Well, since March some things have happened.   

• Joel had surgery on his neck
• Joel and I went to Gatlinburg, TN for a few days, just the 2 of us!
• I got Rachel’s Easter dress done!  It turned out really cute! 
• Joel preached a couple of times
• I turned 40 on May 17th – Yikes! 
• Rachel turned 6 on May 21st
• Joel turned 45 on June 1st
• Benjamin turned 5 – my baby’s 5 years old!!!
• Joel’s been called to be the pastor at Cloverbottom Baptist Church – yay! We’re so excited!
• I’m getting our stuff out of storage in TX this weekend so we can move into the parsonage
• I finished my BSF on the Life of Moses and I’ve continued my bible study, finishing Joshua and now working through Judges – awesome stuff!
• Continuing to write for HeartBeat the Magazine

God is so good!  I’ll be filling in some of the details later. 

Well, it’s been a little while so I thought I’d catch people up on some stuff…

• I started a Prayer Shawl Ministry at our church in October.
• Joel went to preach for a search committee in GA in November.
• We had a lovely Thanksgiving with Joel’s family in NC.
• We had a wonderful Christmas at home.
• I got new glasses at the end of January.
• We went back in view of a call to the church in GA at the beginning of February.
• Made the decision a week later not to go, but it was fun visiting with them and we got a very mini-trip to see some great and dear friends of ours, the McCullers.
• Joel’s getting surgery for a herniated disc in his neck on Tuesday.
• We are hoping to take a few days and go to Gatlinburg by ourselves to celebrate our 12th anniversary which was March 15th.
• I’m continuing to learn and grow with my BSF study on the life of Moses.

• I’m crocheting Rachel an Easter dress with a little hat.  Too cute!

• The kids had their AWANA program last night.  It was adorable!

• I’m singing on Sunday morning.

Now you are caught up to date. 

Wow!  I can’t believe I’ve been so remiss in my blogging!

The biggest news with us is that we are going down to GA next weekend so Joel can preach at a church in view of a call.  We are excited about the possibilities!  I’ll post again when I have more news.

Most of the time you can catch me on Facebook, so please feel free to look me up there.

I always seem to have something come up, but here it is.  If you want to join in, click on the banner above.

Sunday, September 7th

• So tired!  Went to church in the morning sang and taught extended session.
• Went back to the hotel, turned on cartoons and slept for 4 hours!
• Went swimming with the kids in the hotel pool.

Monday, September 8th

• Spent all day at the motel going crazy while they re-carpeted the downstairs and part of the upstairs.
• I did learn something new on the computer – animation!  Yay!  It’s so cool!

Tuesday, September 9th

• Insurance company called and told us to move back home.
• Got all of our stuff loaded in the car and moved back home.
• Went to Bible study – I so needed it

Wednesday, September 10th

• First day of BSF (Bible Study Fellowship) – we are studying the life of Moses this year.  Yay!
• It was such a good day!

Thursday, September 11th

• Cleaned and organized our stuff
• Remembered 9/11/01 and prayed for the people it touched

Friday, September 12th

• Another day of cleaning and organizing our stuff

Saturday, September 12th

• Slept late, relaxed and had a great day!

Well, it’s time again for my weird Wednesday pics…

What is this obsession with weird food pictures?

Talk about crusty bread!

Hope you’ve enjoyed this week’s pics!

Well, I’ve learned my lesson over this week!  I will not claim that I’m boring or that I lead a boring life anymore. LOL!  If you want to join in the fun, click on the banner below.

Sunday, August 31st

• Joel and I sang at church today.  It went really well – I love singing with my husband!
• Choir practice was good and the Sunday night sermon was excellent.  Pastor talked about surrendering our worries and problems to Jesus, laying them at the cross.  Sometimes He has us pick them up again to work through them, but He always is there with us to help us and strengthen us through those things.

Monday, September 1st

• Labor Day so Joel is off.  We went to see some real estate today for a ministry possibility.  We are so excited about what the Lord could do with it, what He has already done and could continue through us with it.  Please pray with us about it.
• Met some new friends and got to see a beautiful dapple gray mare and her dark brown colt, Patriot.  What fun!

Tuesday, September 2nd

• Did some laundry and the washer burst causing massive chaos and water damage, not to mention almost an hour of 5 blaring smoke alarms.  Aaahh!
• The insurance company sent ServPro (excellent and helpful people! – I highly recommend them!) to come over.  They assessed the situation and acted quickly.  We now have fans upstairs underneath the carpet.  The kids think it’s great because they feel like they are on a magic carpet ride.
• 2 dehumidifiers are set up downstairs.  It was getting rather warm down there.

Wednesday, September 3rd

• My parents 42nd anniversary!
• Fans continue to blow and furniture is being moved out of the house into a POD on the driveway.
• The insurance company has set us up at a nice Hotel.
• God is so good to provide for our needs!

Thursday, September 4th

• I wanted to go over to see my friend Greg, but I didn’t make it.
• Moved hotel rooms to a suite with a small kitchenette.
• The kids are so tired.  They were asleep by 7:30pm.

Friday, September 5th

• The breakfasts they serve at the hotel are outstanding!
• Joel, the kids and I were able to go see my friend Greg, cut and wash his hair, have lunch with him and watch a couple of movies with him.  It was so good to spend some time with him.
• Went to CiCi’s for pizza and fun.

Saturday, September 6th

• Had a late breakfast
• Watched Joel and the kids swim.
• The kids were tired so we came back to the room and they are now taking a nap.
• Going to be studying my extended session lesson for the Preschoolers.
• Joel has gone down to Lexington with my dad to pick up a new washer.

It’s amazing to me how much damage can come from 1 washing machine.  They have torn out the carpet in the master bedroom and closet, front hall and part of the living room, the downstairs bedroom, hallway and partially the family room.  They have 2 humidifiers (big ones) downstairs; we have turned up the air so it’s warmer inside and there are a myriad of fans blowing underneath the carpet.  When you walk on said carpet, your depth perception is knocked off-balance and you feel as if you are walking on a magic carpet ride.  Between the heat and the smell of markers (gag), I have a headache and am nauseated…LOL…of course, I’ve also been up since 4:30am and didn’t really sleep very well last night.  The good news is that we are going to stay in a hotel for at least the weekend, but probably into next week.  The kids are so excited because they want to go swimming and yay! we’ll be able to also do laundry!

And I was complaining that I felt boring in my comment on LorelaiCC’s Saturday’s week in review!  Not any more!  What was I thinking?!  This week has certainly been an adventure!  And now, maybe even a little bit of a mini-vacation?!

I can’t wait to see what happens next!

Here are some weird pictures for you to be amazed and awed (I’m really taking this alliteration thing too far today, I know…bear with me!)

Really Ugly Dog

On to the Wacky Washer…

Yesterday while I was innocently doing laundry and unbeknownst to me, our washer decided to spring a leak in the back in a place where I could not see it.  It poured water from our laundry room to our basement work room.  Since I did not go downstairs at that particular moment, I had no idea of the water.  So…I continued doing laundry.  On the second load, it flooded the laundry room.  In the time it took for me to walk from the laundry room to the kitchen to get my children some yogurt and my son walking around to the dining room going past the laundry room to notice the water, it had flooded the laundry room to probably an inch deep of water and had run into the living room rug.  And then just as I’m staring in horror at all the water, all of our smoke alarms started going off because they are hot-wired into our house and when one is compromised all are compromised.  So for almost an hour, I listened to the blaringly loud chirping of the 5 smoke alarms in our house.  It really is enough to drive a person insane!  They should do that for torture instead of water boarding.  Anyway, I desperately ran about the house calling people on my cellphone as I turned off the water main to the house and cut the breakers to the laundry room and basement.  Needing relief from the chirping, I went outside to call the fire department to see if there was something I could do to stop the incessant chirping (I couldn’t find a breaker to turn them off, naturally!).  They were supremely helpful and sent out several young men to my damsel-in-distress cry.  They found the compromised smoke alarm, disengaged it from it’s wiring and the peaceful sound of no chirping and water dripping rushed in.  I blessed them repeatedly and thanked them profusely!  I’m thinking of naming a child after them, if I have anymore that is, and while it’s not looking like I will, if I do I’ll have to name them Firefighter because I didn’t get any of their names.  Hmmm….Firefighter Braswell.  We’ll see.

So, today I’m still cleaning up from the flooding.  Lots to do, but I decided to take a break to write this hopefully funny tirade on my experience from yesterday.  We will be getting a new washer, of course.  But for now, let the cleaning commence!

As usual, I’m late with this post.  Lots and lots going on…if you would like to join in, please click on the banner below.

Sunday, August 24th

• Wonderful day at church
• Sang with my daughter for Sunday night church

Monday, August 25th

• Cleaned and did laundry

Tuesday, August 26th

• Had a boring day
• Went to Bible study

Wednesday, August 27th

• Went to the store
• Ran some errands
• went to church – wonderful study in James

Thursday, August 28th

• Laundry
• Crocheted
• Took my children to Awana’s
• Went to a new Thai restaurant in town – had Red Curry Chicken.  It was wonderful!

Friday, August 29th

• Shopping!
• Paid bills

Saturday, August 30th

• Scrapbooking all day with Mom!  What fun!  I got 9 pages done!  I have far exceeded my goal for this year!  Yay!

Here we are again for our weird Wednesday pics…hope you enjoy them!

Juice me!

Mona Lettuce