HOOOOORAY!! WE'RE BACK!!!

Christmas at the Cains

Operation Christmas Child

Fall at the Old Baker Farm

Cain Olympics Medal Ceremony

The 2008 Olympic Torch comes through Crestwood!

Oh my goodness! We finally have our computer fixed after being hit by lightening and I am so excited to be able to share so much with you! Much has passed since my last post....in AUGUST!!!!

First let me say that we had a terrible drought and completely lost the garden- right at it's peak! I didn't feel comfortable watering it everyday when I knew Lake Purdy was drier than a ditch in Albuquerque! (For those of you not from Birmingham, Lake Purdy supplies a vast majority of our water!) We were so sad, all of that hard work and anticipation! But we sure did learn a lot and will certainly give it another go next year!

School has been very hard for us this year. It seems that as soon as we get on a great roll, something knocks us off course and I have an incredibly difficult time getting back on! But Abby is reading and Ben recognizes 98% of his letters and knows 13 of the letters sounds! Quite impressive, I believe- for just turned 4!

Operation CHristmas Child finished up the Monday of Thanksgiving week, and we went for a drive to Atlanta to visit the processing center on Black Friday (after I completed my shopping, of course!). The economy has certainly impacted giving this year, but God is GREAT! And greatly to be praised! Millions of children will hear the gospel through the simple gift of a shoebox filled with love! By the way, this year pooped us out more than any other year has, and we still haven't gotten our wits about us!

Ben turned 4 in October and we had a fabulous "circus" party for him! That little boy has so many friends- we were so blessed to see more than 20 kiddos show up to celebrate his life with us! It was soooo much fun!

And now Christmas is here! We are going to Momma's to spend Christmas with her. It's our first time breaking our family tradition of staying home for Christmas- but after the year we've all had- I think we ALL just wanted to be together for Christmas. I'm really looking forward to it. I love to cuddle with my Momma on her couch, eat yummy Momma-food, and just be with her. It's gonna be wonderful!

We went to visit Santa today and the kiddos were tickled pink! Abby actually gave me quite a scare....you see- she and I weren't getting along yesterday and she ran to her room in a tantrum. I followed her in and found her barricading the door. In an effort to teach her that communication is best and brute force doesn't work against Mommy, I pushed her door open and went in to discuss matters with her. She promptly proceeded to tell me that she fully intended to ask Santa for a door knob that locks and will keep Mommy out! Needless to say, you can imagine how relieved I was when she told Jolly Ol St Nick that she wanted a Hannah Montana Bouncy Ball and Scooter! Whew, I've evaded DHR- whom I'm sure Santa would've ringed shortly after Abby's dismount had she asked for a locking mechanism to keep her Mommy away!!!!!!! ANywho... IT'S A WONDERFUL LIFE!! And it's supposed to snow tomorrow night!

Here's some pics to catch you up a little. I'm so happy to be back on and I hope you will keep up with us! Happy Holidays!!!