Tuesday, January 19, 2016

Oh, Atlanta!


Downtown Atlanta on New Year's Day
with The Peppers to ride
the Sky View Ferris Wheel

Faith and Lily glad to see
each other!

Cole staying warm

Wow!

Milla and Samuel always
livening things up!

A run down Peachtree Street after
a ride on the new street car

*A day with friends to kick off the new year*
Samuel, Brandon, Cole, me, Faith, Milla,
Lana, Jordan, Lily, Andrew, Ben,
Jackson and Brooke

very long escalator ride
at the Peachtree Center Station

Headed home

a ride on Marta to check out
this neat city we get to live in!

CHEERS!
***happy new year***
In the first sermon of the
New Year Jeff Henderson
talked the idea of picking
one fruit of the spirit to
focus on for the year...
and another the next year...and
so on..for 9 years.
He chose peace..
still trying to decide
which one to pick...
*LOVE, JOY, PEACE, PATIENCE,
KINDNESS, GOODNESS,
FAITHFULNESS, GENTLENESS
SELF-CONTROL*

New Year's hugs for everyone's
sweetheart....Hank!!

(Becky and me in back
Allison, Brittany and Blakeley in front)
Got to get together and talk for
hours with my high school friends!
Love to catch up! We met at CRU
at the Avalon....we shared a delicious
appetizer...goat cheese beignets with honey!

(Michelle, Kelly, me, Chanler, & Anne)
,,,and then I got the treat of seeing my
College friends too while everyone was in
town for the holidays! What a treat! I got
to be roommates with each of these girls!
Michelle was in town from Charlotte, Kelly
from Peachtree City, Chanler also from
Charlotte, and Anne back
in town from Birmingham!
Anne always picks good food--who knew
Nordstrom cafe was so great?
I followed Anne's lead and got half of
an Asian chicken salad and a cup
of Crab Bisque! YUM!

ChristmasTime


colorful table at the
Christmas Eve Feast at
Gran Mum and Cappies...
my favorite things on the menu
were brussel sprouts with bacon
and the sweet potato casserole!

Gran Mum and Cappie's tree

little Christmas angels

Cole got his very own stuffed
golden retriever...of course he calls
it Hank

Gran Mum and Cappie

Candlelight service at Church of
the Apostles

lots of excited giggles Christmas morning

Milla was crossing her fingers for
high top converse and new clothes
for her doll!

Faith was hoping for a curling
iron and legos!

Cole's wish came true....."ball"

Milla, Faith and Cole were
just as excited for Brandon
and me to open the gifts
they got us as they were to open
their own!

We got to spend Christmas
morning with Grandpa!!
We had breakfast casserole and
played with the new toys!

Where Milla and Faith sit to wait for
guest to arrive

Christmas dinner with Mimi, Papa Ray,
Brian, Kelli, Lydia and Granddaddy
*Brian and Kelli got Brandon a selfie stick
for Christmas! :)

Kelli made this delicious spicy dip that
kept us all coming back for more...
Hot Jezebel Dip:
1 cup pineapple preserves
1 cup apricot preserves
1/4 cup horseradish, drained (not sauce)
3 TBSP dry mustard
1tsp pepper
mix all together and pour over 8 oz. of
softened cream chesse. serve with crackers
(makes enough to serve twice)

Cousins opening presents....the girls got
pretty, musical, ballerina jewelry boxes
and Cole got a neat tool/hammering set
that was Brandon's when he was
his age!

Granddaddy Rogers

Papa Ray & Mimi

Brian & Kelli

Brandon & Megan
(the weather was crazy!
unseasonably warm! we
had short sleeves on!)



Cole Growing Up

Gingerbread Houses

We tried to get a lot of projects
done around the house on the
holiday break....Brandon was
a dare devil painting the foyer!

Light Of The World

"The light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness can never
extinguish it" JOHN 1:5
***
"Light of the world
you stepped down into darkness.
Opened my eyes, let me see.
Beauty that made this heart adore You
Hope of a life spent with You"
***
"King of all days
Oh, so highly exalted
Glorious in heaven above
Humbly You came
To the earth You created
All for love's sake became poor"
***
In one of the sermons we
heard in December Andy Stanley
said... at Christmastime there
are problems we can't solve,
people we can't control and
expectations we can't meet...
but, Christmas is the MOST
WONDERFUL TIME OF THE
YEAR...not for what is
HAPPENING...but because of
what HAPPENED

The Santa Clause that we have gone to
for the past couple of years wasn't open this
year--but, we had a great time visiting
Santa at the Avalon.

Cousins waiting to see Santa

Train Ride around the shops

Lauren came to join in the fun!
(look at her little navy slip on flats!)

Sweet, patient, kind Santa
The girls loved him....Cole
screamed when he looked at
him and asked what he wanted
for Christmas!!

Mission Trip in our own town with
the Muschara's...Wes, Maggie, Colt & Marley

In the mornings I like to listen to Victory 91.5..
they have a morning show called "Rise & Stein"
with David & Leanna Stein (in picture above).
They are a married couple and their show is
really good.  They do segments of things like
"3 things we find highly, wildly amusing" where they
share three good verses, quotes..etc...that stood out
to them that day,  they tell funny marriage stories,
they talk about "studying your spouse", and they
read daily devotionals.  David has a really neat
story....he is Jewish and 6 years ago someone
told him the good news and he
believes in Jesus!

They kept advertising on the radio station
"The Christmas Toy Giveaway"
through the Atlanta Dream Center
atldreamcenter.com
They collected toys for families in need
and then asked for volunteers to help
deliver the toys.  They encouraged families
to come and bring their kids. It was
AWESOME!!

It was so organized and planned out--we got
assigned to an area of town-- bags of toys for
the ages of the children in the families--
and we got the pleasure of delivering them
to the very welcoming families.  Only
one person in each of the two families
we visited spoke English--but, they translated.
Milla shared the whole Christmas story
with the first Family...Faith joined in and
said "they brought him gold, frankincense
and myrrh."

Faith at her school
Christmas performance!
She was a little shy at first
but she was going all out
with all the motions by the end!

Emily and Faith in their
polk-a-dots

Milla's class party
(Tanya, Sarah and Milla)

Cole having fun with the Kindergartners!
"cheese"

more props at Faith's Preschool Party...
Cole joined in for this one!
(Hope,Joseph,Brooke,Cole,Faith,Hadley,Braxton)

Faith with her sweet teachers
Mrs. Malone & Mrs. Wyatt

It is hard to drop your kiddos off anywhere
and head to work....but, this picture makes me
so happy and thankful for Ms. White's house
and all of their buddies!
There is Christmas Cheer here!
Abbey, Milla, Ethan, Ms. White, Cole,
Elise, Emily, Annie and Faith

my office Christmas Party at
Dr. Harbaugh's house
(Dawn,Brooke,Lindsey,Kathy,Cate,Piia,
Allie,Hilary,Dixie,Me, Ashley & Amanda)

My Date!

*Polar Express Party at the Hershey's*
Movie & Hot Chocolate