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!

It's Football Time in Tennessee!!

Yes, I know that the University of Tennessee Football began last week. However, since we were at Family Camp I did not watch the game. My husband did. They had a tent set up for people to stop by and watch the games.......... or CAMP out at the tent - which is what my precious hubby did. Matter of fact we laughed because he did not even eat lunch- he just kept watching the games. He was excited our team - UT- won. He said that this week would be a truer test to see how they really looked.............. well we lost today.

Mike is a die hard UT football fan. He grew up in a county right beside Knox County- where UT is located. He is a very patient and quiet man. Most people ask me if he ever talks. I usually laugh and say yes but most of the time he can't get a word in when I'm around. Everyone just laughs because they know I am never at a loss for words. He is really, really quiet. He however has come a long way in his shyness since we met. What most people don't realize is this quiet man becomes a different person when UT football is involved- well really UT anything. He really likes UT basketball. We especially like to watch UT women play- they are incredible. He has a collection of UT things and in our last house we had a UT room. I have recently decided I am going to turn one of our spare bedrooms into a UT room again.

My mom would never believe me that her quiet, shy and very polite son-in-law actually would yell and shout during games. So one day (without him realizing it, I called her and she heard him) and she just laughs. Normally he fires everyone or thinks they need to be fired. He tells the players what they did wrong, or what they should be doing, etc. Well today was no different. We ordered pizza and I looked over and he had not touched his plate. He said he was waiting until it cooled down. He just grinned and I laughed and thought yeah right. Tennessee was at the end of the fourth quarter and had a small window of a chance to win. He was just too anxious. I laughed and laughed. They lost- he finally ate................ it cooled down (AND so did he!). He even wore his orange shirt to watch the game. I love watching UT football with him.

I love him very much! Other than my salvation, my husband is the best gift God has ever given me! He just realized he does not think he can watch next week's big game against the Florida Gators because he will be driving home from a counseling conference. Oh I hope he gets here- it is great entertainment for me just to watch him........ um I mean the game. :)

Family Camp

This year we celebrated 5 years of Family Camp! It was a great weekend of fun with families from First Baptist. We headed up to Camp Cherokee (our church owns and operates) which is in the Cherokee National Forrest. It is a beautiful place.

Families enjoyed many activities which included (but I may have forgotten some).......
biking, tubing, swimming, kayaking, canoeing, leather crafts, geocaching, Tye dying, games, scooters, walking, bead crafts, food craft, archery, riflery, volleyball, rocking in the porch chairs, football, fishing, playing on the playground, a talk on furs and tracking with a park ranger, roasting marshmallows, eating smores, enjoying ice pops, etc.

It is a great time............. we had excellent food thanks to Mr. Charlie. He does a great job of organizing, planning and cooking some wonderful food. My two favorites from the weekend were the French Toast and Parmesan Chicken. I hopefully can get the recipe for the wonderful chicken from Mrs. Melinda who is the creator of this delicious dish. It is also a camp tradition. She also shared with me that when her son or his friends come in for a visit, it is always their request.

We also got to hear from Mrs. Jackie, Pastor Jimmy, Bro. Jim and Andrew. We heard of the work happening in another place in the world from Andrew.
It was great to spend time with my little friends. Unfortunately a few were sick and had to go home.

It is always a privilege of mine to line up some children to be baptized in the lake at camp----- it was an honor to see Alexa, Laura Lee, Emily, Carly and Kathryn take this "next" step in their obedience to Jesus.

As I sat on the porch, it was neat to hear one mom talk about the years they have now come to Family Camp- most of their children's elementary years (one just entered middle school, one has their last year in elementary school and one just at the beginning of elementary). She stated she wants her kids to one day be able to talk about the traditions of their family. One of those traditions is now Family Camp on Labor Day Weekend! YEAH!

What is a tradition for your family for Labor Day or any other day?