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!