Attention All Pro-Lifers!

Here is some GREAT news that I just received this morning from our office of Christian Life and Public Affairs here at the BSC.

Check it out:

By Traci DeVette Griggs

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When the complexion of the North Carolina General Assembly changed after the last election, pro-life Christians around the state expected to see movement on some bills that have been languishing in the legislature for years. Their hopes were not denied. Four key pieces of legislation passed both House and Senate; however, one important bill is still sitting on Governor Beverly Perdue’s desk. It’s called the Woman’s Right to Know bill and many people expect the governor to veto it.

Choose Life License Plate. This bill has been a true perennial; sprouting for ten years in the general assembly and each year it has been rejected or left languishing in a committee. It was among a long list of specialty plates being consider this year including Stock Car Racing, Guilford Battleground, First in Forestry, and Support our Troops. But the Choose Life plate was the most contentious. Amendment after amendment attempted to gut the bill or place restrictions on it, but in the end it squeaked through the door just as the legislature was about to adjourn. Why all the angst over a license plate design? Perhaps it’s because a percentage of the income from the plates goes to Pregnancy Resource Centers, which provide abortion alternatives.

Unborn Victims of Violence Act/Ethen’s Law. The opposition was intense for another pro-life bill designed to designate an unborn child as a victim when the mother suffers from a violent act. However, the bill passed and has been signed into law. L. A. Williams, writing for the Christian Action League, recounts testimony from Representative Edgar Starnes from Caldwell County, who supported the bill. “If it is a crime to kill an unborn deer in North Carolina, it should be a crime to kill an unborn child,” he had earlier told the body, describing a drunk driving case in his district some 25 years ago in which a woman was hit head-on and lost her full-term baby as a result. When the district attorney tried to charge the drunken driver with the death, the judge dismissed the case because North Carolina law does not recognize unborn children as worthy of protection. Starnes said that same year a hunter charged with killing a doe out of season had his charges tripled when it was determined the animal was carrying twin fawns.

State Funds Cut to Planned Parenthood. You may have heard headlines about the budget battle between Governor Perdue and state lawmakers. Perdue vetoed the budget but legislators quickly retooled, gathered a few more votes, and over-rode the veto. Lost in the scuffle was the story that this budget successfully removed all state funding for Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion provider. According to Planned Parenthood, that cuts four percent or just over $434,000 per year from their budget. The budget also prohibits coverage for elective abortions in government health insurance policies, and repeals the state abortion fund.

Woman’s Right to Know Awaits Governor’s Signature or Veto. The Legislative Research Office estimates this new law could save eight babies from abortion every day in North Carolina. That’s nearly 3,000 fewer abortions each year simply because women are given more information and more time to consider alternatives. However, the bill fell one vote short of being veto-proof in both the House and the Senate. So it sits on the governor’s desk awaiting her decision. She has 10 days to decide whether to issue a veto. The Christian Life and Public Affairs Committee of the BSCNC is urging NC Baptists to call Governor Perdue’s office at 919-733-4240 to ask her to allow the Woman's Right to Know bill to become law.

Friends and family, I implore you to call the governor's office sometime today and ask her to pass this bill into law! It's so important that WE take action when we have the chance, and stand up for these precious unborn babies and also for their mothers who are not being given all of the information that they deserve when making these life altering decisions forever.

If you want more information on any of the stories above, click here for the original article which has those links.

What we've been up to lately

So last weekend I ran my first official 5k! I did better time-wise than I
had expected, finishing at 36:12. John was really encouraging and even
though normally he could roast me when it comes to speed, he stuck with
me til I encouraged him to go ahead and finish. But, sweet man that he is,
he finished the race, then ran back and finished the last 1/2 mile with me.
Seriously, the man is a running machine.
I won't post his time because, even though it was great,
it doesn't really speak to his true running abilities.

And this Monday, we celebrate 2 years of marriage.
Praise the Lord!
He is our rock and foundation, and without Him,
our marriage would be nothing, or quite miserable.
We are excited to continue growing and enjoying
this time in our lives. Honestly, we have more fun
together now than we did when we first got married,
which I'm sure sounds odd. I was always told by random
people that it would be the other way around. ;-)
Praise Christ!

In the news today...

Saw a couple of interesting headlines today:

House approves GOP amendment to starve funding from president's health care overhaul through the fiscal year in a move to limit the law's power.

House Rejects Anti-NASCAR Bill

House blocks federal aid from Planned Parenthood

WOW! Really?! That's SO awesome! Finally.

But here's the kicker...what will happen to this ban once it reaches the Senate?

Many people argue that Planned Parenthood provides valued services and birth control options to the women who cannot afford to find help anywhere else, like PAP smears or breast cancer screenings.

It breaks my heart that these excuses are being used so frequently by those who are blind and lying to themselves about what Planned Parenthood is known for. The bottom line is that I don't trust a place that has built their "business" on the murder of innocent unborn babies. YES! They are babies. From the moment the sperm and egg become one, LIFE is formed! Tiny innocent human beings who are supposed to be protected by their mother in who's womb they are growing and being nurtured are given up to be murdered by that same guardian.

Believers, we've got to do something about this NOW. Fight for those who cannot fight for themselves. Contact your government officials, both on the US and State levels, but especially your state senators. Pester them with information and facts and pictures until they are persuaded...but also PRAY and pray and pray.

Pray for those who are next in line to make the big decisions regarding the funding of Planned Parenthood by the government, that God will soften and convict their hearts!

Pray for the mothers currently struggling with the decision of what to do with this unexpected pregnancy; the mothers who have already made a regrettable decision; and for the mothers who have chosen life but are struggling.

And Pray for all of them to have a chance to hear the Gospel like the lady who's the most famous for having a hand in legalized abortion today, Norma McCorvey, aka Jane Roe.

Check out her incredible story testimony here which I found on cnn.com.

And may Ms. McCorvey motivate you to do something for the sake of the at-risk unborn. Support your local pregnancy center by volunteering your time, donating diapers or other needed new baby goods, financial giving(which is HUGE), and by praying.

For the Raleigh area, check these out:
Gateway, LifeCare

For Eastern NC:
Carolina Pregnancy Center

Care-net.org 24/Hour Option Line: 800-395-4357

Also, please check out this blog if you are interested in keeping up with this here in NC and in our nation.


***ultrasound pictured found on wikipedia.com.

starting off with a bang!...almost...

First of all, I'd like to say that we have been so humbled by what we are about to share with you. In some ways, it may seem small and not a big deal, but to us, it has been a testimony of God's goodness and mercy in EVERY area of life(this is NOT an endorsement in any way of Joel Osteen's blasphemous "preaching", just fyi). We want it to be known that we know our God is faithful and good even if this story had turned out to be the opposite outcome. Our hearts might be heavier, but we would still believe and rejoice in the fact that Christ is more than sufficient. Praise His name for His faithfulness in all circumstances. He's worthy!

So...this weekend, starting last Thursday, February 4th, the McCoy's, Haddocks/McNeills, and the McCoy's youth group from Cove City all hit up the slopes in Davis, WV, at Timberline Ski Resort. Friday's weather was great, probably high 30s-low 40s, with a few spots of sunshine. There weren't many people on the slopes, so we had a blast! You could ski to the bottom and hop right on the chairlift to the top...just awesome! Saturday started out on the rough side since the crowds had officially arrived, and everyone from little ski bunnies who were just introduced to the slopes, to veterans who dressed with Swedish-looking cape attire, to the Timberline Ski team were out cutting it up. Now, about mid-afternoon, it started drizzling rain, and then not too long after that, raining pretty consistently. Holly and I held out as long as we could, but when we discovered our gloves were soaked through, we decided to call it quits. John and the Matts, Jeremy, Meredith, and her friend Sarah were still out there braving the elements, but shortly after Holly and I headed in, the wind picked up and the temperature dropped, creating freezing rain and strong enough wind gusts that they stopped the chair lifts once the freezing rain turned into snow. It was a blizzard! Super fun...at least, I enjoyed it from the warm couch inside. The wind was so intense no one went back out skiing for the rest of the night. It was quite humorous to watch those brave souls who were trying to still get their money's worth and poled their arms off trying to get to the chair lift. Some gave up fighting and detoured to the ski lodge...others, though it took a very long while, finally made it to the bottom. If you could have seen the intensity of the wind, and their valiant efforts, you would have applauded and laughed at the same time. Too funny.

By the way, let me also make a note that my husband was rockin the slopes as well! He hadn't been since we met 5 years ago on a McCoy ski trip to Timberline, but the man strapped on a pair of snowblades, and couldn't be stopped after that. I was so impressed, and am so thankful that even when he was struggling on the more difficult slopes, he was willing and able to try any slope we went to. And my thanks to the fellas that he came back in one piece. Seriously, what a catch!

Sunday, we packed up early and were out before 9am, which allowed us to make great time on the road getting home. I had worked really hard before we left to make sure the kitchen was dirty-dish free and the living room was spotless so that when we got home we could relax on the final evening before we got back to work. We arrived back in ol' Garner around 4:45pm, and John headed to unlock the front door. I grabbed a suitcase from the back and started up the walkway, when I noticed a funny smell. I was just about to comment when John, who's standing on the front porch, says "I smell propane or something." Yikes! We proceed to go inside (seriously, if you ever think you smell gas, stay OUTSIDE until you call the gas company. Going inside is quite stupid), and this awful rotten-egg like smell smacks you in the face. Ugh! It was so awful. Still not 100% sure what it was, I think we were secretly hoping that it was just some bad food or we forgot to empty the trash before we left, we kept sniffing around and inspecting the trash, the fridge, anything we could think of might be the source. We opened some windows and doors to get some fresh air in, brought in the remainder of our luggage, and I in my "what-if" mindset shut off our heat. Since it was Super Bowl night, I ran to the store to grab a few things, and I get a call from John who says he thinks we have a gas leak, and he's called PSNC Energy and they're coming right over. Uh oh!

Gas guy comes, and we do indeed have a gas leak. He shuts off the broken line (meaning now we have no downstairs heat) and tells us we'll be safe to enter the house in about 10 minutes or so. Who knows how long that big ol' machine has been leaking! We had been gone since Thursday, and our bill for January jumped up sky high from the norm, so it's probable that it had been slowly leaking for who knows how long. Our neighbors also shared with us that they could smell it really strongly at their house on Sunday morning, but they didn't have any way of contacting us. Rats! Thankfully, despite us not making wise choices when we got inside(you aren't even supposed to turn on a light), our house did not explode! Praise the Lord. As far as we know, we'll get the smell out of the house, repair the HVAC, and be good to go!

Not gonna happen...our HVAC repair guy(who also happens to be a friend of John's) kindly came over to take a look on Monday afternoon. John describes what happened to him, and Rick reassures him that it's highly probable that it's a simple fix. However, upon opening up the panel to look inside our unit, John hears an immediate "This isn't good." He scoots over to let John take a look, and what he sees was completely unexpected. The heat sensor safety switch, which is supposed to shut off the system when the burners reach a certain temperature, had been moved up and far away from where it needed to be. At some point, this caused a fire in our unit(probably before we lived there), which had also melted the insulation off the wires and now they were all fused together. Rick said it is a wonder that our house is not a pile of sticks right now because it should have blown up with the amount of gas that leaked into our house, and with time bomb that was our HVAC.

So begins my list of praises to the Lord...

1) That God graciously preserved our house from blowing itself to smithereens, and saving our neighbors houses from damage as well.

2) That, if our house had exploded, this happened during a time when we weren't home to possibly get "smithereened" with it

3) Our system was almost to the end of it's life anyways, so it doesn't hurt our hearts to see it go

4) We're only having to pay some $$$$ for a new heating system, not for building an entirely new house! And, for different reasons we've already had to push back different projects in the house so this isn't a major setback for us financially

5) The Green Bean is still kicking...please pray for it to continue to last us a while longer!

6) For Rick and his wisdom and experience and His help. May He come to know the true King.

7) That while we were processing the news of having to buy a new system(we were driving to a meeting) we came around a curve and there was bright and bold rainbow! This just encouraged us so much because of the reason for the rainbow. We didn't feel like God was saying anything to us specifically. We were just reminded of the faithful, just, and good God that has been Lord and High King of all creation from generation to generation, from the beginning of time and forever. There were no promises of "our lives will be easier now, let's not worry about it," but I did think, this is such a small matter in comparison to such an incredible God; yet He has cared and has been so kind to protect us from the "what-ifs" of our situation over this weekend. It's hard to even explain this understanding of knowing that nothing John or I have done has earned his loving kindness, yet we have SEEN it, we have known Him to be True. And I feel so strongly that even if our house had blown up, as hard and terrible as that would have been, when putting things into perspective, a house blowing up vs. a mighty King and Ruler of the earth, our house and gas leaks and gross smells and dipping into savings doesn't matter at all! It's a part of life, sometimes hard emotionally or physically or financially, but my hope isn't in my house, it isn't in my behavior or of the behavior of those around me...my hope is in Christ. And I hope and pray that for the rest of my life, despite persecution or death that may come, I will still be able to trust Him and worship Him because He is Hope and Life and Truth.

Pictures of the ski trip to come later...

State Fair!!!...yea, from a month ago...

Having never gotten any fair food before,
I finally gave in. It's a whole new world, people!

Paul trying his first Krispy Kreme Burger.
Ugh...two things I never want to eat together.

The game that was played every single time
we saw one. I'm not joking. John's friend Paul
wanted a win, but the game just wouldn't relent.

As much as I love this picture, I can't ride
a Ferris Wheel. Within the past few years
I've discovered I'm seriously afraid of heights.
Who knew?

At the Chris Young concert? At least, I think
that was his name. It was fun, even though
John's not a big concert guy, and I'd never
even heard of this country artist before. But,
I got a caramel apple out of it, so I was a happy
little camper.

Sweat equity

I know...I know! It's been about a month. Geez, I can't believe how
quickly October flew by. Thanks to my sweet family, we've been
hard at work and have been accomplishing quite a lot around the
ol Casa de McNeill. So, a huge THANK YOU to Jeff, Sandy, Holly
and Mere for coming these past two weekends and helping us
eliminate the nasty brown that has been inhibiting the life of
our walls for who knows how long. Until I can take some pictures
of the final products, here are a few pics to wet your appetite
and give you a tiny glimpse into our lovely, yet fumey, home.

John and Dad installed the beadboard wainscoting this weekend.
I'm SO excited about it. I lovee the crisp, clean white beadboard up
against my "Smoke Infusion" blueish-grey walls. I just love it
when colors compliment and bring out the best in each other.

"So long, sucker!"
My favorite phrase when thinking about the nasty
brown that used to darken our awesome foyer & hallway.
It's so amazing how a dark color can either make the room,
or completely kill it's potential.

The hard-working Pa.
The man is amazing: he paints, he plums...he can do it all!

I should reverse this picture and the one below it, but whatever!
I'm tired, and it's late...and tomorrow's voting day, so I'm gonna
keep it short. Here's the great Hub painting my current fav room
in our house: the office. "April Thicket" is the color, and it is just
the best. I can't wait to show you!

And this picture is a tribute to my sweet sister, who I
like to refer to as Neddy(real name Meredith), and her
friend Sarah who were quite the humble service troopers
and primed our office for us while we were on vacation.
I know, what college sophomores do you know who would
use their Saturday evenings to paint someone else's room?
It was a huge help to us, and so I wanted to thank them
with the only picture that I was able to get of the evidence
that they were actually there.

Goals for this week: Finish 1/2 bath.

Let me know if there is something you'd like to see. Maybe
a picture of something I promised to post a picture of, but
more than likely forgot but you're still holding on to that hope.
Don't want to leave you hangin!

Yikes!

Just got back from vacation a few days ago.
Will be posting pictures soon.

Just wanted everyone to know that we
are alive and well...and loving this rain!

I don't have our pictures uploaded
on the computer yet, or else I'd put
up a little appetizer. So, for now,
I guess you'll just have to be happy
with this:

:)

Progress...

Slowly but surely, we are making progress!
Here's just a quick glimpse of what we've been up
to these past few weeks:

My sweet parents, Jeff and Sandy, came
and helped us paint our living room and
master bedroom about two weeks ago.
We're still slowly getting to finish the
trim, 1/2 bath(which is the top picture
of John painting), and the laundry room.

And finally, I wanted to say congratulations to our good
friends Mark and Kara Stevens who got married
this weekend. Such an encouraging wedding...so
Christ-centered and just an overall joyous time as they
became one flesh and displayed such an awesome
picture of Christ and his bride, the church.

More to come on the house progress later...

Note From John

What up peeps! First off I am super pumped for two reasons: 1) Our blog now contains some do-it-yourself insight that will hopefully pay off to YOU (our readers); 2) Sharing our insights will encourage me (with Aya's permission) to tackle some big home renovations!

Alright, enough talk. Here is what I learned from ripping up the carpet:

Tools - safety glasses, dust mask, box cutter or sharp knife, a claw hammer, and a ripping hammer or pry bar, and a broom.

We already had safety glasses, dust mask, box cutter, and ripping hammer so that is what I used. I suggest that if you were going to have to buy some of these items you should buy a pry bar instead of a ripping hammer because a 15" pry bar is all you need and it is very useful and under 10 bucks (just search Lowe's website for "pry bar").

When removing carpet, start by making a little incision about 4 feet away from one corner. Then use your muscles to pull-up and cut more of the carpet until you have approximately a 4' x 4' section. Don't do what I did and remove the whole carpet at once. Getting it out the door is very hard and you track dirt everywhere (your woman doesn't like a dirty house). The matting may come up with the carpet but don't be alarmed; it is no big deal. Just work small and pile the sections up so you can take them out piece by piece with little to no mess.

There will be a lot of dust (or at least there was in our room) just sweep it up. Now for the last step...


Above are two different types of hammers. The left is the claw hammer and the right is the ripping hammer. You need two hammers because ripping up the tac strip is easy with TWO hammers but a pain with just one. Companies charge about 1 buck per linear foot to remove this but you can do it in 30 minutes or less. The key is to work slow and pry up a little at a time so that when you remove the tac strip it isn't bits and pieces but sections (less clean up).



Just copy this picture anywhere along the tac strip and slowly hit your hammer or pry bar until you get under the strip and then pry.

That's all folks! Sorry my writing isn't as sweet or flowy like Aya's but I just give it to ya straight.

Hasta la vista, baby!

For the most part, it's always a joy when I come home and John(who gets home an hour before I do) has done something exciting with the house. One day, it's replacing the toilet seats, the next, it's ripping up the carpet in the master bedroom. For those of you who have wanted to do this before, here are a few pics to help inspire you:

Make sure you use the right tools. Our carpet was the original from when the house was built(about 11 years old), therefore it was (and still is) quite dusty and dirty. These three guys are essential.

Ripping up the carpet is the easy part(especially if you're a muscle man like mine is)

Little tip: make sure that you know where the local dump is, or whether your regular trash guys will pick it up or not. Thankfully, getting rid of ours was easy, but we didn't think about that ahead of time, and it did have to sit in our garage for a day or so(not a pleasant smell).
This is the hard part, which I will have to get John to share more tips with you since I wasn't there for it. Isn't he amazing? This is no small room we're talking about. And, If you have back problems, I don't think I'd recommend this for you to try.

And this is our new carpet & smell-free room. See all the grey? Yea, that's leftover dirt. Super gross. We highly recommend a shop vac. Ours is a 9-gallon Ridgid, which you can find locally at Home Depot(or Craigslist, as we did) . Those things are amazing!

Now, here's the thing. After ripping out that carpet, and realizing what a big mess it makes, how you are the one who has to haul it away(unless you have teenagers or someone who owes you a favor), and how you can't really live in the room unless you replace it, we know that we've got to have a better plan for ripping up the rest of the carpet AND living here at the same time.

Thankfully, due to the smell of that room(tip: don't smoke, especially not inside your bedroom), we are already bunking in what will one day be the office, so this really isn't a problem for us right now. However, if you're thinking about doing this, make sure that you have your plan B ready to go in case you're not able to put carpet down right away.

Due to the bad shape of the carpet throughout our whole house, we are planning on ripping it all up(yikes!) after we finish painting all of the carpeted rooms/hallways. So, it's going to be a while. But, our goal is to let Lowe's install it for us when the time comes. They seem to be offering a great deal right now to install carpet in all of your house for only $97 buckeroos. Sweet! Now, obviously there are a few things to note here: 1)You have to buy both the carpet AND the padding from Lowe's 2) You have to have EVERYTHING moved out of the room, including all of the carpet, ahead of time. They'll charge extra if they have to do anything except install. 3) Beware if you have stairs. They charge extra for that, too. 4) ...not sure yet. I'll get back to you once we do some more investigating.

So, that's the latest for now.

Adios!

Backstreet's Back...alright!

Just got back home from a fun weekend in N. Wilkesboro with John's family. We forgot our camera, but still had a great time. Laura and I got roasted by their little brother Daniel and Gran in Trouble, a game which all of my life I have gotten flattened by my own grandmother and little sister. Even now that I'm older, nothing has changed. The entertainer of the weekend was definitely cute little Camille, who is definitely one of the cutest and most well-behaved babies in the world. No one could get enough of her, especially in her little swim suit. So cute!

And tonight...all you ladies who grew up in the late 90's/early 2000's are going to be sooo jealous:
Natalie and I are going to see the Backstreet Boys!
Yes, they are still a band. All 4 guys who make up the band are original members. And we were thrilled when our radio station announced that they were bringing their tour here(who knew!). They are coming to the brand new Raleigh amphitheater tonight at 7pm, and we are so psyched! Don't worry, we got permission from our sweet husbands who I think are just thankful that we didn't ask them to come with us :)

I am definitely planning on bringing my camera for this once in a lifetime event. T-minus 4 hours...

Oh, and John "on the ball" McNeill ripped out the nasty, musty smelling carpet on Thursday afternoon. He's so great at jumping on the "to-do" list and getting it done pronto. I'll be sharing some pictures and some of his tips in case you may be planning to rip up your own old carpet anytime soon.

Later taters!

And so it begins...

So, we're in the house and things are going well. We still have all the colors of the rainbow going on in each room, but we're slowly getting around to changing everything to be the way we want it. It's going to take time and a lot of patience and elbow grease, but overall the chaos has lessened a small degree, which is enough to help our sanity.

Room numero uno:
The Bonus room

This "lovely", bright, overwhelming orange has
seen its last day. We're just about ready to
starting priming this giant citrus fruit, which
we decided to start in first to work out the
kinks in our painting skills. As you can see,
we're just about ready to go!

This baseboard pic is just an example of the current
horrible paint job that is displayed over our house. More pictures will come as the room continues its
slow makeover. Who knew how tiring even thinking
about painting a whole house can be. But, I have
been encouraged and inspired by Sherry and John
and all of their great tips and designs. The "how-to"
section has already come in handy, and we've only
been here a little over a week. :)

A big thanks to our friends Mowgli and Becky, and my brother Jeremy
for coming to visit and help out this weekend. John and Mowgli,
among many other things, added a light for my sake
inside the garage so I didn't get creeped out or stumble over our
many boxes which are currently lying in the floor.

Finally, my favorite upgrade/new addition to our
house: a toilet seat! I know it may not seem like
that big of deal to you, however if you could feel
these nasty things, you would certainly be grossed
out by the roughness and certain exfoliation it
brings. 1 down, 2 to go! We're testing this one
out before we buy the rest of them, but so far
so good: only $13 and some change at Home Depot.

This is actually the current seat in the upstairs
bathroom. The guys tossed the other old nasty one
out the door before I had a chance to get a "before" pic.
And this is the new seat! It's so clean and bright
and isn't looking like a camouflage failure with the floor.
And that's just one little way we're sprucing up the place!

Until later... :)

New Garner Residents

Today, John and I bought are first house:

We signed all the papers and got the keys today!
And, we start the moving in process tomorrow,
which we're not too thrilled about moving all
of those boxes again! Oh well

My sweet parents and sister Meredith are
coming up tomorrow to help us clean before we
start moving stuff in on Saturday. My family is
so sweet to do this for us, especially since we'll
both be at work for most of the day. More
pictures to come, and of our 1 year anniversary
excursion, but I discovered the other day that the
camera cord is packed away so it'll have to wait.

This house is such a gift from the Lord. We're so excited!


(This picture might be a little fuzzy, but I'm not sure why)

One Year

So this Sunday marks our 1 year anniversary of marriage.

We're so excited to celebrate this weekend, and we're so thankful to the Lord for His blessing and grace to us this first year.

Pictures to come after the weekend...at least I hope(we're not the greatest at remembering to take pictures, but since this is a pretty important weekend, we're going to try really hard!)

It's been a while...

After a much trying week, I've got to share how I am sooo thankful for health insurance. It's not easy to have it, especially when you're paying for it on your own, but it's worth every penny when you have to go to the emergency room. I had a minor incident a few weeks ago and had to go, and let me tell you...the amount the hospital charges for you being there plus the physician's separate services fee(who knew!) on top of other things is CRAZY! However, thanks to Blue Cross and the kind gentleman that I spoke with today who explained how all this works, John and I will only end up paying the $150 copay for all of the emergency room/physician expenses. Incredible! The Lord is continuing to show us just how He is our provider; even when we doubt He is so faithful and loving to us. We're so thankful!

So, I just had to start off the post with that bit of good news.

Now...here are a few pics that I've had the best intentions to put up, but just never have.

A little bit of Christmas...

John's dad, Rick

Me "trying" out the new bow

My funny parents

Jere with his new pole

Meredith with her new Christmas sweater

Little Holly didn't get anything but a pretty bow on her head

And John with his favorite after Christmas purchase :)

Aunt J and Mama P while waiting to meet Camille(from Nov)

Carly and Matt are now proud parents of beautiful little Nora Conley!
(game was in October)

Grandma Dee

So, it has been a while since I last updated you all on our latest adventures. I was actually going to post a bunch of pictures and give a little update on some fun things that we had been up to over the holidays, however right before I finished the post, my dad called me to let me know that my beloved grandmother, Cynthia "Dee" Wells, had passed away.
She had gotten sick shortly after Christmas with pneumonia, and never recovered from it. Thankfully we had three weeks with her, and during that time she surrendered her life to Christ. It has been amazing to see how God's great mercy and grace extended to us through Christ even until our very last breath.

My grandmother's life was full of many hard and painful events, but also through that, I have seen the grace and mercy of Christ displayed immensely. My mother and her three siblings loved my grandmother and served her with a selflessness that was only found in Christ, and I saw displayed through them how to really honor your parents.

My grandmother was a very unique woman who loved her family immensely, who wasn't afraid to ever speak her mind, was fiesty, and who was smarter than I even knew. I wish that I had had more time with her while she was still healthy, but I am grateful for the memories that I do have and some of the fun and crazy times spent with her. I am also greatful for her sacfices that she made for my mother, and me and my siblings all of our lives. She loved us so much, even if sometimes she got tired of us ;-)

So, here are a few pictures of my Grandma Dee. Wish you could have known her.

Sweet baby Camille!