Singing Praises!

Very few things delight a Nana's heart more than watching her grandchild sing praises to God! Yesterday morning, my grandson's choir sang in our Sunday morning service. We normally sit towards the back, but not this Sunday. I was right up front so that I could get a good view. Carter did so good! The last time that he got in front of an audience was not a great experience. He was so scared that he never even looked up and he eventually left the stage completely. After talking with Carter and a little bribery:) he performed like a professional.

Here is a short clip from his outstanding singing debut at the church. For those of you who do not know Carter, he is the beautiful blond in the yellow shirt on the next to the top row on the far right.

As he sang, I was reminded of how much I have to be thankful for. My two grandchildren are a tremendous blessing that God has given to me. I am thankful that my parents are in good health as well as the rest of my family. We will be leaving in the next day or so to go to Bladon Springs where we will spend Thankgiving as well as the rest of the week. We will have a houseful as Morris, Julie, Trey, Thomas, Ainsleigh, Ryan, Elizabeth, Carter, Brandon, Brittany, Ryleigh, Mother, Daddy, Bradford, Randall's Mom and Dad all come for Thankgiving. Mother, Daddy and Bradford will go home after lunch, but the rest are staying to hunt and enjoy the country life through the weekend. It should be a lot of fun!

I am on vacation all this week and I got up this morning and decorated the Christmas tree as well as the rest of the inside of the house. I am officially in the Christmas spirit! I love this time of year!

Simple Sister2Sister

Friday night, we had a great Sister2Sister fellowship. We sat around and talked over pizza, chips, cookies and cokes for the first 35 minutes or so. This video clip is from this portion of the night. Afterwards we went downstairs into the Shack worship center where we listened to Lynn Robbins wonderful testimony. God has allowed so much in her life. I could not believe all that she has been through. But God has been faithful to bring her through it and she gives Him all the glory for allowing her to overcome her past. Everyone listening could not have helped being touched through her words. The last part of the night was spent in a great time of prayer led by Martha Sullins and Bonnie Porter. Thank you God for constructing such a wonderful night!

Sho Gun -Sho Nuff Good!

Linda and Tom Peak eat at Sho Gun Japanese Steakhouse and Sushi Bar quite a bit. Randall has never eaten Japanese food and I just recently ate my first Japanese food at STIX that I wrote about in an earlier blog. The Peak's were going to eat there last night and they asked us to join them along with their son, Andrew, daughter-in-law, Courtney, and grandson, Will. Randall and I really enjoyed it. They give you more food than you could possibly eat and it was all delicious. Here is a short clip of our entertaining cook and all of us as we ate.

Another important event took place today. The Peaks are celebrating their 30th anniversary on May 5. They asked us to help them celebrate by going on a cruise with them. As we began looking at the cost of the cruises out of Mobile at the first of the week, we found out that there was going to be a 1 day Sale and Promotion on Thursday (yesterday). So we waited to check on this before we made our reservations. We feel we got a great deal and we will be be cruising to Cozumel on May 4 thru May 9. The one and only cruise Randall and I have been on was about 30 years ago when we went on a 3 day cruise of the islands in Greece. We are so excited about our Carribean Cruise with the Peaks.

San Miguel's Video Test

I made a video yesterday at the office and tried all night long to attach it to my blog and the blog wouldn't accept it. I am not sure why. The only thing I could think of was that it was too large a file. It was the same length as the one I did at the house on my first try, so I don't understand. This video I shot today is shorter. If it works, I guess that was my problem.

It works! Yah! I think I have the hang of this now. I wish the one I made at the office yesterday would have worked. Maybe I'll try it again.

Well, I am getting ready to go back to church for the last study in our Following God Series on Old Testament Characters. It's been a great study.

Tomorrow will be my last day in the office until the first week in December. I will be off all next week. Yah!

Have a great night!

Upload Video to Blog TEST

I have seen other people's blogs with video attached and I think that is so neat. So the computer expert that I am not has worked for several hours now trying to figure out how to upload them. At the point that I am writing this, I am still not sure that it is on this blog. If it is, I need to remind myself of how I did it. I right clicked on the video and saved it to my desktop. Then I clicked on the video icon on the blog and placed it on the blog.

By the way, this video was just a test. As most of you know, we have a very talented dog that can sing and he just happened to come into the room while I was doing my video test. So what better video than to have me singing Camp's and mine country rendition to "You Are My Sunshine?" It is his favorite song to sing along on. Let's see if it worked!

Over Til Next Year

Well I managed today to make two doctors visits in one day. I began seeing Dr. Stuart, a chiropractor, last Thursday and had my third session with him this morning. Then I got to the office and looked at my calendar and realized my yearly mammogram and check up was also today at 11:15. My mammogram went very quickly and I also got back into the exam room quickly. Then a baby that wanted to come into the world took my doctor away from the office and I had to wait for quite a while. I'm glad all of that is over until next year.

Our community group went last night to see over 20 adults and children from "Light of the Village" be baptized at Springhill Baptist. This was an awesome sight to see all the lives that this ministry has touched. Pray for John and Dolores Eads as they continue in this ministry in Alabama Village.

It was a good Monday overall. I got a lot done at work in between and after my doctors visits.

Thank you God for a great day!

Mike Railey Turns 60!

Saturday was a big milestone in the life of my much older than I, brother-in-law, Mike Railey. He turned 60! And bless his heart, half of his day was spent working making the steps for the hunting houses. I think secretly the guys kind of enjoy making the houses. We celebrated by watching the Alabama-LSU game. Alabama is undefeated and they were kind enough to help Mike to make his birthday a happy one by winning yet again. During half time we ate delicious grilled hambugers and hot dogs made by Mike's son, Kyle. Here are a few pictures of the celebration in the kitchen as well as watching the ball game. In the pictures are Randall's sister (Mike's wife) Deborah and their sons, Kyle and Drew and Lauren, Kyle's wife.

Down Go The Steps!

The four hunting houses are just about through! Randall and Mike constucted the steps on all four hunting houses this weekend. The houses look great and are sure to help all of us get that big buck this season!


Our fields are beautiful this weekend. Here are a few pictures I took while the guys worked.

Obama Wins Presidential Election

I think this picture says it all. As you know, according to my last post this is not the way that I wanted this to turn out. However, we all prayed that God have His will in this election. Because of this, I must believe that my prayer was answered. The Bible also says that God is the One who places people in positions as leaders and it also says that I am to respect those He places in these positions. So unless President Obama does something absolutely against what I know to be truth, I will support him. I will say that this truly does show that anything is possible for those living in America. God bless America and God bless President-elect Obama and all those that he places in positions of authority around him.

ELECTION 2008

Well today was the long awaited day! Hopefully within the next few hours we will know who our next president will be. The polls are showing it very close as of yesterday. Last week, Barack Obama was ahead by alot. He is still ahead according to most polls and it seems that for McCain to win would almost be a miracle. I pray we see a miracle. But if we don't, I know that God is still in control and that He will have allowed Obama to become our president for a reason. Maybe it's time that we really find out what this nation is made of. Maybe it will take hard times for Christians to finally stand up for what they need to stand up for.

I really was not that excited about the McCain ticket until Sara Palin joined the ticket. Now I am a strong supporter because of her values, attitude and experience. If this election does not work out in their favor, I certainly hope that she will be the Republican Presidential nominee in 2012. I don't believe the race would be as close as it is if were not for Sara Palin. The main reason that it is so hard for the Republican party to win at this point is because of our current economy which everyone blames on George Bush. Yes, some of it may be his fault, but some of the blame also lies in the hands of the Democratic Senate and Congress, which are in control in their areas. But somehow, people always blame the party of the man at the top.

Record numbers of people turned out to vote today. Many people had to leave and go at other times because voting centers were so busy at times. I went around 2:30 and got right in and right out. We have watched Fox News for the last two years just about every night and it seems like this election would never get here. I am glad that it is almost over.

Never fear-GOD IS IN CONTROL!

285 Emails

285 Emails......that's how many I had waiting for me after two weeks of being on vacation! It took me just about all day just to go through them. I really had a good day considering it was my first day back. It was easy getting up this morning because of the time change. At six, it felt like 7:00, which was great. The only problem comes at night. It is now 6:42 P.M. and I am already getting sleepy:)

It's always good to come home and catch up with friends. One very important event happened in the life of our good friends, Tom and Linda Peak while we were gone. They became grandparents. William Peak came into this world last week. What a great blessing!

I enjoyed going to lunch with Ken, Dana, and Ayden Whitton today at Panera Bread. Ken insisted that I join them and I am so glad I did. I really enjoyed the food and the time with the Whitton family. I found out about a new website that Dana is using as a weight loss tool called "thedailyplate.com." It is very interesting and Dana has already had good success using it and her neighbor has lost a lot of weight using it. It basically is about calorie counting, but they help you in every possible way. For those of you interested in losing weight, you might want to check it out.

Good nite......sleep tight......remember our BIG election tomorrow. Don't forget to vote!

The Rest of the Story

(Note: No we did not fall off a cliff in Branson! After finally getting on the internet to post my first day in Branson, I was not able to make any other internet connections at all. I knew there were problems when I couldn't post the pictures to my last post of the trees at the cemetery. So I went ahead and posted each day in a Word Document so that I wouldn't forget. So this post will include the rest of our trip all in one post. Also be sure and check out the pictures I posted in the Maplewood Cemetery post. They were really some of the prettiest pictures from the whole trip. Thanks to all of you who went on this trip with us via my blog. We have had a great time and hope you have enjoyed looking at the pictures and reading about what we have done.)

Monday, October 27

After purchasing our tickets, we decided to go to the IMAX Theater where there was a movie on the Grand Canyon. The Grand Canyon is one destination that is on our list of places we want to go. So we decided to do the next best thing and that is to see it on the huge IMAX screen. The scenery on the screen was outstanding. It was done from the view point of the Colorado River looking up at the canyon as you go down the river. It lasted about an hour and was worth the money. They have a nice small shopping mall attached to the IMAX which we spent a little time before and after looking around in.

After this, we came back to the camp for a lunch of ribs and potato salad and then we both took a nap. When we awoke from our naps, we went out and went in a few local specialty shops to kill some time before we ate dinner. We ate dinner at Montana Mike’s before our “Six” show at 8:00. We were disappointed in the food at Montana Mike’s. It really was just O.K.—nothing special. But the show, “Six” was not a disappointment. I had been told before we went to Branson that this was a “must see.” “Six” is a group of six brothers that perform the whole show accappello. Two of the brothers make sounds like drums and symbols and the rest of the brothers sing most of the time. But they change up and do different things throughout the show. They were funny and were greatly talented. It was another night that I didn’t want to come to an end .

Tuesday, October 28

After a breakfast of pancakes, bacon, and sausage at the trailer, we went to the “Titanic.” It is very cold this morning. It went down to around 25 degrees early this morning. “Titanic” is an approximate 1 hour and 45 minute walk through a museum and historical display of all that happened on the “Titanic.” It was very well done. You walk around with a personal audio player and as you come to certain areas, you put the appropriate number where you are and you get an audio description of what you are viewing. Anyone who liked the movie, “Titanic” I would think would find this museum fascinating. I am not one to usually like this kind of thing, but this was GREAT! So well done!

Back to the trailer for a light lunch today because we want to have a big appetite for the Dixie Stampede. We know when we went to the Dixie Stampede in Gatlinburg that the amount of food you get at the dinner with the show is overwhelming. The Christmas show at Dixie Stampede is very similar to the regular show that we saw at Gatlinburg, but it is still very good. There is a Nativity scene in the middle of the show that is very good where Mary, Joseph and the baby Jesus come down from the ceiling in the center of the arena and all the shepherds come in with all of their livestock. Later the 3 Wise Men come in on their camels. It was definitely the best part of the Christmas show in my opinion. The food seemed better to us at the Gatlinburg show, but was exactly the same thing. We remembered that we had been on a strict diet for 6 months before we went to Gatlinburg and we were splurging that night by eating the food there. That may have been why it seemed so good to us there. That strict diet is going to have to return when we get home. I am sure we have both gained at least 5 lbs. on this trip!

After the show we went back to the R.V., watched a little T.V. and off to sleep we went. These late nights take a little getting used to.

Wednesday, October 29

Ham, Cheese, Mushroom, and Onion Omelets were the breakfast from Randall’s kitchen this morning. We definitely have a full day today, so we will need lots of energy! We began our morning heading down to historic downtown where you will find a new shopping complex called Branson Landing. What a great place to shop. They had a lot of great stores all connected by a brick landing where music was piped in all around you as you walked. It was already decorated for Christmas and was beautiful. In the center of the landing was a huge Christmas tree and directly across from it was a water & fire show that was connected to the music. The stores were anchored by Belks and Bass Pro Shops. We loved Bass Pro Shop as you might expect. We went in to a lot of interesting shops. We ate lunch at Texas Cattle and Steak and had a delicious hamburger.

Time slipped up on us and we had to hurry back to the R.V. to get ready for our afternoon show of “Noah” at the Sight & Sound Theater. This is a relatively new theater and show and have heard that it is spectacular. The show was SPECTACULAR! The building that it is held in is equally as spectacular as you can see from the pictures here. The tickets to this were the most expensive, but well worth it. At one point in the show, you feel as if you are actually inside the ark with Noah and his family and all the animals. You are in the middle and there are stages in front and both sides of you with all of the animals in cages. Some of the animals are real and some are animated, but from a distance it is hard to say which is which. It was really awesome!

After Noah, we went back to the R.V. for a quick break to let Camp out. Then we were on to our last show of our vacation called Grand Jubilee featuring the New South Quartet. This is the show that we got tickets two for one. It is held in one of the original theaters (very small compared to the new ones) in Branson and is approximately 30 years old. The show was good—not great, but worth the $15 a piece we paid. The highlight of the show was the comedian that did spots throughout the night. He has been performing in Branson for about 25 years and his comedy is much like that of Don Rickles and Harvey Korman on the Carol Burnette Show. In his bio, it said that the Carol Burnette show was where his love of comedy came from and he was just as good as they were. He was outstanding!

We are getting up and heading home in the morning. We are not sure how far we will go tomorrow but we have decided we would like to be home for Halloween so that we can see Carter and Ryleigh. And also, Ryan, Elizabeth, & Carter are leaving Saturday morning to go on a cruise and we want to see them before they go.

Thursday, October 30

We got up early this morning, around 6:30, and began the tear down process in order to head home. We ate a quick breakfast of Pop-Tarts, took quick showers and were ready to head out at 8:30 A.M. We have had an absolutely marvelous vacation. It was everything we had dreamed it would be! We were able to enjoy God’s beautiful creation as well as enjoy the talents that He has given to man for our enjoyment as well. As we leave this morning, it is with grateful hearts for all that we have been blessed with.

We stopped for lunch at Chilis around Pine Bluff, AR. Randall has decided at this point that we can make it all the way to Bladon Springs by about 8:30 and he says we are going all the way, And that’s what we did. We arrived in Bladon around 8:45 P.M. which made for a very long day of driving and riding. Randall had to drive the whole way, 6 hours of which was on a two way highway in the mountains which is very stressful especially when pulling a trailer. I am just not ready to try to drive and pull the trailer. I will get the courage to try it soon, Just not today….so the poor guy had to do all the driving. I must say it was nice to get into a larger space for a change. The 23 foot trailer is fun, but after 2 weeks of it, I was ready for a larger living space. We slept great and got up Friday morning and transferred everything in the trailer to our truck since we are leaving the trailer up there through hunting season. We didn’t realize how much we had in that little trailer until we started unloading it into the truck!

Friday, October 31

Well it’s Halloween and we are home. We arrived in Mobile around lunch time and we have driven according to our odometer, 2505 miles since we left our driveway two weeks ago. We have seen gas prices from $2.59 per gallon to one station in Branson where it was $1.99 per gallon. The gas prices going down was another blessing for our trip. When we planned and figured the cost of our trip, gas prices were around $4.00 per gallon! This price drop helped tremendously! While vacations are wonderful and exciting……. It’s good to be home!