Trip to Arizona

The first week of December, we had the privilege of flying out to Arizona for a week to sing in some different churches. We had a lot of fun, and were able to see and do a lot of things while we were out there. It was an experience, though! Us girls and our brother had never flown before, and it was quite a chore getting everyone (and ten pieces of carry-on luggage) through security and onto the planes!

Our little brother was excited about getting ride on an airplane, until we got up in the air and he realized that we were up pretty high! He sat frozen in his seat, with his head down, saying quietly, "Help me. Help me. Somebody help me. Won't somebody please help me?" Lol!

On the way back, some of us, including my mom and brother, boarded the plane before the rest of the family. Mom was sitting next to the window, my little brother was in the middle seat, and they were waiting for Dad, who was supposed to sit in the aisle seat. Before he could get there, a man came along and began to stow his luggage in the overhead compartment. My brother began to get upset, thinking that man was gonna sit next to him. Mom reassured him that Daddy was gonna sit next to him! Then, the man sat down next to my brother!!! He began to holler and cry, until Dad came along and said, "I think my son wants me to sit next to him." The man was more than happy to move! Lol! I don't know if he ever realized that he had the wrong seat number or not!

Overall, it was a good trip, and we are thankful that the Lord kept us safe! Maybe someday we'll be able to do it again!

checking in at 4:00 a.m.
(don't they look excited! lol!)

snow somewhere...probably Illinois

we sang at Heaven's View Baptist in Casa Grande, Arizona
(the church is just three years old)

believe it or not, they weren't really sleeping! Lol!

snow-covered mountains near Flagstaff

Here's a small flea market-type stand. There were a lot of these by the side of the road once we got close to the Grand Canyon. From what I understand, they're mostly ran by Native Americans. We stopped at one and bought some pretty jewelry.

tumbleweed!!!

It was so awesome to stand at the edge of the Grand Canyon! I'd seen pictures before, but none of them do it justice! It's so huge! And what's even more awesome is that I know the God that made it! People that try to convince themselves that the Grand Canyon was formed by the Colorado River (which, by the way, looks like a trickle of water in the bottom of the Canyon) over millions and millions of years...they are crazy! And I would like to know, why haven't we seen this happen anywhere else?!?

my family
(don't we look crazy? it was freezing! and my brother was more interested in looking at the Grand Canyon than the camera!)

my sister with one of the pastor's daughters

my parents and little brother

(again, he was interested in something else besides a picture! Lol!)

throwing rocks into the Grand Canyon

Another Website

I now have another website up and running! Like the other one, it still needs some work, but at least it's up! :-)

This is the website of Rachel's father-in-law-to-be.


www.muleprints.com


Have a great Thanksgiving!

Excuses, Excuses

I'm always making excuses as to why I don't update my blog very regularly, but this one if for real! Lol! I've been busy learning to build websites (from scratch) with a program called Dreamweaver, and I finally have one up and running (well, there's still some work to do on it.) I would like to invite everyone to take a look....

www.duckriverboysbluegrass.com

and let me know what you think about it!

A Lot Can Happen in One Afternoon!

It was a cold Sunday afternoon, the second Sunday of November. My sister Hannah (the girl in the last pic on my previous post) had just gotten her driver's permit and was dying to impress somebody with her driving skills. Being the second girl in our family to get her permit, she just knew that she would be a better driver than me, even though I've been driving for over four years, and she had never been behind the wheel of a car.

For some reason (we couldn't get Rachel to tell us), Eric was coming over to talk with Dad. I think that was why it was so easy for me to convince Dad to let Hannah get some practice driving around the parking lot. After about 45 minutes, she was doing pretty good, so I convinced Dad to let us go out on the road. We had been out on the road for about 10 minutes, and she was doing pretty good and being very careful. Then we came to a place where the road teed into another, and I told Hannah to turn left. Very slowly, she started to make the turn, and realized that she was gonna have to give it some more gas to complete the turn. Somehow, she gave it way to much gas, and didn't turn the steering wheel hard enough! I tried to help, while hollering for her to hit the brake, but we crunched into a ditch, just a few feet away from a very high retainer wall! Talking about being scared!!! When the car stopped rocking, we put it into park, turned it off, and got out. The car had come to rest on three tires, with the back left tire up in the air above the road! It was then and there that I decided that being a driving instructor is not my calling in life! Lol!

I called Dad, and while he and Eric were on their way to come get us, it seemed like a hundred cars stopped and asked if we needed help! I don't why, because we were on a back street that isn't used a whole lot! And I hadn't brought my jacket because I hadn't planned on getting out, so I was freezing!

So when Dad and Eric got there, another man had stopped to help, and they chained the car to Eric's truck, and got ready to pull it out. Then the man got in my car and backed it right out without any help from the truck! Dad just laughed and said, "I can't believe you called me without even trying to back it out first!" Yeah, right! If I had backed it out, Dad would have said, "Why didn't you just wait until I got here to look at it?" Lol!

We later found out that we had interrupted a very important talk...Rachel and Eric are getting married!

Hannah has been getting plenty of teasing about her driving skills, and she still hasn't gotten a chance to drive again. I will gladly let Dad take her out next time. (BTW, Rachel and Sarah just got their permits last week, so there's three girls learning to drive at one time!)

Missions Revival

The last week of October, Bro. Stinnett Ballew came to our church to preach a Missions Revival.
Here's a picture of the preachers....

(my little brother says he wants to preach like Bro. Ballew when he grows up)

here's Bro. Ballew with my three youngest siblings...

Eric and one of his brothers came for one of the services, and afterwards they came over to our house for a game of Aggravation...

DOUBLE TROUBLE!!!

Fall Fellowship

Back in October, our church had a get-together at the house of one of our families. Even though it was chilly, most everybody came. It turned out to be a lot of fun!

Mom with one of our ladies

(btw, they were cold! Lol!)

another one of our ladies

(she's really fun to be around!)

getting a fire started

a couple of the boys that I watch occasionally
(aren't they cute?)


daughter of the family who hosted this
(she loves to come to church, and cries nearly every time when it's time to go home! Lol!)






observing the "apple bobbing"


what kind of look is that? Lol!


the egg race!

getting ready for the three-legged race
(they ended up falling over backwards before the race even started!
it was sooooo hilarious!)


our song leader and his wife

the couple who hosted this

my Mom and little brother
(he just couldn't stay awake any longer)

the last event of the evening...making s'mores