The Newest Member of Our Family

This is a photo of the newest member of the Miles Family (although you can barely see him - he's in the top right hand corner of the tank). It's so peaceful and quiet. No getting up to take it outside to potty or anything else that goes along with pets that stay inside. Needless to say, the little talkative rascal that lives at my house already, thinks that we have handed her the moon with her new pet.

The truth is, it was an actual bribe game. In hopes to overcome her fears of standing in the front of the church to sing in the kid choir, we promised her a pet fish if she would go. She went and the moment she returned burst into tears......but she went.....and that was the goal. So now, she has a new pet beta fish named "Lightening." He's red with purple highlights on his sides and seems as happy to be in his new larger "cage" than in the little can he came in. This picture isn't great, but it's all I had. I'll have to get a better one soon.

Do You Remember Brother Claude?

My brother in law, Gregg, recently posted a post on his blog. I find it to be one of the most interesting and intriguing pieces I've read and heard in a while. What makes it so interesting is that it was actually recorded by NPR (National Public Radio) on the program "All Things Considered."

Since my reading audience consists of different readers than his blog, I wanted to share it as well. The entire piece takes approximately 13 minutes to listen to and is also written in a transcript - however - if listening is possible, the music is available to help give a more dramatic effect of the story.

I highly recommend that you read / listen to this piece. Because of the interest in the history of our faith - I find this very intriguing. Hopefully you will as well.

You can LISTEN HERE (click)

Easter Sunday

Here's Addison's favorite picture of herself. Taken Easter Sunday. She thought she was ALL that!!

Addison's First Go Cart Ride

GeoTagged, [N32.11090, E81.31345]

During our vacation, the kids got to ride go carts for the very first time. They loved it. Here's Addison buckled up looking half scared to death for the ride of her life! :)

Update.....

Well, it's been well over a month since I even opened up the blogger account - such a shame. It's been the craziest month......there's just so much that has happened, I'm not sure I can even tell it all.

To give you an update on our lives, here's what's happening.....

The first week of April, the choir was invited to sing again at the Pentecostal Youth Fire Conference. We went - and it was amazing. It's always great, but I thought this year was really awesome. The "classes" of the days were spent exploring the fundamental beliefs of the independent Pentecostal church and explaining why we believe what we believe. It was some great teaching.

In the middle of the month of April, Mama and Papa decided that for the moment they wanted to move back to their house in Sevierville - so that has been a great choice in our opinion. Mom has worked herself to no end to make that happen. After moving to Sevierville, they decided to take a little vacation to Atlanta with Mama's sister and the last I checked, they were still on "vacation" there. They seem to be having a ball. I saw them last Saturday along with my aunt and her son and Mama and Papa look happier and healthier than I have seen them in quite a few years. That's a nice change.

The week of the 24th (my anniversary) we took a trip up to the mountains with Jeremy's family. That turned out to be a great vacation. We had a blast with three eager little beavers who could hardly sleep because the next morning usually promised Dollywood! They had a blast. And by the end of the week - we were all completely and utterly exhausted. I really felt I needed another week of vacation to recover from that week. I think I'm still recovering! lol

While we were there, we stayed up on one of the highest mountains and Jeremy and his brave soul stayed out on the balcony a good portion of the night to watch the horrific storms that destroyed some areas around the Knoxville area come through. One evening before heading out to eat with his family, he called me out to show me the "wall cloud" that was forming into the tornado that would flatten the high school and destroy quite a bit of property in the nearby town of Newport - approximately 20 miles away from where we were staying. I was definitely thankful for the protection during that week. We were very blessed during our stay to not experience the most horrific parts of that storm. This particular night we had made a promise to the kids and with very watchful eyes, we kept that promise for a little bit of entertainment for them - and during our outing - we were evacuated to a safe block gym to be protected from a tornado that was approximately 5 miles away. We joked that of all the pleasant things they got to do on vacation - this particular evening of evacuation - sitting in a row next to a stable block wall on our laps - half scared out of their minds, would be the vacation moment that would dominate their memories. To be honest, they weren't alone. When we talk about vacation now, usually the biggest thing we talk about is the storms....

Anyway.....it's been a crazy ride the last month and now - as always - I'm so ready for life to slow down. Somehow I don't think that's going to happen. The next month promises to be just as busy as the last one was.

Hope everyone is well.......just wanted to drop by and say hello to everyone. Between the floods and storms that have occurred everywhere in the last few weeks, as far as I know, everyone that reads this has been pretty safe. For that I am grateful. Don't forget to count your blessing because there are a bunch of homeless and hurting people right now who need our prayers and our thoughts.