Papa Lyndel's blog

No Posts for Months - Blame DISH

2010-09-15T16:08:00.004-05:00

I saw that Haley, my daughter-in-law had posted something new on her blog and she mentioned how it had been 5 months - or something like that - since she last posted. So I looked at my Papa Lyndel blog (this one) and saw that the last time I posted here was at Easter!

Haley knows the reason. Dish Internet is INCREDIBLY SLOW!! It is sooooo slow that I cancelled it and had to pay cancellation fees for quitting before my contract was up. But the cancellation fee was cheaper than paying for it for another 6 months - it just all came out at once.

I guess I should ask them if I get a refund for all of the days it didn't work. What days would that be? Any day with clouds that were heavier than wispy white.

Here is a diagram that explains how satellite Internet works. This may explain part of the slowness.

If the only way to get the Internet was through satellite dishes the Internet would die in about two weeks. All e-commerce would come to a screeching halt. But then I guess we would be spared a lot of YouTube videos of cat's sleeping and stuff like that.

Maybe I should have had more dishes. This would look cool out on Hickory Point don't you think?

So if you are curious about my grandchildren - which is the point of this blog - you'll have to be my friend on FaceBook I guess. I can upload from my phone on FaceBook and now and then will put up pictures of my 6 beautiful grandbabies. Even ATT with my slow "E" connection (no! they don't have 3G in the country) is a thousand times better than DISH satellite.

You can always keep up with my church blog - http://www.hilldaleworship.blogspot.com/

A Special Easter - Gibson's Baptism

2010-04-04T20:16:00.000-05:00

Easter is a great day as we celebrate the Risen Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ.

There isn't a better picture of Christ's death and resurrection than one of His follower's baptism. It's the perfect thing for an Easter Sunday morning.

However, this year we presented our Passion Play on Easter weekend. It's not a spritiual thing to pick this weekend, it's a Spring Break thing with half of my choir and actors gone during Spring Break.

This year in the Passion Play we had John the Baptist baptizing. I hate to give away any set design secrets, but we didn't really have the Jordan River, we had a horse trough from Tractor Supply hidden with various plants and paper rocks.

Today Gibson was baptized by His Papa as part of Hilldale's 9:45 morning worship service. (You may notice the horse trough in the pictures.)

First I told about when I was young and became a follower of Christ at an early age. It's a very natrual thing to do when you grow up in a Christian home and you see Christ's love at home and spend a lot of time at church. Later as a teenager, with a more mature understanding of sin and a person's need for a Savior I questioned whether or not a six year old could really understand what it meant to be a follower of Jesus. So I made that decision again and was baptized again. But if you think about it, each day we need to decide that today I will live like a follwer of Christ. I don't mean we need to get "saved" again. Jesus, Himself, said we should take up our cross daily and follow him.

A few years later, looking back over my life at the ripe old age of my early twenties, I realized that I DID understand when I was six what it meant to follow Jesus and that WAS when I became a Christian. Jesus said we should all me to Him with the faith of a little child.

I baptize you, Gibson, as your Papa and as a Minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

Buried with Christ in baptism.

Raised to walk in newness of life.

It was a great moment.

Dancing with the Stars - Grani's Brithday

2010-03-23T13:00:00.003-05:00

Grani's birthday happened to be on the first night of this seaon's Dancing with the Stars. Since Grani and Papa and all the grandkids like to watch Dancing with the Stars Aunt Haley and the kids decided it was the perfect theme for a birthday party!

Here are the stars!

They were right! It was the perfect birthday theme.

We danced and danced.

and ate pizza

and watched Dancing with the Stars

and danced some more

Papa had the sexy shirt-unbuttoned look going on to match Grani's fishnet hose. It really bothered Elam. He kept saying, "Shirt open!"

The only hair gel we could find was Haven's, so that's what I used. It had sparkles in it! but I don't think they show up in the pictures. Haha.

We had a wonderful evening together. Gibson said, "We HAVE to do this next year!"

Putting Up the Christmas Tree

2010-01-18T06:51:00.006-06:00

There's rarely any time to blog...

And even when there is time it takes forever with our incredibly slow internet from DISH. And if the clouds are very thick then it's even slower. And if there is rain it probably isn't going to work at all. But of course DISH says that never happens. HA! So uploading pictures of grandbabies can take a verrrrrrry long time.

We have lots of fun on Hickory Point with the grandkids.

The Saturday after Thanksgiving all of the kids and grandkids were at the house so we decided it would be fun if Papa and the grandkids put up the Christmas Tree.

Thanks to DISH internet it took me over 30 minutes to do this post. Just sayin.

a Big Bunch of Littletons

2009-11-29T14:28:00.000-06:00

My mom and brothers and their families joined me and my family at my house for Thanksgiving.
We had a wonderful time together. We don't get to all see each other very often.

Christmas Memories

2009-08-25T13:02:00.001-05:00

I'm getting ready for our choir Christmas party and ran across this picture from 2003.

A Visit with Shirley

2009-07-10T11:40:00.005-05:00

Today, Papa, Gibson and Elam all went to visit Ms. Shirley. Ms. Shirley gave Gibson his very first haircut about 6 years ago. She looks the same, but Gibson is a lot bigger!

Here are some before and after pictures from today's visit.

Elam was great. He only had one breakdown when Shirley asked him to scoot back a little while Papa was getting his hair cut. She didn't want him to get hair all over himself. When he didn't move Gibson "helped" him. Thankfully another sucker from Shirley stopped the crying.

Gibson took my picture too.

Birdhouses

2009-07-04T09:09:00.003-05:00

WE painted birdhouses last night. The kids were very serious about their work. I'll post pictures of the finished products after they wake up this morning and we take some pictures.

and - hahaha - it's 9:10 and Benjamin and I are the only ones up. YEAH!

Zoo Day at Cousins' Camp

2009-06-09T17:23:00.003-05:00

We had a great time at the zoo.

Too much fun!

No time to type details.

Hope you enjoy the pictures.

Playing in the Creek

2009-06-08T13:19:00.004-05:00

Cousins' Camp is under way! The Oklahoma cousins got in about midnight. The Tennessee cousins arrived today just before lunch.

The first thing we had to do - of course - was get out in the creek! We might not be able to move to Clarksville. The creek is too wonderful to leave.

Uncle Andrew found a snapping turtle under a rock ledge. Awesome! (be sure and say that with a 6 year old's tone)

Look at him trying to bite the stick.

A New Mailbox

2009-06-06T15:20:00.004-05:00

Cousins' Camp starts Sunday night after church!!!

WOOOHOOOO!!!

All 6 cousins and their moms and dads are going to be here for a week. It will be so much fun!

So to get ready for cousins camp Papa washed all the mailboxes, chased away ants and snakes and spiders and all such things and...

most importantly...

added a new mailbox - a yellow one for Beau.

I had to put it on the end by Gibson's (I was putting them up in order) because 6 years ago when I put Gibson's mailbox up I wasn't thinking how in just a few years I would have 6 mailboxes!

Notice that the flags are up! That's means there's something in there for Gibson, Haven, Hannah, Elam, Benjamin and Beau!

A Bunny on Bear Hollow

2009-05-07T21:13:00.003-05:00

You'll want to see a beautiful collage if you haven't been to my Hilldale blog.

http://hilldaleworship.blogspot.com/2009/05/beautiful-bear-hollow.html

I want the grandbabies to see these pictures.

As I was mowing the back acre (which was WAAAAY overgrown - mower was broken, just got it back and then tons of rain) anyway, as I was mowing I guess I disturbed a baby rabbit nest because all of the sudden a little baby bunny rabbit took off running. I then started driving a little slower - in case there were others. Sure enough, another time around (or two) and out ran another baby rabbit.

This one ran just a little ways and then I guess he thought he was hidden in the grass. I turned off the mower hoping I could get up close to him and take his picture.

I walked slowly and quietly wanting to get a closer shot.

A tried my luck, walking in closer, wanting a better shot and hoping he wouldn't run away.

I was so close. He wasn't moving a whisker - holding verrrrrry still so I wouldn't see him. I could see him breathing hard. I stretched out my arm to get as close as I could for a picture.

I probably could have touched him! But he was so scared and I didn't want to terrorize him, so I went back to my mower and he ran off to join his brother.

After the next time around one more baby bunny ran out of the tall grass. I guess they'll get together tonight and talk about their scary afternoon.

Woodland Garden

2009-05-02T17:43:00.005-05:00

I mentioned on Facebook the other day that I was out taking pictures of my woodland/shade garden. Sam said, "pictures! we need pictures!" So here they are. They are really gorgeous on my phone and not so great here on my computer. I'll have to see if there is something I'm supposed to do differently.

Jack in the pulpit. The "pulpit" will turn purple as it matures. Our mountain (I guess it's really just a hill) is covered with them. I brought one down from the mountain and it has multiplied. I'll get better pictures. I guess I need a nice camera. (hint, hint. June birthday)

Trillium. This variety has a brown "flower" and spotted leaves.

Nodding head trillium. Each plant has one large white flower that looks down. There are a lot of these on my mountain.

Columbine. I gathered seed from a columbine I had in another place in the yard and scattered them in the shade garden behind the grandbabies' mailboxes. This is one that came up from seed.

This is a tiny clover that has little pink flowers.You can tell how small it is when you see it in the picture below. It's there to the right of the maiden hair fern (which I also got off the mountain).

Fiddle Heads and Viburnum

2009-04-29T14:19:00.005-05:00

I Twittered (or is it tweated?) this morning that I was out taking some pictures before I drove to Clarksville. The lighting on overcast mornings is perfect for outdoor pictures.

I have several different kinds of ferns in my back yard. I bought some and I brought some down off the hill. When they put new growth out in the Spring the fronds are called "fiddle heads" because - goodness. I hate explaining things that are so obvious...

Well, anyway, I thought it was a cool idea to take a picture of my fiddle with the fiddle heads. (actually, this is my viola)

While I was out there I couldn't help but notice how incredibly beautiful my viburnum were in the overcast light.

You probably know this variety as "snowball bush."

I don't know a common name for this one. But since there are 150 or more varieties I suppose you can't know all of them. http://gardening.about.com/od/treesshrubs/a/Viburnums.htm

Hannah and Benjamin

2009-04-28T09:38:00.004-05:00

Grani told me to put up another post because she doesn't like seeing those snakes every time she stops by here. She uses the links on this page to get to the grandbabies' blogs.

I didn't have any new grandbaby pictures so I had decided to post about vibernum. Ooooo! Sounds exciting don't you think? Probably still will, but later. So to help push the snake pics off the bottom of the blog I'm putting up some pictures that Crystal took of Hannah and Benjamin that she posted on Facebook.

Aren't they beautiful! (the grandbabies, not the pictures. although the pics are good too.)

The Creek

2009-04-17T14:27:00.002-05:00

Why Papa loves his creek.

Why Grani doesn't.

Passion Play Night

2009-04-10T14:52:00.004-05:00

Randall came down from St. Louis with his family to see Hilldale's Passion Play. We had a great time playing together. These are pictures of Hannah and Benjamin and two of my nephews, Isaac and Asher and Aunt Christy.

After the Passion Play we played and checked out the set.

Handbells

2009-02-21T19:02:00.005-06:00

I have birthday party pics I need to put up here, but I thought I'd put these up before I get farther behind.

Hannah and Benjamin went with Grani and Papa to the East Tennessee Handbell Festival.

On our way to Jefferson City we stopped to play in Knoxville.

Hotel rooms are tons of fun!

We went to Carson-Newman for the handbell festival. I think their mascot is the eagle.

Notice Grani's new young cool glasses and hair cut!

There were 20 handbell choirs there!

This bell is bigger than the kids! It's a C2.

A Trip to Red Lobster

2009-02-06T08:41:00.005-06:00

Months ago we were going to Red Lobster for supper and Hannah was in one of her contrary moods and she said, "I don't want to go to Red Lobster. I want to go to Blue Lobster."

But last night she was in a great mood. She usually is. (I know Uncle Roger won't believe that.)

Here is a video of her explaining what the lobsters in the tank were doing. Notice how when her daddy asks her something she tells him that she is telling the camera.

Benjamin was talking up a storm until I turned the camera his way. But then we were able to get him to talk about what was on his plate. I love the way he says broccoli.

Hannah was afraid to touch the lobster, so she touched Grani's hand while Grani touched it.

Benjamin didn't mind touching it at all.

Imagine Spot 1 - Super Bowl Ad NBC Rejected

2009-02-05T14:47:00.001-06:00

NOT a Good Thing

2009-01-24T22:39:00.003-06:00

I posted last Tuesday that it was a good thing to have an African-American as president. However, being a person of color is NOT enough. You can read my thoughts on my worship blog.

http://hilldaleworship.blogspot.com/2009/01/not-good-thing.html

Here's an article titled "A Dangerous Time to Be a Black Baby."
http://thepublicdiscourse.com/viewarticle.php?selectedarticle=2008.10.28.001.pdart

Hannah Loves Papa's Camera

2009-01-23T06:46:00.003-06:00

If Hannah sees my camera she has to take it and start taking pictures.

She says, "say cheeeese."

But she hasn't completely figured out how to aim.

And usually she has her finger in front of the lens.

But she has a wondeful time.

A Good Thing

2009-01-20T11:41:00.006-06:00

It would be easy for me to make a list of reasons why I would have liked to see a different result in last November's election. As a social conservative and a fiscal conservative (you give away enough trillions and pretty soon you're talking real money) I have many concerns about congress and President Obama being from the same party that has many things in it's platform that I disagree with.

My hope is that in the years to come black conservatives will have their voices heard as well.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_conservatism_in_the_United_States

But even though I have concerns, I am glad to have a president of African-American decent. Why? Because I have grandchildren who are. (Notice how beautiful they are.)

And we, as a nation, have generations of blacks who feel disconnected and overlooked and they must realize that the American dream is their dream also. I want my grandchildren - and the children of Bordeaux and Detroit and Harlem and wherever - to have black men and women who are successful and godly and strong and courageous to look up to. It is a good thing that we as a nation have elected a black man to be our President.

Benjamin doesn't know about skin color yet. He thinks his Papa is one of the coolest people around. (He's right, of course.) I know some day he'll realize that he and his Papa are different shades, but I don't think he'll care. I sure don't.

But I also know that someday - probably much sooner than I hope or imagine - he will experience the hatred of racism. I hear things now and see the looks and notice the whispers. I've heard many rude things said by white people about our new President because of the color of his skin. It's OK to disagree with proposed policies and ideas, but only because of a different view of how to solve a problem, not because the one offering the solution is black.

My prayer is that an African-American president will not only inspire and encourage the black community, but that ALL communities will realize Martin Luther King Jr's dream of seeing all men judged by the content of their character and not their skin color.

Wii Bowling with Great-grandma and Great-granddad

2008-12-31T15:29:00.003-06:00

Videos would be much funnier! I may try to get one later.

Christmas at Great-Great-Aunt Norma's House

2008-12-30T21:38:00.003-06:00

Wrestling with Papa

Kari, Great-grandma, Alyssa, Great-Aunt Jamie, David, Diane's girls, Michelle, Melissa and Meagan with Beau

Diane wearing the dress she wore in Papa and Grani's wedding 32 years ago!

Jon-Michael and Beau

Great-grandma and great-great aunt Norma. (You get extra greats when you are an aunt for some reason.)

Kylee, Glenna and Haley

Great-uncle Roger, Jonathan and Mindi

Gibson, Grani and Haven. Haven was sick.

We had fun.

Benjamin is Learning Things

2008-12-08T17:29:00.004-06:00

Benjamin and Hannah spent Sunday afternoon and evening with Grani. When I came home from church, Benjamin was watching a Baby Einstein DVD. I was impressed how he new the words to so many things. A picture would pop up on the screen and he would say what it was before the girl on the DVD did.

for instance, this picture (one similar) came up

and Benjamin said, "cup".

this happened a couple of times with different pictures and then this one popped up

and Benjamin said, "time out, it's a time out"

HAhahahahahahaha!

Christy explained that Benjamin goes to the big cushy chair when he needs "time to himself", so he calls that a chair, but Hannah goes to one that looks like this picture. Hahahaha!

He also can sing the alphabet, but Hannah sings louder than he does so you probably can't hear him here.

Sesame Street Live - Elmo Grows Up

2008-11-29T09:49:00.002-06:00

A New Ornament

2008-11-28T08:33:00.002-06:00

Each year we get a new Christmas ornament that has all of the grandchildren's names.

Here's a post from last year with older ornaments.

http://papalyndel.blogspot.com/2007/12/papas-christmas-tree-and-new-ornament.html

Here's this year's ornament. Look how wide it is since it has to have 6 names! How fun is that?!

Tag Game

2008-11-20T18:33:00.002-06:00

I was tagged by Christy with one of those blog tag games. I'm suppose to go to my pictures and find the fourth folder and then the fourth picture in that folder and then tell you about it.

So... here it is.

It's Great-grandma Littleton with Hannah. Great-grandpa and great-grandma were here in Nashville visiting. Hannah was 5 months old. Looks like we were celebrating the 4th.

Now I'm suppose to tag others, but I may party-poop out of that part. Most of the blogs I follow are members of the Visual Arts Street Team on Etsy. We work together to promote our art and try to get more sales from our Etsy shops. You can see the VAST blog here - http://vastgallery.blogspot.com/ There are lots of beautiful original art pieces from all of the VAST artists.

Great-great-great grani and Great-great-great papa

2008-11-16T15:06:00.004-06:00

Would you believe me if I told you I was going through some old photo albums and found these pictures of some of my really old relatives? from the 1920s?

Who knew great-great-great grani was a dancer?

Great-great-great papa was rather dapper don't you think?

Fall Festival at Hilldale

2008-11-01T18:25:00.005-05:00

We had lots of fun with Sleeping Beauty (Hannah) and Prince Phillip (Benjamin) at Hilldale's Fall Festival.

There were giant blowup slides.

Hannah crawled up "like a turtle" (her description) and slid down by herself.

Papa carried Benjamin up. He laughed all the way down the slide.

There were games in the gym

horses to kiss

bouncy houses for jumping

and cars for trunk-or-treating

and Papa and the other pastors in a dunking tank - (someone will have to e-mail a picture to me to put it up here)

and Hannah had a pretty braid with beads put in her hair by Rochelle.

Halloween Is Coming

2008-10-28T09:50:00.003-05:00

Papa and Beau

2008-10-10T22:13:00.003-05:00

Someone e-mailed and said, "Where are pictures of Grani and Beau?" Grani, first of all, usually doesn't let me take her picture and secondly, I get in trouble if I put her picture up here, so you will rarely see pictures of her here.

And look at this! Our Tennessee readers will be amazed that I only paid $2.56 for gas!

Tumbleweed Fun!

2008-10-07T14:25:00.002-05:00

Just a swingin'

2008-10-07T13:30:00.003-05:00

Beau needs a little bit of time in the bright light. I'd tell you why but then I would have to know how to spell a very slight case of jaundice. Since he was awake I took some pictures.

Gibson drew a picture of Beau in his swing. Looks just like him don't you think?

A Verrrry Looooong Day

2008-10-04T22:56:00.003-05:00

Our very long day started just 3 hours after we went to bed. (Click here to see our Roller Coaster news day)

First we went to the hospital a little after 7:00 AM to see our beautiful new grandson. We only got to see him for about 15 minutes. We could have picked him out of a hundred babies since he looks just like the others.

His name is Beau Ryder Littleton.

Then we went to my mom's house to see her.

Then we went to the soccer field for Gibson's (my first grandson) 9:00 game.

After that it was just a wild day mostly at mom's house and a trip to the funeral home and to the cemetery and back to mom's for lunch and we tried to get in a nap at Andrew's house and then back to the hospital (got to see Beau for a whole 10 minutes that time) and back to mom's and tons of relatives were stopping by and with keeping 7 little ones happy all day...

It was a looong day.

Here they are at lunch. There are my 5 grandbabies and 2 of my nephews - Isaac and Asher (who are 3 and 1). Wheeeee! It's been fun and emotional and long and we are exhausted.

Beau comes home tomorrow, so we'll get better pictures.

Adoption Day!

2008-10-02T14:15:00.003-05:00

Today is Banjamin's Adoption Day! Here is a picture from Sept. 07. (I'll have to look for newer pictures when I get home.

Benjamin is such a wonderful little boy. He is all hugs and smiles and kisses. He has brought a lot of joy to our family and he definitely is Papa's buddy!

Grani calls him our little brown bear. We are so glad God brought Benjamin to us.

Something New and Fun!

2008-09-22T21:40:00.002-05:00

Grani and Papa saw this ball pool - is that what you call it? - at the toy store and thought it looked like a lot of fun!

It was!

Violinist Hannah

2008-09-13T08:12:00.003-05:00

I think I"m going to have to buy a little bitty violin. (They make them in all kinds of tiny sizes.) Hannah loved playing my violin the other day. She actually called it her violin. And she's sooooo smart, I think she could learn in no time at all.

When I was in college a took a course on teaching violin using the Suzuki Violin Method. They start children at 2 and 3 years of age using 1/8 and 1/4 size violins. I think I remember them even having 1/16 size. They don't read music at that age, they listen to a CD (They were LPs back when I learned the method. If you don't know what an LP is then ask someone old to explain it to you.) and then just play what they hear. Moms come to the lessons too so that they can work with the child during the week. It really works! We may start that on Bear Hollow real soon.

Water Color Painting

2008-09-06T15:32:00.001-05:00

Hannah and Benjamin painted with water colors today.

The Duck Game

2008-09-05T23:12:00.003-05:00

Yeah! Hannah and Benjamin spent the evening with us and it looks like they're going to spend tomorrow and tomorrow night with us so they can go to church with us Sunday.

Tonight we played The Duck Game. And the cool thing about this game is that whether you play the way it's explained on the box or make up your own way to play, it's still a lot of fun!

Sad

2008-09-01T17:11:00.002-05:00

Hmmm.
Holiday weekend.
5 grandbabies.
Grani and Papa spent the day cleaning out a closet and cooking BBQ ribs.
They love each other's company, but they have each other every day.
Hmmmmm.
Sad.

An Evening with Hannah and Benjamin

2008-08-22T21:41:00.008-05:00

Hannah and Benjamin's Mommy and Daddy had plans for tonight that I guess didn't include children. Works for me! So we spent the evening together and they are spending the night too. How fun is that?

So we got to Hannah and Benjamin's house and Hannah came out to meet us. Grani gave Hannah a copy of the new Baptist Hymnal for Mommy. Hannah recognizes the music and knows it has songs to sing.

Benjamin loves to read books, so we read a book before we left.

We loaded up the car and said goodbye to Mommy and Daddy.

Then we went to Steak and Shake.

Look at the smiles you get when you put sugar on their place mats.

After we ate supper we went to Lowes.

Then we went to the mall to ride the horses!

After that was a quick trip to Kroger so we would have food to eat this weekend.

Now we're at Grani and Papa's house. The house is clean - surprise! - so they are having fun going everywhere.

Hannah showed Benjamin the secret door.

Grani read a story.

Doctor Grani is listening to Hannah's heart.

Doctor Hannah is giving Papa a shot.

Happy Birthday !(late) Elam

2008-08-20T06:13:00.002-05:00

Papa and Grani called Elam before they left for Rio. He is two now and such a big boy. But since Papa was in Rio he didn't get some pictures of Elam up for his birthday. So now, 9 days late, here is a little picture tribute to Elam.

Grani and Papa love you!

Traveling to Rio

2008-08-10T14:17:00.003-05:00

Don't forget that Papa and Grani are in Brazil this week. You can keep up with their adventures on Papa's church blog http://www.hilldaleworship.blogspot.com/

Here we are on the plane to Rio. See how calm and relaxed Grani is! Yeah!

Some Cool Pictures

2008-08-05T14:53:00.004-05:00

I haven't posted here in several days. Grani and Papa have been working on the house - cleaning, putting things in storage, etc. The realtor is putting a lock box on the door today so she can start showing the house. We're hoping she sells it while we are on our mission trip so we don't have to clean up every morning before we go to work.

But the reason I'm posting today is because my grandchildren need to go to my church blog to see some really cool pictures. I know their mommas check this blog, so that's why I'm posting this here. The rest of you may want to go check it out too. COOL STUFF!

You can click the title of this post and it will take you there. Here's a preview of what you will see.

My Newest Blog

2008-07-25T22:18:00.002-05:00

"My goodness!", you may be thinking, "How could that boy have any more to say. He has a worship blog, an art blog and a grandbaby blog. Now what?"

I'm glad you asked. I'm putting my house up for sale. As much as I love Bear Hollow, it's time to sell and move to Clarksville. So my new blog is to help me sell my house.

Since I have adopted grandbabies and since it would be easier to connect them to where I live by adding my house address, I have removed the link to my house for sale. If you want to keep up with that or want to see pictures as I add them and you didn't save that address, send me an e-mail at home or at church and I'll send you the link.

Happy Birthday Gibson!

2008-07-24T07:02:00.003-05:00

It was 6 years ago today that I became a Papa!

Happy Birthday Gibson!

When someone at church (not where I am now) said, "Your son seems awfully young to be having a baby", my reply was, "I think he's shown great restraint. If he had a son as early as I had a son my grandson would be 5 years old!"

The End of Cousins Camp

2008-07-23T21:03:00.004-05:00

The last night of Cousins Camp was spent at Aunt Christy's house. We read a story before we went to bed. You'll probably notice in both sets of pictures here that there is always at least one person moving. That's pretty much the way it is 24/7 during Cousins Camp.

On the way home from Cousins Camp 08 we stopped at McDonalds. I think we could have eaten every meal either there or at Chick-fil-A and everyone would have been happy - well, everyone under the age of 6.

Playing at Aunt Christy's House

2008-07-20T20:08:00.007-05:00

We had so much fun playing in the water. (those who would get in the water)

We had a pool.

And a funny sprinkler hose.

Elam, the only one to have actual instructional time in a pool, wouldn't get in the water.

More Fun at the Zoo

2008-07-19T08:10:00.006-05:00

By the time we left the zoo everyone there knew Hannah and Elam's names.

Poor Benjamin had to ride the entire time.

We tried for another group shot. Not the easiest thing in the world to do.

Hannah wanted to walk most of the time.

I've never seen the elephants so close at the Nashville zoo. They usually stand waaay at the back.

Same for the giraffes - usually so far away. but the zoo had some food for the giraffe closer to where you stand to look at them. The giraffe is Gibson's favorite.

The Carousel at the Zoo

2008-07-14T21:19:00.002-05:00

Someone today said, "well, we could tell you ran out of steam as cousins camp went on. Your blog kinda stopped." So here's what I would have posted earlier if I had had the energy.

The zoo has a beautiful carousel. It runs for a long time too.

More zoo and fun at Aunt Christy's house still to come.

Cousin Camp T-shirts

2008-07-10T16:06:00.006-05:00

We had a lot of fun making our Cousin Camp t-shirts.

It wasn't easy waiting for your turn, but there was NO WAY I was going to let all five of them in the kitchen with paint!

All the paint was a little scary (as far as hoping it wouldn't end up on floors or walls or clothes).

But we didn't get paint on anything but our hands - amazing!

I put our their names next to their handprints, but I can't find a picture that shows that. Perhaps they will show up in the zoo pictures to be posted later.

We were the envy of everyone who saw us at the zoo.

Before and After

2008-07-09T22:18:00.007-05:00

Before Lunch

After Lunch

Before Grandkids

After Grandkids

Playing Outside

2008-07-09T09:00:00.002-05:00

We didn't stay out a long time because it was very hot and very humid and Hannah freaks out when she sees bugs and Elam didn't want anyone else near the car and Benjamin was getting bug bit and Haven wanted to swing but the swing was wet from rain yesterday and Grani doesn't do outside - ever - and Hannah wanted to play on the bridge and Elam wanted to go down the hill into the creek and there just weren't enough people watching the little ones.

Eating and More Birthday

2008-07-09T08:46:00.005-05:00

Eating is something that happens pretty much non-stop around here. Someone always wants a snack. They all eat lunch. Someone always complains about it. Someone throws part of it on the floor. (for just a moment I missed the dog) Someone always wants more - usually of whatever is already gone. And then thirty minutes later someone is hungry again. Benjamin won't ever try anything new, so I sneak things in his mouth. He opens his mouth up really big and slowly heads his own handful of food toward it and - zip - I beat him to it. He usually ends up liking whatever it is.

Gibson and Haven told Grani and Aunt Christy that they need to open a restaurant. I think they liked the service they were getting.

We had a cake for our birthday party the other day, but we had filled up on watermelon and we didn't have room for cake.

Gibson and Elam picked out the cake. they really liked this one because it had a tractor on it.

We had six candles for Gibson.

And two for Elam.

Here's the crowd cheering for Grani as she lit the candles. I have a picture of Grani lighting the candles, but she doesn't like for me to put her picture on my blog.

Cousin's Camp 08 - Monday

2008-07-08T10:35:00.004-05:00

I guess first I should mention the end of Sunday. Elam doesn't always want to go to bed, but he was very tired, so he just laid down by the front door. Maybe he thought someone was going to come rescue him...

We had a big day Monday. We went to the Family Life Center at church and ran and ran and ran! (You can see where we went to lunch here http://hilldaleworship.blogspot.com/2008/07/cousins-camp-08.html )

Last night we went to see Kung Fu Panda. It was a really good movie. Uncle Daniel and Aunt Christy decided not to join us since Benjamin was not in a sitting still mood and since Hannah was showing why twos got their nickname.

Grani thought Elam would sit through a movie. Silly Grani. He did sit through the twenty minutes of previews, but not much after that. Gibson kept wanting to leave. (It was a little scary at times.)

After the movie we played with the rides at Oprymills. Perhaps next time we'll just take the $145 for tickets and popcorn and buy 5 hours of rides.

We had a great day!

Oh! And it's always nice to know there is a super hero near by to keep us safe at night.

Early Birthday Party

2008-07-06T20:56:00.005-05:00

Gibson will be 6 in a few weeks. A couple of weeks after that Elam turns 2.

So we had a birthday party.

Of course everyone has to get presents.

This is about the coolest Batman costume I've ever seen!

On Papa's Bridge

2008-07-06T16:37:00.001-05:00

I'm sure we'll be looking for many opportunities for group shots.
The concept of smiling for a picture was lost on the little ones this afternoon, but look how cute the five of them look together.
Cousin's Camp has begun! Woohoo!

Just before this picture we were checking the mailboxes on the other side of the creek.

Checking the mailboxes is always wild and crazy - everyone moving and talking and very excited to see what is in each mailbox.

The Fun Begins!

2008-07-06T12:43:00.000-05:00

The neighbor's goats got out. Papa walked them home. Haven captured all the excitement.

Reservations????

2008-07-05T23:36:00.006-05:00

Grani and Papa travel here and there, now and then. Grani is a very organized person and likes to plan out her days, but when it comes to travel she's a little bit like Papa - spontaneous!. "We don't need to make reservations. We'll just find a place when we get there. Besides, we may drive further or a shorter distance than we think."

Well... That attitude may change! We traveled to Mountain Home, Arkansas yesterday. We hadn't planned on going all the way there in one day, but we did. Mountain Home has lots of hotels. There was a Comfort, Holiday Inn Express, Best Western, Ramada, Days Inn, Executive Inn and more.

Who would have thought that EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM would be full on the same night.

(This happened to us in Texarkana once. Had to drive to another city.)

I asked, "Is there something happening in Mt. Home that all of the hotels are full?"

"It's just the 4th I guess," was everyone's answer.

Mr. Patel at Super 8 (I was getting desperate) told us about a hotel just a little ways down the road, the Town and Country Motor Inn.
The lady at Town and Country said, "You have luck. Have one last room. One has canceled earlier." We drove in late and thankfully couldn't really see the place. Here's a view from this morning.

Oh my! I guess the pictures explain it all. "I think it was better than sleeping in the car" was about all Grani could say.

This is as far as the blinds closed.

The pool (thank the Lord - or the health department) wasn't open.

You don't even want to know about the continental breakfast!

Pre-Cousin's Camp

2008-07-04T11:44:00.002-05:00

Cousin's Camp is just before Gibson turns 6 and Elam turns 2. The cool thing about Cousin's Camp is that there are also presents the sister of the birthday boys and for the cousins of the birthday boys. How fun is that?

This is a picture of the living room before everyone arrives. We all know it will be much different tomorrow evening!

A Busy Week to Come

2008-07-04T07:35:00.003-05:00

Grani and Papa went by Hannah and Benjamin's house yesterday. Benjamin saw a picture of Papa and then started crying because he needed to see Papa.
Every time we go over to their house it is so fun to watch Hannah jump up and down when she sees Grani. She yells, "Grani!" then jumps and jumps!

Today we are driving to Arkansas. Gibson, Haven and Elam are at Omah and Opah's house. We're going to pick them up in the morning and bring them to Tennessee for a week! Christy is planning on spending a lot of time at our house while they are here so we can have a week of Cousin's Camp.

So stop by often next week for pictures of all the fun of Cousin's Camp.

Birthday Fun

2008-06-22T22:20:00.003-05:00

What better way to end a birthday than playing with bubbles?

It's nice being the kind of person who finds joy in many things - even the simple things in life.

Birthday Lunch

2008-06-22T22:08:00.003-05:00

You may have already read yesterday's post about my birthday supper. Earlier in the day we had lunch a Pizza Hut.

Hannah is blurry in this picture because she never stopped moving!

Joyce and Jewel (the Alpha and Omega sisters - ask them about their Golden Granny Award)and their mom and dad were also there.

They sent dessert! Yummmmmmm! Chocolate bread stick type deals with chocolate syrup to dip them in! You can never go wrong with chocolate.

After lunch we went to the Family Life Center so Christy and Daniel and Great-grandma and Great-grandpa could see it. (Hannah and Benjamin had already been there.)

Birthday Dinner at the Catfish House

2008-06-21T20:25:00.003-05:00

Yummmmmm. As you'll see in posts to follow, Great-grandpa and Great-grandma came to Tennessee for Papa's birthday. They live in Oklahoma. Great-grandpa always likes to eat at the Catfish House in Springfield. That is always a great choice for supper!

We saw Jeff Land and Reed when we first got there. It's always good to see them. Reed and Benjamin are just two days apart in age. I wish I had thought to pull out my camera to take a picture of the two of them together. It seems like we usually see them at Lowes, but that's a whole other story.

When our waiter came to take our order he said, "I know you. You want extra butter for your potato." WOW! I was so impressed. It was two or three years ago that Ross was our waiter one night. Every time I went to the Catfish House and ordered a potato with my catfish the waiter or waitress would say, "butter and sour cream?" And every single time I would say, "I'd rather have two butters." Ross was the very first one - after several years - to actually bring me two butters. I carried on about it for quite some time that night, so I guess that is why he remembered. (I know that will surprise you all that I was a little "over the top" in a reaction to something good. Ha!) Anyway, I was so impressed tonight that I took my picture with Ross.

So then, I took my camera over to Sheila to tell her how impressed I was with Ross and she and the other young lady (I'm sorry, I've forgotten her name.) were jealous when they heard Ross got his picture taken so they had me take their picture. (At least that's how I remember it.)

Then - wooohooo - look at this. Birthday boys get a piece of Caramel pie, but they were out so instead I got a piece of chocolate chess pie. OH WOW! I wanted to break out into the Doxology. You definitely need to eat a piece of chocolate chess pie from The Catfish House!

Well, now we're back at home with birthday festivities still going on - after all, it's the longest day of the year - so I'm going to quit writing now. I'll have other birthday news on the blog tomorrow. Oh, the anticipation!

Catfish House
3424 Tom Austin HwySpringfield, TN 37172
(615) 382-1382‎

2008-06-21T18:04:00.001-05:00

I"m sitting here with great-grandma and she's trying to remember how old I was in this picture. 3 months? 6 months? 9 months? She thinks 6. I suppose it doesn't really matter - it's just so absolutely adorable - if I say so myself.

Oh, we're looking at it 'cause if you missed it, it's the first day of summer - my birthday!

I'll put pictures up from my exciting day later tonight (or tomorrow).

I know you can hardly wait...

Happy Anniversary

2008-06-18T22:49:00.000-05:00

Grani and Papa celebrated their 32nd wedding anniversary today! Wow! How cool is that?

Daylilies and More

2008-06-14T17:28:00.001-05:00

When we left to go to the SBC there weren't any daylilies blooming - just buds.
Wow! Look now! And there are many more of different varieties that will be joining these in the next few days. I guess you can tell which ones are NOT daylilies. I'll not insult you by pointing them out.

More Fun in Indianapolis

2008-06-11T20:10:00.002-05:00

Look Who's Here

2008-06-11T14:39:00.004-05:00

We have seen a lot of people from all over the United States while at the convention. I wish I had remembered to pull my camera out and annoy each of them by taking their picture.

Here I am with Hannah and Benjamin's Uncle Andrew and Aunt Ashley. Look how much fun we're having!

Not All Animals Are in the Zoo

2008-06-11T05:25:00.003-05:00

Grani and Papa's Indianapolis adventure continues...

We thought about going to the zoo, but we've walked so much our legs hurt, so we'll probably skip the zoo. But Indianapolis has a lot of statues around the downtown area and although most are of people, some are of animals.

State Capitol

2008-06-10T21:21:00.005-05:00

When Uncle Andrew and Aunt Christy were younger and Grani and Papa were just Mom and Dad we would always try to see any state capitol buildings we would be near. As often as we could we would go inside.

Indiana has a beautiful capitol. We pass by it every day as we go to and from our hotel to the convention. It has many statues inside and out. Papa went inside and took a few pictures.

Grani and Papa's Indianapolis Adventure

2008-06-08T21:19:00.003-05:00

So when you think of romantic or exciting or interesting get-aways, I bet one of the first places that pops into your head is Indiana! Well, if not, maybe after reading all of the exciting things Grani and Papa are doing here you'll put Indianapolis on your next "Ooooo, let's go there" list of vacation destinations.

Here's the view out our hotel window.

Here we are. We're sitting at the bottom of the wonderful war memorial that you see above outside our window.

You can see more of our adventures on my Hilldale Worship Blog. http://www.hilldaleworship.blogspot.com/

I have more pictures that I'll put up tomorrow. We've walked a lot and have to get up early tomorrow. Be sure and check back.

An Evening with Hannah and Benjamin

2008-06-04T21:49:00.003-05:00

We didn't have choir tonight because it is VBS week and we have family night at VBS tomorrow night. So Grani and Papa went to Hannah and Benjamin's house while their mommy and daddy went to church. We had to go see them since we will be at the Southern Baptist Convention next week and won't be able to see them.

We went to Arby's. (Hannah only has a few places where she can eat out. And then we went to the mall and rode the carousel and played at the play area. My camera was in my car and we were in Grani's car.

So these pictures from later in the evening when we were back at their house.

Yummy Things to Come

2008-06-03T06:25:00.003-05:00

I would like to post pictures of my grandbabies. I don't usually travel around town with my camera, so I don't have my camera with me when we drop in on Hannah and Benjamin. But the other day I knew we were going by to take Hannah a mattress so I grabbed my camera.

They were both asleep.

I do, however, have pictures from my yard of course. Here are some yummy things that are in Papa's back yard on the other side of the creek.

Some berries ( a small tree that I thought I knew the name of but can't think of right now)

and Walnuts.

I went back to my Pawpaw trees but none of them made any fruit this year. The birds or squirrels or a strong wind knock them off the trees every year anyway, so I've never eaten one. the old timers around here say they are delicious.

Late May in Papa's Yard

2008-05-20T20:22:00.004-05:00

Oh my! Roses and iris and peonies and a jack-in-the-pulpit I moved off the hill to a shade garden a couple of years ago. It just doesn't get much more beautiful than this! The giant rose bush in the front will be covered with tiny pink roses in just a few days!

Notice how huge the white peonie is! Oh, and we call them pee-OWE-nees here in the South, not PEE-uh-nees.

Graduation Day

2008-05-18T21:16:00.002-05:00

Hannah and Benjamin went to Louisville early in the day - at least earlier than Grani and Papa. Then Surprise! Papa and Grani showed up at the hotel that night. How fun is that?
The next day Grammy and Poppy joined us for graduation. It was cold!

The peonies on campus were beautiful! As lovely as the little girl looking at them.

Landscaping is Hard Work

2008-05-09T21:27:00.003-05:00

But I love it!

Brad came over with his big digger and busted up the rocky clay ground last week.

I worked ALL day long to landscape in front of the new addition to our house. It's really not "new" anymore. We've had it for several years. Now that we're working extra hard on getting our house ready to sell so we can move to Clarksville I decided I had to spend some money and fix up the front of the house.

The only problem with that is that it was already very difficult to leave Bear Hollow. Now that the front of the house is so pretty it makes it that much more difficult.

I didn't think about how I was cooking in the sun and now my back is very sunburned. My back is sooooo tired from digging and carrying that big fountain. It was in a different part of the yard. I guess I'll sleep good tonight!

That's Silly, Who Would Put a Slide in their Living Room?

2008-05-08T06:43:00.000-05:00

Grani and Papa. That's Who. We had lots of fun!

May Day Memories

2008-05-05T07:01:00.000-05:00

I've checked on Wikipedia about May Day. It's another one of those cross-quarter days. (Hmmm, I guess posts about cross-quarter days have been on my church blog www.hilldaleworship.blogspot.com )
Well, anyway, I never knew when I was a kid that May Day is workers day in a lot of countries. I always knew May Day as fun day to surprise someone. Great-grandma would help Papa and Great-uncle Roger make a basket and we would go to someone's house and place the basket of flowers on their doorstep. We would then ring the doorbell and run and hide and watch them open the door and be surprised.

I was traveling to West Tennessee on May Day this year and heard on the radio that it was May Day so I had to call Great-grandma and thank her for such a wonderful memory. She told me that she had bought some flowers at Wal-mart and that she and Gibson left them on the neighbor's porch, rang the doorbell and hid. Yeah grandma!

I thought you might enjoy seeing some of my flowers that I would like to leave on your doorstep if I was home on May Day and knew where you lived and could actually get to your house.

Papa's Back Yard

2008-05-05T06:40:00.000-05:00

I'm behind in getting pictures up. These are from a week or so ago. It was a pretty day to be outside. And the three of us look like Easter eggs in our pink, yellow and blue.

A Day with Hannah and Benjamin (and their Mommy)

2008-04-25T22:40:00.005-05:00

We had a fun day together.

However, it got off to a later start than we had planned. On the way to their house Grani drove over something. It made a loud noise and then we heard HSSSsssssssssssssssss and then thumpity, thumpity, thump, thump sssssssssssssssss.

Thankfully Papa knows how to change a tire.

Ends up, spare tires tell you not to drive over 50 mph so we didn't get on an Interstate all day which added a few minutes each drive.

First we went to the zoo. You can see a lot of great pics on Christy's blog.

http://danielandchristy.blogspot.com/2008/04/zoo-trip.html

http://danielandchristy.blogspot.com/2008/04/more-zoo.html

http://danielandchristy.blogspot.com/2008/04/being-two-at-zoo.html

We packed a picnic but no blanket, so we sat on the table.

Little Miss Independent!

Back at Papa and Grani's house Benjamin had fun playing with Papa's hat.

Then for supper we went to the On Mission Conference at Papa's church.

http://hilldaleworship.blogspot.com/2008/04/on-mission-conference.html

The Gift of Life - seemingly random thoughts

2008-04-23T14:04:00.004-05:00

I have been blessed in so many ways. I have two wonderful children and two wonderful children-in-law (that seems like a funny way to word that), and five beautiful grandchildren and one on the way. I'm sure there will be more later! God's lovingkindness is very evident in my life and their lives.

Ps 103:17 - Show Context
But the lovingkindness of the LORD is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him, And His righteousness to children's children

I have a myspace account now. I had to get one to check on some bands and leave comments and stuff like that. There's a place where you click on your mood for the day. I picked "amused" because the whole social networking thing is rather amusing to me.

Today I sang and played at the funeral of a 6 year old boy. There is something very, very sad about small caskets. I cried a lot. Not the loud weeping and gnashing of teeth type of crying, but it was a very emotional time.

So that is what prompted this little time of remembering how blessed I am to have 5 (soon to be 6) healthy, beautiful grandchildren. I need them all to come to my house tonight so I can give them lots of hugs and kisses.

Bringing all of these seemingly random thoughts together...

Let me encourage all of my faithful readers to get past virtual relationships via social networking sites like facebook and myspace and even blogger, and get involved in someone's life in the flesh. Give hugs and pats on the back. Enjoy life and people. Get your hands dirty and your life messy as you spend real, in-person time with others - family and non-family. Be a witness to God's amazing grace and lovingkindness.

A First for Benjamin

2008-04-18T23:07:00.003-05:00

Grani and Papa were taking Hannah and Benjamin and their Mommy to Clarksville tonight for Rivers and Spires. About mile 13 it started to sprinkle on us. We got off I-24 at exit 11 to show Christy Hilldale's new Family Life Center. The rain kept getting heavier, so we decided to not eat at Rivers and Spires and instead to have supper at Crackerbarrel (surprise!).

While we were there, Benjamin learned how to drink from a straw! Pretty cool stuff.

By the end of supper it was pouring down rain, so we drove Christy and kids home. Grani and Papa will try again tomorrow to see Rivers and Spires. Papa has a painting in the art show. It didn't win, but it still looks beautiful hanging there with the others.

Grandbabies and Trees

2008-04-14T22:08:00.001-05:00

We plant a tree in honor of each grandchild when he or she is born. I wrote about them on my worship blog if you are interested. http://hilldaleworship.blogspot.com/2008/04/our-last-poll.html

Kids Blitz Live

2008-04-14T21:30:00.003-05:00

Hannah and Benjamin went with Grani a Papa to Hilldale to see Kids Blitz Live. It was a lot of fun.

First we went out to eat at Ruby Tuesday (or is it Tuesdays?)

Benjamin had a grilled cheese sandwich. I gave him some little pieces of zuchini from my salad. He tried one. I guess he didn't like it because he pushed the rest of it on the floor.

Hannah had roast beef from Arby's (no bread) and fries from Burger King. They are the only fries that don't have milk or egg or some other allergin in them.

Here we are waiting to go in to the show.

Papa and Benjamin went to the front to take pictures. You can see them by clicking the title of this post. (It will take you to www.hilldaleworship.blogspot.com )
Jeremy asked if we wanted him to take our picture.
Benjamin has his usual "Oh! A camera!" look.

Easter Egg Hunting in Edgefield

2008-04-05T20:55:00.005-05:00

A few weeks ago, just before Easter, Grani and Papa were able to take Hannah and Benjamin to their church for an Easter egg hunt. They had spent the night before at Grani and Papa's house.

Saturday morning when we got up we noticed that the flags were up on the mailboxes!

We hunted eggs at Grani and Papa's house to practice for the big hunt at church.

At the Easter egg hunt there were a lot of eggs to find and a lot of kids hunting for them. Actually, I've noticed that at most church Easter egg hunts it is really just a race to pick up eggs lying around on the ground. There isn't much "hunting" involved.

Benjamin was very excited to find an egg. Mommy had him put it in his basket so he could pick up another egg. He didn't want to put it in his basket. "Yes", mommy said, "then you can get more eggs." Well, that just made him mad and so then he wouldn't pick up any eggs. He just cried.

Speaking of Benjamin. He's walking! Check it out if you haven't yet. http://danielandchristy.blogspot.com/2008/04/walking.html

Family Television

2008-04-01T10:08:00.004-05:00

This was originally posted on my Hilldale Worship blog, http://www.hilldaleworship.blogspot.com/ but I liked it a lot and wanted my PapaLyndel readers to see it too.

I’m happy to report that I have now seen an episode of “Hannah Montana.” My granddaughter loves the Disney channel. After a week in Oklahoma I’ve actually seen many new things on TV.
We watched some show with Alton the cook on the food channel where he was in Minnesota eating nasty things like rotten fish head jelly. My son loves to watch the food network.
My daughter-in-law likes to watch “Good Morning America”, but she likes to see it around 10:00, so it’s on the TiVO schedule. Now and then they watched Fox News with me. But most of the time we watched Gibson bowl and play tennis on Wii.

It was nice, in this day of every room having its own TV, for us to be together as a family. Would I have watched Hannah or Alton or Diane if I had been home by myself? Nope. I guess I could have gone to a different room and watched what I wanted to watch all day long, but then I wouldn’t have been with my son and grandchildren and we wouldn’t have those shared – even if it was TV – experiences together.

Guess where I’m going with this: Sunday morning worship. Our congregation is blessed to have people of all ages worshipping together. How nice it is that when we gather together on a Sunday morning that we sing a great variety of music that speaks to all generations. How nice it is that grandparents, parents and children are singing God’s praises together. They may not sit together (It’s definitely not cool to sit with mom when you are 16.) but they have that same shared experience that helps make a family.

It would be quite sad for grandma to go to one service, mom and dad to another, teenage brother go to another and kid sister to a fourth service. In that situation, where is the common bond, the shared experience, the give and take of loving someone and giving up some of your own wants to meet the needs of another?

Oooo, he’s gone to preachin’. Land the plane! (If you missed yesterday’s sermon I’ll explain that one to you.)

Bottom line. I hope that when I am 70 and my grandchildren are 25, 24, 22, 21, 21 and 19 that we will go to church together. I hope that they will sing “old” songs that I like, like “How Great Is Our God” and that I will want to sing whatever “new” songs are written in 2028 and that we will worship together because we are “family!” I also hope that we’ll still be singing “Holy, Holy, Holy” which was written in 1861. It’s part of our Christian heritage and it connects us with all of the saints who have gone before us (but that is a whole other post).

Who knows, by then we may have rediscovered the grandeur of a pipe organ and how well it expresses the greatness of God and they’ll be replacing guitars and drums…

Another Photo Shoot

2008-03-27T20:22:00.005-05:00

When you are so photogenic it's hard to pass up another chance to get pictures.

Wii Are Having Fun

2008-03-27T20:13:00.004-05:00

Great-grandma and great-grandpa came over the other night. Wii played bowling together. Gibson is great at it and gets lots of strikes!

Elam decided to put on a bicycle helmet since he kept getting in the way of the bowlers.

Vacation - We're Not At the Beach

2008-03-26T22:45:00.004-05:00

Ha! I had someone from church call me earlier this evening. It was about 7:30. He said, "did I wake you up?" Hahahaha. I was putting three dirty kids in the tub when he called. He went on to explain that he figured we were napping all day and going to bed early and sleeping late... all of those things that I suppose you do if you go to Hilton Head or Cancun.

No, we're in OKC spending our days following around, chasing and listening to three kids ages 5, 4, and 18 months. It is not a day at the beach, but I'd much rather be here than at the beach.

Here's something fun that happened yesterday.

We found a note inside a book called "A Dangerous Book for Boys." The note said "A secret surprise for everyone. Can you follow the clues? Look in the scanner to get started..."

The clues took us all around the house.

Everyone found clues. It was almost like being on Blues Clues. (Only we didn't have a blue dog or a notepad or a funny guy singing, "I just found a letter.")

The last clue was in the freezer! It told us the prize was for cold things and was in Grani's car.

Wow! Look what it was - a snow cone maker! You can't use regular ice in it so we had to freeze some blocks.

Later that night we got to make some snow cones.

Yummy!

Easter Egg Hunts and Grandchildren

2008-03-25T08:27:00.004-05:00

Grani and Papa have had a lot of fun with Benjamin and Hannah the last few days. And I have some great pictures on my camera... which is in Tennessee! It's on my chair in the living room so I'll see it to take to Oklahoma. I thought I had put it in my computer case, but alas, it is still at home.

Carved Easter eggs! Wow! I want to learn how to do that.

Hannah and Benjamin spent the night with us Friday night partly for Grani's birthday (which will be another post) and partly because Hannah's mommy needed to boil eggs for the Easter egg hunt at thier church and Hannah is so allergic to eggs she can't go near the kitchen if eggs are cooking or boiling.

Then Saturday we went to the Easter egg hunt. I have some great pictures in my camera...

Hannah had a lot of fun picking up eggs. We had to give all of her candy eggs away since she is allergic to corn and they all are made with high fructose corn syrup.

These are not the eggs Christy boiled. These are from Ukraine.

Benjamin picked up one egg and then when he had to put it in his basket he got mad and cried and wouldn't pick up any more. I guess he's a little young to understand the whole concept.

Now we're in Oklahoma. We've had several egg hunts since we got here. First with Haven while Gibson was at school. Then we hid the eggs and went to his school and picked him up. He hunted eggs when he got home. Elam helped. It was a lot of fun.

But since my camera is in TN I don't have pictures. Haley is going to give me her camera to use while I'm here.

Hannah and Benjamin Visit

2008-03-17T20:11:00.003-05:00

Hannah and Benjamin came to Hilldale again last night so their daddy could see Bow the Knee Hilldale's Passion Play 2008. They weren't too happy to end up in the nursery when they knew Grani and Papa were nearby so they cried and wouldn't stop so the nursery people had to get daddy and he missed almost the whole show.

After the program they came to Grani and Papa's house for a little bit.

Here they are in Grani's car driving to Grani and Papa's house.

Once we got home we played and snuggled and Hannah kept giving Baylee doggie biscuits.

Hannah looking for Baylee out the back door.

Benjamin Visits Papa's Church

2008-03-13T15:32:00.003-05:00

Papa's big buddy, Benjamin, came with Grani to Hilldale last night. It was our first dress rehearsal (we're having two) of Bow the Knee Hilldale's Passion Play 2008. He had a great time and everyone wanted to see him and hold him. He laughed and played and never fussed at all.

At the end of rehearsal I wanted everyone to see him so someone brought him to me. I was introducing him as he was finishing a cracker. He expressed his satisfaction with the cracker with a nice burp into the microphone!

I think he enjoyed being with Grani and Papa by himself. He and Hannah are probably going to be here at Hilldale in the nursery on Saturday night so Mommy and Daddy can see Bow the Knee Hilldale's Passion Play 2008. You can see a lot more information about our Passion Play on Papa's blog http://www.hilldaleworship.blogspot.com/

I didn't have my camera with me so here's one of my favorite pictures of me and Benjamin.

The Cat's Out of the Bag

2008-03-07T21:29:00.003-06:00

The origins of the phrase "let the cat out of the bag" aren't certain. Many think it is from the old days of bringing a pig to market (a pig in a poke) and some swindlers would substitute a cat for the pig. If it was discovererd that a cat was in the place of the pig it was said that they "let the cat out of the bag".

On my earlier post I didn't want to be the one to "let the cat out of the bag" because it is actually someone else's secret.

Read the secret here

Let's just say Grani and Papa did a dance!

A Beatles Song

2008-03-07T13:57:00.004-06:00

Secret,

Oo, oo, oo

Do you want to know a secret?

Oo, oo, oo

Read the secret here

Boz Shirts

2008-03-02T21:28:00.002-06:00

I couldn't find my camera on my way to the Boz birthday party for Hannah and Benjamin. (You can see pictures of it on Christy's blog.) But I wanted you to see ('cause some of you asked) the shirts that Grani and Papa made for them for their party. Too cute!

If you need to make shirts for something send me an e-mail and I'll tell you how to do it.

1 Year and 2 Year Pictures

2008-02-28T17:26:00.004-06:00

No time to blog. I'm in the middle of constructing our set (you can see it here http://www.hilldaleworship.blogspot.com/ ) but I had to put these two pictures up! You can see more pictures of Hannah and Benjamin by clicking on my link to Tennessee Grandbabies.

It's OK for you to comment on how beautiful they are. I don't mind hearing that over and over again.

Happy Birthday Hannah

2008-02-16T13:28:00.003-06:00

Hannah is 2 today!

Hannah is so beautiful.

She hasn't quite figured out how to smile for the camera, but we catch some pretty smiles now and then.

She loves her baby brother (but feels free to snatch anything she wants out of his hands).

She is allergic to all kinds of wonderful things like milk and cheese and eggs and the biggie that you wouldn't think about that is in EVERYTHING - corn.

She calls Grani and Papa every day. She has soooo much to say.

She can carry on a pretty good conversation in fact.

She can count to 20 although many of the "teens" sounds alike. But she know how many she has said and gets to 20 at the right time.

She has great hair! Her mommy fixes it sooooo cute.

Here are some pictures from Hannah's second year.