Today, Rana and mom took the kids to have their Easter pictures made.  There were so many good pictures, (says the proud Aunt) that I had to post a few.  Here's Laura and Daniel - Easter 2010. 

Aren't they just the cutest?  Thanks for letting me show off my niece and nephew!!!

Tea Time

Hello friends!  I thought that in honor of Spring I should change my background to something a little more "cheery".  This has been an unbelievably busy week so I am finally getting around to posting about our Mission Tea.  Our Mission Tea is so much fun but it is A LOT of work.  I even took the day off from work last Friday to get ready.  Christy and I spent the whole day getting everything ready for our table and helping to prepare the food.  Well, here it is.... (Click on the pictures to see them larger but be sure and "back" out of them - don't hit the x or you will close the website and have to start over)

This is the way our Tea works:  Anyone can volunteer to host a table - a "table" includes 8 places to set.  You can set it however you want to.  Then, during the tea, you serve your table a meal, dessert and, of course, tea.  The tickets are $10 each and all of the money is donated to the Annie Armstrong Easter Offering which is the North American Missions offering for Southern Baptists.  This year was another sell out.  We even had a Christian comedian for entertainment.  He was awesome.  I'm just sorry that my picture taking skills weren't better so that I could've shown you the details on each table.  Here is my mom's table.  She did a great job - as always. 

The is my good friend Teresa and her table.  Teresa and I have been friends ever since we met in the church nursery.  I've known her for quite a while! 

Here's a better look at her table.  She had the cutest teapot napkin rings that I wish I had taken a picture of.

I absolutely loved this campfire themed table.  I wish you could see the details on this table too. 

Let's hope that my picture taking skills improve a little bit after my photography class.  OH, I almost forgot to tell you... Scott bought me a DSLR camera.  I haven't used it yet. 
Check out their s'more party favors...

There were so many absolutely beautiful tables that I can't possibly post pictures of all of them.  There were elegant tables and there were themed tables.  One of our ladies even did a Wizard of Oz table.  She worked very hard on all of her pieces.  Here is a picture before the madness...

 And during....  Check out all of those Red Hat ladies.

Don't adjust your television....that really IS Christy serving tea.  

Here's Mrs. Judy (Christy's mom) talking to Rana (my sister-in-law)...

I'll close with a picture of The Three Stooges...Me, Deanna and Christy

On the next episode:  I am painting signs for the church Easter egg hunt.  Christy and I volunteered to do an extra shift and clean the church this weekend.  My mother-in- law sent Scott an email Sunday that she will be coming to visit this weekend.  Stay tuned...

Happy Birthday Christy!

Boy, am I tired.  It has been an exhausting weekend for me.  Saturday was a very important day because it was our "Mission Tea" at church - where we raise money for North American missions AND it was my friend Christy's birthday.  Now....I won't say which birthday it was but I'd like to share some pictures....

This is a picture of Christy taking a nap.  I took this picture because I couldn't stop laughing at how she was sleeping with her right hand all twisted up.  This was taken back in high school while we were on vacation with my parents at Fripp Island, SC.   

Here's a picture of us getting a basketball player's autograph.  Christy's mom took us to see the ACC All Star basketball players at Wingate University.  Her mom was always chauffuering us somewhere...  (Thanks Mrs. Judy!)

If you don't hear from me within a reasonable amount of time....please come looking for me.  Christy is going to kill me after she sees that I posted this photo.  This is our most hated photo.  This is one of those photos where she stretched her arm out and took the picture.  No one ever looks good in those.  Check out my big green glasses.  Aren't they radical?!

Here's Christy and our good friend Deanna at our high school graduation.  This picture is proof that Christy did graduate from high school.  To the left of Christy is her dad Lee.  To the right of Deanna is a guy that Christy had a crush on.  That was just dumb luck that he walked behind the camera.  He didn't know that either one of us existed.

And here we are on her wedding day.  Doesn't she look beautiful?  The photographer told me to take my glasses off so I'm pretending that I can see. 

So there you have it.  I am sure that my phone will be ringing shortly.

I'll post pictures from the tea party next time.  OH and I wanted to tell you that the radio is magically working in my alarm clock again.  It just needed a good punch.  I am so just like The Fonz.  Aaaayyyyy!  

Time Change

When I was in the 6th grade, I went to Cathy Wingard's house.  Cathy was one of the smartest kids in our class. Cathy was doing her homework while listening to the radio.  I thought that was so cool!  So, I went home and asked mom if Santa could bring me a clock radio for Christmas.  Or maybe it was my birthday.  Either way, ta-da

This is my General Electric clock radio that I got in the 6th grade.  When I got my GE, Ronald Reagan was President, Michael Jackson was black and Jim & Tammy Faye's dog still lived in an air conditioned doghouse.  My GE has woken me up for a lot of very important events.  It woke me up on the day of 8th grade graduation, my Senior Prom (Christy was my date), the day I met Scott, my Grandma's funeral, our wedding day, the day we adopted Sadie and Greta, TUESDAY....

Yesterday, I overslept.  I was a little confused because I didn't remember hitting the snooze button.  Oh well, I didn't think much about it until last night.  I went to set my clock and realized that the radio didn't work anymore.  How can this be?  I refuse to use the "beeper".  The few times that I accidentally set the beeper, I woke up wanting to kill someone.  I think that the beeper sounds much too rude. 

The clock still works. Where does this leave me?  How do I go on without GE?  Time will tell....

Wordless Wednesday - Scott

Everything Glorious

I took advantage of the warm and sunny weather yesterday to stake out a bluebird nest that is right outside of my window. 

Here's one of the current residents.  You may have to double-click the photo to actually see the bird.  I sure could use a SLR camera....

My 2nd favorite author (Jane Austen is my favorite) has to be Max Lucado.  I love his writing style AND it is no easy feat to keep the attention of my hyperactive brain.  Last week, I decided to reread one of his books that I read several years ago called "Cure for the Common Life"

I had forgotten just how awesome this book is.  All of my life I have tried so hard to hide my differences from everybody.  I just wanted to be like everyone else.  BUT, God "prepacked" me.  He looked at my entire life, determined my assignment and gave me the tools to do the job.  (I'm semi plagiarizing here.)

So basically, what I think of as being "weirdness", God calls uniqueness and he wants us to use our uniqueness to fulfill his purpose in our lives.  You are very important (me too).  "If you aren't you, we don't get you and the world misses out."  Think about what ways you are unique.

This brings to mind a song by one of my favorite bands, The David Crowder Band.  Here's the chorus to their song "Eveything Glorious":

You make everything glorious,
You make everything glorious,
You make everything glorious,
And I am Yours,
WHAT DOES THAT MAKE ME?

Meet Our Kids

I'm sure that all of you will be surprised to hear that Scott and I "have" kids. Here's our girl...

I know what you're thinking... She takes after my side of the family.  And our boy...

Yep, all me.  Actually these aren't the most recent pictures of them BUT they were the easiest to get to.   Thein, "our girl", lives in Myanmar.  We sponsor her through World Vision.  We have been sponsoring her for almost 10 years.  She really does take after me.  "How" you ask?  Her report cards always say that her grades are fair and she is an average student.

Surja lives in East India.  He writes really great letters.  Surja loves school and going to church.  He hates when the elephants stampede through his town!  He is 15 years old now.  We sponsor him through Compassion International.

Maybe next Christmas I should superimpose them in our Christmas card.  You guys would be the only ones who weren't confused. 

I really need someone to come fix my dryer.  For some reason it is shrinking all of my clothes.  The most incredible thing is that it doesn't seem to be shrinking Scott's clothes.  I've got to get to the bottom of this.  First, I think I'll go eat a piece of pie.

Julie :-)

Oh Deer...

Yesterday, as I was cleaning the kitchen, I looked out the window and saw Flopsy, Mopsy & Cottontail. Wait...those are bunnies.  Huey, Dewey & Louie? NO - Donald Duck's nephews.  OK....I saw Dancer, Prancer & Cupid.  (None of them struck me as a "Vixen")  I took these pictures through the laundry room window. 

 

This little cutie saw me.  It kept eating for about 30 seconds and then decided I couldn't be trusted.  They are very "alert" and aware little buggers.  I showed them to Greta but she wasn't impressed.  She was much more interested in the pigeon in yard earlier! 

 

Did anybody catch the real surprise in that story?  I said, "Yesterday, as I was cleaning the kitchen..."  That makes 2 days in a row!  Go Julie!  I'd try for 3 days in a row but then Scott might start expecting a clean kitchen ALL of the time. 

Speaking of Scott, here's a picture of the man himself.  Since he is working from home so much, he has gotten tired of his office and has taken over MY couch.  Check out Greta - she's always with one of us.  

 
 

 Oh yea, I forgot to mention that is has been snowing here all day.  This "Global Colding" is getting on my nerves.  I'm not used to all of this white stuff.  

Julie :-)