Aubrey and Lainey will make their grand arrival on Monday

Aubrey and Lainey will be arriving around 7:00 a.m. on Monday, June 1st. Because Lainey can't decide which way she ways to enter the world (head first or butt first) they will be delivered by C-Section. PLEASE keep Krisha and the girls in your prayers for a safe delivery, without any complications.

Also, please say a very special prayer for Dan. This will be a wonderful, yet scary time for him, as he will be talking Krisha through the surgery.

I will also have the honor of being in the delivery room as my two little angels greet the world!

Jim will have to leave for Texas Monday afternoon after getting to meet his granddaughters, so please keep him in your prayers as he travels back home.

Updates to follow........................

I have a WHAT on me???????

Eli is no longer a "city" dog. We discovered his first TICK this week. Needless to say, he has been scrubbed down, the sheets have been bleached, and the RV sanitized. Yes, it was only one tick, one very, very small tick.....but it was a TICK.

Because of his skin allergies we had taken him off of the topical medications for fleas and ticks. Up until now he was taking an oral form for flea prevention only. (FYI: Eli has never, ever had a flea on him either.) However, today I consulted with his doctor in Texas and thanks to Dr. Kimbrell in Fayette, Eli is now on tick prevention meds too.

He is adjusting well to the country life. He enjoys going outside each morning and seeing the squirrels and rabbits running around in our yard. However, when a deer jumped across the driveway, Eli was just sitting there, like, "Ok, that is a BIG rabbit".

He really, really, really misses his Daddy......and his Daddy really REALLY misses Eli! (Have I mentioned that all of my phone conversations with Jim start, "What is my boy doing?" or if Krisha and I are not at home he will say, "You need to get home and make sure Eli is alright.")

Krisha goes back to the doctor on Tuesday. Please continue to keep her and the girls in your prayers. We are hoping their arrival will be very, very soon!

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".)

A thought on our prayers.........

I was watching TV last night, listening to a woman give her testimony about being raped and trying to live life afterwards. She said that someone told her, "God doesn't come down to get us out of our situations, God comes down to live inside of us as we go through our situations." I know that I've been guilty of praying, "God, just get me out of this mess!". However, maybe I should have been saying, "God, please don't leave me while I'm in this mess, I need you!". It just made me stop and think about some things, and I wanted to share that with you.

Another saying that caught my attention lately was, "Remember, our blessings don't always come from where we are giving them." How many times do we expect instant gratification for what we do for others? Or so often we live in a "you scratch my back and I'll scratch yours" world. I wonder just how much bigger our blessings might be if we gave more and truly didn't expect anything in return.

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Jim will be taking Eli and I to Alabama this weekend to prepare for Aubrey and Lainey's arrival. Krisha is currently in the middle of Week 33, and the doctor thinks she could deliver by Week 36-37. The doctor has restricted her to cutting her work week in half now. Please keep her in your prayers as she has entered into those last miserable weeks of pregnancy!

Also, please keep our cousin, Blake Bobbitt in your prayers. She was the young lady who sustained a broken jaw by the debris of Carl Edward's car during the race at Talladega on Sunday. http://www.timesdaily.com/article/20090429/ARTICLES/904295015

Eli and I will do an update after getting to Alabama and settling in. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Happy Birthday to my brother..........

Happy Birthday, Wayne!!!

April 22nd is my brother's birthday! Some might think, "She made a mistake, Wayne is her brother-in-law." NO, Wayne is my brother!

Wayne has been in my life since I was a pre-teenager. He has been with me through some of the greatest, and most definitely the hardest times of my life.

One of the first Christmas gifts I received from him was a beautiful, white Bible with my name on the front. On the inside he had written me a note saying, "This book will keep you from sin, or sin will keep you from this book." On Jim's last birthday I gave him a new Bible. On the inside I wrote the same note to him. I must admit, through the years I have had several Bibles, but I've never forgotten what Wayne told me in that first one.

Other than my Daddy and Granddaddy Barrett, Wayne is one of the greatest men in my family. (And I don't think he minds taking a backseat to either of them.) When Daddy died in 1989, he stepped up to the plate and became the male role model our family needed. I know, without a doubt, that Daddy is very, very proud of the way Wayne helped Mother, Anita, Krisha, and me through those dark days and how he continues today to always be there for all of us.

I am so very thankful that Anita, Paige and Stefan have Wayne. I am also very thankful that Chloe has such a caring and loving Grandfather.

And, anyone who knows Wayne, knows he loves to have a great time....................

I love you, brother! Jim and Eli say HAPPY BIRTHDAY TOO!!!

(Did I mention he cooks the BEST steaks ever? Makes the BEST sweet pickles you will ever taste? Cooks the only fried fish that I will eat!)

April Happenings..........

Happenings in April that I haven't blogged about (but should have!):


April 12th was Dan and Krisha's one year anniversary! We still thank God daily for sending us such a wonderful son-in-law.

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April 12th was also Easter. We hope that everyone had a wonderful holiday with family and friends. Jim and I missed not getting to be with family, but had a nice three-day holiday together.

Below is a picture of Krisha and my Daddy on her first Easter! (If Aubrey and Lainey can wrap Jim around their little fingers just half as much as Daddy was Krisha's, they will never want for much!)

Our church sponors a wonderful program that is presented each Easter, "The Last Days of Christ," and this was our first year to attend and it was a true blessing! It takes you back in time as you enter through the city gates of Jerusalem. The area comes alive with more than 500 actors portraying some of the most dramatic scenes of the last days of Christ. There were Roman soldiers on horseback, as we walked down the city streets through the market place and viewed drama players reenacting the Last Supper, Christ before Pilate, Roman Centerions flogging Christ, Jesus carrying the Cross, the Crucifixion, and the Glorious Ascension of Jesus into Heaven. We saw Jesus ride in town on a donkey, a carpenter hueing the cross from a tree, Roman soldiers doing marching drills and practicing sword fighting in the streets, Jesus telling stories to children on a rock formation, a cave signifying the empty tomb, and a petting zoo for children. There were also scenes including a potter, chariot, brick making, water well, threshing floor, straw cart, olive oil press, and the judgment throne of God.

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April 13th was Dan's birthday. After the storms came through Bankston and left everyone without power for days, he is finally getting to enjoy one of his presents now, his Wii. He keeps saying that he can't wait for Jim to come back to Alabama so that they can play golf, bowling, and other "competitive" games on it! (I wonder if it has a game to see how fast you can change a diaper or get a bottle ready for a midnight feeding?)

I have been getting things ready for Alabama. I think that I have all of my stuff organized enough so that when Krisha calls saying "It's time for you to come on!" that I will be able to throw everything in the car and go!

Please continue to keep Aubrey, Lainey and Krisha in your prayers.

Reanna and Savanna turn 2

Today we traveled to Point Blank, Texas (which is on the lake, mid-way between Huntsville and Livingston....TEXAS, that is, not Alabama. We also have a Jasper, Texas nearby too. However, we are a long, long way down that yellow brick road from these towns in Alabama!)
We were there to help celebrate the second birthday of two very special little girls, Reanna and Savanna. It doesn't seem possible that they are already two years old.

Allan, (with a little help from "Uncle Jim" and a few others) boiled crawfish, shrimp, and sausages with potatoes and corn. Delicious!

We also have to give Darla credit for a wonderful peach cheesecake! Everyone went back for seconds (and some even thirds!).

We promised the girls that as soon as Aubrey and Lainey were big enough that we would plan a special play date together.

The hardest thing about leaving Texas will be that we will not be able to see these precious girls as often. THEY are the best thing about living in Texas!

Below is a new friend we met at the party, Mark. Mark is "from UP north"....a Yankee. He was visiting to get away from the 20+ inches of snow! He enjoyed eating his lunch in "the good ole Southern sun!" (He also mentioned several imaginary friends surrounding him, but we didn't see them!)