Debbie's Blog

Long Time No Blog

I have been remiss in my posts on this blog. Life has been busy. I love this time of the year....but I think I say that about every season. As my good friend, Dot, said she loves to see all the new growth on the trees, etc. and the lovely flowers and the birds singing happily. And then she said even more than the beautiful show all around us, Easter should mean even more to us than Christmas with the assurance of Jesus' resurrection. Amen and Amen! I took a class titled "Teaching Children Effectively" to help me with Good News Club. I must say the class was amazing! I have spent 30 years teaching in the public schools so I felt like I had a "leg up" with some of the training. But, I have to say that class was HARD! We had to do 3 practicums in front of one teacher and a couple class members. I felt like I was on the hot seat....I can do those things in front of children but do not ask me to do it in front of adults. The teachers taught us how to use a Wordless book to share the Gospel message with children. I remember taking CPR training and being told that now that I was CPR certified I was responsible for helping out in an emergency situation. I feel the same way about the wordless book.....we have the information and we are responsible for sharing with as many people as possible. We learned how to teach a verse of Scripture for memorization and how to present a Bible lesson weaving the gospel message into the story. I think anyone who works in a Good News Club needs to take the training.
We finished the class on Tuesday and then on Friday I picked up Kirsten and Thomas for some time together while Cindy and Thomas went to Puerto Rico. We had so much fun! I took them to school and picked them up. When we got back to their home we played outside until almost dark. I just love spending time with them.
For anyone reading this post, I wish you a very blessed Holy Week and Easter Sunday!!

One Last Fling

Well, I just returned from one last trip to Boston before Melanie returns home. For anyone who does not know, Melanie is leaving Boston to pursue medical school. Her last day at work is today, Friday, July 13. She should be back in Greenville sometime around July 20. So, while I was in Boston we tried to cram in as much as we could. She attended a wedding in Hyannis on Friday evening so we spent the night at Cape Cod. Saturday we went to Plymouth Rock. I must say it was a bit of a disappointment. Kinda small.... We visited two beaches while I was there. We picked strawberries. Massachusetts has smaller strawberries than SC. I went to church with her. I think she will miss her church friends. Her pastor is awesome. On the Fourth of July we climbed 294 steps to the top of the Bunker Hill Monument. That was tough. Some genius thought it would be a good idea to number every 25th step. No way to get around knowing how many to go! I guess if I climbed 294 steps every day I would be skinny and have nice looking legs! We also got to see the USS Constitution go out....they take it out a few times a year. It was absolutely beautiful. But, the very best part of the trip was Fourth of July.....Boston Pops and fireworks.....patriotic music and fireworks. I must say my July 4th was wonderful!! Melanie and I took about 280 pictures of flags all around Boston. We decided we could publish a nice coffeetable book of flag pictures. Actually we started talking about coffeetable books a few years ago when we thought we should publish a book about how NOT to decorate for Christmas....things you shouldn't do. Then another idea came up for a book with pictures of steeples. Then another idea for a book of doors.

Vacation, Vacation

Coming back from vacation is soooooooo hard! Especially a wonderful, relaxing week at Isle of Palms with the "fam." I love my family and I love spending time with them. This was one of the best vacations even though Billy had to come back to Greenville for a few days of work. We had Uncle Billy with us for several days. I think he loves the beach as much as the rest of us. We even got him down to the beach in his bathing suit to spend a couple of hours each day. I have come to the conclusion that it is not a bad thing not to eat out every night at the beach. When Melanie and Colby were younger and we vacationed at the beach I thought we had to eat out every night. If you go out every night you have to come in from the ocean in enough time to shower and dress to get to a restaurant before the crowd and long waits. So, you miss the beautiful late afternoon - early evening of the beach. Last week low tide was around 6 in the evening. It was absolutely beautiful! Our God sure knows how to make an awesome late afternoon at the beach! As a matter of fact He made five just for us! You also miss out on sitting around the table and talking with the family after eating a delicious meal prepared by Thomas and Hilde. Thomas cooks a mean beef tenderloin. Due to the tropical depression from June 2 some beautiful shells washed up on shore. We came home with a bucket full. The younger Thomas got such a kick out of taking pictures with my camera. He took pictures of everything he could find....even seashells. He would tell everything to say, "cheese!" Kirsten wanted to stay in the ocean and ride the waves. Matthew is just Matthew.....he hasn't changed a bit. We helped Matthew celebrate his 10th birthday...double digits....hope he is looking into a retirement plan (hehe)! He still has a great sense of humor. He is fun to have around. I was so glad to see so much of Samantha and Mandy. It has been a long time since we have had them for several days. We really missed those of our family who couldn't be with us....Joe, Christina and others.

Time Flies

I can't believe I have not posted anything since Thanksgiving. So much has happened since then! Christmas came and went. We had a party for Ashley and Rhett ... that was a blast! It was so much fun having family celebrate with Ashley and Rhett. I enjoyed meeting Rhett's grandparents, Jo and Allan. They are wonderful people. Then the first three months of the new year flew by. I think doing renovations on the lake house made the months go by very fast....so much to do and so little time. Melanie and Billy had a birthday. Then Kirsten had a birthday .... big "5". Colby celebrated his 25th the day after he finished exams. The highlight of my spring was going to a Beth Moore Live event in Columbia. She can certainly convict a person! She has such a heart for the Lord and such a passion to spread the word. Now here it is May 7 and we just got back from Ashley and Rhett's wedding. What a beautiful way to start a marriage.....the wedding was touching and the reception was fun. I could post many pictures of this first quarter of 2007 but my favorite is our precious Bailey. Enjoy her picture!

Thanksgiving

Well, another successful Thanksgiving is in the history books. We had a blast fellowshipping and eating with about 22 family and friends. God is good!! Even the ribbing about the Clemson/South Carolina game was good. All in fun, right Terri? Do you know what mass confusion is? Two dogs only a year old - Bailey and Maggie, and four children under the age of twelve - Christina, Matthew, Kirsten and Thomas. I don't think I have ever played Duck, Duck, Goose when I have laughed so hard. Who was the chubby duck?

To Blog or Not To Blog

Well, Melanie has done a great job with my blog. I am very impressed. I think this would be fun if I could keep up with adding some wise thoughts every now and then but anyone who knows me knows I'm a blonde so wise thoughts don't come too often. Melanie gave me a digital camera for Christmas last year and I love it! I take lots of pictures of the dog. But, I never print them. I download them to the computer so I can email them and then I download them to my external hard drive. This is a great venue for my works of art (as you can see from the ones posted!) Just to whet your appetite I will have to add some of Bailey and Maggie's birthday cake.