The Lord Knows What We Need!!!...

For those of you who read my last post, and to those who will read it, I say Hallelujah!!! Thank you for your prayers. They were definetly felt. Yesterday went very well. The funeral (CELEBRATION) was a beautiful service. Paul did an awesome job. He made us laugh and cry all in the same breath as he told stories of "Granny" Rollins and her life. Our church did an awesome job stepping up to the plate and helping with all the food. It was a long day, but a very joyful day as well. Granny Rollins celebrated her first birthday in Heaven. She would have been 97 if she had lived till yesterday. She is no longer suffering, she is enjoying her Jesus!!!

Then today God rewarded us for all of our hard work. We had one of those sweet services where there is no preaching. God came in a glorious way. We had a wonderful service with singing, praising God, and seekers at the altar. Thank You God, For Blessing Us In A Special Way!!! He knows just what we need. He once again ressured me, we are where we belong. Thanks again for all of your prayers.

I Was Wondering...

Are we pastoring a church of 40 or 400? In the past two weeks it has sure felt like 400 instead of 40. Two weeks ago we thought a sweet saintly 96 year old lady was going to pass away. Instead, a 46 year old man who has only been to our church 3 or 4 times, passed away suddenly with a brain hemmorage. It was such a shock to everybody. Who would expect to preach to a young man one Sunday and have him dead and gone the next. He left behind a wife and two kids. The sad thing is that nobody knows if he was really right with the Lord. Paul, had to do the funeral for the man, and it was an extremely stressful time for him. That same week, a lady that goes to our church, had a son that was in a motorcycle accident, without a helmet. He was seriously hurt but is doing much better, Thank the Lord!!!

Then, this past Sunday we had a baby dedication at our church. It was a sweet service. Paul did a great job. By the way, it was his first one he has ever done. The bad thing about the whole thing is that the 20 year old mother of the baby found out this week that if the doctors don't figure out what is going on with her eyes she could go completely blind. If you think of her pray for Brittany. She is a sweet young girl. With a bright future in front of her.

Now this week, the saintly 96 year old I mentioned at the beginning, has passed away. It has not been nearly as stressful as the last funeral. Actually the family is not calling it a funeral, they are calling it a homecoming celebration. She would have had her 97th birthday tomorrow. She missed her birthday by two days. But, really she didn't. She is celebrating her first birthday in Heaven!!! Paul is doing her funeral (celebration) tomorrow. If you think of him say a quick prayer for him.

So, are we pastoring a church of 40 or 400? You tell me what you think. All I know is that I am ready for things to slow down a bit. I will say, God has been sooo... good to us through all of this. I know we are right where we belong.

60 & 40...

Happy Birthday to dad and Paul!!! While we were in N.Y. we had a surprise b-day party for my dad and Paul for their birthdays. Paul turned 40, Jan. 4th, and dad turned 60, Jan. 6th. We wanted to have the party while we were all home so we had it a few days before. Paul knew about it, but dad had no clue. He was completely surprised. It turned out to be a great party. We had 50 people in attendance. Among those in attendance was Bro. and Sis. Paul Pierpoint. They just happened to be in Binghamton for a few weeks. It was so nice to have them. My mom was able to get a pretty cake from "Cakes by Harvey." It was really good along with all the food that was prepared. We also came up with a top 10 list of the things we love about Roger. He really enjoyed that. Thanks to everyone who made the party a success!!!

The Guests of Honor...

The hot food...mac and cheese, chili, meatballs, baked beans, cocktail weiners...

The cold food...chips, relish tray, rye bread w/dip, etc...

Save some for the rest of us...

Mom, Dad, Paul, and Aunt Mary (by the way her B-day is the same as dads)...

This cake was half carrot and half red velvet...

Blowing out the candles...

Opening their cards...

Paul Pierpoint with the birthday boys...


My whole family...

SNOW...

While we were in New York we woke up one morning to SNOW covering the ground. It was so beautiful. Lauren had been so disappointed when we got to N.Y. and there wasn't any. So I had to snap the picture of her gazing out the window. She was so excited. While we were in N.Y. we actually stayed in a motel, courtesy of my wonderful sister and brother-in-law. They helped us stay there due to the lack of room at my parents small house. The bad thing is that we had to get to my parents house, 20 minutes away, in that snow. Paul has not driven in snow since we moved to Alabama and then to S.C. It has been about 9 years. He did an amazing job. I was so proud of him. He still has it in him. Some of the pics below are actually while we were driving down the road. The girls actually got to enjoy the snow the next day. We bundled them all up in warm clothes and let them go out with their cousins to sled ride down the back hill. I'm not sure if the cousins or the aunt and uncles had more fun riding down the hill. After they had had their fill of snow and were freezing to death they came in and warmed up with some hot chocolate.

The view from the motel window...

Lauren looking out the window at the snow...

Highway 17 under snow...

Old 17 completely covered. Paul you're doing great...

The tree on my parents deck, isn't it beautiful???

Weeeeee... we are having fun...

Here we come...

Ashley your cheeks are so rosy...

Brrrrr it's cold out here...

The whole sled riding gang.

Our Extended Christmas...

We started our Christmas off at my in-laws house on Christmas Eve. Paul's side of the family was there and we had a nice dinner and opened our gifts. A high light there was the reading of the Christmas story. My in-laws have 4 grandchildren and they all took a turn reading a portion of it. My mother-in-law also read "Twas the Night Before Christmas." We had a great time..

Lauren reading her portion of the Christmas story..

Ashley reading part of the Christmas story...

The girls opening some of their gifts from Mom-Mom and Pop-Pop.

When we got home that night the girls put cookies out for Santa...

Then Christmas morning, we actually had our own family Christmas at home, on Christmas Day, for the first time since we have been married. We have always traveled to one of our families, but this year since my in-laws have moved 11 miles from us,we were able to be at our house. It was nice to try to start some of our own family traditions. We started out with a nice breakfast of biscuits and gravy, monkey bread, and scrambled eggs. Then we opened our stockings to see what Santa left us. We then opened our gifts to each other. The girls biggest highlight here was that they got a Nintendo DS. They had wanted that more than anything else.

Paul getting the stockings down...

Ooh! She got me my cologne...

Lauren got me some pajamas with my favorite, snowmen...

Ashley showing off some of her stocking stuffers...

Lauren showing what she got...

We got our Nintendo DS...

Sandy even got a stocking with some treats in it, including this toy.

We then left for N.Y. on the 29th of December to celebrate Christmas with my family. Unfortunately my cameras batteries went dead and I did not get any pictures of opening gifts there. We had a wonderful time while we were there.