Ministry Opportunity

Tonight we met with a family about being potential sponsors/partners in their efforts to spread the gospel to Palestinians. I've been friends with Terry Rhodes for a long time; we have taught 7th grade geography together for years. He, along with his family, is taking an enormous leap of faith to further the gospel. Terry is quitting his job here in Fayetteville and has taken a job for next year teaching at a school in Bethlehem. His main outreach will be to students at Bethlehem Bible College, teaching them how to mentor younger students. He also wants to establish some sort of after school program for teens in the area. There is little for Palestinian teenagers to do; this would help give them a positive outlet for their time and energy.

It was fun getting to visit with them; our boys had a great time playing with their boys. They're about the same ages, so it was easy to make friends. Hannah had a good time too, except she mostly stayed in the room with us. Somehow, four boys was a little much for her.

I am so impressed with this family's willingness to leave home, leave family, and totally change their lifestyle to do what they feel God is leading them to do!

Please remember to pray for the Holy Land!

Family Worship

We had a guest speaker today during church - - Don Whitney from the seminary in Louisville (Leah, is he one of Evan's professors?). He spoke about family worship. His lesson was wonderful but very convicting. John and I have never been consistent with family worship, either as a couple or as a family with children. We both feel like this is something we really need to do. Jacob was in the service with us. He came home excited about trying again, and he spent a good amount of time this afternoon looking for music for us to sing. He wants to be in charge of music for our worship time. He had about five different things picked out; he wants a mix of classical hymns, contemporary choruses, and easy kid songs. He's quite the music minister!

We read through Psalm 67 tonight which was the suggested reading from Pastor Lumpkin's family resources online. It was fun to hear the kids' responses to questions about the passage. During prayer request time, Samuel said we needed to pray for the churches in Indonesia and for the missionaries there to be able to tell people about Jesus. (They're learning about Indonesia during Kids on Mission. I helped with that today, and I didn't think Samuel was paying very good attention. I'm glad that he can wiggle and listen at the same time!). All in all, tonight's experience was a good one.

I would love to hear about the things you do for family worship. Any good ideas for small children? Any good devotional books to recommend?

There's No Place Like Home

That's the comment I made to Ann as we topped the hill on I-540 that overlooks downtown Fayetteville. Even though I love to travel, I love coming over that hill and seeing home.

Ann and I got back about 7:00 p.m. Sunday night. We left Nashville around 10:00 a.m., so it was a long day of driving! I think I drove all but the first hour or so of the trip. Ann (who was a real trooper the whole weekend) was feeling much worse today. She has some kind of crud which we think has become a sinus infection. We were both pleased to hear of the slight possibility of freezing rain in the wee hours of the morning. A day off from school to catch up from not having a weekend at home would be really nice.

Our first annual sister trip was a lot of fun! We spent a lot of time shopping. I think we know all the major stores in Nashville now. We also went to Franklin and shopped in the big mall there. I didn't really buy much; it was just fun to shop (with no kids or stroller!), try on things (well, maybe that wasn't so fun; I have got to lose some weight!), and be together. We went to two movies; I'm lucky if I go to two movies at the theater in an entire year let alone in a 24 hour period of time! Of course, we also enjoyed eating out and talking. Lots and lots of talking.

John did a great job while I was gone. Not only is the house still standing, but the kitchen is clean, the laundry has been done, and all three kids have smiles on their faces! Thanks, sweetie! (Of course, there are now some pet mice in a cage in my living room . . . . . . but, I think they leave tomorrow for his classroom.)

Any recommendations for next year's sister location?

Chick Flick

Well, the first annual sister trip has been a blast so far! We met around noon today at OpryMills and spent the afternoon shopping. Tonight we saw a great chick flick - - 27 Dresses. You'll be happy to know that between the three sisters, we've not been in that many wedding combined! One of our favorite quotes from the movie was "Love is patient. Love is kind. Love is slowly losing your mind." Another is "The great thing about this dress is that you can shorten it and wear it again." Yeah right. Actually, Susan and I have both worn a bridesmaid dress again. I'm not sure what that says about us. Maybe we're just too cheap to buy a new dress.

On the Road

Only sisters could have this much fun driving down the interstate in the rain and pitch dark singing loudly along with Karen Carpenter about Rainy Days and Mondays. Ann and I listened to one Carpenters song after another and sang the words to almost every song! We arrived in Memphis around 8:30 and found our hotel pretty easily. We plan to leave here in the morning to drive on to Nashville. It's too bad that the road trip portion of our sister trip can't be shared by our other sister, Susan. Of course, we did place a phone call to her while driving, so we did have some communication along the way.

A big thanks goes out to my wonderful husband for being willing to keep the kids while I'm gone. Thanks also to my mom for picking up the boys and Hannah from school and for taking Samuel to Fun City for a birthday party tonight. One of the reasons we, as sisters, are so close is because of the efforts of our parents and the rest of our family to place value on our relationship.

First Annual Sister Trip

I leave town tomorrow on my first annual sister trip. My parents have provided a condo for this weekend for my sisters and me to have a special sister getaway. We are going to Nashville, Tennessee. Ann and I are leaving tomorrow afternoon (our assistant principal has given us permission to leave school a little early) and driving to the east side of Memphis. I "hotwired" a hotel for us to stay in; it's across the street from Wolfchase Galleria. Susan will leave on Friday morning from her home on other other side of Tennessee and meet us in Nashville around lunch time. We plan to eat out, shop, and catch a new chick flick at the theater. Of course, we'll probably log a record number of hours talking.

I am really looking forward to getting away and having some girl time. It has been really hectic trying to get ready to go. I have tried to prepare everything here at home so that John has an easy time managing the kids and house for the weekend. I have also had to have everything just right at school. (Progress report grades are due on Friday, so I have to finish those tomorrow before I leave.) Fortunately, I have an awesome intern right now. She will be able to step right in and teach in my absence without me having to do sub plans.

If you think about us, say a prayer for safe travel - - and for John & the kids as they spend the weekend being "mom-less."

Parking Lot Behavior

Have you ever been yelled at in a grocery store parking lot by a total stranger?? I experienced that for the first time this afternoon. I had to run into Harps to pick up a couple of things I needed for class tonight (it was my night to bring dinner for everyone). As I pulled into the parking lot, a lady and her daughter (who looked about seven) had just come out the door. I pulled into a lane before getting to where they were standing and parked my car. As I walked past their car, she yelled out at me, "Hey, don't you ever stop for children?" I said, "Excuse me?" And then she started yelling at me. I just kept right on walking. I was perplexed the whole time I was in the store about what I should have done. Should I have walked over to her and had a conversation? Should I have apologized if she thought I should have stopped for her? (I really don't think she was even in my pathway in the slightest.) I just thought it was really weird to yell at someone in a parking lot and that perhaps I didn't want to have any more contact than what I was already having.

Of course, I've made my share of comments about people driving or about people in parking lots. But I have never yelled at someone for it. Anyway, now I'm paranoid. I probably won't go to Harps again for a very long time.

Good Grief Charlie Brown

Ok - I guess blogging is contagious. Either that or my husband is trying to tell me something . . . . hmm . . . .
At any rate, John now has his own blog. Check it out at www.mrhuneycutt.blogspot.com or from my links at the side.
Jacob has also started a blog about weather. His blog can be found at www.weather-kid.blogspot.com
Happy viewing.

More Snow

The kids made good use of what little snow was on the driveway. Because our driveway is quite steep, it makes for great sledding, and it was still mostly snow covered. Hannah is finally big enough this year to really enjoy riding down (even if a crash is involved). By this afternoon all of the snow will have melted.