~At last!~ :)

WOW!!!

I hardly know were to start... First off, let me say that we serve a great and mighty God!!! He truly knows whats best for us and can work things out beyond our wildest dreams.

What was the others news?... Well on the 27th of June Trevor called me and told me He had just talked to my father and we were officially courting! He went on to tell me about the piece of land He had bought from his Dad etc... Wow! :0) I was in an over joyed shock!!! You know the feeling don't you? It took several days for the surprise to wear off and I started to realize just what 'We're courting' meant. :) I can see him every week!... More than just once a week!!... We can talk and be looking at each other!!!... We can spend time together with our families!!!! :0) You get the idea.

(Trevor has a great smile and a even better heart.) :)

Trevor has been coming up to Faith with me on Sundays and spending the afternoon with us there. Then there is eating dinner at least once a week with our families. :0) At times it can get a little tiring... Oh, but it is so worth it!! My siblings have been taking great delight in doing "their job." (Trying their best to always be sitting in between us, listening very intently to our conversations, and then snicking around the house after he leaves about everything we said or did.) It's fun just watching them get to know him a little bit better. (Although at times they can be right down annoying and I really wish they would just go find something else to do and let us be in peace.)

~

I got a puppy!

His name is Duke. He recived a bath and flea collar Friday so hopefully He'll be a little less itchy. He is a sweet little guy and is learning fast.

:) Although he still thinks he should be allowed inside like everyone else and tries quite hard to slip in when your not looking.

~

:) You know how when you are talking to someone and at the end of the conversation they say something like 'I hope it all works out like you want it to.'? I have plans and goals for the future but I am OK with the Lord stepping in and fixing them for me. :) I know his plans for me are far greater, higher, and without doubt out of this world better then any of mine. :) Trevor and I get to continually reminding each other of this.

:) I hope everything is going well for you. Have a great day!!!

Trip to Wolf Lake

:) Hello I'm glad to be back in town again... although I really would not have minded staying a little longer. Hey, but I can get cell phone reception now!!! :)

On Wednesday, we (Consie, Howard, the four children, Vanessa, and I) left SC with a car loaded down with food (and very, very yummy food at that!).

Sunday we returned... :) Here are some pictures from our little trip I hope you will enjoy.

We stayed in a very nice huge house on Wolf Lake in NC. The weather was awesome the high was 68, at night it dropped to about 45... :) and best of all the water felt absolutely wonderful!!!

The room I stayed in

:) I had a room inside of the house all to myself (+ Charity for a couple of nights.) It was a great place to curl up and read in the late mornings... :) I don't think I woke up before 8 once while we were there. It was nice for a change.

Howard reading

The house had a great view off the back porch. Which was also a good place for reading, thinking, working on sudoku puzzles, :0) or just doing nothing.

Just in case you might have wanted to know here is a random fact... I really like porches!!!

The Weather really was about prefect.

On Saturday we spent a good bit of time on the pontoon boat just having fun.

:) I love look on Ryan's face.

I was in the tube and the kids were watching from the back of the boat.

The guys stopped to swim for a little bit. Then they drifted the boat over where some trees had fallen into the water and went about fishing.

Here is the fish Vanessa caught.

The lake was really clear and you could see the fish swimming around toward the bottom. There were some really big ones down there.

After getting wet I was a little chilly and Vanessa very sweetly let me wear her dry shirt. While they were fishing I found a comfortable place and continued reading my book (Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen)... with a couple interruptions consisting of a little boy, tree branches, and Caroline with a camera. It was a lot of fun!!!

:0) And of course, before we left we had to have some family pictures taken.

:) Thank you Consie!!!

So, after hearing about my trip would you like to go???

:) A good Week

Hello :) My week has turned out to be a lot of fun. Sheppard asked Adah and me to help him stain a log cabin. So after work I've been driving to Duncan to work some more. :)

Below are parts of the front and sides.

This is the back of the house that looks out on the lake.

:) The dog you see is Winston. He is just a puppy and is a very happy one at that.
He is Adah's most favourites dog.

To the right of the stairs if you look carefully you can just make out a stump. Yesterday the lady of the house came home with flowers and planted them in the center were it had rotted out. They looked very beautiful in the stump and really helped to dressed up spot.

It was so nice and peaceful here it is quite amazing we got any work done at all. :)

They (Sheppard, Adah, and Lance) are finishing up the first coat today and we are hoping to have the second one done by the end of next week.

:) Another one of Sheppard's happy faces.

Adah and Sheppard putting up the scaffolding so we can stain the porch ceiling.

:) I have not spent much time with them in long time and it has been really nice getting to do this together.

Older brothers! He claimed to have gotten it all out...

:)

Sheppard and Adah on the way home after a good day of work.

My Family... Part 5: Adah

:) This is Miss Adah Helen Griffith. She is smiling almost 24/7 and really does brighten our lives immensely.

I don't know what we would do with out her to tease... :)

She is the most awesome little sister in the world!!! She has a great big heart and is very caring.

:) You know Anna Tyndall....

Adah is one of her best friends. I have been picking Anna up for church on Sundays. It is a lot of fun riding with the two of them... :)

My Family... Part 2: Sheppard

:) This is my oldest brother Sheppard. He is 27 and not married. :( I'd like to have another sister... but I would be slightly jealous of her. I really value the friendship we have and when he finds her I know it will change. Shep is the person I go to when I need someone to talk to and get the overhead look at what ever it is I'm thinking about or going through.

:) His happy Face!!! With a very little bit of work He can have me laughing till I can no longer breath and with tears in my eyes begging for him to stop what ever it is he is doing.
He challenges me to be more than what I am and to look a problem with a open mind.

(Not just taking things for face value, but to find the things that are outside the box having an effect on it.)

:) I really have been blessed simply by the family God has put me in. I am continually seeing more of the things going around me and am thankful for the standards my parents have and the example they have set for us.

Christian Frist :)

:) Hello.

I hope you are having a great day.

(It would be nice if the weather cleared up a little. It's all wet and rainy outside.)

This young man is Christian Frist. (The oldest of Consie's four children.)

His Birthday is April the 26th and he is soon to be nine. He is growing up sooooooo fast.

He is a very big help babysitting. :) Especially when it comes to supper. He will get and fill glasses, help pass out plates of food, :) and ask kindly for seconds.

:) Oh children are such a blessing from God when raised and trained up according to his word.

I absolutely love being an aunt and seeing God's hand at work in there young lives.

It boggles my mind to think that there are people (some even professing to believe in God) who can look around themselves seeing (or at lest claiming to see) this wonderfully complex world God has created and still believe this universe was brought about by random chance...

Oh how utterly blinded we have become!!!

My Family... Part 1: Consie

This is Consie....

:) She is my most favorite big Sister and is more like a very best friend.

(Is that not what sisters are supposed to be???)
She is the oldest of us seven Kids and the only one that is married.

This is her with her husband. They recently bought a nice cozy house

and she is having a blast turning it into their home.

(I'm loving watching her do it and helping where I can.)

She has four of the best kids in the world...

:) I'm sure before long you'll hear all about them.