Praying for strength for Sarah

Sarah is going through a very hard time right now, she is alone, she has financial struggles and she is trying to raise 2 little boys by her self.  I know that there are often times that she is just worn out.  I know because I have been there before as a single mom to a small child....but I only had 1, she has 2.  I heard this song and thought of her, my prayer is that she will be strengthened by God in order to face the struggles that she has to face day to day.  I pray that she can be the best mother that Noah and Hunter could ever have asked for and that we can be the best grandparents and parents that we can be to them.  Praying for peace in her life.

He Knows My Name

We sang this song tonight in the choir and I absolutely love it.  The first time I heard the song was in 2002 right after the 9/11 Tragedy.  We were living in Bogalusa, Louisiana at the time.  Someone had made a video of all of the devastation from the Twin Towers along with this song.  How comforting it is to know that He knows MY name....little ole Kay.

Dwayne and I were talking tonight about how blessed we are to have found Lakeland First Baptist Church.  We feel so at home there.  The pastor, Chris Hodges, is great.  He breaks things down where it is easy to understand.  We have started a bible study through Abiding Above ministries called the Mailbox Club.  I am currently on Practical Christian Living.  Choir is wonderful.  Jim Avery, the music minister is hilarious, but he can really break a song down so you can truly understand the meaning.  Our kids love it, especially Austin.  We have been searching for a long time, and really feel that this is where the Lord wants us to serve.  We are thankful. 

I'm gonna float just a little bit longer

As summer comes to an end, I am trying to soak up as much of the sun as I possibly can.  I love our pool and even though it can be a pain in the tail sometimes, I get great pleasure out of just floating with a diet coke in my  hand and some WRVR on the radio - I know, I know!!!! But it is what I love to do.  It is so relaxing.  It won't be long before we have to start the process of "closing the pool".  It is such a sad and dreary time for me, so until the water gets so cold that I can't stand it, I will just keep on swimming.....ahhhh!

for Karen............

Not only are you and Kevin our cousins, we are blessed to call you friends.  We are praying for you as you go through this journey of cancer.  We are inspired by your bravery.  It is our prayer that our entire family and those that you come in contact with will grow in their spiritual walk with the Lord as you endure this. You are truly an inspiration. We love you.

Life verse for Sherry and Karen

Each of you got devastating news this week.  I was reminded of this tile that someone gave momma. This verse became her life's verse as she ventured into the unknown......unknown diagnosis, unknown treatment, unknown side effects, unknown prognosis, unknown pain.  She claimed this verse several times a day.  I had it laminated and put in her bathroom, on her night stand, on her end table by her "Magic Chair".  It was everywhere, but it was a constant reminder that the Lord is with you wherever you go, whatever you are going through.

Happy Birthday, Baby Girl

This is the cutest picture of my sweet Annabeth

Love those beachy waves in her hair

Paris, France....Ooh La La!

Sam, Natalie, Annabeth and Cori

Oh to be 14 all over again

the girlie girl cake

for Sherry........

I love you and I am praying for you as you go through this difficult time. Momma loved you and so do I.  You were always there for us, and I am here for you.

Austin is College Bound!!!!

Go Tigers Go!!!!!

As you probably already know, our household is completely Ole Miss fans.....~Hotty Toddy~!!!  BUT.....Austin received a full 4 year scholarship from the University of Memphis, so he chose to go where the money is.  He is going to major in technical theater.  All we really hope for him is that he is able to get a J-O-B!

Annabeth started school 3 weeks before Austin.  On her first day of school (along with first day of school for all of Austin's younger friends), he came downstairs and said "so I guess this is what grown up feels like....not going to school".  I said "no grown up is paying your own bills".  He is a good kid.  He works hard.  He has kept me laughing for 18 years, in fact it probably got him out of alot of spankings because of the laughter.  It is hard to yell at someone to put their laundry away when they have a big red clown nose on....and any time I try to correct him, he says in THAT   VOICE "But Mutha".....He makes me crazy, but I sure do love him.

I am hoping that he enjoys college life and makes us all proud.  Don't forget where you came from, son.

Sarah could sure use some prayers

Sarah is now separated and living alone for the first time in her life.  She is a single mom to two little boys, and things are very tight financially.  I told her we need to pray and hope for a "loaves and fishes" sort of miracle for her.

She has moved into a place that hopefully she can afford, it is about 25 minutes away from us, but only about 10 minutes from my dad, so at least there is family close by.  The place is really cute, we got everything moved in and things are starting to settle in place.

As you can imagine, when you are first going through a separation, you have anger, fear, sorrow, and loneliness.  I am just praying that she will get involved in a church and make some friends and that she and Noah and Hunter will grow and thrive.  I love her and those boys more than she will ever know.

Please remember them in your prayers. 

Annabeth's tattoo

Annabeth came to me and told me that she had gotten a tattoo just like Sarah's (her big sister).  I almost fell out when she pulled her top up and there were two little dolphins on her tummy.  She thought she was being so funny with her little temporary tattoo.

Annabeth's birthday is coming up

Well the baby girl is about to have her 14th birthday.  I cannot believe that 14 years ago I was on bed rest with pre-eclampsia at home, just waiting for the arrival of "our little souvenir from Gatlinburg".  I had had such a difficult time getting pregnant with Austin, and then she was a little surprise.....make that BIG surprise.  But God had a bigger, better plan, and I am so glad He did.

I was scheduled for a C-section August 26th, nurses were coming out to the house to check my blood pressure.  The nurse, Cheryl, came by on the morning of August 25th and my blood pressure was up yet again.  She made a phone call and before I knew it, I was off to the hospital.  Dwayne was at work so he left and headed to the hospital, so Momma took me to Baptist East.  The only thing was that momma had just washed and rolled her hair on all of those pretty little colorful rollers.  So in we rolled with Barbara's hair up in curlers. We probably looked like the hillbillies, I am sure.  Anyway, I had my sweet baby girl later that afternoon.

She was a very colicky baby......VERY COLICKY!!! And she eventually had tubes put in her ears at 3 months of age, so that played a huge part in her crying all of the time.  We always said that if she had been our first child, she would have been our last, ha!!! But ever since that time, she has been the quietest, sweetest child.  She is very much a people pleaser and never says a word.  I guess her lungs and her voice were tired from the first 3 months of her life :o)

Anyway, I am headed out to order a cake for the big 1-4.  My how the time has flown.

I love you baby girl!

   

What do these have in common?????

Dwayne!!!!!

He drives me nuts watching them both every night before bed....what a combination.

Do I look younger with shorter or longer hair?

If you have followed this blog for the last couple of years, you know that the struggle is real with trying to grow my hair out.  My girls both tell me that I look younger with longer hair.  It is still not really a "style" that I like and I still cannot achieve the same look two days in a row.  It is definitely a process.

I always had shorter hair because it was quick and easy and I needed that with chasing 3 little kids and working as a nurse with early, and long hours, but I gave in and decided to try to see if I could grow it out.

I asked Dwayne to remind me of this picture the next time I tell him that I am going to "wack my hair off"".

First Baptist Church Lakeland

On this day, we started a new chapter in our lives.  We, as a family, joined the congregation of First Baptist Church Lakeland.  They are a small congregation, they seem so kind and loving.  The pastor is Chris Hodges.  Dwayne had served doing fill in for the music minister at Berclair Baptist Church while Chris was interim pastor.  We are excited to see what the Lord has in store for us.  We really feel that we can grow and serve him in this place.  We really love the choir, we have been singing several weeks, before ever moving our letter.  We are making friends, Austin and Annabeth are making friends as well.  Annabeth is much more shy, so it will take her longer, I suppose, but they went to a swimming party this week and spent time with the youth and college kids as well as the teachers. 

Please keep our family in your prayers as we transition to a new church home.  We have been blessed since leaving Range Hills, so Dwayne could pursue singing with Servant's Heart Quartet.  We have made friends at Agape along the way, but have continued searching for a place that fit our needs and a place that could use our talents.  We will miss seeing our Agape friends on a weekly basis, but we are forever in the family of God together and will still see each other from time to time....and with social media, we will all still catch up with each other on Facebook and Twitter.

Our friends, Giles and Mandie Damron are visiting FBCL as well.  We love their family and are really enjoying spending time together with them too.

My 47th Birthday!

Well, here we are heading out to eat for my birthday dinner.  I must say that Dwayne really outdid himself with my birthday this year.  I even celebrated with a birthday week this time around.  We went on Tuesday night to Benihana (we had a $30 gift card - that helps).  Then on Thursday night (my actual birthday), my family all met at Dixie Cafe and we had supper together.  Dwayne got me a chocolate covered edible arrangement.  It was YUMMY!  Mrs. Conlee, my sweet mother-in-law, made me a homemade yellow cake with chocolate icing.  I got lots of sweet gifts....thank you to each of you for thinking of me.  I love you all.  To end the week, Dwayne and I went to Ruth's Chris steakhouse.  We can only afford to go 2-3 times a year, but we always go for special occasions.  It was great as always. 

Anyway, I want to publically thank my sweet, sweet husband for going all out this year.  You made me feel really special, and I love you for it. 

Getting ready for church on Noah's 3rd Birthday.

Noah and Hunter are all dressed and ready for Sunday School.



What can I say???  He is getting to be such a big boy.



This is probably THE BEST picture that I have ever taken of Hunter.  He is definitely losing that little baby look about him and starting to look like a little boy.  I love them both so much.

With everyone going back to school tomorrow, we thought they could try out their church "pack packs".  Noah loved it, Hunter....not so much.

Noah and Hunter spent the weekend with us

 

Sarah went out of town for the weekend and Hunter and Noah spent a few days with us.  They remind me of how old I really am.  I guess I just had more energy when my kids were little.  They sure keep me running.  It is funny to listen to them talk and really be able to communicate.  Noah loves to eat corn dogs from Sonic (or as he calls them, hot dog popsicles) and Hunter brought me a doll with a hat sewed on her head.  He said "Bae Bae Hat"!!!  I was so proud of him.  He has truly come a long way developmentally in the last few months.  I am thankful for the speech and physical therapists that work with him each week and help him to learn.

Hunter is such a sweet boy.  His excema is better.  He has a new physician, Dr. Kip Frizzell at LeBonheur Children's Hospital.  He did not just accept that it was excema, he did some further studying and feels like he has Mastocytosis.  Thankfully, there are medications to try to get it under control.  He looks like he feels so much better.

Noah is getting so tall and becoming such a sweet little boy.  I will admit that "mine", "my" and poking his lip out and crying are all a very big part of his vocabulary right now, but he is turning three in a couple of days, so I guess that is to be expected.  He still loves his PeePaw better than anything in the world.

Servant's Heart Quartet - working on a new CD

As you know, Dwayne sings baritone for Servant's Heart Quartet.  He loves doing it.  He truly feels that music is what the Lord called him to do 30 years ago. 

The group went through some hard times with the passing of Mark Carmack quite suddenly last fall, but in January, Kenneth Feathers was added to the group to sing bass.  He fits in quite nicely.

Jeff Hollaway, Lead

Dwayne Conlee, Baritone

Jimmy Azbill, Tenor

Kenneth Feathers, Bass

Special thanks to Scott Steele, of Steele Monkey Photography for taking these great pictures of the guys.

SHQ striking a traditional quartet post