Friday, December 29, 2006

Quiet Christmas

Well Christmas is over and it was different this year. It really didn't feel like Christmas this year. I can't explain it but it never felt like Christmas. It was kind of weird. All of Dad's family came on Christmas day this year. We had our get-together at the church. There are to many of us to fit into Pappaw and Mammaw's house so we have to go to the church. All 6 of the children and all 14 of the garandkids were there as well as one boyfriend, one mother-in-law, and two dogs! Don't forget that all 6 of those "children" are married and their spouses were there as well. All-in-all we had around 35 people. This year everyone left as soon as the schedule was finished. Usually everyone goes back to Mammaw and Pappaw's house to play Rook and eat snacks and visit till really late. This year only Aunt Debbie, Aunt Darlene, and our family went back. Then they had to leave fairly early because some scroogish boss had people working the next day! Bah Humbug! It was nice to see all the cousins again. Some of them we hadn't seen for several years. So it didn't last very long and all the cousins are older. I'm the only one who is anywhere near their ages. It wasn't much fun for Beth and Micah. We have spent most of our time this year at home. It has been fairly quiet. We've even managed to get mom to sit down and watch a few Christmas movies with us. We were hoping to meet the Cox's while they were up this year but it didn't work out. Oh well, such is life. Ah yes, I suppose everyone is wondering what we got this year. I got a new study Bible, a missionary's biography, and the new Dee Henderson book. It was interesting. The only thing I'm going to say is that she leaves you hanging. We kids bought Daddy a popcorn popper. He loves popcorn and he loves his gift. Zach got the first 2 seasons of the Waltons and a book. Daniel got a new Bible, a Bible cover, and a book. Micah got soldiers, a glow in the dark football, and a book. Beth got some more dollhouse furniture, a movie, and a book. As a family gift mom ordered the financial freedom seminar from the Institute. As you can tell our whole family loves to read. In fact we've got more books than we have room to put them! Books teach you alot. Mom says that books are an investment in the future. Every time Mom and Dad give us a new book they feel like they are investing in our future. I have no problem with that. I love to read! We are having a watch night service on Sunday night it starts at 8 pm. You can't put an ending time on a watch night service because you never know what time they will end only that it will be after midnight! I'm sorry if this is rather boring and uninteresting but everything has been pretty quiet this week. Everyone have a safe and Happy New Year!

Sunday, December 24, 2006

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas!!!! Everyone travel safely and have a wonderful time with your family and friends.

Monday, December 18, 2006

Another Past-Due Post

Once again I find myself sitting in front of the computer aimlessly punching away at the keyboard. And once again I am way late! You really must excuse me. I have been very busy. Last Sunday wehad our banquet. We had a great time! Tim was there as our guest and Chelsey came with him to keep him awake. I was of course more than pleased with that arrangement. Then Amber came in. She had a guitar recital and wasn't sure if she was going to be able to come. I was happy she was there too. Amber and Chelsey know each other so that was no problem. We sang songs and read some scripture then we had dinner. The Sandys came in during dinner. I was glad they came but Tonya was really acting strange around Chelsey and Amber. She wouldn't talk or be herself. She was driving me insane! Why do some girls act that way? I guess she was nervous or something but I didn't know what to do with her. Anyway, Amber and I had to work on some songs for the play so we went in the sanctuary and I got on the piano and she pulled out her guitar. Then T.J. comes in and I sent him to get his mandolin. Then he started playing with us. Then Bro. Gene pulled out his guitar. Then Tonya comes in and starts singing with us. Then Tim comes in and chases me off the piano and takes my spot then he let me back on and chased Amber off her guitar and played for a while then he let her have it back. He kept saying,"I wish I'd brought my bass." We wished he had too. Anyway we had fun but I think Chelsey kinda felt left out. She doesn't play an instrument. I hate making people feel left out. I sat with Chelsey the rest of the time. We played games and Tim spoke a very few minutes. All in all we had a good time and I think all 3 of my friends felt included over all. Why do some girls act weird when they meet new girls? I really don't understand. This past week we have been pretty busy. We went shopping Tuesday and we've been cleaning and baking every other day besides that I was getting all the last minute things done for the play. We had practice Wednesday night, and I had my last piano lesson for this year on Friday! Yeah! This Sunday evening we had the play it turned out fairly well except one of my angels sat down in the middle of the play and Jenny had to tell her to stand up. Not a problem except for the fact that her mike was still on and we could hear her whispering,"stand up" over the speakers. Siane still wouldn't stand up. It was rather funny. Anyway that was pretty much the only mishap this year. Last year we had a real baby play Jesus and he pulled himself up and looked at the audience and waved at everyone! That was funny! Anyway I must say that I'm relieved that the play is over and there were no major mistakes. Today Dad, Pappaw, and Mom are going to Richmond for Dad's Cardiologist appointment. This Doctor is really frustrating because every time Dad goes to see this guy he's feeling fine. So the Doctor won't give dad his full disability because he doesn't think Dad's really sick anymore. Our family doctor sees dad all the time and knows that he is still sick. Anyway this doctor is really intimidating so pray for my Dad today. I probably need to go. I've got a huge mess to clean up in the kitchen from all the baking we've been doing. I've also got to study for VLB sevrice Wednseday night and do some other things too. Oh yeah we gave Mom her present early and she loves it! We got her a KitchenAid mixer. Our last mixer got broken. Beth was making cookies and dropped her spoon in the bowl so she reached her hands in there to get the spoon without turning the mixer off. To make a long story short, her fingers were badly bruised and the mixer was wrecked. She's learned a lot about mixers since then and she's getting better at making cookies. Anyway I need to go. G'bye

Saturday, December 09, 2006

Hello Again

Someone informed me that it was time for a new post. As if anything I write could actually be interesting! I think I've had a pretty good excuse for not blogging but some people just don't see it that way! Ok, I've been on my back with my foot up in the air since Wednesday. Is that a good excuse or what? Why have I been laid up? Well it all started at lunch time Wednesday. Beth rushed past and knocked me over. I fell into a trash bag that was sitting on the floor. One of the boys had put the top of a can into the trash and it sliced into the top of my toe. Then I tripped and hit my toe against the wall. Ouch! The toe was badly hurt and the top of my foot was swollen up. I spent the rest of the week forced to inaction. I thought I was going to go insane! I remember telling one of my brothers,"this enforced inaction is driving me insane!" Anyway, we had one of our church ladies over for dinner last night. We had a good time. I taught Mama how to play Dutch Blitz and she loves it! You should have seen her go! We are getting ready for our church banquet. It is this Sunday night. In years past we have had Brother Smith and Brother Jerry Anders as our guests. This year that was impossible. Our new Regional and District overseers, Brother Jared and Brother Horton, both were to busy to come this year. So anyway Pappaw said, "why don't we invite that Cox guy you know that youth guy to come be our guest this year." So Pappaw called Tim up and he's coming. Pappaw never can remember Tim's name it's usually pretty funny. Last Sunday I came out of SS class to find some good friends of ours had come in! The Sandys have been good friends of ours for years. We all used to go to Kenbridge church before all the mess that happened over there. After that big split most of us came over and joined Farmville. Tha cogop overseer gave Bro. Sandy a church to pastor so he went to the coast. After what happened in the cogop assembly they resigned their church. Now they're "looking." I hope they come on over! They have two kids Tonya and T.J. Tonya is two weeks younger than me and T.J. is between Daniel and Micah in age. I think they might be coming to the banquet tomorrow. I hope they do! Next Sunday we are going to have our program and open gifts. The kids have been working really hard. They look so cute in their costumes! I can't wait till it's over though! Too much pressure! Anyway I heard from Pappaw who heard from Brother Jared that we might be using the cogop campground for camp this year! It would be really great if we could! The cogop camp has an indoor gym! Basketball here I come! Not for a while yet. :-) My EMT neighbor has strictly prohibited me from overdoing it! Oh well. :-( I'll be completely better soon! Then watch out guys your competition is back! I've actually not been playing very well lately but I'm going to practice as soon as I can. Oh wow can you believe it I'm rambling again. I guess that's the sign I need to stop! Wait a second there was something I threatened to post. Nahhhhh I'm not going to. (Scared you didn't I!) G'bye!

Saturday, December 02, 2006

Nee How Ma!!!!

Hey everybody I'm on my blog on our computer! We are still having a little trouble with it but at least I can get caught up with everyone. Ok It's been quite a while so I guess this should be a long post. (You got it I am going into talk mode and if you know me you know that means I can talk for hours and hours to anyone including people I hardly know just as long as I feel like they really want to hear what I have to say but in writing I can talk for hours and hours whether anyone really wants to hear what I have to say or not!!!!) (How's that for a super long run-on sentence?) Ha! So anyway just to let you know "Nee How Ma" is mandarin Chinese for "Hello How are You." Ok first subject. Thanksgiving! Pull out the turkey and dressing don't forget the cranberry sauce and pumpkin pie; it's Thanksgiving!!! Or rather it's over a week past Thanksgiving. :-) We went to Aunt Darlene and Uncle Ted's house house for Thanksgiving this year. All of my Aunts on my Dad's side of the family were there. My Mammom and Pappaw decided not to come this year because it was really rainy and it's a two-and-a-half hour drive from here to there. I think they would have enjoyed it. Eleven of the fourteen grandkids were there. After dinner,you know the drill, we pulled out the Rook cards. Baldwin rule #1. Always, always, play Rook whenever the family gets together. It's not really a rule, it's actually more of a tradition. We played several hands of Rook, I was always on the losing team. I havn't figured out why yet. Hmmmmmmmm. Oh well, we all had a lot of fun. After we got tired of Rook we decided to play spoons. It was fun. We never actually finished that game because a couple of Brent's friends came over to meet his family. :-) They were nice kids. It was getting later by that time so we decided to head home. That weekend Micah's friend Arthur came over to visit. He likes coming to our church. I had to teach children's church that morning. I was also asked, at the last minute, to be in charge of the Christmas play this year. So we spent part of CC going over songs and assigning parts. We are just doing a little nativity this year. Next year maybe something bigger. Monday and Tuesday we did our regular school. Then Wednesday we did something different. The boys had been raking an older lady's yard for her and then Wednesday they did Mammom and Pappaw's yard. So Mom, Beth, and I went into house cleaning mode. Why not? The house really needed it. Then Thursday we tackled our yard and did more work on the house. I cleaned all the cupboards. (Why do they make cupboards with all those little creases and things? They make them really hard to clean!) Friday I went to Mammom's and helped her clean the house. Pappaw was trying to glue the head back on this little duck and he kept asking, "Why isn't this glue sticking?" So someone looks over and says, " No wonder it isn't sticking that's neosporine Brother Baldwin!" It was pretty funny Mammom and I just laughed and laughed. At about 2:15 or thereabouts Momma picked me up and took me to piano lessons. I got stars on every piece! Yeah! Then when Beth finished her lesson she picked us up and dropped me off at Mammom's before going home. When I got back it was time to help her decorate her yard. It was really warm and I couldn't help but think that last year we had been all bundled up and still were cold. This year I was wearing short sleeves and sweating! Weird wheather. It's usually pretty chilly by this time. It's so warm outside that I'm having a hard time realizing that it's already December! Anyway we finished most of the outside and started on the inside before I left to come home. Then I went back over this morning and couldn't believe my eyes. The carpets were a mess! Mammom had decided to make a new wreath and dropped things all over the floor. I had to do a lot of my "first works over again." Today I got upstairs and started cleaning up there. There really wasn't much I could do upstairs untill we finish decorating and put the boxes away but I did what I could. We also switched all of her rugs today. And started a little of the inside decorating. We quit early because Mammom and Pappaw had to go somewhere tonight. Anyway I'm pretty much caught up now and tired of typing! ( talking is much easier than typing!) Someday I think I'll have a VLB service relating cleaning house to the Christian life. Anyway that's it I'm done! Good night!

Tuesday, November 21, 2006

Hello

Ok I know I haven't posted in a while but as I said before our computers are not cooperating. Well I guess the first topic should be VLB service last Wednesday. I was told it went well. I was really nervous at first but started feeling more comfortable after I got started. I spoke a little on Deliverance since that is the VLB theme this year. I took it from a little differant perspective. I focused on how to avoid coming under bondage in the first place. I used the "taking thoughts captive" concept from the Basic Seminar and the "mailbox" visual aid from the Children's Institute. I related all this to deliverance by showing that when we accept one of the lies (bad thoughts) of the enemy we are actually choosing to believe that lie. When we choose to believe the lie of the enemy we open ourselves up to more lies. The more lies we believe the greater the "stronghold" the enemy has in our life and the more we find ourselves bound. I tied Zach up with a rope to show how we are bound. We are saved so much trouble and heartache if we only choose to believe the Truth of God's Word in the first place. To avoid being bound we must fill our hearts and minds with God's Word. God's Word is also a big part of our deliverance. I ended the service with a challenge for our young people to memorize at least 2 scripture verses a week. If we fill our minds with good things we will automatically reject the bad. That is just a quick overview of my first VLB service. Friday night we squashed 7 people into little car and drove up to the Cooper's house for Lynchburg's fall festival. We had a lot of fun. Mom and Dad got home early Sunday morning. They couldn't stop talking about how much they enjoyed their trip. Most of what they talked about was the the fun they had with the Cox's. They said we would really have enjoyed it. We all wished we could go but that would defeat the purpose of their getting away from us kids wouldn't it? Maybe another time. We had a guest speaker at Farmville Sunday morning and evening. Brother Taylor came over and spoke. Sunday morning we just started our first song when a lady runs to the altar from the 2nd or 3rd pew from the back. She just wept and wept and when she got up she had been gloriously saved! Praise theLord! It was a a wonderful thing to see. Yesterday night Mama, Pappaw, and I drove up to Roanoke for their revival. It was worth the drive. Brother "Arkansas" Smith was the evangelist. There was a sweet spirit there. I really enjoyed it. Oh yes one more thing. I have a serious conundrum! Thanksgiving is on Fast Day! What do we do? I have a feeling we are just going to fast another day instead. We are supposed to be going to VA Beach to my Aunt Darlene's for Thanksgiving. They really wanted us to come up this year so that's what our plans are. Well I have got to go. I'll catch up with the rest of blogland later when I get a chance!

Tuesday, November 14, 2006

Details

Hey everybody! I was recently asked why my last post was only four sentances long. My reply was as follows, "Both of the computers are not working right." One of them will go on the internet but then turn off right in the middle of what you are attempting to do. GRRR Right now I am sitting at the library using one of the library computers. The library is a full block from my house. :-p I'm grateful that it's no farther. But anyway, about that retreat. Ladies Retreat was wonderful! I thoroughly enjoyed it. Dawn got to go. She really got her victory on Friday night I hadn't seen her face so radiant in a long time! I roomed with Chelsey and Katlin. We had a great time. Katlin didn't really know me that well before the retreat. Now she knows me all too well and thinks I'm crazy! I have news for her, I think the same thing about her! Well Saturday we had classes and TAP groups. That's Ladies Retreat lingo for Talk And Pray groups. I really enjoyed my hideaway time on Saturday afternoon. I went out in the middle of a bunch of trees and found my own little spot to sit and pray. Then it started to rain and I had to run for cover. That night we had a great move of the Spirit. I think all of us ladies had gotten prayed up so we were ready for God to move. There was a wonderful prescence of the lord there. You could feel it even before service started. I had been feeling burdened down over differant things that are happening in the Church and some family situations. Most of you know that besides my immediate family and my grandparents none of my family is in the Church. I've really been feeling a burden for them. Well Praise the Lord I got the Victory! God is gonna move in His Time and there is absolutely nothing that any man, woman, or child can do to stop Him! A lot of people got really good blessings on Saturday night. We were in service for over three hours! Isn't God good? Not only did we have a great time spiritually we also had a lot of fun. We had so much chocolate at retreat that Chelsey, who is a chocolate lover and has frequently told me that there is no such thing as too much chocolate, told Katlin and I that she'd had too much chocolate! I can't tell you all about a lot of the stuff that happened. Hey I have to protect the innocent! But I will say that Sister Bishop is a riot! She is very funny and also a lot of fun. But she can preach! Well I'm back home now and back at my school. Mom and Dad are in the Bahamas. They went on a cruise for dad's 50th. Aunt Debbie is staying with us youngins. We are having a good time. Pray for me on Wednesday. It's my first VLB service and I'm super nervous. I'm working on the service and I think I'm doing ok so far don't know quite how I'll do in front of an audience though. Lord Help Me!!!!!!!! I'll let ya'll know all about it after it's over an done with. Oh yeah I read what I had written the other day about being the new VLB leader and thought I had better make it more clear. Dawn and John did a wonderful job. The only reason they aren't doing it anymore is there work schedules are really hectic and thay can't get to Wednesday night service. Well that's about it except next Friday night is Lynchburg's fall festival and we get to go! Aunt Debbie is going to take us. Mom and Dad will be in Florida at the Cox's that night. They're not coming home till the next day or perhaps I should say really really late the next night maybe even so late as early Sunday morning. :-) Well I need to get out of here Beth is waiting for me.

Sunday, November 12, 2006

I'm Back!!!!!

I don't have alot of time so I'm just letting everyone know I'm back. I'll let you know all about Ladies Retreat as soon as possible. Sorry this is short but I'm tired. And with good reason too!

Monday, November 06, 2006

Picking up from where I left off...

Last Wednesday night we were supposed to have VLB service but our VLB leaders weren't able to be there. They haven't been able to be there that often on Wednesdays since they moved. So our pastor just spoke for a while. He's good at coming up with a message on short notice. Or maybe I should say God's good at giving him a message on short notice. :-) Well anyway Pappaw said he's going to appoint new VLB leaders. He wants Zach and I to take over. I hate speaking in front of people. I would rather just write everything down on paper. It's so much easier. But unfortunately I have a pastor who has a firm belief that I can handle any responsibility he wants to give me. I guess "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." I've been praying about it and I've got an idea for next Wednesday. This Wednesday is WMB service. Mom wants me to come up with a skit for her service. I've been kinda thinking of several differant ideas I'm not sure how it's going to end up. You know how I thought I was going to have this weekend free? Well I was wrong. I had to work Saturday. Then this coming weekend is Ladies Retreat. So I still haven't had a free weekend since September. Oh well. :-) It's not to terribly bad. I don't mind being busy. It's part of growing up. I do mind growing up. :-( I wanted to a stay a kid forever. The scary thing is that I'll be an adult next year. I know growing up is one of the 10 unchangeable things that God designed but I can't believe that I'm already 17. Well today is Monday. I had school and piano and chores to do. As you can tell I'm done. When I finish this I'm going to go clean up the supper dishes and work on that skit. :-) Maybe I'll have some hot tea while I work on the skit. That sounds good. Sorry for rambling so much but I haven't had alot to write about. Besides I'm not in joking mood tonight. And it is my blog isn't it? Shouldn't I be allowed to ramble on my blog?

Wednesday, November 01, 2006

Conquerors of Countries, Damsels in Distress, and Goober Peas.

As you guys can see I have three topics today. I can have some fun with this! Conquerors of Countries? "What's that about?" you ask. Simply this Dad and the boys pulled out our Risk game. Risk is actually pretty interesting. My brothers, and perhaps I should say, the majority of guys I know have minds that delight in Strategy. Don't ask me why. (I don't really know.) Perhaps it dates back to the times when they had to fight for their countries as knights and crusaders and generals. Who knows. All I know is that alot of guys like strategy. Although I have to admit that some prefer using brute force. Well anyway I don't like strategy I'm no good at it. Maybe that's why I always lose at Risk. Except once. One time I actually won and beat 3 guys to boot! That must have been a freak accident. You have all heard of Damsels in Distress and Knights in Shining Armor well Bethany has met her knight. She was in the kitchen getting some milk out for breakfst when the rest of us heard a loud, piercing, terrified, scream. Needless to say she was the damsel in distress. Enter, Knight. Micah bravely rushed to her rescue. When he got to the kitchen he saw a humongous spider heading directly towards Beth. He quickly grabbed a fly swatter, chased the spider down, and smacked it until it died. When the spider was dead they took a closer look at it. It was a poisonous Black Widow. We were all a little shook up. It's not fun to have a Black Widow in your house. Now for the goober peas. I trust all of you know what goober peas are. But just in case their are Yankee lurkers around I will explain. Goober peas are peanuts. Our neighbor brought us some fresh peanuts still in their shells. We enjoyed them immensely. :-) There's just something about Virginia goober peas that can't be beat. I have really been enjoying the beautiful fall weather. Fall is my favorite time of year. There are dozens of reasons why. My favorite is the colors and the nippy but not cold weather. More news later, when I have something interesting to say!

Sunday, October 29, 2006

My Day

Ok so my day didn't go exactly as planned but it was fine. First of all, something came up and Brother Taylor wasn't able to come. Secondly, our pastor was feeling under the weather and didn't think he could preach. Please pray for him he's 78 now and for the past 2 or 3 winters he's been coming down with something that lays him up for at least a week. Thirdly, Dad preached. Well anyway we had our Spaghetti dinner today. Mom went into the kitchen to re-warm the sauce and came back in during song service. I was up front helping lead song service and I noticed mom start laughing and then Zach started too. I didn't know why they were laughing. When I got back to my seat I found out why. Mom realized that there were no noodles. The lady who was in charge of getting things together had forgot to assign someone to bring noodles. So mom realized this in the middle of song service and couldn't help but think how funny it was. To top it off she told Zach and he started singing "If they only knew we had no noodles..." to the tune of the song we were singing. That's when they really started cracking up. Anyway Mom ran to the store and got noodles so we had our spaghetti after all. After the dinner we ladies helped clean up and dad took the boys to Micah's baseball game. They won! 8-3 It was pretty good they are getting better. Now I am sitting at the computer writing yet another post on my blog. We don't have service tonight. We didn't get away from the church untill pretty late and pappaw's not feeling good at all so he cancelled service tonight. Oh yeah Dawn isn't sure if she is going to get to go to Ladies Retreat now. So I might just be without a ride! Mom and Dad are going to be out of town that weekend. Do any of you guys know who all is going from Lynchburg? If Dawn really doesn't get to go I may have to talk to someone from up that way about meeting in Lynchburg and catching a ride. I hope Dawn gets to go she has really been looking forward to it. Well anyway that's about it for today. So Long.

Saturday, October 28, 2006

Spaghetti Dinners and other things

I have been thinking it over and I haven't had a free weekend for a while now. It all started with Youth Retreat. Then came Apple Butter. And then there was Minister's Convention. This weekend isn't really free either because tomorrow we are having a Spaghetti Dinner. Mom is making the sauce, and a chocolate desert that's really good. We call it "Death by Chocolate" and most people seem to think that's a good way to die. I'm not too much for chocolate but this stuff is pretty good. Mom is also making some pecan pies.
We are going to have a guest speaker at church tomorrow. His name is Phillip Taylor and has known my grandparents for years. He got saved underPappaw's ministry and also recieved his call to preach while he was under my grandpa. He is still in the COGOP but he's looking. He's one of the ministers that were denied a church to pastor because they wouldn't take people in who were in double-marriage. He's a good preacher. He preaches sound doctrine. Oh, yes the winning poem. You guys can all figure that one out it's a no-brainer. Larry, Larry... where art thou? My super hero veggie pal. Oh no! I see thee and thy fate Sliced and diced upon my plate! Good job Sister Tammy! Your creativity is a wonder to us all. To all others who submitted an entry you did a great job at keeping me entertained! My poem sounded like something out of a kindergarten reader! Oh well. To any who express an interest in musical persuits. Yesterdays lesson was much better than last weeks. Of course I think anything would be better than last weeks! I guess that's pretty much it. Except for the fact that I got my final Math curriculum for High School in the mail this week. Yeah! It looks tough. I don't know if I'm ready but I'm starting week after next. Ooooooh I hope I do ok. Anyway I think that's it. Except Ladies Retreat is coming up and Sister Smith is going to be there! Yeah! Well that is it so goodbye.

Thursday, October 26, 2006

As you can probably tell by my title I have been writing poetry. It wasn't by choice. It was an unavoidable assignment that my grammar/English course tortured me with! I don't really hate poetry. I can write poetry....Sometimes. I have to have inspiration. I'm not one of those lucky creative people who can sit down anytime they want and write out a flowery sonnet. So anyway today I had to write two poems with two verses in each poem. Each poem had to have a different rhyme scheme. I thought I was never going to finish. Last night, we ate dinner at the church. We met two of our church ladies and had dinner together before church started. We had tacos mmmmmmmm. It was fun. I've also been diligently slaving away over a church report to send in to Sister Melanie. I never know what to write in a church report. As you can tell I've had a pretty normal day and don't really have a lot to say. So I'm going to give you something to do. Everybody out there, prepare your minds to write a poem on my comments! I'll read them all and pick my favorite to post on my next attempt at blogging. Do you accept the challenge? I dare you to try!

Tuesday, October 24, 2006

Goodbye Veggie Tales!

A special news report from the Baldwin home. Veggie Tales characters are being eaten right and left. Ok I know veggie tales is pretty popular but it's taking it kinda far when we can't even eat anything that remotely resembles a veggie tales character without Bethany trying to rescue it! The story is as follows. Mom bought two big butternut squash from the store. She brings them home. Beth and Micah see them and immediately notice a remarkable resemblance to two of the veggie tales characters. You guys know Jimmy and Jerry Gourd right? So immediately they dub these squash Jimmy and Jerry. Tonight Mom thought it would be nice to have some squash with supper. She started to cut Jimmy up and pandemonium broke loose. Needless to say mom had her squash and the kids learned the important lesson of not playing with or NAMING their food. That is the end of this special report. Tune in next time for more from the Baldwin family. Over and Out.

Monday, October 23, 2006

Howdy

Hello once again to all of you busy bloggers. I had a wonderful weekend and am starting into another week of school. I had piano lessons Friday and they were not so wonderful. :-( I played everything just fine untill piano lessons started. I couldn't help but think that Handel and Mozart would be rolling over in their graves if they could but hear how I murdered their beautiful pieces! I kept messing up for no apparent reason and couldn't play a single measure without botching it! Even my Hymn ,which I had been playing very well, was not up to par. My piano teacher has been teaching me for 11 or 12 years and was very understanding. She said that even the best pianists have off days. I'm far, far, far, far, far from the best so I guess I can have a few off days as well! After piano Micah had a few friends over for cake and ice cream. After everyone left it was clean up time. Then we practiced our song for minister's convention one last time. Saturday morning came early and we had to get on the road because convention started at 9:30. We were getting ready to pull away from the house when John and Dawn pulled up behind us. We had a convoy. Mammaw and Pappaw pulled into the parking lot at Lynchburg just a few minutes after we did and we all went into the church together. It wasn't planned. It just happened that way. Minister's Convention was such a blessing. The Convention Quartet, minus Sister Smith, sang after lunch and they did a wonderful job. Brother Jared said that we ought to cancel the rest of the program and just have a singing. :-) He is funny! You all should hear him talk about how much he loves his wife! However funny he may be, he is still a wonderful preacher. It was also nice to fellowship with some friends during lunch break. There is a wonderful spirit of love and fellowship in The Church of God that you can't find anywhere else. After convention ended we stood around and talked for a long time. The next day, Sunday, we had Brother Jared preach the morning service. He once again preached a wonderful message and we enjoyed it very much. Now for the big surprise. We had a"graduation program" for Micah that night at Church. The VLB's were in charge of the service and Tim came down to preach for us. Then we had snacks and fellowship afterwards. He had Chelsey and Kaitlin ride down with him to keep him awake and we had a good time visiting. It was a lot of fun. That morning Pappaw had announced that, Brother umm, Brother umm, well that regional youth leader guy" was coming for service that night. Then that evening Dawn forgot his name and thought for a moment before coming forth triumphantly with "our evangelist." It was pretty funny. John and I were just cracking up both times. Well that's pretty much it. Oh, wait a second, I want to know who anonymous is! They are not who I thought they are and it has me stumped. I give up! Please show a little kindness and satisfy my curiosity! Otherwise I might have to put it where nobody can post anonymously!

Thursday, October 19, 2006

Forget the Pics!!!!!!!

Ok lets try those pics again! It's not working. I'm sure I followed the directions. Why won't it work? Oh dear, I'm afraid I'll never figure it out. Ok next subject. My little brother is forever leaving the ranks of the gleaners and, as of tomorrow, joining the VLB band! Yeah! We will have one more VLB than we have now! Isn't that awesome. On the other hand my "baby" is growing up. Maybe I should boo instead of cheer. Well anyway we all grow up someday and he's so excited about being a VLB. I know another reason why he should be excited but that's a secret surprise. I have another reason to be happy. I finally finished that ten page biographical essay I had to write. Did it have to be ten pages? Well, not really, I'm just longwinded. I'm also happy because I finally got my hat, the one I wear all the time, back from mom. I gave it to her a week before youth convention to wash and she kept forgetting about it and I didn't get it back untill yesterday. Maybe she has a secret vendetta against hats and mine just happened to be the one she picked on. Or maybe she just forgot. I'll never know for sure. But anyway my trademark is firmly back on my head. I was worried people wouldn't recognize me without my hat. I was seriously considering wearing it to minister's convention but I have a sneaking suspicion it wouldn't be appropriate. I probably need to get off of this computer. I have to work today as soon as Mammom picks me up. My aunt and uncle are driving through and she wants me to clean her house. It's not a "real" job but it gives me a fairly regular source of spending money. Hey she won't let me do it fo free. I already tried. She sent money home with one of my younger siblings. Oh well, I guess she knows every kid likes some spending money. :-)

Tuesday, October 17, 2006

A normal day

A nice quiet day of School and piano and music and housework and.... Well you get the picture just a nice normal day. Sunday evening we had communion and feetwashing at Church. Pappaw spoke on communion, and Dad spoke on feetwashing. Pappaw gave everyone communion and was dismissing us to go have feetwashing when he was reminded that he himself had not taken communion. That was pretty comical. Yesterday we finally decided which song to sing at Minister's Convention. Dad took the boys to the baseball field to work on Micah's hitting and fielding. He's playing baseball this year. Today we did school, school, and more school. Oh, here are some pictures that we took earlier this year. One of all of us kids and one of Mom and Dad. Well I guess that's it. TahTah for now. Oh well, blogger won't let me upload pics right now I'll put them on some other time.

Sunday, October 15, 2006

Apple Butter!

Hey, hello, hi. Apple Butter was yesterday and as usual it was alot of fun. We left for Catawba Church around 9:00 and got there about noon. Our local VLB leaders got the day off from work and followed us up there. Dawn and John had to leave early so there were really only 7 more helpers. They were really short-handed this year so they were happy to see us. They put the apple butter on at about 3 in the morning and it cooks all day. There has to be some one stirring it constantly. So we took turns stirring, visiting, playing football, taking naps (if we could sneak away), playing four square, and stirring some more. The apple butter didn't come off untill around 8 or 9 that evening. When you are tired you get crazy. So we had alot of fun when we got toward the end. We were so happy when it was ready to come off! Then we had to wait for the other pot to come off. After everything was done and put away we drove back home. We got back home just after 1 am. Then we got up by 8:3o this morning to get ready for church. Now Mom is taking a nap and Dad is studying for tonight. The boys are watching a football game and Beth is watching a movie and I am typing away. I know this is pretty short but nobody reads my blog anyway so who cares? Of course I wouldn't mind if someone were to prove me wrong!

Thursday, October 12, 2006

Hello

Good Evening, I've never had a blog before so this is a first time effort of a completely computer illiterate gal! Okay about me, myself, and I. I'm a Christian. That is first and foremost in my life. Secondly, I have four younger siblings. Alot of people think that is strange. Not in the least. It makes life interesting. God is completely trustworthy in every area. He does a great job of choosing your family size. Thirdly, I'm homeschooled. Doesn't that fit? Fourthly, I am a little crazy. Just enough to be interesting. And last but not least, I'm a covenant member of The Church of God. So now that that's off my chest it's down to business. My life in the last week has been pretty nice. Last Friday and Saturday I got to go to Youth Retreat. It was great. The theme was a continuation of our camp theme here in the Virginia's, "Keep the Flame Burning." Our camp theme was, "Acquire the Fire." The retreat started off with the regional VLB director, Brother Tim, introducing all the pastors that came out and our new regional Overseer and his wife and giving them a chance to say something for the Lord. Then we had our evening service. Tim played the piano, and Amy led the singing. Next, Brother Jared preached the message and had an alter call. I was really happy to see Eric Hogan get sanctified. He had gotten saved at camp. After service we had pizza and cookies. When I came out from changing I was surprised by Tim announcing that it was my birthday. Everyone sang happy birthday. Then we went out to the gym and played basketball and volleyball. While we were shooting around I played a game of one-on-one with Steele Williams. He is so tall it is impossible to win. So we play awhile and he gets me in a corner. Well I try a little trick, I try to flip it over his head and spin around him and grab the ball again. One problem; I forget he is so tall. I hit him right in the face. Ouch. After we play a real game of basketball we give volleyball a try. It was alot of fun. The next day we had cinnamon rolls for breakfast. Then we had a class. Sister Ginger was the teacher. Then we had a service. Brother Tim preached this time. All too soon youth retreat was over. Oh well, on to the next adventure, Apple Butter! That's this weekend . Then next weekend there's Minister's Convention. Our family has to sing at that. We are as usual far from ready! Wednesday we had VLB service at church. Our local VLB leader, Sister Dawn, did a pretty good job. Wait, Wednesday was yesterday. Every day this week I've been working on my school. Well I've only got one year left after this year and I'll be finished. Yee Haw! Well anyway if you're in the Church and you stumble across my little blog please leave a comment. Well, if you're homeschooled that's okay too. :-)