2011 Pastors Dinner

A wonderful time as our Pastor/Spouse Annual dinner held at Loaves and Fishes at Crossnore last night. We have 22 member churches that participate in our association with 7 attending. This was an increase from last year. We had a great spirit last night and the pastors had some great ideas for the coming year.

We will See

I received a date for ortho at the VA. The Doc said that if he saw anything in the X-ray he would schedule an appointment and I got a letter yesterday, so I guess we will see. Most days it is fine, but others I can hardly stand it. Anyway, other news for Friday was that TC was told that her days at Crossnore is numbered. She will not be placed at another cottage and will probably be let go in a short while. Meantime, Crossnore or should I say "the Crains" went and hired another person for a new cottage opening up. Am I bitter? You bet! TC did them a favor by going to 7 days a month in the hopes another cottage would open up. It did but they decide to do something else. Anyway, I am staying with TC at Faith House this weekend and we are moving the rest of our furniture and stuff out this weekend. TC will interview at Grandfather Home for Children on Wednesday. If she gets it she will work 12 hours shifts 3 on/4off & 4on/3off. I think she is mentally preparing herself for that. Now, this home has a lot of Level 4 kids so this will be dealing with tougher kids. The good thing is that the staff is always 3 in a cottage. We'll see how all that works out.

A Journey of Love

This post starts out with Tc and dating. This picture was taken at East ridge mall in Gastonia NC
This pic was taken at my Mom and Dad's house. I love the way TC was looking at me and still do today. Too bad I actually didn't have something to show by trying flex my muscle. I was joking right?
Then came the Senior Prom. That is Debbie, TC's sister and Randy, who sadly ended their 20 something year marriage. It is sad now that I think about it.
Then, February 12th, 1983 we tied the knot.
28 years later our love has only gotten stronger, probably because we have gotten older and wiser.

Old Picture Day

Today's journey takes us down the road to see my cars. First, below you will see a handsome boy in front of a 66 GMC Pick up that was purchased out of a junk yard. This thing didn't even have a floor board in it but I loved it. Lots of work later with help from my Dad, friends, Mr. Moore at West Meck high School and others, below you will see the finished product. I loved that truck but had to sell it when I got married.

Nice huh?
Now, my first real car. 1962 Chevy Impala. I fell in love with this car when I saw it sitting in a cow pasture. Notice the new hood. Well it appears that the cows like to chew on the hood so we had to find another one. This car got me in to a lot of trouble.
After a paint job she sure looked good.
That's all for now

HMMMMM, Changes(Not yet)

What a wonderful weekend we had. After taking smudges to the vet Friday morning and spending the day with Mom and Dad, Christie and Chad, we enjoyed a leisure day on Saturday. I couldn't figure out why I was so tired but I guess it was a long week. Brittany, our other daughter spent the weekend with us. Saturday night we met Christie and David for supper along with Brittany and some of their friends. Sunday, we went to Crossnore First Baptist Church (part of my job) and then I watched the best darn Daytona 500 I ever seen. Monday, TC and I visited Ebeneezer Christian Children Home in North Wilkesboro. I had made contact with them through the pregnancy center, but actually they wanted us to take an application for future employment. We took them but are unsure at this time. God is not finished here, but TC may find something there. We will see. I enjoyed talking to the Director and even talking about some new ministries. Everyone is having to change things around lately. Well, TC goes in at Faith house today so for me it is the office in the morning and the pregnancy center in the afternoon.

Loving the Weather

This week has fallen into our typical routine. Monday we were able to take off and enjoy working over at the house. On Tuesday, it was the office in the AM and then the Pregnancy Center from Nine AM until around 6:00 PM and I was exhausted. Wednesday it was the office and today it is the office until 12 noon and then the PRC from 1 until 5. I think TC and I will get some Chinese for lunch before we start our shift at the PRC. Friday we are taking Smudges to have some teeth pulled(Tc's Rat Terrier) and plan on spending the day in Waco with Mom and Dad and hopefully the kids too. The weather is warming up fast and almost all the snow id gone although on the back side of the mountains there is still quite a bit, but that should be gone by this weekend. I think normal temps are expected after Friday but we are loving this for now.

Above: Me and my Bud, Wesley Byrd. Best friends since the Army.

Today I have posted some pictures that I scanned the other day. There are many so I don't expect anyone to look at all of them, I just wanted to have some of them on there. Plus, I fized my Scanner.
Below- My GMC Jimmy at our house in Fort Drum

TC and Christie visiting me after Basic Training.
28 years last Saturday. My love lighting the Unity Candle.
TC in the snow up at Fort Drum NY
This was taken at Waco Baptist Church. I know that I had already surrendered to preach because I have a suit on.
Below is our 1964 Falcon. God, I wished we still had that one.
My Mom made me feel special after being gone 4 months.
It's a little dark but you get the picture.
Christie at fort Drum. 7509 Gerald Ave. Calcium Ny
WOW, a little playground outside of Carthage NY
Christie and Chad
My and 305 Waco Volunteer fire Department
Yea, me again F-22 Shelby fire Station # 2 Why am I on top? I was filling the tank. We did this after each run.
Oh yea, the truck we toured America with and got paid for it. Good times
Me and christie
Yea, that's me with the Birth control Glasses on.
WOW, check out my hair and glasses. Could they be bigger? The kids are so small then.
The Wedding Party. What is so sad to us is that everyone of our friends/family that were in the wedding are now divorced. That breaks my heart.
And finnally, check out TC when she was around 2 months old. Precious huh?
Well, if you made it this far, thanks for looking. I have many more to scan.

28 Big Ones

Happy Anniversary to the love of my life, TC. For 28 years we have been married. We will celebrate tonight by going to the fish camp and just hanging out.

A Goal?

It's Friday morning and another week is ending. I have to be honest and say that both TC and I have struggled this week. This is the time of year that TC's Mom died plus the winter is so gray and bland. It was this way last year and now we are living in a small apartment in my office, not know what is next. It seems that TC has lost a little of the Pioneer Spirit but I guess that is coming from age. I feel like I could just load up the RV and head out but probably not. Tomorrow will be 28 years since we said "I Do" and both of us know that we are in a holding pattern. For some reason things are not going as planned at Crossnore so I suspect there may be a surprise around the bend. For now, we will keep walking and perhaps peek around the bend a little or maybe just sit beside the road a spell. In Life's journey, we see a beautiful stream next to the road and maybe we will stop and sip a while. In other words, maybe this is a time to be refreshed. Now, how to I do that working from morning to dark. I must organize my time. That will be my goal!

A little trip

Today, we took a trip to Lenoir NC to visit the Mom/Baby Care house of the Baptist Children Home. It was a great visit and afterwords TC and i enjoyed a great lunch at Sagebrush. On the way home we decided to take the back road. This is Hwy 90 which turned to Dirt, then mud and then after passing the motor graders a 4 wheel drive trip up and down the mountains. I thought it would bring me out on 181 near Brown Mountain, but I was very wrong.

The good side is that we actually traveled up the back side of the via duct and over passes of the blue ridge Parkway. I've always wanted to be on those roads when I saw them from up top. They are Forest Service roads.
This is the result....Very Muddy

Life

Are you Pro-Life? Are you Pro-Choice. Are you Pro-Family? These are questions that heat the blood of many people. Personally I don't care what you are. That is your choice. My thoughts refer today to this point! Who cares what we think? Our views are like many other things, we have many of them and they usually stink. Did that upset you? I'm sorry. My point is that what we think is not a concern, what does God think? This week I was asked to remove our first tenant of the Statement of Faith. We adopted the Statement of Faith from the National Association of Evangelicals. It states that we believe the Bible is the inerrant, only infailable, authoritative word of God. I cannot in good conscience remove only. Even though this would open more support from the Catholics, I cannot remove it. According to them, the pope has this same infallible, authoritative word. My question, does not the pope come under the supremacy of scripture as well. Upon investigation, I found that they do indeed life the special words of the pope(church) to a level that can be equivalent to the Written Word. What a shame! Sorry, I can't go with that.

Currently, there are several battles and laws concerning abortion and right to life laws being debated. Life at Conception bill is currently being debated, but regardless what the outcome, there are millions that will never give up protecting the purest of the pure of what we have to offer as citizens. You would think that because us Protestants and Catholics are so close on the Pro Life choice and other things, that we could work together. Well, some members have said that one word is not going to stop them from working with such a god cause. I employ others to do the same.

It's Friday Morning. Do you know where your rest is?

Ahhhh- Friday morning. I have no where to be and at no particular time in which to be there. Boy, did I ever need this morning! That being said, based on past history that will probably not be the case in a few hours. This week has been tiring. TC got off Tuesday from Faith house and has now interviewed with the Academy at Crossnore to work as a sub so we are hoping that will supplement her income since her 2/3 decrease in pay. We will see how that works out. The Pregnancy Center continues to go well and it is nice really seeing people who love Jesus and can love our future clients. I have learned one thing though, we need more volunteers. Right now there is a lot of work coming down on a few people. This weekend brings our last training day for "Equipped to Serve" for the Center. This training has been hard but very good and enlightening. I an not preaching this weekend(as of now) so Christie and I are planning on a Super bowl Party. I reckon TC and Davis will do something else as we watch the game. Lots of little neat things to eat is our plan. Lunch with a friend today and we are praying there will be snow or ice this weekend. Lord, please bring Spring to the High country.