Sunday Afternoon Collage

Have I said how much I LOVE this time of year. It's the perfect temperature to be outside. This weekend was gorgeous, and I had to take my camera out! On Sunday afternoon, we grilled hotdogs and ate on the back porch. The kids enjoyed blowing bubbles and playing outside. (Didn't I hide Jonathan's cast well?) Loved some of the shots I got! What did you do this past weekend?

Matthew and T-ball

Matthew has a love-hate relationship with T-ball. So do I, quite frankly. This is his third year playing. His view is that he LOVES hitting the ball, but doesn't like catching it. He doesn't like being forced to practice, but he LOVES the snacks afterward. LOL! At any rate, here are some photos from the last game he played in Friday night. Isn't he precious in his uniform? I know...I'm a bit biased. Look at him hit that ball!

Thank You's Appropriate!

I LOVE this sign I passed on the way down HWY 278 where a lot of the tornado damage occurred in our little community. The Red Cross has had volunteers helping to clean up. They've brought snacks and drinks around to people working outside in this mess. And those are just things I know they've done firsthand. Also, a local church, Amazing Grace Baptist, made spaghetti dinners, complete with bread, salad, and dessert, and delivered them to homes in the effected neighborhoods. They also delivered meals to workers cleaning up the debris. The day after the tornado, everyone in our neighborhood was outside working, and a friend down the street came by and invited us and everyone else who was living or working in our subdivision to come eat with them. She had set up coolers and tables with sandwich meat, bread, drinks, etc... on her front porch for everyone to eat. (Thanks Sheryl!)

A big THANK YOU to all who helped our little community of Beech Island, SC. We are so grateful! (Below are more photos I took this afternoon of the damage.)

A Nice Visit

On Saturday night, some friends of ours visited us on their way home from vacationing in Florida. They stayed overnight and left this morning to go back to NC. Craig and Milissa are wonderful people, and their daughter, Grace is Jonathan's biological half-sister. As adoptive parents of these two, we thought it important that they grow up knowing each other. They had met a couple of years ago briefly, but since we were able to spend more time together this weekend, they hit it off splendidly! It was just what Jonathan needed after breaking his foot. Ed grilled chicken, hot dogs, and corn on the cob, and I served cole slaw, potato salad, rolls, and key lime pie. We talked until after 10:30, while the kids got acquainted. Here are some photos of them together.

Craig and Milissa have graciously invited us to spend the weekend with them sometime this summer. I'm so glad Jonathan has his sister in his life. And isn't she cute as a button?

Those are the Breaks!

Ya know how there are times when you just wish you could take on your child's troubles for yourself so that he or she wouldn't have to go through them? Well...this is one of those times. Jonathan broke his foot Friday night. Here he is getting a plaster splint. The cast will be put on next week.

His is called a Jones Fracture, an injury to the fifth metatarsal bone of the foot. Here is what one looks like, in case you are curious (the flash from my camera ruined my photo of his x-ray). Pray that this heals completely, because in Jones fractures, it's common for the break not to heal completely and for surgery to be needed to place a screw that unites the fracture. PLEASE pray this won't be necessary and that it heals quickly as well.

He broke it simply by running and trying to stop suddenly, and he turned his foot awkwardly. At any rate, we had hoped it was only a sprain, but since it wasn't...he's probably going to miss the entire rest of baseball season. He got to pitch and play in only two games. Below are photos of him from his last game Friday night. (By the way...he didn't break it DURING the game...it was afterward!)

If I am to be completely truthful, I am just as upset (if not more) about this probable end to his baseball season as he is. But I guess I should just do as he does, and put a big smile on my face! What a cutie!

Good Friday (Photo Heavy)

This was one Good Friday and Easter weekend I will never forget! It was a gorgeous warm day on Friday with temps in the 70's. We were outside a lot of the day. We went to church that night, and returned home around 9:00 PM. My family and I were watching TV and the frequent interruptions in programming because of passing thunderstorms. We got 2 Weathercall alerts...one for severe thunderstorm warning, and another for a tornado warning. At around 10:55 PM, I heard a noise I will never forget. I asked Ed, "Do you hear that?" He didn't. I said, "Listen! You don't hear that?" He said, "Turn off the TV." As soon as I reached for the button on the remote, the power went out...complete darkness. Then Ed heard the "train whistle" noise! He grabbed Matthew and a flashlight and headed to our laundry room (no windows), and Jonathan and I got in the closet under the stairs. Those were the most terrifying seconds of my life! The noise got louder and louder, and I knew it was a tornado. It was, in fact, an EF-3 tornado. Read more about it HERE. The lightning was unbelievable! When things got quiet, we waited a bit, then got out. My husband took an umbrella door to door to check on the neighbors. It was really dark and hard to see much, but the light of day told the whole story! Below are some pictures from our house and around our neighborhood.

On a positive night, we thank God we were safe and the damage to our house wasn't that terrible. The power came back on Sunday night, and we just got our cable, Internet, and phone back this morning (hence the lag in posting). But my heart goes out to so many who lost so much right around us during this storm. Our neighbors, sheriff's dept, Emergency response, the Red Cross, and nearby churches were awesome!

Photos can't adequately portray how everything looks after a tornado. But here is the front of our house the next morning.

Here's a closeup of the tree that hit our house. It was an old oak that split...part hit our fence, and part hit the house.

This is the entrance to the neighborhood. Don't know if you can see the power and cable lines lying across the road.

This was the dogs' kennel. They were unharmed (really there was no time to get them in.) The roofs on their houses held up well.

More damage in our yard (and can you see the toy slide in the pool?)

The back of the house across the street.

Next door...that white thing around the roots is our neighbor's sprinkler system.

One view down the street beside and behind our house.

Just down the street from our subdivision entrance.

First Citizens bank of Beech Island (hard to tell from photo, but pretty much a total loss)

In Petticoat Junction area up HWY 278.

More Petticoat Junction (road blocked)

Workers trying to restore power and cable right outside our neighborhood. This stretch of road has been closed from 9-5 daily since the storm.

Praise God there was only 1 fatality from this. We are all blessed to be here! Glad to be back on-line too!

Please vote for Me!

I have long been an admirer of this, but now I have entered a contest to win one. If you have stumbled across my blog, or if you occasionally follow it, please go HERE and vote for Entry #60. Vote once per day through April 22nd. Thank You!!!

Going....Going....Gone!

Here's what our weekend was like. First of all, on Friday night, Jonathan played in his first baseball game of the season. It was so exciting. The team they played wasn't that good, because they beat them 17-0. What I'm most proud of though, is that Jonathan pitched two and a half innings, and did a beautiful job! And the kicker? Jonathan hit his first ever home run! I was trying to get my stupid mini-camcorder to turn on, and on the first pitch, which I missed, I heard a SMACK! I looked up from my camera, and watched as the ball kept going and going and going. It went right over the fence! You have never seen a momma make a bigger fool of herself! I was hooping and hollering and jumping up and down...shaking things I didn't know I had! It was thrilling to see as he ran into home plate. His whole team came out of the dug out to pat him, high five him, jump on him and congratulate him. He got a hit 3 out of 4 times at bat. Good game, I'd say! Here are some photos (although I'm disappointed I didn't get the video of the homer)! Doesn't Jonathan look handsome in his uniform? They are the Jackson Phillies.




This was the team huddle after the game.

Okay...the other half of our weekend consisted of this.



We had 2 or 4 hickory trees cut down, depending on how you look at it. The larger of the two was like one tree that had one big trunk and 2 smaller ones. Ed paid to have them cut down ($5oo), and we (the family) have been cleaning up. What a job! I'll try to take more photos after we're done. The house seems so naked without the big one in front! But it will help our poor grass to grow, cut down on the moss, and help keep the mold off of our porch.
Well, that's it. Hope you all had a fun and productive weekend. Gotta get outside now. :)

Edited: Jonathan got a brand new baseball and a ten dollar bill for being the team's MVP for that game! Way to go JK!

Crickets and Love

Just had to share these pictures I took of Matthew and Jennifer (a friend's daughter) as we were watching our older boys practice baseball. We were in a grassy field backed up next to a cow pasture. The kids were playing with this cricket that Matthew caught in the grass. Sooooo cute! Don't you miss the times when you could slow down long enough to enjoy simple things like that?

This morning I was listening to Joyce Meyer. She was speaking about selfishness and loving one another. I have to say, it really hit home. According to Joyce, Love-plain and simple-is how your treat people. She says that every night before we go to bed, we should ask ourselves if there is anyone we've mistreated today. If so, we should make it right, ASAP. Are we tired of being mean-spirited Christians who talk about people, gossip, who are critical and who have no time for others, and only love them when they meet all our conditions? WOW!

Jesus says we are to love one another and that all men will know we are His disciples by our love!

In Matthew 25, Jesus says, "When I was hungry, you gave me something to eat, and when I was thirsty, you gave me something to drink. When I was a stranger, you welcomed me, and when I was naked, you gave me clothes to wear. When I was sick, you took care of me, and when I was in jail, you visited me. " Then the ones who pleased the Lord will ask, "When did we give you something to eat or drink? When did we welcome you as a stranger or give you clothes to wear or visit you while you were sick or in jail?" The king will answer, "Whenever you did it for any of my people, no matter how unimportant they seemed, you did it for me."
Jesus takes personally how I treat other people. If I'm hateful to someone, I'm being hateful to Jesus. If someone has a need and I am too wrapped up in my own life to take the time to help them, Jesus takes that personally. And we parents can understand that. You'd better believe if someone is mean to my kids, I take that personally!!! We are to put on love and put on kindness.

2 Corinthians 5:15 says, "And Christ did die for all of us. He died so we would no longer live for ourselves, but for the one who died and was raised to life for us." It's time we stopped being so wrapped up in ourselves that we fail to do what Jesus commands us to do..."Love one another." And I'm talking to myself here! :)

Okay...I'm done preaching. Did I listen well, Joyce?

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend and a safe, fun spring break!