Surviving and Celebrating

Well, folks, let me tell ya--Alabama is one LONG State! We had a fantastic remainder of our week in Panama City Beach and began driving home two Saturdays ago. We were told that the drive would be shorter if we drove back to Kentucky through Alabama, so we decided to attempt that route. Chad's sweet daddy drove over to Dothan from Thomasville to meet us for lunch on the way back. We met him around 2 and had a great time at Dothan's very own "Old Mexico." After we departed, we headed north through Montgomery and then Birmingham. I had always though that Alabama sort of ended after Birmingham, and then you just drove on into Tennessee on I65. Well, I was very WRONG!



We originally planned to drive straight through and arrive back in Hebron in the wee hours of Sunday morning. Well, once 10:30 rolled around, and we discovered we still hadn't escaped Alabama, we decided to stop at Comfort Suites in Cullman and spend the night. I was so glad we did! We left the hotel at 9 the next morning, and we still did not arrive home until around 4 on Sunday afternoon, which was just enough time for me to make a much-needed Kroger run and to unpack all our suitcases.

We started our week with a normal Monday on the next day--Chad went to work, and the kids and I went to Classical Conversations. We had a great morning, but by 1 that afternoon, I was BEAT! I took a nap, and then I woke up to coughing kids. I knew we had "over-sugared" on vacation, and so I knew (based on years of experience), that unless I caught it in time and stopped Mary Beth's carb consumption for a few days, she'd likely be barking like a seal by the end of the week. Unfortunately, she was barking away by Friday, and Noah was a pretty snotty kiddo, too. :(

So......I got to become their worst nightmare: The No-Sugar Nazi Mom! And I mean NO sugar...like no refined carbs...not a bite! Sugar feeds bacteria and fungi--the two things that usually cause coughing for my kids, and I've noticed that the best way to get rid of a cold is to eat soley meat, cheese, veggies, and strawberries for a few days. It's been a while since I've had to be THAT strict with my kids, and we had to work VERY hard on keeping good attitudes about the whole process.

The most difficult part was that Chad and I had signed up to serve at all four services on the main campus at church that Saturday and Sunday. We were to dress up as movie characters and greet children who arrived for our "At the Movies" evangelistic outreach. Mary Beth had already gotten it in her little head that she was going to get to enjoy movie popcorn SIX times over the weekend, and it was very sad when I had to tell her that popcorn is FULL of carbs. :(

I think the kids still had a great time, though. There is a special room called "V-Kids" where children of volunteers get to stay and hang out in a supervised area so that they don't have to attend a whole bunch of identical children's services--unless they just want to. I think Mary Beth and Noah each went to 3 of the kids' services, and attended V-Kids for 3 services, over the weekend. They got to meet LOTS of kids from Seven Hills who don't attend the same Saturday night service that we usually go to, and that was a big treat!

Chad and I had chosen Fred and Wilma Flintstone as the cartoon characters we would be for the weekend. Chad's costume came with a mask, but mine didn't, so--realist that I am--I got up Saturday morning and dyed my hair red (using a product that's supposed to last through a "mere" 28 washes--I'm trying to wash it 7 times a day now to see if we can speed things up!)



We greeted church attendees at both services on Saturday night, and we were joined by a sweet young mom, also from Hebron, who was dressed up as Snow White. She has a precious young daughter, and we enjoyed chatting about a possible future for them with homeschooling.

Randy Christian is one of the friends we made while attending the Summit class series last month at Seven Hills. He is a part-time photographer, and he volunteered to take all the pictures on Sunday. He did a wonderful job, and he was VERY prompt in posting the images to Facebook (which is where I swiped these from). I don't have any actual pics of us in the Flintstones costumes, but here's a pic, taken by Randy Christian, of someone else wearing the Fred costume on a previous weekend.



Chad was originally excited about having a costume with a mask, but he soon realized how quickly heat gets trapped inside that thing, and how he couldn't really communicate with anyone, and how all but TWO of the kids who came were scared.to.death!!!! of him. During the second Saturday night service, we slipped back to the costume area and looked at some more options for Sunday.

The Buzz Lightyear costume looked like it would get a tad warm inside, too, but the Woody costume looked wonderful, and we knew that most kids attending would be able to identify with Woody, so we got permission to switch up and be Toy Story characters on Sunday.

After church, we got to go out to dinner with a really neat couple--Mike and Jeannetta Gaunt. Mike is a pro body builder, and Chad has pretty much coveted his muscles since the first day we saw them at church. We had a great meal at O'Charley's, and we had great conversation about exercise and nutrition.

At 10 p.m., we left O'Charley's and headed for Target. If Chad was going to be Woody, that meant I would need to dress my red-headed self as Jessie. There was no Jessie costume at church, so I talked Chad into buying me a great pair of boots, and I bought some fabric markers to embellish and "westernize" a hand-me-down white blouse I'd found in a basket from Aunt Karen Byron. We'd be able to snag a cowboy hat from the costume box at church the next morning, and if I could just braid my hair right, we'd be all set!

Here is the finished product:



Sunday was much more fun! All of the kids who came INSTANTLY recognized "Woody," and Chad was actually able to interact with them since he didn't have on a mask. Lots of the kids wanted to give hugs to Jessie as well. I was so thankful to be back in my element! Wilma Flintstone's costume had made bending and squatting a bit difficult, but it was very easy for me to squat down on the floor and greet kids in my jeans. Speaking of "Jeans," I even heard some "Miss Pattycake" (Jean Thomason) leak from my mouth at one point when I exclaimed, "My FRIENDS are here!" at some preschoolers! I loved getting to tell little doll-toting toddlers that I was SO GLAD they'd brought their babies to church because Jesus thinks children are VERY special! It was a morning full of smiles, hugs, and photos!

Here are some pics of us doing what my heart loves to do most:






Most of the ministering/greeting Chad and I did was during the transition times between services. We did walk in for the message part of one service. This past weekend, they used the movie, 127 Hours, to share about how Jesus can rescue us when we fall into a pit. Many came to know Jesus that morning! We were way excited! :) During the "message" portions of the other three services on Sunday, we enjoyed finally getting to know some of the other staff members and key leaders from Seven Hills. We'd already been blessed to meet and spend some fun time with Children's Pastor Tony and Amanda Giordano, but it was great to finally meet
Missions Pastor Eric Wagner's wife, Tina! We also got to chat with Creative Pastor Matt Jones and meet his sweet wife and baby. Here's a picture with Senior Pastor Marcus Mecum, along with Buzz Lightyear and Snow White (Kenneth and Sara Holzer). Mark 16:18 comes to mind when I look at this picture. :)



We defnitely felt like we were a real part of the Seven Hills team this weekend, and we are very thankful for the opportunity to serve!

Well, we survived the drive through Alabama, and we've survived fairly well without eating our normal carbs, but I'm so thankful we've gotten to CELEBRATE God's goodness to us, and His love for us! We are grateful that He has surrounded us with people who want to see Him glorified and who want to show His love to the people of this area!

What about you? Do you feel like you're just surviving? In your home? In your church? In your situation? Let me encourage you to do something to SERVE someone in the Name of Jesus...and watch for Him to give you a reason to Celebrate!

Blessings from the North Bend!
--Kristie

Taking Time to Smell the Roses, or at Least to See the Grandparents and Hug the Babies

For nearly two decades, my grandparents from Lexington have been renting a condo in Panama City Beach, FL, for the entire month of September. Usually, many, if not all, of our extended family members have gathered down there on Labor Day Weekend. When we lived in Thomasville, it was an easy three hour drive. We would make it several times during the month. In recent years, since our family has added spouses and great-grandchildren, many of us have even rented our own condos at the same complex. We don't have a whole lot of family traditions, but September in PCB is one that is very special to us. When we moved to Kentucky in July, I pretty well settled in my heart that we probably wouldn't be able to make the 12 hour drive and pay money for all that gas this year. I didn't really like this reality, but I was determined to be content and to try to find something special to do with our own little nuclear family for Labor Day Weekend.

I was absolutely THRILLED when Chad surprised me by sharing that he needed to head to Thomasville to give a presentation at Flowers corporate headquarters this week, and that Flowers would pay for his mileage, and that we could ride with him since our homeschool group isn't meeting this week...and then I was blown away at the goodness of God when we discovered my parents would have some empty bedrooms in their condo rental this week, starting on Monday! God is soooooooooo good! And my heart is really happy! :)

We attended our first "At the Movies" service at 7Hills Church in Florence on Saturday night and had a great time! As soon as the service was over, we jumped in the truck, found our way to I75, and headed south! We chatted a little bit as we made our way to the Chick-fil-a drive thru just north of Lexington. After our chicken was consumed and it started getting dark, we stopped for a potty break and then declared "silence!" in the truck, in hopes that the kiddos would go to sleep in the backseat. It worked! I slept for about an hour between Knoxville and Chattanooga while Chad drove. Once we were in Georgia (12:30ish), we stopped for gas, and I took the wheel so my yawning man could sleep some. I drove on until we got to Cordele around 4, and by then I HAD to let Chad drive. He normally gets up at 4 anyway, so I figured our chances were better with him driving. I faded in and out of uncomfortable sleep for the next 2 hours, while he brought us through the home stretch.

We arrived in Thomasville at Pops and Grandma's house at 6 a.m. on Sunday. The kids had slept most of the night in the truck. Chad and I were rather sleep-deprived, but he can function on only a few hours. I, on the other hand, can't. I went straight to bed to try to catch one more precious hour of sleep before the sunlight came creeping through the slats in the blinds. Pops had just gotten up when we arrived, so he loved on the kids--who were wide awake--and watched cartoons with them, and fed them all manner of junk food while we slept. The kids had a blast! I think Pops had fun, too. :)

Mary Beth rode to church with some friends. She REALLY, REALLY wanted to go back to Celebration and see everyone. Chad and I would've liked to have gone, too, but we were wasted from driving all night. We laid around until about 10:30, and then we went to visit Great-Granddaddy at his assisted living community. It was good to spend an hour with him and catch up. And of course, Noah loved getting into his candy stash.

After we left Great-Granddaddy, we headed over to Celebration to pick up Mary Beth. Even though we'd missed the service, we were glad to get to catch up on some after-church fellowship with many, many friends...and to once again be standing in the foyer chatting when the "door-locking" volunteer pulled out his keys. :)

Before we left Thomasville, we pretty much had a tradition of eating Sunday lunch at Masato's with the Owens family, so of course, we joined them after church. (Yes, the Owens have all girls--and Noah's gotten used to being "odd man out" at this point...but I think payback's coming because our new friends in Hebron have four BOYS and no girls. ;) )



We ran into the Congers there, too, and I was so glad--there were so many people in Thomasville that we wanted to visit with, and the logistics of seeing them all within 24 hours was more than we could handle. I was glad God allowed us to cross paths with a few friends unexpectedly. :)

There was MUCH excitement in the air as our kiddos feasted on ice cream and played with many of their Thomasville friends who had gathered to meet us at Dairy Queen!



My apologies to anyone not with our party who was at the Thomasville DQ between 2 and 4 on Sunday afternoon. I know it was a three-ring-circus back there, but it was just to wet and nasty for us to take our fun to the park.

Noah's buddies were there, and he was so glad to see them!



Mary Beth was THRILLED to get to spend some time with her "B.F.F.'s" (she has lots!) :)



My sweet flag-waving, Jesus-praising Eliza was there with plenty of hugs for me...



...and with plenty of salt to lick off the table. :)



One of our favorite babysitters (who was also the flower girl in our wedding when she was 3), Hannah, came to visit us, too.



Apparently, the newest kid craze in Thomasville is a slight-of-hand trick that makes a chapstick/lip balm lid "disappear." Every kid knew the trick, and just about every one of them had to perform it for me...and I was impressed, all 20 times! :)



I really enjoyed getting to visit with some of my favorite "mommy" friends.



While the kids and I hung out at DQ, Chad went to visit a friend who is in the final stages of a long battle with cancer, and then he got to spend some quality time (translation: uninterrupted by the grandkids) with his dad. Then he went to see a movie with his buddy Scott. Noah got to have a fun playdate with his buddies Kelon and Robert. I sat in Stacey's SUV and talked Jesus and homeschool for a good while. Mary Beth spent a few hours at the movies with Cousin Makayla, and then she got to play for a bit at Makayla's house.



After we picked up Mary Beth at Makayla's house, we stopped in for a few minutes at Randae and Joy Davis's house. It was good to get a squeeze hug from Timothy and to hear about all they are learning in their first year with Classical Conversations. :) Wish I'd remembered to bring my camera in.

Chad's dad, a.k.a. "Dandy," (because Mary Beth couldn't spit out "Granddaddy" when she was little, and "dandy" was the best she could do) treated us to a yummy dinner at Sonny's. The kids were really glad to see him, and they enjoyed trying to show him the "chapstick top" trick--using the tabasco sauce lid.







We hunted down Chad's grandparents, "Papa and Granny Weeks," at their favorite after-Sunday-night-church hangout: WENDY'S, and we surprised them with a little visit there.



I wish I'd been able to get some photos of the other great-grandparents, but they were basically ALL in their pajamas the whole time we were with them, so I didn't take my camera out. We missed seeing Chad's mom and siblings on this trip because they were all out-of-town. We're looking forward to seeing them when we come back after Christmas.

We arrived at the condo on Monday morning in time to polish off the breakfast leftovers and spend most of the day with my siblings and our sweet nephew Ethan. They were standing on the balcony, 10 stories up, waiting on us to arrive. As soon as we got out of the truck, Ethan spotted "his Noah" and started squealing for him. We could hear him all the way down at ground level. The weather at the beach was still NASTY from the remains of Tropical Storm Lee. We spent about 2 hours out by the pool around lunch time, but much of the day was spent inside with plenty of chasing and tickling by the boy cousins and lots of card-playing by the adults.


My brothers left last night with their families, and my parents left early this morning. Papa and Grammy will be back later in the week. Chad has to zip back up to Thomasville to give that presentation, and he'll bring Grammy back with him. My aunt, uncle, and grandparents from Kentucky, along with my sister, and also my cousins from Colorado and Texas, will be here for the rest of the week. I'm glad we'll get to reconnect. I think the weather is going to get better today, and the rest of the week should be beautiful, so you may not hear from us again before we get home, but we are so thankful for this nice little break to reconnect with some special people we've been missing for a few months now. Thomasville's roses aren't really blooming much this time of year--so we couldn't exactly smell them--but were were really glad we got to stop on our way through and hug so many necks! If we missed you in Thomasville on this trip, we hope to see you when we come back to visit during New Year's week. :)

Skip-Counting Memory Work Tool, Part 2

If you'd like to make one of these Skip-Counting Memory Tools, you should go back and start at the beginning, rather than jumping in from the start of this post. :)

So, here are the rest of the instructions:



Turn the page you've just created OVER, and use a glue stick to apply glue all along the two center ("unsnipped") sections of the paper.





Glue the original sheet of paper on top of a second blank page, matching up ends and corners, so that the centers are stuck together and the flaps, well, "flap." :) Turn the tool over so the numbered side is facing up.



Fold the numbered flaps inward toward the center crease, and decorate the backs of the flaps, and the now-empty spots where the flaps used to be, by placing a sticker in the blanks where each number should go.



When all of the flaps are folded IN, place a ruler on top of the folded-down edges along the center crease. You should now see a ruler sitting on top of what looks like a full sheet of paper with FOUR rows of SIX stickers.



To review with your kids, open all the flaps, and have them touch the numbers as they chant/speak/sing/count. Tuck in a flap or two, and have the kids try again, pointing to the stickers while saying the missing numbers that go in those places.
Keep folding in more flaps, until your kids can do all the counting correctly, with only the stickers showing.

Happy Homeschooling! :)

Mary Beth Has a Few Words for Her Friends in GA

Hey girls and boys! I've missed you sooooooooooooooo much! You're an awesome group of friends! I hope to see you soon--this Sunday--in Thomasville. It depends on your parents! Chuch & park.

Noah will not be there for church, but I'll be there. Noah's gonna be there for the park, but anyways..... you're my best B-f-f's, I know you will ALWAYS be my best!

When I move back, the first thing I'll do is have a sleep over. Do me a favor,
don't change a bit, and just be yourself while I'm in KY, well, as Noah would say: "Kentucky, Ohio"!!!!

Well, that's pretty much all. I'll do another post sometime :)!!!!!:)

Love y'all,
Mary Beth :)
P.S. Parents, let your kids check our website out :) vidieos/pics & the kid sent posts ;):) Send letters ;) We love to get mail, and we'll send you a letter back!

Skip Counting Memory Work Tool, part 1

Now, here's the tool we created for reviewing our skip counting. This particular one is created for "CC's" Week 2 review of skip counting by three's and fours...



Start with a single sheet of paper.



Fold it in half lengthwise.



Fold the already-folded-in-half paper (lengthwise) once more. Crease the paper well.



Unfold once, so that your original fold is at the top, and the crease from your second fold now shows in the middle.



With the originally-folded edge at the top, use a pair of scissors to make a snip through both layers of paper, from the loose bottom edge(s) all the way up to the crease in the center. Make this snip halfway between the two bottom corners.



Use the scissors to make two equally-spaced snips on either side of the original snip, so that there is a total of five snips (creating two layers of six flaps) along the bottom edge of the paper.



Unfold the entire sheet of paper, so that you now see six flaps along the top and six flaps along the bottom.



Use a ruler to hold down the flaps as you draw two rectangles on the paper, as shown. Make each of the rectangles a different color.



Within each rectangle, write a set of skip-counting numbers, in order. For the top set, write one number on each top flap, and write a number below each of the top flaps. For the bottom set, write one number above each bottom flap, and write one number on each of the bottom flaps.

to be continued on next post, since blogger won't let me add more pics... :)

Presently...Present Participles

YES! Praise the Lord for a husband who is willing (though it sometimes goes against his inner "Dave Ramsey") to make major purchases when necessary. :) We are now operating from a new laptop, and we also have a second vehicle...which has been great for getting us to places like our Monday homeschool group (a.k.a. "Classical Conversations"), and Chick-fil-A with our new friends.

We are getting packed to go to the beach today, and I didn't want to haul ALL my homeschool stuff with me. Technically, we are taking next week off, but I want to keep my kiddos reviewing a little since we'll jump back into "Week 2" of CC with our group the day after we get home. I decided to make a few "portable review tools" to take with us--they'll fit nicely inside a file folder--yes, and amen! :) When I was done making them, I thought it might be nice to share the "how-to's" with some of my fellow CC mamas. So, here goes:

Here's our "Present Participle" English Grammar memory work tool:



"A present participle..."



"...A present participle is a verb..." (if you continue to raise the flap, you'll see the tag with ING written on it) "...plus ING..."



"A present participle is a verb, plus ING, used as an adjective..."



"A present participle is a verb, plus ING, used as an adjective or a verb!"



Got it?????? :)