I've Been Everywhere Man (In a Month)

The Sears Tower in Chicago

Passing through the Wisconsin Dells

St Paul, Minnesota at sunset

Somewhere between Minnesota and Wisconsin

Inside Mall of America

West Virginia Mountains


Flying from Florida to North Carolina.

Either in or on the way to Tennessee

This year has started out a little bit on the rough side. Nine deaths have occured in the last month with the most recent two being the hardest on our family. One was a neighbor that couldn't figure out why she kept getting the flu only to find out that she had cancer that had already spread through her whole body. My kids loved her very much, and she made them all some stuffed dolls as a last Christmas present.

The other death was the one of my grandmother. She lived to the age of 91 and a half. She was always a lot of fun to be around. She could tell the funniest stories, and loved to laugh. She would come down to our house in Texas once a year, and all five of us kids would be so excited that we couldn't sleep the night before her plane came. It was such a big event, my mother would spring clean the house for her arrival. The only problem was that she was from Minnesota and it was way too hot for her in South Texas. Sometimes she would just sit in a chair and drip sweat and say, "This is a two bath day." We would go to special places when Grandma came down. One time we went to Monterrey, Mexico. That trip would always live in her memory because we stopped at a pottery stand and a German Shepherd dog came out and was barking at us. It scared me half to death. I backed up to my grandma and started backing her up toward the pottery. She later said that she thought we were going to have to buy the whole pottery place because we were about to knock it all over.

I could go on and on with stories from Grandma. But I'm thankful the Lord gave me such a good one because she's the only grandparent that I really remember. She will be greatly missed.

Thanx, Revk, for letting me borrow the pic. All the ones I have are on our old computer.

I've been meaning to write this for a long time.

Matthew 9:12-13
They that be whole need not a physician, but they that are sick....for I am not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.
I was born into a Christian home, but that does not get anyone into heaven. At a very young age, I asked Jesus to save me, but I have no recollection of that moment. However, that is what I based my salvation on until I learned in school chapel one day that if you can't remember a time that you have asked the Lord to save you, you are not saved. That made me uncomfortable, but even more uncomfortable for me was when the teacher asked for testimonies from the class and my friend wanted me to give my testimony. I just couldn't.....I didn't have one to give. The summer before 4th grade, I asked Jesus to save me so I could go to heaven. (I did not see myself as someone that sinned and in need of salvation from sin. I just wanted to be saved because that was what I was supposed to do to go to heaven. Since God does not let sin into heaven and cannot save someone who does not think they sin, I kind of missed the whole point of salvation.) In 7th grade, I knew I was a sinner, and at the end of the school year, my family went to hear J. Harold Smith preach at a local church. The last sermon we heard was called God's Three Deadlines. It was quite an emotional sermon, and I asked Jesus to save me from my sins because that is what I had been told you are supposed to do to be saved. However, I was not truly sincere about being saved from my sins. I just wanted to say the right thing to God so that I would not have to go to hell. You see, the Bible says that Jesus came into the world to save sinners. I knew I was a sinner, but didn't really care about being saved from sin. I was secure in my profession of faith until I was 23 years old, and anyone who knew me would have said that I was a Christian. The church I was attending was having special services on the book of Revelation. I was sitting in my car before church thinking that it was so good that I didn't doubt my salvation. I don't know what happened, but as soon as that thought crossed my mind, I began to have doubts. I struggled for five years about whether I was saved or not. I would ask the Lord to show me. In His own way he did. No matter what church I happened to be visiting whether in NC, FL, or TX it seemed that the same semon on salvation was being preached. I finally asked the Lord to save me at my own church as I played my own invitation at the piano. The ironic thing is that I can't remember the song I was playing. All I can remember was saying, "Okay, Lord, save me." I knew I was a sinner, and I wanted the Lord to take those sins away. I had always heard of the peace that God gives when you ask Him to save you, but at that moment I experienced it.

Happy 30th Birthday, Spencer!

They decorated his cubicle at work.

More of Disney

Character breakfast buffet.

Country Bear Jamboree. Zach showed his true redneck colors during the singing. Whooping and hollering was his trademark.

Alladin's Magic Carpet.

A tomato tree at Epcot. This was an interesting ride. We got to go through their greenhouse and see their experiments.

A Mickey pumpkin. The pumpkin vines were also grown in an elevated form.

The kids got a special time with Mickey, Minnie, and Goofy due to a special offer we had.

Zach was so glad to see the end of the Goofy rollercoaster.

Sierra loved driving these cars. She said they said, "Doom, Doom."

Addison found out how good food was.

Jumping water at Epcot. Brittany almost got wet.

Been to Disney