Touchdown!

I really hate football. I'm sure I've said that before, but this game is a little different. Take a look at this.

Since I'm such a cry-baby, I figured I'd share a little something with you that pretty much made me bawl. The news story is the link above. You'll need to read it to understand why this story is such a winner. Here's just a clip of the video.



I love it when I see young people with a huge heart. I willing to bet the elation of making this kid's day was a better "high" than they could ever find in any drug! Something about doing good for others makes your heart a little lighter as well!

Another Year Older

Yesterday was Jeremy's birthday. He turned 34. Addison and I spent the day in the kitchen fixing up some "stuff" for his birthday. Namely cupcakes with colorful sprinkles and BBQ ribs. The cupcakes and sprinkles were Addison's idea. She spotted the sprinkles as we were checking out the different cupcake cups in the baking aisle. She settled for blue cups with baseballs and gloves on them! She was convinced her daddy would love those!

Just wanted to share a few pics of how much fun Addison had celebrating the day! She loved helping fix the cupcakes and she really enjoyed the ribs!

The Greenes

I've not had nor have I taken the time to sit down and write on any of the additional highlights of the Quartet Convention, but I now feel the need to discuss one of the highlights. One of those stand-out moments came on Friday morning at the Gaither sing-along. It was a decent sized showcase where several artists sat around the stage and sang songs out of the red Church Of God hymnal. It was a great showcase, but the stand-out moment came after one of my favorite singers in the world took the stage.

I've talked about her / them before on several occasions and even posted my videos I took last year at the convention. So, the fact that TaRanda Greene sang, was a good enough reason to have a "stand-out" moment. But truthfully, that wasn't all there was to it. I've referenced before that this is the artist who gave up her kidney for her spouse, Tony, who was suffering from kidney failure and was taking peritoneal dialysis at home multiple times a day.

She sang a verse of the old song, "Leave it There." She could sing "Happy Birthday" and it would give you chills and make you tear up. She's THAT good! But she did an outstanding job on this particular song. After she sang, an audibly shaken Gloria Gaither stood up and gave one of the greatest "speeches" I have ever heard her give. It was not a recitation that has been recorded that she gave from memory. It was one of those beautiful heart-felt moments.....and I have to admit, I had to dig out my hankie. I didn't go without it this year because I had cried so much last year, I wasn't taking the chance of having no tissues.

Gloria began her little speech with the fact that she has "trouble" with this particular song. She broke down the areas in which she struggled. The first being a line in the chorus which says....."take your burdens to the Lord and leave it there." She said in an age where we are so used to quick fixes - this song becomes harder and harder to live. When we are in pain, we take and Aspirin or Motrin for that. If we're hungry, we go through the drive-thru and grab something to eat, etc..... However when it comes to taking the cares of life, we attempt so hard at taking them to the throne of God to allow Him to handle it and somehow when we wake up the next morning, we find that we've taken them right back into our hands. It seems as tho God doesn't want to show up as soon as we think He should, so surely there's something we could do to make it better.......She mentioned Tony and TaRanda Greene at this point and said she was sure there were times throughout this failing health ordeal that TaRanda had wondered where in the world God was. Yet, really the only answer that works is waiting on God. As hard as that may be!

She said another part of the song she was working on was the part that says, "If you trust and never doubt He will surely bring you out!" Finding the faith to believe God is going to work it all out is sometimes hard to come by. In our feeble minds, we are left with all kinds of questions of how in the world we can solve these issues, but we forget that God thinks in levels that we are unable to think on....and has solutions that we probably never considered.

I have to admit, part of the reason that I was so broken by the entire thing, is because I have also had to work on both of these heart issues in my own life. And I will be the first to admit, I'm still a work in progress. I have definitely NOT arrived. But I'm trying.

I took note of TaRanda's reaction during this time of wide-open, cut to the heart, honesty. She repeatedly wiped her eyes as well, I'm sure, thinking of the times she wondered where God was.

I've had this "highlight" on my mind since I left convention. It was probably one of the most "spiritual" moments I experienced all week. I had to confess my tendency to doubt in a few areas.

In the past week since we left convention, we discovered Sunday night that Tony Greene is currently in ICU - in critical condition. He is on a ventilator with collapsed lungs and pneumonia. From the twitter posts and facebook accounts of their close friends, it appears as thought his life is hanging in the balance and it could easily go either way from here without a miracle. They have two very young daughters. Hopefully I will be able to write back in a few days and report that he is improving. Until I do that, please whisper a prayer for the Greene Family.

He Can - The Hinsons

This video was posted by Kenny Hinson's son, Weston.....who sings and sounds just like his Daddy. I have the proof on my phone. Weston recorded the Hinsons during their reunion, and I recorded Weston singing "Call Me Gone."

This is just a little bit of what we experienced. The shrills and yells on my phone are a little breath-taking, so I'm thinking I won't post my own video. Maybe soon, someone will post a video on YouTube of him singing during his showcase.

I advise you not to watch this at your workplace. It's better at home so you can turn it up and clap while they sing. Talk about nostalgia!

NQC Slam Dunk!

Just a note.....I started writing this the afternoon after this event, but didn't have time to finish it, so I just got the time to do so.....

We've all had a discussion about how in the world there's a possiblity that NQC could be any bigger and better than it was this year. It was as good as it gets in my book. And it's always been good, but I see no possiblity ever of it getting any better. We feel like we have literally spent the last 4 days sitting in a seat for approximately 12 hours a day listening to Southern Gospel music. And that's not an exaggeration by any long shot.

On Friday we left the hotel room a little after 11 a.m. to go start the concerts and arrived back into the room a little after 1:30 a.m. Saturday morning. It was all good, but today (Saturday) took the cake. I just need to tell you a little about it. Today was the celebration of the 100th anniversary of Southern Gospel Music. And it was quite a celebration. Ed Leonard, the president of Daywind Records called it the greatest early Christmas present a person could ask for or want. And he wasn't kidding......

The celebration started off with a reunion of the Rambos. That included Reba and Dony McGuire, Reba's daughter Destiny and Buck Rambo. Buck only sang the last few songs with them due to the fact that he's on oxygen and just didn't have the breath to do much more. I've made the statement that I'm really not liking the fact that they sang as beautifully as they did, because looking at them gave you a creepy feeling of the dark side (as I am not into the gothic look), but oh my goodness.........I could say on the appearance matter, but I'll refrain... I never heard them sound better. If I had not looked at them before I heard them sing, I would have declared that this had to be a piece of heaven! But I have to admit, Heaven came a little later.....I'll get to that in a minute!

In what had been a nerve wrecking dread for me, actually turned out to also be another little surprise. That was the Downings Reunion. That consisted of Ann Downing, Joy Gardner, and Dony McGuire. It had a few songs the Downings made famous like "Operator" and "Greater is He That is In Me." I must admit that this "set" was not my favorite, but there was something included that almost brought the tears. Dony sang "It's My Desire To Live For Jesus." I don't guess I knew that was a Downing song. I also didn't know Dony McGuire sang it. That song has always been one of my absolute favorite songs and Mom sings it quite frequently, so it hit a real tender spot......

And just a note, Joy Gardner has definitely aged much more gracefully than Reba Rambo. Joy Gardner really looked good. She has lost quite a bit of weight since the last time I saw her, so I was happy to see her looking so good. As much as I enjoyed these two "sets" of music, I had this gnawing tinge of regret the entire time that they had been overcome and their influence destroyed by what one blogger termed as outright "scandal."

There were a few other "sets" that were OK, but didn't rock my world. However, what did rock my world was the set that we had awaited anxiously and I had already mentioned a few posts back. That was the reunion of the Hinsons. Now let's talk about a piece of Heaven!! Oh, my! It just rocked my little world. It was fabulous.

I guess it's always means a little more to have them as personable as they are. Ronnie Hinson has got to be one of the nicest guys. We have met him in the aisles of the halls for the past two years and he's been quite a gentle man to speak with. This year he was the only artist that Jeremy and I got pictures with.

Anyway, back to the music.....The Hinsons only sang 3 of their classics..."I'm So Glad He Found Me," "He Can," and "The Lighthouse" - which was sang by Bo Hinson. I could have stayed there all day and let them sing, but I think that being that they are no longer used to that, I'm not sure how much breath they had left! They got standing O's on every song!

The Gold City and Singing American Reunions were very good as well, but I have to admit, the Hinsons were definitely the star of the show. There was also a reunion of the Nelons, the Speers, and the Lewis Family along with Jeff and Sheri Easter. The Nelons did a very good job!

Gold City sang a few old songs with the original group of Ivan Parker, Brian Free, Mike Lefevre, and Tim Riley. It was good, but you can tell their voices have changed quite a bit since the last time they sang together 19 years ago! Brian and Mike had to be barely 20 if that when they sang, so age has definitely had time to mature their voices, and they are both still major influences in the world of Gospel music in their own right. And Tim Riley will always be a legend of the bass part, I assume. Ivan continues his solo thing, but I'm not exactly a follower.
The Singing Americans consisted of Rick Strickland, Michael English, Clayton Inman, Ed Hill, and Dewayne Burke. I remember the Live and Alive Record that we had when I was a kid that included all of the listed men except Clayton Inman. He became a member after Mike English left. It was a good reunion.It was definitely an event of a lifetime for us to get to see all of this put together, although with age, each group had a moment or two that was less than stellar, but that wasn't the point! It was enjoyable all the way around and we were all happy to be on the front row screaming and throwing things!! lol Just kidding! We didn't throw anything, but we did do our share of yelling!! Anyway, this event alone will be hard to match ever again! I'm thrilled to death I had the chance to see it! It was definitely worth the trip!

NQC 2010

There has been so much going on over the past couple days, this is the first time I've been able to sit down and write a tidbit about it.

As most of you know, we have arrived at the National Quartet Convention in Louisville, KY. It's been pretty awesome thus far. I've done my share of whooping and hollering! It's so much fun to be this close and personal with the artists that we listen to every day of our lives on the radio. As you walk into the exhibit hall, you see all of these people that you think of as being "celebrities" in our world and there they all stand. Personable and touchable...if that's your desire. So far, we've just wondered around looking at them all.

However, there was an event yesterday that I'll address before I get into the music. I'll save the music for my next post.

Yesterday was an interesting day, as the "guest of the week" showed up. We got the opportunity for an hour to sit and listen to one of the most influential women on the national stage for the conservative movement speak on the topic of "Faith and Family." That was the ideas she spoke on, but I didn't know that was actually the topic until I read about it on the news channels that covered the events. Are you curious as to who this might be yet??? Well, lets see.....

Does she look familiar?

You got it! None other than Sarah Palin. She spoke very well about her faith and her family. She spoke of her conversion and how important her CHRISTIAN faith is to her. She shared her story of the night of her debate with Joe Biden. She said she looked around to find someone to pray with her and no one was around except her little daughter Willow. She said she called Willow over and told her that she wanted her to pray with her before she had to go out and face Mr. Biden and 40 million Americans on national TV. She said she told Willow that she wanted her to pray that "God would speak through her" in what she said. She said Willow thought about that statement and looked up and said, "But Mom, that would be cheating!"

She also spoke of her struggle of learning that Trigg was going to be born with Down's Syndrome. She said after her battle with God over it, he reminded her that she had always talked the pro-life talk, now it was time to walk the walk. She made it very clear that her decision to allow Trigg to live and be a part of their life instead of aborting him was the greatest blessing to ever come to their family.

Needless to say, she drew thunderous rounds of applause at her conservative actions. This conference is full of conservative life loving individuals. There were other conservative views which she mentioned, for which she was also applauded. It was a great event. I was thrilled for the opportunity to see her speak.

Well, I must hush. I have more "meetings" to attend......We're actually headed to Bill Gaither's sing along right now. I'm looking forward to it!

Girlie Wisdom

My Aunt Kathy sent this to me. I thought it was pretty funny!

1. A friend of mine confused her Valium with her birth control pills... She has 14 kids but doesn't really care.

2. One of life's mysteries is how a 2-pound box of chocolates can make a woman gain 5 lbs.

3. My mind not only wanders, it sometimes leaves completely.

4. The best way to forget your troubles is to wear tight shoes.

5. The nice part about living in a small town is that when you don't know what you are doing, someone else does.

6. The older you get, the tougher it is to lose weight because by then, your body and your fat are really good friends.

7. Just when I was getting used to yesterday, along came today...

8. Sometimes I think I understand everything, and then I regain consciousness.

9.... Amazing! You hang something in your closet for a while and it shrinks 2 sizes!

10. Skinny people irritate me! Especially when they say things like...'You know sometimes I forget to eat!' .....Now I've forgotten my address, my mother's maiden name and my keys, but I have never forgotten to eat. You have to be a special kind of stupid to forget to eat!

11. The trouble with some women is that they get all excited about nothing and then they marry him.

12. I read this article that said the typical symptoms of stress are eating too much, impulse buying, and driving too fast. Are they kidding? That's my idea of a perfect day!

Unfortunately I had to erase Jeana's favorite. It was something that girls understand, but it wasn't exactly appropriate for me to post for mixed company!

Myrtle Beach

As you can tell I fell off the face of the earth again. I'll tell you all about it tho....

This past week I have been tirelessly working on my scheduled yard sale that is scheduled for Saturday. I'm looking very forward to it for some crazy reason. I've also been working on a few Craigslist and eBay items. That's been very interesting.

In addition to all of that, I got the pleasure of driving to Myrtle Beach, SC this weekend. My cousin, Nathan, from Ohio finally tied the knot there. He married a sweet little girl named Lindsey. I had never met her until Saturday. And had actually seen only a picture of her until she walked down the "plank!". Literally!

It was one of the most unique weddings I've ever attended in my life. The roar of the waves crashing onto the beach, the cheers of the onlookers who were complete strangers (there were literally hundreds of those - on the beach itself and on the balconies of hundreds of resort hotel rooms) and the feeling of cool sand falling around my feet with every step I took, made this unlike any wedding I've ever attended in my life. But my, it was beautiful!

The beach was decorated with a white arbor and several white chairs with an aisle made between them. The chairs had beautiful hot pink and orange tulle draped from chair to chair. The arbor sported a beautiful orange and pink swag. On the end of each row of chairs was a candle holder with hit pink and orange Gerber daisies. There were the same colored petals strewn all over the sand down the aisle. Instead of the traditional unity candle, they mixed the sand together - Nathan's sand was orange, Lindsey's was pink!!


Did I mention this wedding was beautiful?

Anyway, I was thrilled I got to go and witness the occasion. Nathan and his family hold a very dear spot in my heart and I'm really happy for him. Afterwards he said that this day was the happiest day of his life- and that's the way it should be!!

To Make You Smile.....

This morning I received an email from my Aunt Linda. The subject of the email was "To Make You Smile." It included a letter she had received from my sister regarding my nephew's birthday card he received from her. My aunt sent it out so everyone could have the chuckle she got out of it. Here it is:

Hey, Aunt Lin. Zachary's b-day card came today and I wish you could have seen him opening it...the child absolutely LOVES mail!! He saw the $1 and he exclaimed "WOW" (he's very dramatic - reminds me of Mark when we were younger :) Then he sees the check and jumps up and down - literally! I asked him what would he like to tell you and Uncle Ed for the b-day money and he said, "I would like for you to write her a card and say, "I love you and want you to have a good birthday too - Dear, Zachary". I explained that we would have to wait until February to send you a birthday card to which he seems satisfied, but that is his thank you message. He states "I'm am so glad to get a check"!!

Back to his love of mail - he told me on his birthday (a Sunday of course), "I sure hope I get some mail today". Being that the mail did not run that day, I had Don slip a card out in the mailbox after lunch. In my haste to get it written and to the mailbox, I had written, "We love you Zach and hope you have a wonderful birthday. Love, Daddy, Mommy and Zach" (meant to write Abby). He goes to the mailbox and gets so excited. He read each word precisely and got to the end where he saw his name as one of the senders and looked up at Don and said, "Well, shoot, I sent myself a card". Don just howled!!! It took the wind right out of his sails and I felt terrible!! He recovered quickly:)

Hope you have a good week. We love you so much.

Laura

LOL!

Speaking of NQC

Since I brought up NQC, there is going to be a special occasion occurring on Saturday of the event. It's a two hour or so, reunion of multiple groups who have made a mark in Southern Gospel music....such as Gold City (including Brian Free, Ivan Parker, Mike Lefevre, Tim Riley, and Gary Jones) , the Downings(Ann Downing, Dony McGuire, and Joy Gardner), the Rambos (Buck, Reba, and Reba's daughter Destiny), the Speers, the Singing Americans, The Lefevres, the Cathedrals, and last (but certainly not least) the Hinsons.

I'm most excited about the Hinsons. Personally, I'm thinking I'm going to be a nervous wreck during a few of the listed ones because of the dynamics of the relationships of some of the people involved. If you know anything about Southern Gospel music, you will figure out which groups I am referring to. If you don't, I'm not going to post my feelings on the world wide web!! So, I'll leave them un-named.

But again, the Hinsons.......

They are gearing up here in this video clip just for this event of which I speak.........

I Missed It!

There were two occasions that I missed last Sunday that I didn't post on here that I want to acknowledge. Sunday was my nephew, Zach's, 7th birthday and was my parents' anniversary. As usual, I'm a few days behind! I wish I could be as organized as my Aunt Linda, then these things wouldn't slip up on me so fast! :)

I was recently reading through quotes regarding anniversaries and one made me laugh - it read like this: "It's so great to find that one special person you want to annoy the rest of your life!"

So, since I'm late, Happy Belated Birthday, Zachary Don!!

And Happy Belated Anniversary Mom and Dad!!

I love you all!!!

Hey Y'all!

Hey everybody! I'm finally crawling back up to the face of the earth again, maybe! It's been a crazy two weeks in my mind......as you can see. I definitely disappeared off the blogging world and my emails are falling behind as well.

So this is my explanation or excuse - whichever works for you! I just haven't taken the time to sit down and write anything. If you could see my house right now, you'd be thinking that I don't need to be sitting down now, either, but you know, it's about to drive me crazy, so I just had to do it!!

There's few chores that I'd rather do than blog, so they'll just all have to wait. My to do list is a mile long for today as well, but it will have to wait too.

So, to catch you up on the happenings in our little world, Jeremy is almost recovered. He's going to give a shot at teaching Sunday School this coming Sunday - which will be a first since his surgery. He's still not at 100% with his voice, so this may be interesting.

Addison has been sick off and on the past two weeks. Several nights were spent feeding her Motrin and Tylenol every couple of hours. Heaven knows, we do everything in our power to prevent another seizure. My nerves can't handle that! What's that old phrase - "a pound of prevention is worth more than an ounce of cure?" That's the way I feel. Anyway, she's about recovered as well, an occasional hacking cough at night, but otherwise all is well. Thank goodness!

And for the other things going on, I am gearing up for a couple of events to take place in the next few weeks. I am off all of next week, thankfully, to prepare for our upcoming trip to the National Quartet Convention - once again. I'm getting very anxious! This Saturday (two days from now, Addison and I are heading to Myrtle Beach, SC for my cousin's (Nathan) wedding. Now if ole Hurricane Earl will just cooperate!

The next Saturday, I am having a BIG yard sale at my house - once again. This will be my third one this year and plan to have another in October - along with the neighbor. Jeremy has brought down all of the things from the attic which we no longer use and I have established a rather HUGE stash of yard sale goods! So, I'm currently attempting to sift through all of these things. It's been a bit of a headache (literally) at times because the dust from the attic is not settling well with me and my allergies, but hey, it will soon be over!! The only chore that must be done before the yard sale that the thoughts overwhelm me, is cleaning out the garage. It hasn't been cleaned out since the last garage sale at the beginning of June. It's been WAY too hot to get out there and do it! That's the ONLY reason that task has been ignored.

So, as soon as all of this project is over, we'll start prepping for that great trip to the event of the year. You know once I get there, the blog posts are non-stop!! So get ready......I'll make up in September for the posts that I lacked in August!

Hope everyone is well! I'll try to make up over the next few days for my absence over the last couple of weeks.

Have a good one!!