October days

Last year, Jay discovered another talent! So....he and the kids could not wait to carve their pumpkins. This is the huge pumpkin that Willie brought home from his class field trip!





Yes, Willie's head is inside the pumpkin.



Here's what I got from Willie when I told him to smile naturally.




Great job, Daddy!


Here's the Ninja Warrior on the carousel at the Ghouls at Grassmere at the Zoo. They called it the scary go round that night.

I had encouraged Ruby to go as Fancy Nancy since we had all the stuff. She seemed fine with that until time to go....when she whirled on her heels and said, "I told you I wanted to be a cowgirl." So...she wouldn't wear a costume, but she had lots of fun anyway with her good friend Jake.

Before October closes, we'll celebrate Jay's 36th, last baseball game of the season and some more Trick or Treat!

Mercy Ministries --- 3 days left!

Some of you have heard that I partnered with at risk women in the Dominican Republic this month. These rescued women make beautiful jewelry. Through a missionary I met when in the DR earlier this year, I committed to be their U.S. partner for the month of October and broker their beautiful handiwork. I'm approaching $2,000 (in spite of the swine flu) and should get there before I ship it to next months' hostess who also happens to live in Tennessee. 100% of the money goes back to the mission field!

As always, Jay was ultra supportive of the commitment involved and my last showing is to the coaches at LU. Willie gave up his pool table for about 3 weeks for me to keep my display ready and Ruby was my sales assistant and inventory counter. My children are so about helping these "mommies."

And, thanks to all of you who purchased jewels and helped serve these women in a very real way. I received an email this morning from Alli (the missionary that organizes this particular ministry). The women in the program have a desire to reach other women for Christ....that's what it's all about! They are building relationships with some prostitutes in the area and are planning to host a retreat for them to take them out of their environment for a few days to do activities, crafts, and hear God's word. Please be in prayer for them as they prepare, start inviting 5 specific women, and have their eyes opened to the situations around them.

Ok....I know I owe you grandparents costume pictures and Willie's first lost tooth! Now, that's been a bigger deal than I could have ever imagined.

And "the Cloud" is lifting.....

I've been thinking the cloud (of sickness) was lifting for the last 3 days but today's the first REAL day that I felt a little like myself....

1) I brushed my hair and teeth in the same hour today. There were days this week that both didn't happen in the same day.

2) I cared enough to put things away and carry something with me to the other end of the house in every trip. (that's my BIG secret ....don't walk anywhere for any reason without taking something that belongs in that area)

3) I walked to the other end of the house. Most days this week....I didn't leave my bed.

4) We left the house and actually went somewhere. First time, I went voluntarily anywhere since Tues afternoon. We went to Ghouls at Grassmere (Halloween event at the zoo). It was great to get out of the house, but WAY too cold.

5) I am grateful again! I have grown a grateful heart about the smallest of things in the last few years, but I don't remember saying thank you for anything this week. I was just surviving... As I get better, I am thankful for the sickly days as I truly am grateful for our health.

Can't wait to share pics of Willie's Halloween costume with you which he donned at Ghouls at Grassmere....coming soon!

Funny stuff

Now, it's just funny to me how girls Willie sees occasionally and I've never seen him have much of a conversation with evidently know him much better than I thought.

We were set to host our Sunday School party this weekend in our backyard. Well, God sent some serious thunderstorms so we pulled together a rain location (which worked perfectly). After the party, one of my girl friends from church told me that she was telling her carpool (2nd graders) on the way home that tonight was a church party and they needed to go home rest up and get ready for the church party. They retorted...."church party.....I thought it was Willie's party?" She started to try to explain it was originally at Willie's house but they kept on about Willie so she eventually explained that "Willie's party" had been moved to the church.

Today, another dear friend who is expecting was sharing that they were coming up with a list of boy names. Their 3 year old was helping come up with names and her # 1 favorite name was "Willie. "

This stuff makes me chuckle (for now)!

A few favorites

Some of favorite things in life have converged this week......

1) Autumn is my favorite season. The leaves are just starting to turn here and we're having more crisp days than warm ones. It's our first fall season in this house which is surrounded by hills. Well, we call them mountains, and I can't wait to see them in full fall colors.



2) My favorite times with the kids are when we are playing at home. It's the place where you get to hear their imaginations at work. And the extra bonus is when you play in your pj's until your nap time.




Willie generally acts out football games with live commentary by him on every play. Tonight he said....

WW: Mom, you know how people who smoke are infected?

Me: You mean addicted?

WW: Yeah, well I think I'm addicted to football:) and I'm really addicted to the Miami Dolphins. (???)



3) I absolutely love fabric. I love going to fabric stores and dreaming about how to use beautiful fabrics. Mom, I know you wanted to see this kitchen valance. The picture doesn't do it justice but you get the idea, and the beads are so yummy you could eat them! My grandmother Mary Sue had a fabric store once. She passed away when I was 4 yet I've always felt so close to her. I realized just the other day she surely loved fabric as much as me.

4) Basketball season. Of course, I could do without the pressure it can bring, and the crazy schedules can be well, crazy.....but I love the season on the whole. Practice is one week from tomorrow. Pre season polls came out this week and guess who was picked #1 in the coaches' poll? Check out www.lipscombsports.com for the full news story. Adnon was named to the pre-season all-conference team which tickles me when I remember all the hours Jay spent recruiting him!

Well, I'm signing off before my favorite day of the week arrives here in the next half hour. Hope you all get to enjoy a favorite of yours this weekend!

September Games

September has just flown by! Fall ball is underway. I told a fellow coach's wife (baseball) the other day.....I can't imagine being married to a baseball coach. I mean those games are so long, they play like 3 in one weekend and I hate a foul ball (which she can relate to since she got hit by a foul ball in the press box at Vandy). BUT---I could watch Willie play baseball all day long which might be a good thing b/c he rated our family sport of basketball as his third favorite sport today. (It goes like this right now football, baseball, basketball.) Here's Willie with his first game ball of the season. He was the lead-off batter the other night and hit a home run first hit of the game.

Then there's the college football season....the Vandy game with the Wallace's was quite soggy, but the DAWGs fought it out. We spent much of that Saturday scouring the city for ponchos and water boots. They were a selling out fast but so worth the hunt!

Thank you, my dear family, for coming so far to be with us. I love yall! You know we play MTSU in just a few weeks if you want to do it all again!

Weekend Wows!

We had alot of Wows this weekend!

Ruby was wowed by the red polish that Ronda whipped out of her purse at the volleyball match on Friday night.

Jay and I were wowed that our kids woke up later than usual on Saturday and didn't wake us up. We woke up to the sweet wisdom that Willie was sharing with Ruby in the kitchen as he fixed her breakfast. He peeled a hard boiled egg (previously boiled), toasted her waffle, provided her fruit and made her some chocolate milk by himself. Jay and I just laid there in our nearby room listening to their sweet exchanges.

After some exercise, we headed out for a little Saturday fun and ended up at the Greek Fest....I'm guessing it's our 8th annual trip. The Greek food, of course, wows me and Jay. The games and pony rides wow our kids.

After some rest, Jay and I headed out to the Symphony with Kate and Brandon. The symphony presented an Americana show which connected all kinds of music in America's history including a bluegrass/country flair that I totally appreciated and surprise visit from Emmy Lou Harris. But the wow moment of the night for us was when "Honeyboy" Edwards feebly took the stage. He's a Shaw, Miss boy that's only 94 years old. He wrote Sweet Home Chicago.

Check out his tour schedule at http://www.davidhoneyboyedwards.com/. He'll be in London next week. Honeyboy is the last living legend that played with Robert Johnson, King of the Delta Blues. We were fortunate enough to be invited to the after-party to meet the musicians.

Here's us with HoneyBoy! Is Jay not at one of his happiest moments?! We, of course, talked to him about the Sip and Jay asked him if he knew Jay's elderly friend from Shaw, Boo Ferris (also a living legend http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Ferriss ). To which Honey Boy replied, "yeah, that's old WD Ferris' boy...." that cracked us up b/c he was remembering the generation before Boo.

Wow! I'm grateful we still have so much fun together.

After church on Sunday, we took some long naps with intermittent football and tennis (both in our backyard and on TV). Plus we got some house projects done as we welcome family this coming weekend in anticipation of a big WOW from our beloved Bulldogs.