I'm moving!

Blogs that is! At the urging of my sister I have decided to get back in to blogging! Took me long enough! Of course it can't be Baldwin Happenings anymore so I had to do something new. Get ready.... It's Keeping up with the Cox's and my new address is  www.diapersndollies.blogspot.com I'm also publishing under a new name Happy Homemaker. So come on over and check it out!

Wedding Stuff

That seems to be monopolizing my time. Who knew there was so much work in planning a wedding? Well I'll update everyone on details and progress I have made on this overwhelming project!
First off Beau and I wanted all of our brothers and sisters to be in the wedding. Our family was very involved in our courtship and we thought they should be involved in the wedding too. That's an explanation for this long list.... ;-p Beau has 6 groomsmen. Josh is the best man, then Zach, Daniel, Micah, Nathan, and Caleb. That's all the brother's except Noah don't worry he's not left out. I have always wanted to have the same number of bridesmaids as there were groomsmen so I have 6 bridesmaids. Bethany is my Maid of Honor, Tonya Williams is my Matron of Honor, then there's Chelsey Anders, Katie LaFollette, Brittany Muse, and last but not least Francie. Then we have 2 bible bearers Noah and my little cousin Carter Ward. I am very close to Carter and his little sisters. They are more like nieces and a nephew than cousins so of course they had to be included. Then comes the little flower girls 5 to be exact. Ruthie, Abby, Emily Ward, Hailey Ward, and Addyson Ward. We love children (coming from a family with as many kids as both of ours have you have to love kids!) and we wanted the ones who are especially close to be included. Then of course we have our 2 ushers. Critter Anders and Eric Hogan mutual friends of both Beau and I. Actually when you think about it all of our attendants are friends with both of us. But on with details.
We are planning to get married in Lynchburg, VA on Saturday, March 26th, 2011 at 2:00 in the afternoon. We also decided that with as many kids as we have in the wedding we should have our pictures done before the wedding. With all the kids the pictures would probably take a long time and hold up the reception and it will be easier to get kids to smile when they are freshly dressed and not tired of being dressed up yet. If that makes any sense. My colors are red and white. White is the accent color. The bridesmaids will have red floor length dresses with 3/4 length sleeves and a white lace overlay over the bodice and sleeves. Sister Melanie is making the dresses for the bridesmaids! She is awesome! I am so thankful for all the help and advice that everyone has offered! it sure is making everything easier and smoother. Sister Tonya Anders is a wonder! She has been right with me the whole time helping to get me organized and on track and just making sure everything runs smoothly. I don't know what I would do without her. The flower girls are going to wear a white tea length dress with a red sash. Sister Melanie is making the sashes out of the material that the bridesmaids dresses are made with so they will match.
Oh yes flowers. I am having red and white roses with baby's breath. Shannon is doing the flowers and that is definitely a blessing. It sure is a blessing to have all these talented people around who just jump in and help with whatever is needed! Shannon is so creative and she knows what to do! Brother Ben Fulton is going to be our photographer. He is awesome with a camera. He has been friends with my family for years. Grayson is going to be our videographer. He does a great job at that. My cousin Vanessa is going to be our caterer. She actually has a catering business in South Carolina. She is Carter, Emily, Hailey, and Addyson's mother. She has the catering business because it's something she can do from home to help bring in some money but she still gets to be with her children. She does a great job. She is also making our cake.
We are having a firefighter themed wedding. Sort of.... We are just having little touches here and there. My colors are red and white, we are going to have a firefighter and bride cake topper, and cut our cake with a little fireman's axe. Beau's helmet will be sitting next to the guest book and we might have toy fire engines sitting around here and there. We are thinking about having a little wagon made up to look like a fire truck pulled up the aisle with the littlest flower girl in it. Little cutesy things that will still look elegant and weddingish without looking kiddish.
I got my flower girl baskets the other day. I got 5 baskets for just over $30! That's good! I looked and looked for flower girl baskets that were what I wanted but didn't cost an arm and a leg but everything seemed ridiculous. I saw flower girl baskets that cost as much as $60-$70 for one! I have 5 flower girls there is no way I can pay that much for a basket they are going to use once! So $30 for 5 was a great deal and they were exactly what I was looking for. I also got a C.R. Gibson wedding memory book. That book is really nice! It has places for you to write everything down and put pictures and it also doubles as a guest book. It even has a place for you to write down all the gifts that people got you and helps you keep track sending Thank You cards. I ordered the fabric for the bridesmaids dresses the other day and got crepe back satin for $3.80 a yd and shipping and handling was free! Yay!
We are still not for certain who is going to preach the wedding. Pappaw wanted to be able to enjoy it so he's not doing it. We talked to Brother Smith about it and he said he would be happy to do it as long as he is in the country. He was going to try and keep his schedule clear but we won't know for sure until sometime this month. Music just doesn't seem to be going to well for us. Everyone I talked to is going to be out of town during the wedding or is uncomfortable playing wedding music. So we are still checking on that. We are currently on the look out for a place to have the reception. The Lynchburg church has a great sanctuary but a crowded fellowship hall. We checked out the cogop's fellowship hall but Dad and Pappaw both say they want too much money. We are currently checking out fire stations. I am supposed to talk to the Captain of one of the Lynchburg stations tonight. My neighbor lady is the district chaplain for the fire and rescue in this area and that includes Lynchburg so she checked around and got a hold of this guy for me and I'm supposed to talk to him tonight. I might even get to look at the place Saturday afternoon.
Our Thanksgiving was great. Beau came and got to meet some of my family that he hadn't met yet. Friday evening my cousin threw a Pampered Chef Bridal Shower for me. That was fun. Pampered Chef stuff is really neat and handy! I had a good time visiting with all my family. I am jealous of Beau though. Vanessa and Jacob's kids love me and always say they can't wait to see me but when Beau comes the kids make a bee-line for him and I have to coax them to come to me! Not fair! lol He is great with kids and I am happy that the kids like him.
I am flying out the 13th of December to FL. The Cox family is having their get together down there this year. Beau wanted me to come so I'm going. Then Beau and one of the guys and I are driving back to VA with his truck and a trailer the 23rd. We are going to be back in time for Christmas and he is going to get all my stuff and take it back. See his class schedule has been changed and he won't have another break until the wedding. So this is the last chance to get my stuff down before the wedding. So from the time I got home from Thanksgiving I have 2 weeks to get all my stuff packed up and ready to go so it will be ready when he brings me home and be completely ready for the Christmas program and have it the day before I leave! This Saturday is the district minister's banquet in Lynchburg. Mom and Dad are going to that but Bethany, Chelsey, and I are meeting up going out for lunch and then going to see a play. We are going to have a lot of fun. Then hopefully Mama, Daddy, Bethany, and I and possibly Sister Tonya and Chelsey are going to go meet the guy I'm calling tonight and look at the place. Anyway please pray that everything works out. Anyway I have spent way to much time writing and I have a myriad of other things that I need to do! So Long for now!

I'm Engaged!

And have been for a month and a half.... So why have I not posted before now when I obviously have so much to say? Because I have been tremendously busy! So I know everyone wants the story though I'm pretty sure no one actually reads my blog anymore just because how long I take to post. ;-p But at least it posts to my FB when I post here so two for the price of one you know. So lets start at the very beginning, a very good place to start, lol. The Cox family and our family came in to the assembly the Sunday before it started. August 15th. We got there and unloaded the van and car and headed to the KFC to meet the Cox's for supper. We hadn't seen them for a year so we had quite a reunion. Then we all loaded up and headed to the store where we got our groceries for the week. By the time we got back to the apartments and unloaded our groceries it was after midnight. I was tired and ready to go to bed so I started to get ready to have a shower but Dad stopped me he started talking to me and wanted me to stay up so I did. A few moments later Beau came to the door and said he had something he wanted to show me. I went out the door and Bro. Jerry and Sis. Betsy were out there and Mom and Dad came out too. Beau blindfolded me and took me up a huge hill! I couldn't see a thing and I had no idea what was going on! When we finally stopped Beau told me to look up and close my eyes then he took my blindfold off. He told me to open my eyes and there was this huge white cross lit up with a spotlight it was cloudy that night so the light cast a perfect shadow of the cross on the clouds and the stars shone out around the the clouds. It was beautiful. I will never forget it. While I was still looking up at the cross Beau asked me how I liked it. I told him it was beautiful. He said, "Before we bring this little tour to an end I have a question to ask you." At this point I turned to look at him and when I did he was down on one knee and he took my hand and said, "Charity Baldwin will you marry me?" I was speechless for a minute you would think that I should have expected it with the blindfold and everything but I just wasn't expecting it then. I told him yes! We are so happy. We kept our engagement quiet until we had told all of the grandparents. Then we turned the kids loose and told all of our friends. It was all over the assembly pretty quickly. lol We had a great time at the Assembly. The Lord moved in a mighty way! It was so refreshing and just wonderful! Micah was baptized in the Holy Ghost Saturday night late or early Sunday morning either way you want to look at it. Then my cousin Katie that we had been keeping this summer was baptized in the Holy Ghost Sunday morning during the Sunday School program. It was wonderful! We got home late Monday night then left for SC Friday morning. Papa had his 75th birthday so we had a family party for him down in South Carolina. On the way back home Monday we went to a bridal shop in Fort Mill, SC that specializes in modest bridal gowns and modest formal occasion dresses. It's a christian shop not a Mormon one. Now I've got all my stuff for my "attire" except maybe a tiara I haven't decided on that yet. So we got home late Monday night then Friday morning I went to Roanoke and hopped on a plane to FL to surprise Beau for his birthday. He was definitely surprised! We got a couple registries set up while I was there and had an initial phone conference with Sis. Tonya Anders who is helping us plan our wedding. I also found the perfect shoes for the wedding they go perfectly with my dress and veil. Yay! The best part? They were on huge clearance and I got them for $7.00!!!! Hurrah! Got home Friday evening exhausted. The next day was a surprise birthday party for one of my uncles so we went to Richmond for that. Then I've stayed pretty busy between wedding planning and Church stuff. Had our local planning meeting at our church then of course our Regional Minister's Convention. We picked Nate up there and had him for about a week before we headed down to FL for my birthday. I'm 21! I had a great birthday and thanks to everyone who left me a message on my FB wall! Anyway just got back and finally had an opportunity to post so I am! I will hopefully update soon with some of the wedding plans. I have to go now. Our main computer crashed so we only have the macbook now and that makes it hard to be able to use it. Micah needs it for School now so goodbye for now!

Hello Again

I don't really have too much to blog about. I'm still babysitting James, I have VLB service twice a month, and sewing every Thursday. Right now I am working on a quilt for my hope chest. I am doing a very simple 6 in. square style quilt. I started on a different design and by the time I finished a one foot block decided that I would much prefer doing 4 seams to a foot block instead of 130 seams. I do have one block of that design though. When I was going through fabric scraps and picking out what I wanted I found myself picking out floral patterns. So I guess it will have a floral theme. Anyway, I guess that's enough about a quilt. I ended up only having one VLB service in February due to snow. In keeping with the Valentine's season I did a service on God's Love for us. Speaking of Valentine's day I sent Beau a firefighter belt buckle and a card. Who said you have to give candy? I knew he'd like the belt buckle so I sent him that. He likes it a lot. Josh says he wears it all the time. Yay! I got something he really likes!!! He sent me a box of gourmet chocolates and a sweet card. Let me assure ya'll we have not gone without teasing specifically from our siblings and on my part all the church folks at my local church with my pastors wife leading the pack. Nathan blushed when he read the card I sent Beau and it wasn't even a sappy card! Mom helped me pick it out. James is getting bigger every day. At least it seems like he does. He just turned 6 months old and he is huge! He is so smart. He recognizes people now. I hadn't watched him for a week while they were on vacation with the whole Williams clan and when he came back and I babysat him he was so excited to see me! He almost jumped out of his car seat and when I picked him up he hugged me. The other day he pulled himself up to a sitting position from laying on his back. He is so sweet. Anyway, that's about it for now. I know not to much to tell but then that's why I haven't blogged...

A new post, finally....

Yeah, yeah I know, way past time for a new post. But seriously I haven't had time! Lame excuse I know... I have been babysitting little James for Tonya and Steele four days a week. Besides the fact that I haven't really felt like blogging. I know I'm bad. Let's see October hmmm..... Oh yes, at Thanksgiving we went down to South Carolina and saw Mama's family. We got in to Papa and Grandma Jane's late Wednesday evening. Thursday we spent with Aunt Kathy, Aunt Kim, Katie, Vanessa, Jacob, Carter, Emily, Hailey, and Addyson. Beau and Zach came in Friday morning. Then we had our official dinner Friday afternoon at Uncle Wendy's with my immediate family plus Beau, Uncle Wendy, Uncle Doug, Aunt Kim, Katie, and Papa. (Grandma Jane had to work that weekend.) After we had dinner and visited for a while, all of us young folks headed to Vanessa and Jacob's house. We played music and games and watched a movie and had a sleep-over. The little girls fell asleep as soon as the movie started but Carter made it through the whole thing. The next morning Mama and Daddy came over and Vanessa and I made breakfast for everyone. It was a morning of mishaps right Ness? lol Everything ended up good. The guys settled down and watched football while we slaved away in the kitchen... After a while Carter and Emily wanted to show us their fort so Beau, Micah, Bethany, Carter, Emily, Hailey, and I went on a hike. We found the fort and the kids climbed around in it for a while then Carter took off in another direction so we all followed him. Bad idea... Carter got us lost! Beau managed to get us back to the house again after about an hour. Very interesting. Especially if you have three year old who decides she needs to use the bathroom but refuses to use it in the bushes because "That's just disgusting" and there's too many germs. She cracks me up! Meanwhile back at the house Mama and Ness were making a birthday cake for Zach. We hung around there and visited all day. Then headed back to Papa and Grandma Jane's to spend the night. Sunday morning we went and saw all our good friends at the Midway church. After church we had a birthday party for Zach with all the young people and Papa and Uncle Doug. That afternoon they were having a singing so we stuck around and enjoyed the music and were drafted to sing two or three songs. No church that night so we headed back to Papa and Grandma Jane's. Then we took Beau next door to meet my cousin Brad and his wife Kayla. The next day was Monday which meant Beau and Zach had to head back to Florida and we had to go home to Virginia. But not before we met Aunt Kathy and Addyson for lunch and then went over to see Aunt Terry and Uncle Ted. Things kept coming up and it was about four before we actually headed out our different ways. We finally got home and got back into our routine and it seemed like Christmas rushed up on us. We got snow the Friday before Christmas and it knocked out our Christmas play. The snow however did stick around until after Christmas so we had our first white Christmas in years. Beau and Zach came in on the 23rd of December. That evening, Mama, Daddy, Pappaw, Mammaw, Beau, and I went on a triple date to Applebee's in Farmville. Then next morning Beau had to head up to Salem to his grandparent's house. He came back Monday for our Baldwin family Christmas. Then he had to head out Tuesday back to his grandparent's again. He came back New Year's Eve and brought Nate with him and stayed through Saturday morning when he had to head back to Florida. We had a good visit. New Year's Eve we had a watch night service at church and Beau and Nate were able to come to that. Oh yes, Christmas presents. In our family all of us kids draw names. In other words we only have to have a Christmas gift for one sibling much cheaper than having to get one for all four. I had Zachary's name and got him the Greater Vision Live at Oaktree DVD. Micah had my name and got me a bunch of dish towels and potholders for my hope chest. All of us kids went together and got Dad a new Large print Thompson Chain Bible with his name engraved on it. We got Mama a couple of stainless steel muffin tins. Mama and Daddy got me a stainless steel spring-form pan and a stainless steel muffin tin pan. Beau got me a really nice scented candle. It is really cute it has a little lamp shade! I got him a casual shirt and a tie to match a dress shirt I had given him for his birthday. I also gave him a framed picture of him and I that he had requested and a wallet size picture of me. (also requested) The first Sunday in January a baby dedication was held at our local church for James. Brother Jimmy and Sister Vicki and all of their kids including Kaylan and Nate and their little one were there as well as Brother and Sister Creech and Sister Vicki's brother and niece. That evening we had our Christmas program. (better late than never...) Since then nothing much has happened except James is getting bigger and learning new things every day! He is rolling over and can sit up with a little support. He is being spoon fed now as well as bottle fed. It's exciting to see him grow. He is sleeping less and playing more and he can recognize some people's faces and voices. He recognizes his Mommy and his Daddy and Mama and Daddy and all of my brother's and Beth and I. He has started giving hugs! He's given his Mommy one and my Mama one and me one. He is so adorable! I know, I know, I need to post pictures of him but I don't have the time tonight. He is roughly five and a half months old and a cutie pie! Well that's about it for now. Congratulations if you made it all the way to the bottom!

The Secret is Out

Ok well now that my title got everyone's attention... Since the grapevine is still working quite well, not to mention Facebook posts by excited siblings I assume you all already know. But here it is anyway, Beau Cox and I are courting! Now I can just see the curious looks on ya'lls faces already. Courting? What does that mean? How to explain.... In Josh's words,"Definition of courtship:The process of a man's pursuing a lady to attempt to gain her affection,and has matrimony as its goal." That was quoted directly from his Facebook page. In other words my father has given him permission to win my heart with the intention of marrying me. Understand? So now you are saying well how does that differ from dating? Dating focuses on your needs and desires and on having a good time right now. Courtship looks to the future and says is this the person God has for me? Is this God's will for my life? Courtship includes friends and family. Dating has two young people spending large amounts of unsupervised time together. In courtship, however, the young people are supervised by their family and friends which protects them from making mistakes they would regret their whole lives. In dating there is not that safeguard. In courtship you keep your hands to yourself realizing that touching stirs up desires and emotions that you cannot rightly fulfill. With dating there is no such commitment and young people go around doing things that they will regret if they do not marry that person and sometimes regret even if they do marry them, hugging and kissing and hand-holding. Beau and I have both made a commitment to save kissing for marriage. Hand holding should be saved at least until you are engaged and you should have a short engagement. The dating spirit says I like this guy and I want to be with him right now then when you get tired of them you "break up" and go find another one. I personally believe this is one of the major contributors to the divorce and remarriage evil today. Courting encourages the "one man for one woman" principle that God has planned and helps build strong marriages. These are just a few of the differences between dating and courtship. If you have any questions I'll be happy to try and answer them. Or you can find all sorts of info online. Courtship has made quite a comeback among christian homeschooling families. But I'm sure that you guys are more interested in details other than the differences between dating and courtship. Evidently, Beau has liked me and has been praying a lot about me for quite a while. I was completely oblivious. He was my best-friend. I honestly didn't have a clue. Anyway he talked to his parents extensively and told them that he had prayed about me and felt like God was telling him I was the one for him. They prayed about it and made him wait a while. Then in June when we were down there for Beau's graduation and my cousins wedding they talked to my parents. After both sets of parents talked about it they decided to make him wait a while longer. Meanwhile they were all fasting and praying about it. Then Dad told them he felt good about it. He had been restricted to talking to me only once a week. With Dad's permission this restriction was removed but he was still told to wait. Finally, in October a few days after my birthday, after more talk between the parents and talks between my dad and Beau, my parents talked to me. I was surprised! My parents made it clear that they weren't trying to force me into it the decision was mine and there was no pressure. I didn't need pressure or encouragement I said, yes! You see I had asked the Lord to put me to sleep until it was His time. Around Thanksgiving time last year I discovered that I liked Beau. (Thanks Jacob!) I didn't like that at all!!! I prayed and prayed about it. "Lord I don't like having these feelings, puh-lease puh-lease take them away!!!!" That didn't help any. Then it was, "Lord I want to be in your will so if this isn't the guy you have for me then please help me out here!" I wanted God's will and wanted to do the right thing. I didn't want to lose Beau's friendship. So I just spent a lot of time praying and fasting for God's will and anytime you saw me on my face since then that's probably what I was praying about. So when Mama and Daddy talked to me I said yes! And God is so good to us! Isn't He? I love God so much! Not just because of Beau either! So that's been more than two weeks ago. At Thanksgiving this year we are going down to South Carolina to my Papa and Grandma Jane's house. Beau is going to his Mom's parent's for one day then Friday he's coming to my grandparent's house and staying till Monday! Mama told Papa that we're all going courting and he laughed. Anyway that's my secret that's out. See I told you you'd probably already heard about it. I mean that was one of the major topics people talked to me about this weekend. This was also an explanation for any of ya'll who have seen the relationship status change on Facebook. That's about it. I am expecting comments!

A short one

I'm blogging again... Well there's not really much to say. I've been pretty busy. I got my Driver's License finally. Mom and I had our Birthdays. I turned twenty. Bethany woke me up about six to say, "Happy Birthday Old Lady." The nerve! To wake someone up when they have permission to sleep in only to call them "old Lady" is awful mean. Lol Bethany likes to tease me about my age. She told me I'd never be young again. She even told me I was going to be an old maid. I'm only twenty! Mom didn't get married till she was thirty so I definitely am not an old maid! We had our Minister's Convention at the end of September. It was really good. The Lord moved and we were all blessed. I was still feeling pretty nasty then but I got prayed for at the Convention and felt a lot better. That stuff hangs on for a long time. We found out afterwards that we had all the symptoms of the Swine Flu. We didn't go to the doctor so it wasn't documented but according to all of our symptoms that's what it was. We are all a lot better now, thank the Lord. I missed a couple of church services because of it though. Before this stuff hit me I couldn't remember the last time I missed Church because I was sick. We love having Brother and Sister Anders in Farmville. Brother Anders is a good preacher and Sister Anders is really sweet. We love them both bunches. We are having a youth revival this weekend with Bro. Tim and Sis. Shannon Cox. Be in prayer for us that the Lord will bless us. I did something to my back this morning. Pinched a nerve or something. It's painful so everybody please pray for me! Ok I have to run. Goodbye!

I'm Back!!!

Ok I was given a not too subtle hint at the Assembly about needing to blog again so here I go. My summer was extremely busy. Camp was great. The Lord did a wonderful work in the young people. Sister Kim Taylor was our evangelist and she brought Josh Yohe, Chelsei Henderson, and Morgan and Chandler Fox along as a ministry team with her. Everything came together for the gleaner class. Johnna did an awesome job as the teacher and the kids seemed to genuinely enjoy the things I got together to supplement the lessons with. It seemed so strange this year. All of the kids I'd grown up going to camp with were all either working camp or unable to be there because of a job. I guess we are all growing up. I'm starting to feel old. Not really old just I remember thinking people my age were old when I was little. I'm going to be 20. Twenty!!! I used to think life ended when you turned 20 now I'm pretty sure it doesn't but I can't believe how fast life flies by. I came home from camp and by the end of the next week I headed down to South Carolina. I helped Vanessa and Jacob out with their 4 kids for about 2-3 weeks. They were cleaning some apartments in Clemson. It was the turn around season when the apartments are all cleaned and painted and any problems taken care of. So I took care of Carter(8), Emily(5), Hailey(3), and Addyson(8 months). This was basically from the time they left early early in the morning till whenever they came in that night usually around 1-2 in the morning. I learned how to handle a baby and catch a nap and get work done while the baby slept. It didn't take long to figure out that's the only way anything gets done when there's a baby in the house. I did most of the straightening up after I got all the kids down for the night. Although I will freely admit that I was not able to keep the house nearly as clean as I did last November before Addyson was born! It's unbelievable how much a baby changes things. Well I came back home and was there a couple weeks then came Assembly. Beau was unable to come this year because of Fire School. That was really strange. We really missed him a lot. I was very busy this year during the assembly. Sister Wantulock asked us to be in charge of the ushering for Children's assembly again and she also asked our family to do a message for Children's Assembly one day. So that took up every afternoon session and the morning session the day we had to do the message. Then I was Registrar this year and was on duty two other morning sessions this Assembly. Lunch breaks are always busy between choir practice and workers meetings for Children's Assembly and the Mission Luncheon. Then to top it all off dad and Zach were sick. Then the Cox's got sick and Micah, Bethany, and I started coming down with whatever Josh had. So dad and Josh didn't make it to the assembly several sessions. Then we all skipped Saturday morning session and slept in because we were all so worn out. Then the choir had to sing Friday night and Saturday night. Friday night Brother Brad drafted us to help with the baptismal service. Bethany, Micah, and I provided reverent music behind the stage where everyone who was getting baptized had to wait at. Zach and Daniel cleaned up all the water and Mom and Dad helped people in and out of the baptistery. Then we had to sing on the preliminary music program one morning and Brother Horton asked Mom to lead song service one night and she asked him if she could get me to help her and he told her yes. So then the first night(no pressure there) Mom, Bethany, and I ended up leading song service. Oh yeah I forgot that Bethany, Sissy Muse, Esther Orellana, and I were all in the Parade of Nations this year too. Then Mom's friend Dodie who she was roommates with years ago before she married Dad was able to come this year and stayed with us. Or rather she shared a room with Esther and her mother who stayed at the same hotel as the Cox's the Muses', and us. There was a boys room and Micah stayed there every night with the Cox boys. The Assembly was pretty good I guess but I didn't feel that great and was kind of out of it. I did enjoy all the Cox and Muse kids. I will enjoy listening to all the messages again now that I can enjoy them. I am still not feeling that great. I have been running a fever and generally feeling pretty yucky ever since I got home. I'm feeling a lot better but I still feel pretty yucky. I'm congested and that always makes you feel pretty nasty. I think my fever has broken though so that's good. Zach went home with the Cox's he got a job with Brother Deel and will be staying down there at least through December. Anyway I think that's about it for now. Is that okay Sister Tammy... Whoops I shouldn't have given you away ;-p Love ya!

Florida and Convention

Nate, Micah, and Lil' Aaron
Beau with Micah in the firemans hold
Elijah and Abby
Beau playing with Briana Kay
Jordo, Francie, Nate, Brittany, and Bethany at Washington Oaks
Me and Briana Kay
Giddy
Nate and I playing Skip-Bo
Beau and Daddy tickling each other
Mom, Dad, Beau, and I playing Skip-Bo
Lil' Aaron and Briana Kay
Bethany, Francie, and Brittany at the Muses house
Joshy and Abby sleeping
Beau and Abby at the firestation
Francie at the beach
Beau and Francie
Daniel with our favorite fire fighter
Beau and me
Abby and Caleb
Ruthie and Beau
Noah and Beau
Beau in his firefighter gear with Nate
Zach, Josh, Beau, and I at the graduation
Zach and Beau
Sister Betsy and Brother Jerry
Dad and Mom
Beau and Abby at the beach

Francie, Ruthie, and I at the beach
some of the kids at the beach
Beau in his cap and gown
Well I think the pics do most of the talking for Florida. We had a great time. We went to the beach four times. We go swimming in our clothes at a real deserted beach. It's tons of fun. The first weekend was Beau's graduation and they wanted Zach to participate too. The first week Beau and I spent a lot of time working on a slideshow for his graduation. It takes a lot of time. Beau took a lot of time off work while we were there he only worked a couple of days. The second week we were in Church every night until Friday. Monday we went up and saw Sister Browning and had a home service with her. Then Tuesday we went down and saw Brother and Sister Roberts. We went to the beach on our way home. Then Wednesday of course was nursing home service and church. That weekend was my cousins wedding down in Miami. We went down and saw the Muses on Thursday and stayed for their church service. Then the Cox's and our boys and Lil' Aaron headed back to Palatka and Mom, Dad, Beth, and I spent the night at the Muses house. Friday morning we headed down to Miami in time for the wedding Friday night. Saturday we headed back to Palatka. We got home in time for Beth and I to get our stuff together and go to the beach again. Beau had gone to St. Augustine to take his Agility test for fire school. He passed with flying colors. They made him a squad leader!!! He got back just as we were pulling out so he grabbed a change of clothes and jumped in too. We had a great time. Monday we went to the beach again this time the Muses met us there and Sister Deel rode along. Unfortunately Danielle was not back from her sisters house yet. That night Sister Deel came over when Cathy and Danielle got in so we finally got to meet Cathy. She is beyond crazy!!!! We played our favorite "lying" game, Balderdash! It was hilarious. I'll never forget Gazump.... Anyway Tuesday we headed home to Virginia. We finally arrived early Wednesday morning. Then we rushed around and got ready for Regional Convention which started Friday. The convention was really good. The Lord really moved and worked. Pappaw officially retired from pastoring this year at the convention. He will be 81 in a couple months and he just can't physically do it anymore. Brother Jerry Anders was appointed as our new pastor yay!! I'm glad we get Brother Anders. I love him and Sister Anders so much they are really sweet. When Farmville came into The Church of God from the former organization Brother Anders is the one who took us all in. Anyway Eric Hogan was appointed as the regional BTI booster and Brother Tony was appointed as regional Evangelism coordinator. There were quite a few changes this year but those are the ones I remember off the top of my head. Oh Brother Harvey and Sister Cindy Anders are moving to TN to pastor a church down there. :-( I wish those TN people would stop stealing our preachers! ;-p Anyway camp is coming up next. In 9 days as Bethany says. I've got to get ready... Anyway that's it for now. Hope the number of pics hide a multitude of sins as far as how long it's been since I last blogged... ;-p LOL Bye!

It's Me Again

Hey Everyone I'm posting again! I know, I know but the only thing I've really been able to do lately is check my e-mail and my facebook. No I'm not a traitor. I do like blogs better than Facebook but on Facebook you can quickly see what everyone is doing. The reason I haven't been able to get on here lately is because we've been working on stuff for Zach's graduation on the computer. On the rare occasion the computer is free, there are 4 people in front of me. When I do get on I only have time to check e-mail because 4 other people are clamoring for me to get off so they can get on... Last week I took the GED test and passed it with flying colors. Thank the Lord for that. I was really nervous. According to my test results I scored in the top 1 percent of highschool graduates. Yahoo! Mammaw and Pappaw had their 60th wedding anniversary last week. We surprised Mammaw at Applebees. Everyone went and snuck up on her and surprised her. She didn't know we were all coming she thought it was just her and Pappaw. She was very happy. We safely got home from our second wedding of the year. I helped my cousin with the last minute catering stuff and the set up and tear down it was a lot of work!! It was fun too. You don't realize how much work goes into a reception until you're involved in doing one. Today was the Crewe homecoming. Beth, Eliza, Daniel, Grace, and I went and looked atall the booths and the soapbox derby and all that good stuff. We ate lunch down there too. It is really warm today so now we are all worn out. I know I'm boring and rambling today I'm just tired and my brain doesn't want to think. It's so warm all you really feel like doing is taking a nap. Zach's graduation is May 30th. He is going to be participating with the Central Virginia Homeschoolers graduation. Katlin Horton is also participating. All the invitations will be sent out by Tuesday hopefully. We are waiting on his senior pics to get back from the lab. We are heading down to Florida the 8th of June. Yay!! We get to visit with the Cox's!!!! My cousin is getting married in Miami the following weekend so we'll leave Palatka Thursday to be in time for the wedding Friday then head back to Palatka Saturday. The head home for VA sometime the following week to be home in time for Regional Convention Friday, Saturday, and Sunday! We are going to be busy! Then we have camp and another wedding! Just thinking about it makes me tired. Did I mention that I'm going to be the assistant teacher for the gleaner class at camp this year? And that North carolina and Va are combining our camps this year? We are going to have LOTS of people. Who knows I might end up with an assistant just to help keep order in class! Anyway we are all excited about everything that is going to happen. Anyway that's for now...I'm not in a writing mood...