Life with my sister

UPDATE!!! WE HAVE POWER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! We have 40 pounds of deer meat to cook, 16 pounds of chicken, pork chops, fish and lots of duck. I am giving meat away as I type this. I am helping the hungry today and creating lots of smiles. We are back in J'Town today but still have no power. My work has a really bad leak in the ceiling and we fear it is toxic, so we are not staying here for long today. The limbs in our yard are still frozen and more have snapped. Our freezer did not stay cold and the all my meat is spoiled. I cried this morning when we walked in the door. It felt good to cry. My coworkers have power and they live about a mile away. I am praying they are working their way down our road. I am just reminding myself that it could be worse. Thank you for praying for my sanity today, I need it! Abby

This is what our yard looked like yesterday morning when we woke up. I have not seen it today because we have chosen to stay with Rick & Diana another night. We still have no power. My work has power, but Randall's does not. We will head back in the morning so I can work and hopefully he can start cleaning up the yard. We plan to visit our old neighbors over the weekend, and hope we can still make the trip. We have been looking forward to it. It makes me sick to my stomach to think about my oak trees being destroyed. I hope they can be saved. We will have to get on a waiting list with a tree service to have them assess the damage. I had dreams of hanging a rope swing from the big oak in front of the house for my children. Randall said that is what I get for having plans for the trees! If you know Randall, that made you laugh. Please continue to pray for those in our area who do not have a warm place to go. Many of the smaller towns/areas will not have power for weeks. The powe...

That is what Abby said when I talked to her just a few moments ago. They have been without power since last evening and when the limbs of their trees would snap and fall she said it sounded like bombs going off. They are safe and sound, playing card games and telling stories. They have been to Walmart to buy batteries (and who knows what else) and said the line at Mickey D's was really long. She said over 80% of the town is without power and all the shelters are full. Please be in prayer for those people who are without power and without a place to go. Pray for warmth and peace. Our cousins Sarah and Brandon, the parents of the beautiful Grace and Molly, are also without power. We here in South Arkansas are doing just fine. There is no ice, no rain, no sunshine, just a little cold. But above freezing. Stephen thinks he will be called out to do disaster relief work somewhere in the state soon. He works on the chainsaw crew and cuts down and moves downed trees. A wonderful service of...

Anna is really coming into herself these days. She is so much fun to watch. She loves playing with the boys and they love playing with her. They let her in their forts, and sit and watch Caillou with her.(which is more than I would do, that little boy gets on my nerves!) Today, she was watching me hang up clothes while she layed on my bed. She was on her tummy with her legs up (so cute!) I was thinking that we would have many more of these times, me working, her watching me and talking to me about her day. And then she said, " I think I'll smell my feet." And then she did. She said one smelled good and the other smelled "nasty." Later, we were talking about what a big girl she was and she said, "When I put my hands on my hips, I'm big!" And I agreed with her, because when she puts those hands on her hips, and juts that one hip out just a bit she does look like a small version of a teenager. I know I've written on here many times about how I c...

Settling down in Byhalia-2004 We have been on this journey for almost a year now. I have been reflecting a lot lately. I am sure I will post about it more as it comes to the surface a bit more. I get tears in my eyes when I see how much God has blessed us with this move, after I feared it so much. I miss my "old life" and some days I wish we were there because it was so much easier, but it was not near this much fun! One of my best travel memories - Alcatraz As much as we don't do it, we love to travel together. We loved eating the best lobster at Landry's in Branson after a big game of mini golf, falling down in Union Square in San Francisco after touring Alcatraz, shopping at the markets in Mexico because another day on the beach would have turned us into leather, and now we are headed to D.C. Neither of us have ever been. Please let us know if you have suggestions for us, etc. We already have our hotel booked and have an idea of what we will tour, etc. We are wait...

"There will be days which are great and everything goes as planned. There will be other days when we aren't sure why we got out of bed. Regardless of which day it is, we can be assured that God takes care of our daily needs." Emilie Barnes My sister gave me a daily flip calendar my freshman year of college. it is only dated by the day, not the year. I am using it for the 12th year and love it just as much as I did the first year. Julie initialed the days that had quotes that she wanted me to pay close attention to. The quote above is today's quote and it is initialed in cursive "JKB". I love it because it is always on days I really need it...and she did this 12 years ago. I needed to read that this morning after a whirlwind week of work chaos. I always rest in knowing that tomorrow may be the greatest day ever and to look forward to that hope. Also, today really isn't that bad...I have work when others do not. And, I have work that I enjoy and fits my sk...

I am watching the inauguration on my computer at work. I sit here and think about how far we have come. I get to watch a black man be sworn in as president of the U.S. on my computer at work. Really, it is impressive. Whether we like him or not, it is pretty remarkable that our country has come this far in such a short time. Next month Randall and I will go visit D.C. for the first time in our lives. We are anxious to see all the history. As I sit here and see history being made on my computer screen, it makes me even more excited to get there and touch, see and hear our American history. Abby P.S. Did you see Aretha's Hat? Oh my.

I thought it would be fun to start the week off with randomness. Since most of my Mondays start off randomly and set the mode for the rest of my crazy week, here are some random facts about me: I am addicted to Diet Coke and will probably die at an early age from drinking it excessively since I was in junior high. Listening to lack of good grammar while in professional/serious settings makes me cringe. I do not and never have appreciated my naturally curly hair. I am addicted to food. I am a foody. I live to eat and wish I ate to live. I do not have a favorite color. It used to be magenta, but I grew out of that. My husband was my first serious relationship and I love that God saved my heart just for him. I hate laundry with a passion. I hate washing it, drying it, folding it and putting it away. When my ship comes in, I will have a full-time laundry lady who lives in my laundry room and never comes out except to put the clothes away. Blake Shelton once told me I should marry him beca...

We decided to go to church this morning and start seriously looking for a church to call home (Make it a "commitment"). We were all inspired and ready. It is though the devil was behind us laughing all the way. We got there and it was over...the service was over. I had not researched the times since before Christmas and they had changed the service time. It makes you want to laugh a little, but it made me want to cry. So, we came on home and decided to turn on the Christian iTunes and paint. So, here we are singing real loud and painting. I guess we can worship just as well here as we would there. Not my plan, but we detoured and made the best of it. I hope the devil went on down the road. I wish not to encounter him anymore today. He gets on my nerves! Abby

The other day I was reading a friend's blog and a quote jumped out at me. The quote was regarding attending worship services on Sunday night. The girls were talking about whether they should start going back to those services and wondering why they had stopped. One lady said "you made it a choice." That has stuck with me for days now. I know some of you attend churches that don't have Sunday night or Wednesday night services. But for those of us that do attend churches that have 3 services a week, why don't you go to church? When did you make it a choice and not a commitment? I know there are times when it seems like Sunday is the only day you can run to the mall or the grocery store or you don't want to have to get the kids and yourself dressed for just an hour of preaching. Or maybe you think that only old people go to church on Sunday nights and Wednesday nights. And that maybe true, but do you know why? Because they didn't make it a choice, they made i...

Updated with questions and answers below!! Keep 'em coming! We always hear "How are you two so close if you are eight years apart?", "How are y'all so close, living so far away from one another?" "I wish my girls could love each other like you two love each other!", "Y'all look just alike" or "Y'all look nothing alike"., "How can two girls be so different, yet just alike, and be so close?!".... and the list goes on. Well, we are going to help answer these questions and let you learn more about our sisterhood. Once or twice a week we will post a Sisters Q&A. We want to know what YOU want to know about US (within reason, please)...leave a comment and tell us! (Yes, you lurkers, leave us a comment...we know you are out there and plentiful!) We will make you laugh and hopefully help you understand what makes us tick. This will also possibly help you with your sister or your daughter relationships. So, what do y...

Let me just tell you that this weekend was really great. I mean really! We went out to eat on Thursday night last week, because I put a plea out on facebook for my hubby to take us out a night ahead of schedule and it worked!! Go me! I just couldn't stand the thought of cooking Thursday night. So we ate mexican at our local mexican restaurant. And can I just tell you how great it is to have a mexican restaurant in my town? I love it, and they have the greatest punch ( ha Abby). We then headed back home to watch the SEC win big!!! Friday night, I cooked, we ate, we played Clue, I came up with the answer but Stephen won because of where he was on the board (RATS!), and we went to bed. Saturday, after sleeping in, I fixed biscuits, sausage and gravy and then we sat around the house. The twins were invited to a birthday party and Anna and I decided to go shopping. We spent 3 hours trying on clothes, walking the mall, and just having a great girlie time. When we got home we built ...

This is what I came home from Hobby Lobby with this afternoon. Randall gave me a gift card as one of my Christmas gifts. This morning I decided the kitchen need a little spice now that the fall and Christmas decor has been removed. It was looking a bit sad. This is what I picked out. I went from section to section and pieced all this together, from one end of the store to the other. It took a small forever, but it was worth it. End result on the "fridge side" End result on the "sink side" I think it has just the right amount of spice now! Abby

My sister has me on a wild game of hide & seek.... in my own house... and she is not even here! You see, I am anal about my things - especially the placement of my things. So, at Christmas she hid things from me. My house was crazy with decor and people, so it was the prime time to do it. She warned me she did, but I paid her no attention because she is always full of empty threats. Well, she did it! Tough thing, she can't remember what all she hid. She promises me whatever is hidden is all in the same spot. I just have to find the spot. She is so mean to me. MAMA!!!! Abby

You will think this is fun...or at least I think it is and it is my blog (and my sister's too....hopefully she will find it fun). I was digging through my jewelry chest last week trying to find a fun gold bracelet to wear. I rarely wear gold but am bringing it back, a bit at a time. Anyway, I opened the bottom drawer to see if by chance there was anything in my "keepsake" drawer. It holds my great grandmother's clip on hat earrings that I loved to play with when I was little, my choir pen from church, a charm necklace from a wedding I was in when I was 5, diet coke bottle cap earrings I wore in junior high and LOVED, a gaudy charm bracelet that has "A" all over that a leukemia patient gave me, etc. Anyway, you get the drift. Well hidden in a mesh bag was this gold link bracelet with a heart charm on it. I said "Ah-ha! we have stuck gold". It was a bracelet that my Daddy bought my Meemaw for Mother's Day in 1973. It had "Mother" engra...

Randall supervises a group of temporary workers. It was a shock to his system last Spring when he was introduced to them. I am actually still in shock and I have never met a single one of them. They are a mix of high school drop outs and professional temporary workers. There are also 2 college students who help bring hope to the group. After almost a year of being under their "curse", Randall decided to take on a new role with these people. He introduced the Cuss Jar. 50 cents for all words except GD and the F word...those cost $1. The jar sits on Randall's desk. To get to the jar, they have to walk past everyone else. They hate walking past Ms. Libby. They feel shamed. Randall loves shaming them. Yesterday one of the guys had to pay his 50 cents in pennies and one of the ladies said,"My! Someone was really been talking dirty today!" Well, Randall said today that guy did not cuss at all. It broke him. Ah, Success! One of the other guys has a "tab". He ...

I want to preface what I am about to say with this: I dearly love the swimming pool and the time I spend at it each summer. I love the feel of the warmth of the sun on my skin and the thump-thump sound of kids jumping off the diving board and the sound of them splashing into the water. I enjoy hanging out with other moms at the side of the pool and reading so many books that I have to make 2 trips to the library each week. I love sweaters! I mean I really enjoy, love and desire sweaters. There is nothing like the feeling of my favorite pair of jeans (Old Navy Sweethearts) comfy socks and shoes, a turtleneck ( a real one, not a mock one) and a great sweater. Or even a NHS hoodie -I just got one and love it! A sweater hides the sins of the meals and treats I've had in the past few months, it makes me feel toasty warm, and looks great. I really don't like the cold, I hate the cold wind blowing in my face, or the feeling of losing feeling in my fingers and feet because of the cold...

Last night we sat around the table eating potato soup (from a Bear Creek mix-the best!!!), and we began talking about our futures. David said he wanted to live in a mansion, yet he wants to be a reading teacher. I told him both of those probably were not going to happen, but he didn't seem deterred. He also gave us the name of his children. He plans on having 2 boys and 2 girls, their names will be John, Luke, Lucy, and Gracie. His wife is going to get to pick out their middle names. He thought this was fair, because they would each have gotten to pick out 4 names. Anna wants to work at the mall, she asked me very nicely if she could. I told her "of course you can." I mean she is 4, I would hate to taint her love of the mall at such a young age. She then asked if she could have 2 jobs, because she would also like to work at a restaurant. It turns out, the girl just wants to work at cash register. And she got one for Christmas, so things are working out just fine for her. ...

Now that the Christmas decor is down; my house is empty. Boring. Bland. Blah. I have had seasonal decor out since we moved in. I had fall and then Christmas...and a lot of both. It is too early for Easter and I refuse to decorate for Valentine's Day. I have spread out all 1500 square feet of decor in this 3000 square foot home and it is not doing the trick. I am now realizing we need to take a little shopping trip to Kirkland's and Hobby Lobby. It makes me anxious and those of you who really know me can only imagine my anxiety with all the blandness (is that a word) and then the impending trip to buy things. "I am blessed to have the home". This is what I keep telling myself as I look at empty shelves and tables. Abby

Like my dear sister, I wish not to discuss the 2008 resolutions because only a few were accomplished! 2008 was a HUGE year in our home, as you faithful readers very well know. This year I am focusing on "goals" and they are generic and few. Maybe I won't be setting myself up for failure this way. That is my hope, at least. 1. Join a church 2. Get comfortable (in various areas of my life) 3. Learn to say "no" without feeling guilty 4. Laugh more while enjoying the "now" I, like many of you, have habits I would love to break. I ran across this writing on the Internet a few weeks ago and thought it was pretty neat. It made me think about my habitual patterns. Maybe it can also help you with unwanted habits, etc. THERE'S A HOLE IN MY SIDEWALK Autobiography in Five Short Chapters By Portia Nelson Chapter One I walk down the street. There is a deep hole in the sidewalk. I fall in. I am lost .... I am helpless. It isn't my fault. It takes forever to f...