Three G's! GA bound, Gutters & God and your Bod!

I've already e-mailed several of you about Ashley's exciting news but for those who haven't heard, Ashley is going to be a Georgia Bulldog in the fall! Ashley will graduate with HONORS with her Associates Degree in Math Education June 14th.

We are hoping to get signed up for the June 20th orientation at UGA. She is so-o-o-o excited.

Rob purchased a home and is working on getting it fixed up to move in. In the mean time he asked if he could move back home for a couple of months while he gets it fixed up. He's also been helping us get some much needed work done on our home while he is here. He and Wayne pulled off some rotten gutters the other day. He certainly has youth and strength that Wayne and I are now lacking! He has been, as always, a godsend.

He's also helped straighten the garage, get all of the pine straw off the roof of the pool house and clean those gutters. He is pretty amazing...he works full time, works out at the gym at least 3 times a week, has his own business buying and fixing up houses, works on those houses on the weekends AND somehow finds time to help us, spend time with the family and his sweet girlfriend. They have both been attending church with us and we have really enjoyed them being there.

We've had some awesome series of messages at church lately. Our last series was amazing. Joe talked about the many questions we have about God and about life for God. He made it clear that no matter how long we have been believers we will probably always have questions and it's okay! It was clear that though we have questions we can still walk in a wonderful relationship with christ. I love how Joe can make his messages so relevant to our everyday life.

Our latest series started today and it is called, "God and your bod".

This first message of the series focused on extremes. Joe asked the question,

"Are you a worshipper or a neglector?"

A worshipper could be someone who is obsessed with going to the gym and a healthfood fanatic where a neglector is an issue is someone who never exercises and eats with no regard to what is healthy. A worshipper can also be someone who worships clothes and is obsessed on how they look. Both of these extremes are issues of self-centeredness and affect the relationships in our lives. It is better to be balanced or more accurately perspective, GOD'S PERSPECTIVE. We learned that the bible talks a LOT about our body. We talked some about fitness and how we are instructed to treat our body as a temple and take care of it but he also talked about how our life is not our own. The creation (us) is owned by the creator (God) and since we are all created by God, we are His. It sounds like a great series and I can't wait until next week to see what else God has to say through Joe.

I'm going to set my goals this week for our 6 week challenge to get closer to God's perspective and will share that next time.

Hugs ~ Kim

Still playing catch-up!

I'm trying to remember all that's happened in the last month. Let's see...we all (family) went to the Braves game on September 22nd and had a great time.

I decorated for fall...

I don't really do Halloween decorating, although we do love to have all of the neighborhood kids come over for candy.

Jody and I attended our nephew's wedding in N.C. earlier this month.

Aren't the falls beautiful!

Sheri & Logan

My MIL & SIL (mother of the groom) by the falls.

Yes, Jody did attend. She stayed in the car but she did go to the wedding and reception and everywhere else we went. She was a GREAT doggie!

I just had to take a picture of the One Stroke mailbox by the chapel. After the reception, my MIL, Jody and I went to Black Mountain Veteran Cemetery to visit my FIL's grave. Is that an incredible view or what????? The leaves were just starting to change when we were there.

I bet it is absolutely gorgeous now! Look what I found when I went into my MIL's bathroom. She has a Dewberry Designs One Stroke shower curtain and didn't even know it!!! :o) Yes, I guess I've got the fever.

I was tagged by Sandy several weeks ago to post 7 things that you might not know about me and I'm FINALLY getting around to it. Here goes...

1) I LOVE ANIMALS...okay, okay, EVERYONE knows that one...I grew up in Miami and my Mom worked for the Miami Dolphin franchise so we had season tickets during the 1972 super season of the Dolphins! (I'm not really a big football fan so I didn't appreciate it back then.)

2) I used to decorate cakes as a side business. I took classes when Wayne was in boot camp in 1977 and made cakes off and on until the mid-1990s when I got completely sick of it!

3) I was the only grandchild on my Dad's side of the family until I was 6 and on my Mom's side of the family until I was 12 years old!

4) Wayne and I went to Europe with a church group about a year before we were married. We bicycled over 500 miles through 5 different countries in 3 weeks! What wonderful memories!

5) My Mom and I saw Tom Jones in concert in the late sixties. We tried to get tickets to see Elvis but they were sold out. I have to say Tom was pretty dang cute himself!

6) Thanksgiving is one of my very FAVORITE holidays and I like LOTS of family and friends to share our HUGE homemade dinner. If you don't have a place to go for Thanksgiving, come on over . . . the more the merrier.

7) I always include "XXOO" when I sign my e-mails and letters to my family.

I'll use my next update to show you all of the beautiful things I've been painting!

Hugs ~ Kim

Tough Day, Trees & Life's Journey

It was a tough day today. I attended 2 funerals. I've attended many funerals in my life but I don't believe I've ever attended 2 on the same day. A dear friend's mother passed away after a long battle with cancer. Our friend, her son, wrote a beautiful tribute to her and read it at the funeral. After he buried his Mama this morning, he attended Clay's funeral this afternoon. Both services were honorable tributes to these 2 wonderful people that we lost. Both families will be in our prayers for their healing and peace. ~

As promised here are pictures of our tree removal that took WAY longer than anticipated. I've been putting off posting these because I wanted to take a picture of the area after the trees were removed. However, the only time I can remember is late at night when it's dark! So, I just took a couple and you'll have to use your imagination.

This is what it looked like, from 2 different angles, before the 8 trees were removed. (The 9th tree is on the other side of the yard.)

Here is one of the trees that was already topped and I snapped the pic just as it was starting to fall.

To give you an idea of how high up this guy is, look closely in this next picture to see if you can find him. We decided this is not a career we are going to try late in life! I think you have to be crazy to do this...or at least it helps!

W & B camped out in the front yard (out of harms way) to watch the trees come down. W is explaining something to B but I'm not sure he's paying attention.

Here are the after pics I took tonight. I tried to lighten them some so the quality isn't as good but I think you can see well enough. We have some work to do in the azalea bed...well W does because I am deathly allergic to poison ivy, oak, etc. and that bed is loaded with it.

W is so meticulous about his lawn. If you go back to the before picture it shows how beautiful the lawn was before we started. However, this is what it looks like now. You can even see the log marks where they were on the grass for so long. Once his hand heals I have no doubts that it'll look beautiful once again!

Well, we're off to the Freedom Concert tomorrow. I don't know who is more excited W or B!?! I hope to take lots of pictures and share with you when we return.

~

I know this is a pretty long post but I can't finish before saying we continue to be blessed by our church, Lifepoint. Our message on Sunday was about Life's Journey. Brother Joe encouraged us to go where God leads us. We think we have our lives all mapped out and planned but it's typically what we want and we miss tremendous blessings doing it our way. If we only trust more our journey would be GREAT!

Thank you all for your GREAT comments on my last post. It really inspires me when you leave comments. Thank you and I can't wait to share my pics from the Freedom Concert in a few days!