Monday, January 19, 2009

2009 - A New Year Begins with Old and Dear Friends

We had a marvelous time the second of January traveling over to Marietta and visiting with old friends. Rick and Judy Crumbley joined us for a quick dinner and the Legacy Five (our favorite southern gospel group) 10 year Anniversary concert at Roswell Street Baptist Church (and Greater Vision - another favorite - performed as well). On Saturday we met Ted and Mich Sanders for lunch and just enjoyed catching up on life, kids and grandkids. That night Rick, Judy, Barron and I enjoyed dinner at the Marietta Fish Market (yummy shrimp for me!) and then laughed our way through several hands of Uno! Sunday morning we were given the tour of the new facility for Noonday Baptist Church and were excited to see many familiar faces from our past: Mayrice Graham, Glenda and Sammy; Richard and Judy Walden; Dick and Carole Schneider; Jack, Iris and Johnsey Cook; Marie Prance; Margaret Jackson -- oh how sweet the fellowship!! Sammy and Glenda joined us for dinner at the Rib Ranch restaurant for good barbeque.

We stopped by Tommy and Kathy Graham's in New Georgia as we were making our way home. What a sweet time of visiting and catching up on their three girls!

Bill and Dian McDonald were our guests on Friday, January 15, as Bill was the guest speaker for the SAM Breakfast (Spring Arbor Men) on Saturday morning. Dian and I had a leisurely breakfast (which I actually prepared) and a chance to catch up with what had been going on with our kids, parents, and siblings. Bill (on staff at University of Alabama as Director of Sports Medicine) was a big hit at the breakfast as he had brought BAMA memorabilia with him to share! Several of the boys were particularly delighted to receive autographed pictures of Nick Saban! One was heard to tell his parents: "This was the best day of my life!"

Saturday night was our Sunday School Adult 2 Fellowship Dinner and the dominoes and rook cards came out! Again, an evening of sweet fellowship. On Sunday, Roger and Vicki invited us to join them at the movie, and the funny thing was we were already at the movie theatre waiting for the show to begin, and we enjoyed a brief time of eating and fellowship afterward -- as only Baptists can -- at Jack's before heading to our respective homes.

God is so good ................

Monday, January 5, 2009

Family Ties








Christmas is all about surprises! Santa brought the kids a Wii !! Caleb was the PRO at bowling, scored over 200! Then Daddy Barron and I had to try baseball -- my arm ached for quite a while! The girls loved their new kitchen, the boys got Legos -- and so much more!
We watched the little ones exchange their gifts to each other, then gave them gifts from us, plus Christmas Day with the Benton clan: parents/siblings/inlaws/children/grandchildren but sure missed Nate being in Texas!!
Barron and I hope each of you had a Merry Christmas and will have a WONDERFUL NEW YEAR!!