Friends

For those of you who don't know, we had a really terribly traumatic weekend beginning last Friday. Andy was returning from San Francisco and the kids and I were so excited. Delta called to say Andy's plane in Atlanta was going to be a bit late. He already had a layover there- so that put him not getting home until mid-night! Well in my head I thought, "So I could pick him up, have dinner, drive home, and put him in bed before he even leaves the Atlanta Airpot! I'll just go surprise him!"

Ok, so....Andy doesn't like surprises as much as I do. That is truly something I need to remember at times like these. I spontaneously loaded the kids in the Explorer and took off on an adventure. Well, as I drove into Atlanta I realized that I didn't know how to get to the airport, so I pulled off of the interstate to ask directions. I had to drive a little ways to find a populated business, and there discovered that I had a flat tire! I panicked but remembered that I have a friend from Operation Christmas Child whom I thought lived close by so I called her and she came to get me and the kids. We went and picked up Andy from the airport so that he could come back and change my tire....so much for the getting him home to rest!

So then we're on the road home. We got off 85N onto 20W and decided to get off at Douglasville (close to Six Flags) for gas and Burger King. We filled up, got back on the road, made it 6 miles, and the next thing I knew there was a loud POP and some kind of thumping! Smoke started coming out from under the hood. Luckily we were right at an exit so I was able to get it off of the interstate. At this point it was 11 o'clock and 29 degrees outside!!!!

We have roadside assisstance through AT&T so we called them and they sent a wrecker that took an hour and a half. Then we called our dearest friends who set up a hotel room using their reward points for us and came to pick us up the next morning. (Needless to say, Andy would have had a better night's sleep in his own bed even if he got home late!!!!!) We got in bed at 1am and when we left the next morning, we waved good-bye to our truck. It's still in Atlanta, somewhere.

We have to get a new engine. That Explorer didn't even have 88K miles on it!!!!!!!

So our finances have been frozen because it will cost about $2000.00 to fix the truck. We still have Christmas presents to buy, a trip to Momma's to make, all kinds of thoughts were going through our heads. We began trying to scrape together a plan....meanwhile our super close friends that we have a really tight "supper club" with began praying for us. They have called and prayed and asked and cared since the minute they found out about all of this. And today, well today I got a card in the mail with a $200 Wal-Mart gift card from "The Sup Dawgs"! We've also had friends offer to lend us the money to get the truck fixed!

Andy and I have a hard time with this as we are the ones who really like to help others. It's hard to express your needs to people when you know that they have things going on in their own lives that you want to help with SOOOOO badly! I think King David penned it perfectly in Psalm 133.1 when he said "Behold how good and how pleasant it is, when brothers dwell in unity!" Where would we be without our friends.....our brothers.....our sisters?

Finally.......

someone took a picture of me and Andy together! This NEVER happens, but I have a sweet Uncle who says he loves the pictures of the kids- but would like to see me too. So this one's for you, Uncle Charlie!

P.S. The pic got a little scratched so I apologize!

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!!!