Christmas Day

Here we are as a family on Christmas Day! We had Sunday School and church, and then (because of a hectic several days and just because!) we ate at Palm Palace, a wonderful Mediterranean restaurant. Then we spent the rest of the day at our house, playing Nerf guns, losing Nerf ammunition, looking for Nerf ammunition, not finding Nerf ammunition, realizing we need to buy more Nerf ammunition, talking, eating some more, and just having a very sweet time together! We are so thankful that Gary puts up with us so sweetly! :-) Of course, we have to put up with him too! Ha ha! Seriously, he is such a blessing to us!

Christmas Eve Concert

It was a privilege to have a part in our church's Christmas Eve concert! We had lots of visitors, and the Lord blessed with every part of it. Here is a picture of our trio (with Tizzy and Tabitha Burtt), and we sang Jeanine Drylie's "He's Emmanuel." It seemed that the folk were greatly blessed by the message of this song. Definitely one of my favorite Christmas songs! Also, it was great to sing with Tizzy and Tab!

Christmas 2011

We celebrated Christmas on Christmas Eve, and it was such a special day! Here are some random pictures as we opened gifts.

Ladies Christmas Brunch

Our church, Ann Arbor Baptist Church, held their annual Ladies Christmas Brunch at the Sheraton. Mary Rice was the speaker, and we thoroughly enjoyed her two messages on the subject of joy! It was very well attended, too! Her husband, Bill Rice, preached on Sunday on the subject of the home. I believe our church folk greatly benefited from their ministry! We loved having them stay in our home too! We've known them for years and so appreciate their friendship and help to us.

Mac & Beth Lynch

It's always wonderful to see our dear friends when we're in meetings. During the Cleveland, SC meeting, Mac and Beth came to see us, and we had such precious fellowship with them after church and almost didn't let them go home! Mac and Beth have encouraged us over and over. By the way: They have a new CD that I highly recommend - "It Was His Grace" - tremendous songs filled with hope and grace during the trials of life (www.wilds.org). You will want to have a copy of this wonderful CD!

Michigan meets Ohio!

We now live in Michigan, and we do the U of M thing, but we are not die-hards. I'm more of a Clemson fan, since my dad went there. A few days after Thanksgiving we visited some dear friends of ours - Tom and Ellen Clark (who may claim they are FORMER friends now!) who have a cabin in Cleveland, SC, and they are Ohio State die-hards. John always wears his Michigan jacket, and he wore it over to their cabin, totally forgetting their affinity for OSU - only to meet Ellen in her Ohio State jacket! To make matters worse, it was the same day Michigan played (and beat) Ohio. We had no idea Michigan even played (and beat) Ohio that day. Proof that we are not die-hards. So I had to get a picture of them together. So thankful that they are still our friends!

Sleigh Ride

It is a family tradition that my sister Kathryn and I play "Sleigh Ride" at our holiday gatherings. They beg and plead for us to play it over and over and over again! (Do you catch the sarcasm?) Anyway, my brother-in-law Bill dutifully video-taped us performing it and posted it on YouTube. Here it is, for your viewing and listening pleasure! :-) Don't you love how I keep looking at him to see if he's started recording? So embarrassing! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FI-zw2jzkmY

A lovely mom and her 4 darling daughters!

Here we are at my sister Kathryn's house on Thanksgiving Day. I have 3 sisters, no brothers, but some wonderful brothers-in-law! But they're not handsome enough to be in the picture. Just kidding! They are, but I think they were golfing when this picture was taken ... Anyway, from the left it's me, Kathryn Bethea, Noele Neidig, my mom (Pat Poore), and Kimberly Poore.

Visiting my mom - Greenville, SC

I'm originally from Greenville, SC where my mom still lives. It was wonderful to visit her and my sisters for Thanksgiving. Had a wonderful time with family. We love to go to Golden Corral with her. We tease that she doesn't like to read menus, so this the ideal place for her! We sure do love Mom and love being with her!

Winding down after a church service

John, Jr. and his daddy love munchie stuff, especially after church services each night. Here we are taking it easy after a church service. Someone (Hi, Rhonda!) gave us these delicious bags of organic pop corn with olive oil from Trader Joe's - yummy! We love to read a book together as a family before going to bed, especially biographies. Just finished a tremendous book about Robert E. Lee! He was such wonderful Christian man with strong character. John, Jr. is more of a Ulysses S. Grant fan, if you know what I mean. But his mother, a South Carolinian, has roots that run deep in southern soil. So we have a little "friendly fire" going on in our household about these issues! :-) Enjoy some of our after-church pictures!

Second Tooth

John, Jr. lost his SECOND tooth today! Okay, don't worry. We'll stop posting the tooth losses from this time forth and forevermore. But I thought he looked so cute with such a gaping hole in his mouth. I am so glad it finally came out because it was literally grossing me out, the things he could do with that thing dangling in his mouth. Seriously, it was beginning to nauseate me. Anyway, these are fun moments in a child's life. He did remind me that we need to put something under his pillow tonight, in exchange for the tooth. I'd rather he keep the tooth, and we keep the money ... :-)

Oops!

In the post below you will see that the pictures are not in order. I uploaded them in the order I wanted them, and lo and behold, they are not in order. Obviously the issue must be with the blogger, not the blogspot. You can probably figure out the order of things, but I will add a couple more pictures for your viewing pleasure, and to probably add to the confusion of things. Sorry about that! This order of pictures turned out weird too. Maybe I need to read some directions somewhere ...

Lock & Dam #19 on the Mississippi River

This week we are in Keokuk, Iowa - where Iowa, Illinois and Missouri meet. We are staying just about 5 miles from the Mississippi River where there is a lock and dam. This is the widest part of the Mississippi River, we read in some literature here. So today we were able to see a barge being pushed through the lock! It was so exciting to see. First they make sure most of the water is drained from the lock. Then they open one side of the gate so the barge can come through. Then the tug pushes the barge through, the gate closes behind them, and the water fills up, which means the barge and tug are raised to the upper level of the river. Then the gate on other side of the lock is opened, and the barge is pushed out of the lock. This may seem like a quick process. It's not. We were there for over 90 minutes watching all this take place. And it was cold. And windy. But that's ok! It was worth it! We got pizza afterwards, so that warmed us up really quick! Here are some pictures of the progression.

Our house in the Fall - Amazing!

As some of you know, we are not home right now. And this is our home. But we have wonderful neighbors who get to enjoy our property more than we do. :-) She took these pictures of the progression of this maple tree (and her sweet daughter) in front of our house. Enjoy!