Not been the best of weeks.....let's see, Nathan is now scheduled for surgery to remove his tonsils, and we are finding out more about the H1N1 virus than we ever wanted to know.  Apparently it is making its rounds on the base here, and it seems that we may have acquired it!  Janelle was very sick this week, and is now on Tamiflu (third trimester, high risk - they put her on it before test results were in)...and Willie and I are experiencing a milder version of whatever it is that she has!   And now....Nathan has come down with it, and believe me, he is NOT an ideal patient!!  To add insult to injury, someone scratched an obscenity into the back passenger door of Janelle's SUV!   Like, I said....not the best of weeks!  But I am reminded that our time here is ordained of God, and that we are here to help....and we have been.....getting lots of "Mimi and Papa" time with the boys and helping Janelle out in any way we can.  We are grateful that Janelle seems to be on the recovery side of this stuff, along with Willie, and hopefully Nathan and I won't be too far behind!

This is Nathan's new favorite activity....."craft time".  He asks me each day if we can do a "cwaft".....I love it!

Zach looked like he was enjoying "cwaft time" too, didn't he?  AND, miracle....he didn't have his cheesy posed grin on his face!

Nathan doesn't look too sick here, does he?  Just full of mischief...our little Dennis the Menace!


Have a wonderful Lord's Day tomorrow...guess we'll have our own "church" here since we don't want to pass along whatever (H1N1?) it is that we have....but God meets us anywhere, so the place doesn't matter....just the state of our hearts.

Our first weekend in Gulfport was not uneventful.  Soon after we arrived, we noticed that our front air conditioner was dripping....not a good thing! (It had happened once before, but you know how we sometimes tend to hope it was a "once-in-a-lifetime" occurrence...well, it wasn't!)  Consequently, Willie spent a good part of the day on Saturday up on the roof, disassembling and cleaning the AC unit.  Part of that cleaning produced a waterfall down into the main area of the RV so I had to make quick work of pulling out the pans to catch the water.  Long story short, the AC is working and with no drips or leaks....yay for my handyman.


We are enjoying spending time with Janelle and the boys....(no photos now, but will be posting some later in the week)....went to a rock and gem show Saturday afternoon.  It was neat watching the boys interact with some of the vendors....and surprise them with their knowledge of fossils, etc.  I'm sure I didn't know what a particular type or species of dinosaur's teeth looked like....but Zach sure did! 


Just a thought from this morning's message at the church Janelle and Chris attend.....from I John, second chapter.....I want to be sure that my thoughts and affections are fixed on things of the Lord....and not on things that do not matter in the eternal scheme of things....so my prayer for this week is that I will keep my focus where it needs to be...on Him.   Where is your focus?

WE'RE HERE....in Gulfport, Mississippi, that is! We arrived late yesterday afternoon after a challenging drive from Mt. Juliet, TN....a big part of the challenge was some of the weather we drove through, and then there is always construction which is just sooooo much fun with a big rig. Oh, and then there was the steering stabilizer that we had worked on when we were in TN....it came loose on one side and was dragging along underneath the motorhome. NOT a good thing when you are going down the interstate at speed! Praise the Lord it didn't do any apparent damage to anything else, and Willie was able to remove it before we continued on our way.

It is also a praise that I am now "connected" again....those computer and internet withdrawal pains are pretty severe, let me tell you! We were able to pick up the computer (all cleaned up and OS reinstalled) from the Geek Squad just before the store closed on Wednesday....making our quick get-away possible yesterday morning!

I don't want to fail to bring you up to date on LFI - last night the 10 acres of land that have been purchased in Eaton, OH were dedicated for the Lord's use....and HOPE Singers Puerto Rico continues to roll! It is so awe-inspiring to see God at work as individuals and groups allow themselves to be used by Him!

Last, but not least, especially for photo addicts like myself, I'm posting a few of the photos from our VA trip below and will be putting more up as time allows.....but right now I have to start thinking about putting dinner together for Janelle and her boys.....how does hotdogs with all the trimmings sound? Now if the next band of storms will just hold off for awhile...

Willie, with our grandaughter, Alyssa who is now a junior at Old Dominion University and plans on being a kindergarten teacher. This summer she was a member of the Capitol Regiment Drum Corp....and has the tan lines to show for all those hours spent in the sun.
And her younger brother, Nicholas, who missed his sister terribly while she was gone. He will be in the fifth grade.....youch!!! Oh, yeah....and that's me, in case you hadn't figured it out yet!
Mr. Big Eyes himself, Brandon.....who is anxiously awaiting the start of kindergarten in just a couple of weeks....bet he'll have the girls chasing him before too long!
Sierra, who is now in second grade, with baby brother Tyreese....they live in Charlottesville, VA
along with sister Kaila, who is now in kindergarten, and their mom, Amber.
The Codester.....aka Cody, who just returned from a missions trip to the Bahamas and is getting ready to return to high school after Labor Day, with his eye on attending the Free Will Baptist College in Nashville, TN.
We have been blessed beyond measure.....and pray God's blessing on you and yours today!

THIS BLOG IS NOW UNDER RENOVATION....PLEASE BE PATIENT WITH US!!!! : )

As promised, here a few "non-family" type photos from our recent outing to the zoo...

A boy's fascination.....and a mom's "Yuck"!!

A mom's "awwww" and a boy's, "Come on....let's go

see the____________ (fill in the blank)!

And representative of one of everyone's favorites at the

zoo....a majestic and gianormous elephant.

For more photos from our zoo trip, click on the Flickr badge at the left.....have a fun day!

FYesterday found us at the Norfolk Zoo....time for some "communing" with the animals and making memories with family!

"Paw" and "Boy" - watching the meerkats......
......and having fun in the fountains! Those laughs are stored in my memory banks forever!

Mimi and Brandon....my "sugah bear". He has a small brown mole on the side of his neck, which is his "brown sugar"....and only Mimi is allowed to have any! If I didn't like brown sugar before....I sure would now!
Those "candid" moments make some of the best and more memorable photos.....

And, yes, we did take lots of animal and flower photos, but somehow they don't just capture my heart the way these pictures do....but I will upload some of them tomorrow.

Have a great day....or evening...whichever applies....and don't forget to spend time with your loved ones....those "slices" of time that can never be recaptured, but can be relived in our memories.

It's almost time....to do "our thing" and hit the road again, that is. We will be leaving Mt. Juliet, TN tomorrow right after the morning worship service, heading to Virginia Beach, with stops along the way. We are planning to stop and see friends, Al and Pat Conrey and hopefully, Lee and Esther Smith, in the Cookeville area, and then continue our trek eastward.

It has been a productive time here, and it is good to know that we are following the Lord's leading, even if the ways we get there are sometimes a little convoluted (at least it seems that way to us)!

Before we started packing up and preparing for our trip (leaving the motorhome behind for this one), we spent an evening relaxing on my brother's deck, overlooking Old Hickory Lake. Thought you might like to see a few of the photos I snapped during our time there. This one seems especially apropos....after all, his last name is Fox!
I'm not sure that any feathered creatures make their home in this little house, but I wouldn't be surprised to find a few ants or spiders....but I thought it was photo-worthy, just the same.
And I'm always a "sucker" for pretty flowers! I may not have flower beds now, but I always manage to have some pretty pots of flowers to set outside the motorhome steps!
As we were preparing to leave to head back to our "home", we stopped to enjoy this beautiful sunset on the lake.....God's artwork that He paints....how beautiful.
And, of course, this is a sight I never get tired of seeing.....my wonderful hubby....God truly has been gracious!
LFI update - As we speak, after a long two-years in the planning stages, HOPE Singers Puerto Rico is in the middle of their first concert....praise the Lord! And another praise....a couple in Ohio just purchased a ten-acre tract in Eaton, OH with the thought of making it available to LFI for use as a possible retreat center and headquarters! Dedication of the land will be held this Tuesday....please pray with us that God will continue to guide our leadership and that we will follow always in the way He lays out before us!

Have a blessed Lord's Day....He is worthy of all praise!