1Ch 29:13 Now therefore, our God, we thank thee, and praise thy glorious name.

We had another special Lord's Day this week.  We had a quite a few visitors that morning, and it was wonderful to visit with each of them.  Layne's lesson was super:  talking about the need for us to be constant and steadfast.  The singing was amazing...my heart was overflowing!  I am so thankful that we have the ability to so easily assemble with other dear Christians each week to worship our God and be uplifted by His Spirit.

Sunday night, the interstate was backed up for miles in each direction.  There was only a handful of us up until the last few minutes before time to start the assembly.  We figured that the Weatherford people wouldn't be able to make it due to traffic.  Then at the last minute they all came filing in and we had a really nice crowd after all.  It is so good to see so many who desire to be at the assembly even when it isn't easy!

Dennis' mom left Saturday morning.  Charles and Belinda had driven down to Waco to spend some time with the Tabors.  I drove Maxine over to meet up with them in FW on their way back through.  So glad that they were all able to come share in our Thanksgiving Day with us!  Stephen and Mandy spent Wednesday night with us before having to head back Thursday evening.  As always, I loved having them here!  Mandy and I shared some special time together in the kitchen before the other guests arrived.  Daddy and Bobbie were also here for the day with homemade pumpkin pies made fresh from their garden.  It was a relaxing and fun day of visiting and enjoying the abundance that we've been blessed with.

After everyone had either left or gone to bed, I decided to check out the "Black Friday" sales at WalMart.  I waited until a little after 11:00 p.m., because I didn't want to fight the rush.  The sheets that I wanted were totally sold out by time I got there, but I found a few things to get...along with a few groceries.  The crowd was the biggest I'd ever seen in MW, but most of them were huddled over wrapped pallets waiting on the midnight sale to begin.  I was able to get in and out with very little trouble.  I do not understand why people wait around for HOURS for "things".  I appreciate a bargain as much as the next guy, but life is so much more than finding and procuring the best deal.

Here are a few verses that I want to leave with you for this week:
Col 4:6 Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.

Ga 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is: love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faith,  23 meekness, self-control; against such things there is no law.  24 But those belonging to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and lusts.  25 If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.

Php 2:3 Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.

Joh 7:24 Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment.

Have a wonderful week!

Thanksgiving 2011

getting ready to eat!

The whole gang

dessert table

full and happy!

 

Awwww!

Thanksgiving Week!

It is my favorite week of the year...Thanksgiving!  I'm too excited to sleep tonight...went to bed early (for me) and my mind wouldn't turn off.  So here I am!  Making last minute plans and lists...tweaking menus and schedules...and thinking about my blessings, in general.  I have so much to be thankful for!

This year we have 13 planning to be here for Thanksgiving dinner...unless I can convince another one or two to show up.  Ricky won't be able to come home this year since he has to work on Friday, but I'm thankful he has a second family in Arkansas that he can be with.  Stephen and Mandy will only be here for one day this year because of Mandy's new job.  I will miss our special time with them that we usually have over the long weekend, but life has a tendency to get in the way sometimes.  I'm always thankful for the time that we that we DO have with them.  Daddy and Bobbie will be here...we always love having those two lovebirds around.  We are excited to have Charles and Belinda's family coming this year and bringing Dennis' mom.  I've always loved LARGE Thanksgivings...the way it was when I was growing up.  Thirteen isn't anywhere near the number that we had back then (25-30 was more like it), but it is moving in the right direction.

I loved our Thanksgivings at Granny's house!  All of my mom's family would be there: Granny & Granddaddy, all my aunts and uncles and cousins.  There would be two tables set up in the kitchen and long picnic tables (for kids) in the living room/hall area.  And the food!  I really don't know how we fit it all on the tables.  Granny would bake every kind of pie you can imagine...she stored them on shelves in her bedroom where it always stayed cool.  After thoroughly  stuffing ourselves and cleaning up the dishes, it was time for all of us cousins to head outside.  ( With that many kids around, the adults made us stay outside most of the time...but we didn't mind!)  We'd usually head out to the "woods".  (I didn't realize until I was grown that our woods were nothing more than mesquite flats.)   What grand adventures we had!  Sometime during the weekend, we'd usually have a game of Red Rover in the back yard.  It was the "extreme" version...our family didn't go easy on anyone!  No tv or "store-bought" games for us.  As we got older, we might join in with the adults to play dominoes or 500, but our best times were spent outside.

Well, I really need to try to get some sleep.  I have a lot of work to do before Thursday.  I hope you all have a safe and happy Thanksgiving and take the time to enjoy the blessings of family and friends and home!

  1Th 5:18 In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.

Thankful for 34 years with Dennis!

Exactly thirty-four years ago this morning, I was rushing around doing last minute things before my wedding (including having the rehearsal).  It has been quite a ride since then!  Dennis and I have lived in 9 separate houses/apartments in 8 different towns, moving a total of 12 times (not counting the 2 months we lived with Momma and Daddy after Stephen was born).  We've hunted (and butchered!) and fished together and as a family.  We've gone on adventures to Colorado, Missouri, Tennessee, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Mississippi, and Louisiana...as well as our own great state of Texas.  We've worked, played, prayed, laughed, cried, sang, studied and just enjoyed the quiet times together.  We've enjoyed having countless numbers of friends and family in our home.  As my favorite saying states, we've "Lived, Laughed and Loved".  We have certainly faced our share of struggles along the way, but through it all our family's anchor verse has held true:  Rom. 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.  Having Dennis by my side, supporting me and helping me remember God's promises has been such a wonderful blessing!  I believe, when it comes time for our renegotiation in 26 more years, I'll be more than happy to re-up.  (We jokingly decided, when we got engaged, that we would try it out for 60 years and then see what happens.)

Mt 19:6 Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder.

1977

1989

2009

Potluck at the Tabernacle

We enjoyed a beautiful Lord's Day yesterday.  Dennis gave an excellent lesson on being spiritually fruitful.  Then we all gathered at "The Tabernacle" for a potluck.  The Tabernacle is (now) a cabin on the property that belongs to one of the Highway congregation's earliest families...the Bodifords.  The original structure (around 100 years old) was an open pavilion that was used as an assembly place in the summer (the one room schoolhouse nearby serving in the colder months) for the Highway congregation before building the place where we now meet.  In the years since, it has morphed into a comfortable cabin that the family still uses for special occasions.  It was my family's first time to be there for a gathering.  It is set way off the road on the OLD county road that ran along the Brazos River (now a scenic private drive).  It is a beautiful and restful setting and all had a wonderful time with good food, a short history lesson and reminiscing about the years gone by, and fine fellowship.  Afterwards we met back up at the church building for an early evening service and heard a wonderful study on Genesis 19 by Ron. 

Sheila, Anita and Karen

Jim and Mary - Jim was baptized in the river right below where the cabin sits.

AJ and Toby

The Fields and a friend

The Pettits

Charles and Linda

Dennis takes a 2 week vacation

Just enjoyed a lovely evening with my girls.  So thankful that they have been here to keep me company while Dennis has been gone!  He, James & Jared P. and Stephen left Friday to go hunting in the Davy Crockett National Forest.  Dennis killed a buck opening morning, and Jared killed one the next day.  Jared went back to Houston after killing his deer, and Stephen left after Monday morning's hunt.  Dennis and James are supposed to come home sometime tomorrow...they are hoping the cool front will get the deer moving in the morning.  This is the longest Dennis been gone from home in a very long time, and I am ready to have him back!

Last week was so relaxing (most of the time).  Dennis was off all week so we slept as late as we wanted every morning (which isn't nearly as late as it was in our younger years!).  We got some things done around the house and built Sherlock's winter house.  (He is loving it already!)  The Browns came over for supper on Thursday, and then we butchered Rebekah's two deer.  It was a wonderfully well-run operation:  those Browns really caught on fast!  It turned into a very late night, but there was a lot of good meat for both of our freezers when we finished. 

The girls spent the night over here Saturday night.  Jessica was lying on the couch while we were watching TV.  Suddenly she jumped up and ran across the room saying that the couch was moving.  Sheila and I were skeptical, but she insisted that the back of the couch moved.  We looked under the cushions and behind and under the couch and didn't see anything.  Finally someone joked that it might have been an earthquake.  Sure enough, after looking on the internet we discovered that there had just been another quake in OK, with tremors being felt in Ark. and Texas.  I guess she was the only one to feel it, since the couch is up next to the wall.  Weird!

I've been a bit under the weather for the past week.  Started coming down with a cold last Tuesday.  The coughing started up over the weekend.  I made it to services Sunday morning, but it was all I could do to keep from coughing the whole time.  I went through about a half package of cough drops and kept a cup of water to sip when it got too bad.  The girls brought me home right after the assembly was over so I could minimize exposing anyone else to my germs.  I felt like Typhoid Mary!  I finally started feeling better today...even bought groceries, made banana nut bread and cooked supper for the girls.  I'm hoping it doesn't develop into a sinus infection, but it is threatening to.

I've been knitting dishrags when I have felt up to it.  A friend has "commissioned" me to make ten of them for Christmas gifts.  I'm currently working on #7.  I've neglected working on the infinity scarf for Jessica for quite a while.  It requires a lot of concentration and I just haven't had it in me lately.  Maybe next week!

Have a safe and healthy week and enjoy this gorgeous fall weather!

 Ps 104:27 These wait all upon thee; that thou mayest give them their meat in due season.