Marriage Enrichment

Mike and I spent the past week on vacation and attending a Marriage Conference. We attended a Weekend to Remember conference in Williamsburg, Virginia. We had a great time visiting this wonderful city and spending some time focusing specifically on our marriage. My favorite is always the date night Saturday night. Mike and I went out to eat in Merchant's Square and then did a Colonial Williamsburg Ghost Walk. It was a lot of fun.

We had great speakers at the conference. I always love it ends with renewing your vows. I got really tickled this year- remembering the minister who married us messed up a little. I got tickled remembering Mike whispering over and over to me it was okay.
We also picked up a new devotional book for couples. We celebrated 15 years of marriage this past May. For at least half of our married life we have been to conferences and seminars to enrich our marriage. Some have been one day seminars, some weekend conferences and even a marriage classes. I encourage you to actively do something to enrich your marriage. Most people think that these type of classes, conferences, or seminars are just for marriages in trouble or struggling. Although these things are great to help in those situations, we should ALL be taking steps to focus on our marriage.

I encourage you to check out www.familylife.com and click on conferences to check out dates and locations. You can also find a lot of resources for marriage and family on this site.

We also loved our visit to Williamsburg. I learned so much about the history of our country and colonial life. We ate at some great places! I did some fun shopping. And YES! we visited Yankee Candles Flagship store (one of two). We watched some fun movies. We even road a ferry over to Smithfield, Virginia. We got back late last night- it is about a 8 1/2 hour drive. I took today off and enjoyed watching Christmas movies. I also made my lists and pulled my coupons to shop tomorrow. Tomorrow the office closes at noon.

All in all - a great time! I will post some pictures and info on the vacation part of our trip later. I will tell you this is definitely a place everyone should visit. If you homeschool, you should put this in your school year at some point. If you visit two days- you should purchase the season pass $58 (versus $36 for one day). It is an awesome place. We were actually there during the opening of the first reconstructed building in 50 years- Charlton Coffeehouse.

Am I crazy?

I ask you if I am crazy because tonight I will be at our church's Survivor Lock In for 3rd - 5th graders. A fellow Childhood Ministries Staff Member has planned this night for us and here is what I have to look forward to.........................

9 a.m. pizza at the YMCA
10 - 12 (midnight) swimming at the YMCA
12 - 12:30 head to the church
12:30 - 4:00 Wii games, nerf gun wars, make overs, etc.
4:00 - grab your sleeping bag and we will put in Swiss Family Robinson
8:00 parents will pick up their kiddos

Pray I can stay awake. I tried to sleep in this morning but a neighbor is adding on to their house and I woke at 7:14 a.m. to hammering. Nope couldn't go back to sleep........... so I will try and take a nap later.

Please pray for Mattie today- she doesn't get to go home. Her fever is back and white count low.

I will update you on the evening later- and hopefully will have some pictures.

Please pray for Mattie

This is my friend Mattie. She is 6 years old. She was diagnosed with leukemia on Wednesday, October 28, 2009. She begins chemo tomorrow. Please pray for her as she begins this journey.

You can keep up with her journey at www.caringbridge.org/visit/mattieballentine .

Please pray for her specifically tomorrow- Monday, November 2nd. She will have surgery and her first chemo treatment. Pray for her parents- Jeff & Luanne and her big sister Emily.

What an exciting night!

We had a great evening last night at the Coupon Town Hall! Thanks so much to Jenny Martin from www.southernsavers.com - our special guest for the evening. She taught us many things and was very flexible as we had an interesting night

all to learn more about using ...............
COUPONS!!! She taught us new things, reminded us of good coupon ethics and how to honor the Lord through it all.

Our evening was exciting ................ a visit from emergency personnel. Thankfully our person needing assistance was okay.
AND thanks for the patience as we evacuated to the basement at the advisement of our fire department due to the tornado warning our area. Although brief it made for one interesting evening. Hope you enjoyed the night and learned a lot!!!!

Rain, Rain Go Away

Yes, I would be happy if the rain would go away and come back another day. I think this picture puts into perspective how much rain we have had............ even a duck needs an umbrella at this point!

Speaking of ducks............. I have decided to finally share my duck story. This is just for you Elizabeth!

You see even though I am not much of an animal person now, I used to be. I am not sure what happened to make me a little anxious about animals- especially dogs. However, when I was little I had lots of animals. Lots of different types of animals and I loved them.
On my dad's side of the family I was the first grandchild. My grandparents gave me many different animals. My great grandmother - Nana (pronounce Nannie) also helped instill in me an early love of animals and a great respect for them (and their habitat). When I was about four or five I received a duck as a present from my pa paw and ma maw. I grew up a block from Harrison Bay State Park and loved visiting and feeding the ducks there. So this was a great present. I remember the little duck and I loved the duck.
Soon after I received the duck my family was joining other families from church on a camping trip. When we returned home I couldn't find my duck. I looked for my duck everywhere. My family told me that they thought my duck was lonely and joined the other ducks at the park. So for years I would try and figure out which duck was mine. I would talk about my duck living at the park and feed the ducks. I have taken pictures of the ducks, talked to the ducks, etc. Well I grew up and moved away for college, seminary and serving my first church. I moved back to Chattanooga and one Christmas I was saying something about my duck at the park- my uncle said something about it dying. I was like what? He began to laugh realizing that for almost 30 years I had believed my duck ran away to the park. It was then I realized they found my duck dead when we returned from the camping trip. An animal had killed it.
We were soon leaving to go to my grandmothers and when I got in the car with Mike I begin to cry. I cried all the way to my grandmother's house. When I got there everyone was like what is wrong? That is when they realized I really believed all those years my duck ran away. Now, five years latter we laugh about my duck story.................
I wish they would have just let me believed he had gone to the park and joined the other ducks and lived a happy duck life! Thanks Uncle Scott! :)
Note: I really didn't think he was still alive (I mean the duck would have almost been thirty at that point) BUT I did think all those years he was there somewhere!

Enough about my duck.................. I do believe we are all going to need a row boat if it doesn't stop raining soon!

Sneaking Away

Well hubby is off at a conference- sure miss him. I am headed to a class tomorrow in Georgia so I decided to go today. I am going to get to stop by and visit my sister's class (she teaches special education in North Georgia), stop by the outlets, and finally meet someone who makes my life easier- I will expound later! I will just leave in you suspense for now!!!

I get to finish my Saturday by watching to see how UT does against Florida. I will also be celebrating my fathers birthday! We ate last night but will officially celebrate Saturday night. I am so excited my mom is making coca cola cake.

Sunday will be another great day! I can't wait to see all my little friends. We will also have our second night of AWANA !
I pray you have a great weekend. What are you up to this weekend?

Fellow Couponers.......... have you heard?

Just in case you have not heard................... First Baptist is having a Coupon Town Hall on October 9th! Jenny from Southern Savers is our guest speaker............www.southernsavers.com is her website.

You can go to our church website to find out more info and to register.


www.clevelandfbc.com

On the home page scroll down until you see the button for Coupon Town Hall. There is a short form for you to fill out and this is the only way we are taking registrations right now........... We have only had registration up since Wednesday afternoon and we have already had about 183 people register. This should be an awesome time of learning more about saving money!