This weekend we had a wonderful time at the Opryland Hotel. It brought back so many memories of the day when we were married. It was decorated so beautiful for Christmas, and we shared our touring with David's brother, Brian and his family. We took the boat ride and ate pizza, and topped it off with delicious Haagen Dazs ice cream. If you ever get the chance to go see Opryland Resort Hotel with the beautiful decors it is well worth it! We enjoyed the rest of the weekend, and celebrated Austins 13th birthday. I am still in shock, that my boy is a teenager. Wow!! He is still such a sweet boy, and he loves life and nature to the fullest. I have started making my candies, buckeyes, oreo choc. dips, and Italian Gallettes. Have a very merry day, and I hope you enjoy everyday of this blessed season.

Opryland --Austin's bday

Home For The Holidays

The Holidays will be extra special this year, because its been a very long time since we lived near family. I hope to enjoy every single minute. I look forward to making our family favorites, fudge, cookies and maybe some new receipes that we will try.

God has blessed us in so many ways, and we have taken on some new challenges that I know he will help us through. This is truly a special season, and I am so thankful.... Have a wonderful Thanksgiving .

A Funny Little Story

As most of ya'll know I live with a son that just thrives on nature, and anything to do with it. He sets traps here, there and wherever he's allowed. We woke up to quite the little problem when Austin came inside and yelled, " Dad, Dad come see what I've caught... I'm not sure what it is." David gets dressed and ventures out to check out whats new for their trapping records. They both come back inside and quickly look up skunks on the computer, yes I did say SKUNKS. They discuss this creature that doesn't resemble a skunk, but finally found a picture of this special creature. The game plan begins.....now to let the animal out you have to get close enough to lift the lid. My dear husband, who supports his kids thru any trial..decides to take this matter into his own hands. Pictures tell all.... Emily and I had a inside view thru the sliding glass doors. It was the funniest comedy I have seen in a long while. I won't say to much more but yes, he did get sprayed even with the black armor of protection.ha I wish I could say it all has ended smelling like a rose, but no way, the little guy has treated us to his aroma two more times! I just know all of you will call me to book your visit with us in TN real soon!

Fun, Fun, Fun!

We took our family and my sister Awanda with her kids to Disney On Ice @ the Sommet Center across from the "Batman" building in downtown Nashville. We had a nice pizza picnic at Centennial Park where the Aparthenon is located. It was a fun evening, our favorites were the Lion King and of course good ol' Mickey and Minnie. The rest of the weekend was busy with the Homecoming Football game. I must say Austin thought this ordeal of escorting a cheerleader was pretty awful, he raced her down the isle and had a embarrsed look on his face. We'll see how long that last...... ha. We are half way thru the season, then hopefully, our lives will slow down. Have a great Day!

Big eagle

While travelling from our home to my parents house this week, David, Austin, Emily and Bailee saw the most beautiful Balde Eagle. They could hardly believe they had such a close interaction with our American Symbol. David took this picture before it majestically flew down the valley. This is the second one my family has seen in the wild. This reminds us of the scripture which says how good God is in Psalm 103:5 "who satisfies your mouth with good things; so your youth renewed like the Eagle's". God bless and have a great day!

Go Team!!!

We had our first football game Saturday night, and the mighty Warriors won. Yeah Team!! We took a van load of cheerleaders and Austin and my nephew Chase for a road trip to the ballgame. It was so fun, and very exciting to watch the kids in action. Unfortunately Monday night at practice Austin got his arm broke. We go next week to get the big cast on it. Yes, he is very bumed. He played such a great game and loved football. The coach told the team tonight that they have to go to the Superbowl so Austin can play one more time. The boys are being very helpful to him at school. Emily has cheerleading practice every night but Wednesday, this year its competitive cheering. She loves it, and we hope no broken bones for her. The weeks fly by, hopefully we will get some fall temps soon, it still feels like hot summer to me. I hope all my blogger friends have a great day!

ballgame

Our Birthday Girl, Emily

Emily is now 11 years old. Where did all the years go? We look back over the years how the Lord has blessed. Emily is a wonderful daughter. She has a sweet spirit and has a love for God. We love you Emy so much!! This year Emily has a passion for horses. Hopefully soon she can begin riding lessons. The theme for her party is horses. The cake was in a horse shoe shape. This is the first year that we got to celebrate with family. We enjoyed it very much. Emily got some special presents, thank you for the special teapots to add to her collection. One of her big surprises was her gymnastic jacket and her American Girl doll, Emily a gymnastic suit. We look forward to a happy year!

Emilys Birthday

Our Busy Life Here in Tennessee

Hi to all my Blogger Friends,

I think we are almost settled in, and the busy life of gardening has approached us. First off, I thought that once my parents retired that their lives would slow down a bit. Not so in the summer!!! We are in full force 0f gardening. My mom and I have put up about 85 quarts of gbeans, squash pickles that are so delicious, relish, next will be tomato juice, salsa and the list goes on and on..... It will be wonderful this winter, but I forgot how much work goes to having a big garden.

We love being close to my family, I have enjoyed catching up with cousins, aunts and uncles. I've even had a couple dinner partys. It is wonderful to spend time with my precious granny, who is 90 yrs.

Austin and Emily love it here. Austin has been coon hunting some, its really to hot to run the dogs, but he still enjoys the excitemint of the training. Emy loves horses, and she got to go to a TN Walking Horse show. She wants to take riding lessons. Football and Cheerleading practice has begun. We are at the ball field at least 4 nights a week. They both are doing good and making friends before school starts next week. Austin is pretty excited, he was picked to be one of the quarterbacks.

I am ready for some company, yall are all welcome.... As Paula Deen's sign in her restaurant said, " Come and I'll put a little "South in Your Mouth" .

Take care and please write soon. Have a Great Day!!!!

Goodbye for now...........

Dear Blogger Friends, This will be my last posting for awhile, we have been super busy this summer getting ready to move to Tennessee. The big truck will be here today and we leave on Monday morning. I'll post some picture highlighs of our time here in WV. We have bitter-sweet feelings as always when we move. We are sad to leave loved ones and happy so happy to be near my family. Thank you all who have been so special to us, we promise to keep in touch. I also want to show some of my husband's handy-work that he does on the side. I am so proud that he has this talent. God has blessed us, and brought us thru so much. We give him all of our praise. I'll look forward to blogging soon, its great to keep in touch with ya'll. Keep us in you prayers. Have a fun rest of the summer!!

highlights of wv

happy 4th

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What would summer be without VBS

We are in VBS this week at Daybrook Methodist Church. The theme is "The Galilee at the Sea". We have 8 of the 12 tribes of Israel. The tribe that I teach is Naphtali. I am enjoying wearing Bible costumes, the marketplace of crafts, and the synagogue. I would recommend this program, it's great! God is so good, and it's awesome to teach the children, and listen to what they learn. David is in charge of the playground sports. They have been casting a net into the sea (a swimming pool) to try to catch a large nemo fish, flipping frogs in a basket, rope pulling, walking with baskets full of fruit on their head. He is really enjoying the kids. I can't end without saying how wonderful the snacks have been, the ladies put together a beautiful tray filled with lots of fruits, fruit dip, veggies and dip, cookies, chips, mini muffins, bite size bagels with cheese. Thank you to everyone who has worked so hard to make this a great success!!

VBS

Happy Fathers Day!!

I want to say Thank you to my husband David for being such a wonderful father to our children. You are the best!! I have loved how you can sit in the floor and hold a barbie for Emily, and then turn around and dress camoflouge and head out to the hills with Austin hunting. You have been a great husband to me, better than I ever dreamed. I thank you for showing a christian example, and teaching the kids how God needs to always be first. We are so blessed.... We love You. I am also very thankful for my Dad, I know that I can always count on you for support, and for keeping me covered in prayer. I'll never outgrow your hugs and kisses. You have become The Worlds Best Papaw, Austin and Emily look so forward to moving back to TN so they can love on you all the time. Be careful that you don't get caught telling all your grandkids they are your favorite... We love you, Daddy Thank you Dad Marcum for being such a good dad and grandpa to us. You have always shown us such kindness and patience. We love you.

Our Wonderful Beach Vacation

Our vacation this year was to our very favorite place, Hilton Head Island, South Carolina. It feels like going home for us. We've been going there the last six years. We love the "Low Country" as the natives call it. Hilton Head has such charm being in a southern state. You can see the beautiful sea pine trees with the moss hanging down, tropical palm trees and such beautiful flowers. We love taking long bike rides that end up at the icecream shoppe,or the Island bakery, walks on the beach, and eating the most delicious seafood. This year David and Emily went on very early shell searching walks on the beach {at around 5:00 or 6:00am}. Emy searched for the perfect shells. We enjoyed our vacation with Brian and Angela, Sydnee and Jack.{David's brother and family} also our friends from Georgia the Rhynes and Neals. It was neat to go on the beach and see someone you know from home. Our kids also loved playing with their friends. One of the highlights of the week was when we rode the Trolley Car over to Harbor Town. There awaits The Crazy Crab Restaurant with the most delicious hushpuppies, and the famous Greg Russell singing-underneath the old oak tree next to the harbor...a favorite with kids and adults. One day while swimming in the ocean, Emily tells me she saw shark fins, soon the life guard sees the shark and the ocean is cleared. That was pretty scary!! Thru the years, we have gotten used to seeing Big AL the gator and the unlimited sea gulls. As always, time flies by when your having fun and Saturday rolls around before you know and it is time to check out. We added an extra day enjoying Savannah, Georgia. We enjoyed a wonderful lunch from Paula Dean's Restaurant "The Lady & Sons". The food was scrumptious!!! It was like eating @ my dear mothers table. We didn't have reservations, and it was so booked up so we did the next best thing we took our food to the beautiful park next door. Have a good summer and we hope you will enjoy your vacation!

Time to be Beach Bums

Yeah!! It's finally vacation time. We are headed to Hilton Head Island. We are so ready to be beach bums for a week. We will share all the excitement when we get back.

How Did You Celebrate Memorial Day?

How did you celebrate Memorial Day? We celebrated the day with some good food, some good friends,and a good game of basketball. The Ellis family came to our house, and I prepared a good o' southern Fish Fry. We had farmed raised catfish, (straight from the Tennessee River) homemade hushpuppies, tradional white beans, coleslaw, frenchfries, and to top it off peanut butter pie. Thank you for coming, Ya'll come back now, ya-hear!

Mothers Day

Happy Mothers Day....to all you special mothers. Today Emily and I had the privilege to attend a Mother Daughter Tea. We had a really nice time together. I wish that my dear mom and mother n-law could of joined us. Its brag time, I think my mother for being such a wonderful mom. She has so many loving traits that I hope I pass down to my family. I am so thankful for the christian heritage that she has pass down to me. My husband thanks her everytime we are together for her wonderful cooking ability. Yes, we think she is queen of southern cooking. Thank you mom for just being wonderful you... We love you.

Wild, Wonderful West Virginia

Last evening we went to our good friends Dan and Becky Ellis. They have such a beautiful retreat. We played a Buckeye game called Corn Hole, had a bon fire, and sat around eating smores. Austin was in the hight of his glory, he, Joey and Jacob caught frogs. Thanks to Mr. Dan finding Austin a portable bucket, we brought Austin's prize Bull Frog home. Emily and Jenna always have such a good time together. We Thank You, for such a nice evening.

Life's Birdnest

"Spring forward"- My lesson to learn today would come from the perfectly shaped Robin's nest that has nestled in my ivy arrangement on the deck. I took notice of the little nest over a week ago. It started with just being twigs... then a soft covering of mud so water wouldn't spoil it. Each day it seemed to become more beautiful. I showed Austin and Emily and we were thrilled that she chose our deck to make her home. Over the weekend we discovered one little egg, then another, and another. Soon three eggs were there. So perfectly blue and beautiful. No one has seen mommy bird yet, except Emily did this morning.

Our good scripture reminds us when Jesus said "Behold the birds of the air. They sow not, nor reap, nor gather into barns. Yet, your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much better than they?" How real is our God who cares about us so much. In this same scripture reference Jesus admonished us not to worry. He said those who don't know God are consumed with the"cares of this life". A simple lesson from a Robin's nest.

Family Fun Night

We enjoyed our very special "night out" with our good friends the Ellis family. First, we ate dinner together @ CiCi's Pizza then off to WVU coliseum to see the world famous "Harlem Globetrotters". We were in for a treat as "Big Easy" and "Hi Rise" MC'd while they played against the Washington Generals. . Austin said he dreams of dribbling for them some day and being called "Vanilla swirl". What a game. During halftime we enjoyed the show and our frozen lemonades. What a Fun Evening!!

Spring Break

What a wonderful Spring Break. We started Easter Sunday in WV at the Ellis house. Dan and Becky were so nice to share the holiday with us. Becky prepared a beautiful meal and the kids enjoyed the afternoon of egg hunting and the family game of B-Ball. Off to Cincy, we spent a couple of nights with my sister, Sherry. We ate all of our old favorites, Skyline Cheese Coneys, Larosa's Pizza, and of course Graeters Ice Cream. We enjoyed Sherry and her beautiful home. We also caught up with our friends Steve and Michelle. Thanks for the delicious meal. You have a sweet family! While still in town we took in the Zoo and the Creation Museum. If you get the chance to go to the Creation Museum... Go! It is wonderful! Moving right along, we traveled to Louisville, Ky to visit David's Brother Brian, Angela and their children Sydnee and Jack. We enjoyed them very much. Can't wait to see you in HH. On the road again to Indy to visit our Special Life Long Friends Danny and Ronda England. We had a wonderful time at their Bed & Breakfast. They are the perfect host. The kids had as much fun as we did. We look forward to future vacations together. Ya'll have a precious family! We loved seeing Mark, Anita, Nate and Ron & Diane. We love your family!

My Little Davy Crockett

What is the saying about little boys being made up of..... snails, nails and puppy dog tails? Where does it say Hound Dogs, Raccoons, Lead Straps and Lights? Yes, I said Coons.... It started many generations ago, I guess with the Great Gramps, and then the Grand Gramps, and then my dear Daddy, who passed this on to Austin. When Austin was two or three yrs old, his vocabulary was "Toon Dog", "Toon Hunter" and imitating 2 and 3 dogs barking like they had a coon up a tree. Now Top that for talent!!..ha I'll explain a little, since those of you who have never heard of the great sport "Coon Hunting". It involves very talented Coon Hound Dogs, Long hikes in the woods, and of course, Raccoons. I'll leave everything else to your imagination. Austin's passion now is trapping,{not the kind that hurt the animals}and training his dog. I'm trying hard to be so ever excited with all this...., and I must say I never fear of broken bones like I have in so many other sports that he is involved in. Yes, I thank the Lord for my wonderful adventures that I have with my boy.

Walking In My Footsteps.....

Over the past few years while walking on the beach, Emily and I have enjoyed watching her feet grow. "Look mommy, my feet are almost as big as yours... I am going to be just like you someday". As I looked thru our vacation pictures, I came across this one and could hear her sweet words. I'm cherishing such good memories. But now, I have such a burden upon me, Are my footsteps so perfect for my baby girl to walk in them??? What an enormous responsibility God has given to us as moms' to be the perfect role model. Life is life, but God is God, and I am so thankful that He can give us guidance for our imperfections. I want to try and live each day so pleasing to Him, Emy can be so proud to be like me when she grows up. Does she see God in me when I'm on the phone?.... Does she see God in me when I've had a sleepless night, the routine of life seems busier than ever....... He Gently Leads Those That Have Young. Isaiah 40:11 Lord, help mothers to trust in You, to know that You are enough to make us enough. -- Carol Kuykendall

My Cozy Quilts....

My Cozy Quits...... During these dreary cold winter days, what better to do than curl up, read a good book, drink some special coffee and feel embraced with so much Love...... My quilts are so special to me, I cherish every single stich that was sewn, and all the prayers prayed while putting these quilts together. They come from many generations and are such heirlooms to pass on. I am working on one for Emily. We have cut up many of her favorite dresses. Our pattern is a TeddyBear. I'll blog when we complete. ** Interesting fact I've read recently in the Heritage Days when quilts were prominent. Quilts were turned over to reveal their beautiful stitching before company would arrive. This would give the ladies such pride of their worthy handywork. I hope you enjoy seeing my treasures, I would love if you would drop me a line......Stay warm!

Proverbs 31:22 "She (virtuous woman) makes for herself coverings of tapestry"

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Happy Valentine's Day

To All Our Friends This Heart Season. Have a wonderful and loving day with the ones you love. John 3 :16

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Emily's Cheering

I want to introduce our Cheerleader of the family. Emy has cheered for 4 yrs, and spends alot of her time flipping, and standing on her head. We study by putting our school work to cheers. It works, so hey!! GOOOO Team!!!

The Hoops BB Team

Just a quick note to introduce Austin's BB Team. We have had busy, fun weekends watching the guys play. David has enjoyed coaching the team. Austin is number 13.

The Pets In Our Lives

I want to introduce our dogs that have become such a big part of our lives. This is Lucky. She has been in the family for 4 yrs. We love her. The newest addition is Austin's pride and joy. His name is "Daybrook's Radical Jack", sounds pretty impressive, don't you think? My son is a Full Pledged Coonhunter. There is never a dull, or quite moment.

Our Dear Friends From Tennessee

After our trip to McEwen, we were very excited to visit Chattanooga. We enjoyed a fun night at Joe & Greta Rhyne's house. Greta and I made mad dashes to several Cracker Barrels and Walmarts. We shopped and shopped trying to find all the best buys after Christmas. {my next year's tree will have a new blue wardrobe}It was great fun being with them, .... Moving right along to some well missed barbecue. WV has some wonderful Italian food, but .. you sometimes miss your root foods. We met Debbie,Craig & Maribelle. Debbie was Austin & Emily's wonderful kindergarten teacher. She gave them such a great start. We are blessed with their friendship. We all adore Maribelle, she is by far the most fashionable dog we that know. The rest of the weekend was spent with the kids other Nanna, Mrs. Ford. We all love and miss her so much. We enjoyed her B&B, and loved going to our old church with her. It was great to see so many loved ones. Our trip back to WV was pretty great, my loving husband stopped at eight Cracker Barrels and two Michael's, so I could finish my "Tree Wardrobe Mission" Thanks for blogging with me.

Our Tender Tennessee Christmas

My Wonderful Tender Tennessee Christmas I know we are a little late starting this blog, but better late than never.... We started our holiday with a visit to Mom and Dad Marcum. It was a short but very sweet. We enjoyed our visit, and were treated to Nanna's special breakfast. On the road again, heading off to Tennessee. We had a great trip..... as the old saying goes "There's No Place Like Home" All of my family came over and we had our traditional Christmas Eve party. We were home for several days, David loved being back at mom's Dinner Table, Austin couldn't of been any happier, he had papaw and all the hunting a boy could possibly do. Emy loved playing and making up for lost time with cousin Bailee. I just enjoyed it all! We got to spend some quality time with my granny {who just turned 90} We had a wonderful time, and she gave me a new quilt that she made for me. I will treasure it forever! I loved spending time with Sherry and Awanda my sisters and my little niece Lillie, and Chase. We feel so blessed to have such a special family.....

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