God's Love Came Down At Christmas

I always do Children's Church in December so I can teach the kids about the Lottie Moon Christmas Offering for International Missions and also so we can have a birthday party for Jesus! This year I got each of them a little story book called "Love Came Down at Christmas".
So when we had our family Christmas get together, Jared wanted me to read it to the family.

Aren't they cute? Hannah didn't have alot of Christmas joy in this picture so you can't see her.

That's a little better!


Only 4 of these are my grandchildren...but the other 2 are my sweet great-niece and nephew!


Addison loves her little cousin Lilly!

Hannah showing off her new purse.

This is my nephew Kaiden. All of the kids are getting so big!

My sweet Kenzie-girl!

Jared and Tyler lovin' Christmas!!!

Aaron is never still long enough to get a good picture!


Neither is his little sister, Addison!


Tyler is taste-testing the goodies!


Aunt Janice and Lillie, the newest addition to the family...at least for now...Michelle and JJ are expecting!!

Merry CHRISTmas!

Wishing everyone a very Merry CHRISTmas!

WMU LADIES CHRISTMAS ORNAMENT EXCHANGE

On Friday, December 10th, we had our annual Christmas Ornament Exchange. We had soooo much food and sooo much fun!! There were about 30 ladies and many babies! We are thankful to celebrate the birth of our Savior and thankful for our fellowship together.
Lisa putting together her cupcake Christmas tree

Me showing off my sandwiches :-) I can't cook so when I make something everyone likes I have to really show it off!


You can't hide from the camera Olivia!

Sweet fellowship among sisters in Christ!

Maddie sharing her santa hat

Janice, Lisa and Marie wanted to be sure to be first in line!!


Yum, yum!


Counting to see how many girls brought ornaments to exchange

30 women can make alot of noise....I'm trying to get everyone's attention!


Judy, trying to see whose gift she wanted to "steal"!

Wonder what Gladys got?

Everyone loves Lois's dance to pick her ornament. This year she changed it a little bit. :-)

I am so thankful for my wonderful Church family!!

FAMILY GROUP

The youth minister at our church, Larry David, asked me back in Sept. to be part of a Family Group Bible Study with some of the college freshman girls. The leader of the Bible study is Ruthie, who is a sophomore and is part of the leadership team at Baptist Campus Ministry. The goal was to help the freshmen get used to campus and being away from home and staying in God's Word and was supposed to last only during the month of September. Well, most of the girls ended up coming to our church and we enjoyed our fellowship together so much that we decided to keep meeting. We drew names for Christmas and had dinner at Ruthie's dorm apartment and exchanged gifts. What a great time we had! Just see for yourself. Our group is Amanda, Tara, Kara, Cheyenne, Cathy, Ruthie, Mary, and ....and me!


I am so thankful to God for bringing these sweet girls into my life. Christmas is hard for me sometimes but this year thanks to my Family Group of college girls, I made new memories!

LIFE IN THE BUNKHOUSE

The very first trip I took with the Disaster Relief/Rebuild team to Pascagoula, Mississippi after Katrina we stayed in the Jackson County Baptist Association's bunkhouse. This is my third trip with the team and again we stayed in the bunkhouse. It's like coming home. It has a bunk room for girls, and one for boys. It also has a couple of bedrooms, a dining/kitchen combo, a shower/bathroom room for girls and one for boys, and then another half bath. Also a small lounge or common area but there are usually too many of us to be in there much. The guys use it alot of times after evening devotionals to play cards and just talk about man stuff. The girls usually have mini-slumber parties in our bunk room. Don't stay up too late because we have to get up early to go to whatever work site we are assigned to. It makes me think that maybe that's the way the early church was. Living together, working together, praying and studying scripture together. It is always an absolutely amazing experience and I have made so many new brothers and sisters in Christ!

This is me and Jimmy in Rebecca's house

After the first day of work....collapsed!



Wilma grilling hamburgers and hot dogs. The building behind her is the Jackson Co. Associational Office.

Everyone congregates in the dining room...

Frankie looking innocent...

Don't the tables look pretty?

The chow line.

Wilma showing her muscles with Sammy and Hamp planning in the background.

Betty is true blue even in Mississippi!!

Pat with a wordless salvation puzzle.

A tender moment caught...Hamp and Sandra separated for the week...he snuck in the ladies bunk room to say goodnight!

Judy is claustrophobic...so she got on the top bunk.

Keith can't live without his Dr Pepper

Robbie leading the devotional.

Judy caught me on the phone checking up on my Daffy Dog.


This is Sammy. The heart and soul of the Tates Creek Association Disaster Relief/Rebuild Team!
Ron. The carrier of the stomach bug. Nuff said!