Girl Scouts Weekend at Monkey Cove

Emily and I spent the night at the newly remodeled Ramada Inn in St. Joe Friday night. We were there with 250 other Girl Scouts. The Ramada
now has an indoor water park called "Monkey Cove." Friday night we got to swim in the water park, participated in a scavenger hunt throughtout the hotel, made crafts, and learned line dances. My favorite part of the whole weekend was watching Emily do the YMCA. And I'm not talking about just the letter parts, but the whole dance. And she also learned the macarana. I was laughing so hard. During the freestyle dance, she was breakdancing...I still don't know where she learned that. I told Emily she was taking after Aunt Melinda with her trendy dance moves. These two together are sure to be the life of any party! Saturday morning after breakfast we swam another 4 hours before going to McDonalds for lunch and then heading home. Oh, I almost forgot about the water slide. It was very tall, enclosed, a corkscrew, and dark inside. After Emily started up the stairs, I went over to the end of the slide to watch her come out. I kept waiting and waiting and finally I turned around and there she was coming back down the stairs! Oh, well--maybe next year!

More Pumpkin Pictures

I forgot to post these pictures that I took of Eli before we carved our pumpkins. After Halloween we set the carved, rotting

pumpkins out by the road with our trash. When Eli heard the garbage truck coming he ran to look out the window. And he was not happy to see the garbage man putting our pumpkins into the back of the truck. In fact, he was not happy about for several days. Just when I thought I was going to have to go buy more pumpkins, he seemed to forget about it. He's past pumpkins now...we've moved on to jumping in the leaves.

God Bless America

In last week's presidential election our country had a chance to stand up for God. We had a chance to cast a vote for the Judeo-Christian values our country was founded on and that our forefathers fought to preserve. We had a chance to vote our Christian convictions and say "yes" to faith, to family, to life, and to truth. Although I do not understand why God allowed the election to turn out the way it did, I do know that God allowed it to happen for a reason. The following true/false quiz was an e-mail I received a few days ago written by Pastor Wyman Richardson from First Baptist Church of Dawson, Georgia. It really put things into perspective for me and I wanted to share it with everyone.

True/False: The day after the election, regardless of who wins, Jesus will still be King.

True/False: The day after the election, regardless of who wins, our responsibilities as Christians will not have changed one iota.

True/False: The day after the election, regardless of who wins, the greatest agent for social change in America will still be winning the hearts and minds of men and women through the gospel, not legislation.

True/False: The day after the election, regardless of who wins, the only way to see abortion ultimately overturned will still be winning men and women to a high view of life through the gospel of Christ.

True/False: The day after the election, regardless of who wins, the only way to see gay marriage ultimately defeated will still be winning men and women to a biblical view of marriage through the gospel of Jesus Christ.

True/False: The day after the election, regardless of who wins, my retirement will still not match my treasure in Heaven.

True/False: The day after the election, regardless of who wins, 'Jesus Is Lord' will still be the greatest truth in the Universe.

True/False: The day after the election, regardless of who wins, we will still know that God is in control. _____________________________________________________

That e-mail really got me to thinking and now that the election is over we must move forward. The best thing we can do now is pray. In order for our country to return to the righteous nation that God wants us to be, we need to be praying for our elected leaders. You can visit the website presidentialprayerteam.net to join others in praying for our president-elect and other national leaders as well. It will give you specific concerns to pray about. And we also need to be praying for a spiritual awakening among believers of Jesus Christ. God has the power to change the hearts of people and with prayer, I believe it will happen. We must unite and stand up for the truth of God's word and continue to vote our Christian convictions. God Bless.

Thank You, John McCain: A True American Hero

"I would not be an American worthy of the name, should I regret a fate that has allowed me the extraordinary privilege of serving this country for a half a century. Today, I was a candidate for the highest office in the country I love so much. And tonight, I remain her servant. That is blessing enough for anyone and I thank the people of Arizona for it.

Tonight, more than any night, I hold in my heart nothing but love for this country and for all its citizens, whether they supported me or Senator Obama, I wish Godspeed to the man who was my former opponent and will be my president.

And I call on all Americans, as I have often in this campaign, to not despair of our present difficulties but to believe always in the promise and greatness of America, because nothing is inevitable here. Americans never quit. We never surrender. We never hide from history, we make history.

Thank you, and God bless you, and God bless America. Thank you all very much."

A Cheetah, a Tiger, & and a Hot Dog

For a long time Emily has been wanting to dress up Melinda's dog, Jessie, like a hot dog for Halloween. So when I found this costume, I had to buy it. Emily was a cheetah and Eli was Chase Daniel. In the picture Eli's making his football face. He's showing off his muscles. He was so excited to get his face painted with those two black lines under his eyes. He said next year he wants to be an alligator. This was Maysville's second year having trick-or-treating with the businesses around the square, so we did that. It's nice because it's before dark and it's neat seeing so many kids walking around the square having fun. That's where we took Jessie and she and her costume were a hit. There were people wanting to take her picture. Melinda said it was the most Jessie had ever walked at one time. By the time we finished she really was a hot dog! After we got home, Emily just wanted to stay and hand out candy. So Eli and I took the wagon and trick-or-treated around our neighborhood. After a few houses he said, "Mom, I'm gettin' a litte bit tired." I'm not sure how since I was the one pulling him in the wagon.