Thankful

First let me say a very Happy 1st Anniversary to Katie and Beau! Beau said if the first year is the hardest, they've got it made! AHHHH. They are really so happy! I'm thankful for the two of you!

Thanksgiving day, 2008 was a wonderful day of family, food and, like all families a smattering of drama here and there! Just to make it fun!



We originally thought there would be 62 people at our Thanksgiving feast, but I think we ended up with only 56. Everyone is always welcome at our functions, so we always have our in laws, outlaws and friends.



My parents produced 6 children who all married, only two of us more than once :), making 12 children......we children then produced 16 of our own........who in turn have blessed us to date with 15 more. Let me just say that if you invite our family to any function, you are always assured of a good crowd!

These pictures represent just a few of the things I'm thankful for this year!

Every day of every year, I'm thankful that in His mercy, God chose me to be His own, and for our blessings too many to number!

Below is my sister Cathy, my sister-in-law Lois, my niece Kathleen and my sister Debbie.

My niece Jonieda with her father in law (my brother in law) Dick, my niece Jenny, who was our sweet hostess and my brother Michael from the back. I asked him to put his beer behind him. Cute, Michael!


The originator of this clan, my mama with 3 of her great grands, Abbey, Maggie and Emily.




My nephew, Andy with his fiance.



My niece, Amy with her husband John and their two boys arriving.




Mike and Jenny had tables set up in every available space!





Even a children's table under their stairs!



Below is husband Russell talking with my nephew, Mike who was also the host, with my nephew Chris in the background.




Another table set up on the pool deck.




Yet another table with family enjoying good conversation!




My nephew Don (the oldest grandchild) with his wife, Kathleen.

My nephew Chris with his sweet girlfriend, Kayla.

The three of ours who were able to come, Matt, Tommy and his wife Claudia. We missed Paul, David and our grands.





My sister Cathy with her grands.

Niece, Jenny at the dessert table! We also lay claim to some fabulous cooks!





My two mothers, my mama and Russell's mama.




The three sisters, in reverse birth order, Debbie, me and Cathy,minus a small amount of head! I'm not sure who took this picture!




A gaggle of girls! Three are great grands and two are grands. My mother's oldest grandchild is 43 and her youngest grandchild is 4.





I'm sorry to say, I didn't get nearly enough pictures of the food! What a feast! But here the food is being readied, meaning we're about to dig in!



My youngest brother, Steve, his wife Monica and the two youngest grands, Bella and Torrie. Steve also has a 22 year old son, Bryce. He came in later.




The main table, otherwise known as the grown up table. Only now, we have too many grown ups to fit at one table!!!

We were figuring and we think our entire family was there with the exception of my nephew Tommy, my sons Paul and David and my grandchildren. Pretty good for a family of our size!

We all had a wonderful day filled with good food, good fellowship and all the trimmings that make Thanksgiving, well, a day to give thanks! We are richly blessed as a family.

We have our ups and downs, our illnesses and like I said the ocassional moment of drama, but we have too many blessings to count! Thank you Lord!

The Tibbetts visit.....

We had a visit from our dear friends who moved 8 long months ago to Huntsville. We had a great night visiting and catching up with all the news.
























Charlie was explaining something to Mr. Russell!

Note: You'll see Mikey who NEVER sits still hiding in his daddy's lap! The rambunctiousness was just too much for the little guy!




















Of course, as soon as the kids got rowdy....well, you see what happens. Into the cage they go! So beware if you visit with your little ones......JUST KIDDING. Nobody call Children Services. They got in of their own accord and had a blast playing in the dog pen!

See, kids really don't need all these fancy toys! Just a cardboard box and a dog cage and they're set!

Almost Thanksgiving!

My Thanks giving table.....












I was so happy to finally find my pilgrim man and woman.....I had searched every box, drawer, utility room. I discovered them just a few days ago in the box where I had stored the wooden pumpkins.......which I had already taken out! They are in the glass dish on the table. DUH! Sometimes I just have to wonder....I put things in safe places, so safe they are never seen again unless you come across them by accident while looking for something else!

Getting the house ready for guests, washing clothes and going over my reasons for Thanksgiving!

No matter how grim life seems, if you just stop a moment and count those blessings, thing just look a little better!

We will all gather at my nephew's home for our Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday. 62 + or - of us. Yes I said 62. When my mama and daddy had 6 kids, they were assuring a good crowd for every occasion!

End of the trip and other stuff....

First let me say Happy Birthday to Beau! Here he is with his beautiful (then fiance) Katie. I hope you have a wonderful day today and stay warm!

Here is where we spent the last day and a half!



























Most of it in this service bay. I'm inside taking the picture of the service area with another motor home in front of us.

This was grand. UGH. I had to stay in the bedroom (I use that term loosely) with the dogs so they would leave the technician alone. They cried the entire time. I almost went completely crazier than I am now crazy!

Finally, Mikey decided to take things into his own hands. He said buckle up, we're outa here!

Of course, we were back in the luxury RV park for our last night on the road! Really, it's nice they let RV's stay here. Kinda felt like home.

And as Dorothy so aptly put it, There's no place like home, there's no place like home, there's NO place like home!!

Texas trip ......continued

Tuesday things started looking up! We left the motorhome at the shop and drove over to Austin to visit Emily!























Here we are cuddled in her big chair! Emily is a physical Therapist and has already bought her first home. She's done a lot of work on it, even though it was brand new! It's really nice.

Later Tuesday evening, Emily's boyfriend Jeff came over and we all went to dinner at a really neat place overlooking a huge lake. I think it was called the Oasis (Emily correct me if I'm wrong.) The food was great and we really enjoyed visiting with Emily and Jeff.

Of course, there were lots of pictures to be taken. This stair case was just the perfect kodak moment! Even if I do have a Canon camera!

A good shot of Emily and Jeff. Thanks Jeff for a great dinner and fun evening.

Back at Emily's, we said good night to Jeff as he left for home to get some sleep so he could get up and work Wednesday. The rest of us had the day off! Emily did work a little Wednesday morning which gave us time to get ready.

Emily was our tour guide around the city of Austin. We ate at this wonderful Mexican Restaurant. I mean absolutely, without a doubt the best food we've eaten in a long time!!!

You know, in other words, we really enjoyed the food! Unfortunately they gave very large portions and we couldn't take our left overs with us because we weren't going right back to her house. BOO! That would have been some really good supper.

We sat outside. The day was so beautiful and not too hot, not too cool. Just right! We walked from the capital to this restaurant about two city blocks away.

The capital was so interesting. First of all we were amazed at the freedom to enter and roam around the building. No one checked our bags, we just walked right in and started looking. There were lots of children on field trips. Yes, we went the opposite way from where they were. Nothing against the children, I've just done 7 million many field trips in my day and I didn't want to do another one while on vacation.

The history in the Texas capital is everywhere, it would take more than one trip to go through the entire building. Because of space problems and a lack of land, the capital has an entire wing underground. Totally amazing because when you're down there you don't feel at all like you're underground.

These hinges are on every door in the capital....three on each door. They weigh 8 lbs each. Aren't they beautiful? A little Texas trivia for you!

This is a view of the capital from the car. I couldn't get a good picture of the whole building, but you get the drift.

Finally, ladies and gentlemen, drum roll please, my husband giving a press conference! If only he'd had a cowboy hat and some boots and a big belt buckle, he could have passed for the Governor of the great state of Texas!

The funny thing about that is, they were really having a press conference in another room. I guess it wasn't the Governor, so they didn't use the podium!

There's just a little more of Austin I want to show you, but it will have to wait until tomorrow. I'm still not caught up on things here! SHOCK!

The trip....the start...days one and two.

We got to this bridge at Baton Rouge, Louisiana towards the end of the first day of our trip. This bridge crosses the mighty Mississippi River.

An interesting side note, when I was about 16 years old, our family took a trip in daddy's friend's Winnebago....the four of us kids who were still at home, mama and daddy. I have no idea how we all fit in, but somehow we did. I wanted to drive so badly and finally daddy gave in to my constant whining desire and let me drive for a while. Well, not long after I started driving what should loom ahead????? That bridge and it looked so narrow, on one side other cars and semi trucks, on the other the mighty Mississippi! I was ready to give up the driver's seat, but alas, you can't in the middle of a bridge....so with daddy and me sweating bullets,the rest of the family huddled in the back in mortal fear for their lives. Just kidding. I haven't a clue what they were doing because my hands were clenched on the wheel and I was driving for all I was worth, which at 16 wasn't much!

In fact, it was such a bad experience that I didn't drive a motorhome again until 40 years later!

Back to the present, below is the bridge.

























AND, the river!

We parked our motor home for the night here. When we woke up the next morning, there was a huge (like a rock star) motor home parked next to us, gearing up to pull out....probably going to a big concert or something.

At long last, we arrived at our destination, no, not Ch*k f*l a, although we did eat there at lunch. The sign that says Moto, actually says Motorhomes of Texas. That was our destination. We parked and set up for the night. I think there were two other couples staying in their motorhomes there too, but we didn't see them that night.

We did meet them the next day as we all wandered in and out of the waiting room. One couple had been there for two weeks waiting for a part. That scared me!

Monday morning, we were up bright and early so work could start on the motorhome. Here is our motorhome in the service bay with the entire slide out.
























Now, what I don't have pictures of is the really nice waiting room, no, no, I'm not being sarcastic, it was actually really nice with a t.v., coffee, etc. No, the problem was I had two dogs in the waiting room and it rained most of the day.

You may be forming a picture in your mind of my quickly growing impatient attitude.

Every once in a while, I would call Russell, who was having a great time watching the work go on, and ask him to come relieve me so I could go to the bathroom!

I am not good at waiting. A bad quality I have.

We did go over to the Ch*k f*l a for lunch. Russell bought lunch and we ate in the car, two dogs you know.

Then it was back to the waiting room. Around 5 o'clock they had everything put back together and we settled down to sleep, with plans to drive to Austin the next day. I was actually excited about that!

As we bid the day good night, we thanked God for his traveling mercies! His mercies are indeed new every morning.

Homeward bound and birthday memories....

We are on our way home. Oh, the bliss that word home holds for me tonight. We are once again parked at a welcome center. I know, I know.....you are all jealous.....maybe if you are real good, one day you too will get to spend the night parked at a welcome center in Louisiana...REAL GOOD!

Today is Russell's dad's birthday and the six month anniversary of his death. We traveled with Russell's parents many times and about 5 o'clock he would rub his hands together and say it's wine time. He loved a good glass of wine before his dinner....so today, right about 5 o'clock...I poured Russell and myself a glass of wine and we fondly remembered his dad.

Tomorrow, or maybe Sunday, Monday or Tuesday....whenever I get everything out of the motor home, washed, back in the motor home and clean just like it's home, I'll get a few pictures on and a real post about our adventures in service land.

But for now, I'll just say I'm beat from sleeping in the passenger seat all day, so goodnite to all!

Just to say.....

I can't believe it is Thursday already. We had a great time in Austin with Emily, but more on that later.



I spent one entire day in the waiting room with two dogs. You talk about fun! Did I mention it rained most of the day? Yes, so walking the dogs wasn't a good option....but if you have dogs, you know that sometimes they HAVE to go out.

Tuesday and Wednesday in Austin, back here Wednesday nite.

Today we sold our children to paid the bill and moved on down to the factory where they make the motor homes and took a tour of the factory. Oh, Yes we did! As I type Russell is in a tech talk. I decided to stay in the motor home.

So where ever YOU are today, have a great one!

On the road again!

We didn't get away from home by 6:30 a.m. but did manage to pull out of the driveway by 8:30! Just two hours off, big deal! Russell started out driving with the understanding that I would drive every now and then.....I managed to get away today without driving!

We are camping in the visitor welcome center somewhere in the depths of Louisiana. At least they have a security guard.

Most of the time we were driving, I was asleep so DH thinks I'm rested! Now everybody knows that when you're traveling and you sleep it just makes you more tired! I hope that DH won't want me to drive tomorrow. That is really tiring.

Right now, we've had supper, walked the dogs and we're watching the Florida/Vanderbilt game. I don't like football. Oh, well.....I'll go get some more rest! I hope to have lots of pictures when we get home!

Well

Since Wednesday morning, I have been praying, thinking and searching my heart to determine for myself how I really feel about our new president.



Now, my prayer was Thy will be done......God is certainly not surprised by the results of the election. He is sovereign and in control.



But, as a lame human, I am waiting now to listen as the president elect speaks for the first time since being elected and am interested to know what he's going to tell the nation.



This whole week has been just too stressful and busy and although I'm glad it's Friday, we leave at 6:30 am tomorrow to drive to Texas! You know that HUGE state!? We're taking the motor home to have a few repairs and while we're there, we'll drive over to Austin to see Emily!



DH wants me to drive some of the way.....I can only drive 2 hours at a time because it makes me so tired and I'm a wimp.



SO......................



Husband asks me last night if I was ready....???? To which I calmly replied NO.......how could I possibly get ready with all I have to do??? what do you mean by the word ready? He replies, you know, make sure the motorhome is suppied with all we'll need, get your clothes in the closet, make frozen dinners to take with us (that last part was a joke). I have a policy, I never cook while on vacation.



So today I've been trying to fit my whole closet into the very small closet in the motor home ,decide what to take and decide if I need fall, winter, spring or summer clothes. Today, here in Florida it's summer.



Well, all, let's keep our chins up and when they're down, pray!

p.s. I realize none of this makes any sense!

When this day is over.....

Election day is here. I am praying the prayer that never fails...."THY will be done." Whatever happens today, Jesus is the same. He is still in control.





ALSO.......It's our anniversary!


I'd like to say how blessed I was when God brought this man into my life. It was very unexpected! It took 2 1/2 years for me to nag him into marrying me.

He actually said on our wedding day.....you know if you'd nagged a little more, we could have done this sooner!

I said a prayer of thanks today, as I do every day, for this special man. My husband.

As always, All my love, all my life.

Tomorrow is only a day away.....

Yesterday our pastor's morning sermon was entitled An Election Day Sermon: Theology & Good Government . What a wonderful reminder that our country WAS indeed founded on Christian principles.




During our service we did a National Confession of Sin.......my friend did such a wonderful job on posting about this that I'll refer you here to read about this confession.



As a country, we have looked on quietly as Christian principles have been crushed and just gone about our lives as if it didn't matter. It matters. Our freedom matters. Our right to share the Gospel freely and without fear matters. Our right to express our opinion on sin without it being labeled a hate crime matters.

Recently, I read that people who are pro life are being called anti choice.....well, then, wouldn't that make people who are pro choice anti life???



So, I'm looking forward to tomorrow with this confidence, whoever is elected, God is still in control.

Read more.....

Please go over to Tonja's blog to read this article . I keep praying that people will not blindly follow change without knowing fully what that change will mean for America.


Election day is also my wedding anniversary. All I want for my anniversary is for Obama NOT to be our president. O. K???? Really, nothing else.