Major Updating!

Ok, so it has been awhile! I blog by bullets to get everyone up-to-date! Here goes!

* 4/18/09: Jared and Casey went to the Alabama A-Day game. I did not go because I was sick with a sinus infection and was not up for a day in the sun!

*4/24/09: Jared and I went to Indian Creek Youth Camp's Walk-Fest.

*4/25/09: Joseph came home! We went to Xander's baseball game and then, as promised, Joseph took Xander (and me, Jared, and Pam) to Chuck E. Cheese! We had a blast! Then we went back to Mama and Daddy's to hang out. Joseph taught Xander how to shoot a BB gun safely.













*5/1/09: Girl's Night at Sumo and then to see Bride Wars. We had fun! The chef's were too friendly if you catch my drift. I did catch a shrimp in my mouth that the chef tossed at me! I don't think I've ever done that before!

*5/3/09: On the way back from Ragland it was storming so badly that you couldn't see the road. It was scary! I was trying to be brave to keep Xander from freaking out, but I wasn't doing a good job at it. Xander asked mama why the wind was so angry. She laughed and told him to pray to God if he was scared. He folded his little hands, bowed his head, and scrunched up his eyes, and prayed. He looked up and said, "It didn't work!" Patience is something we all need to learn!
Here's another Xander moment. It happened sometime around this same time. We were driving passed this girly shop near Pam's house and I mentioned that I have always wanted to go in there, but never have. Xander asked me what was in there and I told him purses and girl stuff. He said, "Emily, one day, I'm gonna get my money from my piggy bank, then go over to Pam's, and you can come too, and then I'm gonna ask Pam to drive us to this store, and I'm gonna buy you whatever you want!" *Insert Xander's charming grin*

*5/10/09: Happy Mother's Day to the greatest mama ever!
Randy and Tara Nel came to visit and spend the night!

*5/11/09: Jared and I took Andy and Jenny out for their birthdays to Iguana Grill.

*5/14/09: Xander graduated from preschool!





*5/15/09: Jared and I went to Brundidge to visit his family. We ate dinner at The Barn! Yum!

*5/16/09: The Sanders' family gave Jared's cousin Katie, a family bridal shower! It was so nice to see everyone. We played the Newlywed Game and Jared and I came in 2nd place!

*5/17/09: Pam flew to Scottland for a mission trip!

*5/21/09: Addi's kindergarten celebration! Xander loved her show and wanted to be in it! After the program, the kids climbed the climbing wall in the school gym. Xander told Jared he was Spiderman!






*5/22/09: Jared dropped off his parents, granny, and aunt and uncle at the airport. They went to Maryland and Washington for his great Aunt Beulah Mae's 90th birthday party.


*5/23/09: Sylvan Springs Churh of Christ Graduation Banquet! Chris graduated from college. Maybe he will get a job in Birmingham??? Alex graduated from PGHS. Alex had been my buddy that has riden to school with my for five years. I am so proud of him and all that he has accomplished and will accomplish! He's a super young man!


*5/24/09: Jared and I picked up Andy and Jenny from the airport. They had spent a week with Jenny's family in Belize!


*5/25/09: Memorial Day! Jared and I went to visit with Ms. Graham. She is the sweetest lady! She gave me a box full of materials for my Bible class! Next we went to pick up Xander. He had just had lunch with his family. He got in the car and said, " I had a dream about Pam last night." (Pam has been in Scottland for a week.) I said, "Really? What was your dream about?" He said, "Pam got off of the plane and walked up to me, but she didn't hug me. She just took my picture! I said, Pam, where is my surprise from Scottland? And she didn't answer me, she just kept takinf my picture!" I told him that he was gonna go with us to pick Pam up at the airport that night. When Pam called, I told her about Xander's dream. So when we got to the airport Pam had her camera ready, walked up to Xander and just took his picture. He just kept staring at her and wouldn't say anything! It was funny! Anyhow, after we picked up Xander and went to mama and daddy's to have lunch with the Glenn's. It was so good to see the cousins and all! Xander and Chandler had a ball together. Later that evening we went to pick Pam up from the airport. She brought back lots of goodies! Xander got gummies from Scottland. They were kind of good, but had some weird flavors. Black currant??? She also got him two Mr. Men books. She had trouble finding toys over there. She got dad a plaque of our Glenn family crest. She got mama a necklace that is a heather plant smashed into a gemlike stone and also got herself the same thing but as a bracelet. She got Joseph a suit and it is very handsome! She got Jared a tie from St. Andrews, the first golf course ever made. She got me a purse from Harrod's in London and I love it! She also brought back tons of chocolate for us to try as well as several bags for her students to taste and some listerine tasting gum (powerful!) We were proud of all of the work she did and was also glad to see her come home!


*5/27/09: Pam's 28th birthday!

*5/25/09: We went to Xander's last game. His team was 2nd in the league. We brought Addi and Levi while their parents went to Alex's graduation. Xander hit a line drive that resulted in a triple (I fought tears I was so proud!), made a run, hurt his hand, but got on base anyway. The ump gave him the one of the game balls. He had played a double header and was ready for the second game to be over about a third of the way into it. He cried, but I was proud he stuck with it (at one point he was ready to walk off the field and go home, but with much bribing and coaxing he finished:) ) I made good on my promise. One thing from the concession stand if he hit the ball (turned out to be that line drive I was talking about) and two things if he got on base (he got out trying to get to home plate)! So, after the game, Jared went to the concession stand and came back with Sour Straws and an Airhead, as requested! Then his family took him out for ice cream and we headed over to the church for Alex's graduation party.

*5/29/09: Jared and I went to the church and began turning the classroom into the whale/great fish's belly. Then it was off to the airport, yet again, to pick up his parents and crew. We ate dinner with them at Chili's and then they all headed home.

*5/30/09: Jared and I worked on our classroom for VBS, ran some errands, and then we all had lunch at the Cheesecake Factory for Pam's birthday. Then, back to the church to keep getting ready for VBS. Stopped to go to Joe Garrison's graduation celebration (he's a paramedic now) at his house. When we were leaving the Garrison's we got a treat from the ice cream truck and headed back to the church building and worked til midnight!

*5/31/09: I taught all the kid's Bible class (with much help) outside on picnic blankets so they would not see the classrooms until that night. It was a nice treat and another way we got the kids excited for VBS! We worked on the classrooms all afternoon and then it was FINALLY time for Vacation Bible School! Jared, Casey, Pam, Ms. Graham, and I acted out the story of Jonah and the whale. We had so much fun!

*6/1/09: Jared and my 7th wedding anniversary! We went out to eat at Ruby Tuesday, saw Night at the Museum 2, did a little shopping, and then went to VBS. We enjoyed spending the day together!

*6/2/09: I began a two week math workshop.

*6/3/09: The last night of VBS. Ned the Neighbor brought Jared (as a dentist) to VBS!

*6/5 & 6/09: Pam, Jared, and I went to watch Cousin Brianna play in an All-Stars softball tournament in Hueytown. She lots both games, but she is still a great ball player! Go Wild Thangs!


*6/7/09: After dad preached at Ragland, we were on our way to Golden Rule for lunch. Mama said, "Daddy's paying!" Xander looked at dad and said, "Oh man! I meant to bring my money! I was going to buy you lunch for once, Mr. Marty!"


*6/12/09: I finished my last day of the math workshop and then we headed to Brundidge for Jared's dad's birthday and for Father's Day! We ate at The Barn again! Delicious!


*6/15/09: Maddie, Ian, and Hannah came over so Katie could take Jennifer to the doctor. I hope Jennifer's morning sickness goes away soon! The kids were great...except for when Maddie peed on the floor! Just kidding! That night we went to eat at Chili's with Pam. Then, when we tried to get into Target it felt like a monsoon hit. It was only a thunderstorm, but felt like the eye of a tornado! We barely, but soaking wet, made it into Target where the power kept flickering on and off! We met an interesting lady in the bathroom that shared waaay tooo much info! It was funny though!

*6/16/09: We had a devo at David and Susan Courington's house. We enjoyed ourselves so much we stayed until 10:30 pm. We stayed so late we decided to let Xander spend the night. He tried to weasle his way into sleeping right between Jared and I, but ended up on the bed on the floor. He woke up at 3:45 am (after going to bed at 1 am) and said, "Hey! A noise woke me up, so I decided to wake ya'll up!" Jared replied with "Thanks! Now go back to bed!" lol Then he woke up at 5:45 am, and said, "Hey! It's light outside! Time to get up!" I convinced him to go back to sleep and then we all got up at 8. He is the cutest thing!!!!

*6/17-19/09: I've been packing for camp and Jared has been sanding and varnishing Pam's hardwood floors with her.


*6/20/09: Tomorrow is Joseph's 26th birthday! We are all going down to Montgomery to see him and his new place! We are, of course, taking Xander with us! We are taking him out to Red Robin and taking him shopping and then coming back home because tomorrow starts camp and it's Father's Day! So, Happy Father's Day to the best daddy in the world!

Erica & Me and Hannah Montanna

Monday, April 13, 2009, we were out of school! I woke up feeling terrible! I promised Erica we would go see the Hannah Montanna movie. All of her little friends saw it while we were at L2L, so we just had to go! It was such a cute movie plus I got to see it with ERICA! I especially love HM's new song, "The Climb!" While we saw HM, Jared and Dillion saw "Paul Blart, Mall Cop" at the dollar theatre. We had a good time!






That night our power went out and did not come back on until Wednesday afternoon. We lost everything in our fridge and both freezers! Oh well, "Life's a climb!"

Lads-to-Leaders 2009

On Thursday, April 9,2009, we set off for the annual L2L convention in Nashville, Tn at the Opryland Hotel.
Daddy, mama, Aunt Kendra, Dillion, Erica, Pam, Xander, Jared, and I set off for Nashville! First stop was for brunch at Cracker Barrel in Cullman.

Our next stop was the Opry Mills mall in Nashville. We walked around there until our rooms were ready.






We rode the carousel at the mall. I started out with Erica in the spinning tea cup thing, but had to get off. Between being sick and spinning in circles I about lost my lunch! Jared was laughing at me. He wondered why I got on that one when the spinning tea cups at Disney made me sick! It was bad!





We took pictures by the fountain and outside the Bass Pro Shop on the rocks!









After we left the mall, we went to eat dinner at Cock of the Walk.







Friday, April 10, 2009
We watched Addi do her Oral Bible Reading. Then Hannah decided to "read" and then she got up again and started to preach to us, and then she got up and led her song, "God is so Good" which she was to lead the next day! She is too funny!
Xander was so excited to wave to us from the balcony of our room!
After Addi's Bible Reading, mama, Aunt Kendra, and I took the kids to watch some puppet shows, one of which Alissa was in!
Afterwards, it was time for Erica to do her Oral Bible Reading. She was so nervous, but still got a triple A rating! I was so proud of her for overcoming her fear and doing a wonderful job!
That evening was an award's ceremony. Dillion received his trophy for Advanced Bible Reading. I was so proud of him, too!





After the awards ceremony, we went for ice cream!







Saturday, April 11, 2009
Xander led his song despite being nervous because it was not at "our" church. Enjoy the many faces of Xander as waits for his turn. He was #9 out of 17. There were five rooms of K-2 boys song leading with over 17 in each room! That's a nice picture for the future our the Lord's church! Then we ate dinner in the hotel at their food court type area.











Sunday, April 12, 2009
After morning worship services we were to meet some of Pam's friends at Bob Evans for brunch. We had to wait a little, which was perfectly ok, by the way, so we headed over to Cooter's Garage of Nashville! Now you know Jared and I HAVE to go to a Cooter's garage if we are near one!


That evening, we made it back to church at home, Sylvan Springs C. of C. Jared or Pam or Aunt Kendra got ahold of my camera and took these pics of the church kids. I didn't even know it until I went to upload my photos. I'm glad whoever did so. I love these kids as if there were my own!

Easter Egg Hunt

On Sunday, April 5, 2009, Jared and I had an Easter egg hunt for my Bible class and a few others. We were supposed to have it at our house, but it rained so we ended up having it at the church building. Jared hid eggs in the foyer, nursery, and auditorium. We had a good time!
Jared and I both left our house keys in our car, which was at my parent's house. We had gone to church with them to Ragland that morning. We were running behind because church starts later there, so we went straight to our house to get the supplies for the egg hunt (we rode with my parents.) We had Xander with us. We broke into a window at our house. We put Xander in through the window of our bathroom in our bedroom in hopes that he would run through the house and open the door for us. Well, he is a scaredy cat! We had to coax and beg and bribe him! First, he turned the bathroom light on...beg, coax, bribe... Next, he ran into the bedroom and we were like "Oh yeah, he's gonna do it now!" False alarm! He turned on the bedroom light and then ran back to the bathroom window! Coax, beg, and bribe... he whines a little... we tell him he has to save the Easter egg hunt...he thinks...he tells us he's scared of the dark. Mama says she will give him her cell phone to use as a light. I then remember that I have a flashlight in my nightstand drawer, which is visible from the window. He goes to the nightstand, but can't open the drawer! I tell him to go to the other side of the bed to Jared's nightstand and open that drawer because there's also a flashlight in there. With a little fumbling, he finally got the drawer opened, grabbed the flashlight, and ran back to the window! Yay! Now...a little more coaxing- he's super hero afterall, so he can do this! Dad tells Xander he will knock on the door so he can follow the sound. Xander reluctantly goes out of the bedroom door...and then comes running back saying that the knocking is scaring him! We told him we would stop, but that he needed to hurry or we would be late to the egg hunt! Finally, he runs to the door and starts yanking on it...wrong door... he runs to the other one frantically yanking and...the door opens!!! Dad tells Xander that he is so brave and has saved the Easter egg hunt! Xander replies, "I'm not brave, I'm scared of the dark!" What are we gonna do with him?
In the chaos, I left my camera, so these photos are from my phone. The quality is not that great, but you still can see the smiles on the kids faces!

Cassie's 3rd & Anthony's 1st Birthday

On Saturday, April 4, 2009, Jared and I went to Sylacauga for Cassie and Anthony's birthday party at one of the parks there. We had a good time! It was nice to see them all!

Xander's Baseball Game

On Friday, April 3, 2009 we went to the PG complex to watch Xander play baseball. His team is the Lugnuts! Funny name! He got one hit and made it to first base! At his first game, he made a hit and won the game ball! He was fun to watch! I think he's part boy part SpiderMan!

Survivor Retreat 2009

On March 27-28, 2009, our church, Sylvan Springs Church of Christ, held our 4th annual Survivor Retreat! Due to the threat of tornado weather, we decided to have the retreat at the church building instead of the camp (ICYC). The theme this year was the book of Joshua. This is an excellent way for our members to grow together, to be more unified and therefore, ready "to go into all the world to teach!"We had tons of fun and learned a lot from God's Word!

Team Oxen


Team Sheep


Team Donkey


Maddie and I singing in the storm shelter


"Keeping the Spoils"


Biblical Scavenger Hunt




The Relay Event

Small Town Goodness

We spent the weekend with Jared's family in Brundidge. We arrived Friday night to eat with the Sanders at a really cute and tasty restaurant in Goshen called "The Barn." It really is in a real live barn. Actually, it is one that Jared's dad and brothers played in and jumped from the loft in. Don't worry, it is nice and clean inside and out. :) There is a big window that faces the back of the barn where you can look out and see an old boat pulled up to the back of the barn. It is filled with water and has goldfish swimming in it. Clever, don't you think? I just loved it! There is a light that shines on it at night so you can see the the fish swimming. The food was EXCELLENT! I had steak, asparagus (fried and grilled because I couldn't make up my mind to which I wanted so the waitress said I'll give you half of each), and country potatoes with cheese (they do not normally come with cheese, but they will add it. I heard Jared's uncle say add cheese and I asked him what did he put cheese on and he said the potatoes, so I told him I was getting that, too.) They know all the Sanders because they eat there on Friday nights pretty regularly plus they grew up there. After we ate, we went out to the big porch full of swings and rocking chairs and visited some more. It was a nice evening! I say all of this to say this, if you are near Goshen, you MUST try this place, it will not disappoint!
Also, if you are ever in Troy, AL, you need to eat at the "Mossy Oak" restaurant. It is in a small, old, one-room school house. It, too, is a rare treat with great food!

Church Signs

I love to read church signs. Sometimes they make you think, sometimes they make you laugh, and sometimes they cause you to raise your eyebrow. I pass half a dozen church signs on my daily drives to and from work. Two of my favorite churches have "goodies" on their signs right now. When I say favorites, I mean that in the sense that they put a more eyebrow raising saying up than most other churches.

Church #1

"Dusty Bibles leads to dusty lives"

The grammatical error has irked me everytime I read it and I read it every time I pass it hoping someone has read this out loud and realized their error!
Also, church #1 has had my all-time favorite saying ever:

"Read the Bible, it'll scare the hell out of you!"


Church #2

"Kite Sunday
Come fly high with Jesus!"

I'm curious if this is a poor judgement on the sign writer's part or if I will drive by Sunday and see a bunch of kites! I'll keep you posted because I know my readers (what readers?) are on the edge of your seats with curiousity as well!
*UPDATE* They added this to the sign "Free kite for every child"
I was not in town to see the kite extravaganza, but with the updated sign I must conlude they really were so corny as to actually fly kites!
And David... I must not forget your "goody"...and I say this in a loving way...bless your heart...

"Denial is not just a river in Egypt"

Heaven is Rejoicing

A few hours ago, a great, christian man, example, and leader of God's kingdom received his heavenly reward! Our very good friend, Kenneth Crowe, was tragically killed. He has been the ONLY man at Ragland Church of Christ for many years. He has scheduled preachers and young men to preach for every Sunday morning service for years. He leads the singing, prays, teaches class, and serves the Lord's supper to a small group of women that worship there. Many of our men preach there from time to time, mostly my dad, Paul, Casey, and Alex. This was my first church home. My dad was the preacher there when he was in college and stayed there for eight years. In the last 9 or so years, my dad has continued preaching for the people there every first Sunday of the month. These people are like family to us. The last time I talked to him was a few weeks ago to tell him dad was out of surgery. He told me that he was proud of me and that he loved me. Mr. Crowe has called to check on my dad several times since. He sent my dad the kindest card and note a couple of weeks ago. It doesn't seem fair that someone like him should lose his life when he was so heavily depended on by the church there. What will happen to the church there? They cannot afford a preacher. I know he has received his reward for his dedication to the Lord's work; however, he will be greatly missed! His son, who used to help him until he became a preacher, called and told my dad that his dad always said, "If anything ever happens to me, I want Marty to do my funeral." It will not be easy! Please keep the Crowe family in your prayers, as well as, Ragland Church of Christ!

Snow Fell on Alabama

James Spann blogged it, therefore I kinda believed it. I was up late Saturday night, probably because I had been sick and had slept a lot, making me not tired or because of the possible snow, at any rate, I was up. I would frequently get up and look out the window, in hopes of snow, but by 12:30 a m, there was still no snow, so I fell asleep. Around 5 a m, I woke up, checked out the window, and there it was...snow!!! James Spann had not let me down! I crawled back in bed, tempted to wake Jared to tell him, and then deciding he would find out soon enough, and drifted back to sleep. At 7 a m, I wake to my cell phone ringing. Pam is exclaiming over the snow, so I peeked out the window again and to my amazement there was a lot of snow! It was falling in big flakes and it was absolutley beautiful! I love snow! Winter is my favorite season! Jared jumped out of bed and looked out another window, as I ran to every window in the house to see the view from different parts of the yard. We hurriedly got dressed and ready for church. It was the beginning of our gospel meeting and what a way start! We made it to church safely. Excitement filled the church. After church, young and old alike met outside (before the fellowship meal) and had a joyous time throwing snowballs and making snowmen and just running around with the snow falling! After lunch, we played some more until it was time for the singing and second service. What a memorable time we all had, with our sisters and brothers in Christ, playing in the snow, fellowshipping with one another, and worshipping God! Who could ask for more?
I must brag on my home congregation here for a minute. I could not have been prouder as I entered church Sunday morning and noticed that most everyone was there! I mean our crowd was not slim in the least! Now I know it was not possible for some to make it and even at that, there was hardly anyone missing! It said a lot to me.
Our gospel meeting was uplifting.
In other news, my dad had an EXCELLENT report from the doctor on Wednesday! God has blessed my dad tremendously through everything he has been through in the last month. He has beat the odds and recovered sooner than expected at best case! He will even start back to work on Monday! Please continue to keep him in your prayers because it will not be easy for him for many reasons, but I have faith that he will do fine! Please pray that everything he has to adjust to will be smooth for him! Thanks!
Enjoy the pictures from our snow day!