Life is Just a Bowl of Cherries

Merry Christmas!!

2011-12-20T23:24:00.001-06:00

Welcome to another Icenhour Christmas newsletter!

This year has been one where we've packed our suitcases, traveled a lot, and even used our passports!

In January Chris went to Ecuador for his job with The Gideons. We had several posts about it on here. If you would like to go back and re-read them click here and it will take you to them all. Here are some pictures to give you a feel of the trip.

He had a great time, even if it did mean a lot of long days. But there was a lot of good food...especially fresh fruit and veggies! The local Gideons there tried to convince him to stay and not come home. He said was a little tempted, but declined. When he got back he told me he wanted us to go back sometime because he left a piece of his heart with the people of Ecuador.

The spring and summer kept us busy too. We had adventures with friends in Gatlinburg, Susan had a girls weekend with friends in Charleston, and we had lots of adventures around Nashville.

Chris stays busy with his work at The Gideons. Last May he started having severe migraines on a daily basis. Unfortunately he hasn't gotten completely rid of them, but they have gotten better. He has been seeing the top neuroscientist in Nashville and has found acupuncture to be a big help. He likes to joke around about being a human pincushion.

Susan keeps busy at work for the Bishop with the United Methodist Church. This year she got a new boss, so it's kept her on her toes at the office. She still spends lots of her free time knitting! If you're facebook friends with her, then you'll see some of the pictures of her work.

Marty keeps up to his middle name of "mischief." That dog is crazy and he has some of the craziest ears ever. We can totally read his mind with his ears. Laid back means happy. Straight up means trouble. One up and one down means you better look out, he's gonna pounce on you! Here are some of our favorite pictures of him from the past year. I can't believe we've had him for almost six years now.

This fall we went to our youngest Italian sister, Sara's wedding....in Italy! We were so blessed to go with Chris' parents and be with our Italian "family" again. Last year the oldest Italian sister, Sonia, got married in the states and it was fun to go to another wedding! Here are a few pictures for you.

We had an amazing time. The wedding was beautiful, and so different from American weddings. We were at the wedding and reception from 10 am until 9 pm! And they partied into the wee hours of the night!

In November we spent a weekend with Susan's Mom in one of our favorite places, Gatlinburg. The leaves were absolutely beautiful! We always have a great time together....especially when a trip to the Pancake Pantry is on the agenda. Here are some pics from that weekend.

This year for Christmas we will be traveling to Bristol. We will be blessed to spend Christmas weekend with Chris' parents and my Mom all together. There is always a lot of laughter involved when our Mom's are together. Then for New Year's we will be traveling to Lynchburg. Susan's brother, Doug, and his family will be there to celebrate the holidays. We can't wait to see our three growing nieces! They moved to California this past February and we haven't seen them since they moved away. We *might* be a little excited about our time together with them.

That wraps up most of our year. It's been eventful, and busy as always.

We wish you and your family love, joy, and peace in the year to come.

Love,

Chris, Susan & Marty

Cookie Extravaganza!

2011-12-14T14:00:00.002-06:00

This weekend we are doing our annual cookie baking extravaganza with our friends and their two kids. You know we always go overboard with how many cookies we make! I don't know what this years total will be, but I'm hoping we finish before 10 pm this time.

Here are a few of the cookie recipes I'll be using.

Source: kraftrecipes.com via Susan on Pinterest

Stained Glass Cookies

Source: bettycrocker.com via Susan on Pinterest

Peanut Butter Blossoms

Source: bettycrocker.com via Susan on Pinterest

Snicker Doodles

Source: bettycrocker.com via Susan on Pinterest

Spumoni Chuck Cookies (a must bake)

Source: bettycrocker.com via Susan on Pinterest

Fiesta Fudge Cookies (one of my favorite cookies of all time)

Those are some of our favorites. What's yours??

They say it's your birthday!

2011-10-21T09:54:00.001-05:00

There's a birthday at our house today! Today is Chris' birthday. It's looking like we are gonna be celebrating his birthday all weekend long! We started last night with dinner out with a friend and the dinners go all the way until Sunday night.

In honor of his birthday today, I compiled some of my favorite "goofy" photos of him. We all know he can be quite the goofball. And that is one of the many things I love about him.

Happy birthday to my favorite cheeseball! Love you!

Italy Day 1

2011-10-20T15:03:00.000-05:00

Our youngest Italian sister Sara got Married on October 1 and asked Chris' parents, and us, to come to Italy to be a part of her wedding. How could we turn down the opportunity to see our littlest sister get married?!?

So we traveled with Chris' parents all the way over to Italy a few days before the wedding. We had such an incredible time!! It had been 16 years since we were last there. It was so nice to be with our Italian family again in their home. We were blessed to be with them last year when we went to Sonia's wedding in Rhode Island.

We took tons of pictures. So I will be breaking them down into daily posts so we can share some of the fun stories that goes a long with them.

Here we go:

Pig was ready to travel! Along with Jimmy and Anne.

A view of the Alps from our window seat. We'll be down there soon!

We made it! This is the view from our hotel balcony. The yellow and white building on the left is the town library.

This is the view from our room from the other direction. The tall clock tower is next to the church. And the clock chimes on the hour, every hour. All.night.long. It's a good thing I had earplugs with me.

Enjoing the warm weather on the porch of our hotel. Chris and his dad are with Stefano (our Italian brother) and Patrick (our American brother-in-law - he's married to Sonia).

That night we went to a nearby town and did a little shopping. Don't you just love the streets?!?

We stopped at a cafe to have a coffee. Chris and his Dad got hot chocolate. They quickly discovered that in Italy hot chocolate has a pudding consistency and you're supposed to dip biscoti into it, not drink it. Chris drank his. It was pretty yummy, just super thick.

We managed to find a little dessert while we were there too.

That's most of day one. I'll post more about day two soon!

Is this thing on?

2011-08-08T11:27:00.003-05:00

Soooooo, it's been a while since I posted on here. A long while!

I decided to change that. We keep up with so many of you via email and facebook, but I wanted to fire up the blog again so we can continue sharing with you what's going on with our life in Nashvegas.

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Thank you all for the support you gave Chris as he traveled with the Gideon team to Ecuador this past January. It really was a fabulous trip and they were able to minister to so many people there.

One of Chris' favorite things since the trip has been his continued communication between the other team members and with some of the amazing people he met in Ecuador. We continue to see how God is working in that area.

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Many of you know that Chris has been plagued with migraines and cluster headaches since May of last year. That's a long, long time.

This is a sample of the amount of medication he takes. this is just his lunch dose! He's currently taking 20 pills a day. Every day. Thank goodness for a decent insurance plan.

Thankfully he has recently seen a decrease in the pain level of his headaches. When the process started of seeing neurologists last year his pain levels were between 7-9 every day. They are now between 1-3 each day. That's great news!

A lot of the reduction in the pain levels has been from acupuncture. I know you're thinking, what?!? As many of you know, Chris has a HUGE fear of needles. The first time I mentioned acupuncture to him he shuddered and said no thanks.

But as time went on, and the headaches continued, he changed his mind. Thanks to a friend we were able to find a great acupuncture facility here in town.

When he started noticing the benefits of going each week, we decided to increase his appointments to twice a week. And you know what? He's feeling better!

He goes back to his awesome doctor next week and we're hoping we can start lowering some of the dosage levels of the medication he's on.

There are still lots of rough days for him and still lots of symptoms, but we're thankful the pain levels have gone down some.

And my public service announcement to you in behalf of all migraine sufferers:

please don't wear smelly fragrances!!!!!

Sorry for that, but fragrances are a *huge* migraine and headache trigger for him and so many others. This continues to be a struggle for him at work and at church because so many people wear really strong perfumes and fragrances. I've completely given up smelly lotions, candles, and anything scented in the house.

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I promise to be more faithful in blogging here. My goal is once a week. Let's hope I can keep that up.

I'm looking forward to keeping you in the loop on our life here!

Juan Diego

2011-01-26T11:05:00.000-06:00

The first school that two groups of Gideons went to was in Azogues. The students were taking exams that day but the headmaster was excited for us to be there. He asked us to wait and distribute the testaments when the children changed classes and took their recess.

A young boy named, Juan Diego, was one of children who received a testament that day. While I continued to distribute testaments to many of the other youth, Juan hovered around my distribution point. When Carolos, the translator, came by Juan ran over to the him and asked him a question.

Juan wanted to know where I was from. Carlos motioned Juan to come back over. I replied back in Spanish that I was from the United States and the state of Tennessee. Juan smiled and laughed. He ran off with his friends, happy that I spoke to him in Spanish.

A while later, after we had distributed testaments to almost the entire school, we went to the courtyard where the basketball and soccer areas were. We had more time to tell the youth to write their names in the front of the testaments and were able to share scriptures with them, including the plan of salvation. Many of them began to ask the Gideons to write their names in the front of the Bible under their own name.

There was a tug on my coat. It was Juan. He tugged on my coat and the translator relayed that he wanted me to sign my name in his testament below his. I sat down with him, wrote my name in his testament and took several photographs with him. Then I was able to show him the helps in the front and opened the testament to the plan of salvation in the back. I especially pointed out the section to show him that God loved him. I told Juan to be sure and read the back and pointed to the scriptures.

I pray that someday Juan will sign his name in the back.

Praise Report from Home

2011-01-25T10:13:00.001-06:00

But Jesus looked at them and said to them, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.” - Matthew 19:26 NKJV

Over 55,000 Scriptures placed in a week by a team of 10 International men and a local team of 30-40. These were mostly new Gideons and Auxiliary members, with the assistance of more experineced Gideons that drove about 3 hours each way to assist. A rough estimate of population coverage in the area was roughly one in eight, based on population estimates for Cuenca and Azogues.

Since I am a numbers guy, I played around with some of the statistics. If we could scale what happened this week this to the United States, roughly, we would:

1) Place approximately 37.5 million Scriptures a year in the US- (300 million / 8 );

2) Have Church Services in over half or more of our churches;

3) Our average church service offering would go to about $1,150;

4) We would have three men per church per year recommended to become Gideons;

5) All portions of the ministry would be covered with the manpower needed sacrifically, so that souls are reached for Jesus

5) If the Lord would bless us in this way, our Vision 2020 could become reality!

How many people could be reached for Christ if in a year we could scale what we did in one medium and one small city in a week will a little effort?

O Lord, we praise you and thank you for using us this past week for your Kingdom work. Please use your Word and your Spirit to draw more of the souls of Ecuador, and all those in contact with your Word today into that eternal relationship with you, through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.

For our friends, forgive us if we are a little tired and somewhat changed. We left a little of ourselves in Ecuador for the sake of Jesus, and it was an honor to serve.

Only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel - Philippians 1:27

We thank you for the prayers. May God receive all glory, honor, and praise!

Chris Icenhour - the scribe

The photos are so you can know the other nine people for whom you have prayed this past week, along with those whom we reached with the Good News. May the amigos in the pictures all come to know Jesus, if they have not already!

Mike S - Team Leader

Bill D

Bob R

Chuck J

Chris I

Doug M

Jimmy H

Leif B

Patrick N

Steve W

Friday's Update from Chris

2011-01-22T08:57:00.002-06:00

Buenes Noches!

This will be the last full report from the International Team in Ecuador. We may have a few more for you, but this is the last big day for us. And what a day it was!

A few ways you can understand just how powerful your prayers can be... Group 1 report - Today, we had a team go to a school outside of Azogues, a city about 15-20 miles from Cuenca. When the team went into the school, we prayed, pleaded our case, but were told no, the Catholic priest would not allow it. Outside the school, another Gideon found a torn up copy of a Testament someone had somehow brought up from either the city or from Cuenca. A personal witness with pleading for 15 minutes also was unsuccessful. But we prayed and went to the next school only about 300 meters down the road, equivelent to a high school. And praise the Lord, we were able to distribute in the classrooms! Keep those prayers coming!

A Jail Report from Group 2 - Four of us had the privilege of going to the prison in Azogues to meet with the inmates and pass out Testaments. We had one interpreter with us who was a non believer. There were 200 inmates and 96 came to take testaments and we were able to stand around in the quad and talk to them. Two of them could speak English and helped us talk to the other men. I was able to tell some of them that 3 of the 4 greatest men in the Bible has committed murder and God forgave them and was still able to use them in a mighty way.(Moses,David,Paul and Jesus) So whatever they had done, that God could forgive them and use them for His glory too. My non believing interpreter was saying all this to them and we had been witnessing to him all day. I believe the seed has been planted in him and God will water and bring him to know Jesus soon.

For our friends - know that the pictures we share are downsized to low resolution for email so everyone can receive on the list. Once we get back home, within a reasonable time, we will have the photos available to the team members for sharing at full resolution

Pray for the Philippines ISB Team. Reports are that they are doing very well on their distributions, but until each and every person knows the Lord Jesus Christ, we must be ever faithful to share the Word! Sldo Also for safe travels for the team back home, especially brother Leif Backman as he travels separately on a much longer journey.

Here are some pictures of the day, including the local Cuenca Gideons and Auxiliary members. While the ISB team was in Azogues today with the local camp, they continued to distribute today. The faithfulness of these people, and some of the ones that accompanied us to Azogues today is a reflection of Jesus that we do not see often. Tireless, selfless, dedicated to the Lord service, giving up sleep and personal gain to reach the lost. This, friends, is why we must strive to live our team's team verse, Philippians 1:27 - Only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel,

Jail = see the story above.

Classroom = Yes! These are either 5th or 6th graders! And they all received a copy of God's Word because of your prayers and faithful support!

Filipe = Our bus driver today. He started the day as just a bus driver, but just after this picture, based on conversations with 8-10 people today, and watching us work, he wanted follow Christ, and he signed his name in the back of the Testament! Praise the Lord!

CuencaGideons = The picture was after a wonderful Pastors Appreciation Banquet that was excellent. Please continue to pray for these men and women that have shown so much love to us this week, and worked so hard to share the Word of God to their city. If you knew them the way we do, you would see Jesus in them by how they serve Him. To God be the Glory! Great things He has Done!

Tomorrow we will be packing, traveling, and personally witnessing.

Chris and Jimmy
On behalf of the 2011 Ecuador ISB team

Thursday's Update from Chris

2011-01-20T13:05:00.002-06:00

This report will be different from most.

Here are some of the regular report facts.

Some have wondered, how many? We are around 50,000 so far.
How many placement locations - several hundred, not sure, but we could probably drive around the city now.
What are doing tomorrow? Cuenca Gideons will work on continued wrap-up and rescheduled placements all over the city. The International team will head to Azogues. meet with local and regional Gideons for Distributions in the town, and work our way back. We will also have a Pastors Appreciation Banquet tomorrow night.
Prayers - Sleep deprived Gideons and Auxiliary members in Ecuador who are pouring their hearts and souls into this Scripture Blitz; safe travels, open doors, good attendance at the banquet, a top quality banquets for the pastors, and for the salvation of souls from Scriptures distributed

Now, for pictures and the stories behind them...

Closed Door - First distribution this morning, we rush across town to what is found to be the largest private girl's school in Cuenca. The compound is gated and only cars and busses are allowed to enter. Notice in the picture you can see the beauty of the mountains, three school buses, the one in the far back is the size of a Greyhound bus, and the brand new brick walled compound. We prayed, asked for the headmistress, and tried to get an appointment to reschedule later with the Auxiliary. She was not it, and we were not allowed to do anything. This is why we ask for your prayers for open doors.

Dedicated - In this picture, you see Carlos and Franciso, both from Loja, about a three hour drive away. We met them at 7:30am to prepare for a 9:00am and 9:30am distribution for the Ecuadorian Army. This is the second day they have taken off of work to do so. After the 9 & 9:30 distributions were rescheduled until 2:30pm, they found other Gideons and worked on other distributions, then met us at this school at 12:00. We then found out we would have to do a sidewalk distribution at 1:45pm. This would make us late for the Army, since the base was an hour away, so they agreed to wait and take care of the school. We asked what they would do in the meantime - they said they would pray for the ministry, school, and youth receiving Testaments. We stayed as long as we could, prayed, and split into two teams to cover both distributions. They also worked on at least two other distributions, not finishing until after 6:15pm. Then they drove home. Three hours. And to do it again tomorrow, just like today and yesterday. Pray for strength, protection, and blessings on men that give like Christ gave - and yes, I see Jesus in them so much, it makes me glad to be a Gideon.

God's Plan - We get to the Army base, wait until the appointed time and go to the gate. We are announced, and expect to distribute 500 - 600 Testaments. We have been looking forward to this all day, since this part of the team has ZERO regular distributions, only Personal Workers Testaments so far. They promised that they would be in parade formation and we could talk to them. And we do! One squad - 44 total Testaments by the time we include all the guard shack men. All the others received theirs earlier in the day the commander at the gate declares. I am somewhat disappointed, as is the other Gideon, and the driver/translator as well. What we did not know is that based on God's perfect timing, one of our other teams DID give all but this squad their testaments earlier. If any of us had missed our timing by 5 minutes today, we would not have gotten them all. Praise the Lord! - All local Army soldiers have a copy of God's Word. And they received it with great joy!

Sharing the Word - We arrive at the Catholic University expecting only 300 in our distribution numbers. We take 455 with us. We are them met by Carlos and Francisco, so we have two Gideons per entrance/exit. A fifth Gideon arrives so we have time to take a few pictures. The school administration came out once to complain about the Testaments, but we were on a public sidewalk. At least two students were reading theirs for at least 10-15 minutes, and I talked to them as best I could. They did not want to talk, but at this point, pray for them that the Word they read will touch their souls and make a life changing difference in them in Jesus name! For all receiving Testaments, we ask for the Holy Spirit to work on them to until Jesus is Lord of their lives.

I hope that gives you a flavor of a single team's experience for a day and how you are ministering to us through your prayers to God.

Gloria a Dios!

Wednesday Update from Chris

2011-01-19T07:19:00.001-06:00

Hola!

Today was a big day for the Auxiliary of Ecuador. The focus of the day was on places the Auxiliary could distribute Scriptures. The men help to carry the Testaments and the Auxiliary went to the Hospitals, Clinics and All Girl Schools( which is an authorized distribution area in the International Outreach Ministry). It was a joy to help the ladies and to watch their smiling faces. They were so proud to be able to place these Scriptures. If the health of a Gideon Camp can be judged by the support of the Auxiliary, then the Ecuadorian camps are strong. I would say 75% of the men had their wives with them this week.

Well, it was bound to happen. Rain! We are grateful that the Lord held it off until very late in the day, so almost all distributions were completed before it started. And, it did not impact our ability to distribute Scriptures today. We got a little wet, kept the Scriptures dry, moved fast, and the students remained receptive.

It has been the third long day of starting at before sunrise, and completing well after the sun goes down. Many of the local Gideons and Auxiliary members continue to work to adjust the schedule for new or changed opportunities each evening, and sacrifice their personal time and some significant sleep to make sure that they give their best to the Lord. Please lift up special prayers for them, both Gideons and Auxiliary.

Pray for our new traffic lanes of distribution tomorrow, which include military and police distributions, in addition to wrapping up other areas that we have started during the week that needed rescheduling. We also have hotel/motel distributions to work in the area. It will be another busy day starting in just a few hours.

The fruit of the blitz is contained in a few more pictures... And yes, we have one that makes us remember that it is important that each person make that decision that will place them in the Lamb's Book of Life. Praise the Lord for the security guard that after a few minutes of discussion and questions, was able to decide that he needed Jesus as Lord and Savior!

Praise the Lord, and please touch the hearts of the people of Cuenca that do not know you yet with Your Word and by our testimony for Jesus Christ!

Tuesday's Update from Chris

2011-01-18T07:30:00.002-06:00

Greetings Prayer team!

If I recall correctly, most "letters from the road" usually state something like "we are starting to get settled in" or the like. I respectfully report that we are not settled in whatsoever, but are fully accelerating, led by the local Gideons, to place God's Word in multiple locations around this beautiful city. Our local brothers are tireless, in a way that could only come from the Lord, in their efforts to accomplish the goal of reaching each and every distribution point.

The prayers for holding the rain back have been successful. However, the sun at the equator is strong, so it has been warm, even for our local Gideons. But most importantly, this has also made it possible to do the distributions without getting wet or the Scriptures wet and have maximum numbers of youth outside. So, all in all, we are getting what we need to accomplish God's work!

Now for the real blessing - today we had numerous distributions where the middle and high school aged kids could not wait to get their hands on a Testament. We have also had several occasions for classroom distributions, and one chance for a lengthy testimony in class for the Lord Jesus since our last report. It is like the last 36 hours has had the youth have their spirits touched to have a Scripture. Keep praying!

Each of us has seen specific answers to prayers, great and small. I could write for hours on how God made a way for something to happen that only He could provide. Brief examples - A Christian mother at a school at the right time today, a college student returning to pick up a Scripture after saying no once, and several instances of open doors and time to share the Gospel to people as best we can using the Testaments, helps, and short plan of salvation.

We have some distributions with Auxiliary tomorrow, along with some more schools. We also plan to work the hospitals as well.

Rather than spend a lot of words, let a few pictures show you what is happening here, and continue to pray for the team, open doors, the souls receiving Scriptures and that those receiving Scriptures may read and accept Christ as their Savior. We remember the ISB team in the Philippines in prayer, and we remember you all in our prayers as well.

Gloria a Dios!

Monday's Update from Chris

2011-01-17T07:22:00.004-06:00

For many of us, it always amazes us how God answers prayers. We ask in our human ways, then our Heavenly Father, in infinite mercy and grace, answers in ways we just could never expect.

Yesterday, we asked for prayers for interpreters. God answered! He answered by having students translate in classrooms, people on the street offer to assist, and the Lord worked to help the entire team = local and travelling - to communicate without hardly any assigned interpreters. And no noticeable impact on the distributions occurred. That is how our mighty God works. Praise the Lord!

It was a long and blessed day. We had teams leave at 6:00am. As of 9:55pm, our last team came in from a scheduled distribution. We do not have the final official count for the day, but over 15,000 is known. Our focus for today and tomorrow, schools and colleges, have a variety of start times, so we are working to cover them all. Pray for the school distributions tomorrow, as well, that we have continued open doors and opportunity for witness.

Also, pray for the local Gideons. They were completing the distribution plan for tomorrow and working in the warehouse and putting them into transport vehicles for tomorrow while we met at 8:30pm tonight. They are always ready to go! Pray that they can get good rest and continue for tomorrow,

We will also work on placements in local hotels, which started today, This is an area that we request prayer.

There were many other instances of specific answers to general prayers, but keep them coming! The rain has held off, and a humble servant spirit continues to manifest itself among the team. It is all about reaching Cuenca with God's Word, in the name of Jesus.

We leave you with a picture that reflects just one of the many distributions during the day.

Sunday services update

2011-01-16T21:53:00.002-06:00

From Chris:

Today we had 11 services, where Gideons were allowed to share how God is using this ministry around the world with the local churches of Cuenca. These churches were so spirit filled as the people worshiped Jesus. We felt like we were at our local churches (except the language) and the Pastors are so passionate as they preach. So far the churches have had offerings of $659, and we believe more will come in this week.

With an approximate monthly income of $200- $333 per person, they have much less in financial resources to give. However, the heart to reach the lost is great!

Some extraordinary blessings...

Doug Maultsby's church pastor,after he spoke, got up and told everyone that he accepted Jesus by reading a Gideon placed Scripture! We found out later that Chuck Jansen's pastor at one service also was saved via a Gideon placed Scripture.

Pray for our interpreters - for equipping them and us with them the time we are here; for the wonderful work they did for us today at all the services to the glory of God; and that the barrier of language will not impede the distribution of the Word and salvation of many who come across them.
Monday begins a long day of distributions, but there is nothing but excitement and readiness among the team. We have about 30 separate school distributions scheduled all day, from early morning until after 8pm at night. The local Gideons worked hard today to make sure the distribution plan is in place. Praise God for this dedication! We ask for open doors all day and safe travel for all team members.

We have been blessed with no rain so far, and if the Lord could bless us with no rain during the sidewalk distributions, we would be grateful!

The front desk clerk, Cecilia, accepted a Testament, and accepted the Lord today! We close with a photo of a young lady who wanted to accept Jesus at one of our services today, so here is her picture signing her name in the back, while her name is written in the Lamb's Book of Life...

What a day!

He made it!

2011-01-16T14:45:00.000-06:00

Through the awesome technology of Skype, I was able to talk to Chris twice yesterday after he arrived in Ecuador. He made it there safe and sound, but tired! A red eye flight of 5 hours is definitely not enough time to rest much.

Thankfully yesterday was a rest day for them. And that's what he and everyone else did. They rested and got acquainted with the area and hotel they are in.

Chris said that it was very warm there and very green. The hotel is very nice and hopefully today he's more rested than he was yesteryday.

I wanted to share a picture and the email update I received from Mike, the team leader.

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Greetings from Cuenca,

The seed is ready to be planted in the days ahead. Below is a photo of the scriptures in the warehouse.
The team is in place, and praying for many open doors.
Thank you for lifting us up in your thoughts and prayers.

Ecuador Team Update

2011-01-14T10:03:00.002-06:00

The team leader, Mike, is already in Ecuador and sent this update today.

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Greetings from Cuenca Ecuador!
I arrived here yesterday morning and met with the local Gideons to review their plans for the coming week. They seem to have things in fairly good order, yet there are several loose ends to tie up. We will be working more on that today.

As of now, we will be making distributions at schools, universities, trade and technical schools on Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday and Thursday will be devoted to hospitals, clinics, hotels, fire, police and jails. On Friday, we will travel to the city of Azogues, about 30 min away, for distributions there.

The team is scheduled to arrive tomorrow morning from the states, and one from Sweden. There will be a church service for each on Sunday morning, in which we will have the opportunity to inform the congregations of the ministry.

Weather wise, it is just right. About 72 degrees and sunshine. We are trusting that this weather will hold up next week. The only hitch in the trip thus far is a lack of luggage. Somehow it did not follow me from Miami to Quito. Hopefully it will arrive today.

Thank you for your thoughts and prayers; they are much appreciated.

~Mike (Team Leader)

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Chris' bags are almost packed for his red eye flight tonight!

Ecuador

2011-01-13T11:01:00.001-06:00

With Chris' job at The Gideons headquarters he has never traveled. They don't let their numbers guys out of the office very often! But since he's been there over five years now (can you believe it) he's finally getting the opportunity to do what the Gideon ministry does best. Place Bibles in the hands of people overseas.

When you hear about The Gideons most people automatically think "hotel Bibles." That is great that they are known for that, but most people don't know that most of their ministry is done overseas. They have a HUGE international outreach.

Tomorrow Chris will get to be a part of that outreach. Tomorrow night he will get on a plane and meet 10 other men in the airport in Atlanta and they will travel to Ecuador together. The total number of people on the team is 12. The team leader is already there making sure things are all lined up and in order. And one team member is traveling from Sweden. Chris is so excited about the opportunity to travel overseas to represent The Gideons.

The team will be there from Saturday morning through the following Saturday. While they are there, they will go out to local hospitals, jails, schools, colleges, and government offices to hand out scriptures. I say scriptures because some will be full Bibles and others will be New Testaments.

Chris is in charge of communication for the team while they are traveling. He will send daily updates and photos. When I receive them I will put them on here to share with you.

Please keep Chris and the other members of the team in your prayers as they start their travels tomorrow. Thanks!!

PS - Here are a couple of pictures to share with you already.

Wordless Wednesday: Map

2011-01-12T09:35:00.002-06:00

Headaches

2011-01-11T08:15:00.004-06:00

Several of you have asked me about Chris' headaches so I thought I would post about them here on the blog.

In May Chris started noticing he was having frequent headaches. By the end of May the headaches were happening almost every day and the intensity was increasing. After a horrible bout of constant migraines, I finally convinced him to go to the doctor.

The doctor did an MRI which came back clear so he started Chris on some drugs that should help get things under control. The headaches continued in intensity and he was having them every single day, all day long. After giving the medicine a month to work, he went back to the doctor. The doctor immediately referred Chris to an amazing neurologist who used to be the head of neurology for Vanderbilt. Dr. Zho (pronoundced Zoo).

So Dr. Z ran lots of test on Chris and couldn't find a thing. Chris likes to joke that so far no one has told him he has a brain in his head. :) So after tests and lots of different pills Dr. Z decided that Chris is is just exceptional. But we knew that didn't we? Ha ha! Dr. Z was able to rule out that Chris doesn't have a brain tumor. He hasn't had a stroke. He doesn't have an aneurysm. And he doesn't have a vein problem in his brain. But he doesn't know what he has or why he is having such debilitating headaches.

The way Chris describes them is that if feels like he has a piece of rebar steel rod running through the top of his head and goes all the way out through his jaw. Some days it's like the rebar has been heated up red hot and other days it's like someone has an electrical current running through it.

So he sent Chris to another specialist. And this doctor is top notch! Dr. Brandes was on the clinical trial team for one of the most popular drugs taken to treat chronic migraines. She's a neuroscientist and runs an amazing headache clinic in Nashville. We were so blessed to be able to get an appointment for Chris with her!

After a four hour meeting with her in November, she decided that it didn't matter what was causing the headaches, she was determined to get rid of them!! So she started Chris on all kinds of medications. He currently takes about eight pills a day to try and keep the headaches at bay.

The good news is that it's finally starting to work. His pain level every single day used to be around 8 or 9 out of 10. Now he's down to around a 4. Which we are thankful for! He is having a lot of side effects from the medications right now too. I guess you can't have one without the other.

So now we continue to let the doctor tweak the medications and hope for the right combination to get his headaches gone!

We really do appreciate all of your love, support and prayers for him as he has gone through this. It's getting better and we have faith that the headaches will go away eventually!

And be sure to mark this blog or sign up to receive email updates. Chris' next big adventure is his mission trip with the Gideon's to Ecuador on Friday. I'll be keeping everyone posted on it via this blog.

Merry Christmas!

2010-12-20T18:05:00.009-06:00

This year for something different we decided to do our Christmas newsletter online! I hope you'll enjoy the quiz. That's right, it's a quiz! But don't worry, I'll provide you with the correct answers, and you won't get graded.

1. Where did we go on vacation this year?
a. Nowhere, we were too busy
b. Myrtle Beach
c. Panama City Beach, Florida
d. Providence, Rhode Island

If you guessed d, Providence, Rhode Island then you're right! Our Italan exchange student sister, Sonia, has been living there and she found her a handsome American fella and married him! We went up there for a week for the wedding and for vacation with Chris' family.

It was so wonderful to be with Sonia and Patrick for their wedding. Most of Sonia's family from Italy came over too. We were so thrilled to be able to spend some time with them!

2. While we were on vacation we visited a historic summer home. Whose summer home is this?
a. President Roosevelt
b. President Eisenhower
c. Sarah Palin
d. President Carter

If you guessed President Dwight D. Eisenhower then you guess correctly!!! We were meandering around Newport, RI when we saw a sign to his summer home. And considering the fact that Chris aka "Ike" is distantly related to him we had to go! The home was really lovely, but it was closed at the time so we couldn't go in. But the view of the water from the porches was fabulous. I completely understand why he built that house there.

3. While we were on vacation, what anniversary did we celebrate?
a. our 18th
b. our 15th
c. our 20th
d. our 19th

If you guessed our 20th, then you're right yet again. Can you believe it?!? We've been married for 20 years now. WOW! We actually went up to Rhode Island earlier than some of Chris' family so we could have a little time to ourselves. It was so nice. We stayed at a bed and breakfast in Newport and really enjoyed walking around and exploring the town.

Chris and I at dinner on our anniversary.

4. This summer we did something that most of our friends thought was crazy. What was it?
a. We went tent camping with Marty
b. We went skydiving together
c. We took Marty white water rafting with us
d. We ran a marathon

If you guessed going tent camping with Marty then you're a winner! Our church family in Virginia go camping every summer at Natural Bridge. It sounded like so much fun year after year that we decided to go.....and take Marty with us. He got to meet his doggie cousins and did great! We really had a fabulous time with everyone there and plan to make it a yearly tradition!

This was he view from our tent. It was pure heaven!

5. Last weekend we did our cookie extravaganza with friends again. How many cookies did we make?
a. 800
b. 900
c. 1200
d. 1000

Yep, those guesses are in the range. We made a total of 1200 cookies!!!! I know it's a bit insane. But we have fun making them. What do we do with those cookies? We take them to family members, work friends and other friends. Believe it or not, most of our 600 cookies that we took home with us are almost gone!

Here's what the cookie table looked like...and that wasn't all of the cookies either.

6. This past May Nashville saw tons of flooding. Thankfully we were okay. But we know many people who lost everything and are just now starting to get back into their homes. How much rain do you think Nashville got in a 48 hour period?
a. 10 inches
b. 19 inches
c. 20 inches
d. 15 inches

Nashville saw a total of 19 inches of rain in a 48 hour period. It was the most insane thing we've ever experienced. It just wouldn't stop raining.

That's it for the pop quiz part!

This year hasn't been all fun. It's actually been a difficult year for us. In May Chris started having frequent, severe headaches. After several trips to our family physician, he was referred to a neurologist. The neurologist did several tests and couldn't find anything major wrong....praise the Lord for that. But after several months he decided he wasn't the best doctor for Chris. So now Chris has started seeing a Neuroscientist who specializes in headaches. This doctor is pretty amazing. Unfortunately Chris is still having severe daily headaches and has been having them for almost eight months now. We continue to pray that he will get relief very soon.

My side of the family has seen a lot of loss this year. This summer my Dad's first cousin, LD, died unexpectedly and my Great Uncle Harry died unexpectedly in October. But the biggest loss we suffered was the death of my sweet Grandmother in September. My Grandma had been in a nursing home and in poor health for several years. On September 11 she went home to heaven. The blessing is that she is not suffering or in pain any more and she is fully healed.

We have been blessed to spend lots of time with our family this year. We went on vacation with Chris parents, spent Easter with my Mom and Doug and his family in Atlanta, and had several visitors here in Nashville this year.

Next year is already shaping up to be a busy one. Chris will go with the Gideon's on an eight day scripture blitz to Ecuador in January. He is really looking forward to his first international scripture distribution. Please keep him in your prayers as he travels next month.

We want to thank each of you for your love and support. You are in our thoughts and prayers for a blessed 2011!

Since Marty didn't make the Christmas card photo this year, here's a special picture of him just for you!

Merry Christmas!

Cookies!

2010-07-29T11:56:00.003-05:00

We have a reputation with our friends for our love of making cookies. Mostly because every year at christmas we get together with another couple and make tons of cookies.

Last week a friend from church called and asked if I could make some cookies for a children's program on saturday night. I immediately started thinking about what to make.

So I decided to make some chocolate chip cookies and some lollipop cookies. I was really excited about the lollipop cookies since I have wanted to make them for a while. Here's how I did it.

I cheated and used the ready bake dough that came in squares. I rolled them into a ball and put cookie sticks in them. I got the cookie sticks at JoAnn's and cut the sticks in half since they were for kids.

I baked them at the recommended temperature and then let them cool on the racks.

After the cookies cooled, I used whipped, vanilla icing and iced the cookies. Then I added every kids favorite thing.....sprinkles

Here's the final product. I had to do some quality control and sampled one for myself. They were pretty tasty!

Hokie Love

2010-07-28T11:31:00.003-05:00

i ordered some new yarn online yesterday to feed my hokie, virginia tech pride. i can't wait to make a pair of amazing socks out of this! aren't you jealous of the colors? ha ha!

Flooding

2010-05-05T10:56:00.006-05:00

Hi friends and family!

I'm sure you've all heard the news about the flooding in Nashville. Thankfully our area did not have any extensive flooding. So we are blessed. Our house is safe and dry. But so many are not.

We have friends who have lost their businesses, family members of friends have lost everything, and friends who know someone who lost their life. We are feeling very blessed at the moment.

Here are some flood pictures of some of the the landmark areas of Nashville. this doesn't even begin to cover the damage.

the Grand Ole Opry House

I posted some pictures on facebook recently of a walk we took along the river. This is the entrance to the walkway. The water goes for about four blocks.

Another view. I'm pretty sure the walking bridge we were on is completely gone now.

Joe's Crab Shack downtown on 2nd Avenue.

Downtown Nashville

Downtown before the Cumberland River fully crested. I work downtown so I had Monday and Tuesday off. Thankfully our offices weren't damaged.

This is a great article with some professional photos of the flood.

Please keep the people who have lost everything and have no flood insurance in your thoughts and prayers.

gatlinburg

2010-03-27T11:55:00.002-05:00

Last weekend we were able to meet some of my friends (Amanda and her family from Charleston and my friend Courtney and her family from Evansville, Indiana) in Gatilinburg. We girls are good friends and we were so happy that our hubbys got along too!

We started our Saturday morning out right with a trip to the Pancake Pantry. You know how Chris and I just love that place! After that we went to the Aquarium. Amanda has twin boys who are 15 months old and Courtney has a 9 month old boy. The boys, both young and old, loved the Aquarium. The girls did too.
We had been to the Ripley's Aquarium at Myrtle Beach, but never the one in Gatlinburg.

After that we did what everyone does in Gatlinburg, shopped and walked the streets downtown. And we managed to eat some candy too! After all the food from the weekend, I feel like I gained 10 pounds! I'm so glad we did all that walking!!

Sunday we went to the Apple Barn for breakfast with Courtney and her family. Amanda and her family met us there later. We had a lot of fun walking around looking in all the shops.

It was such a fun, fun weekend! I'm so glad the three of us could all get together.

Here are some pics from the weekend.

2010-03-26T14:36:00.002-05:00

i found this fun blog hop at and decided to join in on the fun. the rule is to show your SOOC (straight out of camera) shot and then your edited one. i decided to use a shot of my god-doggers from this past january.

here's the straight out of the camera before shot:

and here's the after:

i used picnik.com. i cropped and rotated the photo and then used the ortonish and then the vignette options.

the german and cowboy boots

2010-03-16T13:52:00.008-05:00

One of the unique things about Chris' job is that it is truly an international ministry. When their new over seas staff members are hired they come to Nashville for training. And because of the distance and the intensity of the training, they are usually here for anywhere from eight twelve weeks. Since they are here without their families, different headquarters staff members host them for dinner.

This past Saturday and Sunday we were able to spend time with Daniel who is from Germany. Naturally he and Chris had lots to talk about since Chris has spent time in Germany. Daniel is also the tallest person I've ever met. He's six foot eight and had a hard time fitting into our car!

When we are hosting someone, we like to show them some things downtown. Lots of times they are in Nashville for weeks and are so busy they never get to see any sights. So we headed downtown on Saturday night with Daniel. We were a bit nuts for going there since the SEC basketball tournament was also downtown.

We had fun wandering around and showing Daniel some Nashville highlights. One thing that was a challenge for us was the fact that he really wanted some cowboy boots. Real cowboy boots. Have you ever shopped for cowboy boots for a six foot eight German??? Well it's definitely a challenge. We finally found some for him, but he passed on buying them since they were over $300.

After walking around we went to one of our favorite places to eat, Ted's Montana Grill. We love to go there because they offer buffalo on their menu. And boy is it good! We like taking visitors there because it's not every day that you can have a buffalo steak.

It really is a treat for us to meet and host the overseas staff. We get to learn a lot about their culture and how Christians are viewed in other societies. It's really an eye opener. And a blessing for us too.

blessed beyond measure

2010-03-09T21:14:00.007-06:00

Every Tuesday night from November through April our church hosts Room in the Inn. This is a program that allows homeless people a warm place to sleep. Each church that participates hosts 14 people and they provide them with dinner and then breakfast the next morning as well as a bag lunch. Last week Chris volunteered us, with my knowledge, to be the Chaplains for a few Tuesdays this month.

So tonight I'm at home knitting and all cozy in my fleecy pj's when he calls me to ask where I was. (He was still at work at 6:30). I of course said I was at home, duh! : ) He reminded me that we were supposed to be at church at 7. I grumbled about having to leave the house on a rainy night, but changed and headed to church.

Even when I got there I was focused on myself. But that soon changed. Chris and I sat there and caught up with each other on the events of the day.

Then two ladies came into the chapel. They were there to ask us to pray for their friend T. T is also homeless and she was beaten severely. To the point that her life is hanging in the balance. These two precious ladies are concerned for their friend, but they are also concerned that the men who committed this crime are still out on the streets. And they are on the streets too.

As we were praying for their friend T, I was reminded that it's not about me. It's not about you. It's about God and the amazing work He can do in our lives when we let him.

We prayed for T. We prayed for these two ladies. We prayed for the other homeless women out there who might be in danger. And we prayed for the men who committed the crime. That their hearts would be changed.

Tonight I went to church focused on myself. I left focused on God and the blessings he has given me.

This is the passage of scripture Chris shared with them.

Hear, O LORD, and answer me,
for I am poor and needy.

Guard my life, for I am devoted to you.
You are my God;
save your servant who trusts in you.

Have mercy on me,
O Lord, for I call to you all day long.

Bring joy to your servant, for to you,
O Lord, I lift up my soul.

~Psalm 86:1-4

perfect moments

2010-03-08T10:22:00.008-06:00

Perfect moment Monday is about noticing a perfect moment rather than creating one. perfect moments can be momentous or ordinary or somewhere in between.

I'm so glad to be posting on here again.

This past weekend we went to Bristol to celebrate Chris' parents 50th anniversary! Wow, 50 years! What a milestone and what a blessing.

Their actual anniversary was on Friday. They went out to dinner with the family to The Golden Corral. We had fun teasing Chris' Dad that he took Anne to The Golden Corral on their "golden" anniversary.

On Saturday night the four of us went to a really nice dinner at The Troutdale. This was an extra special moment. When Chris was a little boy his parents would take him with them when they went out to dinner to celebrate their anniversary. He would often tell people it was "their" anniversary, including himself in the "their" part.

It was perfect to be able to celebrate their anniversary with them in such a special way.

Here's a couple of pictures from the night.

Chris and me

the happy couple

I Capture Perfect Moments.

back again

2010-03-05T14:34:00.001-06:00

I decided it was time to get posting on this blog again. It really is a good way to keep our family up-to-date with our life here in Nashville.

Hopefully you won't get bored reading about our everyday adventures.

a laugh for you today

2009-09-14T11:35:00.002-05:00

This was too adorable not to share!

see more dog and puppy pictures

friday five

2009-09-11T11:29:00.004-05:00

happy friday everyone! i decided to do something a little different for today's friday.five. i saw this on another website and decided to use it for today.

i am going to list (and show) five out of the ordinary things i've done since last friday. not just the usual ho hum, but something different.

1. i was able to sing happy birthday to my mom in person!

2. i had delicious peach crepes from our favorite pancake place, the pancake.pantry

3. we took the "long way" through the national forest this weekend on our trip. i followed ike on a dirt trail and got to see a fantastic view of the mountains.

4. i forgot to get dog food for marty, so he got a bowl of dog biscuits for breakfast. he was very happy about it!

5. i reserved a cottage in north.carolina to have a girls weekend with some of my bestest buddies! i can't wait to see them next week!

happy friday! don't forget to share what five things you've done since last friday!

perfect moment monday

2009-09-08T12:08:00.004-05:00

perfect moment monday ...on a tuesday.

yes, i know today isn't monday, but it feels like it. doesn't it?!?

this past weekend we spent some time with mom and chris' parents in gatlinburg.tn. now that we live in flat, flat tennessee, we miss our mountains!

that is one reason we love going to gatlinburg. it's only a few hours away and then i'm completely surround by the mountains. when i'm in the mountains i feel so at peace.

with that said, here is my perfect moment monday on a tuesday.

in a flash

2009-09-01T12:31:00.008-05:00

Most of you reading this know that my brother works at River Valley Ranch. He and his family also live there.

This past Friday they had severe flash flooding at the camp (aka RVR). Fortunately Doug's house did not receive any damage. RVR was not so fortunate.

Below is a video of the flood that also includes the damage that came after.

RVR does not have flood insurance. So far the estimated damage is estimated at well over $100,000. Since they are a non-profit ministry they are in need of donations. Even $1 or $5 will help. My purpose isn't to ask you for money, but for your prayers and support as they rebuild from this.

If you want to help in any way, please click here to go to their website to get more information.

friday five fun!

2009-08-28T10:20:00.002-05:00

This week’s 5 is inspired by the party game Scattergories, in which players have to come up with items, all beginning with the same letter, in several categories. For example, if the die is rolled and shows the letter R, players might have to come up with a soft drink, a farm animal, a river, and a U.S. President, all beginning with R. Valid answers might be root beer, rooster, Rhine, and Roosevelt.

First, go to this nifty online random-letter generator. Set the “number of random letter sequences to generate” to 1. Set the “length of each random letter sequence” to 1. Leave the “letters to choose from” how it is and click the button. You’ll get a rather non-dramatic one letter. Use that letter to begin all your answers to the 5 questions below.

How appropriate, my letter is I

Let’s rock!

What random letter was generated by the online random-letter generator? (this doesn’t really count as one of your five questions)
I
With what famous person, whose name begins with the letter in question #1, would you most like to be stuck on a desert island?
Isabella.Rosalini (she's the first one that popped into my head)
What food item, whose name begins with the letter in question #1, can always be found in your pantry?
instant oatmeal, apple cinnamon to be exact
What song, whose title begins with the letter in question #1, always makes you feel good?
i've.got.a.crush.on you sweetie pie by rod.stewart (it's the ring tone on my phone for ike)
What is your least-favorite film whose title begins with the letter in question #1?
ice age
What unusual animal, whose name begins with the letter in question #1, would be a fun pet?
iguana

Thanks for playing! And have an interesting weekend!

a little mid-week fun

2009-08-19T10:32:00.002-05:00

friday five!

2009-08-07T12:37:00.003-05:00

it's time for another edition of friday.five!

here are my answers. what are yours?

whatever your plans are this weekend, i hope you enjoy them! I plan to get my house ready for company next week. hope i get it all done!

1. what is your morning routine?
i hit the snooze on the alarm, get in the shower, surf the internet, dry my hair, put on my make up, get dressed, put the dog out (which requires a treat), and then head out to work. (I eat my breakfast at the office.)

2. what is your nightly routine?
go upstairs around 9:30. check email, twitter, and fce.book. wash my face and get into bed.

3. do you like to listen to the radio when you sleep or have it quiet?
i don't listen to the radio, but Ike has me hooked on having a fan blowing for "white.noise"

4. what do you like to sleep in?
cotton pj bottoms and a cotton tank shirt. no ruffles or lace either.

5. What is the first thing you think about when you wake up in the morning?
usually it's, can i snooze for a few more minutes. if it's not that, then it's the need to put the dog out

friday five

2009-07-31T11:36:00.006-05:00

friday five...i used to do this via email a while ago and decided to start it up again. both on my blog and via email.

so if you read this, join along in the fun of friday 5!

This week’s 5 is inspired by the party game called Taboo, in which players must make their teammates utter key words by giving them clues. The twist is that each key word is assigned five Taboo words, and players are forbidden from using the Taboo words in their clues.

Your task is simply to answer these five questions without using any of the Taboo words or phrases. Challenge yourself not just to avoid using the words, but to think of fresh, new answers to these sort of cliched meme questions!

Who’s making a positive difference in your life?
Taboo words: friends, family, husband/wife/spouse, boyfriend/girlfriend.
my tweetie pies on twitter
Where would you like to be right now?
Taboo words: home, bed, anywhere but here.
on a beach staring at the ocean with chris
What’s the first thing you’d do with a $5,000 (or your local equivalent) gift?
Taboo words: save, debt, vacation, payments, invest.
add a screened-in porch to the house
What super-power would you really like to have?
Taboo words: invisibility, x-ray vision, flying, strength, transform.
healing. being able to heal people physically, emotionally, and spiritually.i know too many people who are hurting !
What’s your favorite sound?
Taboo words: laughter, music, ocean, wind, ____’s voice.
the dog barking because chris is home.

Thanks for participating, and may your weekend be filled with laughter, music, the ocean, wind, and _______’s voice!

family reunion mabe style

2009-07-28T12:43:00.009-05:00

i recently posted about the icenhour reunion and now it's time to post about my family reunion. i'm sure the title has you confused since my last name has never been mabe. the mabe family refers to my grandmother and her lovely sisters. my grandmother came from a family of nine. it included one boy and eight girls. their brother died when he was around the age of 30. the sisters became very close after their mother died during the birth of the youngest sister.

when i was a little girl someone had a great idea to do a weekend reunion with the sisters and their families. every reunion needs a good name doesn't it!?! someone, i think jc, came up with the title of AUCSCAOR. That stands for..
Aunts
Uncles
Cousins
Second Cousins
and
Other
Relatives

isn't that clever???

last weekend we traveled to smith.mountain.lake for aucscaor. it was a wonderful time to get reacquainted with cousins and family that i haven't seen since the reunion three years ago. it was even more special since we were with my mom, my sister-in-law and my nieces. unfortunately my brother couldn't get the weekend off so he wasn't able to come.

there was the usual croquet game, swimming in the pool, food, card games, looking through old photo albums, more food, a talent show, visiting with family, and time to remember those who have gone on to heaven. including my dad. it always gets to me during the weekend that he isn't there with us. it's making me teary now just thinking about it. but i know he is in heaven with the mabe cloud of witnesses and they were having their own heavenly aucscaor.

there was a lot of knitting going on too since my cousins gina and brittany wanted to learn. they both took right to it, especially gina. my nieces even wanted in on the action, but we ran out of time for marla to knit. i love that there was knitting at auscaor. my grandma would be very proud of that!

i could go on and on about all the fun we had. when i get my pictures sorted out I'll get them up here for you.

one thing i took away from the weekend is how important it is to stay connected to those you love. i hope you will take a few minutes this week and some how be in touch with a family member you haven't seen or spoken to in a while. i promise it will brighten your day and theirs too!

family reunion icenhour style

2009-07-13T12:19:00.010-05:00

this past weekend we went to bristol for the icenhour family reunion. most of chris' family lives in town and there are only a few of us who moved away. in fact all of his dad's brothers and sisters (all eight of them) live in the same town. i think there are only five or six of the cousins that are out-of-towners. john really is an out-of-towner since he is currently stationed in afghanistan.

the golfers, including chris and his dad, had a 7:30 am tee time saturday morning. they had nice weather. while chris and his dad were golfing, anne and i decided to do some shopping at tj maxx. we didn't find anything. can you believe it! anne and me shopping and not buying anything?!? ha ha!

we had a fun time at the reunion. lots of good food, and great desserts. uncle johnny made his famous banana pudding, aunt joann made a mounds cake, and aunt shelby made a cake that was delicious (i can't remember the name of it).

the entertainment was the kids playing in the creek and catching crawdads. what is it about kids and crawdads? i did the same thing when i was their age. here's some pictures of the crawdad catching. rae was the obious star of the pictures. she's such a sweetie!

we really did have a great time. it's always so nice to go home to bristol and visit with chris' family.

no thanks

2009-07-09T10:39:00.008-05:00

we both have family reunions this month. let's hope this doesn't happen to us! hee hee!

time flies when you're having fun

2009-07-09T10:02:00.010-05:00

since my last post on june 30 we have been having lots of fun and staying super busy! here's the scoop on what we've been doing.

father's day weekend we helped our good friends jeff and lisa and their kids move to atlanta. they didn't have any help unloading so along with some other sunday school friends, drove to atlanta and unloaded their 26 foot u-haul and the guys had the pleasure of unloading their slate top pool table. that was rough a rough job to do at 11:30 pm when it's still 90 degrees! we spent the night there and then drove back home the next day. along the way home we decided to stop at sticky fingers in chattanooga for lunch. yum, yum! here's what i had for lunch that day. mmm...ribs.

the next weekend some of our lynchburg friends, denise and her son jack, were coming through town so we got to be their tour guide. they were helping some friends move to oregon (from richmond) and were taking a cross-country trek. it was so much fun showing them where we now live. i can't believe we've been here four years now! jack is now 14, not sure how that is possible! we had such a great time with them. it was wonderful to see them and show them our new town. we even took them to chris' favorite spot, ted's montana grill. they serve bison and beef there. guess what we all had....bison. it's so healthy and delicious! here's a picture of jack with his bbq, bacon bison burger. say that three times real fast.

that same weekend we went to my favorite place for sunday brunch, germantown cafe. yum. we went with my friend shannon who hadn't been there yet. we were seated in my favorite spot with a view of downtown nashville. we were also lucky enough to be seated next to lee.ann.rimes!?! she was having brunch with her hubby. being a good "nashvillian" we left them alone and so did everyone else in the restaurant. it was my first star moment in town! i included a picture of them. they really are cute together. chris went to work the next day and said he had lunch with three beautiful blones. his wife, her friend, and lee.ann.rimes. LOL!

then my mom came to visit us for the 4th of july! she came on thursday and left that sunday. i love the fact that my mom and chris' parents have such a good time together that mom drove to their house on wednesday and spent the night with them. when both our moms get together there is some serious giggling going on! i love that!

when mom was here we had such a great time. we shopped, took her to eat a buffalo burger, shopped, got drenched while watching fireworks downtown, shopped some more, and ate great food. we even waited an hour and a half just to have breakfast (which turned into lunch) at the lovelss cafe. we had a fantastic visit with her. can you believe neither of us took a single picture while she was here??? guess we had too much fun. and yes, this picture is from the downtown fireworks. nashville is one of the top five places with great fireworks displays in the country.

this weekend we are going to bristol for the icenhour family reunion. i'll try to remember to take some pictures this time!

Grace in Small Things:1469

2009-06-29T21:03:00.002-05:00

Today's thankful list...

~fresh peaches. to me that means summer is here!

~a freshly mowed yard thanks to Ike

~napping with the dog

~pleasant unexpected phone calls

~cool weather. the high today was below 90 and the humidity was low. hallelujah!

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Grace in Small Things:1468

2009-06-29T12:10:00.004-05:00

~taking my friend shannon to one of my favorite brunch spots

~sitting at a table next to lee ann rimes at said brunch spot!

~did i mention I sat at the table next to lee ann rimes?

~laughing at ike who said he was having lunch with three beautiful blondes. me, shannon, and lee ann rimes

~enjoying a healthy meal. really enjoying it.

~taking a long nap with ike and marty boy (the dog)

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Grace in Small Things:1467

2009-06-29T12:08:00.004-05:00

~being able to sleep in

~trying a new restaurant for dinner and liking it

~hanging out in my pj's most of the morning

~having a Saturday at home with nothing to do for a change

~relaxing with the hubby

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Grace in Small Things:1466

2009-06-27T14:10:00.007-05:00

~Cherry Coke Zero...great in the summer heat

~Showing my Virginia friends around our new Nashville surroundings

~Convincing my buddy Jack to try a Buffalo Burger

~Hearing my buddy Jack proclaim his delight in the Buffalo Burger

~Realizing that close friends only need to be close in heart, not in miles

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Grace in Small Things:1465

2009-06-26T13:55:00.004-05:00

This is my first "offical post" of Grace in Small Things. I bet you are wondering what the number 1465 means aren't you. Well it's the number of days I've been alive. clever isn't it? If you want to know how many days you've been alive, you can google it or just go to this cool website.

Here are my five things from yesterday...
1) Fans. It's so hot that the upstairs doesn't stay cool unless I leave the big fan running.

2) Fun blog templates. I love changing the background a lot. It really makes my day.

3) Air freshener. The garbage disposal was funk-ay yesterday. enough said.

4) new sunglasses.

5) realizing life really is short so I need to live it to the fullest.

Grace in Small Things:1465

2009-06-26T11:43:00.003-05:00

Grace in Small Things

2009-06-26T11:28:00.006-05:00

I've started reading, and thoroughly enjoying, some blogs of people I follow on Twitter...yes I'm totally hooked to Tweeting. One of my Tweeps has a post every day for Grace in Small Things. I have really enjoyed reading about what she finds in her daily life that brings her joy.

So I've decided to start my own daily posts. I'll even try and get Chris to contribute some to it too. Right now he is probably thankful for sleep since he's been working insane hours lately with no end in sight.

Stay tuned for my daily Grace In Small Things postings. Even better, become a follower and get notified when I post. Hope you will be inspired to find the joy in every day.

our Ber.muda trip

2009-06-25T12:44:00.004-05:00

May 9 we had the opportunity to go with Chris' parents and several other family members on a cruise to Ber.muda! We were so excited to go since that's where we went on our honey.moon 18 years ago.

The island really hasn't changed that much. We stayed in a different part of Ber.muda than we had before so it was fun to become familiar with a new area. We were in St. George which is the historic area. We were able to visit St. Peter's Church the oldest continually used Anglican church in the Western hemisphere. It is lovely! We went back to a lot of place we had been before and it brought back so many memories.

Chris' family is so fun to travel with. We were with his parents, Jim and Ann, Uncle Leroy, Aunt Barbara, Uncle Boyce, Aunt Joann, Uncle Denis, Aunt Shelby, Michelle (his cousin), Momma Barbara (a family friend since Chris was a child), and her daughter-in-law Keli.

I am doing Weight Watchers so going on a cruise was a temptation for sure! But, I only gained 2 ounces! Yay me! We had so much good food, it was amazing! They even had a chocolate buffet. That was right up Chris' alley since he is a chocoholic!

I've included some pictures below so you can experience our trip with us. I highly recommend a Ber.muda cruise! It's the way to go!

Wordless Wednesday

2009-06-17T12:31:00.003-05:00

You know I had to put a picture of Marty up again sooner or later. Yesterday I stayed home from work with a really bad headache. I still have a slight headache today too. Anyways, Marty was happy to have me home and not spend all day in his crate. He started his freedom out by getting into the trash and eating part of a Ta.co Be.ll wrapper.

Later on in the day, after getting a doggie time out, he decided to make up for it and snuggle with me on the couch. I love it when he does that! He loves the red couch and no matter where that couch is (I rearrange the den a lot) he always lays on it. I was on the red couch yesterday afternoon and he decided to snuggle his head up next to me and take a really long nap.

It was so sweet! I totally forgave him for getting in the trash.

Wordless Wednesday

2009-06-10T08:27:00.005-05:00

Before Felting

After Felting

As soon as I finished this one, I immediately started another one. I haven't finished that one and I've got yarn for a new one! I'm hooked. I need a better picture of the finished purse. This one doesn't quite do it justice. It's really cute and someone is getting it for Christmas!

This made me laugh today

2009-06-09T09:50:00.004-05:00

see more dog and puppy pictures

New Wheels

2009-05-30T19:08:00.003-05:00

The last time we bought a car was in 1998 when we got our VW Passat. What a challenge it is (at least for us) to commit to a vehicle. Chris' car has over 220,000 miles on it and is slowly falling apart. On top of that the VW has been having issues lately and isn't the most reliable.

We bit the bullet and decided it was time to start seriously looking for another car. Fortunately God timed things out nicely and as we started looking, the Gideons were wanting to sell their company cars, 2007 Pontiac Grand Prix's.

So, we are now the proud new owners of a sporty Grand Prix with only 38,000 miles on it. It's been so long since we drove a new car it feels strange! But it's definitely a good kind of strange! = )

Poor Chris would love to sell the VW and put the money into fixing his car. I reminded him that when your mechanic tells you it's time for a new car...then it's time for a new car!

Here's a picture of our new wheels. Now to decide who gets to drive it!

Wordless Wednesday

2009-05-27T13:02:00.000-05:00

I think it might rain...

Wordless Wednesday

2009-05-21T11:40:00.003-05:00

Sorry I'm a day late!

It was a gorgeous day and I wanted to try and finish the book I was reading. So I went to the drive through at Wendy's and then went to Centennial Park and found a table in the shade.

I'm a Bad Blogger!

2009-05-18T11:52:00.002-05:00

Well my last post was at Easter promising to be more faithful to blog. I guess we all know how I did with that! Ha ha!

We've done a lot since Easter and have been so busy! There was a trip to Lynchburg for Easter, the Gideon State Convention where I had to give a presentation, feeding 200 people at the homeless shelter, and prepping for vacation. Which we just got back from!

I promise to update soon with details of everything. Especially our Bermuda cruise!

Easter

2009-04-16T10:43:00.003-05:00

Doesn't that just say it all!!!

It's just numbers

2009-03-26T13:06:00.002-05:00

Chris and I are fortunate enough to be going on a cruise to Bermuda with his parents and other family members in May. We are so excited about it! We can't wait to go back to Bermuda where we honeymooned 18 1/2 years ago.

I, however, was not excited about the prospect of getting into a bathing suit. So I decided to do something about it. I joined Weight Watchers! Mom is doing it too so it has been fun to talk with her about it. So far I've lost 3.8 pounds in two weeks. I think that's pretty good since I don't really feel like I'm trying very hard.

I hope you'll keep checking back to hear progress reports!

A St. Patrick's Day Blessing

2009-03-16T14:40:00.002-05:00

I found it at Lazy Daisy Designs

Bright Ideas

2009-03-16T11:23:00.006-05:00

I have a lot of bright ideas sometimes, but then comes the follow-up to carry them trough. That's the part I'm bad at...the follow through.

We both had the bright idea to do a PAD blog. That is a picture a day blog. We started out with good intentions trying to take pictures every day...and then the fun of it wore off!

So, I decided I could do a picture a week and post it on this blog, instead of trying to keep up with a separate one just for these pictures.

So....drum roll please.....here's our first picture of the week to share with you. I promise I'll put more up as time goes by!

This is hard to tell what it is without a description. It is Marty's favorite way to ride in the VW. He likes to stand on the arm rest with his head sticking up through the open sunroof! If the sunroof is closed, he will actually nudge it to get us to open it up. He's one crazy dog!

Update on 2009 so far

2009-02-09T11:54:00.004-06:00

Over the Christmas holidays, I received lots of letters and emails from friends with updates and blog addresses. When I read theirs, they are always so good about regularly posting about the ordinary events of their day.

One of my goals this year is to blog more frequently. Why? Well, it will help me keep a "journal" of what's going on with us and I really enjoy reading about what's going on with everyone else, and I'm hoping you will enjoy the same.

One of my other goals with the blog is to keep a photo journal of our week. I wish I had the web site address, but I came across the coolest web site last fall. A man had taken a polaroid photo every day and then posted it online. What a great way to document the day. I doubt I will do a daily photo, but I am going to do a photo of the week that will be something that will remind me what the week was about.

Other than making new "blog resolutions" things around our house have remained pretty calm and boring. Chris got the stomach yuck a few weeks ago and also injured his knee in the process. He's nursing it back to health with ibuprofin and ice on it at night. That frozen corn is coming in handy.

This weekend we are going to Bristol to see his parents in a play. It should be a lot of fun. I'm sure I'll have some pictures to post from that!

Well, that's enough for now. I just spilled a Diet Dr. Pepper all over the floor at work. Maybe I should start my photo journal with that? : )

Christmas Fun

2008-12-30T10:31:00.000-06:00

A little Christmas fun for you!

http://elfyourself.jibjab.com/view/PIlwb4BktNXvdKP1lZew

Merry Christmas!

2008-12-24T19:44:00.004-06:00

This year we are spending Christmas in Bristol with Chris' family. My Mom is going to join us too, so we will have Christmas with both parents. We're really looking forward to it.

We wanted to share our Christmas letter with everyone, so we've put it on our blog.

You can read it here...
http://ikefamilychristmas.blogspot.com/

Merry Christmas!

Love,
Susan & Chris

Birthday Celebrations

2008-12-24T18:36:00.005-06:00

Chris' birthday was October 21, so this part is a little late for him. But, my birthday was yesterday so here's the scoop.

Since we end up traveling on my birthday now, Chris has started a new tradition of taking me to Gatlinburg and then to the Pancake Pantry for breakfast the next day. This year I had one of my favorite pancakes, silver dollar pancakes. YUM! Chris got sweet potato pancakes. I'm so getting those next time. They were delicious too! We always stay in a hotel while we are there...with Marty. Last year he didn't sleep a wink, and neither did we! This year we took him again, and slept great this time. YAY!

For Chris' birthday in October, I decided to give him a mini surprise birthday dinner. I invited some friends from church, and some of his co-workers. We went to one of his favorite places, Famous Daves. YUM! He even got to have his picture taken with Porky the Pig.

Thanksgiving Pics

2008-12-24T18:33:00.002-06:00

Coming soon...pictures from our trip

A Thanksgiving trip to the country

2008-12-21T22:29:00.005-06:00

This year for Thanksgiving we decided that my Mom and us should go to my brother's house for Thanksgiving week. So, we started the long trek to River Valley Ranch. We stopped the first night in Gatlinburg so we could have breakfast at the Pancake Pantry. That's a must of us! Then we spent the next night with Chris' parents in Bristol. Then we made our way to Maryland!

We were greeted with squeels of delight from Marla, Rosemary and Lillie. My Mom was happy to see us too along with Doug and Lisa. Maggie even greeted us with a big kiss!

We had a great time when we were there. Uncle Ike took girls out on different occasions for a little date. He and Marla toured the Utz potato chip factory and then he took me, Rosemary and Lillie to tour the chocolate factory. Uncle Ike and Lillie even made a special run to Wal-Mart for ice cream on Thanksgiving morning.

My Mom treated us all to a special show at The Sight and Sound Theater. We saw The Miracle of Christmas. If you're ever in the Lancaster, PA area this is a must do! It was fantastic.

Rosemary and I have been growing our hair out together to cut it off and donate it to Locks of Love. Since we were together, we decided to cut our hair off. We each had seven inches of hair cut off to donate. I'll post pictures of that separately.

After Doug cooked us a Thanksgiving feast fit for a king, we had to leave that next day. We wanted to avoid all the traffic! It was wonderful being with all the Cline's for Thanksgiving this year!

A visit with Kate and Simon

2008-08-28T10:49:00.007-05:00

In July our Czech exchange student sister, Katerina, came for a visit! Kate and her husband Jan live in Pasadena right now and they had a beautiful baby boy, Simon, on February 14. We had not met Simon yet so Kate brought him for a visit before they move back to Europe next month. Jan wasn't able to come since he is working on his PHD from Cal Tech.

They flew into Nashville and we drove them to Chris' parents who were eagerly awaiting their arrival! We were so thrilled to meet Simon. As you can see from the pictures he is a beautiful and happy little boy. We had a fantastic time with them. It was also the weekend of the Icenhour Reunion so we were able to see a lot of Chris' out of town relatives too. It was the perfect weekend for Kate and Simon to visit.

We're sad to see them leave the states, but there's always the internet to stay in touch!

Grow, Grow, Grow

2008-06-29T12:59:00.003-05:00

Our house on our street is known as the one with no grass. When the contractor seeded the yard, he forgot to put down the good seed. So...we have lots of bare spots.

Chris has been working really hard this year on getting the grass to grow. It's finally starting to do that! It's beginning to look like a real yard now.

I've been wanting a flower bed ever since we moved here but we thought grass was more of a priority. Chris had an extra day off so we went to work on my flower bed. My Grandaddy Cline and I always planted petunias together so I planted some red petunias and thought of him. I also planted snap dragons, dahlias and clematis to grow up the mail box post. So far those petunias are the ones growing the most.

Here are some pictures of our yard with grass and flowers too!

Mom Time

2008-06-27T13:05:00.008-05:00

My Mom came for a visit last week and we had such a good time together! We did so many things, it's hard to remember them all. The best things was that we just spent a lot of time together. Of course we did lots of shopping too.

One fun thing we did was taking a tour of the local ice cream and milk dairy, Purity Dairies. We met my friend Amy and her kids Susan and Robert. We were able to watch them put ice cream sandwiches together and wrap them. It was really interesting. The best part of the tour was the all you can eat free ice cream at the end! YUM!!!

Bark in the Park

2008-06-26T14:33:00.005-05:00

Each year the Wilson County Humane Society where we got Marty has a fund raiser called Bark in the Park. We had never been before so we decided to check it out.

It was 95 degrees that day with no breeze and it was hot, hot, hot! It was basically a lot of vendors for various things like dog products, roofing for your house, realtors, and other miscellaneous stuff.

Marty absolutely hated it! There were lots and lots of people and lots and lots of dogs. He definitely prefers a small crowd. We ended up across the parking lot sitting in the shade on some steps were we could "people watch" and also do some dog watching too. That was more our speed.

You can take a peek at some of the pictures. I'm not sure we'll go again next year, but we made supported the Humane Society and got lots of free dog goodies too!

You can view the pictures in the slide show or click here to see larger ones.

New updates

2008-03-31T19:52:00.002-05:00

I finally added some new goodies! Be sure to check Marty's page and our picture page for new updates!

Happy Spring!

Easter Pics

2008-03-31T18:35:00.006-05:00

We have some Easter pictures posted on line to make the viewing a little faster. Click here to see them or watch the slide show below.

Enjoy!

Happy Easter!

2008-03-31T10:25:00.003-05:00

This year we went to Lynchburg for Easter. My brother and his family were there too. As you can see in the picture, Uncle Ike had some little girls "tickle tackle" him a lot that weekend!

We had a great time with family. We hid Easter eggs several times. The weather cooperated Friday and Saturday and we spent most of those days outside.

The girls love having a slumber party with us when we come. So we headed to Target to pick out a new movie for them to take home. The movie they chose was "Snow Buddies." It's a Disney movie so there were lots of cute dogs, and lots of snow in this movie too. I think the girls watched it 5 or 6 times while we were there. : )

While we were in town we were able to have dinner with some of my family that I don't get to see very often. My Aunt passed away in early March and I wasn't able to make it back for the funeral. So, we had dinner with my Uncle. It was good to see him and give him a hug while he's going through a hard time.

We celebrated Easter Sunday with my Mom at her church, Thomas Road Baptist, and then at the 11:00 service at Centenary. It's always good to see our friends there.

On our journey back home we were able to stop over and see Chris' parents for dinner. We also started out our trip with an overnight visit with them too. The nice thing about doing all that driving, is that we get to see both of our families in one trip. That makes it really nice.

We hope you and your family had a great Easter celebrating our risen saviour.

New Year, New Look

2008-02-27T13:06:00.002-06:00

We have been so busy this year that I haven't had a lot of time to keep the blog up-to-date. So my new year's resolution is to add posts here more frequently!

The past two months have kept us busy with church, Gideon meetings, the flu (yuck), and hanging out with friends.

Marty has a new fascination with drinking coffee. We have some great pictures of him drinking Chris' coffee. I'll try and get them on here soon.

Bye for now, I'll post more soon. I promise!

Happy Birthday to Me!

2007-12-25T13:14:00.000-06:00

This year for my birthday I asked Chris if we could go to Gatlinburg and spend the night on our way to Bristol for Christmas. So I found us a hotel that allowed pets to come along too. Yes, Marty came with us.

We had dinner at The Apple Barn and then breakfast was at The Pancake Pantry the next morning. The picture is of me at the Pancake Pantry with my strawberry crepes. YUM!

On my actual birthday, December 23, Chris really surprised me. I have been looking at MP3 players and wanted the iPod Nano in red that you can only order online from Apple. Chris had ordered it and shipped it to Bristol. He even had my name engraved on it with the verse, Psalm 37:4 "Delight yourself in the LORD and he will give you the desires of your heart." He was very sweet.

So all weekend I've been on iTunes getting music and going to o the store to get goodies for my iPod.

I love surprises and I'm not easy to surprise either, so Chris was so proud of himself...he got me good!!

600 Cookies...are we nuts?!?

2007-12-21T09:03:00.000-06:00

When we were in Lynchburg, in our newly married days, we became good friends with Jay and Amy Schickling. We used to get together and make Christmas cookies every year. Well, Jay's job took them to the Boston area and then Nashville. We've stayed in touch all through the years. So you can imagine our excitement to be living in the same area again in Nashville.

So we started up our cookie tradition when we moved here. We made our cookies this past Wednesday and did 600 cookies! Chris was disappointed since we did 800 cookies last year. Yes it's over the top, but it's lots of fun! We freeze them, give them as Christmas presents, and eat a lot too!

We made all kids of new cookies this year. Candy cane cookies, molasses cookies, chocolate hug melt cookies. Chris got creative and did almond spice cookies and chocolate candy cane pinwheel cookies.

They are all so delicious! I usually put the pictures in black and white, but these really needed to be in color so you could get the full effect!

All I have to say is....YUM!

A Winter Wonderland Wedding

2007-12-21T08:57:00.000-06:00

We had been in our neighborhood almost two years and had not met one of our neighbors, Jennie. She's a busy youth pastor. I was at work one day and a red car just like hers pulled into the parking garage. We struck up a conversation and realized we were neighbors. She was the neighbor I had not met!

Jennie works part-time in the building where I work as well as working full-time as a youth pastor. After making the work/neighbor connection we became fast friends. She and her fiancee Max invited us to their wedding which was this past Friday night. It was an evening wedding with clear Christmas lights and white poinsettias. It was lovely!!

We're looking forward to getting to know Max a little better. Maybe we'll finally see her at home since she's a married lady now!

Our "God-Dogger"

2007-12-21T08:54:00.000-06:00

Our good friend Melva got a new puppy. She called and asked us if we would be her dog's god parents. Since we love dogs so much we said yes of course.

Chris has a net term for Cheerio, she is our "god-dogger" instead of our god-daughter. I think it's very cute.

Cheerio was adopted in October and we finally got a chance to meet her at Thanksgiving. She's so cute and all puppy!! We just think she's adorable. Maybe one of these days she and Marty can meet. Won't that be interesting!

Thanksgiving

2007-12-21T08:48:00.001-06:00

This year we went to my Mom's for Thanksgiving. As you can see from Chris' picture, it was a crazy weekend. He woke up to Hello Kitty stickers on his face. Doug and his family were there for the weekend too.

We had a great time. Lots of turkey, lots of food, and lots and lots of fun. We always have a fun time with the girls. we had a slumber party and Rosemary painted Uncle Ike's fingernails. She had been planning on it for a few weeks.

We even had a Cline Christmas while we were there since we wouldn't all be together for Christmas. We had planned on waiting until after Thanksgiving lunch to do the presents, but the girls saw them all and just couldn't wait!

I'll put more pictures from the weekend on the pictures page, so be sure to check it out.

A trip to the Ranch

2007-11-02T14:56:00.001-05:00

In May my brother took a position as Food Services Director for a year-round Christian Camp just outside of Baltimore called River Valley Ranch. Of course my Mom was upset that her only grandchildren were moving five hours away! But, it was a God thing so what can you do?!?

We finally got the opportunity to go visit them a few weeks ago. We decided to fly since it's a 12 hour drive from Nashville. Although on the way up there we could have driven it faster than flying since we got grounded in Atlanta and spent the night there.

Once we finally got there the next day, we had a great time! They are definitely out in the "boonies." But it is beautiful! They have horses just behind their home and buffalo right across the street. The best part for them is that Doug literally works across the street so when the girls are home they can walk over any time to see him.

The weekend we were there my Mom had planned a trip to Lancaster which is only an hour away. So, she and her friend Sandy came and stayed on Saturday. The camp had their fall fest every weekend in October so we were able to participate in that. They had hay rides, pumpkin patches, horse rides for the girls, and the infamous RVR Corn Maze. We split into two teams. Susan, Chris and Marla verses Doug, Lisa, and Rosemary. We spent almost two hours in the maze before we were done. The goal was to not only find your way out, but to find and get 9 different stamps while you were in there. Ultimately I beat my brother because he cheated!

We had such a great time with Doug and his family. Lillie told me she was going home with me but when I told here there were only two seats on the airplane and not three she finally decided she wouldn't go with us.

As much as we enjoyed our time together, it was sad to leave. But, we are looking forward to more fun and crazy times together!

PS - be sure to check out our pictures page for some fun pictures of our time up there.

Our new Goddaughter, Cheerio

2007-11-02T12:38:00.000-05:00

About a month ago, my good friend Melva emailed me and asked if Chris and I would be godparents. I was a little confused since Melva is single. Then she explained that she was on a quest to adopt her first puppy. Aha! It was all clear.

After a trip to the humane society to search for the right dog she found little Cheerio. Although from the story she told me, I think Cheerio really found her.

So we are now proud godparents to little Cheerio Shelor. She is a beautiful mix of German Shepherd and something exotic...only time will tell what the exotic part is.

We've decided that she and Marty are now cousins. Marty had fun shopping with us a PetsMart to find some new fun toys for her. Of course he got a new toy too.

We can't wait to meet little Cheerio. I have a feeling that when we get to meet her at Thanksgiving she will have grown a lot since this picture!

A Visit from JoAnn and her parents!

2007-09-28T11:03:00.001-05:00

My cousin from Lynchburg, Valerie, and her husband, Donald, came to visit us along with their three-year old daughter JoAnn.

It was great to see them since we really hadn't spent much time visiting together since we moved. JoAnn has grown so much since we saw her last. She's such a cutie!

We got to do a lot of "Nashville firsts" while they were here. We took a paid tour of Nashville and it was very informative. I went to places I hadn't been to before. We also got to go to the country Music Hall of Fame. It was interesting for me - I had JoAnn so her parents could actually enjoy their experience there. Seeing and doing things from a three-year old's perspective was interesting to say the least. JoAnn liked the bathroom and the gift shop the most. ; )

JoAnn fell in love with Marty while she was here. To our surprise, Marty would actually sit for her and wait to eat his treat until she said the magic word, "take." Her parents said she got a toy in her kids meal on the way home and named it Marty. And for the eight hour drive home she kept telling her new Marty toy to sit and take. How cute?!?

We had such a great time with them. We can't wait to see them again!

Beach Trip!

2007-09-28T11:02:00.001-05:00

In September we met Chris' family at Cherry Grove Beach (it's just north of North Myrtle Beach).

We had a great time as always! There were lots of us again this year. We had great weather. At the beginning of the week it was actually a little cool and a lot windy. Chris still got in the ocean though. The boys had fun playing on the beach in the sand.

We stayed at the beach through Friday and then went to Gatlinburg to celebrate our 17th wedding anniversary. Can you believe it's been 17 years since we got married?!? We can't either. We had a great time together.

It was a great week with Chris' family. We got to relax and spent a lot of time reading. That's the perfect vacation for me!

Happy Birthday Grandma Kay!

2007-09-12T13:30:00.000-05:00

Labor Day weekend we went back to Lynchburg to help Mom celebrate her 60th birthday! My brother, Doug, had to work but Lisa came down with the girls. We had a fantastic time together.

Saturday night we surprised her with dinner at Charley's. Mom's sister, Myra, and her three sons and their families came along with some of Mom's work friends. We got her good! She was really surprised.

Saturday night we continued our tradition of a "slumber party" with the girls. Rosemary and Marla slept in our room and Lillie slept with Grandma Kay. Marla even ended up sleeping in our bed right in between Chris and I. She slept great...we didn't fare as well.

It was a great weekend and lots of fun to be sneaky with Mom's surprise party too!

Busy Summer Days

2007-07-18T14:56:00.001-05:00

It's been a busy, busy summer! So busy that I haven't taken the time to do any posting on here!

We've been busy going with Marty to the dog park, hanging out with friends at the free Big Band concerts on Saturday nights, and Susan has been doing a lot of sewing!

On the 4th of July we spent the day with our friends, Jay and Amy, and their kids Susan and Robert. The fellas made smokers out of terracotta flower pots! We smoked chicken legs and ribs. It was delicious. While the guys were outside, the girls were in the air conditioning sewing.

I promise to get some pictures on here soon. We hope you're having a fun summer!

A Day in the Dog Park

2007-05-14T11:22:00.000-05:00

We took Marty to the dog park for the first time on Mother's Day. Be sure to read about it on Marty's blog. There are pictures posted on our pictures page too!

As you can see in the picture, he wasn't thrilled about his first visit to the dog park. He spent a lot of his time either under or behind the bench.

A Visit with Angie & Melissa

2007-05-02T10:06:00.000-05:00

Two of our good friends from Lynchburg, Angie and Melissa, came to Nashville on Friday to run the Country Music Marathon. They get a gold star from us for driving 8 hours to run a 13.1 mile marathon!

While they were in town we got to have dinner with them on Friday night at Chris' favorite place, Demos'. Then after church on Sunday we went to the outlet mall to do a little shopping before they drove back to Lynchburg.

It was so awesome to see them both!

Thank you, Thank you Very Much!

2007-04-23T13:10:00.000-05:00

This year the Gideon state convention was in Memphis. Chris and I thought that would be the perfect opportunity to do some sightseeing this past weekend. Chris is doing his best Elvis impersonation in the picture on the left.

So, we took an extra day off from work and explored Memphis. Neither one of us had been there before and it was a lot of fun!

We went to Graceland on Thursday and just loved it! I have to say that Elvis had some extravagant taste, even for the 70's. We were surprised that the house by today's standards would not be considered a mansion, but it was still a very nice home. The grounds there were just lovely. Everything was in bloom.

That afternoon we drove from Tennessee to Mississippi and Arkansas in about 15 minutes. It was fun for us to say we were in three states in that short of time. We even drove over the Mississippi River. That was a real treat for me.

On Thursday night we ventured down to the famous Beale Street for some BBQ and Blues. We were not disappointed at all! We had the BBQ feast for two which was pulled pork BBQ, wet ribs, BBQ chicken, and hot wings. It was delicious! We also got to listen to a lot of live blues being played in the park and on the street. It was a really fun time.

Friday through Sunday was the Tennessee Gideon state convention. It was a nice time with Gideons from all over the state. I left my hanging bag at home hanging in the closet with all my dress clothes in it so I got to do a little extra shopping in Kohl's before the convention.

Sunday morning Chris and I, along with two of his co-workers, ventured back down to Beale Street for some more delicious BBQ. we even got to walk through the famous Peabody Hotel. They are known for their ducks that live at the hotel. They were out in the lobby asleep in the water fountain. It was so cute!

All in all it was a fun weekend! I've got some pictures posted on our pictures page for you to see!

New Blog Page

2007-04-23T13:08:00.000-05:00

We have created a new page on our blog to pay tribute to Virginia Tech and the tragic events of April 16. You can find news links and pictures on the page at ikefamilyvt.blogspot.com

Happy Easter!

2007-04-09T10:38:00.000-05:00

This year we went to Lynchburg to spend Easter with Susan's family. You can see the "whole gang" in the picture above. There are more pictures posted on our pictures page too.

On the way in, we stopped over for the night in Bristol to see Chris' parents. We spent the night with them and had a good Virginia breakfast complete with country ham, biscuits, and gravy...Chris' favorite!

After we left Bristol, we stopped over in Floyd to visit our friends Belva and Melva. Their father had just passed away and we weren't able to make it in for the funeral, so we went to visit them at their parent's home. It was good to see them even if it was under sad circumstances.

We had a busy, busy time in Lynchburg! We had three little nieces stuck to us like glue for the rest of our time there. We had a slumber party with the girls Friday night and colored Easter eggs with them, they were the sparkle eggs too. Then Saturday we spent the day with them and then went to visit Susan's grandmother in the nursing home.

On Easter we put on our winter coats and went to the 8:30 service with mom at her church and then went to the 11:00 service at our old church. It was great to see all of our friends there!

After a great Easter lunch at Mom's we hid Easter eggs with the girls and then hit the road to go back to Nashville.

Poor Marty had to spend Easter in the kennel. Even though the girls really wanted us to bring him to Lynchburg. Marty was very happy to see us when we got home.

It was a whirlwind trip, but great to see everyone!

Harry Connick Jr.

2007-03-14T07:30:00.000-05:00

Chris and I are huge fans of Harry Connick Jr. If you look in our CD collection you'll find almost every one of his CD's he's ever made.

When we lived in Lynchburg we used to say we would plan a vacation around going to one of his concerts but it never worked out.

In February Chris found out that Harry was coming to play in Nashville...just two blocks from where Susan works. We were so excited and bought tickets as soon as they went on sale!

We went to the concert last night with our friends Chris and Shannon. My Mom had told me to bring binoculars because he was "easy on the eyes." He sure is! We were all so impressed with how insanely talented he is. He is an amazing piano player. He was funny, interacted with the audience, danced, sang, and his band was fantastic.

It was definitely the best concert I have ever been to! If you get a chance, buy his new CD Oh My Nola. It is his tribute to New Orleans Jazz and is fantastic!

Feeling Better!

2007-03-01T21:37:00.000-06:00

Hi everyone! On Monday I completed my task of giving up my gallbladder for Lent!
What a sacrifice. = )

Thank you all so much for your prayers this week. I have had a good week so far and am recovering pretty well. It's Thursday and I'm starting to feel human again. I'll just be glad to be completely pain free again. My surgery on Monday went well and I haven't had any complications.

Thank you to everyone for the cards, emails, food, and most of all for your prayers. I have felt them.

Love,
Susan

Gallstones...

2007-02-24T15:00:00.000-06:00

This year for Lent I decided to give up my gallbladder! Ha ha!

Two weeks ago I was diagnosed with gallstones. It has not been a fun time with them, and on Monday the 26th at 8:30 I am having surgery to have my gallbladder removed.

I have met lots of people who have had this done, including my Mom, and they assure me it will be a breeze. I sure hope so!

I will keep you posted on how the recovery goes. I'd appreciate your prayers on Monday morning around 8:30 Central time!

Love,
Susan = )

Marty, Marty, Marty

2007-02-18T17:25:00.000-06:00

Today I decided to take some pictures of Marty to add to his blog. While I was taking them, he decided to come give me a kiss. I didn't get a picture of the "kiss," but I got close!

This picture turned out cute so I decided to add it on here. Be sure to check Marty's page (the link is on the right aka The Adventures of Marty Mischief) so you can see what trouble he's into now!

Be My Valentine...

2007-02-18T17:16:00.000-06:00

This is a picture of Lillie and Rosemary in their Valentine hats I knitted them. Aren't they cute!

We always send the girls a little package around the holidays. When I was in Lynchburg in December, I had the girls pick out some yarn and told them I would either knit them a hat or a scarf. Marla wanted a scarf, but Lillie and Rosemary wanted hats.

For Valentine's Day this year we went out for sushi on Tuesday night. We always avoid going out on Valentine's Day to avoid the crowd. So on Valentine's Day we had a quiet dinner at home and watched a movie. Marty even curled up on the couch and took a nap - that must have been his Valentine present to us.

Our Valentine present to each other this year is tickets to see Harry Connick, Jr. in concert next month. We've always wanted to see him and he's coming to Nashville in March. We are so excited! We're going with our friends Chris and Shannon to see him. Yay!

We hope you had a wonderful Valentine's Day filled with lots of love!

Susan

xoxoxo

A trip to Bristol

2007-02-18T17:11:00.000-06:00

We went to Bristol last weekend for a visit with Chris' parents. It's always so nice to be with family.

We spent the weekend just hanging out together and shopping at Wally World for a TV. It was so nice just to spend time with them.

Marty of course was his crazy self, exploring everything there. We spent a lot of the weekend saying, "Marty no, Marty stop, Marty, Marty, Marty..."

The Rat Pack!

2007-02-07T11:50:00.001-06:00

A few weeks ago Susan won tickets on her favorite radio station for a show in Nashville, The Rat Pack: Live from the Sands. It is part of the Broadway Across America Tour. We went last night and it was fabulous! We loved it.

The show had a record-breaking run in London's West End. The description from their web site describes it as "It recreates the ultimate meeting of three legendary performers. In 1960, while filming the casino robbery caper Ocean's Eleven in Las Vegas, Frank Sinatra got together a group of his closest buddies for impromptu concerts at the Sands Hotel. The Sands is no longer, and Frank, Sammy and Dean have left us, but THE RAT PACK transports you back to that moment in popular music history that has never been equaled."

The show was fantastic! The performers were so impressive. At times it seemed like they were the original Rat Pack.

It was fun too because it was downtown at night. We really felt like we were living in the "big city" by going into town at night with everything all lit up. We had a fantastic time and it was free!

A Visit from "Brother Tony"

2007-02-07T11:21:00.000-06:00

Last week Chris' cousin Tony, who lives in Raleigh with his family, surprised Chris by showing up at the office! Tony was in town for the night on a business trip and showed up at the Gideons and told them he was Chris' brother.

We had a nice visit. We got to hang out at the house a little while and then went out for Thai food for dinner.

Chris and Tony grew up next door to each other and were roommates in college. They don't get to see each other as often as they'd like so it was great to see him!

Bob & Sam's Wedding

2007-01-14T16:22:00.000-06:00

Saturday we went to the wedding of our friends Sam and Bob. They both work at the Gideon's headquarters and Sam works in Chris' department (her son JD is in the picture with them). Since they met at the Gideon's they decided to get married there too. It was a really nice ceremony.

They had wanted a very casual ceremony and pictures so they asked us to take pictures for them. You all know how we love to do that, so it was even more fun for us.

Sam and Bob had a really nice ceremony. They had her son JD light the unity candle with them and during the song, the three of them held hands in a circle while Bob prayed. It was so sweet.

The ladies from the Gideons decided to do the food for the reception for them. They did a great job! They even had each lady choose a table and provide their own place settings and glasses, so each table was done differently. It was really nice.

We were glad we were able to be there and help celebrate their special day!

Happy New Year!

2007-01-08T15:11:00.000-06:00

Happy New Year everyone! We didn't do a lot of celebrating this year since we both had the stomach flu. Yuck! But, we recovered quickly and our new year is off to a pretty good start so far.

We look forward to God's blessings in 2007 and pray that you will all be safe and happy.

Love,

Susan & Chris

Christmas & Susan's Birthday

2006-12-28T07:42:00.000-06:00

Chris looks ready to open some presents doesn't he?!?

We spent Christmas and Susan's birthday in Lynchburg this year with her family.

Susan's birthday was on the 23rd and we were busy visiting friends and family. First we got to sleep late...one advantage of leaving Marty in the kennel this year. Then we went to visit Susan's Grandmother who was in the hospital. Please keep her in your prayers since she is not well right now.

After that we ate lunch at Meriwether's where Susan used to work. Then it was off to visit her friend Paula and her family. Then Chris took her to her favorite jewelry store for some birthday shopping! After all that, we went back to her Mom's for dinner with her brother Doug and his family. It was a great day!

Christmas Eve was busy going to church. The highlight was going to Centenary for their 11 pm candlelight service. We got to see a lot of friends there and one of our former youth kids who's now grown up and living in the "real world" of working.

On Christmas we had a great time with Doug and his family. The girls were full of energy and excitement. Even though Lillie was sick, she still managed to get excited about all the presents. That afternoon we were able to visit with Susan's Grandmother.

After the girls got their afternoon nap, Susan's Aunt Myra and her family come over for dinner and more presents. It was great seeing them since we haven't been able to spend time with them since we moved.

We left Lynchburg the day after Christmas and stopped in Bristol for a long visit with Chris' family. It was so nice to be able to have some Christmas time with them. We ate lunch and opened presents. It was lovely.

It was a wonderful Christmas and we were able to visit with both of our families. It doesn't get much better than spending a little time with family during the holidays!