sharing His cares and His burdens, weeping and rejoicing with Him, then how are you going to handle forever in His presence...if you're not ecstatic about Him now?" -Keith Green
(recently posted by my brother - thanks, Sherwood!)

Kinda makes you think, huh?
Reminds me of a verse -

Psalm 37:4, Delight thyself in the Lord, and He shall give thee the desires of your heart.
How much time do I spend 'delighting' myself in the Lord?
Do I spend time with Him because He's my best friend and I can't wait to be with Him, or because I have list if things that I 'need' to ask Him for?
It's kind of like someone marrying someone they have never met, or met only once or twice - people don't usually do that, because in general, you don't choose to spend the rest of your life with someone you know nothing about.
So why would I choose to spend eternity with Someone I know nothing about?
Just as we took time to get to know our spouse before we married him or her, we need to spend time with God, get to know Him, before we go to spend forever with Him.
Is it wrong to ask Him for things? No, the Bible says to 'make your requests known'. But do we spend more time asking for things, or just stopping to chat - and taking time to listen?
Besides, I think if we spent more time 'delighting' in God, we might begin to see more of our requests coming to pass.

Just my thoughts - you can take 'em or leave 'em!

Conversations with a 3-year-old

2010-10-14T13:36:00.002-05:00

Today, we were sitting on the back porch, watching the clouds go by, when Juliana all of a sudden says,
"I can't see God's face."
I explained to her that God lives in Heaven and we won't see His face until we get there.
Awhile later:
Ju: Where does God live?
Me: In Heaven.
Ju: How do we get to Heaven?
Me: Well, you either have to die, or wait until Jesus comes and gets us and takes us there.
Ju: I'm not ready to go to Heaven.
Me: The only way to be ready to go to Heaven is to ask Jesus to come live in your heart and help you to be a good girl.
Ju: But I AM a good girl!
Me: But you have to ask Jesus to live in your heart.
Ju: Ok. I will. (mumbles) heaven...Come live in my heart, Jesus. ok, I did it!
Later:
Ju: Who's that fella that lives in Heaven?
Me: God?
Ju: No, the other one.
Me: Jesus?
Ju: Um, yeah. No, Lord.
Me: The Lord?
Ju: Yeah, now we have wait for the Lord to come and get us!
:) Guess she's ready to go now!

**Update**
Not only was she ready to go, she went and found her favorite barbies, then came and told me it was time to go. I tried to explain to her that we can't take anything with us when we go, but she informed me that she 'just needs her dolls'. She also wated to know if God had a potty she could use when she got there, and where she was going to sleep, and if God had jammies, or did she need to take hers?
These are not questions that are answered in the Bible, folks. :)
Of course, she was very disappointed when I told her that we probably wouldn't go to Heaven today. Tomorrow, then?' she says.
'It might be tomorrow, but then it might not be until you grow up and get old.'
'Oh, then the next day.'
Then she came and informed me:
"I don't want to see my God today."
Why?
"I just want to go to MooMoo's and get my dolls. We'll go see God another day!"

Sounds like she's got it down - Lord, I want to see you, but wait until I do all the things I want to do first, and then you can come back!
Later on she decided that she wanted to go to Heaven today, after all.
How do I explain to her?
I tried to tell her that the only way you can get to Heaven is either to die, or wait until Jesus comes back; she doesn't want to die (she informed that 'boys die, girls don't'!?!), so she said she'd wait for Jesus, but she doesn't understand why He's not here yet!
But wait a minute- isn't that how we're all supposed to feel?

Kid Pics

2010-09-13T17:15:00.000-05:00

Here's a few recent-ish pictures of our kiddos for those of you that care. :-) If you are my friend on facebook, I'm putting some on there too.
And just in case you were wondering, yes, we're still alive and kicking. Still no internet service available at our house. When there is, you'll be the first to know about it!
Keep praying!

Jonathan - 8 1/2 months

Wearing big boy clothes to match Daddy. This was the first time he's worn shoes that he knows about - he wasn't sure what to think! (pardon the fuzziness. I think someone put a fingerprint on my camera lens...)

A Song For Today

2010-08-15T00:20:00.002-05:00

You know how sometimes you find yourself singing a song only to realize that you don't remember all the words? Or does that only happen to me?
Anyway, tonight I was sitting at the piano, just playing for the fun of it -kids in bed, hubby studying, just me and the piano having a little 'quality time', and I began playing an arrangment of a song that I put together several years ago, and haven't played lately. As I played I was singing along with myself in my head, and started to realize that I always sing the first verse, but could never remember the second. So, me, with my 'must research this subject' brain, I decided to go hunt up the words. What I found was a song that, though it was written quite a few years ago, is still very relevant for today; it made me stop and think. I thought I'd share it:

Every day, they pass me by,
I can see it in their eyes;
Empty peole filled with care -
Headed who knows where.
On they go in private pain,
Living fear to fear;
Laughter hides the silent cries
Only Jesus hears.

People need the Lord,
People need the Lord
At the end of broken dreams,
He's the open door
People need the Lord,
People need the Lord
When will we realize
People need the Lord.

We are called to take His light
To a world where wrong seems right
What could be too great a cost
For sharing life with one who's lost?
Through His love our hearts can feel
All the grief they bear;
They MUST hear the words of life
Only we can share.

People need the Lord,
People need the Lord
At the end of broken dreams,
He's the open door.
People need the Lord,
People need the Lord
When will we realize
That we must give our lives?
For, people need the Lord
People need the Lord!

(by Greg Nelson & Phill McHugh, (c) 1983)

What have we done to show them the way?

Just so you know:

2010-06-08T16:14:00.001-05:00

I'm not ignoring all of you avid readers of my posts. Really. (lol) It's like this:
We haven't had internet access at our house since January. Therefore, I can't blog. Simple, really. :-) See, we let our internet go (for money-saving ((or money-lacking)) reasons) in January; recently, I tried to get it set back up, and at&t informed me that all of their ports are full in our area, so I CAN'T get service....so until something happens, yo'll just have to be happy with an occasion report. OK? :-)

Oh, where, oh where did Gillian go?

2010-02-06T13:36:00.003-06:00

Oh, here I am! Brad got on here the other day and told me I needed to update this thing; I knew that already!

So...what have we been up to lately?

Well, since I last said anything, we've had a visit from the grandparents, Christmas, and new year began, and a month of it passed, a bunch of visits to the doctor, and we made a really long trip on an airplane.

How 'bout I start at the beginning?

On December 23, my parents came to see the baby. Not me, not Brad, maybe Juliana, but mostly just to see the baby. Of course, while they were here, the furnace quit working properly, (during one of the coldest weeks of the year) so Daddy got to work on that for us. They spent a week, and then headed back to Tennessee on the 30th. It was fun having them with us.

We spent part of Christmas day at home with Mom & Dad, then we all packed up and headed to Jennings to eat gumbo with the Sarver side of the family. We had Christmas with all of them at New Years and played games with all the cousins and stuff.

One night while Trent was down, he wanted to grill out, so we went over for that; well, Juju went outside to play with Uncle Tent, and apparently wasn't watching where she was going and wiped out on the concrete. She cut her lip pretty bad, and busted her nose all up - the lip healed up quickly, but she still has a decent-sized scar under her nose from it.

Also, during this time, (actually, from right after he was born) Jonathan developed a rather severe case of jaundice, so I had to take him to the Dr. every few days to have that checked on. Thankfully, they didn't have to put him in the hospital under a light, but we did have to go back every week until it cleared up completely, which took until the middle of January!

Finally got him all better, and Juliana got sick. High fever for several days, throwing up for a couple... I finally decided to take her to the Dr, and that very day, wouldn't you know it, she was miraculously cured - the doctor couldn't find anything wrong with her! :-)

Now for the really long trip on the airplane.

Sometime in December, Bro. Bob Barker called and asked us to come sing for their revival. At that point we didn't know if we could do it, because it started the end of January, and the baby wasn't due 'til the 1st, so if he was late at all that would make for a really long trip (22 hours if we drove) with a really small baby. We alsom weren't sure about driving that far in our vehicle, as it isn't in the best of shape, and this time of year in Colorado, it's kinda cold and snowy. We figured if the Lord wanted us there, He'd have to work everything out!

I guess He wanted us here.

Last Thursday we boarded an airplane headed for Grand Junction, Colorado! That sounds simple, right?

Wrong.

Thursday morning, we started for the airport in Houston in plenty of time. We arrived - still with planty of time. We went through security. I set off the metal detector. Apparently, those things don't like hair pins - just a warning for those of you who wear them and intend to fly in the near future. So, they had to pat me and the baby down and run the wand thingy over both of us. Aafter determning that we weren't any threat to National Security, they finally let us go through. Still with plenty of time.

We boarded the airplane. So far so good, right?

Did I mention that there was a big storm moving through the country that day?

Yeah. That.

We were ON THE RUNWAY, engines on full throttle, getting ready to take off.

And they told us we couldn't.

Apparently the storm was headed for Dallas, which is where we were going.

So we sat there for an hour - on the plane - with two small children. Oh, yeah, and the plane was packed - no empty seats. After an hour, pilot came back and said that because the weather had delayed so many flights, they were trying to get everyone rerouted, so we had to wait for another hour.

Finally, after 2 hours on the runway, they let us take off. It was about an hour flight, but boy, was it rough! There were a few times that the plane was bouncing and bucking rather like a roller coaster - if you hadn't had your seatbelt on and been holding on, I believe your head would have hit the top of the plane! Of course, my dear hubby, who gets carsick riding around town was puking after a couple good jounces.
Thankfully, we made it to Dallas safely, and our flight there had been delayed, too, so with the help of a very kind man who took pity on us with our kids and bags and helped up get where we needed to go, we boarded our flight there and had a rather uneventful flight into Grand Junction.
Juliana enjoyed looking out the window - there wasn't much to see since it was so cloudy, but that didn't bother her!
It's been a good week, other than for being sick through part of it - I got what appeared to be strep throat at the beginning of the week, and just as I started getting over that, Brad got sick, but other than that, we've enjoyed it immensely. The Barkers have been very kind to us, and Juju's taken to calling them Grandma & Grandpa.
I'll try to post new pictures of the little guy before too long. I don't have my camera cord with me, so it'll have to wait until we get home, but he's growing like a weed, and has just this week discovered his smile! It's an awful sweet little grin, but them I might be just a teensy, weensy bit prejudiced. Maybe. :-) We're rather fond of him, and I THINK we've decided to keep him. I'll let you know I we decide otherwise! (If nothing else, he'll make a good tax deduction!!!:-)

The Davis Family + 1 (or, The New Addition)

2009-12-19T10:18:00.005-06:00

On Thursday, December 17th, 2009, at 10:31 a.m., Jonathan Cole Davis entered the world; he weighed 7 pounds and 1 ounce, and was 19 3/4 inches long. Unlike his big sister, who came into the world with her eyes wide open (and has scarcely shut them since), he chose instead to snooze his way through his first day on earth. Also unlike his sister, he actually knows how to CRY. She screamed. Or shrieked - or squealed at the top of her lungs. But not cry. He cries nicely - although he hasn't really seen a need to to do much of it (at least not until this morning, but that's another story entirely.)

We arrived at the hospital at a few minutes past 4:30 in the morning; they admitted us, and sent us straight to labor & delivery. Once there, we were put in a room, and they started IVs (it took 3 tries to actually get the thing in my hand, leaving rather painful holes...ow.) and the nurse expressed her suprise - she said she usually doesn't have people walking in there who are over 4 cm dialated and totally effaced who aren't actually in labor already! :-) Oh, well, I guess I just have to be different! Anyhow, we sat there for the next 4 hours or so - they increased the pitocin drip every 15 minutes or so, until around 9 when they came and broke my water -"to get things moving a little faster" - and did they ever! In the space of about 20-30 minutes, we went from 5 cm. to 9! So, they called the Dr, he said go ahead and start pushing, so they all came in and started getting things ready, had me push a few times 'just for the fun of it', and then the nurse left the room. We sat there minding our own business for a few minutes, when all the sudden, the Doctor came flying through the door and said, "we've got to get this baby out of there NOW!"
Ok, now we were scared!
Apparently, his heart rate had started dropping, and though it wasn't dangerously low, they wanted to get him out quickly. Dr. Darby checked, and said he was too high for him to reach with the forceps, but said to try to push once and see if he'd move down far enough, otherwise he was doing a c-cection immediately. I pushed a couple of times, and he said he thought he could reach him. During this exchange, the baby's heart beat had gone up a bit, but after those pushes, it started dropping again.
Talk about going into high gear! Without any warning, the Dr. said, "Dad, I need you to help. You hold her shoulders with one arm, and push on the top of her stomach with the other arm. She's going to push like she's never pushed before." With Brad pushing on my stomach, me pushing, and the Dr. pulling, he was out in about 5 minutes! He told Brad he got to cut the cord since he'd done half the work getting him out, and they quickly got him under the warmer. Thankfully, he immediately started breathing and protested mightily about the treatment he was getting!
Remarkably, Mommy only tore a tiny bit - even with all the jerking and pushing that was going on - and only had to have ONE stitch!
Other than bruise on the side of his head from the forceps, baby Jonathan is in perfect shape! Not quite being 38 weeks, they had warned us that there was a slight possibility that his lungs wouldn't be totally developed and he might have to have some oxygen at first, but his lungs are in perfect shape! In fact, the pediatritician came in to check him out yesterday morning, and when she came to talk to me, she walked in the door and said "I am SO confused!" His gestational age (according to my due date) was 37 weeks, 6 days, but his developemental age, according to her testing was over 39 weeks! She said he's perfect...

But we knew that already!

God is soo good!

Juliana immediately said that we could keep him! In fact, when we asked her what she thought of her new brother, she said, "he's so cute - I lubs him!" and gave him kisses! She has been very good with him. While Im typing this, he's on my lap sleeping, and she come every few minutes to crawl up beside me -'can I see the baby brudder?'- and rubs his head or pats him. She also loves to hold him.

Now for pictures...

The official 'First Photo'

Cleaned up pretty nice, huh?

Big Sister meets Little Brother

Daddy finally gets to hold him

The whole family

Sweet Baby Boy

Kisses!

Tired Dad

Getting ready to go home

Going home at last!

And, just for reference:

Juliana at 1 day

Life, as we know it:

2009-12-08T23:54:00.001-06:00

Where to begin? I have been woefully neglecting this thing, haven't I?
I shall now attempt to update you on the happenings in our lives over the past month or so - if I can keep from falling asleep on my keyboard! (You have to give me a break here - growing a person is hard work!)
The first week of November was revival with Rev. Larry Pettit; enjoyed hearing him preach again and feeling the presence of the Lord. (that reminds me - got to finish posting the sermons on the church website http://www.westlakepilgrimnazarene.com/ - Oh, Bother!)
The day after revival ended, we set off for Missouri. A friend that Brad used to work with when we lived there had called and asked him to come do a drywall finishing job for him, and we wanted to go spend some time with the family there, so off we went.
Juliana loved being able to stay at MoMo & Bapaw's house - and of course MoMo spoiled her rotten. She also got to rake leaves one day with Pop M&M (Brad's dad), and had a blast!

She also had a little birthday party with family (and Heidi & Emily Boardman, but they're kinda family, too :-) ), one night with a PRINCESS cake! She's very into princesses right now, so that made her day, as well as all the cool stuff she got - Heidi, she's already worn out that aquadoodle thing ya'll got her!

Of course, while we were there, Brad and I both managed to catch a nasty little bug. He was sick for several days, and I tried to puke the baby out, but somehow he stayed in there, and we made it back home without any permanant damage - I think.

November 19th, we headed south again. Drove from Cape Girardeau, Missouri, to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, and stopped to go to a Gaither concert. We had gotten free tickets for it, and our seats were front and center - 10th row back from the stage! Would have enjoyed it more if we hadn't just traveled for 8 1/2 hours to get there, but it was a good concert anyway!
Got out of there around 10 and made the 2-hour trip back to our house.

Saturday (the 21st), the ladies from our church had a baby shower for me - with a John Deere theme! :-) I didn't get any pictures, 'cause my camera batteries decided to die on me - BOTH sets of them! Anyhow, we got some lovely things for the baby, and had a good time with all the ladies. Thank you, Sis. Adamson, and all of the others who helped out!

After that came Thanksgiving, then a very special day -
On the 28th, our baby girl turned 3!

She's grown so much in three years - already so grown up in some ways - and in other ways NOT. (We aren't going to discuss the potty thing right now...) Just in the last few weeks, she's learned to draw (she can do a pretty good Bob the Tomato and Larry the Cucmber), she's learning her alphabet, she can count to 20 (usually with no help, although 14 & 15 still confuse her every once in a while), and she tries to help mommy do the dishes and cook. She's pretty good with unloading the dishwasher - the stuff she can reach, at least - but she wants to play in the sink now; if I leave water in the sink, she's reaching over and dipping stuff in it and stirring...one time I even found her with one of her play cups, dipping soapy water out of the sink and drinking it! Her tastebuds definitely aren't grown up yet! :-)

As for the little guy, he's still in there - wiggling away. I've been having contractions off and on for several weeks now (enough that they told me last week to take it easy, rest lots, drink lots, and try to keep him in there 'til 36 weeks...) but no baby yet. I went in for Doctor's appointment yesterday, and when she walked in she said, "I really didn't expect to see you in here this week"! Comforting, huh? Anyway, if he hasn't come by next Monday (my next appt.), they're going schedlue a time to induce - around 38 weeks. For some reason they think this kid is going to fall out if I sneeze or anything (I've tried it and it doesn't work.).

So, I guess we'll have a baby sometime between now and Christmas! :-) We're trying to get his room ready so he'll at least have a place to sleep when he gets here.

So that's a few things that happened in the last month or so. I can't promise you I'll have more time to update in the future, but I'll at least let you know when the baby comes! :-)

The Painting

2009-11-06T00:38:00.003-06:00

The old artist sits on his stool, paintbrush in hand. He thoughtfully looks at the canvas before him, and, ever so slowly makes a small stroke with his brush; then, another.
Nearby, in another chair, sits a young man; he watches intently as the old man paints, hoping to learn something from this great man.
Time passes. The older man is focused on his work, and rarely speaks, choosing instead to let the painting speak to him. The picture begins to unfold, but it is a simple one. The colors are muted, the scene - well, not dramatic at all.
The young man, looking on, begins to grow impatient. Why is it taking him so long? If this man is the acclaimed master artist that everyone says he is, why can’t he just paint the thing and get it over with?
And the painting- oh my. Surely there has to be some mistake! Why, it’s so… so, drab!
Finally, after several hours have passed, the young man has had enough.
“Sir,” he says to the old artist, “not to be impertinent or anything, but, to be quite honest, I believe I could have painted a much better picture in much less time than this one has taken you.”
Wordlessly, the man hands him the paint brush.
Flabbergasted, the young man looks at him with raised brows.
“But what do I do?” he asks.
“Paint,” said the artist, simply.
“But, don’t you want to give me a new canvas?”
“No,” he replied. “This one will do.”
So, the young man took the brush in hand and sits down to paint. But where to begin?
He dips the brush in the paint, and, gazing at the painting, sees a spot that looks like it could use a bit more paint; but wait a minute - he’s already put paint on his brush and it’s not the right color at all! Should he clean the brush?
He thinks about it for a moment, but…the color’s really not that bad. It’s close, just not exact. “Nobody will ever notice,” he thinks to himself, so, he puts the brush to the canvas and makes a small stroke. There! That wasn’t so bad - he can do this!
He adds a few more strokes here and there. As he paints, he thinks, “you know, really, he’s not so great,. Just look at this! So boring! What it really needs is some bright color.”
So, growing more sure of himself with each stroke, he puts a little red here, a little orange there, some purples, some greens… and with each touch of the brush the picture become more and more garish and laughable. Here and there, he sees little mistakes that he has made, but, rather than take the time to consider, and right the wrongs, he just keeps on painting, hoping the next stroke will mask the errors.
The master artist looks on, not speaking, but merely observing as his painting that was once, though not elaborate, still a thing of beauty, is covered in ugly strokes of bright color; the flowers that he had so painstakingly painted, one petal at a time, have been made into huge black marks. Streaks of paint, and drips here and there mar the surface; but still he does not say a word.
Some time passes, and the young man, surveying his work, begins to realize that his painting is not what he had hoped for. In fact, it’s really ugly. But the old man still has not spoken.
“Why does he sit there and not speak?” the young man thought to himself. “Why doesn’t he help me? If he‘s all that they say he is, why does he not show me what to do?”
Finally, in desperation, he cries, “I cannot do this thing. You take the brush and show me what to do.”
Gently, the old man takes the brush from his hand and sets it downs. Then he takes a rag and, soaking it with turpentine, gently begins to wipe the drips and streaks from the canvas. Then he takes the brush in hand once more, and begins to paint, covering the streaky places. Slowly, the painting again becomes a thing of beauty. Though it’s not what the master had originally intended, and though, if you look closely, imperfections still scar its surface, it is lovely to look upon once more.
The young man sits and watches, and finally speaks again, but this time, not with the cocky attitude he’d had to begin with - no, he is humbled. But still, one thing bothers him and he asks,
“Sir? Why didn’t you stop me? Why did you let me go on?”
The old man turns, and gently says,
“Son, I was waiting for you to ask for my help.”

One day, God, the Master Artist, began a painting. He took the blank canvas that was a life, and started to paint - just a stroke here and there, but slowly the picture came into view. It was simple, yet had the makings of a masterpiece.
The man, looking at what he could see of his life, said, “Lord, not be impertinent or anything, but honestly, I think I could do better than that myself.”
So God handed him the brush.
But the man soon found out that running his life was harder than he’d originally thought.
And the Master didn’t speak.
He tried a little of this, a little of that, and the lines of the painting began to be blurred.
Someone said, “Try this, it will make you happy!” So he tried it, but instead of happiness, he found depression and anger.
Someone else said, “Do this, it will make you feel good.” But instead of good feelings he found pain and
emptiness.
But still the Master merely looked on.
And with everything he tried, new streaks and drips appeared on the painting, until, one day, he sat back to view the painting of his life, and instead of the lovely picture he‘d started with, he saw one with slashes of black, streaks of dirt - ultimately, it looked like he was ruined.
“God,” he cried out in desperation, “I can’t do this anymore. You take it and show me what to do!”
And God, the Master Artist, took the brush in his hand; he wiped away the streaks and drips, and began the painting again.

Each one of us is a masterpiece. When God made you, he had a plan - a beautiful picture in mind.
But, so many times, we think we can do better, and we take the brush in hand to run our own lives. And we mess up.
But instead of turning to the Master, we try to cover our mistakes - and make a bigger mess, over and over again, until it looks like life can’t get any worse. In desperation we turn to God and cry, “Lord, I can’t take this anymore!”
And He takes our broken, ruined life, and makes it beautiful again.

So you’ve messed up.

It’s not hopeless! No matter how terrible it may seem - whatever you’ve done, however you’re broken, it’s never too late to be restored. Though it may seem like no one cares about you - that God’s not listening, rest assured: He’s never left your side; He’s waiting patiently, ready to make the painting again.
All you have to do is ask.
And when you do, He’ll take all the broken pieces, wipe away the streaks - the dirt that sin has left on your soul - and make you once again into a thing a beauty.

A priceless masterpiece.

I bet you didn't know that I married a cowboy...

2009-10-22T20:13:00.005-05:00

But, here it is - the PROOF!

In case you're wondering... We had our church Harvest Party at the Langstaff's last Saturday, and Brad and Beth dressed as cowboys (I guess she would be a cow-girl, huh?). Brad said since I won't let him wear his cowboy boots out, he'd have to dress up like a cowboy just so he could wear them!

(editor's note: In my defense, I have never told him he couldn't wear them. However, I am NOT fond of cowboy boots - not necessarily the boots themselves, but the swagger that comes with them in most of the male species. If you disagree with me, that's all right. I'll still be your friend)

Wait a minute, though....

Are they cowboys, or outlaws?

Yeah, I think at least one of them is an out-law - or is that supposed to be in-law?
Who cares - they're the same thing, right? :-)

The 'Princess' got to take a whack at her first pinata - she actually seemed to know what to do with it until it broke.

Beth and I were both standing there telling her, 'go pick up the candy'.

She finally grabbed a little bit, but by that time most of the other vultures/kids had gotten most of it - but that's ok by me, 'cause that's less candy for me to have to keep her from eating! :-)

She really did start out the evening in full princess regalia - fancy dress, crown, frog prince, the whole works, but she sent the frog packing right away, threw her crown in my purse, and eventually ended up wearing, not one, but TWO hoodies over the dress (it was a bit chilly out), with her fancy princess hair straggling around her face.

Oh well. Princesses are people, too!

Playing with boys is especially hard on the princess clothes... and playing with boys and doing boy stuff are some of her favorite pastimes.

But, boy, all the boy stuff sure does make you thirsty!

Finally, they went on a hay-less ride.

Ju had a blast! She's still talking about 'the party' and wanting to know when we're going to go to another one. Every once in a while, she says, 'I 'member...we rode in a ... we rode in a... what's it called, mommy?'

(editor's note #2: I realize that the quality of the pictures is atrocious. My camera is getting old and tired, and doesn't go out much at night. I really need a new one. Maybe if I pray REALLY hard? )

In other news, Juliana got to move to a big bed today. My baby's growing up! She's been sleeping in a toddler bed since we moved, and she loves it, but she was using the mattress to the crib; I had a choice of moving her to the twin bed or buying a new baby mattress, and, since space is somewhat limited these days, I figured it would make more sense to give her the bigger bed.

I asked her this morning if she wanted to put it in her room. She said, 'no, that's Beh-beh's bed.' (It's been in the spare bedroom, and that's where Beth sleeps when she comes over, so Ju thinks that the bed is hers) I asked her again if she wanted to use it now. She said sure. But, tonight, when I told her it was time to get in her bed, she said 'No, it's BEH-BEH's bed'. She doesn't have a problem sleeping it - you just have to call it the right thing. I can't win with this one!

Now I've just got to figure out where to put the computer and all the other stuff that has accumulated in this room, or the baby might have to sleep in the living room!

Only 10 more weeks to go!

Post # 52 .... In which the author finds no time (or inclination) to blog, an doesn't even try to make excuses.

2009-10-16T11:40:00.008-05:00

Other than the fact that I'm roughly the size of a small hippopatomus, bear a slight resemblance to an inverted camel, and am currently being eaten by a boa constrictor, I mean, small carnivorous beastie named Juliana (she's jumping on me, trying to eat my nose, and screeching everytime I try to put her down that she's 'slared' and needs to be 'resc'ed').

I had pictures of a couple of my recent projects to post, only to discover that I took pics of the construction process and failed to get any of the finished object. Silly me. So, I guess you don't get any of THOSE! :-) (They were both items for a very small person named Connor)

Speaking of Connor, Ju has been pretty adamant that she doesn't think we need a baby at our house. She's ok with a baby in Mommy's tummy, as long as he stays THERE. So, Connor Adamson was born about a month ago, and since, well, she's decided that a baby might be not be too bad of an idea. She was holding him yesterday, and said "Mommy, can we keep him?". Of course, she has baby dolls bigger than he is...

(Heather, I apologize in advance for any mental, psychological, or physical damage my daughter causes your son. And thanks for keeping her while I got to the Doctor; You've preserved some of my sanity!)

As for OUR baby, he's growing like a weed, trying to see how far he can stick his feet out before Mommy pushes them back where they came from, trying out new positions daily, and getting the hiccups on a regular basis. The hiccups are one thing I could REALLY do without. Only 11 more weeks to go! (or 12 or 13...)

Here's a few random pics from the last few weeks:

Playing with some of her favorite people - Aunt Beth, and BOYS (any boys will do - it doesn't have to be those particular ones...)

Doesn't she look comfy?

We took her to the fair so she could ride some rides... she definitely doesn't have her Dad's stomach - she was spinning so fast my camera couldn't keep up!

...and here's her fat Mommy...

That's My KING!

2009-09-16T13:45:00.005-05:00

Here's another: an excerpt from the sermon entitled "That's My King" by S. M. Lockridge.

If this doesn't bless your gizzard, well, your gizzard must be broke! :-)

(note to facebook viewers: Click HERE if the vidoe doesn't show up)

May I Introduce...

2009-09-16T13:10:00.003-05:00

I saw (actually heard, more than saw) this the other night and thought it was great. Just wanted to share!

(not to facebook viewers: Click HERE if the video doesn't show up)

And The Verdict Is:

2009-08-26T00:06:00.003-05:00

(You can't see the pictures very well...but if you click on it it might show it larger.)

You guess what it is - if you think you have it figured out, let me know! :-)

Note: For those of you who didn't see my update on facebook, It's A BOY! :-)

Like Father, Like Daughter...

2009-08-23T00:31:00.002-05:00

Happy 5th Anniversary!

2009-08-21T09:33:00.002-05:00

A bell is no bell 'til you ring it,
A song is no song 'til you sing it,
And love in your heart
Wasn’t put there to stay -
Love isn’t love 'Til you give it away.
~Oscar Hammerstein, Sound of Music

Yesterday was our 5th wedding anniversary. It's hard to believe it's been that long already!

As a wise man once said:

To keep your marriage brimming,

With love in the loving cup,

Whenever you're wrong, admit it;

Whenever you're right, shut up.

~Ogden Nash

I love you, Honey, and I expect the next 50 years will be just as fun as the last 5!

$5 Dinners

2009-08-19T10:54:00.003-05:00

Who's not trying to save money these days?
A few months ago, while randomly 'blog-hopping', I happened upon this site, and immediately subscribed to it -

Erin's just an average mom, who, in her quest to save money on their food budget, decided to try to make dinner for their family of four (soon to be five) each night for $5 or less! She includes recipes, menu plans, and a weekly account of her grocery shopping trip and the sales she finds.
This week she's celebrating her 1 year anniversary with several different giveaways, so go by and check it out!

note: I am not getting anything in return for posting this - I just found it to be an interesting site and thought others might, well!

Happy Father's Day!

2009-06-22T11:56:00.005-05:00

Happy Father's Day to the best Daddy in the world!

Juju thinks you're great! You're her ice cream and popcorn buddy, her protector from the big, bad lions (stuffed tigers), and banisher of bad dreams. Every morning she asks me "when's Daddy coming home?" and usually wants to call you; she's excited to meet you at the door when you get back from work, and she loves to tell Mommy to get you things.

Mommy thinks you're pretty cool, too!

We love you, Brad!

And,

Happy Father's Day to 'Pop', Grandpa to 15 1/2 grandkids, Dad to 6 kids;

We love you, Dad!

Ok, so I didn't go to bed after all.

2009-06-19T23:59:00.005-05:00

Showing off her new shirt - it's believable until you get a closer look at the dirt on her face!

(Thank you, Marilyn!)

Watching...something?? I found her all curled up like this - doesn't she look sweet?

AHA! I always knew she was part monkey!

Um, Ju? I don't think that's really meant to be worn on your head. And it doesn't exactly match your dress.

Isn't she gifted? Only 2 years old and already playing checkers.

You might not want to look right now, Kenny, but I think someone is cheating!

And, last but not least, her new favoritest thing to do. She's "simmin'". This evening she came and brought me one of her swimming diapers, then said, "Mom, where's my swimmin' poot?"

I'm not sure, but I think she might have gotten 'pool' and 'suit' a little mixed up! :-)

Mommy is thoroughly and completely (and painfully) burnt.

Juju does not care.

She says, "don't worry. Mommy, it doesn't hurt!"

Really? For some reason, I thought it did!

Ultrasound Results

2009-06-19T23:21:00.002-05:00

We went for our first ultrasound this week! Baby looks happy, kicking and moving around already; we were hoping for a lazy child this time around - it's not looking hopeful! However, there is only ONE, something we were getting a little worried about, considering the rate at which I am growing. :)
They changed my due date to January first, which puts me right at 12 weeks. Brad's hoping it'll come early... (I think it's something to do with a tax deduction? ;-))
I'll try to post pictures before too long. I know I've been neglecting this thing horribly, and I'm sorry. I just haven't been feeling quite so great these days for some reason! (wonder why...)
I also have to update you on my gardening adventures...another day. *yawn*

Company's Comin'

2009-06-02T23:31:00.004-05:00

Looks like the stork is planning on dropping by sometime in January!

What do you feed a stork anyway?

Ho Hum.

2009-05-26T23:55:00.002-05:00

Yes, I know it's been over a month. I'll try to post pictures and stuff before too long, but I've just had a lot going on. (excuses, excuses...)
We were supposed to be heading to Missouri Thursday for Jessica's wedding (one of Brad's cousins), but his great-grandma, Frances Davis, is in the hospital and not expected to make it much longer, so it looks like we might have to stay here; that's a bummer - especially since I'm supposed to play for the wedding! :-0 Juju's been looking forward to seeing MoMo and Bapaw - I hate it, if only for that reason, because she's been so excited. She's always asking "We going to see MoMo n Bapaw to-monow?" Oh well, I guess there'll be other times.
I'll have post pictures of my garden, the cat, and other stuff.
About that cat...y'know how I told about Ju dragging it around, and otherwize terrorizing it? Well. One day the cat got tired of it. And he told her he was tired of it. It was just a little scratch (he's just a little cat), but it was enough for her! Now, the cat isn't allowed within 10 feet of her without her screeching LOUDLY " 'at cat's gonna GIT Juju!"!!!! :-) But it's funny when the cat 'gits' Mama - at least SHE thinks so!
Kids! What would we do without them? :-)

Happy Easter!

2009-04-13T23:29:00.008-05:00

Hope you all had a wonderful Easter!

We had a Program Sunday morning with singing and scripture readings, and so on; it turned out really nice - at least from the piano bench it seemed nice! :-) We even had a few visitors show up, including a new family that had never been before!

Sunday afternoon we had a church potluck, and Bro. and Sis. Miller graciously invited us all to their house. They have a beautiful home and all the food was wonderful (or 'berry delicious' as Juju would say!)

I couldn't get any really good pics of Juliana before she managed to go and get strawberries on her pretty new dress. (But the good news is that I washed it and it all came out!)

Here she is with our friends Kenny and Heather Adamson. (she matched them, too!)

Of course she sat and smiled prettily with them...we try to get her picture with us and she wiggles and wriggles, and pulls her dress up, etc.

Just some random pictures:

Terrorizing the cat
Gardening (which soon became a form of terrorizing the cat, when she started whacking him with her gardening tools!)

Her first skinned knee - received from running too fast in the driveway. (please ignore the tragically yucky pants her father is wearing. Pants make wonderful things to wipe your painty or tarry hands on!)

What A Savior!

2009-04-10T23:19:00.003-05:00

As we are approaching Easter, this week I've been reading over the various account of the crucifixion. One thing that has stood out to me like never before, was reading about the veil in the temple being torn.
You see, that veil had a purpose; it was there to keep people out, to shield the Holy from the unholy. It was in that room where God came down to meet with man, and not just anyone could enter. Only the very holiest man, the high priest, could go in, and had to spend much time in preparation for that moment when he would push aside the curtain and enter the Presence of God Almighty.
Those preparations could not be taken lightly; he had to cleanse himself - clean his body, put on special, pure garments that were only for this purpose - but most importantly, he could not enter with sin in his life.
The priest entered that room, the Holy place, with much fear and trembling. He knew if he entered and was found wanting, if his garments weren't clean, his life sinless, He wouldn't leave that room alive. And if he died, they couldn't even come in to remove the body - a rope was placed about his ankle before he entered, just in case.
It seems a little harsh to us, these stringent rules, but God cannot look on sin, and in those days, God actually came down to commune with them and tell them what to do. And so, the general population never knew the presence of God as we know it. The only way for them to receive forgiveness of sin was through the priest, and their sacrifice. Yes, they could pray and talk to him, but not like we can.
From the beginning of time, when man first sinned, God knew there had to be another plan. The sacrifices wouldn't suffice forever. There must be a better way! What if someone died in between sacrifices? What if they didn't have the means to bring a lamb or a dove?
So, He sent his Son.
His perfect Son.
His ONLY Son.
Because God knew the only was to make redemption available to everyone was to provide the sacrifice for them.
I cannot imagine the pain it must have caused Him to look down and watch His only child as He was beaten, spit on, laughed at, mocked, and brutally crucified; to see Him as He hung there in agony, blood running from the gashes in his skin - or what was left of His skin after they literally beat Him 'til His body was shredded - mutilated to the point where if she hadn't been there and known it was Him, His own mother might not have recognized Him.; and then, just when it seemed that Jesus needed His father the most, as God turned His back and left Him hanging there.
As a mother, at times I worry the my child might fall, or somehow hurt herself, and it causes me pain to think that she might be injured in any way, but to watch her suffer? I'd be right there in the middle of it doing everything I could to ease her pain! And if someone deliberately hurt her, I probably just about hurt them back. But God, knowing that there was no other way, seeing the need for a Savior, turned His back as Jesus took the sins of the world, and made the last blood sacrifice that would ever be needed - with His own life.
And just as the the last breath left His body, miles away in the city of Jerusalem, the veil, that thing that had protected the Holy place from the corruption without, the thing that had kept the people from entering the presence of God, was torn apart by unseen hands.
Why? Because the sacrifice had been made for once and for all. From that moment until the end of time, "whosoever" could enter the presence of God Almighty, and not with fear for their lives!: God's word says to "come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need" (Hebrews 4:16).
We can approach the Father with out fear that our sacrifice will not be accepted, because the sacrifice has been made for us! And Jesus said in John 6:37 "...him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out."
How can you help but thank Him, and give Him your life? After all, He gave His life for you!

Man of Sorrows! What a name

For the Son of God, who came

Ruined sinners to reclaim.

Hallelujah! What a Savior!
Bearing shame and scoffing rude,

In my place condemned He stood;

Sealed my pardon with His blood.

Hallelujah! What a Savior!
Guilty, vile, and helpless we;

Spotless Lamb of God was He;

Full atonement! Can it be?

Hallelujah! What a Savior!

Lifted up was He to die;

It is finished! Was His cry;

Now in Heav'n exalted high.

Hallelujah! What a Savior!
When He comes, our glorious King,

All His ransomed home to bring,

Then anew His song we'll sing:

Hallelujah! What a Savior!

(P.P. Bliss, 1875)

What Shall We Name The Baby?

2009-04-08T22:40:00.000-05:00

It's a Boy!

He weighs around 1 pound, and is about 8 inches long.

He came to join us about 6 p.m. yesterday.

Although we knew he'd be coming sooner or later, we hadn't expected him quite this early, so we didn't have any names picked out. Any ideas?

Juju is thrilled. Every spare minute today has been spent admiring the new baby. He cries a lot, but that is to be expected from one so small.

And did I mention?

It's a cat. :-)

Now for a little math.

This:

Plus this:

Equals Trouble.

They're eating together. (And I did what any good mommy would do - I got the camera and took a picture, and THEN she got in trouble for eating with the cat!)

The poor little kitty didn't know what he was getting into when he came to live with us! So far, today he has been hit, poked, chased, yelled at, hung from a leash (his "tail" as Ju calls it), had his (real) tail pulled, swung around in his carrier, and had food thrown at him - and this was just the first day! Hopefully she'll get the hang of things before they kill each other. She loves to feed him, and if I have him in his cage, she is glued in front of it talking to him, asking if he wants out, sticking her fingers inside, etc. I have to put him up so he can get some rest!

And did I mention that I'm allergic to cats?

Oh, the things that we do for our children!

Patience!

2009-04-04T14:38:00.000-05:00

I'll be back one of these days. Don't give up on me!

Ugh!

2009-03-15T23:14:00.000-05:00

That's what we've been saying a lot lately - UGH!!
It started about 2 weeks ago on Saturday morning; when Juju got up that morning, she got out of bed by herself, so I had no occasion to visit her bedroom for a couple of hours, but when I did, I smelled a strange smell. Upon further investigation, I discovered that she had, at some point, thrown up all over her bed. Ugh. She was droopy the rest of the day, and complained of her tummy hurting, but other than that, that was the end of it..............or so we thought.
Fast forward a week. (one week ago) Friday afternoon, she all of the sudden decided she doesn't want to play outside anymore, but she wants to go to bed. That right there should have told me something.
1. She ALWAYS wants to play outside - even in the dark.
2. She NEVER wants to go to bed.

I put her to bed, After a while, I heard her kind of cough...she's puking her guts out all over her bed. Ugh!
That was only the beginning.
the rest of the day Friday, and all through the night she threw up, gagged, and threw up some more.
Saturday morning...she finally quit throwing up, only to get a fever. A high fever. Several times through the day and night it got over 103. We were getting very worried.
Sunday morning: the fever breaks....and she starts throwing up again. The the fever come back, and she does both for a while. finally, about 9:30 Sunday night, she asked me if she could go to bed. So I took her to her bed.
About 10:30, I hear noises. I go to check on her. She pops out of bed, and says, "mommy, I get up now!"
I didn't let her get up (mean mother that I am), but she was fine from then on (until Tuesday afternoon when she threw up AGAIN, but it was just once and she was fine again).

Fast forward to Friday...now I'm sick. UGH!
Actually, I'm feeling better. I'm still nauseated a lot, bt I don't constantly feel like puking - a great improvement.
So how have ya'll been? :-)

Notice!

2009-03-07T00:56:00.000-06:00

Just wanted to let you know:

If you scroll down, on the left side you will now see a list titled "Money Savers". On that list, you will find links to various sites where you can get coupons for groceries and other items. The link titled "Coupons For All sorts Of Things" will take you to a site where you can order actual coupons and have them mailed to you for a few cents - it's definitely worth what you pay to get them. Also, there is a banner ad where you can clock and print coupons for various items. Right now they have a coupon for $5 off Huggies Gentle Care diapers, and $3 off Huggies Natural Fit - for those of you that use diapers, it's not often that you can find a coupon for more that $2 off Huggies.
I hated to add the banner...it takes away from the lovely background, but there IS an upside to it! For every one of you that print coupons from it, I will get paid! (It's just a few cents, but it all adds up, right? Maybe I'll be able to send my daughter to college when she's 75 or so.) Best of all, it costs you nothing to print them! (Except paper and ink)

If ya'll are anything like us, you probably don't have a lot of extra money lying about, so I look for any way I can to save. And, of course, I might as well pass the savings on to my faithful (ha) readers! :-)

Now that I've finished my sales pitch,
Goodnight!

Finished Object....February!

2009-03-05T01:12:00.000-06:00

I'm not as dedicated as some of you out there...not that I never finish any of my projects. No, No... it's just that by the time Friday rolls around I've forgotten what I finished! :-) So, I introduce to you:

Finished Object February
(in which I show you something I finished last month. But don't expect it every month. I'll forget by then! )

For those of you who don't know me too well - I like to sew. I enjoy knitting, crocheting, embroidery and such, but my favorite, I think, is sewing. There's something about the needle whirring through the fabric...Actually, I think it's because you can really tell you that you are getting somewhere. I'm a fairly patient person, but when it comes to crafty stuff, if I don't finish it pretty quickly, it's not likely to get finished.
Another thing you may not know about me... I don't often make anything just like the pattern or recipe says. I read the directions, and then proceed to do it my way. If I can't see something in my head the way I want it to look when it is finished, It won't ever get finished. Period. There's no reason to start it.
So...it's Saturday morning. Inspiration strikes (it ALWAYS hits on Saturday - I don't why. I guess it's the devil trying to keep me from getting ready for Sunday). I see a pattern or a piece of fabric, and all of the sudden, there's this picture in my head.
So, then, I have to a.) find the proper material to match the picture, or b.) find the pattern to match the picture.
They don't exist. They never do. It's frustrating.
So. I finally find a fabric that will work, and I alter the head image.
But I still need a pattern, right?
So I look through my majestic pattern stash.
I find the pattern I want. End of story. Right? Right???
WRONG!!!!

As I said before, the pattern doesn't exist.
Oh, but the sleeves on this one are right (the rest is all wrong),
the bodice on that one is right, the skirt on another one is right.
In the end, I either use pieces from all of them, or just start cutting and hope it turns out ok.

By this time it is probably late Saturday evening. I should put it away.
Oh, no. I'm just getting started.

Around, oh, let's say 3 a.m. the item is finally finished.
It happens every time.

Why can't my brain just work like ordinary brains?

WAKE UP! I'm finished rambling now.
Here are the pictures;
This is the dress:

(it's a pale aqua and white check. It's a rayon/nylon - with a slight sheen to it. Doesn't wrinkle much. It was great to sew with, only difficulty was that it has it tendency to fray a little.)

and this is the hairbow to match:

I need to take the wire out of the ribbon on the dress bow. It smashes out of shape too badly. For the hairbow, that's fine, 'cause it won't be messed with very much, but for the dress, on a little person, she squiggles around so much that it got all scrunched.

I would show you what it looks like ON, but my model would not cooperate. If I can ever get her to be still long enough, I'll post a picture of her wearing it.

I hope you've enjoyed this edition of:
Finished Object February

Check back next year! :-)

It Takes Courage!

2009-02-27T13:18:00.000-06:00

Juliana likes slides. However, she's always been just a little too scared to go down them by herself!
Not anymore!
We'd been out mowing the yard the other day, and I decided to set up her yard toys - house and thing-a-ma-jig (you know, the thing with the slide that you climb on?). Well, I'd turned around to do something else, and from behind me, I heard "Wheeee!!!" (splat), and then "Mommy, lookee!". She'd finally gotten the courage to go down all by herself.
So for the next hour that's what she did:

She climbed up,

Sat at the top and hollered at me to watch her,

Slid down,

And giggled when she got to the bottom.

The slide has been conquered. What's next?

We met the new neighbor....

He's pretty nice.

I think that she was really meant to be a boy -

Here she's poking at one of the many anthills in

the yard with her stick. She thought it was

funny to make the ants mad.

She loves sticks, rocks and dirt.

What do you do when your little girl turns into a tomboy?

Hello, Everybody!

2009-02-18T23:39:00.000-06:00

It's been an interesting week!
Tuesday afternoon, we packed up, piled in with the Adamsons, and came to the PNC preacher's meeting in Shreveport, LA. We arrived in time for about the last point of the message! :-)
Today, we went to service this morning at 10, had lunch, and went back for an afternoon session, came back to the hotel and rested for a few minutes (at least...most everybody tried to except Juju-she'd had a little 15 minute nap during the service and thought she shouldn't have to sleep anymore, so she laid beside me in the bed and wiggled, and talked, and talked and wiggled, then wiggled some more! Very restful!), then got ready and went back for another service, went and had supper about 10 tonight and came back to the room! Now we try to sleep for a few hours, then do it all again tomorrow! :-) Seriously, though, Bro. Hedstrom has given some good teaching, and I've enjoyed worshipping today - tonight especially. The message on prayer this morning was wonderful, too. I'm glad I came. I wasn't intending to- Brad and Bro. Adamson were going to come by themselves, but at the last minute Sis. A. found out some plans had changed and she was able to come, and they invited me and Ju to come along. They've been so sweet to us - we appreciate them so much! Ju calls them 'Papa and G'amma A.' and drags them all over them place.
Oh! A little while ago I was looking in Juju's mouth and discovered something...She has a brand new tooth! It is the second molar back on her lower left side. I didn't think she was supposed to be gettin those quite yet - I don't know, but she was sure proud when I found it.
I'll try to post some new pictures of her before too long.

Happy Valentine's Day!

2009-02-15T01:31:00.000-06:00

Mommy's Little Helper

2009-02-08T23:42:00.000-06:00

I have a new helper in the kitchen! Juliana has discovered the 'joy' of putting away dishes!

(pardon the messy counter...we had just had dinner guest and I was cleaning up the kitchen after they left)

She's actually pretty good at putting the silverware where it belongs-even if she CAN just barely see into the drawer when she stands on her tippy-toes!
Now if I can just keep her from running off with my knives! She seems to be drawn to knives and scissors - if they are anywhere close to her, she'll grab them and try to take off. Mommy has had numerous heart attacks...pray for me!

I'm Baack!!!

2009-02-06T22:41:00.000-06:00

Did'ya miss me? (don't answer that...)

Well, we have made it to Lousiana. Brad and Bro. Kenny Adamson, our pastor here, drove up to Cape on Wednesday, January 21 (after Brad worked half a day-it's only 12 hours or so), we loaded up Thursday morning, and pulled out around 2 that afternoon! We made it to Westlake, about 1:30 am, and the Adamsons kindly let us spend the night with them (what was left of it!). Friday morning (NOT early) we headed over here to unload the trailer -ugh! Bro. Myron Brown, Bro. Robin Hood and Arnold Langstaff met us here and helped unload - Thank you so much, guys! It took about 3 hours or so to LOAD the trailer...they had it unloaded in less than 45 minutes!
On to the unPACKING...needless to say, I didn't have THAT done in less than 45 minutes! :-) It's been 2 weeks... and there are still piles of boxes here and there, but it's livable! I've already had dinner guests twice, and many others stop by for a visit!
We enjoyed seeing the Truitt family last week. They came through on their Youth Camp Tour, and stopped here for supper before the service. It was also little Alex's first birthday! Happy Birthday, Alex!
Juliana has enjoyed seeing Aunt Bebe (Bethany), Uncle Tent (Trent) and MuMu (Grandma Trudy). She's always asking if they are coming to see her today! She likes her new 'big girl bed', at least, sometimes she does...she protests when bedtime comes. "Don't wanna go night-night more" she says. One night she woke up about 3:30 in the morning crying, and when and I went to see what was wrong, she told me "I no wanna seep more". I believe she fully intended to stay up the rest of the night, but Mommy had other intentions! So, being the sucker that I am sometimes, I took her to bed with us - bad idea! She laid in between Brad and I, alternately patting our faces, saying "It's 'k, Mommy (or Daddy), i's' a'wight". Then she'd lean over to me and whisper, "Daddy's S'eepin'". After a couple hours of this, I moved her over to the side of the bed (with me in the middle) and she finally ran out of things to talk about and fell back asleep. I told Brad, the next time, I think I'll just give her sleeping pills - they'd probably be better for her health, because we were about ready to strangle her! (just kidding...but it WAS aggravating)
I guess tomorrow we're going to go look for a kitty. I'm hoping if we get a cat it will scare off some of the mice and lizards that seem to think that this place belongs to them! Plus, Ju needs a pet (besides the fish), and she's been wanting a "wow". Hopefully we can find one for free, but we might adopt one from the humane society -they just charge you for the vaccinations.

Well. That's a little bit of what has happened in the last couple of weeks. I just got my internet going today, so there should be more updates in the future!

Yawn....

2009-01-17T00:26:00.000-06:00

Hey, everybody! Time for an update:

*I'm tired of packing
*I'm tired of my husband being gone
*I'm tired of living in a war zone
*I'm tired of not being able to find anything
*I'm tired of winter
Come to think of it....I'm just TIRED!

Brad is coming back next Thursday night to get the rest of our stuff AND his wife and daughter. I'm about ready to just start throwing everything away so I don't have to deal with it, so he'd better get back here soon! :-) Anybody want a dog? clothes? fish tank? house? lawnmower? If you do, come on over! Seriously, I do need to find somone to take the dog, and this fish are so old I don't think they could take the trip, I've gotten rid of so many clothes it's not funny, we need someone to rent the house, AND I do have a lawnmower to sell! :-)3

Did I mention that I HATE MOVING?

ok. I'm sure you've gotten the point by now...pray for me, that I don't lose my mind!

Nevermind. It's too late - I already did! Pray for me, that I find it again! (it's probably in a box somewhere)

I'm still here - But not for long!

2008-12-31T15:25:00.001-06:00

Yes, I know it's been a long time since I updated this thing-you don't have to remind me! A lot has happened in the last month (when I last updated).

We went to Louisiana the day after Thanksgiving, where Juju had another birthday party and we had Christmas with Brad's mom and her family. We stayed there about a week and came home to much business-getting ready for the Christmas program at church, doing some cleaning for Grandpa Davis while he was out of town, trying to get ready for Christmas, and finally, the big Day, Christmas itself!

Here are a few highlights from Ju's month:

Receiving a Care Bears Tricycle from Aunt Beth and Uncle Trent

Eating bubbles - YUM!

Decorating a Christmas tree

Special Speaker at the church Christmas dinner (not really, but she would have done it if they had asked her!)

Playing with the Froggy that Ribbets "Jingle Bells" (He's 'bwoke' now, thank the Lord) and removing Christmas ornaments

Being a cow in the Christmas Program - and a good cow she was, too, if you consider eating hay to be good cow behaviour!

Admiring Grandma's tree with Mickey

Opening one of many Christmas presents

We have a new baby at our house - so what if she is plastic!

And the best gift of all:

A Juju-sized kitchen - and Papaw ISN'T allowed to play with it!

Now that Christmas is over, it looks like we are going to be moving! :-( Brad got a job in Lake Charles, LA, so we will be moving there sometime in January. He's already down there working, and Juliana and I are trying to hold down the fort here. We miss our Daddy! (boohoo...)

This is what my living room looked like last night!

I'm trying to sort stuff and pack it, and the pile of boxes to be filled threatens to obliterate the sun! HELP!

So anyway, if you don't hear from me for a while, don't hold it against me. I'll be back someday!

Oh, yeah, and Happy New Year!

No Room!

2008-12-19T02:28:00.000-06:00

Luke 2:7: “And she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.”
If I were the ancient innkeeper, I would stand on the busiest street corner and shout at the top of my lungs: “Give me a break! What was I to do? My inn was full. We were in a busy season. These two youngsters, you know, they didn’t exactly look like the kind of clientele that I should go to the wall for. And it looked to me like they had one hotel room too many already. Besides all of that, if this youngster’s baby were born, it would likely be messy and might even upset my other guests. I was a businessman and I made a sound business decision. Of course, now that I know, I stay awake at night thinking of the missed opportunity. Give me a break, though, will you? They looked like a very ordinary couple of kids about to have an ordinary baby and the stable was all I had left.”
Two thousand years later, we cannot claim the innkeeper’s ignorance. In addition to the 29 books in the New Testament, there have been more books written about Jesus Christ than about any other person in the world. We have information-loads of it. Yet a strange phenomena occurs over and over again. Jesus Christ shows up at the inn of the human heart every day and, even though we are saturated with information accompanied by evidence, we still turn him away. Often we do this with reasoning not unlike the ancient innkeeper: “If Jesus is born in my heart, it could get messy and besides it might upset my friends and neighbours.”
If you are weighing the costs, that is an accurate accounting. The birth of Jesus Christ, whether in a Bethlehem stable or the human heart, tends to divide life into before and after, into BC and AD, and yes, it can upset some friendships and alliances. However, don’t just weigh the costs without counting the benefits. You will have the benefit of being released from guilt, having your very spirit indwelt and tenderly held by God himself, and eternal life with Christ. So I ask you, fellow innkeeper, is that not worth disturbing the whole place for? Is that not worth clearing out a room for? With Phillip Brooks, let us personally pray the last verse of his well-known carol:

O holy Child of Bethlehem, descend to us, we pray;

Cast out our sin, and enter in, be born in us today.

We hear the Christmas angels the great glad tidings tell;

O come to us, abide with us, our Lord Emmanuel!

Phillips Brooks,

~Written by Major Lorne Pritchett, Salvation Army

Hope you all have a wonderful Christmas, and take some time to remember why we celebrate!

Happy Thanksgiving!

2008-11-28T00:52:00.001-06:00

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and didn't eat too much turkey! My parents and my sister with her 6 kids came for the day, so we had a busy day today!
Tomorrow we're leaving to go to Louisiana for a few days, so I've got to get everything packed and ready to go. No shopping for me! YIPPEE! :-)

Happy Birthday, Juliana!

2008-11-27T01:27:00.000-06:00

Last night we had a birthday party for Juliana. Her birthday is actually Friday, but we went ahead and had the party a little bit early. It's hard to believe my baby is already 2!

This is her 2 years ago, about 15 minutes after she was born.

This was 1 year ago, at her first birthday party.

2 years old!
This was the only full length picture I got of her birthday dress, apparently. It had a 2 on the bow.

Playing on her new toy - a bouncy zebra

She HAD to give Elmo a ride

Now they're both going to ride the zebra

Decisions, decisions....

Two-year-olds and fire do not mix well. She almost stuck her finger in one of the candles, and I guess we scared her so bad telling her it was hot, she wouldn't even try to blow them out after that.

At least she knew what to do with the cake this year. Last year, it took three people to even get her to taste it, after which, she promptly made a mess!

Pictures, As Promised

2008-11-23T00:09:00.000-06:00

Perhaps someone should explain to her that swimsuits are not generally meant to be worn on the head?

Jumping on the bed-don't worry, I stopped it as soon as I took the picture! :-)

How could anyone resist this grin?

Mommy and the Giggle-bug

This child of ours is SO helpful...I put her in the tub tonight and came back a few minutes later to discover that she had decided to do her own laundry; all of her clothes that I had just taken off of her, plus a towel, were in the tub with her! Then, after she got them 'clean', she took them out and put them beside the tub. If only she had wrung them out first....................

Life, In General

2008-11-20T01:11:00.000-06:00

I guess I should post something, but there hasn't been much going on! :-)
This past Friday, my old friend, Dana (Barfield) George came to spend the weekend with me while her husband went hunting. It was great to see her again! The last time we were together was at her wedding, 4 years ago in January, so it's definitely been a while. We've kept in touch by email and Facebook, but it's not the same as getting together and acting silly all night! :-) Poor Brad, alone in a houseful of girls!
Juliana had never met Dana, but took to her right away. She wanted Dana to do everything for her, and sat in her lap frequently. (she doesn't sit in anyone's lap for any length of time, generally) It took her a while to figure out her name...she called her YOU, friend, Davis, a cuss word (I'll let you try to figure out which one :-), and finally, Dana.
Speaking of Juliana, she has a new love...VeggieTales! A few weeks ago, she was sick, so Brad went and rented "The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything" for her. She fell in love immediately! Now ALL VeggieTales are 'Pirates', and she will watch them 10 times a day if I will let her! We've just about exhausted the library's supply - I don't know what we'll do then. So far, she can sing the Veggie theme song (complete with 'boom, boom, boom' of the tuba at the beginning), the Pirate song (We are the Pirates who don't do anything, we just stay home and lie around...), the Hairbrush song (OH, where is my hairbrush?), as well as a new one from "Sheerluck Holmes" called 'Gated Community' (Can I have my ball? Could you get my ball? I kicked it into the tree, and the ball bouced off , and the ball dropped in to the the gated community!) HELP! I'm being attacked by singing vegetables! :-)
I guess it could be worse. At least most of the VeggieTales are either Bible stories or else they teach christian principles. Hopefully she's learning something!
She pretty much has something to say about everything these days. She's learning new words every day, and she's not afraid to use them! She loves to jump and climb - and generally drive her mother crazy! :-0 She can smell candy from a mile away, and will find a way to reach it, no matter how high you put it. Her arms seem to be made out of rubber, and will stretch for a mile or more, and when she stands on her tippy-toes, it adds at least a foot to her height. I know, you probably think I'm exaggerating a little. Well, all I can say is, YOU come keep her for a day or two! :-)
I've been trying to teach her the proper use of 'please', 'thank you', and 'you're welcome'. Well, the other day, she asked me for something, and said thank you when I gave it to her, but before I could reply she said "I Welcome!" Another time, she wanted something and came to me and said, "please, thank you, you're welcome" all at once. I guess she thought she'd go ahead and get it all out of the way!
I'll try to post some pictures before too long. I haven't taken many lately.

No Matter Who Won:

2008-11-06T23:48:00.000-06:00

I guess I should have posted this last week, but I forgot. Anyway, I received this in an email and found it though-provoking:

Top 10 Predictions No Matter Who Wins the Election

1. The Bible will still have all the answers.

2. Prayer will still work.

3. The Holy Spirit will still move.

4. God will still inhabit the praises of His people.

5. There will still be God-anointed preaching.

6. There will still be singing of praise to God.

7. God will still pour out blessings upon His people.

8. There will still be room at the Cross.

9. Jesus will still love you.

10. Jesus will still save the lost when they come to Him.

AND GOD APPROVES THIS MESSAGE!

ISN'T IT GREAT TO KNOW WHO IS REALLY IN CONTROL!!

It's easy to get depressed when things don't go our way...especially when we think we know how it really needs to be! I sat up VERY late Tuesday night, listening to election results, and praying, "Lord, why?". Well, He hasn't told me why yet, and I haven't figured it out for myself yet, but this I do know: God is still on His throne, He still running this world, and He doesn't need my help! Whatever may come, He knew long before it ever happened and somehow even though we can't possibly see how He will be exhalted in it! Psalm 46:100 says, "Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth."

One song that was running through my mind the other night says it better than I can:

Lord, You can explain all the wonders
And you can erase all the fear
You can dispel all the darkness, see a new day that's dawning just a fewmile from here
When I can't see a purpose or plan,
Lord, You Can!

Another verse that should thrill you (actually verses) is Isaiah 40:28-31

Hast thou not known?

hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God,

The LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary?

There is no searching of his understanding.

He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength.

Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall:
But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength;

they shall mount up with wings as eagles;

they shall run, and not be weary;

and they shall walk, and not faint.

Imagine... I get tired trying to figure out what's happening, BUT HE DOESN'T!

So for all of you that think that the end has come...maybe it has, maybe it hasn't, but don't worry about it! Psalm 37 says not to worry about evildoers - their time will come! I don't know about you, but I don't have enough energy to worry about other people's problems - I've got enough to deal with on my own, and He's got plenty of strength to take care of them and us!

And THAT, my friends, should just about make you shout!

A Little Rant On Politics

2008-10-16T23:30:00.000-05:00

Hey, guess what? There's going to be an election in about 3 weeks! AND...I'm getting tired of hearing about it! Why? Because I'm tired of hearing one person accusing another, and the other retaliating with something worse, back and forth, until you don't know who is telling the truth and who is not. If the truth be known, I doubt any of them are telling the whole truth and nothing but the truth!
You want to know what I think? (probably not, but you're going to hear it anyway)
We don't need the government running anything else. We don't need more taxes, we don't need more healthcare, or most of the other things they've been arguing about; We need to remember that this nation was brought into existence because some people were tired of being told what they could and could not believe, and they were tired of being punished for not seeing things the way the government wanted them to. Hmmm...does this sound familiar? It seems to me that Americans are doing the very things the Pilgrims came over to get away from!
As we near Thankgiving, let's go back and remember what our nation was founded on! It's not about politics, or who is the next president of the United States (and believe me, if you care anything about our nation, there is only ONE choice, and it's NOT [the democratic candidate]), it's not about the economy and whose fault it is, it's not about the war, and if it is right or wrong; no, it's not any of those things - Our focus should be, as Paul said in 1 Corinthians 2:2, "Jesus Christ, and him crucified." It's all about the Cross!
I was listening to a song this evening that pretty much sums it up for me:

It's Still The Cross

It's not conservative or liberal, however they're defined

It's not about interpretation, or the judgement of the mind

It's the opposite of politics, power or prestige

It's about a simple message, and whether we believe:

It's still the Cross, it's still the blood of Calvary

That cleanses sin and sets the captive free

It's still the name - the name of Jesus that has power to save the lost

It's still the Cross!

We can water down Theology, preach a word to suit our needs

We can justify sweet, subtle lies that are wrapped in noble deeds

We can alter our convictions to adapt to social whims

But we cannot change the Gospel, or the Truth contained within!

Though some may say it's 'man's religion' or 'ancient history'

The Cross of Jesus still remains the price for sin that sets us free!

It's still the Cross, it's still the blood of Calvary
That cleanses sin and sets the captive free
It's still the name - the name of Jesus that has power to save the lost
It's still the Cross!

I'm Still Alive - Really!

2008-10-13T22:57:00.000-05:00

Hey, everybody! I'm sorry it's been so long since I've updated this. Life has been a little hectic around the Davis home for the last month! (and that's an understatement!) I'll try to get you caught up...On August 30, my parents came to spend Labor Day weekend with us. We hadn't seen them in almost a year, so we were excited to see how Juliana would act with them. No worries there! She met them at the door with grins and giggles and dragged them around the rest of the time they were here. At one point, when Dad was unloading their stuff, she poked her head out the door and hollered at him "I call you POP", so he has been Pop ever since! :-)

At bedtime, she decided that she was going to sleep with them - somehow I doubt they would have gotten much sleep!

On Tuesday, September 3rd, I started working full days; Vonne was having major surgery on her neck and would be spending a few weeks in St Louis, so I had to be at there house at 6:30 a.m. and stay there all day 'til the kids all went home between 4 and 5:30(it's a home daycare). Around noon I got a call from Brad's cousin, Jessica, that their Great-Grandpa, John Finney was being taken to the hospital; he wasn't doing too good, and they weren't sure if he had had a stroke or what. I kept in touch with them all afternoon, and headed over there a soon as the last child waalked out the door. I had barely gotten on the road when Brad called and told me to get there as fast as I could; Grandpa John had been asking for me and Juliana all afternoon, and the Dr. had just come out and told them that he had gone into cardiac arrest, and he had specified that he didn't not want to be revived should that happen. It's about a 5-10 minute trip from where I work to the hospital, but when I got there, a nurse met me at the door to let me know that he was already gone. He lived 93 years in this world, and was loved dearly by his children, grandchildren, greatgrandchildren, and his one great-great: Juliana. He loved her so much, as you can see:

So, the rest of the week was spent planning the funeral, and trying to record the music for it. Grandma Polly and Papaw Henry wanted Brad and I to sing, and me to play the piano, but we were uncertain if it would be possible for me to get to the funeral on time, so we recorded everything ahead of time so we wouldn't have to worry about it. In the mean time, I'm still working 11 hours every day, so, needless to say, I think that the maximum of sleep I got any one night that week was 3 hours! Thankfully, the parents were able to work it out so that they could all pick up their kids at noon the day of the funeral that so that I could be there!
Brad's mom, sister, and brother came up from Louisiana for the funeral, so on Saturday we all went to the fair. Juliana loved the carousel - she rode it three or four times! Here she is with her beloved uncle 'Tent'.

The next week, we had planned to go on vacation in the Smoky Mountains, so Monday evening we headed out.

There was a kiddie play area in Dollywood that Juliana enjoyed; here she's playing in the water - notice the shirt? "Crabby but Cute"

Vacation is tiring...

Bringing home a baby bumblebee. She rode this ride two or three times!

We got to tour Dolly Parton's Bus. This was her bedroom.

A Daddy and His Puddytat

We found Roo!

Pigeon Forge, Tennessee

This is what we saw when we looked off our back porch at the place we stayed

We went to the Knoxville Zoo in the way home. Juju loved the animals!

This guy wasn't feeling very friendly; he had his backside up against the glass and wouldn't move.

The next week, Patti Mahan was getting married, and I was supposed to be making three little girl dressesfor the wedding, as well as playing the piano for it. (Still working 11 hours a day... I was leaving at 6 a.m. and sometimes not getting home until 7 p.m. by the time I did stuff that had to be done in town)

The wedding was on Friday, September 19 at 6:00. I finished the dresses and sent them on their way at 1:00! Got off work shortly after 4, and them had to go buy shoes for the wedding, copy all the music and organize it to start playing between 5:30 and 5:45...I think it ended up being about 5:50 when I started but I made it (Thank God!). The wedding was beautiful. Congratulations, Toya and Patti!

Here is a picture of Andrea Truitt and Alyssa Jones in the dresses I made.

For more pictures from the wedding visit Jennifer Truitt's page

By this time, I'm ready for some rest!

The next week, about the middle of the week, Vonne (my "boss") came home, so for the last couple days that week, I didn't have to go in to work until 8:30 (Wahoo!!). Friday afternoon, after I got off work, we headed for Alabama to visit our friends, David and Brittany Fogleman. We been plaing on going to see them for a long time, but somehow it never working out, so this time we decided we were going no matter what. I didn't get any pictures, but Juliana had a great time with the boys. She still talks about them! The other day she said she wanted to kiss Carson...yikes! They're growing up earlier and earlier these days!

David and Brittany, thank you for having us! We had a wonderful time! Hopefully we'll being seeing you again very soon! :-)

This was taken Sunday morning at their church.

From Brad & Gillian Davis

That pretty much fills you in on our life for the past month. The last week I haven't had to work nearly as many hours, so I'm doing better!

Oh...I forgot to mention... Somewhere in all of that, Brad quit his job selling mobile homes and went back to construction!

Maybe life will settle down soon, but I doubt it!

So, how have you all been? :-)

Let Them Eat Cake!

2008-08-25T00:27:00.000-05:00

For those that asked for the recipe for my cake, here it is!

Lemon Bundt Cake

1 box yellow cake mix
1 can of sprite, or 7up (I use anywhere from 1 c. to the whole can - depends on my mood, but just mix it in til it looks like a nice consistency for cake batter :-)
1 1/2 t. grated lemon peel

Mix together, pour into a greased and floured bundt pan and bake according to directions on box-I baked mine about 40 minutes on 350.

Glaze:
2 c. powdered sugar
juice from 1 med lemon
1 1/2 t. grated lemon peel
1 1/2 T. sour cream (you could use margarine, or just omit all together)

Stir together with just enough of the lemon juice to make it pourable. Drizzle over the cake while it is still warm.

For variations, you can use any kind of cake mix with the soda of your choice-try white cake with strawberry or orange soda, or I've seen chocolate with coke. Experiment! If you know me at all, you probably know that everything I cook is an experiment.... So far, I have yet to make anything that no one would eat! :-)

See Elmo!

2008-08-16T14:56:00.000-05:00

Last night we took Juliana to see Sesame Street Live. She's been begging to see Elmo for weeks, so Grandma (MoMo) Davis bought tickets for herself, JuJu and I to go. I'd told her all day that we were going to see Elmo, but she didn't really understand. When we got there, she saw all the stuffed toys they wree selling and started hollering, "See Elmo!". I guess she thought that that was what we had come to see!
When the show started, Big Bird and some of the others came out first-she calls Big Bird 'quackquack'! When Elmo came on the stage, her eyes got huge, and she looked at me and said with wonder, "It's Elmo!" For the next half hour, her eyes were glued to the stage! When they went off for intermission, she was very perturbed that Elmo had left. Whne they finally came back on, she settled down with the popcorn bucket between her legs, and enjoyed the show!
We had kind of wondered if she was really old enough to care about it, and if it would be worth the money that we had to pay for the tickets...it was worth it! When the show finally ended, she almost seemed in a daze, but we got about halfway home, and she started giggling! She was in the back seat in her carseat, laughing her head off! Needless to say, Grandma and I laughed the rest of the way home, too!

Here she is with Elmo:

Clapping!

Eating popcorn

Uploading Made Easy...er

2008-08-14T10:26:00.000-05:00

Yay! I have found an easier (slightly) and faster (much) way to upload my pictures. Maybe I'll be able to post a few more in the future!

Also, check out the slideshow on the side. It has all the pictures posted to date, plus a few. Wish I could find a way to make it bigger, but it will do for now.

Hope you enjoy it!

New House

Flowers for Mommy

Laughing with Daddy

It's Potty Time!

2008-08-08T01:01:00.002-05:00

Yesterday we started trying out the new potty...we discovered that it is great fun to drag it around the house (when mommy's NOT looking), it is also fun to get washcloths out and 'wash' it, and, best of all, it's good for climbing on to get into things that don't belong to you!

Today, we tried using it for what it was meant to be used for...I'm sure you can figure out what that is without me telling you?

We started as soon as she got out of bed...she sat there...and sat there... and sat there...and nothing happened.

We tried again about an hour later (she was still dry). Nothing happened.

About an hour after that, I was going to get in the bathtub and she wanted to try again (still dry). She sat there for a bit and was getting kind of restless, when all of the sudden she got a very strange look on her face and started trying to look in the potty. I checked - she went! Yay!! We screeched and clapped for a while!

After her nap, I put her back on it. She sat for a few minutes and went again!

Later when I was getting ready for church, she was in the bathroom with me and I asked her if she needed to go again, and she sat down on the potty (with the lid shut and fully clothed). I thought she was just playing, but when I checked a minute later, her diaper was wet! Ooooops! Missed that one!

For the rest of the day, she has come and gotten either me or Grandma when her diaper needed changed - usually as soon as she did it! (We went to church so we weren't where she could get to a potty) And, tonight before she went to bed, she went in the potty again!

Pretty good for the first day, wouldn't you say? :-)

Now tomorrow, she probably won't get within 10 feet of the thing!

This seems to be the story of my blog, but I can't seem to get any more pictures uploaded. Everytime they almost get finished, Juno has some kind of problem and shuts down on me. UGHH! I wish someone would get (affordable) high speed internet out here! All that is available is satellite and wireless, which both cost quite a bit more than we can currently afford. They have cable tv in our neighborhood, but for some reason we can't get cable internet, DSL, or anything! You'd think we live in the back woods somewhere instead of 10 miles from a fairly decent size city!

Forgive the ranting...malfunctioning internet at 2 am is not my favorite thing!

All that was to say --NO MORE PICTURES THIS TIME!

Old Time Is Still A'Flying...

2008-07-17T00:47:00.000-05:00

And how! I can't believe it's been a month since I updated this thing!

We just got back from Camp on Saturday night, and we've been busy catching up all the little things that got behind with us being gone for a week. It's crazy how things that you don't pay that much attention to when you're home get so messed up when you're gone for a few days! Somehow we always end up with a pile of mail that threatens to obliterate the sun when we get home - and most of it is worthless...

We enjoyed Camp - at least, most of it! I think the first thing we all did when we got back was take a bath... We used to complain about our water, but after last week, our water is looking pretty good, even if it does leave white stuff on our dishes - at least it's not orange and smelly!
I especially enjoyed the services at camp. Yes, it's tiring sometimes, especially with trying to keep Juliana occupied, but it definitely refreshing for my soul to spend a few days with God! It's amazing how faithful He is to meet with us when we spend a little time seeking Him! I know I tend to get caught up with taking care of things that have to be done and a lot of times forget to spend as much time with Him as I should, and camp gives me a week when I can just ignore a lot of things and focus on Jesus.
Juliana enjoyed the time running around and playing with boys! In the space of a week, she had boys giving her flowers, trying to kiss her, and telling her she was cute! If she's alreay breaking hearts at 19 months, what is she going to be like at 16? Please, pray for us...
She's loved having her Aunt "Bebe" (Bethany) around. In her eyes, Beth hung the moon - She spoils her rotten is what she does, but it's only for a few weeks out of the years, so I guess we can live with it! :-) We actually kind of like having her around, too, although you wouldn't catch her 'Bubby' admitting it! (Brad)
Juju has also been loving her pool! She is always trying to get me to take her to the 'wahwy'. Unfortunately, the wahwie sometimes gets in her nose, eyes and ears...at which points she takes my hand and rubs her face with it and says "Mommy, wahwie nose!" (or whatever part is affected):-)
She learns so may new words every day! Tonight she was being grumpy, and I told her she needed to get a better attitude - and she nodded her head and said 'attitude'. At camp, we were pushing her in her stroller when a little boy got in fromt of her and she told him, plain as day, "Get out of the way!" Needless to say, she hasn't learned about manners yet!

Well, I've been trying to upload pictures, but the computer says it can't do it because I'm not coneected to the internet, which I obviously am, or I would not be typing this. Computers! You'll have to see pictures some other day!

Happy Father's Day!

2008-06-19T00:13:00.000-05:00

I just wanted to take a minute to say happy Father's Day to the bestest Daddy in the world!

I know it's late, but it's the thought that counts, right?

Brad, thank you for being the best Daddy any little girl could wish for!We love you!

I'm Back!

2008-06-04T23:07:00.000-05:00

Sorry it's been so long!
Thanks to all of you that took time to make your presence known! I must confess, I've been to all of your blogs a time or two! :-) Please don't think I was upset because no one was signing the guestbook...just curious!
Well, Miss Juliana is now 18 months old! We went to the Dr. for her checkup yesterday. She is 33" tall and weighs almost 27 pounds! (She weighed 20 at 9 mo., 21 at 12 mo.) We had been starting to get an itty-bitty bit concerned because she wasn't gaining weight, but she made up for it! The good news-we got all the pokies out of the way for a few years! YAY! Sorry, but holding my (screaming) baby down while a nurse pokes needles in her is not exactly my idea of fun.
Speaking of screaming....she's talking!! She's been talking a fair bit all along, but in the last few day she's been yapping about everything! While sitting in the the waiting room at the Dr's office, whe was looking at her coloring book, asking me what everything was ("Wha's 'is?")and repeating it after me. We talked about boys (most of them are "bubby"), girls, bears (Boo), birds (also Boo), Starfish, Berries (sounds like bears), baskets, and hippos. When we came to a zebra, I told her it was (or course) a zebra, to which she replied 'no, horse'. Don't ask me where she learned it - I'm just her mother!!
If she falls, we always ask if she's ok, so now anytime she trips or falls down she jumps up and says " 'k! "
Today she learned to say 'Cade' (a little boy where we sometimes work), and 'cold', and 'more'. She says 'thank you' when she gives you something - and sometimes even when YOU give HER something! :-) She can sing "The B-I-B-L-E", at least the"B-I-B" part...and she can also say 'Jesus', but if you ask her if she loves Jesus, she says no. However, she doesn't love the devil either, so that's a good thing! (She does love Mommy, though.)
Needless to say, we're having fun with our little talker, and she seems to be having fun learning!
She loves to talk about and look at 'Goggies', but since Thor (our dog who is about the size of a small pony and very bouncy) tried to jump on her and another little dog tried to bite her, she's gets a little worried if they get too close to her. We're working on that! She likes kitties, too, but doesn't know quite what to do with them. (Kitties say 'wow', by the way; goggies say 'woowoo')
You're probably getting tired of hearing about all the cute things Juju says, but I'll leave you with this one. It never fails to make people laugh when someone walks out of her sight, because she always throws her little hands up in the air and says in the most confused voice, "where'd'e go?"

Who Are You?

2008-05-14T23:25:00.001-05:00

Just a note to the 20-40 people that stop by my blog every day:
Take a moment to sign the guestbook or make a comment, please! I'd like to know who is visiting me! :-) Thanks!

Enjoying Spring

2008-05-06T22:47:00.001-05:00

We've been enjoying the beautiful weather lately! Juliana has discovered that she likes playing outside, and will not come in the house on her own two feet anymore. I have to drag her in, kicking and screaming all the way! Grandma & Grandpa Davis (Ma-Ma and Ba-Pa, according to Juju) live across the street from us, and she's always trying to run to their house - I guess it's a good thing the neighbors pretty well watch where they're going around here, because she's been in the street a couple of times before I could catch her! :-0
She's also discovered something else she likes, in the last couple of weeks - the Park! I've been taking her to the park about once a week, and she loves it. Last week, after she'd been playing for a while, I told her it was time to go and she laid down in the grass and bawled. :-( Her favourite thing is the swings.

Just a swingin'

Looking at the water under the bridge

Enjoying the sunshine

Here she's listening to some music. It's more fun with headphones!

She loves chips! I caught her in the act a few weeks ago; she'd dumped the all out on the chair nd was happily eating them...she very quickly handed the bag to me when she realized I'd seen her!

Interesting...

2008-05-02T00:24:00.000-05:00

I got this in an email the other day and thought it was worth sharing:

No Crosses on Federal Property!

Did you see in the news last week where the supreme court doesn't want any crosses on Federal property?

Crosses on Federal Property?
Well duh.........

Let them try to remove these!

************************

Funny, but scary!

Juliana's First Special

2008-04-29T23:07:00.000-05:00

Well, Juliana has made her first venture into the world of singing in public. On Sunday, April 20, the kids were singing the special for the night service. While we were practicing, Juliana went up on the platform with them and was singing, clapping and dancing like she usually does when there's music going on. We weren't going to let her sing for the service (she's only 17 months old!), but she was sitting with "WoWo" (Lauren Truitt) during church, and when WoWo left to go sing, she started crying wanting to go, too. Well, (to my dismay) nobody wanted her to cry so they let her go. She waltzed up to the platform, took her place with the little kids, and 'sang' happily! This was all very nerve-wracking for me, as I was playing the piano and could just imagine her tearing something up, pulling the mic down on her head, knocking the (glass) pulpit down or something else exceedingly disastrous, but it all went very well, thank the Lord, and her Daddy took a break from running the sound to get this clip of them. She's the little one in the yellow dress.

About the photo contest, there has been some confusion about where to click for the link to the contest website. You can click on the word "here" in the post below, or use this link:

Great American Photo Contest

The vote counter is reset at the beginning of every month, so please vote if you have time! Thank you!

Photo Contest!

2008-04-24T17:22:00.000-05:00

I have entered this picture of Juliana in The Great American Photo Contest.

If you like this picture, please take a minute to vote for it! Click here to vote!

I may possibly enter more pictures in the future, so check back!

(You can vote once a day)

Tag-You're It!

2008-04-18T00:12:00.000-05:00

I've been tagged by Brittany...

1. What was I doing 10 years ago?
Well, let's see...ten years ago I would have been almost 14... and I have no idea. Sorry!

2. Things on my to-do list today?
The day was officially over a few minutes ago, but...

Mow the lawn (mostly done-I couldn't get the push mwer to work right, so I didn't quite get it finished)
Clean the kitchen (partly done, but undone as fast as I got it done, unfortunately)
Laundry (one load washed)
Lots of other things (probably not done)

3. Snacks I enjoy?
I like food in general, mostly, but not really into sweet or greasy stuff which leaves out candy and chips. Besides that, I don't have any real preferences. (Don't you hate people like me?)

4. If I were a billionaire, I'd...
Donate to anyone who truly was in need
Help build us a church
Buy a house that wasn't slowly falling apart
Get Brad a nice new set of Drums and send him to NQC for the whole week (something he always wants to do but we never have the money)
Adopt a child that nobody wanted
Help out my family (move my parents here, build my sister a bigger house, etc.)

5. My worst habits...
Forgetting that I've got laundry in the washer/dryer
Putting off cleaning (I'd rather mow the yard, work on the car or build a house)
Forgetting important things like paying the bills on time and lots of other stuff

6. Places I have lived...
Springfield, Arkansas (1 year)
Bon Aqua, Tennessee (18 years)
Rock Island, Illinois (1.5 years)
Cape Girardeau, Missouri (9 months)
Fruitland, Missouri (3 years)

7. Jobs I have held...
Waitress, cook, dishwasher, musician, and Civil War-era reenactor, Spencer Mill, Tn
File girl, secretary and assistant for a interior designer
Seamstress
Pretzel-maker and cashier (Auntie Anne's Pretzels)
Telephone Suveyor ( Millward Brown, R.I. Illinois)
Housecleaner
Babysitter
Home Healthcare Aid
Roofer
Painter
Lawn care specialist :-)
Daycare
Wife
Mommy

8. People I would like to tag...
Who do I know that hasn't been already? Heidi

Rain, Rain, Go Away!

2008-04-14T00:14:00.000-05:00

Well, it's been a while since I wrote anything, so I guess I'd better do something about it!
So far this year, I believe we have had more rain in the first four months of the year than we usually get all year long. This week is the first time in a while that we have had a forecast with no rain in it for four whole days! WOW! We're thinking of building an ark. It is also still cold. It is supposed to get into the 20's tomorrow night. Hopefully, it will warm up soon, or I might decide to move South for the summer!
Juliana has been on another round of antibiotics for an ear infection-her fourth this year. She has to go back to the Dr. for a check-up this week, and to make sure the infection is gone. I hope when the weather gets straightened out it will take care of the ear problem. I don't want to think about them putting tubes in her ears.
I made another loaf of bread with my starter the other night. This time I increased to amount of starter I used and put some yeast in it, but it was still kind of heavy...I'll keep trying. It makes good pancakes! I took pictures of the bread, but I'll have to post them another time. It's late and it takes f..o..r..e..v..e..r.. for me to upload pictures--Oh, the joys of dial-up internet!
Someone asked what kind of starter I made. If I remember correctly, I used potato water (the juice off of boiled potatoes), flour, sugar, and a small amount of yeast.
My sister came to town with a couple of her kids one day last week (she lives about 2 hours away) and we got to spend some time together. Her youngest is 7 weeks older than Juliana, so they got to play together. Now she's asking for a "Bubby"! I think too many people have told her she needs a little brother!! Any time someone starts talking about a baby, she starts hollering "bubby, bubby". She even came and patted my stomach the other night and said "Be-by?" She's not even 18 months yet, so she can't possibly know what she's talking about...can she? And no, I'm not pregnant, just in case you're wondering!
I'd better quit and go to bed. Morning comes fast when you don't go t be until two o'clock!

Easter, Spring, And Anything Else That Comes To Mind

2008-03-29T23:33:00.003-05:00

Here's Juliana taking a little time out to get ready for Easter:
(She's reading the Easter edition of 'Ideals')

Spring hasn't decided whether it is coming or going. It actually snowed on Easter! You had to be looking pretty hard to see it, but it was snow. It's been pretty cool all week, but it's supposed to get almost to 70 tomorrow - Let it be, dear Lord, let it be! I case you haven't gathered by now, I don't like cold, wet weather!

Easter has come and gone. When we got to church Easter Sunday, we discovered that Emily Boardman and Juliana were wearing the same dress in different colors, so we had to get a picture!

And this is proof that there really is an Easter Bunny! :-0

I decided this week to try making a starter for sourdough bread! I normally make bread just using yeast (like most people), but I wanted to try something different, thus the starter. I went to do some research in the internet (I use http://www.allrecipes.com/ most of the time when I'm looking for recipes and such) and discovered some interesting things about bread starters.

1. At one time, starters were passed down from generation to generation, and if you were in
one of those families, our starter could have originated centuries before!
2. Starters and just like pets, you have to feed them and keep them warm-and clean up the mess
if they get too carried away!
3. If you have surplus of starter, you can either a.) pass it on to friends and family, b.) freeze it
(just thaw and use when you're ready), or c.) you can pour it out on a pan, let it dry, then
break it into pieces and place in an airtight bag. When you need it, just reconstitute it by
pouring some water over and letting it set (and stirring) until liquid again!

Ok, now you all probably think I'm crazy! Sometimes, I wonder about myself. I have made one loaf of bread with my pet starter, and it tasted pretty good, but was a little bit heavy. I'll have to experiment with it and see what I can do to improve it! I'll let you know what happens-if I remember!

The Wearing O' The Green...Or Not

2008-03-17T21:08:00.000-05:00

Happy St. Patrick's Day! If you forgot to wear green today, consider yourself pinched! :-)

Juliana has been practicing the piano again tonight, in fact, she's playing right now! Her daddy got this little video of her.

Only three more days until Spring! YAY! Winter gets old after a week or so of it! Today started out kind of nasty and wet, but this afternoon when I went to do my piano lesson, it was sunny and about 64 degrees. Thank You, Lord! Maybe we'll be able to grow enough grass this week for Puddytat to hunt Easter eggs this Sunday. :-)

She's stopped playing the piano for now...she came in and climbed up on my lap to give me a kiss! Oh, the joys of being a mommy! Kisses dripping with drool, but you won't catch us turning them down, because our baby is telling us she loves us in the only way she knows how.

There Was A Little Girl...

2008-03-16T00:14:00.000-05:00

Who had a little curl, right in the middle of her forehead

And when she was good, she was very, VERY good

And when she was bad, she was HORRID!

How did the author of that little rhyme know my child so well? She is, most of the time, such a happy little girl - always grinning and charming the socks off of all but the very grumpiest citizens; but when she wants her way and doesn't get it? Run for cover!!

Yesterday, she figured out how to climb onto the piano bench all by herself! She dragged herself up there, perched on the edge of the bench, and proceeded to play. She did not want Mommy anywhere near her. She'd pound on the poor thing for a while, reach up, turn the page in the hymnbook, play some more, and so on. After a bit, she closed up the book, got down, got herself a pen, and climbed back up to play some more. I guess she was going to write her own music!

Here's a picture of our little virtuoso: (it's not very good quality because all I had handy to take it with was my phone)

In The Beginning...

2008-03-15T23:55:00.001-05:00

The Davis Family, at least this branch of it, began in the year 2002, when a girl named Gillian, the youngest of the six Graham kids, went to Bible college. She had lived most of her life in the state of Tennessee, where she was raised on a farm - a country girl, you could say.
A few months later, a young man from Oklahoma by the name of Brad also decided to attend the same Bible college. He was the oldest in his family, with a younger brother and sister, and (gasp!) a preacher's kid (you hear stories about these preacher's kids!).
I suppose you think you know the rest of the story...Boy meets Girl, they fall in love, they get married...And you're right!
On August 20th of 2004, they were married, and, they lived peacefully until November 28, 2006 when their daughter, Juliana, was born.
Things have not been peaceful since.