#4 (From Facebook's 25 Random Things)

#4 I miss my friend in GA

You may be asking, "Who is your friend in GA?" Well, let me introduce my friend to you. Her name is Buffy Thomas. She lives in Grayson, GA with her husband, Rob and 3 children.

Here is a picture of Buffy and Rob

I met Buffy when we moved to Jackson, MS out of seminary. Our first job was at FBC, Jackson. Rob was on staff there as associate Minister of Music. Buffy came to meet me after church on our first Sunday night there. She had a little boy named Andrew and he was 3 weeks older than Brice. We got the boys together to play several times and our friendship grew from there. When Buffy had her second baby, a girl (Emily), 3 months later I had Shelby. She didn't have her third as soon as I did. But Abby was born just 3 years after Eli. We have vacationed together lots of times which has always proven to be a great time. We have shared our moving experiences and change in churches together and have cried and laughed together.

We have seen each other through a lot over the last 14 years. I miss her so much. She is one of those friends that you can go for long periods of time without talking to and pick up right where you left off. Our kids are that way too. It's so weird when we stop and think about it.

Rob and Buffy have been through a lot in the last 7 years. Cancer, loss of jobs, moving.... Through it all, they have stayed strong and have such strong faith. I wish I had a video of them singing. They both have the most incredible voices and talents with music.

I think about Buffy almost everyday. I wish so many times that I could just pop by her house and grab a cup of her coffee. (She always has coffee) I know I haven't always been there for her like I should have (life just gets in the way sometimes) but I know she understands and loves me anyway. Pray for Buffy and Rob and their children. They are very special to me and I know they would love to have you pray for them.

Tell me about a special friend of yours....

#3 (From Facebook's 25 Random Things)

3. I love my church

6 years ago Philip started talking to about starting a church in the Madison area. Oh, he had talked about it before but now he was serious. I thought he was crazy! For one thing, I never wanted to marry a minister in the first place. I really fought him on this and cried and yelled and I lost... No, I"m just kidding. I would have never wanted to go against what God was telling Philip but I was really scared! After much prayer and talking and meetings, he left his full time, comfortable, safe, insurance carrying position at a local church to start LifeBridge. We started in our den with about 16 people. The kids hung out in the garage and the adults were in the den. We meet on Sunday nights. Philip worked 3 jobs to support us. I wasn't working at the time. I was selling Mary Kay, though and bringing in enough money to help a little.

Since then we have grown constantly and now average around 200 people. We meet in Madison Station Elementary School and are getting ready to build on our land. The story of the land is another story I'll have to write about another day. We have seen some incredible things since LifeBridge has started. There are always challenges and struggles but God always proves faithful.

I am involved in the nursery and preschool areas. My sister, Melanie, and I have been over that area for almost a year. The kids love LifeBridge as well. They love to invite their friends and they love to volunteer with the young ones. Brice and Shelby's youth group is called Amplify. They meet every Wednesday night and love it. They recently started meeting in the warehouse behind where I work. It's a great time. Brice is even auditioning to be in the praise band.

I can't wait to see how God works through LifeBridge in the next year. Please pray for Philip and our other staff as we build a building. We want to please God in all we do and make it a place that will serve the community.

What do you like about your church?

# 2 (From Facebook's 25 Random Things)

# 2: I love to watch my kids play soccer

Since all three of the kids play soccer I feel like I always have a game to watch. Brice started playing when he was 4 or 5. We lived in Hattiesburg, MS at the time. He was always so serious about playing. He is very fast and has pretty good foot skills. He played on the recreation teams until 4th grade when he was asked to play for a select (traveling) team. He was able to play an age level up too. He played with that team for 3 years. When he was in 7th grade he tried out for his own age level and made the team. He played with them for 2 years. This year he played for school on the Jr. Varsity and he will try out for the Varsity in May. He has played recreation soccer this year. It has been a major struggle. He hates it. He is guest playing for a select team this weekend in Birmingham. I wish I could go but just couldn't get away.

Shelby played soccer for the first time when she was 4. We lived in Columbia, SC at the time. She was on a coed team. She showed up one day and was the only girl. She didn't want anything to do with that so she didn't play again for that team. She started playing again 2 years ago. She really likes to play in the goal. It makes me so nervous but she really enjoys that position. Maybe it's because she doesn't have to run as much. I was thinking that she takes after her dad with the goalie part but maybe she takes after me more with not wanting to run.

Eli played soccer when he was 4 also. He played the first season and sorta liked it but the next season he was counting the days until he didn't have to play any more. He sat out a year and then decided he wanted to try again. He has really done well this year. Because he has a late birthday and the cut off date is in July, he has to play with others that are a year younger than him. He dominates the field. His coach says that he has never seen someone his age that can do some of the things he does. I guess it's all those years of watching Brice and Shelby....

I do love to watch them play, though. They are all talented and as we say in our house..."Talent on loan from God". They all are Godly examples on the field. Their teammates look up to them and they have very good attitudes.

Well, even with Brice being gone this weekend we still have 2 games Saturday. Off to watch another game....

25 Random Things

It has been so long since I have updated my blog. I just haven't been taking pictures so I think it's not worth writing about anything. Well, I discovered that people are checking to see if I've updated my blog so I better write about something. Not too long ago I wrote on my Facebook page about 25 Random things. Soooooo, I thought I would take each one and give some more detail. I don't promise to write every day but I will get through each one. So, bear with me, if you aren't interested you don't have to read....

1. I love shrimp of any kind.

Who doesn't love shrimp? I'm not sure if it's my favorite food. That may be crab legs but I usually can't afford crab legs so I will stick with shrimp. When I start thinking about all the ways I like shrimp I feel like Bubba, Forest's friend on Forest Gump. You remember the scene where they are at boot camp for the army and Bubba is telling Forest all the different ways you can prepare shrimp. At the end of his list he says, "Well, that's about it!" That's how I feel. I've never had shrimp that I didn't like. I would have to say that I love fried, boiled, scampi, and curry the best. I had never had shrimp curry until I met Philip. It's his favorite too. I still can't make it like his mother. She gave me her recipe but it has only come out right once. I just don't know the spices enough to know if I need more of one and less of another one. One day I will watch her from the beginning and see if I can't get it right.

I used to love when we went to the coast house (in Pass Christian, MS) and eat tons of shrimp. We used to eat until we were sick. The coast house (as my family calls it) is a house that was owned by my dad's company. The first time I ever went was when I was 6 weeks old. We went every year after that at least once. We even took our kids there. It was destroyed with Katrina. All that was left was the toilet, still attached to the wall. It wasn't a Destin condo by any means but it was nice enough and we didn't know any different when we were young. When we were older it was just nice to get away.

Here is a picture of the toilet that remained.

Here is a picture of what was left of the pool. It used to have a metal fence all around it and these beautiful shade trees.

Here is a picture of what was left of the house. So sad...

I think one of my favorite ways to eat shrimp when I was growing up was with the fondue pot. My mom had one that you plugged in so it really cooked your food. She would have steak and shrimp and we would cook it ourselves right at the table. Fun memories.

Well, that is number 1. Look for number 2 coming very soon.

Tell me your favorite way to have shrimp...

Famous American Day

Today Eli's class celebrated Famous American Day. Each 2nd grader chose an American who impacted the USA. Eli chose Johnny Appleseed. As you can see from the picture, he was very cute. He wore a pot on his head just like the stories of Johnny Appleseed. He also wore "old" clothes that had patches on them. He had to say a line about his American. He said, "I'm Johnny Appleseed. I planted apple trees along the early frontier." He did very well. I'm so proud of him.

Here is a picture of him before he left for school. He was so excited about the day.

Our Christmas Vacation

I've been waiting to write this update because I knew it would take me a long time to write it.  Our trip to Bangladesh was so good.  I fought and dreaded it so bad but all along was praying that it would be something that the kids would remember forever.  I will just start at the beginning and share some of the high lights.  We left on December 19th right after Brice took his last exam.  I had packed 4 suitcases for our family.  I thought that was pretty good for 2 weeks.  We ended up wearing everything except two pairs of pants and a couple of shirts.  I had packed a backpack for everyone.  I had included puzzle books, magazines, candy, snacks, wipes, hand sanitizer, toothbrush, toothpaste, earplugs and sleep masks.  The kids had their PSPs and Ipods.  We were set.  The plane leaving Jackson was an hour late.  (go figure..) We made it to Houston in just enough time to swallow a few bites of pizza before boarding the next plane to LA.  We made it to our hotel in LA and tried to sleep some.  The boys and I had a screaming baby next door to us and that baby cried all night.  We didn't leave until 9:30 p.m. the next night so we were able to have the room until about 7 p.m.  We took naps and showered late.  We ate a good lunch.  We had hamburgers.  We didn't know how long we would be without that good ole American food.  Our flight to Bangkok was on time and we left for our 18 hour flight.  Within the first hour they fed us.  It wasn't too bad.  I think everyone found something to eat.  Then they turn the lights out and so we slept.  We all slept pretty good.  As well as you can on an airplane.  We had our on screen to watch movies on or TV shows so we were set the rest of the flight.  We had a 5 hour lay over in Bangkok.  It wasn't fun.  Eli slept on the cold, hard floor.  Bless his heart...he was so tired.  We made it to Dhaka around 12:00 that afternoon.  We had to stand in line at immigration for about 1 1/2 hours.  By the time we made it to the guest house we were pretty weary.  We had a great dinner that night of fried chicken strips and home made crescent rolls.  We went to bed about 7:00 p.m. and were awakened by the Muslim prayer calls at 5 a.m.  We had the joy of this wake up call each morning...

Our days in Dhaka were filled with visits from friends that found out we were there and seeing all kinds of sights around town.  Philip, Eli and I all got some kind of upper respiratory thing.  Philip and Eli ended up with fever.  It spoiled the trip for Philip.  But we were able to just walk right out the gate to a pharmacy.  You just tell them what you want and how much you want and you buy it.  I was so amazed with that.  Philip and Brice were able to go to a cricket match on the 26th.  Courtesy of one of their oldest friends in Bangladesh.  They were in the VIP section.  They had a good time doing that.

We went to Faridpur one day which is the place that Philip spent alot of his "growing up" years.  We had to cross a ferry to get there.  We had a really good time.  Philip was able to see some of his "buddies" from back in the day.  They were so excited to see Philip and his family.  We even got the experience of a flat tire when leaving Faridpur.  It was actually a blow out.  We were blessed for it to happen at the right place.  We were in a little village/town that had a place that fixed tires.  The women and children crowded around me and Gloria and couldn't believe their good fortune of getting to see white people.  Some of them even tried to get me to take their babies.  They told me in Bengali that they didn't eat much...They thought Brice and Shelby's teeth had rotted out and that their braces were holding their teeth (dentures) in.  We got a kick out of that.

The last day in Dhaka we had to stay at the nicest hotel I have ever seen.  The day we left was election day and they weren't allowing any private vehicles on the road.  So we stayed at the Sheraton in Dhaka and were taken to the airport in a shuttle.  Our flight to Bangkok was uneventful.  We stayed in Bangkok for 3 nights and enjoyed some down time.  We shopped and walked and ate while there.  That was about it.  We got home by way of a 13 hour trip and a nights stay in LA.  We were able to get some more hamburgers in LA before we went to bed.  Those hamburgers were some of the best I've ever tasted.  After 3 days of Thai food I think just about anything would have been wonderful..  We got back to Jackson in the afternoon.  I think we all crashed about 7:30 - 8:00 that night.  It has taken us awhile to adjust back to MS time but I think we are all back now.

It was  a great trip.  The kids really loved it and have their own stories to tell.  I have lots of pictures but knew I couldn't share them all.  Here are some.

This is a shot from the roof of the guest house.

This is a picture of our Christmas tree and gifts that Gloria brought.  She had wrapped up a gift for the kids to be able to open on Christmas morning.  She is so great!

This was one of our favorite pass times in the guest house.  We played scrabble.  We never kept score which is a first for my kids.  They are usually so competitive.  I guess they knew how it would turn out if they kept score.

This is a shot of some of the traffic.  All of the rick saws.  They are everywhere!

This is a moving truck.  I guess they were moving office furniture.  I'm scared for those men and anybody riding too close to the truck.

Some of the Thurman's oldest friends took us to Pizza Hut on Christmas day.  They even had a Bengali Santa.  See him in the background?

This is a picture of Brice at the cricket match.  It was very foggy that morning so it started very late.

Eli and Philip went to the top of the ferry when we were headed to Faridpur.  He had a lot of fun that day.

This is a picture of one of the ladies in Faridpur.  She is cooking her lunch.  I think she was frying some fish.

Philip's friends in Faridpur.  They couldn't get over the fact that Brice was as big as they were.  Philip says he was always bigger than they were.

Swimming in December???  Only in Thailand.  This was at the hotel in Bangkok.  Brice came later.  They said it was a little cold but not too bad.  The temp was around 85 I think.

This was in a mall that we went to in Bangkok.  They really had it decorated nice.

We had to check out of the hotel in Bangkok by 2:00 p.m.  but didn't have to leave for the airport until 4:00 p.m. so we had a Uno tournament.  The things we do to keep our children entertained!

Christmas with the Thurmans

Eli is reading the Christmas story from the Bible. What a big boy.

My mother opening one of her gifts.Brice doing what he does best...texting.

I'm enjoying some good shrimp gumbo that my mother made.

Happy Birthday Baby Jesus Cake. Our family tradition. Hannah is helping Eli blow out the candle.

Brice opening his PSP.

Shelby with her new Ipod Nano.

Eli with his PSP.

Me and Philip at my parent's house.

Brice with my niece, Hannah and nephew, Zach.

My sister, Melanie and her husband, Woody.

With leaving on the 19th of Decmeber for our trip we had to do Christmas early with the family. We went to my mom and dad's on the 17th and opened presents and then ate dinner with them. It was quick because the kids had exams the next day but it was fun. Brice and Eli both got a PSP with games and Shelby got an Ipod nano. They could take all of those on the trip and have something to keep them entertained. On the night before we left for our trip Philip's mom came to spend the night. We did our Christmas then. Brice and Eli both got a Rip Stik and Shelby got a Vera Bradely bag. They were all excited and hated to leave their new things the next day but it was fun being together. This Christmas was really different. We cut way back and the being gone from home was hard. But we were together and that's an important part of it all.

Brice opening a present at our house the night before we left.

Shelby opening her gifts.

Eli showing off his Christmas cookies.

Gan Gan (Gloria) getting her calendar with the kid's pictures.

Eli opening his new shoes.