To Infinity and Beyond

We never know what sort of animal will take a liking to our house. Today it was a raccoon! Dad noticed Peaches acting a little strange when she came out of the garage so he went in to investigate but found nothing. Shortly thereafter a coon runs out, into the yard and up a tree! The evidence seemed to show it was rabid and wanting to keep the domesticated animal (e.g. Peaches) safe Dad 'helped' it down the tree.

In the tree...

Falling down...

On the Ground....

Upside down!

Lessons

Since taking a knitting class I have been wanting to learn more crafty things, sewing was one of them. So....mama has been my willing and VERY patient teacher. (Thanks Mama!) In our sewing lessons we are making a 12x12 square. Also,last week I hemmed my FIRST pair of pants. It only took me about an hour a leg and it was a good thing they were navy and not khaki. :)
Here is my half finished square...

Hoof Prints

These creatures seem to be a resident at our house, Here they are searching for food and eating every edible green plant in sight (or in this case what isn't covered in snow).

Full Joy

Carrie gave me a book entitled A Maiden in Waiting. It is compiled by Crystal Paine and contains various articles from single women about relying entirely on God, contentment and becoming a virtuous maiden. I am not much of a 'poem person' but this was one I could actually interpret. It was written by W.P. Balfern and is entitled Full Joy:

O Sovereign Lord, They Kingly Words
Bring wonderous love to view;
And wouldest Thou have our hearts like Thine,
As full of love, and true?

We ask like children in the dark,
We scarce know what we say;
To us the joy Thou wouldest impart
Seems rightly far away.

We view it as a distant sun,
Whose beams just reach us here;
Forgetting all is near to faith,
While Thou are ever near.

We comme to life's own springing well,
A drop we tast and live;
And speak of this as though 'twere all
The Master has to give.

Lord, raise our fiath to higher joys,
To larger views of Thee;
Oh let us reach the hieghts and depths
Of Love's own mystery!

no Rhyme nor Reason

Some blogs I have viewed the authors update EVERY day! I COULD do this but as a courtesy to my viewers and my tendency to ramble I will spare you of this for the present time.
Carrie and RA came for a visit the other day. Dad took these pictures of our eventful afternoon.

Grandmama and RuthAnneCarrie and Will

RuthAnne sill enjoying the Christmas season with a singing card we received. Would anyone like to hear a rousing rendition of Silent Night?

Aunt Chrisa and RuthAnne

Mama, Carrie RA and I went shopping in Kingsport today. Old Navy was having a winter clearance and we braved the crowds to see what good deals we could find. The store was QUITE the mess but all four of us (RA included) found clothing. Here is one of my good deals.

Snakes, Tails and Puppy Dog Tails

Clara asked me while they were here for Christmas if I would knit Alena-beana a hat. I was off work for New Years and I took advantage of my time off. We tried it on a few random baby dolls we had but their heads were too little, so I had to use the banister instead (the advantage: during the photo shoot it was perfectly still).
Chrisa's purse I made her for Christmas At the beginning I thought this post was going to have a theme but then again what would be the point of that? (For those of you who like for things to be neat, orderly and uniform, I'm sorry) The fam and I went to Johnson City yesterday this was a cool display that was in the Christian Bookstore. So, I whipped out my phone and took a picture. It does look as if the employee who tackled this job ran out of time or was called away from his very important job but it still captures your attention if only for a mere glance.
I hope all of you had a WONDERFUL first day of 2008! HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

And I Present to You...

My Family....

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!
I hope each and every one of you had a VERY MERRY CHRISTMAS!!
After spending so much time anticipating the arriving company and readying the house as Clara lovingly reminds us "It's All Over Now".
For some 'real life' resumes tomorrow. In truth, I am glad that I do not have too many days off as I start to feel antsy and have to find something to busy myself with. The Soundara's will depart tomorrow for their "humble abode" and the house will be quite dull withouth Gabriel, Mya and Alena buzzing about.
We had a very joyful and merry Christmas! Clara told us this morning Gabe woke up aroud 3 am and flew out of the room and was back before she knew where he was. He wanted to see if anyone else was up! Upon this remark Clara informed him we were all still sleeping and he needed to get back in bed.
The Cornett's joined us for supper,the grandkids had a fun time playing with each other and the adrenaline of this morning was on empty at the finnish. After supper a few people remaked, "Is it really only 7:00?"
As of now I am sitting here typing, erasing and re-typing, a sure sign it is time to go to bed! G'night to all and to all a good night!!!

Christmas Cardigans

I thought this would be the perfect time to use one of those catchy titles that you can use around Christmas. It ended up all of us women in the house came down stairs and ready for church all wearing different colored cardigans. How could you not take a picture of such a happening? More SNOW!!! And do the weatherpersons really know what the weathers going to do? Haha! Well, lets say I am glad God's in control of the weather! The snow falling this afternoon reminded me of a snow globe. It was falling so beautifully! A camera does not quite capture the magic of the snow falling, nor the coldness, but snow is truly amazing despite the fact you can't capture it and feel the winter crystals in a picture!!

Christmas Time's Comin'!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS to you all!!
Chrisa is home on her Chrstmas break and she gave Mama and I a treat! Aren't these ornaments adorable? Too bad I don't have the capability of sound effects because these cute little guys are bells!! They added sugar and spice to my wee Christmas tree! Happy Holidays does not cover the meaning of the season and therefore I perfer MERRY CHRISTMAS. However, I saw these napkins at SVCC it's not every day you see napkins, at school that are seasonal! It made me smile to see them!!!

Ground Covering

Winter is a surprising season. Say hello to the first snow (that actually stuck)! It blanketed the earth for a few hours this moring! What a vivid reminder of God cleansing us as white as the snow!

Doesn't Peaches look excited about the snow?

Tukey help...

Some of you have said you can not see the Turkeys in the picture. They aren't VERY visible unless you have a really good eye, otherwise the picture looks like a bad shot of the woods. Here's another try...hope you can ACTUALLY see the turkeys this time!

Tree Tractors and Turkeys

MERRY CHRISTMAS and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! Here it is the picture of my picture hanging on the wall. (Not sure why the picture is dark maybe it was in the twilight zone...) I thought it added a nice touch to my display above my bed. "If that ain't country I don't know what is".

Living near the woods you never know what sort of visitors you might have. Today it was Turkeys. The picture (once again) doesn't do them justice. There were about 10 of them and looked as if they had be roaming around alot from their enormous size! They were not interested in having a photo shoot so they continued their roamings.

Christmas Tree

Because we haven't been decorating enough Christmas trees recently we decided to decorate ours today. (This season all sorts of songs come into your head) Gabriel and Mya had a wonderful time helping. They could only reach a short distance without being lifted up so the bottom of the tree was heavily decorated (as seen in the picture below!). It was fun watching them get exciated about being able to hang the ornaments all by themselves. Enjoy...:)

Mama's Christmas cactus heavy with blooms...

Thanksgiving Trip

Thanksgiving was a very enjoyable holiday. However, it was a very short trip. We left at 7:15 am on Wednesday morning and was back home early Friday morning about 12:30 am. Wednesday a group of Dad's extended family visited the grave of their 3rd great grandfather. Aunt Missy was also brave enough to let us help put up her Christmas tree. Thursday all but one of Dad's siblings came for a bountiful dinner. Cousins Phillip, Curt and Andrew

Do I need a caption on this one?

Dad and his brother Mark. Can you tell?

Knitting Creation

Thanks to a still very patient and encouraging teacher here is the latest knitting project! I coudln't get mama to model hers with me so she took the pictures instead. Now that winter has arrived this hat will be handy dandy for the cold weather! Brrr shivers!!!

God's Grace

Monday after class I was heading to work, over Kent’s Ridge. Due to an early morning rain the roads were still wet. About the 3rd or 4th curve, I about ran off the road and I must have somewhat panicked. Therefore the rest of the incident is quite a blur I do remember going over into the left lane while my foot was heavily on the break and hitting the guard rail. During this time I remember thinking I am going to die, my foot is on the break and I am not stopping. Thus I slide into the guard rail and thankfully I stopped. (As mama said it was my guardian angel that held my car) What is so special about me that God allowed me to stop within (it seemed) like inches from the edge? As you all know I can not answer this question but I do KNOW that I am very thankful and blessed to have been able to continue driving my car and that I was not injured. After I started breathing again I pull over to see the damage done to my car. The way I hit it sounded like it tore up the entire left side. When I get out (quite shakily) I see that not only can I open my door but the front bumper was ‘slightly’ scratched. Before arriving at work I call the parents and tell them what had happened. Thus dad and mom came down to see the damage done to my car. Dad also noticed the damaged done to the back end that I had not even noticed. Amazingly the headlight was not damaged and the front bumper was still attached. So to end this post I would like to say:
I am very thankful the way God watches over His own! Thankful that there was not a car coming the other way! Thankful I am not in control of my life and that I do not know what tomorrow holds! I am VERY thankful in many ways I can not even express!Also I would like to thank my wonderful parents who not even once fussed at me but jokingly said we could salvage parts of the red car!