What I Am Reading....

This book is set during World War II, a story seen through the innocent eyes of Bruno, the eight-year-old son of the commandant at a concentration camp, whose forbidden friendship with a Jewish boy on the other side of the camp fence has startling and unexpected consequences. This book is now being made into a movie with a release date of November 14, 2008. Has anyone else read this book? If so I would love to discuss it with you.

Two Girls and a Dog

Happy Birthday Angie

Happy Birthday to Our Little Angie! We love you Sweetie!

Autumn Sunshine

My beautiful daughter... Miss Sunny

Studying the migration route of the wood thrush

Sassafras the Corn Snake

This is Laurel's pet snake Sassafras. The kids enjoy learning about nature and they particularly love reptiles. I guess this is natural being the children of two biologist parents.

Good Friends

Pastor Steve and Cheryl Byers and grandson Knock all participated in a trail ride/campout this weekend. The Byers originally hail from South Louisiana where they grew up on horseback. All three Byers are wonderful horsemen and love all things equine. They own about a dozen horses now and there is nothing they enjoy more, except perhaps their ministry, then riding horses! To know the Byers is to love them! If all the world could only be like them then it would be a much better place!

My Youngest Grandchild

Good Morning World! Little Trilby Katherine is amazed at the world!

Camping Weekend

The grandbabies went on a camping trip this weekend! They seem most at home outside enjoying the great outdoors with their parents!

To Move or Not To Move... That is the Question

Mom's House

My dad recently moved into a small house that he just built and he gave me the house that had belonged to he and my mom. As most of you know, I lost my precious mother a few years ago and she so wanted me to have her home. They were in the process of building it when she went home to be with the Lord. It is a lovely home, but Chris and I have lived in our present home for 31 years. We have raised our children and really lived our lives in this house. It reflects our tastes, hobbies, traditions, and memories. My mom's house is much more formal than our Appalachian country home full of antiques, homemade quilts, and items I collect. We have been working on Dad and Mom's house the last few days. It is really still relatively new. I said if we do decide to move in then it is paramount that things be changed around. A family cannot live in a museum, a home should reflect the people who live there. So for now we have some decisions to make...
Below is our little home now.

A Man and His Dog....

Dusty is blessed that he lives and works in the Smoky Mountains. He and his faithful dog Aldo enjoy hunting in the adjacent areas. Here they have just returned from a successful goose hunt. Aldo is a bird hunter extraordinaire' ! Here he is with the doves he and Dust bagged that morning!

The Smokies are so beautiful! Can you imagine waking up to this every morning!

Happy Birthday Cheryl Byers!

Have a Wonderful Birthday Cheryl, We love you!!!!

Paw Paw Bread

Troy Dustin emailed us yesterday about the wonderful pawpaw bread he had baked from pawpaws he had gathered this week down in the Smokies. His letter set all of our mouths watering for this delicious Appalachian treat! Chris and Wendy went on a quest for pawpaws up in Illinois and Chris located a bounty of them today. Soon they were transformed into hot crusty bread! This was Laurel's first taste of one of our favorite Autumn delights! I believe she is now a fan! Yum! Yum! (If anyone would like the recipe for Mountain PawPaw Bread email me- I would be glad to send it to you!)

Happy Birthday to My Daughter Sunny!

I am blessed with the sweetest, most wonderful daughter in the world! Her dad and I named her aptly, she has such a positive sunny disposition. We love you very much and hope your birthday is great!

Karaoke Day at College

The staff at my college all sang "I'm Proud to Be a Coalminer's Daughter" during Karaoke Day at the college I work at. What fun!

Trouble Down on the Farm....

A big windstorm came through Chris and Wendy's Farm this weekend and took out one of their huge oak trees. It missed the house, thank goodness, but it did land on the chicken house and the kid's swing set. The chickens are fine and it was their older swingset so that was good news!

The kids help with cleanup!

Grandbabies at the Zoo!

Chris and Wendy took their kids to the St. Louis Zoo this weekend. They went with Wendy's two sisters and their children. Wendy's sister Lisa lives in St. Louis and her sister Trisha lives near Wendy in Illinois. It looks as if Little Trilby enjoyed her first visit to the zoo as she is all snug in her daddy's arms. Wils high-fives a ring tailed lemur while cousin Miriam looks on.

Thank goodness this is not a real cobra Laurel is hugging!

Question of the Day Part II

Angie Crum was the only person who answered my previous question concerning the prophet Jeremiah and why he was called the weeping prophet , "Because he lived during such a time of trouble, Jeremiah was a sad-face man. He talked more about the sorrows of his people than about their joys. And often he wept because of their sins. For this reason he was called the "Weeping Prophet."
Today's question concerns Tabitha, also known by her Greek name Dorcas. In Acts 9:36 the Bible refers to Tabitha as a disciple. She was known to be full of good works. Tabitha dies and after she has been laid out in the upper chamber Peter prays and Tabitha opens her eyes and is brought back to life. My question is, Where do you think Tabitha was at during the time she was dead?

Three of Our Favorite People

Pastor Steve, Cheryl, and Knock Byers came up for a visit this evening. These are some of the nicests people you could ever meet. They have been keeping my little mules for the last few months and having the farrier work on their feet. They brought the donkeys home tonight. They are wonderful people!

Mamaw's 3 Little Pumpkins

Laurel-o-Lantern, Wils-o-Lantern, Trilby-0-Lantern

This little piggy went to market...

Down on the Farm

Chris and the kids are on their farm in Illinois...

Night Night Time

Bubbles and Baths, Jammies and Dreams...
Lovely Grandbabies all Sweet and Clean...

Ladies Retreat

I attended a ladies church retreat at Jenny Wiley State Park this Saturday with 4 ladies from my church. Marjorie Maynard, Terressa Stanaford, Diana Fuggit, and my Pastor's wife, Nancy Evans, all traveled together to the retreat.
We were all delighted when we encountered some ladies from the Mt. Cathdral -Inez Church of God. They joined us at the provided luncheon and we enjoyed fellowshipping with them. Probably the highlight of the day for me was watching Cheryl Byers' wonderful skits. Cheryl and her husband Steve pastor at the Mt. Cathedral-Inez Church of God. Cheryl had us practically rolling in the aisles with her comedy church routines. Cheryl is truly used of God and at the end of her skits she tied it all together with an inspirational message urging us to let God's glory shine in our lives. I had a wonderful day today!

Question of the Day

Who was the weeping prophet, & why was he weeping?

Stephanie Meyer Stops New Book

Stephenie Meyer drops new book after Web leak

Wed Sep 3, 9:32 AM ET

Author Stephenie Meyer, writer of the best-selling young adult "Twilight" books, has put the fifth and final installment in the series on hold in protest after a partial draft was posted on the Internet.

Meyer, the U.S. author of "Twilight" and its sequels "New Moon," "Eclipse" and "Breaking Dawn," said she had a good idea of how the leak of "Midnight Sun" had happened as so few copies had left her hands and each was unique.
The novel tells the love story of a human teenager named Bella and her vampire lover, Edward.
"The manuscript that was illegally distributed on the Internet was given to trusted individuals for a good purpose. I have no comment beyond that, as I believe that there was no malicious intent with the initial distribution," she wrote in a posting on her website.
But Meyer, 34, said this was a huge violation of her rights of an author as well as her rights as a human being as she owned the copyright and had the say when the book should be made public.
She said musicians and filmmakers also had the same rights and it was dishonest of anyone to download material off the Internet and to reproduce and distribute it.
"This has been a very upsetting experience for me, but I hope it will at least leave my fans with a better understanding of copyright and the importance of artistic control," wrote Meyer.
"I feel too sad about what has happened to continue working on "Midnight Sun," and so it is on hold indefinitely."
Meyer said the draft that was released on the Internet was incomplete with messy and flawed writing but she was making this draft available to everyone to be a fair and because it added a new dimension to the "Twilight" story.

Billeena's Boys

My Goddaughter, Billeena, has 4 children. Half of those started school this past week. Bryan is now in 2nd grade and Branson begain kindergarten. Brynny-girl and Baby Ryan are still home. The boys attend Crum Elementary in Wayne County, WV. Aren't they cute!

Labor Day Hike

Hiking in "Garden of the Gods" with 3 kids! Chris and Wendy spend days on end outside with their children. They teach them about nature and conservation and appreciation of God's creation. Laurel knows almost all of the birds by sight, most by sound, and several by their Latin name! Here are three little biologists in the making!

Two kids birdwatching!

^Laurel and Wils dancing in the sunshine!

Chris & Trilby