ANOTHER Gift from God....................

Jim has been transferred by Temple-Inland to the Rome, Ga. plant! This is a gift from God to us, because it puts him only 2-1/2 hours away now!!!! He is staying on Weiss Lake in Cherokee County. It is nestled in the foothills of the southern Appalachian mountains.

Eli and I spent a few days with Jim recently, however it was very, very hot!!! So, we are excited about getting to visit again during the Fall Season. Everyone tells us it is SO beautiful there during the Fall.

2010 Neshoba County Fair

Riding around enjoying the Fair!

Visiting on the front porch

At the Petting Zoo

Marty Stuart wanted his picture made with Aubrey and Lainey!

The 2010 Choctaw Princess also wanted to pose with them!

It was a long, very hot day!

The new place that God has sent us to.........

If you are following my "Things I am Thankful for each day in November" you will notice one of them is for the new place that God has sent us to. It is something that we have been praying for, for a very long time........and I know without question that God is the person that lead us to this place.

I know that God is behind this, because we have had to wait a long time for it to happen. Just as in Ecclesiates 3:1 we had to wait until the season was right, and we had to trust him (Psalm 62:8) for it. Also, as Matthew 7:7 says Ask and it will be given you.

God has sent us to our new home...............in Alabama!

I have debated about posting this information since the final "closing" hasn't taken place. However I stand on Matthew 9:29, "According to your faith will it be done to you."

We have waited until our season, we have trusted him for it, we asked him for it and it has been given, and our faith will take us through the closing.

A Fair to Remember............

It is impossible to explain what attending the Neshoba County Fair is like, you just have to be there. Below are some pictures of our week.

Life back in Texas.............

Not a lot of updates to give since I came back "home" to Texas. I was in Alabama for two months with Krisha for the birth of Aubrey and Lainey. I loved every moment of being with the girls while I was there and I miss all three of them so badly. Here are a few pictures that Krisha has sent to us:
























I really miss getting my "wake-up" call from Krisha and the girls saying "Moma D, it's time to come play with us!"


However, we have been busy since returning to Texas.
Jim was transferred from the Temple-Inland plant where he was working to their plant in DeQuincy, La., which is an approximate round-trip for him each day of about 150 miles!
We took our house off the market! We just didn't think it was the right time to sell, especially since we would only be moving about 75 miles......to a very, very small town. We do feel good about when we decide to put it back on the market, because we did get some offers, but they were not worth us moving to DeQuincy! We do want to ask everyone to say a special prayer for Jim being on the road so much and being tired. I realize a lot of people have long commutes to work everyday, but it still isn't easy.

We didn't get to have Eli's annual Ribeye Steak birthday party while Eli and I were in Alabama, so we did that since returning home:



And the picture below is of Eli while we were in Alabama, he is watching Dan mow the grass....until he sees his own reflection in the window and starts barking at himself!






Now, we are getting ready to go to Arcadia, La. this weekend for Jim's niece, Chasteen's wedding. It will be the first time all of us have been together since Jim's mother died in December. So, we are all looking forward to this very special occasion and getting to spend some time together.
THEN......the following weekend is the beginning of the one week of the year that Jim lives for! The NESHOBA COUNTY FAIR! We are all so excited that this will be Aubrey and Lainey's first Fair! Popa Jim is so excited about getting to show them off and let everyone see them.
Their great aunt Judy (Jim's sister) has already sent the girls their Fair outfits, this is Aubrey modeling hers:








For those of you not familar with the Fair, there was an article in the July issue of Southern Living, http://www.southernliving.com/travel/south-central/neshoba-county-fair-mississippi-00400000049513/ and we also have a link to their site on the right.


The light blue cabin is Jim's families cabin.

James Spann welcomes me back to 'Bama!!!

Jim used to get so tired of my constantly saying, "I miss James Spann giving me the weather report!" when we were in Oklahoma and Texas. Even as we were driving home last weekend, we passed a billboard of James Spann and I commented, "Thank God I can get good weather reports now!"

OK........Thank you, James Spann for welcoming me back to Alabama with your wonderful, informative weather updates, but.......enough is enough! I enjoy watching you give the weather reports during news time, but I am getting just a little bit tired of seeing you break-in to my regularly scheduled programs to inform me of the severe thunderstorm warnings and tornado warnings in our area!

I have told everyone that I am a late sleeper. So, don't call me before 10:00 a.m. unless Krisha is in the car, ready to deliver. Yesterday morning, my phone rang at 6:30 a.m. Krisha was calling to inform me that we were under a severe thunderstorm warning. (Remember, I am currently living in an aluminium box, but a pretty one!) So, I get up, throw on my shorts so that Eli and I can head over to Krisha's house. The thunderstorm passes through and I go back to the Cabin (that's what we call the rv, the Cabin).

Then, a hour or so later, we are under another severe thunderstorm warning, the clouds looked very weird, and the wind really started to pick up, so I shout to Eli, "Head for the car!" We fought the wind to get back over to Krisha's house. It was scary. It wasn't confirmed if we actually had a tornado or straight line winds, but it caused damage!! (The same storm system did produce a tornado in Jasper)

Along with the storm taking down several trees and throwing outside furniture around the yard, it also took out our power........for many, many hours.

Of course, when I told Jim about our storm, his reply was, "That's nothing, I rode out Hurricane Ike!" Yes, he did. But, he also has stated that he will never ride out another one!

Eli and I miss Jim very, very, very, very much.

(The top picture is of my official "storm watcher".)

Arlington at Christmas

Rest easy, sleep well my brothers. Know the line has held, your job is done. Rest easy, sleep well. Others have taken up where you fell, the line has held. Peace, peace, and farewell...

These wreaths -- some 5,000 -- are donated by the Worcester Wreath Co. Of Harrington , Maine. The owner, Merrill Worcester, not only provides the wreaths, but covers the trucking expense as well. He's done this since 1992. A wonderful guy. Also, most years, groups of Maine school kids combine an educational trip to DC with this event to help out. Making this even more remarkable is the fact that Harrington is in one the poorest parts of the state.

(This was emailed to us by Dennis and Linda Hill, part of our extended family in South Carolina. This picture really tugs at heart strings. During this holiday season, when you see a soldier in uniform, stop and thank him/her for your freedom!)

Leaving there, to get to here....

We began our dance together in Southeast Oklahoma. We spent most of our time here working and going to nursing school, but we did have some great times at the lake in Broken Bow. We also got to play in the snow at least once a year!

Our next stop on our dance took us to Mobile, Alabama. (There is no place like home, there is no place like home!) Although this was only a temporary stop, it was a wonderful time because we got to be closer to our families and we made some lifelong friends while there.

Our current location is in Southeast Texas! Dad is now employed with Temple-Inland in Buna, Texas. Although Mommy has graduated nursing school she is currently staying at home with me. In October of 2006, I gave everyone a scare when I was diagnosed with hemorrhagic gastroenteritis. This is a bleeding disorder, mainly caused from stress. So now, Mommy feels her place is to be with me and see to it that I have as little stress as possible!