Ballinger Christmas Party 2008

Here are some pictures from our Ballinger
Christmas Party 2008. We had a great time
talking about old memories. Uncle Dick
brought a few old things of his dad's for us
to see and that started a competition to see
who had the coolest things of their parents.
Uncle Dick had a knife he was given when he
was tall enough to reach the handle of a door
they had (I hope I got that right). He waited
a long time to achieve that. He also brought
an axe that Grandpa used when he went
hunting. I had a special guard over the blade
that made it unique.
Uncle Jerry pulled out a $100.00 bill that
Grandpa would carry in his wallet (Can I see
that?).
My Mom brought out her parents class rings.
It proved to be very interesting as more things
were produced.

Here is the Queen Bee (Mom) being Hostess.

We only had one kitchen mishap (sorry mom I

have to tell on you), she made coffee but later

figured out she didn't put water in the coffee

maker. In our house mistakes are aloud.

(Thank Goodness!)

Candi with Zach (her youngest). He wanted

that food so much. He had his arms stretched

out as far as he could straining to reach it.

It was adorable!

This is Candi w/ Zach, Dave, and Josh w/ Noah


Bad picture but this is Uncle Dick with my

cousins, Steve and Scott.



This is Aunt Barb (love those Punpkin Bars!)

and Sharon (married to Steve).


And now we have Uncle Paul with Jeremy(my

2nd cousin, son of Scott). Open your eyes Paul!

Sorry my picture skills have to improve.

Here is Lora (Paul's wife) and Uncle Jerry.

We had a ball singing karaoke that night. This

is Paul and Lora performing "The Lion Sleeps

Tonight".

Uncle Dick did a great job with "New York, New

York". Candi scored the highest with "The Rose".

I sang "You're the One That I Want" from Grease.

I wasn't sure that I wanted to do it, I kept passing

tha mic to mom. But I now want to know why we

haven't done this before. We laughed and sang

together and really enjoyed ourselves. It was good

to see people get out of their comfort zones.

I hope you enjoyed our memories!!

Believe God,

Jamie

Delight me Lord

About a month ago on Nov. 5th the day after
our Pres. election, I woke up early to turn on
the news to see who won. Well, needless to say
I was very disappointed at the outcome. I got
up to start my day in this disappointment, not
rushing to get anything done. I was trying to
sort through my feelings and get on with school
with the kids. I didn't even get dressed before
Dave got home from work (Hey, I home school,
who is gonna see). Dave quickly left as I recall
to go hunting and right when I was going to get
in the shower my dog (Bear) got loose and I had
to at least put some jeans and a jacket and to go
chase him.

Well, first let me tell you that Bear is a beagle,
and beagles love to chase after things that they
smell, and they smell everything. So if he gets
loose he is off like the wind. I should also tell you
that I don't usually chase after him. It's Dave's
dog so I let the kids and him do the chasing.
Now remember Dave has left so it is up to the
kids and I to find him and bring him home (LOL).
I laugh because the dog is fast and doesn't listen
to anyone except maybe Dave when he is loose.
Ok, so here we are running in the tall weeds, I have
my cell phone and call Dave while running and
tell him HIS DOG is loose and he needs to come
home. So even though he is not happy about
missing out on hunting he comes home and
catches up with us. We are now armed with
walkie talkies and cell phones so we can talk
with each other.

So Dani and I walk up this path to see if we
can here anything (Bear yelps a lot if he is
chasing something). Dave and Ty head back
in the woods and tall brush and Ash stays
on a small hill in the middle to catch him if
he runs back through there. So Dani and I end
up on top of this hill on the path and don't hear
anything so we turn around and at this point
we can see Ashley sitting on her little hill.
Well, all of a sudden she stands up quick and at
the same time we hear some thrashing in the tall
weeds. She is running towards what she thinks
is Bear (and we think that also) but it turns out
to be a deer. All three of us assume that Bear
must be chasing it (because he has done that
before) but it is actually 2 deer running. They
see Ashley and turn and head towards Dani and
I. Well, all I could think was where is the camera
when you need it. Then I remember I can take
pictures with my cell phone but I am so excited
about the deer running towards us that I can't
remember how to turn the camera part on (my
Father-in-law called it "Buck Fever"). So seeing
them coming closer I tell Dani to get down so they
don't see us (remember we were on a path
surrounded by tall grass). Well, believe it or not
they ran right by us about 6 feet away. They
jumped right over the path we were on. It was
the coolest thing ever.

(Later I found out that Dave and Tyler scared the
deer where they were, sending them our way.)

When that happened I was reminded that Beth
Moore (You don't know who she is? You should
find out!) was at her cabin in the woods writing
and ask the Lord to delight her that day and sure
enough she went out for a walk and came upon
an Elk that was bugling. What a sight that would
have made! Can you imagine? Well, needless to say
she was very much delighted that day.

So back to my story, I thanked the Lord right then
and there for delighting my spirit and on a day that
started in such disappointment.

So I want to challenge you to ask the Lord to delight
you today and see what happens. I am sure that he
would take much pleasure in doing that for you. Be
on the look out for it. It might come in some way you
aren't expecting, like it did for me.

Taste and see that the LORD IS GOOD!!

P.S. I did get in the shower that day and we did find
Bear with the neighbor's help (and her dog -Bear
loves Zoey).

Believe God,

Jamie

Turkey Day Coma

I hope you all have survived your Turkey Day
Coma's. You know what I'm talking about, when
can't seem to do much of anything because you
ate to much but had a great time doing it.

We had a wonderful time. We decided not to wait
for the turkey to finish cooking because it wasn't
done when 1:00 came around (I think it was done
at about 4:00). Things like that seem to happen
for our family, how about yours? We have had
china make sparks in the microwave (Who would
think the metal trim would do that?), set toasters
on fire and had to throw them in the snow bank
outside, we have had red or green potatoes because
mom thought it would look more festive, just to
name a few.

Holidays in our family are a lot of fun!!

So after lunch we played with my Brother-in-law,
Josh's, new Wii gaming system. It was a ton of fun!!
You really get a work-out with it. Tyler was playing
tennis, bowling, boxing, and baseball and was
wondering way he was so sore a few days later. I said,
"Remember that we told you you would be sore from
playing so hard", and he said,"Oh, I thought you were
kidding." Silly kid!

Then on Friday I got up a little after 4:00, left the
house at 5:00 and was at Wal-mart at 5:15. People can
be crazy at that hour. I got my "bargains" and moved on
to the next store, and the next, and the next....

I love buying for my kids and others (I did find a thing
or 2 for myself I must admit). I love the adventure of
shopping the day after Thanksgiving. I must also say
it is very tiring and I didn't get to bed until after
10:00pm but I had a great day.

I hope you made great memories with your family
on this Thanksgiving, the day we set aside to be
thankful for all that God has blessed us with.

Thank You, Lord, for all the wonders you put in our
lives. We are truly blessed!!

Believe God,

Jamie