More Wedding Photos

Today I was able to assist in shooting another wedding. Here are some early pics in. Enjoy.

Nice Getaway!

This past weekend hubby and I were able to getaway for a few days to a pastor's conference. This was not your typical minister's conference to learn more about how to do church, but a time for a pastors and their wives to come and recharge and gain encouragement. It is called the Timothy/Barnabas Conference which is done by Johnny and Janet Hunt from FBC Woodstock. He is the senior pastor there as well as the current SBC President. He has a heart for ministers and wanting them to be the best they can be and to help them not to burn out.

Many pastor's today are under alot of pressure and are subject to the same moral failures as everyone in the world. Satan is working overtime to attack pastors and their families. He is wanting to attack the integrity of minister's and discredit everything minister's say and do. I amazed to learn about the amount of minister's who have a moral failures. It just shows that we are not immune to this, and how much you should pray for ministers everywhere.

Noel and I are praying and trying to everything we can do with God's help to protect his ministry, our marriage, and our girls. So if it may seem like an inconvenience to some - we are protecting our family.

Thank you church for letting us be gone for a few days, and thanks Beth for watching our girls! Also another bonus was getting to each lunch with some of our friends in AL and eating Mata's pizza.

Later Peeps!

Interesting Weekend

With the coverage of Ike, football, church members in hospitals it was a busy weekend. I was suppose to host a baby shower at my home Saturday, but the baby has other plans and came early so the shower has been postponed. Congrats Brian and Minna!

This weekend was also the big rivalry game in the Dear Family - MSU vs Auburn. True Dear family style and by an agreement we watch the game in separate rooms and now separate floors. There was nailbitting, heart racing, and frustration. It was not a pretty game if anyone saw it as can be attested to by the score AU 3 - MSU 2. As Boomama commented "the game has aged me". All I can saw about the game as it was ugly!

My favorite thing that made me laugh and still does every time I see it is Geraldo getting knocked over by a wave on national TV. In case you missed it. Here it is.



The aftermath of Hurricane Ike reached us last night. It was VERY windy with gusts up to 60 mph. We only had power in part of our church last night and had our service "unplugged". It was a pretty cool service. We had the Lord's Supper service and it took me back to what it may have been like if Jesus was doing it Himself. We did loose a tree at the church and as I write this post electricity is still out there and to much our county. Thankfully we have power, but I think it is due to the fact that our power it run underground. I am also thankful we had no damage to our home or family. Most of the schools are out today because of downed trees and do not know when power will be back on.

Everyone have a good week! LATER PEEPS!

Guess Who is Hitting the Trail?

Sen. McCain has asked us to join him on the "Straight Talk Express" to help him campaign. His bus was at church today to pick us up. We are very excited to work with him and Gov. Palin.

Sorry just kidding. His bus was at our church this morning and his bus driver was in our service, and we did get on the bus. It was quite the buzz around the church this morning.

ProLife and Proud of IT!!!

In light of the upcoming election my hubby preached a sermon on homesexuality and abortion. He is very passionately against these, and for electing officials who are against them as well. Here is the link to that sermon part 1 and part 2.

It's the most wonderful time of the year!!

FOOTBALL!FOOTBALL!FOOTBALL! What an exciting weekend! Our families teams are on TV today, time warner people should be happy that they have BTN, and it is a long weekend! School has start around here at the Dear household and our first week went pretty well. We have not started all subjects, but going well. The only downer we had to start the weekend off was hubs little fender bender on the interstate. Everyone is fine - praise the Lord - but the car will be in the shop for a while. Up side - football all day today!

If you happen to have caught GameDay today you may have seen an interview with Tim Tebow from Florida, all I can say is WOW! What God is doing with him, and what he wants to do for God is truly amazing. He is not afraid to go anywhere to share the Good News of Jesus. If you can find that video it is incredible.

I almost forgot - very happy with the pick for republican vp - Go Sarah Go!! Yea for mom everywhere!!

Well I must get back to football - GO DAWGS!!! and WAR EAGLE!!

Meme Time

I know some people think this is not a real post, but is a post. Some may find this interesting. So here we go.....

What were you doing 10 years ago?

I was pregnant with my oldest (scary) child living in MS. We were still serving in our first church together, and we may have been talking with the church in AL at this time. I was also suffering from carpel tunnel while pregnant.

Favorite Snacks

sun chips

chips and salsa and/or cheese dip

apple dippers from mc donalds

anything with chocolate

ice cream

To Do List

1.clean and organize school room
2.help clean Emily's room - losing battle I know
3.mop kitchen floor
4.finish calling piano students
5. too many other things to think of

Jobs I Have Had

babysitter, student worker job in the Forest Products Lab (very boring and bad job), student worker in the VP for Research office (great job), piano teacher, church pianist, secretary, file clerk, photographer, and the best MOM!

Places I Have Lived

various place in Mississippi, Louisiana, California, Alabama, Ohio

Bad Habits

biting my nails, procrastination

5 Random Things People May Not Know

1. I won 3 piano awards in college.
2. I camped out for Garth Brooks tickets
3. I originally want to be an architect - wow can God change your life!
4. I have played on Horowitz's piano (fyi: he was very famous pianist and I have a picture to prove it)
5. I won a coffee maker on the TV show Home and Family that was on the Family Channel. I called in and my voice was on the TV for knowing the answer "Dennis Rodman". I don't remember what the question was.

CDs I would want if stranded on an island

Third Day, Casting Crowns, Travis Cottrell, or any upbeat Christian music

What I’d Do if I Were a Billionaire

give to the church and missions, payoff house and school loans, buy a house and boat for hubby at the beach of his choosing, take mom on dream vacation, put money back for girls education, random acts of giving money to people who would not expect it, and TRAVEL.

FUNNNYYYY!

it may be long but please stay with it!

Family Memories

This week our family has been making memories of outing we have never done. We had planned on going to the Ohio State Fair this week, but we decided to check out the Hartford Fair instead. Pastor Wally had mentioned how their family enjoys it and decided to go especially since it was closer. Mostly we went for foods on sticks.

First night we went we enjoyed a stunt show. It was exciting, but when you have seen the stunt show spectacular as Disneyworld it pales in comparison. We did find though delicious corn dogs and fried cheese on a stick.

Last night hubs was wanting another delicious corn dog from the fair so we decided to go again. It was the truck and tractor pull night. Oh, my it is some high class entertainment. Granted it was fun to see the the tractor would make it far, see the smoke billowing out it, and to decrease your hearing all at the same time. I knew it was going to be loud, but not THAT loud. It was fun, but enjoyed looking at the people that were there. If you like to people watch go to a local fair.

We also enjoyed looking at animals. Where else can you enjoy entertainment like a tractor pull mixed with the smell of fried food and manure. I joke and kid but we really had fun. Go support your local fair and eat some corndogs. I am just sorry I did not take my camera to catch all the action.

FIREPROOF - Coming soon!!!

more wedding pics

first wedding shoot

i was able to help shoot a wedding this past weekend. what do you think?

for once please get it right!

Why is it when we go to this particular restaurant our order is wrong or the meal or REALLY slow getting to us. This is not an occasional occurrence but every time. We use to go there some what often or get takeout, but we rarely go. Tonight was the 2nd time this year we went to this particular restaurant and once again problem with the order! UGH!!! For starters 2 of us got our order and the other 2 had to what like 10 min. before getting theirs. When hubby got his wings they were cold. I had ordered these burger minis and had eaten half of one then it just too pink and then after trying to eat the other it was almost raw. I just pray I do not get salmonella, ecoli, or something like that. It is just frustrating even trying to find our server. We were able to see the manager and he did not charge us for the meal.

I have filled out a complaint online before, but never received a reply back. I am wondering if I should even bother again. What has happened to customer service. I am not sure if I will visit this restaurant again, maybe in another city. Thank you for listening to my complaint.

Later Peeps!

Our Family Picture

WE'RE BACK!

After a much needed vacation we are back home. We had a great time hanging out as a family without the phone ringing or dsl. The weather was wonderful - hot, often humid, but always a breeze. This year was fun because we were able to meet up with some friends and family. We had dinner a couple of nights with the Chicos and one night with the Morfords. Nana and Papa Jim came up for the weekend as well.

Here are some highlights of the trip:

• 3 dozen Krispy Kreme donuts
• hours sitting on the beach doing nothing.
• finishing a book
• wonderful seafood
• being awaken with grande sugar free vanilla latte - thanks hubby
• boat trip - girls favorite
• finding some AWESOME deals shopping and shopping in general
• trying to beat hubs in wii pool
• found our new fav wii game - Big Beach Games
• watching 4th of July fireworks on the beach
• hermit crabs
• seeing the new American Girl movie - Kit Kittredge. (by the way this is a very good movie and we highly recommend seeing)

As you can see we had a great time, but now back to life. I will try to post pics later.

Can you tell we are excited?

Sorry for the Delay

I know it has been awhile since I have blogged. I have other things I should be doing, but I will give a brief update since we have last been together.

• I have a pinched nerve in my back so that limits how long I can sit without being in pain.
• Had strep throat - YUCK!!
• Thankfully made it to the girls dance recital, even though I think I still had a fever. They did a great job. Hubs was wonderful during that week - taking care of me, shuffling the girls to their practices, and still working.
• The youngest had a birthday.
• School has sorta come to an end. We still have a few things left to do.
• Attended the SBC convention and took the girls this time. They loved their conference.
• Getting ready for the beach!
• Working on VBS.

The best thing that has happened is that our oldest shared her faith with a friend at church last night. The girl comes occasionally to church, and she wanted to know more about Jesus. I am proud that she was bold enough and knew what verses to share. I asked her what she used - John 3:16 and Romans 3:23. She used the Bible to show the verses, but she did get Pastor Wally to help her. God is going to using her in a mighty way already at the age of 9. I am thankful for her boldness and willingness to do it. I wish I had her boldness.

Later peeps!

Hookt on foniks

As many of you know we are a homeschooling family. Our youngest is learning phonics and we are almost through learning the special sounds. She is a very good reader for her age. There are alot of them out there and some can throw you for a loop. The English language is pretty odd if you think about it.

Today hubby and I were presented with a word today that I figured out before he did. The little one was IMing him (because you know we are a techno savvy family) and received this message. We all had a great laugh and when you look at it - it does make sense. It is a phrase we here often at our home from hubby. Let us see if you can figure it out.

• What is the skejwill

Cinderella

This song plays alot on the radio. When you hear it, please pray for the Steven Curtis Chapman family.

Got Milk?

I heard this on the radio this morning. If I was already busy I think I could help with the clean-up.

Later Peeps!

PS - i will try to post more later.