Ryan's 16th

9/10/08 and 9/13/08

So, my oldest has turn 16 and boy did he think that we were not going to do anything for him. I had told him all along that he got his car and phone durning the summer so that was it (well in presents it was) but I couldn't let his special age go by without anything... We did for his b'day go to Fugi w/ almost all the youth kids that were there that Wednesday night and we told him that it was all he was getting. But, I have been thinking of this every since July and have kept it from him every since then too (see I can hold secrets). Ryan turn 16 on Sept 10th and a very good friend of his Hannah Hammett turn 16 on Sept 16 so I had told her about my plans when we went to Powerplant this summer and she made a comment that she to would like a surprise party so without her knowing I contacted her mom to see if she wanted to go in with me and do it and she did. Then another friend of theirs and neighbor and fellow church buddy Griffen he was turning 16 on the same day as Hannanh so the Susan's (both other moms are Susan) went in together and gave the 3 of the surprise b'day party over at the Hammetts on the 13th... Now, Hannah is a true women already that chick figure it out before the party which I really did hate but then again she was able to get with Ryan and with the help of Griffen sister Hannah and have them all come back to the Hammett's all at the same time... The party was truly great we had swimming, karaoke, pizza, chips, music, cake and some even a cake fight...I want to thank the Hammett's to opening their home to all us...

Blowing the candles out

Cake

Cake fight

Swimming

Hannah and the b'day girl singing for us

The Lawson clan (Ryan's 2nd family) and friends

Now, one true surprise for the weekend.... My sister's came to the party too and that was the first one that one had been to since Ryan was probably 3 and the first one that the other had ever been too.. If you know anything about me you know that I had a period in my life where the only family I had was under my roof and that was it... My sister's are wonderful and I love them dearly but when you have a demanding family member you sometimes just let things be to save peace and also one sister had been living all over the US and in Canada for a long time. This past Christmas we all meet up again and ever since then we have become a family again. Ryan being Ryan and can be so sensitive just having his aunts and cousin there was truly more than he would ever ask for.. Thank you Lisa and Steph for driving from GA and you Lynn from driving from Ft. Inn to come and make his day so much more special...

Ryan and his 2 aunts (on each end) and Allyson mom

Ryan, his cousin Stephanie and precious Garrett

Me and sister's Lynn in pink and Lisa yellow...

The last surprise for him... Ryan went to his cousin Stephanie wedding in March and meet her new sister in law Allyson ever since then they have been texting and meeting up when all possible at least once a month (she lives in Augusta, GA also) so her and her mom came down for the party and spent the night in a near by hotel and they went to church together Sunday, lunch and hung out the whole day.. He knew they were coming down but he had no idea that they were spending the night and he got to see her a whole another day.. At this point they are still just friends (later post on that) but she is a very special girl to him and to us... Funny how God works things out, remember we had not seen or really talked to my sisters and nieces until December and Ryan was more than happy to ride to GA with me the first of March for the wedding and you never know he might have met his bride there, I know that it is waaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyy to early but it is something I wonder about sometimes.. Thank you Dorthy and Allyson for making Ryan's b'day a great one...

Ryan and Allyson at his party

One more b'day to go!!!!!!!!!! Will finish catching up hopefully this weekend, I have Stephen b'day somewhat and our youth retreat... Until next time..............................

Loving Well Retreat

9/5-9/6
We hosted a weekend women's retreat at our church the first weekend in September and we did the retreat in a box by Beth Moore entitled Loving Well and boy was it good...Our very own Karen Bishop led the event and did such a wonderful job of sharing her life w/ us and sharing what God says about us loving each other... Beth narrow it down to these types of people in our life...

Joy- this is the person in your life that you truly just enjoy to be around.
Testy- you know that is just the person that actually just gets on your last nerve and you want to explode on them sometimes.
Foe- this is the person you can not stand at all, they have cross that line.
Far- this is the stranger you might see

With all of these people we are called to love each and every one of them just as Jesus loves us, that is the greatest and first commandment to love each other..

I looked at this list and I truly try to decided if I had a name for each one and I was so happy that I had so many Joy's in my life, now I am different before testy becomes a foe I just walk away from that relationship until I have calm down and had a break from that person and then I go back to where they are the joy/testy in my life... But it also made me think since I truly do not have really any names that were testy or foe ( it stay on hand) could I be somebody testy or foe person??? My goodness that really hit me cause I don't believe I am to many joy, so since them I have really try to treat everybody with a loving nature so maybe I can become more of a joy than a testy. Is that far person are they seeing Jesus in us? Are we taking time to say hello and just give a smile? To summarize what I learned that weekend and if you want more let me know and I will share cause I am such note taker but to summarize it we are to love each other as Jesus loves us and we are to forgive each other as we are forgiven.. pretty simple uh??? I pray everyday to be more like Jesus and love those around me, it is a struggle but with His guidance I will get there one day...

I want to say also a big thank you to Kathi Mumpower and Sande Campsen for getting this retreat all together and making it as wonderful.. I had the privilege to work along side Sande for the last couple of years in the women's ministry and with Kathi in the youth and I truly believe that God is calling me to work closer with the younger ladies of our church so this year I am teaching 10th-12th grade girls on Sunday morning and I have never taught like this before and with all my kids in school now and in everything else I need to be a mom and wife too and I want to grow closer with our Lord so I have given over the reins of working in the women's ministry to Kathi. I know that the women of AMRBC and other ladies will be truly bless with Kathi and Sande and I believe that they have so much more to offer than I can right now, so I want to say thank you to the both of them for making their first retreat together such a wonderful blessing to me... I can' t forget to thank also Julie, I am one of those people that I really do wish I could sing cause let me tell ya I can truly worship through music just as much through hearing God's word and Julie brings me to that place every time that it is true worship... So thank you Julie again for blessing me. We have some very talented young ladies in our youth that are wonderful singers an they to bless us with their voices that weekend... Also thank you to every lady that help plan or had a part of the retreat I know it could not have been made possible without you..AMRBC is truly bless with some wonderful ladies...

Girl's Night

8/29/08

The Friday night in August I was blessed with having a girls night out with some of my friends... We meet for supper at Red Lobster (love those cheese biscuit) and then instead of ordering dessert with them we walked over to Mable Slab and sat outside eating our ice-cream and sharing stories of kids, husbands and alot of laughter, we were there so long we closed the place down... It was a really great and fun night with my friends that I am truly blessed to have in my life....