VBS Set Up

It's that time of year again.....VBS!!

Saturday was a workday at church. We had a good turnout and got a lot done!

Luke & Danny painting banners...

Mike gets a castle doorway ready.....

Rocky is painting the walls to the Bible Story room. (He added a "stone look" later.)

Finishing touches on the banners....

Josh, Angie, Bear and Austin working at the drawbridge.

Out under the pavilion, the old sets from last year were getting a makeover. 

Zach & Jake did a good job painting...

Austin's working hard!

The little kids can't wait till they are big enough to paint! :)

Jeremy and Silas painting together.

Pierre

Tonight was another night of preparation. It was time to bring in the sets and get everything set up. All I can say is, we got some talented people in our church!! :) I am really looking forward to this week!

Danny photo bombs Jake's serious "knightly" pose!

Getting the dragon's chamber all ready! :)

This is the temporary room built in the back of the sanctuary where the kids will have their Bible lesson each night. The walls got the rest of their stones later! :)

Josh and Angie did a great job designing the drawbridge area. It will be complete with water and gator's tomorrow night!! :)

I get fun roles this year....the welcome table and I'm in charge of the Parent's lounge coffee and snacks.....and I'm sure a little photography thrown in there! :) :) 

If you are local, you are welcome each night from 6-8:30 PM. Classes for kids 3-12!! :) Fun times and a great drama, I'm sure!  :)

A Day at Mexico Beach

The first Friday of the month is Park Day for our home school group. This summer we decided to choose places we could swim. This past Friday we had Mexico Beach on the schedule. This was the first time we did a beach day for park day! :)

It looked like it wasn't going to suit many people, and we only ended up with 4 families, but there were still 19 children there!! :)

We stopped by the Pickron's on the way down, to drop off the string trimmer they loaned us. And we ended up taking Dylan along in our vehicle.

We were the first ones there, so we got to pick a spot and get settled in!

Danny, Dylan and Tamara wasted no time getting in the water (after the sunscreen was applied)!! 

We watched in jealousy as people went para-sailing :)

The guys are so unsociable! ;) Ok, not really....

Titus, Sylas and Julya had fun playing with sand toys.

The big boys take a break for supper.

And back in the water they go! 

There were some nice size waves that were fun to ride, but the water was so brown from all the rain we've been having and then all the rivers flowing into the Gulf! :(

Julya was having a blast catching water in her mouth!! :)

My Mom friends....Jill Smith, Brandy Hunter and Kay Pickron. (poor Hannah, on the far left, was not feeling well! :( )

Danny took a picture of Roy sleeping and then posted it on facebook! :D 

I laughed as I watched Faith walk up to these two boys and shake her finger at them while jabbering a whole row! They looked quite stunned! ;)

Kayla taking pics of the sunset....

And Ashley doing the same....I'd love to see the shots they got!

Hi Dan!! :) And look who woke up! :)

The guys behind them were getting set up for shark fishing! Just as we were ready to leave at dusk, they caught one and after reeling for a long while, it got away! :P
 They used kayaks to take the bait anywhere from 1/2 - 1 mile out! That's a long way to reel in if you do get a bite!!

Goodbye Mr. Sun!

Tamara and her friend, Shaunna Hunter

It was a good day. Made it even more perfect since it was Dan's day off!! :) This was the first beach trip we took this summer!! And hopefully not the last!

{Wedding Bells}

Today was the first wedding I was ever at that the bride and groom were in their 80's!! :)

It was the special day of Emmanuel Troyer and Martha Byler.

Martha was a widow from our church and Emmanuel was from South Carolina.

Earlier in the week, we were not sure the wedding was going to happen. ON Wed. morning we got a call that Martha was taken to Bay Medical Hospital because she couldn't breathe. Soon after that we heard that she was bleeding internally and the doctor said to call the family! That sounded scary!!

Turns out that she has congestive heart failure, but she rallied and was doing better and was able to come home yesterday. :)

The wedding was held at our church, Red Oak. It was simple, but lovely!!

Cute cake! :) Love the precious moments topper!

This picture shows my role in the wedding....

Martha asked the ladies from church who were not related to her, to work in the kitchen! There are only 5 of us!! :) Alma Nissley did a great job organizing everything and being in charge. My job was to mix the punch and keep the punch and water dispensers full, and keep cups filled as I could, to help the line move faster. Other's pitched in and helped and I think it all flowed smoothly! I wish I had counted how many times I had to refill the punch dispenser!! :O It was a hit! (white grape juice and ginger ale mixed)

 Since Martha was just in the hospital, they had a wheelchair ready for her! I thought it was cute how they decorated it! :)

One of Martha's sons and his wife and son sang the processional!

So bummed that the next two pics got blurry. :(

I thought it was so cute how Emmanuel held her hand as they walked the aisle! :)

MARRIED!!! <3

Mr. & Mrs. Emmanuel Troyer!! :)

Their bridal party was Martha's daughter Kathy & Rich Mast and Emmanuel's son, David & Martha Joy Troyer.

~ Martha & Emmanuel ~

Yep, even 80 year old's get their car decorated!! :)

What a lovely day! 

A Summer Day

This morning the kids and I and Danny's friend Dylan went to do some string trimming and raking for a sweet friend. We started early so it wouldn't get so hot. Even though I was mostly working in the shade, after only 2 hours, I was soaked!! :P But it was fun! Work is always more enjoyable with friends!! :)

Danny goes on string trimming, oblivious to the danger behind him! :)

Tamara helped me and my friends daughter, Bethany, rake the back yard. There wasn't much grass, just lots and lots of leaves and sticks! We made piles, then raked them onto a tarp and then worked together to carry the heavy tarp-loads to the woods. 

On the way to take Dylan home, we came up behind a vehicle that was transporting a deer family, I believe! ;) Not sure how they all fit since it was a small SUV! :)

Then after coming home and getting freshened up, we went to our RHE (Riverbend Home Educator's) board meeting. It's always a fun time. I have the best home school mom's to work with!! They have been such a huge source of encouragement to me! I treasure these times. :) 

~~17 Years of Growing Love~~

17 Years ago, I promised to love this man, through thick and thin! :)

I was young (18 years young) and had a lot of growing to do....probably still do!

But I had no idea how much marriage would help me to grow, and would shape my future! 

There were times when I wondered what 20 years from then would look like.

I know one thing...it's much better than I expected! :)

I am so thankful that God brought Dan & I together. There is no doubt in my mind that we were made for each other. While most couples are opposites, Dan and I are not, in most areas, but we are in a few!

He has been such an encourager and has pushed me out of my comfort zone (many times), moved me to different lands (haha, okay just a different state) and is a great dad to our kids!

I am so excited to see what our future holds and I am happy to be traveling this journey with Dan!! 

Life is great!! :)

July 13, 1996

2013

Happy Anniversary, my Love!! 

Cheers to many more years together! :)

~Our Life~

 It's been awhile since I did much blogging, so I thought I'd share a few pictures of life in the past week or so...

The moon was so pretty last week over full moon. I thought it looked neat through the flowers on our crepe myrtles. Of course if I knew more about photography I could have figured out how to get focused on the moon. :)

This one turned out surprisingly well for not using a tripod.

This summer, Gulf CI is hosting two interns again. We had them over for the customary homemade pizza and Apples to Apples. :) It's always interesting meeting these young guys and hearing about where they are from, their families and their goals! :) 

One of Danny's summer jobs....keeping the pool clean! :)

One afternoon as a storm was approaching I sat on the porch and noticed this odd cloud. I think it's what they call a wall cloud!?? It moved fast...

More stormy skies, but I took it for the crepe myrtle's. I love how they brighten up the landscape (and hide the shop next door)  :)

We spent a half hour one afternoon picking blueberries at a local patch. They are so sweet!

I love having fresh berries in my freezer.....

...to make snacks like this! :) Blueberry cobbler with cinnamon cool whip! And of course, a cup of coffee! 

Sunday afternoon, there were storms rumbling around us. I noticed out my bedroom window that the sun wash shining, but it was really dark to the east. That is usually a sign there might be a rainbow. As I stepped out on the porch to check, I saw that there was a light mist falling....it looked so beautiful! 

And sure enough, there was the rainbow!! It was actually a double, but the second one didn't show up well on my pics! :P

So then I called Dan and Tamara out and we had to take some pictures under the rainbow! :)

Sunday was an interesting day. Let me back up to one day last week. 

Chaplain Kleiser, who works at a prison 30 minutes north of here, is retiring in a week. They had a retirement party for him and since Dan's boss couldn't go, he asked Dan to go to represent Gulf CI chaplains. Chaplain Kleiser is taking on a church  {Providence Baptist} now that he is retiring and he invited us to come visit. Well, Sunday was the 5th Sunday and it was a good opportunity for us to go, since neither of us had responsibilities at our church.

The older I get, the less I mind going to new places {churches} but I still don't love being the "stranger"! When we got to the church, the first person we see is out UPS driver! :) Then the hostess took us to our SS room. It was a young couples class and we were the first ones in the room, other than the teacher (and we were late!) Everyone was real friendly as they came to class and made introductions! And then wouldn't you know, but in walks Jonn and Anh Darbyshire. Jonn is another volunteer chaplain under GEMS and also worked for Chaplain Kleiser at ACI. 

Jonn and Anh have a son and daughter close to our kids ages, so I knew our kids were probably thrilled that someone they knew showed up!! :)

We enjoyed the service and stayed for their noon meal of burgers and hot dogs and much more scrumptious food!! :) {I think they rival the Mennonites in cooking!!} :)

When we were about to leave, Jonn told us that he and his son were going fishing in Appalachicola, by the gulf, on Monday and they wanted to know if Danny could just spend the night with them and go fishing with them the next day. So they brought him home to get clothes and off he went.

It was a quiet Sunday and Monday with him gone....not that he makes a lot of noise! :)

Turns out, after fishing he went back to their place and spent last night there too. Sometime this afternoon I will meet Anh and pick him up! They live about 40 min. east of us!!

 I'm sure he's having lots of fun, but I am starting to miss him! :) I can't imagine how it will be next year if he goes on a Teen Missions trip, like he is hoping to!!

Life is great, and God's been good!! :)