Still alive and breathing!

Hey everyone! Sorry it has been forever since I have posted anything here! We were without interenet for over a month. I don't have much time seeing as I am at my Aunt Sheryles this week but I at least wanted you all to know that I was still alive and well.


Later,

Feeling sentimental.....

I am starting to get into the Christmas mood so I have begun to pull out some of our Christmas music (including Jeanette's:-) and She has an album by Amy Grant called "A Christmas to Remember" I really had not planned on crying ... (not like most of us can help ourselves but anyway) This song made me just cry and cry. As you read the words keep in mind the fact the my loved ones in VA are not going to be able to make it for Christmas this year.



'Til The Seasons Come Round Again

Come and gather around at the table
In the spirit of family and friends
And we'll all join hands and remember this moment
til the season comes round again

Let's all try to smile for the picture
And we'll hold it as long as we can
May it carry us through
Should we ever get lonely
til the season comes round again

Chorus
One night holy and bright
Shining with love from our hearts
By a warm fire,
Let's lift our heads high
And be thankful we're here
til this time next year

May the new year be blessed
With good tidings
til the next time I see you again
If we must say goodbye
Let the Spirit go with you
til the season comes round again

Chorus

May the new year be blessed with good tidings
til the next time I see you again
If we must say goodbye
Let the spirit go with you
And we'll love and we'll laugh
In the time that we had
til the season comes round again


To Jeremy I love you so much! Thanks for taking extra time after the wedding to stay and visit and for making the long drive.

To Jessica. Every time I see you the more I grow to love you! You have been such a blessing to me. Watching you with Lucy and Jeremy is such a sweet thing to watch!

To Lucy-My sweet little Angel! I love you so much and I am very sad that I will not be able to spend Christmas with you and hear your sweet little laugh and see your cute smile!.

To Joseph- I had no idea how much I would miss you when you left! I miss your long talks,your sudden burstings out of your room( that scare us all to death:-) and just having a big brother around!

To Julie- I am so excited to see what God has in store for you and Peter! Your wedding was Beautiful and I am so thankful that everything ...(well most everything;-) went so smoothly at your wedding! I will miss not being with you this Christmas but know that I will be thinking about you alot.

To Peter- My new brother! What a joy it has been for me to watch you and Julie. You are such a sweet guy and I will miss not being with you this Christmas!

At long last!!!!

I have a couple new hair cut pics for you all!!!



awww.. a nice change!







And then here is one we took just today!

I needed something to blog about! haha

So here you go!

My day started out rather depressing....

I needed a hair cut really really really bad!!!!

So I am off to get one!
Now that makes me very happy!!



Pictures of my new look to come soon!

Random pics...

Sorry this is really short but I don't have much time! here are some funny pics that I uploaded lately. enjoy.

Jeffrey... need I say more!

Jed... what in the World did he do to poor Lucy!

Judy!!!! LOL

That is what she gets for taking pics of herself!!!


Hopefully next time I will have some pics of little Lucy!

Pictures of my little siblings!

Who are really great to practice on-- let me tell you!

Best friends for life!



These are for their school yearbooks.




Jeffrey

Jed






Judy

the love of a sibling....

a random shot of Jed and Jeff

Two boys just kissed Judy!!!!

Future farmer???





Before Judy and Jed came out I was checking the lighting and used Jeffrey as a prop:-)

oh yah we are soo cool!!!!!

but a bit too silly for Judy's taste

And of course a silly corn picture!



And the last one is mom's favorite! She likes it so much that she wants to have it framed:-)

keeping scrolling down.. it makes the moment more dramatic!!!!

Mom said that this picture made her cry! Which really made me happy! Let me explain though. I was not happy because she was crying! It just meant that I did what I wanted to do. And that was to make a picture that went right to the heart of someone.


So what do you all think? Is the last one your favorite??? Or do you like some of the other ones?

photo shoot!

of Judy,Jed,and Jeff was taken today




more to come later

practicing my photography skills

I don't have long but I wanted to post this pic of my cousin Bethany.
I thought she looked so pretty in it and it is a very artsy picture.

The promised bus story!

a very long one at that...

so our plan was.. to leave from Hagerstown, Pennsylvania at 8:15 p.m. Sunday night and be in Champaign IL at around 9:00 am Monday morning. That was a very good plan... but that is not quite how it turned out.

Dad and I made it just fine to Columbus, OH. And that is where the trouble started.

We got about 5 min away from the bus stop and the bus died. So we pulled off of the interstate and waited for another bus to be available for a little over 2 hours. So another driver comes and rescues us. Then we had to go back to the bus station to take the other driver back so he could drive another bus somewhere else. So he pulls up to right behind some of the other buses and gets off.( not a smart move:-) Then our driver gets up in front but is then kept busy trying to get the seats straight.(One French guy did not have a seat) So why he is doing that another bus in the bus station starts to pull out and does not see that we are behind them so our driver jumps to the front and lays on the horn only to have the other bus stop and then proceed to keep going so he throws the door open and yells at the other driver. We were within 2 feet of hitting each other right in the bus station!

So sitting on the side of the interstate has put us two and a half hours behind!

So we get going and everyone begins to fall asleep... I was enjoying some much needed sleep when suddenly but bus swerved and we ran off the road. Everyone one began asking what was going on and the bus driver asked if everyone was ok. He (the bus driver) then proceeds to leave the bus to go look things over.

At this point no one knows what is going on. So for about 20 to 25 min we all sat on the bus wondering what in the world had happened. The next thing we know the police show up! Giving us sheets to fill out about the accident. Some were a bit too personal such as what our SSN was and how much we weighed and what color our eyes were and our clothes description. It got really old. Anyway...Then our driver finally came in to get some papers out of the front and he told us that some could get off and smoke or whatever.

There was a lot of discussion about what happed but from what Dad and I gathered...

Is that we ran one van off the road and that caused another little car to hit us and smash their front left light. Our driver says that he swerved to avoid hitting a gofer on the road. (Dad is not quite sure about that) I did not have a chance to get a picture of the white car. But I did take a few other pics for your enjoyment.

Taking advantage of the moment.( or should I say hours) ... and laying on the grass between the interstate.

One Lady decided to give the drivers passing by something to talk about.

Our driver in the blue shirt talking to some of the police and state patrol men and women.

And another pic of the more than bored passengers...

You can't really see the damage in this picture but there is paint from the van that went in the ditch on the tire.

You can see the tow truck in the back taking the maroon van away.. (or whatever kind of vehicle it was:)

So then after 3 hours of waiting on who knows what... we drove to the nearest town to have a tire repaired which took 45 min and FINALLY got going after that. When we arrived to Indy we had another problem all the buses going to Champaign had already been and gone. Or so we thought. ( we had a moment of hope)Dad asked if any more were going to Champaign that day and one lady said oh ya it leaves in like 30 min which would not have been so bad.. but.... the lady told dad there would be one layover... Which would be Chicago! Which would have then put us at home around oh.. 11:00 p.m. that night. So Dad made a executive decision! (One that I was quite thankful for) We went to a lovely place called "Avis Car rental"! And drove from Indy to Champaign where mom came and got us and took us to the place I love to call home! (MY BED!!!!!!!!!!!!) So there is your really really really long story! But that is what you asked for!

I do thank God for keeping us safe though! It could have been a whole lot worse but he did protect us from all harm and that is something to be thankful for!

If you have any questions about the story I just tried to tell(I hope it made sense to you all) please don't hesitate to leave me a comment and ask... I will try and answer what I know.


So with all that said and done. I need to go to bed. I am heading to my Aunt and Uncles for the Labor Day weekend with Jeanette and Janessa hopefully I shall take some pictures and share with you all. Leave me lots of comments so I can have something to look forward to reading when I get home.

later....

My day yesterday....

Was kept very busy watching Matthew, Victor, and Nissa!

I was not going to post this one seeing as I just put another one similar to this up above but I wanted you to
take note of Matthews face! LOL what were you trying to do Matthew???


If you have not guessed by now I was babysitting these three kids yesterday! And we have a very good time!

And as promised the bus story will be my next post:-)

Who would have guessed!

I was so looking forward to having the whole house to my self yesterday. Seeing as Jane, was in farmer city and Mom took Judy,Jed,and Jeff shopping in Gibson so I .... cleaned.. and I cleaned and I cleaned some more. then wanting to do my sit-ups and take a little break I thought to myself "what movie could I put on.. I mean everyone is gone so I can watch something that the boys can not see" But then I would think it can't be that long because I need to get to work so I decided to watch..... "Lord of the Beans a Veggietales movie" LOL who would have thought that I would pic Veggietales from our whole movie selection!

AN UPDATE!!!!!!!!!

just for Jonathan..............

what a beautiful little girl!!!!!

Me with my little lucy....

Lots more pics and stories to come!

pics of my little angel

This is one of my favorites of Lucy! She is such a pretty thing!!!


This one is to cute not to post!




Lucy looks like her Daddy in this one....



What are we thinking about Little Lucy??????



The lighting is a bit strange but still this is another cute one!


"why is everyone looking at me"????



More pictures to come along with our Bus story!

some thoughts for the day....

I am not quite sure how to say the things that are really on my heart
This week has been hard for me,I am trying to keep my head on and be smart
Things are going on that I can not share with anyone...
Things I can only share with the Father and the Son
But My heavenly Father has been teaching me alot
To be happy in times of sorrow and to be thankful for what I got.

And to keep my mouth shut, and to live with changes in our household
I have been thinking about all the schoolwork I have to do in the winter so cold
I feel as if I am being torn into a million pieces right now
so many things going on, HOLY COW!!!!!!!
So many are leaving or going away to college
My dear friend Megan along with others to gain knowledge.

My sister getting married, Joseph is moving to VA
But I am going with him so what can I say!
But praise the Lord for the chance to go and meet
My little Lucy!!!!! and visit with Jeremy,Jessica,Julie,and Pete!



The prettiest baby in the WORLD!!!!!! She looks more like a doll every day! I can't wait to hold her! I am sure I will have ALOT of pics of her when I get back! Woot woot!


And here is a picture of Julie and her Pete!
They both are so sweet!

Please say a prayer today

For Mark and Carrie Burns today-They both just lost DJ there golden Retriever. He was one special dog. On their program they played this song by..

Artist: Fernando Ortega
Song: Give me Jesus

In the morning, when I rise
In the morning, when I rise
In the morning, when I rise, give me Jesus

Give me Jesus,
Give me Jesus,
You can have all this world,
But give me Jesus

When I am alone
When I am alone
When I am alone, give me Jesus

Give me Jesus,
Give me Jesus,
You can have all this world,
But give me Jesus

When I come to die
When I come to die
When I come to die, give me Jesus

Give me Jesus,
Give me Jesus,
You can have all this world,
You can have all this world,
You can have all this world,
But give me Jesus

More updates on my life......

Julie and Peter are coming tomorrow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We go to my Aunt Sheryle's for a wedding shower this weekend.
I went blueberry picking today with Jane and Jonathan today.
I have to clean the house up before my sister arrives with Pete!
I started me cleaning job this week woot woot!
I have been doing alot of mowing and gardening.
I taught Jane and Judy how to mow this week:-)
I am doing science and math alot this week.
And I ate way to many blueberry's today!

Haha

Oh the joys of baby sitting!!!

So yesterday I babysat my cousin's kids, Tyler and Eleana Atkins. And talk about cute! Tyler is 2 and Eleana is 2 months. So for your enjoyment I took pictures from the day.

Eleana and Tyler

So to start out the day... Tyler decided that he wanted macaroni and cheese for Breakfast:-)


and I put Eleana in her little bouncy seat


which she loves to play in! ( that smile is just the cutest thing???)

we played inside for a while and then we went for a walk but that did not last very long because it started raining. We came back inside and Tyler had a snack...


Then I fed her and she went to sleep....aww....


and she woke up. Then we had a diaper change which made her really happy!

Then I fed Tyler lunch! wow that was a BIG mess to clean up!!!
Then Eleana woke up from yet another nap and (take note of the new dress that was um... the 4th diaper change:-) So she was happy to get all clean and dry yet again!!

And just when I thought things were going good this happens! So I fed her! and then she was happy again! LOL!



So then we go down stairs and I took a picture of Tyler kissing his little sister! ( wow those are some red eyes:)


Then of course the day would not be complete without taking pictures of us all!
Eleana and yours truly..... :-)

Eleana was a good fill-in for Lucy.:)